INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR BANKERS AND ACADEMICS (ICBA) 2016, DHAKA.

Wed, 20-Jul-2016 to Thu, 21-Jul-2016 

(Organized by Australian Academy of Business and Social Sciences and The Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, USA) 

Theme: Exploring research directions in banking, business and social sciences

In Partnership with: Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, Dhaka, Bangladesh; The Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, USA

Venue: Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, Mirpur, Bangladesh 

CALL FOR PAPERS 

The ICBA 2016 invites active and potential bankers to participate in two professional workshops and/or any concurrent sessions on some emerging topics in commercial and public banking. It also invites academics, researchers, and decision and policy makers to submit conceptual, theoretical, empirical, and experimental research papers and abstracts in the fields of business and social sciences. Date: July 20-21, 2016 Venue: Venue: Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, Mirpur 2, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh Conference Website: https://www.aabss.org.au/conference/icba-2016-dhaka  

SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS 

The Journal of Developing Areas (being published by the College of Business, Tennessee State University, USA) The ICBA 2016 gives the participants an opportunity to publish their full-fledged conference papers in the Journal of Developing Areas (The JDA), which has a highly recognized multidisciplinary journal since 1996. Full-fledged submissions, which do not meet the JDA’s acceptance criteria, will be considered for publication in the Bank Parikrama, which is a scholarly peer-reviewed journal published by BIBM since 1996.

PROFESSIONAL WORKSHOPS 

There will be two high quality professional workshops in this conference. - Financial Institutions and Inclusive Economic Growth (Day 1) Presenter & conductor: To be announced soon Discussants: To be announced - Corporate Leadership: What and How to Deliver? (Day 2) Presenter: Professor Stephen Boyle, University of South Australia, Australia Discussant: Dr. Carmen Reaiche, University of Adelaide, Australia.

FURTHER INFORMATION, SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS, REGISTRATION & PAYMENT 

For further information, submission, registration and payment, please click on this link:https://www.aabss.org.au/conference/icba-2016-dhaka 

KEY DATES 

Abstract/Full Paper Submissions Close Sunday, June 19, 2016 (11:30pm AEST) Registration Payment Deadline Thursday, June 30, 2016 (11:30pm AEST) Camera-ready Paper Submission Deadline Thursday, June 30, 2016 (11:30pm AEST).

Source: Australian Academy of Business and Social Sciences.

Evolution of English as She is Spoke





Regional variety in how the language is spoken gets increasing acceptance

Thanks to the pukka accents of the British Raj, many Indians imagine the cut-glass enunciation of Received Pronunciation to be the default tone in Britain, too, with Eliza Doolittle's charming Cockney cadence providing a counterpoint.That, of course, is not true, with even Queen Elizabeth II's regal diction having changed perceptibly during nine decades of speaking Her English. Indeed, her grandchildren's accents -noticeably less posh than their older relative's -reflect how spoken English is changing even in its homeland. So, the news that the Estuary Accent -spoken in London and the South East -is swamping regional variations and colloquialisms is not surprising at all. Given that linguistic dissimilitudes are what traditionally perpetuated class and regional hierarchies in Britain, a single overweening accent may be just what the hour demands.Britons are at least opting for a form of English spoken on its side of the Atlantic and not the other -or even from populous anglophone lands east of the Suez. In India, luckily , the various accents of English mostly denote nothing more divergent than region. But trans-Atlantic rhoticity has crept in and even the once-hallowed tones of All India Radio newsreaders have evolved into a more indigenous patois, signalling a new era of Angrezi here too.

Source: Economic Times, 30-05-2016

Live in the Moment

ECKHART TOLLE





The greater part of human pain is unnecessary . It is selfcreated as long as the unobserved mind runs your life. The pain that you create now is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is. On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity . The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment, and this, in turn, depends on how strongly you are identified with your mind.The mind seeks to deny the Now and to escape from it. In other words, the more you are identified with your mind, the more you suffer. Or you may put it like this: the more you are able to honour and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering. You will be free of the egoistic mind.Why does the mind habitually deny or resist the Now? Because it cannot function and remain in control without time, which is past and future, so it perceives the timeless Now as threatening. Time and mind are, in fact, inseparable.
Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the Now, have your dwelling place in the Now and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.
Accept first and then act. Whatever the present contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend, not enemy . This will miraculously transform your whole life.

HRD ministry sets new rules for award of MPhil, PhD degrees

The HRD ministry relaxed several rules for women candidates including allowing a 240 days break to avail maternity benefits within study period 
 For a female research candidate the course duration has been relaxed by two years for PhD and one year for M.phil courses. The human resource development ministry has set new rules for award of research degrees such as MPhil and PhD at Indian universities.
 The HRD ministry has also relaxed several rules for women candidates, including allowing a 240-day maternity break from their studies.
 The new rules are aimed at putting in place a “proper system” for doctoral studies and streamline their administration, duration and quality, said higher education secretary V.S. Oberoi. The rules are also intended to allow women greater flexibility in pursuing research.
 In 2013-14, some 107,890 students were pursuing PhD in India. That was less than 0.4% of the total student enrolment in the country. Of the students pursuing a PhD, only around 3,335 were women.
 Following are some of the key changes:
 (1) MPhil duration: Minimum two consecutive semesters or one year, and a maximum of four consecutive semesters or two years.
(2) PhD duration: Minimum of three years, including course work, and a maximum of six years. Extension beyond the limit to be governed by statute or ordinance of the individual institution.
(3) Number of PhD scholars per supervisor now has been fixed at 8/6/4 for professor/associate professor/assistant professor, respectively. It was eight per supervisor earlier.
(4) Number of MPhil scholars per supervisor now at 3/2/1 for professor/associate professor/assistant professor, respectively. It was five per supervisor earlier.
(5) Only a full-time regular teacher of the concerned university/college can act as a supervisor. It means an external, visiting, adjunct or part-time teacher in a university cannot be the core supervisor of a research scholar. However, a co-supervisor can be allowed in inter-disciplinary areas.
(6) Special provisions have been provided for women scholars. For a female research candidate, the course duration has been relaxed by two years for PhD and one year for MPhil courses. It also applies to physically handicapped candidates with 40% disability.
(7) The new rules allow the women candidates maternity leave, or child-care leave, once during the entire duration of their MPhil/PhD programmes for up to 240 days.
(8) Women candidates can now also transfer research data due to relocations to new institutions. It means that if a woman candidate shifts her place of work or residence because of any personal or professional reasons, she can shift her research work from one university to another close to her where she is moving.
 The rules will encourage more women to enrol in doctoral programs by allowing them to get married and build a family while pursuing their studies, said S. Parasuraman, director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
 He said the HRD ministry’s new rules are also “progressive and will help address procedural issues related to administering the programmes”.

Source | Mint – The Wallstreet Journal | 26 May 2016

It's Nothing But a Dream

OSHO





All that can ever be experienced is phenomena. Remember, not only are the objects of the world phenomena and dreams, but also objects of consciousness. They may be objects of the world, they may be just objects of the mind. They may be great spiritual experiences.You may see kundalini rising in you: that too is a phenomenon -a beautiful dream, but still a dream. You may see lotuses blooming inside you and a great fragrance arising within your being: these too are phenomena, because you are the seer and never the seen, always the experiencer and never the experienced, always the witness and never the witnessed.
The ego is a by-product of the illusion that whatsoever you are seeing is true. If you think that objects are true, then the ego can exist; it is a by-product.If you think that objects are dreams, the ego disappears.And if you think continuously that all is a dream, then one day , in a dream in the night, you will be surprised: suddenly in the dream, you will remember that this is a dream too! And for the first time, you will experience yourself deep asleep, yet awake -a very paradoxical experience, but of great benefit.
Awareness and dreaming can't exist together. Here, awareness arises, and there, the dream disappears. Your eyes will be so clear, so transparent, and everything will look psychedelic, colourful, alive. Even rocks will be felt to be breathing, pulsating; even rocks will have a heartbeat. When you are awake, the whole existence changes its quality .

New PCB data on air pollution less scary

Contrary to popular perception that air pollution is going up in the State, two of the major air pollution parameters — nitrogen dioxide from vehicle emissions and sulphur dioxide from industrial emissions — were well within the permissible limits in the State during the past five years.

This forms part of the findings in the Ambient Air Quality monitoring report compiled by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB), between 2011 and 2015

The report also indicates that Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (the microscopic liquid or solid matter found suspended in the atmosphere) of sizes between 2.5 micron and 10 micron had recorded a dip in 2015, though it had gone up by over 100 per cent of the permissible levels in 2013 and 2014 in some stations.

Air quality data

The air quality data, to be released by the PCB on June 5, assumes significance in the wake of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposing a ban on diesel vehicles. In its landmark judgement, the NGT had held that no “diesel vehicle with the capacity of 2000 cc and above, except Public Transport and Local Authority Vehicle” shall be registered in the State and “all the diesel vehicles, whether light or heavy, which are more than 10 years old, shall not be permitted to ply on the road in the major cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode and Kannur.”

The Central Pollution Control Board had fixed the permissible concentration of sulphur dioxide as 50 micron/normal metre cube in Ambient Air for industrial, residential, rural, and other areas. The upper limit for nitrogen dioxide was fixed as 40 micron/normal metre cube. Barring Veli in Thiruvananthapuram, the sulphur dioxide level was found to be relatively lower in all the monitored stations. The highest value (17.37 micron/normal metre cube) in five years was obtained in 2015 from Veli.

Relatively high areas

The nitrogen dioxide emissions were relatively high in the air samples near SMV School, Murinjapalam, and Pettah in Thiruvananthapuram district all these years and 2015 proved to be the worst year as higher values were recorded from all these stations.

The PCB has compiled the data after analysing the air data from 24 stations set between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanhangad.

The Lawyers Environmental Awareness Forum, the petitioner in the case before the tribunal, had pointed out that lorries and trucks, which are more than 10 years old, were the key culprits in the rising air pollution levels of the State. The poorly-maintained buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation were adding deadly gases to the atmosphere, they pointed out, while pleading for the ban on polluting vehicles.

Source: The Hindu, 26-05-2016

Death, An Enigma In Any School Of Thought

Ashok Vohra





Death is an enigma. According to Wittgenstein it is so because, “death is not an event in life; we do not live to experience death“. Whereas Wittgenstein attributes the mystery surrounding death to it being the limit of life, Niels Bohr treats death as mystical because “we are both spectators and actors in the great drama of existence“.Death has a mystical aura around it because its inevitability prompts us to ask questions about life and its meaning.Almost every school of Buddhism recognises the significance of contemplation and meditation on the nature of death because firstly, it makes us conscious of the impermanence and shortness of life and makes our life meaningful. Secondly , contemplation about death makes us understand the phenomenon of death and familiarises us with the dying process, taking away the fear of death.Thirdly, contemplation on death makes us aware of the shortness and preciousness of life and so makes us live life fully.
According to Tibetan Buddhism, death is “the separation of the most subtle body and mind from the more gross aspects of body and mind“.The separation between the two ­ the subtle and the gross ­ is not sudden. It is a gradual process. That is why according to Tibetan Buddhism death is not a point in time. It is a gradual process.
A living person is an aggregate of gross and subtle mind and body . Gross body refers to the physical body comprising muscles, fat and bones. Gross mind refers to thoughts, feelings and other dispositional mental states.As opposed to them subtle body is the energy flowing through our physical body . It is like the electricity that flows through electric wires. Subtle mind refers to intuition and inner wisdom.It is also called “clear-light mind“. At the commencement of death process the coarser mind ceases and gives way to subtler mind. Conceptuality ceases. Our being is filled with vacuity .We become unconscious. Death comes when our being is filled with clear emptiness ­ clear light. Surprisingly, all those who narrate a near-death experience give a pivotal place to clear and bright light in their narrative.
The physical signs of death, consciousness leaving this body are: cessation of heat from chest ­ the region of the heart; slum ping of body; decomposition of body; a subtle awareness that consciousness has left and the body has become an empty shell.
The cycle of death is complete only after consciousness completely leaves one aggregate and subtle body , and attaches of gross and subtle body , and attaches itself with another aggregate. As a result a new personality comes into being much like the flame of a dying candle giving rise to a new source of light. There is a continuum though not identity of consciousness.
It is not necessary that the new being has to be a person. Depending upon its karmas and thoughts at the time of death, it can be reborn as a preta ­ a hungry ghost, asura ­ a jealous god, and even a god, or an animal. In Buddhism suicide is condemned because the person committing suicide is filled with negativity and depression. This is reflected in his next birth.
The process of reincarnation may take up to 49 days. Since the state of mind at the time of death is so important for future life, Buddhism proscribes disturbing the dying person with show of emotions. Such a show and clinging to the dying person disturbs him mentally which in turn affects his reincarnation.Therefore it is advisable to let a person go peacefully . (The writer is former professor of philosophy , Delhi University.)