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Friday, September 10, 2021

Biden announces sweeping new vaccine rules (AP) In his most forceful pandemic actions and words, President Joe Biden ordered sweeping new federal vaccine requirements for as many as 100 million Americans — private-sector employees as well as health care workers and federal contractors — in an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant. The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated. Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers. In addition to the vaccination requirements, Biden moved to double federal fines for airline passengers who refuse to wear masks on flights or to maintain face covering requirements on federal property in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

The CIA’s least covert mission (Politico) In the bowels of its Langley headquarters, a fluorescent-lit, mundane office space houses a team of about a dozen people engaged in what is perhaps the Central Intelligence Agency’s least covert mission: to make American citizens “like” the agency on social media. The United State’s premier intelligence agency has slowly ramped up its social media presence since joining Facebook and Twitter in 2014, creating one of the federal government’s quirkiest, creative, and controversial PR campaigns. The aim: to dispel some of the negative press and conspiracy theories that have dogged the agency over the years by showing the public that CIA staffers are just like us. The team has harnessed social media tropes and hashtags including Girl Boss-y posts touting “Women Crush Wednesday,” #KnowYourValue, pumpkin spice lattes, dog photos, #TuesdayTrivia, and a recurring “Humans of CIA” series modeled on the popular “Humans of New York” photography project that went viral just over a decade ago.

Acapulco earthquake recovery (Washington Post) Mexican workers shoveled rubble from roads and restored electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes Wednesday after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked buildings from the beach city of Acapulco to Mexico City, more than 200 miles away. The quake Tuesday, centered outside Acapulco, killed at least two people, authorities said. Most damage was minor. But the Acapulco airport was closed to commercial flights after problems were detected in the control tower, the city’s mayor said.

El Salvador’s bitcoin adoption day turned into a crash course in crypto volatility (Quartz) El Salvador became the world’s first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender today (Sept. 7). “B-day,” as locals have dubbed it, ushers in a new era in which residents of the country can buy breakfast or pay their taxes in bitcoin: All businesses and banks must now accept bitcoin in addition to the US dollar, the country’s other legal currency. But critics of Nayib Bukele, El Salvador’s young president, say he is putting the country’s finances at grave risk. Today’s debut made that crystal clear. Bitcoin’s price dropped by an unexpected 17% in mid-morning, wiping out $400 billion in minutes. Although the price had hovered around and just above US $50,000 over the weekend, it dropped to less than $43,000 at one point before rebounding to about $46,700 by 4 pm.

Britain prepares to force back migrant boats crossing the Channel, spurring war of words with France (Washington Post) Britain is preparing to turn back small migrant boats crossing the English Channel, according to numerous media reports, as an influx of arrivals of undocumented migrants this week sparked another war of words between London and Paris. It was unclear whether the measures included taking migrants back to French shores. Britain would only push boats back in “very certain, narrow circumstances,” an official said. The decision is likely to further strain ties between the two countries. In August, a record 828 migrants crossed the Channel in a single day. This year, 13,500 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats, more than in the whole of 2020.

Pope Francis sends 15,000 ice-creams to prisoners in Rome (Guardian) Pope Francis sent 15,000 ice-creams to prisoners to help them cool down during what has been one of the hottest summers on record in Italy. The ice-creams were delivered to Rome’s two prisons – Regina Coeli in the centre of the city and Rebibbia on the outskirts – by the Vatican’s almoner, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. In a statement, the Vatican said the pope’s charities office “did not go on holiday” this summer. Instead, Vatican volunteers spent their time “continuing to devote themselves, among other things to two of the seven works of mercy: visiting prisoners and consoling the afflicted”. The donation was among one of several “small evangelical gestures” made during the summer “to help and give hope to thousands of people in Rome’s prisons”, the statement added.

Xi Jinping’s crackdown on everything is remaking Chinese society (Washington Post) The orders have been sudden, dramatic and often baffling. Last week, “American Idol”-style competitions and shows featuring men deemed too effeminate were banned by Chinese authorities. Over the summer, China’s multibillion-dollar private education industry was decimated overnight by a ban on for-profit tutoring, while new regulations wiped more than $1 trillion from Chinese tech stocks since a peak in February. As China’s tech moguls compete to donate more to President Xi Jinping’s campaign against inequality, “Xi Jinping Thought” is taught in elementary schools, and foreign games and apps like Animal Crossing and Duolingo have been pulled from stores. A dizzying regulatory crackdown unleashed by China’s government has spared almost no sector over the past few months. This sprawling “rectification” campaign—with such disparate targets as ride-hailing services, insurance, education and even the amount of time children can spend playing video games—is redrawing the boundaries of business and society in China as Xi prepares to take on a controversial third term in 2022. The scope and velocity of the society-wide rectification has some worried China may be at the beginning of the kind of cultural and ideological upheaval that has brought the country to a standstill before.

Pro-China social media campaign expands to new countries, blames U.S. for COVID (Reuters) A misinformation campaign on social media in support of Chinese government interests has expanded to new languages and platforms, and it even tried to get people to show up to protests in the United States, researchers said on Wednesday. Experts at security company FireEye and Alphabet’s Google said the operation was identified in 2019 as running hundreds of accounts in English and Chinese aimed at discrediting the Hong Kong democracy movement. The effort has broadened its mission and spread from Twitter, Facebook and Google to thousands of handles on dozens of sites around the world. False information about COVID-19 has been a major focus. For example, accounts on social networking sites vKontakte, LiveJournal and elsewhere in Russian, German, Spanish and other languages have asserted that the novel coronavirus emerged in the United States before China and that it was developed by the U.S. military.

Japan extends virus emergency until end of September (AP) Japan announced Thursday it is extending a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and 18 other areas until the end of September as health care systems remain under severe strain, although new infections have slowed slightly. The current state of emergency, which was to end on Sunday, was issued first in Okinawa in May and gradually expanded. Despite the prolonged emergency, the largely voluntary measures have become less effective as the exhausted public increasingly ignores them.

Scores of Westerners, including Americans, fly out of Kabul (AP) An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, left Afghanistan on a commercial flight out of Kabul on Thursday, the first such large-scale departure since U.S. and other forces completed their frantic withdrawal over a week ago. The Qatar Airways flight to Doha marked a breakthrough in the bumpy coordination between the U.S. and Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers. A dayslong standoff over charter planes at another airport has left dozens of passengers stranded. A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk to the media, provided the number of Westerners on the Qatar flight and said two senior Taliban officials helped facilitate the departure—the new foreign minister and deputy prime minister. Americans, U.S. green card holders and other nationalities, including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians, were aboard, the official said. Qatari envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani said another 200 passengers will leave Afghanistan on Friday.

The Taliban is bringing back its feared ministry of ‘vice’ and ‘virtue’ (Washington Post) The last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, morality police roamed the streets, implementing the group’s austere interpretation of Islamic law—with harsh restrictions on women, strictly enforced prayer times and even bans on kite-flying and chess. Nearly 20 years later, the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is back. In Kabul, some people expressed fears that the return of the ministry meant that the Taliban would not seek to change. “People have stopped listening to loud music in public … fearing the past experiences from when the Taliban last ruled,” said Gul, a Kabul resident who only gave his first name due to safety concerns. “I personally didn’t see any forced prayers. But there is fear in everyone’s minds.”

UN: 18,000 Yemeni civilians killed in airstrikes since 2015 (AP) A United Nations panel said Wednesday that at least 18,000 Yemeni civilians have been killed or wounded by airstrikes since the country’s war escalated in 2015. In a report presented to the Human Rights Council, a group of experts named by the U.N. said that Yemen’s people have been subjected to some 10 airstrikes a day, a total of more than 23,000 since March 2015. The report, which cited the Yemen Data Project for the airstrike figures, found both sides in the war to have violated international law. The project, a local data gathering operation, attributes all of the airstrikes to the Saudi-led coalition. Meanwhile the coalition’s rivals, the Houthi rebels, have shelled neighborhoods, camps for the displaced, an airport and markets, leading to the deaths of dozens, according to the U.N. experts.

Nothing had better go wrong (Ars Technica) The James Webb Space Telescope, considered the single most expensive scientific instrument in the history of NASA, finally has a launch date of December 18, 2021. The project’s been delayed over the course of the decade owing to the high stakes surrounding its launch. Unfurling the 20-meter telescope—it’s the size of a tennis court but folds to 10.66 meters by 4.5 meters to fit inside the rocket—and getting it out to the LaGrange Point, a neat little bit of gravitational real estate 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth or four times the distance of the moon, is a complicated operation because there will be no way to service it when it’s all the way out there. The 50 major deployments and 178 major release mechanisms need to work perfectly, otherwise the $10 billion telescope won’t work.

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i-am-very-very-tired · 3 years ago

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Executive Summary

South Africa attracts migrant foreigners because of its reputation as a free, democratic, and developing country. South Africa has long been considered a hub of employment for foreign workers lured by the diamond and gold industries since the apartheid period. The exact numbers of immigrants now living in South Africa is contested; recent statistics suggest 1.9 million immigrants live in South Africa, making up 3.7% of the population, more than anywhere in the world (UNHCR 2009; IOM Facts and Figures 2010). However, the Institute of Race Relations in South Africa is of the view that there are between 3 and 5 million immigrants in the country, making the number of immigrants equivalent to the white population. Based on observations of the attacks on persons of foreign nationality in 2008, South Africa has come to be considered by some scholars as one of the most xenophobic nations in the world (Steenkamp, 2009). The escalating rates of immigration have brought several challenges, including the clogging of basic service provision, unemployment, high crime rates, HIV/AIDS, and a lack of social services. Public officials have not helped to subdue xenophobic sentiments; and sectors such as the South African Police Department and the Department of Home Affairs have publicly expressed xenophobic feelings towards foreigners. This fear or intolerance of non-nationals has perpetuated physical and verbal attacks, specifically on African migrants, in recent years. Yet it is not enough to just call it xenophobia. Like all occurrences of xenophobia, the South African case is based upon history and layered with factors that have allowed for the intensification of violence and hatred towards foreigners.

This analysis is written with the intention of informing policymakers and practitioners about the history and multiple factors that have furthered xenophobic attitudes and trends in South Africa. One primary issue in curbing xenophobia is that of government involvement. With the 2011 South African Municipal Elections approaching, it is important to find solutions that protect foreigners during elections and that no longer tolerate the election of local leaders that hold or propagate xenophobic sentiments. This briefing therefore includes suggestions and recommendations on how to contribute to the eradication of xenophobia in South Africa.

Recommendations:

Acknowledge that xenophobia is a problem in South Africa

Address the root causes of xenophobia

Inform the public of the rights of migrants and refugees living in South Africa

Address labour disparities and encourage partnership and sharing between citizens and foreigners

Hold public officials, police officers, and local leaders accountable for their role in spreading xenophobia

Promote government and civil society coordination on tackling xenophobia

The South African government and its agencies must protect persons of foreign origin

Introduction

There is a common xenophobic sentiment held by some in the South African community that the high rate of crime and violence – mostly gun running, drug trafficking and armed robbery – is directly related to the rising number of illegal migrants in South Africa (Human Sciences Research Council, 2008). A South African Migration Project (SAMP) study revealed that nationals of South Africa are “particularly intolerant of non-nationals, and especially African non-nationals” (Black et al., 2006:105). Furthermore, a national public opinion survey found South Africans to be exceptionally xenophobic. Results showed that 25% of South Africans interviewed want a total ban on immigration while 45% support strict limitations on the numbers of immigrants. Over half of respondents opposed offering African non-citizens the same access to housing as South Africans and 61% of respondents believed that immigrants placed additional strain on the economy. Of black respondents, 65% indicated that they would be “likely” or “very likely” to “take action” to prevent people from other countries operating a business in their area (Crush, 2000: 125).

Conceptualising xenophobia in South Africa

Xenophobia is defined by the Webster’s dictionary as “the fear and/or hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is different or foreign“. There are those who have argued that this definition is too simple and that the concept of xenophobia includes an aspect of violence and physical abuse. Jody Kollapan, former Chairperson of South Africa’s Human Rights Commission, contends that the term xenophobia must embody action or practice and cannot merely be defined as an attitude (Kollapan, 1999). This argument implies that beyond dislike and fear there must be actions of violence that result in bodily harm or damage to property (Harris, 2002). The definition of xenophobia must be further refined to include a specific target of particular individuals or groups against whom the fear and hate or actions of violence are directed. The South African case presents all three ingredients: a demonstrated fear or hate of black foreigners accompanied by violent actions, resulting in loss of life and property.

To significantly understand the xenophobic crisis in South Africa one must find its basis in the historical accounts of foreigners within the country. Over the years South Africa has been host to a variety of African immigrants, many of them refugees: in the 1980s Mozambicans; in the early 1990s Nigerians and other immigrants from Angola, Somalia, Rwanda, and Burundi; in the late 1990s immigrants from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and more recently immigrants have included Zimbabweans fleeing the political and humanitarian crisis in their own country (McKnight, 2008).

Xenophobic tendencies against foreign migrants, and more specifically African migrants, have only been documented since 1994. Since then there has been evidence that xenophobic tendencies in South Africa have increased over the years as the number of foreigners has increased (HSRC, 2008). Black foreigners in South Africa have often been referred to as “amakwerekwere” or “amagrigamba“, these terms are derogatory and are used to inflict intimidation and hate on immigrants (Jere, 2008). The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), in its 2008 research, identified two main patterns of the xenophobic culture in South Africa: firstly, that the violence was mostly aimed at other African nationals and not against foreigners in general; and secondly, that the violence was largely confined to the urban informal settlements in South Africa’s major cities (HSRC, 2008). A few examples of these xenophobic trends are the following: In 1995 there was the assault on Malawian, Mozambican and Zimbabwean immigrants living in Alexandra township in a campaign known as “Buyelekhaya” (go back home), under the suspicion that they were guilty of crime and sexual attacks, and that they were causing increased unemployment; two years later, a Mozambican and two Senegalese men were attacked by a group returning from a rally that blamed immigrants for crime, unemployment and the spreading of AIDS (Human Rights Watch, 1998); and in 2005 twenty Somali traders in Cape Town were murdered by locals.

While the above mentioned cases had been isolated incidents, in May 2008 the attacks on foreigners consumed several cities and townships throughout the country for weeks. The violence began in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, following a local meeting to address tensions between locals and foreigners in the area and then spread to other areas in and around Johannesburg, to the provinces of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, and to Cape Town (Landau and Segatti, 2009, cited in HSRC, 2008). In the days and months following the attacks 62 deaths were documented, of which 21 were believed to be South Africans, over 100,000 people were displaced from their homes, and property of millions of rand looted (Misago, Landau and Monson 2009, 7–12).

Theoretical explanations of xenophobia in South Africa

Different scholars have tried to explain and contextualise xenophobia in South Africa. One such theoretical explanation is the scapegoating hypothesis (Harris, 2002). In this sociological theory xenophobia is seen within the context of social transition and change. Rejection of or hostility to foreigners in South Africa is related to limited resources, such as housing, education, health care and employment, in a period marked with high expectations, especially for black South Africans (Morris, 1998). A common belief in South Africa is that every job given to a foreign national is one less job for a South African, and this is exacerbated by the unemployment rates, currently in the range of 20–30%. Yet, no empirical evidence can support these beliefs, and some categories of migrant work have been shown to actually increase employment opportunities for South Africans (Black et al., 2006:117).

Furthermore, many foreigners find shelter in informal urban settlements characterised by high levels of poverty, unemployment and housing shortages.Thus competition for already limited resources is intense. This could explain in part a tendency to place black foreign nationals as the scapegoat for the increasing poverty and unemployment in South Africa. Immigrants are then seen as mere opportunists who are only in South Africa for economic benefits (McKnight, 2008). The HSRC in their primary research carried out in 2008 referred to this situation as relative depravation, which would explain the relationship between xenophobic violence and socioeconomic factors where inequality and poverty lead to feelings of deprivation (HSRC, 2008).

A second theoretical explanation to explain xenophobic tendencies in South Africa has been the isolation hypothesis. Here xenophobia is seen as a consequence of apartheid in South Africa (Morris, 1998). The seclusion of the country from the rest of the world in the apartheid era is taken to be an explanation for the fear and distrust that South African communities have towards foreigners. According to this theory, the freedom felt within South Africa in 1994 came with the ideology that the country must be protected from “outsiders”. In light of South Africa’s history it is reasonable that the country needed to put its citizens first in line for transformation and change. However, the closed-door migration policies, sluggish development and increase in poverty and inequality have provided a breeding ground for xenophobia. Following South Africa’s democratic transition, the Refugee Act took four years to draft and eight years to negotiate. One of the primary reasons it took South Africa so long to replace the apartheid regime’s Aliens Control Act was that the idea of migration created uncertainty in nationals and immigration was seen as “undesirable” (Crush, 2008:2).

Yet, despite resistance to foreigners, the democratic and political transition opened up South Africa’s borders and the country has gradually become more integrated into the international community. As a result this has brought South Africans into direct contact with unfamiliar foreigners. The hostility that developed as the result of this isolation is further compounded by the fact that many South Africans seem oblivious to the plight faced by many African foreigners and thus fail to show empathy towards these nationals. It is important to note here that whilst South Africans were recipients of regional support from their African counter-parts during the apartheid area, this assistance was mostly granted directly to the elites who fought for freedom and those who were exiled as a result of the apartheid regime. Not all South Africans are well versed with the contributions made by other African countries and this could contribute to the isolation hypothesis. Authors, like Bouillon, in support of the isolation hypothesis argue that black South Africans are just coming out of oppression. One of apartheid’s long lasting legacies can be seen in the isolation created amongst the population. It is this isolation which has closed society and created a nation that is unwelcoming of foreigners (Morris and Bouillon, 2001). The isolation theory’s contextualisation of xenophobia rests on the central premise that where a group has no history of interacting with the outside world and incorporating strangers, that group is blinded to the opportunities of welcoming those that may be different or foreign (Gounden, 2010) and this can be very well understood in the South African context after apartheid.

It is imperative to note that apartheid has had a bearing on what is perceived as the new South Africa. Apartheid South Africa did not recognize refugees until 1993. Only during the transition from apartheid to democratic rule did South Africa become a signatory to the UN and Organization of African Unity conventions on refugees and this has contributed to xenophobic tendencies.

A third theoretical explanation for xenophobia in South Africa is the bio-cultural hypothesis.This theory suggests that xenophobic violence is not applied equally to all foreigners. In the case of South Africa, black foreigners are at greater risk of violence than foreigners of other race groups (Human Rights Watch, 1998). Furthermore, as stated earlier, on arrival in South Africa many foreign nationals seek shelter in urban informal settlements where there is intense competition for basic resources. The bio-cultural hypothesis emphasises the levels of visible differences in the physical demeanour of other foreign Africans (Harris, 2002). This hypothesis could explain the violence targeted against even South Africans who were thought to be foreign on the basis of skin colour or speech. Of the 62 people who died in the 2008 attacks, 21 were South African citizens. As some of the local South African languages are spoken by neighbouring countries, this has led to cases where a local could be seen as a foreigner and targeted during xenophobic attacks (BBC, 2008).

Political contribution to xenophobia

While the theoretical hypotheses do give some form of contextualisation to the whole dilemma of xenophobia, they still fall short of offering an explanation as to why the xenophobic attacks have taken place in some areas of the country and not others.When looking at specific townships and settlements that have faced violent attacks on non-nationals, it is almost always rooted in the micro-politics of these areas. Local leaders often lead or organise violent attacks on foreign migrants in order to gain authority or realise their political interests (Misago 2009, cited in Amisi et al., 2010). Furthermore, as non-nationals have become increasingly unpopular throughout South Africa, local leaders often feel pressure to exclude foreigners from political participation or ostracise them in general because of their fear of losing their political positions. Because of this fear, some leaders have promoted violent practices against non-nationals in order to ensure their authority within the community.

In 2009 the South African newspaper Mail and Guardian highlighted a study by the International Office for Migration revealing that community leaders and the local government did nothing to prevent or stop violent attacks on foreigners. Furthermore, the study found that some were directly involved in attacks, while others were reluctant to assist foreigners for fear of losing legitimacy or positions in the 2009 elections (Mail and Guardian, 2009).

Similarly the Consortium of Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CORMSA) released an issue brief in 2010 stating:

The key trigger of violence against foreign nationals and outsiders in specific locations is localised competition for political (formal and informal) and economic power. Leaders, and aspirant leaders, often mobilise residents to attack and evict foreign nationals as a means of strengthening their personal and political or economic power within the local community (CORMSA, 2010:2).

Beyond local officials, national leaders have also used anti-immigration language during their campaigns in order to gain votes. In addition to the political callousness that has fed xenophobic trends in SouthAfrica there have been documented instances in which migrants have become targets of abuse in the hands of the police, the army and the department of Home Affairs. For example, the former Minister of Home Affairs, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, stated publicly, “If South Africans are going to compete for scarce resources with immigrants, then we can bid goodbye to our Reconstruction and Development Program” (Human Rights Watch, 2008:20).This kind of misuse of power and prejudiced speech has only contributed to the xenophobic sentiments being expressed by South African citizens and the widespread violent attacks.

Recommendations

Acknowledgement of the problem: The first step to addressing this issue lies in the acknowledgment by the South African government, as well as local leadership, that xenophobia exists and is a real challenge in South Africa. Unless there is such acknowledgement it may be difficult to formulate policies that address the problem and protect people of foreign origin.

Address the root causes of xenophobia: Greater attention must be given to understanding and addressing the root causes of xenophobia in South Africa. During the 2008 attacks the government was not actively involved in explaining to local communities who foreigners were and the reasons why they had come to South Africa. More research must be done into the reasons why there are xenophobic attacks, which groups are at a greater risk and what socio-economic factors increase these risks.

Inform the public of the rights of refugees living in South Africa: Refugees and asylum seekers have been the most vulnerable to institutional abuse and xenophobic attacks (HSRC, 2008).Yet, South African legislation allows for refugees to enjoy the right to live where they desire, move about the country freely, as well as join the labour market and use social services offered to other citizens. However, these rights are neither well known nor respected throughout the country by both the public and government officials. Government authorities must be well educated about the rights of migrants and refugees in South Africa. There is plenty of informative research, especially after the 2008 xenophobic violence, which can provide greater insight into the plight and rights of migrants in South Africa and the South African Development Community as a region.

Address labour disparities and encourage partnership and sharing: The government must be vigilant in enforcing the minimum wage requirement for all employers. There is a tendency for many foreigners, who are desperate to make a living, to work at exploitative rates beneath the minimum wage.This often then results in unfair competition for casual labour. The government must therefore work to ensure that they safeguard the labour provisions so as to rid the environment of instances of unfair competition between locals and foreigners. Ironically, in the midst of the “brain drain” dialogue, South Africa is host to a wealth of resources in the form of skilled migrants already in the country. Unfortunately, even with the need for skilled professionals in South Africa, these men and women are often unable to find work that matches their skills. For instance, legal migrants who are skilled in areas of plumbing, electronics and even engineering hold certifications that are not recognised within the country. Many of these foreigners must resort to finding less-skilled jobs, and it is often at this level that South Africans feel that their jobs are being “taken”. The government should develop programmes that will work to enhance and foster partnership between local populations and immigrant communities. For example, skills sharing between locals and migrants could provide a platform to forge relationships, deal with misconceptions about “foreigners”, and work to eliminate the fear and distrust that could result in situations of violence.These environments of sharing will provide avenues for creating a common identity of individuals working hard to skill themselves for a better and sustainable future, as such realising the spirit of “ubuntu” and oneness.

Hold public officials, police officers, and local leaders accountable for their role in spreading xenophobia: The government needs to condemn and prosecute community leaders as well as other government officials who have been involved in committing, planning, or promoting xenophobic attacks. It is essential that hate speech be upheld as a crime, and speeches given by public personalities must be monitored in order to ensure that leaders are not elected on a basis of an anti-foreigner campaign. In addition, the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) should identify and apply sanctions to guilty parties and intolerable practices. The DPLG should also promote positive leadership and governance that respects the rule of law and the rights of refugees.

Promote government and civil society coordination on tackling xenophobia: The Refugee Act places responsibility upon the South African government to provide full protection and provision of rights set out in the Constitution – this includes access to social security and assistance. In addition, on 12 January 1996, South Africa became a signatory to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, obliging the state to provide equal treatment to refugees and nationals. However, the 2008 CORMSA migration report suggests that the implementation of rights and services of migrants have lagged, and migrants are likely to be excluded from basic social services. In addition to threats of violence, xenophobia keeps all migrants from vital services to which they may be entitled, including health and education (CORMSA,2008). Misunderstandings persist at the service provider level as to the rights of migrants – this is a primary cause of many migrants being turned away from basic and emergency healthcare services.The denial of services is a non- or miscommunication issue from the top down, due to the government not being active in educating government service providers about the rights of migrants within South Africa. Educating South Africans about the rights of refugees, monitoring local elections and leadership behaviour, and delivering social services are all actions that need to be taken by the government. However, in order to address xenophobia and deal with it successfully, civil society will also have to play a role in achieving these recommendations. It is important that the government, international and national non-governmental organisations, and the rest of civil society work together to resolve these conflicts if xenophobia is to be eradicated.

The South African government and its agencies must protect persons of foreign origin: Whilst the South African government has legislated and allowed for the entry and stay of foreign nationals, these rights and regulations must be communicated to local populations. The Department of Home Affairs has a role to play in not only registering foreign nationals but also actively communicating the statistics and plight of immigrants and especially refugees. A mere directive to tolerate foreigners would be insufficient to protect groups of foreigners who bear the brunt of the everyday socio-economic frustrations of local populations. It is imperative to note that people will tend to empathise with others according to what they understand about them. Education and information sharing targeted at creating awareness and fostering a bond between immigrant communities and local communities would be a critical step in addressing the issues related to xenophobia.It is important to note here that the education the authors suggest includes teaching and informing the South African population of their solidarity with fellow African colleagues who stood with them during the apartheid period.There is little knowledge among the general South African population of the sacrifices and brotherhood and sisterhood that were extended to end the repressive apartheid regime. Whilst the legalistic information and knowledge of the rights of refugee populations is crucial, education on how the South African community fits into the African continent as a whole is imperative.

Conclusion

There is a tendency to blame the xenophobic violence on the unfortunate history of apartheid, and while this history may be a contributing cause, it is not in and of itself the only reason for xenophobic attacks.The high unemployment rate among black South Africans is a cause of concern and must be addressed if the frustration of social and economic deprivation is to be mitigated. Many people in various townships feel more oppressed economically than they did during apartheid (McKnight, 2008). This is not to say that the socio-economic struggles of the post-apartheid regime of South Africa are in any way a justification for the violence directed against immigrants. McKnight argues that there is an urgent need for a gradual and overall shift in South Africa’s isolated and exclusive culture.

These recommendations are not exhaustive but are initial steps through which the nation can begin to forge ahead and deal with the challenges of foreigners and their protection.

Creative policies and dialogue that recognise and accept migration as a continued phenomenon are needed within southern Africa. The response from leaders and government departments – more specifically, the Presidency and departments such as the Department of Social Development and the Department of Home Affairs – has the influence to either encourage or discourage xenophobia. Government has the mandate and the ability to provide safety and protection for those within its borders, and this includes non-citizens.

References

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) 2008. Locals killed in South African attacks. BBC News, 12 June. Available from: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7450799.stm> [Accessed 23 June 2010].

Black, R., J. Crush, S. Peberdy, S. Ammassari, L. McLean Hilker, S. Mouillesseaux, C. Pooley and R. Rajkotia 2006. Migration and development in Africa: An overview. African Migration and Development Series No.1. South African Migration Project. Cape Town, IDASA. p. 105.

Consortium of Refugees and Migrants in South Africa (CoRMSA) 2008. Protecting refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants in South Africa. Available from: <http://www.cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/cormsa08-final.pdf> [Accessed 27 November 2008] pp. 8–41.

CoRMSA 2010. Migration Issue Brief 3: Xenophobia: Violence against foreign nationals and other outsiders in contemporary South Africa. June 2010. Available from <http://www.cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/fmsp-migration-issue-brief-3-xenophobia-june-2010-1.pdf> [Accessed 23 March 2011] p.2

Crush, J. Jonathan 2008. South Africa: Policy in the face of xenophobia. Migration information source. Available from: <http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/south-africa-policy-face-xenophobia> [Accessed 27 October 2008] p. 2.

Crush, J. 2000. The Dark Side of Democracy: Migration, Xenophobia and Human Rights in South Africa in International Migration 38 (6): 103–133.

Gounden, V. 2010. Xenophobia after the World Cup. Speech, 8 June. Durban.

Harris, B. 2001. A foreign experience: Violence, crime, and xenophobia during South Africa’s transition. Violence and Transition Series, Volume 5, pp. 11–140.

Harris, B. 2002. Xenophobia: A new pathology for a new South Africa? In: Hook, D. and G. Eagle, Psychopathology and social prejudice. Cape Town, University of Cape Town Press. pp. 169–184.

Human Rights Watch 1998. Prohibited persons: Abuse of undocumented migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees in South Africa. Human Rights Watch, New York.

Human Sciences Research Council 2008. Citizenship, violence and xenophobia in South Africa. Pretoria, HSRC.

Jere, D. 2008. Zim exiles face new fear and loathing in SA. AFP, 14 May. Kollapan, J. 1999. Xenophobia in South Africa: The challenge to forced migration. Johannesburg, Unpublished seminar.

Landau, L. and A. Segatti 2009. Human development impacts of migration: South Africa case study. Johannesburg, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme).

Karim, Q. 2009. Local leaders behind xenophobic attacks. Mail and Guardian, Available from: <http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-03-11-local-leaders-behind-xenophobic-attacks>

McKnight, Janet 2008. Through the fear: a study of xenophobia in South Africa’s refugee system. Journal of Identity and Migration Studies (2), pp. 18–42.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xenophobia> [Accessed 23 March 2011]

Misago, J.P. 2009. Towards tolerance, law, and dignity: Addressing violence against foreign nationals in South Africa. International Organization for Migration. <http://www.migration.org.za/uploads/docs/report-12.pdf> [Accessed 23 March 2011] pp. 8–67.

Morris, Allan. 1998. ‘Our fellow Africans make our lives hell’: The lives of Congolese and Nigerians living in Johannesburg. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 21 (6), 1116–1136.

Morris, Allan and Antoine Bouillon, eds., African Immigration to South Africa: Francophone migration of the 1990s, (Pretoria: Protea Book House, 2001)

Neocosmos, M. 2006. From Foreign Natives to Native Foreigners: Explaining Xenophobia in Post-apartheid South Africa. CODESRIA: Dakar

Steenkamp, C. 2009. Xenophobia in South Africa: What does it say about trust? The Round Table, 98 (403), pp. 439–447. Available through: Academic Search Complete [October 20, 2010].

UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) 2009. African UNHCR Global Report. Available from: <http://www.unhcr.org> pp. 135–138.

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khalilhumam · 4 years ago

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Around the halls: Brookings experts on the new Center for Sustainable Development

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Around the halls: Brookings experts on the new Center for Sustainable Development

By Amar Bhattacharya, Marcela Escobari, George Ingram, Homi Kharas, Anthony F. Pipa Today, the Global Economy and Development program launched the Center for Sustainable Development (CSD). The center will focus on issues pertinent to advancing global sustainable development and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across all countries. In this post, Brookings experts housed in the newly launched center explain the key priorities and issue areas that the center will undertake.

Defining the challenge: sustainable development economics and empirics

Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow The climate and sustainable development agendas are intricately linked. Failure to act on climate mitigation and adaptation will affect lives and livelihoods everywhere, especially of the poorest and most vulnerable. On the other hand, strong actions to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon climate-resilient economy can pave the way to sustainable, inclusive, and resilient growth and concomitant progress on the SDGs. A new climate economy must be urgently built—one that escapes a 20th century growth model based on fossil fuel dependence and degradation of natural capital and ecosystem services. The world has been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the dangers and fragilities that had been building in the world economy and the planet. The crisis presents an enormous threat but also a one-off, last chance opportunity—to restructure economies at the pace and scale that the climate crisis requires. The center will focus on how to build a better and green recovery that can restore jobs and livelihoods and pave the way for long-term transformation. It will also assess and inform the strategies, investments, policies, and finance that can build a low-carbon climate-resilient economy that serves the needs of people and the planet.

Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow “You treasure what you measure.” This phrase has become overused because it is so important and applicable. We have become very good at measuring GDP, and the economic policy structures and institutions around the world are geared to maximizing GDP growth. But we have been derelict in measuring other elements of sustainable development—most obviously climate change, biodiversity, inclusion, and justice—that enter into people’s well-being. To give one example, a world with fossil fuel subsidies approaching $5 billion (according to the International Monetary Fund), and a heavy dependence of governments on taxes on labor could well produce GDP growth, but in a distorted way that undercuts society’s core objectives of moving toward green energy and encouraging the formation of more jobs. At this time, with trillions of dollars of public money being spent to revive economies, it is critical to orient economic activity toward areas that are sustainable and inclusive, else another shock to the global economic system will surely recur.

Advancing sustainable development at subnational levels

Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow Developing countries need to substantially scale up investments in sustainable infrastructure to meet their climate and development goals including large additional investments for adaptation. These needs encompass investments in renewable energy and the phasing out of dirty energy (especially coal), sustainable cities and transport, water and sanitation, digital infrastructure, and natural infrastructure. Over the next 10 years, infrastructure investment in emerging markets and developing countries other than China will need to more than double from present levels of around $1 trillion per year, and virtually all the increase must be green infrastructure to meet the Paris targets and adapt to climate change. At present, 80 percent of infrastructure investment is public and it’s mostly publicly financed. Private investment in infrastructure in emerging markets and developing countries has stagnated over the past decade and amounts to less than $100 billion annually. Mobilizing additional private finance for sustainable infrastructure investments is therefore the central challenge of climate finance. In addition to tackling the impediments that are holding back the realization of green investments at scale, it will be essential to improve access to long-term finance and reduce the cost of capital—for both emerging markets and developing countries. Managing, reducing, and sharing risk will be critical. Assessing how to unlock investment opportunities in sustainable infrastructure that can serve both climate and development goals, and identifying ways to bolster and utilize the relevant pools of finance more effectively that can meet the scale of the challenge, will be an important element in the work of the Center.

Marcela Escobari, Senior Fellow Even as the pandemic renews skepticism on the virtues of dense living, cities remain the engines of innovation, growth, and prosperity. In all likelihood, they will bounce back. And their recovery will make for welcome news—a return to the status quo almost certainly portends a more sustainable future than would urban outmigration. Nonetheless, the sustainability of urban epicenters prior to the pandemic was questionable. Cities had become hotbeds of poverty and wellsprings of environmental degradation. Moreover, the astronomical rise of cities, brought on by increasing returns to dense economic activity, led to increasing geographical disparities- even within the same country. This spatial divergence makes a subnational lens to the advancement of sustainable development crucial to global sustainability. As the pandemic and its economic ripples continue to spread, impact—whether it comes as shifts in supply chains, less tourism and travel, new purposes for commercial real estate, stark unemployment, or more rapid automation—will ultimately occur at the subnational level, in each region based upon its own unique history and trajectory. Subnational regions across the globe will face similar challenges but their path to sustainable recovery and growth will depend largely on the region’s existing industry and talent as well as its financial and political ability to repurpose production and redeploy workers. New metrics with the flexibility to accommodate these differences, while still allowing regional comparison and benchmarking, will allow greater subnational coordination, an essential task to drive global sustainability.

Anthony F. Pipa, Senior Fellow Cities are places where the lofty aspirations of sustainable development and the ambitions of the Sustainable Development Goals must be translated into progress felt by real people living in real communities. As evidenced by their leadership during the COVID-19 crisis, mayors and local leaders form the front lines of response to global issues—from the exigencies of public health and economic vulnerability to migration, climate change, and justice. They consistently earn the highest levels of trust of any level of government and are increasingly perceived to be the problem-solvers as political divisions undermine the response of national leaders. Too often however, subnational leaders have too little of the mandate and too limited resources to translate their priorities at the local level into reality. They are thus faced with developing new models of governance to coordinate leadership and resources that go beyond city government and creating new tools and policy interventions to leverage data, technology, and citizen engagement for social and economic progress. Their success will also depend upon their ability to access new modes of financing, and the international finance system must seek to evolve and expand to be able to directly invest in municipalities and subnational governments. Cities are hotbeds of innovation—not just to launch the industries and companies of the future, but to evolve and elevate new methods and mechanisms of public governance and leadership that will be key to advancing sustainable development. The Trump administration’s “America First” foreign policy and the feeble U.S. response to COVID-19 has significantly changed perceptions of the United States and its interest in global cooperation and global progress. U.S. mayors, CEOs, university presidents, and civil society leaders, with serious commitments to using the SDGs to advance racial justice and equity, public health, economic security, and action on climate change, are exhibiting global leadership and proving to be central players in rebuilding U.S. credibility on development issues of global importance.

Advancing effective financing for sustainable development

Homi Kharas, Senior Fellow Imagine you took the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, and the destruction caused by World War II and wrapped them into a single calamitous event. You would mimic the effects of COVID-19. Not a single sub-Saharan African government has been able to borrow on international capital markets since February of this year. The traditional approach to debt servicing, to roll over debt by funding principal payments to one lender by borrowing from another, has ground to a halt for many developing countries. Ministers of finance are desperately trying to stave off defaults—the messy, expensive, protracted process that led to a lost decade in Latin America—and will be tempted to cut education, nutrition, and agricultural development spending to cope. These have long-lasting, lifetime effects. Absent a concerted plan of financial assistance, the specter of a decade or more of development in reverse awaits, and a generation could be left with little real prospect or opportunities for the future.

Advancing US official and American societal leadership for global sustainable development

George Ingram, Senior Fellow COVID-19’s devastation of human and national well-being, climate change’s disruption of food production, state fragility’s destabilization of nations and uprooting of populations, social and economic inequities within and between nations. These are just a few of the global development challenges that require the U.S. government to elevate its institutions and budget to contribute to the advancement of development by moving from a 20th century maze of programs to a more coherent, unified strategy and structure that is nimble at working with local stakeholders, civil society organizations, the private sector, and the panoply of individuals and entities across America that are contributing to advancing economic, social, and political progress in poor and middle-income countries.

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dailynewswebsite · 4 years ago

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Are individualistic societies worse at responding to pandemics?

aelitta/Shutterstock

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson not too long ago recommended that coronavirus infections are larger within the UK than Germany or Italy as a result of Britons love freedom extra, and discover it more durable to stick to manage measures.

Unsurprisingly, this view has attracted a variety of criticism. Some have argued that Germany and Italy love freedom simply as a lot because the UK . Others counsel the distinction is right down to the standard of those nations’ check and hint methods.

There’s no laborious proof to show Boris Johnson improper, however throughout the Atlantic, economist Paul Krugman has recommended one thing comparable. The US’s poor pandemic response, he says, is right down to politicians and coverage failing to get folks to behave responsibly. Loving freedom is, in his eyes, the excuse for “America’s cult of selfishness”.

Whereas we will’t 100% pinpoint the explanations behind the excessive case numbers in Britain and America, it’s fascinating to see the UK prime minister and a Nobel laureate making comparable arguments. Simply how believable are their claims?

The ability of individualism

“Loving freedom” is tough to measure, nevertheless it’s associated to the idea of individualism. This cultural trait emphasises private freedom and standing out, and celebrates particular person success. Its reverse is collectivism, which accentuates the embeddedness of people in a bunch and stresses the necessity to assist and be taught from the social surroundings.

The foundational work on individualism was accomplished by the Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede. He developed a framework to match totally different cultures alongside six dimensions. These are: how individualist or collectivist a society is, how indulgent it’s, what its attitudes in the direction of energy and alter are, the way it offers with uncertainty, and the way masculine or female its values are.

Inside this framework, individualism versus collectivism has turned out to be probably the most sturdy and protracted distinction between totally different cultures. Nevertheless, on Hofstede’s scale, present-day Germany and Italy are each individualist societies, even when the UK and US high the size. Johnson’s view of Italy and Germany appears to be caught within the 1930s.

The specter of tropical illness would be the foundation of why some societies are extra individualistic than others. khlungcenter/Shutterstock

The roots of those cultural values might be linked to historic patterns of illness depth throughout societies. In areas the place the specter of infectious illness was larger, such because the tropics, societies developed to be extra collectivist to counter these threats. Low ranges of interplay with strangers, which characterise collectivist societies, served as an essential defence towards an infection. In distinction, individualistic societies had extra various social networks and fewer reliance on steady patterns of social interplay, making contagion extra doubtless.

Importantly, these cultural traits nonetheless have real-world impacts at this time. They don’t simply form social norms, but in addition drive financial behaviour, for instance. Analysis reveals having a extra individualistic tradition results in extra innovation and progress, as a result of such societies connect larger social standing to innovators.

However there are additionally drawbacks. Whereas individualistic societies could have an edge in fostering radical innovation, Hofstede argues they’re at an obstacle in terms of speedy collective motion and coordination. It is because folks there are inspired to have totally different views, converse their thoughts, and query and debate selections. Constructing the consensus wanted for insurance policies to work could take longer.

Has social tradition influenced COVID?

COVID-19 has reached nearly each nation on this planet, and but has resulted in very totally different outcomes. Up to now, epidemiologists have provided quite a few explanations for this disparity, together with variations in demographics, urbanisation, high quality of well being methods, the pure surroundings, and the velocity of presidency responses.

Nevertheless, we argue that tradition additionally issues. As a result of consensus is extra readily achieved in collectivist societies, their situations are higher for introducing quick and efficient motion to include illness. These nations even have robust social mechanisms based mostly round disgrace and never desirous to “lose face”, which can drive compliance with management measures, making authorities actions more practical.

Folks in individualistic nations could have wider social networks. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

Social networks in collectivist societies additionally are typically extra localised and oriented in the direction of folks’s shut contacts (sometimes their prolonged household). This creates pure social bubbles, lowers social mixing and variety, and due to this fact slows down the unfold of the virus.

And at a person stage, cultural values can affect private selections on such basic items as carrying a face masks or preserving social distance. There’s already work exhibiting that within the US, in areas with a historical past of frontier settlements and a extra individualistic tradition, individuals are much less more likely to put on face masks and socially distance.

Provided that cross-country knowledge on individualism is publicly out there, it’s not tough to start to guage the way it pertains to COVID-19. knowledge from early on within the pandemic – when variations between individualist and collectivist nations have been more likely to be most pronounced, given the possibly totally different speeds of their responses – there’s a uncooked correlation between COVID-related deaths per capita and nations’ individualism scores. This correlation stays after we evaluate individualism scores with nations’ deaths per variety of instances, to manage for various quantities of testing.

Nations’ individualism scores plotted towards COVID-19 deaths per variety of instances. Information from Could 2020. Writer supplied

On this graph, the individualistic UK (high proper, labelled GB) might be in contrast with collectivist Japan (centre, backside). Each nations are democratic and have extremely developed economies, however Japan has an older inhabitants than the UK – so we might maybe anticipate its COVID-19 outcomes to be worse. But it scores a lot better.

This graph is only a easy correlation. Really what’s wanted is one thing that controls for different components (demographics, urbanisation and so forth) and that takes into consideration extra deaths attributable to COVID-19. However for now, it reveals that the individualism speculation is value investigating additional. That is one thing we’re now doing.

Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de components, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer revenue de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/are-individualistic-societies-worse-at-responding-to-pandemics/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

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indianarrative1 · 4 years ago

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Upon the conclusion of their annual meeting, the Group of Seven (G7) Speakers and heads of Parliament have agreed to focus on the need for strong international action to combat the disparities in health and financial security that have been highlighted by the climate crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.

They observed that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations this year were among the highest averages ever recorded.

“We, Speakers/Presidents of Parliament of the member states of the G7, affirm that the Covid-19 pandemic and climate crisis require a robust and coordinated international response,” said a joint declaration after the virtual G7 Speakers’ meeting concluded on Saturday.

The meeting included participation from all G7 nations and the European Union.

“By passing legislation, by approving national budgets and by holding governments to account, Parliaments are a key element in the commitment of states to the well-being of our citizens and the environment.

“As leaders in the international community, we commit to act with urgency to provide a healthy, clean and sustainable environment for our children and grandchildren and generations to come.

“The world is reeling from Covid-19. As of September 12, 2020, there have been more than 28 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 and the disease has claimed the lives of more than 900,000 people across the world.

“The pandemic has disrupted the regular life of our citizens, disproportionately hurt our most vulnerable communities and at-risk populations, including women and children, and destabilized our economies.

“We declare that our response to Covid-19, including vaccine development and its equitable distribution, will be based on science and medicine, focused on wide access rather than profitability, and informed by the knowledge that the pandemic will continue until it is addressed worldwide,” said the declaration.

“As G7 nations, we have a moral, scientific and economic duty to serve as the standard-bearer for this global commitment.

“Unfortunately, the climate crisis does not pause as governments address the pandemic. Our nations cannot choose to ignore the climate emergency while we address the immediate crisis presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Both the health and climate crises have and will continue to require unprecedented government action.

“As Parliaments develop legislation to rebound from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, clean energy and other climate investments can power short- and long-term economic recovery.

“The climate crisis is the existential threat of our time, jeopardizing the health and well-being of every family in every community around the world.

“Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations in 2020 are among the highest averages ever recorded. The planet suffered through the second hottest year ever in 2019. As the earth heats up, climate-related impacts, including heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, and flooding, are worsening,” it said.

The statement went on to say: “The great rivers of our world are beginning to dry up, depriving millions of water, food, jobs, transportation and commerce. The degradation of the oceans is also a great matter of concern as we stated in Brest last year.

“We shall also pay particular attention to environmental justice for economically vulnerable and frontline communities.

“Committing to fight against environmental injustice requires providing a healthy environment, equal opportunity and meaningful involvement in environmental decisions to all people, regardless of race, colour, gender, orientation, national origin, belief, or socio-economic condition.

“Climate policy can end the perpetuation of systemic inequalities.

“We reaffirm the central role played by parliaments in democratic life. Parliaments, which are the assemblies that bring together all the components of society, are the key institutions of democracy: parliaments represent the expression of the people through their legislative and oversight roles.

“We therefore call upon all parties to take action on the climate crisis in accordance with the Paris Agreement.

“We pledge that we will maintain contacts between parliaments to ensure a high level of mobilization concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate, the regular raising of questions linked to these crises and the dissemination of good practices.

“We believe that our parliaments must play a pivotal role in the response and recovery to Covid-19 and the fight to address the climate crisis with economic and environmental justice for all.”

In the run-up to the G7 Speakers’ meeting, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in a video message informed the participating nations that they should think of the whole world as interdependent and of the entire seven billion human beings as one human community.

“Global warming is very serious. Many people suffer. We must pay more attention,” he said.

The participants comprised US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, Canada Anthony Rota, President of the European Parliament David Maria Sassoli, President of French National Assembly Richard Ferrand, President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang SchAuble, President of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico, Speaker of Japan’s House of Representatives Tadamori Oshima and Speaker of UK’s House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle.

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demnoklannik-blog · 7 years ago

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Usa vs russia

People in america Beat Russians In The Shootout

Can be the United Areas in a Space Race to the moon with many additional challengers of free enterprise and Nation State Sponsors? Battle-related deaths > Number of people : Battle-related deaths (number of people). Battle-related deaths are deaths in battle-related conflicts between warring parties in the clash dyad (two clash products that are parties to a clash). Typically, battle-related fatalities take place in combat concerning the equipped factors of the warring parties. This contains traditional battlefield fighting with each other, guerrilla actions, and all sorts of bombardments of armed forces products, metropolitan areas, and towns, etc. The goals are usually the military itself and its installations or state institutions and state representatives, but there is usually often substantial collateral damage in the kind of civilians getting put to sleep in crossfire, in indiscriminate bombings, etc. All deaths-military simply because well as civilian-incurred in such circumstances, are usa vs russia as battle-related fatalities.

A 2002 study puts the US death toll from a tactical counterforce strike from the combined effects of great time, burns, and radiation, the assault by 2,000 warheads would cause 52 ± 2 million deaths and 9 ± 1 million accidental injuries, actually though it was mainly aimed at armed forces focuses on in sparsely populated areas. The objective of the 1st assault to remember, was to damage US armed forces, politics, and financial focuses on. In the 2,000-warhead situation, there had been 660 atmosphere bursts, many of which got overlapping areas of mass fires and blast harm since the distances isolating some of the focuses on had been much less than the size of the areas.

U.T. alliance structure in the Pacific differs dramatically from that of European countries. Notwithstanding concern over the dedication of particular U.Beds. allies in European countries, the United Claims offers no reason to battle Russia apart from keeping the integrity of the NATO alliance. If the United Claims fights, then Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom will adhere to. In most standard scenarios, also the Western european allies by itself would give NATO a incredible medium term advantage over the Russians; Russia might take parts of the Baltics, but it would suffer greatly under NATO airpower, and probably couldn't hold taken place for long. In this framework, the USN and USAF would mainly perform support and coordinative tasks, providing the NATO allies the advantage they needed to soundly defeat the Russians. The U.S. nuclear push would offer insurance against a Russian decision to utilize tactical or tactical nuclear weapons.

Truly potential customers for a dynamic, economically growing Russian actual overall economy today can be even more positive than at any period in the previous two generations or even more. I can't help but experience it would perform our globe significantly even more when it comes to the great to end with the ridiculous losing wars just about everywhere and come back to building up our countries and civilization. The energy of battle can be a no-brainer. Building up can be thrilling as China and significantly Russia understand.

The United Claims economy remained in decrease and wide-spread unrest satisfied on the nation. A part reversal experienced taken place between Russia and the United Claims - Russia grew and its military improved, and the United State governments decreased, as do its army. Many regarded this to end up being the Second Cool Battle, but these people had been unfortunately wrong. Canada's armed forces exceeded the United Areas.

The significantly even more most likely result of Sen. Graham's crippling sanctions” would end up being that a hardline Russian nationalist would rise, missing Putin's calculating character. Rather of Putin and his well-known sang froid, the globe would most likely end up being facing some hot-blooded extremist motivated to protect the honor of Mom Russia also to the stage of tugging out the nuclear requirements and pressing the key. The neocons and liberal hawks may believe they've got this Brand-new Cool Battle all thought out, but if their record retains, they could conveniently be driving the world toward a warm war that would indeed be the war to end all wars - and to end humanity as well.

From Drive 2014 to 2016, six rounds of sanctions had been imposed by the US, as well as by the EU, and some other countries allied to the U.S. The first three rounds targeted individuals close to Putin by freezing their assets and denying leave to enter. Russia replied by banning transfer of particular meals items mainly because well as by banning admittance for particular authorities officials from the countries that enforced sanctions against Russia.

An instance of the kind of development and technology potential of this policy of supporting high-tech produce sketching on Russia's incredible military services aircraft knowledge is certainly the rollout this Might of the initial check air travel of Russia's Irkut MC-21 narrow-body industrial jet. The advancement reportedly delivered surprise waves through the boardrooms of Boeing and Airbus.

While the United Expresses creates the most petroleum liquids in the globe, it is certainly making a great deal of NGLs- organic gas seed liquids. Regarding to the EIA, the U.S i9000. will generate 3.8 million barrels per day of NGLs in 2017. However, the price received for NGLs is usually about half or 48% of the regular WTIC price. So, with the current price of oil now trading at $43, a barrel of NGLs is normally heading for $21.5. Not really very much.

The initial component of this evaluation must end up being to acknowledge how very much bigger the U.Beds. overall economy is normally than the Russian overall economy. Russia can be the largest nation in the globe when it comes to region - nearly 11 percent of the world's landmass is sovereign Russian territory - but Russia's economy pales in comparison to the U.S.' According to 2016 first-quarter figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. GDP is around $18.1 trillion. Russia's economy is roughly a tenth the size of the U.S.' (the World Bank stated that Russia's GDP in 2015 was $1.3 trillion.) According to the Stockholm Essential Peace Research Institute, U.S. military expenditures in 2015 were 3.3 percent of GDP, and Russia's were 5 percent of its GDP. That still puts Russia among the top five military spenders in the world, but in absolute terms it means Russia's military expenditures add up to roughly 10 percent of U.S. military spending.

Furthermore, any fighting drive will need a main logistics/source work. It is normally all extremely well to obtain aeroplanes A to area A, but if its missiles, maintenance apparatus and experts are not really now there to help, they are worthless. Armored energies are notorious for expending a huge amount of petroleum, oil and lubricants. Relating to one estimate, in 1991 a US armored division could sustain itself for only 5 days - after that it would need a major resupply effort.

In response to russian apparatus and weapons updates, the Section of Protection (DOD) survey on Russian nuclear energies, executed in coordination with the Director of Country wide Intelligence and sent to Congress in May 2012, concludes that even the most worst-case scenario of a Russian surprise disarming first strike against the United States would have little to no effect” on the U.S. ability to retaliate with a devastating strike against Russia.

Currently, the main problem for Moscow is normally the reality that its existence in Syria is normally getting even more rewarding for Washington. The paradox, as a result, is normally that under the Trump administration, the United State governments and its allies will make initiatives to maintain Moscow included in the Syrian struggle, while the Russian command will more and more appear for ways to come out of the Syrian stalemate.

China can be pressing for a maritime revolution in both its Coast Safeguard and the People's Liberation Military Navy blue. The Coast Guard is used to establish sovereignty in contested waters and is getting the world's largest and most heavily armed Coast Guard boats The Navy blue features hundreds of surface area boats with advanced missiles and additional weapons in addition to great sensors.

One of the results of Russia's physical size can be a extremely regionalized overall economy, as the map above displays. Russia can be a federation , or a collection of 85 different federal government topics that array in framework from autonomous areas and republics to specific cities. But for bureaucratic and governing purposes, Russia divides these 85 regions into nine larger districts. The above map shows what percentage of the economy each of Russia's disparate regions contributes. The numbers are significant. Relating to the most recent obtainable data from the Federal government Condition Statistical Assistance, the Central Federal government Area accounts for 35 percent of the whole Russian overall economy. Located in this area, Moscow only accounts for 21.7 percent of the whole Russian overall economy. That implies that Russia's financial town accounts for even more of the Russian economy than any individual area in the U.S i9000.

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politicoscope · 6 years ago

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Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/bernie-sanders-biography-and-profile/

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile

Born 8 September 1941 in Brooklyn, Bernie Sanders attended James Madison High School, Brooklyn College and the University of Chicago. After graduating in 1964, he moved to Vermont. In 1981, he was elected (by 10 votes) to the first of four terms as mayor of Burlington. Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York before his 1990 election as Vermont’s at-large member in Congress. The Almanac of American Politics calls Sanders a “practical and successful legislator.”

Throughout his career he has focused on the shrinking American middle class and the growing income and wealth gaps in the United States. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bernie Sanders in 2014 passed legislation reforming the VA health care system. Congressional Quarterly said he was able “to bridge Washington’s toxic partisan divide and cut one of the most significant deals in years.”

Bernie Sanders Full Biography Independent politician Bernie Sanders was born on September 8, 1941, in New York. He grew up in Brooklyn as the youngest of two sons of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father worked as a paint salesman. As part of a struggling working-class family, Sanders recognized early on America’s economic disparity. As he told the Guardian newspaper, “I saw unfairness. That was the major inspiration in my politics,” he said. Sanders also counts American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs as an important influence.

Sanders attended Brooklyn’s James Madison High School and then went on to Brooklyn College. After a year there, he transferred to the University of Chicago. Sanders became involved in the Civil Rights Movement during his university days. He was a member of the Congress of Racial Equality, also known as CORE. With CORE, Sanders participated in a sit-in against the segregation of off-campus housing in 1962. He also served as an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. In 1963 he participated in the March on Washington.

“It was a question for me of just basic justice — the fact that it was not acceptable in America at that point that you had large numbers of African-Americans who couldn’t vote, who couldn’t eat in a restaurant, whose kids were going to segregated schools, who couldn’t get hotel accommodations living in segregated housing,” he told the Burlington Free Press. “That was clearly a major American injustice and something that had to be dealt with.”

After finishing college in 1964 with a degree in political science, Sanders lived on a kibbutz in Israel before settling in Vermont. He worked a number of jobs, including filmmaker and freelance writer, psychiatric aide, and teaching low-income children through Head Start, while his interest in politics grew.

During the Vietnam War, Sanders had applied for conscientious objector status. Although his status was eventually rejected, by then he was too old to be drafted.

Burlington and Beyond In the 1970s, Sanders made several unsuccessful bids for public office as a member of the anti-war Liberty Union Party, which he was a member of until 1979. His first taste of political victory came by the thinnest of margins. In 1981, he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, by only 12 votes. Sanders was able to achieve this win with the support of the Progressive Coalition, a grassroots organization. He was reelected three more times, proving that the self-described “democratic socialist” had staying power.

Known for his rumpled clothes and untamed mane, Sanders made an unlikely candidate for national office, but this political underdog scored a 1990 win for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. As an independent, Sanders found himself facing a dilemma. He had to find political allies to advance his issues and legislation. As Sanders explained to The Progressive, he considered working with the Republicans to be “unthinkable,” but he did caucus with the Democrats despite “a lot of opposition among conservative Democrats to my being in that caucus.”

Outspoken on the issues, Sanders criticized both parties whenever he felt they were in the wrong. He was a vocal opponent on the Iraq War, concerned about the social and financial impact that the conflict could cause. In an address to the House, he said “As a caring Nation, we should do everything we can to prevent the horrible suffering that a war will cause.” Sanders also questioned the timing of military action “at a time when this country has a $6 trillion national debt and a growing deficit.”

Senator Sanders Sanders sought to switch to the Senate in 2006, running against Republican businessman Richard Tarrant. As a self-described “democratic socialist,” he managed to defeat Tarrant despite the latter’s much more substantial funding. Tarrant spent $7 million of his own personal wealth in this election battle.

In 2010, Sanders made the news with his more than eight-hour-long filibuster against the extension of Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy. He felt that this legislation was “a very bad tax agreement” between the president and Republican legislators, he later wrote in the introduction of The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class. Sanders ended his time on the Senate floor with a plea to his legislative colleagues to come up with “a better proposal which better reflects the needs of the middle class and working families of our country and to me, most importantly, the children of our country,” according to a Washington Post article.

During his time in the Senate, Sanders has served on several committees on issues important to him. He is a member of the Committee on Budget; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; the Committee on Veterans Affairs and the Joint Economic Committee. Sanders also champions campaign reform and advocates for an amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United. Sanders has advocated for expanding voting rights and opposed the Supreme Court decision to disband part of the landmark Voting Rights Act. He is also an advocate for universal single-payer healthcare system. Driven by his sense of protecting the environment, addressing climate change and interest in renewable energy, Sanders is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works and the Energy & Natural Resources Committee.

Presidential Ambitions In April 2015, Sanders announced that he was seeking the presidential nomination for the Democratic Party. This longtime independent made the party switch largely out of political necessity. “It would require an enormous amount of time, energy and money just to get on the ballot in 50 states” as an independent, he said to USA Today. “It made a lot more sense for me to work within the Democratic primary system where it’s much easier to get on the ballot and have a chance to debate the other candidates.”

Experts think it is unlikely that Sanders will be able to wrestle the Democratic nomination away from frontrunner Hillary Clinton. But, according to an Associated Press report, Sanders isn’t worried about being an underdog in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. “People should not underestimate me.” As a veteran independent, he has “run outside of the two-party system, defeating Democrats and Republicans, taking on big-money candidates.”

In fact, Sanders has made impressive strides in challenging Clinton during the presidential primaries and gaining favor in the polls. The most recent Quinnipiac University poll (released in February 2016) shows that he was favored above all the top running candidates and would even beat out Republican frontrunner Donald Trump — 49 to 39 percent, respectively — in a general election. (Sanders’s numbers surpassed Clinton’s 46 to 41 percent matchup with Trump.)

Sanders’s platform focuses on issues of inequality in the United States. Economically, he favors tax reform that increases rates for the wealthy, greater governmental oversight of Wall Street and balancing the disparity between wages for men and women. He also believes in a state-administered health care system, more-affordable higher education — which includes tuition-free public college and universities — and an expansion of the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid systems. A social liberal, he also supports same-sex marriage and is pro-choice.

Trademarks of His Campaign One of the trademarks that defines Sanders’s campaign is his call for a “political revolution,” which asks for everyday citizens to become active in the political process and be the change they want to see on any given issue.

The other trademark is his fight to take corporate money out of politics, specifically, overturning the Citizens United ruling, which allows corporations and the wealthy elite to pour unlimited amounts of money into campaigns. Such money, Sanders vehemently argues, undermines democracy by skewing policies that favor the extremely rich.

Of the ruling, he has said: “As a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, American democracy is being undermined by the ability of the Koch brothers and other billionaire families. These wealthy contributors can literally buy politicians and elections by spending hundreds of millions of dollars in support of the candidates of their choice. We need to overturn Citizens United and move toward public funding of elections so that all candidates can run for office without being beholden to the wealthy and powerful.”

Record-Breaking Online Grassroots Fundraising Staying true to his principles, Sanders relies almost solely on small individual donations rather than Super PACs to run his presidential primary race. To the surprise of many and admittedly, to Sanders himself, he has made an unprecedented mark on campaign fundraising in American politics. In December 2015 Time magazine wrote “Bernie Sanders has broken the fundraising record for most contributions at this point in a presidential campaign,” even surpassing President Obama’s fundraising record for his 2011 re-election bid.

In February of 2016, it was reported that Sanders had “received 3.7 million contributions from some 1.3 million individual contributors,” averaging $27 a person. In March, Sanders’s campaign reportedly raised over $96 million dollars in total contributions.

Historical Michigan Primary Victory Sanders’s Michigan primary victory is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in modern political history. He won 50 to 48, despite the latest polls showing he was trailing Clinton at least 20 percentage points.

The only time such an egregious polling error was recorded was during the 1984 Democratic primary when polls showed Walter Mondale leading Gary Hart by 17 percentage points. Hart actually won Michigan by more than nine points.

Sanders’s shocking win was a testament that his liberal populist message could resonate within a diverse state such as Michigan and beyond. It was also a huge psychological blow to Clinton’s campaign which had hoped to seal her nomination with ease.

Democratic Primary Abroad Win, AIPAC Absence In March 2016 Sanders won the Democrats Abroad international primary by 69 percent. Over 34,000 American citizens cast their votes in 38 countries, with 13 delegates for the taking.

Sanders also made more headlines news in March as the first presidential candidate — and the only Jewish one — in the 2016 race to abstain from attending the AIPAC conference, an annual pro-Israel lobbying event. Although Sanders cited his busy campaign schedule for preventing him from participating, some considered his absence controversial. Pro-Palestinian groups, to their satisfaction, viewed his move as a defiant political statement.

Despite the different interpretations, Sanders gave a foreign policy speech remotely as a way of expressing what he would have said if he had attended AIPAC. In the speech he stressed the need for mutual respect and a push for eventual direct talks between Israel and Palestine.

Visit to the Vatican Sanders made history as the only presidential candidate to ever be invited to the Vatican to speak on moral, environmental and economic issues.

Amid a contentious New York primary, Sanders flew out for a brief visit to a conference on social sciences in Rome in April 2016. Sanders and Pope Francis have often been cited as carrying similar moral anthems in regard to the economy and the environment.

Sanders had the opportunity to meet the Pope briefly, but the latter stressed the meet-and-greet was purely out of courtesy so as to not politicize the event.

The DNC Platform and Endorsing Clinton As Sanders’ campaign came to a close, along with the reality that the odds were stacked against him, the Senator used his political clout to advance the DNC platform before putting his full support behind Clinton. Most of the issues his presidential campaign ran on — universal healthcare, free college tuition at public colleges and universities, a $15 minimum age, expanding Social Security, financial reforms for Wall St., and tackling climate change — were, by and large, included in the platform albeit tweaked in some cases. However, he notably lost his fight against his opposition to the TPP deal (the Trans-Pacific Partnership).

Still, Sanders’ overwhelming influence on the DNC platform was a huge victory for him and his legion of supporters and was touted as the most progressive platform in the Democratic Party’s history.

On July 12, 2016 in front of a rally in New Hampshire, Sanders did what many thought he would never do: He endorsed Clinton for president. It was a huge moment for both campaigns, but their resolve to prevent Trump from becoming the next Republican president superseded their differences.

DNC Email Leak In July 2016, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Wikileaks published over 19,000 DNC emails that revealed how officials seemingly favored Clinton over Sanders and sought to undermine his campaign; in one email exchange, DNC staffers discussed how they could question Sanders’ “faith to weaken him in the eyes of Southern voters.”

The leak also showed the bitter tension between DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver, the collusion between the DNC and the media and the ways in which officials persuade big money donors.

As a result of the leak, Wasserman Schultz announced she would not be speaking at the convention and would step down as DNC chair. Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence agencies launched investigations to determine whether the information was made available from the work of Russian hackers.

Despite the leak, Sanders urged voters and the nearly 1900 delegates supporting him at the DNC to vote for Clinton over Trump. Some of Sanders’ progressive base criticized him for his continued support of Clinton.

“We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine,” Sanders said to an angry dissenting crowd. “This is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue,” he noted, adding that the Republican candidate “has made bigotry and hatred the cornerstone of his campaign.”

2020 Rumblings After Donald Trump’s stunning 2016 Election Day win over Hillary Clinton, Sanders vowed he would continue to stand up to the new president when necessary.

One year later, news outlets floated the idea that Sanders was positioning himself for another run in 2020. Among the evidence cited, it was noted he was developing a series of foreign policy speeches with Bill Clinton’s former defense secretary, and had the position of “outreach chairman” created for him by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a role he was using to establish relationships with entrenched Democratic Party bigwigs.

In December 2017, after Minnesota Senator Al Franken announced he was stepping down due to sexual misconduct allegations, Sanders was among the chorus of voices calling for President Trump to do the same. Referencing the infamous Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged about groping women, Sanders tweeted, “We have a president who acknowledged on tape that he assaulted women. I would hope that he pays attention to what’s going on and think about resigning.”

In February 2018, special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals for interfering in the 2016 presidential election brought the assertion that, along with backing Donald Trump’s campaign, the Russians actively favored Sanders over Clinton. Both Sanders and his former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, disputed that finding, and said that the Clinton campaign could have done more to stop Russian interference with the knowledge they had of such activity.

Later in the year Sanders went after Amazon and Walmart for not paying their employees enough to survive. In one video posted to his Facebook page, he said, “[Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos continues to pay many thousands of his Amazon employees wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on taxpayer-funded programs, such as food stamps, Medicaid and subsidized housing in order to survive. Frankly, I don’t believe that ordinary Americans should be subsidizing the wealthiest people in the world because they pay their employees inadequate wages.” As a result of these business practices, the senator said he planned to introduce legislation that would levy a tax on large companies equal to the value of the government benefits their workers receive.

Personal Life In 1964 Sanders married his college sweetheart Deborah Shiling, but the couple divorced two years later. In 1968 he met Susan Mott and the two had a son, Levi, in 1969.

Sanders met his second wife, Jane O’Meara, right before becoming mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981. A long-time educator, O’Meara would eventually become president of Burlington College. The two married in 1988. O’Meara has three children from a previous marriage. Between them, the couple has four children and seven grandchildren.

Sanders’s older brother, Larry, is a British academic and politician, who is currently the Health Spokesperson for the leftist Green Party of England and Wales.

Bernie Sanders Biography and Profile (Bernie Sanders / Biography / Politicoscope)

#Bernie Sanders #US #USA

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Shifting paradigms

Preparing skilled and trained human cadres in line with the future requirements of various economic sectors as well as the general directions of Vision 2040, is a collective responsibility of the government, education institutions, the private sector companies and other key stakeholders. Muhammed Nafie reports

All of us know that the calibre of talent distinguishes great from good, winners from losers and adaptation from extinction. Having the right team playing on the field is the fundamental difference between victory and defeat. Indra Nooyi, chairwoman and former CEO of PepsiCo.

It’s been nearly two decades since Steven Hankin of McKinsey Group coined the term ‘war on talent’ to highlight the need for HR practitioners to identify, protect, nourish and develop key staff in order to safeguard future competiveness and prosperity in origanisations. Talent is not a soft skill anymore: it has a positive and quantifiable connection to a company’s financial performance, an economy’s sustainable growth and a nation’s socioeconomic development as well.

No plan for future can be complete without meticulous strategies to build the human resources that are going to be the movers and shakers of tomorrow. And no country can restructure its economy and chart out its future course of action without reconstructing its talent management models. If talent is instrumental in igniting growth and driving innovation, its scarcity constitutes the single biggest obstacle to achieving those goals. Therefore, the disparity between what a nation requires from its people and the skills as well as capabilities that its potential workforces are equipped with, should be the last thing it could tolerate.

An economy in the process of shifting its growth paradigm, a nation in the cusp of change by diversifying its economy from conventional resources with an ambitious strategy, the Sultanate of Oman cannot afford to ignore the essential task of nurturing and developing its human capital to meet the changing requirements.

Bridging the skill gap

HR specialists and industry experts OER spoke to for this report are of the opinion that with economic diversification aimed at reducing the dependence on hydrocarbon resources high on agenda, the Sultanate requires highly talented and extremely competent national workforces catering to the requirements of the emerging industries. They observe that at this crucial juncture when the government has identified certain key sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, tourism, fisheries and mining to diversify the economy away from oil and gas, one of the key challenges facing Oman is the lack of skills to propel these industries and make them up and running.

Mohammed Masaud Al Kharusi, chairman of Intersearch ME, Oman and an industry veteran, stresses the importance of better planning to ensure that Oman produces the right cadre of people with requisite skills to meet the country’s vision being developed. He hits the nail on the head saying, “There is a mismatch of skills of Omanis entering the job market and the requirement of the businesses, coupled with a reluctance of organisations to further invest in the development of new skills because of cost pressures. There are insufficient apprenticeship schemes to address the large absence of Omani technicians or so- called blue-collar workers for medium-sized companies.”

Outlining some practical measures to address these concerns, Al Kharusi explains it’s essential to define the key areas required for people development in Oman. “A national manpower plan is required to determine the type of skills to be developed to address the gaps, to determine the new skills required to meet our longer term needs and to gear up our educational system, vocational training and apprenticeships schemes to produce the skills required. To this end, we need integrated planning and robust data on our Omani cadre so as to determine the skill gaps, and plan our future requirements accordingly. This will need to be coordinated and managed by the government at a very senior level.”

Mohammed Al Esry, general manger- operations at National Training Institute, corroborates saying, “Omani economy requires diversification of skilled and talented workforce to cope with the Vision 2040. Many key roles such as leadership and management continue to be occupied by non-Omanis as many organisations consider these positions to be very strategic for the growth and success of the business. Omanisation strategies require creativity and innovation to ensure strong educational foundation, training and skills building capabilities which will help develop competent workforce for the industries.”

He adds, “The replacement of an expatriate with an Omani will only provide temporary solution, unless nationals are equipped with sufficient management knowledge and strategic capabilities to overcome challenges of the market demands and the dynamics of the industry environment. Creating and fostering conducive workplace environments to develop Omanis must be the priority of all stakeholders. While providing effective training to build competence, we are working very closely with employers to ensure smooth transition and further development take place on the job.”

Venkatesh PV, principal consultant & business head, RAB, chimes in commenting, “The challenge of skill gap is further accentuated with our goals of creating jobs for the nationals and developing and empowering the national talent pool. In a traditional economy, you can address the skill gap over a period of time, by using foreign experts and expat workforce, till we develop skilled and trained national workforce. But today we don’t have that luxury. It has to be done through a big bang approach. The industries have developed in much faster pace, whether it be the different tourism projects and hotels, manufacturing plants, airports, seaports, free zones etc. And there is a huge demand for skilled workers. But we cannot change overnight the entire syllabus and curricula of the universities and colleges in the country to ensure that all of them suit these industries. Universities are making their courses job-oriented and industry focused; but it’s a long-term process.”

Venkatesh suggests that the easier and faster approach to address the challenges of skill gap is to offer skill-based short term courses, just like a three-month training programme focused on teaching specific skills required for a particular job. “These programmes can certify that an employee is competent, after subjecting him/her to an assessment. For example, in the hospitality industry, one does not require a hotel management degree to work as a front -office person. One only needs to know how to use the hotel software and have good communication skills. These are the things which can be obtained through a short-term course. The government, training institutes and private sector companies should encourage these kind of short-term, job-oriented courses or educational programmes. It can be done as an industry-wide initiative, adhering to the standards and qualifications of respective industries, rather than pushing it through individual companies. Universities, training institutions and industry associations have a bigger role in implementing them,” he says.

Prof Yusra Mouzughi, vice-chancellor of Muscat University, substantiates this saying that there is wider recognition that successful human capital development requires ever-deepening partnership between government, education and business. The provision of internationally-excellent education is essential in Oman, but not enough on its own. It needs to be coupled with direct industry experience. She continues, “Muscat University’s mission responds directly to the Sultanate’s strategy to build a highly capable workforce, strongly aligned to economic sectors with evidenced potential for growth. Our own analysis identified logistics and the supply chain, business, finance and entrepreneurship and chemical engineering as sectors in which Oman possesses very significant advantages and the real opportunity to compete at regional and global scale. These sectors, and their strategic importance to the national economy, directly influenced the portfolio of programmes we assembled and now provide.”

Adil bin Ali Al Rahbi, HR Head at Oman Arab Bank, agrees to this observing that proper coordination between private sector entities and government regulations will streamline the direction and help achieve strategic collaboration. He also stresses the importance of linking the curriculum of the ministries of education and higher education to meet actual demands of the Omani market.

“The synergy in managing the employment sector in Oman is more essential than ever before, to ensure full alignment when it comes to developing futuristic talented workforces starting from early education stages”, observes Al Rahbi . “This synergy will also be needed in building a strong entrepreneurial platform in the Sultanate, which definitely needs to be taken care of; from building capacities to easing the process of investment in this market segment. Such synergy should help make all business sectors think globally, so as to bring prosperity to the national economy and to keep the workforce at the cutting edge.”

Venkatesh further builds on this suggestion saying that encouraging entrepreneurship and creating a vibrant start-up culture in the country will help bridge the skill gap significantly. “So even the students passing out the universities will have an eco-system to start something on their own. There should be more incubation centres. We have existing ones, but I think they are not still reachable to many college students. Our educational institutions should have their own entrepreneurial or star-up hubs which will encourage students to start ventures on their own. There are a lot of start-up initiatives which students and youngsters can start on their own, especially in industries like tourism,” he adds.

Demand for experts, international exposure

The increasing demand for training and skill development in several new industries and professions necessitates the availability of experts and skilled trainers to exchange knowledge and provide training. But as Al Kharusi observes the labour regulations do not always allow bringing in foreign experts to, say, help a new start-up to establish itself quickly as well as to develop Omanis in the requisite skills.

“There is a challenge in the form of restrictions in getting government permissions to recruit such skilled workforces”, explains Venkatesh. “This amounts to some sort of tightrope walking. In order to clear this bottleneck, we should be open to the idea of offering short-terms visas for the experts and skilled trainers from abroad. They will stay in Oman for a short term and will leave after transferring knowledge and developing the talent in their respective areas. Some kind of special consideration should be given, in order to get experts specifically for developing the talent in the new industries and professions that are coming up.”

As Mouzughi observes Oman’s human capital development strategies have taken careful account of global competition, and so there is now stronger recognition of the need to support a workforce and society that is outward-facing, internationally engaged, and comfortable in an array of business and cultural contexts. She says Muscat University is making particular efforts to ensure that students feel part of a global community. “The community on our campus is a diverse international mix, which increases intercultural awareness, provides a global social network and the opportunity to interact professionally with people from all over the world,” she adds.

Omanisation: Beyond the obvious

There is no dearth of success stories and workable models when it comes to developing Omanis and offering them rewarding careers in various sectors. Al Kharusi himself is an example of an Omani mathematics graduate who started at the bottom of the ladder in IT and scaled new heights through hard work as well as appropriate professional development and training to become the first Omani to run an IT organisation in Petroleum Development Oman. Later on in his career, he changed his discipline to HR and ultimately progressed to become an HR director after having received the relevant exposure from Oman and abroad.

“Omanisation should be redefined as competence development and acquisition of new knowledge and experience,” he avers. “If you invest in Omanis who are competent with the right attitude and behavior, they will succeed and can then develop other Omanis in turn in a sustainable manner. If we encourage new players to enter the market, then we can increase employment and training opportunities for Omanis. However, we need to give these foreign entities longevity to operate so that they can reinvest and employ our cadre. One of the most important factors which can make Omanisation sustainable is to empower organisations to fire non-performing Omanis so that they can recruit and replace them with Omanis with the right skills, attitude and work ethic.”

Any nationalisation effort is successful when a nation has the right talent available to do a particular job in the best possible manner, opines Venkatesh. “Organisations should take a lot of responsibilities to develop and nurture their talent. When somebody comes in an organisation, they are skilled to do a particular job only. But the responsibility to ensure that this employee learn new things and scale new heights up the career ladder lies with the organisation. I have worked with a lot of small companies who say they don’t have the time, money or luxury to train people. That is an absolute farce. You don’t need a lot of money to train people. But you need the will. Organisations will have to play a very important role in further developing the talent of their own employees.”

But he says many people opt for the shortcut of poaching talent from other companies by offering an additional say RO50, instead of looking at how they can develop their own existing people in the long run. Another shortcut is relying on expats, without investing enough in developing their own Omani staff. Many companies practice the method of plucking talented Omanis from other companies, without contributing to develop new talents and improving the skills of their existing talents.

He adds, “Omanisation is not just increasing the number of Omani employees but it is developing new talents and creating skilled national workforce. How long will we fish in the same pond again and again? The pond is not getting bigger and the fish is only getting depleted.”

He puts the blame on the companies who are not making the effort to increase the size of the talent pool. “We need to increase the size of the talent pool, to make nationalisation work well. An internal development framework is absolutely necessary to ensure that our Omanisation is successful.”

Al Kharusi equates this trend to the movement of millennial- job hopping from one organisation to the next and as a result gaining higher salaries like 20 per cent – a trend which the US has followed for many years. However, he says such people plateau around this level and do not offer much in terms of driving the business forward.

Al Rahbi maintains that organisations need to adopt experiential learning methods, including job rotation and cross function career moves, to gain different exposures and take up higher responsibilities in the future. He calls for organising several personalised training interventions to meet the need of millennials and generation Z. “They will soon become the driving force behind change in the workplace at all organisations, be it in the public or private sector. It is crucial to pay attention to this fact because continuing the traditional approach of designing career development programmes for young Omanis is not going to work in the long run. Furthermore, to make Omanisation sustainable, it needs to develop dynamic and innovative leaders, who are able to spot talents and be capable of developing future leaders and successors.”

Career awareness, guidance

Al Esry elaborates on this saying that finding the right people for the right roles is a huge challenge because at present there are no established vehicles to provide effective career awareness and guidance at any levels of education or employment seeking process. “Establishing a career guidance cell which would provide some sort of a basic aptitude testing and career orientation is a dire need. This would then create a national database of jobseekers sorted out into various skill categories. Potential employers would be able to access this database to ensure they get the right candidates for the right jobs. Therefore, in order to make Omanisation sustainable and effective in the long run, employers should select the candidates from the database, put them through a relevant training programme to develop basic skills and then progress them through a well-structured on-the-job training phase.”

He adds, “Organisations need to build an attractive environment to allow new generations to adapt to modern technologies and methods and at the same time allow them to be creative, innovative, self –valued, confident, and be inspired to become a productive employee. The government should enforce regulations to develop nationals through intensive apprenticeship programmes as part of ICV commitment to develop competent human capital.”

HR as a partner of business

Learning and development have gone through dramatic changes over the past few years. In the last seven to eight years, the way HR departments function across the Sultanate has gone through a big change. In addition, keeping pace with global HR practices, the concept of HR business partnering has come of age in Oman in a big way.

Says Venkatesh, “HR has come out of its shell, and is emerging as a partner playing an active role in the running of businesses. In several large companies, HR directors sit on the board, indicating the growing role and strategic importance of human resources in business operations. In Oman, the nationalisation of workforces has also a given further impetus to this. Implementing an effective business partnering and centers of expertise model is accelerating the evolution of HR function.”

The entire way HR is organised has also changed, he adds. “In some larger organisations, employees have a dedicated HR person who manages all their HR-related needs. Since all their requirements converge in one resource, employees do not require to go to different people for different things. And this person is able to build trust and create a rapport with all employees.”

However, he says HR is still restricted in its role of hiring and firing, owing to the challenging economic situation. He says, “When it comes to expats, it’s all about getting the best out of what you have. Hiring new expats has become very difficult, as it involves getting clearance for them as well as finding people who are willing to relocate and work abroad. Therefore, working with employees, developing them and ensuring that they are happy have become very important, even in the case of expats.”

Promising initiatives Public and private sector companies have long since realised that they need high-quality managerial and executive talent to succeed in the new markets that are so critical to the future growth of businesses everywhere. Al Kharusi says there has been a major drive in terms of developing leadership capabilities of the Omani cadre both in private and government entities. The larger organisations have leadership development programmes and succession planning for some time so as to develop competent Omanis to fill their talent pipeline and leadership positions. He observes that there is a large requirement for Omani leaders with proven track records to lead senior positions or head a number of new companies being established especially in the public sector.

Al Kharusi also notes that a number of holding companies and investment companies have been set up, creating an increasing requirement for investment skills, ICT skills and leadership skills which are not always available. These companies are now investing in developing such skills in their own employees or recruit them from other companies.

Companies such as Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) are addressing the large skill gap at the technician level by utilisng the National Training Fund. Once qualified, these technicians are placed at contracting companies where currently there are a substantial number of expatriates. The In-Country Value (ICV) initiative is addressing the skills gap by instituting practical training and apprenticeship schemes for various skills to produce competent Omani technicians, he adds.

“Unfortunately, we still see a mismatch of skills between what is produced by our educational institutions and the requirement of our companies and organisations. We have seen a trend in terms of addressing this issue via Tanfeedh and other ministerial bodies; however, more work needs to be done,” Al Kharusi says.

Muscat University is the first university in Oman to offer year-long industry placements, whereby undergraduate students will spend the third year of their degree in industry, applying the knowledge they have learnt in years one and two. After graduating, they will have already gained a year’s experience increasing the chances of securing a job in their chosen fields.

Mouzughi explains how Muscat University strives to be innovative and entrepreneurial, enjoying strong connections to the business communities of Oman such as PDO, Oman Data Park etc. “Our programmes are combining academic rigour with direct relevance to the world of work, and they require an immersion in industry plus familiarity with the latest learning and information systems. Our academic staff adopt newly devised pedagogical approaches, and our virtual learning platforms ensure that students not only have ready access to materials and key content, but are also adept at using advanced technologies. We need learners who are confident with change, adaptable and resilient.”

A promising initiative in the banking sector is OAB’s employee’s development programme called, ‘LEAD’ which aims to prepare future leaders for the bank across different functions. Learning is made available for everyone at OAB from the service level to top executives, says Al Rahbi. “Moreover, OAB makes sure that the executives are equipped with necessary leadership competencies. OAB executives attended and will continue to attend highly ranked executive programmes in top institutions across the world. This includes MIT, Columbia, Harvard, Wharton School of Business, INSEAD and IMD, just to name a few. Coaching skills are an important competency that OAB executives have and is in the progress of being certified.”

In insurance sector, National Life and General Insurance Co. (NLGIC), Oman’s largest player in this vital segment, has taken various initiatives to identify and develop national talent. The company has conducted various learning and development programmes at regular intervals, internally as well as led by external experts. The company accords top priority to employee engagement activities and provides express growth track with well-formulated succession planning.

Unleashing innovation, creativity

As global economy is going through an unprecedented technological churn, a lot of jobs are at high risk of vanishing due to automation. Changing demographics are also likely to cause substantial shifts in the size and age of workforces around the world. Oman is not immune to these tectonic shifts, as the twin forces of technology and globalisation have made economies across the world more entwined. Employers need to take account of these shifts when they draw up their plans for sourcing talented workers, as well as how they manage their existing pool of talented employees. It will be too early to predict exactly where the next generation of jobs will pop up and what they’re going to look like. Due to the inherently disruptive and fast-evolving nature of these jobs, companies as well as education institutions need to adapt and keep up with the pace of change.

Although Oman has made progress in terms of innovation and technology, the Sultanate is still in a catch-up mode, says Venkatesh. “We are still catching up with what is happening in the rest of the world. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is, we need to create an environment conducive to innovation and creativity. Innovation and creativity are not something you can teach in class rooms. They should be inculcated naturally because it’s the ethos and environment that nurtures and fosters them. This environment should be created in schools, colleges, universities and everywhere.”

Today worldwide innovation and creativity are the most important competencies that will make employees and organisation successful, he says. They are instrumental in making employees tide over the various challenges and help take their companies to a different level of growth. That competency needs to be developed from a very young age, with plentiful opportunities given to people to think out of box and do things which are innovative and creative.

Venkatesh adds, “Schools and education institutions should function as the hub of creativity. But unfortunately in our schools children are made to do only primarily structured activities which are bound by rules and regulations. This thwarts their ability to be creative and go out of the box. We should give children ample opportunities to do and act out of the box. There could be mistakes and pitfalls. But that is part of the game.”

College courses and university curricula should be developed keeping in mind the global knowledge economy, says Venkatesh. “Today, it’s not important where you have got the knowledge from, if you have the right knowledge and the competence to exhibit them. But unfortunately, we are still obsessed with the name of the university or college where one studied, the certifications and courses one obtained, irrespective of the qualification, skills, competencies one is equipped with. Why are we so hell bent on papers? With so much of open source learning available, today one can sit at home and learn so many new things. The focus should be on whether you are able to demonstrate and exhibit the knowledge/ skill, rather than where and how one got the knowledge from. Employees should be allowed to get education and knowledge from anywhere they wanted. Don’t restrict them, let them go anywhere-online, offline, blogs, social media anything they want. That will go a big way in unleashing innovation and creativity.”

Many organisations in Oman are slowly moving to e-learning and mobile based training. “Today, the so-called internet generation, is coming to the workforce in a big way. Their learning pattern is very different. They are no longer interested in sitting in a class room and going through a teacher-led learning programme. They are very good at quick learning. You may not get them sit for a two-hour session. But if you give them a five-minute snippet to learn, they will be happy to go through it and learn. They will also learn something on their own, without a teacher to instruct or guide them. They learn new thing through watching and listening or thorough social collaboration. Byte sized learning will be a way forward in Learning and Development in the near future,” says Venkatesh.

Accroding to Al Kharusi, the advent of cloud services, digitalisation, Internet of Things, cyber security and risk management and compliance requires us to develop such knowhow in our educational institutions so as to produce the ICT skills required by such industries and other organisations. Concentrated focus is required in producing such skills.

He adds, “If we are to compete regionally or globally, we need to project what are the skills required to address our long term needs to meet our vision as a nation. Increased effort is required by organisations to benchmark their processes in terms of efficiency, people productivity, reducing transaction times or use of technology and artificial intelligence to optimise their workforce if we are to compete with peer organisations globally.”

Al Esry has no doubt that the future belongs to technology-driven companies and technologically competent job seekers. “While a number of initiatives have been introduced to usher technology into Oman, we are still a long way to go. The preferred route to learning is still face-to-face. Commitment and dedication to self-learning using technology does not seem to be appealing as of now for the masses. However, we are gradually bringing in technology into our training methods. Oman is taking the necessary steps to be in pace with the growing technological changes.”

Al Kharusi agrees saying that the Sultanate is making significant progress in this direction. The most visible example is the e-government project which has made an enormous impact on simplification of government processes to the delight of its citizens, he says.

A number of initiatives have also been introduced to enable us to catch up with the global pace of development; however, more needs to be done to accelerate it in an integrated manner. Creativity and innovation and the acquisition of new knowledge are key and are to be stimulated if we are to become competitive.

Al Kharusi adds one of the new trends is the move towards flatter and leaner organisational structures and outsourcing of non-core processes all in the interest of reducing cost and, indirectly, manpower. Mergers and acquisitions of companies of interest continue and this will lead to higher competition locally and some cases regionally.

Automation of HR

Venkatesh vouches for that saying that there is an appetite for innovation in HR as Oman has quickly embraced a lot cost-effective technologies including those introduced by his organisation. Technology is a major leveraging factor in terms of transforming HR and improving the efficiency and the effectiveness of people, he adds. Most of the medium to large companies have adopted automation of HR activities, according to Venkatesh. Initially it was HRIS, an intersection of human resources and information technology that has brought about these changes, allowing HR activities and processes to occur electronically.

Today, several routine, non-value added activities are handled by HR systems. And a lot of systems have become intelligent, being able to take decisions on their own. HR solutions and ERP solutions are offering very intelligent technology. A lot of companies have started adopting that for managing their day-to-day work. Employee services is one of the areas which have gone through a great amount of automation. More and more companies are moving towards technology-based dip stick and instant engagement surveys which instantly gives them the climate mood and pulse of an organisation instantly.

Al Rahbi also believes in the power of digital and data analytics to enhance the efficiency of HR functions, especially in decision-making and in managing human capital, both proactively and productively.

In short, for a forward-looking company or a future-driven economy, technology and innovation cannot be of lesser importance in managing and developing human resources than they are in solving a business challenge or tackling a socioeconomic issue.

It’s essential to rethink the current education as well as hiring models and create a new paradigm that will give us the much coveted edge in the knowledge-economy. Only through concerted, multi-stakeholder, systematic cooperation and dialogue among policy makers, relevant educational institutions, government and the private sector can this be achieved.

The post Shifting paradigms appeared first on Businessliveme.com.

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a-zhomework · 6 years ago

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1st Sem NMIMS Assignments Solution Dec 2018

Must read before purchase You must edit minimum 20 percent for submission, because universities/institute can catch copy case and provide 0 marks. 1. Management Theory and Practice Q1: M/s Subodh Enterprise is failing to make profit from last five years. The company has no proper vision and direction to follow. The Directors have decided to replace the current leader who shows less concern for people as well as profit. They appoint you as a consultant to guide them on the various types of leader and suggest them one type of leader that will be suitable for this organization with reasons. Q2: Mr. Ajay wants to purchase new printers for the organization as the current printers are outdated and the cost per print is high. Whenever the printers stop working the service provided from the company is very poor. It takes them seven days to resolve minor issues. This is affecting the productivity of people. There are seven departments and all the departments printer need to be replaced. Explain the decision making process that Ajay should follow for purchase of best printers for the organization. Q3: Mr. Amit is the departmental head of Marketing and has seven employees directly reporting to him. The seven members of the team are never in consensus with each other on major important decisions. There had been heated discussion among them in various meeting scheduled by Mr. Amit. The team members are not having great rapport with Production and R&D departments Head because of lack of coordination within the team. There is total chaos and confusion in the organization. Mr. Amit is worried about the online course that he has joined and has not been able to commit himself for the course. He is not able to give time to solve the assignments, check the MCQs, and participate in the discussion forum which are a part of the course. Mr. Amit s relationship with the seniors is cordial. He doesn t like the Production Department head as the latter doesn t provide him with regular reports and delivery status. a. Enumerate types of conflicts and identify various types of conflict in the above case? b. What are the various ways to resolve the conflict? 2. Organizational Behavior Q1. Shanaya works as a creative head in the entertainment industry, where she is often required to work for long hours. Her reporting authority Kiran is very inflexible who wants the work to be done according to her liking. Shanaya tried to talk to her on several occasions and explain her as well as other team members point of view but in vain, as Kiran would not budge. If anything is not done according to Kiran s way she reprimands Shanaya in front of her peers and subordinates. Kiran would pile Shanaya with excess work and make her work from home even during holidays. Keeping the above scenario in mind, discuss the pitfalls of leadership as demonstrated by Kiran. Q2. Anay works as a project lead in a pharmaceutical company. He is very famous amongst his team members because of his approach towards them. Whenever his team performs well he always rewards them. This reward comes in many forms like appreciation mail, gift voucher, and acknowledgement certificate. Because of this practice in Anay s team they are regarded as the best performers in the office. Analyse the situation and explain the elements of reinforcement used by Anay. Q3. Shiva and Sanjay work in an Information Technology (IT) multi-national company (MNC) in the same team as management trainees. They both got selected through campus placement. It has been six months since they joined the company. While filling up their confirmation forms Shiva came to know that Sanjay draws more remuneration than him. This had visibly upset Shiva and he started dumping all his work to Sanjay. The strained relationship between them could be sensed by their colleagues as well. Sanjay probed for this and from one of Shiva s new confidante he came to know the reason. a. What kind of conflict was between Shiva & Sanjay? Discuss the same with suitable concepts & reasons. b. How can the conflict be resolved or managed by Shiva. Discuss 3. Business Economics Q1: The manager of a company was analysing the trend of the products of its company (Commodity Y) getting replaced by another substitute product available in the market which gives the same level of satisfaction to the consumers. Calculate the rate of Marginal Rate of Substitution and analyse the result. Combination Units of Commodity Y Units of Commodity X Total Utility a 40 10 U b 25 14 U c 17 19 U d 10 27 U e 7 38 U Q2: Neha has just completed her MBA and joined a startup company. The company was planning to launch a new product in the market so the management wanted to understand the different factors that can impact the demand and supply of their products in the market. Help Neha to prepare a report on the factors impacting demand and supply of products in the market. Q3: Alpha Ltd market share was declining due to high competition in the market so it decided to enter a new segment. It wanted to determine the relationship between change in the quantity demanded of the product due to change in the price of the product in the market. Assume that at the price of 100, the demand for the product is 400 units. If the price of the product increases to 120, the demand decreases to 250 units. Calculate the price elasticity: a) Using Arc elasticity method b) Using Percentage method 4. Corporate Social Responsibility Q1. Climate change is the current focus of business community globally and businesses worldwide are including climate change related considerations in their strategic business decisions as well as long term plans. Choose any one current and live company, Indian or Multinational and explain how it is implementing any two climate change policies /actions to reduce their negative climate change impacts and why do they look at climate change as part of risk management?(refer to the sustainability report of the chosen company) Q2. With the introduction of Companies Act 2013 for the first time CSR has been legally acknowledged. Study the section 135, CSR rules as well as Schedule VII of Companies Act 2013. According to you explain 10 benefits that will accrue to business as well as society due to this regulation. Q3. Child labour is a violation of human rights. India is sadly the home to the largest number of child labourers in the world. Children are engaged as household servants and are also employed by hotels, service stations, food stalls, workshops, construction sites, carpet industries, etc. They are even employed in hazardous and unhygienic forms of labour in textile, leather and cracker industries, depriving the children of their childhood, and harming their mental, emotional and physical development & well-being. a. What according to you are five compelling reasons for the existence of child labour in India? b. Suggest four strategies/action plan that can be adopted by business to make child labour unattractive and non viable. 5. Information Systems for Managers Q1. Social media and data analytics are changing the scene for most industries today. It is said that social media played a key role in propelling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in 2014. It is no surprise that with the elections round the corner in 2019, parties are getting their social media warriors ready to help them combat this war in the digital space. In your opinion, can Social media be used to influence voter behaviour? Can political parties actually leverage data analytics solutions to reach out to probable voters? Justify your answer. (10 Marks) Q2. Malkan Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is operating in the pharmaceutical industry with a number of drug formulations in the form of tablets, capsules, powder and syrup. These drugs are available to the patients through chemists or online pharmacies on prescriptions of registered practitioners only. Besides, the company has some over-the-counter products that are available to any person without prescriptions. The company markets its products through a network of wholesalers, who in turn have their retailer network. The company is finding it difficult to maintain the inventory of the stocks that it has at its disposal, warehousing processes and associated transactions including shipping, receiving, put-away and picking. In order to streamline its operations to achieve efficiency, the company is planning to invest in a SCM software. How would this help the company in achieving its objectives? What are the risks in implementing the same? (10 Marks) Q3. You have been assigned as a project manager to deploy ERP System in a new start-up company having multi-location in India, with standalone and disparate systems. This company has manual processes, a high dependency on people for information, leading to a delay in timely decision making. The organization has embarked on a journey to implement ERP system-duly integrating all process and functions for quality transactions and availability of information. a. Elaborate the steps you would take for effective implementation. (5 Marks) b. What are the critical issues that you need to address for the successful implementation of ERP? (5 Marks) 6. Business Communication Q1. Large organizations where there are many people working closely, create unofficial and informal channels of communication. What is this kind of communication known as and what purpose does it serve in large organizations? List different types of this communication along with drawbacks if any. Q2. Explain the various forms that non-verbal communication takes which impacts cultural aspect of communication. How does verbal and non-verbal communication relate to each other? Q3. Zenstar Technologies has the task of collating feedback from its customers before the launch of its new product next fortnight. They need their customers to participate and be forthright in the opinions they present to improvise and make any last minute course corrections to garner the best response for the product launch. a. Which computer tool for collecting information will be most suitable for the requirements of Zenstar Technologies and why? b. Advice on how they should conduct the whole exercise of gathering feedback from their customers? Read the full article

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legit-scam-review · 6 years ago

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How Cryptocurrencies Are Regulated in Central Asia

As been reported on September 2, the president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, ordered the establishment of a state blockchain development fund called the “Digital Trust.” Earlier in September, a decree legalizing crypto trading — also making it tax-free — and mining in the country came into force, making Uzbekistan a crypto-friendly state. But how is the rest of the Central Asia region is holding up?

The list below is based on thorough news research, but should in no way be considered complete. If you have more detailed information on banks and the crypto relationship in your country, we encourage you to share it in the comment section.

Kazakhstan

Regulation

Kazakhstan has clearly shown its interest in cryptocurrencies. According to a study published by the search engine Yandex in March, locals have been searching for crypto-related terms in frequency and the amount is several times higher this year as compared to 2017.

However, a definite regulatory framework has yet to be introduced in the country. There are signs that this situation might change in the near future, however: In May, Kazakhstan’s president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, called for global cooperation in terms of crypto regulation.

Nazarbayev stressed that “most countries are actively exploring the possibility of adapting cryptocurrency to the current configuration of financial systems,” adding:

“At the same time, we see completely separate actions of states in this issue. And these disparate actions will lead to inefficiency. It is necessary to start developing common rules.”

The president’s comment followed the National Bank of Kazakhstan’s (NBK) announcement that they are going to ban crypto trading and mining in the country. On March 30, CBK head Daniyar Akishev declared in an interview with RIA Novosti:

“In Kazakhstan, the National Bank is very conservative toward [cryptocurrencies], I welcome only relatively tight regulations. To elaborate, we want to prohibit buying and selling of cryptocurrencies with the national currency, we want to ban exchanges on this field, we want to ban any kind of mining.”

Akishev cited investor protection, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know-Your-Customer (KYC) measures as primary reasons behind a potential blanket ban on cryptocurrencies. He added that NBK’s point of view is shared by “the majority of public authorities” in Kazakhstan and that his agency has already “prepared” amendments to the law.

Blockchain

Kazakhstan is actively trying to become the region’s main blockchain hub: In June, the country’s capital, Astana, held “the most important event for fintech in Central Asia” — a large blockchain conference supported by some public authorities and the Kazakh Association for Blockchain and cryptocurrencies (KABC).

KABC was registered in November 2017 by at least six organisations, some of which are led by people who previously worked at local regulating bodies. The coalition’s chairman has previously stated that their primary goal is to “define the rules for crypto and blockchain’s market jointly with the watchdog.”

Some of the country’s public authorities have already started researching crypto’s underlying technology. Thus, in April, the Ministry of Finance announced it was going to launch a blockchain-powered database, while a local cluster of innovation teamed up with IBM to study how the IT giant’s Hyperledger Fabric could be implemented for the local economy.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan explicitly banned cryptocurrencies back in July 2014, when the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic issued a statement warning that the use of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies as a form of payment is illegal under the national law:

“Under the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, the sole legal tender on the territory of our country is the national currency of Kyrgyzstan som. The use of ‘virtual currency,’ Bitcoins, in particular, as a means of payment in the Kyrgyz Republic will be a violation of the law of our state.”

The central bank also warned the citizens about Bitcoin’s lack of regulation and high levels of volatility. Around the same time, a Bitcoin ATM machine was installed in Bishkek by Italian financial analyst Emanuele Costa, who argued that the ATM could greatly impact the way migrant workers in Kyrgyzstan send money back home. According to the World Bank, migrant remittances from 2013 totaled 31 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP.

Despite the central bank’s harsh stance on crypto, virtual currencies are present in the country. As Valery Tutykhin, head of the International Finance Centre Development Agency, told local news agency 24.kg, investing in cryptocurrencies is possible in Kyrgyzstan:

“Our local investment market infrastructure can be used to legally invest into any crypto assets. Does someone want to buy cryptocurrencies? Let him do it through the local commodities exchange, and he will pay local taxes. Does someone want to raise capital for a startup through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO)? Let him do it through the local stock exchange. Its listing rules are not so complex.”

Blockchain

Despite the regulatory uncertainty, the Kyrgyz Republic has proven to be blockchain-friendly. According to a March report dubbed “The Legal Status of Blockchain Technology in Kyrgyzstan” that was commissioned by the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange and the International Finance Centre Development Agency and prepared by Geneva-based law firm John Tiner & Partners, the law of Kyrgyzstan does not prohibit or hinder the development of blockchain-based projects, including cryptocurrency mining and trading.

Specifically, the Kyrgyz Stock Exchange has been developing a blockchain-backed project to facilitate trade securities and make real-time settlements. Moreover, in April, the State Patent Office of Kyrgyzstan (KyrgyzPatent) announced that it will digitize patent records and create a blockchain-powered database with the help of the Russian National Intellectual Property Transactions Coordination Center (IPChain).

Tajikistan

Regulation

Cryptocurrencies are neither legal nor banned in Tajikistan. However, in January the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) voiced its opinion regarding the issue for the first time, calling Bitcoin “a terrorism financing tool.”

“Being based on experience of financial institutions, the National Bank warns nationals of Tajikistan of risks related to use of Bitcoins,” NBT declared in a written reply to Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service.

Blockchain

While the government of Tajikistan seems to ignore the technology, there are some blockchain projects in the country. Specifically, in June 2017, Hong Kong-based blockchain startup Bitspark teamed up with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to study the potential for blockchain remittances as a way to improve financial inclusion in Tajikistan.

According to Bitspark research, Tajikistan remains an underbanked country, as an estimated 85 percent to 90 percent of the population do not have formal banking accounts. Instead, they rely on alternative services for domestic and international payments, an area where blockchain has shown some progress.

Turkmenistan

Regulation

There’s no concrete information regarding virtual currencies’ legal status in Turkmenistan. According to responses posted on a thread on a Russian mining forum, where the opening poster asked whether it was possible to buy cryptocurrencies in Turkmenistan, even the over-the-counter (OTC) markets are barely present in the region. Reportedly, virtual currencies there can only be bought with U.S. dollars, but the government has been actively limiting access to foreign currency for local companies and citizens.

Uzbekistan

Regulation

Recently, Uzbekistan has introduced a number of positive regulation laws for the local crypto industry, namely recognizing trading and mining, as well as exempting local crypto traders from taxation.

The country’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has signed a law legalizing the activities of crypto exchanges, which came into force on Sept. 2. According to the decree, foreign nationals can only trade cryptocurrencies in Uzbekistan by means of creating a subsidiary in the country. The law also specifies a minimum capital requirement of roughly $710,000 to register a crypto exchange.

Moreover, crypto traders will not be subject to Uzbek stock market regulations and will be relieved of their obligation to pay taxes on trading revenues.

Under the new legislation, crypto exchanges must also comply with counterterrorism and AML laws. They are also bound to store information on crypto transactions, clients’ personal data and their correspondences for five years.

Blockchain

The local government has not ignored blockchain, either. In September, President Mirziyoyev also ordered the establishment of a state blockchain development fund titled the “Digital Trust,” according to a document published on the official government website.

The fund’s primary goal is to integrate blockchain into various government projects, including healthcare, education and cultural areas. The organization will also be responsible for international investment in the Uzbek digital economy. The Digital Trust will reportedly be funded by the National Agency of Project Management, in addition to international loans and grants.

Furthermore, in July, Mirziyoyev signed the order “On measures for digital economics development in the Republic of Uzbekistan.” The document makes provisions for blockchain to be integrated into local public administration.