Venus of Willendorf: the Image of Beauty and Survival

Venus of Willendorf: The Image of Beauty and Survival The Venus of Willendorf illustrates the characteristics of a woman in a utopian society because her figure demonstrates a society in which there is a stable food supply, and her most feminine features, breasts, hips and buttocks, are accentuated as a symbol of beauty and survival. According to PBS, â€Å"It was discovered on the banks of the Danube River, in Austria, and it was most likely made by hunter-gatherers who lived in the area. † During ancient times, food was scarce.People would eat whatever food they could get their hands on. When there was food available, dopamine, which is a neurochemical that plays a mojor role in reward driven learning, motivated the people to eat as much as they could. Dopamine triggers the chemical DeltaFosB. This chemical is also known as the binge chemical, â€Å"A ‘binge mechanism’ is an evolutionary advantage in situations where survival is furthered by overriding normal s atiety. Think of wolves, which need to stow away up to twenty pounds of a single kill at one go.Or our ancestors, who needed to store high-quality calories as a few extra pounds for easy transport to survive hard times. Or mating season, when there's a harem to impregnate. In the past, such opportunities were rare and passed quickly† (Yourbrainonporn. com). The Venus of Willendorf is a depiction of how human nature takes control of the brain in the presence of a food surplus. The Venus of Willendorf is a symbol of vitality, for she would survive during famine.Additionally, the artist who created the Venus of Willendorf was influenced by environment in which he or she lived in. â€Å"The people who made this statue lived in a harsh ice-age environment where features of fatness and fertility would have been highly desirable. In neurological terms, these features amounted to hyper-normal stimuli that activate neuron responses in the brain. So in Paleolithic people terms, the par ts that mattered most had to do with successful reproduction – the breasts and pelvic girdle.Therefore, these parts were isolated and amplified by the artist's brain† (PBS). Thus, the Venus of Willendorf was an attractive sight for it left its possessor daydreaming of a happier civilization where children survive beyond childbirth and food is unlimited. The Venus of Willendorf was the ideal woman in a successful society at the time of its creation, for her figure evokes two very important parts of maintaining a civilization: food and offspring. Because of DeltaFosB, our brains are chemically geared to eat when there is food around.James Kettlewell describes this phenomenon without science in regards to The Venus, â€Å"Consider when and where this Venus of Willendorf lived, when all food had to be gathered or killed, and its availability was never guaranteed. In her age corpulence would have made the most positive kind of statement. † The Venus of Willendorf†™s large figure represents food and the process of feeding. The overconsumption of food leads a concentration of DeltaFosB in the brain; when people of hunter and gatherer societies ate, DeltaFosB stimulated them to eat as much as possible.If there were an abundance of food, the DeltaFosB response from dopamine would produce figures like Venus of Willendorf. Venus of Willendorf’s large figure stimulated the thought of food in 22,000-24,000 BC when she was erected. Advances in food storage and childbearing techniques has made The Venus of Willendorf less of idolized figure, for there is social stigma with being fat in western society, but many countries in impoverished societies idolize fat. As a rite of passage in Nigeria, girls spend time in a fattening room.At the end of the three-month process, the women are believed to be more beautiful. Ann M. Simmons, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times visited Nigeria to write an article about the female lifestyle, â€Å"The fatten ing room is at the center of a centuries-old rite of passage from maidenhood to womanhood. The months spent in pursuit of poundage are supplemented by daily visits from elderly matrons who impart tips on how to be a successful wife and mother. Nowadays, though, girls who are not yet marriage-bound do a tour in the rooms purely as a coming-of-age ceremony.And sometimes, nursing mothers return to the rooms to put on more weight† (1). The Nigerian Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2011 was $1,452, while in the U. S. the Gross Domestic Product per capita was $48,422. It seems that poverty directly affects a societies’ perception of fatness. Tonga, Samoa, and Micronesia, countries that celebrate fatness, have GDP per capitas of $4,168, $3,532 and $2,852 and overweight percentages of 90. 8, 91. 1 and 80. 4, respectively. According to toptenz. net, â€Å"Excessive fatness continues to be embraced by many countries as a sign of health, wealth and happiness. Additionally, th is website continued to use Tonga and Samoa as exemplar countries that acknowledge this type of beauty. Could it be that the development of western civilization has changed the ideal citizen? In America fitness is seen as a necessity for fitting into the culture. Those who can afford a gym membership and are able to use it have more influence over the perception of beauty and fertility, for the fit citizens are often wealthier. The countries that celebrate fatness maintain a semblance of the hunter/gather society that created the Venus of Willendorf.An archaeologist in a special for PBS said that the Willendorf is, â€Å"Indicative of a general human tendency-wishful thinking. What you are seeing is altered or modified in order to give you a heightened experience†¦If what’s important to is the breast, hips and buttocks, then you’re stretching them out to get more gratification from the statue than the woman sitting next to you. † These eloquent words apply not only to the Venus, but also to the young women in the feeding huts in Nigeria. The aspects of a woman that are considered beautiful are exaggerated in order to make them more beautiful.Besides beauty, The Venus of Willendorf is well equipped for childbearing, for she has wide hips, and her breasts are well stocked for feeding a child. In times of famine, The Venus would survive. In Nigeria, elders who give advice about being a good mother and wife accompany women who spend time in fattening huts. Being fat is part of being a good mother in Nigeria. The Venus of Willendorf is a symbol of the same traits demonstrated in Nigeria, but the image of the Venus was only a pipe dream for the Paleolithic people.Their ideal woman would have been a spitting image of Venus, but the citizens of the long gone civilization did not have the technology to live the fantasical lifestyle of the Venus of Willendorf Words:1126 Works Cited Kettlewell, James. â€Å"Rethinking Classic Themes in Art Hist ory. † James Kettlewell:The Venus of Willendorf. N. p. , n. d. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. . Wilson, Gary. â€Å"Start Here for an Overview of Key Concepts. † Your Brain On Porn. N. p. , 12 May 2012. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. . Simmons, Ann M. â€Å"Where Fat Is a Mark of Beauty. Editorial. Los Angeles Times 23 Sept. 1998: 1-2. PROFESSOR SCHUTZER'S WEB PAGE. Pierce College. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. . Duvall, Susan. â€Å"Top 10 Countries Celebrating Female Obesity. † Top 10 Lists. N. p. , 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"GDP per Capita (current US$). † Data. The World Bank, 2012. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. . Streib, Lauren. â€Å"World's Fattest Countries. † Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Feb. 2007. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. . â€Å"Venus of Willendorf: An Exaggerated Beauty. † PBS. PBS, 2006. Web. 24 Sept. 2012. .

Florida Fast Track program Essay

Time is very valuable, and if there is a way of using it efficiently, and gaining the most in the shortest time possible, that is the way I would go. Florida Tech’s Fast Tack program gives me this opportunity, to be very efficient in my overall attaining of a masters degree. Being part of the program will help me achieve my goals, faster and earlier than I expect. Taking this program gives me an advantage of being able to qualify for the scholarship award during the fifth year as a full time student (Financial Aid, 2010). This also means that if I get a scholarship award during my undergraduate I can keep it if I undertake the fast track program. This will help me a lot in financing the masters program too. I will also have a head-start in my career, way before my colleagues who are taking the traditional program. This will go a long way in helping me serve my fellow citizens as soon as possible, for I have a great desire to work to benefit them through my career. The program will therefore enhance my fast growth to attaining qualification in this career. The program is also diverse and not specific to any course among those offered in the university. Through this, my choice is also catered for. By stating, â€Å"FastTrack is open to all undergraduates and is comprised of the following combined, accelerated degree programs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Fast Track Masters’ Program, 2010), the admission department of Florida Tech makes it clear that the courses being offered at undergraduate level are available at masters’ level. I will therefore be happy to be part of the family of the Florida Technical College, and pursue my dream career. The other good thing about this program is that it is designed in a way to give full attention to the individual student. I will therefore be able to interact closely with my instructors to help me grasp the concepts very well. In addition to this, the program has nationally recognized certification, which gives me confidence in working through it to get the degree (Fast – Track a Career in Medical Assisting, 2010). I therefore know that I will have no problem getting a place in the corporate world in my career.

Opinions About Online Schools

As today’s society goes on, more and more things are starting to modernize, including how we learn in school. Yes, there is still traditional school (books, pen, paper, etc. ) but even traditional school has some technology. In addition to the changes in traditional school, the way we go to school has become modernized. When in college you no longer have to wake-up and go to a class filled with students, you can get a degree at home in your pajamas! Yep, that’s exactly what I said.Today you can obtain a degree in the comfort of your own home! Think about it. Are online schools really that great of an idea? Yes they provide single parents the ability to get a degree and nurture children, and yes they allow anti-social students to stay within their comfort zones, but are they really helping other college students? My personal opinion is no. I think online colleges are not as rewarding as traditional schooling. First of all, it makes students lazier. They won’t have a reason to leave the house, so they won’t.Attending school online could cause someone to become socially dysfunctional, sluggish, and unaware of the opportunities waiting for them outside of the walls of their home. Online colleges can also deprive students from the movement and experience of an actual college lifestyle. Online schools also leave you wondering if you’re getting a genuine college degree. Sometimes schools aren’t always licensed colleges. Basically what I’m saying is, you could spend lots of time and money on something that’s not even real.There are several creditable colleges out there, but there are also a great number of phony online colleges. Wondering if you really have a college degree or not is something you shouldn’t have to ever think about. Lastly online colleges won’t provide you with as much knowledge for a specific career as possible. There’s just no way you can learn through e-mails and automated instructors. Without an actual instructor to guide you, you will be left alone to search the web for information, and we all know that everything we find on the internet isn’t always true.If you don’t have the proper guidance and materials needed for a subject or topic, it’ll be extremely difficult for you to succeed in a career that requires college knowledge for an entry level job. In conclusion, online schools just aren’t suitable for students who are seeking to get the most out of college. They cause you to get lazier, you’re never sure if you’re attending a creditable school, and online schools just don’t provide you with enough knowledge. Online schools may be appropriate for some people, but for the majority of students I don’t think online colleges are suitable.

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 62

Assignment Example However, when looking closer at these seemingly negative articles all they do is talk about how the government is being a good government and handling the problems responsibly. For instance the Domestic violence article starts with a line about the government being very effective in tackling the problem. The HIV article does similar things later on by pointing out free hospital treatment and the number of clinics that are available. In the US or another country with free speech, this might be quite different as newspapers have a tendency to point out the negative aspects of government even more so than the positive. In China this is clearly not the case and the newspapers are run by the government so they have to only say good things. In this sense they can sometimes serve as propaganda machines. Surprisingly the newspapers are neutral in the article about North Korea, and do not talk about the foreign governments in a bad way like I would expect. I wonder if this is different in Chinese-language versions or if it is the

Global marketing management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Global marketing management - Essay Example For example, PESTLE doesn’t measure the impact of information, demographics and ethics variables in the macro-environment. Importance of PESTLE can only be realized if it is applied for practical purposes otherwise the model might be viewed as another management utopia. For example, suppose a multinational company X of Europe wants to expand business in a Latin American country but they do not have any knowledge about the environment of the country. The multinational company X can face six different challenges such as, 1- P- unstable political environment which can disrupt their operation in the country or even create confusion regarding entry strategy, 2- E- poor economic growth of the country might result lack of purchasing parity of consumers which negatively affect the demand for the product of company X, 3- S- lack of understanding of socio-cultural context of the country can create problem for the company X to design effective product-marketing strategy and 4- T- lack of technological growth and infrastructural support in the country can hamper the potentiality of internationalization strategy of X. Kaufmann and Van Witteloostuijn (2012) stated that companies can use PEST instead of PESTLE to measure global business environment in those cases where environment and legal proceedings play very little role. Research scholars such as Porter & Siggelkow (2008) and Heijltjes & Van Witteloostuijn (2003) stated that international companies should try to understand the global business opportunities in terms of both macro and micro environmental context. Ghemawat (2004 & 2007) pointed out that ignoring market need while developing globalization strategy is probably the greatest mistake that can be committed by an international company....Another important thing is that there is hardly any difference exists between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore when it comes to culture and demographic aspect hence following growth strategy in Singapore and Malaysia will h elp IKEA to design product mix in accordance to demand of Indonesian customers. Taking help of the research York of Ying (2005), it can be said that IKEA should design products as per seasonal and communal requirement. For example, offering green shaded furniture during Ramjan and Eid al-Fitr would definitely help IKEA to attract Muslim customers. On the other hand, the company should increase the size of the furniture in order to attract family customers in the country. IKEA should offer the assembling and transportation facilities with its furniture products in order to target wealthy Chinese family customers. Recalibration of forward and backward integration of the logistics and supply chain activities will definitely decrease value chain operation cost for IKEA. Decrease in value chain cost would help IKEA to follow competitive pricing strategy in order to penetrate in Indonesian furniture market.

Terrorist Group Profile and Homeland Security Policy Term Paper

Terrorist Group Profile and Homeland Security Policy - Term Paper Example Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States under the Bush Administration launched an attack on the stronghold of the Taliban Militia in Afghanistan because they were harboring the Al-Qaeda who were found to have been the mastermind of the terrorist attacks that occurred on American soil in September 11, 2001 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). The United State’s invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 led to the defeat of the Taliban forces; and Al-Qaeda lost its primary training camps for would be terrorists. The destruction of the Al-Qaeda’s main training ground however did not prevent the group from making other numerous attacks against the United States, its personnel (civilian and military), and its allies from different parts of the world. The reason behind this is that Al-Qaeda has other cells or hidden bases in other countries that its members can use to communicate with the leaders of the group. Asi de from this, it has forged alliances with other extremist groups in the world, hence establishing its roots locally without the need for the leaders like Osama gin Laden to be personally present within a given place or country that is targeted for an attack (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2011). Al-Qaeda’s Ideology The ideology of the Al-Qaeda group in the beginning is mainly based in the performance of the jihad, where all Muslims are called forth to destroy and kill American servicemen and civilians including their allies who are located in Muslim countries especially Saudi Arabia. Since Al-Qaeda considers the United States and its allies evil, it is their belief that they must find ways and means to make â€Å"jihad† or perform a struggles against the so called evil forces of the West... Terrorist Group Profile and Homeland Security Policy The policies that will be discussed here are solely based on the written directives and guidelines built by the National Homeland Security Department, which will serve as the basis on how the United States will make means and ways to counter potential terrorist attacks to keep the nation safe. The first part of this paper will talk about the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The discussion will give enlightenment as to how the group evolved after the Afghan War. The group’s ideology, tactics, targets and capability will likewise be pointed out. The second part of the paper will talk about the National Homeland Security policies in relation to terrorism. The policies will initially be introduced and will be evaluated against the data or information gathered about Al-Qaeda in the conclusion. Compared to other terrorist groups, Al-Qaeda fares better in terms of member support that does not only stem from the countries of each leaders and strategists. It is a well-footed radical organization, which proved to be able to render massive destruction that does not only cripple the economy of a country but puts fear in the heart of its citizens. Although Al-Qaeda is currently considered to be quite unbreakable due in part to its cells in other countries worldwide, the implementation of the Department of Homeland Security’s policy on general aviation security and the policy on proper information sharing can hinder the repeat of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Visual Anaysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Visual Anaysis - Essay Example One of the objectives of modern art is to express the artist’s thoughts and emotions by following what is deemed right by the artist wherein to cubists, form alone defines the subject thus, the use of geometric figures to bring out the form of the subject matter. Juan Gris, a Spanish cubist artist portrayed a self portrait of the bench marker of the cubism period, Pablo Picasso, in the vantage point of their contemporaries with the same vision in his work entitled Portrait of Pablo Picasso (The Art Institute of Chicago). The general form of the painting shows a man seated and exhibits him to be well dressed though not very recognizable for a viewer to really be sure of what details one can decipher from the painting. As what would have been expected from a cubist, Gris used a lot of lines, cubes and other geometric figures to bring out the three dimensional view of his subject however, distorting the real appearance of the image. Being called analytical, the cubist painters we re said to have analyzed their subject to come up with the products like the aforementioned art work and among others, Mandolin and Clarinet by Pablo Picasso and Armored Train in Action by Gino Severini.

Week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Week 4 - Essay Example Nevertheless, the licensees of The Medical Board of Ohio are disciplined by the Board for violating Medical Practices Act. Other grounds of discipline include: Drug prescription in an inappropriate manner, issuing false information, failure in meeting the continuity of education requirements and impairment of ability to practice due to substance abuse. The complaint process from the civil is as follows: a number is assigned to every received complaint and reviewed initially by the Boards Secretary and Supervising member. A letter will be sent conveying closure of the complaint if no sufficient basis is found. The Secretary and the Supervising Member will be in charge of overseeing the investigations and gathering of information. If there is sufficient evidence, an attorney Enforcement Coordinator who drafts a formal charge to be reviewed by the Boards Secretary, the Supervising Member and the Ohio Attorney General’s office before being forwarded to the Board Members will be assigned the case. The Board members are the decision makers on whether or not the citation letter should be sent. (American Association of Retired Persons, 2004) The American Board of Medical Specialties, the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality are a lot of existing agencies giving help to combat medical malpractice policies. There are also the Government Accountability Office and the National Academy for the State Health Policy. A reprimand, probation, suspension, limitation and permanent license revocation are some of the disciplinary actions given for sufficient evidence of violation. There is automatic suspension for the Practitioners found guilty in court. The Board may also call for a summary suspension pending a hearing in emergency cases (American Association of Retired Person, 2004). There are many situations a physician might find themselves eligible for

Body Modification through Nutrition and Supplementation Essay

Body Modification through Nutrition and Supplementation - Essay Example However, these illegal supplements are associated with serious adverse effects to the human body with some being lifetime irreversible Clark, Lucett, and Kirkendall argues that Creatine as an ergogenic supplement remains efficient in escalating muscle power and strength in brief, high-intensity exercise sessions that lasts to a period of one minute (Clark, Lucett, and Kirkendall 416). Creatine acts as a nitrogenous organic acid and is imperative as a body energy source due to its ability to increase formation of adenosine triphosphate. Moreover, Creatine can buffer lactic acid build-up, thus possibly delaying fatigue associated with anaerobic activities. Furthermore, caffeine can increase muscle contractility, aerobic endurance and enhance fat metabolism (Plowman and Denise 60). Raven asserts that Beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate helps in preventing breakdown and enhancing synthesis of proteins this helps in improving body composition of the athletes (Raven 419). It also increases the strength of athletes making them more competitive and stronger. Based on American sports medicine advice, Ergogenic doses of caffeine may cause nervousness and restlessness as short-term adverse effects while insomnia, hyperesthesia and heart diseases act as the long-term effects (ACSM 606). Moreover, caffeine and Ephedrine combination effects include tachydia and hypertension, which are adverse to the body. In addition, uses of Creatine supplement increase muscle cramping, are associated with weight gain, and may adversely affect performance of the athlete .Gastrointestinal pain and diarrhea are associated with Creatine use. Protein supplements results in imbalance of amino acid in the body. According to Cobin et al, this imbalance is associated with gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting (Corbin et al., 262) (Clark et al., 365) Besides, the aforementioned effects, the potential health risk associated with supplements according to

Paraphrasing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Paraphrasing - Assignment Example According to reliable source, it is asserted that both security and commercial building communications services are very significant. They primarily help in performing day to day tasks as well as occupant security in ever association. In this essay, issues related to both Commercial building communications and security services will be discussed. Further, this report portrays a multi story level 32 offices, that has been linked with building communication systems, emergency warning systems, MATV, audio visual design layouts, and then it will emphasize on a point of ensuring all the systems are well staged in the building. Experts affirm that there are several components that are significant when evaluating the above phenomenon. The components ensure that the occupants’ requirements as well as their expected standards have been met. The following are some few aspects that that a building that has tenants needs to have; the first is, Telecommunication System, Master Antenna Tele vision, Emergency Warning System , Security Systems and lastly Audio Visual Systems. This being a type of guided transmission mediums, it should be acknowledged that cables are installed in a good way with the aim of transmitting electromagnetic waves. Therefore, from their role, they are known as electromagnetic wave guides. For a building made to accommodate tenants, it is advisable to ensure that the telecommunication cabling provides at least two communications outlets per every work station in open plan areas. Here, it should be noted for better electromagnetic wave transmission, then it should be noted a soft cabling scheme will bring out a better field of action. The soft cabling should use MUTOs for outlets that are plat-formed on telecommunication; this works bests in an open plan office area. Second, one telecommunication outlet should be provided that is per two persons seating in a meeting

Criminal Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal Law - Assignment Example The guilty act/omission of the defendant must be the factual and legal cause of the death. To establish factual causation, the court in White1 established the ‘but for’ test: but for the defendant’s act, would the victim have suffered harm? If the answer is negative, factual causation is established. Legal causation requires that the death be attributable to a culpable act. However, the culpable act does not have to be the only cause. In Benge2, it was held that it is sufficient if it was more than minimal. However, some contributing acts may excuse the defendant from liability. If subsequent acts occur to break the chain of causation, the accused is not liable in law. Nevertheless, regardless of such intervening acts, where the acts of the accused remain the substantial and operative factors of the death, the defendant is not excused from culpability. This was established in the case of Smith3. Actus reus must be accompanied by mens rea. For the crime of murder, it must be proved that the accused had ‘malice aforethought’.4 That is, the accused had the intention to cause the unlawful death. Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person 1861 requires that the accused wounded or caused grievous bodily harm with intent to do some grievous bodily harm. In Mohan,5 the court held that foresight of death or injury was not tantamount to an intention. The test to establish presence of intention was laid by the house of the Lords in Nedrick.6 The court stated that the defendant must recognize that death or serious injury is virtually certain to result from his conduct. Additionally, the House of Lords decision in Woollin7 concluded that the jury could only infer intention when satisfied that death was virtually certain from the defendant’s conduct, and that the defendant appreciated this fact. Gerald will be charged with the crime of murder of Victoria. But for his conduct to hide Victoria in a secret air-tight compartment, she would not have died. His act

Related Literature on Crm Essay Example for Free

Related Literature on Crm Essay According to Gartner Inc., the provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, the estimated size of the CRM software market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa was approximately $2.3 billion in total software revenue in 2006. The forecast indicated that the market will have an annual growth rate of 11.3%, which will result in revenue of approximately $3.9 billion by 2011. Companies based all over the world are developing their own approaches to the CRM business strategy in order to increase their efficiency and effectiveness in operations. With the wide spread of CRM, problems and issues examined in this study are apparently not unique to the U.S. Heinrich (2005) examined the role of CRM in the development of the relationship CRM in Russia and US Journal of Technology Research Page 4between the customer and the company in the context of goal implementation. He addressed the process goals of CRM involved in the development of the relationship including building trust, the transaction, and the conversion to a social relationship. He found little relationship between the collection of data and the success of the salesperson and identified 10 relationship motive categories of customers including: gratitude oriented, prestige oriented, collective oriented, experience oriented, and security oriented. CRM, in his view, is a tool not as an end but the means to the end. Nairn (2002) says the origins of CRM can be traced back to the July issue of the 21st volume of the Journal Marketing where â€Å"segmentation† was first mentioned in 1956. Put literally CRM is the practice of managing relationships differently within different customer segments; with the advent of information technology and the application of statistical research methods, the ability to segment customers has become accessible to virtually any organization; as a result the CRM industry grew exponentially from the mid to late 1990s. Vendor hype would have the market believe that CRM technology applications are a panacea for all things related to the customer, yet the market is replete with CRM technology implementation failures resulting in billions of wasted investment dollars, all in search of a CRM nirvana that never eventuated. Starkey Woodcock (2002) state that contributors to CRM failure include managerial short-term focus, failure to see change through, ignoring the basics of what defines good CRM and business performance, making CRM too complicated, CRM existing functional and departmental silos, customer management techniques and practices not widespread and poor implementation of customer management projects to name just a few. Enterprise web identity If you work within a larger organization, always make your relationship to the larger enterprise a clear and meaningful part of your site design. If your institution has an identity program or a web template system, use it. Adopting the design standards of the larger enterprise can save you a lot of time and money. Institutions notorious for poor governance—universities, government agencies, large nonprofit agencies—also often have chaotic web sites. Large companies sometimes have the same problems, but the standards and norms of corporate identity programs are well established in the business world, and most corporate sites start with the expectation that everyone will share a common look and feel and user interface and that each discrete corporate site will project a clear relationship to the parent enterprise.

Renewable Energy in the UK: Government Role

Renewable Energy in the UK: Government Role UK Renewable Energy: Electricity Generation and the governments role in driving CO2 reductions. Business Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This dissertation will mainly concentrate on UKs efforts to increase renewables contribution to electricity generation in the UK, which are part of a broader range of government strategies to reduce CO2 to meet global concerns and international obligations. It will also examine the forces driving the development of renewable energy market in the UK, as well as the overview of the governments role in driving CO2 reductions. The governments strategy on renewables includes several different elements, each attacking the problem from a different angle: mandatory regulation, information and education, technology RD support, and establishment of market-based mechanisms. The main findings presented will be based mainly on the literature review, expert opinions and future forecasts. A review of recent literature on this topic highlights the risk of failure due to failure of coordination among the many initiatives and government bodies involved, and the dangers of insufficient data in measuring progress. Also, they reveal the practical limitations of reliance on renewable to fulfill future electricity generation needs. The first part of the main analysis will provide an overview of the renewable energy market in the UK; it will include a summary of the current renewable energy policy and the main instruments which act as a driving forces for the development of renewables in the UK, as well as electricity market overview; second part would specifically concentrate on evaluation of whether the policies and targets set by government are efficient and achievable, the conclusion will summarize the findings and elaborate on future prospects for the renewable energy market in the UK. The available data indicates that the UK is already falling behind on its original plans for the uptake of renewable. However, government policy suggests growing awareness of the limitations of most renewables; and a consequent shift in focus away from renewables towards easier ‘bigger solutions such as nuclear power and carbon sequestration for coal-fired power stations. CHAPTER 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION A sustainable energy future is possible, but only if we act urgently and decisively to promote, develop and deploy a full mix of energy technologies We have the means, now we need the will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Claude Mandil, International Energy Agency (IEA) In the 21st century, there has been a significant increase in energy demand due to factors such as population growth and changes in our lifestyle. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) today 86.5 % of total worldwide energy consumption is generated from fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal; which are said to be non-renewable, and are the main cause for increase in green house gases and carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007, rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels are the primary cause of global warming since 1950, and are expected to rise due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and land-use change. As the worlds fossil fuels continue to diminish at an alarming rate, and global energy demand is forecasted to increase by 60% over the next 25 years (G8 Summit, 2005), alternative forms of energy must be developed that are economically cost effective, environmentally friendly, and easily harness ed. The development of renewable energy sources as a solution to these problems is expected to play a major role in the future energy supply and has developed a considerable interest within national government policies, environmental groups and the private sector. The term ‘renewable energy can be defined as â€Å"energy that is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly† (Energy Statistics, 2004). The renewable energy sources are also covered by Europes climate change and energy policy. In March 2007, the European Council set a target of 20 percent of the total EU energy consumption to be generated from renewables by 2020. The policy also commits the EU Member States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and by 30 percent globally (The EC White Paper, 2007 (BERR)). According to BERR renewable energy is an integral part of the UK Governments longer-term aim of reducing CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050. The Government has set targets of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% by 2010 and 10% of electricity supply from renewable energy by 2010 (Digest of UK Energy Statistics, 2007). This raises the main questions addressed in this dissertation: Can the UK expect to meet and exceed the existing targets? What measure will be required to realize this potential and to encourage further investment in renewables? Despite the fact that renewables are seen by many policy-makers as a solution for improving energy security and saving the environment, there is still some uncertainty whether renewables could compete with conventional energy sources. Supportive policies and heavy investments are still needed to promote further development and deployment of renewables in energy markets. The establishment of new renewable energy technologies and their efficiency will depend on the costs and effectiveness. As a result, in order to promote renewable energy technology into the market there is a strong need to identify and analyse the policies which have a direct effect on technology and market development. 1.2 Renewable energy in the UK The United Kingdom is one of the worlds most globalized countries with the second largest economy in Europe and a population of 60 million. The UK currently contributes about 2 percent to global emissions, which, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, were estimated to be 38 billion tones carbon dioxide in 2004. UK energy industries are the main contributors to UK greenhouse gas emissions; according to statistics CO2 accounted for about 85 per cent of the UKs greenhouse gas emissions in 2006. In order to reduce emissions, the 2007 UK Energy White Paper sets out an objective to cut the UKs carbon emissions by 60% by 2050, with real progress by 2020. One way of achieving those targets would be by generating our energy from sources that produce very low or zero levels of greenhouse gases such as renewable energy sources. Renewable energy is â€Å"an integral part of the Governments strategy for reducing carbon emissions as renewable energy resources produce very li ttle carbon or other greenhouse gases†. (Commission, 2006) In 2006, about 75 percent of UK electricity was generated from fossil fuels, about 19 percent from nuclear power, and the remaining 4 percent from other renewables (Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), 2007). The UK has one of the most suitable markets for the development of renewable sources of energy due to its geographic location; especially in wind, wave and tidal energy. However, the UK is also rich in fossil fuels and until the climate change issue became evident the successive governments have neglected renewable energy as an alternative source of our main energy supply. The UK Government initially started to show support for development of renewable energy sources in 1990, when renewables became a part of the so-called non-fossil fuel obligation (NFFO), originally set up to protect nuclear power. The issue of climate change and high levels of greenhouse gases has given a new drive to the development of renewable energy in the UK. As part of the Climate Change Programme, in June 2000 the UK government replaced NFFO by the Renewables Obligation (RO) in England and Wales with the main aims to encourage further the development of the UK renewable energy industry and to achieve a 10 percent share of renewables in electricity generation by 2010 (Environmental Policy Integration). Overall the renewable energy contribution is increasing. Total electricity generation from renewables in 2006 amounted to 18,133 GWh, an increase of 1,263 GWh (+7 ½ per cent) on 2005. The main contributors to this substantial increase were 1,072 GWh from onshore wind (+43 per cent), 248 GWh (+62 per cent) from offshore wind 134 GWh (+3 per cent) from landfill gas and 119 GWh (+12 per cent) from municipal solid waste combustion (UK Electricity Statistics,2007). One of the other main drivers for the development of alternative energy sources in the UK aside from climate change issues is the security of energy supply. The UK continues to heavily rely on the diminishing sources of fossil fuels, such as coal, gas and oil, which are increasingly sourced in geopolitically unreliable areas, such as Venezuela, Nigeria and Russia. According to the UK Energy Statistics 12 percent of the UKs gas supply came from gas imports (Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), 2007). Therefore further development of alternative energy sources in the UK will reduce the amount of imported fossil fuels, as well as have a key role in resolving the climate change issue. In order to maintain the UKs energy supply and to achieve the carbon dioxide targets set in the Kyoto Protocol under which the UK has committed itself to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent by 2012 (Sustainable Development Indicators in Your Pocket, 2007), as well as longer term goal set out in Energy White Paper to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050, it is vital to sustain further development of energy sources that produce low or zero levels of greenhouse gases, such as renewable energy. Figure 1, shows the Kyoto target and CO2 emissions, 1990 to 2012. Figure 1: Defra, BERR, â€Å"Sustainable Development Indicators in Your Pocket†, 2007 The Governments policies together with the White Paper made proposals to help increase the sources of renewable energy in the UK. The initial proposals set out in the Energy White Paper 2007, concentrate on three main areas: Electricity generation, by strengthening and modifying the Renewables Obligation, by reforming the planning system and by removing barriers to the growth of decentralised electricity generation; heat, by publishing a Biomass Strategy which identifies opportunities for increasing the use of renewables in energy production and by announcing further work to develop a more strategic approach to heat; and Transport, by requiring through The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation Programme (RTFO) that an increasing proportion of our transport fuel should come from renewable sources. (Energy White Paper , 2007) According to the recent study undertaken by the Poyry Energy (Oxford) LTD, by 2020, renewable energy supply is expected to account for around 12 percent of EU total energy demand, where 59 percent of this volume will come from electricity generation, 32 percent from renewable heat and 9 percent from transport (Compliance costs for meeting the 20% renewable energy target in 2020., 2008) This paper will mainly concentrate on electricity generation through renewable energy sources, as consistency of electricity supply is fundamental to a robust UK economy, and renewables appear to be a suitable solution to improve security of electricity supply in the UK. The UK Government has set a target in order to promote the generation of electricity from renewable sources, by 2010, 10% of UK electricity should come from renewable sources (BERR, UK). The costs of electricity production from renewable energy sources presented in the figure below demonstrate that generation costs depend on the resource conditions in different countries or regions, particularly the EU Member States (Compliance costs for meeting the 20% renewable energy target in 2020, 2008). Therefore, in order to establish and sustain the competitiveness of renewable energy sources it is essential to analyse whether renewable energy technologies can compete with conventional sources. Figure 2: Electricity generation cost of renewable energy technologies (EU Commission 2005: 24, Support of electricity from RE sources). To support the new energy strategy there was a significant development to the UK Renewables Policy, the government has established key elements such as Renewables Obligation, which is driving force for the investment and consumer interest in renewables and it does so by obliging electricity suppliers to source a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources. It has also launched strategies which allow UK to identify its main strengths and to develop world-leading capabilities in renewable energy sector. The main drivers of UK Renewable Energy Policy include: Renewable Obligation (RO) The RO is the main support scheme for renewable electricity projects in the UK. It places an obligation on UK suppliers of electricity to source an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources. Suppliers are required to produce evidence of their compliance with this obligation to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). Evidence can be via certificates, referred to as Renewable Obligations Certificates (Renewable Obligation, 2008). UK renewable electricity has increased considerably since the introduction of RO. In 2006 electricity supplied from RO eligible sources stood at around 4% of the UKs total electricity, up from 1.8% in 2002 (Energy White Paper , 2007). Climate Change Levy (CCL) Exemption The Climate Change Levy (CCL) is â€Å"an environmental tax levied on the supply of certain taxable commodities, for example electricity, gas and coal, and charged by energy suppliers to final business consumers. Domestic, and most charitable, consumers do not pay CCL (Microgeneration and the Climate Change Levy, 2007). In order to support further development of renewables and to encourage consumers to use environmentally friendly sources of energy, renewable electricity supplied to non-domestic consumers is exempt from CCL. Research Development Programme The Government has constantly introduced programmes for renewable energy sources to remove obstacles which stood in the way of the development of renewables by furthering research and gathering information as well as assist industrial activities in the UK. Such programmes support the Renewable Obligation and the exempt renewable from Climate Change Levy. The programmes will also require cooperation with in the industry between the government and environmental organisations to maintain a steady approach to the growth of the renewable energy sources in the market. The programmes also set out plans to address the key issues together, with the concentration divided between technology development as well as non-technological issues, such as raising finance and obtaining planning permission. Each technology is set to be tested though several stages, which include assessment, RD, demonstration and market entry, full-scale industrialization and competition (Challenges Ahead for UK Renewable Energy Program, 2007). Strategies for individual technology programmes also include this operation at the different stages of technology development. An exit strategy will also contribute to the competitiveness of the industry without creating a subsidy. Green trading can play a major part in electricity generation strategy to move to a system of renewables which operates strictly in the commercial market. The Government will carry out several actions together with the industry in order to encourage the development of renewable technologies in the UK, such actions include technological and environmental assessment in addition to resource assessment ;demonstration; the industrialisation of the market; removing legal and administrative obstacles; dealing with planning and development control issues; promoting research and marketing and education. The set priorities for the development of renewable technologies depend on their cost effectiveness and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that can be reduced on different timescales. The priorities for the development of the renewable energy sources are set in time scales and include: Near Term includes most competitive renewable technologies in the UK. (Geothermal (heating and cooling),waste and some biomass residues, landfill gas, onshore wind, hydro, passive solar) Medium Term (by the year 2010) includes renewables that show maximum contribution by 2010, as well as assist to achieve the target of 10 percent.(Some biomass residues, energy crops, offshore wind) Longer Term (after 2010) includes renewable technologies that show longer term potential under the RD programme. (Fuel cells, photovoltaics, wave) Very Long Term (after 2050) includes renewable technologies which at this stage are only worth pursuing through the basic research. (Tidal barrage, hydrogen, ocean thermal currents) (UK Renewable Eneegy Policy , 2007) The Department of Trade and Industry will divide the budget allocated for the development of renewables according to the priorities table set above, particularly between the short, medium and longer term periods. The renewable technologies which are included in short and medium term will benefit from the market simulation under the Renewable Obligation. 1.3 main aim: The mixture of the issues introduced briefly in the first Chapter leads to the overall aim of investigating the governments role in achieving the targets set and through analyzing the market and the economic forecasts concluding whether these targets are achievable. Following chapter will review the existing literature that has investigated UK Renewable Market and Policies, critically evaluated the UK performance in renewables sector and consist of relevant data in order to set out the specific objectives for this study. United Kingdom has one of the most suitable potential markets for the development of renewable energy sources and could act as a leading example for the rest of the world, but the main question remains whether the UK will adopt the right approach to support the new technologies or is it just an ambitious set of targets based on wrong evaluations? CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Global Perspective Today, the rising issue of climate change can be identified as â€Å"the biggest challenge facing humanity† (International Socialist Group, 2006). The UK Prime Minister has said climate change is â€Å"probably, long-term the single most important issue we face as a global community†. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that â€Å"global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions must be reduced at least 70 percent over the next 100 years to stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations† Considerable technical change will be needed to maintain growth in economy combined with large CO2 emission reductions at a cost as low as possible (Grubb, 1997), however the timeframe is not clear as many ways lead to certain CO2 stabilization levels which correspond to fixed increasing amounts of CO2 that can be released during the target year. Furthermore, economic arguments were raised favoring deferred emission abatement pathways (Wigley, 1996). There is a possibility that unexpected political objectives may trigger the need of short-term investments in long life capital stock, this leads to high costs due to the early retirement of long life capital stock units. Additionally, there is a high risk of only focusing on short-term emission reduction targets while creating technical change policies in relation to climate change which may result in a framework unable to achieve long-term future targets (Sande ´n, 2005). The increasing concerns of climate change has played one of the key roles in supporting the development of renewable energy sources, which are environmentally friendly and impose low or zero carbon emissions released into the atmosphere. In order to sustain the development of renewables it is essential to meet the stabilization scenario for carbon dioxide reduction and show that they can be competitive in cost with energy from other sources (Houghton, 2004, p.306). Houghton also stated that â€Å"under some circumstances renewable energy sources are already competitive in cost (e.g. local sources of energy), however where there is a direct competition with fossil fuel energy from oil and gas, many renewable energies at present compete only marginally†. Conversely, fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas have limited resources and â€Å"at some time between 2010-2020 the worlds supply of oil and gas will fall below the level required to meet international supply† (Oil and gas running out much faster than expected, 2003). As the result the costs of fossil fuels will increase which will unveil the opportunity for renewable energy sources to compete more easily (Houghton, 2004, p.306). A recent report from the UN environment programme said â€Å"investment in renewables such as wind, solar and biomass jumped 43% last year and may be about to increase by much more substantial amounts†. It also predicted that renewable energy sources could supply approximately a quarter of the worlds electricity by 2030. This fast development of renewable energy sources occurred as a result of rising demand for energy, security of energy supplies and the environmental and the dangers associated with the burning of fossil fuels (Sawin, 2004, p.5). The additional drivers for the rapid expansion of renewables incorporate the political support for renewable energy around the world, dramatic cost reductions and significant technology advances (Sawin, 2004, p.5). However, Karl Mallon in his book â€Å"Renewable Energy Policy and Politics: A Handbook for Decision-Making† has set out several challenges which can affect the development of renewable energy sources. Mallon mentioned that renewable projects usually have a long lifetime (20 years or more), but the investment and the main industrial activity occurs at the beginning. Therefore in order for investors to get a return on their investment, the developers on their end will try to make the projects as long as possible and try to establish capacity as early as possible in the scheme to yield the maximum return time (Mallon, 2007). As a result, generation schemes with targets that run less than 20 years will create a market with increasing activity and a massive industry growth for the first few years, and once a capacity meeting the long term target is in place downturn of activity will take place (Mallon, 2007). Mallon also stated that a â€Å"boom-bust† activity cycle is terr ibly inefficient form of industry development; if targets are used they must be dynamic to provide a constant but steady pull on industry. Another challenge which faces the development of renewables is the governments concentration on the economic side, namely where â€Å"the desire for economic certainty overrides the objectives of industry development or climate mitigation† (Mallon, 2007). Furthermore, according to Mallon, effective climate mitigation will require not less than 50-100 years transition to zero-emissions, therefore the schemes with deadlines ending 2010-2015 will make no contribution to solve in the climate change problem. Such schemes only provide economic certainty and tell investors that this is only a short term engagement rather than a long term, ignoring the fact that the prices of renewables and conventional energy change all the time. Finally, Mallon emphasized on the fact that â€Å"it is important to recognize that renewable energy policy consists not just of a driver but rather comprises a complete framework, ignoring or overlooking parts of that framework will undermine the entire vision†. 2.2 UK Perspective The energy policy of the United Kingdom fully supports targets for carbon dioxide emissions and is committed to achieve mandatory 60 percent cut in the UKs carbon emissions by 2050 (Carbon Abatement Technology for Fossil Fuels, 2005). The current interest in renewable energy in the UK reflects the global view in relation to the shortage of the existing energy sources and the necessity of finding alternative energy supplies to meet the future energy demand. The need for securing energy sources as an alternative to the current energy sources, mainly fossil fuels, lies in the uncertainty of such fuels which is diminishing over the years. This is particularly pertinent to the UK as it is estimated that by 2020 the UK could be importing 90% of its gas (which currently produces 41% of energy consumed) (DTI 2006). Additionally, the rising concerns over global warming and climate change also played a major role in ‘shedding the light on renewable energy sources. By 2050, global energy demand could double as populations rise and developing countries expand their economies (World Energy Organization, 2008). The UK Government started to tackle such concerns in 1999 when it introduces its first strategy â€Å"to help deliver a better quality of life through sustainable development† (Tony Blair, The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy, March 2005). The Governments 2003 Energy White Paper sets a direction towards achieving low carbon economy, by attempting to resolve the issue on domestic basis first and to influence the major players in the global community to follow the same footsteps. The UK Government has committed itself to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, as mentioned above the government; according to its 2003 Energy White Paper, declared that its mission is to move to a low carbon economy and set out its target that by the year 2050 carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by 60 percent in addition to the Kyoto Protocol target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent by the year 2012, and the ambitious national goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent below the 1990 levels by the year 2010 (The UK Government Sustainable Development Strategy, 2005). However, the UKs CO2 emissions rose in the period 2002-04 (levels in 2004 showing a 1.5% increase over 2003) (DTI 2005a). These issues are arising at a time when large numbers of the UKs coal and nuclear-fired power stations are also reaching decommissioning age. This presents the UK with an opportunity to re-structure the fuels in its energy mix. According to the British Wind Energy (BWEA) the UK could face some challenges in meeting the renewable energy target of 20 percent by 2020 if it increases the amount of electricity generated under its Renewable Obligation, but puts on hold â€Å"financial penalties for utilities that help fund the program at 2015 levels† (Challenges Ahead for UK Renewable Energy Program, 2007). The BWEA Chief Executive Maria McCaffery has commented on reform proposal: The RO has been highly successful in bringing forward the cheapest renewables: onshore wind, landfill gas and biomass co-firing. The Governments plan to band the RO could allow more technologies to share in this success, particularly offshore wind but this cannot be at the expense of onshore winds current strong growth. Accommodating the more expensive technologies whilst trying to get to a 20% target in 2020 using the same amount of money as a 15% goal is like trying to extract a quart from a pint pot. It just doesnt add up. E ssentially, said BWEA, â€Å"the government is attempting to get a third more renewable power with a mix that includes significant quantities of technologies that are not economic under the current system for the same amount of money† (Challenges Ahead for UK Renewable Energy Program, 2007). John Loughhead, the Executive Director of the  UK Energy Research Centre  (UKERC)  said: Achieving these targets will be challenging, since the UK currently obtains less that 2% of its energy from renewable sources. It is probable that electricity production will have to bear a disproportionate share and initial estimates from the European Commission and others suggest it may need to produce about 40% of all electricity from renewable sources by 2020 if the overall targets are to be met. Additionally, the recent study â€Å"Renewable electricity generation technologies†, January 2008, issued by Institute of Physics (IOP) has outlined further barriers to the development of renewable energy sources. According to the study, one of the main challenges facing the renewables is â€Å"the liberalisation of the UK energy market, the current price of electricity is so low that it is not economically viable to develop and introduce new generating technologies to the market, unless they can be developed at a low cost and can provide electricity predictably at competitive wholesale prices† (Renewable electricity generation technologies, 2008) 2.3 UK Renewable Policy Targets Karl Mannon regards the renewable energy policy as a framework rather a single driver and emphasized that all the parts forming this framework must operate jointly in order for us to achieve the highest benefit of this policy (Mannon, 2007). As to the influence such policies may have on the market, Mannon added that there are unknown factors in these policies which can affect the size of the market, the prices paid for renewable energy or the duration of the scheme. Some of the factors which control the growth of the market include: the level of support, the duration of support eligibility, the duration of support schemes and the quantity of renewables required under the scheme. (Mannon, 2007, p.37) However, Adrian Smith in his report â€Å"Multi-level governance: Towards an analysis of renewable energy governance in the English regions†, December 2006, has identified challenges for governance in promotion of renewable energy systems. Smith, 2006, has outlined that â€Å"governments policy objective of transforming existing energy systems into ones with greater renewable energy content requires coordinated efforts and changes amongst many different actors, institutions and artifacts. Renewable energy systems are complex, and their construction is far from straightforward. It is consequently difficult to direct them into being exclusively through hierarchical government measures like planning† (Smith, 2006). John Sauven, the Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, in his article â€Å"Its rip-off Britain, even when it comes to climate change†, October 2007, has stated that the targets set by Renewable Obligation which were set for electricity suppliers have all been missed and â€Å"the governments own projections show that the final target of just 15 percent in 2015 will also be missed†. Additionally, Dave Toke, in his academic paper, has concluded that â€Å"RO is relatively inflexible in that it effectively sets a single level of payments for all renewable-energy generators, which is relatively generous for onshore wind power, barely sufficient (even with capital grant supplements) for offshore wind power, and not enough for much else. The target of supplying 10% of UK electricity from renewables by 2010 is not likely to be achieved some 7% is a more likely level† (Toke, 2005). Toke, D., also noted that â€Å"the more ambitious the targets are, the more expensive w ill be the incentives (or penalties) needed to ensure compliance with these targets†. The analysis of renewable energy policy carried out by the Carbon Trust, â€Å"Policy Framework for renewables†, July 2006, states that â€Å"overall, the existing renewable energy policy suffers from inefficiencies, resulting in a unit cost of renewable energy to consumers that is higher than necessary given the current technology cost†, as well as â€Å"given the renewable and carbon reduction targets and the 2015 gap, diversity of investment in renewable energy is needed†. The UK policies are not created to determine what a sustainable energy system i

Benefits of Women Entrepreneurship

Benefits of Women Entrepreneurship Jump to: Advantages of Female Entrepreneurs | Disadvantages of Female Entrepreneurs | Challenges for Female Entrepreneurs | Schemes to Develop Female Entrepreneurs | Leading Female Entrepreneurs in India | Differences between Male and Female Entrepreneurs Women constitute around half of the total world population. So is in India also. They are therefore regarded as the better half of the society. In traditional societies, they were confined to the four walls of houses performing household activities. In modern societies they have come out of the four walls to participate in all sorts of activities. The global evidences prove  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  that women have been performing exceedingly well in different spheres of activities like academics, politics, administration, social work and so on. Now they have started plunging into industry also and running their enterprises successfully. Therefore while discussing on entrepreneurial development of women entrepreneurs in the country. Al through small businesses owned by women have traditionally focused on fashion , fond and other services sector, but recently women entrepreneurs have been moving rapidly into manufacturing, construction and other industrial filed. Women owned business are lightly increasing in the economics of almost all countries. The hidden entrepreneurial potential of women have gradually been changing with the growing sensivity to the role and economic status in the society. It means women have the potentials, skill, knowledge and adaptability to run a business successfully. Meaning And Definitions Women entrepreneur is a person who accepts challenging role to meet her personal need and become economically independent. There are economical, social, religious, cultural and other factors existing in the society which responsible for the emergency of the entrepreneurs. Women entrepreneur refers equally to someone who has started a one women business to someone who is a principal in family business or partnership or to someone who is shareholder in a public company which she runs.   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  The Government of India has defined  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  a women entrepreneur is an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of the employment generated in the enterprise to women . Advantages Of Female Entrepreneurs Social Networking.   Lets face it-women are natural networkers. They love to talk, mingle, and rub elbows. This is the very reason why husbands rarely ever manage the social calendar. In todays business environment, mastering social media is mandatory, and the ladies absolutely have a leg up! Intuition.   They call it womens intuition for a reason.   Women in general can size up another person much faster than her male counterpart. In todays ultra-fast paced business environment, you need the ability to quickly identify the allies and the enemies. Regardless if you are a male or female, you need to trust your gut. Pain Tolerance.   Okay, initially I would have said this is irrelevant. But after watching my children be born, there is no question that my wife can handle  a lot  more pain than I can. And I am not just talking physical pain, I mean emotional, too (have you seen how tough children can be on their mothers?). In business, there are a lot of painful moments. A lot. Women definitely have an advantage in this area. Multi-tasking.   Women are known for juggling many tasks at the same time and still being able to produce excellent results. Conversely, the guys are masters at focusing on one thing. Still, the advantage in todays distracting environment goes to women. Patience.   Women inherently seem to have more patience. And in todays business environment, patience is key! Aggressive business strategies are not paying off like they once did. Slow and steady wins the race in this category. Listening.   A friend of mine went to buy a new bed at a small bedding store owned by a husband and wife team. The female owner approaches my friend and asked all kinds of questions about why they needed a new bed, if they could fix their old bed, what else they were considering, etc. She asked questions and listened closely. She clearly showed that she cared about helping to meet their needs. My friend was moments away from buying any bed that she recommended. But just then, the frustrated husband on the sales team ran up and said let me handle this. Then he just tried to hard close the sale. He was pushy, telling them what he recommended and what they had to have. Guess what? The sale was lost the second he began speaking! They walked out. I am sure he blamed her, but it was him. The key is to ask questions and really listen. Quite frankly, any great sales person knows this, man or woman, it just seems that the ladies are naturally better at doing it. Problem/Disadvantages Of Female Entrepreneurs Women Entrepreneurs encounter two sets of problems i.e. general problems entrepreneurs and problems specific to women entrepreneurs. These are discussed follows Finance Finance is regarded as life blood for any enterprise be in big or small. However women entrepreneurs suffer from shortage of finance on two counts. Firstly women do not generally have property on their names to use them as collateral for obtaining funds from external sources. So that access to the external sources funds is limited. Secondly the banks also consider women less credit-worthy and discourage women barrowers on belief that they can at any time leave their business.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Scarcity Of Raw Materials Most of the women enterprises are plagued by the scarcity of raw materials and necessary inputs. Added to this are high prices of raw materials, on the one hand and getting raw material at the minimum of discount on the other. The failure of many co-operatives in 1971 engaged in based making is example how the scarcity of raw material sounds the death knell of enterprises run by women. Male Dominated Society The constitution of India speaks of equality between sexes. But in practice women are looked upon as abla i.e.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Weak in all respects. In male dominated Indian society, women are not treated equal to men. This turn serves as a barrier to women entry into business.   Lack Of Education In India around 60% of women are still illiterate. Illiteracy is the root cause of socio- economic problem. Due to the lack of education women are not aware of business, technology and market knowledge. Also lack of education causes low achievement motivation among women.   Market Oriented Risk A number of women have to face the challenges of market because of stiff competition. Many business women find it difficult to capture the market and compete with their product. They are not fully aware of the changing market conditions. Motivational Factors. Successful businessmen can be self motivated through setting up a mind and taking up risk and accepting social responsibilities on shoulder. The other factors such as family support government policies financial assistance etc. are also important to set up business. Lack of Confidence Women lack confidence in their strength and competence. The family members and the society and reluctant to stand beside their entrepreneurial growth Training Programs Training programs are essential to new rural and young entrepreneurs who wish to set up a small and medium scale unit. The programs enrich the skill and potential of women entrepreneur. Present Position Of Women Entrepreneurs Out of the total 940-48 million people in India in the 1990s of the female comprise of 465% of the total population. There are 126.48 million women work force (representing 28.9% of the female population) but as per the 1991 census only 185900 women accounting for only 4.5% of total self employed persons  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  in the country were recorded. Majority of them are engaged in the un organized in the unorganized sectors like agriculture, agro based industries, handicrafts, handloom and cottage based industries. As per the 2001census report, there are of women workers of the total working population including formal as well as informal sector. In the era of L.P.G (Liberalization, Privatization, Globalization) the  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Indian women entrepreneurs are very fast entering the non -traditional sectors. Which indeed is in response to their greater awareness. Five Business Challenges Women Entrepreneurs Face and How to Overcome them Cultural Value The first entrepreneurial challenge women entrepreneurs face is that of cultural value or tradition. This challenge is more profound on women entrepreneurs in Africa; where the cultural value entails that the man/husband be the bread winner. A woman exhibiting her entrepreneurial prowess is presumed as wanting to take over the leadership role of the husband. This challenge also surfaces in families where the husband/father is an entrepreneur. The male children are usually groomed on  running the family business  and carrying on after the demise of the father while the female children are usually left out of this entrepreneurial grooming process. To overcome this entrepreneurial challenge,  you must be prepared to breakthrough this limiting tradition; you must stick to what you believe in. Societal Discrimination The next challenge women face in business is societal discrimination. Most people still live with the mentality that certain businesses or tasks are better handled by men.  Have you ever come across a female auto mechanic, plumber, mason or welder? What was your first reaction? You must have screamed what the hell is a woman doing with such occupation. Well, I have done it countless times. The truth is that we often assume women are generally incompetent in certain fields of life. People would rather deal with a business man than a woman. Why? The reason is because its believed that the men are born to do it. You might think this challenge is uncommon; wait until you lose a business deal or contract just because you are competing with male counterparts. The only solution to handling the challenge of societal discrimination is to develop a tough skin towards criticism. Stop seeing your feminine gender as a weakness; see it as a strength, and prove yourself by striving to outperform your male competitors. Lack Of Investors Confidence The third challenge women entrepreneurs face when starting a business is the challenge of raising capital. Investors naturally give less consideration to business women and I cant really pinpoint the reason for this. Its easier for business man to raise capital than a woman; except such a woman has proved her competence and credibility over time. Women entrepreneurs generally find it difficult to raise capital or obtain a bank loan because investors and bankers would rather risk their venture capital with male entrepreneurs than females. Now how do you overcome such challenge? The answer is persistence. You must keep asking for what you want;  irrespective of the amount of rejections you get. You must press on while selling yourself on why you should be trusted. Balancing Business And Family The fourth business challenge women entrepreneurs face is that of balancing business and family. Women naturally are the backbone of the family; they lay the building blocks on which the family foundation is built. So often times, women entrepreneurs usually find themselves torn between commitment to the family and business. Now how do you handle such challenge? The answer lies in  time management and delegation. These two keys are  essential to balancing your act and building a successful home alongside a family. Stress Due To Competition And Business Routine The last but not the least challenge women face in business is the stress and stiff competition associated with running a business.  The entrepreneurial process of building a business from scratch entails hard work, commitment and persistence. Business is a game of dog eat dog; to survive, you have to be tough. As a woman in business, you might find yourself going head to head with competition and fulfilling your business tasks; and this might lead to fatigue. When confronted with such challenge,  you have to use the art of delegation and time management to your advantage. Get the tedious business tasks off your neck and concentrate more on the core issues at hand. How to Develop Women Entrepreneurs   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Right efforts on from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Following efforts can be taken into account for effective development of women entrepreneurs. Consider women as specific target group for all developmental programmers. Better educational facilities and schemes should be extended to women folk from government part. Adequate training programmed on management skills to be provided to women  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  community. Encourage womens participation in decision-making.   Vocational training to be extended to women community that enables them to understand the production process and production management.   Skill development to be done in womens polytechnics and industrial training institutes. Skills are put to work in training-cum-production workshops.   Training on professional competence and leadership skill to be extended to women entrepreneurs.   Training and counseling on a large scale of existing women entrepreneurs to remove psychological causes like lack of self-confidence and fear of success.   Counseling through the aid of committed NGOs, psychologists, managerial experts and technical personnel should be provided to existing and emerging women entrepreneurs.   Continuous monitoring and improvement of training programmers.   Activities in which women are trained should focus on their marketability and profitability. Making provision of marketing and sales assistance from government part.   To encourage more passive women entrepreneurs the Women training programmed should be organized that taught to recognize her own psychological needs and express them. Leading Business Women In India Chanda Kapoor Executive Director ICICI Bank. Ekta  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Kapoor Creative Director Balaji Telefilms Jyoti Naik President Lijjat Papad Lalita .D. Gupte Jt.Managing  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Director (MD) ICICI Bank. Preeta Reddy Managing Director   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  (MD) Apollo Hospital Rashree Pathy Chairman Rashree Sugar and Chemicals Ltd. Ravina Raj Kohli Media Personality and Ex- President Star News Renuka Ramanath   CEO ICICI Ventures Tarajani Vakil Former Chairman and MD EXIM Bank. Ritu Nanda CEO Escolife Schemes for Women Entrepreneurs 1. Seed Capital Scheme 2. National Equity Fund 3. Prime Ministers Employment Guarantee Scheme 4. Single Window Scheme. 5. Bank Schemes for Women Entrepreneur 6. Mahila Artik Vikas Mahamandal What Makes Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men? Over the past few years, there has been a surge in business startups by female entrepreneurs. Today Im going to discuss how the way women run things may be a bit different from how men play the game. Strong Focus On Values Its not that men dont put values in the front lines of their company, but most women entrepreneurs make it the number one priority over everything else. According to Margaret Heffernan, who recently wrote How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs Are Changing the Rules of Business, women think about what their business will stand for before they start planning anything else. Will Ask For Help Many men (not all) have difficulty asking for help when it comes to something like their very own business. Pride can sometimes get in the way. But most women dont have a problem admitting that theyre not sure how to accomplish a certain task or what needs to be done next in the building-a-business game. This can sometimes provide an advantage in a well-spring of knowledge from sources that help ground their business more quickly. Focused On The Working Environment According to Heffernan, male entrepreneurs see their businesses as a machine, while female entrepreneurs see it as a living organism. I can see where shes coming from. Men may be more likely to take the position that bad parts (employees) can easily be replaced with new and better functioning ones. Many male entrepreneurs may overlook the fact that the parts are going bad because the machine as a whole is not in great condition. Some may take the position that a new employee here or there will help to make the business function better, rather than examining the whole business under a microscope to see if there may be underlying problems. Women entrepreneurs tend to be on the other end of the spectrum with the perspective that, if the environment their employees are in isnt working, then the entire ecosystem of the business, if you will, could collapse. Basically, women entrepreneurs focus more on making sure the work environment is comfortable to obtain the best performance from their employees, rather than expecting the best from their employees despite the work environment. Strength Of The Business Women entrepreneurs tend to focus on building a business so strong that it could function completely and successfully without them. Men build strong businesses, but often want to make sure they are always part of the central element that keeps things going. According to Heffernan, women entrepreneurs are more like the conductor of the symphony the person who doesnt make the noise, but pulls it all together.

Without Consicence: The Disturbing World Of The Psychopaths Among Us :: Without Consicence

Without Consicence: Â  The Disturbing World Of The Psychopaths Among Us Robert D Hare is respected by his colleagues worldwide as an expert on psychopathy. He gained much of his insights as a Psychologist employed with CSC (Correctional Service of Canada) starting in the early 60's. At the present time he is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He and his students have interviewed hundreds of psychopathic offenders. This book is rich with transcripts of those interviews, giving gripping insights into what makes them "tick." This IS NOT a shallow pop psychology, "self help" book. It's no gory thriller with lurid prose either. It's a GENUINE self help book. It will verify suspicions you may have acquired from life experiences, that some few people who cross your path truly "have no real feelings or conscience" and are "relentless users," employing endless ways to manipulate others. They are driven to always be "in control". I know the kind. I've positively identified about five or ten of them in my 41 years and seen many others who "lean that way." Just as this book states and/or implies -- even if they live their whole lives never actually committing any horrible crime, you never "trust" them. You somehow "know" what they COULD do. Your gut instincts warn you they are opportunistic, "social predators" whose outward "normalcy" is only a "slick facade." You detest and/or mourn the gullibility and trusting attitude of too many who are consistently "used" by them. Most of them during their entire lives never BREAK the law, but they are second to none at knowing how to BEND and TWIST it to suit their purposes. You find out eventually by observing them long enough or by being victimized yourself, how crafty they are at maneuvering others to "fit into their plans." You come to the horrible conclusion that if they were allowed free rein, they would prove that they only feel "truly alive" if they can tell everyone who touches their lives what to do, when to do it, what to think and when to think it? I believe they're profoundly fearful cowards, literally "too scared" to ever discover love or respect. Their social relations only have one goal and one choice if they can't meet it -- "In some way, shape or form, I MUST dominate you, if I can't, we have NOTHING to do with each other".

A Cure for Cancer Essay -- Biology Apoptosis

For years people have been looking for a cure for the devastating disease of cancer. Cancer is the third highest killer in the US with over 2,500,000 victims per year. Oncologists and scientists around the country are researching all forms of cancer in an effort to understand, treat, and ultimately defeat this disease. Already there have been numerous advances in the field, such as chemotherapy and gene therapy. One advance has been the use of a cell process known as apoptosis. By harnessing this normal cell process, scientists hope to have found an effective way to combat cancer. Cancer is a disease that affects human somatic cells. It causes the cells to divide uncontrollably and form masses known as tumors. There are two different types of cancer tumors. Some tumors are benign and other tumors are malignant. Benign tumors look similar to the tissues that they came from and develop slowly. The tumor remains in the same area that the tumor originated in. Malignant tumors are formed from cells that do not resemble the tissue that they came from. They vary in shape and size. This enables pieces of the tumor to break off and spread to other places in the body. Over the past few decades cancer has become a very prominent disease. There are many different types of cancer and many different causes for the the disease. Most cancers are because of a genetic mutation. The most common type occur when a cell is dividing. Proto-oncogenes, which are alleles in a normal cells, mutate to form oncogenes. These oncogenes cause cancer because they do not allow the cells to sel f destruct or become epistatic. There have been several research projects which have been testing epistatis. Transfecting DNA To perform the experiments for this re... ...wth of both normal and malignant cells. The limited research that has been performed using these cells has yielded contradictory results: some results say that the alpha5beta1 integrins destroy cancer cells, other results have shown that cell division and other necessary cell functions have been encouraged by the integrin. But the research has predominantly shown that the results of the expression of alpha5beta1 integrins yield beneficial results in terms of cancer tumor reduction. More research needs to be done, but the knowledge obtained from this experiment that alpha5beta1 integrin prevents premature cell death is an excellent step forward in the fight against cancer. There are untold possibilities of the medical applications of not only alpha5beta1 integrins, but all of the many integrins and cell adhesion molecules that play important roles in cell function.

Waiting For The Mahatma

R. K. Narayan is one of the postcolonial writers of India who are found to project the nation building attitude in their writings. His Waiting for the Mahatma, set in the surroundings of the writer’s created village Malgudi, is woven against the unconventional backdrop of the freedom movement. But in spite of using directly the national experience as the central theme as did Raja Rao, Narayan puts it in the background giving preference to the personal narrative.In Waiting for the Mahatma, the story develops through the development of Sriram’s character, his encounter with different situations and his romance with Bharoti. At first, Sriram is presented a lazy and complacent young high school graduate living with his grandmother. He has no knowledge of the condition of the country. But once he meets and falls in love at first sight with a young woman, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and is involved in the freedom struggle. Actually his development through the novel from part 1 to 5 is our medium to know different aspects of the novel.The protagonist, Sriram, is an insipid person who can be easily influenced by anyone. At the outset of the novel, in Part I, we acknowledge that he grows up under the loving care of his grandmother, after the early death of his parents. In that time his life was controlled by his granny. When he is twenty, his grandmother hands over the fat sum of money she had been saving in his name. His irresponsibility is known immediately, when he wants to withdraw a huge sum of Rs. 250/-, but his watchful grandma restricts it to a decent Rs. 50/-. He had no choice rather obey her.Then he came into contact with Bharati and fell into love at first sight. He met her as she was making tin collection for the freedom movement. Bharati’s father had been shot dead while offering Satyagraha against the British during the first Non-cooperation Movement. She, who was just an infant then, was adopted and brought up by the Sevak Sangh, a G andhian institute, as a foster daughter to Gandhi. Bharati has no existence without Gandhi. She has no independent character of her own. She only symbolises Gandhi model of love, non-violence and freedom.Sriram comes into contact with Gandhi through Bharati. The nearer he goes to Bharati the more he learns about Gandhi. Sriram left his Granny at Kabir Road at night leaving behind his household things and went to become a non-violent soldier of Gandhi. His aim was to remain with Bharati. â€Å"Gandhiji welcomed Sriram and told him: ‘â€Å"Before you aspire to drive the British from this country you must drive every vestige of violence from your system. . . . You must train yourself to become a hundred percent ‘ahimsa’ soldier’†. Gandhi could easily read what type of a man Sriram was.So he advised him to leave his materialistic life and accept a spiritual life. Meanwhile Sriram, a pleasure seeking man, was totally changed to a freedom fighter and a fo llower of Gandhi. As part of propagating Gandhi’s message, especially ‘Quit India’, Sriram came to the village named Solur. He halted before a shop and bought two plantains and a bottle of soda. The shop man told Sriram that he had nice biscuits and asked if he wouldn’t try it. Sriram asked him if the biscuit was English. He replied, ‘â€Å". . . Purely English biscuits which you cannot get for miles around.In these days no one else can get them. ’ ‘Have you no sense of shame? ’ Sriram asked. Sriram has transformed from a wayward selfish modern materialist to a spokesman of traditional values, swaraj and nationality. In pursuance of Gandhi’s wishes, while Bharati courted arrest, Sriram kept himself out of it and fell a prey to the machinations of a revolutionary terrorist Jagdish. Temporarily he found satisfaction in his job of setting fire to the records in half a dozen law courts, derailing a couple of trains, paralyzing the work in various schools and exploding a crude bomb.â€Å"But he enjoys these bouts only as â€Å"a relief in his lonely drab life, isolated from all human association. His revolutionary activities give him a feeling of romantic importance and an image of a character out of an epic† but he feels a loss of direction and â€Å"a certain recklessness† about himself. The freedom that he abrogates for himself in disorder as destruction proves him false† Sriram became a violent soldier of freedom. He became a slave of Jagdish who was a follower of Subash Chandra Bose. Jagdish turned the Mempi temple into a fortress.â€Å"Sriram did many destructive works on the request of Jagdish. Soon he understood that by destroying things none could oust the British from India. He felt that Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent weapon was superior to the violent weapon. He was arrested under the Defence of India rule† . Sriram needed a prolonged training in understanding a nd realizing the meaning of love and the wider implications of non-violence in this and the context of freedom. Bharati made him aware of the feminine beauty and Gandhi truth.The materialist Sriram was converted into a spiritualist and patriot by the effort of Bharati and Gandhi. Sriram’s name recalls that of the great hero of the Indian epic the Ramayana. â€Å"While there is some irony here, considering the nature of this particular hero, the detail is significant. The novel could be read as a kind of parable with Sriram as a figure representative of the Indian nation, attracted to the Gandhian teachings but lacking the moral fibre necessary for faithful continued adherence to them†.In the plot of this book, the transformation of the protagonist due to his meeting and falling in love with Bharati is significant. The path of the protagonist’s progress has been from a state of isolated individualism to a state of involvement with others and issues that transcend the self such as love and nationalism. The novel clearly shows how personal life of people is affected by political events. Sriram and Bharati cannot consummate their relationship until India is independent.Even the scope of romantic love is severely crippled under British colonialism. Waiting for the Mahatmais a story of progress and growth of the hero Sriram. From a materialist he has grown to a patriot and man of values. â€Å"At one level, therefore, Waiting for the Mahatma is a story of progress of young, irresponsible, carefree Sriram into a passionate lover, a responsible citizen of the country with a record of considerable sacrifice and a term in jail to make him a complete patriot† Waiting for The Mahatma R. K. Narayan is one of the postcolonial writers of India who are found to project the nation building attitude in their writings. His Waiting for the Mahatma, set in the surroundings of the writer’s created village Malgudi, is woven against the unconventional backdrop of the freedom movement. But in spite of using directly the national experience as the central theme as did Raja Rao, Narayan puts it in the background giving preference to the personal narrative.In Waiting for the Mahatma, the story develops through the development of Sriram’s character, his encounter with different situations and his romance with Bharoti. At first, Sriram is presented a lazy and complacent young high school graduate living with his grandmother. He has no knowledge of the condition of the country. But once he meets and falls in love at first sight with a young woman, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and is involved in the freedom struggle. Actually his development through the novel from part 1 to 5 is our medium to know different aspects of the novel.The protagonist, Sriram, is an insipid person who can be easily influenced by anyone. At the outset of the novel, in Part I, we acknowledge that he grows up under the loving care of his grandmother, after the early death of his parents. In that time his life was controlled by his granny. When he is twenty, his grandmother hands over the fat sum of money she had been saving in his name. His irresponsibility is known immediately, when he wants to withdraw a huge sum of Rs. 250/-, but his watchful grandma restricts it to a decent Rs. 50/-. He had no choice rather obey her.Then he came into contact with Bharati and fell into love at first sight. He met her as she was making tin collection for the freedom movement. Bharati’s father had been shot dead while offering Satyagraha against the British during the first Non-cooperation Movement. She, who was just an infant then, was adopted and brought up by the Sevak Sangh, a G andhian institute, as a foster daughter to Gandhi. Bharati has no existence without Gandhi. She has no independent character of her own. She only symbolises Gandhi model of love, non-violence and freedom.Sriram comes into contact with Gandhi through Bharati. The nearer he goes to Bharati the more he learns about Gandhi. Sriram left his Granny at Kabir Road at night leaving behind his household things and went to become a non-violent soldier of Gandhi. His aim was to remain with Bharati. â€Å"Gandhiji welcomed Sriram and told him: ‘â€Å"Before you aspire to drive the British from this country you must drive every vestige of violence from your system. . . . You must train yourself to become a hundred percent ‘ahimsa’ soldier’†. Gandhi could easily read what type of a man Sriram was.So he advised him to leave his materialistic life and accept a spiritual life. Meanwhile Sriram, a pleasure seeking man, was totally changed to a freedom fighter and a fo llower of Gandhi. As part of propagating Gandhi’s message, especially ‘Quit India’, Sriram came to the village named Solur. He halted before a shop and bought two plantains and a bottle of soda. The shop man told Sriram that he had nice biscuits and asked if he wouldn’t try it. Sriram asked him if the biscuit was English. He replied, ‘â€Å". . . Purely English biscuits which you cannot get for miles around.In these days no one else can get them. ’ ‘Have you no sense of shame? ’ Sriram asked. Sriram has transformed from a wayward selfish modern materialist to a spokesman of traditional values, swaraj and nationality. In pursuance of Gandhi’s wishes, while Bharati courted arrest, Sriram kept himself out of it and fell a prey to the machinations of a revolutionary terrorist Jagdish. Temporarily he found satisfaction in his job of setting fire to the records in half a dozen law courts, derailing a couple of trains, paralyzing the work in various schools and exploding a crude bomb.â€Å"But he enjoys these bouts only as â€Å"a relief in his lonely drab life, isolated from all human association. His revolutionary activities give him a feeling of romantic importance and an image of a character out of an epic† but he feels a loss of direction and â€Å"a certain recklessness† about himself. The freedom that he abrogates for himself in disorder as destruction proves him false† Sriram became a violent soldier of freedom. He became a slave of Jagdish who was a follower of Subash Chandra Bose. Jagdish turned the Mempi temple into a fortress.â€Å"Sriram did many destructive works on the request of Jagdish. Soon he understood that by destroying things none could oust the British from India. He felt that Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violent weapon was superior to the violent weapon. He was arrested under the Defence of India rule† . Sriram needed a prolonged training in understanding a nd realizing the meaning of love and the wider implications of non-violence in this and the context of freedom. Bharati made him aware of the feminine beauty and Gandhi truth.The materialist Sriram was converted into a spiritualist and patriot by the effort of Bharati and Gandhi. Sriram’s name recalls that of the great hero of the Indian epic the Ramayana. â€Å"While there is some irony here, considering the nature of this particular hero, the detail is significant. The novel could be read as a kind of parable with Sriram as a figure representative of the Indian nation, attracted to the Gandhian teachings but lacking the moral fibre necessary for faithful continued adherence to them†.In the plot of this book, the transformation of the protagonist due to his meeting and falling in love with Bharati is significant. The path of the protagonist’s progress has been from a state of isolated individualism to a state of involvement with others and issues that transcend the self such as love and nationalism. The novel clearly shows how personal life of people is affected by political events. Sriram and Bharati cannot consummate their relationship until India is independent.Even the scope of romantic love is severely crippled under British colonialism. Waiting for the Mahatmais a story of progress and growth of the hero Sriram. From a materialist he has grown to a patriot and man of values. â€Å"At one level, therefore, Waiting for the Mahatma is a story of progress of young, irresponsible, carefree Sriram into a passionate lover, a responsible citizen of the country with a record of considerable sacrifice and a term in jail to make him a complete patriot†