Superfoods for the stomach

Ginger: Ginger contains an active constituent gingerol, which is responsible for its hot, pungent taste, as well as its stimulating and healing properties. Ginger is often used as a therapeutic spice, working on the digestive system by encouraging secretion of digestive enzymes.

Fennel: (SAUNF) Fennel contains anethole, which stimulates secretion of digestive and gastric juices. Fennel also contains aspartic acid, which acts as an anti-flatulent.

It is no wonder, many of us are in the habit of chewing fennel seeds after meals. Fennel is a digestive herb with many medicinal and culinary uses. It acts as a popular "after mint".

Yoghurt : Yoghurt contains probiotics which are responsible for several activities in the gut; such as producing lactase; killing harmful bacteria and improving digestive tract function.

Fenugreek: (METHI) I Fenugreek leaves and seeds assist digestion, help relieve constipation and help overcome flatulence.

Tip: You can soak fenugreek seedsovernight and eat them next morning tohelp relieve you from digestive disorders.

Mint: Mint is used as a treatment for indigestion, colic, heartburn and flatulence. It also can stimulate the appetite and cure nausea and headaches.

Peppermint tea can help soothe a dry throat.

Bay leaf: Bay leaves are used to treat migraines, stressand anxiety. They also improve digestion and help detoxifythe system.

Virtualised disaster recovery holds benefits

While the first wave of virtualisation has consolidated server hardware into virtual hosts and recognized significant savings in physical machines, small and midsized organisations must now consider the impact of this consolidation on their backup and disaster recovery plans, according to a report from QuorumSoft. By encapsulating workloads that can be shifted between physical hosts and clouds, new options for performance, redundancy and disaster recovery exist for companies that have implemented virtualisation, the report noted.

A formal disaster recovery plan can enable an organisation to survive a serious event by eliminating confusion during a disaster, and setting clear expectations for what systems and services will be brought online when and how. Many factors go into the creation and maintenance of a DR plan, including the systems, network, budget, staff, resources and, of course, business requirements, the report explained.

QuorumSoft researchers explained disaster recovery encompasses a broad set of practices within the broader discipline of business continuity. From an IT perspective, disaster recovery concerns itself with the processes needed to provision for and recover from incapacitation of IT capabilities at a primary site. Incapacitation could result from a natural disaster, terrorism or intentional sabotage, massive hardware failure, and any other adverse event.

“The process of developing a DR plan is complex. Of the many books and professionals dedicated to the topic, most recommend starting with a simple audit of your environment. Itemizing and documenting your services, systems and their dependencies can be a big help in understanding your environment, and paves the way for the rest of the work,” the report said. “Identifying the 'fragile artifacts' within an organisation allows you to plan for their protection,” it added.

The report also pointed out that for organisations on a tight budget, price is a crucial factor when introducing new backup products and solutions, and IT organisations with a broader mandate and bigger budget to pursue business continuity objectives should consider the total cost of the solution over time, in addition to the up-front sticker price.

“It is now possible for small and midsized organisations to access and use many of the same powerful IT capabilities once available only to larger organisations with more resources. Implementing virtualised IT environments is one area. As smaller organisations leverage the potential of virtualisation, it is critical they consider the implications on their disaster recovery planning,” the report concluded. “By gaining an in-depth understanding of specific strategies for disaster recovery, small and mid-sized organizations can leverage the potential of virtualization without creating a hidden, potentially costly, risk to their systems and data if a major disruption to their IT systems occurs,” it said.

Cloud service sourcing immature & risky: Gartner

The $820 billion IT services market is changing quickly and dramatically, as cloud computing and offshoring become mainstream, and senior IT managers should take steps to manage inherent risks and unexpected costs during the cloud services revolution, according to Gartner.

During the next few years, market dynamics will determine whether cloud-enabled outsourcing will be the demise of traditional outsourcing, if it will lead to the convergence of services and products currently marketed "as a service," or if it will result in next-generation outsourcing.

Cloud-driven business and IT services include all types of solution that are developed, bundled and packaged as outsourcing service offerings for which the business or IT service provider uses one or more cloud computing technologies within the solution's overall architecture. Gartner refers to these services as "cloud-enabled outsourcing service offerings." These services can be delivered directly by a cloud provider or via a service aggregator for the delivery of pre-engineered and configurable business solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner.

"Cloud service sourcing is immature and fraught with potential hazards. The hype around cloud computing services has increased interest, as well as caution, for IT managers trying to determine where, when and if cloud services can provide valuable outcomes for their businesses," said Frank Ridder, Research Vice President at Gartner. "Cloud computing is driving discontinuity that introduces exciting opportunities and costly challenges. Organisations need to understand these changes and develop realistic cloud sourcing strategies and contracts that can reduce risk," he added.

Ridder said that traditional IT services often find organisations locked in, fighting with rigid delivery or hesitation to change when engaged in traditional IT services deals. Innovation seldom materializes and solutions fail to scale, and service providers often struggle with their profits.

In the new cloud services scenario, however, flexibility, agility and innovation are design principles and, over time, service providers will succeed in delivering on these principles. The market also expects scalability, cost-efficiency and pay-per-use pricing models from cloud services solutions. Although cloud services already provide these, service providers manage their risks through terms and conditions that are still immature. However, Gartner believes that solutions and their commercial terms are maturing quickly.

To avoid the potential pitfalls and hidden costs of cloud sourcing, Ridder said that organisations need to ensure they understand the short- and long-term implications of cloud services, on the demand and supply side, as well as on the sourcing life cycle itself. The services sourcing life cycle includes four crucial elements: sourcing strategy, vendor selection, contracting, and management and governance.

"The life cycle is a critical area to plan and manage, regardless of whether organizations source their IT services through internal or external resources. Our forecasts indicate that organisations spend 53% of their IT services budget on external services, and that spending is growing 3.9% per year, while new categories of services are experiencing double-digit growth," said Ridder. "Organisations can use Gartner's extensive analysis of changes in delivery, pricing, investment and cost to more effectively develop their cloud sourcing strategies, negotiate their cloud services contracts and manage the performance of their providers," he added.

AC causes more harm than good

A room where an air conditioner is running, is as dry and arid as a desert. This is because air conditioners pull out humidity from the air in a room and ACs are not selective about the moisture that they pull. "ACs pull out moisture from the skin as well and leave it feeling dry and stretched. If your skin is not sufficiently protected to combat it, constant dryness will affect the inner layer of the skin. When skin becomes dry and stretched, it feels itchy. Those who have a dry skin will notice that their skin becomes flaky. Air conditioners aggravate skin disorders," says cosmetologist and skin specialist, Dr Rajan T D. 

AC removes water i.e. humidity from indoor air and robs the outer layer of the epidermis of skin. This constant loss of water and lack of replacement of water from the skin tissues below result in flaking, dry and chapped skin. Water is essential to keep the blood flowing. It performs the same function for the skin and maintains elasticity. It is important for keeping the skin's elasticity intact. When ACs remove the water or humidity content from a room, skin starts shrivelling. Skin also becomes prone to developing creases and wrinkles. All this hastens the ageing process and there is hardly anyone in this world who would like to have skin that has aged a lot more than their actual years. 

To worsen the situation, people often step out from an air conditioned office or car into the blazing hot sun or walk into an air conditioned place from a hot, outdoor environ. This sudden shift from one extreme climate to another extreme is very stressful for the body. Facial skin is also greatly battered by this abrupt change in temperature. As such, pollution, changing weather conditions, dietary habits, lifestyle stresses cause degeneration of the skin. It seems like skin is constantly struggling to maintain its health against the blows meted out by both, nature and technology. All this stress can be unhealthy and damaging. 

Remedies: 

Since you can't turn off the air conditioners in your office, try not to become dependent on them. Live without the AC while you are at home. Switch on the air conditioners only during the summers. 

Limit the use of soap and water to areas where skin is prone to get dry. Dr Kshama Vibhakar, a consultant dermatologist suggests, "Use moisture rich lotions, not creams to enrich the skin on your face, neck, hands, elbows, knees and wherever else you feel it is necessary. Lotions are water based and add moisture to the skin. 

You can use creams after applying the lotion as creams are oil based and help to seal in the moisture." 

Hydrate your skin by constantly sipping water. It is easy to forget to have water when you are sitting in an air conditioned room. But don't wait to feel thirsty, sip water at constant intervals. Set reminders if needed. Replenish your skin for the lost water. 

Since ACs pull out moisture from a room, place bowls of water in the area. This is a simple way to combat the drying effects of the air conditioner because the AC will pull out water from the bowl of water first instead of the facial skin. 

It is true that air conditioners are a technological comfort. But without proper and consistent care, ACs have the potential to damage skin. Those who have a poor diet, underlying illness or skin that is not well-maintained, will not be able to adjust going from a boiling hot environment to an air conditioned on and their skin may suffer from structural damage, which cannot be treated with over the counter drugs. Hence it is better to be safe than sorry. 

Financial planning: Benefit from the likely dip in interest rates

The high interest rates in the short-term debt market have been the focus of investor attention in the recent past. The traditional bank depositors are being lured by the spiked rates, making most other bonds unattractive, while the wholesale deposits are being offered on even more attractive terms, leading to a slew of fixed maturity plans (FMPs). Based on the assumption that such steep rates may not persist, a tactical investment opportunity may be present in the short-term debt markets. 

What has led to this spike in interest rates? There are three primary reasons. First, the high inflation rate has sparked a hike in policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India. The rate at which the central bank is currently willing to lend to banks is 6.75%, as opposed to 3.25% a little over a year ago. This was the time when banks were primarily lending to the RBI at that rate as there was a slowdown in the demand for loans. 

The second reason is that while the demand for bank loans has moved up sharply, the growth in deposits has not kept pace. Investors have mostly held currency in hand since the rates offered by banks had been too low for too long. Third, there have been frictional pressures on short-term rates, especially due to the high level of unspent current account balances of the government that are held with the RBI. 

The current market view is that there will be a correction in interest rates after the seasonal demand (at the end of March) comes down. Investors want to look beyond the FMP in a rising interest rate market, when a new plan offers a higher rate than the older one. Locking into high-rate, fixed-tenure instruments requires a strategic call to stay invested for the long term. Those who have chosen to buy high interest deposits and FMPs have decided to stay invested till maturity and may not care about the various changes in interest rates in the interim. 

The investors who want to play the short-term debt market are being plagued by two questions: Is a correction likely in the short-term rates? If yes, which product will help capture this gain the most? The gains that investors make from short-term debt funds can come from two sources-interest income and capital gains from a fall in market interest rates. If the rates have gone up by 3-4% in the past six months, they are unlikely to fall to the same extent. This is because a majority of this increase was due to the rise in policy rates by the RBI, and given the inflation levels, the central bank is unlikely to let the interest rates fall. The government's balance with the RBI has already returned to normal levels. The only correction then is likely to be in bank deposit rates, provided the banks have managed to mobilise the volume of deposits that they had planned through aggressive pricing. The correction in deposit rates is likely to be about 1%, or even less. 

For a tactical play on this possible turn in rates, an open-ended, short-term plan could be a good bet. However, two caveats are in order. First, the gain from falling rates in short-term debt funds could be small. This is because they all offer very low average tenures to capitalise on the rising interest rates by re-investing in instruments that are rated higher. The low tenure, along with low rate change, results in low gains. 

Second, reduced rates will mean lower interest income in the future, so the overall return may be lesser than that being currently offered by these funds. The funds that have enhanced their tenures in anticipation of a drop in rates may be under-performing their peers, but if the prediction about the short-term interest rate plays out as expected, they may gain the most. Tactical rebalancing is about taking a risk by positioning your portfolio based on a particular view, rather than waiting for performance numbers to play out.

Bank auditors to detail financial impact of pension & gratuity liability of PSBs

The accounting regulator has asked bank auditors to detail the financial impact of the pension and gratuity liability of public sector banks in their audit of 2010-11 accounts.

The move will provide clarity on the contingent liabilities of banks, which have risen sharply after the government hiked the gratuity limit and changed pension rules. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed banks to adjust the liability over five years.

The accounting regulator has issued guidelines for treating these liabilities, but said the outgo needs to be quantified even if it is spread over five years. "Highlighting the overall impact will help in properly assessing the financial strength of a bank in the long-term," said an official at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), requesting anonymity.

In May last year, the government amended the Gratuity Act to raise the limit on gratuity an employee would receive on retirement to 10 lakh from 3.5 lakh. It also re-opened the pension option for existing employees who had not opted for it earlier and had instead decided in favour of a lump sum on retirement.

State-run banks had estimated the outgo on pension to be around 4,000 crore and had sought relief from the RBI and the regulator saying the total outgo could be as high as 10,000 crore.

The RBI allowed banks to spread the financial impact of the total liability incurred in the previous fiscal over a period of five years. But the amortised amount could not be less than a fifth of the total liability.

The move has insulated the financials of banks from being impacted severely in the current fiscal. But the disclosure will give stakeholders clarity on the financial impact of the increase in gratuity benefits.

The I CAI has asked its member auditors to clearly disclose the financial impact of such liabilities had they been provided in the current year itself.

The matter was discussed at a recent meeting of the governing council of the ICAI, which then circulated a detailed reporting format to all members. It has asked auditors to disclose the impact as part of notes to accounts and not make them a part of their qualifications.

Banks install 19,000 ATMs in 2010-11

MUMBAI: In what is reflective of banks' increasing thrust on using the cheaper automated teller machines ( ATM) channel for service delivery, nearly 19,000 ATMs were added last fiscal to the National Financial Switch.

"The number of ATMs connected to National Financial Switch (NFS) being operated by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has grown by about 19,000 in one year," a release issued here by the NPCI said.

The total number of ATMs under the NFS now stands at 75,178, it said, adding, SBI and associate banks own the largest number of ATMs at 25,060 followed by Axis Bank (6,270), ICICI Bank (6,104), HDFC Bank (5,471) and Punjab National Bank (5,050).

The NFS now has 54 member banks and requests of five others are currently under process to join the network, the release said.

M Y Khan

Dr. M. Y. Khan has a Doctorate in Business Management (PhD) from Burkes University in UK.  He is currently the Chairman of the Banking and Advisory council of YES Bank Ltd., after a stint as the Chairman of J&K Bank. He is also a Director on the Board of Bharat Hotels and an Advisor for Berenson & Company, New York. Prior to J&K Bank, Dr. Khan was the Managing Director of J&K Agro Industries Development Corporation and Managing Director of J&K Tourism Development Corporation for five years.Dr. Khan was nominated as member of the Chattisgarh Economic Advisory Council - Government of India. He is also a Member of the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee of FICCI and Member of the Managing Committee of Indian Banking Association , Mumbai. Dr. Khan has received several prestigious awards notably "Udyog Rattan", "Pride of India & IMM" for excellence as top professional manager, "Excellence Award" by Institute of Economic Studies and "Star Achievers Award" among several others.

Don't 'invite' yourself to a Facebook threat!

If you are an avid Facebooker, you must have been invited to click on posts like "Facebook is shutting down", "See who visited your Facebook profile!", and "Facebook is clearing their entire data base and deleting users"; that too, from people on your friend list. All that you get by clicking on such posts is your friends complaining about you sending the same post to them, thus forming a vicious chain. In some cases, you might unknowingly reveal your FB password to the scammers or unwillingly participate in online surveys as well, all at the behest of a click!

Such is the lightning fast speed of scams on the popular social networking site that no one has been spared from them. And if such malicious posts weren't enough, phishers have now taken the route of sending event invites to Facebook users. Take the case of the latest scam in FB town, which goes by the event title, "Who blocked you from his friend list?" Once you are tempted into clicking in the affirmative for this event, you'll be slyly invited to sign up. IT security and data protection firm, Sophos, claims that this bogus event invite has already tricked more than 165,000 people into signing-up, with a staggering 10.3 million users still debating whether to respond or not.

According to Sophos, the scammers embed instructions into the 'More info' section of the event's summary, which leads unsuspecting Facebook users into visiting webpages for online surveys or competitions, designed to earn commission for those behind the scheme. In some instances, users are also asked for a mobile phone number, which is then signed up to an expensive premium rate service.

So, think twice before accepting unsolicited invitations from suspicious events and clicking on links received via FB. When it comes to the virtual world, it's very simple to be fooled by a big bad wolf dressed up as grandma, which in this case would be a seemingly innocent 'event invite'. Remember, not every Red riding hood story has a happy ending!

Maserati rolls into India

Italian luxury car maker makes its official India debut with its complete range - the Quattroporte, the GranTurismo and the GranCabrio. Prices range from Rs 1.2 crore to 1.43 crore, ex-Delhi

Maserati Quattroporte

Legendary Italian luxury car marque Maserati has made its entry into the Indian market with its complete range of cars. A part of the Fiat Group, Maserati will bring its cars into India via the Complete-Built-Unit (CBU) route, much like other European luxury car makers. On the shelf will be variants of its three existing models – the four-door Quattroporte sedan, its two-door GT Coupe GranTurismo cousin, and the GranTurismo’s topless version – the GranCabrio. Maserati has partnered with the Shreyans Group for the retail, and the first Indian showroom will open in Mumbai this year. Plans are well advanced to open a second dealership in New Delhi in early 2012, with plans to cater to seven major Indian cities by 2015.

All three cars have been launched with their respective variants, powered by an option of two engines – a 400PS 4.2-litre V8 and a 430-440PS 4.7-litre V8. The cars will be brought in unmodified straight from the company’s plant in Modena, Italy, and will need no specific adjustments for Indian conditions according to Maserati officials.

Maserati GranTurismo

The range begins from the sensual Pininfarina-designed GranTurismo coupe, which will be available with its 4.2-litre engine for Rs 1.2 crore, ex-showroom Delhi. The GranTurismo S powered by the 4.7-litre engine will be available in two versions too – with the 6-speed ZF automatic transmission for Rs 1.3 crore and with the more hardcore MC-Shift semi-automatic gearbox for Rs 1.37 crore. Further down the range buyers will find the Quattroporte four-door saloon, and the GranCabrio convertible, which will be available only in the fully-blown out 440PS 4.7-litre V8.

Maserati GranCabrio

Watch out for more in-depth information on all three cars in our special Maserati welcome package online on ZigWheels.com!

Model	Price (ex-showroom Delhi)
GranTurismo 4.2 Auto	Rs 1,20,29,000
GranTurismo S 4.7 Auto	Rs 1,29,81,000
GranTurismo S 4.7	Rs 1,37,13,000
Quattroporte FL 4.2	Rs 1,23,22,000
Quattroporte S FL 4.7	Rs 1,32,74,000
Quattroporte Sport GTS 4.7	Rs 1,42,99,000
GranCabrio 4.7	Rs 1,42,99,000

Social activist Anna Hazare's fast enters third day

Published on Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 10:42   |  Updated at Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 14:14   |  Source : PTI

Social activist Anna Hazare's fast-unto-death entered the third day here today even as a large number of people from various walks of life continued to extend support to the crusader for a stronger anti-corruption law.

72-year-old Hazare's protest has led to the resignation of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar from the Group of Ministers on corruption after the Gandhian took potshots at him.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had yesterday discussed with some Cabinet colleagues the issue after which indications emerged that one or two ministers could be nominated to talk to the activist.

The general sense at the informal confabulations was that there was a need to defuse the situation that had arisen due to the fast-unto-death campaign launched on Tuesday which is getting support from the increasing number of people.

Fear led to KPs’ migration: Jagmohan

NEW DELHI, Apr 3: Distancing himself from the issue of migration of Kashmiri Pandits and massacres of protesters in 1990, former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan today said that 'minority fear' was the reason for exodus of the community and he didn't order killing of any innocent. Jagmohan said, "Vested interests blame me for the exodus of the Pandits. But matter of the fact is that when I assumed charge as Governor in third week of January 1990, 25,000 Pandits had already migrated and were living in camps in Jammu." "When I took over as Governor, a Pandit delegation called on me and I urged them to stay back. I told them if they feel insecure I'll make special camps for them in the Valley itself in Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag and Budgam," he said.

Lashing out at those who blame him for the exodus, he said, "They want the nation to believe that it was not the ruthless Kalashnikov, bomb explosions in the second half of 1989, the sinister design of killing one and frightening one thousand, but some unspelt inducements that had impelled the Pandits to abandon their homes and hearths in the Valley and move to the inhospitable camps of Jammu."

"How is it possible that a community will leave on the instructions of a single person? If the Kashmiri Pandits had come away from the Valley at my instance, why did they not return after I demitted office in May 1990? Why could they not be sent back either by G.C. Saxena's or by General Rao's administration?" he asked.

"Determined efforts were being made by me to instill confidence in the public by re-erecting the collapsed structure of administration. But killings of eminent Kashmiri Pandits, including poet Sarvanand Koul and his young son Virender, engineer B K Ganjoo, Doordarshan Station Director Lassa Kaul and Prof Ganjoo had sent shock waves among the community," he added.

Asked to comment about the propaganda launched by some Pandit organizations that massacre of the community was carried out by the Kashmiri Muslims and in the backdrop of recent reports that 209 Pandits were killed in the Valley from 1989 to 2008 while as thousands of Muslims got killed, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say every Pandit should have been killed first and then they should have migrated?"

Asked about his role in the massacres carried in Kashmir when he was the Governor, Jagmohan said, "Do you want to say I should have allowed rioters to take over Secretariat and other institutions. Aren't rioters being killed now"?

The former Governor grew angry when this reporter asked him to comment on Hawal massacre in which more than 60 people were killed on May 21, 1990 during funeral procession of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq. "Do you want to say I ordered the CRPF men to kill people? I had no information and it was only after DIG called me that I came to know about the incident," he said.

"Why don't you ask who killed Molvi Farooq," Jagmohan asked.

"As my track record as an administrator during my first term was excellent, pro-Pak elements were afraid of me and they launched propaganda against me. I didn't order killing of any innocent as killing one innocent person is killing whole humanity," he added.

The former Governor has recently completed second part of his book on Kashmir "My Frozen Turbulences".

"I've also written seven other books and these days writing is my main job," he added.

The latest edition of "My Frozen Turbulences" touched issues from stone pelting to Amarnath Shrine Board land transfer issue and killing of former Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto.

Jagmohan has word of advice for Kashmiri youth. "Go by records and don't believe in rumors." (KNS)

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