We reveal the secrets of how plumbers, electricians or gas engineers can build up their business – starting right now.  If you’re in these industries or are running your own small business, can you really afford to miss this article?

There’s no doubt about it, we are in a downturn right now.  Gordon Brown admits it.  That’s obviously presents challenges to some people, but it’s good for others because in some roles, there’s big demand right now.

Let’s take a peek at plumbers, electricians and gas engineers and see what they could do to actually grow their income at this time.  A quick trawl of the internet yields few practical solutions on what this group can do.  So let’s cut all the waffle usually spouted by marketing people in sharp suits that spend most of their time just ‘doing lunch’ and not much else.  Let’s deliver practical secrets that every plumber, electrician and gas engineer can do to help them make even more money.

The first secret is to get qualifications.  Fly-by-night plumbers, electricians and gas engineers are everywhere and Joe Public is petrified of getting stung.  You can stand out from the crowd by actually being good at what you do.  And to do that, you need reputable qualifications and have successfully completed plumbing courses, electrical courses and/or gas courses.  This will give your customers instant confidence.

The second secret is to be truthful.  Be honest with your potential customers.  If you say you’re going to turn up at 10am, and you rock up to their house at 3pm, are you going to get another customer?  Probably not.  That money is now going into someone else’s wallet!

The third secret is not to believe the papers. Some believe that newspaper tell the news.  Others believe that newspapers are there to sell more newspapers than their competitors.  Sensationalism and outrageous opinions sell more newspapers.  The reality is that high streets aren’t ghost towns.  People are spending money.  Customers exist.  And you, as a well qualified, professional and honest tradesman, can now find them.

The fourth secret is that people are happy to refer people that do a good job.  So give them a reason to recommend you.  Make them proud to tell their friends and family you did a great job.  The customers, and the money, will come knocking at your door.

The final secret is to talk to everyone you can.  Everyone is a potential customer.  Friends, family, neighbours and that bloke you see walking his dog every morning.  Everyone is a potential customer because everyone lives in a home that has utilities.

Now the secrets have been revealed, it’s time to ditch your advertising campaign with a multi-million pound budget, thought up by that oh-so-smart advertising man.  Its not, and never has been, about who spends the most, but who makes the most.

Colin Grant is employed by OLCI Construction Training who offer electrical courses from their 13 national training centres. Please see http://www.olci.info for more info

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Never again must the skills people work towards be taken for granted.  These people strive to be truly great so let’s acknowledge their hard work and dedication.

David Beckham practices free kicks for hours every week, every month, every year.  It’s no wonder that he’s probably the best in the world at kicking a stationary ball, something that pretty much everyone has tried to do in their lives.  That level of skill, dedication and determination is to be admired.  But that’s not what’s most impressive.  You see, what’s great about David Beckham is that although he’s been the best in the world at kicking a ball for many years, he’s not stopped practising and learning new skills and techniques to get better and better.  Now that’s very impressive.

Most people, when they think they’re good, the leader in their local area, county, country, world, they start to relax, take their foot off the gas.  That’s when they get overtaken.

Now, that information on it’s own is interesting, but when it’s combined with the idea that everyone is skilled in something, then it becomes really powerful.  To prove a point, just look at what’s around us.  I stare out of my window as I write this and I see a plumbers van and an electricians van, two great examples on my doorstep.

Now, let’s take these as examples – someone is skilled as a plumber or electrician, they’re the best and they’re running their own business but I reckon success comes down to improving their skills with plumbing courses and electrical courses.

Down my street there’s a Doctor.  Would you go to a Doctor who didn’t keep learning new skills?  I certainly wouldn’t.  His ability and desire to learn new skills keeps me healthy.  He’s been a doctor for about 15 years.  It would have been easy for him not to bother, just put his feet up and give random prescriptions to people.  But he’s not like that at all.  He studies, learns and develops new skills.

The plumbers, electricians, doctors, do skills the David Beckham way – they’re good, the best and they go on learning new skills.  It’s impressive and it’s probably taken for granted by everyone else.  But that’s just the people that I saw down my street.  Great people are learning skills and bettering themselves down everyone’s street, every day.  Who do you know that deserves equal applause?

Colin Grant is employed by OLCI Construction Training who offer gas courses from their 13 national training centres. Please see http://www.olci.info for more info

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/getting-skills-and-striving-to-be-the-best-a-david-beckham-approach-987295.html

How could one earn his living without spending considerable efforts in either looking for a job or doing it? The answer is not mind-boggling for the erudite and authorities in the field of easy social climbing as it stands alone as a beacon for those who lost their way towards success with the least cost. Begging is unfortunately the answer, and more importantly the best way, if not the sole effective way, to guarantee a leisurely life all the time. Begging in its most aggressive form, I mean panhandling, is undoubtedly a lucrative activity far better than any other one likely to generate a respectable income.

Not surprisingly, the number of beggars and panhandlers is in the increase. The bulk of begging practitioners are mistakenly considered a deplorable outcome of their harsh environment or helpless people having no choice apart from stretching their hands and asking for charity. The real and hideous truth, however, is that a rampant proportion of uneducated population, in either developed or under-developed countries, think of begging as an unofficial job or even worse as an unalienable right not to be meddled with.

Governments’ failure in the world to deal a deadly blow to this kind of malpractice depicts how thorny the problem is. The wrong way to deal with this phenomenon is to think of it in term of jobs penury or abundance. It has absolutely nothing to do with it. People with a soupsçon of dignity might, understandably, resort to begging for a short period of time when an economical crisis burgeons and leads inevitably to their descent to the bottom of the social ladder. But beyond that, it becomes a practice that blatantly shows how low a caricature of human being can sink.

Countless examples and stories are daily echoed here and there about rich panhandlers who live on begging while having in their possession a real estate or, to a lesser degree, a sum of money that could reinstate them in society as active participants in the economy. Though such stories can easily be rebuffed as rumors standing on shaky grounds, they, all the same, trigger our attention to the alarming dimension the problem has taken. Yet, the so-called rumors are all but unfounded.

In one of many TV documentaries on an African channel that deal with social problems, the panhandling phenomenon was laid bare before the viewers. Two examples drew in particular my attention. The first one was of an old woman having the sum of 30 thousand dollars in her bank account. The second one was a man wearing bundles of bills of about 17 thousand dollars. I said wearing because he wrapped up his body with his bundles of bills under the filthiest clothing one can imagine. At this juncture, one can’t help but meditating about the issue. Those two examples prove that poverty is not the incentive. In this case, what could really motivate such kind of people to continue to swallow their pride and ask for money since they have it even in abundance?

The answer is however no mystery at all. For those people, words such as pride, dignity, shame, are vacuous words whose meaning was partly, if not completely, lost somewhere in the dictionary. They, in fact, shouldn’t shoulder the blame for such ignorance. Had they been taught the meanings of these words, they wouldn’t have been turned into panhandlers. The blame is a shared responsibility between governments and society. A swathe of reform must be implemented to make, from an early age, this kind of values fully digestible. Instead of focusing on wiping out illiteracy, it is more than advisable to insert and discuss the social plagues of society via NGO’s and associations at all levels.

Panhandlers shouldn’t be hunted down like medieval witches; rather their voice should be heard and, more importantly, they should be helped to overcome their insatiable greed as well as their fear of deprivation. Through genuine rehabilitation programs that focus on building sensible and sensitive human beings capable of shoring up society instead of undermining it, panhandling phenomenon can be contained, though not necessarily extinguished. Failing to do that, most governments will continue to spin in a vicious circle that leads nowhere.

Adnane Rehane

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Cold war is a war of no battlefields. The heads of the states never follow the policy of war. A Cold war is not a physical war rather it is a challenge to find out the possible solutions in consultation with other leaders within the country or outside the country before war. ‘Cold War’ means such type of silent war where circumstantial evidence influences one country towards war by way of prolonged discussion against possible evil forces. In diminishing war, the heads of the states become anxious to resolve the crisis in order to depict capacity and strength among other nations of the state. In ruling over a country, one becomes sufferer in respect of economic crisis, administrative blockades and lack of financial problems, the head of the states absorb in deep thought to bring out a solution to resolve the problem. In that hypercritical state of affairs of a nation, a cold war predominates in course of time. According to John Rid, Cold war is not a civil war which takes place in a country due to variation of opinions among different classes of people. Such war sometimes pushes a nation towards a war where many other nations come in contact with the supports and cooperation to streamline their actions and reactions. Americans have faced many cold wars in different critical point of confliction with other nations. Sometimes some nations step forward to display their power of modern weapons with different technology and techniques to resolve the dilemma in relevant fields. In cold wars, some other advantageously oriented critics and movements are of externality to the nation and as such, before a absolute war, chalking out plans in wide ranging field is vitally significant where seeking advice from the generals, brainstorming resolutions among other relevant states and their country cannot be ignored. The strategically brainstorming reaction among top political leaders inside and outside the country to conclude the decision where a complete war is essential or not is magnificent resolution of cold war. The cold war surrounds many other factors relevant to consider weapons, techniques and methods of application of appliances. The signatories to strengthen the stamina of the state are vitally significant and henceforth Cold war occurs; not only that, how far the war is justifiable is also considered in cold war. A country can achieve her target in respect of warfare cost bedded on the verdict of the people. Such brainstorming work may be considered as a doorway of a war but not exactly in the middle of battle field. The logical aspects exists among the people which come from the mental reaction among the top political leader and the countrymen of a state. From time immemorial, the super power states like French, USA, Russia, Germany, China and Japan have suffered from cold war plagues. By unremitting negotiations and brain storming, the country takes decision about a complete war. In major cases, cold war on no account influences a nation for war. A cold war is not a civil war in a state – not a door way to a complete war in the battle field but stops the evil forces for creating chaos, confusion and agitation; this is a cold war which stops the barricades of misunderstanding and administrative lock-up as a tentative flow. In reflecting pre-cold war atmospheres among nations, the conflicts as delineated in the mind of President F. Kennedy, he sought suggestions from his advisors who were well conversant about warfare whether he would be involved in war or otherwise he would find out ways and means to resolve the wide-ranging problems of missiles with Cuba and Russia. Having received separate corrigendum from his advisers, he did not emphasize to involve his country in war. Cold war conflictions cannot be treated as the casualties of the people who are seekers of peace, prosperity and self-reliance

It is universal that many countries have regained their efficient power system over the small states due to cold war. Roosevelt believed that Cold war stops a war wide-ranging for destruction of wealth and manpower. In many cases he had faced unlimited challenges with Cuba, Russia, Vietnam, French and some parts of Europe. Notwithstanding instructions issued to him by his fellow advisors among forces battalion, he had never adopted the policy of war. In this case, it is said that ‘The Cold War was a war of no ‘battlefields’. Cold war is essential on arriving a conclusion based on brainstorming and critical analysis regarding war so that a complete war can be avoided. A war is nothing but a barricade against peace and prosperity of a nation but cold war is a logical aspect based on a variety of hypothesis, analysis as well as formulation of plans and strategies to stop a complete war in question.

Kh. Atiar Rahman, a prolific author of Bangladesh was born in 1955 in the former district of kushtia. From his upbrin

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/cold-war-versus-civil-war-984738.html

School council is the group of elected students for proper and channeled presentation of students’ views. Thus, it carries the responsibility of creating a valued and positive impact in improving school environment, student-teacher relationship, and academic and non-academic performance.

Well-coordinated school council implements proper discipline in aspects of life and thus prepares a child to come out with a high stamina, perseverance, and with profound respect for the elders and seniors.

School council plans about the yearly curriculum with due permission and coordination from teachers or from the Principal to implement innovative and fruitful presentation of different improvement programs to assist the learning session. It also takes care to nurture the values, aptitudes and aims of the students by interactions and mutual exchange of their views and problems with their teachers. So, these councils can contribute a great deal in the social and personal development of the students.  It is possible to nourish and develop the qualities of social responsibility, self-esteem, self awareness and love for freedom in every child by the positive impact created by school councils.

The school council should promote a healthy, clean, safe, and stimulating environment in the school so that the students learn to accommodate themselves with cleanliness and awareness towards hygiene life from their childhood. This will surely create a positive impact when these children grow up to become responsible adults.

The school council should arrange, with the amendment in administration by the school’s governing body, the active participation of parents in school programs, in addition to exchange of suggestions and plans for healthy promotional activities for students’ development.

The developmental plans by school councils initiate improvement of personal and impersonal skills in a student. Such plans help in the development of effective communication skills as part of the desired grooming plan for students. So, it goes without saying that the school councils play an important role in the overall development and improvement of the students.

Author is a consultant for school councils. He has worked with several international schools in Bangalore, India , USA, UK and Canada.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/how-do-school-councils-impact-on-social-development-of-child-981376.html

A school council is formed by a group of students, elected for proper representation of students’ viewpoint in order to improve the quality of school standard and mutual relationship of teachers, students, and guardians. Student forums and youth parliaments are also part of the student council.

Although there are many school councils which are only formal in their existence and hardly contribute any input for the betterment of school and student welfare, there are a few school councils that work efficiently to improve the school ambience and ensure cleanliness of the school campus.

Some of the remarkable performance of school councils are campaigning to local council to get their toilets sorted out, redesigning of school cafeteria and planning for new and improved lunch menu, introducing new hot line for registering complain against college/school ragging, change in school uniform making a reasonable fusion between convention and convenience (for example, from blazer to comfortable and trendy sweatshirts), and designing and promoting some attractive folders cum school diaries for maintaining school records. Some school councils have also worked effectively in the collection of fund raising for social and moral support in case of some national or international calamity.

Often the school councils do not get success in their working schedule because of the lack of coordination and proper knowledge of handling an intricate issue by the member students. In this situation, different websites for school councils of different schools can provide them some concrete idea about the yearly performance of other school councils. In case of success stories, it is possible to share their experience and problems in order to apply the same in handling a similar problem by another school council. In fact, the website solutions, if consulted, work as readymade suggestion-resource for running the administration of local student councils.

In case of a national issue, the student councils can contact each other by means of websites and form a forum to ascertain their viewpoint for the disaster, thereby working together to fight the crisis.

Author is a consultant for school councils in USA, UK and Canada. He has worked with several international schools India as well.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/effective-web-solutions-to-manage-school-councils-981460.html

The inter-linkages between society and education work both ways. While we all know of the impact of education on society, let’s also examine the impact of society on education. Education is influenced greatly by various societal factors including norms, culture, development, traditions and beliefs.

Education is not only the mode of learning facts and figures. Most of our learning actually happens when we observe and learn from those around us. In this aspect, the society and the people who belong to it play a major role. Society includes our family, friends, relatives and the people who live in our community, county or even our country. Take for instance the case of people in impoverished societies. In these poor societies, the lack of resources greatly impacts and impedes education. Often the children of such societies cannot afford costly books, computers, laboratories or practical work and may have to eke out a living themselves. In such societies, bare literacy is sometimes all that the people can afford.

Societal values also greatly impact education. In many underdeveloped countries where female emancipation and freedom is lacking, almost half the population (females) has severely curbed or curtailed education. This is due to the ignorance and prevalence of age-old customs and traditions. On the other hand, in USA and many European countries, gender based differences in education are not present. This illustrates how the customs and traditions prevalent in some specific societies influence education.

In developing countries like India, the caste system in society defines education levels in various sections of the population. It is usually seen that the so called ‘higher’ castes are educationally progressive, whereas the backward castes and classes lack education as the emphasis is on earning a living through menial jobs in the case of the latter.

So, it goes without saying that the society has a tremendous impact on education.

Author is a consultant for student councils. He has worked with several international schools Bangalore, USA, UK and Canada.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/what-is-the-imapct-of-society-on-education-981508.html

Article Body: (500 to 800 words)

At a time when the industry people are banking upon executive skills, it becomes crucial for an individual to hone managerial skills and knowledge levels. Organizations gain considerable benefits from the newly acquired skills and knowledge of their employees. Why only professional organizations? With several institutions on the block offering time management, and stress management courses, it is now possible to bring a change in life – for the better of course. MBA is in fact the key to personal career development. In part time and full time courses, MBA institutions across the globe, and Singapore Management University in particular, regularly schedule weekend seminars and tutorial sessions for students and busy executives. This is done is such a way that they can balance their MBA studies without hampering their commitments at work and at home.

Be Updated! Be at Par with the Rest of the World!
These days, reputed organizations with an international focus are incorporating new concepts and developing additional language skills. Seminars go a long way as far as self improvement of students is concerned. The programs are based on modules where the participants meet at a regular interval, maybe once a month on average and get the opportunity to talk to people, share similar goals and analyze if the goals are attainable with the help of these programs. The seminars and executive master programs are designed to help the students learn through professional development and dynamic knowledge exchange.

Seminars and Workshops Keep You a Step Ahead
Executive seminars and workshops provide affordable and easy access to education for all students. It is the flexibility and the diversity of topics ranging from basic to hot-topic issues that are helpful for all – from novices to CEOs and everyone in between. Training on leadership and strategy, senior management program, finance accounting, risk management and compliance, investment, marketing and innovation, customer services, training on organizational psychology and counseling and also on personal development ensure an overall development of the students. At workshops, working executives from different industries and organizations meet, learn, and share their experiences. They are required to complete a series of assessments and work assignments according to international quality standards, in order to obtain their Executive MBA.

Ensure Overall Development
Seminars/ workshops for MBA have been successfully used in pre- or post-conference association sessions as well as in organizational settings. They describe and illustrate how organizations can use such tools as environmental scanning, vulnerability/ opportunity audits, issues management, scenarios and other tools of anticipatory management to plan more effectively. Besides, such workshops and executive seminars also brush up managerial skills by  

•    Teaching the art of making great presentations
•    Through the art of effective questioning
•    Helping to enhance performance
•    Enhancing employee retention and morale
•    Decreasing bank liability because employees are informed
It is only after attending executive seminars that students realize what make a good presenter and a great presenter.

So Where to Go for Further Education Today?
Aventis School of Management is committed to ensure individuals and institutions to realize their true potential. What goes in favor of Aventis School of Management is that the institution is one of the very few that collaborates with professional institutions, such as the Centre for Behavioral Science (CBS) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). The purpose of such collaboration is to bring internationally renowned professors and industry leaders to impart the best in professional development courses available in Asia.

Join an MBA School today to realize your true potential.

Mark Jonathon teaches, coaches executive master programs and master programs Singapore. He is an expert at using articles like this to drive traffic to his website, and has taught hundreds of clients his secrets.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/executive-seminars-and-workshops-for-mba-982351.html

INTRODUCTION

The main cause of environmental degradation world over has been the relentless industrialization resulting in the release of huge amount of effluents, emission of various chemicals and creation of hazardous wastes by industrial units endangering quality of life and unmindful of the future social and economic consequences of their managerial decisions. This necessitated a global movement for environmental protection, the beginnings of which can be traced to the Stockholm Declaration in 1972, followed by Vienna Convention for the Protection of Zone Layers in 1985 and the signing of Montreal Protocol in 1987 to reduce the layer of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) from atmosphere.

The movement truly gathered momentum after the hugely successful First International Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, with more than hundred heads of nations attending and signing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).  The aim was to stabilize the density of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, whose increase triggered Global Warming and the attendant climate change issues.  Sustainable development since then has become an ubiquitous theme of discussions the world over.  The buzzword today is Kyoto Protocol of 1997 under which the signatory countries have agreed to accept Environmental Degradation Accounting (EDA) as a mandate for action.  As of November 2007, 175 countries including Brazil, China and India have ratified the Kyoto Protocol signifying that EDA has now become an essential feature of environmental policies of most governments of the world.                                                                                                                                                    

 ACCOUNTABILITY

Currently, the phrase Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER), like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has attained ethical overtones in the pronouncements of industry leaders. Corporate releases often make it a point to express their allegiance to the CER concept out of a sense of duty, if not a sense of guilt.  It is agreed by all that economic growth is accompanied with increase in industrial production, rise in income levels and greater exploitation of natural resources as raw matter; but unhappily it also brings with it the curse of  environmental degradation irrespective of whether the country is developed or developing.  It is the industrial organizations which are both the ‘users’ and ‘polluters’ of environment and they spoil the quality of air, water and land disfiguring landscapes, distorting skylines and debasing water bodies in the process. Obviously they have to be held answerable for their sins of commission and omission.

The damage to environment has serious implications for human life: for instance, air pollution can cause serious health problems affecting work efficiency of people, increasing medical care expenses and causing loss of earnings. Water pollution – both surface and ground – due to discharge of unprocessed effluents may pose health hazards.. River and sea water contamination due to oil spill can affect fish yield and production of other sea foods. Deforestation and stone quarrying can lead to soil erosion and destruction of ecological balance.  Degradation issues like green house effect, destruction of rain forest, acid rain, floods and hurricanes, irreversible depletion of natural resources and high levels of all kinds of pollution therefore need to be accounted for in terms of their social and economic costs.  It is also incumbent to fix the moral responsibility for ecological damage control and mitigation.

METHODOLOGY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACCOUNTING

1. It has to review activities which affect the environment by continuously gathering relevant data and information about the company’s environment related assets and liabilities.

Difficulty arises in imputing monetary values to loss of welfare associated with pollution of air, water, soil or sunlight.  Specialized valuation techniques have been evolved for this purpose, although they have their own limitations.  Most cost benefit analyses follow the method of shadow pricing under which values are assigned for items having no market price.  Shadow price techniques certainly need to be adopted to fix monetary denominations for items of environmental degradation.

Environmental accounting is done in three stages (i) a comprehension of the business environment (ii) identification of impact of industrial activities on environment and (iii) the determination of environmental costs and expenditure for inclusion in financial accounts.

EVIRONMENTAL REPORTING

One of the important tools of environmental management is the Annual Report of a company incorporating and disclosing all activities having environmental implications.  The Report has to be published and circulated by the company to all its stake holders with in order to communicate and furnish to them details of pollution effects of the company’s activities along with various measures adopted by it to mitigate the adverse effects.  The Report has also to delineate company’s policy regarding environment protection and the specific areas where it may have failed to make amends.  It has to provide information on compliance with government legislation on the use of clean technologies, trademark and discharge of effluents, disposal of waste material, ventilation for light and air, noise reduction – in short, all measures relating to safety and health of the workers and the welfare of local community.

The report has to carry quantitative information about the total expenditure incurred by it item wise for the protection or improvement of environment both within the company premises and the surrounding area, as also an assessment of the costs and benefits of having an environmental budget.  In fine, the company should disclose in its report both the positive and negative impact of its activities on environment,

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

In India, due to increased public outcry and also judicial intervention, the attitude towards compliance of environmental, health and safety regulations by companies has undergone a favourable change in recent times.  The regulatory provisions laid down under various Acts like Factories Act (1948), Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1974), Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act (1981), Environment (Protection) Act (1986), Hazardous Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules (1989/2000), Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules (1989), Public Liability Insurance Act (1991),  Bio-medical Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules (1998), Noise (Regulation and Control) Rules (2000), Ozone Depleting Substance ( Regulation and Control) Rules (2000), Chemical Accidents (Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules (1996), and such other Rules relating to  explosives, petroleum, electricity, boilers, diesel engine emissions etc have all been updated from time to time in conformity with world standards.

The government has specified the obligations and responsibilities of companies in regard to limit of discharge of pollutants, furnishing of information to prescribed agencies, permission of entry by officials for inspection and collection of samples, submission of Environmental Statements and obtaining of prior clearances for new projects or modernization and expansion of projects. The government is also encouraging the integration of environmental issues at the planning stage of a plant as also the use of pro-active compliance related tools like voluntary agreements and charter on corporate environmental responsibilities

In 1994, the Government of India had issued a notification requiring industries to undertake Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).  It had also issued a list of 29 categories of polluting industries needing special attention.  For purpose of illustration, an effort has been made here to throw light on the environmental performance of two industries viz. steel and cement which are included in the polluting category.

 INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY

The Steel Industry today is having a good time with private and public sector units enjoying greater volume of turnover, better capacity utilization and higher sales and profit margins.  Global market conditions are also favorable with great upsurge in steel consumption by sectors like construction, real estate, infrastructure and transportation. 

The National Steel policy, announced by Government of India on 3rd November 2005, aims at modernizing the steel industry to global standards by improving efficiency and productivity in all areas of operation including environmental management.  It is notable that in the post deregulation period 1991 onwards, the private sector has expanded much faster than the public sector in terms of capacity creation and today it accounts for 59 percent of country’s total crude steel output and 71 percent of finished steel output. Currently, India is the largest producer of sponge iron in the world thanks to rapid expansion in the small scale coal based units.

Considering the industry from the environmental point of view, concern is often expressed about  the relative neglect of Research and Development by our steel industry resulting in non-application of such technologies as are relevant to our natural resources endowment and which could minimize the damage to environment.  The priority areas where R&D efforts need to be directed are effluent control in coke ovens, development of technology for ultra low carbon dioxide steel making, waste recycling and utilization, reduction of power consumption etc.  The National Task Force for steel industry on environment, constituted by the Government of India in 1989, had identified certain critical areas for R. & D. with a view to optimize raw material consumption, minimize generation of pollution and also energy consumption.  The idea was to make the whole process of steel making more eco-friendly.

Steel making is basically an energy intensive process.  The Indian plants consume energy in the range of 6.45 – 8.5 giga. cal per tonne of crude steel, while the world consumption norm is 4.5 – 5 giga cal. We therefore need to evolve energy- saving and conservation technologies and put them to use urgently.  Re-use of internally generated fuel gases or utilization of waste gas can help in minimizing energy consumption.

Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are a matter of great concern for the steel industry it being the third largest contributor of GHG in India.  Our steel plants emit an average of 2.7 tonne of carbon dioxide per tonne of crude steel as against a Japanese and German plant average of less than 1.5 – 1.8 tonne. The sulphur oxide and nitrogen oxide emissions are also much higher in India and need to be reduced through desulphurization of fuel gases and use of efficient combustion system.

The steel industry should hitherto be more resourceful in the utilization of raw materials and in waste minimization. The generation of slag in blast furnace and steel smelting operations needs to be further reduced.  Ways and means should be found for recycling of wastes like sludges and dusts through import of technology from other countries.  By the end of Eleventh Five Year Plan the estimated dust emissions from steel production overall are feared to rise to over 500 tonnes per day.  This needs to be brought down by installing high efficiency fabric filters.

The Report of the working group on steel industry for the Eleventh Five Year Plan states that recycling of steel is environmentally friendly and since steel is 100% recyclable and maintains its properties through successive product cycles without loss of quality, it can be recycled unlimited number of times.  Recycling can also help avoid environmental degradation involved in iron ore mining operations.  Of course, recyclability will depend very much on the availability of used steel.

Progressive manufacturers of steel in India are nowadays trying to improve their environmental performance by following the currently available Integrated Management Systems like: for Quality (ISO 9001), for Environment (ISO 14001), for Safety and Occupational Health (OHSAS 1800) and for Social Accounting (SA 8000).  The government has in recent years introduced several laws pertaining to Handling of Hazardous Wastes, Application of Emission Standards and Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection (CREP)

According to the Working Group Report, the technology initiatives of Indian steel industries include: Environmental Accounting, Carbon Accounting, Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Eco-restoration of Degraded Land, Phasing out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS), Clean Technology Development, Greenery Development etc.

The costs of installation of measures for pollution control, energy conservation and safety and health are generally high and have to be borne by the industry in the interest of social good.  A right strategy needs to be evolved for controlling various physical hazards in the form of noise, vibration, heat stress, dust stress and radiation, chemical hazards caused by inhaled gases, fumes, vapors, asbestos etc, safety hazards from electrical, mechanical or pneumatic sources of energy and accident hazards caused by cranes, hoists, falling weights etc, with the help and advice of experts and in keeping with the legislations enacted by Central and State Governments.

INDIAN CEMENT INDUSTRY

The Indian Cement Industry made up of 125 large and over 300 small plants and having an installed capacity of 165 million tonnes enjoys the second largest market, next to China.  Although the dominant players have brought about consolidation of units, the industry still remains pretty fragmented.  The industry was freed from price and distribution regulations in 1989 and subsequently de-licensed in 1991. 

Production of cement takes place in five stages: (i) quarrying, (ii) preparation of raw mixture from limestone in silo, (iii) kiln processing, (iv) grinding in clinker silo with flash ash and blast furnace slag as additional material, and (v) The packing and transportation of cement to end-user or consumer.

The energy intensive character of cement industry and the release of heat and significant amounts of carbon dioxide have serious Global Warming implications. The manufacturing process releases oxides of nitrogen (NO and NO2), dust including PM10, mercury, cadmium, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide and green house gases like carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The environmental degradation caused by all these pollutants has a material impact on air quality, land quality, habitats, biodiversity and human health. The transportation of cement either in bulk or in bag packs – the latter being the normal mode of delivery in developing countries – also causes air borne pollution in the form of dust.  Besides, noise and vibration is caused while operating heavy machinery and blasting in quarries.  In fact, all stages of cement production – sourcing of raw materials, on-site manufacture and distribution to the end user – have the potential to exert pressure on environment.

It is time we in India learn from the happenings in China where a study of air quality in the heavily industrialized Pearl River Delta Region of Southern China has revealed that cement factories have given rise to a choking pollution that blankets the entire region.  The construction materials including cement have contributed heavily in terms of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and soot in the air.  Similar exposure to hazardous air pollutants in our country can cause untold permanent harm to the health of not only our factory workers but also the community in the surrounding region. 

Environmental damage by cement industry can be mitigated by using new equipments to reduce dust emissions during quarrying and manufacturing, using modern technology to trap and separate exhaust gases, by returning closed down quarries to nature or re-cultivating them.  Concentrations of CO2 and SO2 could be periodically measured through tests for emissions and kept under control as per the government regulations.

The CO2 emissions, which are the main culprit in global warming, need special attention.. They fall in 3 categories (i) those derived from de-carbonization of limestone, (ii) from kiln fuel combustion and (iii) produced by transport vehicles within the plant and outside as part of distribution chain.  The typical value worldwide for CO2 from category (i) is 0.50 kg of CO2  per kg of cement, from category (ii) it is 0.24 kg of CO2 per kg of cement in the case of an efficient plant, and for category (iii) it is insignificant at 0.002 – 0.005.  All the three add up to around 0.80 kg of CO2 per kg of finished cement.  Similarly the typical energy consumption in cement production is around 90-150 KWh per tonne of cement.  With the use of hydro-electric or nuclear power and introduction of efficiency in manufacturing, the energy consumption can be brought down to a sufficiently low level.

Data available for the years 1991, 1992 and 1993 for CO2 emissions in India vs. Best Practice give some idea of the relative position. As can be seen, our CO2 emissions at least during the 1991-93 period were higher than the Best Practice.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions in Cement Production: India Vs Best Practice

                                                              Tonne Co2 per tonne cement

                                                   1991                1992                1993

India                                            0.86                 0.91                 0.89

Best Practice                                0.63                 0.63                 0.63

Source: Katja Schumacher and Jayant Sathaye E.O.L.A.N. Laboratory Berkeley, USA (1999)

Happily the Indian Cement Industry today is seized with the problem.  Since the wet process consumes excessive energy, 96.3 percent of the cement kilns have now switched to using the energy efficient dry process for clinker production and the wet process is gradually getting phased out.  Shift to low carbon fuels, application of alternative waste fuels like lignite, pet coke, tires, rice husks, groundnut shells as substitute for coal in cement kilns, are some of the emission mitigation measures which are being adopted by the industry today.

The Indian cement industry is actively pursuing policies which improve productivity and energy efficiency. Technology is being upgraded in all sections of plants like quarrying, manufacturing, equipment and machinery, packaging and transportation.  Detailed diagnostic studies of production processes and energy audits are being carried out. The Central and State Pollution Control Boards have laid down standards for CO2 emission levels at different stages of manufacture and the industry is cooperating in sheer self-interest. 

SUMMING UP

There are two ways in which environmental degradation can be dealt with: either the companies or authorities should try to prevent it before it happens, or reverse it once it has happened.  This is what is meant by avoidance and restoration.  However, managerial decisions in regard to measures of avoidance and restoration need the support of dependable data from company’s environmental degradation accounts. The crux of the matter therefore is a faithfully carried out evaluation of environmental performance of the company and its proper audit from the angle of pragmatically applicable laws and regulations laid down by government for the corporate sector.

Mandatory corporate environment accounting statements can alone reflect the environmental losses, costs and liabilities of a company and help in allocation of investment to salvage the situation.  It is time the government agencies, regulatory bodies and accounting associations come together to evolve a fool proof system of proper disclosure of environmental degradation accounts based on well formulated guidelines for measurement, costing and appraisal..

The first thing to do in laying down guidelines is to explain how the environmental effects can be identified and then measured and reported in the statement.  The second is to spell out how to allocate for hidden environmental costs.  It is also necessary that an exhaustive inventory of cost related items like liquid effluents treatment, waste gas, solid waste, recycling, safety measures, preventive devices, employee training for environmental awareness, R&D costs of innovation of environment-friendly processes and products is also prepared .  In a parallel step, the environmental benefits of new processes or products, and other fiscal benefits etc. should also be quantified to complete the accounting exercise.

In fine, corporate environment accounting statements should have the quality of transparency, inclusiveness, neutrality, accuracy and audit ability to make them purposive and meaningful.

REFERENCES : 

1. Dr. Bhabhatosh Banerjee, 2006, Corporate Environmental Accounting and Reporting, the Chartered Accountant, April 2006.
2. Dr. Bhaskar Bora, ‘Environmental Accounting for Sustainable Development: A     Case Study of Proposed Seismic Survey of Oil in Assam, North-Eastern India

             http://ne-cord.org/.

1. -Environment Agency, November 2005, Measuring Environmental Performance,   Sector Report for Steel Industry, Bristol, U.K.
2. Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines, June 2000
3. Jonathan Reuvid (Ed),2007, Sustainable Enterprise – Profiting from Best Practice,            Simmons and Simmons, London
4. Katja Schumacher and Jayant Sathaye, July 1999, India: Cement Industry:             Productivity, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emissions, E.O.L.B.N. Laboratory, Berkelay, USA .
5. Planning Commission, G.O. I., 2007, Report of the Working Group on Steel          Industry for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2006-2011)
6. Quality Council of India, Workshop on Auditing for EHS Legislation
7. Santimoy Patra: Accounting and Reporting for Environment – A Case Study         of TISCO
8. Siddhartha Mitra, “An Accounting Framework for Environmental Degradation:     An Attempt to Bridge Gaps in EKC Literature”  www.ssrn.com
9. Swapna Mujumdar, 2005: Heard of Green Accountancy?” Women’s Feature         Service, http://www.infochangeindia.org
10. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, Portland Cement  A Report by Crisil for IAEF (India Brand Enquiry Foundation)

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/management-and-environmental-degradation-accounting-979763.html

Every now and then we all could use some motivation and inspiration, or even just a reminder of why we do what we do.  Here are the top 12 inspirational teacher quotes to do just that!

12.  “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” — Derek Bok, President, Harvard University

11.  “The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.” — Mark Van Doren

10.  “I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.” — Lily Tomlin

9.  “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.” — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

8.  “A child miseducated is a child lost.” — John F. Kennedy

7.  “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” — Kahlil Gibran

6.  “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” — Malcolm X

5.  “Being able to help someone learn something is a talent.” — Margaret Riel

4.  “Technology is just a tool. In terms of getting the kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is the most important.” — Bill Gates

3.  “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”  — William Arthur Ward

2.  “I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.” — Alexander the Great

1. “Teaching is not just a job. It is a human service, and it must be thought of as a mission.” — Dr. Ralph Tyler

E.K. Garcia is a writer at TeachHUB.com and the author of The “Top 12 Inspirational Teacher Quotes” which is part of a new, exciting series made available by TeachHUB.com. This series is meant to provide fun and insight relevant to K-12 education. TeachHUB.com is a new, online resource center designed by teachers, for teachers and is tailored to address the everyday needs of teachers both inside and outside of the classroom. To view the entire TeachHUB Top 12 series as well as other articles by E.K. Garcia, visit http://www.TeachHUB.com.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/top-12-inspirational-teacher-quotes-980112.html