Think India Foundation

Broiler meat, egg demand to grow on rising purchasing power

COIMBATORE: Rising purchasing power, changing food habits and increasing urbanisation would sustain the robust growth being witnessed by the poultry industry. The demand for broiler meat would continue to grow at 8%-10% a year while table egg demand would increase 4%-5% in long term, ratings agency ICRA has estimated.

Domestic poultry meat production (broiler - carcass weight) is estimated to have increased from less than 1 million tonnes in 2000 to 3.4 million tonnes in 2012 with per capita consumption increasing from 0.8 kg to 2.8 kg per annum during the period. Table egg production is estimated to have increased from 30 billion eggs in 2000 to 66 billion eggs in 2012 with per capita egg consumption increasing from 28 to 55 eggs during that period. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Hypertension: India's silent killer (May 18 is World Hypertension Day)

New Delhi : 

Fast-moving lifestyles, unearthly hours at work, stress, addiction to alcohol and unhealthy meals are making more and more Indians fall prey to high blood pressure at a very young age.

"The biggest problem with hypertension is that there are no symptoms. Thus people tend to be unaware that they have hypertension," Ravi Kasliwal, senior cardiac consultant at Medanta-the Medicity, told IANS. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Slums turn haven for consumer firms

Mumbai : About 6% of India's population, or about 7.2 crore people, live in slums, according to the 2011 census.

Consumer companies have been going that extra mile to tap rising incomes and product awareness in hinterlands.

However, they need not go that far as a huge potential lay in the backyard: city slums. 
With products like Maggi noodles also becoming a staple for slum kids and branded talcum powder, hair oils household items, a huge entry-level premium product market awaits consumer firms, according to a report by Ritika Mankar Mukherjee, research analyst of Ambit Capital. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

UPA on media blitz to showcase its feats

NEW DELHI: I&B minister Manish Tewari on Monday launched a multi-media initiative with the theme 'Glimpses of the India Story' to showcase the achievements and highlights of nine years of UPA rule. 

The publicity campaign seeks to highlight the impact of policy decisions at the ground level for inclusive growth and participatory governance. The ad spots have been directed by Pradeep Sarkar of 'Parineeta' fame while the radio jingles have been written by Javed Akhtar and sung by Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Modern lifestyle leaves urban folk wheezing: Expert

VARANASI: There is a sharp increase of asthma patients due to environmental pollution and lack of awareness towards the disease and its morbidity. "There is a need to create awareness among people about asthma, a modern-day disease caused by environmental pollution," said Dr JK Samaria, professor and head, department of chest disease, Institute of Medical Sciences,Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and national secretary of Indian Chest Society.

"Besides, the rapidly increasing modernisation and consequent changes in lifestyle has caused rapid increase in asthma prevalence," said Samaria, adding that being concerned about the rapid growth of the disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared first Tuesday of May as World Asthma Day. This year the World Asthma Day is being observed on May 7 with the theme 'You can control your asthma'. The WHO has set a target of reducing the asthma disease by 50% in the years to follow, he said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Shame, shame

Am I hallucinating or is urban India fast becoming Angry Urban India? We drive like maniacs, argue as if we're always at war and lose patience in no time.

Is it the weather? Is it the political situation of our country or is it more simply, a malfunction in the process of evolution? Why can’t we breathe more and slow down a little. I would have stopped to think if something else wasn’t irking my nerves since yesterday.

A six-year-old girl was sexually assaulted at an ongoing wedding celebration in Nagpur yesterday. She was only six. Sometime ago, when a foreign tourist was visiting India and got raped in return, I was reading the report on an international news site. And like every news report that is controversial, the comments section was longer than the article itself. Almost all of those who commented were either Americans or Europeans. But their ethnic profile is not the point. What got to me was the discussion thread. I have, often, been wisely advised to not read comments on an article. It can really kill your spirit, I have been told. But this time, I couldn’t help myself. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Don’t bare legs in India

Trousers are acceptable, but shorts and short skirts are offensive to many.

NEW DELHI: When in India, don’t show bare legs or wear short dresses. This could hurt Indian sensibilities and may lead to sexual harassment. 

That’s the advice being offered by Manila-based multilateral agency Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is hosting its 46th annual meeting in Greater Noida, to more than 4,000 delegates. Read more

Source : www.freemalaysiatoday.com

The naked truth

A petition to make watching porn illegal has raised liberal hackles. But for every porn video that reignites a relationship, there is violent porn that brutalises women and children and must be banned

A plea filed in the Supreme Court to ban pornography in India about two weeks ago sparked howls of protest and some humour online. It was perhaps coincidence that the filing of the petition coincided with the rape and mutilation of a five-year-old girl by two men who apparently confessed to having watched porn before the assault. The plea makes a connection between pornography and an increase in cases of sexual assault and has called for an outright ban.

While the usual guardians of Indian morality have come out in support of the plea, others view it as an unwelcome intrusion into an individual’s privacy. While others still say that there must be a way to differentiate between erotica and pornography. It doesn’t help that the chief petitioner Kamlesh Vaswani seems confused about the difference himself (see box). Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Empire of maladies: What ails urban India?

Politics, paani puri & pollution — almost anything can hold our health hostage. A map of India's top malaises

 

Empire of maladies: What ails urban India?

The northern and southern most states of the country are facing some trouble in their head and heart. Over 55 per cent of the population suffers from some form of mental trauma in Kashmir, owing to decades of political turmoil. In Chennai, the prevalence of Coronary Artery Disease — one of the leading causes of death globally — is 11 times higher today than it was in the 1960s. And there we have it. Though middle class, urban India growing at a phenomenal rate (in three years, there'll be 53.3 million such households), invests generously in the wellness industry — pegged at Rs 49,000 cr — the rampant lack of well-being in our cities is surprising. Mirror spoke to researchers, doctors and residents across India to examine this disconnect, and ask them a simple question — what ails us and why? The answers were wide-ranging. Some connections, such as that between oral cancer and tobacco were apparent, others like the one between air pollution and infertility we wouldn't have guessed. In each case, however, experts stressed that while solutions are at hand, implementation through improved healthcare facilities and individual care is needed. Read more

 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Grabbing eyeballs

Rising internet penetration coupled with high mobile internet usage is fuelling social media in both rural and urban India

Usage varies: 97 per cent on social media use Facebook. Photo: Brijesh Jaiswal

It is not just the metro cities that are being swept away by the social networking wave. Small towns -- with population between 2 to 5 lakh -- now make up for 35 per cent of all social networking users in urban India. This is more than the 19.7 millions users (34 per cent) in the top 8 metro cities combined. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Slums have reported significant improvement in terms of access to basic amenities and possession of consumer assets, reducing thereby gaps between slum and non-slum areas over time, according to the recently-released Population Census of 2011. The percentages of households having electricity,education, healthcare facilities and consumer assets like cellphones, television, etc, in slums are not much below those of non-slum areas. Furthermore, by most of these indicators of well-being, slum-dwellers are better off than the rural population. The news has been welcomed because all these are being taken as an indication of inclusivity of the cities and opportunities they offer to migrants in slums to get integrated with city lifestyle. 

Urban slums, indeed, offer a plethora of opportunities to the rural population to escape unemployment and improve socio-economic conditions and quality of life. Unfortunately, what has received little attention among the media, researchers and policy-makers is the fact that the percentage of slum population has come down drastically during the past decade. Arun Kumar Misra, secretary in the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, has observed that “our own projections were that the all-India slum population would be 27.5% by 2011, so the new data comes as a pleasant surprise.” Is the reported figure of slum population as 17% indeed pleasant and satisfying? Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Distancing neighbours make Ashtami celebrations lose charm

Chandigarh : Urbanisation and decreased interaction with neighbours have changed the way festivals are celebrated today, and the most affected is the way Ashtami is celebrated in cities. 

The dip in interaction among neighbours is attributed as one of the major reasons for the paradigm shift witnessed in the tradition of worshipping “kanjaks” in homes. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

Working women in India and Bharat

In rural and urban contexts, their identity and social conditioning are poles apart

Rural women struggle to place us real urban women in their daily lives. Most of these women don't study past middle school, get married one day after their 18th birthday (blatant lie, 16 years would be the norm), and have children at a young age with limited access to quality health care. Women opt for birth control or family planning options in a limited way. Most village sub-health centres are little more than holes in the wall, lack electricity and water, and are inadequately staffed. Many rural women prefer a home-delivery with the familiar dai (midwife). This allows them to be back on their feet faster while attending to the younger children and work at home. Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

‘Urbanisation, unplanned growth main cause for BP’

BANGALORE : The Department of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday observed World Health Day, albeit on a small scale owing to the poll code of conduct which has been put in place.

A doctor examining a participant at a camp to mark World Health Day in Bangalore on Sunday. Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Following the theme set by the World Health Organisation — Blood Pressure or Hypertension, the programme for the day started off with a blood pressure camp. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com

Hypertension rising in semi-urban & rural areas, warn experts

PUNE: Hypertension has spread among the urban, semi-urban and rural population. Therefore, a cross-sectoral approach is needed to reduce the burden of the disease, said experts in a panel discussion at a consultation organized to mark the World Health Day.

World Health Organisation's country office for India and the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) had organized the consultation at AFMC on Saturday, where experts said that high blood pressure needs more focus in the comprehensive strategy to tackle non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Cut salt intake, exercise to avoid high BP

Shruti Jain was a busy working mother juggling children, work and household chores with aplomb, until she suddenly collapsed in office one day. Diagnosed with a stroke, she had to undergo a six-month recuperation and paid a hefty fee at a private hospital.

Little did the 35-year-old marketing executive know that she had been suffering from hypertension, which had gone undetected for a long time, ultimately leading to the stroke she suffered. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Mumbai's rich go for Gujarat parking bays

AHMEDABAD: After landing at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad one might just get a feeling that this is a city of billionaires. What else does a long queue of neatly parked private jets mean?

There are about 20 private jets and choppers parked at Ahmedabad airport. Of these,only five are owned by local business groups Adani and Zydus Cadila.

But much of this is a spillover from Maximum City. Heavy congestion at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai is forcing the rich to park their flying machines in Ahmedabad. The low parking charge in Ahmedabad, a mere one-third of Mumbai's, is a plus. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Courageous singles, curious couples push limits of travel

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: Travelling abroad is no longer about multi-city whirlwind tours. It's about zooming off in a MiG-21 in Russia, burning the rubber in a roaring Ferrari in Italy, exploring a mysterious cave in Turkey, chilling out in an ice-hotel in Europe and getting a high in a lighthouse in Scotland. And the evolving Indian traveller is lapping up every fresh and unique experience.

Travelling abroad is no longer about multi-city whirlwind tours. It’s about zooming off in a MiG–21 in Russia, burning the rubber in a roaring Ferrari in Italy.

Take Smita Kurup, for instance. The 27-year-old medical professional's idea of a holiday is a hot air balloon ride in Australia, sightseeing Paris in a vintage Citroen 2CV, wallowing in a mud-spa in New Zealand or whale watching in Boston. These offbeat activities give her a 'kick' in an otherwise stressful life with long working hours. And this Holi-Easter weekend, she's off to Thailand to stay in a tree house. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

With demand rising, companies offer vegan vacations

CHENNAI: Monica Pandian and her friends are busy planning a trip to Auroville. But the gang of eight from Chennai has to pick their eat-outs with care as all of them are vegan. That naturally rules out cheesy pastas, steaks and even ice creams.

"There are a lot of vegan eateries in Auroville, and that's why we decided to go there," says Pandian, a third year college student. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Birth pangs for career women

KOLKATA: It's a statistic that reflects the dilemma faced by most urban, working women. Three out of every 10 of them in Kolkata suffer from infertility.

What's more worrying, many wouldn't have had this problem had they gone the family way at the right time, believe experts. But caught in the cut-throat competition of corporate world, career women realize that a forced break would halt their growth - a compromise few are willing to make. Delaying pregnancy springs up as the most obvious decision for couples, often leading to medical complications that they hadn't bargained for. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Unhealthy India: Only proper planning can reverse worrying disease trends

Unhealthy urban lifestyles have emerged as a leading risk factor causing death and disability among Indians. “Non-communicable diseases and injuries are creating more strains on health as communicable diseases and maternal health problems become less threatening,” finds a new study.

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors 2010 Study (GBD 2010) is a collaborative project led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Read more

Source : www.firstpost.com

High-end mobiles ring trouble for teens

VISAKHAPATNAM: Vizag teens are calling for trouble, literally. Hi-end cellphones have become the new distraction for students and with exams looming, teachers and school authorities are none too happy. 

And it is not just the basic models that the younger generation is flaunting around, but hi-end communication gadgets with varied apps and downloadable software. With mindless long hours spent working their fingers on these gadgets, many students are suffering from loss of concentration in studies and as a result academic performance is taking a beating. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Stroke cases increased by over 50% in Punjab, say experts

Ludhiana : High fat in the diet, changed lifestyle and alcohol consumption are major contributers to a stroke which can also be called a brain attack. In the past 10 years, in Punjab alone, the number of patients has increased by more than 50% because of all these reasons and youngsters constitute a large number of them.

These points were discussed at the 8th National Stroke Conference organised by the department of neurology, Christian Medical College on Friday. Read more

Source : expressindia.indianexpress.com

Indian women opt to freeze their eggs

Deepika Gupta, 35, a lawyer in a Delhi court, has been into a few relationships but has not been able to narrow down to Mr Right.  

Indian women opt to freeze their eggs (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

With her biological clock ticking fast and her wish to have her own children in the near future, she has now chosen to have her eggs frozen and have babies when she finds her companion. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Bowel diseases on the rise in urban population

MUMBAI: More and more people in the city are presenting with symptoms as common as diarrhoea but are diagnosed with serious problems that are collectively termed as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Doctors say the incidence of IBD is rapidly increasing in the urban population. 

Dr Amit Thadhani, endoscopic surgeon and medical director of Niramaya Hospitals called frequent diarrhoea a hidden danger. He cited the case of Rakesh Mishra, a 35-year old software engineer working in a top company. He was frustrated due to frequent loose stools several times a day. He was consulting his family doctor time and again for this problem and had been prescribed several courses of antibiotics without much relief. He also noted that he was passing blood with stools. Finally, when he consulted a gastroenterologist, he was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Urbanisation cutting off sunlight

Urbanisation is cutting off people from adequate sunlight — which helps the skin produce vitamin D and facilitates calcium absorption by the body, a new study has claimed.

As people move more often and become more urbanised, skin colour — an adaptation that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop in humans — may lose some of its evolutionary advantage, according to Nina Jablonski, a Penn State anthropologist. Read more

Source : www.deccanherald.com

Super-size terraces are Bangalore’s latest status symbols

BANGALORE: A super-size terrace is the new luxury buzzword in this city. Large semi-open spaces attached to penthouses and million-dollar (upwards of Rs 5.5 crore) condos, that can be used as sit-outs, private green spaces or party areas, is the latest fancy of the gilded class here. 

For example, an upcoming luxury apartment development, 77° Sky by DivyaSree, in South Bangalore, is offering buyers terrace spaces anywhere between 1,032 sqft and 1,662 sqft, equivalent to the area of standard one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats. The smallest terrace space being offered -- 545 sqft -- can fit six Innova cars, while the largest -- 1,144 sqft -- can fit almost 10 of President Obama's super limos. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

In India, kissing on the rise, even in public

NEW DELHI: India may be the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, the ancient how-to manual on kissing and sex. But for many years, Indian couples did not widely embrace kissing, at least not in public. Now that is changing. 

For many years, Indian couples did not widely embrace kissing, at least not in public. Now that is changing. (NYT Photo)

The Mahabharata, an epic poem written 3,000 years ago, is believed to include the first written description of mouth-to-mouth kissing. But anthropological studies done over the past century in India and elsewhere in Asia showed that kissing was far from universal and even seen as improper by many societies, said Elaine Hatfield, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Cycle makers to woo urban India with special segments

Poor rural demand hits sales of standard or traditional bicycles 

With changing lifestyle in urban areas and growing aspiration levels in rural areas, there is a divergent trend in the bicycle industry. The standard or traditional bicycles, which are predominantly in black and green colour, have been losing sheen and its share in the total bicycle volumes has been steadily on the decline though it is still the largest segment with poor margins. Read more

Source : www.mydigitalfc.com

A compact & vertical city

The new blueprint of Ahmedabad’s development focuses more on a healthy lifestyle in a green and affordable city with strong social and physical infrastructure. The well- developed areas with established civic infrastructure are at the core of the second revised development plan (DP) passed by the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) on Friday.

The DP proposed to maintain the compactness of the city by not releasing new land for development, except for a one-km-spread along the 76 km Sardar Patel Ring Road. A compact city implies less spending on infrastructure, high population density, less travel time, optimum use of public transport and lower crime rate. The less the urban sprawl, healthier the lifestyle, as people get more time to spend with family, friends and on leisure. Read more

Source : www.dnaindia.com

Urban families with laptops, PCs not poor: Experts

NEW DELHI: Urban households having car, air conditioners or computer/laptop with internet should be automatically excluded from the list of poor, suggested a Planning Commission-appointed expert group. 

Urban households having car, air conditioners or computer/laptop with internet should be automatically excluded from the list of poor.

According to the expert group headed by renowned economist S R Hashim to suggest methodology for identifying urban poor, households having three of the four items like refrigerator, motorised two-wheelers, landline telephone or washing machines should not be treated as poor. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Post 31st December party goers queue up for liver ailments

BANGALORE: New Year started on a tipsy note for 26-year old Vivek Kumar, a software professional. Vivek (name changed), who is otherwise a teetotaler, drank about 5 pegs of whiskey celebrating a New Year's Party with his friends. Next morning, he was rushed to a nearby superspeciality hospital following severe abdominal pain and vomiting. He has been diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis.

After the 'high spirited' New Year's parties there is a sudden increase in cases of diseases related to liver and pancreas. Several physicians and gastroenterologists in Bangalore have attended about 5-15 cases of gastritis, alcoholic hepatitis, jaundice, pancreatitis etc. which are directly related to binge drinking. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Urban, rural population equally prone to heart problems

MUMBAI: Heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in India. People across all regions, both urban and rural are equally prone to heart problems. 

Earlier this disease was majorly seen among people in urban areas due to their sedentary lifestyles, changed food habits, lack of physical exercise and increased level of stress. But today, even in the rural areas people tend to imitate the lifestyle and culture of urban cities and follow the same pattern. So, this causes people to suffer from various lifestyle diseases leading to heart diseases often. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

'70% deaths due to non-communicable diseases by 2020'

BHOPAL: By 2020, about 70 per cent of all deaths would be due to non-communicable diseases in the country, according to the experts attending a research methodology workshop at All India institute of medical sciences (AIIMS) Bhopal here on Monday. Those with heart ailments, diabetes, blood pressure and stroke would be vulnerable. 

"Non-communicable diseases are increasing at an alarming rate. Mere treatment is not the cure. Community intervention through research is needed," said retired AIIMS (Delhi) professor S K Kapoor. "Focus on prevention of non-communicable diseases has been lacking in planning by government," he added. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

5 Interesting Trends Of The Gen Y Workforce

When over two out of five people in the world feel “like a part of me was missing” when unable to check their smartphones, you know mobile devices are here to stay. The “Cisco Connected World Technology Report”(CCWTR) gave us insights into the mind of Gen Y...

Bangalore,India: What is the first thing you would usually do when you wake from sleep? Brush your teeth, or take a shower? However, according to CCWTR, 96% of India's Gen Y population check their smartphones first before doing anything else to start the day. Cisco conducted an internet survey of 1800 people across several countries, including only college students and IT professionals between ages 18 to 30. With Gen Y set to become an integral part of the workforce, there are many trends that organizations need to be aware of in order to get the most out of these young professionals. Read more

Source : pcquest.ciol.com

Every fourth urban male in India suffers from low testosterone levels!

More than 25 percent of urban Indian males have low testosterone hormones due to unhealthy lifestyles. However, lack of awareness means that many patients go undiagnosed, doctors say. ’Male Hypogonadism’ affects 26.1 percent of the working population of Indian men and is caused by unhealthy lifestyle, including smoking, consuming alcohol and junk food, high stress levels etc. The hormone plays a key role in masculine growth and development during puberty.

 According to doctors, symptoms include decreased libido, impaired erectile function, muscle weakness, fatigue and depression. ‘It is an established clinical condition in medicine and in India the numbers are rising drastically over the years. However, many patients with this disorder go undiagnosed,’ Ajit Saxena, senior consultant urologist and andrologist, Apollo Indraprastha Hospitals, told IANS. ‘There is a clear need to increase the awareness of hypogonadism with the rising evidence suggesting a rise in the prevalence of the disorder in working population of Indian men,’ he added. Sadly, not many general physicians are aware of this disorder. Read more

Source : health.india.com

Mumbai youth lean more on friends than family, survey finds

MUMBAI: Mumbai's youth appear to increasingly put a premium on privacy and spending time away from home with friends. This new-age phenomenon mirrors the changing dynamics of personal and social lives in a city where friends are the new family and seeking solitude is a way of reclaiming space for oneself. 

An ongoing survey conducted by PUKAR(Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) on private and public space along with the travelling think tank BMW Guggenheim Lab shows that an average Mumbaikar no longer falls back on family. Read more 

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Urban lifestyle leading to rise in asthmatic children: World Allergy Organisation

HYDERABAD: Asthma in children is increasing alarmingly in India with at least 15% rise mainly in big metros in thelast 10 years,the WorldAllergy Organisation (WAO ) said. With global warming, increase in pollution and change in lifestyle, the number of asthmatic children has doubled globally compared to what it was in the initial years of the millennium, said Ruby Pawankar, president of WAO on Saturday. 

"The situation in India is alarming . There is a steep rise in the number of asthma cases in Indian children ," Pawankar told STOI on the sidelines of the ongoing WAO International Scientific Conference in the city. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Need to educate rural India about cardiovascular diseases

The urban-rural divide in India is quickly disappearing as far as cardiac diseases are concerned, with many village residents acquiring risk factors for heart disease such as high cholesterol and diabetes, doctors said Saturday. ‘Blood pressure and other risk factors of cardiac disease is now high among people in rural areas. We need to create awareness in rural areas,’ Santanu Guha, general secretary, Cardiac Society of India (CSI), said on the sidelines of the 64th Annual CSI Conference and SAARC Cardiac Congress.

He also said CSI is coming out with booklets in regional languages on heart disease to educate them. According to CSI, recent studies have shown that heart diseases have emerged as the number one killer in both urban and rural areas of the country. Read more

Source : health.india.com

Dial-a-maid, get-a-slave in middle class India

When I arrived in India some years back as a single mother and full-time journalist, there was one thing I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about – finding domestic help.

Maids, nannies, drivers, cooks and cleaners are ten-a-penny amongst the urban middle classes here. Read more

Source : blogs.reuters.com

New high: Urban youths hooked to hookahs

BHUBANESWAR: Gone are the days when dangling a cigarette between the fingers was a style statement. Today's urban youth prefer to get high on a hookah when it comes to flaunting their attitude. Cashing in on this trend, a number of hangouts in the city have opened hookah bars.

At present, there are about five hookah joints here, which offer varieties of flavours and brands. Since the fashionable toxicant doesn't normally give a high, it is attracting a good number of customers, mostly college and university students. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

50% hike in cigarette prices could save 4.1m Indian lives: ADB study

NEW DELHI: A 50% increase in cigarette prices in India will save 4.1 million lives due to tobacco use as 9.6 million people will avoid taking to smoking or quit the habit altogether. While a 100% increase in prices of cigarettes in India will avoid 8 million deaths due to tobacco consumption.

According to a major study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a 50% hike in prices by India along with China, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam corresponding to a tax increase of about 70%-122% would reduce the number of current and future smokers by nearly 67 million and reduce tobacco deaths by over 27 million. Read more

Source : m.timesofindia.com

Bangalore’s urban chaos spawns creative start-ups

Bangalore : Ashif Panakkat and his wife, who live in the crowded Sarjapura Road locality in Bangalore, have found a way to simplify their lives. By calling an instant neighbourhood delivery service called Delyver, they can order food from nearby restaurants, have their favourite ice creams delivered, order flowers, or even have their laundry picked up.

An exploding population,traffic congestion and parking challenges plague the city

“I am saved the hassle of getting out in traffic, finding a parking and then navigating the last stretch to the restaurant or the store,” says Panakkat, who runs a structural engineering design firm. He and his wife, a scientist, are frequent users of the service since they moved from Chicago a year ago, sometimes as many as three times a week, to make their life a little more efficient in teeming Bangalore. Read more

Source : www.indianexpress.com

'Skipping breakfast may only add to your waistline'

MUMBAI: Skipping breakfast may only add to your waistline.

A new research says that instead of shedding kilos, people who don't eat breakfast may end up loading their lunch and dinner plates and thus gobbling empty calories. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Every second rural home has a consumer durable

Kerala, Punjab top in terms of discretionary rural household spending; economic slowdown alters trend

 Across India, the number of rural households that own television sets increased from 25.6% in 2004-05 to 41.7% in 2009-10. Photo: Indranil Bhoumik/Mint

Mumbai: Every second rural household in India has either a television or a fan today and such households spent more on so-called discretionary items between 2004-05 and 2009-10, according to a new report by rating agency Crisil Ltd that highlights the upward mobility that many rural households in India witnessed in the second half of the last decade—a period when the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average rate in excess of 8%.

Discretionary spending of a typical rural Indian household rose fromRs. 14,000 in 2004-05 to Rs. 24,000 in 2009-10, growing at about 11% every year, and faster than the inflation rate of nearly 6% a year over that period, Crisil said in the report released on Wednesday. Read more

Source : www.livemint.com

Whey to go

Mumbai : Urban lifestyles mean most of us spend hours hunched over computers at work and then vegetating in front of the TV at home. This sedentary lifestyle has given rise to an ‘urban gym culture’ and it’s common to find men and women swapping yoga mats for laptop bags after work and heading over to fitness centres. An offshoot of this growing gym culture is that more and more people are now adding nutritional supplements to their diets. 

The Indian dietary supplements market, however, is disorganised, with many dubious supplements available on the market. Such supplements have often landed athletes in the anti-doping agencies’ nets or, worse still, in hospital. Enter Evolution Sports Nutrition (ESN), a nutritional supplements company which is the brainchild of Aatikaay Narula and South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes, who are the CEO and director of the company, respectively. Read more

Source : www.hindustantimes.com

‘Lifestyle Diseases’ Plague Indian Women

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (IPS) - Sreelakshmi, an office executive in a major diagnostic laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the southern Indian state of Kerala, ends her 11-hour working day to return home at night to a mountain of domestic chores.

At 35, she is already diabetic and vulnerable to disorders ranging from obesity and depression to hypertension and chronic backache. Read more

Source : www.ipsnews.net

Specialist coffee chains in India expected to double to 4,000 by 2015, report says

MUMBAI: Riding on a newfound coffee culture and specialist coffee chains opening outlets in India, consumption of coffee is expected to get a major boost. According to a new report by Rabobank, specialist coffee shop chains, which target the out-of-home consumption of urban youth, are projected to double to 4,000 in numbers by 2015 (CAGR of 21%).

At present, there are around 2,100 specialist coffee shops in India. Given the multiple international coffee shop chains trying to expand their base in India, consumers are likely to have even more options within the next three years, the report said. Read more

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Despite plunging sales, demand for luxury homes booming

Demand for luxury and ultra-luxury homes with a price-tag in the range of Rs 1-20 cr is again making a comeback in metros

Mumbai : Driven by new offerings, greater influx of NRIs and changing lifestyles, the demand for luxury and ultra-luxury homes with a price-tag in the range of Rs 1-20 crore, or even more in some cases, is again making a comeback in metros, according to a report.

Despite sluggishness in overall real estate sector, a few luxury residential projects were launched in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and Chennai in October, according to a report by real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Read more

Source : www.business-standard.com

Diabetes on the rise in Madurai

MADURAI : Experts want people to understand gravity of the situation

SILENT KILLER: Cardiologist S. S. Annamalaisamy speaking at a public awareness programme organised in view of the World Diabetes Day in Madurai on Sunday. Photo: G. Moorthy

At a time when the public health system is waging a battle with dengue in Madurai district, another major challenge being faced is diabetes which is hitting several men and women in their prime age. Read more

Source : www.thehindu.com