Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of Delhi Metro Essay Example for Free

Social Cost-Benefit Analysis of Delhi Metro Essay Key words: Transport, Air Pollution, Cost- benefit analysis and Shadow prices. Abstract: The growing demand for public transport in mega cities has serious effects on urban ecosystems, especially due to the increased atmospheric pollution and changes in land use patterns. An ecologically sustainable urban transport system could be obtained by an appropriate mix of alternative modes of transport resulting in the use of environmentally friendly fuels and land use patterns. The introduction of CNG in certain vehicles and switching of some portion of the transport demand to the metro rail have resulted in a significant reduction of atmospheric pollution in Delhi. The Delhi Metro provides multiple benefits: reduction in air pollution, time saving to passengers, reduction in accidents, reduction in traffic congestion and fuel savings. There are incremental benefits and costs to a number of economic agents: government, private transporters, passengers, general public and unskilled labour. The social cost-benefit analysis of Delhi Metro done in this paper tries to measure all these benefits and costs from Phase I and Phase II projects covering a total distance of 108 kms in Delhi. Estimates of the social benefits and costs of the project are obtained using the recently estimated shadow prices of investment, foreign exchange and unskilled labour as well as the social time preference rate for the Indian economy for a study commissioned by the Planning Commission, Government of India and done at the Institute of Economic Growth. The financial internal rate of return on investments in the Metro is estimated as 17 percent while the economic rate of return is 24 percent. Accounting for benefits from the reduction of urban air pollution due to the Metro has increased the economic rate of return by 1.4 percent. This paper forms part of the work done for a project `Economic Evaluation of Investment Projects in India’ funded by the Planning Commission, Government of India. We express our thanks to the officials of Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) for providing us access to the detailed technical reports prepared by them for the Delhi Metro project. We are grateful to the participants in the workshop at the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi-110007 for their useful comments. About Metro Rail in Delhi Delhi, the capital city of India, is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with a population of 13 million as reported in the Census of India Report for the year 2000. Until recently, it was perhaps the only city of its size in the world depending almost entirely on roads as the sole mode of mass transport. The total length of the road network in Delhi has increased from a mere 652 km in 1981 to 1122 km in 2001 and it is expected to grow to 1340 km in the year 2021. This increase in road length is not at par with the phenomenal growth in the number of vehicles on these roads in Delhi. The cumulative figure of registered private and government buses, the main means of public transport, is 41,872 in 1990 and it is expected to increase to 81,603 by the year 2011. The number of personal motor vehicles has increased from 5.4 lakhs in 1981 to 30 lakhs in 1998 and is projected to go up to 35 lakhs by 2011. With gradual horizontal expansion of the city, the average trip length of buses has gone up to 13 km and the increased congestion on roads has made the corresponding journey time of about one hour. Delhi has now become the fourth most polluted city in the world, with automobiles contributing more than two thirds of the total atmospheric pollution. In this context, the decision of the Government of India to develop a mass transport system for Delhi providing alternative modes of transport to the passengers was most satisfied.

Digital Technology: TV’s Next Step :: Television Media Essays

Digital Technology: TV’s Next Step Digital technology is a recent innovation to sweep through America. It has already become the standard for music purchases, and with the use of DVDs, it is now the preferred way to watch a movie in the home. Cell phones were once primarily analog, but now most service areas are digital. These changes came from the market place wanting better sound, picture, and more reliable signals. This is in stark contrast to television, because its change from analog to digital has been brought on by the FCC enacting regulations. The market place should be excited and the change, but not just for better picture quality. Though the FCC may be forcing the change in television, the market place should embrace the changes and even be excited about them. Picture quality is not the only difference between digital and analog television. The FCC has several reasons to switch to digital. A digital signal offers better sound than an analog signal. With analog, you are only able to get two channels of sound. Digital offers you the same 5.1 channels of digital surround sound you hear in movie theatres. The combination of better sound and picture is enough to make many want to upgrade, but there are more reasons. Digital television also allows for more bandwidth with the use of MPEG-2 technology. This is a way of compressing the information and using less bandwidth. It can reduce the number of bits by about 55 to 1, allowing more space on the spectrum. The practical use of this is multicasting. Although how this will be used is still to be determined. It is likely networks will run multiple programs in standard format during the day and use HDTV during primetime. Naturally, both analog and digital signals lose strength over long distances. With analog signals, this causes a horrible picture filled with static. This differs drastically with a digital signal. The signal still weakens over distance, but it makes no difference in quality of picture or sound. As long as the television receives the signal, no matter how weak it is, the picture and sound will be clear. Obviously, this could be a potential problem for cable and satellite providers. Many consumers will no longer have to pay monthly fees to have an acceptable picture.

Cost Behaviors and Allocations Essay

The relationship between fixed, variable, and total costs of an organization is called cost behavior. It is also known as underlying cost structure, and is used for planning, control, and decision making within the organization. Healthcare organizations face several challenges to try and improve the quality of care and reduce costs at the same time. Their response to how to do this describes their cost behavior. Fixed costs is a cost that are certain regardless of the volume of services that are delivered and will occur even if the facility is closed. Variable costs are related directly to the amount of service that is delivered. These two costs make up the underlying cost structure of an organization. For example the costs of supplies used to draw blood in a laboratory, would be the variable costs, the costs to keep the laboratory open would be fixed costs. To understand the cost behaviors of the organization you have to figure out the relationship these costs have with the amount of services that they are delivering. To manage your costs you want to make sure that you are bringing in enough volume that will cover your costs. Cost allocation is a very important part of cost measurement. It is a pricing process that within the organization where managers allocate the costs of all the departments. Within healthcare organizations the overhead costs, costs from patient services departments, and support costs have to be allocated. Due to this pricing and service offerings are based on the total costs in relation with each services. If the allocations of overhead costs are allocated properly the organization is better able to make good decisions for the organization. Works Cited Evans III, J. H. (1998). Cost Management and Management Control in Healthcare Organizations: Research Opportunities. Behavioral Research in Accounting , 10, 78-103. Gapenski, L. (2012). Healthcare finance: An introduction to accounting and financial management (5th ed. ). Chicago: Health Administration Press.

The Accusation of Witches in Puritan, New England

The American weakness in times of trouble is the instinctive act of finding a scapegoat. Stemming from the Calvinistic religious beliefs of the Puritans who immigrated to America, anything that strays from the predestined lives of these puritanical people is the result of sin. The ideas of original sin and predestination are at the heart of Calvinism. Thus, the Calvinist Puritans have their lives planned out for them by God before birth and anything that disrupts that plan must be eradicated. It was on the basis of this stringent religious way of life that the witch-hunts on 1692 came about. The accusation of people, beginning in Salem, Massachusetts and quickly spreading throughout the Puritan community began because the Puritans†¦show more content†¦It was because of this idea that more women than men were brought to trial, found guilty, and killed. Women, once accused of witchcraft, were almost certain to burn at the stakes because once accused publicly, a woman entered i nto a modern day lose-lose situation. If she sits idly at her trial and makes no attempt to refute the evidence presented against her, she is presumed guilty because she cannot prove herself innocent. However, if she defends herself, she is considered to be possessed by the devil for acting out of her sex. This was the case in the infamous trial of Anne Hutchinson. It is clear from the transcript that Winthrop was accusing Hutchinson of minor wrongdoings and had already set his mind on destroying her. Gov.: You have maintained a meeting and an assembly in your house that hath been condemned by the general assembly as a thing not tolerable nor comely in the sight of God nor fitting for your sex, and not withstanding that was cried down you have continued the same. (156) Further down in his opening speech to the court, the governor states, if you be in erroneous way we may reduce you that so you may become a profitable member here among us, otherwise if you be obstinate...the court may take such course that you may trouble us no further (156). The governor plainly states yet another cause for the rise of the Puritan witch hunts in New England, sexism. It was not fitting for women to hold meetings independent of men. In the actualShow MoreRelatedSalem Witch Trials Paranoia Essay1629 Words   |  7 PagesIn the 1680’s and 1690’s there was mass hysteria in New England over supposed witchcraft. The most famous outbreak was in Salem, Massachusetts, hence the name Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, there were young girls who started acting strangely, and they leveled accusations of witchcraft against some of the West Indian servants who were immersed in voodoo tradition. Most of the accusations were against women, and soon the accusations started to shift to the substantial and prominent women. NeighborsRead MoreThe Causes of the Salem Witch Trials (DBQ)1337 Words   |  4 Pagespeople throughout New England during the 1680s and 1690s seem preposterous. Any behavior regarded as strange by fellow citizens was sufficient to hold a trial with a sentence of death. Though such scenarios seem unfathomable in our modern culture, it was a reality for hundreds of New England settlers. The causes of the famous outbreak of witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts are rooted in social, economic, and political aspects of the late 17th century Salem community. Early New Englanders were unableRead MoreAmerican Horror Story: Witch Hunt702 Words   |  3 PagesThe fear of and execution of witches isnt only an American horror story, this particular hunt was in place in England before. In 1542 parliament made witchcraft a capital crime, and between the years of 1645-1647 several hundred were hanged(Karlsen 2). Although in theory, men and children could be witches but still ninety percent of the witches hanged in England were women. The country feared the witches because of the belief that they caused harm on neighbors and properties, also called maleficium(KarlsenRead MoreThe Trials Of The Salem Witch Trials891 Words   |  4 Pagespeople were unjustly murdered after trials found them guilty of acts of witchcraft. The series of hearings and prosecutions of the accused witches in colonial Massachusetts marks one of the nation s most notorious cases of mass hysteria. The reasons behind the trials and deaths are complex and multifaceted. Intern al disputes, strict religious lifestyles, accusations from young children, witch hunting methods, spectral evidence, and even some medical theories all stand as causes of the Salem Witch TrialsRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trials Essay1333 Words   |  6 Pageswitchcraft. The puritanical society of New England emphasized a need for a Bible-based society, which caused a fear of the supernatural and gave rise to the false accusations of â€Å"witches.† With testimonies of witches rooted in the Old Testament, the idea of witchcraft eventually made its way into the superstitious and everyday Puritan life, and was fueled by the rejection of the group during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The intense paranoia among the Puritans eventually led the group to go as farRead MorePuritans And The Church Of England1301 Words   |  6 Pagesthe seventeenth century, England Puritans noticed that the Church of England was tolerating too many practices that were associated with the Church of Rome. The Puritans frowned upon this. The Puritans held a high view of scripture and believed that the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming the church (The Puritan Beliefs, 2004). The England Puritans desired to ‘purify’ and change the church from within, however it was unsuccessful in England and Puritans relocated. In the early-midRead MoreExecuted For Witchcraft In 1692: Fourteen Women, Five Men1695 Words   |  7 Pageswhere witches were burnt on the stake. Today, witches are featured in films and television with little to no fear publicly shown. But the witch hunts of the 1600’s would be a result of not only fear, but the hopes of gaining the att ention of the public eye. The three major factors that influenced the Salem Witch Trials were fear, religion, and hunger for power. What needs to be known to understand the events that would occur are the ideas of the Puritans during the time-period. The Puritans wouldRead MoreThe Salem Witch Trial1152 Words   |  5 Pageswere the evil works of the witches, and the Devil. Among many Puritans, this belief becomes a fear, and then this fear becomes like an additional topping that adds up to causing convulsive hysteria and also hallucinations which were caused by Ergot Poisoning. So, here is where the role of Convulsive Hysteria and Ergotism comes in play. The ergot poisoning in Salem villagers’ every day meal of bread made with ‘rye’ leads to severe physical disorders, hallucination of witches and devils, and other seriousRead MoreThe Causes Of The Salem Witch Trials1173 Words   |  5 PagesWitch Trials in New England comprised the largest outbreak of witchcraft panic in American history. Historians and scientists have contributed the accusations of witchcraft in the early 1690’s to everything, from disease, religious and political agendas, to harsh weather. It is believed that a better understanding of the cause of the atrocities in Salem, and those like it, may prevent such events from reoccurring. Despite many years of study, however, what caused such panic in New England and the subsequentRead MoreEscaping Salem Book Questions Answers1463 Words   |  5 Pagesinitiates trial by going to ------ magistrate c) possibly influences Katherine’s accusations d) â€Å"Nathaniel and Abigail cross had confronted Mister Wescot with the charge that Kate was counterfeiting her torments to which he replied â€Å"I’ll venture†¦ that she’ll do a trick tomorrow morning that nobody else can†. 5) Abigail Wescot a) Wife of Daniel Wescot b) Master of Katherine Branch c) Possibly influences Katherine’s accusations i) Mentions possible names while Katherine is â€Å"unconscious† in her â€Å"fits† ii)