Future Perfect

The perception towards teaching is rapidly changing. The pure, conventional, dreary face-to-face teaching is now a thing of past. With educational institutes and private companies increasingly promoting and preferring the learners to take online education, the online teaching has today emerged as a new drift, a newfangled vocation for smart teachers who in all probability could be super task masters. The online education as an industry has also shown tremendous growth both in enrollment and turnover. According to forecasts of Marketdata Enterprises, Inc., the market size in the US can grow at 7.7 percent per year from 2012 to 2015 touching $78 billion. The same report further suggests that the enrollment status for online education is proportionately promising. From a current estimate of 6.4 million enrollment in 2012, the figure can even reach 7.4 million in 2015.

The proliferation of innovative learning technologies blended with evolutionary social web engagements are fast transforming the landscape of online teaching to the super green venture of future. Of late the semantics of online teaching strikes the right chord with the changing mindset of new-age learners. Who does like a boring face-to-face classroom teaching? The advent of highly collaborative and exciting online learning environment powered by a barrel of modern technologies has metamorphosed the exposition of learning. The journey of online teaching is just poised to take a big leap. Ready to grab the opportunity? 

The Paradigm Shift

Teaching today is not a sheer linear, one-directional method in which one preaches and others faithfully listen. With evolution of technology and ever growing new demands of learners, teaching has been a more complex subject. Earlier teachers used to believe in a limited aspects of teaching process; however, today the role is more demanding than it was ever before. The intervention of state in education system, growing public-private partnership, proliferation of technology, customized learning, and multi-level evaluation process collectively define the complexity of new-age learning and equally so the pressing role of an online teacher.

Role of Teacher

The academic version of teaching is expanding rigorously. The functions of teachers are not limited to coursebook completion, rather a number of pertinent parameters are being added. First, the accountability of learning outcome has become a major concern for teachers. And this opens up many avenues for the role of a teacher. For example, diagnosing learners' needs, customization of program based on individual learners, keeping learner-centered environment, innovating instructional strategies, planning lessons, evaluating quality of content, program effectiveness, continuous evaluation process, site-based decision making, allocation of technological resources, monitoring learners' performance, and assessing learning outcomes are some new responsibilities that a teacher should discharge to stay competitive with the changing time. Teaching now evolved into an exciting and challenging profession.

Role of Technology

Technology is a key enabler of modern teaching process. From lesson planning to content creation to distribution to evaluation, each stage has been jazzed up by the touch of technology. Notebooks, pens, and pencils are nearly discarded and being replaced by high-tech gadgets like laptops, tablets, and smart phones. Learning is becoming more exciting with the advent of many interactive tools and social webs. Tech-savvy teachers are increasingly banking on Google Apps, Skype, Wiki, Blogs, and YouTube to grab the attention of students. A modern classroom can be compared with a high-tech laboratory.

From Classroom to Virtual Learning Environment

The landscape of learning is transforming faster than the mindset of learners. In an extremely connected world, where knowledge and information are easily accessible, the learning environment has crossed the border of classrooms. Thanks to technological innovation. In an age of globalization, technological advancement has proved to be catalyst in bringing in novel nomenclature in education, be it “virtual learning”, “online classes” or “virtual classroom.”

Huge investment in education sector to democratize learning process has developed a universal ecosystem for virtual learning. Historically, in the US, University of Phoenix started country's first online degree program in 1989. Today, more than 150,000 students are enrolled online for various programs including Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees. Matching with the industry requirement, University of Phoenix produces latest course curricula and delivers quality education over web.

University of Phoenix was the icebreaker. Now over 2500 colleges and universities in the US offer online programs. According to a survey conducted by Babson Survey Research Group, in 2010 alone over 6.1 million students at least opted for one online class, a stark 10.1 percent rise over the previous year. “Nearly thirty percent of all college and university students now take at least one course online,” says study co-author I Elaine Allen, Co-Director of the Babson Survey Research Group and Professor of Statistics & Entrepreneurship at Babson College.

The growing numbers of online enrollment in various global colleges and universities suggest that the time has come for a tradeoff between learners and teachers. The erstwhile monopoly of classroom teachers is gradually collapsing and simultaneously the demand for online teachers is moving northward.

Need of Online Teaching

The growing need of online education among students and working professionals has profound implications on online teaching. With emergence of internet and other collaborative technologies, the teaching landscape has been ever changing. The online environment provides a number of advantages over traditional, face-to-face classes. Along with real course-ware, for instance, the online teachers can integrate many informational resources via a web page, which could be a blog/article, a video, a multimedia presentation, or a threaded discussion forum. Imagine the benefits the virtual learners can achieve. This also expands the scope of responsibilities of online teacher. Now the online learners communities expect their teachers should not only meet their expectations, but also in most cases they should exceed. The fun of learning lies in its engaging characteristics. Apart from the richness of learning, there are other dimensions, discussed in this section, as well that propel the growth story of online learning, and online teaching as a demanding profession.

Breaking the Barrier

As education is an investment-intensive program, many bright students often shed the idea of getting enrolled in a reputed US college. However, the online learning programs offered by various colleges/universities in the US and other countries have allowed students to go for learning even from disadvantaged locations with a fraction of cost that's normally incurred when one opts for regular courses. So, the online education first dislodges the rich-poor divide while spreading quality education in a democratic manner. Primarily, online education is easily accessible anywhere in the world if the learner has a computer and an internet connection at home. Moreover, students find it convenient to get course materials such as homework, exam schedules, test scores, and certificates without struggling.

Accessibility

The popularity of online education lies in its easy accessibility. For face-to-face learning, students normally wait for a specific time when the instructor/teacher is available to take the class; however, through online education, they can find all information regarding a subject by simply browsing the desired website or even can start a live chat with an expert in that field. What's more interesting that students can also consult peers via a web chat. This whole exercise provides a meaningful way to enhance the overall learning experience of students. Furthermore, online teachers can disseminate information to thousands of students in real-time, which is hardly possible in face-to-face teaching.

Quality of Learning

Many online teachers also invite experts such as researchers and authors as guests to their virtual classes. Sometimes, eminent professors and industry professionals also join various web-casts to enrich the learning program of students. Although this happens in physical classrooms, the difference in online environment is that a student/learner can be multitasking while attending to any such program. As technology continues to advance, teachers can invest time to build various scenarios and case studies to enhance the learning process of students. Apart from a SCORM-based curriculum, teachers use various other mediums such as Wiki, Blogs, Forums, Chat, and Videos to deliver quality content.

Higher Student Engagement

The online learning becomes more engaging because it evokes both deeper and boarder discussions when learners willingly participate in the learning process with their peers and teachers more actively. Each student gets exposed to an array of debates and thought-provoking discussions, which in turn permeates a psychological impulse for a non-participating student to break his or her silence and contribute to the learning process.

In an asynchronous learning environment students get sufficient time to go though threaded discussions posted in a forum and post their own after deep analysis. This increases the participation of students in comparison to classroom teaching where the constraints of time is a major dampener.

Anonymity Brings Empowerment

Anonymity plays a major role in online education. It creates more equality among the students in an online class. Normally students feel free to ask any question to an online teacher without any inhibition because there is no direct eye contact with teacher. At the same time, the online teachers also find it quite easy to respond to any query as there is classroom disturbance syndrome, which is quite common in a face-to-face teaching environment. So this is a win-win both for students and teachers.

Communication Matters

The most unique aspect of online teaching is that teachers and students rarely see one another, and this specific feature brings in a major responsibility for online teacher – comprehensive communication. So, online teachers should focus on the communication part of teaching, whether it's related to coursework designing, evaluating students academic progress, responding students' queries through emails/chats/discussion forums, or posting a blog/article on their website. The basic requirement is online teachers should write and communicate well, unfailingly. And they should understand the nuances of words and verbiages so that there is no communication barrier.

Future of Online Teaching

Education sector is experiencing an overwhelming degree of transformation with the emergence of digital age. From social web to high-touch apps to tablets and smart phones, today's education embraces the digital revolution wither greater emphasis on mass collaboration and faster communication. With cutting-edge learning technologies, teaching and learning now become more demanding than ever before. Especially in higher education segment, the adoption of new technologies and innovative methodologies is visibly prominent. This is backed by “2010 Sloan Survey of Online Learning” report that underlines the fact that enrollment in online courses in the US colleges almost increased by one million students from the previous year. And the most revealing fact of this survey is that approximately 30 percent of all college and university students now take at least one online course.

Students are increasingly opting out for online education because of flexibility of timing, customized learning packages, easy accessibility, and a value for money. Also the education service provides such as public and private institutes and universities are heading towards a deep competitive regime. The players in online education space would only sustain the growing competition provided they adopt new technologies, encourage innovation both in pedagogy and delivery, and engage smart teaching staff to deliver the best learning package. While new technologies are popping up every alternate week, their applicability and acceptance largely depends upon the opinion leaders and evangelists and in this case they are the new-age teachers and instructors who can bridge the gap between learners' adaption and the desired outcome of industry expectations. And this evolves more responsibilities and greater accountability of teaching staff. If technology plays a significant role in the transformation of online education, equally so the online teachers, and for them staying afloat during the journey is more relevant than anything else.

Bringing in Enhanced Pedagogy

In online education, the primary element that drives the tempo of popularity is pedagogical strategy. An effective pedagogical strategy for online teaching can ensure richness in learning, student engagement, and desired learning outcomes. Here comes a tribe called subject matter experts who decide the online instructional strategies. According to a survey on higher education in the United States, the respondents who are mostly teaching staff opine that the best instruction strategy is the one which supports and encourages the learner's inquisitiveness, widens the learner's perspectives on the subject matter, infuses critical and creating thinking, and brings about sustained growth in overall experience. Hence the onus lies on the online teachers who are supposed to carry out research and suggest the desired changes in the instructional practices.

Using New Technologies

Technology plays an important role in the success story of online education. In last two decades, an increasing number of universities and colleges in the United States have adopted new technologies while delivering learning. The evolution of Internet has transformed the learning process in higher education. According to an online survey conducted through the members (both teaching staff and administrative personnel) Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) or the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET), the respondents opine that several emerging technologies for online education have found their acceptance for course management. Whether it's online test tools, online library, streaming videos, live chats, discussion forums, and wikis, they have all contributed significantly to the learning experience. The adaption is increasing proportionately with dawning of new technologies. Even today many universities have gone beyond the formal teaching methodologies. Gamification, social web, synchronous conferencing, and real-time collaboration have marked an increased adaption.

Meeting Spiraling Demand of Learners

One interesting factor that still holds a precious position in online education arena is that the demand of online education is revving up. And this aspect drives the industry crazy. When demand is rising, it's certain that the online educational players foresee a better future. But that doesn't singularly excite them because in that comes a whole lot of hard works. Online learners are gradually tasting the demand-supply churning. It's quite tricky a scenario. Very similar to customer service market. More the service providers, happier the customers. Because the competition among various educational players at least ensures the services are competitive in quality and cost. And this aspect of competition is a never-ending cycle. So what comes out from this churn is an array of new demands like pedagogical competency, technical competency of teachers, course and content quality, quality of service, worth of certification, industry acceptance, and not the least a competitive pricing structure.

What Do You Need to Be an Online Teacher?

Teaching face-to-face and teaching online are altogether two distinct subjects. It's not necessary to claim that a very good conventional teacher who has received scores of applause from students could be a successful online teacher. The first and foremost challenge faced by an online teacher is understanding the online environment. Many bright teachers who are engaged in face-to-face teaching even feel reluctant to teach online. On the contrary, teachers having sound knowledge of pedagogy and a fair amount of understanding online technologies can deliver better results. Barring technology there are other dimensions as well which play key roles in the making of a successful online teacher.

Understanding the Environment

The chief characteristic of online teaching environment is that it's driven by technology, so it may require an adequate knowledge of contemporary technologies to stay competitive. An online teacher should understand that the flexibility of classroom teaching is limited in online teaching. Hence it requires more planning, organizing, commitment, preparation, creativity, time management, discipline, empathy, and detailing to optimize the learning experience.

Comfortable with Technology

While many teachers believe that a formal understanding of computer and Internet would bail them out in online teaching, the truth is just contrary. It's much beyond the connotation of computer literacy. For online teaching, a high degree of comfort with various tools and applications marks the premium. It finally boils down to how efficiently you use the technologies at your disposal to optimize the entire learning experience of students. Here are some essential technology skills that online teachers should possess:

• Working knowledge of collaborative documentation tools, for example, Google Docs
• Hands-on experience with web conferencing tools, for example, Mikago, Skype, etc
• Email management skills
• Online presentation skills
• Videoconferencing skills
• Social media skills including blogging and handling online forums
• Website building skills
• Knowledge of unified communication tools
• Knowledge of SCROM-compliance tools for designing courseware
• Content management system skills

Teaching Strategy

Although many classroom teachers are well-versed with face-to-face teaching methodologies, when it comes to online, they often mess up. While teaching online, the teachers should practice the following strategies to ensure effective learning environment:

• Define student-centered activities to evaluate learning effectiveness
• Facilitate and moderate online discussions
• Encourage problem-based and collaborative learning
• Provide timely feedback
• Use interactive/simulated tools to enrich learning

Online Teaching Certification

While most of the teachers have teaching certification/diploma, online teaching requires a lot more than that. Given the technological and pedagogical skills required by online teaching, the aspirants in this profession should possess online teaching qualifications. There are many universities and colleges in the US such as Drexel University which offer exclusive online teaching training for teachers. This training offers critical skill development such as pedagogical skills, interfacing with online technologies, mentoring and moderation skills, instructional strategy skills, and social web skills.

Tools and Connectivity

The fundamentals of online teaching are that they happen in a virtual medium where learners may be sitting at any corner of the world. So to interface with learners the online teachers should have the following tools and gadgets.

• A standard desktop loaded with basic applications such as Word Processor, PowerPoint, Spreadsheets, course authoring tools, collaborative white boards, collaborative working tools, designing software.
• Peripherals such as webcam, headset, external storage drive
• Broadband Internet connectivity
• Subscribed to web mails and chat apps

Best Practices

Online teaching is one of the smartest vocations of 21^st century. With growing needs of online education, the scope of online teaching has been widened in the past decade. The new-age online teachers though are bedecked with many skills, here are seven best practices that would certainly value add to the overall skills.

Best Practice 1: Be Regular

Regularity breeds contempt, but here the contrary works wonder. An online teacher who maintains the predefined schedules and keep the learners updated about programs, announcements, discussions, and postings becomes the most popular among online learners.

Best Practice 2: Be Supportive

Online teaching needs a fair amount of continuous support in terms of developing online course community; posting lectures, videos, audios, and blogs; attending to forum questions; developing social we ecosystem; and setting up support groups.

Best Practice 3: Set Expectations

Setting right expectations for students and yourself can make the learning process practicable. Here you can create a sharable document pointing out the rules for communication, instruction for students, feedback response time, and specifically your schedule.

Best Practice 4: Develop Community

Online teaching can be more engaging when it's supported by a variety of teaching communities with broad-based experiences in online teaching. This encourages brainstorming among students.

Best Practice 5: Judicious Use of Synchronous and Asynchronous Tools

Online education originally started with asynchronous way; however, with influx of new technologies, it has become synchronous. As an online teacher you have to decide to draw a line where you need to go for what. Both are important, but in a collaborative world every method has an edge.

Best Practice 6: Continuous Feedback

Faster feedback helps students save their time in correcting themselves. Don't wait for tomorrow. Make it a practice to provide real-time feedback, and this will amplify the degree of learning enthusiasm.

Best Practice 7: Create a To-Do List

Prepare a To-Do list for students by clearly articulating their tasks, activities, and other necessary information that they often require.

Skills Required for an Online Teacher

Online teaching requires more complex skills than conventional teaching. When medium and environment of learning change, it becomes imperative for teachers to concentrate on a number of factors simultaneously. Apart from the common teaching skills, the online teachers need a set of competencies in various domains such as technology, administrative, pedagogy, and communication. Here each skill set is elaborated based on teaching requirements.

Technology Skills

Sound understanding of emerging technologies is an essential requirement for online teachers. As medium of instruction changes in online teaching, technology takes over the manageability of dissemination. Thus it becomes important for online teachers to gain multiple skills which include, but not limited to the following list:

• Understanding operation of computer
• Knowledge of operating system
• Knowledge of basic application pool such as Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and PowerPoint
• Database management skills
• Project management skills
• File management and storing
• Hands-on experience in online collaborative tools
• Social media and blogging skills
• Online research skills
• eLearning management system
• eLearning content authoring system
• Content management system
• Email management system
• Working knowledge of unified communications suite
• Network management skills
• Web designing skills
• HTML authoring skills
• Scripting skills
• Data storage management
• Knowledge of modern computer peripherals such as webcam, digicam, scanner, bluetooth
• Common software installation

Administrative Skills

While conventional teachers have the luxury of using institutional support/administrative support, the online teachers badly need those skills to develop. Here are few skills that you should develop before embarking on the online teaching job.

• Schedule management
• Audio/video conference setup
• Student information management
• Account management
• Payment management
• Mail response

Pedagogy Skills

Online teaching is as much technological as pedagogical. A teacher with good pedagogical skills has a better edge than his/her peers. Here are certain skills that you should learn before jumping in to the fray.

• Learning analysis
• Instructional designing
• Community building
• Reflective teaching
• Creative teaching
• Brainstorming
• Forum management
• Lesson planning
• Activity designing
• Knowledge of Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)
• Test evaluation

Communication Skills

Communication is the key to become a successful teacher. In online teaching, good communications skills saves time and even enhances the quality of learning. A teacher with bad communication skills often creates confusion in learners mind. An online teacher should consider the following aspects of communication.

• Structure of communication
• Cross-culture communication
• Procedural communication
• Technical communication
• Cooperative communication
• Personal communication
• Strategic communication

Challenges You Face for Online Teaching

Although online teaching seems to be a very exciting career, it comes with a fair amount of challenges. However, these can be addressed effectively to ensure smooth sailing. The primary challenge an online teacher faces is to become “jack of all trades”. You need to wear many hats during teaching – teacher, mentor, facilitator, tech geek, and administrator. Sometimes online teachers find it difficult to switch from one train of thought to another due to lack of multi-tasking skills. Secondly, an online teacher needs to innovate constantly and it requires sufficient time to develop this mindset. Constraint of time and loads of responsibility often hard presses an online teacher to repeat the learning methodology. Apart from the intellectual aspect of challenges there are other physical challenges as well. For example, while taking an online class if your Internet connectivity fails, it mars your reputation, in which you don't have any control. A similar problem happens when you use a specific online tool and the server goes down. Here are some top challenges that an online teacher faces.

• Establishing the resonance with online students
• Adapting to the cultural practices of various origins
• Calibrating learning outcomes with efforts
• Transforming learning theories into practice
• Zeroing on appropriate learning models vis-a-vis learners' requirements
• Being hands-on with latest tools/applications to meet growing expectations of learners
• Addressing emerging ethical issues in virtual medium
• Understanding the evolving role of techno-academic profession
• Handling data security issues

On a conclusive note, even you can manage mastering skills and stay competitive, other external challenges can be sometimes irksome, though not difficult to assuage.

Tools Required to Teach Online

While teaching online, teachers require a number of tools for various purposes. Starting from defining a pedagogical strategy to lesson planning to course-ware authoring to delivery of content, online teaching is a complex task and more specifically you can't do it with a single tool or application. To deliver successful online teaching programs, you need to master a number of tools and applications. And the best part is that they are available free or at a very nominal price, which can be easily affordable.

Here is an exhaustive list of tools that can help you excel in your profession. You can visit each website and learn more about the product.

Animoto Assign-A-Day Audacity Blogger Blogmeister Boolify Box.net Calendars.net ClassTools Classroom 2.0 Ning CommonCraft Curriki Delicious Diigo Dropbox Facebook Flashcard Exchange Filamentality Flickr FreshPond.net Gcast Gliffy Glogster Goodreads

Google Google Apps Google Calendar Google Docs Google Earth Google Maps iGoogle Jing Project Kuler Lesson Plans Library Thing Library 2.0 Ning Librivox Meebo MyT4L Netvibes Ning Notesake Open Clip Art Library Picasa Picnik Personal Educational Press Project Based Learning Checklists

QuickTopic Remember the Milk RSS Newsfeed Generator RubiStar Rubric Machine School 2.0 Ning SchoolTube Scribd Skrbl Skype Slideshare Study Stack TeacherTube Trackstar Twiddla Twitter VoiceThread Web 2.0 Tutorial Videos Wikis Wordle xTimeline Yugma Zamzar

Earning Potential of Teaching Online

A common myth that sticks to teaching profession that it's not at all a lucrative profession. However, this is not true. A recent news on the earnings of a kindergarten teacher by selling lesson plan online rightly discards this false notion. According to this news report, Deanna Jump, a kindergarten teacher from Georgia, US, has earned mindbogglingly $700,000 from simply selling lesson plans on Teachers Pay Teachers, a startup ecommerce platform where teachers sell their lesson plans to fellow educators. This is just tip of the iceberg. In the US, a fairly experienced online teacher can earn $50-150 per hour.

The salary of online professor in the US is quite competitive; however, the earnings vary based on various parameters such as location, institution, position, domain, teaching experience, and level of expertise. According to a survey conducted by the American Association of University Professors in 2008–09, salaries for full-time teaching staff averaged $79,439. Further classification by ranks reveals that the average salary of professors was $108,749, for associate professors was $76,147, and for assistant professors was $63,827.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2009 data, the average annual salary for high school teachers, both classroom and online teaching, was $52,200; however, the highest-paid teachers in the 90th percentile earned more than $82,000 annually. The salary also varies based on cities. For example, the highest-paid high school teacher in New York, Illinois, and Alaska earned $68,010, $67,960, and $67,640 respectively. Moreover, the salaries also vary in a particular city based on specific locations. For example, in the metropolitan areas such as

Nassau-Suffolk in New York, Chicago-Naperville-Joliet in Illinois, and Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine area in California, the top salary was $83,560, $74,530, and $73,890 respectively.

At the post-secondary level, the salaries are even visibly more. According to BLS report, the post-secondary teachers even get more than $128,330 at the top level. The highest salaries in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, California , and the District of Columbia were $115,130, $87,820, $87,780, $84,930, and $84,270 respectively. Although there is no striking difference between the salary of classroom and online teachers, the salaries vary according to industry, institute, and subject. For a deserving professional sky is the limit.

Conclusion

The changing educational environment, technological evolution, and market demand have equally contributed to the growth of this industry. The growing need of flexibility, accessibility, quality of learning and meaningful results have supported the journey of online education. As innovation is the cornerstone of technological evolution, the future of online teaching is certainly going to be more engaging and enriched. The aspirants for this profession need to focus on the core aspects of online teaching – the medium, the strategy, the enabler, and the market. The ecosystem for online education is abuzz with ideas and their realization. It's just a matter of conviction as how effectively you transform yourself from a conventional view point to radical approach through which you can explore the world of opportunities in this domain.

A Slice of Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has of late sparked hullabaloo in media circle post her recent telecasting of two-episode Next Chapter, based upon her experience gathered from the sojourn visit to India this January. Though the talk-show to some extent has put India in poor light from cultural point of view, what's more outrageous than Oprah's understanding about Indian culture and tradition is Indians' inherent barometric intolerance culture, so thin-skinned than a whimper of whisper can create patches of rashes almost instantly. Barring certain vituperative remarks such as “I heard some Indian people eat with their hands still?” the episode attempts to decipher the glaring contrasts of India. From slums of Mumbai to incredible Taj Mahal, each talking point has touched the conscious deliberation of Oprah.

Whether a bunch of people live under the same roof in a cubicle size room in Mumbai slum or majority of Indians still eat with their hands, the narrative purely reflects Oprah's typical story-telling style. And bringing the ground reality to public scrutiny has moved many into tears especially in Oprah's talk-shows. However, as a renowned television anchor Oprah has unwittingly exposed her pseudo-intellectual underbelly, a syndrome that has infected many prime time anchors in India as well. The pith of problem here is not what's packaged, but the real issue is much deeper. An anchor can't be a master of all trades what's otherwise popularly projected by media. Every anchor has limitation of understanding the real problem. Even a layman can put better perspectives on a contemporary problem than a great anchor. 

Making superficial comments on five-thousand-year old Indian culture is the most bizarre thing that can be least expected from Oprah, but the reality is sitting at 100,000 feet height and facetiously explaining the ground zero is equally derisive. Irrespective of her multi-billion media empire and huge experience in talk-shows, she has a vulnerable side as well - Oprah lives on the surface of human wisdom. There is much underneath. Subtle and profound. She must explore, analyze, and then express. Probably she can then become the most adorable anchor, beyond the cobweb of seductive statistics that she currently grandstands.

Mission BYOD: Are Risks Worth Taking?

With growing proliferation of smart mobile devices in the consumer market, the new age professionals have quickly shifted from PCs to laptops, tablets, and smart phones. According to IT Consumer Survey conducted by IDC in April 2011, while 88 percent consumers surveyed use a desktop to access Internet for business or personal use, 91 percent use a laptop, 80 percent use smart phone, and 36 percent use a tablet for the same purpose. This is an indication of how fast the smart devices are being penetrated into consumer space. Driven by this trend enterprises are compelled to introduce bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model in the organization. In the first place, this trend not only helps enterprises save spiraling IT infrastructure cost significantly, but also it improves the productivity of employees. Nevertheless, this comes with a caveat – challenges associated with enterprise data security. Now that the enterprises can't reverse the trend of smart work culture, the limited option left for them is to evaluate various dimensions of risks associated with BYOD model and smartly implement an enterprise-wide data security program.

Here are some major concerns that pose serious deliberations before allowing BYOD program in the organization.

• Does the organization have a full-proof BYOD policy?
• Does the organization have a stringent security policy related to critical data exchange over employee devices?
• How will these devices be connected to various data servers in the organization?
• What if the employee leaves or gets fired?
• What if the employee device is lost or theft and passed to a rouge element?
• What are the IT infrastructural limitations for mobility programs?
• What are the monitoring programs for keeping a tab upon a variety of heterogeneous devices?

Advantages of BYOD

Every technology revolution has its fair share of advantages. And the growing trend of smart mobile device adoption by employees at workplaces has more edges. According to a study on BYOD conducted by Cisco, 76 percent respondents said that adopting to BYOD was somewhat or extremely positive for their organizations. The same study reveals that BYOD apart from operational excellence there is a significant cost benefit. As per some estimation done by Cisco, an employee engaged in BYOD can benefit the organization in the range of $300 to $1300. Primarily, the companies allowing BYOD accrue the following benefits.

• Optimized employee performance: Smart devices provide more flexibility to contemporary work culture. They also increase collaboration among employees, management, and customers. Employees can be equally productive while they are traveling or working from home.
• Enhanced employee satisfaction: While employees are allowed to bring their own smart devices to work place, they never crib about obsolete desktop, as often provisioned by the organization. Since they are convenient with their own devices and also they understand the nuances of usage, their independence from the buckles of IT helpdesk provides a sense of contentment.
• Increased client satisfaction: Mostly employees working in the sales and support program quickly respond to customers' concerns, which ultimately elevates customer satisfaction.
• Significant cost savings: With employees taking care of their own devices, companies save a significant portion of IT spending on purchase of hardware and other allied devices. Moreover, companies can save on phone plans, SMS plans, Internet services, and helpdesk overhead.
• Reduced management intervention: Allowing BYOD to employees, the management eliminates a number of additional responsibilities such as selection of vendors, monitoring of employee data usage, and purchase decisions.

Risks Associated with BYOD

While enterprises leverage the benefits of BYOD, there are some genuine concerns as well. According to a survey conducted by Mimecast in 2012, 74 percent respondents emphasized that the biggest challenge of BYOD is information security. By allowing employees' own mobile devices to premises, companies open a floodgate of security and privacy issues that could cost them huge amount of money in terms of fine and critical data loss. Here are some critical risks that spring from the BYOD program.

• Security threats: Mobile devices, especially smart phones, are often vulnerable to hacking. Since mobile platforms are not matured yet the security risks associated with them are not well articulated by device makers. When an employee downloads a new application there is enough chance that the software might be a malware or a tracking program that can eavesdrop any conversation taking place over the device.
• Spreading of malware in the network: If the device is connected through a Wi-Fi or Bluethooth, there is a larger possibility of that the device can play a dumb to tricks of hackers who can spread malware in the entire network. Malware can cause a huge loss of enterprise data and customer information.
• Loss or theft of devices: Since mobile devices are small and easily portable, they are prone to loss and theft. That threatens the loss of critical enterprise data.
• Lack of enterprise-level security controls: As employees use a variety of devices and all that operate on different platforms, it become quite cumbersome for the organization to streamline a single security blanket policy.
• Spamming: Unsolicited messages and contents eats out the bandwidth and storage. Although spams can't directly pose threat to data, any response to that can create otherwise.
• Phishing activities: Phishing is a serious concern for mobile devices as users can't detect it right there as often they can do in PCs and laptops.

Managing the Risks

Risks are often thwarted when they are understood well. In case of BYOD, organizations not only face security challenges, but also they come across with a slew of legal challenges as well. For example, loss of customer information, which is protected under privacy act, can draw huge legal complications for the organization. In the recent time, companies like Facebook and Yahoo have lost millions of customers' personal information to hackers. That indeed reflects how vulnerable the large technology enterprise are. But for any organization, small or big, a comprehensive policy on data security and framework for workable BYOD model can ensure the benefits of smart work culture. A report titled “Five steps to a successful BYOD program” published by Forrester, emphasizes that the more an employee has access to privileged data, the more powerful should be the information security rules.

The organizations can consider the following strategies to avoid susceptible risks and leverage the advantages of BYOD program. Before allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices to the workplace, the companies should enact a comprehensive BYOD policy, which would address major BYOD concerns.

The BYOD policy should include, but not limited to the aspects such as employee usage, mobile security, data protection, data encryption, password protection, identity and access control, wireless access control, social media usage, internet browsing control, anti-virus/anti-malware software provisioning, anti-spam procedures, anti-phishing procedures, application security, incident reporting, and above all an enterprise-wide employee training on all these issues.

Conclusion

Technological revolutions in the past have brought both opportunities and risks on the same platter. Not a single technology invented till date is absolutely free from some genuine challenges. Organizations encouraging their employees to adopt BYOD must consider the key challenges first and then devise a comprehensive BYOD policy across the organization in order to optimize the benefits of this program.

The Independent's Goof-up

It's quite hilarious that The Independent, a UK daily newspaper, that carried a political critic on India's prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on its website, could only able to settle the final headline “Manmohan Singh - India's saviour or just 'the underachiever'?” after faltering twice. The other two headlines were “Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Poodle?” and “Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Puppet?” Such a glaring editorial blunder though not uncommon in media, the pith of the problem here is internationally media houses have lost their editorial intellect. Rather a newspaper or a news channel is more like a consumer product with the shortest shelf life. You can have many versions of a story throughout the day with changes here and there. No wonder then a small-time daily like The Independent having a circulation well below two-hundred thousand deliberately modified the headline twice before taking a cue from Time magazine's cover story. And Andrew Buncombe, the Asia correspondent for The Independent and the author of this story, might not feel embarrassed at all, for “the err is human.” Journalists can commit mistakes, blunders, report misguided stories, and in the next moment come out with a rejoinder, admitting to the fact that it's “an inadvertent error.” But the politicians don't have that journalistic privilege. Any wrong decision taken by them are unforgivable.

The story may have many merits while blaming or accusing Dr Manmohan Singh given the current state of governance, but do these journalists ever question their own intellectual paucity? Whatever reported in the story has nothing new in it. It's rather a patchwork of scores of news stories published in Indian media over last few years. By the way, what's the score of Mr Andrew Buncombe, as a correspondent – ethically should be a seeker of truth? Hasn't he been stifled under pressure to overshadow the ethics of a journalist and behave “poodle” or “puppet” of management? Hasn't he ever made disservice to the profession by planting stories or blowing a story out of proportion in his life time? He might have done many times, but those are unreported, censored from the public eye. Because the mistakes of a journalist, even if reported, can't generate hullabaloo or public outcry. That hardly impacts our society. People are list interested what journalists do, how they do, and why they do. The only interest they keep in the actions of hero or villain of the story. In this case, Andrew Buncombe might have portrayed a hero as a villain and that short-lived contrast is the essential doping that many journalists have overused to give a new soprano to readers' imagination.  

The “Underachiever” Conundrum

The man who has been lauded long for his epochal economic liberalization in India is finally burning out his last trace of fuel. The gargantuan thrust once achieved by him in a time when India was struggling hard with economic devolution has of late lost its sparkle. Perhaps that's the ubiquitous pattern of any economic progress irrespective of geography. But the Time magazine's Asian edition has taken a deeper dig at Manmohan Singh and flaunts its next cover with a photograph of Manmohan Singh coupled with a funky title “The Underachiever” and a more flaky subtitle “India need a reboot. Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh up to the job?” And that has as if pronounced the gospel of god, the entire media circle and politicians from the Opposition have gone berserk on a normal political commentary of a magazine that aspires to penetrate further during a time when the print magazine industry is receiving a tight competition from its digital and electronic siblings. There is nothing unusual in this piece though. Whatever reported there is nothing more than the essence of myriads of reports on the prime minister published in Indian media during last couple of years. Two things that catches up instantly are the intent and the timing. Though Time is a popular magazine for its unusual coverage and fantastic research on any subject, the usual sin with this media as well is a passion for circulation and undoubtedly that prompts the editorial team to pump in offbeat stories week after week relentlessly.

It's true that India is passing through a turbulent economic phase and for that matter all other countries whether developed or developing are experiencing the same pain due to global recession. The US, the UK and the entire Euro zone, Russia, Brazil, and China are on the same bracket as far as macroeconomic indexes are concerned. So what really prompts the Time magazine's editorial team to zero in on Manmohan Singh is another media scoop. Historically, the Time magazine has a culture to weigh “timing” above the “issue”. Here the issue is about economic fledgling, widespread corruption, and policy paralysis in India. And this hasn't erupted overnight. It's a long process and one wrong decision begetting another. So why then Time has chosen July 16 issue of Asian edition to carry this bomb? Certainly, it's more about the opportunism and like hitting the iron while it's hot. The Time's editorial team has been observing deeply on the economic slowdown of India for a long time and now that it senses the boiling point of commoner reactions is reaching the peak, it chooses the opening of pandora's box. That's a media strategy often used by all and sundry. Although the message is clear and circles around hard facts, the intent is otherwise. Time is no different either.  

Can Dr Manmohan Singh do the magic again?

Who doesn't know the growth story India achieved during early nineties when Dr Manmohan Singh joined the cabinet as finance minister? Scenarios then were different. The foreign currency reserve was in a complete disarray (a mere $1 billion), balance of payment was a huge problem, fiscal deficit was nearly 8.5 % of GDP, current account deficit was close to 3.5% of GDP, and the license raj was at its peak. India was just dolloped with crisis and more economic crisis. Dr Singh along with then PM Narsimha Rao focused on a major agenda – economic liberalization. Despite immense opposition from political and bureaucratic circles Dr Singh paved the path for privatization. From a socialistic economy to a capitalist one, India has achieved a lot in these two decades of transformation, but this transformation is not complete yet.

What Dr Singh achieved in those five years as finance minister has overshadowed his role as prime minister. As a prime minister, his achievements are not worth mentioning except civil nuclear deal. In the last eight years he had hardly intervened in the financial matters and the results are thrown on the face. Both P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee have failed to influence the sentiments of FIIs. The reason: coalition politics. This has just propelled huge corruptions in the system.

With Pranab Mukherjee leaving the MoF and racing for presidential poll, what's more pertinent now for Dr. Singh is to first keep him insulate from the effects of coalition politics. And literally he should behave like a superman and forget politics for sometimes. Instead he should first move FDI bill for the retail and insurance sectors. Similarly, FDI in agriculture, infrastructure, telecom, civil aviation, and media should be opened up. At least the foreign investors can come forward to invest hugely in these sectors. And of course there in an inherent problem in our system – the bureaucratic hurdles. To transform India to the next economic superpower, we must do away with absurd business procedures. That could be possible only when PM will act in tandem with other ministries. Let's see how our PM is playing his magic wand.

The Fallen Star

A perfect storybook example of American dream, Rajat Gupta crafted his illustrious journey in global corporate world by sheer endeavor and meritocracy, and he was the first Indian to be the CEO of McKinsey and Company at a time when heading a global MNC by any Indian was literally unheard of. With his meteoric success stories Rajat Gupta became an epitome of corporate hero who despite being orphaned at 18 earned degrees from elite institutes such as IIT and Harvard and joined McKinsey in early 70's. Since then he never looked back. Mr Gupta also became the board members of global corporate giants like McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Proctor and Gamble, and AMR. But one fine day his understanding of ethics on corporate governance got blurred and he divulged insider information of Goldman Sachs board meeting to his friend and business partner Raj Rajaratnam, founder of Galleon Group. And the rest is an open book of trials and tribulations that he yearned from pumping out his affinity for greed.

Sometimes, I wonder why these demi-gods of society fall prey to mundane traps? Few more million bucks, more greed, and what not? Is that a gold standard of life that drives us crazy to do the unthinkable? Mr Gupta may be a brilliant Wall Street executive who has garnered both puffs and prestige for his meritocracy, but as a lesser mortal, he is no different than an ordinary criminal who springs into unlawful action by the trigger of a small bait. Why I am becoming a little harsher here is that today I just listened into the wiretap of FBI and the evidence against him for passing inside information is unmistakeably overwhelming. As a trusted board member of Goldman and Sachs he has breached the fundamental code of ethics. What it evokes now as how he could able to rise and rise for over three decades without any hurdle and the secret here is his dirty networking skills that propelled his tempo of corporate journey. For all his magical networking skills and relations with high and mighty in the corporate world and beyond he reached the acme, but the nadir was not far behind.

When FBI tapped the suspicious conversations between him and Rajaratnam, his facade broke into pieces like a piece of glass. Although Gupta was not directly involved in the trading in which Rajaratnam heaped one million profit; nevertheless, the modus operandi was more than suspicious. As a responsible corporate citizen he established a bad precedent, which is unforgivable. But here is a contrast, when Gupta was convicted for his crime on last Friday (June 15, 2012), another Indian-American Preet Bharara, the US Attorney in Manhattan, was the man who probed into this insider trading crime and stood unperturbed by the stellar image of Gupta. And the pointed difference is a matter of honesty and integrity, not the mundane achievements.  

President Pranab Mukherjee

The long speculation about UPA's candidature for the 13^th President of India has come to an end post announcement of Pranab Mukherjee's name by Sonia Gandhi. Why the chief troubleshooter of UPA II is chosen over many significant others for the presidency during a period of utter crisis has many political reasons. Whether it's making a smooth passage for Rahul Gandhi to be the next PM in 2014 or transforming the stigma of policy paralysis in the North Block or even engineering a stable constitutional solution to handle uncertainties in the outcome of 2014 general elections mandate, Sonia Gandhi has predictably resolved all issues at one go by nominating Pranab Mukherjee for presidential candidate. The kingmaker Sonia Gandhi has always outwitted her opponents by her sheer political acumen. And that's tried and tested in last two decades on many occasions.

Now that the country is seriously heading towards an economic downturn, especially in last two-three years, the UPA II is urgently looking for a finance minister more plaint towards to the market forces and bring about significant changes before 2014. First, as finance minister Pranab Mukherjee hasn't performed up to industry expectations and the recent tax rows with Vodafone is a dampener for further foreign direct investment in Indian market. Second, being a longtime Congress loyalist, Pranab Mukherjee is obviously an aspirant for the top job of the government (read PM), which is literally impossible in the current political scenario. So, the best option left for him to move to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In that lies many blessings for the UPA. As a diehard Congress loyalist, Pranab Mukherjee will bail out UPA in case there is a fractured mandate in 2014. Moreover, the speculation of an early poll will be diminished.

As far as the electoral process goes, Pranab Mukherjee will win the contest with great margin. Despite TMC's opposition for Pranab Mukherjee's candidature, other political parties including SP, BSP, JD(U), Left and certain allies of NDA will unanimously support him. And that could bring well over 60% votes of the electoral college.

The Magic of Guava

Have you ever thought guava can be more salubrious than orange or apple? Rich in dietary fiber, vitamins A and C, folic acid, potassium (contains more potassium than banana per 100 g of fruit weight), copper, magnesium, and manganese, guava is a unique tropical fruit that contains about four times the amount of vitamin C that an orange normally contains. Guava is a storehouse of a number of nutrients, low in calories and fats, but contains several vital vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant poly-phenolic and flavonoid compounds that play important role in prevention of cancers, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

Fresh guava is an natural source of antioxidants and vitamin C. The outer thick layer contains higher levels of vitamin C than the pulp stored in the pith. With high vitamin A content and flavonoids like beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and cryptoxanthin, guava possesses excellent antioxidant properties, which are essential for good health. Moreover, vitamin A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes, good eyesight and skin. Since guava is rich in carotene, it helps prevent lung and oral cavity cancers. A specific study on the lycopene content in pink guava suggest that taking a fresh pink guava everyday can prevent skin damage from UV rays and also protect from prostate cancer.

Major Health Benefits

Lowers the Risk of Cancer: Rich in vitamin C content, which is approximately 400% more than oranges, guava protects cells from free radical damage.

Prevents Diabetes: Rich in fiber, guava helps prevent diabetes by decelerating the assimilation of sugar in the body.

Regulates High Blood Pressure: Guava reduces cholesterol in blood and prevents it from thickening, thereby maintaining fluidity of blood and reducing blood pressure.

Improves Good Eyesight: A rich source of vitamin A, guava promotes better eyesight.

Promotes Healthy Thyroid Gland: The absence of iodine and good sources of copper in combination play a crucial role in controlling thyroid.

Provides Healthy Skin: It can improve skin texture because of the abundance of astringents in the raw guavas. In addition to the astringents, guava is also rich in vitamin-A, B, C and potassium which are very good source of antioxidants and detoxifiers that keep skin glowing and free from aging, wrinkles and many other skin disorders.

Promotes Fertility: With a substantial amount of folate content, guava bears fertility-promoting properties. So try this out as a passion fruit!

Relaxes Nerves and Muscles: Having guavas can relax nerves and muscles as it's a good source of magnesium.

Keeps Brain Healthy: The vitamin B group plays a major role in the functioning of brain. Rich in vitamin B3, a component that stimulates brain function, and vitamin B6 that acts as an important vitamin for brain and nerve function, guava certainly can be a radical agent in keeping your brain healthy and powerful as well.

Cures Diarrhea and Dysentery: The rich astringents in raw guava which are alkaline in nature and have disinfectant and anti-bacterial properties help cure diarrhea and dysentery by inhibiting microbial growth and removing extra mucus from the intestines.

Ameliorates Constipation: One of the richest sources of dietary fiber, guava seeds, if ingested whole or chewed, serve as excellent laxatives.

Cures Cough and Cold: Since guava is rich in vitamin-C and iron which are proven to be preventive against cold and viral infections, juice of raw guavas or guava-leaves provides relief in cough and cold.

Promotes Weight Loss: Being very high in roughage and very rich in vitamins, proteins and minerals, but with no cholesterol and less digestible carbohydrates, guava is very filling and satisfies appetite very easily.

Cures Scurvy: As a rich source of vitamin-C, guava can help cure scurvy.

So next time you go for shopping fruits, don't ignore guava!

Pomegranate: The Wonder Fruit

Often touted as the emblem of prosperity, fertility, and rebirth, pomegranate has lived many millenniums across the globe, with its humble beginning in Transcaucasia dating somewhere around 4000 BC. For many initial centuries, pomegranate was rather dull and overlooked fruit; however, recent studies have unfolded some prominent health benefits which now attract significant public attention. Firstly, pomegranate has a miraculous ability to not only protect against atherosclerosis – a medical symptom in which arterial walls become thickened thereby triggering heart attacks and strokes - but also it reverses the thickening process and transforms arteries to a more natural state. Moreover, pomegranate bears the ability of lowering systolic blood pressure in addition to which it can effectively reduce the levels of bad cholesterol and help increase the levels of good cholesterol. An article published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2000 states that a clinical trial of pomegranate juice on healthy adult men and unhealthy mice showed a significant increase of antioxidant levels that resulted in 90% drop in bad cholesterol.

A recent research on the health benefits of pomegranate shows that certain cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer can be prevented by taking pomegranate juice regularly. A specific substance in this fruit that has been effective in decreasing the levels of PSA (prostate specific antigen), is a wonderful medication for treating prostate cancer patients. A clinical study shows that 80% of the men having pomegranate juice daily found their PSA level decreased dramatically.

Pomegranate has also a greater impact on men with problems of impotence. The powerful antioxidants found in pomegranate improve blood flow in all areas of the body and thus dramatically lower the risk of heart attacks, strokes and impotence.

10 Health Benefits of Pomegranate

1. Consuming pomegranate juice regularly can help prevent acne and eliminate its root causes by correcting digestive problems and promoting healthy circulation of the blood. Rich in iron and vitamin C, a constituent part of hemoglobin that helps absorb oxygen, it acts as a powerful antioxidant that is known to protect the skin from damaging free radicals.
2. Drinking pomegranate juice is also a good remedy for skin damaged by sun exposure. It helps increase the life of fibroblasts, which are responsible for producing elastin and collagen that keep the skin tone healthy and enhance the skin’s elasticity.
3. Pomegranate is a rich source of various vitamins including vitamins A, C and E as well as folic acid.
4. With quantum composition of antioxidants, pomegranate helps prevent formation of bad cholesterol, which is a primary reason for many fatal diseases like heart disease, heart stroke, and high blood pressure. So, a glass of pomegranate juice daily can certainly guard you against these lifestyle ailments.
5. Taking pomegranate juice can help correct male impotence.
6. Studies show that drinking pomegranate juice daily can prevent dental plaque.
7. A specific research has stated that pregnant mothers who consume pomegranate juice can protect the neonatal brain from damage.
8. In Ayurveda, pomegranate is specifically mentioned for reducing symptoms of diarrhoea.
9. Some studies show that pomegranate can reduce the possibility of developing Alzheimer's disease among older people.
10. Pomegranate juice is great elixir for youthfulness as it prevents cell damage significantly.

High Blood Pressure: Natural Cure

In my previous blog titled The Silent Killer I attempted to touch upon the alarming numbers on the state of hypertension across the globe as a silent killer. Well, I thought that's not quite enough to serve the purpose. For any patient, or for a person at the brink of being afflicted, what's more pertinent is to get relief anyhow.

Before delving deeper into controlling the disease, let's first understand how you can read the symptoms of the disease. The first symptom of hypertension may appear as a pain at the back of the head and neck on waking in the morning, which normally disappears after sometime. Some other symptoms are dizziness, pain in the chest, frequent urination, nervous tension, fatigue, and difficulty in breathing. It's not uncommon that hypertension symptoms may not always be apparent, but most people don't even notice the symptoms at all. This triggers much larger problem for those patients as they feel they are quite healthy and don't need to visit a doctor.

Causes of High Blood Pressure

In most cases, the causes of high blood pressure remain unknown, but there are certain conditions that could contribute to the risk of developing high blood pressure. While not all of these factors are controllable, awareness about them makes you conscious of the existence of the risk of high blood pressure.

Age: One of the biggest risk factors for high blood pressure levels, age triggers a direct impact on the the risk of developing high blood pressure. With growing age people become accustomed to certain habits and in consequence the stress level increases. Although in the past the lower age group segment hardly had any symptom of hypertension, with changing lifestyle, wrong food habits, younger adults are getting affected.

Food Habits: In today's world, when fast-food is a trend, the chance of getting afflicted with high blood pressure is imminent. Foods like red meats, junk foods, fried or refined foods, and other food items with high fat, sugar and salt content become a major contributor to hypertension.

Stress: Stress has a direct impact on the high blood pressure cannot be understated. In modern society, where “work hard, party harder” is the tagline, stress can't be weeded out. Both emotional and physical stress plays a larger role in taking the toll.

Heredity: This is a specific factor that cannot be controlled and people with a family background of high blood pressure are definitive to developing the disease.

Obesity: Obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for developing high blood pressure. Obesity results from wrong food habits. For anyone who is overweight should try to reduce weight through healthy methods like dieting and working out.

Alcoholism: Excessive alcohol consumption is a contributing factor to increasing blood pressure levels.

Wrong Medications: Normally, women who take contraceptive pills on a regular basis are prone to the risk of developing high blood pressure. Certain medications like diet pills can also contribute to the problem.

Natural Remedies

Apart from taking medicines as prescribed by doctors, the patients can also try on certain home remedies those have proven helpful in reducing the high blood pressure.

Garlic: According to some scientific observations, garlic can act as an effective means of lowering blood pressure. Garlic has a blood thinning characteristic, so it reduces spasms of the small arteries. It may be taken as raw cloves of one or two a day.

Indian Gooseberry: Indian gooseberry is a good remedy for high blood pressure. A tablespoon fresh Indian gooseberry juice mixed with equal amount of honey can be taken in the morning.

Lemon: Lemon is a great food to control high blood pressure. Being rich in vitamin C, this prevents capillary fragility.

Grapefruit: Grapefruit is also useful in preventing high blood pressure.

Watermelon: Watermelon is another safeguard against hypertension. The watermelon seeds which are rich in potassium have a definite action in dilating the blood vessels, which results in lowering the blood pressure.

Parsley: Parsley is quite useful in reducing high blood pressure. It contains elements that help maintain the blood vessels and keep the arterial system healthy. It can be taken as a beverage by simmering 20 gm of fresh parsley leaves gently in 250 ml of water for a few minutes.

Vegetable Juice: Raw vegetable juices, especially carrot and spinach juices, taken separately or in combination, are also beneficial in the treatment of high blood pressure.

Flaxseeds: Flaxseeds are very rich in fiber and effective in lowering LDL cholesterol and preserving HDL cholesterol. Flaxseeds should be consumed regularly along with soups, cereals and yogurt in order to reduce high blood pressure.

The Silent Killer

With every ounce of urban pleasure comes a pound of torment, invisible but experienced. The growing economic indexes, decadent lifestyles, and a fair amount of carelessness all in tandem contribute to the aggravated health standards of urban citizens. Less physical activity, increased use of alcohol and tobacco, high consumption of junk foods, and undoubtedly, relentless increase of stress and strain from work have taken a toll on all of us.

According to report published by World Health Organisation (WHO), one in three adults worldwide has raised blood pressure, which is main cause of around 48% of all deaths from stroke and heart disease. The report also reveals that behavioural risk factors, including tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet and the harmful use of alcohol, are estimated to be responsible for about 80% of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Upon further bifurcating the leading behavioural and physiological risk factors, the deaths attributed to various reasons include 13% of global deaths are attributed to raised blood pressure, 9% due to consumption of tobacco, 6% due to increased blood glucose level, another 6% for physical inactivity, and 5% for overweight. Further, the resort clarifies that high blood pressure causes 51% of stroke deaths and 45% of coronary heart disease deaths.

Although mean blood pressure (MPB) has noticed a dramatic fall in almost all high-income countries, for example, the male systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the US has been decreased from 131 mm Hg in 1980 to 123 mm Hg in 2008, and the female SBP decreased from 125 mm to 118 mm Hg, on the contrary, the MBP has been increasing in most African countries. The reasons are obvious: increasing smoking rates, a significant shift towards Western-style diets and less exercise. The WHO’s director general Margaret Chan says, “In some African countries, as much as half the adult population has high blood pressure.”

According to report, the developed nations have noticed a significant fall in average blood pressure because of widespread diagnosis and treatment with low-cost drugs; however, specifically in Africa, more than 40 per cent of adults are estimated to have high blood pressure. And a very interesting observation though it seems, obesity marks almost 100% growth in ever region of the world between 1980 and 2008. Almost half a billion people or 12 per cent of the world’s population are considerably obese. Twenty-six per cent of adults in the US and 3 per cent in Asia are obese.

The health statistics also looks very dismal in India as well. Almost one in every four people in India suffers from high blood pressure. A report suggests that 25% of urban Indians and 10% of rural Indians suffer from high blood pressure. Among the metros in India, Mumbai leads the race with 44% of men and 45% of women suffer from high blood pressure, whereas 30% and 33% among men and women in Delhi, and 24% and 17% among men and women in Kolkata. In India, 57%of all stroke deaths and 24% of all coronary heart disease deaths are linked to high blood pressure.

High blood pressure may afflict anyone, but there is nothing to be worried about. Greater awareness about the risk factors and the symptoms of this disease is the only effective way of managing it. Early detection and preventive measures can literally make the difference between life and death. High blood pressure can be treated efficaciously and controlled with proper medications and lifestyle transformation. Remember, high blood pressure can't be cured permanently. So a symptom of decrease in high blood pressure should not be considered as a permanent cure and hence treating high blood pressure should not be stopped then.  

Killer Inputs

How many of you are seriously health conscious? Forget about health. Do you really care about the foods you take daily? Maybe, that sounds like a difficult proposition for people in a hustle-bustle life. When you are hungry, you don't look for the protocols, and what comes your way, well justifies your crave for foods. Right. Pause. Think for a moment. It's not all about delectably packaged junk foods from branded companies, there are many delicious local food items that could have charmed you for long, all for sumptuously satisfying your epicurean taste buds, would have a complete bearing on your health. Remember, food items rich in fat, sugar and salt are directly associated with a higher chance occurrence of many modern health problems be it heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, obesity, or thyroid. And the explosive fact that may give you a shocker is the higher sugar, salt, and fat components in food, the more your affinity for eating. And the vicious circle of eating more and getting inflicted with killer diseases starts with the “dangerous trios” - sugar, salt, and fat.

As chefs emphasize sugar, salt, and fat make a food unbelievably palatable. These basic three ingredients stimulate neurons, which in turn they trigger the release dopamine, a chemical that influences your craving for foods. Like a perfect foreplay that stimulates you to reach at the highest orgasmic level, a judicious combination of sugar, salt, and fat drives you towards an “epicurean bliss point”. From there your flight for indulgence takes off. Perhaps, this secret is known to the barons of food business. Restaurants, multinational fast-food companies, and even your local dhabas, they all create magic around this “epicurean bliss point”. A judicious mix of sugar, salt, and fat is loaded into the royal dishes you often hanker everyday. That's not just the whole truth, the more you take such foods, an unfailing addiction level grows in your mind, and whenever you come across such food items, your brain triggers an unusual high appetite for that food.

Whether it's a packet of potato chips, a piece of hamburger, or a bottle of soft drink, the marvel of “modern food engineering” has elevated the epicurean level. What flavor would delight customers is not a prerogative of cook, rather it's a complex food designing process that stems from the “blissful stimulation” - a pleasurable experience felt when layers of food ingredients melt over your taste buds, and you desire more. And this influences hypereating syndrome, a psychological condition which is difficult to avoid once generated.

So, the consequences are hitting hard on our face. The people across the globe, especially in western countries like US and UK, are getting fatter and fast catching up the modern ailments such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart stroke, and specific type of cancer. Cancer researchers at the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) claim that a reduction in the intake of sugar, salt and fat would certainly help decrease the growth rate of disease. Similarly, a high intake of salt and fat is directly related to to occurrence of high blood pressure. Patients with high blood pressure are 300 percent likely to have a stroke than people with normal blood pressure. Again, saturated fat, popularly known as raising “bad cholesterol” is mostly found in food items such as butter, cream, cheese, cakes, biscuits, pies, pastries, and chocolates increases the risk of heart disease.

Well, as the saying goes “prevention is better that cure”, it's now your turn how you manage your life and lead a healthy lifestyle. Remember, a balanced intake of killer inputs (sugar, salt, and fat), as defined as GDA (Guideline Daily Allowance) would help you reduce the chance of getting inflicted with modern diseases. A GDA of 90 g of sugar, 6 gram of salt, and 70 gram of fat are advised for an adult. Beyond that you have the freedom of eating more healthy fats found in foods such as nuts, olive oil, and avocado. Moreover, going for sweets, you can always bank on honey, dates, and other fruits. And yes, a caution for salt, the less the healthier. 

Yellow Magic

Apart from its contemplative engagement with epicurean palatable pleasures and umpteen social rituals and traditions, turmeric has equally impressed the ingenious imaginations of scientific tribes across the world, for its extensive medicinal properties have proved to be hugely beneficial for mankind on many dimensions. Turmeric, the indispensable local yellow spice of all seasons, has been a secret ammo of housewives and ayurvedic doctors on many occasions. In Ayurveda, turmeric had a special position in making common medicinal formulations.

With passage of time, the modern pharmacology has greatly endeavored to decipher turmeric's magic while composing complex medicines. And that's not just all, from beauticians to herbal product manufacturers, everyone has a special reason to publicize the amazing benefits of turmeric in their circle. Indeed, it's now scientifically proven that the various antiseptic properties of turmeric significantly help treat cuts, wounds, abrasions, skin afflictions, infections, and burns. The most promising fact about turmeric is that it speeds up the healing process.

According to Ayurveda, turmeric comprises an anti-inflammatory agent that helps alleviate gastrointestinal discomforts. Raw turmeric props up cartilage and internal bone structure. As a home remedy for arthritis, people take turmeric in warm milk at night before sleep. For its antimicrobial properties, turmeric paste is being traditionally used by Indian women to improve their skin gloss. Turmeric is also used an anti-aging agent. Research institutes across the globe are now seriously investigating the pharmacological properties of turmeric to treat Alzheimer's disease, cancer, arthritis, and other clinical disorders.

Researchers at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) have proved that curcumin, the key yellow bioactive component of turmeric, may help the immune system clear the brain from the plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease. In the last few decades, extensive research works have been conducted to establish the biological activities and pharmacological actions of turmeric and its extracts. Curcumin has been shown to have wide range of biological actions such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, anticoagulant, antiprotozoal, antiviral, antifibrotic, antivenom, antiulcer, hypotensive and hypocholesteremic activities. Clinically, curcumin has proved to be effective in reducing postoperative inflammation. A number of scientific findings about turmeric also show that it can even prevent leukemia by protecting DNA from harmful pollutants.

Clinical researches also substantiate the fact that curcumin thrusts very powerful antioxidant effects which can neutralize free radicals which cause serious damage to healthy cells and cell membranes. In specific diseases like arthritis where free radicals are measurably responsible for the painful joint inflammation and internal damage to the bone joints, patients find great relief when they use turmeric in their foods. A recent study on patients with rheumatoid arthritis proves that curcumin has a wide impact on the amelioration of joint swelling. Researchers have found that eating curcumin may significantly reduce the chance of developing heart failure.

In fact, turmeric's towering journey as a common spice and natural cure alongside human evolution is well documented. Now that the researchers across the world are extensively investigating the medicinal properties of turmeric, it won't be a tall claim to establish that someday turmeric can be a core component of many drugs treating a number of ailments.  

On A Different Note

With growing trust deficits in democratic institutions, the citizens of this country today confront with burning challenges of harsh social issues and endemic corruption in all public offices, and hence they abruptly conclude that no institution in this country is working with integrity and propriety. Such generalizations are indeed irrational and questionable. Any system, however competent, is guided by rules and regulations established by law makers of that country. Remember, laws are dynamic and consequently change with social evolution. Whenever the laws become static and inscriptions of rock, then all the problems crop up and the people in power often misuse the embedded lacunae in the legal system.

For a progressive democracy like India, which has significantly excelled in many dimensions of human development in last few decades, the credit for excellence goes to the citizens of this country, and yes, a part of that credit is also meant for the people in power who have enabled a fairly workable system despite many challenges. Although in the course of time the ratio of good people in power to bad people in power has diminished significantly, there are myriads of ways to improve this system and make all the stakeholders accountable for their action. And for this we urgently need a vigilant judicial system to uphold the democratic principles laid down by the Constitution of India and then quickly intervene in the administration whenever it feels the principles of law are not sufficient to administer justice.

In the recent past, we have observed a frequent judicial activism in all walks of democratic institutions because the learned judges of Supreme Court or High Courts have convinced that either the administration is not discharging the desired responsibilities or the laws are not sufficient to handle the complex issues. However, the selective activism is not enough to manage the multitude of conflicts generated during the execution of law. What's essentially required now is to bring in drastic transformations in the working of democratic institutions that govern the hopes and aspirations of a billion plus populous nation.

As the growth story of India in last two decades has become a global case study for other functional democracies, it's imperative now for the law-makers of this country to strengthen democratic principles with checks and balances. Wherever we need radical changes in the laws to ensure fair justice to the citizens of this nation, the Parliament must pass ambitious, forward-looking bills to enrich the legal framework of this country. And the beauty of our democratic system is that together we can establish an effulgent India unfailingly.  

Privatize Air India

The recent threat by 100 Air India pilots to go on a strike mode has again raised serious questions about the airline management by the Civil Aviation ministry. Although the ministry has toughened its stand and clearly indicated that if this strike persists it would be pushed to a position to shut down international operations, the ground reality is that the government can't even think in those tough lines, for how these politicians and bureaucrats would avail the freebies like foreign tours without the presence of a national carrier. Despite Air India bleeding for decades together and burning taxpayers money, the Civil Aviation ministry has never mulled over the gravity of the issue. And the reasons are quite obvious. Rather not serving the national interests, AI has literally turned into a family carrier for ministers and senior bureaucrats.

When the losses are piling up and there is no turnaround strategy for this business, then why the Civil Aviation ministry is not privatizing Air India? Instead it's lingering on political decisions to infuse more public money into an already bankrupt business. The government must now understand that the disastrous failure of Air India stems from the flawed decisions taken by the ministry in the past. No political decision however looks benevolent is driven by vested interests, and the Civil Aviation ministry is no different either. Irrespective of politicians who have held this ministry in the past, their primary objective has been to cultivate a hand-and-glove rule to embezzle public money through various financial decisions.

Now the big question is that whether Air India can survive the losses for eternity? Perhaps, few years down the line, if the prevailing situation doesn't improve, the government would be forced to shut down the state carrier. So, it's better the ministry should come out with a privatization policy. There are well-documented business cases in airline industry across the globe as how bankrupted national carriers have been privatized and transformed into highly profitable ventures. A case in point is the Germany's national carrier German Airlines. In the 90s this German carrier was in a severe financial mess. However, the German government's decision to privatize it at right time worked wonder. And the Lufthansa's telling story is just another compelling example for transformation of morbid Air India.

So, what's more important at this point in time is to reach at a political consensus to turn around Air India through privatization route. Rather debating on the prestige issue of bleeding Maharaja and spoon feeding it through various financial supports, the ministry must think rational and arrive at a logical conclusion. Privatize it.

Satyamev Jayate: A Newfangled Social Movement

Every television audience was in a state of boundless suspense till the most expected debut TV program by Aamir Khan went air on Sunday (May 6) at 11 am on Star Plus. And I was equally hinged to my conviction that the program would be an out-of-the-box creation, not because Aamir Khan during his entire career in Hindi film industry has proved to be Mr Perfect, but often he has convinced to public that he is not just an entertainer, rather he is the epitome of social movements at a time when the citizens of this country have lost faith in our system, be it political, bureaucratic, or judicial. Aamir Khan just proved it right. Absolutely right. The program was worth watching for every genre of audience across social hierarchies.

Many would question the format of this program for its semblance with reality TV. But it was an altogether different breed of program that Indian TV viewers got to experience it first time with a different expectation. I wish all the viewers would at least internalize that difference. Started with a quite moving emotional anecdote by touching upon the role of mother in everyone's life and then building up the synchronized viewers' empathy, Aamir logically came down to brass-tacks – the sordid state of female foeticide across the country.

Although everyday we come across with myriads of reports on female foeticide in newspapers and television programs, what's different here in this program was the story-telling by Aamir along with glaring evidences from a panel of victims who certainly were not only from the lower strata of our society, which is often misconceived by majority of people, rather an eye-opening case was there from an elite family living in the capital of this country. Remember, the victim who's a doctor and married to a doctor as well and lives with a family of educationists ranging teachers and professors, essayed her story with great poignancy. Unbelievable. Under the hood of elitism and false tradition, how these hypocrites are engaged in such heinous crimes without fear for the consequences.

What's more startling was that when a Delhi-based doctor revealed that how the government in 70s started sex determination test in typically government hospitals as a measure to check the growing population of this country - the most abhorrent fact that any citizen of this country would like to assimilate. And that was a hard fact indeed. The program that was started under the auspice of government patronage eventually multiplied its tentacles and now the sex determination test is a Rs 1000 crore plus industry in India. The politicians and government machinery in tandem have been beguiling us for many decades and still we hardly have time to introspect.

The nexus was even deeper and devastating. When two journalists, who carried out sting operations on “female foeticide and integral role of doctors” across many districts in Rajastan, exposed the dirty kinship between government and judiciary, the trust of public in a democratic system could have touched the nadir. In the recent past we have observed the fashionable judicial activism in selective cases; however, when it comes to an endemic social issue, the same loaded activism loses its steam.

I wish the viewers of this program couldn't have expected more than what Aamir reiterated at the end - the magic wand. When the Prime Minister of this country helplessly cries that there is no magic wand to check corruption, on a very distinct and compelling note Aamir accentuated, yes there is a magic wand, and it's we the citizens of this country. Only we can bring in the desired changes in this country by participating in such movements. A great thought indeed. Kudos Aamir. Hope you equally overwhelm us in the coming episodes.