I think that it's high time that I speak out about this.
There is such a strong perception out there that you have to be wealthy to collect art. Of course, being rich certainly helps and poor people who can barely put food on the table probably aren't thinking about their next art purchase.
The connection between wealth and art collecting is so tight that it'll probably never be unraveled. That's such a shame because ultimately the entire "artworld" suffers. The perception creates so many barriers. Living artists suffer because people who aren't rich, but who love art are often too intimidated to even walk into a gallery!
Why look at things that only "rich people" can afford? It's like dangling a carrot stick in front of your own face! Consequently, many people don't even see artists' work, which in turn, doesn't sell. Some struggling galleries often charge high prices (which only the rich can afford) to pay expenses and of course, make money. The perception that only rich people can afford art creates a very small target audience. Everyone has to make money, galleries included.
It's such a sad cycle. What's sadder is that this is happening during a time when contemporary art sales are hot! But guess what? In most cases, it's not the "Average Joe" who is buying art. However, if the "Average Joe" did buy art, even two paintings a year, that would send art sales through the roof! Artists and galleries wouldn't be able to keep up with the demand!
So, how can we get "Joe" to buy? Let's count the ways:
1. I think artists need to get better at promoting their own work. Let's face it folks, we're living in the age of self-promotion. If you don't get out there and promote your own product, who will? Galleries? Yes, but they can't sell everything all at once! Also, when you're showing your work, TRY to be warm and friendly! Dark and moody may work while you're working the canvas, but not when you're working potential buyers.
2. I think artists also need to get better at putting prices on their work and be willing to negotiate just a little. Most people are NOT going to spend even $500.00 on a painting, but perhaps they'll pay $250.00 for something else an artist may have. Artists can simultaneously create "high-end" works and more "affordable" works for people who love art, but aren't rich. Take a cue from designers like Todd Oldham. Again, let's face it, there are too many other things out there competing for "Average Joe's" money. Ipods, cellphones, laptops and flatscreen televisions are mighty tempting!
3. The artworld needs to open up. It can be very insular and snobbish. This keeps MOST potential buyers away. The last thing someone wants is to be snubbed in a gallery after mustering up the courage to visit in the first place! Trust me on this one.
4. People can only buy what they SEE. Visual connection is the key element of desire. I can only want something if I've seen it first! We need to get art on display EVERYWHERE. Galleries, art fairs and websites cannot do it alone. People should be able to see the work of living artists not only in galleries, coffee shops and bookstores, but also in restaurants, hotels, airports, sports arenas, government buildings, hospitals, music halls, public cafeterias, train stations, MALLS ... places where captive audiences gather. Place where REAL people gather. I can only want it if I've seen it first. Then, people would say, "Hey, look at that! I must have it!"
Could this all work? Maybe, maybe not. Isn't it worth a try?
Whenever I tell people that I collect art, I usually get the same response. You must be rich! Or, "How much money do you make?"
We've got to change that, people. There's too much living art to be sold to far too many "Average Joes" who just need a little encouragement. Let's get creative.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Bihar - Madhubani Arts
Madhhubani - Rural Art
Traditionally this art was practiced by women only to decorate their huts during religious and important occasions. Nowadays men have also taken up this art form and paintings are done on paper, cloth, canvas etc. But even though women in the villages around Madhubani have been practicing their folk art for centuries, the world at large has come to know about these women and to consider them to be "artists" only in the last thirty years. Even now, most of their work remains anonymous. The women, some of them illiterate, are in any case reluctant to consider themselves individual producers of "works of art" and only a few of them mark the paintings with their own name.
The colors used were traditionally derived from natural sources like plants, charcoal soot, ochre etc. Black color is obtained by mixing soot with cow dung.Yellow color is obtained from turmeric or pollen or lime and the milk of banyan leaves. Blue from Indigo. Red from Kusum flower juice, red sandalwood or rose. Green from the leaves of apple trees, White from rice powder, Orange from palasha flowers.
Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati. Natural objects like the sun, the moon and religious plants like Tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty ; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds and even geometric designs. Objects depicted in the walls of kohabar ghar (where newly wed couple see each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure and procreation.Legend says that this artform originated during the time of Ramayana when King Janak commissioned artists to paint pictures of his daughter Sita getting married to Rama.
A Madhubani painting in the Godana style by Chano Devi, depicting a scene from the myth of God Salhesa. (right) A painting of Goddess Kali in the Bharni style by Krishnakant Jha.
MITHILA, the birthplace of Sita of the Ramayana, lies in the state of Bihar, bounded by the Himalayas in the north and the rivers Kosi, Ganga and Gandak in the east, south and west respectively. Over centuries, the people of Mithila have developed their own tradition of art, popularly known as Madhubani painting, named after a district and a town in the region. What is unique about this tradition - which dates back to the 7th century A.D., and is prevalent even today - is that it is the women who mastered and practiced it.
In their earliest form, Madhubani paintings appear as aripana (floor paintings) and kohabar (wall paintings), done by the women of the Brahmin and the Kayastha castes. Painters today do it on paper. An exhibition of such paintings, titled "Mithila Paintings", was held in Kolkata from January 3 to January 12. It was curated by Neel Rekha, an art historian, whose dissertation on the women painters of Mithila titled "Art and Assertion of Identity: Women and Madhubani Paintings" is to be published shortly.
Traditionally, Madhubani paintings were made on the eve of certain rituals and ceremonies, such as pujas, vratas, or weddings. According to Neel Rekha, who has stayed with the painters and traced the roots of the folk art tradition, these paintings may have had their origins in tantric rituals. Mithila has from time immemorial been a seat of the tantric tradition, with strong leanings towards the Saiva and Sakti cults. The tradition found expression in domestic rituals, and that is perhaps why the art form was once restricted to women. But that did not stop the artists from transcending the domain of practical utility in order to create something exquisite from an aesthetic point of view.
Traditionally this art was practiced by women only to decorate their huts during religious and important occasions. Nowadays men have also taken up this art form and paintings are done on paper, cloth, canvas etc. But even though women in the villages around Madhubani have been practicing their folk art for centuries, the world at large has come to know about these women and to consider them to be "artists" only in the last thirty years. Even now, most of their work remains anonymous. The women, some of them illiterate, are in any case reluctant to consider themselves individual producers of "works of art" and only a few of them mark the paintings with their own name.
The colors used were traditionally derived from natural sources like plants, charcoal soot, ochre etc. Black color is obtained by mixing soot with cow dung.Yellow color is obtained from turmeric or pollen or lime and the milk of banyan leaves. Blue from Indigo. Red from Kusum flower juice, red sandalwood or rose. Green from the leaves of apple trees, White from rice powder, Orange from palasha flowers.
Madhubani paintings mostly depict nature and Hindu religious motifs, and the themes generally revolve around Hindu deities like Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati. Natural objects like the sun, the moon and religious plants like Tulsi are also widely painted, along with scenes from the royal court and social events like weddings. Generally no space is left empty ; the gaps are filled by paintings of flowers, animals, birds and even geometric designs. Objects depicted in the walls of kohabar ghar (where newly wed couple see each other in the first night) are symbols of sexual pleasure and procreation.Legend says that this artform originated during the time of Ramayana when King Janak commissioned artists to paint pictures of his daughter Sita getting married to Rama.
A Madhubani painting in the Godana style by Chano Devi, depicting a scene from the myth of God Salhesa. (right) A painting of Goddess Kali in the Bharni style by Krishnakant Jha.
MITHILA, the birthplace of Sita of the Ramayana, lies in the state of Bihar, bounded by the Himalayas in the north and the rivers Kosi, Ganga and Gandak in the east, south and west respectively. Over centuries, the people of Mithila have developed their own tradition of art, popularly known as Madhubani painting, named after a district and a town in the region. What is unique about this tradition - which dates back to the 7th century A.D., and is prevalent even today - is that it is the women who mastered and practiced it.
In their earliest form, Madhubani paintings appear as aripana (floor paintings) and kohabar (wall paintings), done by the women of the Brahmin and the Kayastha castes. Painters today do it on paper. An exhibition of such paintings, titled "Mithila Paintings", was held in Kolkata from January 3 to January 12. It was curated by Neel Rekha, an art historian, whose dissertation on the women painters of Mithila titled "Art and Assertion of Identity: Women and Madhubani Paintings" is to be published shortly.
Traditionally, Madhubani paintings were made on the eve of certain rituals and ceremonies, such as pujas, vratas, or weddings. According to Neel Rekha, who has stayed with the painters and traced the roots of the folk art tradition, these paintings may have had their origins in tantric rituals. Mithila has from time immemorial been a seat of the tantric tradition, with strong leanings towards the Saiva and Sakti cults. The tradition found expression in domestic rituals, and that is perhaps why the art form was once restricted to women. But that did not stop the artists from transcending the domain of practical utility in order to create something exquisite from an aesthetic point of view.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Agile Methodology
What Is Agile?
Agile methodology is an approach to project management, typically used in software development. It helps teams respond to the unpredictability of building software through incremental, iterative work cadences, known as sprints. But before discussing agile methodologies further, it’s best to first turn to the methodology that inspired it: waterfall, or traditional sequential development.
Where Did Agile Come From?
In 1970, Dr. Winston Royce presented a paper entitled “Managing the Development of Large Software Systems,” which outlined his ideas on sequential development. In essence, his presentation asserted that a project could be developed much like an automobile on an assembly line, in which each piece is added in sequential phases. This means that every phase of the project must be completed before the next phase can begin. Thus, developers first gather all of a project’s requirements, then complete all of its architecture and design, then write all of the code, and so on. There is little, if any, communication between the specialized groups that complete each phase of work.
It’s easy to see how this development agile methodology is far from optimized. First of all, it assumes that every requirement of the project can be identified before any design or coding occurs. Put another way, do you think you could tell a team of developers everything that needed to be in a piece of software before it was up and running? Or would it be easier to describe your vision to the team if you could react to functional software? Many software developers have learned the answer to that question the hard way: At the end of a project, a team might have built the software it was asked to build, but, in the time it took to create, business realities have changed so dramatically that the product is irrelevant. In that scenario, a company has spent time and money to create software that no one wants. Couldn’t it have been possible to ensure the end product would still be relevant before it was actually finished?
Why Agile?
Agile development methodology attempts to provide many opportunities to assess the direction of a project throughout the development lifecycle. This is achieved through regular cadences of work, known as sprints or iterations, at the end of which teams must present a shippable increment of work. Thus by focusing on the repetition of abbreviated work cycles as well as the functional product they yield, agile methodology could be described as “iterative” and “incremental.” In waterfall, development teams only have one chance to get each aspect of a project right. In an agile paradigm, every aspect of development — requirements, design, etc. — is continually revisited throughout the lifecycle. When a team stops and re-evaluates the direction of a project every two weeks, there’s always time to steer it in another direction.
The results of this “inspect-and-adapt” approach to development greatly reduce both development costs and time to market. Because teams can gather requirements at the same time they’re gathering requirements, the phenomenon known as “analysis paralysis” can’t really impede a team from making progress. And because a team’s work cycle is limited to two weeks, it gives stakeholders recurring opportunities to calibrate releases for success in the real world. In essence, it could be said that the agile development methodology helps companies build the right product. Instead of committing to market a piece of software that hasn’t even been written yet, agile empowers teams to optimize their release as it’s developed, to be as competitive as possible in the marketplace. In the end, a development agile methodology that preserves a product’s critical market relevance and ensures a team’s work doesn’t wind up on a shelf, never released, is an attractive option for stakeholders and developers alike.
The Scrum methodology of agile software development marks a dramatic departure from waterfall management. In fact, Scrum and other agile processes were inspired by its shortcomings. The Scrum methodology emphasizes communication and collaboration, functioning software, and the flexibility to adapt to emerging business realities — all attributes that suffer in the rigidly ordered waterfall paradigm.
business realities — all attributes that suffer in the rigidly ordered waterfall paradigm.
Scrum Methodology
For many developers in the software industry, the agile methodology is nothing new. Most folks know that agile was a direct response to the dominant project management paradigm, waterfall, and borrows many principles from lean manufacturing. In 2001, as this new management paradigm began to pick up momentum, agile was formalized when 17 pioneers of the agile methodology met at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and issued the Agile Manifesto. Their manifesto is now considered the foundational text for agile practices and principles. Most importantly, the manifesto spelled out the philosophy behind agile, which places a new emphasis on communication and collaboration; functioning software; and the flexibility to adapt to emerging business realities.
But for all of the strides the Agile Manifesto made in revising a philosophical approach to software development, it didn’t provide the concrete processes that development teams depend on when deadlines — and stakeholders — start applying pressure. As a result, when it comes to the nuts and bolts of running a team with agile every day, organizations turn to particular subsets of the agile methodology. These include Crystal Clear, Extreme Programming, Feature Driven Development, Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), Scrum, and others. At my organization, we use Scrum and I’ve found it to be an incredibly effective management methodology for everyone involved, including developers and stakeholders. If you’re interested in learning about the other agile methodologies, there are plenty of resources out there. This blog is designed to provide some essential background for those who are new to Scrum.
What’s Unique about Scrum?
Of all the agile methodologies, Scrum is unique because it introduced the idea of “empirical process control.” That is, Scrum uses the real-world progress of a project — not a best guess or uninformed forecast — to plan and schedule releases. In Scrum, projects are divided into succinct work cadences, known as sprints, which are typically one week, two weeks, or three weeks in duration. At the end of each sprint, stakeholders and team members meet to assess the progress of a project and plan its next steps. This allows a project’s direction to be adjusted or reoriented based on completed work, not speculation or predictions.
Philosophically, this emphasis on an ongoing assessment of completed work is largely responsible for its popularity with managers and developers alike. But what allows the Scrum methodology to really work is a set of roles, responsibilities, and meetings that never change. If Scrum’s capacity for adaption and flexibility makes it an appealing option, the stability of its practices give teams something to lean on when development gets chaotic.
The Roles of Scrum
Scrum has three fundamental roles: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and team member.
- Product Owner: In Scrum, the Product Owner is responsible for communicating the vision of the product to the development team. He or she must also represent the customer’s interests through requirements and prioritization. Because the Product Owner has the most authority of the three roles, it’s also the role with the most responsibility. In other words, the Product Owner is the single individual who must face the music when a project goes awry.
- ScrumMaster: The ScrumMaster acts as a liaison between the Product Owner and the team. The ScrumMaster does not manage the team. Instead, he or she works to remove any impediments that are obstructing the team from achieving its sprint goals. In short, this role helps the team remain creative and productive, while making sure its successes are visible to the Product Owner. The ScrumMaster also works to advise the Product Owner about how to maximize ROI for the team.
- Team Member: In the Scrum methodology, the team is responsible for completing work. Ideally, teams consist of seven cross-functional members, plus or minus two individuals. For software projects, a typical team includes a mix of software engineers, architects, programmers, analysts, QA experts, testers, and UI designers. Each sprint, the team is responsible for determining how it will accomplish the work to be completed. This grants teams a great deal of autonomy, but, similar to the Product Owner’s situation, that freedom is accompanied by a responsibility to meet the goals of the sprint.
The tension between authority and responsibility means that it’s hard for Product Owners to strike the right balance of involvement. Because Scrum values self-organization among teams, a Product Owner must fight the urge to micro-manage. At the same time, Product Owners must be available to answer questions from the team.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Does Management by Objectives (MBO) Work?
Assessing the effectiveness of MBO is a complex task. Let’s briefly review a growing body of literature on the relationship between goals and performance. If factors such as a person’s ability and acceptance of goals are held constant, more difficult goals lead to higher performance. Although individuals with difficult goals achieve them far less often than those who have easy goals, they, nevertheless perform at a consistently higher level.
Moreover studies consistently support the finding that specific difficult to achieve goals produce a higher level of output than do no goals or generalized goals such as do your best. Feedback also favorably affects performance. Feedback lets a person know whether his or her level of effort is sufficient or needs to be increased. It can induce a person to raise his or her goal level after attaining a previous goal and indicate ways to improve performance.
The results cited here are all consistent with MBO’s emphasis on specific goals and feedback. MBO implies, rather explicitly states that goals must be perceived as feasible. Research on goal setting indicates that MBO is most effective if the goals are difficult enough to require some stretching.
But what about participating? MBO strongly advocates that goals be set participatively. Does the research demonstrate that participatively set goals led to higher performance than those assigned by a manager? Somewhat surprisingly, the research comparing participatively set goals with assigned goals has not shown any strong or constant relationship to performance. When goal difficulty has been held constant, assigned goals frequently do as well as participatively determined goals, contrary to MBO ideology. Therefore, it is not possible to argue for the superiority of participation as do MBO proponents. One major benefits from participation, however is that appears to induce individuals to set more difficult goals. Thus, participation may have a positive effect on performance by increasing one’s goal aspiration level.
Studies of actual MBO programs confirm that MBO effectively increase employee performance and organizational productivity. One of the more critical components of this effectiveness is top management commitment to the MBO process. When top managers had a high commitment to MBO and were personally involved in its implementation, productivity gains were higher than if this commitment was lacking.
How do you set employee objectives?
Employee should have a clear understanding of what they’re attempting to accomplish. Furthermore, as a manager you have the responsibility for seeing that this task is achieved by helping your employees set work goals. Although these two statements appear to be common sense, it’s often a little more complex. Setting objectives is a skill that every manager needs to perfect. You can facilitate this process by following these guidelines:
Identifying an employee’s key job tasks:
Goal setting begins by defining what you want your employees to accomplish. The best source for this information is each employee’s job description.
Establish specific and challenging goals for each key task: Identify the level of performance expected of each employee specify the target for the employee to hit. Specify the deadlines for each gal. Putting deadlines on each goal reduces ambiguity. Deadlines however should not be set arbitrarily. Rather they need to be realistic given the tasks to be completed.
Allow the employee to actively participate: when employees participate in goal setting they are more likely to accept the goals. However, it must be sincere participation; that is employees must perceive that you are truly seeking heir input not just going through the motions.
Prioritize goals: when you give someone more than one goal, it is important to rank the goal in order of importance. Prioritizing encourages the employee to take action and expend effort on each goal in proportion to its importance. Rate goals for difficulty and importance. Goal setting should not encourage people to choose easy goals. When goals are rated, individuals can be given credit for trying difficult goals even if they don’t fully achieve them.
Build in feedback mechanisms to assess goal progress; Feedback lets employees know whether their level of effort is sufficient to attain the goal. Feedback should be both self generated and supervisor generated. In either case, feedback should be frequent and recurrent.
Link rewards to goal attainment: It’s natural for employees to ask what’s in it for me? Linking rewards to the achievement of goals will help answer that question.
Moreover studies consistently support the finding that specific difficult to achieve goals produce a higher level of output than do no goals or generalized goals such as do your best. Feedback also favorably affects performance. Feedback lets a person know whether his or her level of effort is sufficient or needs to be increased. It can induce a person to raise his or her goal level after attaining a previous goal and indicate ways to improve performance.
The results cited here are all consistent with MBO’s emphasis on specific goals and feedback. MBO implies, rather explicitly states that goals must be perceived as feasible. Research on goal setting indicates that MBO is most effective if the goals are difficult enough to require some stretching.
But what about participating? MBO strongly advocates that goals be set participatively. Does the research demonstrate that participatively set goals led to higher performance than those assigned by a manager? Somewhat surprisingly, the research comparing participatively set goals with assigned goals has not shown any strong or constant relationship to performance. When goal difficulty has been held constant, assigned goals frequently do as well as participatively determined goals, contrary to MBO ideology. Therefore, it is not possible to argue for the superiority of participation as do MBO proponents. One major benefits from participation, however is that appears to induce individuals to set more difficult goals. Thus, participation may have a positive effect on performance by increasing one’s goal aspiration level.
Studies of actual MBO programs confirm that MBO effectively increase employee performance and organizational productivity. One of the more critical components of this effectiveness is top management commitment to the MBO process. When top managers had a high commitment to MBO and were personally involved in its implementation, productivity gains were higher than if this commitment was lacking.
How do you set employee objectives?
Employee should have a clear understanding of what they’re attempting to accomplish. Furthermore, as a manager you have the responsibility for seeing that this task is achieved by helping your employees set work goals. Although these two statements appear to be common sense, it’s often a little more complex. Setting objectives is a skill that every manager needs to perfect. You can facilitate this process by following these guidelines:
Identifying an employee’s key job tasks:
Goal setting begins by defining what you want your employees to accomplish. The best source for this information is each employee’s job description.
Establish specific and challenging goals for each key task: Identify the level of performance expected of each employee specify the target for the employee to hit. Specify the deadlines for each gal. Putting deadlines on each goal reduces ambiguity. Deadlines however should not be set arbitrarily. Rather they need to be realistic given the tasks to be completed.
Allow the employee to actively participate: when employees participate in goal setting they are more likely to accept the goals. However, it must be sincere participation; that is employees must perceive that you are truly seeking heir input not just going through the motions.
Prioritize goals: when you give someone more than one goal, it is important to rank the goal in order of importance. Prioritizing encourages the employee to take action and expend effort on each goal in proportion to its importance. Rate goals for difficulty and importance. Goal setting should not encourage people to choose easy goals. When goals are rated, individuals can be given credit for trying difficult goals even if they don’t fully achieve them.
Build in feedback mechanisms to assess goal progress; Feedback lets employees know whether their level of effort is sufficient to attain the goal. Feedback should be both self generated and supervisor generated. In either case, feedback should be frequent and recurrent.
Link rewards to goal attainment: It’s natural for employees to ask what’s in it for me? Linking rewards to the achievement of goals will help answer that question.
Dynamics of Global Population Trends
Current population, rural/urban population shifts, rates of growth age levels, and population control help determine today’s demand for various categories of goods. Although not the only determinant, the existence of sheer numbers of people is significant in appraising potential consumer markets. Changes in the composition ad distribution of population among the world’s countries will profoundly affect future demand.
Recent estimates place world population at more than 6 billion people, and this is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050. Further, 98 percent of the projected growth for 2050 will occur in less developed regions. Exhibits show that 84 % of the population will be concentrated in less developed regions by 2025 and, if growth rates continue, 86 % by 2050. The International labor Organization estimates that 1.2 billion jobs must be created worldwide by 2025 to accommodate these new entrants. Further most of the new jobs will need to be created in urban areas where most of the population will reside.
Controlling Population Growth:
Faced with the ominous consequences of the population explosion it would seem logical for countries to take appropriate steps to reduce growth to manageable rates, but procreation is one of the most culturally sensitive uncontrollable factor. Economics self esteem religion, politics ad education all play a critical role in attitudes about family size.
The prerequisites to population control are adequate incomes, higher literacy levels, education for women, universal access the health care, family planning, improved nutrition, and perhaps most important, a change in basic cultural beliefs regarding he importance of large families. Unfortunately, minimum progress in providing improved living conditions and changing beliefs has occurred. India serves as a good example of what is happening in much of the world. India’s population was once stable but with improved health conditions lading to greater longevity and lower infant mortality its population will exceed that of China by 2050 and the two will account for about 50 percent of the world’s inhabitants. The government’s attempts to institute change are hampered by a variety of factors, including political ineptitude and slow change in cultural norms. Nevertheless the government continues to pass laws with the intended purpose of limiting the number of births. The most recent attempt is a law that bars those with more than two children from election to the national Parliament and state assemblies. This would mean that many now in office could not seek reelection based on family size.
Perhaps the most important deterrent to population control is cultural attitudes about the importance of large families. In many cultures, the prestige of man, whether alive or dead, depends on the number of his progeny, and a family’s only wealth is its children. Such feelings are strong, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi found out how strong when she attempted mass sterilization of males which reportedly was the main cause of her defeat in a subsequent election. Additionally many religious discourage or ban family planning and thus serve as a deterrent to control. Nigeria has a strong Muslim tradition in the North and a strong Roman Catholic tradition in the east, and both faiths favor large families. Most traditional religious in Africa encourage large families in fact the principal deity for many is the goddess of land and fertility.
Family planning and all that it entails is by far the most universal means governments use to control birthrates but some economists believe that decline in the fertility arte is a function of economic prosperity and will come only with economists development. Ample anecdotal evidence suggests that fertility rates decline as economies proper. For example, before Spain’s economy began its rapid growth in the 1980s families had six or more children; now Spain has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, an average 1.24 children per woman. Similar patterns have followed in other European countries as economies have prospered.
Recent estimates place world population at more than 6 billion people, and this is expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050. Further, 98 percent of the projected growth for 2050 will occur in less developed regions. Exhibits show that 84 % of the population will be concentrated in less developed regions by 2025 and, if growth rates continue, 86 % by 2050. The International labor Organization estimates that 1.2 billion jobs must be created worldwide by 2025 to accommodate these new entrants. Further most of the new jobs will need to be created in urban areas where most of the population will reside.
Controlling Population Growth:
Faced with the ominous consequences of the population explosion it would seem logical for countries to take appropriate steps to reduce growth to manageable rates, but procreation is one of the most culturally sensitive uncontrollable factor. Economics self esteem religion, politics ad education all play a critical role in attitudes about family size.
The prerequisites to population control are adequate incomes, higher literacy levels, education for women, universal access the health care, family planning, improved nutrition, and perhaps most important, a change in basic cultural beliefs regarding he importance of large families. Unfortunately, minimum progress in providing improved living conditions and changing beliefs has occurred. India serves as a good example of what is happening in much of the world. India’s population was once stable but with improved health conditions lading to greater longevity and lower infant mortality its population will exceed that of China by 2050 and the two will account for about 50 percent of the world’s inhabitants. The government’s attempts to institute change are hampered by a variety of factors, including political ineptitude and slow change in cultural norms. Nevertheless the government continues to pass laws with the intended purpose of limiting the number of births. The most recent attempt is a law that bars those with more than two children from election to the national Parliament and state assemblies. This would mean that many now in office could not seek reelection based on family size.
Perhaps the most important deterrent to population control is cultural attitudes about the importance of large families. In many cultures, the prestige of man, whether alive or dead, depends on the number of his progeny, and a family’s only wealth is its children. Such feelings are strong, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi found out how strong when she attempted mass sterilization of males which reportedly was the main cause of her defeat in a subsequent election. Additionally many religious discourage or ban family planning and thus serve as a deterrent to control. Nigeria has a strong Muslim tradition in the North and a strong Roman Catholic tradition in the east, and both faiths favor large families. Most traditional religious in Africa encourage large families in fact the principal deity for many is the goddess of land and fertility.
Family planning and all that it entails is by far the most universal means governments use to control birthrates but some economists believe that decline in the fertility arte is a function of economic prosperity and will come only with economists development. Ample anecdotal evidence suggests that fertility rates decline as economies proper. For example, before Spain’s economy began its rapid growth in the 1980s families had six or more children; now Spain has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, an average 1.24 children per woman. Similar patterns have followed in other European countries as economies have prospered.
Improve your overall skills
To prosper in the current job market, postgraduates must be able to work hard and manage expectations, while harnessing their skills sets.
Each year thousands of graduates leave India to pursue masters’ courses overseas. They carry with them the hope that after they complete their education they will have the opportunity to work abroad and build their skills, their bank balances and their resumes. This year however, many have been disappointed.
Forced to return home in the downturn they have found themselves absorbed in a domestic job market that was, at least until recently, experiencing its own hiring freeze. What’s more, joining the returnees, were master’s graduates from previous years, who had managed to secure employment broad, but filed to either have their contracts renewed, or asked to take a sabbatical until the economic situation improved.
This seems to a rather challenging situation, yet one of the most important things you have to do if you are to find a job, is to remain positive while working hard at every angle. SN from Bangalore, who is currently pursuing a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the US says, it is hard, but on the other hand, if you give a hundred per cent to your job search, you can definitely land up with a job. In this situation you need to put that extra zing into grabbing every opportunity you get. You’ve got to be persistent and more flexible in terms of relocating and traveling. You need to open up more areas in your research like networking volunteering or even attending conferences, just in order to be able to meet people that could in turn lead to a potential employer. And you need to keep abreast with the current affairs of your interest.
As far as Indian job market is concerned, the number of postings for masters’ graduates is really picking up. For improving your chances of getting a job when you return is to have good contacts with people working in different fields, improve your socializing skills, and increase your networking. All this exposure and knowledge will really give you the confidence n courage to face and solve all sorts of problems, which is the main requirement of companies in any field.
Anyone studying abroad to build their networks, agrees the executive search agency Stanton Chase International in Bangalore. Join specialized groups, become more active with your institution an alumni. Ensure that summer jobs or internships have relevance to the overall career focus have. Stay connected to trends and economic indictors in your own country as well. There was a time when an international degree had great value in the job market. Now, it may be good, but not as dramatic as before.
What if you yourself returning to India to look for a job? In such a difficult market, it is essential that you stand by your conviction that the experience you have had overseas is valuable. Sometimes returning graduates do get discouraged when they haven’t got a job and have been back in India for two or three months, but you shouldn’t give up. You have to know that you have something special, something that so many students in India my not have.
Multinationals for example want to employ people with international experience because the understanding of different cultural working practices is an invaluable skill. Studying and working abroad, even if only part time gives you an edge over your compatriots. When you have international experience you understand how important it is to evidence decisions or show leadership and initiatives in your job. It is obvious that a non-Indian post-graduates degree brings several benefits to employers. There is the exposure to world class laboratories and other facilities, for example. Experience also helps you think innovatively decision making.
Keeping faith in the quality of your experience and what it can bring to Indian employers is important, but it is also important to articulate that experience in a way that helps people understand what you can do for them. For example, people who are unfamiliar with the shorter UK master’s program might wonder how much you could have learned in a year. It is important to emphasize how intensive a period of learning it was. You also need to articulate your understanding of how another country’s working practices can benefit the employer. Unless they are actively looking or someone with a non-Indian degree, they will not necessarily work this out for themselves.
Some Indian students are under the impression that Indian companies are going to be very receptive to anyone with an international degree adds even with well regarded degree such as one from the UK, you are going to need certain attitude. You need to bring yourself out. You need to bring yourself out. You need to show how valuable you will be to employers by drawing attention to your skills and experiences both on your CV and in the interview Indian CVs can often be too plain.
Each year thousands of graduates leave India to pursue masters’ courses overseas. They carry with them the hope that after they complete their education they will have the opportunity to work abroad and build their skills, their bank balances and their resumes. This year however, many have been disappointed.
Forced to return home in the downturn they have found themselves absorbed in a domestic job market that was, at least until recently, experiencing its own hiring freeze. What’s more, joining the returnees, were master’s graduates from previous years, who had managed to secure employment broad, but filed to either have their contracts renewed, or asked to take a sabbatical until the economic situation improved.
This seems to a rather challenging situation, yet one of the most important things you have to do if you are to find a job, is to remain positive while working hard at every angle. SN from Bangalore, who is currently pursuing a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in the US says, it is hard, but on the other hand, if you give a hundred per cent to your job search, you can definitely land up with a job. In this situation you need to put that extra zing into grabbing every opportunity you get. You’ve got to be persistent and more flexible in terms of relocating and traveling. You need to open up more areas in your research like networking volunteering or even attending conferences, just in order to be able to meet people that could in turn lead to a potential employer. And you need to keep abreast with the current affairs of your interest.
As far as Indian job market is concerned, the number of postings for masters’ graduates is really picking up. For improving your chances of getting a job when you return is to have good contacts with people working in different fields, improve your socializing skills, and increase your networking. All this exposure and knowledge will really give you the confidence n courage to face and solve all sorts of problems, which is the main requirement of companies in any field.
Anyone studying abroad to build their networks, agrees the executive search agency Stanton Chase International in Bangalore. Join specialized groups, become more active with your institution an alumni. Ensure that summer jobs or internships have relevance to the overall career focus have. Stay connected to trends and economic indictors in your own country as well. There was a time when an international degree had great value in the job market. Now, it may be good, but not as dramatic as before.
What if you yourself returning to India to look for a job? In such a difficult market, it is essential that you stand by your conviction that the experience you have had overseas is valuable. Sometimes returning graduates do get discouraged when they haven’t got a job and have been back in India for two or three months, but you shouldn’t give up. You have to know that you have something special, something that so many students in India my not have.
Multinationals for example want to employ people with international experience because the understanding of different cultural working practices is an invaluable skill. Studying and working abroad, even if only part time gives you an edge over your compatriots. When you have international experience you understand how important it is to evidence decisions or show leadership and initiatives in your job. It is obvious that a non-Indian post-graduates degree brings several benefits to employers. There is the exposure to world class laboratories and other facilities, for example. Experience also helps you think innovatively decision making.
Keeping faith in the quality of your experience and what it can bring to Indian employers is important, but it is also important to articulate that experience in a way that helps people understand what you can do for them. For example, people who are unfamiliar with the shorter UK master’s program might wonder how much you could have learned in a year. It is important to emphasize how intensive a period of learning it was. You also need to articulate your understanding of how another country’s working practices can benefit the employer. Unless they are actively looking or someone with a non-Indian degree, they will not necessarily work this out for themselves.
Some Indian students are under the impression that Indian companies are going to be very receptive to anyone with an international degree adds even with well regarded degree such as one from the UK, you are going to need certain attitude. You need to bring yourself out. You need to bring yourself out. You need to show how valuable you will be to employers by drawing attention to your skills and experiences both on your CV and in the interview Indian CVs can often be too plain.
Rural and Urban Migration
Migration from rural to urban areas is largely a result of a desire for greater access to sources of education, health care and improved job opportunities. In the early 1800s less than 3.5 percent of the world’s people were living in cities of 20,000 or more and less than 2 percent in cities of 100,000 or more today more than 40 percent of the world’s people are urbanites, and the trend is acceleration. Once in the city, perhaps three out of four migrants achieve some economic gains. The family income of a manual worker in urban Brazil, for example is almost five times that of a farm laborer in a rural area.
By 2030, estimates indicate that more than 61 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas and at least 27 cities will have populations of 10 million or more, 23 of which will be in the less developed regions. Tokyo has already overtaken Mexico City as the largest city on Earth, with a population of 26 million, a jump of almost 8 million since 1990.
Although migrants experience some relative improvement in their living standards, intense urban growth without investment in services eventually leads to serious problems. Slums populated with unskilled workers living hand to mouth put excessive pressure on sanitation system, water supplies and other social services. At some points, the disadvantages of unregulated urban growth begin to outweigh the advantages for all concerned.
Consider the conditions that exist in Mexico City today. Besides smog, garbage and pollution brought about by the increased population, Mexico City faces a severe water shortage. Local water suppli0es are nearly exhausted and in some cases unhealthy. Water consumption from all sources is about 16,000 gallons per second, but the underground aquifers are producing only 2,640 gallons per second. Water comes for hundreds of miles away and has to be pumped up to an elevation of 7,444 feet to reach Mexico City. This is a grim picture of one of the most beautiful and sophisticated cities in Latin America. Such problems are not unique to Mexico; throughout the developing world, poor sanitation and inadequate water supplies are consequences of runaway population growth. An estimated 1.1 billion people are currently without access to clean drinking water and 2.8 billion have access to sanitation services. Estimates are that 40 percent of the world’s population 2.5 billion people will be without clean water if more is not invested in water resources. Prospects for improvements are not encouraging because most of the world’s urban growth will take place in the already economically strained developing countries.
Population Decline and Aging:
While the developing world faces a rapidly growing population, the industrialized world’s population is in decline and rapidly aging. Birthrates in Western Europe and Japan have been decreasing since the early or mid 1960s more women are closing are choosing careers instead of children, and many working couples are electing o remain childless. As a result of these and other contemporary factors, population growth in many countries has dropped below the rate necessary to maintain present levels. Just to keep the population from falling a nation needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman. Not one major country has sufficient internal population growth to maintain itself, and this trend is expected to continue for the next 50 years. Europe’s population could decline by as much as 88 million (from 375 million to 287 million) people if present tr6ends continue to 2015.
At the same time that population growth is declining in the industrialized world, there are more aging people, today than ever before. Global life expectancy has grown more in the last 50 years than over the previous 5,000 years. Until the industrial Revolution, no more than 2 or 3 percent of the total population was over the age of 65. Today in the developed world, the over age 65 group will amount to 14 percent and by 2030 this group will reach 25 percent in some 30 different countries.
By 2030, estimates indicate that more than 61 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas and at least 27 cities will have populations of 10 million or more, 23 of which will be in the less developed regions. Tokyo has already overtaken Mexico City as the largest city on Earth, with a population of 26 million, a jump of almost 8 million since 1990.
Although migrants experience some relative improvement in their living standards, intense urban growth without investment in services eventually leads to serious problems. Slums populated with unskilled workers living hand to mouth put excessive pressure on sanitation system, water supplies and other social services. At some points, the disadvantages of unregulated urban growth begin to outweigh the advantages for all concerned.
Consider the conditions that exist in Mexico City today. Besides smog, garbage and pollution brought about by the increased population, Mexico City faces a severe water shortage. Local water suppli0es are nearly exhausted and in some cases unhealthy. Water consumption from all sources is about 16,000 gallons per second, but the underground aquifers are producing only 2,640 gallons per second. Water comes for hundreds of miles away and has to be pumped up to an elevation of 7,444 feet to reach Mexico City. This is a grim picture of one of the most beautiful and sophisticated cities in Latin America. Such problems are not unique to Mexico; throughout the developing world, poor sanitation and inadequate water supplies are consequences of runaway population growth. An estimated 1.1 billion people are currently without access to clean drinking water and 2.8 billion have access to sanitation services. Estimates are that 40 percent of the world’s population 2.5 billion people will be without clean water if more is not invested in water resources. Prospects for improvements are not encouraging because most of the world’s urban growth will take place in the already economically strained developing countries.
Population Decline and Aging:
While the developing world faces a rapidly growing population, the industrialized world’s population is in decline and rapidly aging. Birthrates in Western Europe and Japan have been decreasing since the early or mid 1960s more women are closing are choosing careers instead of children, and many working couples are electing o remain childless. As a result of these and other contemporary factors, population growth in many countries has dropped below the rate necessary to maintain present levels. Just to keep the population from falling a nation needs a fertility rate of about 2.1 children per woman. Not one major country has sufficient internal population growth to maintain itself, and this trend is expected to continue for the next 50 years. Europe’s population could decline by as much as 88 million (from 375 million to 287 million) people if present tr6ends continue to 2015.
At the same time that population growth is declining in the industrialized world, there are more aging people, today than ever before. Global life expectancy has grown more in the last 50 years than over the previous 5,000 years. Until the industrial Revolution, no more than 2 or 3 percent of the total population was over the age of 65. Today in the developed world, the over age 65 group will amount to 14 percent and by 2030 this group will reach 25 percent in some 30 different countries.
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