Racism Is A Long And Controversial Issue - 1340 Words

Racism has been a long and controversial issue in the United States. Workplace racism has existed just as long. In this report, I will discuss what race is and the five different types of racism, the types of workplace racism, the laws that were put in place to prevent workplace racism and the potential solutions to solving it. First, the question: What is race? Race is defined â€Å"as the biological heritage including physical characteristics such as one’s skin color and associated traits that people use to identify themselves.† (Robbins Coulter, 2014, p.110). And over time this has lent itself to five different types of blatant racism. The first being Pure Racism. Pure Racism is a belief based on superiority. An example of this type of racism, is a Manager who is Caucasian, does not give an employee who is African-American, a project, because he believes that the project won’t be completed on time because he thinks that African-Americans are lazy. Racial Discrimination, is the most widespread and common of the different types of racism. Racial Discrimination is when people are not given the same opportunities or treated the same because of racial differences. For example, races such as Hispanic, African-Americans, are passed over when it comes to managerial or CEO positions, even t hough they have the same qualifications as their Caucasian counterparts. The third type is Intolerance of Race, which is when a race subtly excludes another race on all levels, such as economic,Show MoreRelatedEpitaph and Dreaming Black Boy1021 Words   |  5 Pagesa) Compare the ways in which these two poems deal with the experience of oppression and racism. b) State which of the two poems you find more disturbing, and give reasons to support your answer. c) Identify and comment on TWO poetic devices used in each poem to highlight the workings of oppression or racism. Dreaming Black Boy and Epitaph are two poems which address the issues of oppression and racism. though they both deal with the same problem, it is handled and discussed differently. Read MoreBlack And White Racism : Racism1189 Words   |  5 PagesWhite Racism Introduction For a long time, racism has occurred as a controversial and hotly debated topic in the American society. Racism has infiltrated the way individuals behave, think, and act in different capacities. It is a grievous insult in referring somebody to as a ‘racist’. Black Americans have accused whites, the nation’s ethnic majority for racism, whereas whites have also accused blacks of racism. Widespread uncertainty, disagreement, and confusion concerning the subject of racism haveRead MoreGender, Racism And Class1083 Words   |  5 PagesGender, Racism and Class in the movie â€Å"Bread and Ross† and â€Å"Hammering it out† Fundamentally, gender, racism and class are three controversial social issues that have for a long period triggered heated debate in the American society. In essence, this issues concern the daily lives of American citizen and immigrants disregarding their class, social status, educational level or the position they hold in the society. Therefore, it is imperative that these issues are analyzed comprehensively in orderRead More The Social Cry In Planet of the Apes Essay742 Words   |  3 Pagesmind. Be it the controversial subject matter of Science vs. Religion, animal cruelty, or the cries of the extremeness of war and nuclear weapons. The makers of this film clearly felt the importance of illustrating to the viewers how unjust this society of â€Å"superior† apes were towards the humans. It allows the viewer to leave the movie thinking about our own society, and the similarities in how certain people have been severely mistreated here in America. There are many controversial subject mattersRead More Spike Lee Essay1478 Words   |  6 Pagesfew black students to attend Tisch School of the Arts, the aspiring filmmaker’s first year at New York University was a particularly difficult one. Lee’s experiences, race, and upbringing have all led him to create controversial films to provide audiences with an insight into racial issues. Spike Lee’s first student production, The Answer, was a short ten minute film which told of a young black screenwriter who rewrote D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. The film was not well accepted among theRead MoreIs Word Policing Ruining College?1275 Words   |  6 PagesIs Word Policing Ruining College? If you keep a close eye on the news, you have heard of situations dealing with the issue of free speech on college campuses. This topic has been a hot button issue throughout recent years. Numerous institutions have become more politically correct in an effort to make their students feel safer on campus. Many people, however, claim that â€Å"word policing†, or telling students that they are not allowed to use certain vocabulary, is a violation of their right to freeRead MoreArticle Review : Land Of The Free 1218 Words   |  5 Pagesspeech for young students, but also freedom of the press for authors. Book censorship has been around as long as books themselves have. For example, Socrates, a well-known and respected philosopher and teacher, was forced to drink poison for â€Å"corrupting† his students with his unconventional ideas and writings. Today, literature is most often banned due to sexual material, offensive language, racism, political bias, violence, immoral behaviors, religious views and any other content that could be deemedRead MoreBecoming Black : Rap And Hip Hop, Race, Gender, Identity, And Politics Of Esl Learning1632 Words   |  7 Pagesmore interesting for the youth? Is hip-hop immune homophobia, racism, sexism and misogyny? PART TWO After concluding my remaining readings of chapters 7 through 10 from the Cultural Theory and Popular Culture book, my core understanding of the overall theoretical ideas posed by the author, John Storey has become more clear in the rounding up of the semester. Chapter 7 of the book, popular culture is discussed in relation to issues connected to feminism, gender and sexuality. â€Å"Popular culture hasRead MoreThe Problem Of Environmental Racism916 Words   |  4 PagesIn this paper, we are going to provide a quick overview of what environmental justice is and when this phenomenon started to then analyze the dilemma of environmental racism in minorities’ neighborhoods. At the same time we will try to present some solutions to the matter as well as explain if we believe that this kind of social-race problem could be addressed in a near future or it will be ignored and forgotten by the new generations. The environmental justice movement is tightly related to theRead MoreBrown V. Board Of Education Of Kansas1160 Words   |  5 Pagesproblem is not only in the Kansas City School District, but all over the country. The segregation of races in schools can impact a student’s future greatly. The Kansas City school district has been known to have the most troubled school’s systems for a long time.(Source) I’m sure the school board is well aware of the problem of racial inequality that is before them, but I will help them become more aware of the problem and how it affects a student’s future. In today’s society it is commonly overlooked

Depression, Escapism, and Hope The Story of 1930s America

Depression, Escapism, and Hope: The Story of 1930s America Often, the 1930s are classified as the age of economic depression. Although true, the decade has proved to be a time of reform and hope. In the midwest a series of windstorms occurred accompanied by a harsh drought causing the Dust Bowl, while in the more industrialized north, citizens struggled to find jobs. From song lyrics to baseball cards, artifacts from the decade rejuvenated the once crushed spirits of the American people. However, not all Americans regained a sense of hope, and instead some resorted to toxic ways to ease their minds. Moreover, as the Great Depression trudged on through the 1930s, American citizens searched for a way to escape their hardships, yet remained†¦show more content†¦Later renamed the Farm Security Administration, the FSA â€Å"lent money to sharecroppers and set up camps for migrant workers.† Nearing the end of her trip, Lange impulsively stopped at a pea farm in Nipomo, California. There she encountered a young woman and her seven c hildren: Lange recalled, â€Å"I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet.† Lange interviewed the woman who soon allowed her to photograph her situation. â€Å"She seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it,† Lange later stated. She took six photos of the woman, and her most famous, which depicted the woman slumping over while two of her children crouch behind her shoulders, is entitled â€Å"Migrant Mother†. On May 10, 1936 the photograph appeared in The San Francisco News as part of a campaign to end starvation within the weak pea picking community, due to the iced vegetables. Immediately after the advertisement was released, relief for the pea pickers was organized. However, â€Å"The picture has had a history beyond its original context within the FSA†¦.† â€Å"Migrant Mother† has appeared on the U.S postal stamp as an image that define s the 1930s. Depicting the â€Å"widely felt nostalgia for a mythic American past,† the photograph brought the severe reality of the Great Depression to American citizens and to the government’sShow MoreRelatedFred Astaires iImpact on the Great Depression Essay1782 Words   |  8 Pagesthe 1930s during the Great Depression. Everywhere, Americans were looking for some joy in their lives, and Astaire was able to give them hope in a period of history that lacked optimism. Fred Astaire’s carefree dance movement style and techniques, specifically in the films Swing Time and The Gay Divorcee, help America through the Great Depression and signifies the importance of art in this time period. The arts played a significant role in the Great Depression- not only as a means of escapism forRead MoreThe Genesis Of The Mid Twentieth Century America3651 Words   |  15 Pagesreferred to as the Mecca of the New Negro, amassing over 200, 000 black residents by 1930 (Bremer 49). This home was put to the test as Harlemites strived to make it both â€Å"a community and an aspiration – a civic as well as aesthetic endeavor† (Bremer 48). Furthermore, Senegalese poet Leopold Senghor prophesied that New York would be saved by the â€Å"African humanism of black Harlem† (qtd. in Hamalian 687). This was the hope that sprouted from Harlem in the 1920s and remained, though in varied forms, throughoutRead MoreThe Studio System Essay14396 Words   |  58 Pagesthe films we watch. Starting in 1920, Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. 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Cultural, social and economic changes ensured the demise of this system after the Second WorldRead MoreEdith Head: Hollywoods First Woman Fashion Designer Essay8781 Words   |  36 PagesThe  1930s  ushered  in  the  Golden  Age  of  Hollywood  when  new  technological  advances  brought lighting,  photography,  and  sound  to  a  new  level  of  excellence.  Along  with  these  technical  advances, wardrobe  departments  of  major  motion  picture  studios  were  busy  as  costume  designers,  with  the assistance  of  skilled  seamstresses,  milliners,  and  tailors,  produced  stunning  garments  for  glamorous movie  stars.  During  the  1930s  and  1940s  the  field  of  costume  design  was  dominated  by  men.  But,  that didn’t  stop  Edith  HeadRead MoreRastafarian79520 Words   |  319 Pagesapparatus of cultural formation was controlled fully by the elite who, to a large extent, ran th e educational apparatus and the economic system. But much of the country was beginning to question in earnest the structure of colonial society by the early 1930s. The emergence of Rasta during that period corresponds with so much that was happening around the world. Rastas could tell that social unrest in Jamaica was going to lead to a movement away from colonial rule and, having heard Marcus Garvey speakRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesenvironment depends on finding an upmarket niche, profitable business elsewhere, a hot-selling model or dominance of a domestic market. Past business decisions give Fiat no claim to the first two of these. Its new model, the Stilo, on which great hopes were pinned, is selling less well than had been hoped. And domestic dominance, once absolute, is under pressure. Though Fiat retains 35 per cent of the Italian market, it no longer does so effortlessly: it must offer price concessions and discounts

Public Trust Doctrine Indian Contours Free Essays

string(145) " right to sweet water and the right to free air are attributes of the right to life, for these are the basic elements which sustain life itself\." Who owns the Earth and its resources? To what extent may the general public claim the pure water, clean air, rich soil, and the myriad services Earth provides to sustain human life? Across continents and spanning centuries, a dynamic tension continues between those who would circumscribe the Earth’s bounty for private use and those who would carefully allot Earth’s riches to satisfy human needs. Private property—sequestering Earth’s resources for personal, exclusive use—has its zealous advocates, and in many locales its legal status is unimpeachable, and its ideology is unquestioned. But a competing ideology, dating from antiquity[1], holds that some of Earth’s riches should never be sequestered for private use, must be left for the public’s enjoyment, and must be stewarded by those in power. We will write a custom essay sample on Public Trust Doctrine: Indian Contours or any similar topic only for you Order Now Codified 1,500 years ago during the Roman Empire, legal scholars labeled this the â€Å"Public Trust Doctrine. † The Public Trust Doctrine perseveres as a value system and an ethic as its expression in law mutates and evolves. More recently, scholars, activists, and lawyers have begun discussing the rights of people to access and enjoy various essential resources and services the Earth so generously yields. The Public Trust Doctrine primarily rests on the principle that certain resources like air, sea, waters and the forests have such a great importance to the people as a whole that it would be wholly unjustified to make them a subject of private ownership. The said resources being a gift of nature should be made freely available to everyone irrespective of the status in life. The doctrine enjoins upon the Government to protect the resources for the enjoyment of the general public rather than to permit their use for private ownership or commercial purposes. Three types of restrictions on governmental authority are often thought to be imposed by the public trust: first, the property subject to the trust must not only be used for a public purpose, but it must be held available for use by the general public; second, the property may not be sold, even for a fair cash equivalent; and third, the property must be maintained for particular types of uses. I begin this article by tracing the historical origins of the Public Trust Doctrine, charting its (r)evolutionary leaps across centuries, legal regimes, and environmental entities. I then shift legal gears and analyze certain current environmental problems vis-à  -vis this Doctrine. I explore how the judicial creativity complements and expands the Public Trust Doctrine’s legal connotations, which, for 1,500 years, have constrained how Earth’s resources can be used and have guided who must bear responsibility for stewarding resources for the public good. Evolution of the doctrine Roman Law: 1,500 years ago, the Roman Emperor Justinian simplified the jumble of laws governing his Empire. He commissioned dozens of the era’s leading jurists, whose wisdom became codified in the Corpus Juris Civilis. [2] In 529, Justinian’s code contained a Section as: â€Å"By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind, the air, running water, the sea and consequently the shores of the sea. †[3] The Public Trust Doctrine, as this notion came to be known, suggests that certain resources—usually water, but now much more—are common, shared property of all citizens, stewarded in perpetuity by the State. 4] Several hundred years after the fall of the Roman Empire, a copy of the Corpus Juris Civilis was rediscovered in Pisa, and scholars spent centuries analyzing the tome. [5] In the peripatetic manner that has come to characterize it, the Public Trust Doctrine migrated with the Corpus Juris Civilis throughout Europe, to both civil law and common law regimes. [6] English Law: The Magna Carta codified Justinian’s words in England, and in 1225 King John was forced to revoke his cronies’ exclusive fishing and hunting rights, because this violated the public’s right to access these common resources. 7] Thus in England, while the King had vested ownership of public lands, he stewarded them in trust for the public. This notion of government ownership of resources held in trust as a commons is a shared precept in all places where the Public Trust Doctrine persists. [8] Evolution in India: India has the roots of this doctrine in ancient Vedas when every king was to protect the trees and natural resources. But somehow it bore mere moral and religious obligations and lacked legal recognition. The PTD has been recognized as a part of law of the l and in 1997 in the case of M. C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath. The evolution of the same has been discussed in the next Chapter. [9] An insight into Indian legal arena Article 21 of India’s constitution declares: â€Å"No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law. †[10] Laws that conflict with or abridge fundamental rights named in the constitution are voided. [11] Citizens are allowed to challenge violations of these rights directly, and in fact citizen suits are the most rapid means to challenge actions that threaten fundamental rights. 12] In India, Judges have taken these substantive and procedural rights seriously and have buttressed them by establishing the Public Trust Doctrine to secure powerful protections for citizens’ Environmental Human Rights[13]. While the constitution does not explicitly provide for Environmental Human Rights, Indian courts have gone further than almost any in naming environmental rights that serve the fundamental right to life. [14] The claims that impinge on Article 21’s fundamental right to life include various challenges where ecosystems have been impaired. 15] India’s Supreme Court stopped unauthorized mining causing environmental damage, holding that this â€Å"is a price that has to be paid for protecting and safeguarding the right of the people to live in a healthy environment with minimal disturbance of ecological balance. †[16] When a government agency action threatened a local fresh water source, the High Court of Kerala held that government â€Å"cannot be permitted to function in such a manner as to make inroads into the fundamental right under Art. 1. . . . The right to sweet water and the right to free air are attributes of the right to life, for these are the basic eleme nts which sustain life itself. You read "Public Trust Doctrine: Indian Contours" in category "Papers" †[17] In a case upholding a statute that allows India to pursue justice following the Bhopal gas leak disaster, the Supreme Court further consolidated the link between Article 21’s right to life and the right to a clean environment. [18] In 1997, the landmark case of M. C. Mehta v. Kamal Nath[19] conjured up the Public Trust Doctrine in India. In that case, the Minister of the Environment (respondent) impermissibly allowed a motel to be built at the mouth of a river, and impermissibly allowed the motel to change the course of the river (which created subsequent flooding in nearby villages) in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine—which hadn’t explicitly existed before this case. 20] Before invoking the Public Trust Doctrine, the court alludes to: the classic struggle between those members of the public who would preserve our rivers, forests, parks and open lands in their pristine purity and those charged with administrative responsibilities who, under the pressures of the changing needs of an increasingly complex society, find it necessary to encroach to some extent upon open lands heretofore considered inviolate to change. 21] In this case, the court summons up the Public Trust Doctrine by first saying â€Å"The notion that the public has a right to expect certain lands and natural areas to retain their natural characteristic is finding its way into the law of the land. †[22] To justify this notion, the court cites excerpts from a Harvard Environmental Law Review article: â€Å"Human activity finds in the natural world its external limits. In short, the environment imposes constraints on our freedom; these constraints are not the product of value choices but of the scientific imperative of the environment’s limitations†[23] , promoting a new kind of natural law exigency for protecting environmental resources in the name of protecting fundamental human rights. [24] The court then revisited Justinian’s notion of the Public Trust Doctrine, including the exegesis of more than a half dozen seminal cases[25] of United States law that invoked and reinvigorated the Public Trust Doctrine. 26] The court concluded: â€Å"Our legal system—based on English common law —includes the public trust doctrine as part of its jurisprudence. The State is the trustee of all natural resources which are by nature meant for public use and enjoyment. Public at large is the beneficiary of the sea-shore, running waters, airs, forests and ecologically fragile lands. The State as a trustee is under a legal duty to protect the natural resources. These resources meant for public use cannot be converted into private ownership. 27] And thus the â€Å"aesthetic use and the pristine glory of the natural resources, the environment and the eco-systems of our country cannot be permitted to be eroded for private, commercial or any other use unless the courts find it necessary, in good faith, for the public goods and in public interest to encroach upon the said resources. †[28] The Supreme court for the first time recognized and declared, â€Å"the Public Trust Doctrine as discussed in this judgment is a part of the law of the land. †[29] In M. I. Builders Pvt. Ltd. v. Radhey Shyam Sahu[30], the Indian Supreme Court subsequently hitched the Public Trust Doctrine to the constitutionally guaranteed right to life. [31] The court held that a public park and market are public trust resources that may not be replaced with a shopping complex. [32] Citing the precedent of M. C Mehta, the court reasserted that the Public Trust Doctrine is part of Indian law,[33] and thus ordered the appellant to restore the park that it had destroyed when it (and the government agency that permitted its actions) improperly violated the public trust. 34] The park in a crowded area is of â€Å"historical importance and environmental necessity. †[35] To allow the construction would mean that citizens â€Å"would be deprived of the quality of life to which they are entitled under the law. †[36] Because the government’s Development Authority was the trustee of the park, it had violated â€Å"the doctrine of public trust, which [is] applicable in India. †[37] The government authority was obliged to manage this park for the public good, and it â€Å"has deprived itself of its obligatory duties which cannot be permitted. [38] The court noted that â€Å"this public trust doctrine in our country, it would appear, has grown from Article 21 of the Constitution. †[39] The Public Trust Doctrine was invoked anew specifically to protect the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Constitution. Here, then, the Indian Supreme Court avers that the actions of the government and the private party appellant violated the right to life guaranteed in Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and the government agency has committed these violations by violating PTD. Drawing on the Illinois Central[40] decision to explain Sax’s central tenet of the PTD[41], the court recited that â€Å"when a state holds a resource which is available for the free use of the general public, a court will look with considerable skepticism upon any governmental conduct which is calculated either to reallocate the resource to more restricted uses or to subject public uses to the self-interest of private parties. †[42] Subsequent litigation has affirmed the PTD’s relevance in Indian law. For example, the High Court of Jammu Kashmir[43] allowed a manufacturing plant to be constructed, but only if the regional government observed its PTD duties to ensure that all possible pollution safeguards were implemented. A plant for filling cylinders with LPG was started after complying with the statutory requirements and clearance from PCB. When the residents objected the plant to continue and filed a writ of mandamus, the court after referring to Article 21, 47[44], 48-A[45], 51(A)(g)[46] and the post independence legislations invoked the doctrine of public trust and held that natural resources belong to people. The decision once again said that Article 21 of the constitution required that the government observe its public trust duties, for the â€Å"public has a right to expect certain lands and natural areas to retain their natural characteristics. †[47] The judgment also extended the scope of the Public Trust Doctrine, as â€Å"there can be no dispute that the State is under an obligation to see that forests, lakes and wildlife and environment are duly protected. [48] The Fomento Resorts Case (2009)[49]: Here, Fomento Resorts and Hotels Ltd had extended the construction of its hotel resort encroaching upon a public road and parking place which was a natural access to people visiting the Vainguinim beach. On a writ petition filed by a local residents, the Bombay High Court ordered demolition of the unauthorized structures following which the resort company preferred an appeal in the apex court. The apex court concurred with the view of the local residents that the unauthorized construction had put hindrances in their access to the beach. ‘Natural resources like beaches, forests, rivers and other water bodies are for uninterrupted and unhindered use of the general public and even the State cannot deprive them of their natural rights’, the Supreme Court held. Such rights are governed by the â€Å"public trust doctrine† and people can move the courts for enforcing the rights and directed Fomento resorts Goa to emolish its unauthorised construction on Vainguinim Beach, which had been overlooked by the state government. â€Å"The State cannot transfer public trust properties to a private party, if such a transfer interferes with the right of the public the court can invoke the public trust doctrine and take affirmative action for protecting the rights of the people to have access to light, air and water and also for protecting rivers, sea, tanks, trees fores t and associated natural eco-system. The doctrine puts an implicit embargo on the right of the State to transfer public properties to private party if such transfer affects public interest, mandates affirmative State action for effective management of natural resources and empowers the citizen to question ineffective management thereof,† the apex court ruled. AN ANALYSIS OF THE JUDICIAL TRENDS The aforementioned decisions, however a major breakthrough, do not reveal whether the judges are saying this Doctrine has always been a part of Indian law, or whether it is a new provision. Mostly they seem to reiterate that United States law has always found the Doctrine to be part of its common law heritage as a British colony, and so should be done here as well. What is distinctively clear, however, is that the court felt the Public Trust Doctrine was necessary to bolster its demands on the government to advance constitutionally protected rights. It also appears that putting the Public Trust Doctrine in service of constitutionally guaranteed environmental rights puts not only new strictures on government, but also places new constraints on private property rights in India. Those constraints could be cast as a sextuple threat to Indian private property rights. First, the Indian Constitution mandates a fundamental right to life. Second, two decades and dozens of court cases interpret this constitutionally provided right to mean that environmental harms themselves are proscribed in order to serve the fundamental right to life. Third, to prohibit private acts that threaten environmental resources essential to safeguard the right to life, the Indian Supreme Court has repeatedly cited the â€Å"polluter pays principle and the precautionary principle† as emerging norms of international environmental law. 50] Fourth, the Public Trust Doctrine is asserted to buttress the government’s ineluctable responsibility to protect the right to life and the ancillary rights that serve the fundamental right. Fifth, private rights of action against private or government parties are permitted to vindicate the fundamental and corollary rights. Finally, the Indian Constitution requires an affirmative â€Å"fundamental duty† of every citizen of India â€Å"to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, wild life, and to have compassion for living creatures. [51] While a thorough examination of Indian private property rights is beyond the scope of this project, the combination of court-enshrined corollary environmental rights in service of fundamental right to life when accompanied with a decade-old reinvention of the Public Trust Doctrine means that whatever rights private property owners had before in India are now cast in a new, circumscribed way[52]. Contemporary Twists in the tale: Multi faceted Application of the doctrine National parks and national monuments harbor some of the most scenic areas in India. Each summer, motorists and tourist lineup to see the majesty of places like Kanha National Park , the holy shrines of Haridwar, Mankadevi, Rishikesh, Gangotri and Yamnotri and numerous Beaches and backwaters, gawking at wildlife and snapping photos to share. These public lands are also rich in natural resources like coal, oil, gas and timber. It is generally expected that Nation’s leadership would put these â€Å"public lands† wisely to use. Today, the conflict between protection of natural resources upholding the doctrine of public trust and the responsibility of state to manage national interests of industrialization and preservation of natural resources. Sometimes these conflicts are subtle, and sometimes the interests they represent are in direct opposition. This section discusses two case studies as a way to raise the issues. The first case the conflict is between traditional Native religious practitioners and commercial mountain climbing interests. The conflicts may seem more subtle as the policy makers see the mountain climbing â€Å"recreational† use that ought to be consistent with traditional native use since both depend, to some extent, upon the preservation of the mountain and its aesthetic qualities. However it is far too simplistic to assume that recreational use of public lands is consistent with â€Å"preservation† uses. While environmentalists frequently deplore the idea that natural resources exploitation can achieve a friendly coexistence with â€Å"preservation† of these spectacular places, the current political and economic climate reflects the emphatic commitment to commercial exploitation of public lands. Native peoples’ longstanding interests in these public lands are frequently reduced to a religious attachment or, in policy terms, an interest in â€Å"sacred sites protection. All the policymakers overlook in the process that the native people have a unique relationship with their ancestral homelands, which are time and again encroached upon. Natives have legal, moral, political and cultural interests in their ancestral homelands, and these multiple and complex interests should not be described as purely religious in nature. The following case study addresses a compelling issue for contemporary policymakers: how do we protect the inherent rights of the people to the natural resources which are time and again endangered by industrial and commercial exploiters? 53] The story revolves around the tribes people of Kalahandi who oppose Vedanta[54]’s takeover of a region they hold in reverence. For the last one year, the Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district of southwestern Orissa have been reverberating with protests and demonstrations. The tribals of the area[55], who worship the hills as living gods—are taking on Vedanta, a UK-based mining major that has acquired a license from the government to exploit the abundant bauxite reserves in the pristine region. Conflicts between tribals and the state are nothing new—especially when they are portrayed as a struggle between the modern (read: progressive governments and corporates) and the primitive (read: tribals). Vedanta, in partnership with the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation, promises to put India on the global map as undisputed leader in production of iron ore, aluminium and zinc. But the tribals are asking if this should be at the cost of destroying their habitat, with which, in their animist traditions, they engage in a sacred covenant. And environment activists ask if there can ever be another Niyamgiri once the mining starts. A visit there is a trip to paradise—lush greenery, scores of streams crisscrossing the mountains, rich soil, an abundance of wildlife. In fact much of the region is protected under Section 18 of the Indian Wildlife Act, and the Orissa government had declared it an elephant reserve as recently as 2004. But once the mining begins, the ecosystem will be lost. The pollution and degradagion and degeneration has begun. The earlier warnings were all ignored. The first had come from the central empowered committee in 2002, constituted under the EPA[56]. The committee observed: â€Å"Had a proper study been conducted before embarking on a project of this nature and magnitude involving massive investment, the objections to the project from the environmental/ecological/forest angle would have become known in the beginning itself and in all probability the project would have been abandoned. † The second came from WII in 2006. Its status report said, â€Å"Mining could trigger irreversible changes in the ecological characteristics of the area. The cost-benefit value should not only take into account the material benefits of bauxite mining†¦ (but also) the perpetuity of the resources and ecosystem services that would be provided by these forests in the future. Compromising long-term economic returns, therefore, cannot be an alternative for short-term gains. † The apex court, however, ruled in 2008 that the company was free to mine after it complies with the due process of law. Today the public trust doctrine serves an important role in adjudicating tribal rights and state responsibilities. 57] Modern case laws have defined contours of State responsibility and highlighted it’s application towards protection of the interests of â€Å"We, the People. † Skeptics may say the process could allow Vedanta scope for intervention, but the tribal activists are steadfast in their resolve. â€Å"We’re not against development,† they say, â€Å"But the state must recognize the rights of tribal communities that have lived here for ages. † Critical analysis Is the public trust doctrine a threat to private property? Is it a vital, evolving common law doctrine? Or a metastasizing source of governmental uthority over private land? These are certain inevitable questions to be raised by the critics of the said Doctrine. Analysing the Doctrine, it can be said that it serves two purposes: it mandates affirmative state action for effective management of resources and empowers citizens to question ineffective management of natural resources. The Public Trust Doctrine can be used as leverage during policy deliberations and public scoping sessions and hearings. This forces agencies to prove that their actions are not environmentally ha rmful to the extent that they will destroy a public resource. If the agencies fail to provide a more environmentally benign alternative, then you can bring up a Public Trust lawsuit. Although the court process may be long and arduous, many important precedents have been established. It is interesting to note that in the Kamal Nath case[58] the Supreme Court held that even if there is a separate and a specific law to deal with the issue before the Court, it may still apply public trust doctrine. If there is no suitable legislation to preserve the natural resources, the public authorities should take advantage of this doctrine in addition to the fact that there was a branch of municipal law. Secondly the Supreme Court in M. I. builders[59], however, stated that public trust doctrine has grown from Article 21 of the constitution. By attaching this doctrine to the fundamental right to life, the Supreme Court appears to be willing to diversify the application of this doctrine. It seems likely that the court would give precedence to right to life when the public trust doctrine, as a part of right to a safe and healthy environment, is challenged by any other fundamental rights. Thirdly by ordering the Mahapalika to restore the park to its original beauty, the Supreme Court redefined the duties of a trustee to its beneficiaries the users of the park. In effect, it aligned the local authorities duty as a trustee with the concept of intra-generational and inter-generational equity. Fourthly, the case came before the court as a judicial review and not as challenge against the decision of the government from a beneficiary. As this doctrine acts as a check upon administrative action by providing a mechanism for judicial or resource allocation decisions. Therefore, public trust doctrine could serve as an additional tool for environmental protection particularly where administrative discretion has been abused. IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION FOR PROPER IMPLEMENTATION OF PTD Public participation is a necessary component of vibrant, dynamic, functioning and participatory democracy. It has potential to make all governmental decision making transparent, rational just, fair and responsive as a good governance practice which entails effective participation in public policy making provisions of the rule of law. Public participation also serves as a useful device to make government and its agencies accountable and at the conceptual level public participation is inextricably linked with democracy, decentralization, self-administration, self-management and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The idea of public participation has also entered the arena of environmental protection and its recognition as an important part of environmental decision making is discernible at all levels of government. 60] The contribution of public participation in environmental decision-making to the substantive quality of decisions was given a significant boost with the entry into force of the Aarhus Convention[61] adopted through the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The Convention stresses that public participation in environmental decision-making contributes to â€Å"the protection of the right of every person of present and future generations to live in an environment adequate to his or her health and well-being. † NEED FOR PROPER FRAMEWORKOF LAWS IMPLEMENTING THE DOCTINE The public trust doctrine could provide a practical legal framework for restructuring the way the oceans are regulated and managed. It would support ocean-based commerce while protecting marine species and habitats. The public trust doctrine is â€Å"a simple but powerful legal concept,† that obliges governments to manage certain natural resources in the best interests of their citizens, without sacrificing the needs of future generations. Extending the public trust doctrine to ocean waters would help State agencies better manage conflicting demands such as conservation, offshore energy development, fisheries and shipping in the 3. million nautical square miles of water included in the nation’s territorial sea and EEZ. Currently dozens of laws, regulate species and activities in these waters, without any mandated, systematic effort to coordinate their actions for the public good. Though the public trust doctrine is well suited to serve as a critical legal foundation for a coordinated, ecosystem-based ocean policy, it has not yet been formally articulated by the executive branch, nor has it been recognized by courts or expressly established in statutory law. As we contemplate managing our ocean resources, not only for today but for future generations, we need to ask ourselves two critical questions: For whom should the country’s oceans be managed? And for what purpose? The public trust doctrine answers both of these questions. International Scenario It is a common law concept, defined and addressed by academics in the United States and the United Kingdom. Various common properties; including rivers, the seashore, and the air, are held by the government in trusteeship for the uninterrupted use of the public. The sovereign could not, therefore, transfer public trust properties to a private party if the grant would interfere with the public interest. The public trust has been widely used and scrutinized in the United States (The Mono Lake case being the breakthrough)[62], but its scope is still uncertain. Various have been made to apply this doctrine to protect navigable and non-navigable waters, public land sand parks, and to apply it to both public and private lands and ecological resources. The Supreme Court of California has broadened the definition of public trust by including ecological and aesthetic considerations. Although the public trusts doctrine is not without its fair share of criticism it is being increasingly related to sustainable development, the precautionary principle and bio-diversity protection. The doctrine combines the guarantee of public access to public trust resources with a requirement of public accountability in respect of decision-making regarding such resources. Moreover, not only can it be used to protect the public from poor application of planning law or environmental impact assessment, it also has an intergenerational dimension. The Stockholm Declaration of United Nations on Human Environment evidences this seminal proposition: â€Å"The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and especially representative samples of natural system, must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations through careful planning or management, as appropriate†¦ Conclusion Om vanaspataye Shanti Bhavantu[63] The Rishis of Aryavrata, the great thinkers of the ancient period pronounced above in the Vedas in no uncertain terms. However, we have sadly forgotten this precept except uttering the words occasionally while conducting havan to propitiate Gods and Nature without understanding the implication of this Mantra. In recent years these life supporting systems are gradually declining through the capricious exploitation of earth’s resources by the ever expanding human population in order to meet its growing material needs in the name of modernization and development and so does our relationship with natural resources continues to deteriorate till nature’s resources are exploited and utilized in a more rational economical way to maintain a sustainable development. Environment is common heritage for all. Obviously, conservation and development can and must go hand in hand unrevealing and understanding the complexities of various eco-systems with a changing attitude of â€Å"touch-me-not† to â€Å"use me wisely†. It is evident that the state is not the owner of the natural resources in the country but a trustee who holds fiduciary relationship with the people. By accepting this task the government is expected to be loyal to the interests of its citizens and to discharge its duty with the interest of the citizens at heart and involve them in decision-making process concerning the management of natural resources in the country. The Public Trust Doctrine may provide the means for increasing the effectiveness of environmental impact assessment laws. The Public Trust Doctrine stands for the proposition that some of nature’s gifts inherently belong to all people, and the government must steward these to prevent both private arrogation of public resources and the â€Å"tragedy of the commons† from unfettered public access to these shared resources. [64] Environmental Human Rights represent a growing movement to codify this belief, to make positive law that firms up the philosophy promulgated for 1,500 or so years in the name of the Public Trust Doctrine. In addition, the Public Trust Doctrine has expanded its reach to cover more of the Earth as the interrelatedness of ecosystem processes becomes more defined, and the success of the strategy in protecting those processes becomes more apparent. The Public Trust Doctrine encourages government officials to fulfill their stewardship duties. Judicial vigilance creates obligations erga omnes, i. e. , duties that must be performed. The Public Trust Doctrine urges judges to take a hard, skeptical look when government action appears to allow private interest to impede public trust environmental resources. The Public Trust Doctrine naturally shrinks what constitutes private property rights (and moves us to reconsider them as â€Å"private† â€Å"property† â€Å"rights†), either because certain resources never actually were subject to private usurpation, or never should have been. The Public Trust Doctrine has always reflected a value preference for public over private access to environmental assets. Invoking environmental rights as human rights amplifies the public’s right, now and in the future, to share in ecological gifts fundamental to human health and wellbeing. How to cite Public Trust Doctrine: Indian Contours, Papers

Errors in Intravenous Medicine Administration

Question: Discuss about the Errors in Intravenous Medicine Administration. Answer: Introduction: In the recent years, healthcare sectors are highly concerned with the increasing rate of errors in intravenous administration of medicines. There has been a high degree of mortality rate in the nation mainly due to intravenous administration errors. Different contributing factors have been recognized by researchers that had helped in shedding light over the increasing rate of the errors. This essay will also portray two important articles where researchers have conducted experiments to discuss the errors that occur during intravenous medication administration and will also compare both the articles to find out different positive and negative aspects of the papers. Westbook et al. had published an article in the year 2016 where they had worked extensively to study the frequency, type and severity of the intravenous administration errors in different healthcare sectors. Before proceeding into the experimental part, they have explained in details about how such errors have been the most detrimental among all types of medication errors. They have given the information that in United Kingdom a total of about 62% of the cases of medicine errors constitutes of intravenous administration errors. They have also stated that United States also have a similar higher rate of administration error of intravenous medication. They have conducted an observational study where they have taken two hospitals of Australia in consideration. They have included an observation of 568 intravenous medication administration over a larger number of six to seven wards that included both surgical and medical patients. For this assessment they had prepared a structural observa tional tool which was followed by its incorporation into software in a handheld computer that used a personal digital assistant called PDA. After conducting the entire observational studies, the researchers noted down each practice of the nurses along with the procedures they have followed. They also carefully noticed, the doses, procedure of administration and other important factors in their observational studies. after properly noting down each of the instances and carefully analyzing the practice of each nurses, they put forward important data which had shed light on the current practices that nurses follow in intravenous medication administration. They have noted down a large number of procedural failures that they have observed in the practices of the nurses. They can be listed as the failure of the healthcare staffs to read medication labels and failure of a nurse to properly check patient identification. Nurses were seen to neglect their duty of checking the patients wristband or the patients name and date of birth and aligning them with that of the medication information chart of the same patient before administering their scheduled dose (Ohasi et al., 2014). Moreover, nurses were also found to store medication in unsecured environment. They were also found to fail severely in documenting their medication records and upgrading the medication charts. They were also observed to not maintaining hand hygiene and thereby administering intravenous medicines without washing hands. Procedural failures were also observed in properly checking pulse before intravenous administration or monitoring the blood sugar level before introduc ing insulin. While application of dangerous drugs, failures were noted with two nurses signing the medication chart, checking preparation and in witnessing dangerous drug administration. From the data they have collected, they also showed that besides procedural errors, clinical errors have also been noted. Wrong intravenous rate is also observed in the practices of the nurses. They were seen to administer intravenous drug at a much faster rate than the Australian injectable drug handbook have advised to. They were also found to prepare a wrong mixture, which was either much diluted or much concentrated than the Australian injectable Drugs Handbook. Wrong volume preparation is also observed among the nurses. Drug-Drug interaction was also recorded which results when one administered drug reacted with another causing adverse reaction to the patients. While assessing for the severity of the errors that had been noted by researchers, it was found that administrations that took place through bolus had higher error rates and more severe than those with infusions. The bolus intravenous infusions had higher rate and more types of errors like wrong rates, wrong volume, wrong mixture or incompatible drugs. For intravenous infusions, wrong rate and wrong volume showed higher severity and were much serious for patients (Keers et al., 2013). Moreover, nurses, especially those who were less experienced, did not properly utilize infusion pumps. This is mainly due to their failure in the use of devices as intended. These nurses were not aware of the potential of infusion pumps to decrease the rate of the errors and the higher rate of errors is also found to be in nurses who are less experienced. Researchers have denoted that they have found that when nurses achieve an experience of 6 years, their rate of making errors in intravenous drug admin istration gets reduced to a large extent. Their severity of the errors also is reduced. Researchers have denoted that in most of the cases errors in medication administration was mainly found to be the result of insufficient knowledge among the nurses and the rates of such errors gradually decreased in them as the years of experiences went on increasing (Cheragi et al., 2014). They also remarked that many of the errors took place because the nurses were associated with routine violations that they should learn at workplace only and this persisted even when clinical expertise was achieved. The researchers have therefore recommended supervising the new nurses who are on duty. Important training sessions should also be introduced so that they can properly develop proper idea about the different procedures and clinical skills required for proper intravenous medication administration. This would help in maintaining more patient-safety. Another article that had been chosen is the work of Keers et al., which was published in the year 2015. Unlike the previous article, which denoted the frequency, type and severity of the medication errors, it mainly depicted the main causes that contribute to such intravenous medication errors. In this article, the researchers have conducted interviews of 20 nurses who worked in two NHS teaching hospitals in North West England. The previous study was conducted in Australia and was an observational study unlike this one, which is an interview, conducted by researchers. The replies of the nurses were transcribed and analyzed using the Framework approach. They used the Reasons model of accident causation to categorize the emerging themes. Unlike the previous study where the researchers found out the types of errors in form of procedures and clinical intervention, here the researchers mainly pointed out six important perceived reasons that contribute to failure in proper intravenous administration. The first reason they marked is the cases of actual failures. In this category, they included casual behaviour of the nurse during dose checking that resulted in missing and slops. Executional failures were also noted mainly due to look alike medicines, distractions and familiarity with patients (ong et al., 2013). Though look-alike medications were remarked as a type of failure by the previous article, it did not pinpoint distractions caused by the patients on wards that affect a nurses safe practice. This point might have come up as the nurses personal experiences were shared in the article. Knowledge based mistakes were also stated by the present paper and shared a common view with the previous one as both depicted this r eason as one of the factors resulting in errors. Just like the previous paper, the current paper also have denoted the nurses tendency to not follow the proper rules regarding the medication administration during dosage adjustments or prescription stated activities. Another factor that the recent paper marked but was absent in the previous paper is the practice of nurses in not consulting another nurses or not preventing another nurse when confusions arise while administering a particular medicine. Mainly their relationship with the other nurses was not friendly enough that prevented them in insulating with them besides the uncomfortable feeling of showing ones knowledge gaps (Parry, Barribal While, 2015). Another factor that they have noted is the increasing workload and the distractions that often accompany the care provided to clinically deteriorating patients and their family members, which contribute to slips and lapses. The previous authors did not point patients, being a source of distortion and medication errors in busy shifts. The author of the second paper has also pointed out that nurses often cause mistakes in medication errors because of their unfamiliarity with frequently used medicines, which was previously mentioned. However, the previous authors did not consider the nurses overconfident, which later authors pointed out. They said that familiarity of patients for a large number of years made them overconfident and this led their overlooking the prescription. These cause medication errors. Moreover, fear of portraying oneself as less competent prevented them from consulting with others (Nguywn et al., 2013). The author had provided enough instances, which have shown that the relationships shared by the nurses are not cordial enough that, often lead to miscommunications. The author of the previous paper had not mentioned anything about the working environment of the nurses as the contributing factor. However, the current paper had shown that noisy, chaotic and distracted environment act as contributor to medication administration error. The author of the present paper had also stated that lack of proper staff skill mix, nursing shortages, busy shifts and others are other contributors. Moreover, equipment related lack of knowledge was also found to be contributing factors. From the entire discussion on the two papers, it was noted that both the papers were capable enough to point out the important factors that often lead to medication error in intravenous administration. However, the later paper seems to have a more detailed approach than the previous one. The various factors of both the papers can be taken into consideration by the authority so that they can introduce policies to handle the issues and promote safe practices in healthcare sectors. References: Cheragi, M. A., Manoocheri, H., Mohammadnejad, E., Ehsani, S. R. (2014). Types and causes of medication errors from nurses viewpoint.Iranian journal of nursing and midwifery research,18(3). Keers, R. N., Williams, S. D., Cooke, J., Ashcroft, D. M. (2013). Prevalence and nature of medication administration errors in health care settings: a systematic review of direct observational evidence.Annals of Pharmacotherapy,47(2), 237-256. Keers, R. N., Williams, S. D., Cooke, J., Ashcroft, D. M. (2015). Understanding the causes of intravenous medication administration errors in hospitals: a qualitative critical incident study.BMJ open,5(3), e005948. Keers, R. N., Williams, S. D., Cooke, J., Walsh, T., Ashcroft, D. M. (2014). Impact of interventions designed to reduce medication administration errors in hospitals: a systematic review.Drug safety,37(5), 317-332. Nguyen, H. T., Pham, H. T., Vo, D. K., Nguyen, T. D., van den Heuvel, E. R., Haaijer-Ruskamp, F. M., nlike the previous study where the researchers found out theamp; Taxis, K. (2013). The effect of a clinical pharmacist-led training programme on intravenous medication errors: a controlled before and after study.BMJ quality safety, bmjqs-2013. Ohashi, K., Dalleur, O., Dykes, P. C., Bates, D. W. (2014). Benefits and risks of using smart pumps to reduce medication error rates: a systematic review.Drug safety,37(12), 1011-1020. Ong, W. M., Subasyini, S. (2013). Medication errors in intravenous drug preparation and administration.Med J Malaysia,68(1), 52-57. Parry, A. M., Barriball, K. L., While, A. E. (2015). Factors contributing to Registered Nurse medication administration error: A narrative review.International journal of nursing studies,52(1), 403-420. Prakash, V., Koczmara, C., Savage, P., Trip, K., Stewart, J., McCurdie, T., ... Trbovich, P. (2014). Mitigating errors caused by interruptions during medication verification and administration: interventions in a simulated ambulatory chemotherapy setting.BMJ quality safety, bmjqs-2013. Raban, M. Z., Westbrook, J. I. (2014). Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?: a systematic review.BMJ quality safety,23(5), 414-421. Westbrook, J. I., Rob, M. I., Woods, A., Parry, D. (2011). Errors in the administration of intravenous medications in hospital and the role of correct procedures and nurse experience.BMJ quality safety,20(12), 1027-1034.