The Hindu

 

The ongoing three-day ‘Desi Cow Utsav' at People's Plaza, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, put up new varieties of cows on display, a press release informed.

The additions included the Punganur dwarf cow, Ongole breed, Kapila variety in Ongole breed and Gir breed from Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

With a height of just 2.6 feet, the Punganur dwarf cow is the shortest cow in the world and is set to enter the Guinness Book of World Records soon, the owner of the cow at the show, Srinivas Rao, said.

“This Punganur variety cow, which originated in Chittoor district, is a miniature female cow and gives three to five litres milk a day. Cows of this variety cost from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 1 lakh,” Mr. Rao said. But with only about 60 cows of this breed alive, the Punganur breed is on the verge of extinction, he lamented.

Another attraction on the second day of the utsav was the Kapila variety cow belonging to Ongole breed. 

The cow is small in stature and its milk, dung and urine are believed to be highly medicinal.

The Kapila variety is believed to have high resistance to diseases. 

Keywords: Desi Cow Utsav, varieties of cows, dwarf cow, Guinness Book of World Records

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Why going to the doctor is the great Indian nightmare

by Lakshmi Chaudhry Mar 30, 2012

#Cancer #Healthcare in India #HealthMatters #India #Oncology #ThisIndianLife

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More people die of cancer in India than those in the West. And the mortality rate is about the same in both rural and urban India, and therefore unaltered by access to healthcare. AFP

Here’s the bad news: More people die of cancer in India than those in the West. And the mortality rate is about the same in both rural and urban India, and therefore unaltered by access to healthcare.
According to the Times of India, the results of the Million Death Study reveals a uniquely Indian cause for this anomaly:

An Indian peculiarity crops up here. As MDS says that cancer deaths were two times higher in the least educated than in the most educated adults, it would follow that educated Indians living in cities and enjoying better access to cancer care should be able to beat the disease. But this is clearly not the case. “Women won’t come to hospitals to show a lump in their breast because it’s not painful. Men won’t get themselves checked despite losing weight drastically . This is true in both urban and rural India,” says a senior doctor.
The problem, analyses Dr Shastri, is that greater awareness in urban areas hasn’t really translated into attitudinal changes. “People in urban areas, too, visit doctors only when their cancer is advanced . Therefore, the death rate is high in cities despite the availability of world-class treatment.”

In other words, Indians are scared cats who prefer to live in denial. This is certainly one important reason. A friend’s mother hid the lump in her breast for years out of fear of the disease. Cancer is still ingrained in the Indian mind as a fatal disease, hence the reasoning: Why endure brutal chemo sessions only to die after months of additional suffering. According to Yuvraj Singh‘s friends, one reason he preferred to seek treatment in Boston is that “it isn’t like India where cancer is treated virtually like a death warrant.” (See my previous article for more on why Indians are specifically scared of cancer)

The reasons why Indians rarely go to a doctor – whether for cancer or a viral fever – are far more complex. AFP

But the doctors interviewed by TOI offer at best a partial truth. The reasons why Indians rarely go to a doctor – whether for cancer or a viral fever – are far more complex. More importantly, we also don’t receive proper attention when we do indeed seek medical attention. Here are three other reasons why I as a layperson think we fail to get adequate medical care despite “the availability of world-class treatment.”
One, the disappearing family doctor. When I was a kid, everything from my father’s fever to my chicken pox to my sister-in-law’s near miscarriage to my grandfather’s stroke medication was supervised by Dr Valvade, a matronly doctor who was almost a part of the family. When things looked a bit serious, she referred us personally to a specialist who kept her in the loop. She would come home, see us after-hours, take phone calls early in the morning or late at night.
Today, any visit to a doctor requires hours in a crowded waiting room, which is nigh impossible for most busy urban professionals. And unless you’ve remained in the same city for decades, the chances are the attention you receive will be prefunctory and minimal. She’s extremely busy and so are you. The result: the family doctor has been replaced by a trusted pharmacist. Unless the symptoms look serious, he’s the go-to guy for most medical ailments.
Where the family doctor was once a family’s unofficial “life guard” – the one tasked to keep an eye out for potentially life-threatening symptoms — that responsibility now lies with us. And with the important exception of our children, we make for poor “life guards” when it comes to our own health. There’s a “jab tak chalta hai” attitude toward our own bodies, exacerbated by our hectic work-family schedules and the time commitment now required to seek medical care.
Two, class matters. My maid goes to the doctor far more often than I do. Any fever that goes unabated in her family for more than two days requires a visit to the neighbourhood doc. He inevitably administers an unnamed injection, and sends her off with a couple of pills. She’s never informed of the diagnosis, except in the vaguest terms.
And when she or any of her family members fail to respond to this one-size-fits-all treatment, she comes to me, as when her son’s “viral fever” escalated to bronchitis. I took him to my doctor who took one look at his prescription and declared, “This is junk.”
It is absurd, Dr Shastri, to pretend that all Indians have equal access to our world class medical community. Most working class Indians rely on a poorly qualified doctor who can barely diagnose a run-of-the-mill disease, leave alone cancer.

Hyderabad to get Godavari water by Dec 2013

Times of India - ‎5 hours ago‎

HYDERABAD: Pipe-laying works for supply of Godavari drinking water to the city are in full swing and, if all goes as per plan, residents of surrounding circles of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) may start benefiting from the project ...

Godavari water for city by Dec. 2013

The Hindu - ‎7 hours ago‎

It is no longer a pipedream. The much-talked about Godavari water is expected to trickle down the taps in city homes by December 2013. Outlying municipalities such as Qutbullapur, Malkajgiri, Alwal, Kapra, Kukatapally and Cantonment Board, ...

Godavari waters to reach city by Dec 2013

Water World - ‎4 hours ago‎

Hyderabad, March 29 -- The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board on Thursday claimed that the Godavari river water will reach Hyderabad by December 2013. Talking to reporters during the visit to the project site, Godavari Drinking ...

Godavari water before 2014 polls

The Asian Age - ‎11 hours ago‎

Godavari water will come to the city a few months before the Assembly elections in 2014. Though the Water Board aims to complete the project by December 2013, sources said the project would be commissioned and water will be supplied to citizens two or ...

Maria Sharapova edges Wozniacki in Key Biscayne semis

Associated Press : Key Biscayne, Florida, Fri Mar 30 2012, 15:39 hrs

A disputed line call on match point meant Maria Sharapova's win over Caroline Wozniacki in the Sony Ericsson Open semifinals on Thursday ended in ill feeling.
Sharapova won the disputed final point after an overrule by the umpire, edging Wozniacki 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
“You don't want it to end that way,” said Sharapova.
At 40-30 in the last game, Sharapova hit a second serve that the linesman called long, which would have been a double-fault, but umpire Kader Nouni immediately reversed the ruling and ordered the point replayed. The call couldn't be reviewed because Wozniacki had no challenges left, although TV replays showed Nouni was correct to overrule.
Sharapova was awarded two serves and took advantage with a big first serve to set up an overhead slam for the victory.
Wozniacki, angry about the overrule, declined to shake Nouni's hand and had words with him as she walked to the exit.
“It was a pretty crucial point,” she said.
“When the ball is so close, he should give her a chance to challenge, at least when I don't have any challenges,” she added.
Sharapova said she didn't realize Wozniacki had no challenges left, and added she would have challenged the call herself had it not been overruled.
“It's a tough situation to be in because it's so close to the end of the match, and both of us had fought so hard for over two hours,” said Sharapova.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic advanced to the men's semifinals without argument, beating No. 5 David Ferrer 6-2, 7-6 (1). Djokovic lost a remarkable 40-shot rally that had spectators gasping as it progressed, but he played a nearly flawless tiebreaker to seal the victory.

BEML chairman VRS Natarajan today refrained from directly reacting to comments made by Army chief General VK Singh on the quality of Tatra trucks but defended the vehicle calling it unmatched in its category.
“I respect the Army chief and I have no comment to make. But the Tatra trucks are the world’s best and they are not sub-standard,” Natarajan said at a press conference organised at the Defence Expo venue in New Delhi.

BEML chairman and managing director VRS Natarajan. Image courtesy PIB

Comparing to ordinary lorries made by Indian companies, the BEML head pointed to the technological superiority of its Czech counterpart. The Tatra trucks are the products of Vectra made in India under licence from the Czech firm.
“The on road ordinary Indian lorries have fixed axle. The Tatra has flexible axle and is an all-terrain vehicle. It is not obsolete since it gets updated according to the defence’s requirements. It is not comparable to any other model because of its superiority. The flexible axle allows 80 degree mobility to each wheel,” he said, referring to the state-of-the-art technologies behind the military vehicle.
“In the last 26 years, there has been no direct or indirect complaint on performance of the truck,” Natarajan said. “Even the former Chief of Army Staff General JJ Singh praised the trucks,” Natarajan said. The BEML boss also refuted allegations of unjustified pricing that climbed from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 1 crore in a short span of time.
“There are diferent prices for different sizes. A 4×4 vehicle will costs less while truck variants 8×8, 10×10 and 12×12 will be expensive as it gets longer. Over the years, Vectra has been revising prices every January. They have been increasing it for a percent or two owing to currency valuations and other factors,” Natarajan said.
“We have supplying these trucks as per their demands. We have fulfilling their demands of differentr types from Euro I to Euro III. Currently we supply Euro III. You must understand that with an enhanced engine, 40 percent of the truck also has to be upgraded. This affects price as well. Pricing is right according to technology,” he said.
Natarajan also brushed aside allegeations on maintenance of the Tatra trucks.
“BEML maintains the trucks only till the warranty period. After that the vehicle is taken care of by the user, in this case the military. Post-warranty period we supply only parts as per demand. There may have been occassional delays here and there,” he said.
When asked if he had met General Singh, the BEML head said, “When he took over as the COAS I went with him with a bouquet and briefed him about BEML.” He assured that he would support us, Natarajan said.

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