Rude Awakening Essays - , Term Papers, Research Papers

Rude Awakening Rude Awakening The day was over and I lay in my rack wide-awake wishing I were in my own bed at home. As I recalled the events of the day, I began to fully comprehend the magnitude of my decision to join the Navy. I was about to spend my first night in the Navys boot camp. I thought of the shower I had experienced earlier. It was my first experience of a mass community shower. The shower was an extra large yellow tiled stall with 12 chrome showerheads. Six on each sidewall evenly spaced apart. Showering two girls to a head, orders to hurry were being barked from the female RDCs monitoring us. RDCs are Recruit Division Commanders; they are in charge of our boot camp learning experience. The next set of girls waited nervously just outside the stall for their turn. The shower experience was definitely something I was going to have to get use to. I lay in the top rack of my bunk, feeling sad and a little silly. I missed my family and friends and I felt silly for feeling so emotional and sad. I was surprised at how sad I was feeling and thought maybe I was being a baby. I turned my head to survey my surroundings and I took notice of the girl in the top bed of the bunk next to me. She was lying on her stomach resting on her elbows and crying as she wrote, probably a letter to someone she missed from home. I could hear her soft faint sobs. I could see by the expression on her face that she was fighting back her urge to cry out loud. I looked around the rest of the room and soon got the impression that this girl and I were not the only ones who were feeling blue. I was cold and tired and I knew I should get some sleep so I curled up into a ball and fell asleep. I dont recall actually falling asleep. I just remember that I was awakened by a series of loud crashes. The crashes were followed by voices piercing into the darkness. I sat up and without any thought to it I jumped off the bed, not remembering I was on the top rack, and landed surprisingly on my feet. At that moment I was between a set of bunk beds and could see what had made the loud crashing sound that had caused me to literally leap out of my bed. Trashcans. Two men, I had never seen before, were pacing up and down the center of the room. It had looked as though they had thrown three large metal trashcans and their lids down the aisle formed by the two long rows of beds. Just then, the two men began yelling and screaming again. Again, the trashcans were being thrown down the deck as if it were a bowling alley lane. The sounds of the trashcans tumbling end over end were accompanied by boisterous and powerful voices. I couldnt believe the adrenal rush I was having. I scurried to the foot of the bed and stood at attention as I was shown earlier. Standing as still as possible making sure not to move, I stood with my arms at my sides and my hands balled into fists with my thumbs digging into the sides of my thighs. I could hear and feel my heart pounding in my chest. It was beating so fast, it made it hard for me to catch my breath. I thought for sure I was going to faint. I stood there trying to catch my breath. My chest burning and my throat dry, I felt like I had just finished running a 100m dash. I began to doubt whether I would be able to do this. I knew that this was just the beginning of how the next nine weeks were going to be like. The idea of being awakened every morning in the pre-dawn hours by two men throwing trashcans on the hard tiled floor, was not something I was looking for forward too. I thought for sure there would be no way my nerves would be

Free Essays on Celebrating Our Veterans Service

â€Å"CELEBRATING OUR VETERANS SERVICE† â€Å"Veterans service.† How do we celebrate our veterans service? Are we to take a day off of work to celebrate veterans day? I dare say that day has lost its meaning. Many people use it as a day to do chores or ketch up on sleep. Never stopping once to think of what the day symbolizes. I say to celebrate veterans service we need to remember, honor, respect, and stand by those veterans. Not only veterans of the past but also the solders of today â€Å"our veterans of tomorrow.† When I think of veterans of the past I think of are great Vietnam vets. These are the men and women that we still honor today. Sadly though we did not always honor them. When our solders returned home from Vietnam they were met by a nation against them. A nation that had no appreciation for them. This sad but true fact led many good men to drugs, insanity, and even suicide. Imagine what it must have felt like to have given your life, to have to watch your best friend die in your arms. Dieing for a cause you both believed in, yet you returned home to find the people you were fighting for have disgraced your flag and abandoned your cause. You were spit upon, called a murderer, and publicly disgraced. Now, we have replaced that disgrace and abandonment with statues and memorials in their honor. But, can monuments of stone, and metal displace emotional wounds? Are stone statues capable of erasing human mistreatment and emotional scaring? Today we are faced with an entirely different set of problems. We say we support our troops and veterans â€Å"We just don't support the President†. It would be considered a fauxpas now days to slander our military men and women during a time of war. So what makes our president, the man we elected to lead our country and make the decision to fight if needs be, such an open tar... Free Essays on Celebrating Our Veterans Service Free Essays on Celebrating Our Veterans Service â€Å"CELEBRATING OUR VETERANS SERVICE† â€Å"Veterans service.† How do we celebrate our veterans service? Are we to take a day off of work to celebrate veterans day? I dare say that day has lost its meaning. Many people use it as a day to do chores or ketch up on sleep. Never stopping once to think of what the day symbolizes. I say to celebrate veterans service we need to remember, honor, respect, and stand by those veterans. Not only veterans of the past but also the solders of today â€Å"our veterans of tomorrow.† When I think of veterans of the past I think of are great Vietnam vets. These are the men and women that we still honor today. Sadly though we did not always honor them. When our solders returned home from Vietnam they were met by a nation against them. A nation that had no appreciation for them. This sad but true fact led many good men to drugs, insanity, and even suicide. Imagine what it must have felt like to have given your life, to have to watch your best friend die in your arms. Dieing for a cause you both believed in, yet you returned home to find the people you were fighting for have disgraced your flag and abandoned your cause. You were spit upon, called a murderer, and publicly disgraced. Now, we have replaced that disgrace and abandonment with statues and memorials in their honor. But, can monuments of stone, and metal displace emotional wounds? Are stone statues capable of erasing human mistreatment and emotional scaring? Today we are faced with an entirely different set of problems. We say we support our troops and veterans â€Å"We just don't support the President†. It would be considered a fauxpas now days to slander our military men and women during a time of war. So what makes our president, the man we elected to lead our country and make the decision to fight if needs be, such an open tar...

The Varied Diet of Turtles

The Varied Diet of Turtles Turtle eating habits are varied and what they eat depends on the available food sources, the habitat in which the turtle lives and the turtles behavior. Most adult land turtles eat a diet that consists of plants. They graze on grass or browse on the leaves of bushes and shrubs that are within their reach. A few species of turtles also eat fruits. Occasionally, some turtles also ingest small insects such as caterpillars that get caught up in the plants they eat, so invertebrates make up a part of a turtles diet as well. One group of turtles well-known for their herbivorous feeding habits are Galapagos tortoises. Galapagos tortoises feed on leaves and grasses and their diet is so influential that over the course of their evolution their shells have been modified in different ways to reflect their eating habits. Galapagos tortoise subspecies that eat grasses that lie close to the ground have shells that are dome-shaped with the rim of their shell lying snugly above their neck. Galapagos tortoise subspecies that eat leaves that are above the ground on bushes and shrubs have shells that are saddle-backed in shape, with the rim of the shell arched upwards enabling them to crane their neck high in the air as they grasp their food. Freshwater turtles such as snapping turtles are ambush predators. Too cumbersome to swim after their prey with any great speed, snapping turtles instead tuck themselves into a bunch of aquatic vegetation and snap at anything that comes within their path. Consequently, snapping turtles eat fish and crustaceans. Most freshwater turtles, when young, eat the larvae of aquatic invertebrates. As they grow older, their diet switches to aquatic vegetation. Sea turtles eat a variety of marine invertebrates and vegetation. For example, leatherback sea turtles feed on jellyfish, loggerhead sea turtles eat bottom-dwelling shellfish, green sea turtles eat seagrass and algae.

What do you see as the biggest threat to our national security and how Essay

What do you see as the biggest threat to our national security and how would you eliminate or minimize this threat - Essay Example Terrorism always stems up in the weakest of classes within a society. Its infancy is thus bred and nourished in the lowest of classes within the culture. This weak class in a third world nation is in reality the masses. What people think about the form of government is really given an air of indifferent experiences when terrorism starts to crop up all of a sudden. This creates a feeling of hatred for the governmental institutions as well as the people at the helm of affairs, i.e., the ones who are generating the policies and are running the government. Quoting the example of the super power and the most powerful nation in the world, United States of America, it can be easily said that there are two known groups that are terrorizing its form of government – these are the Islamic quarters and the Christian identity within the community that is being supported wholeheartedly by almost 80 percent of the American nationals. America today is in a fix. Its government is marred by terrorist activities, both in and out of the country. As it is the most powerful nation of the world, thus handling the state of affairs of different countries also lies on its shoulders. It must be remembered here that this handling must be from a friendly stance, which aims to assist rather than being of a forceful and tyrant nature. It should in no way take over the mission of changing the government at a given time in a particular country. This is so very true for a nation like Iraq as well as many others where USA has made every effort possible to ta ke control of their territories by sheer strength and might. The result of this force is that people, not only in the American colonies but also of the outside world, have started to have a sense of hatred for the US government and its policies. This is apparent in the present times of American government whereby it had to take these steps due to some mistakes of their present as well

Strategic Management and Leadership of General Motors Case Study

Strategic Management and Leadership of General Motors - Case Study Example GM, along with strategic partners manufactures automobiles and trucks in thirty-four nations, and trade and service these vehicles through its numerous brands.   Its biggest national market in the United States. China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and Germany are the other nations which follow America in this context.   GM’s OnStar ancillary is one of the leading industries in vehicle safety, security and information facilities. On 10th July 2009,  General Motors Company obtained functions from General Motors Corporation. The General Motor Corporation established its place in the automobile manufacturing industry with the manufacturing of luxurious cars, which are classy at the same time superior from the other rival manufacturers of automobiles. Due to their high brand name and reputation in the market, the cost prices of cars from General Motors are generally very high and sometimes unreachable for general customers. (Global Operations, n.d.; General Mot ors, n.d) The General Motors Corporation held the first place as an automobile manufacturing company with respect to its sales for around 77 years until; Toyota took its place in the year 2008. The downfall of the company from the number one position is due to its negligence in terms of designing new innovative cars. There was a lack of creative innovations in terms of designs as they only have done some slight or minor changes in the designs to satisfy the customers. Some are of the view that the downfall is due to the poor strategic management of the company. The company faced difficulties in coming up with the internal and external pressures, like the accessibility of loans for the customers, the pressure from the Government and Labor Unions, crisis of oil, other competitive technologies such as electric cars, etc. (Global Operations, n.d.; General Motors, n.d) These difficulties clearly suggested that the company needs to re-strategize its  operations.

Discuss Four Models Of Strategic Change Business Essay

Discuss Four Models Of Strategic Change Business Essay Now-a-days all organizations are facing a variety of challenges caused by change in internal and/or external environment of the organization. Change itself is changing at ever increasing rate resulting in uncertainty and insecurity. For organizations to carry through growth and development stage need to have a proactive approach to strategic change management. There are many theories about how to manage change. John P Kotter, Leadership and change management expert, introduced his eight-step change process which is very successful. According to these steps: 1: Establish a sense of Urgency When some people in the organization notice some susceptibility, need to change takes place. It then involves simplifying goals and objectives, setting deadlines, establish consequences and finally feedback. It motivates the people and leads them to action. 2: Form a Powerful guiding Coalition It highlights the level of uncertainty involved and the level of collaboration that is required to overcome the resistance to change. Generally starts with one or two people then gradually grows involving more and more people who believe that change is in anyway unimportant. 3: Create a Vision for Change When you first start thinking about change, there will probably be many great ideas and solutions floating around. Link these concepts to an overall vision that people can grasp easily and remember. 4: Communicate the Vision What you do with your vision after you create it will determine your success. Your message will probably have strong competition from other day-to-day communications within the company, so you need to communicate it frequently and powerfully, and embed it within everything that you do. 5: Remove Obstacles If you follow these steps and reach this point in the change process, youve been talking about your vision and building buy-in from all levels of the organization. Hopefully, your staff wants to get busy and achieve the benefits that youve been promoting. 6: Create Short-term Wins Nothing motivates more than success. Give your company a taste of success early in the change process. Within a short time frame (this could be a month or a year, depending on the type of change), youll want to have results that your staff can see. Without this, critics and negative thinkers might hurt your progress. 7: Build on the Change According to Kotter that many change projects fail because success is declared too early. Real change runs deep. Quick success are only the beginning of what needs to be done to achieve long-term change. 8: Anchor the Changes in Corporate Culture Finally, to make any change stick, it should become part of the core of your organization. Your corporate culture often determines what gets done, so the values behind your vision must show in day-to-day work. Model 2: Then there is another theorist Kubler-Ross who presents five stages transition cycle and according to Kubblers model for many years, people with terminal illnesses were an embarrassment for doctors. Someone who could not be cured was evidence of the doctors fallibility, and as a result the doctors regularly shunned the dying with the excuse that there was nothing more that could be done (and that there was plenty of other demand on the doctors time). Elizabeth Kà ¼bler-Ross was a doctor in Switzerland who railed against this unkindness and spent a lot of time with dying people, both comforting and studying them. She wrote a book, called On Death and Dying which included a cycle of emotional states that is often referred to (but not exclusively called) the Grief Cycle. The Extended Grief Cycle The Extended Grief Cycle can be shown as in the chart below, indicating the roller-coaster ride of activity and passivity as the person wriggles and turns in their desperate efforts to avoid the change. The initial state before the cycle is received is stable, at least in terms of the subsequent reaction on hearing the bad news. Compared with the ups and downs to come, even if there is some variation, this is indeed a stable state. And then, into the calm of this relative paradise, a bombshell bursts. Denial stage: Trying to avoid the inevitable. Anger stage: Frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion. Bargaining stage: Seeking in vain for a way out. Depression stage: Final realization of the inevitable. Acceptance stage: Finally finding the way forward. Model 3: While many change management projects focus on the steps necessary for organisational change, ADKAR emphasises that successful organisational change occurs only when each person is able to transition successfully. The ADKAR model consists of five sequential steps or actions: Awareness of the need for change. Understanding why change is necessary is the first key aspect of successful change. Planned communication is essential. When this step is successfully completed the individual (employee) will fully understand why change is necessary. Desire to participate in and support the change. In this step the individual is able to reach a point where they make a personal decision to support the change and participate in the change. Building desire is partly achieved by addressing incentives for the individual and creating a desire to be a part of the change. Knowledge on how to change. The third building block of the model, providing knowledge about the change, can be achieved through normal training and education methods. Other methods of transferring knowledge, such as coaching, forums and mentoring, are equally useful, so dont limit this process to formal training. Ability to implement required skills and behaviors. In the ADKAR model Ability is the difference between theory and practice. Once knowledge on how to change is in place (theory) the practice, or actual performance of the individual, needs to be supported. Reinforcement to sustain the change. This final stage of the model is an essential component in which efforts to sustain the change are emphasised. Ensuring that changes stay in place and that individuals do not revert to old ways can be achieved through positive feedback, rewards, recognition, measuring performance and taking corrective actions. Model 4:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The McKinsey 7S model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either hard or soft elements: Hard   Elements Strategy Structure Systems Soft Elements Shared Values Skills Style Staff Hard elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems. Soft elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful. Task 1: B) Evaluate the relevance of these models of Strategic Change to the Zurich Financial Services Plc in the current economy. (LO 1.2) Explanation:   Above discussed all four models have a value in the change management strategy but how can we evaluate these models according to the current economical condition of Zurich Financial Services Ltd. Lets have a look one by one to all given models and apply them to the Case Study given above. Zurich Financial Services Ltd. is established since past five decades and committed to customers satisfaction companys all stakeholders and its employees devotedly working with the company but the companys decision of expanding globally create a kind of uncertainty among its employees as well as its other stakeholders. So why this is happening? And what should company need to overcome this issue? According to Kubler-Ross transition cycle stakeholders of Zurich Financial company after hearing the decision of expansion have a kind of uncertainty about company and their own future in this way there is possible way of stakeholders to start looking some other place for their better and stable future and in this way employees are right on their side but if company creates a sense of belongingness with its stakeholders and give them importance clarify its decision and its need for not only companys own but also for the more incentives for its stakeholders then according to this model stakeholder will realize the change process more easily and support the decision as compared to resist on it. Proscis model is saying the same thing but in different way and according to ADKAR awareness of need of change should be established among employees and that awareness create a kind of future incentives desire in stakeholders then company provide knowledge or ability required for change that what steps should company required for future development and how to continue these skills and abilities for longer term sustainability. McKinseys 7S are clearly defined all the elements which are directly and indirectly effect the companys decision hard elements are easily to be carried with the decision taken by Zurich company but this is not possible for company to carried soft element also with its decision at the same time because soft elements required some time to accept any kind of change in their way of working or routine methodology. So in short according to current economic condition company will not be able to carried out its decision without keeping all the aspects in mind and by doing so company will face an unbearable resistance globally which will not in favor of companys future. Task 1: C) Asses the value of using strategic intervention techniques in organaization. (LO 1.3) Explanation: Any organizational development process starts with the identification of problems that can be solved within the organization. This process progresses through different stages and determines satisfactory progress made for additional involvement. The procedure is cyclic and terminates only when desired result is obtained. It can also be a series of trial and error and a discovery of the best practices that can be implemented in the organization. Zurich Financial Services Ltd. is facing tha same problem but by using strategic change management model this company will be able to change its current cenario and remove all the obstacles with its strategic intervention and such interventions not only provide a boost to the company but also help it out to make a place in the global business what interventions will be more helpful for its productivity ? These are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Problem identification à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Situational assessment à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Action planning/ planning of the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Implement plan/ implementing the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Gather data/ collect data to evaluate the intervention à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Determining the results à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Feedback By using these techniques as the companys future strategy interventions Zurich Financial Services Ltd. have bright chances not oly for its globally growth but also meet the up coming challenges with its strong team of all stakeholders.

Critical Analysis on Bonded Labour System Analysis Act, 1976

Critical Analysis on Bonded Labour System (abolition) Act, 1976 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE BONDED LABOUR SYSTEM (ABOLITION) ACT, 1976 †¢ This Act provides for the abolition of the system of bonded labour. It freed unilaterally all the bonded labourers from bondage with simultaneous liquidation of their debts. †¢ The Act does away with every obligation of a bonded labourer to repay any bonded debt; it also dispenses with the future liability of repaying a bonded debt.The law provides that (a) no suit or other proceedings shall be instituted in any Civil Court for the recovery of any bonded debt (b) every attachment made before the commencement of the Act for the recovery of any bonded debt shall stand vacated and (c) such movable property shall be restored to the bonded labourer. †¢ The district and sub-divisional magistrates have been entrusted with certain duties/responsibilities towards implementation of statutory provisions.Under Section-13 of the Act, Vigilance Commit tees are required to be constituted at the district and sub-divisional level for implementation of the provisions of the law. They are composite bodies with representatives from different cross sections of the society and have a life of 2 years. †¢ Registers containing the names and addresses of all freed bonded labourers, their vacation, occupation and income, details of the benefits received are required to be maintained under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules. The Act provides for imprisonment up to 3 years and fine up to Rs. 2000/- to whoever compels any person to render any bonded labour and whoever advances any bonded debt. An offence detailed surveys in their States. The same information was submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Governments in the form of affidavits in 1997. ?One ILO project namely â€Å"Prevention of Family Indebtedness with Micro Finance Scheme and Related Services† is being implemented in three States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tami l Nadu and Karnataka.The objective of the project is to induce existing micro finance institutions to develop, test and offer savings and loan products, particularly tailor-made for vulnerable families at the risk of getting into debt traps. The prime focus of the project is on preventing marginal families from falling into debt bondage and also to ensure sustainable rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. Based on its experience, a model could be considered for replication or application in other parts of the Country. Liability to repay bonded debt to stand extinguished.On the commencement of this Act, every obligation of a bonded labourer to repay any bonded debt, or such part of any bonded debt as remains unsatisfied immediately before such commencement, shall be deemed to have been extinguished. After the commencement of this Act, no suit or other proceeding shall lie in any civil court or before any other authority for the recovery of any bonded debt or any part thereof. Ever y decree or order for the recovery of bonded debt, passed before the commencement of this Act and not fully satisfied before such commencement, shall be deemed, on such commencement, to have been fully satisfied.Every attachment made before the commencement of this Act, for the recovery of any bonded debt, shall, on such commencement, stand vacated; and, where, in pursuance of such attachment, any movable property of the bonded labourer was seized and removed from his custody and kept in the custody of any court or other authority pending sale thereof, such movable property shall be restored, as soon as may be practicable after such commencement, to the possession of the bonded labourer. Property of bonded labourer to be freed from mortgage, etc.All property vested in a bonded labourer which was, immediately before the commencement of this Act under any mortgage, charge, lien or other encumbrances in connection with any bonded debt shall, in so far as it is relatable to the bonded d ebt, stand freed and discharged from such mortgage, charge, lien or other encumbrances, and where any such property was, immediately before the commencement of this Act, in the possession of the mortgagee or the holder of the charge, lien or encumbrance, such property shall (except where it was subject to any other charge), on such commencement, be restored to the possession of the bonded labourer.If any delay is made in restoring any property, referred to in sub-section (1), to the possession of the bonded labourer, such labourer shall be entitled, on and from the date of such commencement, to recover from the mortgagee or holder of the lien, charge or encumbrance, such mesne profits as may be determined by the civil court of the lowest pecuniary jurisdiction within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such property is situated. Authorities who may be specified for implementing the provisions of this Act. The State Government may confer such powers and impose such duties on a Dis trict Magistrate as may be necessary to ensure that the provisions of this Act are properly carried out and the District Magistrate may specify the officer, subordinate to him, who shall exercise all or any of the powers, and perform all or any of the duties, so conferred or imposed and the local limits within which such powers or duties shall be carried out by the officer so specified.Vigilance Committees. Every State Government shall, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute such number of Vigilance Committees in each district and each Sub-Division as it may think fit.Each Vigilance Committee, constituted for a district, shall consist of the following members, namely: — (a) the District Magistrate, or a person nominated by him, who shall be the Chairman; (b) three persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes and residing in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate; (c) two social workers, resident in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate; (d) not more than three persons to represent the official or non-official agencies in the district connected with rural development, to be nominated by the State Government; (e) one person to represent the financial and credit institutions in the district, to be nominated by the District Magistrate. Act to have overriding effect. The provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any enactment other than this Act, or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any enactment other than this Act. Agreement, custom, etc. , to be void. – On the commencement of this Act, any custom or tradition or any contract, agreement or other instrument (whether entered into or executed before or after the commencement of this Act), by virtue of which any person, or any member of the family or dependant of such person, is required to do any work or render any service as a bonded labourer, shall be void and inop erative. CONSTRAINTS Bonded Labour System is a dynamic problem; it can occur and reoccur at any point of time in any industry or occupation. †¢ Once the bonded labourers are identified and released, in case they are not immediately rehabilitated, they become even worse off as compared to the situation when they were bonded and were at least able to survive by getting two square meals. †¢ Contrary to the traditional perception that bonded labour is confined to the agricultural sector alone, it can also occur and reoccur in any form of economic activity such as, agriculture, brick-kiln, stone quarries, carpet weaving, pisciculture, etc. , CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL PROVISIONS The Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens- justice, social, economic and political, freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship, equity of status and opportunity and fraternity, dignity of individual and unity of the Nation. †¢ Under Article 23 of the ConstitutionTraffic in human beings and beggar and other similar forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. †¢ Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Ordinance was promulgated. Which was later on replaced by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976. CENTRALLY SPONSORED PLAN SCHEME FOR REHABILITATION OF BONDED LABOURIn order to assist the State Governments in their task of rehabilitation of released bonded labourers, the Ministry of Labour launched a Centrally Sponsored Scheme since May, 1978 for rehabilitation of bonded labourers. Under this Scheme rehabilitation assistance of Rs. 20,000/- per freed bonded labour is provided, which is shared by the Central and State Governments on 50:50 basis; in the case of the Seven North Eastern States, 100% central assistance if they express their inability to provide their share. The Scheme also provide for financing of the following activities. †¢ Rs. 2. 00 lakh pe r sensitive district can be provided to concerned state government to conduct survey for identification of bonded labour once in three years. †¢ Central assistance of Rs. 10. 00 lakhs every year can be sanctioned to every tate government to undertake awareness generation activities relating to bonded labour system. †¢ Rs. 5. 00 lakh per year can be sanctioned to every state government to study impact of existing land-debt related issues affecting bonded labourers and the impact of poverty alleviation programmes and financial assistance provided by various Government sources so far. Besides above the States Governments have also been advised to integrate/ dovetail the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for rehabilitation of bonded labour with other ongoing poverty alleviation schemes such as Swaran Jayanti Gram Swa Rojgar Yojana (SJGSRY), Special Component Plan for Supreme Court, Tribal Sub-Plan etc.Accordingly, the rehabilitation package provided by the concerned Stated Government s for the freed bonded labourers includes the following major components: (i) Allotment of house-site and agricultural land; (ii) Land development; (iii) Provision of low cost dwelling units; (iv) Animal husbandry, dairy, poultry, piggery etc. ; (v) Training for acquiring new skills; developing existing skills; (vi) Wage employment, enforcement of minimum wages etc. ; (vii) Collection and processing of minor forest products; (viii) Supply of essential commodities under targeted public distribution system; (ix) Education for children; and (x) Protection of civil rights.INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND FORCED/ BONDED LABOUR †¢ There are two ILO Conventions, Convention No. 29 concerning Forced or Compulsory labour (1930) and Convention No. 105 concerning Abolition of Forced Labour (1957). Government of India has ratified both the Conventions. †¢ Before the 89th Session of the International Labour Conference (June 2001) the Director General of ILO submitted a global repor t on ‘Stopping Forced Labour’. This report contained references regarding incidences of bonded labour in India on the basis of survey conducted by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and National Labour Institute and also the estimates of some other NGOs.The Gandhi Peace Foundation and the National Labour Institute conducted a survey in 1978-79, which had estimated the number of bonded labour as 2. 6 million. This survey was based on a random sample drawn from a total of 4,50,199 villages in the ten selected States. Finally, 1000 villages from out of the 4,50,000 villages were selected. Every 450th villages in the census list of villages of each State starting with a random number was selected for the survey. The findings of the survey in respect of the above 1000 villages were multiplied by 450 to find out the total number of bonded labourers in ten States. Since the methodology adopted by the Gandhi Peace Foundation was not scientific the Government have not accepted their es timates.The need for having authentic data on number of bonded labourers in India was emphasized. It was urged that comprehensive and authoritative survey might be conducted in this regard. †¢ From the Government side, it was stated that the Government has strong will and intent to abolish and totally banish the bonded labour system from every nook and corner of the country. It was indicated that the Government of India’s estimates of bonded labour, as also reported in the following pages, were based on the information submitted by the concerned State Governments after conducting detailed surveys in their States. The same information was submitted to the Supreme Court by the State Governments in the form of affidavits in 1997. One ILO project namely â€Å"Prevention of Family Indebtedness with Micro Finance Scheme and Related Services† is being implemented in three States, namely Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The objective of the project is to induce e xisting micro finance institutions to develop, test and offer savings and loan products, particularly tailor-made for vulnerable families at the risk of getting into debt traps. The prime focus of the project is on preventing marginal families from falling into debt bondage and also to ensure sustainable rehabilitation of freed bonded labourers. Based on its experience, a model could be considered for replication orapplication in other parts of the Country.