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Wednesday,
June 20, 2001, Chandigarh, India   |
Fire and ceasefire More of a PR exercise Caste violence in UP |
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The
demand for Telangana
Two men and two choices
Health tips for happy summer holidays
Is copper good for you? Just eat
better
Web site picks Madonna ticket winner
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Fire and ceasefire MANIPUR
burnt on Monday reflecting accurately, if also alarmingly, the white hot rage of the people against the Centre’s recognition of the influence of the leading Naga militant organisation over two-thirds of the state. The state will lose four districts and more than 15,500 sq km out of the present 22,327 sq km area if Greater Nagaland is formed. Not only will it shrivel in size but also have to live in the shadow of a much bigger and menacing neighbour. It is this frightening prospect that has united the Meitis and the Kukis to put up a fierce fight. Anti-ceasefire organisations have announced that the just ended 66-hour agitation is only the first salvo and they will step up the protest in the days to come. All MLAs and MPs have been asked to resign and any defiance will bring in painful consequences if what happened on Monday is any indication. A BJP MLA received 75 per cent burn injuries and is battling for his life. Speaker Sapam Dhananjoy Singh and some others who were trapped in the burning offices of his are critically ill. Many houses of politicians and their vehicles were set on fire, taking the value of the total damage to more than Rs 30 crore. This on a day of spontaneous protest. From now on it will be organised and narrow political and sectarian interests will take control. It is an understatement to say that the Centre has blundered itself into a major mess. To start with its assessment of the ground reality is dismayingly wrong. It expected the people of the North-East to cheerfully accept the extension of the ceasefire agreement with National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) (NSCN-IM). New Delhi was insensitive to the likely implications of bringing all Naga-inhabited areas of the region under the ceasefire. The NSCN (I-M) has been demanding a greater Nagaland and also the extension of the ceasefire to all Naga areas. Is it unreasonable for the non-Nagas to link the two? Today Mr T. Muivah asserts that truce and territory are two separate issues. Even he will not believe it. Two, the Centre did not consult and respect the opinion of the affected states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. At a joint meeting of these Chief Ministers with the Prime Minister in February they rejected the proposal. Later they were individually called in and presumably informed of the decision. Today Home Minister Advani says all states were on board but everyone refutes it. Three, the Centre has rushed paramilitary forces as though it is purely a law and order problem. It is something much deeper which manifests itself as a law and order problem. The least the Centre can do is to solemnly commit itself to maintaining the present borders of all states in the North-East and hope the people believe in its words. |
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More of a PR exercise THE
slashing of the defence budget is a tiny stone with which Gen Pervez Musharraf has tried to kill many birds. One, he has sought to appease lending agencies like the IMF and the World Bank. Two, he has tried to send the right signals to India ahead of the summit. And three, an attempt has been made to please the Pakistani civilians reeling under the G-force of a collapsing economy. In short, he has compulsion into a virtue. Nor does he annoy the army in any way. In fact, the slashing of spending is political jugglery instead of converted a genuine reduction. The total defence budget of Pakistan is above Rs 131 billion and the Rs 2 billion reduction is no more than window-dressing. At best, it can buy an aircraft or a few tanks. In any case, in Pakistan, major defence purchases are not made out of the budget at all. There are secret funds for that. Bulk purchases like subs and missiles from France, aircraft from China and tanks from Ukraine have been sewed up only recently. Moreover, the defence cut is only a temporary measure while 70 per cent of its purchases are made from China on long-term credit. Pakistan also fudges figures. It recently transferred the pensions of exservicemen from the defence budget to civilian expenditure and showed that as a cut in defence spending. All its attempts to doctor figures notwithstanding, the fact remains that the huge expenditure on defence has been bleeding Pakistan white. Defence eats up almost 4.5 per cent of its GDP. The figure is one of the highest among the developing countries. (In India, it is only about 2.5 per cent.) Since the profligacy has been going on for decades, Pakistani economy is a shambles. Industrial production is in a tailspin; FDI too is falling at an alarming rate and even remittances from Pakistanis abroad have been drying up. Internationally, it stands isolated because of its backing to terrorists. General Musharraf’s dressing down to religious zealots and jehadis needs to be seen in that light. It will be no surprise if during his Delhi visit, he explores the possibility of getting Indian help in coming out of the economic snake pit. It is learnt that he is keen to meet Indian businessmen. It is now for the Indian negotiators to ensure that he does not prove to be as cunning and slippery a customer as Z.A.Bhutto did during the Simla summit. His recent motions of good behaviour cannot be taken at face value. The Chief Executive’s well-ironed business suit with torn pockets hides an army uniform soaked with Kargil blood. |
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Caste violence in UP IT
is only a matter of time before Uttar Pradesh may follow the example of Bihar for dealing with incidents of caste violence. When the law and order machinery failed to protect the Dalits in Bihar, they raised their own senas. The upper castes' response to Dalit attacks gave birth to the Ranbir Sena. The current round of caste violence in parts of UP could also be interpreted as pre-election exercise by vested political interests. In the incidents reported so far from Jalaun, Aligarh and Fatehpur the Dalits were attacked by the Thakurs. Who would stand to gain the most from these incidents, evidently engineered by those who want to capture the sympathy of the Dalit voters? Not Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, who is a Thakur. It is indeed true that he has unfolded an aggressive strategy for re-establishing the Bharatiya Janata Party's influence over the upper caste voters. However,he is at the same time engaged in a grim battle to project a somewhat Dalit-friendly image of the party. The attack on members of the Dalit community in Jehrana in Aligarh claimed at least five lives. Before the Jehrana episode Aligarh had a history of the Dalits and the Thakurs minding their own business. In another incident a dalit woman was burnt alive in Jalaun because of a political dispute in which her husband was said to be involved. But the Fatehpur episode, in which four Dalit women and an 18-month-old boy were beaten to death by a group of Thakurs may prove to be the proverbial last straw on the camel's back. Whatever initiatives Mr Rajnath Singh may have taken for pleasing the Dalits may have to be written off as bad political investments. Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav have already gone to town, as it were, lambasting, the "upper caste" UP Chief Minister for the "planned atrocities against the Dalits". Reports indicate that Ms Mayawati attracted large crowds when she visited Jalaun, Aligarh and Fatehpur for expressing sympathy with the "victims of upper caste violence". However, instead of promising justice she told the Dalit audience that "I cannot help you because I am not in power". It is evident that only firm and decisive action by the Centre can save UP become another Bihar. |
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The demand for Telangana THE Telangana movement is slowly spreading like a bushfire and the momentum is increasing day by day. The movement got a kick-start when the Deputy Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly suddenly resigned in April this year and formed the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti with himself as the convener. He announced Simha Garjana rally at Karimnagar on May 17 which was largely attended by political activists and common people cutting across party lines and beliefs. By all accounts the Karimnagar rally was a great success with the demand for formation of Telangana emerging as a unanimous resolution. Chandrasekhar Rao has since been touring throughout the Telangana districts gathering support. The Telangana movement has thrust the major political parties in the State in a dilemma. For the Congress it was all along a demand for a separate party units for the Telangana districts. However, that stage is long gone and now the demand for Telangana state stares the Congress MLAs in their face. All the 41 Congress MLAs from the Telangana region have now formed a Telangana Congress Legislators Forum. The Congress President is faced with a difficult situation. Conceding the demand for a separate pradesh committee for Telangana would set a precedent for Vidharbha where too the demand for a separate state is alive but somewhat inactive. Sonia Gandhi had therefore appointed a committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee to go into all the aspects of the movement, including the demand for a separate Telangana state. While Pranab Mukherjee’s report is awaited the Andhra Pradesh PCC President M. Satyanarayana Rao as well as the A.P. Legislative Party leader Y. Rajasekhara Reddy had both jointly submitted a memorandum to the Congress President asking her to carefully study the problem and take an appropriate decision. The sentiments for a Telangana state are as old as the Nizam’s Hyderabad state where Telangana was the dominant zone with the twin city of Hyderabad/Secundrabad being its pride. There were also Kannada speaking and Marathi speaking districts in the South-West and the North-West of the erstwhile Hyderabad State. After the Centre’s police action in September, 1948, initiated primarily at the instance of Sardar Patel, the Home Minister, the Hyderabad State remained as a composite unit until 1956. From September, 1948 when the police action suppressed the shortlived challenge from disparate forces from Hyderabad and until April, 1952, when the first general election took place, Hyderabad State was directly administered by the Centre. B. Ramakrishna Rao was the first Chief Minister from the Congress party to form a popular government and his Cabinet also included representatives from Marathwada and the Kannada areas. The Telangana Communists who were responsible for the famous Telangana struggle during 1946-52 had by then given up arms and peace prevailed in the State. The administration was run by a large number of officers brought from outside and they were assisted by local officers. The backwardness of Telangana area, which is now cited as the prime factor for demanding a separate state, goes back to the days of Nizam. It was not only the Telangana districts but the entire Hyderabad state was backward and underdeveloped. Large tracts of land were given to Nizam’s nobles and family retainers as well as big Hindu landlords. The communist agitation in the state was largely agrarian and directed against the atrocities of absentee landlords who lived in comfort in Hyderabad. There were only two small townships — Aurangabad and Warangal, apart from Hyderabad city, where there were colleges and elsewhere there were only high schools, one for each district. The medium of instruction was Urdu in all the high schools. The officers who were on deputation in Hyderabad tended to look down upon the local officers and this resulted in a backlash in the form of an agitation in 1953, demanding that all outsiders should be sent back. Students and young political activists took out processions raising slogans like “Iddly sambar go back”. The situation went out of control in a couple of places when the police resorted to firing. The agitation slowly died down after the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues took necessary corrective measures. Andhra state was the first linguistic state formed after Independence. It became inevitable after extensive riots broke out throughout the Telugu-speaking districts of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, following the death of Potti Sriramulu who went on a fast unto death in 1953 demanding the formation of Andhra State. Pandit Nehru was rattled by the intensity of riots in Andhra districts after Potti’s death and he announced the formation of Andhra state from October, 1953. This became the intermediary stage as the Telugu speaking districts of the neighbouring Hyderabad State were keen to join the Andhra state and emerge as a Vishal Andhra. In any case the creation of Andhra State led to similar demands elsewhere. This led to the setting up of the State Reorganisation Commission in 1955 by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was headed by Justice Fazl Ali. The Commission recommended, inter alia, the setting up of the States of Telangana and Vidharbha but this recommendation was not accepted. The simmering discontent raised its head in these regions occasionally and never completely petered out. In 1968 Dr M. Channa Reddy led an agitation in favour of Telangana which gained quick momentum with the participation of student elements. There was widespread rioting and arson in the first week of June, 1969, which led to the arrest of Channa Reddy and a large number of activists. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi proceeded to Hyderabad, got Dr Channa Reddy released from jail, and negotiated a settlement for accommodating the Telangana aspirations, without conceding a state. Channa Reddy was later taken in the Central Cabinet and his senior collaborators were accommodated in various capacities. Channa Reddy subsequently became the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh twice and had a long political innings even thereafter. The demand for Telangana coming to the fore this time is primarily due to the larger-than-life dominance of the Telugu Desam party’s supremo and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu is a shrewd administrator who thinks and acts and a large number of administrative measures taken by him are on the positive side. His great interest in information technology has caught the imagination of not only the entire country but even the foreign countries. Unfortunately the problems of the State are such that very little development work could be undertaken due to paucity of funds. There is a huge bureaucracy which cannot be whittled down. The power situation has been alarmingly bad since free handouts of electricity had been the norm from the days of NT Rama Rao in 1983. Even a minor upward revision of power tariff is resisted. The entire revenue collection in the State goes towards payment of salaries and debt servicing. All the same, with the Telangana cry reaching a crescendo, Chandrababu Naidu has come out with a lot of sops for assuaging the Telangana grievances. He announced a series of irrigation projects primarily for the development of Telangana districts, creation of a number of posts of teachers, setting up of several schools, etc. The Telangana demand has led to similar demands for formation of a North Andhra State consisting of four districts of northernmost region of the State. There is also an old dormant demand for Rayalseema State consisting of the comparatively drought prone districts of South Western region of the State. All these are impracticable and are in fact not serious. The Telangana movement, however, can become emotional and serious if the students join the movement. The other complicating factor is that both the BJP legislators for Telangana region as well as the Congress MLAs back the demand for Telangana. They hold the BJP leadership at the Centre responsible for the revival of Telangana demand because of the recent formation of the States of Uttaranchal and Chhatisgarh. They point out that Uttaranchal is not capable of sustaining itself and has to be rescued by making it a Special Category State like the North Eastern States. There is some validity in this argument that if the movement gains momentum and goes out of control, the Centre should be held primarily responsible. Chandrababu needs to exercise all his skill and diplomacy in appeasing the sentiments of the people of Telangana and ensure that the movement does not go out of control. The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim. |
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Two men and two choices IT's the examination results season. Every day has results splashed across the newspapers: ICSE, CBSE, ....the list seems endless. The toppers have scored higher marks this year than ever before. They all want to become doctors, engineers, or IAS officers. Everyone is waiting for the results of the competition exams to come in the IITs, CETs, PMT etc. Like a film rewinding, reading through the papers brought to mind the time my younger brothers had waited anxiously for the IIT JEE results a decade ago. Life is about choices and the successful man is the one who makes the right one. But what is the right choice is also relative. The perspective you view it from, determines your assessment as the story of Khaira and Khemka illustrates. Khaira came from a professional family in Punjab, the son of an Army Colonel, Khemka from Calcutta from a Railways family. Their rivalry was the stuff that IIT legends are made of. Willy nilly everyone on campus was drawn into the awesome conflict. While one had blazing intellect, the other was a brilliant strategist with nerves of steel. Students, staff, they were all on one side or the other. At stake was the Ultimate award, the PGM, ie the President’s gold medal. No one bothered to enquire into the origins of the rivalry. No one was quite sure whether it was the outcome of the ego of two intelligent young men or whether their ambitions had been stoked by staff who felt that competition brought out the best in young minds. What bothered Khemka was that Khaira acknowledged the superiority of Khemka’s intelligence privately but still challenged him and promised to beat him, God willing, with better strategy. So the two sides worked, guided by a superior power. More midnight oil had never been burned before. The lights blazed through the night at the Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur. The two young men set determinedly trying to pen their destinies. Strategy won eventually over sheer intelligence. Khaira walked proudly down the aisle at the convocation to resounding applause to receive his President’s gold medal. Their paths thereafter forked in separate directions. Khaira went on a scholarship to do his MS in the USA. Khemka took the civil services exam. Khaira was recruited by Intel Corp and rose to be their youngest ever Principal engineer. Khemka qualified in the IAS and was allotted the coveted Haryana cadre. As time and the travails of their careers took their toll of them, each thought of the other and the heated rivalry of their youth. Each knew the other would make his mark. And then years later as Khemka opened the business page of The Tribune, there it was, a little piece on Khaira and the company he had founded after quitting Intel. In a reversal of roles, Khemka, was now the career bureaucrat and strategist, who routinely made headlines. He was comfortable in his job and daily routine. The afternoons meant a leisurely siesta and the evenings a time for pleasant social interactions. There is time for the family and especially for his growing sons. He can be there for his parents. Cynicism and the civil service has perhaps taken the edge off his drive to excel and create. The days meld seamlessly into a pleasant epiphany for him. When he drives out in his white official Ambassador, the red light atop blinking, the people stop and stare admiringly. Khaira is now the techie-manager building his own hardware company on venture capital. For him the day is too short. He travels six days out of seven overseeing operations around the world, touching down at home base only once every week to the children and wife who provide him the inspiration to back his dream. He’s still chasing his aspirations, strategising to achieve it, albeit business class. His parents yearn to see him and their grandchildren. But he doesn’t know the world leisure or relaxation. He’s still driven by his passion to excel and create. When he drives out in his BMW the people stop to admire. Two men who made two different choices. Who won? Who got life’s ultimate prize and what if any is it? Who made the right choice? I will let the readers answer and decide. |
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Health tips for happy summer holidays IT's summer time and the living is easy — right? The temperature nudges upwards and gradually we feel more relaxed. The sun comes out and the rays help strengthen our bones, they even whiten our teeth. But with all the positive effects of summer come a host of negative ones. From allergies to stomach bugs and the headline-grabbing ‘economy-class syndrome’, the holiday period isn’t always a (gentle) breeze. Here’s the latest research to ensure a happy, healthy summer 2001. 1. Sunscreen needs to be absorbed into the skin for it to work. If you apply it on the beach, you’ll be sitting there for 20 minutes unprotected, which is enough to burn. 2. And make sure you put on enough of the stuff. The most common advice from suncare experts is that factor 15 is safe. ‘However most people applying factor-15 sunscreen get protection of about an eight because they don’t apply it properly,’ says researcher Professor Brian Diffey. 3. An estimated 30,000 people were affected by ‘travellers’ thrombosis’ in the UK last year — it’s a small number compared to the 25 million who fly. Despite the headlines, only 6.6 per cent of clots are fatal and most can be treated. Those most at risk are those with a past history, who’ve had recent surgery or are less than a month post pregnancy. Women on artificial hormones and those who are very overweight are also at higher risk. The next five tips should help keep you safe: 4. You’ve probably also heard that you should pop half an aspirin before flights to help protect against DVT — it could help but it does come with a potential risk of stomach irritation and bleeding. However, a team at the University of Arizona Medical School compared the effects of aspirin with a natural product called pycnogenol which had previously been shown to strengthen blood capillaries. They found a small dose of pyconogenol, had the same effect as a dose of aspirin five times higher - and was without side effects. 5. The main cause of DVT is slowed circulation which causes blood to clot. Once on the plane, you can help keep circulation moving by walking up and down or by rotating your ankles and clenching your calf muscles every 30 minutes. 6. Go to the gym before you get on the plane. ‘Exercise has been shown to keep circulation pumping for four or five hours post workout,’ says Mr Farrol Kahn, Director of the Aviation Health Institute. 7. While DVT can occur in anyone who sits still for a long time, it’s believed air travellers are particularly prone because lowered oxygen levels in the cabin thicken the blood. Researchers from the Saitama Medical School in Japan found that eating a snack or drinking (non-alcoholic drinks that is) actually increased oxygen levels in the body by 21 per cent — and boosted brain levels by 48 per cent. 8. Jetlag is not just psychological. Research suggests that frequently crossing time zones shrinks your brain. There are theories on how to beat it, but latest studies say the stomach could be the key to the whole conundrum. Research from the University of Virginia shows that eating meals at appropriate times to the destination to which you are travelling for two days before the flight helps the body adjust more quickly to time changes -but the team don’t know exactly why. 9. Try alternative treatment for jetlag. Homeopaths recommend arnica and Cocculus Indicus, taken every 12 hours for two days before and three days after flying. ‘The arnica works to get over the trauma,’ says Tony Pinkus of UK homeopathic pharmacy Ainsworths. ‘And the Cocculus helps balance the circadian rhythms’. 10. Avoid bugs when flying. Studies show the average airplane has thousands of bugs in the air at any time and this is one reason why so many of us get a cold a couple of days after a flight. To prevent this, rub a little oil into your nostrils when you board. 11. Pack some tea tree oil for the flight. Dr Farol Kahn says that sniffing a drop or two whenever anyone around you sneezes can help disinfect the nasal area before any germs take hold. 12. Worried about air turbulence? Get some ice from the cabin crew and pop it on your face. That’s the advice from Dr Max E Levine, from Penn State University in Pennsylvania who found this helps stop travel sickness in its tracks. ‘The cooling acts on the nervous system response that triggers nausea,’ he explains. You’ll also lower your risk of travel sickness by choosing the chicken or the pasta for your inflight meal — Levine’s research showed that protein kept the stomach calmer than a carbohydrate meal or no food at all. 13. Beat hayfever. This is a matter of strengthening the immune system and reducing the amount of histamine the body triggers. ‘Taking doses of quercetin (a bioflavonoid) can help do this by making the system less sensitive,’ says leading natural therapist Dr John Briffa. 14. Watch what you eat. Dairy products can stimulate mucus production that makes the nasal passages more sensitive to generally innocuous invaders like pollen. Also watch your fruit intake. Most common culprits are apples, melons and stoned fruits such as plums and peaches. 15. Take a B-complex supplement, if you’re prone to insect bites. Anecdotal evidence says high levels of vitamin B1 in the blood stop the bites. 16. To beat stomach upsets, the most important thing you can do is avoid shellfish, poorly cooked meat, warmed-up rice, ice cubes and salads washed in unclean water. Avoid them all. Strengthening your stomach before your trip with supplements that increase levels of the bacteria that helps fight food poisoning may also help. Try supplements of acidophilus or probiotics. By arrangement with The Observer |
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Is copper good for you? Just eat
better THE
Aztecs, Egyptians and Romans all used copper, one of the earth’s most common metals, for thousands of years as a folk remedy in bangles, bandages, cosmetics and even drinks to ward off a host of ailments. Putting on all those bracelets and rings may be one way to get a “copper fix” but doctors are still reluctant to sanction copper-based folk remedies since excessive amounts can be toxic and most people get plenty of copper from their daily diet. Even today, athletic and health-conscious adults will spurn vitamin supplements for jewellery to boost their intake of copper, an essential nutrient for the functioning of the body, due to concerns about over-medicating and side effects. Copper, found in everyday food items such as shellfish, nuts, red wine and chocolate, is known to help the development of bones and tissue. Research suggests that copper deficiency can lead to problems in connective tissue and joints in diseases such as arthritis. In addition, no one has ever proved that copper bracelets — worn by countless generations around the world — actually work. Or, if they do, how and why they can help beat disease. Copper industry groups point to the lack of evidence that wearing such items next to the skin prevents copper deficiency or cures ailments, although some say they are at worst benign. “Anecdotally, it has been working for centuries. This kind of thing has been going on for several millennia and has been all the rage for the last few years,” said Ken Geremia, a spokesman at Copper Development Association (CDA) in New York. “The fact is, no one knows if it works, or how or why,” he said. “There has been research done but studies have not yielded any scientific evidence that it works.” Copper’s use as a home remedy against disease dates back thousands of years through many different civilisations. The first Egyptian record of the metal’s medicinal use can be found in the Smith Papyrus, an ancient text written between 2600 and 2200 BC. Writings from the Roman, Aztec and Hindu civilisations illustrate a range of remedies, with copper used in drinks and dressings for injuries or shaped into jewellery and magnets. Today, advocates of copper jewellery say about 13 milligrams (mg) of copper can be absorbed by the body in one month just by wearing a bracelet as copper ions are released within amino acid complexes that permeate the epidermis. Discs worn under a wristwatch or inside a golfing glove interact with a person’s sweat, drawing nutrients directly to a specific injury and bypassing the digestive system, they say. Steve Wherry, owner of Carrots Copper based in the U.S city of Boulder, Colorado, began marketing discs two years ago on his website www.carrots.com after golfing gave him tendinitis. He now wears a copper bracelet and a disc to maximise his intake. “By wearing copper, you absorb it through the transdermal process and it goes directly into your circulatory system that way to your point of need,” he told Reuters. Wherry said his customers tended to be athletic and health-conscious — often women interested in remedies that were “safe, non-invasive, non-addictive and produce no side-effects.” More research needed Despite the continued attraction of copper jewellery, medical experts are still not urging their patients to start wearing bracelets or even take supplementary copper doses to boost an average intake which is below the recommended rate. In the United States, the recommended daily allowance for adults is 2.0 mg of copper, although average intake on a daily basis is only 1.0-1.2 mg. However, they do recognise copper’s known cardiovascular benefits and its role as a key micronutrient within the body. “Copper is an essential micronutrient which is required for vital biochemical reactions within cells,” said Dennis J. Thiele at the University of Michigan Medical School. “Without copper, cells can’t produce energy, metabolise iron or detoxify free radicals,” he said. Thiele directed a study published this month which shows that if a newly discovered protein that escorts copper through cells is absent in mammals, it has disastrous effects during the embryonic development of organs and cells. Doctors say copper is also key for cardiovascular health and growing blood vessels, as well as making the neuropeptides that control muscle contractions and the collagen that gives skin elasticity. But more research still needs to be done on how the metal might help against arthritis — a disease affecting some 43 million Americans, or about one person in six — though it seems likely that copper deficiency might worsen the condition. Carl Keen, Professor of Nutritional Science and Dietetics at the University of California, said it was reasonable to speculate that copper deficiency contributed to rheumatoid arthritis because of the way copper acts with two key enzymes in human tissue. One of the enzymes, lysyl oxidase, is a coagent with copper in helping form connective tissue. Another, superoxide dismutase, reduces inflammation and neutralises destructive free radicals, which may play a role in tissue damage in the disease. Free radicals, or reactive atoms or groups of atoms that have unpaired electrons, can cause massive tissue damage when they oxidise in cell membranes, Keen said. “Low lysyl oxidase activity might contribute to oxidative damage occurring around joints and might lead to rheumatoid arthritis,” he said, stressing this was only a possibility. According to the official website of the Arthritis Foundation (www.arthritis.org), there is not enough evidence to support using copper supplements or bracelets to relieve symptoms of arthritis.
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THE “Nirjala Ikadashi” day, which falls this year on Monday next is a day of fasting and prayer for the Hindus. Every year this day is observed as holiday in the government and railway offices. But this year, it is strange, it was not gazetted as a holiday. The Hindu clerks of the railway department made collective as well as individual representations, requesting the authorities to allow them to enjoy holiday on Monday next. But so far their request has not been granted. It is further stated that even their reasonable request that holiday should be given on Monday instead of last Saturday, has also been refused. The Sanatan Dharma Sabha has also made a similar request. Let us hope that the authorities will yet see their way of granting the request of the Hindu clerks. |
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Web site picks Madonna ticket winner A
German Internet Web site offering a ticket to a sold-out Madonna concert in exchange for sex picked a winner on Monday after being bombarded with applicants from around the world. Thema1 publisher Bernd Heusinger said 120 readers applied for a chance to win the ticket to attend the Berlin concert of the pop icon as his guest on Friday. The winner was identified only as 26-year-old “Aaron” from Frankfurt, Heusinger said. He will spend the night with the
Web site’s columnist Shelley Masters. Heusinger said there had been some 500,000 “hits”, or page viewings, of Thema1 each day since the offer was made — more than 10 times the usual readership. “The worldwide interest has been overwhelming,” said Heusinger, who received dozens of pictures of body parts from applicants. “The demand was so great that our computers crashed. We’ve got people sending in applications from everywhere: Canada, Mexico, Singapore, the United States, Belgium, Italy. It’s unbelievable.” Brushing off criticism that his offer of a ticket in exchange for sex with one of his reporters was either illegal or immoral, Heusinger said readers were taking part voluntarily. Five men and two women on the
Web site’s staff volunteered. “A number of German tabloid newspapers have written stories about our offer,” he said. “I’m sure every prosecutor and lawyer in Berlin read about it and if there were something illegal, you can be sure they would have been in touch with us by now.” Prostitution is not illegal in Germany. Heusinger said the
Web site’s offer might be reprehensible to some, but its acceptance was a reflection of the times. Madonna’s Berlin concerts sold out within minutes in April, with tickets going for a German record price of up to 250 marks ($110) each.
Reuters Chilean ‘Dog Boy’ lived in cave
A 10-year-old Chilean boy who had been abandoned by his parents survived for two years in a cave with a pack of stray dogs who scavenged for food with him and may even have suckled him. The boy, thrown out of his home by abusive parents at the age of 5, ran with 15 strays in the southern port town of Talcahuano after he escaped from a care centre two years ago. “He lived in a cave with dogs and roamed the streets for food with them. He would eat out of garbage cans and find leftovers,” Delia Delgatto, Head of Chile’s National Child-care Service, said on Monday. She said earlier reports by the police that the boy had been brought up by dogs since he was a baby had turned out to be off the mark. “He wasn’t reared by the dogs as such, he lived with them in a cave,” she said. The boy, who has not been named, threw himself into the wintry cold waters of the southern Pacific Ocean on Saturday to escape from the police who had been alerted to his case by the municipality. “A police officer dived into the water and saved him,” a spokesman for the police said. He said the dogs looked after the boy: “They were like his family.” The child, dubbed “Dog Boy” by the Chilean media, spent a day in hospital in the city of Concepcion and was then taken to a child care centre. “He’s showing signs of depression, is aggressive and is not speaking much although he does know how to speak,” Delgatto said.
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The highest level of prayer is to think God's thoughts after Him, to attune our lives to love, hope, faith, justice, kindness; to become open channels for the goodness of God. **** Prayer moves with the instantaneous speed of thought, through Infinite space, to the four corners of the earth, to the depth of the human heart, to the mountaintop of aspiration.. **** Prayer is a cup held high to be filled. It is an inward quest for inspiration. **** Prayer does not change God, it changes us. It deepens insight, increases intuitive perception, expands consciousness. **** Prayer opens doors to let in God and let out self, to let in love and let out hate, to let in faith and let out fear. **** Prayer puts us on God's side. It aligns us with life's highest purposes, aims and ideals. **** Prayer is power always available. **** Prayer is dedicating our thought, feeling and action to the expression of goodness. It is to become like a window through which the light of God shines. — Wilferd A. Peterson, More about the Art of Living **** My friend, you and I shall remain strangers unto life, And unto one another, And each unto himself, Until the day when you shall speak and I shall listen Deeming your voice my own voice; And when I shall stand before you Thinking myself standing before a mirror. **** They say to me, "Should you know yourself you would know all men." And I say, "only when I seek all men shall I know myself.' **** Every man is the descendant of every king and every slave that ever lived. **** If you would rise but a cubit above race and country and self you would indeed become godlike. — Khalil Gibran, Sand and
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