ECONOMICA

Cultures and Contributions of the East We, as people living in a free, democratic country, are well aware of the fact that a huge part of our lifestyle has been influenced by the western trend that includes powerful countries like USA, UK, Canada, etc. But what we have been constantly failing to notice, is that the eastern countries— among whom India plays a vital role—have been influencing the world since a long period with their exquisite and rich culture.  The eastern part of the world i.e. The Eastern world consists of the Asian continent, the Indian Subcontinent and Europe. These countries, although seldom acknowledged, have been one of the greatest contributors to the world's overall development, be it any field whatsoever. From the onset of the first bullet train in Japan, to the introduction of tea from China, our lives have been prominently affected. Even then, these are minute contributions in the vast range of the progress that the Eastern Countries have led

         It is said that a government is the heart and kind of every economy. We, the people, elect the government through elections. Just as we categorize certain leaders to be too good or bad to be real, the 2019 Canadian federal elections were a series of unexpected turns.  The Liberal Party lead by incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with his minority government won 157 seats in the general elections. The Liberal party lost the majority they had won in the 2015 elections. The Liberal Party’s main opposition, the Conservation Party had a higher vote share of 121 seats, as a result they remained the official opposition.  As Justin Trudeau officially began his second term, there prevailed a sense of alienation from the rest of the country. Let’s assess the factors that led to this not that surprising of an outcome- The Scandals Sometimes a man can be his own worst enemy and that was somewhat true in the case of Justin Trudeau. Various controversies looming over his Prime Ministers

BOOK REVIEW-All the Light We Cannot See "So how, children, does the brain, which lives without a spark of light, build for us a world full of light?"-Anthony Doerr. Inside the walled island-city of Saint Malo, the war has arrived. We are introduced to two people staying in the same city whose paths, unbeknownst to the reader, are about to cross. Marie Laure lives in the tall house by the sea where she has with her a miniature diorama of the very city she is within and a jewel of fabled powers. Losing her sight at an early age, the diorama is how she learns to navigate her way around and later become a part of the resistance. Situated a few streets away from her is Werner Pfennig, a German soldier of extraordinary skill with the radio. Growing up in an orphanage with his sister, Werner dreams of a life bigger than the coal mines he is supposed to work at. We are soon swept away in the story; navigating the streets of Paris first and later Saint Malo, with Marie La

The Ongoing Impeachment of Donald Trump The United States is a federal republic in which the Congress and federal courts share powers reserved to the national government, according to its Constitution. The federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments. Two political parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have dominated American politics since the American Civil War. Generally, the Democratic Party is also known as the center-left liberal party within the United States, while the Republican Party is known as center-right conservative party. Donald Trump is the 45th and current president of the United States. He ran for Presidency with the ticket of Republican Party. In 2016, Donald Trump  defeated the Democratic ticket of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. Senator from Virginia Tim Kaine, despite losing the popular vote. It was later established that Russia played a very important role in the defeat of Hillary Clinton and the t

BREXIT- The Messiest Divorce in the History of the World                            4 years, 3 Prime Ministers, 2 Giant Economies, 1 Brexit              After applying to be a part of the then European Economic Committee and being continually vetoed against for nearly a decade, in 1973 the country of Great Britain became a part of what is today known as the European Union , a behemoth of an economic organization comprising of 2 8 countries both developed and developing, on the European Continent. By 2016 UK made up over 50% of EU's imports and exports and contributed to around 10 Billion Euros to its budget. But a seed that was planted way back in 1975 sprouted once again in the March of 2016 and today has become a gargantuan tree th reatening to tear through the very roof of the British Economy, the Brexit. But like a tree, it is taking it’s time, slowly, steadily, chipping away at the foundations one brick at a time. The entire world, including the very Prime

ANOTHER YEAR OF CELEBRATING SUCCESS On 8 th August 2019, the Economics Department of D.G. Ruparel College of Arts, Science and Commerce had organized a felicitation ceremony in order to celebrate the excellence of students in the subject of Economics. The Chief Guest Dr. Prakash Salvi Sir, the former Head of the Economics Department was accompanied by the HOD Mrs. Varsha Utpat Ma’am and the chairperson of the EconomicA, Mrs. Anita Hamand Ma’am. Nikita Kapoor from TYBA inaugurated the ceremony with a kind welcome to all the audience present and Sreya Nair introduced them to the Chief Guest and his impressive accolades, after which Anita Ma’am gave a brief introduction of the Economics Department and its dynamics with the students. As the felicitation ceremony began the students awarded were from the sections of SYJC, FYBA, SYBA, SYBSc and TYBA were announced forth by Bhairavi and Vandana of TYBA. The honourable patron felicitated the meritorious students for their excellen

Day 3 of Arthotsav, initiated with the guest lecture. We were honoured to have Mr. Rajneesh K. Jha, SBA, LIC of India (Mumbai), as the chief guest for the day. He gave a speech related to Financial Planning and Wealth management. His monologue was nothing short of motivating and thought-provoking. His insights on how a person should handle his/her own finances during the course of their life, job and after retirement were enlightening. He ends with the ever-inspiring quote, “Dream big and achieve what you dream”. After the guest lecture, the team of Arthotsav clicks a group photograph with Mr. Rajneesh Jha. Shortly after, the mega event of Arthotsav begins. The Mega Event was named ‛Retrospectrum’, this year. Various founder economists and one of their theories were given to each team. The winners of the previous events were participating in this event. 6 teams were presenting their presentations on their given economist theories. The economists per team were as follows: Team 1- Da

Day 2 of Arthotsav began with Auction Avalanche, an event headed by Chairperson Sanyukta Buwa and Deputy Chairperson  Gayatri Naik. The event took place at Rupangan, a campus favorite. Round 1 was the elimination round wherein the teams had to write down as many clothing brands as they could in under a minute, and the first 8 teams to get the maximum number of names penned down qualified for the second round, where the actual game began. With the volunteers cheering in the background, the adrenaline rush in every single participant was at peak, the entire arena was buzzing with excitement. Round 2 began when each team was given two thousand bucks to spend on a box in an auction. It was a task to choose which box they liked the best and thought worthy to call their own. Knowing the box would help in the next round, the highest bidder would keep the box to themselves and maybe be at advantage in the next round. In the next round, the participants had to deal and sell the goods they had

Day 1 of Arthotsav started at 7 in the morning with all the volunteers assembling at the Economics Department. A few instructions in, and all were ready to begin the day ahead. The Festival of Arthotsav initiated with the Inaugural Ceremony, graced with the presence of Shri. Kaushal S. Inamdar, celebrated music director in the Marathi and Hindi music industry as the Chief Guest for the occasion. It was a great delight and very inspiring to hear his views about Economics weaved into the language of music. The very first event of Arthotsav was The Wolf of Dalal Street. Shares and stocks of various companies were traded in this Virtual Stock Market. The prices fluctuated with time, but not the enthusiasm of the participants. The participants had to buy and sell the shares and the team possessing the highest number of shares would be the winner to the event. This event got a storming response from the participants and was a huge success. This event was followed by a new event this

The department of Economics of D. G. Ruparel College recently had the great pleasure to invite Mr. Kaushal S. Inamdar, music composer and singer for the inauguration day of Arthotsav 2019. An ex-student of the college and an alumnus of the Department of Economics, Mr. Inamdar is a well known name in the music industry of India, prominent in Marathi and Hindi languages. A major in Economics, he says the subject of Economics has helped him along the way, “You can leave Economics, Economics won’t leave you. Nothing you learn in college will go to waste. A study in Economics especially, doesn’t ever go waste.” Mr. Inamdar further gave an example to accompany his statement. The music of maestro A R Rahman can be decoded using the law of Diminishing Marginal Utility by Alfred Marshall. The tune of ‘Dil hai chotasa, choti si aasha’ makes use of the same melody five times in a row. Further linking music and Economics, he stated that there are limited resources in music-the seven no

It's the super six, the aces of the pack, the Core Team. It is but obvious, when you are the Core Team for a fest that is so close to everyone's heart, it gets ingrained into everything you do. Radhika exclaims, "We don't recall the last time we had a conversation not related to Arthotsav!" With barely any time to spare, the festival is fast approaching and it is time to meet the pillars of the fest, the Core of Arthotsav 2019. What exactly is the Core Team's work? "To supervise, well, everything" this is known, but really, what do these guys do? Elaborating, they say, "Our job is overseeing the Event schedule, looking after the work of every department, along with making the final call with some decisions." Point to note, this work had started way back in 2018, June in fact. The work then was begun and carried on by the Core members, and it is with time that everyone joins the team. It is evident that Arthotsav is bigger th

There is only a couple of days to go to Arthotsav and you can feel it in the air, the calm of the chaos, the silence before the storm. Near the Economics department, everyone's sitting but you can feel their minds running, busy, some with excel sheets, some with long lists, some with artwork, all at hardwork. And there come I and my questions, to disturb the peace for a brief 10 minutes. The event-heads, cool and collected, are clear with the concept, all having been a part of atleast one behind-the-scenes interview. I begin by asking them the core essence of their events. Safa, in-charge of handling the virtual stock market event, Wolf of Dalal Street, says, "It's connected to real life stock exchange. People do invest and trade in securities and having their basic knowledge is necessary. That's what we test in this event." Sanyukta, the event-head of Auction Avalanche speaks up, "It basically puts your marketing skills to test, how you can efficientl

Team Literary Arts- The pedantic prescriptivists. The Literary Arts is a department where a bunch of introverts weave words and create magic. They are the Shakespeares, the dictionaries, and the Wren-and-Martins of Arthotsav. The ones who take interviews of all other departments were evidently late for their own interview. (not complaining). After a long wait they all finally show up; meekly. Literary Arts efficiently puts Arthotsav in words; and everything that is to be made to sound beautiful while reading. It plays the ‛ink’ part in Arthotsav. One of the Heads, Prajakta says "LA doesn't only write but also does a vital role of connecting the thoughts and ideas and vision of all the departments of Arthotsav and representing it to the people as one." To this, Miloni, one of the volunteers, adds, "LA has a sizable chunk in bringing in people, along with PR and Social media in a way, while the other two rely on communication skills and great media

Out of all the different teams working in Arthotsav, it was a pleasure speaking with one of the most important departments, Finance. The head and mentor of the department, Siddhikesh along with other members greet me as I enter the Economics department. Far from the most well known department in the festival, Finance prefers to do most of its work discreetly, the work is mostly ‘behind the curtains’ & yet extremely integral to the working of the fest. On being asked on the exact role of Finance, Siddhikesh describes, “We basically keep a track of all the expenditure that happens during the entire festival, before preparations start, we make a rough budget detailing the cost estimations required by the festival and after the fest concludes we make an audit which we submit to the marketing department, who then present it to our sponsors.” We then move on to discussing their modus operandi, how does the Department of Finance go about their daily tasks?