India and other emerging economies prepared a Copenhagen accord late on Friday night in association with the US, to be presented to an overnight plenary session of the UN climate summit. The accord came under attack from the Group of 77 almost at once, though it was unclear if it would carry its opposition into the plenary session.
In a dramatic development earlier in the evening, US President Barack Obama broke into a meeting of the heads of government of BASIC countries - Brazil, South Africa, India, China - and held an hour-long meeting.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South African President Jacob Zuma were all present.
The draft was prepared at the meeting and finalised with heads of 25 other countries, plus European Union (EU) and the secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), an Indian official said.
'The global goal of what we agreed upon was to keep temperature rise within two degrees Celsius,' Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said shortly afterwards. 'We also agreed upon a transparency mechanism that protects our sovereignty.'
He was referring to the demand by rich countries that emerging economies not only take steps to control emissions of greenhouse gases that are warming the earth, but that their actions be verifiable by the international community.
India and China have opposed this earlier, saying this would impinge upon their sovereignty.
Describing the third sticking point to a Copenhagen accord, Ramesh informed: 'President Obama said some European countries wanted to negotiate a new legal treaty (to fight climate change). Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it very clear that no new legal treaty could be negotiated, since we already have the Kyoto Protocol.'
While Ramesh said India and the BASIC countries had got a 'good deal' that was also 'good for the entire developing world', the G77 did not think so.
In the sharpest division within the developing world in recent years, Lumumba Di-Aping, Sudan's ambassador to the UN, called it 'the worst development in the fight against climate change'. Sudan is now chair of the G77.
Di-Aping - who attended the meeting of 25 countries - said the draft accord was 'in gross violation of the principles of transparency and participation by all countries that have governed all actions within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is against the poor and it lacks common sense.'
He alleged that the draft had been 'superimposed by the US. Obama has today eliminated his differences with (George W.) Bush'.
Asked why he thought China and India had agreed to such a deal, Di-Aping snapped back: 'Ask China and India'.
Would the G77 oppose the draft at the UNFCCC conference plenary session due to start any moment? 'Wait and see,' Di-Aping said. Pressed further, he said: 'Sudan will oppose.'
According to UN rules, all decisions have to be by consensus among the countries present at a meeting.
Before the draft accord was presented to the larger group of countries, Obama held a press conference - only for journalists accompanying him - and then left for the airport.
At the press conference, the US president said: 'This is going to be the first time when emerging countries have offered mitigation targets, voluntarily. It was essential to get that shift in orientation. That will be the major benefit of this accord.'
Obama admitted that there was a 'fundamental deadlock in perspectives' between developed and developing countries on how to tackle climate change. 'Both sides have legitimate points.'
He said a legally binding treaty to fight climate change was necessary but would be 'very hard' to get. 'If we just waited for that then we would not make any progress.'
Applauding India for the steps it had voluntarily taken to control greenhouse gas emissions, Obama said: 'A more binding agreement was not achievable at this conference'.
Shortly before the plenary session was scheduled to start, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy on Climate Change Shyam Saran told IANS: 'This was a way to get out of the deadlock'.
But many green NGOs were unhappy with the accord. Greenpeace International Executive Director Kumi Naidoo said: 'World leaders failed to avert catastrophic climate change. People everywhere demanded a real deal before the summit began and they are still demanding it. We can still save hundreds of millions of people from the devastation of a warming world, but it has just become a whole lot harder.'
Kim Carstensen, the leader of WWF Global Climate Initiative, said: 'After years of negotiations we now have a declaration of will which does not bind anyone and therefore fails to guarantee a safer future for next generations.'
Friends of the Earth and 350.org also criticised the accord because it had not been reached in a transparent manner.
But there were some supporters too. Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director, said: 'The world's nations have come together and concluded a historic-if incomplete-agreement to begin tackling global warming.'
Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, said: If accepted by other parties, this tentative agreement would be an important step forward.'
The European Union accepted the accord but was not very happy with it. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: 'It's a positive step but clearly below our ambitions.'
The EU had earlier said it would increase its 2020 greenhouse gas emission reduction pledge from 20 to 30 percent if there was a strong deal at Copenhagen. But Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in the early hours of Saturday that the union would stay at 20 percent.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20091219/884/twl-india-prepares-copenhagen-accord-wit.html
Friday, December 18, 2009
We Are Selling '3 Idiots' on Aamir's Name: Madhavan
Aamir Khan is making waves by promoting upcoming film '3 Idiots' in innovative ways. But co-star R. Madhavan is unperturbed by the actor hogging the limelight. In fact, he admits that the film is being sold on the superstar's name and he has no problems with that.
'Aamir is the biggest star; so it would be foolish to think that the focus will be entirely on you when he is in the film. We are selling '3 Idiots' on his name,' Madhavan, who had teamed up with Aamir in the hit film 'Rang De Basanti', told IANS.
Aamir has launched a game where one has to spot the Bollywood star who will travel across the country in different get-ups in two weeks. His travels have so far taken him to Varanasi, Madhya Pradesh's Chanderi district, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly's home in Kolkata and Jaipur.
'However, the fact is that the film is called '3 Idiots' and I'm one of the three; so my presence is obviously felt,' said Madhavan.
Releasing Dec 25, the film also stars Kareena Kapoor and Sharman Joshi. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, it is about two idiots - Sharman and Madhavan - who are in search of the third idiot, played by Aamir.
The 39-year-old actor said it was wonderful working with Aamir again.
'It was great getting back with Aamir and Sharman after 'Rang De Basanti'. We stayed together in a hostel during the shoot of the film and had a great time. Aamir is an outstanding friend and a very loving person. He pursues things till perfection. I have learnt a lot from him,' he said.
The actor, who was an engineering student, refrained from speaking about his role in the film, but said it resembles his own life.
Talking about 'Munnabhai' director Hirani, Madhavan said: 'He is the most chilled out director I have ever worked for; he is amazing and makes an actor so relaxed on the sets.'
So, does he feel that '3 Idiots' has the potential to beat the 'Munnabhai' series directed by Hirani?
'Of course. '3 Idiots' has the potential to beat all films,' he said.
Madhavan, who has earlier featured in films like 'Rang De Basanti', 'Guru' and '13B', is also looking forward to Leena Yadav's 'Teen Patti', which stars Amitabh Bachchan and Hollywood veteran Ben Kingsley.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20091219/914/ten-we-are-selling-3-idiots-on-aamir-s-n.html
'Aamir is the biggest star; so it would be foolish to think that the focus will be entirely on you when he is in the film. We are selling '3 Idiots' on his name,' Madhavan, who had teamed up with Aamir in the hit film 'Rang De Basanti', told IANS.
Aamir has launched a game where one has to spot the Bollywood star who will travel across the country in different get-ups in two weeks. His travels have so far taken him to Varanasi, Madhya Pradesh's Chanderi district, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly's home in Kolkata and Jaipur.
'However, the fact is that the film is called '3 Idiots' and I'm one of the three; so my presence is obviously felt,' said Madhavan.
Releasing Dec 25, the film also stars Kareena Kapoor and Sharman Joshi. Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, it is about two idiots - Sharman and Madhavan - who are in search of the third idiot, played by Aamir.
The 39-year-old actor said it was wonderful working with Aamir again.
'It was great getting back with Aamir and Sharman after 'Rang De Basanti'. We stayed together in a hostel during the shoot of the film and had a great time. Aamir is an outstanding friend and a very loving person. He pursues things till perfection. I have learnt a lot from him,' he said.
The actor, who was an engineering student, refrained from speaking about his role in the film, but said it resembles his own life.
Talking about 'Munnabhai' director Hirani, Madhavan said: 'He is the most chilled out director I have ever worked for; he is amazing and makes an actor so relaxed on the sets.'
So, does he feel that '3 Idiots' has the potential to beat the 'Munnabhai' series directed by Hirani?
'Of course. '3 Idiots' has the potential to beat all films,' he said.
Madhavan, who has earlier featured in films like 'Rang De Basanti', 'Guru' and '13B', is also looking forward to Leena Yadav's 'Teen Patti', which stars Amitabh Bachchan and Hollywood veteran Ben Kingsley.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20091219/914/ten-we-are-selling-3-idiots-on-aamir-s-n.html
Year's Most-Hacked Software
The Year's Most-Hacked Software
At the beginning of this decade, Microsoft represented a cybercriminal's dream target: universally-used software, brimming with bugs ready to be exploited to hijack users' PCs. But as the software giant has slowly cleaned up its security flaws, hackers are looking toward another vendor whose products are nearly as ubiquitous and whose bounty of vulnerabilities are just being discovered: Adobe.
According to Verisign's bug tracking division iDefense, 45 bugs in Adobe's Reader software were found by either cybersecurity researchers or malicious hackers this year and patched. In 2008, iDefense found 14 Reader bugs, double the number in 2007.
Meanwhile, the number of bugs found in commonly-used Microsoft programs like Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Microsoft Office remained flat or dropped. Just 30 bugs were exposed in Internet Explorer compared with the same number last year, and 41 bugs were found in all of Microsoft's Office programs like PowerPoint, Word and Excel, down from 44 in 2008.
When Forbes asked a group of cybersecurity researchers from security firms TippingPoint, iDefense and Qualys to name software programs with vulnerabilities most often used by hackers to victimize users' PCs this year, every one included Adobe Reader on their list. "It's a huge focus for attacks now, around 10 times more than Microsoft Office," says Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer at Qualys, a vulnerability scanning firm.
Until recently, Adobe Reader software has received less scrutiny than browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox. But it shares the characteristics that made those browsers powerful attack avenues. Nearly every Web user has installed Reader. Its complex code base offers a high risk of flaws. And it accesses enough of a user's machine to give hackers a powerful foothold. "It's a very good playground for exploitation," says Pedram Amini, a researcher at 3Com-owned security firm TippingPoint.
Part of Adobe Reader's vulnerability stems from its unexpected functions, Amini says. Aside from merely reading static PDFs, it can also run Javascript to enable PDFs with animation or that pull dynamic information from databases. Those abilities mean the program can allocate memory for a document's use, a trick that, combined with the right bug, can allow a hacker to execute code on a user's machine and install programs. "It's a rich target for both bug hunters and exploit writers," Amini says.
Adobe recognizes that it's in the crosshairs. In May, the company instituted a quarterly patching cycle for Reader, following Microsoft's model of regular software updates. Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch says the company has revamped its internal security teams with a focus on more secure development and faster response to bug discoveries. "We used to debate whether we should take a detour from product development to do a security fix," says Lynch. "Now we address any zero day immediately."
Even as Adobe becomes a major focus for hackers, older targets like Internet Explorer and Firefox are still far from secure. In fact, most exploits are sold on underground cybercriminal forums with packages of several vulnerabilities they're prepared to exploit, says Qualys's Kandek.
Kits that go by names like "T-IFramer," "Liberty Exploit Systems" and "Elenore" all turned up on underground markets selling for $300 to $500, Kandek says, and allow the attacker to install a Trojan program ready to download whatever malicious software a cybercriminal wishes, from spyware to click-fraud software. All three of those kits exploit three unique Adobe Reader bugs, along with a smaller number of bugs in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Firefox and even Quicktime.
In fact, even as plugins like Adobe Reader take the spotlight, browser bugs still allowed scores of "drive-by downloads" this year, malicious software that infects a user's computer when he or she merely visits a Web site. Firefox, which has been relatively safe compared with Internet Explorer, showed an uptick in vulnerabilities: Verisign's iDefense tracked 102 bugs found and fixed in Firefox this year, up from 90 last year. (That high number, researchers say, shouldn't be compared directly with programs like Adobe Reader or Internet Explorer given that open source programs' bugs are more often made public.)
More generally, researchers say hackers are turning away from bugs in operating systems to focus on applications. That's partly because, after years of high-profile Windows and Linux viruses, operating systems today are more securely coded and systematically patched than the applications that run on them, says Qualys's Kandek.
Application patches, he says, are also implemented far less strictly by users, even after they're issued by a vendor. The time it takes half of all unpatched versions of an operating system to be patched has been cut from 45 days in 2004 to 15 days this year, according to a study that was published in September by the security focused SANS Institute. Meanwhile, four of the vulnerabilties in Sun Microsystems' Java programming language are still listed among the 30 most common unpatched bugs, despite patches being issued as early as 2007. (See "Cybersecurity's Patching Problem.")
That doesn't mean operating systems aren't still an opportunity for hackers. Although their vulnerabilties aren't as easy to turn up, they don't require a user to do anything in particular to be infected. The Conficker worm, for instance, had spread to 7 million computers by using a Windows flaw, according to the last count of cybersecurity researchers at the Shadowserver Foundation in October.
That means even Adobe's increasingly targeted bugs shouldn't take the focus off Windows. "It's still my top priority," says Qualys' Kandek. "Operating system bugs aren't as frequent, but when they do come up, they can be much more interesting."
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20091217/1301/twl-7201557.html
At the beginning of this decade, Microsoft represented a cybercriminal's dream target: universally-used software, brimming with bugs ready to be exploited to hijack users' PCs. But as the software giant has slowly cleaned up its security flaws, hackers are looking toward another vendor whose products are nearly as ubiquitous and whose bounty of vulnerabilities are just being discovered: Adobe.
According to Verisign's bug tracking division iDefense, 45 bugs in Adobe's Reader software were found by either cybersecurity researchers or malicious hackers this year and patched. In 2008, iDefense found 14 Reader bugs, double the number in 2007.
Meanwhile, the number of bugs found in commonly-used Microsoft programs like Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and Microsoft Office remained flat or dropped. Just 30 bugs were exposed in Internet Explorer compared with the same number last year, and 41 bugs were found in all of Microsoft's Office programs like PowerPoint, Word and Excel, down from 44 in 2008.
When Forbes asked a group of cybersecurity researchers from security firms TippingPoint, iDefense and Qualys to name software programs with vulnerabilities most often used by hackers to victimize users' PCs this year, every one included Adobe Reader on their list. "It's a huge focus for attacks now, around 10 times more than Microsoft Office," says Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer at Qualys, a vulnerability scanning firm.
Until recently, Adobe Reader software has received less scrutiny than browsers like Internet Explorer and Firefox. But it shares the characteristics that made those browsers powerful attack avenues. Nearly every Web user has installed Reader. Its complex code base offers a high risk of flaws. And it accesses enough of a user's machine to give hackers a powerful foothold. "It's a very good playground for exploitation," says Pedram Amini, a researcher at 3Com-owned security firm TippingPoint.
Part of Adobe Reader's vulnerability stems from its unexpected functions, Amini says. Aside from merely reading static PDFs, it can also run Javascript to enable PDFs with animation or that pull dynamic information from databases. Those abilities mean the program can allocate memory for a document's use, a trick that, combined with the right bug, can allow a hacker to execute code on a user's machine and install programs. "It's a rich target for both bug hunters and exploit writers," Amini says.
Adobe recognizes that it's in the crosshairs. In May, the company instituted a quarterly patching cycle for Reader, following Microsoft's model of regular software updates. Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch says the company has revamped its internal security teams with a focus on more secure development and faster response to bug discoveries. "We used to debate whether we should take a detour from product development to do a security fix," says Lynch. "Now we address any zero day immediately."
Even as Adobe becomes a major focus for hackers, older targets like Internet Explorer and Firefox are still far from secure. In fact, most exploits are sold on underground cybercriminal forums with packages of several vulnerabilities they're prepared to exploit, says Qualys's Kandek.
Kits that go by names like "T-IFramer," "Liberty Exploit Systems" and "Elenore" all turned up on underground markets selling for $300 to $500, Kandek says, and allow the attacker to install a Trojan program ready to download whatever malicious software a cybercriminal wishes, from spyware to click-fraud software. All three of those kits exploit three unique Adobe Reader bugs, along with a smaller number of bugs in Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Firefox and even Quicktime.
In fact, even as plugins like Adobe Reader take the spotlight, browser bugs still allowed scores of "drive-by downloads" this year, malicious software that infects a user's computer when he or she merely visits a Web site. Firefox, which has been relatively safe compared with Internet Explorer, showed an uptick in vulnerabilities: Verisign's iDefense tracked 102 bugs found and fixed in Firefox this year, up from 90 last year. (That high number, researchers say, shouldn't be compared directly with programs like Adobe Reader or Internet Explorer given that open source programs' bugs are more often made public.)
More generally, researchers say hackers are turning away from bugs in operating systems to focus on applications. That's partly because, after years of high-profile Windows and Linux viruses, operating systems today are more securely coded and systematically patched than the applications that run on them, says Qualys's Kandek.
Application patches, he says, are also implemented far less strictly by users, even after they're issued by a vendor. The time it takes half of all unpatched versions of an operating system to be patched has been cut from 45 days in 2004 to 15 days this year, according to a study that was published in September by the security focused SANS Institute. Meanwhile, four of the vulnerabilties in Sun Microsystems' Java programming language are still listed among the 30 most common unpatched bugs, despite patches being issued as early as 2007. (See "Cybersecurity's Patching Problem.")
That doesn't mean operating systems aren't still an opportunity for hackers. Although their vulnerabilties aren't as easy to turn up, they don't require a user to do anything in particular to be infected. The Conficker worm, for instance, had spread to 7 million computers by using a Windows flaw, according to the last count of cybersecurity researchers at the Shadowserver Foundation in October.
That means even Adobe's increasingly targeted bugs shouldn't take the focus off Windows. "It's still my top priority," says Qualys' Kandek. "Operating system bugs aren't as frequent, but when they do come up, they can be much more interesting."
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/240/20091217/1301/twl-7201557.html
Get Set for Spam Attack
Social networking traffic to drive high spam volumes in emerging economies
Ever wondered how fake pharmaceutical companies flood your inbox with spam messages, promoting their wonder-cure products? It doesn't stop just with pharma companies. The menace of unsolicited e-mails from various agencies, including bogus online lottery, pours into your mailbox unsurprisingly from the phishing of personal information from various popular social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and MySpace. These sites are witnessing high net-users traffic, says Deepak Maheshwari, cyber security expert, Microsoft.
With the user-generated content doing the rounds in the online world, the social networking sites that contain personal, professional and social information of an individual are manna on the platter for cyber criminals who take cues and clues of an individual from such sites to carry out their designs on their potential targets for monetary and other gains, he adds.
According to Patrick Peterson of Cisco, "The blending of social media for business and entertainment increases network security troubles and people, not technology, can often be the source." The social networking world is increasingly turning into a happy-hunting ground for cyber miscreants, unleashing tonnes of spam with the phishing of personal identities, targetting fast broad-band growing markets like India. "Employers should embark upon educating employees to avoid comprising themselves online with individual sensitive data," adds Peterson.
A report by Cisco reveals spam volume is set to jump 30% to 40% in 2010 as compared to that in 2009. When compared to US and Europe, the Indian and Vietnamese markets could increasingly come under spam attack with the growing pace of broadband network in such markets. The US is emerging as the largest spam sender in 2010 snatching the distinction away from Brazil.
Ever wondered how fake pharmaceutical companies flood your inbox with spam messages, promoting their wonder-cure products? It doesn't stop just with pharma companies. The menace of unsolicited e-mails from various agencies, including bogus online lottery, pours into your mailbox unsurprisingly from the phishing of personal information from various popular social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and MySpace. These sites are witnessing high net-users traffic, says Deepak Maheshwari, cyber security expert, Microsoft.
With the user-generated content doing the rounds in the online world, the social networking sites that contain personal, professional and social information of an individual are manna on the platter for cyber criminals who take cues and clues of an individual from such sites to carry out their designs on their potential targets for monetary and other gains, he adds.
According to Patrick Peterson of Cisco, "The blending of social media for business and entertainment increases network security troubles and people, not technology, can often be the source." The social networking world is increasingly turning into a happy-hunting ground for cyber miscreants, unleashing tonnes of spam with the phishing of personal identities, targetting fast broad-band growing markets like India. "Employers should embark upon educating employees to avoid comprising themselves online with individual sensitive data," adds Peterson.
A report by Cisco reveals spam volume is set to jump 30% to 40% in 2010 as compared to that in 2009. When compared to US and Europe, the Indian and Vietnamese markets could increasingly come under spam attack with the growing pace of broadband network in such markets. The US is emerging as the largest spam sender in 2010 snatching the distinction away from Brazil.
Key to Survival
This is an optimistic perspective. It is possible that one who prefers going the intellect way might find this perspective pessimistic. Logic has its own path, which can become complicated but the path of experience is less complicated. A head clerk told the other clerks, “During office hours you go for a shave and that takes a long time. Do not shave during office hours.”
One clerk replied, “When hair can grow during office hours, why can’t they be cut also at that time. If you find a way of stopping hair growth during office hours, we will also not cut it during office hours.” This is the language of logic. Those who live within the limits of the intellect and logic speak this language.
There are three limits. One is that set by the consciousness of the senses. The other is set by the consciousness of the mind. The third is set by the consciousness of the intellect. We have experienced the limits of all these three. Till experience does not enter the limits of the conscious, everything seems as above. One who has not experienced meditation cannot enter the field of experience.
Those who have sat down for meditation for the first time say this after 10 days – which they could never have imagined such an experience was possible. When there was no question of imagination, how could they have imagined? How can a man sitting on the shores of an ocean estimate its depth? Only the one who has dived into the ocean can describe its depths. Many spend their lives knowing just their outer self.
They never get an opportunity to go within. Are they able to see all that is within? They do not know what lies within. Many of those who see the body get scared on seeing its vibrations. Where have they come from? Are they something new? They are not new. They were all within. They are constantly working. The energy of the body is also working. But as we concentrate we get to know of them and get scared. We are faced with a new world.
The vibrations were on even earlier but we were not aware of them. As soon as the mind gets more stabilised, the inner self emerges clearer. We need to engage more with the inner world. We should be less obsessed with what others do and pay more attention to our selves. Only then will there be opportunities for major changes in our consciousness that will enhance our personality.
If the transformation were to continue, then there is the further possibility that we could reach the final point. Our perspective should become more and gentler and the perspective of anekanta should always be with us. We need to work towards promoting a balanced and mutually connected individual, local and global perspective with equanimity, taking into account every possible view. That is, giving equal consideration to all things, howsoever small or big.
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/A-holistic-view-of-life-essential-for-survival-/articleshow/5343990.cms
One clerk replied, “When hair can grow during office hours, why can’t they be cut also at that time. If you find a way of stopping hair growth during office hours, we will also not cut it during office hours.” This is the language of logic. Those who live within the limits of the intellect and logic speak this language.
There are three limits. One is that set by the consciousness of the senses. The other is set by the consciousness of the mind. The third is set by the consciousness of the intellect. We have experienced the limits of all these three. Till experience does not enter the limits of the conscious, everything seems as above. One who has not experienced meditation cannot enter the field of experience.
Those who have sat down for meditation for the first time say this after 10 days – which they could never have imagined such an experience was possible. When there was no question of imagination, how could they have imagined? How can a man sitting on the shores of an ocean estimate its depth? Only the one who has dived into the ocean can describe its depths. Many spend their lives knowing just their outer self.
They never get an opportunity to go within. Are they able to see all that is within? They do not know what lies within. Many of those who see the body get scared on seeing its vibrations. Where have they come from? Are they something new? They are not new. They were all within. They are constantly working. The energy of the body is also working. But as we concentrate we get to know of them and get scared. We are faced with a new world.
The vibrations were on even earlier but we were not aware of them. As soon as the mind gets more stabilised, the inner self emerges clearer. We need to engage more with the inner world. We should be less obsessed with what others do and pay more attention to our selves. Only then will there be opportunities for major changes in our consciousness that will enhance our personality.
If the transformation were to continue, then there is the further possibility that we could reach the final point. Our perspective should become more and gentler and the perspective of anekanta should always be with us. We need to work towards promoting a balanced and mutually connected individual, local and global perspective with equanimity, taking into account every possible view. That is, giving equal consideration to all things, howsoever small or big.
source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life/spirituality/speaking-tree/A-holistic-view-of-life-essential-for-survival-/articleshow/5343990.cms
Suri Holmes- Style Diva at 3
Hollywood star Katie Holmes' attempts at dressing her daughter Suri impeccably has finally paid off as the three-year-old has been named the most fashionable child celebrity in a new study.
Being the daughter of stars like Holmes and actor Tom Cruise, Suri has beaten the Beckham brothers and Madonna's Stylish daughter Lourdes to the top spot with her Wardrobe worth 2 million pounds, Femalefirst reported.The toddler has been photographed in designer clothes a number of times and has also taken to wearing heels at a young age. Her parents have commissioned the world's top fashion designers to custom make her tiny outfits.Suri is almost a celebrity in her own right thanks to her cute looks and her amazing wardrobe. She has outfits that rival A-list celebs and this gets her more column inches than many movie stars," said Lindsey Williams, spokesman for Adams Childrenswear, which carried out the study.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/slideshow/suri-is-the-most-fashionable-child-celeb.html?curPhoto=4
Mukesh Ambani Ranked 5th best CEO in the World
Mukesh Ambani, who heads India's most valuable company Reliance Industries, has been ranked among top five best performing CEOs in the world by the prestigious Harvard Business Review. Ambani, the only Indian to feature among top 50 CEOs, is in the same league as Steve Jobs of Apple, Yun Jong-Yong of Samsung Electronics, Russian energy firm Gazprom's Alexey Miller and John Chambers of Cisco Systems.
He is also ranked number two among the top 10 emerging market CEOs with Miller at the top. K V Kamath of ICICI Bank is the other Indian in the list of Top 10 Emerging Market CEOs.
He is ranked at number 9. The Harvard Business Review said it ranked CEOs of large public traded companies in a study conducted over 2000 CEOs worldwide.
The entire group represented 48 nationalities and companies based in 33 countries. It put Ambani in the list of "up-through-the-ranks leaders" along with the Samsung boss.
"Among the up-through-the-ranks leaders on our list are Yun Jong-Yong, who joined Samsung straight out of college and worked there 30 years before becoming CEO, and Mukesh Ambani, who joined RIL in 1981, when it was still a textile company run by his father.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20091218/372/tbs-mukesh-ambani-ranked-5th-best-ceo-in.html
He is also ranked number two among the top 10 emerging market CEOs with Miller at the top. K V Kamath of ICICI Bank is the other Indian in the list of Top 10 Emerging Market CEOs.
He is ranked at number 9. The Harvard Business Review said it ranked CEOs of large public traded companies in a study conducted over 2000 CEOs worldwide.
The entire group represented 48 nationalities and companies based in 33 countries. It put Ambani in the list of "up-through-the-ranks leaders" along with the Samsung boss.
"Among the up-through-the-ranks leaders on our list are Yun Jong-Yong, who joined Samsung straight out of college and worked there 30 years before becoming CEO, and Mukesh Ambani, who joined RIL in 1981, when it was still a textile company run by his father.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20091218/372/tbs-mukesh-ambani-ranked-5th-best-ceo-in.html
Investing tips for 2010
For some people, investing in 2009 was easy -- just put your money into oversold riskier assets and watch them rise.
It looks like 2010 could be a lot more difficult, requiring selection and market timing to bring in the best results.
In early March this year, investors decided that a) the financial system was not going to collapse into a new Great Depression and b) as a result, riskier assets such as stocks and high-yielding bonds had sold off too much.
The gains of 2009 -- as much as 30 percent for world stocks year-to-date, 72 percent since early March -- came in the main from across-the-board buying.
The more sold-off the asset had been, the higher it rose as investors almost indiscriminately stampeded out of what had by then become virtually zero-yielding cash funds in favor of any yield they could find.
It was essentially triggered by authorities making clear they would not let another major bank go under, a la Lehman Brothers, and by central banks pumping liquidity into the system.
Entering the new year, however, a lot of this has changed. Large price rises have eaten up what were seen as historic opportunities and central banks are preparing to haul back the liquidity. Some tight 2009 correlations are already breaking down, leaving investors to work a bit harder for their buck.
"2010 is going to be a year of discrimination with a very long bias towards quality," said Bob Parker, vice chairman of Credit Suisse's asset management arm.
The need for more selective thinking also comes from the state of the global economy, which although improving, is both uneven and fragile. Investors have become more cautious about the investment backdrop as a result, a caution intensified by debt problems in Dubai, Greece, Spain and elsewhere.
"Cyclical tailwinds and structural headwinds," is how William De Vijlder, global chief investment officer of Fortis Investments, described the current investment climate.
QUALITY PLEASE
What this means for equities is that investors are likely to be much more selective in what they buy, even if they do still believe that stocks will rally.
Reuters polls showed on Wednesday that most investors are expecting equities to continue rising next year, although at nothing like the same rate they have been.
A quality pick, Credit Suisse's Parker said, would be a company with low leverage, a high dividend and the expectation of keeping it, free cash flow, and a strong market share also with the ability to keep it.
Wealth manager Banque de Luxembourg has a similar slant, seeing defensives such as utilities attracting attention.
"It makes a lot of sense to go out of things that are very cyclical and to go into things that are more defensive and pay interesting dividends," said Guy Wagner, the bank's chief investment officer.
And as investors get picky about stocks, the same is likely to go for regions and other asset classes.
While emerging markets remain a favourite for many investors in 2010, focus is mainly on fiscally sound countries in Asia, such as China, rather than on, say, eastern Europe.
"(There will be) more differentiation rather than just buying an asset class or region," said Wayne Bowers, chief executive officer for Northern Trust Global Investments' international division.
Northern Trust on Wednesday unveiled a euro zone government inflation-linked bond fund but constructed its benchmark to exclude Greece and Italy, two of the area's weaker elements.
In effect, rather than just go underweight on those bonds, that said the fund simply wanted nothing to do with them.
WHAT IF?
The big risk to this "be picky" scenario is that the assumptions about 2010's economic performance turn out to be false.
If -- and it is a big if -- global growth were to take off sharply, riskier assets would most likely continue the climb that they have seen this year.
True, such growth would bring with it earlier interest rates hikes and a quicker end to liquidity-pumping exercises by central banks.
But the reasons would be positive, and the resulting sell off in government bonds would drive money into a broad swathe of equities and the like.
It is not expected to happen. But then again, who predicted the booming risk market of 2009 this time last year?
source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20091217/748/tbs-for-investors-that-was-easy-now-come.html
It looks like 2010 could be a lot more difficult, requiring selection and market timing to bring in the best results.
In early March this year, investors decided that a) the financial system was not going to collapse into a new Great Depression and b) as a result, riskier assets such as stocks and high-yielding bonds had sold off too much.
The gains of 2009 -- as much as 30 percent for world stocks year-to-date, 72 percent since early March -- came in the main from across-the-board buying.
The more sold-off the asset had been, the higher it rose as investors almost indiscriminately stampeded out of what had by then become virtually zero-yielding cash funds in favor of any yield they could find.
It was essentially triggered by authorities making clear they would not let another major bank go under, a la Lehman Brothers, and by central banks pumping liquidity into the system.
Entering the new year, however, a lot of this has changed. Large price rises have eaten up what were seen as historic opportunities and central banks are preparing to haul back the liquidity. Some tight 2009 correlations are already breaking down, leaving investors to work a bit harder for their buck.
"2010 is going to be a year of discrimination with a very long bias towards quality," said Bob Parker, vice chairman of Credit Suisse's asset management arm.
The need for more selective thinking also comes from the state of the global economy, which although improving, is both uneven and fragile. Investors have become more cautious about the investment backdrop as a result, a caution intensified by debt problems in Dubai, Greece, Spain and elsewhere.
"Cyclical tailwinds and structural headwinds," is how William De Vijlder, global chief investment officer of Fortis Investments, described the current investment climate.
QUALITY PLEASE
What this means for equities is that investors are likely to be much more selective in what they buy, even if they do still believe that stocks will rally.
Reuters polls showed on Wednesday that most investors are expecting equities to continue rising next year, although at nothing like the same rate they have been.
A quality pick, Credit Suisse's Parker said, would be a company with low leverage, a high dividend and the expectation of keeping it, free cash flow, and a strong market share also with the ability to keep it.
Wealth manager Banque de Luxembourg has a similar slant, seeing defensives such as utilities attracting attention.
"It makes a lot of sense to go out of things that are very cyclical and to go into things that are more defensive and pay interesting dividends," said Guy Wagner, the bank's chief investment officer.
And as investors get picky about stocks, the same is likely to go for regions and other asset classes.
While emerging markets remain a favourite for many investors in 2010, focus is mainly on fiscally sound countries in Asia, such as China, rather than on, say, eastern Europe.
"(There will be) more differentiation rather than just buying an asset class or region," said Wayne Bowers, chief executive officer for Northern Trust Global Investments' international division.
Northern Trust on Wednesday unveiled a euro zone government inflation-linked bond fund but constructed its benchmark to exclude Greece and Italy, two of the area's weaker elements.
In effect, rather than just go underweight on those bonds, that said the fund simply wanted nothing to do with them.
WHAT IF?
The big risk to this "be picky" scenario is that the assumptions about 2010's economic performance turn out to be false.
If -- and it is a big if -- global growth were to take off sharply, riskier assets would most likely continue the climb that they have seen this year.
True, such growth would bring with it earlier interest rates hikes and a quicker end to liquidity-pumping exercises by central banks.
But the reasons would be positive, and the resulting sell off in government bonds would drive money into a broad swathe of equities and the like.
It is not expected to happen. But then again, who predicted the booming risk market of 2009 this time last year?
source: http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20091217/748/tbs-for-investors-that-was-easy-now-come.html
Friday, December 11, 2009
How to Recover Lost Files?
How to recover lost files?
Have you ever deleted a file or folder from the desktop and emptied the recycle bin only to realise, seconds later, that you deleted the wrong one? Or have you ever edited a document, saved it, and then wanted to undo those changes?
Luckily, both Windows Vista and Windows 7 include a build-in feature called Shadow Copy that can solve this exact problem without you having to do anything. As you work with the files, Shadow Copy will automatically save incremental backups of your files in the background so if you accidentally delete or change a file, you can revert to the previous version with a simple right-click.
The Shadow Copy feature is available in all editions of Windows 7 but only in the Business and Ultimate editions of Vista. However, if your computer is running Vista Home Basic or Home Premium editions, you can still enjoy the Shadow Copy feature without upgrading your OS.
The feature may also come in handy if your document gets damaged or you want to bring back the files that were deleted by a virus.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20091209/1064/ttc-here-s-how-to-recover-lost-files.html
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Despite downturn, more Indians are wealthier now
Despite the worst recession since World War II, affluent Indians have not only managed to survive but in fact grew wealthier than before.
More affluent Indians along with other Asians say they are wealthier now compared to six months ago. According to HSBC Affluent Asian Tracker survey, savvy wealthy Indian investors came through the financial turmoil at the end of 2009 relatively unscathed.
Leading Asia's affluent are 70% of mainland Chinese respondents who reported a rise in net worth compared to only 46% six months ago. Similarly, across Asia, the number of affluent respondents reporting an increase in wealth in the past six months nearly doubled. In India, 68 % have reported higher accumulation of wealth compared to 28% six months ago. In Taiwan 61% reported a similar trend against 33% six months ago. In Malaysia, 55% have seen their wealth multiplying in last six months.
Majority of respondents claimed they gained their wealth through their employment comprising 89% in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, 88 % in Indonesia, 87% in Australia, 84% in Taiwan and 79% in India.
Sandy Flockhart, chief executive officer of HSBC Asia-Pacific, who has been appointed as chairman (personal & commercial banking) effective February 2010, said, "Asia's workforce is powering the region's affluent who are fast becoming savvy about growing and managing their newly-created wealth. Riding on Asia's recovery and improved market sentiment, the affluent in the region, most particularly in mainland China, are regaining their confidence as investors and are providing momentum towards a more robust wealth management market in Asia." The number of affluent Asians reporting a decline in net worth over the past six months decreased significantly compared to six months ago.
On planned changes in investment risk appetite over the next six months, the survey showed that 31% of affluent mainland Chinese are willing to accept greater risk followed by 30% in India and 28% in Malaysia.
source:http://in.biz.yahoo.com/091207/50/baupu7.html
More affluent Indians along with other Asians say they are wealthier now compared to six months ago. According to HSBC Affluent Asian Tracker survey, savvy wealthy Indian investors came through the financial turmoil at the end of 2009 relatively unscathed.
Leading Asia's affluent are 70% of mainland Chinese respondents who reported a rise in net worth compared to only 46% six months ago. Similarly, across Asia, the number of affluent respondents reporting an increase in wealth in the past six months nearly doubled. In India, 68 % have reported higher accumulation of wealth compared to 28% six months ago. In Taiwan 61% reported a similar trend against 33% six months ago. In Malaysia, 55% have seen their wealth multiplying in last six months.
Majority of respondents claimed they gained their wealth through their employment comprising 89% in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, 88 % in Indonesia, 87% in Australia, 84% in Taiwan and 79% in India.
Sandy Flockhart, chief executive officer of HSBC Asia-Pacific, who has been appointed as chairman (personal & commercial banking) effective February 2010, said, "Asia's workforce is powering the region's affluent who are fast becoming savvy about growing and managing their newly-created wealth. Riding on Asia's recovery and improved market sentiment, the affluent in the region, most particularly in mainland China, are regaining their confidence as investors and are providing momentum towards a more robust wealth management market in Asia." The number of affluent Asians reporting a decline in net worth over the past six months decreased significantly compared to six months ago.
On planned changes in investment risk appetite over the next six months, the survey showed that 31% of affluent mainland Chinese are willing to accept greater risk followed by 30% in India and 28% in Malaysia.
source:http://in.biz.yahoo.com/091207/50/baupu7.html
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
25 years of Bhopal Tragedy
The cremator
The pyre used to burn day and night, says Shivcharan Dhaulpuria
Seventeen Ashoka trees stand tall in a small park on Chola Road. Had Shivcharan Dhaulpuria not seen it himself, he would never have believed what the manicured grass hides.
Twenty-five years ago, where Dhaulpuria now stands, bodies were cremated in batches of 200 and more. "We did not have time for individual burials. Bodies came from hospitals in trucks and we had to cremate them fast," says Dhaulpuria, whose family has been working at the Chola cemetery near the Union Carbide factory for three generations.
Bhopal tragedy still affects our collective conscience: PM
25 years on, still waiting for Bhopal gas research
For the first few minutes on the night of the gas leak, Shivcharan, who had just gone to bed, thought it was smoke from the hawan kund in the crematorium that was causing his eyes and throat to burn.
"It was like someone had put chilies in my eyes. When we came out, everyone was running towards the railway station. When I heard someone shout "tanki fuut gayi (the tank has burst)", I decided to take my wife, children and parents to Sujalpur. I left them with my relatives and came back to work as bodies had to be cremated. We had to cremate them quickly and send the remains to be immersed in the Narmada," he says.
Bodies of over 3,000 victims, who died in the first 24 hours, were cremated at Chola cemetery and the Badebaag Shamshaan Bhumi. The hospitals separated bodies of Hindu and Muslim victims.
"Initially, the pyre used to burn day and night. There were so many bodies to be cremated. No one had enough wood, coffins or kerosene," he says. By the fourth day, volunteers came to cremate bodies and traders donated coffins. The forest department arranged for wood while people donated kerosene.
Dhaulpuria, meanwhile, considered moving to a new city. "But I could not bring myself to do it. My family has lived here for generations and cared for the departed. Tending to this garden gives me peace. This is the final resting place of troubled souls and I will remain here and watch over the place," he says.
In the intervening years, he says his parents died due to MIC poisoning while his wife developed tuberculosis. "Both my children suffer from respiratory ailments. We received compensation twice but that did not even cover even the basic medical care," he says.
In 1990, to mark the sixth anniversary of the tragedy, the state government set up Smriti Udyan, a memorial to the thousands who had been cremated here. Twenty-five years later, the memorial is a forgotten landmark in a city which now attracts 'gas tourists'. "The government does not have time to care for the living. Who is going to remember the dead," asks Dhaulpuria.
The 'death doctor'
Dr D.K. Satpathy and his team conducted 750 autopsies in the first 24 hours
A month into retirement, Dr D.K. Satpathy does not know what to do with the 'papers'. They cover a whole range: from the medico-legal notes he painstakingly took on the night of the gas leak to chits he meticulously pasted on the forehead of each dead body for identification.
Bright, cherry-red blood, that is the 60-year-old forensic expert's lasting memory of the disaster. "In every body that we examined, we found that all organs were cherry red in colour. At that time, we knew nothing about the nature of poisoning and this was our first hint. It is typical of cyanide. When our Casualty Medical Officer contacted Union Carbide, they said they didn't know the composition of, or antidote to, methyl isocyanate (MIC, the gas released from the plant) poisoning," he says.
By December 5, doctors had started administering sodium thiosulphate (STS) to bring down the level of MIC in victims. "The treatment was discontinued due to differences between doctors after rumours circulated that STS was causing deaths," he says.
The Casualty Medical officer at the Gandhi Medical College (GMC) reported the first case at 12.45 a.m. on December 3, 1984. By the time Satpathy reached the hospital, 42 bodies were kept near the emergency and over 200 bodies were lying in the mortuary. To maintain records, it was decided that each corpse would be given a number and that it would be photographed. "When I entered the hospital campus, everyone was retching, gasping and groaning. Our biggest challenge was to identify bodies, number them, click pictures and swiftly conduct post mortems," says Satpathy.
Four doctors and 13 final-year students from GMC worked round the clock for the next five days. "We could not possibly conduct a post-mortem on each victim. So we decided to do random autopsies while conducting detailed external examinations. We noted everything from clothing, scars, even patterns of moustaches," he says. In the first 24 hours, 750 autopsies were conducted.
Doctors assumed that the papers they were collecting would be useful in medical research. "I was young and naive," says Satpathy.
In February 1984, forensic experts submitted a report that connected tank 610 to the deaths. "We gave the report to the court and waited for the big day when responsibility would be fixed. No judgment came," he says.
Through the next decade, Satpathy worked on developing a disaster management plan. "Our biggest failure is that we still do not have a decent disaster management plan," he says.
His wife calls him a hoarder and Satpathy knows too that his papers are not of any relevance to anyone anymore. "I know one day all these papers will end up in a museum," he says.
The voice
Through his Sambhavna Trust, Satinath Sarangi tells the world about Bhopal
Thirty-year-old Satinath Sarangi had just completed his Ph.D in metallurgy and was working as a community activist in Piparia, about 150 km south of Bhopal, when he heard of the gas leak. He reached Bhopal on the morning of December 3, hoping to help the victims for a couple of weeks and go back to his life. "I did not realise it has been 25 years," says Sarangi.
In all these years, Sarangi has used all his skill and resources to tell the world about Bhopal.
In 1985, Sarangi started the Jan Swasth Kendra, a clinic from where he administered sodium thiosulphate to the victims. But by then, the government had discontinued that line of treatment and Sarangi was arrested. His clinic was shut down within 20 days of its opening. "I stayed in jail for 18 days and by the time I came out, I was clear that this was a fight I would take to its logical conclusion. I knew how to speak English and my family had contacts. I wanted to use those privileges to help the victims," he says.
By 1986, Sarangi formed the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. "We started publishing papers in English and Hindi on corporate crime. Our office was raided and all our documents were taken," he says.
In 1989, Sarangi toured four countries, US, Netherlands, Ireland and Britain, campaigning against the "inadequate" compensation of USD 470 million awarded by Union Carbide. "We took along with us three victims because the world had to see for itself what was unfolding in Bhopal. Information was the key. If justice is done in Bhopal, the whole world will be safer," he says.
While in the UK, Sarangi met author Indra Sinha, who, at his own expense, placed a large advertisement in The Guardian, appealing for help for the victims. The donations provided the seed money Sarangi needed to set up the Sambhavna Trust in 1995. For the last 13 years, Sarangi has been focusing on medical research and dissemination of information through the Sambhavna Trust.
The officer
Former Bhopal SP Swaraj puri is pursuing a Ph.D in crisis management,"I want to be better prepared"
When the police commissioner told Superintendent of Police Swaraj Puri to rush to the railway station that night, he was expecting a stampede or a riot. When he reached the Bhopal railway station, Puri couldn't understand why people were sleeping outside.
"I yelled at the inspector in-charge for allowing people to sleep there. He tugged at my shirt and asked me to look closely and then it sank in. They were all bodies," says Swaraj Puri, then SP who retired in 2008.
The first call to a police control room came around 12.20 a.m. It said two persons had died and a large crowd was walking away from the Carbide factory. Against his driver's advice, Puri decided to visit Ground Zero. "We were both nauseous and our eyes were bloodshot. I was one of the first officers to reach the factory. From there, I went to the control room."
"From the first floor of the police control room near Union Carbide, the 'grey-green' cloud of chemical was clearly visible," says Puri, who was one of the MIC poisoning victims whom the Indian Council of Medical Research studied between 1985 and 1994.
Soon, the police officers in the control room were vomiting profusely. "I contacted the doctors at GMC when I first heard of MIC," he says.
By the morning of December 3, the police had been briefed to block 'all entry points' to avoid more casualties. The Chief Minister had called a high-level meeting, during which a rumour spread that another tank had leaked from the factory. "It was a law and order problem of unimaginable magnitude. The government was up against an unknown gas that was causing mass casualties," he remembers.
Three days later, Warren Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, reached Bhopal in a private jet. He was arrested immediately. "At the airport, we asked him to come out. We shook hands, told him to sit in the jeep and later told him he was under arrest. He was astonished. The American embassy was involved and the matter was discussed at a very high level and I am not privy to the details. But yes, I do wish our government brings him back and holds him accountable," he says.
Anderson was charged under six sections of the Indian Penal Code with culpable homicide, causing death by negligence, negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substances and the killing of livestock. He was released on a bail of Rs 25,000 and was allowed to fly back to the US the following day.
At 63, Puri is now pursuing a Ph.D in crisis management from Delhi University. "I am so disappointed by the turn of event that I know that Bhopal can happen again. I want to be better prepared the next time," he says.
The fighter
Abul Jabbar is devoting all his time to ensure "the victim does not become a victim again"
Any quest for information on the gas tragedy usually starts from behind the Central Library in Bhopal, where 'Jabbar Bhai', as Abul Jabbar Khan is fondly known here, runs the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS).
In 1984, Khan ran a lucrative tube-well boring business. His house was two kilometres from the Carbide plant in Rajender Nagar. "After the gas leak that night, I dropped my mother outside Bhopal and returned for my sister. By then, she was in Kasturba hospital. Then I started transporting people to hospitals and in effect, I am still doing the same," says the soft-spoken 52-year-old.
His mornings, over the last two decades, start the same way. People start queuing up to meet him almost as if meeting Jabbar is a remedy in itself. Khan has moved several litigations, helped thousands of Bhopalis, yet there is little known about him. "A tragedy of this scale attracts tourists of various kinds. Journalists feast on anniversaries and activists make a profession out of this misery. It is all part of such an event but the common man, the victim and survivor, requires more than that," he says.
In 1988, Jabbar married a widow with two children. "The marriage did not work for various reasons but my activism also had a role to play in it," he says. Bowing to family pressure, Jabbar married again in 2002, he lives with his wife and three children in the same Rajender Nagar house.
Till 1989, when the government finally distributed compensation, Jabbar regularly led 'morchas'. Today, he gets patients transported to hospitals, teaches women vocational skills, and often ends up as the voice for those who cannot fight for their share of compensation or pension. Over the years, the activist in Jabbar had very little time for his business and the tube-well money gradually ran out. "I shut down the business as I could not turn away from this (his activism). I may not have money but I cannot abandon the forsaken," says Jabbar.
Apart from those living in the gas-affected areas, not many have heard of Jabbar or his work. He speaks little or no English, his Sangathan has no foreign affiliation and he is not exactly 'media savvy'. All this has cost him dearly. "There are months when I cannot pay the telephone or electricity bills. But we are not going to ask people for money. Since 1984, the only thing we have been fighting for is dignity, in medical treatment, in life and in death. We want employment, not charity. That is the only way to ensure that the victim doesn't become a victim again. I cannot fight for these people for ever but I can teach them how to fight by providing them employment, education and skills," he says.
He may not be a national hero, but Jabbar, who himself suffers from degenerating vision and decreased lung capacity, personifies hope for those who have none.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20091129/804/tnl-bhopal-25-years-on.html
The pyre used to burn day and night, says Shivcharan Dhaulpuria
Seventeen Ashoka trees stand tall in a small park on Chola Road. Had Shivcharan Dhaulpuria not seen it himself, he would never have believed what the manicured grass hides.
Twenty-five years ago, where Dhaulpuria now stands, bodies were cremated in batches of 200 and more. "We did not have time for individual burials. Bodies came from hospitals in trucks and we had to cremate them fast," says Dhaulpuria, whose family has been working at the Chola cemetery near the Union Carbide factory for three generations.
Bhopal tragedy still affects our collective conscience: PM
25 years on, still waiting for Bhopal gas research
For the first few minutes on the night of the gas leak, Shivcharan, who had just gone to bed, thought it was smoke from the hawan kund in the crematorium that was causing his eyes and throat to burn.
"It was like someone had put chilies in my eyes. When we came out, everyone was running towards the railway station. When I heard someone shout "tanki fuut gayi (the tank has burst)", I decided to take my wife, children and parents to Sujalpur. I left them with my relatives and came back to work as bodies had to be cremated. We had to cremate them quickly and send the remains to be immersed in the Narmada," he says.
Bodies of over 3,000 victims, who died in the first 24 hours, were cremated at Chola cemetery and the Badebaag Shamshaan Bhumi. The hospitals separated bodies of Hindu and Muslim victims.
"Initially, the pyre used to burn day and night. There were so many bodies to be cremated. No one had enough wood, coffins or kerosene," he says. By the fourth day, volunteers came to cremate bodies and traders donated coffins. The forest department arranged for wood while people donated kerosene.
Dhaulpuria, meanwhile, considered moving to a new city. "But I could not bring myself to do it. My family has lived here for generations and cared for the departed. Tending to this garden gives me peace. This is the final resting place of troubled souls and I will remain here and watch over the place," he says.
In the intervening years, he says his parents died due to MIC poisoning while his wife developed tuberculosis. "Both my children suffer from respiratory ailments. We received compensation twice but that did not even cover even the basic medical care," he says.
In 1990, to mark the sixth anniversary of the tragedy, the state government set up Smriti Udyan, a memorial to the thousands who had been cremated here. Twenty-five years later, the memorial is a forgotten landmark in a city which now attracts 'gas tourists'. "The government does not have time to care for the living. Who is going to remember the dead," asks Dhaulpuria.
The 'death doctor'
Dr D.K. Satpathy and his team conducted 750 autopsies in the first 24 hours
A month into retirement, Dr D.K. Satpathy does not know what to do with the 'papers'. They cover a whole range: from the medico-legal notes he painstakingly took on the night of the gas leak to chits he meticulously pasted on the forehead of each dead body for identification.
Bright, cherry-red blood, that is the 60-year-old forensic expert's lasting memory of the disaster. "In every body that we examined, we found that all organs were cherry red in colour. At that time, we knew nothing about the nature of poisoning and this was our first hint. It is typical of cyanide. When our Casualty Medical Officer contacted Union Carbide, they said they didn't know the composition of, or antidote to, methyl isocyanate (MIC, the gas released from the plant) poisoning," he says.
By December 5, doctors had started administering sodium thiosulphate (STS) to bring down the level of MIC in victims. "The treatment was discontinued due to differences between doctors after rumours circulated that STS was causing deaths," he says.
The Casualty Medical officer at the Gandhi Medical College (GMC) reported the first case at 12.45 a.m. on December 3, 1984. By the time Satpathy reached the hospital, 42 bodies were kept near the emergency and over 200 bodies were lying in the mortuary. To maintain records, it was decided that each corpse would be given a number and that it would be photographed. "When I entered the hospital campus, everyone was retching, gasping and groaning. Our biggest challenge was to identify bodies, number them, click pictures and swiftly conduct post mortems," says Satpathy.
Four doctors and 13 final-year students from GMC worked round the clock for the next five days. "We could not possibly conduct a post-mortem on each victim. So we decided to do random autopsies while conducting detailed external examinations. We noted everything from clothing, scars, even patterns of moustaches," he says. In the first 24 hours, 750 autopsies were conducted.
Doctors assumed that the papers they were collecting would be useful in medical research. "I was young and naive," says Satpathy.
In February 1984, forensic experts submitted a report that connected tank 610 to the deaths. "We gave the report to the court and waited for the big day when responsibility would be fixed. No judgment came," he says.
Through the next decade, Satpathy worked on developing a disaster management plan. "Our biggest failure is that we still do not have a decent disaster management plan," he says.
His wife calls him a hoarder and Satpathy knows too that his papers are not of any relevance to anyone anymore. "I know one day all these papers will end up in a museum," he says.
The voice
Through his Sambhavna Trust, Satinath Sarangi tells the world about Bhopal
Thirty-year-old Satinath Sarangi had just completed his Ph.D in metallurgy and was working as a community activist in Piparia, about 150 km south of Bhopal, when he heard of the gas leak. He reached Bhopal on the morning of December 3, hoping to help the victims for a couple of weeks and go back to his life. "I did not realise it has been 25 years," says Sarangi.
In all these years, Sarangi has used all his skill and resources to tell the world about Bhopal.
In 1985, Sarangi started the Jan Swasth Kendra, a clinic from where he administered sodium thiosulphate to the victims. But by then, the government had discontinued that line of treatment and Sarangi was arrested. His clinic was shut down within 20 days of its opening. "I stayed in jail for 18 days and by the time I came out, I was clear that this was a fight I would take to its logical conclusion. I knew how to speak English and my family had contacts. I wanted to use those privileges to help the victims," he says.
By 1986, Sarangi formed the Bhopal Group for Information and Action. "We started publishing papers in English and Hindi on corporate crime. Our office was raided and all our documents were taken," he says.
In 1989, Sarangi toured four countries, US, Netherlands, Ireland and Britain, campaigning against the "inadequate" compensation of USD 470 million awarded by Union Carbide. "We took along with us three victims because the world had to see for itself what was unfolding in Bhopal. Information was the key. If justice is done in Bhopal, the whole world will be safer," he says.
While in the UK, Sarangi met author Indra Sinha, who, at his own expense, placed a large advertisement in The Guardian, appealing for help for the victims. The donations provided the seed money Sarangi needed to set up the Sambhavna Trust in 1995. For the last 13 years, Sarangi has been focusing on medical research and dissemination of information through the Sambhavna Trust.
The officer
Former Bhopal SP Swaraj puri is pursuing a Ph.D in crisis management,"I want to be better prepared"
When the police commissioner told Superintendent of Police Swaraj Puri to rush to the railway station that night, he was expecting a stampede or a riot. When he reached the Bhopal railway station, Puri couldn't understand why people were sleeping outside.
"I yelled at the inspector in-charge for allowing people to sleep there. He tugged at my shirt and asked me to look closely and then it sank in. They were all bodies," says Swaraj Puri, then SP who retired in 2008.
The first call to a police control room came around 12.20 a.m. It said two persons had died and a large crowd was walking away from the Carbide factory. Against his driver's advice, Puri decided to visit Ground Zero. "We were both nauseous and our eyes were bloodshot. I was one of the first officers to reach the factory. From there, I went to the control room."
"From the first floor of the police control room near Union Carbide, the 'grey-green' cloud of chemical was clearly visible," says Puri, who was one of the MIC poisoning victims whom the Indian Council of Medical Research studied between 1985 and 1994.
Soon, the police officers in the control room were vomiting profusely. "I contacted the doctors at GMC when I first heard of MIC," he says.
By the morning of December 3, the police had been briefed to block 'all entry points' to avoid more casualties. The Chief Minister had called a high-level meeting, during which a rumour spread that another tank had leaked from the factory. "It was a law and order problem of unimaginable magnitude. The government was up against an unknown gas that was causing mass casualties," he remembers.
Three days later, Warren Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Union Carbide, reached Bhopal in a private jet. He was arrested immediately. "At the airport, we asked him to come out. We shook hands, told him to sit in the jeep and later told him he was under arrest. He was astonished. The American embassy was involved and the matter was discussed at a very high level and I am not privy to the details. But yes, I do wish our government brings him back and holds him accountable," he says.
Anderson was charged under six sections of the Indian Penal Code with culpable homicide, causing death by negligence, negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substances and the killing of livestock. He was released on a bail of Rs 25,000 and was allowed to fly back to the US the following day.
At 63, Puri is now pursuing a Ph.D in crisis management from Delhi University. "I am so disappointed by the turn of event that I know that Bhopal can happen again. I want to be better prepared the next time," he says.
The fighter
Abul Jabbar is devoting all his time to ensure "the victim does not become a victim again"
Any quest for information on the gas tragedy usually starts from behind the Central Library in Bhopal, where 'Jabbar Bhai', as Abul Jabbar Khan is fondly known here, runs the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan (BGPMUS).
In 1984, Khan ran a lucrative tube-well boring business. His house was two kilometres from the Carbide plant in Rajender Nagar. "After the gas leak that night, I dropped my mother outside Bhopal and returned for my sister. By then, she was in Kasturba hospital. Then I started transporting people to hospitals and in effect, I am still doing the same," says the soft-spoken 52-year-old.
His mornings, over the last two decades, start the same way. People start queuing up to meet him almost as if meeting Jabbar is a remedy in itself. Khan has moved several litigations, helped thousands of Bhopalis, yet there is little known about him. "A tragedy of this scale attracts tourists of various kinds. Journalists feast on anniversaries and activists make a profession out of this misery. It is all part of such an event but the common man, the victim and survivor, requires more than that," he says.
In 1988, Jabbar married a widow with two children. "The marriage did not work for various reasons but my activism also had a role to play in it," he says. Bowing to family pressure, Jabbar married again in 2002, he lives with his wife and three children in the same Rajender Nagar house.
Till 1989, when the government finally distributed compensation, Jabbar regularly led 'morchas'. Today, he gets patients transported to hospitals, teaches women vocational skills, and often ends up as the voice for those who cannot fight for their share of compensation or pension. Over the years, the activist in Jabbar had very little time for his business and the tube-well money gradually ran out. "I shut down the business as I could not turn away from this (his activism). I may not have money but I cannot abandon the forsaken," says Jabbar.
Apart from those living in the gas-affected areas, not many have heard of Jabbar or his work. He speaks little or no English, his Sangathan has no foreign affiliation and he is not exactly 'media savvy'. All this has cost him dearly. "There are months when I cannot pay the telephone or electricity bills. But we are not going to ask people for money. Since 1984, the only thing we have been fighting for is dignity, in medical treatment, in life and in death. We want employment, not charity. That is the only way to ensure that the victim doesn't become a victim again. I cannot fight for these people for ever but I can teach them how to fight by providing them employment, education and skills," he says.
He may not be a national hero, but Jabbar, who himself suffers from degenerating vision and decreased lung capacity, personifies hope for those who have none.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20091129/804/tnl-bhopal-25-years-on.html
Visa Games China Plays
New Delhi, Dec. 1 -- The Chinese are playing mind games. And New Delhi isn't amused. After refusing to issue stamped visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir to make the point that the state was still a "disputed" territory, Chinese authorities have issued such a visa to former Jammu University vice chancellor Amitabh Mattoo
Road project in Ladakh stops as China objects
Antony raises red flag over China-Pak military link
To most Kashmiris, China issues visas on a separate sheet of paper, which is stapled to their passports. India refuses to recognise these as legitimate visas, and has stopped several Kashmiris with such visas at the airport, preventing them from boarding their flights. Professor Shakeel Ahmad Romshoo of Kashmir University was one of them. But Mattoo had no such problems.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University professor said his visa was stamped on his passport issued to him in Kashmir. He did go to Beijing. "I had to attend an international conference on nuclear disarmament," he told Hindustan Times. What kind of visa then will Mirwaiz Omar Farooq get? The separatist leader, who has recently been harping on a role for Beijing in Kashmir, was invited by an NGO there to deliver a lecture. But Foreign minister SM Krishna said the Mirwaiz could go only if he had a valid visa.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20091202/1053/tnl-visa-games-china-plays-with-kashmiri.html
Road project in Ladakh stops as China objects
Antony raises red flag over China-Pak military link
To most Kashmiris, China issues visas on a separate sheet of paper, which is stapled to their passports. India refuses to recognise these as legitimate visas, and has stopped several Kashmiris with such visas at the airport, preventing them from boarding their flights. Professor Shakeel Ahmad Romshoo of Kashmir University was one of them. But Mattoo had no such problems.
The Jawaharlal Nehru University professor said his visa was stamped on his passport issued to him in Kashmir. He did go to Beijing. "I had to attend an international conference on nuclear disarmament," he told Hindustan Times. What kind of visa then will Mirwaiz Omar Farooq get? The separatist leader, who has recently been harping on a role for Beijing in Kashmir, was invited by an NGO there to deliver a lecture. But Foreign minister SM Krishna said the Mirwaiz could go only if he had a valid visa.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20091202/1053/tnl-visa-games-china-plays-with-kashmiri.html
26/11 Attacks: 10 Big Mistakes
The nub of a successful anti-terrorist operation lies in the initial hours of an attack when a delay by the first responders could mean the difference between success and catastrophic failure. In Mumbai on 26/11, most of the mistakes, it now transpires, took place in the initial hours. The first responders were the Mumbai city police. Unable to distinguish a fidayeen attack from an underworld shootout, hobbled by a lack of even basic firearms, inadequate anti-terror forces and a clueless senior leadership, the men in khaki lost the plot.
Mumbai police overlooked standard drills
A year after 26/11, has anything really changed?
The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos arrived in the city nearly seven hours after they had been mobilised at their base in Manesar on the outskirts of Delhi. They had to play a deadly game of cat and mouse against 10 hardened, motivated and well-trained terrorists with enough ammunition to last days. During the three-day siege, nearly 900 hotel rooms could not be entirely cleared of guests. When the dust had settled on one of India's longest anti-terrorist operations, the mistakes were glaring.
09.30 p.m.
Inability to distinguish between terror attack and gang war
The confusion surrounding the attack gave enough time for the terrorists to wreak havoc
At 9.38 on Wednesday night, two Lashkar gunmen Abdul Rehman and Abu Umer tossed in grenades and sprayed bullets from their assault rifles at the hapless diners in Leopold Cafe, starting a 60-hour siege of Mumbai. For the next half-hour, the five fidayeen buddy pairs ran through South Mumbai, wreaking havoc with guns and grenades. In the span of half an hour, calls of attacks at multiple locations kept pouring into the police control room. The initial assessment: it was an underworld attack. Two IEDs, which the terrorists planted in taxis after boarding them soon after alighting from the rubber dinghy at Colaba, went off at separate places in Vile Parle and Crawford Market an hour later. This further added to the confusion. It took the police nearly three hours to decide that it was a terror attack. These precious hours allowed the terrorists to achieve complete surprise and gain the dominant ground at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels, Nariman House, and take hostages.
10.00 p.m.
Mumbai Police outgunned
The Mumbai Police's obsolete weaponry was no match for the terrorists'automatic weapons
The Lashkar gunmen came armed with AK-47s, grenades and IEDs. Ranged against them was the Mumbai Police constabulary who made a feeble attempt to respond with vintage weaponry. The results were heartbreaking, and nowhere was this more evident than the platforms of the CST station where Ajmal Amir Kasab and Abu Ismail strolled about firing at passengers. After the gunfire started, many railway police personnel ran across to the railway police storeroom a few blocks away to fetch their weapons. One of them who did try and fire at the fidayeen duo found that his archaic .303 rifle jammed after firing a single round. In sheer frustration, a policeman even flung a plastic chair at the terrorists. At other places like the Taj and Oberoi, policemen found their 9 mm pistols were no match for the barrage from Kalashnikovs and area denial weapons like Arges hand grenades. ATS chief Hemant Karkare lay dead an hour later, let down by a bulletproof vest of dubious quality which the state Home Department had purchased in circumstances that are yet to be explained. In the first three hours, 16 Mumbai policemen, including eight officers, were killed.
10.30 p.m.
No planned or coordinated response from the Mumbai Police
With no rapid action plan, the police was in disorder and senior officers were out tackling terrorists
When the police finally decided a terror attack was underway, they did not respond effectively. Both Bhagwant D. More, joint commissioner (Administration) and K.L. Prasad, joint commissioner (Law and Order), who should have been in charge of the control room were out tackling the terror situation. Though police commissioner Hasan Gafoor was found parked outside the Oberoi soon after the terror attacks began, he made no attempt to coordinate with other officers, the Quick Reaction Team or even with the NSG who came in later. Gafoor was, quite literally, caught napping. Instead, it was Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria who took command and state Chief Secretary Johny Joseph manned the control room at Mantralaya and called in the local army unit and the Marine Commandos (Marcos). Maria was handling the situation from the control room in the police commissioner's headquarters at Crawford Market and state police chief A.N. Roy at the police headquarters near the Taj.
The initial lack of central coordination turned the operation into individual acts of courage, whether it was rescuing hostages or attending to the injured. The stand-off could have ended earlier had the police evacuated the guests at the Taj and Oberoi once the Marcos had entered.
11.50 p.m.
Killing of the ATS leadership
The death of three senior ATS officials was a serious psychological blow to the Mumbai Police
Soon after Kasab and Ismail fled the CST station and entered the nearby Cama Hospital and took hostages, three senior ATS officials reached the spot from different directions- Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and senior inspector Vijay Salaskar. They were responding to a police control alert which warned of terrorists at the hospital. Armed with AK-47s and donning bulletproof jackets, the trio bundled into a police jeep with their bodyguards and headed towards the terrorists who had, by then, fled the hospital. In hindsight, the jeep ride proved to be a critical error of judgement.
When splitting up into small teams to pursue the two terrorists on foot would have been an easier option, sitting in the vehicle made the policemen easy targets and restricted their firing options. The jeep with the three senior police officers packed in the front seat was ambushed by the two terrorists. A hail of bullets killed the leadership of the Maharashtra ATS, which severely demoralised an already shaken police force and resigned it to waiting for anti-terrorist forces.
12 midnight
Mumbai Police failed to engage the terrorists at the Taj Hotel
Apart from lack of arms, there were not enough policemen to keep the pressure up on terrorists
For three crucial hours after the attack, all the four terrorists were holed up in the upper floors of the Taj after killing over 20 persons in the lobby. The policemen who engaged them for the first few hours were too few in number to prove effective to maintain 'contact' with the terrorists. Contact is the military term which refers to the act of keeping the enemy pinned down in a firefight; it puts the enemy on the defensive and prevents them from moving or achieving their objectives. What the police lacked in firepower, they could have made up in sheer numbers but sufficient policemen were not deployed in the hotel. Contact was broken and the terrorists left to have a free run of the hotel as the police waited first for the Marcos and later the NSG to arrive. It was at least three hours before the Marine Commandos arrived and resumed the engagement with the terrorists at around 2.30 a.m. By then, the four terrorists had valuable time to study the layout of the hotel; they were also being constantly briefed by their handlers in Pakistan.
09.00 a.m.
The NSG arrived late
The bureaucratic hurdles that led to further delay of the NSG proved advantageous for the terrorists
The NSG was alerted within two hours of the attacks but it took them nearly seven hours to reach the besieged city. They were summoned by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta who called NSG chief J.K. Dutt at around 11.30 p.m. The commandos were first transported by road from their base in Manesar, Haryana, nearly 28 km from Delhi airport because they did not have dedicated airlift like helicopters with night-flying capability. At least an hour was spent at the airport loading the aircraft and waiting for home minister Shivraj Patil who then accompanied the Black Cats on their flight to Mumbai. When the NSG eventually arrived at Sahar airport at 5 a.m., they were bundled into BEST buses and taken to the Mantralaya for a briefing. It was nine in the morning by the time they reached the two hotels. The second batch of commandos arrived, but was not briefed. All attention was focused on the Taj and Oberoi hotels; nobody was aware of the hostage situation at Nariman House where Abu Akasha and Abu Umar were holding Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife hostage, along with four others.
09.00 a.m.
No detailed layouts or maps of the buildings under attack
Relying on hotel staff and locals delayed the rescue of hostages and prolonged operations
One of the precepts of a successful building intervention operation conducted by anti-terror forces is a detailed knowledge of the layouts of the buildings to be assaulted. This is why special forces often stock building plans of all vulnerable areas and buildings, and sometimes even practice mock hostage rescue drills in them. In Mumbai, the terrorists had the advantage of a detailed hostile reconnaissance conducted, as it is now suspected, by David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.
Later, the 10 terrorists who had arrived at the three spots at least 12 hours before the NSG, evidently had plenty of time to study the layouts of the buildings and site their defences. These were crucial lapses which played a decisive part in prolonging the siege. At all three locations-the Oberoi, Taj and Nariman House-NSG commandos went in blind without having the building plans of the structures. Most of them were entering the hotels for the first time. They either relied on their instincts or on locals or employees to find their way around the darkened buildings. Not only did they have the challenging task of locating and rescuing guests in over 1,000 hotel rooms at the Taj and Oberoi , but they had to simultaneously fight the terrorists as well.
11.00 a.m.
No unified, consistent communication with the public
With no one-point source of information,everyone was out feeding the media, leading to further chaos
Among the basic rules of media briefing in a crisis is a unified, consistent communication from a single reliable point of contact. During the Kargil War, there were just two spokespersons, one for the Foreign Ministry and another for the armed forces. In Mumbai, not just there was no single spokesperson. The state government did not even set up a media briefing room. Evidently, mirroring the chaos after the breakdown of command and control, a sheer diversity of officials took over to brief the media. Everyone, from the NSG chief, the GOC-in-C Maharashtra and Gujarat Area, the southern army commander and the western naval command chief, were briefing the media or giving interviews during the conduct of operations. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who returned to the city at 3 a.m. on November 27 maintained a stoic silence.
12.00 midnight
Intercepts of conversations not given to the NSG
Not passing on the information delayed the conclusion of operation and saving of lives
What made the 26/11 strikes chillingly different from others were the sentient voices of Pakistan-based handlers advising the terrorists on strategy, firing tactics, giving regular news updates and pep talks. Many of these mobile phone conversations were quickly intercepted by the ATS but were not passed on to the NSG commandos waiting outside the buildings. In hindsight, these conversations could have helped pinpoint the location of terrorists and save lives. In the case of Nariman House, intercepted conversations revealed that Akasha and Umar were using the hostages as bargaining chips with the Israeli Government. By the evening of November 27, the handler had instructed the terrorists to kill them. This information was not passed on to the Black Cats who are trained to storm a building when the death of the hostages is imminent. Nariman House was overrun only the next morning when the hostages were already killed.
07.30 a.m.
No efforts made to block live telecast of the operation
Live telecast of the rescue operations by the media made it easier for terrorists to plan their response
Technology was a double-edged sword during the operations. If it allowed anxious friends and relatives to keep in touch with their besieged kin through cellphones, it also enabled the terrorists to keep in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. Inadvertently helping these handlers were the news TV cameras at various spots, broadcasting live footage of the operations. One emotional MP, part of a parliamentary committee delegation of four MPs staying at the Taj, went live on TV. After watching it, an LeT handler directed the terrorists to go look for the lawmakers and take them hostage. Crucial information like the arrival of the NSG was also broadcast, allowing terrorists to plan a response.
At the Oberoi, the NSG erected a 500-m cordon around the hotel allowing the Black Cats to enter and carry out the operations in conditions of a near total blackout. At the Taj, however, the media continued to show live footage even 48 hours after the attack began. The media was directed to telecast a 'deferred' live programme after instructions from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the afternoon of November 28.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/248/20091202/1582/tnl-the-ten-big-mistakes.html
Mumbai police overlooked standard drills
A year after 26/11, has anything really changed?
The National Security Guard (NSG) commandos arrived in the city nearly seven hours after they had been mobilised at their base in Manesar on the outskirts of Delhi. They had to play a deadly game of cat and mouse against 10 hardened, motivated and well-trained terrorists with enough ammunition to last days. During the three-day siege, nearly 900 hotel rooms could not be entirely cleared of guests. When the dust had settled on one of India's longest anti-terrorist operations, the mistakes were glaring.
09.30 p.m.
Inability to distinguish between terror attack and gang war
The confusion surrounding the attack gave enough time for the terrorists to wreak havoc
At 9.38 on Wednesday night, two Lashkar gunmen Abdul Rehman and Abu Umer tossed in grenades and sprayed bullets from their assault rifles at the hapless diners in Leopold Cafe, starting a 60-hour siege of Mumbai. For the next half-hour, the five fidayeen buddy pairs ran through South Mumbai, wreaking havoc with guns and grenades. In the span of half an hour, calls of attacks at multiple locations kept pouring into the police control room. The initial assessment: it was an underworld attack. Two IEDs, which the terrorists planted in taxis after boarding them soon after alighting from the rubber dinghy at Colaba, went off at separate places in Vile Parle and Crawford Market an hour later. This further added to the confusion. It took the police nearly three hours to decide that it was a terror attack. These precious hours allowed the terrorists to achieve complete surprise and gain the dominant ground at the Oberoi and Taj Mahal hotels, Nariman House, and take hostages.
10.00 p.m.
Mumbai Police outgunned
The Mumbai Police's obsolete weaponry was no match for the terrorists'automatic weapons
The Lashkar gunmen came armed with AK-47s, grenades and IEDs. Ranged against them was the Mumbai Police constabulary who made a feeble attempt to respond with vintage weaponry. The results were heartbreaking, and nowhere was this more evident than the platforms of the CST station where Ajmal Amir Kasab and Abu Ismail strolled about firing at passengers. After the gunfire started, many railway police personnel ran across to the railway police storeroom a few blocks away to fetch their weapons. One of them who did try and fire at the fidayeen duo found that his archaic .303 rifle jammed after firing a single round. In sheer frustration, a policeman even flung a plastic chair at the terrorists. At other places like the Taj and Oberoi, policemen found their 9 mm pistols were no match for the barrage from Kalashnikovs and area denial weapons like Arges hand grenades. ATS chief Hemant Karkare lay dead an hour later, let down by a bulletproof vest of dubious quality which the state Home Department had purchased in circumstances that are yet to be explained. In the first three hours, 16 Mumbai policemen, including eight officers, were killed.
10.30 p.m.
No planned or coordinated response from the Mumbai Police
With no rapid action plan, the police was in disorder and senior officers were out tackling terrorists
When the police finally decided a terror attack was underway, they did not respond effectively. Both Bhagwant D. More, joint commissioner (Administration) and K.L. Prasad, joint commissioner (Law and Order), who should have been in charge of the control room were out tackling the terror situation. Though police commissioner Hasan Gafoor was found parked outside the Oberoi soon after the terror attacks began, he made no attempt to coordinate with other officers, the Quick Reaction Team or even with the NSG who came in later. Gafoor was, quite literally, caught napping. Instead, it was Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria who took command and state Chief Secretary Johny Joseph manned the control room at Mantralaya and called in the local army unit and the Marine Commandos (Marcos). Maria was handling the situation from the control room in the police commissioner's headquarters at Crawford Market and state police chief A.N. Roy at the police headquarters near the Taj.
The initial lack of central coordination turned the operation into individual acts of courage, whether it was rescuing hostages or attending to the injured. The stand-off could have ended earlier had the police evacuated the guests at the Taj and Oberoi once the Marcos had entered.
11.50 p.m.
Killing of the ATS leadership
The death of three senior ATS officials was a serious psychological blow to the Mumbai Police
Soon after Kasab and Ismail fled the CST station and entered the nearby Cama Hospital and took hostages, three senior ATS officials reached the spot from different directions- Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte and senior inspector Vijay Salaskar. They were responding to a police control alert which warned of terrorists at the hospital. Armed with AK-47s and donning bulletproof jackets, the trio bundled into a police jeep with their bodyguards and headed towards the terrorists who had, by then, fled the hospital. In hindsight, the jeep ride proved to be a critical error of judgement.
When splitting up into small teams to pursue the two terrorists on foot would have been an easier option, sitting in the vehicle made the policemen easy targets and restricted their firing options. The jeep with the three senior police officers packed in the front seat was ambushed by the two terrorists. A hail of bullets killed the leadership of the Maharashtra ATS, which severely demoralised an already shaken police force and resigned it to waiting for anti-terrorist forces.
12 midnight
Mumbai Police failed to engage the terrorists at the Taj Hotel
Apart from lack of arms, there were not enough policemen to keep the pressure up on terrorists
For three crucial hours after the attack, all the four terrorists were holed up in the upper floors of the Taj after killing over 20 persons in the lobby. The policemen who engaged them for the first few hours were too few in number to prove effective to maintain 'contact' with the terrorists. Contact is the military term which refers to the act of keeping the enemy pinned down in a firefight; it puts the enemy on the defensive and prevents them from moving or achieving their objectives. What the police lacked in firepower, they could have made up in sheer numbers but sufficient policemen were not deployed in the hotel. Contact was broken and the terrorists left to have a free run of the hotel as the police waited first for the Marcos and later the NSG to arrive. It was at least three hours before the Marine Commandos arrived and resumed the engagement with the terrorists at around 2.30 a.m. By then, the four terrorists had valuable time to study the layout of the hotel; they were also being constantly briefed by their handlers in Pakistan.
09.00 a.m.
The NSG arrived late
The bureaucratic hurdles that led to further delay of the NSG proved advantageous for the terrorists
The NSG was alerted within two hours of the attacks but it took them nearly seven hours to reach the besieged city. They were summoned by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta who called NSG chief J.K. Dutt at around 11.30 p.m. The commandos were first transported by road from their base in Manesar, Haryana, nearly 28 km from Delhi airport because they did not have dedicated airlift like helicopters with night-flying capability. At least an hour was spent at the airport loading the aircraft and waiting for home minister Shivraj Patil who then accompanied the Black Cats on their flight to Mumbai. When the NSG eventually arrived at Sahar airport at 5 a.m., they were bundled into BEST buses and taken to the Mantralaya for a briefing. It was nine in the morning by the time they reached the two hotels. The second batch of commandos arrived, but was not briefed. All attention was focused on the Taj and Oberoi hotels; nobody was aware of the hostage situation at Nariman House where Abu Akasha and Abu Umar were holding Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife hostage, along with four others.
09.00 a.m.
No detailed layouts or maps of the buildings under attack
Relying on hotel staff and locals delayed the rescue of hostages and prolonged operations
One of the precepts of a successful building intervention operation conducted by anti-terror forces is a detailed knowledge of the layouts of the buildings to be assaulted. This is why special forces often stock building plans of all vulnerable areas and buildings, and sometimes even practice mock hostage rescue drills in them. In Mumbai, the terrorists had the advantage of a detailed hostile reconnaissance conducted, as it is now suspected, by David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.
Later, the 10 terrorists who had arrived at the three spots at least 12 hours before the NSG, evidently had plenty of time to study the layouts of the buildings and site their defences. These were crucial lapses which played a decisive part in prolonging the siege. At all three locations-the Oberoi, Taj and Nariman House-NSG commandos went in blind without having the building plans of the structures. Most of them were entering the hotels for the first time. They either relied on their instincts or on locals or employees to find their way around the darkened buildings. Not only did they have the challenging task of locating and rescuing guests in over 1,000 hotel rooms at the Taj and Oberoi , but they had to simultaneously fight the terrorists as well.
11.00 a.m.
No unified, consistent communication with the public
With no one-point source of information,everyone was out feeding the media, leading to further chaos
Among the basic rules of media briefing in a crisis is a unified, consistent communication from a single reliable point of contact. During the Kargil War, there were just two spokespersons, one for the Foreign Ministry and another for the armed forces. In Mumbai, not just there was no single spokesperson. The state government did not even set up a media briefing room. Evidently, mirroring the chaos after the breakdown of command and control, a sheer diversity of officials took over to brief the media. Everyone, from the NSG chief, the GOC-in-C Maharashtra and Gujarat Area, the southern army commander and the western naval command chief, were briefing the media or giving interviews during the conduct of operations. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh who returned to the city at 3 a.m. on November 27 maintained a stoic silence.
12.00 midnight
Intercepts of conversations not given to the NSG
Not passing on the information delayed the conclusion of operation and saving of lives
What made the 26/11 strikes chillingly different from others were the sentient voices of Pakistan-based handlers advising the terrorists on strategy, firing tactics, giving regular news updates and pep talks. Many of these mobile phone conversations were quickly intercepted by the ATS but were not passed on to the NSG commandos waiting outside the buildings. In hindsight, these conversations could have helped pinpoint the location of terrorists and save lives. In the case of Nariman House, intercepted conversations revealed that Akasha and Umar were using the hostages as bargaining chips with the Israeli Government. By the evening of November 27, the handler had instructed the terrorists to kill them. This information was not passed on to the Black Cats who are trained to storm a building when the death of the hostages is imminent. Nariman House was overrun only the next morning when the hostages were already killed.
07.30 a.m.
No efforts made to block live telecast of the operation
Live telecast of the rescue operations by the media made it easier for terrorists to plan their response
Technology was a double-edged sword during the operations. If it allowed anxious friends and relatives to keep in touch with their besieged kin through cellphones, it also enabled the terrorists to keep in touch with their handlers in Pakistan. Inadvertently helping these handlers were the news TV cameras at various spots, broadcasting live footage of the operations. One emotional MP, part of a parliamentary committee delegation of four MPs staying at the Taj, went live on TV. After watching it, an LeT handler directed the terrorists to go look for the lawmakers and take them hostage. Crucial information like the arrival of the NSG was also broadcast, allowing terrorists to plan a response.
At the Oberoi, the NSG erected a 500-m cordon around the hotel allowing the Black Cats to enter and carry out the operations in conditions of a near total blackout. At the Taj, however, the media continued to show live footage even 48 hours after the attack began. The media was directed to telecast a 'deferred' live programme after instructions from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the afternoon of November 28.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/248/20091202/1582/tnl-the-ten-big-mistakes.html
I Pill Creates controversy
There was never a doubt that the i-pill and other emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) would prove to be immensely popular among women in India when they were introduced two years ago. That's because India records 11 million abortions annually and a shocking 20,000 women die because of abortion-related complications. What better way then to have a pill that promises 95 per cent success if a woman takes it within 12 hours of having unprotected sex? Known as morning after pills-though a woman can take them even immediately after sexual intercourse-their efficacy to prevent pregnancy drops to around 58 per cent if taken between 12 hours and 72 hours.
After that period, the manufacturers of these pills are explicit that it will not be able to prevent pregnancy. They are also clear that these pills are an emergency contraceptive and, more importantly, not a substitute for regular contraception that provides comprehensive protection against an unwanted pregnancy.
Unfortunately, in India some of these messages don't seem to have gone out loud and clear, causing rising concern among some citizen groups about such emergency contraceptive pills being made freely available over-theounter (OTC). The controversy has taken on a moral shade with some activists objecting to the advertisements showing young girls as the end-users with a not so subtle implication that they had unprotected sex. Like N. Selvaraju, director, drug control, Tamil Nadu, says, "We are not against women's rights, but this is a moral concern. The advertising of this drug will mean that women will think, 'I can do anything and there is an easy way not to get pregnant'. We can't allow such an attitude to grow."
The state drug control directorate even sent a notice to a popular Tamil magazine for publishing advertisements of the i-pill. There are several such moral groups in India that want to ban advertisements promoting the ECP and also its over-thecounter sale. Women's right groups in Chennai along with the Tamil Nadu Government's Directorate of Drug Control claim that the i-pill advertisement violates the Drug and Magical Remedies Act of 1954. That saw the i-pill being prevented from being sold in Tamil Nadu despite being cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
On the other hand, the medial community and some women's rights groups have welcomed the ECP as a weapon of women empowerment. "Young girls didn't start having sex after the ECP was introduced as statistics of the high rate of abortions in the past indicate. Thanks to the ECP, there are ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies among a sexually active section of the society. It is a boon for a rape victim," says Rajashree Gawde, who works with Stree, a women's rights group in Pune. Gawde hopes ECP like the i-pill will continue to be available over-the-counter rather than as prescription drugs.
"Going to a doctor to get a prescription means loss of precious time during an emergency and negates the very purpose of the ECP," she reasons. The mounting pressure from panicking parents of young girls, some activists, state governments and the Advertising Council of India resulted in a review being undertaken by the DCGI. Much to the relief of the proponents of the ECP, the DCGI, however, decided against changing the OTC nature of the drug, saying it would defeat its purpose. Elsewhere, in Russia, the UK, the US, Canada and many Asian countries, these pills are available OTC. It is banned in the Middle East and parts of South America on religious grounds.
The controversy over the ECP, however, is unlikely to die down. While most doctors agree that the ECP is a safe option even for long-term use, there is little research on its misuse. Even though the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing these pills stress the word emergency, many doctors say that young women, even married women, use them as regular contraceptive pills. "I haven't really read up on the dos and don'ts of the drug. I have used them more than a couple of times a month," says advertising copywriter Ragini Ravichander from Bangalore. Literature provided by the pharmaceutical companies insists that the ECP must not be used more than once in a cycle, but then not too many people seem to be reading the fine print. Nausea or some bleeding are said to be among common short-term side effects.
"The problem is not with the i-pill or any of the other ECPs in the market; the problem is with the awareness. These pills should be sold with statutory warnings about what the i-pill can do as well as what it cannot do. Just popping the pill won't help. And both men and women need to realise the consequences," says Bangalore-based sociologist Ramani Rajaratnam. Dr Rita Bali, head of obstetrics and gynaecology of Bali Clinics, says: "There are many problems but ECP's benefits outnumber its disadvantages. Young women should be advised against its indiscriminate use. The advertisers should stress the emergency nature of the i-pill," Bali says.
With a combined annual sale of 8.2 million tablets, the pharma companies are splurging on their advertising campaigns but not enough awareness is being created to prevent its misuse. Thanks to the campaign, people are now acquainted with the fact that it provides freedom against unwanted pregnancies, but there's no stress on the word emergency.
Cipla's i-pill is the largest selling brand in India while other brands include Unwanted-72 from Mankind Pharma, EC2 by Zydus, Norlevo from Win Medicare and E-Pill by Panchsheel Organics.
The majority of the medical community has endorsed this form of emergency contraceptive as an OTC though some doctors feel it might be better regulated as a prescription drug. It is a move fraught with problems because in India even prescription drugs and drugs under Schedule H are easily available over-the-counter. "Making it a prescription drug will only increase fraud, time delays and definitely increase abortions in the country," says Hyderabad-based Dr Rakesh Malhotra, who has endorsed the ECP as a safe option provided the pharma companies are able to create awareness to prevent its misuse.
Gynaecologist Balakrishna Badigar says, "People need to understand that an i-pill cannot replace regular contraceptives. Also, it is to be used only in an emergency and cannot protect one from AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases."
There is an urgent need for publicising the dos and don'ts about such pills, their side effects and possibly even a statutory warning. It could save a lot of concern and complications that usually happen, well, the morning after.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/248/20091202/1612/tsc-problem-pill.html
After that period, the manufacturers of these pills are explicit that it will not be able to prevent pregnancy. They are also clear that these pills are an emergency contraceptive and, more importantly, not a substitute for regular contraception that provides comprehensive protection against an unwanted pregnancy.
Unfortunately, in India some of these messages don't seem to have gone out loud and clear, causing rising concern among some citizen groups about such emergency contraceptive pills being made freely available over-theounter (OTC). The controversy has taken on a moral shade with some activists objecting to the advertisements showing young girls as the end-users with a not so subtle implication that they had unprotected sex. Like N. Selvaraju, director, drug control, Tamil Nadu, says, "We are not against women's rights, but this is a moral concern. The advertising of this drug will mean that women will think, 'I can do anything and there is an easy way not to get pregnant'. We can't allow such an attitude to grow."
The state drug control directorate even sent a notice to a popular Tamil magazine for publishing advertisements of the i-pill. There are several such moral groups in India that want to ban advertisements promoting the ECP and also its over-thecounter sale. Women's right groups in Chennai along with the Tamil Nadu Government's Directorate of Drug Control claim that the i-pill advertisement violates the Drug and Magical Remedies Act of 1954. That saw the i-pill being prevented from being sold in Tamil Nadu despite being cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI).
On the other hand, the medial community and some women's rights groups have welcomed the ECP as a weapon of women empowerment. "Young girls didn't start having sex after the ECP was introduced as statistics of the high rate of abortions in the past indicate. Thanks to the ECP, there are ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies among a sexually active section of the society. It is a boon for a rape victim," says Rajashree Gawde, who works with Stree, a women's rights group in Pune. Gawde hopes ECP like the i-pill will continue to be available over-the-counter rather than as prescription drugs.
"Going to a doctor to get a prescription means loss of precious time during an emergency and negates the very purpose of the ECP," she reasons. The mounting pressure from panicking parents of young girls, some activists, state governments and the Advertising Council of India resulted in a review being undertaken by the DCGI. Much to the relief of the proponents of the ECP, the DCGI, however, decided against changing the OTC nature of the drug, saying it would defeat its purpose. Elsewhere, in Russia, the UK, the US, Canada and many Asian countries, these pills are available OTC. It is banned in the Middle East and parts of South America on religious grounds.
The controversy over the ECP, however, is unlikely to die down. While most doctors agree that the ECP is a safe option even for long-term use, there is little research on its misuse. Even though the pharmaceutical companies manufacturing these pills stress the word emergency, many doctors say that young women, even married women, use them as regular contraceptive pills. "I haven't really read up on the dos and don'ts of the drug. I have used them more than a couple of times a month," says advertising copywriter Ragini Ravichander from Bangalore. Literature provided by the pharmaceutical companies insists that the ECP must not be used more than once in a cycle, but then not too many people seem to be reading the fine print. Nausea or some bleeding are said to be among common short-term side effects.
"The problem is not with the i-pill or any of the other ECPs in the market; the problem is with the awareness. These pills should be sold with statutory warnings about what the i-pill can do as well as what it cannot do. Just popping the pill won't help. And both men and women need to realise the consequences," says Bangalore-based sociologist Ramani Rajaratnam. Dr Rita Bali, head of obstetrics and gynaecology of Bali Clinics, says: "There are many problems but ECP's benefits outnumber its disadvantages. Young women should be advised against its indiscriminate use. The advertisers should stress the emergency nature of the i-pill," Bali says.
With a combined annual sale of 8.2 million tablets, the pharma companies are splurging on their advertising campaigns but not enough awareness is being created to prevent its misuse. Thanks to the campaign, people are now acquainted with the fact that it provides freedom against unwanted pregnancies, but there's no stress on the word emergency.
Cipla's i-pill is the largest selling brand in India while other brands include Unwanted-72 from Mankind Pharma, EC2 by Zydus, Norlevo from Win Medicare and E-Pill by Panchsheel Organics.
The majority of the medical community has endorsed this form of emergency contraceptive as an OTC though some doctors feel it might be better regulated as a prescription drug. It is a move fraught with problems because in India even prescription drugs and drugs under Schedule H are easily available over-the-counter. "Making it a prescription drug will only increase fraud, time delays and definitely increase abortions in the country," says Hyderabad-based Dr Rakesh Malhotra, who has endorsed the ECP as a safe option provided the pharma companies are able to create awareness to prevent its misuse.
Gynaecologist Balakrishna Badigar says, "People need to understand that an i-pill cannot replace regular contraceptives. Also, it is to be used only in an emergency and cannot protect one from AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases."
There is an urgent need for publicising the dos and don'ts about such pills, their side effects and possibly even a statutory warning. It could save a lot of concern and complications that usually happen, well, the morning after.
Source:http://in.news.yahoo.com/248/20091202/1612/tsc-problem-pill.html
Delicious Veg Coftas
Very Very Nutritional Coftas are ready to cook in min ---- check out and taste them.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Women CEOs who Broke the Glass Ceiling in India
Shikha Sharma : Shikha Sharma heads Axis Bank. Shikha Sharma worked with the ICICI group for 28 years. Sharma is credited for the bank's growth in personal financial services.
"Amongst private and foreign banks, women almost outnumber men. This has been helped in no mean measure by women from ICICI Bank who have joined other financial institutions in recent times," said EMA Partners managing partner K Sudarshan.
Renuka Ramnath : Former chief of ICICI Venture Renuka Ramnath launched the Multiples Alternate Asset Management in 2009.
Multiples is raising their first private equity fund targeting both domestic and international institutional investors and ultra high networth individuals.
The target size is approximately $400 million. Multiples Alternate Asset Management will make sector-agnostic investments in India.
Image: Renuka Ramnath.
Rajshree Pathy : Manufacturing has traditionally not attracted too many women because of the nature of the business and the location of factories in the interiors. Thirty-five per cent of the women CEOs, according to EMA Partners, are also promoters of their companies.
This includes Rajshree Pathy who runs Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals and Meher Pudumjee who is the chairperson of Thermax. The other 65 per cent are professional CEOs.
Image: Rajshree Pathy, MD, Rajshree Sugars.
Neelam Dhawan : Eight per cent of women are in consulting and another 8 per cent in FMCG and consumer durables. The big names here are Vinita Bali of Britannia and Nadia Chauhan of Parle Agro.
Four per cent each can be found in manufacturing and IT & IT-enabled services. The largest personal computer company in the country, Hewlett-Packard , is headed by Neelam Dhawan. Image: Neelam Dhawan, CEO, Hewlett-Packard.
Naina Lal Kidwai : Naina Lal Kidwai is the CEO of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, India. Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the World's Top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. She has been awarded with Padma Shri, one of India's highest civilian honours.
According to various studies and EMA Partners' estimates, there is no shortage of female talent. In Germany, over 25 per cent executives are women, in the UK more than 30 per cent and in France over 35 per cent. In board appointments, the numbers decline further.
Image: Naina Lal Kidwai, CEO, HSBC
Meera Sanyal : Meera Sanyal was appointed as CEO of ABN Amro Bank in December 2007.
Sanyal was working as corporate executive vice president and head of services (Asia) of ABN Amro. She was earlier the chief operating officer of the bank.
In Germany, just over 10 per cent of board members are women, according to EMA Partners. In France, it is as low as 7 per cent.
To address this imbalance, some countries have insisted on minimum levels of board female members. Norway, in 2004, inaugurated a quota system stipulating that 40 per cent of the board of a publicly quoted company should be women otherwise that company could be delisted. In 2007, Spain decided to go the same way.
Image: Meera Sanyal, CEO, ABN Amro Bank.
Manisha Girotra : Manisha Girotra heads UBS in India. Girotra has over 18 years of experience in investment banking. Girotra has worked on the privatisation of the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation, Tata-SIA's bid for Air India and Scottish & Newcastle's investment in the UB group.
Ashu Suyash heads Fidelity Fund Management. In the Fortune 500 list, only 7 per cent women CEOs are from financial services.
Image: Manisha Girotra, MD, UBS.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw : Eleven per cent of the Indian women CEOs are in the media and another 11 per cent in pharmaceuticals.
Thus, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the chairman and managing director of Biocon and Villoo Morawala Patel is the founder, chairman and managing director of Avesthagen.
Image: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, MD, Biocon.
Kalpana Morparia: Kalpana Morparia is the country head of JPMorgan. Morparia worked for 33 years with the ICICI Group. She became a part of the board of directors in 2001, and later became joint managing director at ICICI Bank.
Morparia was instrumental in developing ICICI's well-diversified financial services business. Image: Kalpana Morparia, country head of JPMorgan.
In the Fortune 500 list, in contrast, 48 per cent of the women CEOs came from FMCG and consumer durables. Manufacturing and IT & IT-enables services returned 13 per cent each.
Sudarshan said the IT and IT-enabled services do not have many women CEOs because it requires a fair amount of travel to on-site locations. It also comes with the pressure of working through multiple time zones.
Image: Indra Nooyi, CEO, PepsiCo, with her daughter.
Chanda Kochhar : The financial services sector is dominated by women in India. As many as 54 per cent of the women CEOs are, according to EMA Partners, in financial services.
Chanda Kochhar is among the leading women in India's financial services sector. She took over as managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank from May 1, 2009.
According to Chanda Kochhar who was appointed as ICICI Bank's new chief executive officer, companies must consider merit and not be biased to any gender and women should not expect to be treated differently in any field.Image: Chanda Kochhar, CEO and MD, ICICI Bank.
Source:http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/dec/01/slide-show-1-more-women-ceos-in-india-than-abroad.htm
Monday, November 30, 2009
Red Wine Good for Teeth
Drinking red wine in moderate amount helps to rinse teeth clean of bacteria during and after meals, says a new study.
Earlier studies have linked moderate red wine intake with everything from improved longevity to diminished risk of cardiovascular and neurological diseases.And because the new study was conducted with non-alcoholic red wine, even teetotallers can enjoy dental benefits, reports ABC Science.Co-author Professor Gabriella Gazzani, of Pavia University in Italy, said that alcohol's cavity-preventing benefits are already well known and that's why they investigated "de-alcoholised red wine to verify if substances different from ethanol with anti-strep properties occur in this beverage."The researchers purchased red wine from the Veneto region and removed the alcohol using a technique called vacuum concentration.
They then cultured Streptococcus mutans, a common bacteria that feed on sugars in food and contribute to tooth enamel demineralisation, which often results in cavities.In the lab, the bacteria easily mixed with saliva and saliva-coated pulled teeth, along with saliva-coated calcium ceramic beads.
However, when the non-alcoholic red wine was added to each one, the wine prevented S. mutans from clinging to teeth and saliva.Next, the researchers determined that the active components in red wine that protect teeth are proanthocyanidins, naturally occurring flavonoid compounds previously found to have antioxidant properties.
The compounds are in many plant edibles, such as apples, cinnamon, cocoa and teas.The researchers do think that proanthocyanidins could be separated from wine and studied for their potential oral health benefits.Acids and sugars in some wines may actually contribute to tooth decay, so isolating wine's tooth-supporting components could lead to an even more beneficial product, at least from a dentistry standpoint.In separate research, scientists from Laval University in Quebec, Canada found that polyphenols in red wine also help to control immune cell response in gums to bacterial infection.The study will be published in the journal Food Chemistry.
Cut Down on Coffee
We all know that there's really nothing to beat that curiously intoxicating smell of freshly ground coffee beans as well as that addictive first cup to jump-start your day. But it's not just the morning a steaming cup always comes in handy while driving negotiations, initiating great conversations or even kicking back next to a log fire.
It even gets a nod from researchers like Thomas H. Lee, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Attributing the benefits to large, long-term studies, Lee says that "long-running research shows that drinking coffee cuts the risk of dying early from a heart attack or stroke, and the bean improves productivity, too."
Now, before you make a manic sprint to the nearest store for a cappuccino machine, you may want to listen to what Upasna Kamineni, Vice Chairman, Apollo Charities, and an active campaigner for health issues, has to say. "Coffee is both a health and a social hazard, and the cons far outweigh the pros," she says. Kamineni, also the Director of Lifetime Wellness RX, an Apollo Group body that conducts health talks, assessments and camps and also undertakes research-based projects on lifestyle disorders, thinks that it's best one stays away from the brew altogether.
"The excessive caffeine in coffee can boost your blood pressure and can leave you dehydrated. Add milk and sugar, and it becomes a recipe for disaster, that is bound to add extra pounds, she adds. Aerated drinks and canned fruit juices also get a thumbs down from her." Aerated drinks and canned fruit juices have a high concentration of sugar and should be avoided in the mornings. Try jasmine and green tea or even lemon water as the three are rich in antioxidants. Kamineni recommends switching over to juices and lemon soda by afternoon.
"Buttermilk is easy on your digestive system, too, and goes well with most Indian foods," she says. And for those of you who just can't kick the coffee habit, she suggests skipping milk. Taken black, both coffee and tea are calorie-free and full of antioxidants. Not a bad option for the coffee-crazy but health-conscious folks out there.
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