Political News. Online

Progressive Rock Bands That Inspired the World

Progressive rock appeared in the late 1960s when rock artists wanted to break down the barriers of radio formatted pop and rock and progress this music genre to a place where it could achieve a more sophisticated sound, similar to that of classical music or jazz. Progressive rock is very hard to define in one conclusive way and we have progressive rock bands to prove that. Some of the most important bands of the 70s that defined this rock form did not have the same sound.

Psychedelic music is believed to be the starting point of progressive rock. Some people also believe that bands like The Beatles contributed to the progressive rock movement. However, the two progressive rock bands that most people see as being the first of this new- found genre were King Crimson and Yes. These progressive rock bands appeared at the end of the 1960s and although the first band was attributed to hard progressive rock sub- genre and the second to symphonic rock, they were both catalogued as progressive rock bands, as their sound was unique and more sophisticated. Genesis is yet another rock band that aspired to progressive rock. Their third progressive rock album set things straight for this band. They were a symphonic rock band and thus a progressive rock band.

Great Britain was the first country that started the progressive rock movement, but Italy was not far behind either. Banco Del Mutuo Soccorco and Premiata Forneria Marconi were progressive rock bands that led the way for all rock bands all over Europe to progress and define this rock genre. As far as the progressive rock movement is concerned, these two European countries were the ones that opened all doors and invited all rock bands to evolve and give the world great progressive rock albums. However, Great Britain is still the top promoter of progressive rock bands, with Caravan, another progressive rock band from this country, being the one that defined the third sub- genre of progressive rock: Canterbury. So, at the end of the 1960s, progressive rock bands established three sub- genres: hard prog, symphonic and Canterbury.

The 1970s represented the crowning of progressive rock as a genre and some of the greatest progressive rock albums were released in this decade. Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a brick” or Rush’s “2112” are only two of the most appreciated progressive rock albums released in the 70s. Moreover, this decade brought another ten sub- genres of progressive rock to life, and many progressive rock bands came forth in this period. As if progressive rock was not complicated enough, art folk, classical prog, folk prog, ambient, Rio, pomp prog, jazz fusion, electronic, Zeuhl and krautrock were listed as sub- genres of the 60s rock genre.

In the next two decades, progressive rock did not progress as much as it had up to that moment. In the 80s, it was dethroned by the punk movement and progressive rock bands chose to give birth to another sub- genre: neo progressive. There were few progressive rock albums released in the 80s, some of the most prolific ones being Rush’s “Moving Pictures” or Fate’s Warning’s “No Exit”. Progressive metal rock was also listed as a sub- genre in this period. The 1990s were dominated by the development of metal prog, through Dream Theatre. This decade is mainly characterized by the revival of the progressive scene of the seventies.

For more resources about Progressive rock bands or even about progressive rock albums please review this web page http://tormanmaxt.com

Performance of DRDA Projectc in Vizianagaram, inrespect to the Public Policy and Populist Measures

* Goteti Himabindu ** N.V.S.Suryanarayana

In the past studies on public policy were dominated by researchers and students of political science who largely concentrated in the institutional structure and philosophical justification of government.  The focus was rarely on policies themselves.  Past studies hardly recognized the role of organizations towards the formulation of policy.  Yet, the policy is an important element of political process.

          It is important to understand the concept of public for a discussion in public policy.  We often use such terms as ‘Public Interest’, ‘Public Sector’, and ‘Public Health’ and so on.  The strategy point is that public policy has to do with those spheres, which are so labeled as public.  Public dimension is generally referred to public ownership or control for public purpose.  The public comprises that domain of human of human activity, which is regarded as requiring governmental intervention or common action.  However, there has always been a conflict between what is public and what is private.

          Like the idea of public, the concept of policy is not a precise term.  Policy denotes, among other elements, guidance for action.  It may take the form of – (a) A declaration of goal; (b) A declaration of course of action; (c) A declaration of general purpose – and (d) An authoritative decision.

          Unfortunately the policy itself is something, which takes different forms.  There is thrust to designate policy as the outputs of the political system, and in a lesser degree to define public policy as more or less interdependent policies dealing with many different activities.  Studies of public policy areas, on the contrary, have intended to focus on the evaluation of policy decisions in terms of specified values a rational rather than a political analysis.

          Taken as a whole, policy may be defined as a purposive course of action taken or adopted by those in power in pursuit of certain goals or objectives.  Public policies are formulated by authorities in a political system, namely elders, executives, legislators, judges and the like.  These are the persons who engaged in the daily affairs of the political system, are recognized by most members of the system as having responsibility for those matters.  The actions taken by them are accepted as binding most of the time by most of the members so long as they act within the limits of their roles.

Significance of the Study:

          A public policy may cover a major portion of its activities, which are consistent with the development policy.  Socio-economic development or self-reliance or similar broad principles of guidance for action may be adopted as a developmental policy or national goal.  A public policy may be narrow, covering a specific activity, such as family planning.  A public policy may be applied to all people in a country or it may be limited to a section of its people.  Besides, each level of government – central, state and local – may have its specific or general policies.  Then there are ‘mega policies’, which are general guidelines to be followed by all specific policies.  Mega policies form a kind of master policy, as distinct from concrete discrete policies, and involve the establishment of overall goals to serve as guidelines for the larger set of concrete and specific policies.

          Public policies in modern political system are purposive or goal oriented statements.  Again, a public policy may be positive or negative in form.  In its positive form, it may involve some form of overt government action to deal with a particular problem.  On the other hand, in it is negative form.  It involves a decision by public servants not to take action on some matters on which a government order is sought.  Public policy has a legal coercive quality that citizens accept as legitimate.  This legal coercive quality of public policies makes public organizations distinct from the private organizations.

          Policy making is closely related to decision-making.  However, it is not the same as decision-making.  Policy-making does involve decision-making, but a decision does not necessarily constitute a policy.  Decision-making often involves identification of a problem, a careful analysis of possible alternatives and selection of one alternative for action.  Generally decisions are taken by the administrators in their day-to-day work within the distinct framework of policy.  The policy decisions eventually taken thus provide a sense of direction to the courses of administrative action.

          Policies are distinct from goals and can be distinguished from the latter as means from ends.  By goals or objectives one means the ends towards which actions are directed.  It is reasonable to expect that a policy indicate the direction towards which action is sought.  Policies involve a deliberate choice of actions designated to achieve these goals and objectives.  The actions can take the form of directives to do or refrain from certain action.  Public policy is about means and ends, which have to have a relationship to each other.  To say that policy-making involves a choice of goals or objectives is to argue that it deals with values.

Statement of the Problem:

          The present study is designed to probe into “Performance of DRDA Projectc in Vizianagaram, inrespect to the Public Policy and Populist Measures” Policies as well as objectives are chosen under the influence of values.  Decision-makers often act on the basis of their belief or perceptions of the public interest concentrating what is proper or morally correct public policy. Studies of Supreme Court indicate that judges are influenced by policy values in deciding cases.

          Policy-making must be distinguished from planning.  Broadly speaking a plan is a programme of action for attaining definite goals or objectives.  In this sense, a plan is a policy statement and planning implies policy-making.  Oten the goals or policies of a plan are not stipulated in plan documents.  They may be stated only in a very general or vague terms, or are found to be internally inconsistent or contradictory.  A national development plan, broadly speaking is a collection of targets or individual projects which, when put together, may not constitute an integrated scheme.

          Allocation of resources for investments and showing of targets indifferent sectors of the economy are considered to be at the core of planning.  However, it has been aptly stated that a plan needs proper policy framework.  Targets cannot be achieved just because investments are provided for.  They have to be drawn within the framework of policies.  Successful policies make for successful plans and administration.

          Administration involves co-operative effort by a number of people to achieve some purpose whether private or public, large or small, ‘it consists in the systematized ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources, aimed at making those things happen which we want to happen and simultaneously preventing developments that fail to square with our intentions.

Phiffmer has defined administration ‘as the organization and direction of human and material resources to achieve, desired ends’.

          According to Marshall E, Dimock, ‘Administration is now so vast an area that a philosophy of administration is come close to being a philosophy of life’.

          The administration process has a number of distinct phases such as Organization, Personnel, Financial, Management, Policy making, Planning, Direction and Control Policy has to be decided before anything can be attempted to be done.

          Policy means a decision as what shall be done and how, when and where.  The most common social and political usage of the term policy refers to a course of action or intended course of action conceived as deliberately adopted and perceived or oriented to be perceived.  A policy is concerned not only with what is (i.e., positive principle) but also with what should be (i.e., normative principle).  Policy is a comprehensive term and connotes a set of intended actions.  Policy is defined as a course of action selected by the government, an institution, a group or an individual among alternatives in the light of given conditions to guide and usually to determine present and future decisions.  In the words of Terry a policy is a verbal, written or implied basic guide to action that is adopted and followed by a manager.  Dimock defines policies as the consciously acknowledged rules or conducts that guide administrative decisions.  According to Koontz and D.Donnell ‘Policies are general statements or understandings, which guide or channel thinking in decision making of subordinates’.  The term public policy refers to the policies made and implemented by government with a view to achieve certain goals.  Public policy means the functioning of government.  Public policies intend to attain definite objectives of government.  For instance eradication of poverty is a goal.  Rural development, urban development and industrial developmental policies are shaped to attain that broad goal.  David Eastern defines public policy as ‘Authoritative allocation values to the society’.  Public policy is when the government actually chooses to do or not to do some scholars’ claim to see differences between specific action and overall programme of action towards a given goal.  They insist that government action must have a goal in order to be leveled as ‘policy’.  Laswell and Kaplan defined Policy as ‘A projected programme or goals, values and practices’.

A decision is usually taken within the frame work of policy that is a policy may involve a series of decisions.

          The issue of implementation assumes importance in the context of policy analysis as it takes into account of what happens to policies in terms of their actual results on the ground, as making policies is not enough but a sincere effort to implement these policies is equally important.  It is relevant to quote Woodrow Wilson who said, ‘it is getting harder to name a constitution than to frame one’.  Running is the implementation aspect of government activity. 

Many implementation studies while analyzing public policies point out variety of factors.  Firstly different kinds of uncertainties often accompany programmes: Space, inputs, technology and even staff may not be available at specific time and locations, impending the take-off of the programmes.  Secondly, resources may fall short of the requirements and may not be flowing in time.  Thirdly, there are well-known organization problems affecting programmes implementation and within a department a new programme may not be welcome by all.  A new programme may demand a new organization, which takes time to take shape.  Fourthly, as experience tells, leadership makes or destroys an organization and its programmes.  Specially, when new programmes are launched in any sector, leadership to a large extent determents the outcome.  Fifthly, many government programmes cut across departments and therefore, success depends on inter departmental co-ordination.  Sixthly, under ‘privatization’ philosophy, government programmes are contracted out to third parties like NGOS and private agencies.  Success in that event would dependent on the performance of the ‘outside agencies’.

Formulation of Public Policy:

The whole process is indeed of two folds namely a working down from the rules at the top and a working up from the persons affected. They are from internal sources, from external sources, from special investigations conducted by commission or committee and from research and study.

Every administrative department receives periodic reports, returns, statements, accounts and statistics from its various sub-agencies regarding their various activities.  These are consolidated together and recorded by the departments and are available for use as data for the formulation of policy.  Whether modern emphasis on planning, statistics have become a important tool for administration.  Many departments have special machinery for the collection of statistics relating to their activity, helpful for policymaking.  For example in India, the ministries of Finance, Commerce, Industry, Food, Agriculture and Labour have their own statistical sections and a central statistical organization attached to the cabinet Secretariat National Sample Survey, The Bureau of Public Enterprises.  Directorate of Industrial statistics and various other organizations are working for the collection of information and statistics.  The data so collected are properly processed, organized and interpreted to certain facts essential for policy-making.

          The identification of major policy making organs of India is not a sure proof of their compulsory involvement in the policymaking.  If the Prime Minister’s Office proposes a policy, it may not be thoroughly discussed and in the process, some organs may even get completely bypassed.  Behind policymaking, there are much interest, many factors, many perceptions and the map is not necessarily the same or similar even with the same or similar problems emerging again.  According to Krishna Menon ‘Policies are seldom framed the way, we read in books.  What we read in Sir Ivor Jennings’s works and other treaties is hardly observed while making policies.’

The Indian Context:

          Public Policies in the developing nations have acquired critical significance in view of the complex challenges being faced by them on the one hand and their propensity to effect shifts in the regime on the other.  Among the new nations, India has embraced upon new tasks of social re-construction, economic modernization, political participation, welfare, providing liberty, equality and rights in the life of the millions of people.  In order to achieve these objectives the constitutions of India reiterated its commitment to welfare state with an emphasis on secular, socialist, federal, parliamentary and democratic ideologies.  Further, it has also derived an institutional framework to act as infrastructure to oversee the fulfillment of the said objective.  The social, economic and political philosophy of Indian Constitution is orchestrated in the Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, which lays down an egalitarian ideology as a part of liberal democratic constitutional order. (14)

          C.D.Deshmukh, the Finance Minister while moving a resolution on 20th December, 1954 on the economic situation of India observed, ‘the broad aim of public policy is set out in the Directive Principle in the Constitution.  These are presents, the will of the nation and not the creed of any individual or any party or the dogma of any section.  And so long as they remain in the Constitution, they must govern the overall policy not only of this government, but whatever government there may be in future’. Indeed, the articulations in them are the potential stuff out of which public policies at both levels of government in the federal system are to be made.  The view that the Directive Principles of State Policy are largely ornamental being un-enforceable by the judiciary is not valid.  Current judicial thinking is that the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles are complementary to each other and mutually re-enforcing.  The formal provisions of the Constitution do not provide sure clues to either the direction of public policymaking or its contents.  Yet, the Socio-economic provisions of the Constitution can be made to operate only by the political process and dynamics of the land.

          India is committed for the establishment of Welfare State as has been reflected in the Constitution.  The basic aim of a Welfare State finds expression in the preamble and part IV of the Constitution as reflected through Directive Principles of the State Policy.  At aims to secure all its citizens.  Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, Secure and Protect social orders.  A peep into the provisions incorporated emphasis the determination of founding fathers of our Constitution.  It attempts to strike a balance between rural development and urban planning through well-coordinated administrative agencies.  No wonder, this determination has strengthened the concept of Welfarism in India.  Consequently, it gave rise to the concept of populist measures.  Hence, public policy analysis has to be examined from the angle albeit objectively.

Populist Measures:

          In pursuance of the provisions enshrined in Part –IV of the Constitution, as well as objective conditions of Planned Development and Leadership role necessitated introduction of a series of developmental programme, especially rural developmental programmes.  It arose due to competition among the political parties to retain power.  Various political parties as well as groups, which have conceived divergent social and economic policies which are both developmental and welfare oriented has been termed as populist policies, which act as important components of public policies.  Different populist strategies have been persuaded by different political parties including the regional ones.  Populist politics is in fact, the need of the hour, India is an old civilization but a new nation having backwardness in many spheres.  Many feel India is still ‘a nation in the making’.  India is perhaps the only major country whose leadership is determined to transform the traditional society into a modern and developed one.  The political process during 1970 witnessed an increased accent on populist policies, which are either incremental in nature or intended to pass on specific benefits to the target groups.  At the state level also, the parties and groups have tended to accept populist, welfare policies, not only as a sort of developmental strategy but also recognized this as politically expedient and electorally rewarding.  Series of antipoverty programmes of rural development such as 20-Point Economic Programmes, SFDA, NREP, DPAP, IRDI, Jawahar Rojgar Yojana etc., have launched in order to ameliorate the poorest of the poor.  Alternative policy approaches to the problems of growth, poverty and inequalities in the third world countries necessitated the need not for one or two isolated policies but for a package of complimentary and supportive policies. (15)  For many less-developed countries including India, a significant factor contributing to persistence of low level of living evolving into a culture of poverty is the highly unequal distribution of economic and political power between rich and poor.  All people have certain needs without which life is inconceivable.  These, life-sustaining necessities include basic human needs as food, shelter and protection, when any one of these is absent or in short supply, it assumes that a condition of under development exists.

          The Welfare State performs positive functions besides acting as a policeman entrusted with the maintenance of law and order in short it promotes human welfare.  Concept of welfare implies realizing the required socio-economic change, which will ultimately pave the way for the promotion of greatest happiness of greatest number.  Welfare schemes refer to guaranteed programmes intended to protect citizens against economic risks and insecurities.  It performs the divine rules of a father, a nurse, manager and an industrial entrepreneur.  The welfare functions of a state clearly point out that the state in modern times has become an instrument of socio economic change.  A Social welfare state is a society with a set of government programmes that protect the minimum standards of living of families and individuals against loss of income due to economic instability, old age illness and disability and family disintegration.  All modern welfare states through the details of their programmes differ in providing social welfare measures to their citizens.

          Social Welfare and its manifestations in the forms of social service, welfare and its manifestations in the forms of social service, social reform, social security etc., have come to be prominently used in the twentieth century.  However, social welfare in its rudimentary form did exist over in punitive societies in the desire of people to help one another on times of need and stress, which deeply ingrained in the human nature.  Moreover all the religions of the world enjoin upon their devotees and followers to practice compassion and exhibit concern for their fellow beings especially for those in distress and deprivation and to help them by giving a portion of their earnings in charity.  Thus through the ages and in all parts of the world, the humanitarian impulses have marked the beginning of social welfare.

Andrews, Rhys and others (2009) studied ‘Centralization, Organizational Strategy, and Public Service Performance’.  One of the core functions for public managers is the creation of appropriate structures that can provide system stability and institutional support for a host of other internal organizational elements, such as values and routines.

Anne Stevens (2009) studied Representative Bureaucracy – What, Why and How?.  Issues of representation have become increasingly salient in European countries with attempts to find mechanisms to increase the representation of women, including various types of quota and parity legislation. This article examines the extension of the idea to bureaucracies.

Chris Game (2009) studied Just over 100 years ago, 5 pioneering women and 1 quite exceptional one became the first legitimately elected female members of English county and county borough councils. While obviously important, the Qualification of Women Act 1907 that enabled their election was far from the only one to have influenced women’s electoral involvement in local government.

Craig R.Smith (2009) studied on ‘Institutional determinants of Collaboration: an empirical Study of County Open-space Protection (Survey).  In this article the author attempted to add to this burgeoning literature by arguing that institutions are an important component of collaboration because they signal to potential collaborative partners a policy commitment by the government. In credibly committing to a policy, governments can reduce uncertainty and gain cooperation without necessarily building trust via managerial behavior.

Dr.Pantricia Hamilton & Dr.Rosalyn Proops (2008) opined that Professionals are well aware of the difficult decisions they face. On the one hand, returning an abused child to abusive parents may literally be a matter of life and death; on the other, parents who lose their children feel devastated.

Money Control.com (ed.) (2009) studied ‘Two Populist Measures save Lalu a dull day’.  This article disclosed that When Lalu Yadav walked out this morning to present the interim Railway Budget for the last time in the tenure of the United Progressive Alliance, anybody would have expected him to not only come out with impressive statistics of the Railways’ scorecard but also balance profitability and populist measures with his characteristic élan — and not without a keen eye on the upcoming Parliamentary polls.

          Peter Riddel (2007) opined on ‘Lost of Populist Measures but little sense of an overall strategy’.  The Conservatives are in two minds about an early election. In one sense, they do not want one, since every spokesman and MP to whom the author accepted that the party could not win outright and almost certainly could not become the largest single party.

Prof.Gray King, Department of Government, Harvard University (2009) studied ‘Political Analysis’ that ‘The relatively new field of political methodology is growing exponentially; is improving empirical work in every field of the discipline; and is even making major contributions to empirical and methodological scholarship well outside the diffuse borders of political science. Political Analysis chronicles these exciting developments by publishing the most sophisticated scholarship in the field.

Sabina Siebert (2009) studied ‘Gender Balance in Scottish Local Authority Councils’.  Women make up over 40 per cent of community councilors in Scotland, however, evidence suggests that they are less likely to progress to local authority councils. This article investigates the barriers to wider engagement of women in participative democracy, and based on the analysis of empirical data suggests some ways of promoting a more equitable gender representation in Scottish local authority councils.

Sir Rodney Brooke (2008) examined ‘The Public Needs Confidence in Family Courts’.  He reported that that social workers are not accountable for their actions is not correct. As your article states, social workers have been required to register with the General Social Care Council (GSCC) since 2005. In registering, they sign up to a code of practice that sets out the standards they must work to. The great majority of the 93,000 registered social workers provide excellent services to high standards.

AFP South Asian Edition (2009) Article on ‘Populism Pips Economc Price on India’s Pool Trial’.  The Editorial disclosed that Four years of soaring growth is a record most governments would trumpet from the rooftops at election time, but India’s ruling party is giving the subject a wide berth ahead of this week’s polls.

CJ:Abhishek Behl (2008)KEEPING IN mind the general elections next year, Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav today presented a populist Rail Budget offering reduction in train fares, a slew of new trains and concessions and a provision for special trains to cater to the needs of Indian masses.

Subramanian, Narendra (2007) studied ‘Populism in India’.  Populist political forces have played significant roles in Indian politics, and have varied in their vision of political community, in the social groups they targeted, in the policies they pursued, and in their impact on democracy. The Indian National Congress had populist aspects in the interwar period, and then again under Indira Gandhi’s leadership from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Movements and parties that represented particular language and caste groups also employed populist rhetoric and methods of mobilization, and pursued populist policies.

Sudheendra Kulkarni (2009) made on ‘Why India is turning to Populism’.  Not being an expert in etymology, He opined that he do not know how the word ‘populism’ originated. However, keen observers of and participants in the discourse on India’s political economy know that ‘populism’ has travelled an interesting journey in our country. From being reviled as ‘bad economics’ since the advent of liberalization in the early 1990s by a section of the intelligentsia that had embraced the credo ‘West is Best’, it has now been honourably enshrined as an indispensable part of ‘good politics’ by mainstream political parties.

The Republic of India is a large country with a population of over one billion people spread over 3.28 million sq. km. It has a federal structure of 35 states and union territories divided into nearly 600 districts. India has 32 different languages and numerous dialects. In the 19th century, Britain had assumed political control of virtually all Indian lands. By 1947 the people of India declared their independence.  India is located in Southern Asia, bordering Burma, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Bangladesh along the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. India has a diverse landscape with flat to rolling plains along the Ganges River, deserts in the west and the Himalaya mountain range in the north.  The nationality of India is Indian with ethnic groups of Indo-Aryan comprising 72% of the population with Dravidian groups comprising 25%, and Mongoloid and others comprise the remaining 3%. Languages include Hindi as the national language which is the primary tongue of 30% of the population. There are 14 other official languages with English being spoken in business and political circles.  According to the United Nations, country-specific poverty lines are generally used due to variations between countries and is affected by local tastes and cultural norms. However, definitions are not particularly sensitive to more qualitative needs such as health care, housing and education. According to the ADB, in 1999 India had 26.1% of its population below the national poverty line with 27.1% represented in rural areas and 23.6% in urban areas. 

India’s economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern agriculture, handicrafts and a wide range of modern industries and support services. India is a major exporter of software services and workers.

Economic growth slowed in 2002, largely due to a drought-induced drop in agriculture. The industry sector showed increases, which is expected to continue in FY2003 and should lead to a moderate revival in GDP growth. Assuming normal monsoon conditions, the economy is projected to grow by 6% in FY2003 with agriculture and services increasing on average. Exports are expected to increase at over 15% in 2003, based on increasing world demand. Inflation will likely remain moderate at approximately 5%. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain at the average level of 9.5% of GDP during FY2003.  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth averaged approximately 6% throughout the 1990s, however, it decreased to an average of 5% for FY2000 and FY2001. During FY2002 (ending March 31, 2003) GDP growth was approximately 4.4%. The general decline in GDP growth over the years is primarily attributable to a decrease in the service sectors growth and from external effects such as a global recession, drought, the impact of the government’s large fiscal deficit and slow progress of reforms in certain sectors. The Asian Development Bank forecasts a 6.3% growth in GDP in the FY2003 with agriculture and services increasing on average. 

GDP stood at approximately US.66 trillion in 2002 of which agriculture comprised 25%, while manufacturing and trade comprised 29.7%.  The Government provides welfare schemes for the social services sector and over the past 10 years has increased the budgeted amount four-fold for welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and minorities as well as welfare and development of scheduled tribes. The Government also provides separate allocations for People with Disabilities (PWDS) under separate schemes. Based on the Government’ economic survey conducted for outlays for the social sector for the fiscal year 2000, rural development, employment and poverty alleviation encompassed the largest share of social welfare schemes at 42% of total expenditures in the social sector.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the life expectancy at birth was 60 years for males and 61.7 for females. It is estimated by the WHO that as of 1992 there were 48 and 45 physicians and nurses, respectively for every 100,000 people living in India.  Total expenditures on health as a percentage of GDP in 2000 was 4.9% according to the WHO, while general government expenditures on health as a percentage of total general government expenditures in 2000 was 5.3%.  The WHO estimates that 3.9 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2000, while there were 350,000 deaths related to HIV/AIDS in the 15 to 49 year old population in the same time period. The total estimated adult prevalence rate was 0.8% of the total population.

Bansal, R;John,S and Ling PM (2005) made an article on ‘Cigarette Advertising in Mumbai, India: Targeting different Socio-economic groups, Women and Yough’.   

Despite a recent surge in tobacco advertising and the recent advertising ban (pending enforcement at the time of this study), there are few studies describing current cigarette marketing in India. This study sought to assess cigarette companies’ marketing strategies in Mumbai, India.

Rijo M.John (2006) studied ‘Household’s Tobacco Consumption Decisions’.  This article analyses consumption patterns, socio-economic distribution and household choice of a variety of tobacco products across rural and urban India. Using a multinomial logic model, we examine the choice behaviour of a household in deciding whether and which tobacco products to consume.

Editorial (2009) an article on ‘Socio-economic Issues in India’.   Constitutionally India is a secular state, but large-scale violence have periodically occurred in India since independence. In recent decades, communal tensions and religion-based politics have become more prominent, coinciding with a rise in Islamic terrorism.

          Vannhim (2009) studied ‘Gender Inequality in India’.  In this study the author opined that “No nation, no society, no community can hold its head high and claim to be part of the civilized world if it condones the practice of discriminating against one half of humanity represented by women” That was a sentence from the speech of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at national conference to oppose gender inequality in 2006, but in reality this situation is becoming worse and worse, especially when the widespread practice of aborting female fetuses happens every day everywhere without people’s care and strict law.

Thus socio-economic indicators provide an opportunity to understand, in general, the status of an individual.

The socio-economic position helps an individual to assert his or her position in the society.  Educational levels, occupational positions and income earnings do influence the behavioral pattern of individuals.  These achievements instill confidence individuals and stimulate them to take part in the societal and political activities.  Astrictive qualities like case and religion have also a greater role to play, especially in Indian situation in determining the status of a person.  The lower caste status is a barrier in the way of an individual to achieve his or her goal.  An attempt would be made by the researcher to enquire into the socio-economic indicators of Vizianagaram District and present on analysis of populist measures that have emerged in the course of undertaking the present study.

Socio-economic Profile of Vizianagaram District:

          No two districts can be said to be same in terms of land, area, size of population, strategic location, natural resources, cultural patterns, social structures, political dynamics and economic development.  The Republic of India occupying the central sector of the Asian subcontinent is the sub-continent of Asia and is the second most populous nation and seventh largest country of the world having 439 districts.

          Andhra Pradesh is a state of India having 23 districts and Vizianagaram is a district of Andhra Pradesh.  Andhra Pradesh is divided into four natural regions viz., Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telengana regions.

Historical background:

          The history of Vizianagaram District is connected with hoary past of Kalinga, one of the Political divisions of ancient India.  Only in modern times, the upper part of Kalinga was gradually merged into Orissa State and the lower part into Andhra Region.

          After abolition of the Zamindaris in 1948, Visakhapatnam district was found to be unwidely for administrative purposes.  Consequently, Srikakulam District was carved out in 1950, bifurcating it from Visakhapatnam District.  The Constitution of Vizianagaram District in 1979, by transferring the taluks of Parvathipuram, Kurupam, Salur, Bobbili, Badangi and Cheepurupalle from Srikakulam District and some taluks of Visakhapatnam, forms the latest development in the history of the district.

Geographic Profile of Vizianagaram District:

          Vizianagaram District was formed as 23rd district in the State on 1st June, 1979 with headquarters at Vizianagaram in terms of G.O.Ms.No:700/Revenue(U)Department, Dt.15th May, 1979 with portions carved from Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam District.

          The district is a part of the Northern Coastal plains of Andhra Pradesh State and lies between 17° – 15’ and 19° -15’ of the Northern Latitude and 83° – 0’ to 83° – 45’ of the Eastern Longitude.  It is bounded on the East by Srikakulam District, on the West and South by Visakhapatnam District, on the South-east by Bay of Bengal and North-West by Orissa State.

          The District was formed with 9 taluks viz., Viianagaram, Gajapathinagaram, Srungavarapukota and Bhogapuram taluks from Visakhapatnam district, Bobbili, Parvatipuram, Salur, Kurupam and Cheeprupalli from Srikakulam District.  In December, 1979, 3 more taluks were added by creating Nellimarla, Viyyampeta,  Badangi and GummaLakshmipuram duly bifurcating the taluks of Vizianagaram, Srungavarapukota, Bobbili and Kurupam respectively making the total taluks to 13 and these taluks have been further subdivided into 52 Firkas.  For administrative convenience, the district is divided into 2 Revenue Divisions viz., Vizianagaram and Parvathipuram.  In may, 1985 the taluks and firkas were replaced with 34 Revenue Mandals in the District.

Population:

          The population of this district as per the Census Reports is – Census 1981 18.04 Lakhs, 1991 21.10 Lakhs and 2001 22.49 lakhs of population.  This clearly indicates that gradual increase is found from one Census to Census.  The Male population in 1981 Census is 8.99 Lakhs, followed by 1991 10.55 Lakhs and 2001 11.20 Lakhs.  Whereas the Female Population is in 1981 Census reported as 9.05 Lakhs followed by 1991 Census 10.55 Lakhs and 2001 11.30 Lakhs.  From the above it can be concluded that the gradual increase in population in respect of Female category is higher than Male Population. 

          Further, out of the total population 22.49 Lakhs of this District as per report of Census 2001 that Scheduled Caste population is 2,38,023 (1058%).  Out of total population of Males 11.20 Lakhs, the SC Male population is 1,19,116 (10.63%), where out of 11.30 Lakh Population female the SC Female is 1,18,907 (10.52%).

Agriculture:

          The major agriculture in this district is Rice, Groundnut, Mazie, Sugar Cane, Bazra, Koraa, Redgram etc.  Out of which, the major cultivation is preferred to Sugar Cane in view of the demand from Sugar Industries in this district.  Cultivating Mesta, Rice, Groundnut, Mazie are preferred by the Farmers. The Farmers are preferred least to cultivate Bazra, Korra, Redgram.

Land Assigned for Agriculture Purpose:

          Out of Ac.3512.00 land, assigned to Scheduled Caste people Ac.745.00 (21.22%), Scheduled Tribe people Ac.1042.00 (29.67%), Backward Class People Ac.1586.00 (45.16%) and other community people Ac.139.00 cts. (3.95%).

District administration in a sense comprehends a wide spectrum of public administration in India.

          District administration includes all the agencies of the government, the individual officials, functionaries and public servants.  It comprehends all institutions for the management of public affairs in the district, all the corporate bodies such as Panchayats of different kinds, Panchayats, Municipal councils of every kind.  Thus district administration provides the principal point of contact between the citizen and the process of government.  It is the cutting edge of tool of public administration and this is what constitutes its vital significance in the nation’s government.

Factors of Development:

          Development is affected by a number of factors like natural resources, environment technology and economic growth, which are interactive and interdependent.  Environment, including natural resources like land, water, forest, fisheries, minerals and economy comprising among other things, production, consumption and distribution activities are interactive and are interdependent.  The report of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), says our common future was the first major international initiative that enhanced the awareness of policy makers about the complexity of relationship between environmental problems, economic growth and needs of people, rich and poor.

          After independence, India has adopted the strategy of planned development as the Constitution declared India a Democratic Socialist State having commitment to socio-economic justice through the democratic process and organized planning.  Planning is needed both at the individual, district, state and national levels.  Its need is bring realized both by socialist as well as capitalist countries.  In developing countries it is increasing being realized that without planning it is impossible to have economic development and solve nation’s economic problem on the one hand and to industrialize the country on the other.  Planning is needed for ending poverty and unemployment.  It is a rational process of human behavior.  Planning both at administrative, social and economic levels is increasingly occupying a important and significant place in our social, economic and political set-up.

          The first Five-Year Plan of (1951-52 to 1955-56) had a twofold objective.  It attempted to correct the disequilibrium in the economy and ensure all round balanced development.  It further aimed to raise national income and achieve steady improvement in the living standards over a period of time.  The plan accorded highest priority to agriculture, including irrigation and power projects, transport and communication.

          The Second Five-Year Plan of 1956-57 (1956-57 to 1960-61) aimed at the establishment of socialistic pattern of society in India.  It projected to achieve 25 percent increase in the national income by giving priority to rapid industrialization with particular emphasis on basic and heavy industries.  It broadened the horizon of employment opportunities to reduce inequalities in income and wealth and to achieve more even distribution of economic power.

          The Third Five-Year Plan 1961-62 (1961-62 to 1965-66) aimed at securing marked advance towards self-sustaining growth and secure an increase in the national income over 5 per cent per annum, to increase it by about 30 percent.  It aimed to achieve the target by giving priority to self-sufficiency in food grains and increase in agricultural production to meet the requirement of industry and exports.  It also targeted to expand basic industries like steel, chemicals, fuel and power and to establish machine-building capacity for requirements of further industrialization.  It aimed to utilize fully the manpower resources of the country and ensure a substantial expansion in employment opportunities.  It further aimed to establish progressively greater equality of opportunities and bring about reduction in disparities of income and wealth and a more even distribution of economic power.

          Mid 60’s was one of the critical periods in the history of Five-Year Plan in India.  Series of crisis left many economists to ponder over the effectiveness of planning in India.  The first among the series of crisis was the Indo-Pak war of 1965.  The was ravaged Indian economy needed some kind of a special effort by the economic planners in the country.  The first two decades of development planning in India saw the implementation of rural development programmes like community development projects National Extension Services, Land Reforms and Co-operative Farming.  Although it was initiated with much fund fare it did not benefit the targeted groups i.e., the rural community.  In 1968 the Planning Commission organized a number of studies on the problems of small farmers in different areas.  The small Farmer Development Agency Scheme (SFDA) 1971 was launched with a view to provide special preferential arrangements for the supply of inputs to the potentially viable small farmers.  During the Fourth Five-Year Plan along with the SFDA another agency called the Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Development Agency (MFAL) was introduced to help the sub-marginal and landless workers.  While SFDA covered the entire district, the MFAL was confined to blocks and tahasils.  The Fourth Five-Year Plan 1969 (1969-70 to 1973-74) aimed at raising the standard of living of the people through programmes which at the same time designed to promote equality and social justice.  The Plan laid particular emphasis on improving the conditions of the less privileged and weaker sections of the society especially through the provision of employment and education.  Efforts were also directed towards reduction of concentration and wider diffusion of wealth, income and economic power.

          The twin objectives of the Fifth Five Year Plan 1974-79 (1974-75 to 1978-79) were the removal of poverty and the attainment of Self-reliance.  It envisaged 4.37 percent overall growth of gross domestic product, expansion of productive employment, a national programme of minimum needs, emphasis on agriculture, key and basic industries producing goods for mass consumption, extended programmes of social welfare and an equitable prices.

          During the Fifth Five-Year Plan period, the 20-Point Programme was launched on 1st July, 1975 as precursor to ‘Garibi Hatao’ programme to alleviate the conditions of the poorer sections of the society.   A revised programme was annulled on 14th July, 1982, which has been under implementation from 1982-83 onwards.  The coverage of the progrmme has been broadened to include a number of major areas of social concern such as provision of safe drinking water, health facilities, family planning, expansion of education, equality for women, justice to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.  It aimed to generate new opportunities for youth, housing for the under privileged sections, enhancement of agricultural production and productivity reduction in income inequalities, removal of social and economic disparities, raising quality of life and protection of environment.

          The new 20-Point Programme of 1986 prepared under the guidance of Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the light of experience gained in the implementation of the 20-point programme of 1975 and 1982.  In general it aimed at and improving the quality of life of the people.  It is not a declaration of intention but charter of emancipation for poor.

          The Sixth Five-Year Plan of 1980-81 (1980-81 to 1984-85) has been formulated after taking into account the achievement and short comings of the past three decades of planning.  Janata Government had fixed its own targets but before the plan could be implemented the government went out of power and the Congress (I) government prepared its own plan.  The plan aimed at removal of poverty and to make the country self-reliant, though it was recognized that the task of this magnitude could not be accomplished in a short period of five years.  The main strategy was to strengthen the infrastructure for both agriculture and industry to create conditions for growth in investment, output and exports and provide through special programmes designed for the purpose.  The objective of the plan document is envisaged to create opportunities for employment, especially in the rural areas and unorganized sector and meet the minimum basic needs of the people.  Further, the document aimed at to achieve the objectives through the involvement of the people in formulating specific schemes of development at the local level.  It was further aimed to secure speedy and effective implementation and to attain a growth rate of 5% per annum and gross domestic product at 3.3% per annum.

          The Seventh Five-Year Plan 1985-86 (1985-86 to 1989-90) came into operation on 1.3.1985 and covered plan period from 1985-89.  It main strategy is removal of poverty, providing social justice, economic expansion and technological development and bringing about a sharp reduction to the rate of population growth.  It laid stress on agriculture by introducing land reforms, irrigation, drainage and management of multiple cropping.  It also wanted to self-reliant industrial economy and has the fullest human resources development.  It wanted to put stress on anti-poverty programmes.  The main aim of the plan is to remove illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty and provide food, clothing and shelter, health, education and other basic amenities through Minimum Needs Programme.  According to some critics there was nothing new in the strategies and programmes however, a new hope seemed to have been created by the reconstitution of the Planning Commission and liberalization of imports in order to give a boost to development and hike the customs revenue.

That was far higher than the longer-term trend rate of 3.5 percent per annum and also higher than the average annual trend growth rate of 4.3 percent a year during the decade 1974-75 to 1984-85.

          The development of agriculture should inevitably have to be given priority.  Problems of crop combination perspective, land and water management, productivity, agro-processing industries, backward areas development diversification of technology to modernize stagnant agriculture needed carefully formulated plans for solution of problems.  It was argued that the agricultural sector should receive preference over the industrial sector in view of the size, nature and demographic and other peculiarities of the country.  It was believed by many, if India aims to enter into 21st Century, it has to put emphasis on faster growth of industries.  It would help to achieve the projected target of providing increased employment.  A notable feature of the plan document was it tried to redefine the role of small industries.  It emphasized for setting up or agro-industrial development in rural areas.  Through this the document aimed to achieve the goal of self-reliance.

          Human Development has been the ultimate goal.  The effort of the plan was directed towards achieving employment generation, population control, literacy, education, health, drinking water.  In addition provision for adequate food and basic infrastructure were the other priorities.  As a welcome step, the planning process in India seeks to make people’s initiative and participation a key element in the process of development.

Working of DRDA in Vizianagaram District:

          District administration is defined as the management of public affairs within a territory marked off for the purpose. After Independence, the District Administration was made a partner in the development process in which the Collector emerged as the overall agent of the State Government occupying a cardinal position.  As the implementation of the development programmes, the task was onerous calling for missionary zeal, scientific foresight and all pervading spirit of selfless service.  With the introduction of Panchayati Raju, structure had emerged at the district level where the Collectors Association with the emergent system and the role assigned under it varied from State to State.  The role of Collector in development administration does not find a clear and precise definition.  Except in the fields of revenue, law and order and natural calamities, his role, as a coordinator seems to be nebulous.  In recent years though the Union and State Governments have launched several special projects, the Collectors face gnawing problem of inter-sector transfer of funds. 

          The execution of Five-Year Plans for rural development is ultimately the responsibility of the District Administration, where in the District Collector plays a key role.  Originally, he was in charge of collection of revenue, and then he was entrusted with administrative and some judicial responsibilities for maintaining law and order.  Now he is also responsible for the development work in his district.  There is no limit to what a District Magistrate can get close so it is felt that it is too much to load him with developmental work.  The task of implementing development programmes is very difficult and time consuming.  It required patience, tack, dedication and vision.  So, it requires a specialized cadre of men and women who should have dedicated their lives to developmental work.

          To reduce the burden of Collector of supervising developmental work, the developmental functions of Collector were vested in the name of ‘Project Officer’ to lookafter ITDA Projects for implementation in Tribal Agency areas and in plains the responsibilities have to be given to the respective departments.  It was ultimately decided to set one single integrated organization.  The task of the organization was to oversee and effectively implement poverty alleviation programme.  Consequently District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) was set up in 1980, with Collector as the Chairperson. 

          While analyzing the function of DRDA it can be point out that the overall charge of the planning implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all anti-poverty programmes in the district can be divided into broad areas.  Firstly, to keep the district and Mandal agencies informed of the basic parameters and the requirements of the programmes and the task to be performed by all these agencies.  Secondly, to coordinate and oversee the surveys, preparation of prospective plans and annual plan of the blocks and finally prepare a district plan.  Thirdly to monitor and evaluate the programmes implementation by government and governmental agencies to ensure its effectiveness.  Fourthly to secure inter-sectoral and inter departmental co-ordination and co-operation.  Fifthly, to give publicity of the achievements made under the programs and disseminate knowledge and build up awareness about the programmes.  Sixthly to send periodical returns to the state government in the prescribed formats.  Coming to the functions of DRDA in Vizianagaram District it can be had the clear picture and to assess the analysis of the anti-poverty programmes of rural Development, which are implemented in this district.

BRGF (Grameena Rojgar Yojana):

          The funds under this scheme in 2007-08 under 11th Plan period have been released under the approval by the High-Power Committee of BRGF Planning.  The aim of this scheme is to meant to eradicate the disparity regional developments and provide funds where there is deficiency to meet the executions for developmental activities.  In this scheme 50%, 30% and 20% grants have been allocated to Gram Panchayats, Mandal Prajaparishads and Zillah Praja Parishads and four Municipalities respectively.

Fashion Technology Project:

          The Fashion Technology Project  under Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarajgar Yojana Scheme is started by the Government of India under the SGSY –II Scheme to enhance the additional income to the Self-employment Societies.  To meet the objective of this scheme has been estimated to a tune of Rs.1215.32 Lakhs.  Out of which an amount of Rs.218.02 Lakhs being the first phase and  the Government of India and Rs.72.67 as its share to bare the expenditure under this scheme.  The scheme will be continued for three years i.e., from October, 2006 to September, 2010.  Accordingly, for about 7000 Self-financed groups will be given training Embroidery, Garments Clothes preparation.  In the first phase an amount of Rs.86.00 Lakhs was spent for four months training to the Instructors in NIFT Institute i.e., 30 Women trained in advanced garment production, 40 Women trained in preparation of Surface Armamentation.  The District Rural Development Agency has procured the necessary machines and tools from East Godavary District with reasonable rates.  The DRDA make efforts through this scheme, 780 members after completion of their training have already been recruited in various Garment Industries and still 680 members are going to be completed within the next couple of months.  Further, DRDA has provided 300 Machines in TTDC and Mahilapranganam, 150 machines in Nellimarla, Garividi, Cheepurupalli and 100 Machines in S.Kota Mandals for the purpose of training the unemployed Women.  The DRDA make necessary arrangements to train the unemployed Women of 300 members in Bobbili Mahilapranganam, Dwakra Bazar, Vizianagaram in Surface Armamentation. (Source: DRDA, Vizianagaram District).

A.P.Housing Board Limited:

          During 2007-2008 under the I.A.Y (Indira Avasa Yojana) Scheme is sanctioned for Rs.1080.75 Lakhs provided to 4,323 Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe community peoples have benefitted.  Accordingly, 4,174 dwelling houses have been constructed and completed and an amount of Rs.939.15 has been spent for this purpose in all 34 mandals in Vizianagaram District.

Prime Minister Gram Shadak Yojana Welfare Activities:

          The objective of the scheme is to provide better transportation facilities connecting to National High Way Roads.  Accordingly priority was given for development of road facilities in all the rural areas.  The total road formation works were taken place 203.38 Kms. in this district and an amount of Rs.2867.04 Lakhs have been made being expenditure.

Integrated Waste Land Development Programme (IWDP):

          The IWD Programme was introduced during 1999-2000 with an object to utilize the waste lands for cultivation purpose.  Under this scheme Rs.2670.00 Lakhs has been allocated from 1999 – 2000 to 2006 – 2007 so as to utilize the 48500 Hectares of land spread over all 34 Mandals in Vizianagaram.  Accordingly, an amount of Rs.1640.76 Lakhs (61.45%) was spent for the development of 31416 (64.77%) Hectares of waste land was taken for use of agriculture purpose.

Micro Irrigation Development Programmes:

          As per the policy of A.P., State Government that Electrical Motors/Diesel Engines will be supplied to the farmers with 70% subsidy for the purpose of Drip Irrigation.  Accordingly, Rs.50,000/- to each farmer family is eligible to purchase the water machines.  Where, SC and ST community farmers may be allowed to pay 10% of the loan being their subscription and 20% per cent being margin money will be met by the respective SC/ST Corporation and the rest of money will be provided being loan to each farmer.  Accordingly, 1617 Farmer families are utilizing the above facility for the use of 3154 hectares of land in this district under Micro Irrigation Development programme.

Drinking Water Supply in Rural area under ARSWS Scheme:

          According to DRDA statistical information that out of 2874 villages in  Vizianagaram district drinking water was provided to 1600 (55.67%) villages and the rest of 1274 (44.33%) villages are yet to be provided drinking water.

A.P. NEDCAP:

          The objective of this scheme is to implement and development of Bio-gas Plants and their proper utilization so as to saving the Coal, Petroleum, wood and such other natural resources utilization particularly in rural areas and to protect the health of rural female.  This scheme is meant for low category farmers as well as Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe farmers.  Out of the cost of a Bio-gas plant unit of Rs.9750/-, an amount of Rs.5500/- is given to each farmer being the subsidy and the rest of the amount has to be borne by the farmer being the loan subject to repay the same to the government in an easy instalment basis.  As per the NEDCAP, Vizianagaram 500 units have been provided and Rs.48.75 lakhs was accorded to that extent.  Out of which 27.50 lakhs was given being subsidy and Rs.21.25 lakhs being the share of the individual.

GRAM PANCHAYATS:

          The basic assessment of a nation’s development is depending on Village in all aspects.  Keeping this into consideration, the grants have been released to the Gram Panchayats to meet the developmental activities in the respective villages in Vizianagaram District.  Out of the total grants of Rs.14.35 lakhs released by the Government of India, an amount of Rs.13.06 lakhs (91%) was spent.  Further, an amount of Rs.10.37 lakhs (79.4%) for Sanitation, Rs.2.67 (20.44%) for Drinking Water and Rs.0.02 Lakhs (0.153%) for other purpose was spent.

SARVA SIKSHA ABHIYAN (SSA):

          Rajiv Vidya Mission (SSA) Scheme functioning in this district is to provide necessary facilities to the Schools in Rural and Urban localities so as to attain the national objective that to provide ‘education for all’ as the Constitution slogan  to provide education to all the children upto 14 years.  During Academic Year 2006 -2007, an amount of Rs.1249.99 Lakhs was provided for the construction of 540 additional classrooms.  Out of which 363 classrooms constructed and the expenditure to a tune of Rs.1140.92 lakhs was made and the additional amount of Rs.109.07 lakhs is still needed to meet the construction of remain 177 classrooms.

          During the financial year 2007-2008, an amount of Rs.806.20 lakhs was estimated being the expenditure for the construction of 278 classrooms to provided to the needy schools in rural and urban localities.  Accordingly the Director of Rajiv Vidya Mission, Government of A.P., has accorded to start the execution.  However, 150 classroom constructions was executed with an amount of Rs.297.25 lakhs being grant released and Rs.508.95 lakhs is yet to be released to complete the remaining 128 classrooms construction in respective schools in this district.

          The SSA has also accorded for Rs.7.20 lakhs for providing minimum facilities in urban areas i.e., providing drinking water, 18 constructions of Lavatories etc.  According to SSA 6 Lavotories have been constructed with provision of safety drinking water in 4 schools with a cost of Rs.11.50 lakhs and the rest of 12 lavatories construction is under progress.

          The objective of SSA is to provide ‘Education for All’.  Accordingly to provided education 2617 children between 6 – 8 years age.  The SSA has also spent an amount of Rs.22,00,900/- during 2007-2008 being remuneration paid to the 183 Para Teachers paid at the rate of Rs.1500/- each per month.

          The Home based Education Scheme is also introduced by SSA during 2007-2008 so as to provide education to 288 physically handicapped children at their residence and 20 mandal resource persons are engaged at an amount of Rs.5000/- p.m. being remuneration.

          Similarly, the SSA, Vizianagaram has also provided Rs.44,44,502/- during 2006-2007 for 39 Bridge Courses to be provided to the Child Labour education so as to meet the constitutional objective.

CONCLUSIONS:

According to Subramanian, Narendra (2007) Populist political forces have played significant roles in Indian politics, and have varied in their vision of political community, in the social groups they targeted, in the policies they pursued, and in their impact on democracy. The Indian National Congress had populist aspects in the interwar period and then again under

The Danger Lurking Behind Obama’s Tax Policy

Following an historic election, we take a moment to examine just what an Obama presidency will mean to the United States – what we have to look forward to, and how he will deal with our current financial crisis. And according Jim Davidson, some of the numbers just don’t add up.

One of Obama’s prime campaign planks has been his promise to mercilessly raise taxes on the “rich,” a group initially defined as those making more than 0,000 per year. This was later dropped to 0,000 per year, and more recently has been defined as those Americans making more than 0,000 annually.

Setting aside the precipitous downward slide in the definition of “rich,” there is ample reason to suspect that Obama’s tax changes portend much higher, if not confiscatory, taxes on the most productive Americans. Obama has strongly argued for higher taxes as a way of employing government to alter the pre-tax distribution of income, which he believes has concentrated too much of the gains from productivity in recent years in the hands of the very rich.

He seems to think that the ‘very rich’ are a closed caste of more or less fixed membership, which changes little from year-to-year. This figures in his concept of ‘fairness,’ which supposes that it is perfectly just to burden a small fraction of the population with a majority of the costs of running the Federal government. This was detailed in a New York Times article on “spreading the wealth” by David Leonhardt. He wrote of Obama:

“He would then pay for the cuts, at least in part, by raising taxes on the affluent to a point where they would eventually be slightly higher than they were under Clinton. For these upper-income families, the Tax Policy Center’s comparisons with McCain are even starker. McCain, by continuing the basic thrust of Bush’s tax policies and adding a few new wrinkles, would cut taxes for the top 0.1 percent of earners – those making an average of .1 million – by another 0,000 a year, on top of the Bush reductions. Obama would raise taxes on this top 0.1 percent by an average of 0,000 a year. ‘It’s hard not to look at that figure and be a little stunned. It would represent a huge tax increase on the wealthy families. But it’s also worth putting the number in some context. The bulk of Obama’s tax increases on the wealthy – about 0,000 of that 0,000 – would simply take away Bush’s tax cuts. The remaining 0,000 wouldn’t nearly reverse their pretax income gains in recent years. Since the mid-1990s, their inflation-adjusted pretax income has roughly doubled.’

“To put it another way, the wealthy have done so well over the past few decades, with their incomes soaring and tax rates plummeting, that Obama’s plan would not come close to erasing their gains. The same would be true of households making a few hundred thousand dollars a year (who have gotten smaller raises than the very rich but would also face smaller tax increases). As ambitious as Obama’s proposals might be, they would still leave the gap between the rich and everyone else far wider than it burdensome on the young entrepreneur who was making his first millions as it would on the aging plutocrat who actually had enjoyed the prosperity of the past-quarter century since Reagan cut marginal tax rates.”

An October 13 editorial in The Wall Street Journal clarifies the mysterious arithmetic of Obama’s sweeping claims to cut income taxes for millions who currently have no income tax liability and pay no taxes:

‘For the Obama Democrats, a tax cut is no longer letting you keep more of what you earn. In their lexicon, a tax cut includes tens of billions of dollars in government handouts that are disguised by the phrase ‘tax credit.’ Mr. Obama is proposing to create or expand no fewer than seven such credits for individuals:

“- A 0 tax credit (,000 a couple) to ‘make work pay’ that phases out at income of ,000 for individuals and 0,000 per couple.

“- A ,000 tax credit for college tuition.

“- A 10% mortgage interest tax credit (on top of the existing mortgage interest deduction and other housing subsidies).

“- A ’savings’ tax credit of 50% up to ,000.

“- An expansion of the earned-income tax credit that would allow single workers to receive as much as 5 a year, up from 5 now, and give these workers up to ,110 if they are paying child support.

“- A child care credit of 50% up to ,000 of expenses a year.

“- A ‘clean car’ tax credit of up to ,000 on the purchase of certain vehicles.

“Here’s the political catch. All but the clean car credit would be ‘refundable,’ which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer – a federal check – from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this ‘welfare,’ or in George McGovern’s 1972 campaign a ‘Demogrant.’ Mr. Obama’s genius is to call it a tax cut.

“The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.

“The total annual expenditures on refundable ‘tax credits’ would rise over the next 10 years by 7 billion to .054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as ‘tax credits,’ the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.”

After all the sloppy definitions are parsed, one point remains clear. The top 5% of U.S. income earners, who presently pay 60.14% (2006 figures) of all income tax, are destined for a huge federal tax increase under Obama.

One of Obama’s specific proposals is to raise the capital gains and dividend taxes to 25%, which will sharply increase capital confiscation as increasing percentages of “gains” will reflect inflationary depreciation of the currency. In the U.S., an investor must pay tax on the difference between the sales price of an asset and it purchase price, with no adjustment for inflation. Consequently, when the tax rate and inflation are high, a large portion of the “capital gain” is illusory. Any asset that appreciates by less than the rate of inflation will result in its owner losing purchasing power and having to pay taxes on the illusory gains. At Obama’s higher tax rates, (he has suggested that capital gains and dividend taxes should be hiked to as much as 25%,) capital confiscation would result from modest levels of inflation.

And the Great Credit Crunch implies that inflation will be far higher than in recent experience.

Setting aside whether it is moral or equitable to force a small fraction of the population to essentially pay for the whole cost of government, much of which entails the shuffling of checks to purchase votes of various aggrieved groups, there is a bigger question. Can it be wise for the whole fiscal regime to stand on the shoulders of a small group, like a pyramid tottering on its point, so that any tribulation which undermines the prosperity of those who pay would promise to bankrupt the state?

It is a worthwhile question to ask if you have considerable assets. In light of the worldwide credit crunch, which has deflated assets of all kinds, the prospect of burgeoning prosperity at the magnitude required to enable one-in-20 Americans to become “Super Rich” benefactors of Big Government is vanishingly small. There won’t be enough rich people to fill the role assigned to them in Obama’s scheme. The result to be expected, in addition to confiscatory taxation, is a dramatic shortfall of revenues. This, in turn, implies surging deficits and deficit financing requirements that will rapidly swamp the capacity of the Treasury to borrow.

Source: The Danger Lurking Behind Obama’s Tax Policy

Vote Conservative

Image by IanVisits
A combination of the retro Dalek poster with the retro Conservative Party posters.

Rona Ambrose – Conservative MP

Image by mjb84
Booted out of Cabinet by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Rona Ambrose has taken a very low-key role ever since her mismanaging of the environmental portfolio. She has now been relegated to backroom roles and public events (such as this citizenship event). Nevertheless, she remains a very influential political figure in conservative circles both federally and provincially.

Radical, Reactionary, & Conservative Paul

The Bible is the SACRED Christian document WRITTEN by MAN, but definitely inspiring literature. When one moves out of “pulpit preaching”, particularly in Southern America and into an honest theological discussion from men and women who experts in Bible study, one encounters a very different Paul. And, of course, a very different Bible. It’s no less important. In fact, it’s far more exciting! 

New Testament scholars Raymond Brown and John Mier have contributed greatly to my life and my ability to make sense out of Saul who became Paul. At times Paul comes off as a woman-hating, slavery promoting, homophobic individual and then at other times he’s one of the early Christian mystics that time traveled to other dimensions.

How does one reconcile such depictions?

My answers came when I realized HOW the New Testament came into existence. My understanding was enhanced when I shook off the false teachings of Biblical inerrancy and infallibility and allowed the Spirit that’s within me: to discern what’s truth, and what’s not. After all, isn’t that why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit in the first place? And yet many Christians continue to not listen!

The Radical Paul:

He is the one who wrote the seven books that go by the names of: Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, I Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, and Philemon. Internal study of these books show that they were most probably written between 48 and 60 CE, some 10-20 years before Mark penned his gospel. Here we see a Paul who is bold who saw the distinction between the historical Jesus and the spiritual Christos. Thus Paul seldom quotes Jesus but speaks of the “Christ within”, the “body of Christ”, and such.

The Reactionary Paul:

The three so-called pastoral letters of Titus and 1 & 2 Timothy were not written by Paul. No way- no how. The internal evidence puts these as having been written around 100CE, or about 30-40 years after Nero had Paul put to death (64CE). They were written in the NAME of Paul which was not an unusual thing to do in those days. It was looked upon as honoring. And of course there’s a big departure in “thinking” from the other seven books mentioned above since several decades had passed in the development of the Christian community.

The Conservative Paul:

These three books were not written by Paul either and we written some time between the original seven (48-60CE) and the latter three (100CE). These three in-between books of Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians take on a more highly traditional “Jewish sect approach” to this newly forming group that would eventually be the new religion called Christianity.

The world lost one of it’s more profound New Testament scholars in 1998 when Raymond E. Brown transitioned from this dimension. Brown still remains controversial among traditionalist Catholics because of their claim that he denied the inerrancy of the whole of Scripture and their claim that he cast doubt on the historical accuracy of numerous articles of the Catholic faith. Of course anyone who disagrees with the fundamentalist-literal approach is castigated. Yet for me, he occupied the centre ground in the field of biblical studies, opposing the literalism found among many fundamentalist Christians while not carrying his conclusions as far as many other liberal scholars had.

Finally, let me recommend one of the best scholarly works on the writing of the New Testament bar none. To those who are still teachable, Brown’s, Introduction To The New Testament is a classic and a wonder!  It’s available at LRC or at Amazon.com- http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Testament-Anchor-Reference-Library/dp/0300140169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240757966&sr=8-1

Haslingden Industrial Co-Op AD1924, Bank Street now The Conservative Club

Image by mrrobertwade (wadey)
311209 the club has closed
A World War One plaque has been given a new home following the closure of Haslingden Conservative Club.

The plaque – which lists the names of 140 fallen soldiers – could have been thrown away when former members cleared out the club’s three-storey property. But it has instead found solace on the wall of a nearby antiques dealers.

The boss of Holden Wood Antiques on Grane Road, said the roll of honour – containing the names of former conservative club members who died during the great war – is an important part of local history.
Free Press 050310

It’s a threat to public health, a threat to human rights, and a threat to peaceful coexistence in a pluralistic society. Bryan Fischer: “Legal Sanctions for Homosexual Behavior” afa.net Bryan Fischer: “Why Homosexual Behavior Should Be Against the Law” afa.net Bryan Fischer: “If homosexuality were against the law” afa.net Family Research Council Calls for Criminalization of Gay Sex blogs.alternet.org Family group says it wants homosexuality criminalized michiganmessenger.com AFA’s Gary Glenn makes desperate attempt to justify his call to ‘criminalize homosexual behavior’ holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com Teen birth rates highest in most religious states www.msnbc.msn.com Impacts of Four Title V, Section 510 Abstinence Education Programs www.mathematica-mpr.com [PDF] Is Belief in God Hurting America? www.alternet.org Religious discrimination in the military www.secular.org Bible verses in Pentagon’s classified military intelligence reports www.gq.com Massachusetts Man Says He Was Fired for Telling Colleague Her Gay Marriage Is Wrong preview.tinyurl.com ACLU: Bibles Used As Weapons At Local Schools cbs11tv.com Liberty University: Center for Creation Studies www.liberty.edu Michigan plaintiffs file suit against hate crimes law michiganmessenger.com ‘…there is a very strong correspondence between the religiosity of a state and its propensity to ban gay marriage, with a particular “bonus” effect depending on the number of white evangelicals in the state.’ www …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

David Cameron at Conservative Party Conference

Image by conservativeparty
David Cameron, Leader of the Conservative Party, speaks at the 2009 Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Monday October 5, 2009. (Photo by Paul Toeman)

Free for editorial and/or personal use only. No sales, no commercial use.

Latest Projects Abroad News From the Taricaya Conservation Research Centre in Peru

February saw the arrival of our 500th volunteer at Taricaya and that made the month special to those of us who have been involved in the project from its infancy. As the Taricaya family continues to expand, I am still constantly amazed by the dedication and commitment of volunteers at the centre as they create their own part of Taricaya’s history. This month was no different to any other with more than enough work to keep us all busy and plenty more left to be done!

The seasonal rains finally arrived with vengeance this month and the depressions around the reserve began to fill with water. This makes some areas of the reserve inaccessible for those unwilling to wade through a few swamps but fortunately volunteers and staff relish such adventure and “swamp” clothes were separated for the times when a soaking became inevitable. One such occasion was the successful release of our ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) together with a radio collar. Whilst this particular cat is no threat to people, its presence around the lodge needed to be avoided for the safety of the other residents in the animal release program. A young paca or baby spider monkey would make a tasty snack for a hungry ocelot and so we hade to take her further into the reserve. With the collar duly attached volunteers took it in turns to carry her through the swamps and out to EMTO colpa where we released the margay (Leopardus wiedii) in 2005. This site is deep in our reserve but not close to any of the borders so a safe place for the ocelot to establish its territory. It will not compete with the margay as the ocelot is larger, primarily terrestrial and more active by day whereas the margay is nocturnal and prefers an arboreal lifestyle, as demonstrated by our sighting of it on the canopy walkway last year. With the ocelot successfully released we now have the task of monitoring its progress in the wild by means of radio-tracking. This will be exciting for us as we have never actively tracked released animals before and it will be great to get an insight into its natural history as it establishes itself back in the wild.

There was also an accidental release in February as one of our blue and yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) made a bid for freedom one morning as the flock was being fed. The escapee flew through the door as it was being opened and has joined forces with the scarlet macaw (Ara macao) released last month as they both circle the lodge regularly. The blue and yellow macaw is much friendlier than its scarlet cousin and comes down to the hammocks requesting food. It would be easy to recapture the bird but I think it is better flying around the camp and strengthening its flight muscles because there is another blue and yellow macaw approaching its release date. The blue and yellow macaws will almost certainly join up when the other is finally strong enough and I hope to release the other scarlet macaw at the same time so that both species form pairs and start their new lives in the reserve.

The rains have also meant a significant increase in the activity of the reptiles and amphibians around the reserve. The frogs and toads use the temporary water for breeding sites and their mating calls and displays inevitably attract predators such as snakes. The species list continues to grow as we encounter more wonderfully bizarre individuals. Notable captures/sightings in February include a new species of turtle (Chelonia), a rainbow boa, tree frogs (Hyla sp.) and a fantastic dwarf caiman (Paleosuchus trigonatus). The dwarf caiman capture came during a caiman hunt out on the river one night after dinner. One of the talks I give at the centre is on caiman and after the lecture I take volunteers out on the river to catch a caiman and illustrate the points I have previously outlined before releasing it back into the river. It is customary to catch either a black or a spectacled caiman but this time I was amazed to haul in a 1.1 metre dwarf caiman. Not only are these small crocodilians rare but the one I caught was close in length to the largest individual ever recorded. Dwarf caiman are rarely recorded over 1.2m so ours was a relative giant for the species. Their diminutive size means that they cannot compete with the larger caiman species and so dwarf caiman are reclusive and often nomadic and, as a defence against attack, their skins are much tougher with armoured scutes (plates) all over the body. This capture was unbelievable and fuels speculation about what other amazing creatures are out in our reserve awaiting discovery.

The topic of the fish project had become somewhat of a joke at Taricaya as Fondepes, the Peruvian organisation responsible for breeding the young fish, kept postponing the delivery date for the fish we had ordered. Week after week Fernando and I would chase them up with no success and it was looking as though the project would have to be put on hold until next year as water levels started to drop in the creek. It got to the stage where volunteers were laying sweep stakes on whether the fish would arrive at all and if so when!! Then amazingly when I had all but given up hope the babies arrived in their oxygen-enriched bags ready for release into our floating nursery. After acclimatising the young roe to the cooler temperature of the creek by floating them in their bags we then transferred them to the nursery. Now we must monitor growth rates and costs of food to conclude whether the project would be economically viable for the locals as yet another alternative source of income. Should the project prove successful then we will help slow down the over-fishing of the rivers that currently takes place and also provide the locals with a means of making money that does not involve illegal extraction from the surrounding forest.

Elsewhere at the pilot farm the flowers are continuing to flourish and we had good harvest last month from Percy’s farm also. The coffee beans are ripe and ready for harvest and the guinea pigs are continuing to reproduce as our base population becomes ever larger. The donkeys are doing well and the young Ronaldinho (named for its ability to kick in any direction!) is growing quickly into a strong juvenile. March will see us out on the trails clearing and remarking after the heavy storms of the wet season. The new mammal enclosure will be finished and work will continue on the existing projects. New accommodation in the form of more bungalows is also planned for March so Taricaya is continuing to expand and the hard work of everyone involved with the project continues to bear fruit as we continue to pioneer conservation work in Peruvian Amazon.

Find Out About Our Conservation Project in Peru

www.projects-abroad.co.uk

Gordon Brown general election poster by Conservatives

Image by Adrian Short
"I took billions from pensions. Let me do it again.

"Or vote for change. Vote Conservative."

Saboten-Con Tea Party

Image by kevindooley
Saboten-Con Lolita Tea Party in Mesa, Arizona, November 1 2009.

Bathrooms are Icons of Style and Water Conservation

Whatever the size of your house, no room is more influenced by a mixture of lifestyle and efficiency than the bathroom, according to the website 4ecotips.com. It’s now the hub of most households where you can grab a personal moment or two at the start of a busy day or totally relax at the end of it!

Bathrooms equal kitchens in the domestic feel-good factor stakes and are more likely, for example, to clinch a house sale than any other room. Increasingly we use our bathrooms to fulfil a variety of needs including entertainment, rest, relaxation, escapism and look to them for a sanctuary of tranquillity.

That’s not all bathrooms have a crucial water conservation role to play. Two thirds of the water consumed in our homes is in the bathroom. On average each one of us currently uses 150 litres a day and that has to be reduced to 125 litres within the next few years.

As an important part of this reduction process the UK Bathroom Manufacturers Association has launched its Water Efficient Product Labelling Scheme making it easier for householders to identify bathroom products that use much less water than their non-water efficient counterparts.

But, 4ecotips points out, there are lots of behavioural changes too which we can all make to reduce the amount of water we use as individuals. For instance turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, also only part fill the basin with water to shave rather than leaving the tap running. And showering is more water-wise than taking a bath.

Where bathroom trends are concerned 4ecotips.com points that it is as well to always have the “Design for Life” concept at the back of your mind. But shapes have evolved from traditional Victorian lines through to angular minimalist sculptures. Natural materials are becoming more popular as they offer an element of sustainability, so dark wood flooring, slate, wood panelling, marble and stone are appearing more frequently.

There’s also an increasing trend for opening up bathrooms and en suites so that they actually converge onto the bedroom but at the same time retain that special element of privacy with a separate WC.

4ecotips.com suggests that modern, minimalist designs are edging out the traditional Victorian and Edwardian styles, although there is a rising demand for classic style product with a modern twist reflecting a vamp style for glamour and elegance.

If lack of space is a real issue many householders are foregoing the bath and opting for a shower enclosure or a wet room. But where space is not the criterion and the budget presents no problems, free-standing baths of varying capacities remain hugely in vogue with the emphasis definitely on “wellness”, relaxation, luxury and togetherness, as opposed to straightforward personal hygiene. And, of course, there’s always a demand for whirlpool baths.

4ecotips.com says WC’s are the focus of water conservation because between us all in our toilet cisterns we hold enough water to sink the Titanic! So there are serious moves afoot to introduce as standard WCs operating on 6 and 4.5 litres, and this could even go down to 2.6 litres! Also emerging are “super” toilets that wash and dry the user!

These days many showers can be operated digitally from the comfort of your bed ready for you to step under at just the right temperature and at the perfect flow rate. What’s more waterproof technology now allows you to watch TV and listen to your favourite music in the bathroom.

Who says the bathroom is just for bathing?

The Tea Party – How the Boston Tea Party Shaped a Nation

Saturday at dusk I sat perched upon a rooftop, straining to see past the silhouette of a pine, mesmerized by the streaking reds and blues, the pulsing greens, and the glimmering silvers that painted the evening sky.  Festivities gave way across America as people gathered by the barbecue, kicked back beers and huddled under the sky, celebrating the day two hundred and thirty-three years ago that our forefathers declared an independent nation.

So what does this have to do with tea?

Let’s back up a bit… a lot, actually.  By the early 1700’s, Great Britain had issued a monopoly on all tea imported and distributed within their country. The East India Trading Company was the sole legal importer of tea, and for these rights they paid a hefty 25% tax on all imported goods. Tea was bought in massive amounts at auction in Britain and then imported from there to the colonies, where it faced an additional tax. This, in turn, raised the price of tea significantly for the end user, and as a result boosted illegal importation of tea from countries such as Holland. In fact, so much tea was brought into the country illegally that by the 1760’s the East India Trading Company began to suffer despite their monopolized rights. In order to help the company, Britain allowed the East India Company to import directly to the Americas, cutting out the brokerage in Britain and increasing their profit margin dramatically. The high taxes on the tea for the colonists were left in place however, and for colonists in America, angry at the high levels of taxation they faced with no representation in the government, this was the last straw.

By the early 1770’s American colonists had issued a boycott of all tea products and had successfully turned away several ships of product from their ports. In 1773 when three large ships entered the port of Boston, several men guarded the area to be sure that the product could not be unloaded while over seven thousand colonists gathered in an adjacent meeting to discuss the tactics of their strike. For twenty days the colonists urged the ships’ captain to return to Britain with the product, and at the objection of the Massachusetts governor, for twenty days the ships sat stationery. On December 16, 1773, the eve of the twentieth day, over a hundred men lightly disguised as Indians boarded each of the three ships. Hacking with their tomahawks, they broke open each of 342 chests of tea and spilled the contents over the edge and into the open waters below. Over 90,000 pounds of loose tea was lost to sea on that night.

This event, dubbed the “Boston Tea Party”, was not received well in Britain. In response, British parliament enacted the Coercive Acts, which essentially closed down the port of Boston to all commerce and incoming ships and demanded payment for the lost product. This punishment dramatically hurt the settlers in Massachusetts, and sympathies began to pour out from other colonies. The intention of the Coercive Acts was to keep the colonies in line, yet it only served to unify them against British rule. The first Continental Congress was held as a result in September of 1774, and within a year the colonies were pitted against British armies in the Revolutionary War.

The Boston Tea Party is considered to be one of the first acts of protest in our nation, and as the colonies united to become states of America and our own constitution was written the right to free speech and protest was remembered and protected. In recent months, news has been flush with members of the Republican party gathering together in many cities across the nation to protest recent spending by the Obama administration. They have called these gatherings “Tea Parties”.

The 4th of July celebrates the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain was written. Two hundred and thirty-three years later, we remain a strong, independent nation, and Britain has remained a close ally, despite the rocky start to our relationship. In remembrance, I’d like to propose a toast to our country and also to the one that we parted ways from long ago, and what better to toast with than our English Breakfast tea.

Here’s to our country: Happy Birthday.

The Energy Pie, Use More or Conserve?

Over the past several years we have all become painfully aware that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels likely play a significant role in worldwide climate change. Our insatiable demand for energy is driving prices up and generating more CO2 than ever.

How Much We Use

Today, the world uses about 12 Terawatts per year for all uses. That is 12,000,000,000,000 Watts. In a separate article I reviewed these sources of use which break down as:

Built Environment = 52% (40% for operations and 12% for materials)

Industry = 24%

Other Transport = 15%

Passenger cars = 9%

Energy from Many Sources

There has been a lot of conversation about renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and others. One would think we are now generating 30% of our overall needs from these sources. Unfortunately, that is not the case. If we break down the sources of energy worldwide we get:

Oil = 35%

Coal = 27%

Natural Gas = 20%

Hydro = 6%

Biomass = 6%

Nuclear = 5%

GeoThermal = under 1%

Wind, PV, SolarThermal = under 1%

The largest energy sources are Oil, Coal and Natural Gas. All fossil fuels which generate significant CO2 emissions. And the cost of all of these fuels has doubled in from 2007 to 2008.

Future Energy Demand

Our demand for energy is increasing worldwide, at an ever increasing rate. Given the current rate of increase, several estimates put worldwide demand at 30 Terawatts within 30 years, an increase of 18 terawatts, more than double today’s requirements. So we need move to renewable sources which don’t generate CO2 when burned. Solar, biofuels, nuclear. Sounds like a plan! Or is there trouble in paradise. Let’s consider each one.

Nuclear

Nuclear power generation does not emit CO2, or much of anything else. The heat from a controlled nuclear reaction boils water into steam that spins a turbine. 3 new plants are planned and beginning the license process in the US. And possibly as many as 8 worldwide this year (requesting licenses). Let’s go out on a limb and hope that somehow that figure grows to 45 new licenses this year, and 45 more every year for the next 30. And they each take no more than 10 years to build. And what is the result of in 30 years? 1 Terawatt. Not the 30 total we need, or the 18 additional Terawatts in growth. Just 1 lousy Terawatt. Puts it all in perspective.

BioFuels

This technology is controversial since it takes real energy to grow and harvest crops. The full analysis of many of the biofuel processes we have suggests that some (such as corn ethanol) use more energy to make and distribute than we get back out. But that argument aside, let’s pretend for the moment that we get 100% efficiency and there is no energy required to grow and process the crops. So we will take every acre of plantable land on earth and plant the most efficient crops we know of to generate biofuels. That should do it. Well, not really. That is only about 3 Terawatts. But we are on a roll, so let’s continue.

Solar Cells

Photovoltaic technology has come a long way in the last few decades. Efficiencies have improved and costs have come down. And more plants are being built to supply more solar. A good size solar plant today can manufacture enough solar cell’s to generate 1 gigawatt annually. Of course it would take 1000 plant-years to get to 1 Terawatt. And a lot of silicon (or other substrate). If we can make 20,000 square miles worth of cells and place them in sunny areas on earth, it will take all of the output of the current and planned plants for the next 25-30 years. And how much power is that? About 2 Terawatts, if all goes right. Of course, only during the day, but that is another issue.

Add It All Up

Adding up the largest sources at levels that we likely cannot attain, we still only end up with 6 Terawatts out of the 30 Terawatts total required to meet our needs. Add in wind, solarthermal, wave energy etc. and there is maybe another Terawatt. So basically, while these are all excellent businesses and fine technologies that must be pursued, we cannot count on renewable energy sources alone to get us to the promised land.

Conservation

The only hope we have of addressing CO2 and climate change is conservation. Since renewables can only deliver some 6 to 9 Terawatts total, we have to deal with as much of the 21+ Terawatts in other ways. As discussed earlier, the built environment is responsible for 52% of worldwide CO2. In order to address the built environment, we need to address the materials (such as new cement, drywall, metal processes) as well as building operations (primarily heating and cooling). Companies like CalStar and Serious Materials are re-inventing the old processes, reducing embodied energy by 75% or more.

We all can address operations, at least at home. Easiest targets are sealing ductwork, installing programmable thermostats, insulating homes that aren’t, and choosing high R value windows (at least R6 and preferable higher). Up to 50% of heat loss occurs through windows which are closed. Upgrading to dual pane low E windows is only gets to an R3. New technology is becoming available (such as ThermaProof Windows) which can provide R values above R10. A 300% improvement and a significant savings in heating and cooling bills.

The Result

If we begin addressing out built environment, we can easily reduce the energy required by 75% over today’s inefficient buildings and materials. The result would be a 12 terawatt savings in 30 years. And it is the least expensive 12 terawatts available, much less expensive than more coal power plants, which is the alternative.

So what will you do? Save the environment and your energy bill too. Make the right choice and act now.

Dickies at Work The Conservation Corps

As a young lad, I looked around before starting on my career track, thinking before I settled down, this was the time to get my world legs on. Do a stint in the military? It was peacetime (shows how long ago this was?) and doing National Guard just to say you did it seemed kind of a mediocre choice. Join the Peace Corps and do a stint in another country? Maybe, but that seemed like a slightly deeper commitment, and anyway what if I didn’t like the politics? I ended up midway between and went for the California Conservation Corps, also known as the CCC.

On the whole, it seemed just right. I was still out in time to start a career, did some work for my country, got to travel all over the state and see practically every acre of forest land it had, and even got to roll on a couple of forest fires. It was half vacation and half job, with the occasional dash of adventure. My second year I buckled down and got some career training started anyway.

The Corps dresses it’s members in such a way that they cannot forget they’re in a program started during the “New Deal” in a democratic society. All uniforms are Dickies, brown pants with tan shirts, all the way through the ranks, with only colored hats as the sole sign of rank. The ranks by hat colors run blue, green, red, yellow, orange, white, and black. There’s only one “honorary” black hat, and a white hat is a center director.

The California Conservation Corps works closely with other state departments such as the California Department of Forestry and Caltrans. If you visit Yosemite and take a trail up a mountain, chances are good that a CCC crew cut that trail. Or if you notice that a dirt hill that was eroding is now sprouting shoots that help retain the landscape, that might have been some CCC handiwork. The CCC also does the biggest part of disaster relief when needed, responding to floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and forest fires. If you’ve heard of “smoke-jumpers” who go into a forest fire by helicopter to fight it, those are also usually recruited from the CCC’s ranks.

By itself, the CCC is a good leg up in a career of civil service for the State government. It also offers job training in a variety of fields, and some paid college while attending. It’s a good pit stop for the very young adult, wishing to get some adventure in before settling down to the car loans and mortgages of the suburban life.

Which isn’t to say it’s fantastic. A sizable proportion of those who join are screw-ups, but they sort themselves out after a month. The conditions are rugged, particularly in the back-country projects where you’re off in a camp without any contact from the outside world for months at a time. The pay… hey, I said I deliberated between this and the Peace Corps, right? Whatever you do, don’t do this job for the money.

The Dickie uniforms. Do it for them. No, but anyway about the uniforms, you sew patches on the sleeves for whatever center or department you’re with. That’s the other distinguishing feature. You keep these patches around even after you’ve tossed the uniforms. With your other keepsakes, like the pictures and the work gloves and the T-shirt they sold you at the fire camp.

Fire camp! See, fighting forest fires is largely a matter of depriving them of fuel. So you go around the fire and cut line. If you’re lucky and the wind is right, you got the line to go all around the fire and it dies out. If it got away, you have to cut more line around where it is now. If you think a crew of people armed with axes chopping their way through a tall pine forest for a ten mile radius are no match for a fire moving through the trees at the speed of wind, you’re right. It’s impossible. And every fire ends just that way: we accomplish the impossible and kill the fire.

The planes and helicopters make “air drops”, bucket dumps of slurry on the fire to retard the flames. This is a strategic attempt to douse just one area at the perimeter of the fire; the equivalent of attacking a house fire with a thimble full of water in an attempt to hold it back one second until you can close the door. These are called in by radio. Even if we had one hundred of these, they couldn’t put out the fire by themselves. Largely they douse an area to keep it from catching.

This would be difficult enough on flat ground. But forest fires often happen on mountainous terrain. Hills and gullies have to be navigated, often where trucks can’t go. Fires like to rush up hills and devour the trees there, then creep down into the next valley. Get too far from the fire and you’ll never catch up. Get to close and, well, you got to close to a fire. The fire camp goes for days like this, moving and fighting, sixteen hour shifts of exhausting labor in the woods, plopping back unconscious at camp and waking up and the first thing you ask is “Where is it?” You get an answer something like “Three-thirty, heading east, 60% contained.” And that’s enough to get you running to catch up again. Sixty percent isn’t anything. Sixty percent means you’re failing.

After the fire’s out, there’s the cleanup. Going back to retrieve equipment, put out hot spots, and knock down snags. The area freshly burned from the fire might as well be on another planet. No noise, no birds. Hazy gray sunshine through smoke. Black spikes that are all that’s left of trees, some still standing. Knee-deep ash everywhere. Hot spots; sometimes when a tree burns, the root stay on fire for a few days afterward, burning away deep in the ground, and these are hot spots. They look like miniature volcanoes in the ash, with a plume of smoke within.

But then you visit town when the fire’s over, and make a stop for supplies on the way home. The town, nestled amongst the woods, was saved. The people of the town greet you like heroes, even if your role in the fire fighting wasn’t that major. They recognize you, the distinctive brown and tan Dickie uniforms with the ash and smoke streaks on them mark you as one of the crew. Little else distinguishes you after you lift the goggles from your eyes and there’s so much ash on your face that the goggles left an impression. The Conservation Corps is democratic, it does not matter who outranks who. There is no rank then, only team.

Conservative Billboard, Chehalis, WA

Image by everywhereist
Some of the billboard’s messages are conservative … others are just confusing. We stared at this one for a good while trying to figure it out.

Faces of the Tea Party Movement 12

Image by theqspeaks
A not very happy looking crowd of Tea Party protesters listening to a Member of Congress.

Best viewed large.

Tea Party protest, March 21, 2010, U.S. House of Representatives.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this photograph are those of the subjects and do not necessarily reflect the views of the photographer.

So, If I Attend A Tea Party With Sarah Palin, I Will Become An Ignorant, Bigoted, Racist?

Copyright © 2010 Ed Bagley

Political writer, blogger and new media producer Bob Cesca has some strong feelings about people who participate in the current “tea party” protests against encouraging a bigger, more controlling government for the United States of America. Hopefully, you have read Bob Cesca’s article that appeared recently in The Huffington Post. Now read my reaction–I too have some strong feelings.

Bob Cesca is not exactly fond of the “tea party movement” in America. He has a long list of complaints about its existence and purpose, with most of the complaints apparently clothed as excited protestors with white hoods over their head.

Here is Bob Cesca’s bottom line: “The tea party is almost entirely about race, and there’s no comparative group on the left that’s similarly motivated by bigotry, ignorance and racial hatred.”

So, by Cesca’s calculated analysis, apparently if I attend a tea party with Sarah Palin, he thinks I either am or will become an ignorant, bigoted, racist? And I say, “Now, wait just a minute . . . “

Whether Cesca chooses to recognize it or not, I think if I attend a tea party movement event and listen carefully to what the protestors have to say, I am fully capable of walking away without becoming an ignorant, bigoted, racist.

I think Cesca does see ghosts with white hoods on their head; he has as much as said so. Cesca clearly thinks he is as smart as he thinks the tea party crowd is ignorant, bigoted and racist. I see it differently.

I see a bunch of hard-working, tax-paying citizens who are fed up with their government’s inaction and incompetence in running the affairs of the nation. A government that has thus far failed more than it has succeeded.

Failed to put people back to work by addressing the real underlying need of the economy—giving private enterprise incentives to create jobs by reducing taxes and regulations that prohibit expansion of our economy when we need it most.

Failed to listen to the will of the people, including tea party protestors, by stubbornly moving ahead to push through national “health care reform” by urging passage of a bill without exact details about the purpose, intent and scope being revealed. Legislators are being asked to essentially give the President and the majority Democratic party the right to write in whatever law they wish after its passage. This is a blatant move for more government control driven by a social change agenda, without the majority support of the people, or even proper financing, driving the nation further into debt.

Failed to reveal the inevitable new taxes it will take to properly implement the new social change programs the President and the Democrats are advocating.

Failed to teach certain big business executives anything about their appalling behavior that resulted in the nation’s economic meltdown, and instead rewarded them with bailouts that the incompetent, greedy, arrogant executives used to make profits for their companies rather than help the economy recover.

Not to mention the fact that the government already had plenty of laws, regulations and regulatory agencies in place to prevent the economic meltdown, but they all failed to do so because their leadership was just as incompetent and/or corrupt as the businesses they were supposed to be regulating.

I could continue, but hopefully you, if not Bob Cesca, get the point. Tea party protestors have something to complain about. To see one sign among thousands of protestors that has a racial message on it does not make everyone else an ignorant, bigoted, racist.

It is easy to label everyone an ignorant, bigoted, racist because of the actions of one. This conveniently ignores the message of the protestors who identify real problems with the current administration coming to grips with more important problems than trusting legislators to pass a national health care reform bill with a blank check, and then write in the laws and regulations after the fact.

This is the prescription for a government and its legislators that is out of control and clearly dangerous to the republic. While the government and legislators may act like a democracy, the United States of America is not a strict democracy—it is a republic ruled by law.

The job of the Supreme Court and its justices is to enforce the U. S. Constitution, not re-write it to suit their personal social agenda. If our founding fathers thought the collective Supreme Court justices were smart enough to do that, they would have given them the authority to do so—and they did not.

If the government and its legislators can pass bills without essentially writing the law that would follow, they can also go after our right to bear arms—leaving only the military, law enforcement and criminals with guns, and the citizens they can prey on with nothing to defend themselves against power-hungry, out-of-control maniacs.

The collective tea party protestors are not a laughing matter to be characterized as an ignorant, bigoted, racist lot. They are not so much interested in racism as Bob Cesca would suggest, but rather freedom—preserving freedom for themselves and other American citizens, including Bob Cesca, even if Cesca does not know better.

And, the odds of being killed in an airborne terrorist attack are literally 1 in 10 million, according to Bob Cesca. Cesca is wrong, the mathematical odds are 1 in 100,000, not 1 in 10 million. If our population is 300 million and 3,000 people were killed in the 9-11 attack, that is 1 in 100,000. Do the math. I do not think much of Bob Cesca’s thinking, and I think his math is suspect too.

Michael Gove at Conservative Party Conference

Image by conservativeparty
Michael Gove, Shadow Schools Secretary, speaks at the 2009 Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Wednesday October 7, 2009. (Photo by Paul Toeman)

Free for editorial and/or personal use only. No sales, no commercial use.

Tea Party Cupcakes

Image by Kid’s Birthday Parties
Tea Party Ideas and Supplies

The New Tea Party Diet

This Tea Party movement is sweeping the nation or, at least, that part of the nation comprised of overweight, older, angry, white Americans. While the revolution may not last any longer than Mariah Carey’s acting career, I think it’s high time the tea baggers looked to capitalize on their notoriety. After all if Sarah Palin can write a best selling book using one and two syllable words and lots of follow-the-dot pictures surely the Tea Party can sell an official coffee mug or key chain to cash in, right? But what would be the best way for these guys to make a buck? Tea Party action figures? I just don’t see it. Would anyone buy little, plastic figures of Joe and Mary Sign Holder? A couple of pudgy, gray haired dolls in matching American flag T-shirts charging to front of a political rally in a golf cart? Holding signs that say, “Health Care is for Sick People!” and “I’m not prejudiced! * I’m just not comfortable around colored people or people who eat goats.” Maybe it’s me but I don’t envision those flying off the shelf at Christmas. I think they end up in the 80% off clearance rack next to the Chia Pets and Snuggies for left handed people. How about a Tea Party greatest hits CD? Get some big name singers to put their special spin on songs like, “Family values now or I’ll kill you”, “Speak English you little brown turd” and “Illegal aliens; go back to your own planet”. Maybe not such a hot idea after all. Actually what the Tea Party needs to do is what every semi-celebrity and out of work actor does….start their own diet! How hard can that be? I think that I can help them out and come up with the basic principals of the New Tea Party Diet. First of all, there has to be a rule that you can only eat foods that have an American name. Croissants and baguettes? Clearly un-American. Like shiitake mushrooms? You’re undoubtedly a socialist obsessed with health care. Got a hankering for hummus? You’re probably a pinko, flag burning, over spending, bleeding heart liberal who TIVOs every episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Eat linguine or fettuccine? Were you even born in this country? Well, were you? With the new Tea Party Diet you stick to simple, traditional, easy-to-pronounce, all American foods. Foods like pie. Apple pie. What’s more American then that? Next, you cannot eat foods that have been picked or harvested by illegal immigrants. This is a bit of an issue because those pesky Mexicans are EVERYWHERE. In fact, there is almost nothing in the good old US of A that has not been produced, picked, processed, packaged or purveyed that does not have Jose’s, Miguel’s or Juan’s thumbprint on it. OK, so in the new Tea Party Diet you had better stay clear of fruits and vegetables just in case. Naturally you can grown your own but the new Tea Party Diet frowns on those as-seen-on-TV upside down, Topsy Turvy growers for tomatoes, peppers, strawberries and similar. Upside down is just not the American way. Americans grow their food right-side-up and don’t you forget it. Consequently, forget about the all American apple pie unless you’re sure that the apples have been picked by a hard-to-find independent apple grower/picker of Scandinavian or Celtic decent and not by a guy that sprinted over the boarder because he couldn’t feed his family on a day. The nerve! What about fast food? Fast food is at the very top of the Tea Party’s food pyramid, right above pork rinds and deep fried Twinkies. But this presents yet another problem. Why? Because the largest employers of immigrants in the entire nation are in the restaurant and fast food industry! Not only that, but if you go to a fast food restaurant and order any kind of value menu aren’t you really just getting an edible stimulus package? Think about it. You know how the party feels about a stimulus package. What does all of this mean to the New Tea Party Diet? You got it, ixnay to fast food. This New Tea Party Diet is becoming complicated. I guess when it comes down to it the only things you can eat are things that you grow in your backyard and animals you shoot out of a helicopter. The good news is that I’m pretty sure you are going to lose some weight. Just make sure that after you have finished the diet you bring your Tea Party ID card to every rally because when you show up lean and mean nobody is going to believe you belong there.

The video Walking Wounded from the Tea Party – I do not own the music or video – The song and video are property of the artists and record company – This was posted to promote the amazing music that these three men created together as The Tea Party. If you like what you see and hear, I suggest that you take a look at their catalog of music. Enjoy
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has accused David Cameron of ‘measuring up the curtains’ of Ten Downing Street ahead of Polling Day. . . Follow us on twitter at twitter.com .
Video Rating: 4 / 5