20-minute walk cuts risk of heart failure

Men who get regular, moderate exercise, such as walking or cycling for 20 minutes daily, may have a lower risk of heart failure.

Men who get regular, moderate exercise, such as walking or cycling for 20 minutes daily, may have a lower risk of heart failure compared to those with the lowest and highest levels of activity, a new study has claimed.

Researchers followed 33,012 men from the Cohort of Swedish Men from 1998 until 2012 — or first event of heart failure — to determine if physical activity was associated with heart failure risk.

Overall, men who had the lowest and highest levels of physical activity had a higher risk of heart failure, 47 per cent and 51 per cent respectively, than men with a median level, the study found.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure.

Keywords: heart failure, brisk walking, benefits of walking

Super-30' founder honoured with Maharshi Ved Vyas award

Anand Kumar, founder of Bihar-based 'Super 30' educational programme, was honoured with the 'Maharishi Ved Vyas national award' for his contribution in the field of education in Bhopal.

The award for year 2014-15 was bestowed upon Kumar by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday evening at a function organised on the occasion of Independence Day.

The award is given annually by state government for outstanding contribution and creativity in the field of education.

It carries a citation and cash prize of Rs 2 lakh. During his address, Chouhan appealed to youths to become entrepreneurs even as he claimed the growth rate of the state is the "highest" in the country.

Kumar said such awards motivated him to do better. "These awards and honours give me motivation to do even better. It shows that society is sensitive to the needs of the poor and anybody making even a small effort for their uplift is recognised. That in itself is a big motivation. I hope I will continue my work with greater passion," he said.

Under the innovative educational programme, launched by Kumar in 2002, 30 meritorious students from the economically-backward sections of the society are selected every year and are trained to crack the country's prestigious IIT exams.

The students are offered free coaching, food and lodging facilities under 'Super 30'

Aggressive wildlife conservation is the need of the hour

India’s wildlife is once again caught in the crosshairs.

This was borne out by two reports that appeared in the media last week.

According to the National Tiger Protection Authority and Traffic India, an NGO that works globally on trade in wild animals and plants, India has lost 41 tigers in the first seven months of this year and only seven of those died of natural causes.

Another report stated that investigators in Kerala have found that poachers had killed more than 20 elephants in the last 10 months, and the toll in the southern region of the country in the past two years could be 100. The main reason for deaths in both cases is poaching.

According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), until now, habitat loss was thought to be the largest single threat to the future of tigers.

But now it has been established that the trade in tiger bones, destined for use in oriental medicine outside India’s borders, is posing an even larger threat.

After decimating their own sources, Far Eastern traditional medicine manufacturers are now targeting India for their supply of tiger bones.

But poaching cannot happen without the help of the ‘chinks’ in the forests department’s armour or without the connivance of people who stay in and around the forests, who are often not integrated into the conservation efforts.

As far as elephants are concerned, the WPSI has recorded the loss of over 121 elephants due to poaching between 2008 and 2011.

During this same period, a further 50 wild elephants died in road and train accidents and a shocking 111 elephants died from electrocution.

But in the case of elephants too poaching remains the major cause of death for wild elephants.

If poaching is one aspect of the conservation challenge, the other side of the story is the government’s aggressive focus on growth that threatens endangered animals and the environment.

This is apparent in the way it is razing forests, giving green signals to dams and pushing industrialisation.

In fact, funding for the environment ministry in the 2015 budget has been cut by 25% and support for tiger protection by 15%.

Those who believe growth is the final target of civilisation must remember that by promoting conservation, we not only ensure our own survival, but also the diversity of the ecosystem.

Why Sundar Pichai's rise matters for India

It was nice to see Sundar Pichai being named as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Google, the core unit of the reformed Alphabet Inc powered by tons of cash from the search engine. I was glad to see that my prediction about his importance for the giant company last October take strong shape. I had said then that his then title, Senior Vice President, did not go far enough in conveying his significance for the company.

As he spearheaded the Android revolution, and with product management experience par excellence, any keen watcher of Silicon Valley would have smelt the coffee like I did. And Twitter, the microblogging service looking for leadership after the exit of Dick Costolo, seemed to have smelt the filter coffee smell from Tamil Nadu, in a manner of speaking. Rumours have it that Google was forced to rename itself and promote the Chennai-born IITan so that he won’t fly the coop.

While Indians exulted in their native connection, some hands did go up in scepticism. Is Sundar Pichai really something that Indians should gush about as Indians? Fact is that Google is an American company and Sundar a US citizen. HT even ran an online poll asking if India should feel proud of him as his achievements were in the US.

Read: India-born Sundar Pichai appointed the new CEO of Google

So what gives?

I think Sundar’s rise was worth celebrating (alongside that of Manipal-educated Satya Nadella of Microsoft) especially in the anniversary week of India’s Independence. For a colonized nation first dismissed as a half-starved Third World country and then as a hub for cheap coding services, these two gentlemen symbolize the rise of true overall leadership in technology right in the hub of the world’s most frenetic technology hub. Both are “made in India” as engineers and hence a vindication of the higher education policy of Nehru.

Kanwal Rekhi, educated at IIT Mumbai, co-founded Excelan in 1982 in the US, took it public on Nasdaq in 1987 as its CEO and then merged it with Novell in 1989 when the networking revolution was being ushered in. Yet, the story goes, Novell never made him CEO and he left as chief technology officer because of the patronizing belief that Indians make great techies but not in marketing or overall leadership.

People including venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Nadella and Sundar Pichai have helped explode that myth that borders on the glass ceiling. Such achievements raise the confidence levels of Indians based in India so they can take entrepreneurship to new heights.

the speaking tree - Your Thoughts Become Reality, So Think Positive

Pulkit Sharma





Human life today has been made extremely complex where difficulties and problems chal lenge us from all walks of life. There are people who are struggling to sort out their inner world for a meaningful life, others who are trying to hold together a damaged relationship, individuals who are trying to raise consciousness in society, citizens who are desperate to bring a change in their corrupt political system, those who are seeking to save our environment and others who are tired of extremist perspectives and wish to create universal brotherhood.The journey is daunting and often people give up. The argument that's given usually is that one is too small to bring about a change. The person then succumbs to passivity , negativity and hopelessness. This attitude stalls what could have been a forward movement and is responsible for maintaining status quo. What we don't realise is that neither are we too small nor is the problem beyond our capability . It is actually a flawed psychological attitude that makes success elusive. All of us carry these defective perspectives without being aware. Once we understand this and change ourselves, to our surprise, huge possibilities of individual, interpersonal, social, political and spiritual development do open up.
While all of us attempt to do a lot, we function from a scattered mind. Our attention is rarely focussed as we wish to multi-task owing to our greed, restlessness and sensory needs.The attention, rather than being fully immersed in what we are doing, runs into memories of past and fantasies of the future. Hence we end up wasting a lot of time, develop intense fatigue and execute a poor job. We normally consider attention as a mental capacity; however it is a potential storehouse of energy . Often we dream of acquiring occult powers but ignore the intense energy of attention that we already possess.
The first important step is to become mindful, get a grip on our attention and make it one pointed. Then, whatever we attend to with undivided attention is bound to change.
Also, because attention can run in both positive and negative directions, this power must be utilised in the right manner to achieve good results. But we tend to sit back and allow negative thoughts to take over. Some people constantly see negative things as they have depressive tendencies and find it hard to be hopeful; others do it out of fear so that they can avoid or master their anxieties. There are still others consumed by rage and envy who find solace in imagining disasters.
The Mother repeatedly stressed in her writings that for the growth of con sciousness at both individual as well as societal levels, one needs to create positive thoughts with strong will and right intent. She observed that people who let negative thoughts rule their mind create a recipe for disaster at various levels.If our mind dwells on anything negative, we end up attracting it. Therefore, we must make a positive attitude with a definite aim and offer it to the Divine.When we wish for something positive intensely and add our faith in the Divine to it, the goal begins to realise itself.
The essence of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is “Aham Brahmasmi“ ­ “I am the Infinite Reality“. Since we carry Infinite Reality within, we need to remember at all times that we are not small. If we have the will, we can make a difference. (The writer is a clinical psychologist.) Post your comments at speakingtree.in The Speaking Tree is also available as an 8 page newspaper every Sunday for Rs 3. Book your copy of The Speaking Tree with your newspaper vendor or SMS STREE to 58888.

NITI Aayog to woo talent with good pay perks

New Delhi PTI





To attract talent, the Centre's think-tank NITI Aayog has proposed paying over 30% more than the pay offered by the erstwhile Planning Commission to young professionals on its payrolls.NITI Aayog has replaced the decades-old Planning Commission and is being seen as one of the most ambitious projects of the Modi government to overhaul governance and policymaking practices in the country .
Inviting applications from `young professionals', NITI Aayog has now offered salaries in the range of Rs 40,00070,000 per month, along with an annual increment of Rs 5,000 in the monthly pay.
This is more than 30% higher than the pay package of Rs 31,500-51,500 offered by the Planning Commission.
Besides, NITI Aayog has also brought down the age limit for such positions to 32 years, from 40 years prescribed earlier by the Planning Commission.

NIIT new training centre offers advanced training programmes - 

NIIT has launched its Flagship Training Centre in central Delhi which will offer advanced training programmes in executive management, banking, digital marketing, big data, IT and other multiple sectors. These programmes will be backed by Cloud Technology to ensure anytime anywhere accessibility.

The new centre is the first step in a series of changes that the company will now witness owing to Business Transformation Programme that was initiated in the last financial year. Focused on upskilling, the centre will offer programmes in Executive Management, Banking and Finance, Digital Marketing and Social Media, Cloud & Mobile Software Engineering, Big Data and Business Analytics, e-Commerce & Business Administration and Cloud Computing & IT Management.

Young professionals and students will have the flexibility to choose options from a range of multiple new-age career programmes, aligned to the evolving needs of the knowledge economy.