CONTENT

INTRODUCTION:

Awareness is the state or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. In this level of consciousness, sense data can be confirmed by an observer without necessarily implying understanding. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something. In biological psychology, awareness is defined as a human's or an animal's perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event.

Neuroscience:

Neural systems that regulate attention serve to attenuate awareness among complex animals whose central and peripheral nervous system provides more information than cognitive areas of the brain can assimilate. Within an attenuated system of awareness, a mind might be aware of much more than is being contemplated in a focused extended consciousness.

Basic awareness:

Basic awareness of one's internal and external world depends on the brain stem. Bjorn Merker, an independent neuroscientist in Segeltorp, Sweden, argues that the brain stem supports an elementary form of conscious thought in infants with hydranencephaly. "Higher" forms of awareness including self-awareness require cortical contributions, but "primary consciousness" or "basic awareness" as an ability to integrate sensations from the environment with one's immediate goals and feelings in order to guide behavior, springs from the brain stem which human beings share with most of the vertebrates. Psychologist Carroll Izard emphasizes that this form of primary consciousness consists of capacity to generate emotions and an awareness of one's surroundings, but not an ability to talk about what one has experienced. In the same way, people can become conscious of a feeling that they can't label or describe, a phenomenon that's especially common in pre-verbal infants.

Due to this discovery medical definitions of brain death as a lack of cortical activity face a serious challenge.

Basic interests:

Down the brain stem lie interconnected regions that regulate the direction of eye gaze and organize decisions about what to do next, such as reaching for a piece of food or pursuing a potential mate.

Changes in awareness:

The ability to consciously detect an image when presented at near-threshold stimulus varies across presentations. One factor are “baseline shifts” due to top down attention that modulates ongoing brain activity in sensory cortex areas that effects the neural processing of subsequent perceptual judgments. Such top down biasing can occur through two distinct processes: an attention driven baseline shift in the alpha waves, and a decision bias reflected in gamma waves.

Social Awareness Programs:

Legal Aid Cell - Due to illiteracy, early marriage, dowry, alcoholism, exploitation, poverty, our association and past experience among the target group, especially with girls & women, revealed the importance & urgent need of providing free legal aid. The cell is working for women's right and justice.

Health is Wealth : God's most beautiful creation is youth. The program believes in the importance of good health and surrounding environment for effective learning process. It organizes health programs/workshops/seminars etc. on aids awareness, anti-drugs/ alcohol/ nicotine/ smoking campaigns, free medicines to most needy, health checkup camps, for the benefit of the trainees & community.

Self-entrepreneurship Development (SED) cell: It aims to motivate and provides ample opportunities and help trainees for self-employment. It helps trainees with the loan schemes of Government/ Semi-Govt., Corporate Sector and Private organizations.

The cell now has added SED as one of the compulsory subject in the syllabus for all the trainees with 4 session (six hour) per week including the exposure training.

Child Care Center: The program is concerned about basic needs, rights & exploitation of poor and underprivileged children. It works for the welfare of these neglected tins by organizing play-way workshops and sports etc. It also aims to provide awareness on the issue to the community for effective especially to mothers.

Ex-trainee forum: The forum keeps the ex-trainees under one roof for their active involvement, follow-up & help to each other. It organizes several programs, which includes cultural, social and economical activities.

Foster parent care: The program aims to introducing & provide overseas foster parents to the most needy girls and women who lost emotional and income support. It also make necessary efforts in getting one time help in cash or kind to orphans, divorced mother with children, from the overseas friends, well-wishers and visitors. It keeps record of women benefited.

CULTURAL AWARENESS:

Cultural awareness becomes central when we have to interact with people from other cultures. People see, interpret and evaluate things in a different ways. What is considered an appropriate behavior in one culture is frequently inappropriate in another one. Misunderstandings arise when I use my meanings to make sense of your reality.

As an Italian it is almost automatic to perceive US Americans as people who always work, talk about business over lunch and drink their coffee running in the street instead of enjoying it in a bar. What does it mean? Italians are lazy and American hyperactive? No, it means that the meaning that people give to certain activities, like having lunch or dinner could be different according to certain cultures.

In Italy, where relationships are highly valued, lunch, dinner or the simple pauses for coffee have a social connotation: people get together to talk and relax, and to get to know each other better. In the USA, where time is money, lunches can be part of closing a deal where people discuss the outcomes and sign a contract over coffee.

Misinterpretations occur primarily when we lack awareness of our own behavioral rules and project them on others. In absence of better knowledge we tend to assume, instead of finding out what a behavior means to the person involved, e.g. a straight look into your face is regarded as disrespectful in Japan.

Becoming aware of our cultural dynamics is a difficult task because culture is not conscious to us. Since we are born we have learned to see and do things at an unconscious level. Our experiences, our values and our cultural background lead us to see and do things in a certain way. Sometimes we have to step outside of our cultural boundaries in order to realize the impact that our culture has on our behavior. It is very helpful to gather feedback from foreign colleagues on our behavior to get more clarity on our cultural traits.

Projected similarities could lead to misinterpretation as well. When we assume that people are similar to us, we might incur the risk that they are not. If we project similarities where there are not, we might act inappropriately. It is safer to assume differences until similarity is proven

DEGREES OF CULTURAL AWARENESS:

There are several levels of cultural awareness that reflect how people grow to perceive cultural differences.

My way is the only way - At the first level, people are aware of their way of doing things, and their way is the only way. At this stage, they ignore the impact of cultural differences. (Parochial stage)

I know their way, but my way is better - At the second level, people are aware of other ways of doing things, but still consider their way as the best one. In this stage, cultural differences are perceived as source of problems and people tend to ignore them or reduce their significance. (Ethnocentric stage)

My Way and Their Way - At this level people are aware of their own way of doing things and others’ ways of doing things, and they chose the best way according to the situation. At this stage people realize that cultural differences can lead both to problems and benefits and are willing to use cultural diversity to create new solutions and alternatives. (Synergistic stage)

Our Way - This fourth and final stage brings people from different cultural background together for the creation of a culture of shared meanings. People dialogue repeatedly with others, create new meanings, new rules to meet the needs of a particular situation. (Participatory Third culture stage)

Increasing cultural awareness means to see both the positive and negative aspects of cultural differences. Cultural diversity could be a source of problems, in particular when the organization needs people to think or act in a similar way. Diversity increases the level of complexity and confusion and makes agreement difficult to reach. On the other hand, cultural diversity becomes an advantage when the organization expands its solutions and its sense of identity, and begins to take different approaches to problem solving. Diversity in this case creates valuable new skills and behaviors.

CONSUMER AWARENESS:

Anyone who consumes goods is a consumer. Consumers get exploited in the market. They respond to advertisements and buy goods. Generally advertisements do not give all the information that a consumer needs t know or wants to know about a product.
Some of the common methods of exploitation are

Under weight and under measurements –not measured or weighed correctly

Substandard Quality –defective home appliances and medicines beyond expiry date

High prices—charging above the retail price.

Duplicate Articles—selling fake items in the name of the original

Adulteration and Impurity—is done to get higher profits

Lack of safety Devices—absence of inbuilt safeguardsin appliances

Artifical Scarcity—hoarding and black marketing

False and Incomplete Information—misleading information on quality, durability, and safety.

Unsatisfactory after sales Service—high cost items like eletronics and cars require constant and regular service.

Rough behaviour and Undue conditions—harassment in getting LPG connection or a telephone connection..

Factors causing exploitation of Consumers.

Limited Information—providing full and correct information will help in the choice

Limited Supplies—when goods and services are in short supply then price shoots up

Limited Competition.—single producer may manipulate the market in terms of price and stocks.

Low Literacy.—illiteracy leads to exploitation.Hence Consumer Awareness is essential.

Rise of consumer Awareness:

Kautilya was one of the earliest to write in his Arthasastra about the need for Consumer awareness and protection. With the growth of private sector there is a greater need for discipline and regulation of the market. Consumers must be aware of the sale and purchase of goods, the health and security aspects also. Ensuring the safety of food items sold in the market is essential these days.

Legal measures for consumer safety and consumer awareness must be uniform, and transparent in terms of prices, quality of goods, and stocks. Consumers must have the tools to combat malpractices and protect their rights.

Rights and Duties of Consumers:

As codified under the Indian Laws the Consumers have the following :

Rights:

Right to Safety—to protect against hazardous goods
Right to be Informed—about price, quality, purity
Right to Choose—access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.
Right to be Heard—consumers interest and welfare must be taken care of
Right to seek Redressal—protection against unfair trade practicesand settling genuine grievances.
Right to Consumer Education.—Kowledge about goods and issues related to consumers.

Duties:

#Get a bill for every important purchase and also the Warranty card

#Check the ISI mark or Agmark on the goods

#Form consumer awareness groups

#Make a complaint on genuine grievances.

#Consumers must know to exercise their rights.

Consumer protection Measure:

1. Legislation concerning Consumer Rights.

The Consumer Protection Act 1986 provides for consumer disputes redressal at the state and national level. With the help of this law the agencies can solve grievances in a speedy, simple and inexpensive manner. A separate department of consumer affairs was set up at the state and central government. A three tier system of consumer courts at the National, State and District levels were set up. These agencies have done good work by handling lakhs of cases.

2. Public Distribution System.

To protect the poor from price rise and black marketing the government food security to the poor by supplying essentials through the ration or Fair price shops.

3. Standardisation of Products.

These are done to assure the quality of products. The ISI stamp on goods is placed by the Bureau of Indian standards. This caters to industrial and consumer goods. These goods can be trusted to confirm to specific standards. Agmark is meant for Agricultural products.

At the International level the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) located in Geneva sets common standards. The FAO and WHO provide food standards.

4.Legal formalities for filing a complaint:

The complaint can be written on plain paper. The supporting documents like the warranty card must be attached. A lawyer is not required. We can argue our case.