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Should public services be privatised?

TCI SS L13 Providing Public Services

Types of technology in communication and how they arwe used in uniform public services

Identify different roles and types of work performed by volunteers in the UK public services.

One of the worst things about living in a city is the high cost of living. Pros and Cons of Living in a City Living in a city offers numerous advantages, but it also comes with its own set of drawbacks. Here are the pros and cons of living in a city: Pros: Job Opportunities: Cities are often hubs for various industries and businesses, providing a wide array of job opportunities across different sectors. This can lead to better career prospects and higher earning potential for residents. Cultural Diversity: Cities are melting pots of different cultures, traditions, and lifestyles. This diversity enriches the social fabric of the city, offering exposure to various cuisines, arts, festivals, and languages. Access to Amenities: Cities typically offer an abundance of amenities such as restaurants, shopping centers, entertainment venues, healthcare facilities, educational institutions, and public services. Residents have easy access to these conveniences. Public Transportation: Many cities have well-developed public transportation systems, including buses, subways, trains, and trams. This can make commuting more convenient and reduce the need for personal vehicles. Entertainment and Recreation: Cities are known for their vibrant nightlife, cultural events, museums, theaters, sports venues, and recreational spaces. Residents can enjoy a wide range of entertainment options. Educational Opportunities: Cities often boast prestigious universities, colleges, and research institutions. This provides residents with access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities. Healthcare Facilities: Major cities tend to have top-tier medical facilities and specialized healthcare services, ensuring that residents have access to advanced healthcare resources. Cons: Cost of Living: Cities are often associated with a higher cost of living due to expensive housing, transportation expenses, dining out costs, and other daily expenses. Noise and Pollution: Urban areas can be noisy and polluted due to heavy traffic, industrial activities, construction projects, and densely populated neighborhoods. Crowded Environment: Cities are densely populated, leading to crowded streets, public spaces, and public transportation systems. This can result in congestion and longer commute times. Limited Green Spaces: While cities offer many amenities, they may lack sufficient green spaces such as parks or gardens for residents to relax and connect with nature. Stressful Lifestyle: The fast-paced lifestyle in cities can contribute to higher stress levels for some individuals due to demanding work environments and busy schedules. Security Concerns: Certain urban areas may face higher crime rates compared to rural or suburban areas, leading to concerns about safety and security. Traffic Congestion: Heavy traffic congestion is a common issue in cities, leading to longer commute times and frustration for residents who rely on personal vehicles or public transportation. In conclusion, living in a city presents both advantages and disadvantages that individuals should carefully consider based on their lifestyle preferences and priorities.

New Trends in Agriculture Extension approaches Extension has been, and still is, under attack from a wide spectrum of politicians and economists over its cost and financing. As a result, Extension Systems have had to make changes, by restating the system’s mission, developing a new vision for the future, and formulating plans for the necessary transition to achieve the desired change. 1. Privatization of Agricultural Extension Service Privatization: Process of funding and delivering the extension services by private individual or organization is called Private Extension. Concept: Privatization of extension refers to services rendered in rural area & allied aspects of extension personnel working in private agencies or organization for which farmers are expected to pay a fee & it can be viewed as supplementary or alternative to public extension services (Sarvanan & Shivalinge 1980). Privatization approaches ➢ Share cropping system ➢ Village extension contract system ➢ Public extension through private delivery ➢ Service for vouchers Strengths of Private Extension System ➢ More demand - driven rather than supply – driven ➢ High quality of services in terms of satisfying information needs of clientele, trained manpower, sustained finances and resource allocation ➢ Provides for an information mix and choices available to farmers ➢ Enhanced efficiency of staff ➢ Assure continuous supply and quality agricultural products ➢ More effective because farmer can select an adviser who is the best able to help ➢ Healthy competition among service provider will lead to better quality and lower costs for service Weakness of Private Extension System ➢ Concentrate on area having favorable physical environment ➢ More face-to-face contacts (person oriented) ➢ Increased dependence of farmers and hence exploitation ➢ No education role ➢ Deprivation of small farmers ➢ Hamper the free flow of information 2. Cyber Extension or e-extension Concepts Cyber space: it is the imaginary or virtual space of computers connected with each other on Networks, across the Globe. Cyber extension: it means 'using the power of online networks, computer communications and digital interactive multimedia to facilitate dissemination of agriculture technology. Cyber Extension thus can be defined as the extension over cyber space. Important tools of cyber extension E-Mail, Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Gopher, Archie and World Wide Web (WWW) Strengths of Cyber Extension ➢ Access to the astounding information and continuously available ➢ Information rich and instantaneously available of information ➢ Interactive communication ➢ The information is available from any point on the globe ➢ Communication is dynamic ➢ Cut steps from traditional process ➢ Save money, time and effort ➢ Multiplicity of purpose Issues and Concerns of Cyber Extension ➢ Lack of Reliable Telecom Infrastructure in Rural Areas ➢ Erratic or no Power Supply ➢ Lack of ICT Trained manpower (willing to serve) in Rural Areas ➢ Lack of content (locally relevant and in local languages) ➢ Lack of Information Services to Rural Clientele ➢ Low Purchasing power of the Rural communities ➢ Lack of Holistic Approaches ➢ Issues of Sustainability Application of cyber extension ➢ Village information shops Dr. M.S. SwaminathanResearch Foundation, Chennai ➢ Information villagers MANAGE in Ranga Reddy District in Andhra pradesh ➢ Gyandoot net initiative of District Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. ➢ Warna wired village of National Informatics Center (NIC) in Kolhapur- Sangli Districts of Maharashtra 3. Market-Led-Extension (MLE) Concepts Market: A congregation of prospective buyers & sellers with a common motive of trading a particular commodity. Extension: It is the spreading/reaching out to the mass Market-led-extension: Agriculture & economics coupled with extension is the perfect blend for reaching at the door steps of common man with the help of technology. Dimensions of market-led extension ➢ Marketing mix: A planned mix of the controllable elements of a product's marketing plan commonly termed as 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. These four elements are adjusted until the right combination is found that serves the needs of the product's customers, while generating optimum income. ➢ Marketing plan: A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that outlines a business and marketing efforts for the coming year. It describes business activities involved in accomplishing specific marketing objectives within a set time frame. A marketing plan also includes a description of the current marketing position of a business, a discussion of the target market and a description of the marketing mix that a business will use to achieve their marketing goals. ➢ Market Intelligence: It is the information relevant to a company’s markets, gathered and analyzed specifically for the purpose of accurate and confident decision making. Market intelligence includes the process of gathering data from the company’s external environment, whereas the business intelligence process is primarily based on internal recorded events – such as sales, shipments and purchases. ➢ Market oriented production ➢ Use of Technology Strengths of market-led extension ➢ SWOT analysis of the market ➢ Organization of Farmers’ Interest Groups (FIGs) ➢ Enhancing the interactive and communication skills of the farmers ➢ Establishing marketing and agro-processing linkages ➢ Advice on product planning ➢ Educating the farming community ➢ Direct marketing ➢ Acquiring complete market intelligence ➢ Publication of agricultural market information Production of video films of success stories ➢ Challenges to market-led extension ➢ Gigantic size of extension system ➢ Information technology Diverse conditions ➢ Market intelligence ➢ Reforms in agricultural extension system Government Initiatives ➢ Central warehousing Corporation-1965 ➢ MSP by Commission for Agricultural Cost and Price (CACP) ➢ Food Corporation of India ➢ Then some others as: Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), Jute Corporation of India (JCI), National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Agriculture and Processed food Export Development Authority (APEDA) etc. 4. Farmer--Led-Extension (FLE) Farmer--led-extension is defined as 'the provision of training by farmers to farmers, often through the creation of a structure of farmer promoters and farmer trainers' (Scarborough et al., 1997). Philosophy and principles ➢ Farmers and local institutions (e.g. producer organizations or village leaders) should play a key role in selecting farmer-trainers and monitoring and evaluating them. This helps make the programmes more accountable to the community or groups that they serve. ➢ Farmer-trainers are ‘of the community’; they communicate in local languages and are more sensitive to local cultures, mannerisms, farming practices, and farmers’ needs. ➢ Farmer-trainers should be selected on the basis of their skills and interest in sharing information, not just on their farming expertise. ➢ Farmer-trainers need strong linkages with and support from development agents (whether government, non-government organization (NGO), or private), the people who train and backstop them. Farmer-trainers generally serve as a complement to existing extension systems, rather than being a substitute for them. ➢ Facilitating organizations and local institutions need to be proactive in ensuring that women as well as men become farmer-trainers. ➢ Simple and appropriate reference materials should be made available to the farmer trainers. Essential Elements of Farmer--led-extension ➢ The group ➢ The Field ➢ The Facilitator ➢ The curriculum ➢ Programme leader ➢ Financing Special features of Farmer--led-extension ➢ All learning is field based & it is primary venue for learning ➢ FLE group learning constantly over the experimentation period ➢ FLE promotes healthy decisions & quality decisions ➢ Farmers conduct their own field studies with comparisons or treatments ➢ Facilitates Farmer-to-Farmer communication ➢ Field staff serve as facilitators ➢ FLE is a unique way to educate farmers ➢ It is an effective platform for sharing of experiences and collectively solving agriculture related problems. 5. Expert system Expert system is an intelligent computer program that uses knowledge and inferences procedures to solve problems (Daniel Hunt, 1986). Objectives of developing expert system ➢ To enhance the performance of agricultural extension personnel and farmer ➢ To make farming more efficient and profitable ➢ To reduce the time required in solving the problems ➢ To maintain the expert system by continuously upgrading the database Advantages of expert system ➢ Solves critical problems by making logical deductions without taking much time ➢ It combines experimental and conventional knowledge with the reasoning skills of specialists ➢ To enhance the performance of average worker to the level of an expert Limitations of expert system ➢ Expensive computer program ➢ Mostly developed not in regional languages ➢ Requires AC power and internet connection all the time ➢ Complex software requires computer skilled personnel Modules of expert system in agriculture ➢ COMAX: Integrated crop management in cotton ➢ SOYEX: Soybean oil extraction expert system ➢ PLANT/ds: Diagnosis of soybean diseases ➢ MAIZE: Maize expert system for field crop management ➢ SEMAGI: Weed control decision making in sunflowers ➢ Rice Crop Doctor: Developed by National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) Difference between conventional and expert system of extension Conventional Extension ➢ Universal approachability of same information is a problem ➢ Information is given whatever is available without considering needs and resources ➢ No Cost benefit analysis ➢ Information flow depends on availability of agent ➢ Require users to draw their own conclusion from facts Expert System of Extension ➢ Universal approachability of same information is possible ➢ Information is chosen based on their needs and resources ➢ Cost benefit analysis ➢ Information through Cyber Cafe at any place at any time ➢ Conclusion is drawn based on the decision given by the expert

Hello Chuxing, one of China’s top bike-sharing platforms backed by ecommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, has applied to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Launched in 2016, Hello Chuxing gained traction quickly as the first bikesharing operator to focus its business within China’s smaller cities and towns. It managed to survive China’s bike-sharing bubble between 2017 and 2018 when Ofo went into bankruptcy and Mobike was acquired by Meituan. The “survivor” had more than 10 million bicycles operating in over 400 Chinese cities as of December 2020. Hello Chuxing is developing its new business aggressively. In 2019, it took on sector leader Didi Chuxing with a new business Hello Dache that provides car-sharing and carpooling services. It has also been following industry giant Meituan into the life services field with new “intra-city logistics” and “bulk buying” services. The service, Hello Dache, features instant communication that enables passengers to keep in touch with drivers online once ride requests have been accepted. It also features a one-click button to call the police as part of efforts to boost safety. It is now looking into travel, with the aim of being a travel-based platform that provides daily life services, a person familiar with the matter said. “The market was too lavish when capital players and consumers were optimistic about the sector,” founder Yang Lei said back in 2019. “Firms would burn through cash subsidies to keep up with rivals and maintain a rapid pace of expansion. Hello Chuxing, however, has been careful to watch every penny and use money wisely while planning for the future,” he said.

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