Parties want paid news to be treated as electoral malpractice

Leaders, cutting across party lines, have demanded that paid news be treated as an electoral malpractice that is liable for prosecution by the Election Commission ( EC).

The spectre of selling news space in lieu of money reached ”alarming proportions” during the last Lok Sabha elections and political parties have demanded stringent action against the perpetrators since it compromises the essence of a free press.

They also demanded that the media exercise self- regulation and refuse to succumb to pressures of the market.

Speaking at a seminar organised here jointly by the Editors Guild of India, Press Associations, the Broadcaster Editors Association, and the Indian Women’s Press Corps, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said the malice of paid news was the fallout of the amount of money involved in elections. Saying that self regulation alone will not be able to curb such practices, Karat said it should be termed as an electoral malpractice. Such classification will make it possible for the EC to file cases for any violation, he said.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj claimed that politicians were the biggest victims of this syndrome.

Recalling her experience while campaigning in the Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, Swaraj said a media organisation had demanded Rs 1 crore in return for publishing news items in her favour. She said she refused to give in to such demands and that she was ready to name the publication.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said the problem was much deeper as freedom of the press was now in contradiction with the freedom of the owner of the press. He also favoured self- regulation among the media.

Election commissioner S Y Quraishi said several political parties had informed the commission about paid news but no one had lodged a formal complaint. He cited technical problems as no direct evidence was available about money exchanging hands. He added that the EC would augment its machinery to tackle the problem.

Prasar Bharati chief Mrinal Pande said editors alone cannot be held responsible for what is appearing in newspapers as they cannot check each and every edition being published from different cities. Editors Guild president Rajdeep Sardesai suggested incorporating disclosure norms in news and programmes paid for by a particular party.

The India Today Group, which covers publications such as Mail Today and India Today and channels such as Aaj Tak and Headlines Today, have already pledged it would not allow its space to be used for paid news

–India Today

The perfect exam diet for students

IPL fever has gripped the nation, but unfortunately, students have to grapple with the exam fever. The exam season is back, it’s that time of the year when one can feel the anxiety in every inch of one’s body! So, what’s a student to do? Most starve because they are busy cramming or lose their appetites. Adults often advise children that one needs to fuel the body with foods that energise during the exam phase.

It’s similar to preparing for a long marathon. It’s also time to pamper oneself a bit with comfort food. Bananas are said to be excellent before an exam because they release their energy slowly. Even an orange, carrot sticks or a sweet fruit work in the same way.

It’s also recommended that one has a light and balanced meal a couple of hours before an exam. Not eating is the worst things! Manjeet Kaur, a housewife with an 18-year-old son, says, “I make sure my son eats light, has plenty of juices and fruits during his study break. I don’t prepare deep-fried snacks and rice because they make one drowsy. I also insist that he eats every two hours.” Dr Nalini Karukaran advises oats for breakfast.

She says, “A light meal comprising meat, eggs or fish and vegetables is okay. Avoid brinjals, very sour and salty food. For dinner, one can have Rice and Moong Dal Khichdi made with pure ghee.” Nutritionist Dr Harshada Rajadjyaksha says that students require food that increase concentration, enhance memory, boost energy, calm the mind and reduce stress and fatigue. She regards coffee, tea, colas and sugar as energy-fakers.

She recommends a balanced combination of nutrients for sustained energy. She says, “Combine vegetables, whole grain cereals or pasta, fresh fruits, dry fruits and nuts. Drink enough water. Almonds, apples, walnuts along with raisins, grapes, oranges, dates and figs and eggs, milk, soybeans and fish are memory-enhancing food. Calm the mind with honey, milk, oats, wholegrain cereals, nuts and pulses.”

–Hindustan Times

Simplifying the cellphone

In December last year, a wing of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) published a study on Gujarat’s rural community and how they use mobile phones. In an abridged report in Ice Age, a monthly newsletter of the Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU) of ISRO, researcher Hansa Joshi wrote about “how mobile technology fulfils the communication requirements of people, its socio-economic and cultural impact on the society and further expectations from the technology”.

The study, based on the responses of 1,384 people from villages, towns and cities across the state, threw up a number of interesting details. The report said: “In terms of exposure to media like newspaper, radio, TV, computer and Internet, we can say that mobile usage was the highest among all media in terms of access (78 per cent) and regular usage (99 per cent)”.

It was also found that more than a third of all respondents “bought the mobile with an assumption that it will increase their income”, and in the tribal belt, a handset is sometimes “family owned”. The report added that for a “majority of mobile users, individual ownership gives them motivation for self-learning and the satisfaction of fulfillment of all their communication needs”.

But popularity doesn’t mean problem-free. It was found that about 19 per cent of mobile users faced acute problems in using certain features of the handsets. This may, however, change soon.

On March 9, IBM announced a collaborative research initiative with the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and Tokyo University’s Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology to “explore an open, common user interface platform for mobile devices, to make them easier to use for the elderly, and illiterate or semi-illiterate populations in developing countries”.

IBM will contribute the technology bit, and NID will contribute its experiences in designing interfaces and ethnography. The eventual software would then be made available as open source.

Jignesh Khakhar of the NID’s IT Design faculty, who will be in charge of the initiative from the NID front, said it was too early to talk about the project.

Nitendra Rajput, advisory researcher of IBM Research India and India lead for the Open Collaborative Research Programme, said the team will first identify the target groups and find out their needs and modes of interaction. For example, a farmer would need weather information, while migrant workers would want information on how to send money to their village. In fact, the ISRO report suggests that message box services be developed so that migrant workers can pass on important messages back home.

The needs will differ dramatically from group to group, Rajput said, and the challenge will be to find a platform that capable of hosting a number of applications.

So is it going to a simpler, customisable smart-phone? Maybe, but Rajput says it will be different from any other customisable phone because the research will focus on people with special needs, like semi-literate, illiterate and elderly people. There might be room for the video-based, sound-based and text-based modalities to converge. But then, he concedes, it is difficult to talk about what will eventually come out of the exercise, which hasn’t even begun yet.

Rajput has had experience in this field: he was one of the researchers behind IBM’s Voikiosk, a kiosk meant to be placed in villages that disseminates information that is relevant locally. “When you listen to a voice from the kiosk, that too in your own language, it becomes much more relevant,” he says, comparing it to sitting in front of a computer looking up generic information on the Web.

Rajput estimates that it will take four to five months of research before the actual development of the product can start. Once finalised, the software will be made available open-source, and businesses or governments that are interested can use it, with NID and IBM lending support. It will take about two years to achieve this, he says.
–The Indian Express

Inflation nears 10 pct; rate hike priced in

The headline inflation topped expectations and came within touching distance of double digits in February, making a rate increase by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) all but inevitable at its scheduled April policy review.

Annual wholesale price inflation accelerated to 9.89 percent in February, the highest since October 2008 and well above the RBI’s end-March projection of 8.5 percent and the 8.56 percent January reading.

The inflation data comes on the heels of a 16.7 percent annual jump in industrial output in January, with the unexpectedly strong economic pickup also backing the case for the central bank to raise policy rates by at least 25 basis points.

“This seals the case for rate hike so we expect both reserve ratio and interest rate hike on or before April policy meeting,” said Ramya Suryanarayanan, an economist with DBS in Singapore.

A Reuters poll had estimated headline inflation in February to be 9.62 percent, and markets were little moved.

While government officials spoke out against raising rates ahead of the past two quarterly Reserve Bank of India meetings for fear of choking off recovery, they have less case for making a similar argument next month as inflation surges and growth broadens.

“It is worrying that inflation always turns out higher than expected, and the fact that there is a huge backward revision is also not good,” Suryanarayanan said.

The December figure was revised to 8.1 percent from 7.3 percent.

Govt allows foreign universities to open campuses

The cabinet on Monday approved a proposal to allow foreign universities to set up campuses, a minister said, in a move that could reduce the flow of Indian students abroad.

Tens of thousands of students head to universities in the United States, Britain and Australia among others for quality education each year.

The long-standing proposal to reform the education sector will now go to parliament for ratification, Road and Transport Minister Kamal Nath told reporters following the cabinet meeting.

Political parties have in the past opposed the entry of foreign universities, saying the poor will not be able to afford the fees.

But experts have called for a revamp of the education system, which focuses on learning by rote.

Goldman Sachs counts the lack of quality education as one of the 10 factors holding India back from rapid economic growth. Analysts say it raises costs, including salaries as firms vie for the best recruits, and reduces firms’ competitive edge.

The demand for graduates over the next five years is likely to be 13.8 million, analysts have estimated. But with only 13.2 million students graduating over the same period, the country will face a shortfall of 600,000 graduates.

India’s large English-speaking population and growing middle class are expected to make the country a desirable destination for top foreign universities.

.Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

 

 

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future… His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

U.S. President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Mr. Obama the third sitting U.S. President to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Mr. Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Mr. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

The committee said it attached special importance to Obama’s vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.

“Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,” the committee said.

Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year’s prize.

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel’s death.

The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel’s guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.

.Suicide car bomb kills 49, wounds 100 in Peshawar

 

 

People rush to the spot of a bombing in Peshawar on Friday. A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle along a road near a market in Pakistan’s northwest city of Peshawar, underscoring militants’ ability to strike in major cities despite U.S.-backed military offensives pressuring their networks

 

 

 

A suicide bomber blew up his vehicle near a crowded market in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing 49 people and pushing the country closer to an offensive against militants in their main stronghold along the Afghan border.

 

The attack, which wounded more than 100 people in Peshawar, was Pakistan’s deadliest in six months and was a reminder of the ability of insurgents to strike in major cities despite operations against them and the death of their leader in a U.S. missile strike.

 

The blast left a charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of the road, with the twisted remains of a motorbike nearby. Passers-by rushed to cover the bodies of victims whose clothes were burned off, while a man carried an injured woman. One man staggered from the scene, his face covered with blood.

 

“I saw a blood-soaked leg landing close to me,” said Noor Alam, who suffered wounds to his legs and face and was at a hospital overrun with casualties. “I understood for the first time in my life what doomsday would look like.”

 

Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with a “huge” amount explosives and artillery rounds. There was no claim of responsibility for the bombing, the target of which was not immediately apparent. Militants typically attack government, military or Western targets, but blasts have taken place in public places before.

 

Zafar Iqbal, a doctor at the main Peshawar hospital, said 49 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. Seven children were among the dead.

 

“Death has to come one day, but we will keep chasing these terrorists, and this attack cannot deter our resolve,” Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said as he visited the scene.

 

The United States is pushing Pakistan to take action against insurgents using its soil to fuel the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan. The army has carried out some offensives in the northwest this year, killing many militants and earning it measured praise in the West, but the insurgents have responded with scores of suicide attacks.

 

The army has confirmed it is prepared to launch a major offensive in South Waziristan, a region along the Afghan border consider the fountainhead of suicide attacks and other militant activity in Pakistan. It has not given a date for the launch.

 

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the attack meant the country now “had no other option but to carry out an operation in South Waziristan,”

 

“We will have to proceed,” he told a local television station. “All roads are leading to South Waziristan.

 

The bombing came just days after a Taliban suicide attacker evaded tight security to kill five people at the office of the U.N.’s World Food Program in the capital, Islamabad and two weeks after another explosion killed 11 in another part of Peshawar.

 

Mr. Malik said authorities had arrested a man alleged to have been the “handler” of the U.N. bomber. He gave no more details.

 

Also on Friday, militants ambushed a tanker carrying fuel for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan at a gas station near Peshawar, torching it, said Fazal Rabi, a police official. No deaths or injuries were reported in the attack, which highlighted the vulnerability of the American-led mission in landlocked Afghanistan as Washington debates sending more troops.

 

Pakistani Taliban have often targeted U.S. and NATO supply convoys passing through northwest Pakistan for Afghanistan, though there have been less attacks reported recently. Most of the nonmilitary supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan are unloaded at Karachi sea port and are then trucked in through the northwest.

 

Pakistan’s army has launched three operations in South Wazirstan since 2001 but each time has been forced to abandon the push amid fierce resistance. U.S. missile strikes and Pakistani mortar and jet bombings have hit targets there over the last year, but no ground operations have been launched.

 

One such U.S. attack in the region in August killed Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. The group has since named a new leader, Hakimullah Mehsud. He has threatened suicide attacks and said his men were preparing to repel any push into South Waziristan.

Indian-origin beauty is Miss Bollywood UK

A British beauty of Indian origin will be whisked off for a Bollywood role after being crowned the first ever Miss Bollywood UK at a gala event in Birmingham.

Reena Patel, from London, beat off 14 rivals – whittled down from a long list of 900 – at the star-studded event Saturday night to win the title which comes with the offer of a Bollywood role and a year’s modelling contract.

The runner up was Simran Chadha from Manchester and the third place was taken by Stacey Fox of Essex in an ethnically diverse contest held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.

The judges included Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, said Miss Bollywood UK CEO Zia Choudhury, a Leicester-based model and actor.

Patel, 23, now waits to be flown off to India to live the life of a Bollywood celebrity and will be automatically entered into the finals of Miss Universe Great Britain which will give her an opportunity to compete for the title of Miss Universe.

‘The appeal in Bollywood is the song and dance, the glamour, the people – it is after all the largest film industry in the world,’ Choudhury said.

‘Suddenly we’ve got this cross-over between Hollywood and Bollywood which adds to the authenticity of the Indian film industry. It’s an exciting time to be part of Bollywood.’

The contest was open to women from all ethnicities as organisers wanted it to be as diverse as possible.

Patel follows the success of Liza Lazarus, a Welsh beauty who scooped the Miss Universe UK title last year, and then found herself starring with Salman Khan in the period drama ‘Veer’.

Non-stop death dance in Nizamabad

NIZAMABAD: Despite chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy asserting a few days ago that the government would ensure that no farmer would commit

suicide due to crop failure or mounting debts, 15 ryots have committed suicide in Nizamabad district in the last 22 days alone. And in many of these instances, erratic power supply was stated as the reason for them taking the extreme step.

“Unable to come to terms with the drying up of standing crops, the farmers who sowed the crops by borrowing huge loans from private moneylenders are resorting to suicide,” farm expert Ch Krishnamurthy said. Though it rained for a couple of days in Nizamabad town, the prolonged dry spell has hit the district farmers badly. Nearly 30 out of 36 mandals have recorded deficit rainfall in the last two months, officials said.

The heavy rainfall the district has been receiving in the last few days has come as too late for many farmers. Pokala Sailoo, 45, of Mudhelli village in Gandhari mandal and Toorpu Gopal, 48, of Gandhari, were the latest who ended lives on Wednesday.

If clearing the mounting debts was hanging like a sword of Damocles, the farmers were also crippled by withered crops and erratic power supply. “Do I have any other option? It (suicide) is the only alternative for us to run away from the debts,” said Kalali Srihari Goud of Devunipalli village in Machareddy mandal. Holding back the tears, Goud said besides the paddy seedlings, his maize crop sown in one acre had dried up at the budding stage itself due to lack of rainfall.

Taking a dig at the government, Goud, who recently borrowed Rs 2 lakh to perform his daughter’s marriage and dig borewells, said: “Will the real YSR please come to our rescue?” And Goud is no small farmer — he owns five acres of agriculture land!

It was Nenawat Govind, 25, who set the alarm bells ringing by hanging himself on August 6 at Piskalgutta thanda in Gandhari unable to clear the Rs 2 lakh debt. Debt-ridden Poshatti of Nagepur in Navipet mandal and Bhumanna in Donchanda of Morthad followed Govind and soon it became a death dance.

Three more farmers — Anantha Reddy of Borgam, Beerappa of Nyalkal and Krishana of Mudakpalli of Nizamabad mandal — also ended their lives due to distress. In the intervening period, Macha Karrenna of Gadkol in Sirikonda mandal, Chandu of Madnoor, Gaddam Saireddy of Darpalli, Ramulu and Sailu of Pitlam mandal have committed suicide.

10 lakh acres in Mahbubnagar to be irrigated in three years

HYDERABAD: The state government has prepared a detailed road map for bringing 10 lakh acres of ayacut in Mahbubnagar district under irrigation

within the next three years.

Reviewing the progress of four main projects in Mahbubnagar district – Rajiv Bhima Lift Irrigation Scheme, Jawahar Nettempadu Lift Irrigation Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi Kalwakurthy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Koilsagar Lift Irrigation Scheme – with engineers and officials at the secretariat, chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy asked officials to complete these projects and ensure water by 2012 kharif.

This includes a total ayacut of 7,93,250 acres under four main projects under construction and an additional ayacut of 2 lakh to be created under Rajiv Bhima Lift Irrigation scheme and Jawahar Nettampadu Lift Irrigation scheme. Prior to 2004, Mahbubnagar district had irrigation facilities 1.8 lakh acres under major irrigation. These include projects like the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme and Jurala project.

Burqa ‘ban’ rocks Hyderabad college

HYDERABAD: Trouble erupted in Muslim dominated Mehdipatnam after burqa-clad young girl students held a massive agitation outside Vani College

(Junior and Degree) on Friday morning after the college principal, Y Annapurna, allegedly asked students not to wear burqa to class and shut the college gates on them.

The agitation soon degenerated into a stone pelting session with male students fron neigbouring colleges and parents of the girls joining in. The situation came under control only after the police – called in by the college management – resorted to a lathi charge.

The agitation came a day after a dharna by the students on Thursday protesting against what was termed by them as “the failure of the college management to react to the abduction of a girl student” from the institution earlier this week. The college management had looked the other way as they perceived that the girl had eloped with her boyfriend. In the event, the girl had returned by evening.

On Friday morning, the students charged that the principal had been berating them for wearing burqa for over a week saying that it did not comply with the uniform (salwar kameez) worn by other students. But the immediate trigger for the Friday trouble was the refusal of the principal to allow entry to late coming students, which soon degenerated into an argument about burqa, the month of Ramzaan and other matters like ‘promiscuity’ of girls.

“About 300 local youth joined the protesting girls and when police asked them to leave the place, some of them pelted stones at the police and college building,’’ deputy commissioner of police C Ravi Varma said. Eye witnesses said that male students of Gowtham Junior and Narayana Junior College who have their friends studying in Vani College joined in and started the bedlam.

“We were asked why are you wearing burqa when you are not particular about keeping our modesty. These comments are too much to bear,” a student from the college claimed. “The principal’s attitude irked us and hence we decided to take help from our parents,” a student of the college, Nadima Rahman told TOI.

The principal, Annapurna, however, told TOI, that she did not make any objectionable comment against the burqa. “The students were coming late for class and I had scolded them. They objected to this and staged a protest,” she said. The students, however, said that they were getting delayed because of the ongoing month of Ramzan and they had to offer Namaz before coming to college. They said, the college should not object to religious practices. “The college authorities blame us saying that we are spending more time in the mosque than with our books. This is objectionable,” a student said.

Analysts were amazed at the turn of events because the college has predominantly Muslims students. “I could understand such things happening in hardcore Hindu colleges and only with a few Muslim students. But not here,” said Salim Khan, a local resident. But an analyst – a Muslim—who does not want to be named said that “girls are girls, Hindu or Muslim. Their aspirations will be the same. Young girls will want to mingle with young boys, whether they wear burqa or not. Obviously, the principal is unable to appreciate this. She wants to say why are you friends with boys when you wear a burqa? This is the genesis of the trouble,” he added.

Govt. to pay for 20 per cent cost of mega development projects under PPP model

New Delhi: Union Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday said the government is ready to offer 20 percent of the cost of mega development projects if taken up as a public-private partnership (PPP).

Reddy said that in Mumbai some metro rail projects have been taken up as a private-public partnership and Hyderabad is also following suit.

The government is ready to encourage such gigantic projects so that they become commercially viable.

“In cases where such schemes are taken up, such gigantic schemes in PPP (Public Private Partnership) model we are giving 20 percent of the total cost of project by way of subsidies so that these mega projects can become commercially viable,” said Jaipal Reddy in the capital.

Reddy had earlier suggested an equity between the central and state governments, on the lines of the Delhi Metro model, which, in fact, had been considered and shelved earlier by the Mumbai etropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

Andhra admits to 20 farmers committing suicide in 40 days

Hyderabad  : The Andhra Pradesh Government has admitted that 20 farmers committed suicide in the state over the last 40 days.//
//

The State Government, however, maintained that the actual reasons for the suicide were yet to be ascertained.

A communiqui issued by the Chief Minister’s office, admitted the fact. It also states that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajashekhar Reddy has announced the compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh each to the families of those who committed suicide.

Reddy has asked all the district collectors to work for the speedy distribution of the compensation and also to submit a report on the farmers’ death to the State Government immediately.

The communiqui also criticized the opposition Telugu Desam Party for stating that 70 farmers have ended their lives because of drought.

Reddy has constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the drought situation in the state and to recommend remedial measures.

Website of Football Players Association of India launched

New Delhi, Aug 28 : A website of Football Players Association of India (FPAI) was launched in New Delhi.

Launching the website, Indian football team captain Baichung Bhutia hoped it would unite the football community across the country and popularise the sport among the masses.

“It’s here to help the game, also mainly it’s obviously for the welfare of the players but at the end of the day to come together, share our issues, let our issues be known and just grow the game altogether,” he added.

The website http://www.fpaofindia.com will provide football fans a glimpse into the daily life of Indian football stars, and keep them abreast of the ongoing events.

Bhutia, who has become the first Indian footballer to play 100 international matches, said that the FPAI would work in line with the Professional Footballers Association (PFA), the players’ body in England, for the benefit of the players even after their retirement.

“If you look into the PF in England it’s one of the biggest association. Players Football Association in England is really big and I think we want to do that kind of work for the benefit of the players during their careers and after their careers as well,” he added.

The website will carry all the latest news, interviews with leading players beginning with Bhutia, a photo gallery, an event calendar and host chats.

Formed in 2006, the FPAI has been registered with Fipro, the international body for football players which has signed an MoU with FIFA.

Job insecurity causes health problems among workers

Washington, Aug 28: Constant job insecurity could take a toll on the health of workers, revealed a study.

Using long-term data from two nationally representative sample surveys of the U.S. population, the researchers assessed the impact of chronic job insecurity apart from actual job loss.

“Dramatic changes in the U.S. labor market have weakened bonds between employers and employees and fueled perceptions of job insecurity,” said University of Michigan sociologist Sarah Burgard.

“This study provides the strongest evidence to date that persistent job insecurity has a negative impact on worker health. In fact, chronic job insecurity was a stronger predictor of poor health than either smoking or hypertension in one of the groups we studied,” she added.

The researchers analysed data on more than 1,700 adults, collected over periods from three to 10 years.

They interviewed the same people at different points in time to disentangle the connection between poor health and job insecurity, and to control for the impact of actual job loss and other factors.

One of the studies was conducted between 1986 and 1989, the other between 1995 and 2005.

“It may seem surprising that chronically high job-insecurity is more strongly linked with health declines than actual job loss or unemployment. But there are a number of reasons why this is the case. Ongoing ambiguity about the future, inability to take action unless the feared event actually happens, and the lack of institutionalised supports associated with perceived insecurity are among them,” said Burgard.

To measure feelings of job insecurity, participants in one study were asked: “How likely is that during the next couple of years you will involuntarily lose your main job?”

Participants in the other study were asked: “If you wanted to stay in your present job, what are the chances you could keep it for the next two years.”

It was found that at any given time, as many as 18 percent of those surveyed felt insecure about their jobs.

However, only about 5 percent of respondents in the first survey and 3 percent of respondents in the second survey reported feeling anxious about their jobs both times they were interviewed.

According to Burgard, the findings have potential implications for both policy and intervention.

“Programs designed for displaced or unemployed workers are unlikely to solve the problems faced by workers who are still employed but are persistently insecure about their jobs. When you consider that not only income but so many of the important benefits that give Americans some piece of mind-including health insurance and retirement benefits-are tied to employment for most people, it’s understandable that persistent job insecurity is so stressful,” she said.

“We need to learn more about the conditions that generate or change worker perceptions of their job insecurity. Then organizations might want to intervene to reduce perceptions of insecurity or perhaps broader governmental policies might help to mitigate the degree of stress associated with perceived job insecurity. Additional acute and chronic strains at work and in other areas of life might also worsen or mitigate the health impact of long-term job insecurity.

“Certainly job insecurity is nothing new, but the numbers experiencing persistent job insecurity could be considerably higher during this global recession, so these findings could apply much more broadly today than they did even a few years ago,” she added.

The study appears in the September issue of the peer-reviewed journal Social Science and Medicine.

Social Media spreading FAST in Virtual World

New Delhi: Social Media is spread around the world imbued with the right values, it is the mean for fixing what’s broken in the world and bringing us together instead of continuing to keeping us apart. To define Social Media in a best way, will be the perfect fusion of Sociology and Technology, which transfers monologues to dialogues. In Business language, it can be defined as User-Generated-Content or Customer-Generated-Media.

The social web has been making huge stride because there are a host of tools that are working together using standardized formats. These standardized formats allow all of these tools to integrate, making the impact of the whole greater than sum of the parts.

Social Media represents a training and experimentation opportunity from which amateurs, hobbyists, creative doodlers and diary keepers will emerge as professional producers of professional media. The benefit of Social Media can be explained in following terms.

Social Media Sites Categories (According to Resources)

Communication:

• Blogs: Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress.
• Micro-blogging: Twitter, Plurk, Pownce.
• Social networking: Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace .
• Social network aggregation: FriendFeed.
• Events: Eventful, Meetup.com.

Collaboration:

• Wikis: Wikipedia, PBwork.
• Social bookmarking: Delicious, StumbleUpon.
• Social news: Digg, Mixx, Reddit.
• Opinion sites: epinions, Yelp, mouthshut.com .

Multimedia:

• Photo sharing: Flickr, Zooomr.
• Video sharing: YouTube, Metacafe.
• Livecasting: Ustream.tv, Justin.tv .
• Audio and Music Sharing: imeem, The Hype Machine.

Reviews and Opinions:

• Product Reviews: epinions.com, MouthShut.com.
• Q&A: Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers.
• All Social Media Site Highlights: Socialpunks.

Entertainment:

• Virtual worlds: Second Life, The Sims Online.
• Game sharing: Miniclip, Kongregate.

To have the optimized value of usability of Social Media, one has to take care of certain aspects like, deciding what you are trying to accomplish. Then to decide whom with you have to converse. Then to decide upon the values which are to be taken into the conversation. Next to find out the daily/weekly/ monthly time to spend on these. Afterwards to identify the useful as well as useless contents. Then to consider a group blog and lastly to use the social networks to find people who can help you do your job better.

To get the best out of available social media networks, the different parameters can be taken into care are Traffic, Demand/Search Intent and Branding. Lastly we can say that Social Media Marketing can put the power of press/satellite/antenna in the hands of everyone with access to Internet. The future of Social Media is the future of the world. The final chapter is not yet written, but this chapter in our history is nearing its end.