Warwick Students Compete to Win $1 mn to Help Slum Dwellers in India

A team of five students from Russia, India, Bahrain, Canada and the UK are competing to win USD1 million of funding for their social enterprise to help slums in Mumbai in the Hult Prize Global Challenge, a competition judged by former USA President Bill Clinton.

The full-time MBA students from Warwick Business School are aiming to address the main issues that urban slum dwellers, one stage from the very bottom of the pyramid, face on a day to day basis.

The team consists of Supriya Mundra, of Mumbia in India, Mohamed Matar, of Manama in Bahrain, Adam Lawrence, of Solihull, Birmingham in the UK, Nikolay Samoylov, of Moscow in Russia, and Jane Kwong, of Vancouver in Canada.

They have prepared a short video to describe their comprehensive solution, which styles itself on a “smartphone” concept. The winning video is the one that gets the most “Likes” on and the team are using every channel they know to raise awareness of their solution to the problem.

The solution takes parts of existing solutions that are inefficient and do not work together, and brings them all together under one umbrella. The FEED model comprehensively addresses empowerment through education, renewable energy solutions, distribution and waste management problems simultaneously.

The team strongly believe their idea could make a huge difference to the lives of 100 million people in India and beyond – over 1 billion people worldwide live in slums which is unthinkable in this day and age.

The Warwick team narrowly lost out to Hult San Francisco in the previous round of the Hult Global Challenge, where they competed at the Hult Campus in San Francisco against 45 other world-leading business schools and universities, and defeated the likes of Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford en route to the final four.

“Even though the Warwick MBA by full-time study is a challenging undertaking, we strongly believe that it’s crucial to apply our learning to try and help those less fortunate than ourselves,” said Lawrence, 34, who previously worked as a property developer.

“We firmly grasped the opportunity to help the millions of people living in urban slums worldwide with both hands.”

Only one team progresses to the Global Finals in New York in September and the team are thankful for the support they have received from Warwick Business School.

Team leader is Indian Mundra, who has first-hand experience of the difficulties faced in urban slums and experience in strategy consulting.Lawrence has a background in economics and property; Kwong is an operations and human resources practitioner; Mr Matar is a chartered financial analyst; and Nikolay Samoylov is an energy professional.

Sizzling Female Chefs Around The World

“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.”

 

 – Alice May Brock.

Cooking is their passion, Food is their ultimate love and kitchens are their devotional institution. Yes! Chefs are known for such qualities they carry on their shoulder. These Chefs are not only identified as the hottest but also known for their best gastronomic skills that wooed food lovers around the world.

 

1) Rachel Ray

 

Rachel Ray is one of the world’s highest earning chefs who won several audiences by some catchy phrases like “EVOO” (for extra virgin olive oil) in her first show, 30 Minute Meals. The owner of $25 million has four food network programmes which include Tasty Travels and $40 a Day. She is keen towards spreading the knowledge and love for food through cookbooks. Her ‘Every Day With Rachel Ray’ magazine has more than 1.5 million readers. The ‘Book of Burger’ is the 20th and the latest book by her.

 

2) Devin Alexander

Celebrity Chef Devin Alexander is New York Times Bestselling author, media personality and weight loss expert. She is a perfect example of beauty with the brain. Keeping healthy meal as the main mantra of cooking, Alexander even can tickle the taste buds of fitness-conscious food lovers with a sumptuous burger or pizza. Her unique approach of healthy cooking make her published eight books, including “The Biggest Loser Cookbook” series. This hottest Chef is the host of ‘Healthy Decadence’ on Fit TV and her perspective on being healthy have gave her scope to appear on several weight loss shows on Television, , as listed by MENSXP.  

3) Angela McKeller

The former model Angela McKeller is one among the hottest pastry chef and gastronomic marvel. Angela has published several books on cooking which are filled with mouthwatering recipes.  Her cookbooks are called Passion on a Plate: Affordable and EASY Gourmet. This curvy foodie teaches gourmet cooking as well.

4) Anjum Anand

Considered as one of the first food writers, Anjum Anand is known to bring a fine twist to Indian recipes. Her experiment with Indian cuisines have not only triggered the taste buds if foodies but also to people who follow strict diet. Anand’s recipes are the combination of mixed traditional dishes recreated with healthy ingredients and less oil. She tried her hands at different restaurant’s kitchens based in New York, New Delhi and Los Angeles. Her passion for food made her publish ‘Indian Every Day: Light Healthy Indian Food.’ Her thought of adapting healthy meals from traditional Indian food came from her personal experience while growing up. From 2004 to 2007, Anand was a usual guest for a show called ‘Great Food Live’ on UKTV and then featured in BBC for a two series of Indian Food in 2007.  The brand ‘The Spice Tailor’ has been launched in the middle of 2011 that combines seven authentic Indian sauces, mainly prepared to deliver restaurant quality dishes that fascinate foodies who love to gorge delicious Indian cuisines.

5) Eden Grinshpan

After graduating from London’s A Le Cordon Bleu, Eden Grinshpan, the hottest chef travelled to different parts of the world including India, Southeast Asia and Israel to taste cuisines and get in-depth culinary knowledge from local chefs.  She even realized that to enjoy and experience global delicacies, passport to travel to that very place is actually not needed. This beautiful chef has the degree of “Grande Diplome,” in pastry and cuisine. Eden, the culinary adventurer hosts her own show called ‘Eden Eats,’ on the Cooking Channel. The show on traveling is to hunt best global dishes in cities throughout U.S.
6) Casey Thompson

Hottest Chef Casey Thompson contended on Top Chef Season 3 and was one among the two runners-up to Hung Huynh. She is a winner of fan favorite. On Top Chef Season 8, Thompson competed and was eliminated fifth. She is the executive chef at the Brownstone in Fort Worth, TX. Adding to it, Thompson is the ambassador for ‘Terrazos de los Andes,’ the Moet-Hennessey brand.

More Than 80 Pct of Healthy Indians Are #VitaminD Deficient

We might live in a country full of sunshine but Indians are still deprived of the sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D – which is wrongly called so – is a pro-hormone that influences the expression of more than 200 genes in human body. Nearly every tissue in the human body has receptors of Vitamin D, be it brain, heart, skin, kidney, pancreas etc. Any deficiency of Vitamin D in the human body is bound to affect normal functioning of all organs having Vitamin D receptors.

Vitamin D deficiency is fast becoming a global and National Health Concern. It is estimated that around 80 percent of the Indian population has Vitamin D levels less than normal. However, the bigger concern is that the population at large is not even aware of Vitamin D deficiency and its consequences.

One of India’s leading diabetologist, Dr Banshi Saboo, Founder of Diabetes Foundation of India, said, “Earlier Vitamin D was thought to be responsible for maintaining calcium homeostasis to prevent osteoporosis and maintain bone health. But, in the past decade research has established the strong association of Vitamin D deficiency in diabetes, immunity, asthma, TB, high blood pressure, neuro-muscular function, etc.“

Dr Saboo further added, “Low level of Vitamin D is associated with higher incidence of type 2 diabetes and correcting Vitamin D deficiency improves insulin sensitivity and helps in better management of hyperglycaemia. Also Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with high incidence of type 1 diabetes.”

As the mother is the sole source of vitamin D substrate for her developing foetus, vitamin D status is very important during pregnancy. Maternal deficiency of vitamin D is linked with abnormal foetal growth and gestational diabetes.

Sunscreen lotions, staying indoors, clothing habits, pollution and minimal exposure to direct sun light (during the period of 10 am to 3 pm) are the major reasons of such widespread deficiency in the Indian population.

The eminent endocrinologist from Mumbai, Dr Manoj Chadha said that Vitamin D deficiency has no defined signs or symptoms. “People who complain of back pains, unexplained muscle pains, general fatigue are the most likely to be Vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D deficiency can be easily corrected by Vitamin D supplementation or some lifestyle changes. In a Vitamin D deficient person, oral 60,000 I.U per week for 8 weeks followed by maintenance dose of 60,000 I.U per month is a reasonably safe method to correct the deficiency.”

Although there are few major studies carried out in India to determine the optimum (sufficient) levels of serum Vitamin D 25(OH) D to be maintained to prevent chronic ailments, globally there is a consensus that Vitamin D deficiency is defined as serum 25(OH) D levels less than 20 ng/ml and insufficiency as serum 25(OH) D less than 30 ng/ml. Whereas serum 25(OH) D levels above 30 ng/ml is found to be sufficient.

Given the fact that Vitamin D receptors are present in various organs and tissues of the human body, maintaining Vitamin D levels in blood above 30 ng/ml may ensure normal functioning of the body organs and protect many from the suffering from chronic ailments.

Labour Day 2013: Google builds a Doodle for May Day.. – #GoogleDoodle

Google is saluting the workers of the world with a building doodle on the occasion of Labour Day 2013. The doodle features the Google logo in the shape of a building with several workers on their job.

The doodle features an IT professional on her computer, a gardener watering a tree, a painter giving the letter ‘O’ a paint job and a plumber fixing a leak around the letter ‘E’.

There is also a helicopter hovering above the second ‘G’ and a satellite dish, indicative of modern-day communication, perched on the ‘E’.

Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, especially the eight-hour day movement, which urged eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. Labour Day is an annual holiday to mark the celebration of the economic and social achievements of workers. It generally sees organised street demonstrations and marches by labourers and their unions, on this day.

The Labour Day public holiday is fixed by the state and territory governments, and so it varies considerably.

In India, Labour Day is celebrated on May 1 every year. It is an official public holiday. The first May Day celebration in India took place in Madras by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on May 1, 1923

May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries including Bolivia, India, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Israel, Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan. It is also celebrated unofficially in various other countries.

In the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia, it is celebrated on the first Monday in October. In Canada, Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday in September.

Though Google had a Labour Day doodle in 2012 it was not posted on the Google India home page.

Related articles

• All aboard India’s first passenger train with the Google Doodle! (ktrmurali.wordpress.com)

Indian wins Dh100,000 car from Dubai Traffic Police

Dubai announces more incentives for drivers accumulating white points

Jayaseelan receiving the prize from Dubai Traffic Police (SUPPLIED)

An Indian national was awarded a Dh100,000 car by Dubai’s traffic police for accumulating sufficient white points that made him an ideal driver in the emirate.

The man, Jayaseelan, was picked from among 700 drivers shortlisted by Dubai’s traffic police after they gathered the maximum limit of white points in one year, during which they did not commit any traffic offence or were involved in an accident. Jayaseelan has been awarded Chevrolet Cruz.

Dubai introduced the unique white point system, the first in the region, couple of years ago in a bid to encourage drivers to respect traffic rules as part of a long term strategy to curb accidents and attain its zero death target on roads.

“We honour 700 drivers who collect the maximum limit of white points every year but we intend to increase that number to 1,000,” Dubai traffic police chief Major General Mohammed Al Zafin said, adding that at least one car would also be awarded.

The Indian driver, a private sector employee, said he could hardly believe it when he was called by the police and told about his reward.

He said his children are “very happy” for him and that he is planning to hold a party after receiving the car from the traffic police.

Police probe threat to India’s richest man

 

Mukesh Ambani at the India Economic Summit 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Indian police are probing a threatening letter sent by militant Islamists to India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, for supporting a nationalist politician, police and reports said on Thursday.

 

The Mumbai Mirror said Indian Mujahideen had threatened to harm the head of the Reliance Industries group for backing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi who is expected to make a bid to become premier in polls next year.

 

Reliance is a major investor in Gujarat and Ambani hailed Modi as a leader with a “grand vision” as well as calling him a “brother” at a major business conference in Gujarat in December.

 

The letter, delivered to a Reliance office in Mumbai, also accused Ambani of grabbing land belonging to a state-run statutory body to build his 27-storey residence in the city, believed to be the world’s most expensive private home, according to the newspaper.

 

Police confirmed they were investigating the letter, without giving details of its contents.

 

“We got the letter yesterday and we’re verifying all the facts and an inquiry is going on,” Mumbai police spokesman Satyanarayan Choudhary told AFP.

 

Indian Mujahideen has been blamed for several recent deadly attacks in India, including the recent twin attacks in southern city of Hyderabad, which killed 16 people.

 

Related articles

 

• Mukesh Ambani’s security cover not a dole (thehindu.com)
• India assigns commando squad to protect its richest man (with gallery) (vancouverdesi.com)

 

U.S. Immigration Bill to Increase H1B Visa, May Hit Indian Firms

The sweeping U.S. immigration bill, likely to be unveiled, may propose a substantial increase in the much sought after H-1B visa, but the conditions imposed therein, if approved by the Congress, would prove to be a death knell for Indian-American companies.

The bill moved after months of closed-door meetings by a group of eight bipartisan lawmakers, known as the Gang of Eight, aimed at striking a balance between enforcement provisions sought by Republicans as well as Democrats, including making citizenship widely accessible to those illegally in America.

Given that India has a large pool of such IT professionals, analysts say any increase in the H-1B visas finally end up benefiting the Indian IT professionals, but unlike in the present scenario when they are hired mostly by Indian companies, it would benefit the US companies the most and prove to be a big disadvantage to companies like TCS, Wipro and Infosys.

All aboard India’s first passenger train with the Google Doodle!

If you’re a fan of spotting Google Doodles, this is a great week for you.

A day after Google honoured Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler with a doodle, the search giant has come up with one more to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the first passenger train in India.

The doodle is a simple affair, with a steam locomotive pulling a train. The engine forms the first “O” in “Google”. The whole doodle wears a very old-worldly look and resembles a painting more than a drawing. The train is surrounded by open fields and palm trees, trying to bring back the charm of the 19th century.

The first passenger train in India ran between Bori Bunder in Bombay and Thane on April 16, 1853, signaling a new era in travel and communication in the country. The train was pulled by three locomotives – Sultan, Sindh and Sahib and had about 400 passengers on board its 14 carriages. The journey of the first passenger train in India lasted for a good 57 minutes between Bori Bunder and Thane and had just one halt.

Celebrating the 160th anniversary of the first passenger train

 

Interestingly, this was only the first time a passenger train was run in India. The first rail line had come up near Chintadripet Bridge in the then Madras Presidency in 1836 as an experimental line.

After the first passenger train was run between Bombay and Thane, the first passenger railway line in north India was opened between Allahabad and Kanpur in 1859.

The train doodle is a slightly less interactive one this time round and slightly inaccurate too, given the fact that the train was actually pulled by three locomotives.

To celebrate Euler’s birthday yesterday, the doodle was a partly animated one. The doodle included geometrical figures and mathematical formulae, scribbled on a partially yellow piece of paper. Some of the mathematical elements on the doodle, included the mathematical constant, his polyhedral formula, now written as v-e+f=2.
 
An important name in the field of mathematics, Euler’s genius can be affirmed from the fact that he is the only mathematician to have two numbers named after him – the Euler’s number in calculus (e, i.e. approximately equal to 2.71828), and the Euler’s Mascheroni Constant (gamma), also called as “Euler’s constant” (approximately equal to 0.57721).

Earlier in December, Google had honoured another mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan on his 125th birthday. The doodle in the memory of this genius was endearing, to say the least and best described what Ramanujan lived for – his love for mathematics. The doodle showed a young lad, believed to be young Ramanujan, on his fours, writing the mathematical constant Pi, which is approximately equal to 3.14159. The word ‘Google’ was thoughtfully etched out of the different formulaes and other mathematical depictions.

Rajiv Gandhi, ‘Middleman’ For Swedish Jet Deal: WikiLeaks

Leaked diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy on the WikiLeaks website have reportedly named the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as a middleman during the 1970s when he was an Indian Airlines pilot. The Hindu has published findings of the ‘Kissinger cables’, which claim that Rajiv Gandhi may have been middleman for Swedish Company Saab-Scania when it was trying to sell its Viggen fighter aircraft to India in the 1970s.

The October 21, 1975 cable from the New Delhi U.S. embassy says “Swedish emboff has informed us that main Indian negotiator with Swedes on Viggen at New Delhi end has been Mrs. Gandhi’s older (sic) son, Rajiv Gandhi. Latter’s only association with aircraft industry (to our knowledge) has been as pilot for Indian Airlines and this is first time we have heard his name as entrepreneur.”

It also states that the U.S. officials have “no additional information to either refute or confirm the above information.”

Later, Saab-Scania lost out on the deal and was forced to withdraw from the “fighter sweepstakes” by the U.S. as the deal was ultimately secured the British SEPECAT Jaguar.

Gandhi later became embroiled in scandal relating to another Swedish arms manufacturer in the Bofors howtizer gun deal.

While, as of now the BJP has said that the Congress should “come clean” on the “WikiLeaks revelations” that the late Rajiv Gandhi had been a middleman for a Swedish company looking to sell fighter jets to India in the 1970s.

“The WikiLeaks revelations are serious. This is absolutely shocking revelation, let us not forget that the revelations are making two specific charges, about two of their late prime ministers Indiraji and Rajivji,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

“They are connected to the first family of Congress. All defence deals have some relation with the Congress’ first family. They should come clean on this, all the documents should be made public. We want the government, Congress and the family to come clean on it,” Javadekar told a news channel.

Pakistan witness identifies one accused in Mumbai attacks case

A witness on Saturday identified one of seven Pakistani men charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks as the person who had bought inflatable boats used by the terrorists involved in the assault on India’s financial hub.

Prosecutors said the witness, whom they did not name for security reasons, had identified accused Shahid Jamil Riaz during proceedings conducted behind closed doors at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi by anti-terrorism court Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman.

The witness told the judge that Riaz and 10 other people had bought 11 inflatable boats, saying they were to be used for fishing. The witness further told the judge he had never seen these persons returning from sea with any fish.

A total of four private witnesses testified during the hearing.

Another witness told the judge that he had sold the accused a Yamaha boat engine for Rs 1.6 lakh and yet another witness said he had sold the accused six pumps, prosecutors told PTI.

The witnesses also identified 10 men, including Amjad Khan and Atiqur Rehman, who were allegedly involved in planning and executing the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 that left 166 people dead.

These 10 men were earlier declared “proclaimed offenders” or fugitives by the anti-terrorism court.

“The 10 proclaimed offenders were either trainers or facilitators of the accused who launched the attacks in Mumbai,” chief prosecutor Chaudhry Zulifqar Ali told PTI.

One witness told the court that Amjad Khan had obtained from him a “port clearance certificate” for Al-Hussaini, a fishing boat used by the terrorists.

Amjad Khan was also involved in purchasing the inflatable boats, another witness said.

Though Chief prosecutor Ali identified the four private witnesses as Hamza Bin Tariq, Muhammad Ali, Mohammad Saifullah Khan and Umer Draz Khan, he refused to go into details of their individual testimony for security reasons. All the witnesses belong to the port city of Karachi.

Additional Director Altaf Hussain of the Federal Investigation Agency, who played a key role in probing the Mumbai attacks, was present during the hearing but the judge did not allow him to testify as a defence lawyer argued that Hussain should record his statement after the private witnesses.

Prosecutors said the cross—examination of the four private witnesses could not be conducted as the main defence lawyers did not attend the hearing.

In the past too, the defence lawyers have held up proceedings by exploiting legal loopholes and posing hurdles for the proceedings, officials said.

The judge adjourned the case till April 27, when the four witnesses are expected to be cross—examined.

“The witnesses protested against being summoned for the next hearing as it will result in a lot of expenses for them.

They demanded an allowance for travelling back to Rawalpindi from Karachi,” chief prosecutor Ali said.

Amjad Khan, the fugitive identified by the witnesses, is a shadowy LeT organiser and financier from Karachi who figured in a majority of dossiers provided to Pakistan by India.

Khan, who hails from Multan, played a key role in arranging and providing funds to the ten terrorists who attacked Mumbai.

Khan is one of 20 suspects in the Mumbai attacks who are yet to be traced by Pakistani investigators.

These 20 suspects were named in a chargesheet filed in the anti-terrorism court in 2009. They were all accused of playing a key role in facilitating the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistani authorities have so far arrested seven suspects, including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. They have been charged with planning, financing and executing the attacks.

Their trial has progressed at a snail’s pace due to repeated adjournments and various technical delays.

Nine of the terrorists involved in the attack were killed by Indian security forces.

The only surviving attacker, Ajmal Kasab, was hanged in Pune jail on November 21 last year.