AWA 30

When someone achieves greatness in any field – such as the arts, science, politics, or business – that person’s achievements are more important than any of his or her personal faults.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I completely agree that one’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults especially when he or she achieves greatness in some field. A lot of people are born and then they die after spending a span of time on earth. But there are very few people who leave their everlasting marks on the sands of time, which pushes the life of the other people on this earth forward. It is this capability of those few people’s achievements that gives us the courage to face the realities of life every day. I believe that such people’s achievements are definitely more important than their failures due to the following reasons.

Firstly, there is no doubt that when someone achieves something great in any field, it shows a new path to the whole world. Sometimes, these paths are so strong that they change the course of the current world. For example, let us consider Abraham Lincoln. He changed the course of American history with the abolition of the slavery. It is his greatness that people in America are better people than anyone in this world today. Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi changed the course of Indian history with his beliefs on truth and non-violence. It is due to his sheer will that made the whole country run for the struggle of Independence unanimously. People like Dhirubhai Ambani led the Indian business to a new level by bringing Economic Liberalization in the country in early 1990′s. Narayan Murthy has led the country into a new blend of truth and ethics while creating one of the most successful IT services companies of thew world – Infosys. People like Thomas Elva Edison gave a new direction to the lives of people and science with his invention of Electric bulb.

Secondly, it is the achievements of the successful people that gives inspiration and motivation to the younger generation for more new innovations. One cannot ignore the fact that it is the failures that make the ordinary lives of great people extraordinary. But it is their achievements that draw people to look into their lives do closely to draw inspirations from. For example, even though Edison was thrown out of his class citing poor intellectuals, he went on to become a great scientist. Similarly, Abaraham Linclon failed miserably in his business and other ventures before going on to become one of the greatest leaders of the world and most influential President in American history. The point here is that we know the past of these successful persons only because they rose to become successful person and leaders in this world at some point of their lives. It is their achievements that took us to go into their past.

Due to the above said reason, I agree with the opinion stated earlier that a person’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults.

AWA 7

The former secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold wrote, “Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.”

While such a philosophy may be appropriate for the leader of the United Nations, it may not be an acceptable practice for ordinary individuals to follow as they go about their daily lives. What is your opinion? Support your position with illustrations from your observation, study, reading, or personal experience.

I believe that Dag Hammarskjold’s philosophy is true in all circumstances for all the people in their lives for the following three reasons.

Firstly, every people have certain dreams but very few actually dare to go to fulfill them. The people who follow their dreams change not only their life but also people around them significantly in future though they may have to face obstacles in the short-term. For example, Dhirubhai Ambani went through all the his initial painful years sacrificing a lot of conventional life to build the largest private company of India, employing 60000 people today and benefiting the economy of the country.

Secondly, ordinary people have certain aspirations. For example, children might get the right education in future if he could be able to save a few dollars of his income sacrificing his present.

Last but not the least, though ordinary person cannot ignore his daily struggle of life but at the same time he cannot ignore the importance of what he wants for himself and his family in future. He needs to act responsibly ignoring the present circumstances to lead a comfortable life later on. For example, our current prosperity is due to the abolition of the evil laws like bonded labor, inequality, etc in the past. I still remember our current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, brought liberalization policy in 1992, as then Finance Minister despite all criticisms, only to see the today’s healthy growing economy.

Therefore for the above said reasons, I strongly oppose the author’s believe that fulfilling long-term goals with risks in present, is only the characteristics of high profile people and not ordinary people.

Essay 14

You have received a full scholarship to a good university in your country. You have also been offered a full scholarship to a top university in another country. Which of these two scholarships would you accept?

I would prefer to study in the university of my country rather than going to any another country, if I qualify to get full scholarship at both the universities.

Inida has come up as a strong economic pwerhouse in the past two decades after economic liberalization. It is now considered to be one of the fastest growing and emerging economies. With the future looking good and prosperous for the country, I would prefer to study and work here rather than going abroad to study.

Moreover, top universities like Indian School of Business, Indian Institutes of Managements, Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Information Technology has become global brands with their alumni having established as graduates at par with any other good universities of the world and has been now constantly been ranked at the world level.

Additionally, being in the country helps to be within the reach of my relatives and friends in mutual needs. And I strongly believe that joy of success will be in its true color if we share that joy with our loved near and dear ones.

As I am keenly interested to take my country tot he nect level of its development and see the dream of our past President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam of India becoming a developed country by 2020, I would like to help it from here be lending a hand in its course in every possible way.

AWA2

The economic penetration by multinational corporations shapes and distorts cultural patterns in developing countries. The Westernization, particularly, the Americanization, of culture presents a formidable threat to the cultural integrity of the non-Western world. Nevertheless, the know-how of these corporations is necessary to fuel the economic development of the developing countries.

Which of the attributes of the multinational corporation do you agree with: a contributor to growth or a threat to culture? Support your point of view with specific reasons or examples that you have observed or read about.

Response:

Economic development without change is inevitable. Every change comes both with some great benefits and drawbacks. The multinational corporations bring a great diversity in their culture with the economic development of the developing countries.

We will consider the case of India to strike out the examples of each point. First of all, we cannot deny the fact that the multinational corporations bring economic development as observed in India, with India becoming a major economic superpower now in just more than a decade after liberalization achieving about 8% growth every year now. At the same time, they bring the notion of an attitude to do business in the global arena. For example, when Indian companies were doing business only in India, now companies like TATA are becoming more global with acquisitions of Corus, Land Rover and many more. Thirdly, they bring a change in the culture of doing business by introducing the nature of risk-taking attitude, accepting responsibilities and making commitments to them and thus, dare to follow their dreams to become successful Entrepreneurs like Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Hence, they make people more open-minded and view a same thing in various different angles and then, not only criticize but also appreciate them, if needed.

At the same time, Western culture like that of America brings some too much openness mindset, which contradicts the prevailing tradition of a developing country like India. As talking about Sex, losing virginity before marriage and controversial topics like same-sex marriages is strictly a “NO” in the Indian society, the Western culture puts the whole society in a chaos mindset. While younger generation seems to accept it, the older generation still fights with such topics and ultimately, creating an environment of a generation gap and miscommunication and misunderstandings among the blood relations. At one point, it generates awareness but at the same time, exposing the young generation to too much sex and violence turns out to be as spiritual spoilsport in developing countries like India. Sometimes, such scenarios result in extreme form of lust, thereby increasing the rate of crimes like rape, sexual assault and many more, resulting in more exploitation of feminine gender. The cross-religious beliefs also play chaos. As changing and believing religions become more acceptable, it sometimes results in dangerous riots killing innocent people.

Thus, the multinational corporations bring both good and bad cultures to the developing countries but at the same time, they show us the ways to strengthen our character and values, thus, accepting what is good and rejecting what is bad. After all, the development of the economy is for the good of the society, people and both the developing and the developed country for their economies and culture, thus, creating a space for mutual learning and improvement.