Monday, September 30, 2019
HR Generalists vs. Specialist Essay
Working in construction teaches you a good deal of generalist versus specialist management. It is often understood that general managers are what hold the projects together; however, the specialists are who get the job done. Similar to this functionality, human resource management also struggles to decipher the value of both types of managers. Whether it is in construction, accounting, finance, business administration, health care, law, etc., there are always individuals who obtain knowledge on different levels. Having less knowledge of a particular specialty doesnââ¬â¢t make them less valuable. In my professional opinion, I believe the value of a generalist and a specialist are more often based on the volume of the project or organization. Timothy Bartram and his fellow colleagues discuss these relationships in their article titled ââ¬Å"Editorsââ¬â¢ Note: Specialist Versus Generalist Managerial Roles in HRM.â⬠Bartram collects a few articles by various authors to convey what happens in the corporate world between these positions. From my understanding, the authors of this article are advocating for the HR specialists of the world. They find that the specialists often get bullied by the general managers because of their perfectionism. According to the authors, human resource generalists focus more on the rate of productions while HR specialists focus on protecting the organization from legal liability (Bartram, 2013). Since in most case, the specialists report to the general manager, it is common for the general manager to feel superior; however, Bartram and his colleagues beg to differ. Although they seem to be the voice of the HR specialists, they are in no way undermining the work of HR generalists. In the second article I read the authors Steven J. Cesare and Coleen Thornton discuss the importance of both managerial positions and their responsibilities. Though they may not have intended to, theyââ¬â¢re article seems to suggest that generalists are more anxious to climb the corporate ladder while specialists work to achieve their own goal and recognition from their peer specialists. This is an interesting argument and relatively true in many cases. I, also, have come to learn that generalists more often seek the approval and applause of their superior while specialists are more interested in being innovative and furthering their knowledge. Cesare and Thornton mention how individuals evaluate themselves as either position according to their education versus their profession. For example, if an individual obtains a degree inà engineering and works as a project manager, they consider themselves an engineer which is the specialty while a project manager is more general. Vice versa, people also identify themselves as their profession over their academic degree.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
The Coldest Winter Ever – Personal Reflection on Winter
Winter Santiago Isn't Just a typical teenager. She Isn't typical at all, she barely ever goes to school, she only goes when she wants something. Her family life Is anything but typical, her father Is a big drug dealer with a lot of money and her mother Isn't even Like a mother to Winter, she's more Like a sister to her. Winter Is very self- absorbed; she only worries about herself, even when her mom got shot In the face Winter gets jealous because she thinks her mother's hogging all the attention.She really only cares about herself. She is very street smart though, after her father goes to prison, her mother becomes a crack head and her sisters go into care, Winter knew how to take care of herself, she knew what to do to survive on the streets without the help of her father. She's done horrible things to survive and live the life she knew, like robbing people and betraying her family. Winter wouldn't make a good best friend at all; I don't even think she would make a good friend.She betrayed all of her friends one way or another, either by hooking up with their man because he had what she needed, or betraying Simons when she got arrested because she was telling for Winter, Simons was ready to have her baby and even though she said no, Winter persisted that she go and steal for her, because she wanted something, she didn't care that Simons was having a baby, if anything she used it against her saying she would need the money that she's making stealing, for the baby, in the end Simons lost the baby, and in my opinion a lot of the blame should be on Winter.She may be a fun person to be around and go out with because she does know how to have fun, but I would never want her as a friend because she's not loyal and she is untrustworthy.She does have a of of maturing to do though, so I really shouldn't judge too harshly, you can tell by the end of the book, when she Is In prison, and goes to her mother's funeral, she's a different person, her views on life are totally different, and when she sees her younger sister doing the same things she was doing she wants to stop her and tell her everything that she had gone through, but she held back knowing that it would only make her sister angry and make Winter look Jealous.I think that going to prison changed Winter In the best way, she was no longer the elf-absorbed, conceited ââ¬Å"ghetto-princessâ⬠that she was before she had gone to prison, she actually grew up, and matured during her time In. The Coldest Winter Ever ââ¬â Personal Reflection on Winter Santiago. By Joann Winter Santiago isn't Just a typical teenager. She isn't typical at all, she barely ever goes to school, she only goes when she wants something.Her family life is anything but typical, her father is a big drug dealer with a lot of money and her mother isn't even like a mother to Winter, she's more like a sister to her. Winter is very self- absorbed; she only worries about herself, even when her mom got shot in the face Win ter gets Jealous because she thinks her mother's hogging all the attention. She friend at all; I don't even think she would make a good friend.She betrayed all of her didn't care that Simons was having a baby, if anything she used it against her saying untrustworthy. She does have a of of maturing to do though, so I really shouldn't judge too harshly, you can tell by the end of the book, when she is in prison, and goes I think that going to prison changed Winter in the best way, she was no longer the prison, she actually grew up, and matured during her time in.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Mcdonalds India Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management SUPPLY CHAIN ASSIGNMENT ON SUBMITTED TO- MS HARLEEN SAHNI SUBMTTED BY- ANKKIT RAJ McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain ofà hamburgerà fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated byà Richard and Maurice McDonald and in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand usingà production lineà principles. Businessmanà Ray Krocà joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955.He subsequently purchased the chain from the McDonald brothers and oversaw its worldwide growth. A McDonald's restaurant is operated by either aà franchisee, anà affiliate, or the corporation itself. The corporation's revenues come from the rent, royalties and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. McDonald's revenues grew 27 percent over the three years ending in 2007 to $22. 8 billion, and 9 percent growth in operating income to $3. 9 billion. Most standalone McDonald's restaurants offer bothà counter serviceà andà drive-throughà service, with indoor and sometimes outdoor seating.Drive-Thru, Auto-Mac, Pay and Drive, or ââ¬Å"McDriveâ⬠as it is known in many countries, often has separate stations for placing, paying for, and picking up orders, though the latter two steps are frequently combined; it was first introduced in Arizona in 1975, following the lead of other fast-food chains. The first such restaurant in Britain opened atà Fallowfield,à Manchesterà in 1986. McDonald's Corporation earns revenue as an investor in properties, a franchiser of restaurants, and an operator of restaurants.Approximately 15% of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by McDonald's Corporation directly. The remainder is operated by others through a variety of franchise agreements and joint ventures. The McDonald's Corporation'sà business modelà is slightly different from that of most other fast-food chains. In addition to ordinaryà franchiseà fees and marketing fees, which are calculated as a percentage of sales, McDonald's may also collectà rent, which may also be calculated on the basis of sales.As a condition of many franchise agreements, which vary by contract, age, country, and location, the Corporation may own or lease the properties on which McDonald's franchises are located. In most, if not all cases, the franchisee does not own the location of its restaurants. The United Kingdom and Ireland business model is different than the U. S, in that fewer than 30% of restaurants are franchised, with the majority under the ownership of the company. McDonald's trains its franchisees and others atà Hamburger Universityà inà Oak Brook,à Illinois.In other countries, McDonald's restaurants are operated by joint ventures of McDonald's Corporation and other, local entities or governments. As a matter of policy, McDon ald's does not make direct sales of food or materials to franchisees, instead organizing the supply of food and materials to restaurants through approved third party logistics operators. McDonald's restaurants are found in 119 countriesà and territories around the world and serve 58 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 31,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1. million people. The company also operates other restaurantà brands, such as Piles Cafe. Focusing on its core brand, McDonald's beganà divestingà itself of other chains it had acquired during the 1990s. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grillà until October 2006, when McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle through a stock exchange. Until December 2003, it also ownedà Donatos Pizza. On August 27, 2007, McDonald's soldà Boston Marketà toà Sun Capital Partners. MCDONALDS INDIA INDIA AS A MARKETIn 1996, McDonald's opened inà Indiaà for the first time, a country where the majority of the population was Hindu and vegetarian, and the cow was sacred. Many saw it as just another example of the relentless spread of Western corporations into every nation, creating a global system in which wealth was drained out of local economies into the hands of a very few, very rich elite. McDonald's opened its doors inà Indiaà in October 1996, demonstrating what the McDonald's experience was all about. McDonald's inà Indiaà was a 50-50 joint venture partnership between McDonald's Corporation (U.S. A. ) and two Indian businessmen. Amit Jatia's company, Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. , owned and operated McDonald's restaurants in Westernà India, while Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. , headed by Vikram Bakshi, owned and operated the North Indian operationsi. These companies signed their joint-venture agreements with McDonald's in April 1995 and along with their Indian management team trained in McDonald's restaurants in Indonesia and the U. S. A. before opening the first McDonald's restaurant inà India. The entry of McDonald's inà Indiaà was perfectly timed.The market had begun to open up. The economy of the country was growing stronger. The customer markets were eager to acquire newer products and use newer forms of services. Foreign brands were valued and perceived to be superior in quality. According to a report of AC Neilson, among the world's consumers, Latin Americans and Asians were the biggest supporters of globalisation and the value that it added to the various aspects of their livesii. It was a favourable situation for McDonald's because at the time when they entered,à India, the Asian Tiger was awakening to the global call.The Indian customer was enthusiastic about the market situation which provided them with numerous choices to choose and pick. In a way McDonald's revolutionized the food retailing business inà India. It introduced the Indian customers to service standards which were available in th e western world for years. These service standards were visible and noteworthy and hence triggered quick acceptance within the customers. McDonald's positioning inà Indiaà as a family restaurant further fuelled its success. DIVERSITY IN THE INDIAN MARKET Indiaà as a market was a unique example of diversity.Divided into 28 states and 7 union territories, the vegetation, climate, religion, language, clothing, and food varied from one state to another. With the combination of spices in a unique way, food of these states reflected their traditions and culture. Hence the biggest challenge to any food business inà Indiaà definitely was about balancing the diversity and the product offerings. McDonald's got clearance from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) ofà Indiaà in 1991. But it was only after five years of preparation, that the first restaurant became operational in 1996.It worked on developing local relationships with local partners to facilitate the raw material . Indian companies for their operational convenience had divided the Indian subcontinent into four zones, the progressive West, the powerful North, the traditional and culturally rich, South and East. McDonald's opened their first restaurant in the capital ofà Indiaà which is Delhi. The second restaurant was opened in the financial capital ofà India, Mumbai. McDonald initially concentrated in the West and North regions.Later the company exhibited ambitious plans for expansion in Eastern and Southern regions. McDonald's real influence had been in establishing organizational systems of complete control at every stage from raw product to factory, from worker to consumer ââ¬â backed by incessant media hype. McDonald's had been a successful global food corporation at refining, co-coordinating, standardizing and developing such processes into a total system. It had set up these practices in every country it had moved into, and many other companies followed their suit.What Ford M otor Company did for cars, travel and the urban environment; McDonald's had done for food and eating habits. McDonald's expansion was criticized and resisted by trade unionists, local residents, nutritionists and many others in almost every town and country where they planned a new store ââ¬â despite their highly developed and expensive marketing effort about being a benefit for the community. They were resisted for what they represented, and remained a focus of controversy. CHALLENGES FACED BY MCDONALDS IN INDIA Vegetarianism: The major issue was beef.Cow being sacred and worshipped, beef could not be served. Muslims did not eat pork. The challenge was to change the form of the worldwide popular Hamburger to make an entry intoà India. With 25-30% of the population being lacto vegetarian and a large majority eating meat, an alternative to beef and pork was necessary. Competition from Local Food Retailers: The competition from the local food retailers was intense. The food reta ilers had been doing business for years. Their familiarity with the market and the understanding of the local taste gave them a competitive edge.There were numerous eating joints which offered snacks and meals with affordable price tags. Target Marketing: Operation Excellence Food Innovation Value propositions had to be directed to the right target market to establish a new product. An interesting question was who would eat at McDonald's? In order to develop the marketing strategy, it was important for any company to understand the consumer market. The more one knew and understood about consumers, the more effectively one could communicate and market to them Brand Trust Pricing MCDONALDS SUPPLY CHAINAn effective supply chain is an intricate network of suppliers, distributors and customers who share carefully managed information about demand, decision and performance, and who recognize that success for one part of supply chain means success for all. McDonaldââ¬â¢s is the single la rgest food chainà service retailer in the world. It serves around 45 Million customers everyday in 121 countries. It has 29,000 restaurants worldwide. It is also the single largest real estate owner. In India, McDonaldââ¬â¢sà à made its presence felt in the year 1996.It has 30 restaurants in 5 different cities In India. 95% of the ingredients/products used by them are sourced locally. McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants in the south and west of India function under Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited which is a Development Licensee. Amit Jatia is the Vice-Chairman of the company. For the north and east of India, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has formed a joint venture with Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited of which Vikram Bakshi is the Managing Director. These two companies monitor, scrutinize and judicially promote the brand of McDonaldââ¬â¢s in the country.The main business comes from Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Pune and Mathura. McDonalds had been working on its supply chain ev en before it opened its first joint in the country. McDonalds, an international brand which was trying to make inroads into the country, developed its Indian partners in such a manner that they stayed with the company from the beginning. McDonaldââ¬â¢s spent around 6 years in setting up its supply chain in India. The philosophy of its supply chain is nothing but partnering with its suppliers, so that a win-win situation can be achieved and both can earn evenue, the total logistics and other cost can be lowered, expertise of the supplier will give an advantage etc. The main factors to focus here are supplier partnering elements ââ¬â shared information, expectations, risks and payback, long term commitment, periodic reviews, compatible culture and the most important mutual understanding. The success of McDonalds India was achieved by sourcing all its required products from within the country. To ensure this, McDonalds developed local businesses, which can supply it highest qual ity products.Today, McDonalds India works with 38 different suppliers on a long term basis and several other stand alone restaurants for its various other requirements. McDonaldââ¬â¢s distribution centres in India came in the following order: Noida and Kalamboli (Mumbai) in 1996, Bangalore in 2004, and the latest one in Kolkata (2007). McDonaldââ¬â¢s entered its first distribution partnership agreement with Radha Krishna Foodland, a part of the Radha Krishna Group engaged in food-related service businesses. The association goes back to July 1993, when it studied the nuances of McDonaldââ¬â¢s operations and requirements for the Indian market.As distribution centres, the company was responsible for procurement, the quality inspection programme, storage, inventory management, deliveries to the restaurants and data collection, recording and reporting. Value-added services like shredding of lettuce, re-packing of promotional items continued since then at the centres playing a vi tal role in maintaining the integrity of the products throughout the entire ââ¬Ëcold chainââ¬â¢. While the supply chain of McDonaldââ¬â¢s at first glance appears simple, its diverse components are both critical and multi-layered. Food ingredients are supplied by two categories, Tier-I and Tier-2 suppliers.Tier-2 suppliers comprise growers and processors who include importantly, lettuce and potato growers, poultry farms and companies which manufacture coating systems that coat the vegetable and chicken patties. The ingredients are supplied to Tier-I suppliers who process them, for instance, into vegetable and chicken patties ââ¬â this is done by Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. or potato products like French fries, potato wedges and hashbrowns which are expertly churned out by McCain Foods India Pvt. Ltd. The products are then transported in a dedicated fleet of refrigerated trucks to the companyââ¬â¢s Distribution Centers.Multi-temperature and single temperature truck s then transport the fast food swiftly to the 217 McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants across the country. The supply-chain of McDonaldââ¬â¢s has also been expertly devised to include the significant aspect of return logistics. They have a large component of return logistics. The buns are packed in plastic crates to ensure their quality. These crates have to go back to the logistics facility, thatââ¬â¢s where return logistics comes in. From there they are sent to the bakeries. Supply of Ingredients Special vegetarian sauce Quaker, Cremica, Phillaur, PunjabSesame seeds Ghaziabad, UP Iceberg Lettuce Ferrocoa Farms, Dehradun Buns Shah & Sons,Khopoli,MH & Cremica Industries, Noida Vegetable Patty Kiltran Foods, Taloja, Maharashtra Batter & Breading Cremica Industries, Ludhiana, Punjab Ingredients from across the country DISTRIBUTION CENTRES The fast food chain has four Distribution Centers across the country to serve its 217 restaurants. The DCs have segued seamlessly with the vision of the company which has embarked on a period of roller coaster growth, with one McDonaldââ¬â¢s outlet being launched every ten days in the country!The company owns DCs in Noida and Mumbai which are primary Distribution Centers. The other two Distribution Centers are in Bengaluru and Kolkata and are housed in leased properties. The supply-chain of the fast food chain is in effect a hub-and-spoke model because the DCs act as hubs. The transportation of McDonaldââ¬â¢s has been completely outsourced and since 80 percent is refrigerated truck movement, the company has a dedicated fleet which transports their goods. OUTSOURCING The success of the supply-chain model of McDonaldââ¬â¢s can be directly attributed to its unique concept of outsourcing work.Unlike other corporate heavies, the company has a 100 percent outsourced supply chain. McDonaldââ¬â¢s believes that they should outsource everything to a company who are experts in their subject matter and then monitor their perform ance in a proper fashion so that Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are not affected at all. This is how McDonaldââ¬â¢s operates not just in India, but everywhere. Underlying the suppleness of its supply-chain are three principles to which the company adheres unwaveringly, the principles of trust and collaboration between the brand, the owners or operators, and the suppliers. Itââ¬â¢s like a three-legged stool. Each leg (principle) has to be equally strong so that thereââ¬â¢s no collapsing foundation. McDonaldââ¬â¢s also believes in a culture of partnership and transparency with its suppliers. They have 100 percent transparency in everything that they do which is very critical for them when they work with their suppliers. McDonaldââ¬â¢s has 14 core suppliers who supply directly to the fast food chain and they are known as Tier-I suppliers. Examples of Tier-I suppliers are Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. , the Dynamix Group, Mrs Bectors, etc.The other suppliers forward ingredients to the Tier-I suppliers first and they are termed Tier-2 suppliers. The fast food chain has a total of 40 suppliers from whom it sources its ingredients. Most of the suppliers are local, but some are internationally famous foreign brands like McCain Foods India which set up shop in India when McDonaldââ¬â¢s ventured into the fast food business in the country. For a McDonaldââ¬â¢s supplier the terms of work are rigorous. A companyââ¬â¢s stellar credentials are not enough; the supplierââ¬â¢s job does not end when the product leaves his premises, rather it ends only when the customer consumes it.McDonaldââ¬â¢s expects its suppliers to personally ensure the quality of their products to skirt the risk factor. Suppliers like Coca Cola which is McDonaldââ¬â¢s beverage partner also, for instance, take water management classes in its restaurants to ensure potable quality of drinking water. Sole Distribution Partner McDonaldsââ¬â¢ products are distributed by R adhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd which is the only distribution partner of the fast food chain. RK Foodland manages the four DCs and since it has a transport division, handles the truck movement in the supply-chain right through the country.McDonaldââ¬â¢s expects its distribution partner to meet its standards of ââ¬Ëcold, clean and on-time delivery ââ¬â¢. RK Foodland expertly manages the mundane day-to-day activities of the fast food chain like raising purchase orders to suppliers, invoicing, keeping an astute eye on working capital management, timely delivery, payments, etc. They are like a one-stop shop for the restaurants. Anything that is required, from a bulb that needs to be changed in a restaurant to training material, is sourced directly from RK.There are only two products, buns and Cokes, which are sent directly to the restaurants. Buns have a limited shelf life, hence they are sent directly to the outlets, while Coca Cola has a well-oiled distribution system which en sures quick dispatch of its products. As with its suppliers, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has no legally documented Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with RK Foodland. The fast food chain carefully calibrates the performance of its distribution partner, measuring it against its own KPIs to ensure its performance does not dip below its own exacting standards.The DCs are assessed on several factors like administration efficiency, the total number of cases managed per man hour, warehouse efficiency, overtime as a percentage of the total number of hours worked and in the case of transportation, the number of cases handled per trip, truck utilization, etc. McDonaldââ¬â¢s constantly scrutinizes the performance of RK Foodland against these KPIs; if its distribution partner is unable to meet certain benchmarks, together they devise solutions which would enable them to achieve set goals. COLD CHAINA marked feature of McDonaldsââ¬â¢ supply-chain is that the entire network consists of movement of goo ds through a cold chain. In effect, the suppliers are also a part of this cold chain and in certain cases, for instance, the lettuce growers, the cold chain begins with the Tier-2 suppliers. McDonaldââ¬â¢s have the largest refrigerated movement of products in India. An interesting and innovative feature of this cold chain is that the same truck can carry products at different temperatures, ranging from frozen products at -18C to -25C, chilled products from 1C-4C and dry products at ambient temperatures.Apparently, McDonaldââ¬â¢s is the only company whose supply-chain network is characterized by this successful experimentation. The inbound supply chain of McDonaldââ¬â¢s now consists of dedicated reefer trucks supported by dedicated and trained manpower. As the store numbers and distances increased, they decided to come out with a design of multi-temperature vehicles which could carry all three temperature products. They are installed with automatic temperature controller. Tr uck containers were made with two side doors in addition to the rear door.The side doors are used to unload products without disturbing the products in the other temperature zones. The delivery window is +/-2 days. The products are of three types i. e. frozen products, chilled products and dry products. The frozen products need the temperature from -15 to -25 deg C, the chilled products from 1 to 4 deg C and the dry foods from 24 to 30 deg C. This finesse and attention to detail has helped McDonaldââ¬â¢s achieve its own USP of ââ¬Ëquality, standards of service, cleanliness and value. McDonaldsââ¬â¢ efficiency and effectiveness are also due to the fact that it has a ââ¬Ëpull-supplyââ¬â¢ chain. The restaurant issues orders to the Distribution Center which, in turn, routes the order to the supplier and only then does the supplier produce it. The supplier thus maintains barely any extra stocks; only if there is a contingency, like the overhaul or servicing of machinery, w ill the supplier produce surplus stocks. Cold Chain was one of the unique concepts of McDonalds supply chain in India, on which it had spent more than six years to get the system into place.This system brought about a veritable revolution, immensely benefiting the farmers at one end and enabling customers at retail counters get the highest quality food products, absolutely fresh and at great value. Through its unique cold chain, McDonalds has been able to both cut down on its operational wastage, as well as maintain the freshness and nutritional value of raw and processed food products. This has involved procurement, warehousing, transportation and retailing of perishable food products, all under controlled temperatures.The following list of suppliers, who build up the major supply chain of McDonalds, reveal how this ââ¬ËCold Chainââ¬â¢ works and contributes towards the efficiency of McDonalds. * Dynamix Dairy Industries (Supplier of Cheese): Dynamix has brought immense benefi ts to farmers in Baramati, Maharashtra by setting up a network of milk collection centres equipped with bulk coolers. Easy accessibility has enabled farmers augment their income by finding a new market for surplus milk.The factory has: * Fully automatic international standard processing facility * Capability to convert milk into cheese, butter/ghee, skimmed milk powder, lactose, casein & whey protein and humanized baby food. * Stringent quality control measures and continuous Research & Development From farm two degrees Celsius in 90 minutes is the first step to quality. For example, the Rs 262-crore Dynamix Dairy Industries, located in Baramati in Pune district of Maharashtra, manufactures cheese slices for McDonaldââ¬â¢s at 10 metric tonnes per month.Dynamix has helped set up 15 bulk cooling centres throughout the district from which it purchases milk. Each cooling centre, which is equipped with modern measuring and testing equipment and a large cooling tank, is not more than a few kilometers away from local dairy farms. A farmer can deliver milk even twice a day on his bicycle and get a printed receipt on the spot, which also lists the quality of the milk supplied by him as per fat content, colour and solids content. If the milk is sub-standard or adulterated, it is rejected on the spot. A batch of milk can vary from one litre to 10 litres, or more.Each batch is mixed in one large stainless steel cooler and chilled immediately to two degrees Celsius to stop bacterial growth and preserve freshness. From this point onwards, until just before the burger is actually served in a McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurant hundreds of kilometers away, the temperature is never allowed to increase. When the refrigerated milk arrives at the Dynamix plant at Baramati, the milk in every single tanker is thoroughly tested and rejected if found sub-standard, adulterated or contaminated. The sophisticated testing lab can check fat content with an accuracy of 0. 1 per cent.It can eve n detect minute traces of pesticides or antibiotics administered to cows. This instant feedback and the rejection of the entire tanker-load forces farmers to follow the best practices in terms of animal husbandry, use proper feeds, cut down on the indiscriminate use of pesticides and animal medicines and completely stop even the slightest attempts at adulteration. * Trikaya Agriculture (Supplier of Iceberg Lettuce): Implementation of advanced agricultural practices has enabled Trikaya to successfully grow specialty crops like iceberg lettuce, special herbs and many oriental vegetables.Farm infrastructure features: * A specialized nursery with a team of agricultural experts. * Drip and sprinkler irrigation in raised farm beds with fertilizer mixing plant. * Pre-cooling room and a large cold room for post harvest handling. Refrigerated truck for transportation. Trikaya Agriculture, a major supplier of iceberg lettuce to McDonaldââ¬â¢s India, is one such enterprise that is an intrin sic part of the cold chain. Exposure to better agricultural management practices and sharing of advanced agricultural technology by McDonaldââ¬â¢s has made Trikaya Agriculture extremely conscious of delivering its products with utmost care and quality.Initially lettuce could only be grown during the winter months but with McDonaldââ¬â¢s expertise in the area of agriculture, Trikaya Farms in Talegaon, Maharashtra, is now able to grow this crop all the year round. McDonaldââ¬â¢s has provided assistance in the selection of high quality seeds, exposed the farms to advanced drip-irrigation technology, and helped develop a refrigerated transportation system allowing a small agri-business in Maharashtra to provide fresh, high-quality lettuce to McDonaldââ¬â¢s urban restaurant locations thousands of kilometers away.Post harvest facilities at Trikaya include a cold chain consisting of a pre-cooling room to remove field heat, a large cold room and a refrigerated van for transporta tion where the temperature and the relative humidity of the crop is maintained between 1? C and 4? C and 95% respectively. Vegetables are moved into the pre-cooling room within half an hour of harvesting. The pre-cooling room ensures rapid vacuum cooling to 2? C within 90 minutes. The pack house, pre-cooling and cold room are located at the farms itself, ensuring no delay between harvesting, pre-cooling, packaging and cold storage.With this cold chain infrastructure in place, Trikaya Agriculture has also a plan to export this high value product to other international markets, especially to McDonaldââ¬â¢s Middle East and Asia Pacific operations. McDonaldââ¬â¢s expertise in packaging, handling and long-distance transportation has helped Trikaya to do trial shipments to the Gulf successfully. In addition to export, McDonaldââ¬â¢s assistance has enabled Trikaya Agriculture to supply this crop to a number of star-rated hotels, clubs, flight kitchens and offshore catering compani es all over India. * Vista Processed Foods Pvt.Ltd. (Supplier of Chicken and Vegetable range of products including Fruit Pies) A joint venture with OSI Industries Inc. , USA, McDonaldââ¬â¢s India Pvt. Ltd. and Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. , produces a range of frozen chicken and vegetable foods. A world class infrastructure at their plant at Taloja, Maharashtra, has: * Separate processing lines for chicken and vegetable foods. * Capability to produce frozen foods at temperature as low as -35 Degree Cel. to retain total freshness. * International standards, procedures and support services. Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd. McDonaldââ¬â¢s suppliers for the chicken and vegetable range of products, is another important player in this cold chain. Technical and financial support extended by OSI Industries Inc. , USA and McDonaldââ¬â¢s India Private Limited have enabled Vista to set up world-class infrastructure and support services. This includes hi-tech refrigeration plants for manufacture of frozen food at temperatures as low as ââ¬â 35à ° C. This is vital to ensure that the frozen food retains it freshness for a long time and the ââ¬Ëcold chainââ¬â¢ is maintained. The frozen product is immediately moved to cold storage rooms.With continued assistance from its international partners, Vista has installed hi-tech equipment for both the chicken and vegetable processing lines, which reflect the latest food processing technology (de-boning, blending, forming, coating, frying and freezing). For the vegetable range, the latest vegetable mixers and blenders are in operation. Also, keeping cultural sensitivities in mind, both processing lines are absolutely segregated and utmost care is taken to ensure that the vegetable products do not mix with the non-vegetarian products.Now, at Vista, a very wide range of frozen and nutritious chicken and vegetable products is available. Ongoing R&D, both locally and in the parent companies, work towards innovation in taste, nutritional value and convenience. These products, besides being supplied to McDonaldââ¬â¢s, are also offered to institutions like star-rated hotels, hospitals, project sites, caterers, corporate canteens, schools and colleges, restaurants, food service establishments and coffee shops. Today, production of better quality frozen foods that are both nutritious and fresh has made Vista Processed Foods Pvt.Ltd. a name to reckon within the industry. * Radhakrishna Foodland (Distribution Centres for Delhi and Mumbai) An integral part of the Radhakrishna Group, Foodland specializes in handling large volumes, providing the entire range of services including procurement, quality inspection, storage, inventory management, deliveries, data collection, recording and reporting. Salient strengths are: * A one-stop shop for all distribution management services. * Dry and cold storage facility to store and transport perishable products at temperatures upto -22 Degree Celius. Effective process control for minimum distribution cost. McDonaldââ¬â¢s local supply networks through Radhakrishna Foodland, which operates distribution centres (DCs) for McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants in Mumbai and Delhi. The DCs have focused all their resources to meet McDonaldââ¬â¢s expectation of ââ¬ËCold, Clean, and On-Time Deliveryââ¬â¢ and plays a very vital role in maintaining the integrity of the products throughout the entire ââ¬Ëcold chainââ¬â¢. Ranging from liquid products coming from Punjab to lettuce from Pune, the DC receives items from different parts of the country.These items are stored in rooms with different temperature zones and are finally dispatched to the McDonaldââ¬â¢s restaurants on the basis of their requirements. The company has both cold and dry storage facilities with capability to store products up to -22? C as well as delivery trucks to transport products at temperatures ranging from room temperature to frozen state. * Amrit Food (Supplier o f long life UHT Milk and Milk Products for Frozen Desserts) Amrit Food, an ISO 9000 company, manufactures widely popular brands ââ¬â Gagan Milk and Nandan Ghee at its factory at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.The factory has: * State-of-the-art fully automatic machinery requiring no human contact with product, for total hygiene. * Installed capacity of 6000 ltrs/hr for producing homogenized UHT (Ultra High Temperature) processed milk and milk products. * Strict quality control supported by a fully equipped quality control laboratory. All suppliers adhere to Indian government regulations on food, health and hygiene while continuously maintaining McDonaldââ¬â¢s recognized standards.As the ingredients move from farms to processing plants to the restaurant, McDonaldââ¬â¢s Quality Inspection Programme (QIP) carries out quality checks at over 20 different points in the Cold Chain system. Setting up of the Cold Chain has also enabled it to cut down on operational wastage Hazard Analysi s Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a systematic approach to food safety that emphasizes prevention within its suppliersââ¬â¢ facility and restaurants rather than detection through inspection of illness or presence of microbiological data.Based on HACCP guidelines, control points and critical control points for all McDonaldââ¬â¢s major food processing plants and restaurants in India have been identified. The limits have been established for those followed by monitoring, recording and correcting any deviations. The HACCP verification is done at least twice in a year and certified. The relationship between McDonaldââ¬â¢s and its Indian suppliers is mutually beneficial. As McDonaldââ¬â¢s expands in India, the supplier gets the opportunity to expand his business, have access to the latest in food technology, exposure to advanced agricultural practices and the ability to grow or to export.There are many cases of local suppliers operating out of small towns who have benefited from their association with McDonaldââ¬â¢s India. Pictorial Description McDonalds India sources its ingredients from local suppliers who are an integral part of the cold chain. Refrigerated trucks with multi temperature facility divided into 3 zones ââ¬âfreezer, chiller and ambient to ferry product demanding varying temperature from supplierââ¬â¢s location to the distribution centre.Distribution centre is also divided into multi-temperature zones like trucks with freezer at 0 degree F to 33 degree F. Restaurants have in-built cold storage units subdivided into same aforesaid zones- freezer, chiller and ambient. IN A NUTSHELL Forecasting Demand Equally impressive is the accuracy of the demand forecasts. The restaurants give a three-day to one-week forecast to the Distribution Center. The DC, in turn, has a three-month rolling forecast with the suppliers which enable them to plan their production schedules meticulously.For extensive long-term planning, McDonaldââ¬â¢s has devised the 31Q systemââ¬â3 stands for the three years that the fast food chain will keep checking its plans, 1 represents the detailed forecast of the next year and Q symbolizes the quarterly monitoring of these forecasts. While preparing the annual budget, they include their suppliers in the budgeting process, briefing them on the new products and restaurants to be launched. Using this information, the suppliers roll out their production schedules. The schedule for the next year is carefully fixed and then stringently monitored.Once the forecasts are closed and the budgets fixed, the plan schedules and performances are monitored every quarter, also to ensure that there is no dip in performance. With 217 restaurants scattered across the country, lead times for delivery assume critical importance. But McDonaldsââ¬â¢ supply-chain network is everything it is supposed to be to ensure spot on distribution. Every restaurant manager knows the exact time of arrival of each product w hich enables the supply chain team to work backwards to ensure timely distribution. They have fixed locations of suppliers and restaurants and their own fleet of dedicated trucks and cleaners.They can predict the amount of time it takes for a product to reach from an X location to a Y location. If a truck takes four or five days to travel between a supplierââ¬â¢s premises in Taloja, Maharashtra, to Noida in the National Capital Region, dedicated McDonaldsââ¬â¢ trucks will accomplish it in two days due to non-stop running of the fleet. This ensures that the lead times for their trucks and deliveries are pretty much predictable. With a maximum inventory of ten days in its system, McDonaldââ¬â¢s maintains an efficient inventory turn ratio of 36.Tech Prowess The supply-chain network of McDonaldââ¬â¢s, which appears to work effortlessly, is powered by various IT systems which enhance its effectiveness. Vista Processed Foods Pvt. Ltd use SAP, Tier-1 supplier of the chain. Dist ribution Centers of RK Foodland are on RAMCO Marshall ERP with Cobra software. These systems are used to directly upload store orders. At the restaurant level, the fast food chain has in-house developed technologies which track day-to-day sales, enables restaurants to schedule staff and send forecast orders to DCs.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Wireless Networks Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Wireless Networks Communication - Research Paper Example In the recent past, last decade, wireless technology implementations have shifted the focus from the relatively small early adopters to a much larger group of organizations that use the technology to expand and comprehensively cover the networking capabilities and enhance their solicitation to their clientele. Majority of the existing organizations, commercial and non commercial, have in the very least installed wireless networks in their organizations. This comes in the form of simple open wireless technology with a wireless enabled switch, router etc. in a single room to rolling out large campus areas and few metropolitan area networks. Granted the continuing forecasts and advances for wireless technology applications, the era for implementing this technology in an organization is at hand. In order to have a successful wireless network implementation, different functional departments and divisions of a company must come together and support the effort. The already established playe rs, companies with the technology, have IT departments that have planned and designed the process as it would be expected. Beyond the IT personnel, which is by far a critical group, various other participants ââ¬â customers, management, administrators, finance ââ¬â are involved directly, with the stakeholders initiating the planning process (Sayre,2008). Whereas the practical requirements of the IT personnel largely influences the decisions in wireless technology implementation, organizations need make sure that the needs of other departments are also considered. The different factors cited as crucial in the decision to roll out wireless infrastructure must reflect the concerns and reservations of different departments and stakeholders in the business process (Rackley, 2008). The factors include, improved and more efficient network access, support for omnipresent network access, easier mobility for IT department and return on investment to the management of the company. Not all organizations may be able to address all stakeholdersââ¬â¢ needs, but it is clear that having all stakeholders in the process is aesthetic. It is aesthetic in the sense that the technology will be well received by all users but only a few make the crucial decisions. The quality implementation standards of wireless technology are still developing. Dedicating all resources to a single approach in the early stages of planning for the network implementation can set the stage for untimely obsolescence. Determining the standards prior to moving to the technological implementation has to be moderated in the case of WLANS to allow for almost continued refinements. Currently, the largest share of (WLAN) organizations currently use the 902.11b standard for their networks; over half of those planning to go with the new networks are considering 802.11a. A small percentage of the upcoming are planning to implement Bluetooth, (PAN) Personal Area Network solutions. PCs are by tradition, on the heart of wireless enabled networks today. Considering this fact, it is also worth noting that the notebook PC is the device that is most commonly used in a wireless network connection. A large number of wireless networks, slightly over half, also support desktop workstations. Thinking beyond the PC is crucial in this day and age of wireless infrastructure. Personal digital assistants (PDAs), iPhones, and Wi-Fi enabled phones are most likely to be included in the mix since they support the wireless networks. Cell phones and PDAs aforementioned are far more mobile and portable than the traditional notebook computers. Clearly, WLANs have become far more cosmopolitan in the present technology. Considering thi
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 93
Marketing - Essay Example The cupcakes are paired with an espresso that compliments the distinct flavors (Larson et al. 7). Customers who are widely located in the Seattle area receive good attendance in addition to after-sales-services. Cupcake Royale offers delivery to customers who are unable visit the location. In addition, the company provides rental of Cupcake Royaleââ¬â¢s party cart. The cart can be brought to any place the customer is in the Seattle area. Trophy Cupcakes (TC) is the top competitor to Cupcake Royale. Trophy Cupcake has dominated the social media to capture more customers. It uses Facebook and Twitter to post events, polls and promotions such as cupcake happy hour. TC has collaborated with Molly Moons ice cream shop where they sell cupcakes at all Moon Locations (Larson et al. 9). The grocery store has also undermined the market of Cupcake Royale Company. Cupcake Royale, however, has maintained the competition by improving its products and increasing its market cover. In addition to 10 new flavors of ice cream to the existing cupcake has expanded Cupcake Royale to six branches (Jones 1). The new Rodeo donut is of exceptional quality. It is made from brioche dough, which includes eggs yolks, eggs, and butter instead of shortening like normal dough (Guanco 1). The brioche has flavor featuring vanilla beans, orange flower water, orange zest and honey instead of sugar. Cupcake Royale Companyââ¬â¢s goal emphasizes quality over quantity. That has allowed its current market situation has grown. Guanco, Frank. Rodeo Donut Pop Up At Ballardââ¬â¢s Cupcake Royale. Komonews. March 26, 2015. Web. May 25, 2015 Jones, Sara. Cupcake Royale Owner and Pastry Chef Launch 3 New Ventures. Seattle. March 23, 2015. Web. May 25, 2015 Larson, Devin., Newby,
Wayne Williams Assessment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Wayne Williams Assessment - Research Paper Example The route taken by the accused could be a human rights preference, and it is also highly probable that he took that route to dump the body of one of his murder victims. The taunts that Wayne directed at the investigators cannot be overlooked as they could have two implications to the case. The investigations were slated at a time when race related matters were at an all time high. This could mean that Wayne was reacting to the maltreatment that he received which was a direct result of his race. On the other hand, it could be that he was highly corky and overconfident because he knew that there was no evidence that would eventually link him to the murders (Deadman, 1982). This paper will support the conclusion that Wayne Williams was guilty in the murder of some of the victims, as an outcome of fiber evidence analysis and linkage. Despite all the numerous challenges in the provision of evidence, in the above stated claims, there are certain aspects of the case that remain hazy. It is not possible for Wayne to claim that he was travelling to scout and recruit Cheryl Johnson, who could not be traced. There is no existing evidence that shows that they had previously communicated or even agreed to meet on the said date. Evidence that was gathered from his home intimated that he had taken time to acclimatize himself on the procedures to follow when trying to beat a polygraph test. It is a result of non-binding evidence that the prosecutors thought it prudent to rely on fiber evidence (Deadman, 1982). It is prudent to note that fiber evidence has contributed greatly in drawing resolute conclusions in criminology. The process, analysis, correlation and merging of fibers has the capacity of solving mysteries that would have otherwise remain unresolved. In the case of Wayne, the fibers processed and analyzed from the murdered victims were of a rare kind (Ramsland, 1991). However, investigators were able to
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Theology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2
Theology - Essay Example This paper intends to discuss why would an intelligent mind believe or not believe in the existence of God, and what my opinion about the nature and existence of God is. A 90 minute debate was held in Alys Stephens Center in Birmingham, Alabama, on October 03, 2007 between two Oxford University colleagues; an atheist and secular humanist, Professor Richard Dawkins, and a Christian apologist, Professor John Lennox. The topic of the debate was the existence of God based upon the atheistic views that Dawkins presented in his book, The God Delusion. In the debate, Dawkins explains his theses regarding the rejection of Godââ¬â¢s existence saying that science is based on evidence-based grounds whereas faith is blind and is based merely on satisfactory beliefs and thus it drags humans to believe what is told in religion without the need of understanding and exploring. This makes us say that an intelligent mind believes that science does not support religion; rather, it supports rationalism or atheism. Marx conception of Godââ¬â¢s existence is purely atheistic. He affirms that an intelligent mind must argue that the designer God, if there is one, must need another designer to design him. Freud does not believe in God and asserts that ââ¬Å"the sooner one accepts that God does not exist, the betterâ⬠(qtd. in McFaul 9) if one wants to step into mature adulthood. Christianity poses dangers to the existence of humans as all wars and destructions come as a result of the religious beliefs and difference in faiths. Dawkins explains an argument from his book, that is, faith is blind whereas science is evidence-based (92) in which he argues that faith is by no reasons strengthening its grounds in the 21st century when it has nothing to do with evidence. On the other hand, according to Dawkins, ââ¬Å"science uses evidence to discover the truth about the universeâ⬠and scientific discoveries are based on research and
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
SIOP Lesson Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words
SIOP Lesson Plan - Research Paper Example Learners in all the grades benefit both in the content area and the bilingual aspects. This paper will prepare a SIOP lesson plan for grade five students under the food and nutrition topic whereby, working in collaborative groups, they will be required to identify the nutritional values of food served in the school cafeteria. This paper will describe a learning project whose length is five class periods covering multiple content and sheltered instructional approaches that address learners with special needs and the ELLs. The standards used are contained in the New York State ELA, and the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). New York State ELA Standards Standard 1: The students will read and write, then listen and speak for the purpose of understanding and information. Standard 3: The students will read and write, then listen and speak for the purpose of evaluation and critical analysis. This lesson plan will address the above requirements by ensuring students r ead, listen, write and speak effectively so as to comprehend content, present information, communicate with fellow students and evaluate their own progress. TESOL Standards Standard 1: Within the school environment, ELLs will communicate in English for both instructional and social purposes Standard 2: ELLs will communicate ideas, concepts and information that facilitate their academic success in the art of language. The lesson plan will require the ELLs to use English in their communication of ideas, concept and information throughout the project (Tharpe & Gallimore, 1988). Content Objectives Students will be able to know nutritional values of food offered for lunch on the school menu by engaging in learning groups and investigative methods to research on the content. They will then present their findings in PowerPoint form in groups. Language Objectives Students will be able to communicate information verbally. They will re-tell the contents of the curriculum and use appropriate v ocabulary to describe what they have learnt. Although content and language objectives are presented as distinct objectives, they are with the standards as well as each other. Vocabulary The key vocabulary words are vitamin, sodium, fiber, mono-unsaturated fat, poly-unsaturated fat, protein, carbohydrate and calorie. Materials KWL chart, graphic organizer created by the teacher, computer projection screen, PowerPoint, classroom laptops, internet resources, and recipe cards. Strategies The strategies are driven by language and content standards, and the implementation is done with consideration to the theories of language acquisition that appeal to an assorted scope of learners. The learners are presented with an opportunity to utilize technology resources and graphic organizers, re-state information, work in mutual learning groups and discover information through research. Because the plan is designed for both learners with special needs and ELLs, strategies like jigsaw are used for their proven instructing effectiveness. A meaningful, thematic mode of instruction facilitates acquisition of second language, gives room for collaboration, provides scaffolding, and allows opportunities for use of oral and written English while building background. Based on Bloomââ¬â¢s Taxonomy, the strategies are also designed to develop the learnersââ¬â¢ mental skills, grow their emotional or feelings aspects and enhance their
Monday, September 23, 2019
Music Festival Campaign at Montgomery Social Hall Essay - 7
Music Festival Campaign at Montgomery Social Hall - Essay Example The reason why we settled on the model is because of it elaborateness in listing the ten stages while elaborately explaining them. Analysis being the very first step that is listed by Gregory is very important (Gregory, 2000). The gives room for the analysis of the analysis and definition of the problem. In undertaking the analysis will enable the campaign to have a good grounding upon which several activities will be conducted logically thereby resulting in a successful campaign. In the case of this extravaganza we used we employed the use of secondary research methods and other researched external information (Gordon, 2011). Secondary research therefore helped us to establish some of the facts the support the theme of our music festival. Most of the research conducted towards seeking to establish an understanding of the importance of music in human life. Research indicates a lot of positives about music while leaving room for future researchers to perhaps establish the negative part of it. According to the researchers music is a language spoken and understood by different parties despite not fathoming the meanings of the words or even understanding the language being used. Research has also established that music is therapeutic and it relieves off stress that one might have been subjected to during the course of work or duty. Further, due to the captivating and as well as lulling voices of singers and the instruments, music has been established.
Sunday, September 22, 2019
The House in Zapote Street Essay Example for Free
The House in Zapote Street Essay Quijano de Manila is the pen name of Nick Joaquin. He started writing before the war and his first story, ââ¬Å"Three Generationsâ⬠has been hailed as a masterpiece. He has been recipient of almost all the prestigious awards in literature and the arts, including the National Artist Award for Literature in 1976. He was also conferred, among other recognitions, the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature in 1961, the Journalist of the Year Award in the early 1960s, the Book of the Year Award in 1979 for his Almanac for Manileà ±os, the national Book award for several of his works, the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, Creative Communication Arts (the Asian counterpart of Nobel Prize) in 1996, and the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award in 1997. Dr. Leonardo Quitangon, a soft-spoken, mild-mannered, cool-tempered Caviteno, was still fancy-free at 35 when he returned to Manila, after six years abroad. Then, at the University of Santo Tomas, where he went to reach, he met Lydia Cabading, a medical intern. He liked her quiet ways and began to date her steadily. They went to the movies and to basketball games and he took her a number of times to his house in Sta. Mesa, to meet his family. Lydia was then only 23 and looked like a sweet unspoiled girl, but there was a slight air of mystery about her. Leonardo and his brothers noticed that she almost never spoke of her home life or her childhood; she seemed to have no gay early memories to share with her lover, as sweethearts usually crave to do. And whenever it looked as if she might have to stay out late, she would say: Ill have to tell my father first. And off she would go, wherever she was, to tell her father, though it meant going all the way to Makati, Rizal, where she lived w ith her parents in a new house on Zapote Street. The Quitangons understood that she was an only child and that her parents were, therefore, over-zealous in looking after her. Her father usually took her to school and fetched her after classes, and had been known to threaten to arrest young men who stared at her on the streets or pressed too close against her on jeepneys. This high-handedness seemed natural enough, for Pablo Cabading, Lydias father was a member of the Manila Police Depatment. After Lydia finished her internship, Leopardo Quitangon became a regular visitor at the house on Zapote Street: he was helping her prepare for the board exams. Her family seemed to like him. The mother Anunciacion, struck him as a mousy woman unable to speak save at her husbands bidding. There was a foster son, a little boy the Cabadings had adopted. As for Pablo Cabading, he was a fine strapping man, an Ilocano, who gave the impression of being taller than he was and looked every inch an agent of the law: full of brawn and guts and force, and smoldering with vitality. He was a natty dresser, liked youthful colors and styles, decorated his house with pictures of himself and, at 50, looked younger than his inarticulate wife, who was actually two years younger than he. When Leonardo started frequenting the house on Zapote Street, Cabading told him: ill be frank with you. None of Lydias boy friends ever lasted ten minutes in this house. I didnt like them and I told them so and made them get out. Then he added laying a hand on the young doctors shoulder: But I like you. You are a good man. The rest of the household were two very young maids who spoke almost no Tagalog, and two very fierce dogs, chained to the front door in the day time, unchained in the front yard at night. The house of Zapote Street is in the current architectural clichà ©: the hoity-toity Philippine split-level suburban styleââ¬âa half-story perched above the living area, to which it is bound by the slope of the roof and which it overlooks from a balcony, so that a person standing in the sala can see the doors of the bedrooms and bathroom just above his head. The house is painted, as is also the current fashion, in various pastel shades, a different color to every three or fou r planks. The inevitable piazza curves around two sides of the house, which has a strip of lawn and a low wall all around it. The Cabadings did not keep a car, but the house provides for an eventual garage and driveway. This, and the furniture, the shell lamps and the fancy bric-a-brac that clutters the narrow house indicate that the Cabadings had not only risen high enough to justify their split-level pretensions but were expecting to go higher. Lydia took the board exams and passed them. The lovers asked her fathers permission to wed. Cabading laid down two conditions: that the wedding would ba a lavish one and that was to pay a downy of P5.000.00. The young doctor said that he could afford the big wedding but the big dowry. Cabading shrugged his shoulders; no dowry, no marriage. Leonarado spent some frantic weeks scraping up cash and managed to gather P3.000.00. Cabading agreed to reduce his price to that amount, then laid down a final condition: after the wedding, Lydia and Leonardo must make their home at the house on Zapote Street. I built this house for Lydia, said Cabading, and I want her to live here even when shes married. Besides, her mother couldnt bear to be separated from Lydia, her only child. There was nothing. Leonardo could do but consent. Lydia and Leonardo were on September 10 last year, at the Cathedral of Manila, with Mrs. Delfin Montano, wife of the Cavite governor, and Senator Ferdinand Marcos as sponsors. The reception was at the Selecta. The status gods of Suburdia were properly propitiated. Then the newlyweds went to live on Zapote Street and Leonardo almost immediately realized why Lydia had been so reticent and mysterious about her home life. The cozy family group that charmed him in courtship days turned out to be rather too cozy. The entire household revolved in submission around Pablo Cabading. The daughter, mother, the foster-son, the maids and even the dogs trembled when the lifted his voice. Cabading liked to brag that was a killer: in 1946 he had shot dead two American soldiers he caught robbing a neighbors house in Quezon City. Leonardo found himself within a family turned in on itself, self-enclosed and self-sufficient ââ¬â in a house that had no neighbors and no need for any. His brothers say that he made more friends in the neighborhood within the couple of months he stayed there than the Cabadings had made in a year. Pablo Cabading did not like what his to stray out of, and what was not his to stray into, his house. And within that house he wanted to be the center of everything, even of his daughters honeymoon. Whenever Leonardo and Lydia went to the movies or for a ride, Cabading insisted on being taken along. If they seated him on the back scat while they sat together in front, be raged and glowered. He wanted to sit in front with them. When Leonardo came home from work, he must not tarry with Lydia in the bedroom chatting: both of them must come down at once to the sala and talk with their father. Leonardo explained that he was not much of a talking: Thats why I fell in love with Lydia, because shes the quiet type too. No matter, said Cabading. They didnt have to talk at all; he would do all the talking himself, so long as they sat there in the sala before his eyes. So, his compact family group sat around him at night, silent, while Cabading talked and talked. But, finally, the talk had stop, the listeners had to rise and retire and it was this moment that Cabading seemed unable to bear. He couldnt bear to see Lydia and Leonardo rise and go up together to their room. One night, unable to bear it any longer he shouted, as they rose to retire: Lydia, you sleep with your mother tonight. She has a toothache. After a dead look at her husband, Lydia obeyed. Leonardo went to bed alone. The incident would be repeated: there would always be other reasons, besides Mrs. Cabadings toothaches. What horrified Leonardo was not merely what being done to him but his increasing acquiesces. Had his spirit been so quickly broken? Was he, too, like the rest of the household, being drawn to revolve, silently and obediently, around the master of the house? Once, late at night, he suddenly showed up at his parentsââ¬â¢ house in Sta. Mesa and his brothers were shocked at the great in him within so short a time. He looked terrified. What had happened? His car had broken down and he had had it repaired and now he could not go home. But why not? You dont know my father-in-law, he groaned. Everybody in that house must be in by a certain hour. Otherwise, the gates are locked, the doors are locked, the windows are locked. Nobody can get in anymore!â⬠A younger brother, Gene offered to accompany him home and explain to Cabading what had happened. The two rode to Zapote and found the house dark and locked up. Says Gene: That memory makes my blood boil my eldest brother fearfully clanging and clanging the gate, and nobody to let him in. 1 wouldnt have waited a second, but he waited five, ten, fifteen minutes, knocking at thai gate, begging to be let in. I couldnt have it! In the end the two brothers rode back to Sta. Mesa, where Leonardo spent the night. When he returned to the house on Zapote the next day, his father-in-law greeted him with a sarcastic question: Where were you? At a basketball game? Leonardo became anxious to take his wife away from that house. He talked it over with her, then they went to tell her father. Said Cabading bluntly: If she goes with you, Ill shoot her head before your eyes. His brothers urged him to buy a gun, but Leonardo felt in his pocket and said, Ive got my rosary. Cried his brother Gene: You cant fight a gun with a rosary!. When Lydia took her oath as a physician, Cabading announced that only he and his wife would accompany Lydia to the ceremony. I would not be fair, he said, to let Leonardo, who had not borne the expenses of Lydias education, to share that moment of glory too. Leonardo said that, if he would like them at least to use his car. The offer was rejected. Cabading preferred to hire a taxi. After about two months at the house on Zapote Street, Leonardo moved out, alone. Her parents would not let Lydia go and she herself was too afraid to leave. During the succeeding weeks, efforts to contact her proved futile. The house on Zapote became even more closed to the outside world. If Lydia emerged from it at all, she was always accompanied by her father, mother or foster-brother, or by all three. When her husband heard that she had started working at a hospital he went there to see her but instead met her father coming to fetch her. The very next day, Lydia was no longer working at the hospital. Leonardo knew that she was with child and he was determined to bear all her prenatal expenses. He went to Zapote one day when her father was out and persuaded her to come out to the yard but could not make her make the money he offered across the locked gate. Just mail it, she cried and fled into the house. He sent her a check by registered mail; it was promptly mailed back to him. On Christmas Eve, Leonardo returned to the house on Zapote with a gift for his wife, and stood knocking at the gate for so long the neighbors gathered at windows to watch him. Finally, he was allowed to enter, present his gift to Lydia and talk with her for a moment. She said that her father seemed agreeable to a meeting with Leonardos father, to discuss the young couples problem. So the elder Quitangon and two of his younger sons went to Zapote one evening. The lights were on in Cabading house, but nobody responded to their knocking. Then all the lights were turned off. As they stood wondering what to do, a servant girl came and told them that the master was out. (Lydia would later tell them that they had not been admitted because her father had not yet decided what she was to say to them.) The last act of this curious drama began Sunday last week when Leonardo was astounded to receive an early-morning phone call from his wife. She said she could no longer bear to be parted from him and bade him pick her up at a certain church, where she was with her foster brother. Leonardo rushed to the church, picked up two, dropped the boy off at a street near Zapote, then sped with Lydia to Maragondon, Cavite where the Quitangons have a house. He stopped at a gasoline station to call up his brothers in Sta. Mesa, to tell them what he had done and to warn them that Cabading would surely show up there. Get Mother out of the house, he told his brothers. At about ten in the morning, a taxi stopped before the Quitangon house in Sta. Mesa and Mrs. Cabading got out and began screaming at the gate: Wheres my daughter? Wheres my daughter? Gene and Nonilo Quitangin went out to the gate and invited her to come in. No! No! All I want is my daughter! she screamed. Cabading, who was inside the waiting taxi, then got out and demanded that the Quitangons produce Lydia. Vexed, Nonilo Quitangon cried: Abah, what have we do with where your daughter is? Anyway, shes with her husband. At that, Cabading ran to the taxi, snatched a submachinegun from a box, and trained it on Gene Quitangon. (Nonilo had run into the house to get a gun.) Produce my daughter at once or Ill shoot you all down! shouted Cabading. Gene, the guns muzzle practically in his face, sought to pacify the older man: Why cant we talk this over quietly, like decent people, inside the house? Look, were creating a scandal in the neighborhood.. Cabading lowered his gun. I give you till midnight tonight to produce my daughter, he growled. If you dont, you better ask the PC to guard this house! Then he and his wife drove off in the taxi, just a moment before the mobile police patrol the neighbors had called arrived. The police advised Gene to file a complaint with the fiscals office. Instead, Gene decided to go to the house on Zapote Street, hoping that diplomacy would work. To his surprise, he was admitted at once by a smiling and very genial Cabading. You are a brave man, he told Gene, and a lucky one, And he ordered a coke brought for the visitor. Gene said that he was going to Cavite but could not promise to produce. Lydia by midnight: it was up to the couple to decide whether they would come back. It was about eight in the evening when Gene arrived in Maragondon. As his car drove into the yard of this familys old house, Lydia and Leonardo appeared at a window and frantically asked what had happened. Nothing, said Gene, and their faces lit up. Were having our honeymoon at last, Lydia told Gene as he entered the house. And the old air of dread, of mystery, did seem to have lifted from her face. But it was there again when, after supper, he told them what had happened in Sta. Mesa. I cant go back, she moaned. Hell kill me! Hell kill me! He has cooled down now, said Gene. He seems to be a reasonable man after all. Oh, you dont know him! cried Lydia. Ive known him longer, and Ive never, never been happy! And the brothers at last had glimpses of the girlhood she had been so reticent about. She told them of Cabadings baffling changes of temper, especially toward her; how smiles and found words and caresses could abruptly turn into beatings when his mood darkened. Leonardo said that his father-in-law was an artista, Remember how he used to fan me when I supped there while I was courting Lydia? (At about that time, in Sta. Mesa, Nonilo Quitanongon, on guard at the gate of his familys house, saw Cabading drive past three times in a taxi.) I cant force you to go back, said Gene. Youll have to decide that yourselves. But what, actually, are you planning to do? You cant stay forever here in Maragondon. What would you live on? The two said they would talk it over for a while in their room. Gene waited at the supper table and when a long time had passed and they had not come back he went to the room. Finding the door ajar, he looked in. Lydia and Leonardo were on their knees on the floor, saying the rosary, Gene returned to the supper table. After another long wait, the couple came out of the room. Said Lydia: We have prayed together and we have decided to die together.â⬠Well go back with you, in the morning. They weââ¬â¢re back in Manila early the next morning. Lydia and Leonardo went straight to the house in Sta. Mesa, where all their relatives and friends warned them not to go back to the house on Zapote Street, as they had decided to do. Confused anew, they went to the Manila police headquarters to ask for advice, but the advice given seemed drastic to them: summon Cabading and have it out with him in front of his superior officer. Leonardos father then offered to go to Zapote with Gene and Nonilo, to try to reason with Cabading. They found him in good humor, full of smiles and hearty greetings. He reproached his balae for not visiting him before. I did come once, drily remarked the elder Quitangon, but no one would open the gate. Cabading had his wife called. She came into the room and sat down. Was I in the house that night our balae came? her husband asked her. No, you were out, she replied. Having spoken her piece, she got up and left the room. (On their various visits to the house on Zapote Street, the Quitangons noticed that Mrs. Cabading appeared only when summoned and vanished as soon as she had done whatever was expected of her). Cabading then announced that he no longer objected to Lydias moving out of the house to live with her husband in an apartment of their own. Overjoyed, the Quitangons urged Cabading to go with them in Sta. Mesa, so that the newlyweds could be reconciled with Lydias parents. Cabading readily agreed. When they arrived in Sta. Mesa, Lydia and Leonardo were sitting on a sofa in the sala. Why have you done this? her father chided her gently. If you wanted to move out, did you have to run away? To Leonardo, he said: And you are angry with me? house by themselves. Gene Quitangon felt so felt elated he proposed a celebration: Ill throw a blow-out! Everybody is invited! This is on me! So they all went to Maxs in Quezon City and had a very merry fried-chicken party. Why, this is a family reunion! laughed Cabading. This should be on me! But Gene would not let him pay the bill. Early the next morning, Cabading called up the Sta. Mesa house to pay that his wife had fallen ill. Would Lydia please visit her? Leonardo and Lydia went to Zapote, found nothing the matter with her mother, and returned to Sta. Mesa. After lunch, Leonardo left for his classes. Then Cabading called up again. Lydias mother refused to eat and kept asking for her daughter. Would Lydia please drop in again at the house on Zapote? Gene and Nonilo Quitangon said they might as well accompany Lydia there and start moving out her things. When they arrived at the Zapote house, the Quitangon brothers were amused by what they saw. Mrs. Cabading, her eyes closed, lay on the parlor sofa, a large towel spread out beneath her. She has been lying there all day, said Cabading, tossing restlessly, asking for you, Lydia. Gene noted that the towel was neatly spread out and didnt look crumpled at all, and that Mrs. Cabading was obviously just pretending to be asleep. He smiled at the childishness of the stratagem, but Lydia was past being amused. She wont straight to her room, were they heard her pulling out drawers. While the Quitangons and Cabading were conversing, the supposedly sick mother slipped out of the sofa and went upstairs to Lydias room. Cabading told the Quitangons that he wanted Lydia and Leonardo to stay there; at the house in Zapote. I thought all that was settled last night, Gene groaned. I built this house for Lydia, persisted Cabading, and this house is hers. If she and her husband want to be alone, I and my wife will move out of here, turn this house over to them. Gene wearily explained that Lydia and Leonardo preferred the apartment they had already leased. Suddenly the men heard the clatter of a drawer falling upstairs. Gene surmised that it had fallen in a struggle between mother and daughter. Excuse me, said Cabading, rising. As he went upstairs, he said to the Quitangons, over his shoulder, ââ¬Å"Dont misunderstand me. Im not going to coach Lydia. He went into Lydias room and closed the door behind him. After a long while, Lydia and her father came out of the room together and came down to the sala together. Lydia was clasping a large crucifix. There was no expression on her face when she told the Quitangon boys to go home. But I thought we were going to start moving your things out this afternoon,, said Gene. She glanced at the crucifix and said it was one of the first things she wanted taken to her new home. Just tell Narding to fetch me, she said. Back in Sta. Mesa, Gene and Nonilo had the painful task of telling Leonardo, when he phoned, that Lydia was back in the house on Zapote. Why did you leave her there? cried Leonardo. Hell beat her up! Im going to get her. Gene told him not you go alone, to pass by the Sta. Mesa house first and pick up Nonilo. Gene could not go along; he had to catch a bus for Subic, where he works. When Leonardo arrived, Gene told him: Dont force Lydia to go with you. If she doesnt want to, leave at once. Do not, for any reason, be persuaded to stay there too. When his brother had left for Zapote, Gene realized that he was not sure he was going to Subic. He left too worried. He knew he couldnt rest easy until he had seen Lydia and Leonardo settled in their new home. The minutes quickly ticked past as he debated with himself whether he should stay or catch that bus. Then, at about a quarter to seven, the phone rang. It was Nonilo, in anguish. Something terrible has happened in Lydias room! I heard four shots, he cried. Who are up there? Lydia and Narding and the Cabadings. Ill be right over. Gene sent a younger brother to inform the family lawyer and to alert the Makati police. Then he drove like mad to Zapote. It was almost dark when he got there. The house stood perfectly still, not a light on inside. He watched it from a distance but could see no movement, Then a taxi drove up and out jumped Nonilo. He had telephoned from a gasoline station. He related what had happened. He said that when he and Leonardo arrived at the Zapote house, Cabading motioned Leonardo upstairs: Lydia is in her room. Leonardo went up; Cabading gave Nonilo a cup of coffee and chatted amiably with him. Nonilo saw Mrs. Cabading go up to Lydias room with a glass of milk. A while later, they heard a woman scream, followed by sobbing. There seems to be trouble up there, said Cabading, and he went upstairs. Nonilo saw him enter Lydias room, leaving the door open. A few moments later, the door was closed. Then Nonilo heard three shots. He stood petrified, but when he heard a fourth shot he dashed out of the house, ran to a gasoline station and called up Gene. Nonilo pointed to the closed front gate; he was sure he had left it open when he ran out. The brothers suspected that Cabading was lurking somewhere in the darkness, with his gun. Before them loomed the dark house, now so sinister and evil in their eyes. The upper story that jutted forward, forming the houses chief facade, bore a curious sign: Dra. Lydia C. Cabading, Lady Physician. (Apparently, Lydia continued- or was made- to use her maiden name.) Above the sign was the garland of colored lights that have been put up for Christmas and had not yet been removed. It was an ice-cold night, the dark of the moon, but the two brothers shivered not from the wind blowing down the lonely murky street but from pure horror of the house that had so fatally thrust itself into their lives. But the wind remembered when the sighs it heard here were only the sighing of the ripe grain, when the cries it heard were only the crying of birds nesting in the reeds, for all these new suburbs in Makati used to be grassland, riceland, marshland, or pastoral solitudes where few cared to go, until the big city spilled hither, replacing the uprooted reeds with split-levels, pushing noisy little streets into the heart of the solitude, and collecting here from all over the country the uprooted souls that now moan or giggle where once the carabao wallowed and the frogs croaked day and night. In very new suburbs, one feels human sorrow to be a grass intrusion on the labors of nature. Even barely two years ago, the talahib still rose man-high on the plot of ground on Zapote Street where now stands the relic of an ambiguous love. As the Quitangon brothers shivered in the darkness, a police van arrived and unloaded quite a large contingent of policemen. The Quitangons warned them that Cabading had a submachinegun. The policemen crawled toward the front gate and almost jumped when a young girl came running across the yard, shaking with terror and shrieking gibberish. She was one of the maids. She and her companion and the foster son had fled from the house when they heard the shooting and had been hiding in the yard. It was they who had closed the front gate. A policeman volunteered to enter the house through the back door; Gene said he would try the front one. He peered in at a window and could detect no one in the sala. He slipped a hand inside, opened the front door and entered, just as the policeman came in from the kitchen. As they crept up the stairs they heard a moaning in Lydias room. They tried the door but it was blocked from inside. Push it, push it, wailed a womans voice. The policeman pushed the door hard and what was blocking it gave. He groped for the switch and turned light. As they entered, he and Gene shuddered at what they saw. The entire room was spattered with blood. On the floor, blocking the door, lay Mrs. Cabading. She had been shot in the chest and stomach but was still alive. The policeman tried to get a statement from her but all she could say was: My hand, my hand- it hurts! She was lying across the legs of her daughter, who lay on top of her husbands body. Lydia was still clutching an armful of clothes; Leonardo was holding a clothes hanger. He had been shot in the breast; she, in the heart. They had died instantly, together. Sprawled face up on his daughters bed, his mouth agape and his eyes bulging open as though still staring in horror and the bright blood splashed on his face lay Pablo Cabading. Oh, I cursed him! cries Eugenio Quitangon with passion. Oh, I cursed him as he lay there dead, God forgive me! Yes, I cursed that dead man there on that bed, for I had wanted to find him alive! From the position of the bodies and from Mrs. Cabadings statements later at the hospital, it appears that Cabading shot Lydia while she was shielding her husband, and Mrs. Cabading when she tried to shield Lydia. Then he turned the gun on himself, and its an indication of the mans uncommon strength and power that, after the first shot, through the right side of the head, which must have been mortal enough, he seems to have been able, as his hands dropped to his breast, to fire at himself a second time. The violent spasm of agony must have sent the gun a .45 caliber pistol- flying from his hand. It was found at the foot of the bed, near Mrs. Cabadings feet. The drama of the jealous father had ended at about half-past six in the evening, Tuesday last week. The next day, hurrying commuters slowed down and a whispering crowd gathered before 1074 Zapote Street, to watch the police and the reporters going through the pretty little house that Pablo Cabading built for his Lydia.
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Are Human Rights a Western Concept?
Are Human Rights a Western Concept? Do you agree that human rights are a western or modern concept, if not please cite two imperial examples of universal Human Rights in practice during pre-historic times. And the unending challenges in conflict with diversity, culture and religion in contemporary times? This essay will defined, explore and analyse the historical, theoretical and philosophical concept of universal human rights with comparative analysis of international instruments and its applications of human rights both in theory and context with empirical examples from different countries, culture and religion. The evolution of Human Rights in terms of its enduring challenges and successes will also be explored. The crux of this essay will focus on the controversial clash of culture and religious in practice against the backdrop in adapting to the concept of universal human rights. For example, this essay will attempt to present both opposite views and justification from a cultural and religious perspectives and against the practice of Female Gentile Mutilation (FGM) in Sierra Leone, and the violation of certain womens rights in Saudi Arabia, from a universal human rights perspective, which others tend to view as western liberal ideology. The first part of this essay will focus on the historical and theoretical aspect of human rights with comparative analysis of contemporary challenges and success in an attempt to juxtapose universal human rights against national laws and its direct challenge to cultural and religious justification in national defence with respect to these controversial topics, with an example of which both national activists and International actors continue to campaign against cultural practice such as FGM around the world with a direct focus on Sierra Leone. The Third section will explore and analyses human rights in Saudi Arabia and the cultural and religious influence with respect to the conflicting laws and individual rights challenges, particularly women. The fourth section will draw comparative analysis with Western countries like UK and USA in an attempt to explain cultural relativism with respect to the differences and common accepted human rights practices among these states. Human right history has been a long and controversial subject that stem from little known concept and history of human rights before 1945 around the same period the United Nations was established. Before then, certain intellectuals tend to hold the view that contemporary human rights history stems from the United Nations concept. The international convention on Economic, Social and cultural rights, is known as one of the fundamental declarations adopted by the General Assembly of the UN in the Declaration of Human Right, with provision for everyone to take part in cultural life, to enjoy the benefit of scientific progress and its applications, and to enjoy the protection of scientific, literary or artistic works. Article 13 points the rights of everyone to education, which shall be directed to the development of human personality and the sense of its , (UNESCO: 1998; 1). Although cultural rights are also indicated in numerous UNESCO conventions and recommendations, likewise in severa l other international documents, there is yet an unending challenges to implement cultural rights to its full potential. There is a clear evidence to suggest that there is a common relation between cultural rights and fundamental freedoms and individual rights such as freedom of belief and religion, the right to education, freedom of association and freedom of expression. (1998; 1). On Lockes view in his famous and influential Letter Concerning Toleration 1689 the state is concerned with external acts of human beings and not with the care of their souls and hence has no right to restrict individuals liberty in matters of faith. Churches are to be be understood as a voluntary societies for the public worship of God. Their members do not surrender their natural liberty in matters of religion to their church and so the church has no right to coerce its members beyond that of expelling them for appropriate reasons. (Charvet and Kaczynska- Nay: 2008; 29) The major theorist of the seventeen century who invented the individualist doctrine of natural rights were all Northern European protestants: Hugo Grotius of the Netherlands, Thomas Hobbs and John Locke of England and Samuerl Pufendorf of Germany. They developed a new understanding of the idea of natural law that was to serve as the foundation of a legitimate social and political order. Hugo Grotius who is widely known as the founder of modern natural law theory is also accepted as the originator of modern theory of international law, which is grounded on the law of nature, which is also grounded of the domestic theory. However, there is also a more inquisitorial common view of a long human right history way beyond contemporary history of human rights, which many refers to as a much better approach. Even though it is plagued with controversy, but it gives an opportunity to search beyond 1945 and challenge the former position with respect to the historical and philosophical aspects and concepts of human rights. Some argues that the concept of Human has a universal history in the various religious and philosophies of the world. The code of Hammurabi (c.1792-50 BC), King of Babylon, is said to be the oldest surviving text establishing the rule of law, Cyrus the Great (died 529 BC), King of Persia, proclaimed a policy of religious tolerance and abolished slavery. The Buddhist King Ashoka of India (c.264-38 BC) also proclaimed a policy of religious tolerance, provided for the health and educations of his people, and appointed officials to prevent wrongful punishments (Weeramantry 1997: 7-8). (Freeman 2011: 15-16). There are numerous challenges towards the view that human right is a western concept, such as the self evident of protections with non western cultural settings, which weakens the position of those claiming human rights to be a western concept. In1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the realization of this document stemmed from a cummulation of over three dacdes of work by the UN Commission on the Status of women including years of efforts by Womens rights activist and governments. This was initially commission in 1947 under the Commission of Human Rights as a sub-commission, with unending demands from women activists it was eventually promoted to a full commission, This is seen as the authoritative instrument of Womens bill of rights, which seek to protect women around the world. The Convention defines discrimination against women as: Any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field (Article 1), (2008;201) Whiles most states have ratified CEDAW, there have been an exceptionally high number of reservations made to it by states ratifying, several countries have entered reservations to Article 2 and 16 in particular; for example, Bangladesh and Egypt on grounds that they conflicts with Sharia law (Bangladesh subsequently withdrew its observation to Article 16). Saudi Arabia entered a general reservation stating that: [i]n case of contradiction between any term of the convention and the norms of Islamic law, the Kingdom is not under obligation to observe the contradictory terms of the convention. An Elimination of Discrimination Against Women stated: Article 2 and 16 are considered by the committee to be core provision of the convention. Although some states parties have withdrawn reservations to those articles, the committee is particularly concerned at the number and extent of the reservations entered to those articles. The commission holds the view that article 2 is central to the objec ts and purpose of the Convention. States parties which ratify the Convention do so because they agree that discrimination against women in all its form should be condemned and that the strategies set out in article 2, subparagraph (a) to (g), should be implemented by States parties to eliminate it. Neither traditional, religious or Cultural practice nor incompatible domestic laws and policies can justify violations of the convention. The Committee also remains convinced that reservations of article 16, whether lodged for national, traditional, religious or cultural reasons, are incompatible with the Convention and therefore impermissible and should be reviewed and modified o withdrawn. (2008; 204) In 1517, Martin Luther pinned his famous ninety-five these stacking Catholic practices and beliefs to a church door in Wittenberg, which eventually led to the unbelievable split of the Christian Church in the West known as the Reformation. Because of the anxiousness exhibited by leaders who were desperate to free themselves from the interference of the pope and emperors, they seized the opportunity to affirm their total independence by embracing the new protestant version of Christianity, which had achieved wide spread popularity. During this period the liberty of religious conscious was never acknowledged by the Medieval Catholic Church, violent persecution of heretical beliefs was frequent by the state. This eventually led series of suppression and war in the West. It has to be said that Protestant were not really reacting to the persecution by the Catholics. The main reformed churches, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglecan, were as ardent persecutors of those who did not accept the true faith as the catholics. The indirect influence of the Reformation on the movement for the huge and continuing scale of the religiously inspired carnage and the direct influence of the Reformation on support of toleration came from the radical protestant sect such as; the Anabapitists and Baptist, Socinians and Unitarians. The main natural rights theories were directly involved in these concerns. Their main argument was that the naturalness of radical disagreement between human beings over religion and their idea of natural law was that it constitutes common ground in abstraction from areas of disagreement. Thus, they supported a minimalist view of Christian dogma and both Pufendorf and Locke wrote widely read works specifically on toleration using an argument from natural liberty. (Charvet and Kaczynska- Nay: 2008; 29) The complexity and contradiction of human rights law is nothing new when it comes to the human rights law and the relationship with the subject of culture and religious with respect to oppression and injustice, which is not always compatible. Human Rights law may have operated and practice around the world, but there is a disparity in terms of its universal acceptance and approaches different member States, which sometimes operates more or less in the same context, but sometimes produce inconsistent results. The process of ratification or legalizing human rights law have proved to be challenging, especially the subject of Womens rights and its relationship with religion, Culture and traditional resistance. Particularly the parochial world that view such move as threats to male privilege or centuries old practices, which others interpreted as an attempt by Western liberal to subjugate their culture, religion or traditional heritage. The 1993 Vianna World Conference on Human Rights can be noted as another defining moment in the struggle of Womens rights history to gain the recognition of womens rights and Human rights, which is another result derived from the complex and contradictory quagmire of legalizing womens rights. It is a heterogeneous project which precludes any formulation of grand theory. Its commonality lies in providing critical and necessary challenges to explanations about womens subordination that have been furnished by liberal and Western feminist positions, especially those that come to occupy the international human rights arena in their understanding and articulation of concerns of Third World women. Post colonial feminism furnishes the tools for exposing the imperial and essentialist assumptions about the Third World women and culture and a reliance on a centre-periphery model or world culture that have come to inform lrgal responses to womens human rights concerns. (Kapur 2005). (Meckled-Garcia and Cali: 2006;103) Women and the veil However, the cantering of a womens claims to social justice to human rights, the law has also have some serious limitation. The pursuits of women human rights has come to focus on laws and legal strategies, encouraging the view that the law is the exclusive language in which to express claim to social justice and emancipation and consequently marginalize the benefit of others/emancipatory and vocabularies (Kennedy 2004; 5). It encourages the belief that freedom and emancipation lie in the objectivity, universality and rational basis of human rights laws. (106) These claims made in and through Human rights law ultimately rely on a universal subject: a subject that resembles the uncomplicated subject of liberal rights discourse. Cultural essentialism tends to reinforce the notion of human rights as a primary concern with relation to the law, with main focus on the consequences and effects of violence against women in third world countries. Alhough they are invariably portrayed as victims of their culture, reinforcing stereotyped and racist representations of that culture and privileging the culture of the West. Many human rights law textbooks address the issue of violence against women in other contexts, primarily in a chapter on universality and cultural Relativism implying that universality is not a cultural concept that emerged from a specific historical and political context, and reinforcing the inaccurate assumption that the primary wary in which women in the Third world experience violence is through some particularly egregious cultural practice. This portrayal of women in Sierra Leone that practice FGM or (Bondo society) for example is encouraged by traditional and some influential members of that country, even though others vehemently opposed this practice as proposed by some feminist and human rights activist particularly in the international realm, which reminiscent of imperial interference in the lives of na tive people, which they often interpret as the backwardness of African culture and women society and uncivilized culture. It recreates the imperialist move that views the native subject as different and civilizationally backward (Sinha: 2000). And this culture is cast in opposition to the universal project of human rights. Some Cultural practices have come to occupy our imaginations in ways that are totalizing of a culture and its treatment of women, and are nearly always overly simplistic or a misrepresentation of the practice. For example, the multiple meanings of the veil, through different cultural and historical contexts, get subsumed in the legal arguments that focus on almost exclusively on veiling as an oppressive and subordinating practice that typifies Islam and its degrading treatment of women. It is read in a uniform, linear manner as an oppressive practice because it erases womens physical and sexual identity and is symbolic of the subjugation of women in Islam. For som e it does not represent honor, and an effective mechanism on avoid tempting men. More significantly, the veil has also been a very empowering symbol for muslim women in some countries. In Iran it was the sign of rebellion and rejection of the shah and Western imperialism. Amongst immigrants communities in the West, it is the symbol of an exclusive cultural space, where women are often marginalised. (Merinissi: 1994; 112-22). This complexity has been obscured in several recent attempts to ban or uphold the ban on headscarves. The European Court on Human REoights in Strasbourg has recently upheld the ban on the wearing of headscarves in class at University of Istanbul. It upheld Turkish Constitutional Courts ruling that wearing of a headscarves was in contravention of the principle of secularism and gender equality and that the upholding of such a ban did not violate rights to religious freedom and practice. One of the factors considered by the Court was the fact that there were extremist political movements in Turkey which sought to impose on society as a whole th eir religious symbols and conception of a society founded on religious (Meckled-Garcia and Cali: 2006;106) Conclusion
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)