Farmers protest against Nano car in West Bengal

Hundreds of angry farmers marched in West Bengal on Monday to protest against a factory making what is billed as the world's cheapest car, one of several protests against farmland seizures, officials said.

Thousands of other protesters, mainly members of the Trinamool Congress, the main opposition party in the communist-ruled state, remained outside the Singur factory for a second day to protest against the project.

Tata Motors is building the factory in West Bengal to roll out the Nano -- the $2,380, snub-nosed "people's car" -- but months of protests against acquisition of farmland have threatened the project.

Tata Motors head Ratan Tata has threatened to move the plant if violent protests continue and its scheduled launch in October could also be delayed.

"We will continue our stir till we get back our land," 70-year-old Laxman Das, a farmer who lost two acres (0.8 hectares) of land to the factory, told local television.

More than 2,500 police guarded the car plant.

The protests reflect a larger stand-off between industry in India and farmers unwilling to part with land in a country where two thirds of the billion-plus population depend on agriculture.

The Trinamool Congress has set up 21 camps to shelter protesters for days and refused to budge from its demands that 400 acres (160 hectares) of land be returned to farmers.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday invited Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamool Congress, for another round of talks to settle the issue.

The government said it was impossible to return land to the farmers but it was willing to consider a proper rehabilitation package and even identify farmland for them.

On Monday, about 80 percent of the 4,000-odd employees turned up for work at the Singur factory, a Tata Motors spokesman said.

"I am confident everything will resolve and the car will roll out in October," said Sandipan Chakravortty, managing director of Tata Ryerson Ltd, a joint venture company owned by Tata Steel and Ryerson Inc of the United States.

Tata Ryerson is investing 1 billion rupees ($23 million) for a process steel unit in Singur.

For Tata Motors, India's top vehicle maker, the trouble started after the state's communist government took over farmland for the factory.

The state offered compensation in return, but some villagers refused to obey and are declining compensation.

Blame your hubby for your being fat!

Tried everything but can’t seem to get rid of your post-marriage love handles? Well, don’t question your determination for the failed plan, for the real culprit behind all weight worries is your hubby.

Yes, you heard it right. According to health experts, a husband is more of a hindrance than help in a wife’’s battle with the bulge.

"For some women, marriage definitely can be fattening," the Courier Mail quoted Dr Brian Steadman, a leading British authority on nutrition, as saying.

"It’’s hard enough for them to stick to good eating habits when they’’re single, but they can find it impossible after they’’re married.

"For a start, they’ve got to prepare food for two people, and it gets worse when children come along. Suddenly, she is constantly thinking about food - buying it, cooking it, fixing snacks and meals at different times of the day.

“And if the husband doesn’t need to diet, then with all the best intentions in the world, the poor woman is going to find it very tough preparing big wholesome meals for the family and low-calorie snacks for herself,” he added.

Dr Richard B. Stuart, an American authority on slimming and nutrition, and former psychological director of Weight Watchers International, the author of Act Thin, Stay Thin, agrees.

"If a woman can’’t stay on a diet, it could easily be her husband’’s fault," he said.

"In fact, a husband might subconsciously be encouraging his wife to remain fat, and make it harder for her to lose weight,” he added.

Dr B. Stuart has given some reasons as to why this could be so: if he feels in any way insecure in his relationship, then he reasons that a plump wife is less likely to leave him or make other men jealous, if he has a low sex drive then having a fat wife is a very good excuse for lack of interest or potency.

If he’’s the kind who isn’’t prepared to put a lot of effort into the marriage, then it will be much easier for him to keep her "fat" than "happy", Dr B. Stuart said.

If his wife is a failure as a dieter, it "allows" him to have his workaholic schedule or an affair and there are many other ways that a husband, perhaps unwittingly, can hinder his wife’’s ambitions to keep her weight down, the health expert added

Good sex everyday, keeps doctors away

You would have never thought that a kiss could help keeping dental worries at bay or a gratifying sexual act at night make you feel fit and fresh the next morning. But that’s what studies across the web claim.

Healthy sex leads to a healthy life. You may have tried copious measures to get that extra glowing skin and shiny hair. You must have also worked out rigorously to achieve that perfect ten figure you’ve desired. But the key to your mind and heart is fulfilling sex. Even for those who lose their temper or are always in a depressed state of mind, ’sex’ can be the solution.

A happy sexual life with your partner not only gets you in shape with better skin texture and silken tresses, it also burns extra calories, keeps you fit, combats asthma, relieves headache, reduces depression and tranquilises your mind. From make-up experts, hair stylists, sexologists and fitness connoisseurs – there’s a common consensus that a vigourous sexual life leads to a healthy life – both physically and emotionally. We get them share more on this...

There have been several notions stating that ’sex’ produces certain hormones that bring happiness, which lead to a fit body and a healthy mind. Shedding some light on this, Dr. Sanjay Chugh, specialist on sexual issues, states, "Sex contributes to general good health. Any sexual intimacy that is enjoyable and pleasurable promotes well being by providing several physical and psychological benefits. It is believed that sex boosts chemicals in the body that protects us against diseases. Research also suggests that sex and masturbation can help ease joint and muscle pain, combat depression, promote heart health and lengthen one’s life span."

Dr. Samir Parikh, clinical physiatrist adds, "The basic fact is that a good sex life also means in a larger picture, a good relationship with one’s partner and this makes the partner happier, less stressed and by virtue of that physically healthier."

Not just this, sex also accelerates blood circulation and one’s basic metabolic rate, which further enhances the well-being of our mind and soul and helps us calm down.

On these emotional benefits, Dr Chugh adds, "A satisfying sexual relationship strengthens the bond between couples, making them feel secure and loved. The feeling of emotional connectedness adds to ones sense of belonging, which in totality helps them achieve a positive physical, psychological and spiritual state that is necessary for one’s general health."

Elaborating further, on a scientific angle, Dr Avdesh Sharma, a consultant psychiatrist, and an expert on relationship issues shares, "Sex is a way of bonding at the physical, mental and emotional level and leads to health (including psychological) benefits. If it is used as a mechanical process, it may have limited benefits. There are physiological benefits of positive changes in parameters like pulse, heart rate, reduction in blood pressure (after an increase in B.P. specially if vigourous sex is tried), dilation of blood vessels and capillaries of the skin, leading to a ’glow’, burning of a few calories (depending on the duration of the act and vigour), exercising of some of the muscles, thus improving lung capacity (during heavy breathing)."

However, we also need to understand that sexual acts work more in terms of improving resistance, but are not a safe guard or a treatment to illnesses. Any sexual act can neither be used as a treatment nor would it change your stresses of life, which one would need to resolve irrespective.

"The extra edge of sex may be due to the feeling of being wanted, an expression of emotions and certain hormonal and physiological changes that happen as an expression of love for another individual. Unfortunately, the benefits of sexuality are usually quoted out of context and people may look at this as a panacea for everything. But sexuality without emotions have limited value," concludes Dr Avdesh Sharma.

Problems of ageing

BRAIN
We start losing the brain cells in our 20s but it’s a slow process. About 40 per cent of the people above 65 years have some memory impairment – one per cent of them develop dementia every year. One’s personality stabilises by 30 and any sudden change after that may indicate a degenerative illness.

EYES
Difficulty in focusing on something that’s close starts in the 40s and by the 70s, it is harder to distinguish between the fine details.

EARS
Age-related hearing loss occurs in 25 per cent of the people between 65 to 75 years and in 70 to 80 per cent of those over the age of 75.

SENSES
The ability to taste and smell deteriorates with age and this can start as early as 60. Around 30 per cent of 70 to 80-year-olds experience problems with their senses.

SKIN
Ageing begins at 20 but signs are not visible for another 20 years.

HEART
The risk of a heart attack increases with age – especially over 45 for men and over 55 for women.

HEIGHT
By the time we reach the age of 80, we lose as much as two inches in height due to the curving forward of the spine or because of the compression of the discs between the vertebrae.

PROSTATE
Almost doubles in weight between the ages of 20 and 90. Men over 50 are at a much greater risk of developing prostate cancer.

LIVER
We lose around one-third of our body weight between the ages of 30 and 90.

SEXUAL PEAK
Women are best in bed at 35, while men are thought to peak at 18, when testosterone is highest. However, it must be noted that peak hormones doesn’t mean peak sexual performance. After all, the average age of men buying medicines for this is 41.

MUSCLES
Muscle loss begins around 30. Without regular exercise, muscle mass in women declines by 22 per cent between 30 and 70 years, and 23 per cent in men.

JOINTS
Normal movement puts pressure on our joints and, with the added stress created by sports activities, they usually start to wear out between the age of 40 and 50. This can then lead to osteoarthritis – severe joint pain – in the over 65s.

BONES
These begin to lose density at 50, exposing us to a higher risk of osteoporosis and fractures.

SPINE
At about 60, the number of cells in the spinal cord begin to drop, which leads to a decrease in sensation.

Turmeric can help fight cancer

Synthetic molecules derived from curcumin, main ingredient of Indian spice turmeric, can help kill cancer cells and stop them from spreading, say researchers at Ohio State University.

Curcumin has long been known for its multiple disease-fighting features, including anti-tumour properties. "Newer evidence describes how curcumin interacts with certain proteins to generate anti-cancer activity inside the body. We’re focusing on the pathways that are most involved in cancer and trying to optimise for those properties," said James Fuchs, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at Ohio State University and principal investigator.

While presenting his study results, Fuchs described a selection of the 40 compounds developed to date, emphasising the synthetic molecules that appear to have the most potential to serve as the basis for anti-cancer
drug development. Fuchs and colleagues are continuing to refine compounds that are best structured to interact with a few overactive proteins that are associated with cell activity in breast and prostate cancers.

Blocking these molecular targets can initiate cell death or stop cell migration in the cancers. With the help of structure-based, computer-aided design, a relatively new technology in the drug discovery field, scientists can make manipulations to computer-designed molecules and observe simulated interactions between molecules and proteins to predict which structural changes will make the most sense to pursue.

"Most of the interaction between our compound and the overactive protein comes from what are called hot spots on the protein’s surface," said Chenglong Li, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at Ohio State.

"For each spot, we can design small chemical fragments and link them together to make a molecule. This is what computer-aided design and modelling can do," said Li, an expert in computational chemistry. The computer-based predictions have suggested that the most effective compound developed to date can interact with proteins believed to be active in about 50 percent of all breast and prostate cancers.

"To be able to develop a drug that in the future could have potential to treat 50 percent of these cancers would be a major contribution," said Jiayuh Lin, an investigator in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and an associate professor of pediatrics.

Are you sniffing out right partners?

Women are said to have an inbuilt ability to pick up the scent of a partner who differs genetically. Falling for this type of man helps ensure that the couple’s children will have broad immunity against disease.

But researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that birth control pills disrupt a woman’s power to recognise the aroma of a compatible mate. The study has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

Disturbing a woman’s instinctive attraction to genetically different men could result in difficulties when trying to conceive, an increased risk of miscarriage and long intervals between pregnancies. Passing on a lack of diverse genes to a child could also weaken their immune system.

Called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), different MHC molecules fight different diseases, so it is important to have a mix of MHC types. Previous studies have shown that, even though humans have a relatively poor sense of smell compared with other creatures, women tend to identify partners with suitable MHC molecules - preferring males with the correct mix of immune genes critical for the survival of future offspring and to curb inbreeding, which is harmful.

To reach the conclusions, the research team analysed how the contraceptive pill affects odour preferences. In the study, one hundred women were asked to indicate their preferences on six male body odour samples, drawn from 97 volunteer samples, before and after they began to take the contraceptive pill.

They did not find that women who were not on the pill were more attracted to men with a different MHC, showing that the preference for genetically dissimilar odour varies from study to study. But they did find that the pill made women more likely to be attracted to a man with a similar immune makeup.

"The results showed that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odours," Telegraph quoted Dr Craig Roberts, who carried out the work in collaboration with the University of Newcastle, as saying.

"Not only could MHC-similarity in couples lead to fertility problems but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odour perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners," he added.

Gold ETFs and gold mutual funds good investment options

In order to cushion the losses resulting from stock market slowdown and rising inflation levels, Rajesh Gupta, a 43-year-old salaried professional, was advised to invest a part of his money in gold. His financial planner backed this advice with the fact that gold has traditionally worked as a hedge against inflation and the declining dollar and has given the investor steady returns.

But Rajesh didn’t want to deal with issues associated with storing gold in its physical form or ensuring the purity of the gold. His financial planner then told him to invest either in Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or gold mutual funds. But the question remained, which one? To help you make the choice, SundayET gives you a lowdown on how to buy gold ETFs and gold mutual funds.

DIFFERENT ASSET CLASSES

According to Lakshmi Iyer, product head-vice-president, Kotak Mutual Funds, “The basic difference between gold ETFs and gold mutual funds are that they belong to two different asset classes.” Gold ETFs give the investor the opportunity to invest in units of gold, which are then traded on the exchange as a single stock. The units issued under the scheme represent the value of gold held in the scheme. Gold ETFs hence fall into the category of commodities.

Gold mutual funds, however, fall into the equity category as they invest in equity and equity-related securities of gold mining companies. Since gold mining companies are not listed on Indian stock exchanges, the gold mutual funds invest in world gold funds that invest in gold mining companies across the world.

RETURNS AVAILABLE

The predominant criterion for all investment remains the returns that can be expected from these funds. An investor should expect a return of around 15% per annum over a two to three-year time horizon. Says Pankaj Sharma, executive V-P and head, business development and risk management, DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers: “The world gold fund has given absolute returns of 31.9% in the period since its inception in August 2007 to July 2008.” He adds that the gold fund they invest into has given an annualised return of 29.5% over the last three years. However, most financial advisors advise that investment in gold must be made for the purpose of diversification and at any point in time, about 10-15% of your assets must be invested in gold.

NATURE OF FUNDS

There is also a strict difference with the regard to the aims of this fund and how they are managed.
Gold ETFs are known to follow a passive investment strategy. “The fund simply buys and holds gold on behalf of the investor without actively managing it. The aim is to give returns as close as possible, post-expenses, to that given for gold as a commodity,” says Iyer. However, when choosing between ETFs, investors need to be aware of the tracking error, which is the difference given by the gold ETF and those given by physical gold.

In fact, when investing in a mutual fund, the investor can rely on the expertise of a fund manager who indulges in active portfolio management and is able to make crucial decisions regarding selecting stocks of gold companies. “The fund manager has an understanding of the quality of gold reserves to mined and will be able to decide which companies will do better than others,” says Ruchir Parekh, fund manager, AIG World Gold Fund.

THE MULTIPLIER EFFECT
The reason most gold mutual funds give for choosing a mutual fund is that stock prices of gold mining companies have risen much more than the price of gold itself. According to Parekh: “The GDM index, an index of gold miners, has moved up close to 6.5 times since 2000 as compared to a gold price increase of over three times in the same period.” “There is a multiplier effect on the profitability of gold mining companies with the rise in gold prices, on account on operating leverage,” adds Sharma.

COST BENEFITS

ETFs give investors the opportunity of buying as less as 1 unit on the exchange. Since investors can enter the trade through brokers, there is no entry or exit load and brokerage expenses are not very high. This is favourable in comparison to mutual funds, which have a defined load structure, entry and exit loads and other expenses. However, things like minimum unit size vary for investors who invest in ETF via asset management companies.

THE TRADING EDGE

The advantages of holding ETFs are seen during trading, given that ETF units can be traded like shares. It gives the investor the ability to buy and sell quickly at market price, making them highly liquid assets. Moreover, intra-day trading is also possible with an ETF, which is not possible with open-ended mutual funds. Moreover, portfolio disclosures occur only once a month in a mutual fund but everyday in an ETF.