The Cycle Of Poverty

The cycle of poverty has been defined as a phenomenon where poor families develop imprisoned in poverty for generations. Because they have limited access to critical resources, such as education and financial amenities, subsequent generations are also disadvantaged.

Due to the many root causes of poverty and the problem with how poverty is measured and defined there are various cycles of poverty—based on economic, social, spiritual and geographical factors. Many cycles perpetuate new cycles and hence any attempt to portray the cycle of poverty will be far more simplistic than realistic.

Often, children born into poverty grow to live their adult lives in poverty as well. Lack of proper food, poor health care, lack of quality education, and limited employment prospects are all factors in the cycle of poverty. As these kids tend to be geographically assembled in areas of financial depression, this deficiency of services and opportunities frequently affects entire societies.

For many children, the cycle of poverty begins even before birth. Poor entry to prenatal care means higher maternal and infant mortality rates. In underprivileged areas, poor prenatal nutrition and untreated maternal medical issues lead to smaller and less well fed and well developed babies. The chances of physical and intellectual birth defects are also higher.

Unfortunately, babies who lacked proper food and medical care in the womb rarely fare better after they are born. Missing access to nutritious food, these children fall past behind in growth and brain development. Without vaccinations and regular medical care, these kids, already weakened by undernourishment, can fall victim to a host of infections. The children who survive are further deteriorated by these experiences.

The cycle of poverty is continued as developmentally delayed children enter schools that are sadly inadequate. Generally, impoverished communities have poorly sponsored educational systems. Without the resources to keep quality teachers in sufficient amounts, these schools are often incapable to provide even basic education. The textbooks and computer tools needed to prepare students for college may be simply unavailable.

Higher education may be unrealistic for children trapped in the cycle of poverty. Without the skills children in more comfortable areas develop, these children barely leave the area where they are from or grew up in. As time goes by, the cycle repeats itself until the community, as a whole, is illiterate. The lack of expert workers makes new industry within the area unattractive to businesses. No new jobs are made, and thus, no money is available for community development.

In theory, the cycle of poverty could be broken at any stage of its development. In practice, however, financial intervention programs have not had a good success. The outline of nutritional education and maternal health programs into economically disadvantaged areas, for example, has condensed maternal and infant mortality. These programs have also enhanced childhood health. Unfortunately, this advance in health has had a barely negligible impact on whether these children will stay disadvantaged as adults.

Many opponents of social welfare programs attribute the failure of interventions to the culture of poverty. Poverty was a highly developed subculture, complete with its own norms and ethics.

Dhwani Shah

Journalists Minimum Qualifications by Mr. Katju - Views and Opinions

“To be a journalist or a film critic one needs to have certain attributes – ability to write and passion for the medium. If one has aptitude for it then qualification only adds to it. Therefore, both training and education go hand-in-hand. - Deepa Gahlot, Film Critic”

(source: mxmindia.com, website url: http://www.mxmindia.com/2013/03/mxm-mondays-do-journalists-need-to-be-qualified/)

Mr Justice Makarand Katju, the Chairperson of the Press Council of India, has recently suggested that there should be some minimum qualifications to be a journalist and that the schools of journalism should be regulated. He expressed his view that no freedom can be absolute; it is always subject to reasonable restrictions in the public interest. 

(Published in The Indian Express on March 25, 2013)

I agree with Justice Katju when he says that areas of super-specialisations like legal, financial, labour, agricultural reporting are growing. Formal training in the format of a Diploma would in my opinion be very supportive to good understanding before actual reporting since this would only mean a strong spine for journalists in their fields. Be it newspaper journalism or live TV reporting certain ethics that were followed once upon a time are not followed anymore due to lack of proper training in ethics of Journalism.

From the days of news-reporting up to the 1980's, and that this slowly emerged thereafter, has been a metamorphosis in style and quality. The news then, whether through telecast or broadcast, was always done with sombre & dispassionate tone and words, leaving the conclusions to the listener or viewer.  

Today we find channels seamlessly repeating the shortest of live clips shot by the reporter, just to hold the viewer to the screen of the particular channel. The rules of Grammar do not exist anymore. The name of the game is SENSATION, with the aim of increasing viewer-ship, popularity and revenues. 

As for technical content, for example, to report on the impact of changes in Tax structure, it would require proper knowledge of the taxation laws and basics of Taxation. Otherwise, the margins between fleecing and taxing would indeed be thin. If Insurance laws are not known, then terms and conditions of insurance policies would never be understood. The margins between payable and non-payable claims would vanish. 

Thus, socially responsible reporting does require an extent of formal grounding in various technical fields, combined with ethics in the profession of journalism

By Nikita Nilekani

FSLE-3, FLAME School of Communication

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi

People have been enjoying cola flavored drinks ever since the first glass of Coca-cola was served in 1886 at an Atlanta pharmacy, and today it has become an important part of the beverage industry. Moreover, it would not be surprising if this has led to rivalry between cola manufacturers. Coke and Pepsi have always been the biggest rivals; it has almost been a century long rivalry. But which one is better? Coca-Cola or Pepsi? To once and for all settle this debate, Pepsi had introduced what was called the ‘Pepsi-challenge’, what they did was, they made people taste coke and Pepsi  in blank cups at the same time and asked to choose one. This marketing promotion was considered unsuccessful, but Pepsi claimed more Americans preferred Pepsi than coke. Pepsi had dominated the market until 2011 when diet coke overtook Pepsi making it the second best in the cola industry. Personally, I prefer coca cola to Pepsi, Pepsi is more sweetened and coke is more carbonated, and I like a refreshing fizz more than a sweetened drink. Even though coke has been the top selling cola, Pepsi has been able to maintain head-to-head competition. It is still undecided which is considered the best. Pepsi is more preferred by people but coke is still the highest selling cola. If I were asked, Coke would always be number one in my book.

Dhwani Shah

social marketing

I often get asked what is the main difference between Social Marketing and Commercial marketing - or indeed if there is any difference. Of course, this is understandable, not least because after all we are using fairly similar tools (and theories in some cases). However, I’d argue that the main difference is probably in the starting point. Consider the basic definition of Marketing as a “social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and values with others.” (Kotler et al, Principles of Marketing). One of the main points for commercial marketing is the creation and exchange of products that people want and need, for social marketing while that may be true in the long run, it may not be so in the short term. Take the example of healthy food choices: While it may be true for some people that they do prefer a piece of fruit, many more people are likely to prefer unhealthy food choices (chocolate anyone?). For commercial marketers, the main objective is to find out which people want the healthy food and supply them with apples, bananas and grapes - while also supplying and exchanging unhealthy food with the people who want it. In that sense, commercial marketing is pretty value free - it delivers what people want, when they want it (and without starting a discussion about the ethics of such an approach), does not really make a judgement if that is good or bad.
Social marketing is pretty different: In social marketing we would be actively trying to convince those people that want unhealthy food to switch to healthy food (and we would probably not be too concerned about those that already eat healthily). Thus, our target is very, very different (and yes, we are making a judgment call, i.e. that there is such a thing as desired behaviour as well as undesirable behaviour). This also explains why in many ways it is a lot easier to be a commercial marketeer: after all commercial marketing is a little like running in open doors (or delivering what someone wants when they want it in the way they want it) - while social marketing really is about convincing someone that a particular behaviour is bad/unhealthy/undesirable and to do something that he/she may not originally want to do.

Westernization in India, and its consequences.

Has Westernization increased the threat to women’s safety and dignity in India?

Westernization is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet, religion, philosophy, and values. It is a complex economic, political, cultural, and geographic process in which the mobility of capital, organizations, ideas, discourses, and peoples has taken a global or transnational form. It is a two-sided process, in which Western influences and interests themselves are joined by a wish of at least parts of the affected society to change towards a more Westernized society, in the hope of attaining Western life or some aspects of it.

India is a secular country where the people have the freedom to practice any religion and also to convert into another religion of their choice. So, all the cultures are freely accepted and respected by the Indians. But, the influence of western culture started in India during the 19th century when the British established their colony in the country.

In the weeks since a woman was viciously gang-raped on a New Delhi bus, the limited views or interests of India’s mostly male, mostly rural politicians have been on full display. Senior politicians blamed the rape on Western culture, on Westernized women, on modern city life, even on bad karma. The government’s mishandling of the popular outrage made the situation worse: Police in New Delhi used tear gas and water cannons on female protesters, many of them college students.

As the entire country monitored the health of the young woman—who died in a Singapore hospital on Dec. 29—Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said something that made sense. “The emergence of women in public spaces, which is an absolutely essential part of social emancipation, is accompanied by growing threats to their safety and security. There can be no meaningful development without the active participation of half the population, and this simply cannot take place if their security and safety are not assured.”

With women’s lifestyles slowly coming to a similar pattern as a man’s lifestyle, one can see women wearing lesser clothes than a normal Indian woman would usually wear, she would be seen at times and places which could not be safe for their own good, due to newer entertainment forms such as – night clubs, malls, lounges/bars, cheerleaders appearing in cricket shows to create more “buzz” , the country is seeing the change of women’s status in society. Women are no longer the ones who are meant to live on this planet to serve for their husband, they now have an equal say to every decision that is made in the household. They are allowed to walk around freely as men do, with no question asked. In a society like India, this would not truly be accepted by all classes, man or woman.

Some women sometimes internalize the western culture to such a deep level they eventually believe they are amidst a western culture. Some women like these go schizophrenic. Since they feel disconnected from their real world and imagine themselves in a culture all together, they eventually do not understand what the difference is between reality and illusion.

Therefore, women need not to afraid of westernization. It is the way one deals with it in the culture they actually live in. Each society has its own norms and presumptions which need to be accepted by all unless one does not mind being socially castrated. Change is inevitable though, but each society takes its own time.

The Spirit of FLAME

This is a video link to have an overview of FLAME -

Youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO5q9YjzVwI

This video shows the different school that FLAME has and what students do.
We see the different activities that students take part during their student life at FLAME.
We also see the values that FLAME has. The student and teacher relations.  The different courses that are available and offered  in FLAME.



Maya Chandrashekaran
FSLE-3

"NOW 2013" ignites at FLAME...

Flame School of Communication announces the "New Options for the World" (NOW) seminar 2013. The three day affair will begin on February 19th, 2013. Meet renowned guest speakers and the students of FLAME as they debate "INDIA: A Functioning Anarchy?".
Avinash Dharmadhikari
Dileep Padgaonkar
Jayant Umranikar