Morning view from my balcony

My Art in the Hostel

Collecting more Memories

The Sanctuary Road

One bit of out of focus wildlife

Road leading away from home

Dad

Falling back on Art!!

Collecting memories with an Amateur Hand

The view from my room

I miss 'em

The Blinding Silver Lining that begins to emerge - atop the flag showing our presence

Now your know what I did in my loo the entire day

With flowers like these in the spring 5 feet from my bathroom window!!! Who would'nt like to spend more than the usual time in there?!

Spot the Weaver Bird pls...

View from the Loo

No matter how long one sat admiring the front lawns- it would never be adequate!

The pictures could never justify the view

And nothing can beat the shimmer on the lake!

Recognising the endless world of Perception.

I always tell my Mother that for me in life the most important thing to remember is 'Perception'. How we percieve things! And to always remember that no 2 people can have same perceptions.

And it is not easy for one to be aware of this fact at a subconcious level, it is only in later life that we hear the elderly saying- he thinks like that so.......!!! I dont know if this is a kind of reconcialation or what it is, but this I know, that it is an understanding that seeps nothing but wisdom into a person.

When I was in college, one thing I yearned for as I spoke to a confidant was 'understanding', I was so full of vigor that even the things that came out had no head or tail, so I wondered what I wanted. Did I only want a listener?

No, I wanted to be understood, and it is not something only I want, as I see people around me I see that this is what alot of people yearn for.

And in trying to be understood I realized that the first step is to understand.

This may seem very basic and simple but when one experiences it one realizes that it unleashes a power, power to control!
As I began to understand the psyche of others, I was able to put my feelings in a way that I knew they would understand, and that gave me a sense of satisfaction, knowing that what the pther person sees is what I want him/her to see.

Of course I am only begining to understand this, and I am sure there are people way ahead of me in understanding and mastering the skill, but none the less I put down my thoughts to crystallize them!

Man - a social Animal (Random Thoughts)

In Pune, minus the constant dose of social company, is no dobt making Jack, or in this case Jackie a dull girl, that ofcourse would be me, many a time I have exploded with feelings of being alone, fought with the odd ones around, tried doing odd things, engaging myself in other things, but without company I feel like my mind is rotting!

So the usual whirling thought clouded my mind and for some reason I began thinking why it was so, why do they call only certain animals social, I mean elephants are supposed to be social, ants too but I havent heard anyone saying. And there are as a matter of fact degrees of sociability, I wondered how, and why......

Finally, I had a eureka moment, the more developed the communication skills are in any organism the more social he is! :)

And so is concurrent in movies with aliens with advanced technology some how have uniques ways of communication....... e.g. telepathy!

So well Man being an intelligent being, thus having a developed aka advanced set of communication skills is naturally more social that other creatures, not disputing ofcourse the fact that we have not discovered and still are about the communication of other animals.

Who knows we may not be as intelligent as other creatures!!!!

Depth of Perception

 The glimmer of opportunity, faint yet there, visible in the light of the cool moon which may be understood as a state of mood; in which each one of us flow with the torrent of life, battling between the silver lining and the dark spiral of the euphemistic side of life that tends to attract our attention due to the sheer uncertainty of it, illuminating the dark yet hidden (by us) nature of man; and ironically we do not fail to look to proceed.........

The hidden talent that we are all afraid to give way to, unsure by limited limitation, where we then curl up into the safety of the fetal position and the only view left is that of darkness. This ballet dancer can if chooses to steer away from the corner to look to allow talent to remain bouyant and not hide it away.... look for the sparkling shoe.

  A time comes in the life of each where darkness seems to overshadow the little light, the only solace one finds is in giving up, forgetting that after each night comes day.

Reminds me of Milton's lines in Paradise Lost- "Her dark foundations, and too fast had bound.
871: Nine dayes they fell; confounded CHAOS roard........
Taking a fall into the material world in vain, strips man of the ensemble of that that has/gives meaning to the spirit. And yet the nature of man can be appreciated in the beauty of the knaivity of man that I see as an expression and facet of the notion of 'being human'.

The light hand of day need only to be felt by the realization of its existence.

Journey of Life - A Thought

As on one end the world virtually becomes a more concise idea due to the various modes of communication and fast modes of travel and the will and interest of man to learn more about others of the same kind, interests tend to shift as we advance.

Although natural selection that occurs in the primitive state of it, I i think it none the less does happen in a way that we are unable to comprehend at a conscious level, but it is important that one notices "it", as "it" is like any other piece of information that plays no role when one is ignorant of it, and when one is aware it tends of influence certain decisions of ours at a concious level.

The reason why I am putting down my thoughts as crude as they may sound, is because I hope that when I, in time decide to do my phd in psychology, perhaps I will consider this as one of things I would like to test. My interest stems from incidents in my life.

About 5 years ago, my parents went to Terry- a counselor at Xavier's- my alma mater, to get their IQ tested. On the day the result was to be told, Terry asked my parents if they had had a love marriage, and I know how much that is far from the truth, the reason for him asking so was because their IQ's were very close to each other and on a higher side. Ofcourse this at the time seemed to be an incident of jest.


As I dated people in college and out of I some how was not happy in my relationships and of course they in no time fell apart. And I began thinking why it is so, what does it take for a relationship to work.
I began thinking of all the pieces of advice people give, "you need to work hard in a relationship", "relationships are not easy", "relationships need more effort that even your JOB" - that was the most amusing I heard, because was'nt a relationship keep you together in times of even a depression in the cycle of your career. Why were things so contradictory?!!

Coupling and tripling events that I have experiences including my current relationship and observing people around me. People with certain backgrounds tend to get together, people with similar families get together-(talking exclusively of India- will attempt to deal with this at a global level perhaps in the next article) and so on.

Considering, location (area of residence, college time, work place etc) I noticed that people who are on a similar platform as far as one's intelligence level is concerned seem to have more successful relationships in modern India. This probably makes communication and interests converge at some level, and at a discreet unconscious level I think we may be selecting people who match our intellect or in the least challenge it! In essence we tend to look for matches that we can relate with on an intellectual platform.

Further, I would even not fall back from inclining towards the thought of- one's emotional level also perhaps having a very similar effect on Us choosing our partners.

Into Emotion (www.kira.net.au/intoemotion.html)

(I really wanted to capture what it felt like to fall in to the inky black depths of emotion. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming you just fall into them. Really tried to capture that renascence feeling through the colour and the flicker of the cloth to really push that falling into emotion is beautiful and has gone on for countless years. I used a woman because she represents the female emotional side to really dive home the helplessness that emotions induce. Taken as it is from the site of the photographer as an ironical inclusion in the article)

So, the persons having a higher intellect choose similar partners and produce children with higher intellect, and this may be applicable to the other spectrum of intelligence, this basically ensures that natural selection does take place, perhaps with a display of intellect instead of physical strength.!
The dimmer population does not have to be eradicated off the earth, but are kept aside in a natural way.

(The above article are developing personal views and does not consider and formal influencing factors and does not intend to offence anyone)
(The article does not use the term Natural selection in its biological sense)
picture- sandwichbag.blogspot.com

Art-o-nomics

Art is'nt lost, it perhaps has found new meaning, a new way has been paved, no longer does the glory have to go to a dead guy, he can now be recognised for the work he does in his lifetime. Alot more people now have begun to find the intellectual hint in the world of Art.

Contrary to the classical opinion of art following a method, and hence the interpretation being constant by all has now begun to fade out. Now art is an extraneous body of knowledge i.e our materials put into art and the knowledge of how to use it best, and this is evolved in different various that then takes the face of numerous ways of expression. The expression of the artist. And this in turn may be related to the viewer in varied ways.

INTERPRET THIS!!!!

A friend once told me that he too wanted to learn how to appreciate art. The irony being that it is not something that is learnt, good art can evoke many interpretations, limitless, and none can be incorrect. Modern art more and more is taking the form of abstractions that are not subject to only what the artist tries to put into it. It can catch the viewers fancy in any way and is open.

Today, in changing times, according to an Indian born artist, Anish Kapoor, "Artists excavate meaning, he does not deliver them"

And it is the above sentence that rings through art space and allows it to rosonate through time.

RECESS ADIEU .....

The recession now seems to have eased out, and at the end of it we certainly have learnt lessons that may facilitate keeping its successor at bay, whilst the mixed economy factor & maintaining a balance between indegeneous industry and foreign kept India afloat, China has kept afloat by increasing exports that it earlier restrained (its natural resources) and innovation.

In earlier articles my co-blogger had pointed out how innovation can be an important factor in keeping a stagnation at bay, and ofcourse a recession from digging its heels deep into a country.

While last year France and Japan launched their super fast trains the Shinkansen and the AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse), China to nip the recession in the bud has made a new innovation of the Bullet, the fastest train in the world.

The average speed of the high-speed railways is 243 km per hour in Japan, 232 km per hour in Germany and 277 km per hour in France. China’ Harmony Express reached a maximum speed of 394.2 km per hour during trail runs that begun on December 9.

And for the new year with a fresh outlook and new weapons against threats to international economies, China like many other has used an age old tactic to surmount what has surmounted the American Economy.

Alas, the long cold winter is now seeming to be on its last legs, unless a skeptic would pull out Krugman's theories and prove them to be closer to reality!

DID I GET THAT RIGHT?!

When The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the recipient of the Nobel Peace prize, any reaction seemed inadequate an expression, of whether did I hear correctly or has the world been washed off racism completely or since when did awards as prestigious as these be awarded to someone in pure anticipation!!!!

The reactions varied, joyous feelings and those of skepticism prevailed and are still in the air, how does one begin to understand and justify this award. And as it turns out, Obama though the same as well, as he now admits that he doesn't really deserve it.

Yet the question in my mind that remains is that whether or not this was a correct decision, whether the decision to give such an award as an encouragement is correct and would the award then remain as inspiring as it is currently!? Awards such as these have been created to hail someone who has achieved something extraordinary and to commend the work of certain chosen people whose role has played a key role in changing lives. 

Obama has invariably been recognized for the unmistakable quality or being a powerful orator and a figure that represents that part of society, world over, that so far was discriminated against due to baseless notions that have developed over time. Therefore it would not be wrong to say that he has become an idol, a ray of hope for many. But can the fact that an award meant for those who have achieved something commendable, be given to someone who we hope will achieve something great, for his mere advocacy, can that be justified?!

As the question is twisted, so the solution can not be straight, in fact such questions rarely have a clear line of distinction of right or wrong. Yes it is worthwhile giving such an award for the purpose of encouragement, but what would be left of the glory of such an award. Should some other award have sufficed? That is a question I leave unanswered!!!

Mr. Obama is not completely worthy as yet, merely because the credentials fall short, not for any other reason!

Perhaps the Committee was hasty, one is sure that some one of Obama's caliber would be able to make a difference, but let us not be carried away by speeches and intent, that is'nt all the world needs! Let the efforts of Mr. Obama pay off, perhaps then he would be more worthy of the title he has been awarded...

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni. All Right Reserved

Change Should Breed Chnage

William Henry Drummond

NEW doth the sun appear,

The mountains' snows decay,

Crown'd with frail flowers forth comes the baby year.

My soul, time posts away;

And thou yet in that frost

Which flower and fruit hath lost,

As if all here immortal were, dost stay.

For shame! thy powers awake,

Look to that Heaven which never night makes black,

And there at that immortal sun's bright rays,

Deck thee with flowers which fear not rage of days!

Reading Between - The Forensic Graphology

When people learn that I have learnt the arts of graphology, the following question is on the lines as what is that or is that the same as handwriting analysis. On confirmation the enthusiastic question thrown back is “O, so you can read handwritings, so what does as extended ‘t’ mean?”



Handwriting analysis is often thought to be synonymous with the term graphology but the truth is that the 2 terms are related no doubt, but are 2 different things. Handwriting analysis deals with the psychological aspect of understanding handwriting & its uniqueness. Graphology is the science behind it. Where, in forensics we use graphology to support validity of written evidence in the court.

The psychological theory of handwriting comparison is developmental. Children learn to write by copying whatever style of writing is fashionable at the time and taught to them by teachers from textbooks. This style is known as the regular or national system, and for most of the twentieth century, it was either the Palmer system or the Zaner-Blosser system for cursive. Today, there are many systems, or no system. As the child grows, the act of writing becomes a subconscious effort and begins to pick up habitual shapes and patterns that distinguish it from all others. This is most evident with capital letters and numerals. Handwriting has individual characteristics due to it being largely unconscious behavior. The unconscious handwriting of two different individuals is never identical. Mechanical and physical factors, as well as the mental ones, make it highly unlikely that the exact same handwriting occurs in two different people.

Handwriting analysis is done on the basis of assumptions; these assumptions have some standards however vary from analyst to analyst. Hence they do not stand in the scrutiny of court. However knowing the basis of graphology as a science and its explanation of how and why no two people can have the same handwriting, its explanations are accepted in the court of law.



To elaborate the above point, one can consider the scientific basis of the uniqueness of each individual’s handwriting:

The written movement is under the direct influence of the central nervous system. The form of the written movement is modified further by flexibly assembled coordinative structures in the hand, arm, and shoulder, which follow principles of dynamical systems.

The neuro-physiological mechanisms which contribute to the written movement are related to conditions within the central nervous system and vary in accordance with them. The written strokes, therefore, reflect changes in the central nervous system such as development, influence of alcohol, and disease processes, such as Parkinson's disease

This has been proved over & over with the basis also in psychology where-in the mind set, subconscious & unconscious of a person is accepted to have a key role in the kind of handwriting the person has.
This is further the basis of handwriting analysis which is theoretical in nature. In handwriting analysis the analysts try to make assumptions of the nature of human behavior on the basis of their individual handwriting.

Simple well known concepts include that of the baseline, i.e. if the baseline is ascending the writing is in a happy mood. However this aspect is also subject to varying assumptions such as the writer can be in optimistic mood or that the writer is sets unrealistic goals. Hence as one can see these are mere assumptions and are subject to other factors such as paper used, pen used, habits etc.
Like that there are 30 interpretation systems known to exist.

In graphology however certain techniques are used to individualize handwriting. Proof of individualization qualifies it as evidence. Hence forensic document examiners use 4 main aspects for identification:

1. Form – refers to the elements that comprise the shape of the letters, proportion, slant, angles, lines, retracing, connections, and curves

2. Line Quality – refers to the results from the type of writing instrument used, and the pressure exerted, along with the flow and continuity of the script

3. Arrangement – involves the spacing, alignment, formatting, and distinctive punctuation

4. Content – this is the spelling, phrasing, punctuation, and grammar
In some cases, aspects of the handwriting will be quite unique, which gives them a lot of weight for evidential value. If there are significant dissimilarities between an exemplar and a questioned document, then it's likely that there are two different authors, unless the differences can be accounted for.

Handwriting analysis and their reports are however useful for guiding the investigating officer as such reports concluded by reputed organizations like that of the International Graphoanalysis Society (IGAS) in Canada have a high reliability.

In forensic science we utilize graphology and its branches to examine questioned documents (QD’s). A "questioned" document is any signature, handwriting, typewriting, or other mark whose source or authenticity is in dispute or doubtful. Letters, checks, driver licenses, contracts, wills, voter registrations, passports, petitions, threatening letters, suicide notes, and lottery tickets are the most common questioned documents, although marks on doors, walls, windows, or boards would also be included by definition.

QDE, or Questioned Document Examination, has been a profession at least since 1870, and frequently is found in cases of forgery, counterfeiting, mail fraud, kidnapping, con games, embezzlement, gambling, organized crime, white collar crime, art crime, theft, robbery, arson, burglary, homicide, serial murder, psychological profiling, and deviant sex crime.

Today in India we mainly have cases of threats, kidnapping ransom letter, forgeries etc. Since the act of handwriting has been conclusively been proved to be an unconscious act it's therefore important that samples, exemplars, or specimens (all synonymous terms for documents of known origin) be obtained under conditions as similar as possible to the conditions present at the time the disputed, doubtful, or original (all synonymous terms for questioned documents) was created. These conditions are an essential part of what are called standards of comparison:

• Care must be taken to avoid samples which are deliberately written in a crude, unnatural way, or so well thought out as to disguise the writer's natural style

• A sufficient number of samples must be taken, several pages if necessary, over and over again, to establish multiple (more than one) comparisons of single characteristics or combinations of common and uncommon characteristics

• Samples should be taken within two or three years of the disputed writing in order to rule out changes in style that may have occurred over time or with age

• The sample should include some dictated text, words, or phrases contained in the original document (but under no circumstances should the writer be shown the questioned document)

• Pen and paper, as well as writing position, should consist of the same conditions that existed at the time the questioned document was written (if these facts are known)

• The subject ought not to be shown the questioned document

• The subject is not to be told how to spell certain words or use certain punctuation

• The subject should use materials similar to those of the document

• The dictated text should match some parts of the document

• The dictation should be repeated at least three times

• The subject should be asked to sign the text

• Make sure an objective witness observes the procedure

Often in the case of forgery of signatures the problem occurs when a study conducted concluded that people have in general 3 signatures: (1) a formal one, used on important documents; (2) a routine one, used on regular correspondence; and (3) an informal one, used for jotting quick notes.

Another problem that often occurs is the fact that influence of any drug as well alters mood states & therefore has a direct effect on the handwriting of the person. This makes identification troublesome as some aspects might remain constant but the handwriting overall would change.

Problems can also occur when the writing has been deliberately disguised, such as in threatening or taunting letters. However, the form may change, but the type of words used and the sources that have influenced phrasing remain the same.

Hence there are no clear-cut rules or formulas to follow, so expertise develops from years of exposure. Today there are many automated techniques for making an analysis, such as FISH, or the Forensic Information System for Handwriting, but there are cases in which careful and experienced interpretation is necessary.

The admissibility of handwriting as evidence is accepted only to individualize handwriting in the court of law. A graphologist in no case can make an interpretation on the personality or behavior of the writer. The personality analysis of a person is not admissible in court. Hence as said before, the personality analysis of a suspect can aid investigations but do not stand under the scrutiny of court.

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni. All Right Reserved

The Case of Kujau, who forged the handwriting of Hitler

Below is a case that exemplifies the use of science and Graphology to solve a Crime involving forgery by a crook, who earned big bucks thanks to his talent of copying handwriting, however with the use of graphology and science the case was solved.

A German publishing company, Gruner and Jahr, was persuaded in the early 1980s that a collection of 60 hand-written notebooks comprised the diaries of Adolph Hitler, and they paid a sum of $2.3 million for the lot. They also bought a heretofore undiscovered third volume of his two-volume book, Mein Kampf. The most shocking revelation found in all of this material was that Hitler seemed to have been oblivious to "the final solution" that was used to exterminate millions of people. Apparently he had wanted the Jews to be resettled in the East. That meant that history books would have to be dramatically revised.

The story was passed around that the papers had been taken out of Berlin toward the end of WWII on board an airplane that had crashed. They were found by farmers and eventually came into the hands of a Nazi document collector, Konrad Kujau, via an unnamed general in East Germany. Kujau had taken them to a journalist, Gerd Heidemann, who was on the staff of Stern, a newspaper owned by Gruner and Jahr. Then Stern quickly began serializing the diaries, and sold publication rights to Newsweek in America and to The London Times.

It was the owner of the Times, after having serious doubts, who insisted that tests be performed to establish the authenticity of the diaries, but the experts were divided.

There were samples of handwriting available that were known to be Hitler's, and three experts compared these with the documents. Max Frei-Sultzer was the former head of the forensic science department for the police in Zurich, Switzerland, and Ordway Hilton was a specialist in document verification. The third man worked with the German police. All of them agreed that all of the texts had been written by the same person, and that person's handwriting was the same as that in the comparison sample. Astonishingly enough, the Hitler diaries appeared to be authentic.
However, forensics tests on the paper and ink showed otherwise.



SAMPLE OF THE HANDWRITING OF HITLER

Paper is generally classified according to the materials in its composition. They differ according to additives, the presence or absence of watermarks, and the surface treatments used, such as heat or resins. Specialists can determine the date when a particular type of paper was introduced.

Modern ink can be one of four basic types:
1. Iron salts in a suspension of gallic acid, with dyes
2. Carbon particles suspended in gum Arabic
3. Synthetic dyes with a range of polymers and acids
4. Synthetic dyes or pigments in a range of solvents and additives

The ink under question is tested with microspectrophotometry to determine the absorption spectrum or thin-layer chromatography to reveal the exact composition, and is then compared to the data base of over 3,000 ink profiles at the U. S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

The West German police put the paper under ultraviolet light and found that it contained an additive that had only been put into paper since 1954. The threads attaching the seals contained material manufactured after the war, and the type of ink used had not been available at the time the diaries were purportedly written. Then a test was used on the ink that involved the evaporation of chloride, and this proved that the documents had been written within the past year.

In addition, an analysis of the contents revealed a host of historical inaccuracies, apparently overlooked in the magazine's attempt to keep the scoop a secret until publication. One distinguished historian of Hitler's regime, Hugh Trevor-Roper, had actually vouched for their authenticity.

That meant they were on the lookout for a forger and swindler.

Yet how were the handwriting experts fooled? They'd had an actual sample of Hitler's handwriting, and all three had confirmed the striking similarities.

They ought to have looked into Kujau's background. As a child he'd sold the forged autographs of famous politicians for pocket change. Later he manufactured so-called Nazi mementos, including an introduction to a sequel to Mein Kampf and poems by Adolph Hitler. As it turned out, the clever forger had actually managed to forge the sample that the experts had put out to display.

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni. All Right Reserved

Outsourcing

As my co- blogger- Prashant ( http://enigmaticpieces.blogspot.com/2008/12/outsourcing-way-of-life.html ) has aptly defined outsourcing as a way to maximaze output and optimize the use of available resources, however on reading so, my mind began thinking in a direction that would prove the trend of outsourcing not only a cup that would  not be sweet for all kinds of companies but also prove to be dangerous in these times of financial crisis such as these.

As the tides have changed with the oncoming financial crisis, outsourcing, earlier an asset can now prove to be a dangerous arm that can be servered if the crisis serves as a severing axe.

Many companies, especially large comapnies with a consequently large workforce tends to outsource certain activities that work out cheaper, such outsourcing costs are further reduced by giving contracts to companies that are SMB'S.  it is this factor that poses a threat in the economic situation of 2009.

Although outsourcing has many multi-faceted benefits, it at the same time has cons that can not be ignored, these are what I want to point out, and leading on from there it is important to assess whether or not outsourcing is suitable for companies in all different fields.

Firstly a heavy dependance on another firm for your outsourcing causes the parent company to be vulnerable, because if the outsourcing firm cuts on their activities, the parent firm will suffer, this factor is especially applicable to the present times where there is a chance of the company to go bankrupt and stop its services, and that may cause for an arm of the parent company to become immobile.

Secondly, outsourcing requires the control of the process being outsourced by transferred to the service provider. thus a company can loose control over its process. This is ofcourse applicable in companies that require a precedure to be followed, that is as important as the end result, and for companies that want direct and strict control over processes.

Thirdly, there is an indirect threat felt by the employees that can cause problems in output of individuals as they feel threatened by the outsourcing company.

Fourthly, a valid and important point is from the view of ethics, where a company that has many different outsourced units, will tend to take the services of the labour of the developing nations as opposed to their native nations. This is unfair and it also causes loss of employment opportunity in the home country. 

Although the third and fourth problems are manageable, it is the first two that one should be weary of and must take all precautions to plan ways to back up their productions units internally if required, or a large company may suffer.

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni . All Right Reserved

The Global Financial Crisis- 3

By Kanica Soni

India has strong basic fundamentals due to which India is still buffered from the financial crisis however, policy makers need to be very cautious when making the policies in order for the country to be able to remain buoyant during this time. This is positive view is seen in a below statement by a senior official of the IMF:

“India is likely to emerge unscathed from the financial crisis sweeping the globe, thanks to the structure of its economy, exports and financial markets.”

CAUSES OF THE FINANCIAL CRISIS for India and other nations

Concerned about the global repercussions of the financial crisis, on 30 October 2008, General Assembly President, Mr. Miguel d’Escoto ( Nicaragua ), invited a panel of experts to hold an interactive discussion with Member States on causes; below are important views on the same pointing to the causes of current financial crisis.

Professor Francois Houtart ; The G-77/China indicated that the crisis is unprecedented because the epicenter is the richest and strongest country in financial terms and this evidences the weakness of the current international financial architecture to prevent crises of these sorts. The Group highlighted the loss of public confidence not only in governments but also in institutions and noted that the crisis cannot be dealt with effectively within the current institutional framework– there is a gap that needs to be filled through comprehensive review and reform of a systemic nature.

Professor Prabaht Patnaik, Professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at India said that the cause of the problem was located in the fundamental defect of the free market system regarding its capacity to distinguish between “enterprise” and “speculation” and hence, in its tendency to become dominated by speculators, interested not in the long-term yield assets but only in the short-term appreciation in asset values.

Besides the above facts, it is important to look at other factors that fuel this crisis that I have listed down below:

1. The current institutional composition of the markets, the deregulated nature of those markets and the vast liquid assets in private hands have even placed limits on concerned action by national governments and this does not allow to anticipate stabilization.

2. The concept of globalization refers to the universalization of a certain model of market society, characterized as open and private, because of its hypothetic character (model) confers such condition to the same globalization.

So, although the fact that several countries have realized reforms to push liberalization, as well as opening and economic privatizations can be attested, we are not in the face of a society of open and private world market, where, for example, there is free movement of work, or where federal or state governments do not participate in the property of very different assets.

3. Even then fundamental problem is found in the swings of overconfidence that was seen in many countries since the 1990s, overconfidence shared by millions, billions, of people. And this confidence has been very strong until recently.

4. Speculation (in a financial context) is the assumption of the risk of loss, in return for the uncertain possibility of a reward. Where the respective speculators take a carelessly calculated risk.

FACTORS THAT KEEP INDIA BUFFERED FROM THE IMPACT OF THE CRISIS AND POINT TOWARDS STABILITY

1. Domestic demand in India is very very strong, where you still have investments that is growing very strongly.

2. Consumption, especially of durables, has come off a little bit as interest rate has increased from last year and are beginning to bite, Kochar said in a teleconference.

3. Investments, which overtook consumption as the key driver of economic growth in 2003-04, has increased 20 per cent from last year’s level.

4. At the India Economic Summit in New Delhi this week, Indian officials and corporate executives remained optimistic about the future of outsourcing.

5. Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of India's Planning Commission, predicted that India's economic growth for 2008-2009 will be between seven and nine percent. press release.

 

WHAT FACTORS CAN PROVE TO BE DANGEROUS

 

India is plugged into the world trading system but Indian exports have been diversified both in terms of goods and markets... On service exports... we don’t have a whole lot of strong evidence but we do believe that impact could go either way, Kochar noted.

To prevent such financial disasters in future Professor Francois Houtart, Professor Emeritus at Belgium ’s Catholic University of Louvain and founder of the Tricontinental Centre - noted the need for the transparency of financial instruments and institutions and stressed that managing them in a coordinated way at the national, regional and international level was crucial.

REF: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10792

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni . All Right Reserved

 

The Global Financial Crisis- 2

By Kanica Soni

India so far has put up a brave front to the global financial crisis that has hit our economy, where from the dawn of the technological advancements and globalization was pouring in new investments that fuelled a large economy to boost ahead, it is these very factors that have infact, as it seems metaphorically crippled us.

Looking at the global financial crisis from the perspective of a developing economy, it is hard to ignore the factors that has caused, the break-down of one large economy on many upcoming and growing ones.
In my last article(THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS- UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT AND LOOKING AHEAD) I spoke of how this happens, now I feel that it is important to dig deeper into why the recession has happened and we are unable to slow it down to turn the curve upward. one of the reasons as i explained in my last article is the fact that a problem at such a macro scale can not be resolved by measures taken by one country at a time. (like the issues arising due to the views of Angela Merkel, in the EU)

Besides this, it is important to look at the other factors that have caused this 'Boom' to turn into a 'Boo' so we can learn from them and not make the same mistakes again.
In my perspective it all started from the a simple human characteristic, that is infact causing alot other problems as well i.e. Greed!!

It is the urge to want more/ earn more on an essential commodity that people would pay for as it is a subsistence resource for a large part of many economies, as the Oil prices were increased, the world saw a drastic increase in the food prices (that use oil consuming machines for production and refinement) that in turn caused the food crisis early this year. Thus emerged the Food and Fuel Crisis.

In 2008, oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time, the first of many price milestones to be passed in the course of the year. In July, oil peaked at $147.30 a barrel.
Subsequently, the prices of many commodities, notably oil and food, got so high to cause genuine economic damage, threatening stagflation and a reversal of globalization, as first Egypt then Brazil (major exporters) curbed both production and stopped exports.

As prices soared, the crisis led to cash deficit (the credit available), and it is from this liquidity that investment banks multiplied the value of their capital, and therefore the investment banks began to suffer.
Gradually, as we see after investment banks, the automobile industry and luxury goods industry is suffering. The way is going to be long and hard but the world economies need to reverse the effects of large scale globalization to promote a sense of security in the consumers and the producers, simultaineously look at how to create jobs and continue to upkeep the cycle of

Income --- Expenditure --- Consumption--- 1. Investment 

                                                                                                                           --- 2. Production 

                                                              3. Consumption again --------- 


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Forensic Science- Introduction & An insight Into Forensic Psychology

By Kanica Soni

WHAT IS FORENSIC SCIENCE 

Forensic science is the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to answer questions of interest to the legal system in essence to produce evidence in controversial cases, this may be in relation to a crime or to a civil action. But besides its relevance to the underlying legal system, more generally forensics encompasses the accepted scholarly or scientific methodology and norms under which the facts regarding an event, or an artifact, or some other physical item (such as a corpse, or cadaver, for example) are to the broader notion of authentication whereby an interest outside of a legal form exists in determining whether an object is in fact what it purports to be, or is alleged as being.



The word “forensic” comes from the Latin adjective “forensis” meaning of or before the forum. During the time of the Romans, a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their side of the story. The individual with the best argument and delivery would determine the outcome of the case. Basically, the person with the sharpest forensic skills would win. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word "forensic" - as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation.
The major branch yet a generalized on is that of criminalistics it is the application of various sciences to answer questions relating to examination and comparison of biological evidence, trace evidence, impression evidence (such as fingerprints, footwear impressions, and tire tracks), controlled substances, ballistics, firearm and tool mark examination, and other evidence in criminal investigations. Typically, evidence is processed in a crime lab. Besides this there are more specialized fields under forensics like that of Entymology, Anthropology, Archeology, and others.
A very important factor in Forensics is that of the legal system of the respective companies. 

(Ref: Wikipedia)

THE UPCOMING FIELD OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS
Behind the Closed Doors of a Mind...



"Forensic Psychology - To not only know how "madmen" think but to step into their world, if only to bring it to a halt. "

The art of forensics also is in trying to know the core cause of crimes, and why they are at a higher rate in some places and why they are lower in other, a key in that is to find the cause of it in the first place. 

Looking at developing countries, people either steal because they are kleptomaniac for those who are well off, on the other hand, there are those who need the money for subsistence; the case is a little difference in the developed nations that even tend to provide for subsistence requirements for the unemployed; there the reason for the high rates of crime then become a part of the arena of forensic psychology. Although the evidence that this field of study provides is controversial and not admissible in some courts of law, it does in certain cases aids the investigation with certain types of information that tells the investigating officers the kind of person they are looking for. Infact, such profiling has often aided in getting a criminal behind bars, and after that gathering the evidence to prove the crimes is relatively simpler.

Hence as the world moves on the use of such abstract new fields of study often come to the aid of sciences such as this that help understanding the minds of those who are beyond stealing or killing for a logical purpose like self defense. The below phrase aptly describes how factors like raging hormones or an undiagnosed psychological disorder proceeds to manifest itself in the mind of an individual as it thrives:



"It was an urge. ... A strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people risks that normally, according to my little rules of operation, I wouldn't take because they could lead to arrest." —Edmund Kemper. 

Many a time if the cause of a series of murders committed may not be merely psychological, the reason may be the way a person deals with stress. 

The method of profiling as such may very well be debatable considering the fact that there is no particular method that is/ has been established universally. In studying various trends a psychologist can by studying past history and a variety of cases find the common causes to murders. In doing so presenting a motive to a court of law becomes easier to find, when they too are opening up to the possibilities of an innate psychological tendency that could be the cause of a person to act violently, other than the usual cause that was accepted i.e. a motive to act in that way like that of money or revenge.



In the present world I think the value of such evaluations and profiling done be forensic psychologists is becoming more and more essential especially with the rise of terrorism. Profiling a terrorist and finding a cause to the violence is essential in trying to eliminate it. Likewise this theory is applicable not only to terrorists, it is also applicable in mass murderers, further more an offshoot of the application of this theory is that in the case of serial murderers a prediction can be made as to when and how a criminal may strike for his/her next offence. This is a key that can save lives and help capture dangerous men/women that pose a threat to society.

Copyright © Kanica Soni 2008 owned by Kanica Soni . All Right Reserved