Maintain your Integrity !!

A while back, there was a story about Reuben Gonzolas, who was in the final match of his first professional racquetball tournament. He was playing the perennial champion for his first shot at a victory on the pro circuit. At match point in the fifth and final game, Gonzolas made a super "kill shot" into the front corner to win the tournament. The referee called it good, and one of the linemen confirmed the shot was a winner.

But after a moment's hesitation, Gonzolas turned and declared that his shot had skipped into the wall, hitting the floor first. As a result, the serve went to his opponent, who went on to win the match.

Reuben Gonzolas walked off the court; everyone was stunned. The next issue of a leading racquetball magazine featured Gonzolas on its cover. The lead editorial searched and questioned for an explanation for the first ever occurrence on the professional racquetball circuit. Who could ever imagine it in any sport or endeavor? Here was a player with everything officially in his favor, with victory in his grasp, who disqualifies himself at match point and loses.

When asked why he did it, Gonzolas replied, "It was the only thing I could do to maintain my integrity."

Real Life Incident !!

JAI HIND....FRIENDS.

Just thought of sharing with you this real-life incident:

This is a real incident that happened in a local hospital in
Bangalore, India. A 4 year old girl was admitted due to leg fracture. As it was
an open fracture, she had to undergo an operation to stitch the
protruding bone back in place. Though it was quite a minor operation, she was
hooked on to life support system, as a part of the process. The
doctors had to input some data prior to the operation to suit different
conditions. Thereafter, the operation proceeded. Half way through the
process, the life support system suddenly went dead.

The culprit: - Some one was using his/her hand-phone outside the
operation theatre. And the frequency had affected the system. They
tried to track the fellow but to no avail. The little girl, young and
innocent as she was, died soon after.

"Be compassionate! Do not use your hand phone /mobiles especially at
any hospitals or within the Aircraft or petrol bunk or any places where
you are told not to use it... You might not be caught in the act, but you
might have killed someone without knowing". Sometimes it's a matter of
Life & Death....!!!!

Please pass this to as many, since most of us are just not aware of
the seriousness of this issue.

Please Don't Delete. Please Send this to all your contacts and help
save a life.

A tiny mail can save a life.

The Story Behind Economic Divide in India

Economic growth is must to overcome poverty. For economic growth generation of source of income must be first priority

Major population of the world live in rural villages estimated 55% in developed countries and 70% in develping countries, some more and in some countries is less.

Among these rural population 60% or more has less land or no land. Majority of those having small land is because of land division among increased number of family. If father / mother have one land that is divided among all children so this small land is not enough to make as source of income. In many cases the lands are less fertile that does not give enough earnings to support family so opted for agricultural employment. That employment became as support. This partial agricultural employment has been taken over by automation so the scope of employment has reduced. Further to this farmers have been growing their traditions crops since age old which has high competition.


As far as cottage and arts and crafts employment, this sector has been totally ignored or disorganized. There are many areas still to be explored, researched like medicine plants, poultry farms, and the education is not accordingly for rural population. Present education system is for urban economy or clerical, communication, trading etc., etc; if we produce rice only rice should not be the area to concentrate; we need to know how many items can be developed by rice and its related grass, husk. Can medicine, fertilizer, alcohol, cosmetics and other be produced, packed and sold? This type of education and research we need so we need to rethink why and what is education as reading, signing or writing alone are not education..


Also one of the most affected crisis of employment is that selling products in raw condition if same products are sold from the village in finished packed ready to use would generate employment more, I give one example of pepper/ coffee/ cotton or other spices which are grown in one place and sold to industrial cities who in tern monopolize and buy at cheaper price, grind, finish, pack advertise and sell at very high price to the consumers. This factory generates employment to urban cities by way of technicians, advertisement or others and pays very less to the farmers whose product the factory sells. Ultimately, rural population shifts to urban areas in search of employment which he/ she does not know and opt what employment is available that crowds city. Most of young generation after finishing education in rural areas are unable to find suitable employment, it is because education is not fit enough to provide jobs/ self employment to them due to less or unexplored resources. For poverty in rural areas of populated countries cottage agricultural and arts/ crafts sectors need be given priority as this area consumes more employment.


RURAL POVERTY

1. Social sectors and organizations are so weak in rural areas that they do not know what the real need of society is?

2. Research, education and training need to be as per requirements so can promote products.

3. Access to communication about market, information and services. Though this facility is beneficial to sufficient land owners.

4. Poor political and bureaucratic approach for rural development.

5. Importance of cottage and agricultural sectors for employment need to be understood by international organizations and work out for its promotions so export is promoted to generate employment. (This is especially beneficial for countries which have thick rural population).

6. Education alone will not help eradication of poverty it depends type of education. Is it related to rural growth?

7. In order to meet competitive world it is essential that from the village major produce should go out as finished product. So from the stage of raw produce to finished and packed produce employment is engaged. This way interference of mediators and their margin is reduced.

8. Financial institutions are beneficial only when the produce has better market and price. Many financial institutions fail to get back their money as framers or rural entrepreneurs fail to pay back due to lack of demand or return. Thus marketing their products are also very important.

9. For underdeveloped or poor countries with dense population in rural villages produce be job oriented. research, marketing, designing and communication be automated so accuracy is maintained to make fast and efficient movement.

10. In each case overgrowth of population, education, misunderstood religion, corruption, accountability of expenses of government, unorganized sectors etc; are dangerous for growth of economy. I have separately explained please refer in other pages.


For many decades many organizations and governments have worked for rural development and still not achieved rather has increased rural poverty, caused due to automation of agriculture, made farm laborers unemployed. Without generation of employment no growth is possible. Basic requirement is food, shelter, and clothes etc; for these one wants source of income to afford. So resource to earn respected money be made available first, other issues like gender, religion, education and others come later. Hospitals without medicine are no good, rather a good hospital with all facilities are good even charges little bit . Big roads are no good without transportation inflow and outflow. Education is no good without jobs. For social / international organizations and government objective of education may be much high, but for an ordinary person education means getting job. These look good in government and international organization files, that they have opened free hospitals, schools, but practically has no use when hospital does not have required doctors or medicines or education/ schools without teachers. we can identify the difference in quality of free education and the quality of education in convent schools. poor education means for poverty.

Child Abuse : A Curse !!

Child Abuse : Definition

India
At present there is no single, specific definition on child abuse in India. The definition of child abuse can be gleaned from a number of articles in the Constitution.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 191. State parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation including sexual abuse, while in the care of the parent(s),legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.

U.K.
"A child is considered to be abused if he/she is treated in a way that is unacceptable in a given culture at a given time. The last two clauses are important because not only are children treated differently in different cultures, but also within a country... There are variations of opinions of what constitutes abuse of children" - The ABC of Child Sexual Abuse by Roy Meadows

USA
Federal Law definition. The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act defines child abuse and neglect as "the physical or mental injury, sexual abuse or exploitation, negligent treatment, or maltreatment

* of a child under the age of 18, or except in the case of sexual abuse, the age specified by the child protection law of the State
* by a person (including any employee of a residential facility or any staff person providing out-of-home care) who is responsible for the child's welfare
* under circumstances which indicate that the child's health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby
* the withholding of medically indicated treatment for disabled infants with life-threatening conditions. The Act "...the failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions by providing treatment (including appropriate nutrition, hydration, and medication) which in the treating physician's or physicians reasonable medical judgement, will most likely be effective in ameliorating or correcting all such conditions.


Child Abuse : Forms of Child Abuse

Overview
Child Abuse in India takes various forms. Often, cases of Child Abuse are not reported or considered serious. This makes it difficult to understand the real dimension of the issue.

Neglect
Child neglect is largely characterized by the willful delay/failure to provide for the child's basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or emotional. It is very important to distinguish between neglect and a parent's or caretaker's failure to provide necessities of life because of poverty or cultural norms. This is especially critical in a country where a large part of the population lives below the poverty line. To accept in toto the definition of abuse and neglect, without taking into consideration, existing cultural norms, can result in a lot of conflict and misunderstanding.

Physical
Physical abuse is characterized by physical injury (for example, bruises and fractures) resulting from punching, beating, kicking, biting, burning, or otherwise harming a child. Any injury resulting from physical punishment that requires medical treatment can be considered abnormal and abusive

Mental
Failure to provide the child with adequate exposre to education and learning and/or catering to a special educational need when the available facilities are not made use of for no apparent reason

Verbal
Subjecting the child to constant abuse by nature of calling the child a variety of hurtful names such as ‘stupid’, ‘fatty’ etc

Emotional
Emotional abuse is the most difficult form of child maltreatment to identify. Emotional abuse includes acts such as scapegoating and belittling or omissions –as in never praising the child or withholding love, by the parents or other persons responsible for the child's care. This kind of abuse can cause, or could have caused, serious behavioral, cognitive, emotional, or mental disorders.

Sexual Abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA) can be defined as any sexual act committed by an adult on a child for the purpose of the adult’s gratification. CSA includes a wide range of behavior

CSA is present in a number of forms, some are more physical in nature and therefore more obvious, others are more insidious and does the same if not greater damage. It is possible that there may be other forms of abuse that have not been mentioned here.


Sexual Molestation
Usually not physically stressful to the child. It includes petting, fondling, kissing, mutual masturbation, verbal sexual abuse and innuendo.

Rape
In Indian society rape is categorised by penile penetration in both heterosexuality and homosexuality.

Incest
Believed to be the most common form of CSA in India, it is inclusive of the above two forms of CSA. Given the Indian attitude towards familial loyalty, it is the most difficult to prosecute.

* 63% of girls in Delhi, have experienced child sexual abuse at the hands of a family member (Sakshi, 1997).
* In a study of a 1000 girls from 5 different states in India, (Rahi, 1997), 50% of the girls said that they had been abused when under 12 years of age, 35% had been abused between the ages of 12- 16 years of age. The average sex offender has 76 victims. (American data.)

Sodomy
There is no legislation to cover sexual molestation of boys. Unnatural offences is used to cover the rape of boys

Commercial Sexual Exploitation(CSE)
Essentially the prostitution of children and quite often also includes the trafficking of children.

* There are 50,000 children in prostitution, in India
* One million children are trafficked into prostitution, in Asia every year (WHO).

Pornography
This method is steadily on the increase. It involves the use of children to produce pornographic material.

Sex tourism
Involves the use of children for sexual gratification. Very common along the southern and southwestern regions of India.

Net crimes
Gives information on how to access children who have been forced into sexual activity from around the world.

Child Marriage
It is very common in rural India and can only be prosecuted when the husband of the child is an adult. According to law, a child marriage is recognised by law, inorder to protect te girl cild who has been forced into the marriage and children born out of the union. However those who arrange the marriage are liable for prosecution.

Child Labour
There are over 15 million children in bonded labour, in India today. Twice as many girls than boys engaged in child labour.

Female Infanticide
The custom of infanticide seems to be motivated by the relative economic backwardness and the social importance of males. The practice of dowry further lowers the economic value of the female child and is one of the major factors contributing to female infanticide.

Female Genital Mutilation
Is the removal of the clitoris in a female infant. Orthodox women believe the girl will be wracked by sexual desire if the clitoris is not scraped off. The crude operation often leads to infection, abscesses, infertility and painful sex. Contrary to popular belief there is no religious sanction for this barbaric practice.


Child Abuse : Causes & Prevention

Causes
Well after defining child abuse and listing and understanding the various forms of abuse, the next question to be considered is "What causes a child to be abused? Was the abuser a parent under a lot of stress, Why did the father rape his daughter? Did the child provoke the parent?" Child abuse is most often, not the result of a single mitigating factor, rather, it is a combination of multiple forces acting on/or within the family that acts on the abuser(s) resulting in an act of child abuse. It is important to note here that listing possible causes of child abuse, in no way meant to negate the effects of child abuse and definitely, not to excuse it.

The tricky part in handling families where child abuse is to remember not to generalize and draw broad conclusions. This is important because certain factors are present among families where maltreatment occurs, but this does not mean that the presence of these factors will always result in child abuse and neglect and the absence of them means there is no abuse. Professionals who have a responsibility for intervening in cases of child maltreatment must recognize the multiple causes of the problem and treat each case individually. Besides which differences in cultures, and variations in opinion and behaviours, even within the same city must be taken into account and respected, within limits. What might be considered abusive in one country, family, may not be considered in the same way by anther. For example, in India corporal punishment, within bounds, is accepted as appropriate punishment for children, however, this would be looked askance at in America.

One of the most consistent finding in child abuse literature is that maltreating parents often report having been physically, sexually, or emotionally abused or neglected as children. This does not mean that al abused children have grown up or will grow up to be abusive parents. Abusive parents may be characterized by emotional disturbances and inappropriate behaviour patterns, but, mental illness plays a very small overall role in child maltreatment. Substance abuse, has become an increasing problem. While in the past alcoholism was the most common substance abused at home, today most drugs are freely available and are often consumed within the home itself. Children who are socially isolated are often felt to be at higher risk for all types of maltreatment. For example, a child who does not have a close relationship with his/her mother and has few or no friends may be more susceptible to offers of attention and affection in exchange for sexual activities. In families where there are problems like domestic violence, financial stress, the likelihood of maltreatment, is higher. These factors may or may not, in themselves, result in maltreatment but they could contribute to exacerbating the situation.

Prevention
This is a major area, in which there is a lot of work being done worldwide. The idea behind this is that responding, reacting or treating Child Abuse is far from the best approach to handling the issue. Prevention aims at the long-term results in curbing Child Abuse. In India, too, a lot of NGO work is related to the Prevention of Child Abuse. At present though India still has a long way to go in coming up with her own strategies to prevent child abuseMany professional in India now recognize the importance of developing effective prevention strategies and are focusing on this aspect of the issue of Child Abuse. Students in related fields can draw from the presentation below, while studying the entire aspect of prevention. . Given below is a brief summary of the prevention strategies practiced in the USA.


Child Abuse : Community Based Prevention

A number of community-based family support initiatives have been proposed or developed to strengthen families and prevent child maltreatment. These could be instituted through the organisations that the family depends on for services such as day-care, recreation, shelter, emergency assistance, etc.

* self-help and mutual aid groups to provide nonjudgmental support and assistance to troubled families;
* strengthening natural support networks to provide families with a supportive network of informal "helpers" and community resources;
* child care programs/respite care to reduce the stress employed parents experience, and provide positive modeling and contact for parents and children;
* programs for children in self-care to reduce the emotional and physical risks which "latchkey" children may face;
* programs that address the impact of lack of resources on children and families such as the lack of adequate shelter, nutrition, and health care; and
* public education and media campaigns to increase public knowledge and awareness about important issues in the prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Source : IndianNGO

The Faces Of Globalization: A Dilemma For India

It’s good for the economy; it creates employment, lots of it, and working nights at India’s back offices is pleasing and financially rewarding for a huge number of young Indians.

However, while India’s money-spinning industry of taking service jobs from overseas is turning out to be a source of discomfort for U.S. and European politicians, the subcontinent is fast realizing that its now-famed success in so-called Business Process Outsourcing may have come at the cost of a generation’s mental well-being.

Owing to the 10 1/2 hour time difference between the Western Hemisphere, particularly the United States, which sends more service jobs abroad than anyone else, almost all Indian back office operations have to work at shifts typically running from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. local time to coincide with the daytime office hours in the United States.

And it’s this working at nights that requires adjusting the biological clock and social practices to a different time, which is turning out to be a major cause for health-related and social problems.

Take the instance of Delhi-based college dropout Sandeep Jain, who was ecstatic when he received a job offer for $150 a month two years ago from a leading Delhi-based call center. This was the chance the Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pink Floyd fan was waiting for.

“For the first time, I was made to feel that I was useful and that somebody appreciated my knowledge of English movies and my passion for Western music,” he said.

A year later, Sandy, as he called himself for his overseas clients, switched to another call center, which offered him double the money and a training trip to the United States. The training trip was really the carrot for Sandy who had by then begun to tire of the tedium of a help desk job.

But the trip was significant since he could now finally prove to his conservative mother that he too was off to the United States like his “cousins in software.”

But unlike his cousins in software, he soon begun to exhibit behavioral and physiological changes. He had lost 12 pounds in seven months, was smoking over 10 cigarettes a day and drank till he passed out every Friday.

“I am done with it (the back-office job),” he said before giving up his call-center job last December and joining a night college.

“I had lost touch with my relatives. I used to get home at four in the morning and when I woke up, my family was out at work and it was just TV or computer games for me.”

“It was also the monotony of work and boredom that sometimes made me feel suicidal,” Sandy said.

Sandeep is just one of many in the country’s 500,000-strong young work force in India’s back-office sectors who are facing such stress.

“The job is so false,” griped another disgruntled 23-year-old back office worker who eventually also quit his job in a Mumbai call center to pursue higher studies. “You talk like an American, behave like one, but you are not one. It’s almost like a trap.”

“I have had more than a 100 cases of call center employees turning up with a series of complaints,” says Sanjay Chugh, a Delhi-based psychiatrist. “The typical problems tend to be depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse and relationship-related problems.”

Indeed, the high degree of dissatisfaction that is fast dawning on Indian back office employees is getting to be a major cause for worry in India’s back office sector, which is billed as one of the country’s most important sectors for economic growth.

In a recent survey of employee satisfaction in what the industry calls Business Process Outsourcing, a staggering 35 percent of respondents said they are likely to leave because they cannot handle the schedule.

The survey also showed something else: Money remains the biggest reason why most people join call centers.

Forty-five percent of all respondents across the industry said they joined up for the money, with another 42 percent adding that they would most likely leave for better opportunities, i.e. read money, elsewhere.

And 27 percent said they would leave either because of work stress or the sheer physical strain that was too much to handle.

Even work related ailments are reality. Sleeping disorders, digestive system disorders and eyesight problems are prevalent.

Rattled by this sudden high level of dissatisfaction and employee dropouts, the country’s back office sector has started to put stress-busters in place and ramp up morale.

Most employers have started holding routine parties on campus and social bonding events within the team to drive away part of the monotony and convey that “the company cares.”

Nishi Roy, a human resource officer, said, “They have started doing everything they can to make a call center a fun place to work in, from hosting parties, contests to taking employees to offsite picnics.”

“The atmosphere is very much like a college. Even our breaks are like those between periods,” says Anurag a 21-year-old just out of college and just two-months into a call center job.

Still, even as the money and the act of donning an American life-style through their working hours continues to be the initial draw for many youngsters in the country’s numerous back offices and call centers, a worry that is looming large is: Would the high social and health costs that the country is paying for raking in billions of dollars, spoil India’s back office party sooner rather than later?

On the Right to Water Campaign

In an interview with Nandlal on the first day of the Jal Adhikar (Right to Water) Yatra, we learn about the goals of the yatra, the importance to right to water and evidence of Coke's role in the rapidly dropping water levels in Mehdiganj.

Listen to Nandlal speak about the need for a Jal Adhikar Yatra

Nandlal points out that with water crisis around numerous bottling plants in India, the ownership of water has to be questioned. Does it belong to people, to the government or to large for-profit corporations. And how can this resource be used in a sustainable manner. After all, if a company like Coke withdraws 1.5 - 2.5 million liters of water every year from a region, water tables will drop rapidly leaving small and marginal - even large farmers - with nothing. It impacts the local communities ability to access water for their daily use as well as their livelihoods. In India, water is a lifeline - not owned by anyone, but a community resource. To allow large companies to make profits by selling water is leading to large scale drainage of water.

In addition, Nandlal points out that this campaign is also against the pollution of water and land around the plant sites. The central Pollution Control Board has revealed (through an RTI) that all 7 samples of soil tested around the bottling plants showed high levels of cadmium, lead and chromium - all known carcinogens and toxins. This campaign is to ask people not to have Coke not only because it is unhealthy but also because it is killing the country.

Listen to Nandlal speak about the recent study showing evidence that Coke's activities are directly responsible for the large scale dropping of water levels.

In a recently presented report, extensive study of water table over two decades (from state-level data) as well as oral survey of farmers in the region, it is quite clear that water levels have dropped significantly since Coke began operations in 2000. While droughts were seen in the 90s, water level fell only 1.6 feet over 10 years. In the last 6 years, with similar frequency of droughts, water levels have falledn 18 feet already.

This is not a state wide phenomena either, as Coke points out, but specific to the region around the bottling plant. Other parts of the state have not seen such drop in water levels. About 20% of the wells have run dry and another 25-30% have no potable water.

In addition, Coke claims that the dropping water levels is owing to increased withdrawal of water by local farmers. The survey shows that there have been fewer new bore wells build in the last 6 years than any of the earlier decades so that is not the the reason for the dropping water levels either

Listen to Nandlal speak about the ways Coke has responded to this Campaign.

Instead of attempting to resolve the problems with their processes, Coke has consistently attempted to spin. For example, they have claimed that they run watershed projects for renewal of groundwater. In fact, as their Public Relations manager pointed out, they recharge about 7 million liters of water while they withdraw at least 185 million lites of water (by their own accounts, though local estimates suggest larger volumes).

Now, everytime a campaign begins, managers of the bottling plant in Mehdiganj pay villagers living 20-50 KM away to come and hold placards. In the past they have also hired people to physically threaten local community members agitating against Coke.

Listen to Nandlal speak about the plans with this yatra.

The yatra - co-organized by Lok Samiti and NAPM - and with support from numerous groups will visit numerous districts in UP, passing through all regions with bottling plants, then through border districts of MP, it will reach Jaipur district. There, in Kaladera, it will join local protestors making similar demands from the bottling plant in Kaladera. It will then reach Delhi on October 3rd. Protests and demonstrations are planned in Delhi between 3rd and 5th where the campaign will demand the close down of the Mehdiganj plant based on the Central Pollution Control Board report.

Indian Govt Bans Child Labor in Restaurant, Homes

A law was passed banning the employment of children as domestic servants or servants or in dhabas (roadside eateries), restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas or in other recreational centers, effective from 10 October 2006.

Indian and international groups and media have lauded the Indian government for extending a ban on child labour to include the employment of children as domestic servants or in the hospitality sector, including roadside eateries, hotels and resorts, officials said Wednesday.

The government - which earlier banned the employment of children under 14 in factories, mines as well as other hazardous jobs - later also prohibited government workers from employing children as domestic help.

"With this notification, the government has extended these restrictions to everyone," a statement issued by the Labour Ministry said of the latest restrictions.

The extended ban, which also applies to children under 14, is to be implemented October 10, said the ministry, which issued the decision to widen the law on Tuesday.

Spas, motels and other recreational centres have also been barred from employing children.

The penalty for flouting the law is a jail term ranging from three months to two years with or without a fine of up to 20,000 rupees (430 dollars), the Times of India reported. The ban was imposed after a recommendation by the Technical Advisory Committee on Child Labour, which said children in these industries were made to work long hours and undertake hazardous activities that were severely affecting their health and psyches.

"The committee had said the children employed in roadside eateries and highway food stalls were the most vulnerable lot and were easy prey to sex and drug abuse as they came in contact with all kinds of people," the Labour Ministry said.

According to the World Bank, India has about 44 million child labourers, the largest child workforce in the world.

Indian child labor laws worry children

A ban on child labor took effect yesterday, but at roadside food stalls across New Delhi, many of the boys and girls who serve glasses of piping hot tea, wash dishes, mop floors and take out trash were not celebrating.

The children of India's tens of millions of poor families are expected to work, and in many cases they are the sole breadwinners.

"As it is, I barely make enough to survive," said 12-year-old Dinesh Kumar, who has been doing odd jobs since coming to New Delhi three years ago from a village in eastern India. "This will be a bad blow. I really don't know what I'll do."

The new law bans hiring children under age 14 as servants in homes or as workers in restaurants, tea shops, hotels and spas.

Despite the subcontinent's emerging economic power, child labor remains widespread in India. Conservative estimates place the number of children covered by the new law at 256,000. All told, an estimated 13 million children work in India, many of them in hazardous industries, such as glass making, where such labor has long been banned.

Officials say the new law will help take children out of the workplace and put them in school.

Critics counter that earlier bans in other industries had little impact - a visit to most carpet-weaving operations, for example, reveals dozens of child workers. And the new measure does little to address the poverty at the root of India's child labor problem.

At one roadside tea shop, the Harish Dhaba, talk among the child workers focused on the hardships of the new ban.

"As long as I can remember I've worked in a restaurant, washing dishes, cutting vegetables, throwing out the garbage," said Rama Chandran, a frail-looking 13-year-old as he cleared dishes from grimy wooden tables in the tiny, smoke-filled eatery.

Are you ready to save a life ??

Every 2-seconds, someone in the country is in need of blood. Every year our nation requires about 4 Crore units of blood, out of which only a meager 5 Lakh units of blood are available.

It's not that, people don't want to donate blood. Many, many times it's just that they are not aware of a need. As a result, needy people end up going through a lot of pain.

Make donating blood with regularity a part of your life. The process is simple and safe. Minority groups have something special to give. Different groups of people have different percentages of blood types. Thus, it is important that every ethnic group participate in blood donation programs.

Remember: you can save the life of a friend, a neighbor, and also a family member.

Who can donate blood ?

* All donors must be at least 17 years old or older.
* All donors must weigh 100 lbs. or more. Donors who undergo apheresis should weigh at least 110 lbs.
* All donors must be in good health. You can still donate if you are taking medication although it depends on your state of health and the type of medication.

In donating blood, you are converted into a hero in many ways.

* Your donation can save the lives of up to 3 patients. These patients can have cancer, be victims of accidents, be in need of organ transplants or have chronic illnesses.
* Sometimes blood can be utilized to replace lost blood from people in life or death situations.
* Plasma, the yellow liquid portion of the blood, reduces bleeding through coagulation factors.
* The platelets that also assist in the coagulation are fragile cells that are needed by patients with leukemia and other cancers. These platelets should be transfused within the first five days after the donation.
* The red cells help to treat anemia and increases the blood's ability to transport oxygen during surgical procedures.

The need of the hour is to identify peoples, corporates who can organise Blood Donation Drives in their offices. Also residential societies, who can organize Blood Donation Drives.These are very easy ways to organise Blood Donation Drive and do not require major planning in terms of time.

After all, saving a life does not require heroic deeds. You could just do it with a small thought and an even smaller effort by saying "yes" to blood donation.

In search of LIGHT !!

Of the 1.12 Crore visually Challenged in India, as many as 3 million suffer from corneal problems.And out of this 3 million, 26% are children.

It is estimated that India needs 2 lakh donated cornea every year, but gets only 15,000 donors. Out of this 15,000, almost half are not found fit for restoring vision.

The waiting list in some eye banks is as much as two years.
Ophthalmologists say that less than 1% of those who pledge their eye actually donate them.

So it's time, we stress on EYE DONATION, rather than EYE PLEDGING.

OBC quota: stirring wider issues

In this country of vast socio-economic disparities and inequities, it is unjust and misleading to define merit in an academic fashion. Should there not be a way by which `merit' is translated into actual relief for the millions of our people in rural and tribal areas?


THE ESCALATING stir by medical students against the implementation of the 93rd Amendment, which is now Article 15(5) of the Constitution, is as symptomatic as it is significant. No one, neither the academics nor the politicians, had any problem when the constitutional amendment enabling the state to make laws to empower the socially and economically disadvantaged sections, besides the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, was being made. But now that the stage of its implementation has come, the volcano of grievance has begun to erupt.

Of course, we are familiar with the excuse. Medicos, and those who justify and fuel their sense of grievance, argue that they did not know that this was in the offing! And the Knowledge Commission, with the iconic Sam Pitroda at it apex, may provide it a façade of legitimacy. But what this implies is indeed too significant to be glossed over. Doctors enjoy a significant place in society. "Next to God, doctor" is a popular saying in this country.

Doctors should be the custodians of the health not only of individuals but also of society. It is for this reason that medical ethics are more stringent than professional and business ethics in other sectors of service. But to serve society, one has to know it. To know is to engage; and to engage is to love. Very often ignorance results not from the dearth of information but from the lack of love. We are ignorant because we are indifferent. And we are indifferent largely because we are self-absorbed. Self-absorption implies an outlook that limits one's relationship to the larger context — the country in this instance — wholly to what one may get out of it. This implies blindness to what one can do for the country.

The natural outcome of this outlook is hypersensitivity to `rights' and total insensitivity to `duties'. For the medical fraternity, or any educated person, to confess they did not `know' that the 93rd Amendment could have had this sort of implication is simply to expose themselves to ridicule. So the alibi of ignorance is unacceptable.

If it is not ignorance, what is it then? This brings us to the endemic problem in India: our appallingly poor track record in implementation. We have a plethora of progressive and pro-active laws. Our Constitution is one of the finest achievements of legislative wisdom anywhere in the world. We are almost there, but we will not make it. We dribble the ball with splendid adroitness up to the D and, then, dither. Our national score sheet would have made far better reading but for this.

Yet, it is not as though nothing has been implemented. The implementation index of a scheme or a policy remains sensitive to the social segment that is meant to benefit from it. Measures that benefit the privileged classes are less vulnerable to executive neglect or red tape. Correspondingly, it is far more difficult to implement policies that are likely to affect the advantages of the privileged segments of the society.

Honest governance

The mark of honest governance is the executive will to bridge the gulf between the letter and the spirit — between legislative mandate and executive action — of the Constitution. In the present case, the present government, especially Arjun Singh, the Human Resources Development Minister, needs to be commended for its clarity of vision and earnestness of purpose. We do the nation a gross injustice in seeking to subvert the implementation of the Constitution on the apprehension either that merit is likely to be compromised in the process or that a party is likely to benefit electorally in its wake. To obstruct the initiatives of a government to implement a constitutional amendment is to legitimise bad governance as well as to widen the gulf between law and policy.

The generic issue here is not whether or not the 93rd Amendment should be implemented. It is, on the contrary, whether we can tolerate the rule of law or not. Our commitment to the rule of law is not proved when we root for it when upholding the rule of law is to our advantage. It is proved more authentically when we stand by it even when it is in conflict with our personal or class interests. The insistence of the medicos that Article 15(5) of the Constitution should not be implemented is, in principle, akin to the stance of the Sangh Parivar that matters pertaining to faith are above the law. What is equally disturbing is the indication that the intellectual and academic elite of this country are losing their faith in a fair debate. The quota issue could have been openly and objectively debated.

But that option was foreclosed and the way of coercion was adopted precipitously. This is worrisome because this is not a one-off instance. We have been watching sadly the erosion of a culture of robust debate in our parliamentary democracy. Rather than debate, issues are clinched by holding Parliament to ransom. A more alarming symptom of our contrived collective faith in violence, and the corresponding loss of faith in debate and dialogue, cannot be thought of. This is the road we should not, and cannot afford, to take.

The anxiety that the proposed reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) will subvert merit seems plausible but is, in fact, purblind. Much depends on what we mean by merit. In this country of vast socio-economic disparities and inequities, it is unjust and misleading to define merit in an academic fashion. Shall we not say that merit, in the context of health care, should also include compassion and the spirit of service? Should there not be a way by which `merit' is translated into actual relief for the millions of our people in rural and tribal areas?

The time has come for us to consider making rural and tribal placements, at least for a period of three years, compulsory for all prospective doctors. A doctor who is indifferent to social justice is an aberration. Also, there is no reason why the state should subsidise the medical education of the rich, mostly to enable them to find greener pastures abroad or in lucrative private practice in the metropolises. The cost of medical education must be indexed to the paying capacity of students.

Shocking events, one after the other, in recent times alert us to the ethical degradation that the medical profession is going through. The fact that medical students can, without any qualms, resort to sharpening the edges of their demands with the suffering of the people, by boycotting work, needs to be seen a symptom of this larger malady.

The root of ethical behaviour is the ability to see one's interests in harmony with the larger interests. Upsetting this ethical balance, this human equilibrium, in the interest of protecting one's own sectarian or class interests is a trend that needs to be seen clearly for what it portends for the society as a whole.

It strikes at the root of creating a wholesome social order without which neither merit nor progress makes any sense.

The Psychology of Quitting Smoking

Many experts believe smoking is only about 10% physical addiction and a whopping 90% psychological addiction. Your body will recover fairly quickly from nicotine withdrawals (the worst symptoms usually abate in three days or less), but your psychological dependency on cigarettes can be much more difficult to defeat.

One way to combat this is to do a bit of self-analysis before giving up cigarettes.

Make a list with two columns. Label column one "Why I Started Smoking" and label column two "Why I Want To Quit Smoking."

In column one, list all the reasons you can remember as to why you started smoking in the first place. Was it peer pressure? Rebellion? Did you think it made you look cool? Did it make you feel like a grown-up? Really try to remember the exact reasons why you started smoking and write them all down.

Now look over that list. Do any of those reasons still apply in your life today? Probably not.

If you're like most people, you will see that your reasons for becoming a smoker are no longer valid, are often just silly, and are easily outweighed by the risks to your health and your family's well-being.

So let's move on to column two... Why do you want to quit smoking?

This one may seem obvious, but it can be a bit tricky. You really need to take some time and think hard about this. Don't just list the obvious health reasons. You've been reading the Surgeon General's warnings for years with little effect, so you need to come up with reasons that truly have meaning for you.

The things most people write down will NOT help you quit smoking...

- I don't want to get lung cancer.
- I don't want to have a heart attack or a stroke.
- I'd like to live long enough to see my grandchildren grow up.

Those are all good reasons to quit smoking, certainly... but they deal in "possibilities" rather than in specifics.

Sure you MIGHT get lung cancer, you MIGHT have a heart attack or a stroke, you MIGHT die young and miss out on seeing your grandchildren grow up...

...or you MIGHT NOT! You're not likely to break a strong psychological addiction based on what MIGHT happen. Your mind will work hard to convince you that it won't happen to you! Instead, list health problems that you are already experiencing.

Your list should point out things in your life that you are actively unhappy about and are STRONGLY MOTIVATED to change. In order to break your psychological addiction, you need an arsenal of new thoughts and desires that are stronger than your desire to smoke!

Here are the types of things you want to put in column two...

Why Do I Want To Quit Smoking?

1. Health Reasons

- I get so out of breath when I exert myself even a little bit. Just vacuuming the house makes me pant and gasp.

- My feet are always cold. This could be due to high blood pressure and poor circulation associated with smoking.

- I have a nasty wet cough and I have to blow my nose way too often. Mucus build-up is the body's reaction to all the toxins and chemicals in cigarette smoke and could be a precursor to serious respiratory disease. Even if I don't get cancer, I don't want to be one of those people who has to tote oxygen bottles around everywhere.

- I'm always tired. Could it be that my body is using up all its energy trying to eliminate the toxins and chemicals from cigarettes?

2. Vanity Reasons

- Smoking causes premature aging and drying of the skin. I don't want to look like a wrinkled up old prune!

- My fingers, fingernails and teeth are all tobacco stained. Disgusting! How embarrassing.

- When I get on the elevator after a smoke break at work, everyone wrinkles their nose and tries to edge away from me because I reek of cigarette smoke. I feel like a pariah. It's embarrassing to always be the big "stinker" on the elevator. I feel like I have no self-control.

- My breath is awful. Kissing me must be like kissing an ashtray. I spend a fortune on breath mints.

3. Financial Reasons

- If I save all the money I used to spend on cigarettes, I'll have enough to take a vacation in Cancun (or some other warm tropical place) every winter!

- I could use the money to pay off my credit cards!

- I could donate money to my favorite charity or sponsor a child. My cigarette money could make the world a better place!

4. Family Reasons

- My family can stop worrying about me.

- My spouse will have to find something new to nag me about. Just kidding, honey!

- My children will be proud of me and (hopefully) they'll never start smoking themselves, having seen firsthand what a nasty destructive habit it is.

5. Cleanliness Reasons

- The walls used to be white. Now they're a nasty dirty-looking brown. I need to repaint... again!

- I stink, my car stinks, my house stinks, everything I own reeks of cigarette smoke. I can't even lend a book to a non-smoking friend because they can't stand the smell of smoke permeating the pages!

Do you see yourself in any of the items listed? You may have many more reasons of your own. Find as many compelling and emotional reasons to pursue smoking cessation as you can think of and write them all down. To quit smoking, you need YOUR reason to kick the nicotine habit.

If you can re-train your mind to think of smoking as a silly and self-destructive thing to do, then you're almost sure to succeed. And if you need something to do with your hands... try knitting!

Are You Risking Your Health ?

One of the most important aspects of living a healthy and prosperous life is understanding "risk." By this I mean knowing how to understand and analyze situations in life that affect health. Being able to accurately weigh benefits and risks when making health decisions is very important! Too often decisions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information and this is a huge mistake with significant consequences!

Failure to accurately assess risk keeps people locked in all kinds of unhealthy situations including poor eating and exercise habits (lifestyle), relationships and jobs. Sometimes people are just afraid to step out and make a change. They see "risk" in making a change when the REAL risk comes from NOT making a change. From my perspective, living with the stress, unhappiness and frustration of indecision and poor health is the greatest risk of all, and one that is definitely not worth taking!

Accessing "risk" is nothing more than collecting information, weighing the alternatives and then making appropriate decisions based on the information.

Some risks to our health are more "real" than others. For example, it is common knowledge that smoking and obesity are associated with a wide variety of health problems. On the other hand, there are some health risks that are so remote we rarely think about them. On a practical level, eating highly processed foods and avoiding a daily dose of fresh fruits and vegetables is rarely considered serious. But, as too many have already discovered, the long range consequences of this practice are real and devastating.

Failure to accurately assess risk limits us in many ways. We imagine the "risk" of talking with our children about drugs, dating or sex and we put off having the "talk," even though the risks of NOT talking are infinitely greater. Fear of flying and public speaking are two more "risks" affecting millions of people. But practically speaking, these fears are unfounded. People ride in cars every day, even though cars are far more dangerous than commercial aircraft! It's a failure to accurately assess risk, and it limits our health, prosperity and pleasure in life.

The goods news is that failure to accurately access risk is reversible! The effects of those decisions to eat inappropriately or NOT to exercise are, as the common expression goes, "do-overs." We can effect positive change in our lives by following a few simple steps to accurately access risk:

1. Accurately define your present situation and access your health "risks". Are you eating a healthy diet? Are you getting enough exercise and good quality sleep? What are the consequences if you DON'T change? Weigh the benefits of healthier living vs the potential risks such as increased cost, inconvenience or discomfort.

2. What do you stand to gain if you change your present circumstances? Assess the "up-side" potential. Too often we look only at the "downside" risk and forget the benefits. What good things might happen if you take the risk and win?

3. Limit the "down-side" if you happen to make a wrong decision. Don't continue down a path if it does not produce results. This is especially important when following weight loss programs. If the pounds are not coming off or if the weight loss is only temporary, find a new program! You not only want to lose weight, but want to sustain the weight loss for as long as possible. Take steps to ensure this will happen. Clear, concise, realistic objectives will definitely help.

4. Reduce your risk by being smart! Understand the situation and seek the advice of experts in the field of health and nutrition. This includes finding and forming partnerships to receive support and get good advice.

5. Have a fall-back position. If the decision you make fails to produce the desired results, be prepared to take a long, hard look at the circumstances and be prepared to change what you are doing.

Everything in life involves some element of risk. Driving your car, meeting someone new, crossing the street...but we do them every day. Winners in life are willing to accept the risk and continue on their way! Get involved, be smart about how you play the game, come prepared for a few failures along the way, but don't quite. You will reap the benefits for your effort and live a happier and healthier life. I like to remember the words of the great Winston Churchill when he said, "Never, never, never give up!"

Danger no smoking - Short Stuff

Think a couple puffs wont hurt? Well, sister, new research published in Tobacco Control shows it takes an average of just three weeks for a teen girl to get hooked, even if she only smoked two cigarettes each week. Surprised? So were the researchers. I thought kids who got hooked quickly would be the exception," says Dr. Joseph DiFranza, who conducted the study at University of Massachusetts. "As it turned out, kids who didn't get hooked quickly were the exception." What's even scarier? For a person who starts smoking as a teen, it takes 18 years to break the habit. What's smart? Never trying cigarettes in the first place.

AIDS - SEX & TEENS

What's the big deal about HIV/AIDS?

It's easy to think that AIDS is something for other people to worry about - gay people, drug users, people who sleep around. This is wrong - all teens, whoever they are, wherever they live need to take the threat of HIV seriously. To be able to protect yourself, you need to know the facts, and know how to avoid becoming infected.

Isn't it only a problem for adults?

No. HIV is a big problem for young people, as well as adults. In 2005, it is estimated that there were 2.3 million people under 15 living with HIV.

Monica: "I am 15 years old and my best friend who is a male has AIDS and we were really close so one night we experimented and after the fact that we "did it" he told me that he had AIDS."

What's the difference between HIV and AIDS?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS is a serious condition in which the body's defences against some illnesses are broken down. This means that people with AIDS can get many different kinds of diseases which a healthy person's body would normally fight off quite easily.

How long does it take for HIV to cause AIDS?

The length of time between being infected with HIV and being diagnosed with AIDS depends on lots of different things. These days, there are many drugs that can be used to help people with HIV, and most doctors believe that a lot of people can be treated for a very long time. Many people do not know exactly when they were infected with HIV, and the length of time between this happening and them being diagnosed with AIDS can be very variable.

So how do you get infected with HIV?

HIV is passed on in the sexual fluids or blood of an infected person, so if infected blood or sexual fluid gets into your body, you can become infected. This usually happens by either having sexual intercourse with an infected person or by sharing needles used to inject drugs with an infected person. People can also become infected by being born to a mother who has HIV and a very small number of people become infected by having medical treatment using infected blood transfusions.

HIV can't be caught by kissing, hugging or shaking hands with an infected person, and it can't be transmitted by sneezes, door handles or dirty glasses.

What is 'safe sex'?

Safe sex means sexual activities which you can do even if one person is infected with HIV, and they definitely won't pass it on to the other person. Loads of activities are completely safe. You can kiss, cuddle, massage and rub each other's bodies. But if you have any cuts or sores on your skin, make sure they are covered with plasters (band-aids). Nothing you do on your own can cause you to get HIV - you can't infect yourself by masturbation.

What about using drugs?

The only way to be safe around drugs is not to take them. If you are on drugs you may take risks you normally wouldn't take, and you may have unsafe sex when you would normally be more careful. If you take drugs, you might find it more difficult to use a condom, or you might forget altogether. One of the most common drugs this can happen with is alcohol - if you're drunk, you might not always know what you're doing, or you might not care.

If you inject drugs, you should always use a clean needle, syringe and spoon, water, etc each time you inject, and never share any of these with anyone else. If you snort drugs, and you use a note or a straw to snort through, you shouldn't share it with anyone else, as blood can be passed from the inside of one person's nose to another.

If you have a tattoo or a piercing, you should make sure that the needles and equipment used are sterile. Ask the staff at the place you have it done about what precautions they use.

What is safer sex?

Safer sex also means using a condom during sexual intercourse. Using a condom is not absolutely safe as condoms can break, but condoms can be effective if they are used correctly. To find out more about this, see our condoms page.

Oral sex (one person kissing, licking or sucking the sexual areas of another person) does carry some risk of infection. If a person sucks the penis of an infected man, for example, infected fluid could get into the mouth. The virus could then get into the blood if you have bleeding gums or tiny sores somewhere in the mouth. The same is true if infected sexual fluids from a woman get into the mouth of her partner. But infection from oral sex alone seems to be very rare.

Can you get infected your first time?

Yes, if your partner has HIV and you have unsafe sex, then you can become infected.

Is there a cure?

There is no cure for HIV. HIV is a virus, and no cure has been found for any type of virus. Recently, doctors have been able to control the virus once a person is infected, which means that a person with HIV can stay healthy for longer, but they have not managed to get rid of the virus in the body completely.

How can I tell if someone's infected with HIV?

There is no way to tell just by looking at someone whether they are infected with HIV. Someone can be infected but have no symptoms and still look perfectly healthy. They might also feel perfectly healthy and not know themselves that they are infected. The only way to know if a person is infected or not is if they have a blood test.

How can I get tested?

You may find it helpful to talk to an adult - perhaps a parent, school nurse or teacher may be able to advise you where you can have a test. There are details of helplines, clinics and testing centres on our help and advice page. It's much better to talk to someone than to worry on your own. The clinic will suggest that you wait three months (or six in the US) after your last risky sexual contact before having a test. This is because the virus is difficult to detect immediately after infection.

Will they tell my parents?

The clinics in different places have different policies. Most (but not all) clinics have a confidentiality policy, and will not tell anyone, although some places will want to bring a parent to give consent. You can phone the clinic before you go and find out.

What will they do?

Before they do anything, the doctor or nurse will ask if you're sure you want to have a test. They will usually take a sample of blood from you to examine. If you also want to be tested for STD's, they may take a urine sample, or they might ask if they can take a swab from the vagina or penis. Some places can give you the results on the same day, in other places you may have to wait for a week or more. While you wait, you shouldn't have sexual contact with anyone.

Source : Avert.org