Drink up more water guys! It's the easiest way to lose weight

If you are lossing your mind over your growing weight, here's some relief for you. Researchers now say that losing weight is now as easy as drinking a glass of water.

Researchers have shown that drinking 500ml of water half-an-hour before eating the three main meals of the day may help you lose weight.

"Just drinking a pint of water, three times a day, before your main meals may help reduce your weight," says Helen Parretti, a lecturer at the University of Birmingham.

For the study, which is published in the journal Obesity, obese adult participants recruited from general practices are monitored over a 12-week period.

Each of the participants are given a weight management consultation, where they are advised on how to adapt their lifestyle and improve their diet and levels of physical activity.

While half of them (41 adults) of those recruited are asked to preload with water, the other half ( 43 adults) are advised to imagine that they have a full stomach before eating.

Those in the group who are instructed to 'preload' with water lose, on average, 1.3 kg more than those in the control group.

Those who report preloading before all three main meals in the day report a loss of 4.3 kg over the 12 weeks, whereas those who only preload once, or not at all, only lose an average of 0.8kg.

"When combined with brief instructions on how to increase your amount of physical activity and on a healthy diet, this seems to help people to achieve some extra weight loss -- at a moderate and healthy rate,” Parretti points out.

"It is something that does not take much work to integrate into our busy everyday lives," Parretti says.

Meet Avani Mishra, all-India topper of Company Secretary exam

First impressions are always deceptive. Take, for instance, Bhopal's Avani Mishra. When you first meet her, she comes across as a regular girl-next-door, bubbling with enthusiasm and energy. But when you are told she's India's youngest Company Secretary, you curse yourself for not taking her seriously earlier. And when she tells you that she topped this year's All India Company Secretary Examination, the shocked look on your face is unmistakable. Excerpts from a chat with Avani.

Apart from being an all-India topper, you have also become the youngest to qualify the company secretary (CS) exam at the national level. What is your success mantra?

I started preparing for the CS just after getting admission in the National Law Institute University (NLIU). I cleared all the three stages in my first attempt, and that’s why I could clear my exam at the age of 19. More than studying for long hours, I chose smart learning. I kept myself away from any kind of distraction from social media too.   

You are a model and a regular student. How hard did you work to achieve this?

It was a little tough for me to manage regular studies with the CS exam preparation. But it’s not very tough to clear the CS exam. I prepared for the exam online under the guidance of Company Secretary (CS) Monika Goyal from Noida for 30 days and I am happy that I passed my exam with great success. I do modeling occasionally so it never disturbed my studies. 

Most people think that the CS exam needs more theoretical approach than practical. What do you think?

It is a myth that the CS exam is boring and hard to crack because it is more theoretical. I cleared the exam with the new syllabus. It is one of the most balanced examinations where students need both theoretical as well as practical approach to clear the exam.

You are pursuing law. How would clearing the CS exam help in building your career?

To prepare for the CS exam, I read corporate law. This qualification will help me in building good career in the corporate world. After completing my law, I want to work in a corporate house.

Whom do you give credit for your success?

My family, especially my parents, who gave me an environment conducive to study. Monika Goyal also played an important role in my achieving the first rank.

What will be your advice to youngsters preparing for the exam?

Be patient and maintain good temperament while going through the nine-day rigorous schedule of the exam.

Region and religion both matter for better population indicators

For better population indicators, region and religion both matter, suggest data from 2011 and 2001 decadal Censuses.

According to the data, in the more developed southern States all communities do better than in the more backward northern States.

Poor education indicators

Between 2001 and 2011, Muslims (24.65 per cent) remained the group with the fastest population growth, followed closely by Scheduled Tribes (23.66 per cent) and Scheduled Castes (20.85 per cent). All three groups have historically had poor education indicators, especially for women, and restricted access to health care.

However, in States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which are considered advanced in terms of income and development indicators, population growth is low for all communities, the numbers show.

The population growth rate for Muslims in Kerala, for example, while substantially higher than that for Hindus or Christians in the State, is lower than the national average for Hindus, and half that of Hindus in States like Bihar.

“When the demographic transition is occurring, the better off communities first reduce their fertility, which is then followed by poorer communities. This is exactly what we are seeing, and in developed States, access to education and health becomes available to all,” Dr. P Arokiasamy, demographer and professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, said.

A similar trend is observed in other States; those with higher than average Hindu growth rates have higher than average Muslim growth rates too.

Two notable exceptions are Assam and Uttarakhand, where the Muslim growth rate is significantly higher than the national average, while the Hindu growth rate is lower.

“It is undeniable that in the border districts of Assam, there is illegal immigration. There is no other explanation for the Muslim population growth there,” a senior Census official said.

Worst sex ratio

When it comes to sex ratio, Sikhs as a community had the worst sex ratio in 2011 at 903 females for every 1,000 males, followed by non-SC/ ST Hindus (929), while Christians had the best sex ratio (1,023 females for every 1,000 males) followed by STs (990). Here again, region matters.

In Punjab and Haryana, all communities see their sex ratios plummet to their worst, while in Kerala, the sex ratio of all communities except Sikhs and Buddhists rises above 1,000 females for every 1,000 males.

In Tamil Nadu, the sex ratio for Muslims, Christians and SCs rises above 1,000.

Keywords: Census 2011 data on Population by Religious Communities, census religion data, Census of India: Religion, religion data of Census 2011

NGO performs in city to bring about social change in villages

Ankita Bhatkhande TWEETS @aanks





Through street plays and traditional dances, the Jharkhand group is urging people to make calls to officials and help solve grievances of rural folk, whose complaints are uploaded on their website

A group of Gond adivasis, from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, are performing in the city to spread an initiative of CGNet Swara, a Jharkhand based NGO that works for the welfare of advasis, and to bring about social change in maoist affected villages of central India.Through street plays and traditional dances, the group is spreading the initiative “Chattis se Trisath“, that emphasises on looking at each other rather than looking away, and hopes to bridge the communication barrier between urban and rural India.
The initiative was the brainchild of Shubhranshu Chaudhary, a journalist born and brought up in Koriya District, Chattisgarh, where there was a huge disparity between people, the administration and the government.This was not only a result of the power equation and hierarchy, but also arose from the language barrier.While the initiative was launched five years ago, it is only recently that the group began visiting urban areas to spread the message. They will be performing in Mumbai till mid-September.
“Most officials did not understand what tribals said, and people were unable to voice grievances. They started befriending maoists as they knew the language, but it did not help solve problems of food, water and shelter. I wanted to devise a communication system that would be free and solve the issues of distance and language for the people. Thus Swara was born,“ said Chaudhary.
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS
Villagers can call Swara's toll free number and record grievances in their own language. They will be prompted to give contact details of the official in charge at the administrationgovernment level. The grievances will be translated into English by Swara and uploaded on their website. People across the country -and the world -can make calls to the officials to remind them about the villagers' problems. “We realised that adivasis can be trained to register complaints, but sometimes their complaints get trivialised. But if people like you and me make calls, officials will be pressurised to acting,“ said Chaudhary.
THE IMPACT
Over the years, the initiative helped solve various problems, from basic demands for a hand pump, to major issues like not getting pension. People from all walks of life called officials, requesting them to act on complaints.
After having performed in villages, the group is now visiting institutions across Mumbai, urging people through traditional songs, dance and puppet shows to make calls for social change. “We want to bridge the barrier of language and distance, so that the world is a better place for tribals in the remotest parts of India,“ said Pawan Satyarthi, group leader at Swara.

Aug 28 2015 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

the speaking tree - A Green Diet

SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA





What we like to eat depends upon one's taste. There are only four things available: stones, plants, animals and humans.We cannot eat stones because our system is not geared to digest and assimilate them directly. And even though we sometimes destroy human beings with our cruelty , our progressive society does not allow eating them. That leaves us the vegetable and animal kingdom to choose from.We find that the very first progenitor of humanity , Adam himself, was eating only vegetables. It is only his second son who started this easy method of obtaining food because agriculture seemed to be too difficult for him, as it required a continuous process of putting forward effort to produce.
Whereas sitting behind a stone, waiting for innocent animals to come along, and destroying and eating them seemed to be the easier way! The food we eat and the thoughts and actions that spring forth from us have a distinct relationship. What is true in the computer world -garbage in, garbage out -seems to be true of our bodies too. If you put toxic food, or garbage, into your system, the texture of your thoughts and actions has a tendency to become more un-reconciling, selfish, less concerned for others, and lusty -and potentially dangerous to society .
Since our culture is essentially geared for the life of meditation, the mind that is constantly agitated and wandering finds it difficult to plunge into meditation. To such an individual, the toxin is an obstacle in reaching his goal.

Aug 28 2015 : The Economic Times (Delhi) IIT-D Disrupts Idea of Internships Prachi Verma New Delhi   For first time in institute's history, internships are optional; students can instead work on new tech & hobby projects IIT Delhi has taken an unprecedented step this year, encouraged by the ever-increasing success stories of startups. For the first time in its nearly five-and-halfdecade history, the institute has made summer internships optional for its students.From this year, other than summer internship, third-year students can opt for live projects in subjects like robotics and design-based learning, or pick up any other hobby project after consulting the department. Until last year, it was mandatory for everyone to go for a 10-week internship, which often helped students secure job offers. What made one of the oldest IITs in the country to think differently were the stories of youngsters making it big in the world of business with their disruptive ideas, and the government's thrust to promote entrepreneurship. An increasing number of students are pursuing entrepreneurial ambitions now while they are still in college. “Aspirations and interests of the students are changing. Not all students now want to go to the industry for training. Many want to try their hands on entrepreneurship. In addition, a few want to pursue higher studies,“ said IIT Delhi dean -academics Anurag Sharma. While some IITs still insist on summer internships, a few like IITBombay already allow students to choose other engagements as well. IIT Madras and IIT Kharagpur continue to stick to internship. “It is compulsory here as we believe that this gives the student experience while being on the job,“ said a faculty at IIT Madras. IITs in Kanpur and Roorkee prefer that their students go for summer internship but due to paucity of good companies around their locations, they have made it optional.According to a faculty member at IIT Kanpur, almost every year there is a debate to make intern ship compulsory . For companies, of fering internship gives a chance to identify and evaluate fresh talent and tap into. For instance, Raj Raghavan, director-human resources, at Amazon India, says it is “a key source for identifying talent, grooming the same and later hiring the into the Amazon fold“. Though more and more students from top institutes are choosing to work on their own products and businesses, companies don't seem to be concerned about any shortage of talent as the number of engineering and technical institutes is growing as well in the country . “If a few IITs decide that they will not encourage internships, we will go to non-IIT institutes,“ a leading oncampus recruiter said. Boston Consulting Group is one of the companies that heavily rely on internship for identifying new talent. “During the summer internship programme, we are able to evaluate the candidate better based on their ability to learn, develop their skills, build relations and make an impact,“ said Suresh Subudhi, partner and head of recruitment at BCG India. IIT Delhi, meanwhile, has renamed its summer internship programme `Design and Practical Experience'. The design and practical experience will now fetch five non-graded points for the students in their third year. To get their degree, students have to earn 15 non-graded points in all. Two p o i n t s c a n b e ear ned through projects such as on robotics, designing, car-race designing and other hobby projects. Starting from this year, IIT Delhi will give non-graded points to language learning, communication skills, ethics and social responsibility. At IIT Kharagpur, an eight-week summer internship is mandatory . “Both at the undergraduate level and the master's level for integrated degree, summer internship is compulsory ,“ said chairman of Career Development Centre SK Barai. This s the route to get the pre-placement offers and hence will not be done away with, he added. IIT Roorkee wants its students oining internship in their third year but it sees a problem. “Not all companies are really keen on teach ng or training our students. They ust take interns for the sake of it and this exercise becomes useless or our students,“ said director Pradipta Banerji. IIT Roorkee encourages its students to join academic research institutes abroad. Nevertheless, Roorkee has intensi ied its engagement with industry to give a platform to the students for practical training. “We are in the process of signing more MoUs for research and development and this will help our students in getting access to live training,“ Banerji said.

Mainstream, VOL LIII No 34 August 15, 2015

MILESTONE IN HISTORY OF INDO-NAGA RELATIONS: NAGA PERSPECTIVE OF THE PEACE ACCORD

On August 3, 2015 the Government of India and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim or the NSCN (IM) signed an agreement. Although the contents of the Accord have not been made public, it is being hailed as an important milestone in the history of Indo-Naga relations.

The Accord was signed by R.N. Ravi, senior Intelligence officer, on behalf of the Government of India and by Isak Swu and Thuingaleng Muiva on behalf of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN). So, is this Accord going to be, as Prime Minister Modi promised, “a shining example of what we can achieve when we deal with each other in a spirit of equality and respect, trust and confidence; when we seek to understand concerns and try to address aspirations; when we leave the path of dispute and take the high road of dialogue. It is a lesson and an inspiration in our troubled world”?

Thuingaleng Muivah was much more subdued in his speech. He reminded the Indians of the promise made to the Naga delegation by Mahatma Gandhi when they met him on July 19, 1947 to express their aspirations. And the Indian leader assured them:

“Nagas have every right to be independent. We do not want to live under the domination of the British and they are now leaving us. I want you to feel that the Naga Hills are mine just as much as they are yours, but if you say, ‘it is not mine’ then the matter must stop there. I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I do not believe in force or forced unions. If you do not wish to join the Union of India nobody will force you to do that.”

Muivah also remembered the number of people, both Nagas and Indians, who had died in the course of the six-decade-long insurgency. It was a long journey that had brought him to the negotiation table in 1997. He had spent 27 years in the jungles of Myanmar as a revolutionary, a guerilla fighter who had successfully led several groups of Nagas to China, through thick jungles of Burma and on many occasions he had to face the Burmese Army and the Indian Army. There were times they had marched with torn clothes and not eaten for days. He had kept up the spirit of the younger men and become a legend in his own lifetime.

Every year the Naga nationalists celebrate August 14 as their Independence Day. This was the day in 1947 the Naga National Council had declared themselves to be an independent country. By 1952 Angami Zapu Phizo had formed the Naga Federal Government and the Naga Federal Army. Muivah had been active in the NNC from the beginning but in 1975 had felt betrayed when senior members had signed an Accord with the Government of India in Shillong during the Emergency. The Shillong Accord had caused deep divisions within the Naga society and now as he stood to sign the new Accord Muivah must have prayed that the history of this Accord would be different.

This was the question in the minds of many Nagas. Had the Indians taken advantage of the fact that Isak Swu was critically ill and in hospital to put pressure on the NSCN? Both the Nagas and the Indians knew that these were the two leaders who commanded respect among the Nagas. If they did not reach an Accord there would be no one who had their stature. It was the intelligence agencies who had been responsible for creating so many divisions within the Naga underground and now they had realised the need to have one representative organisation with whom they could negotiate.

The NSCN (IM) had made great efforts to understand the legal and constitutional implications of the provisions of the Accord. They had even got a team of international legal experts to help them understand the consequences of each word. But ultimately the problem is political; much will depend on the political vision that informs the final Accord.

The strength of the Naga national movement is its celebration of pluralism and democracy. Each Naga tribe, however small or big, had equal representation in the major Naga organisations, such as the all-powerful Naga Students Federation, Naga Hoho, the body representing the Naga elders, the United Naga Council and the traditional organisations.

Muivah mentioned the fact that the Accord is based on the recognition of the uniqueness of the Nagas. What is the basis of this uniqueness? It is the very rich cultural diversity and also the bio-diversity and abundance of natural resources. Any Accord will have to deal with these two major issues.

The Indian Prime Minister said: “My relationship with the North-East has been deep. I have travelled to Nagaland on many occasions. I have been deeply impressed by the rich and diverse culture and the unique way of life of the Naga people. It makes not only our nation, but also the world a more beautiful place.”

It seemed rather ironic that a Prime Minister, ideologically committed to the promotion of a culturally homogeneous India, was talking of inclusive democracy and hailing the unique culture of the Nagas.

Much of the Naga culture has been destroyed by the evangelising Baptist missionaries who came to the Naga areas during British rule. They destroyed the old institutions and the administrators, anthropologists stole Naga cultural property which can be seen in museums in Western countries.

The Indian education system further helped to erode the Naga culture and destroy the languages; with no place for Naga history in the school textbooks. The effect of this erosion of Naga cultural identity was brought out in a play recently staged at the National School of Drama by a student from Nagaland, Temjenzungba. It was staged on July 11, 2015. The play was called “Land Where Life is Good”. If the play is judged on merits it may not qualify as an exceptional one; it had significance which went far beyond the mere aesthetics.

The small black brochure published for the occasion gives the synopsis of the play:

“The play talks about the various identities that are covered up in the blanket of a single identity called ‘Indian’. It tries to look at the confusion that this exercise of assimilation for nationhood has created in the minds of the present generation, especially in the context of Nagaland. Does there exist a solo identity of a person or are we today the product of many identities? What is authentic—the old or the new? What are the bits of identity that we choose to hold on to and why do we let go of other bits?”

Both the Indian and Nagas have to be equally committed to a vision of society which celebrates cultural diversity and looks upon it as a resource for development, not an obstacle to be destroyed. Modi’s vision of development, which is reflected in the debates around the Land Bill, would spell disaster for the future of the Naga society. However, the growing religious funda-mentalism among the Nagas and the rise of a middle class which has benefited from the globalised world would become an ally in Modi’s plans for corporatising development.

Isak Swu and Muivah have provided an opportunity for the Nagas and Indians to think deeply about these issues. It is up to us to seize it or let the moment pass...

The author, as a lawyer, has represented Nagas in courts in India and abroad. She has written extensively about the Indo-Naga conflict and been involved in the Indo-Naga peace process.