Legal Age for Alcohol Consumption Essay Example for Free

Legal Age for Alcohol Consumption Essay Different governments have age limits for legal consumption of alcohol. For instance, in most western states individuals below 18 years of age should not consume alchohol. Other countries have an age limit of 15 years (Miller, 2010). All these governments have reasons for setting this age requirements for alcohol consumption. For example, some argue that raising the legal age limit may not have an impact on society, if people do not have the will and zeal to stop irresponsible drinking. Others argue that raising the legal age limit would allow individuals to drink when they are mature and responsible (Kolander, 2011). This would reduce chances of irresponsible drinking. I believe governments should raise the legal age requirement for alcohol consumption, as an effort to reduce the negative impacts of alcohol to society. I support the idea of raising the age limit for alcohol consumption. However, I also believe that this cannot be a successful measure to deal with the negative impacts of alcohol to society, without using other avenues. For instance, governments should implement a program to educate the youth on the negative impacts of alcohol. According to reports from a number of police departments, most youth consume alcohol when they have not met the age limit. This implies that raising the age limit can only be effective if parents instill morals in their young children (Miller, 2010). Therefore, the religious groups and the family have a massive role to play in regulating early consumption of alcohol. Secondly, raising the age limit for consumption of alcohol will reduce the harm of alcohol on the health of consumers. Individuals suffer from chronic effects due to alcohol consumption when they have access to it at early ages. For instance, the danger that an individual who started consuming alcohol at the age of 18, is more severe than that of an individual who started drinking at 25. Health experts have claimed that early exposure to alcohol consumption has drastic effects on key internal body organs, compared to individuals who start consuming alcohol at late ages. In addition, raising the legal age for alcohol consumption reduces chances of addiction, due to less exposure (Billings, 2010). Early exposure to alcohol consumption has also led to a deteriorated culture in society. Families have broken up due to irresponsible drinking by children, who end up indulging in other criminal activities such as burglary, to finance their alcoholic behavior. At the current legal requirement of 18 years, most youth may not have the finances to finance their consumption of alcohol. This makes them depend on their parents by lying to them, to get money. In the event that the parents are not able to meet the financial demands of the children, the children look for other options to financial stability. Some go to the extent of stage managing kidnaps to get money from parents. This has eroded the positive values of society, especially the youth, who are the largest group of the world’s population (Kolander, 2011). In conclusion, the above illustrations indicate that early exposure to alcohol consumption has more negative effects than positives. For example, individuals have a high probability of acquiring health complications, such as lung and kidney infections. Secondly, early access to alcohol consumption also erodes the morality of society. In addition, early alcohol consumption may also affect the academic life of young adults, who end up as addicts to alcohol. These young adults also face the threat of joining illegal gangs in society. Thus, it would be reasonable to suggest that governments should consider revising the legal age limit upwards. However, other institutions in society must also aid in alleviating the negative impacts of alcohol to society. Religious groups and the family should provide advice to young adults on the dangers of early alcohol consumption. References Billings, S. (2010, October 24). Should the Legal Drinking Age Be Raised to 25 to Eliminate Deadly College Partying? Retrieved July 19, 2012, from christwire.org: http://christwire.org/2010/10/should-the-legal-drinking-age-be-raised-to-25-to-eliminate-deadly-college-partying/ Kolander, R. W. (2011). Drug Abuse Prevention. New York: Jones Bartlett Learning. Miller, W. R. (2010). Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Shows, and What We Should Do

Free

Free Will in Experimental Philosophy Essay Although the â€Å"free will† problem envelops a spectrum of ideas, I agree with the following belief: â€Å"The folk are compatibilists about free will. † While there are, of course, incompatibilists and indeterminists, for the most part, the general population consists of compatibilists. Now, I know experimental philosophy has a problem with the use of generalizations without actual statistics, but throughout this paper, I will explain exactly why the world revolves in a generally compatibilist manner. Firstly, to speak of compatibilism, you’d have to assume that the world is deterministic, meaning that everything that happens from here on out, including human action, is caused by the facts of everything that has happened before it. With that assumption in mind, compatibilist believe that we still have free will as long as we aren’t operating under external limitations. The problem with that is that although compatibilists believe we are free, there is still disagreement on just exactly how free we may be, which is the weak spot indeterminists and incompatibilists use to try to break the argument. One nature of compatibilism is referred to as classic compatibilism. This means that we’d be acting freely as long as we, without being impeded by any outside force, take a course of action that we personally choose for ourselves. These compatibilists believe that it is the presence of impediments such as â€Å"physical restraints, lack of opportunity, duress or coercion, physical or mental impairment, and the like† that would cause us to not act freely (Caruso, 2012). However, this line of reasoning is not accepted by those who support the Consequence Argument. In the simplest terms, this argument states that no one has power over the facts of the past and the laws of nature. Also, no one has power over the fact that the facts of the past and the laws of nature entail every fact of the future (i. e. , determinism is true). Because of that, no one has power over the facts of the future (McKenna, 2004). Compatibilists respond to this by saying that the focal point should be the differentiation between free and un-free, and not by the absence of causes. Other philosophers argue that we act freely when our first order and second order desires become aligned. Because our mental processes are more developed than those of younger children and simpler animals, we have the rationale to decide whether our instincts or raw desires should be acted upon. That rationale is referred to as the second order desires (Frankfurt, 1971). For example, Chris is at the bar with his girlfriend Ana. While Chris has stepped away to the restroom, Jose approaches Ana and flirts with her in a manner that she does not feel comfortable with. Once out of the bathroom, Chris sees this. Enraged, he initially wants to go and physically put Jose in his place. In spite of this, he remembers that he is up for a promotion at work, and getting into a bar fight probably won’t help his chances of receiving it. He tells Ana to collect her things. They leave. What we see here is the protagonist, Chris, experiencing first order desires that make him want to hurt Jose. His second order desires are what tell him that although he is feeling those first order desires, his second order desires are not in agreement and therefore, he shouldn’t act on them. Although some compatibilists seem to be satisfied with this reasoning because it justifies the causation of our actions, it doesn’t explain whether our thoughts and desires are consequences of the past as well. An example would be that Kate feels the desire to take a run in the park and does so. Yet, if determinism is true, which compatibilists believe it is, she is already determined to feel that way, and although she may want to feel that way, without any outside force acting on her she is not free (McKenna, 2004). Her first order and second order desires may even align, but without the ability to do otherwise, due to determinism, she would not be free. Even so, compatibilist Michael Levin says â€Å"minding or accepting one’s desires is as much an effect of past causes as the desires themselves,† but if our internal desires are causally determined, they cannot also be free. All it would be is a different form of causality (Caruso, 2012). Nevertheless, compatibilists argue that it isn’t necessary for an individual to have been able to do otherwise (Nahmias, Stephen, Nadelhoffer, Turner, 2005). If there were the choices of A through Z and someone that could manipulate me into doing A that would do so if I didn’t do it on my own, I would still have free will if I picked A without the manipulation. In this case, compatibilist see me as having had free will because I chose A on my own. My 1st order desires were aligned with my 2nd and that is why A happened. If I had been manipulated to do so, then the problem of free will would once again come into question, but being that the manipulator is fairly irrelevant to the story since I acted on my own accord, and would have done the same thing without the potential manipulative factor. Also, there a couple of studies done to determine what relationship non-philosophers believed existed between free will, determinism, and moral responsibility. In Study 1, there were three scenarios. Scenario 1 was negative. Scenario 2 was positive, and Scenario 3 was neutral. In all three cases, between 68 – 79% of folk said there was free will. While there were some fluctuations in percentages when it came to the association between free will and the ability to choose otherwise, the amount of participants making judgments that disagreed with incompatibilism was two to three times greater than those that followed along with incompatibilist intuitions. This study was supported by their second study. In this study, they tell the subjects that everything in the universe is caused completely by their genes and environment. The scenario takes twins, Fred and Barney, and places Fred with the Jerksons and Barney with the Kindersons. One day they both find a wallet with $1000. Fred keeps it, while Barney returns it to its rightful owner. When polling the participants, 76% said they both acted on their own free will and could have done otherwise. This shows that the majority of folk believe that compatibilism is true, and while external factors and facts of the past might influence the choice making process, it does not define it; therefore we are free within the confines of a determined universe (Nahmias, Stephen, Nadelhoffer, Turner, 2005). Now, why do I personally find â€Å"the folk are compatibilist about free will† to be true? Aside from the aforementioned statistics, the reason is that if we did not find a middle ground between free will and determinism, we wouldn’t do any of the things we do. Everything from the grading systems used in schools to receiving a promotion at work all the way to fighting wars is done in a compatibilist manner. The premise of all these concepts is the idea that if you choose do X, having the option of Y, Z will happen. If you work hard enough in school (X), you will receive good grades (Z), even though you can just be lazy (Y). If you are the most productive and pleasant at your job (X), you will receive a promotion (Z). If we go into a war (X), we have the chance of winning (Z). While all the factors in each of those scenarios might have also been determined, there is no reason for us to feel disappointment when we really studied but still managed to only get a B on a test or when we lose troops across seas. Though the previous paragraph does explain that folk believe in free will, it doesn’t explain why folk have the compatibilist view of free will. The reasoning for that is because while compatibilists believe that you can control some aspects of your life, you can’t control all of them. As Michael Levin said, â€Å"Compatibilist usually agree that free will does require behavior at least to be determined, since you cannot freely do what is beyond your control. † For example, we are born and we die. The sun rises. The sun sets. We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. There are certain laws of physics that we must adhere to. Some will argue that we believe those to be stable laws of how the universe will operate, but only because that’s what it’s done until now. Tomorrow we might not have the sun rise, and tomorrow we might inhale carbon monoxide and exhale nitrogen. However, since certain things have been fixed for a trustworthy amount of time, we, the folk, have accepted it as determined facts of the universe. The determined factors of the universe are the skeleton upon which we place the flesh that is our free will. ? References Caruso, G. D. (2012). The Folk Psychology of Free Will: Arguement Against Compatibilism. Kriterion Journal of Philosophy, 26, 56-89. Frankfurt, H. G. (1971, January 14). Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person. The Journal of Philosophy, 5-20. McKenna, M. (2004, April 26). Compatibilism. Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato. stanford. edu/entries/compatibilism/ Nahmias, E. , Stephen, M. , Nadelhoffer, T. , Turner, J. (2005, October). Surverying Freedom: Folk Intuitions about Free Will and Moral Responsibility. Philosophical Psychology, 18(5), 561 584.

Cause And Effect Of Gender Discrimination Sociology Essay

Cause And Effect Of Gender Discrimination Sociology Essay Gender discrimination started since the days of our ancestors who had been suppressing womens rights and is perceived to be the norm of the male-dominance society. Men are always, until today, seen as the figure of leadership and success in many countries with no exceptions to some well-known countries where women are given as much rights as their counterpart (Dailymail, July 18, 2011). Although the idea of women belongs in the kitchen is fast fading or much despised by the society as discriminatory, women are underperforming comparing to their male counterpart. Women are facing these hard truths mainly because the fact that most traditional minded people thinks that women are underrepresented. After that, education is one of the main causes for gender discrimination. Lastly, religion is also the factor for this issue. Traditional lifestyle in some households causes unjust discrimination to women (Anderson, Moore, Faison, 1995). For instance, many Asian cultures groom young girls to becoming women, who later in life play the role of a homemaker responsible to prepare meals for the family and to do everyday house chores. On the other hand, they are deprived off some basic rights now considered to be essentially important such as their marriage. In their culture, they are required to seek for their parents blessing on their marriage, if it is unsuccessful, their relationship would fall apart. Daughters are matched for marriages with their parents discretion and rejection is a form of disobedience which is unacceptable in their society. Old folks especially Asians are concerned about the surnames and it is the duty for the younger generation to pass on. However, only the male members are able to inherit the surname while woman must adopt their husbands surname, abandoning their maiden name (WHO 2011). It is perceived to be important to uphold their familys name because family history is the pride of many people. Therefore, traditional lifestyle is the cause of gender discrimination. As mentioned by Moreau (2010, 159). Education opportunities are prioritized for the male family members. This is due to most of the people have a thought that men are more talented to studies. This will cause that men think that they have more knowledge compared to women and it is a cause of gender discrimination. Another cause for education opportunities are prioritized because men should be responsible for the family. They think that men must be educated in order to find a better work to give his family a better life. This is also the factor that cause gender discrimination due to men will think that they have to work hard to earn a living while women only prepare meals for the family and to do everyday house chores. Therefore, the equality of education opportunity is important to prevent gender discrimination. Religion in some ways contributes to gender discrimination. Women are suffering in countries where religion is law, such as many Muslim countries (MUNFW 2012). Some of the religion such as Muslim prohibits women to become leader. They think that men should take the responsibility while women are expected to be the followers of men. This fuels men with overwhelming self-confidence and underestimate womens ability without having to evaluate them. In-born egoism causes men to always think that they are right all the time and refuse to accept suggestion from women. This is also caused them to think that women do not have the ability to get things done. Therefore, some of the religion will cause gender discrimination in the society and will bring a lot of bad effect to the society. Most of the people think that gender discrimination doesnt really bring any negative effect to the community and society. They do not really comprehend the severity of gender discrimination to the community. The population of women is shrinking in China as the result of gender selection. Trafficking of women are becoming more common in European countries. Last but not least, gender discrimination leads to violence against women. Gender imbalance is one of the effects of gender discrimination in China. International average gender ratio is 104 boys for every 104-107 girls while Chinas gender ratio is 123 boys per 100 girls in 2005 (Hua 2006). The gender imbalance in China is due to abortion of female fetuses because Chinese parents desire sons over daughters due to surnames purpose and they believe girls will leave the family once they get married and no one is going to take care of them in old age (Hua 2010). Gender imbalance in China also caused twenty percent of men in China are single in twenty years time, that attitude itself reflects gender imbalance. Gender imbalance is one of the major effects of gender discrimination in China. Trafficking of women became more general in Europe since the collapse of Soviet Union for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Prostitution is a multi-billion dollar shadow market and it is estimated to generate seven to twelve billion annually. On top of that, this industry is relatively low risk compared to drugs or arms (Hughes, 2000, 4). They abduct women, because women are weaker and are able to contribute into the sex industry. The collapse of Soviet Union opens up a pool of millions of women from which trafficker recruited. It has become a major sending country for women trafficked into sex industry all over the world (Hughes, 2000, 14). Therefore, trafficking of women is caused from gender discrimination. Violence against women is also a miserable experience for women due to gender discrimination. Gender based violence reflects and reinforces inequality between both gender, it compress wide range of human rights violation, including abuse of children, violence of women, sexual assault, trafficking of women and girls and others (UNFPA 2012). Violence has profound effects on a womans reproductive health including unwanted pregnancies, restricted access to family planning information and contraceptive, unsafe abortion after an unwanted pregnancies, sexual transmitted infection including HIV and others. Other than that, gender based violence also serves to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and serious health consequences due to long term abuse (WHO 2011). Lastly, sexual inequality is the main factor of violence against women. Gender discrimination is a very harmful activity to everyone in this world. In traditional, education and religious view, women are weaker compared to men and it is now a reason for gender discrimination as every person has human rights in this world. Other than that, gender discrimination brought us a lot of negative effect for us. Gender discrimination caused sex-imbalance in China and trafficking of women in European countries (The Problem 2012). Gender discrimination also caused womens life to be miserable because of the violence against women from gender discrimination. Lastly, men shall not discriminate women as this common saying stated Behind all successful man, there is a woman. This quotes stated clearly that everyone have their role including women in the way to success of a man.

A tree grows in brooklyn :: essays research papers

â€Å"A person who pulls himself up from a low environment via the boot-strap route has two choices. Having risen above his environment, he can forget it; or, he can rise above it and never forget it and keep compassion in his heart for those has left behind him in the cruel up climb.† (pg 129) Betty Smith’s novel A Tree Grows In Brooklyn is a tale of poignant family relationships and childhood and also of grim privation. The story revolves around the protagonist of the story, young Francie Nolan. She is an imaginative, endearing 11-year-old girl growing up in 1912, in Brooklyn, New York. The entire story revolves around Francie and the Nolan family, including her brother Neelie, her mother Katie and her father Johnny. An ensemble of high relief characters aids and abets them in their journey through this story of sometimes bleak survival and everlasting hope. As we find out, the struggle for survival is primarily focused against the antagonist of this story, the hard-grinding poverty afflicting Francie, the Nolan’s and Brooklyn itself. The hope in the novel is shown symbolically in the â€Å"The â€Å"Tree of Heaven†Ã¢â‚¬ . A symbol used throughout the novel to show hope, perseverance and to highlight other key points. Although the author, Betty Smith, denied ever writing a novel with socially political motives, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn abounds with references to class issues. Nearly every scene, every character illustrates or deals with the problem of poverty in early twentieth-century America. For the Nolan’s, being poor means they must always think about being poor – how they will buy the next load of coal, where their food will come from, their insurance, rent, medicine, all the necessities of raising a family. The novel also shows that poverty is not just the absence of food or comfort, it is the direct cause for Uncle Flittman to leave, Johnny’s utter nothingness and Francie’s inability to go to a high school. Every action in the novel is based around a limited amount of resources, as not only the Nolan’s but also the entire community suffers. Exploitation abounds, whether in the overpriced sale of candy, child labour in metal collection, dishonest grocers a nd butchers and employers with impunity to set their own rules. Katie does her best with the household money, and we find that for the poor sometimes a luxury isn’t in getting something, but in being able to waste it.

Essay examples --

Harley-Davidson has a very strong social-cultural force. Harley-Davidson has a traditional customer base of Caucasian men in the age range of 35-74 years-old. In 2012, nearly half of the sales of a new Harley-Davidson were to new customers who have never previously owned a Harley-Davidson. A unique aspect of Harley-Davidson is that they consider their employees to be their â€Å"only long-term competitive advantage.† A quote from their website states, â€Å"To us, our culture is as strong as the iron and steel we put into our bikes, and shines as bright as the chrome.† Some recent changes in the culture include a change in age demographic. Harley-Davidson sales have increased to selling almost half of their motorcycles to new customers. Sales to â€Å"young adults 18-34, women, African-Americans and Hispanics – grew overall at more than twice the rate as sales to [the] traditional U.S. customer base of Caucasian men, ages 35-plus† (Harley-Davidson). The customer base for Harley-Davidson is estimated at 50 million people and Harley-Davidson expects this to remain â€Å"stable and strong.† In the last five years, Harley-Davidson considers international dealers like India, China, and Brazil to be emerging markets. Additional, in that time frame international sales have increased over 5%. Lastly, Harley-Davidson has another quote: â€Å"All roads lead home.† Riders are usually encouraged to be involved in their communities and neighborhoods. The company engages in partnership activities with companies such as Habitat for Humanity, Boys and Girls Club, and the YMCA. Economic Changes Harley Davidson, Inc. has had a consistent increase in net income for the last three years per the consolidated Statement of Operations filed in February of 2013. Despite this... ...on in any material product liability claim against us could adversely affect our operating results or financial condition. Polaris mentions a risk of reliance upon intangibles. Beneficial to Polaris, however, is their cultural environment of innovation. They have the potential to continually keep ahead of this risk. Additionally, Polaris mentions the potential for product liability. Like motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles can be risky to users when not used properly and maintained. Technological Changes Polaris does not actually mention any specific technological changes or risks in their financial statements apart from the reliance on intangibles. However, Polaris has similar risks to technological changes that Harley-Davidson does. Polaris offers unique apps and has a website that encourages an interactive usage between the user and the company.

Exploring Gardners Theory on Multiple Intelligences Essay -- Educatio

Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as â€Å"the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings† (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words â€Å"smart† and â€Å"dumb† in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries â€Å"skills† or â€Å"talents† or gifts† because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word â€Å"intelligence,† creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture. Howard Gardner grew up in Pennsylvania in the late 1940’s, although his parents were originally from Germany. He attended Harvard as an undergraduate with the hopes of becoming a lawyer and with a major in history. However, as soon as he became the mentee of Erik Erikson, a well-known psychoanalyst, his interests started to change. Gardner entered the doctoral program at Harvard and received his PhD in 1971 with a dissertation on style sensitivity in children. During his years of doctoral study he became a part of the Project Zero, which does research on arts education, and he now co-directs the project. Gardner’s work with Project Zero led to the Project on Human Potential, which resulted in his first well-known book, Frames of Mind. He has written many books since then including, The Shattered Mind and Multiple Intelligences, and he is â€Å"currently Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Har... ...ly. It’s not Gardner’s goal to take over the education system and have it all reformed, but he does want educators to rethink their everyday lessons and see if they can improve them using his theory in order to broaden the comprehension of ideas to all students. Now all our society has to do is learn how to use this theory as an advantage and put all the intelligences to work. Gardner has started this concept of multiple intelligences but no one knows where it will end and what other implications it will have along the way. Works Cited Gardner, Howard. Intelligence Reframed: Multiple Intelligences for the 21st Century. New York, NY: Basic, 1999. Print. Smith, Mark K. "Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education." The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2011.

Money Laundering : Global Problem Case Presentation Essay

MONEY LAUNDERING : GLOBAL PROBLEM CASE PRESENTATION AS PART OF LEGAL ASPECTS OF BUSINESS , MBA Money laundering is the process of concealing illicit sources of money or in simple language it is the process of washing dirty money (money earned through illegal activities) to make it appear to be legitimate. Now question arises that who launders the money? No doubt, it is always launder by criminals. And who helps the criminals to launders the money is also a money launder. Money laundering is the dynamic that enables criminal activity of all descriptions to grow and expand. INTRODUCTION Money laundering is the process of concealing illicit sources of money or in simple language it is the process of washing dirty money (money earned through illegal activities) to make it appear to be legitimate. Now question arises that who launders the money? No doubt, it is always launder by criminals. And who helps the criminals to launders the money is also a money launder. Money laundering is the dynamic that enables criminal activity of all descriptions to grow and expand. As per Cambridge Dictionary, definition of money laundering is â€Å"The crime of moving money that has been obtained illegally through banks and other businesses to make it seem as if the money has been obtained legally.† If we look at historical aspect of money laundering it is not a new concept. There are historical evidences that in China, merchants would hide their wealth from rulers (4000 BC). Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount of money laundered, either worldwide or within their national economy. In 1996, the International Monetary Fund estimated that two to five percent of the worldwide global economy involved laundered money. However, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), an intergovernmental body set up to combat money laundering, stated that â€Å"overall it is absolutely impossible to produce a reliable estimate of the amount of money laundered and therefore the FATF does not publish any figures in this regard†. Academic commentators have likewise been unable to estimate the volume of money with any degree of assurance. Mechanism of Money Laundering: There are 3 stages of money laundering: 1. Placement Stage: At this stage launderer introduces the illegal money into the legal financial system. It could be done to deposit money into financial institutions by various methods. 2. Layering stage: At this stage launderer engages in movements of funds to distance them from their source. Various financial instruments are purchased and resale many times especially through Shell companies and financial institutions. 3. The Integration Stage: At this stage, the funds re-enter the legitimate economy. Then launderer may choose to invest the funds into real estate, luxury assets, or business ventures. Methods of money laundering: The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication 1. Hawala 2. Shell Corporation and co. 3. Structuring 4. Bulk cash smuggling 5. Trade based laundering 6. Round tripping 7. Bank capture 8. Casinos 9. Real estate 10. Black salaries 11. Fictional loans 12. Tax amnesties REGULATORY FRAMEWORK: premble: The prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) was enacted in 2003 and brought in to force with effect from 1st July 2005 to prevent money laundering and to provide for attachment, seizure and confiscation of property obtained or derived, directly or indirectly, from or involved in money laundering and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. Necessary Notifications/Rules under the said Act were published in the Gazette of India on July 01, 2005. Pursuant to the recommendations made the Financial Action Task Force on anti- money laundering standards, SEBI has issued a master circular No. CIR/ISD/AML/3/2010 dated December 31, 2010 on anti-money laundering/ Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) in line with the FATF recommendations and PMLA Act, 2002. As per the Guidelines on Anti Money Laundering standards notified by SEBI, All registered intermediaries have been advised to ensure that proper policy frameworks are put in place. The objective is to ensure that we identify and discourage any money laundering or terrorist financing activities and that the measures taken by us are adequate enough to follow the spirit of the Act and guidelines As per the provisions of the PMLA, Intermediary includes a stockbroker, sub-broker, share transfer Agent, banker to an issue, trustee to a trust deed, registrar to an issue, asset management company, depository participant, merchant banker, underwriter, portfolio manager, investment adviser and any other intermediary associated with the Securities market and registered under section 12 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act,1992(SEBI Act) shall have to adhere to client account opening procedures and maintain records of such transactions as prescribed by the PMLA and Rules notified there under. SEBI has issued necessary directives vide circulars from time to time, covering issues related to Know your Client (KYC) norms, Anti- Money Laundering(AML), Client Due Diligence(CDD) and combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The directives lay down the minimum requirements and it is emphasized that the intermediaries may, according to their requirements, specify additional disclosures to be made by clients to address concerns of money laundering and suspicious transactions undertaken by clients. Obligations under Prevention of Money Laundering [PML] Act 2002 Section 12 of PML Act 2002 places certain obligations on every Financial Institution/Intermediary/ banking company which include: (i) Maintaining a record of prescribed transactions. (ii) Furnishing information of prescribed transactions to the specified Authority (iii) Verifying and maintaining records of the identity of the investors/customers (iv) Preserving records in respect of (i), (ii), (iii) above for a period of 10 years from the date of cessation of transactions i.e, the date of termination of account or business relationship between the client/ investor and the intermediary Legal highlights of PML Act 2002: * Special courts: The trial for the offences mentioned in the act are conducted by a special court, also called â€Å"PMLA Court†. The Central Government (in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court), designates a Sessions Court as Special Court. Any appeal against order passed by PMLA court can directly be filed in the High Court. * Punishment: Punishable with rigorous imprisonment from three years to seven years. He could also be liable to fine of upto 5 lakh. * Burden of proof: A person, who is accused of having committed the offence of money laundering, has to prove that alleged proceeds of crime are in fact lawful property OBJECTIVE OF PML Act 2002: The main objectives of the PMLA are as follows: 1. To have a proper Customer Due Diligence (CDD) process before registering clients. 2. To monitor/maintain records of all cash transactions of the value of more than Rs.10 lakhs. 3. To maintain records of all series of integrally connected cash transactions within one calendar month. 4. To monitor and report suspicious transactions. 5. To discourage and identify money laundering or terrorist financing activities. 6. To take adequate and appropriate measures to follow the spirit of the PMLAct 2002. Current Issue of money laundering by Indian banks: The on-camera sting carried out by website cobrapost.com has not only brought into focusthe presence of black money in our economy but also the methods used to convert it into white. Estimates of black money circulating in the system range between 10-30% of the actual size of the economy: Rs 88 lakh crore. As holding large chunks of cash is cumbersome, the search is always on for ways to convert it into mainstream assets. From the expose carried by cobrapost, it looks like even Indian banks are being used to launder cash of their prospective clients, taking advantage of the lax know-your-client(KYC) procedures. Video-clippings showed some employees of select branches of ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank offering full support to bringing cash into the mainstream. Analysis: A person with black money is told by the customer relations executives to deposit cash in any bank and prepare demand draft (DD) in favor of single-premium insurance products. KYC norms are generally flouted while making DDs. Or clients were advised to make deposits in small amounts, generally below Rs 50000, for which KYC norms are less stringent or the compliance is ignored. Then this investment is routed in products with a horizon of seven or more years as tax authorities have statute limitations of asking assesses to produce documents going back beyond six years. The insuranceproducts chosen are such that the proceeds are tax-free in the hands of the investor. Thus, a person can easily get away without paying any tax on his black moneyand convert it into white. Second, investors can also use the recent window of investing an amount of Rs 20000 per fund house per year. On the face of it, Rs 20000 may look small. But considering there are 40 asset management companies (AMCs) in India, an investor can put in as much as Rs 8 lakh a year in mutual funds and hold the investment beyond six years to escape the tax authorities. A family with five heads can invest Rs 40 lakh in mutual funds in bits of Rs 20000 to conveniently convert the cash into white seven years down the line. As the amount per investment is low, the transaction may skip the taxman’s lenses. Also, those investing up to Rs 50000 per year through the systematic investment plan have been kept out of the KYC net. Such loopholes are being used for money laundering. Current norms state that investors can become KYC-compliant while making investment. The investment is accepted even if the KYC information is incomplete. Thus, a person can deliberately give wrong information so that the application is rejected. But this does not affect his investment. The form will have the remark ‘KYC not OK’, which hardly matters as he can still redeem the proceeds. An investor can repeat the procedure by submitting wrong KYC for each of his investment. Bank officials are interested in such clients as these investors have few options and tend to invest in insurance products where banks earn hefty commissions. Also, a large portion of the commissions come back to the employees as performance incentives. The staff are under constant pressure to meet sales quotas as their jobs and career growth are at stake. Thus, they resort to mis-selling and money laundering to achieve their internal targets. Many private banks are also focusing on non-core areas like sales of financial instruments to boost their non-core banking income. Very often a bank’s strength is judged by the fee-based income as it is unaffected by the interest-rate cycle. On the face of it, the KYC rules for transactions in financial instruments put in place by regulators like the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) may look quite stringent. But the cobrapost investigation has revealed the loopholes. Thus, Sebi and the RBI should take the incident seriously and see how KYC can be made leak-proof. Punishment for flouting norms should be stricter for all financial intermediaries. References: 1. Dirty Dealing, the untold truth about global money laundering: Peter Lilley 2. Money laundering, An insight into the dark world of financial frauds :BuhreLal 3. Capital Market : April 1-14 2013 4. PML Act 2002 5. Cambridge dictionary