History of Social Relations in India free essay sample

Caste and gender equations in Indian history No aspect of Indian history has excited more controversy than Indias history of social relations. Western indologists and Western-influenced Indian intellectuals have seized upon caste divisions, untouchability, religious obscurantism, and practices of dowry and sati as distinctive evidence of Indias perennial backwardness. For many Indologists, these social ills have literally come to define India and have become almost the exclusive focus of their writings on India. During the colonial period, it served the interests of the British (and their European cohorts) to exaggerate the democratic character of their own societies while diminishing any socially redeeming features of society in India (and other colonized nations). Social divisions and inequities were a convenient tool in the arsenal of the colonizers. On the one hand, tremendous tactical gains could be achieved by playing off one community against the other. On the other hand, there were also enormous psychological benefits in creating the impression that India was a land rife with uniquely abhorrent social practices that only an enlightened foreigner could attempt to reform. We will write a custom essay sample on History of Social Relations in India or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Indias social ills were discussed with a contemptuous cynicism and often with a willful intent to instill a sense of deep shame and inferiority. Strong elements of such colonial imagery continue to dominate the landscape of Western Indology. A liberal, dynamic West embracing universal human values is posed against an obdurate and unchanging East clinging to odious social values and customs. It is little wonder, therefore, that Indias intellectuals have been unable to either fully understand the historic dynamics and context which gave life to these social practices or find effective solutions for their cure. Many historians and social activists appear to have tacitly accepted the notion that caste divisions in society are a uniquely Indian feature and that Indian society has been largely unchanged since the writing of the Manusmriti which provides formal sanction to such social inequities. But caste-like divisions are neither uniquely Indian nor has Indian society been as socially stagnant as commonly believed. In all non-egalitarian societies where wealth and political power were unequally distributed, some form of social inequity appeared and often meant hereditary privileges for the elite and legally (or socially) sanctioned discrimination against those considered lower down in the social hierarchy. In fact, caste-like divisions are to be found in the history of most nations whether in the American continent, or in Africa, Europe or elsewhere in Asia. In some societies, caste-like divisions were relatively simple, in others more complex. For instance, in Eastern Africa some agricultural societies were divided between land-owning and landless tribes (or clans) that eventually took on caste-like characteristics. Priests and warriors enjoyed special privileges in the 15th C. Aztec society of Mexico as did the Samurais (warrior nobles) and priests of medieval Japan. Notions of purity and defilement were also quite similar in Japanese society and members of society who carried out unclean tasks were treated as social outcasts just as in India. Amongst the most stratified of the ancient civilizations was the Roman Civilization where in addition to state-sanctioned slavery, there were all manner of caste-like inequities coded into law. Even in the Christian era, European feudalism provided all manner of hereditary privileges for the knights and landed barons (somewhat akin to Indias Rajputs and Thakurs) and amongst the royalty, arranged marriages and dowry were just as common as in India. Discrimination against the artisans was also commonplace throughout Europe, and as late as the 19th century artisans in Germany had to go through a separate court system to seek legal redress. They were not permitted to appeal to courts that dealt with the affairs of the nobility and the landed gentry. For instance, Beethoven wrote numerous letters to German judicial authorities pleading that he not be treated as a second-class citizen that as Germanys pre-eminent composer he deserved better treatment. ) A common pattern that seems to emerge from a study of several such ancient and medieval societies is that priests and warriors typically formed an elite class in most medieval societies and social privileges varied according to social rank; in settled agriculture based societies, this was usually closely related to ownership of land. For instance, we find no evidence of caste-like discrimination in societies where land was collectively owned and jointly cultivated, or where goods and services were exchanged within the village on the basis of barter, and there was no premium assigned to any particular type of work. All services and all forms of human labor were valued equally. Such village communes may have once existed throughout India and some appear to have survived until quite recently especially in the hills, (such as in parts of Himachal and the North East, including Assam and Tripura), but also in Orissa and parts of Central India. In such societies, we also see little evidence of gender discrimination. In India, caste and gender discrimination appear to become more pronounced with the advent of hereditary and authoritarian ruling dynasties, a powerful state bureaucracy, the growth of selective property rights, and the domination of Brahmins over the rural poor in agrahara villages. But this process was neither linear nor always irreversible. As old ruling dynasties were overthrown, previously existing caste equations and caste hierarchies were also challenged and modified. In many parts of India this process may have taken several centuries to crystallize and caste rigidity may be a much more recent phenomenon than has been commonly portrayed. The impression that caste divisions were always strictly enforced, or that there were no challenges to caste rigidity does not seem to square with a dispassionate examination of the Indian historical record. It should also be emphasized that caste-distinctions were not the only way, or even the most egregious way in which social inequities manifested themselves in older societies. In ancient Greece and Rome, the institution of slavery was at least as cruel a practice, if not worse. (It is therefore quite ironic how the slave-owning Greek states are revered by Western intellectuals as the worlds first democratic societies but ancient India is denigrated for its incomprehensible social ills. ) Levels and degree of caste discrimination in India have varied with time and there has been both upward and downward mobility of castes and social groups. Going by the strictures outlined in the Manusmriti, one might conclude that caste distinctions were set in stone, rigidly enforced and the possibilities of caste mobility completely circumscribed. But a closer examination of the historical record suggests otherwise. Already in the Upanishadic period there were tensions between Brahmins and Kshatriyas, and there are explicit parables in the Upanishadic texts illustrating how an enlightened Kshatriya was able to exceed a Brahmin in spiritual wisdom and philosophical knowledge. In the Mahabharatha, there are references to a Brahmin warrior suggesting that caste categories were not entirely inflexible. There is also criticism of parasitism amongst Brahmins in some of the texts from the Upanishadic period, and social commentators emphasized how those who reneged on their social obligations were undeserving of their caste privileges. This is an important point because it suggests that there was an implied social contract that involved both privileges and social obligations. The monarch might have enjoyed immense power and prestige, and exacted numerous rights over the common people, but also had the obligation to defend the people to protect them from invaders, to dispense justice in an unprejudiced manner and assist in the development and preservation of irrigation facilities and roads. Failure to meet such expectations could and did lead to revolts, and dynasties rose and fell within a matter of few generations. Challenges to Brahminical hegemony and caste-rigidity In the Upanishads, there is also recognition that conceptions of god could be quite varied, that Brahminical rituals were not essential to spiritual release, and that individuals might choose different deities or methods of worship. This ecumenical outlook facilitated the growth of alternative viewpoints not only in the realm of religious practice but also on norms of how society ought to be structured. Social challenges to absolute monarchical rule and the immense power of the priestly class probably led to a crescendo during the Buddhist period when Brahmin hegemony received challenges from several quarters from radical atheists such as the Lokayatas, from Jain agnostics, and heterodox Hindus and Buddhists who wanted to reconstruct society on a less discriminatory and more humane basis. Although it would be wrong to romanticize the Buddhists as being completely against caste distinctions {since there is evidence that they accepted caste distinctions in society outside their sanghas (communes)}, Buddhists along with other social critics undoubtedly played a powerful role in ensuring that caste was not the sole or even the dominant factor in shaping Indian society of that period. This is borne out by how so many ruling clans arose from a non-Kshatriya (and also non-Brahmin) background. The Nandas, the Mauryas, the Kalingas and the Guptas are just some of the more illustrious of Indias ruling dynasties that did not arise from a Kshatriya background. (Of course, once some of these clans established themselves as ruling dynasties, they took on the Kshatriya mantle, and over time, the radical changes that accompanied their ascent to power gave way to social conservatism and a decaying of the radical currents that had contributed to their rise to power). It is also worth noting that the classical four varna division of Hindu society (as described in the Manusmriti) does not appear to have had much practical significance if one were to go by the accounts of the Greek chronicler, Megasthenes. In his accounts of Mauryan India. Megasthenes appears to list a seven fold social order in which he differentiates between the priest and the philosopher (who he ranked much above the priest, and who could have been a Brahmin, Jain or Buddhist) and also gives special attention to court bureaucrats such as record keepers, tax collectors and judicial officials. He also ascribed to the peasantry a higher status than might be inferred from the Manusmriti and noted with amazement how the peasantry was left unharmed during battles. According to Megasthenes, philosophers whether Brahmins or Jain/Buddhist monks also had obligations in terms of offering advice to the ruler in matters of public policy, agriculture, health and culture. Repeated failure to provide sound counsel could lead to a loss of privileges even exile or death. Thus, although many Brahmins may have held on to their privileges by being shameless sycophants others made significant contributions in the realm of science, philosophy and culture. Social mobility was possible since learning was not an exclusive preserve of the Brahmins and both the Buddhist and Jain sanghas admitted people from different social backgrounds and also admitted women. (Jyotsna Kamat points to a Karnataka inscription from 1187 A. D. hat suggests that Jain nuns enjoyed the same amount of freedom as their male counterparts. ) The more advanced sanghas enforced a separate quorum for women to ensure that a largely male gathering may not take decisions that did not meet with the approval of the women members of the sangha. Over time, it appears that the sanghas degenerated, losing their intellectual vitality and egalitarian spirit allowing the Brahmins to gradually consolidate their power and influence in the Gangetic plain. But even as late as the 6th-7th C, Gupta-period inscriptions describing land grants in Bengal appear to corroborate Megasthenes view of how Indian society was structured. Social rank of senior court administrators (who may have risen from different caste backgrounds) invariably exceeded the rank of ordinary village priests. (In Orissa, Rajasthan and parts of Central and Southern India, this pattern prevailed till even later. Moreover, as society headed towards aste-ossification, it was the court administrators who after acquiring hereditary caste status, became the most privileged agents in society. In some instances, these administrative castes simply merged with other privileged castes such as Brahmin or Kshatriya, or else they were treated as equivalent, and the historic distinctions between then became blurred or obscured. ) In a sampling of Gupta period land grant decrees, it is intriguing that caste identities are omitted more often than explicitly included. Had caste been as i mportant or dominant a social category, one might expect otherwise. Some of the most important figures appear to be officials involved in tax collection and land measurement. Various ranks of officials are mentioned without any explicit mention of their caste. Villagers are also frequently named without reference to their cast. Only occasionally, there are references to villagers who are also mentioned as being Brahmins. Some of the land grant records indicate that before land grants were made, certain categories of villagers perhaps those considered more important were consulted by the higher officials. Although Brahmins are mentioned in the list of those consulted, there are equal references to other categories of villagers such as kutumbins and mahattaras who may have been village officials or important landholders in the village. {Vishwa Mohan Jha (see ref. below) describes the kutumbins and mahattaras as varna/jati nuetral categories (i. e. caste-independent categories) that included Brahmins and non-Brahmins alike. } Other references point to consultative committees that included the chief artisan, the chief scribe, the merchant and the guild-president of the town. It also appears that administrative changes led to the creation of new posts, the merger or elimination of older posts, and changes in ranks of various officials over time. An examination of the land grant decrees over a space of three centuries (5th-7th C Bengal) points to such changes and others such as changes in procedures, or changes in the constitution of consultative committees, perhaps to reflect changing political alliances or changes in the economic status of different groups of townspeople and villagers. In a land allotment plate from Paschimbagh (Bengal) Brahmins are mentioned as tax payers, and the status of ordinary Brahmins does not seem at all exceptional. For instance, it points to a teacher or a Vedic scholar as being entitled to 10 patakas of land, but other Brahmins were entitled to only 2 patakas a share less than that of a Kayastha (record-keeper) or Vaidya (medical practitioner). Carpenters, smiths and artisans were also put far above other service communities in terms of their share of land. The Paschimbagh inscription also describes the grant of plots of land to florists, potters, carpenters, masons, blacksmiths and sweepers for serving a matha (monastery) indicating that when land was granted for a temple or monastery, priests were not the exclusive beneficiaries of land grants. (Two Bhaumakara charters from Talcher/Dhenkanal in Orissa similiarly refer to donations of land for a Buddhist temple, and allocations for its maintenance. ) A study of land grants from 12th C Rajasthan (Pali) and Karnataka (Kalikatti) suggests that land grants had a limited life tenure even when initially decreed to be for life or for perpetuity. Beneficiaries of land grants were subject to transfers, and grants to a particular beneficiary were transferred to another beneficiary five or ten years later. It also appears that the beneficiaries were selected based on administrative rank rather than any particular caste-affiliation. It is also not at all apparent that administrative rank was limited by birth. In Orissa, there is explicit evidence to the contrary. Ordinary peasants were able to rise up in the ranks of the military, and it is likely that a similar situation prevailed in the administrative ranks. Mayadhar Mansinha (see ref. below) suggests that a combination of factors such as training, merit and personal determination played a role, (in addition to social standing and political connections) in determining rank and promotions. In Karnataka, there is evidence that some of the chief administrators were women. (See Jyotsna Kamat, ref. provided below) Brahminical Ascendance Nevertheless, the seeds for a more privileged role for the Brahmins were also being sown through the process of land grants to Brahmins. In some instances, thousands of Brahmins were granted rights to hitherto uncultivated land. In other cases, Brahmins were appointed as the local representatives of the state authorities in what are described as agrahara villages where Brahmins presided over small peasants, who in Bihar were mostly landless sharecoppers or bonded labourers. These agrahara villages were typically small villages and sattelites of bigger villages that included members of several castes and bigger land-holders. In Bihar, such agrahara villages proliferated and it is quite likely that in such agraharas oppressive social relations and some of the most egregious patterns of caste-centred discrimination and exploitation may have developed. (While early Gupta period records indicate the existence of rural consultative councils that mediated between the rulers and the artisans and peasants, it seems that such consultative councils became less important or were phased out with the growth of the agraharas. Thereafter, the Brahmins became the sole intermediaries between the village and the state, and over time, this may have enabled the Brahmins to exercise social and political hegemony over other inhabitants of the village. It also appears that the greatest incidence of the practice of untouchability occurs in conjunction with the growth in the power and authority of the Brahmins in such villages. ) But these developments took time to spread elsewhere in India, first spreading to Bengal and eastern UP, and very gradually elsewhere in India. However, this pattern was not necessarily replicated in identical form throughout India and some parts of India virtually escaped this trend. In agrahara villages in other parts of India, Brahmins did take on the role of local administrators and tax collectors, but the status of the small peasantry was not always as miserable as in Bihar. The degree of exploitation and oppression appears to be related to the extent of alienation from land-ownership. For example, evidence for Brahmin domination in Kalikatti, Southern Karnataka emerges after the 13th C. hen villagers were instructed to pay taxes to the Brahmin assignees, leading to constant tensions and disputes, but without dramatic changes in the overall status of the tax-paying villagers. Although Brahminization was an important factor in leading to caste ossification, it was not necessarily the sole or even the most important factor in the mix. The impact of the Islamic invasions, colonization by the British and ecological changes played an equally crucial if not decisive role in many instances. For instance, in Orissa, the ossification of the bureaucracy and its conversion into a group of privileged and exclusive castes appears to take place after the 14th-15th C. when we begin to see a general decline in its overseas trade due to the silting up of its rivers. At the same time, we see the growth of Brahminical hegemony in the realm of religion and military defeats at the hands of the Mughal armies led by Raja Man Singh of Jaipur. All these factors may have played a role in destroying the vibrancy of Oriya society and encouraging caste conservatism. See the essay on the History of Orissa for more on this subject. ) Impact of the Islamic Invasions Unfortunately, many social historians have studiously ignored the effect of such external factors in the shaping of social relations in India. But we know that the Islamic invasions led to monumental changes in the political and cultural life of the sub-continent and especially so in the Gangetic plain so it would be exceedingly od d if the invasions had no impact on the social structure of Indian society. While some social analysts have tried to analyze Hindu society during the period of Islamic rule as though it had been untouched by the Islamic invasions and left to stagnate in a cocoon of its own making, others have succumbed to illusory simplifications such as Islam was an egalitarian faith whereas Hinduism had caste divisions. Because Islam first arose in those parts of the world where settled agriculture was not possible i. e. in the desert sands of the Arabian peninsula social divisions had not yet emerged in quite the same way that they had in long settled agricultural societies like India. For the warring nomadic tribes of the desert, Islam may have been a tool for the upward mobility of clans that may have earlier survived on petty thievery and by raiding the wealth of settled urban societies (and later for those who joined the ranks of the military in the Islalmic states), the upward mobility of some came at the expense of enormous human rights violations against others. In the hands of expansionist conquerors, Islam became more an instrument of devastation and terror rather than a vehicle for social equality or social justice. Taken in its entirety, the period of Islamic rule in India cannot be seen as furthering social equity or social harmony in the subcontinent. As a faith-based ideological system Islam could at best guarantee equality before God i. e. equality after death. However, a closer study of the Quran dispels even such notions, for even amongst believers, there is gender discrimination and rank based on the quality and type of service provided to the Islamic cause. In any case, on earth, the plight of Muslim converts depended more on social realities, on political equations than on the abstract and remote promise of equality offered by Islam. During times of heavy political and economic oppression, the only option for the poor was complete and total submission to the will of God which in effect meant sacrificing all their autonomy in favor of the clergy, (who rarely challenged political authority), and more often than not, were largely beholden to the rulers who chose to support and promote them. When the clergy did resist political authority, it often tended towards social conservatism and reaction rather than social progress. By and large, social inequities widened with the onset of Islamic rule in the sub-continent. Land revenue records clearly indicate that with few exceptions (as in Kashmir and Bengal for a time), Islamic rulers taxed the peasantry at significantly higher rates. If the average rate of taxation during the pre-Islamic period varied between 10% to a maximum of 20% averaging around 15-16%, it had increased to 33% or even more under the Mughals. Note that even the Manusmriti limited the tax rate on the peasantry to one-sixth about 16%) While all Islamic rulers may not have insisted on the discriminating jaziya, many of the earlier invaders insisted upon it, and more than one court chronicler of the Delhi Sultanate describes the violent means taken to suppress peasant rebellions and extract the high taxes from the crushed peasantry. Urban revolts were also n ot uncommon and the Arab chronicler Ibn Batuta mentions how such rebellions were suppressed with great cruelty. Punishment for those who rebelled could mean loss of adults (particularly young women) and children to slavery, massacres or forced evacuations of entire villages and small towns, pillage and destruction of places of learning, of temples and other symbols of cultural identification, and denial of job opportunities in the courts. In the early centuries of Islamic rule, the distrust of the locals was so intense that virtually all the important administrative positions were kept in the hands of foreigners. Romila Thapar has pointed out that prior to the Islamic invasions, Hindu rulers also invaded or pillaged the temples of their rivals, especially since these temples were repositories of great wealth. She has also indicated that the management of some of these rich temples was extremely corrupt. Plunder of temple wealth was definitely a factor in the destruction of such temples during raids and attacks by Islamic invaders and conquerors. However, during the Islamic invasions, this prac tice accelerated both in frequency and intensity. It should also be noted that not all temples were storehouses of great wealth or under the management of corrupt Brahminical trusts. The majority of temples had considerable cultural significance for the local populations and many were built and maintained by non-Brahminical cults. For instance, in Bundelkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, there are a sizable number of surviving temples that not only escaped the path of the Islamic invaders, but were obviously left untouched in local battles between rival Hindu kings. There are even scattered remains from the Gupta period. But in the Gangetic plain, virtually nothing from the regions pre-Islamic past has survived. Clearly, there were important political dimensions to the destruction of Northern Indias cultural wealth. One might speculate that the political subjugation of a reluctant and possibly even hostile population required the physical elimination of cultural symbols that instilled pride and self-confidence, and thus threatened the authority of the alien rulers. In any case, the smashing of facial features, genitalia and breasts on sculpted figures has no parallel to earlier practices. There is also little evidence that those defeated in battle were killed or enslaved on the scale of what happened during the Islamic invasions. ) For instance, the Afghanistan region (which once had a sizeable Hindu and Buddhist population) acquired the reputation of being a land where Hindus were slaughtered and hence took the name Hindu-Kush, and references to wanton destruction occur with boastful regularity in the records of the triumphant conquerors. However, in the Gangetic plain the Hindu population was essential in maintaining the tax base for the rulers and therefore, it was only necessary to break the autonomy of the Hindu population and crush their resistance to higher taxation. This was largely achieved through the almost complete destruction of older centres of culture and learning, burning of libraries such as in Nalanda and Vikramshila, the widespread conversion of Buddhists to Islam, and violent acts of reprisal against those who resisted. One of the most deleterious effects of the Islamic invasions on social relations in India was the practice of slavery, which was introduced on a scale hitherto unseen in the subcontinent. Unlike the societies of the East, slavery appears to have played an important role almost throughout the history of the Western world and the Quran has passages that endorse the practice of slavery. During the Islamic period, in sub-Saharan Africa, slaves labored in the salt mines and copper mines and served as a vital link in the trans-Saharan trade routes acting as porters where camels and donkeys could not go. Scott Levi (Univ. of Wisconsin) points to judicial documents of medieval Samarqand (and other Central Asian sources) that disclose the presence there of many thousands of Indian slaves throughout the medieval period. A number of Indian sources make it clear that, from the early Ghaznavid raids to the Mughal period, hundreds of thousands (if not millions over the centuries) of men, women and children were marched over to the slave markets in Iran and Central Asia, i. e. beyond the northwest frontier of India, and out of the reach of their familial support systems. Although state sanctioned slavery came to an end with the dawn of the Christian era in Europe, a slave-owning replica of ancient Rome arose in the American South, and slaves were employed throughout the Caribbean and South America. The Portuguese were notorious for their slave-markets in India. Even as slavery was banned in Europe, the European trading companies made huge profits from the slave trade. Slavery was not a pract ice confined to the Islamic parts of the world. ) The practice of slavery probably led to the growth in the custom of Jauhar and Sati amongst the military castes. Prior to the Islamic invasions, there are very few records to indicate that such practices were widely followed. But the onslaught of the Islamic invaders had led to a complete breakdown in the implementation of war ethics. Whereas in earlier wars, it was required of both sides to protect the peasantry, to leave women, children and the elderly at peace, and there were injunctions against the enslavement of prisoners or of harming those who surrendered in battle the invaders had few if any compunctions in unleashing all manner of torments on the defeated population. In such an environment, it is not surprising that for the proud Rajput societies, the act of jauhar, or mass suicide was a more honorable option. (It should be noted that such acts of mass or individual suicide are not unknown elsewhere in the world. Sometimes these acts were voluntary (as was usually emphasized in the Indian tradition), at other times they were entirely coerced. Amongst the Vikings, it was customary for a warriors young concubines to join the funeral pyres of dead Viking warriors. In ancient Nubia (upper Sudan and lower Egypt) there are records of mass suicide upon the death of a warrior king and Nubian burials of warriors indicate practices quite similiar to Jauhar / Sati . There are also parallels in the Japanese tradition of Harakiri'(suicide for honour) or Sepukku amongst the Samurai warrior nobles of Japan. Voluntary suicide of widows (although rare) also took place in China during the reign of the Qing dynasty. There are also records of the Celts and the Romans practicing human sacrifice. Amongst the Aztecs of the 15th C, the custom of human sacrifice of the defeated does not appear to have any voluntary character, and was seen as a legitimate rite in the celebration of a victory in war. Western feminist indologists who see the practice of Sati as a unique form of gender oppression peculiar to India might note that in the Christian world, the scourge of witch-burning was a far more dangerous threat to the lives of women. The mere charge of being a witch could lead to public hanging, and the Salem-witch trials in America were part of a long chain of witch-burnings that took place throughout Christian Europe and carried over into New England) Nevertheless, Islamic rule in India did not prevail entirely without benefits for specific social classes who chose to collaborate with the invaders. Trading communities probably benefited from the installation of Islamic rulers whose policies of lower taxes on trade, and state support of local traders and financiers was in their interest. Scott Levi suggests that from the end of the thirteenth century, and throughout much of the Delhi Sultanate period, the Muslim nobility were dependent upon heavily capitalized indigenous banking firms (identified in the Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi as Sahs and Multanis). These domestic financiers loaned seeds and other necessary inputs to peasants and village-artisans and manufacturers (such as textile weavers) in return for a share of the produce. The rest they bought in cash, and a part of that cash was then recovered by the state treasuries through taxation. It should also be noted that, (by and large), Islamic rulers born and raised in India relied less on violence and sheer terror, but sought alliances with sections of the local population, especially with those amongst the Hindu elite who were willing to collaborate. Although some of these alliances were coerced, others led to tangible material benefits for the royal collaborators. Alliances were forged through marriage, or simply from political convenience. Military alliances with Hindu rulers were crucial in maintaining the power of many Islamic rulers. After Akbar, the Mughals relied heavily on the Jaipur and Bikaner Rajputs, who in return were given rights to a share of the taxes extracted from the Gangetic plain. And although Hindus were numerically discriminated in jobs at the courts, by skillfully playing off different caste communities against one another, the Mughals were able to win over a section of the Hindus in maintaining their position of political preeminence. Hence, it would be wrong to see the many centuries of Islamic rule in India purely from the prism of religious antagonisms. But it would be equally wrong to see the long period of rule by Islamic-identified rulers (even those that were born in India) as entirely benevolent or benign, or no different from the rule of earlier Hindu kings. Since most were heavier taxers, the distance between the ruling elites and the peasant and artisan masses tended to widen and there were other aspects of Islamic rule (particularly during the rule of the more oppressive Sultanates) that limited social mobility. For many of the Islamic rulers, the Brahmin dominated agraharas were highly suited to efficient tax collection and the might of the Sultanates came down very heavily on social challenges that weakened the ability of the state to collect taxes. The fear of enslavement and the denial of equal access to job opportunities in the Sultanate courts led to Hindu society becoming extremely inward-looking in large parts of the plains. With opportunities or jobs in the administrative ranks shrinking, caste loyalties were in all likelihood strengthened, not weakened. Thus, rather than shake up the caste system as some might expect, Islamic rule (by foreign invaders who distrusted the locals) may have actually helped in its crystallization. Neither is there any evidence that Islamic rule helped end the practice of untouchability. (In fact, the problems of untouchability and caste-discrimination are especially notable in states like UP and Bihar where Islamic rule held complete sway for five centu ries. In Sindh and Western Punjab, where almost the entire population was converted to Islam, it is important to observe that janitorial workers were never converted, and to this date remain a highly oppressed and discriminated group. There is also evidence that Muslims developed their own versions of caste. Romila Thapar points out how foreign-origin Muslims such as Syeds, Sheiks and Ashrafs kept themselves consciously apart from Muslims who came from artisan and peasant backgrounds. Language was another divider. In Bijapur district, the elite Muslims spoke Urdu whereas the ordinary Muslims spoke Kannada. Zarina Bhatty in an essay on Social stratification among Muslims describes caste differentiation amongst Ashraf and non-Ashraf Muslims and notions of impurity that closely parallel caste cleavages and attitudes in Hindu society. Sandra Mackey in the Caste/Class System in Iran describes patterns of social differentiation remarkably similiar to Indias. Also see note below) Over time, Islamic rule in India created a much stronger and more unified elite, which made it more difficult for the ordinary masses to resist regressive social changes, particularly in the realm of philosophical choice, religious pluralism, regional and local autonomy in matters of religion, gender equity, freedom of sexual expression and sexual orientation. For instance, prior to the arrival of Islam, women enjoyed greater freedom of movement and dress. 1th C chronicler of Indian life, Al-Biruni expresses puzzlement at how the Hindu men (of Punjab) took the advice of the women in all consultations and emergencies. But in a matter of few centuries, Islamic notions of gender separation and sexual prudery had infected Hindu households as well. A weaker version of the Purdah system and a more conservative dress code became the custom even in Hindu homes, especially so amongst those of the trading community that had frequent contacts with Muslims. Although in sime passages, the Quran states that their ought to be no compulsion in matters of religion, in other passages, the Quran leaves no doubt that force and coercion are acceptable in furthering Islamic practice. Consequently, the practice of Islam conformed more to the passages advicating force and coercion. In Mali, the Tunisian chronicler Ibn Batuta noted that children who were neglectful in learning the Quran were put in chains until they had it memorized. Regarding India, he commented how newly converted peasants had a very lackadaisical attitude towards attending regular prayers and how the Imams had to cane non-attendees to force attendance. He also describes how he personally led a battle against the reluctance of women to cover their breasts in the Maldives. In the Indian tradition, moral codes concerning dress were more in keeping with the natural environment. Clothes were light and simple, consistent with the generally hot climate. And in matters of religion, there was greater diversity, and much more personal choice. It was often up to the devotee to visit a temple at a time of his or her choosing. Which deity to worship involved an element of local choice and different jatis might worship different deities. Local versions of the epics such as the Ramayana and the Krishna-Leela were popularized and recent research points to hundreds of different versions in circulation. Unlike in Islam, pilgrimages were undertaken under less pressure and with greater individual volition. Al-Biruni also noted how the Hindus were remarkably flexible and willing to change customs and traditions they no longer felt to be relevant or essential.

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Help Society Essay Help: Society Essay Homelessness in America The homeless face many challenges. They become sick and cant be cared for. They can’t afford food, so they have to starve. The homeless freeze in the winter because they aren't able to pay for coats and clothes for cold weather. People throw things at them such as trash, and treat them like garbage. When kids are homeless their grades start to drop, and they also get stressed out. Our society helps the homeless out to straighten up the problems they face. Our society has homeless shelters so homeless people are able to have a bed to sleep in, and also have food to eat. We also help the homeless with a â€Å"DARE to CARE Program†. Our society has places where people donate clothes and food for homeless or people who can’t afford it. â€Å"Salvation Army† donates food, clothes, blankets, and things that poor people cant buy because of financial problems. Many people in the society help find affordable houses for homeless to stay. To help the homeless, we could do many things that we don't do. We could provide more programs since there are 243,627 homeless people in the U.S. I know not all these living homeless people can’t stay at a couple of shelters. The shelters give the homeless expired foods and none of the people want to eat that because they know they will get sick. So why don't we give the homeless shelters that have food that isn't expired, and that lets them sleep in separate rooms. We could also create a business that lets homeless people work

Cell Phones in China Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Cell Phones in China - Research Paper Example Many religions survive in China. Different religions that are preached In China are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, with the first three being major. Education system in china is divided into 3 categories basic education, higher education, and adult education. Education order implementation is that each child must have necessary education of 9 years. In 1900, China strictly lacked the technological progress. The past 10 years are the era of massive technological development in China and now China is among one of the most developed nations of the world. Chinese mobile phone industry has a high growth rate and during last year it supplied up to 50% of global production of mobile phones. In 1995 China started wireless telecommunication through GSM. In 2000 a fixed telecom company (China telecom) and 2 mobile phone companies (China Mobile and China Unicom) were established. Another major telecommunication company was established in China an year before the 3rd Gen eration was granted. Reference Brandt, L. Reflection on China’s late 19th and Early 20th Century, 1997 The mobile phone technology has boosted up Chinese economy due to great sales and purchases and it has also enabled china to have a stand in global market.

Constitutional Law of the EU Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Constitutional Law of the EU - Essay Example If they fail to do so, the Commission can initiate action under the provisions of Article 169 EC. As such, the Member States have to change their national legislation to accommodate and give effect to Directives2. The Member States have to transpose a Directive into their domestic law. Such incorporation is satisfied if the transposition is done in a clear and precise manner. For instance, if some rights are provided to an individual by a Directive, then subsequent to transposition, that individual should be able to initiate legal action in national courts, duly relying on those rights3. In Plaumann v Commission4, the Commission had restrained the German Government from reducing duty on the import of clementines. The plaintiff, Plaumann, was an importer of clementines. He challenged this decision of the Commission in the ECJ. The Court applied the test of individual concern to this case; and examined whether the plaintiff was affected by the decision. The plaintiff was held to be a member of the class of clementine importers. The Court also examined whether the plaintiff could be differentiated from that class, by virtue of the attributes peculiar to him. It ruled that as Plaumann belonged to that particular class of importers, he was not individually affected by the Commission’s decision. In addition, the Court opined that anyone was free to become an importer5. In the Greenpeace case, both the Court of First Instance and the ECJ refused to admit the plea of the applicants. The latter, residents of the Canary Islands, had requested the Court to annul the decision of the Commission to provide financial aid for the construction of two power plants in these islands. It was held by the CFI and the ECJ that the applicants were not individually concerned. They were residents like any other residents on the Canary Islands, and that their environmental concerns were similar to that of the other residents. Hence, both the

Reviewing The Airasia Online Booking System Information Technology Essay

Reviewing The Airasia Online Booking System Information Technology Essay Help management to maintain their information for business use The management team can maintain their customer information for any emergency cases such as flight cancellation or delay due to the weather problem. They can also use the customer information to track on their preferences and travel pattern to keep them updated to a better plan that suits them. Besides that, it gives management the real-time information about the availability of seat on flight so that it will be all sold by not overbooking. The system is able to protect the customers privacy such as their personal information. Enables customer have a better journey planning The system provides customer a more flexible access mode as they can now make purchases by phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), and internet. So, customer can make the reservation in an easier and faster way. They can book their airline ticket not matter when and where they are as long as there are internet asses even if they are at the overseas. They can now easily check for their ticket status by website or mobile phone. The system also reduces the customer effort in rescheduling their trip as it could reduce the searching effort they usually need to take. It can show all the possible itineraries available for the pair of origin to destination cities. Increase the company sales or revenue Company can maximise the income as the system help to increase the customer awareness about the various special offers and discount available. It also increases by minimising the number of empty seats available on the flight and maximising the flight capacity utilisation. It can offer a lower price ticket on their website as they could skip the intermediaries such as agency. Besides that, AirAsia who have a competitive advantage than its competitor such as Malaysia Airline System (MAS) or Firefly as the company give a cheaper price for the airline ticket to its customer. Therefore, this system help the company to create a new sales channel that enables them to save the commission need to pay to the agency and at the same time, it increases their profit margin. The users for the system above are: Travel Agency They selling travel related products and services to customers on behalf of suppliers such as flight ticket, accommodation packages and so on. Through using airline system, they will check various flight dates and times, arrange accommodation and then travel agent booking or group booking. Besides that, they will try their best to fit the tourist requirement such as providing meals on air. For travel agent booking, they must join Airasia as an authorized sales agent by having a valid license, also known as the SkyAgent . Businessman This is a person who involved in the management of a company. Most of the time they travel overseas in order to meet their client. Their major concern is about the transportation cost for flight and they would prefer to pick a business seat which has premium flat bed because it provides maximum comfort and spacious. In addition, they will feel more refresh after long distance travelling. Through [emailprotected],They also can carter airline service for the purpose of meeting, convention and for leisure with Boeing 737-300 or Airbus 320. Student and traveller They are people who always purchase individually through online booking, group booking or mobile booking. Besides that, they also like to purchase low cost fare flight ticket because most of them are from average family. Therefore they will try to get cheap ticket by keep searching it or wait for the promotion period. In order to get cheap flight ticket, they would choose economy seat which have hot seat and standard seat. For those who want to get the plane first, they are recommended to get hot seat rather than standard seat. Therefore, each user have different buying pattern such as group booking, individual booking and mobile booking. The differences from group booking and individual booking are the guest will need to pay a non-refundable service fee and deposit per guest. Secondly, the full guest list with identification card number and passport number must be extended to AirAsia one week before departure. For using mobile phone, you can book flight ticket, gets details on flight schedules and check in from anywhere. Question 2 (a) Function: Email as the communication tool Base on the AirAsia airline system, the system have provide emailing function to their customer. E-mail is a system of creating, sending and storing textual data in digital form over a network. It can send and receive messages electronically over a computer network, as between personal computers. In this 21st century, e-mail has become the most preferred tool for communication. AirAsia uses this function to advertise their promotion and services to their customer. If customer registers as a member of AirAsia, they can get some best perks from the AirAsia. Be a AirAsia member, they can receive their newsletters which make them have the first information about their latest low fares and other fantastic offers. AirAsia advertises this promotion and services to their members through the emailing .Through the email advertising allows AirAsia to grab their customer attention and interest immediately. Customer of AirAsia can get the lasted news as fast as possible by the email. Email is by far the fastest form of written communication. Customer can first to know more detail with the lasted news or promotion of AirAsia. Email can distribute information quickly to many people for the time it takes to email one person. No other service matches the e-mail in terms of speed. By the way, emailing is a fast and now the most popular business communication with customers, enabling us to reach an unlimited number of recipients at low cost. AirAsia using this function to delivered instantly, anywhere across the globe. It is because email is leverage. AirAsia are able to send out email messages to literally millions of clients. Recipients are able to receive the message and respond instantly by the email. The messages that send from AirAsia at a cost that is close to zero. They are able to mail a simple message to a few thousand individuals without any payment. Besides that, AirAsia using this emailing function in their customer service department. AirAsia have provide the 24 hour online service to their customer, especially is customer service department. When customers have some question or problem related with the AirAsia flight or their booking, it is able for them to ask by using the emailing function. Customer Service of  AirAsia also have provide some simple question and answer which is divide into 5 main category. It is easy for customer to search and find out their answer. If customer cant find what they want, they can contact the customer service of AirAsia through the email instantly. Through the emailing function of AirAsia provided, customer are able to update their information .Trough the function of emailing, it is possible to send automated e-mails using special programs. Hence, AirAsia able to send automated e-mails to their customer or member monthly or when have some special promotion. Email advertising that send by AirAsia can keeping their customer up to date with their promotion. Customer can refreshes their information and also able to know more detail and promotion that provide by AirAsia through the email. By the way, it is also easy for customer to do reference when customer needs to check back or reply their mail. There is a provision in the mailing system to attach the previous mails as references. This function can refresh the recipients knowledge, it also able for customer to reference back the important information. For the example like date for flight, their booking receipt number and some of the important data. Question 2 (b) Improvement on email function For my opinion, AirAsia need to make some improvement for their emailing function. Although emailing has brought a lot of advantages to their customer, however it also includes some disadvantages. AirAsia have to make some improvement for this function to make their service much better. Email is emotional responses. Some emails cause upset or anger. A reply in the heat of the moment cant be retracted. Through the emailing, people easy misunderstanding with the message. Hence, AirAsia can provide a video call system to their customer. Through the video call function, people easy to get the message or information. Cases of misunderstanding of customer will be decrease. With this video call function, customer service department of AirAsia are easy to get the message from their customer. They can easy get the message about the problem that customer facing, and reply their customer instantly. In the other hand, AirAsia can provide this video call function without any payment to their customer. Free video calling are able to attract more people to use this function. This function enables them to talk face -to-face with live video for free. Besides that, AirAsia also can create a system for car rental to customers. Some of the customer of AirAsia may need a vehicle as their transport, especially is visitor. Some of the visitor will rent a car as their transport. Hence, it was functionable if AirAsia have provided this car rental system for their customers. The client can book the car rental service from AirAsia. It was possible booking the flight ticket with car rental in AirAsia. It is very easy to booking a car rental through online. Customer just need to state about the pick-up and drop-off location, pick-up and drop-off date and car type. It was simple and easy to customer to book a car rental. With this function, visitor is able to save a lot of time and money to find the transport or vehicles. All of this suggestion can make AirAsia airline system better and complete. Question 2 (a) Function: Hotel booking, provide destination guide and book for tour activity. AirAsia has cooperated with many hotels around Asia Country allow traveler to made hotel booking on the AirAsia website. There are many users of this system such as individual traveler, corporate booking, travel agent booking or government booking. This system makes traveler more convenience because they can straightaway to book for the hotel accommodation after they book a flight in the same systems. Besides that, this system also provides users to make a comparison either in price, hotel rating or facility provided with other hotel booking website. AirAsia also provide traveler to search for better saving hotel accommodation as AirAsia having AirAsiaGo promotion such as mystery hotel and is lowest price guarantee. Mystery hotel is means that traveler pay 3-star rates hotel for accommodate at 5-star hotel but with terms and condition that is the hotel name will not be revealed but hints will be provided, such as the location, facilities found at the Mystery Hotel. Lowest price guarantee is to guarantee to customers that booking hotels with airasiago.com is definitely cheaper price compared to elsewhere online. AirAsia can achieved this by refund the price difference to those customers that able to find lower hotel rates on any other website as compared to the booking made at airasiago.com (same time period and same hotel booking) and is subject to terms conditions. Customers just need to send email to [emailprotected] to claim for the price different. To book a hotel accommodation with AirAsia, customers can visit the AirAsia.com home page (http://www.airasia.com/my/en/home.html) in 6 easy steps as shown below. Step 1 Search Browse for the hotel accommodation by select your vacation city or region. Then, fill in the check-in and check-out date, select number of rooms that you want to book, select number of guest (adult or children) and stated the currency for the payment purpose. After you have key in all this information, now you can click the search and there will be process your requirement. Step 2 Select Now, the systems will be shown out the all hotels that meet the customers requirement. Customers can sort this hotel name view in either price or star rating. So, customers are required to click on the book now at the hotel slide that they choose. Then, customers also required to choose the Room type Features. Step 3 Options After that, customers also can add any additional activities to their itinerary such as airport transfer, our package and so on. Then, customers need to confirm their itinerary and simply click continue to the next process. Step 4 Travelers Detail Customers are required to fill in the contact information. Step 5 Payment Customers can choose for the payment method either credit card or debit card and make the payment. Step 6 Confirmation Once the payment is processed, the hotel accommodation itinerary will be shown and send to your email address Besides that, AirAsia also has cooperated with travel agent to allow travel agent to publish their tour package on AirAsia website. This system has beneficial for those individual that had book flight and hotel accommodation on the AirAsia website to browse for the tour package available and book for their prefer tour package. So, traveler no needs to find other travel agency to book for the travel package. Hence, this will reduce cost such as communication to travel agency and time to confirm the booking as this system can instant confirm on website. Next, AirAsia also got provide destination guide to users for vacation purpose. This is beneficial to those who going to plan for vacation but no idea for the vacation place, then they can search for this systems on AirAsia website. This system will show all the interesting and famous place for vacation around the Asia Country. For example, is Ocean Park and Hong Kong Disneyland at Hong Kong, gold coast at Australia and so on. This systems is easy to use, traveler just need to click on destination guide under the travel info, then just click the destination place that their wan t to know more. User also can choose for detailed information on dining, sightseeing, culture, art theater, nature eco, shopping of the country. This will help travelers that plan for vacation to decide and choose their prefer vacation place. AirAsia also provides a system that allows users to search for the event calendar so that they can plan to go to the event activity. This system also quite easy for the user as it just clicks on the event calendar under the travel info. This system is beneficial to those travelers who want to go for some of the special event activity such as Macau Food Festival, Halloween Hong Kong Treats, Hong Kong Sinfonietta Accompanies Hong Kong Ballet in The Nutcracker, Christmas in the Tropics, Walkerhill Show Legend of Flower and so on because travelers can check for the time this activity happen on AirAsia website. Question 2 (b) Add new cruises booking One of the services or functions that can be add to the current AirAsia website systems to provide cruises booking for users. Future users of this system might include individual, couple, family or group booking, corporate booking, travel agent booking or government booking. Couple may like to have a honeymoon cruise trip or having a memorable cruise wedding. Besides that, cruises is also one of the choice for family, friends or company trip as there have a lot of activities ranging from snorkelling and biking to sauna and spa treatments. This service would increase sales to AirAsia because this cruise package is in very high demand. So, AirAsia should implement this service into the current system website so that users can book for the cruise package. The way of booking this cruise package system is almost same as the hotel booking systems. Besides that, this system also can provide some theme for user to select such as family cruises, luxury cruises, holiday cruise, week end cruise and so on. User can book this theme cruise by click on the Cruise them promotion. If user is more likely to choose the destination and time by themselves, they can search by following steps. First, user need to search for their prefer cruise destination and the duration time for the cruise. Then, user is required to fill in the departure month and date. Anyway, the systems would ask users how flexible are they for the departure date such as expand their search to include days before and after their preferred departure date because it is unlike flights, cruises dont depart every day from every port. Next, user also need to select their prefer cruise line and cruise ship. Lastly, user required to select the cruise departure port and stated the currency for the payment purpose. Now, user can click search. Second, the systems will process all the information and shown out all the available cruise. User can sort this cruise view in either price or ship rating. Now, user need to choose their prefer cruise and click on the select button at the cruise slide that they choose. Third, user can search for the availability of the entertainment or activity on the cruise ship such as Bars, Clubs Lounges, Casino Gambling, Spa, Sports Fitness, Shops, Leisure, Enrichment, Kids Families and so on. This can help user to planning for this activity on the cruise. User also can view the cruise Itinerary at here such as time of arrive or departure at which place. Besides that, user also can look for the availability and the price for the dinning. After the user has know all about the cruise information and confirm for this cruise package then they can click continue for further process. Now, user need to select the number of passengers (Adults or children). User also required to choose their dinning preferences either personal choice dining or second dining. Then, user need to select the table size either medium , small or large. Lastly, user must enter their contact information. Then, user need to specify what type of stateroom category that wants to book such as Suite, Balcony Stateroom, Oceanview Stateroom and Interior Stateroom. Fifth, user need to key in all detailed information. User are required to check the billing information and the contact information. Now, user needs to pay for this cruise package either in debit or credit card. This system can generate more sales for the AirAsia and get more users to use the AirAsia website to plan and book for vacation. Question 2 (a) Functions: Payment methods, 1-Click Card and multi currency pricing system From the system that we have chosen, I would like to discuss about the payment function that are available for AirAsia booking system. Every traveller who purchases their ticket from the website or mobile phone is requiring making the payment prior their purchase. After they have entered their guest information and the additional service that they needed, they are require to choose which payment option and method they would like to use. The payment options are VISA, Master Card or American Express and they can use credit card or debit card, e-gift voucher and direct debit to pay it. Let look at them one by one to see how to use this method to make payment. For the credit or debit card payment, it is the same as the normal way of payment that we use to pay for things that we purchase online. The travellers are required to choose the type of card that they would like to use to make their payment. Then enter their card details on the screen and billing address. They must ensure that the information is the same with the credit or debit card information. Before click on the word Pay to make the payment, they must double check whether the final amount and guest name are correct. After that, be patient to wait for around 45 second for the system to process the transaction. When it is successful, their travel itinerary will automatically appear for them to print and it is also email to them. Direct Debit is another method where the travellers can choose to make their payment. First, they must click on the Direct Debit tab and choose their preferred Bank for payment. There are Maybank, Public Bank. CIMB Clicks, AmOnline and BankRakyat. After selecting the bank that they would like to use, there will be pop-up windows on their preferred bank. They are required to login to their bank account in order to process the payment. To perform the transaction, they must select the account and confirm the payment details by clicking Next. Verify the account by key in their Identification Code (IC) or Passport Number and click Confirm to precede the transaction. Before log out from the page, they must print their payment details for future reference. Once all this is done, the travel itinerary will be display. Traveller can also pay using the E-Gift Voucher (EGV). They can get the EGV by purchasing it online or get it as a gift from AirAsia. They can use it by key in the E-Gift Voucher Number and password. If they have more than one voucher, click on + to add the next voucher by key in the number and password. When there are any remaining balances after deduction from the voucher, they need to pay it using credit or debit card. So they must click on the Credit / Debit Card tab to proceed. Then they must do the same process as the credit or debit card payment explained in the second paragraph. After all the payment, the travel itinerary will appear for print. In additional, there are this new features added to bring convenience to travellers who always purchase flight ticket using the credit or debit card. This is called 1-Click Card. It will change the way they can complete their payment as previous. Now, they do not need to fumble and rush to key in their card details. Before they are able to use this 1-Click Card, they must add their favourite cards into the list on their account. How can they do so? They must login their account in AirAsia.com and go the My Profile. Then move the mouse to My 1-Click Card and select Add/Delete details. They are required to add on their card details for all the mandatory fields and save it. However, they can only add a maximum of 3 cards in this feature. So whenever they need to book any ticket online no matter through web or mobile, they can just click on the card they want to use for purchase without key in the details. Besides that, AirAsa has currently cooperated with The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to provide a multi-currency pricing system to it online system. These systems enable the travellers can immediately get the actual price that they are paying according to their country currency. This could enhance the company online sales by eliminate the uncertainty of exchange rates fluctuation. For now, the currencies available for online sales are US dollar, Singapore dollar, Hong Kong dollar, pound, and Australian dollar. Question 2 (b) Improvement on the payment system There are many customer complaints that they face problems when they are making payment for their flight ticket. When they have finish entering all their card details and click Pay, some of them may even get a page stated that our site is experiencing high traffic, please try again later after they key in the payment details especially during promotion period, facing an error or connection problem. Some may also face problem when they tends to make payments for two different routes flight. For example, there are these customers who plan to help his friends to purchase the flight ticket using his account. For the current system, he can only make the booking by finish the first booking before book for the second flight. But there are these chances where he has successfully paid for the first ticket and when he purchase for the second ticket, he now face an error that state that the payment was unsuccessful. Therefore, as an improvement, I would like suggest to AirAsia that they should upgrading its payment system that enables the customer to book two different route tickets with just one payment with his credit or debit card. How to do so? First, AirAsia should meet with the bank officer that that they have relation on the system and those IT management team to discuss on how to apply this function to the current booking system. After all the discussion, they must design the system to apply. They can put an extra box in the booking section where they can tick on whether they are purchasing more than one ticket. If they tick it, they will be shown with two columns for them to enter the destination and date they are going. After entering it, they will be shown with two fare prices for the different route tickets and they are required to choose. Then they have to enter two type of information. One is for the first trip guest information then another for the second trip as they may be different guest. After all the booking details, they come to the page where they need to make the payments. Now the system must be able to sum up the total price for both of the ticket purchase and the additional charges on other services. Then the customers choose on the payment method that they wanted to use and click Pay. So they are now able to make two ticket purchases with just one time of payment. For the bank site, they must enable the customer to make their payment online although it might be a huge sum. Their customer service centre can also call the customer and confirm on their purchases. With this planning and designing, they must test on this system to see which one is more workable or not on the current system before implementing. It must also be user friendly for the customers to use. So with this new function, the customers can now book ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok and ticket from Melbourne to Taipei with one payment with their credit or debit card. It is now easier and time saving for the customer as they can save their time to purchase it two times. It is also reduce the chances for them to get the error problem. Question 2(a) Functions: Skybus, Skyvan, advertising, Help and Info Airasia creates airline system to provide useful and convenient for the users. Through the website, we know that Airasia provides a variety of services including skybus, skyvan and advertising. Skybus is a transport that offer low cost price in addition to quality service. Besides that, point to point shuttle service is provided from KL Sentral or One Utama to low cost carrier terminal and vice versa. There are 40 seater air conditioned coaches and also provides adequate space. The time taken from One Utama or KL Sentral to LCC-T is estimated at 1 hour 15 minutes and the ticket charged for KL Sentral is RM9 and One Utama is RM15. Skyvan provides door-to-door van service that will get you to the city such as LCCT, Genting Highlands, Port Dickson, Cameron Highlands, Melaka and so on. It is available from 9am to 9pm.But if u gets a ride between 6 am to 9am and 9pm to 11 pm, you will be surcharged rm20 per van. You will also be charge extra 30 percentage of total cost if it is in the middle of the night. At the same times, the prices are charged in different way which depends on sharing or charter. Advertising is also available on airline system. We learnt that there are few companies that have collaborated with skybus such as Airasia, Maxis and Digi. There are three types of advertisement for allowing companies to advertise including bus painting advertisement, on board advertisement and websites advertisement. The airline system also added few tabs at website including schedule, photo gallery, newsroom and help and info. As we know skybus schedule, it operates daily throughout the year, including public holidays. During peak-season, bus ran at a 15 minutes interval and 30 minutes interval off peak. Therefore, it is convenience for us to get ride straight away and no time is wasted. One of the tabs of Airasia is photo gallery at airline system. We could have a look at various type of Lcct opening, new buses1, new buses 2, skyvan and award. Besides that we could at least figure out the image of the skybus and skyvan from the front view and back view. The photos also prove the awards they have received. In order to let many users know about the latest event, Airasia will updated the advertisement on the home page. For example, they provide bus services to Sepang circuit from 8 April to 10 April 2011.The airline system also provide the detail of skybus schedule and price ticket. Furthermore, airline system also provides newsroom. It has posted lots of articles about skybus from newspaper such as news trait times, star metro and the edge Malaysia. It can enhance people knowledge and increase the reliability of Malaysia. Moreover, Help and Info is provided by Airasia. For enquires and customer services, user can contact them by reaching+6(016)-2176950 from 9 am to 10p.m.Another choice is sending a letter or email to them. In addition, it also provides FAQ and term and condition. In order to improve the service, t hey also created online feedback on online system so that people will give more opinion and Airasia appreciates the compliment from the users by posting them on the wall to share it with everyone. From the above information, users can compare among the airline services (Airasia, Mas airline and firefly )which are more convenient for them. For example, they may find out that Malaysia airline do not provide low cost transport such as skybus. For people who are of average family, they are not willing to spend on expensive transportation fee. Due t o economic crisis, most of people try to do research for the cost and make a budget for themselves. To determine whether is it worth or not, they may want information about flight ticket and transport fee charged by airline and also include the time taken from airport to their destination Most of the users using the airline system are travel agency, businessman, traveler and employees. They interact directly with the system. Travel agency helps their customer to book their flight ticket or prepurchases the ticket and then offers attractive package to their customer. Whereas, businessman is a person who is a workaholic and need to fly around the worlds in order to meet their client. As for traveler, they would like to travel overseas when they are free. Therefore, they are end users who interact with system directly. Besides that, employee manages the system by replying generic question or providing further information to their customers. In order to purchase tickets, first and foremost, you must select your departing and arriving cities. Select number of guest (adult or children) and stated the currency for the payment purpose. After you have key in all this information, now you can click the search and there will be process your requirement. Next, you will need to select flight schedule which will be displayed with fare and travel time. The following steps are user must key in their contact detail and personal detail. After that, you will be asked whether pre-purchase ticket or not. If you choose to pre-purchase, you will need to choose your destination (One Utama/ KL Sentral). Finally, you made the payment by using credit card or debit card. Airasia also provide information about bus service to Melbourne: foreign country Skybus information center of Melbourne airport provides a combined Metcard-Skybus ticket that is avail

The Founding Father of Jazz: Louis Armstrong

Foundations of the Founding Father of Jazz: Louis Armstrong Being heard in movies, the radio, television, and even elevators, jazz music has made its mark in just about every single location of the world. As popular as jazz is around the world, its original roots and foundations in the African-American culture are often forgotten. One of the most influential jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong, also known as Satchmo or Pops, is considered to be among the founding fathers of jazz music. His career launched in the early 1900s, where his legacy would form early to create a sound foundation for early jazz music that was quite exceptional.Louis Armstrong was such an essential part of the jazz age during the 1920’s that his music created a firm foundation, paving the way for Jazz musicians everywhere. His influential singing, along with his great dexterity, intricate lyrics, and profound melodies make it easy for him to claim his title as â€Å"The Founding Father of Jazz. † Taki ng his first breath in the world on August 4, 1901, Louis Armstrong was born to William and Mary â€Å"Mayanne† Albert Armstrong in the â€Å"Battlefield† of New, Orleans, Louisiana – one of the poorest areas of town (Old 15).Shortly after his birth, he was abandoned by his father, a factory worker, to be left with his mother, struggling to make ends meet (Old 16). Armstrong’s childhood was rather tough considering the fact that he had been abandoned by his father. Also, as times worsened, he was abandoned by his mother as she turned to prostitution to earn additional cash. He and his younger sister, Beatrice Armstrong Collins, were often left in the care of his maternal grandmother, Josephine Armstrong and their Uncle Isaac (Old 16).At age five, he moved back to live with his mother and relatives and very rarely saw his father. Armstrong had much respect for his mother; he wrote, â€Å"She held up her head at all times†¦What she didn’t have, she did without. † (Old 22) As a youngster, Armstrong was often seen singing in the streets with his friends to earn money. He was a very smart boy, but he often made the wrong decisions. He skipped from kindergarten into the second grade and grew up in a rough area where he would learn to shoot dice for pennies and play blackjack (Old 23).He attended the Fisk School for Boys in 1906 where he was first exposed to a large variety of music and brought in extra money as a paperboy, selling food to restaurants, and hauling coal to Storyville. However, he was not able to help his mother from turning to prostitution. Often times, young Armstrong explored local dance halls where he would soak in various aspects to the music business, including the music itself, performances, and dancing. The infamous Storyville is where Armstrong often listened to bands and musicians which included Joe â€Å"King† Oliver and other famous vocalists (Old 36).A fast forward to the year of 1912 b rings us to the beginnings of Armstrong’s involvement in instrumental music. In this very year, he dropped out of the Fisk School for boys and began to make a living by singing on the streets of New Orleans with a quartet group. During the time Armstrong performed with the quartet, Joe â€Å"King† Oliver taught him how to play the cornet. Because Armstrong did not have much family support, he was often left to his lonesome. However, a very kind Lithuanian-Jewish family, the Karnofskys, who gave him odd jobs from time to time took him in and treated him as their own.Eventually, the Karnofskys loaned him money for his first very own cornet, which would give him one of the necessary tools needed to be a successful musician – an instrument (Morgenstern 100). Although Armstrong’s positive image and career outlook began to develop in a great way that soon took a change in 1914 when he was sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, a delinquency home (Old 2 7). During that time, he was most known for his arrest due to firing his stepfather’s pistol into the air at a New Year’s Eve celebration.While at home, he was appointed to be the band leader for The Home band as they played all around New Orleans at the age of 13 years old. His musical career became more popular as he gained attention from the public eye for his evident cornet playing skills. At the age of 14, Armstrong was released from the home, returned to live with his father and stepmother, and soon to live with his mother again. Moving back with his mother put him in an environment that led him back to performing on the streets and being tempted by the red-light district lifestyle.Shortly after moving in with his mother, he got his first dance hall job (Henry Ponce’s) where he hauled coal by day and played cornet at night, making his skills well-known once again. Armstrong frequently performed as a cornet player which eventually helped him develop his own style and a more serious attitude toward music. He played in the city’s brass band parades, riverboats and steamboats, and took notes from other musicians with every change he got. Perfecting his craft was something that was very important to him.Some influential musicians that affected Armstrong’s career included Buck Johnson, Buddy Petit, Kid Ory, and Joe â€Å"King† Oliver. King soon became a mentor and somewhat of a father figure for the young musician who seemed to have no relevant family relationships or strong ties. His participation in playing on steamboats around New Orleans led him to travel with the popular band, Fate Marable. As he and the well-regarded band toured up and down the Mississippi River, much experience was gained by working with written musical pieces and arrangements.In 1917, Armstrong began playing with Kid Ory’s band until 1919 when Joe Oliver decided to move north and resign his position in the band. 1919 marks the year Armst rong became an official band member and replaced the â€Å"King. † Also, in that year, he became the second trumpeter for the Tuxedo Brass Band in New Orleans. In between his time playing with Kid Ory, Armstrong married Daisy Parker (Gretna, Louisiana) on March 19, 1918 (Old 39). Around that time Louis’ cousin, whose mother, Flora, died shortly after giving birth, had been taken in by the newlyweds.The three-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, who was mentally disabled, became one of Louis’ main responsibilities. Although both Daisy and Louis were parenting Clarence, the marriage did not last very long. They quickly separated and filed for divorce. However, Parker died shortly after the divorce. As Armstrong’s career began to develop even more, some adjustment had to be made to perfect his craft even more. In 1921, Louis Armstrong learned how to efficiently read music. His improvements led to great advancements as he joined Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in 1922.While working with the band, he took interest in Lillian (Lil) Hardin, the pianist, and they soon got married. His marriage with Lil lasted much longer than his first and they accomplished great things together. Although Louis Armstrong is renowned for his incredible jazz records, it is not widely known that many of his greatest hits were written and arranged by his wife at the time. She played the piano, composed, and arranged music for most of the important bands from New Orleans at the time.Lil Armstrong was a major contributor to her husband’s success as she composed hundreds of records and created musical successes (Kallen 32). In 1923, as paychecks continued to roll in, Armstrong’s career began to take a turn for the better. His lucrative career provided the proper finances for his lavish lifestyle maintained in Chicago, where he met Hoagy Carmichael. A mutual friend, Bix Beiderbecke, introduced the two to each other and they later collaborated on several projects. Jazz music began to circulate and spread through speakeasies, ballrooms, and dancehalls of Chicago (Kallen 30).It was very important that Armstrong would move to Chicago during the 1920s in order to keep up with the times. African-Americans moved away from the South to industrial states in the North; this was known as the Great Migration (Kallen 28). The city nicknamed â€Å"Chi-Town† became the major hub for gangsters, illegal nightclubs (speakeasies), and illegal liquor trade. The speakeasies were a major launching place for black musicians because they provided a place for the musicians to perform, earn lucrative paychecks, and led to a golden age of innovation (Kallen 28).Although Armstrong thoroughly enjoyed working with Oliver in Chicago, his wife suggested that he seek more advisement in order to develop and expand his newer style which was quite different from Oliver’s. Listening to his wife, Armstrong left Oliver’s band, and began to play in Fletcher Henderson’s band in Harlem, New York, 1924. The Henderson band, being highly respected, played in only the best venues and often for white-only crowds. While in Henderson’s band, he adapted to their controlled sound and style of play and incorporated storytelling and singing into his acts.Armstrong also made many side recordings which included the likes of Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Alberta Hunter. Many of these collaborations were arranged by an old friend back in New Orleans, Clarence Williams. Although he made quite a name for himself in the big city, his stay in New York did not last long; he eased on down back to Chicago in 1925 in hope of boosting his career, increase income, and gain more publicity. Introduced as â€Å"the World’s Greatest Trumpet Player,† Armstrong began to play with the Lil Hardin Armstrong Band but eventually began to record under his own name instead of joint projects with his wife.He recorded under Okeh a nd worked with his own groups, the Hot Five and the Hot Seven. Popular hits during this time include â€Å"Potato Head Blues,† Muggles,† and â€Å"West End Blues. † Several hits, including â€Å"Muggles† had references that indicated Armstrong’s long-time fondness of recreational plant use with marijuana. After working with the groups Hot Five and Hot Seven, Armstrong went into great ventures forming another band – Louis Armstrong & the Stompers. The band toured with the classic musical, Hot Chocolate, and had notable performances.He also made cameo appearances as a vocalist, often taking the spotlight with his rendition of â€Å"Ain’t Misbehavin. † Armstrong’s version of the song was quick to gain popularity and became his biggest selling record of all time. Armstrong eventually moved to Los Angeles in 1930 and played in the Cotton Club with elaborate floor shows and celebrity guests. At the Cotton Club, he had notable s uccess with his vocal recordings and even renditions of other famous songs. His recordings took a chance of course with the introduction of the RCA ribbon microphone in 1931.Intrinsic music style change showcased Armstrong’s unique vocal style and gave him a more innovative approach to singing. It would not be long before Armstrong would make appearances in film. In fact, in 1931, he appeared in his first movie, Ex-Flame. However, shortly thereafter, he was convicted for possession of marijuana, induced conflict upon himself with the mob, moved back to New Orleans, and eventually fled to Europe. As a comeback attempt, which was successful, Armstrong and his band worked with Joe Glaser to record with the Mills Brothers, Louis Jordan, Tommy Dorsey, and even Ella Fitzgerald.He later appeared in the film, â€Å"Pennies from Heaven† with Bing Crosby in 1936 and in 1937, he became the first black to host a sponsored, national radio broadcast. Louis Armstrong’s career began to rise again; however, his marriage did not experience the same thing. After having a variety of issues with his wife, Lil, they decided to divorce in 1938 and he began his third marriage with a woman named Alpha and his image to the public became a major concern. In addition to Armstrong’s marijuana usage, he loved to eat food and write in his journal.Several journal entries range from implicit to explicit notes which include several accounts regarding his sex life, music, childhood memories, and even a few jokes. He also went into great detail to describe food – the taste of it, the smell of it, the textures, and the way it made him feel on the inside. Food truly made him a soulful man with a smile on his face. However, his love for food became a problem when it came to health concerns. Armstrong was at major risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and even obesity.It became his primary goal to control his weight. Often times, he would be seen ta king laxatives and offering them to his band mates. It was very important to him to maintain a certain image that he would be perceived as a fit man; being in many films inspired him to do so. Some who worked with him also recalled times he would purge him in order to control weight. Armstrong’s life as not only an entertainer, but a leading personality, made him a great man adored by Americans in the 1900s. He gave even the greatest performers something to learn from.His influential jazz styles along with his loving personality gave him the career of a lifetime and truly a great experience. Louis Armstrong and his legacy as a Jazz musician continue on. â€Å"The Founding Father of Jazz† left a mark in music history that cannot be erased. Works Cited Armstrong, Louis. Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans. New York, NY: Da Capo, 1986. Print. Bergreen, Laurence. Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life. New York: Broadway, 1997. Print. â€Å"Jazz . Jazz Greats . Louis Armstrong | PBS KIDS GO! †Ã‚  Jazz . Jazz Greats . Louis Armstrong | PBS KIDS GO!PBS Kids, n. d. Web. Nov. 2012. . Kallen, Stuart A. The History of Jazz. San Diego: Lucent, 2003. Print. â€Å"Louis Armstrong. †Ã‚  Musician (Trumpet) @ All About Jazz. N. p. , n. d. Web. Nov. 2012. . â€Å"Louis Armstrong. †Ã‚  Musician (Trumpet) @ All About Jazz. NPR, n. d. Web. Nov. 2012. . Old, Wendie C. Louis Armstrong: King of Jazz. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1998. Print.

Poverty in India Essay

With 44 percent (44%) of the global outsourcing market in the off shore sector for software and other business process currently being hosted by India, it has fast gained global recognition as the premier global destination for business process outsourcing.   With generated revenues totaling over US$ 17.2 billion and employment related to outsourcing at 1.05 million as of March 2005, India has greatly increased its economic output and per capita GDP.   This economic growth of India has been heralded as one of the most amazing success stories of the 20th century.   The growth rates that India has been posting over the past five years have made it one of the reasons why investments have risen in the area. The problem is that even with the robust economic growth of India the schism between the rich and the poor continues to grow.   Outsourcing, while creating a boon for the Indian economy, has also intensified that gap by creating new social classes and spawning new cultural changes.   Therefore, because of the weak economic fundamentals of the Indian Economy, instead of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, it is instead widened and fewer jobs are created thus leading to more widespread poverty. The greatest problem that these poor fundamentals present to society however is the widening of social divisions that are already existent in society.   In the Indian model the social rifts that are created deal with the differences from within the family unit in relation to the outside society.   The creation and birth of a new type of middle class society which is predominantly comprised of members of the youth sector is creating a class that is being socially and culturally alienated from the rest of society, particularly in the traditionally conservative Indian society. New work habits and consumer patterns have created a new class that enjoys the more expensive and extravagant lifestyle that is supported by the relatively high wages that receive as compared with the rest of Indian society.   There is very little time to spend in the household where more solid and fundamental values are instilled and nurtured and instead the constant exposure to western society has resulted in a degradation of whatever morals were created or instilled in the first place.   For others, the pressure of keeping the job and maintaining the accustomed lifestyle isolates them from other members of society in their efforts to generate more income. In India where the economic disparity was historically at lower levels, the introduction of higher paying jobs as a result of business process outsourcing has increased the rift between social and economic classes as well.   The newly emancipated and empowered women as well as the new rich employees of outsourcing firms are now experiencing things that their parents could never have enjoyed in their lifetimes such as televisions, ipods, cars and cellular phones.   The rift would not be so great however were the opportunity available equally to all sectors of society.    As it is however, only those with certain qualifications and training are allowed those opportunities and this has created a new resentment for those who have gained so much in so little time. While this has certainly generated more income for the Indian government to utilize in other social welfare projects, the income from taxes is not spent on decreasing the economic divide that exists but has actually been spent on infrastructure projects in IT designed to drum up more business and thus increasing the social gap even more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another reason for the widespread poverty in India lies in the failure of the government to enact programs to ensure that the economic developments that benefit certain sectors of society also trickle down to the masses.   The Indian Planning Commission has estimated that as of the year 2004 and 2005 nearly 27.5% of the Indian population was living below the poverty lines. Nearly 75% of all those living below the poverty line are located in the rural areas of India.   This shows that while most of the developed cities in India are beginning to grow, the rural areas of India are not able to benefit from this economic development.   With over 836 million citizens living on less than US$ 0.50 cents, it seems that the poverty problems of India are more rooted on the poor economic structure than anything else. Another reason for this is because of the different social, religious and economic groups that are in India.     The fact that the caste system was encouraged until the early 20th century has also added to the poverty rate in India because of the special rights and privileges that were given to others.   Coupled with the lack of property rights, since the right to property is not constitutionally declared in India, these barriers effectively prevent those from the lower economic classes of India from entering the middle class. There are a number of other reasons that can be cited as the cause for poverty in India.   Most of these theories are based on the poor economic fundamentals that were established during the British Regime and during the resulting political turmoil that resulted immediately after the transfer of power in 1947.   Be that as it may, such poor fundamentals have also given birth to other economic problems such as the growing divide between the different economic classes in India. The recent economic growth of India due to its growing role as a major player in the outsourcing industry has indeed granted a number of benefits to Indians but at the same time it has served to increase poverty in certain areas because of the failure of the government to ensure a more equitable distribution of income among the masses.   Lack of government infrastructure projects and rampant corruption remain to be the deterrents for India’s true economic growth.   Until India is able to address these problems, poverty will remain to be synonymous with the Indian Economic system for years to come.    References: Agrawal, A. N.: Indian Economy. Problems of Development and Planning. 18th edition, New Delhi: Wiley Eastern Limited 2002 Ahluwalia, Isher Judge: New Economic Policies. Reform of Public Sector Enterprises and Privatisation in India. mimeo, February 2004, paper presented for the Conference on Economic Liberalisation in South Asia at the Australia Singh, Ajit Kumar: Social Consequences of New Economic Policies. With Particular Reference to Levels of Living of Working Class Population. In: EPW, February 13, 1993, p. 279 – 285 Sridhan, E.: Economic Liberalisation and India’s Political Economy: Towards a Paradigm Synthesis. In: The JCCP, vol. XXXI, no. 3, November 1993, pp. 1 – 31 A overview and critical discussion on theoretical explanations of the Indian political economy Varadarajan, P.; Bharadwaj, S.; Thirunarayana, P.: Executives attitudes toward consumerism and marketing – an exploration of theoretical and empirical linkages in an industrializing country. In: Journal of Business Research, 1994, vol. 29, no 2, pp 83-100