Heart Touching Inspirational Story-An Unwise Investment..
Hard workers...Don' t miss this... Read It Completely.. ....
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year
old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.
SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the
man said angrily.
SON: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "If you must know, I make Rs.100 an hour." "Oh," the little boy
replied, with his head down.
Looking up, he said,
"Daddy, may I please borrow Rs.50?"
The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can
borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense,
then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about
why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish
behavior."
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's
questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that Rs.50 and he
really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the
little boy's room and opened the door.
"Are you asleep, son?" He asked.
"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.
"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier, "said the man.
"It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the
Rs.50 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry
again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at
his father.
"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.
"Daddy, I have Rs.100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?
Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."
Lesson to learn from Heart Touching Story:
But even better, share Rs.100 worth of time with someone you love. It's
just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should
not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with
those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily
replace us in a matter of days. But the family & friends we leave behind
will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it,
we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.
Think PRACTICALLY
Never take some one for granted, Hold every person close to your Heart
because you might wake up one day and realize that you have lost a diamond
while you were too busy collecting stones.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Take your time!
PLEASE THINK ONCE
Dear Sir/Madam ,
SPARE 5-MINUTES from ur busy schedule .PLEASE !!!
Lt. Saurabh Kalia of 4 JAT Regiment of the Indian Army laid down his life at the young age of 22 for the nation while guarding the frontiers at Kargil.
His parents, indeed the Indian Army and nation itself, lost a dedicated, honest and brave son.
He was the first officer to detect and inform about Pakistani intrusion. Pakistan captured him and his patrol party of 5 brave men alive on May 15, 1999 from the Indian side of LOC.
They were kept in captivity for three weeks and
subjected to unprecedented brutal torture, evident from their bodies handed over
by Pakistan Army on June 9, 1999.
The Pakistanis indulged in dastardly acts of inflicting burns on these Indian officers with cigarettes, piercing their ears with hot rods, removing their eyes before puncturing them and breaking most of the bones and teeth.
They even chopped off various limbs and private organs of the Indiansoldiers besides inflicting unimaginable physical and mental torture.
After 22 days of torture, the brave soldiers were ultimately shot dead. A detailed post-mortem report is with the Indian Army. Pakistan dared to humiliate India this way flouting all international norms.
They proved the extent to which they can degrade humanity. However, the Indian soldiers did not break while undergoing all this unimaginable barbarism, which speaks volumes of their patriotism, grit, determination, tenacity and valour - something all of India should be proud of.
Sacrificing oneself for the nation is an honour every soldier would be proud of, but no parent, army or nation can accept what happened to these brave sons of India . I am afraid every parent may think twice to send their child in the armed forces if we all fall short of our duty in safeguarding the PRISONERS OF WAR AND LET THEM MEET THE FATE OF LT.SAURABH KALIA.
It may also send a demoralising signal to the army personnel fighting for the Nation that our POWs in Pak cannot be taken care of. It is a matter of shame and disgust that most of Indian Human Rights Organisations by and large, showed apathy in this matter.
Through this humble submission, may I appeal to allthe civilized people irrespective of colour, caste, region, religion and political lineage to stir their conscience and rise to take this as a NATIONAL ISSUE !!!
International Human Rights Organizations must be approached to expose and pressure Pakistan to identify, book and punish all those who perpetrated this heinous crime to our men in uniform.
If Pakistan is allowed to go unpunished in this case, we can only imagine the consequences.
Below is the list of 5 other soldiers who preferred to die for the country rather than open their mouths in front of enemy -
1.. Sep. Arjun Ram s/o Sh. Chokka Ram; Village & PO
Gudi. Teh. & Dist.
Nagaur, (Rajasthan)
2. Sep. Bhanwar Lal Bagaria h/o Smt. Santosh Devi;
Village Sivelara;Teh.&
Dist.Sikar (Rajasthan)
3. Sep. Bhikaram h/o Smt. Bhawri Devi; Village
Patasar; Teh.
Pachpatva;Distt.Barmer (Rajasthan)
4. Sep. Moola Ram h/o Smt. Rameshwari Devi; Village
Katori; Teh. Jayal;Dist.
Nagaur(Rajasthan)
5. Sep. Naresh Singh h/o Smt. Kalpana Devi; Village
Chhoti Tallam;
Teh.Iglab; Dist.Aligarh (UP)
Yours truly,
Dr. N.K. Kalia (Lt. Saurabh Kalia's father).
Saurabh Nagar,
Palampur-176061
Himachal Pradesh
Please sign in by writing your name and then copy and paste it again to forward it to your friends and relatives. Let us give a supporting hand to Dr. Kalia in his efforts to get justice.
Remember, Lt. Kalia and his colleagues died on the front so that we could sleep peacefully in our homes.
WE SEND ALL SORTS OF SILLY MAILS TO OUR FRIENDS WHICH COMPEL ONE TO FORWARD BY SAYING THAT IT MAY HARM YOU IF YOU WON'T DO SO. BUT HERE IT IS NOTHING LIKE THAT, IT WILL ONLY BE YOU WHO WILL FEEL
SATISFIED IF YOU WILL CONTRIBUTE TO THE CAUSE.
JAI HIND ..........Victory to India !!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Science V/s God
hiiiiiiiiiiiii............
An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem
science has with God, The Almighty.
He asks one of his new students to stand and.....
Prof:
So you believe in God?
Student:
Absolutely, sir.
Prof:
Is God good?
Student:
Sure..
Prof:
Is God all-powerful?
Student:
Yes.
Prof:
My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't.
How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)
Prof:
You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student:
Yes.
Prof:
Is Satan good?
Student:
No.
Prof:
Where does Satan come from?
Student:
From...God....
Prof:
That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student:
Yes.
Prof:
Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student:
Yes.
Prof:
So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
Prof:
Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student:
Yes, sir.
Prof:
So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
Prof:
Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe
the world around you.
Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student:
No, sir.
Prof:
Tell us if you have ever heard your God?
Student:
No, sir.
Prof:
Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student:
No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof:
Yet you still believe in Him?
Student:
Yes.
Prof:
According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol,
science says your GOD doesn't exist.
What do you say to that, son?
Student:
Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof:
Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student:
Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof:
Yes.
Student:
And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof:
Yes.
Student:
No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student:
Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat,
mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat.
But we don't have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees
below zero which is no heat,
but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as cold . Cold is only a word we use to
describe the absence of heat.
We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy . Cold is not the
opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student:
What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Prof:
Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student :
You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....
But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's
called darkness, isn't it?
In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to
make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof:
So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student:
Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof:
Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student:
Sir, you are working on the premise of duality.
You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God
and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite,
something we can measure.
Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity
and magnetism,
but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that
death cannot exist as a substantive thing.
Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor.Do you teach your students that they
evolved from a monkey?
Prof:
If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes,
of course, I do.
Student:
Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to
realize where the argument is going.)
Student:
Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at
work and cannot even prove that
this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching
your opinion, sir?
Are you not a scientist but a preacher? (The class is in uproar.)
Student:
Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student:
Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain,
felt it, touched or smelt it?
No one appears to have done so. So, according to the
established rules of
empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that
you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his
face unfathomable.)
Prof:
I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student:
That is it sir.... The link between man & god is FAITH . That
is all that keeps things moving & alive.
--------------------
I believe you have enjoyed the conversation...and if so...you'll
probably want your friends/colleagues to enjoy the same...won't
you?....
this is a true story, and the
student was none other than.........
...
.
.
..
..
.
.
..
..
.
.
.
..
..
.
.
..
.
APJ Abdul Kalam , the former president of India
Follow....
How To Get Through Life
Sleep as much as you can ....
Read books that you enjoy...
Play with simple things...
Do whatever you want --
whenever you want...
Look for affection when you need it...
Get serious once in a while...
Forget about diets....
Show some affection...
Get angry once in a while....
Change your looks...
Above all, be happy,
regardless of what
your challenges may be...
Have a great life!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Wal-Mart celebrates its growing market share
At a festive annual meeting with entertainment by Miley Cyrus and Smokey Robinson, new CEO Mike Duke vows to hang on the company's recent gains.
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. (Fortune) -- Somewhere Sam Walton is smiling.
You wouldn't know that the country is struggling through one of the worst recessions in modern times from the mood inside the University of Arkansas' Bud Walton Arena here this morning, where Wal-Mart shareholders and employees gathered for the company's annual meeting.
Unlike much of corporate America, Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) has a lot to cheer about. Instead of retrenching, Wal-Mart has seized the economic downturn as an opportunity to gain market share.
"I am absolutely convinced that these are the times that Sam Walton built your company for," Wal-Mart's newly appointed CEO Mike Duke told a raucous crowd.
And the mood reflected Wal-Mart's powerful momentum. During the meeting, which was hosted by the actor Ben Stiller and featured surprise performances from Miley Cyrus and Smokey Robinson, shareholders voted in all of Wal-Mart's 15 directors who stood for re-election. They also defeated six shareholder proposals, including one to combat gender discrimination and another to more closely align pay with performance.
Amid hard times for consumers, Wal-Mart's emphasis on low prices has helped it distance itself from rivals. At the same time, improvements to store merchandise, like a new Miley Cyrus clothing line soon to be in stores, and a remodeling program, called Project Impact, is helping the retailer win over new customers.
Craig Johnson, president of the consulting firm Customer Growth Partners, estimates that since January, Wal-Mart's share of the $3 trillion U.S. retail market has edged up to 11.3%, compared with 10.5% during the same period a year earlier. "That's an exceptional improvement," Johnson says. "Market shares normally don't move that much." (By comparison, Target's (TGT, Fortune 500) market share, over the same period, edged up to 2.3% from 2%.)
The big question facing Duke, who took over from outgoing CEO Lee Scott in February, is whether Wal-Mart will be able to hang onto those customers once the economy recovers.
That uncertainty, coupled with other challenges, including getting Sam's Club back on track and improving performance in certain foreign markets such as Japan, has weighed on Wal-Mart's stock. The shares are down 14% since January, trading at around $51 this morning, after clocking the best performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average last year. Also today, Wal-Mart's board approved a new $15 billion share-repurchase plan.
At Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, merchants have been improving the product assortment, adding more cutting-edge electronic brands like Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500), as well as beefing up the home and apparel offerings. Under the Project Impact plan, which aims to remodel all Wal-Mart stores over the next five years, store layouts have been reshuffled to allow for quicker and easier shopping trips. For instance, grocery items, paper goods and cosmetics are grouped together at one end of the store, instead of being scattered throughout, allowing customers an easier entry and exit.
Aisles are wider and less cluttered, including Action Alley, the main artery, which under the old design tended to be clogged with product displays. Shelf heights, which were previously 60 inches, have been reduced to 42 inches to make them more female friendly.
Duke, in his speech, said these initiatives were helping Wal-Mart build long-term loyalty. "Let me be clear," he said, "our customers will stay with us when this economy turns around and they have more discretionary money to spend."
The task of improving the Sam's Club unit falls to new CEO Brian Cornell, who Wal-Mart hired in March from Michael's Stores. Cornell, a former Safeway and PepsiCo executive, will need to reassess whether Sam's strategy of focusing on the small-business owner, who has been disproportionately hurt by the recession, makes sense. Rivals Costco (COST, Fortune 500) and BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ, Fortune 500) have endeared themselves to families on a budget by offering wider merchandise assortments and smaller packages. (You no longer have to buy toilet paper in bulk, for instance.)
In Japan, Wal-Mart continues to struggle, although Vicente Trius, who had been running Asian operations and will now take over as head of Latin America, told reporters in a presentation ahead of the annual meeting that Wal-Mart was making important strides in the country. Since introducing its everyday-low-price strategy there, Wal-Mart Japan is now profitable, Trius said. And while the overall Japanese market declined 5.6% last year, Wal-Mart's Japanese operation, called Seiyu, showed a slight sales gain.
Also on Duke's to-do list: coming up with Wal-Mart's next big growth engine. Stores in the U.S. are mature; to keep growing, Wal-Mart will have to look elsewhere, most likely in emerging countries like Russia (where it currently has no stores), China (where it has 252 locations) and India (where it just opened its first cash-and-carry operation.)
Sam's son and current chairman Rob Walton also gave a tribute to Scott, who will remain a director, as well as Scott's predecessor as CEO, David Glass, who is retiring from the board. "I still see a company today that my dad saw so many years ago," Walton said. "A company that has its best days always in front of it."
Not many people would begrudge Duke for wanting to bask in Wal-Mart's strong performance a little longer, except, maybe Walton himself. "As Sam once said," Duke told the crowd, "'We just don't feel good unless we're moving forward.'"
Bing's Early Lead Over Yahoo Not End of Race
Microsoft's Bing overtook Yahoo Search in only its fourth day of public release according to Web analytics company StatCounter, but it's too soon to tell how well the new search engine will fare in the long run.
On Thursday, Bing became the No. 2 search engine in the U.S. and worldwide, with 16.28 percent share of searches to Yahoo's 10.22 percent in the U.S., and 5.62 percent for Bing to 5.13 percent for Yahoo worldwide, according to StatCounter. StatCounter's Global Stats research data is based on 4 billion pageloads per month.
In a press statement StatCounter CEO Aodhan Cullen noted that it could be "initial novelty and promotion" that is giving Bing momentum, but said that Microsoft could be successful far sooner than it expected in achieving CEO Steve Ballmer's goal to be the No. 2 search engine within five years.
Microsoft released Bing on Monday, two days earlier than expected. The company is promoting the search engine as a "decision engine" aimed at helping people better organize search information and find what they're looking for more quickly, and has poured between US$80 million and $100 million into a marketing campaign to promote it. That campaign even included sending a blue "search" beam of light out from Seattle's famous Space Needle landmark on Tuesday above a launch party below, where the word "Bing" was spelled out in lights on a lawn.
Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, just outside of Seattle.
Forrester Research analyst Shar VanBoskirk said the early numbers are in no way indicative of how Bing will do against what she calls "the big two" of search -- Google and Yahoo -- in the long term. "I don't know that three days in it's reasonable to say that Bing has won the race," she said.
However, because Bing is similar to Yahoo in its approach to search, it makes sense that it would take share away from Yahoo before it would Google's search engine, VanBoskirk said.
"Bing is a greater threat to Yahoo than to Google because Yahoo has been sort of the content search engine and Google has been the utility search engine," she said.
In other words, Yahoo has taken more of a "concierge approach" to search, organizing its search results more based on what information other users have found useful in the past and based on services that can be offered around a search result, VanBoskirk said. This gives Yahoo's results more of the feel of a traditional Web portal than merely providing people with a list of relevant searches. Google, on the other hand, is more of a toolbar, she said.
"With Google's utilitarian approach and Bing and Yahoo being the more portal-based approach, it's easier to think why they would be more competitive," VanBoskirk said.
Study: Life, Health Insurers Investing Billions in Tobacco Companies
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that major U.S., Canadian and British life and health insurance are investing billions of dollars in tobacco company stock, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health," said Wesley Boyd, the study’s lead author and a faculty member of Harvard Medical School. “It’s clear their top priority is making money, not safe-guarding people’s well-being.”
Tobacco use not only leads to health problems like lung cancer, pulmonary illness and heart disease, but is the leading cause of preventable deaths, according to U.S. and world health officials.
The study highlights U.S. insurance company Prudential Financial Inc., who has $246.3 million dollars invested between three tobacco companies, including Reynolds America and Philip Morris.
Major US, Canadian and British life and health insurance companies have billions of dollars invested in tobacco companies, a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine said.
Wesley Boyd, the study's lead author, found that at least 4.4 billion dollars in insurance company funds are invested in companies whose affiliates produce cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco.
"Despite calls upon the insurance industry to get out of the tobacco business by physicians and others, insurers continue to put their profits above people's health," said Boyd, a faculty member of Harvard Medical School.
"It's clear their top priority is making money, not safeguarding people's well-being," he wrote.
Tobacco is considered the leading cause of lung cancer and a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, pulmonary disease and cancer.
According to the World Health Organization, it is a contributing factor in 5.4 million deaths a year.
Researchers first revealed that health and life insurance companies had major investments in tobacco companies in 1995 in an article in the British medical journal Lancet.
"Although investing in tobacco while selling life or health insurance may seem self-defeating, insurance firms have figured out ways to profit from both," Boyd wrote.
"Insurers exclude smokers from coverage or, more commonly, charge them higher premiums. Insurers profit -- and smokers lose -- twice over."
According to the study, US insurer Prudential Financial Inc. has 264.3 million dollars invested among three US tobacco companies, including Reynolds America and Philip Morris.
Canadian insurer Sun Life Financial Inc., which sells life, disability and health insurance, has a stock portfolio with more than one billion dollars in two tobacco companies, including 890 million dollars in Philip Morris.
Prudential Plc, which sells health and disability insurance, has 1.38 billion dollars in two tobacco companies, including British American Tobacco.
The study also details the substantial tobacco investments of the US firms Northwestern Mutual and Massachusetts Mutual Life, and the Scottish firm Standard Life Plc.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Pope Celebrates Sunday Mass in Jordan
Pope Benedict XVI, center, arrives at the International Stadium of Amman to celebrate Holy Mass, 10 May 2009A large crowd of thousands of people turned out to attend Pope Benedict's open air mass at the international stadium in Amman. The pope urged Christians in the Middle East to persevere in their faith despite the difficulties they face.
Arabic chanting could be heard as the crowd awaited the arrival of Pope Benedict. Many got up very early to attend the special mass in Amman. Catholics from across the Middle East arrived in Amman to attend the service. Many held flags from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Archbishop Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, addressed the pope at the start of the mass. He assured the pope that Jordanians are making every effort to provide assistance to Iraqis who have fled the war."In the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq, more than eight million Iraqis took refuge in Jordan," he said. "Almost 40,000 of them are Christians. We know Holy Father how much this issue of the world refugees concerns you personally.
We would like to assure you that our diocese is doing its utmost to provide them with pastoral needs."Pope Benedict urged Christians to remain faithful to their roots and the Church's mission in the Holy Land. He encouraged them to persevere in efforts to bear witness to the Christian faith and urged them to maintain the Church's presence in the changing social fabric of these ancient lands. "The Catholic community here is deeply touched by the difficulties and uncertainties which affect all the people of the Middle East," he said.Pope Benedict on Sunday was also scheduled to visit the site believed to be where Jesus was baptized on the River Jordan.
On Monday he travels on to Israel and the Palestinian territories, in what is considered the most delicate part of his first Middle Eastern tour.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Dioxin becomes most dangerous man-made poison
Dioxin is 60 thousand times more toxic than cyanide: a dose of only 50 micrograms of dioxin is lethal for a human being
Human beings have had an immense interest in poisons since most ancient times. People have been using poisons for centuries already, while methods of poisoning have become rather diverse as a result of such an extensive experience. In addition to a traditional method of injecting a portion of poison in blood, poisons were used in candles, for instance – the smoke of such candles was lethal. Poisonous evaporation rose up from bed sheets, as the victim was warming the bed up while sleeping. There were quite exotic methods of poisoning concocted as well: a person could die from a kiss of a concubine. Female sex slaves were adapted to poison since early childhood. When they were growing up, the poison concentration in their saliva was extremely dangerous to their clients. Poisonous substances were used in skincare creams, shampoos, lipsticks, etc. Adding poison to food is still reputed to be the most traditional way of poisoning.
Scientists have always been looking for the strongest poison. Dioxin has become one of such achievements: this substance ranks third on the list of most toxic poisons known to modern science. Dioxin made front pages of world's leading newspapers and magazines last year, after the so-called orange revolution in Ukraine.
Scientists discovered dioxins a short time ago. Specialists cannot boast of having a lot of information about the poison: the substance is quite complicated. There are quite contradictory opinions about dioxins too: scientists say that they can be found in fossilized relics as a product of burning, volcanic and even bacterial activities. The majority of dioxins appear in environment as a result of human life. Burning trash, smelting steel, making paper, chemicals and a variety of other products that human beings use in their every day live produces small, albeit dangerous, amounts of dioxins.
Dioxins are formed as a result of incomplete combustion of organic materials in the presence of chlorine. The burning of fuel in a car engine produces dioxins as well. Our civilization produces only several kilograms of dioxins a year in the whole world. However, even such a small amount of the highly dangerous poison is enough to exert considerable negative influence on mankind.
Dioxin is currently reputed to be the most dangerous toxic poison that has ever been made by the hands of man. It follows two poisons of natural origin: the botulism toxin and the diphtheria toxin. Dioxin is 60 thousand times more toxic than cyanide. A dose of only 50 micrograms of dioxin is lethal for a human being: the volume of the dose can be compared to a tiny microscopic piece of a 50-gram pill, cut into 1000 particles.
Modern science does not have enough knowledge of dioxin's toxic properties. There can be only several laboratories found on the territory of the former USSR, which can analyze dioxins. The poison affects human skin, deteriorates liver, stomach and ruins the nerve system. Dioxins are said to be strong carcinogens: scientists believe that the poison acts as an accelerating agent of cancer, the substance, which suppresses the human immune system, similar to AIDS virus. It is extremely difficult to remove dioxins from a living organism. Being lipophilic compounds, the poison accumulates in the adipose tissue and liver and may manifest its harmful effect in 15 or even 25 years.
Furthermore, dioxins possess a horrible ability to alter the genetic structure of a living cell, which may lead to congenital disorders and defects. There were several occurrences in the Soviet Union and other countries of the world, when dioxins polluted the environment as a result of industrial breakdowns. The most recent criminal story with dioxins occurred during the presidential election in Ukraine, when Viktor Yushchenko, the incumbent Ukrainian president, suffered from the dioxin poisoning.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Indian party manifestos compared
There are two ways of analysing the election manifesto of any political party. First, what are the immediate benefits or detriment it brings to the party? And second, what impact will it have on the political map of the country in 10 to 20 years?
In politics, it doesn't matter what ideology one really believes in. The truth of wielding power lies in what parties are forced to say to the electorate.
What principles the party has at heart is less important than what is actually being said and promised to the voters.
A glance at this year's manifestos of India's two main parties, Congress and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shows that despite their ideological differences, both share similar long-term strategies on the major issues which confront India.
Their policies have largely converged on the crucial policy areas of the economy, security and foreign relations.
Even after much hard selling the truth is that both the Congress and the BJP have fundamentally the same economic policy.
Be it their stance towards the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or how far to push the liberalisation of India's economy, they are in essential agreement.
The only distinction that remains is between the size of the sops the two parties have to offer.
One is promising tax relief on $6,000 (£4,000), the other is simply lowering the bar to $3,000 (£2,000).
This is not a fundamental difference of principle - more a difference of emphasis.
On matters of foreign policy and national security Congress has in effect inched a few steps closer to the BJP.
Congress has spoken about forming a single central investigative agency and reintroducing Pota (Prevention of Terrorism Act) by the back door - both reflect exactly the same line towed by their arch rival the BJP for years.
The Congress has only dressed up both policies in a different language.
The gulf that essentially existed 15 years ago between the Congress and the BJP on their views on country's foreign policy has narrowed down considerably.
Interestingly, the gap between them hasn't faded because the BJP has come closer to Congress but because Congress has edged towards the the BJP.
Here, it is important to clarify that after the Mumbai (Bombay) attack last November, no party contesting the elections can even hint at softening the approach towards Pakistan.
There is also the recognition by both that foreign policy cannot be focussed on one region alone but must be global.
As far as tempting the voters is concerned, the feeling I get after reading BJP's manifesto is that the party is losing hope of forming the next government.
A political party which is confident of clinching power would not usually make scores of promises of the kind the BJP makes in its manifesto.
On the issue of wooing the Muslim community, I feel their manifesto has made a small yet fundamentally significant shift.
It is worth remembering that the BJP had not issued a manifesto for either of the last two general elections or for 11 long years.
So it is not unexpected to see that they have revived their rhetoric on controversial Ram temple dispute [in Ayodhya].
The BJP also wants special status for the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
But the language the BJP now uses makes me feel that the party has mellowed a little.
On the issue of a Ram temple, the party isn't saying that it will build the temple on the "same disputed site".
Their manifesto says that all alternatives will be explored to build the temple, which include consultations and seeking a judicial course of action.
The language emphasising the party's long-pursued commitment to build the temple on the same site is now missing. The BJP has taken a few steps back and in my opinion it's a positive shift.
I believe that India's Muslim voters today are pawns in the hands of both the Congress and the BJP.
This must stop.
Indian Muslims are playing into the hands of some political parties. And when I look at the BJP's manifesto from that point of view, I see signs of subtle cracks in that tragedy which in my view are very significant.
When the BJP talks about the ministry for minorities, the party does not say it will close it down, despite that being an easy position to take.
On the contrary, the BJP says it will direct the ministry on a more constructive path. It will use the ministry to provide education for the minorities.
The BJP itself says that the party will work towards development of all the Indian languages including Tamil, Urdu and Sanskrit. But it carefully avoids mentioning Hindi alone which can be easily labelled as hypocrisy.
I see this as a small yet crucial sign. I do not know what benefit the BJP will reap out of it, but this is a good sign for our country and democracy
The Congress party manifesto is a collection of skilfully chosen words which are woven like pearls in a string of promises to woo the people.
I will not attempt to check how valid their promises are.
But Congress has taken two more steps on its policy on minorities since its last manifesto.
First, it talks about the formation of the Equal Opportunity Commission and second, about giving a reservation to the economically deprived members of the Muslim community.
The manifesto of the left parties on the other hand, looks very serious. But the truth is that electoral battles are neither fought, won or lost with mere manifestos.
The problem with the left front lies buried somewhere in the wide gulf between its ideology and reality.
And it seems very unlikely that many will believe in their promises, though the left clearly shows more ''vision'' in their manifesto than does any other party.