Fuel economy ratings for cars soon

The government is set to launch a system of fuel economy ratings for cars by the year end that will enable you to know exactly what mileage to expect from the new car you wish to buy and how it stacks up with other models in its class.

To begin with, the government will invite carmakers to voluntarily get their models labelled by the designated agency on a scale of one to five stars, much like the system in place for refrigerators and ACs. But by 2011-12, the fuel efficiency norms will be made mandatory for all passenger vehicles — any car that fails will not be allowed on the road after the cut-off date.

Besides helping consumers reach a more informed choice while buying a car, the government estimates that the labelling standards will have helped the country save 5-15 million tonnes of fuel from the passenger vehicle segment by 2030.

To implement the efficiency norms, cars have been divided into eight weight categories. For each class, the government has identified the best and worst performers. It found that within the same weight category, say the small car segment, the fuel efficiency of different models varies by as much as 60-70%.

So while the best model in the small car segment might give a consumer 20 kmpl, another might be giving a mileage as low as 8-10 kmpl. By imposing standards, the government wants the poor performers to meet the efficiency levels set by the best in the industry.

This will ensure two things. The consumer will get better performing new cars each year and auto manufacturers will not be able to claim that they are being forced to go for costly technology — they will just be expected to use the best technology already in use in India.

With the standards being raised for each segment every couple of years, the bar will keep getting higher and the badly performing models — if they don’t improve — will not be allowed to sell from 2011-12.

For the consumer, things will start getting better from the last quarter of 2008 itself. That’s when the government starts mileage labelling of cars. Manufacturers for a fixed fee will be able to ask the government to test the car for mileage and then display the "star rating label".

The model that achieves the best fuel economy for its category, and meets objective standards set by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the power ministry, will be given five stars and the worst performers will be given one star. The label will also display the mileage, as certified by the government, that the particular model gives. It will, more importantly, inform the consumer how that particular model performs in comparison with the best and the worst in its weight category.

At present, studies conducted by BEE show that none of the existing models are doing good enough to get five stars and three-fourths are falling in the three to four star rating level. Data on all the vehicles that manufacturers get tested by the government would also be put up on a website to help consumers compare figures even before they hit the showrooms.

Sources say, to build the programme, BEE and Petroleum Conservation Research Association had to secure fuel efficiency information from public databases as the industry has been constantly showing reluctance to share fuel data even while it discusses other issues with the government.

With aggressive advertising and public outreach, the government intends to push all manufacturers to get their models labelled starting 2008-end.

Bill Clinton taps 4 Indian pharma cos to cut malaria drug price

Former US President has roped in four Indian pharmaceutical firms and two from China to cut the price of anti-malarial drugs by a whopping 30 per cent which is likely to benefit 500 million people worldwide.

The firms have also agreed to lower the price volatility of artemisinin, the key raw material for artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT), by 70 per cent, said Clinton, whose charitable foundation helped broker the deal.

The agreements make prices for malaria drugs more affordable and sustainable to help meet growing global demand. The prices will be available to the 69 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean that make up the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) purchasing consortium.

"Nearly every life lost to malaria could have been saved with access to effective medicines," Clinton said.

Under the agreements negotiated by CHAI, the Mumbai-based Ipca and Cipla will offer a co-blister formulation of artesunate+amodiaquine (AS+AQ)-one of the most widely used ACTs-at or below an average ceiling price of 48 cents per treatment, a reduction of more than 30 per cent from current market rates.

They also will offer artemether-lumafantrine, the other most common ACT, at or below an average ceiling price of 91 cents, the current price available from Novartis.

Among the other manufacturers party to the agreements, the two Mumbai-based firms -- Calyx and Mangalam Drugs are active ingredient suppliers, and Holleypharm (Chongqing in southwest China) and PIDI Standard (Guangzhou in southern China) are suppliers of the raw material, artemisinin.

Romantic recipes

There is nothing more thoughtful than putting a meal on a special date. While putting together an elaborate meal does call for a lot of preparation and planning, it’s a great idea to think of your date’s favourite dishes and then try and incorporate them in the meal.

SEDUCTIVE PEACH CHAMPAGNE

Ingredients:
1/2 bottle of champagne 1/8 bottled water 1/2 can of peach nectar 1/8 can of orange juice concentrate 1 1/2 tablespoons of peach brandy 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.

Instructions:
Make sure all of the ingredients have been chilled.
Mix the peach nectar, peach brandy, lemon juice and concentrated orange juice in a bowl.
Pour in the water and champagne.

COZY COFFEE

Ingredients:
2 envelopes of instant cocoa 2 cups of boiling water 2 ounces coffee liqueur 2 ounces hazelnut liqueur 2 ounces of brandy.

Instructions:
Stir an envelope of cocoa, a cup of boiling water and an ounce of each liqueur and brandy in a mug.
Stir and mix well and do the same with the second mug.

TOMATO CHEESE BREAD

Ingredients:
1/4 loaf of French bread 2 1/2 teaspoons of olive oil 1 1/2 teaspoons of basil 4 slices of Swiss cheese Sliced sweet tomatoes.

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius. Stir the olive oil and basil in a bowl. Slice the bread into 4 slices and the place them on an ungreased baking sheet.
Brush them with the oil mix, then top with cheese and a little tomato, then brush them over with a little more oil mix. Bake for 10 minutes.

PASTA FANTASIA

Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounce package of linguini pasta 3/4 cup of butter 2 tablespoons of lemon juice 4 minced cloves of garlic 3 tablespoons of parsley Shrimp.
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 205 degrees Celsius. Boil water in a large pot and then add pasta and cook for 10 minutes or until ready. Place butter in a baking dish and let it melt in the oven. Add the shrimp, garlic and lemon juice to the melted butter and mix.
Bake for five minutes. Add parsley and mix well.
Then bake for another five minutes. Drain the pasta and pour into a bowl. Add shrimp mix into the bowl and combine well with the pasta.

SIZZLING CHILLI CHICKEN

Ingredients:
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts 11/2 tablespoons of olive oil 1 cup of chopped red or green pepper 1 tablespoon of chilli powder 1/2 cup of chopped onion 1 big tomato chopped in chunks 2 minced jalapenos 7-10 drops of pepper sauce (hot) Salt and pepper (for extra taste).

Instructions:
Rub half of the chilli powder onto the chicken breasts, along with the salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a skillet pan and stir- fry the breasts for a few minutes, until it is no longer pink. Remove the chicken and set aside. Place the pepper and onion in the skillet and stirfry until they get soft. You may then add the jalapenos, the rest of the chilli powder and pepper sauce into the pan and cook for a few minutes.
Return the chicken to the pan and cook for several minutes until it is ready. Make sure it is no longer pink on the inside!

FLATTERING ORANGE FUDGE

Ingredients:
1 pound of melted white chocolate 1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese 21/2 cups of confectioners sugar 11/2 teaspoons of orange extract.

Instructions:
Beat the cream cheese into the melted white chocolate until it is well mixed. Beat in the confectioners sugar until it has blended in well. Stir in the orange extract. Pour the mix into an 8 x 8 dish and refrigerate until it has set and chilled. Then cut into squares.

CHARMING CHOCOLATE-CHERRY MOUSSE

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups of whipping cream 1 can of bing cherries (pitted-16 ounce) 1 1/2 tablespoons of cherry brandy 1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips.

Instructions:
Whip the cream in the bowl until stiff peaks form. Save 1/2 of the cream and refrigerate. Drain the cherries and pour a 1/4 cup of the syrup in a saucepan, along with the cherry brandy. Boil the syrup mixture. Place chocolate chips in a blender.
Pour boiled syrup over the chocolate chips and blend until it is very smooth. Scrape the blended mix into the whipping cream and keep folding it in until it has mixed well. Stir in the cherries. Refrigerate for two-three hours.

Sexy voice means sexy you!

When it comes to determining whether a person is sexy or not, most people rely upon their sight. Now, according to a new study, a person’s voice is more than enough to pass a judgment on their attractiveness.

The study, led by Susan Hughes, an evolutionary psychologist from Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, suggests that people with voices deemed sexy and attractive tend to have greater body symmetry upon close inspection.

"The sound of a person’’s voice reveals a considerable amount of biological information," LiveScience quoted Hughes, as saying. "It can reflect the mate value of a person,” she added.

The study cautions that an attractive voice does not necessarily indicate that this person has an attractive face.

A symmetric body is genetically sound, scientists say, and in evolutionary terms, in the wild, it can be an important factor when selecting a mate.

However, sometimes changes during prenatal development can slightly skew this balance. For instance, the length ratio between index and ring fingers, known as the digit ratio, is fixed by the first trimester, a time that corresponds with vocal cord and larynx development.

If the hormone surge that affects vocal development also affects finger growth, there should be a connection between an individual’’s voice and digit ratio.

Hughes could not demonstrate a connection between voice attractiveness and digit ratio in her previous work, possibly due to vocal changes that occur during puberty.

So in the new study, about 100 individuals listened to previously recorded voices and independently rated them on nine traits important during mate selection: approachability, dominance, healthiness, honesty, intelligence, likelihood to get dates, maturity, sexiness and warmth.

Study participants generally agreed on what made a voice attractive. But when Hughes used a spectrogram to analyze these voice ratings according to different acoustic properties such as pitch, intensity, jitter and shimmer, she could not find a common feature that made these voices seem attractive.

This indicates our perceptual system may be more advanced than expected, Hughes said.

The study is published in the June 2008 edition of the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.

India witnessing new dawn of mobile banking

You can find pictures of Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan at Suresh Photo Studio in West Delhi. Business has been unusually brisk at Suresh’s studio since last two months.

And he can cope with the rush, thanks to extra hours that he’s been able to save from the ritual of queuing up at banks to withdraw money. Now, he withdraws money via his mobile phone.

Opposite Suresh Photo Studio, adjacent to a temple, 38-year old Kamla sells roses, marigold and orchid garlands. Back home in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, Kamla’s mother now receives Rs 200 every week on her mobile sent by Kamla.

India is witnessing a new dawn of banking with mobile phone. From a rickshaw puller, a florist, a pan shop vendor to a truck driver, cash transactions are going mobile for all and sundry. “Our target is to achieve 10 million mobile subscribers hooked onto mobile banking by end of this fiscal year,” says Bharti Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli.

Four banks, SBI, HDFC, ICICI and Corporation Bank, have partnered with India’s largest operator Bharti Airtel to offer m-banking. RCOM has tied up with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and IDBI Bank. Bharti Airtel has launched its mobile banking late last month and plans to rope in about 100 major banks in India by end 2008.
Over the coming months, customers will be available to open their bank accounts at authorized Airtel outlets just by submitting a photo ID proof. Subscribers can now deposit, withdraw, transfer, pay bills or remit money through their mobile phones,” Mr Kohli adds.

A pilot phase has already been successful between HDFC and Bharti Airtel in West Delhi. Chemist shops, general stores, residents, NGOs, anybody can register to become an authorized outlet.

ET spent a day with one such outlet, Gupta Medicals doubling as an authorized mobile banking outlet in West Delhi to find out how the system works.

A customer (Kamla) comes to the shop in immediate need of Rs 200. She comes to the outlet and asks for withdrawal from her mobile bank account. Sumit Gupta, the outlet owner SMSes from Kamla’s mobile phone the following code, “*543*123*(the outlet’s mobile number)*200*Kamla’s 10-digit Pin code#”. He sends the SMS to 54321. Instantly, Rs 200 get deposited into the outlet’s account withdrawn from Kamla’s HDFC account.

Mr Gupta hands over Rs 200 to Kamla with which she goes and buys fresh flowers for garlands. The transaction takes less than five minutes.

In order to confirm the transaction, HDFC bank sends an SMS to Kamla’s phone, “Balance in your HDFC account as of 3/7/2008 is INR 900.” Kamla’s account is a no frills account. To graduate to a savings bank account she will have to submit additional documents.

For remitting to India, one can just go to a Western Union (WU) outlet overseas and deposit forex. Instantly, a transaction ID will be generated on the receiver’s mobile which he can show to collect the amount at a WU outlet in India.

While the SMS is free, for a person-to-person transfer, a fee of Rs 20 is charged which is shared amongst Airtel, VISA, Mchek (platform provider) and others in the chain. Airtel CEO Manoj Kohli declined to disclose the revenue share arrangements.

With Mobile Money Transfer (MMT), the user can transfer funds to a mobile number, that is registered with mChek with a valid VISA card or to any 16digit VISA card number in the country. About Rs 20 is charged for a card-to-card transfer.

In it’s draft guidelines last month, the RBI has mandated to implement a minimum four digit mPIN for such transactions. However banks like HDFC have gone ahead and implemented a six digit mPIN.

ICICI’s Sachin Khandelwal terms mobile phone as more secure as in case of loss of a phone, there’s no way a person can use your cash. “In comparison, during loss of a card, there is always a risk of leakage,” he adds.

The SMS receipt can also be treated as a legal document under the new IT Act. Overall, while operators seem gung-ho on the service, it remains to be seen how much popularity mobile banking will find amongst India’s 270 million odd mobile subscribers and whether it will encourage 90% of the population which uses no bank to open a bank account.

Always wear what you look good in’

The modelling industry is witnessing a lot of fresh, beautiful faces of late. They are young, dynamic, confident and well educated. AT caught up with Yashica Keswani, one such ramp scorcher, who was in Vadodara recently to promote a prominent watch brand. “I endorsed this as I believe it’s fashionable, trendy and very much wearable. In short, it reflects my personality, which is very important if you are endorsing a product,” she says.

About her background, she says, “I am well educated. I studied in England and did my BA(Honours) in Hospitality and Business Management. I was modelling part-time and have walked the ramp in the UK and San Fransisco. One thing led to another. I am very happy to have moved back to India. I have a really supportive family and it’s nice to be back with them after long.” She has all the more reasons to be happy as “I have a long connection with Vadodara and my family is here.” Does being well educated give one a solid back-up? “I do have a good back-up. But I am the kind of person who will go for plan B only if plan A is totally exhausted. I give 100% to whatever I do!” she avers.

Given her great looks and the number of models that have taken to acting in recent times, are we going to see her going the same way? “I have just returned to India and need to take stock of things. But if the right project comes along, then I am open to it,” she says. So what’s the secret behind that perfect figure? “I drink lots of water and exercise regularly. I also use sun-screen lotion. Besides, it’s important to stay away from fried food and too much of sweets,” she informs. As a person, she is “very lively and loves to enjoy life. I love to paint and dance and am an ardent scuba diver too. I love adventure!”

So what’s her personal style statement? “I don’t follow any particular kind of fashion. You should always wear what you look good in; otherwise the very purpose of it is defeated.” Well said.

Any message for aspiring models? “All I want to say is that one must be focussed.I believe that if you truly chase your dream, it comes true some day.” She has a very philosophical take on role models: “I don’t idolize people. Each person is unique and has something different to offer. At the end of the day, it’s about discovering the ‘real you’.” Wise words, those!

Laughter really is the best medicine!

Did you know that laughter is the most important part of our life, infact it would not be wrong to say that laughter is life. Laughter is a phenomenal mood enhancer. It is known to have beneficial physical and psychological effects in a person. So much so that it is now being recommended as a therapy, with a session generally comprising pure laughing (without any jokes), combined with stretching and breathing exercises.

Here are some of the benefits of laughter as a therapy :

Relaxes muscles, releases stress
Laughter is considered one of the best muscle relaxants. It causes the blood vessels to expand, sending more blood all through the body. It also reduces the level of stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol.

Strengthens the Immune System
T cells, which fight infections, become more active when a person laughs. Laughter also increases the immunoglobins A and B. This is significant because immunoglobin A protects the respiratory tract against virus, bacteria and other microorganisms and Immunoglobin B provides antibodies with the strength to attack dysfunctional cells.

Increases Oxygen levels in the body
When a person laughs, he inhales more oxygen, thus leaving the person feeling refreshed.

Is an effective pain killer
Laughter increases the levels of endorphins, which are natural painkillers. Endorphins are considered extremely helpful in reducing pain in arthritis, spondylitis and muscular spasms, and in alleviating migraine and tension headaches.

Improves lung capacity
Laughter is considered helpful for people suffering from bronchitis and Asthma, as it improves lung capacity and increases the oxygen levels in the blood. Patients are, however, advised to consult their doctors before beginning laughter therapy.

Controls blood pressure
Laughter helps control blood pressure by reducing stress related hormones and relaxing the body.

Experiments have proved that there is a drop of 10-20 mm of Hg in blood pressure, after participating in a ten-minute laughter therapy session. Since it is known to increase oxygen supply and improve blood circulation, laughter can control the progress of a heart disease. Laughter also reduces the chances of formation of clots.

Serves as an aerobic exercise
Researchers have found that one minute of hearty laughter is equal to ten minutes on the rowing machine. That is, laughter stimulates the heart and blood circulation like that of any standard aerobic activity. Laughter as an exercise is suited for people with sedentary activities and for those confined to a bed or wheel chair.

Helps in psychological disorders
The benefits of laughter therapy have been observed in patients with depression, anxiety, nervous breakdown, sleeplessness and other psychological disorders.

Is the secret to staying young
Laughter helps in toning up the face muscles and improving facial expressions. When you laugh, you become red (due to the increase in blood supply), which in turn nourishes the facial skin and makes it glow.