Beautiful quote about food

One-quarter of what you eat keeps you alive.
other three-quarters keeps your doctor alive.
(Hieroglyph found in an ancient Egyptian tomb.)

Sex composition of population in India

Upon reading an article "Cell proposed to combat female foeticide" in India's reputed daily news paper The Hindu dated May 27,2007. Curiosity forced me to ferret out the sociological reasons connected with it. Hence this article to bring awareness amoung the educated community of people.

The sex composition of a population is usually expressed in terms of sex ratio i.e., number of females per thousand males. Sex composition is considered an important indicator of inequality between males and females in a society.

Among the various states of India, Kerala alone shows a higher proportion of females 1,058 per 1000 males in 2001. Haryana has the lowest sex ratio of 861. According to the 2001 census, The state with highest per capita income, Delhi has an abysmally low sex ratio of 821 girls per 1,000 boys. The next census, would certainly depict a tepid figure.

Comparing the sex ratio in India with other developing and developed countries, India poses a very low sex ratio.

Declining sex ratio:

1. Pre-birth sex determination leads to female foeticide.
2. More females die at infantry and during the reproductive period.
3. General neglegence of females is largely responsible for high female mortality at childhood.

Sociological factors:

Poverty: Infact, the explanation for a declining ratio lies in the poverty of the Indian people. In a country where even now nearly 26% of the population lives below the poverty line. High infant mortality, poor medical facilities, extermely unhygienic condition of living and absense of pre-natal and post-natal care.

Economic security: In the absence of old age security schemes, the son is considered to be the insurance against old age. This also reinforces preference in allotment of good diet and medical care in favour of males. Regarding malnutrituion a study conducted by CARE(Co-operative for American Relief Everywhere) for pre-school children in punjab showed that 29% of male children suffered from severe malnutrition, but the proportion was as high as 71% in case of females.

Dowry: Dowry system has become much more intensified these days. Expensive gadgetary like scooters/cars are demanded from the parents to give dowry instead of declining has increased. Marriages are becoming much more expensive even in middle class and lower middle class. Obviously, this has resulted in a preference of male to female children. Big advertisements on sex determination tests (amniocentosis) pose a choice between avoidance of birth of a daughter or impending liability of a dowry payment in the slogan "Better pay Rs. 500 now that Rs. 5 lakhs later"

Recently, I read few excerpts from Gita Aravamudan's interview, the author of "Disappearing Daughters : The Tragedy of Female Foeticide".

Heed to her observations:

1. Women were forced to undergo abortion after abortion due to social and filial pressures, the fear that they would be thrown out of home otherwise, made them do it.


2. The more educated a woman is, the more likely she is to actively choose a boy if she decides to have a child. Educated housewives are also more likely to abort daughters probably because they are very unhappy with their own situation. The only educated woman likes to keep daughters are the very independent minded, not those who are just financially independent but those strong enough to say 'This is what I want'.


3. Educated Men, especially in the business class, also want to have sons to carry on their business.

Suggested measures to tackle the problem:

1. Spread of education and improvement in the educational status of the population


2. Removal of poverty will help the females to overcome the biological disadvantage associated with the life of woman


3. There should be a lecture series on the subject in medical colleges. Doctors should be make aware that aborting female babies is a crime


4. Girls must be taught to value themselves and boys taught to value girls and women at the primary school level.


5. Media can play a very proactive role, exposing and emphasizing this problem to the mass society. Cinema has a very strong impact on society. it can pose a popular attack

With improvements in all these agents, Sex ratio will improve.

Global Warming - The stupidity of Human beings and the wrath of Nature

Global warming and climate change has become one of the hot topic of the 21st century in the global mass media. The fourth assessment report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change) briefs about this serious problem and man is in part responsible. Today, it is considered as one of the world's top ten greatest challenges.

In simple words, Global warming is defined as the increase in the earth's average surface temperature.

Greenhouse effect:
The earth receives energy from the sun, which warms the earth's surface. As this energy passes through the atmosphere, a certain percentage(about 30%) gets scattered. Some part of this energy is reflected back to the atmosphere through land and ocean surface. The rest(70%) actually remains behind to heat the earth. In order to establish a balance, therefore, earth must radiate some energy back to the atmosphere.

As the earth is much cooler than the sun, it doesn't emit energy in the form of visible light instead it emits as infrared or thermal radiation. However, certain gases in the atmosphere form a sort of blanket around the earth and absorb some of this energy emitted back to the atmosphere. Without this blanket effect, the earth would be around 30^oC colder than it normally. These gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide along with water vapour, comprise less that 1% of atmosphere. They are called as green house gases as the working principle is same as that which occurs in a greenhouse.

Causes for the problem
Scientists say the observed increase is due to the increase in the anthropogenic(man made) green house gases like Carbon dioxide(CO₂), Methane (CH₄), Nitrous oxide (NO₂) and Chloro Floro Carbons (CFCs).
Nature maintains a perfect balance of the green house gases sources and sinks, but increasing industrialization and consumerism evoke human beings to upset this balance by introducing new sources and destroying the forests. Changes in the atmospheric abundance of green house gases and aerosols, in solar radiation and in land surface properties alter the energy balance of the climate system.

• The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in 2005(379ppm) exceeds by far the natural range of the last 6,50,000 years (180 to 300 ppm). The primary source of the increase in the CO2 is fossil fuel use, but land-use changes also make a contribution. Carbon dioxide is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas.
• The amount of methane in the atmosphere in 2005(1774ppb) exceeds by far the natural range of the last 6,50,000 years (320 to 790 ppb). The primary source of the increase in the methane is very likely to be a combination of human agricultural activities and fossil fuel use.
• Nitrous oxide concentrations have risen from a pre-industrial value of 270 ppb to a 2005 value of 319 ppb due to human activity and primary agriculture.
• CFCs are emitted from the air conditioners, refrigerators and aerosols or spray can propellants which plays a predominant role in ozone depleting. Today, India and China are the greatest emitters for CFCs.
  

Impacts of global warming
Since the end of 19th century the earth's average temperature has increased by 0.3-0.6 degree celcius. over the last 40 years, the rise has been 0.2-0.3 degree celcius. Some important aspects of our lives can be affected through changes in weather patters and some of these are discussed here.

• Agriculture: The steady-increasing human population has led to a rise in the demand for food. As more land comes under agriculture cultivation there will be more pressure on the natural ecosystems. Climate change will affect agricultural yield directly because of alterations in temperature and rainfall, and indirectly through changes in soil quality, pests and diseases.
• Weather: A warmer climate will change rainfall and snow fall patterns, lead to increased droughts and floods, cause melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, and result in accelerated sea-level rise. Sea level rise could adversely affect coastal agriculture, tourism, fresh water resources, fisheries and aquaculture, human settlements and health.
• Health:Climate change will lead to several direct and indirect impacts on health. The wide-ranging harmful effects include increase in heat-related mortality, dehydration, spread of infectious diseases, malnutrition and damage to public health infrastructure.
• Global Warming doesn't only increase temperatures in hot areas. It also decreases temperatures in cold areas. Even 1^oC increase in the temperature can destroy hundred and thousands of species.
  

Positive effects:
It's a good news at least for those who enjoy wild mushrooms. According to recent scientific investigations, Mushrooms have doubled the length of their fruiting season and according to the survey some mushrooms even fruit twice a year now, mirroring the rise in local temperature.

Higher the level of greenhouse gases may significantly boost production of fruits and seeds in crops such as wheat, rice and soybeans according to a recent study because crops have higher yields when more carbon dioxide is available. But it is again a double-edged sword; the increase in the yields appears to be linked to a decrease in the nutritional value of these crops.




Solutions
Climate change will lead to serious problems which all countries must get together and solve, Since human activities have a large impact on the climate, a large part of the solution lies in our hands.

• We can bring down the use of fossil fuels, cut down on consumerism, halt deforestation, promote reforestation and use more environment friendly agricultural methods.
• In the energy sector, emissions can be lowered if the demand for energy is reduced and if we shift to cleaner sources of energy which do not release carbon dioxide. These include solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear energy.
• Governments all over the world should see that forest cover is maintained because plants use CO2 to grow and help remove it from the atmosphere.
• Biotechnology can be used to produce water requirement of crops, increase crop yield, and reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides.

All countries must serve to cut down the greenhouse gases emission as per the Kyoto protocol.
If our house is set ablaze we can run away, if our planet started warming up where will we hide. Every individual must act immediately to reduce the effects of global warming otherwise we should be ready to face the dangerous consequences.

Thanks for reading
Srinivas

Mother: God's best creation

Courtesy: http://www.dayformothers.com/

While surfing the web, I was mesmerized by a photo in the corner of a page and made me ecstatic to write this article. In the above picture, a mother doing her best to save her child from devastating tsunami hit in 2004.

Mother is the one who nurtures you in her womb for nine months and brings you forth to enjoy the supreme blessing on the earth, that is Life. The title "Mother" can be given to a woman other than a biological parent who fills this role. Motherhood is a symbol of unadulterated love, kindness and forgiveness.

The day of your birth is the day of your mother's re-birth. From then she will be on her duty to guide you throughout your infancy and turns the soft, helpless creature to the powerful and successful YOU. She is the guarding angel protecting you and supporting you, feeling for you and serving for you silently always with a smile on her face. Mildred B. Vermont says “Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love”.

She cries when you cry, she smiles when you are happy, she is hurt when you are in pain, she reaches satiety when you are successful, She lives and dies for you. Before birth you will see this world through her and after you are born, you are her world. We often bound to relax by sharing all our happiness, hurt and worries with our mother, her glittering smile acts as a roborant. Hence T. DeWitt Talmage says "Mother - that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries."

Mother is your first teacher to give you copious amount of love, inculcating moral principles, boost your courage to survive in this cruel and harsh world. George Herbert states "One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters."

Mothers Day:

Mother's Day is the occasion to honor the best creation of God on Earth. For a child, every single day should be a Mothers Day. The essence of the meaning of Mother's Day is to shower her with all your love, care and warmth, to help those hands which helped us to overcome all the hiccups, to stand by the person who stood like a rock in our lean and mean days and to assure her that she really means the world to us. make this day every year a memorable one for your mother. She should cherish the special feeling of this day and the intensity of that feeling should last her the lifetime.

This is the day to remember and pray for that special person in our life, without whom we would not have been, what we are today; a day to prove that all her efforts, towards making us a complete person, have been worthwhile and make her feel proud for us. In the broader sense of the term, Mother's Day is a day to be grateful to God for being so kind as to bless us with an angel in the form of Mother.

Finally, having knowing mother’s love, forgiveness and sacrifice, I felt acute difficulty in bringing up my feelings on to the page. I would like to wrap up my succinct article with an adage “God could not be every where, and therefore he made mothers." - Jewish proverb. We fail to realize the value of a presious thing, when it is with us until it is taken away - Love your parents.

Thanks for reading
Srinivas

India knocked out from ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 - Whom to blame?

From the early days of Cricket to till 1990, it was played for the honour of the country with enourmous amount of zeal and sincerity. But now the gentleman's game has fallen so much that they are playing for the money!.

Cricket is no more a game these days; it has lost its fame as a game. It is very clearly evident from the recent dastard incident of murdering Pakistan cricket coach Bob woolmer. We all have to hang our heads in shame after hearing the fact that, Bob Woolmer, a Briton who was manually strangled to death in a high security Pegasus Hotel, Jamaica. It's a game marred by match-fixing scandals and under the hegemony of underworld dons.

On March 17, 2007 Cricket fans all over the India stunned after the staggered performance of the Indian team against Bangladesh in Port-of-Spain. Bangladesh even ruled out India's last hope of being defeated by debutants Bermuda and showing a clear sign of closing the World Cup doors for India. All credit goes to Bangladesh players they remain undaunted against the big names Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and others. We all agree, winning and losing are the two faces of a coin but what went wrong against Bangladesh was choosing to bat first on a juicy pitch, low score on the board, low quality of bowling and fielding.

There has been always extreme pressure for India, Pakistan cricketers due to high expectations from the country’s cricket lovers. Indian team is forced to bear both internal and external pressure. Internal pressure on the field and external pressure by the denizens of the country.

Winning a game is a matter of 90% mental and rest the physical ability. After a devastating defeat to Bangladesh, Cricket lovers in India started burning effigies of players, vandalizing their homes, performing mock funerals and government stepped up to provide security to their family. All such blight incidents are directly linked to player's mental rhythm and will applecart their mental calibre and finally the same is proved. Citizens must accept this fact and stop behaving off-puttingly (Team needs practice not prayers).

Coming on to the player's side:
A sport was meant to be a relaxing for players and spectators but over the years it gradually turned to be a source of major income. At least for some players in national team means an income from advertisements.

Do’s:
1. BCCI must ban players from participating in advertisements or else fetch more than 70% tax from the huge figures.
2. Media should stop hyping and unravel the unnoticed players who are doing well in other sports.
3. Powder-puff senior players must declare their retirement giving more room for youngsters.
4. Try to look for all-rounders, we don’t want lower order batsman to return to pavilion meekly anymore.
5. Cut-down the high match fee paid to the players.
6. Strict legal action against the players engaged in match-fixing scandals and etc.
7. BCCI must ensure no politics during player’s selection.

Don’ts:
1. BCCI members and players should stay away from lampooning each other.
2. Stop experimenting the batting line-up.
3. Never under estimate the opponents.

There is no I in TEAM, Individual records pay no importance when you are failed to perform as a team. It doesn't matter how many world records we hold, no matter how strong is our batting line up at the end of the day, No excuse if you are defeated badly. World class players like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer khan, Yuvraj Singh and Kumble failed to perform when crunch time came and easily succumbed to pressure. Lot of prayers, blessings went vain and ruined the India’s dream to lift the World cup. That is where, the former west-Indian cricket player Sir Vivian Richards named as the best batsman of all-time, the greater the stage the greater was his performance.

As far as, Cricket coach is concerned, he comes as a gift for the teams who are just learning the critics of the game. I don’t think coach role would really matter a lot for the teams like India having Big names with more than 15 years of experience. Regarding the recent BCCI decision to replace Sachin with Dravid, Sachin can participate as a commentator not as a player in 2011 World Cup; Yuvraj Singh must lead the team.

Finally, World cup 2007 tamasha is over for India and it’s the time for all emotional lovers to switch off the idiot box and get back to work, saving man power and electricity. There will be a great sadness in the corner of our heart that, having crossed one billion population, we failed to produce 11 players winning team.

Let’s hope for the best and my best wishes for the Indian team ICC World Cup 2011.

Thanks for reading
Srinivas G