May 16, 2020 | Adamas University

THE EMERGING ARENA OF LEGAL PROFESSION

Introduction

“If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.”
– -Abraham Lincon, LETTERS of 1855.1

Advocacy has often been regarded as a noble profession since time immemorial and is often looked upon high as a profession of the nobles and elites. However, the actual refers to the definition provided by renowned Jurist, Roscoe Pound that lawyers are regarded as “social engineers” and they function as the solider of a countries Constitution, Law, Rules and Regulation. In order to bring out the best of lawyers among young minds, a critical role is played by the law schools that mould young minds to professional think tanks in order to carve out a legal career which is successful, reliable and established.

One very pertinent question which strikes the idea and thinking of young mind is “Why should one take the law” or “what are the future scopes of legal studies”. It is often difficult to give a comprehensive answer to it as the field of law is dynamic and diverse. If we take a close scrutinised look, the art of “lawyering” gained a huge attraction since the latter half of British colonial rules till the post-independence time. The noble profession of Judiciary is also an enormous career scope, establishing it as one of the most robust Constitutional posts of the country. Other professions like advocacy also gained attention and interest of young and professional mind who were interested in pursuing a career in the law field. Another scope lies in the arena of academics and research. Till the beginning of the 21st century, this stood out to be the main scope of the legal profession. However, since the past few years, this field has been viewed in a broader aspect, and it is giving a range of exploration in the dynamic field of adventure, learning and career prospect. Even a few years ago, clients with a legal matter had essentially two options. Either they used to send it to a traditional law firm or handle it in-house. Today, society demands more choices. Thus, there has been progress in the legal professional field, which is attempting to keep up to the development which has been the fruit of growing globalisation and changing scenario of the societal structure.

1. http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/law.htm

To note down a few of such result, there has been the introduction of the concept of “Legal Entrepreneurship”, “Law journalism”, “policy analyst”, “law content creator”, “legal tech.”

“The new age of Legal Entrepreneurship.”

There prevailed an age-old myth that the lawyers are the biggest anti-business proponents and even been considered as the trouble makers in the path of treasure making of high turnover business tycoons. However, the practical scenario of current time shows a contradictory picture, the lawyers have turned out as successful business persons, and many of them also make out to the Forbes Magazine and is efficient business tycoons. Several CEO and owner of highest turnover business establishment of India are either practising lawyer or are having a law degree or had any experience of practising law earlier. Law provides with a more exceptional approach. Being a lawyer gives a functional involvement of industries and business. Practising law gives the idea of risks, consequences and teaches how to tackle those. One can find a lot of collective skills between an entrepreneur and a lawyer. Thus, starting up entrepreneurship with a legal experience works as a helping hand and creates advancements. The ability of convincing, foresightedness, research ability, market knowledge, leadership, risks taking ability, self-assessment and striving for betterment are the typical qualities of both lawyer and an entrepreneur. Moreover, the current legal field lacks and calls for such leadership and having legal knowledge acts as a support to entrepreneurship.

Journalism:
Legal studies and journalism might sound as a divergent field, but it has lots in common. Journalism has to cover work and news by policymakers, deal with people representatives and are there from the time of election to societal and economic deterioration. The very concept of human rights of journalist and news media is backed up and sanctioned by law. Moreover, there are several branched news media and mainstream news media which deals solely or partly with legal factor news. Having a law degree makes it convenient to pursue journalism, in accordance with the rules of PTI. Law graduates exclusively do not need to have a degree or diploma in journalism in order to learn the craft of journalism. The qualities of proactiveness, probing, argumentative and strong logical reasoning are some of what
journalism needs. The legal field already pursues these features. However, India lacks in having specialised media in the legal area as compared to its counterpart USA and UK.

Policy Analysis:
It is often found that lawyer or law students have a critical view regarding legal policies. They are of the opinion that the most of the laws, rules and regulation which have been enacted about quite a years ago have loopholes or are stagnant and needs to be changed with transformation of the society. A policy analyst’s work deals with framing the policy, seeking for its changes, staying updated with the laws or framing of new legislation. The function of the policy analyst is a form of administration of policy-making and rules and regulatory framework for the country.

Several organisations, such as Vidhi Center of Legal policy, NIFPF, are the authorities who have been bestowed with the responsibility to recruit policy analyst, regulate and lays down the ways of functioning. Other than that, there are several advocacy firms which recruit policymakers in policy-making tasks like PLC and Dua.

These organisations recruit lawyers and fresh graduates with law degrees. Law and policies go hand in hand, and a lawyer is having one of the best pieces of knowledge about administrative functioning. The lawyers are best equipped with various tools of planning and understand legislations, and this makes them the most suitable for the job of a policy analyst.
Legal Tech Law firms are increasingly under cost and time pressure from their clients as the clients are frequently guided by sophisticated in-house counsel. Thus, those counsels are becoming more demanding gradually and even more scrutinous of bills. Simultaneously, there has been a massive advancement of technology, and it is the time for the legal field to adapt to technology. It is alarming to note that only about 46% of people have access to the legal system. There is an enormous backlog in most of the court systems. As we are aware that litigation is time-consuming and expensive, technology can be utilised to assist in respect of this issue and make the court a service instead of a place as we move legal resolution online.
In a digital society, there must be an opportunity to institute extended courts where we can go beyond judgments given by judges to some kind of advanced online diagnostic system to guide people regarding their legal options, how to collect evidence and provide alternative approaches for dispute resolution.

Conclusion
The coming in the existence of the above concepts is indeed a great leap of progress in the legal field. Today, the career prospect of this field is not limited only to advocacy and judiciary. Instead, it has taken a wide-angle to this profession. Thus, it is upon the future lawyers to make these concepts a reality in India and prosper in the respective arenas.

World Beyond Covid 19: The New Normal

The pandemic which is nothing less than a global crisis, a history of which we are a part of, has in itself justified to bring in changes dramatically in every sphere. Although the proportions of dynamic impact cannot be asserted as of now, yet we’ve seen in the past with SARs Covid that even if things recover, each crisis leaves behind immense permanent changes. Illustrations of The Black Death of 14^th Century, The 1918 Global Flu Pandemic, The Global Recession of 2007-09 may be accentuated upon which had precipitated changes from the policies at workplace to the governance methodologies.

To start with the technological changes it will be worth it to emphasize that Technology will be considered to be one aspect of reshaping the world specially the professional and working sphere. Covid-19 has spurred adoption of technology specifically in the working sphere wherein courses are being completed online, webinars are being conducted, Video conferencing for court hearings has been adopted, Ministerial meetings are taking place via video conferencing, decisions being taken and are being circulated via technology.

Beyond Covid-19 at the most certain level states and nations will consider in increasing and investing on healthcare infrastructure instead of spending on other things like military technologies or any other thing which is only because of the reason to maintain its prestige in the International Community.

Socially articulating, individuals per se will be more concerned not only about their physical health but also their mental health considering that the stages of lockdown throughout the world has increased the impact of psychological consequences for every other individual. The pandemic hasn’t failed for a matter of fact to explore and highlight the economic vulnerability of some of the segments of the society. Social distancing being mandated throughout the nations has led to the loss of the jobs for many of the workers from different sections of the society. Policy makers haven’t failed across the political spectrum to rapidly shore up the safety nets.

Furthermore, the lockdown throughout the world, has led the farmers and the strata of such people to think beyond the conventional markets. It is witnessed in most part of the world that these groups are now connecting directly with the consumers through to sell the produce.

For the generation upcoming, the post pandemic “new normal” will just be “normal” The impact of the generational shift will likely to be profound. Business transformations, societal living, behavioral change, increase in conflict are some of the major shifts for inter generational capacity that the world is likely to witness beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revolution in Education System in the Post Corona World

Ministry of Information Technology recently disclosed that number of internet users are more in rural India as compared to urban. In terms of consumption of data, rural India has surpassed the urban hubs. It’s very indicative and has a lot of impact in every sector. This LOCKDOWN has affected each and every sector and education sector is also not an exception. There is no doubt that students are getting badly affected due to this unwarranted crisis. However, the alternate side of the coin merits to be scrutinised. There is a bright side too. . Institutional education, that is confined within the four walls of classrooms, have transformed into virtual classrooms aided by digital environments and this change in the education structure will bring positive changes in the system.

Education includes research, study and evaluation. Classes are being conducted through different video conferencing applications like Skype, Zoom, Google Team, Google Hangout, Google Classroom, Cisco-WebEx and the list will increase. Many universities are tying up with IT companies to develop digital platform for the students. IT companies are also competing with each other in the field of developing user friendly and interactive platform for the education sector. Students and teachers will be connected through such platforms for interacting and learning. This form of education will continue to gain muscles as educational institutes would aim to reap the most out of the investments they make. Therefore, an extensive database of video lectures is being developed which would cater to the needs of students and prove to be a valuable asset in the near future. In India majority of the students are from rural areas and they are joining in the virtual classroom through smart-phones. This is the reason the number of internet user is now more in rural India than urban. The day is not far away when internet will be considered as an intrinsic part of everyday life, i.e right to life. As right to education is fundamental right in India and when that will be dependent on internet then it will obviate the State to declare as fundamental right, as is the case in numerous Scandinavian countries.

This pandemic is helping to develop that online infrastructure which will bring about a revolution in the education system. Innovative methods are being implemented to conduct classes virtually which will help the students to come out of the boring monotonous classroom lectures. There will be a shift from knowledge-based education system to skill-based education system. Needless to say, students will be benefitted out of that and they would have enough time at their disposal to multitasking. They can earn and continue education simultaneously. As a teacher, I have experienced that the attendance of students in virtual classrooms is more than classrooms in colleges which exudes the technologically dependant nature of the present generation in schools and colleges. In the post COVID-19 era, teachers would be compelled to have a fragment of the syllabus to be covered online.

The online evaluation pattern will also witness substantial reformation. Teachers have to frame application based question intelligently so that answers will not be available directly either from book or online. Naturally, students will be more analytical in answering those questions and will be more innovative. Education wouldn’t be only degree centric. Skill and value-based education would gain muscles in the aftermath of the LOCKDOWN. It is observed that many famous universities are offering online courses. In future also students will like to have knowledge through webinar or some other means. Distance education would thrive once again. Information is already available in the digital platform so students will not come in the class for the same information again and would rather dedicate that time elsewhere. Rather they will prefer skill as well as value based education.

Artificial Intelligence, commonly known as AI, would further consolidate the use of virtual classrooms and promote online education. AI will substitute those administrative posts where archetypal administrative work is done by humans. It will open the floodgates of research in interdisciplinary fields. Teachers spend a lot of time in administrative work and evaluating copies. AI can perform all those work and teachers will get more time to devote in research. Collecting data from in-app or following online movement of a teachers AI can easily figure out what method of learning will be best for a teacher. In such way the efficiency of the teacher will be increased and the same will be output-oriented.

If the academicians are thinking that this is temporary, they are living in fool’s paradise. This change will make a great impact on the education system even when the world will breathe fresh air bereft of any viruses.

Career in Corporate Law: A Consistent Expediency

Corporate Law is the framework of laws that direct and control legal proceedings existing in the domain of business. The laws prevalent in the corporate realm allude to the rights and obligations of all the people who are closely associated with the corporate world and engage in activities as farming, operating and managing a corporation. Corporate Law emphasizes a potential detailed study of legal practices germane to the ethical framework of business enterprises and conglomerations. Indeed, it can be said that Corporate Law takes into consideration laws that govern and manipulate manifold facets of business corporations.

Corporate Law, as has been witnessed, is a dynamic, influential and versatile career option that possesses impressive qualities to be duly revered and regarded as an outstanding career option. It’s quite promising and fulfilling for individuals to sincerely endeavour to build a flourishing career in the pertaining field. So to say, working devotedly with undefiled conviction and unflinching dedication can really bestow upon an individual the gift of a rewarding and lucrative career path in the concerned arena. However, pursuing the career of a corporate lawyer is not an easy and simple task; one has to be ardent, determined and diligent enough to study rigorously as well as ceaselessly without fail. In fact, resorting to corporate law as a career option can offer a challenging yet quite advantageous career for aspirants who are adept and tactful enough to tackle complex concepts and at the same time effortlessly proficient in exercising sound judgement. Hence, it can be affirmed that for individuals with remarkable reading and reasoning skills, corporate law can prove to be intellectually stimulating and immensely beneficial.

It is expected that this profession will soon gain impetus in the coming years and emerge as an attractive and vibrant business landscape as the corporate sector in India has assumed prominence due to its contribution in consolidating the Indian economy by engulfing a fair share of 53% of the Indian GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

Career as a Corporate Lawyer

The career of a Corporate Lawyer involves the dexterous execution of a multitude of tasks- proper and effective application of legal knowledge in matters related to devising and framing corporate agreements, corporate taxes, import and export affairs , matters associated with mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and undertakings, public listings, sole proprietorship, partnerships, corporate structure agendas, employment laws and regulations, government reporting, and laws governing regular business pursuits and ventures. Corporate Lawyers are legal Counsels in multifarious areas like tax law, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and zoning or securities. They are supposed to possess tremendous and a thorough knowledge of statutory law and regulations passed by government agencies. Also, they must willingly and efficiently help their clients attain their goals with due regard to the law-abiding rules and obligations.

Owing to the ever-intensifying and consistently evolving scenario of the global society, Corporate Lawyers confront a complex and diversified work schedule. A lawyer influences a company’s decisions through his meaningful advice or recommendations, hence he or she has to undergo a considerable amount of pressure at work.

The Corporate Lawyer also guides and counsels the Board with systematic advices so that appropriate actions could be implemented in terms of legal cases under which the company is charged. A lawyer’s job encompasses both indoor and outdoor activities which are to be performed deftly and effortlessly. His task is cumbersome and he confronts enormous pressure in his legal ventures; since he is the only one who safeguards the company from landing in the soup of legal problems and disorders and guides it on all the legal matters. He interacts and endeavours to come to terms with the highest authorities in the company’s hierarchy, i.e. the Board of Directors at times of need and distress as well. It can therefore be concluded that a lawyer has to utterly flexible and dynamic in order to actively discharge his duties efficaciously. Even when he is at home he is engrossed with the company’s work; hence a lawyer is always placed on a high pedestal and his duties and responsibilities are considered to be of utmost value and importance.

The scope of corporate law is wide covering multifarious specializations which enables a legal person to learn the various aspects of corporate sector ranging from corporate finance/refinance, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Laws, capital markets, venture capital, securities laws to the extent of international capital markets. One may also opt for the course of compliance/corporate secretary after completion of law degree which enables the person to work as Key Managerial Person in any company. Career as corporate advisor is not only restricted to private jobs and as such one can also apply for the examinations conducted by the Security Exchange Board of India for the recruitment of Assistant Manager (Grade A) and in order to apply for the same post persons pursuing relevant degree from law stream finds the most comfortable zone. Apart from this government jobs, corporate lawyers have a huge demand in multinational companies, legal processing outsources incorporations, insurance companies, law firms and asset management companies. Top Law firms in India which has a high demand for corporate lawyers are Amarchand & Mangaldas, Luthra and Luthra Law offices, Khaitan and Associates, Trilegal etc. but one thing which must be ensured in this regard is that in many cases it has been witnessed that law graduates from National Law Schools mainly get the access to this elite organizations. Demands of corporate lawyers in International Capital Market is also very high. Corporate attorneys are seen engaged with underwriters companies, FIIs, Private Banks and Public companies advising in the areas of IPO (Initial Public Offering), compliance management, risk assessment, FCCB and other laws relating to depositories receipts.

Corporate Sector has always been a platform for most paying as compared to other sectors and there is always a surge in the payment scale with due regard to the experiences and skills. Constraint in salary is not subjected for a right candidate and one can easily enhance his/her career in this sector.

Artificial Intelligence: An Overview and Challenges Ahead

“No matter how sophisticated or powerful our thinking machines become, there still will be two kinds of people: those who let the machines do their thinking, for them, and those who tell the machines what to think about.” —- C.J Lewis

Introduction

Artificial intelligence (Commonly referred to as AI) is a branch of computer science that pertains to the creation of intelligent machines that work and respond like humans. In the words of the father of Artificial Intelligence John McCarthy, Artificial Intelligence is “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs”. Some of the activities computers with artificial intelligence are designed for include speech recognition, learning, planning and problem solving. The latest intelligent machine is human robot that can emote and also change facial expressions. Let us examine the upcoming challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence in the days to come.

Different types of Artificial Intelligence are enumerated below:

Reactive Machines

This form of Artificial Intelligence recognizes its environment and situation directly and acts accordingly. It does not have the power to memorize or recall past experiences to affect present decisions. IBM’s Deep Blue, a chess computer that, defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov, could identify the chess board and the pieces placed on it. This form of AI is designed only to perform specific tasks and can be easily fooled.

Limited Memory

This form of AI contains machines that have limited memory and can recall past experiences. They can take proper decisions and plan appropriate actions. For instance, self driving cars observe the speed and direction of other cars and move accordingly. They have pre-built programs for lane markings, traffic lights and other important elements, like curves in the road.

Theory of Mind

This form of AI has the capability to understand emotions and thoughts that affect human behaviour, though it is still in the developing stage. It anticipates machines that can identify eye and face movements and act accordingly. Sophia, the latest generation human robot can emote and imitate 62 facial and neck expressions,

Self-aware

This is an extension of theory of mind AI. These types of machines are aware about their internal state can predict the feelings of others. This type of AI has not been developed as yet but is in progress. Self aware AI is the future of machines which will be super intelligent, conscious and sell aware.

Artificial Intelligence: Advancements in Technology

Major technological advancements in AI are as follows:

Artificial Narrow Intelligence, the most common technology that can be found in our day to day lives is present in smart phones like Cortana and Siri. They help users to respond to their problems on request. It is called ‘Weak AI, because it is not as strong as it is required to be.

Artificial General Intelligence is known as Strong AI. Most of the robots fall into this category. Example of this is Pillo robot which answers all the questions related to the health of your family.

Artificial Superhuman Intelligence has the capability to achieve or do anything that a human can do or even more than that. Example of ASI is Alpha 2 which is the first humanoid robot developed for the family. This robot has the capability to manage a smart home and can operate the things in your home. It can also notify about the weather conditions and tell interesting stories too.

Artificial Intelligence: Challenges Ahead

Artificial Intelligence works on science and algorithms. So it is difficult to understand for those people who don’t have a technical background.

Funds required to setup and implement AI are very high, so most of the organizations and business owners refrain from investing large amounts of money. Software malfunction is a serious problem faced by AI. When any software or hardware fails it is difficult to investigate what went wrong and which part of the software or hardware has failed. On the other hand, errors in tasks performed by humans can be traced. Security is a major concern. AI systems can cause damage if used maliciously. The Termination movie trilogy, for example, featured Skynet, a self-aware artificial intelligence that served as the trilogy’s main villain, battling humanity through its Terminator cyborgs. As Al development is speeding up, more robots or autonomous systems are getting created and replacing human labour which has serious implications of unemployment. When it comes to Indian start ups, Artificial Intelligence is a problematic space as Indian start ups lack access to large data sets which require mass storage and high performance computer. Another challenge faced by India in AI is absence of collaborative efforts between different stakeholders. For example, India has adopted electronic health record (EHR) policy which designed to share data between various hospital chains but it is still a work in progress as different hospital chains have adopted different methods and interpretations of digitizing record.AI techniques such as machine learning and deep learning require huge number of calculations to be made very quickly. This means the computers use a lot of processing power. Processing power determines the speed at which the computer can pull data from its memory and perform calculations. Artificial Intelligence is generally created to carry out specific tasks and to learn to become better and better at it only, multitasking is not yet possible.AI carries out complicated technical tasks which require skilled resources. The lack of skilled resources is also a disrupting factor in the overall development of the global market for artificial intelligence.AI can pose a threat to the society via autonomous weapons. These are weapons that AI system are programmed to use to kill. In the hands of the wrong person these weapons could easily cause mass casualties. This could even lead to an AI war.AI has the potential and power to be more intelligent than humans; we have no certain way of predicting how it will behave.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence: Indian Perspective

In India AI is applied and going through testing times in the following sectors namely:

Healthcare Sector

It is one of the most dynamic, yet challenging, sectors in India. Cancer screening and treatment is an area where AI provides tremendous scope for targeted large scale interventions. Other uses of AI in healthcare include training, diagnosis, decision making, treatment, research, early detection, keeping well, etc. It faces major challenges of quality, accessibility and affordability for a large section of the population.

Agricultural Sector

AI will have significant global impact on agricultural productivity at all levels of the value chain. Some of the applications of Al in agriculture are soil health monitoring and restoration, crop health monitoring and providing real time advisories to farmers and increasing the share of price realization to producers.

Infrastructural Sector

Smart mobility and transportation form the backbone of the modern economy due to interlinking of different sectors which is important for both domestic and international trades. AI introduces Intelligent transportation system sensors, CCTV cameras, automatic number plate recognition cameras, speed detection cameras, signalized pedestrian crossings, real time dynamic decisions on traffic flows such as lane monitoring, access to exits, toll pricing, community based parking which helps cars in traffic to collect data on vacant parking spaces and allocates cars to spaces such that the demand is always met; autonomous trucking, etc. As of now, AI faces challenges including congestion and road accidents, lack of public transportation infrastructure, need for sustainable transportation, etc.

Education Sector

An effective education sector has the ability to transform a country through development of human resources and increased productivity. Content Technologies Inc. (CTI), an AI research and development company, develops AI that creates customized educational content. Some challenges faced by India in AI are low retention rates, poor learning outcomes, low adoption of existing technologies, etc.

Conclusion

In the words of Matthew Arnold “Faith in machinery is our besetting danger”. The sole purpose of invention of artificial intelligence is to make human lives easier and comfortable. Man has invented machines and machines have made human beings donkey before them. Now if emotional quotient to the machines along with the intelligence quotient becomes absolutely successful then the whole mankind will become slaves before the machines. However, as we invent and find new applications of artificial intelligence day by day, we must retain control on them. If it goes beyond human control, then we should be prepared for the greatest disaster ever known to mankind.

A Brief History of Online Education

The 21st century has brought about a massive change in the world of education. Gone are those days when teaching was limited only within the confines of a classroom. The internet has brought about a paradigm shift in the fundamental way in which learning is done. It has taken learning beyond the hallowed walls of the universities and into the palms of everyone. But how did this radical transformation occur?

How It All Began

Though there are numerous examples of the usage of machines and tools in education throughout history, e-learning in the modern sense of the term is a relatively new concept. Slide projectors and television-based classes have been in use since the 1950s. However, one of the first instances of online learning in the world can be traced back to 1960, at the University of Illinois, USA. Though the internet wasn’t invented back then, students began learning from computer terminals that were interlinked to form a network.

The first-ever completely online course was offered in 1984 by the University of Toronto. In 1986, the Electronic University Network was established for being used in DOS and Commodore 64 computers. Three years later, the University of Phoenix became the first educational institution in the world to launch a wholly online collegiate institution, offering both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This was the beginning of a revolution whose potential was largely unknown to the public back then, but one that would make learning greatly accessible and within reach of what people could ever have imagined. This image illustrates the works of some of the early pioneers of online education:

The Open University in Britain was one of the first universities in the world to begin online distance learning, in the early 1990s. Currently, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India is the largest university in the world with around 4 million students enrolled, most of whom currently receive education via online methods.

How Big is the Market Size?

Online learning is booming in current times. Aided by the widespread availability of high-speed internet, making use of new technologies such as 4G and the soon-to-be-released 5G, online learning is expected to grow by leaps and bounds in the foreseeable future. The worldwide market size of online learning is approximately $187.87 billion in 2019, a 400% increase over what it was just six years ago. This phenomenal growth has been made possible not just by the rapidly evolving scenario in the world of technology, but also by the spread of education in the developing world. Experts predict that the next wave of online education will occur not in North America and Europe, but newly emerging markets like Africa, India, and China.

Source: Technavio report

Online learning is no longer just limited to colleges and universities. Right since primary school, online learning is gradually being incorporated into the curriculum. The recent COVID-19 pandemic further illustrates the importance of online learning in today’s school system, as it has proven to be a boon to both students and teachers alike who are unable to attend school due to the risk of disease spread. Beyond high school, online learning is steadily increasing its market share at the pre-university level. Furthermore, e-learning is expanding in presence beyond the traditional fields as well.

Source: University Affairs Magazine

Recent Developments in Online Learning

Online learning has evolved far beyond its original capabilities. It is no longer limited to a didactic method, which had a one-way monologue from the teacher to the student. Current advances in online learning enable the student to play an active role in the learning process, with regular feedback and assessments. This has greatly improved the effectiveness of the teaching system, bringing it on par with classroom-based learning. Some of the features that give an edge to online education are:

Less expensive than traditional teaching methods: As the cost of teaching is low, the expenses borne by the students inevitably come down. This makes education far more widespread and economical.
Vast variety of available courses: These days, online courses on everything are available at the touch of a button – from religion to commerce, philosophy to fashion designing, programming to painting, photography to yoga – there is hardly any field that hasn’t been touched by e-learning.
Study groups: There is a scope of engaging with like-minded students across the world, sharing information and ideas.
Flexibility: This can be in terms of time, money, and location. Online learning enables the student and the teacher to be present at opposite ends of the world, in different time zones, and yet have the knowledge imparted effectively.
Much less infrastructure required: This is a huge incentive to the education providers, as the additional costs are largely minimized.
Standardized quality: Since the content available online can be evaluated and revised at any point in time, it helps maintain a reasonable standard of quality.

Smartphones have played a crucial role in making online learning viable. It is rapidly gaining ground even in rural areas, bringing high-quality education, at par with the best in the world, available to the masses. Massive open online courses (known as MOOCs) are a promising new field. The New York Times had declared 2012 as “the year of the MOOC”, and there has been no stopping since then. The total number of students enrolled in MOOCs has risen to about 100 million now. Thus, the recent developments in online learning can be broadly attributed to the following factors:

Innovation in smartphone technology
High-speed data access
Interactive learning models
Rising number of startups in the e-learning field

Source: Class Central Inc.

The Future of Online Learning

The global online learning market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.23% within the next five years, bringing the overall market share to $319 billion by 2025, increasing from $187.87 billion in 2019. This is an astounding amount that is full of potential. It is imperative for currently existing market players as well as new entrants to seize this opportunity and usher in a modern era in the field of education. The following factors are expected to play a central role in this rapidly ongoing transformation:

The rise of AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Cloud-based solutions
Massive investments by major market players
Use of VR (virtual reality) technology in education
Growth of IoT (Internet of Things)

To summarize, online learning is one of the most life-changing innovations of the present century. Education is perhaps the biggest asset of the modern era and online learning has provided a medium to disseminate it among the entire population. This presents a situation full of potential, which if properly harnessed, can catapult the entire world into a new dawn of development and prosperity.

Population Education Strategies: Role of Teacher Education Institutions

Population Education as defined by UNESCO “is an educational programme which provides for a study of the population situation of the family , community, nation and the world, with the purpose of developing in the students rational and responsible attitudes and behaviour towards that situation.”

Prof.Stephen defines Population Education as ” the process by which the student investigates and explores the nature and meaning of population process, population characteristics, the causes of population change,and the consequences of these processes, characteristics and changes for himself, his family, his society and the world. “

Population Education : A necessity

Population is the key to any national growth , development and progress. Mass poverty and illiteracy are two interrelated and interdependent factors which bring about challenging hurdles in the path of progress of any country. Population explosion is thus the root cause. Thus this calls for ” Population Education .” In its ordinary sense population education stands for an educational approach including necessary steps to be evolved and adopted towards population. It is one of the most critical issues with multidimensional effects. This is related to the process of National Development undertaken since independence. Population Education is however problematic, explorative and innovative. This demands a leadership role to be played by education in regard to population control. This is needed for National Development to reach its optimum level.

Population Education has mainly two dimensions like: to undertake a national level population awareness programmes which would be educative utilising communication media to the utmost. The other is to include and introduce a subject named ‘Population Education ‘ in the present school curriculum. This would contain an understanding of the implications and problems of population and to develop a positive attitude towards this issue. Individuals should be conscious and understand the relationship between population and national progress and it’s welfare. The Population Education Cell of the NCERT had developed a syllabus at the school level covering the different stages of education. It was decided that this would be integrated with other subjects and need not be treated as a separate entity. This was supported unanimously by the SCERT and also by the Central Government .

Dual role:

The teacher of today has a dual task to perform- one is to furnish subject knowledge and information and the other is to foster social change. The teacher must be convinced and motivated to accept this dual role otherwise the changes that might be recommended in the curriculum might not be successful.

The child who comes to the school is a member of his own family from where he brings some attitudes and values to the school. These initial attitudes and values need to be emancipated by the school through the new curriculum related to population education. Therefore some new thoughts and research are needed in this area to prepare the ground for the new curriculum. Population Education represents a synthesis of knowledge from several fields of study like Biology, History, Civics,Economics, Sociology and Environmental Studies.

Training of Teachers:

The Asian Regional Workshop held at Bangkok emphasised on pre-service and in-service training of teachers as high priority for a successful implementation of the Population Education programme. Thus there must be coordination between the curriculum designer and the instructional system which can function through the teacher educator. Thus the necessity for reorientation of the curriculum of the teachers training colleges became a necessity. The teachers who lacked this training may be given an opportunity to update themselves so that they take up the noble task of inculcating within the students the right values and attitudes, so much necessary in this changing scenario.

Conclusion:

Ignorance, indifference or resistance on the part of the teachers might be a hindrance in the path of development of an effective programme of Population Education in our country. Majority of our teachers live in villages and new ideas do not find an easy access. This might act against their self development and will be an impediment to the nation’s progress.

Teachers must therefore be reoriented to the new idea by means of special courses and liberal provisions of teaching materials in the form of text books or visual aids and must be encouraged at every stage of the programme. This will help to develop the future plans and programmes of our country.

Financial Market Education: Backdrop COVID 2019

Pertaining to

Topic: International Financial Markets, in Unit 2 of the course International Finance at M.Sc.(Economics) Programme
Topic: Bond Offering, in Unit 3 of the course Principles of Investment Banking in Banking and Finance specialization at M.Sc.(Economics) Programme
Topic: Risk and Uncertainty, topic 4, in Economics Discipline specific paper of Ph.D. coursework
Topic numbers 3, 4, 5 and 7 of unit 2, in Commerce Discipline specific paper of Ph.D. coursework

Financial Market has two components in terms of investment horizon: money market (short term) and capital market (long term). The capital market has broadly two components in terms of types of securities for investment: debt market and stock market. Each of money market and debt market has two components from issuer view point: corporate and sovereign. In money market the corporate issues are commercial papers and certificates of deposits and the sovereign issues are treasury bills. In debt market, the corporate issues are corporate bonds and debentures and the sovereign issues are the securities issued by the central and state governments.

Education on stock market: As the investors are watching minutely the movements of stock index during COVID 2019 lockdown period, technical analysis is rapidly gaining attention. During the economic downturn, the trained eyes of experienced analysts read the market psychology and discern concentration of demand, if any, that can support the fall of the asset. The need to supplement the education on technical analysis with the education on portfolio management arises here otherwise striking a balance between resistance and support is not a cup of tea of the trader or investor. There are three categories of investors as per risk appetite: risk lover, risk averse and risk neutral. The ability to craft a diversified portfolio with a prospective return commensurate with the investor’s risk appetite and at the same time the ability of reading the movements of the securities and their sensitivity to changes in the market index demand a blend of skills of portfolio management and technical analysis. Apart from these technical skills, the ability to examine and predict the changes in the macroeconomic fundamentals that can affect the sector specific stocks in short run as well as in long run adds to the success in portfolio building. In one line, courses on technical analysis, portfolio management and macroeconomic environment of business are pre-requisites to investing and trading in stock market with profit motive.

Education on debt market: Because of lock down facing major part of the industries, except FMCG, pharmaceuticals, internet service providers, hospital and education industries, most of others are likely to register losses during the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year. As usual their stocks are expected to look down. Those on the buy side are likely to look at debt in lieu of stocks this time. In India floating rate debt instruments are not popular. The buyers by and large go for fixed rate or fixed income instruments. The debt market in India is not as deep as is the stock market and the education on the debt portfolio management is used to find difficulties in getting a space in the basket of courses that an would-be financial market professional opts for. The importance of fixed income investment as a safe haven amidst stormy financial markets pari passu with economic downturn is discovered through a series of financial institutions’ crises like Orange County, Barings Bank and Long Term Capital Management following which was the birth of Basel Accord in 1998. Hence the inverse relationship between yield and price of a fixed income product is unknown to commoners. Risk lovers may incline toward corporate bonds because they love to burn fingers with risk in exchange for higher return than do the sovereigns offer but other categories bend on gilts. However the risk neutral and the risk averse are not likely to rush after the corporate bonds. As a result prices of outstanding government securities or G-secs are on the rise. The rise is reflected by steady fall of the benchmark 10 year government security yield during the lock down period and subsequently fixing the cut off yield of the new 10 year G-sec at 5.79% in early May 2020 by the Reserve Bank of India. So education on fixed income portfolio management is a pre-requisite to designing a debt portfolio that balances between risk free instruments as well as high-return risky papers.

Education on Credit Rating and Credit Risk Modelling: If both of domestic stock market and debt market offer gloomy prospects, an investor can opt for hybrid instruments onshore as well as offshore. For this, she needs education on credit rating and credit risk modelling. An investor in the financial market can go for stocks and bonds of rated issues available for trade in exchange houses, there are some hybrid products available in the onshore over the counter markets and available through merchant banks like preference shares and convertible debentures. Some hybrid products are available in the offshore exchange houses like Indian dollar-denominated convertible bonds in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. All these are issued by corporate entities. Generally they offer higher returns than do plain vanilla instruments but an investor should scrutinize the issuer’s history and performance, both of which should reflect in credit rating. So the knowledge on credit rating criteria and methods are prescribed supplements if the investor prefers to judge an issue through the character of the issuer rather than simply comparing its performance with other issues in the same sector and same category. All these ‘do’s and ‘donot’s work well till there is no moral hazard in the principal-agent relationship between rating agencies and their client issuers and there is no case for rating shopping like one in 2008 connected to subprime mortgage bonds in USA and one in 2018 in India connected to ILFS non convertible debentures. In such cases the investor needs to carry out an internal credit rating exercise using credit risk models with a pinch of information economics and accordingly make a conclusion whether to go for a hybrid product.

Suggested Readings

Fabbozi, F.(Ed.). Handbook of Finance, Volume I, Wiley & Sons
Saunders A and Cornett M, Financial Institutions Management: A Risk Management Approach, McGraw-Hill
Hull J, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives, Prentice Hall

Magic of Reading

A global pandemic is not a new thing for us and humanity has been facing these pandemics for ages. Sometimes the effects were centered around a specific place and sometimes it spreads like wildfires devastating civilizations, pushing some indigenous communities to the brink of extinction. One of the oldest recorded mass pandemics was found nearly five thousand years ago in a Chinese establishment that forced the remaining people to leave the dead bodies at the home and burned them down to the ashes. All this information and records are kept securely for ages through ancient scripts while scholars are doing their researches relentlessly for years to excavate the reason behind the phenomenon to find the possible cause of those pandemics. When we read those works of literature form the scholars across the world through their pictures descriptions, those incidents come alive to us. This is the beauty of well researched and beautiful writing. The use of appropriate language to tell and retell the stories is the real art and that can only be achieved if you have a vault full of vocabulary and the key to arrange them accordingly.

I always believed that reading can drastically improve the quality of writing and it worked for me. If we dig a little deeper and refer to the very basic model of communication, we can easily relate them both. For successful communication, we need a structured and glitches free flow of the information from the sender to receiver where before sender, comes the ‘Information source’ which is the origin of information that keeps supplying the valuable data to the sender. The key to a beautiful reading is the zest of reading and inculcating every possible information from them. It is somewhat like the computing system, where output can only be derived if only input is given. I believe the best possible way to get inputs or suggestions is through the reading, in any form or mode. Many people dislike reading storybooks but love reading spicy gossips or political updates and similar. Instead of tagging them in the “Not interested” category, we can simply categories them “Readers with specific interest”. Love of reading may vary depending on the forms or genre of literature but cannot be ignored completely. Any kind of literature is bound to provide linguistic superiority to the reader and more of it brings a better grip on the language and vocabulary to the writer.

There are numerous benefits of reading that can prove to be helpful for an individual in multiple ways.

Mental simulation

Our body needs regular exercise to stay healthy. Similarly, our bran also needs to stretch out to stay healthy and productive and reading provides the same to our brain. It is also suggested that variation in reading is even more helpful and often boosts our memory better than similar kinds of content.

Depletion of stress

There is a famous quote “a book lets you travel throughout the world without moving a step” which truly is one of the most amazing characteristics of reading. This is quite useful while managing the stress and anxiety that we face in everyday life. A good reading can take away the reader from the trouble he is facing and transport him into a realm of happiness and joy.

Memory Improvement

We often complain about the bad memory and try out memory boosting medicines to improve its capacity when an easier way lies just ahead of us. Whenever we read anything, we tend to create new memories. Especially for books, we need to remember the characters, plots, situations, and interlinked incidents till we finish off the book which helps in forging new synapses as well as strengthening the existing once while creating new memories. This process not only helps in recalling short term memories but also helps in stabilizing the existing one.

Boosts Analytical skills

Reading increases the analytical skill of a person especially if you are a fan of mystery novels. Most of the readers are aware of the multifaceted Satyajit Ray who was an author, illustrator, director, music composure, screenwriter, lyricist, and also a proud winner of the ‘Oscar’ award. One of his legendary creations is the character “Feluda” who is an avid reader and used to sharpen his analytical skills from the books he has been reading for years. The analytical skills that are acquired from the reading can certainly become useful in many occasions and applicable in real-life situations.

Improved focus and strengthening concentration

Lack of concentration is a general phenomenon for many while keeping our focus on one particular point for a longer period of time is a tricky task. As our attention is divided into a gamut of elements, it is often hard for out to stick to a particular one while an interesting piece of writing can certainly help us to retain our attention to it. Regular reading habits would gradually improve the focus of the person and strengthen the concentration of the person with time.

Better writing skills

No two fingerprints are ever similar in every detail. Similarly, every writer has his or her unique style of writing which reflects the inner creativity. Sometimes one write up can resemble the style of others but are never the same. Reading helps in expanding the vocabulary, strengthening the grip on grammar and language which in turn helps in producing better writings.

If we have to document all the benefits of reading, we may have to create a small book to accommodate them all. While occasional reading can be a wave of fresh air, regular reading can hold the freshness forever and nurture it into a forest full of knowledge, joy, and happiness.

Interventions of IoT in modern society: Growth and Prospect

Have you ever thought how does a paused elevator in a shopping mall start running automatically when someone stepped in?

Have you ever surprised how can we operate an AC machine by using our smart phone when not being at home?

Have you ever amazed how do home security cameras automatically capture any moving object and send to the user’s smart phone?

These all are the instances of Internet of Things or IoT.

In current century we all are accustomed with flavor of automation technology where we use some hard core machine to do a specific work automatically. With the help of this automated technology we are now able to do any work in very efficient manner side by side we are also able to complete our task very quickly. But to operate those machines, human interactions, which act as direction or step by step instruction on how this machine will work to give us accurate result, are required. IoT or Internet of Things is a new trending technology in the era of automation where ‘things’ can be communicate which each other over the internet without requiring human interaction.

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

In the broadest sense, the term IoT means anything attached to the internet but it is necessary that they are able to ‘talk’ or ‘communicate’ with each other without human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. ‘Things’ can be anything like computing device, mechanical and digital machine, heart-rate monitor, electronic gadgets with sensors. These objects are being assigned with IP address and they can automatically receive and send data over a preset network without human interference.

Matthew Evans, the IoT Programme head at techUK said, “Simply, the Internet of Things is made up of devices – from simple sensors to smartphones and wearable’s – connected together.”

Now-a-days, the trend of operating any services efficiently and effectively is high. It is increasing the scope of applying IoT by almost all the organizations throughout the world. IoT touches every industry, including businesses within healthcare, finance, retail and manufacturing, as it helps to understand customers’ need, to deliver better customer service and to increase the value of business.

What are the examples of IoT:

IoT device also have significant impact in our daily life also, say for examples-

Smart Home appliances, say for example- refrigerators, washing machine, coffee machine etc.
Digital personal assistants, say for example – Amazon Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Home etc.
Home security system, say for example – smart locks, and smart doorbells, smart CCTV camera etc.

What are the Advantages of IoT?

It has the ability to access required information from anywhere at any time on any communicating device;
It is used to transfer data packets over a connected network which is also cost and time effective;
It can automatically run the tasks, which helps to improve the quality of a business’s services; and
It helps to reduce the need for human intervention.

Conclusion

According to the report published by Nasscom, The Internet of Things (IoT) market is expected to reach 9 billion dollars by 2020. More than 1.9 billion devices are expected to be connected in India by the end of 2020. Indian IoT market has huge potential and expected to grow across a many industries in manufacturing, automotive, transportation and logistics. So it can be concluded as that, B.Tech in computer science course with specialization in IoT, offered by Adamas University may widen the scope to make a better career position in this global as well as Indian scenario.