Workshop on LFA

The department of Sociology at Christ University had organized a workshop on December 10, 2013, on Logical Framework Analysis (LFA).  Students of second year MA Applied Sociology and MSW attended the workshop between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm. Faculty members from the Departments of Sociology and Social Work were also present for the workshop.

The workshop was initiated and conducted by Dr. Godfred Victor Singh, the director of CSA, Christ University. The workshop was divided into two sessions. The first session was a detailed explanation on projects and the second session was on LFA.

The first session covered the characteristics of a project, a project life cycle and he also explained how to make a project successful. The differentiation between project and program was also made. The section was very useful in understanding the reality of projects, through sharing real time experience. The objective of the section was to give a brief account on project which was achieved successfully.

The second session was on Logical Framework Analysis (LFA).  LFA, a research based tool was dealt in with detail in this session. It has become a major tool for planning a project and it leads to achieve goal oriented projects. The other topic which he covered was history of LFA, purpose and characteristics of LFA. The basis of LFA was explained in-depth and nine steps in LFA were also discussed at the end. The section ended with an assigned task to the participants, to give them a practical experience of LFA.

The workshop was very fruitful for all the students. Since the LFA is part of student’s curriculum, it was an opportunity for students to understand LFA better. The workshop was interactive and it gave us an in depth knowledge about Logical Framework Analysis. There will be a follow up session in February 2014.

Deepa Sebastian

'The Gods Must be Crazy'

The report is about a film screening on November 25, 2013. The title of the film was ‘The gods must be crazy’ and it was directed by James Uys and released in 1980. This film was screened for the students of MA Applied Sociology as it is an important tool to understand numerous sociological concepts.

The movie juxtaposed two varied cultures which include a technological developed society and tribal society, namely that of the Bushmen of the Kalahari. The film paints an exceptional portrait of differences between human culture as well as ethnocentrism that runs common to all.

The Bushmen’s culture is one of simplicity and contentment. The pace of life in the Bushmen culture is relaxed and slow. They seem to have a deep respect for all life both for human and non-human. They are self sufficient and happy with what they have, whereas the modern society is very different from the world of Bushmen. The ‘developed’ society is one that moves at an incredibly fast space. It is a culture of alarm clocks, traffic jams and coffee cups etc… Where people create complex things and make it clear then they create complex ideas. The social construction of reality seems to be wonderful and there are several sharp contrasts that come to light through the thoughts and behavior of characters in the film. The first such difference is standard of beauty, where the Bushmen saw a teacher Kate Thompson is not regarded as the beautiful in the eyes but was instead thought to be ugliest creature he has seen. The second difference is prevalence of fear, where Bushmen was not afraid of gun, when he picked it up it was just nothing more than a funny stick. Gun in modern society was considered as scared to death. The prevalence of bottle was another incident that created fear in Bushmen.

To conclude this film was successful in accomplishing its intended purpose which was to show that people socialized into different cultures which were to see the world through very different sets of eyes and also helped us understanding how the social change is. Just because we are different does not mean that there is nothing that we can learn from each other.

Ambika

Student Seminar November 2013

PUBLIC RELATIONS, CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND HUMAN RESOURCE

The Department of Sociology headed by Mrs. Pritha Das Gupta, Christ University had organized a seminar on 26.11.2013 on essential topics of Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resource. There were significant number of participants from students pursuing Masters in Applied Sociology second year.

The seminar was initiated by participants like Bopana, Atlanta and Ruth who gave a brief introduction and covered important topics on PR such as ethics in PR, Goffman’s concept of framing, footing and face.

Then the seminar was led forward by students who gave an introduction to the very concept of CSR as well as their personal experiences in terms of the companies pursing CSR as part of their internship program. CSR as a business strategy has been gaining immense importance and is influential in key areas of health, education, livelihood creation, infrastructure facilities and rural development.

The third topic, ‘Human Resource’ led to an animated discussion and was explained by Anisha who stated the managerial and operational functions of HR. HR as a discipline and its relevance in the modern form of organizations has significantly contributed to its widespread popularity.

Concepts like Leadership Styles and Managing Workplace diversity in IT Companies of Bangalore also formed significant composition of the seminar held today.

A significant portion of the seminar was attributed to open discussions and questions that were addressed thereby enhancing our understanding of the various topics

However it is important to note down that the seminar proved to be a very fruitful activity for not only the audience to improve their boundaries of knowledge but also was an opportunity for the speakers to reveal their own potentials in terms of better understanding and reaching the audience in an appropriate manner.

Chandni Sarda

Training Session on Human Rights

One day training programme on Human Rights was conducted in Christ University on 3/12/2013. This session was organised by the Department of Social Work. We, the students of I MA Applied Sociology had attended the programme which had four sections based on Human Rights.

Human Rights are right inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethical origin,colour, religion, language or any status.The first section was conducted by Mr. Manohar, Human Rights Activist, “CARE”, Bangalore. He gave us an introduction to Human Rights. He pointed out the Constitutional Provisions, and elaborated on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenants regarding Human Rights.

The second section was taken by Ms.Swagata Raha, Sr.Consultant-Center for Child and the Law –National Law School India University, Bangalore. She spoke about the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the composition and functioning of NHRC/SHRCs and other national or state Government organizations.

The third section was taken by Ms.Rajakumari Michael, Sr.Manager-Child Rights and You (CRY), Bangalore. She spoke about the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979, and its optional protocols, as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989, and its optional protocol.

The fourth section was taken by Mr.Vasudevan Sharma, Executive Director Child Rights Trust, Bangalore. He focused on the Bonded Labour issues and the Bonded Labour System Act, 1976, Child Labour Issues and child Labour Act,1986 and SC/ST issues and Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribe Act,1989,Civil Liberties Act, 1988 and Forest Rights Act, 2006. This programme had helped us to know more about the Human Rights, Human Rights Institutions in India, Rights of Women and Children and Rights of other Vulnerable Groups.

Meethu and Anupama