History And Future Of Mahindra And Mahindra Limited Business Essay

History And Future Of Mahindra And Mahindra Limited Business Essay Mahindra and Mahindra limited is a part of the huge Mahindra group. Mahindra is a company, which has started before independence under K.C Mahindra and J.C Mahindra along with Malik Gulam Mohammed. In 1945 the company was called as Mahindra and Mohammed later after independence Malik Gulam Mohammed left the elite and he became the finance minister for Pakistan. After his exit the company changed its name into Mahindra and Mahindra (MM). In 1947, the company started its business from assembling jeeps and slowly moved on to making utility vehicles and agricultural tractors. With in no time MM as emerged as one of the leading brands in India. Today MM is a diversified group employing more that 65,000 people directly. MM has substantial presence in sectors like automobile, equipment for farms, financial services, automobile components, after-market, IT and infrastructure. MM is one of the Indias most respected and reputed business groups. Reputation Institute declared MM as one of the most reputed companies in the world. MM is also only one of the ten Indian companies to get featured in the prestigious Forbes magazine. Over the past few decades the company has grown in the international automotive segment.  MM has a strong presence in several countries across the world including Italy, Spain, Turkey, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Chile and South Asia.   Few of the core values of the MM are Good Corporate Citizenship, Professionalism, Customer First, Quality Focus and Dignity Of The Individual. We dont have a group-wide mission statement. Our Core Purpose is what makes all of us want to get up and come to work in the morning Anand G. Mahindra. The core purpose of MM: Indians are second to none in the world. The Founders of our nation and of our Company passionately believed this. We will prove them right by believing in ourselves and by making Mahindra Mahindra Limited known worldwide for the quality of its products and services. Milestones achieved MM: 1945 2nd October 1945 Mahindra and Mohammed established. 1949 Jeep assembly started. 1956 Company shares were listed on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). 1969 MM started their venture into the world market by exporting utility vehicles and spare parts. 1975 MM developed diesel engine for over coming the fuel crisis. 1983 MM became the market leader in the Indian tractor market. 1986 established Tech Mahindra. 1994 Implemented BPR programs. 2000 MM adopted a new logo. 2002 Launched SUV Scorpio. 2004 Launched Mahindra World tractor in International Market. 2009 MM launched Xylo. 2010 MM acquired Ssangyong and a major share in electric car company Reva. Few factors that affect the business environments are: Social factors: Every business organisation operates within the norms of the society and exists primarily to satisfy its needs. Hence, a business organisation has an important position in social system. The social factors influence the policy and strategy of business; the organisation strives to satisfy the needs and wants of the society. There are many social factors that affect the policy and strategy of corporate management. Culture, value, tastes and preferences, social integration and disintegration, and so on must be a part of every business organisation. As observed by Keith Davis and Robert Blomstrom, business is a social institution performing a social mission and having a broad influence on the way people live and work together. Many companies that are hugely successful contribute a lot to the society. At MM corporate social responsibility is taken very seriously in 2009 MMs employees contributed 49,280 man-hours towards social programs. Mahindra and Mahindra contribute 1% of its profit after tax (PAT) for developing the society every year. MM considered education and training as powerful tools to address majority of Indian social challenges. Corporate Social Responsibility has always been an integral part of the vision of the Mahindra Group and the corner stone of our core value of good corporate citizenship Keshub Mahindra. In a way by helping the society, MM is enjoying the fruits of it, after all business is only a part of the society. I think because of MMs strong CSR activities it is wining the hearts of the people and not allowing any NGO to point fingers. Ecological Factors: Protection of the environment and preservation of ecological balance is the responsibility of every business organisation. Ecology deals with the study of the environment, biotic factors, abiotic factors, and their interactions with one another. A change in any biotic or a biotic factor causes ecological imbalance. Industrial activities, automobiles, emission of fumes or smoke and effluents, and so on, result in environmental degradation. MM is committed to the preservation of ecological balance. MM has turned 400 acres of barren land in to a park; MM had planted across 7000 trees near its factories to counterfeit the pollution. Environment is the key factor that no company tries to neglect. MM takes up lot of activities to help the environment. Its a fact that buildings consume 40 percent of the worlds energy; keeping this in mind MM started retrofitting their towers for Energy efficiency. The result was that they started consuming 10 percent less energy when compared with their previous consumptions. The retrofitting has affected an average savings of 36,185 kWh / month, the equivalent CO2  saved is 29.3 tonnes / month. As carbon-di-oxide is one of those gases that contribute to global warming MM decided to reduce the consumption of paper. Now MM uses different software to keep the use of paper as low as possible. MM took up an activity of refurbishing of water reservoir, which is now helping 4000 dwellers. Economic Factors: Economic factors, such as per capita income, national income, resource mobilisation, infrastructure development, capital formation, employment generation, and so on, influence the business environment. The economic performance of a company also determines its business environment. The economic factors helped MM to some extent to become successful, like getting cheap labourers etc. but MM had really worked very hard to over come the other things like formation of capital in not so strong economy, dealing with infrastructure problems etc. Government Policies: The government policies provide the basic environment for business. Industrial and licensing policies, trade policies, labour policies, export-import policies, foreign exchange policies, taxation policies etc pave the way for business environment. In brief the policies that were changed and their effect on MM. In between the period of 1947 to 1979 the government intervention was too much and indirectly the government was playing the major role. As MM was not a huge company at that time the government protected it. The policies gave an encouragement to the industry that in turn means encouragement to the company. The one disadvantage MM faced was due to licensing competition was curbed. In between period 1980 to 1990 the policies were a bit liberal and government less involved in companies activities. In this time frame competition slowly picked up which helped MM to be more efficient and effective. After 1991 government never played a direct role but played an indirect role. Due to liberalization MM started raising its standards and started simulating demand. Only after 1991 MM started exporting a lot and investing in RD a lot. The above snap shot shows how important are policies for a business. The success tool for MM was having the flexible nature, which allowed it to take advantage of the policies. Cultural Factors: The cultural factors of a business environment should also be taken into consideration while scanning the environment and during the policy formation. Policymakers in a global business cannot disregard cultural variables like social and religious practices, education, knowledge, rural community norms and beliefs. A company like MM, which has its growth in a globally oriented way, takes these cultural factors very seriously; one example is that MM supplies customised jeeps to Australia, which suits their local style or culture. Geographical factors: In a global business environment, geographical locations, seasonal variations, climatic conditions etc. considerably affect the tastes and preferences of customers, and also prospects and the labour force. The pace of development in various geographical locations considerably influences the policies of the government regarding industrial locations. Some times this helped MM because, if the government wants to develop some particular region it gives a lot of subsidies for the companies that are interested in setting up their plant in that region. Legal Factors: Law in India regulates every aspect of business. Hence, the legal government plays a very vital role in the business. The legal factors in India (pre liberalisation) that effected MM are like heavy protection from government by using the licenses, huge excise duties, discrimination done by the government on the basis of price, very high import duties and liberal policies for the foreign players. During this period MM was not so successful in expanding but after liberalisation MM grew at a huge rate. The legal factors post liberalisation period that helped MM grow are like the complete removal of the license raj system, excise duties were continuously restructured, reducing the duties on import and allowing fdi. Labour factors: Although labour with in the organisation constitute its internal environment, general labour policies and climate may form a part of the external environment. MM always strictly followed Labour laws in compensating their employees and other things that fall under that law. One incident were MM dint handled its employees very well was in 1994 when company went for Business Process Reengineering (BPR) their was huge opposition from the labour unions then the company after few months managed the situation and till date the company enjoyed the support of its employees. One of the core principles of MM states that their employees are considered as a very valuable resource. Technological Factors: Technology is considered to be one of the most important factors of any business environment. That is why the Government has always stressed about sophisticated technology and technology transfer in most of its policies. Foreign investment up to 100 percent is allowed in industries with sophisticated technology. MM has always laid emphasis on RD and always tried to make technologically sound products. The recent acquisition of Ssangyong motors by MM was mainly for the technology, this shows the companies quest for technology. MM recently acquired the electric car company Reva that shows their prediction for the future and they what to be ready by not considering technology as a barrier to their success. Competitive Market Condition: Competitive market condition is an important environmental factor, especially in a global business environment. In a socialist economic environment, a centralised authority -the government controls the market whereas the competitive forces determine the market in a fully capitalist economy. India, which has accepted the middle path, had been fostering both the conditions. As a result of liberalisation, some characteristics integrating the Indian economy with the global economy has emerged. As a result, a competitive market condition has emerged in India, creating a competitive business environment. A situation of perfect competition is seen in automobiles, fmcg etc. This is often taken as an opportunity by MM to grow and to show its capability in the market. Creating competitive market is the responsibility of every player in the market. MM keeps its responsibility by having competition in terms of both price and non-price with its other counter parts. In a way MM is helping itself and also the economy. A competitive business environment is an essential characteristic of globalisation. The nature of competition varies in different economic systems. In the context of widespread globalisation process, tremendous changes are taking place in the business environment of economic systems. MM concern for the international business environment is understandable in relation to the globalisation of business. Conclusions: All the above factors have affected MM in positive and negative way. But by studying these very closely has helped MM to take or to develop broad strategies and very long term policies for itself, by having clear understanding of the different environment factors MM was able to analyse its competitors strategies and, thereby, formulate effective counter strategies. Knowledge about the environment helped MM to be dynamic in its approach, which means that MM had very flexible structure for their strategies or policies that helped them to be dynamic in nature. Being a company that has expanded overseas needs to understand the above factors to have a visibility over the changing socio-economic factors at the national and international level for its stability. The executives of MM were able to adjust to the prevailing conditions and, thus, influence the environment in order to make it congenial for business. The environmental factor plays a major role for MM to expand overseas. In the post liberalisation period government reducing the import duties helped the company to improve its infrastructure and technologies. With the allowance of fdi in to the country MM started expanding and in a way made it a conglomerate. The structure of the industry, which includes the company and the competitors in addition to the potential entrants, suppliers, buyers, and so on determines the level of competition. Hence, the environment is influenced by all of them in some manner or the other. The business policy of every player has, therefore, to take cognisance of the treats posed by every other player including the entrants. Thus, subject to the influence of a number of factors, the business environment provides opportunities and threats, while its internal environment provides its strengths and weaknesses.

Spatial Filtering Fundamentals

4/28/2008 Spatial filtering fundamentals by  Gleb  V. Tcheslavski:  [email  protected] lamar. edu http://ee. lamar. edu/gleb/dip/index. htm Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 1 Mechanics of spatial filtering Considering frequency domain filtering, the effect of LPF applied to an image is to blur (smooth) it. Similar smoothing effect can be achieved by using spatial filters (spatial masks, kernels, templates, or windows). We discussed that a spatial filter consists of a neighborhood and a pre-defined operation performed on the image pixels defining the neighborhood.The result of filtering – a new pixel with coordinated of the neighborhood’s center and the value defined by the operation. g y p If the operation is linear, the filter is said to be a linear spatial filter. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 2 1 4/28/2008 Mechanics of spatial filtering Assuming a 3 x 3 neighborhood, at any point (x,y) in the image, the response of the spatial filter is g ( x, y ) = w(? 1, ? 1 ) f ( x ? 1, y ? 1) + w(? 1, 0) f ( x ? 1, y ) + †¦ + w(0, 0) f ( x, y ) + †¦ + w(1,1) f ( x + 1, y + 1) Filter coefficient Pixel intensity In general: g ( x, y ) = s =? a t =? b ? ? w(s, t ) f ( x + s, y + t ) a bSpring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 3 Mechanics of spatial filtering Here a mask size is m x n. m = 2a + 1 n = 2b + 1 Where a and b are some integers. For a 3 x 3 mask Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 4 2 4/28/2008 Spatial correlation and convolution Correlation is a process of moving the filter mask over the image and computing the sum of products at each location as previously described. Convolution is the same except that the filter is first rotated by 1800. For a 1D case, we first zeropad f by m-1 zeros on each size. We compute a sum of products in both cases†¦ Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 5 Spatial correlation and convolutionCorrelation is a function of displacement of the filter. A function containing a single 1 with the rest being zeros is g g g called a d iscrete unit impulse. Correlation of a function with a discrete unit impulse yields a rotated version of a function at the location of the impulse. To perform a convolution, we need to pre-rotate the filter by 1800 and perform the same operation as in correlation. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 6 3 4/28/2008 Spatial correlation and convolution In a 2D case, for a filter of size m x n, we pad the image with m-1 rows of zeros at the top and bottom and n-1 columns of zeros on the left and right.For convolution, we pre-rotate the mask and perform the sliding sum of products. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 7 Spatial correlation and convolution Correlation of a filter w(x,y) of size m x n with an image f(x,y) is w( x, y ) f ( x, y ) = s =? a t =? b ? ? w(s, t ) f ( x + s, y + t ) ? ? w(s, t ) f ( x ? s, y ? t ) a b a b Convolution of a filter w(x,y) of size m x n with an image f(x,y) is w( x, y ) ? f ( x, y) = s =? a t =? b Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 8 4 4/28/2008 Vector representatio n of linear filtering It is convenient sometimes to represent a sum of products asR = ? wk zk = w T z k =1 Filter coeffs Image intensities mn For example, for a 3 x 3 filter: p , R = ? wk zk = w T z k =1 Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 9 9 Generating spatial filter masks Generating an m x n linear spatial filter requires specification of mn mask coefficients. These coefficients are selected based on what the filter is supposed to do keeping in mind that all we can do with linear filtering is to implement a sum of products. Assuming that we need to replace the pixels in an image with the average pixel intensities of a 3Ãâ€"3 neighborhood centered on those pixels.If zi are the intensities, the average is R= 9 1 9 ? zi 9 i =1 Which is: R = ? wi zi = w T z; i =1 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP wi = 1 9 10 Spring 2008 5 4/28/2008 Smoothing spatial filters Smoothing filters are used for blurring and noise reduction. Blurring may be implemented in preprocessing tasks to remove small details from an ima ge prior to large object extraction. The output of a smoothing (averaging or lowpass) linear spatial filter is the average of the pixels contained in the neighborhood of the filter mask.By replacing the value of every pixel in an image by the average of the intensity levels in the neighborhood defined by a filter mask, the resulting image will have reduced â€Å"sharp† transitions in intensities. Since random noise typically corresponds to such transitions, we can achieve denoising. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 11 Smoothing spatial filters However, edges (characterized by sharp intensity transitions) will be blurred. Examples of such masks: 1) A box filter – spatial averaging filter 3Ãâ€"3; 2) Weighted average filter – attempt to reduce blurring: g a g ( x, y ) = s =? a t =? b ? ? (s, t ) f ( x + s, y + t ) s =? a t =? b b ? ? w(s, t ) 12 a b Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 6 4/28/2008 Smoothing spatial filters The effect of filter size. The original 500Ãâ€"5 00 image And the results of smoothing with a square averaging filter of sizes m = 3, 5, 9, 15, 25, and 35 pixels. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 13 Smoothing spatial filters Frequently, blurring is desired for ease of object detection: an original Hubble image, the result of applying a 15Ãâ€"15 averaging mask to it and the result of thresholding with a threshold of 25% of the highest intensity. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 14 7 4/28/2008Order-statistic (nonlinear) filters Order-statistic filter are nonlinear spatial filters whose response is based on ordering (Ranking) the pixels in the neighborhood and then replacing the value of the center pixel by the value determined by the ranking result. The median filters are quite effective against the impulse noise (salt-and-pepper noise). The median of a set of values is such that half the values in the set are greater than the median and half is lesser than it: Ex: the 3Ãâ€"3 neighborhood has values (10, 20, 20, 20,15, 20, 100, 25, 20 ). These values are ranked as (10, 15, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20, 25, 100).The median will be 20. There are also max and min filters. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 15 Order-statistic (nonlinear) filters Original image with salt-andpepper noise Spring 2008 Noise reduction with a 3Ãâ€"3 averaging mask ELEN 4304/5365 DIP Noise reduction with a 3Ãâ€"3 median mask 16 8 4/28/2008 Sharpening spatial filters: foundations The main objective of sharpening is to highlight transitions in intensity. Since averaging is analogous to spatial integration, we y g g g p g can assume that sharpening is analogous to differentiation in space. The derivatives of a digital function are defined in differences.The first derivative must be: 1) Zero in areas of constant intensity; 2) Non-zero at the onset and end of an intensity step or ramp; 3) Non-zero along ramps of constant slope. The second derivative must be: 1) Zero in areas of constant intensity; 2) Non-zero at the onset and end of an intensity step or ram p; 3) Zero along ramps of constant slope. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 17 Sharpening spatial filters: foundations The first-order derivative: ?f = f ( x + 1) ? f ( x) ? x The second-order derivative: ?2 f = f ( x + 1) + f ( x ? 1) ? 2 f ( x) ? x 2 It can be verified that these definitions satisfy the conditions for derivatives.Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 18 9 4/28/2008 Sharpening spatial filters: foundations The circles indicate the onset or end of intensity transitions. The sign of the second derivative changes at the onset and end of a step of ramp. The second derivative enhances fine details much better than the first derivative. This is suitable for sharpening. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 19 Using the second derivative for image sharpening – the Laplacian We consider isotropic filters – the response is independent of the direction of the discontinuity in the image Such filters are image. rotation invariant.The simplest isotropic derivative operator is the L aplacian: ?2 f ? 2 f ? f = 2 + 2 ? x ? y 2 Therefore: ? 2 f = f ( x + 1, y ) + f ( x ? 1, y ) + f ( x, y + 1) + f ( x, y ? 1) ? 4 f ( x, y ) The Laplacian is a linear operator since derivatives are linear operators. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 20 10 4/28/2008 Using the second derivative for image sharpening – the Laplacian The Laplacian can be implemented by these filter masks Since the Laplacian is a derivative operator, its use highlights intensity discontinuities in the image and deemphasize regions with slow varying intensity levels levels.It tends to produce images having grayish edge lines and other discontinuities, and a dark, feature-less background. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 21 Using the second derivative for image sharpening – the Laplacian Background features can be preserved together with the sharpening effect of the Laplacian by adding the Laplacian image to the original. If the definition of the Laplacian has a negative central coefficient, the La placian image must be subtracted rather than added to obtain a sharpening result. In general: g ( x, y ) = f ( x, y ) + c 2 f ( x, y ) ? ? ?Output intensity Input intensity -1 – if the center is negative; +1 otherwise Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 22 11 4/28/2008 Using the second derivative for image sharpening – the Laplacian The Laplacian Laplacian with scaling The original (blurred) image The image sharpened with mask 2 The image sharpened with mask 1 Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 23 Unsharp masking and highboost filtering An approach used for many years to sharpen images is: 1. Blur the original image; 2. Subtract the blurred image from the original (the result is called the mask): g mask ( x, y ) = f ( x, y ) ? f ( x, y ) Original Blurred image 3.Add the mask to the original: g ( x, y ) = f ( x, y ) + k ? g mask ( x, y ) Here k is a weight. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 24 12 4/28/2008 Unsharp masking and highboost filtering When k = 1 – unsharp masking ; k > 1 – highboost filtering; k < 1 – de-emphasize the contribution of a mask. The shown intensity profile can be viewed as a horizontal scan through a vertical edge transition from a dark to li ht t a light region. i This approach is similar to Laplacian method. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 25 Unsharp masking and highboost filtering Original ( slightly blurred) image Smoothed with a Gaussian smoothing filter 5Ãâ€"5 Unsharp maskResult of using unshapr mask (k = 1) Result of using highboost filtering with k = 4. 5 Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 26 13 4/28/2008 Gradient method First derivatives can be implemented for nonlinear image sharpening using the magnitude of the gradient: ? ? f ? g x ? ? ? x ? ? ? f ? grad ( f ) ? ? ? = ? ? ? g y ? ? ? f ? ? ? y ? ? ? The gradient vector points in the direction of the greatest rate of g (x,y). g (length) gradient change of f at location ( y) The magnitude ( g ) of g 2 2 M ( x, y ) = ? f = g x + g y Is the value of rate of cha nge at (x,y) in the direction of gradient. Spring 2008ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 27 Gradient method M(x,y) is an image of the same size as the original and is called the gradient image. Magnitude makes M(x,y) non-linear. It is more s itable in some applications to use: suitable se M ( x, y ) ? g x + g y For an image where z5 represent the pixel f(x,y) and z1 represent the pixel f(x-1,y-1), the simplest (Roberts) definitions for gradients are: M ( x, y ) = ( z9 ? z5 ) + ( z8 ? z6 ) 2 2 M ( x, y ) ? z9 ? z5 + z8 ? z6 However, Roberts cross-gradient operators lead to masks of even sizes, which is inconvenient. ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 28 Spring 2008 14 4/28/2008 Gradient methodThe smallest masks with central symmetry (ones we are interested in) are 3Ãâ€"3. The gradient can be approximated for such masks as following: ?f = ( z7 + 2 z8 + z9 ) ? ( z1 + 2 z2 + z3 ) ? x ? f gy = = ( z3 + 2 z6 + z9 ) ? ( z1 + 2 z4 + z7 ) ? y Therefore, the mask could be: gx = M ( x, y ) ? ( z7 + 2 z8 + z9 ) ? ( z1 + 2 z2 + z3 ) + ( z3 + 2 z6 + z9 ) ? ( z1 + 2 z4 + z7 ) Roberts operators They are Sobel operators. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 29 Gradient method The coefficients in all masks shown sum to zero. This indicates that mask will give a zero response in an area of constant intensity as expected of a derivative operator operator.Original image of contact lens Sobel gradient Defect Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 30 15 4/28/2008 Combining spatial enhancement techniques Frequently, Frequently a combination of several methods is used to enhance an image†¦ 1) Original image – 2) Laplacian – 3) image sharpened by Laplacian – 4) Sobel gradient of the original image – 5) Sobel image smoothed with a 5Ãâ€"5 averaging filter – 6) product of Sobel image with its smoothed version – 7) sharpened image (a sum of the original and 6) – 8) power-law transformation. Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 31 Spring 2008 ELEN 4304/5365 DIP 32 16

Mahatma Ghandi, a Hero

Mahatma Gandhi For me, a hero is someone who tries to make the world a better place. Christopher Paolini said, â€Å"Without fear there cannot be courage. † I agree there has to be fear before there is courage. Gandhi turned his fear into courage and decided to try to make the world a better place and as a result India gained its independence. It took conquering his fears and being a courageous hero in a peaceful way to be the leader of Indian nationalism during British rule. Gandhi fought for Indian rights. Click any fact to locate it on the web.Click Wrong? to report a problem. Cancel Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was given the holy name Mahatma which means Great Soul. He was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. In 1888, he sailed to England to study at the University College London and then the University of London where he studied Law. In 1893, he accepted a job in South Africa and in 1903 Gandhi opened a law firm in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 1906, Gandhi had his first protest in South Africa against anti-Indian laws and two years later he was imprisoned.In 1914, he returned to India where he became leader of the Indian National Congress (INC) supporting a plan using nonviolence to get independence. He was jailed from 1922 until 1924 for conspiracy. He was jailed again in 1930 for breaking India’s Salt Laws. In 1932, Gandhi started his famous â€Å"fast unto death† to protest British support of a new Indian constitution which gave India’s lowest classes, the â€Å"untouchables†, their separate political representation. Gandhi believed this would unfairly divide India's social classes and he believed in equality.In 1942, Gandhi began the nationwide â€Å"Quit India† movement. Five years later, India became independent from the British. Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic on January 30, 1948 in Birla House in Delhi while at a prayer meeting. Early in his life, after seeing the misery of millions of hi s countrymen, thousands of them dying from starvation, Gandhi gave up all his money and spent his life helping the poor and the oppressed. He was the leader of the Indian nationalist group against the British rule and is commonly known as the father of his country.His strategy of a non-violent protest to get political and social progress has influenced many people. His program of peaceful non-cooperation with the British included boycotts of their goods and institutions which lead to arrests of thousands. In 1945, the British government began negotiations which ended with the formation of the two new independent states of India and Pakistan divided along religious lines. Gandhi was opposed to partition and fasted to try to bring harmony in Calcutta and Delhi. Ghandi once said, â€Å"In a gentle way, you can shake the world. This is exactly what he did. He made positive changes around him using peaceful ways. He also said, â€Å"I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned w ith taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following. † He did change his present; he changed what was happening during his life. He devoted his life to helping his countrymen gain independence and be treated as equals. This is why I believe Gandhi is a hero; he made the world a better place by being courageous, brave, a leader and a believer in being able to make a difference.

My Life Is Controlled And The Path Is Set For Me - 1028 Words

My life is controlled and the path is set for me. I don t have any control of what I do and what people do to me. I am helpless. Totalitarian government has ruined me and now I am just a pawn in a chess game. When I was a kid, growing up in this type of government was very hard. Every part of my life was controlled. The government controlled what saw and what I heard. I got deceived into believing things that in reality had no idea what the truth behind it really was. Another way that the government affected me was through police terror. They used tanks, monitored telephone lines, read mail, and had informers everywhere to keep everybody under their rule in check. The police would operate without any restraints or laws to keep them in check. There was no privacy in my world and everything that I did was being monitored for anything that could be a threat to the government. They made sure no one fell out of line, and the people that did paid for it. They also made us believ e that they were doing good things, like caring for their country and their citizens by using propaganda. This idea is based on incomplete information used to make people accept ideologies. There was also no room for my own religious beliefs, the government tried to spread their own religion belief and attacking religion. My religion beliefs meant nothing to the government and they had no problem trying to brainwash me into thinking what they wanted me to think. The governmentShow MoreRelatedFree Will v. Determinism Essay850 Words   |  4 Pages Do we really have Freewill? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The topic of freewill vs. determinism has always been something that has interested me. I follow the Christian faith very strongly but my views on the subject vary almost daily. The concept of freewill and determinism is something that, as a Christian, I often struggle with. By no means do I think that I have all the answers or that I am right. 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Education has always been an enormous part in my life, no matter the secondsRead MoreSimilarities And Differences Between Mahayana And Two Major Branches Of Buddhism1281 Words   |  6 PagesFour Noble Truths ( the truth of suffering, the cause of suffering, destruction of suffering, and the path to ending suffering.) †¢Both agree with the Paticca-Samuppada also know as the law of dependent origination. †¢Both believe the three marks of existence Anica, Dukkha, and Anatta. Anica is everything has an ending, Dukkha means there is no true happiness, and Anatta is nothing can be controlled. Those are the few things that Theravada and Mahayana share in beliefs. Mahayana derives from the traditionalRead MoreDiscoveries And Inventions Are Not Born From Nothingness990 Words   |  4 Pagesfirm belief that I possess these skills, I aspire to fulfill my dream of pursuing advanced research in an application-oriented field, by obtaining my Masters degree in Electrical engineering. As a stepping-stone toward this dream, I am pursuing my Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics Instrumentation Engineering from SRM University, ranked first among many private institutions in India. This has laid a strong foundation for my graduate studies. There are two reasons why I believe that graduateRead MoreEssay on Asian Art Museum in San Francisco1315 Words   |  6 PagesMuseum in San Francisco. Every first Sunday of the month, admission into the museum is free. It is my first time to visit there and I was most impressed with the huge number of Buddhas on display.  Most of the pieces are in excellent condition. It is amazing 600-year-old pottery and all these stone statues of Buddha that looks like it was made yesterday. What really brings this place to life for me are the brilliant combination of social mixers and live performance events mixed with cultural education