Security Forensics and Risk Management

Security Forensics and Risk Management Acknowledgement Foremost I would like say thanks to god for all support in all my life and secondly University of Greenwich to give this my life aim to complete my masters. Next my supervisor Professor Kevin Parrott to the supports he gave because without his support I wouldnt be able to complete my project with this quality. Especially the suggestions and appreciation given my supervisor make me feel better and gave positive thinking. Finally need to thank my family and friends for unbelievable supports and encouragements. Abstract As we are in the information era the world is changing to use electronic means for day to day use. The paper documents is gone and most of them are paper free because of so many reasons such as pollution, easy, fast, etc At the same time this digital media has availability, scalability, confidentiality and integrity which are required behaviour for secure communication. The risk is increased with the increase of computer and digital means usage and the single security lack may cause huge losses. There are some surveys says most of the crimes are happening through electronic means and the target is computer or computer peripherals. If the attacker found a single security lack that is enough to start and break the whole system and the security lack could be configuration mistake, firewall issue and basically problems in the protection mechanism. Because of these reasons testing become very important and this process called as Auditing. There are so many types in the auditing and this auditing requires technical knowledge to make these tests perfect and to give an audit report including suggestions. The auditing falls into two main categories such as Automatic and manual. The test will be efficient if it is automated using testing tools which are called as automated or computerised test. Even though there are some tests cannot be automated and need to test manually. This auditing covers network security test, physical or environment security test, computer security test which includes software and hardware tests. The computerised test will carry on with some security tools and the manual will use questioner to minimise human made errors mainly forgetting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Security audit is the technical assessment of the application or system. The assessment may be manual or systematic or both. In most case the auditing process uses manual and systematic/ automatic methods because there are some tests cannot be automatic such as review of the security policy, asset management, etc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This auditing has different types such as internal or external. This type is depends on the company size and the resource availability. Usually big companies have their own security auditor so they will perform the audit internally and the small and medium size companies mostly hire auditor form outside. Both types got pros and cons in security and financial manor. Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter largely contains non-technical information to give the understanding of high level objectives. Also describe the techniques and technologies used in the project and research to accomplish the project Objective Audit The audit is a systematic or manual security assessment of the network, infrastructure, system, etc The complete audit should be the combination of manual and automatic assessment because in every test target there will be some test cannot be automatic. The audit has so many categories and the following paragraph will explain about the categories and the functions or techniques behind that. There are 3 controls in the auditing process which are Preventive control The preventive controls are controls may in the form of software or hardware or ant configuration to prevent the error or vulnerabilities. This is an active type control always monitor the interface for any vulnerabilities and block such vulnerabilities or errors before it enter into the system or infrastructure. This is most effective control mechanism because not allows the vulnerabilities. Detective control The detectives are in placed to monitor the vulnerabilities in the form of software or hardware but the different between preventive and detective is the preventive wont allow the vulnerabilities into the system where detective allows entering everything and correcting the vulnerabilities after enter. The best example is for this control is fire alarm because fire alarm wont prevent the fire before but if any fire it will work. Corrective controls The corrective controls are the controls to correct the error or issue before it make any harm. This is very important control for all places even if they have other controls because there are some issues or vulnerabilities cannot detect by the controls if they will come and attack so there should be some control to correct those before loss occur. Addition to that the controls should up to date such as latest firmware or latest definition. Type of auditors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two basic types of auditors in the information era the internal and external auditors. This selection of the auditor will be done by the management with the use of financial status of the organisation. Size of the organisation and the policies defined in the company. Internal auditors Internal auditors are auditors belong to that particular company which is going to perform the audit. That means the auditor is an employee of the company. So the auditor is always available to do the auditing and data or information will keep within the organisation. This is the main advantage of having the internal auditor and the same time and the employee purposely recruited for auditing then is cost a lot for the company. So it is only possible for the big level companies because they have huge investments and revenue. The disadvantage of the internal auditor is they may be up-to-date and dont have current market or audit status such as new techniques and tools. External auditors The auditor recruited from other auditing firm for the auditing so it is very hard to find professional auditor because of the availability and as the auditor recruited from outside the company information may go out. At the same time the auditor needs some time to get and understand the company process. But the advantage of recruiting the external auditor is their knowledge and it is suitable for middle and small level companies. Types of Audit: Traditional Audit It is just like a manual auditing. It is useful when working with a large amount of data in a large company. Here auditor took some sample data from different place then provide a report. Advantage: Easy Cheaper Disadvantage: Always do not provide correct information. In IT sector it is not useful. Software audit: Software audit is a wide popular for any educational institute or organization. It is just like a review of the software and the system that can find all information of the system such as operating system, application software, processor, drives, controllers, bus adapters, multimedia, virus protection, system model, main circuit board, memory models, local drive volumes, network drives, printers information etc.. There are so many auditing tools in the market such as Belarc Advisor, E-Z audit that are very power full. KW116 is the main Lab for school of computing and mathematical science in University of Greenwich. CMS installed lots of software for students to continue study or research. According to Copy right, Design and Patents Act 1988, all Software must have a valid licences to continue the process. As Lab uses large amount of software and different software expire on different time so it is very difficult for Lab administrator to keep up to date all licence by manually checks. Only auditing by software can possible to give details report to administrator to keep up safe the system. Advantages: Correct Information: Machine always provide the correct information so it has less chance to provide the incorrect information. Save time: Software very quickly provides a report of the system so it saves time. Details description: It provide a details description of system including any warning or licences issues etc Minimise the cost: By implementing the software audit two peoples work may possible with one people so it reduce the extra cost. Disadvantages: Investment Costly: Software is very expensive so university need extra money to buy this software. Risk: Auditor knows the details information of the system. Work flow: Auditor needs part of the lab to check the system. So it discontinues the student workflow. The approach The typical audit has different approach to collect the data. The single audit will use multiple techniques to gather full information and it is necessary to use different technique for different level of people. These are common techniques here. Interview This technique uses to collect the information from outside people or top level people and the number should be limited. During the interview the auditor or interviewer will ask questions from other people and collect the information. So the person will be well prepared for the interview. This is very robust method because it will allow people to express fully and the method also simple as it is talking which is natural way to communicate. Another advantage is this bi directional communication, means both parties allows to ask questions for clarification or gather information. Observation This method uses in the place where real time process monitoring or behavioural change is required. This is a powerful way of do the changes throughout the audit because other techniques exist in currently not possible to get real time information. Inspection The technique required to do some action with collected data to collect audit related information. This is the form of observation with advance criteria expected. This is extended version of observation because if the auditor apply any advance criteria to gather the data which is necessary to the auditing. After collecting the data the next step is to identify the weakness and process it. The identifying is the key work in the audit and after that categorising. The identifying uses some techniques to make that easy, preface and professional. The techniques used here are Root cause analysis General technique for analyse and get the better solution for the vulnerability or weakness. Because this technique drilldowns to the issue and finds the root and fix the weakness. The basic technique behind this is if the root is fixed automatically it will fix all other problems related to that. So simply close all related issues at once. As mention the easy and robust way to stop the issues exist and the issues may come in the future. After root cause analysis the next step is to get the solution for the root of the issue. The important thing here is choosing better and effective solution for the issue. The selection depends on some external and internal restrictions. Organisation policy Cost per benefit Legal restrictions Availability Compatibility Vendor and citification Advantage of having Auditing: Satisfaction: It brings the confidence of the Lab administrator of the University of Greenwich to continue the business process. Owner always thinks is there any lack that breaks down the continuity of the business. Detection and prevention of errors: Human can made error in any times .on one can say there is no error in there company. By auditing people can find the error and suggestion to recover the error. Detection and prevention of fraud: It also just likes errors. Sometimes user intentionally or unintentionally does this thing. So after audit we can find out the fraud. Verification of the Licences: KW116 Lab installs lots of software for student. Here some software for 1 year some software for more than one year and some software has limitation (No. Of user can use) for use. So auditor can find all kind of licence issues. Independent opinion: Audit always done by the independent people .so this report always accepted by everyone. Safety form exploitation: Health and safety always is a big issue for any organization. KW116 Lab got lots of equipment that are connected with electricity. So always chances for short circuit or exploitation. Audit identifies the all lack point and advice for prevention. Disadvantage of having Auditing: It is expensive Sometimes slow or stop the work flow External people know the company information. Encryption Encryption is the simple technique in the different for to send the date securely through shared place like internet. The form of encryption may vary from each other but they all commonly use digital certificate to encrypt and decrypt the data. Encryption use keys to make cipher text from actual message. The cipher text is not readable and it is the encrypted version of the massage using some algorithm. Security roles/user roles The security roles are very important technique to make network administration easy. This is basically creating some groups with different permissions according to the organisation operation or policy. A user or staff can have multiple security roles according to their need. This roles use to authorise the user permission. Security policy Security policy is a document which has all rules and regulations documented and approved by management and align with laws and legislation. This policy is used to define all activities and this is used to make some decision. Business Continuity: There are three things always we have to mind to continue the business Essential: to running the business any customer order cannot be delay more than seven days. Tolerate delay: some application may delay to continue the business such as management pay. It is a midterm i.e. one to four weeks. Discretionary: some application is useful for business but it is not affected to continue the business operation such as management report. It is a long term i.e. 3 to 6 months. Business continuity planning Business continuity planning (BCP) is the most important for any organization to continue the business. BCP engages with only different kind of risk to continue the business process that might occur in the organization and it also creates the policies, plan and procedures to reduce the risk. BCP can continue the business process in disaster situation as well. The main goal of the BCP is to combine together all policies, procedures and process so that any disruptive situation business process can continue or it may impact very little. Here main important function of BCP is Maintaining the business operation Continue the business in emergency situation Reduce the risk If any situation BCP cannot take over then Disaster recovery planning (DRP) takes over. British Auditing Standard BS7799: It is a British standard called as BS7799 that developed by British standard institution where describes the security policy and standard procedures.BS7799 become the ISO IEC 17799 after accepting the ISO IEC technical committee for international use. Now a days information is a valuable asset for organization .So it is very important to protect the information like other corporate asset. Here BS7799 introduces how to protect the information from threats and suggest the three points to secure the information such as Integrity: it is assurance the completeness and accuracy of the information. Confidentiality: Information can only access by the authorise people Availability: Authorise people can access the information when needed. Attacks and prevention for the attacks Errors and Omissions: Errors and Omission is one of the most common and toughest vulnerabilities .It is a human made error because human interact with programming, controlling and enter data for computer. There are no countermeasures to protect the errors and omission. Fraud and theft: It is a one kind of criminal activities that may occur in the KW116 Lab. It includes computer component such as mouse, keyboard, router, switch, cables, CPU box etc. It was observed that security person always not in the access point. So it is harm to secure the lab from fraud and theft. By protecting the access control we can reduce the fraud and theft. Both internal and external people are responsible for that kind of activities. Prevention of Fraud and theft: Regular auditing and monitoring program will help to identify all kind of fraud and theft. Deploy all of the access control. CCTV in proper place. Virus: Virus is a malicious code that has ability to reproduce his code itself and spread one system to another system via e-mail, downloading, storage devices (CD, DVD, memory stick, removal hard drive) and destroy the computer system. It was observed that removal memory stick all most every user are using and it is the most change to spread the virus in the Lab computer system and also observed user are using their own laptop and connected to the university wireless network. If user laptop effected with virus then it also change to spread the lab network that can affect the internal network and attack the server and crash the hard drive. Prevention: Install the latest antivirus software. Regular update the antivirus software. Follow the backup procedures regularly. Scan the device when transfer data. Installing the NIDS (Network Intrusion detection system) and firewall Minimise the download from internet. Download only repudiated site web site. Scan before the download. Care full to open unknown e-mail attach. Scan all incoming file from the remote site. Aware the user about danger of the virus. Trap-doors: It is an undocumented command that might user can create to speed up the work flow. Unfortunately sometimes student might leave these trap-doors. Prevention of Trap-doors: Use latest antivirus software. Give permission to develop the code only authorise people. Check properly all coding before use it. Logic bombs: It work s like time bombs and affect the system in a particular event or day such as program launch, website logon. It changes the data and deletes the data from the system. Here student are accessing the lots software to do the course work or project. So they are strong enough to build the logic bombs. It is normally happen in company if employee leaves the job. Prevention: Audit regularly and monitoring Always back up the necessary file Allow authorise people to develop the code Need record of all modification or changes Trojan Horses: It is a software programming that contains the malicious code. Normally students are interested to download the music, free software from internet. It is the most change to affect the lab computer and destroy the data stored on lab computer system. Prevention: Avoid unwanted software and music download from internet. Aware the user about Trojan Horses. Worm: Warm also is a malicious code that can spread itself without any human involvement from one system to another system .It works only computer network system and does not need any devices to transport. Prevention: Use firewall Use update antivirus software Spyware: It is an unwanted software interface that monitors the activity of the user and transfers the important information like log in details or account details to the remote system that monitor the user activities. Adware: It is also similar to spyware but it does not intent to transfer the user details to a remote system. It works like advertisements on the internet. Some adware monitor the searching behaviour of the user and then redirect the related websites. Prevention of Adware /Spyware: Close the pop up window. Aware about the spyware/adware. Click only reputed link. Social Engineering: Most of the users are getting unknown mail and they are also chatting with unknown people. Social engineering is one of the most popular techniques that attackers use to access the system by sending the mail or chatting with people to know the password. So it is a major risk to the security of the password. Prevention: Not response the unknown mail. Not chatting with unknown people. Dont give any one personal information or login id. Proper training or aware the new user about social engineering. Ping of death: we have only permission to send the largest packet (65,536 bytes) on the server. Attackers know this amount of bytes from ICMP specification. So they try to send the packets more than 65,536 bytes (at least 65,537). If the server does not check the size of the packet and try to process then it hung or crashed the operating system. Dumpster diving: Every day Lab user printing there necessary document but sometimes by mistake they are printing unnecessary document and end of the day through all document in the bin. Hacker is very intelligence. They always look at the bin and find the necessary document to access the network. Prevention: Destroy all documents before put in a bin Natural disasters: If anything happen that is not under control of human it is called natural dusters such as earthquakes, volcano, floods, fires, storms, hurricanes etc It may occur in any time but most risk is the fire for KW116 lab. It may cause from heater, power supply, over heating the power box, short circuit etc. Natural disaster is less chance for lab but it affect is more than any threat .It may destroy the part of the building, loses the all information. Prevention: Follow the health and safety procedures. Clear the fire exit. Aware the user about possible disaster. Man-Made Disasters: If anything happen intentionally to destroy the business process or destroy the part of the business and it is control of human then it is called the Man-Made Disaster such as Fire, Act of Terrorism, Bombings/Explosions, and Power Outages etc. Prevention: Check always ID card Allow only authorise people Use metal detector CCTV Equipment failure: Students are always busy with their course work and other course related work so equipment failure may loss the all data. Prevention: Use extra UPS Back up all data Auditing Stages/Steps Scope and Pre-Audit survey Planning Field work Analysis Reporting Scope and Pre-Auditing The first step or stage of the audit is to understand the purpose of the audit and the areas need to cover during the audit. Understanding the audit purpose is basically get the idea why this audit needs to perform; means any special risk assessment or annual audit. If it is special risk assessment audit this will be more specific and the scope will be narrow and deep otherwise if it is annual audit it will be the general audit to cover as much as possible area. Pre-Auditing survey is to verify the audit areas using risk management techniques and some general techniques such are reading previous audit report, web browsing, background reading, etc This will reduce the chance of failure by correcting the plan by lesson learned. Planning and Preparation In this stage the scope is going to break into small areas to make auditing easier and clear. So the clarity will be more and purpose will be easy to understand. Usually this stage will involve the work breakdown plan and risk control matrix. The risk control matrix is just a check list contains questions to carry out during the audit. Field work Actual auditing will perform during this stage by different techniques or methods. Simply it starts with interviewing staff or students using questioner or oral interview to system or network test by auditing software tools. The result of this stage will be the evidence of the audit to get a conclusion or submit to the management with audit report. So this will be the most important stage in the audit process. This step may use several testing software tools depend on the scope of the audit and the software selection is another key event of the audit process because there are so many fake software applications available in the market. Actually those are virus and the reason of making virus in the form of auditing tools. The reason of spreading the virus in the form of auditing or testing tool is very easy and hart to detect. Analysis Using the evidences or any results collected in the previous stage are the input of this stage. This stage is fully analysis and decision making so it needs a lots of time to investigation and assessment. The most sensitive area of the audit process is analysis because this is the place going to take the decision to submit to the board so that should be perfect otherwise the audit is useless and it will lead to make some wrong decision. Reporting The stage is to present all audit findings in the form of report. This is the document contains all evidences, analysis results, suggestions recommendations, conclusion, etc This document will pass to the management or the higher level people to review approve and take necessary action if necessary. The report should be clearly written and easy to understand because this document need for future also to give some information to start next auditing or to take some strategic decision. Problem Domain Because of the increased use of university of Greenwich KW116 lab the chances of threats or issues are high and this is the responsibility of the student and the staff to make the lab secure in all aspects. The reason of this project based on KW116 is that is the lab used by the students largely and usually network related or any other lab sessions and happening in this lab so if the lab got any security hole or lack that may affect the student and the staffs. Easiest way to ensure the security level of the lab is auditing. This auditing needs to cover all areas from physical security to network security. Then only this will the perfect audit and the audit can use some standard checklist to make more efficient and to eliminate human made errors such as forgotten, typing mistakes, etc There are so many ways to make sure the security level such as penetration testing and vulnerability testing. These are more specific with attacks and threats and for the general purpose security audit is the suitable one as it will cover all areas of the security. According the reasons given above the general security audit is the most suitable technique to verify the security level of the lab. So the auditing will cover most of the areas of the lab with the aid of standard checklist which is approved by British Standard Institute. Test behind the auditing Physical test Network test Software Test Security Policy test Hardware/Peripherals test Access control test Objectives To evaluate the actual level of security that exists at The University of Greenwich Maritime campus KW116 Lab. Activities plan and schedule the audit Auditing with software tools Analysis audit result Deliverable Detailed audit report with suggestions and recommendation This is the main objective of the project and this will carry on with several tools like packet sniffer, port scanner software, etc There are three different tests using these tools to identify internal and external vulnerabilities. To evaluate various methods of implementing the security policy, determine the security weaknesses and implement risk management for the existing security weaknesses. University lab security policy review Analysis Deliverable Detailed security policy analysis report with changes/suggestions/recommendation. The reason of this objective is to stop the holes from policy level because this is the easy way to implement. Learn Audit and Audit process and practice auditing and Research auditing products available in the market and select appropriate. This task is fully learning about audit and audit related stuffs. This objective is the key or starter of this project because if project start without proper knowledge that will mislead to somewhere else not to project aim. To draft a new security policy that addresses the existing weakness to the management. According to the analysis draft a security policy to fix or overcome all existing security holes. Deliverable Draft security policy How the objectives will be achieved Third and fourth objectives will be achieved with books and internet. This objective will give the idea about auditing the outcome of this objective will be a documentation which contains all requirements which need to cover in this project. The research will give the details about tools which requires to perform the auditing the methods/process for the auditing. Internet is the main and basic mean for this research as it is easy to access and with wide range of data. Tools which identified from the research will used to perform the security auditing and this audit result will monitor in real-time and document instantly. Mostly these tools will be freeware and from well-known vendor. The auditing will perform in three different views to make sure the area is secured fully. The views are inside computer local network, outside computer local network, outside computer different network. Audit Methodology This project uses two different methodologies to accomplish the task such as checklist and questioner. The check list is an aid for the auditor to perform the audit and it is a manual to the audit. So the checklist will contains all tests need to perform during the auditing where questioner is to get the opinion or feedback for the staffs and students (generally this will be feedback from stockholders). The analysis also will carry in two different way using questioner and the checklist and finally compare both and get the conclusion. The questioner and checklist covers most of the areas and those are grouped separately to make the auditors life easy and more understandable. The areas coved in the documents are Physical Security/ E Security Forensics and Risk Management Security Forensics and Risk Management Acknowledgement Foremost I would like say thanks to god for all support in all my life and secondly University of Greenwich to give this my life aim to complete my masters. Next my supervisor Professor Kevin Parrott to the supports he gave because without his support I wouldnt be able to complete my project with this quality. Especially the suggestions and appreciation given my supervisor make me feel better and gave positive thinking. Finally need to thank my family and friends for unbelievable supports and encouragements. Abstract As we are in the information era the world is changing to use electronic means for day to day use. The paper documents is gone and most of them are paper free because of so many reasons such as pollution, easy, fast, etc At the same time this digital media has availability, scalability, confidentiality and integrity which are required behaviour for secure communication. The risk is increased with the increase of computer and digital means usage and the single security lack may cause huge losses. There are some surveys says most of the crimes are happening through electronic means and the target is computer or computer peripherals. If the attacker found a single security lack that is enough to start and break the whole system and the security lack could be configuration mistake, firewall issue and basically problems in the protection mechanism. Because of these reasons testing become very important and this process called as Auditing. There are so many types in the auditing and this auditing requires technical knowledge to make these tests perfect and to give an audit report including suggestions. The auditing falls into two main categories such as Automatic and manual. The test will be efficient if it is automated using testing tools which are called as automated or computerised test. Even though there are some tests cannot be automated and need to test manually. This auditing covers network security test, physical or environment security test, computer security test which includes software and hardware tests. The computerised test will carry on with some security tools and the manual will use questioner to minimise human made errors mainly forgetting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Security audit is the technical assessment of the application or system. The assessment may be manual or systematic or both. In most case the auditing process uses manual and systematic/ automatic methods because there are some tests cannot be automatic such as review of the security policy, asset management, etc   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This auditing has different types such as internal or external. This type is depends on the company size and the resource availability. Usually big companies have their own security auditor so they will perform the audit internally and the small and medium size companies mostly hire auditor form outside. Both types got pros and cons in security and financial manor. Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter largely contains non-technical information to give the understanding of high level objectives. Also describe the techniques and technologies used in the project and research to accomplish the project Objective Audit The audit is a systematic or manual security assessment of the network, infrastructure, system, etc The complete audit should be the combination of manual and automatic assessment because in every test target there will be some test cannot be automatic. The audit has so many categories and the following paragraph will explain about the categories and the functions or techniques behind that. There are 3 controls in the auditing process which are Preventive control The preventive controls are controls may in the form of software or hardware or ant configuration to prevent the error or vulnerabilities. This is an active type control always monitor the interface for any vulnerabilities and block such vulnerabilities or errors before it enter into the system or infrastructure. This is most effective control mechanism because not allows the vulnerabilities. Detective control The detectives are in placed to monitor the vulnerabilities in the form of software or hardware but the different between preventive and detective is the preventive wont allow the vulnerabilities into the system where detective allows entering everything and correcting the vulnerabilities after enter. The best example is for this control is fire alarm because fire alarm wont prevent the fire before but if any fire it will work. Corrective controls The corrective controls are the controls to correct the error or issue before it make any harm. This is very important control for all places even if they have other controls because there are some issues or vulnerabilities cannot detect by the controls if they will come and attack so there should be some control to correct those before loss occur. Addition to that the controls should up to date such as latest firmware or latest definition. Type of auditors   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two basic types of auditors in the information era the internal and external auditors. This selection of the auditor will be done by the management with the use of financial status of the organisation. Size of the organisation and the policies defined in the company. Internal auditors Internal auditors are auditors belong to that particular company which is going to perform the audit. That means the auditor is an employee of the company. So the auditor is always available to do the auditing and data or information will keep within the organisation. This is the main advantage of having the internal auditor and the same time and the employee purposely recruited for auditing then is cost a lot for the company. So it is only possible for the big level companies because they have huge investments and revenue. The disadvantage of the internal auditor is they may be up-to-date and dont have current market or audit status such as new techniques and tools. External auditors The auditor recruited from other auditing firm for the auditing so it is very hard to find professional auditor because of the availability and as the auditor recruited from outside the company information may go out. At the same time the auditor needs some time to get and understand the company process. But the advantage of recruiting the external auditor is their knowledge and it is suitable for middle and small level companies. Types of Audit: Traditional Audit It is just like a manual auditing. It is useful when working with a large amount of data in a large company. Here auditor took some sample data from different place then provide a report. Advantage: Easy Cheaper Disadvantage: Always do not provide correct information. In IT sector it is not useful. Software audit: Software audit is a wide popular for any educational institute or organization. It is just like a review of the software and the system that can find all information of the system such as operating system, application software, processor, drives, controllers, bus adapters, multimedia, virus protection, system model, main circuit board, memory models, local drive volumes, network drives, printers information etc.. There are so many auditing tools in the market such as Belarc Advisor, E-Z audit that are very power full. KW116 is the main Lab for school of computing and mathematical science in University of Greenwich. CMS installed lots of software for students to continue study or research. According to Copy right, Design and Patents Act 1988, all Software must have a valid licences to continue the process. As Lab uses large amount of software and different software expire on different time so it is very difficult for Lab administrator to keep up to date all licence by manually checks. Only auditing by software can possible to give details report to administrator to keep up safe the system. Advantages: Correct Information: Machine always provide the correct information so it has less chance to provide the incorrect information. Save time: Software very quickly provides a report of the system so it saves time. Details description: It provide a details description of system including any warning or licences issues etc Minimise the cost: By implementing the software audit two peoples work may possible with one people so it reduce the extra cost. Disadvantages: Investment Costly: Software is very expensive so university need extra money to buy this software. Risk: Auditor knows the details information of the system. Work flow: Auditor needs part of the lab to check the system. So it discontinues the student workflow. The approach The typical audit has different approach to collect the data. The single audit will use multiple techniques to gather full information and it is necessary to use different technique for different level of people. These are common techniques here. Interview This technique uses to collect the information from outside people or top level people and the number should be limited. During the interview the auditor or interviewer will ask questions from other people and collect the information. So the person will be well prepared for the interview. This is very robust method because it will allow people to express fully and the method also simple as it is talking which is natural way to communicate. Another advantage is this bi directional communication, means both parties allows to ask questions for clarification or gather information. Observation This method uses in the place where real time process monitoring or behavioural change is required. This is a powerful way of do the changes throughout the audit because other techniques exist in currently not possible to get real time information. Inspection The technique required to do some action with collected data to collect audit related information. This is the form of observation with advance criteria expected. This is extended version of observation because if the auditor apply any advance criteria to gather the data which is necessary to the auditing. After collecting the data the next step is to identify the weakness and process it. The identifying is the key work in the audit and after that categorising. The identifying uses some techniques to make that easy, preface and professional. The techniques used here are Root cause analysis General technique for analyse and get the better solution for the vulnerability or weakness. Because this technique drilldowns to the issue and finds the root and fix the weakness. The basic technique behind this is if the root is fixed automatically it will fix all other problems related to that. So simply close all related issues at once. As mention the easy and robust way to stop the issues exist and the issues may come in the future. After root cause analysis the next step is to get the solution for the root of the issue. The important thing here is choosing better and effective solution for the issue. The selection depends on some external and internal restrictions. Organisation policy Cost per benefit Legal restrictions Availability Compatibility Vendor and citification Advantage of having Auditing: Satisfaction: It brings the confidence of the Lab administrator of the University of Greenwich to continue the business process. Owner always thinks is there any lack that breaks down the continuity of the business. Detection and prevention of errors: Human can made error in any times .on one can say there is no error in there company. By auditing people can find the error and suggestion to recover the error. Detection and prevention of fraud: It also just likes errors. Sometimes user intentionally or unintentionally does this thing. So after audit we can find out the fraud. Verification of the Licences: KW116 Lab installs lots of software for student. Here some software for 1 year some software for more than one year and some software has limitation (No. Of user can use) for use. So auditor can find all kind of licence issues. Independent opinion: Audit always done by the independent people .so this report always accepted by everyone. Safety form exploitation: Health and safety always is a big issue for any organization. KW116 Lab got lots of equipment that are connected with electricity. So always chances for short circuit or exploitation. Audit identifies the all lack point and advice for prevention. Disadvantage of having Auditing: It is expensive Sometimes slow or stop the work flow External people know the company information. Encryption Encryption is the simple technique in the different for to send the date securely through shared place like internet. The form of encryption may vary from each other but they all commonly use digital certificate to encrypt and decrypt the data. Encryption use keys to make cipher text from actual message. The cipher text is not readable and it is the encrypted version of the massage using some algorithm. Security roles/user roles The security roles are very important technique to make network administration easy. This is basically creating some groups with different permissions according to the organisation operation or policy. A user or staff can have multiple security roles according to their need. This roles use to authorise the user permission. Security policy Security policy is a document which has all rules and regulations documented and approved by management and align with laws and legislation. This policy is used to define all activities and this is used to make some decision. Business Continuity: There are three things always we have to mind to continue the business Essential: to running the business any customer order cannot be delay more than seven days. Tolerate delay: some application may delay to continue the business such as management pay. It is a midterm i.e. one to four weeks. Discretionary: some application is useful for business but it is not affected to continue the business operation such as management report. It is a long term i.e. 3 to 6 months. Business continuity planning Business continuity planning (BCP) is the most important for any organization to continue the business. BCP engages with only different kind of risk to continue the business process that might occur in the organization and it also creates the policies, plan and procedures to reduce the risk. BCP can continue the business process in disaster situation as well. The main goal of the BCP is to combine together all policies, procedures and process so that any disruptive situation business process can continue or it may impact very little. Here main important function of BCP is Maintaining the business operation Continue the business in emergency situation Reduce the risk If any situation BCP cannot take over then Disaster recovery planning (DRP) takes over. British Auditing Standard BS7799: It is a British standard called as BS7799 that developed by British standard institution where describes the security policy and standard procedures.BS7799 become the ISO IEC 17799 after accepting the ISO IEC technical committee for international use. Now a days information is a valuable asset for organization .So it is very important to protect the information like other corporate asset. Here BS7799 introduces how to protect the information from threats and suggest the three points to secure the information such as Integrity: it is assurance the completeness and accuracy of the information. Confidentiality: Information can only access by the authorise people Availability: Authorise people can access the information when needed. Attacks and prevention for the attacks Errors and Omissions: Errors and Omission is one of the most common and toughest vulnerabilities .It is a human made error because human interact with programming, controlling and enter data for computer. There are no countermeasures to protect the errors and omission. Fraud and theft: It is a one kind of criminal activities that may occur in the KW116 Lab. It includes computer component such as mouse, keyboard, router, switch, cables, CPU box etc. It was observed that security person always not in the access point. So it is harm to secure the lab from fraud and theft. By protecting the access control we can reduce the fraud and theft. Both internal and external people are responsible for that kind of activities. Prevention of Fraud and theft: Regular auditing and monitoring program will help to identify all kind of fraud and theft. Deploy all of the access control. CCTV in proper place. Virus: Virus is a malicious code that has ability to reproduce his code itself and spread one system to another system via e-mail, downloading, storage devices (CD, DVD, memory stick, removal hard drive) and destroy the computer system. It was observed that removal memory stick all most every user are using and it is the most change to spread the virus in the Lab computer system and also observed user are using their own laptop and connected to the university wireless network. If user laptop effected with virus then it also change to spread the lab network that can affect the internal network and attack the server and crash the hard drive. Prevention: Install the latest antivirus software. Regular update the antivirus software. Follow the backup procedures regularly. Scan the device when transfer data. Installing the NIDS (Network Intrusion detection system) and firewall Minimise the download from internet. Download only repudiated site web site. Scan before the download. Care full to open unknown e-mail attach. Scan all incoming file from the remote site. Aware the user about danger of the virus. Trap-doors: It is an undocumented command that might user can create to speed up the work flow. Unfortunately sometimes student might leave these trap-doors. Prevention of Trap-doors: Use latest antivirus software. Give permission to develop the code only authorise people. Check properly all coding before use it. Logic bombs: It work s like time bombs and affect the system in a particular event or day such as program launch, website logon. It changes the data and deletes the data from the system. Here student are accessing the lots software to do the course work or project. So they are strong enough to build the logic bombs. It is normally happen in company if employee leaves the job. Prevention: Audit regularly and monitoring Always back up the necessary file Allow authorise people to develop the code Need record of all modification or changes Trojan Horses: It is a software programming that contains the malicious code. Normally students are interested to download the music, free software from internet. It is the most change to affect the lab computer and destroy the data stored on lab computer system. Prevention: Avoid unwanted software and music download from internet. Aware the user about Trojan Horses. Worm: Warm also is a malicious code that can spread itself without any human involvement from one system to another system .It works only computer network system and does not need any devices to transport. Prevention: Use firewall Use update antivirus software Spyware: It is an unwanted software interface that monitors the activity of the user and transfers the important information like log in details or account details to the remote system that monitor the user activities. Adware: It is also similar to spyware but it does not intent to transfer the user details to a remote system. It works like advertisements on the internet. Some adware monitor the searching behaviour of the user and then redirect the related websites. Prevention of Adware /Spyware: Close the pop up window. Aware about the spyware/adware. Click only reputed link. Social Engineering: Most of the users are getting unknown mail and they are also chatting with unknown people. Social engineering is one of the most popular techniques that attackers use to access the system by sending the mail or chatting with people to know the password. So it is a major risk to the security of the password. Prevention: Not response the unknown mail. Not chatting with unknown people. Dont give any one personal information or login id. Proper training or aware the new user about social engineering. Ping of death: we have only permission to send the largest packet (65,536 bytes) on the server. Attackers know this amount of bytes from ICMP specification. So they try to send the packets more than 65,536 bytes (at least 65,537). If the server does not check the size of the packet and try to process then it hung or crashed the operating system. Dumpster diving: Every day Lab user printing there necessary document but sometimes by mistake they are printing unnecessary document and end of the day through all document in the bin. Hacker is very intelligence. They always look at the bin and find the necessary document to access the network. Prevention: Destroy all documents before put in a bin Natural disasters: If anything happen that is not under control of human it is called natural dusters such as earthquakes, volcano, floods, fires, storms, hurricanes etc It may occur in any time but most risk is the fire for KW116 lab. It may cause from heater, power supply, over heating the power box, short circuit etc. Natural disaster is less chance for lab but it affect is more than any threat .It may destroy the part of the building, loses the all information. Prevention: Follow the health and safety procedures. Clear the fire exit. Aware the user about possible disaster. Man-Made Disasters: If anything happen intentionally to destroy the business process or destroy the part of the business and it is control of human then it is called the Man-Made Disaster such as Fire, Act of Terrorism, Bombings/Explosions, and Power Outages etc. Prevention: Check always ID card Allow only authorise people Use metal detector CCTV Equipment failure: Students are always busy with their course work and other course related work so equipment failure may loss the all data. Prevention: Use extra UPS Back up all data Auditing Stages/Steps Scope and Pre-Audit survey Planning Field work Analysis Reporting Scope and Pre-Auditing The first step or stage of the audit is to understand the purpose of the audit and the areas need to cover during the audit. Understanding the audit purpose is basically get the idea why this audit needs to perform; means any special risk assessment or annual audit. If it is special risk assessment audit this will be more specific and the scope will be narrow and deep otherwise if it is annual audit it will be the general audit to cover as much as possible area. Pre-Auditing survey is to verify the audit areas using risk management techniques and some general techniques such are reading previous audit report, web browsing, background reading, etc This will reduce the chance of failure by correcting the plan by lesson learned. Planning and Preparation In this stage the scope is going to break into small areas to make auditing easier and clear. So the clarity will be more and purpose will be easy to understand. Usually this stage will involve the work breakdown plan and risk control matrix. The risk control matrix is just a check list contains questions to carry out during the audit. Field work Actual auditing will perform during this stage by different techniques or methods. Simply it starts with interviewing staff or students using questioner or oral interview to system or network test by auditing software tools. The result of this stage will be the evidence of the audit to get a conclusion or submit to the management with audit report. So this will be the most important stage in the audit process. This step may use several testing software tools depend on the scope of the audit and the software selection is another key event of the audit process because there are so many fake software applications available in the market. Actually those are virus and the reason of making virus in the form of auditing tools. The reason of spreading the virus in the form of auditing or testing tool is very easy and hart to detect. Analysis Using the evidences or any results collected in the previous stage are the input of this stage. This stage is fully analysis and decision making so it needs a lots of time to investigation and assessment. The most sensitive area of the audit process is analysis because this is the place going to take the decision to submit to the board so that should be perfect otherwise the audit is useless and it will lead to make some wrong decision. Reporting The stage is to present all audit findings in the form of report. This is the document contains all evidences, analysis results, suggestions recommendations, conclusion, etc This document will pass to the management or the higher level people to review approve and take necessary action if necessary. The report should be clearly written and easy to understand because this document need for future also to give some information to start next auditing or to take some strategic decision. Problem Domain Because of the increased use of university of Greenwich KW116 lab the chances of threats or issues are high and this is the responsibility of the student and the staff to make the lab secure in all aspects. The reason of this project based on KW116 is that is the lab used by the students largely and usually network related or any other lab sessions and happening in this lab so if the lab got any security hole or lack that may affect the student and the staffs. Easiest way to ensure the security level of the lab is auditing. This auditing needs to cover all areas from physical security to network security. Then only this will the perfect audit and the audit can use some standard checklist to make more efficient and to eliminate human made errors such as forgotten, typing mistakes, etc There are so many ways to make sure the security level such as penetration testing and vulnerability testing. These are more specific with attacks and threats and for the general purpose security audit is the suitable one as it will cover all areas of the security. According the reasons given above the general security audit is the most suitable technique to verify the security level of the lab. So the auditing will cover most of the areas of the lab with the aid of standard checklist which is approved by British Standard Institute. Test behind the auditing Physical test Network test Software Test Security Policy test Hardware/Peripherals test Access control test Objectives To evaluate the actual level of security that exists at The University of Greenwich Maritime campus KW116 Lab. Activities plan and schedule the audit Auditing with software tools Analysis audit result Deliverable Detailed audit report with suggestions and recommendation This is the main objective of the project and this will carry on with several tools like packet sniffer, port scanner software, etc There are three different tests using these tools to identify internal and external vulnerabilities. To evaluate various methods of implementing the security policy, determine the security weaknesses and implement risk management for the existing security weaknesses. University lab security policy review Analysis Deliverable Detailed security policy analysis report with changes/suggestions/recommendation. The reason of this objective is to stop the holes from policy level because this is the easy way to implement. Learn Audit and Audit process and practice auditing and Research auditing products available in the market and select appropriate. This task is fully learning about audit and audit related stuffs. This objective is the key or starter of this project because if project start without proper knowledge that will mislead to somewhere else not to project aim. To draft a new security policy that addresses the existing weakness to the management. According to the analysis draft a security policy to fix or overcome all existing security holes. Deliverable Draft security policy How the objectives will be achieved Third and fourth objectives will be achieved with books and internet. This objective will give the idea about auditing the outcome of this objective will be a documentation which contains all requirements which need to cover in this project. The research will give the details about tools which requires to perform the auditing the methods/process for the auditing. Internet is the main and basic mean for this research as it is easy to access and with wide range of data. Tools which identified from the research will used to perform the security auditing and this audit result will monitor in real-time and document instantly. Mostly these tools will be freeware and from well-known vendor. The auditing will perform in three different views to make sure the area is secured fully. The views are inside computer local network, outside computer local network, outside computer different network. Audit Methodology This project uses two different methodologies to accomplish the task such as checklist and questioner. The check list is an aid for the auditor to perform the audit and it is a manual to the audit. So the checklist will contains all tests need to perform during the auditing where questioner is to get the opinion or feedback for the staffs and students (generally this will be feedback from stockholders). The analysis also will carry in two different way using questioner and the checklist and finally compare both and get the conclusion. The questioner and checklist covers most of the areas and those are grouped separately to make the auditors life easy and more understandable. The areas coved in the documents are Physical Security/ E

Analysing The Baby Bonus Scheme Health And Social Care Essay

For the past few old ages, aging population has been the chief concern faced by several developed states. British Columbia is one state that faced an aging population. Much research was conducted in this state to work out the job and it was revealed that the chief cause of this state of affairs is the worsening of birthrate rate over decennaries [ 1 ] . Entire Fertility Rate ( TFR ) is defined as the figure of kids an mean adult female would hold presuming that she lives her full generative life-time [ 2 ] . Considered as a developed state, Singapore has besides faced a serious job of worsening TFR. With TFR of 1.16 in 2010 [ 3 ] , Singapore is ranked hundred-and-seventieth [ 4 ] in the universe and arguably one of the lowest TFR in the universe. Singapore authorities has implemented some policies to promote Singaporean to hold more kids, and hence increase the TFR. The latest and most comprehensive policy to this terminal is the babe fillip strategy. A group of research workers from Melbourne Institution of Applied Economics and Social Research investigated the consequence of babe fillip towards TFR. Based on their theoretical account ; baby fillip exerted a little positive consequence on birthrate purpose which leaded to a positive impact on birthrate rate. The consequence seemed to be stronger for 2nd and perchance higher-order numbered kids. In add-on, the consequence showed that fillip consequence is lasting [ 5 ] . However this survey could non find that the consequence would be similar in local context, Singapore. Since there is no formal research particular on look intoing TFR and pamper fillip strategy, our research will concentrate chiefly on look intoing the effectivity of babe fillip on TFR and position of the immature coevals with respects to this strategy. We regard a policy is effectual when it is able to change by reversal the current diminishing tendency of TFR. We will besides look into the most of import factor that peoples consider with respects to be aftering for kids. Suggestions that will function to better the effectivity of this policy will be given every bit good. The expected consequence for our analysis is that babe fillip is less effectual in increasing Singaporeis TFR. Other factors such as the psychological-thinking and societal factors which may impact TFR will non be included in our survey. To do our research clearer and all-rounded, we introduce two subdivisions under debut, which describe the worsening tendency of TFR from 1990 to 2000 and reexamine the factors that affect TFR. The treatment of this paper will be separated into two chief parts, which are the method subdivision and consequences and treatment subdivision. The first portion will concentrate on explicating our study method and stuffs that we obtained from authorities records. Under the consequence subdivision, we will discourse our analysis utilizing primary and secondary informations. The treatment focuses on effectivity of baby fillip policy in Singapore. Finally in the decision subdivision we will sum up the important findings of our survey and specify the background for future research to deduce better methods to get by with birthrate. 1.1 Singapore Demographic Pattern Figure 1.1 The new way of policy since the 1990is is in stressing the importance of get downing a household and holding multiple kids to a successful and all-around life. As seen from figure above, the TFR has continued to worsen steadily throughout the late ninetiess and early 2000s. This has raised concerns to the authorities as it is below the replacing rate of 2.1 [ 6 ] that is needed by Singapore. 1.2 Review of factors impacting TFR 1.2.1. Education derived function and alterations in political orientation Education gives one a strong head of their ain in prosecuting their dreams that include a stable and esteemed calling. A twenty-four hours of 24 hours will be used to prosecute their dreams, go forthing minimum clip for household planning and childbirth. Puting high value on work by both females and males would increase the chance cost of holding kids. This might explicate the falling tendency in TFR. 1.2.2. Fiscal grounds The lifting costs of life and holding babes are discouraging newly-weds from childbearing. The mean earning of an employee is about S $ 4000 per month in 2010 [ 7 ] . If we were to take merely two most basic disbursals, kid lovingness fees and hospitalization measures that are incurred during and instantly after gestating, we can cognize that fiscal load is an disposed account for the worsening TFR in Singapore. Childcare services are priced at S $ 776 and S $ 572 for mean full twenty-four hours and half twenty-four hours fees severally in 2010 [ 8 ] . While hospitalization fee for female parents after bringing in an mean ward of B2 fluctuates between S $ 1000 and S $ 1200 [ 9 ] . The entire charge for these two constituents of expected disbursals can amount to S $ 2000, which is already half of the wage of an mean worker in Singapore. Such high degree of disbursement on one kid can so deter a important figure of newly-weds in holding kids, and our analysis is non even taking into hi story the changeless economy of financess for advanced acquisition and schooling in Singapore every bit good as day-to-day disbursals on nutrient and vesture for the kid. Clearly, childbearing is non an easy undertaking as it takes old ages of support from the point of gestating till the point of independency. Fiscal restraints can possibly be the most of import ground why there is a diminution in TFR observed in Singapore. 2. Method We use secondary and primary informations to discourse the effectivity of babe fillip strategy. Secondary information was obtained from administrative records while primary informations was taken from study. The sample of our study was NTU undergraduates aged from 19 to 26 and selected by convenience sampling. We restricted our sample merely on Singaporeans and Singaporean PRs because babe fillip strategy is more eligible to them. The targeted size was 100 participants, 50 males and 50 females. A pilot study was done on 50 respondents with our drafted sample study. We received feedback that our inquiries were insistent and ill-defined. Leading inquiries were besides heedlessly included. Some of the open-ended inquiries were left space, demoing that the inquiries discouraged participants to reply wholly. Consequences shown from this pilot study were inconsistent and hard to analyse accurately. To better on our research work, we conducted another study with freshly phrased inquiries which are simpler and more straightforward. At the start, we had inquiries aiming the figure of kids our respondents are be aftering to hold. The consequences here gave us a unsmooth thought of the TFR that Singapore will hold with its current subsidy policies in topographic point. Subsequently, we required respondents to rank the factors that affect their determination on the figure of kids they were to hold. The most highly-ranked factors can help Singapore in planing or revising constabularies for greater impact on Singaporeis TFR. Next, we had inquiry taking to happen out whether babe fillip had a say in their household planning. This was to find the comparative importance of babe fillip strategy. Relatively high importance placed by Singaporean will let greater infinite for control over the population size. We besides suggested a superior system for Singaporeis authorities inducement strategy to happen out about the policy that authorities should concentrate on. Last, we welcomed suggestions from respondents to give them an avenue for showcasing their point of views sing the subsidy policies in inquiry. 3. Result and Discussion The Baby Bonus Scheme is a two-tiered strategy, comprising of a direct hard currency gift from the authorities and a co-saving agreement in which the authorities lucifers dollar for dollar the sum parents put into a Child Development Account ( CDA ) , capable to a maximal sum [ 10 ] . It was foremost implemented in 2001. With the babe fillip strategy, 2nd or 3rd kid can convey important pecuniary benefits for the parents from 2001 [ 10 ] . The Baby Bonus Scheme did assist to settle the concerns of twosomes who find the fiscal load of raising a kid excessively heavy to bear. Monetary wagess given out to parents can be used subsidise the childis early old ages of instruction and medical demands. Figure 3.1 Table 3.2 From the figure above, we noticed that between 1997 and 1998, TFR dropped significantly by 0.15, compared to a twelvemonth before where the lessening was 0.06. We notice that there was a important difference in the lessening. A possible account is that Asiatic fiscal crisis had taken topographic point during 1997-1998 and this might back up our outlook that fiscal factors are impacting the determination of twosomes to hold kids. The authorities may therefore make up one's mind to undertake the low TFR job from the fiscal facet by implementing babe fillip strategy in 2001. 3.1. Secondary informations Figure 3.2 shows that after execution of the babe fillip policy, the TFR from 2001-2004 dropped by 0.15. In the span of four old ages ( 1997-2000 ) we observed that TFR had dropped by 0.20. Comparing these two Numberss, TFR still falls, but it is falling at a diminishing rate, this suggests that babe fillip is so effectual to a certain extent. There was a alteration of policy in 2004 because the declared end of returning birthrate to replacement had non been achieved. Under the new strategy, the hard currency gift that parents received from the authorities was increased for the first to 4th born kid. Looking at period of 2004-2008, there was an overall addition of TFR by 0.02. Further sweetening was done in 2008. However looking at the TFR tendency, it showed a autumn of TFR by 0.12 from 2008-2010. Hence, the effectivity of babe fillip is so problematic. In decision, the execution of babe fillip is good in assisting to decelerate down the lessening in TFR but it was non able to change by reversal the tendency. This shows that baby fillip policy is uneffective in increasing the TFR. 3.2. Primary informations The consequences attained from our study will be brooding of the younger coevals about their position towards the authorities subsidy policies. 3.2.1 Entire Fertility Rate Figure 3.3 Figure 3.3 shows that 56 % our participants planned to hold a two kids and 20 % of them chose three kids. The per centum of people non be aftering to hold any kid is 10 % . This can be interpreted that most of the respondents will be willing to hold kids. TFR Gender Female Male Both female and male Average or average 1.76 2.3 2.03 Standard Error ( Deviation ) 0.87037 0.99488 0.96875 Table 3.4 To specify the entire birthrate rate more accurately, we will look into the different in expected TFR for both genders. Our findings show that if male is the determination shaper, the TFR will be 2.3 and if it is female, the expected TFR is 1.76. To acquire an accurate scope for the expected Entire Fertility Rate, we will use the interval appraisal method. We used 95 % assurance interval ( C.I ) as our base. For given a, ( 100- 100a ) % assurance interval means that ( 100- 100a ) % in chance that the true value of this TFR is inside this estimated interval. Hence, the value of a is equal to 0.05 if we use 95 % C.I. The lower edge of assurance interval is defined as ( X-tn-1 ( a /2 ) * s/vn ) , and ( X+ tn-1 ( a /2 ) * s/vn ) is the upper edge for assurance interval. We get the value of tn-1 ( a /2 ) from the t-distribution tabular array. Explanations: 1. N is the sample size 2. Ten is the mean ( refer to postpone 3.4 ) 3. s is defined as standard mistake ( mention to postpone 3.4 ) 4. t49 ( 0.025 ) = 2.01 and t99 ( 0.025 ) = 1.984 Therefore, the estimated interval of TFR when male is the determination shaper is 2.01720 = TFR = 2.58280 While the estimated interval of TFR when female is the determination shaper is 1.51259 = TFR = 2.00741. As the optimal TFR of the authorities is 2.1 [ 6 ] , we can see that if female was the determination shaper, the TFR is below 2.1. However, in doing determination of holding kids, it is non up to one person merely but a joint determination by both male and female. Therefore, it will be more appropriate if we consider the norm TFR as the expected TFR in the hereafter. The expected TFR in the hereafter is between 1.83780 and 2.22220 utilizing the interval appraisal method 3.2.2 Ranking of factors Figure 3.5 The above information show the figure of participants that give rank i1i for the factor that they consider as the most of import with respects to child planning. Consequences revealed that 58 out of 100 respondents chose fiscal factors, followed by calling with 19 out of 100 participants. This consequence supported our outlook that fiscal is the most influential factor with respects to be aftering for kids. Hence, our research will be valuable in helping to better the TFR. 3.2.3 Baby fillip strategy Figure 3.6 Figure 3.7 Figure 3.6 shows that 90 % of the respondents knew the babe fillip strategy, this suggests that the participants are cognizant of the babe fillip strategy. From figure 3.7, 50 % of the participantis determination is affected by the babe fillip strategy. With this sum, we might non be able to reason that it is effectual. However, sing the state of affairs without the strategy, the TFR that we calculated supra has a high likeliness that it is traveling to be lower. This is because half of the participants might make up one's mind to take down their figure of kids planned if babe fillip strategy had non been implemented. Hence, the effectivity of babe fillip is problematic. Figure 3.8 The figure above shows the grounds why Baby Bonus does non impact participantsi determination. 24 out of 50 people thought that babe fillip subsidy is deficient. This shows that they are non satisfied with the current strategy. If pecuniary benefits to be increased, there is a high possibility that this strategy will be more important to increase the TFR. This is besides supported by the grounds, that babe fillip alteration in 2004 was effectual, as TFR increased by 0.02. Figure 3.9 Figure 3.9 shows the figure of participants that give rank i1i for the authorities subsidy policies that they consider as the most of import. As shown above, there is important figure of participants that prioritized health care, instruction and lodging loan with 27 % , 26 % and 25 % severally. However, merely 9 % of the participants chose baby fillip policy as the most of import policy. This shows that authorities should non concentrate their alteration of policies merely on babe fillip. The information suggested that there is an emerging tendency, that people are more disquieted about wellness attention, instruction and lodging affairs. Hence it is advisable that the authorities looks into these three subsidy policies in greater deepness to increase the Singaporeis TFR. Figure 3.10 Figure 3.11 If we separate our treatment into different genders, the impact of babe fillip strategy is greater on males. Referred to calculate 3.10 and 3.11, 60 % of the maleis determination was affected by the strategy, while 40 % of female participants were affected. This shows that babe fillip strategy plays a larger function in act uponing the maleis determination. Uniting the findings, TFR is below the replacing rate of 2.1 if female is the determination shaper. This means authorities should aim more on females and seek to increase the figure of kids they would be after to hold to increase the TFR. As shown from the figure 3.5, females considered fiscal factor as their precedence with 32 out of 50 female participants ranking it as figure 1. With this, focal point should still be given to fiscal factors, such as increasing pecuniary benefits to increase the willingness of adult females to hold more kids. Merely 40 % of the femaleis determination was affected by the babe fillip. We can deduce that increasing the subsidy for babe fillip may be less effectual. Hence, greater focal point should be placed on other subsidy benefits such as health care subsidy, instruction and lodging loans as shown from the figure 3.9. 4. Decision This undertaking studied the impact of Singaporeis babe fillip policy on its entire birthrate rate. Baby fillip policy is non effectual in change by reversaling the tendency of the TFR. However, credits have to be given to pamper fillip as TFR was worsening at a diminishing rate. From our study, we conclude that fiscal facet is the most of import factor in oneis determination in household planning. We found that the expected TFR for female is below the replacing rate ; therefore greater focal point should be put on females. Greater accent should besides be placed on wellness attention, instruction and lodging affairs. One restriction of our undertaking could be found in our study sample. Because the study is conducted within school compounds, we treated all Singaporean respondents as a homogeneous group of highly-educated personal. This is non representative for the whole of Singapore population. We would urge future research to be conducted on a more heterogenous study sample so tha t Singaporean of all backgrounds can be reached.

Media Helping in Nation Building

| | |Media | |[pic] | | | |'Media' is the medium of carrying information, education and entertainment to the masses. It is an easier and efficient means of| |communication which plays a key role in the overall development of an economy. In an era where knowledge and facts are the tools| |for economic, political and cultural exchange, presence of the strong and constructive media in a country is important for | |catering to the diverse needs of individuals, society as a whole, small and large business and production houses, various | |research organizations, private sectors as well as the public sectors. Media is a conscience-keeper of the nation and has many | |tasks to perform in our day-to-day lives. It helps the Government to achieve various socioeconomic and political goals; educate | |urban and rural masses; instill a sense of responsibility among the people; as well as provide justice to the needy. It largely | |consists of print media like newspapers, magazines, journals and other publications, etc. as well as electronic media like | |radio, television, internet, etc. With the changing scenario of the world, it has acquired the status of an industry. | |In India, the media and entertainment industry is undergoing remarkable change and is one of the fastest growing sectors. The | |main factors responsible for this are rising per capita/ national income; high economic growth and strong macro-economic | |fundamentals; and democratic set up, good governance as well as law and order position in the country. Specifically, spectacular| |growth of the television industry, new formats for film production and distribution, privatisation and growth of radio, | |gradually liberalising attitude of Government towards the sector, easier access to and for international companies as well as | |advent of digital communication and its technological innovations are the other attributes of the growth of the sector. The | |media industry plays an important role in creating people's awareness about national policies and programmes by providing | |information and education, besides creating healthy business environment in the country. Thus, it helps people to be active | |partners in the nation-building endeavour. | |The  Ministry of Information and Broadcasting  is the nodal authority in India for formulation and administration of the rules, | |regulations and laws relating to media industry. It is involved in catering to the entertainment and intellectual needs of | |various age groups and focusing attention of the masses on issues of national integrity, environmental protection, health care | |and family welfare, eradication of illiteracy as well as issues relating to women, children and weaker sections of the society. | |It plays a significant part in helping the people to have access to free flow of information. It is also responsible for | |international co-operation in the field of mass media, films and broadcasting and interacts with its foreign counterparts on | |behalf of Government of India. The main functions of the Ministry are to:- | |Provide news services through All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) to the people | |Develop the broadcasting and television network as well as promote import and export of films   | |Educate and motivate the people for greater participative involvement in the various developmental activities and programmes of | |the Government   | |Liaise with State Governments and their organisations in the field of information and publicity   | |Organise film festivals and cultural exchanges in the country   | |Administer the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 in respect of newspapers   | |Disseminate information about India within and outside the country through publications on matters of national importance   | |Use interpersonal communication and traditional folk art forms for information/ publicity campaigns on public interest issues | |Serve as a constant link between the Government and the Press, by acting as a clearing h ouse of official information and | |authentic data pertaining to the Union Government’s plans and programmes. | |The Ministry is divided into the following wings, namely:- | |Information Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ deals with the policy matters, the print media as well as the press and publicity requirements of the | |Government. The media units in this wing re:-   | |Press Information Bureau | |Photo Division   | |Research, Reference and Training Division   | |Publications Division | |Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity | |Directorate of Field Publicity   | |Song and Drama Division   | |Registrar of Newspapers for India   | |Press Council of India   | |Indian Institute of Mass Communication   | |Broadcasting Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ handles matters relating to the electronic media. It formulates policies and frames rules and regulations | |for this sector, which include public service broadcasting, operation of cable television, private television channels, | |F. M. channel, satellite radio, community radio, DTH services, etc. The organizations under this wing include:- | |Electronic Media Monitoring Centre | |The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) – has been set up with the mandate to organise and entertain people and | |to ensure balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television through agencies like:- (i) All India Radio, and (ii) | |Doordarshan. | |Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Limited (BECIL) | |Films Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ handles matters relating to the film sector. Through its various units, it is involved in the production and | |distribution of documentary films required for internal and external publicity, development and promotional activities relating | |to film industries including training, promotion of good cinema, organization of film festivals, import and export regulations, | |etc. This wing has the following media units: | |Films Division | |Central Board of Film Certification   | |National Film Archive of India   | |National Film Development Corporation   | |Film and Television Institute of India   | |Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute   | |Directorate of Film Festivals   | |Children’s Film Society | |Integrated Finance Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ performs important functions of maintaining and monitoring the Accounts of the Ministry, through its | |subordinate office of ‘Chief Controller of Accounts'. | |The media industry has significantly benefited from liberal investment regime in the country. Foreign direct investment (FDI) | |has been permitted in its various segments. FDI upto 100 per cent has now been allowed for print media covering non-news | |publications and FDI (with FII) upto 26 per cent has been allowed for print and electronic media covering news and current | |affairs. However, the news sector has also been opened up for FIIs, NRIs and PIOs. The FDI (including FII) in FM radio | |broadcasting sector has been allowed at 20 per cent. While, FDI and FII upto 49 per cent have been permitted for cable network; | |direct to home (DTH) – (within this limit, FDI component not to exceed 20 per cent); setting up hardware facilities such as | |up-linking, hub (teleports); etc. | |At present, there are 110 million TV households in India, out of which 70 million are cable and satellite homes and rest 40 | |million are served by the public broadcaster, that is, Doordarshan. Similarly, there are 132 million radio sets in the country. | |Further, over the years, the number of private satellite TV channels have grown very fast from 1 TV channel in 2000 to 273 TV | |channels till 31. 12. 2007. The news and current affairs TV channels constitute 58 per cent and non-news and current affairs TV | |channels constitute 42 per cent of total permitted 273 TV channels. The former channels have grown from 1 in 2000 to 158 till | |31. 12. 2007, while latter rose from 0 to 115. | |The Ministry has been making several policy announcements as well as framing guidelines in order to create conducive environment| |for healthy development of various mass media in the country. Some of these are:- | |The formulation of ‘Policy Guidelines for Downlinking of Television Channels' which implies downlinking all satellite television| |channels downlinked / received / transmitted and re-transmitted in India for public viewing. Under it, no person/entity shall | |downlink a channel which has not been registered by the Ministry. Henceforth, all persons/ entities providing Television | |Satellite Broadcasting Services (TV Channels) uplinked from other countries to viewers in India as well as any entity desirous | |of providing such a Television Satellite Broadcasting Service (TV Channel), receivable in India for public viewership, shall be | |required to obtain permission from Ministry, in accordance with the terms and conditions prescribed. The policy guidelines | |enumerates certain eligibility criteria's for applicant company, which are as follows:- | |The entity (applicant company) applying for permission of downlinking a channel, uplinked from abroad, must be a company | |registered in India under the Companies Act, 1956, irrespective of its equity structure, foreign ownership or management | |control; | |The applicant company must have a commercial presence in India with its principal place of business in India;. |It must either own the channel it wants to downlink for public viewing, or must enjoy, for the territory of India, exclusive | |marketing/ distribution rights for the same, inclusive of the rights to the advertising and subscription revenues for the | |channel and must submit adequate proof at the time of application; | |In case the applicant company has exclusive marketing / distribution rights, it should also have the authority to conclude | |contracts on behalf of the channel for advertisements, subscr iption and programme content;   | |The applicant company should have a minimum net worth as prescribed, that is, networth of  Rs. 1. 5 crore for downlinking of one | |channel and  Rs. crore for each additional channel;   | |It must provide names and details of all the Directors of the company as well as key executives such as CEO, CFO and Head of | |Marketing, etc to get their national security clearance; | |It shall furnish technical details such as nomenclature, make, model, name and address of the manufacturers of the | |equipments/instruments to be used for downlinking and distribution, the Block schematic diagram of the downlinking and | |distribution system as well as also demonstrate the facilities for monitoring and storing record for 90 days. |Similarly, the notification of ‘Guidelines for Uplinking from India', wherein the applicant, seeking permission to set up an | |uplinking hub/ teleport or uplink a TV Channel or uplink facility by a News Agency, should b e a company registered in India | |under the Companies Act, 1956. The company shall uplink only those TV channels which are specifically approved or permitted by | |the Ministry. For setting up of uplinking hub/ teleports in applicant company, the foreign equity holding including NRI/OCB/PIO | |should not exceed 49%. The networth requirement varies from  Rs. 1 crore to  Rs. 3 crores for channel capacity one to ten. The | |applicant company, irrespective of its ownership, equity structure or management control, would be eligible to seek permission | |for uplinking a non-News and current affairs TV channel. Networth required for single TV channel is  Rs. 1. 5 crore and  Rs. 1 | |crore for each additional channel. While, for uplinking a news and current affairs TV channel, networth required for single TV | |channel is  Rs. 3 crores and  Rs. 2 crores for each additional TV channel. | |The Ministry has issued ‘Guidelines for Obtaining License for Providing Direct-To-Home (DTH) Broadcasting Service in India', | |wherein DTH service refers to the distribution of multi-channel TV programmes in Ku Band by using a satellite system for | |providing TV signals direct to subscribers premises, without passing through an intermediary such as cable operator. The | |eligibility criteria's in the guidelines include:- | |Applicant Company to be an Indian Company registered under Indian Companies Act, 1956. | |Total foreign equity holding including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII in the applicant company not to exceed 49%. Within the foreign equity, | |the FDI component not to exceed 20%. | |The applicant company must have Indian Management Control with majority representatives on the board as well as the Chief | |Executive of the company being a resident Indian; etc. | |A ‘Policy on expansion of FM Radio Broadcasting Services through Private Agencies (Phase-II)' has also been announced to expand | |FM radio network through private agencies to supplement and complement the efforts of All India Radio. This is to be done by | |operationalising radio stations that provide programmes with local content and relevance, improving the quality of fidelity in | |reception and generation, encouraging participation by local talent and generating employment. There are 21 channels already in | |operation under Phase-I. Out of 337 channels offered for bid in Phase II, Letter of Indent (LOI) has been issued to 245 | |channels, of which all channels have signed the agreements. In all, 178 private FM channels are in operation till date in India | |including the 21 channels of Phase I. | |There is also a ‘Policy for Import of Cinematograph Films and Other Films', wherein import of cinematograph feature films and | |other films (including film on video tape, compact video disc, laser video disc or digital video disc) has been allowed without | |a licence. The importer of the film shall comply with the provisions of all applicable Indian laws governing the distribution | |and exhibition of films, including the requirement of obtaining a certificate of public exhibition prescribed under the | |Cinematograph Act 1952. Under it, import of any unauthorized/pirated films shall be prohibited. Import of foreign reprints of | |Indian films shall not be permitted without the prior permission in writing from the Ministry. | |'Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2007†² has been announced to promote, facilitate and develop in an orderly manner | |the carriage and content of broadcasting. For the purpose, it aims to provide for the establishment of an independent authority | |to be known as the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India as well as encourage broadcasting services to be responsive for the | |educational, developmental, social, cultural and other needs and aspirations of people and include in their programming public | |service messaging and content; etc. | |As a result of all such incentives, the media industry in India has shown considerable growth over the years, with almost | |double-digit growth. It is projected to grow from an estimated size of  Rs. 437 billion to  Rs. 1 trillion by 2011. It provides | |ample opportunities for investors the world over, brings in more capital inflow into the country and presents significant | |avenues for both direct and indirect employment. It helps in shaping people's views and outlooks about various national and | |international issues and thus helps in formulation of schemes, policies and programmes. It is a powerful medium for providing | |entertainment, disseminating information, nurturing and cultivating diverse opinions, educating and empowering the people of | |India to be informed citizens so as to effectively participate in the democratic process; as well as preserving, promoting and | |projecting the diversity of Indian culture and talent of the country. | Mass Communication IN a country like ours, mass communication plays a vital role in creating people’s awareness about policies and programmes of development. It helps in motivating them to be active partners in the nation-building endeavour. A skillful synthesis between traditional and folk forms of communication on the one hand and modern audio-visual media including Satellite Communication on the other, is being attempted. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting being the nodal organisation in this field has a comprehensive set-up of its mass media units with their regional and branch offices as well as mobile units. ELECTRONIC MEDIA AKASHVANI Broadcasting started in India in 1927 with two privately-owned transmitters at Bombay and Calcutta. The Government took over the transmitters in 1930 and started operating them under the name of Indian Broadcasting Service. It was changed to All India Radio (AIR) in 1936 and later it also came to e known as Akashvani from 1957. AIR is serving as an effective medium to inform and educate people besides providing healthy entertainment. NETWORK At the time of Independence there were six radio stations. All India Radio presently has 197 radio stations including 184 full-fledged stations, ten relay centres, and three exclusive Vividh Bharati commercial centres. AIR presently has 305 transmitters. These include 145 medium-wave, 55 short-wave and 105 FM transmitters and provide radio coverage to a population of 97. 3 per cent spread over 90 per cent area of the country. MUSIC Music constitutes 40 per cent of the total programmes broadcast over AIR omprising classical, light, folk, film and music in the regional languages. National Programme of Music (Hindustani and Karnatic) are the prestigious programmes broadcast on every Saturday and Sunday. These programmes are broadcast live from the four metros. Keeping in view the Centenary celebration of eminent artists of music, viz. , Pt. Onkar Nath, Musari Subramanya Iyer and Dr Doraiswami Aiyengar, special programmes have been broadcast in the National Programme of Music. Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan – an annual affair is another musical treat to serious classical music listeners and lovers. About 50 concerts of both Karnatic and Hindustani ere featured at different places and the recordings were broadcast for over a month. AIR Music competitions is another regular feature towards searching new talents amongst youngsters. The competitions are held in different categories like classical (Hindustani and Karnatic both) instrumental, light for boys and girls. During 1998, music competitions were held at different stations of AIR in which 111 candidates participated and eight won the prizes. VIVIDH BHARATI AND COMMERCIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE Commercials were introduced on All India Radio from 1 November 1967 on Vividh Bharati. Now all the Primary Channel Stations, 30 Vividh Bharati entres, all Local Radio Stations and four FM Metro channels are taking Commercials. Commercials are also allowed over National Channel, New Delhi and the North-Eastern Service, Shillong. Vividh Bharati Service provides entertainment for more than 14 hours a day from 34 centres. The revenue earned by radio during 1 998-99 was Rs 92. 26 crore. Some innovative commercial broadcasting was introduced by AIR during 1998-99. AIR took over all the slots on 4 metro FM channels with effect from 26 June 1998 which were earlier allotted to private parties. At present all the 4 metro FM channels are being run by All India Radio through in-house programmes. AIR was able to market all the available ommercial time during the broadcast of 1998 Parliamentary elections results for about 72 hours. AIR also did the marketing of World Cup Cricket, 1999 through its own in-house arrangement. Efforts are being made to undertake extensive marketing of air time on all the channels of AIR. DRAMA More than 80 stations of AIR broadcast plays in various languages. Radio adaptations of outstanding novels, short stories and stage plays are also broadcast. Besides original plays, a large number of stations regularly broadcast family drama with a view to eradicate social evils. The National Programmes of plays is broadcast on every fourth Thursday of the month n Hindi and its regional versions are broadcast by relevant stations simultaneously. Special model plays of 30 minutes duration are produced at the Central Drama Unit at Delhi, which are broadcast by 33 stations of AIR in a chain of six months. All India Competition for Radio Playwrights is being organised in 15 major languages. All the prize-winning entries are translated in Hindi and then circulated to all stations for further translation and production in various languages. NEWS SERVICES DIVISION The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio disseminates news and comments to listeners in India and abroad. The history of news broadcasting in India is much older than that of All India Radio. The first ews bulletin went on the air from the Bombay station on 23 July 1927 under a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company. The News Wing of All India Radio came into existence ten years later in August 1937. From 27 bulletins in 1939-40, AI R now puts out 314 bulletins daily withMass Communication a total duration of 39 hours and 29 minutes. Out of these, 88 bulletins are broadcast in the Home Services from Delhi with a duration of 12 hours and 05 minutes, while 42 Regional News Units originate 137 news bulletins daily with a duration of 18 hours and 01 minute. In the External Services, AIR broadcasts 65 bulletins for 8 hours and 59 minutes in 24 languages (Indian and foreign). The News Services Division has been putting out news headlines bulletins on the FM Channel since 28 May 1995. These are now available round-the-clock. AIR News on phone was introduced on 25 February 1998. The service provides the latest news highlights in Hindi and English on phone on dialing the specified numbers. AIR is now available on the Internet. AIR broadcasts special bulletins such as sports news, slow-speed bulletins and youth bulletins. Two youth bulletins are broadcast from Delhi in English and Hindi. AIR, Calcutta also broadcasts two youth bulletins in Bengali. During the Haj period, a five-minute Haj bulletin is aired from Delhi daily for the benefit of the pilgrims. Comments from the Press’ are broadcast every day. In addition, NSD puts out a number of news-based programmes and commentaries in English and Hindi. During Parliament Sessions, commentaries in Hindi and English reviewing the day’s proceedings in both Houses, are broadcast. Similarly, the RNUs p ut out reviews of the proceedings of their respective State Legislatures. The bulk of AIR news comes from its own correspondents spread all over the country. It has 90 regular correspondents in India and seven abroad at Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai, Pretoria, Kathmandu, Singapore and Islamabad. Apart from this, AIR has 246 part-time correspondents based at important istrict headquarters. AIR subscribes to the news agencies – UNI, PTI and their corresponding Hindi services – Univarta and Bhasha, and ANI to supplement its news sources. Other sources of news are the monitored reports from Monitoring Units (English and Hindi) attached to the General News Room and the Central Monitoring Services, which monitor the bulletins of major broadcasting organisations of the world. EXTERNAL SERVICES DIVISION The External Services Division (ESD) broadcasts programmes for about 70 hours a day in 25 languages (16 foreign languages and nine Indian languages) for listeners in different parts of the globe. The broadcast project the Indian oint of view on World Affairs through daily commentary and Press reviews and acquaint the overseas listeners with the developments in India along with information on the myriad facets of Indian life. The target areas of ESD span almost all the continents and include areas of East, North-East and South-East Asia, West, North-West and East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Europe and the Indian sub-continent. The services in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Gujarati are directed to Indians overseas, while those in Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Sindhi are meant for the listeners in the sub-continent and the bordering countries. During the year, due coverage was given to all conferences, seminars, ymposia and festivals of films and trade of National and InternationalMass Communication importance in the form of Radio reports and interviews besides, the visits of foreign dignitaries to India and of Indian dignitaries abroad. Special initiati ves were taken to give wide publicity to India’s geo-political compulsion for a nuclear and Agni-II test in view of the security environment in her immediate neighbourhood. ESD transmitters, also carry the 9 P. M. National bulletin in English, originally meant for Home Services. External Services Division continues to supply recordings of music, spoken word and other programmes to about hundred countries and foreign roadcasting organisations, under the Programme Exchange scheme. Introduction of internet broadcasting by AIR has enabled its listeners in various parts of the world like USA, Canada, West and South Africa to avail of AIR’s services on Internet. NATIONAL CHANNEL The National Channel was inaugurated on the 18 May 1988 and is located at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Presently, it works as a night service covering over 76 per cent of the population of the country and provides a judicious blend of information and entertainment. Having the whole of Ind ia as its zone, it draws the best available talent in the country. The programme complexion of the Channel has been designed to make it epresentative of the cultural mosaic and ethos of the nation as a whole. Programmes entitled Ek Kahani – dramatization of selected best short stories from regional languages and Basti Basti – Nagar Nagar to familiarise the people of other states with various tourist spots all over the country are being broadcast. Hourly news-bulletins, alternatively in Hindi and English, are broadcast from the National Channel throughout the night. Whenever the Parliament is in session, National Channel broadcasts recordings of the question hour for the benefit of the listeners. Sahargahi, a special early morning programme is broadcast from the National Channel in the holy month of Ramzan. CENTRAL MONITORING SERVICE The Central Monitoring Service (CMS) monitors news and news-based programmes of foreign radio and television networks. It also feeds the Newsrooms of AIR and Doordarshan with news flashes. During the year, the CMS on an average monitored about 100 broadcasts and 38 telecasts from 15 radio and three television networks every day in eight languages including one foreign language. The organisation brought out a report everyday containing all the material monitored on that day. Besides, the CMS brought out two weekly reports, a weekly analytical report giving an analysis of the important news of the week and a weekly special report on Kashmir ased on the anti-India propaganda of Pakistan’s radio and television networks on the Kashmir issue. The CMS has two field units—one at Jammu and the other in Calcutta. TRANSCRIPTION AND PROGRAMME EXCHANGE SERVICE Transcription and Programme Exchange Service (T&PES) consists of Sound Archives, Transcription Un it, Programme Exchange Unit, Foreign ProgrammeMass Communication Unit and Satellite Transmission Unit. The AIR archives store about 47,000 tapes of various formats which inlcude vocal and instrumental music of both Hindustani and Karnatic styles; light, folk, tribal and patriotic music of different regions and also orchestral compositions. Besides, the Archives has he voice recordings of distinguished personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali and many others. Apart from this, the speeches delivered by all the Presidents and the Prime Ministers are also preserved in the Archives. Recordings from the Archives are now being transferred to compact discs which will replace the tapes now being used. So far, 235 CDs of spoken word and music have been prepared. This year the Archives has helped prepare a CD/Cassette consisting of v oice recordings of Rabindranath Tagore and a ocumentary on Rabindranath Tagore produced by Satyajit Ray. This along with a monograph on Tagore which has been jointly produced by AIR and Vishwa Bharati, has been released by the Prime Minister in Calcutta on 20 May 1999. Project on Data Entry updating tapes of PMs and Presidents has been completed and work on Hindustani and Karnatic music is in progress. It has added to its collection 125 tapes which include, among others, the radio autobiography of Shiv Mangal Singh ‘Suman’ and Milkha Singh. The Programme Exchange Unit (PEU) exchanges good quality programmes among the AIR stations as per their requirements in its library. Approximately 8,000 tapes containing the recordings of music and spoken ord programmes are preserved, among them are the Ramcharit Manas Gaan and award winning programmes of Akashvani Annual Awards and the language lessons in Bengali, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Sanskrit, Tami l and Telugu. A bi-monthly bulletin Vinimaya is published from T&PES giving details of available foreign programmes, Karnatic and Hindustani music (vocal and instrumental) and other forms of musical programmes, viz. , orchestral compositions, stage songs, folk and tribal music, etc. , and spokenword programmes, i. e. , features, plays, talks, opera and interviews, etc. , for circulation among the AIR stations. It also gives daily information regarding ur satellite transmission to meet the requirements of the stations. Transcription unit procures from AIR stations and News Services Division, all the speeches delivered by the President and the Prime Minister in different parts of the country and abroad. The unit received 117 such speeches delivered from January to November 1998. Central Tape Bank (CTB) looks after the needs of AIR stations for exchanging good programmes among the stations. CTB has 76,000 number of tapes circulated among 194 AIR stations. The Foreign Programme Unit pro cures the best of the programme material from different countries for All India Radio. During 1998 the foreign nit of T&PES received 438 programmes from SAARC Secretariat, France,Mass Communication Germany, Bulgaria, World Radio, Beijing, Sweden, Australia, United Nations. These programmes are screened and circulated to stations in Audio magnetic tapes and through INSAT 2C and INSAT 2C 3. T&PES has a satellite transmission on RN Channels of INSAT-1D and RN Channels of INSAT-2A. A total of 500 programmes transmitted through these channels were recorded by different AIR stations for future use. FARM AND HOME PROGRAMMES Farm and Home units function at various stations of AIR. The average duration of farm and home broadcasts is 60-100 minutes per day from each station. The broadcasts also include programmes for rural women and rural children. Broadcast of mother and child care series in collaboration with UNICEF and State governments has been undertaken by many AIR stations. The main thrust has been on issues relating to rights of the child, gender bias and child abuse, etc. Environmental Protection programmes receive adequate emphasis in these broadcast to retain ecological balance. â€Å"Farm school on air† as a method of communicating distant education on farming has been adopted by many AIR stations. Besides imparting technical and other information, the thrust of the broadcasts are : (i) dissemination of information relating to ways and means for increasing roduction of cereals, oilseeds, pulses, vegetables, fruits, etc. ; (ii) diversification of agriculture, social forestry, preservation of environment and farm forestry; (iii) poverty alleviation schemes, health and sanitation, etc. ; (iv) adult education programmes and (v) role of pan chayats in rural development. The programmes also lay emphasis on the various economic measures taken by the Government, aimed at rural development. FAMILY WELFARE PROGRAMMES AIR Stations broadcast more than 10,000 programmes on Family Welfare every month in all the major languages/dialects of our country. Programmes on AIDS, TB, Dengue, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, water borne diseases, alaria eradication programme, child survival and safe motherhood programme, sterilization, vasectomy, tubectomy, etc. , are broadcast under the title of family welfare programmes. Success stories are also broadcast regularly. SPORTS During 1998-99, AIR provided extensive coverage to the National and International Sporting events held in India and abroad. Major international events covered were the World Cup Hockey Tournament at Utrecht, Asian Games at Bangkok, Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, World Cup Cricket Tournament in the UK and the Wimbledon Tennis Championship in London. AIR also encour ages traditional games like Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, etc. , hrough broadcast or running commentary in order to popularise them among the youth of the country and to foster sports talents in the domain of traditional sports and games. Mass Communication AKASHVANI ANNUAL AWARDS All India Radio presents Akashvani Annual Awards to outstanding broadcasts for every calendar year in different disciplines and subjects. Special prizes, Lassa Kaul Awards on National Integration and ‘Correspondent of the Year’ for excellence in News Reporting are also awarded. There is also an award for a special topic documentary. This year’s subject is ‘Senior Citizen’. An award at national level is given to the Best Choral Singing Group (Senior nd Junior Groups) for a competition held for children at various regional centres. An award for â€Å"Audience Research/Survey Reports† has also been introduced from 1995. AIR also awards the Best Commercial Broadcasting Service Centr e and awards for Technical Excellence. DOORDARSHAN Doordarshan, the national televison service of India devoted to public service broadcasting is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world. The flagship of Doordarshan—DD-1—operates through a network of 984 terrestrial transmitters of varying powers reaching over 87 per cent of the population. There are 57 additional transmitters giving terrestrial support to other channels. Doordarshan uses a large number of transponders on he Indian National Satellites (INSAT) and other satellites to network its terrestrial transmitters and also to extend coverage. The signals of Doordarshan’s International service could be received in most part of the globe. Doordarshan has established programme production facilities in 46 cities across the country. Doordarshan programmes are watched in India by 360 million viewers in their homes. Doordarshan earned around Rs 4 billion during the financial year 1998-99 through commer cial advertisements. THE EARLY YEARS The first telecast originated from a makeshift studio in the Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi on 15 September 1959. A transmitter of 500 W power arried the signals within a radius of 25 km from Delhi. The regular service with a News bulletin was started in 1965. Television went to a second city, Mumbai, only in 1972, and by 1975 Calcutta, Chennai, Srinagar, Amritsar and Lucknow also had television stations. SITE The first experiment with satellite technology in India, known as the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), was conducted in 1975-76. This was, incidentally, the first attempt anywhere in the world of using the sophisticated technology of satellite broadcasting for social education. The year 1982 witnessed the introduction of a regular satellite link between Delhi nd other transmitters, the starting of national programme and the era of colour television in the country. The Asian Games held in Delhi that year acted as the major impetus for bringing out these changes within a short period. After 1992, television facilities have been rapidly expanding and during certain periods the country got an additional transmitter every day. In theMass Communication decade 1981-90, the number of transmitters increased from 19 to 519. THREE-TIER SERVICE Doordarshan has a three-tier primary programme service—national, regional and local. In the national programmes the focus is on the events and issues of interest to the whole nation. These programmes include news, current ffairs, science, cultural magazines, documentaries, serials, music, dance, drama and feature films. The regional programmes originating from the State capitals and relayed by all transmitters in the respective State telecast programmes of interest at the State level, in the language and idiom of that particular region. The local programmes are area-specific and cover local issues featuring local people. INFORMATION PROGRAMMES On the National Netwo rk news bulletins are telecast in Hindi and English at regular intervals. All the major Kendras telecast news bulletins in the evenings in their respective languages where the regional events are covered in greater detail. Some Kendras telecast regional news in Urdu also. Doordarshan has a number of programmes on current affairs where topical issues are discussed in-depth, bringing out the various viewpoints. Information programmes also include telecast on agriculture, rural development, health, family welfare, consumer’s rights, environment, etc. There are programmes specially targeted for women, children and youth. Doordarshan brings to its viewers all the major national and international sports and games through live telecast. There are other programmes on sports, including interviews with eminent sports persons, sports education, etc. Doordarshan also has an exclusive sports channel. EDUCATIONAL TV The educational programmes are at different levels ranging from basic health education for the not-so-well-educated to the higher education programmes for university students. In 1961 India’s first school television service was commissioned at Delhi for the institutions run by the Delhi Municipal Corporation. ETV programmes for school children are telecast from a number of regional Kendras in different languages covering both formal and informal education. The software for these programmes are produced by the Central Institute for Education Technology in Delhi and State Institutes of Education Technology of different Centres. To put quality education within the reach of students residing even n small villages and towns, the University Grants Commission, has a countrywide classroom telecast on the national network. Besides this, syllabus-based programmes for the students of Indira Gandhi National Open University are also being telecast on the national network. ENTERTAINMENT The entertainment programmes include music, dance, plays and serials. Mass Communication Feature films and programmes based on excerpts from feature films are also telecast on the national network and from the regional kendras. METRO CHANNEL In 1984 a second channel was added in Delhi to provide an alternative viewing to the heterogeneous metropolitan population. Later, similar acilities were provided to viewers in Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. In 1993 these four terrestrial transmitters were linked through satellite to provide an exclusive entertainment channel for the urban audience. This service, known as DD-2 Metro Entertainment Channel, is now available terrestrially in 54 cities. In other parts of the country the programmes of this channel could be received through dish antennas or through cable operators. The metro channel targets the younger viewers in urban areas. REGIONAL LANGUAGE CHANNELS To provide additional software in the major languages of the country, some of which are spoken by more than 50 million people, Doordarshan has 11 regional language satellite channels. The programmes on these channels include the regional service, which is available terrestrially in the concerned state and additional programmes which could be received in the satellite mode. These programmes are carried on the INSAT satellite which has footprint over the entire country and the regional language programmes could be watched by people irrespective of their place of residence. INTERNATIONAL CHANNEL Doordarshan-India, the international channel, is in operation from 1995 and reaches about 50 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe through PAS-1 and USA and Canada through PAS-4 and PAS-1 satellite. It is presently on the air for 19 hours each day. AUDIENCE RESEARCH The Audience Research Unit of Doordarshan, manned by professional researchers, is involved in studies on the various aspects of broadcasting. It also operates a system of getting ratings on Doordarshan programmes each week. Audience Research is also monitoring the voluntary feedback from viewers and maintains Data Banks at the national and kendra level. VIEWERSHIP Over the years Doordarshan’s viewership has increased phenomenally and now an estimated 69 million homes have televisioin sets which mean that 362 million people can watch Doordarshan programmes in their homes. Community TV sets have been established under various schemes operated by Central and State governments. In rural areas most of the privately-owned sets also act as community sets, attracting a number of viewers from nonTV homes and the total number who watch Doordarshan at least once in a week exceeds 500 million. In the last four years programmes of commercial channels operating from outside India are available for some sections of the population, but Doordarshan has retained more than 70 per cent of the totalMass Communication viewership in urban areas and more than 90 per cent of the viewership in the rural areas in most of the States. PRASAR BHARATI All India Radio and Doordarshan functioned as departments under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There were persistent demands that the electronic media should be free from Government control and they should have autonomy in their functioning. The Parliament had passed an Act to give autonomy to the media in 1990 itself, but at that time the Act was not notified. In 1997 the Government decided to notify this Act and Prasar Bharati, the autonomous Broadcasting Corporation of India, came into existence on 23 November 1997. A Board consisting of a chairman, an executive member and a number of part-time, full-time, ex-officio and elected members is to manage the affairs of Prasar Bharati. There is also to be a representative of the Government of India on the Board. PRESS AND PRINT MEDIA REGISTRAR OF NEWSPAPERS FOR INDIA Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), commonly known as Press Registrar came into being on 1 July 1956. Besides, the statutory functions, the Registrar recommends import of printing machinery and allied materials for newspapers. The duties and functions of the Press Registrar are defined in the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 and rules made thereunder as amended from time to time. As on 31 December 1998, the total number of newspapers and periodicals was 43,828 as compared to 41,705 in 1997. There were 4,890 dailies, 331 tri/bi-weeklies,15,645 weeklies, 12,065 monthlies, 5,913 fortnightlies, ,127 quarterlies, 383 annuals and 1,474 publications with periodicities like bi-monthlies, half-yearlies, etc. Newspapers were published in as many as 100 languages and dialects during 1998. Apart from English and 18 principal languages enumerated in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, newspapers were published in 81 other languages, mostly Indian languages or dialects and a few foreign languages. The highest number of newspapers were published in the Hindi language. Daily newspapers were brought out in 18 principal languages and Kashmiri was the only principal language that did not have a daily newspaper. Newspapers were published from all States and Union Territories. Uttar Pradesh with 7,895 newspapers retained the prestigious position of publishing the largest number of newspapers in India. In the case of dailies also, Uttar Pradesh held the top position with 805 dailies. Bombay Samachar a Gujarati daily published from Mumbai is the oldest existing newspaper. In 1998, the total circulation of Indian Press was 12,68,49,500 copies. The Anand Bazar Patrika, Bengali daily from Calcutta with a circulation of 5,86,637 copies was the largest circulated single edition newspaper. The Times of India, an English daily from Mumbai which had a circulation of 5,66,378 copies stood second. Hindustan Times, English Daily from Delhi with aMass Communication irculation of 5,55,911 copies occupied third position. The Times of India having six editions in English with a circulation of 13,90,827 copies occupied first position among multi-edition dailies during 1998. The Malayala Manorama published with eight editions in Malayalam with a total combined circulation of 11,23 ,745 copies stood second. Gujarat Samachar with five editions in Gujarati occupied third position with a total circulation of 8,59,015 copies. Among periodicals, Malayala Manorama, a Malayalam weekly published from Kottayam was the largest circulated periodical with 11,58,108 copies. Saras Salil, Hindi Fortnightly from Delhi with a circulation of 9,32,753 copies ccupied the second position. TABLE 11. 1 : NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS IN 1998 (LANGUAGE AND PERIODICITY-WISE) Languages Dailies Tri/Bi- Weeklies Fort- Monthlies Quarterlies Bi-monthlies Annuals Total weeklies nightlies Halfyearlies English 353 29 835 635 2,606 1,172 734 153 6,517 Hindi 2,202 125 9,062 2,741 2,960 544 173 29 17,836 Assamese 14 3 73 38 57 12 10 1 208 Bengali 96 14 580 463 661 441 156 14 2,425 Gujarati 106 8 565 161 455 57 43 13 1,408 Kannada 290 6 337 217 542 43 17 3 1,455 Kashmiri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Konkani 1 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 6 Malayalam 208 5 167 152 712 54 23 8 1,329 Manipuri 12 0 6 5 9 6 3 0 41 Marathi 302 20 870 16 1 451 100 39 103 2,046 Nepali 3 2 14 6 8 16 5 0 54 Oriya 68 2 132 81 260 85 23 4 655 Punjabi 106 15 332 83 231 31 18 1 817 Sanskrit 3 0 8 4 16 13 6 0 50 Sindhi 10 0 35 11 35 8 2 0 101 Tamil 344 43 391 220 717 27 20 7 1,769 Telugu 129 3 236 178 453 24 10 2 1,035 Urdu 509 20 1,290 356 496 56 15 3 2,745 Bilingual 65 19 534 311 1,082 327 135 31 2,504 Multilingual 15 4 92 60 197 64 31 11 474 Others 54 13 82 29 116 47 11 0 352 Total 4,890 331 15,645 5,913 12,065 3,127 1,474 383 43,828 PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU The Press Information Bureau (PIB) is the nodal agency of the GovernmentMass Communication to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government olicies, programmes, initiatives and achievements. Functioning as an interface between the Government and the media, the PIB also provides feedback to the Government with people’s reaction as reflected in the media. With its eight Regional Offices and 32 Branch Offices and Information Centres, the PIB disseminates information through dif ferent modes of communications, such as press releases, press notes, feature articles, backgrounders, press briefings, interviews, press conferences and press tours, etc. The information material released in Hindi, Urdu and 13 other regional languages reaches to over 7,000 newspapers and media organisations. The Bureau at headquarters has a team of officers who are exclusively attached to various ministries and departments for the purpose of assisting them in disseminating information to the media. They also provide feedback to their respective ministries and departments. As part of the Special Services, the Feedback Cell in the PIB prepares a daily digest and special digests based on news stories and editorials from national as well as regional dailies and periodicals. The Feature Unit of the Special Services of the Bureau provides backgrounders, updates, features and graphics. These are circulated in the national network and also sent to the Regional and Branch Offices or translation and circulation to the local Press. PIB arranges photo coverage of Government activities and the photographs are supplied to dailies and periodicals published in English and other Indian languages all over the country. During 1998-99, 2,78,485 photographs were supplied to the newspapers and periodicals. Th e PIB is linked with 30 of its Regional and Branch Offices over computer network to facilitate speedy feeding of information. The Bureau has a Home Page on Internet which makes available publicity material such as press releases, features, photos and graphic for international consumption. The PIB internet home page is accessible at website www. nic. in/IndiaImage/PIB. The press releases from the Bureau are also faxed through computers to local newspapers as well as all resident correspondents of the important outstation newspapers. PIB has started photo transmission by computer to its offices. PIB is connected to its 22 regional-centres by video conferencing system. This enables media persons at regional centers to participate in press conferences in New Delhi and also in other parts of the country. PIB provides accreditation facility to media persons so as to make easy access to information from the government sources. 1,006 correspondents and 226 cameramen are accredited with the Bureau’s headquarters. Besides, bout 133 technicians and 56 editors/media critics have also been granted these professional facilities. The Bureau’s eight Regional Offices are located at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Calcutta, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bhopal and Hyderabad. All the Regional Offices, Branch Offices and information centres are linked with PIB headqu arters by teleprinter also. A National Press Centre set up in the Press Information Bureau, New Delhi serves as a nerve centre for both nationalMass Communication and international Press. The Centre has all the facilities of international standards like a telecommunication centre, a press conference hall and a cafeteria. NEWS AGENCIES PRESS TRUST OF INDIA India’s largest news agency, Press Trust of India is a non-profit sharing cooperative owned by the country’s newspapers with a mandate to provide efficient and unbiased news to all its subscribers. Founded on 27 August 1947, PTI began functioning from 1 February 1949. PTI offers its news services in the English and Hindi languages. Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of the agency. PTI subscribers include 450 newspapers in India and scores abroad. All major TV/Radio channels in India and several abroad, including BBC in London, receive PTI service. The news services are provided at speeds up to 1,200 bits per second (about 1,400 words per minute) by satellite, data channels and ticker lines. PTI is now on the Internet too and its website address is: http:/ www. ptinews. com. With a staff of over 1,500 including 400 journalists, PTI has over 100 bureaux across the country and foreign correspondents in major cities of the world including Beijing, Bonn, Cairo, Dhaka, Islamabad, London, Moscow, New York and Washington. In addition, about 300 stringers contribute to the news file at home while 20 part-time correspondents bring news from the rest of the world. Besides the English and Hindi language news services, the other services of the agency include the on-line Photo Service, mailer packages of Feature, Mag, Graphics, Science Service, Economic Service and Data India, nd screen-based services as News-scan and Stockscan. PTI has a television wing, PTI -TV, whi ch provide s spot cove rage and make s corporat e documentaries on assignment basis. PTI has arrangements with Reuters and AFP for distribution of their news in India and with the Associated Press for its photo service and international commercial information. PTI is a partner in Asia Pulse International, a Singapore-registered company, formed by PTI and five other Asian media organisations to provide an on-line data bank on economic developments and business opportunities in Asian countries. PTI is also a participant in Asianet, a cooperative arrangement among 12 news agencies f the Asia-Pacific region for distribution of the corporate and government press releases. PTI is a leading partner in the Pool of News Agencies of the NonAligned Countries and the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies. The agency contributes its news to these two news exchange arrangements and in turn receives news from the other participating members for its use. PTI has just completed 50 years of its operations. The DepartmentMass Communication of Posts brought out a special 15-rupee multi-colour, multi-lingual stamp on PTI to mark its golden jubilee. President K. R. Narayanan released the stamp on 5 March 1999. An other highlight of the celebrations was a 2- ay international seminar on media issues in New Delhi on 12 and 13 March 1999 which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attended by a galaxy of media personalities both from India and abroad. UNITED NEWS OF INDIA United News of India (UNI) was registered as a company in 1959 and began its news operations from 21 March 1961. UNI is now one of the largest news agencies in Asia with over 100 bureaux in India and abroad. It has more than 1,000 subscribers in the country and over 30 abroad. Its news service is provided to subscribers in four Gulf countries as well as Mauritius and Bhutan. It has reporters in 400 big and small towns in India. Its orrespondents are located in a number of world capitals also. UNI also has collaboration with a number of foreign news agencies. It has more than 300 journalists working full time and about 400 as stringers. UNI launched a full-fledged Indian language news service Univarta, in Hi ndi in May 1982. A decade later, it launched Urdu Service on teleprinter for the first time in the world. Other teleprinter services of the news agency include UNIFIN, a specialised service for banking, financial and commercial organisations as well as UNISTOCK, a service for stock exchanges and stock brokers. In July 1986, UNI started its television wing which provides news eatures, newsclips and documentaries for Doordarshan and other organisations. Another specialised service run by the news agency is UNISCAN, a news service fed into television sets. A national photo service, started in 1987, is another pioneering venture. UNI also supplies computerdesigned graphics in ready-to-use-form on economic and other topical subjects on a regular basis. NON-ALIGNED NEWS AGENCIES POOL The Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP) is an arrangement for exchange of news among the news agencies of non-aligned countries who for long have been victims of imbalances and bias in the flow of news. Th e Pool came into existence in 1976 with India as its first Chairman (1976-79). The Pool is a worldwide operation embracing four continents, viz. , Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. The Pool news is exchanged in four languages—English, French, Spanish and Arabic. Pool activities are coordinated by an elected body known as the Coordinating Committee with a Chairman as its head. The Chairmanship, is co-terminus with the tenure of the Coordinating Committee and goes by rotation. The Chairman and members of the Coordinating Committee are elected on the basis of regional representation, continuity, active participation and rotation. The Coordinating Committee meets once a year and the meetings are open to all member agencies. Mass Communication Advt. Mass Communication Six General Conferences and 17 meetings of the Coordinating Committee have taken place since the inception of the Pool. The last General Conference of the Pool was held in Tehran in June 1992, when the Iranian news agency IRNA assumed the Chairmanship of the Pool from ANGOP of Angola. The countries elected to the Coordinating Committee in Tehran were India, Indonesia, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Kuwait, Syria, Mongolia, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Oman from Asia; Angola, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zambia from Africa; Yugoslavia from Europe; and Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela from Latin America. At the Tunis General Conference of the Pool in November 1982 a resolution was adopted to form a Monitoring Group, for closer review and monitoring of the Pool operations. The Monitoring Group was last reconstituted in Tehran in 1992 when Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Peru, Cuba and Yugoslavia were elected to it. India has played a vital role in the creation and expansion of the Pool. India News Pool Desk is operated by Press Trust of India. The agency receives news copy from Pool Partners and in turn contributes Indian news nto the exchange arrangement on a daily basis. The incoming news traffic from Pool member agencies into PTI is in the range of about 15,000 words per day. PTI’s contribution into the network is about 7,000 words per day. The news is exchanged through a network of statellite/terrestrial/E-mail communication links with Antara (Indonesia) , Bernama (Malaysia), Lankapuvath (Sri Lanka), GNA (Bahrain), VNA (Vietnam), Prensa Latina (Cuba), Tanjug (Yugoslavia), BSS (Bangladesh), RSS (Nepal), MENA (Egypt) and NAMPA (Namibia). Leading national dailies of the country publish between 20 to 30 Pool items a month. As part of the News Pool operation, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, which is recognised as a premier institute for training in journalism in the Non-Aligned countries, has been offering a regular course in News Agency Journalism. The five-month twice a year course is popular with journalists belonging to the member agencies of the Pool. PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIA The Press Council of India has been established under an Act of Parliament for the purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. The Chairman of the Council is by convention, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Council has 28 members – 20 from the newspaper world, ive are Members of Parliament (three nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and two by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha) and remaining three are nominated by the Sahitya Academy, the Bar Council of India and the University Grants Commission. The Council is reconstituted every three years. The Counc il has its own source or revenue in that it collects levy from the registered newspapers and news agencies. It also receives grantin-aid from the Central Government for performing its functions. Mass Communication As an autonomous quasi-judicial body, the aim of the Press Council is to administer ethics and to inculcate principles of self-regulation among the Press. It also keeps under review any development likely to interfere with the freedom of the Press. The Council discharges its functions primarily through adjudications on complaint cases received by it, either against the Press for violation of journalistic ethics or by the Press for interference with its freedom, where the Council is satisfied during the inquiry that a newspaper or a news agency has offended against the standards of journalistic ethics or public taste or that an editor or working journalist has committed any professional misconduct, the Council may warn, admonish or censure them or disapprove of their conduct. The Council is also mpowered to make such observations as it may think fit in respect of the conduct of any authority, including Government, for interfering with the freedom of the press. The decisions of the Council are final and cannot be questioned in any court of law. During 1998-99, the Press Council of India received 1,213 complaints of which 361 were filed b y the Press and 852 were against the Press. The Council adjudicated 342 cases. 575 cases were dismissed by the Council for lack of sufficient grounds for inquiry. The Council disposed of 917 matters during 1998-99. The Council has also suo moto initiated studies on various matters that had bearing on the freedom of the Press and its standards. During 998-99 the Council prepared a report on â€Å"Right to Privacy of Public Figures and the Press† and formulated guidelines to achieve a balance between the right to privacy of public persons and right of the Press to have access to information of public interest and importance. The Council also prepared a report on Press Coverage of the 12th General Elections on 2 June 1998 which gave an overview as to how the Press covered election news. In its advisory capacity, the Council considered and rendered its opinion to various authorities and organisations in matters relating to Press freedom. The Press Council of India is an active me mber of the World Association of Press Council (WAPC), an umbrella organisation of Press Councils and similar bodies committed to championing the cause of free speech and freedom of responsible Press on international level. The Council organised the 5th International Conference of World Association of Press Councils on 4-5 April 1998 in New Delhi to mark the 50th year of Independence. Approximately 40 representatives of International Media/ Press Organisations of 19 countries attended the Conference apart from 200 distinguished Indian participants. The National Press Day (16 November) celebrations this year were dedicated to the memory of late Nikhil Chakravartty, a renowned journalist ho was also a member of the Council. On 16-17 November 1998 the Council organised a two-day Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial Seminar. The Seminar was also attended by prominent-media representatives from the SAARC countries. The National Press Day celebrations were organised atMass Communication the state/district level by authorities, press organisations and associations throughout the country. RESEARCH REFERENCE AND TRAINING DIVISION The Research, Reference and Training Division (RR&TD) functions as an information servicing agenc