CFTRA Global Confidence Foundation A peer Reviewed Refereed JournalVol. II June to August, 2015Dr. Neelam Tikkha

Chief EditorM.A. (English), MBA (HR), M.A. (Soc.), DCE (N.D.), Ph.D. (American Literature), TEFL (Tampa, US)

ISSN - 2454-2105

ISSN - 2454-2105

A Peer - reviewed Journal A forum for professional Development

Vol -11/ 2 May- August The International Multidisciplinary Journal.

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Chief Editor - Dr. Neelam G. Tikkha

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INDEX1. Indian Americans 1

- Dr. Madan Lal Goel

2. Intellectual Property Rights a Subtle Way of Hegemony of West on India 7- Dr. Neelam Tikkha

3. Reconsidering Syllabus Design : The Importance of Learner Goals and Motives 12- Gareth Morris

4. India - US - China in the Indo-Pacific : A Find Blaance 17- Dona Ganguly

5. Framing the Meaning of Life 24- M. P. Terence Samuel

6. The Speeches of Swami Vivekananda : A Study in Literary Perspective 38- Krishna Pratap Singh- Dr. Vinay Shankar Shukla

7. The Social Function of English Language and Literature in India 43- Prof. Nitin Gohad

8. Bologna Process to Mitigate Bologna Expression while Learning Eglish 47- Dr. Neelam Tikkha

9. Realistic Portrayal in V.S. Naipauls Half a Life : An Exploration 52- Dr. K.P. Singh- Dr. Vinay Shankar Shukla

10. Emerging Demands of Small States - Challenges and Difficulties 57- Mr. Raju P. Lipte

11. A Comparative Study on Performance Related Fitness Status of State Level 61Athlete and Handball Players

- Dr. Deba Prasad Sahu

12. Politeness and Interpersonal Communication in Organisations : 64A Phenomenological Perspective

- Mr. T. Sunand Emmanuel

13. Use of Multimedia Software in English Language Laboratories 69- Rukhiya Begum

14. ICT Based Teaching: Empowering Teachers to Excel in Language Teaching 72- Dr Sanjay Kumar Singh

15. "EH$M mcm' Yrc JS>H$mMr qgYy d VH$mcrZ r 79- S>m. AemoH$ ^o$

1

Indian Americans

Dr. Madan Lal Goel Professor Emeritus of Political Science

University of West Florida www.uwf.edu/lgoel

In September 2014, Prime Minister Modi received a roaring reception in New York City from some 20,000 Indian Americans, or NRIs. During his five-day visit to the United States, PM Modi addressed the UN General Assembly, met with leading U.S. business leaders and was hosted by President Barack Obama for an intimate state dinner at the White House.

The positive reception received by Modi highlighted the growing power and presence of the Indian American community. Two state level governors, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina are of Indian ancestry. Preet Bharara is the much acclaimed U.S. Attorney for Manhattan, NY, as is Neel Kashkari, who stood for Governors race in California in

2014, although he lost. Sri Srinivasan was appointed to the DC Appeals Court in 2014, a position which may lead to appointment to the Supreme Court. According to a survey, there are some 35,000 Indian physicians in the United States, and some 10,000 professors at Americas leading colleges and universities. Richard Rahul Verma, whose family hails from Punjab, was appointed US Ambassador to India in 2015. The list of Indian business and high-tech luminaries is a long one.

While Indians excel at individual level, it may be noted that Indians are notorious for lack of solidarity. They seldom pull together as a united community. When Indians do get together,

there usually is turf battle. Leadership positions are used as photo opportunities. Indians love to be seen in the company of famous people. US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) works to improve Indo-US relations. Hindu American Foundation (HAF) seeks to protect the rights of Indians and Hindus around the globe. These and similar other groups wield some influence, but they are no match to the better funded and more aggressive Islamic, Jewish and Christian groups.

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Indian Americans are titled Asian Indians in US censuses to distinguish them from American Indians, also sometimes called the Red Indians or the Native Americans.

The number of Indian Americans has increased dramatically in the recent decades. The 2015 estimate is 3.5 million, up from 2.8 million in 2010, or about 1 percent of the U.S. population of 315 million. Indian migration increased in the decades after 1965, when drastic changes were made in the U.S. immigration laws. Given below is the history of U.S. immigration policy.

HISTORY OF IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA The history of America is a history of waves of migrations. People have come here from all

known civilizations. The blood that flows in American veins has received sustenance from every bloodline. In the 17th century, the English Puritans settled in the New England States as the Spanish settled in Florida. Early in the 19th century came a great flood of Irish and Germans -- 2 million Irish and 1.5 million Germans came to America between 1815 and 1860. The next wave brought some 10 million to America's shores between 1880 and 1890. These were mostly Western European -- English, Dutch, Swedes, and Norwegians. The third wave was even bigger:

16 million from 1890 to 1914. Most of the newcomers (80%) were Eastern and Southern Europeans Italians, Greeks, Poles, Czechs, and Russians. A small number of Asians also entered the United States in the 19th Century. Nearly 200,000 Chinese laborers came to the West to build the railroads, but in 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act eliminated this flow. Then in 1924, immigration was severely curtailed and almost eliminated for certain countries. The 1924 National Origins Act established quotas for each country outside the Western Hemisphere. The 1924 Act was directed against Eastern Europeans, and it was particularly prejudiced against Asians.The 1924 Immigration Act sought to freeze the ethnic composition of America. Those allowed to enter were primarily the British, Germans, Irish and the Scandinavians. Those from Southern and Eastern Europe were limited to smaller quotas. Asians

were banned altogether. Pressure built up after the World War II to change the unfair immigration policy. The pressure came from the Eastern and Southern Europeans: Italians, Greeks, Poles and Jews settled in Russia. They fought to bring their families and their co-religionists to the U.S. Sweeping changes in immigration policy were enacted in 1965 under President Lyndon Johnson. The new

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law eliminated ethnicity and race as factors in immigration. Every nation regardless of size, race, religion, and political ideology was allowed 20,000 immigrants with a total for all countries not to exceed 170,000 per year. For the first time, India and China were placed on the same footing as Germany and England. The number of Asians migrating to the U.S. was not expected to be large. Even though the 1965 bill sought to benefit essentially the Eastern and Southern Europeans, the Asians actually benefited the most. Without the sweeping changes enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1965, most Indians in the United States would not be there.

ASIAN AMERICANS Indians are part of the Asian immigrant community. The number of Asians has increased rapidly

since 1965. First to benefit were people from Philippines, Taiwan, and Korea. Political repression in Indo-China added Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. Many students from India took advantage of the changed law and settled down in the U.S. instead of returning home. In 1984, six of the seven top countriesto send immigrants to America were Asian countries. Asians are Americas fastest growing ethnic minority. High birth rates and legal immigration have contributed to this growth. The 1990 Asian-American population in the U.S. was 7 million - or nearly 2.5 percent of the total US population. In 2000, this increased to 11 million or approximately 4.1 percent of the U.S. population, and in 2010 to 14.7 million or 5 percent of the U.S. population. Census data are given below.

The major Asian nationality groups in America are ranked as follows: Chinese, Indians, Filipino, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Japanese. There is a smaller number of Malaysians, Thais, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi's. Interestingly, the Japanese play no major role in the current wave of Asian migration. Most Asians settle in California, followed by New York, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, and Florida.

Although the total Asian population in America is small at 5 percent (2010 data), Asian immigrants are compiling an amazing record of achievement. The enrollment of Asian students at the nation's elite colleges far exceeds their population share. On the average, Asian students constitute 14 percent of the freshmen class at Harvard, 20 percent at MIT, 21 percent at the California Institute of Technology, and 25 percent at the University of California at Berkeley.

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Indian children excel at winning many spelling-bee contests.

Partly as a result of their academic accomplishments, Asians are climbing the economic ladder with remarkable speed. Their average family income now exceeds both white and black incomes in America. Indian income on the average is the highest among all groups.

What accounts for the remarkable success of Asians in America? No single factor will suffice as an explanation, although the Asian family structure and a well developed work ethic are part of the explanation. Asian families are bound together: parents make many sacrifices for their children and brothers help brothers. Chinese grocery stores, Indian motels, and Vietnamese fishing boats are usually acquired by pooling together extended family resources.

The Asians have a strong work ethic. Unlike the earlier European mass migrations, which

originated from the working class poor, the post-1965 Asian immigrants tend to be highly educated. The Asian movement is largely middle class.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

The best explanation for the Asian success story is perhaps the psychological factor. The Asian

immigrant brings with him drive and motivation to succeed at all costs. A personal example will illustrate the point.

Through appeals to relatives and friends in India, I managed to collect Rs. 2,500 (or $500 at the 1960 exchange rate) necessary for the sea voyage from India to the U.S. I arrived at New York Harbor as a youth of 20 with insufficient fare to reach my destination to the University of Oregon. In New York, I had to beg and borrow $15 to have enough bus fare. I worked my way through college, sometimes working 12 hour shifts at $1 per hour (1960) in the peach orchards of California in the 40 C weather.

Education was a dream in spite of the fact that my father had seventh-grade education, and my mother was completely unlettered. Success came in response to persistence and hard work while

failure always lurked in the background. I graduated first among a dozen doctoral students enrolled in the program at the State University of New York, Buffalo. At the University of West Florida where I taught, I achieved promotion to the rank of Full Professor rapidly, ahead of my American-born colleagues by a decade. I have published five books and have received a number

5

of awards, both in Research and Teaching (see Vita at www.uwf.edu/lgoel). These accomplishments have come in spite of difficulties with English language, notwithstanding a brown skin in a white world, and in spite of a different cultural background. I am an American resident now and I love America, but I still derive my greater strength from my Indian heritage. Many members of the larger Indian and Asian community will share similar stories of hard work leading to success.

My life story may be read at www.uwf.edu/lgoel. Many Indians and other Asians complain that they are victims of racial discrimination. They have

to work harder than native-born Americans to compete for the same jobs or to get promotions. Ivy-league colleges use negative quotas to keep the number of Asian students down. In some

xenophobic communities, buying or renting a home may cause problems. Although racially motivated physical violence is rare against Asians, it does occur.

Americans have always been ambivalent about and somewhat hostile to new immigrants. What is meted out to Asians is a part of the long American tradition of suspicion about new immigrants. The hostility faced by members of the Asian community is no worse than hostility faced by Italians three generations ago.

CONCLUSION:

America is a country that endlessly reinvents itself. The secret to American genius is that it adds new bloodlines every generation, thus renewing and refurbishing the genetic pool. The energy of new combinations produces something different and better. The faces of immigrants are different now, mostly Asian. They do not arrive at Ellis Island as previous European generations did; they come through the airport terminals. The end result is the same - a more vigorous and vibrant America. Today Indians are adding to the American bloodline. Indians are distinguished by their

high educational and economic achievement, much higher than the general American population. It is estimated that 50 percent of IIT graduates migrate to the United States.

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Asian population data are given below. MAJOR ASIAN GROUPS IN THE U.S. (ROUNDED).

K=thousand; m=million 1990 Census 2000 Census 2010 Census

Chinese 1.6m 2.4m 3.1m

Indian 815K 1.7m 2.8m Filipino 1.4m 1.8m 2.5m Vietnamese 614K 1.1m 1.5m Korean 799K 1.1m 1.4m Japanese848K 797K 763K All Other Asian924K 2.1m 2.6m

Total Asian 7.0 m 11.0 m 14.7 m

Total U.S. 249m 282m 310m

REFERENCE LIST

Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They now make up the largest share of recent immigrants. See the Pew Research reports at: Asian Americans | Pew Research Center www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-graphics/

"Asian Population Demographics | Largest Asian Growth". Proximityone.com. Assisi, Francis C. (2007-01-04). "News & Analysis: Skilled Indian Immigrants Create Wealth for America". INDOlink. "Asian Indian Women in America". Aiwausa.org.

" US India Political Action Committee | Indian American Community". www.usinpac.com. Ghosh, Palash (5 November 2012). "Why Do Indian-Americans Love Barack Obama And The Democrats?". International Business Times. 5 facts about Indian Americans | Pew Research Center http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/30/5-facts-about-indian-americans/

A historical perspective of Americans of Asian Indian origin

www.infinityfoundation.com

The Namesake: A Novel by Jhumpa Lahiri (2004) - Made into a movie. The book narrates the struggles and promises of a Bengali immigrant family in America.

Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People by Helen Zia, 2001. Thebook traces the transformation of Asian Americans from small, invisible ethnic groups into a highly successful community that has begun to influence many aspects of American society.

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Intellectual Property Rights a Subtle Way of Hegemony of West on India

Dr. Neelam Tikkha Neelam.tikkha@gmail.com

+91- 9422145467

Abstract : Intellectual property has gained immense importance in recent times. It surpasses the tangent wealth of a company. Tapping on this US has started creating intellectual pockets in developing and underdeveloped countries. The survival gradually would be at stake if there are not any limiting laws to contain US.

Key Words: Intellectual Property, Barbaric activities, colonies

Introduction : Recently, a researcher made a shocking claim which created a buzz in India and the world. He counter attacked the claims of Wright brothers in having designed first aeroplane. In 1906, an editorial in Paris Herald famously wondered if the brothers were "flyers or liars". They further added "It is difficult to fly. It is easy to say we have flown." (R. Ganesan) A data has been recovered that states that Shivakar Talpade was the first man to fly an aircraft. He learnt making aircraft from the Vedic scriptures. Talpade had created a flying machine powered by mercury and solar energy, and based on ideas outlined in Vedic texts. He had ostensibly named it Marutsakha (friend of the air) and flew it at the Chowpatty beach in Mumbai in 1895. While hinting that Talpade's work should be recognized, Anand Bodas, who presented a thinly-substantiated paper at the Science Congress, also spoke of ancient Sanskrit descriptions of vimanas that were 60X60 feet in size and travelled across countries, continents and even planets. Various alloys for aircraft manufacturing are mentioned in Maharishi Bharadwaj's Vimana Samhita, he claimed, adding that "the young generation should study the alloys and make them here". (R. Ganesan)

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Image: decodehindumythology.blogspot.com

This debate at this point of time is meaningless as mentioned in other context in Paris Tribune in 1906 talking about Wright brothers ; It is difficult to fly. It is easy to say we have flown." (R. Ganesan) . If this incident had taken place now then, Shivakar Bapurao Talpade would not have only lost his rights to be famous and royalty but, India too would have lost a great intellectual property right.

The objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of intellectual property as an asset for organizations and to project barbaric activities of developed countries against India with special reference to Intellectual property law.

Intellectual property has gained immense importance in recent times and would be a major tool in creating intellectual colonies a different recourse to imperialism. Intellectual property is the wealth for many companies. It is more important than tangible assets. Once, CEO of Coca Cola Company was asked the worth of his company. He responded by saying that If all my corporate houses, factories, offices, cars, and trucks that the company owned were to be burned down in a moment, the company could get back to being operational by re-building and buying everything lost in a year due to the value and profit generated by its intellectual property, namely the income generated by such things as its trademarks, franchise contracts, patents, and licenses. (Kaur, 2012)

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Trademarks can play a crucial role in fortune of the company, for e.g. the brand value of the Coca Cola trademark is USD $6.7Bn. Another example, Harley Davidson rebuilt the company on license fees, which at one time were 50% of its income, from licensing the Harley Davidson trademark for use on products other than motorcycles. US also has law to protect trade secret. The secret formula of making the drink Coca Cola is kept secret in a bank vault which can only be opened by a resolution of the company Board of Directors. Only two people know the secret. Their identities are unknown. They cannot travel together. They oversee the production. (Nanayakkara)

Unfortunately, India has no law to protect trade secret. The worth of intellectual property is many folds more than the physical assets. It is recognised as the most vital and powerful asset by many of the worlds largest companies. (King)

It can further be well illustrated from the following example of S&P companies:

Over the past 25 years the market values of the S&P 500 companies have deviated greatly from their book values. This value gap indicates that the physical and financial accountable assets reflected on an average companys balance sheet today comprises no more than 20 per cent of its true value.

Research from intellectual property bank Ocean Tomo shows that a significant portion of this intangible value is represented by patented technology.

1976 was a breakthrough year in the development of standards for reporting intangible assets, when the then International Accounting Standards Committee

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published exposure draft E9, Accounting for research and development costs.33% When 560 executives were interviewed for a 2010 Hay Group report entitled The silver bullet of success: winners and losers in the M&A game, the research found that they attributed no more than a third of an organisations value to its intangible assets. (Castelao, 2013)

There is an interesting saga that would prove that intellectual Capital is an asset and there is a necessity to have a diligent audit of intellectual property is that of is The Volkswagen-BMW-Rolls Royce:

Rolls Royce Plc sold Rolls Royce Motors to Vickers, a British company in 1973. In 1998, Vickers decided to sell Rolls Royce Motors. Volkswagen with a bidding of 430 Million outbid BMW who bid at 340 Million. However, Volkswagen later realised that it had only bought the plant and the processes but not the Rolls Royce brand, which was with the Rolls Royce Plc, the parent company.

Later that year, BMW bought the rights to the Rolls Royce brand from the parent company for 40 Million. Thus, while Volkswagen (VW) owned the machinery BMW owned the name. VW and BMW reached a settlement that from 1998 2002 BMW would allow VW to use the name and the logo. But from 1st January2003, it was forced to surrender production to BMW. (Sreedharan, 2012)

Furthermore, there is yet another classic example of The NTP v. RIM patent infringement case. NTP had a collection of submarine patents covering the wireless email Technology . Blackberry was a great success with its highly efficient features like its wireless e-mailing, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing and web browsing facilities. It was quite popular with the governments as well. It was a useful device which developed into a classy tool which was wonderfully crafted after weeks of intense research by a well known California based company, Lexicon Branding Inc.

The battle raged in the United Stated District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia which finally held NTPs patents to be valid and gave injunction to RIM. However, the BlackBerry device had gained so much of public acceptance and had become such an integral part of the globe-trotting universe that during the pendency of the appeal, the US Department of Justice filed a brief requesting that RIMs service be allowed to continue because of the large number of BlackBerry users in the US Federal Government! Attempts at settlement failed initially but the matter was finally resolved with a settlement of USD 612 million paid by RIM to NTP as a full and final settlement. Initially, the hugely successful BlackBerry continues to capture major markets worldwide. (Narayanan.P., 1990)

Licensing revenue is one of the most basic and common ways in which companies derive income from their intellectual property. IBM is reported to have recently generated nearly $1.5 billion in annual licensing revenue. (Meyer & Tobin)

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Companies earn a lot of revenue from licensing their Intellectual Property . It is evident from the following example of Jet Airways:

The Jet Airways trade marks were originally owned by Jet Enterprise Private Limited (JEPL), and not by Jet Airways.Although they had a history of common promoters, the IP ownership rested with the former company. Jet Airways was allowed to use the trademarks under a license agreement with JEPL. When the airline company decided to make an initial public offering (IPO) in the securities market in February 2005, prospective investors were concerned about the existing licensing arrangement. They believed that the value of JEPLs intangible assets that is, the IP around the logo and name was considerable, and that either the airline could be forced to pay higher licensing terms once the company became a public enterprise, or that the license may not even be renewed. Such a situation could potentially leave the airline without any rights to continue using the trademarks. Therefore, about a month before the airline was set to open its IPO, the intangible IP assets owned by JEPL were valued. Jet Airways thereafter purchased the entire rights, interests, and title in the said assets for a one-time fee of U.S. Dollars Seventy lakhs. (Kaur, 2012)

It would be senseless for a company to develop and acquire a strong intellectual property portfolio without expecting and ultimately receiving some return on its investment. (Meyer & Tobin)

India is far behind in Intellectual and Property laws. It needs to restructure and make conditions favourable for Indian companies so that at least we are able to survive in the global digital era where knowledge travels at the click of mouse. In fine in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.

Bibliography : Castelao, L. (2013, July 16). The increasing value of intangible assets. Retrieved Mar 15, 2015, from CIMA: http://www.fm-magazine.com/infographic/data/increasing-value-intangible-assets Kaur, G. (2012). Strategic Planning for Commercialisation of Intellectual Property . In S. Sreedharan k, Strategic Planning for Commercialisation of Intellectual Property (p. 5). New Delhi : IGNOU . King, K. (n.d.). The Value of Intellectual Property Intangible Assets and Goddwill,WIPO Program Activities: Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from WIPO: http:/www.wipo.int/sme/en/documents/value_intangible_assets.htm Meyer, S., & Tobin, C. (n.d.). Strategic Intellectual Proerty Planning . Retrieved March 16, 2015, from Fenwick: http://www.fenwick.com/publications/6.2.0.asp Nanayakkara, T. (n.d.). Leveraging Intellectual Property Assets for Business Success. Retrieved March 15, 2015, from WIPO: www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/.../wipo_smes_uln_07_www_89153.ppt Narayanan.P. (1990). Intellectual Property Law. Calcutta : Eastern Law House. . Rainmaker. (2011). Strategic planning for Commercialisation of IP. New Delhi : Rainmaker Training & Recruitment Private Limited, 2011. Sreedharan, S. K. (2012). Entering Markets. In G. Kaur, Comercialisation of IP (p. 6). New Delhi: IGNOU.

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Reconsidering Syllabus Design: The Importance of Learner Goals and Motives

Gareth Morris gareth.morris@xjtlu.edu.cn

+86 13862576680

Abstract: This research focuses on Chinese undergraduate English majors employment goals and language learning motivation. It considers whether they know what they would like to do after graduation; how prominent employment goals are as an L2 motivational drive compared to situation specific alternatives; to what extent the institution or subject sub-discipline have an effect on any evidenced prominence, and what students believe can be done, in light of their employment goals, to improve their courses. The research is post-positivistic in nature. A questionnaire survey was administered to collect the data. Respondents were all students at two institutions within the same city. These institutions were a Chinese university and Chinese college. In total 637 participants took part. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the data. The results suggests that, for the Chinese university and affiliated college, the students in question do have relatively clear employment goals; that as a motivational force employment goals are the second most prominent drive, and that this is the case irrespective of institution or sub-discipline; and that, after coding the data, nine categories of desired changes were evidenced. Key Words : Syllabus Design, Goals, L2 Motivation

Introduction: English majors today enter an increasingly competitive employment market. In order to increase the likelihood of gaining preferential employment upon graduation it is not only important that students achieve good academic scores, but that they are also able to demonstrate possession of professionally desirable skills. To enhance the possibility of achieving either of these outcomes typically necessitates learners to be motivated to work hard throughout their time at university, and to possess reasonably clear goals in order to channel their efforts appropriately (Locke and Latham, 1994). This is especially important in cases where the learners academic courses may not adequately prepare them for future employment realities. The problem however is that many Chinese undergraduates often have not considered their future career direction upon entering university (Ding, 2004; Keng and Partridge, 2008). This is because their parents have often decided upon their educational path (Chao, 1994). With many learners therefore unaccustomed to assuming personal responsibility (Mills, 2011), and others seeming to lack the motivation which will be required to succeed, especially in light of how many English courses fail to develop the skills learners require, securing initial employment can be a challenge.

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Literature Review: An essential feature in helping to facilitate language learning, L2 motivation is regarded as the force behind why a language is learnt, for how long, and with what amount of effort (Dornyei, 2001; Gardner, 2001). Early field developments have included Gardner and Lamberts (1959, 1972) Socio-Educational Model, which highlighted the importance of the socio-cultural environment; Deci and Ryans (1985) Self Determination Theory, which brought to the fore the notion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; and Dornyei and Ottos (1998) Process Model, which considered the importance of the temporal nature of motivation.Within the Chinese context, Gao et al., (2004), in their seminal research on Chinese undergraduates language learning motivation, identified seven prominent motives for the student population to whom this paper attaches importance. These motivational drives were intrinsic interest, immediate achievement, the learning environment, language as an information medium, individual development, social responsibility, and going abroad. It was also identified that that an intrinsic interest in the language, followed by social responsibility were the two most prominent motives at the then time of publication. However, given socio-cultural developments, such as an increasing number of graduates who are also more language proficient, and a more competitive job market, alongside educational reforms, it is unlikely that such a rank order will remain in place today.

Enquiry Design: This research set out to determine whether:

1. Chinese Undergraduate English majors knew what they want to do after university;

2. How prominent employment goals were as an L2 motivational drive for the students in question relative to alternative situation specific motives;

3. To what extent the institutional environment and subject sub-discipline impacted upon the prominence of employment goals as an L2 motivational drive;

4. In light of their employment goals, what Chinese undergraduate English majors believed should be done to improve their courses.

The participants in this study were the English major students attending a university and affiliated college in the city of Suzhou. In all, 637 out of a possible 749 participants took part in the research, a response rate of 85%. These institutions were selected as it was believed that the students in question were likely to be representative of a wide target population. Additional justification resulted from the access the researcher had to both sites. To gather the sought after data a modified questionnaire of the one Gao et al., (2004) employed was adopted. The fact that the updated tool reported a respectable Cronbach Alpha figure of 0.77 for the motivational component of the survey lent additional credence to its use. Instrument administration was conducted by either the researcher, class teacher or both, with variation the result of practical time constraints. In all instances however, the researchs purpose, scope and ethical commitments were communicated to participants. Both descriptive and inferential statistics have been used when interpreting the data. This was conducted on SPSS 19.0, with the parametric tests

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justified because the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro Wilks normality tests indicated that the data was normally distributed.

Results and Analysis: Research Question 1: To assess whether Chinese undergraduate English majors know what they want to do after university, the responses to an open ended question were coded based on an open axial process. This was iterative, and continued until saturation resulted. Based on the findings presented in table 1 below it appears that 72%, a relatively high percentage, do have a clear idea about what they would like to do after university. The English and Education majors harbour the clearest notions in this respect, and this is both in terms of the generic nature of their responses and the degree of specificity. By contrast, the English and Translation majors, despite as a group exhibiting signs of wishing to attain employment in a profession naturally aligned to their respective major, were more divided en-mass. Like the General English majors at both institutions, almost a third of respondents were unsure, or simply had no idea what they would like to do after graduation. That said, and teaching aspirations aside, irrespective of context the General English majors tended to give fairly uniform responses.

Table 1: Do Chinese undergraduate English majors know what they want to do after university?

Specific Employment Goal University EE University ET University GE College GE ALL

Teacher 105 72% 6 7% 21 12% 58 25% 190 30%

Translator 2 1% 23 28% 31 18% 30 13% 86 13%

International Company Employee 3 2% 15 19% 22 12% 24 13% 64 10%

(Any) Company Employee 4 3% 3 4% 17 10% 18 8% 42 7%

Unsure (between possibilities) 19 13% 14 17% 39 22% 33 14% 105 16%

No Idea 6 4% 12 14% 16 9% 43 19% 77 12%

Number of Respondents (in Total) 139 / 145 96% 73 / 83 88% 146 / 177 82% 206 / 232 89% 564 / 637 89%

Note: Selected Results

Abbreviations: EE (English and Education) ET (English and Translation) GE (General English)

Research Question 2: Having determined that the students in question did for the most part harbour employment designs, to assess the relative prominence of generic employment goals as a motivational force relative to situation specific alternatives the mean average of each motivational construct, alongside its associated standard deviation, was calculated. The results are presented in table 2 below, and the results would appear to suggest that the employment goals are a forceful motivational driving

15

force for Chinese undergraduate English majors. Indeed they rank second. This is irrespective of the institution or subject sub-discipline. The accompanying standard deviations, which are reasonably low, additionally suggest that a relatively high level of agreement exists regarding the responses being offered, which increases the likelihood that the statistics are indicative of the majoritys responses.

Table 2: How prominent are employment goals as a L2 motivational drive for Chinese undergraduate English

majors relative to other situation specific motives?

Motive University EE University ET University GE College GE ALL

Individual Development - Mean (Std. Dev) 4.09 (0.78) 3.93 (0.81) 4.10 (0.86) 4.00 (0.87) 4.03 (0.83)

(Generic) Employment Goals - Mean (Std. Dev) 3.94 (0.84) 3.75 (0.89) 3.85 (0.82) 3.87 (0.94) 3.85 (0.87)

Information Medium - Mean (Std. Dev) 3.57 (0.87) 3.68 (0.85) 3.65 (0.92) 3.60 (0.93) 3.63 (0.89)

Intrinsic Interest - Mean (Std. Dev) 3.43 (0.97) 3.49 (0.96) 3.47 (0.99) 3.46 (0.99) 3.46 (0.98)

Social Responsibility - Mean (Std. Dev) 2.95 (0.97) 2.98 (1.07) 3.06 (1.03) 3.20 (1.05) 3.05 (1.03)

Going Abroad - Mean (Std. Dev) 2.94 (1.12) 3.07 (1.05) 2.96 (1.13) 3.18 (1.09) 3.04 (1.10)

Immediate Achievement - Mean (Std. Dev) 2.95 (1.13) 2.70 (1.12) 2.81 (1.17) 3.10 (1.17) 2.89 (1.15)

Learning Situation - Mean (Std. Dev) 2.81 (1.06) 2.70 (1.12) 2.66 (1.11) 2.85 (1.13) 2.76 (1.11)

Total 3.34 (0.97) 3.29 (0.98) 3.32 (1.00) 3.40 (1.02) 3.34 (1.00)

N = 145 N = 83 N = 177 N = 232 N = 637

To assess if the derived rankings are likely to be a genuine reflection of reality a series of ANNOVAs were conducted. The findings were that there was a statistically significant difference at the p < .05 level for the motivation scores for each of the four groups: English and Education (university): F (7, 4632) = 154, P = .000; English and Translation (university): F (7, 2648) = 79, P = .000; General English (university): F (7, 5656) = 189, P = .000; and, General English (College): F (7, 7416) = 142, P = .000. In addition, Post Hoc Tests (Multiple Comparisons) confirmed the majority of the rank order placements. The effect sizes were however found to be small (Cohen, 1988). Listed in the same order as the previous information, the exact figures are .19, .17, .19, and .12. However, in an educational setting it is worth noting that small effect sizes do not necessarily detract from the value of the findings (Coe, 2002). Planned comparisons were also conducted between the employment goals motive and the situation specific alternative drives. A Bonferroni adjustment was initiated which set the alpha level at .007. The following figures were derived: English and education (university): F (1, 4632) = 103, P = .000; English and translation (university): F (1, 2648) = 130.33, p = .000; general English (university): F (1, 5656) = 206.21, P = .000; general English (college): F (1, 7416) = 96.26, p = .000. As indicated, statistically significant results were returned for all four groups lending further credence to earlier findings.

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Research Question 3: To evaluate the impact that the institutional environment and subject sub-discipline had upon the prominence of employment goals as a L2 motivational drive for Chinese undergraduate English majors a MANOVA was conducted. The dependent variables were the eight motivational constructs, and the independent variable the (four) institutional / subject sub-disciplines. During preliminary assumption testing to check for normality, linearity, univariate and multivariate outliers, homogeneity of variance - covariance matrices, and multicollinearity, no serious violations were noted. Results indicated that there were statistically significant scores between the institutional / subject sub-disciplines on the combined dependent variables, F (24, 1816) = 3.08, p = .000; Wilks Lambda = .89; partial eta squared = .04. When the results for the dependent variables were considered separately, the only differences to reach statistical significance, having first used a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of .00625, were social responsibility F (3, 633) = 4.962, p = .002, partial eta squared .023; going abroad F (3, 633) = 4.456, p = .004, partial eta squared .021; and immediate achievement F (3, 633) = 4.430, p = .000, partial eta squared .035. In these cases, an inspection of the mean scores indicated that general English majors at the college reported slightly higher averages than all their contemporaries at the university across all three constructs. Thus, the relative prominence of the four most prominent motives (as well as the least influential) would not appear to be affected by the institution / subject sub-discipline. Research Question 4: Before discussion turns to what students would like to see improved about their courses, it is first worth noting that 61% of English and Education majors, 76% of English and Translation majors, 78% of university General English majors, and 59% of General English majors at the college felt, at least to some extent, that their courses helped to prepare them for their desired future employment. In addition, an additional, 36% of English and Education majors; 18% of English and Translation majors, 19% of university General English majors, and 26% of college General English majors actually felt that their courses did help to prepare them. However, this did not stop almost all, 85% of participants, offering suggestions for further ways improvements could be made. These suggestions to what was an open ended question were coded based on the common themes which emerged and selected results can be seen in table 3 below. Indeed, the highest percentage irrespective of the sub-discipline, 25% in total, stated that they would like to see more courses being offered with greater choice flexibility. More interactive classes were also desired, seemingly suggesting that pedagogy ought to become more student centered. The other major finding was that 13% of students felt that they would like to receive additional employment skills training and careers advice.

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Table 3: In light of their employment goals what do Chinese undergraduate English major students believe

should be done to improve their courses?

Principal Preferred Change University EE University ET University GE College GE ALL

More Course Options / Flexibility 33 23% 23 28% 57 32% 44 19% 157 25%

More Interactive Classes (SS / ST) 27 19% 3 4% 23 13% 61 26% 114 18%

More Employment Skills and Advice 18 12% 18 22% 29 16% 20 9% 85 13%

No Comment 9 6% 5 6% 8 5% 30 13% 52 8%

Update Pedagogy (Content / Material) 6 4% 2 2% 16 9% 26 11% 50 8%

Number of Respondents (in Total) 93 / 145 64% 51 / 83 61% 133 / 177 75% 181 / 232 78% 458 / 637 72%

Note: Selected Results / Respondents only stated the

change they would most like to see implemented

Conclusion: This research has found that Chinese undergraduate English majors harbour specific (if underdeveloped) employment designs, and that generic employment goals are a prominent motivational force. Indeed, out of the four motivational forces which were found to drive the students in their academic endeavours, employment goals ranked second. In addition, the students also had clear notions of how they would like to see their courses enhanced. On a final note, this research has also highlighted that, with the motives of Chinese undergraduate English majors having evolved since Gao et al., (2004) conducted their seminal fieldwork almost a decade ago, the research instrument they devised, namely the questionnaire survey, appears to require updating.

Bibliography:

Chao, R. (1994). Beyond Parental Control and Authoritarian Parenting Style: Understanding Chinese Parenting through the Cultural Notion of Training. Child Development, 65(4), 1111-1119. Coe, R. (2002). Its the Effect Size, Stupid? What Effect Size Is and Why It Is Important. Retrieved July 17, 2013 from: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002182.htm Deci, E. Ryan, R. (1985). Intrinsic Motivation and Self Determination in Human Behaviour. New York: Plenum. Ding, X. (2004). The Tracking Survey about the Employment Situation of University Students. In China International Symposium on Education. Volume 3. Beijing: Peoples Education Press. Drnyei, Z. (2001). Teaching and Researching Motivation. Harlow: Longman. Drnyei, Z. Ott, I. (1998). Motivation in Action: A Process Model of L2 Motivation. Working Papers in Applied Linguistics, Thames Valley University, 4, 43-69. Gao, Y. et al. (2004). Motivation Types of English Learning among Chinese University Undergraduates. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 14, 45-64. Gardner, R. (2001a). Language Learning Motivation: The Student, the Teacher and the Researcher. Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, 6(1), 1-18. Gardner, R. Lambert, W. (1959). Motivational Variables in Second-Language Acquisition. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 13, 266-272. Gardner, R. Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second Language Learning. Rowley: Newbury House. Locke, E.A. Latham, G.P. (1994). Goal Setting Theory. In ONeil, H. F. Jr. Drillings, M. (Eds.). Motivation: Theory and Research (pp. 13-30). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mills, E. (2011, May 22). Enter the Dragons. The Sunday Times Magazine, 20-26. Partridge, R. Keng, N. (2008). Tackling Graduate Unemployment: Enhancing Employability amongst Students of Chinese Universities. Retrieved May 11, 2013 from: http://www.york.ac.uk/services/careers/nyjcee/res/emplychinaukperspective.pdf

17

India US China in the Indo-Pacific : A Find Blaance

Dona Ganguly Assistant Professor

Department of ONA GANGULY Assistant Professor

Department of Political Science, The Bhawanipur Education Society College, Kolkata

donajadavpur@gmail.com 91-9831852639/7687980041

ABSTRACT: The region of Indo-Pacific can develop into a prolific geo- economic zone if each of the three nations- India, US and China mitigate the risk of the escalating conflict and initiate a fine balance by maintaining clarity, transparency, mutual trust and unambiguous communication free of misperceptions.

Key words: Indo-Pacific region, Asia Pivot policy, hub and spokes model, extended neighbourhood

INTRODUCTION : In the contemporary world political state of affairs, the centre of gravity of the power is now shifting towards a new economically and strategically important region which encompasses the Western Pacific, the Eastern Pacific, the Eastern Indian Ocean rim and the Western Indian Ocean reaching the East African shores as a single geo-strategic arc. This new geopolitical strategic construction, well known among scholars and diplomats as Indo-Pacific Asia or Indo-Pacific, was elucidated by the geopolitics scholar Karl Haushofer as Indopazifischen Raum, the home to an enormously populous and diverse mix of ethnicities, cultures, political systems, religions and economies. Indo-Pacific is the vein that carries the resources fuelling the growth of the economies of China and India and in which the US has declared a permanent future presence. The present study deals with 4 research questions: (a) Why the Indo-Pacific Region is becoming geo-economically as well as politically significant? (b) How the region is strategically important for India, the US and China? (c) What are the potential areas of coalition, co-existence and the tipping points for clash among these nations? (d) Is it possible that the power relations these three nations are currently sharing with each can satisfy their long term national interests? The present study has been inter-disciplinary one. It is based on the historical and analytical method. The data used here is essentially based on secondary resources like journals, articles, speeches and statements

GEO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF INDO-PACIFIC : Indo-Pacific is an emerging geostrategic and geo-economic construct that has been gaining prominence in the international discourse in the last few years. Indo-Pacific is the geographical connotation of the area straddling the Western Pacific, the Eastern Pacific, the Eastern Indian Ocean rim and the Western Indian Ocean reaching the East African shores as a single geo-strategic arc. It is rapidly making the once dominant Asia-Pacific obscure and irrelevant as the centre of trade, investment, competition and cooperation. In the post cold war period the concept of Asia- Pacific was propounded and promoted throughout the 1970s and 80s. However it is being now felt that the Asia- Pacific construct is too narrow and restrictive with its focus on East Asia and Southeast Asia only. While the term has focused much on western Pacific and power play of US, China and Japan;Indian Ocean with the huge economic and human resource potential, emerging as a key strategic arena in the 21st century

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was left out, largely overshadowed by Pacific.Piracy in the Strait of Malacca, the rise of China and its assertive maritime behaviour particularly in South China Sea and Indian Ocean, political, economic and military rise of India, greater salience of energy issues, growing interaction between the two Oceans due to ever-increasing trade, Australians trade interest in the broader Indian Ocean and Western Australia, US rebalancing strategy; all have induced perceptive shifts in the opinion.

The prime geopolitical significance of the region is attached to the often-talked Asia Pivot policy. Given Asias economic rise and the strategic competition that is now ensuing in the region, Great powers are creating their pivots in the region. The US re-balancing of its forces and the economic initiative of the Trans Pacific Partnership intends to establish a US Asia pivot. The US led alliance system ties the emerging powers with the United States in the hub and spokes1 model. US security guarantees with these powers is bolstered with extensive economic interdependence and trade. India has growing and deepening economic exchanges with the emerging powers of the Pacific and reciprocally the emerging powers have been investing in India and have also limited forward presence in the Indian Ocean. Indias economic and strategic exchanges with the emerging powers positions India into the Indo-Pacific as part of its extendedneighbourhood2. China on the other hand has been strengthening its economic engagement through the East Asia Summit and has been deepening its economic exchanges with Southeast Asia.

Secondly, the security of the Indo-Pacific commons is yet another factor of immense geo-strategic significance. These commons span over the critical waterways including the Strait of Malacca; the South China Sea; the Taiwan Strait; key aerial transit routes; undersea passages; cyber networks and communications satellites. These lines of communication are increasingly vulnerable to disruption by both traditional and non-traditional threats.Moreover throughout the Indo-Pacifics commons, territorial disputes over isolatedislets and rocky chains, differing interpretations ofterritorial waters and exclusive economic zones, andclashes between national fishing fleets, among otherproblems, are endemic and keep tension and distrustin the commons at high levels.Major disputes include that over Taiwans sovereignty; the divided Korean peninsula; the numerous island rivalries, such as the Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea between China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Malaysia; the Kurile Island chain between Russia and Japan; the Takeshima/ Dokdo Islands in the Sea of Japan between Japan and South Korea; the Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea between China, Taiwan, and Japan. Other land disputes include parts of Arunachal Pradesh between India and China.

STRATEGIC INTERESTS OF US, INDIA AND CHINA : The US emerged from World War II as one of the most influential and powerfulnations in the world and has been the global hegemon since the end of the ColdWar. However, US involvement in the two wars in the region of the Middle East in the last decade has consumed valuable national reserves at a time of global financial crisis and the US is in such difficult economic circumstances that it has hadto raise its foreign debt ceiling to US$16.2 trillion to avoid defaulting. (McDaniel Colonel Dan, 2012) In 2011, the US President Barack Obama declared a shift of US focus to the Pacific through his pivotannouncement while addressing the Australian Parliament on 17 November of the same year.( McDaniel Colonel Dan) Since then US has increased its economic, military and diplomatic efforts inthe Indo-Pacific, eager to retain its position as the regional power. Nevertheless the US diplomatic strides face significant challenges from China, which has emerged as one of thekey drivers of the shift in the balance of power andthe rise of regional uncertainty. As a result of Chinasmilitary build-up, the United States and its

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allies canno longer claim to be maintaining regional superiorityof forces either numerically orqualitatively.(Auslin Michael, 2010) Chinas most conspicuous militaryadvanceshave taken place in the PLA Navy(PLAN). The PLAN boasts the Indo-Pacifics largest navalforce, and one that is becoming more adept atpatrolling and joint operations, especially within thefirst island chain, which runs south from Japanssouthern home island of Kyushu, past Taiwan, anddown into Southeast Asia demarcating claimed waters in theSouth China Sea. (Auslin Michael, 2010) PLAN ships now regularly travelin the East and South China seas, in addition tothose of the China MSA, thereby giving China a regularpresence in the East Asian commons. (Auslin Michael, 2010) Of equalsignificance to the U.S. and other navies, as recentconfrontations between Chinese and foreign vesselshave demonstrated, the PLAN is acquiring oractively developing advanced weapons able to targetenemy vessels at increasing ranges. (Auslin Michael, 2010) The PLA Air Force (PLAAF)has been modernizing its fleet of fighters andbombers concurrently with the PLA build-up. (Auslin Michael, 2010) ThePLAAF is also acquiring unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs) and unmanned combat aerial vehicles; though their numbers and quality are far lower than foreign counterparts, and developing advancedcombat and reconnaissance versions. (Auslin Michael, 2010) Among these, programs especially worrisome to U.S. military planners are the DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile, which is designed to track U.S. large ships at sea; the J-20 stealth fighter, which could reduce the edge of stealthy U.S. F-22s and future F-35s; the growing submarine fleet, which now numbers over 70; and ongoing anti-cyber programs, designed to attack the networked structure of Americas defence machine. (Auslin Michael, 2011) United Statesand other Western nations strongly suspect thatChina is actively seeking to wage cyber warfare as aseparate war fighting discipline that can support othermilitary operations and act as an offensive means inits own right by using computer network operations,electronic warfare, and kinetic strikes to attack anenemys networked information systems. (Auslin Michael, 2010) Targets would include intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance(ISR) systems, databases, satellites, and networkarchitecture, with the goal of blinding an enemyor disrupting its ability to achieve battlefield awarenessand coordinate operations, thereby underminingthe connectivity that fundamentally underpins theU.S. way of war.

India has been looking towards the East since the 1990s. Now, there is a renewed emphasis on this in India owing to recent developments in Southeast Asia along with growing international interest in the Asia Pacific. From an Indian perspective, it will be imperative to expand the focus from Looking East to Indo-Pacific for the following reasons. First, in terms of US military-economic concerns, this region is likely to become strategically significant. The Indo-Pacific is becoming the next international theatre and is likely to witness a substantial attention, investment and development. Second, in economic terms, given the presence of organizations and structures such as ASEAN, the ARF and the EAS, this region will become the global economic power-house. Third, the maritime expanse of this region along with the oceanic trading routes cutting across the Indian Ocean and the Pacific has already made the Indo-Pacific perhaps even more important than the European Union. In the next decade, the sheer volume of trade and movement of goods across these two oceans will also increase the vulnerability of this region. The imperative to protect the sea-lanes across the two oceans and the need to secure maritime traffic will make not only the Malacca Straits but also the entire Indo-Pacific the most important area.Fourth, the rise of China peaceful or otherwise will be felt more acutely in this region, starting from East Asia to South Asia. Moreover the oft-talked String of Pearls strategy of China in the region is of special concern for India. According to Christopher Pehrson in the USDepartment of Defence Report--- The StringofPearls(SOP) [the term coined by Booz Allen Hamilton] describes the manifestation of China's rising geopolitical influence through efforts to increase access to ports and airfields,

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develop special diplomatic relationships, and modernize military forces that extend from the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca, across the Indian Ocean, and on to the Persian Gulf. There are at least 12 pearls on this string. Each pearl in the String of Pearls is a nexus of Chinese geopolitical influence or military presence. Simply put, a pearl is a sphere of influence seeded, secured and maintained through the use of economic, geopolitical, diplomatic or military means. These pearls are interwoven and sinewed into a strong chain or string by virtue of their strategic positioning and placement to each other. (Shee Poon Kim) These include a deep sea port at Sittwe and water harbour at Kyaukphyu,Hainggyik and Great Coco Islands in Myanmar;Gwadar port in Pakistan; Chittagong deep sea port at Bangladesh; Hainan Island and Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea;Hambantota port at Srilanka;deep sea ports at Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius.India perceives Chinese actions as power maximization, which could lead to a reordering of the balance of power in the Indian Ocean. The potential for China to project maritime power into the Indian Ocean has arguably become Indias principal long term source of concern. Chinas engagement of nations around India could alter the balance of power, affect Indias strategic posture and impinge on its standing as a regional stable power leading to competition and a possible conflict. This unfolding maritime competition with China is an important factor that will drive Indias maritime strategy in the Indian Ocean.India fears that Chinas political influence, military modernization and forward basing strategy will be used to contain India as China ascends as the pre-eminent Asian power.They fear that Chinese intentions are combative, power seeking and against peaceful co-existence.Indian leaders further speculate that China is trying to rapidly achieve hegemony in the Indian Ocean while it enjoys a position of strength. They comprehend Chinas strategies as opportunistic, arising from weak and ineffective Indian attempts at deterrence and balancing. Chinas strings of pearls gambit is part of a well co-ordinated, multifarious play at neutralizing Indias efforts to gain any traction in business, military and political influence in various energy- rich host states. State sponsored Chinese companies routinely outbid various Indian companies for oil and gas concessions by paying artificially high prices for resources. Such generous bids are deliberately designed to erode Indias ability to develop meaningful business relationships with the host state on any significant scale. India simply cannot seem to match Chinas generous dispensation of economic rewards.

The Indo-Pacific region is important not only for the supply of resources to but China alsoregards it as within its rightful sphere of influence. As already mentioned the String of Pearls strategy describes the imminent geopolitical interests of China in and around the region. Chinas current actions in the Indian Ocean are rational and consistent with employing realpolitik in its energy security policies. Most of Beijings oil imports come from the Middle East, Sudan and Angola, which mean they must transit the Indian Ocean en route to China. This arrangement has left China extremely vulnerable to disruptions. Starting in 2003, China began talking of its Malaccadilemma, whereby the oil that lubricates its economy must pass through the Strait of Malacca, a narrow waterway that could be shut down by a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or at the behest of a foreign power. Although the Malacca dilemma continues to be a worry, the rest of Chinas SLOCs in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea are equally vulnerable to disruption. Ships being the favourite medium of transport for oil, ports for refuelling, repairs and shelter are extremely important. Developing and upgrading ports would lead to shortening of shipping routes and to reduction in ship docking times. Maintaining control of ports also means that shipping lanes stay open and free. In like manner, not only do ports have to be developed, operated and secured from other neighbouring states, each port has to be interlinked to one another to form a conduit that can ultimately lead back to China. A key feature of the strategy, therefore, is, to upgrade and

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construct ports in several countries around the Indian Ocean. Beijing has also established diplomatic ties with these host countries via trade offers or visits by senior officials or representatives from State-run enterprises. This is generally followed up by a generous dose of dollar diplomacy achieved by giving grants, economic aid, loans and even technical expertise and materials to the host. Chinas SOP strategy should be seen not only as a mere military or naval or regional strategy; a rational approach to a serious national security dilemma. It is a manifestation of Chinas ambition to attain great power status and secure a self-determined, peaceful, and prosperous future. China realizes that its maritime strength will give it the strategic leverage it needs to emerge as the regional hegemon and a potential superpower. Chinas growing dependence on maritime space and resources is reflected in the Chinese aspiration to expand its influence and to ultimately dominate the strategic environment of the Indian Ocean region. Further, Chinas ongoing presence via its pearls also means opening doors to new untapped markets eager for Chinese goods, which no doubt aids in keeping Chinas growth rates purring along comfortably. In Myanmar, for instance, the revamping of roads saw the creation of 40,000 jobs for Chinese labourers, half of whom would remain in the country to continue with repair and maintenance work. (Shee Poon Kim)Chinas quest for pearls reflects its enlightening pragmatism, instrumentality and flexibility in its foreign policy. It also attests to Beijings determination to do anything and everything to ensure secure access to energy resources. Records are showing that China has successfully increased net crude-oil imports to a record 22.27 million metric tons, or 5.44 million barrels a day as of June 2010.(Shee Poon Kim) Further the SOP strategy can be conceived of as apossible response to the emerging Indo-US partnership in the Indo-Pacific region.

EXISTING POWER RELATIONS: The above studyidentifies two possiblemodels of power relation: (I) Indo-US-China Mutual Perceptions; (II) the Indo-US defensive alliance. The concept of mutual perception engages a demanding space in the academic literature of International Relations. To be more specific mutual perception and security perception are oft-interchangeable terminologies. Security is a most complex and ambiguous term subjected to several interpretations; like: as a psychological feature or a feeling, security is freedom from anxiety and fear; as a condition or a status security is the state of being free from danger or injury; as a measure or an act security is protection or defence against threats.(Li Li, 2009) Security perception is a state actors strategic culture or ideas of security.(Li Li, 2009)According to Alexander Wendt(one of the proponents of the theory of constructivism) mutual perception refers to role-identification between two nations. (Li Li, 2009) One nation might regard the other nation as an enemy, a rival or as a friend. Wendt further explains how Self(one side) defines the role of the Other(the other side) will not only affect its own policy towards the Other, but also have a constitutive effect on the Others perceptions of it, which will in turn influence the Others policy towards the Self.When the Self acts like an enemy toward the Other, this enmity will confirm whatever hostile intentions the Other has attributed to the Self, forcing the Other to actually enact its role as an enemy, which will in turn reinforce the Selfs perception of the Other.(Li Li, 2009) In an environment where China fears Indian rise and US containment, India fears Chinese containment and the US fears Chinese dominance, the entire region of the Indo-Pacific is likely to be miredinto conflict born of misperceptions and misunderstandings among the nations of the Indo-Pacific strategic triangle.Indo-US defensive partnership affirms that both Washington and New Delhi is keen to maintain this alliance not only to deter and balance the rising Chinese presence in the region, but also to realize their long term objectives in the region. US is supporting India in order to deepen its network in the region and benefit economically from Indias young domestic market. India is accepting the assistance in order to benefit from US support for its

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objectives in global fora, to develop its military capability and to draw on US support for continued economic growth. As a part of its rebalancing, the US is likely to work with partners such as Japan, South Korea, Australia and ASEAN providing an opportunity for New Delhi to work with these countries. (Chandran D. Suba, 2013)Moreover the increased American attention towards Naypidaw provides a substantial space for New Delhi in Myanmar. This availability of space in Myanmar is essentialfor New Delhi if it has to create a land bridge to South East Asia spanning over the Northeast India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The success of this integration project will be determining the future of Indias Look East policy and its long term objectives in the Indo-Pacific. The current scenario suggests that the potential for clash in the Indo-Pacific in the next decade and beyond is high. If the region has to develop into a prolific geo- economic zone, then each of these three nations has to mitigate the risk of the escalating conflict and initiate a fine balance by maintaining clarity, transparency, mutual trust and unambiguous communication free of misperceptions.

NOTES

1. Within the sphere of East Asian relations, hub-and-spokes refers to the network of bilateral alliances between United States and other individual East Asian countries. United States acts as a "hub" and Asian countries such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan fall under the category "spokes." Whereas there is a strong alliance between the hub and the spoke, there are no firmly established connections between the spokes themselves. This system was famously inspired by John Foster Dulles, who served as US Secretary of State under the Eisenhower administration from 1953 to 1959. He addressed this term twice in Tokyo and once at the San Francisco Peace Treaty of September 1951. This led to talks for bilateral peace treaty between US and Japan. Security Treaty between the United States and Japan of 1951, U.S.-South Korea Status of Forces Agreement of 1953 or U.S.-Republic of China Mutual Defence Treaty of 1954 (replaced by the Taiwan Relations Act) are some of the examples that manifests these bilateral relations. In April 2014, all ten ASEAN defence chiefs and United States Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel attended the U.S.-ASEAN Defense Forum in Hawaii. This marked the first time the U.S. had hosted the forum. This was part of an American attempt to get the countries to strengthen military ties between themselves.

2. The vision of an extended neighborhood involves power projection by India; be it hard power- military and economic projection or be it soft power cultural and ideational strands. The extended neighborhood has become the conceptual umbrella for India; eastwards, southwards, northwards and westwards; amidst what some have called an omni-directional 360-degree vision of the opportunities available to India outside South Asia. This was well expressed in 2006 by the Minister for External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee; Indias foreign policy today looks at Indias environment in expanding circles . . . starting with the immediate neighbourhood . . . moving on to . . . the extended neighbourhood. The concept was pushed with some vigor under Atal Bihari Vajpayees BJP administration of 19982004, which quickly announced our concerns and interactions go well beyond South Asia. They include other neighbours, and countries immediately adjoining this region our extended neighbourhood. Whereas the term extended neighbourhood was absent in the Ministry of External Affairs Annual Report of 19992000, it appeared in the Annual Report for 200001 as something to be distinguished from Indias immediate neighbourhood. BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Auslin Michael, Security in the Indo-Pacific Commons: Towards a Regional Strategy, p.11, Retrieved October 8, 2014 from A Report of the American Enterprise Institute, December 2010, http://www.aei.org/files/2010/12/15/AuslinReportWedDec152010.pdf

Auslin Michael, The Struggle for Power in the Indo-Pacific, 2011, p.148, Retrieved October 8, 2014 from Turkish Policy Quarterly, http://www.turkishpolicy.com/dosyalar/files/Michael%20Auslin (1).pdf Chandran D. Suba, From Look East to Indo-Pacific, Retrieved October 8, 2014 from The Daily Star, 23 March 2013,http://archive.thedailyshttps://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/RadicalCentrism/ulGSsCT3MDEtar.net/beta2/news/from-look-east-to-indo-pacific/

Li Li, Security Perception and China-India Relations, KW Publishers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2009, p.9

McDaniel Colonel Dan, Australian Army, India, China and the United States in the Indo-Pacific region: Coalition, Co-existence or Clash?, October 2012 p.16 Retrieved October 8, 2014 from DEFENCE.GOV

http://www.defence.gov.au/adc/docs/Publications2012/09_US_China_India_in_the_Indo-Pacific_Region_Coalition_Co-existence_or_Clash_McDaniel%20_2_.pdf, india china us in indopacific

Shee Poon Kim, An Anatomy of Chinas String of Pearls Strategy, p.33, Retrieved October 8, 2014 from BIWAKO.SHIGAhttp://www.biwako.shiga-u.ac.jp/eml/Ronso/B87/Kim.pdf http://society.ezinemark.com/chinas-string-of-pearls-strategy-in-the-indian-ocean-and-the-gradual-encirclement-of-india (accessed on 05.11.12)

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Framing the Meaning of Life

M.P. Terence Samuel Assistant Professor

Dept of Philosophy and Comparative Religion Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan

West Bengal 731235 Email: mptsamuel@gmail.com

Abstract : The question regarding the meaning-of-life is a perennial question, attempted intellectually and lived practically. Still, the question seems to be unresolved in the context of changing times and historical epochs. The meaning of life has been consistently transposed on various aspects of life by individuals. In this article, the question is discussed in the context of Terry Eagletons philosophical attempt to understand the problem. The problem is attempted to be resolved here, as to how to go for the meaning of life as social-individuals, rather than merely as individuals. Key Words: Meaning of life, Terry Eagleton, Existentialism, Marxism Introduction : The question of the meaning of life is a daunting question for all humanity from time immemorial. The meaning of life has been searched and lived variously, and there can be no singular answer to the question. But still, a philosophical understanding of such variants of meaning of life has been attempted by philosophers in general. Here in this article, I would like to explore this question in the context of Terry Eagletons Meaning of Life. Towards the end of the book, The Meaning of Life - A Very Short Introduction, Eagleton gives an analogy of a jazz music group, where every memberworks in tandem on improvisation, to show how the life is itself a reconciliation of individuation and sociability at the same time, unlike the symphony which relies on collective score. Each individual performer of a jazz group has the freedom to improvise but having the sensitivity to the self-expressive performances of others within the group. Having a heavy dosage of the concept of freedom offered by liberal individualism in the modern context, the freedom of the jazz performers on improvisation may be construed as a limited freedom. However, Eagleton says As each player grows more musically eloquent, the others draw inspiration from this and are spurred to greater heights. There is no conflict here between freedom and the good of the whole, yet the image is the reverse of the totalitarian There is self-realization, but only through a loss of self in the music as a whole. There is achievement, but it is not a question of self-aggrandizing success because this flourishing is reciprocal, we can speak, remotely and analogically, of a kind of love. According to him, when the meaning of life is situated in the life itself, and not in any means of it or outside of it (like god), the contenders for the meaning-of-life, like love, happiness, morality, individuation, etc, the means

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become interrelated to form a wholeness of life. And, just as the jazz performance is a pointless individual-cum-collective improvisation, the form of life becomes completely pointless and flourishes as a delight in itself, rather than serving any utilitarian or metaphysical ends. In this sense, the meaning of life is interestingly close to meaninglessness, though it is not vacuous. This looks completely as a utopian aspiration, as he himself acknowledges. However the point is, still basing our critique on the analogy of jazz performance, the performers need to be skilled artists in receptivity and instrumental acumen and agility, as the jazz performance thrives on the reconciliation of individuation and receptive sensitivity towards the others.

Similarly, on the stage of life too, we need to have such performers, which is possible with the structural foundations of socio-economic conditions.But the problem is, as he himself has mentioned earlier in the book, it is an age of harmless distractions; the capitalism has the accumulation of more capital and profit as its end, instead of minimizing the exigencies of labour to be free humans. In such circumstances, his avowal to construct a meaning of life in life itself would remain as a utopia, as the social conditions are not still ripe for it for all but only a select few who too spend their leisure in indulgence and amassing wealth. It does not mean that people are unskilled to exercise such a meaning of life; rather, the social conditions are still not yielding to the possibility of realizing it. So, this utopian idea about the meaning of life can be realized only through the emergence out of this social conditions/conditioning.

While situating the meaning of life in life itself, the meaning-of-life question has been relieved of its esoteric contents and it becomes an exoteric practice, as Terry Eagleton himself suggests. This is an attempt to usurp the meaning-of life question away from the elites and the philosophical speculators, of its metaphysical and mystical significances/significations, and locating it in within the ontological context of the more wider cultural-geographical space, that is, the beings on earth themselves. Now, the question becomes a little more complicated, in the sense that the cultural variations come into play in such an exercise of locating the meaning of life, as the humans are also cultural animals too. For example, a Brahmin in India can get his/her meaning of life only if (s)he observes the Brahminic traits, one may say, unless and until one relieves the meaning of life question from its identity-oriented significations, while locating it in life itself, and tries to realize the utopian humanist form of life.

Another significant attempt which Terry Eagleton makes in this little but fully-loaded book is that life has been relieved from its mono-linear significations. When life is understood as a flow of events, often unconnected with the other moments in their singularity of meaning, of impermanence towards death, the meaning of life can not realized devoid of its multivalent potential. It cannot be understood as having a singular meaning. Though being a thorough-going critic of postmodernism, it seems that Eagleton himself falls into the loop of postmodernism, while relieving life of its coherent potentiality. Though, at the end of the book, he may suggest that the life itself gets an absolutist status while situating the meaning of life in life itself, still the life is

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perceived through postmodern-liberalist-anarchist attitudes by him, it seems. As Sartre would suggest somewhere in his works, death gives its entirety to life, in the sense that death relieves ones life from his/her hands and gives it to others disposal; that the death does not allow a person the possibility to reinterpret his life in the eyes of others. For Heidegger, death is Daseinsownmost possibility where being-as-a-whole becomes a possibility - that a totality of life becomes possible through ones death as ones life is given to the disposal of others and not to the being anymore. Death creates the possibility for the appropriation of public meanings of an individual in a coherent manner, in spiteof the fact that the life of an individual is not mono-linear while existing.

Further, Eagleton states, There could not logically be a final meaning, one which brought interpretation to a halt, since it would need to be interpreted. And since signs have meaning only in relation to other signs, there could no more be one big final sign than there could be one number, or one person. It is true that the closure of further interpretation seals the meaning; and as long as there is no such closure, there will be endless referrals of meaning. Still, proposing that there could not be a final meaning logically smacks of postmodern overture.

This little brilliant book analyses the task in hand linguistically. Most of the discussions about the meaning-of-life question in this book are centred on the capability of grammar and language in revealing the answers to the question. For this task, he takes into consideration the thoughts of Wittgenstein, and quotes extensively from Shakespeare and the works of other modern literary giants of English language.

Meaning is a matter of language, not of objects, says Eagleton, quoting some thinkers. Following Wittgenstein, he says that it is the grammar which deceives us, when one says, I have a pain akin to I have a hat. By constructing pain as similar to a thing grammatically/syntactically, we are deceived into an understanding that the meaning can be grasped in our hands like a thing; but pain is an experience, unlike a hat, which cannot be given away or taken over by anyone. Confronting such problems of understanding in language, he says, Posing the right kind of question can open up a whole new continent of knowledge, bringing other vital queries tumbling in its wake If we have the conceptual apparatus to pose the question, then we already have in principle the means to determine an answer to it It is true that they (the questions) do not have their answers tied conveniently to their tails; but they intimate the kind of response that would at least count as an answer. Further as the word life suggests a singular biological entity, the multiple ontological/existential moments of life are also understood singularly and mono-linearly. In such a sense also, the meaning-of-life is confused due to the overlap of the bio-linguistic and ontological undercurrents. In this overlapping of the biological and ontological variations of meaning, the ontological discontinuities between different moments of life are given linearity and understood as a continuous whole also.

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One of the most powerful answers to the meaning-of-life question is proposed as tragedy. Eagleton reviews this position also in his book. Starting from Greek art, and even up to the modern period, the question of the meaning of life has been searched passionately in the context of tragedies, as tragedy was understood as revealing the courageous reflection on the fundamental nature of human existence. Nietzsche, an admirer of the Greek tragedy, who revived the idea in modern period with certain philosophical and existential significations, somewhere writes in his Thus Spake Zarathustra that Life is a perpetual struggle; and for Nietzsche, life is a work of art too. Though tragedy brings into existence the cherished values of passionate human aspirations, it prepares the ground for looking into a particular human life through the prism of tragedy.

Another very interesting discussion, in this book, is abouthow the meaning-of-life question became so dear during the twentieth century. Though it does not mean that the question was not alive during pre-twentieth century, the question was agonistically searched over during the last century. Terry Eagleton says that the human life became appallingly cheap in the twentieth century than the previous epochs, with millions of unnecessary deaths. More than this, he argues that the symbolic dimensions of human life, such as religion, culture and sexuality, were increasingly pushed to the peripheries of life during the modern period. During pre-modern times, these symbolic dimensions were cherished as belonging to public sphere as well as the private sphere. In pre-modern societies, Religion was not just a question of personal conscience and individual salvation; it was also a matter of state power, public rituals and national ideologies Artists were rather less inclined to mull over the meaning of life when they had just received a lucrative commission to compose a Requiem Mass Sexuality, then and now, was a matter of erotic love and personal fulfillment. But it was also locked more deeply into the institutions of kinship, inheritance, class, property, power and status than it is for most of us today, says Eagleton.

He has no intention to idealize the symbolic dimensions of the pre-modern societies; nor does he want us to revert back to such conditions. But he comments that People turned to these values all the more eagerly as the public domain itself became increasingly drained of meaning. Then what happened during modern epoch? In capitalist modernity, culture was now largely a matter of how to keep people harmlessly distracted when they were not working Sexuality grew into an exotic obsession Sexual shock and outrage stood in for a missing political militancy The more religion loomed up as an alternative to the steady haemorrhaging of public meaning, the more it was driven into various ugly forms of fundamentalism, he opines. With the commercial colonization of all these spheres of life in the modern period, but towards which the pre-modern societies turned to take a recourse to the meaning-of-life, the meaning-of-life has been begun to searched within an individual

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and has become a lucrative industry too. As postmodernism prescribes, the meaning-of-life becomes a bewildering question with the possibility of diversity of answers too.

In such a discussion of meaning of life, the meaning of life is one that an individual fashions in relation with his/her collective reality. Then, how are we going to understand the identity/cultural markers of reality, which act as second nature? Are we going to leave them as purely imaginations and mere constructions, as they are built up over and above the real? Caste, race, colour and other such markers are ascribed onto a person when he is born, even before inheriting them in the course of life; they are superimposed on the real, which the person loves/hates to inherit them within him, depending upon the hierarchical status of these markers or with a regressive/progressive outlook. In that case, should a subaltern or a Dalit or a Black need to carry on his/her identity, still working in common with others - as in the case of the Jazz group - to fashion his or her own meaning of life? A Dalit may fashion his life in a far superior way than a Brahmin in Eagletons utopian sense, but still he/she may be treated only as a Dalit. Hence, if we look at the existing reality from below, the utopian idea comes to a naught where meaning is not only fashioned in the course of life but it is an ascribed entity also. This utopian idea may serve even to end the emancipatory practices of the subaltern, if the co-actors and co-authors of ones life are not enlightened ones and if the socio-cultural conditionings are not transformed. Without such transformations in social reality, the equalitarian ideals will exist only as the life of the mind. In the absence of treating the differences equally, though it exists mentally, such a utopian ideal of the meaning of life is difficult to be realized in actuality. Here, I am afraid that Eagleton falls into the same abyss of philosophical construction/speculation of meaning to life which he tries to escape and to locate it in its non-philosophical aspects, following Wittgenstein; since such a discussion of the meaning of life is so abstract that it is not concretely built on the foundations of social reality, where geographical space, human memories, socio-historical conditions, etc, are relegated to the margins.

In all these discussions, Terry Eagleton fails to understand the meaning of life as a class/identity question also. (Though the identityof a person is ascribed at the time of birth, the individual still has the chance to give a different meaning to his/her life through accomplishments.) In the analyses of the book, the subject matter is discussed from the individual-collective; but if we ask which individual-collective he talks about, then the book offers no answer. As he himself said, towards the end of the book that his attempted solution is a utopian aspiration; but we need to add one more tag to his attempted solution, that is, it talks about an abstract individual-collective, who is/are perceivable only through the life of the mind, not through the concrete actuality.

The seeds of understanding the meaning of life as class question could be seen in the works of Max Weber; but he understands the question in hand, as his task was to understand the sociology of religion, as a question of religious behaviour/orientations too. Though Eagleton tries to situate meaning-of-life in individual-collective practice,

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in life, still the practice is mired in abstraction. Since the living conditions are encapsulated within modern capitalist conditions still, the practice of the exploited cannot be the same as the exploiter. Even if we are to adhere to the individual-collective practice in such an oppressive atmosphere, then the oppressed is supposed to work as the wheel-within-the wheel of capitalism in order to gain meaning for his/her life. Hence, under capitalist conditions, his understanding of meaning of life seems to be a utopian aspiration, having no social-economic foundations of reality. This utopian aspiration may become real in the course of history when capitalism gives way for socialistic/communistic way of life.

But under present conditions, the meaning-of-life question which does not take into account the class/identity question is found to be lacking in its vigour.Fo