Environment Impact Assessment Process in India

ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCESS IN INDIA AND THE DRAWBACKS Prepared by – Environment Conservation Team (Aruna Murthy, Himansu Sekhar Patra) September 2005 Vasundhara, 15, Sahid Nagar Bhubaneshwar – 751 007 1 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCESS IN INDIA AND THE DRAW BACKS INTRODUCTION EIA is an exercise to be carried out before any project or major activity is undertaken to ensure that it will not in any way harm the environment on a short term or long term basis.Any developmental endeavor requires not only the analysis of the need of such a project, the monetary costs and benefits involved but most important, it requires a consideration and detailed assessment of the effect of a proposed development on the environment. The environment impact process was introduced with the purpose of identifying /evaluating the potential beneficial and adverse impacts of development projects on the environment, taking in to account environmental, social, cultural and aesthetic considerations.All of these considerations are critical to determine the viability of a project and to decide if a project should be granted environmental clearance. An EIA concentrate on problems, conflicts and natural resource constraints which might affect the viability of a project. It also predicts how the project could harm to people, their homeland, their livelihoods, and the other nearby developmental activities. After predicting potential impacts, the EIA identifies measures to minimize the impacts and suggests ways to improve the project viability.The aim of an EIA is to ensure that potential impacts are identified and addressed at an early stage in the projects planning and design. To achieve this aim, the assessment finding are communicated to all the relevant groups who will make decisions about the proposed projects, the project developers and their investors as well as regulators , planners and the politicians. Having read the conclusions of an environmental impact a ssessment, project planners and engineers can shape the project so that its benefits can be achieved and sustained with out causing adverse impacts.In recent years, major projects have encountered serious difficulties because insufficient account has been taken of their relationship with the surrounding environment. Some projects have been found to be unsustainable because of resource depletion. Others have been abandoned because of public opposition, financially encumbered by unforeseen costs, held liable for damages to natural resources and even been the cause of disastrous accidents.Given this experience, it is very risky to undertake finance, or approve a major project without first taking in to account its environmental consequences and then siting and designing the project so as to minimize adverse impacts. Due to public pressure on the government to accept accountability for the activities of its agencies the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was formed in USA during 1 970. This was the basis for the development of a mechanism which came to be known as Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). THE EIA PROCESS IN INDIA The role for EIA was formally recognized at the earth summit held at Rio conference in 1992. Principle 17 of the Rio declaration states that – â€Å"EIA as a national instrument shall be undertaken for the proposed activities that are likely to have significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national authority†. In India many of the developmental projects till as recently as the 1980s were implemented with very little or no environmental concerns.The environmental issues began receiving attention when a national committee on environmental planning and coordination was set up under the 4th five year plan (19691978). Till 1980, the subjects of environment and forests were the concern of the Dept of Science and Technology and Ministry of Agriculture respectively. Later, the issu es were formally attended by the Dept of Environment which was established in 1980. This was then upgraded to the Ministry of Environment & Forest in 1985.In 1980, clearance of large projects from the environmental angle became an administrative requirement to the extent that the planning commission and the central investment board sought proof of such clearance before according financial sanction. Five year later, the Dept of Environment and Forests, Government of India, issued guidelines for Environmental Assessment of river valley projects. These guidelines require various studies such as impacts on forests and wild life in the submergence zone, water logging potential, upstream and down stream aquatic ecosystems and fisheries, water related diseases, climatic changes and sesmicity.A major legislative measures for the purpose of environmental clearance was in 1994 when specific notification was issued under section 3 and rule 5 of the environment protection Act , 1986 called the â€Å"Environment impact Assessment Notification 1994†. The first step in seeking environmental clearance for a development project is to determine what statutory legislations apply to the particular project. The MOEF has brought out several notifications restricting the development of industries in specified ecologically sensitive areas.In addition there are also draft rules framed for the siting of industries. Environmental clearance for development projects can be obtained either at the state level or at the central level depending on certain criteria concerning the characteristics of the project. However (regardless of where the final environmental clearance is obtained from), for most projects the consent must first be taken from the state pollution control board or pollution control committees in the case of union territories. 3RESPONSIBILITY OF PREPARATION OF EIA STATEMENT The project proponent is responsible for the preparation of the EIA statement, with the help of e xternal consultant or institution. THE IMPACT ASSESSEMENT AGENCY The MOEF is the agency for environmental clearance. If necessary, it may consult a committee of experts with a composition specified in schedule III of notification. TIMING OF EIA Ideally EIA should provide information to decision makers at early stage of the project planning cycle. It should be initiated as early as possible before the commencement of projects.If the projects secure approval, EIA should include a provision to cover the audit of the project. COST The amount allocated and spent for preparation of EIA by the project proponents are usually abysmally low compared to the overall project costs (often less than 1% of over all projects). 4 LIST OF PROJECTS REQUIRING ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 1. Nuclear Power and related projects such as Heavy Water Plants, nuclear fuel complex, Rare Earths. 2. River Valley projects including hydel power, major Irrigation & their combination including flood control. . Ports, Harbours, Airports (except minor ports and harbours). 4. Petroleum Refineries including crude and product pipelines. 5. Chemical Fertilizers (Nitrogenous and Phosphatic other than single superphosphate). 6. Pesticides (Technical). 7. Petrochemical complexes (Both Olefinic and Aromatic) and Petro-chemical intermediates such as DMT, Caprolactam, LAB etc. and production of basic plastics such as LLDPE, HDPE, PP, PVC. 8. Bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals. 9. Exploration for oil and gas and their production, transportation and storage. 10.Synthetic Rubber. 11. Asbestos and Asbestos products. 12. Hydrocyanic acid and its derivatives. 13 (a) Primary metallurgical industries (such as production of Iron and Steel, Aluminium, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Ferro Alloys). (b) Electric arc furnaces (Mini Steel Plants). 14. Chlor alkali industry. 15. Integrated paint complex including manufacture of resins and basic raw materials required in the manufacture of paints. 16. Viscose St aple fibre and filament yarn. 17. Storage batteries integrated with manufacture of oxides of lead and lead antimony alloys. 18.All tourism projects between 200m—500 metres of High Water Line and at locations with an elevation of more than 1000 metres with investment of more than Rs. 5 crores. 19. Thermal Power Plants. 20. Mining projects *(major minerals)* with leases more than 5 hectares. 21. Highway Projects **except projects relating to improvement work including widening and strengthening of roads with marginal land acquisition along the existing alignments provided it does not pass through ecologically sensitive areas such as National Parks, Sanctuaries, Tiger Reserves, Reserve Forests** 22.Tarred Roads in the Himalayas and or Forest areas. 23. Distilleries. 24. Raw Skins and Hides 25. Pulp, paper and newsprint. 26. Dyes. 27. Cement. 28. Foundries (individual) 29. Electroplating 30. Meta amino phenol 5 PROCESS There are two ‘tiers’ of assessment which should be applied to the project before proceeding with a full scale EIA, Screening and preliminary assessment. Where these first tiers of assessment are a regulatory requirement, the developer normally does the work and submits the results to the regulatory agency.The agency may then decide that either there is nothing to be concerned about or the evaluation should proceed to the next tier. The most important step in the process of obtaining environmental clearance under the EIA notification is for the project proponent to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the project. For this purpose the project proponent engages an environmental consultant to prepare an EIA report. The EIA report must be prepared by incorporation of data during all the four seasons of the year.Such an EIA is termed a â€Å"comprehensive EIA†. How ever, there is provision for a single season collection of data, but this should not be done during the monsoon season. Such an EIA reports is termed a â⠂¬Å"Rapid EIA†. There are two tiers of assessment which should be applied to the project before proceeding with a full scale EIA – Screening and Preliminary Assessment. Wherever these first tiers of assessment are a regulatory requirement, the developer normally does the work and submits the results to the regulatory agency.The agency may then decide whether there is anything to be concerned about or whether the evaluation should proceed to the next tier. BEFORE STARTING THE EIA SCREENING: The screening is the first and simplest tier in project evaluation. Screening helps to clear those types of projects, which from past experience are not likely to cause significant environmental problems. The activity may take one of the following several forms: 1- Measurements using simple criteria such as size or location. 2- Comparing the proposal with list of projects rarely needing an EIA (e. g. chools) or definitely needing one (e. g. coal mines). 3- Estimating general impacts ( e. g. increased in infrastructure needed) and comparing these impacts against set thresholds. 4- Doing complex analyses, but using readily available data. Draw back in the Indian system: 1- Even though some of the industrial set ups do not require EIA as per the statutory norms, they might involve certain technological processes which could be harmful to the environment, as a result of which such enlisted industries could have potential impacts on the environment and on public health. – Exempting industries from the EIA requirements based on the investment value of specific projects is not acceptable. There are no specific studies conducted till now which demonstrate that environmental impacts are always inconsequential for projects under a given value. It is a well established fact that the small scale industries are contributing more pollution with respect to the major industry. 6 PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT: If screening does not clear a project, the developer may be required t o undertake a preliminary Assessment.This involves sufficient research, review of available data and expert advice in order to identify the key impacts of the project on the local environment, predict the extent of the impacts and briefly evaluate their importance to decision makers. The preliminary assessment can be used to assist early project planning (for instance, to narrow the discussion of possible sites) and it can serve as an early warning to the serious environmental problems that the project may cause. It is in the developer’s interest to do a preliminary assessment since, in practice, this step can clear projects of the need for a full EIA.If after reviewing a preliminary assessment the competent authority deems that a full EIA is needed, the next step for the project developer is the preparation of the EIA report. This entails 1- Commissioning and briefing an independent co-coordinator and expert study team. 2- Identifying the key decision makers who will plan, f inance, permit and control the proposed project, so as to characterize the audience for the EIA. 3- Researching laws and regulations that will affect these decisions. 4- Making contact with each of various decision makers. – Determining how and when the EIAs finding will be communicated. Draw back in the Indian system: It is being found that the team formed for conducting EIA studies is lacking the expertise in various fields such as Anthropologists and Social Scientists (to study the social impact of the project) or even wild life experts. FORMATION OF AN EIA TEAM: SCOPING: The first task of the EIA study team is scoping the EIA. The aim of scoping is to ensure that the study address all the issues of importance to the decision makers.First of all the team’s outlook is broadened by the discussions (with the project proponents , decision makers, the regulatory agency, scientific institutions , local community representative and others) to include all the possible issue s and concerns raises by various groups. Then the study team selects primary impacts for the EIA to focus upon depending on the basis of magnitude, geographical extent, significance to decision makers or because the area is special locally (e. g. soil erosion, the presence of an endangered species, or a near by historical sites) or is an eco-sensitive area.Draw back in the Indian system: 1- There is a lack of exhaustive ecological and socio-economic indicators for impact assessment. 2- Public comments are not taken into account at the early stage, which often leads to conflict at the later stage of project clearance. 7 MAIN EIA: After â€Å"scoping† the main EIA begins. The EIA attempts to answer five questions basically: 1- What will happen as a result of the project? 2- What will be the extent of the changes? 3- Do the changes matter? 4- What can be done about them? 5- How can decision makers be informed of what needs to be done?The EIA becomes a cyclic process of asking an d further asking the first four questions until decision makers can be offered workable solutions. IDENTIFICATION: Identification means the answer to the first question, i. e. â€Å"what will happen as result of the project? † If a preliminary assessment has been done it will have broadly reviewed the projects effect, also scoping will have focused the study on the most important issues for decision makers. Taking these findings in to account the full EIA study now formally identifies those impacts which should be assessed in detail.This identification phase of the study may use these or other methods 1- Compile a list of key impacts (e. g. changes in air quality, noise levels, wild life habitats, species diversity, landscape views, social and cultural systems, settlement patterns and employment levels from other EIA s for similar projects) 2- Name all the projects sources of impacts (e. g. smoke emissions, water consumption, construction jobs) using checklists of questionnai res, then list possible receptors in the environment (e. g. rops, communities using same water for drinking, migrant of labour) by surveying the existing environment and consulting with interested parties. 3- Identify impacts themselves through the use of checklist, matrices, networks, overlays, models and simulations. Draw back in the Indian system: 1- There is always a lack of reliable data sources. 2- The secondary data is also not reliable. 3- The data collectors do not pay respect to the indigenous knowledge of local people. 4- The credibility of the primary data collected by the data collectors is doubtful.The next step called predictions answers the EIA’s second question: â€Å"what will be the extent of the changes†. As far as is practicable, prediction scientifically characterizes the impacts causes and effects and its secondary and synergetic consequences for the environment and the local community. Prediction follows an impact within a single environmental p arameter (e. g. toxic liquid effluents) in to its subsequent effects in many disciplines (e. g. reduced water quality, adverse impacts on fisheries, economic effects on fishing villages, and resulting socio-cultural changes).Prediction draws on physical, biological, socioeconomic and anthropological data techniques . In quantifying impacts, it may employ mathematical models, physical models, socio cultural models, economic models, experiments or expert judgments. PREDICTION: 8 All prediction techniques by their nature involve some degree of uncertainty. So along with each attempt to quantify an impact, the study team should also quantify the predictions uncertainty in terms of probabilities or margins of error. Draw back in the Indian system: 1- The detail method used for the prediction and evaluation of the project is not mentioned in the report.Limited explanations are given both to quantitative estimation of magnitude of impact and to the assumptions and judgments used in the eva luation of impacts. 2- The limited coverage of scoping is confined mainly to direct impacts. The third question addressed by the EIA – do the changes matter is answered in the next step. Evaluation is so called because it evaluates the predicated adverse impacts to determine whether they are significant enough to warrant mitigation. Thus judgment of significance can be based on one or more of the followings. 1234Comparison with laws, regulations or accepted standards.Consultation with the relevant decision makers. Reference to pre set criteria such as protected sites features of species. Acceptability to the local community or the general public. EVALUATION: MITIGATION: In this phase the study team formally analyses mitigation. A wide range of measures are proposed to prevent, reduce, remedy or compensate for each of the adverse impacts evaluated as significant. Possible mitigation measures include: 1- Changing project sites, routes, processes, raw materials, operating method s, disposal methods, disposal routes or locations, timing or engineering designs. – Introducing pollution controls, waste treatment monitoring, phased implementation, landscaping, personal training, special social services or public education. 3- Offering (as compensation) restoration of damaged resources, money to affected persons , concessions on other issues, or off site programmes to enhance some other aspects of the environment or quality of life for the community. All mitigation measures cost something and this cost must be quantified too.These various measures are then compared, trade-offs between alternative measures are weighed, and the EIA study team proposes one or more action plans, usually combining a number of measures. The action plan may include technical control measures, an integrated management scheme (for a major project) monitoring, contingency plans, operating practices, project scheduling, or even joint management (with affected groups). The study team should explicitly analyze the implications of adopting different alternatives, to help make the choices clearer for the decision makers. Several analytical techniques are available for this purpose as given below: 1- Cost benefit analysis in which all quantifiable factors are converted to monetary values , and actions are assessed for their effect on project costs and benefits 2- Explaining what course of action would follow from various broad ‘value judgments’(e. g. that social impacts are more important than resources) 3- A simple matrix of environmental parameters versus mitigation measures, contain brief description of the effects of each measure. – Pair wise comparisons, whereby the effects of an action are briefly compared with the effects of each of the alternative actions are briefly compared with the effects of each of the alternative actions, one pair at a time. Draw back in the Indian system: 1- Details regarding the effectiveness and implementation of mitigation measures are often not provided. 2- Often, and more so for strategic industries such as nuclear energy projected, the EMP s are kept confidential for political and administrative reasons 3- Emergency preparedness plans are not discussed in sufficient details and the information not disseminated to the communities.DOCUMENTATION: The last step in the EIA process, which answers the question – how decision makers be informed of what needs to be done? In documenting an EIA, this means identifying the key decisions makers, perceiving the question they will be asking and providing them with straight forward answers formatted for easy interpretation in relation to their decision making (e. g. tables, graphs, summary, points). Successful EIA documentation is more readily produced if the audience and their needs are established at the start of the EIA, and then made to affect how the research is focused and reported.It is the job of the study team’s communications ex pert to make this happen. An EIA report should contains: 1234An executive summary of the EIA findings. A description of the proposed development projects. The major environmental and natural resource issues that needed clarification and elaboration. The projects impacts on the environment (in comparison with a base line were identified and predicated. ). 5- A discussion of options for mitigating adverse impacts and for shaping the project to suit its proposed environment, and an analysis of the trade offs involved in choosing between alternative actions. – An over view of gaps or uncertainties in the information. 7- A summary of the EIA for the general public. 10 Once the EIA reports has been completed, the project proponent needs to submit 20 copies of the copy of executive summary of the proposed proposal containing the salient features of the project, the form XII prescribed under water rules, 1975, form I prescribed under Air rules,1983 and other information or documents to the SPCB for getting the non clearance certificate(NOC). On receiving the required documents from the project proponents it is the responsibility of the SPCB to conduct the public hearing.After completion of the public hearing the project proponents has to submit to the secretary of MOEF for the environmental clearance Draw back in the Indian system: One of the biggest concerns with the environmental clearance process is related to the quality of EIA report that are being carried out. The reports are generally incomplete and provided with false data. EIA reports ignore several aspects while carrying out assessments and significant information is found to omitted. Many EIA report are based on single season data and are not adequate to determine whether environmental clearance should be granted.All this makes the entire exercise contrary to its very intent. As things stand today, it is the responsibility of the project proponent to commission the preparation of the EIA for its proj ect. The EIA is actually funded by an agency or individual whose primary interest is to procure clearance for the project proposed. There is little chance that the final assessment presented is un biased, even if the consultant may provide an unbiased assessment that is critical of the proposed project. Some times it is found that a consultancy which is working in the project area has no specialization in the concerned subject.For example for the preparation of EIA report of the proposed oil exploration in coast of Orissa by the reliance group has been given to the life science Dept of Berhampur university which has no expertise on the study of turtles and its life cycle. The EIA document in itself is so bulky and technical, which makes it very difficult to decipher so as to aid in the decision making process. There are so many cases of fraudulent EIA studies where erroneous data has been used, same facts used for two totally different places etc.This is due to the lack of a central ized baseline data bank, where such data can be crosschecked. There is no accreditation of EIA consultants, therefore any such consultant with a track record of fraudulent cases cannot be held liable for discrepancies. It is hard to imagine any consultant after being paid lakh of rupees, preparing a report for the project proponents, indicating that the project is not viable. In nearly every case, the consultants try to interpret and tailor the information looking for ways and means to provide their clients with a report that gives them their moneys worth.ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL PROCEDURE The MOEF is the nodal agency for environmental clearance. The environmental division plays a key role, but the forest and wild life divisions are consulted when projects involve diversion of forestland or the alignment of roads and highways along or within the wild life areas. The project proponents of new projects must submit an application to the secretary, ministry of Environment and Forests, Ne w Delhi in the standard Performa specified in the EIA notification. The application should be accompanied by a feasibility/ project report, including: 11 Environmental Appraisal questionnaire developed by MOEF. 2 Environment Impact Assessment Report. 3 Environment Management Plan and disaster Management plan 4 Details of public Hearing as in schedule IV of the notification (where ever necessary) 5 Rehabilitation plans (where ever necessary) 6 Forest clearance certificate (where ever necessary) 7 NOC from the state pollution control board (SPCB) The application is evaluated and assessed by the Impact Assessment Agency (IAA). The IAA may consult a committee of experts constituted by it or other body authorized by it in this regard, if necessary.The composition of the expert team is described in the box no-2 The committee has full right of entry and inspection of the site or factory premises prior to, during or after the commencement of the project . The IAA prepares a set of recommend ations based on technical assessment of documents and data , furnished by the project authorities or collected during visits to sites or factories and details of public hearing. The assessment shall be completed with in 90 days from receipt of documents and data from the project authorities and completion of public hearing and decision conveyed within 30 days there after.If granted the clearance shall be valid for a period of five years for commencement of the construction or operation of the project. Draw back in the Indian system: There are several concerns with reference to the granting of environmental clearance of projects. Firstly, for projects that require site clearance it is often assumed by project proponents that once site clearance is granted, environmental clearance will follow. As a result, many project proponents begin construction of the project components (like housing colonies, roads), even before the environmental clearance is granted.This is despite the fact that it has been specified in the EIA notification that this should not be done. At another level, when environmental clearance is granted despite public objection / rejection , the reasons for the same are not conveyed to all those who have sent in written objections and/or attended the public hearing. There are very few ways to get information regarding project clearances. For those with access to the internet, the MOEF website seems to be of some help. However, very often the information on the website is updated much after the decision is taken. 12For citizens and communities who do not have access to the internet, this information is not available. The availability of this information immediately after a decision on the clearance is taken is of crucial importance, in case it needs to be challenged before the National Environment Appellate Authority. The environmental clearance process after the public hearing appears to be a closed door secretive process as far as the public is con cerned. In cases of environmental clearance being granted, the public have no access to the rational behind which the clearance was given.All that emits from the ministry are the conditions and recommendations based on which clearance is granted which often does not address the whole gamut of concerns and issues raised during public hearing. PUBLIC HEARING PROCESS IN INDIA A fully informed public participation has been recognized as an essential element in EIA. However, it was noted that public participation was a difficult exercise particularly if it led to a conflict between government policies and the public. Public hearing is not just an administrative exercise wherein a hearing is conducted to meet the requirements of the legislations.It is a measure to disclose all the relevant information regarding a developmental project to various sections of society, which are either affected by its implementation or have interests in project. In India public hearing of development project s has been made mandatory for environmental clearance by the Amendment to the EIA Notification of April 10, 1997 (Box no-3). The salient features of the public hearings notification are as follows: Notice for public hearing: The SPCB must issue notice for environmental public hearing by publishing it in at least two newspapers circulated in the region around the project.One of the publications must be in the vernacular language of the locality concerned. The date, time and place of public hearing should be mentioned in the newspaper article. The notice must be given at least 30 days prior to the public hearing. Involvement of the public: Written suggestions, views, comments and objection by the public can be handed over to the SPCB within 30 days from the date of publication of the notice. Oral /written suggestions can be made to the SPCB during the public hearing. Who can participate?All the affected person, including residents residing in and around the project site or the site of displacement or site of alleged adverse environmental impact. It also includes environmental groups and any association of persons whether incorporated or not, likely to be affected by the project and/or functioning in the field of environment. Persons who own or have control over the project can also participate. Access to the documents: The public are entitled to have access to the executive summary containing the salient features of the project, both in English as well as the local language.They 13 are also entitled to the Environmental Impact Assessment Report. These documents can be obtained from the following places: Office of the district collector, District industry centre. Office of the zila parisad CEO of municipal corporation commissioner /local body. SPCB head office and its concerned regional office. State government department dealing with environment. Public hearing panel and its members: panel for the public hearing: The following persons may include in the SPCB rep resentative. District collector/ nominee.State government representative dealing with the project. Representative of concerned department of the state government. Not more than 3 representative of the local bodies like panchayat/ municipality. Not more than 3 senior citizens of the area nominated by the district collector. Note: According to a Gujarat high court judgment 15 the quorum for a public hearing should be at least half of the member specified i. e. three members. Also, at least the following members should present viz. The officer from the pollution control board.The officer from the Department of Environment and Forest of the state government. One of three citizens nominated by the collector. Projects exempted from public hearing Public hearing is not required for the following projects: Small scale industrial undertakings located in a) Notified or designed industrial areas/ industrial estates. b) Areas marked for industries under the jurisdiction of industrial developmen t authorities. Widening and strengthening of highways Mining projects (major minerals) with lease areas upto 25 hectares 14Units located in export processing zones and special economic zones and Modernization of existing irrigation projects. Note: off sore exploration activities beyond 10 km from the nearest inhabited village boundaries, Gothans , and ecologically sensitive areas, such as mangroves ( minimum of 1000sq. m. ), corals, coral reefs , national parks, marine parks, sanctuaries, reserve forests and breeding and spawning grounds of fish and other marine life have been proposed by the MOEF to be exempted from the public hearing )Draw back in the Indian system: A number of projects with significant environmental and social impacts have been excluded from the mandatory public hearing process. There are also concerns on how much value is given to opinions expressed during the public hearing. Most projects are located in the resource rich tribal and rural areas. Due to the inher ent social conditions in such areas, such as lack of literacy and the simple nature of Tribals, people are easily convinced and lured by the prospect of money and jobs.The local environmental and social groups face a uphill task educating the people about the true nature and impacts of the project and getting them to forcefully raise objections and issues of concern. Similarly the affected peoples are informed just few days before the stipulated date of public hearing. In many cases it is found out that the owners of the project employs antisocial peoples to suppress the voices of people during the public hearing. The local administration also supports the projects owner. The SPCB which are responsible for conducting the public hearings are not equipped in terms of manpower or infrastructure.The notification does not prescribe clear and well defined guidelines for conducting the public hearing. The bearing of the expenses involved in conducting the public hearing are not dealt with by the notification. This is another problem with no clear answers. The documents which the public are entitled to are seldom available on time. The notification prescribes a number of places where one can access these documents , but does not stipulated who is responsible for ensuring that the documents are made available at these locations.The mentioned websites are not updated. The result is that one seldom finds the documents available at the designed locations. In many cases minutes of public hearing or recommendations of the public hearing panels do not reflect the actual proceedings and objections raised. Further the recommendations of the public hearing panel are only advisory and it is not mandatory for the impact assessment agency to even consider these while granting environmental clearance to projects. 15 SOME OTHER DRAW BACKS IN THE INDIAN SYSTEMA-APPLICABILITY OF THE EIA NOTIFICATION: As it stands today, there are several projects with significant environmental impacts that are exempted from the notification either because they are not listed in schedule1, or their investments are less than what is provided for in the notification. Importantly, several projects located in zones covered by other notifications such as CRZ notification are exempted from the provisions of the EIA notification. Other projects such as defence-related road construction and railway projects are explicitly exempted from the EIA notification altogether.The amendment in EIA notification, 1994 made on 4th July 2005 in gazette no. s. o. 942(E) has provision that any expansion or modernization project of item 1,2,3,19,20,- nuclear, river valley, ports and harbors, thermal power plant and mining projects may obtain temporary working permission of max two years till it gets environmental condition. Box no-4 shows the details of the 12 amendments that has been brought up in last 11 years to dilute the EIA notification. B- MONITORING, COMPLIANCE AND INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS. Pro jects are granted clearances based on certain conditions, which the project authorities need to comply with.These are both related to the construction phase and post construction phase of a project. For instance, conditions may be imposed on muck disposal of effluent discharge to be confined to certain areas and within specified limits. The regional offices of the MOEF are to monitor the compliance of these conditions and prepare the reports. However the local population does not even know of these conditions and are not a part of its monitoring. It is not known if project authorities reflect the true status of compliance in their reports to the MOEF. Access to these compliance reports is only subject to public interest.The lack of access to compliance reports has severe repercussions on the rights of people who were opposed to the project and for whose benefits some conditions may have been laid out for the project to follow. While monitoring compliance with conditions imposed for environmental clearance, it is found that pollution control boards have their own standards, whereas the standards under the EPA, which the MOEF and the regional offices follow, are quite different. Another problem in monitoring is the location of the regional offices and their large jurisdictions, which make it difficult for them to discharge their functions effectively.While the increased threat to the environment is matched by the enactment of an increasing amount of legislation, the responsibilities and capacities of the various agencies, including the regional offices of the MOEF, to monitor compliance has not been appropriately defined and strengthened. C- CAPACITY BUILDING: There is an urgent need to build capacities of government agencies, communities, NGOs and the judiciary with regard to the implementation of the existing EIA notification.Even in the instances where the provisions allow for peoples participation or monitoring, the lack of information and capacity are great hindrances in implementation. For instances, the public hearing panel often has no clue on the scope of 16 their role in environmental clearance process. Judiciary, which is involved in the redressal , is comprised of judges who may not be clued into the environmental issues and their interface with laws. No matter how good the provisions of the law are, their implementation hinges on the capacities of official who are meant to do it.D- REDRESSAL: The present redressal mechanism meant exclusively for the challenging environmental clearance is extremely weak and limited in its scope. The National Environmental Appellate Authority has heard only 15 cases in the last eight years. The process of seeking redressal from courts requires a fair amount of energy and financial allocation. It is not possible for all those with grievances to take on legal battles against large and powerful project proponents. RECOMMENDATIONS Independent EIA Authority: Civil society groups have suggested the ne ed for an independent Environmental Impact Assessment authority headed by a udicial officer and comprising of representatives from communities, peoples group, scientists, sociologists and environmentalists. Such body would be independent of the ministry of environment and forests. The decision of this authority would be binding on the MOEF. Sector wide EIA s needed: There is a need to conduct policy-level and sector-wide EIAs in the form of strategic impact assessments ( for various sectors including mining , power and so on). This is critical to judge the impacts of macro- economic, developmental and other policies, schemes and programmes.Conduct options Assessment: EIA s should follow only after an options assessment and a least cost plan for a project is done by the state or central government. For this the following steps are of relevance for both public and private sector projects: aIn case of projects proposed by PSU s and the state/central governments, the options assessment preceding the EIA should provide information on the best strategies to meet the need of the region, be it power , irrigation , employment or some other stated benefit.In case of private sector projects, the project proponents project justification statement should be accompanied by a mandatory project justification report prepared by the state or central governments. This project justification report would provide information assessing the need for the project and the benefits accruing from it for the state / nation and the people of the area. The options Assessment or project justification reports should also state how the proposed project fixes in to the existing developmental plans of the state or the state or the region. – c- 17 d- e- The information should be included in a computation of environmental and social costs, apart from the other projects costs such as technical and financial costs. Based on this, a set of options should be put forth from which the least expens ive and least damaging option is selected. The EIA for the projects should follow only after this options is decided. Creation of an information desk: An information dissemination desk may be assigned within the MOEF which anyone can write to regarding the status of clearance of projects.This desk should be mandated to respond within a maximum of ten days by post/ courier and a maximum of two days by email, to the contact information that has been furnished by the person seeking the information. Since all meetings and discussion are documented as electronic data, the officers should furnish this information regarding the status of clearance, with a record of the discussions in the Expert committee on the projects. Environmental Risk Assessment: New approaches such as Environmental Risk Assessment which enable more flexible and dynamic assessments of direct and indirect impacts must be explored.As part of this process, recognized Safety and Environmental Auditors must compulsorily me et local populations and submit a detailed report of potential risks due to the project. Issue a complete notification: The MOEF must issue and maintain on its website at all times a consolidated notification incorporating all the amendments till date. As of now what is available on the MOEF website is the notification updated up to 2003 and copies of subsequent amendments, which are not incorporated within the main text of the notification.In the absence of this critical document, it is difficult for implementing agencies and stakeholders in general to understand the position of the law. Following is a set of recommendations towards ensuring applicability of the environmental clearance process to all categories of projects. It can be described in different chapter wise as follows: Applicability of EIA notification: The provisions of the EIA notification, including public hearings should be applicable to all hitherto exempt categories of projects ( including large scale agriculture/ monoculture plantation projects) which have environmental impacts.As an immediate measure, it needs to be ensured that all those projects where there is likely to be a significant alternation of ecosystems like rivers, lakes, wetlands, forests , grasslands ,coastal and marine ecosystems, need to go through the process of environmental clearance, without exception. This should apply if they are likely to reduce the biodiversity of the region( both wild and cultivated) , if they are likely to affect regions that have not been 18 studied adequately for flora, fauna, or socially/ culturally fragile human communities, of if they are likely to displace people or disrupt live hoods , temporarily or permanently.No industrial or large scale developmental activity should be permitted in ecologically sensitive areas. Only developmental activities / processes which do not alter the basic ecological characteristics of such an area or do not cause destruction of the fragile ecosystems should be allowed. Separate and specific notifications issued for each of these clearly listing would help in effective implementation of this clause. Quality of EIA reports : preparation and content The focus of EIA needs to shift from utilization and exploitation of natural resources to conservation of natural resources.Many EIA reports tend to justify the need for the project, shifting the focus of the EIA from a process that provides insights in to the viability and desirability of the project, to one that finds justification for the projects and on rare occasions one that offers simplistic solutions on minimizing impacts of projects already declared important. At present EIA reports are extremely weak when it comes to assessment of biological diversity of a project area and the consequent impacts on it.This is particularly so when it comes to domesticated ( both live stock and agricultural ) biodiversity, aquatic biodiversity other than commercial fish lesser or non endangered plants and animals ( i. e. those other than mega fauna like tigers and elephant of charismatic plants like orchid species) , ecosystem benefits and services ( including supporting live hood needs of communities , essential hydrological functions , soil conservation etc), and flora- fauna inter relationships. This gap needs to be plugged through a specific guidelines and if necessary through amendments to the EIA notification.The checklist needs to include impacts on agricultural biodiversity, biodiversity related traditional knowledge and live hoods . Further, cumulative impacts of projects that are technically linked or located in the same ecological region, and impacts of the eventual closure of the project or components of the project should also be incorporated in to the checklist. Finally the list should contain details on a full exploration of alternatives , especially decentralized alternatives, to mega projects . the checklist also needs to cover various kinds of impacts resulting fro m a particular activity.Comprehensive EIA s needs to be undertaken for industries and operations working in clusters such as in zones identified for chemical industries or export oriented units. For instance, the present EIA notification states that assessments do not need to be conducted for mining up to 5 hectares, and do not need to hold public hearings for mining up to 25 hectares. How ever , it is recognized that many mining activities take place in clusters (several leases for small mining projects allowed in close proximity to each other in one geographical area) and that EIA s need to assess their cumulative impacts on the environment and biodiversity. 9 All EIA reports should clearly state what are the adverse impacts that a proposed projects will have. This should be a separate chapter and not hidden within technical details. Based upon this the EMP plan should be also be drawn which should integrate a specific set of measures , which are to identified to mitigate these im pacts with costs and time frame included .EIA should contain details of the assessment process as annexure such as 1- Full information regarding all the parties involved in assessments including sub consultants so that there is no scope for anonymity and parties can be held accountable for their findings and recommendations. 2- The terms of reference of every group/ individual involved in any aspect of the assessment process. 3- Full reference of all information sourced from secondary sources so that they can be independently verified by any one interested in doing so. – Details of the time spent and activities, number of days spent in each area, names of villages , name of interviewers should be mentioned. 5- Details of expenses incurred for various activities for preparing the EIA report, including who was paid and for what activities. The sub components or subsidiary reports of EIA reports ( e. g. Assessments of Biodiversity impacts done by a sub consultant) should be made publicly accessible as stand alone reports with the EIA. This should be available on the websites of the MOEF. EIA s should be based on full studies carried out over at least one year.Single season data on environmental parameters like biodiversity, as is being done for several rapid assessments is not adequate to gain understanding of the full impact of the proposed project. It is critical that the preparation of an EIA is completely independent of the project proponent. One option for this could be the creation of a central fund for the EIA s which contains fees deposited by project proponents while seeking that an EIA be done for their proposed project. State and central governments should maintain a list of credible, independent and competent agencies that can carry out EIA s. imilarly the EIA consultant those are making false reports should be black listed. A national level accreditation to environment consultancy should be adopted. Public hearings: The public hearing should b e held for all projects which are likely to have environmental and social impacts. This should be strictly implemented. The scope of the public hearings needs to be widened to at least those projects which require forest clearance under the forest conservation act,1980. Public hearing should be done in at least three phases or stages. 20 – The preliminary hearing may be required to explain the process of conducting the assessment so that the scope of the assessment is decided with the participation of the public. The local level NGO can also participate in this. 2- The second can be with a purpose of presenting and discussing all aspects of the assessments findings, with the help of booklets presentation in local languages. Some of the aspects can also include environmental impacts, costs and benefit of the project, displacement and rehabilitation aspects. 3- The third hearing can be held after a week but no later than a month following the second meetings.This period being i ntended to give people a chance to analyze the information and points they have at the earlier hearing. This can be primarily to record the views and objections of the people. It needs to be ensured that full information related to the EIA is provided to all the concerned citizens. For this it is critical to provide translation of the EIA and relevant documents in the local languages, to conduct the hearing process in local language and to proactively advertise the public hearing to as many people as possible. The gram panchayat office can be used for these purposes.A video recording of the proceedings could be made mandatory and the local activist should be allowed for video recording. Accountability should be built in to the public hearing procedure. The minutes of the public hearing should be compulsorily available at designed places to be specified in schedule 1 of the EIA notification. The project proponents should be asked to explain during and after the hearing as to how they propose to deal with the concerns raised at the public hearings. It should be ensured that the three representatives of the local people should have demonstrated commitment towards social and environmental concerns.The local communities, NGO s and civil society groups must be allowed a chance to place their opinions and concerns directly to the expert committee and the MOEF. Although this is partly possible since anyone is allowed to write to the MOEF after the public hearing is announced , an opportunity to make a presentation before the MOEF and the expert committee should be given to these constituencies just as it is given to project proponents and consultants . This would also help the MOEF and expert committees to understand the concerns directly from these parties rather than indirectly from the minutes of a public hearing or from a letter.MOEF should incorporate the above points and any others in to asset of guidelines on conducting public hearings to be issued to all state governments, district collectors, and other relevant agencies. 21 Grant of clearance: The notification needs to make it clear that the provision for site clearance does not imply any commitment on the part of the impact Assessment agency to grant full environmental clearance. The prior informed consent of local communities and urban wards or residents association needs to be made mandatory before the grant of environmental clearance.The consent should be from the full general body, not from the Sarpanch or the head. Minutes of the experts committees meeting and other related documents indicating the rationale for grant of clearance must be made available on request to civil society, at the concerned district head quarters and at the concerned sub divisional head quarters. The language used for specifying conditions of clearance must be clear and specific. Composition of expert committees: The present executive committees should be replaced by experts people from various stakeholder groups , who are reputed in environmental and other relevant fields.The process of selection of those committees should be open and transparent , the minutes of the committee meetings , decisions and advice by these committee should be open to public. Monitoring, compliance and institutional arrangements: The EIA notification needs to build within it an automatic withdrawal of clearance if the conditions of clearance are being violated, and introduce more stringent punishment for noncompliance. At present the EIA notification limits itself to the stage when environmental clearance is granted.The MOEF should set up more regional offices, each with smaller areas of jurisdiction, to effectively monitor the compliance of clearance conditions. It would be useful to have advisory Expert committees at the MOEF regional offices, comprising of ecologists, sociologists, local community members, government officials and representative of local institutions to help with the clearance of projec ts at the regional levels and monitoring of compliance of conditions. A robust monitoring mechanism should be established by the state department where the central projects involving forest clearance is given out.Such a monitoring body should be given powers to address compliance of both sets of clearance conditions together and to take punitive action against the project proponent in case of non compliance of any of the conditions. Local communities should be brought in to the formal monitoring and reporting process of the compliance of conditions presently done by the regional offices of the MOEF. This would help 22 the regional office as well since the geographical areas and number of project that comes under each office is vast which affects the efficiency and regularity of the monitoring process.Redressal: The scope of the National Environment Appellate Authority ( NEAA) needs to be expanded to deal with more than just challenging environmental clearance of projects. Citizen sh ould be able to access the authority for redressal of all violation of the EIA notification as well as issues relating to non-compliance. The composition of the NEAA needs to be changed to include more NGO and civil society representatives as well as as professionals from the field of environment.It may thus be necessary to increase the number of representatives that is presently allowed for the authority. The duration of the authority can be three years, after which it can be reconstituted. Capacity building: NGO s, civil society groups and local communities need to build their capacities to use the EIA notification towards better decision making on projects that can impact their local environments and live hoods. Capacities can be built to proactively and effectively use the notification rather than respond in a manner that is seen as negative or unproductive. 23 Box no -1Acts, Rules and Notifications referred while granting clearance Water The water ( prevention and control of po llution) Act,1974, The water ( prevention and control of pollution) Rules,1975 Air The Air (prevention and control of pollution) act 1981 The Air (prevention and control of pollution) Rules,1982 The Air (prevention and control of pollution) (union territories) Rules, 1983 Environmental protection The Environment ( protection) Act,1986, The Environment ( protection) Rules,1986, Environment ( siting for industrial projects) Rules,1999 Coastal stretches Declaration of coastal stretches as coastal Regulation zone (CRZ) Hazardous process and organisms The rules for the manufacture , use , import, export and storage of Hazardous micro organisims genetically engineered organisms or cells1989 The manufacture , storage and import of Hazardous chemical rules,1989 The Hazardous wastes ( management and handling)rules,1989 Dumping and disposal of fly ash discharged from coal of lignite based thermal power plants on land,1999. Noise pollution The noise pollution ( Regulation and control) ( Amendm ent) Rules, Noise pollution (Regulation and control ) Rules,2000 Wild life and forests The Indian wildlife ( protection) acts,1972 The wildlife( protection) rules,1995 Forest ( conservation),acts,1980 The Indian forest act,1927 Guidelines for diversion of forests lands for non forest purposes under the forest (conservation) act,1980 Ecologically sensitive zones Prohibiting industries in Murud- Janjra area of Raigadh district of Maharashtra, 1989. Restricting location of industries, mining and other activities in Doon valley, 1989.Dhaanu Taluka , district Thane to declare as ecologically fragile area, amended 1999 Restricting certain activities causing environmental degradation at Aravallli Range,1992. No development zone at Numalilgarh , East of Kaziranga,1996 Order constituting the Taj Trapezium zone pollution( prevention and control) authority 1998 Pachmarhi Region as an eco sensitive zone, 1998 Mahabaleswar panchgani region as an ecological sensitive region. 2001 Matheran and sur rounding region as an eco sensitive zone,2003 24 Box no-2 COMPOSITION OF THE EXPERT COMMITTEES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT 1. *The Committees will consist of experts in the following disciplines:* (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi) 2.Eco-system Management Air/Water Pollution Control Water Resource Management Flora/Fauna conservation and management Land Use Planning Social Sciences/Rehabilitation Project Appraisal Ecology Environmental Health Subject Area Specialists Representatives of NGOs/persons concerned with environmental issues. The Chairman will be an outstanding and experienced ecologist or environmentalist or technical professional with wide managerial experience in the relevant development sector. The representative of Impact Assessment Agency will act as a Member-Secretary. Chairman and Members will serve in their individual capacities except those specifically nominated as representatives. The Membership of a Committee shall not exceed 15. 3. 4. 5. 25 Box No – 3 SCHEDULE-IV (1)Process of Public Hearing: – Whoever apply for environmental clearance of projects, shall submit to the concerned StatePollution Control Board twenty sets of the following documents namely: (i) An executive summary containing the salient features of the project both in English as well as local language. (ii)Form XIII prescribed under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1975 where discharge of sewage, trade effluents, treatment of water in any form, is required. (iii)Form I prescribed under Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Under Territory Rules, 1983 where discharge of emissions are involved in any process, operation or industry. (iv)Any other information or document, which is necessary in the opinion of the Board for their final disposal of the application. 2)Notice of Public Hearing: (i) The State Pollution Control Board shall cause a notice for environmental public hearing which shall be published in at least two newspapers widely circulated in the region around the project, one of which shall be in the vernacular language of the locality concerned. State Pollution Control Board shall mention the date, time and place of public hearing. Suggestions, views, comments and objections of the public shall be invited within thirty days from the date of publication of the notification. (ii)All persons including bona fide residents, environmental groups and others located at the project site/sites of displacement/sites likely to be affected can participate in the public hearing. They can also make oral/written suggestions to the State Pollution Control Board.Explanation: – For the purpose of the paragraph person means: (a) Any person who is likely to be affected by the grant of environmental clearance; (b) Any person who owns or has control over the project with respect to which an application has been submitted for environmental clearance; (c) Any association of persons whether incorporat ed or not like to be affected by the project and/or functioning in the filed of environment; (d) Any local authority within any part of whose local limits is within the neighbourhood, wherein the project is proposed to be located. (3)Composition of public hearing panel: – The composition of Public Hearing Panel may consist of the following, namely: (i) Representative of State Pollution Control Board; (ii)District Collector or his nominee; (iii)Representative of State Government dealing with the subject; (iv)Representative of Department of the State Government d

How globalized world issues could be helped? Essay

â€Å"The people want to topple the regime† was the anti-government graffiti painted by a group of Syrian children in the Daraa city in March 2011. These children were arrested and tortured by the local security authorities (Diehl, 2012: 7). This act eventually led to an anti-governmental uprising due to the outrageous reaction of a community over children’s mistreatment after incarceration by the local security authorities. The uprising demanded the release of children, justice, freedom as well as equality for all people. At the core, these peaceful demonstrations were considered to be against the sectarian and family dictatorship because the political power was mainly held by the Alawite elite (Diehl, 2012). In response to these demonstrations, the Syrian government planned to enforce security forces for the protestors to suppress them. This gave rise to the tensions dramatically and tensions spread in the entire country. This rebellion further turned into a full-fled ged civil war between the Free Syrian army and the Syrian regime (Thompson, 2016). The main allegation that the Syrian regime associated with the protestors was that they were Islamic Al- Qaeda’s extremist terrorist gangs who were supported and funded by the various countries such as Turkey, Qatar, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as the United States of America by which they try to seek peace with Israel (Sommier, 2014). Similarly, the same Syrian regime was present in the front line with Israel who was supported by Russia, Iran as well as China (?) (Fisher, 2012). Ever since this happened, the situation and complexity of the war has been deepened with different actors entering from the international, regional or Syrian side and due to which Syria was turned into a proxy battlefield (Wimmen and Asseburg, 2012) The death toll as recorded and presented by the Syrian center for policy research approximately totaled at 470,000 as a result of ongoing conflict till February 2016. Due to the intensification and spread of fighting, a dire humanitarian crisis was evident since 4.8 million people tried to take refuge abroad and 6.1 million people were internally displaced as per the records of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. It has also been reported by the Syrian Network for Human Rights that since 2011, more than 117,000 people have been either disappeared or detained by the governmental forces. In the detention, ill-treatment and torture are two rampant things that have also resulted in the death of thousands of people in detention. In addition to all the crisis events going on, ISIS (Islamic State) made more complications by the widespread and systematic violations. This was achieved by ISIS through targeting civilians with artillery, kidnappings, executions, using childr en as soldiers, and torture (Human Rights Watch, 2016). One of the biggest challenges that the international relations could face was about how globalized world issues (?) could be helped. With the help of deep research and fascinating drawing of the international relations, the concept has been explored in the book of International Relations Theories (Where is ’ with the name of the book) by Steve Smith (Smith, Kurki and Dunne, 2016: 11) Why you delete the original statement here?. Based on this, there are various currents that can be evident in the international relations theories with a particular focus on the Syrian conflict. Constructivism and realism are two entirely different things are they take up different approaches. Compared to a normative approach, realism takes up an explanatory approach for the study of international relations. Realism is based on the following 3 core competencies: 1. States are owned by egoism and self- interests and are the unitary and rational actors 2. States are considered to be the central actors of international arena WHY you delete â€Å"statism†? (Dunne and Schmidt, 2017: 109) 3. Anarchy is visible in the international system (Ikenberry and Parsi, 2009) Anarchy can be described as a system that comprises of various independent states who do not have any particular authority over them (Mearsheimer, 2001: 30). This ultimately guarantees survival as well as security through material capabilities and self- help (Waltz, 1979: 213) A pessimistic outlook of persistent danger and threat is possessed by the realists, based on which it mentioned that all the state actors are driven by the requirement of greater power and dominance for reducing the elimination of actor’s potential and create a balance of power (Gellman, 1988). Within an anarchic system, the type of competition and insecurity inherent, such type of concentrations automatically adapt to the balancing responses by either by internal balancing where material capabilities are made up or through external balancing where capabilities are aggregated. This provides evidence that alliances are not so much appreciated in terms of realism and shared ideas and values, however, it does through raison d’etat and self- interests (Morgenthau, 1948). In realism, it should be noted that the states are not equal and are placed in a hierarchical order as per the amount of power they have. In an anarchical system, the only way to defend and survive is to use the military power (Slaughter, 2011). Some of the egoistic passions are given primary emphasis by the realists, especially that the presence of political action with an evil in it as mentioned by Donnelly in 2000 (Morgenthau, 1946: 203). Due to this condition, politics turn into such a struggle where the shadow of war WHERE IS â€Å" is something that is considered to be ever- present (Aron, 1970: 36); mainly due to the irreconcilable aspirations of the states (Carr, 1946). According to this, every state would try to obtain as much power as possible. But in case there is an imbalance of power, the likelihood of war becomes high primarily because the stronger state may attack the weaker state without any loss to itself. This idea about power not only encompasses around the military power, rather it also encompasses around the economic power. This means that states whose economies are growing help the states to gain more power; this is because power in the international system is demonstrated through economic strength. Therefore, the attention of realists is focused on economy of a state as it is related to its power (Mearsheimer, 2016). As per the realists, who consider that non- governmental organizations lack military power, they are not able to compete with the international systems. This means that the role played by United Nations is limited (Dunne and Schmidt, 2017: 106). This is deemed important because the main actors in international relations are worried about gaining higher benefits than the others have gained. Strategies like mutual mistrust, selfishness, power- seeking, recklessness, as well as survival securing, are considered to be capable for producing structures like security dilemmas, international self- help systems, political communities, unrestricted politics of national interests, the permanent potentiality of war and violence and many others. The above discussed theoretical formulation of realism can also be applied to the conflict of Syria being studied in this paper. This conflict of Syria can be regarded as a struggle of gaining power among foreign actors or states who contrasted in their interests but were involved in the conflict. For example, Russia, China, United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others who approached Syrian war, all of them had their personal benefits as well as predicted results in mind to achieve. The power of United States of America in the international system was tried to be restricted by the support of al- Assad government by China, Russia, and Iran with the militia- cum- party of Hezbollah. This was achieved through the formation of an alliance with Syria as well as vetoing interference by United Nations Security Council. This helped them to restrict the US from gaining any sort of advantage over North Africa or Middle East (Yan, 2013). Ever since the conflict started in Syria, Assad was supported by Russia by all means including in terms of weapons, technical advisors as well as by sending military advisors. Eventually, in 2015, September 15, a direct military intervention was opted by Russia despite the fact that it aimed to fight ISIS but it was mainly meant to target opponents of Assad (Spaulding, 2015). Since the cold war ended, Russia’s identity as one of the world powers has greatly reduced and as per the framework of zero-sum competition for power provided by Dunne and Schmidt (Dunne and Schmidt, 2017: 110), the only way out for Russia is to avoid definite exclusion from the area while balancing Washington’s sway as well. Moscow’s projection of power in the Eastern Mediterranean was also dependent upon the survival of Assad so that the power could be specifically projected to geopolitical ambitions and interests of Russia (Litsas, 2017). This further poses a big question about whether Ru ssia can be sure about its position and safety of its economic interests or not (Freedman, 2010). On the other hand and on an equal basis, there was a breeze of uneasiness in between American government and Iran because the American government was able to make an influence in the region and in return was upsetting the regional power as mentioned in Sick et al. (2008: 1) WHY you change the reference and put the name of the writer out WHERE IS the original statement (â€Å"it is clear that Iran is now a centerpiece of American Policy† (Sick et al., 2008: 1) that Iran was the centerpiece of attraction for the American policy. Due to this, Iranians took greater defensive measures as they continued to internally balance and build their nuclear capabilities. Considering the military standing between Syria and Iran that is only meant to secure the borders and state to balance the potential threats that may arise from Turkey, Israel, American ally of the Sunni Gulf States and others (Laub, 2017). Iran is still considered to have a stronger strategic position due to the fact that S yria would be at their hands with the loyalty of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Palestine at one site. This is also one of the justifications that have been used by Iran to support its involvement in ideological motive because Allah has ordered all Muslims to defend and protect each other from all sort of outside threats, as per Imam Khomeini. This is another reason with which Iran supports its view of protecting and supporting Palestinians because they are not recognized by the West and are repressed by Israel (Segall, 2012).

Globaliastion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Globaliastion - Essay Example The deregulation of the FDI abroad, that has taken place in these two countries have lead to the accumulation of more capital and confidence to the companies who have gained them. Now these companies are taking opportunity of the situation by spreading their wings and investing overseas (Duanmu and Guney, 2009).One cannot deny the fact that globalization is here to stay and today new markets can be tapped owning to the advancement of the world economy through peaceful and careful economic efforts (Klein, 2005). Globalization can neither be called good nor bad. It is only a step towards efficiency in the long run and painful cultural and social adjustment in the short run (Mundell, 2000). Rise and Economic amalgamation of India and China China and India have become the most preferred destinations for international business, which has been confirmed by some of the major studies carried out by Ernst & Young (2008), KPMG (2008) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2008). Zheng et al. (2006) has f ound out the factors for such an interest. They found that market growth, liberalist policies, lower labour cost and the amount of goods imported from both the countries by the countries of origin of the FDI are factors of interest to them. However specifically they pointed the bigger size of Chinese market, strategic location in terms of logistic and geography, export volume and greater borrowing cost of China makes it more attractive for the FDIs. On the other hand in case of India though geographical distances discourage FDI, closure distance in culture encourages it. In the year 1980 both India and China accounted for a trivial 2% of global output, which increased to 7% in the year 2005 (Das, 2010). It is expected that both the economies will achieve an excellent bit of convergence with the fully grown industrial economies in the near future. Though they have recorded a rapid growth but their per capita incomes are seen to be significantly low. According to the data published by World Bank (2008a), the per capita income of China in 2007 was $2360, whereas that of India was $950, which were much lower when compared to the per capita income of UK, USA, Japan and Germany. The average per capita income recorded by the Euro zone economies in the year 2007 was $36,329. On one hand the industrial economy and on the other the income disparity between India and China provides an opportunity for larger gains from trade with both India and China. The large gap in the wage level can help them to earn huge benefits by adjusting the productivity. Both the economies have started utilizing from the trade gains. In the year 2007, the GDP of China at the market exchange rates was $3280 billion, making it the fourth largest economy in the world. At the same time the GDP of India was at $1170 billion, making it the twelfth largest economy in the world (World Bank, 2008b). When economies of these huge sizes are seen to amalgamate globally, massive impacts are bound to occur th at would affect the global trade, financial flows and pace of globalization. This signifies that the role of these two economies is going to be significant in the global economy. The projection made by Maddison (2005) suggests that by measuring in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), the GDP of China will be seen to record few more than 18% by 2030. This means that it will overtake US. The GDP of India has been projected to be half of that of China. This fast growing economy has attracted the attention of many of the

The Limitations of the Behaviourist Approach to the Study of Learning, Essay

The Limitations of the Behaviourist Approach to the Study of Learning, with Reference to Chomsky's Critique of Skinner - Essay Example Chomsky’s works have been rated as the most influential pieces in the study of psychology particularly concerning behaviourism. In this case, a lot of transformations were witnessed amongst learners who studied the language. With his works labelled as classics, and having all the evidence in regard to the study of language, as opposed to behaviourism that is too general, this work shall aim to understand the limitations of the behaviourist approach, with the reference to Skinner. 2.0. Body In the views of Noam Chomsky, the aspect of behaviour cannot be understood in the study of B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning. According to the thoughts of Routledge & Chapman (2005) Chomsky indicates that Skinner’s work is the worst ever written in the history of psychology. In this case, Chomsky indicates that his work comprises tangible evidence and conclusions as compared to the behaviourism standpoint. First, Chomsky argues against the viewpoint of Skinner’s learni ng through operant conditioning by arguing that one cannot study the behaviour of an individual, but not the components under study. The psychologists in this case, must not rely on the existing evidence and the abilities portrayed by the individuals, but the psychologists must go a step ahead and analyze the contents of the brain of the persons under study. From the brain, the researchers are likely to understand how the behaviours portrayed by the individuals have come into practicality. The brain, according to Chomsky (2006), is the root of the behaviours portrayed by the individual. The behaviours are simply a replica of the processes that go on in the individuals’ brain and cannot be alienated from the end product that is the behaviours of the individuals (Chomsky, 2006). In relation to Chomsky, Skinner went for end product- the behaviours portrayed- without getting to the grounds in which the behaviour has its roots. According to Altmann & Gaskell (2007), Chomsky emphas ises that study of the brain gives evidence of the behaviours portrayed by the individuals. In his work, Chomsky compares the study of behaviour to referring to Physics as readings in Science without considering the fact that the readings are mere data collected after an occurrence of a certain experiment by the learners or scientists in the laboratory (Randall, 2007). The study, analysis, testing and comparisons of data in the study of any field are compulsory. The end product cannot be alienated from its components; thus, the study of behaviour by Chomsky holds much evidence as compared to Skinner’s study on operant conditioning and learning. On another view point, Chomsky indicates that yet another limitation of Skinner’s behaviourist approach is that he relied so much on speculations as compared to critical study of the conditional behaviour. Scheer (2010) indicates that Skinner applied experimental investigations that had unfounded experimental techniques that wou ld have led to his study to having valid evidence on human behaviour. The limited significance of the techniques led to the coming up with the premise that behaviour cannot rely on inferences, but critical analysis of facts. According to Shackelford & Vonk (2012), Chomsky holds the view that language can only be understood in relation to Information

The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact Research Paper

The Significance of the Abrahamic Covenant for Israel and Its Impact on My Life - Research Paper Example Although the Abrahamic Covenant is unconditional, one of its aspects is in fact conditional – the Land aspect (Leigh). Nevertheless, whether unconditional or not, all three aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant bear a great significance to the nation and people of Israel and to my life as well. The Abrahamic Covenant is in fact stated in five major passages in the Old Testament Bible (Raddish 42). The first is in Genesis 12:1-3, 7, where God first showed favor to Abraham. This is followed by Genesis 13:14-17, where God expanded his promises to Abraham concerning his descendants and the land they will own in the future. The third passage is Genesis 15:1-21, where there is a formal binding of the covenant between God and Abraham. In the fourth passage, Genesis 17:1-14, the covenant was reaffirmed. Finally, in Genesis 22:16-18, the covenant was restated by God with finality, after Abraham has proven himself worthy by attempting to sacrifice his own son Isaac for God at Mt. Moriah. (4 2) It is a fact that there are three elements in the Abrahamic Covenant – the seed of Abraham, the universal blessings of God, and the land that Abraham’s descendants will own. ... With Abraham, God promised, â€Å"But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year† (Gn. 17:21). This particular promise God fulfilled when He tells Isaac, â€Å"Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you [and] I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky† (Gn. 26:3-4). After Isaac has passed away, God renewed the covenant with Jacob when He tells the latter, â€Å"All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring [and] I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land† (Gn. 28:13-15). What Jacob may have perhaps did not anticipate or did not clearly understand was that when God said, â€Å"I will bring you back to this land,† He meant that the descendants of Jacob will first be enslaved in Egypt before they were to return to Israel. Nevertheless, with only his faith to guide him, Jacob repeated this to his son Joseph when he tells him, â€Å"God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land and there he blessed me and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers† (Gn. 48:3-4). The events that followed this included the famine in Israel which forced Joseph’s brothers to flee to Egypt, the slavery that the Israelites experienced under the Egyptian pharaoh, and their eventual deliverance through Moses. However, the ultimate success of the Seed aspect of the covenant comes before the exodus. This is stated in the Book of Exodus: â€Å"The Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land

Strategic Marketing Plan Master Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Marketing Plan Master - Essay Example Therefore business strategy includes all activities a company undertakes to achieve its mission, marshal its resources to derive competitive advantage within a dynamic environment. Organizations, which can continuously anticipate, adapt and innovate to meet changing trends in the environment and customer expectations are said to have a vision. This vision, otherwise known as long term focus enables them to be continuously successful and deliver value to their stakeholders. Johnson et al. include two additional features, one, the long-term focus, the other, defining its scope, in their definition of strategy. They define strategy as "the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a changing environment and to fulfil stakeholder expectations" (2004:10). Radiant Services Company Inc. (RSC) is a taxation consultancy servicing individuals and business organizations by offering them advice all areas of taxation. ... RSC considers that its service offering of tax planning would help it build long-term relationships with its customers by making the company an indispensable integral part of management and financial planning. RSC's customers appreciate the value of taxation and financial planning and are cognizant of the lost opportunity costs if they do not seek expertise in these areas. Changes in the market dynamics like increased competition, simplification of tax laws, the advent of information technology solutions to complex problems pose a long term threat to the company especially because of high dependence on one area of financial consulting. The company realises the necessity to diversify to achieve stability and sustain growth in the dynamic environment. The company's customer base may be categorized into three categories. The first is the individual taxpayer category, which offers consistent revenues. Of this again 20% consists of customers who seek advice on tax planning and investment portfolios. The rest seek advice only tax planning. The second category comprises of organizations that employ less than forty employees. These organizations have annual sales in the range of $250,000 to $3,000,000, privately owned, mostly around San Francisco and are the fastest growing segment within RSC's customer base. RSC considers that it would be a profitable long-term strategy to hitch to these organizations and grow along with them. The third and most important segment for RSC's current revenues comprises the organizations that employ more than forty employees. They generate the highest revenues on 'per-hour' basis and seek the widest range of consultancy services from RSC in the areas of taxation

McDonald's Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

McDonald's Corporation - Case Study Example Still, the organization has increasingly experimented with foods on the fringe of its menu, including health options such as salads and snack wraps, as well as regional specific restaurant items. Company History Founders Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, California established McDonald’s in 1940 as a barbeque restaurant. In 1948 the brothers stopped serving barbeque and began a hamburger and fries based approach, implementing streamlined production methods (Sowell, 2009). While McDonald’s would ultimately experience the most long-lasting gains as a result of the implementation of these production methods, they was first established in 1928 by the White Castle food chain (Sowell, 2009). For McDonald’s the switch resulted in tremendous success for the small company and it was not long before they experienced demand for expansion. In 1955 Ray Kroc would join the company as the first franchise agent. Kroc would establish a McDonald’s in Des Plain es, Illinois and kick off the organization’s staggering growth numbers (Sowell, 2009). While Kroc was not an organization founder today he is perhaps most recognized as the revolutionizing organizational force. Building on the original restaurant model, Ray Kroc would establish many of the elements that continue to the present day. Most prominently Kroc would establish the rigid standards for franchises, ensuring that the McDonald’s experience was uniform throughout every restaurant. The 1960s would witness many of these innovations including the establishment of the iconic ‘Golden Arches’ logo in 1961 (Sowell, 2009). Kroc would go on to institute the first-large scale advertising campaign this year with the slogan â€Å"look for the Golden Arches† (Sowell, 2009). A year later the organization would introduce the Ronald McDonald character as an advertising spokesman. In large part these early advertising efforts, an approach that would come to be ch aracteristic of the McDonald’s empire, greatly contributed to the organization’s long-term success. In 1965 McDonald’s would go public on the New York Stock Exchange the ticker symbol MCD. Throughout the years small but significant contributions would be made to the organization, including the introduction of the now seminal Big Mac in 1968 and the Happy Meal in 1979 (Sowell, 2009). Organization There are a number of prominent organizational elements within McDonald’s Corporation. While McDonald’s is a multinational corporation they retain a centralized organizational structure, headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. In terms of supply chain management procedures, all McDonald’s stores receive products from the same vendors, ensuring uniformity among supplier stores. All corporate decisions are made in the United States headquarters. The organization’s chief executive officer is Jim Skinner ("Organizational chart mcdonald's," 2011). Sk inner is responsible to McDonald’s board members, the chairman of whom is Andrew McKenna ("Organizational chart mcdonald's," 2011). Skinner oversees a number of structural divisions, including brand, cfo, human resources, legal and secretary, restaurant, supply chain and franchising, coo, Europe, and APAC and MEA ("Organizational chart mcdonald's," 2011). These organizations have further oversight on a variety of other prominent structural elements.

Teaching vocabulary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Teaching vocabulary - Essay Example This is because, the LAD as a device which inheres man and helps him learn language, atrophies with age. The acquisition of language also goes hand in hand with the acquisition of vocabulary. Disinterest may also serve as a strong impediment to the acquisition of vocabulary since it is nearly impossible to educate someone on matters he is not interested in. Language-related illnesses and impairment such as Warnicke’s aphasia and global aphasia may be setbacks to the knowledge and acquisition of vocabulary. Those who have suffered global aphasia have great difficulty in understanding words and forming words. In the case of Warnicke’s aphasia, a student may: fail to realise that he is using wrong words; have great difficulty in understanding some words; and not appreciate how words are strung together to form a phrase, clause or a sentence. Again, those with Warnicke’s aphasia have a problem building vocabulary since Warnicke’s aphasia affects the region of the brain’s left hemisphere which is responsible for the understanding of words. Question B There are certain activities which a teacher can expend to solve some of the problems which have mentioned above. When dealing with linguistic barriers which non-native adult speakers use, it is important for me to use both incidental acquisition and direct study. This involves, having proficient and self-motivated students to read a lot of books which are suited for their age. The teacher can then follow incidental acquisition method with vocabulary logs and other techniques which shall also be divulged upon. It is also important to follow up the use of the incidental acquisition model with the provisions of direct study. The use of direct study models will help high-risk students struggling with vocabulary. The strength of direct study helps the student develop his vocabulary by: nurturing an independent reading culture; strengthening the learner’s ability to use context clues ; and strengthening the learner’s context-clues vocabulary acquisition. This measure above will therefore require the teacher to foster a classroom reading programme whereby he can: have the students read in turn; correct the reader’s phonology in case of a wrong pronunciation; have students identify the meaning of a newly encountered vocabulary by using context-cues [so that the student does not rush to the dictionary]; give learners the exact meaning of the newly encountered lexicons with an example of a sentence; and have the students record the same down and use them in a sentence. Again, it will be extremely helpful [of me and to me] to develop a multifaceted approach to vocabulary acquisition. This will entail helping learners to develop the culture of independent reading. As the teacher, I can help develop a recommended reading list, or form a recommended reading list with the school administration. The books in the reading list are those that should challenge t he gifted and the talented, and help slow learners. Thus, the books should be high-interest and low-level. Students will read some of these books independently. For the remaining books, the students can provide feedback by: making oral and written book reports; producing plot summaries; and [if time allows] making performances of key or important scenes. Similarly as an instructor, measures must be made to ensure that students are encouraged to use the different semantic significance of words. This involves, hav

Tiger Energy Drink Marketin Plan Essay Example for Free

Tiger Energy Drink Marketin Plan Essay 1. 0. Executive Summary Tiger Energy Drink offers their consumers â€Å"a unique product endowed with different usage alternatives† providing a beverage focused on positive effects of an energy drink and guarana with an amazing sweet taste. Tiger Energy Drink is an alternative to tea and coffee and can be consumed cold or hot depending on the preference. It has a very sweet taste -not too much intense- and can be consumed as a regular beverage. Tiger is positioned itself as an alternative to coffee since it offers a great variety of caffeine (guarana) and other energy drink since it offers different flavors. Guarana, the main ingredient of the Tiger energy drink, has a cognitive effect. A 2007 human pilot study assessed acute behavioral effects to four doses (37. 5 mg, 75 mg, 150 mg and 300 mg) of guarana extract. Memory, alertness and mood were increased by the two lower doses, confirming previous results of cognitive improvement following 75 mg guarana. Some research also shows that Guarana has antioxidant and antibacterial effects, and also fat cell reduction. The target audience is working class and is primarily males and females between 25 – 40 ages. The majority consumer group of Tiger Energy Drink includes white-collar workers who spend long hours in office, working parents and young adults. 2. 0. Situation Analysis Tiger, founded 6 months ago by 2 entrepreneurs, is about to enter the competitive energy drinks market in Turkey. Although Energy Drinks market is considerably small, its annual growth rate is around 30% and the market is the most profitable segment of the non-alcoholic beverages market. The existence of big players and many cheaper outlier products will make it difficult for Tiger to establish a strong brand and market share in the short term. In order to do that, Tiger will differenciate in product flavors, hot or cold use opportunities and varied serving sizes. Of course, careful targeting of specific segments and supporting marketing activities will be the key to success. 2. 1. Market Summary Energy Drink market in Turkey consists of 0,35% of the whole non-alcoholic beverage market in terms of the market volume. The total volume of non-alcoholic beverages in Turkey is 7,2 billion liters, whereas Energy Drink’s volume is 25,5 million liters. On the other hand, when the market value is taken into consideration, Energy Drink market gets 3,5% of the whole non-alcoholic beverages market. The value of the whole non-alcoholic drinks market is 8,5 billion TL, and Energy Drinks’ share is 298 million TL. While the average value per liter in non-alcoholic beverages market is 1,18 TL, The same ratio becomes 11,66 TL in case of Energy Drinks. Therefore, it can clearly be seen that this segment is quite lucrative and profitable. The sub-markets, from the biggest to smallest, are water, tea, carbonated drinks, non-carbonated drinks (e. g. ice tea) and coffee markets. Although, its size is small, Energy Drink market has a steady 30% annual growth rate. Energy Drink consumers are usually in the 25-40 age range, upper income level white collar people. However, cheaper products were able to penetrate low and mid income level segments too. These include truck drivers and blue collar workers. Energy Drinks are consumed in many different occasions. The need of concentration and productivity defines their daytime use whereas the need of fun and high energy defines their nighttime use. The table below shows how Tiger addresses the basic needs of its targeted segments. Targeted Segment| Customer Need| Corresponding Feature/Benefit/Product| All Segments| Wake-up in the morning| Tea flavored, hot or cold consumption optioned Tiger (B vitamins and thein)| Students Professionals| Concentration and Productivity in daytime and work activities| Orange, Melon or Tropical Mix Tiger drinks (Guarana)| | Fun and High Energy in nighttime activities| Orange, Melon or Tropical Mix Tiger drinks (Guarana, Ginseng, Taurin)| 2. 2. SWOT Analysis Tiger has several strengths which do not exist in Turkish market. However, lack of brand awareness and image is the most important weakness. The fact that the competition is well established could be identified as the strongest threat. Finally, the fast growing and profitable structure of the energy drink market would be the biggest opportunity. 2. 2. 1. Strengths Tiger has a number of important strengths 1. Innovative Product: The product has 3 different and well liked flavors which can be consumed without mixing with any other beverage. Alternatively, those flavors of Melon, Orange and Tropical Mix are suited to mix with many different alcoholic beverages. Finally the tea flavored, hot or cold consumption optioned, 4th variation is the revolutionary energy drink product. With its unmatched and tailor-made for Turkish taste tea flavor; this energy drink can be consumed even in breakfast. Its ability to be consumed as a hot drink is also revolutionary. 2. Pricing: Tiger offers excellent quality with better pricing than its 2 major competitors, Red Bull and Burn 3. Product Ingredients: Tiger’s excellent combination of Guarana and Ginseng causes great focus, improved memory and higher productivity. Furthermore, the Thein in tea-flavored variation invokes additional alertness, especially required in the morning. 4. Serving Sizes: Unlike its competitors, Tiger will have 350 ml cans for Orange, Melon Tropical Mix flavors and 75 ml cans for tea flavored variation as well as the conventional 250 ml cans. 2. 2. 2. Weaknesses 1. Lack of Brand Awareness: Tiger does not have an established brand awareness and image. On the other side, Red Bull, Burn and other competitors have strong brand images. This issue will be dealt with aggressive promotion activities. 2. 2. 3. Opportunities 1. Growing and Profitable Market: The Energy Drink market grows around 30% annually. Furthermore, that sub category of the non-alcoholic beverages market has the highest profitability. 2. Demographics: Turkey’s population is younger compared with European and U. S markets. Therefore, target market size is lucratively big. 2. 2. 4. Threats 1. Competition: The competition in Turkey is well established. Red Bull and Burn share the upper segment of the market with almost 65% of the market value in total. With the addition of smaller and cheaper products, there are around 40 different brands in Turkey. In sum, Turkish Energy Drink market is highly competitive. 2. Energy Drinks’ image: Energy drinks are still seen as unhealthy and unnatural. In 2001, Red Bull was banned in Turkish market due to excessive caffeine content. Red Bull’s caffeine content is 400 mg per liter, whereas Turkish regulations did not permit higher than 150 mg at that time. However in 2004, Turkish Food Codex has been updated according to European Union standards and Red Bull’s ban had been revoked. Additionally, some fatalities occurred after excessive alcohol consumption and it was said that energy drinks were also involved and they would cause death when mixed with alcohol. These incidents along with the banning history of Red Bull strengthened the â€Å"unnatural and unhealthy† image of the Energy Drinks. 2. 3. Competition 2. 4. Product Offering 2. 5. Distribution 3. 0. Marketing Strategy 1. The main marketing strategy is to emphasize Tiger’s distinctive taste, different usage opportunities and size can. The taste is not too intense but very enjoyable with three different flavor. The product has 3 different and well liked flavors which can be consumed without mixing with any other beverage. Alternatively, those flavors of Melon, Orange and Tropical Mix are suited to mix with many different alcoholic beverages. The tea flavored, hot or cold consumption optioned will be an innovative energy drink. The size also provides a longer lasting boost of energy and cognition and production capability which led to the brand â€Å"Stay focused† slogan. 3. 1. Marketing Objectives Since we are completely a new brand we have set realist but achievable objectives for the for the first and second years of market entry First year objectives: In 2012, the total volume of energy drink will be theoretically 33 million liter if we take the consideration of the growth rate and last year wasted volume. We are planning to get a 5 percent share of the Turkish energy drink market through unit sales volume of approximately 5. 000. 000. We have to achieve a steady increase in market penetration. The primary goal is to build and increase both awareness and brand loyalty for Voltro among upper-income professional age 25 – 40. Second year objectives: In second year the main objective is to increase market share from 5 to 8 percent. We are planning to achieve break-even and start to get profit on our third year in business. 3. 2. Financial Objectives. Energy drinks are most profitable beverage among all non-alcoholic beverages. The energy drink market is very small compared to other beverages market but it is growing 30 percent per year. Our financial objective is to maintain and increase this grow rate for our business. For the first year specially we would like to maintain a significant advertising budget to execute and utilize different media vehicles: magazine, internet, prime-time television, ambient and billboards. These media vehicles will allow Tiger to reach the desired reach and frequencies while keeping within the budget. 3. 3. Target Markets Tiger’s strategy is based on a positioning of different and exotic flavors, hot or cold use opportunities and varied serving sizes. Our main consumer target of Tiger is upper income level white collar people, working parents and young adults between 25 and 40 age who want healthy, natural, tasty and a high quality an energy drink with an affordable price. Tiger energy drink has ability to strengthen memory, increase focus and overcome exhaustion and insufficient energy. Our secondary consumer target is low and mid income level which include truck drivers and blue collar workers who seek to stay alert during driving, working, etc†¦ These type of consumers are only looking to pay less for an energy drink since they consume for a purpose: â€Å"stay focused and alert†. 3. 5. Positioning Kaplan’s strategy is to be an innovative energy drink by product differentiation based on size, taste and hot or cold usage. Using product differentiation, we are positioning Tiger Energy Drink as the most revolutionary, tasty and healthy energy drink. Tiger is the brand of energy drinks that gives you the need of concentration and productivity in day time and need of fun and high energy in night to allow you to do everything you want in a full day of work and play. The fruity and tropical fresh taste leaves you asking for more and the bigger size contain more healthy ingredients than their competitors. Our marketing will focus on the value-priced equilibrium, reflecting the positive side of a big size and product taste and usage alternatives. 3. 6. Strategies Product 3. 7. Marketing Program 3. 8. Marketing Research 4. 0 Financials 4. 1. Break-Even Analysis 4. 2. Sales Forecast 4. 3. Expense Forecast 5. 0. Controls 5. 1. Implementation 5. 2. Marketing Organization 5. 3. Contingency Planning Non-alcoholic beverages market data excludes pure milk and home use demijohn water products.