Mumbai Slums Essay Example for Free

Mumbai Slums Essay An earthquake occurs when there is a sudden release of energy in the Earths crust that causes seismic waves. Earthquakes are typically caused by opening of geological faults. They are however also caused by volcanic activity, landslides, mine blasts, and nuclear experiments. The effects of earthquakes are many and far reaching. Earthquakes cause shaking and ground ruptures which result in less or sometimes more severe damage to buildings or other rigid structures. Earthquakes also results in landslides and avalanches, which sometimes causes damage in hilly and mountain areas. After an earthquake, the place can catch fire by breaking of the electrical power or gas lines. Because of the shaking, sometimes the soil liquefies, the loose saturated cohesion less soil loses its strength and temporarily transforms from a solid to a liquid state. Soil liquefaction causes firm structures like buildings and bridges to slant or sink into a liquefied state. Earthquakes result in loss of life, damage to property, fatal diseases, lack of basic necessities and it affects the financial and economical structure of the country. Some safety measures are used so that the government, individual and businesses can prepare themselves against this calamity. To reduce the damage, retrofitting techniques and modern earthquake resistant designs of new buildings and lifeline structures like bridges, hospitals and power plants are used in earthquake prone areas. The emergency services under the local and state government ensure that the public is safe by dealing with the crisis. Individuals and businesses are encouraged by governments to have an earthquake kit and supplies for three days at hand. As a result of an increase of the number of seismic stations today, the earthquakes are reported more than in the past, which help in the preparation process. Slums in Mumbai Slums always existed in Mumbai. In 19th century, slums grew around mills and other places of employment. Now they grow where ever there is empty space. Slum dwellers today cover 60% of Mumbai’s population. The government tried to rectify the problem in 1985 by passing the Slum Upgradation Project. Regrettable the project targeted only 10-12% of the slum population, those who were able to of upgrade their homes. It ignored inhabitants in slums, those who did not have homes at all. In spite of all the attempts to cure the problem of slums in Mumbai, slums are still growing. The growth rate of slums is actually greater than the growth rate of general urban. It is estimated that everyday 100 to 300 new families come to Mumbai. Most of them end up in a slum colony or just put up a shanty on the on the footpath. Due to migration, the city’s population is increasing and with it the slums. These facts show that migration has to stop to cure the problem of slums. According to Professor RN Sharma, (the head of the Urban Studies Unit in Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Mumbai, the city is unquestionably disintegrating into slums. A Jockin of SPARC, (the NGO that works for slums) said that the rehabilitation process is the only solution to the problem of slums in Mumbai. He said: â€Å"This talk about Mumbai having predominantly slums is rubbish. Already 67 per cent of slums on railway land have been re-settled. The airport project and the rehabilitation near Mithi River is also happening at a good pace. These figures of slum population rising is not true†. Former housing minister Nawab Mallik also agreed that rehabilitation is a best way to get rid of slums. References: Earthquake. (2007, November 4). Retrieved November 5, 2007 from World Wide Web: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Earthquake Juneja, Saakshi. (2006, January 9). Mumbai Slums. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://mumbai. metblogs. com/archives/2006/01/mumbai_slums. phtml Slums. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www. macalester. edu/courses/GEOG61/espencer/slums. html Slums: The Magnitude of the Problem. Retrieved November 5, 2007 from World Wide Web: http://theory. tifr. res. in/bombay/amenities/housing/slum-stats. html

Death Of A Salesman: Symbols :: essays research papers

Death of a Salesman: Symbols Many symbols are incorporated into the play "Death of a Sales man" and they in turn relate to both character and theme. The hose, tape recorder and the seeds are some of these symbols. The hose in Miller's drama directly relates to the theme of d eath. The hose is a line attached to the gas main in Willy's house which allows him to snif f the gas. This action can be seen as Willy's suicide wish, and escape from the realities of life. As seen in the loss of his job and his failure to succeed. The hose also represents grief and deception. For when Linda, Willy's wife, finds the hose, she is distraught over its in tended purpose. The deceptive nature of the hose is apparent when Willy is confronted about it by Biff his son and Willy denies its existence. A similar denial is also evident when Willy is confronted with the tape recorder in Howard's office. The tape recorder signifies the change in Willy's life throug h the advancement of technology. It also represents the end of Willy's career. This is brought about when Howard, Willy's boss and godson, shows the tape recorder to Willy and appe ars to be more interested in the sound and technology of the machine instead of Willy, who i s fighting for his job. Howard no longer need s Willy's services and without concern fires him. This , to Willy, was like, "eating the orange and throwing away the peel". However, Willy is partly to blame, as he does not accept change and wants to remain in the pas t. This is foreshadowed in the scene where Willy is left alone with the tape recorder and is unable to shut it off. Willy believes in using his old techniques and style to succeed. Nevertheless, in his job, it is not what you know, but it is who you know. Willy is not up to date with the business nor technology. Yet, Willy still has hope, and wishes to leave some fo rm of support behind for his family as illustrated in his planting of the seeds. Willy feels that he must leave something behind something for Biff. In Willy's imaginary world he wants Biff to be magnificent and he symbolically plants seeds in his garden. In spite of such an action he is doomed to fail. Willy sta rts planting the seeds at night, but at night there is no sun shining and this seems

Midland Energy Resources, Cost of Capital

Midland Energy Resources, Cost of Capital The case is about how Janet Mortensen, senior vice president of project finance for Midland Energy Resources, prepare her annual cost of capital estimates for midland and each of its three divisions for her company. Midland was a global energy company with operations in oil and gas exploration and production (E&P), refining and marketing(R&M), and petrochemicals. Estimates of cost of capital prepared by Mortensen were used in many analyses within Midland, including asset appraisals for both capital budgeting and financial accounting, performance assessments.Since her calculations had been widely applied in various areas and became influential, she was considering appending a sort of user’s guide to the 2007 set of calculations for reference to different applications. Mortensen used WACC formula to estimate cost of capital, compute the cost of debt by adding a premium over US Treasury securities of a similar maturity, and calculate the cost of equity by using the CAPM formula. After reviewing the case and tables given, we calculated the company’s composite WACC and WACCs for each division respectively. The company’s composite WACC is 8. 19%. The inputs we used are spread to treasury of 1. 2%, debt ratio of 42. 2%, Treasury bond yields of 4. 98% at a 30-year maturity, the 2006 tax rate of 39%, beta of 1. 25, and EMRP of 5%. However, we do not think that EMRP given in the case is appropriate. Instead, we recommend 3. 3%, which is the most recent EMRP estimate according the survey results in the Exhibit 6. Midland cannot use the same WACC for all divisions. It has three different divisions with different risk or Beta, which is given in Exhibit 5. If midland uses same WACC for all division it can accept risky investment or some time it may mislead by giving up profitable investment.It should use corporate WACC only for corporate level decision. WACC for E&P and R&M is calculated by using cost of debt by adding risk free rate plus spread to TB. From the Exhibit 5, weights for debt and Equity are calculated. WACC of E&P is 8. 82 and R&F is 9. 83. Both WACC are different to each other because they have different risk level, leverage and credit rating. Calculation Part: WACC (E&P):=rd(D/V)(1-t)+re(E/V)=6. 58*0. 2847(1-0. 39)+10. 73*0. 7153=8. 8178 rd=rf+spread =4. 98+1. 6=6. 58, re=rf+B(EMRP)=4. 98+1. 15*5=10. 73 D/E=0. 398 or V-E/E=0. 398 or E/V=0. 7153D/V=1-E/V=1-0. 7153=0. 2847 WACC (R&M)=rd(D/V)(1-t)+re(E/V)=6. 78*0. 1687(1-0. 39)+10. 98*0. 8313=9. 8253 rd= rf+spread =4. 98+1. 8=6. 78re= rf+B(EMRP)=4. 98+1. 2*5=10. 98 D/E=0. 203orV-E/E=0. 203orE/V=0. 8313, D/V=1-E/V=1-0. 8313=0. 1687 For Petrochemical division, since we don’t have sufficient information of that division. We cannot compute our Beta so that we cannot get an exact number of WACC for the division. If the managers want to have a rough estimate, they can use the overall Beta as an average for three divisions and c alculate the Beta for Petrochemical division. Then they can get the WACC.

Satyam The Tiger Of India - 2951 Words

Satyam - The Tiger of India I. Background Several years after Enron and its subsequent landmark regulation Sarbanes-Oxley, significant frauds in the corporate environment are still occurring. Throughout all of the major corporate frauds committed over the past 15 years, the underlying red flags and symptoms are the same. Internal controls are being overridden without regard, CEOs are manipulating the financial statements to meet analyst financial metrics and corporate cash coffers are being raided for personal use. Well respected audit and oversight firms are jeopardizing their reputations by consistently missing the obvious while C-level perpetrators are escaping harsh prosecution. Satyam Computer Limited is one such firm in India. The†¦show more content†¦There was such obvious and blatant fraud occurring at many levels in the firm. This paper will provide a high level overview of the types of fraud while providing a fraud audit program for a specific type of fraud. It is important to note several key factors that contribute to the corporate debauchery occurring in India. Most notably, the Indian accounting profession is self-regulated. â€Å"India, by sticking to the self-regulatory model, is set up for market failure. (livemint.com) As capitalism is to America, lack of regulation is to India with subsequent effects of corruption. Business in India, regardless of industry, is replete with corruption and bribery. Not surprisingly these nefarious ideals found their way into the corporate governance of Indian firms and filter down into the day to day business operations. License Raj, a colloquial term coined in the late 1970s, indicates a period in which to establish a business and obtain necessary operating permits, owners are required to pay bribes to government officials. ( Per Audit TEXT) Satyam experienced explosive growth and outpaced other firms in the industry from 2003-2008. According to the journal article Corporate Accounting Fraud: A Case Study of Satyam Computers Limited, Satyam realized 35% annual growth where the industry standard was 6.4%. The article also indicated Satyam had 40% earnings-per-share growth and