The harmful value of value meals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The harmful value of value meals - Essay Example For instance, Yum! Brands Inc., has established 38,000 restaurants globally; and McDonalds has set-up a total of 33,000 chains from all over the continent. Hence, it is no surprise why fast food is already served at restaurants, drive-through, schools and universities, bus stations, airports, and even at hospitals. People’s fast food preference may be due to the fact that it is served quicker; thus, allowing them to maximize their time and become more efficient in their daily tasks. Likewise, others opt to buy fast food for their meal because it is delicious and very affordable. However, little did they know that as they consume more and more fast food each day, they are putting themselves in high danger of acquiring various fatal diseases. Obesity Obesity (i.e. a body mass index of greater than or equal to 30) is one of the detrimental effects of too much fast food consumption. According to Brindal et al., fast food contains highly dense and high level of fats and calories pe r serving high (113). Thus, over-consumption of fast food makes people more susceptible to gaining weight, which usually exceeds the normal status. According to the World Health Organization (â€Å"Obesity and Overweight†), since the year 1980, the total number of global-wide obesity has doubled; and just recently, the total number of people who are obese has reached more than 500 million. Obesity makes people’s life more difficult and hassle because people with a very heavy weight cannot move freely, which makes less mobile. As an effect, they may develop other complications like being bow-legged (especially for obese children), sleep disturbances like sleep apnea, asthma, arthritis, and poor surgical and childbirth outcomes (for mothers) Clarke (â€Å"Health Risks†). The worst is, WHO (â€Å"Obesity and Overweight†) made it clear that obesity is more deadly than being underweight. Aside from the physical danger brought by obesity to people, it may also put them in a state of emotional crisis. Obesity may lead to depression because of the hormonal imbalance that happens inside the body as more fats are consumed (Bessesen, Hill and Wyatt). Aside from that, being obese, unfortunately, increases their chances of being the subject of negative judgment, severe bullying, and social discrimination. Considering the societal norm of beauty and ideal body structure, being obese does not qualify to the established standards. Thus, obese individuals need to handle those emotional and social challenges in which only few may endure. Some may resort to suicide because for them, it is better to end their lives than to continuously experience the trauma of being rejected. Apparently, this is how far fast food eating can throw people. By merely wanting to experience the comfort fast food offers, they need to carry the physical and emotional burden it brings. However, this is just one of the reasons why it is practical to abolish the practice of eati ng fast food. Type 2 Diabetes Type 2 diabetes is another health problem that may arise as a result of fast food eating. Fast foods such as soft drinks or soda, French fries, shakes, sandwiches, burger, pizza pies, etc. are rich in carbohydrates (Clarke â€Å"Why is Fast Food†). Too much carbohydrate intake increases the level of the blood component triglyceride, which results to either, failure of the pancreas to produce enough amount of insulin or body system’s improper insulin use (Clarke â€Å"Why is Fast Food†). This scenario exposes individuals to the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, for sugar in their body will build up in the bloodstream instead of being utilized for energy. For instance, in the

Factors That Influence Traditional Marketing

Factors That Influence Traditional Marketing Recently it has been evidenced in some literature that, ICT applications such as workflow systems, groupware systems, e-mail, and data transfer through Internet and videoconferencing may have diluted some of the traditional market functions which were used by many marketers in facilitating their day to day marketing techniques. This new way of doing business has some effects to the future market due to the different levels of technological advancement the community has. In terms of implications for global marketing, the impact of ICT activities would have its strongest impact on product development decisions. The trend towards modular designs and the companion platform product strategy in which a firm designs a common core with different versions for different segments is likely to accelerate.1 Principally, marketing is the science of choosing target markets through market analysis and market segmentation, as well as understanding consumer buying behavior and providing superior customer value still needs a wider discussion.2 The main goal of marketing is to make profit by satisfying customer demands and needs. It is also a strategy that can make a business to grow and become powerful. It is the market target which will define the type of marking structure the marketers might choose to adopt. However, there is an ongoing battle between these types of marketing such as traditional marketing and the marketing which utilizes the advancement of information technology in determining which is better than the other. This being the case; there is a need of identifying the advantages and disadvantages of each marketing type. Objectives: The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of ICT on Traditional Marketing and to discuss the prospects and challenges of the changing roles for future marketing. Methodology: The group worked on different materials from the internet, books, journals, interviews and class presentation on marketing and marketing management Conclusion: Basing on different presentations, books, papers and some formal and informal interview answers, the authors have come to a conclusion that, the combination of the two ways of marketing may be important for successful marketing functions in global markets. With respect to emerging the ICT revolution, internet which is mostly used as a communication channel it has a large impact in marketing and a strong tool of reaching large audience. INTRODUCTION: ICT is an acronym that stands for Information and Communication Technology. ICT is used in marketing as a process of marketing a product or service using the information communication technology channels. ICT marketing being a process of marketing a product or service using the advanced Information communication technology, it utilizes strategies like website creation, search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads, social media, pay-per-click advertising and email marketing. In this process, marketing a brand using digital media is used to help connecting business to their customers. Business activities are conducted via the worldwide web (www) with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current customers and/or business and developing its brand identity. The application of ICT in marketing helped in achieving marketing objectives and the modern marketing concepts which enables marketers to distribute their products and increase their customer base and makes it easier for stakeholders to access market and management data, share information and to build trading partnerships. As a marketing tool; ICT has attracted more customers and has influenced marketing decisions due to its easy accessibility and utilization hence adds value and improved company business and revenues. It enables consumers to collect information as the prices can be accessed online. However, marketers need to make creative and innovative use of information employing both technology and intuition to tease out trends and opportunities. Adding on the application of ICT in marketing, Strauss et al (2003)3 suggest that ICT in marketing covers a wide range of IT related applications with three main aims such as one; transforming marketing strategies to create more customer value through more effective segmentation, targeting, two; differentiation and positioning strategies; planning and executing the conception, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and three satisfy individual consumer and organizational customers objectives. Marketing Marketing can be said to be the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of product, price, place and promotional strategy. Marketing consists of the strategies and tactics used to identify, create and maintain satisfying relationships with customers that result in value for both the customer and the marketer. Marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction and it differs from selling because selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse and satisfy customer needs.4 Led by marketing scholars from several major universities, (name the personauthor who say this.)5 substantiate the development of marketing in large part be motivated by the need to dissect in greater detail relationships and behaviors that existed between sellers and buyers. In particular, the study of marketing led sellers to recognize that adopting certain strategies and tactics could significantly benefit the seller/buyer relationship. Basic Marketing Functions Marketing is all about identifying and meeting human and social needs. it is the art which marketers use to understand their customers. There are some basic marketing functions highlighted as follows:- Market Research and Information Management, Product Management, Market management , Sales management, Physical distribution management and Promotion research. 2.0. Overview of Traditional Marketing Traditional marketing utilizes strategies like direct sales, TV, radio, mail, print advertising eg. Magazines, coupon, books, billboards, and promotional materials. A marketer who adopts the traditional method will use the unique selling proposition to market a particular product from a particular brand with less number of competitors. However, this adaptation to the marketing plans and strategies end in advertising. The method believes that, advertising which exposes the product to the world and places it is the best platform to target customer. Traditional marketers understand marketing to be comprised of four mixed facets, known as the Four Ps: Price, Product, Placement and Promotion. 2.1. Factors that influence the traditional marketing: With selling as the ultimate goal, marketing strategies are influenced by two basic factors: first is acquisition of customers, second is retention of the acquired customers. So every other strategy that is laid out will focus on these two. A Company has to work closely towards achieving these factors to attain the desired cutting edge over its competitors. Together with the two factors; there are also a few other objectives such as creating awareness through information and education of the product, brand-building and accelerating sales which must accompany the utilization of the traditional marketing factors. Traditional marketing encourages person-to-person selling as a most popular marketing strategy. Customers can directly be able to see the product, test it and decide to buy a product or service he has seen. Moreover, it is a marketing type which is tangible as it offers hard copy material. There is something to be said about handing a consumer some tangible printed material they can flip through at their leisure. With few advantage of a Traditional Marketing, there is however negative factors that brings changes such as expensive Cost Prohibitive: Purchasing advertising for TV, radio or print can be very costly prohibitive to most small businesses. Printing hard copy brochures, business cards and mailers is expensive. When using the traditional mode, it is difficult to track results. It is like throwing things against the wall and hoping they stick. It is tough to track real quantitative results. This being the case, it is usually requires outside help by using things such as printing materials, buying media and creating radio advertisements all require hiring outside help, which adds to costs. Lastly, the method forces upon consumers to a product or service, they dont necessarily ask for it. 3.0. Over view of the ICT Society forces have managed to facilitate the creation of the new marketing behavior and opportunities. With the advances in technology, globalization, privatization, retail transformation, customer buying power; which brings more accurate level of production, technological advances, make it easier for the markets to increase efficiency, branding, collect richer information, direct selling and quick delivery of product. ICT as a means to facilitate eMarketing is concerned with the storage, retrieval, manipulation, transmission or receipt of digital data. Importantly, it is also concerned with the way these different uses can work with each other to achieve a certain objective. 3.1. Factors affecting ICT in marketing The ICT has some advantages and disadvantages in the marketing. Some of them are that when the marketer use this marketing type, it is easier to measure the results. Data and results are available immediately when needed for decision making. These data can be made using both real data and qualitative results on whether to market certain product or service or not as the data collecting system is accurate and is governed by programmes which are computerized. ICT has the ability to drill down into your demographics to accurately reach your target market. The use of social media and networking allow the marketers to communicate directly with groups or even individual consumers. The ability to build direct relationships with your customers via social media and communities is guaranteed. ICT can facilitate, marketing research, company can facilitate and speed up internal communication, achieve substantial savings by using the internet to compare sellers price and purchase materials With some few advantages, ICT has some disadvantages such as time consumptions, third party ability to mismanage posted information, sources of power to run the machines, save the strong and lose the weak, Searching in the web to obtain the product or service required time and space. Consumer is forced to search for a required product in different webs to obtain a brandy needed. With the utilization of time, this mode is not of benefit. There is no reliability and customers interaction hence increase intangibility. Customer has to choose whether to buy the product displayed in the web or choose for the other product elsewhere. The art of interaction increases ownership and customer brand loyal to a certain product. It can be highly demanding on the web owners as it requires continuous content creation, edited, approved and published comments must be responded to and sites and pages must be maintained every time. This requires manpower which is effective and can quickly respond to the customer needs. Furthermore, the use of ICT can create classes as it saves the strong and loses the weak. It is the stronger who can manage to pay for the services and be able to access the ICT marketing hence the middle and lower class customers who cannot access the web pages are exonerated. Impact of ICT in Traditional Marketing Functions The two types of marketing are geared towards obtaining maximum marketing results with customer satisfaction as a major objective. Marketing being a collective process where individuals can exchange goods or services based on their needs and wants, the marketing mix principle of the product, price, place and promotion is used. (10) [Philip Kotler, 2003, Marketing Management]. However, each one is useful depending on the desired objective, population and especially the marketing mix the community has. ICT maintains a database of information for record purpose, analysis, research and production of management reports is enhanced for decision making, physical distribution is enhanced through fleet tracking systems, warehouse stock monitoring tools, distribution monitoring and controls, promotion research, etc. the traditional marketing has also database depending on the retail and selling of the product for the warehouse to retail outlets, advertising and customer responses to the advertised product. Customers in the ICT marketing cannot experience the quality and size of the product by just seeing it on the website in the same way as seeing the product in a physical store. The attitude of not being able to reach and feel the product physically, can create doubts for the customer and have an effect on his/her purchasing decision.11 (Philip Kotler) whereas in the traditional marketing product is tangible for the customer to touch, view and feel. When it comes to a range of products offered through Internet compared to physical stores used in the traditional marketing, there is an advantage of possibility for a company to offer a wide range of products on their website.12 The issues that can appear here are cost and space for inventory and store space itself, where there is a connection between cost and space in the traditional marketing. The issue of customer service and how it can reach the customer has some impact on both marketing modes. It is more difficult to provide customer service through Internet compared to face to face contact when the customer visits the physical store or a selling point. The customer can get a quick response and reaction from the staff when getting a service in the physical store, where as through Internet the customer is dealing with a so called fixed service. And even though there might be possibility for communicating through e-mail or support chat function, the response and communication of service will not be as personal and quick as it could be when communicating face to face. One issue that can affect the customers choice of purchase is the warranty of the good. This gives comfort to customers, both in traditional marketing and Internet marketing but most importantly it gives the secure feeling to those purchasing online. The customer that cannot see and touch the product when purchasing it would feel more secure knowing that there is a warranty on the product and this would make the choice of purchase easier and less risky. The pricing of a product can be based on the costs of its process in reaching the market. When a company does Internet marketing it has a bigger opportunity to save costs and therefore a bigger possibility to have lower prices on a particular product. The traditional marketing has more cost implications as one of the reasons for this is the cost of space for keeping the products than the cheap way of communication through internet by e-mail. When marketing through Internet, the competition is very tough with the effect in the pricing setup. The competitors are a click away when a potential customer is searching for information on the Internet. Since payments for purchase through Internet are done by credit card mostly, there can be some security issues that create problems. For example a customer would feel more secure paying in the physical store where they can have more control over the payment process; whereas purchasing online is by taking a risk when giving the credit card details. In traditional marketing, companies have the opportunities to decorate the stores in order to create a specific atmosphere that can attract customers. Some attractive tools to create that atmosphere can be music, colors, tea, coffee etc, but through Internet marketing it is almost impossible to create a real sensation since a website is just a virtual image. Even though many of the websites try to create an atmosphere by adding the same tools for attraction, they cannot create as real experience as can be created in the physical store. The atmosphere of the store is mentioned to be very important for sales of the products. For example if you see an unorganized store just filled up with some clothes you hardly feel tempted to go in and look for anything. The way the store is decorated gives a message about the company and its style. When one thinks about this, one can realize the importance of the physical existence of the store. Think for example how the company could offer the same atmosphere through the website. But in the end the experience of stepping into the store is different than clicking on computer when shopping. Internet helps companies to be reachable at any time, regardless of openings hours that physical stores require. Also the possibility for the customers to reach the store location online and the range of customers that can do that is much wider compared to the physical location of the store. When it comes to promotion, one thing which is clear is the difference between the communication through traditional and Internet is the speed. Speed of getting the message of advertisement, news or any type of information through to customers is very quick through Internet. This is a very important issue in the competitive world of business. Another difference between promotion by Internet and promotion by traditional ways is the durability of the marketing message the marketer wants to communicate with the customers. In traditional manner, the message would receive attention during a limited amount of time, for example as it is aired on TV or sent out as paper advertising, whereas on the Internet, the message to the customers can exist constantly on the companys website. Through a website, a company can present itself in many ways where the customer can study different aspects of the company and get to know it well where as this is not possible in the same way through traditional tools for promotion. For example the complexity of wide range of information cannot be easily fitted into a magazine advertising or TV commercial etc. The tools for traditional promotion can be used mainly in communicating the message shortly and consistently. There is also a burden of maintaining a website or online commercials that consume time, resources, technology, skills and money will be mostly used. But this should be weighted out by the accessibility and opportunity they provide. The traditional marketing only requires the selling channel which can be physically observed and maintained. Nowadays a large group of consumers have the problem of time but have the money to spend; therefore it can be easier for them to shop online and saving time when spending. The image, speed, design and generally every aspect of the website of a company is very important. 5.0. Prospects and Challenges of the changing roles for future marketing 5.1. Prospects for future Marketing: As it was discussed earlier, marketing is largely affected by societal forces which then affect marketing behaviors and opportunities. Recent approaches in marketing with a focus on the customer, business marketing or industrial marketing with focus on an organization or institution and social marketing with focus on benefits to society, have creates new forms of marketing such as the internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, online marketing, search engine marketing, or desktop advertising. This marketing attempts to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to be broad in scope, because it not only refers to marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail and wireless media. Technological advancements can lessen barriers between countries and regions. By using webs, firms can quickly dispatch information from one country to another without much restriction. Prior to the mass usage of the Internet, such transfers of information would have taken longer to send, especially if done via snail mail (postal mail), telex, etc. The advancement in technology provides companies with a new tool for direct marketing and advertising that may be cost effective and provide maximum delivery to targeted customers. Recently, there has been a large emphasis on data analysis. Data can be mined from various sources such as online forms, mobile phone applications and more recently, social media. Marketers can collect fuller and richer information about markets, customers, prospects and even competitors. Internet marketing makes the market reachable at anytime regardless of the time and opening hours restrictions that the physical store may require. Shopping of product and services can be done on line and selling transactions is concluded within a short time. It saves time to attend and concentrate on one item. Product or service can be represented in different designs and quickly utilized when viewed under the internet. During this time of globalization, the technological advancement has overtaken all other means of life so do the market atmosphere. With Internet, marketers have a great opportunity to offer sales promotions such as competitions or price reductions to those who visit the companys website. This can encourage the customers to visit that website again and this way of interacting with the customers provides the means for the company to build a long term relationship with their customers. Internet is a new medium for public relations and it offers companies the opportunity to publish the news directly while in traditional marketing they would wait for periodical publications or brochures. They can use Blogs, Podcasts/ Internet radio shows, online newsrooms and media kits. 5.2. Challenges for the changing roles for future marketing Legal issues and specific Internet legislation are vitally important and online marketers should fully be aware of the law wherever they trade whether it is within their own national boundaries, or inside an economic trading bloc such as the European Union or in other nation states. Time, money, litigation and public relations damage can be avoided by being familiar with the relevant legislation and applying to the organisations both in the public and private sector. The problems associated with the Internet that marketers must understand and respond to such as customer resistance to change, especially older and disadvantaged people; public concerns over privacy issues, such as SPAM and chat-rooms, lingering security doubts over fraud and phishing (hackers) and network security and stability (worms). Lack of trust with unknown virtual traders, the Internets sensory boundaries limiting of senses like taste and touch which influence buyer decisions, limited web access for low-income groups and those in rural areas, continued high costs of broadband connections deterring high speed take up, social impact of the Internet such as debts generated from online gambling. Poor levels of online customer service and fulfillment, technology gap between users and providers, complexities of cross-border trading, failure to provide an exciting and reliable online shopping experience. CONCLUSION It has been observed that, ICT has played a significant role in changing the marketing functions in the market. Many of the consulted sources such as internet sites, books, marketing thesis and journals, company marketers who were interviewed, made a reference to the changes which occurred in the community which automatically necessitated the dimension of the type of marketing marketers might use. The future trends of marketing include not only the economy but of communication with brandy of the products or service to measure result and brandy awareness. Traditional marketing takes a little more trust that the impact of your efforts is helping your bottom line. With Internet marketing you can see real facts and every detail that leads to reaching the goals and allows making decision based on facts while the traditional way may face some difficulties when required to show data that leads to achieving the goals. However, the best way to really know how effective your marketing approach is to see exactly what the audience is responding. Internet marketing allows studying every detail about the audience in real time. Although Internet Marketing is better at reaching the targeted audience, the traditional marketing is known for its reach to a mass audience. There are ways that traditional marketing can target certain demographics depending on a television channel or show, radio station genre or industry magazine. However, traditional marketing will never be able to target as precisely as Internet marketing. With Internet marketing one can target even the smallest audience based on a variety of things. Internet marketing provides better word-of-mouth as an effective marketing. The fact that social media allows people to build a community and let others spread positive feedback about the product or service. People will normally trust word-of-mouth much more than traditional ads that tries to convince you about the benefits of a product or service. These will emphasis on the tactics that are working and eliminate anything that is not effective. Traditional marketing develops a campaign and then hopes that it will work. This makes it difficult for traditional agencies to test new ideas or even look into all of the details to determine the effectiveness of a campaign. More companies are now moving away from traditional marketing towards Internet marketing. Companies are shifting money from traditional marketing to Internet marketing because Internet marketing is a more effective way to show proven results. Moreover, provision of valuable information to people creates a positive impression which helped in creating marketing. It also helps in reaching people who may not have any pre-existing interest or knowledge of your company. Despite the fact that education and sensitize on the advantages of ICT use in marketing is vital, the issues of internet security, privacy and international trading laws should also be emphasized. Despite the development of the internet; traditional marketing strategies are still proven to be highly effective when carried out in the right way. Nowadays are hundreds of other traditional marketing methods that people still use to market their business everyday and they do work, but due to the living standards we have today, response to these methods is quietly low.

Genetically Modified Foods: The Downfall of Monsanto Essay -- Monsanto

Executive Summary Monsanto ¡Ã‚ ¦s downfall could be attributed to several reasons. The passion of Alan Shapiro ¡Ã‚ ¦s vision blinded the Company into making rash decisions and the large amounts of money spent pursuing the objective prevented any U-turns later. The company ¡Ã‚ ¦s unshaken beliefs that it was correct had made it arrogant and not listen to the outrage all around. Monsanto underestimated consumer resistance. There was no obvious benefit in the products introduced. It may have been a different story if the products were introduced in developing counties where transport is poor or people starving from crop failures. Monsanto also ignored cultural differences. Canada and US were indifferent to genetically modified products but there was anger in Europe and the UK. Recent blunders by government handling the BSE and  ¡Ã‚ §Mad Cow ¡Ã‚ ¨ outbreaks dampened people ¡Ã‚ ¦s confidence in genetically modified products. Selling the idea of genetically modified crops is not easy. The industry needs to persuade people of the benefits and the companies must be seen to be socially responsible, socially responsive and ethical. Companies mission statements must not seem to be solely profit driven. Introduction - Monsanto and Alan Shapiro's Vision "It's about the earth, it's about the environment, and it ¡Ã‚ ¦s about food. It's about health and nutrition. Those are deep, ancient things for civilisation, and they are for the people." - Alan Shapiro The Monsanto Company in 1995 led by Alan Shapiro was involved in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food and chemicals. Shapiro's passionate vision was the application of biology to food, nutrition and human health. He believed that people would want the products offered by Monsanto. The products themselves are protected by patents, thus restricting competition. All Monsanto needed to do was dominate and position all their products as either number one or two in their respective markets. Consolidation started in the seed market that was already concentrated in the hands of a few companies. By 1999 Monsanto spent more than $8 billion making acquisitions. Four corn seed companies had controlled 87% of the US market in 1996. Monsanto acquired two of them, Holden's Foundation Seeds and DeKalb. Delta & Land Pine controlled 75% of the cottonseed market and Monsanto made a bid for that company too. It was a simple winning strategy preac... ...d user safety. Figure 3 shows a suitable process where products are assessed prior to introduction and results evaluated. It is important for organisations operating in this area to be ethical. The organisation must be socially responsible, i.e. monitor social developments, forecast potential problems and even conduct surveys to determine social requirements. The organisation must have special departments, taskforce or committees e.g. DuPont that are responsive to the changing social sentiments. The company must persuade people of the benefits of biotechnology and genetically enhanced products listen to all stakeholders and not underestimate consumer resistance. Bibliography Byrne, J.  ¡Ã‚ §How Jack Welch runs GE ¡Ã‚ ¨  ¡V Business Week 8 June 1998 Genetically Modified Crops: The Ethical and Social Issues - www.nuffieldfoundation.org Batalion, N.  ¡Ã‚ §50 Harmful effects of Genetically Modified Foods ¡Ã‚ ¨ - www.cqs.com Specter, M.  ¡Ã‚ §Food that Bit Back ¡Ã‚ ¨ - Good Weekend 10 June 2000. Hewett, J.  ¡Ã‚ §DuPont turns into a green crusader ¡Ã‚ ¨  ¡V Sydney Morning Herald 4 June 2001 Adventa Home Page - www.advantacan.com Sygenta Home Page - www.syngenta.com Pioneer Hi-Bred Home Page - www.pioneer.com

In Howards End, Forster is very much on the side of women, and unfair to male characters

Edward Morgan Forster was born in 1879 in London. His father died before he was born and subsequently it was women who brought him up, his mother and great-aunt Marianne Thornton. Foster spent his childhood largely in the female company and in their sheltering presence, who no doubt gave him knowledge of how women were perceived and where their role was in the society. It was his aunt who left Forster a legacy of eight thousand pounds, a considerable sum in those days when remembering that Margaret Schlegel lives very well on six hundred a year. The inheritance from his aunt enabled him to write in independence and security. It is therefore unsurprising that Forster held a high opinion of women, and being brought up by them, not surprising that he would take ‘their side'. Forster exposes the constructed nature of gender and his own ambivalent relationship to traits coded ‘masculine' and ‘feminine' in his culture. However, there is substantial evidence to suggest that Forster was deeply troubled and preoccupied by his own gender identity in this period. This may be reason for Forster to side with women in the play. Forster uses Margaret as the central character in the novel and the most completely drawn. Through certain parts of the novel, the narration seems to vacillate between Margaret and Forster. This shows that Forster is much more inclined to take the side of women rather than men. She is the centre of consciousness in nearly every scene. In chapter two Forster sums her up and sums up the cause of her fascination; she has ‘a profound vivacity, a continual and sincere response to all that she encountered in her path through life'. Forster seems to be always able to rise to the challenge of that description. Helen has a lot in common with Margaret. We are told that she is much more beautiful than Margaret as well as being more impulsive, idealistic and uncompromising. Helen is a character who is ‘rather apt to entice people, and, in enticing them, to be herself enticed'. Forster presents Helen as an imaginative character although she often talks without thinking. Helen's responses to life are intense, excitable and exaggerated. The difference presented by Forster is that men view life as a conquest to gain materialistic pleasure, which although may be enjoyed presently, they are not able to take theses pleasures with them. Women differ, as Helen states in chapter twenty-seven, that money is not an end to all means, and that life is more about emotional conquest. However this is easy for Helen to say as she is set up for life with inheritance money. Therefore, money should not be an issue to Helen, which is proved when she tries to offer Leonard five thousand pounds. Forster's central opposition between man and woman seems to be played out by Henry and Margaret, in which it is blatantly obvious that Forster sides with Margaret. This can be seen in the conversation on the levels of houses. Margaret recognizes that ‘ours is a female house†¦. It must be feminine and all we can do is see that it isn't effeminate. Just as another house I can mention, but I won't, sound irrevocably masculine, and all its inmates can do is see that it isn't brutal'. Through Margaret Schlegel, the traditional terms of masculinity and femininity are scrutinized and are subjected to the demands of higher integration. Margaret's point of view is ultimately not representative of a view that might be coded as essentially female or feminine. Forster is sensitive both to the essentialist conceptions of the female and the social coding of feminism. Margaret is much the voice of Forster when speaking and underlines Forster opinions of women and the fact that he is very much on their side throughout debate and speeches in the novel. In conclusion, in my opinion, the fact that Forster was troubled by his own sexuality and the fact he was a homosexual would incline him to take the views of women. This is also propelled by the fact that his upbringing was done only by women in the form of his mother and his aunt. Forster's inheritance ensured he would not have to labor in order to educate himself, so in fact may never of had much contact with ‘the real world'.

What is the Election Procedure in India?

An election is a contest between different candidates from various parties out of which the voters elect one as their representative. There may also be independent candidates taking part in the election. There are following stages in the electoral process (procedure): (a) Delimitation of constituencies: First of all the entire area-the whole country in the case of Lok Sabha elections and of that particular State in the case of Legislative Assembly elections-is divided into as many constituencies as there are seats. (b) Preparation of voters' list: After the demarcation of constituency, the voters' list of each constituency is prepared and published. (c) Filing of nomination papers: The dates of election, filing of nomination papers and withdrawals are fixed by the Election Commission. Any person, who wants to fight the election, can file his nomination papers by the due date. His name must be there in the voters' list and he should be eligible to fight election. His name should be proposed and seconded by the voters of that Constituency. Every candidate has to deposit some security along with his nomination papers. d) Scrutiny of nomination papers and withdrawals: A date is fixed for the scrutiny of all the nomination papers. If the nomination papers of any candidate are found to be not in order, they are rejected. The candidates can also withdraw their names from elections upto a certain date fixed by the Election Commission. (e) Election campaign: The next stage in the election is the election campaign by various candidates and political parties. Posters are distributed, meetings are held and speeches are delivered. Processions are also taken out and sometimes use of Radio and Television is also made. Through all these means voters are requested for votes. The election campaign normally ends 48 hours before the election. Although every political party and candidate are free to do their election campaign yet according to our election laws no party or candidate can (i) bribe or threaten the voters. (ii) appeal to the voters in the name of caste or religion. (iii) use government resources for election campaign. (iv) spend more than 25 lakhs for a Lok Sabha Election and Rs. 0 lakh for an Assembly Election. In case they indulge in any of the above practices their election can be annulled by the court even after they have been duly elected. (f) Model code of conduct: In addition to the laws, all the political parties in the country have agreed to a model code of conduct for the election campaign. This includes: (i) Any place of worship shall not be used for election propaganda. (ii) Criticism of the opposing candidates shall be limited to their policies and programmes past record of public service and not mention of their private personal lives. iii) The government official transport like car, vehicles, machinery and aircraft and personnel shall not be used by government officials or ministers. (iv) No posters, pamphlets or notice, slogans shall be placed on any building without the permission of the owner. (v) Any minister shall not lay down foundation stones of any project, make appointments and transfer of officials or make any promises for providing public facilities after the elections have been announced. (g) Voting: On the date fixed earlier, voting takes place. For voting, election booths are set up. Voters go to the polling booths and cast their votes for the candidates of their choice. Voting is held by secret ballot. These days Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) is used to record votes. EVM has the names of the candidates and their election symbols. The voters have to press the button against the name and symbol of the candidate they wish to vote for. (h) Counting of votes and declaration of result: After the voting is over, the ballot- boxes are sealed and taken to the counting centers. There the ballot boxes are opened before the candidates or their agents and votes are counted under the supervision of the returning officer. A candidate who gets the highest number of votes is declared elected. (i) Election petition: If any candidate feels that the election in his Constituency has not been held properly, or if he has any objection against the result, he can file an election petition in the Court. If the objections raised are found to be correct the court can set aside that election. In that Constituency, the election will be held again.