India After 20 Years

Draft January, 2007 INDIA’s GROWTH: PAST AND FUTURE by Shankar Acharya* * Honorary Professor and Member Board of Governors, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Paper for presentation at the Eighth Annual Global Development Conference of the Global Development Network, January 14-16, Beijing. 0 India’s Growth: Past and Future By Shankar Acharya1 This paper is divided into five sections. Section I briefly reviews India’s growth performance since 1950 and indicates a few salient features and turning points.Section II discusses some of the major drivers of India’s current growth momentum (which has averaged 8 percent in the last 3 years) and raised widespread expectations (at least, in India) that 8 percent plus growth has become the new norm for the Indian economy. Section III points to some of the risks and vulnerabilities that could stall the current dynamism if corrective action is not taken. Section IV appraises the co untry’s medium term growth prospects. The final section assesses some implications of India’s rise for the world economy. I Review of Growth Performance, (1950-2006)Table 1 summarizes India’s growth experience since the middle of the twentieth century. For the first thirty years, economic growth averaged a modest 3. 6 percent, with per capita growth of a meager 1. 4 percent per year. Those were the heydays of state-led, import-substituting industrialization, especially after the 1957 foreign exchange crisis and the heavy industrialization bias of the Second Five Year Plan (1956-61). While the strategy achieved some success in raising the level of resource mobilization and investment in the economy, it turned out to be hugely costly in terms of economic efficiency.The inefficiencies stemmed not just from the adoption of a statist, inward1 The author is Member, Board of Governors and Honorary Professor at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relat ions (ICRIER). He was Chief Economic Adviser to Government of India (1993-2000). This paper draws liberally on his recent paper, â€Å"India’s Growth: Past Performance and Future Prospects†, presented at the Tokyo Club Macro Economy Conference on â€Å"India and China Rising†, December 6-7, 2006, Tokyo. 1 ooking policy stance (at a time when world trade was expanding rapidly) but also from the extremely detailed, dysfunctional and corruption-breeding controls that were imposed on industry and trade (see, for example, the classic study by Bhagwati and Desai (1970)). Table 1: Growth of GDP and Major Sectors (% per year) Year 1951/521980/81 (1) 1981/821990/91 (2) 1992/931996/97 (3) 1997/982001/02 (4) 2002/032005/06 (5) 1992/932005/06 (6) 1981/822005/06 (7) Agriculture and Allied Industry 2. 5 3. 5 4. 7 2. 0 1. 9 3. 0 3. 0 5. 3 7. 1 7. 6 4. 4 8. 0 6. 6 6. 5 Services 4. 5 6. 7 7. 6 8. 2 8. 9 . 2 7. 4 GDP 3. 6 5. 6 6. 7 5. 5 7. 0 6. 4 5. 9 GDP per capita 1. 4 3. 4 4. 6 3. 6 5. 3 4. 4 3. 8 Source: CSO . Note: Industry includes Construction. At the same time, one should not forget that the GDP growth rate of 3. 6 percent was four times greater than the 0. 9 percent growth estimated for the previous half century of British colonial rule (Table 2). Moreover the growth was reasonably sustained, with no extended periods of decline. Nor were there inflationary bouts of the kind which racked many countries in Latin America. However, growth was far below potential and much less than he 7-8 percent rates being achieved in some countries of East Asia and Latin America. Worst of all, the proportion of the Indian population below a (minimalist) poverty line actually increased from 45 to 51 percent (Table 3). Table 2: Economic Growth: Pre -independence (% per year) Year 1900-46 1900-29 1930-46 GDP 0. 9 0. 9 0. 8 Population 0. 8 0. 5 1. 3 Per Capita GDP 0. 1 0. 4 -0. 5 Source: Sivasubramonian (2000) 2 Table 3: Percentage of People Below Poverty Line, 1951-52 t o 1999-00: Official Estimates Year Rural Urban All India 1951-52 47. 4 35. 5 45. 3 1977-78 3. 1 45. 2 51. 3 1983 45. 7 40. 8 44. 5 1993-94 37. 3 32. 4 36. 0 1999-2000 26. 8 24. 1 26. 1 Source: Planning Commission, Government of India G rowth accelerated significantly in the 1980s to 5. 6 percent, entailing a more than doubling of per capita growth to 3. 4 percent a year. This acceleration was due to a number of factors, including: the early efforts at industrial and trade liberalization and tax reform dur ing the 1980s, a step- up in public investment, better agricultural performance and an increasingly expansionist (almost profligate! ) fiscal policy.Fiscal controls weakened and deficits mounted and spilled over to the external sector, requiring growing recourse to external borrowing on commercial terms. Against a background of a low export/GDP ratio, rising trade and current account deficits and a deteriorating external debt profile, the 1990 Gulf War and consequent oil price spik e tipped India’s balance of payments into crisis in 1990/91. Although the policy reforms of the 1980s were modest in comparison to those undertaken in the ensuing decade, their productivity â€Å"bang for the buck† seems to have been high (see Table 4) 2 .Perhaps this 2 Several different factor productivity studies support this conclusion, including: Acharya-Ahluwalia Krishna-Patnaik (2003), Bosworth and Collins (2003) and Virmani (2004). 3 w as a case of modest improvements in a highly distorted policy environment yielding significant gains. Table 4: Growth of GDP, Total Factor Input and Total Factor Productivity (% per year) 1950/511966/67 3. 8 GDP 1967/68 – 1981/82– 1980/81 1990/91 3. 4 5. 3 1991/92 – 1999/2000 6. 5 Total Factor Input (TFI) 2. 4 2. 7 3. 3 3. 9 Total Factor Productivity (TFP) . 4 0. 7 2. 0 2. 6 Proportion of Growth Explained by TFP (%) 37. 6 20. 8 37. 7 39. 7 Source: Acharya, Ahluwalia, Krishna and Patnaik (2003). Note: For each sub-period, GDP, TFI and TFP are trend growth rates. The new Congress government of June 1991, with Manmohan Singh as finance minister, undertook emergency measures to restore external and domestic confidence in the economy and its management. 3 The rupee was devalued, the fiscal deficit was cut and special balance of payments financing mobilized from the IMF and the World Bank.Even more importantly, the government seized the opportunity offered by the crisis to launch an array of long overdue and wide-ranging economic reforms. They encompassed external sector liberalization, deregulation of industry, reforms of taxation and the financial sector and a more commercial approach to the public sector (see Table 5 for a summary of key reforms in 1991-93). 4 3 There has been a great deal written on India’s economic reforms and the consequent performance of the economy, including Acharya (2002a and 2004), Ahluwa lia (2002), Kelkar (2004), Kochhar et. l (2006), Panagariya ( 2004a and 2006) and Virmani (2004). There is a tendency to view the post-1991 economic performance as a single unified experience. I prefer the more nuanced and disaggregated view outlined here. 4 As I have pointed out elsewhere (Acharya, 2006a), these reforms are better characterized as â€Å"medium bang† than â€Å"gradualist† (as by Ahluwalia, 2002). 4 Table 5: Main Economic Reforms of 1991-93 Fiscal †¢ Reduction of the fiscal deficit. †¢ Launching of reform of major tax reforms. External Sector †¢ Devaluation and transition to a Market-determined Exchange Rate. Phased reduction of import licensing (qua ntitative restrictions). †¢ Phased reduction of peak custom duties. †¢ Policies to encourage direct and portfolio foreign investment. †¢ Monitoring and controls over external borrowing, especially short term. †¢ Build-up of foreign exchange reserves. †¢ Amendment of FERA to reduce restrictions on firms. Industry †¢ Virtual abolitio n of industrial licensing. †¢ Abolition of separate permission needed by â€Å"MRTP houses†. †¢ Sharp reduction of industries â€Å"reserved† for the public sector. †¢ Freer access to foreign technology.Agriculture †¢ More remunerative procurement prices for cereals. †¢ Reduction in protection to the manufacturing sector. Financial Sector †¢ Phasing in of Basle prudential norms. †¢ Reduction of reserve requirements for banks (CRR and SLR). †¢ Gradual freeing up of interest rates. †¢ Legislative empowerment of SEBI. †¢ Establishment of the National Stock Exchange. †¢ Abolition of government control over capital issues. Public Sector †¢ Disinvestment programme begun. †¢ Greater autonomy / accountability for public enterprises. 5The economy responded swiftly and positively to these reforms. After virtual stagnation in 1991/92, GDP growth surged in the next five years to clock a record 5-year average of 6. 7 percent. It is noteworthy that in this high growth Eighth Plan period all major sectors (agriculture, industry, services) grew noticeably faster than in the pre-crisis decade. The acceleration in the growth of agricultural value added is particularly interesting in the light of oft-repeated criticism that the economic reforms of the early nineties neglected the agricultural sector.The factors which explain this remarkable and broad-based growth surge in the period 1992-97 appear to include: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Productivity gains resulting from the deregulation of trade, industry and finance, especially in the sectors of industry and some services; The surge in export growth at about 20 percent per year (in dollar terms) for three successive years beginning 1993-94, attributable to the substantial devaluation in real effective terms in the early nineties and a freer policy regime for industry, foreign trade and payments;The investment boom of 1993- 96 which exerted expansionary effects on both supply and demand, especially in industry. The investment boom itself was probably driven by a combination of factors including the unleashing of ‘animal spirits’ by economic reforms, the swift loosening of the foreign exchange bottleneck, confidence in broadly consistent governmental policy signals and easier availability of investible funds (both through borrowing and new equity issues);The partial success in fiscal consolidation, which kept a check on government borrowings and facilitated expansion of aggregate savings and investments; Improvement in the terms of trade for agriculture resulting from a combination of higher procurement prices for important crops and reduction in trade protection for manufactures; Availability of capacity in key infrastructure sectors, notably power; A buoyant world economy which supported expansion of foreign trade and private capital inflows.The momentum of growth slowed noticeably in the Ninth Plan period, 1997-2002, to an average of 5. 5 percent, compared to the 6. 7 percent achieved in the previous five years. Among the factors which contributed to this deceleration were: the significant worsening of the fiscal deficits (mainly due to large public pay increases following the Fifth Pay Commission) and the associated decline in public savings, the slackening of economic reforms after 1995 as coalition governance became the norm, a significant slowdown in 6 gricultural growth for a variety of reasons, a marked downswing in the industrial cycle and an increasingly unsupportive international economic environment (including the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, rising energy prices and the global recession of 2001). Indeed, India’s economic growth in 1997-2002 might have been even weaker but for the unexpected and somewhat inexplicable strength of services sector growth, which clocked an average of 8. 2 percent, despite industrial growth of only 4. 4 percent. T he services sector accounted for almost 70 percent of all growth in this period. Economic reforms picked up pace in 2000-04, fiscal deficits trended down after 2002 and the world economy rebounded strongly in 2002-06. These factors supported a broadbased upswing in Indian industrial output and investment from the second half of 2002. Growth of industrial valued added surged to 8 percent in 2002-06. With continued strong growth of services (at nearly 9 percent), GDP growth climbed to average 7 percent, despite continued sluggishness of agriculture.In the three years, 2003-06 overall economic growth has averaged over 8 percent and the outlook for 2006/7 is equally bright. This latest economic surge has raised the interesting issue of whether India’s trend growth rate has accelerated to 8 percent (or higher) from its previous level of around 6 percent. The ensuing sections of this paper explore this question. II. Main drivers of Recent Economic Growth What are some of the main i ngredients of the recent surge in economic growth? I would suggest the following seven major elements: ) The momentum of a quarter of a century of strong economic growth; 2) A much more open economy (to external trade and investment); 3) A growing â€Å"middle class† fuelling domestic consumption; 4) The â€Å"demographic dividends† of a young population; 5 Acharya (2002a and 2003) noted this unusual phenomenon and raised questions about both the quality of the data and the durability of such sharply divergent growth rates of industry and services. More recently, similar doubts have been expressed by Bosworth-Collins -Virmani (2006). 7 5) Strong companies in a modernized capital market; 6) Some recent economic reforms. ) A supportive international economic environment. Let me elaborate briefly on each of these factors. The Momentum of Growth The last thirty years’ experience suggests that very few developing countries have sustained decent per capita growth for two decades or more (Acharya, 2006b). Specifically, out of 117 developing countries with population over half a million, only 12 countries achieved per capita growth of more than 3 percent per year in 1980-2002, with at least 2 percent growth in each decade of the eighties and nineties. These twelve countries were: China (8. 2), Vietnam (4. 6), South Korea (6. 1), Chile (3. ), Mauritius (4. 4), Malaysia (3. 4), India (3. 6), Thailand (4. 6), Bhutan (4. 3), Sri Lanka (3. 1), Botswana (4. 7) and Indonesia (3. 5). (The number falls to 9 if we specify a minimum population of 3 million). Nine of these 12 countries are in Asia and, fortunately, they include the three most populous: China, India and Indonesia. (See Table 6). If we take the full 25 years (1981-2006), India’s per capita growth has averaged 3. 8 percent or almost 4 percent per year. 8 Table 6: Good Growth Performers of Recent Decades Average Annual Per Capita Growth (%) Country 1980-2002 1990s 1980s Population in 2000 (Millions) 1. China . 2 8. 6 7. 7 1262 2. Vietnam 4. 6 5. 7 1. 9 78 3. South Korea 6. 1 5. 0 7. 4 47 4. Chile 3. 3 4. 3 2. 1 15 5. Mauritius 4. 4 4. 1 4. 9 1 6. Malaysia 3. 4 3. 7 3. 1 23 7. India 3. 6 3. 6 3. 6 1016 8. Thailand 4. 6 3. 4 6. 0 61 9. Bhutan 4. 3 3. 4 5. 4 1 10. Sri Lanka 3. 1 3. 1 3. 1 18 11. Botswana 4. 7 2. 7 7. 2 2 12. Indonesia 3. 5 2. 6 4. 4 206 Source: World Bank (2005) Sustained improvements in standards of living of this order embody their own growthreinforcing elements. People come to think more positively about the future and base their savings, investment and production decisions on an expectation of continued growth.Electorates in India’s democracy come to expect development and hold government performance to higher standards, despite disappointments. Companies think big when they invest. And so on. A More Open Economy The Indian economy in 2006 is far more open to external trade, investment and technology than it was fifteen years ago. 6 Table 7 p resents some key comparative 6 The story of India’s external liberalization may be found in several places, including Acharya (2002b) and Panagariya ( 2004b). 9 indicators. Peak import duties on manufactures have come down from over 200% to 12. 5%, a remarkable reduction by any standards.The regime of tight, detailed and discretionary import controls has been almost completely dismantled. The exchange rate was devalued and made market-responsive (1991-3). The policies towards foreign portfolio and direct investment have been greatly liberalized. As a result, the ratio of traded goods to GDP has more than doubled from less than 15 percent to nearly 33 percent. Because of the sustained boom in software exports and worker remittances, the ratio of current receipts (goods exports plus gross invisibles) has more than tripled from 8 percent to over 24 percent of GDP.Foreign investment has risen from negligible levels to US $ 20 billion in 2005/6. Table 7: Towards A More Open Econom y 1990/91 2005/06 200% plus 12. 5% Tight, detailed Almost gone Trade (goods) / GDP Ratio (%) 14. 6 32. 7 Current Receipts / GDP (%) 8. 0 24. 5 Software Exports ($ billion) Nil 23. 6 Worker Remittances ($ billion) 2. 1 24. 6 Foreign Investment ($ billion) Negligible 20. 2 2. 2 145. 1 35. 3 10. 2 Peak Import Duties (manufacturers) I mport Controls Foreign Currency Reserves ($ billion, March 31) Debt Service Ratio (%) Source: RBI, Annual Report, 2005 /06, except for first two rows.After initial periods of sometimes painful adjustment in the 1990s, Indian industry has thrived in the more open and competitive environment. The explosion in software ITenabled service exports is well-known, having risen from nil in 1991 to $ 24 billion in 2005/6. Anecdotal evidence suggests that small-scale units have benefited greatly from 10 the much freer access to traded raw materials, components and designs. Perhaps most important, the old mindset of â€Å"foreign exchange scarcity† (and the wel ter of bad economic policies it spawned) has been effectively banished.Interestingly, the â€Å"opening up† has also strengthened the prudential yardsticks of foreign exchange reserves and debt service ratios. Rise of strong companies in a modernized capital market The 1990s ushered in far-reaching reforms in India’s capital markets. The Securities and Exchange Board of India was statutorily empowered in 1992 and quickly moved to improve standards of disclosure and transparency. The new electronic-tradebased National Stock Exchange was established in 1993 and set high technical and governance standards, which soon had to be emulated by the much older (and, sometimes scam-hit) Bombay Stock Exchange.Depositories legislation was enacted and soon paperless trading became the norm. Brokers were encouraged to corporatize. Futures markets were nurtured. These and other reforms transformed Indian capital markets into one of the best in the developing world. The combination of a modernizing capital market, an increasingly liberal and competitive environment for investment, trade and production, a wealth of entrepreneurial talent and sustained economic growth has helped the rise of strong new companies and supported the expansion of the more agile and aggressive among the established firms.By way of example, Airtel, the leading private telecom, went from nothing to a multi-billion dollar company in a decade. The same was true for the leading domestic airline, Jet and the IT icons like Infosys, Wipro, TCSand HCL. Old pharma companies, like Ranbaxy, transformed themselves. New media companies like Zee and NDTV bloomed. Established corporates houses restructured and flourished (such as some Tata companies, Reliance, Bajaj, Mahindra and Hero Honda) or saw their market shares decline.In recent years quite a few Indian companies have expanded through overseas investments and acquisitions, facilitated by direct investments abroad averaging $1. 5 to $ 2 billion in the past five years. The recent bid for Corus by Tata Steel is a well-publicized example. 11 Aggregate financial data also point to the strength and expansion of India’s corporate sector in recent years. The market capitalization of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange rose nearly 14-fold from $ 50 billion in 1990/91 to $ 680 billion in 2005/6 (Table 8).In the last five years, the growth of profits has outpaced the growth of sales of private corporates, indicating rising profit margins. With falling interest rates and growing recourse to internal funding, the share of interest outgo in gross profits dropped sharply from above 50 percent in the late 1990s to 15 percent in 2005/6 (Reserve Bank, 2006, Box 1. 7). Unsurprisingly, data for the top 1000 listed companies showed net profits as percent of net sales rising from 4. 5 % in 2001/2 to 8. 9 % in 2004/5 (Business Standard, 2006). Table 8: Rising Middle Class 1990/91 Cars + UVs sold # Two Wheelers sold #Telephone [em ail  protected] (million) 15 million 100 million $50 billion $680 billion 205 thousand People in households with income (Rs. 2,00,000 – 10,00,000 OR PPP $20,000- $1,00,000 approximately)a Bombay Stock Exchange Market Capitalisation* 2005/06 1319 thousand 1800 thousand 7570 thousand 5 125$ a Based on data from NCAER (2005) * RBI, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, 2005-06 # Business Beacon, CMIE and Monthly Review of the Indian Economy, CMIE, October 2006 @ Business Beacon CMIE and Economic Survey, 2005-06 $ December 2005 A Growing Middle Class In the mid-1990s, shortly after the major economic reforms of 1991-4, there as premature exuberance about India’s rising middle class and their acquisitive aspirations. Today there is a much firmer basis for emphasizing the importance of the growing middle class in transforming consumption, production and investment in the Indian economy. Table 8 provides a few indicators. Based on surveys by the NCAER, about 100 mil lion people now live in households with annual incomes between Rs. 200,000 and Rs 1 12 million (approximately PPP$ 20,000 to 100,000), compared to about 15 million in 1990/91. With a lower defining threshold, the size of the middle class would be greater.For example, if the middle class cut-off is defined as the â€Å"non-poor† by standards of developed economies, then Bhalla (2007) estimates that 34 percent of India ’s population was â€Å"middle class† in 2005 compared to about 10 percent in 1990. Purchases of iconic middle class consumption items have certainly soared in the last 15 years (Table 8). Annual sales of cars (including multi- utility vehicles) have risen more than six times to 1. 3 million in 2005/6. Two wheeler sales have increased mo re than four times to 7. 6 million in 2005/6. In 1990/91 India had just 5 million telephone connections (all fixed).By the end of 2005 the number was 125 million (about two-thirds were mobile connections). Indeed, i n October 2006 the new mobile connections were close to 7 million, more than the total of phone connections fifteen years ago! The Demographic Dividend It has become commonplace to emphasize the growth potential of India’s young population and declining dependency ratio. According to most population projections the share of working age population in total population will continue to rise for the next 30 years or so, long after the decline has set in other major countries like China, USA, Western Europe and Japan (Table 9).These demographics point to a large potential for higher growth through augmented supply of labour and savings. Indeed, these trends have already been at work over the 15 years or so, helping to raise India’s household savings from around 15-16 percent of GDP in the late 1980s to 22-24 percent in recent years. 7 7 This could be an important part of the explanation to the puzzle: How does India sustain high growth despite aggregate fiscal deficits abov e 7 percent of GDP over the last twenty years? 13 Table 9: Share of Working Population (15-59 yrs) Country 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 India 55. 5 54. 0 58. 9 64. 3 59. 7 China 59. 53. 6 65. 0 62. 1 53. 8 Japan 56. 9 64. 0 62. 1 52. 8 45. 2 US 60. 5 60. 0 62. 1 56. 6 54. 6 Western Europe 61. 7 58. 1 61. 3 54. 8 50. 4 Source: http://www. un. org/esa/population/publications/worldageing19502050/countriesorareas. htm Some Recent Policies As noted above economic reforms slowed after 1995 and then revived to some extent in the period 2000-04. Also, real interest rates declined worldwide and in India too. In India this may have been helped by renewed efforts to reduce burgeoning fiscal deficits, including through enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (2003) at the central level.The fiscal position of the States also improved from the dire straits plumbed following the Fifth Pay Commission. The states too adopted fiscal responsibility laws following the recommendatio ns (and conditional debt write-offs) of the Twelfth Finance Commission (Government of India, 2004). Furthermore, tax revenues at both levels of government were buoyed by resurgent economic (especially industrial) growth after 2002/3. The net result was a decline in the gross fiscal deficit from almost 10 percent of GDP in 2001/2 to 7. percent in 2004/5 and an even larger decline in the revenue deficit from 7 to 3. 7 percent of GDP (Table 10). This was the single most important factor explaining the increase in aggregate savings from around 24 percent of GDP in 2001/2 to 29 percent in 2004/5, which, in turn, helped finance the current investment boom. 14 Table 10: Deficits, Savings and Investment (as % of GDP) Year 1995-96 Gross Fiscal Deficit 2001-02 2004-05 6. 5 9. 9 7. 5 3. 2 7. 0 3. 7 25. 1 (-2. 0) 26. 9 23. 6 (-6. 0) 23. 0 29. 1 (-2. 7) 30. 1 (Centre and States) Revenue Deficit (Centre and States)Gross Domestic Savings (of which Government) Gross Domestic Investment Source: RBI, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy, 2005-06 and CSO website †¢ †¢ (http://mospi. nic. in/mospi_cso_rept_pubn. htm ) (http://mospi. nic. in/mospi_press_releases. htm ) International Economic Environment Despite the war in Iraq and the high oil prices of recent years the world economy has grown at almost 5 percent over the last four years, propelled by strong growth in US and China and some recovery in Japan and Europe. World trade in goods and services has expanded rapidly.This favorable environment has helped rapid growth of exports (of goods and services) from India, which, in turn, has been a significant driver of economic growth in this recent period. 8 III Risks to Future Strong Growth There are some well-known risks or constraints to the sustenance of the 8 percent growth enjoyed by India since 2003. These include: 1) Renewed fiscal stress from populist policies; 8 Panagariya (2006) emphasizes this point. 15 2) Infrastructure bottlenecks; 3) Labour market r igidities; 4) Weak performance of agriculture; 5) Pace of economic reforms; ) Weaknesses in human resource development programmes; 7) The international economic environment. Each of these merit brief elaboration. Populism and Renewed Fiscal Stress The recent progress in fiscal consolidation, noted above, is real but modest. The overall fiscal deficit remains high at 7. 5 percent of GDP in 2005/6, as does the government debt to GDP ratio at 80 percent (compared to about 60 percent in 1995/6). While the fiscal responsibility laws enacted by central and state governments (22 out of 28 states have passed such laws so far) are promising, they are not immune to populist pressures.Especially since the advent of the UPA government in 2004, populist expenditure programmes, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, have gained fresh momentum. The Sixth Pay Commission has been constituted and is expected to submit its report by mid-2008, with governmental action likely before the next general election. The possibility of significant public pay increases is obviously high. On the revenue side, the state level VATs have contributed to revenue buoyancy. But the recent scheme for Special Economic Zones is fraught with unduly generous tax concessions.So the prospects for fiscal consolidation are mixed, at best. Infrastructure Bottlenecks India’s infrastructure problems are legendary and also reflect failures in public sector performance and governance. A recent appraisal (World Bank, 2006) points out that â€Å"the average manufacturer loses 8. 4 percent in sales annua lly on account of power 16 outages†, over 60 percent of Indian manufacturing firms own generator sets (compared to 27 percent in China and 17 percent in Brazil) and India’s combined real cost of power is almost 40 percent higher than China’s. The quantity and quality of roads is also a serious bottleneck.While there has been some progress in recent years with national h ighway development, the state and rural road networks are woefully inadequate, especially in poorer states (Figure 1). Urban infrastructure (especially water and sewerage) is another major constraint for rapid industrial development and urbanization (Figure 2). The successful example of rapid telecom development is very promising. But unlike telecom, the sectors of power, roads and urban infrastructure are burdened by long histories of a subsidy culture and dual (centre and states) constitutional responsibilities.Unless the various infrastructure constraints are addressed swiftly and effectively, it is difficult to see how 8 percent (or higher) economic growth can be sustained. Fig 1:Percentage of habitations not connected by roads, by Indian state Haryana Kerala Andhra Pradesh Punjab 0% 3% 4% 7% Karnataka 8% Tamil Nadu 8% Maharashtra Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Rajasthan 12% 23% 43% 51% Bihar 58% Orissa 58% Jharkhand Madhya Pradesh West Bengal 59% 62% 69% Chattisgarh 82% Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, as cited in World Bank (2006). 17 Fig 2: Percentage of the population with access to sewerage facilities, by Indian stateRajasthan 8 Orissa 9 Chattisgarh 10 Madhya Pradesh 10 Andhra Pradesh 15 West Bengal 17 Tamil Nadu 29 Karnataka 33 Uttar Pradesh 37 Uttaranchal 37 Maharashtra 49 Gujarat 63 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Source: Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization, 2000, as cited in World Bank (2006). Labour Market Rigidities According to official data, India’s non-agricultural employment in the private organized (units employing more than 10 workers) sector has stagnated below 9 million for over 20 years, although the labour force has grown to exceed 400 million!A major cause has been India’s complex and rigid labour laws, which hugely discourage fresh employment while protecting those with organized sector jobs. 9 Investment climate surveys by the World Bank indicate that India has some of the most res trictive labour laws in the world, which, in effect convert labour (in organized units) into a fixed factor of production (lay-offs are extremely difficult) and thereby discourage fresh employment in the organized sector while promoting more â€Å"casualization† and insecurity among the 9The skill and capital-intensive pattern of development of India’s modern industrial and services sectors (despite the endowment of abundant unskilled labour) has been noted by many analysts, including Kochhar et. al. (2006), Panagariya (2006) and World Bank (2006). All of them point to restrictive labour laws as a major culprit. 18 93 percent of workers in the unorganized sector. The laws are not just rigid but also numerous (â€Å"a typical firm in Maharashtra has to deal with 28 different acts pertaining to labor†, World Bank, 2006).Without significant reform of existing labour laws, India’s cheap labour advantages remain hugely underutilized. Looking to the future, the challenge will increase as the â€Å"demographic dividend† brings further large increases in the labour force. In fact, as I have pointed out elsewhere (Acharya, 2004), the economic and political challenge is far greater than normally appreciated because the bulk of the demographic bulge will occur (in the next few decades) in the poor, slow-growing and populous states of central and eastern India (notably, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh).Weak Agricultural Performance Since 1996/97 the growth of agriculture has dropped to barely 2 percent, compared to earlier trend rate ranging between 2. 5- 3. 0 percent. The reasons are many and include declining public investment by cash-strapped states, grossly inadequate maintenance of irrigation assets, f lling water tables, inadequate rural road networks, a unresponsive research and extension services, soil damage from excessive urea use (encouraged by high subsidies), weak credit delivery and a distorted incentive str ucture which impedes diversification away from food grains.Tackling these problems and revitalising agriculture will take time, money, understanding and political will. It will also require much greater investments in (and maintenance of) rural infrastructure of irrigation, roads, soil conservation, etc. and reinvigoration of the present systems of agricultural research and extension. While the central government can play a significant role in revamping systems, the main responsibility for strengthening rural infrastructure lies with the states. However, their financial and administrative capabilities have weakened over time. The share of agriculture in GDP has declined to hardly 20 percent.But agriculture is still the principal occupation of nearly 60 percent of the labour force. Thus better performance of this sector is essential for poverty alleviation and containment of rising regional and income inequalities. 19 Pace of Economic Reforms There is little doubt that economic refor ms have slowed since the UPA government assumed office in May 2004 10 . The privatization programme has been halted, although Government remains the dominant owner in banking, energy and transport and the usual ills of public ownership afflict the performance of many enterprises in these key sectors.The legislative proposals of the previous government to reduce government ownership in public sector banks to 33 percent have lapsed and not been renewed. There has been some revival of interest rate controls and directed credit. Follow-up action on the reformist new Electricity Act (2003) passed by the NDA government has been slow. The pricing of petroleum products has become more politically administered than before. Education policy has focused on introducing caste-based reservations in institutions of higher education. Introduction of such reservations in private sector employment are also being considered.Reform of labour laws remains stalled. There has been little forward progress in reform of agriculture policies. Indeed, the wonder is that the economy’s growth momentum has remained so strong despite the stalling of economic reforms. If the growth dividends of econo mic reforms occur with a lag, then the paucity of reforms in the period 2004-06 may take their toll in the years ahead. Weak Human Resource Policies The long-run performance of the Indian economy must surely depend on successful policies and programmes f r education, skill-development and health service o rovision. Yet the government- led programmes in these sectors suffer from very serious weaknesses and lack of reform impetus. For example, World Bank (2006) cites a number of surveys which show that less than half of government teachers and health workers are actually to be found in schools and clinics they are serving (the situation is typically worse in poorer states) . Even though school enrolment rates have climbed over time, the actual cognitive skill acquired in schools (even simple reading and arithmetic) is still very 10 For a recent review see Acharya (2006c). 0 low (Pratham, 2006). In health, a survey shows that medics in primary health clinics in Delhi had a greater than 50 percent chance of prescribing a harmful therapy for specified, common ailments (Das and Hammer, 2004a and 2004b). The competence of these medics was found to be less than comparably situated counterparts in Tanzania and substantially worse than counterparts in Indonesia. Even in higher education, an area of supposed competence, studies point to enormous problems of quality, quantity and relevance (see, for example, Aggarwal, 2006).Quite clearly, the current portfolio of policies and programmes in these critical sectors need urgent improvement if India is to retain her competitive edge in an increasingly globalized, knowledge-based, world economy. International Economic Environment The latter half of 2006 has witnessed a distinct slowing in the growth of the US economy, still the single most potent locomotive of global growth. The Doha Round of multilateral trade liberalization remains mired in limbo. Oil prices, though off their peaks, remain high with little prospect of falling below $50 a barrel.The chances of some slackening in the growth of world output and trade are clearly rising. Just as the Indian economy has benefited from strong global expansion in the last four years, so it may expect to bear some downside risks from slower world growth in the years ahead. IV Medium Term Growth Prospects Since 2003/4 there have been quite a few studies projecting sustained, high growth of the Indian economy in the long-run, including the Goldman Sachs â€Å"BRICs† report (Wilson-Purushothaman, 2003), Rodrik-Subramanian (2004) and Kelkar (2004).Their specific projections and time-periods differ: Goldman Sachs foresaw near 6 percent growth for 50 years; Rodrik-Subramanian projected a minimum of 7 percent for the next 20 years and Kelkar was even more optimistic wi th his growth expectation of 10 percent. 11 More recently, with a three-year 8 percent average already achieved and the 11 See Acharya (2004) for a critical assessment of these bullish growth expectations. 21 current year likely to register a similar rate, the Government’s Planning Commission (2006) has outlined GDP growth projections for 2007/8-2011/12 of 8 to 9 percent.Bhalla (2007, forthcoming) goes further and foresees 10 percent growth as almost inevitable. Most probably, the majority of serious economists in India would today expect economic growth in the medium term (say, 2007-12) to average at least 8 percent. Such optimism is not wholly misplaced. It is based on the continuing strength of the positive factors outlined in section II above, especially globalization and â€Å"catch-up†, the demographic dividends, the rising middle class, a vibrant entrepreneurial culture, positive expectations of future economic reforms and a generally benign international econom ic environment.The optimists are not blind to the risks and threats outlined in section III. They simply expect the growth-enhancing tendencies to prevail or, more subtly, for the dynamics of growth to generate solutions to constraints such as infrastructure and education. Figure 3 provides encouragement to the bullish outlook. 22 Figure 3: India's GDP Growth 8 7 Percentage 6 5 4 3 2 1 2006-07 2003-04 2000-01 1997-98 1994-95 1991-92 1988-89 1985-86 1982-83 1979-80 1976-77 1973-74 1970-71 1967-68 1964-65 1961-62 1958-59 1955-56 0 Year Rolling Average (5 year)In my view, the downside factors outlined in section III, should carry more weight in assessing India’s medium term growth prospects. There is a good chance that the currently bullish view of growth expectations is overly influenced by the recent past (2003 onwards), a period of strong cyclical upswing in both the global economy and Indian industry. The strength of the cycle could abate in the next couple of years and Indi a’s growth could revert to a trend rate in the range of 6 to 7 percent, perhaps closer to the higher figure.Even then, under this â€Å"pessimistic† scenario, annual per capita growth would be at a historical peak for India (Table 11). If this is â€Å"pessimism†, then I plead guilty to the charge (though it does place me among a small minority of Indian economists today)! 23 Table 11: Medium Term Growth Expectations 1992/3 –2005/6 2002/3 -2006/7 2007/8 – 2011 /12 â€Å"Optimist† â€Å"Pessimist† GDP % 6. 4 7. 2 * 8 – 10 6. 5 – 7. 0 GDP per capita (%) 4. 4 5. 5 6. 5 – 8. 5 5 – 5. 5 * Assuming Reserve Bank projection of 8. percent GDP growth for 2006/7 Perhaps the most noteworthy point is that medium- term growth expectations for India are so buoyant that the range between optimists and pessimists is placed so high, within a fairly narrow band of about 7 to 9 percent. Only time will tell who is closer to bei ng right. V Some Implications of India’s Rise India’s growth at an average rate of almost 6 percent a year over the past quarter of a century (with per capita growth of nearly 4 percent a year) is both remarkable and commendable.Certainly, back in 1980, there was almost no respectable scholar or institution predicting such sustained development of this poverty-ridden, populous country. At the same time, the prevailing fashion of bracketing India’s rise with China’s exceptionally dynamic development under rubrics like â€Å"China and India Rising† may mask more than it reveals. If India’s development in the last 25 years has been good, China’s has been extraordinary. Furthermore, while India has been a gradual â€Å"globalizer†, China’s surging development has been far more intensively based on global trade and capital flows.As a consequence, the global economic impact of China’s rise has been much more dramatic in terms of the usual metrics of international economic relations: trade, capital flows and energy. A glance at Table 12 illustrates this obvious point. The comparison of columns 5 and 6 of the table is especially instructive. It highlights both the 24 dramatic increase in China’s engagement with the world economy over the five years 2000 to 2005, as well as the much milder rise in Ind ia’s international economic integration. For example, China’s goods exports increased by an amount which was five times the level of India’s total goods exports in 2005.Similarly, the increase in oil consumption in China was almost equal to India’s total oil consumption in 2005. Table12: China and India: Global Impact China India Increment (2000-05) 2000 (1) 2005 (2) 2000 (3) 2005 (4) China (5) India (6) 249. 1 762. 4 45. 5* 104. 7* 513. 3 59. 2 Share of World Exports (%)e 3. 9 7. 3 0. 7 0. 9 3. 4 0. 2 Service Exports ($ billion) a,b 30. 4 74. 4 16. 2* 60. 6* 44 44. 4 Current Account Balance ($ billion) a,b 20. 5 160. 8 -2. 7* -10. 6* 140. 3 -7. 6 Foreign Exchange Reserves ($ billion) a 165. 6 818. 9 37. 2 131. 0 653. 3 93. 8FDI inflow ($ billion)c 30. 1# 72. 4 1. 7# 6. 6 42. 3 4. 9 FDI stock (Inward, $ billion) c 193. 3 317. 9 17. 5 45. 3 124. 6 27. 8 Oil Consumption (million tonnes)d 223. 6 327. 3 106. 1 115. 7 103. 7 9. 6 Primary Energy Consumption (million tonnes oil equivalent) d 966. 7 1554. 0 320. 4 387. 3 587. 3 66. 9 Merchandise Exports ($ billion) a,b Note: * Data for India refer to fiscal year 2000-01 and 2005-06 # 1990-2000 (Annual Average) Sources: a International Financial Statistics, December 2006 (http://ifs. apdi. net/imf/) b RBI, Handbook of Statistics on the Indian

JG-TAG

From teaching prospective natural language processing is superior due in large part to the â€Å"domain of locality â€Å"in this theory. Also it provides a brilliant framework to represent different verb classes using tag trees. TAG has always excelled in providing context sensitivity to a basic rule system and a lexicalized JG grammar implementation would allow JG structures that have previously been represented programmatically to be described in a more easily visualized and maintainable data structure format. The verb class JG-TAG trees would also simplify the lexical rules by attaching them to specific verbs and allowing them to be limited to the context of a specific verb. One of the exercises in creating such a system would involve the format of lexical rules that would be attached to the JG-TAG trees. Each JG-like rule in the tree specifies left-to-right, right-to-left or discontinuous ordering. Recall that the JG approach involves in-situ wh-elements and a specific traversal order without creating target nodes for movement. Thus the algorithm for deciding traversal would reflect, but not implement, movement. The documentation and implementation papers for the JG ordering algorithms and transfer language used in an early machine translation project could be a good starting point for a JG-TAG system (Melby 1974, Gessel 1975). Another challenge would be matching and using features attached to JG nodes with the TAG feature capabilities. TAG unification features that prevent more than one tense-bearing verb to be attached usually would be implemented by JG lexical agreement rules. However, the feature unification approach from TAG provides a straightforward manner to keep track of main and auxiliary verbs and their inflections as a sentence is created from the tree. Mandatory, optional and null adjunction constraints allow the relationships between the various TAG tree sets to be carefully defined, linked together and maintained. Expert rule systems generally need these kinds of constraints in order to assure tractable development and maintenance. These same capabilities would be very advantageous to link together JG tree fragments that would define a working grammar for a particular language. The power of the MC-TAG trees that encapsulate semantic relationships would then output not just a surface ordered derived tree but an order-independent syntax/semantics representation less dependent on th derivation tree for semantic relationships. The JG trees are not at as low a semantic level as the derivation tree but provide structure related to the original utterance (e.g. active vs. passive) and are very rich in specific syntax and semantic relationships (e.g. themes and verb classes with thematic roles (Millett, 1975)) between the concepts of the utterance. Comparative and quantifier structures have a particularly rich semantic structure in JG (Lytle 1985) and a JG-TAG system could facilitate comparison of the capabilities of a JG-based text-understanding application to other standard approaches. A JG-TAG system could also provide a standardized application and coding framework for using Junction Grammar. Conclusions As TAG formalisms have been applied to natural languages, their advantages over context-free phrase structure rules have become more apparent. Many useful re- finements to the basic TAG formalism have supported a wide variety of structures. Meanwhile JG embodies rather different assumptions than do traditional theories: a separation of linguistic data via conceptual and articulation trees, junction operators on non-terminal nodes, multiple-linked tree structures, and flexible traversal of lexical rules. The appreciable overlap of approaches with TAG and JG has prompted this discussion on combining the benefits of both theoretical systems to represent and process Junction Grammar trees. The advantages of the mildly context sensitive lexical JG-TAG system proposed in this paper can expand the domain of locality for JG trees, simplify lexical rules by attaching them to supertag class trees and draw on the extensive NLP experience using TAG based systems to benefit JG. TAG could likely also benefit from junctions, ordering, and multiple tree enhancements from Junction Grammar.

Ancient greek architecture

The foundation of the temple was measured over 350 by 180 feet [about 110 by 55 meters] in size; probably one of the largest temples built in the ancient times. Temple of Artemisia was built around 323 BC in Usually, Turkey. The city was once called Ephesus. The whole temple was built as a dedication to the Greek Goddess Artemisia. When discussing about Greek Architecture, the most distinctive element is the classical orders. Columns in Ancient Greek period were used externally and internally.Nowadays, Orders are still used in shared public places such as churches, universities, court buildings, museums, etc. Other elements such as: buildings on platform, peripheral columns, pediment, are equally important in Greek Style. First Church of Christ, Scientist Pasadena is located at 80 Oakland Street, Pasadena CA 91101. It is considered as one of the Historic church buildings in Pasadena. The construction of the building started in the year of 1907 and finished in 1909. The fascinating bu ilding was designed by architects Marathons and Van Pelt.When First Church of Christ had Just finished with the construction, it was the largest and greatest building in Pasadena. The Building was equipped with fireproof materials ND made earthquake resistant. The 100-year-old building is very significant as it is part of the Pasadena Playhouse Historic district, a non-profit organization designed to preserve Pasadena historical and also buildings with advanced architecture. The First Church of Christ Scientist is also similar to Temple of Artemisia in many ways. Firstly, the Ionic colonnades that characterize a typical Greek Architecture.Six Ionic columns border the entrance door of First Church of Christ. The two scrolls on the capital of the columns really signify Ionic Columns of Temple of Artemisia. Moreover the First Church of Christ scientist imitates the look of pediment (triangular-shaped roof) of Temple of Artemisia. The two pediments are peaked cap pediments, in which the pediment forms a perfect triangular shaped and does not have broken tip. Additionally, The pediment of Temple of Artemisia is highly decorated with sculptures, whereas the pediment of The First Church of Christ Scientist is plain.The First Church of Christ Scientist is freestanding, with columns only on the front side. The building itself stands on top of a high platform and has only one staircase eating to the entrance. This is different from Temple of Artemisia, which has stairs on every side, and has ionic columns running all around the building. Dentals are not very detailed in the untreatable of First Church of Christ Scientist; unlike the untreatable of Temple of Artemisia with its complex and detailed decorations.The pediment of Temple of Artemisia is decorated with a sculpture, which pictures great military in Ephesus. In terms of function, both Temple of Artemisia and the First Church of Christ Scientist hold the same purpose, which is sacred place to worship and pray. Tem ple of Artemisia was dedicated for the Greek Goddess Artemisia and is a place where people do rituals and pray to Goddess Artemisia. While First Church of Christ Scientist functions as a Christian Church, specifically for the practice of Christian Science; where people gather together every Sunday to pray to Jesus Christ.Additionally, if we're talking about the materials used for the construction process, The two buildings use different materials and apply different construction method. Temple of Artemisia was fully made out of marble, a strong, very precious stone that is high in maintenance but less durable. At that time of construction, Marble was probably the most efficient and advanced material for the construction of the temple. Concrete was not invented by then. Workers had to drag white marble stones and carve it into sculptures manually. It took almost 12 decades to build the temple.While everything was done manually at the time Temple of Artemisia was constructed, the Firs t Church of Christ Scientist was built in a more advance way. Concrete, the strongest and most durable material was already invented and spread across America. The First Church of Christ Scientist was built in concrete and painted in white. These days, with the help of technology such as: laser cut, laser paint, bulldozer, etc, the construction can be done faster. The construction process was done in two years time. The Journey from Temple of Artemisia to the First Church of Christ Scientist takes almost 20 centuries.The First Church of Christ Scientist has the combination and mixture of other styles as well. Dome structure lies at the back of the main building, consisting some elements of Roman architecture as it imitates the Pantheon of Rome. The next building would be Ambassador auditorium, a small auditorium built by the Worldwide Church of God to be used as one of its branch. It is located at 131 S SST John Eve, Pasadena (CA 91105). The building is famous for its magnificent an d unique design and is often called by its nickname † The Carnegie Hall of the West†.Ambassador auditorium does not only function for center of worship but also functions as a concert hall for various kind of public performances. From soloist to small ensemble, even symphony concerts have taken place in Ambassador auditorium. The capacity of the hall is approximately for 1262 people. The simple, yet sophisticated design of the building is the work of an architectural rim in Los Angels, with the supervisions of Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Maidenhead. They chose the building to be minimalist style as it is efficient and cost friendly.The construction process was carried out by the William Simpson Construction Company of Los Angels. It took 12 years to design the concept and 2 years to finish the construction. The interior designer is Robert Smith. The Ambassador Auditorium was officially opened on April 7, 1974. When observing the design of Ambassador Auditorium, there are a few elements of the building that are taken from Ancient Greek Architecture. The most distinctive element is peripheral columns running around the rectangular-shaped building.Each column of Ambassador Auditorium is 72 foot in height, with 8 flutes on each shaft. Six identical columns lies on the front and backside, and nine columns lies on left and right sides. This is similar to the arrangement of colonnades in Temple of Artemisia. The temple has two series of eight Ionic colonnades each for the front and back of the building, while the sides were supported by two rows of seventeen (Ionic) columns each. Both buildings are surrounded by colonnades, regardless of the sensing. Despite the similarities, there are also so many elements that differentiate them.Firstly, materials used for the construction of Ambassador Auditorium are different than Temple of Artemisia because most part of Ambassador Auditorium is covered in glass. Glass was chosen to let more lights to enter the building , because light is very essential for Christian church. In Christianity, Light is often associated with God and holiness. Ambassador Auditorium was initially built for worship purpose, therefore the building is covered mainly by glass. Whereas for Temple of Artemisia, white marble s the main material for the construction.The whole temple was entirely marble except for its tile covered wooden roof. There was barely any glass in the building, because glass were not so popular in the past, probably because they were not very strong. Due to development of technology, glass is now made thicker and heavier; therefore stronger. The columns of Ambassador auditorium is certainly different from Ancient Greek columns, but they are equally unique and beautiful. The shape and the design of the column are not exactly the same as those of Temple of Artemisia, as they are not auricular and do not have decorations on the capital.The exterior columns of Ambassador Auditorium are very slender, with no decoration on its capital and have less flutes on the shafts. The building combines many geometrical shapes such as square, rectangle, triangle, and lines; to emphasize the minimalist style. The exterior design of the building is indeed undeniably beautiful with all the simple elements around it. There is a beautiful little water fountain in front of one of the entrance, adding the aesthetic element to the building. Furthermore, the walkway leading to the entrance is made UT of green granite, that is said to be cut and polished in Overeager, Italy.Ambassador Auditorium is truly a world-class facility despite its simplicity. If you think the exterior is astounding, the interior of Ambassador auditorium is equally enchanting and sophisticated. The inside of the building is decorated with classical style, making it more elegant. The auditorium's main door is covered in bronze. The main hall of the building is decorated with 1390 piece bronze and a huge crystal chandelier in its lobby. Staircase railing is made out of rare African DOD, called Shaded; ornamented underneath with gold leaves.Moreover, the ground is covered with a wool-made purple carpet- indeed an ideal match for the crystal hanging overhead. The Huge crystal chandelier, the beautifully carved ceilings, and the fully polished stair railings altogether create an alluring atmosphere in the building. In conclusion, The First Church of Christ Scientist is more similar to the Temple of Artemisia because it consists of more Ancient Greek elements and decorations such as: free-standing, pediment, Ionic columns, sculptures on pediment, etc. Even though

Hardware Secutiry Module Optimization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Hardware Secutiry Module Optimization - Essay Example A study of the e-ID system was started by the Swedish government on 17th June 2010 and the complete report of this research was published on December 2010. The report identified a solution for which an Agency under the Ministry of Enterprise was established starting as of 1 January 2011[2]. The acquisition of operations, management of metadata records of all members, guide service, and the The federation associated with a Swedish Federation of e-identification providers was initiated with it first phase in 2013. The request for quotation process ended with only a single quote (from Cybercom Sweden AB), hence this firm eventually got the contract. The definition of a centralized signature service was initiated in 2014. However, this service was excluded from the scope of work and in 2010 was assigned to The Legal, Financial and Administrative Services Agency (Swedish: Kammarkollegiet) blanket e government services. The framework incorporates six service providers who offered to constr uct signature services. The approval of these signature services must pass a practical examination process governed by the e-ID board. Moreover, there are other clauses in the agreement that governs the association of Swedish e-identification service federation along with hands on tests conducted during the months of May and June 2014. As per the new clauses of the eID registry board, the authority is restricted to purchase eID and only the e-ID board is authorized to make such purchases. Since March 2014, Swedish e-ID Federation.

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Corporate finance - Essay Example It was also able to maintain total dividend per share at the level of 33.00p. Even in the turbulent market scenario, it managed to increase its sale of life and pensions by 11 percent. Total life and pensions sale became 36,283 million pounds. Sale of general insurance also increased. (Aviva Plc. 2009; Annual Report of 2008) a) Weighted average cost of capital: Cost of capital to a firm is generally defined as the opportunity costs of investors for making their investment in the firm. When an investor invests his fund in a particular firm, he actually looses other opportunities of investing his funds in other securities having risks equivalent to risks of the security of the firm he is actually investing his fund in. hence, if a firm fails to earn a return on capital at least equal to its weighted average cost of capital (WACC), it actually destroys its value. If a firm manages to earn a return that is greater than its weighted average cost of capital, it becomes successful to create value. On the other hand, if it manages to earn a return exactly equal to its weighted average cost of capital, then it neither loose nor create any value. WACC can be defined as the rate that a firm is expected pay for financing its asset. It is actually the minimum level of return that a company needs to earn on its exist ing asset base for satisfying its creditors, its owners, as well other providers of capital.( (Miles and Ezzell, 1980; â€Å"Weighted average Cost of Capital†) The weight of equity can be defined as the ratio of market capitalization to the market value of the firm and the weight of debt can be defined as the ratio of market value of debt to the market value of the firm. Total market value of firm is generally measured by summing total market value of equity and total market value of debt. (Miles and Ezzell, 1980; Fama, 1970; Fama, 1991) Cost of equity is generally treated as the return that the

Analysis of USA PATRIOT ACT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis of USA PATRIOT ACT - Research Paper Example At the same time, it enables the federal authorities to identify and intercept communications made with malicious intentions (Henderson, 2001). The fourth amendment does not cloak information such as an individual’s bank and telephone records to and from an individual’s account. Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 limits some of the authorities given by the patriotism act, while at the same time living a very narrow margin for electronic surveillance (Kraft & Furlong, 2013). The act certainly intended for a close, and symbiotic relation amongst foreign intelligence investigations, criminal investigators, much greater emphasis was in international terrorism cases. Due to this, it amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Initially to apply for FISA, an order to do some surveillance under FISA required one to certify that the reason for the surveillance is to obtain foreign intelligence information. This lead to the defendants frequently questioning whether the FISA order was applied to them to avoid the predicate crime threshold. This led to the notion that there might be other reasons for the application of the FISA order. Criminal prosecution was in the spotlight, and it was required to end the surveillance or secure an order under Title III (Henderson, 2001). Even though, both foreign intelligence and criminal investigations are carried out in the US. A criminal investigation is after information about illegal activities whereas foreign intelligence is not restricted to hostile, criminal or governmental activities since what is important is it being foreign (Henderson, 2001). Though a complete ban on FISA Act is not present, the Supreme Court cleared the air by saying presidential authority to attain national security was not enough to excuse warrantless tapping of a suspect with no identifiable foreign connections

Public administration-politics dichotomy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Public administration-politics dichotomy - Essay Example His intension was to protect administration from political interference. He further indicated that administrations and politics are two distinct disciplines. His main concern was the influence that politics had on administration (Wilson, 1887). He argued that the plans of the government are not administrative and so the two should be kept apart. He later realized that the two cannot be kept apart and embraced dichotomy and agreed that they should be used to improve policies. Public administration dichotomy means that public administrators should be involved in policy processes and politicians should also be involved in administrative processes (Wilson, 1966). Other authors of public administration like (Yang and Hozler, 2005) agreed that administration should be used to protect politics and democracy from its own excesses. Another public administration proponent of the separation of public administration and politics was Goodnow who was of the opinion that politics had a strong effec t on public administration. Separating politics and public administration has not been achievable and the debate to keep the two apart continues. However the reality is that they influence each other. According to (Overeem, 2005), the dichotomy between public administration and politics mean that public administrators be politically neutral. Public administration should be impartial and not get involved in politics and its controversies. The insistence on the separation of public administration and politics lays emphasis on specialization and order in policy making and government administration. Since public administration and politics cannot be kept apart, they can be dichotomized in five ways; there has to be a distinction between policy and management, extend it from the inner workings of the government to the political body, keeping administration from political control, call for

Journey of the Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker Essay

Journey of the Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker - Essay Example Another account of existence of human a being is given in the bible which states that man was created by God and in the true image of God. The scientific and biblical accounts of the human beings have been of confusion to many people as they do not understand which account if the correct. Apart from the origin of the human beings, another thing that is not well understood is the role of the human beings in the Universe and the dimensions into which humans should exercise their roles. In the book, Journey of the Universe, Swimme and Tucker put it, â€Å"everything in the Universe exists in a physical and a spiritual dimension and that Universe presents a deep transfiguration process (Swimme & Tucker, 2011). They add that truth love and compassion should prevail amongst the human creature and should be regarded as divine. Personal Belief about Existence In my opinion, my deepest beliefs about the existence of humans in encrypted in religion. According the religion that I believe, exis tence of human beings is explained as the work of God who created a man and put him in the Garden of Eden. Then thereafter everything unfolds to show the responsibilities given to man by the creator. One of the major reasons that make me believe in this ideology is that the process of creating heaven and the earth was sacred as planned by God and the last step to create man, was more sacred. The first account of creation explains that God created Heaven and Earth by his words. For instance, he said, â€Å"Let there be light.† However, the creation of man took a different dimension whereby God molded some clay and breathed in. After creation, God also said that he created man in his image. This gave human being a special recognition in the Universe. During the second account of the creation, God introduced the man into the Garden of Eden and gave him responsibility of everything that was there. In fact, man was given the responsibility of naming all the creatures that were cre ated by God. Man was also given the responsibility for the Garden of Eden and was allowed all the freedom but denied eating the fruit of wisdom. All this story line of creation emphasizes that existence of human beings solely takes a religious dimension. The other explanation of existence such as spiritual and scientific amongst others do not explain some issues, which I believe are important in human existence. For instance, they don’t explain the sacred life of a human being (Swimme & Tucker, 2011). In the scientific explanation of existence, man is told to have evolved from the Ape species and having undergone various steps of evolution, he reached the stage of the current man whose predecessor is Homo sapiens sapiens. In the whole evolution story, the holiness of man is not explained at all. What the entire story gives is that man gained experience after each evolutional phase. Everybody in the Universe can witness the specialty of human beings in deeds, beliefs and innov ations. Hence to me, any existence story that does not account man as sacred and special creature is wrong. Personal Views on a Human Being and His Roles Having followed the story of creation, I consider myself a unique creature amongst other creatures. One of the major reasons that give me the pride as a human is that I have the power and wisdom to control other creatures; the power that is given to all human beings. That is the reason as to why man was able to tame other creatures now referred to as domestic animals. As a human creature, I can therefore, rear such animals and know their needs in every day’s life. In addition to that, I have leadership and organizational skill. This

Social welfare,democracy and government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Social welfare,democracy and government - Essay Example The social welfare, democracy and government are all intensely connected aspects of a society and a country. The welfare of the country and its citizens are always the topmost priority of any democracy or government. Britain being a democratic country has a prolonged history of social welfare policies and strategies. The country has extensive social welfare policies to cater to the well being of its citizen and communities. â€Å"After war every where in Europe showed a grave needs for social welfare :broadly speaking social-democratic policies were initiated even by conservative and Christian-democratic governments, while social democrats became parties of government in most European states†(Shaw,1999). However, during these years a major shift has occurred in the socio –economic structure of the country which led to a new paradigm to the social welfare concept. Britain is a country with multi – cultural backgrounds and requires a well co--ordinate and structure d social policies and plans to show justice to the society. 2 –According to Smith (1986)â€Å"Historians have engaged in pro-longed debate how far political theories influenced the actual structure of social policies. As most of its history social-policy making in Britain has been closely linked to a wider context of political, social and economic ideas†. A big part of contributing to the welfare of the nation is giving equal rights to all the social groups in the country .The rights of the citizens to vote and select the right representative to govern the country should be an unbiased and unfair fact. The right to vote is the major foundation and strong principle of any democratic government. A democracy to be a successful one, should allot a substantial voting power to all the social groups of the country. As per (Hannemann, 2003) â€Å"In almost all democratic national elections an individual vote cannot change the election outcome. The fact that many individuals n evertheless participate voluntarily in such elections suggests that people do care about democracy as such†. The main reason for the appreciation for the right to vote is that, it gives the citizens of a country a upper hand in the decision making process of the nation. However, with all this well planned social policies and democratic government, there are still many social groups who are devoid of their basic right of the democratic government. A country like United Kingdom has various social groups like youngsters, women, senior citizens, disabled, asylum seekers and prison inmates. Among all of these, asylum seekers and prison inmates are the one which is most undermined in regard to voting rights. According to (Guardian News,2010)â€Å"Prisoners are to get the right to vote as the government is poised to throw in the towel in a long-running legal tussle with the European court of human rights, it emerged today. It is understood that the coalition is to confirm that it is ready to change the law to remove the voting ban on more than 70,000 inmates of British jails†. I) Right to vote an integral part of the democracy Democracy is a form of government which gives exclusive rights to its citizens in the governing of the country as well as bestows other supreme rights to its people. As per (Deth,2009) â€Å"Modern societies are confronted with a number of virtually unsolvable problems. Particularly prominent are complaints and grievances about the increase of social egoism and isolation, declining feelings of solidarity and community, a public withdrawal from the ‘dirty’ realm of politics, the raise in ‘minor’ forms of criminality, and the decrease of social and political engagement – to mention only a few examples†. Britain having a well defined social welfare structure is not justifiable in concern with the real active voting right. Many minorities and under privileged are stolen of their right to vote, ev en being a genuine part of the country. Generally in a democratic nation, an adult crossed the age of

Trends of electronic communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Trends of electronic communication - Essay Example With the help of webcams, this technology allows communicators to see one another in real time making messages more precise and understandable. It however has the disadvantage of not facilitating communication between individuals when one is offline. E-mail is a communication method that involves the exchange of messages of digital nature from one author to a single or numerous recipients. E-mails have the advantage of storing and forwarding messages, this therefore implies that both the sender and the recipient are not required to be online simultaneously to communicate. This was not however the case at the inception of e-mails when communication could only occur if both parties were online at the same time, more of what is presently the case with instant messaging. It has the advantage of storing information for future reference purposes with e-mails being used as evidence of communication if that need arises. The main advantage of e-mails however, is the inability to receive instant responses especially if the recipient is offline. Unlike e-mails and Instant Messaging, this technology enables individuals to share information with multiple users at the same time. This is unlike instant messaging where communication is on a one on one basis. Users in chat rooms usually have common interests and that makes sharing of similar information among many realistic. In as much as chat rooms allow people to communicate with multiple individuals of identical interest, it has posed a moral dilemma with users using these rooms for sexual purposes giving birth to sexual predators who hide their real identities to advance their evil sexual agenda (Thurlow, Tomic, & Lengel, 2004). Some of these rooms are moderated but the most used have no moderation whatsoever, which is a disadvantage since users could be underage individuals who should not under moderation be allowed to access the rooms, especially those of

“SALVATION” by Langston Hughes Essay Example for Free

â€Å"SALVATION† by Langston Hughes Essay â€Å"Salvation† is an account of a young boy of twelve of his experience with his faith. It tells the story of a Langston who at this impressionable young age, became confused by the accounts of the other members of this congregation and his own personal experience with salvation. The setting of this story is in a healing mass, in a gathering of the faithful, headed by the priests to celebrate salvation. It depicts a set of frenzy to the point of fanaticism. The concept of faith, whispered into the open and impressionable minds of the youth, who honestly did not have any concept of their own at that time. Langston was not yet jaded, nor cynical. He was but 12. He really did want to be saved. He really did want to experience seeing the light. (Hughes,1940) However, his experience inside the church exacted the opposite of the fervor in faith that his elders expected. He gave the appearance to be no different from the others who claimed to have seen the light. Yet, in him, the darkness seemed to grow because he knew for himself that it was a lie- to escape the pressure and apparent humiliation he was receiving from steadfastly waiting on the bench, to honestly see Jesus, in the light. After the event, it appears that his innocence was shattered, his eagerness for salvation turned into disappointment and his faith shaken into unbelief. In his innocent young mind, he must have felt disappointed that he was abandoned by the savior everybody claimed to have seen. In his young mind he felt ashamed that he lied to everybody in order to spare himself and his kin the shame of being one who was different, one who was not able to see â€Å"the light†. Most importantly, he felt hurt that the â€Å"Jesus did not come to help him. †(Hughes,1940). He must have felt rejected-a devastating blow to an adolescent who, at that stage in life, seek the guidance of and acceptance into society. Since the society he lived with was centered on their faith, he as a young person, must have felt that he could only be part of that society if he claimed to see what the rest of them saw. His deception must have ate at him from inside because though he wanted to be genuinely part of the society, he knew he could not claim to be in his heart, because he had lied. It may have seemed to him that a welcome into a society based on a perceived lie was no good at all; more importantly, a welcome into the Faith was worthless if it was founded on a falsehood-a falsehood he was forced to tell because of the undue pressure that was seemed to have been placed on a young person as himself. Based on this narrative, there are a lot of assumptions one may make as to the resulting religiosity, or lack of, of Langston Hughes. His encounter with disappointment in his faith may have led him to be a skeptic all throughout his life. It might have made him question all the doctrines of the Church preached to the faithful that required them to believe in the unseen. However, he might have been forced to appear adherent to the practices and outward manifestations of being a member of the church. He might have been forced to go on living the lie he started with, yet inwardly being unconvinced. However, an opposite scenario might also be speculated upon. Adolescence is a trying time for a person and whatever experience one might have had may lead to different realizations later in life. With Langston experience, it might also be that he eventually sought to discover for himself the true meaning of â€Å"salvation†. It might be that, his experience with his family and with the society he belonged to, eventually led him to be resolute in his own beliefs and stand by his own principles, in order to make up for that one big lie he had to tell when he was 12. Whatever path Langston Hughes chose to follow in terms of his religious faith, it was greatly influenced by that time in his life when he was â€Å"saved. † That point in his life would obviously be pivotal, in terms of his faith and of his ability to stand up to pressure. It might even have become a starting point for him to be a man, in charge of his thoughts, words, actions, and convictions. With regard to the lie he had told and the reasons why he kept it, one could only speculate. Yet, based on the author’s account, it must have been an act of self-preservation. Adolescents give such a high regard to acceptance. He might have stood by the lie to avoid reproach or castigation from his peers, from his superiors, from all the people who witnessed his â€Å"salvation. † He might have kept the lie to himself to avoid more pain from rejection, as he already felt rejected by Jesus Himself, when young Langston failed to see him as the others claimed to. (Hughes,1940) Another possibility was that he did not want to bring shame to his aunt, who most fervently played for his salvation. He knew that he would not be the only one who would be humiliated when he reveals that he did not see Jesus at all. His young heart aimed to please, and being the only child to be unsaved would cause a great disappointment to his devout aunt. Having to tell her that he lied about his â€Å"salvation† would cause her greater dejection, as she was the one who so zealously urged him to see the light. Whatever his reasons were for keeping the lie to himself, it may be attributed to his confusion with the concept of faith. His expectations and that of the other church-goers seemed to be complex and varied, Langston seemed to expect to wait until he saw the light and be saved before he could actually stand up and approach the priest and the rest of the young ones. The others seemed to expect him to see it at once. Failure to do so seemed to indicate a lack and what a horrible state that seemed to be, as depicted by the crowd’s passionate praying in order that the boy be â€Å"saved†. In the end, it appeared as if the lie was his real â€Å"salvation† at that moment. It was what saved him from the emotional persecution brought down by his peers. Furthermore, it seemed his innocence only made the matter more grave for the idea that he could only be saved by a lie appeared to be what was really tearing him up inside. In this same light, the poem â€Å"Unsaid is analyzed† as a parallel to this â€Å"Salvation. † It is a poem of six lines. It pertains to emotions and words that have no outlet, internal struggles that stay within a person. It speaks of the turmoil most people have inside themselves, trying to hide the most important things for unknown reasons. â€Å"Unsaid† is a simple, yet artistic way of conveying that all individuals feel more than what they reveal. Concealing emotions seem to be a necessity in society, suggests the poem. It supports that the things which are not expressed in words are also as real as the ones that can be heard by others. It also states that it seems to be a way of life, for everyone has something to hide inside himself. This poem supports, and is supported by the story â€Å"Salvation†, for both of these allude to a bottling of emotions, a concealment of true self. In â€Å"Salvation†, the author is â€Å"saved† by a lie which he had chosen to keep unto himself as to escape shame. However, it led him to a struggle with in himself. Inside, he is torn knowing it was wrong to tell a lie yet also understanding that he seemed to have no other choice if he wanted to be accepted. His thoughts and the resulting doubt in his faith are the â€Å"unsaid†. As the poem talks of keeping so many emotions locked up within, the story depicts how such â€Å"unsaid† sentiments affect individuals, especially as one as young as the author. On the other hand, the poem artfully describes the accompanying complex sensations to a thought left unuttered. In simple verse, it suggests images of strong moving emotions such as grief and love. It dares to suggests that most of human lives are lived within. It also defends that what people keep from others are as real as what they choose to reveal. All of this pertain to varying degrees of emotionality, in relation to those that are â€Å"unsaid†. Meanwhile, the story presents an example in the person of Langston. In the same way that the boy in the story had his own compelling reasons to lie, so do other individuals. There are countless explanations as to why people lie or people leave things unsaid. In any case, it seems to be either the basic instinct of self preservation or a noble intention to spare others of pain, that motivates such actions. The poem suggests its readers to validate the writer’s statements by recalling â€Å"letters that we write our dead†(Gioia, 1950). This last line enjoins readers to share in such sentiments by revisiting forgotten or buried feelings for people long gone, urging them to reminisce their own personal struggles with their emotions of having been unable to convey all their thoughts to their dead loved one. In relation to the essay of Langston Hughes, as a boy, he found himself confronting his own emotions as he cried when he went home after the mass. So as other people find themselves examining their own feelings, the boy Langston also found himself looking for the real reason for his tears. â€Å"Salvation† and â€Å"Unsaid† are both works that delve into the intricacies of human emotions. These give readers a feel of what internal struggle feels like. These present the resulting predicament of individuals who chose concealment as a means to cope with pressure exerted upon them by external factors. These works grab hold of readers by presenting an introspective mood. Ironically, as both works speak of concealment of thoughts, the essay by Langston Hughes is a move towards revelation, as he recounted his boyhood encounter with faith and narrated it in the eyes of a 12-yer old. The poem also attempts revelation by actually acknowledging that humans have hidden thoughts and sentiments they’d rather left unsaid. In this light, one can surmise that the parallelism in these two works not only lay in their allusion to hidden emotions. The manner by which the authors of these works eventually revealed their thoughts on this matter also follows a similar pattern. Ultimately, it appears that these two works are about human struggles inside and outside the self. These are about the experiences humans go through to find what they are looking for-be it themselves, their faith or other matters this world holds. REFERENCES: Gioia, Dana. †Unsaid† (details of your BOOK SOURCE for this poem) Hughes,Langston. â€Å"Salvation†. (details of your BOOK SOURCE for this essay)

Education Essay Example for Free

Education Essay The terms dreadful and dreary are fitting descriptions to partly describe the education I had back in Korea. As Rose would explain it, schools that do well, with teachers and facilities that really contribute to the real education of the mind do exist (Rose 1989). However, during his and my time, the settings were somehow similar. I had gone through subjects that were forced on me as if food that makes one to flip over. Korean education for me was a little bit like â€Å"blind leading the blind† idea. Being raised a South Korean I experienced the hell education is. Vocational school really meant to prepare us for the world of work as it is also projected to do for people here in the United States. Back then, the vocational section of our school actually meant schooling for the average and the below average; students who seemed to have no other future like in the university, but to get married and work in some kind of factory or behind an isolated desk. Like the banking concept of Freire which the author elaborated as the absence of dialogue and problem-posing set-up and replaced or dominated by control and depositing of the all too-knowledgeable teacher, my past experience exactly mimic Freire’s descriptions when I was under the tutelage of mentors who also just passed on the kind of ignorance they received from others before them (Freire 1993 ch 2). It was a mixture of hell and a hellish kind of experience. Rose’s apt depiction of his adventure in a jungle of misappropriation of learning may not be as exactly the same as mine, but the fact that I just somehow drifted then and passively went through schooling was a dismal failure to me. Failure because I had emerged with the same credulity and only a bit sophisticated with getting away with my increasing ignorance about many things. Fortunately, despite my parents’ lack of know how, their wise supervision over us children became very crucial and important as I emerged an adolescent and a young person. The time when we reached mainland USA had somehow spelled differently for me. Things like being introduced to a teacher much like Rose had in the person of Mr. MacFarland (Rose 1989), worlds of ideas and opportunities opened for me when I was tutored by this wonderful person who had the patience to point to me my inadequacies and strengths in a very non-threatening yet forceful manner, awakening me to rise to the challenge of emerging from being average to strike at what I do best. I just wanna be average† (Rose 1989) is well maybe a safe battle cry for most because it removes the guilt and even more so the pressure to become somebody who actually has a lot more insecurities than the truly â€Å"average† guy. Or so I thought. However, things are a bit a changing as the song goes. I have a passion within me that had started to burn deep within and refuse to go away. This is the passion to inquire, to absorb, to learn and to explore the many â€Å"whys† that had cropped up incessantly since a teacher started to lead us how to make inquiries. This is exactly what Freire would have wanted. Teachers become dominators when they truly believe that the students are just out there in front of them as willing audience to a â€Å"play† with which only one is the protagonist and antagonist and that is the teacher (Freire 1993). Unless the mentor thinks as a student as well, immersing himself again in the shoes of his â€Å"mentees† he will soon forget that these little people in front of him actually have minds of their own; that no matter what one teaches, those minds will leave the hall devoid of real encounters and real and practical materials that they ought to carry with them until college days are over. Conclusion and recommendation Indeed, being average has its place, but when the teachers start to label and judge a student or students as only that, the teacher ceases to understand the mindset that is still very much malleable, and capable of immense exploits. Several suggestions not very different from the proposed learning set-up by Freire are in my mind. The management of the classroom experiences are structured or planned such that the students or pupils will have sufficient time and space to develop their powers of inquiry. This is their entitlement to empowerment; i. e. he students start to have a sense of control and directions with their own learning. When this happens, the students feel committed and engaged and are â€Å"hooked† as what has happened to Mike Rose. What Mike Rose described in his accounts are telling of the general atmosphere in most traditionally run schools not just even in the United States. Elsewhere in countries who look up to Uncle Sam are institutions following our footsteps and producing the same sad, sad stories of students who are gripped by the powerful influence of teachers who do not teach but make their audience depositories of a different kind. The process of developing an inquiring mind is not very easy. It takes a lot of creativity and constant research and innovations from that of the teacher to produce materials or activities that encourage the students to make and generate questions pertaining to and not only confined to the lessons defined in the syllabus. This is the reason that Freire often referred to as the teacher playing and assuming the role as well as that of the student. This stance takes into the premise then, that students in whatever economic status in life they may spring from, are not dumb and altogether passive. They start to be that way because most teachers expect them to behave as such. Various theoretical perspectives in learning actually boil down to the realization that in order for real learning to happen, the students must craft their own ideas and concepts, and must take ownership of the kinds of lives they must eventually lead. This is accountability and responsibility.

The Biometric Technology For Effective Payroll System

The Biometric Technology For Effective Payroll System Payroll is one of a series of accounting transactions, dealing with the process of paying employees for services rendered, it is electronic software, where all the employees information is recorded and captured. Companys experiences a lot of payroll fraudulent occurring by utilizing this payroll software which affects the companys capital due to a high increased payroll cost. Background and Motivation Money being a valuable asset to the company, I have chosen to research more on payroll and how can the effective security level be implemented to enhance the security on payroll by the use of biometrics, as I believe in Physical Attributes identification like finger prints, palm prints, and facial. To solve the security risks, biometrics technology (implemented in the ReCon Biometrics Keyless Identification Security System) uses physical attributes to identify an individual. This solution is ideal because biometrics authentication does not require the user to have any physical access objects present or remember any passwords. With ReCon Biometricss advanced facial recognition technology, we can now overcome many problems that other systems have encountered in the past (Rogan, 2002). Rather than using personal identification because, as (Rogan, 2002) stated that in personal identification A Personal Identification Number (PIN) is another widely adopted means of authentication, and is a standard example that uses memorized passwords or pass codes. The advantage to this approach is that no physical means are required for authentication. However, this method still suffers from security risks if an unauthorized individual gains access to an authorized users PIN. Further complications can arise when authorized users forget or misplace a PIN. Turner, a payroll specialist for a large Florida nonprofit organization, was a sick man. Most employees who steal do so out of greed, but Turner had a different motive-he was HIV-positive and needed expensive drugs to control the disease. Turners duties included posting time and attendance information to the computer system preparing payroll disbursement summaries. Adding and deleting employee master records were separate tasks, performed by another staff member. As an additional safeguard, a supervisor approved all payroll disbursements, and the company deposited them directly into employees personal bank accounts. When the coworker who added and deleted master records logged onto the system, Turner peeked over her shoulder and noted her user ID and password. This enabled him to add fake master records-for ghost employees to the system (Wells and Joseph, 2002). Where there is money to be made, dishonest and unscrupulous individuals can find ways to bilk the system (Michaels, 1998). As with any financial instrument, the key to success is prevention, and FIS continues to create new fraud prevention and monitoring tools as new trends develop (Mccann, 2008). A lot of money becomes missing and records being edited because of unauthorized users who hack the payroll system or being able to retrieve the passwords into accessing the payroll system, so the purpose of this research is to investigate the roots of hacking in the payroll so as to find a lasting solution to it and eliminate ghost employees. It is intended that in this research a suitable biometric system will be introduced providing greater reliability and accountability, in order to enhance the security level of The INNOVATIONHUBS VIP payroll and the staff. 1.2 Problem statement Payroll encompasses every employee of a company who receives a regular wage or other compensation. Some employees may be paid a steady salary while others are paid for hours worked or the number of items produced. All of these different payment methods are calculated by a payroll specialist utilizing a payroll system, and the appropriate paychecks are issued. So for an employee to get their paycheck a time sheet is submitted so that the payroll specialist can capture the data on the time sheet example number of hours worked, and then compute the salary for the employee, so companies often use objective measuring tools such as timecards or timesheets completed by supervisors to determine the total amount of payroll due each pay period. Payroll system is an electronically software that calculates employees salary. The problem is that when employees fill in their time sheets or timecards, they easily forge their attendance of being present at work or working overtime knowing they did not, they do what is called buddy punching which is when an employee punches a time card for another person. This is done by employees reason being earning more money, or earning money even though they did not work for it, because we all want to get our hands on money this affects the companys productivity and payroll cost. However payroll specialists easily get away with fraud because, usual solutions to the problem of enhancing security is identity involve using systems that rely on what a legitimate user knows example, passwords or personal identification numbers or what a legitimate user possesses example , ID cards or keys. However, these methods are susceptible to fraud and security threats as they do not identify the person but simply identify the information that is provided by that person (Gupta, 2008). Companies need to have an absolute trust in the identity of their employees, customers, and partners that is, they are really who they say they are. Taylor Farm, a processing plant for bagging produce, was incurring 20 percent of payroll cost due to buddy punching (Gupta, 2008). Kahn et al (2002:57) found that the System provides an automated, centralized back end payroll service with a full-featured web-based payroll system. Both aspects of the system have access to a central database, which includes, for example: profile information on employers and employees; timesheet, salary and hourly wage data; employee benefit data and information regarding third-party providers and miscellaneous payee. According to Krons (2010:109), the YMCA was committed to keeping its payroll in-house and was looking for a flexible and configurable system that would enable it to do so efficiently. With Kronos, they have been able to cut payroll processing time by 50 percent largely due to the automation of payroll data from the time and attendance system into payroll. With more than 1,800 full- and part-time employees at 12 facilities across Ohio, many employees often perform multiple jobs in the same pay period. With Kronos, the YMCA is able to keep track of position management and ensure that payment is applied correctly. After implementing a new time and attendance system for its labor intensive operation, Fantasy Cookie Co. has realized a 90% reduction in payroll errors and return on investment of one year (Hitchcock, 1993:70). Some of the motivations to change payroll frequencies include best practice or industry standards, possible future sale or acquisition, cost savings, union contract requirements, or even employee requests (2010:8). My intention is to find a way by means of biometrics systems to enhance the security level on VIP payroll at The Innovation Hub and monitoring employees presence at work. 1.3.1 Goal The primary goal of this study is to introduce Biometrics System for the security of VIP payroll at The Innovation Hub. 1.3.2. Objectives To investigate the security problems being encountered at the payroll and monitoring employees timesheet or timecards of the Innovation Hub To find out what is the security system applied in the payroll of the Innovation Hub. To explore the use of Biometric technology as a security system in this company to solve the security problems discovered. 1.3.3 Research questions What are the security problems being encountered at the payroll of the Innovation Hub? What is the security system applied in the payroll of this organization? How does Biometric system can be applied to solve the security problems identified? 1.3 Scope There are three types of payroll systems the first being the manual payroll system typically serves small medium and macro enterprise (SMME), and all this is done by hand with a manual payroll system. Secondly being the In-house Payroll a company with up to 60 employees can benefit from a computerized in-house payroll system. Thirdly is the external Service (outsourcing) company with more than 60 employees usually hiring an external payroll service. They are a separate firm that specializes in payroll processing. The basis of the definition supplied by Justice Buckley is that in order for a fraud to exist a lie must be told and something tangible obtained by virtue of the operation of that lie on the mind of the person receiving the information. That premise has been extended through common usage and the media so that now fraud is referred to as the obtaining of property through any dishonest means. Those means do not necessarily include the telling of a lie and can include what is considered corrupt activity by a person in authority (Jarrod 2006). There is no easy fix for Social Security. No silver bullet or miracle accounting will painlessly fix the problem posed by our 70-year-old national retirement system. At a recent meeting in Washington, D.C., the ABA Government Relations Council reaffirmed a strategy first advocated by ABA in 1999. It calls for ABA to act as industry spokesman for reform, work with Congress on a bipartisan basis and support the creation of personal retirement accounts those special accounts that would allow younger workers to place a portion of their payroll taxes in private retirement accounts they manage themselves (Duke 2005:20). Swart (2002:5-15) found that the payroll systems are cumbersome and problematic, they require the use of a middleman payroll service to either send or calculate and send the employees net pay data to the bank, which increases costs to the employer. These cost are ultimately passed on to the employees and public, such systems also take significant amounts of time to acquire, transfer, translate and process all of the data required to determine and distribute net pay to the employee, and employees are therefore forced to wait one or two weeks before even receiving their paychecks another disadvantage of the prior art payroll system is the use of centralized data processing for calculation of net pay, such as used by ADP. The allegations ranged from accepting kickbacks, committing bank larceny against the Orleans Parish Credit Union, and forging and passing bad checks, to theft, income tax violations, insurance and mail fraud, as well as extortion.6 With encouragement from State Superintendent Picard, the New York-based firm of Alvarez Marsal was selected in July 2005, by the Orleans Parish School Board and the Louisiana Department of Education, to address and resolve the districts numerous systemic financial improprieties.7 Employees of Alvarez Marsal immediately found significant payroll discrepancies estimated to cost the district approximately $12 million per year (Pamela Frazier 2008). Systems that lack a secured authorization detector can end up being history to the owners and costly. HIGH-PROFILE payroll problems have plagued a $25 million PeopleSoft ERP implementation in the Palm Beach County School District in Florida after just five months of operation.Since the Oracle Corp. software went live in July, there have been numerous instances of employees being underpaid or not paid at all, said Mike Guay, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based consultant hired in early September to help fix the problems. In many cases, the payroll errors have caused significant hardship to workers, added Sharon Barmory-Munley, president of thse local office of the National Conference of Firemen Oilers, a union representing more than 4,000 school district employees.In September, payroll problems prompted some 300 bus drivers to picket the school board. Other employees have complained to the U.S. Department of Labor, said Barmory-Munley (Barton, 1992). Its horrible, she said. Some people cant pay their bills, mortgage payments are late, and theyve ruined their credit. This is disastrous (Marc, 2006), this report shows how serious and harmful the system can get if not resolved in time. Payroll Express Corp., a company that provided paycheck cashing services for about 100 corporate clients, has gone bankrupt, and owner Robert Felzenberg has been accused of diverting customers funds to its own uses. Payroll Express bank, United Jersey Bank (Hackensack, NJ), is being sued by some Payroll Express customers for not monitoring the business more closely and for allegedly ignoring and glossing over Payroll Express troubles. The bank says the charges are without merit (Barton, 1992). Not all of the IT specialist do the right job or what they are suppose to do, you find IT hackers who can do anything to get their hands on money, money being an object that everyone wants to get their hands on. A large local employer in a small town had its office burglarized. Nothing appeared to be taken but there was some vandalism. The company assumed it was just some kids. A few days later, on a late Friday afternoon, a group of about 20 people with heavy accents came into the local bank and cashed payroll checks drawn on the local employer. On Saturday, the same 20 people went back to each of the bank branches again cashing more checks. It was then discovered that these checks were forged. The blank checks had been stolen during the break-in. Encouraging or requiring businesses to use a Positive Pay System will prevent these losses. When using Positive Pay, the business customer provides the banks computer with check numbers and amounts before providing the checks to recipients (Towle, 2010:17). There is no end to Queenslands payroll debacle with a report finding it will take another six months to make critical fixes to the system and 18 months for it to be fully re-implemented.Queensland nurses and midwives were waiting for a formal response from the states health department after a report recommended sticking with the flawed system (2010-2011:15). No matter what industry an organization serves, there is one common element the customer. That customer can be external or internal. The key focus in having quality be part of everyones job is to make sure customer value is the primary purpose of the organization. Everyone in the organization should know the customers and what they consider important. All functions accounting, payroll, information systems, engineering, sales play a role in how these customers view the work. Tools such as customer survey analysis, best practice studies and publisher customer audits are used to determine what customers really want, as are graphs of customer complaints over a specific time period (Whitarcre, 2001). 1.4 Significant This study is very significant in the sense that there is a serious implication of financial security to the survival of any organization especially the InnovationHub. Electronic security has also become a global issue in the discourse of a virile Information System, while the biometric system is a current security application of IT in the security system. The report of this work will also add to literature on the state of the art applications of IT study while the solution can be applied in all payroll systems. 1.5 Key words Payroll, System, Access, Security, Biometric Literature review Companies need to able to have absolute trust in the identity of the employees, that they are really who they say they are. Fraud can occur in the payroll department in many ways. These can include (Journal of Trade, 2010): phantom employees being paid; fraudulent additions to approved time records; increases in hourly rates; payments of commissions, bonuses, or incentives that are added to an employees normal paycheck; deduction reversals that add to an employees net pay; illegal advanced earned income credit payments; and Child support garnishments that are mailed to a custodial parent but never deducted from a paycheck. Identification is a one-to-many matching process that ascertains the existence of an individual in a database. This process merely determines that the person exists. If access control is predicated only on the existence of an individual, then the individual is given access to the system when the required identifier is found to exist in the access database. There is no confirmation or proof that the person who is given access is indeed the person who initiated the access procedure (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Everyone is a potential fraud, and only careful hiring and strong internal control are effective in preventing fraudulent to the organization (Seidman, 1985). Payroll accounting shows another area where authentication issues assume importance. The importance for effective authentication exists in at least three processes: time-keeping and attendance records, pick-up of paychecks, and linking employees to specific tasks in the organization. Three broad categories of factors that organizations use for automated authentication-possession, knowledge, and biometrics. Authentication can be predicated on a single factor (e.g., a password, a PIN, or a picture ID) or on multiple factors (e.g., password and picture ID, or PIN and picture ID). Vertical movements within the pyramid are associated with increases in the strength and focused nature of the authentication process. The likelihood that the verified identity is not that of the true owner also decreases with vertical movements in the pyramid (Chandra Calderon, 2003). The user must present a physical possession (such as a token or a key) to be authenticated. Though visible and usually portable, possessions can be lost, stolen, shared, duplicated, forgotten, or destroyed. Possession-based authentication factors provide assurance that a user presents a valid token or card. Within the context of an automated authentication process, these factors do not provide direct assurance that a user who is allowed access into an information system is indeed the person he or she claims to be. In the second category, the user provides information about his/her knowledge (such as, password, or passphrase). Passwords and other knowledge authentication factors are highly portable, invisible (unless written down), can be changed often, and can be designed to be relatively secure. However, they can be forgotten, reused, stolen, guessed, or shared. Passwords offer assurance that the person at the keyboard knows the password. They do not offer assurance that the person at the keyboard is indeed the person he/she purports to be (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Fraud in payrolls always involves over statement of the total of the payroll, and usually involves either (1986): Padding the payroll by including names of new employees before they started to work, or names of employees who have left, or names of men who are simply non-existent, or who exist but do not work for the company. Overstating payroll footings, carry forwards etc Failure to account for unclaimed wages, overpayments. Etc. One private sector problem is what is called buddy punching which is when an employee punches a time card for another person. Taylor Farm, a processing plant for bagging produce, was incurring 20 percent of payroll cost due to buddy punching. (Gupta, 2008). People are our business and managing such a large workforce that operates on diverse client sites is a challenge. We recognized that a standard time and attendance system that could provide as many access methods for clocking on as possible biometric, internet, proximity, telephone yet could be managed both centrally and remotely, was an essential requirement for our business (Pollitt, 2008). The real cushion against fraud, however, is in the type of individual employed. This means concern not so much with an applicants technical background, as with human background. Things like his mode of living , his social habits, his family troubles, his financial stresses and strains all of these are vital in the fraud potential (Seidman, 1985). The construction foreman of a large chemical company is responsible for a maintenance crew of about fifty employees who include tradesmen and labourers. He is also responsible for the deployment of a large amount of tools and equipment for the repair and maintenance of the plant. The employees are permitted to work overtime. The foreman started his own handyman/small construction company specializing in week end work. To carry out this work he utilized the tools and equipment of his employer and the time for the labour of the employees engaged in this nefarious activity was paid for by the employer by way of overtime for working on the weekend. The foreman authorized their overtime cards, certifying they had worked the overtime for the company. Employees were paid for their work, but the foreman, who charged his private clients, did not have to pay any costs of the construction whatsoever. The foremans behaviour was such that he obtained a financial advantage because hedid not have to pay for the labour of his workers or the tools and equipment he used onhis jobs. He was convicted of deceiving his employer into paying for the labour cost (Bowditch, 2006). The paymaster of a large technical company on the north shore was a trusted and valued employee until a co worker saw him driving a brand new Porsche on the week end. An investigation revealed that he had been systematically paying himself overtime at the rate of five times his regular salary. No subterfuge, he was just authorizing the payment to himself of more hours overtime than there are hours in the week. The fact that he could have got away with this brazen fraud for over twelve months showed a lack of any sort of control by management in the running of the company, and certainly no thought to fraud control (Bowditch, 2006). The state sales manager for a leading liquor distributor was offering the clients on his run a special discount for cash. He was fulfilling the orders and obtaining the cash and writing an invoice and receipt from a loop he had installed in the company computer which had a program to generating the invoices, receipts and stock upgrades. He got away with hundreds of thousands of dollars until a physical reconciliation was done between the stock and sales figures and the crime discovered (Bowditch, 2006). American businesses lose nearly $12 billion a year to check fraud, and small businesses are frequent victims of fraud artists, who consider them easy prey (Blackwood, 1998). Dont trust any person with money, always check on them and then check more. 3. Theoretical frame work Using Autopoietic theory as a framework for biometrics Autopoiesis is a pseudo Greek word coined from ÃŽÂ ±Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ãƒ ³ (auto) for self and à Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ³Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ ±ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ·Ãƒ Ã†â€™ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¹Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ (poiesis) for creation, production or forming that was first introduced by the Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela in 1973 to denote the type of phenomenon they had identified as a characteristic that distinguishes living systems from other types of systems. They claimed that living systems are autonomous entities that reproduce all their properties through their internal processes. Later on this term was introduced into social theory as well as formal organization theory by Niklas Luhmann who claimed that social systems are systems of communication that emerge whenever an autopoietic communication cycle comes into being that is able to filter itself out of a complex environment (Schatten, 2008). Luhman argues that there are three types of social systems: societal, interactional as well as organizational. Any social system has its respective information subsystem described through their communicative processes. Systems that are not autopoietic (systems that produce something other than themselves) are considered to be allopoietic (technical) systems (Schatten, 2008). This is how the theory of Autopoietic will be applied to my research, the theory which represents a framework for describing complex non-linear and especially living systems is described in a context of biometric characteristics. It is argued that any living system by performing an internal process of reproducing its structural components yields physical biometric characteristics. Likewise any living system when structurally coupling to another (eventually allopoietic) system yields a behavioral or psychological characteristic of the living system (Schatten, 2008). It is revealed that a system that can be considered as autopoietic can potentially be measured, authenticated and or identified using biometric method, and thus biometrics is appropriate to any autopoietic system it can be people, social systems, organizations as well as information systems. So biometric is a method of series, steps or activities conducted to practice biometric samples of some biometric feature usually to find the biometric features holder or a special feature of the biometric sample. A biometric template or extracted structure is a quantity or set of quantities acquired by a conscious application of a biometric feature extraction or preprocessing method on a biometric sample. These templates are usually stored in a biometric database and used for reference during the recognition, training or enrolment processes of a biometric system (Schatten, 2008). The diagram below illustrates how the biometric technology will be intergrated with the payroll system, and this is how the autopoietic theory will be applied to my study. Diagram of payroll system integrated with iris biometric device Back up a data center The time sheet detail is captured in the payroll system. Time sheet (time in and out) about the employee is recorded. Employee scans his or her Iris in the iris scan device. The payroll specialist forwards the employees paycheck, using timesheet information from the captured payroll. Paycheck is transferred by the finance department to the employees accounts. 4. Methodology This is an exploratory research because it is the goal of formulating problems more precisely, clarifying concepts, gathering explanations, gaining insight, eliminating impractical ideas, and forming hypotheses. The method of data collection that I will use is qualitative method as it is used when a question needs to be described and investigation in some depth, or examining the meaning of an experience (Shields and Twycross). How I will compile my research I will seek to interview those who are knowledgeable and who might be able to provide insight concerning the payroll system and monitoring of time sheets to verify employees presence at work. I will interview 20% of the staff members and all the staff at the finance department and the payroll specialist, I will use audio tapes for recording my interviews and a method of transcripts of conversation. Some of the questions Ill ask the staff members: Do you use any type of access to enter into your office or the building of the company? What monitors your presence at work? Do you submit weekly or monthly time sheet? Who witness the time sheet? Some of the questions Ill ask the payroll department: What attributes or information do you need to capture for a new employee? How do you handle information of ex employee? When do you do roll over of the payroll? How are different leaves captured? Some of the questions Ill ask the finance department: When do the employees receive their pay check? How do you monitor costs of payroll, after how long? Im going to carry out my research at The Innovation Hub focusing on their VIP payroll system, time sheets and the clocking in and clocking out of work method used. This is a brief introduction of my solution framework Biometrics refers to the process of automatically recognizing a living person using his or her distinguishing, measurable traits. Biometric systems identify the person rather that what the person has (like ID cards) or what they remember (like passwords). The term biometric refers to the statistical analysis of biological phenomena and measurements and has been widely used to describe technologies used for personal identity management (Gupta, 2008). Biometrics technology uses unique, measureable, human characteristics to automatically recognize and verify an individuals identity. Biometrics can measure both physiological and behavioural characteristics. Physiological biometrics is based on precise and accurate measurements of unique features of the human body, and includes: Finger scan which matches the minutiae, pattern, ultrasonic or moirà © fringe imprint, most common of all devices (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Facial scan is designed primarily to find close matches of particular facial features such as eyes, nose, mouth, cheekbones, chin, and forehead against a database of static facial images (Clodfelter, 2010). Iris scan technology relies on the distinctly colored ring that surrounds the pupil of the eye. Irises have approximately 266 distinctive characteristics, including a trabecular meshwork, striations, rings, furrows, a corona, and freckles. Typically, about 173 of these distinctive characteristics are used in creating the template. Irises form during the eighth month of pregnancy and are thought to remain stable throughout an individuals life, barring injury (Rosenzweig, 2004). Retina scan a digital image of the retina of the eye is created to match the pattern against a live sample, scanning done by low-intensity light via an optical coupler (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Hand geometry relies on measurements of the width, height, and length of the fingers, distances between joints, and the shape of knuckles (Rosenzweig, 2004). Behavioral biometrics (based on measurements and data derived from an action) include: Voice recognition measures the wavelengths and frequencies of the voice (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Signature recognition traditional device, a behavioural device, it checks the way a person signs his or her name, and writes letters (Chandra Calderon, 2003). Keystroke recognition a behaviourable biometric device, it measures the force applied and the pattern used to push keys on a keyboard (Chandra Calderon, 2003). I will be utilizing the iris biometric system because: Iris recognition technology is relatively easy to use and can process large numbers of people quickly. The iris is the most unique identifier on the human body. It is the most reliable form of biometrics. Iris patterns are unique and stable, even over a long period of time. Furthermore, iris scanning and recognition systems are very user-friendly. Less intrusive than retina scan, higher matching performance, works well with glasses, across ethnic groups. Biometrics