It’s a weekday evening and dance instructor Forum Shah is laughingly challenging her son to jump through the hoola hoop she’s holding up on the large, airy terrace of their Juhu home.
Four-year-old Vivaan takes a little leap and makes it through, breaking into peals of delighted laughter. “He calls it the froggy exercise,” says Forum, grinning. “We love inventing interesting exercise games outdoors.”
A playful child, Forum says she is determined to keep Vivaan active and healthy. He recently joined a football team and loves to clamber all over the rod Shah has fixed for him in his room, ‘practicing’.
“To ensure that he is fully charged for all his mischief, Forum makes sure he gets a lot of fresh fruit, milk and vegetables every day.
“He loves soup, poha and upma,” she says. “And because he is so active, he sleeps well too and doesn’t throw a fit about wanting to watching TV or stay up late.”
Exercise helps the development of strong bones, heart, lungs, muscles and even mental strength, says fitness expert Namita Jain. “Children are in better spirits when they exercise regularly. Just 30 to 60 minutes of exercise a day is a great way to stay healthy,” adds Jain.
Adds clinical psychologist Chandani Mehta: “Physical activity also improves children’s motor skills, hand-eye coordination, reflexes and endurance.”
Government can't ignore popular sentiment for Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign otherwise it may have to pay a "heavy price", Santosh Hegde, lokpal bill drafting committee member, said today.
Government can ill-afford to ignore popular sentiment for Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign otherwise it may have to pay a "heavy price", Santosh Hegde, lokpal bill drafting committee member, said on Friday.
"Otherwise, just see what happened after the Emergency in 1977. A certain government in power may loose power," he told PTI while flaying the government's flip-flop on the detention of Hazare.
On Prime Minister's statement that Parliament alone can make laws, the former Supreme Court judge, who till recently served as Karnataka lokayukta, said it's supreme to the extent that legislations can be passed by majority in the House.
"And the Prime Minister saying law can't be made in maidan…Law cannot be made through satyagraha…They are misleading the people. We are not making the law. We are (only) giving suggestions," Hegde said.
He said the government has to understand that Hazare's campaign has no personal agenda and it's all in the public interest.
He said the government should have also sent "our bill" (jan lokpal) to the Standing Committee of Parliament, in addition to the version cleared by the Cabinet.
Hegde said the government asking civil society members to refrain from making their views known on the bill as it was going to Parliament is not correct.
While there is a principle of sub-judice in jurisprudence, there is no such procedure in Parliamentary proceedings, he said.
"We can go on talking (about the bill) even when discussion is going on (in Parliament)...criticise the discussion. Therefore, asking us to keep our mouth shut...who are you talking...Parliament is supreme...it's audacity on their part", he said.
"Can a law made by Parliament be challenged in court or not? It can be challenged and it can be declared as unconstitutional by Supreme Court or even by a high court. Does it mean then that Parliament is supreme? It's not," Hegde said.
He said the government should understand that Constitution is drafted by Constituent Assembly but it's the people of India who have accepted it.
"It (Constitution) is not given by a politician. Under the Constitution, we have accepted... This Parliament, Legislature, Executive and Judiciary is created. Therefore, who is the creator of these institutions? It's the people. Therefore, ultimately, in the true sense of the word, it's the people who are supreme, not anybody else", he said.
In 2002, three Dera Sacha Sauda followers were arrested for allegedly murdering a Sirsa-based journalist. And now, Sikhs in Punjab took offence, leading to violent protests.
In 2002, three Dera Sacha Sauda followers were arrested for allegedly murdering a Sirsa-based journalist, Ram Chander Chhatterpati. Later the same year, two more followers of the Dera were held in another murder case, that of former Dera leader Ranjit Singh. Singh himself had quit the sect in controversial fashion over an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation of women inmates of the Dera. The CBI is probing both cases.
The current controversy is over Dera head Sant Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim purportedly dressing up like Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh guru, at a public function as well as on newspaper advertisements published on Sunday. Sikhs in Punjab took offence, leading to violent protests that have spread to other states in the last four days. The Dera holds that there is “no prescribed dress code or pictographic evidence that a certain style of apparel was donned by any particular saint”.
Jamshedpur FC staged a remarkable recovery after being two goals down as they defeated the Indian Super League’s (ISL) bottom-placed side Delhi Dynamos FC 3-2 in a five-goal thriller on Sunday. Delhi started the game well thanks to a brace from Kalu Uche in the 20th and 22nd minutes. But Jamshedpur FC never gave up as goals from Tiri (29th minute), Yumnam Raju (54th minute) and Trinandade Goncalves (86th minute) sealed the deal for them. The three points lifted Jamshedpur FC to the fifth spot on the points table with 16 points from 11 matches. (Hindustan Times (Video Courtesy: ISL-STAR Sports) )
Ruthless and heavily armed "criminal syndicates" linked to drug smugglers and militias are running the global wildlife trade and turning their guns on the park rangers tasked with protecting endangered species.
Hundreds of rangers have been killed over recent years as poachers stop at nothing in their quest for lucrative animal parts such as ivory and rhino horn, according to experts at a global convention on protecting wildlife in Bangkok.
The illegal trade "poses an immediate risk to wildlife and to people, including those serving on the frontlines to protect wildlife" says John Scanlon, secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Indian villagers look at a wounded endangered one horned Rhinoceros that was shot and dehorned by poachers in the jungle of Parku hills near Kaziranga National Park. AFP photo
The death toll among the rangers has risen as the slaughter of elephants and rhinos reaches record levels -- with photographs of carcasses stripped of horns or tusks stirring public outcry.
At least 1,000 rangers have been killed in 35 different countries over the last decade, said Sean Willmore, president of the International Ranger Federation (IRF), adding that the real global figure may be between 3-5,000.
"There is an undeclared war going on on the frontline of conservation," he told AFP citing the example of a group of 50 rangers in the Democratic Republic of Congo who stumbled across a 5,000-strong militia group out poaching armed with AK47s.
And while attacks by lions or elephants make their work "dangerous enough", he says 75% of the dead were killed by traffickers, with their lack of equipment, training and low wages weighing against them.
Every weakness is exploited by criminals determined to cash in on large animal reserves in some of the world's poorest, most unstable countries.
"Wildlife crime has historically been known as a low-risk, high-profit crime," according to Ben Janse Van Rensburg a senior CITES official.
Alarmingly, the groups are part of a web of global criminals involved in other illicit trades such as drug and human trafficking, he said.
Although the countries worst hit by the scourge of wildlife trafficking have shown willing to tackle the issue, they do so with limited means.
But some countries have not even made the issue a serious crime "making conviction difficult", says Jorge Rios of the UN Office against Drugs and Crime (UNODC), urging political commitment to be "accompanied by resources at national and international level".
"We cannot just focus on poachers... we also have to deal with middle men working in transit countries, and people distributing and selling the merchandise in market countries," Dan Ashe, director of the US Fish and Wildlife service told AFP.
But it is not an easy task, with corruption lubricating the movement of illicit wildlife -- often destined for Asia as delicacies or use in traditional medicines.
A leopard walks through the bush at Yala National Park in the southern district of Yala around 250 kms southwest of Colombo. AFP photo
"They (traffickers) have a lot of money... they are paying for the right to do whatever they want," says Steve Galster, executive director, of conservation group the Freeland Foundation.
After several years of investigation his group accused Vixay Keosavang, an influential Laos national, of orchestrating a major trafficking network.
Tigers, turtles, pangolins, snakes and monkeys from Africa arrived on the banks of the Mekong river in legitimate breeding farms used as a front to sell protected or poached species, he said, highlighting the "loopholes" of CITES that have failed to stop people like him flouting the law.
From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, "The Protester" was named Time magazine's Person of the Year today. Time defines the Person of the Year as someone who, for better or for worse, influences the events of the year.
From the Arab Spring to the Occupy Wall Street movement, "The Protester" was named Time magazine's 2011 Person of the Year on Wednesday. Time defines the Person of the Year as someone who, for better or for worse, influences the events of the year.
"Is there a global tipping point for frustration? Everywhere, it seems, people said they'd had enough," Time Editor Rick Stengel said in a statement.
Admiral William McRaven, head of US Special Operations Command and overall commander of the secret US mission into Pakistan in May that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, came in at second place on the Time list.
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, whose 81 day secret detention by authorities earlier this year sparked an international outcry, came in at No 3, followed by US House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.
Paleo Indians and later the Timecuans inhabited the area even as paddle-wheels steamed by on the way to the Gulf of Mexico
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