Scribe Harini

Awaiting Transformation....

2010-11-20T13:19:00.000+05:30

Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be. :)
Running up to the mirror again and again just in a span of few minutes to see if there is any minor change…
Feeling the bulge on my tummy and saying “baby! What are you doing nana?”
That weird frisson, an aura of magic that combined awkwardly with an earthy sense of duty, is mundane, because I am nothing unique on the streets; ethereal because my attention was ever somewhere else. Whatever people said was trivial. And I have that preciousness which I impose wherever I go, compelling attention, constantly reminding people that I am carrying the future inside, its contours already drawn, but veiled, private, an inner secret.
Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or to hatch. It is the most wondrous and magical adventure that I can ever experience. I feel love, patience and other emotions bubbling up within me. I am loving it !

"Beware of the pitfalls of unsafe sex" - Renuka advices

2009-06-23T22:18:00.000+05:30

“Thank God, my kid is healthy and does not have HIV, but I wonder if I will be lucky this time,” says Renuka, a 28 year old woman from Andhra. Five months pregnant with her second child, Renuka’s anxiety is both evident and understandable – she has been HIV positive since 2006.

A blood test at a blood donation camp in 2007 revealed the bitter truth. One doesn’t have to wonder long about the source of the deadly virus as she frankly confesses, “It is due to unsafe physical relations with non-regular partners.” And though she struggles to live peacefully with the condition, trying to integrate herself with the community, the pang of dejection is never far away. Grateful just to be alive, however, she tries to stay optimistic.

Renuka is not the only one in this lonely fight. Millions of others have contracted the virus in the same manner. Now aware of the pitfalls of unsafe sex, Renuka strongly advises against having multiple and unsafe sexual relationships.

The Andhra Pradesh AIDS Control Society survey reveals that AP has the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the country, with two percent of the low-risk general adult populations represented by women. It has also been found that the prevalence of sex with non-regular partners (NRPs) is substantially higher in the state than the all-India average. As the problem reaches epidemic proportions, the issues of care and support for the affected individuals and prevention of HIV transmission from those affected has become critical.

Lack of awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS among women - both educated and un-educated – is a major factor leading to the virus’ spread. “Usually people do not know how the virus is transmitted and the gamut of myths surrounding the disease doesn’t help matters either,” says Dr. Surendra Mantena, medical expert and consulting physician at MedPlus Health Services.

He adds, “At our clinics, we believe the primary control measure is to educate people and demarcate between facts and myths surrounding HIV/AIDS. HIV is spread by sexual contact with an infected person, by sharing needles and/or syringes (primarily for drug injection) with someone who is infected, or less commonly through transfusions of infected blood or blood clotting factors. Since all transfused products are now routinely screened for HIV, the chances of infection through this route are remote. It is important to know that HIV does not survive well in the environment, making the possibility of environmental transmission remote. Normal physical contact with a HIV infected person also does not transmit infection. Babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth or through breast-feeding after birth.”
On the importance of curbing this epidemic, he comments, “Individuals should become aware of the risk factors associated with contracting HIV including unsafe sexual practices and IV drug use. Since HIV tends to be asymptomatic until an advanced stage, periodic testing the key for people at risk. Public health measures should include Counselling and Confidential Testing.
Hereby there is a friendly advice to all those youngsters about to get married.. It’s not a sin to get yourself thoroughly checked up before marriage. Go get the HIV test done. It’s good for both of you.

Family planning for women beggars ! - must and should !

2009-02-18T20:49:00.000+05:30

Most of us know that the woman beggars on the roads and at traffic signals are often found carrying big tummies ! Yes they are pregnants again soon after they deliver a baby ! Lets talk openly and in a broader sense. It's human tendency that one feels erotic at times and feels like satisfying their pleasure hunger. It's a different case when we speak about married and unmarried people in the society. But for those less fortunates on the road side, they have no other go than satisfying those men who crave for sex. They lend their bodies just for the sake of money. Finally, they are pregnants and they deliver babies on the roadside itself. I have seen a lady delivering a baby at around 11 in the night and cutting off the naval connection with a blade. Yes! I was shocked, surprised, felt sad and what not ! I was expression less and speech less. Most sadest part is that those babies are the ones who feed their moms. Yes ! the lady takes the baby to a nearby traffic signal and out of sympathy, people just drop coins into her hands. Those little innocent babies are not fed properly and are left with no concern on roads. On one unfortunate day, those babies grow up to see the world with nobody to care for them. With no other go, they turn into beggars too. If it is a girl child, she turns into a prostitute to earn her daily bread and if its a boy child, he turns out to be a "chotu- the chai wala" or a pocket picker. In worst cases they turn out to be rack pickers. The government has many schemes for various caders of less fortunates living in the society. But what about those who have no home to live, nothing to wear and nothing to eat? The point that I want to put across is that " THEY NEED FAMILY PLANNING OERATIONS DONE FOR SURE". Yes ! or else India will turn out to be a country having highest percentage of beggars. Coz, beggars have no overview of life and their productivity goes into the profession of begging ! I have written this write-up with a positive intention so that my trials of making the officials understand will succeed if atleast a few of you read it and pass on the message. I am sure one day this will reach the officials. Ofcourse those sincere !

Beware of fake email job offers!

2008-11-11T22:24:00.000+05:30

HYDERABAD: The city police has cautioned citizens to be careful about fake job offers in the United Kingdom (UK) through e-mails.
Recently, an unemployed person was duped of more than Rs 4.60 lakh by an e-mail that offered a job in the UK.
According to Central Crime Station (CCS) DCP R S Praveen Kumar, the victim, Ch Sudhakar, who posted his resume on naukri.com, received an e-mail offering him the post of a software engineer with a salary of 4,800 pounds per month at Marriott Residence Hotel, London. Sudhakar was also offered an air ticket and free accommodation from Sir Powel, Human Resource Development Manager.
Sir Powel asked Sudhakar to contact Claire Tuhey (Asia zonal coordinator and office in-charge of British Council) for visa-processing.
Sudhakar was selected through an e-mail interview in which he was asked to give brief answers to the listed questions within 72 hours. Based on the score, he was sent an appointment letter through e-mail and lured to deposit Rs 4.63 lakh in various bank accounts for visa-processing.
"Believing that he had bagged a job in the UK, Sudhakar borrowed money from his friends and relatives. But, even after sending the money, he did not get the visa. Realising that he had been deceived by Nigerians, he lodged a complaint at the CCS,’’ Praveen Kumar said. The police has listed out measures to avoid getting duped by e-mails promising jobs. For any information on offers through emails/phone, citizens can visit ‘Frauds’ section on www.hyderabadpolice.gov.in or call Cyber Crimes Cell at 040-27852040 or mail to cybercell_hyd@hyd.appolice.gov.in.
The DCP claimed that there had been a steep decline in the incidence of cyber frauds after the launch of the city police department’s official website www.hyderabadpolice.gov.in.

Hyderabad - a hackers' den

2008-09-22T16:05:00.000+05:30

Hyderabad, Sept. 21: A city couple recently found, to their utter shock that an MMS of video clips of them in an intimate situation were spreading through emails and SMS. Another youngster of Adilabad circulated nude pictures of his girlfriend to his friends "just for fun" but landed in the police net.
These are just two instances of the various kinds of online crimes that the cyber crime cell of the AP police has to deal with. It receives an average of five complaints a month about obscene pictures alone. "Majority of the victims of such crimes are unmarried," said inspector P. Devandar of the Cyber Crime Cell. "They do not dare to come out and lodge a complaint." Girls who put up their photographs on social networking sites are actually running a risk.
One fine day, they may find morphed nude pictures of theirs in cyber space. And if you also leave your mobile number, you will get umpteen calls from strangers seeking sexual favours. In many such complaints received by the cyber crime cell, the villains turn out to of former friends or jealous ex-lovers. And often, when police discover the culprit, he works out a compromise with the victim.
But cops say that even if the offender does not repeat the crime, the clips keep on circulating. And there is nothing they can do about it. "Our advice to the public, especially to girls, is that they should not share photographs, even with friends," said Mr Devender. "Equations between friends may change and there is a possibility that a former friend may misuse a photograph and defame you in cyber space."
And those who spread such clips need not feel that they would not be traced. "The offenders believe they can remain anonymous in any cyber space but, like in conventional crime, they leave behind evidence," said the inspector. The cyber crime cell is also getting more complaints of hacking and phishing these days. Modern hackers are silent and stealthy and attacks are hard to detect. They don’t hack just for the heck of it. They hack for money. Companies often don’t know they have been attacked until a third party such as Symantec warns it.
"The hackers sneak in, get away with information, and the company does not even know it," said the inspector. In phishing attacks, hackers steal personal and financial data from computers of individuals and use them to make money. One in every 119 mails is a "phishing attempt". They direct the users to spurious websites which demand personal data and the gullible fall for it. Awareness is the antidote in this case.
"Stay away from dark alleys of Internet, and be careful what you download," said inspector Ravi Kumar Reddy. "Make sure you have the latest security patches and never reveal your passwords." Strangely enough, even aspirant hackers are being bamboozled. Those who go in search of free hacking tools on the Internet are often asked for the email id, password and credit card number. This is then misused. Cyber Crime sleuths say that they can do nothing against hackers who put up their tools on the Net. The only way is for the Net surfer to become aware of the booby traps in cyber space.

violators fail to pay the fine mentioned on the e-challans

2008-09-17T20:31:00.000+05:30

City motorists are receiving e-chalans almost six months after
they had violated traffic rules. Surprisingly most of the cases are left free even
after the violators fail to pay the fine.
Most of them get tensed up and pay the fine in a nearby e-seva centre as the chalan
says "If failed to pay, you will be sentenced to three years of imprisonment."
The e-chalan concept that started in Hyderabad in May, 2007 came into effect from
June, 2007 and ever since then it tasted success.
Earlier, the police officials used to collect fines from the traffic violators on
the spot itself. After the introduction of the e-Chalan system, that came into
existence, the police will note down the number of the vehicle of the motorist who
had violates the traffic regulations and send the report to the e-Chalan department
at the Commissioner ate every evening. The concerned department will send notices to
the violators asking them to pay fine and also mentions the amount to be paid as
fine.
While the system and the cops are working round the clock to implement perfect
traffic rules and regulations across the city, most of the violators are failing to
pay the fines imposed on them for violating traffic rules.
"I don't remember violating traffic rules because the date and time on the
e-chalan are almost an year old," says V Abhishek, a Btech graduate.
"There are many issues regarding e-chalans that are to be sorted out. The most of the e-chalans are being received by wrong persons as either they had already sold off the vehicle or their friends who have used the vehicle had violated the traffic rules. The people who are willing sell their vehicles should also remember to get them registered on the buyer's name. Then there would be no such problems. We are working over it to solve such issues," said Surendra Babu, Additional Commissioner, Traffic.

Gandhi Hospital - syringes used for HIV positive - discarded carelessly

2008-09-17T20:25:00.000+05:30

Bad sanitary practices at Gandhi Hospital are leaving patients high and dry, exposing them to a number of infectious diseases. Even syringes used for HIV positive patients are discarded carelessly.
A nine-year-old girl who is a HIV victim was admitted to the hospital a few days back. The nurses in the hospital are so careless that after giving injections to the girl, the used syringe was thrown carelessly and other little kids and their attendants who were placed in the same ward were found playing around with those syringes.
Not just the Children's medical ward, Gandhi Hospital has always been in the list of those hospitals which have poor sanitation and poor medical facilities even after spending over Rs 1 Lakh for maintaining sanitation in the hospital.
"Nurses are not available in the first floor though there is special counter made for them to sit and attend patients when needed. We have to take our sick children all the way to the ground floor and then bring them back carrying on our shoulders," explained Lakshmi, a patient's attendant.
While on the other hand, poor patients who visit the hospital are tortured for bribes by the security personnel standing at the entrance of the ward.
If bribe is not given, the patients are asked to take a gate pass and then enter the ward. There are no metal detectors for security and though there are security personnel placed at the entrance, they are busy demanding bribes and none check the baggage that the patients carry inside.
While this is the situation, the superintendent of the hospital Dr B Balraju says, "nothing of this sort has come to my notice."

Medical Negligence leaves people high and dry

2008-09-17T20:17:00.001+05:30

Instances of medical negligence and callousness have gone up in twin cities with poor patients being turned away or denied medicare. These incidents are reported both from government and private hospitals with authorities turning a blind eye to the ever increasing menace.
On Friday a three-year-old girl was forced out of a corporate hospital, leaving her parents in the lurch. The girl, Shahadzada Arshia, was admitted to Kamineni Hospital after she suffered an electric shock. The girl's uncle out of anxiety walked up to the ICU and watched the girl from the glass window. This angered the duty doctor there and the girl was sent out. Later, her parents shifted her to another hospital.
"The little kid was not treated properly and the authorities here have asked us to take the child away. Without our consent, the discharge certificate was made ready," said Yousuf, the girl's uncle.
A couple of days ago, a severely ill HIV positive patient was denied admission by NIMS authorities. The patient was admitted to the premier hospital only after the relatives and friends staged dharna.
In yet another incident Gandhi hospital staff did not bother to properly dispose of the used syringes and other medical wastes. One of the syringes was used on a HIV positive person. The hospital superintendent, Dr B Balraju however, argued that "this has nothing to do with sanitation. Used syringes are not cleaned by workers to maintain sanitation."
A retired government employee, who was admitted to NIMS, was allegedly not treated properly. He suffered for 10 days and died. The nurse on duty allegedly refused to check his temperature. She reportedly shot back, "the pathology department has no thermometer. You have to buy it yourself."
"We have informed the same to the DME. It came into my notice after it happened. I had put a tight check on all the medicines after that incident," said Dr Ashok Kumar, Superintendent, Osmania General Hospital.
Srinivas, a patient in Osmania General Hospital, was administered anaesthesia for surgery. He was supposed to be in an unconscious state for two hours, but he regained consciousness within half-an-hour as the drug’s effect wore off. The city also witnessed a shocking incident where a DMO in Fever Hospital, Sudhakar, misbehaved with a 15-year-old girl. The doctor was reportedly drunk at the time of the incident. He was later suspended.
"It is really shocking and I personally feel very bad. He has been there for not more than a year with us. We have replaced him immediately after the incident happened, said Dr PP Prasad, the superintendent, Fever Hospital.
A doctor, who runs a private clinic near Pahadishareef in Cyberabad, reportedly stabbed a patient who visited him for treatment. In this case also, the doctor was reportedly drunk.
In a recent incident, a 60-year-old diabetic who came all the way from Mahbubnagar to Osmania General Hospital for treatment was made to walk all around the hospital. Later he just went away without receiving treatment.

Lack of info irks relatives

2008-09-17T19:20:00.000+05:30

Lack of sign boards at Osmania General Hospital is leaving patients and visitors high and dry. Those visiting patients find it hard to locate their near and dear ones.
"We have come to meet a relative. We searched in vain as there are no sign or direction boards. The authorities too are non-cooperative. We are returning home without meeting the patient," said R Ramesh, who came to the hospital with his family members.
Admitting that such situations do happen in the hospital, a doctor who wants to remain unidentified said, "it will hardly take a day to fix the sign boards. If not sign boards, at least directions written on a piece of paper can be stuck on walls to guide patients and visitors."
Some of the wards do not have lights. Moreover the conditions in the hospital are simply deplorable. Nurses and Doctors too have a hard time attending to patients in these wards. Some of the corridors do not have lights making it difficult to move about in the hospital during nights. Several patients alleged that treatment was poor and facilities were bad.
"Surprisingly, the help desk is empty all the time and there is no one to guide patients within the hospital building. During my visits, I quite often guide patients to the wards mentioned on their OP sheets," said Jaffar Khan, an auto driver.
However, the superintendent of the hospital, Dr Ashok Kumar, said, "we are already working on those lines."

Cops struggle to find identity of victims

2008-09-17T19:16:00.000+05:30

The medico legal cases that are being brought to the government hospitals by 108 emergency services are turning out to be a headache to the local police as most of the persons remain unidentified.
At least five cases a day are registered in Osmania General Hospital and Gandhi Hospital. Most of them found lying unconscious by thr road side are fully drunk and a few of them are orphans. The passers-by who show concern to them call up the 108 emergency services and As they be in person found lying on the road is
"If they die, we are finding it difficult to find out their personal details," said a police inspector.
"Most of the passers-by have a second thought in disclosing their details to the 108 services at the time of informing them about somebody who has been found lying at a public place," said an official of the Gandhi Hospital.
"Most of them admitted to the government hospitals die as they already have had certain health complications for a long time," said a doctor of Osmania General Hospital.
On the other hand, there are situations where the accident victims were not given treatment within the `Golden Hour' because hospitals refused to handle such cases. To ensure that hospitals and doctors recovered costs incurred in emergency cases, "Legal aspects of medicine and trauma should be made part of the curriculum in medical colleges, to erase misconceptions about handling emergency cases," says Vishal, a medical student of Osmania.

Net, MMS sleaze spreads

2008-09-13T14:22:00.000+05:30

In a recent case in the state, MMS and videos via emails of couple in
compromising situations were being forwarded all over the net and through
cellphone by the guys themselves just for the kick of it.
A case was registered in Adilabad district in the state recently on Riyaz,
a youngster who had clicked obscene pictures of his girl friend and
forwarded them to all his friends just for fun. He was later appreheneded
by the police.
Many girls walk unsuspectingly into such situations, unaware that the guy
misuses these photos and videos and sends them across to his circle of
friends and which travels even beyond.
"I logged into my gmail inbox to check my e mails. I was shocked to
recieve an email that had a young girl undressed and having a chat with
her boyfriend," said Manoj (name changed), a communication professional
who resides in Dilsukhnagar.
"There are several such cases happening in the city. 99 per cent of the
victims are unmarried. They donot want to darely come out and lodge a
complaint against the offender," says P Devender, Inspector, Cyber Crime.
Its shocking that there are an average of 5 complaints per month receieved
by the Cyber Crime cell. Surprisingly, the victims just lodge a complaint
but they have second thoughts in registering a case.
It is a major form of an offence and under the 67 of the IT Act, for
publishing obscene material in electronic form, the punishment could be Rs
1 Lakh fine and five years of imprisonment. If the person repeates it, the
punishment will be Rs 2 Lakh fine and 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.

DO's and DON'Ts

Do

be aware of the way pose to the camera.
check the mentalities of the people you are freaking out with.
enquire about the person your aquainted with before you commit
have many numericals in your password
make sure your password has more than eight letters
last you can do is lodge a complaint against the offender if you know who
he is.

Donot

believe anybody in one meet
let anyone just click your pictures
reveal your email passwords to even your close friends
upload your private pictures into your email Ids
go for things out of thrill and fun. You will end up no where. (Especially
girls)

"Free" mein miletho phenol math piyo ! Beware you'll be lured...

2008-09-11T10:35:00.000+05:30

Free softwares that claim to help you to hack into passwords are availablefor free downloads all over the net. This implies that one doesn't need tobe a hacker or know about hacking since such free software supossedlymakes it a matter of child's play. But cyber experts say that hackers putup all this info over the net only to lure money from the user."Some of the hacking tools advertised on the net are genuine and some arenot but we cannot identify their quality by just checking over net," says P Devender, Inspector, Cyber Crimes.Most of the internet users click on the link once they find the word "free".Once you hit the link, a page appears that reads, "Enter your email ID andpassword. The free hacking tool software will be sent to your inbox."Once you type in your email and password, yes the software will definetlycome into your inbox but at the same time, your person information hasbeen sent across. Similarly, they ask for your credit card numbers for IDproof. This is even more dangerous. Somebody from abroad can easily useyour credit card to buy online items.Hacking tools available all over the net can really cause harm but theycannot be destroyed."For instance, a hacker from the USA could have put up all the informationregarding a hacking tool. The Indian law cannot interfere in it," explainsthe inspector.And when we talk about hackers, the main resource hackers rely upon, apartfrom their own ingenuity, is computer code. While there is a largecommunity of hackers on the Internet, only a relatively small number ofhackers actually program code. Many hackers seek out and download codewritten by other people. There are thousands of different programs hackersuse to explore computers and networks. These programs give hackers a lotof power over innocent users and organizations -- once a skilled hackerknows how a system works, he can design programs that exploit it.Not all hackers try to explore forbidden computer systems. Some use theirtalents and knowledge to create better software and security measures. Infact, many hackers who once used their skills to break into systems nowput that knowledge and ingenuity to use by creating more comprehensivesecurity measures. In a way, the Internet is a battleground betweendifferent kinds of hackers -- the bad guys, or black hats, who try toinfiltrate systems or spread viruses, and the good guys, or white hats,who bolster security systems and develop powerful virus protectionsoftware.It is not so easy to catch hold of them and put them behind the bars, saysthe Cyber Crime Inspector. It is because, the hacker would happily say hehacks into systems just because he wanted to know how the systems work. Toa hacker, a secure system is like Mt. Everest -- he or she infiltrates itfor the sheer challenge.There are severe punishments, fines and also imprisonment for variouscyber crimes Under IT Acts.Cyber Crime department says the hackers and the information they put upall over the net cannot be avoided but the general public who login tothose websites just because there is a word "free" there, can land them inserious troubles. So here is a warning for them.

Email hacking now solved in Cyber Crime Cell

2008-09-09T11:10:00.000+05:30

Email hacking has become a major cyber nuisance intwin cities with increasing number of net users complaining of losing their email data. Cyber victims can now lodge a complaint with the police for redressal of their grievance. Earlier, cyber police did not entertain complaints with regard to email hacking. Now the affected people can lodge complaints with the police. According to city cyber experts, over 60 per cent of the cyber attacks are hurled on the login pages. The hackers do nothing but focus on finding out the feeble loopholes in the designed pages of sites and format programs to launch repeated attacks. They inject devastating programs through these vulnerable points. "Hacking tools are readily available on the net for download," says John Diwakar, a software expert.

However, the websites which provide information on hacking tools claim that the data they put up is only for the sake of ethical hackers. "Hacking of the Email ID can happen only when a person reveals his password to a known person. Surprisingly, only persons whom we trust and give our password, tend to do such things", said Ravi Kumar Reddy, inspector, Cyber Crime. "Earlier, when an Email ID is hacked, all a person could do is, create another ID and upload all the important data once again. But now, he can lodge a complaint in the cyber crime department under CID situated at Nampally. The Cyber crime cops will track the hacker and the victim can get back his hacked Email ID," the inspector said.

A CEO at 22

2008-09-09T11:02:00.001+05:30

Rituraj Sapkota, the creative director of Fl!pmind..

"For the youth by the youth".Yes this is the motto that the youngsters in the city are upto.Youngsters as young as 20-22 are turning entrepreneurs as soon as they areout of colleges. These micro businesses are funded by their own savingsand their business interests range from media and ad agencies to studiosand production houses.Rituraj Sapkota who has completed his graduation in Masscommunication fromLoyola Academy this year, started a firm, Fl!p Minds along with his friend Rommel Anand. By recruting around 15 freelancers who include content writers and conceptwriters, the two of them are getting away good with the business. We workin a no-hierarchy environment, we do events and videos that are FAR awayfrom mainstream ones, the two of them behind the origin of Fl!p Minds say."We started Fl!pmind because we needed to be at a level where we couldtake decisions and bring about change. And this we could not do whileworking for someone else. Hence we had to start something for ourselves.",says Rituraj Sapkota."We had faith in ourselves, we had gained enough experience in the fieldwhile we were in college and we also realized that success isnt aboutwalking fast on roads built by others but in building your own roads,"says Rommel Anand.Most of the youngsters drive to Suchitra only to visit 'Lucky LickersCoffee shop' owned by 22 year old Gautam Kumar.All wonder how he could manage starting a coffee shop, he says "I pouredin all my savings. I earned money by doing corporate films for businessorganisations and documentaries for NGOs"The softwares that most of the media houses and a few TV channels use inthe city have been developed by 'Next Click Solutions Pvt. Ltd' and thewhole soul proprietor of the company is Arun Varma a Btech graduate of CBIT and who is all of 23. He has started this organisation an year agowhen he was in his final year Engineering.

"My dream is to see that day when my company is equally competing withMicrosoft and Google. This will happen in the next ten years down theline," he proudly says.All of them seem to be working with one motto,"We are more of a community than an organization where everyone earns asmuch as he works for. Our basic objectivbe is to make a difference. Weuse young, innovative people and do a good job."

Human Smuggling Racket - Twists and Turns

2008-09-07T12:31:00.000+05:30

The human smuggling racket case that involved TRS MLA Kasipeta Lingaiah, is moving with more twists and turns. The Central CrimeStation cops have identified another woman Sumitra Ben who was shown as Tarainvolved in the same case before Sangeeta Ben Patel.According to CCS inspector Sarath Kumar, the appearence of Sumitra Ben being similar to that of Sangeeta Ben Patel, is the reason behind all thesetwists and turns. Sumitra Ben Patel is a house wife in Gujarat and wanted to leave abroadfor goodprospects. Thinking that she would never get a visa if applied in a propermanner,she consulted Bharatbhai Patel another accused in the case who is apassport brokeralong with other brokers. Bharatbhai arranged for a passport and wheneverythingwas made ready for her to fly to the US, Bharatbhai and his team realisedthatSumitra had already left for US through another broker.Then started all this high end drama where Sangeeta Ben Patel wasdisguised asSumitra Ben. As per a plan, the racketeers secured passport for Ms.Sumitra Benusing her photograph in the name of Mr. Lingaiah’s wife Tara. But Ms. SumitraBen struck deal with another agent and flew to America. "The agents beganlookingout for another client with similar facial features. That was whenSangeeta BenPatel met them," an investigator said.All these facts came into limelight only after the arrest of RajendraKumar Pitti andBharatbhai Patel a few days ago. Bharatbhai got bail when Raju wasarrested. Thecops interrogated both of them together and only then the facts came intolight.Raju Pitti, a key accused in the case, was the person who had brokered thedealbetween Sangeeta and the MLA. Raju was taken to Gujarat to locate Sangeetaandarrest her. He was introduced to Sangeeta by Bharatbhai Patel ofAhmedabad whoused to send 'cases' to Hyderabad.Rasheed, a former corporator who assisted Raju in getting fake passports,facilitating visas and sending out persons to the US was nabbed last yearby thecops. Kasipeta Lingiah was also arrested last year and is out on bail.Cops believe that persons like Sangeeta paid anything between Rs 10 - 15Lakh tosecure a visa to the US enlisting the services of legislators like Lingaiah.Sangeeta a working woman engaged in doing embroidery work was planning to goto the US to provide services of a maid in the homes of affluent Gujaratisin thatcountry.She had been absconding since the sensational human smuggling racket came tolight a year ago. She was brought to city on Friday after being arrested inAhmedabad on Thursday. Ms. Patel, wife of a businessman Jagdish BhaiPatel, wasaccused of attending visa interview at American Consulate, Chennai, alongwith Mr.Lingaiah falsely claiming as the latter’s wife.Sangeeta's visa was rejected just because she could not answer any of thequestionsposed to her in the American Consulate.A special team of Hyderabad Detective Department cops picked up Ms. Patel,themain missing link in the case, from her house in Bapunagar of Ahmedabad.She isthe sixth person to be arrested in the case after Mr. Lingaiah, passportbrokerMohd. Rasheed Ali, ex-corporator, Mohd. Muzaffar Ali Khan, commission agent,Bharat Bhai Patel and the alleged kingpin, Rajender Kumar Pitti.Rajendra Kumar Pitti alias Raju Pitti was produced in the Nampally CriminalCourt on Saturday at around 3:30 pm. Following this the Delhi police havefiled aproduction warrant to take the accused into their custody, inspector said.

Kidnap Case booked against Megastar Chiru

2008-09-07T12:22:00.002+05:30

City police book kidnapping case against actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi of Praja Rajyam party. Parents of Nalini, the womanat thecentre of a row over her inter-caste marriage, which was blessed byChiranjeevi, onSaturday lodged a complaint against Chiru and Katti Padma Rao in SR Nagarpolice station.Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi is caught in a controversy after heattended aninter-caste wedding that triggered objections from the bride's family.According to SR Nagar inspector of police, D Pratap, Nalini's parents ManiandSubba Rao visited the police station on Saturday and gave a wriiten complaintagainst the actor and his party members Padma Rao. They also alleged thatwhenvisited Padma Rao's house, they were forcefully locked up in a room. The occasion was the marriage of noted Dalit activist-writer K PadmaRao's sonChetan with Nalini, a 24- year-old engineer belonging to an upper caste.Chiranjeevi attended the wedding, held at Film Nagar Club in Hyderabad onSaturday last, and blessed the couple. He also spoke spiritedly about thevirtues ofinter-caste marriage and the need for creating a casteless society.The event came in the backdrop of a turmoil on Chiranjeevi's home frontwith theelopement of his teenaged daughter with her lover last year after hereportedlydisapproved of their marriage.The film star's presence at the Dalit boy's wedding led to a bitter rowwith thebride's parents who alleged their daughter was forced into the wedlock andkept inconfinement by the family of the Dalit writer and with the "active supportof theactor".Incidentally, Padma Rao had recently joined Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam partywhose main plank is social justice.Accusing the actor of staging a drama only to gain political mileage forhis newly-launched party, Nalini's parents T Subba Rao and T Mani pointed out howChiranjeevi himself had disapproved of his teenage daughter's proposal tomarryher lover outside the caste.They went to a local television channel with their version of the storyand madeallegations against the actor and the Dalit writer.Nalini's parents claimed their daughter was engaged to a boy of the samecaste justa week ago. "When we came to know about the marriage through the media, wewent to Chiranjeevi's party office to plead with him to arrange a meetingwith ourdaughter. We were chased away by his fans," they said.They also took strong objection to the reported offer made by Chiranjeeviwhileblessing the couple, at the wedding ceremony, that he would adopt the bride."How can he encourage such marriages without parental consent when he himselfhad suffered mental agony after the elopement of his daughter?" thebride's parentsquestioned in presence of media.However, Praja Rajyam Party spokesman P Prabhakar said the actor had attendedthe wedding only as a guest and he had no role in the marriage."The whole controversy is unwarranted and it is ridiculous to dragChiranjeevi intothe row," he said.Meanwhile, Padma Rao said he had readily accepted the marriage proposal as hefirmly believed in encouraging inter-caste weddings."When the bride's parents came to me and raised objections to themarriage, I triedto convince them that we need to accept the marriage. Since the girl is amajor, sheis free to take decision on her marriage", Padma Rao said.Appearing before the media last night along with her husband, Nalini saidshe hasmarried on her own free will.Meanwhile, her parents today met Home Minister K Jana Reddy and Telugu DesamParty chief N Chandrababu Naidu separately and sought justice.The film star-turned-politician set off a fierce protest from TamminaSubba Raoand T. Mani, parents of the bride, Nalini, for reportedly calling her ashis ‘adopteddaughter’ at the wedding which was performed in their absence in ‘castelesstradition’.When the question came up at a press conference, Praja Rajyam spokespersonParakala Prabhakar said Mr. Chiranjeevi had just attended the wedding as aninvitee and that nothing more need be interpreted into his presence.Mr. Subba Rao and Ms. Mani, accompanied by a relative, Prasad, approached atelevision channel on Thursday, alleging that Ms. Nalini was forced into themarriage. Ms. Mani referring to Chiru, wondered how a person who still didnotaccept the inter-caste marriage of his own daughter Srija, over a yearago, could‘adopt’ a 24-year-old girl without the consent of her parents.Cases have been booked against Chiranjeevi, Padma Rao, Ketan and C SrinivasUnder Sections 366, 343 and 506 (Kidnap) IPC.On the other hand, Nalini's parents Subba Rao and Mani have filed apetition withthe State Human Rights Commission complaining of foul play in the marriage oftheir daughter stating that she was forcibly and fradulently got marriedto Ketan,the son Katti Padma Raoon August 30 with the active connivance of Chiranjeeviand that their daughter was already engaged to another boy on August 25. andwhen they went and confronted Padma Rao, they were wrongfully confined forthree days in a house belonging to Mr CN Rao and inspite of a complaintlodgedwith the Sanjeev Reddy Nagar Police Station, no action has been taken.They had arranged a press meet on Saturday evening and told the press thatChiranjeevi was behind their daughter's marriage. They also told that theyhave allthe evidences to say that Chiru was the man behind their daughter's marriage.

City Center Mall -Murder conspiracy case - busted -

2008-09-04T12:18:00.002+05:30

The city task force police have busted a murderconspiracy case in thecity and arrested seven persons, seized cash of Rs 6.1 Lakh, five daggersand a sword onWednesday.The accused were identified as Dr Mohd Abdul Hakeem, 32, Taher Hashmi, 22,AbbuHashmi 25, Naseem Hashmi, 20, Mustafa Hashmi, Mohd Mustafa, 35 and ParikiralaRaghupathi, 32.According to the cops, late Chand Seth is the owner of Mumtaz SupplyingCompany. Hehad five sons. Out of the five sons, two MA Nayeem Zaki and MA Munium akaHaji Sethwere together. They own a few function halls and furniture shops. Laterthey developedrifts as they had petty quarrels regarding their partnership in the property.One of the properties, the present "City Center Mall" situated atBanjaraHills was the wasthe bone of the contention regarding property partnership dispute betweentwo of them.There is a civil case pending in the court over this matter. As the casewas taking timeNayeem and his sons Nadeem and Dr Hakeem developed grudge against HiajiSeth and hissons. They wanted to eliminate them to settle scores.On that note, Dr Hakeem, the son of Nayeem planned to kill Haji Seth. Helooked out forpersons who can help him out in doing this. He approached Thaher Hashmi, aformeremployee under him and a close friend. Both of them met several times overthe issue andHashmi promised Hakeem to commit the offence.Hashmi arranged his associates Md Mustafa, a doctor and Raghupathi, apractisingadvocate at Warangal, who agreed to commit the offence for a remunerationof Rs 15Lakh.Hashmi and his brothers in greed of money coasted a sum of Rs 25 Lakh toDr Hakeem forexecuting the plan, where by they can keep Rs 10 Lakh after paying Rs 15Lakh to theWarangal gang. Dr Hakeem agreed to pay Rs 12.5 Lakh as advance.Out of Rs 12.5 Lakh adance, Rs 7 Lakh was paid as advance to Mustafa andRaghupathiagain of which Rs 3 Lakh was taken by Mustafa, Rs 4 Lakh by Raghupathi andRs 5.5Lakh by Thaher Hashmi and his brothers.Mustafa and Raghupathi engaged Paramesh and Raghu as both them have acriminalbackground to successfully execute the plan and all of them were waitingfor the right timeto execute the plan.At this point, the task force police came to know the whole issue andarrested the accused.Paramesh, Raghu, Nayeem Zaki and Nadeem Zaki are still absconding. Effortsare beingmade by the cops to trace them.All the arrested accused persons along with the seized property werehanded over to theChandrayangutta police for further investigation.

Network and win a job offer !!

2008-09-03T22:13:00.001+05:30

Corporates, HR pros and recruiting officers are visiting Social Networking sites to identify individuals who can be hired.
Those who have good profiles and come across as enterprising are approached informally first - this makes it easier to filter a person before making the whole process too formal.
Most of the recruitment officers were students at Colleges when Orkut, Facebook and Myspace hit the Web, and though they weren't quite sure what to make of the social networking site at first, they flocked to it -- just like millions and millions of their peers.
Today, Orkut, Facebook and social networking pioneer My Space are Internet juggernauts with more than 160 million users and more signing up every day. Which recently got many people thinking, maybe those networks might be more than just a handy way to stay in touch with friends.
"My manager and my supervisor didn't know much about them. But I showed them around the sites and they thought using them could be a great idea," says Sriram V, an employee with HCL. Not surprisingly, they aren't alone.
Locally and nationally, recruiters and employers are increasingly turning to Orkut, Facebook and MySpace to help them find and hire talented professionals.
It's an unexpected use for sites originally launched for strictly social purposes and targeted almost exclusively at young people. But some recruiting officers say the huge memberships at Orkut, MySpace and Facebook give them almost unlimited access to millions of potential employees.
"You really can find candidates out there," he added "It's the new version of cold calling," says G Manohar Reddy, a software engineer with Wipro.
But as the number of recruiters and companies looking at these sites grows, many questions remain unanswered about how content on Orkut, MySpace and Facebook can be used in hiring or firing.
There's no mystery to the appeal of Orkut, MySpace and Facebook to recruiters and other employers. The sites' popularity, and the vast scope of their user base, make them a fast, easy way to find young professionals.
Orkut with over 70 million, MySpace with more than 100 million users, and Facebook with more than 60 million, are the three dominant forces in the world of online social networking, and as their users grow older, the sites figure to become more useful for business.
Facebook, for instance, reports that half of its current users aren't in college and that its fastest-growing demographic is those 25 and older. It also dominates the university scene, with 85 percent market share at four-year colleges.
"These started out as a social networking tool, allowing you to connect with like-minded individuals," said Kulwinder Singh, Head- Global Marketing and Communications.
"But they've become a tool for companies like mine. My guys will go out there and search with it. People put the companies they've worked for on their pages, and if we know we're looking for an accountant, they'll look out for an accountant. What it does is allow you to reach out to people who are not actively searching for jobs." He added, "It's kind of a warm point of contact, which I've found very useful." His clients stand to benefit. "I have had that Facebook account since college," he said.
"It was just a fun thing. I had no ideas of using that as a networking tool as far as getting a job," says S Rituraj of Flip Mind.
John Diwakar, a Btech graduate said his page never had much in the way of objectionable content on it anyway. But John now says the fact that he knows potential employers may be looking at his site has changed the way he uses it -- not to mention his standards for what can and can't be posted there.
On an average, nearly seven per cent of the hiring happened through Orkut, LinkedIn or Facebook in the city.
"The power of the brand in the social media is important to new generation kids who spend about one-fifth of their lives online. So, how do I appeal to the new generation?"
In the eighties it was the ‘popularity’ of the company that mattered to candidates, in the 1990s it was the safety and the security that the company offered. But now it’s the power of the social media that’s overtaking everything else.
However, social networking sites as a medium for employer branding may only appeal to a section of recruiters, said Sunil Kharidehal, a software engineer at Oracle.
"We cannot simply trust the information displayed on social networking sites. To get in touch with experienced professionals, job sites are the best option. But if the company wants to recruit freshers, this is a good option as many youngsters and college students have their profiles on these sites," opined G Sugunakar, a recruitment officer at Eureka Technocrats.

Literates - a new class of terrorists

2008-08-28T23:09:00.000+05:30

The recently busted ten accused of banned SIMI-members (Students Islamic Movement of India) in their alleged involvement in Ahmedabad blasts has once again raised a question as what lays the literate people to resort to heinous terror strike. Some of the arrested SIMI members are highly qualified.
One of the ten suspects, Usman Agarbatiwala, who is in the custody of the Gujarat crime branch for their alleged role in the Ahmedabad serial blasts, holds a diploma in Human Rights from the MS University in Vadodara.

The alleged mastermind behind the blasts, Mufti Abdul Bashar Kasmi alias Shaukeer is an editor, tutor and preacher.
Is there any fault in our education system? Do they get different education which preaches them violence? It is certainly not. No education imparts terror. Many people receive the same education, but very few get involved with such type of unlawful activities. They must be feeble-minded people who come under easy influence to insurgents.
Education makes people capable of wise thinking and helps them in making differentiation-what is right and what is wrong. If these so educated people become puppet at the hand of handful of terror elements, what would be of those illiterate ones, whose minds are so plain to be imprinted anything easily.
For few years, many highly qualified people are found involved in terrorist activities. It seems when many students choose engineering, medical, civil services as career, some prefer to pursue career in terrorism. Many of them belong to wealthy class and are well qualified. So the age-old notion that economic deprivation and the inadequate education are the only cause of these people’s involvement in terrorists activities do not hold much ground now. However, these can be a mere speculation, but the recent years’ findings involving qualified, young student in spreading terrorism leads us to think in this way.
Ahmedabad blasts (2008) – alleged mastermind is a teacher, Jaipur blasts (2008) – alleged hands of a medical student, Bangalore blasts (2005) – mastermind is an engineer and alike unearthed after investigations that highly qualified persons have been involved in terror strikes. Why? It is still difficult to answer.
Is the Indian government knowingly or unknowingly nurturing hate among the minority community? Are the policies of government unwittingly developing a thought in them that they belong to second-class? It is absolutely not. India is a country of multi lingua, multi religio-culture and people here from the ancient periods have been involved in adopting every new culture and religion. If Ram is our God, Rahim too. Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Irfan Khan, Dr. Kalam are our national heroes. They rule our heart; they are not bound by any religion.
Despite that, one percent throws light on such discrimination, when people like Shabana Azmi, a well-known face and renowned actor says, being a Muslim, she had to face difficulty in purchasing a house in Mumbai.
For a while if we believe there is truth in it, no religion allows anyone merciless killing of innocent people. Resorting to violent means of terror strikes can not justify such discrimination at any cost. On the other hand, if any such type of discrimination exists in our enduring society, government should need to take the issue at the earliest.
Terrorism is not an issue of our country only. It has spread its tentacles across the globe. It needs to be uprooted with collective hands- not bound by boundary. Stringent laws must be made to deal with such people who don’t understand any language other than gun.

Blackmailer kids - a mental torture to parents

2008-08-26T21:07:00.000+05:30

Emotional blackmail is a powerful form of manipulation in which people close to us threaten, either directly or indirectly to punish us if we don't do what they want. At the heart of any kind of blackmail is one basic threat, which can be expressed in many different ways: "If you don't behave the way I want you to, you will suffer."
But I am not talking about those blackmailers who do it with all their senses in control. Shockingly, it is about school going kids, all under 13, who are turning into emotional blackmailers. Psychiatrists are treating such cases in large numbers every month. The number has gradually shot up from 5 a week to 5 a day now which is relatively high.
When 10-year-old Sasanka was denied an icecream, he blackmailed his mom Maitreyi saying, "if you don't buy me an icecream, my dead promise".
Shocked Maitreyi, couldn't speak a word. Little school going kids have adopted this nature of emotionally blackmailing their parents or kith or kin to fulfill their wants and desires.

Case studies :
A 11-year-old girl child who is from a middle class family was brought to the psychiatrist by her parents in a later stage after she did not attend school for an year just because she was denied an electronic item that she asked her parents to buy for her. Later, when she was put in a hostel, she stopped eating food and the parents were informed by the hostel authorities that they better take their child away. Depressed parents finally brought in the kid to the psychiatrist but in a final stage.
Shockingly, a 7-year-old boy child who is from a well-to-do family had to be brought to a psychiatrist after he threatened his parents by hiding himself in the cellar of their apartments for one full day. The parents were literally in tears and shock and the boy cooly says, " If you don't buy me what I want, I will repeat this."
In another case, peculiarly, the parents actually told their 8-year-old girl child, "If you do well in your unit test, I will buy gold ornmaments for you." Used to this kind of a behaviour, the kid actually started saying "here is my lit of wants, buy them for me first only then I would attend my exams."
Certains kids are scary as they hold their breathe for a few minutes and they turn blue by causing panic in parents just because their wants are not being fulfilled.
"My four-year-old daughter bangs her head to the wall and rolls on the floor and cries badly if I don't buy her what she asks for," said Yashoda Mithra, a media professional.
"My 11-year-old son acts weird and he starves when I ask him to study and he demands me to buy him a gift for him to study. But I schedule things with him. I tell him "when I am cooking, you should complete your work. Then we can both sit together and watch Tv", says Kavitha Reddy, a designer in the city.
"My sister's seven-year-old son broke the television screen just because he was denied an ice cream when he was running temperature. Later he starved for a day and we were all shocked of his weird behaviour," says T Anusha, a BSC graduate.

Causes:
Psychologists say that the most casual conversations between parents is influencing their kids in a negative way. Such things have been happening in large numbers these days just because of the choice that has evolved in the list of haves and havenots, need for an academic excellence and finally parents are able to afford and so children are taking an advantage of it.
A case study where a father of a 9-year-old boy came back home and told his wife, "I had a salary hike today just because I blackmailed my boss saying that I would resign." The kid who listened to all this conversation, adopted the same way of blackmailing his parents by saying, "If you don't buy me Reebok shoes, I will not go to school."
"The tendency of kids blackmailing their parents is increasingly going up when compared to the past. Parents want to compensate their kids from getting less attention from them with gifts which is making kids more used to that kind of a behaviour and one "NO" is not taken as a final answer by the kid", opined Dr MS Reddy, MD, Asha Hospital.

Identifying such behaviour:
Such behaviour can be identified in a very young age. At this stage, parents can identify children making unreasonable demands.
"For example, a kid need not be gifted with something to write a unit test." Blackmailing techniques the kids have adopted: "They start demanding for things when they are in public and not at home just because at home, they would get a tight slap", explains Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist.
First thing kids say is, "I don't want to attend school." They cry and roll on the floor and act realistically just for the parents to get scared of their behaviour.
An eight-year-old kid starts banging his head to a wall or the floor or he destroys dad's cellphone or any valuable thing at home if his desires are not fulfilled by the parents.
A 9-year-old boy, a resident of Maredpally, Secunderabad, ran away from home and reached Durgam Cheruvu near Jubilee hills and slept there for one whole night just because his parents denied an i-pod to him.
Sadly, such kids are being brought to the notice of psychiatrists only in the final stage.

Possible therapy :
Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist explains a possible therapy to treat such kids.
1. First of all, parents of the blackmailer kid are to be councelled. Parents and their kid have to be explained an acceptable mode of behaviour.
2. Family conflicts or parental misunderstandings, if any are to be solved.
3. Talking to the child and understanding his/ her mentality. For example, is the kid attention seeking or has he had needs that are not fulfilled or he/ she is behaving so just out of ego that her fellow students' possession of costly items.
4. Parents should be re-taught and re-trained to say "no"
5. Behavioral contact should be made clear to the parents i.e; they should be able tell their kid, " If you need something, earn it with your good behaviour or by studying well. When you behave well, you will automatically get what you want."
6. Such kids are to be taught of regular and moral value systems.
7. Finally, the therapy that is used to treat such kids is known as play therapy. This therapy is dealt in a one-hour session where kids are narrated a story and are asked to tell what the moral of the story is. In about 3 to 4 sessions, the kids can be brought back to normal.
Sometimes it seems as if nothing works with this kind of blackmailer kid, and sometimes nothing does. But psychiatrists say, parents be successfull if you stick to the principles of non defensive communication and stay conscious of the following do's and don'ts.

In dealing blackmailer kids, DON'T:
Expect them to take the first step towards resolving the conflict. Plead with them to tell you what's wrong.
Keep after them for a response (which will only make them withdraw more).
Criticize, analyze or interpret their motives, character or inability to be direct.
Willingly accept blame for whatever they're upset about to get them into a better mood.
Allow them to change the Subject.
Get intimidated by the tension and anger in the air.
Let your frustration cause you to make threats you really don't mean (e.g., "If you don't tell me what's wrong, I'll never speak to you again").
Assume that if they ultimately apologize, it will be followed by any significant change in their behavior.
Expect major personality changes, even if they recognize what they're doing and are willing to work on it. Remember: Behavior can change. Personality styles usually don't.

Do use the following techniques:
Remember that you are dealing with people who feel inadequate and powerless and who are afraid of your ability to hurt or abandon them.
Confront them when they're more able to hear what you have to say.
Consider writing a letter. It may feel less threatening to them.
Reassure them that they can tell you what they're angry about and you will hear them out without retaliating.
Use tact and diplomacy. This will reassure them that you won't exploit their vulnerabilities and bludgeon them with recriminations.
Say reassuring things like "I know you're angry right now, and I'll be willing to discuss this with you as soon as you're ready to talk about it," Then leave them alone. You'll only make them withdraw more if you don't.
Don't be afraid to tell them that their behavior is upsetting to you, but begin by expressing appreciation.
For example: "Son, I really care about you, and I think you're one of the smartest people I know, but it really bothers me when you clam up every time we disagree about something and just walk away is hurting our relationship, and I wonder if you would talk to me about that."
Stay focused on the issue you're upset about.
Expect to be attacked when you express a grievance, because they experience your assertion as an attack on them as an attack on them.
Let them know that you know they're angry and what you're willing to do about it.
Accept the fact that you will have to make the first move most, if not all of the time.
Let some things slide Generally emotional blackmailers hate to lose. They take the old adage "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game", and turn it on its head to read "It doesn't matter how you play the game as long as you do not lose."
Psychiatrists explain some specific ways to answer the most common types of responses. It can't emphasize too strongly how important it is to practice saying these statements until they feel natural to you.

*When they say : If you don't take care of me, I'll wind up in the hospital/on the street/unable to work.
Then you say : That's your choice.
* When they say : You'll never see your kids again.
Then you say : I hope you won't do that, but I've made my decision.
* When they say : You'll de stroy this family.
Then you say : I know you're very angry right now.
* When they say: You're not my parent anymore.
Then you say: When you've had a chance to think about this, maybe you'll change your mind.
* When they say: I'm cutting you out of my will.
Then you say: Why don't we talk about this again when you're less upset
* When they say: I'll get sick. I'll make you suffer.
Then you say: Threats/suffering/tears aren't going to work anymore.
* When they say : You'll be sorry.
Then you say: I'm sorry you're upset.

For New Parents and their friends...

2008-08-22T15:07:00.000+05:30

SMILE N SHINE !!

Hey if you are New Mommy n Papa, Congratulations!

If you are their friend, then wish them Happy Parenting and advise them with tips you gather from "SMILING FACES" .

Click on http://www.smilingfaces.in/ and gather important information on how to take care of new born babies..

Your opinions and advices are valuable to me.

Write to me on saiharini.p@gmail.com or psharini@yahoo.com

Happy Time!
Luv"Harini

Emergency services strengthened to save more lives

2008-08-15T17:42:00.000+05:30

Implementation of emergency services seems to have failed in serving the purpose of saving lives of people, as not just the services provided by ambulances can save lives. Lack of proper infrastructure in the state-run hospitals is taking away the lives of many people at the time of emergency. Focusing on this aspect, in order to save more lives, Emergency Management Research Institute has initiated a new orientation training programme in accident and emergency care exclusively for doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff working with government hospitals under Andhra Pradesh Vaidhya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP).
Started as a public-private organisation, the government has initiated to meet the maximum amount of the annual budget of the Emergency Management & Research Institute (EMRI) and Health Management & Research Institute (HMRI).
EMRI and HMRI have been started to provide 24-hour emergency medicare to people through 450 ambulances and through an advice-on-phone service, Health Information Helpline, in public-private partnership. Initiated two months back, this programme is designed to enhance the knowledge and skills pertaining to emergency and trauma presentations at the casualty rooms.
Apart from handling the day- to-day emergencies (medical, police and fire), EMRI has made progress in Emergency, Research & Training and is offering a 2 year full time residential Postgraduate Program in Emergency Care (EMT-A).
"This program is the first of its kind in India that is expected to deliver the highest quality education and comprehensive training in the field of emergency care services. The training program also intends to enable them to identify the emergencies and appropriate interventions required, perform the required skills and emergency interventions according to the recent guidelines and bring about a change in their attitude and approach to emergency presentations in their practice," explains Dr Ramana Rao, learning programme trainer, EMRI. EMRI officials said that all the faculty members are certified instructors from EMRI.
Apart from that there are instructors on behalf of American Heart Association and American College of Emergency Physicians who are also accommodated in the faculty members. The program is being designed with separate modules for doctors, nurses and paramedical Staff.
Besides Basic Life Support, advanced Life Support, Advanced Airway Management and Periarrest arrhythmia management, doctors will also be trained in General Approach to a medically ill patient, Clinical Care Protocols, Patient work up, Interpretation of important lab interventions and Referral management of a medically ill patient. Training on approach to a trauma patient, Management of Head, Neck and Spinal trauma, Management of abdominal and extremities, Referral management protocols for a trauma are also a part of the orientation programme for doctors. Nurses will also be given training on Crash cart Orientation on Use and maintenance of equipment.
The Arogyasri scheme combines emergency services, medical consultancy and medical insurance in a single package. This scheme was launched by Ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam during his visit to Hyderabad. The three schemes were being implemented independently till now. While Arogyasri was a government scheme, EMRI and HMRI facilities are being run with the support of Satyam Foundation.
The other organisations and individuals involved with the initiative include the Indian School of Business, Public Health Foundation of India and few others. "The only objective of EMRI is to provide an organised, integrated, accessible '108 Emergency Response Service' to an individual at the time of emergency, be it medical, police, fire in a timely manner," added Dr Ramana Rao.
"108 ambulance drops the patient in the hospital on time. At the same time we donot want any delays at the hospital's emergency room. That is the reason we are also training the class IV employees with reagard to lifting the patient and attending carefully," said Dr PV Rao, Commissioner APVVP.
Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) is dedicated to saving lives, with a single objective : providing an organized, integrated, accessible '108 Emergency Response Service' to an individual in need of emergency, be it medical, police, fire in a timely manner.
State-of-the-art infrastructure, the best of people and technology have contributed to providing world class emergency services under one roof.
Having launched the 108 Emergency Response Service on August 15, 2005, in Hyderabad EMRI presently provides services in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttarakhand with over 650 ambulances and over 4,500 people. EMRI is currently saving over 4,500 lives per month and has so far saved over 30,000 lives - with technical support provided by Satyam computers among its other associates and partners.
In a Public Private Partnership mode EMRI plans to extend the 108 Emergency Response Service throughout India by 2010 and save a million lives per annum.
Already, EMRI has also signed up with the Governments of Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan to launch the 108 Emergency Response Service in these states. Apart from handling the day- to-day emergencies (medical, police and fire), EMRI has made progress in Emergency Research & Training and offers a 2 year full time residential Postgraduate Program in Emergency Care (EMT-A). This program is the first of its kind in India that will deliver the highest quality education and comprehensive training in the field of emergency care services.
Another toll free emergency number is the HMRI's 104 which is the sister organisation of EMRI. Health Management Research Institute's 104 mobile service unit will visit a specified habitation of 1500 habitation population once a month to cater to the needs of pregnant women, infants and victims of chronic illnesses through diagnosis, advice and distribution of medicines for specific ailments.
Under the scheme, ‘village hospital patients’ will be connected to centrally located pool of doctors. The mobile unit will have hospital information, including patient records, critical services equipment and physicians. Catergorised under Rajiv Arogyasri scheme along with 108, the HMRI's 104 has been running a Health Information Help Line in Public-Private Partnership with the state government which is already addressing over 50,000 calls a day and proving successful in its way.
HMRI currently has 3500 call takers, 130 doctors, 500 software engineers and 50 management personnel who work round the clock to cater to the needs of poor who reside at the farthest places. The Arogyasri scheme combines emergency services, medical consultancy and medical insurance in a single package. This scheme was launched by Ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam during his visit to Hyderabad. The three schemes were being implemented independently till now. While Arogyasri is a government scheme, EMRI and HMRI facilities are being run with the support of Satyam Foundation.
The other organisations and individuals involved with the initiative include the Indian School of Business, Public Health Foundation of India and few others.
Quick Facts
* EMRI presently provides services in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttarakhand
* It has over 650 ambulances, 15 Prime Responder Vehicles and over 4,500 people.
* EMRI is currently saving over 4,500 lives per month and has so far saved over 30,000 lives.
* Most of the cases dealt are critical cases of Medical- Emergencies in which the percentage of Trauma Vehicular are 18 per cent, Maternal Complications are 22 per cent, Suicidal attempts are 6 per cent, Cardiac are 4 per cent.
* Ambulance reaches within 14 minutes in urban areas and within 22 minutes rural areas.
* HMRI's 104 is already addressing over 50,000 calls a day

Child suicides on rise ..

2008-08-13T15:08:00.000+05:30

Thirteen-year-old Vishwas was a ninth standard student who had neverfailed anexam in his life, but on one fine day, he came back from school wentupstairs andhanged himself.In a suicide note, Vishwas had written that he could not bear theharassment hefaced in his school everyday.

In fact statistics reveal that suicide rate among young teens haveincreased byalmost 300 per cent.

Supporting this statement Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist in the city,explains afew of those little kids who met her for a possible solution for theirdepression.

"A 12-year-old girl who is from a well-to-do family was brought to me by herparents when she attempted suicide by consuming harpic as she was teasedby herclassmates for she din't mature then. Her classmates passed dirty jokes andcomments on her saying that she had been having sex with boys and so she waspregnant and so she din't have periods. The little girl when told herparents, theyjust asked her to ignore them. The girl din't get proper answers for thequestionsshe asked her mom about sex. Depressed she, attempted suicide.

"Another case where an 8-year-old girl attempted suicide for she was teasedby herfellow students for not being able to speak good English. "The little girl attempted suicide by consuming 2 strips of pain killer tablets that her mom uses. The little girlwas then convinced and sent to school. Later, as she din't want to attend that school at all, she again attempted suicide by consuming phenol.

"One more sad case is where a 9-year-old boy was brought to Purnima by hisparentsfor a possible solution for his depression. "The little boy was very leanand that wasthe reason why he had become a laughing stock in his school. He wasdisheartenedand started disliking all the things he was fond of earlier. The boyturned out to be alast ranker from a topper", Purnima explains.

A research says that suicide is the sixth leading cause of death among sixto 14-year-olds and the third leading cause for 15 to 25 year olds.

The study by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciencessays over a1,000 young teens committed suicides in Hyderabad and Bangalore in 2007.But what really goes on in the adolescent mind before it decides to takethat finalplunge?

Experts find out that it is never an impulsive decision, butrather a wellthought out process.

Increased incidents of childhood depression and decreased family supportadd to it.Coping is basically a learned behaviour the way we function under stressis more alearned behaviour for example one child under stress may perform verygreat at thesame time the other child may find it very difficult to cope with itdepending onchild's growth and the way he has learned to cope with it. It determines in the adolescent how he would cope up with those problems.

But, how do we know if a child is edging towards self harm?

Prof C Beena, HOD Psychology department OU says,"the child starts behaving very differentlyall of asudden. He may start sitting and mourning in his own room, sittingisolated fromhis friends. He may give away lot of things that he has been very fond ofand maybehave in a way as if life is very cool now onwards or if he was disturbedsometimeback, then may become very cheerful."

A leading psychiatrist of the International Institute of Mental Health in aspeech said, "girls attempt suicide more often but more boys end up dying as their attempts are successful."

Exam time is a very stressful period specially if your child is preparingfor boardsso keep an eye on how your child is reacting to all the stress and if heis not taking ittoo well then help him relax and deal with it.

"My child always threatens me of committing suicide whenever I be littlerude toher for getting less marks in mathematics. Kids these days feel that theyhave a good", explained Lakshmi Sindhu, mother of a 10th class student.

"I see many little kids who sit in the back benches depressed and sad just because they can't speak good english. Such kids should be councelled and taken more care of", says Vani Thakur, a teacher in Foster School.

Once the parents or peer group are aware of a child's tendency of self harm they need to, start communicating with him and tune in to his or her world afterreturning from work.You need to listen and talk it out, but don't be judgemental. And ifpossible don'tleave the child alone. If you feel you need, seek help from a professional, psychology experts say.

Communicable diseases playing havoc with people's lives

2008-08-13T15:03:00.000+05:30

After a two day period of incessant rainfall in the city,
communicable diseases have at last found the suitable climate to erupt and
play havoc with people’s lives. The city is now a hub of various virus and bacteria that
are good at spelling doom for public health.
In this four days after the incessant rainfall, a total number of 511 health camps were conducted by the government in various slums in the Hyderabad district, the number of cases identified are 30,051.
Out of this figure, 2014 were of various viral fevers, 35 were of diahorreah and others were of minor ailments. Apart from this, 21 cases of diahorrea have been reported to Fever Hospital on Monday and the OP strength was 450 which included a few typhoid and viral fever cases.
Various water-borne and communicable diseases such as malaria,
viral fever, typhoid and diarrhoea and also conjunctivitis have spread in
and around the city. At the moment the susceptibility to these diseases is
not high but it is always lurks around the corner.
In the absence of basic facilities such as safe drinking water and sanitation, slums are becoming highly vulnerable to water-borne diseases. Untidy surroundings in certain deprived places of the city like Ramakrishnapuram, Malkajgiri, Ameerpet, Film nagar which have water stangnant there for days together are serving as effective breeding ground for mosquitoes.
"We are facing many problems and our children are falling sick every now and then due to untidy surroundings. No body is reponding to our complaints," said Y Raju, a daily wage labourer who resides at slums near film nagar in Jubilee Hills.
There is a steady increase in the number of patients visiting the fever hospital that takes up cases of water-borne and communicable diseases.
With no visible trace of precautionary measures by the municipal authorities in cleaning the drainage lines that are overflowing, people are totally left to the mercy of doctors in hospitals.
"Whenever it rains heavily, the drainage water overflows causing inconvienience to all the residents here," explained P Ramakrishna, a resident of Shantinagar in Lalaguda.
Nakkala Manga, a maid servant who resides at Neredmet says, "I have three children and two of them have been running high temperature for three days now. I don't have enough money to buy medicines for them."
PP Prasad, superintendent of Government Fever Hospital, Nallakunta, while confirming a marginal increase in the cases of malaria and viral fever, said that it is a "normal occurrence" in the season.
"With all the measures that were taken, we could succesfully prevent outbreak of any epidemic," opined Jaya Kumari, the District Health and Medical Officer.

Steganography - communicating devastating message

2008-08-08T20:58:00.000+05:30

Downloading or forwarding picture messages in the internet may land you in trouble now. Terrorists are playing hookie by increasingly adopting a technique called steganography for communicating devastating message in codes with their fellow-devastaters, say cyber law experts.
Steganography involves hiding a message which could contain text, images or maps inside a picture, music file or video on a web page or by e-mail. These messages are harder to find than encrypted ones, or scrambled e-mails, because they can be hidden among billions of innocuous-looking web pages.
Hidden messages may be contained in a picture of an actor, a pornography site or elsewhere, and can only be found by someone who knows where to look, say experts. "Steganography is a kind of programming where a picture can be developed through code system just like C and Java programming. Here in this, the picture is only readable and it doesn't accept any comments," explained Ravi Kumar Reddy, Inspector Cyber Crime.
There is every scope for the terrorists for having used this method in previous high- profile cases like the 13 December 2001 Parliament attack and the 11 September attack on World Trade Centre.
Speaking about the technique, a cyber law expert said, ‘terrorists use a high-tech version of invisible ink, or hidden messages on the internet, to coordinate and accomplish their plan’. They can easily hide vital and sensitive communication by mixing it with large amounts of public data. Seemingly normal files can have embedded secret message data that will appear usual to an innocent observer.
An example is hiding messages within the noise of a digital image, in which some bits that make up the image are used to encode a secret message without altering the image significantly. So it is advisable not to forward any message sent by unknown persons.
Though expensive tools are available to detect such messages, it can be done and identified only by experts, he says.
There are millions of images on the internet that you would have to develop a list of suspicious websites and scan them on a regular basis, he adds. A cyber crime official on condition of anonymity says the attackers consider steganography as a wise tool as a phone call (used for communicating their plan) can be traced within minutes, while it is difficult in the case of this method.
Shockingly, there are over 50 sites which give the information for making RDX bombs, experts say.

Hyderabad - Hub for fake drug marketing

2008-08-08T18:01:00.000+05:30

Combiflam replicated and sold as Comiflam
Hyderabad is gradually turning into a hub for fake drug marketing.
The Enforcers of Intellectual Property along with the Hayathnagar police have recovered several look-alike tablets on August 3 in the city.
An official of EIPR said, "the manufacturing is done in the northern states and marketing is done in various metropolitan cities like Hyderabad."
For instance, EIPR along with Hayathnagar police, conducted a raid at GENPAK and Vaibhav Drugs Pvt Ltd at Peddamberpet and seized look-alike tablets of Combiflam Company. The drug was named as COMIFLAM instead of COMBIFLAM.
An FIR has been lodged against the accused under section 63 IPC 420.
4 lakh aluminium rolls to manufacture the tablets and more than 5,000 empty outer packing boxes were seized. The accused is still absconding. All the samples are sent to Forensic Science Laboratories (FSL) for analysis.
Not just COMBIFLAM is replicated but other drugs like Saridon are also done. The look alike tablets of Saridon were sold in the name of silidon and solidan.
Shockingly, pain balms are found to be replicated. Amrutanjan has been replicated as Amrutanzan.
A patient at the Osmania General Hospital, was given an anaesthesia shot just before an operation. He was supposed to be in an unconscious state for two hours, but he regained consciousness within half-an-hour as the drug’s effect wore off. The hospital’s department of anaesthesia has complained to the APHMHIDC managing director that six anaesthetic drugs supplied to them, including Xylocaine jelly and Thiopentone, were ineffective. "As they are ineffective, we had to give three times more than normal dose. For instance, instead of one mg, we had to give three mg dose to make patients unconscious,’’ an anaesthetist told."We cannot take a chance with a patient’s life,’’ another OGH doctor said. After receiving the complaint, drugs were replaced by APHMHIDC.
Later the APHMHIDC collected samples of the ineffective drugs from three depots with the help of Drugs Control Administration and sent them for tests and the officials told that they would initiate action based on the report.The APHMHIDC supplies about 250 varieties of drugs worth Rs 150 crore to all hospitals in the state, including major hospitals like Osmania General Hospital and Gandhi Hospital in the city. Officials claim not maintaining a cold chain could also lead to ineffectiveness of a drug. To avoid any chain-related loss, the APHMHIDC is planning to set up one more central storage point in the city. As of now, there is only one central drug store at King Koti, which supplies drugs for Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. "Not just in government hospitals, drug replication is also happening in well-established medical stores in the city", opined an official of the EIPR.
EIPR is an investigation agency specialising in anti-counterfeiting solutions.

Buying a fancy phone? - A word of caution here..

2008-08-01T16:15:00.000+05:30

If you are planning to buy a fancy smart phone, here is a word of caution. 'Internet-enabled phones have gaping security weaknesses waiting to be exploited', warn cyber security experts. Any smart phone including Blackberry, Windows Mobile, iPhone and Symbian phones can be hacked by a nerd with a little bit of code and some cunning.
Hackers, who are already wrecking websites and e-mails, are now targeting cell phones as well. Hackers are intruding mobile phones using hacking tools like spyware and spoofing.
Spyware is a tool which manipulates SMS' and allows it to be read by others, while spoofing, replaces mobile number of sender’s message. Explaining the functions of spyware, a cyber expert said, "a hacker sends an SMS to the targeted person. The person opens the message, installing spyware onto the device. The spyware, unknown to the victim, takes the SMS and forwards it to the hacker."
Once installed, the hacker can monitor the ‘compromised’ phone call details and can even listen to the calls made or received by the user. However, it’s very difficult for the user to find out whether his/her phone has been hacked.
Besides spyware, SMS spoofing is another tool which hackers are widely using, cyber experts say. Spoofing is used for changing the identity of source of SMS either with text or any desired number.
For example, the Asian School of Cyber Law on its website stated an incident "a young lady received an SMS from her husband’s cell phone informing her that he had an accident and was at the hospital and urgently needed money. On receiving the SMS, she rushed out of the house with the money. She was attacked and robbed by the person, who had sent her the spoofed SMS."
"Yes there are such instances happening and it is called mobile spoofing. There is another kind called phishing. Phishing enables the hacker to make calls from one's mobile without his/her knowledge and at the end the mobile owner is surprised looking at the bill", explains Ravi Kumar Reddy, Inspector, Cyber Crime.
However the other version is that all this only applies to the first generation models of cell phones that use the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM). Another requirement is that the hacker must have physical access to the cell phone for at least three minutes - which is a real good reason not to let it out of your sight. Currently, although the problem has been remedied (at least for now) in the second and third generation phones, it seems that about 70 per cent of existing cell phones fall within the first generation category. "I don't know sometimes I see unknown numbers in my dialled list on the phone bills," said Suvarna, a Btech graduate who resides at Sainikpuri.
The cops say that the punishment for hacking would be imprisonment up to three years or imposition of fine which may extend upto Rs 2 Lakh or both.
It is now time for the alarm bells to ring as the Cell phone hackers have apparently found a glitch in the way the chips are manufactured.

Either Quit smoking or living... No other go...

2008-08-01T16:09:00.000+05:30

The younger you are at the time you start smoking, the larger are the chances of your getting addicted to it. A recent research says that addiction to smoking at a younger age is responsible for making it a long lasting habit proving extremely dangerous for health. As a result it becomes far too difficult for them to quit smoking.
The smoking rate among Indians especially among youth is increasing at a very high speed and it is time for the alarm bells to ring. India is losing 90,00,000 jobs in a year due to dying smokers. This is destroying not only the environment but also the economy of the nation.
As per WHO statistics, five million people die each year from tobacco use. If current trends continue, this figure will reach 10 million per year by 2030, with 70 per cent of those deaths occurring in developing countries like India.
Elaborating the uses of tobacco, 'cigarette'’ is not only the serious problem in India. About 40 per cent of overall tobacco has been used in smokeless tobacco products while another 40 per cent in ‘beedis’ and only about 20 per cent of tobacco has been consumed in cigarettes, according to a latest report supported by World Health Organisation (WHO) and Indian government. The report also says, at least one million people are going to suffer smoking related deaths by 2010 in India.
With an estimated total of around 120 million (12 crore) in India the average age of smokers vary from 30-69 including a one-third of men and about 5 per cent of women. The study also reveals that one of every five male deaths and one out of every 20 female deaths are come about due to smoking related diseases.
In a study conducted by New England Journal of Medicine found that in India, 61% of men smokers will die at age 30-69 as compared to 41% non smokers. While 62% women smokers will die at age 30-69 as compared to 38% non smokers.
Quoting the examples of Bollywood stars Saif Ali Khan and Shahrukh Khan for their promise to quit smoking, Dr. Srinath Reddy, President of Public Health Foundation of India said, "There is a salutary message in this. One hopes we do not have to hear similar news about Mr. Shah Rukh Khan. Tobacco strikes suddenly . Smokers really need the will power to give up smoking." Despite of their repeated attempts to quit smoking, they are unable to do so.
The report was conducted upon 390 Montreal teens who were asked to fill a questionnaire every three months for five years. The study by researches of public health, stated that the teen smokers wished and tried to quit smoking but were unable to do so. The report was fragmented into various stages marking the teens’ attempt to give up the disastrous habit.
At stage 1, the teens confidently declared that they are soon going to quit smoking which was just two-three months after they had first tried the cigarette. At Stage 2, they exhibited a conscious desire to quit. Stage 3, which was after about two years after they started smoking, marked a considerable loss in self-confidence in their ability to quit smoking. While at stage 4, teens had started smoking daily admitting it was very hard to quit. By the final stage, the teens had been completely addicted to smoking and had completely adhered to tobacco, smoking daily for at least two years.
The report appealed to the government to mandate strict legislation where it is difficult for teenagers to buy cigarettes at a cheaper rate. It also stated that there is an urgent need to make measures against the increasing smoking habits among the teens.
Interestingly, doctors favour Social Networking sites for quitting smoking. The anti-campaigner of smoking believes that ‘social networking sites’ could be an influential tool to make aware the public about the hazards of smoking. The ill-effects of smoking in the pictorial form can be presented in Orkut by creating a small community to motivate people for quitting smoki as informed Dr Prakash C. Gupta, the director of Healis Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health who was delivering a speech.
"Asia has been in the forefront of issuing pictorial warnings and there has not been any public opposition so government of India need not be worry," said Dr Judith Mackay of World Lung Foundation while delivering his speech.
And this is a good news for smokers who deliberately want to quit smoking. US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc launched Varenicline drug in India that help smokers to kick off smoking under the brand name Champix.
After the drug spell a huge success story in the US and Europe it is expected to repeat the same here in India. So, now chain-smokers have another option to try for with an intense desire to quit smoking.
The new drug, a non-nicotine smoking cessation is considered as superior to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). Varenicline helps the smoker by diminishing the pleasurable effects of a fag and thinning the craving for the same unlike the other available drugs. The drug has to be taken for 12 weeks and will be available first in major cities across India with a cost of Rs 9,500.
During the launch of the drug, Kewal Handa, the Managing Director of Pfizer India, said, "Pfizer's Champix is the most innovative and effective oral smoking cessation product to be approved by the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in the last 10 years." "It has benefited over 5.7 million people since its worldwide launch in mid-2006. We are confident that Champix will provide the same level of benefits to smokers in India and contribute to a healthier world," he added.
The drug is designed to provide the necessary physiological and psychological support to the smokers and research shows that Champix has scored far better on chances of quitting smoking than other drugs. Champix is the first non-nicotine drug and sure to help smokers if they want to say good bye to this habit.
Smoking related deaths have become a major concern but are also preventable. Many addicted to smoking find it very difficult even if they decided to kick it as nicotine in cigarette acts a stimulant and is mainly responsible for dependence forming properties of tobacco smoking.
American Heart Association defines Nicotine addiction as one of the hardest addictions to break. Indian government has also been tightening the laws by banning smoking in public places to restrain the growing tobacco addiction among young men and women. The recent laws imposed by health ministry have banned direct and indirect ban of tobacco products.
Hence, Champix holds a promise for millions who realise strongly that smoking is not only dangerous as it invites many diseases but also proves to be fatal.
On the other side of the coin, a report in whyquit.com says, "The drug varenicline is marketed as Chantix in the United States and as Champix in the rest of the world. Never in history has any quitting product produced such horrific side-effects stories as are being played out among Chantix users."

Hoax calls - A fun game for people and a serious game for cops

2008-08-01T15:54:00.000+05:30

Hoax calls to all the emergency services in the city are incurring a heavy drain on finances. Most of the hoax calls received are made by children for fun. The city cops say that, since the twin bomb blasts at Gokul Chat and Lumbini Park last year, hoax calls have became a routine.
Calls made by terror outfits always demand dealing with sincerity, as they rarely send messages in advance. But, what about those calls made by children considering as harmless fun?
Recently, the Secunderabad police have received a hoax call on July 15 saying that there were bombs placed at the railway station, passport office and also at a tiffin centre, Swati.
Similarly, the Nampally criminal court has received more than half- a-dozen hoax calls in a two-month-period and it is common that the bus and railway stations often receive hoax calls on bomb scare.
"We immediately placed metal detectors and a do's and don'ts sheet was put up at the entrance for visitors", said Umender, Inspector of police, Nampally.
The cops finally succeeded in preventing the demonstrators from taking out a protest march by promising to bring the pranksters to book.
Another similar hoax call in March had reportedly been made to a top police official also.
While on the other hand, the officials of the emergency services say that, just a phone call is enough to save a life in danger but a fake or mismanaged call can cost a life too. On this note, the Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), the institution behind the 108 phenomena, is on a mission to make the public aware on how to make a call to 108 after they received around 10 hoax calls in a two-month- period this year.
"We are often troubled with hoax calls and some calls even request us to provide power connections or water supply. But the serious part is that while we attend these hoax calls, some other genuine call will be put on hold. It is a big hurdle for us to extend the assistance in the right time," said a trainer with the EMRI.
Unfortunately the Fire and Rescue Services receive the maximum number of hoax calls. "The majority of these calls are from children although we do receive a lot of hoax calls from adults too", says Ram Babu, a Fire Service personnel. Making a hoax call is a mere waste of time for fire-fighters and control operators who have to investigate the call and can be very dangerous for the public. Whilst a fire appliance from a local fire station is investigating a hoax call, there might be a real emergency. In such cases we will need to send a fire engine from another fire station which will be further away and consequently it will take longer to reach the place", he adds.
Though there is a possibility to trace calls, the cops are proving unsuccessful in their attempt, as most of the calls traced in the past were from public telephone booths.
Time is vital and fires do not wait. They get out of control and people's lives could be put in danger because of a Hoax Call. Caller-ID phones should be the first criteria, the city cops suggest.

Leggy lasses pose threat to safety of male drivers ..

2008-07-31T23:26:00.000+05:30

Leggy lasses in sexy outfits are proving to be a biggest threat to roadsafety of male drivers.A new research has shown that vehicular crashes shoot up as most maledrivers get distracted eyeing babes in sexy outfits.According to the survey by website uSwitch.com, over a quarter admit beingdistracted after spotting a hot woman walk past or in another car.The sexy outfits have even made 7 per cent of male drivers have a crash ora near miss. The study shows accidents shoot up by 50 per cent.Abhijit, a final year Btech student of Srinidhi says, "oh my God! my neckwas almost under a car tyre. I fell off my bike on the Prasad's Imax roadwhen I just kept starring at a 'super model'"."Its funny actually but true that male drivers keep starring at sexy girlson roads and break their limbs when there is an accident. I was the reasonbehind three guys being admiited to hospital", says Ankita, a BComgraduate of Villa Marie, laughing out louder.My gang of boys has a fanda, "week days, Mahindra Hills and weekendsBanjara Hills". Yes that is where you see angels walking on the road, saysPaul Preeth, a degree student of Bhavans.While a 12th standard Akshata's gang of girls say that they have beenobserving guys who reach the hang out place even before them and keeptrying to impress them.Says Charishma, "why boys are back of us? aww it's just magic," sheexpresses laughing out louder."Hyderabad is still partially filled up with all those salwar-wearinggirls and so when guys come across some girls hat-ke, it's quite commonthat they stare", explains Sohail Khan, a marketing executive withVodafone."It's so simple. We freak out almost every where in the city and we arecalled 'The Chi-choras'. We have divided girls into A, B and Ccategories. A for awesome looking girls, B for beautiul and C for chalega.A types are found in Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, B in Sindhi Colonyand C anywhere in the city", explains Rajiv Jain, the Macha of the gang ofboys studying Btech in HITS college.On the other hand, the city cops say, this should not be the case whenbehind the wheel an that the drivers need to make sure they stay focused.However, youth can gather sweet memories to remind in later part of lifeonly by being mischievous in their adolescence, defends the city youth.

Chinese Phones- User-friendly for theives

2008-07-31T11:29:00.000+05:30

The Chinese cell phones that are flooding the Indian markets over the past one year and are in great demand for being cheaper than the branded phones, surprisingly are very user friendly for offenders to commit crimes without leaving any clue.
Almost all the Chinese mobile phones especially Sigmatel S2, S3 and S4 models possess the same serial number or International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) 135790246811220. If it is so, then it is not just difficult but impossible for the cops to trace out the stolen handset.
With mobile phones becoming the popular target of thieves, it becomes necessary for subscribers to get acquainted with some practical measures to keep their mobiles safe.
One of the most important one happens to be the IMEI. In case a mobile phone is stolen, all that a subscriber has to do is call the network service provider, explain about the theft and give the IMEI number. The network will immediately deactivate the stolen phone's SIM card to prevent unauthorised calls being made whereas, all the Chinese mobiles possess same IMEI number that can lead to confusion among the network provider, user and the cops when it is stolen.
The Chinese mobile phones have a dual SIM option and their price ranges between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5000 but have same IMEI numbers, while only the costly models of the Chinese phones have different numbers.
"There is an option to change the IMEI number, but only a mobile technician can do it and not the user. If suppose a mobile is stolen, tracing it out would be impossible if all the mobiles possess the same IMEI numbers", explains Vemula Nagaraj, a mobile technician.
"A number of customers come to our outlet to buy the Chinese mobile phones. Till now there were no such instances where people complained against the functioning of these phones", says Pandurang, a mobile shop owner at CTC Secunderabad.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has nothing to do with the import of mobile handsets nor does it type approval of handsets and the Authority only blocks the stolen/ snatched sets through IMEI number, when reported by a complainant.
However, the TRAI can take initiative in exploring the issue and block such cell phones that can become weapons for anti-social elements to misuse.
Foreign countries like Pakistan and other neighbouring countries have already imposed a ban on these mobiles.

Youth Suicides on rise

2008-07-31T10:53:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on July 31, 2008
More students and youth of the city are committing suicide these days, unable to cope with the pressures of life. More than 10 suicides and over 15 suicide attempts have been registered in various police stations in the city this month.
Experts point out many teenagers and young women were opting for suicide as a solution to their myriad problems on the academic and personal fronts. "We are getting more suicide cases these days," says the additional director-general of police, Mr A.K. Khan. "There are two kinds of cases. One is of youngsters who fail in their studies and the other consists of those people who lack social support."
Authorities at Gandhi and Osmania General hospitals say that most suicide cases they get are of youngsters and married women. On Wednesday, Naga Malleshwari, a student of Osmania University, committed suicide by hanging herself in the hostel room after she failed in one of her exams.
A young student of Telugu University, G. Vishnu Kumar, consumed poison and collapsed at the feet of his teacher on July 14. According to the police, his suicide note said he was unable to adjust to "the obscenity prevailing in society." His family and friends said that he had no known problems.
Similarly, Satya, a lecturer in the Keshav Memorial College in Narayanguda attempted suicide recently as she was abused by a motorist. Another young woman, a call centre employee, attempted suicide in Alwal after her lover ditched her. Shockingly, many youngsters are so touchy that they attempt suicide even if their parents are a bit harsh towards them.
"Suicide rates shoot up as soon as exam results are announced," says Neharika Nami, a student. "Apart from outside circumstances, I feel it also has to with something that’s within the person." "Sometimes it is parental pressure and sometimes it is societal pressure," says Dr Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist.
"Parents should reassure their kids and provide psychological counselling and education when necessary," Dr Nagaraja told this correspondent. "Teachers should realise that they play a vital role in the life of a student. They should be unbiased in their treatment, says J. Kalyan, a student at Osmania University. Compared to last few years, the suicidal tendency among youngsters is about 50 times more according to figures with the police.

1.25 % of Pregnant women in Hyderabad are HIV +ve

2008-07-30T01:11:00.000+05:30

Lack of awareness and knowledge about HIV/AIDS among women, both educated and un-educated, is increasing the scope for the virus to spread more. As per the latest report of the Andhra Pradesh Aids Control Society, the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women in Hyderabad is 1.25 per cent.
Andhra Pradesh has the highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the country, with two per cent of the low- risk general adult populations represented by women.
Shockingly, a survey done by APACS showed that the prevalence of sex with non-regular partners is substantially higher in the city. As the problem reaches epidemic proportions, the issues of care and support for the affected individuals and prevention of HIV transmission from those affected has become critical.
"Thank God, my kid is healthy and does not have HIV, but I wonder if I will be lucky this time," says Renuka, a 28 year old woman of Hyderabad. Five months pregnant with her second child, Renuka’s anxiety is both evident and understandable. She has been HIV positive since 2006. A blood test at a blood donation camp in 2007 revealed the bitter truth. One doesn’t have to wonder long about the source of the deadly virus as she frankly confesses. "It is due to unsafe physical relations with non-regular partners." And though she struggles to live peacefully with the condition, trying to integrate herself with the community, the pangs of dejection are never far away. Grateful just to be alive, however, she tries to stay optimistic.
Not just Renuka is in the lonely fight, millions of others have contracted the virus in the same manner. Now aware of the pitfalls of unsafe sex, Renuka strongly advises against having multiple and unsafe sexual relationships.
"Usually people do not know how the virus is transmitted and the gamut of myths surrounding the disease doesn’t help matters either," says Dr Surendra Mantena, medical expert at MedPlus Health Services. He adds, "at healthcare clinics, we believe the primary control measure is to educate people and demarcate between facts and myths surrounding HIV/AIDS. Since all transfused products are now routinely screened for HIV, the chances of infection are remote. Babies born to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth or through breast-feeding after birth."
On the importance of curbing this epidemic, he comments, "individuals should become aware of the risk factors associated with contracting HIV including unsafe sexual practices and drug use. Public health measures should include Counselling and Confidential Testing."
Besides this there are 28 ICTCs, which provide counselling and testing services to the general population. As per the latest statistics from these ICTCs, A total number of 10,499 pregnant women have been found positive, since two years while the total number of non-pregnant women found positive is 10,499. A total number of 136 babies have been tested so far, who have completed 18 months and out of them 31 have turned out to be positive.

Little girls struggle within to look good

2008-07-30T00:47:00.001+05:30

A study by Girlguiding researchers, has shown that girls as young as ten are suffering from stress and anxiety and struggling to cope with growing up in today’s society.
Peer pressure to look sexy is driving girls under 14s to stress and anxiety. The influence of magazines, websites and friends telling them how to look and act, is making them unhappy. It is even driving some of them to do self harm and eating disorders.
"I have seen students of different generations. Three decades ago, girls never knew what parlours were. Now that I see a drastic change in teenage girls. I was surprised when I saw Ritu, a class VI student, bleach her face just because there was hair growth on her upper lip. Kids under 13 have become more beauty conscious these days and that feels weird", says Nargis, an english teacher at Aurobindo college.
Whenever 13-year-old twin sisters Minhaz and Miraz, ask their mom for threading their eyebrows, their mom says 'don't act as if you are to become actresses. Just walk to the tutition".
"All my friends go for threading their eyebrows. I have a slightly visible mustache, I would feel good only if I get my upper-lip done", says Minhaz.
Young girls are longing to look peppy and stylish but either family customs are not allowing them to or their tender age that is yet to mature.
"Kids aged between 8 to 9 years of age are just sneaking into the parlours whenever they want when they are denied to by their parents. Infact my 9-year-old daughter Varsha did that. She asked me for three five rupee coins saying that she would drop them in her kiddy bank but she got her eyebrows done with that money. She thought that I wouldn't recognize", says Vani Srinivasan, a home maker.
Youngsters these days are attaining puberty in a fast pace and so they want to be perfectionists in everything. In the list, beauty is given the top criteria and then other things follow. Most of the advertisements focus on youngsters these days. Every young girl would want to look sexy and so they are preferring body-hugging clothes.
"Many school going girls visit my parlour. Infact let me tell you an instance where a little girl just came in and said 'aunty! I want to get my hair set and can you apply that face cream that you applied to my mom last evening? And trust me that girl would be not more than 8", says Shilpi Jane, who owns a parlour in Malkajgiri.
"Young girls are being forced to grow up at an unnatural pace in a society that adults have created. Going for a bleach or gwtting their eyebrows shaped is not abnormal but depedancy on beauty parlours to look sexy in an early age is unwanted as they would any way go to a parlour once they attain puberty. Their interest in looking good should be considered. But parents should however keep an eye on things like waxing that spoil the tender skin if opted for in such an early age", says Purnima Nagaraja, a psychiatrist.
However, a healthy attitude and a realistic concept of understanding things would assist kids in living a healthy life.

It's all about livelihood and not living in sin for them..

2008-07-29T23:52:00.000+05:30

Euphemistic expressions, patronising gestures and a facile moralising characterise the society's responses to prostitution. These are "fallen'' women who "live in sin'' and must be "rescued'' and "rehabilitated''.
Varalakshmi, a 30-year-old woman suffered severe injuries when she fell from the second floor of a rescue home, when she tried to escape. she was housed at Swadha shelter home at Alwyn colony in Kukatpally as part of a rehabilitation project, after she was arrested by the police.
When asked why she had to escape, this is what she had to say "I am a human being too. I wanted to see my daughter."
While the other five inmates succeeded in their escape, Varalakshmi got caught. Her saree got hooked to a rod on the wall when she tried to jump. She fell from the second floor and suffered severe injurues to her limbs. She was admitted to Gandhi Hospital.
"This is the third time that inmates have escaped from this home," said Nirmala, a supervisor of the home.
Like Varalakshmi, there are many sex workers in the city who get caught in police raids and are sent to rehebilitation homes. Not all the government homes however, have an initiative to care for these less fortunates.
The luxury they get used to, forces them to escape from the rehabilitation home.
Dhana Lakshmi, 32, who has been in the profession for 10 years, minces no words, "You want us to quit this profession. Okay we want to quit too. But give us real options. Don't lock us up in remand home or separate us from our children. Don't ask us to cut paper flowers and earn Rs 5 a day. If I can earn Rs 50 or Rs 100 every day through my dhanda and support my family, why would I be interested in your five rupees?''
There's good reason why "rehabilitation'' is a dirty word for these women. Several have experienced life in the so-called "corrective institutions'' personally.
Kalyani, now secretary of a committee recalls how she fled one particular institution where a police constable routinely rounded up women and took them to service local bigwigs.
One of the biggest problems they face is police oppression. The reason for this is simple. Laws meant ostensibly to protect women from falling prey to traffickers, end up criminalising them for being in prostitution.
Under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1986, they can be rounded up for "practicing prostitution near a public place'' or for "indecent behaviour''.
"It's so ironical. The number of sex workers have been prosecuted up under this act is several times that of all the pimps, procurers, and clients put together. The police exploit it to the fullest. They harass these women continually and demand sexual favours as a matter of right. Its my own experience," alleges 41 year old Jhansi.
In some states, police are required to book a certain number of cases as evidence of their "drive against vice'' and end up arresting and releasing the same people, allege some social workers. So it is a rehabilitation that do not rehabilitate, a police action that only drives the trade underground.
Vani Raghu, a social worker, who works for the Women's Rights, feels the only way out is to decriminalise the women in prostitution. "It's only then that they can openly ask for check ups or fight difficult clients and police officers,'' she points out. According to her, it is unsafe conditions rather than prostitution that is responsible for the spread of AIDS.
There are one million HIV-infected Indians, 40 per cent of whom are also tuberculin positive, according to figures put out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
"If women work in fear of a police raid, they are unlikely to use protection. Sex workers have told us that they require at least 20 minutes to negotiate condom use'', Deepa, a volunteer says.
It is the trafficker who must be criminalised not the women who are in the trade. But decriminalising these women is not enough. Social workers say,"they must be guaranteed basic human rights." "The difference between an ordinary Indian woman and a sex worker, is that one has rights, the other doesn't.'' Attempts to organise around such demands are being made in isolated corners of the country which when spread across cities like Hyderabad, can have more impact.
"We feel these self-regulatory boards, controlled by us, can help in tackling problems like HIV/AIDS and the entry of children into the trade,'' says Mala, a coordinator.
Already, some organisations and committees have set up co-operative banks, schools and are running telephone hotlines to extend social and psychiatric supports to the AIDS/HIV afflicted, and even have a flourishing theatre wing.
The experience of organising other women like her has given Mala, who entered a brothel at the age of nine some 25 years ago, a rare confidence.
She can speak into a microphone before a large group of people without a trace of hesitation -- something most women in her village would have found difficult to do. And this is what she has to say, "although our bodies are sold like those of a doll, we are not inanimate objects. We are people with feelings, with a heart, with a mind. Society must, therefore, treat us like human beings."

"Drink and Drive, no more Survive"

2008-07-29T23:37:00.000+05:30

If you are planning to drive back home in the night after a drink or two with your friends at a party, take a shot of these figures. In few weeks, over 1600 cases of drunken driving were registered in the city.
Drinking and driving together can make a cocktail deadly enough to land one in jail and penalty for drunken driving can range from Rs 300 to Rs 1,200 and people booked for the offence will be kept in judicial custody for a day.
Krishna, Madhu, and Nagi Reddy died on the spot after their car crashed into another vehicle in Khairatabad recently. The three were heading home after a party.
Teenager Prasanna kumar met his end on his way home, after having a couple of drinks with his friends. He died on the spot after his bike ran into a truck near ECIL. Little did he know that the pegs he had before driving would be his last.
Experts point out various reasons for the increase in drunken driving cases. They say it has increased substantially in the last couple of years due to increasing levels of income, stress, overtime in jobs, and peer influence.
According to police, people in the age group of 20 to 30 years are the ones who are booked for drunken driving, and they are the most frequent visitors to bars and pubs.
The accident prone areas in the city are identified as Trimulgherry cross roads, Banjara Hills road numbers 3, 10 and 12, Jubilee Hills checkpost, SR Nagar cross roads, Punjagutta, Ameerpet, Patny, Paradise, ECIL, Kushaiguda, Uppal, LB Nagar and Mehdipatnam.
Surprisingly, these days motorists are being caught by traffic cops for drunken driving even in the day time. "Most of the drunken driving related cases and fatalities are recorded in between 11 pm and 1 am, which is the time people return from pubs and parties", said VSK Kaumudi, additional commissioner, Traffic. "I was surprised when we caught three guys drunken driving in the day time recently at Khairtabad", he added.
Durga Reddy, a bar owner says, "we provide liquor and food to customers seeking them. It's up to people to decide whether they are drunk enough not to drive. The government has asked us to close shop at 11.30 pm, and we stick to that rule".
Special arrangements have been made by the traffic police to check drunken driving in the city both in the day and night. Policemen are equipped with breath analysers to detect alcohol intake, and presence of policemen will be beefed up in crowded areas and entry points to the city.
Though there are no government rules asking bars and restaurants to discourage people from drunken driving, if every bar owner takes it as an additional responsibility, such cases of fatalities due to drunken driving can be prevented upto an extent, express some people.

"Increase in fuel price - violate traffic rules", motto of motorists

2008-07-29T23:09:00.000+05:30

Increase in fuel prices is making more people violate traffic rules in the city. Motorists are reluctant to drive a long way to take a U-turn as driving on the wrong side is easier and saves them fuel too.
Driving on the wrong side of the road is a serious offence and such traffic violators will no longer be called as violators but offenders, say the Traffic police.
As most of the roads in the city these days are made one-way, motorists are going against the traffic rules to save both time and fuel.
Interestingly, most of the cases booked are near Somajiguda circle, Punjagutta junction, Begumpet, Himayatnagar and other busy roads in the city. This in turn is causing inconvenience to other road users and leading to accidents.
Recently, a college student who drove his bike on the wrong side at Himayatnagar, got hit by an auto coming from the opposite side and had severe injuries.
People are arguing with the traffic police when they are caught for violating traffic rules saying that they are doing so just to save fuel.
"What else can I do than drive on the wrong side when there is no U-turn close by. I have to drive almost a kilometre to take a U-turn and fuel prices and touching sky",says Vishnu Vardhan, a business man in the city.
Traffic police though are imposing fines on such violators, motorists seem to be unaffected with it.
While on the other hand, many roads in the city have barricades as dividers and people happily push them aside for space to take a turn and don't bother to replace them.
People are literally in chaos when they suddenly see a vehicle coming opposite in their way.
"Driving on the wrong side is a very serious offence. Most of the violators are sent to court and the court will impose fine on them", said VSK Kaumudi, Additional Commissioner, Traffic.

Parking crisis in the city

2008-07-29T20:47:00.001+05:30

Parking crisis is an ugly manifestation of automobile dependence in the city. Citizens allege that the authorities concerned are not properly identifying the "No parking" zones but are simply fixing the boards anywhere in the city.
Spacious places in the city are being marked as "No parking" zones while messy and congested roads still have vehicles being parked even on the foot path.
Especially in areas like Punjagutta, Somajiguda circle, Khairtabad, Ameerpet, Mehdipatnam, Lakdi-ka-pul and motorists are allowed to park their vehicles literally onto the roads and footpaths. While all the road side places are "No parking zones", places which put up "Parking boards", can be used to park vehicles. If this is taken into consideration, people have no place to park at all in the city but their residence and office. Both the traffic police and the GHMC have rights to identify "parking" and "No-parking" zones in the city, involving the area ACPs.
Traffic police have recently identified more than 10 important junctions in the city where the traffic density is highest. The places where there is no security personnel are also identified as "No parking" zones, as there would be none to take the responsibility of any bad situation. "The parking of vehicles especially four- wheelers within the specified zone are simply towed away", says VSK Kaumudi, Additional Commissioner, Traffic.
Citizens allege that, all the spacious and parking friendly places are being categorised under "No parking - towing zones", that is decreasing the available place to park vehicles." 'No parking' zones are identified for name sake", says Karthik Subramaniam, a software engineer.
Most of the commercial buildings in the city are built, with no parking space included in the plan at the time of construction and it is in turn causing trouble to the motorists. For instance, the Minerva coffee shop building right in front of the Somajiguda circle has no parking lot and there are security personnel who guide people to park their vehicles literally on the foot path. Till recently, there was also parking pay practised there.
Similarly, Navaketan building, Chandana Brothers, Patny, Shop owners say, "we don't own the whole building. We just have our outlet in one of the shops in the entire complex. The builder should be held responsible."
The GHMC officials say, the places where there is no proper security and lonely areas are also identified as "No parking" zones, as there would be none to take the responsibility of any bad situation that has every scope to occur.

Motorists fix Side view mirrors for name sake

2008-07-29T20:40:00.000+05:30

Though there are rules passed long ago that the side view mirrors are compulsory for all vehicles, city motorists are just fixing them for namesake and are not using them.
Rule 125 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 clearly reads that rare view mirrors should be fixed to all motor vehicles. Similarly, the rule 316 reads that, every motor vehicle shall be fitted with view mirror so that the driver has a clear view of the road in all directions and the rule 434 reads that no person should be allowed to sit or stand in such a way that the driver's view is obstructed.
The city cops agree that it is a serious issue but surprisingly, not a single case was booked against motorists who don't use side view mirrors.
Without observing the movement of other vehicles in the mirrors, people take a sudden turn not even with an indicator on, which is confusing the other road users and also leading to accidents sometimes.
For instance, in Hyderabad, side view mirrors of all vehicles are folded in. Woe be the motorist whose side view mirror remains in the intended position, for sooner or later it will be part of the road debris.
Anyway people have an intention of identifying, vehicles, with the horn, if it is a two wheeler, a car, an auto or a bus.
Amit Kumar , a student says, "I don't need to look into the side view mirror as I can identify the type of vehicle, by the horn the motorist blows".
"Even if a biker is at fault and a bus hits him, the bus driver is considered responsible. The society we are living in, has sympathy towards the person in a comparatively weaker level like the biker has when compared to a bus or a lorry driver", explains VSK Kaumudi, Additional commissioner, Traffic. "We assume that every motorist is aware of all the traffic rules. Or else he is not issued license, that is the rule. But as every other person is issued driving license, one spare time to understand traffic rules and regulations", adds Mr Kaumudi.

No 'No parking' zones for city motorists

2008-07-29T15:54:00.001+05:30

City motorists are infamous for parking their vehicles at places where they are not supposed to, if one goes by the number of such violations reported. Parking violations topped the list of violations in the city. Though the traffic police are keeping an eye on all the main junctions and lifting vehicles parked in no-parking zone, the problem still persists.
With no thought of inconvenience to other road users, people park on the road, just about everywhere, be it on the Necklace road, near Hyderabad Central, near G Pulla Reddy sweet shop in Somajiguda, very close to Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s residence or a dozen such locations in the twin cities. Boards that clearly say ‘No Parking - Towing Zone’ do not appear to deter violators.
Of the 15 lakhs cases booked last year, parking violations topped the list of over 20 types of violations, numbering over 2,00,000 cases. This is followed by extra-projection (height-load or overloads) in auto trolleys, vans and lorries, cell phone driving and others.
The total revenues netted by the traffic police in the form of penalties and compounding fee in the last six months was over Rs 7 crore, while it was over Rs 13 crore in 2007.
People, however, blame Government for the chaotic situation. "What else can we do than parking vehicle somewhere on the road, when there is a long way to take a U- turn and reach the shop on the other side", says B Vikas, a BTech final year student of SNIST.
Shopping malls, multiplexes and amusement parks - they are all there in the happening Hyderabad but most of them lack enough parking places leading to chaos on the main roads. They allege that the government has been granting approval for buildings which do not have sufficient parking space.
"Municipal officials and traffic police should take proper action against builders for not providing adequate parking in complexes", says Ananth Raj, a software engineer.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) VSK Kaumudi says focus was being laid on preventing motorists from parking at no-parking zones to ensure smooth flow of vehicular traffic. "We have organised inspections periodically with cranes to curb it and we have our inspectors inspecting the main junctions," he says.
Experts caution that the situation would be more ‘alarming’ with increase in vehicle population, particularly four-wheelers and so it is time to address the problem now.

Multi-tasking while driving

2008-07-29T15:47:00.000+05:30

First it was drinking. Then it was cellphone driving. Now text-messaging is the latest behind-the-wheel or behind-the-handle activity, traffic cops are trying to curb.
When caught by a traffic cop, Nikhil Anand, an Intermediate student of Bhavans argued "I did not speak over the phone. I was just SMSing my friend. I din't violate traffic rules as only talking over cellphone is prohibited and not SMSing" and then the traffic cop had his mouth wide-open with utter-surprise.
"All my friends do it," says Vishali Mehta, a 18 year old who admits that she too occasionally sends texts while driving her car despite a ban on cell phone use for drivers with learners' permits. "I SMS even when I am driving just to keep myself available to my friends" she adds.
"Young people these days are SMS freaks. As all the cellphone connection companies are offering '1 paise per SMS' offer, people prefer to communicate via SMS than a call though it is dangerous while driving", says T Vani, a teacher at Foster School.
"It's okay. It is not dangerous as I am used to texting. I know when to press which key. So I keep texting without looking at the mobile screen while I drive my bike", explains John Diwakar, a Btech graduate.
Youngsters have even posted videos of themselves texting while driving on YouTube, and many younsters have joined a Facebook group called "I Text Message People While Driving And I Haven't Crashed Yet!"
Keeping attitudes aside, texting while driving has been cited as a likely factor in fatal accidents. The traffic authorities have been prompting all the cities this year to consider banning the activity. Cell phones are already prohibitted in the colleges and also while driving, in the city. But these laws may not do much to curb texting while driving. A texting ban is difficult to enforce because, unlike cell phones that drivers hold up to their ear, texting is often done with the phone held lower down on or propped on drivers' laps.
Given the challenges police face in trying to enforce cell-phone restrictions, it's no wonder that different studies released this year by the NGO's for highway safety found that Hyderabad's cell-phone ban for drivers did not deter them from talking or texting.
In fact, cell phone use actually increased slightly after the law took effect. Perhaps most telling, only a few cell-phone violations were issued in 2007.
One of the cities where a lot of public attention is being paid to texting while driving is Hyderabad, after Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
Pratap Reddy, a real estate businessman, admits he tried texting while driving once - just to see what it was like. As he expected, his car swerved as he attempted to type and drive. "Let me tell you, I will not do it again," he says.
After several fatal accidents involving text messaging, the government should begin calling the officials to demand action. A text message ban in the city should be passed, explain many parents of teenagers. It's always tougher to enforce a law that is targeted at an age group. It can be difficult for enforcement officers to know for sure whether someone is covered by the law.
"We have a hard time determining whether or not they are using the speaker phone feature or whether or not they are actually texting," says VSK Kaumudi, Additional commissioner, Traffic. " Texting is far story but even if a person touches a cellphone while driving its offensive according to the Motor vehicle acts. While driving, one's concentration should only be on the road and limbs on the vehicle contol systems ie; steering or handle or brake", he adds.
Though it is found that enforcement is not the only key to success with cell-phone laws, public perception of enforcement also plays an important role.

Govt hospitals - cruel places for the poor

2008-07-29T01:13:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Friday, July 4, 2008

Time and again there is a hue and cry about people being treated with no concern at the government hospitals in the city.
One major problem involved in the scenario is that doctors are still considered demigods. And sometimes, there are a few black sheep like doctors, who work hand-in-glove with their doctor-friends to practice illegal acts, allege quite a few patients.
The situations prevailing in the city's two important government-run hospitals Osmania and Gandhi project the negligence of the authorities concerned.
Facts behind the functioning of the Osmania General Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in twin cities make all open-mouthed. Each of the four entrances to Osmania has a history hidden behind it.
Not just patients enter into the hospital from these entrances but also outsiders who disguise as security guards, ward boys and ayahs to make easy money within the hospital premises. Also, doubts raise on illegal acts happening within the hospital compound. There is none to show concern towards the poor patients.
Shockingly, a school teacher who visited the hospital for a check up, was about to be molested by an unknown man who entered the hospital just like any other patient. The issue was not resolved, instead the authorities screamed at her saying that she was trying to create a mess.
On the other hand, startling facts like the emergency room in the hospital with no phone connectivity, poor sanitary facilities project the hospital's worse state.
While the hospital has been facing an acute shortage of stretchers and wheelchairs, the available ones are being used to carry goods. Severely ill patients are forced to walk around the hospital due to lack of wheelchairs and stretchers to carry them.
Veera Ramulu, a diabetic who travelled from Mahaboobnagar to get his leg operated, had to walk all around the hospital as he could not make out the room number written on the OP sheet. "I have severe pain in my leg. I saw an ayah carrying some goods in the wheelchair. When I asked her for the wheelchair, she was arrogant and walked away", said Ramulu.
Not just Ramulu, there are hundreds of patients who are forced to walk around the hospital as they cannot avail of the opportunity to use the wheelchairs and stretchers according to their necessity. Most patients just go back home after they face such situations as their physical condition doesn't permit them to walk anymore. Though many private organisations and hospitals have donated stretchers and wheelchairs, they don't seem to serve the purpose. Some of the stretchers and wheelchairs are broken and there is none to take an initiative to get them repaired. And the hospital authorities vaguely say that they are using the stretchers to carry not just patients but also to carry goods. "We have 158 stretchers and quite a few wheelchairs. We use them for both, to carry patients and also goods", said Ashok Kumar, Superintendent Osmania General Hospital.
Most importantly, the lack of sign boards in Osmania and Gandhi are causing chaos in patients and their attendants. At Osmania, patients and their attendants are facing difficulties in identifying the rooms referred in the OP or Case sheets, as different sections of the hospital have been frequently shifted from one floor to another from past one year.
Authorities seem to take no responsibility in arranging for direction boards in the hospital. A patient alleges that there is no proper layout to display details of each ward in the hospital. All their time is killed in searching for the concerned doctor and room number that are entered in the OP or Case sheets.
For instance , Hanumanthu , 27, a road accident victim was rushed to Osmania general hospital last month at 12:30 am. A case sheet was given to his attendant at around 4am. They were asked to visit the doctor in room no 302, the plastic surgery room. Attendants pushed the stretcher with Hanumanthu on it, all around the hospital. They could not identify the room. The frustated attendants of Hanumanthu, later admitted him to NIMS. Like Hanumanthu, there are hundreds of people who visit Osmania hospital and all their time is killed in searching for the concerned doctors and rooms.
Meanwhile the security guards, ward boys and nurses torture them for bribes.
"It is annoying that the doctors themselves have no schedule chart of their duties and they are unaware of the room numbers and wards", says a doctor who remains anonymous." "It is difficult for people to make out rooms in the day time and in the night times it is like a pain for them to walk around the hospital", he adds.
While some people suggest that installation of CCTV cameras or computerized systems and monitoring the situations could solve the problem upto an extent, the superintendent of the hospital Dr Ashok Kumar says, "I will make sure that the sign boards are displayed in a week's time".
One can imagine, what the situation at mortuaries can be, when the wards are maintained with no care and consideration.
The cold storage system at the Osmania mortuary is under repair for several months now. Lack of cold storage facility is making the already bad conditions of the mortuary even worse. The PG students and house surgeons are accommodated in the building right in front of the mortuary. However, the hospital authorities seem to downplay this issue as a regular phenomenon. Though this issue was projected several times by the media, the authorities seem to be unaffected.
Poor sanitation is a major issue in the government hospitals. Though the hospital management has been handed over to private organisations on contract basis, nothing much seems to be working.
Lack of power connections in certain wards of the hospitals is causing inconvienience to the patients but creating a scope for illegal acts.
Nevertheless are the situations prevailing in Gandhi hospital. While government is spending crores of rupees for the benefit of poor and for better facilities in the hospital, all the funds seem to be just dissappearing.
Gandhi is the first hospital in the twin cities to have a pyrolysis-based incinerator to get over the problem of hospital waste management. But the plant seems to be less used from the time of its inauguration.
While, all the authorities played an active role in the introducing of this plant, they are keeping mum now. RMO, Dr BV Rao, says "The plant is functioning but its capacity is less. It is designed for the general waste but we are using it exclusively for bio- medical waste"."The biomedical waste is to be segregated from the other hospital waste and it takes time. We are running the plant for about three hours everyday". "Four personnel have received training on this technique of pyrolysis to operate the plant" added Dr Rao.
Though the outlook of Gandhi hospital seems to be pretty good, the situations inside are pathetic. Frequent powercuts at these government hospitals are causing untold suffering to patients. Adding to the poor facilities of the hospital, powercuts are endangering the lives of poor patients during emergency. It is shocking that hospital has no full fledged generator facilities.
While the conditions prevailing at the hospital project the poor administrative facilities, the superintendent of the hospital, Dr B Balraju says, "we have generators which turn on immediately in case of powercut".
Many patients allege that they were asked to pay over Rs 200 if they wanted a discharge ticket or a medical certificate at Gandhi hopsital. There are two types of discharge tickets and medical certificates issued to people. One costs Rs 200 and it mentions a sick- period of one to three months and the other costs Rs 500 mentioning a time frame of over three months.
Unscrupulous IV class workers are involving themselves in such things to make good money. Patients are never treated with love and affection, which are supposed to be the main mottos of doctors.
For instance, recently, the death of a man, Maqbul in a shed at Gandhi hospital and his wife Ayesha having to face hardships even at the burial ground, is still not washed away from the minds of the people. Though the state government has introduced many schemes for the benefit of poor, the patients are left unaware of all their rights in the hospitals.
A situation where an HIV patient was illtreated at NIMS, projects the inhuman attitude that still exists in the society.
Shockingly, vacant beds at the hospitals are used by outsiders and there is nobody to care or question about it.
"When health care becomes a business, doctors lose human values", lament patients.
What, then, makes a hospital good or bad? The quality of doctors, medical facilities or its administration? The answer is: All.

Doctors play hookie..

2008-07-29T00:59:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Thursday, June 26, 2008

Gone are the days when ward boys and nurses used to bunk duty but still got paid. This trend is now fast catching up with even doctors. They are acting college students as they are lethargic in performing their work.
Attendance, for doctors in government-run hospitals in the city is like a kids play. Signatures in centimetre wide columns in the registers leave no clue about late comers.
The state of punctuality in government hospitals is declining day by day and for this statement, there is a 'yes' nod followed by a grin from all the employees.
"I agree that there is no punctuality. But it is not fair to say that only we are irregular to work. It is a common scene in all the government offices. We travel from long distances" said a doctor in Gandhi Hospital.
While, Secretariat and some of the government offices already have bio metric punching machines installed to record attendance, the employees of government hospitals still mark their attendance in registers.
"We check both the in and out attendance registers regularly and we make sure that all the staff attend work", said Dr Ashok Kumar, Superintendent, Gandhi Hospital.
The OP timings start from 9 am and the doctors are expected to be there atleast by 9:30 am. But the superintendent's office in Gandhi and Osmania hospitals are just accomodated with tables and chairs with no officials present. All the doctors anyway walk down to the room that has attendance register to mark their attendance. A punch machine installed at the same place, can avoid late coming.
"The attendance registers in the hospital are unsigned upto 12:00 pm on some days for which none of the doctors are questioned by any authority", said a clerk in Gandhi Hospital, who wants himself to be unidentified.
"It is a government-run hospital. Like wise, we have many entrances and it is not possible to install biometric attendance systems as we don't have financial resources" said B Balraju, Superintendent, Gandhi Hospital.
"When we visited the hospital at 1pm, a ward boy said that the concerned doctor already left. This happened continuously for three days", said a patient attendant at Gandhi hospital.
Students are punished for coming late but doctors have no punisments at all for attending patients late or even skipping the visit to wards assigned to them.
"The only punishment for them is to install a bio-metric punching machine, that records the in and out timings and this should be linked to their salaries", says P Vasudeva Rao, a retired Railway employee of South Central railway, who was once a victim of a doctor's negligence.

Govt-run hospitals have no proper security

2008-07-29T00:41:00.000+05:30

Government hospitals are the most vulnerable public places from terrorist point of view and yet the State government does not bother to provide security cover at important hospitals.
None of the government hospitals in the State is provided with even the minimum security measures like metal detectors, leave alone posting security guards round-the-clock.
Authorities say security measures at government hospitals are a bit impracticable since they have multiple entry and exit points. Manning all these doors is virtually difficult given the financial crunch these hospitals face, they argue.
The Hyderabad city's two big government hospitals, Osmania and Gandhi, have thousands of people walking in with absolutely no security checks.
Last year's twin bomb blasts in the city brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of citizens at public places. And questions raise on the safety of lakhs of people who visit government hospitals everyday and small bakeries and restaurants have a security check at the entrance.
Surprisingly, there is no random check at the hospital entrances and no security personnel available to take a closer look at either the people or the baggage they carry into the hospitals, which is posing threat to the safety of patients, their attenders and the hospital staff including doctors.
After the Mecca Masjid blast followed by the twin bomb explosions in Lumbini park and Gokul chat in the city, the government made it mandatory for installation of metal detectors in all public places like shopping malls, theatres, parks and hospitals.
"Most of the poor people come to us and we trust them. We cannot place metal detectors, as there are many entrances to the hospital. Nothing serious can happen as our security persons check people who look suspicious", said Dr Ashok Kumar, Superintendent of Osmania General Hospital.
"Our health conditions force us to visit these hospitals though there are no proper security checks in the hospital. We are poor people, even if we are killed, there is nothing much the nation will lose" says Mujtaba, a patient attendant at Osmania General Hospital.
"It is a government-run hospital, we don't have financial resources to set-up such systems in the hospital", said Dr B Balraju, Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital.
Sai Lakshmi, a patient in Gandhi hospital says, "firstly, we are not treated properly here and the security checks for the safety of patients is out of question".
Though crores of rupees is sanctioned by the government for the development of state-run hospitals every year, the hospital authorities don't consider security as a priority A hand-held battery operated metal detector costs not more than Rs 15,000, while the walk through metal detectors cost around Rs 1.5 lakh.
"The authorities of all hospitals should have a security personnel for the safety of public. Our department is already working on this and we will discuss this with the authorities of government hospitals and check why they don't have security check", said Mr B Prasada Rao, commissioner of police, Hyderabad.

Youngsters wear Rudraksha to look Trendy yet traditional

2008-07-29T00:16:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Call it faith in fashion or being peppy in praying. One of the most ancient beads in the world, the Rudraksha, the spiritual element sphatika and tavees are now icons of fashion and charm to youngsters.
There are 15 types of Rudraksha from one mukhi to 15 mukhi, according to the inlaying on it. Their price varies according to their rare availability. These are available in different forms of accessories like bracelets, neck pieces and pendants. Rudraksha and spatika bracelets are easily available in city's best selling.
Most of the youngsters buy these as they feel that their fortune would turn positive.
"I wear rudraksha as a pendent in my chain. My grandmother gave it to me saying it would safeguard me from evil. I succeeded in everything I did from the day I wore it. It has been a lucky accessory for me since 2 years. Sometimes I take it off as it doesn't go with some of my outfits but I tie it on my wrist", says Soundarya Shilpa, a manager in Wipro.
Rudrakshas are given to the next generations by parents and also by grandparents as a sign of belief and well wish.Though there are youngsters who wear it as it looks trendy, some wear it because their parents force them to.
"I wear a sphatika ring and a tavees. My family has immense belief in supernatural powers. An unknown person gave this Sphatika to my mom. I have started wearing because my mother forced me to wear but I am happy it is a trend now ", says K Sunil, an MBA graduate from AV College.
Wearing a rudraksha also has a sentiment attached to it say some.
"I have been wearing a rudraksha in my neck since 4 years. Most people wear it on and off as it doesn't go on all outfits. But what I do is change the thread colour according to my outfit. I wear it in the memory of my mom and I feel she is always with me", says Sahana Sri, a graduate in hotel management.
When it comes to astrology, particular rudrakshas are allotted to different sunsigns. People generally prefer to wear panchamukhi(5 faced) rudraksha. Sphatika is nothing but the mineral quartz.
"People who have notions about diseases, bad kharma and evil disturbing them, prefer these" says STG Varadaraju, an astrologer in the city.
These are available in the city's best selling malls and shops in general bazaar, koti, charminar and small stalls outside some temples in the city. Rudraksha and Sphatika are believed to be the favourite accessories of Lord Shiva and that they have a mystique power to safeguard humans.
"These days we get them anywhere in the city but identifying and buying the real ones is important. Elders believe that they these bring luck to humans and make them move in the way of dharma", says Narasimha Sastry, a poojari.
Some college going, wear these as an alternative or as a change from routine.
"I bought a rudraksha an year back on the road side in Secunderabad for Rs 10. I wear a single rudraksha in my neck and I only wear it when I have to attend an exam or any important event otherwise I wear a simple gold chain.", says S Sai Krishna, a final year student of Sai Sudhir college.
Trendy yet traditional, that is the new mantra youth follow these days.
"These accessories are now an alternative to the routine junk jewellery. These go not only with skirts, jeans but also with salwar-kameez for girls and guys can wear it with jeans and T-shirts," says Shirshika kiran, a designer in the city.
It is a win-win scene, while parents are happy that the child is safe, youth are cheerful as they look trendy wearing these accessories.

youth - charity- make up for bad karma

2008-07-29T00:00:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Friday, June 13, 2008

Call it an internal awakening or awareness of social responsibility or selfishness – youngsters want to do more than just donate once a year to charity.
Some contribute in a small but significant way, like tutoring their housemaids’ kids or spending time with the elderly in old age homes on weekends. Infact they believe that the bad karma that is following them from past lives will be washed away with charity.
"I teach subjects to my maid's kids and I spend money for their education. Call it selfishness or social service, but I feel that my bad deeds will be forgiven by God if I do good things like this", says T Anusha, a BSC graduate from Vasundhra college.
Many educational institutions in the city have started noticing that youth are consciously choosing social work as a career. Hence they’re roping in facilitators and experts in the field to guide the youth.
Some premier institutes, in an effort to make the youth more socially responsible and sensitive, have introduced projects involving contribution to society as part of their curriculum.
"Our college conducts a social service programme called "planet programme" every year, and we distribute books, food and clothes to the kids in slums. I get immense satisfaction by spending money on the poor and I believe that I will reach heaven by doing such good things", says Divya Gomat a BA final year student at Loyola Academy.
These seem to be the signs of growing philanthropic awareness among youngsters.
"I dont do big charities but I provide food to three beggars who regularly come to my street every day. It has become a part of my daily schedule to feed them and they come every day without fail. I feel filling a hungry man's stomach is the most valuable charity", says Sarat Chandra, a tester's analyst at Dell.
Nevertheless are the multi-national companies these days. They also have their employees participating in social service activities every now and then.
"These days youngsters are habituated to a fast life and culture and some of them booze, smoke, have physical relationships which are believed as sinful acts by all religions. So when they feel guilty of what they do, they bribe god by donating money to temples or by giving away some coins to the beggars on streets. I dont think that can wash away their sins. It is the sin suffering mentality they have, which makes them do so", says Kancha Ilaiah, a sociologist and educationist. "If people help poor financially for their education or development, then that can be observed as a positive and good style of real charity," he adds.
Interestingly, Contrary to the general belief that today’s youngsters are self-centered and materialistic, hordes of youth are consciously choosing philanthropy over dazzling careers.
While the older generation ventured into social work only post-retirement, more and more youngsters are contributing towards the social sector while pursuing their careers or even swapping their professions for full-time social causes.

Child beggars - Life is full of bewilderment coupled with fear and hunger

2008-07-28T23:36:00.001+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Thursday, June 12, 2008

The world observes, a day against childlabour once a year.. But we still see many kids live on the platform, in the bus terminus, at way side eating places, shop verandahs, parks, pavements and footpaths, and steal, beg or scavenge from refuse bins enough to eat and stay alive. They move on - by trains, buses and lorries. Most of them are 'rolling stones'.
As per the Government report, the street children in Hyderabad City are more than 30,000. Majority of these street children are below 16 years age, and mostly are migrants from rural or semi-rural areas from all over Andhra Pradesh. These kids are drawn to the city because they dream that they will make good here. But, most come because they are not able to cope with the stark reality of deprivation of food and love in their large, poor and rural families.
Children of drunken fathers, deserted mothers, beaten, tormented and driven out of their homes for petty stealing, quarrels, come looking for a way out - for a break from hurt, pain and hunger. They come by trains, buses, lorries, trucks and trailers, hitch hiking and even walking.
"We have about 10 rescue teams that go around the city to trace out the child beggars or street children. For past two months we have been rescuing around 70 kids everyday. Basically we send them to the social welfare hostels where they are provided with education , food and shelter. We see kids begging with their parents' encouragement. In such cases we taken a written promisory note from parents and release the child. ", says Naveen Mittal, the district collector.
The first few days for the child on the street, out of the village, are days of bewilderment coupled with fear and hunger. Their meager belongings are soon stolen or pawned. Sometimes they are picked up by police and sent to remand homes. They are molested, beaten and sexually abused and with a total break down of coping abilities, still they remain on, only because they have no home to go to!
Needless to say, the vast majority of the innocent children who are on the street are doomed. They are in a system totally hostile to them, with no supports, no motivators, and with no skills other than their animal instinct to survive.
"We seek to be that hand which will draw the these kids out of the dark side of life and support them in their arduous journey of realising their true potential. We are already working on it by tracing child labourers, street kids and sending them to homes by convincing them. Surprisingly, we become uncles for them. They just come hug us when we visit the homes", says B Ajay, Deputy commissioner(labour department).
However, they relish the freedom and independence, and will not easily choose an institution in exchange for the street. When it comes to a child on the street, it cannot be too soon, for his name is "Today".

Pre-occupied minds of Youth

2008-07-28T23:05:00.000+05:30

Competition, achievement, success, ranks and marks. These are the only words that are all time there in the minds of youngsters. Sometimes their minds seem to have no place to register new things.
"It always happens with me. Sometimes when am busy with some work and I get a call from my boss asking me to check the new proposal immediately, I just forget about it all together and then I get bad scoulding from my boss. I don't understand why it happens always with me", says M Gopinadh Reddy, software engineer in Lantech Solutions.
Experts say that it is not all about remembering but registering things in mind. When minds are pre occupied by many things, the power of registering new things decreases and so people just listen to things but they never know what it was.
"I have this habit of nodding my head to everything people around me say. But I am in my own world and forget what they actually told me. Once it happened so that I was asked to inform my uncle about an important call and I just forgot. Because of my absent mind, my uncle lost a one lakh business deal", says P Lavanya, final year Btech student of Vatsalya Engineering college.
Educationists explain this scenario as cultural clash and gap between family expectations and youth orientation.
"Youngsters today are just concentrating on the work they do by just keeping aside other things. This might be one reason and secondly, youth these days are practising things of their own interest. So if they don't like doing something, they simply don't register it in their minds", says Kancha Ilaiah, an Educationist and Sociologist.
While some people call it " body present and mind absent", psychiatrists explain that this is a phenomenon that is natural and which occurs due to lack of required concentration and over stress on mind.
"Youngsters these days are attaining early financial independence. So they have no proper relaxation to their minds and they are always busy with something or the other. When they have so many things revolving in their minds, its quite natural that they forget or cannot register", says Dr Purnima Nagaraja, a Psychiatrist.
With the rise in the job opportunities and growing pressure levels, it is only discipline and healthy lifestyle that can prevent youngsters being absent minded.

No-touch therapy energizes aura

2008-07-28T19:21:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Sunday June 05, 2008

Healing therapies are attracting youngsters these days. Youth believe that these therapies have a capacity to energize the aura in them and help them live life fully and freely. Especially, as these are believed to have a power that can heal relationships, health, financial status and careers, youngsters feel these as a remedy to stress and strain. The objective of these therapies is to utilise the positive energy around us in a right way. Practitioners say that it is a kind of proved science though many ask for evidences.
"If we practice gym, we are just physically fit but these healing therapies help us to obtain mental stability also. I personally feel relaxed when I practice it anytime", says P Phani Srinivasan, an Asst Manager(financial department) at HSBC.
Youngsters feel that, brain - the main organ of the body requires a break from all the stress it takes in our day to day life and these healings act as stress busters.
"Healing therapies are of great use to people in reducing negative suffering and increase positivity in them. You can also prevent the attack of diseases by practising the karmic exercises every day. I personally felt it very beneficial to me", says A Balaji Naidu, an Asst manager, Reliance communications.
Interesting fact is that in karmic healing, there is no physical contact between the healer and the patient. Some patients get instant relief, but those with serious problems may require several sessions to find complete cure.
"Pranic or karmic healing is an ancient science and art of healing using `prana' or life force. It is based on the fact that the human body is capable of healing itself and this process is accelerated by transferring life energy to the affected part or the area where it is needed", says Rohini Khatri, a karmic healing practitioner at Hyderabad.
It is based on the fundamental principle that the body is a "self-repairing" living entity that possesses the innate ability to heal itself.
"Karmic healing is a simple and easy procedure but people should not mistake it to be a trend setter to look super cool, a self motivated approach towards such healings will be of more help", says ferhana Jila, a training and development professional in Dell.
Another interesting fact is that pranic healing can be applied to medicines to reduce their adverse side effects and the healing practitioners believe that there are seven chakras that control one's body.
"I teach both Karmic Healing and Reiki. Interestingly, many of my students are youngsters who get drawn to the healing courses in order to improve their personal, professional and spiritual lives", says Poornima Dayal, a healing therapy practitioner at Banjarahills.
The spiritual thoughts of youth attribute to the "Karma" and they believe that both present as well as future have a direct impact of karma/actions - accumulated over the past lives.

Social phobia in youth

2008-07-28T19:10:00.000+05:30

It's just human to develop phobias. But these days it's the social phobia that is bothering youngsters. Though competition and success is all that matters for the youth, they have unknowingly developed fears, which haunt them every now and then.
T Anusha, a BSC graduate, says, "I am scared whenever I see a group of people, but I am not an introvert. Not that I feel shy in expressing my opinion in the public, but I have developed a sort of phobia towards crowds. Recently, I could not clear an interview in GE as I was not vociferous in the group discussion held because of group phobia and I could not get the job."
Psychologists explain that a fear is rational and when it becomes irrational it is a phobia. They say there has been a spurt in the number of cases related to phobia of late.
"Earlier we used to get about 30 cases a month and now it has gone up considerably. We used to deal with cases of depression. But now we are receiving cases of phobia too, particularly social phobia," says Dr Cherukuri Ramana, senior psychiatrist. Explaining the reasons for the emergence of social phobia, he says, "when I come across youth with he problem of social phobia, I identify reasons like variations in their colour complexion, height, weight, appearance and things like communication."
Some people have a particular fear of eating in public. Even though they have social skills, they try to avoid social situations outside their immediate family and so they get used to being very lonely.
Lakshmi Priya, an MCA graduate says, "I have good technical and problem solving skills. But I don't like to go into huge gatherings or functions. I am alergetic to social parties. I just like being alone at home and I am happy being like that."
"Youngsters who come to us often tell us that they have a fear of facing a group of people as they have acne or unwanted hair. They feel that the social phobia can be rectified," says Mrs Anuradha, beauty expert, Anoo's beauty school.
There are several theories about why social phobia develops. But how much this is to do with inheritance through genes is still uncertain.
"Being social is an art. However this does not mean that only those who have the gift of the gab can be social. No dynamic essentials are needed for this though. But I did a simple start off with an evening walk with few neighbours and it really helped." says, Karttick Joseph, a mass communication graduate.
"There are several theories about why social phobia develops. It does seem to run in families. But how much this is to do with inheritance through genes is uncertain.", says Dr N Anita , a psychologist.
Experts say that the best way to get over a phobia is to expose yourself to the feared situation and to tolerate the anxiety until it starts to decrease. Ultimately, it is all about being a professor of happiness.

50 paise has no more face value

2008-07-28T18:47:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Thursday, May 29, 2008

Five, 10 and 25 paise coins have already been inducted into museums and now it is the turn of 50 paise coins to get enrolled into this list of "heritage" coins.
While grandparents keep recalling their childhood, that one paise had great value, the 50 paise coin now has lost its sheen in the business circles. The biggest of small coins, has no more acceptance in shops, petrol bunks and RTC buses.
Gundu Ramulu, a vegetable and fruit vendor, was offered 50 paise coins worth Rs 3. He refused to take and said, "if you offer this to beggars, they throw it on your face. They are demanding for 2 rupee coins these days. Give me three Re 1 coins or just give me a five rupee coin but no change I accept."
In fact, many a times the 50 paise coins are confined to money collection boxes these days. Keeping them with us or even accepting it is like becoming a laughing stock.
"No vendor will price his product at Rs 3.25 or Rs 7.50, even though that would be a win-win price for both the seller and the buyer. The habit of rounding off amounts, has become common these days" says C Narasimha Rao, a retired bank employee.
While this is the case with retail shop vendors, bus conductors also have given their own spin to the shortage of change.
"If a passenger in a bus pays more than the fare amount, the conductor tells him that the balance amount will be returned later, but that never happens as the passenger either forgets to collect or has to get off the bus in a hurry," says P Madhavi, a government employee.
The autorickshaw fare machines also seem to have magically adapted to the same situation. Irrespective of the distance travelled, the fare always seems to work out to some multiple of five.
"We had denominations like 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 25 paise coins in Indian currency until a decade ago. Its gone out of circulation now and the present generation has not even seen them. I think the 50 paise coin also can be seen only in the coin collection albums in the next five years, as it is no more accepted ", says Sarat Chandra, who loves collecting coins.
Not just in the retail shops or buses that the 50 paise coins have no value but also in cricket says Akhil Raj, a 6th standard student and cricket lover. "I remember seeing not many paisas except the 50 paise as I was a kid then. And interesting fact is that, it would have been an obvious thing that Dhoni was paid Rs 6 crore by the Chennai team though the actual amount was 75 paise less than six crore rupees."
The impression in commercial and trading circles about 50 paise coins being invalid still prevails though all the commercial banks and RBI offices continue to freely accept all the coins for exchange in bank notes. In fact, the Reserve Bank still mints 50 paise coins and also the 25 paise coins for that matter, though apparently nobody accepts them anymore.

Youth follow Astro and Numero logics

2008-07-28T18:32:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Monday, June o2, 2008

It is all about career and future to the young minds now. Be it love, marriage or settlement, youngsters today are consulting numerologists and astrologers to put on a gem stone and decide their future instead of talking to experts in the field of education.
Numerology is study of the symbolism of numbers. It states that everything in the universe vibrates at its own particular frequency. By finding the vibration rate of any object, you can establish the qualities and energies associated with it. By applying the principles of numerology and using only the name and birth date as the basic data you can determine the major frequencies of different people. A numerological analysis of the calculated frequencies provides significant information on people's personalities and character.
P Sayi, 26, a product analyst at Dell says, "yes now I believe in Numerology and Astrology but not before. I can tell you an incident from my life. I am a Geminian and am supposed to be strong at will but unfortunately I was very weak at mind. That is when my friend and I visited a numerologist. He asked me to put on a ring with a hassonitestone embedded in it. And I did. Trust me, I really couldn't believe myself. I got quick promotion, all my wishes have come true. Now am very happy."
When many people come across the word gemstone, all they think of, is a shiny rock. But there is more to know than that. Gemstones are minerals, stones or organic matter that are cut and polished for many purposes. Gemstones are of course cut and polished for beauty, because of their rare availability. They are in different colours with unique properties. They are believed to have power to control our lives.
G Ramaraju, a Numerology and Palmistry expert says, "most of the people who come to me are below 30 years. They have an ease to know about their future and work hard in the right way. Gemstones are very helpful in increasing positivity in a person's life. But these days due to the demand for gemstones, there are many fake gems selling in the market. So, I advice people to beware of fake gems. Gem stones that suit us and are genuine will really do miracles."
Taking a step ahead, What most people know about astrology is their "sign," which refers to one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. This is a form of sun-sign astrology, on which newspaper horoscopes are based. It is probably the simplest form, because nothing more than the date of someone's birthday is needed to generate a sun-sign horoscope. But actually, Astrology is study of the influence that distant cosmic objects, usually stars and planets, have on human lives. The position of the sun, stars, moon and planets at the time of people's birth (not their conception) is said to shape their personality, affect their romantic relationships and predict their economic fortunes, among other divinations.
Jatin More, who owns a jewellery shop, Mor Jewellers in Hyderabad says, "now a days I see youth showing more interest in Astrology. They have an anxiety to know about their future. Mostly, people who want to settle abroad or are in search of job, are depending on gemstones. Though gemstones are valuable and cost more, people have no second thought in buying them as they believe that these can control their lives in a positive way. Mostly youngsters visit our outlet to purchase gemstones."
While some People tend to incline towards astrology, numerology and palmistry to get things they want or want to hear things they like or desire, unlike them there are people who blame others who blindly go to just any astrologer to find 'desirable' answers.
There are always a portion of the population who cannot be convinced.

Anti-theft mobile handsets

2008-07-28T17:50:00.000+05:30

Published in Deccan Chronicle on Monday, May 26, 2008

After anti-theft systems for cars, now people are looking for anti-theft mobile hand-sets.
Taking a step in this direction, in order to safeguard their mobile customers’ interests, the mobile manufacturers have announced a Mobile Theft Insurance plan for their customers to make it convenient for people to rely on them. The unique features of theft detection software for Mobile Phones: Software would send the thief's mobile contact number to pr-defined phone numbers (maximum five) when your mobile phone is lost or stolen and the SIM is changed.
After installing the software application works quietly in the device by automatically checking on the SIM card information, all without the knowledge of the unauthorised user. It will secretly send out customisable SMS(s) using the thief's SIM card number to alert the pre-defined mobile phone number back to the owner as soon as a new SIM card is inserted. The application will not be visible on phone. It would also send messages to a centralised server where the information would be logged. Support for broad range of hand-sets. Retrieval of Phone Book Content.
According to a mobile technician Vemula Nagaraj, the software can be installed only in symbionic hand-sets and the installation would cost not more than Rs 250. "This software is very useful. There are different anti-theft softwares selling in the market but the anti theft software for mobiles is selling faster than the others" says Nagaraj.
These are the high time days for customers to think before buying an expensive hand-set as, mobile phone thefts are increasingly becoming a constant headache to them. But they can relax and stay cool now, as mobile manufacturers are similarly growing conscious of the problems being faced by their customers.
"Mobile thefts have relatively increased from past few years. Earlier robbers used to go for hand bag and chain snatching but these days robbers are snatching cell phones as they find it easy and convenient for disposal. Cell phone snatching is an offence where the accused will be booked under IPC 379 and IPC 392. My sincere request for all the used cell phone buyers is that hey should ask for a complete set of cell phone along with necessary documents when they buy it from sellers and also the shop owners should ask the person for his ID proof if he wants to sell the used cell phone." says R S Praveen kumar, the Deputy Commissioner of police, City Crime Branch.
It is no doubt a unique facility being availed to the consumers by the manufacturers, but this also can turn out to be a positive note for the manufacturers to promote their company hand-sets and attract customers.

A wakeup call questioning our culture !!!

2008-06-07T17:05:00.000+05:30

Perhaps the most shocking thing about students having sex in a high school auditorium was that other students didn't find it very shocking at all.
"I glanced over and, whatever, I just let him continue on with his business," said a 16-year-old along with a friend, stumbled upon a couple engaging in oral sex. "I stayed for five to eight minutes, just talking. We weren't worried about it. When the ayah came in, everyone started running."
A school officials weren't as laid back. The students -- eight in all -- were quickly identified and suspended, and the matter prompted the small school system to confront an issue many adults would rather not face: in this case, two girls and three boys engaging in oral sex or intercourse on school property while three other boys watched, according to sources familiar with what happened.
"In all the years that I've been in education, I've never run into this one before," said a school's superintendent. "It's a new one."
Actually, it's not so new. According to some teenagers, sex on school property is more frequent than adults might imagine. And some adults who work with teenagers said it's happening more often these days.
There's anecdotal evidence to support that:
Two students were discovered recently having sex in a high school sports room. Four students of a school were arrested after performing sex acts in the school parking lot. A boy and a girl were caught "touching inappropriately" in a school bathroom. Last year, three teenage boys were arrested after a student accused them of sexually assaulting her in a school restroom, but charges were dropped after the boys said the sex was consensual and the girl recanted.
"Students would have intercourse on the stairwells, locked classrooms, in the locker rooms," said an 18-year-old. "It was embarrassing for me to walk in on it."
A19-year-old, who passed out in June said that for some students, sex on campus is a popular fantasy -- and sometimes a reality -- particularly in the auditorium.
"It's so big, it's so dark," she said. "There's a lot more places to find privacy -- behind the stage and on the catwalk."
But what's the appeal? "Just being rebellious," she said. "Coming back to class and saying, 'Ooh, guess what I just did? I just had sex in the auditorium.' "
A sexuality educator, said she has been hearing more about similar occurrences in the past five years. "Schools are calling me, asking, 'What do we do? We've had this incident at our school.' "
The fact that teenagers have sex is well established: Roughly half of all 15- to 19-year-olds have had vaginal intercourse, and more than half have had oral sex, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But getting a handle on the reasons students are emboldened to risk having sex at school is as tricky as figuring out how many are doing it. Musawwir, who has helped lead teen forums on sex, said she thinks students have sex in school because they have nowhere else to go. "And it's the thrill of getting caught or not. And the media has a lot of things to do with it. They think that if they see it on TV, they can get away with it in real life."
For example, the popular movie "Mean Girls" -- a comedy about clique warfare in high school -- showed a girl in a bra and skirt making out with a guy in briefs in the school auditorium's projection room.
School Resource Officers, said teenagers do whatever they think their peers are doing, whether they are or not. "The thing about young people is when they see things in the mass media and they think it's going on, they start doing it."
A 16-year-old who said she is friends with one of the girls who was suspended said the episode wasn't surprising. "It wasn't that big of a deal," she said. But she said her friend "regrets what she did. She knows it wasn't a smart thing to do. But everybody whispering about her doesn't help."
Not all teenagers accept such incidents as "no big deal." A few nights after the news broke, students from other institutions, standing in a drizzle to cheer on a girls field hockey game, pronounced it "weird" and "embarrassing."
"What do you call it ?" 17-year-old senior said, giggling as she tried to come up with the word. "They don't happen. That's not normal teenage behavior."
"I would just wonder, like, what's going through their heads -- like, 'Okay, guys, let's meet at 3:30 behind the curtain?' " she said.
It can be hard to police everything that goes on at school, especially after hours, when club meetings, sports practices and rehearsals take place. In many schools, hall monitors and other adults stay late to make sure students are there for legitimate reasons.
But even adults do not always know how to handle the sex issue. A teacher said he found two students having sex last year near the TT table in a high school sports room. The teacher said he didn't report the couple because he was worried about repercussions for them -- or himself.
"I've seen and heard situations when you don't have support. These stories come back and kick you in the face," said the teacher, who is in his thirties.
He said he doesn't think an adult's word is worth as much as it used to be. "Kids have a voice or whatever, which is great, but at the same time, you see [teachers] who step up and say something and they get mashed."
Many schools don't have rules specifically banning sex on campus but punish students who do it through a clause prohibiting "immoral conduct" or behavior that offends the community's morals, say school staff. More specific policies would make it easier for schools to defend themselves against legal challenges.
After the ayah reported the incident, school officials checked and identified eight students who had entered the auditorium. The three who watched were suspended for five days; the others for 10. One of the two girls claimed she was coerced, but police did not find enough evidence to file charges.
School administrators are drafting a rule that bans sex on school property.
Some students noted a double standard among their schoolmates, saying the girls involved were being called "sluts" and "whores" while the boys faced censure mostly because some felt they had jeopardized the football team.
"I don't think any of the guys [in school] really admired any of the people involved," said a senior and an editor on the school paper. He said his teammates were angry with the male participants, all of whom were on the team, because they were top players and their suspensions threatened the season.
"We had gone through three years of hard times, [and] we finally got off to a hot start," he said.
Parents complained that they did not hear from the School Board about the auditorium incident until nearly three weeks later in a letter.
"I was waiting for some type of communication from the school," said a parent who heard about the incident from her son. "Nothing came out except rumors."
Some parents said the matter got them talking to their children in discussions they might not have at Osbourn, where, according to the school system's director of instructional services, Sandy Thompson, health classes focus on abstinence and sexually transmitted diseases but not condoms or contraception.
As to warning teenagers off sex, "You can preach that as a parent, and hopefully they will listen to you, but when it comes to that particular moment of passion, what are you going to do?"
Society is more open. You see two women kissing on MTV. You have things talked about, like 'straight versus gay.
Rather than a call for contraception, shouldn’t that be a wakeup call questioning our culture?

City of Pearls tunes into SEX

2008-06-07T16:13:00.000+05:30

Saturday nights, between 11.30 pm and 12.30 am, it's sex education time for the young uns. Three out of the four local Telugu channels run sexcounsel
ling shows. One of them has a high TRP of 1.7. This means at least 17 lakh people watch that show on any given Saturday. According to experts, who give suggestions to people's queries,married couple only form a fraction of these anonymous callers. Most of the calls are made by youth in their twenties who are ignorant about sex. And the answers are given in graphic detail with visual aids for those who are not satisfied with a verbal explanation. Male callers outnumber their female counterparts, says sexologist Kambhampati Swayam Prakash, who hosts two shows in Teja and C Channel. He expresses concern over the growing insecurity among the youth regarding their abilities. "Many youth in their late twenties call to enquire whether they can perform well on bed after they get married. When I began the show two years ago, there used to be only five callers on an average. But now I get 80 calls in a span of 30 minutes, out of which I can only answer about eight." And the most common query asked by male folks? "Of course, erectile dysfunction. The young guys are just scared. Also for them, size does matter," says sexologist G Samaram, who has been hosting a show in MAA TV for the past four years. Another trend, which is puzzling experts, is that calls regarding abortions have increased. "Many of them ask about various methods of abortion. Several youth are also unaware about AIDS," adds Prakash. But sexologists agree that middle class women are now more open about matters regarding sex. "Most of the callers belong to the middle class, which was earlier very conservative," says Samaram. Tellywood is also not all about sex tips. While in one programme, the expert shows photographs of couples having sex, another show includes a soft porn soap opera.
TOI