The Indian Middle Class History Essay

The Indian Middle Class History Essay Is there something known as the Indian middle class? How does it manifest itself in everyday India? Illustrate through Santosh Desais Mother Pious Lady. It is very tough to explain the contours that define the Indian middle class. Being in the middle is not a easy thing always as there are two conflicting forces that keep on pulling this middle towards itself. One is the rich, upper class, the elites whose lifestyles symbolise the new dawn of the country. The other is the seemingly poor, lower class which is routinely dismissed as the underbelly. But in Indias case, there definitely exists a middle class which is thriving and is a growing force for every aspect of the country society, culture, politics, market and even cinema. Santosh Desai, through his book Mother Pious Lady, shares this sentiment as he reflects on how the middle class has been negotiating with the seemingly innocuous but defining changes in their culture, thinking and lifestyles. This essay, through some anecdotes from Santosh Desais book and insights of some other thinkers, aims to emphasize the fact that something like a middle class is very much a part of India s structure and manifests itself in every day India. For the current generation, the concept of a middle class seems to be a fairly recent one. But then probably, the middle class was always there in the Indian history in some way or the other. A proto-middle class existed in India much before the British period, consisting of petty officials, shopkeepers, master craftsmen, priests and scribes. But they were not a middle class in the modern sense. Soon, the ideas of Industrial Revolution found their way into British India as well. Social values were transformed by the efforts of reformers like Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. At the same time, the growing use of the English language provided access to technological, political and cultural innovations of the West. Thus, the Indian middle class was born.  [1]   After independence, started the process of formation of a new lifestyle and image for the middle class the existing middle class of before independence; gained more resources for themselves and moved into the position of the new elites of the new, independent India. With the growth of public sector jobs in the 50s and 60s, came about the growth of a new middle class. As Sanjeev Sanyal puts it, In turn, it created a whole generation of middle-class children who grew up together in housing colonies and with a shared experience Chitrahaar on Doordarshan, the Fiat or scooter that was replaced by the Maruti 800, and the unending sequence of exams. It also led to a culture of sharing with each other. Sociologist Shiv Visvanathan provides an insight, What made the middle- class of the time different was the way it wove together scarcity, memory and boredom. The public sector socialism of the time with its ritual of ration cards created a world of limits. One did not starve but one subsisted on little. The one thing socialism created was the world of boredom as a commons. One shared each others boredom. The 70s and 80s gave a shape to the faint contours of the middle class which had risen in the 60s. The culture of the middle class was now also more consumption based and provided the image of the middle class which we now seem to identify with. Santosh Desai describes these pangs of growing consumption through anecdotes on how sending a 2-word telegram was all it took to convey well-being, how stainless steel utensils acted identifiers of a certain modernity that was newly acquired. Raja Menon provides another insight, Families moved into quarters designated Type 2 A, 14B/43 of Phase 1. All appliances-a radio, BW TV, a stereo, refrigerator and mixie-were displayed in the drawing room and the whole neighbourhood dropped in to watch Chitrahaar.  [2]   The 90s are heralded as the era of the middle class which the marketers chased. Liberalisation opened up new avenues for the middle class. When India opened up in 1991, the big attraction for marketers both national and global was the big Indian middle class estimated to be anywhere between 300 to 400 million and growing.  [3]   Anuradha Goyal documents the pangs of transition for the moderate 80s to the ambitious 90s for the middle class, They (middle class) lived in their own world where they had enough for their basic needs but nothing for their desires. Then came the famous economic reforms of early 90s and it changed the Indian middle class forever. People in the upper echelons of the society probably always had everything, and for the people in the lower rung things have still not have changed much except probably a mobile phone in the hand. But the middle class suddenly had more resources than they were used to. They could now afford to buy houses at a much younger age, cars almost at the beginning of their work lives, clothes and shoes without waiting for a wedding to happen in the family. Psychologically, for people who grew up in 70s and early 80s, the change was tremendous, while their growing up was in the era of scarcity they landed up in the era of abundance without really making a proportionate effort. They embraced the change but also had to deal with their roots that lie in another age. As a class they also became the focus segment for many product and service offerings. They were not used to and had to learn to deal with this sudden attention. During the 90s and beyond, the level of middle class got a raise, a raise which was quite different from that of the upper or lower class. As Madhukar Sabnavis puts the query, In any society, people want to move up in life and there is continuous push for every group to move up. Simultaneously, the people on the top have the urge to do better to distance themselves from the rest. So, to define a middle class by income earned is always possible. And to affix a number to it is equally easy, once the arithmetic is done. But is this actually the middle class and whats special about this class? Why is this group so special to everyone sociologists, marketers and administrators? Economically, the 90s defined the middle class in terms of its earnings and the subsequent spending or to say differently, the consumption. This new middle class worked hard to rise from the bottom, bringing with it a nouveau-rich mentality that some Indians consider vulgar. Today, Indias middle class is one of the largest in the world, equal in some estimates to the population of the United States. The economic reforms started in the early 1990s have spurred an annual growth rate exceeding 7%, with especially rapid growth in the middle class. Projecting that growth rate into the future, Indias income will double every ten years. Within a generation almost 50% of Indias people could become middle class and poverty could diminish to 15%. In line with this growth, the Indian middle class is developing an appetite for telephones, cars, televisions, clothes, refrigerators and other consumer goods.  [4]   This economic rise of the middle class also gave a new direction to the cultural mores which have now come to define the middle class in India Sabnavis again gives an insight, Once unshackled, its not surprising that the Indian middle class felt liberated to enjoy and spend in the last two decades. Integrity is a relic of the Gandhian/scarcity era. Means justify the ends has always been the Indian principle of living Krishna and Chanakya are the cultural icons of this. Jugaad has always been part of our lives. No doubt, words like jugaad, fixing, contacts have invariably crept into the lingo of the average middle class guy. Another quite peculiar identifier of this new middle class culture has been the fixation with English. Puts Vikram V. Garg  [5]  ,Knowledge of English, together with mass media and the internet puts middle India in a very interesting position. It is in some sense, pre-western. The combination of comfort with English, combined with the relatively liberal political and media environment of India, is resulting in a huge American influence on this middle class. Also contributing are the increasingly strong people to people links between America and India. The middle class is thus developing aspirations that are in line with this psuedo-western mindset. It seems that for now these aspirations are mostly consumerish and professional, not political. But the most defining feature of this middle class has been the fact that despite moving up the ladder in the consumption chain, it has not lost view of its traditions which does appear contrasting but is the path chosen. Says Rowena Robinson, The modernity of the middle class does not enter the realm of the mind. Perpetuating patriarchal and hierarchical notions and reaffirming stereotypical gender roles are seen as commitment to tradition. Being liberal is epitomised as consumption and spending.  [6]   Santosh Desai also emphasizes on a related aspect in Mother Pious Lady. He analyses this through the term ritual reality The penchant for symbolic action finds its pinnacle when it comes to finding a method to punish inactionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the institution of the suspension is an inspired oneà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Most suspensions are liftedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and often with retrospective effectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Overall, it seems to reflect a lack of belief in the ability of any person to materially alter the world through individual actionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ we place thinking on a higher pedestal over action, seeing the latter as a lower order activity compared to the former. Another way to see this middle class is through the silver screen. The depiction of middle class in films has kept pace with the changing aspirations of the middle class itself. As Alam Srinivas puts it, Nationalism is not just about geographies, politics and social upheavals. Its also about economics, in the context of the evolution of the middle class-the intellectual-ideological force behind the nation-building exercise. Over decades, as various pressures transformed it, the middle class forced the country to alter its socio-politico-economic vision. And Hindi cinema has, through the decades, tracked all these changes.  [7]   Madhava Prasad refers to a certain tendency in popular Hindi cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He says that this set of films à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦was addressed to the subject, the individual in society, faced with the struggle for existence, the locus of desires, fears and hopes  [8]  . He refers to this as the middle class cinema. The cinema of 1970s 1980s reflected the middle class as a section of society in transition and in that transition, going against the system and leading to a resultant angst the angry young man image as a symbol for the same films like Zanjeer, Deewar, Laawaris, Shaktià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Films like Ardha Satya and Aakrosh showed the undirected middle-class anger, discontent and confusion during those days in the 1970s and 1980s. The rise of economically empowered middle class in the 1990s gave a new image to be projected by popular media. In an article World Cinema: Bollywood forced to go mainstream? Iain Ball says -The highly educated middle and upper classes in India, once embarrassed at being westernized and for speaking and thinking in English, are feeling confident in their sense of identity and their language for the first time. Theres a whole audience one can target that wasnt there 10 or 15 years ago. This is a new money class.  [9]   As Neha Chadha points out, This also explains the sudden emergence and dissemination of a certain set of images that not only repeatedly appear in Hindi cinema but also float all around us on television, newspapers, hoardings, posters, etc. and create a matrix, of which we have now become a part. All sorts of consumer items fill the frame cars, phones, television sets, microwave ovens, designed interiors and increasingly they became a part of the narrative and sometimes even became the very tools to carry the narrative forward. This larger trend of media images that surrounds us is an ever-expanding universe of merchandise, shopping malls and the new media, and each, in its own way, naturalizes this image culture.  [10]   Thus emerged a new romantic form which was definitely different from that of the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was definitely not situated in the middle class. The romantic cinema of the late 1980s and early 1990s was about the urban youth who spend incessantly on food, clothes and entertainment, an image which continues to be projected even now. As Santosh Desai describes it, The Hero of today is changing, albeit slowly. His clothes are more normal and he woos his woman less roughly, but in many ways he is the same. As a society we still need our Heroes (sic) to do six impossible things before the first song in Switzerland. He must not appear ordinary, for we still have too much of that commodity going around in our own lives. As Chadha reasons, Even though the middle class exists in an enormous number as the principal consumers of these films, it is visually absent in them because it now begins to identify itself with a different class this identification occurs at the level of aspirations. Hence the paradox, the middle class can now not be associated with these images even though they could afford these objects or the lifestyle shown in these films. It is precisely this middle class that is the focus of Santosh Desais book, Mother Pious Lady. Desai dips into the world of media, Hindi films, relatives and jobs to paint a very accurate picture of India prior to liberalisation and in the early period after it. There are uncanny observations about the way Indian middle class has gone about living its life during this time.  [11]   For example, he offers an interesting insight about women travelling in DTC buses which some 20-22 years back, was the preferred mode of travel for the middle class The bus would wait for her arrival if needed to and the crowd would part to allow her to sit in the seat reserved for her. The relationship with the driver was never remotely improper; there was rarely any conversation or even an overt acknowledgement; it remained an unspoken pact between the driver and his muse. Desai offers his take on the changing aspirations of Indians, the dilemmas that come along with sweeping changes post liberalisation, and the historical baggage we carry. What we called middle class values were in reality nothing more than the whole protocol of actions we developed to deal with insufficiency with diginity and graceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ A comrade of our needs, an enemy of our desires, this tightness of hand was accompanied by a value system that sought to minimise the acknowledgement of the role that desire played in our lives. He documents the huge shift the middle class has seen from stainless steel to the postcard, the blue used to whiten our clothes, the all-important crease in the trouser, unannounced (now unthinkable) visitors, the Bajaj scooter, the thali, even the pickle. Money used to be hard to come by, but joy wasnt The Maruti, which has been a symbol of the middle class living for quite some time, has been described by Desai like this For most of us, who were born in the middle class only to die there, the car was a border we could not imagine crossing à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the Maruti compressed the promise of consumerismà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ flung the doors of aspiration wide openà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The auto rickshaw, which is also a symbol of middle class transport, has been very amply described The autos appeal comes from its ability to provide a real luxury; it offers us the power of individualised motorised transport. When one hires an auto one is placing a value on ones own time. Rather than wait for public transport, an auto is hailed and ones precise destination is reached. The autorickshaws implicit deal with us is that while it gives us this wonderful luxury, in return it strips everything else in the experience that could remotely reek of luxury à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It is both deeply comforting and dissatisfying. It captures the variable and uneven nature of life in India that is not too poor to have no choices, yet not so affluent that it can take life for granted à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It reaffirms and gives substance to the Indian belief that life may be hard but there is always a way. The politics of speedbreaker are also a feature of his analysis, We may or may not build great roads, but we sure know how to build great speedbreakers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The speedbreaker exists to defeat the purpose of the road. Motorised traffic became possible because of the macadamisation of roads and the speedbreaker is tarmacs revenge on itself à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ But there is a larger need that drives us to put up so many of these speedbreakers. At some level we are afraid of speed and the distance that gets created between those speeding and the rest of us. The speedbreaker is the political front, the battle line that marks the tussle between those with the means to speed and the othersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Desai on those ubiquitous badges carefully bestowed on organizers at puja mandals and Lions Club felicitations: The badge is a quasi-uniform converting disconnected people into a cadre. The badge converts a lower division clerk into an officer bristling with disappointmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and a housewife into a despot with untrammelled powers. Whats the way ahead for this thriving, captivating middle class? Desai discusses how the Indian middle class is emerging from the folds of its past, thereby requiring fresh analysis. This transition, is still ongoing the middle class will become a stronger social force five years from now, with a more nuanced worldview. Rajdeep Sardesai documents this insight, The middle class, especially the more affluent sections, have dramatically shifted their priorities and become more self-centred than ever before. A credit card induced, acquisitive culture has meant that tomorrow is dispensable, what matters is the here and now. As long as an endless cycle of consumption is not significantly altered, there seems little empathy for the daily wage labourer who is struggling to survive. Double digit inflation is just a statistic, not a overwhelming concern.  [12]   Finally Madhukar Sabnavis has this prediction for the middle class, As India evolves, it appears the middle class, as we have known it in the second half of the 20th century, is disappearing. Across India, people are looking to better their lives materially and moving up the acquisition chain demanding more, wanting better products and living richer lives. Indian cultural values, however, will not disappear as people move up. Desire and values can and will coexist and its important for sociologists to accept it and live with it rather than bemoan it.

Frankenstein Essay

Throughout the novel, Frankenstein, a feminist theme subtly pervades the novel, and is crucial to the characters of the story, the plot line and the setting of the novel. The reasons for the creation of the monster lie within Frankenstein’s own familial relationships, especially with the grief he experienced at the loss of his mother. Frankenstein is riddled with passive female characters who suffer throughout the novel. However, not one female character throughout the novel ever exhibits behaviour outside of the submissive female role. Elizabeth, Victor’s love, dies at the hand of the male creature, while waiting for Victor to rescue her. Elizabeth is unable to do anything to defend herself without the help of a man. Equally, Justine Moritz is sentenced to death for a murder the creature also committed. Once again, she is unable to defend herself and prove her innocence and dies for it. Some may argue that Justine is a victim of circumstance however, but her docile role leaves her helpless to make her own destiny and defend herself against the false accusation. Mary Shelley’s own family life affected contents of the novel as well. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, a strong activist in the feminist movement, had died shortly after her own birth, and both her and her sister did not take kindly to their Father’s second wife, Mary Clairmont. During the nineteenth century, within Genevan society, where the novel was first written, men dominated the social and intellectual employment, whilst women only occupied the domestic work/lifestyle. Although the passivity of female characters is at a constant throughout the novel, perhaps coming to the conclusion that Frankenstein is simply a misogynistic text is unreasonable. Shelley’s feminist background, as a daughter of Wollstonecraft, questions the motives behind stereotyping traits of all of the female characters in the novel. Also, Elizabeth and Justine both died far before the end of the novel. It can be argued that by emphasising the conservative qualities of the characters, Shelley was able to also define the negative aspects of the static female ole by exterminating female characters that fit that role. By linking the submissive women with the negative demises, Shelley was able to emphasise the negative outcomes of their behaviour, contrasting with feminist ideals that would have in turn saved the character in each case. It can be debated that Shelley’s presentation of women after Caroline Beaufort’s death is the irreplaceable place of a mother or the assumption of roles by other characters. In the novel, Shelley seems to portray Caroline’s death as society’s view of women. Caroline is easily discarded, performs the role of the mother and then perishes. The women in Frankenstein could also be seen as virtuous and caring, as Caroline sacrifices her own health knowingly in order to look after Justine and Elizabeth; â€Å"Elizabeth was saved, but the consequences of this imprudence were fatal to her preserver. † Elizabeth appears to represent a replacement mother figure within the Frankenstein family, spurred on by dying request of Caroline for her to â€Å"supply† her place to her â€Å"younger children†. Agatha, as well, supplies this need within the DeLacey family by playing the womanly role. However, it is argued by some that a mother can never be truly replaced, and according to the maternal and biblical symbolism throughout this novel, the reader could be inclined to believe this is Shelley’s true opinion. Mary Shelley’s own mother died only eleven days after her birth, and it could be seen that the absence of a maternal figure is clear in Frankenstein. The absence of the maternal figure shows the apparent breakdown of a family unit and seems to inspire an oedipal complex within both Frankenstein and the monster. Like in Frankenstein, the role of men in Brave New World has a complete higher standing to women, both physically and psychologically. Also in comparison to Frankenstein, women have a better understanding of emotions and have more social roles. The portrayal of male superiority is uniform throughout the novel, and starts by introducing that overall dominance with the tour of the Hatchery. All the students on the tour are male and although maybe a minor detail, this shows that women are restricted to the things they do at an early age. During the tour, the students learn about pregnancies and that women are sterilised, yet the men aren’t. This short and important fact by the author exclaims the physiological dominance of men over women. The book shows no clear objection to leaving the future of their offspring in the hands of males, even if it is unhealthy. A specific character to talk about in Brave New World is Linda. Linda is the character in the novel who opposes the traditional role of women in the book (and that of women in Frankenstein). Like in a lot of Huxley’s pieces, this novel centres heavily around sex. In Brave New World, sex is no longer used for procreation but for distraction and pacification. The act has been dehumanised and devoid of human passion. I feel in this, Huxley tries to argue whether the future of our lifestyle is a subjugation of a natural inclination toward monogamy or the freedom of sleeping with many people. Linda is portrayed as the person opposing to modern culture, and causes the reader to question whether Huxley’s portrayal of women in Brave New World is apt. For her opposition to the modern culture, Linda is isolated, condemning her and her son to a marginal existence because of this. Another female character worth mentioning in Brave New World is Lenina Crowne, the main female character in the novel. Foster, Bernard and John are in awe of this woman, and it is puzzling to see why. She lacks intelligence, and is not particularly creative, interesting or unique. A word that Huxley uses constantly is â€Å"pneumatic†. The official definition of this is ‘full of air’, which seems to mean she is curvy and all-round sexy. It could be argued that Aldous Huxley purposely used this word as a double meaning, that she’s pneumatic mentally also; she’s vapid (lifeless and dull). In contrast to Linda in the novel, Huxley’s constant use of â€Å"pneumatic† implies that she’s the epitome of the World State female. I feel it is clear throughout the novel, and corresponding to her previous upbringing and family, Frankenstein works as an indication to the treatment of women during that time. Her portrayal of inferior women is ironic given she is the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft. Elizabeth could be seen as a sign of mistreatment to women as she is portrayed as the perfect woman who represents domestic bliss and harmony, while rejected by Victor Frankenstein in his â€Å"pursuit of knowledge†. The role of Elizabeth during the novel could work as a feminist warning also, as she magnifies Victor’s selfish character; â€Å"my more than sister, since till death she was to be mine only. Likewise, in Brave New World, Aldous Huxley could have written the novel in order to show the wrong attitude towards women during the story. This could trigger spite towards the limits that women are still treated at, or were treated at when the novel was written. In conclusion to the two texts, the theme of feminism is still very relevant to the plot line in this modern age, although both works have been continuously adapted into different stories, plays and movies. Both Huxley and Shelley represent their female characters as inferior to and reliant on men, as well as more emotional in both texts. I feel both the authors represent their female roles like this, and in a negative light, to receive a reaction from the reader; in order to think of how women are still treated in today’s society and back then. The fact that Frankenstein is still present in literature, theatre, and cinema attests to the perpetuity of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and her views on feminism in society.

Launching the BMW Z3 Roadster Essay

BMW Z3 is the first BMW car which is being manufactured in North America which has not been a very big market [roughly around 16%] for BMW because of the inability of the American customer to associate with a foreign brand. Therefore the sales and marketing approach of BMW Z3 will lay the foundations of the future of BMW brand in America. Their phase I was a success, and they had two months between the launch and the product availability to further ingrain their brand image in the hearts of the Americans. So how to strengthen their brand campaign for the coming two months was their main concern. Brand symbol is an important aspect in the automobile industry as it is the brand image that drives the person to buy the automobile and defines the target market and therefore the revenues. This could be supported from the past: their shift in positioning from â€Å"yuppie status† to â€Å"Ultimate Driving Vehicle† led to a 18% increase in sales in one year. For BMW Z3 brand they wanted to preserve their reputation for driving performance but reposition their cars as stylish and fun to drive so that they settle into the minds and hearts of the American public and the vehicle becomes a cultural icon. With the plan of leveraging the excitement and enthusiasm of the customer base in a way that it will draw maximum attention and interest to the brand â€Å"non-traditional† marketing methods were chosen. These methods were more cost efficient because of the psychographic segmentation and delivered to a broader base which was the major intention of BMW. It was also different and unconventional which was what BMW wanted to associate with their unique brand. All their various marketing campaigns which included release of â€Å"Golden Eye†, in which their car was featured as â€Å"Bond’s car†, screening in the â€Å"Tonight Show†, Central Park launch event, radio DJ program, Neiman Marcus Catalog Offer and the video were completed by November which were roaring success and helped in building the required brand image which were reinforced through the traditional media campaigning in December. These campaigns were successful as they were able to generate favorable product reviews and they also resulted in 9000 pre-bookings much higher than the expected 5000. As an asset a brand name has to be carefully managed so that its brand equity does not decrease. Therefore BMW will have to take up some brand building initiatives so that the brand name remains in the market. As they have got more than expected pre-orders which is going to strain their existing process there is no point in going for sales increasing marketing strategies. It should be related to customer satisfaction because if these customers become advocates for BMW Z3 they will be able to convince more prospects in their reference groups to become customers. Through these customers BMW can also get data regarding the various cultural, personal, social and psychological factors that drove them to buy BMW Z3 on which they could base their second phase of brand building events. So therefore in January their first initiatives should be to send survey forms and invites for an exclusive test run for the various customers who have placed orders. Then in the month of February have road shows throughout the country where the prospective buyers of the car will have a first hand feel of the car they are going to buy. This will help in building a market through customer referral and building a â€Å"pull† market for the car rather than a â€Å"push† market. Customers could also be given details of their car and the various facilities they get as a package along with the car so that can perceive a higher â€Å"customer delivered value† for their car. In addition the people who attend the promotion shows could be given t-shirts with the logo â€Å"I have driven BMW 3Z† to further increase the brand awareness and strengthen the IInd phase of branding. The car could also be taken out on long drives through the cities where there will be maximum visibility. The above brand campaigns will not be able to generate any leads in the present but will help in bringing twin advantage of brand recall and improving customer rating of the brand.

Negotiable Instruments Under State and international Law - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1289 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Law Essay Type Review Did you like this example? Negotiable Instruments 1 Part 1 Negotiable instruments are governed by both state and international law. Universally, the instruments are governed by the Universal Commercial Code (UCC) which defines negotiable instruments as unconditioned writing that promises payment of a fixed amount of money. Under the UCC checks are chiefly covered in article 3 and 4. The articles generally address check fraud litigation that emanate from check alterations, forging of the makerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature, payeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s check endorsement or either counterfeited checks created by dishonest third parties (Ames, 1972). In a bid to help protect and recover losses made by victims of fraud, the UCC by implication endorses a policy that the loss resulting from fraud is best placed on the party that is best placed to prevent the occasioning of the loss. This implicit policy gives light in Nicholsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s scenario that he has a chance of recovering hi s money back from either bank. In a real case scenario, a drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s check moves downstream from the drawer to the checkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s payee. The check then moves from the payee to the drawee bank that in turn pays out the amount shown. The offender may at any time in the sequence enter the stream. In most case scenarios, since the offending party who commits the fraud often disappears into thin air without a trace, the claim involves the injured party against the drawee bank that processed unendorsed or forged check. The drawee bank is generally liable in cases of processed checks with forged drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature while the depository bank is liable for claims that involve the payeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s endorsement of the check (Ames, 1972). In Nicholsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s scenario, the depository bank is liable for processing a check that did not bear the payeeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s endorsement. The bank depository bank had direct contact with Micha el Kittinger who presented the fraudulent check. Thu,s the depository bank was in the best position to verify the checkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s endorsement. The bank ought to have taken reasonable caution to establish that the check was not endorsed by the payee and was fraudulent thus making it liable in recovering Nicholsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s money. In cases of double forgery where the drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature and endorsement are forged or unauthorized, the drawee bank is generally liable as it is held responsible for verifying the drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature. Subsequently, Nicholson may recover his money by suing the depository bank for conversion. The law permits an instrument to be converted if other than negotiation, it is taken by transfer, from an entity that is not permitted to implement the instrument or a bank that makes payment to a person who is not at liberty to implement the instrument or obtain any payment. According to the law, in a conversion claim , the measure of damages is presumed to be instrumentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s face value (Ames, 1972). To improve Nicholsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s chances of recovering his money back, the law ought to be revised in fraud litigation actions to give rise to a new cause of action for contributing to the recovery of the losses solely based on shared culpability. Most state laws permit a bank to only charge customerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s accounts for checks that are deemed to be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"properly made.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The provision in turn creates room for claims against banks that impose charges its customers for checks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"not properly payable.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ The claim may constitute an action for a breach of contract claim against the bank by a customer for paying an item that is not à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"properly payable.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ However, the parties in the contract may decide by agreement the standards b which the bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s responsibility maybe measure d if the standards are not manifestly unreasonable (Ames, 1972). Additionally, to improve Nicholsonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s chances of recovering his money courts ought to embrace the use of conversion in check fraud claims and that depository bank ought to be allowed to recover from upstream banks for errors that may result in shifting liability. Nicholson may also sue the bank for indemnification and negligence to recover his money back (Ames, 1972). Part 2 Under the auspices of the UCC Joey can indeed recover his money from the 24 Hour check cashing company. The drawee bank, in this case, the 24 Hour check cashing company that paid out money after the check was presented is generally liable for claims that involve drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature. The bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s liability arises as the bank is liable for claims that involving the drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s signature. The bank is held responsible for verifying the signature and anything that may arouse suspicion on the drawerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s check (McKeehan, 2001). In Joeyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s scenario, he was mugged by his assailant Stan leading to his bleeding on the check. Stan then took the check with blood stains on it and cashed it on the 24 Hour check cashing company where he withdraws all the money. The teller ignoring the blood stains on the check after verifying the checkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s proper endorsement handed over the money to Stan. The availability of blood on the check ought to have raised reasonable suspicion about the check. The bank via its employee had a duty to verify the authenticity of the check which was glaringly brought into issue by the availability of blood stains on the check. However, the bank failed to act on its duty of exercising ordinary care and negligently issued the money to Stan even after presenting a check that was doused in blood. On a reasonable point of view, the issuance of the money was as a result of a negligent act that ought to have be en prevented and led to the loss of Joeyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s money. Because the negligent act was perpetrated by the bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s employee, the doctrine of vicarious liability makes the bank liable for any wrongs done by its employees in the scope of their work. In recovering his money, Joey can bring a claim of negligence against the bank based on the bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s negligent act (Whaley, 1974). Subsequently, Joey can also plead legal duress as his defense against the bankà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s refusal to repay his money back. Scholars articulate that an individual can plead duress in a claim brought against a bank for recovery of money if the individual can prove that he or she was the subject of immense pressure caused by another person at the time of the deedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ execution. Joey signed the instrument under threat and subject to physical violence that was evidenced by his bleeding on the check presented to the 24 Hour check cashing company by Stan . If an entity is forced to sign an instrument without his or her will, the entity is not legally bound to honor the terms of the instrument. Joey, in this case, was not bound by the transaction as his endorsement was obtained under duress (Palmer, G. E. (2001). Under the auspices of the UCC which protects negotiable instruments, duress invalidates delivery. Delivery of the instrument as well as the transfer of ownership from one person to another is solely based on mutual consent and duress invalidates that consent, thus constituting an illegality. There must be an intention on the part of the holder, in this case Joey to relinquish ownership of his possession to Stan. However, this intention was absent in the instrument (Palmer, G. E. (2001). Stanà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s endorsement of the check was forcefully sought which constituted an illegality. An illegality renders a contract void and thus the bank is under no duty to enforce an illegal contract and ought to refund Joey his money back (Palmer, G. E. (2001). References Ames, J. B. (1972). The Negotiable Instruments Law. Harvard Law Review, 241-257. McKeehan, C. L. (2001). Negotiable Instruments Law. Am. L. Reg., 50, 437. Palmer, G. E. (2001). Negotiable Instruments Under the Uniform Commercial Code. Michigan Law Review, 255-310. Whaley, D. J. (1974). Negligence Negotiable Instruments. NCL Rev., 53, 1. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Negotiable Instruments Under State and international Law" essay for you Create order