Assess the Role of Faith in Supporting Religious Belief Essay

In 1877, William Kingdon Clifford propositioned in his book â€Å"Ethics and Belief† that belief in something without sufficient evidence is irrational. Whilst he accepted that in many beliefs there is often an epistemic gap between the evidence and the conclusion (inductive reasoning) he did also claim that â€Å"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.† Furthermore he claimed that that tolerating credulity (a tendency to believe readily) and superstition will damage ultimately society. He concurred with David Hume (1711-76) when he said â€Å"All wise men proportion their belief to the evidence.† This stance – that belief without sufficient evidence is irrational – is called evidentialism, and is adopted by many atheists (including Clifford and Hume) in their view of theology. However, natural theology instead attempts to meet evidentialism on its own terms by trying to show that belief in God is actually rational. It draws collectively upon all of the a posteriori arguments for God’s existence including the teleological, cosmological, moral and experiential arguments. However, it is rare that an atheist will be convinced by the evidence of these arguments anywhere beyond the point of agnosticism. It is generally accepted that belief in God requires some element of seemingly irrational faith. Indeed, the stance of fideism states that reason plays no part in belief. â€Å"Whoever attempts to demonstrate the existence of God†¦is an excellent subject for a comedy of higher lunacy.† – Soren Kierkegaard. Moderate fideists suggest that reason can actually be destructive to one’s faith. They claim that reason leads to arrogance by encouraging the idea that human reason alone will suffice and that God unnecessary for moral or spiritual direction. Whilst moderate theists view reason as a barrier to true faith however, (thus disregarding natural theology as irrelevant) extreme theists go so far as to agree with Tertullian when he said (AD 155-222) â€Å"Credo quia absurdum est.† or â€Å"I believe because it is absurd.† Aquinas (1225-74) claimed that there were two ways in which to know God. The first is through natural theology, including his five a posteriori proofs constructed by human reason. The second is through â€Å"revealed theology† which cannot be found by human reason alone, but must involve divine intervention or revelation. The acceptance of these revealed truths requires faith, and this is fundamental to the Christian religion. For example, only faith can reveal the truth behind the statement â€Å"God is the father, the son and the Holy Ghost† or that â€Å"the bread of communion is the body of Christ†. Thus revelation provides us with a body of truths, which must be taken on faith alone. Aquinas claims that faith is a combination of reason and opinion. It involves reason since it is propositional i.e. claims certain beliefs to be true and therefore similar to scientific knowledge. On the other hand these truths cannot be proved, and so involve an epistemic gap. It is this epistemic gap that makes faith a matter of opinion and so allows humanity free will over their belief. The stance that it is our choice whether or not to take a leap of faith was also held by Soren Kierkegaard (1812-1855). Alvin Plantinga (1932-) proposed that the classical foundationalism upon which evidentialism is based is flawed. Foundationalist beliefs are described by Plantinga as â€Å"the starting points for thought† and he summarises their definition as: â€Å"I am entitled to believe X without any evidence if and only if it is self-evident, incorrigible or certain to me in some way†. He argues that this is flawed, since this statement is itself neither self-evident, incorrigible nor is it certain in some way. It appears therefore that foundationalism defines itself as irrational. He also states that there are many beliefs that can be held rationally, but that do not fall under the foundationalist criteria or that can be justified contingently. For example, the trust we have in our memory, or the belief that other people have minds of their own. Plantinga argues that we must ultimately reject classical foundationalism on the grounds that it is incoherent, and also because it rejects many beliefs that common sense tells us to be properly basic. He propositions that his reformed epistemology should take the place of classical foundationalism, and because of this: â€Å"It is entirely right, rational, reasonable and proper to believe in God without any evidence at all.† A theist might claim that it just appears obvious to them that God exists, and for Plantinga this is good enough. However, surely this would mean that anything we like can be a properly basic belief? Could a child’s belief in Santa Clause not be defined as properly basic? Plantinga would respond by saying that it is the beliefs directly connected to God’s existence that are properly basic, rather than the belief in God’s existence itself. For example, the guilt felt after committing a bad deed or the sense that something must have cre ated and designed the universe. Blaisà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Pascal (1623-1662) deemed that it was reasonable to have faith in God by a sheer act of will, so certain was he that he put forward a wager: â€Å"Let us weigh the gain and loss in wagering that God is (exists)†¦If you gain, you gain all, if you lose, you lose nothing.† By this, he meant that the theist stands the chance of gaining entrance to heaven at the risk of nothing, whilst the atheist however risks damnation to hell. However, surely this basis of self-gain is at odds with the teachings of the Christian church? W.K.Clifford suggested that God would deny heaven to those who followed Pascal’s wager on the basis that faith should be founded upon trust and morality, not self gain. Pascal might have responded that true belief would arise from the habit of religion i.e. baptism, mass, prayer etc. However, this is contradicted somewhat by his opinion that one’s relationship with God should be somewhat deeper. â€Å"It is the heart which pe rceives God and not reason.† Furthermore, Pascal’s definition of faith appears to ignore the recognition of God’s immanence and His affect on our everyday lives. William James (1842-1910) found Pascal’s proposition that we can change our beliefs by an act of will entirely ridiculous. He claimed solidly that our beliefs are contingent i.e. each new belief is connected to the previous one. He does agree however that it is rational to sustain a belief even without sufficient evidence given certain circumstances. The first circumstance is where the evidence is indeterminate between two beliefs i.e. favours neither option. The second circumstance is if we are faced with a genuine option i.e. one that is living, forced and momentous. By living James means one that is a reality, as opposed to a dead option, that whilst theoretically possible, isn’t actually going to happen e.g. a devout Catholic supporting the gay pride movement. A forced option is one that cannot be avoided, e.g. choosing whether to go to school or to have a lie in when your alarm goes off at 7:30. A momentous option is one that is unique and irreversible e.g. joining the army – as opposed to a trivial option which is reversible and one that happens regularly throughout life. James states that it is therefore sometimes rational to believe in God without sufficient evidence if the choice is a genuine option. He disputes Pascal’s wager as necessarily being a genuine option as it is not necessarily forced (one could deny the possibility of going to hell) nor is it necessarily living (one might be a devout follower of a different religion). However, he does accept that for a person who perceives the evidence as indeterminate and is already open to belief in God, Pascal’s wager might succeed in tipping the scales and getting them to make that leap of faith. James does believe however that faith can in some instances be a genuine option, and a decision that involves seizing the opportunity and taking a risk. He states that when faced with a genuine option and without sufficient evidence, making a decision will then reveal the evidence to us. For example, one cannot be sure of a stranger’s kindness until they have decided to trust the stranger and give them a chance. Similarly, by making a leap of faith in God, the definitive truth will be later revealed by eschatological verification. However, natural theologians such as Aquinas would certainly dispute James’ claim that the evidence is indeterminate, for the cosmological, teleological, moral and experiential arguments – whilst inconclusive – can be extremely persuasive. Furthermore, like Pascal, he seems to ignore faith as an acceptation of God’s immanence and active presence in our lives. The version of faith held by Aquinas, Plantinga, Pascal and James is propositional in that they all claim that faith about believes in God’s objective existence. However, faith can also be seen existentially as an attitude incorporating God subjectively into the believer’s life. For instance, when I say â€Å"I believe that murder is wrong† or â€Å"I believe in free speech† I am not stating anything about existence, but rather about my commitment towards certain values. H.H.Price (1899-1985) claimed that the statement â€Å"I believe in God† is similar to this in that it is a way of perceiving the world using certain values. â€Å"to see oneself as a created, dependent creature, receiving life and well being from a higher source†¦the only appropriate attitude is one of grateful worship and obedience.† – John Hick. To conclude; each of the arguments examined above vary in their relationship with reason, but what they all have in common is that faith is central to the believer and must work independently of reason to some degree. Some of the arguments incorporate reason, some reject it entirely, but the transcendent nature of God can never be proved, can never be indubitable, for faith is an integral part of religion. Perhaps then natural theology is not trying to prove God’s existence to the point where faith is cast out and certainty resides in its place, but rather it is merely trying to explore God’s nature. â€Å"I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand† – St. Anselm (1033-1109) Proslogian 1. Natural theology could therefore be seen as an expression of faith, rather than a foundation for it. The majority of theists argue that faith is necessary, for if God proved himself to us, we would no longer have free will over our belief and so would be robots without dignity. On the other hand, surely God in His omnipotence could find some way of maintaining our freedom whilst simultaneously providing us certainty of his love? Why not give certainty to the millions of His helpless and suffering children who have lost faith; for where is their dignity?

Motivational Strategy and Action Plan Essay

Determine the motivational strategy or strategies that would likely be most appropriate for each of your three employees on basis of their individual characteristics. Indicate how you would leverage their employee evaluations to motivate each of the three employees. Describe one or more of the motivational theories and explain how the theories connect to each of your selected motivational strategies. Team Member Name Summary of Individual Characteristics Motivational Strategy and Action Plan Relevant Theory Tina Engaged Passionate Persistent Inspirational Leader Happy Emotional stable This employee would not really need much motivation, since already in engaged, passionate and is a leader at work. I would suggest that the employee uses an action plan to continue with positive attitude. Also since the employee has passed reviews, to advance in progress with promotions in the company. McClelland theory is relevant to this situation. It relates to this situation because for the most part the employee is happy at the job. Brittany Competitive Good communicator Influential Independent Emotional Quick thinker This employee shouldn’t much motivation since she is so competitive. However we could motivate her to be more engaged and happy at job since so emotional. An action plan for this strategy would be to assign her to do task she is interested and likes to do that are easy and take little thought since she is a quick thinker. This situation relates to the self-efficiency theory because employee is independent. She likes to do things on her own and feels she can. Denise Timid Considerate Neutral decision maker Eager Happy with job Encouraging This employee needs motivation in company involvement in communication since timid and shy. She can demonstrate these skills in an action plan by being more involved in conferences, presentations, and meetings. This situation could be also related to the McClelland theory because for the employee is happy with job, but there is room for opportunity.

Chad Essays - Chad, Republics, Idriss Dby, NDjamena, Outline Of Chad

County Report Chad is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world because of its climate, geographic location, and a lack of infrastructure and natural resources. It's main cash crop that is helping it's economy is cotton, which accounts for 48% of exports.1 The industry of Chad is mainly based on processing agricultural products. It is run by a republican government and it's legal system is based on French civil law system and Chadian customary law. The recent president is Idriss Deby and head of government is Prime Minister Joseph Yodoyman Chad had gained its independence from France on August 11, 1960. Its national holiday is held on the same day every year. The geography of Chad is mostly pastures and meadows. Chad is located in Central Africa and is between the Central African Republic and Libya. The total area is 1,259,200 km2, and the land area is 1,259,200 km2.2 The total size in area of Chad is slightly more than three times the size of California. The land boundaries of Chad are; Cameroon (1,094 km), Central African Republic (1,197 km), Libya (1,055 km), Niger (1,175 km), Nigeria (87 km), and Sudan (1,360 km).3 All of these countries total to 5,968 km. Chad is landlocked which has no coastline. It has no marital claims. The disputes between Chad and other countries is that Libya claims and occupies the 100,000 km2 Aozou Strip in the far north. The year around climate is tropical in the south, and desert in the north. The terrain is broad, arid plains in the center, desert in the north, lowlands in the south and mountains in the northwest. The natural resources are petroleum, uranium, natron, kaolin, and fish. The land use consists of arable land (2%), permanent crops (0%), meadows and pastures (36%), forest and woodland (11%), and other (51%).4 The irrigated land used is 100km2. Its environment is hot, dry, dusty harmattan winds occur in the north, drought and desertification affecting much of the south, and subject to plagues of locusts. The people of Chad rely on agriculture for survival. The total population is 5,350,971 people. The growth rate of the population is 2.13%. The birth rate is 42.21 births / 1,000 population. The death rate is 20.93 deaths / 1,000 population. The migration rate is 0% migrants / 1,000 population. Chad's death at infancy is at a great risk at 134 deaths / 1,000 live births. For infants the expectancy rate at birth is 40.41 years. The rate for males is 39.36 years and the rate for females is 41.5 years. Total fertility rate is 5.33 children born/women. The people of Chad are Chadian in nationality. The ethnic divisions in the north are Muslim (Arabs. Toubou, Hadjerai, Fulbe, Kotoko, Kanembou, Baguirmi, Boulala, Zaghawa, and Maba). In the south are non-Muslims (Sara, Ngambaye, Mbaye, Goulaye, Moundang, Moussei, Massa). The religions of Chad are Muslim (44%), Christian (33%), indigenous beliefs, and animism (23%). The common spoken languages in Chad are Sara (spoken in south), Sango (spoken in north). The official languages of Chad are French and Arabic. There are over 100 different languages and dialects spoken in Chad. The literacy rate is at age 15 and over people can read and write French or Arabic. The total population of literacy is 30%. 42% for males and 18% for females. Chad has a republican government. The capital of Chad is N'djamena. It's administrative divisions are 14 prefectures (prefectures, singular - prefecture); Batha, Biltine, Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, Chari-Baguirmi, Guera, Kanem, Lac, Logone Occidental, Logone Oriental, Mayo-Kebbi, Moyen-Chari, Ouaddai, Salamat, and Tandjile. Chad had gained its independence on August 11, 1960, from France. They had gained their constitution on December 22, 1989. Chad's legal system is based on French civil law system and Chadian customary law, it has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction. The national holiday is held on the 11th of August. The political parties and leaders of Chad are the Patriotic Salvation Movement, Idriss Deby, and chairman. There are no other political party or pressure groups. Elections were last held on July 8, 1990 and disbanded on December 3, 1990. The Executive branch in Chad's government consists of the president and the Council of State (cabinet). The Legislative branch cons ists of unicameral National

Financial Reporting Problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Reporting Problem - Essay Example et, the receivables should then be reported, representing those items on the balance sheet that are expected to yield cash in the near future like the prepaid expenses or the inventory. Further, the money owed to the company by its debtors follows closely, being the total receivables reported for the period, that they will expect to be paid in the near future. To this end, cash and cash equivalents provide the liquid assets of the company and should have therefore have been outlined last in the balance sheet. The company’s assets are classified based on their liquidity and on whether they provide long term or short-term service to the company. On the aspect of liquidity, it is plausible to note that the least liquid assets have been placed together, including goodwill, long-term investments and deferred tax assets. On the other hand, receivables, which are more liquid are placed in the same class, which details the amounts of cash that the company anticipates to receive from debtors and operating activities of the company. These are items like the prepaid expenses, the deferred tax assets and inventory. Still, in terms of liquidity, it is notable to state that the most liquid assets have been recognized and placed in the same category in the uppermost part of the balance sheet. In terms of the extent of service anticipated, the company’s assets are also classified in terms of whether they provide long-term usefulness or help the company meet its short-term obligations. In t his perspective, it would be important to note that the fixed or non-current assets have been classified in the same way, while the current assets are also placed in the same category. Cash equivalents are a class of assets on the balance sheet, which represent a category of investments on which the company is able to derive term payments, mostly known as interest. This amount of money paid as interest is calculated as a percentage of the money committed as an investment by the company,

Why Alcohol Is Good for You Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why Alcohol Is Good for You - Essay Example The major objective of this paper is to explore the type of risks that are taken by the writer while composing the article. The discussion intends to produce an effective critical summary of the article with respect to management of risks and languages. The writers require taking risks in order to make any writing more effective. Unless and until a writer takes risk, the writing can become boring and weak. The aspect of risk taking can result in discovering new subjects and broadening opportunities towards learning the reality. One of the major types of risks in writing is avoiding the sense of safety. However, safety is not a preferred component in writing. In relation to the article, it can be observed that the author i.e. Jonah Lehrer has taken the risk of revealing the beneficiaries of alcohol consumption in human life where most of the people know the evil aspects of the same (Centrinity Inc., â€Å"Newspaper Article Expectation Sheet†). Risk can appear in the form of choosing highly controversial topic or subject. Writing on controversial topic can raise significant risks in terms of raising arguments from the readers on any opinion or oversight of the writer. The author also undertakes this risk of writing on a highly debatable topic and dared his viewpoint about how alcohol can provide benefits to people. Biasness is the other aspect of writing which can generate risk in writing. Any sort of writing must demonstrate both positive as well as negative aspects of a chosen issue or subject so that it can avoid any misperception or prejudice. In the article of Jonah Lehrer, it can be observed that the author has described both favorable and unfavorable aspects of consuming alcohol. He also described alternative approaches for improving the lifestyle of the people. A good article demonstrates both aspects of a subject without making a final judgment. Hence, it

The high rate of violence on TV and video games causes the high rate Research Paper

The high rate of violence on TV and video games causes the high rate of depression and sadness in American society - Research Paper Example demonstrates that trauma felt in childhood can often carry over into adulthood, causing distress, depression, and increased violence in the individual. This is true of television as well, and there is definitely a connection between watching television and increased feeling of depression and violence in adulthood. According to psychodynamic theory, something is generally â€Å"missing† from an individual’s life as the cause of depression, and for those that watch far too much television as children. This missing element can often be play with other children or interaction with family (some psychologists have referred to television as a detrimental type of babysitter for families). Studies show that television is an integral part of culture and many families spend more time in front of the television than they do conversing. Hence, this lack of social and familiar interaction can also contribute to the depression present in those that are exposed to too much television, along with the psychological trauma inflicted by violent television. Furthermore, the violence witnessed on television also creates problems from a psychodynamic standpoint and leads to depression. Trauma experienced via watching television in childhood can carry through to adulthood and cause further problems of depression for adults that viewed too much violence on television as children. Like psychodynamic theory states, this â€Å"dynamic† of television is the problem that roots itself in childhood and carries itself through adulthood, causing depression. The first part of this problem comes from the fact that television is in high demand in our culture. Many children and adults watch 21-23 of television per week, and 3 to 5 violent acts per hour ("Media Violence (RE9526)" 1). Many families have taken to watching television while eating dinner, and most families admit that they watch television when they eat instead of having conversations with each other. This can often attribute to

AB 109 and Institutional Corrections Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

AB 109 and Institutional Corrections - Essay Example The bill provided guidelines to be used in decongesting the state prisons and at the same time increase capacity within county prisons. California has 33 state prisons which initially had exceeded its capacity by more than 100%. The main goal of the California department of corrections and rehabilitation was to ensure public safety by preventing crime and realizing social responsibilities (Misczynski, 2011). The adult department had three major departments which was the male department, female department and the parole department. The number of parole violators and recidivist prisoners was adding to the overgrowing population among prisoners. The population prevents effective service delivery and prevents effective healthcare delivery (Lofstrom et al. 2012). The increased population prompted the state prisons this release offenders before their time elapses. The county prisons had limited jurisdiction over felony offenders and parole violators. The assembly bill (AB 109), was enacted to expand the jurisdiction of county court to enable them deal with cases that were initially assigned to the state courts. This was an effort by the state of California to change the manner in which adult correctional facilities were managed. The decongestion programs aimed at reducing the number of inmate in state detention facilities and accommodate them in the country facilities. According to Lofstrom et al. (2012) the bill was a move by the California to decongest the 33 state prisons by approximately 137.5%. The bill was an effort of by a taskforce which recommended the decongestion. In 2011 the recommendations by the task force were implemented. The assembly bill also allowed low- felony offenders to serve their jail term in country prisons rather than the state prisons. The state prisons where to regulate the inmate population. No inmate was to be transferred to the county prisons upon the implementation of the bill. In that sense no prison would be released prior to his

Effective Team and Performance Management Essay - 2

Effective Team and Performance Management - Essay Example . Precisely, this discussion demonstrates personal and interpersonal awareness in addition to skill formation and development. The main reason for describing the personal and interpersonal awareness within a given team is to attempt explaining or creating an understanding of the effective management and performance of such groups. Effective team and performance management are the main epicenters of this discussion. In order to obtain the objective of the discussion, this paper is divided into three main parts excluding the introduction. The parts include reflection, alternative action, and overall learning. Reflection section of the discussion attempts to identify the key issues besides describing each of mentioned issues. In addition, the section provides an analysis of key issues involved while carrying out the activities of the team within the three contexts; investigating crime, lost on the moon, and egg challenge. Alternative action section identifies the recurring/overarching problems within the team whilst conducting its specific activities, avoidance of such problems, and impact of team members in ensuring that activities of team were effectively achieved. Lastly, the overall learning (conclusion) section identifies aspects learnt in the tasks and their relevance to future professional life. Team The team comprising of 6 members, 4 ladies and 2 gentlemen was formed on the basis of persons from different nationalities from Africa and Asia. Three main activities formed part of the seminar activities for purposes of understanding personal and interpersonal characteristics. The activities included lost on the moon, crime investigation in Park near Cambridge City Centre, and the egg flying contest. All these formed the seminar activities, which were aimed at evaluating effective management of teams or groups. Reflection During formation of the team of the four ladies and two gentlemen, I realized that there was so much potential not only in me but also other team members. Though anxious, I found it enjoyable and exciting to engage with people that were like strangers to me. Anxiety is one of the indicators within a person as described by Myers Briggs (Elwyn, Greenhalgh, and Mcfarlance, 2001, p.119). The first step was to introduce each other. In this process, team members wer e uneasy given the fact that they did not know each other. The idea of introduction to get to know each other was borrowed from Tuckman’s (1965) group forming stage. During the forming stage, Tuckman (1965) identifies that team members are always anxious due to being strangers. Other than problems of introduction, the team within its introduction stage had no clear specific individual roles and responsibilities, chain of command, and hierarchy of authority. What’s more, it is difficult to explicitly define roles and responsibilities of every member during the formation stage (Tuckman, 1965; Landale, 1999, p38). As Goleman (2002, p.253); Irvine et al (2002); and Kilman (1974) identify, there was a possibility of diversity conflict especially following that members of the team came from diverse backgrounds. The second activity within the formation stage involved identification of a team leader. Without a team leader, a group will not be spearheaded to the right direction since no one particular person will be responsible for initiating and directing activities

Service Oriented Architectures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Service Oriented Architectures - Essay Example As the research highlights  the increased competition among international manufacturers forces them to reduce their manufacturing costs. These industries are usually stemmed from advanced and high incomes countries of the world. The wage rates in these countries are really high because of high living standards. The labor cost is one of the major costs of manufacturing. Although in a simple operations analysis it would not seem very high. The major cost seems to be of raw materials and parts being used in the manufacturing process. One must understand that these parts are also being manufactured and thus their costs rise as well because of high wage rates. The manufacturing industries have no other reliable method of reducing their manufacturing cost other than outsourcing to countries with lower wage rates.This paper discusses that  the connection of customers to services is a major point of concern for many organizations. This is because a user interface is required which can co nnect consumers with available web based services. Service oriented architecture provides this capability to organizations by connecting consumers of applications to available solutions and services. XML can be used by the consumers to connect with services based on Service oriented architecture. SOA also has the capability of using multiple implementation platforms.  This integrates different applications in the web-environment. Moreover the simplification of different functions in terms of services helps systems developers.

Long Essay Essay Example for Free

Long Essay Essay Support, Modify, or Refute: The Monroe Doctrine ushered in a new era of US foreign policy The Monroe Doctrine was established in the early 19th century written by, of course, James Monroe. This document ushered in a new era of US foreign policy by stepping their foot down and showing the rest of the world how powerful they could be. This was when the US was slowly figuring out the power they could hold. This document stated that the US will not permit the following: Interfering with affairs in the Western Hemisphere, attempts to create new colonies in the Western Hemisphere, and the overthrowing of new colonies. These were said to be, â€Å"Dangerous to our peace and safety.† These statements clearly support how the US wanted to flex their muscles and flaunt independence. Foreign policy before the Monroe Doctrine was put into place is almost a polar opposite of foreign policy after the doctrine was put into place. Before the Monroe Doctrine, the US showed multiple examples of neutrality. For instance, on April 22nd, 1793, George Washington issued a proclamation of neutrality, which in turn declared the nation neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. After the Monroe Doctrine was put into place, Macon’s Bill No. 2 (passed by Madison) went into effect, which was an opposite extreme of Washington’s proclamation of neutrality. With Macon’s Bill, the US is now agreeing to trade with everyone (even France), except for Great Britain (The bill was originally passed to motivate both France and Britain to stop seizing American Vessels). This obviously causes copious amounts of tension between countries, and is yet again, a sign of strength and power coming from the US. Napoleon saw Macon’s Bill No. 2 as a great chance for him to move along his, â€Å"Continental Plan.† Now that Britain was unable to trade, this meant they were weak as a whole, but mainly their economy was in turmoil. Macon’s Bill No. 2 was the main cause of The War of 1812. This was a war between the US and Great Britain and Ireland (British ally). The war was basically a conflict because neither country could get over their ego’s, which is yet again, another example of how the US showed great strength (and a little stubbornness) in this period of time.

Demand and Issues of Urban Infrastructure

Demand and Issues of Urban Infrastructure Case Study of The Financial Model For Water Supply Project 1 Introduction 1.1 Rationale/Background According to the RICS recent survey only 4% of the people want to live in Urban Area. This shows the reverse in standard of living requirement which was dream of living in the urban area. What has gone wrong? We know that gypsies used to settle were they could find water. It can be said that water is such an important element for development of any place irrespective of urban or rural area. In India 30% of the total population live in Urban Area and contribute to 60% of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product). 31% is the increase in the population in last decade compared to 18% in the rural area. So it is necessary to boost urban infrastructure by public as well as private intervention institution. Creativity is the service of the age that generate Ideas that become product and service. The downturn of the economies has advantage of new invention which is also true in case of maximization profit. With increase in the demographic of ages, climate, cultures and immigration it is difficult to take the risk of demand of the urban area. The risk of controlling the demand must be taken by government agency to encourage the private parties for excellence service in Infrastructure. 1.2 Research Aim and Objective 1.2.1 Aim To develop financial model for water supply projects using â€Å"JNNURM toolkit†. This can be used to analyze the relationship between performance and sustainability in PPP method of procurement. 1.2.2 Objective To study the preparation of Urban Infrastructure and Investment plan for the city. To evaluate the feasibility of water supply service in particular. Role of PPP in Urban Infrastructure. 1.2.3 Main Hypothesis Need for Urban Infrastructure and their implementation under governance of JNNURM scheme. To promote sustainable investment and innovative PPP method of procurement increase in the efficiency at municipality level by vigilance. Freedom should be given to private parties to make them comfortable. 1.3 Outline Methodology of Study We will first try to figure out what is the need of the curbing population of that particular city. The cities are in a desperate need of finance for carrying out the reviving projects. But the previous schemes and projects by the municipalities and state governments have failed miserably on the grounds of implementation (ie, time management) and utilization of funds. So there is a need to gather finance for the reviving project for the curbing infrastructure .The story does not end here, there is also a need to govern the utilization of fund. There is a new scheme which is growing popularity by the Government of India along with State government and the municipalities. The buzz word in this scheme is the governance of the project because there is a proper channel how to control the funds issued by the government. Also the government of India will regularly monitor the implementation of the project. Along with this there is a unique proposal of submitting the CDP (City Development Plan) for approval. So our approach would be to find a method of relating the increase in population and need of the same in coming 20 years as well as to arranging and managing finance considering all the factors like inflation, operation and maintenance cost. For this we would study CDPs of various cities and also study their approach in solving the future infrastructure problems. Also we would compare various CDPs and comment on their efficiency. Since we are talking of CDPs preparation and involvement of private parties we will try some case study and prepare the financial appraisal of the same. We would critically analyze whether the project is financially feasible under JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme 1.3.1 Literature review and the pilot study This literature review the following subject of India City Development plan Finance scheme for city development plan PPP procurement JNNURM Scheme Pilot Study consists of Theoretical approach. Study of a practical approach to prepare CPD for water supply project under guidelines of JNNURM scheme toolkit. 1.3.2 Main Study Case study:- Feasibility of water supply project under JNNURM scheme using Financial appraisal calculation and role of PPP in such project. The name of the city under case study has been changed due to sensibility of the case as it is live project. The name of the city will not effect on research subject of development of financial appraisal model because scenario is well detailed. The approach of this study by Quantitative and Analytical Comparison of CPD between different states: selected 4nos of states for comparison. The approach is Quantitative by reading the CPD’s of different states and comparing them. 1.3.3 Writing Up Chapter-1 :-Introduction Chapter-2:-City Development Plan Chapter-3:-Private Partner Chapter-4:- JNNURM Scheme Chapter-5:- Case Study Chapter-6:- Comparison of CPD between different states Chapter-7:-Conclusion 2 City Development Plan 2.1 Geographical Information 29 states and 6 union territories* Andaman and Nicobar Islands* Lakshadweep* Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Maharashtra Assam Manipur Bihar Meghalaya Chandigarh* Mizoram Chhattisgarh Nagaland Dadra and Nagar Haveli* Orissa Daman and Diu* Pondicherry* Delhi Punjab Goa Rajasthan Gujarat Sikkim Haryana Tamil Nadu Himachal Pradesh Tripura Jammu and Kashmir Uttaranchal Jharkhand Uttar Pradesh Karnataka West Bengal Kerala * Union territory 2.2 Demography Table 1 India: Development Indicator â€Å"According to a United Nations study (1995), by the year 2015, ten of the worlds fifteen largest cities will be in Asia (excluding Japan); three of these will be in India. In 1950, this same region claimed only three of the worlds fifteen largest cities, whilst India claimed only one. These projections suggest that demographic growth in Indias large cities will be high, partly due to national population growth and partly due to immigration. The logistic model used by the United Nations, the World Bank, and other international agencies for the projection of urban population world-wide suggests that India is poised for rapid urbanisation, along with several other countries in south and East Asia. â€Å" SIZE: As per Census 2001, only 28% of the 1.1 billion Indians live in urban areas. Expected to increase to 40% by 2021. About 60% of the country’s GDP originates from urban areas. Allocation of US$12 billion by the Government of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for a period of 7 years for improving urban infrastructure across 63 cities. Key metro cities Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad allocated 47.5% percent of these funds. STRUCTURE:JNNURM functions under the overall guidance of a National Steering Group (NSG) which comes under the purview of Ministry of Urban Development JNNURM is aimed at fast-track planned development of identified cities. Key highlights Integrated development of urban infrastructure projects Renewal and redevelopment of inner city areas Provision of basic services to urban poor Funds to be channelised through Urban Local Bodies who will be responsible for implementation Implementing agencies to leverage sanctioned funds to attract private sector investments through PPP contracts Outlook Investments of more than US$50 billion would be required in the next 5 years to improve and build urban infrastructure JNNURM is the single largest initiative of Government of India for planned development of cities Opportunity for private players to partner with Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in development of urban infrastructure such as Water supply and sanitation Slum redevelopment Urban transportation including roads, highways, expressways, Mass Rapid Transport Systems (MRTS) and metro projects Solid waste management POTENTIAL: A large component of development work will be through public-private partnership. Water supply and sanitation in urban areas to attract investments over US$30 billion. POLICY 100% FDI under the automatic route permitted for townships, housing, built-up infrastructure and construction-development based projects subject to minimum scale norms JNNURM will provide grants/viability gap funding for projects 2.3 Problems â€Å"Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of India are the constitutionally provided administrative units that provide basic infrastructure and services in cities and towns. According to Census of India 1991, there are 3255 ULBs in the country classified into four major categories: Nagar Nigams Nagar Palikaa Nagar Panchayats Large urban areas are governed by Nagar Nigams, often simply called corporations. The area under a corporation is further divided up into wards. Individual wards or collections of wards within a corporation sometimes have their own administrative body known as ward committees. Smaller urban areas are governed by Nagar Palika, which are often referred to simply as municipalities. Municipalities are also divided into wards, which may be grouped together into ward councils. One or more representatives are elected to represent each ward.† â€Å"What is worse, many ULBs have accumulated ‘large’ debts and face serious problems in servicing them. Besides the restriction to a small resource base poor planning process, lack of periodical revision of municipal tax rates / user charges, and poor information system and records management are some of the basic weaknesses in the present municipal administration.† The â€Å"Infrastructure Problem  : In spite of its prominent role in Indian economy, urban India faces serious problems due to population pressure, deterioration in the physical environment and quality of life. According to estimates nearly one third of the urban India lives below poverty line. About 15 percent of the urbanites do not have access to safe drinking water and about 50 percent are not covered by sanitary facilities. There is a huge and widening gap between demand and supply of essential services and infrastructure. â€Å" 2.4 Schemes for development of urban development The ongoing schemes of Urban Infrastructure Development in the mega cities, and Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) do not meet the requirement of infrastructure development of all cities/towns in the country. There is, therefore, need to have a comprehensive scheme for infrastructure development of all cities/towns in the country. Other scheme like Urban Reforms Incentive Fund (URIF) also needs to be subsumed in the said comprehensive scheme. Funding is linked to reforms which are classified into â€Å"mandatory† and â€Å"optional† as detailed below: Mandatory Reforms—State level: Repeal of Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act Reform of Rent Control Laws so as to stimulate private investment in rental housing schemes. Rationalisation of Stamp Duty to bring it down to no more than 5 per cent within the next five years. Introduction of independent regulators for urban services. Mandatory Reforms –Core (at ULBs level): Double entry system of accounting for Urban Local Bodies Adoption of public disclosure law – disclosure of medium-term fiscal plan and quarterly performance reports. Passage of community participation law. All special agencies currently involved in delivering urban civic services to be brought under the supervision of ULBs, thus creating a uniform accountability platform. A Bangalore Action Task Force (BATF) kind of citizen’s technical advisory group should be constituted for each city to guide the process of urban reforms. Urban development authorities discharging city Planning functions and the new city development function should associate the ULBs more closely. Introduction of e-governance, Global Information System (GIS) and Monitoring Information System ( MIS) Reform of Property Tax laws. Levy of reasonable user charges. Optional Reforms: Revision of byelaws to streamline the approval process. Simplification of legal and procedural frameworks for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes Introduction of Property Title Certification System in ULBs. Earmarking at least 20-25 per cent of developed land in all housing projects for the poor. Introduction of computerized process of registration of land and property Revision of bye-laws to make rain water harvesting mandatory Bye-laws for reuse of reclaimed water Administrative reforms, i.e. right sizing of the ULBs. It is important to note that the contribution of urban sector to GDP is currently expected to be in the range of 60 percent. In this context, enhancing the productivity of urban areas is now central to the policy pronouncements of the Ministry of Urban Development. Cities hold tremendous potential as engines of economic and social development, creating jobs and generating wealth through economies of scale. They need to be sustained and augmented through the high urban productivity for countrys economic growth. National economic growth and poverty reduction efforts will be increasingly determined by the productivity of these cities and towns. For Indian cities to become growth oriented and productive, it is essential to achieve a world class urban system. This in turn depends on attaining efficiency and equity in the delivery and financing of urban infrastructure. Resource Gap: The India Infrastructure, Report, 1996, assessed the total annual investment needs of water supply, sanitation and roads sectors at Rs. 28,036 crores per year on an average during 1996-2006. Where as funds to that extent are not available. To overcome these constraints and challenges, the Ministry of Urban Development has initiated institutional, fiscal and financial reforms. First generation urban sector reform known as the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992, recognizes the principles of local self governments and empowers urban local bodies with financial resources through Central Finance Commission and State Finance Commissions. Subsequently, in order to strengthen these local bodies, second generation reform have also been started. In the last decade, enormous progress has been made in removing impediments to efficient investment. Resource Mobilization Effort: In August, 1996, the Central Government guidelines entitled Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation were circulated to all State Governments for adoption. These guidelines, apart from other issues, suggest innovative approaches for fiscal resource mobilization. In the backdrop of the New Economic Policy, it was suggested that the traditional system of funding based on Plan and budgetary allocations be reduced and ultimately withdrawn due to fiscal deficit. Subsidies need to be rationalized and urban development plans and projects need to be placed on a commercial format by designing commercially viable urban infrastructure services and area development projects. This can be achieved by restoring a proper match between functions and source of revenue by giving additional tax measures. Other innovative resource mobilization measures include using land as resource, increase in the non-property taxes and using public private partnership in service delivery. 2.4.1 Second Generation Reforms Regulatory Framework: The participation of the private sector in financing and the delivery of infrastructure at the municipal level, especially in the water and sanitation sector, require a regulatory framework to protect consumers, apply environmental standards and support the delivery to the poor. As there are a variety of models of regulation from centralized to decentralized systems, guidelines will be developed at the National level to ensure consistency across the country. Appropriate training programme and capacity support to regulators will also be developed in partnership with the private sector and urban research institutions. Model legislation: The Central Government is in the process of preparing model legislation for facilitating private sector participation in urban infrastructure. This is necessary as the present legislative scenario does not encourage private sector participation in this field. A model Municipal Act which will be recommended to the State Governments would include modification and simplification of Municipal bylaws, provision for enhanced borrowing, allowing the entry of private sector and authorizing concessionaires to penalize users for non payment of tariffs. Municipal Accounting System: The Task Force constituted by the O/o CAG of India had recommended for introduction of accrual basis of accounting system for the urban local bodies (ULBs) and suggested model budgeting and accounting formats for that purpose. The Task Force Report was circulated to all States/UTs for adoption of accrual basis of accounting system as well as the budget and accounting formats. Further to provide a simplified tool kit to the ULBs for recording the accounting entries, Ministry of Urban Development in cooperation with the Office of CAG of India has prepared a National Municipal Accounting Manual (NMAM) and circulated to all States/UTs in January, 2005. The Manual comprehensively details the accounting policies, procedures, guidelines designed to ensure correct, complete and timely recording of municipal transactions and produce accurate and relevant financial reports. The NMAM would help the States prepare their state-level accounting manuals in accordance with their own requirements for use by the ULBs. This initiative is expected not only to enhance the capacities of ULBs in municipal accounting leading to increased transparency and accountability of utilization of public funds for the development of urban sector but also will help in creating an environment in which urban local bodies can play their role more effectively and ensure better service delivery. Public private partnership guidelines: Central Government will develop guidelines for involvement of the private sector in infrastructure, which will ensure competitive biding process in a transparent manner. These guidelines will not only protect the consumers but also ensure integrity of the process. This would support municipalities in designing the PPP process on the lines of the BOT Centre in Philippines or the PPP in the Ministry of Finance in South Africa. Chapter4 included the issues related to PPP. 2.4.2 Fiscal incentives Foreign direct investment (FDI): Hitherto Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) allowed direct investment in providing urban services on a case to case basis. This scenario has changed with the decision of the Central Government removing restrictions on FDI in urban infrastructure facilities which are now open both under FIPB and the automatic route as per sector specific guidelines. Guidelines have since even issued for FDI in development of integrating township including housing and building material. External assistance: Since independence, externally assisted urban sector projects have accounted for US$ 2300 million. A review of these projects indicated a need to adopt a programme approach rather than a project approach for availing external assistance. It also indicated the need to encourage a multiple donor scenario and tapping low cost funds for urban infrastructure. Tax free municipal bond: Municipal bonds were successfully issued by several Municipal Corporations like, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Nasik, and Madurai for raising resources for urban infrastructure. The Central Government had announced tax exemption in case of bonds issued by Municipal / Local Governments. Guidelines were issued by this Ministry on 8.2.2001 for regulating issue of tax free municipal bonds. Under the guidelines, such bonds will be issued for raising resources for capital investment in creation of new infrastructure as well as augmentation of existing systems. Tax free bonds worth Rs. 100 crore by Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation have been permitted for improving infrastructure. Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has also been permitted to issue tax free municipal bonds for Rs. 82.5 crore. Pooled financing for municipal infrastructure: Traditionally, municipal corporations and urban local bodies have relied on subsidized funds for providing urban services which constraints the constraints the introduction of user charges and efficient project operation and maintenance. In view of the huge resource gap, direct access to capital market would now be an accepted viable option. However, access to capital market requires financial discipline and enhanced credit rating. It has been the experience that only bigger municipal corporations are in a position to take the advantage of the resources available in capital market. Medium and smaller municipalities are unable to do so due to weak financial position and lack of capacity to prepare viable project proposals. A State level pooled financing mechanism is being proposed for smaller and medium municipalities. The objective of a State level pooled finance mechanism is to provide a cost effective and efficient approach for smaller and medium sized ULBs to access the domestic capital markets for urban infrastructure and to introduce new institutional arrangements for mobilising Urban Infrastructure Finance. City Restructuring: Government of India is also encouraging citywide reforms and restructuring so as to ensure that cities are managed efficiently and become creditworthy (to attract private finance ) which will enable them to prepare long term plans for infrastructure investments and implement poverty alleviation programmes. Citywide reforms and restructuring will, however, result in significant transaction costs during the period of transition. Leaving cities to finance these costs by themselves will delay and make it difficult to implement these reforms. It is to partly offset this disadvantage that the Ministry of Urban Development is proposing to set up a performance based City Challenge Fund for catalyzing city level economic reform programmes. The resources from the Fund would be given as grants but should ideally be matched by equal allocations either from the cities themselves or from the respective State governments. Access to the fund would be on a competitive basis. Establishment of an urban academy: The proposed Urban Academy is visualized as a centre of excellence in Urban Matters such as urban water supply, sanitation, urban transport, urban governance, municipal finance, etc. It will be a n ideal town-planning habitat, wherein experts from India and abroad can experiment with new layouts, building materials, landscaping, heritage preservation etc., and it will have Synergic links with all other institutions specializing in urban matters. This will coordinate all Training and Capacity Building Initiatives and effort of change management forums. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the New Economic Policy launched in India in 1991-92, did see several important initiatives in the urban sector designed to encourage private sector participation in urban infrastructure projects. These initiatives would need to be taken to their logical conclusion. A series of new Reform Measures are being put together for implementation during 10th Plan Period. Through these, we hope to reverse the declining standards of urban infrastructure in the country. Public Private Partnership Procurement addresses how the industry organizes itself to deliver construction projects. Contracts define the rules governing the relationships between the many organizations involved in each project. Construction industry clients are faced with a perplexing array of skills and resources which must be combined effectively to develop a building (or other constructed facility) that will fulfill their needs. All but the simplest of buildings involve the management, design, assembly and commissioning of large amounts of raw materials using appropriately-skilled labor provided by multiple organizations over a long period of time. The flow of money between Organizations must be formally organized, as must the distribution of responsibility and risk among them. While the technical complexities of the design solution itself are addressed by the specialized skills of construction industry members, the interaction of these organizations must be structured by the selection of an appropriate procurement route and the effective administration (i.e. day to day running) of the associated form of construction contract. At the project outset, clients will usually seek advice on the selection of a procurement route to bring the required organizations together. Figure 1 Example of a cost and Time Overruns in Public Sector Projects. In response to these problems, two key joint industry and government reports were published to stimulate innovation in construction industry practice: the Latham Report in 1994 and the Egan Report in 1998. In the first report – â€Å"Constructing the Team† – Sir Michael Latham commented: â€Å"Implementation begins with clients. Clients are at the core of the Process and their needs must be met by industry† â€Å"Rethinking Construction† proposed five drivers for change in the construction industry: 1. Committed leadership 2. A focus on the customer 3. Integrated processes and teams 4. A quality driven agenda 5. Commitment to people In the public sector, HM Treasury launched the â€Å"Achieving Excellence in Construction† initiative in 1999 to improve the performance of Government in its client role by publishing â€Å"Achieving Excellence in Construction Procurement Guides† [11] which addresses the following issues: 1. Initiating action 2. Project organization 3. Project procurement lifecycle 4. Risk and value management 5. The integrated project team 6. Procurement and contract strategies 7. Whole-life costing 8. Improving performance 9. Design quality 10. Health and safety 11. Sustainability Public sector clients are generally concerned with certainty of budget and quality and, above all else, ensuring public accountability as they are spending public money. Clients who build regularly – perhaps continuously –can be considered experienced Construction projects can be structured in a variety of ways as â€Å"No single procurement route† is suited to all situations and so is required to link the Client’s business requirements before an appropriate project structure can be recommended. The Office of Government Commerce defines these terms as follows [1]: â€Å"Procurement strategy: The procurement strategy identifies the best way of achieving the objectives of the project and value for money, taking account of the risks and constraints, leading to decision about the funding mechanism and asset ownership for the project. The aim of a procurement strategy is to achieve the optimum balance of risk, control and funding for a particular project.† â€Å"Procurement route: The procurement route delivers the procurement strategy. It included the contract strategy that will best meet the Client’s needs. An integrated procurement route ensures that design, construction, operations and maintenance are considered as a whole; it also ensures that the delivery team work together as an integrated project team.† Figure 2 The relationship of procurement strategy to procurement route â€Å"A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an umbrella term for arrangements agreed – often with legal force – between public and private sector organisations to their mutual benefit. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is one form of PPP developed by the Government in which the public and private sectors join to design, build or refurbish, finance and operate new or improved facilities and services to the general public. PFI schemes generally involve a consortium of private sector companies, who collaborate to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which then contracts with the public sector to provide services such as hospitals, schools and roads to specifications provided by public sector bodies.† 3.1 Procurement method issues Construction industry has complex analysis mere by dual component of land and building. It has fuzz boundaries. The fragmentation of the industry between contractor, consultant, project management etc creates the industry highly volatile. It can also be argued the reduction of professionalism if it is at only contractor. So it is expected to carry multitude of negative aspects of Investment which is derived from present consumption. In Economics term Investment is the process of trading present consumption for new capital. Present trading can be alternative to investment in other than the construction industry. Individual participant have significant approach to price and quantity. â€Å"This definition illustrates several key characteristics of PFI schemes: A service, rather than capital assets, is purchased. PFI schemes run for a long time. The public sector typically requires procures the provision of a service over a 25 to 35 year period. Buildings or other infrastructure is usually constructed by the private sector as a consequence of the need to provide the agreed service. The PFI agreement will define the level of service required (such as providing a maintained, lit, warm, clean and catered hospital, for example) and the private sector will finance the design and construction of new or adapted facilitates as necessary to accommodate that service. Because the public sector is purchasing a service, rather than assets, it will not own those assets unless the transfer of their ownership is agreed when setting up the scheme (see Section 6.6.5). Subject to any specification imposed by the public sector client, the private sector is free to use whatever means it considers appropriate when constructing the assets. This can lead to design quality and performance shortcomings (see Section 6.6.4). The private sector puts itself at risk when securing the finance required to construct any capital assets required by the scheme. In return, it will expect to be paid for managing this risk. This raises the overall cost of PFI schemes above that of non-PFI procurement where financing risks are minimal as they are borne by the public sector with funding traditionally provided and underwritten by the Treasury.† 3.2 Role of PPP in Infrastructures â€Å"In the projects from the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Private Finance Initative (PFI) programmes, the public sector contracts to purchase services – rather than any particular building – from the private sector in the long term. The delivery Demand and Issues of Urban Infrastructure Demand and Issues of Urban Infrastructure Case Study of The Financial Model For Water Supply Project 1 Introduction 1.1 Rationale/Background According to the RICS recent survey only 4% of the people want to live in Urban Area. This shows the reverse in standard of living requirement which was dream of living in the urban area. What has gone wrong? We know that gypsies used to settle were they could find water. It can be said that water is such an important element for development of any place irrespective of urban or rural area. In India 30% of the total population live in Urban Area and contribute to 60% of the total GDP (Gross Domestic Product). 31% is the increase in the population in last decade compared to 18% in the rural area. So it is necessary to boost urban infrastructure by public as well as private intervention institution. Creativity is the service of the age that generate Ideas that become product and service. The downturn of the economies has advantage of new invention which is also true in case of maximization profit. With increase in the demographic of ages, climate, cultures and immigration it is difficult to take the risk of demand of the urban area. The risk of controlling the demand must be taken by government agency to encourage the private parties for excellence service in Infrastructure. 1.2 Research Aim and Objective 1.2.1 Aim To develop financial model for water supply projects using â€Å"JNNURM toolkit†. This can be used to analyze the relationship between performance and sustainability in PPP method of procurement. 1.2.2 Objective To study the preparation of Urban Infrastructure and Investment plan for the city. To evaluate the feasibility of water supply service in particular. Role of PPP in Urban Infrastructure. 1.2.3 Main Hypothesis Need for Urban Infrastructure and their implementation under governance of JNNURM scheme. To promote sustainable investment and innovative PPP method of procurement increase in the efficiency at municipality level by vigilance. Freedom should be given to private parties to make them comfortable. 1.3 Outline Methodology of Study We will first try to figure out what is the need of the curbing population of that particular city. The cities are in a desperate need of finance for carrying out the reviving projects. But the previous schemes and projects by the municipalities and state governments have failed miserably on the grounds of implementation (ie, time management) and utilization of funds. So there is a need to gather finance for the reviving project for the curbing infrastructure .The story does not end here, there is also a need to govern the utilization of fund. There is a new scheme which is growing popularity by the Government of India along with State government and the municipalities. The buzz word in this scheme is the governance of the project because there is a proper channel how to control the funds issued by the government. Also the government of India will regularly monitor the implementation of the project. Along with this there is a unique proposal of submitting the CDP (City Development Plan) for approval. So our approach would be to find a method of relating the increase in population and need of the same in coming 20 years as well as to arranging and managing finance considering all the factors like inflation, operation and maintenance cost. For this we would study CDPs of various cities and also study their approach in solving the future infrastructure problems. Also we would compare various CDPs and comment on their efficiency. Since we are talking of CDPs preparation and involvement of private parties we will try some case study and prepare the financial appraisal of the same. We would critically analyze whether the project is financially feasible under JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission) scheme 1.3.1 Literature review and the pilot study This literature review the following subject of India City Development plan Finance scheme for city development plan PPP procurement JNNURM Scheme Pilot Study consists of Theoretical approach. Study of a practical approach to prepare CPD for water supply project under guidelines of JNNURM scheme toolkit. 1.3.2 Main Study Case study:- Feasibility of water supply project under JNNURM scheme using Financial appraisal calculation and role of PPP in such project. The name of the city under case study has been changed due to sensibility of the case as it is live project. The name of the city will not effect on research subject of development of financial appraisal model because scenario is well detailed. The approach of this study by Quantitative and Analytical Comparison of CPD between different states: selected 4nos of states for comparison. The approach is Quantitative by reading the CPD’s of different states and comparing them. 1.3.3 Writing Up Chapter-1 :-Introduction Chapter-2:-City Development Plan Chapter-3:-Private Partner Chapter-4:- JNNURM Scheme Chapter-5:- Case Study Chapter-6:- Comparison of CPD between different states Chapter-7:-Conclusion 2 City Development Plan 2.1 Geographical Information 29 states and 6 union territories* Andaman and Nicobar Islands* Lakshadweep* Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Maharashtra Assam Manipur Bihar Meghalaya Chandigarh* Mizoram Chhattisgarh Nagaland Dadra and Nagar Haveli* Orissa Daman and Diu* Pondicherry* Delhi Punjab Goa Rajasthan Gujarat Sikkim Haryana Tamil Nadu Himachal Pradesh Tripura Jammu and Kashmir Uttaranchal Jharkhand Uttar Pradesh Karnataka West Bengal Kerala * Union territory 2.2 Demography Table 1 India: Development Indicator â€Å"According to a United Nations study (1995), by the year 2015, ten of the worlds fifteen largest cities will be in Asia (excluding Japan); three of these will be in India. In 1950, this same region claimed only three of the worlds fifteen largest cities, whilst India claimed only one. These projections suggest that demographic growth in Indias large cities will be high, partly due to national population growth and partly due to immigration. The logistic model used by the United Nations, the World Bank, and other international agencies for the projection of urban population world-wide suggests that India is poised for rapid urbanisation, along with several other countries in south and East Asia. â€Å" SIZE: As per Census 2001, only 28% of the 1.1 billion Indians live in urban areas. Expected to increase to 40% by 2021. About 60% of the country’s GDP originates from urban areas. Allocation of US$12 billion by the Government of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for a period of 7 years for improving urban infrastructure across 63 cities. Key metro cities Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad allocated 47.5% percent of these funds. STRUCTURE:JNNURM functions under the overall guidance of a National Steering Group (NSG) which comes under the purview of Ministry of Urban Development JNNURM is aimed at fast-track planned development of identified cities. Key highlights Integrated development of urban infrastructure projects Renewal and redevelopment of inner city areas Provision of basic services to urban poor Funds to be channelised through Urban Local Bodies who will be responsible for implementation Implementing agencies to leverage sanctioned funds to attract private sector investments through PPP contracts Outlook Investments of more than US$50 billion would be required in the next 5 years to improve and build urban infrastructure JNNURM is the single largest initiative of Government of India for planned development of cities Opportunity for private players to partner with Urban Local Bodies (ULB) in development of urban infrastructure such as Water supply and sanitation Slum redevelopment Urban transportation including roads, highways, expressways, Mass Rapid Transport Systems (MRTS) and metro projects Solid waste management POTENTIAL: A large component of development work will be through public-private partnership. Water supply and sanitation in urban areas to attract investments over US$30 billion. POLICY 100% FDI under the automatic route permitted for townships, housing, built-up infrastructure and construction-development based projects subject to minimum scale norms JNNURM will provide grants/viability gap funding for projects 2.3 Problems â€Å"Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of India are the constitutionally provided administrative units that provide basic infrastructure and services in cities and towns. According to Census of India 1991, there are 3255 ULBs in the country classified into four major categories: Nagar Nigams Nagar Palikaa Nagar Panchayats Large urban areas are governed by Nagar Nigams, often simply called corporations. The area under a corporation is further divided up into wards. Individual wards or collections of wards within a corporation sometimes have their own administrative body known as ward committees. Smaller urban areas are governed by Nagar Palika, which are often referred to simply as municipalities. Municipalities are also divided into wards, which may be grouped together into ward councils. One or more representatives are elected to represent each ward.† â€Å"What is worse, many ULBs have accumulated ‘large’ debts and face serious problems in servicing them. Besides the restriction to a small resource base poor planning process, lack of periodical revision of municipal tax rates / user charges, and poor information system and records management are some of the basic weaknesses in the present municipal administration.† The â€Å"Infrastructure Problem  : In spite of its prominent role in Indian economy, urban India faces serious problems due to population pressure, deterioration in the physical environment and quality of life. According to estimates nearly one third of the urban India lives below poverty line. About 15 percent of the urbanites do not have access to safe drinking water and about 50 percent are not covered by sanitary facilities. There is a huge and widening gap between demand and supply of essential services and infrastructure. â€Å" 2.4 Schemes for development of urban development The ongoing schemes of Urban Infrastructure Development in the mega cities, and Integrated Development of Small and Medium Towns (IDSMT) do not meet the requirement of infrastructure development of all cities/towns in the country. There is, therefore, need to have a comprehensive scheme for infrastructure development of all cities/towns in the country. Other scheme like Urban Reforms Incentive Fund (URIF) also needs to be subsumed in the said comprehensive scheme. Funding is linked to reforms which are classified into â€Å"mandatory† and â€Å"optional† as detailed below: Mandatory Reforms—State level: Repeal of Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act Reform of Rent Control Laws so as to stimulate private investment in rental housing schemes. Rationalisation of Stamp Duty to bring it down to no more than 5 per cent within the next five years. Introduction of independent regulators for urban services. Mandatory Reforms –Core (at ULBs level): Double entry system of accounting for Urban Local Bodies Adoption of public disclosure law – disclosure of medium-term fiscal plan and quarterly performance reports. Passage of community participation law. All special agencies currently involved in delivering urban civic services to be brought under the supervision of ULBs, thus creating a uniform accountability platform. A Bangalore Action Task Force (BATF) kind of citizen’s technical advisory group should be constituted for each city to guide the process of urban reforms. Urban development authorities discharging city Planning functions and the new city development function should associate the ULBs more closely. Introduction of e-governance, Global Information System (GIS) and Monitoring Information System ( MIS) Reform of Property Tax laws. Levy of reasonable user charges. Optional Reforms: Revision of byelaws to streamline the approval process. Simplification of legal and procedural frameworks for conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes Introduction of Property Title Certification System in ULBs. Earmarking at least 20-25 per cent of developed land in all housing projects for the poor. Introduction of computerized process of registration of land and property Revision of bye-laws to make rain water harvesting mandatory Bye-laws for reuse of reclaimed water Administrative reforms, i.e. right sizing of the ULBs. It is important to note that the contribution of urban sector to GDP is currently expected to be in the range of 60 percent. In this context, enhancing the productivity of urban areas is now central to the policy pronouncements of the Ministry of Urban Development. Cities hold tremendous potential as engines of economic and social development, creating jobs and generating wealth through economies of scale. They need to be sustained and augmented through the high urban productivity for countrys economic growth. National economic growth and poverty reduction efforts will be increasingly determined by the productivity of these cities and towns. For Indian cities to become growth oriented and productive, it is essential to achieve a world class urban system. This in turn depends on attaining efficiency and equity in the delivery and financing of urban infrastructure. Resource Gap: The India Infrastructure, Report, 1996, assessed the total annual investment needs of water supply, sanitation and roads sectors at Rs. 28,036 crores per year on an average during 1996-2006. Where as funds to that extent are not available. To overcome these constraints and challenges, the Ministry of Urban Development has initiated institutional, fiscal and financial reforms. First generation urban sector reform known as the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992, recognizes the principles of local self governments and empowers urban local bodies with financial resources through Central Finance Commission and State Finance Commissions. Subsequently, in order to strengthen these local bodies, second generation reform have also been started. In the last decade, enormous progress has been made in removing impediments to efficient investment. Resource Mobilization Effort: In August, 1996, the Central Government guidelines entitled Urban Development Plans Formulation and Implementation were circulated to all State Governments for adoption. These guidelines, apart from other issues, suggest innovative approaches for fiscal resource mobilization. In the backdrop of the New Economic Policy, it was suggested that the traditional system of funding based on Plan and budgetary allocations be reduced and ultimately withdrawn due to fiscal deficit. Subsidies need to be rationalized and urban development plans and projects need to be placed on a commercial format by designing commercially viable urban infrastructure services and area development projects. This can be achieved by restoring a proper match between functions and source of revenue by giving additional tax measures. Other innovative resource mobilization measures include using land as resource, increase in the non-property taxes and using public private partnership in service delivery. 2.4.1 Second Generation Reforms Regulatory Framework: The participation of the private sector in financing and the delivery of infrastructure at the municipal level, especially in the water and sanitation sector, require a regulatory framework to protect consumers, apply environmental standards and support the delivery to the poor. As there are a variety of models of regulation from centralized to decentralized systems, guidelines will be developed at the National level to ensure consistency across the country. Appropriate training programme and capacity support to regulators will also be developed in partnership with the private sector and urban research institutions. Model legislation: The Central Government is in the process of preparing model legislation for facilitating private sector participation in urban infrastructure. This is necessary as the present legislative scenario does not encourage private sector participation in this field. A model Municipal Act which will be recommended to the State Governments would include modification and simplification of Municipal bylaws, provision for enhanced borrowing, allowing the entry of private sector and authorizing concessionaires to penalize users for non payment of tariffs. Municipal Accounting System: The Task Force constituted by the O/o CAG of India had recommended for introduction of accrual basis of accounting system for the urban local bodies (ULBs) and suggested model budgeting and accounting formats for that purpose. The Task Force Report was circulated to all States/UTs for adoption of accrual basis of accounting system as well as the budget and accounting formats. Further to provide a simplified tool kit to the ULBs for recording the accounting entries, Ministry of Urban Development in cooperation with the Office of CAG of India has prepared a National Municipal Accounting Manual (NMAM) and circulated to all States/UTs in January, 2005. The Manual comprehensively details the accounting policies, procedures, guidelines designed to ensure correct, complete and timely recording of municipal transactions and produce accurate and relevant financial reports. The NMAM would help the States prepare their state-level accounting manuals in accordance with their own requirements for use by the ULBs. This initiative is expected not only to enhance the capacities of ULBs in municipal accounting leading to increased transparency and accountability of utilization of public funds for the development of urban sector but also will help in creating an environment in which urban local bodies can play their role more effectively and ensure better service delivery. Public private partnership guidelines: Central Government will develop guidelines for involvement of the private sector in infrastructure, which will ensure competitive biding process in a transparent manner. These guidelines will not only protect the consumers but also ensure integrity of the process. This would support municipalities in designing the PPP process on the lines of the BOT Centre in Philippines or the PPP in the Ministry of Finance in South Africa. Chapter4 included the issues related to PPP. 2.4.2 Fiscal incentives Foreign direct investment (FDI): Hitherto Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) allowed direct investment in providing urban services on a case to case basis. This scenario has changed with the decision of the Central Government removing restrictions on FDI in urban infrastructure facilities which are now open both under FIPB and the automatic route as per sector specific guidelines. Guidelines have since even issued for FDI in development of integrating township including housing and building material. External assistance: Since independence, externally assisted urban sector projects have accounted for US$ 2300 million. A review of these projects indicated a need to adopt a programme approach rather than a project approach for availing external assistance. It also indicated the need to encourage a multiple donor scenario and tapping low cost funds for urban infrastructure. Tax free municipal bond: Municipal bonds were successfully issued by several Municipal Corporations like, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Nasik, and Madurai for raising resources for urban infrastructure. The Central Government had announced tax exemption in case of bonds issued by Municipal / Local Governments. Guidelines were issued by this Ministry on 8.2.2001 for regulating issue of tax free municipal bonds. Under the guidelines, such bonds will be issued for raising resources for capital investment in creation of new infrastructure as well as augmentation of existing systems. Tax free bonds worth Rs. 100 crore by Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation have been permitted for improving infrastructure. Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has also been permitted to issue tax free municipal bonds for Rs. 82.5 crore. Pooled financing for municipal infrastructure: Traditionally, municipal corporations and urban local bodies have relied on subsidized funds for providing urban services which constraints the constraints the introduction of user charges and efficient project operation and maintenance. In view of the huge resource gap, direct access to capital market would now be an accepted viable option. However, access to capital market requires financial discipline and enhanced credit rating. It has been the experience that only bigger municipal corporations are in a position to take the advantage of the resources available in capital market. Medium and smaller municipalities are unable to do so due to weak financial position and lack of capacity to prepare viable project proposals. A State level pooled financing mechanism is being proposed for smaller and medium municipalities. The objective of a State level pooled finance mechanism is to provide a cost effective and efficient approach for smaller and medium sized ULBs to access the domestic capital markets for urban infrastructure and to introduce new institutional arrangements for mobilising Urban Infrastructure Finance. City Restructuring: Government of India is also encouraging citywide reforms and restructuring so as to ensure that cities are managed efficiently and become creditworthy (to attract private finance ) which will enable them to prepare long term plans for infrastructure investments and implement poverty alleviation programmes. Citywide reforms and restructuring will, however, result in significant transaction costs during the period of transition. Leaving cities to finance these costs by themselves will delay and make it difficult to implement these reforms. It is to partly offset this disadvantage that the Ministry of Urban Development is proposing to set up a performance based City Challenge Fund for catalyzing city level economic reform programmes. The resources from the Fund would be given as grants but should ideally be matched by equal allocations either from the cities themselves or from the respective State governments. Access to the fund would be on a competitive basis. Establishment of an urban academy: The proposed Urban Academy is visualized as a centre of excellence in Urban Matters such as urban water supply, sanitation, urban transport, urban governance, municipal finance, etc. It will be a n ideal town-planning habitat, wherein experts from India and abroad can experiment with new layouts, building materials, landscaping, heritage preservation etc., and it will have Synergic links with all other institutions specializing in urban matters. This will coordinate all Training and Capacity Building Initiatives and effort of change management forums. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the New Economic Policy launched in India in 1991-92, did see several important initiatives in the urban sector designed to encourage private sector participation in urban infrastructure projects. These initiatives would need to be taken to their logical conclusion. A series of new Reform Measures are being put together for implementation during 10th Plan Period. Through these, we hope to reverse the declining standards of urban infrastructure in the country. Public Private Partnership Procurement addresses how the industry organizes itself to deliver construction projects. Contracts define the rules governing the relationships between the many organizations involved in each project. Construction industry clients are faced with a perplexing array of skills and resources which must be combined effectively to develop a building (or other constructed facility) that will fulfill their needs. All but the simplest of buildings involve the management, design, assembly and commissioning of large amounts of raw materials using appropriately-skilled labor provided by multiple organizations over a long period of time. The flow of money between Organizations must be formally organized, as must the distribution of responsibility and risk among them. While the technical complexities of the design solution itself are addressed by the specialized skills of construction industry members, the interaction of these organizations must be structured by the selection of an appropriate procurement route and the effective administration (i.e. day to day running) of the associated form of construction contract. At the project outset, clients will usually seek advice on the selection of a procurement route to bring the required organizations together. Figure 1 Example of a cost and Time Overruns in Public Sector Projects. In response to these problems, two key joint industry and government reports were published to stimulate innovation in construction industry practice: the Latham Report in 1994 and the Egan Report in 1998. In the first report – â€Å"Constructing the Team† – Sir Michael Latham commented: â€Å"Implementation begins with clients. Clients are at the core of the Process and their needs must be met by industry† â€Å"Rethinking Construction† proposed five drivers for change in the construction industry: 1. Committed leadership 2. A focus on the customer 3. Integrated processes and teams 4. A quality driven agenda 5. Commitment to people In the public sector, HM Treasury launched the â€Å"Achieving Excellence in Construction† initiative in 1999 to improve the performance of Government in its client role by publishing â€Å"Achieving Excellence in Construction Procurement Guides† [11] which addresses the following issues: 1. Initiating action 2. Project organization 3. Project procurement lifecycle 4. Risk and value management 5. The integrated project team 6. Procurement and contract strategies 7. Whole-life costing 8. Improving performance 9. Design quality 10. Health and safety 11. Sustainability Public sector clients are generally concerned with certainty of budget and quality and, above all else, ensuring public accountability as they are spending public money. Clients who build regularly – perhaps continuously –can be considered experienced Construction projects can be structured in a variety of ways as â€Å"No single procurement route† is suited to all situations and so is required to link the Client’s business requirements before an appropriate project structure can be recommended. The Office of Government Commerce defines these terms as follows [1]: â€Å"Procurement strategy: The procurement strategy identifies the best way of achieving the objectives of the project and value for money, taking account of the risks and constraints, leading to decision about the funding mechanism and asset ownership for the project. The aim of a procurement strategy is to achieve the optimum balance of risk, control and funding for a particular project.† â€Å"Procurement route: The procurement route delivers the procurement strategy. It included the contract strategy that will best meet the Client’s needs. An integrated procurement route ensures that design, construction, operations and maintenance are considered as a whole; it also ensures that the delivery team work together as an integrated project team.† Figure 2 The relationship of procurement strategy to procurement route â€Å"A Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an umbrella term for arrangements agreed – often with legal force – between public and private sector organisations to their mutual benefit. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is one form of PPP developed by the Government in which the public and private sectors join to design, build or refurbish, finance and operate new or improved facilities and services to the general public. PFI schemes generally involve a consortium of private sector companies, who collaborate to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which then contracts with the public sector to provide services such as hospitals, schools and roads to specifications provided by public sector bodies.† 3.1 Procurement method issues Construction industry has complex analysis mere by dual component of land and building. It has fuzz boundaries. The fragmentation of the industry between contractor, consultant, project management etc creates the industry highly volatile. It can also be argued the reduction of professionalism if it is at only contractor. So it is expected to carry multitude of negative aspects of Investment which is derived from present consumption. In Economics term Investment is the process of trading present consumption for new capital. Present trading can be alternative to investment in other than the construction industry. Individual participant have significant approach to price and quantity. â€Å"This definition illustrates several key characteristics of PFI schemes: A service, rather than capital assets, is purchased. PFI schemes run for a long time. The public sector typically requires procures the provision of a service over a 25 to 35 year period. Buildings or other infrastructure is usually constructed by the private sector as a consequence of the need to provide the agreed service. The PFI agreement will define the level of service required (such as providing a maintained, lit, warm, clean and catered hospital, for example) and the private sector will finance the design and construction of new or adapted facilitates as necessary to accommodate that service. Because the public sector is purchasing a service, rather than assets, it will not own those assets unless the transfer of their ownership is agreed when setting up the scheme (see Section 6.6.5). Subject to any specification imposed by the public sector client, the private sector is free to use whatever means it considers appropriate when constructing the assets. This can lead to design quality and performance shortcomings (see Section 6.6.4). The private sector puts itself at risk when securing the finance required to construct any capital assets required by the scheme. In return, it will expect to be paid for managing this risk. This raises the overall cost of PFI schemes above that of non-PFI procurement where financing risks are minimal as they are borne by the public sector with funding traditionally provided and underwritten by the Treasury.† 3.2 Role of PPP in Infrastructures â€Å"In the projects from the Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Private Finance Initative (PFI) programmes, the public sector contracts to purchase services – rather than any particular building – from the private sector in the long term. The delivery

The Importance of Research on Animals :: Animal Research Science Experiments Essays

The Importance of Research on Animals Research on animals is important in understanding diseases and developing ways to prevent them. The polio vaccine, kidney transplants, and heart surgery techniques have all been developed with the help of animal research. Through increased efforts by the scientific community, effective treatments for diabetes, diphtheria, and other diseases have been developed with animal testing. Animal research has brought a dramatic progress into medicine. With the help of animal research, smallpox has been wiped out worldwide. Micro-surgery to reattach hearts, lungs, and other transplants are all possible because of animal research. Since the turn of the century, animal research has helped increase our life-span by nearly 28 years. And now, animal research is leading to dramatic progress against AIDS and Alzheimer's disease. Working with animals in research is necessary. Scientists need to test medical treatments for effectiveness and test new drugs for safety before beginning human testing. Small animals, usually rats, are used to determine the possible side effects of new drugs. After animal tests have proven the safety of new drugs, patients asked to participate in further studies can be assured that they may fare better, and will not do worse than if they were given standard treatment or no treatment. New surgical techniques first must be carefully developed and tested in living, breathing, whole organ systems with pulmonary and circulatory systems much like ours. The doctors who perform today's delicate cardiac, ear, eye, pulmonary and brain surgeries, as well as doctors in training, must develop the necessary skills before patients' lives are entrusted to their care. Neither computer models, cell cultures, nor artificial substances can simulate flesh, muscle, blood, and organs like the ones in live animals. There is no alternative to animal research. Living systems are complex. The nervous system, blood and brain chemistry, and gland secretions are all interrelated. It is impossible to explore, explain or predict the course of many diseases or the effects of many treatments without observing and testing the entire living system. Cell and tissue cultures, often suggested as "alternatives" to using animals, have been used in medical research for many years. But these are only isolated tests. And isolated tests will yield only isolated results, which may bear little relation to a whole living system. Scientists do not yet know enough about living systems or diseases, nor does the technology exist, to replicate one on a computer. The information required to build a true computer model in the future will be based on data drawn from

Exploring the Role of Women in Mexico in Like Water For Chocolate Essay

Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel explains women’s roles in northern Mexico during the turn of the nineteenth century. The novel takes place in northern Mexico on a family ranch where many family traditions are carried out. Also, the novel describes some of the typical foods that were prepared and fiestas that were celebrated in the Mexican culture around this time. However, the novel mainly focuses on the roles of females in Mexican society at that time. The novel goes beyond explaining women’s roles and also explains what took place in the Mexican family. Throughout the novel, readers learn the role of mothers, the conflict between personal desires and tradition, and typical foods, celebrations, and family traditions that were important to a Mexican family. The background of an author plays a significant role in the reason he or she writes a novel. The story is often written about his or her culture. Laura Esquivel, a novelist, teacher, and screenwriter, was born in Mexico City, Mexico. Laura Esquivel was born the third of four children to a middle-class family. The biography of Laura Esquivel from â€Å"The Biography Channel website† states that, â€Å"Laura Esquivel often explores the relationship between men and women in Mexico in her work† it is obvious by the way Esquivel describes the traditional roles of both men and women in Mexico that her background played a large part in her work (â€Å"Laura Esquivel†). Laura Esquivel’s novels are still loved and cherished today due to her â€Å"creative flair and style in her work† (â€Å"Laura Esquivel†). Laura Esquivel found her inspiration for her novel from her personal experience and hands on time in the kitchen. In â€Å"Literature of Develop ing Nations for Students†, there is a section regar... ... Luis Alberto Vargas. n.p.: Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2005., 2005. Tri-County Tech College's Catalog. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Mujica, Barbara. "'Like Water for Chocolate,' (book review)." Americas 45.4 (July-Aug. 1993): 60. Rpt. in Literature of Developing Nations for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Literature of Developing Nations. Ed. Elizabeth Bellalouna, Michael L. LaBlanc, and Ira Mark Milne. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literature Resource Center. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. Salisbury, Joyce E. and Andrew E Kersten. "Eras / 20th Century Latin America / Family Life in 20th Century Latin America." Daily Life through History. ABC-CLIO, 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2014. Standish, Peter, Steven M. Bell. "Social Life, Leisure, and Food." Culture and Customs of Mexico. Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2004. ABC-CLIO eBook Collection. Web. 5 Feb 2014.