Reluctant Users Slow O Take Up Videoconferencing Essay

The public relations executive was enthusiastic on the phone. The IT company he represented had started installing green data centres and energy-efficient computers. Would I like to fly to California to see for myself? That would be a 2500 mile round trip from my home in Midwestern Canada. According to the online calculator from Terapass, the trip would release 1,1232 pounds(about 500 kilos) of CO2 into the atmosphere. ‘If you’re really into green technology, couldn’t we do a videoconferencing instead? ’ I asked. ’Sure,’ said the PR person. We are totally into green issues’. He promised to arrange it. Months laters, nothing had happend. The high-tech industry is quick to praise the benefits of flexible communication, but videoconferencing is one area where things have failed to live up to the hype. ‘Videoconferencing has not significantly displaced travel,’ say Frank Modruson, CIO for global technology consulting firm Accenture. As the IT sector continues to push its green values, this mismatch between rhetoric and reality is becoming harder to ignore. So why are relatively few people using videoconferencing? Andrew Davis, managing partner at online collaboration market research firm Wainhouse, says the technology is let down by usability. For many peple, videoconferences are just too difficult to set up. This is why Nortel is emphasizing the services side. ‘The barrier isn’t the technology. It’s the services around that technology,’ says Dean Fernades, the company’s General Manager of Network Services. Nortel is one of several companies getting into a relatively new segment of the videoconferencing market called telepresence. Specially equipped rooms enabled people to appear as if they are sitting across the table, with life-size video representations of remote colleagues in high-definition video. Customers pay to use Nortel’s facilities, which can also handle video filming, enabling the room to double as a production facility for corporate TV, for example. Nortel will also handle post-production tasks such as editing. Accenture, on the other hand, opted for the capital investment route. Mr Modruson said it is installing rooms in Chicago and Frankurt, and hopes to roll out another 11 cities in the next few months.

Blue Shield Health Insurance Essay

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) serves independent local Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies as its trade association. The BCBSA is one of the nation’s oldest and biggest health benefits company, widely recognized in the health insurance industry, given its 800 strong employee strength, across 39 companies in Chicago and Washington D. C. BCBSA companies together cover about 98 million people or about every one in three Americans. The reach and spread of the BCBSA is really immense covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in contract with over 90% of the hospitals and 80% of physicians. The products serviced by BCBSA covers individuals to small and large employers, ensuring coverage to all citizens. Through its several unprecedented and innovative schemes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association tries to bring healthcare insurance to all people providing hope and security to everyone. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is an insurance provider covering healthcare for more than 98 millions, nearly one in three Americans. Healthcare insurance is a must for everyone. It is necessary to keep the economy going and growing because once the people are covered under some healthcare insurance, their medical needs are adequately taken care of, which makes their productivity go up because better health obviously results in better work performance. If the concept of insurance were not Blue Cross and Blue Shield 3 there, then every individual would have had to save a huge amount of money as reserve to cover some unforeseen or unexpected calamities. Healthcare is one aspect which can never be compromised. With the mounting medical expenses, people without a healthcare insurance can just not afford to avail proper preventive and therapeutic treatment. With the cost of medical services growing by leaps and bounds, healthcare insurance is imperative for one and all. Healthcare insurance company also stands to benefit because when they are likely to pay more in claims than what they get in premiums, a hike in the premium is anticipated. Under the employer-sponsored healthcare insurance, the employer spends roughly five times more than what the employee contributes. But the increasing medical costs have a great impact on the employers who have to pay out huge sums as premiums for their employees. From 1998 to 2003, there was a national increase of 42% in individual premiums after adjustments made with regard to inflation. With the increase in medical costs, employees are forced to contribute a sizable amount towards their coverage, so they opt to stay away from the job-based health insurance plans. The employers depend more on part-time and contract workers who are often not eligible for coverage. So fewer people access employer-paid healthcare insurance. The job instability too contributes in the steady increase of the number of uninsured people. And then there are some firms, which do not provide health insurance to their employees. With the shooting medical expenses, it is difficult for people to go for healthcare coverage, as the premiums are high. This leaves them uninsured, which again has drastic effects affecting Blue Cross and Blue Shield 4 both the people and the company. So, healthcare insurance has now become something that people can neither do with nor do without it. To combat this scenario, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association brings various new schemes taking into consideration the needs of every individual. With no insurance and with the exorbitant medical expenses, the health care of the people is greatly compromised. They go in for lesser preventive care with the result diseases get out of hand before they are diagnosed, and even when diagnosed, the treatment costs are so huge that the therapeutic care is compromised. With no insurance, people are expected to pay up-front for the medical services and so they defer medical care except when it is life threatening. This also affects the government because it has to cater to the medical needs of the uninsured, which has a terrible impact on the economy because the expenses of the emergency department is much higher than in the outpatient clinics, and the conditions are often those that could have been averted or postponed with preventive care. Proper health insurance package is the icing on the cake. The medical expenses are so much that healthcare insurance acts as a major deciding factor when people seek jobs. With the ever-increasing medical expenses, every individual has to be insured medically so that they can avail the needed healthcare. But with the increased insurance premiums, the number of uninsured people is on the high. Furthermore, insurances have too many exclusions like certain drugs not being covered, certain Blue Cross and Blue Shield 5 procedures not being covered and the like, which again discourages people from being insured, which is detrimental to the citizens as well as the country at large. Even with insurance, the prospects of the people losing their jobs and thereby their insurances is there. There definitely have to be changes in the system so that every individual could be worked into the health insurance plan. The view of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association president and CEO Scott P Serota testifies this â€Å"With such divergent political ideologies, it is unprecedented for these groups to have a joint agreement. Helping the millions of Americans who do not have health insurance is an issue that needs to transcend politics and partisanship, and that is why we worked together to give Congress a starting point that we can all support. † The 2005 data shows that one in seven American was uninsured thus depriving them of basic healthcare. The Institute of Medicine has that approximately 18,000 die every year of diseases that could have either been treated or prevented had they had health coverage. Lack of insurance prevents people leading a quality life, and it also brings down their productivity because of their recurrent ailments. The first annual National Walk @ Lunch Day to be held on Wednesday, April 18, 2007, by BCBSA (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association) will definitely bring about an awareness among people about the need for an active lifestyle, which obviously would usher in better health. Unlike the usual health insurance companies, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association design innovative schemes to match the diversified requirement of the market. It does a Blue Cross Blue shield 6 lot of activity to keep the competition at bay. Even though profit making is the main objective in any organization, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association takes care that it does not become the sole objective. A paradigm shift in this regard is obvious by the mere existence of CareFirst, the non profit health care company which provides health insurance products and administrative services. In the current scenario where the number of uninsured people is on the rise, Blue cross and Blues Shield Association has to be applauded for its efforts in trying to bring the maximum people under the healthcare insurance cover. REFERENCES www. nchc. org www. bcbs. com www. money. cnn. com

Motorcycle Diaries Character Growth Essay

â€Å"The enormity of our endeavor escaped us in those moments; all we could see was the dust on the road ahead and ourselves on the bike, devouring kilometers in our flight northward. †-pg. 33 â€Å"The Motorcycle Diaries† is a story of a motorcycle trip made by 23-year-old medical student Che Guevera and 29-year-old biochemist Alberto Granado across the South American continent. Along the way, Che is exposed to extreme events of poverty, vulnerability, and overall suffering. Originally, Che’s only goal in life was to become a famous doctor who would help fight off the leper disease invading South America. During the course of the journey, however, Che transforms from an innocent, simple-minded young man to a knowledgeable traveler, and finally to a powerful revolutionary that has his sights set much, much higher. Here are the events that helped to trigger this transformation in Ernesto Che Guevera. At the beginning of the journey, the only thing Che can focus on is the thought of becoming a doctor. â€Å"In the shade of the immense trees, we made plans to build a laboratory in this place, when we finished with our trip. Keep in mind, that at this point in the journey, he wasn’t even close to crossing the border of Argentina, let alone his final destination. This is the simple-mindedness of young Che Guevera coming out. He is constantly thinking about the final result, and by doing so, he isn’t able to fully appreciate what is going on around him. At this time, Che is only thinking of himself. But as he continues on his way, a few distinct events help begin to transform Che into the revolutionary that he is today. As Che progresses further to his destination, he begins to title himself as a leprosy doctor. As he stop sin towns along the way, he begins to provide medical assistance to those in need. At this time, it was mostly to practice for when he was to become famous later in life. But one town he stopped in began to change his whole perspective on what â€Å"helping people† was. â€Å"Soon the whole family was gathered around the article. And so, like this, basking in their admiration, we said goodbye to those people we remember nothing about, not even their names. †-pg. 59. He is basically saying that once he did what he needed to do, that was that. There were of people suffering in South America at the time. And he had helped only a few people. This event started to make Che think on a bigger scale, and gave him a little push in the direction of really making a difference in the lives of ALL those suffering people. As he reaches the end of his journey, Che has reached the final step of his transformation. Che has finally arrived at the leper colony, the much-anticipated end to his amazing journey. But Che has experienced things along the way that have changed his way of thinking. He doesn’t want the journey to end right here. He has figured out the way to truly make a difference in the lives of the South American people. Here is a quote that demonstrates what he has learned and how much he has transformed. â€Å"We must begin to erase our old concepts and come ever closer and ever more critically to the people. Not in the way we got closer before. Everybody has done that. But they have done it practicing charity, and what we have to practice today is solidarity. We should not draw closer to the people and say: Here we are. We come to give you the charity of our presence, to teach you with our science, to demonstrate your errors, your lack of refinement and knowledge. We need to go humbly to learn from the great source of wisdom that is the people. †-pg. 173 Che Guevera has gone from a narrow-minded individual to someone who is capable of caring for an entire population. He has grown into someone who can see through they eyes of the people who are suffering. He can see where things need to be improved. Che Guevera became the person he wanted to be at the beginning of the journey-a difference maker. But he has done so in a much different and more effective way. This is how Che Guevara grew over the course of the Motorcycle Diaries.

Management. Managing Organisation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Management. Managing Organisation - Assignment Example Many renowned individuals with different sets of personality traits manage their companies, handle the situations and operate in highly competitive world daily in a way that inspires their people. What is it in their personalities that makes them influence run of an organizations in a way that makes every day count and motivates and drives their staff to achieve more and strive for more? There is good news for every manager to be or every one that is in a management position already. You do not have to be born an excellent manager but you can learn from others, educate yourself on a subject of successful management and use principles that are recommended by specialists in the field. And as importantly you can gain experience and learn from failures. Let’s examine how personality of James Dyson, engineer by education, British inventor, founder and CEO of the Dyson company, affects daily run of his business. In one of his interview J. Dyson says that â€Å"people have huge advantage if they are capable of being radical† (Dyson, 2011). J. Dyson goes on to explain how he challenges accepted way of doing things with his team of scientists. Throughout the interview he emphasizes importance of innovations, ability of working smart, perseverance and being willing to take risks. To the question, â€Å"Did you have help in the beginning?†, J. Dyson’s answer starts with words â€Å"people are important† (Dyson, 2011).... To the question, â€Å"Did you have help in the beginning?†, J. Dyson’s answer starts with words â€Å"people are important† (Dyson, 2011). It shows that J. Dyson values people and wants to help to them to develop desire to create, courage to innovate and learn from failures for the sake of innovations. It’s so important to him that he says that â€Å"people ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT 4 that are gonna survive . . . are people who can make something that works the best† (Dyson, 2011). It’s evident that the desire to innovate made him into who he is and he is passionate to share that desire with people on his team. J. Dyson has clear vision to innovate; he is passionate about innovation and believes that future belongs to those who innovate and through innovations make world a better place. He transmits his vision and convictions in this regard to his staff and that serves as a great motivation and becomes driving force that unites people on his te am. That is how he influences his organization daily. 2. Characteristics of management styles What about J. Dyson’s management style? Throughout interview he highlights several times importance of an order in improving prototypes of an invention. He considers that order to be essential to creating good invention. He also clearly describers order of applying for patent. It’s clear he expects those working with him to abide by those guidelines. In other words J. Dyson sets clear performance standards and expectations, he also believes in implementing guides and insuring that rules are followed. Those are characteristics of a directive management style. At the same time Dyson articulates and communicates clear and appealing vision to his employees and scientists. It’s a vision of improving quality of life and having

The Passions and the Interests Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Passions and the Interests - Essay Example The point of departure in Hirschman's thesis is that "[capitalism] would activate some benign human proclivities at the expense of some malignant ones." In a "cash is king" or "money makes the mayor go" environment which basically elevates capitalism to the status of a savior ideology and a panacea to all social and individual ills, his commentary on capitalism stands out for which the proponent needs intellectual courage. One of the findings of Hirschman points towards the repression of human passion in favor of harmless commercial interests which became the centerpiece of capitalism but soon denounced as a negative feature emerging out of it. Thus nobel laureate Amartya Sen creates a scenario to elucidate the interplay between violent passion in society and individual's interest in acquiring wealth in what he calls a "crude example": consider a situation in which you are being chased by murderous bigots who passionately dislike something about you-the color of your skin, the look of your nose, the nature of your faith, or whatever. As they zero in on you, you throw some money around as you flee, and each of them gets down to the serious business of individually collecting the notes. As you escape, you may be impressed by your own good luck that the thugs have such benign self-interest, but the universalizing theorist would also note that this is only an example of the general phenomenon of violent p assion being subdued by innocuous interest in acquiring wealth. Hirschman makes the point that individuals are better off trading with each other rather than fighting with each other. Hirschman relives the intellectual climate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to highlight the changes in the capitalist ideology, wherein the pursuit of wealth which was once condemned as greed was later on upheld as a contributing factor towards harnessing and taming the destructive passions of individual. Compared with the Marxian interpretation wherein capitalism would cease to exist as an ideology with the withering away of the state, Hirschman's interpretation of capitalism and its rise takes an innovative form in that he maintains that capitalism is an unending ideology and that it only transformed itself through a series of internal processes into the modern market economy or its various off-shoots witnessed in many parts of the world. Hirschman taking inspiration from a large number of thinkers including Montesquieu, John Miller and Sir James Steuart "to gain a perspective on the meaning and significance of the views" spends some time narrating different views on the impact of economic activity on politics, and though the different views often advocate different policies, the common thread in the argument is that economic growth including betterment of the masses leads a society towards stabilization and which in turn may lead towards a process of democratization. According to Hirschman, if passions represent the state, and interests represent capitalism, the state regulates capitalism and capitalism is expected to regulate or tame the rulers' passions..

The Character Sketch of the Movie the Black Balloon Assignment

The Character Sketch of the Movie the Black Balloon - Assignment Example One path is his regular teenage life, where he has a crush on a girl. The other path is full of responsibilities; he has to take care of his autistic brother who is a big baby. He faces the ultimate sibling conflict. The family moves to a new place, and the time is the 1990s. Thomas is shown to be anxious about making new friends and all he wants is to fit in. The plot is so refined that it shows the power that went behind the writing. The parents have a hard decision to make where they want to give equal attention and love to each of their children. The mother is inclined to take more care of the one who lacks understanding, social skills and cognitive ability than the other normal people. Sometimes the normal children are supposed to take on more responsibilities and acquire leadership and caring skills. If it were a normal family Thomas would have lesser responsibilities. But his parents cannot always be around Charlie, especially when he goes to school, and during playtime, those activities are accompanied by people of the same age. Â  Thomas is a 15-year-old normal teenager. His family moves to a new home. He is going through a phase feeling like he needs to fit in with his new friends at the school. He struggles with fitting in because his family is unusual; he has an autistic brother who gets the attention of the parents all the time. This makes Thomas feel neglected. However, Thomas loves his brother Charlie and takes very good care of him. Charlie enjoys playing video games, wearing a monkey costume and receiving stars for good behavior. Maggie, their mother, is heavily pregnant, and her doctors have advised her to take rest. Eventually, Thomas has to be in charge of Charlie. This is not an easy task as he has to chase Charlie down when he shoots out of the house.

The Great Gatsby Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

The Great Gatsby - Essay Example The novel provides an exploration of Gatsby’s journey in achieving wealth, success and love with passionate optimism while ironically submitting into moral corruption and questionable lifestyle in the process. This paper aims to analyze how the conflict between Gatsby’s representation of an average American’s hopes, dreams and aspirations with his personal, professional and social life conditions affect his capacity to accomplish his ambitions. Wealthy New Yorker James Gatsby is the central character of the novel. Born as James Gatz, he longed to escape from the impoverished life that he was born into from rural South Dakota and possess wealth and sophistication. While studying in college, he worked as a janitor to support his finances but abruptly quitted because of the difficulty of the job. The one thing that inspired and deeply motivated Gatsby to achieve his goals is his love for Daisy Buchanan, a young girl born from luxury and grace that he met before leaving for the World War I as an enlisted officer in 1917. He firmly believed that he can convince her that he was good for her if he has already established his fortune and become a notable name in society. Daisy promised to wait for him though she married football player Tom Buchanan just after two years and settled in the old rich community of East Egg in New York. Heartbroken, Gatsby finished his studies in Oxford and concentrated on getting Daisy back by particip ating in organized crimes such as stealing bond securities and distributing illegal alcohol. His changing of his name symbolizes his reinvention as he improved his social and economic status. After acquiring millions of dollars, Gatsby bought a mansion in West Egg and threw weekly lavish parties in order to lure Daisy in joining such. Expectedly, Gatsby and Daisy’s paths crossed in the wealthy society of New York. Facing the moment that he prepared for several years, Gatsby showed his wealth and

Chapter 11 & 12 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 11 & 12 - Coursework Example In my opinion, allowing the judges the discretion of setting bail, helps them in dealing with the conflicting reality associated with reason for setting bail; whether bail is used to ensure that a defendant appears in court for trial or for the purpose of protecting the society (Neubauer and Fradella 261). This is a dilemma that faces judges in their day-to-day administration of bail. This law may be seen to violate a defendant’s constitutional right to bail; however, it should be noted that, it considers the rights of the society at large. It would politically infeasible to free all violent crime offenders on bail knowing very well that they may commit violent crimes again; similarly, jailing all those accused of violent offenses might not be feasible since jails are not enough to accommodate them. This law, therefore, not only protects the society, ensures that defendants’ rights to bail is not infringed, identifies the dilemma judges face and thus equips them with th e power to balance these competing demands-protecting the society, and protecting defendants constitutional rights. It should be noted that, constitutional rights such as the right to bail, are only meaningful when they do not infringe on the rights of others. Additionally, according to the Eighth Amendment Right, there is no absolute provision for the right of bail to all citizens irrespective of crime and logistical nightmares, as such to protect the citizens’ right to bail, despite the judge’s discretion; it grants that bail must not be excessive. Q#2 FIU police receive an anonymous tip that a white male, wearing an orange Miami Hurricanes jersey and blue jeans is standing in the breezeway of the Green Library. The anonymous 911 caller states the subject is concealing a handgun in his waistband. The subject is observed acting in a casual manner and nothing about his appearance or actions indicate

Greek and Roman Sculptures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Greek and Roman Sculptures - Essay Example This activity provided steady employment for many architects and sculptors who organized leading workshops in Greece, revolutionizing Greek classical art and architecture. The Parthenon, built by Menesicles and Ictinus, along with the Propylaea (the gateway with the finest paintings and sculpture of the Classical age) crowned the Athenian Acropolis. Other prominent works included The Panhellenic shrines, Delphi (oracle of Apollo) and Olympia (the shrine of Zeus). Delphi (460 BC) is the athlete offering libation of oil from patera (sacrificial bowl) in thanks for victory1. Roman art and architecture was founded on a different principle than their Greek counterparts. The Romans believed that for the continuity of the Roman Empire, they could only do so only through art. Since an emperor could not be omnipresent, it was necessary to set up the statue of the emperor in law courts, market places, public assemblies, and theatres. This policy led to the sculpture of a large number of the imperial effigies to adorn prominent buildings in Rome2. Since its discovery in 1963, the sculpture of Augustus of Prima Porta has been the subject of much scholarly discussion. The marble sculpture is probably a copy of a now-lost bronze statue which was made shortly after 22 BC. Augustus was lionized by the Roman people, he promoted conservative Republican values. He tried to restore faith in the Roman state by equating his role as Pontifex Maximus (Head Priest) with religious and moral values. Augustus used religion to reorganize state and to establish his own rule. He also promoted the cult of emperor as divine by building a temple to the Divine Julius 2.0 Augustus of Prima Porta (Roman Sculpture) Photo of Augustus of Prima Porta (Courtesy: Late Antiquity: Imperial Image) In Augustus of Prima Porta, Augustus is portrayed as a general, draped in a cuirass (breastplate) richly embellished with reliefs. The waist is draped in a paludamentum or officer's cloak. The upraised arms of the figure are an interpretation of ad locutio, a gesture conveying the power of speech in Roman art. It gives a visual demonstration of the emperor's power. Augustus saw himself as the Principate of Rome. Augustus of Prima Porta is one of the earliest examples of imperial portraiture used for political propaganda; the statue's purpose was to identify the state with a well-meaning and enlightened Augustus. The sculpture of Augustus of Prima Porta is a Greco-Roman example of exquisite craftsmanship of the Roman period. The sculpture has the power of expression in its god-like appearance. Practices of deifying rulers and erecting temples in their honor began in Rome as early as the reign of Augustus. Augustus of Prima Porta is the type of statue that stood in such a temple. It adapted an orator's gesture, combined with the pose and body proportions, as prescribed by the Greek Polykleitos and exemplified by the Spear Bearer, Doryphoros. Bare feet suggest that the work may have been posthumous and signified his apotheosis, or elevation to divine status. Carved on the cuirass are scenes, recounting outstanding achievements of Augustus' reign and pictures of the gods and goddesses. The Greek influence can be seen in the depictions of divine figures. The depiction of a Parthian giving back the

Managaging Organizational Change Essay Example for Free

Managaging Organizational Change Essay With falling vehicles sales and high costs, getting their North American operations profitable may be impossible no matter what the union gives. All the UAW has to push back with is a strike. And, strike it may. If the UAW gives up what the car companies want in this round of negotiations, the union will cease to exist as the bargaining force that it has been for decades. The union may decide that it is better to risk dying while defending its workers that to be overrun without a struggle (McIntyre 2012). This particular union took on the Change Manager as Director Image. According to chapter 2, the director image is based on an image of management as control and of change outcomes as being achievable. It is therefore up to the change manager to direct the organization in particular ways in order to produce the required change. The assumption is that change is a strategic choice that managers make and the survival and general well-being of the organization depends on them. In this particular situation the Managers in charge felt they would fight for what is right, even if that means fighting until the end. The image I feel best facilitates Ford is the Caretaker Image. In the caretaker image, the (ideal) image of management is still one of control, although the ability to exercise control is severely constrained by a variety of forces, both internally and externally driven, that propel change relatively independent of a managers intentions. For example, despite the change managers best intentions to implement activities to encourage entrepreneurial and innovative behavior, they may feel like this is a continually failing exercise as the organization grows, becomes more bureaucratic, and enacts strategic planning cycles, rules, regulations, and centralized practices. In this situation, inexorable growth and the issues associated with it are outside the control of any individual manager of change. In this rather pessimistic image, at best managers are caretakers, shepherding their organizations along as best they can. Ford has conflict, turmoil, and uncertainty but is that necessarily a bad thing? I would be more concerned with a company that was complacent, steady, and overconfident to use just one set of antonyms. A culture that has a presumption of imperfection can be very stressful. That type of stress can be good, and the fear of a cataclysmic industry or market disruption is often what drives the most successful lean manufacturing efforts. Change is hard, you have to really want to change or be scared into doing it. When you possess a caretaker image A lean transformation takes real leadership, and thats where we see a wide disparity between Ford and GM. On the Ford side we have CEO Alan Mulally who came from Boeing, a company with a very strong lean program. We have some problems with Boeings offshoring practices, but much of that is driven by political necessity. Bottom line is that he understands lean, and just recently visited archrival Toyota with VP Mark Fields. At a private dinner on Wednesday, Ford CEO Alan Mulally told journalists that the recent visit he and Mark Fields made to Toyotas headquarters was born out of a desire to understand more about the Japanese automakers manufacturing and product development processes, which Mulally holds in very high esteem.

The Dalit Womens Movement In India

The Dalit Womens Movement In India This paper proposes to look at dalit womens movement (DWM) in India. The dalit womens movement should be analyzed in a relational framework for which we will have to look at the specific history and nature of the Indian nation-state. The other two major movements which have a bearing on DWM are the dalit movement and the womens movement in India. This paper focuses on the DWM particularly the National Federation of dalit women (NFDW). There are a host of regional, state level and national level movements led and participated by dalit women, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss all these, so I undertake a study of the NFDW, its politics, strategy, ideology, scope and the theoretical perspectives through which it has been analysed. The NFDW is chronologically a post 1980s phenomena and has been active in a transnational arena with its particular presence in Durban 2001, it has been analysed by social scientists in a transnational framework. I have not overlooked the transnational significance of the movement, but, looked at it in a historical context of Indias history and modernity, the place of dalit women and men within this history and how has the history been challenged by dalit women. The main argument put forward by dalit feminists is that dalit women are a different category in their own right and they should not be subsumed within the category of dalits or women as a whole. Dalit feminists have asked both the dalit movements and womens movements in India for an internal critique because both these movements have neither been able to represent dalit women nor paid attention to their specific structural, social and cultural location within Indian society. Indian society is ridden with multiple and overlapping inequalities which affect women in general and dalit women in particular, in different ways. Dalit feminists have also argued for an analysis of patriarchy within dalit communities because of external and internal factors. Dalit women justify the case for talking differently on the basis of external factors (non-dalit forces homogenizing the issue of dalit women) and internal factors (the patriarchal domination within the dalits). (Guru: 1995:2548) The dalit womens movement has a crucial role to play in the analysis of dalit feminist approach because as Chaudhuri points out it is almost impossible to separate the history of action from the history of ideas. In other words the conceptual debates themselves embodied the history of doing, and vice versa. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xi-xii) therefore what constitutes conceptual history, arises in the context of history of doing (Chaudhuri: 2004: xii) The first part explores the historicity of womans question in India, dalit womens participation in early anti-caste movements is established now but they do not figure in the womens movement led by the AIWC as the womens movement started with a group of bourgeois women who believed in homogeneous womanhood. The second part looks at the question of difference and the articulation of this difference by dalit women through what Rege has called the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS), and the further debate around the DFS. The third part looks at the NFDW in particular. The fourth part tries to locate the DWM in different theoretical frameworks which have been put forward to explain the movement locating it in the present national and international scenario. The questions this paper will explore are: Why is it important to see the dalit womens movement as separate from the Indian womens movement and dalit movement in general? What are the main features of dalit womens movement, particularly the NFDW? How the revolving and overlapping axis of caste, class and gender have affected dalit women in particular? The related concepts are: Patriarchy Patriarchy is defined as Literally, rule of the father the term was originally used to describe social systems based on authority of male heads of household. (A dictionary of sociology 2009/1994:551) The nature of control and subjugation of women varies from one society to the other as it differs due to the differences in class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity and the socio-cultural practices. Thus in the context of India, brahmanical patriarchy, tribal patriarchy and dalit patriarchy are different from each other. Patriarchy within a particular caste or class also differs in terms of their religious and regional variations. (Ray: 2006) Mary E. John argues that there are not separate, multiple patriarchies but multiple patriarchies, the products of social discrimination along class, caste and communal lines, are much more shared and overlapping than diverseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the growing disparitiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦would tell a different story, one of unequal patriarchies and disparate genders.(John:2004: 66). Gender According to Ann Oakley sex is a biological term: gender a psychological and cultural one further she says if the proper terms for sex are male and female, the corresponding terms for gender are masculine and feminine; these latter may be quite independent of (biological) sex. (Oakley: 1972:159) Dalit Romila Thapar traces the roots of Dalit in Pali literature in which Dalit means the oppressed. (Quoted in Guru and Geetha: 2000) Dalit is not a caste; it is a constructed identityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Dalit (oppressed or broken) is not a new word. Apparently, it was used in the 1930s as a Hindi and Marathi translation of depressed classes, a term the British used for what are now called the scheduled castesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The word was also used by B R Ambedkar in his Marathi speeches. The Dalit Panthers revived the term in their 1973 manifestoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Bharati: 2002) However there is a huge and raging debate over the word Dalit among intellectuals. The issues of terminology are complex and cannot be handled in this space, the study proposes to use dalits for the communities also at times called ex-untouchables, ati-shudras, untouchables, scheduled castes, low castes, harijans etc. Dalit women It has been pointed by dalit activists and intellectuals that dalit women suffer the triple burden of caste, class, and gender (Rao:2006), (Rege:1998), (Dietrich:2006), (Omvedt: 2004),(Malik:1999) they have been called the dalits of the dalits , the downtrodden amongst the downtrodden and the the slaves of the slaves.( Manorama quoted in Hardtmann: 2009:217) However such a construction has been challenged by Shirman as fetishising of dalit womens suffering which tend to reify the living social relationships that constitute dalit womens lives, and to locate dalit women as objects of pity. (Shirman: 2004) Social movement A social movement can be thought of as an informal set of individuals and/ or groups that are involved in confliction relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networks; [and] share a distinct collective identity (della Porta Diani, 2006, p. 20). (Christiansen:2011:4) Feminism Kumari Jayawardena defines feminism as embracing movements for equality within the current system and significant struggles that have attempted to change the system. She asserts that these movements arose in the context of i) the formulation and consolidation of national identities which modernized anti-imperialist movements during the independence struggle and ii) the remaking of pre-capitalist religion and feudal structures in attempt to modernize third world societies (Jayawardena, 1986: 2) ( Quoted in Chaudhuri, 2004: xvi). Nation-State Nation, it is clear, is not the same as state. The latter refers to an independent and autonomous political structure over a specific territory, with a comprehensive legal system and a sufficient concentration of power to maintain law and order. State, in other words, is primarily a political-legal concept, whereas nation is primarily psycho-cultural. Nation and state may exist independently of one another: a nation may exist without a state; a state may exist without a nation. When the two coincide, when the boundaries of the state are approximately coterminous with those of the nation, the result is a nation-state. A nation-state, in other words, is a nation that possesses political sovereignty. It is socially cohesive as well as politically organized and independent. (Enloe and Rejai: 1969:143) The space of dalit women in the womens movement and the dalit movement in India. Chaudhuri has observed that the early womens movement comprised of the women from upper caste and class strata who distanced themselves from party politics and confrontational mode of assertion. The theme of woman as an individual in her own right did not crop up till very late. The theme that emerges is the naturally non-antagonistic relationship of the sexes in India as compared to the westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chaudhuri: 2004:119) Chaudhuri discusses that the All India Womens Congress (AIWC) were in favour of joint electorates and rejected the communal award, women the leading members continued to argue, were all sisters under the sari and the institutions and ideals that governed their lives were similar. (Chaudhuri: 2004:130) Chaudhuri also observes the propensity of gender issues to be dispensable while larger political battles are being fought has been a constant of sorts in the history of modern India. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xv) Throughout the nineteenth century different versions of female emancipation came to be tied to the idea of national liberation and regeneration. The early colonial constellation of the arya woman is a sternly elitist concept in class and caste terms, and finds its nationalist shape in social and political thought, literature and a dominant historiographic model of Indiaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the recovery of tradition throughout the proto-nationalist and nationalist period was the recovery of the traditional womanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the vedic woman, both in her own time, and after her appropriation by upper castes and classes in the nineteenth century, is built upon the labour of lower social groups and is also a mark of distinction from them.(Sangari and Vaid: 1989:10) Following these historical developments there has been an ambivalence in india towards feminism, Chaudhuri argues that we cannot exclude women who were pushing feminist agendas without calling them feminists because we cannot impose current notions of feminism on the past thereby assuming an ideal notion of the correct kind of feminism. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xvi-xvii) Another question that Chaudhuri points out is the westernnes of feminism and its subsequent perception by feminists in India. She claims that there is no turning away from the westà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦questions regarding the westerness of feminism has been a constant theme. In a hierarchical society often gender oppression is linked with oppressions based on caste, class, community, tribe and religion, and in such multiple patriarchies men as the principal oppressors is not easily accepted (Chaudhuri, 2004: xxii-xxiii). Manuela Ciotti in a field study done with BSP and Hindu right women activists in UP has drawn attention to the role played by womens husbands or other male family members, who are often not only responsible for womens release into public life, but also act as a source of advice, experience, encouragement and financial support for their political activities. (Ciotti: 2007) The history to which the dalit womens movement traces itself is of Ambedkar and Phule (both men) whose approach however was (unlike that of the early Indian womens movement) confrontationalist as well as pronouncedly antagonist to brahmanic patriarchy. To Phule and Ambedkar, gender issues were not dispensable. This history also brings to light the fact that dalit women were not historically absent from movements but their history has been neglected until recently. They worked side by side dalit men but they have started to organize separately from dalit men with different movements only post the 1970s. Ambedkar not only spoke for and agitated for the rights of Dalits but also Dalit women. He argued that practices of sati, enforced widowhood and child marriage come to be prescribed by Brahmanism in order to regulate and control any transgression of boundaries, i.e., to say he underlines the fact that the caste system can be maintained only through the controls on womens sexuality and in this sense women are the gateways to the caste system [Ambedkar 1992:90] (Rege: 1998) Meenakshi Moon and Urmila Pawar have recorded the participation of dalit women in the early 20th century movements against caste exclusion and oppression, in the following decades womens activities developed from mere participation as beneficiaries or as an audience, to the shouldering of significant responsibility in various fields of activity in the Ambedkar movement. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:49) Moon and Pawars research has thrown light on the unknown facts of the dalit womens participation in the early anti-caste movements, Dr. Ambedkar saw to it that womens conferences were held simultaneously with those of men. By 1930 women had become so conscious that they started conducting their own meetings and conferences independently. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50) In the Mahad satyagraha of 1927 women not only participated in the procession with Dr. Ambedkar but also participated in the deliberations of the subject committee meetings in passing resolutions about the claim for equal human rights. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50) Their research also reveals the experiences they (dalit women) had in the field as well as in the family as mother, wife, daughter; what was the effect on their life of Ambedkars movement and speechesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Moon and Pawar: 2003:53) Even the women who were illiterate subscribed to Ambedkars journals to keep the publications alive. They paid four annas to eight annas when their daily wages were hardly a rupee daily. Some women courted arrest with the men in the satayagrahas. Some had to face beatings from their husbands for participating in the movement. At such times they took their infant babies to jail, some carried all their belongings, even chickens. Taking in consideration the extremely backward social atmosphere the achievements of these women were most commendable. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:54-55) The analyses of dalit womens presence in anti caste struggle has brought out the sharp contrast between their participation in movements and their visibility as leaders and decision makers in political parties or dalit movement itself. Dalit women do not play any important role in the political leadership of maharastra (Zelliot:2006:209) Vimal Thorat laments that Dalit identity politics articulates caste identity sharply but resists, deliberately, understanding and articulating the gender dimensions of caste itself (that sees all women not just Dalit women) in a certain lightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦The Dalit movement has thrown up so many women but articulate women are not invited by Dalit forums, especially the political parties. (Thorat: 2001) The question she asks is Forty years after the Dalit movement, where is the womens share? (Hamari bhagyadari kahan hai?) (Thorat: 2001) Ruth Manorama is of the view that dalit women have to challenge dalit men to reah the leading posts within their own movement. She explains that dalit men have been discriminated throughout their lives by high caste men as well as high caste women. The dalit men now are scared of dalit women and think that they are the same as the high caste women. Now when they have finally grasped the leadership positions they will not part from them. You have to understand them. (Hardtmann: 2009:219) Dietrich argues that while womens movements downplay the caste factor and emphasize unity among women as victims of violence, dalit movements see such violence only from a caste angle and subsume the dalit women within dalits in general.( Dietrich:2006:57) Many Dalit intellectuals deny the persistence of brahmanic patriarchy among the dalits, Kancha Ilaiah admits that patriarchy exists among the dalits, but he compares it to Brahmin patriarchy and contends that it is less oppressive the man woman relations among the dalitBahujan are far more democratic. (Ilaiah: 2006:88) Dalit womens assertion of difference Gopal Guru in dalit women talk differently has posed faith in the new politics of difference that the dalit women have expressed through the formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW). Guru brings out the facts that such difference is necessary if dalit women want to fight patriarchy which is external and internal. Other factors that he points out are caste factor does not get adequate recognition in the analysis done by non-dalit, middle-class, urbanised women activists. (Guru: 1995:2548) And the claim for womens solidarity at both national and global levels subsumes contradictions that exist between high caste and dalit women. (Guru: 1995:2548) Rege also points to the trend of the left party-based womens organizations collapsing caste into class, and the autonomous womens groups collapsing caste into sisterhood, both leaving Brahmanism unchallenged. (Rege: 1998) The social and material conditions of dalit women are different and they cannot uncritically ally themselves with larger feminist politics because of the same, so feminists like Rege have called it the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS). (Rege: 1998) The DFS according to Rege analyses what divides women, what unites them but does not unite them easily. As a standpoint located in the material practices of dalit womens lives it rejects a dichotomisation of the material and cultural which equates the material to environmental degradation and brahmanism to the cultural. Brahmanical patriarchies and caste-specific patriarchies are material in their determination of the access to resources, the division of labour the sexual division of labour and division of sexual labour. (Rege: 2000) Criticizing Rege, Chaya Datar argues that Rege has ignored ecofeminism which actually talks about the position of dalit women in society and the exploitation of women as well as the environment and natural degradation. In Datars view the dalit womens movement may not be part of narrow identity politics, insofar as it does not talk of the materiality of the majority of dalit, marginalised women who lose their livelihoods because of environmental degradation but focuses its struggle mainly against brahminical symbols, it cannot aspire to revisioning of society. It cannot become more emancipatory than the present womens movement. (Datar: 1999) According to Anupama Rao dalitbahujan feminists have gone further than merely arguing that Indian feminism is incomplete and exclusive. Rather, they are suggesting that we rethink the genealogy of Indian feminism in order to engage meaningfully with dalit womens difference from the ideal subjects of feminist politics. (Rao: 2006:2-3) Bela Malik argues that a purely dalit or a purely feminist movement cannot adequately help dalit women. (Malik: 1999) she further states that those who have been actively involved with organizing women encounter difficulties that are nowhere addressed in a theoretical literature whose foundational principles are derived from a smattering of normative theories of rights, liberal political theory, an ill-formulated left politics and more recently, occasionally, even a well-intentioned doctrine of entitlements. Kannabiran and Kannabiran(1991) have pointed to how the deadlock between kshatriya and dalit men caused by dalit agricultural labourer women dressing well could be solved only by a decision taken by men of both the communities. It was decided that women of either community would not be allowed to step into each others locations. The sexual assault on dalit women has been used as a common practice for under-mining the manhood of the caste. Some dalit male activists did argue that in passing derogatory remarks about upper caste girls (in incidents such as Chanduru) dalit men were only getting their own back. The emancipatory agenda of the dalit and womens movements will have to be sensitive to these issues and underline the complex interphase between caste and gender as structuring hierarchies in society. (Rege: 1998) The notion of the dalit women as more free and mobile has been taken up by feminists, the arguments have been that although dalit women are vocal and fight their husbands back, they are not under the ideology of husband worship but they face collective threat of physical harm from upper caste forces all the time. (Dietrich: 2006:58), also (Rege: 1998). Kumkum Sangari opines that patriarchies function and persist not only because they are embedded in the social stratification, division of labour, political structure, cultural practices but also because of consent by women. (Sangari: 1996:17) T.P-Vetschera in his study of Dalit women in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra points out to the element of consent by quoting the Dalit women themselves our men dont treat us as badly as animals, this means that they are good'. Women feel that suffering (is) an essential part of a womans life and nothing could be done about it. (P-Vetschera: 1996:246) T.P-Vetscheras study points out that the Mahars have experienced social mobility and in the region caste repression is not so bad. However the lives of Mahar women are full of daily struggles with burgeoning amount of work within and outside home. Their husbands dont help them and they have to cope with clichà ©s which configure them as lazy and having loose morals. (P-Vetschera: 1996:238) They are frequent victims of violence at the hands of their husbands. Some of them are victims of rape and sexual exploitation by high caste men. (P-Vetschera: 1996:239) Sanskritisation or reference group behavior has reined havoc on the freedom and position earlier enjoyed by dalit women in dalit community. (P-Vetschera: 1996:257). A dangerous mixture of tradition and modernity combines not to stop or minimize the exploitation of dalit women but only gives it a new avatar. The National Federation of dalit women (NFDW) Tracing the issues at stake in the post Mandal-Masjid phase of the womens movement, Rege has argued that the assertion of dalit womens voices in the 1990s brings up significant issues for the revisioning of feminist politics. (Rege: 1998). The revival of the womens movement in india came with the new womens movement in the 1970s.Dalit womens activists however, see this movement as a continuation of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the Hindu caste reform tradition.(Hardtmann: 2009:215) They consider the feminist theory developed by non-dalit women as unauthentic since it does not capture their reality. This comprehension gets clearly reflected in the 12- point agenda adopted by the NFDW and in several papers presented by the dalit women at the Maharashtra Dalit Womens Conference held in Pune in May 1995. Dalit women define the concept of dalit strictly in caste terms, refuting the claim of upper caste women to dalithood. Dalit women activists quote Phule and Ambedkar to invalidate the attempt to a non-dalit woman to don dalit identity. (Guru: 1995:2549) In the second half of the 1980s, dalit women came to express a need for a separate platform within the broader womens movement. In the 1987 the first dalit womens national meeting, dalit womens struggles and aspirations, was held in Bangalore. About 200 women from the south of India, but also from Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and west Bengal are said to have attended. This was the beginning of a national network of dalit women which on the 11 august 1995 formed the NFDW. (Guru: 1995:2548-9) (Hardtmann: 2009:215) Three years later some women from NFDW took part in the formation of the national campaign on dalit human rights (NCDHR). (Hardtmann: 2009:216) It is important to note, however, that even if they have organized separately from dalit men, they tried to work in collaboration with them in the NCDHR. NCDHR was officially launched on World Human Rights Day, 10 December 1998; it links dozens of formerly isolated Dalit civil society organizations in fourteen Indian states. (Bob: 2007:179) The NFDW was instrumental in organizing dalit women for the world conference against racism held in Durban in 2001. Dalit activists argued that caste oppression was like race oppression because both were discriminations based on work and descent. This has been a matter of debate in India as well as globally now and the NFDW supported this claim. The World Conference against Racism held at Durban in 2001 and the process that led to the WCAR in India witnessed the freeing of caste from the confines of India into a larger international arena that held out greater possibilities for public debate, alliance building and more powerful resistance. (Kannabiran: 2006) This meant that not only did the dalit movement and questions related to SC become known internationally, but international focus, to a large extent, came to be placed on the situation of SC women. (Hardtmann: 2009:215) The manifesto of NFDW reads: NFDW endeavours to seek and build alliances with all other progressive and democratic movements and forces, in particular the womens movement and the wider Dalit movement at the national level. It thus aspires in a significant way to widen the democratic spaces while at the same time to create and preserve its identity and specificity. This framework will enable the Dalit womens movement to seek the roots of its oppression, the diversities, the nature of changes, if any, in specific regions and historical contexts and in particular, perceive the varied levels of consciousness that exist within it. Source, (Kannabiran: 2006) In the context of the caste and race debate The NFDW focused on the specific interpretation of civil and political rights, the recognition of productive contribution to society in terms of equality, dignity, fair wages and popular perception, the guarantee of security of person and freedom from the threat of sexual and physical assault, right to freedom of religion in a context where conversion for a better life resulted in denial of protections and the right to leadership a claim pitted against non-dalit men, dalit men and non dalit women. (Kannabiran: 2006) Drawing on the definition of racial discrimination in Article 1 of the CERD, the NFDW asserted in the Durban process that discrimination based on caste is indeed a specific form of racism, intertwined with gender since Dalit women face targeted violence from state actors and powerful members of dominant castes and community especially in the case of rape, mutilation and death; they face discrimination in the payment of unequal wages and gender violence at the workplace that includes fields [as agricultural labourers], on the streets [as manual scavengers and garbage pickers], in homes [as domestic workers], and through religious customà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦' (Kannabiran: 2006) The charter of rights of dalit women, formulated in 1999, and christened the Delhi Declaration sets out the guiding principles of dalit womens rights. It declares that dalits are one of the indigenous peoples of India, who as a people are sovereign, with a distinct identity, history, culture and religionSignificantly, dalit women in this charter declared solidarity in the common cause of womens rights in India and the world at large for the establishment of gender partnership in an egalitarian society. (Kannabiran: 2006) Theoretical approaches It is difficult to explain the dalit womens movement with the help of any one of the given theoretical perspectives, because of the particular context in which DWM is located and the specific historical trajectory it has followed; feminist movements in general have been theorized as new social movements (NSM), however the NSM perspective cannot explain DWM until some context based facts are taken in account. The DWM as separate from the dalit movement and the NFDW in particular is chronologically a new phenomena, the movement has been analysed in relation to the current world order. The womens movement, the dalit movement, the dalit womens movement and Feminism in India has to be situated within the particular history of colonialism, nationalism, modernity, nation-state, and presently the global world order with global institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations. Feminism in India cannot be isolated from the broader framework of an unequal international world. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xv) Chaudhuri has argued that we should look at the Indian nation-states entry in modernity to understand the womens question in India. Indias entrance to modernity was facilitated by the colonial state and the very construction of modern bourgeois domesticity itself can be discerned in the nineteenth century social reform movement. (Chaudhuri: 2011: x) The social reform movement focused on the high caste-class women as subjects and as well as symbols for Indian tradition has been made clear by Vaid and Sangari (1989). In the context of DWM it becomes crucial to understand gender as a relational term (John 2004) (Hardtmann 2009). Johns question is that how then, should one look at the gendered relations between men and women from the exploited sections of societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Hardtmann: 2009:209) John has commented that the stereotype of associating women with the inside private sphere and men as a general category with the outside world of economic and political powerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦is very misleading (Hardtmann: 2009:209) because such power is in fact in the hands of a very few men, who are upper caste and Hindu, and middle or upper class, and who may constitute no more than 10 percent of the male population. (John 2004b:253) (Hardtmann: 2009:209) Arguing in the vein of John, Hartmann argues that the world bank, the Indian state, and international corporations agree that one solution to the economic problems of SCs in the Indian society is that poor women enter the private spheres as entrepreneurs. Her question is why poor women and poor men. The implicit assumption of these institutions is that dalit men are economically irresponsible in relation to their families. They are deprived of their so called male responsibility, and as a result they are devoid of constructing their masculinity associated with respect. Women are supported to enter the economic sphere, but when they on the other hand reach an economic position, like Mayawati, they are pictured as immoral and deprived of constructing a so-called femininity, valued and respected in Indian society. (Hardtmann: 2009:225) To invoke Johns pithy description, the thrifty and diligent women are pitted solely against their unruly men. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix) Who are seen as bad subjects of modernity. (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix) Hartdmann suggests that to dalit men and women, oppression is not a question of ascribed gender identities in a heteronormative society, rather dalit men and women are not ascribed gender identities, but on the opposite prevented from constructing gender identities related to a neoliberal economic order in the Indian society, where traditional gender roles are clearly defined. (Hardtmann: 2009:225) The DWM traces its origins and ideology to Ambedkar. Ambedkars faith lay in the state as a redeemer of the injustices of the Indian societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Rao: 2003:24)

The Procedures For Teaching Grammar

The Procedures For Teaching Grammar Since teaching grammar plays such an important part in language classroom, it is necessary to know what are the approaches to teach grammar as well as the most effective process of holding a grammar lesson. It is because this will help learners study grammar more effectively. About the teaching approach, there are two main types mentioned which are the inductive and deductive one. In deductive, the rule is presented first and the language is produced based on the rule. On the contrary, in inductive, teacher will give students a means to discover the rules themselves. Both of these approaches have advantages and disadvantages. Deductive approach will save time for teacher and be suitable for young learners, whereas the inductive one will be appropriate for learners with basic knowledge of the language. About planning a grammar lesson in classroom, there are several popular models a teacher should know, for example: the deductive PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production), TTT (Test, Teach, Test), ARC (Authentic use, Restricted use, Clarification and focus), TBL (Task-Based Learning) and ESA (Engage, Study, Activate). All models have their own good points and bad points. Among them, PPP is the most widely used model because this model is easy to conduct and can be suitable for teaching isolated grammatical items. It also allows the teacher to arrange the time for each stage accurately and prepare for the unexpected problems that may occur.(BBC, 2005 December 9) Teaching grammar in PPP includes three main stages: presentation, practice and production. Presentation: This stage includes lead-in, presenting form and meaning, giving other examples, conducting repetition of title, model sentences and examples,and finally asking class to copy down lesson. Lead-in: The teacher usually begins presenting with a text in which the grammatical structure appears. The text maybe one or two sentences, or it can be a short dialogue. The teacher may also use pictures or situations to lead into the structure that will be taught. The purpose of lead-in section is to warm up and raise studentsinterest in the lesson. Throught it, students will know how the structure is used naturally in real life. Presenting form and meaning: In this section, the teacher may begin showing the form first and the meaning second or vice versa. This depends on the students. If students prefer grammar explanations at the beginning, the form should be presented first. On the contrary, if students learn a language better by inferring the meaning before the teacher presents grammar explanation, then showing the meaning first is suitable for them. (Dang and Ruiter, 2005, p.86) Whether the form of the grammar point or its meaning is presented first, the teacher should master the ways of showing form and meaning. Doff (1988) mentioned these ways in his book. When presenting meaning, the teacher can show it visually or through a situation. In showing meaning visually, he or she can use objects, the classroom, the students themselves, the pictures to demonstrate the new structure(p.34). Nevertheless, it is not always possible to show the meaning visually. Hence there is another way of showing meaning more naturally. It is presenting meaning through a situation. This situation can be real or imaginary(p.35). The good point of using a situation is that students can become familiar with how the structure is used in everyday conversations. They will feel what they are learning is relevant to real life, and it is also easier for the teacher to use this way. Together with explaining clearly the meaning of the new structure, it is also important to show how it is formed. Doff (1988) showed two basic ways of doing this. First, a clear model should be given and students are asked to listen and repeat two or three times and then the teacher demonstrates the structure quickly. Second, the teacher writes the structure on the board, says it when writing and underlines the fixed parts. Another way is asking the students to tell the teacher what to write. It is an effective way because it involves the whole class in the lesson and focuses their attention to the structure. (p.37) After the teacher has finished presenting form and meaning, he or she continue doing other steps such as: giving other examples, modeling the structure and examples, and finally asking class to copy down lesson. Practice When students have known the grammatical structure, it is neccessary to get them to say the new language accurately and fluently. Therefore, it is important to move to practice stage. The process will go from controlled practice (mechanical) to less controlled practice (meaningful) and finally to free practice (production). Controlled or mechanical practice In this section, learners are often asked to do mechanical drills such as repetition, substitution, word cues, picture cuesetc. These drills completely control the response of students. They are asked to give the only one correct way of responding because these kinds of drills just focus on correct forms rather than meaning. Therefore, mechanical drills are only useful if students practise doing them for a short time. This kind of practice has some limitations due to these three reasons. First, because students do not have to think much when doing mechanical drills, they will easily forget afterwards. Second, teacher can not be sure that whether students understand the meaning of the words or not. Finally, these drills focus only on producing correct forms, therefore students do not know how to use them to express meaning.(Doff, 1988, p.73) Meaningful practice Meaningful practice is also called less controlled practice because there is still little control of response. Less control is because students can give several right answers and these drills are not suitable for doing chorally. This is called meaningful practice because it requires learners to think and understand what they are doing. Some common drills are information gap exercise, mapped dialogue, interview or find someone whoetc. There are three techniques to make meaningful practice: First, teacher can do this by getting students to say real thing about themselves, or teacher can give a situation that implies the structure but let student decide what to say. Also, teacher can let students add something of their own (Doff, 1988, p.75-76) In this stage, in both mechanical and meaningful practice, teacher should check whether sudents make any errors or not so that teacher goes back to the presentation stage and clarifies any problems of understanding or usage. Production Meaningful practice is followed by production (free practice) in which students have a chance to use the strutures to express their own ideas or talk about their experiences. There are two kinds of useful topics. According to Doff (1988), students can talk about real life, for example themselves, friends or anything in the world. They can also imagine a situation which is not real to practise speaking (p.78). In this section, role play and communicative games are often used. Free practice offers students a chance to talk freely; hence, it is in this stages that errors often occur. Nevertheless, teachers should not interupt students to correct their mistakes because the main purpose is to develop fluency and confidence. Important errors can be corrected during giving feedback after this stage. Although PPP model is widely used, it is becoming old-fashioned nowadays and is under threat to be replaced by other ones. There are a number of reasons for this which Mora et al. (2001) pointed out in their book. For one, PPP will discourage risk-taking and the processes of improvisation and experimentation with the language, which are considered as important aspects of language learning. For another, the controlled context in present and practice stage does little help for students when dealing with the natural language outside the classroom.(p.14). Another problem is that in PPP, the grammatical structures which are often chosen in advance by the course book author or the teacher may not be what students like to learn. Hence, students may not feel excited in the lesson; and if they do not want to learn that grammar point, the whole lesson can be a waste of time. Also, when it comes to more complex grammar points, it will be a challenge for teacher to use this model. These are all the reasons why other models are considered to apply in classrooms instead of PPP.

Miguel de Cervantes y Sigmund Freud :: Spanish Essays

â€Å"Teorà ­a Freudiano ofrece lo à ºnico modelo de leer que puede afirmar a causar un texto a hablar mà ¡s que sabe.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  --Peter Hulme La historia del psicoanà ¡lisis es muy compleja y llena de preguntas y controversia, y nadie està ¡ completamente seguro quien es el fundador principal porque muchas de las ideas llegaron al mismo tiempo. Sigmund Freud recibe mucho del crà ©dito por el comienzo y la implementacià ³n del psicoanà ¡lisis, pero siempre hay la posibilidad que sus ideas llegaron de un origen que no era completamente suyo. Considerando esto, muchas de las ideas que expresa Freud està ¡n evidentes en la literatura que llegà ³ antes de su fama. Las dos partes de Don Quijote, por ejemplo, fueron realizadas en 1614, mà ¡s de doscientos aà ±os antes del nacimiento de Freud. Entonces, hay una posibilidad de que Cervantes contribuyà ³ a unas de las teorà ­as y pensamientos de Freud.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sabemos por seguro que Freud leyà ³ el Don Quijote de Cervantes y que lo le fascinà ³. Hay algunas partes distintas de la historia a cuales se puede relacionar los ensayos de Freud. Aquà ­ centrarà © en unas de sus teorà ­as mà ¡s conocidas, y estas son: el inconsciente (incluyendo los sueà ±os) y la sublimacià ³n. Estos tres temas, aunque està ¡n presentados separados, tienen muchà ­simo en comà ºn. A causa de eso, a veces la discusià ³n parecerà ¡ un poquito mezclado. â€Å"Hay mà ¡s personas que creen en los milagros de la Virgen Bendecida que creen en la existencia del inconsciente.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  --Sigmund Freud   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  El inconsciente (o el subconsciente) refiere al aspecto o aspectos de la mente sobre que no estamos directamente conscientes . Por la mayorà ­a, la parte mà ¡s importante del inconsciente es los sueà ±os. Siempre estamos fascinados con nuestros sueà ±os y queremos saber lo que significan. Los sueà ±os no incluyen solo lo que pasa cuando dormimos, pero tambià ©n los pensamientos durante el dà ­a que nos separan de nuestro ambiente o, a algunas personas, nuestras confusiones entre lo real y lo imaginario.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  La à ºltima interpretacià ³n es lo mà ¡s obvia cuando consideramos las aventuras de Don Quijote. Parece que à ©l nunca para de confundirse de lo real y lo imaginario. Cada de sus aventuras contiene un aspecto casi loco: molinos de viento como gigantes, rebaà ±os de ovejas como ejà ©rcitos, y los galeotes como caballeros oprimidos. Sin embargo, todavà ­a hay una referencia grandà ­simo en Don Quijote a los sueà ±os. â€Å"Los sueà ±os mà ¡s profundos son los que parecen mà ¡s locos†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  --Sigmund Freud Durante la segunda parte de la historia, Don Quijote viaje a la Cueva de Montesinos.

Paleolithic Art Essay -- Essays Papers

Paleolithic Art Paleolithic art, dating back to the late Paleolithic period 40,000-10,000 B.C. (the Stone Age), is one of the most beautiful, natural periods of cave art and clay sculptures. Created by Nomadic hunters and gatherers with ivory, wood, and bone, these figures were thought to be symbolic and have some magical or ritual relevance. Figures and drawings have been found in all parts of the world dating back to the Cro-Magnon man as late as 60,000 years ago. There are two different periods of overlapping periods. The first, dating between 14,000-13,500 B.C., is the Aurignacio-Perigordian. This period included the contents of the Lauscaux cave paintings, the many sculptures at Laussel, and the voluptuous feminine figures called Venuses (Columbia Press, 1). The second, named the Solutres-Magdalenian period, dating back to 14,000-9,500 B.C., includes murals of Rouffignac and Niaux, and the ceiling decors in Spain (Columbia Press, 1). Paleolithic art falls into two distinct categories: portable pieces and cave art. Portable art was carved from bone, stone, or modeled from clay. Most has been found in Europe, Africa, and Siberia (Encarta, 1). The cave art comprised mostly of drawings and paintings recovered in mostly Spain and France (Versaware, 1). A possible third art category is mentionable also. Rock art is comprised of carvings and drawings on rock surfaces, but little of this art has been discovered (Encarta, 1). This form of art has founded many of today’s drawings, languages, and cultures. The first discovery was in the 1860’s by French Paleontologist, Eduard Lartet. The decorations were estimated back to the Stone Age because of the use of Ice Age animal bones. Researchers soon were digging everywhere in search of objects, ignoring cave drawings (Encarta, 1). In the 1880’s, a landowner discovered a cave in Spain filled with art and structural objects. Hiding it at first, researchers revealed it to the world that helped people learn to accept cave art for what it really was, an art. Many sites were uncovered shortly after, dating back to over 32,000 years (Versaware, 1). Since 1981, archeologists have also found art outside of the caves such as engravings of humans, horses, and cattle, which were about 20,000 years old. Paleolithic findings, if surviving erosion, are now becoming more common throughout the world (Columbia, 1). .. ...ed spray paint, which was blown either out of a tube or out of their mouths (Versaware, 1). Because they had none of the advantages that we have today, their creations, which was more difficult to fully complete, can be considered a precious, unique works of art. To be sure that these items are genuinely prehistoric, radiocarbon dating was used (Encarta, 4). Scientists can determine the true age from only a tiny amount of pigment in the paint. One of the oldest, found in Europe and Asia, was carved in ivory and dates back to about 32,000 years. Another, discovered in England in 1996, was found to be about 60,000 years old (Columbia, 1)! Few endure erosion, but the survivors make excellent timelines of the era’s that remain unclear to researchers. This beautiful Stone Age present to our time suggests that art was visible and practiced from close to the beginning of time. The decorated caves and figures have helped us learn of other cultures and their distinctive expressions of life-forms. Still indistinct about the main purpose of this creative art form, archaeologists continue to dig and discover new pieces that may add to the picture and help to solve this ongoing puzzle.

Body Piercing and Management

Of the many growing trends, body piercing has become very popular. With this practice becoming more popular everyday, many people are frightened away because of sanitary and health reasons. To most peoples surprise the business of body piercing is a safe and clean procedure. Body piercing is a form of self-expression, such as tattoos and hair styles. Piercing are more widely accepted among business today than a couple years ago. Even-though they are becoming more acceptable in society today there is still a misconception of the safety, sterility, and health issues involved. Many people fear the sterility of the piercing process, ergo they don't get the piercing. In actuality piercing is very safe. The piercer has to follow many steps in ensuring the safety of the piercer and the patient. After filling out the proper paperwork, the patient has to decide of the location of the piercing. There are many spots over the human body where one can get pierced. Some of the common spots to get pierced are: the inner and outer ear, the nose, the bridge of you nose, the cheek, lips, tongue, eyebrows, nipples, naval, and the genitalia. If one was to get their tongue pierced, the piercer must decide whether or not it is piercable. If the tongue has a large under-webbing it cannot be pierced. Once the tongue is deemed piercable, the piercer sterilizes all of his equipment. A common set-up for a piercing is as follows: two pairs of surgical gloves, many gauze, a needle, cork, rubber-band, surgical clamp, toothpick, and the jewelry. All of these are placed in a metal cartridge and placed inside a sterilizing machine. The machine heats and compresses distilled water and then blows steam into the cartage sterilizing everything inside. During this time the patient is instructed on the procedure and washing his mouth with bioclean. Bioclean is antibacterial mouth cleaner that destroys 99% of all mouth bacteria. During this time the piercer scrubs his hands with an antibacterial soap, and places one pair of gloves on. The patient sticks out his tongue and the piercer makes a horizontal and vertical make on the tongue if a mild antiseptic dye. The clamps are placed on the top and direct bottom of the tongue and double checked, to ensure that the needle will not pierce a vein. At this time the piercer discards his current pair of gloves and dons the second. He then places the needle on the tongue and pushes it through. Once the needle has passed through, he then places a cork on the end so no one is harmed. The needle is push the rest of the way through with the jewelry. The needle and cork are placed in a sealed biohazard container to await proper disposal. The clamp is removed and placed in an antibacterial solution. The other half is then screwed on and the piercing is over. All the gausses and swabs with no blood are placed in the trash, and any items with blood on them are placed in a biohazard bag. At this time the piercer informs the patient on the proper care and maintenance of the piercing. In an interview with Richard, a piercer at Factor V in Charleston, SC, he states that the most unsanitary and dangerous time for a piercing is seven days afterward. â€Å"People don't follow directions and end-up with an infection. Most piercers pass out a pamphlet with the proper care directions on it. The piercing process is safe when done by a professional. The customer is responsible for the piercing once the piercing process is over. The procedure is so safe that one doesn't even lose taste due to the piercing. Some swelling may occur and pain in very minimal because no nerves were hit. Piercing can be a healthy and fun way express oneself, when done in a clean and experienced environment. But one has to make sure that proper care is given to the piercing.

Peace between Major Religions

Good morning everyone, It has been known that all religions have their differences and this can often lead to some conflict. However, throughout my speech three religion's views on peace will be Investigated and then eventually a solution will be found to living peacefully together. Christians, Buddhists and Muslims all have different ways to achieving peace both internally and externally and it is interesting to see many of the similarities and compare them. However, we have already reached our first differentiation between the religions; their view on what peace is and the source of it.Peace Is a fundamental aspect of all the religions and fleetly Christians would not be able to follow the 10 Commandments if peace was not portrayed through their actions. To love your neighbor as you love yourself requires you to love everyone and through respect and dignity this can be done. The source of peace in Christianity is Jesus himself as he bought peace to the world as he walked It. Jesus Is the peacemaker. Buddhism refers to peace as enlightenment, and the Buddha (a human prince) is the first man to reach enlightenment.Because Buddhism is about this occurrence it is often referred to as the religion of peace. Buddhists believe the source of peace is within everyone and that the Buddha teachings and ways will help everyone find the way to enlightenment. These two faiths could easily live In peace with each other but Muslims believe that to turn a house of war to a house of peace requires Muslims to kill all the non-believers. Personally I believe that this is most pathetic and UN-peaceful or violent way to peace ever.The Muslims seek their peace seeking information from their source of peace, the Quern. As portrayed these already differentiate and bring up multiple problems that could cause conflict. It will soon become very evident that these religions all contradict themselves. All of the religions have their Internal peace organizations and all of these organizati ons explore interrelations with other people outside of their religions. Some of the Christian organizations are SPEAK, Network of Christian Peace, Christian Peacemaker Teams UK and all the Christian churches.Islamic peace organizations include Muslims for Peace, MUNCH and Islamic Peace. I however find a problem with this, which will be explained soon. The Buddhist peace groups include Soak Kaki and Buddhist Peace Group, these 2 organizations are trying to achieve peace not only internally but pass it on to other and share their peaceful thoughts. However if in Islamic countries they seek peace why do they around punishing people and killing them, this appears to be a very urn-peaceful method.For example when I was In Dublin an Islamic country one I got kicked out of the shops because my clothes were too revealing, the police said to me, â€Å"get out of here or I will cut off your hand. † I feel hat the Muslim peace organizations really need to spread quickly because I thoug ht that the police was Just Joking, but no I saw 2 women without their hands. It Is UN- peaceful and doesn't show eternal love and care. Maybe these associations are seeking peace and respecting other people and their beliefs, but their religions as a I OFF All of the religions have their specific ways that they achieve peace or become peaceful within.Firstly Christian's have many ways to achieve peace but these have been paraphrased into a 6 step process: 1) Read the New Testament and the gospels re the best place to start 2) Pray to God, God will help you reach emotional and physical peace 3) Control yourself from doing things you will regret, make sure to think a bout your actions first. 4) Control your anger – sometimes some meditation or quiet time can help with releasing anger, pains and irritations 5) Do not respond to insults 6) Try to make the people who surround you peaceful as well.I believe this is quite an effective and reasonable way to achieve peace within and around you. The Buddhist methods of achieving peace are relatively the same like controlling your anger. However the Buddhist community thrives on meditation and the Buddha taught that through meditation and chant peace will be found internally. Islamic steps to peace were hard to understand at first however after thinking about the method I believe it could be quite effective. They believe that if you come to peace with yourself the world around you will be at peace with you.Therefore they also do some sort of meditation and imagine peaceful non-chaotic places where they are free. Also another interesting suggestion was to pick up a paintbrush and some paint and paint peace. This could be stimulating and personal and therefore be very successful for individuals. In the history of all the religions there appears to be evidence of stories or parables that suggest peaceful actions within the religion. In Christianity I believe that the most peaceful parable is the story of The Good Sa maritan.In this parable an ordinary Christian man is shown to help when others like the priest and a wealthy workingman don't. It shows genuine care for everyone and a form of peaceful treaty between Christianity and humanity. The parable of the Good Muslim is a parable that caches us that Allah is in ways the bringer of peace, â€Å"In the name of Allah [1], the All- Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. All Prayers and Peace of Allah be upon the Prophet saws [2]. The last contrasting religion is the Buddhists who have quite a fascinating parable, which relates to achieving peace, it is called, â€Å"The Proud Dung Beetle and the Lump of Dung. † It proves that everyone should be treated equally. It is shown throughout Buddhism that the Buddha, I. E. The prince didn't expect to be treated differently he wanted to be treated the same way as others. This bought to their community respect and no social class that seems to be a problem in modern day society.All in all I believe a mutual friendship and respect towards everyone especially people of a different religion. Respect is the key component in establishing peace between all people. If everyone of opposing religions can respect others beliefs and worldviews I believe that a peaceful solution can be formed within the community. I speak to the Muslims now in saying that you don't have to be apart of the violence in your religion, please feel free to make your own decisions and maybe Join a peace

Obtaining a Sustainable Society

There is a time where people wonder what the world is going to come to. Is there going to be a time where we run out of resources, or will we run out of room and become over populated? It is natural to wonder these types of questions. So we as humans need to come up with a solution on how we can maintain what we have now before it is gone and we have no future to look forward to. By doing this we can ensure that our children and our children’s children. In order to obtain a population that can be sustained, whether you live in an over populated area or you live in low population where no one wants to have children. There needs to be some kind of order established to control population anywhere. A country such as Italy has low birth rates; in order to bring them back up incentives need to be put in place to insure that people will want to have children. Another country with a problem with low birth rates is Germany. Us as a world need to find some kind of happy medium, where the policies are not to strict for people with lots of children and not as lenient and glorious to those who only have one. There are many ways Italy and Germany can bring up their population, offer more incentives to married couples that want to have more children. You might want to offer cheaper health care. Cheaper or no cost health care would be ideal for just about anyone. It think this could be the best and the worst thing to do. There would have to be strict rules and regulations upon receiving this type of health care. Free or little no cost health care, would need to be monitored for fraud and so some people could not purposely repopulate without concern for over population. Some people may even have children just knowing of all the benefits they will receive. I think that is just wrong. Another way to be able to raise birth rates would be to abolish abortions, nless it was going to be a medically necessary. I know a few people that would use abortion just as birth control and that is wrong. Not only are you killing God’s master piece, but you are disgusting. In my honest opinion, I think that abortion needs to be looked at more carefully in our own country. I think that there should be a medical reason to why someone may or may not need an abortion. There are struggling couples and countries that want to have children, and then you have the people who use it just because they are not ready or may be too young. Another thing to avoid low birth rates in Italy and Germany would be to make sure married couples make time to procreate. I know that sounds vial and a little bit forward but, if couples can’t make time to take care of their personal lives then how can you make a population grow. Sure there is the use of sperm banks and the use of fertility drugs but, nothing compares to good old fashion procreation. Not having time to reproduce can be affected by a decreasing in the economy and in the loss of jobs. I am not sure how the job market is over in Germany or Italy but, here it’s a little on the slow side. In conclusion, there are so many different reasons why a country will have low birth rates. Any one of these reasons can make any city or country crumble. I think that every man and woman should do their part to repopulate. I also think that certain people don’t need to have any more children. Like for instance, a person who has three to four children should not be able to receive assistance for all those children. In a highly populated area, a person should only receive benefits for a certain number of children. For a country with low birth rates, certain incentives should apply to a couple that wants to have more children.

Strategy of Mercedes Benz in India

Mercedes-Benz India has evolved a four-pronged strategy towards passenger cars this year as it transfers its truck and bus business under Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). The company had been selling buses — inter and intra city and Actros mining trucks — in the India market, which would now fall under DICV portfolio. Project as performance oriented brand by introducing new models. Mercedes-Benz plans to launch eight new products this year, invest in dealer network, improve overall ownership cost and double production at the Chakan plant. Going forward, Chakan will be for passenger cars and Chennai will be for trucks and buses.More sales outlets,?with the A-Class clocking in 400 bookings since its launch earlier in May 2013. Starting with the launch of G63, Merc plans to drive in its much-awaited premium hatchback A-class in diesel and petrol variants by end-2013. Other launches are the new GL in May 2014 and the B-class diesel variant around the same time. Mer cedes-Benz is doubling its production capacity from 10,000 units to 20,000 at Chakan by end of year 2013 to make space for the new models. Moreover, the company is looking at localisation in a big way to improve ownership cost to the customers.Mercedes-Benz assembles models like S-class, E-class, C-class and M-class at its plant with localisation ranging from 10% to 60% over various mentioned models. Pushes for pre-owned cars. According to an estimate, the domestic used car market is 1. 3 times the new car market. The pre-owned segment is largely unstructured in India and with new financing options, customers could upgrade to newer models at ease by returning used cars. Try to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. Bank upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers. Marketing Strategy Audi IndiaPositioning in Luxury not as broad, but micro segment of luxury entry which will be having highest growth among all segment. All standard products, as Indian Market w ill be matching with the Global standards. Distribution of special zones with high and affluent people. Branding for Inspirational and aspirational attributes. Meeting high requirement of working capital through sustained market share and service bundling. Marketing Strategy BMW India India is one of the major growth markets for BMW and they are confident of maintaining their leadership in the premium segment through launches, dealerships expansion and customer delight.Planning to assemble more products in the country at our Chennai factory to increase volume growth. Plan to expand our completely-knocked down range in India. By April, the 7 series will be assembled in Chennai, which will be followed by the 1 series by the end of 2013. With this, the company will have six products (1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 7 series, X1 and X3) assembled in India. Market Analysis of BMW, AUDI & Mercedes In the Indian car market, the demand for new vehicles has been sluggish since the beginning of 2013. However, this is not the case for luxury car manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.Riding on the back of new model launches, the German triplet has made significant inroads in 2013. Mercedes-Benz, in particular, stepped up the ante as it introduced several new models and their facelift versions. The company had a revival of sorts in India as not only the demand for vehicles surged but the overall market share also rose considerably. According to estimates of Mercedes-Benz, the Indian car market is going to outpace the demand of other emerging regions like China, Brazil and Russia. http://articles. economictimes. indiatimes. com/2013-10-05/news/42745251_1_audi-q3-bmw-india-luxury-car-market http://www.autocarindia. com/auto-news/audi-races-past-bmw-to-number-one-spot-341884. aspxLed by the new generation compact cars A Class and B Class, Mercedes Benz India has bridging the sales gap with a rapid pace. Mercedes Benz India was ahead of Audi by selling 151 units more. M ercedes Benz India sold 2,696 units in July to September of 2013 as against 2,545 units sold by Audi in the same period. Mercedes Benz first overtook its Munich based luxury car rival BMW in the first quarter of 2013 to regain the number two position and now Audi in the quarter 3, but for the full year, it is still number two.Audi is still pretty on the number one position for the calendar year starting January to September 2013, with sales of 7,391 units. Mercedes Benz India trails by a significant 930 units, registering sales of 6,461 units in the same period. Announcing the Q3 results, Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: â€Å"Our year of offensive strategy yielded satisfactory result as we continue to improve our strong performance with each quarter, amidst one of the toughest market situations faced by the industry.We are confident of maintaining this positive momentum for the remaining quarter and achieve our targeted growth for 2013. † The main catalysts for Mercedes-Benz have been A-Class and B-Class models, which have further helped to increase the market share. Audi on its part with the locally produced Q3 and expanding dealer network is confident of holding on to its number 1 position for 2013 and aims at being the first luxury car maker in India to sell more than 10,000 units in India.After growing by 25-30 per cent since 2007 till 2011-12, the luxury car market too is facing the heat of the slowdown. Barring the entry level cars like Mercedes Benz A Class, B Class, BMW 1 Series and some SUVs like Audi Q3 and Q5, which brought incremental volumes in 2013, the traditional saloon segment of Mercedes Benz C Class, E Class, S Class, BMW 3,5 or 7 series and even Audi A4, A6 and A8 have remained sluggish.During 2013, Mercedes-Benz introduced eight new models in which the sales of performance oriented brand, AMG picked up by a fair bit. The German manufacturer is trying hard to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. It is banking upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers as it has already helped the company to come at par with its rivals like Audi and BMW. Industry players, say the market is likely to post 10-15 per cent growth in 2013 only on the back of these entry level models and SUVs.In 2014, Mercedes-Benz aim to expand in double-digits faster than the market. † Industry experts have already predicted that Mercedes-Benz would come hard at Audi in 2014 banking upon of new model launches that include next generation S-Class. Mercedes-Benz is famed for producing high-end vehicles in the country. As a result of this, customers and luxury car aficionados have shown affinity Strategy of Mercedes Benz in India Mercedes-Benz India has evolved a four-pronged strategy towards passenger cars this year as it transfers its truck and bus business under Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV). The company had been selling buses — inter and intra city and Actros mining trucks — in the India market, which would now fall under DICV portfolio. Project as performance oriented brand by introducing new models. Mercedes-Benz plans to launch eight new products this year, invest in dealer network, improve overall ownership cost and double production at the Chakan plant. Going forward, Chakan will be for passenger cars and Chennai will be for trucks and buses. More sales outlets,†¨with the A-Class clocking in 400 bookings since its launch earlier in May 2013.Starting with the launch of G63, Merc plans to drive in its much-awaited premium hatchback A-class in diesel and petrol variants by end-2013. Other launches are the new GL in May 2014 and the B-class diesel variant around the same tim e. Mercedes-Benz is doubling its production capacity from 10,000 units to 20,000 at Chakan by end of year 2013 to make space for the new models. Moreover, the company is looking at localisation in a big way to improve ownership cost to the customers.Mercedes-Benz assembles models like S-class, E-class, C-class and M-class at its plant with localisation ranging from 10% to 60% over various mentioned models. Pushes for pre-owned cars. According to an estimate, the domestic used car market is 1.3 times the new car market. The pre-owned segment is largely unstructured in India and with new financing options, customers could upgrade to newer models at ease by returning used cars. Try to shred the old-man image associated with the brand.Bank upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers.Marketing Strategy Audi IndiaPositioning in Luxury not as broad, but micro segment of luxury entry which will be having highest growth among all segment. All standard products, as Indian Marke t will be matching with the Global standards. Distribution of special zones with high and affluent people. Branding for Inspirational and aspirational attributes.Meeting high requirement of working capital through sustained market share and service bundling.Marketing Strategy BMW IndiaIndia is one of the major growth markets for BMW and they are confident of maintaining their leadership in the premium segment through launches, dealerships expansion and customer delight. Planning to assemble more products in the country at our Chennai factory to increase volume growth. Plan to expand our completely-knocked down range in India. By April, the 7 series will be assembled in Chennai, which will be followed by the 1 series by the end of 2013. With this, the company will have six products (1 series, 3 series, 5 series, 7 series, X1 and X3) assembled in India.Market Analysis of BMW, AUDI & MercedesIn the Indian car market, the demand for new vehicles has been sluggish since the beginning of 2013. However, this is not the case for luxury car manufacturers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Riding on the back of new model launches, the German triplet has made significant inroads in 2013. Mercedes-Benz, in particular, stepped up the ante as it introduced several new models and their facelift versions. The company had a revival of sorts in India as not only the demand for vehicles surged but the overall market share also rose considerably. According to estimates of Mercedes-Benz, the Indian car market is going to outpace the demand of other emerging regions like China, Brazil and Russia.http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-10-05/news/42745251_1_audi-q3-bmw-india-luxury-car-market http://www.autocarindia.com/auto-news/audi-races-past-bmw-to-number-one-spot-341884.aspxLed by the new generation compact cars A Class and B Class, Mercedes Benz India has bridging the sales gap with a rapid pace. Mercedes Benz India was ahead of Audi by selling 151 units more. Mercede s Benz India sold 2,696 units in July to September of 2013 as against 2,545 units sold by Audi in  the same period. Mercedes Benz first overtook its Munich based luxury car rival BMW in the first quarter of 2013 to regain the number two position and now Audi in the quarter 3, but for the full year, it is still number two. Audi is still pretty on the number one position for the calendar year starting January to September 2013, with sales of 7,391 units.Mercedes Benz India trails by a significant 930 units, registering sales of 6,461 units in the same period. Announcing the Q3 results, Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: â€Å"Our year of offensive strategy yielded satisfactory result as we continue to improve our strong performance with each quarter, amidst one of the toughest market situations faced by the industry. We are confident of maintaining this positive momentum for the remaining quarter and achieve our targeted growth for 2013.† The main catalysts fo r Mercedes-Benz have been A-Class and B-Class models, which have further helped to increase the market share.Audi on its part with the locally produced Q3 and expanding dealer network is confident of holding on to its number 1 position for 2013 and aims at being the first luxury car maker in India to sell more than 10,000 units in India.   After growing by 25-30 per cent since 2007 till 2011-12, the luxury car market too is facing the heat of the slowdown. Barring the entry level cars like Mercedes Benz A Class, B Class, BMW 1 Series and some SUVs like Audi Q3 and Q5, which brought incremental volumes in 2013, the traditional saloon segment of Mercedes Benz C Class, E Class, S Class, BMW 3,5 or 7 series and even Audi A4, A6 and A8 have remained sluggish. During 2013, Mercedes-Benz introduced eight new models in which the sales of performance oriented brand, AMG picked up by a fair bit.The German manufacturer is trying hard to shred the old-man image associated with the brand. It i s banking upon the Modular Front Architecture platform to woo buyers as it has already helped the company to come at par with its rivals like Audi and BMW. Industry players, say the market is likely to post 10-15 per cent growth in 2013 only on the back of these entry level models and SUVs. In 2014, Mercedes-Benz aim to expand in double-digits faster than the market.† Industry experts have already predicted that Mercedes-Benz would come hard at Audi in 2014 banking upon of new model launches that include next generation S-Class. Mercedes-Benz is famed for producing high-end vehicles in the country. As a result of this, customers and luxury car aficionados have shown affinity.