Text messaging before going to bed affects sleep

We should change the lifestyle while sending text messaging before sleep.It may be time for you to put you cellphone aside before going to bed for it might affect your sleep and moods, according to a new study.

Text messaging and other electronic communication media were linked to excessive movement during sleep, insomnia, and leg pain at night in students ages 8 to 22.The report linked "high rates of daytime cognitive or mood problems ... including ADHD, anxiety, depression, learning difficulties," with late-night usage of mobiles and other electronic media."Attempts at limiting use at bedtime appear to be reasonable," ABC News quoted the researchers as saying.They suggested that parents set appropriate times for text messaging and other technology use and take proactive steps like moving computers out of the bedroom. he participants averaged 33.5 text messages or e-mails sent per night to an average of 3.7 people for a total of 3,404 text messages per person per month.These occurred from 10 minutes to four hours after bedtime."Research shows that the problem is increasing, so it is more important than ever for physicians to ask questions about technology use when evaluating children for sleep issues,”

Tips For An Anti-Cancer lifestyle

Cancer developments are often the results of faulty lifestyles! There are a lot of healthy practices like quitting smoking and drinking, exercising and embarking on a healthy diet that can bring down the risk of development of cancerous cells. But the best way to put up an anti-cancer lifestyle is to include anti-cancer foods in your everyday diet. There are foods which encourage cancer and so these are to be excluded from your eating habits. You can allow your immune system to fight diseases by making smart food choices. Here are the tips to compose your anti-cancer diet:
1. Have Plant-Based Foods

The list of plant-based foods would typically include whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. These foods are rich in fiber and antioxidants which aid in the neutralization of free radicals in the body. These free radicals are responsible for cancer development. The two-third portion of your plate should consist of vegetables or fruits while you should limit the consumption of dairy products, fish and meat to the remaining one-third part. Try taking whole foods which are close to their original form. Processed foods lack adequate nutrients and hence are ineffective in fighting cancer.
Organic foods produced locally have the minimal risk of pesticide treatments. So it is better to consume local produces which are less likely to contain carcinogens.
2. Have Foods Rich in Fiber Component

Organic foods are very rich in fiber component. Also called roughage, these plant parts which remain undigested, help in the cleaning of the digestive system by enabling food movements in the digestive tract. This way the fiber clears out the carcinogenic compounds from the digestive tract.
Foods like barley, oatmeal, brown rice, brown bread, citrus fruits, apples, bananas, strawberries, black-eyed peas, baked beans, lentils, black beans, blackberries, blueberries, mango, apricots, peas, carrots, tomatoes, sprouts, spinach, broccoli and leafy greens show high cancer fighting properties.
3. Lower Your Degrees of Meat Consumption

Studies have shown that the risk of cancer is lesser by around 50 percent in the vegetarians. This is because meat has no fiber or other nutrients which show anti-carcinogenic properties. In addition, meat contains saturated fat, which is very harmful for health. Intake of foods rich in fat can lead to the formation of carcinogenic compounds.

4. Control Your Consumption of Fats

Not all fats are carcinogenic. There are fats which offer protection against cancer. Thus, you have to make a wiser decision regarding the selection of fats. The unhealthy fats are the trans fats and the saturated fats. Eggs, red meat and whole milk dairy products are rich in saturated fats. Trans fats are formed by the addition of hydrogen to vegetable oils to aid in better preservation. These two fats are highly carcinogenic. The healthy fats come from organic sources and the sources are nuts, olive oil, avocados and canola oil.
5. Select the Anti-Cancer Foods

Eating several types of anti-cancer foods would produce the combined effect by boosting up the immune system of the body. The list would begin with antioxidants, the powerful vitamins, which aid in the proper functioning of cells.Foods often turn harmful because of the ways they are cooked.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie relationship

It appears that marriage for Brad and Angelina is a long way off.

Here's information on the celebrity relationship of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
What can you learn about marriage from the relationship of Brad and Angelina?
Brad and Angelina are setting an example of working together not only for the sake of their children and one another, but for those living in difficult situations and locales. Although they originally were not putting a priority on their time alone together, that seems to be changing.

Angelina: "You have to make time when you are not Mom and Dad once in a while. I think for anybody who has kids, the most important thing is that you love your children, but you also have to stay focused on each other so that you stay strong. And you staying strong as a couple keeps the kids in an even better place."
Source: Martyn Palmer. "Angelina Jolie Reveals the Truth About Brad and Her Children." How Brad and Angelina Met:
Becoming friends while working on the movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Brad and Angelina denied having a romantic Relationship involvement while he was married to Jennifer Aniston.

Their first public outing together was at the opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky on November 19, 2005.

Lifestyle:Anil ambani

Lifestyle of Anil Ambani (born June 4, 1959) is an Indian businessman. As of October 6th 2007, he has a net-worth of US$42 billion, making him the 6th richest person in the world. His was the world's fastest-growing multi-billion-dollar fortune in percentage terms as his wealth tripled in 1 year. Both the brothers are worth around 85 Billion US dollars.
Ambani is the chairman of Reliance Capital, Reliance Communications and Chairman & Managing Director, Reliance Energy, and was formerly Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited. His personal stake in Reliance Communications is 66%. Reliance group is India's largest business house, founded by Anil's late father Dhirubhai Ambani (1938-2002). His mother is Kokilaben Ambani. He is married to Tina Ambani (Munim) who was a well known Indian Actress in early 80's, and with whom he has two sons, Jai Anmol and Jai Anshul.
The total investors' wealth in the four Anil Ambani Group firms -- Reliance Communications (RCOM), Reliance Capital (RCL), Reliance Energy (REL) and Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL) has reached 1,42,384 crore rupees, while total promoter holding is estimated at about Rs 87,000 crore. Anil's wealth comes mostly from his over 65 per cent stake in RCOM, which has a market cap of about Rs 1,03,000 crore. He also has over 50 per cent in RCL (market cap of Rs 24,000 crore), 35 per cent in REL (market cap of Rs 12,700 crore) and close to 54 per cent in RNRL, which has a market cap of about Rs 2,600 crore.His net worth subsequently plunges by over 60% owing to poor stock market condition in India led by ADAG stocks.
Ambani holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mumbai and an MBA degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently, he serves as a member of the Wharton Board of Overseers.
Ambani joined Reliance in 1983 as Co-Chief Executive Officer and is credited with having pioneered many financial innovations in the Indian capital markets. For example, he led India's first forays into overseas capital markets with international public offerings of global depositary receipts, convertibles and bonds. He directed Reliance in its efforts to raise, since 1991, around US$2 billion from overseas financial markets; with a 100-year Yankee bond issue in January 1997 being the high point, after which people regarded him as a financial wizard[citation needed]. He has steered the Reliance Group to its current status as India's leading textiles, petroleum, petrochemicals, power, and telecom company.
Anil was the member of Uttar Pradesh Development Council (This council has now been scrapped) He is also the Chairman of Board of Governors of DA-IICT, Gandhinagar and a member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is member of the Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is also a member of the Central Advisory Committee, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. In June 2004, Anil was elected as an Independent Member of the Rajya Sabha - Upper House, Parliament of India with the support of the Samajwadi Party. In March 2006, he resigned. Recently after his brother Mukesh Ambani he also has his name in the books of Trillionaires.
Anil has been linked with several starlets in his long career including his current wife of more than 15 years. He is a close friend of movie star Amitabh Bachchan[ One of his major achievements in the entertainment industry is the takeover of Adlabs, the movie production to distribution to multiplex company that owns Mumbai's only dome theatre.
On August 3rd 2008, it had emerged Ambani has become a leading conteneder to take over English Premier League team, Newcastle United in a £230m deal. Should this bid fall through, it has also been rumoured that he would be interested in a takover bid of League One club, Leeds United.
Eagle-eyed viewers of Setanta Sports spotted his son, Joi Anmol conversing with Bill Kenwright and Rober Earl, the majority shareholders of English Premier League side Everton FC, during their final preseason game against PSV Eindhoven on 9th August 2008. Kenwright has recently confirmed that the club is looking for investment and is potentially for sale (sources for this include the club's official website) but it is not known if Joi Anmol's presence at the game indicates any interest in acquiring the club or simply reflects social connections.

* Ambani had relationship with and married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim.
* He has two sons who currently study at the Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai and Sevenoaks School near London and not the family owned Dhirubhai Ambani International School.
* Ambani once weighed 115kgs, but upon being ridiculed for his weight in a boardroom meeting, he lost weight and is now a self-proclaimed "fitness freak."
* Anil's close friend circle includes Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and politician Amar Singh, among many other prominent Indian socialities, filmstars and businessmen.
* In 2006, his group company NIS Sparta saw big movement of senior people joining Bharti.
Awards
* Voted Businessman of the Year 2006 by Times of India-TNS poll
* Adjudged as the CEO of the Year at the prestigious Platts Global Energy Awards for 2004.
* Voted 'MTV Youth Icon of the Year', September 2003.
* Conferred 'The Entrepreneur of the Decade Award' by the Bombay Management Association, October 2002.
* Awarded the First Wharton Indian Alumni Award by the Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) in recognition of his contribution to the establishment of Reliance as a global leader in many of its business areas, December 2001.

life style of indian farmers in india

India is an agricultural country. India lives in villages. The villagers depend on agriculture. They are either farmers or workers on the agricultural fields. Ours industries and urban business also depend on agriculture. Thus, an Indian farmer truly represents India. He can be called the son of the soil. It is on his sweet and labour that our progress and prosperity depend.

The lifestyle of indian farmers who feeds and clothes the people. An Indian farmer is very hard working. He is very busy throughout the year. For him there is no rest. He is engaged in tilling the soil, sowing the seeds, watering the fields, reaping and harvesting the crop and then taking it to the market to sell it. And yet he is very poor. He is being exploited by the money-lenders, the middlemen and the government servants.

His needs are few and simple and yet they are not met. Most of the Indian farmers or tenants. Their exploitation should be stopped. They should be distributed agricultural land. They should be given cheap loans and other facilities. They should be given better seeds, fertilizers and return for their produce. The irrigation facilities should be improved.

India cannot prosper until Indian farmer is poor and miserable. He is the very soul of the country. He is as important as a soldier, a doctor or an engineer. That is why the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gave us the slogan: "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan." But it should not remain only a slogan. The Indian farmer should be given his due regard and status. Every effort should be made to make him happy, rich and comfortable. His labours and sweat should not go unrewarded.

He should be taught how to read and write. Education should be taken to his door-steps so that his children do not remain illiterate. He should be provided with better medical and health facilities. He is the bread-earner of the country and should be treated accordingly. If he himself remains hungry, illcad or ignorant how India can make progress? Some schemes have been started to improve his economic and social condition. But many more such schemes need to be started.

Time for Pacquiao to stop cheating history by inventing weight classes

Another event, another catch ... weight, that is.

Nothing but disappointment and grumbling has been expressed in the wake of yet another failed attempt to match Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Manny Pacquiao, universally regarded as the two best fighters in the world today.

In a perfect world, a worthy alternative would be offered with at least the promise of something greater waiting in the wings. Instead, we get whatever promoters and networks elect to feed us.

Rather than a matchup to determine who's the best active fighter (and welterweight) in the world, we get a repeat of what we were already asked to pay for last year: Team Pacquiao inventing another weight class for the sake of chasing history.

From the moment promoter Bob Arum revealed in his after-hours conference call more than a week ago that the options for Pacquiao's next opponent were limited to two of his own fighters, it was clear that the final choice would come down to the one more willing to bend over and take it however the Vegas-based promotional company wanted to give it to them.

Arum stated on the call that he was confident that a deal could be reached within 10 days, though also claiming that negotiations had never yet begun with either Miguel Cotto or Antonio Margarito -- the two finalists in this year's Pacquiao opposition sweepstakes.

The comment was peculiar considering that Pacquiao -- for all of his charm, humility and in-ring greatness -- has proven in recent years to be a bear to deal with at the negotiating table. Deals to face Cotto, Ricky Hatton and Oscar De La Hoya all dragged on until the last possible minute, with all three fights in limbo at one point or another before being finalized.

At the heart of most negotiating complications is money, but the deal struck with Cotto went well beyond that. The sales pitch for their November 2009 showdown was Pacquiao pursuing a title in a record seventh weight class, just months after having become the only fighter in boxing history to capture lineal world championships in four separate divisions.

The biggest hang-up most had with the manner in which he was gunning for Cotto's title was his unwillingness to honor the actual welterweight limit. Cotto held his ground for as long as he could, demanding that the fight either takes place at 147 pounds for his title -- or at Pacquiao's suggested catchweight of 145 but without the alphabet hardware at stake.

With nobody looking out for his best interests -- Arum promotes both sides but was never going to tell Pacquiao to back down -- Cotto eventually gave in, agreeing to the catchweight and accepting the payday that came with title fight.

We are now at the same exact point, only the circumstances are far more suspect.

Without a deal in place, Arum has already claimed on the record that Margarito -- who has now emerged as the frontrunner to face Pacquiao on Nov. 13 -- is willing to concede to Team Pacquiao's demand for a catchweight of 150 pounds. That's a full four pounds beneath the junior welterweight limit.

If it were for any given fight, it wouldn't be much of an issue -- the weight or the fight itself. More than a few fans and media members have voiced their displeasure over Margarito being rewarded with a big payday while still being without a license to box in the United States. Those same outspoken critics have called for his banishment after being caught cheting with loaded hand wraps prior to the eventual beatdown he would catch from Shane Mosley in their January 2009 fight. More so than the act itself, what doesn't sit right with most is Mararito's tendency to stop just short of accepting full responsibility for what took place that night whenever pressed.

But all of that stuff merely casts Margarito as the villain when the deal to face Pacquiao in November is finalized.

A villain is precisely what has been missing from Pacquiao's last several promotions. That's all the more reason why a showdown with Mayweather -- who has perfected the role of Public Enemy No. 1 for any given event in recent years -- would've resulted in the most lucrative prizefight ever.

You can argue that De La Hoya wore the black hat when he faced Pacquiao in December 2008, simply from the perspective of his having spent the past 11 years at 147 or higher while calling out a fighter who at the time had never fought heavier than 135. It was the first time in years that Pacquiao entered the fight as a considerable underdog, making it that much easier to root for him and only adding to the promotion.

Since then, the choice of opponents have hardly been the type of cats that you love to hate -- Ricky Hatton, of whom there's only one; Cotto, whom most either love or are simply indifferent two; and Joshua Clottey, who -- even if you dislike him -- never carried with the fans that level of interest to significantly add to any promotion.

From that perspective alone, Margarito serves a purpose -- one more reason to root for Pacquiao, one more reason to hate Margarito, one more reason to buy the pay-per-view event.

That was never going to happen with a Cotto rematch; if anything, it would detract from Pacquiao's popularity. Arum's sales pitch that Cotto brings enough to the table to make a second fight enticing never went very far; the lopsided beating is still far too fresh in everyone's memory -- as is the lousy undercard that preceded the main event.

Even worse, any record books that would recognize Pacquiao as an eight-division world champion -- had he won -- would've shown two wins over Cotto at two separate weight classes, neither of which would've come at the true divisional limit.

Sadly, part of that statement will still read true after Nov. 13, should he get by Margarito.

At stake for this event will be a belt that was vacated by Sergio Martinez -- to be contended by two fighters who between them account for zero notable wins at the 154-pound limit.

Margarito's most recent fight came at the junior middleweight limit, taking a 10-round decision over fringe contender Roberto Garcia. Prior to that fight, it was six years since he fought at the weight -- dropping a decision to Daniel Santos in their September 2004 rematch -- and even longer since he won a fight above welterweight.

In other words, nothing to earn the right to challenge for a title of any kind.

While Pacquiao arguably earns the right to fight for the belt of his choosing on social status alone, it's been more than two years since he's fought for any title sanctioned by the alphabet group who will recognize the winner of this fight as their junior middleweight champion. That fight for Pacquiao came three weight classes south, against David Diaz for a lightweight belt.

Pacquiao won that fight with ease, but never defended the belt or even returned to 135. That win came on the heels of his rematch win over Juan Manuel Marquez for the lineal junior lightweight championship, only to bolt from that division immediately after the fight.

His two-round blowout over Hatton for the lineal junior welterweight crown remains his only fight to date at the 140-pound weight limit. Several publications (including BoxingScene.com) continue to recognize him as the champion, even though he hasn't fought at the weight in more than a year, nor is it likely that he ever drops back down below the welterweight division.

In fact, for all of his belt-collecting in recent years, his 12-round whitewash over Clottey earlier this year marked the first successful title defense at any weight since he campaigned as the world featherweight champion more than six years ago.

Now, one fight into his welterweight reign, he eyes a belt in yet another division.

He doesn't want to pursue it the old-fashioned way -- by earning it -- or even by pursuing one of its many other beltholders, but instead by cherry-picking his way towards a vacant title ... in a fight where the participants could potentially weigh no heavier than four pounds below the actual divisional limit.

The demands for last year's Cotto fight -- while not universally embraced -- were at least somewhat forgiven, considering the fact that Pacquiao was at least facing a recognized beltholder.

But there are only so many times that a fighter and his team can keep dipping into the same well and expect his paying audience to come along for the ride.

Pacquiao's history-making run in recent years has proven that he's capable of sustaining his greatness even as he adds pounds to his frame and challenges himself in the ring against top-notch fighters.

But in the wake of failing to make a fight happen with Mayweather, and considering that there are plenty of other fighters in and around the welterweight division against whom the fans would much rather see him, the time has come for Manny Pacquiao and his handlers to stop caught cheating history.

Employees feel more stressed at work than in home life

Nearly half of employees (47%) say that they feel much tenser at work than in their home life according to Aviva's annual Health of the Workplace study.

The survey found that 50% of employers consider themselves to be good role models, but 45% also admit to being stressed at work.

One in five (19%) employees say they think their bosses create a stressful environment, while the 29% of employers admit they could do with improving their employees’ work life balance.

More than a quarter (27%) of employers say that their main priority is to create a motivated team who enjoy working together and 25% say that their number one priority is achieving a friendly company with a good work life balance.

Company size plays a key role in business priorities, according to the survey. The smaller the company, the more important work/life balance is thought to be, with half of companies with less than nine employees citing this as their number one priority for the business. This falls to just 12% for companies with over 100 employees.

Dr. Doug Wright, principal clinical consultant at Aviva UK Health, said: “The latest Aviva Health of the Workplace study suggests that while employers are making some very positive moves towards creating a healthy workplace environment, the overwhelming priority is still on financial performance.

“It’s particularly worrying that employers currently see themselves as role models despite admitting to suffering punishing levels of stress themselves – especially considering a manager’s behaviour has an inevitable knock-on effect on their staff.

“Businesses need to balance their financial priorities with efforts to improve the health, wellbeing and morale of the workforce. At Aviva we understand fostering wellbeing in the workforce is a key focus for employers, but many do not have the tools or insight to enable them to do this effectively.”

Additional findings include:-

•30% of employees agree that their boss ensures that they have a good work/life balance

•46% of employers say they hold regular social events for their staff

•52% of employees are less than enthusiastic about going out with their wider team

•one in five employees openly admit that they do not like socialising with their colleagues.

•15% feel obliged to show their face, but do not really enjoy it

Municipal platform is going to protect women at workplace

From Tuesday, Mumbai’s working women will have a support platform that will strive towards eliminating sexual harassment at the workplace.

Aimed at making Mumbai a “gender friendly city”, the BMC’s Savitribai Phule Gender Resource Centre will be inaugurated by municipal commissioner Swadheen Kshatriya. Such centres have been set up by NGOs but this is the first by a civic body.

Built on a municipal reserved plot at Balaseth Murudkar Marg in Lower Parel, the center is the result of the efforts of the civic body’s committee on prevention of sexual harassment, formed in 2003 for women in municipal offices. Dr Kamakshi Bhate of KEM Hospital said it will also serve as a platform for various agencies and NGOs working towards empowerment of urban working women, especially those from BPL families.

NGOs such as Akshara, Stree Mukti Sanghatana, Sneha and Lawyers Collective have already come forward and agreed to share their resources for complaints redressal, counselling and training. We will also involve corporate firms and various UN programmes. We will also have community psychiatric units in slum areas to help women who undergo various forms of embarrassment, at home and at their workplaces.

One of the main areas of focus will be a violence resource centre, a platform for redressal of complaints. Any woman harassed can complain and will be counselled by trained persons. A community video unit will involve youths in highlighting and documenting women’s issues and violence against women.

The centre will include self-defence training, and a library and a reading room. It will be open to school and college girls from BPL families who mostly live in one-room houses without a place to study. A preventive health clinic open to all girls and women will be on the premises.

How can working moms strike home and work life balance by managing stress

These days, working moms have many titles and wear many hats. Regardless of your profession, striking the work-life balance and "having it all" is probably on your list of constant challenges. Given that the average person works 45-50 hours per week and spends approximately one hour per day with their children, work has become a major stressor.

Stress is unavoidable - it is simply the body's reaction to change - and our world is constantly changing. When you experience change, it affects your total person: emotionally, behaviorally and physically. Managing that stress is key to remaining healthy and being the best "you" that you can be.

In a recent article, What Really Matters, published by The State News, Suzy Merchant, head coach of the MSU women's' basketball team shares candidly the combined challenges of working and parenting. "With the dynamics of everything, I don't think 'balance' is the right word. I don't think there is work-life balance," Merchant said. "I think it's just literally about being in the moment of 'mom mode' or 'work mode, coach mode.' You have to separate them, and when you can blend it, it's great."

Here are some ways to rebuild and maintain energy to manage your stress:

Take a nap
A quick 10-20 minute "power nap" is all it takes to shut down and rebuild some energy.

Eat healthy
Decrease the amount of sugar and fats in your diet; increase whole grains and proteins. A common sense approach to eating healthy may work best.

Exercise
Exercise helps your body manage stress by relieving muscle tension, increasing energy levels and strengthening the immune system. Sneaking exercise in by parking at the far end of the parking lot and taking the stairs instead of an elevator is a great start. Want to take it a step further? Try taking a walk, hiking, cycling, yoga classes, fitness classes, swimming - anything that gets your heart pumping!

Prayer and/or Spirituality
Studies show that people who pray or use some form of spirituality live longer and healthier than people who do not. Prayerful meditation, attending church and other spiritual activity is good for your health.

Have Fun and Laugh!
Your body releases a stress busting hormone when you laugh. Play, have a big adventure, have a girls night out, wrestle with your kids, goto a comedy club - whatever makes you let loose and have real fun.

Australia's wine industry is looking at India for absorbtion of excess supply

Australia's wine industry, valued at ASD 5 billion, is keenly looking at India to stay afloat at a time when it is going through a crisis due to excess supply, a top official from the sector said here today. All major Australian companies, including the top four, are investigating joint ventures opportunities as also distribution alliances for their wine brands in India.

The Australian wine industry is "undergoing a period of crisis" as there is a supply glut in the domestic market. Over capacity has compelled the Australian wine majors to explore strategic partnerships and distribution network with Indian liquor companies. Australia's top wine producers include, the Fosters, Constellation, Pernod Ricard and Cissallo.

Australia, which is the world's largest exporter of wines, shipped liquor worth ASD 20 million to India in the last fiscal, Griffth said, adding that the companies are looking to expand base in India. In 2009-10, Australian wine producers exported a total of ASD 200 million worth of wine products to China. India in the long-term is a large opportunity for us.

If the Indian government brings down tax barriers, it will be easier for the Australian wine producers to strike deals with Indian companies. Australia and India are working on a Free Trade Agreement, which may see taxes on liquors coming from down. Australia's wine and grapes sector is witnessing over capacity and demand stagnation.

Grapes and wine prices have fallen significantly in the post-Global Financial Crisis (GFC), compelling many to even leave the business. Independent grape producers are the most affected as prices have come down to (Australian) USD 250 per tonne from USD 1,000 per tonne as supply has outstripped demand. The four big players in the industry produce only 10 per cent of the grapes and the rest is bought from independent producers.

13-year-old girl spurns marriage with 38-year-old man

A 13-year-old girl has showed exceptional courage in stopping her wedding to a person thrice her age and who already has two wives.

The girl contacted a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working for the welfare of children and women. NGO members, along with Department of Women and Child Development officials, swooped on the girls house at Gautan Nagalavi in Mandihal Gram Panchayat, Dharwad taluk, and saved her from child marriage.

It is believed that the girls father received Rs 6,000 from a 38-year-old person of Nandghad in Alnavar taluk, to arrange the marriage. The girl had just completed seventh standard at the Government High Primary School at Mugad. The groom had allegedly promised the girls father more money after the marriage.

As soon as the girl learnt about the marriage, she opposed it and expressed her desire to continue studies. Even her mother and uncles supported her, but her father was adamant. The girl, who had heard about the NGO during an awareness programme in the school, showed the courage to contact them seeking help to save her.

Saved in nick of time

On Thursday, Dharwad-based Sadhana Human Rights Centre Founder Isabella Xavier, Child Development Project Officer (Dharwad Rural) D H Lalitha, a supervisor and an Anganawadi worker visited the girls house at Gautan Nagalavi.

They managed to convince her father to cancel her marriage fixed for June 4, and send her to the Balakiyara Balamandir at Ghantikeri in Hubli to continue her studies.

D H Lalitha recounted that when they visited Gautan Nagalavi, the villagers and family members asked them to save the girl. As a result, three purposes were served. The child was saved, her desire to continue studies will be fulfiled and awareness was created among other adolescent girls of the village, she added.
In the last two months, the department has managed to stop two child marriages in Itagatti and Benachi villages.

The girl will now continue her studies at Balakiyara Balamandir till she is 18.
Isabella Xavier said the awareness programmes about child marriage and childrens rights being organised in schools under the Sarva Shikshana Abhiyan helped this girl. Such a programme was held at the Mugad school also. When this girl came to know about her marriage, she sent her uncle to the school, obtained my phone number and contacted us, she said. Her marriage was being arranged through a mediator at Alnavar.

Xavier further added that the girls father, an alcoholic, beat up his family members for opposing the girls marriage. In view of this, she has been shifted to Balakiyara Balamandir.

When the girl was brought to the Balamandir on Thursday evening, the mehendi on her hands and legs were tell-tale signs of the marriage that she managed to rescue herself from.

The girl, who defeated the bid to ruin her life, was visibly happy about being able to continue her studies now.
DH News Service

Milan Dalal to be formally arrested in cheating case tomorrow

Securities scam accused Bhupen Dalal's son Milan, detained at Delhi airport would be brought to Mumbai tomorrow following which he would be arrested in connection with a cheating case.

On the run since July 2009, Milan was yesterday detained by Immigration officials at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.

As a look out notice was issued against him, the officials caught him and informed about his detention to Mumbai Police, Ambre said adding a three-member team headed by Inspector Bhushan Rane left for Delhi yesterday. He would be brought here in a train after which we would arrest him formally.

An FIR was registered against Milan and his five associates in July 2009 for allegedly cheating and trying to grab a private limited company at Vile Parle with forged documents.

The accused had also allegedly transferred two lakh shares of the company worth Rs 12 crore to their accounts by forging signatures.

Essence of Corporate Governance

Generally the company's philosophy on corporate governance is to attain the highest level of transparency, accountability and integrity. The true meaning of corporate governance is to satisfy the aspirations of all stack holders, customers, suppliers, leaders, employees, the shareholders and the expectations of the society. The Board of directors supports the broad principles of corporate governance and direct the action of the organisation to achieve it's a vowed objective of transparency, accountability and integrity.

Fundamental principles of corporate governance:

The basic objective of corporate governance is to maximise long term shareholder value. Therefore, good governance should address all issues that lead to a value addition for the organisation and serve the interests of all the stakeholders.

Transparency:

Transparency means accurate, adequate and timely disclosure of relevant information to the stakeholders. Without transparency, it is impossible to make any progress towards good governance. Business heads should realize that transparency also creates immense shareholder value. But, information Sharing is hindered under the excuse of confidentiality. There is need to move towards international standards in terms of disclosure of information by the corporate sector and through all this to develop a high level of public confidence in business. Once a company has public shareholding it is imperative that its commitment to financial transparency must be total. The Company is a trustee of the investors' money and this responsibility in turn demands full disclosure. Corporations in India must learn to work with transparency and impeccable integrity as these are the essential ingredients to maximise their wealth and wealth of the nation. Transparency and disclosure are the pillars of corporate governance because they provide all the stakeholders with the information necessary to judge whether their interests are being taken care of.

Accountability:

Corporate governance a top down approach chairman, Board of directors and chief executives must fulfill their responsibilities to make corporate governance a reality in Indian Industry. In companies with good governance, accountability is not just bottom up but also follows the reverse order. A department head is responsible for every decision taken on behalf of his department. Accountant also favours the objective of creating shareholder value.

Merit based Management:

A strong board of directors is necessary to lead and support merit based management. The board had to be an independent, strong and non- partisan body where the sole motive should be decision making through business prudence. Though corporate governance is much broader than corporate management, an efficient and effective administration of corporate sector is essential for meeting the desired objectives. Corporate governance ensures that long term strategic objectives and plans are established and that the proper management structure is in place it achieve those objectives while at the same time ensuring that the structure functions to maintain the company's integrity, reputation and responsibility to its various stakeholders. Thus, corporate governance involves the broad parameters of reporting system accountability and control.

Suggested List of items to be included in the Report on Corporate Governance in the Annual Reports of Boards:

1. A brief statement on company's philosophy on code of governance.

2. Board of Directors(BOD):

* Composition and category of directors.
* Attendance of each director at the BOD meetings and the last Annual General Meeting.
* Number of other BODS or Board Committees he/she is a member or chairperson of.
* Number of BOD meetings held, dates on which held.

3. Audit Committee:

* Brief description of terms of reference.
* Composition, names of members and chairperson.
* Meetings of attendance during the year.

4. Remuneration committee:

* Brief description of terms of reference.
* Composition, names of members and chairperson.
* Attendance during the year.
* Remuneration policy.
* Details of remuneration to all the directors, as per format in main report.

5. Shareholders Committee:

* Name of non- executive director heading the committee.
* Name and designation of compliance officer.
* Number of shareholders compliance officer.
* Number of shareholders complaints received so far.
* Number not solved to the satisfaction of shareholders.
* Number of pending share transfer.

6. General Body Meetings:

* Location and time, where last Three Annual General Meetings held.
* Whether special resolutions were put through postal ballot last year, details of voting pattern.
* Person who conducted the postal ballot exercise.
* Procedure for postal ballot.

7. Disclosures:

* Disclosures on materially significant related party transactions i.e., transactions of the company of material nature, with its promoters, the directors, the management, their subsidiaries or relatives etc., that may have potential conflict with the interests of company at large.
* Details of non- compliance by the company penalties, structures imposed on the company by the stock exchange, SEBI or any statutory authority, on any matter related to capital markets, during the last three years.

8. Means of communication:

* Half yearly report sent to each household of shareholders.
* Quarterly results in which web site, where displayed.
* Where it also displays official news releases.
* The presentations made to institutional investors or to the analysts.

9. General shareholder information:

* Annual General meeting: Date, Time and Venue- Financial Calendar - Date of Book closure - Dividend payment date- Listing on stock exchanges - stock code - Market price data:- High low during each month in last financial year. Performance in comparison to broad based indices such as BSE Sensex, CRISIL Index, etc.,
* Registrar and Trade Agents: Share transfer system - Distribution of Share holding - dematerialization of shares and liquidity - Outstanding warrants or any convertible instruments, conversion date and likely impact on equity- Plant locations - address for correspondence.

Future of Corporate Governance:

Nowadays, more and more progressive companies are drawing and enforcing codes of conduct and accepting tougher accounting standards which are mandated by law. These tendencies would be further strengthened by a variety of forces like deregulation of economic reforms, disintermediation of financial sector reforms, institutionalization of capital markets, globalization of financial markets and tax reforms for block money transactions.

Change Management - The Horror of it All

The failure rate of all significant change initiatives is approximately 70%. A recent reader of an article on my website challenged me re the source of that often quoted statistic. Here is a brief summary of a cross section of sources that I sent her and that reveal the horror of it all...

A global survey conducted in 2008 by McKinsey and Company offered the insight that organisations could only hope to survive by constantly changing - but approximately two thirds of all change initiatives fail.

In a recent "Call for Papers" for the "Journal of Change Management" [for a special issue entitled "Why Does Change Fail and What Can We Do About It?"] Professor Bernard Burnes of Manchester Business School makes the observation that whilst this does seem to be an astonishingly high rate of failure, it is in line with most of the literature on change which consistently quotes failure rates of between 60% and 90% [Burnes, 2009]. For example, consultants Bain and Co claim the general failure rate is 70% but they indicate that it rises to 90% for culture change management programmes. And in relation to the failure rate of BPR initiatives, prevalent in the 1990s, Hammer and Champy [1993] claimed a failure rate of 70%.

According to "Research Findings on Program Failure and Success" by Patrick Morley, Ph.D. Chairman and CEO, "Man in the Mirror": "Two-thirds of Total Quality Management (TQM) programs fail, and reengineering initiatives fail 70% of the time [Senge, 1999]. Change initiatives crucial to organizational success fail 70% of the time [Miller, 2002]"

A "Computer Weekly" study [2003] on 421 IT projects revealed the following:

# 16% of all projects successfully completed [that is they were delivered in scope on time and on budget]
# 75% of all projects were "challenged" in the following ways:
# 35% behind schedule
# 59% over budget
# 54% under-delivered on planned scope

A survey conducted by the Standish Group [2003] showed that 66% of IT projects are either totally abandoned or fail against a measure of budget, scope, time or quality (i.e. 'challenged').

It has been estimated that the cost to US business of failing or abandoned IT projects runs into hundreds of billions of dollars.

Closer to home, the UK Labour government have wasted 26 billions of pounds on failed projects. An investigation by "The Independent" newspaper has found that the total cost of Labour's 10 most notorious IT failures is equivalent to more than half of the budget for Britain's schools in 2009.

The world of mergers and acquisitions fares little better. The "value enhancement trend for 10 years of KPMG International's MandA survey" shows that on average only 28% of mergers have resulted in enhanced shareholder value, whilst an average of 36% have led to a reduction in shareholder value. This value assessment is based on company share price movements relative to average industry sector movement during a two-year period.

In the film "Apocalypse Now", the anti-hero Colonel Kurtz mumbles through the closing sequences:

"...the horror...horror has a face...and you must make a friend of horror..."

Any impartial assessment of all of the main types of significant change initiatives reveals the sheer horror of the colossal human and financial wastage perpetrated by organisational and political leaders.

The knowledge of how to successfully lead and manage change is out there in the public domain in a growing body of easily accessible work.

So it must be an appalling combination of ignorance and arrogance that causes the organisational and political leaders who preside over this litany of costly failures to be so desperately under-prepared as they embark on further change initiatives without facing [let alone making a friend of] the horror of change failure.

Or, god help us, has the marginal rate of increase in change now largely overtaken many organisations' capacity to deal with it?

Indian Miniatures - Painting Secular Lifestyle of Medieval India

Where would the history of Indian painting, especially of it medieval period, stand without the broad mention of Mughal Miniatures? It would be hard for an art critique to paint a complete picture of cultural and artistic journey of India without putting the miniature paintings on record; these were the exotic and beautiful pieces of art that the artist did under the helping umbrella of the Mughal emperors who ruled most part of India from sixteenth to eighteenth century.

Mughal Emperor Humayun had injected artistic flavour into the art of Indian painting when he had welcome two miniature artists from Persia. By the passing of time this miniature art has percolated up to the deep corners of Indian states which were ruled by the Rajaput Kings and other princely states of northern and southern India.

On seeing the mughal miniatures we would think that this must be a Persian painting; such heavy was the influence of the Persian painting style on the minds of the Indian artists of that time. But the Mughal style of painting concisely narrates the life and choices of the people of medieval India.

On close scrutiny, we would find that there is elaborated depiction of the lifestyle of contemporary Indian society; May it be the costumes that the men and women in the paintings put on, or may it be the ornaments of the male and female figures have on their bodies: these articles were the clear witness what the life of people was in those centuries.

Strangely enough for the historians, too, the paintings commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar were the clear witness of a great endeavour to integrate two different cultures of Hindu and Muslim into one and create a peaceful Indian state. The paintings of Lord Krishna fall under this category. The miniature artworks of other deities of Hindu religion were the proof of the will of the great Emperor. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the mughal miniature paintings are symbol of cultural and religious tolerance that had developed in India during the medieval period.

Lifestyles of Singles - Dating, Relationships, Careers and Fun

The singles lifestyle is not as easy and carefree as it appears, and there are hidden dangers all around. Problems such as date rape, STDs and psycho boyfriends. Then there is the bar scene, the club scene and the awkwardness of the same old "sex in the city" routines. All this plus, you must maintain a job, a place to live and be street wise and careful.

And as for the dating scene, the online dating and the lousy hook-ups and referrals from people you thought were your friend. Well, how on Earth is a single girl, living the single lifestyle suppose to manage all that? Well, speak no further as I have just the book for you, one that is fun to read, and gives some common sense advice as well as some of the tricks of the trade for those living the single lifestyle and looking for a potential suitor:

"Dating, Inc.; Recruit, Select, and Retain the Right Man for the Relationship" by Jeff & Carol Cohen

These two authors also write for About dot com on the Internet and have written numerous articles, factoids and sound advice for those living the singles lifestyle, loving it, but still looking for that special someone to make their lifestyle complete. A relationship with a potential soul mate with information on how to test drive before you jump all the way into a permanent situation.

One of the best parts of this book and something that I found most intriguing was the incredible ease of use, worksheets and simple explanations. It's no wonder that Jeff and Carol Cohen are the people go for answers when they want advice on enhancing their lifestyles and love lives. I very much recommend this book and I wish you all the success in the world with your singles lifestyle and love life.