Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Important to Treat Patients with Kindness and Respect

In his book, People Care, Thom Dick shows us that while it is imperative to know and perform all the medical procedures well, it is also important to treat patients with kindness and respect. He points out that most people don’t remember much about medical procedures performed, but they do remember how they were treated. Also, he demonstrates that how patients are treated plays a big role in whether or not they decide to pursue malpractice litigation against healthcare providers. If patients are handled with gentleness and respect, they are more likely to forgive mistakes. He begins his book by giving us three major mistakes that the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has made since its founding. The first mistake was to support hiring people that were inclined to hate their jobs. These people were thrill seekers and just wanted to be heroes. They only cared primarily about themselves and not enough about the patient. In order to enjoy and do well in the EMS profession, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) need to naturally like people and have a love for helping them. The second mistake was that the EMTs were taught to expect the wrong things. They were led to believe that every call would be exciting. In reality, most calls are routine and are not exciting at all. The last mistake was that many EMS administrators treated their workers with disrespect. They applied manufacturing measures to EMS quality which made the EMTs feel less valuable. Thom Dick wants us to remember that EMS is not manufacturing; it is the most important people business ever. Next, Mr. Dick stresses that the EMT’s personal safety always comes first. He believes that they need to develop safety habits if they are to stay alive and healthy. One of the gifts that EMS gives back is situational awareness. EMTs will be put into many dangerous situations and will need situational awareness in order to stay out of harm’s way. Mr. Dick also believes that another way to stay safe is to never drive the ambulance too fast or in any other irresponsible way. Thom Dick emphasizes the need to respect others no matter how strange or different they may seem to us. EMTs meet a wide variety of people out in the field and must learn to accept them as they are. It is not an EMT’s job to judge other peoples’ personalities. Their job is to provide the best care that they are able to give. Mr. Dick feels that it is important to take the time to understand how patients are feeling. Many of the people that EMTs will meet are scared and need someone to help them feel better. One of the most important things an EMT can do for them is to simply smile. The smile needs to be genuine or the patient will feel like it is all an act and the EMT doesn’t really care. He next expresses the need to develop professional etiquette toward everyone that they meet. Respect and kindness should be shown to every person that EMTs come upon in the field. This includes other medical professionals, first responders, other drivers, co-workers, and patients. EMTs should listen to them and do all they can to cooperate. This will be easiest if they naturally like people and have no problem respecting others. Additionally, Mr. Dick feels that professional etiquette includes maintaining a professional appearance. If EMTs are poorly groomed or go around with an unkempt uniform, it reflects badly on themselves, their colleagues, and their profession. In Mr. Dick’s opinion, most of the so called â€Å"system abusers† are simply people who are overwhelmed in life or just lonely. They become desperate for someone to talk to and they know EMTs will always respond and most likely listen to them. They deserve sympathy however and not distain. Many of these people are homeless, having no one in their lives to talk to or listen to them. The author wants us to remember that, with a couple of bad breaks, we could end up homeless too and that these people should be treated with the same level of respect as everyone else. According to Mr. Dick, another group that deserves respect is the patient’s family members. If a patient is in crisis, the family is most likely in crisis as well. They can be very helpful in such things as giving the patient’s medical history, medications, and other useful information to an EMT. The family can also become formidable adversaries if they feel that the patient is being mistreated. EMTs should always listen to them and show that they really do care about their family member. Furthermore, Mr. Dick believes that being able to give comfort to the family is a required skill for all healthcare providers to have. He further states that the elderly are probably the biggest group of people that EMTs will treat in their careers. The author gives several examples in his book of how the elderly can be different from other patients and how certain things can affect them more. Mr. Dick also wants EMTs to understand how the elderly feel about the current condition of their lives. They have gone from being independent in all areas in their lives to needing elp getting dressed and cleaning themselves. They are people just like everyone else and deserve to be treated as such. Mr. Dick next warns us that EMTs will come in contact with many violent people and that they need to do all they can to stay out of danger. When EMTs come upon these people, they must do their best to keep control of their emotions and not retaliate in any way. Violent patients should still be treated with respect and still need to be cared for. Additionally, Mr. Dick informs us that EMTs may be put in a situation where they will have to â€Å"take-down† and restrain the patient. He believes that if they must do this, proper restraints should be used and they should still listen to the patient. If the patient starts to complain of breathing difficulty, the EMT must do what he can to help them. Thom Dick and his co-authors obviously put a lot of thought into writing this book. It is full of practical ways to treat our patients with respect and how to stay safe while in the field. I strongly believe that all EMS professionals and students should read this book to gain understanding of some of the challenges and dangers they will face in this critical and demanding profession.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Catcher in the Rye and Atigone

In the novel The Catcher in the Rye, and the play Antigone both main characters Holden and Creon are alienated or isolated from society. Through their journey they both develop the theme which is wisdom is gained through suffering and experience. J. D. Salinger’s novel ‘Catcher in the Rye’ portrays to the reader a protagonist named Holden Caulfield who desires independence and feels that the world is an inhospitable place, that he holds contempt for, Holden like many teenagers seeks a sense of identity but does not look for it through his connections with others.The book highlights this and his issue of identity is explored through Holden, himself, who can be correlated to other people living in forced isolation and alienation. Holden constantly labels â€Å"phoney-ness† on the adult world and forces self alienation as a way of self protection for himself to further illustrate his independence from a world he is not connected to. In the drama â€Å"Antigon e† by Sophocles we can see that Creon is also the protagonist. Creon is obsessed with greed and power. The play highlights this by capturing the controlling and manipulative ways of Creon’s personality.We can see that he is not directly wanting to be alone like Holden but that he doesn’t care about anyone else other than himself. This is self inflicting insolation, because no one will what to endure his presents. This help’s develop the theme because we can see both of the characters flaws and how they are going to grow. Holden is a compelling character, because we are not sure what he is going to do next. He purchased a red hunting hat that will make him stand out in a crowd, or protect himself from the outside world.He wears a hunting hat to show his uniqueness and isolates him self to portray that he is better than others and above interacting with them. In the beginning on the novel we see that the hat is used more frequently, to hide his true emotions . He tends to wear his hat when he is alone and thinking to himself. But he did wear it in a crowd of people so no one would talk to him. As he is in New York he tends to stop wearing the hat so often this meaning that he is growing up and maturing. Then eventually he even gives the hat to Phoebe showing that he is now an adult.There are many conflicts that Creon has to over come before he realizes that he is not the only person he truly cares about. Creon puts himself at a position of power, he go against his word saying that he would listen to the people of Thebes. Now he is going to send people to death even if they are listening to the gods. Because Creon is at a postison of power he can do whatever he wants even though it is pushing people away from him and causing him to be isolated. At the end of the play Creon finally realizes that just because he has power does not mean that everyone will love him, and he is left alone.This helps develop the theme because we can see that bo th characters are suffering in their own way. Holden is suffering with letting people in and not being able to show emotion. He is gaining knowledge through his own experiences and able to see that the adult world is not so bad after all. Creon had to also learn from his own experiences. Creon’s tragedy is his inability to recognize that anyone else can be right and his failure to acknowledge a higher good than that of the state. He only realizes when it is to late, when his loved ones were no longer with him.Holden often reaches out to people but sabotages potential relationships by making awkward and odd comments or actions. Holden is terrified to make a connection with someone knowing that the people he love often abandon him: Allie, D. B. , his parents. â€Å"Where do the ducks go? † is a question that he often asks to the taxi driver. This is a symbol of growth and maturity because he can see that not everything will leave forever like Allie. The ducks will come b ack and so will the people in his life. Holden thinks he wants to find someone to share intimacy with but truly what he needs is a good friend, someone who he can talk.This person in the novel is his sister the one who he truly cares about Phoebe. She is like a rock for him, even though she is much younger than him she acts as the adult in the relationship. She helps him grow and mature into a young adult. Unlike Holden, Creon is in love with power. He puts his love for his country above the love for his family He'd rather kill Antigone to uphold his law and win the respect (or fear) of people of Thebes than pardon his niece and one of his last living relatives. When he sends Antigone to her death he has an argument with his son Haemon.Creon is now killing the love of his son’s life for his own love of power. He tries to take back what he has done but it is to late, Antigone, Heamon, and Eurydice are now dead. Creon had cause his own son and wife to die because of his love fo r power. Love helps develop the theme because we reach out for people and we need them to live normal social lives. Without these life experiences how are we able to mature and grow as a person. You may have to suffer before you can see the growth. â€Å" Of happiness the crown and chiefest part is wisdom, and to hold the Gods in awe.This is the law that , seeing the stricken heart of pride brought down, we lean when we are old. † ( Chorus, p 162, text) We can only grow wiser through experience as we can see through both Holden and Creon. With both character’s they have to learn to let people in to have an opinion. That it is ok to stand out, but what will you do with your power? And to love the ones who love you. Without them you will be nothing in the world. Wisdom is gained through suffering and experience because without experience we would never grow as a person. Comparative Essay

Monday, July 29, 2019

What is a Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is a Hero - Essay Example They are tempted to use their great strength to do good for themselves or their cause, but they have limitations that they may not know. In this way the heroes of epic stories tell us something about ourselves: although human beings are the strongest species on the planet we can often harm ourselves through our hubris. Hubris and Nemesis are issues that all heroes must face often on a huge and dramatic scale. In the end however, a hero is someone who proves their mettle by putting others interests before their own. A good example is in The Odyssey a remarkable story of one man’s journey back home, a journey of return to his loved ones. For Odysseus, nothing is more important that family. That said, there are other values in the story that are very important. One is a collection of martial values—honour, fellowship, solidarity—that runs like a golden thread throughout the story. Another is the duty of the living towards the dead. All of these have played an important role in my own life. Just as Odysseus tries to live his life according to this values—familial love, martial honour, and duty to those gone before us—so do I try to live my own life. It is the story of a man trying desperately to return home after many years away fighting in a terrible war. But he is being punished and his journey is very dilatory. He must constantly deal with obstacles. Each obstacle presents in its way a moral or ethical challenge that will try Odysseus. Although my own life is very different that Odysseus’, and much less straightforward, nevertheless, I too have been challenged by obstacles that have made me think hard about the values I live by. Throughout the story he does everything possible to put the interests of his crew and family before his own. He shows that at the core of all true heroes is love. Also, his associations make him heroic. He surrounds himself with

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Key Issues Analysis When MRMC Ethical efficiencies in valuing and Essay

Key Issues Analysis When MRMC Ethical efficiencies in valuing and pricing - Essay Example The opportunity costs are the goods and services that consumers want and value. Incorrect pricing has ethical implications. To charge too small a price for a product in relation to its production costs will affect revenue negatively, upset the delicate balances required for profit maximization, and lead to disastrous repercussions, perhaps even to the demise of the company. On the other hand, to charge too much for the product, more than people are willing to pay, will result in the same kinds of consequences. Incorrect payments to the factors of productions is unethical because it would also result in opportunity costs for the company. The opportunity costs include the foregone profits of producing goods and services that consumers want and also the opportunity costs arising from the greater community in which the firm exists - from the immediacy of geographical location to philosophical, religious, legal, sociological, and cultural implications of the greater world. Paid less than the value of his/her marginal product, the employee, a scarce human resource, would leave the company. Paid more, the company's opportunity costs would result in fewer resources from which to produce the goods and services the community wants. One disposition is to put aside individual ethics and adopt only corporate ethics, that is, profit maximization or opportunity costs minimization, producing goods and services that consumers want and value. Price is a measure of how much do consumers want and value the goods and services produced. The payment to all of the factors of production will be equal to the total revenues from the price. The total dollars from the production of goods and services is apportioned among the various factors of production according to the contribution of that factor of production's contribution, called its marginal physical product (MPP) in economics terms. The sum of the MPP of the factors of production equals what is produced. With respect to value, the MPP of each factor of production is sold in the market place for that price the consumer is willing to pay for it. When that price is multiplied by the MPP of each factor of production, the dollars we receive are called the value of the marginal physical product (VMP). Another disposition is to attempt to influence the value that consumers place on goods and services produced by the firm. This could be achieved through advertisements. Value could be added to the factors of production so that their VMP could be increased. For example, labor could be trained and creativity could be encouraged. Also, cheaper factors of production could be used. For example, rather than producing steel in the USA, the firms in the steel industry could have based their production in Venezuela, Canada, and Australia where the cost of production is lower. Nike is a good example of an organization that has adopted this disposition. Its operation is based in China, where the cost of production is low. It tries to influence consumer demand for its goods through advertisements. The value of entrepreneurship is increased by outsourcing all functions in which it has no competitive advantage and focusing instead on marketing. The first disposition is recommended. This is because it essentially means production at the level where marginal cost (MC) is equal to marginal revenue (MR) when profit is maximized.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Health Care Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Health Care Reform - Essay Example What is more important is that an individual should consider his or her well being as essential in a given population (Pipes 81-6) Obamacare is one policy that will protect the well being and freedom of each individual. Through this, the government created this law to avoid private sectors or specific persons from harming or exploiting innocent citizens. Failing to agree with this governmental program will mean that a person finds it permissible to be manipulated and be assaulted by the stranger without any penalty accorded to this. Denying this policy is also denying oneself justice and the right to be protected and be taken care of by the government. If citizens agree, then it is inconsistent to reject Obamacare (Pipes 52). The objective of having a healthcare mandate is to promote people's well being. Health is sometimes forgotten when thinking of well being; sometimes it is treated as a luxury, yet it is the physical building block for a person's well being, satisfaction, and happiness. Â  

Friday, July 26, 2019

R&D 5 Draft of report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

R&D 5 Draft of report - Research Paper Example By the time, a child is two years old the parents must have at least visited more than one health care (Stern AM, 2005). For this purpose, many parents suffer searching for lots of records in form of papers while taking their children for immunization. Since the introduction of Vermont Immunization Register, all vaccinations can be consolidated into one record from all health care providers. This process is also secure and accurate especially for the parents who are taking their babies for the first immunization (Bonhoeffer J, 2007). The computer system is capable of calculating ages and provides efficient data on data history for the patient undergoing immunization. The computerized immunization systems also come with an advantage of informing parents and most patients on when is the next immunization date and process (T, 2006). This information is important especially at school and at sports facilities where students engage. This information is also important for doctors who are ch ecking on patients for their fast time as it provides all he clinical history. 8 The Vermont Immunization Registry is a computer-based system that enables participating health care practices to view accurate vaccination records in a secure manner. The practitioners will be able to access immunization history of each child from their practice and other enrolled Vermont providers. The information could normally be organized into one unified record that is up-to-date (Muzumdar JM, 2009) 8 To become part of the registry, one would require internet access and a computer in the practice. The Registry is carefully designed to ensure that patients’ confidentiality is maintained, as well as that of families and the practice. Access is strictly limited to Vermont health care providers, and a secure server having multiple levels of password protection required houses the Registry. The prospective user also ought to sign a confidentiality agreement prior the

The Country of the Pointed Firs Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Country of the Pointed Firs - Coursework Example As with the attachment to their mothers, the duality of living the part assigned to them by society and at the same time resisting it makes the life of a woman that much more interesting for artists to portray in their pieces of work. Thus, the daughter has a special relationship with their mothers as evidenced by the fact that the mother is the one who has to make her â€Å"learn the paces†. But, her relationship with the father is one of subordinating herself as well as receiving special treatment because she is a woman. The other interesting point is the way in which women treat the rooms in their homes. The living room is for common purposes and where men go about their business. The kitchen is the place where women rule the roost. But the parlor room is where they come into their own because of the inherent dualities as listed in the book. In conclusion, the contention of the author is that women by leading dual lives lend themselves to the symbolic discourse of the mainstream society and this is a fascinating study in contrast for anyone who wishes to delve deeper into the psyche of

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Write if you agree or disagree and why Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Write if you agree or disagree and why - Essay Example It may seem that companies are reluctant to raise wages because they are trying to protect their interests. However, when one looks at the matter critically, one will discover that an increase in the minimum wage has adverse impacts on the workers. Employers will increase the wages of their workers through increasing the prices of the goods they sell. For example, a retail shop will increase the prices of their goods, which are necessities, to cater for the government’s requirement. The changes in the consumer goods will fall hard on the individuals living below the poverty level because they will have to pay more for such goods (Macurdy n.pag). The government will have increased their purchasing power but also caused them to spend more on their consumptions. They do not benefit because the extra money they have earned goes straight to the profits of their employers. They might have to spend more because the minimal wage bill affects various sphere of the economy. Companies do not only hike prices to meet their profit objectives. They may also lay off workers. The low earners will be forced to look for jobs elsewhere (Macurdy n.pag). This increases in the burden of social workers who have to provide benefits for the unemployed. The law will increase the rate of unemployment, a state that brings with its problems. Employees will have to lose the salary that has helped them survive in the severe economy. The workers who will be retained will be forced to do a lot more for a marginal increase in their salaries. The retrenched workers will have left a gap that can only be filled with the remaining workers. They will be willing to take up the extra work because they will be too grateful to have retained their jobs. However, they will be under strenuous conditions that will reduce their job satisfaction. An increase in salaries will cause the low-income earner lose out on social benefits such as food stamps and subsidised housing charges. A

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH Essay

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH - Essay Example Outbreaks of major diseases have been handled appropriately as drug companies and governments are able to transport medical supplies and experts within the shortest time possible due to globalization. In the United States, the relationship between globalization and human health is a very complex one as it has both positive and the negative side. This relationship which is described as an inexorable force, need to be understood and developed for the well-being of all human beings. The increased knowledge and new technologies in the United States has greatly improved the surveillance of infectious diseases and the monitoring of antibiotic resistance. The country has a major influx of both legal and illegal immigrants from different parts of the world due to globalization. It has greatly increased the country’s ability to respond to disease emergency cases in other parts of the world. During the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (S.A.R.S) in China, the United States had to take a stern measures so as to ensure that the deadly disease did not spread into the country. They issued travel advisories and close monitoring of its borders. Health care provision in the United States is mainly offered by many firms and organizations in both private and public sectors. Close to 21% of the health care services is offered by the government while 58% of the of the health care institutions are held by non-profit making community based organizations while the remaining percentage is for profit-making. The expenditure on health care by the United States accounted to 17.2% of the total Gross Domestic Product in the year 2011 (OECD, 2005). The United States per capita national expenditures on health care in the year 2013 amounted to $ 9,255 while the total national health expenditures was $ 2.9 trillion. In Mexico, health

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

General Principles of Law in the Eu Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

General Principles of Law in the Eu - Essay Example It has been said that there were two main aspects for achieving a common market; the first being "negative integration" which required removal of existing barriers and the second requiring "harmonization" of rules so as to be in compliance with the set community rules which require positive steps so that the products can move freely within the EU this is known as positive integration1. When making an analysis of free movement it is necessary to differentiate between monetary barriers which are illustrated under Art 23-25 or under Article 90, which is discriminatory taxation and other barriers which do not deal with charges which are covered under Article 28-30. There have been at time quantitative restrictions which have restrained either the quantity of exports or imports. A restriction can take the form of a ban, quotas, or the requirement of obtaining licenses. For the purpose of ascertaining what a good is the ECJ stated in Commission v. Italy2 that the provisions of free movement of goods applied to any produce which can be valued in money and can form the basis for a commercial transaction. It can be clearly stated from the fact that Synthostein is a good and so the provisions for free movement of goods do apply to it. By the facts it can be said that there has been a quantitative restriction placed by Loamshire Borough Council on the import of Synthostein and so Art28 will be discussed along with its interpretation to the facts. Article 28 states that 'quantitative restrictions on imports and all measures having equivalent effect shall be prohibited between member states'. In Geddo v Ente Nazionale Risi3 quantitative restrictions was said to be total or partial restriction on imports, exports or goods in transit. This tends to include a complete ban. (Commission v. Italy (Re Ban on Pork and Imports)4. It also includes quotas as stated in Salgoil SpA v. Italian Ministry for Foreign Trade5. Furthermore, even if it is found that the ban on imports is only on a certain or part of the member state, it would still be classified as a quantitative restriction. This was illustrated in the Ditle v. Bluhm6e case where a prohibition on import by Danish on a small island named Laeso of bees or reproductive material was found to be a quantitative restriction even though it was only for the island and for the purpose of protecting the Laeso brown bee. In order for the Article 28 to be applied it has been found necessary that a state measure should have been taken. This is what was found in the case of Commission v. Ireland 'Buy Irish' 7where it was found that the Irish Goods Council had the involvement of the state in the appointment of its Managing Committee and that it was run on state funding. However it has been seen that measures taken by state have been interpreted in the

Monday, July 22, 2019

The Elements of Drama Essay Example for Free

The Elements of Drama Essay I am now going to talk about our piece of drama. We have being studying the topic anorexia for a couple of weeks now. In this piece of drama we have looked at and developed ideas and done some study about Nervous Conditions. In this extract a teenage girl has been living in England for a good amount of time and when she comes back to Africa she is finding it very difficult to adapt back to the life she had back in England. We decided to develop some of ideas based on the fact that we are working with people in Africa now. So the idea we have done is when the girl has come back to Africa and wont eat anything. She is becoming anorexic because in England the people eat and dieted differently. So when she returns back to Africa she has developed this idea that she cant eat anything because she is putting on too much weight. As she has this idea stuck in her head, it begins to affect the rest of the family by making the father very angry at her mood swings and this leads into a massive argument. In our development we used the storyline from our booklet and developed it much more. We started by using the storyline that Nyasha (Lily) comes home and wont eat any food and begins to lie about what she dies with her lunch money. It all starts to kick off when the family is sitting down and enjoying their dinners and Nyasha (Lily) comes into the room. The father (me) asks her to eat her dinner because she just sites there and acts as though she doesnt care. So the father (me) has a little go at her and her mother (Polly) tries to defend her. Then the brother (Umar) starts to back up his father by saying that she never eats at lunch. We done this so it shows that the brother and sister have not had such a decent relationship because he always tries to get his sister in trouble. We tried to make this piece as realistic as possible by showing the everyday relationship that some families have to put up with. Then this argument over Nyasha (Lily) not eating starts to carry on to our nex t scene. The next scene is when the mother (Polly) is cleaning up the dishes and has a little thought about what is going on with her daughter and hopes that she will pull her act together. Then we switched straight away to the father (me) in bed and has his own little thought about how angry he is with the whole situation and approaches the incident with a different matter. He decides to show no sympathy (unlike the mother (Polly)) and come down hard on his daughter. I think this is very well followed through and it is realistic how we put the scenes together. Then our next scene follows through to the next morning when the children are about to leave for school. Nyasha (Lily) refuses to have breakfast and decides to act hardcore by bringing in that English attitude by giving cheek back to her father (me). He is having none of this and decides to lay the line down. There is then a massive argument about how Nyasha (Lily) should respect her father (Me). We made this very realistic and tried to make it as violent as we possible could to show our audience that people have to put up with this in real life, not just in theater. So Nyasha decides to take her breakfast and eat it on the way to school. We show a different way of how our story is told because we tell it as we go along. We dont have a narrator because it would be to complicate so we made it easy to follow for our audience. We used monologues to show what our characters are thinking about. This gives a great deal of information to what will happen next. I.e. when the father is having is monologue about how he is going to approach the not eating situation showed it to the audience as to what he was going to do.

Virtue Ethics Essay Example for Free

Virtue Ethics Essay Virtue ethics is a moral philosophy that encompasses morality, defined by values which are identified and classified by a range of character traits. Aristotle is the founding father of most virtue ethics theories, while some versions have incorporated Plato, Kant and Hume their contributions to the theory of virtue ethics is less emphasized (Athanassouulis, 2006). Virtue theory is often thought of as a dynamic theory of how to conduct business activities (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 157). Virtues are acquired character traits that help people fit into society. Acquiring virtuous qualities is necessary to achieve success. According to Grenz Smith (2003): Virtue ethics is defined as an, inner disposition to perform morally right acts of a certain kind; the tendency to act rightly by habit in a particular manner; a character trait that is deemed morally praiseworthy. The virtues have also been understood to be those qualities of character that make a person morally successful. Ethicists in both the Greek and Christian moral traditions have sought to determine what traits are virtues. Recent years have witnessed a renewed interest in virtues, especially with the renaissance in virtue ethics or the ethic of being (p. 125). Other definitions of virtue ethics have been described as positive traits which promote health, harmony, and balance (Engel, 2000). A virtue is an acquired quality of character that allows one to achieve personal happiness. Velasquez, Shanks, Andre and Meyer (1988) illustrated that a person that has developed the virtue of generosity is often referred to as a generous person because he or she tends to be generous in all circumstances (no page). Velasquez, Shanks, Andre, and Meyer’s interpretation of virtue ethics reinforces Aristotle’s earlier theory that once virtuosity is acquired it is maintained by repetition (1988, no page). People are by nature creatures of habit. Therefore, in order to become virtuous it is necessary to repeat virtuous acts so those acts become habits. The opposite of virtues are vices, which are negative traits that detract from health, harmony and balance. According to Engel (2000) a â€Å"vice is an unbalanced virtue which needs to be brought back to center† (no page). A vice can either be a lack of effort or an act of self indulgence. Vices are caused by impulses which are not regulated by virtues and many times the individual is unaware of their emotions (Engel, 2000, no page). Virtues and vices must work together and balance out. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being extreme, a person who values the virtue of honesty and vows to always tell the truth no matter the circumstance or situation lacks harmony and balance. Honesty can be taken to an extreme 10 whereby one says everything from one’s mind without any consideration or using tact (Engel, 2000, no page). On the other hand one can be an extreme 1 where the individual does not ever tell the truth. It is important to understand that being an extreme 1 or 10 on any virtuous scale is not a good thing. Aristotle is the father of virtue ethics theories; he studied ethics in a broad sense. He defined virtues of character as dispositions to act in certain ways in response to similar situations (Engel, 2000, no page). Based on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, things of any variety have a characteristic function that they are properly used to perform (Kemerling, 1997). The good for human beings must involve the entire proper function of human life as a whole (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 350 B. C. ). Aristotle also gave consideration to the aspects of human nature involved in acting and accepting moral responsibility. Aristotle’s philosophy of virtue ethics emphasizes that acting virtuous is a habit not an act. â€Å"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit† (Landauer Rowlands, 2001). For example, individuals that consistently practice the virtue of being fair will continuously expound their knowledge of fairness in every aspect of life. Blackburn (2001) pointed out that Aristotle emphasized becoming virtuous requires education and practice (p. 113). Moral character must be taught and instilled gradually. Aristotle’s theory of virtue applies accordingly to today’s business activities by implying to be virtuous requires extreme repetition, dedication and understanding of morality. Morality is a major component of virtue ethics. Grenz Smith defined morality as, â€Å"Determining what is believed to be right and good, then living out those beliefs† (2003, p. 77). The word ethics has often been used as a synonym for morality (Frankena, 1980, p. 3). According to Frankena, conceptual thinking and analysis seek to clarify moral concepts like virtue to elucidate the logic of moral reasoning (1980, p.4). Morality has been referred to as an action guide or standard of conduct. What Makes Us Moral? Authored by Levy (2004) described â€Å"morality as a system of prescriptions that are held to be conditionally binding upon all rational agents† (p. 41). Most often morality is deemed as a type of character formation which determines how people should act and shape their lives (Frankena, 1980, p19). Essentially morality has been linked synonymously with moral judgment. Hollinger referred to moral judgment as a behavior in which people have a sense of oughtness and obligation (2002, p. 13). Moral judgment involves those decisions in particular situations where one choice may be better or worse than another. According to Cothran (2006), determining what is moral or immoral comes from either the understanding of new information or the application of information (p. 34). It is out of a sense of obligation, and knowing right from wrong that has caused people to debate the morality of an issue. Halberstam (1993) proposed that there are three basic confusions about moral judgment (p. 146). First, morality is not a matter of taste. Second, moral judgments are not social judgments. Lastly, being moral does not equate to acting legally. How people choose to deal with issues tells the world who they are. How do you make a moral decision? You can flip a coin. You can roll dice. Usually people go with their gut instincts. Moral reflection is essentially self actualization which compels people to analyze their decisions. Typically people debate about social issues such as abortion, euthanasia, and everyday personal concerns. These issues are moral judgments not a matter of taste or preference. Americans have enacted laws based on moral concerns not matters of taste. Moral issues are routinely taken to Congress in order to enact laws concerning American citizens. Halberstam (1993) stated, â€Å"If moral views were arbitrary inclinations, we wouldn’t bother trying to get others to see our way† (p. 147). Many people confuse moral judgments with social judgments. Halberstam (1993) researched Southeast Asians cuisine and found many Asians consider monkey brains to be a delicacy (p. 148). Asians frequently dine on monkey brains, which most Americans would find repulsive. However, consumption of monkey brains is no more a moral repulsion than consumption of fried chickens. The issue of whether or not to dine on monkey brains would usually be considered a social judgment not a moral judgment (Halberstam, 1993, p. 148). However, if a particular culture worshiped monkeys then the issue could be considered a moral judgment. Moral judgments, unlike matters of taste are supported by reason (Halberstam, 2003, p. 147). People are allowed to prefer a certain food over another, the same as they are allowed to prefer wearing clothes made by a particular designer over another. An example of moral judgment would be presented if a designer employed children in sweatshops to make his or her clothes. The buyer would then have the burden of deciding whether it is morally correct to continue to purchase the designer’s clothing. The buyer’s decision would be based on his or her moral beliefs. Moral beliefs are inner beliefs that ultimately guide outward actions. Morality isn’t a matter of personal taste or social standards. It really isn’t a matter of the law, either. Morality and the law are often connected. Fried (1978) pointed out in Right and Wrong, â€Å"Rights are to be used, and there are moral judgments to be made, judgments of the good and bad, better and worse, regarding the enjoyment of these rights† (p. 171). For example some comedians tell sexist and ethnic jokes. Legally the comedian has a right to free speech, however those jokes may be considered morally offensive. In most societies people want the law to reflect morality, but there is a fine line between the two. Lying is morally wrong, but unless you lie on a witness stand it’s not illegal (Halbestam, 2003, p. 151). Therefore most people haven chosen not to make being a liar an illegal act; only to question the morality and character of people that lie. Cohen (2002) stated, â€Å"Most of the world’s misery can be traced back to a lack of virtue† (p. 21). The main virtues that support business transactions are: integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and moral leadership (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 157). Lack of any of the previously mentioned virtues can severely hinder and harm a business. According to Lewis (1991) in A Question of Vales: Six Ways We Make The Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives, virtuosity has been closely linked to emotion, â€Å"Although we do not usually associate feeling with thinking or judging we actually judge through our emotions all the time† (p. 10). Being honest and truthful has been found to be the most emotionally challenged and judged virtue. Integrity incorporates a broad range of ethical characteristics. Plante (2004) defined integrity as â€Å"following high standards of honesty, justice, and fairness; having completeness or wholeness† (p. 40). You could say that to maintain integrity is to avoid situations that violate your sense of completeness or wholeness. Here’s an example to illustrate the principle of integrity. You are a lawyer with a firm and you are propositioned by a client to do legal work outside of the firm. You feel this opportunity may help you advance in your career. Also the likelihood of anyone finding out about this business transaction is unlikely. If you were a person of integrity what would you do? I you value the virtue of integrity you would likely decline the offer, due to your loyalty and commitment to the firm. Individuals that value integrity usually value honesty as well. On the other hand individuals that have not fully developed their sense of virtue emotionally agonize between being truthful and being dishonest. Grenz Smith (2003) defined honesty as â€Å"being devoted to the truth and truthfulness: (p. 53). As a virtue honesty gives rise both to pursing the truth and being truthful (Grenz Smith, 2003, p.54). Even in difficult situations a truly virtuous person will always be honest. Trust is a virtue defined as a â€Å"predisposition to place confidence in the behavior of others while taking the risk that the expected behavior will not be performed â€Å"(Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 158). Businesses that posse the virtue of trust eliminate the need for excessive monitoring and precise contracts and agreements (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 158). Businesses that have complete trust convey reliability and integrity to their consumers and counterparts. Fairness is a virtue that focuses on the disposition to deal equitably with the perceived injustices of others (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 158). According to Grenz Smith (2003) fairness is a principle of justice that asserts that all persons in a particular group ought contribute to and share in the benefits that accrue to the group in a manner that is equitable when measured according to an assumed or agreed standard. Fairness often relates to doing the right thing in any given situation. In sales and marketing environments associates often have collective team and individual objectives or sales goals to meet monthly. In order to make the sales objectives fair, upper management assess multiple components, such as the number of sales associates on a team and the amount of sales experience of each individual. It would be unfair for an associate with one month of experience to have the same goals as an associate with one year of service. It would also be unfair for a team of 6 members to have the same sales goals as a team with 10 members. The team would be at a disadvantage either by lack of experience or the number of sales agents. Moral leadership is a virtue that encompasses strength of character, peace of mind heart, and happiness in life. Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell (2008) have found â€Å"moral leadership to be a character trait of leaders who follow a consistent pattern of behavior based on virtues† (p. 158). A person that posses moral leadership will always rely on their virtues to guide them. Such an individual will remain consistent in the method in which they conduct business. Virtues are often called character traits. Character is defined as the various dimensions of personality either natural or acquired that distinguish one individual from another (Grenz Smith, 2003, p. 18). As an ethical term character refers to the traits of an individual that may be deemed morally blameworthy or praiseworthy. Character traits are usually used in a positive sense to refer to the possession of virtues. Individuals that posses character traits are considered to be as morally upright. Gier (2006) found virtue ethics to be internal and self regulating, thereby sustaining character traits as internal and self-regulating measures of standards (no page). It is important to understand that moral character develops over a period of time. People are born with all kinds of natural tendencies. Some of the tendencies will be positive such as kindness and some of the tendencies will be negative such as jealousy (Athanassoulis, 2006, no page). Natural tendencies can be encouraged and discouraged by leadership such as parent’s teachers and peers. Character development is shaped and molded through a long gradual process of moral education and habitation (Athanassoulis, 2006, no page). Moral education and development are a major part of virtue ethics. Cline suggested in Virtue Ethics: Morality and Character, that a person ask themselves four key questions: What sort of person do I want to be?; What virtues are characteristics of the person I want to be? ; What actions will cultivate the virtues I want to possess? : What actions will be characteristics of the sort of person I want to be? (n. d. , no page). Virtuous actions stem from some particular motivation, which implies correct moral decisions require correct moral motives. Greene (1994) pointed out Benjamin Franklin’s stance on the virtue of resolve in Ben’s Book of Virtues which stated, resolutions were meant to be kept and held sacred by resolving to do what you ought (p. 8). In other words, do without fail what you resolve to do (Greene, 1994, p. 8). Resolutions are usually inner promises people make to themselves to do or follow certain plans of action. Following through with resolutions builds trust and respect in the business world. Companies that fail to honor their resolutions become weak and undesirable to their colleagues and stakeholders. There can be a different set of virtues for almost every aspect of life, such as marriage, religion, and business. For example, with regards to marriage the virtues are trust, respect, love and fidelity. Many Christian’s hold their religious virtues as compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and above all love (Col 3:12). Most businesses set of virtues are trust, self-control, empathy, fairness, truthfulness, learning, gratitude, civility, and moral leadership (Ferrell, Fraedrich Ferrell, 2008, p. 158). Virtue ethics is a moral philosophy that has been proven to focus on one’s internal disposition of values and beliefs. According to Aristotle, virtues are developed through moral education which instills positive character traits by repetitive practicing of virtuous habits. Virtuous people posses balance and harmony between their virtues and vices. In conclusion virtue ethics is a dynamic theory of how to conduct business activities and ultimately life activities. Reference List Aristotle. c. 350 B. C. (1985). Nicomachean Ethics. Trans by Terence Irwin. Indianapolis. IN: Hackett. Athanassoulis, Nafsika. (2006). Virtue ethics. In The Internet Encyclopedia ofPhilosophy online. Retrieved July 26, 2008 from http://www. utm. edu/research/iep/v/virtue. htm Blackburn, Simon. (2001). Being good: A short introduction to ethics. New York, NewYork: Oxford University Press Inc. Cline, Austin. (n. d. ). Virtue ethics: Morality and character. Retrieved June 30, 2008,from http://atheism. about. com/od/ethicalsystems/a/virtueethics. htm Cohen, Randy. (2002). The good the bad the difference: How to tell right fromwrongin everyday situations. New York, NY: Doubleday. Cothran, Helen. (Eds) (2006). Ethics: Opposing viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI:Greenhaven Press. Engel, Dawn. (2000). Virtues and vices. Retrieved July 26, 2008 fromhttp://www. philosophypages. com/hy/2s. htm Frankena, William. (1980). Thinking about morality. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. Ferrell, O. C. , Fraedrich, John, Ferrell, Linda. (2008). Individual factors: moralphilosophies and values. In, Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases(7th ed. ). (P. 156-158) Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Fried, Charles. (1978). Right and wrong. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Gier, Nicholas f. (2006). Virtue ethics and character consequentialism. Retrieved fromhttp://www. class. uidaho. edu/ngier/introVE. htm Greene, Karen. (Eds) (1994). Ben’s book of virtues: Ben Franklin’s simple weekly planfor success and happiness. New Hope, PA: New Hope Press. Grenz, Stanley J. Smith, Jay T. (2003). Pocket dictionary of ethics: Over 300 terms ideas clearly defined. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press. Halberstam, Joshua. (1993). Everyday ethics: Inspired solutions real -life dilemmas. New York, NY: Penguin Group. Hollinger, Dennis P. (2002) Choosing the good. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. Kemerling, Garth. Aristotle: Ethics and the virtues. (1997). Retrieved July 28, 2008 from http://www. philosophypages. com/hy/2s. htm Landauer, Jeff Rowlands, Joseph. (2001). Virtue. Retrieved June 30, 2008 fromhttp://wwww. importanceofphilosophy. com/Ethics_Virtue.html Levy, Neil. (2004). What makes us moral? Crossing the boundaries of biology. Oxford,England: Oneworld Publications Lewis, Hunter. (1991). A question of values: Six ways we make the personal choicesthat shape our lives. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. Plante, Thomas G. PH. D. , ABPP. (2004). Do the right thing: Living ethically in anunethical world. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications Inc. Velasquez, Manuel Andre, Claire Shanks, Thomas Meyer, Michael. (1988). Ethics and virtue. Retrieved fromhttp://www. scu. edu/ethics/practicing/decision/ethicsandvirtue. html.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Driving Forces Of Change In Textile Industries Commerce Essay

Driving Forces Of Change In Textile Industries Commerce Essay This project is given us as final assignment in strategic management class the topic is The driving forces those forcing to change the textile industry of Pakistan the Pakistan is agriculture base country and the textile is the back bone of Pakistan economy. The purpose of doing such types of assignment is to getting the practical exposure of industries the implantation of knowledge and also familiar with the challenges and issues which currently the industries is facing. Driving forces play an importance role for the development of economy and for the growth of industries.Through this project assignment we are all familiar with the industries knowledge and experiences and get the depth knowledge of industries and the issues,challenges, problem, norms and value of the industry.During our project we also found that Textile industry of Pakistan is facing several problems due to political and economic environment. Currently interest rate of country is very high which has increased cost of production and makes it difficult for the industry to become cost competitive in the global market. A part interest rate problem, Production of the industry is very disturbed due to power shortage and law and order situation of the country. This assignment is providing the knowledge of industry and how to solve such issues challenges and problem and how to get the competitive advantage and how to compete rivalryand how to cope up with these changes and how to develop the directions of industries in particular situations and how sustainable in these changes which is due to the driving forces of industries. Chapter 02: Literature Review: Background: Research Statement: The driving forces those are forcing to change the textile industry in Pakistan Research Objective: Our research objective is following To identify the link between the driving forces and textile industries To explore the impact of driving forces on textile industries To identify the different driving forces prevailing in the Pakistan economy To find out the solutions for driving forces To find out the reason of driving forces Limitation of Research: Our research is limited in Pakistan country only and in the textile industry and the driving force whose impact on textile the research is conducted through the data analyzing. Scope of Research: The research is conduct only in Pakistan and the research cover the driving forces which is prevailing in Pakistan economy and those who impact the textile industry only. Methods of Research: The method for the research we use the data which is taken from different source and then we analyze the data through the study and through the statically tools research method is most depend upon the data that we gather from different sources and though the online collection of data and implementation. Data Gathering: The data for this topic is gathering from employee who is currently working in textile industry and from the Pakistan textile journals, different authors articles, textile mills websites, government official ministry of textile website, all Pakistan association of textile mills, Google documents, researches etc. Variables: Variable for this research is below Textile industries of Pakistan Driving forces in Pakistan Hypothesis: If driving forces is their will it impact the textile industries. If driving forces vanished what will effect on textile industries. If driving forces aretheir will effect and how much it effect the industry. Driving Forces: The driving forces are the key internal forces micro environment (such as knowledge competences workforce of management and macroenvironment as well (such as economy competition technology) that shape the future of the organization Change in industries is due to the driving forces is participants and driving forces is major cause to bring change in industries competitive condition driving forces are emerge from internal and external environment. Driving forces can include changes in social, technological, environmental, economic andpolitical factors, for example: Demographic factors (population increase, in/out migration, changing age/genderstructure, etc). Laws and regulations (affecting land ownership, labour relations, environmental protection measures, etc). Policies (subsidies, price controls or guarantees, import/export controls, quotasand tariffs, exchange rates, etc). Markets and competition (size of or access to, local, national and internationalmarkets; growing competitiveness of producers in other regions, countries etc). Technology (availability of new genotypes, machinery, etc). Institutions (new actors, influences, social organization). Information (availability, communications technology). Non-agricultural employment opportunities (processing, manufacturing, business,services, migration/ remittances, etc.) Natural resources (characteristics of watershed, water availability, groundwaterlevels, land degradation, etc). Driving Forces Analysis: Driving force can be analyzed in two steps Identify relevant driving force Assessing the impact they will have Types of Driving Forces: Some of the common driving forces of industries. Increasing globalization of industry Changes in cost and efficiency Shifting from standardized to differentiated products (or vice versa) Regulatory influences government policy changes Changing societal concerns, attitudes, lifestyles Changes in degree of uncertainty risk Changes in long-term industry growth rate Changes in who buys the product how they use it Product innovation Technological change/process innovation Marketing innovation Entry or exit of major firms Diffusion of technical knowledge Driving forces In Textile industries of Pakistan: Pakistans textile industry faces several factors, both internal and external, that affect its competitive edge in global trade. An increase in production costs because of the heavy cost of credit finance Government levies and taxation have weighed heavily on the industry, Domestic cotton has not met qualitative needs of the growing spinning and textile sectors. Pakistans downstream users have also impacted the market, Government-backed supportive policies and heavy subsidies of our regional rivals like China, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. External trade and tariff barriers, such as high import duties by the U.S. and anti-dumping duties by European Union. Pakistans loss of preferential access under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in the E.U. Other Driving forces in textile industry: Pakistani Mills Look For the Competitive Edge RGST to affect value-added textile sector Zero rated status for all exports to be maintained Government restores zero-rating for textiles Textile Policy 2009-14 Analysis Finance Bill to Burden Industry Further Increasing Cost of Production Electricity Crisis Tight Monetary Policy Removal of subsidy on Textile sector United States EU cuts imports of textile from Pakistan Raw material Prices Effect of Inflation Pakistani Mills Look For the Competitive Edge: Pakistans cotton and textile industries have adapted to changes in the global cotton trading environment during recent years by investing more than U.S. $6 billion in production and technology upgrades. Because of that, Pakistans domestic consumption has surpassed production by about  3 million bales. But even with increasing consumption, Pakistans textile industry faces several factors, both internal and external, that affect its competitive edge in global trade. Many mills have incurred losses during the last two years. Those mills which could not adopt the necessary changes in the new business environment because of their financial restraints and heavy liabilities have experienced the greatest losses. To make their projects viable and to minimize losses, mills are generally curtailing their production by going into fine count yarns or closing parts of their units. Current Forecast: Pakistan emerged as a major player in world cotton trade after a phenomenal increase in its spinning capacity in the last few years. Traditionally, most of the mills in Pakistan still prefer to use Pakistani cotton due to its known spinning characteristics and easy availability for making medium-count yarns. But many mills have now developed permanent plans and blends based on imported cotton to bridge the shortfall in the local cotton supply.Recently, some mills have bought about 15,000-20,000 tons of Brazilian 2008 crop on call basis for shipment in 2008, and several other mills are inquiring to buy Brazilian cotton on the same basis. Some Brazilian businesses have reported as far as 2009. Some of the mills use this mode of buying to secure their short position in Pakistani cotton. If domestic price goes up, they opt to take shipment, and if prices come down to their desired level, they mange to get their import contracts settled with the shipper with mutual consent.According to pr ivate estimates, about 2.5 million bales of different growths have been booked in 2006/07 through the end of April. By February 2007, about 1,900,521 bales (170 kgs each) had reached the country. Pakistan may need to buy another 300,000-400,000 bales, which they may cover mostly from U.S., Brazil, West Africa and Uzbekistan. Pakistans Supply And Demand 05/06 06/07 07/08 (E) Beginning Stock 4.45 3.50 3.00 Production 12.40 12.40 14.20 Imports 2.05 2.85 2.20 Total Supply 18.90 18.75 19.40 Consumption 15.00 15.50 16.00 Exports 0.40 0.25 0.40 Ending Stock 3.50 3.00 3.00 Total Distribution 18.90 18.75 19.40 (all figures in million bales of 170 kg. each) Cotton vision 2015 Under cotton vision 2015, the government plans to bring more area under cotton cultivation particularly in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the plan, the government wanted to increase cotton production by 20 million bales through potential areas of Balochistan and KP. Having considered various options for production enhancement, it was realized that the production level of 20 million bales could be achieved by 2015 with a modest increase in sowing areas in potential cotton growing areas of Balochistan and NWFP coupled with an average of 5% growth in per hectare yield. The sources said that cotton alone contributes nearly 65 percent of the foreign exchange earnings of Pakistan. To bring more area under cultivation and ensure food security, the government plans to purchase 100 bulldozers for land development work in Balochistan with financial assistance of Italian government. The bulldozers procured will be deployed for development of 78 thousand hectares of land (70 pe rcent new and 30 percent existing) throughout the life of the bulldozers. The bulldozers would be given to the farmers at the rate of Rs 550 per hour against operational cost of Rs 3994.60 per hour involving 86 percent subsidy. (February 16, 2011) RGST to affect value-added textile sector RGST bill was most complicated than on-going GST and urged the government not to impose RGST that was going to push the export-oriented and labor intensive Textile Value Added Textile Sector to the wall. He said that the textiles exporters had strong exceptions to the government for continuously ignoring the reservations of the exporters regarding the imposition of the RGST and Zero Rate facility would not be withdrawn. But it is fact the Govt. had not yet cleared the outstanding refund claims of billions of rupees so far. He mentioned that the government was also holding up millions of exporters money under export rebate which was at present around 1%. Now it seems impossible in the present state of functioning that FBR could smoothly release 15% of GST refunds. To meet this shortfall in working capital, textile exporter/entrepreneur would resort to bank for financing its export for which mark-up rate itself is on a parallel rise. Thus Textile Value Added Textile Sector would be lead to an ultimate collapse, which facing shortage and day-by-day growing bills of Gas, Electricity and basic raw material. RGST may lead textile industry to bankruptcy He said textile industry was consuming 15 percent (600mmcfd) of total load of 4000mmcfd but the shortage is already being shifted on the industry which is unfair. According to him, textile industry has already lost $1.5 billion exports last year as a sizeable capacity remained idle on account of non-availability of gas. This loss is likely to touch $3 billion this year due to increase in value of commodities, if the gas supply to the industry is discriminatory suspended. He feared industry production loss to the extent of 30 percent ahead in case textile industry is denied gas during peak load period starting from November till February. Textile industry has already suffered from 44 days unprecedented gas load shedding during summer. The industry worries are piling up fast with regard to the next 12 months load management policy. Government restores zero-rating for textiles The government has restored the zero-rating for textile exporters and lowered the rate of general sales tax (GST) to four to six percent on sales of textile goods in local markets from the earlier notified 17 percent. Now manufacturers will not have to pay GST on their purchases if the goods manufactured are meant to be exported. If a registered taxpayer or exporter buys yarn with an aim to sell finished products made of it (yarn) in local markets, then he will pay four percent GST. And afterwards, four percent GST will be charged at every level of value-addition instead of 17 percent. If an unregistered taxpayer buys yarn, then he will be liable to pay six percent GST, and four percent GST will be charged on every step of the value-addition chain. Moreover, authorities have also clarified that the special excise duty will only be charged from other than zero-rated sectors. And those imports that are made for the purpose of exports will also remain zero-rated. The rate of withholding tax has been fixed at one percent. All these decisions will come into force with effect from April 012011. The decisions announced in these respects on March 15 through presidential ordinances and subsequently notified through statuary regulatory orders (SROs) have become null and void. The new decisions were taken by finance minister Abdul HafeezShaikh and chairman of FBR Salman Siddique at a grand meeting with textile makers. Delegates from Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, chambers of commerce of different cities and representatives of textile bodies participated in the meeting held at Islamabad. This is a win-win situation for the government and textile makers, said a participant of the meeting. There was consensus on the rates of taxes.Officials agreed to implement four to six percent GST on local sales instead of 17 percent after they were made to realize the menace of Afghan Transit Trade (ATT). If the government had not lowered the taxes, it would have encouraged smuggling under ATT and through other channels. According to an estimate, goods worth $2.5 billion were smuggled into the country last year under the garb of Afghan transit trade. Textile Policy 2009-14 Analysis The first ever National Textile Policy was announced by the government in 2009 and is being generally hailed by the stakeholders since it not only addresses some of their key concerns and demands but also shows (albeit after a long wait) the required commitment and assumption of ownership by the Textile Ministry for providing meaningful policy direction to this largest national manufacturing sector. While the announced policy tends to be quite comprehensive and well researched its success will largely depend on the team assigned to micro manage its implementation and the operational strategy it then goes on to adopt. More often than not, perfectly good policies in the past failed to yield the desired results owing to blatant micro-management failures. Further, we find that embedded in the policy itself are measures that represent its core strength but ironically remain beyond the executionary ambit of the Textile Ministry. For example, it is all very well to announce Priority in Gas and Electricity Load Management, but to be able to effectively carry this out poses some serious practical challenges. First, to implement such a measure requires equal assurance and willingness by the related yet different ministries, namely Water Power and Oil Gas. Second, the textile industry itself is scattered and does not draw power from either dedicated textile feeders or textile specific po wer stations. Therefore ensuring continuity of supplies only to textile mills while switching off others, may operationally not be doable. Third, the textile industrial units (especially the small and medium sized) are so grossly intertwined with residential areas in virtually all industrial centers such as, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Multan, etc., that it gets to be virtually impossible to separate the gas and electricity supply lines of domestic users from the industrial ones. Perhaps a better approach would have been to consult with relevant ministries and announce that a) Textile units in all sizes are entitled to alternative feeder arrangement that ensures continuity of supply from one feeder while the other is switched off for load management, b) Gas to be made available at the doorstep of textile units (like in the earlier days) to overcome the current prohibitive cost of simply getting a gas connection installed; a cost that at present literally denies a significant portion of the industry from cheap, efficient and clean fuel in shape of natural gas, c) Since gas supply management is there to stay, especially in winters, why not just announce a reduced gas tariff (like in Bangladesh) for industry that can in-turn help average out additional fuel costs undertaken by the industry during the period when gas is not available, and d) An establishment of a joint cell consisting of representatives from related ministries and the industry to create a forum that is easily accessible to mill managements and that can at the same time ensure to resolve problems that emerge on an on-going basis. Increasing Cost of Production Textile industry of Pakistan is facing problems in competing in the international market due to increase in the cost of production. The increase in the cost of production is due to the facts like interest rate, inflation and the continuous depreciation of Pakistani rupee value.Textile exporters rightfully demand reduction of Kibor rate to 8% to avoid a severe decline in exports. A three-year comprehensive textile policy is expected to be announced before budget 2009-10. The textile policy has been designed to enhance the exports of textile sector to $ 25 billion in next three years. This was stated by the Minister for Textile Industry RanaFarooqSaeed Khan. Textile Minister further informed that the spinning and weaving sector would get its due share from the Export Investment Support Fund, worth Rs. 40 billion allocated in the Federal Budget 2009-10. Electricity Crisis As a consequence of load-shedding the textile production capacity of various sub-sectors has been reduced by up to 30 per cent. The joint meeting of APTMA other related organization was held at APTMA House to formulate a joint strategy to address the alarming electricity crisis being faced by the textile industry. The meeting unanimously decided to constitute a joint working group of electricity management for the textile industry in the larger interests of the value chain of the textile industry. The joint working group will meet shortly to design a detailed plan to pursue the following goals; immediate total exemption from Electricity load shedding for the textile industry value chain; Rationalization and reduction of electricity tariff. The load-shedding of electricity cause a rapid decrease in production which also reduced the export order. The cost of production has also risen due to instant increase in electricity tariff. Due to load shedding some mill owner uses alternative s ource of energy like generator which increase their cost of production further. Due to such dramatic situation the capability of competitiveness of this industry in international market effected badly. Fig.1. illustrates comparison between electricity production and consumption (Business Recorder Pakistan -Special report, 2009). Tight Monetary Policy Due to the stiff monetary policy the cost of production is high. Due to high interest rate financing cost increases which cause a severe effect on production. The withholding tax of 1% also effects the production badly. The high cost of doing business is because of intensive increase in the rate of interest which has increased the problems of the industry. The government should take immediate measures to remove slowdown in the textile sector. Removal of subsidy on Textile sector The provisions of Finance Bill 2009-10 are not textile industry friendly at all. Provisions like reintroduction of 0.5% minimum tax on domestic sales, 1% withholding tax on import of textile and articles etc., are nothing but last strick on industrys back. Reintroduction of minimum tax on domestic sales would invite unavoidable liquidity problem, which is already reached to the alarming level. The textile industry was facing negative generation of funds due to unaffordable mark up rate. United States EU cuts imports of textile from Pakistan United States cancel more than 50% of textile orders of Pakistan .US also impose a high duties on the import of textile of Pakistan which effect the export in a bad manner. US EU are the major importer of Pakistan textile which create a huge difference in export of Pakistan textile after imposing a restriction on import of Pakistani textile goods. Raw material Prices Prices of cotton other raw material used in textile industry fluctuate rapidly in Pakistan. The rapid increase in the price raw material effects the cost of production badly. The increase in raw material prices fluctuates rapidly due to double digit inflation instable internal condition of Pakistan. Due to increase in the cost of production the demand for export home as well decreased which result in terms of downsizing of a firm. Hence the unemployment level will also increase. Government should take serious step to survive the textile industry. In order to decrease the price raw material for textile we need to increase our production capability. Simultaneously, the government should make arrangement for introducing international system of Cotton Standardization in Pakistan to enhance quality and value of Pakistan lint cotton by utilizing the technical services of Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute. Effect of Inflation Inflation rate is measured as the change in consumer price index (CPI).Inflation is basically a general rise in the price level. It is decline in the real value of money. Inflation can have adverse effect on economy. Pakistan is one of prey of inflation. It still faces high double digit inflation. The increase in inflation causes the increase in the cost of production of textile good which return in downsizing. The double digit inflation causes reduction in exports of textile. (FPCCI) Chapter 03: Industry Profile: Background: World Textile Industry was initially started in Britain at the beginning of the 18th century was the production of textilesas the spinning and weaving machines were invented in that country.Preston barber Richard Arkwright in 1769, patented a machine that would take cotton spinning from home to the factory. Arkwrights water frame was the first textile machine to use water power rather than muscle power. From this marked the factory system started, which later spread to other industries.According to statistics, the global textile market possesses a worth of more than $400 billion presently. The industry has faced high competition and opportunities in a more globalize environment. It was forecasted that Global textile production will grow by 25% between 2002 and 2010 and Asian region or the Asian countries will largely contribute in this sector.The WTO has taken so many steps for uplifting the textile industry sector. In 1995, WTO had renewed its MFA and adopted agreement on textiles a nd clothing (ATC), which states that all quotes on textile and clothing will be removed among WTO member countries.However the level of exports in textiles from developing countries is increasing even if in the presence of high tariffs and quantitative restriction by economically developed countries.Moreover the role of multifunctional textiles, eco-textiles, e-textiles and customized textiles are considered as the future of textile industry. Types of Textile Industry: These are the industry lie in the textile sector Cotton industry Woolen industry Silk industry Linen industry Pakistan Textile Industry Description: Whenever we think of manufacturing industry in Pakistan, it is textile industry that immediately comes to mind that is playing an important position in terms of the employment generation and value added special contribution towards the exports. Pakistans textile industry is one of the most important sectors of Pakistan. We can say that after agriculture sector, the textile industry is the backbone of Pakistan as it contributes significant part to the country GDP, exports as well as employment. s the fourth largest cotton producer in the world. Because of its plentiful, indigenous cotton supply, the textile industry is central to the Pakistani economy. The Pakistan textile industry has strong base of raw material, started its journey from non existence in 1947 with meager size of 78000 spindles and merely 3000 looms that was unorganized sector, and only 8% domestic demand was catered. The industry has gone through a long way and now possesses 443 units, 8.4 million spindles and 166,000 rotors, 20,000 shuttles less looms, 200,000 power looms, over 600 processing units and over 2500 garments units.Textiles and Clothing, no doubt is the largest industrial sector of Pakistan from the investment, employment and export point of view. It accounts for approximately 27 percent of total industrial output, absorbs about 38 percent of industrial labor force, and contributes around 60 to 65 percent to export earnings. [Pakistan Economics Survey]. The cotton countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Fourth largest producer of cotton after USA, China and India. Third largest consumer of cotton. Third largest exporter of cotton textiles. Second largest supplier of cotton yarn with 26% share of the international market. These are the main sectors of Textile Industry: Spinning Weaving Finishing Dyeing/ Printing Pressing Fashion designing Spinning It is the process of converting raw material into yarn. The raw materials may be natural materials such as cotton or manmade fibers such as polyester. Sometimes, the term spinning is also used for production of manmade filament yarn. Weaving It is the process of making cloths like t-shirts, jeans and all, rugs, blankets and other products by crossing two set of threads over and under each other. Now, weaving machines are used for this process. Weaving is the most important sub-sector of textile. The exports of woven fabrics and other related woven made-ups form a major portion of textile exports from Pakistan. Finishing Finishing of cloth is one of the chief arts in the textile industry. The appearance of the any product is the first concern, and the appearance of any fabric is just because of the methods of finishing. Dyeing/ Printing The Dyeing of clothing and other materials is a fairly simple process. It doesnt consume much time and workactually it often depends on what type of dye you purchase. Printing is something through which cloths are printed with different designing and prints. Pressing The cloths which came after the process of dyeing and printing would go for the pressing. It is simply pressing the cloths. Fashion Designing It is new in the textile industry, actually the popularity of fashion designing begin from previous couple of years. It is the applied art dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time. Process of Textile Value Chain Challenges to textile: Frequent fashion changes. Anti dumping policies imposed by major importers. Non tariff barriers may increase such as standards relating to child labour, human rights, wages and working conditions, use of carcinogenic chemicals, inflammable materials, etc. Increased competition from India, China, Turkey, Caribbean Sub-Saharan countries and others who have preferential trade arrangements with major importing countries. High power cost frequent power cuts. Lesser usage of eco-friendly materials.   Lack of international marketing efforts. Higher rate of interest on loans for modernization and expansion.   Less awareness in acquiring international quality certifications. Chapter 04: Company Profile: Name Owner Location Adil Textile Gulistan Textile Mills Limited Quetta. Text Accord Textile Gulistan Spinning Mills Limited Quetta Textile Mils Ltd Ahmed Hassan Textile Mills Limited Gulshan Spinning Rashid Text. Ahmed Spinning Mills Limited Hafiz Textile  Ã‚   Ravi Textile Mills Al -Azhar Textile Hajra Textile Redco Textiles Al-Abid Silk Mills Hala Spinning Regent Textile Ali Asgahar Textile Hamid Textile Mills Reliance Cotton Alif Textile Harnai Woolen Mills Reliance Weaving Al-Jadeed Textile Haroon Oils Resham Textile Allawasaya Textiles Harum Textile Ruby Textile Mills Al-Qadir Textile I.C.C. Textiles Rupali Polyester Limited Amazai Textile Ibrahim Fibre Ltd. Sadoon Textile A

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Free Essays - Abuse in The Bluest Eye :: Bluest Eye Essays

Abuse in The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, is about an eleven year old girl, Pecola, who is abused by almost everyone in her life. Every day she encounters racism, not just from the white people, but also from the African American people. In her eyes, her skin is too dark, and the color of her skin makes her inferior to everyone else. The color of her skin makes her think that she is ugly. She feels that she can overcome this if she can get blue eyes. Pecola thinks that if she can be like the blue eyed Shirley Temple, everyone will love her. Pecola wishes to have blue eyes because she feels they will make her loved and accepted by the people in her life. Pecola is abused almost by everyone in her life. One day, she goes to Geraldine's house. Geraldine is a middle-class African American woman. Junior, Geraldine's son, harasses Pecola by throwing his cat around and eventually kills it. When Geraldine walks in, she says, "Get out. You nasty little black bitch. Get out of my house"(93). Geraldine thinks that her son does not kill the cat. She trust him more than Pecola. Pecola thinks that Geraldine called her "nasty" because of her appearance, dark skin. Also, calling an eleven year old girl a "bitch" is like killing committee a crime. A little girl does not really know what that word means, but she know it's horrible. Being called a "black beach", by an African American person hurts even more than being called by a white person because they are the same race. They go through the same types of things because of their skin color. They are suppose to support each other. This makes Pecola feel more ashamed of herself and want to change her appearance to be accepted and trusted by Geraldine's . Her family treated her the same way. Pecola's dad raped her. Mrs. Breedlove, her mother, did not pay attention to her. One day, Pecola decides to visit her mom at work. Mrs. Breedlove was a nanny for this white girl. Pecola accidentally knocks over a blueberry pie. Mrs. Breedlove says, " Crazy fool... my floor, mess... look what you... work...get on out. Hush, baby, hush. Come her. Oh, lord, look at your dress.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Cruelty and Insanity in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Essay -- Wide S

Cruelty and Insanity in Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Wide Sargasso Sea provides unique insight into the gradual deterioration of the human mind and spirit. On examining Antoinette and her mother Annette, the reader gains a new perspective of insanity. One realizes that these two women are mentally perturbed as a result of numerous external factors that are beyond their control. The cruelty of life and people drive Annette and her daughter to lunacy. Neither mother nor daughter have a genetic predisposition to madness, and their downfall is an inevitable result of the actions of those around them and the unbearable nature of their living situation. Antoinette's condition owes its beginnings to the solitude of her childhood, thus the cold, unfeeling treatment she receives from her husband does not create her mental instability, only exacerbates it. At the beginning of the novel, it becomes apparent that solitude is a primary cause of theCosway women?s insanity. Antoinette?s narration reveals that her mother is not accepted by other white people in Jamaica because she originated from Martinique, and the Jamaican ladies in particular ?never approved? of her mother ?because she pretty like pretty self?. Her only friend, Mr. Luttrell, commits suicide after he tires of waiting for monetary compensation for the loss of his slaves. Annette is left with no one of her colour or class to associate with. In describing her childhood, Antoinette only speaks of one friend, a Negro girl named Tia, but this was an ephemeral friendship. Antoinette had no one belonging to her age group or class that she could associate with. For the most part, the young girl is very isolated and alone, quite like her mother. Utter lon... ...umstances of the lives that Annette and her daughter lead in Coulibri serve as the foundation for their insanity. The reader cannot attribute their downfall to a genetic trait, but must instead understand that the process of going insane would not have started if their life at the beginning of the novel was not so lonely and miserable. Fate is cruel to these two individuals, and the cruelty of the Negroes is the only human cruelty inflicted on Annette and Antoinette at Coulibri, thus their lunacy begins as a result of both sources. Antoinette?s childhood leaves her with emotional scars and prohibits proper mental and personal growth, thus she marries her husband with these already established problems, and her husband?s actions only serve to develop the existing unstable tendencies. Work Cited Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. New York: Norton, 1982.

Native Americans and Alcohol Essay -- Native American History

Northern Native Americans were faced with many great hardships with the arrival of the Europeans, Spanish and the French. American Indians had thrived on American soil for thousands of years with great prosperity. Living among each other in a local economy and communities The Native Americans created a civilization that was harmonious with the land and spiritual world that surrounded them. They were able to sustain their survival from the living plants and animals that lived among them in this over abundant country and all of it's rich resources. Many different tribes thrived on this land by adapting well with the elements around them. They were able to use the one living animal that co-existed with their people and made sure that a good kill was worth the effort and danger that encountered it. The Native Americans were able to use every part of the animal killed from the hide to the hoofs in an effort of survival and to counter balance the spiritual world that engulfed their heritage. The natives would give back to the world that gave unto them. With an unfortelling future the Native Americans were not prepared for what storm was about to come ashore. Europeans would soon arrive and bring the Natives demise in more ways then one(Jones-Saumty). In 1492 Christopher Columbus was said to be the first arrival on American soil from the East. Columbus would bring many new and different commodities unseen by the Natives of this world. Europeans and the Spanish brought many commodities for their own survival in this new territory, such as plants and even animals. According to Calloway some of the food items brought from England and Spain were rice, wheat, barley,... ....1 ( 1998 )166-167 George and Barbara Perkins, â€Å" The American Tradition in Literature ,† ( Boston ) Mcgraw Hill, 2009 Robert s. Young, Jennie R. Joe. â€Å" Some Thoughts About Epidemiology of Alcohol and Drug Use Among American Indian Population†. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. Vol. 8 Iss 3:(2009) 223 â€Å"What Prevents American Indians from Seeking Treatment for Alcohol Issues?† Web. 23 May 2015. Www.Goodtherapy.com/ Mancall, Peter C. "Men, women, and alcohol in Indian villages in the Great Lakes region in the early republic." Journal of the Early Republic. Indianapolis: Fall 1995. Vol. 15, Iss. 3; p. 425 William Laurence Saunders "The Colonial Records of North Carolina", Volume 5 1887. Web. 23 May 2015. https://books.google.com/ Craig Andrew, Robert B. Edgarton. "Drunken Comportment: A Social Explanation". Eliot Werner Publications. 2003

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Bangladesh’s National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) Essay

Due to Bangladesh’s extreme vulnerability to climate related impacts, adaptation is necessary for the political and economic survival of the country (Ali, 1999; Sajjaduzzaman et al, 2005). Since developing countries have been historically less responsible for the emissions that cause climate change, it is the responsibility of developed countries to finance the cost of adaptation in addition to development aid commitments (Article 4.4 UNFCCC, 1992). To this end, the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides support for adaptation under a global governance system, and has made National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPA) a requirement for all Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in order to provide the space for participatory approaches and community-level inputs in adaptation policy-making (Ayers et al, 2009). Here, the rationale is that the impacts of climate change are experienced locally, so adaptation programs need to be formulated and implemented at the local level (Ayers 2011). The Least Developed Countries Expert Group (LEG) affirms that â€Å"†¦ early engagement of people at the grassroots level will be important in ensuring successful implementation of NAPA initiatives† (LEG, 2002:2). The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), together with the United Nations Development Program and the Global Environment Facility, has provided funding for its highest priority NAPA project: a $10.8 billion Coastal Afforestation project (20102013) which aims to reduce â€Å"†¦ climate  change hazards through coastal afforestation with community participation† in the coastal districts of Barguna and Patuakhali (Western Region), Chittagong (Eastern Region), Bhola, and Noakhali (Central Region) (Figure 1) (Ministry Of Environment and Forestry (MOEF, 2005:24). Bangladesh is   one of the first countries to implement a community-based adaptation (CBA) project as part of its NAPA, and intends on using this project as a template for other vulnerable regions in Bangladesh (MOEF, 2008). Before this project is used as a template, it is important to analyse its effectiveness. This report will explore the role of the UNFCCC’s NAPA scheme in supporting or hindering a participatory approach to adaptation in Bangladesh’s CBA coastal afforestation project. Specifically, the focus question will be whether the coastal afforestation project is effective in facilitating adaptation at the grassroots level. BACKGROUND The Bangladesh NAPA identifies coastal communities as being the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and proposes 15 projects that would meet their â€Å"urgent and immediate adaptation needs† (MOEF, 2005:4). The vulnerability of coastal communities in Bangladesh is also emphasised in the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001). Coastal zones are the highest priority sector in the NAPA due to the importance of the economic resources being affected, the urgency, severity and certainty of severe climate change impacts, and because coastal areas comprise 32% of the countries land space, with over 35 million people living just 1m above sea level (Agrawala et al, 2003). Bangladesh’s flat deltaic topography with low elevation and its geographical location that sits at the intersection of three river basins puts it at risk of flooding and tidal inundation, droughts, tropical cyclones and storm surges (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). In addition, Bangladesh is exposed to impacts from the melting of the Indian and Himalayan glaciers (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). These factors combined mean that every area in Bangladesh is prone to four types of floods- flash floods, riverine floods, rain floods, and storm surge floods (Figure 2) (Mirza, 2002). Furthermore, all sectors and regions of  Bangladesh are vulnerable the impacts of climate change (Figure 3) (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). The sites for the coastal afforestation project were selected based on their extreme vulnerability to climate change impacts (MOEF 2008). METHODOLOGY Adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social and economic systems in response to the impacts of climate change (IPCC, 2007). Whereas adaptive capacity is the ability of a system to adjust to the impacts of climate change- to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, or cope with the consequences, resilience goes further to include the degree the system is capable of selforganisation, and able to learn and adapt to changes (Folke, 2006; Jerneck and Olsen, 2008; Magis, 2010). For this reason, a resilience framework with the following criteria will be used to analyse the effectiveness of the coastal afforestation project: Diversity in adaptation approaches involving a mix of technological, ecosystem based, governance and behavioural adaptation approaches. Effective governance and institutions that are seen as legitimate are critical for delivering sustainable adaptation outcomes (Bahadur et al, 2013). This is because they can facilitate learning and â€Å"experiment in safe ways, monitor results, update assessments, and modify policy as new  knowledge is gained† (Carpenter et al, 2001:778). Preparedness and planning requires relevant and timely information, and integration with existing institutional processes (Bahadur et al, 2013). An acceptance of uncertainty and change at all scales- individual, organisational and systemic- to adjust adaptation actions to changing circumstances so that co-benefits can be realised and perverse outcomes avoided (Bahadur et al, 2013). The level of community involvement and ownership is essential as to ensuring projects reach the most vulnerable (Bahadur et al, 2013). This is a key factor in reducing vulnerability to climate change under CBA (Pouliotte et al, 2009). Mainstreaming climate change into development planning to achieve climate resilient development is necessary for reducing vulnerability to climate change (Bahadur et al, 2013:55). COMPARISON The NAPA project demonstrates systems thinking by a willingness to learn from past policy mistakes. The Forestry Department has adopted a more participatory approach to forest management due to criticisms that past projects resulted in overharvesting and overgrazing due to a lack of community ownership over coastal mangroves (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). Since the1980s, rising poverty and population growth combined with an  absence of land-use policies has resulted in a loss of over 40,000 ha of forests along the eastern and central coasts of Bangladesh due to clearing for agriculture, shrimp farming, salt pan and settlements (MOEF, 2008). The project document reviews these past issues and has put in place measures for livelihood diversification so that natural resources are not exploited (MOEF, 2008). The project aims to diversify livelihoods through its â€Å"triple f† model of â€Å"Forest, Fish, and Food†, which integrates aquaculture and food production within the afforested and reforested plantations so that community income sources are diversified (Sovacool et al, 2012). The FFF model currently focuses on drought and flood resistance fruit and vegetable crops. Through a combination of agriculture, fishing and producing palm oil the project has so far provided an income stream for 1,150 families and community training on nursery and plantation management to 12,200 coastal people (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011). However, as one local states, â€Å"we have developed saline tolerant crop varieties but the concentration of salinity is going up. We cant keep on producing crops when land is flooded and water salty†¦ Adaptation has its limits† (Rawlani and Sovacool, 2011: 860). Evidently, the FFF model fails to encourage a diversity of livelihood options, and thus equip locals with the adaptive capacity to adjust adaptation actions to changing circumstances. By contrast, an NGO in the village of Subarnabad- the Institute of Development Education for Advancement of Landless (IDEAL)- has implemented a CBA project that allows the community to choose their own livelihood options (Figure 5), thus giving them full ownership and providing a range of options so that they can adjust their income streams if circumstances change. The climate impacts emphasised by the NAPA project correlate with community responses recorded in an independent household survey in one of the target sites, the Noakhali village (Figure 4) (Ayers, 2011). However, the adaptation options listed by respondents focused on addressing systemic issues like lack of access to   government services and NGOs, high poverty rates, low social mobilisation, low literacy rates and insecure land tenure (Ayers, 2011). Coastal afforestation was never raised as a priority adaptation option (Ayers,  2011). The project has sponsored 6000ha of community-based mangrove plantations, 500ha of non-mangrove mount plantations, 220ha of dykes, 1000km of embankments, and building sea gates to prevent salt water intrusion into rivers (Sovacool et al, 2012). These initiatives reveal the project’s focus on reducing the physical exposure to climate change impacts (Ayers, 2011). However, respondents in Noakhali framed risk in terms of addressing development issues that cause vulnerabilities to climate change impacts in the first place (Ayers, 2011). One example is the project’s introduction of early warning information and disaster preparedness systems in 20 of the most vulnerable towns (MOEF, 2008). In discussions about the risks of cyclones and storms with fishermen in Noakhali, they revealed that information provision was not the problem- radios had already been provided by a local Red Crescent program, but financial pressure to pay back the loans meant that fisherman would ignore the bad weather warnings (Ayers, 2011). Therefore the preferable adaptation option here would be putting in place a better micro-credit system. This case illustrates the importance of addressing the underlying issues that expose vulnerable groups to climate change impacts. It also shows that a lack of coordination between government and existing institutions can waste funding and exacerbate vulnerabilities. Therefore, community involvement in identifying vulnerabilities and adaptation responses is essential to building resilience on the ground. DISCUSSION A lack of community involvement and ownership over the implementation of the project can be attributed to the NAPA preparation process. The process involved consultation with local level stakeholders- representatives from local government, local NGOs, farmers and women- through regional consultation workshops (Ayers, 2011). However, power dynamics within communities meant that politically powerful stakeholders dominated the discussions to the exclusion of less powerful stakeholders- basically, the most vulnerable were not involved in the NAPA preparation process (Ayers, 2011). Furthermore, the participation of local stakeholders focused on prioritising pre-identified adaptation options (Ayers, 2011). This ‘top down’ approach combined with the framing of ‘risks’ as climate  change impacts rather than vulnerabilities explains why the adaptation options in the NAPA conflict with those prioritised by the targeted communities (Ayers, 2011). This is due to a global framework of adaptation that â€Å"†¦ casts adaptation as a response to the ‘additional’ impacts of climate change†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ â€Å"rather than the factors that make people vulnerable to these changes (which are often closely connected to existing development needs and problems)† (Ayers, 2011:63). The LEG (2002) guidelines stress the importance of â€Å"bottom-up, participatory approaches† (2) to adaptation and the NAPA project emphasises â€Å"the participation of men and women at the grassroots- level†(MOEF, 2008:22), so what institutional approach is needed to meet these ends? Ayers et al (2009) suggest reframing the adaptation discourse under the UNFCCC in terms of vulnerability instead of impacts, as this would allow vulnerable communities to identify, prioritise and implement climate resilient development activities and thus operationalize CBA. CBA requires an engagement with local institutional structures-be it public, private or civil societyfrom the beginning of the NAPA development process- to ascertain which institutions or features of institutions are needed for climate resilient development in that particular context (Ayers et al, 2010).  In practise, this means more coordination between the government of Bangladesh and local institutions to develo p mechanisms for mainstreaming climate resilient development. Opportunities for collaboration already exist in Bangladesh, but need to be harnessed. For example, the NGO IDEAL has successfully implemented CBA in the South-Western village of Subarnabad by providing training and technical support as well as access to loans and a savings bank to adopt new livelihoods strategies of their choosing to suit their situation (Pouliotte, 2009) (Figure 5). In turn, this has had a mobilising effect on the community, which can be seen in the strategies being employed without the help of the NGO- by learning from neighbours and building networks (Pouliotte, 2009). The effect of this project in reducing vulnerabilities by diversifying livelihood options shows that climate change adaptation activities need to be built into community driven development programs. Another NGO in Bangladesh, The Arsenic Mitigation and Research Foundation (AMRF), has facilitated the establishment of ‘Village Committees’ made up of women in arsenic-affected   villages who collect 3 Dhakas from each resident per month and lobby local government for funding to not only operate and maintain the deep tube wells, but also encourage activities in other sectors like education, sanitation, and village infrastructure (Rammelt et al, 2011). These committees have the funding, lobbying power, and legitimacy to potentially carry out climate resilience development programs as well. A barrier for LDCs to mainstreaming climate change into development planning is the funding issue of ‘additionality’. This is why deepening community involvement through community-based organisations- in collaboration with government- is the institutional approach needed to carry out climate resilient development. CONCLUSION Although the NAPA project in Bangladesh reflects community perceptions on the impacts of climate change, vulnerable communities were given little opportunity to identify and address the underlying development issues that cause vulnerability to such impacts (Ayers, 2011). This exposes the problem with facilitating CBA within the confines of impacts-based adaptation policy-making under the UNFCCC. Therefore a new framework is needed that defines adaptation more broadly; that addresses the drivers of vulnerability, and recognises that â€Å"development is risk management†Ã‚  (Commission on Climate Change and Development, 2009: 9). APPENDIX Figure 1 Source: MOEF 2008:4 Figure 2 Source: Mirza et al, 2003:48 Figure 3 Source: Rawlani and Savacool, 2011:863 Figure 4 Source: Ayers, 2011:74 Figure 5 Source: Pouliotte et al, 2009:42 Reference list Ali, A (1999) Climate change impacts and adaptation assessment in Bangladesh, Climate Research, 12: 109-116 Agrawala, S, Ota, T, Ahmed, A.U, Smith, J, van Aalst, M (2003) Development and climate change in Bangladesh: focus on coastal flooding and the Sundarbans, OECD, Paris Available at: http://www.oecd.org/env/cc/21055658.pdf Accessed: 25 July, 2013 Agrawal, A (2008) The role of local institutions in adaptation to climate change, Social Development Department, World Bank, Washington, March Available at: http://www.icarus.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/agrawal- adaptation-institutions-livelihoods.pdf Accessed: 25 July, 2013 Ayers, J (2011) Resolving the adaptation paradox: exploring the potential for deliberative policy-making in Bangladesh, Global Environmental Politics, 11(1): 62-89 Ayers, J, Dodman, D (2010) Climate change adaptation and development: the state of the debate, Progress in Development Studies, 27 (6):161-168 Ayers, J, Huq, S (2009) Supporting adaptation through development: what role for ODA? Development Policy Review, 27 (6): 659-784 Bahadur, A.V, Ibrahim, M, Tanner, T (2013) Characterizing resilience: unpacking the concept for tackling climate change and development, Climate and Development, 5 (1):55-65 Commission on Climate Change and Development (2009) The human dimension of climate adaptation: the importance of local and institutional issues, April Available at: http://www.ccdcommission.org/Filer/report/HUMAN_DIMENSIONS.pdf Accessed: 26 July, 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2007b, Australia and New Zealand. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/contents.html Accessed: 15 July, 2013 IPCC (2001) The Science of Climate Change, Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, Available at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml#. Ufpg2T89UN Accessed: 26 July, 2013 Folke, C (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses, Global Environmental Change, 16(3):253-267 Jerneck, A, Olsson, L (2008) Adaptation and the poor: development, resilience and transition, Climate Policy 8, 170-182 Magis, K (2010) Community resilience: an indicator of social sustainability, Society and Natural Resources, 23:401-416 Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) (2005), National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), Bangladesh Available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/napa/ban01.pdf Accessed: 20 July, 2013 Ministry of Environment and Forests (2008) Community- based adaptation to climate change through costal afforestation in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Mirza, N.M.Q, (2002) Global warming and changes in the probability of occurrences of floods in Bangladesh and implications, Global Environment and Change, 12:127138 Pouliotte, J, Smit, B, Westerhoff, L (2009) Adaptation and development: livlihoods and climate change in Subarnabad, Bangladesh, Climate and Development, 1:31-46 Rammelt, C, Masud, Z.MD, Boes, J, Masud, F, Masud, A (2011) Beyond medical treatment, arsenic poisoning in rural Bangladesh, Social Medicine, 6(1): 22-30 Rawlani, A.K, Savacool, B.K (2011) Building responsiveness to climate change through community based adaptation in Bangladesh, Mitigation and Adaptation strategies for global change, 16:845-863 Sajjaduzzaman M.M, Koike, N (2005) Mangrove plantation destruction in Noakhali Coastal Forests in Bangladesh: a case study on causes, consequences, and model prescription to halt deforestation, International Journal of Agriculture and Biology 7 (5):732-734 Sovacool, B.K, D’Agostino, A.L, Meenawat, H, Rawlani, A (2012) Expert views of climate change adaptation in least developed Asia, Journal of Environmental Management, 97:78-88 Sovacool, B.K, D’Agostino,A.L, Rawlani, A, Meenawat, H (2012) Improving climate change adaptation in least developed Asia, Environmental Science and Policy, 21:112-125 UNFCCC/LEG (Least Developed Countries Expert Group) (2002) Annotated guidelines for the preparation of National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPA), Bonn, July Available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/annguid_e.pdf Accessed: 25 July, 2013 UNFCCC(1992) The United Nations Convention on Climate Change Available at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/conveng.pdf Accessed: 24 July 2013