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Thursday,
July 18, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Raking up Chhattisinghpora Short-circuiting EC fiat An ethical correction |
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Regional diplomacy and Pakistan
PM’s new man for Jammu and Kashmir
The divine purpose of human life
Start heart tests at 20 Dangers of exposure to chemicals
Cough medicines can delay recovery
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Raking up Chhattisinghpora Ever since Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah fell out with the NDA government at the Centre on the issue of the post of Vice-President of India he had been looking for an opportunity to create an embarrassing situation for New Delhi. The Chhattisinghpora controversy has provided him with an ideal stick to beat the Vajpayee government with. It has an added advantage. Reopening the episode of controversial killings by the security forces in the aftermath of Chhattisinghpora may help the Chief Minister’s party, the National Conference, to re-emerge as the most powerful political force on the side of the aggrieved civilians. Whatever Dr Abdullah may say now will be interpreted as politically motivated when the Kolkata-based Central Forensic Science Laboratory has established that the five persons killed in an encounter with the security forces at Panchalthan village, Anantnag district, on March 25, 2000, two days after the massacre of 37 Sikhs, were innocent civilians and not foreign terrorists as officially claimed. There are reports of initial DNA tests having been fudged to save the skin of the security forces, which wanted to show results under political pressure, as it normally happens. Then came the DNA test report based on the samples of the five dead and those of their relatives (as they claimed to be so) collected by the laboratory’s scientists themselves. It was reportedly submitted to the Chief Minister in the first week of June. He has, however, chosen to announce the startling test result in the Assembly after two months. Why? Obviously, because his hopes of getting what he wanted have dashed to the ground. His attempt to go deeper into the controversy by seeking a CBI probe into the matter, including the fudging charge, will put the security forces as well as the Centre in the dock, and Dr Abdullah in an advantageous position. In all this there is a lesson to be learnt by the security forces. They are working in a very difficult situation with all odds against them. They have two categories of responsibilities. One, they have to win the battle against the terrorist menace, leaving nothing to chance. They are engaged in the fight on behalf of the nation and the entire nation is with them. Two, throughout their campaign they have to keep in mind that they should do nothing even under extreme provocation which goes to alienate the local population from the rest of India, or creates an embarrassing situation for the country in the comity of nations. Besides these, their own professional image should not get sullied by their actions. Of course, it is not easy to take care of all these factors when there is extreme pressure from all sides to secure victory. But therein lies the real challenge. If mistakes or even blunders occur, there is no harm in accepting them gracefully. Any attempt to hide one’s guilt reflects one’s bad intentions. And that means a more severe punishment. |
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Short-circuiting EC fiat On the face of it, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2002, drafted by the Union Law Ministry, does not inspire much confidence about the political parties’ “commitment” to root out criminalisation of politics. The very purpose of the Draft Bill seems to be to short-circuit the Election Commission’s directive and nullify the Supreme Court’s May 2 ruling. The apex court had, in its order, advised the commission to frame guidelines asking candidates to submit statements of their assets and liabilities and criminal antecedents. This was followed by the commission directive requiring candidates to submit affidavits while filing their nomination papers. Subsequently, the all-party meeting held on July 8 unanimously rejected the directive and authorised the Centre to draft a Bill in this connection. The fact that the 40-page guidelines of the commission have now been whittled down to just a 2-page draft speaks volumes for our politicians’ resolve to cleanse representative institutions of criminals. By keeping two provisions — candidates’ academic qualifications and the statement of assets and liabilities — out of the purview of the proposed legislation, the Centre’s lack of genuine commitment to stem the rot in the system stands exposed. Political parties may present any number of arguments in support of their stand, but the fact remains that when the issue is one of protecting their turf, they will come together and will not allow any other institution to interfere with their acts of omission and commission. Why are our politicians scared of letting people know about their academic qualifications? The rationale behind the Supreme Court’s ruling in this regard is not to question the principle of universal adult suffrage but to help people make an informed choice in the elections. Under Article 19-1A of the Constitution, a voter has the fundamental right to know about the antecedents of a candidate. As the Supreme Court ruled, “casting of vote by misinformed or uninformed voter or a voter having one-sided information only was bound to seriously affect democracy”. The same is the case with the issue of assets. If politicians fear misuse of power during the scrutiny of nominations by returning officers, who, they say, are political tools of the ruling party, they should blame themselves for the malady. Over the years, the bureaucracy at the Centre and in the states has been politicised to such an extent that these days a civil servant hardly gets rewarded for honesty, integrity and uprightness. While the plan for the disclosure of one’s assets, after the election, is like putting the cart before the horse, the proposal to declare assets to the Speaker is old hat and it has never worked. Union Minister of State for Law Ravi Shankar Prasad’s promise of “comprehensive legislation” on the assets issue after a deeper study is unconvincing as successive governments have never bothered to keep their promise in this regard. Remember the promise made by the newly-elected Janata Party MPs at Rajghat in March, 1975, in the presence of Jayaprakash Narayan and Acharya J.B.Kripalani? There is some ambiguity on the Draft Bill’s proposal for the disqualification of candidates against whom charges have been framed for “heinous crimes” in two separate crimes. What is the idea behind the proposal that such charges should have been framed at least six months before the filing of nomination papers? |
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An ethical correction It is a correction, but the phrase is not being used in the sense that Wall Street executives generally comprehend. WorldCom, Enron, Xerox-the recent scandals that have rocked corporate America have, indeed, made many wonder aloud if corporate heads have kept more than a nodding acquaintance with ethics and morality. The US Senate’s 97 to 0 vote on Monday for a general overhaul of the system in order to curb corporate fraud and abuse of accounting laws was an attempt to set the system right. The Senate’s Bill envisaged a new regulatory board with investigative and enforcement powers to oversee the accounting industry and limit the amount of consulting work auditors can perform. The consultations that auditing firm Arthur Andersen did for Enron were seen as a case where the auditors relaxed their scrutiny so as not to displease a company that paid them a lot of money for non-audit services. The Senate Bill has to be referred to a conference committee where law makers from the House of Representatives and the Senate will iron out and reconcile the versions of Bills by Representative Michael G. Oxley, and Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, the former a Republican and the latter a Democrat. President George Bush has indicated his willingness to sign on tough measures that the legislators are demanding. While the US President is talking tough, his words are not having the requisite effect on the Wall Street, which is swinging like a yo- yo. This is not surprising. As investor confidence plummets with even President Bush’s financial deals coming under public scrutiny, no one has yet questioned the legality of his actions as a businessman. However, they were on the wrong side of the kind of morality that is demanded from corporate leaders now. In any case, the American public has always insisted on the President conforming to the highest standards. What is not helping matters, as far as public perception is concerned, is that the Bush Cabinet is virtually a who’s who of corporate America — Vice-President Dick Cheney (Halliburton); Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill (Alcoa); and Commerce Secretary Don Evans (Tom Brown). The Vice-President is himself the target of an investigation regarding his role as the CEO in the doctoring of accounts in Halliburton in order to shore up the company’s shares. There are other charges too, but what he did in this case had apparently become common practice. Unrealistic investor (read Wall Street analysts) expectations, coupled with lack of moral fibre in the corporate world, all contributed to a situation where the quarterly results needed to be “great”. The WorldCom scandal that triggered this crisis is probably not going to touch the Bush Administration the way Enron did. However, Republicans have always been perceived to be close to big business, and in this case the message is clear for corporate America: “It’s not just money, it’s morality.” |
Regional diplomacy and Pakistan There has been a change of guard in South Block and clear signs are emerging that while security challenges posed by General Musharraf’s Pakistan will continue to receive attention, there is going to be a more concerted thrust on economic diplomacy and regional economic integration. Mr. Yashwant Sinha has signalled this by starting his innings with a visit to Sri Lanka, where that country’s legitimate concerns on restrictive provisions imposed by us on their market access on items like textiles and tea have been discussed and addressed. Mr. Sinha will soon find that his greatest challenge to promoting regional economic integration whether in South Asia or with friendly ASEAN countries like Singapore will come from the protectionist-oriented mandarins of our own Commerce Ministry, who show little understanding of the importance of negotiating genuine free trade agreements in our neighbourhood. Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal understands the importance of economic integration in today’s world and appears determined to personally oversee economic initiatives. The newly appointed Head of Economic Relations in South Block, Additional Secretary Rajiv Sikri, has taken a keen interest in economic integration and energy security in his earlier role as Head of the Policy Planning Division. He can be relied upon to come up with proposals that challenge the conventional wisdom that often serves as an impediment to innovative thinking. The SAARC Heads of Government had agreed in Kathmandu to finalise a draft treaty for free trade in South Asia by the end of 2002. The SAARC leaders also agreed in Kathmandu that they would expedite action to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers and structural impediments to free trade. Pakistan has been stalling progress on this issue on one pretext or another. While our other neighbours see India as a huge market and legitimately demand that we dismantle trade barriers, Pakistan seems to erroneously believe that it can use trade restrictions as a bargaining lever to secure concessions on Kashmir. The Pakistanis also seem to have the odd notion that in denying us trade and investment access and by bleeding us in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere they can somehow retard our economic progress. Sadly, there is no dearth of faint- hearted liberals in our country who echo this Pakistani perception. It is time New Delhi set the record straight on this score. In a recent conference on South Asia in Tokyo, former Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz and the omnipresent Niaz Naik held that India’s economic progress had been retarded primarily because of tensions with Pakistan over Kashmir, thereby suggesting that unless the Kashmir issue was resolved to Pakistan’s satisfaction, India would not be able to proceed with its economic development. It is precisely such thinking that clouds the Pakistani mindset and leads them to believe that by the denial of normal trade and economic relations and by resorting to low-intensity conflict they can make us bend. I still recall a former head of the ISI proclaiming in Islamabad not long ago: “Our aim is to weaken India from within — and we can do it”.”. Mr Aziz and Mr Naik were taken aback by the response they got in Tokyo. It was pointed out to them that in terms of purchasing power parity, India today has a GDP of $2375 billion. It is the fourth largest economy in the world. The GDP of all the other members of SAARC amounts to barely one-fourth that of India. Of the other three largest members of SAARC, Pakistan has a GDP of $ 257 billion (just over 10 per cent of India), Bangladesh of $ 209 billion and Sri Lanka of $ 75 billion. To set the record straight, Mr Aziz and Mr Naik were told that India’s rate of economic growth had actually accelerated after Pakistan started its policy of endeavouring to bleed India. The Indian economy grew at over 5.5 per cent annually in the 1980s, when Pakistan was involved in the destabilisation of Punjab. It grew at around 6.5 per cent annually in the 1990s when General Musharraf and his predecessors were hell bent on conducting their jehad in Jammu and Kashmir. It is time these hard truths were driven home to our friends in Pakistan so that they shed illusions about their ability to retard India’s economic growth either by bleeding this country or by economic denial. What needs to be stressed is that it is the jehadi mentality that pervades the thinking of the Pakistani military establishment that has led Pakistan to economic ruin and that no amount of foreign economic aid can put it on the road to recovery if it persists with its present policies. General Musharraf is scheduled shortly to undertake visits to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. His effort in both countries would be to negotiate economic and trade agreements to establish that Pakistan is a reliable partner. Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Razzaak Dawood was recently in Colombo. Given the Pakistani propensity to copy Indian moves, it is obvious that the Musharraf visit will be marked by the conclusion of a bilateral free trade agreement. Pakistan continues to supply Sri Lanka with military hardware and provides training facilities for the Sri Lanka armed forces. But given Sri Lanka’s pressing and genuine need for such hardware, New Delhi has not been unduly concerned about this facet of the Sri Lanka-Pakistani relationship. India can be quite relaxed about Pakistan’s economic diplomacy in the SAARC countries because it cannot indefinitely deny to New Delhi what it observes in its relations with other SAARC members. It will be exposed as opposing regional economic integration if it does so. But there are issues on which there can be no compromise and New Delhi would do well to flag these in its demarches with SAARC partners. Bangladesh, for example, will have to be told that it would not serve its interests to allow its territory to be used by the ISI. Begum Khaleda Zia’s government did not have a good track record on ISI activities on its soil in its first term in office. One hopes that having been voted back to power, it has changed its policies. New Delhi should be prepared to live with the reality that in the foreseeable future Pakistan will continue to play the role of a spoiler in regional issues. But given the economic limitations of Pakistan there is not much damage that it can do while assuming this role. Our regional economic diplomacy should look at horizons beyond SAARC. China is set to move towards a free trade agreement with ASEAN. Yet our mandarins in Udyog Bhavan are frightened of and have stalled the prospects of a free trade agreement with Singapore. One hopes that such issues are looked at in a long-term perspective before Prime Minister Vajpayee heads for the first India-ASEAN summit. We should seek to be a partner not merely in a South Asian Economic Community, but in a wider Asian Economic Community. There is little doubt that a free trade agreement with Myanmar and the widening of cooperation on energy-related issues including both hydro-electric power and natural gas exploration with that country, will significantly enhance prosperity in our North-Eastern states. As Bangladesh continues to drag its feet on cooperating with India on such issues, the widening of economic cooperation with Myanmar assumes added importance. Even before he assumed charge as External Affairs Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha had criticised Indian industry for being afraid of facing competition from even countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is important for India to recognise that in the contemporary world New Delhi must compete, or perish. It is not in India’s long-tem interests to fight shy of competition and move hesitantly on issues of trade and economic integration, particularly in its neighbourhood. |
PM’s new man for Jammu and Kashmir With assembly elections round the corner in J and K, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has found it necessary to appoint a new pointsperson for the sensitive border state to deal specifically with autonomy and devolution of powers. The onus has fallen on BJP General Secretary and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley to deal with this matter. Clearly, the Vajpayee government has come to realise a new found urgency to have a legal expert to deal with the emotive issue. Considering Mr Jaitley’s track record in the government and his added enthusiasm to deal with the party organisation, it is believed the suave jurist might be able to thrash out an agreeable and workable proposition on greater autonomy for J and K within the ambit of the Constitution. It is a challenging assignment for Mr Jaitley who has politely declined a Cabinet rank in his new avatar as the Prime Minister’s trouble shooter in J and K. This assumes importance as the BJP-led NDA government has categorically rejected returning to the pre-1953 position with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant having failed to make any headway over the last one year as the government’s primary interlocutor in respect of J and K. The Vajpayee government is clearly trying to send fresh signals aimed at encouraging all the political parties and groups in J and K to take part in the upcoming assembly elections besides engaging them in a meaningful dialogue. Mr Jaitley’s fresh brief is anything but enviable considering the complexities and imponderables in J and K, especially Pakistan’s unrelenting proxy war. A Congress problem After former Maharashtra governor P C Alexander had been left out in the race for the high office of President, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wanted to accommodate him in some manner so that he remained a constant source of irritant to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In pursuing this gambit, Nationalist Congress chief and Maharashtra strongman Sharad Pawar played ball. Expectedly, there was requisite backing from Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, who had desired that Mr Alexander should be actively considered for the post of Vice-President falling vacant with Mr Krishan Kant completing his term in August. As the BJP wanted one of its leaders to become the Vice-President, it was decided to bring Mr Alexander to the Rajya Sabha on the NCP seat from Maharashtra. It was decided to keep Mr Alexander’s name contesting as an Independent under wraps till the day of filing the nominations on July 15. That took the Congress completely by surprise and put it on the backfoot. Even if the Congress were to vote against Mr Alexander’s candidature for the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, his entry is virtually assured with the NCP, the BJP and the Shiv Sena backing him. This is bound to cause embarrassment to Mrs Sonia Gandhi. Even as it eminently suits the BJP and the NCP to bring Mr Alexander to the Rajya Sabha for reasons of political oneupmanship, the Congress is now trying to say rather meekly that it did not oppose his candidature for Presidentship as his name was never proposed by the Prime Minister or by any other leader of the NDA grouping. Vajpayee’s poetry Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee regrets that his career in journalism and politics did interfere with his evolution as a poet. In a foreword to Dr K. Venkatasubramanian’s forthcoming book of poems, which contains Mr Vajpayee’s 31 outstanding Hindi poems translated into Tamil, he says when he abandoned his studies in law to take over as editor of the monthly magazine Rashtradharma (Lucknow), he had little time to devote to his poetry, and even less after he started editing weeklies and dailies. When he found it tough to race against deadlines, he started writing short articles. Even that became difficult after he joined politics. Mr Vajpayee says that poetry came to him by inheritance. His father, Pandit Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a respected poet of Gwalior. His grandfather, Pandit Shyamlal Vajpayee, though not a poet, had an abiding love for both Hindi and Sanskit literature. His elder brother, Pandit Avadh Bihari Vajpayee, was also a poet. Naturally, the young Atal Behari began frequenting kavi sammelans, first as part of the audience, and then as a “promising young poet”. In one of the sammelans, he read out his poem on Taj Mahal, “not about its beauty but the exploitation and suffering that marked its construction”. He says that poetry and politics rarely go together. While in poetry one communicates, primarily to oneself, in politics “there is always the subtle danger of ignoring the self in the process of communicating regularly to some mass gathering or the other”. As politics has its own honoured place in a nation’s life, Mr Vajpayee says that he has no regrets that it became the “main calling in my own life”. What Mr Vajpayee does regret is that he hasn’t written as much poetry as he would have liked to. He says he has always tried to be true to the poet inside him, who could not ignore the “realities of the world” and his times. Though he had to pay a price for this, he continued with his aim to combine his concerns as a writer with his challenges as a political worker. Dr Venkatasubramanian, whose book will be released by the Prime Minister shortly, is at present Member, Planning Commission, Government of India. |
The divine purpose of human life Man is God’s crown creation and he is placed as the head of the entire creation on earth. He is the only creature who is bestowed with many faculties such as intelligence, wisdom, intuition, knowledge and consciousness. All the world's resources are at his command and for his benefit. The human body is God's temple and it is so precious that, according to gurbani, even gods and goddesses yearn for it for their salvation. The human body which makes life possible, is sacred. As such, it needs to be maintained, honoured, and cherished. But this divine spark of the Prime-soul — Parm Atman — is also subject to decay and death. Guru Amar Das, in one of his compositions, has explained that the human being is a soul and not merely a body. My mind thou art the embodiment Of Divine Light, so know thy source. O my soul, the reverend Lord is with thee, By Guru’s teaching enjoy his love. If in thy mind comes peace, and gladness resounds, Then alone thou shall be approved. Thus says Nanak, O my soul, thou art The image of the Luminous Lord. Realize thou the true origin of thy being. Guru Amar Das, by using both the terms ‘mind’ and ‘soul’ in the same context, has indicated that these two spirits are one and the same. The mind is that part of the soul which is oriented towards the material world. It is, specifically, the ego which is the cause of all human worries and sufferings, but which is created by Him to foster individuality and to ensure the progress of the human race. But it is also a snare that prevents a man from entering into the kingdom of god. This is why the purpose of most religions is to tame the mind and enable it to merge with the Holy Soul. Before creation, God existed all by Himself. The world and all the things in it lived within Him. When He manifested Himself, specks of His divine light took bodily forms according to the Almighty's will and pleasure. Till the time these are reabsorbed into the essence of God, they remain subject to change from one species to another or within the same species according to their deeds. The Indian faiths believe that there are 84 lakh of forms in the universe. This process of transition is known as transmigration of soul and the human form is the last step of this configuration. Since God resides in His creation and man is His representative or image on the earth, it is logical to conclude that man’s purpose or mission is identical to the will and pleasure of his Master. Thus a man’s character and deeds need to reflect the qualities and characteristics of God. God, besides being immanent, omnipotent, creator, sustainer, protector and benefactor, is essentially TRUTH or TRUE. Truth embraces all the above qualities. A man thus has to be true like God. Guru Nanak has called such a person a SACHIARA — God incarnate with god-like qualities. To become a Sachiara is thus the divine purpose of human life. Guru Arjan Dev, in his composition, the Psalm of Peace — Sukhmani — has explained what a Sachiara implies. He lives truth, and has his being in truth. Truth is in his heart, and truth on his lips. He looks truth, he embodies truth. He uses truth, and scatters truth everywhere. When a man realises God as truth, He is wholly identified with it. A ‘Sachiara’ is a saint 'in whose heart burns unflickeringly the lamp of His remembrance.’ But as a protector of the oppressed, he is a soldier who fights wrongs by seeking divine favour — ‘bless me with the power, O Lord, that I may never be deterred from righteous action even at the cost of laying down my life.’ He leads a vigorous and active life, and the well-being of the entire humanity — ‘sarbat da bhala’ — is his beau-ideal. The concept of ‘Sachiara’, called Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh, is peculiar to Sikhism. To Guru Nanak, individual salvation and the desire to merge with God wasn’t enough. At his advent in the fifteenth century, he found Indians, under the weight of about six centuries of subjugation by foreign rules, completely disempowered and lacking in will-power to stand up against oppression. Along with his spiritual awakening, he embarked upon the task of imbibing a martial spirit in his followers as well. The Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, contains many references in this regard. 1. Oh ye men, whosoever wants to seek love of God and wants to become a Sachiara come to me with your head on the palm of your hand. 2. Acceptance of death is the prerogative of the brave. 3. Accept death and then come to me for initiation. 4. Protect the weak and holy and extirpate the tyrants. 5. Battle drum for righteous action is struck, now is the time to fight till death. 6. Death is the privilege of those who die for an approved cause. 7. Recognise him as a brave who fights for a noble cause. He will not be deterred even if he is cut to pieces. 8. Before bringing forth the universe, God created ‘khanda’, the tool of destruction. The means to becoming a Sachiara is to live holistically with an inner awakening of God’s immanence and an outer service of his creation by noble and righteous deeds. The aim of life has to be achieved during life itself and not after death. Guru Nanak’s concept of salvation is ‘Jeevan-Mukt’, i.e., freedom from worldly pulls and pressures whilst living a normal life. |
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Start heart tests at 20 People should start getting heart checkups at age 20, new guidelines from the American Heart Association recommend. The guidelines, published in Tuesday’s edition of the Journal Circulation, also suggest that some people should start taking a small dose of aspirin every day to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke — and say the average person can prescribe this simple treatment himself. “There is a lot of evidence to suggest that coronary disease starts in adolescence,” Dr. Thomas Pearson of the University of Rochester in New York, who helped write up the new guidelines, said in a telephone interview on Monday. “Twenty is certainly not too young to start screening for many risk factors.” That means getting blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, waist circumference and pulse checked. Pearson said a family physician can do this and patients do not have to go to a cardiologist. The guidelines, last updated in 1997, are based on the latest studies, which have found Americans are developing heart disease at younger ages. Studies also have shown the beneficial effects of taking aspirin, which originally was recommended only to patients who had suffered a heart attack. “Clearly there is an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and clearly there is a suggestion that the best way to get around that is not to treat obesity but prevent it,” Pearson said. The best time to do that, he added, is in early adulthood. The guidelines and information on risk factors can be seen on the Internet at http://www.americanheart.org. More than one-quarter of the U.S. population is obese, defined as being 20 per cent above the maximum healthy weight for one’s height. Obesity can lead to diabetes — the seventh leading cause of death in the United States — and heart disease, the number one killer of both men and women. Obesity can be calculated using body mass index, which is a comparison of height to weight. But a person’s risk of heart disease can also be checked with a shorthand measure of waist circumference. A waistline of 40 inches (100 cm) usually puts a man at high risk of heart disease, 30 inches (75 cm) in women. “Wouldn’t it be nice if someone on the way to college or their first job or the military got a physician to assess what their risk was and sit down and talk about what it takes to become a healthy adult?” Pearson asked.
Reuters |
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Dangers of exposure to chemicals Chemical exposure is often said to cause a variety of illnesses and impairments, but a study now says that teenage boys who are exposed to organic pollutants are less likely to father boys. Scientists in Taiwan studied the sex of children born to families in which men were exposed to the Yucheng mass dioxin poisoning scare in the 1970s has shown they are less likely to have male children if they are exposed to the chemical before the age of 20. Polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs), which have now been banned, were the cause behind the 1979 Taiwanese disaster, but researchers are worried that lower levels of dioxins in the environment could have similar effects, reported BBC. Men exposed to PCBs before the age of 20 had a 35 per cent lower chance of having a baby boy than those who were not exposed to the pollutants, found the latest research. If they were exposed after the age of 20 they had a one in 10 risk. According to researcher Yueliang Leon Guo, the pollutants resulted in the failure of the sperm, which would go on to create male embryos. “The factors that determine sex are still under investigation, and the mechanisms of action that explain sex-ratio alterations are not yet understood. “Sexual differentiation in human beings is controlled by genetic and hormonal factors.
ANI
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Cough medicines can delay recovery Recent medical evidence has suggested that cough medicines are not useful for treating the ailment as they merely provide a placebo effect, and can actually delay recovery from chest infections, a media report said. “It’s widely accepted by the medical community that cough medicines aren’t useful for treating coughs,” the July issue of consumer medicine Choice has said. But cough medicines often contain contradictory ingredients such as a expectorant to remove mucus from the chest and a cough suppressant, it said. “Using a suppressant for a chesty cough could delay recovery,” the report said. “Some health professionals believe that whether or not they work, cough medicines still have a psychological role to play — particularly with children,” it said. According to Choice, many doctors said children should not be given cough medicine because it could increase the risk of a serious infection. “In addition to side effects such as drowsiness and balance problems, they say suppressing coughs may increase the risk of serious lung infection, especially if the child has asthma or a long-term lung condition,” the report added.
Size does matter — in air at least An overweight family was booted off a Southwest Airlines flight last week after they refused to buy extra seats, weeks after the airline said it would begin enforcing its ‘’people of size’’ policy. Southwest Airlines said in June it would start strictly enforcing a policy that asks passengers too large to fit between its 18-3/4 inch (48 cm) seats to buy an extra seat. Other airlines have similar practices. Siblings Marty McLaughlin and Andrea Kysar told ABC’s ‘’Good Morning America’’ they were aware of the rule but were told before they bought the tickets they wouldn’t have to pay double because they were flying with Kysar’s average-sized husband and her 75-pound (34 kg) daughter.
Reuters |
Devotees experience bliss by discarding evils; By contemplation of the Lord the ocean of existence is crossed. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ramakali M 5, page 900. *** One harbouring venom within and claiming purity with words shall receive chastisement in Yama’s city. Man may do evil behind innumerable concealments but it shall be revealed to the world in an instant. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Gauri M 5, page 194. *** O Brother, the Lord, our diamond resideth in the Guru. And the Guru thou findest in the sanctuary of the holy who, night and day, recite through the Word, the glories of the Lord. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sri Rag M 1, page 22. *** Truth is my capital-stock and the Merchandise; I found it through the Light Imparted by the Guru. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sri Rag M 1. Page 22 *** If one loves the Truth. one meets with the Guru and one merges oneself in the True one. —Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Sri Rag M 1, page 22 *** If you wish to attain the goal, struggle within and realise. Peep within, And know yourself truly. That is the direction, O Qutab, Realise within the breath. God is within man That is the sign, Realise within the breath. Dive within the Self, Drink the elixir of Oneness. Awake O Qutab, You will witness with the breath. —Sufi Qalandar Hazrat Sai Qutab Ali Shah. From A Sufi Galaxy |
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