The Concept Of Microfinance

The Concept Of Microfinance In the recent years, most of the countries across the globe are in a sweeping mood to promote microfinance not only as a positive rural development intervention but also as a rural development panacea. As a result, the developmental economists in underdeveloped and developing economies have increasingly become enthusiastic in promotion and development of microfinance as one of the rural development initiatives. The purpose of such an initiative is to promote the welfare of the society as a whole by targeting the most talked developmental objectives of poverty alleviation (Shah,2008) and balanced regional development (Barman et al. , 2009). Micro-finance today though has become one of the most debated topics but it is a much confused buzzword among the bankers and the policy makers. Micro-finance is more than just a word as it has much wider meaning and implications. It is an instrument and a tool that has power to collectively address poverty, empower the socially poor, address gender issues and thereby strengthen the society as a whole. Micro-finance has therefore emerged as a powerful mechanism which ensures the social and economic empowerment of poor (Sriram, 2004). Concept of Microfinance Microfinance, according to McGuire and Conroy (2000), is the provision of financial services, primarily savings and credit, to poor households that do not have access to formal financial institutions. The Task Force on Supportive Policy and Regulatory Framework for Microfinance set up by NABARD in November 1998 defined microfinance as the provision of thrift, credit and other financial services and products of very small amounts to the poor in rural, semi urban or urban areas, for enabling them to raise their income levels and improve living standards (Sharma, 2001; Reddy, 2005, Reji, 2009). These financial services, according to Satish (2005) and Dasgupta (2006), generally include deposits, loans, payment services, money transfers, and insurance to poor and low income households and their microenterprises. However, the expression microfinance according to Torre and Vento (2006) denotes offering the financial services to Zero or low income beneficiaries. Wanchoo (2007) defines microfinance as any activity that includes the provision of financial services such as credit, savings, and insurance to low income individuals who either fall below the nationally defined poverty line or fall just above that, with the goal of creating social value. The creation of social value means making efforts in direction of eradication of poverty, improving livelihood opportunities for the poor through the provision of capital for micro-enterprise, promotion of savings for poor so that current problems and future risks can be minimized. However, how much below or above the poverty line has not been defined anywhere in the literature so far. Arabi (2009) and Satish (2005) defines microfinance as small scale financial services primarily credit and deposits that are provided to people who farm, fish or herd and adds that it operates small or microenterprises both in urban and rural areas. According to Dinesha and Jayasheela (2009), these financial services are provided by financial institutions to the poor to meet their normal financial needs life cycle, economic opportunity and emergency. In the words of Dhandapani (2009) microfinance means extension of small loans to the poor, especially women to start business, invest in self employment works with the aim to increase their income and standard of living. As per the definition of Nagayya and Rao (2009), microfinance refers to entire range of financial and non-financial services including skill upgradation and entrepreneurial development of poor. Sehrawat etal. (2011) however, defines microfinance as a financial service provided by financial institutions to the poor which may include savings, credit, insurance, leasing, money transfer, equity transaction, etc. to meet their normal financial needs like life cycle, economic opportunity and emergency. In short, it can be said that the concept of microfinance involves Banking for the poor and Banking with the poor. Such banking initiatives open doors of finance for destitute and underprivileged people who otherwise do not have access to finance from formal financial sources due to lack of collateral security (Nagayya and Rao, 2009; Barman et al. 2009). Microfinance targets the poorest segment of clients. They are self-employed and household-based entrepreneurs. Their diverse micro-enterprise includes small retail shops, street vending, artisanal manufacture, etc. Components of Microfinance (Microfinance vs Microcredit) The term `microfinance and `microcredit are often used interchangeably but in reality there is the difference between the two. Microcredit is the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. Microfinance is a broader concept encompassing not only the extension of credit to the poor, but also the provision of other financial services like savings, cash withdrawals and insurance (Dasgupta, 2006; Nagayya and Rao, 2009). Microcredit is the component of microfinance. There are four components of microfinance: Microcredit: It is a small amount of money lent to a client by a bank or other institution. Microcredit can be offered, often without collateral, to an individual or through group lending. The purpose of such a loan is to provide credit to those who require it. Microsavings: These are small sums of money that allow poor people to save small amounts of money for future use. These saving accounts are often without minimum balance requirements. It helps low households to save in order to meet unexpected expenses and plan for future investments. These are the means of collateral to microcredit (Sinha, 2005). Microinsurance: It is an economic instrument characterised by low premium designed to service low income people not served by typical social or commercial insurance schemes and helps in mitigating risks affecting property and health (Khandelwal A.K., 2007). Remittances: These are transfers of funds from people in one place to people in another, usually across borders to family and friends (Khandelwal A.K., 2007). The Rise of Microfinance Movement / the Beginnings of Microfinance The concept of Microfinance is not new as it has had its prevalence in the long past. The imprints of microfinance can be traced back to Indonesia which points towards the formation of Indonesian Peoples Credit Banks which were set up in 1895 and which had close to 9000 units. Later, efforts were made to bring about revolution in Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by Akhtar Hameed Khan in 1959 in form of formation of Academy for Rural Development (Khandelwal, 2007). In the late 1970s, the economists round the world recognised that poor lack access to financial services (McGuire and Conroy, 2000; Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ; Barman et al., 2009). From this developed a new emphasis on establishing better financial systems which could direct credit to poor clients on a more sustainable basis than had been possible under previous discredited schemes of directed credit (McGuire and Conroy, 2000). At that time, Professor Muhammad Yunus popularised the concept of microloans as he believed that peace prevails only when hunger is quelled (Shetty and Veershekharappa, 2009). He started Grammeen Bank in 1976 in the outskirts of Chittagong University campus in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh with only a meagre amount of $27 as loan and made it a target to grant loans to the poorest of the poor. He felt concerned for the miserable landless women who were labouring for other people. He reasoned that if these women could work for themselves instead of working for others, they could retain much of the surplus generated by their labours, currently enjoyed by others. He started giving loans to even beggars. He was also of the view that if beggars can go to houses for getting money, they can go to houses to sell a product also. The Grameen Bank lending procedures are simple and effective. The first and foremost step in receipt of credit is the formation of the group of five members that gather once a week for loan repayment (Dasgupta, 2001). Loans are initially made to two individuals in the group, who are then under pressure from the rest of the members to repay in good time. The borrower has to repay the loan in weekly instalments spread over a year. The functioning of Grameen Bank also involves enchanting of 16 Decisions at the start of their weekly session. These decisions include production of fruits and vegetables in kitchen gardens, investment for improvement of housing and education for children, use of latrines and safe drinking water for better health, rejection of dowry in marriages etc. Although observance of these decisions is not mandatory, in actual practice it has become a requirement for receiving a loan (Tiwari and Fahad, 1997). In order to promote thrift habit, it is compulsory for every member to save one Taka per week which is accumulated in the Group Fund. This account is managed by the group. The amount in the Fund is deposited with Grameen Bank and earns interest. A member can borrow from this fund for consumption, sickness, social ceremony or even for investment (if allowed by all group members). In case of default in repayment or failure to attend meetings, the defaulters may be charged with a fine or may be expelled. The members are free to leave the group before the loan is fully repaid; however, the responsibility to pay the balance falls on the remaining group members. Some of the key strategies adopted by the Grameen Bank are listed below: I) There is an exclusive focus on the poorest of the poor. This is exclusivity ensured by: establishing clearly the eligibility criteria for selection of targeted clientele and adopting practical measures to screen out those who do not meet them. in delivering credit, priority has been increasingly assigned to women. the delivery system is geared to meet the diverse socio-economic development needs of the poor. 2) Borrowers are organized into small homogeneous groups. Such characteristics facilitate group solidarity as well as participatory interaction. Organizing the primary groups of five members and federating them into centers. The Centers are functionally linked to the Grameen Bank, whose field workers have to attend Centre meetings every week. 3) Special loan conditions which are particularly suitable for the poor. These include: a) very small amounts of loans given without any collateral b) loans repayable in weekly instalments spread over a year c) eligibility for a subsequent loan depends upon repayment of first loan d) individual, self-chosen, quick income-generating activities which employ the skills that harrowers already posses. e) close supervision of credit by the group f) stress on collective borrower responsibility or peer pressure g) special safeguards through compulsory and voluntary savings to minimize the risks that the poor confront. h) Undertaking of social development agenda addressing basic needs of the clientele. This is reflected in the sixteen decisions adopted by Grameen borrowers. Thus, the lending operations of Grameeen Bank include the use of group guarantees, inculcating compulsory savings habit and transparency of credit transactions (Mcguire and Conroy, 2000). A still more interesting feature is the ingenious manner of grant of credit without any collateral security. The availability of lending outlets near the clients, simple application procedures, and quick disbursement of loans are the special techniques to ensure good repayment rates (Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ). The Grameen Bank is now lending loan size of $ 800 million a year with an average loan size of almost $130, the bank has 7 million borrowers, 97 percent of them are women and an unmatched repayment rate of 98 percent(Tiwari and Fahad,1997 ; Singh and Kumar,2008). The microloans not only helped the poor in getting finance in Bangladesh and facilitated the lives of millions of poor but also earned Muhammad Yunus a Nobel Prize in the year 2006. Evolution of microfinance in India The Grameen Bank model of microfinance based on joint liability of members has received wide international appeal and popularity in numerous emerging economies like India. In fact the developing economies have even tried to replicate these models for developing small scale business and reducing poverty levels (Jha, 2002; Idolor and Imhanlahimi, 2011). The evolution of Indian MF can be broadly divided into four distinct phases: Phase 1: The Cooperative Movement (1900-1960) During this phase, there was dominance of two sources of credit viz. institutional sources and non-institutional sources. The non institutional sources catered to 93 percent of credit requirement in the year 1951-52 and institutional sources accounted to 7 percent of total credit requirements pertaining to that year. The preponderance of informal sources of credit was due to provision of loans for both productive and non productive purposes as well as for short term and long term purposes and simple procedures of lending adopted. But they involved several malpractices like charging high rates of interest, denial of repayment, misappropriation of collaterals, etc. At that time, government considered cooperatives as an instrument of economic development of disadvantaged masses. The credit cooperatives were vehicles to extend subsidized credit to poor under government sponsorship. They were characterized as non exploitative, voluntary membership and decentralized decision making. The Primary Agricultural societies (PACS) provide mainly short term and medium term loans and Land Development Banks provide long term loans as a part of cooperative movement. Phase 2: Subsidized Social Banking (1960s 1990) It was observed that cooperatives could not do much as was expected of them. With failure of cooperatives, All India Rural Credit Survey Committee in 1969 emphasized the adoption of Multiagency Approach to Institutional Credit which assigned an important role to the commercial banks in addition to cooperatives. Even Indian planners in fifth five year plan (1974-79), emphasised Garibi Hatao (Removal of poverty) and the growth with social justice. It was due to this approach that in 1969, 14 leading banks were nationalized and later on five regional rural banks were set up for the purpose on October 2, 1975 at Moradabad and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, Bhiwani in Haryana ,Jaipur in Rajasthan and Malda in West Bengal. Hence, as a result of Multiagency approach and other planning initiatives, Government focused on measures such as nationalization of Banks (Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009; Sriram, 2005), expansion of rural branch networks, establishment of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and the setting up of apex institutions such as the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Small Scale Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the central bank of the country played a crucial role by giving overall direction for providing credit and financial support to national bank for its operations. Therefore, after the multiagency approach, the commercial banks and regional rural banks assumed a major role in providing both short term and long term funds for serving the poorest of poor. Despite, the multiagency approach adopted, a very large number of the poorest of the poor continued to remain outside the fold of the formal banking system(Reddy and Manak, 2005; Singh and Kumar, 2008; Nagayya and Rao, 2009; Shetty and Veershekharappa, 2009). While these steps led to reaching a large population, the period was characterized by large-scale misuse of credit, creating a negative perception about the credibility of micro borrowers among bankers, thus further hindering access to banking services for the low-income people. However the gap between demand and supply of financial services still prevailed due to shortcomings of institutional credit system as it provides funds only for productive purposes, requirement of collateral, massive paper work leading to inordinate delays. As a response to failure of formal financial system in reaching the poor and destitute masses, the micro finance through Self-help groups was innovated and institutionalized in the Indian scenario. While no definitive date has been determined for the actual conception and propagation of SHGs, the practice of small groups of rural and urban people banding together to form a savings and credit organization is well established in India. In the early stages, NGOs played a pivotal role in innovating the SHG model and in implementing the model to develop the process fully (Reddy and Manak2005). The first step towards Micro-finance intervention was establishment of Self Employed Womens Association (SEWA), non formal organization owned by women of petty trade groups. It was established on the cooperative principle in 1974 in Gujarat. This initiative was undertaken for providing banking services to the poor women employed in unorganized sector of Ahmadabad. Shree Mahila Sahkari Bank was set up as urban cooperative bank. At national level, SHG movement involves NGOs helping in the formation of the groups. During this time, the planners and policy makers were desperately searching for the viable ways of poverty alleviation. Around that time, the Government of India launched the Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), a large poverty alleviation credit program, with the purpose of providing credit to poor and under-privileged which involved provision of government subsidized credit through banks to the poor. But the IRDP was a supply led programme and the clients had no choice over the purpose and the amount. At this stage, it was realised that the poor really needed better access to these services and products, rather than cheap subsidized credit. That is when the experts started talking about microfinance, rather than microcredit. Keeping in view the economic scenario of those days, a strong need was felt for alternative policies, procedures, savings and loan products, other complementary services, and new delivery mechanisms, which would fulfil the requirements of the poorest, especially of the women members of such households ( Barman et al. 2009; Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009). It was during this time, NABARD conducted a series of research studies independently and in association with MYRADA, a leading NGO from Southern India, which showed that a very large number of poor continued to remain outside the fold of the formal banking system (Reddy and Manak, 2005). Later on PRADAN in its Madurai projects started forming women SHG groups (Satish, 2005). During 1988-89, NABARD in association with Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) undertook a survey of 43 NGOs in 11 states in India, to study the functioning of microfinance SHGs and their collaboration possibilities with formal banking system (Satish P, 2005; Shetty and Veerashekharappa, 2009). Both these research projects laid the foundation stone for the initiation of a pilot project called the SHG linkage project (Satish P, 2005). Phase 3: SHG-Bank Linkage Program (1990 2000) The failure of subsidized social banking lead to delivery of credit with NABARD initiating the Self Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Programme in 1992 (SBLP), aiming to link informal womens groups to formal banks. This was the first official attempt in linking informal groups with formal lending structures. To initiate this project NABARD held extensive consultations with the RBI. This resulted the RBI issuing a policy circular in 1991 to all Commercial Banks to participate and extend finance to SHGs (RBI, 1991). This was the first instance of mature SHGs that were directly financed by a commercial bank. The informal thrift and credit groups of poor were recognized as bankable clients. Soon after, the RBI advised Commercial Banks to consider lending to SHGs as part of their rural credit operations thus creating SHG Bank Linkage ( Reddy and Manak,2005). The program has been extremely useful in increasing banking system outreach to unreached people. The programme has been extremely advantageous due to reduction of transaction cost due to less paper work and record keeping as group lending rather than individual lending is involved (Barman et al. 2009). The SHG bank linkage is a strong method of financial inclusion, providing unbanked rural clientele with access to formal financial services from the existing banking infrastructure. The major benefit by linking SHGs with the banks is that it helps in overcoming the problem of high transaction cost of banks as the responsibility of loan appraisal, follow up, recovery of loans are left to poor themselves. On the other side, SHGs gain by enjoying larger and cheaper sources (Varman, 2005). Later, the planners in Ninth Five year plan (1997-2002) laid emphasis on Growth with Social Justice and Equality. The objective of Ninth plan as approved by the National Development Council explicitly states as follows: Promoting and developing participatory institutions like Panchayati Raj Institutions, cooperatives and Self -Help Groups. Hence, it was ninth five year plan that expressly laid down the objective of establishment of Self Help Groups in order to achieve the objective of Growth with Social Justice and Equality as a part of microfinance initiative. Meanwhile, in 1999, the Government of India merged various credit programs together, refined them and launched a new programme called Swaranjayanti Gram Swarazagar Yojana (SGSY). The aim of SGSY was to continue to provide subsidized credit to the poor through the banking sector to generate self-employment through a Self-Help Group approach (Sriram, 2005). Phase 4: Commercialization of Microfinance: The first decade of the new millennium This stage involves greater participation of new microfinance institutions that started taking interest in the sector not only as part of their corporate social responsibility but also as a new business line. A number of institutions have been set up overtime which were required to meet the credit requirements of the new society and downtrodden. At present Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-2012) aims at Towards More and Inclusive Growth. The word inclusive growth means including and considering those who are somehow excluded from the benefits which they (poor) should avail. Microfinance is a step towards inclusive growth via inclusive finance which moves around serving the financial needs and non financial needs of poor in order to improve level of living of rural masses. Demand and Supply forces of microfinance 1.5.1 The Demand for Microfinance Traditionally the targets of microfinance meant the poorest of the poor and the poor. More, recently, microfinance focus is changing as it has now started serving people who, although, not living in poverty, have general difficulty in obtaining the credit (Torre and Vento, 2006). This is on account of socio-economic changes that have put forward potential new microfinance clients. In this way, modern microfinance is expanding its horizon from poorest of poor to the victims of financial inclusion. The phenomenon of financial inclusion has been defined in literature as inability to access finance in an appropriate way ( ). These victims of financial inclusion involve disadvantaged individuals who are unable to bear the cost and conditions of financial products offered. Another category of microfinance targets included the marginalised people who mainly comprise of small scale entrepreneurs who are running small businesses, self-employed workers and individuals who unable to obtain cred it (Torre and Vento, 2006). In this category, women assume major significance. This is due to the more responsible nature of women who are more responsible in repayment of loan then men. The continuing involvement of poorest of the poor, poor, disadvantaged and marginalised people determines the greater complexity of the supply forces of Indian microfinance structure and thus, a more decisive move away from traditional pattern of credit. 1.5.2 The Supply of Microfinance In any economy, most of the day-to-day activities require finance. Finance is required both for productive and non productive purposes. The productive purposes include requirement of fixed capital for commencement of business, funds for working capital requirement to meet day today activities, trade related emergencies, exploring investment opportunities etc. On the other hand, finance may be needed for non productive purposes, such as for celebration of marriages, births and deaths, for litigation. In order to satisfy in above needs there are two available sources of credit available to the poor: institutional sources or formal sources, non-institutional sources or informal sources. Formal institutions are the registered entities subject to all relevant laws. These include commercial banks (including public and private sector banks), regional rural banks and cooperative banks. Recognizing the potential of micro finance to positively influence the development of the poor, the Reserve Bank, NABARD and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have taken several initiatives over the years to give elevation to the micro finance movement in India. The Commercial Banks and Regional Rural Banks provide both short term and long term funds for serving the poorest of poor. The Primary Agricultural societies (PACS) provide mainly short term and medium term loans and Land Development Banks provide long term loans. The National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) is the apex institution at national level for agricultural credit and refinance assistance to the agencies mentioned above .The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as the central bank of the country plays a crucial role by giving overall direction for providing credit and financial support to national bank for its operations. On the other hand, government owned societies like Rashtriya Mahila Kosh(RMK), Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies, private sector companies like specialized NBFCs are also involved in providing credit to the poor. Informal institutions include self help groups, money lenders, traders, relatives, commission agents. They are providers of microfinance services on a voluntary basis and are not subject to any kind of regulation. 1.6 Self Help Groups Defined A Self Help Group is a basic unit of micro-finance which comprises of 15 to 20 people having homogeneous social and economic background (Singh and Kumar, 2008) that voluntarily come together to save small amounts regularly and mutually agree to contribute a common fund. The aim of such formation is to meet present and emergency needs of the members on mutual help, solidarity and joint responsibility basis. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are necessary to overcome exploitation, create confidence and creation of feeling of self worth for the economic and social self-reliance of rural poor, particularly among women who are mostly invisible in the social structure. The Self Help Groups are the basis for further action and change which help members become self reliant economically and socially. It also helps building of stable relationship for mutual trust between the promoting organization and the rural poor (Singh and Kumar, 2008). Though loan repayment is a joint liability of the group but, in reality, individual liability is stressed upon (Singh and Kumar, 2008). Maintaining group reputation leads to the application of tremendous peer pressure. The group members use collective wisdom and peer pressure to ensure proper utilization of credit and its timely repayment thereof. In fact, peer pressure has been recognized as an effective substitute for collaterals (Barman et al. , 2009).

Food Warning Labels

Warning Labels Sergio Mansilla Devry University People know what are they exactly they are eating? No because there is no warning labels in the food packages. Same may oppose my position. To argue that warning labels are necessary for fast food. It would cause consumers to think twice before they decide to eat fast food. However, my research has says warning labels should be on food and help people understands what they are eating. â€Å"Americans continue to face many challenges as they debater these important issues and aim to make the food supply as safe as possible†.Warning labels should be including in food packages because they will help people take control of what they consume and food industries will have to provide healthier options. People will become more aware of what they are eating if there are labels on food packages. It would help them be more involved in what they eat. And with food labels they will be more educate know more about the facts on the nutrition la bel. In this book by Victoria Sherrow are a published author and an illustrator of children’s books and young adult books.Some of the published credits of Victoria Sherrow include Jonas Salk: Beyond the Microscope (Makers of Modern Science), about food safety (2008) it touches on an issues how important is labeling laws. They say that currents laws give food product companies too much give discretion, in terms that what they are list and how they are listing it. One contentious area is involves labeling genetically modified the GM foods. Publication of the FDA stated that labeling is required for information that is material, to avoid false misleading statements (Sherrow 2008).This means that the food labeling is required for most prepared foods, such as breads, cereals, canned and frozen foods, snacks, desserts, drinks. Nutrition labeling for raw produce fruits and vegetables, fish is voluntary. We refer to these products as conventional foods. Because nutrition labeling in accordance with be provided upon request for any restaurant food or meal for which a nutrient content claim a health claim and permitted by a regulation in is made, except that information on the nutrient amounts.Those are the basis for the claim determined by nutrient databases, cookbooks or by other reasonable bases that provide assurance that the food, meal meets the nutrient requirements for the claim. Because nutrition labeling may be in various forms including those provided in other reasonable means. My opposition may argue† It would be enormously impractical to label every genetically modified new crop and would falsely imply a difference in foods’ safety† (Sherrow 2008 p. 86).While seems reasonable I argue that show food label product will help people to be healthier and not risk their own life of getting sick and not getting dangerous diseases. Without labels there is no need for industries create healthier food for people if they aren’t aware of what they are eating. It will lead to diseases don’t know what they are eating there plate. In this article by Marion Nestle she is the Paulette Goddard professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health at New York University.She is author of food politics and with Malden Nesheim why calories count: From science to politics, which will be published in March. Nestle spoke to Nutrion Action’s Bonnie Liebman from New York (Nestle 2011 p. 10-11) touches on the legal issues of how the food industry influence what we eat. The food industry tries to influence us what to eat, but company lobbyists meet with officials in the federal agencies to make sure that the government does not say that people should be eating less of their food products (Nestle 2011).The food environment wants us to eat unhealthy food, they controls the kinds of food are the intakes are better at getting people to eat more and not less. But they are also designed to make sure that you are not starvi ng at all and that your brain has fuel and your body has energy all the time. Local and organic and seasonal foods are important because they give consumers a choice of you to represents an â€Å"explicit critique â€Å"of the existing food system. The mainstream companies are buying organic food companies.Some of which sell organic, healthy sounding chips, cookies, sodas, but they are still sailing some other unhealthy junk food we eat. But also there not enough food to give to everyone in world but if everyone purchase a little more of organic food from farmers markets it would make a huge differences. Right now only a small fraction of the population is buying more organic foods with labels, also fraction are growing and the food industry needs growth for us to eat healthier. Adding a Nutrition information panel will guide buyers to choose healthier products to help eople avoid unhealthy diets. The food industry influences nutrition and health. In negative or positive way that depending if it has a food label Nestle Marion ascertains food producers and manufactures of dietary supplements convinced the public, and congress that their products did not need to be regulated by the a Food and the Drug Administration. Also questionable effects of â€Å"fortifying foods† considered junk food is that practice that promotes unhealthy eating more negative affect of the food industry are also examined. Children are also a prime target for food industry.The producers know exactly what is going on with our food products and manufactures because they have seen it in person when pursues the food products. It the food companies should be involved in food and nutrition by putting labels on food packages. The professionals in marketing campaigns show encouraging by hiring experts’ consultants giving them research grants, providing support of food products and manufactures to emphasize the benefits or minimize of the potentially adverse effects of their produc ts. They show you how dairy industries that took issue with the depiction on a healthy diet .It should base on the plants foods and the limit of the amount of meat and dairy foods, are exposed. Putting food labels will causes industries to make healthier foods. Peter Shawn Taylor is currently editor at Large of Maclean’s magazine. He earned a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Alberta in 1989; and was senior analyst for the Alberta Liberal Caucus in the early 1990s under Liberal Leader Laurence Decore says taxation on junk food, warning labels on unhealthy foods is a good idea in order to assist consumers to eat healthy (Taylor 2013 p. 2). Today, it’s recently affecting the demanded new taxes on junk food and grotesque warning labels on pizza boxes, similar to the ones on cigarettes. Consequently, if the information on the nutritional quality of food is not provided to the public, people who consume unhealthy food products could be exposed to he alth risks. What is worse, they could face the difficulty of making the right decisions on choosing food products. The article describes in detail that food taxes can make people make the right choices with the food.As for dark warnings, public-health worries that rising levels of obesity mean Canadian children will live shorter lives than their parents, however, the evidence to support such a claim simply does not exist. There are many people in the world who are dying of junk foods because they are so addicted to the fast food and can’t stop anymore. They are overweight and can’t do anything because they are too fat and then they are increasing their chances of getting diseases which is also risking their own lives. The call to action is to demand food labels on food products.Consumer reports touch on legal issues of labels that tell people where beef comes from could be unhealthy for them. The labels help consumers become more informed of what choice to pick when it comes to food. There is an outbreak that of food contamination in a certain country that could help you avoid those food products. Consumers need evidence that there is maker of product called Pom. That is now required to provide two randomized that controlled human clinical trials to back to disease related claims. And this juice product helps supports claims that helps prevent heart diseases and prostate cancer.That why this company appealing the decision of putting a labels this product for all the people that buys this juice product is good and health help you in getting any kind of diseases or some other sickness. Food labels will help us design a healthy diet . With all the information that I have collected about food labeling, all of them had negative thoughts about the legal standard terms. In conclusion, the newly resolved problem with the food labeling standard terms need to get more recognition because in the future consumers won’t have to fight any more for infor mation to help them choose the foods they want and eat in a healthy diet.Food labels contain vital information, not misleading or untrue. References Nestle, M. (2011, October). Buy Me! How the food industry influences what we eat. NutritionAction Health Letter, pp. 10-11. Reports, C. (2013, April 4). Where does your food come from? p6. Sherrow, V. (2008) Food Safety (Point/ Counterpoint). New York: Chelsea House. Taylor, P. S. (2013, 1 April). You can’t tax yourself thin. Canadian Business, pp. 22-22.

Euphemism in Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 8, No. 6, 2012, pp. 66-70 DOI:10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 ISSN 1712-8358[Print] ISSN 1923-6700[Online] www. cscanada. net www. cscanada. org Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms WANG Xiaoling[a]; ZHANG Meng[a],*; DONG Hailin[a] [a] College of Foreign Languages, Hebei United University, West Xinhua Road, Tangshan, China. * Corresponding author.Supported by Study on Application of Cross-Cultural Teaching Concept in New Standard College English Teaching; Key Project of Ministry of Education for the Year 2010, the Eleventh Five-year Plan for Educational Sciences (Grant No. gpa105030). Received 18 August 2012; accepted 7 December 2012 Abstract The use of euphemisms is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages. By using euphemisms, people can indirectly and politely express their ideas, without making the listeners feel awkward and unpleasant. As a mirror of culture, the generation and development of euphemis ms are closely related to culture.Euphemisms in English and Chinese are also abundant, but they have both differences and similarities in expressions and cultural connotations. The cross-cultural contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemisms can help people correctly understand the deep meaning in English and Chinese languages and overcome the obstacles in crosscultural communications. Key words: Euphemisms; Culture; Cross-culture; Contrastive study WANG Xiaoling, ZHANG Meng, DONG Hailin (2012). CrossCultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms.CrossCultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70. Available from: http://www. cscanada. net/index. php/ccc/article/view/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 DOI: http://dx. doi. org/10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356. â€Å"speech†, so the word â€Å"euphemism† literally means â€Å"word of good omen†. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (2000) defines â€Å"euphemism† as â€Å"A kind of expressing method which aims at making people feel less embarrassed by using some words with vague and ambiguous meaning instead of those which may make people feel unpleasant and not respected†.The generation of euphemism has its social foundation. While communicating with others, people often face the situation where they can not directly express what they want to say, or sometimes a direct expression will cause the listeners awkward and unpleasant. In these cases, people tend to choose an indirect and roundabout way to express their ideas and thoughts, so as to avoid the embarrassment. With this purpose, euphemisms come into being. Whereas the use of euphemisms is not only a social phenomenon, it is also a cultural one.The generation of euphemism is also closely related to culture. Due to the low social productivity in the early stage of human society, people were lack of scientific and cultural knowledge, thus there existed a superstitious belief that the direct call of t he name of God or a ghost will bring them bad fortune. Then the names of God and ghosts became language taboo and people found substitutes of these names. These substitutes then became euphemisms of that time. With the development of the society, euphemisms in all languages also changed.And this on-going change has always being relying on culture. Different nations possess different natural environment, social patterns, ideological systems, modes of production and values. All these can be reflected in the use of language, including the use of euphemisms. 1. EUPHEMISM AND ITS RELATION WITH CULTURE The word â€Å"euphemism† originated from a Latin word. Its prefix â€Å"eu† means â€Å"good†, and â€Å"phemism† means 2 . C U LT U R A L S I M I L A R I T I E S A N D DIFFERENCES REFLECTED BY ENGLISH AND CHINESE EUPHEMISMS When we compare different cultures, we will find that theCopyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 66 WANG Xiaolin g; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 similarities and differences of the developing course of human society are manifested in cultures. Language is not only the mirror of culture, but also a part of culture. So the similarities and differences of cultures are undoubtedly reflected by English and Chinese languages, including euphemisms. 2. 1 Cultural Similarities Reflected by Euphemisms Euphemism as a cultural phenomenon has its specific role to play in culture.Cultural similarities reflected by English and Chinese euphemisms can be concluded by the functions of euphemisms. Basically speaking, the functions of English and Chinese euphemisms are the same, which can be divided as taboo-avoiding function, politeness function, and deception function. These functions show the universal characters of human culture. 2. 1. 1 Taboo-Avoiding Function In English and Chinese, there are some words that cannot be directly said out.For example, during the ti me when Christianity was prevalent in the western countries, the name of God â€Å"Jehovah† became the biggest taboo, so many euphemisms were created to replace the name, such as â€Å"the Almighty†, â€Å"the Supreme Being†, â€Å"Holy one†, â€Å"the Eternal†, â€Å"the Creator†, â€Å"the Maker†, â€Å"the Savior†, â€Å"the light of the world†, â€Å"the Sovereign of the Universe†, â€Å"Our Father†, etc.. In ancient China, the names of emperors are also tabooed. For example, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, changed â€Å" † (the first month of a lunar year) into â€Å" † so as to avoid the pronunciation of the character â€Å"? which is the same as the character â€Å"? † used in his name. Another example is the euphemistic expression of â€Å"death†. People generally believe that the greatest misfortune is nothing than death, so there are taboos and euphemisms ab out death both in English and Chinese. The word â€Å"death† cannot be directly mentioned, and euphemisms about death are various. In English, the word â€Å"die† can be replaced by â€Å"to pass away†, â€Å"to expire†, â€Å"to be no more†, â€Å"to breathe one’s last†, â€Å"to come to an end†, â€Å"to join the majority†, â€Å"to go to one’s rest†, â€Å"to sleep the final sleep†, â€Å"to be gathered to one’s father†, â€Å"return to dust†, â€Å"run one’s race†, â€Å"be no onger with us†, â€Å"to be at peace†, â€Å"to be at rest†, â€Å"to be asleep in the arms of God/ Jesus†, â€Å"pay the debt of nature†, etc.. In Chinese, the word â€Å"? † can be replaced by â€Å" † etc.. 2. 1. 2 Politeness Function It is a normal human psychology for everybody to be respected and keep dignity before the others. So to avoid hurting others’ feelings and pride in a conversation, people often use euphemistic expressions in stead of words that will lead to the unwanted result. For instance, in Chinese, people will call those who are physical handicapped â€Å"? ?† in stead of â€Å" . Similarly, in English, the word â€Å"handicapped† is euphemistically expressed by â€Å"disabled† to show people’s respect. The â€Å"deaf† people are described as â€Å"hard of listening†, and â€Å"blind† people are â€Å"the visually challenged†. At present, euphemisms about body figure are more often used than ever before. As more and mo re people pay attention to their figure, you need to be careful while talking to those who have much weight. The word â€Å"fat† could never be used. But you can use words like â€Å"plump, stout, out-size, over-weight† to describe such person. In Chinese, it is also more polite to use words like â€Å" † etc..The politeness function of euphemisms is well demonstrated by the description of these low or humble occupations. To some extent, the occupations people are engaged in can show their social status, so people in the low hierarchy are usually sensitive towards their jobs. A decent and respectful call of their occupation will show respect for such persons. Therefore, â€Å"sanitation engineer† is created for â€Å"garbage collector†, â€Å"cleaning operative† is created for â€Å"road-sweeper†, â€Å"domestic help† is created for â€Å"maid† and â€Å"security officer† is created for â€Å"janitor†. In modern Chinese, there are also similar euphemisms about occupations.For example, people call â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †, and â€Å" ?† or â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †. These euphemisms about occupations not only show the raise of civilization level, but also people’s awaren ess of social equity. 2. 1. 3 Deception Function With the development of the society, the use of euphemisms is not only limited in avoiding taboos and caring for the listeners’ feelings. On many occasions, it is also employed to hide the facts, and to achieve some ulterior goals. Euphemisms of this kind are widely seen in political and economic areas to deceive the public or distort the pacts.For example, words used in war, such as â€Å"invasion† and â€Å"raid† are disguised as â€Å"incursion†, â€Å"involvement† and â€Å"military action†; Failure in a war is disguised as â€Å"break off contact with enemy†; The thousands of homeless people in the war are called â€Å"transfer of population†; â€Å"Attack† is disguised as â€Å"active defense†, etc.. These cosmetic words conceal the nature and cruelty of war, and provide reasonable excuse for waging wars. For politicians, these euphemistic words are good tools to whitewash themselves and protect themselves from being excused or charged. Euphemisms in the economic area are also widely seen.For example, â€Å"economic crisis† is replaced by â€Å"depression† or â€Å"recession†; â€Å"poor nations† is replaced by â€Å"underdeveloped nations†, â€Å"developing nations†, or â€Å"emerging nations†. These words all cover up the reality to some extent, and the real meaning of these words need careful thinking. 2. 2 Cultural Differences Reflected by Euphemisms Due to the culture difference between English and Chinese, a topic often being talked about in one culture 67 Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms ay be tabooed in another culture, and something unacceptable in one culture may be quite normal in another. 2. 2. 1 Different Attitudes Towards â€Å"Old Age† The westerners are afraid of old age. In their opinion, old age indicates decay. So in many western countries, inquiring others’ age is seen to be an offense, because â€Å"age† is a sensitive topic. There are many euphemisms describing old age, such as â€Å"senior citizen, advantage in age, the mature, seasoned man, full of ages, be feeling one’s ages, past one’s prime† etc.. On the contrary, it is a tradition for Chinese people to respect the old.As far as Chinese people are concerned, â€Å"old age† stands for wisdom and experience. In Chinese, people often add the word â€Å"? † after a person’s family name to show his respect, such as â€Å" † and â€Å" †. Besides, the word â€Å"? † can also be added before a person’s family name to show intimacy with this person, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †. If a person has much experience in an occupation and is respected by others, people will call him or her â€Å" ?† â€Å" † or â€Å" † etc.. Other words indicating old age like â€Å" † all show respect to these old people. 2. 2. Attitudes Towards Privacy The westerners attach much importance to privacy, which includes age, marriage, income, religious belief, political tendency etc. , and they do not want the others to know much about these contents. For example, a western lady will take an immediate aversion if she is asked about her age and marriage state. While in China, you can often hear people around talking about age, marriage and even income. Topics like â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" † are not forbidden either. Inquiring others’ salary or the price of some private belongings is also seen as impolite in the west.If you really want to know the price of an item, you can ask â€Å"It is expensive? † in stead of directly asking â€Å"How much is it? † But in China, you will have no worry to ask the price. Religious belief and political tendency are also private in the west. Questions like â€Å"What party do you vote for? † and â€Å"What’s your religion? † cannot be asked. But in China, these questions are also free to ask. 2. 2. 3 Naming and Appellation Chinese people attach more importance to family than people in the west, and their respect for the elder generation is also shown in naming and appellation.The name of a young should not be the same as his or her elder generation, even the pronunciation should be different. Young people could not directly call the name of the elderly ones; Instead they call them according to the rank in the family such as â€Å" , , , ? ?† etc.. Comparatively, English-speaking people do not have such strong sense of family rank and social stratum. In the western countries, there is no taboo in naming and appellation. People of different rank in the family hierarchy and social status could call each other’s name directly. It is common to hear children call their parents and even grandparents’ names.And it is also very common for a younger person to have a same name with the elder generation. The westerners believe this kind of appellation and naming is a way of showing intimacy and will draw close the relationship between people. To some extent, it reflects the westerners’ pursuit of equality. 2. 2. 4 The Use of Numbers Cultures about numbers exist in both Chinese and English. There are different taboos about number in different cultures. In the western culture, the number 13 is seen as an unlucky number which people tend to avoid in their daily life.For example, it is rare to see 13 people gather around the same table while having dinner or meetings. It is also forbidden to have 13 dishes on the dinner table. House number, storey number and other number marks all avoid using this number. In Chinese, the pronunciation of â€Å"4† is similar to the character â€Å"? † (die) , so people are unwilling to use this number in doorplate, story number, phone number etc.. The pronunciation of number â€Å"3† is similar to the character â€Å"? †, so weddings and birthday parties are not held on this day.Besides, there is a saying in Chinese that good things should be in pairs, so it is also a tradition to hold important things on even number days, so as to wish that good luck could come. 3. EUPHEMISMS AND CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 3. 1 The Definition of Cross-Cultural Communication Chinese scholar JIA Yuxin and GUAN Shijie defined cross-cultural communication as â€Å"communication between people from different cultural background† (JIA, 1997) and â€Å"communication between people or group from one cultural background and people or group from another cultural background† (GUAN, 1996).Larry offered his definition of â€Å"intercultural communication† as â€Å"Intercultural communication is communication between people whos e cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event† (Larry, 2009). In conclusion, inter-cultural communication, which is a kind of communication behavior, is the communication between people from different cultural background, social psychology, and people speaking different languages. 3. The Influence of Culture Differences on Cross-Cultural Communication While communicating with a person of another language, people always carry out the communication process on the basis of their own language and culture. Obviously culture differences will manifest themselves in the understanding and use of euphemisms throughout cross-cultural Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 68 WANG Xiaoling; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 communication. Thus cross-cultural understanding barrier or improper use of euphemisms will lead to pragmatic failures. . 2. 1 Pragmatic Failures Cause d by Different Expression Modes English and Chinese euphemisms are typically different in structure and expression mode. Because of these differences, speakers of one language often have difficulty in grasping the information of another language. For example, Chinese speakers will be confused when they hear those English euphemisms consisted by numbers like â€Å"go to the fourth† (go to the toilet) and â€Å"a forty-four† (a prostitute). There are also some euphemisms in the form of abbreviation, like B. O. (body odor), V. D. C. (venereal disease), and T. B. tuberculosis), which will lead to understanding difficulty if the readers are lack of relative background information. Similarly, the profound Chinese culture has given birth to quantities of unique expressions, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, which also make the westerners confused. Besides, the use of twopart allegorical sayings, such as â€Å" — (? )†, â€Å" — à ¢â‚¬ , and â€Å" — (? )† etc. is also a unique feature of Chinese euphemisms. The use of this special structure can help release the mood in an over straightforward Chinese expression, and help readers guess the meaning inside it.But the English readers are not familiar with this kind of Chinese expressions, so they can only sigh towards the contained meaning inside this kind of euphemisms. 3. 2. 2 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Value Orientations in Euphemisms The cultural value difference of euphemisms is best illustrated by words in political and social area. Many euphemistic words in political area are used to conceal the real political purpose. For example, in the Vietnam War, the U. S. government called the invasion â€Å"U. S. nvolvement in Vietnam†; The air raid to Libya is called â€Å"surgical strikes†; Civilian casualties in the Iraq War are understated as â€Å"collateral damage†. These euphemisms reflect the subtle attitude of the U. S. government to some extent, and at the same time, they show the handiness and concealment of political words. It is easy to be cheated by these diplomatic words without enough cross-cultural study. For another example, in the western countries, the word â€Å"sexy† is used to describe an attractive and charming person. If a lady is described as â€Å"sexy†, she will take it as praise and will be very happy.But in traditional Chinese culture, the connotation of â€Å"sexy† is somewhat close to â€Å"coquettish†. If a westerner who does not know much about Chinese culture describes a Chinese lady as â€Å"sexy†, she must feel uncomfortable and take it as an insult rather than praise. But with China enhancing its communication with the western countries, more and more Chinese people have accepted the western culture and began to praise others as â€Å"sexy†. 3. 2. 3 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Class Concept Many words in our daily life such as â€Å"big and small†, â€Å"high and low†, â€Å"good and bad†, â€Å"rich and poor† all indicates social rank.Compared with Chinese, English euphemisms about social rank are larger in quantity and more alert in usage. For example, in the western countries, people advocate democracy and pursuit gender equality, so they have much difficulty in understanding males in Chinese feudal society calling their wives â€Å" † and â€Å" †. English-speaking people are also alert to the rank below â€Å"the first class†. So in 1989, when West Germany held the 56th World Foundry Congress, the English instruction classified hotels as follows: A) Deluxe B) First Class C) Standard D) Private rooms.This kind of ranking criteria does not define the hotels below the first class into â€Å"the second class† and â€Å"the third class†, thus avoiding people’s psychological gap. At the same time, it upgrades each class invisibly. However this kind of ranking is difficult for Chinese people to understand and use. In cross-cultural communication, in order to avoid these pragmatic failures, language user of both English and Chinese need to sharpen their cross-cultural awareness. It is also necessary to acquire as many as possible euphemistic expressions in another language.The more characteristics we know about the culture and its euphemisms, the less barriers and pragmatic failures we will encounter. Of course, we should also bear in mind the proper situation where a certain euphemism is used; otherwise the overuse of euphemisms will appear to be pretentious and unnatural. CONCLUSION To sum up, euphemism is a common and long-standing linguistic as well as socio-cultural phenomenon in both English speaking countries and China. As a mirror of culture, euphemisms strongly reflected similarities and differences between English and Chinese cultures.These similarities and differences have brought ab out conveniences and difficulties in the process of crosscultural communication. Only when people from different cultures are fully aware of the different cultural background, cultural value orientations and cultural conventions, can they remove pragmatic barriers and carry out smooth and harmonious communication successfully. REFERENCES Bussmann (2000). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. CAI, Yan (2005). Similarities in Communicative Functions Between English and Chinese Euphemism.Journal of Xihua University, (1). 69 Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms CHEN, Junsen (2000). Foreign Cultures and International Communication. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press. DENG, Xinghua (1996). Contrastive Study on Chinese and English Taboos and Euphemisms. Journal of Liuzhou Teachers College, (1). DENG, Yanc hang, & LIU, Runqing (2001). Language and Culture. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. GUAN, Shijie (1996). Intercultural Communication. Beijing: Peking University Press.GUO, Hongmei (2005). English and Chinese Euphemisms and the Development of Western and Chinese Cultures. Journal of Taiyuan University, (12), 61-62. HU, Yonghong (2001). On English and Chinese Euphemisms. Journal of Mianyang Teachers College, (8), 53-54. JIA, Yuxin (1997). Intercultural Communication. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Larry, A. Samovar, Richard, E. Porter, & Edwin, R. McDaniel (2009). Communication Between Cultures. Beijing: Peking University Press. LI, Zhongsheng (1991). Taboos and Customs in Chinese Language. Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Press. PAN, Min (2004).Comparative Analysis of English and Chinese Euphemism. Journal of Huaiyin Institute of Technology, (8), 42-44. XUE, Yan (2001). On English Euphemisms. Journal of Lanzhou Commercial College, (12), 108-111. Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 70 Copyright of Cross-Cultural Communication is the property of Canadian Academy of Oriental & Occidental Culture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

The Differences Between the Army and National Guard

â€Å"We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.† Winston S. Churchill. The primary mission of the Army is to fight and win our Nation’s wars by providing prompt, sustained land dominance across the full range of military operations and spectrum of conflict in support of combatant commanders. There are five branches of the military, but there are two branches that are always up for debate on which to join. Active Army and National Guard have many differences, such as deployment rates, retirement, and command; however, they are similar in training, rank, and pay. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps were established in 1775 in concurrence with the American Revolution. The war department was†¦show more content†¦The APFT consists of three tests in order push-ups, sit-ups, and a timed two mile run. 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