Essays

Addressing a meeting of MPs, bureaucrats, trade union leaders and chief executives of PSUs, organized by the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) in New Delhi, Mr Pranab Mukharji has emphasized that "all operational decisions of the PSUs should be taken at the board level". Massive investments we required in infrastructure sector like power, communication roads, ports and irrigation, he said adding that "all this investment will have to be made by the public sector" for which functional autonomy is a must. Favouring re-deployment of funds raised through PSU disinvestment in the public sector, Mr. Mukherjee regretted that as much as 40 per cent of the questions in Parliament related to operational matters, whereas according to the rules of business these should be confined to policy matters only. The SCOPE chairman and chief executive of Hindustan Zinc Ltd, Mr.A.C. Wadhawan, said CEOs and employees of PSUs were confused by different more...

The Earth is kept warm by its atmosphere, which acts rather like a woolly coat - without it, the average surface temperature “would be about -18 degrees Centigrade. Heat from the sun passes through the atmosphere, warming it up, and most of it warms the surface of the planet. As the Earth warms up, it emits heat in the form of infra-red radiation - much like a hot pan emits heat even after it's taken away from the cooker. Some of this heat is trapped by the atmosphere, but the rest escapes into space. The so-called "greenhouse gases" make the atmosphere trap more of this radiation, so it gradually warms up more than it should, like a greenhouse (although a greenhouse actually does this by stopping warm air rising and escaping from it). There are some natural greenhouse gases: water vapour, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. However, over more...

The idea that the 10 year transition period on intellectual property rights mentioned in the Uruguay round agreement for developing countries like India should be brought forward will no doubt be welcomed in the U.S., but will be controversial in India. Under the existing regime, all developing countries are allowed five years from Hie dak- of entry of the TRIPS agreement to put its provisions into effect, while countries like India, which do not have laws protecting product patents in chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, are given an additional five year transition period. Given the strong controversy the Uruguay round agreements have raised in India, WTO Director General Ruggiero's suggestion is not likely to win him many friends in the country. To be fair, the new Director General has also said that the textile agreement should be revised, a proposal that ought to find favour in India, but will no doubt be more...

A captain of a ship drunkenly crashes a massive oil tanker along a reef and changes the physical and emotional world forever. Chemical spills are major problems that plague the environment. Strict government regulation is trying to aid with this problem, but governmental leaders face many challenges. Disposal of harmful chemicals is often difficult and costly. Since chemical waste has destroyed the environment/ steps are being taken to prevent further pollution. A local Danish based pharmaceutical company named Novo Nordisk released its 1999 environmental report. The company, which strives to keep from contaminating the environment, confessed to two separate accidents for the year. Novo Nordisk's Clayton, North Carolina plant was fined from the United States Department of Agriculture 1,000 dollars. This was due to the fact that 11,000 liters of hydrochloric acid was disposed of in the public sewage system. New management has taken action to insure this does not more...

Coaching means the teaching outside the school by anybody. Almost fifteen to twenty years ago those. students who are weak in studies they read their school teachers on their houses and those students who were good in studies they didn't read by teacher;, who teach the students in schools teach very high number of students on their houses and earn a lot of money. This type of teaching is called coaching. When the teachers earn a lot of money by coaching on their houses and many of them established their shops or centres on which they teach the students that centres are called coaching institutes or coaching centres. Now the coaching is became a profitable industry. Those teachers who teaches the students into the schools many of them don't teach them properly, so the students face problems and for the solution of these problems they have to go to the more...

Water pollution is increasingly becoming a large problem that we as humans need to confront. Water is our most valuable resource. Just think of how much we humans are dependent upon clean water. Water is way more valuable than gold, what can you go a day, week, year without, gold or water? Besides the fact that we drink the water, we use it for irrigation of farm fields, cooking, washing clothes, flushing toilets, etc. and every industrial process requires water to function. Everyone knows that the Earth's surface is covered by 70% water, so why fuss of protecting water? Only 3% of all water is fresh and drinkable and of that 3%, 75% is frozen, which leaves a grand total of only 1% of the Earth's surface water that is readily available for consumption. After taking that fact into account, one can see why the conservation and protection of our more...

When India attained independence, the industrial scenario was fraught with uncertainties; low productivity, lack of power and fuels and above all, a confusion about the real markets of the products manufactured. Industrial management systems were in the doldrums. The evil shadow of partition had its impact on industry as well. We struggled during the period from 1947 to'1951. Industrial development was not at the requisite pace. Initially, small industries were established. Later, some medium and large enterprises were also set up. Another problem faced by the industrialists was the shortage of capital. India was a very poor nation during those times. She had attained independence and her economic and industrial policies had to be given concrete shape. There was no assistance of foreign investors. This was a precarious situation for Indian masses. However, the government showed the path of prosperity to the nation by declaring that Five Year Plans would more...

The term hyperinflation refers to a very rapid, very large increase in the price level. Measurement problems will be too minor to notice on this scale. There is no strict formal definition for the term, but cases of hyperinflation tend to be expressed in terms of multiples rather than percentages- For example, in Germany between January 1922 and November 1923 (less than two years!) the average price level increased by a factor of about 20 billion. Numismatics (coin and currency collecting) gives some examples of just how far hyperinflations fan go: an information page for currency collectors tells us that, in the Hungarian hyperinflation after Work! War II, bills for one hundred million trillion pengos were issued (the pengo was the Hungarian currency unit) and bills for one billion trillion pengo’; were printed but never issued. (I'm using American terms here — the British express big number;, differently). The story more...

"A man's invaluable wealth is the God-gifted nature; all oilier riches are nothing before it". It is said that, "No bird fouls its own nest". But it is not true in the case of man who has destroyed his only home through his deleterious deeds just for some petty gains. Now, our planet is suffering the consequences of man's greed in the form of natural disasters all over the globe by experiencing cyclones, global warming, infertility of soil, extinction of rare species, etc. caused by global pollution in the atmosphere due to ozone depletion, water pollution, nuclear hazards, etc. Pure air is a gift of divine; a pre-requisite for healthy living. Industrial establishments in cities are throwing up huge amount of obnoxious fumes in the air. Besides this, aerosols, cement dust, gases from manholes, smog, smoke released by vehicles, etc. also pollute the air. Over the years, air pollution has more...

Air Pollution "According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, driving a car is the single most polluting thing that most of us do." This is not a new problem. In the 1950's the Los Angeles smog made head-line news. Car exhaust causes health problems. There are many solutions to the problem. Laws were enacted as long as twenty years ago to control pollution caused by cars. Since then laws have been made, such as special nozzles on gas pumps that prevent vapor from getting into the air. We also have more tests on cars to make sure cars are maintained in a way that protects our environment. In cities, laws ask that more people ride on buses, and employees that drive company cars should limit the time they drive and the number of trips that they make. Cars emit several pollutants that are toxic. This causes many problems. One more...