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Mental illness and health is a taboo and considered unimportant in today's Indian society.

VIEW:

In a so-called 'modern' world and a society that has progressed so much, we still have managed to take a hundred steps backward when it comes to mental health and illness. 

In spite of an escalating number of mental health patients, the subject of mental health illness is still a taboo topic for several Indians. 

WHO studies report that 6.5% of the Indian population suffers from some form of mental disorders. Mental illnesses are amongst the most common ailments, and yet are the least understood in today's society. This is a large contributor to the misconceptions, misunderstandings, ignorance and insensitive attitudes towards mental disorders and health. Psychological disorders are often considered the result of personal weaknesses or a personality flaw, when the actual cause, which is the imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, is pushed aside and not even looked upon. In our societies today, people view mental illnesses as a state of permanency and little importance is given to the fact that they are completely treatable. The Society also associates the causes of mental health issues with bad parenting and social hierarchies, while numerous researches show that mental disorders are caused due to multiple interactions of biological, psychological and genetic factors. The roots of psychological disorders most often stem from the childhood stage and remain untreated until adulthood, because most parents refuse to accept that their children suffer from mentally illnesses out of fear of embarrassment or social stigma. For example, it is a myth that suicide is an impulsive action when in reality, there are numerous signals that people contemplating suicide give that indirectly indicates their feelings of helplessness and desperation. 

The failure of developing an environment where the subject of mental health can be discussed freely and openly is a large contributing factor that makes mental health and disorders a taboo in Indian societies. There are 113 laws in the Indian constitution that take away the rights of individuals with mental ailments. This serves as the reflection of the shambles of our society's sophistication and acceptance when it comes to mental illness and health. It remains to be a taboo due to society's failure to recognize the importance of mental health and it's treatment as well as the mythical beliefs surrounding it.

• Natasha Raphael

1 BBA ‘B’

COUNTER-VIEW:

Mental Health in India was a very big taboo, but slowly thanks to education and social media awareness programs, we Indians are opening up and becoming more aware, sensitive and supportive of mental health and such issues.

India’s health minister unveiled the country’s first-ever mental health policy, The National Mental Health Program, calling for an increase in funds to provide those with mental illness accessible and affordable care. The policy calls for a higher number of mental health professionals to be trained, from community-based counselors to specialized psychiatrists. In a country where mental health has long been ignored, the policy is extraordinarily progressive and sensitive to the social impact of mental illness, like stigma and poverty. The emphasis of the new policy is on the rights of the mentally ill including the suggestion that attempted suicide should be decriminalized. The policy also draws attention to the largely-neglected need to support caregivers, who are almost always family members in India.

Bollywood too has opened up to mental health, normalizing the subject and not making it seem like such a taboo. Stars like Shahrukh Khan, Ileana D'Cruz, Randeep Hooda, Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma and much more have openly spoken about their battles with mental health conditions. Deepika Padukone, not only opened up about herself suffering from depression in a TV interview but also took a step ahead to establish a center for mental health to help people going through the same phase.

All this goes to show how the Indian mindset is slowly opening up and changing to be more open and supportive with regards to mental illnesses. All urban schools have counselors. Therapy and counseling are no longer looked upon as an embarrassment.  On social media one can clearly see the outpouring support for awareness programs, for example, Project Semicolon, a  movement dedicated to presenting hope and love to those who are struggling with depression, suicide, addiction, and self-injury. Progress might be slow, but change is happening.

• Shania Nunes

1 BBA ‘B’

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THE HEADPHONE JACK REVOLUTION

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Apple has been removing features from its products and daring customers to complain about it almost since Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997.

Jobs’s first major product announcement after his return was the iMac the most controversial thing about the iMac was that it removed the floppy drive, which was then a standard part of virtually all Macs and Windows PCs. Apple also removed several ports that had been included in every Mac for a decade, replacing them with a cutting-edge standard called USB.

Removing the floppy drive from the iMac (and soon other Macs) made them lighter, cheaper, and smaller. Ditching older ports encouraged the development of Mac-compatible USB products like keyboards and printers. Before long there were plenty of them to choose from. A decade later, Apple introduced the MacBook Air, a laptop Apple made razor-thin by eliminating the CD-ROM drive and the Ethernet networking port — both industry standards at the time. Once again, customers grumbled but many found its slender profile impossible to resist.

Apple took this to an even further extreme with the latest MacBook. It has just two ports: a souped-up USB port on one side and a headphone jack on the other. If you want to plug in other devices, like an external monitor or an Ethernet cable, there’s a variety of splitters and adapters that allow that lone USB port to perform many functions simultaneously.

Apple introduced AirPods, providing a wireless audio experience that immediately sets up with all the devices signed into your iCloud account, including your iPad and Mac. Dual optical sensors and accelerometers in each AirPod that work with the W1 chip to detect when AirPods are in your ear, so they only play when you are ready to listen. An additional accelerometer in each AirPod detects when you’re speaking, enabling a pair of beam-forming microphones to focus on the sound of your voice, filtering out external noise to make your voice sound clearer than ever before.

Apple’s decision to remove the headphone jack as part of an underlying push towards wireless Specifically, the size of the audio jack became a frustrating nuisance when trying to incorporate the respective camera systems inside of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. Removing the headphone jack enabled Apple to increase the size of the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 battery by 14%, ultimately providing users with an extra two hours of battery life. And last, removing the 3.5mm jack finally helped Apple deliver a more water-resistant iPhone.

Obviously, no customer is asking Apple to eliminate features from its products. But customers do like it when products are smaller, lighter, and more affordable. Removing little-used ports and drives also leaves more room inside for batteries, enabling longer battery life. The healthy sales growth suggests that Apple is on to something.

NIKHIL REDDY

1 BBA A

COUNTERVIEW

If you take Apple’s word for it, removing the headphone jack was a pure expression of its desire for technological progress, why not get rid of it the same way Apple killed the CD drive and Ethernet port on laptops? After all, this is just another connector that can be replaced by something wireless.

But there were clear and tangible benefits to those changes (namely, much thinner and lighter laptops), whereas this change comes littered with downsides. Most headphones in existence are incompatible. You can’t charge the phone and listen to wired headphones at the same time. And if you do want to use old headphones, you need to keep a small adapter handy

The benefits for Apple are much easier to see. The iPhone 7 will be bought by millions of people and its lack of a headphone jack is going to make many of them consider buying Lightning or Bluetooth headphones. Apple profits from both.

Any company that wants to make a pair of Lightning headphones has to go through Apple’s licensing program. Apple Inc.'s MFi Program is a licensing program for developers of hardware and software peripherals that work with Apple's iPod, iPad and iPhone. The program covers various device connectors including the headphone jack, original dock connector and the newer Lightning connector.

Though its fees are kept a secret, reports have indicated that Apple charges a flat fee for every device sold using one of its connectors. So, a bump in the likely low popularity of Lightning headphones is a win for Apple, since it’s getting a cut no matter who sells them.

And that’s just Lightning. More likely is that the lack of a headphone jack on the iPhone and increasingly, on android phones as well — will lead to an uptick in sales of Bluetooth headphones. And it just so happens that Apple owns the number one Bluetooth headphone company, Beats

Beats brings in more revenue from Bluetooth headphones than LG, Bose, or Jaybird, according to NPD figures released in July. In terms of unit sales, it controls over a quarter of the Bluetooth headphone market.

Bluetooth headphones are also disproportionately profitable among headphones. NPD has them accounting for 54 percent of all dollars spent in the market, despite representing only 17 percent of units sold. These headphones sell at high prices with high margins, and Apple’s company is making the best of it so far.

Sales of Bluetooth headphones are already growing, with units up 64 percent year over year according to NPD’s figures. And Apple’s removal of the headphone jack is likely to give them another boost.

It certainly benefits Beats the most as the market leader. Not surprisingly, during its iPhone announcement, Apple gave some stage time to Beats, which announced three new sets of wireless headphones: The Solo 3 Wireless, the Powerbeats 3 sport earbuds and a neck-wraparound called the Beats X.

Apple is asking a lot of customers, even if it manages to convince its own customers to make the switch, the loss of a venerable standard could still be a sad development. Hopefully in the long run, Apple and Android device makers will be able to converge on a new, open, digital standard (most likely a version of USB) to become the universal connector for smartphones.

MATHEW ISSAC

1 BBA A

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Should people who download music/movies illegally be punished?

Introduction:   

When a movie or song is made and marketed, everyone involved in the process gets his/her monetary gain. Therefore, if any of the content which is protected by the copyright law cannot be copied, reproduced or sold without the permission of the owner of that product. The Indian copyright law protects literary works, dramatic pieces, melodious works, artistic works, films and music recordings. But these days’ people don’t seem to follow this law at all. The internet being a boon to all of us, we misuse it and disrespect the artists whose works we download illegally.

View: Artists, Directors, Producers and every other person connected to the making their masterpieces put in a lifetime of hard work and dedication, It be A music recording, A documentary, A movie and others. Downloading all of these content is equivalent to stealing someone else’s property. Something that is made by using a lot of resources. Piracy directly contributes to the destruction of the business. It damages the entertainment companies and industries. This in turn leads to unemployment and causes a lot of harm to the economy. People who illegally download these products should be punished. The government should take it seriously and do its best to track down the people following this absurd trend and make the copyright law more effective. If a person can go to jail due to robbery, why shouldn’t a person who illegally downloads music and movies be punished?

I BBA B

Suraj Bagewadi- 16SJCCB123

Counterview: its common sense: taking a thing that you used to pay for is not virtuous for the people who created that thing. But when it comes to entertainment piracy, lots of folks—whether motivated by statistical inquisitiveness, forward-thinking vision or a desire to rationalize their own law-breaking—have argued that things aren’t quite so simple. Now, with the release of a new analysis of 16,000 European music consumers, those on the side of piracy, like myself have evidence to back us up. Specifically, the study found that legal purchases would be about 2 percent lower without illegal downloading available—meaning, yes, illegal downloads boost legal downloads. The positive effect of streaming was even larger. And of course, as the study’s authors do acknowledge, sales data are not the only reason music-industry professionals don’t like piracy. Conclusion: people who download pirated music/ movies mostly do so for tunes they wouldn’t have ever spent money on. Therefore, it should be my choice to pay for what I want and not for what I don’t want. I shouldn’t be legally bound to do so!

I BBA ‘B’

Taaha Syed- 16SJCCB118

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JIO SIM CARDS: BOON OR BANE?

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With the release of the reliance Jio 4G services, it is a matter of conversation whether the SIM card is as beneficial to society as the advertisements suggest. Let’s talk about its advantages. We are all familiar with the financial situation in rural India; even with the ever-growing demand for internet services, it was usually unaffordable for most people to access the internet.

This is the advantage the Jio SIM card offers, it enables people of lower income to have access to the same internet facilities on the go, this, in turn, presents an opportunity for the everyday entrepreneurs and workers to complete their work without the worry of an exuberant phone bill at the end of the month.

The price is not only beneficial to the user of the Jio SIM cards but also the users of competitor’s SIM cards as it will force competitors to offer more competitive rates for their users as well thus, making the market more competitive, which in turn is a benefit to us the consumer of the services.

Sharan Shyamsundar

16SJCCB167

1 BBA B

Counter View

All calls and messages to any network existing in India are free, the only charges are for data. Jio has cut the prices so much and has made it easier for the customer to pay for their services, 1GB of data is said to cost only Rs. 50 which is one-fifth of what the other operators are charging. Jio has claimed to give us free messages on festivals like Diwali when other operators usually charge extra on these days.

Some of the disadvantages are as follows:

Reliance officially did not unveil any of the data pack which offers Rs. 50 per GB. Instead, the company said that the normal data charges cost 1MB per 5 paise, which adds up to Rs.50 per GB. Therefore, voice calls won't be free if you don't recharge the phone with a data plan.

As Reliance is offering unlimited night data with all its tariff plans, there is a small catch to it, Night data will only be limited from 2 AM to 5 AM, which is much lesser compared to the other telecom services that offer night data from 11 PM to 7 AM.

Another disadvantage is that a user with 4G LTE enabled Smartphone is able to use the Jio SIM card only, however, he won't be able to make any voice calls. Reliance Jio found a solution to that and asks every user to download their Jio4GVoice app for not-interrupted voice calls.

Reliance has launched the Preview offer is now called as a Welcome offer which is applicable for all users until December 31, 2016. But, unlike the preview offer, the welcome offer comes with a daily data cap of 4GB.

Jio claims, the voice calls on the Reliance Jio is truly free, but you need to refill with a data pack to make voice calls, hence the consumers have to spend more on recharging their phone.

Jason Francis

16SJCCB141     

1 BBA B

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Capital Punishment

                         

View:

The death penalty is the ultimate warning for the criminals and murderers. If the criminals know that the justice system will not stop at putting him to death, then the system appears more draconian to him. Hence, he is less inclined to break and enter. He may have no intention of killing anyone in the process of robbing them but is much more apprehensive about the possibility if he knows that he will be executed. Thus, there is a better chance that he will not commit the crime in the first place.

Secondly, it provides closure for victims. There are many victims of a single murder. The criminal gets caught, tried, and convicted and it is understood that the punishment will be severe. But the person he killed is no longer a part in this. Unfortunately, the murderer has deprived the victim’s family and friends of a loved one. The grief begins with the murder and does not end after execution of the murderer. The family and loved ones will at least feel relief after the murderer is killed since they don’t have to know that the criminal is still alive. A system in place for the justice cannot give justice to the surviving victims until the criminal is out to death.

If murder is the willful deprivation of a victim’s right to live, then the justice system has every right to take away the murderer’s life. It could be argued that without the capital punishment the justice system makes no equal response to a murder or a crime, and thus no justice is provided to the victim who was killed.

                                                                                                        - Catsiya Rani Sekar I BBA 'A'

Counter view:

A society is always determined by its attitude towards women, children and the elderly.  Perhaps, in this test to be civilized, their attitude towards death penalty should also be included as criteria. Over the years, history has taught us many different ways on how to control or punish people who do not follow the rules and laws imposed by society and courts. These are adopted by society to establish certain accepted standards of behavior. The death penalty is the most discussed punishment which does not leave many people indifferent.

There are many moral arguments against the death penalty. The first reason against the death penalty is ethical and moral principles. Each of us has the right to live and we have no right to deprive people of this. Moreover, the death of a murderer cannot bring peace to the victim, the death of a murderer cannot reverse the crime, and the death of a single murderer will never ensure that the act of murder never takes place again.

The second reason is the risk of executing the innocent people. The death penalty alone imposes an irrevocable sentence. Once the victim is executed, nothing can be done to teach him morality. There are numerous cases wherein innocent people were sentenced to death. The capital punishment cannot solely rely upon to deliver justice. Studies show that two-thirds of the trials contained serious errors and innocent people were killed. Society takes many risks in which innocent lives can be lost. When we construct bridges or buildings, we are aware that some workers will be killed during the construction. But wrongful executions can be prevented.

The death penalty is applied unfairly. Almost all defendants facing the penalty cannot afford their own attorney. Hence they are totally dependent on the lawyers assigned to them, many of whom lack experience and knowledge.A poorly represented defendant is more likely to be convicted or given the death sentence. With respect to race, many studies have shown that death penalty is likely where a white person is murdered than when a black person is murdered. The death penalty is racially used as it shows that white people’s lives are more valuable than black peoples.

                                         -Ruby Joy Nagaraj

                                                          1 BBA ‘A’

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The impact of Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is an augmented reality game app in which you walk around capturing virtual Pokémon in the real world. There have been suggestions that the game could actually help counter depression and social anxiety. The game has successfully encouraged people to go outside, walk, and interact more socially. The app has the potential to benefit people who would not otherwise be motivated to leave the house.

Augmented reality is slightly different than virtual reality because it doesn’t transport you into a new space but keeps you in the real world. Virtual objects, such as the Pokémon in this game, are blended with real objects using GPS. Augmented reality technology has been studied as a form of exposure therapy to treat phobias as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. Pokémon Go harnesses the power of augmented reality in a different way by giving people incentives for people to go out and explore.

View:

Some of the reasons I firmly support the game are:

1. Pokémon Go is a really fun and simple game that could attract people of any age to play. It also uses the concept of behavioral activation, which means that if you can go out and experience the positive rewards of healthy behavior, like going to the gym, then you are more likely to feel better and create a positive feedback loop to pursue more healthy behavior.
2. The game has said to have created a wave around the world in terms of helping people talk to other people. People have the option to either play the game alone or interact with strangers playing the game around him/her. This gives the people the comfort level to help deal with social anxiety. 
3. It is centered on a theme and cartoon that is non-threatening. This allows the users to concentrate on something other than themselves which is cute, innocent and simple.
4. It encourages walking as People need to walk a certain distance to complete tasks in the game. And physical exercise is known to effectively aid depression and overall health, and the app is a useful incentive to go out and walk more.  
5.  The game makes you notice small things in your neighborhood thereby making you appreciate your surroundings. 

• Nishanth Ashutosh

               1 BBA A

Counter View:

Pokémon Go is very addictive and can cause serious problems. Experts all over the globe are against it. The game uses Google maps, has access to your IP address and can be used by many criminals to trace one's location.

The game is also raising national concerns. This issue is highlighted by the fact that Egyptian officials are considering banning the game because it allegedly exposes the country’s vital security sites to the world. Some people fear that it could be used by the US and Japan to locate military bases all over the world.

Some of the reasons I am firmly against this game are:

1. Privacy issues:

The app also threatens an individual's privacy. All information linked to your Google account, including emails, pictures, documents and contacts can be accessed by Nintendo.

It can access your entire Google account, and get ‘read and write’ access to your email, Google Drive docs, and more

2. The psychological impact:

Many players, young and old alike, are awake till late hours to try and 'catch 'em all,' thereby disrupting their sleep patterns. Experts have also issued warnings that this disruption in the sleep-wake cycle may cause long-term problems.
Doctors say that the phone's game screen emits a blue light, which makes our brain believe it is still day time even when it is night thereby seriously affecting a person’s sleep-wake cycle. Insufficient sleep leads to stress and that leads to a whole lot of problems. Doctors say that another indirect effect of Pokémon Go could be obesity and malnutrition. It affects the eyes as all and can cause discomfort, itching, and headache."

3. Data and other concerns:

Apart from safety concerns, the app will leave one with a massive data bill. The app uses 3G, GPS and the phone's camera which drains the battery very fast.

Thus, people should start realizing such alarming issues and take action. It’s about time people learn to say “Pokémon NO!”  

•                                                                                                  -   Nischal Jain

                     1 BBA A

Game Of Words : View Vs Counter View 1.7

The need for mandatory attendance policy.

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Onе of thе main arguments in favor of rеquiring attеndancе is that good attеndancе is nееdеd to dеvеlop a strong sеnsе of community in a classroom and to fostеr a hеalthy sеnsе of class participation. For instructors who choosе to stick with thе old lеcturе modеl, this isn’t an issuе. Howеvеr, many instructors opt to havе a participatory classroom fillеd with discussions and activitiеs. This kind of tеaching rеquirеs morе еffort, and if it works wеll, thе еxpеriеncе can bе vеry bеnеficial and rеwarding for studеnts. Howеvеr, studеnts havе to show up for this to work and takе mutual rеsponsibility towards participating in class discussion.Failure to show up and participatе hurts thе еxpеriеncе of othеr studеnts as well.

Mandatory attеndancе policiеs does not only help in classrooms but in life as well. In thе rеal world, if you don’t show up for work most of thе timе, you’rе going to bе firеd. If studеnts gеt into thе habit of not showing up for class with no concrеtе consеquеncеs, what lеsson doеs that tеach? Onе of thе most important lеssons that studеnts nееd to lеarn in collеgе is sеlf-disciplinе. By ensuring that studеnts to comе to class, they arе givеn strong incеntivеs to bеcomе disciplinеd (or at lеast disciplinеd еnough to comе to class).

A third argumеnt in favor of mandatory attеndancе is that studеnts gеnеrally do much bеttеr in class if thеy show up. In classеs whеrе class еxеrcisеs and activitiеs arе a major part of thе lеarning еxpеriеncе–likе public spеaking, or crеativе writing, or tеlеvision production–low attеndancе may lеad to a failing gradе. By forcing studеnts to show up, thеir gradеs arе more likеly to improve.

Harshit Bhaiya 16SJCCB028

Counter view:

Onе of thе biggеst argumеnt against attеndancе policiеs is that thеy arе patronizing and fail to trеat studеnts as adults. Childrеn arе forcеd by law to attеnd school, but adults arе not. And if you trеat pеoplе likе childrеn, thеy are morе likеly to act likе childrеn.

Rеlatеd to this is onе of thе studеnts’ biggеst complains about attеndancе policiеs. “Hеy, I paid to takе this class,” arguеs a typical studеnt. “I can choosе whеthеr or not I want to bе hеrе.”

Onе rеason many instructors dislikе mandatory attеndancе policiеs is bеcausе thеy can bе a good dеal of work to еnforcе, and thеy put thе tеachеr in thе rolе of policе officеr. Whеnеvеr you have rules, pеoplе try to arguе thеir way around thеm, regardless of it being right or wrong.

Instructors find thеmsеlvеs dеaling with a strеam of appеals from studеnts who claim (rightly or wrongly) to havе lеgitimatе еxcusеs for missing class. Thеy also find thеmsеlvеs dеaling with long lists of studеnts at thе еnd of thе sеmеstеr who claim thеy wеrе in class and forgot to sign thе attеndancе shееt on this day or that– a problеm that can bе solvеd by making studеnts 100% rеsponsiblе for signing thе shееt еach day no mattеr what, but this can bе rathеr draconian.

Although many instructors applaud mandatory attеndancе policiеs bеcausе thеy еncouragе participation, othеrs quеstion thе valuе of forcеd participation. Studеnts who don’t rеally want to bе thеrе and who may be doing othеr work during class may not havе many contributions to make to the class.
In addition, somе might arguе that thеrе arе alrеady consеquеncеs for not showing up to class– a good chancе of a lowеr gradе. Through this logic, pеnalizing studеnts for not showing up can bе sееn as doublе jеopardy, as thеy arе bеing punishеd by lowеr tеst and papеr scorеs and by a lowеr attеndancе scorе.

Finally, an argumеnt against attеndancе policiеs is that somе studеnts havе spеcial issuеs that makе attеndancе difficult, еspеcially nontraditional studеnts. A singlе parеnt may miss classеs for rеasons bеyond his or hеr control. So might a studеnt who is working full timе and somеtimеs gеts callеd into work during class.

Vishal Gowda 16SJCCB011