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Wednesday 20 April 2011

Methods of Economics Analysis

Methods of Economics Analysis
An economic theory derives laws or generalizations through two methods (1) Deductive Method and (2) Inductive Method. These two ways of deriving economic generalizations are now explained in brief.
1. Deductive Method:
The deductive method is also named as analytical, abstract or prior method. The deductive method consists in deriving conclusions from general truths. It takes a few general principles and applies them to draw conclusions. For instance, if we accept the general proposition that man is entirely motivated by self-interest. John is a man therefore, the inference will be drawn that John is motivated by self-interest. In applying the deductive method of economic analysis, we proceed from general to particular.
The classical and neo-classical school of economists notably, Ricardo. Senior, Cairnes, J.S. Mill, Malthus, Marshall, Pigou, applied the deductive method in their economic investigations.
The main steps involved in deductive logic are as under:
(1) Perception of the problem to be inquired into. In the process of deriving economic generalizations, the analyst must have a clear and precise idea of the problem to be inquired into.
(2) Defining of terms. The next step in this direction is to define clearly the technical terms to be used in economic analysis: Further, the assumptions made for a theory should also be precise.
(3) Deducing hypothesis from the assumptions. The third step in deriving generalizations is deducing hypothesis from the assumptions taken.
(4) Testing of hypothesis. Before establishing laws or generalizations, the hypothesis should be verified through direct observations of events in the real world and through statistical methods. (Their is an inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded of a good is a well established generalization).
Merits of Deductive Method:
The main merits of deductive method are as under:
  1. This method is near to reality. It is less time consuming and less expensive.
  2. The use of mathematical techniques in deducing theories of economics brings exactness and clarity in economic analysis.
  3. There being limited scope of experimentation in economics, the method helps in deriving economic theories.
  4. The method is simple because it is analytical.
Demerits of deductive method:
It is true that deductive method is simple and precise, if the underlying assumptions are valid. There is big, IF, in the statement. The shortcomings of the deductive approach are as under:
  1. The deductive method is simple and precise only if the underlying assumptions are valid. More often the assumptions turn out to be based on half truths or have no relation to reality. The conclusions drawn from such assumptions will, therefore, be misleading.
  2. Professor Learner describes the deductive method as “armchair” analysis. According to him, the premises from which inferences are drawn may not hold good at all times, and places. As such deductive reasoning are not applicable universally.
  3. The deductive method is highly abstract. It requires a great deal of care to avoid bad logic or faulty economic reasoning.
As the deductive method employed by the classical and neo-classical economists led to many facile conclusions due to reliance on imperfect and incorrect assumptions, therefore, under the German Historical School of economists, a sharp reaction began against this method. They advocated a more realistic method for economic analysis known as inductive method.



2. Inductive Method:
Inductive method which is also called empirical method was adopted by the Historical “School of economists. It involves-the process of reasoning from particular facts to general principle. This method derives economic generalizations on the basis of (1) Experimentations (2) Observations and (3) Statistical methods. In this method, data is collected about a certain economic phenomenon. These are systematically arranged and the general conclusions are drawn from them. For example, we observe 200 persons in the market. We find that nearly 195 persons buy from the cheapest shops. Out of the 5 which remains, 4 persons buy local products even at higher rate just to patronize their own products, while the fifth is a fool. From this observation, we can easily draw conclusions that people like to buy from a cheaper shop unless they are guided by patriotism or they are devoid of commonsense.
The main steps involved in the application of inductive method are: (i) observation (ii) formation of hypothesis (iii) generalization and (iv) verification.
Merits of inductive method.
  1. It is based on facts as such the method is realistic.
  2. In order to test the economic principles, the method makes use of statistical techniques. The inductive method is, therefore, more reliable.
  3. Inductive method is dynamic. The changing economic phenomenon is analyzed and on the basis of collected data, conclusions and solutions are drawn from them.
  4. Induction method also helps in future investigations.
Demerits of inductive method:
The main weaknesses of this method are as under:
  1. If conclusions are drawn from insufficient data, the generalizations obtained may be faulty.
  2. The collection of data itself is not an easy task. The sources and methods employed in the collection of data differ from investigator  to investigator. The results, therefore, may differ even with the same problem.
  3. The inductive method is time-consuming and expensive.
Conclusion:

The above analysis reveals that both the methods have weaknesses. We cannot rely exclusively on any one of them. Modern economists are of the view that both these methods are complimentary. They are partners and not rivals. Alfred Marshall has rightly remarked, “Inductive and Deductive methods are both needed for scientific thought, as the right and left foot are both needed for walking”. We can apply any of them or both as the situation demands.

Land Reforms in India

Land Reforms in India
BIBIN THOMAS
St.Thomas College Pala, BA Economics

One of the most ticklish questions in Indian economy has been the nature and relevance of land reforms. Advocated and implemented for decades as a major instrument of state-mediated and progressive socio-economic change, the very utility of land reforms has increasingly been questioned in the post-1991 reform era. Comprehensive land reforms were among the first priorities of the Government of India immediately after Independence. For this the manifold imbalances of the colonial legacy of two centuries had to be dismantled, and a new beginning made. It was a semi-feudal system that was inherited from British rule. A handful of intermediaries rack-rented a large mass of hapless tenantry. A widespread system of subletting, often several rungs deep, worsened the situation by reducing the holdings to uneconomic proportions. In this system, neither the intermediaries had any interest nor the tenants any incentive or resources for introducing land improvements or for using HYVs or other costly inputs likely to yield higher returns.

With the twin objectives of achieving social equity and ensuring economic growth, the land reforms programme was built around three major issues:
1.      Abolition of intermediaries.
2.      Settlement and regulation of tenancy.
3.      Regulation of size of holdings.

The central thesis behind the abolition of intermediaries, underlined by the first as well as the Second Five Year Plan, was that owners themselves should operate and manage farm business, and so the tenant-landlord nexus should be put to an end. The intermediary’s privileges were conceived as having an adverse impact on agricultural productivity as well as denying the tiller of the soil his rightful place in the economy. ‘Between 1947 and 1954 … a law for the abolition of the zamindari system was adopted [passed] by the state legislature and then ratified by the President of India. However, these acts of agrarian reform did not affect landownership in the ryotwari areas where system was in existence, i.e. 57 per cent of the country’s occupied land.

Tenancy reforms were launched to confirm the rights of occupancy by tenants, regulate rents on leased land and to secure their possession of tenanted land. It was argued, especially in the context of the spread of modern technology, that the tenants lacking a security of tenure and paying excessive rents suffer a relative decline in inputs compared to the owners. To this end the following recommendations were made by the Chief Ministers’ Conference in 1967:
1.      The rate of interest should not be more, preferably less, than 1/4 or 1/5 of the gross produce.
2.      Records of tenancy should be prepared and maintained.
3.      Tenants in cultivating position of land should be given complete security of tenancy by: i) staying all evictions; ii) suspending rights of resumption where such rights had been given to landowners; and iii) regulating voluntary surrenders in such a way landowners do not get an advantage by persuading tenants to surrender their tenancy.

The third major land reform plank was regulating the size of land holdings through ceiling as well as consolidation to correct the extremely skewed distribution of agricultural land. It was designed to (i) to meet land hunger of working cultivators, (ii) to reduce the disparities in agricultural income, ownership, and use of land, and (iii) to increase rural employment in the sector. At the same time, consolidation of holdings was also advocated to group together the numerous tiny and scattered holdings of poor cultivators in order to form bigger tracts, susceptible to more efficient management. Cooperative farming on these would increase productivity and employment through economies of scale. The large, economical units of consolidated land, it was opined, would mitigate the problem of poor yield and enhance productivity through economies of scale and also increase employment.
Of all these laws only the abolition of intermediaries was achieved successfully. The bulk of the zamindars’ lands were alienated: 87% in Uttar Pradesh and 84% in Bihar for instance; and the landlord class lost close to 60% of the land it had owned previously. However, it was achieved at a great cost to the Exchequer as the compensation to the intermediaries came to be some 7,000 million rupees.  The source from which these compensation payments were drawn was the land-revenue paid to the state by the ex-tenant farmers now farming on the land alienated from former zamindars’ estates. In most cases the tenant farmers continued to pay the same land-rent as before, but now to the state direct.

As to the implementation of the two other sets of reforms, namely tenancy and regulation of land holdings, legal, administrative, and other factors became principal bottlenecks. In most cases and for a long time, the factual evidence and administrative machinery for enforcement of the laws just did not exist. For instance, land policy in the First Five Year Plan was formulated without sufficient knowledge about the size and distribution of agrarian land holdings. It was in the 8th round of the National Sample Survey in 1954 that a considerable volume of data was collected for the first time; this too was submitted to the Union Government only in 1960, a full six years later.

On tenancy reforms, from a lifetime of study, P. S. Appu has concluded that the laws have not put an end to absentee ownership of land, nor has it led to the disappearance of tenancies. Being a state subject, there have been striking differences in the track records between the various States in the formulation and enforcement of the reform measures. It was not before the Operation Barga in 1978, for instance, that tenancy reforms met with any noticeable success in West Bengal, and then overtook the rest of the country in a most spectacular manner. If political will is taken as the main reason behind the success of tenancy reforms there, the absence of such a will must be held responsible for its failure elsewhere. Taking the country as a whole, by 1992, ownership rights over 14.4 million acres of land have been conferred on some 11 million tenants. That constitutes, however, no more than 4% of operated area. The seven States of Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and West Bengal account for 97% of the beneficiaries. Practically no benefits accrued to the tenants in the other states.

An ambitious movement to achieve redistribution of land, called Bhoodan, was launched by a prominent Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in the early fifties. ‘The essential feature of this movement was the voluntary requisition of land which was subsequently redistributed among peasants who owned little or no land at all.Launched in the Telangana region to counter the militant peasant struggle there, the Bhoodan movement made some notable headway in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where, by 1955, the landlords voluntarily relinquished over 4.3 million acres. However, most of this land ‘proved unfit for cultivation’ whenever it was not disputed property. The second phase of the movement was Gramdan, the giving away of the whole villages, which would belong to the village community as a whole. The movement was virtually non-existent beyond a handful of tribal pockets where private property in land did not matter in any case.

It is in the field of redistribution and consolidation of land holdings that the reforms have met with the least success, mainly because they met with a most determined resistance from the very substantial and politically influential landed interests, quite unlike the handful of politically isolated intermediaries. It was not before mid-1960s that ceiling laws could be passed in the majority of states. Even then enough loopholes remained which enabled landlords to circumvent legislation ‘while in the remainder they had still to pass through the various readings in the legislatures’. Even after the law, ‘the landlords succeeded with little difficulty in circumventing the new laws making full use of the numerous loopholes in them.’ For instance, the law allowed division among the members of a joint family, by taking recourse to which the total holdings of landlord family remained several times over the legal limit. ‘As experience was to show, after the “ceiling” acts had been applied in Andhra Pradesh and Bengal, hardly any surpluses were revealed.’ By 1992, only about two million hectares of surplus land, amounting to less than 2% of the operated area on a pan-Indian scale with very wide regional differences, could be distributed to some 4.76 million beneficiaries. 
As the land reforms reach an impasse, a series of considerations have raised serious doubts about their continuing relevance as to whether they are really the best way for achieving growth with general well-being and whether they are in harmony with the ongoing liberalisation of Indian economy. Demographic and economic forces have proved more effective than legislation in bringing about a redistribution of land in favour of medium and, and even more, marginal farmers. The latter, it is said, now dominate the agrarian landscape in most of India outside Panjab and Haryana. Inequality among landowners is no longer a key issue, as landholdings are not very skewed any more, except in certain small pockets.

On the other hand, widespread poverty and hunger remain. In particular, the plight of the landless or near landless, whose number has steadily grown over the decades and is estimated to constitute almost half the agricultural population, requires urgent attention. Above all, agricultural growth has, in general, been sluggish in India, and the Green Revolution has failed to spread beyond a handful of states led by Panjab and Haryana, which are now in fact producing food surpluses to feed the rest of them.

Many critics such as V. M. Dandekar argue that the ceiling and tenancy laws not only do not have much relevance in this sorry state of affairs but also must share part of the blame at least for perpetuating them. The most critical long-term impact of the ceiling law has been, as pointed out by Hanumantha Rao, that it killed the land market, and thereby the scope for investment in land, by preventing an increasing concentration in landholding through depeasantisation. ‘The same is true’, Dandekar says, ‘of the present tenancy laws which have practically abolished lease market in land’.
                 
Among the alternative policy prescriptions that have been put forward, those of Dandekar constitute the most radical departure from the prevailing policies. Dandekar advocates exposing agriculture to the full play of market forces through either an outright abolition or gradual relaxation of the ceiling and tenancy laws. His is essentially a plea for unrestrained growth through modernisation of agriculture that will bring benefit to all, if differentially.
From a similar perspective, another prescription is to encourage corporate sector to enter agriculture for commercial production of high-value and processed agricultural products, and earn thereby valuable foreign exchange. The corporations should set up agro-processing units in the rural areas and help in diversifying agriculture, encourage contract farming, and also develop infrastructural support in the area of their operation.

Once the market forces are fully unleashed and business people from outside begin to invest in the agricultural sector, it would also become necessary to impose agricultural income tax and agricultural holding tax. These taxes then could be used, among other things, to build up infrastructure and provide employment in the countryside.

Such prescriptions however cannot be assessed in terms of their economic soundness alone. One must also take into account their implications for employment as well as recognise the social, political, and cultural milieu in which they have to operate.

Expert opinion is divided on the question of employment. Some fear that modern technology being generally labour saving and capital intensive, its introduction will aggravate further the unemployment problem. In support, studies by S. K. Ray and others are cited showing that the employment elasticity of output in agriculture has fallen sharply in the post-new technology agriculture. However it does not necessarily imply an aggravation of the problem; it just means that a growth in productivity does not lead to a proportionate increase in employment. On the contrary, data show a threefold increase in the number of agricultural labourers in Panjab between 1961 and 1981, the increase in demand having to be met by large-scale migrations from eastern UP and Bihar. Fears of increasing unemployment due to mechanization have not materialised so far. The victims of tractorization, it has been well said, were bullocks, not labour.

In the end, the social and political costs of the policy prescriptions will need to be carefully examined. By all reckonings, while poverty and hunger may become a thing of the past, the distribution of income would tend to be more skewed. This may become a cause of serious concern through the social friction that it would intensify. Ultimately, the success or even the initiative for such policy measures would depend on the extent to which our decision-makers believe them to be compatible with the politics of competitive populism.

Prepared by,
                           BIBIN THOMAS
                          BA ECONOMICS
                            ST.THOMAS COLLEGE PALA
                                                                                                                            bibinbtp@yahoo.in

Impact of Globalization on Developing Countries and India Impact of Globalization on Developing Countries and India

Impact of Globalization on Developing Countries and India Impact of Globalization on Developing Countries and India
by Bibin Thomas
Introduction:
Globalisation is the new buzzword that has come to dominate the world since the nineties of the last century with the end of the cold war and the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the global trend towards the rolling ball. The frontiers of the state with increased reliance on the market economy and renewed faith in the private capital and resources, a process of structural adjustment spurred by the studies and influences of the World Bank and other International organisations have started in many of the developing countries. Also Globalisation has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promise improved productivity and higher living standard. But globalisation has also thrown up new challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, volatility in financial market and environmental deteriorations. Another negative aspect of globalisation is that a great majority of developing countries remain removed from the process. Till the nineties the process of globalisation of the Indian economy was constrained by the barriers to trade and investment liberalisation of trade, investment and financial flows initiated in the nineties has progressively lowered the barriers to competition and hastened the pace of globalisation
Impact on India:
India opened up the economy in the early nineties following a major crisis that led by a foreign exchange crunch that dragged the economy close to defaulting on loans. The response was a slew of Domestic and external sector policy measures partly prompted by the immediate needs and partly by the demand of the multilateral organisations. The new policy regime radically pushed forward in favour of amore open and market oriented economy.
Major measures initiated as a part of the liberalisation and globalisation strategy in the early nineties included scrapping of the industrial licensing regime, reduction in the number of areas reserved for the public sector, amendment of the monopolies and the restrictive trade practices act, start of the privatisation programme, reduction in tariff rates and change over to market determined exchange rates.
Over the years there has been a steady liberalisation of the current account transactions, more and more sectors opened up for foreign direct investments and portfolio investments facilitating entry of foreign investors in telecom, roads, ports, airports, insurance and other major sectors.
The Indian tariff rates reduced sharply over the decade from a weighted average of 72.5% in 1991-92 to 24.6 in 1996-97.Though tariff rates went up slowly in the late nineties it touched 35.1% in 2001-02. India is committed to reduced tariff rates. Peak tariff rates are to be reduced to be reduced to the minimum with a peak rate of 20%, in another 2 years most non-tariff barriers have been dismantled by march 2002, including almost all quantitative restrictions.

Export and Import:
India's Export and Import in the year 2001-02 was to the extent of 32,572 and 38,362 million respectively. Many Indian companies have started becoming respectable players in the International scene. Agriculture exports account for about 13 to 18% of total annual of annual export of the country. In 2000-01 Agricultural products valued at more than US $ 6million were exported from the country 23% of which was contributed by the marine products alone. Marine products in recent years have emerged as the single largest contributor to the total agricultural export from the country accounting for over one fifth of the total agricultural exports. Cereals (mostly basmati rice and non-basmati rice), oil seeds, tea and coffee are the other prominent products each of which accounts fro nearly 5 to 10% of the countries total agricultural exports.

Consequences:
The implications of globalisation for a national economy are many. Globalisation has intensified interdependence and competition between economies in the world market. This is reflected in Interdependence in regard to trading in goods and services and in movement of capital. As a result domestic economic developments are not determined entirely by domestic policies and market conditions. Rather, they are influenced by both domestic and international policies and economic conditions. It is thus clear that a globalising economy, while formulating and evaluating its domestic policy cannot afford to ignore the possible actions and reactions of policies and developments in the rest of the world. This constrained the policy option available to the government which implies loss of policy autonomy to some extent, in decision-making at the national level.
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Government securities market

Government securities market

Introduction

                   The government securities market is at the core of financial markets in most countries. It deals with tradable debt instruments issued by the Government for meeting its financing requirements. The development of the primary segment of this market enables the managers of public debt to raise resources from the market in a cost effective manner with due recognition to associated risks. The evolution of the government securities market in India has been in line with the developments in other countries. Slow development of the market in the 1970s and the 1980s was shaped by the need to meet the growing financing requirements of the Government. This essentially resulted in financial repression as progressively higher statutory requirements were stipulated, mandating banks to invest in government securities at administered interest rates. The main Govt. securities markets are Primary Market & Secondary Market

Government security

A Government security is a tradable security issued by the Central Government or the State Governments, acknowledging the Government’s debt obligation. Such securities can be short term (usually called Treasury Bills, with original maturities of less than 1 year) or long term (usually called Government bonds or dated securities with original maturity of one year or more). In India, the Central Government issues both Treasury Bills and bonds or dated securities while the State Governments issue only bonds or dated securities, which are called the State Development Loans (SDLs). Government securities carry practically no risk of default and, hence, are called risk-free instruments. Government of India also issue savings instruments (Savings Bonds, National Saving Certificates (NSCs), etc.) or special securities (Oil bonds, FCI bonds, fertilizer bonds, power bonds, etc.) but they are usually not fully tradable and are not eligible for meeting the SLR requirement.



Significance of the Government Securities Market

                                The need to develop the government securities market emerges from the three roles it seeks to play, i.e., for the financial markets, for the Government and for the central bank (Reddy, 2002). As alluded to earlier, the government securities market serves as the backbone of fixed income markets through the creation of risk-free benchmarks of a sovereign borrower. Ipso facto, it acts as a channel of integration of various segments of the financial market. The government securities market constitutes a key segment of the financial market, offering virtually credit risk-free highly liquid financial instruments, which market participants are more willing to transact and take positions. The willingness of market participants to transact in government securities, in turn, imparts liquidity to these instruments, which benefits all segments of the financial market. Consequently, government securities are used by dealers as a major hedging tool for interest rate risk and as underlying assets and collateral for related markets, such as repo, futures and options (BIS,1999). Furthermore, large borrowings by the Government also provide an impetus to the development of the bond market.






Primary Market

               The issuance of government securities in countries, which are in the early stages of market development, is normally undertaken by way of discretionary non-market placement such as underwriting by a syndicate of financial institutions. In the primary market, a price discovery mechanism was activated by introducing an auction system. Efforts were also made to broaden the investor base and promote voluntary subscriptions in government securities. To provide a wider menu, new instruments were introduced from time to time to suit the investor requirements. Auctions of government securities between 1992-93 and 1998-99 were conducted solely on the basis of yield (coupon). In order to consolidate outstanding loans for ensuring sufficient volumes and liquidity in any one issue, price-based auctions were introduced in May 1999, whereby new loans are raised through re-issuances of existing securities with predetermined coupons. This helps the price discovery of a security already in existence in the market. Yield based auctions are, thus, employed in respect of new issuances, and price-based auctions in respect of reissue of existing securities.



Secondary Market

       The secondary market for government securities provides a platform for original investors to trade their holdings before maturity. Traditionally, the trading platform was over-the-counter (OTC) before introduction of trading in stock exchanges in various countries. For instance, in China, trading in treasury bonds was banned till 1980. Subsequently, an OTC trading was initiated. Trading at the Shanghai Stock Exchange commenced in 1992.  The development of primary market for government securities with diversified investor base also hinges upon the existence of a well-developed secondary market. This, in turn, requires participants with varied liquidity requirements and differing perceptions regarding the future movement of interest rates. A deep and liquid market is efficient and less volatile. Hence, the Reserve Bank has been taking parallel measures to develop the secondary segment of government securities as well.









Conclusion
                                                                    
The government securities markets have gained importance in most countries in the overall financial system in recent years. Initiatives have been taken to make them more vibrant and active by improving liquidity and depth; enhancing transparency of primary issuances; widening investor base; fine-tuning auction procedures; benchmarking and consolidating across key maturities; developing new instruments; and putting in place appropriate safeguards and sound trading and settlement infrastructure. Furthermore, managers of public debt across countries are paying greater attention to minimizing the cost of borrowings in the medium to long-term, while striking a balance between the costs and the risks in the short run. The government securities market in India has evolved over the years. Several measures have been initiated since the early 1990s to develop a deep and liquid government securities market for reducing the cost of government market borrowings, providing appropriate benchmarks for pricing other financial instruments and conducting monetary policy in a flexible manner. While significant progress has been made in this direction, the evolving economic conditions and the move towards fuller capital account convertibility necessitate further fine-tuning of the operating framework so as to ensure smooth debt management operations.







COMERCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

COMERCIALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE

The latter half of the 19th century, witnessed a developing trend in the Indian Agriculture. The emergence of the commercialization in the Indian Agriculture was the marked feature in the latter parts of the 19th century. So far agriculture had been away from the business enterprise. Now agriculture began to influence by the commercial consideration. Under the commercialization of agriculture, certain specialized crops were s grown. The sole aim for the productions of such crops was not for consumption in the village, rather these were used for sales in the national and even in the international markets. Commercial crops like cotton, jute, groundnuts, oilseeds, sugarcane, tobacco, etc were more remunerative than food grains. Again the cultivation of crops like condiments, spices, fruits and vegetables could make a widespread commercial transaction. However the historians have opined that the trends of commercialization reached in its highest level of developments in the plantation industry i.e. tea, coffee, rubber etc, which were produced for selling in the wider market.


Agriculture as a medium of business transaction was not a sudden outcome. Rather certain factors were responsible for the commercialization and specialization of agricultural market. The spread of money economy, the replacement of custom and tradition by competition and contract, the growth of internal and external trade, the emergence of a unified national market etc was responsible for the commercialization of agriculture.
 

However to the Indian peasants, commercialization seemed a forced process. To meet the excessive land revenue demands of the state and by the high rates of interest charged by the moneylenders, forced the peasants to participate in such process of commercialization. By this process of commercialization, the cultivator had to rush a part of their harvest into the market and sell it in the prices whatever it fetched. Under this circumstances, many poor farmers had to buy back those crops which they s had sold at lowers prices during the harvest time. Further the Indian agriculture was influenced by the widely fluctuating Indian prices. The cottons boom of the year 1860 pushed up the prices but mostly benefited the hosts of intermediaries. This resulted in terrible famine. However the modernization or commercialization in agriculture did not increase the production level in the country. Rather it brought economic disruption in the country.


The British rulers of India did not conceive of India as an industrialized country. Rather the British rulers deliberately followed policies to de-industrialize India. Their sole motive was to convert India and preserve it as an agricultural farm providing raw materials to industrializing Britain. However, compulsions of maintaining Imperial control over the country. It is thorough economic exploitation, which led Britain to construct roads, railways, telegraph lines, posts, irrigation system, etc. However the constructions of modern industries provided the material basis for the beginnings of the modern industry in India. Lord Dalhousie touched on the commercial benefits from railways construction. The constructions of railways in India stimulated the growth of a numbers of others industries. The same years lord Dalhousie penned his minute on Railways. The railways system thus became the forerunner of the modern industries in India. It was the railways, which introduced the colonial method of state policy about industrialization.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

Introducton

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (10 December 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris). The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. It consists of 30 articles which have been elaborated in subsequent international treaties, regional human rights instruments, national constitutions and laws. . In 1966 the General Assembly adopted the two detailed Covenants, which complete the International Bill of Human Rights; and in 1976, after the Covenants had been ratified by a sufficient number of individual nations, the Bill took on the force of international law.

History

During the Second World War the allies adopted the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from fear and freedom from want, as their basic war aims. The United Nations Charter "reaffirmed faith in fundamental human rights, and dignity and worth of the human person" and committed all member states to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion".
When the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany became apparent after the Second World War, the consensus within the world community was that the United Nations Charter did not sufficiently define the rights it referenced. A universal declaration that specified the rights of individuals was necessary to give effect to the Charter's provisions on human rights. Canadian John Peters Humphrey was called upon by the United Nations Secretary-General to work on the project and became the Declaration's principal drafter. At the time Humphrey was newly appointed as Director of the Division of Human Rights within the United Nations Secretariat. The Commission on Human Rights, a standing body of the United Nations, was constituted to undertake the work of preparing what was initially conceived as an International Bill of Rights. The membership of the Commission was designed to be broadly representative of the global community

Adoption

The Universal Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour, 0 against, with 8 abstentions (all Soviet Bloc states [i.e., Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine and The USSR],Yugoslavia, South Africa and Saudi Arabia).[10]
The following countries voted in favour of the Declaration: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela

Human rights set out in the Declaration

        The following reproduces the articles of the Declaration which set out the specific human rights that are recognized in the Declaration.
Article 1 
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2 
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Article 3 
Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person.
Article 4 
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
Article 5 
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 6 
Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.
Article 7 
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8 
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
Article 9 
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Article 10 
Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
Article 11
  1. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
  2. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
Article 12 
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
Article 13 
  1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
  2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Article 14 
  1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
  2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 15 
  1. Everyone has the right to a nationality.
  2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.
Article 16 
  1. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution.
  2. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
  3. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.
Article 17 
  1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
  2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.
Article 18 
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
Article 19 
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 20 
  1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
  2. No one may be compelled to belong to an association.
Article 21 
  1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
  2. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
  3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
Article 22 
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.
Article 23 
  1. Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
  2. Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
  3. Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection.
  4. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
Article 24 
Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.
Article 25 
  1. Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
  2. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
Article 26 
  1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
  2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
  3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Article 27 
  1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
  2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
Article 28 
Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.
Article 29 
  1. Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible.
  2. In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
  3. These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.
Article 30 
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

Significance

                 The Guinness Book of Records describes the UDHR as the "Most Translated Document" in the world. In the preamble governments commit themselves and their peoples to progressive measures to secure the universal and effective recognition and observance of the human rights set out in the Declaration. Eleanor Roosevelt supported the adoption the UDHR as a declaration, rather than as a treaty, because she believed that it would have the same kind of influence on global society as the United States Declaration of Independence had within the United States. In this she proved to be correct. Even though not formally legally binding, the Declaration has been adopted in or influenced most national constitutions since 1948. It also serves as the foundation for a growing number of international treaties and national laws and international, regional, national and sub-national institutions protecting and promoting human rights.

Legal effect

                     While not a treaty itself, the Declaration was explicitly adopted for the purpose of defining the meaning of the words "fundamental freedoms" and "human rights" appearing in the United Nations Charter, which is binding on all member states. For this reason the Universal Declaration is a fundamental constitutive document of the United Nations. Many international lawyers, in addition, believe that the Declaration forms part of customary international law and is a powerful tool in applying diplomatic and moral pressure to governments that violate any of its articles. The 1968 United Nations International Conference on Human Rights advised that it "constitutes an obligation for the members of the international community" to all persons. The declaration has served as the foundation for two binding UN human rights covenants, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the principles of the Declaration are elaborated in international treaties such as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Convention Against Torture and many more. The Declaration continues to be widely cited by governments, academics, advocates and constitutional courts and individual human beings who appeal to its principles for the protection of their recognised human rights.

Criticism

Islamist criticism

Islamist countries such as Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have criticized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for its perceived failure to take into the account the cultural and religious context of Islamist countries. In 1982, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law. On 30 June 2000, Muslim nations that are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference officially resolved to support the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, an alternative document that says people have "freedom and right to a dignified life in accordance with the Islamic Shari’ah". However, this document doesn't recognize the freedom to change religion, equate women as equals to men, or maintain neutrality when comparing religions.

Libertarian criticism

Libertarians and some conservatives believe the positive rights that must be provided by others through forceful extraction (for example taxation) negate other peoples' inalienable rights. In reference to Article 25's declaration of a right to free medical care, Andrew Bissell (a supporter of objectivism) argued that "Health care doesn’t simply grow on trees; if it is to be made a right for some, the means to provide that right must be confiscated from others...no one will want to enter the medical profession when the reward for years of careful schooling and study is not fair remuneration, but rather, patients who feel entitled to one’s efforts, and a government that enslaves the very minds upon which patients’ lives depend.