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| 25 Apr 2007 07:59:18 pm |
 Smokers across the country are expected to face curbs |
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Smokers across the country are expected to face curbs on their habits as the government is planning to set up a regulatory authority for effective implementation of anti-tobacco laws.
The Health Ministry is setting up a National Tobacco Regulatory Body under the 11th five year plan to enforce the anti-tobacco Act strictly.
"It will be an independent body and will coordinate between states and the industry," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said.
He said a stringent enforcement of the Act was necessary because 40 percent of the country's health problem was due to tobacco.
"We want people to smoke in their homes and only when their spouses allow it," he said at the first-ever Journalist 'Boot Camp' on India's growing threat- Cancer and Tobacco on Tuesday, organised by the American Cancer Society and the US Centres for Disease Control Foundation.
Pointing out the Bhutan he said, “Bhutan is the only nation where no tobacco products are found. We want to make India tobacco free".
He said a survey showed in the Bollywood movies of the 1950s, fifty percent of heroes smoked, which grew to 71 percent in the 1990s and 86 percent currently. “The heroes are smoking and not the villains," he added.
"There should be no smoking in work place. The employees have the right that they are not affected due to passive smoking. We intend to take this up," he said.
The minister said he has written to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to take action against companies, who are showing surrogate advertisements of tobacco and liquor.
"I have written to them many times. But yet to know from them what action have been taken," he said.
Tobacco consumption is creating havoc in the northeastern states where cases of cancer have increased due to this habit, he said, adding that the Indian Council of Medical Research was studying why oral and food pipe cancer are on the increase in the northeastern states.
"We have tried to create awareness against tobacco consumption. But it yielded no results. Even in rural areas, tobacco consumption has increased. It is now time to create some scare," he maintained.
From 1st of June, all tobacco products, including gutka, will have to display pictorial warning along with the skull and cross and bones sign, Ramadoss remarked.
He stressed that the treatment for the cancer is very costly. In the first stage, cancer could be cured in 99 percent cases and in the second stage 50 to 60 percent chances are there for its treatment impacting the person.[/imgr] |
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Category : Health
| By : HosurOnline.Com |  Trackbacks [0] |
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| 16 Apr 2007 07:20:51 am |
| Save Mabira Forest in Uganda |
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According to Ugandans "Mabira Forest is part of our heritage and our children's future. Mabira Forest is a tropical hardwood forest which is proposed to be cut down for the production of sugar in Uganda. The forest is one of the most biodiversity forests remaining in Africa. It also has added value for the communities that inhabit it and surround it. The value of the forest to Uganda and her people is beyond the values of the trees, but it is also a frequented tourism site for bird watching, forest walks, and other activities; it has cultural and historical values; it significantly impacts the environment as a natural water filtration system and a natural regulator of global climate. We are asking the private investor to withdraw their request and take others up on their offers of land in Uganda to develop their sugar cane fields in other arable land."
Mabira Forest supports more than 300 bird species.
According to BirdLife International, Mabira Forest Reserve is the largest block of moist semi-deciduous forest remaining in the central region of Uganda.
"The give-away is a threat to the biodiversity of the eco-system of the forest and it cannot be brushed aside," the New Vision newspaper quotes MP Sebuliba Mutumba as saying.
An official from Uganda's National Forestry Authority said the move would be a "disaster".
"The ecosystem will be disturbed, the biodiversity will be destroyed and people's livelihoods will change for the worse," the official told AFP news agency, requesting anonymity.
Last year, President Yoweri Museveni ordered a study into the possibility of axing 7,000 hectares of Mabira Forest, nearly a third of the reserve, to expand a nearby sugar estate, Reuters news agency reports.
Uganda attacks on Indians
The sugar company is owned by Ugandan Indians and some protesters started to attack members of the country's small but economically powerful Asian community.
On 13th April 2007 "At first it was very peaceful but when policemen denied the demonstrators access to Kampala Road, they turned rowdy.
Some started chanting songs against Indians asking them to return to their country.
The protest turned into a hunting session for Indian men and women all over the central business district.
The first victim was an Indian man who was innocently walking near the clock tower in Kampala. The irate mob pounced on him and stoned him to death.
When the crowds reached Entebbe Road, they attacked another Indian man riding home on his motor bike.
The man was suspected to be fleeing from the protesters. He was pulled off the motorbike, slapped and beaten severely but luckily policemen rescued him.
His motorbike was however burnt to ashes by the protestors."
So Now???
Kampala is now calm as the irate crowds have dispersed by the heavy rains and policemen. |
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Category : Pollution
| By : HosurOnline.Com | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 29 Mar 2007 10:20:10 am |
| Slowest poison in the world |
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“Do your bit for society. Use plastic,” reads a very cleverly worded advertisement of a credit card, where the card issuer promises to contribute a sum to a well-known charity, if you spend money through its cards.
The bank also makes it very convenient to pay off the money thus spent in easy installments by allowing you to pay only 5% of the total amount due.
(alt+r)
The only fly in the ointment is the interest that the bank charges if you do not pay off the full amount on the due date. The average interest rate charged on the amount revolved (bankerspeak for the amount allowed to be rolled over and paid later) is around 34% per annum.
I am sure you have wondered why the average rate of interest on credit cards is around 34% per annum when the average rate on a home loan and personal loan is around 10% and 18%, respectively? There are several reasons for this.
One reason is the higher risk of default that the bank carries due to the completely unsecured nature of credit cards. Around the world, interest rates credit cards are significantly higher than a home loan.
For example, in the US, the current average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate home loan is around 6% whereas the average credit card interest rate is around 14%. This means that, in the US, a credit card is about 2.3 times more expensive than a home loan on an average.
In India, a credit card (at an average rate of 34%) is about 3.2 times more expensive than a home loan (at an average rate of 10.50%). What this comparison does not reveal, however, is that the lowest interest rate in the US on a credit card is around 7.50% p.a. which is not that far off from the home loan rate.
In India, however, the lowest credit card rate is around 20%, which is still twice the home loan rate.
There are various reasons for this anomaly:
The Indian rates are completely distorted by a 12.24% service tax on the interest charged on a credit card, which is not charged (mercifully so) on the interest payable on any other kind of loan.
So, clearly a part of this problem is due to government taxes and the card-issuing banks cannot be blamed.
Banks in India tend to charge the same rate for all credit-card consumers, irrespective of their credit profiles and payment history. Rate differentiation, depending on past credit and payment history, is just beginning to make its presence felt in India and this situation will correct itself to some extent in the future.
The biggest reason for the higher rates, of course, is the relative price inelasticity of borrowings through a credit card. In simple English, it means that the kind of consumers who use a credit card to borrow from their banks care more about the convenience that is offered on a credit card and they are either blissfully ignorant of the actual interest rates or prefer to ignore the interest rate hoping to pay off the borrowing quickly.
Since the actual amounts of borrowing on a credit card is normally small (around Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000) the total interest charged even at the stiff rates of 34% p.a. works out to between Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 per month.
Since the absolute amount looks small, the lay consumer rarely bothers about calculating the actual interest rate.
A very interesting fact is that if the consumer spends Rs 50,000 on a credit card and only pays off the minimum amount of 5% due every month.
At an interest rate of 34% per annum, it will take him about 11 years to completely pay off the amount with the total interest payable at Rs 57,000 during those 11 years being far in excess of the original borrowed amount of Rs 50,000.
So, what are the lessons for a regular consumer from this? First, a credit card is a very useful instrument as a means of payment. But it should be used as a borrowing tool very sparingly, and if so, for as short a time as possible.
In fact, if you are unable to repay the total amount due on your credit card, then you can consider taking a personal loan (which is much cheaper) to pay off the dues. Of course, if you are going to use the limit on the credit card all over again, then you are much better off not taking the personal loan.
Moral of the story: Use your credit card responsibly. Don’t overspend. If you do somehow end up overspending, have a concrete plan to repay as quickly as possible.
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Category : General
| By : HosurOnline.Com | Trackbacks [0] |
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| 16 Mar 2007 10:17:24 am |
| Shame Shame, Private Life Insurance Shame |
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Introduction:
After a lengthy debate and ignoring strong opposition from the then monopoly public sector company, LIC, the Life Insurance business was allowed to private businesses to start Life Insurance business with or without Foreign Direct Investments. Lots of promises and assurances were given by the Indian government on protecting the ' Indian lower middle class society's (innocent - investment illiterate's)' money/savings.
A governing body named 'IRDA' was formed to govern the Insurance Business in India and was empowered to licensed and monitor the same.
The purpose of Life Insurance as detailed by IRDA is:
"Insurance companies collect the 'Premium' in advance and create a fund, which will be utilized to pay the loss (claim) of income generating asset and the fund shall be protected from all risks and shall never be exposed to risks."
Human Life is considered as an income generating asset and the asset has risks with early death, sickness, retirement from job and disability to earn.
Mutual Fund:
A mutual fund is a form of collective investment that pools money from many investors and invests their money in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities. In a mutual fund, the fund manager trades the fund's underlying securities, realizing capital gains or losses, and collects the dividend or interest income or loss. The investment proceeds are then passed along to the individual investors. The value of a share of the mutual fund, known as the net asset value per share (NAV), is calculated daily based on the total value of the fund divided by the number of shares currently issued and outstanding. With the promise for high yield, these bonds come with greater risk. There is even risk of loosing all the money that has been invested.
India's present Life Insurance Business scenario:
When private insurance companies came into existence, the primary objective of Life Insurance was bombarded. Private insurers started promoting their mutual fund business, rather than providing safety to the savings (fund) made by the innocent - investment illiterate. IRDA remains a mere spectator of these misleading as the top level officials of IRDA negotiate with the private insurance companies to get an employment with them in the level of VP or more after their retirement.
Private insurers, show their mutual fund products as a money printing cake (like a money producing tree or a golden egg laying goose) in front of the innocent - investment illiterate. To prove their false claims the staffs and agents of these companies take printouts using their preprogrammed software, stating that, the investment will bring them triple or even more out of their investments. The risk of the investment is never detailed or educated to the innocent - investment illiterate. If you go through the so called IRDA approved broachers of these companies, you will never come across any warning, even if it is present, it will not bring your attention.
Conclusion:
The most affected society because of this false selling is the salaried class. By more than 10 years of hard work and through thrifty life style, the salaried class save about Rs. 100,000 or more or in some cases the just retired people who make about 300,000 to 500,000 through their PF and gratuity fall prey these selling gimmicks and buy the risk pf loosing all their life time savings.
These private insurers by selling mutual fund products are exposing the lower middle class society and ridiculing the very basic purpose of allowing then to do Life Insurance business.
Will the Indian government take necessary action and protect the Life Time Savings of the innocent people and stop another event like that of private finance companies that did during 1990s. |
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Category : General
| By : HosurOnline.Com | Trackbacks [0] |
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