Empowering women and girl to end child labour

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development.

It refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school obliging them to leave school prematurely or requiring them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.

The ILO designates whether employment for an under-17-year-old is child labour based on the terms set out in its minimum age convention. Child labour occurs when the person employed is below the age that compulsory schooling in the region ends or is below the age of 15. If a country is underdeveloped in schooling or economic activity, then it can apply to the ILO to have its minimum age reduced to 14. Any work that puts the person in danger must not be completed by a worker under the age of 18. However, a country can also apply to have the minimum age for this reduced to 16 if there are mitigating circumstances.

New estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggest that millions of child labourers worldwide has dropped by a third between 2000 and 2012 from 245 million to 168 million. In the same period, the number of children doing hazardous work more than halved to just over 85 million.

Child labour fell at its fastest rate between 2008 and 2012. Five years ago, the ILO estimated that there were 215 million child labourers worldwide. While the drop is positive, the 168 million figure suggests that over one in ten children worldwide will still fall under the ILO's definition of a child labourer.

Asia and the Pacific still have the largest numbers (almost 78 million or 9.3% of child population), but Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest incidence of child labour (59 million, over 21%). There are 13 million (8.8%) of children in child labour, in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the Middle East and North Africa there are 9.2 million (8.4%).

Agriculture remains by far the most important sector where child labourers can be found (98 million, or 59%), but the problems are not negligible in services (54 million) and industry (12 million) – mostly in the informal economy.

Also, despite this being the biggest fall recorded so far, it still means that the ILO's targets of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will not be met. They will not even be met by 2020 unless the number of children doing hazardous work starts to fall at a rate of 24% a year. As it stands, the average drop is 6.5%.

MORAL ASPECTS OF CHILD LABOUR

We have become increasingly aware of the social and environmental impact of child labour.

Children labour is a large problem across the world, it has been observed --- International Labour Organization states that 115 million are estimated Child labour -- 53 million to work in the worst forms of children labour, fewer than 15 million are in hazardous conditions for example sweat shops and 70% of children workers carry out unpaid work for their families.

Talking about the Child labour, we cannot ignore the child prostitution and child slavery and it should not be tackled in isolation. Children are also offered as prostitutes this can for the production of pornography or pornographic performances. They can be used for trafficking of drugs. All across the world, millions of children are forced to do extremely hazardous work in harmful conditions which will be putting their health, education, personal and social development at risk.

Children have to face difficult circumstances:

• Full-time work at a young age.
• Excessive working hours subjection to psychological, verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
• Physically punished.
• Limited or no pay.
• They have no chance to escape from the poverty cycle --- this is due to them having no access to education.

In many impoverished locales, child labour is all that stands between the family unit and all-pervasive, life-threatening, destitution.

Child labor declines markedly as income per capita grows. To deprive these bread-earners of the opportunity to lift themselves and their families incrementally above malnutrition, disease, and famine - is an apex of immoral hypocrisy.

CHILD LABOUR AS AN INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

According to statistical data compiled by the International Labour Organization in 2008, an estimated 172 million children aged 5 to 14 partake in child labour globally. Out of the estimated 172 million, about 126 million children regularly engage in hazardous work that can potentially endanger their personal safety, mental & physical health, and development.

A consequence of the child labour issue is that it does not just limit itself to the service, automobile or agricultural industries. Regrettably, child labour extends itself to practices such as selling or trafficking children, the forced recruitment of child soldiers, using or offering children for prostitution, production of pornography, or early marriage.

Furthermore, children who enter into bonded or indentured labour contracts often deal with corporal punishments and threats of violence from their employers if they choose to leave the job.

SOCIAL ISSUE

Child Labor, work performed by children that either endangers their health or safety, interferes with or prevents their education, or keeps them from play and other activities important to their development.

Children work in different types of atmospheric pollution, including those discharged by vehicles, industrial units and smoke caused due to burning of waste goods were registered to be the main culprit. Children working at auto-workshop were reported with the highest number of asthma and other chest infections, according to the compilers of the report.

Cigarette smoking and increased exposure to passive smoking was also registered among these children. Child labor of this character has long been considered a social evil to be abolished.

HEALTH ISSUE

The ILO definition of the worst forms of child labour includes work that is likely to jeopardise health and safety. Effective targeting of those child work activities most damaging to health requires both conceptual understanding and empirical evidence of the interactions between child labour and health. The relationships between child labour and health are complex. They can be direct and indirect, static and dynamic, positive and negative, causal and spurious. The diversity of potential relationships makes their empirical disentanglement a difficult exercise.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUE

Current global epidemiological data consistently reports that up to 20% of children and adolescents suffer from a disabling mental illness that suicide is the third leading cause of death among adolescents and that up to 50% of all adult mental disorders have their onset in adolescence. It is argued that 

• poverty and economic loss diminish the capacity for supportive, consistent, and involved parenting and render parents more vulnerable to the debilitating effects of negative life events.
• a major mediator of the link between economic hardship and parenting behavior is psychological distress deriving from an excess of negative life events, undesirable chronic conditions, and the absence and disruption of marital bonds.

Finally, attention is given to the mechanisms by which parents' social networks reduce emotional strain, lessen the tendency toward punitive, coercive, and inconsistent parenting behavior, and, in turn, foster positive socioemotional development in economically deprived children.

Unemployment is the central problem being faced by every developing country in the 21st century.

children are engaged in hazardous work:

• Children working in agriculture may use dangerous tools, carry heavy loads, and apply harmful pesticides. The children face a number of dangers including exposure to chemical , hard labour, accidents and illness, such as poisoning, asthma, allergies, cuts and skin cancer.
• In factories, children are susceptible to industrial accidents. Children who produce glass bangles are exposed to high temperatures and toxic chemicals and suffer from severe joint pain and lung problems.
• There is limited evidence that children weave cloth using power looms. Children working with power looms suffer respiratory disease, work long hours, and face physical and sexual abuse.
• In the carpet weaving industry children also work long hours and are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse.
• Some children are found working in hazardous conditions in the informal construction, transport, leather tanning, and surgical instrument industries. Although evidence is limited, children are reportedly involved in deep-sea fishing.
• While tanning leather, children are exposed to toxic chemicals and dyes and often contract respiratory diseases and sustain chemical burns. Such work also makes them susceptible to eye and lung diseases.
• Children in urban areas are often employed as domestic servants and may be subjected to extreme abuse. Some child domestic servants have even been killed by their employers.
• Children scavenge for medical waste to recycle, which exposes them to deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Child Labor in the Third World COUNTRIES

The problem of child labor has become an ever-increasing concern among many nations. Many of the worst child labor offenses take place in Third World countries. Throughout these nations, children are being forced to work long hours in terrible conditions for little or no money. To fully understand child labor, one needs to address the reasons for supporting and opposing child labor, its effect on underdeveloped countries’ economies and the child laborers, and what is being done to combat child labor.

DEFINITION OF CHILD LABOUR IN THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES

Child labor in Third World countries can be defined as mostly full-time work of children under the age of 14 in situations that are damaging to health, education, or moral development for pay or no pay. The most common type of child labor is bonded labor, in which workers agree to sell their labor in exchange for a lump sum payment, such as a medical bill. These debts are usually impossible to repay. Therefore, the debt is passed down from generation to generation. Bonded children may also be kidnapped, exported as prostitutes or "recruited" to work in factories and plantations. These children may perform a variety of tasks. They may work in brick kilns, assemble shoes, mix gunpowder for firecrackers, or work at carpet looms.

IS CHILD LABOUR ACCEPTALE OR UNACCEPTABLE       

Although many nations object to child labor, many Third World countries believe it is an acceptable and necessary way of life. Some Third World countries argue that child labor is inevitable for societies at an early stage of industrial development. While trying to achieve this development, poverty and underdevelopment cause child labor to be a necessary, if unfortunate, aspect of modernization in poor countries.

In the majority of Hindu societies, for instance, there is a natural division of labor (castes), and members of lower castes should start training for their lot in life at an early age. Little children can be efficient at many unskilled and semi-skilled tasks, and these children of the lower castes are actually meant to work rather than attend school. Another argument is that it is naïve for Western societies to apply their standards to other countries and cultures.

It is argued that Western societies need to respect the local cultures and customs of different nation. Finally, ending child labor is not a guarantee that the well-being of the child will be improved. Many of these children need to work to sustain life, and if they cannot work in the formal or legal sectors of the economy, they will find jobs in the informal sector. It may force children from productive jobs into prostitution and dangerous life on the street.

While many Third World nations feel child labor is necessary, many developed nations strongly oppose the practice. They believe that exploiting children is immoral and unethical. The majority of these nations have laws protecting their own children from the possibility of exploitation in the workforce. Opponents of child labor believe that childhood should be a period devoted to training and education, not work. Furthermore, they feel that children have the right to be children and to enjoy their youth.

Instead of enjoying their young years, these children are forced to work long days in cruel circumstances and receive little or no money. Child labor also generates poverty. Children work for much lower pay rates than adults, so employers prefer to hire children rather than adults. This phenomenon becomes a vicious, self-defeating circle: child labor increases unemployment among adults, but employment of children also forces adults to put their children to work.

These children work in terrible conditions to support their families financially. Opponents of child labor claim that it is a blatant violation of human rights and needs to be abolished in order to protect the children’s welfare and to generate a more productive economy.

Despite the controversy, child labor is becoming more popular and desirable among Third World countries as it is beneficial to these countries’ economies. The number of children participating in child labor is rapidly increasing, for access to the international market has caused export oriented countries to demand cheap labor.

Macro-economic policies have encouraged growth in export-oriented countries, which have, in turn, increased their supply of child laborers. Many Western companies drastically reduce their cost of production by sending their unfinished goods overseas to be assembled by cheap laborers. These laborers are usually children, and they are profitable and exploitable for employers. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) makes it illegal for any country to ban products simply because they were made by children. This enables employers to use desperate children to work for very cheap wages, which produces profit for them.

POLICIES TO COMBAT CHILD LABOUR IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Although child labor may be beneficial to Third World economies, it has many negative effects on the children providing that labor. Child laborers usually work in extremely harsh conditions for long periods of time and are paid little if anything at all. They are locked in rooms for several hours and sometimes chained as prisoners. Some of the children are kidnapped and later sold as slaves. Employers may beat the children, brand them with hot irons, hang them upside down from trees, withhold food, or force them to stand on their heads for ten to thirty minutes.

These children are confined to small cramped quarters every day. As a result, the odds of spreading and contracting diseases are quite high. Many laborers contract silicosis, tuberculosis, and a variety of other diseases from their co-workers. They are also more susceptible to injury and long-term emotional damage. Often, these children are severely injured or killed while at work.

Due to the horrific conditions that these children endure at work, many things have been done to combat child labor. Many Third World countries have ordered local authorities to raid factories that employ children and to prosecute the employers, which may mean levying fines against violating employers and/or two to five years in prison.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has also devoted attention and resources to the fight against child labor. The Harkin-Brown bill bars the United States from importing products made or imported by children under the age of 15 and directs aid toward programs to eliminate child labor.

POLICIES FOR ELIMINITION OF CHILD LABOUR IN WORLD

Among the major international agents in the field, in particular the ILO, UNICEF, and the World Bank, a consensus has been reached to focus efforts to curb the worst forms of child labor. All three organizations assist governments in developing policies and strategies, and they also support implementation programs.

Encouraged by the positive results of the Second Global Report on Child Labour in 2006, the ILO set the deadline to eradicate the worst form of child labour by 2016. The ILO's Global Action Plan is based on three pillars:

• Supporting and mainstreaming national responses to child labour.
• Deepening and strengthening the worldwide movement against child labour.
• Further integrating child labour concerns in overall ILO strategies to promote decent work for all.

The Global Action Plan urged countries to design and put in place appropriate time-bound measures by 2008. Judging from the result of the third Global Report -- many if not most countries have failed to do so. What is more, in the broader context of progress on the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), and in particular the pace regarding universal primary education, the signs are not too encouraging either.

GLOBAL ACTION

The International Program on the Elimination of child Labour (IPEC) was created in 1992 to enhance the ILOs response to its long-standing goal of the effective elimination of child labour.

Since then, IPEC has grown to become the biggest dedicated Child labour program in the world and the largest technical cooperation program within the ILO with over 60 million dollar expenditure in 2008.

Some other facts about IPEC:

• By 2009. IPEC was operational in 92 countries in all regions of the world.
• During the biennium 2008-09, IPEC activities benefited some 300,000 children directly and over 52 million indirectly.

In 2008, IPEC set out its vision for the next five years:

• Consolidate its position as the leading centre of knowledge and expertise on action against child labour.
• Maintain and further strengthen its research and data collection capacity, which form the basis for both targeted interventions and policy advice.
• Continue to be the central technical cooperation programme for action against child labour.
• Facilitate country-to-country technical cooperation within regions and across continents.
• Strengthen the worldwide movement against child labour and assume for the ILO a leadership role in the movement.
• Continue the integration of IPEC activities within ILO programming, most importantly within Decent Work Country Programmes.

CONCLUSION

Child labor is a severe and complex problem that cannot be solved easily. Although slavery is outlawed in almost every country, it is frequently practised and rarely punished.

Child labor in Third World countries can be defined as mostly full-time work of children under the age of 14 in situations that are damaging to health, education, or moral development- for pay or no pay. The most common type of child labor is bonded labor, in which workers agree to sell their labor in exchange for a lump sum payment, such as a medical bill. These debts are usually impossible to repay. Therefore, the debt is passed down from generation to generation. Bonded children may also be kidnapped, exported as prostitutes or camel riders, or "recruited" to work in factories and plantations. These children may perform a variety of tasks. They may work in brick kilns, assemble shoes, mix gunpowder for firecrackers, or work at carpet looms.

In the immediate future, international attention will be focused on the protection of children working in dangerous jobs and inhumane situations. The education of children from Third World countries will also help eliminate poverty from these developing nations, which, in turn, will someday eliminate child labor altogether.

Ramakrishna Mission – A new path for a new age

The Ramakrishna Mission was instituted to stand as a bridge for the Hindu religious traditions. Ramakrishna Mission (RKM), one of India’s most

respected philanthropic organizations, has been functioning since 1897. Swami Vivekananda, a famous Indian spiritual leader who influenced the Western

world in the 19th century, established RKM in the name of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Deva, his spiritual teacher (“guru”) who is regarded by millions of people as the Prophet of the Modern Age. 

RKM is a Hindu religious, spiritual and philanthropic organisation headquartered in Belur Math, West Bengal.

The Mission was envisioned to exemplify Swamiji’s plan of action through the practice and propagation of the Universal Religion of Vedanta.  The main thrust is to take care of the poor, the illiterate, the ignorant, and the afflicted.

The Mission acquired legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity, it is closely related to Math.

He realized that Indian society had three vital problems. 

1. The masses (i.e. the lower castes) and women (of all castes) had been grossly neglected and tortured. This was the first weakness. 
2. Secondly, people of all castes, religions and races in India had completely lost all enthusiasm for life. They lacked the joie de vivre that is natural in living human beings. 
3. India was a unique nation in the sense that religion was its life-breath. 

The motto of the Ramakrishna Mission is Atmano Mokshartham Jagaddhitaya Cha. It means “for one's own liberation and for the welfare of the world”.  The best quote of Sri Ramakrishna : "Knowledge leads to unity, but Ignorance to diversity." "Lovers of God do not belong to any caste." "Never get into your head that your faith alone is true and every other is false. Know for certain that God without form is real and that God with form is also real.

The Ramakrishna Mission is to change the way an institution of Vedanta should henceforth look upon humans.  It promotes mainly the following goals:

• Cultivating purity, unselfishness, discipline and learning, to effectively influence and lead the society toward universal Vedantic enlightenment.
• Creating new communities and institutions that would serve the cause of the Hindu Dharma.
• Encouraging such social practices and individual habits which would enhance the physical strength and vitality of the Hindu race.
• Experimenting with new enterprises based on science and technology, which could raise the standards of human life.
• Rendering equal rights and privileges to all in receiving the sacraments (saṁskāras), studying the scriptures and observing the religious rites.
• Realising its long-term goals through continuity of policy and successive generations of followers.

Swami Vivekananda established the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, two organizations, headquartered at Belur Math in Howrah.  The question comes why two organisations and what its objective?  

The Math would cater to the spiritual education of the masses, while the Mission would cater to the rest of the activities that Indian society needed to molt itself out of its slough. Only monks would be members of the Math, while monks and married people could both be members of the Mission. 

In due course, these two organizations were registered with appropriate authorities as legal entities. These two organizations represented two limbs, as it were, of the Indian Renaissance movement that Swamiji initiated. While the Math kept a firm grip over the timeless and essential traditions of India’s spiritual culture, the Mission attended to the problems of humanity and served the needy and hapless as part of the spiritual discipline of the members. 

Swamiji wanted to instill the idea of self-help in his fellow countrymen. There was all round deterioration in the standard of living, which had to be immediately addressed. Whether it was activities aimed at educating & upskilling ourselves, or activities aimed at famine, disaster or epidemic relief, we had to learn how to do it ourselves, instead of looking up to our ‘leaders’ for help. In an unprecedented burst of activity, work started on all fronts.

What is important for us to note is the new ritual he initiated through the Ramakrishna Mission.  He said, “The only God to worship is the human soul in the human body. 

Of course, all animals are temples too, but man is the highest, the Taj Mahal of temples. If I cannot worship in that, no other temple will be of any advantage. 

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him — that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free. This is the most practical of all worship. It has nothing to do with theorizing and speculation."

We can gauge the power unleashed by this Prophet of New India by looking at the activities of the Ramakrishna Mission in the 100 years since his passing away. Today we have :

• 1417 educational institutions imparting academic and livelihood skills to over 3.28 lakhs boys and girls annually.  
• over 1168 dispensaries, mobile medical units and hospitals rendering vital medical aid to over 81 lakhs beneficiaries annually. 
• Around Rs. 14 crores was spent on different kinds of Relief & Welfare activities in which over 41 lakhs beneficiaries received assistance. 
• Around 26,000 boys & girls received skill development training in over 700 skill development centers. 
• Apart from the educational and healthcare activities in the rural tribal areas, the Mission spent over Rs. 41 crores on purely rural & tribal development activities. 

In October 2010, as a part of the four-year-long 150th birth anniversary celebration of Swami Vivekananda, RKM undertook a pan-India project named the “Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa” (GAP) -- A Humanitarian Initiative of Ramakrishna Mission for Underprivileged Children.

It was one of the main outcomes that Swamiji had in mind when he started the Ramakrishna Mission.  

The Ramakrishna Mission started in 1899 incorporating the true democratic principles of ‘Self-help’, and ‘Self-governance’. However, there is one vital ingredient in the workers associated with the Ramakrishna Mission which makes them stick to the founding principles in letter and in spirit, which is the attitude of ‘Service to man is service to God’. 

Swamiji repeatedly pointed out that ‘Renunciation & Service are the twin ideals for India’. Perceptibly, Ramakrishna Mission is playing a pivotal role in the development of the Nation. It is out of place to mention for development on such a massive scale, governmental machinery is indispensable.  

No doubt Ramakrishna Mission stands as a beacon of light showing the way.  The attitude of the people involved in the evelopmental activity is what finally decides the fruitfulness of the activity. 

As of 7 March 2022, the Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math have 265 centres all over the world: 198 in India, 26 in Bangladesh, 14 in the United States, 2 each in Brazil, Canada, Russia, South Africa and one each in Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, and Nepal.

The mission's activities cover the following areas:

• Education
• Healthcare
• Cultural activities
• Rural upliftment
• Tribal welfare
• Youth movement, spiritual teachings

The mission has its own hospitals, charitable dispensaries, maternity clinics, tuberculosis clinics, and mobile dispensaries. It also maintains training centres for nurses. Orphanages and homes for the elderly are included in the mission's field of activities, along with rural and tribal welfare work.

The Ramakrishna Mission has received numerous accolades throughout its lifetime:

• Bhagwan Mahavir Foundation Award (1996).
• Dr. Ambedkar National Award (1996).
• Dr. Bhawar Singh Porte Tribal Service Award (1997–98).
• In 1998 the Mission was awarded the Indian government's prestigious Gandhi Peace Prize.
• Shahid Vir Narayan Singh Award (2001).
• Pt. Ravishankar Shukla Award (2002).
• National Communal Harmony Award (2005).

The Ramakrishna Mission was selected for an honorary mention of the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Prize for Promotion of Tolerance and Non-violence 2002.

The Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Narainpur, Chhattisgarh was jointly selected for the 25th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the year 2009 with musician A.R.Rehman for their services in promoting and preserving national integration. 

When we are living in the modern era, it is also the duty of Modern man needs to be a little bit of a monk, no matter what his position in society is. 

It is essential for man to learn to be satisfied with the minimum in this world. What indeed can that be which is beyond money, and which is obtainable through work?

If you are interested in obtaining something beyond money and position from your work and initiating a new path for the spiritual growth of mankind, then you certainly ought to work in one of the Ramakrishna Mission institutions.

Define your edge with a U.S. degree

When we are talking about higher education, it seems the preferred destination should be the United States. Perceptibly, the United States is the choicest destination among the students for higher education all over the world.  According to the Open Doors Report 2022, almost 200,000 Indian students chose the United States to pursue higher studies in the 2021-22 academic year.

U.S. higher education can also be expensive. Fortunately, there are a range of financial aid options that international students at U.S. universities and colleges can access.  With the right planning and research, students can access a range of financial assistance for higher education in the United States. Now, there is a need-based scholarship can be in the form of grants, scholarships, work-study

positions or loans.  For instance, the University of Southern California [USC], provides financial aid to international students in the form of merit-based scholarships and on-campus work.

"Trustee [full tution] and Presidential [half tution] are the top scholarships."  

Based in Los Angeles, USC has one of the largest populations of Indian students in the United States.  At USC, and many other U.S. universities, international students can work up to 20 hours on campus to supplement their scholarship and help cover the cost of their studies.  Campus jobs are available to international students, including jobs in the USC Bookstores, libraries, tech support, fitness center, and even tutoring for the athletic departments.

In Amherst College 2022-23 academic year, 79 percent of international students received need-based aid, with an average aid offer of $ 76,739.  Also, Education USA advisers can guide students to stand out in a highly competitive applicant pool to increase their chances of receiving financial assistance.  One can go to the websites and identify resources.  The links are given below:

USC                 : financialaid.us.edu                                                                                         Amherst College : amherst.edu/offices/financialaid                                                                         Penn State Law : pennstatelaw.psu.edu

Another option is the Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarships, which provide a limited number of scholarships each year for post-graduate studies to outstanding students from certain countries including India, who have no other means of financing their studies.

If Indian women are looking out to launch a career, perceptibly a U.S. degree opens doors for them.  The high quality of education and diversity on campus cultivates creativity, independent thought, equal opportunity and can unlock amazing opportunities.  Be it prospective students or lifelong learners, studying in the U.S. offers unprecedented access to quality education.

Advantages of studying in the United States  

• Acquire immense knowledge and experience
• Studying will give you a great edge to move on your career
• Schools are proactive about helping international students connect with financial aid
• American degrees are recognised and respected around the world
• It leaves a huge impact and groomed personally, academically and professionally
• Studying here gives an opportunity to hone the business skills 

Safety and security in the perspective of women

• Safety is the main priority since many students are far away from their families
• Among other measures, the school offered free transportation at night, security officers and emergency, call boxes positioned all around campus, and even self-defense training from the Los Angeles Police Department

Go online

• USC : usc.edu
• Virginia Tech : vt.edu
• Mount Holyoke College : mtholyoke.edu
• UMass Amherst : umass.edu
• MOOCs: https://bit.ly/knowyourMOOCs
• Coursera : coursera.org
• edX : edx.org
• USIEF : usief.org.in 
• UFS career services : usf.edu/career-services
• USC career center : careers.usc.edu
• University of Houston career services : uh.edu/ucs
• University of South Florida : usf.edu
• Boston university : bu.edu/summer/high-school-programs
• Brown university : precollege.brown.edu
• The University of Chicago : summer-uchicago.edu/pre-college-students
• Resources for students : educationusa.state.gov/resources-students-disabilities
• Stanford's office of accessible education : oae.stanford.edu

Parents deal with many concerns when sending children abroad for higher studies.  The United States-India Education Foundation [USIEF] offers regular sessions for parents and prospective students on various aspects of life as an international student at a U.S. university campus.  Large American campuses usually have several communities for like-minded peers and students.  The North American Association of Indian students, a nonprofit organisation, connects a variety of Indian groups on college and university campuses to create better resources for Indian students.

Indian students planning to pursue higher education in the United States often come up with volleys of questions like:

• Should I pursue undergraduate studies in the United States or wait to apply for graduate studies?
• Who gets priority for graduate funding?
• Are extracurricular activities important for graduate school applications?
• How important are admission test scores for applications to U.S. universities?
• Why should I choose a U.S. education?

An Education USA adviser answers questions frequently asked by students.  They also guide students to stand out in a highly competitive application pool to increase their chances of receiving financial assistance.  

Flexi-options

• Flexible curriculum at U.S. universities allow students to make informed choices about their subjects and career paths.  
• The perks of flexible curriculums -- students can:
• Explore different subjects
• Deepen knowledge of majors
• Pursue independent research projects
• Enhance versatility
• Build critical thinking ability

U.S. universities provide a range of support services for international students with disabilities. The Office of Accessible Education regularly hosts community events and information-sharing workshops.  Generally, they share a building with the Disability Community Space [DisCo], a student-led place where peers can meet, network, share experiences and build friendships.

The United States is home to diverse types of higher education institutions to fit every academic and career goal.  One can go online:

• Brown university : brown.edu
• Princeton university : princeton.edu
• UCLA : ucla.edu
• Amherst college : amherst.edu
• Bryn Mawr  college : brynmawr.edu
• Pasadena city college : pasadena.edu
• Universal technical institute : uti.edu
• Green river college : greenriver.edu

Perceptibly, the students are encouraged to take the leap, if they get the opportunity to study in the United States.  Define your edge with a U.S. degree.  

Before embarking on, here is a food for thought -- ask yourself

1. why do you want to study in the United States?
2. where you will fit in best?
3. which colleges or universities will meet your needs?
4. will you need financial assistance?
5. what are application and financial aid deadlines?
6. where do you want to live in the United States?

How to invest in Shares with only Rs 5000?

The moment we think about Shares, the obvious question does arise we have to invest a large amount but the tagline is that you do not need a big amount of investment to start investing in the stock market!

In general, investors invest in the stock markets, keeping in mind the enticement of earning good returns, which always attracts investors to step in.  But it is important to understand that while you can make big bucks in stock markets, you can also lose a lot of money in the markets if you are not careful while investing or trading in the markets.

Apart from patience and discipline, you require a good amount of research and understanding in order to make money from the stock markets.

General Rule

Also, you do not need a big amount of investment to start investing in the stock market. As a beginner, it makes more sense to start with a small amount and increase your investment amount gradually as you gain more understanding of the market behaviour and learn to analyse stocks.

As we are talking about the stock market, first and foremost, the common people should know about this.

What is a stock market?

A Stock Market is a marketplace where you buy and sell shares.  In India, you cannot buy and sell shares directly in the share market all by yourself. Hence, you will have to buy or sell shares through registered stock brokers.  

There are many share brokers in India through whom you can invest and trade in the stock market. However, the services and service charges of the brokers vary. You will need to know how to select the right broker for yourself.

It is pertinent to get an overview, of how one should go to choose the brokers.

The Overview of the Indian Stock Markets

In India, there are primarily two stock exchanges namely: The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).  

Apart from these two, there are a few national and regional stock exchanges. However, most of the trading happens through NSE and BSE. 

It is assumed that 80 percent of the trading takes place at the NSE and BSE only. They both are almost similar in terms of daily traded volume and most of the key shares have been listed on both the exchanges so that the investors can buy from any of them.  

Here, the transactions in shares are done through online computerised systems. The trading system of BSE is known as BOLT (BSE Online Trading) and that of NSE is known as NEAT (National Exchange Automated Trading).

As compared to the earlier systems of traditional offline trading, the online trading system has facilitated the traders with more transparency, efficiency, automatic order matching, and speedy processing of the transactions.  

When we are talking about shares or stocks, we should know the details about them. What are Shares or Stocks?

Every company needs money to carry on its operations. For that purpose, companies reach out to banks or investors for loans and to borrow money from common people by issuing bonds. But, in both cases, the company must pay a huge amount of interest. So, to avoid huge costs of interest, companies can raise money from the market by issuing its share to the public with no obligation of paying interest. 

A share issue involves selling a part of the company to people or institutions who have money to invest. When you buy a share, you get shares and have to give your money. The company gives the share to you and gets the money.

Why should you invest in shares? 

By investing your money in shares, you will get ownership of the company. The percentage of ownership will be proportional to the number of shares you bought. This will also entitle you to receive dividends, i,e, a share in the profits which the company earns by doing business. 

Apart from dividends, shareholders also enjoy capital appreciation. The share prices of the company increase as the company’s profit grows. Hence, you can sell your shareholding at a price greater than the purchase price and earn a profit.

What are the prerequisites to start trading in Share Markets in India?

Pan Card

You need to have a Permanent Account Number (PAN) to do any financial transaction in India. It is required for opening a bank account, making investments, filing income tax returns, etc. It is a unique number assigned by the Tax authorities to an individual for assessing his tax liabilities in all financial transactions. 

Bank Account

You also need to have a bank account for all transactions in the share market;

Broker

As mentioned earlier, no transaction in the share market can be made by you directly in the stock exchange. You need to open a share trading account with a broker who is registered with SEBI and the stock exchanges. 

ICICI Direct, Sharekhan, Axis Direct, etc. are some of the popular share brokers in India.

Get a Demat and trading account

Apart from the Bank Account, you will need to open a Demat Account wherein you can hold all your shares and securities in your name. Nowadays, you cannot hold share certificates. Hence, having a Demat Account is necessary to hold all your securities in an electronic (dematerialized) form.    You will also need a trading account for buying and selling the shares. 

Generally, all this is taken care of by the broker. So, once you approach a broker, your Demat account and trading account are also opened simultaneously.

How to select a good broker?

Here are the tips to select the right stock broker for yourself:

Conduct an extensive research

Firstly, you need to carry out thorough research about various brokers based on the reviews of their customers. It is important since the broker will be the one who will be responsible for providing various investment services to you and will also help you to place orders for buying or selling shares. 

Having a good broker will ensure that you have a good experience of transacting in the stock market. A broker with good customer service will make sure they provide you with great service, and most importantly, execute your order on time.

Offers multiple investment options

You can invest in various other financial products other than shares in the share market. These include mutual funds, futures, and options, etc. Your stock broker should give you access to these investment products so that you do not have to go elsewhere to buy these.

Quality of services provided

If you decide to go with an online broker, then you need to make sure that their website works efficiently. Also, the website should be able to handle huge traffic during peak hours. There is no doubt that technical difficulties might arise sometimes. So, your broker should provide you with an alternative option to place your orders during those times. Moreover, they should offer this facility at no additional cost.

Extra services

Apart from just managing your portfolio and providing share trading services, your online broker may sometimes provide advisory services too. They should provide you with good recommendations so that you know what to share to trade and what not. They should also keep you updated with the market sentiments and how it will affect the various industries. This helps you in better and more informed decisions while trading in the market.

Full-service brokers or discount brokers

Now, if you are new to share markets, then it is advisable that you should go with a full-service broker. A full-service broker makes sure to advise you on each and every transaction you make in the stock market. They assist you in every possible way and guide you to transact successfully in the share market. 

Gradually, when you become accustomed to trading in the share market, you can opt for discount brokers and invest your money yourself. They do not offer any other help apart from just executing your trades.  Even though the full-service brokers charge you a higher commission, still it is better to go with them for limiting your losses in the initial days of trading.

Understanding the Online Trading Platforms

Online trading platforms allow you to trade via the internet by using the trading software provided by the broker.  

As a beginner, the trading platform might confuse you, but it is essential to have a thorough understanding of the trading platform so as to efficiently use the various tools provided by these platforms. You can even transfer your funds from your bank account to your share trading account instantly with just a click of a mouse.

Features of an online trading platform: 

Provides access to various online tools to perform technical analysis of stocks

You can have full and direct control over his portfolio

You can trade on both the markets i.e. NSE and BSE simultaneously by using the same account

Keeps you informed about the latest market news and movements

Trading happens fast and without any significant delay

Getting started with the online trading platform:

User ID and password

Your online trading account is protected by a login ID and password. The login ID is provided by the broker and the password needs to be set up by you. You should change your password frequently for the safety of your account. Also, make sure to opt for additional security measures available for your account so as to ensure the safety of your account.

Indices display

The online trading platform will also display the market indices at an appropriate location on your screen. This helps you to know the movements in all the indices primarily Sensex and Nifty. In most platforms, you will be able to customise the screen to display all the indices you want to follow. This helps the investors in getting an overall insight into the market sentiments so as to execute their trades accordingly.

Reports

At any time, you will be able to access various reports related to your market activities. These reports include the order book, trade book, margin, net positions, exercise book, and portfolio. Even, these reports are dynamically updated as soon as any transaction is executed without any need of refreshing them. You can perform various trading actions in the reports themselves. These reports can be saved offline as well in a text or CSV format.

Buying and selling of shares using various types of orders

You can easily buy and sell shares using an online trading account. There are various types of orders that can be placed in the market. You need to understand all the orders before you start buying and selling the share. 

Here are the features of the various types of orders available:

Limit orders: In this type of order, you need to specifically enter the price at which you want to buy or sell the share. You will get an option to notify whether you are placing the market or limit. If you decide to place a limit order, then you will have to expressly enter the price of your choice.

Market orders: In the case of a market order, you do not enter a specific limit price. Instead, you can get the order executed at the current price that is prevailing in the market at the time of the trade.

Stop loss order: In a stop loss order, you need to enter a price to trigger the order. So, such orders are activated once the trigger price mentioned in the order is reached or surpassed. This order helps in minimising the loss to a pre-determined amount. Such orders are always placed in pairs. Firstly, you need to place the normal order i.e. market or limit order and then, a stop loss order to restrict the maximum loss. For example, if you place an order to buy a stock at Rs. 100 and do not wish to take a loss of more than Rs. 2, then you can place a stop loss order to sell the share at 98. 

IOC orders: IOC stands for 'Immediate Or Cancel'. In this case, you place an order with the intention to get it executed instantly otherwise the order is cancelled. If the order gets partially traded, then the remaining part of the order gets cancelled automatically. You cannot place the stop loss order as IOC orders. Only normal orders can be placed as IOC.

Things to keep in mind while placing a buy or sell order

Quantity box: You need to necessarily fill the quantity box while placing an order. The quantity in the share market is generally in lot size but most of the shares generally have a lot size of 1. Make sure to enter the correct quantity in the box to avoid any errors.

How to start investing in Stock Markets?

Remember that not all stocks are good for investing. Some are overvalued and some may have weak fundamentals or any other issue. So, as a beginner, it is important to learn how to evaluate the stocks and pick the right ones for yourself.

You must know how to identify the shares that can help you earn some profits either in terms of dividends or capital appreciation through stock analysis. A little bit of knowledge and practice will make things easier for you.

Firstly, you need to learn how to read the financial statements of a company. It represents the financial position of the company. The objective is to invest in only fundamentally or financially strong companies. Ideally, the investors will be more interested in investing in the companies with higher profits since it means that the company will pay higher dividends. But, some of the companies instead of sharing profits as dividends might retain it for expansion and growth. But, this eventually helps the company to earn even higher profits in the coming years.

These are just two indicators. There are many other tools such as dividend yield, current ratios, long-term debt ratios etc. that can help you in making an informed decision. 

Understanding Brokerage

The cost associated with the buying and selling of shares is called the brokerage.  To have a clear understanding of this, you need to first understand the concept of intraday and delivery trading.

In Intraday trading, you buy and sell shares on the same day, and earn a profit or loss from the difference in the price at which you transacted. Since you buy and sell within the same day, you don't carry forward any shares, and no share enters or leaves your demat account. Due to this, brokerage charges for intraday trading are generally quite low.

However, in delivery trading, the position is not closed on the same day and the shares are bought and kept in the Demat account. The shares can be held for a number of days, months or even years until you reach your target price, Generally, the trading cost in India includes the brokerage, securities transaction tax, stamp duty, service tax and some other charges. 

Understanding Capital Gains Tax on Share Trading

Capital Gains Tax is yet another important aspect associated with share trading. There are basically two types of capital gains tax: short-term capital gains tax and long-term capital gains tax.

In the case of investments in shares, if you sell a stock after one year of buying the share it is considered a long-term investment and there is no income tax on the long-term capital gain on selling of shares. Hence, it is more beneficial to hold your investment in shares for more than a year and earn maximum profits.

Whereas in case if the shares are sold within one year of buying then, it is considered a short-term investment and it is chargeable to income tax at a flat rate of 15% irrespective of the tax slab in which you fall. This applies only on the delivery trading, in the case of intraday trading, investors need to pay taxes on the basis of normal slab rates applicable to them.

Stock Edge

Since you are new to investing in the market, you can take advantage of the Stock Edge mobile app. You can simply download this app on your phone and learn about the market movements, the latest financial information of all the listed companies, technical analysis and derivatives on the go.  

By providing complete trading resources under one platform, this is a perfect app for investors, traders as well as analysts.

Conclusion

This is a fair idea of how to start investing in shares.  Generally, this has given you a basic idea about what stock markets are, how they function, and how to look for good stocks to invest in.

However, this is just the beginning, and you will have to go deeper into the various concepts and techniques related to the markets.

One can continue learning by gathering knowledge about: 

• Fundamental Analysis 
• Technical Analysis 
• Futures And Options 
• Wealth Management 
• Currency and Commodity Markets