Online Healthy Living Game For Children - 771 Words

Online Healthy Living Game for Children Course-Specific Learning Outcomes Computing (CO) Students successfully completing the route will: C.1 become skilled in techniques of analysis and design appropriate for the development of Information systems; C.2 have a range of programming skills and demonstrate those skills through implementation of Systems; C.3 understand theoretical concepts associated with database management systems and Become proficient in the design, construction and exploitation of databases; C.4 understand the characteristics and operation of various operating systems; C.5 understand a range of management and applications issues in the deployment of Information technology; Project Background The Project is to conduct†¦show more content†¦High blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, asthma, liver disease and even some cancers, including breast and bowel cancer. (Bupa, 2014) Health issues can also affect emotional and mental health. For example a child may have low confidence or self-esteem and could lead to depression. (Bupa, 2014) Research has found children between ages 7 to 10 need a lot of nutrients and energy due to the fact they are still growing. On average boys need 1816.5kcal (calories) and girls need 1703kcal (calories). This is worked out by using the guide line averages from NHS calories for children age 7-10. Please see table 1. Table 1: How many calories does a child of 7-10 need? (NHS, 2014) Age (years) Boys Girls 7 6900kJ/1649kcal 6400kJ/1530kcal 8 7300kJ/1745kcal 6800kJ/1625kcal 9 7700kJ/1840kcal 7200kJ/1721kcal 10 8500kJ/2032kcal 8100kJ/1936kcal An article in the guardian referenced to a study by the government called â€Å"How Healthy Behaviour Supports Children’s Wellbeing† and it states that â€Å"in England, videos games were played for two hours or more a day by 55% of boys and 20% of girls in 2010† (The Guardian, 2014) Figure 1: Graph showing screen time (excluding TV) per day Figure 1 shows as children get older they become more interactive with electrical products. So this means technology could be used to encourage healthy living to children. Aim The aim of this project is to design and produce an online game to encourage healthy living in children between

Literary Analysis Of The Outsiders - 1661 Words

The Outsiders Literary Analysis Is the American Dream fact ? Or Fiction ? In the novel The Outsiders, the author S.E Hinton explains the story of a young boy named Ponyboy and the struggle to survive, to find out the rights and wrongs in society, taking on difficult challenges like social class, loved ones, loyalty and rivalry between two different social classes . The question is brought up, is the American Dream fact ? Or fiction ? According to the knowledge that has been given, Through documentaries, articles and a novel. The American Dream is what you could describe as an allusion. The American dream â€Å"is a theory that every U.S citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work and†¦show more content†¦What would be the reaction of the upperclassmen ? The last piece of evidence is from the book The Outsiders Randy states on page 117 â€Å" You cant win, even if you whip us youll still be where you were before at the bottom and we will still be the lucky ones with all the breaks. So it do esnt do any good with all the fighting and the killing. It doesnt prove a thing.We will forget it if you win, or if you dont. Greaser’s will be greasers and Socs will still be Socs.† This just shows that when dealing with social class it is hard to get along with different social statuses which also makes it harder to move up the social ladder. And it also makes it harder to achieve the so called â€Å"American Dream .† Connecting to the poem Willow and Ginkgo, the whole poem is a metaphor about social class and status. Education, everybody needs it to gain the knowledge, it is something that we need for our every daily lives. â€Å"Education is the process of gaining knowledge about the world surrounding you† (According to Websters Dictionary. ) According to the article What is Social Class ? It conveys â€Å"Any Observer of American society would quickly and know that there are large variations in wealth, material possession, power and authority, and prestige in our society. They would also note differences in access to education, healthcare leisure. â€Å" According to theShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis : The Outsiders 2595 Words   |  11 PagesGina Cabano Eng-150 Whetstine Literary Analysis 05/04/15 Inside The Outsiders The Outsiders, a coming-of-age novel, written by S.E. Hinton who was a teenager at the time of writing is firmly based upon groups of teenagers divided amongst their social classes. The novel takes on the rival battles of the Socials and the Greasers. Susan Eloise Hinton as known as, S.E. Hinton was born July 22, 1950 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She had grown up as a voluntary tom boy in love with horses. Susan could not writeRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Outsiders1217 Words   |  5 PagesThe Same Sunset â€Å"Maybe the two different worlds we lived in weren’t so different. We saw the same sunset.† This is what Ponyboy thinks to himself as he was walking with Cherry after the movies. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the mid 1960’s. This story is all about Ponyboy growing up around the conflicts between two societies. All of the main characters face many conflicts, which are mainly about their social statuses, about the rich and about the poor. In the storyRead MoreLiterary Analysis Of The Outsiders1429 Words   |  6 Pagesthem to find resolutions to their own uncertainties concerning life. Many authors employ the literary technique realism to satiate these cravings. Today, there are some popular novels that attempt to imitate this, such as the coveted The Fault in Our Stars or Divergent. These selections, while widespread in the hands of young adult readers today, will not stand the test of time in the way that The Outsiders has, written by S. E. Hinton in 1967, has. This novel, both produced by and intended for teenagersRead MoreReflective Essay914 Words   |  4 Pagesthrough English class has come to a close. My path has been a smooth and enjoyable one, and it is with great sadness that I begin to gather up the ends of my literary education. I know that I will continue to grow and develop as a critical reader/thinker throughout my life, but I will miss the educational structure that has shaped my literary understanding for the last year. I consider my greatest strengths as a writer to be my insightfulness and creative slant with which I approach my work. IRead MoreMovie Review : Astray By Amy Christine Parker1488 Words   |  6 PagesNovel Evaluation: Astray Selection: I selected the novel Astray by Amy Christine Parker for our novel analysis. I decided to read Astray after reading the series’s first book, Gated. I first read Gated because it is on the 2015-16 SC YABA nominee list, and I wasn’t disappointed. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. When I saw Astray in the library, I really wanted to know what happened to all the characters, and if this sequel was as good as Gated, so I chose it. I wouldRead MoreThe Weaknesses Of Othello By William Shakespeare933 Words   |  4 Pagessignificantly, Othello’s violent actions are the result of his intense jealousy. In Shakespeare s play, jealousy’s conceited and suicidal attributes, which plants fear into the minds of those it affects, is remarkable according to Paul Dean. In Dean’s literary analysis on the jealous husbands of Shakespeare’s plays, he discusses how Shakespeare’s use of jealousy in Othello is arguably one of the mo st noteworthy examples ever written (Dean 246). In his final monologue, Othello briefly mentions jealousy. OthelloRead MoreEssay about flannery oconner: queen of irony1743 Words   |  7 Pages Flannery O’Connor: Queen of Irony The literary rebellion, known as realism, established itself in American writing as a direct response to the age of American romanticism’s sentimental and sensationalist prose. As the dominance of New England’s literary culture waned â€Å"a host of new writers appeared, among them Bret Harte, William Dean Howells, and Mark Twain, whose background and training, unlike those of the older generation they displaced, were middle-class and journalistic rather than genteelRead MoreStudent B As A Reader1392 Words   |  6 Pageswriting, but can be an hinderance when writing literary analysis. While Student B is highly motivated, her desire to complete things her way can lead her away from needed instruction. As part of the writing process, I conference with each student to go over their final grade and set goals for the ensuing assignment. Student A’s personal goal was to respond to the prompt and rubric with fidelity. I distributed copies of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders and Student B came back the following day havingRead MoreLiterary Analysis: How Meursault Is Indifferent in the Stranger, by Albert Camus874 Words   |  4 PagesLiterary analysis: How Meursault is indifferent in The Stranger, by Albert Camus Although Meursault is the title character and narrator of Albert Camus’ short novel The Stranger, he is also a somewhat flat character. His apparent indifferent demeanor may be a convenience to Camus, who mainly wanted to display his ideas of absurdism. And as a flat character, Meursault is not fully delineated: he lacks deep thought and significant change. His purpose is that of a first-person narrator whose actionsRead MorePsychoanalytic Criticism on Emily Dickinson Essay1086 Words   |  5 Pagesposition throughout their literary writings, as well as understanding whom the author was and how their mind created such works. When considering the work of Emily Dickinson, psychoanalytic criticism comes into play with the role of explaining the many meanings behind her poetry, as to make the reader relate to such poetry on a deeper level or not to who she was as a human being. Many critics believe that using a psychological criticism approach to understand an author’s literary work leaves common sense

Competitive Racial Diversity and Firm Performance †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Competitive Racial Diversity and Firm Performance. Answer: Introduction: The cost leadership helps in making profit as well as gaining competitive advantages (D. Banker, Mashruwala Tripathy, 2014). The company is a global leader in services, software and solutions therefore it uses cost leadership strategies beside their competitor Apple.Inc. the company has been able to offer 5 divisions business through personal software, business software and entertainment to its customers through Xbox games. The CEO Nadella has outlined the companys shift from services and devices to platform and productivity. The companys productivity begins with its Office Apps like Word, PowerPoint, Excel OneNote and Lync, which goes beyond including Bing, Outlook, Skype, OneDrive and Office Mobile. It targets the dual users whose home and work are intertwined. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner has forecasted that the companys zero dollar pricing for Windows devices, will be resulting something new. The company mixes both the strategies therefore able to make more profit and more market penetration (Hill, Jones Schilling, 2014). Microsoft company uses the merger and acquisitions strategy to gain more competitive advantages. In this strategy, the company is combining with another corporations and become one business entity. This helps Microsoft to achieve more efficiencies and productivity. Acquisition helps Microsoft to purchase another company along with its assets and shares. The company encourages more technology merging and acquisitions to strengthen the corporation. Since 1994 the company has applied acquisition strategy each year. It purchases small companies to gain massive growth as well as market share. Microsoft has purchased 18 small firms in 2006 that includesOnfolio, ProClarity,Lionhead Studios,Colloquis, Massive Incorporated and WinternalsSoftware. Microsoft has purchased nine companies worth over one billion dollars that are Visio Corporation(2000), Navision (2002), aQuantive(2007),Skype(2011),Fast Search Transfer(2008), Nokia(2013),Yammer(2012), Mojang(2014) and in 2016LinkedIn. For improvin g the capacity utilization, and better usage of sales force, Microsoft has decided to continue with this strategy. Microsoft is a global company that competes in international level. It operates in more than six hundred countries of the world and has foreign direct investment in some of these countries. As a global company Microsoft uses centralized approach that is the major decisions are taken in the headquarters of Microsoft. To maintain the product quality all over the world, the company offers same software program only adjusting the programs matching local dialects (Chen Miller, 2015). Corporate diversified strategy: Microsoft follows diversified strategies. Basically it is a service, solutions and software provider. Microsofts corporate level activities include broad based marketing and sales, product support, legal, information technology, finance, human resource, corporate development, research development and legal settlement and contingencies (Andrevski et al., 2014). The Windows division and Microsoft business divisions are the most profitable sections for the company where as the entertainment devices and products such as OneDrive are under the companys sub-segment diversification strategy. The server tools division and online service divisions have lower market share as well as lower growth. The companys idea is to provide collaboration in diversification. Therefore, all of its software are designed to work collaboratively. Microsofts maintains evolving responsibility strategy that ensures the companys corresponding programs to satisfy its stakeholders. Microsoft emphasizes on human rights, business transparency and environmental sustainability (Saeidi et al., 2015). As a player of international market the company enhances brand as well as corporate image by improving social responsibility strategies continuously and dedicates itself in prioritizing accessibility in product development to empower everyone. Supplier Code of Conduct of the company has prescribed human rights, health, labour, safety, environmental and ethics practices holding its suppliers accountable for these. The corporate citizenship programs are arranged based on global guidelines and standards. Being a diversified corporation Microsoft offers various products and services therefore it faces tough competition in the technology sector. The major competitors of Microsoft include Apple, Google, IBM and Oracle. Macintosh OS of Apple is superior than Windows but is limited to Macintosh computers just as IBMs OS/2. Microsofts operating system can be handled easily and provide better accessibility. References: Andrevski, G., Richard, O. C., Shaw, J. D., Ferrier, W. J. (2014). Racial diversity and firm performance: The mediating role of competitive intensity. Journal of Management,40(3), 820-844. Chen, M. J., Miller, D. (2015). Reconceptualizing competitive dynamics: A multidimensional framework. Strategic Management Journal,36(5), 758-775. Banker, R., Mashruwala, R., Tripathy, A. (2014). Does a differentiation strategy lead to more sustainable financial performance than a cost leadership strategy?. Management Decision,52(5), 872-896. Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction.Journal of Business Research,68(2),341-350.

Role of Sez Essay Example

Role of Sez Essay This report aims at examining the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) on human development and poverty reduction in India. It identifies three channels through which SEZs address these issues: employment generation, skill formation (human capital development), and technology and knowledge up gradation. It examines how the impact of SEZs is passed through each of these channels. It found that labor intensive, skill intensive and technology intensive firms co exist in India’s zones. The data was generated through across the three largest SEZs (in terms of their contribution to exports and employment) : SEEPZ, Madras and Noida. The analysis reveals that ‘employment generation’ has been the most important channel through which SEZs lend themselves to human development concerns, in India. Employment generated by zones is remunerative. Wage rates are not lower than those prevailing outside the zones. Besides, working conditions, non monetary benefits (such as transport, health and food facilities), incentive packages and social security systems are better than those prevailing outside the zones, in particular, in the small/informal sector. The role of SEZs in human capital formation and technology up gradation is found to be rather limited. Introduction In this era of globalization, most developing countries are witnessing a shift away from an import substitution based development strategy to one based on export promotion policy. We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Sez specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Sez specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Role of Sez specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer As part of their policy instruments to promote exports, many of these countries are vigorously promoting export processing zones (EPZs). EPZs are seen as a key instrument not only for promoting exports and earning foreign exchange but also for stimulating economic growth through additional investment, technology transfers, and employment generation. A majority of new zones have taken root in developing countries. One of the most controversial aspects of EPZs is their impact on labor standards, labor relations and human development. A significant body of literature now exists addressing the concerns about human development ffects of these zones. However, empirical evidence is ambiguous. Review of existing studies however suggests that a comprehensive analysis of EPZs’ labor related effects is scarce. There are several limitations of the existing literature: First, in the absence of a comprehensive framework within which different aspects of human development effects are woven t ogether, some effects are over emphasized while others are neglected. Second, the analysis is often supported by patchy evidence Third, very few studies evaluate the labor effects of EPZs in comparison with domestic industries (Kusago and Tzannatos 1998). Fourth, zones are not a static phenomenon. The economic conditions in which they operate change over time and affect their characteristics (or competitive attributes). This, in turn, impinges on the benefits that they yield. Gains from EPZs would thus depend on the stage of their evolution and would vary across countries as also within countries across zones and time. The present report integrates various aspects of human development effects into a single framework and examines the Indian experience within that framework. The research question is whether EPZs have contributed to employment, human development, and poverty reduction in India. A variety of terms such as industrial free zones and free trade zones are used interchangeably through most of the EPZ literature. In India, they are called ‘special economic zones’ (SEZs). The SEZ scheme introduced by the government of India in April 2000 has its genesis in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) scheme, which was introduced way back in 1965 when the first zone was set up in Kandla. By the late 1990s, seven more zones had come into existence. Under the new scheme, however, all the existing EPZs were converted into SEZs. In the rest of the paper therefore we shall use the term ‘special economic zones’ or SEZs. The framework encompasses not only labor relations and labor standards issues but also knowledge generation and technology management in the zones and their linkages with poverty reduction. Human Development and Poverty Reduction Effects of Zones: An Analytical Framework Following the existing SEZ literature, we identify three channels through which SEZs may affect human capabilities †¢ Employment effects Human capital formation effects †¢ Technology upgrading effects Employment Effects The employment effect of SEZs operates through three channels : one, SEZs generate direct employment for skilled and unskilled labor ; two, they also generate indirect employment; and three, they generate employment for women workers. It is believed that employment creation generates incomes, creates non pecunia ry benefits, improves the quality of life of labor and enhances their productivity. These, in turn, have poverty reduction effect. Direct employment generation In so far as SEZs comprise labor-intensive activities, enterprises in SEZs constitute a significant source of new employment. Due to the availability of labor at low wages, developing countries generally attract investment into simple processing labor intensive industries. This increases the demand for unskilled labor within the zone. Shift towards higher value added activities as SEZs grow, might increase demand for skilled labor also. SEZs also generate employment for unskilled labor by creating demand for physical infrastructure within the zone. This stimulates the local construction industry giving employment to unskilled labor. Demand for utilities such as water, electricity, communication, and administration also rises. Finally, there has been increasing demand for various support services such as, hotels and restaurants, and transport, which is expected to have a substantial impact on employment generation. Indirect employment generation The indirect effect is manifested as ancillary employment opportunities generated in sectors of the economy affected by the operations of the SEZ. These include, transport, communication, automobile, civil aviation, shipping, tourism, hospitality, packaging, banking, and insurance. Employment opportunities are, thus generated for both unskilled and skilled labor. In addition to the above, there are three other channels through which SEZs generate a favourable impact on employment generation. One, SEZs provide foreign exchange earnings that slacken the foreign exchange constraints of the rest of the economy regarding the import needs of the rest of the economy and accelerate investment activities. SEZs thus generate development funds, which facilitate generation of economic activities and employment. Two, they also generate economic activity outside the zone due to the transformation of investment funds into fixed assets and purchase of inputs and services from the rest of the economy. Three, once additional incomes are generated, there is an increase in demand for various goods and services such as housing, education, health and transport. This in turn has multiplier effects on income and employment. Employment for Women Women’s share to total employment in SEZs is substantially high than both the economy as a whole as well as the manufacturing sector in the SEZs. Women workers are considered more disciplined and hard working. It is found that employers prefer female workers to male workers in the belief that manual dexterity, greater discipline and patience make women more suitable for the unskilled and semi-skilled activities carried out in the zones. Besides, they are less likely to exert pressure for high wages and better working conditions. Majority of women are young, single and come from rural and poor backgrounds. But for SEZs they might not have been absorbed into formal employment at all and hence SEZ employment can be said to afford them an independent source of income that would otherwise have been denied. SEZs are thus expected to contribute substantially to the empowerment of women. The above theoretical propositions suggest that zones contribute to human development by increasing employment opportunities. The implicit assumption is that job creation alleviates unemployment, generates income, improves standard of living, and results in human development and poverty reduction. However, it cannot be assumed, a priori that employment in SEZs enhances human development, which depends crucially on wages and working conditions. It is generally claimed that in order to attract investment, in particular FDI, governments eliminate labor standards, consequently promoting labor exploitation and depletion of human capital. There are restrictions on the right to join a trade union, bans on collective bargaining and the right to strike. Employers often pay scant regard to labor laws, employment regulations, and health and safety norms at work. These issues are critical in determining employment effects of zones on living standards, poverty reduction, and human development and need to be analyzed in detail before drawing any conclusion regarding the impact of zones on human development and poverty reduction. Skill Formation (Human Capital Formation) Effects There are various modes by which SEZs can positively contribute to human capital formation. One is the firm level activity whereby the host country labor force acquires skills from within the firm through training and learning by doing on the job. Zone units can thus directly affect the skill formation as workers are provided additional training on- and off the job. Local employees of multinational corporations (MNCs) in some cases are sent to their headquarters abroad or elsewhere for middle and, more often, higher management training, and advanced technician training. Training may spread broader than enterprise programmes. The second method involves upgrading of the education system to cater to the needs of the zone units. Some cooperative training programmes between schools/colleges and the enterprises in the SEZs are being developed. These programmes aim at providing technical education at the factory rather than at the institution. Zone units may also be setting up training institutes to impart training to the labor to create the relevant pool of skilled labor. Skill formation for the poor unskilled workers also occurs through assimilation of industrial discipline. This might increase the welfare of poor unskilled workers by increasing the range of job opportunities available to them. Improved skills and productivity increase workers’ income earning capacity. Given the high labor turnover rate in the SEZs, domestic firms can benefit from this training by hiring workers previously employed in the zone firms. In the long-term, the creation of a macro environment in which returns to education and skill development are high, is an important component of the skill formation effect of SEZs. Zone units raise the demand for and wages of skilled workers through technology transfer and capital investment, which in turn provides positive incentives for educational attainment and skill formation. Finally, SEZs offer a highly conducive investment climate to attract FDI by making up for infrastructural deficiencies and procedural complexities that characterize developing countries. Typically, FDI brings with it technology transfer, managerial, and other skills (such as marketing and distribution), access to markets and training for staff. Foreign entrepreneurs may set an important example for potential domestic entrepreneurs by demonstrating that the right combination managerial, technical and marketing know-how can allow organizations to profitably enter world. The export knowledge of foreign firms operating in SEZs is expected to spill-over to domestic firms in SEZs and then to those in the domestic economy. Through such linkages SEZs may enable firms in the rest of the economy to master production, distribution and marketing skills important for enhancing international competitiveness. SEZs can thus play a crucial role in upgrading domestic entrepreneurial skills. Technology Upgrading Effects SEZs attract export-oriented FDI and promote other forms of collaboration between local firms and MNCs. For instance, SEZs facilitate the insertion of domestic SMEs (small and medium enterprises) into global value chains by offering them an enabling investment. Global standards, low-cost competition, and advances in technology raise challenges for the SEZ units competing in global value chains. This stimulates learning and innovation which are crucial aspects of human development. Two distinct types of value chains are identified: those that are producer-driven and others that are buyer-driven. The former type characterizes those value chains in which multinational enterprises (MNEs) outsource the production of components and play the central role in controlling the system. They provide technology to the networked producers. This arrangement is common in capital- and technology-intensive industries such as automobiles, computers and electronics. In contrast, the latter type refers to primarily low-tech labor intensive industries in which large retailers, branded marketers, and trading companies play the pivotal role in setting up decentralized production networks in a variety of exporting companies, typically located in the ‘Third World’. In this case MNEs are marketers of products only; networked producers need to arrange for raw materials and technology themselves. Participation in these chains allows producers to upgrade themselves technologically on continuous basis. For instance, many local firms become responsible for original equipment manufacturing (OEM) wherein they source raw materials locally and manufacture products to the specifications of foreign buyers. But having established a range of technological skills through learning, these firms transfer into ‘original brand name manufacturing’ (OBM). Learning and knowledge created in SEZs is eventually transmitted to domestic firms supplying to the SEZ firms through backward linkages when the companies within the SEZ buy inputs from the host country. Direct transaction of technology and indirect spill-overs through various channels such as copying, reverse engineering, and movement of workers and managers between foreign and domestic companies also facilitate transmission of knowledge to the rest of the economy. Further, trade bodies, manufacturers’ associations and export marketing bodies which provide a useful platform to interact and to foster closer rapport among members act as valuable forums for information sharing and spillovers. Thus, SEZs are not enclaves/foreign territories that are functioning in isolation, as many believe. Linkages between SEZs and human development ANALYSIS ON INDIA SEZ’S RESPECT TO THE REPORT Three major conclusions emerge from the analysis. These are as under. (1) Employment generation, both direct and indirect, has thus far been the most important channel, through which SEZs have impacted on human development and poverty reduction in India. India’s SEZs are not dominated by assembly type operations. ‘Value addition’ component and hence employment generation potential of zones is rather large. Even though their contribution to national employment has been rather limited, they have contributed significantly to employment generation at the regional level. Due to stagnation, their ability to absorb surplus labor has been declining. This is manifested in the declining employment elasticity of exports. It can only be reversed if fresh investment is attracted to SEZs. With the SEZ Act in place, there has been a surge in the establishment of new zones, which is likely to generate huge employment potential in the economy. Much of this will be a net addition to employment as investment relocation/diversion in export oriented production is likely to be limited. Zones have proven to be particularly beneficial to female employment. SEZs have opened up opportunities for wage employment for women in the formal sector, thereby increasing their employability as well as improving their position in the household. This is an important contribution of zones because female employment is crucial for equitable growth. Most critics suggest that employment is feminized in the zones and that these women are young and can easily be exploited. However, the analysis of socio economic status and working conditions of female workers undertaken in the study finds little evidence to support these hypotheses. There is a wide consensus on the entral role of employment in poverty reduction. One is therefore tempted to conclude that zones can be used as an effective policy instrument in alleviating poverty. However, the relationship between poverty and employment lies in the extent to which income generated from employment permits workers and their dependants to obtain goods and services necessary to meet minimum needs. Poverty reducti on thus calls for the creation of remunerative, regular and good-quality jobs in the labor market. Our analysis suggests that wages in the zones are not lower than those prevailing outside the zones, in particular in the small/informal sector. Working conditions in the zones in terms of social security benefits, transport facilities, health facilities, food facilities, working environment and working space, are also better than those in the same types of jobs in the rest of the economy. This has had a direct effect on the standard of living of workers. SEZs, if promoted vigorously can therefore act as an initiator in the process of human development and poverty alleviation in India. (2) The role of SEZs in human capital formation appears to be relatively limited. Most SEZ units impart on-the-job training to their workers. But training is focused, employer-driven and lasts for short durations. Most workers feel that this training does not upgrade their skills substantially. Nevertheless, they feel that they are exposed to learning by working under strict time schedules, high quality standards and sophisticated machinery. This learning helps in upgrading their capability of learning further. Skill begets skill through a skill multiplier process and ensures higher returns. Workers also feel that their job prospects outside the zone have improved due to their working in SEZs. When workers move out of the zones to domestic economy, skill spill-over’s take place in the rest of the economy as well. New zones that are attracting second and third generation firms are expected to enhance the role of SEZs in human capital formation by creating demand for new set of skills and by imparting substantial training to workers for handling highly skill intensive operations. (3) Zones’ contribution as an engine for promoting new knowledge, technologies and innovations through technology transfers and technology creation has however been quite limited till now. Zones are dominated by medium tech activities and most firms are involved in contract manufacturing, which leaves little scope for Ramp;D activities. It is found that the technology-related activities of the SEZ units are not different from those of the export oriented domestic units outside SEZs. The zones thus could not fulfill the role of promoting innovation systems in the economy. This is despite the fact that the knowledge spill-over potential of zones is rather high in the economy. Most entrepreneurs are educated and run their businesses professionally. Besides, many of them have units outside the zones as well. It is also observed that most zones have formed manufacturers’ associations. They are also members of other manufacturers’ associations. SEZs are thus not working in isolation and are well connected with the domestic economy. Perhaps a micro/sector based study could indicate some success stories. References 1) KumarR, kumar R,Sez: Capturing rne Foreign Market, Southern Economist, Sept. 2006, Vol 45 2) Roychaudhury A. A. ,SEZ: to be or not to be Yojna, June 2007. 3) Aggarwal, Aradhna,Sezs and growth, Yojna, Oct2005, ) 87th report of the parliamentary standing committee on commerce on Action taken by Government on the recommendations/observations of the committee contained in its 83rd report http://164. 100. 47. 5:8080/newcommittee/reports/EnglishCommittees/Committee%20on%20Commerce/87th%20report. htm 5) Seminar, February 2008, Special Economic Zones Cul-de-sac http://www. indiaseminar. com/ 6) SEZs: A catalogue of questions, Aseem Srivastava, http://infochangeindia. org/200702036051/Trade-Development/Analysis/SEZs Acatalogue-of-questions. html 7) Some Straigth Talk on Sezs, Economic Times,4 oct, 2006.