WATER AND GOOD HEALTH

Water plays a very important role in helping us maintain good health. Altogether the quantity as well as quality of water influences the health and well being of an individual.

Today, we have Dr. K.M. Sunsesara - General Physician, Mumbai and Ms. Eileen Canday - Chief Dietician at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai help us understand the concept of how water intake is linked to good health...

Why is water intake important for good health? 
75% of our body and 85% of our brain is made up of water. Dr. Sunesara says, "More than food, water is the most important nutrient needed for the wellbeing of your body. In order, to complete your daily tasks, it is necessary to consume sufficient amount of water daily. To maintain proper health and to keep running throughout the day, your body needs lots and lots of water. Sufficient intake of water is not only good for your health, but also for your diet. Water also aids in proper functioning of various systems. It helps in digestion, absorption of food, regulating body temperature, efficient blood circulation, regulating cells of the body by transporting nutrients and oxygen to them and by removing various toxins from the body in the form of urine. Besides, water also helps in movement of the joints, protects various tissues and also boosts your metabolism." Dr Sunesara says that we must drink plenty of water to avoid detrimental effects on our bodies due to dehydration and to perform your daily functions effectively.

Why is dehydration bad? 

Sufficient intake of water will help to keep your body very well hydrated. Dr. Sunesara says, "Dehydration is very bad for your body. When you are dehydrated, your body has to work more to evenly distribute the available water throughout your body, it is like solving math's by not knowing the formula. The various side effects of dehydration are joint pain, stomach pain, back pain, dizziness and ulcers. Besides, dehydration can damage each and every part of your body, including your psychological functioning. Hence, to avoid dehydration and its harrowing effect, keep drinking water at regular intervals."

How much water do we need? 

"An average healthy individual needs to consume at least 1 ½ - 3 liters of water everyday," says Eileen. The consumption of water depends on the physical activity level of an individual. If a person is very active, he needs to drink more water, in order to substitute replacement. Besides, you can also judge, if you are drinking sufficient water by noticing the color of your urine. If your pee is pale white, that means you are fulfilling your daily ration of water, but if it is pale yellow then it means you probably have to increase your water intake.

How can one increase water intake? 

-Drink water when you wake up, when you get back from work and when you go to bed.

-Drink before starting any physical activity like walking etc.

-Drink water while you work.

-Drink before meals.

-Drink while you are travelling.

-Replace coffee with water.

-If you find your water tasteless, then add a dash of lime juice and get refreshed. 

Source:-The Times of India

Quotes of Swami Vivekandanda

1. FORGIVE AND FORGET: THE ILLNESS

Know that talking ill of others in a private is a sin. You must wholly avoid it. Many things may occur to the mind, but it gradually makes a mountain of a molehill if you try to express them. Everything is ended if you forgive and forget.

2. DIE LIKE HEROES

My boys, when death is inevitable, is it not better to die like heroes than as stocks and stones? And what is the use of living a day or two more in this transitory world? It is better to wear out than to rust out -- special for the sake of doing the least good to others.

3. BE SERVANT

Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish. Have infinite patience, and success is yours.

4. STICK TO TRUTH

Beware of everything that is untrue: stick to truth and we shall succeed, may be slowly, but surely.

5. DO GOOD: BE GOOD

The road to good is the roughest and steepest in the universe. It is a wonder that so many succeed, no wonder that so many fall. Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

6. WHEN WILL INDIA AWAKE?

Then only will India awake, when hundreds of large hearted men and women, giving up all desires of enjoying the luxuries of life, will long and exert themselves to themselves to their utmost for the millions of their countrymen who are gradually sinking lower and lower in the vortex of destitution and ignorance.

7. YOU ARE THE MAKERS OF YOUR OWN FORTUNE

You are the makers of your own fortune. You make yourselves suffer, you make good and evil and it is you who put your hands before your eyes and say it is dark. Take your hands away and see the light.

8. DEVELOP THE ATTITUDE OF NON-ATTACHMENT

It is a weakness to think someone is dependent on you, and that you can do good to him. This belief is the mother of all our attachment and through this attachment comes all our pain. Therefore developing the attitude of non-attachment is the great lesson to learn in life, and when we have learned it fully, we shall never be unhappy... By non-attachment you overcome and deny the power of anything to act upon you.

9. HELP, GIVE SERVICE

In the world take always the position of the giver; help, give service, give any little thing you can, but keep out barter.

10. HAVE AN IDEAL

If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore it is better to have an ideal.

11. BE UNATTACHED

Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. This is freedom, to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached.

12. TRUTH PURITY UNSELFISHNESS

Truth, purity and unselfishness-whatever these are present, there is no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof. Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole universe in opposition.

13. EDUCATION

Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library.

14. POSITIVE THOUGHTS

Every idea that strengthens you must be taken up and every thought that weakens you must be rejected.

15. BE OBEDIENT

Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country and you will move the world.

16. OPPOSITION

The more opposition there is the better. Does a river acquire velocity unless there is resistance? The newer and better a thing is, the more opposition it will meet with at the outset. It is the opposition which foretells success.

17. HAVE NO FEAR

Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvellous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment.

18. WHAT WE WANT

What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel. We have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all around that we want.

19. AN ATHEIST

He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is the atheist who does not believe in himself.

20. TEACH: STRENGTH

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over it, but thinking of strength. Teach men of the strength that is already within them.

21. LOVE UNSELFISHNESS

All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying.

22. DO NOT INJURE

Help if you can; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help.

23. DIE ON THE FIELD OF DUTY

Work unto death -- I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work with you. This life comes and goes -- wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance!

24. BE UNITED IN THOUGHTS, WORDS, AND DEED

A handful of men can throw the world off its hinges, provided they are united in thought, word, and deed -- never forget this conviction.

25. ARISE AWAKE

Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.

Fixation of pay by taking special allowance to PO and RMS Accountants

Entitled special allowance for the period from 1.8.1997 to 22.04.1998

Revised list of Know your customer (KYC) documents required fer both entry and exit under National Pension System (NPS)

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

PFRDA/2O13/1 /PDEX/25 

Date: 11/01/2013

To,

All POPs/Aggregators/CRA/Others

Subct: Revised list of Know your customer (KYC) documents required fer both entry and exit under National Pension System (NPS).

Attention of all stakeholders is invited to the illustrative list of documents acceptable as proof of identity and address in terms of the KYC requirements and as provided in the offer document of National Pension System.

Basing on the revised guidelines on obligations under PMLA, 2002 as amended by Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act. 2009 and in order to bring In uniformity and align the KYC documents required for opening of accounts under NPS with those required by other financial sector institutions, it has been decided to replace the existing KYC document list with a new set of documents as provided in Annexure I for both entry and exit under National Pension System(NPS).

Annexure I referred above is being attached herewith for information and use of all The new KYC norms as per this circular will come into effect from 10/02/2013.

The above guidelines will be applicable for all variants of National Pension System.

The circular has also been placed on PFRDA website at http://ww.pfrda.org.in

Yours Faithfully

sd/-

Venkateswarlu Peri

General Manager

Source: www.npscra.nsdl.co.in

WHY NPS IS BEST WAY TO PLAN YOUR RETIREMENT

The Indian population is greying. According to the latest UNFPA report, the number of Indians above 60 years is projected to rise to 55% by 2050. The demographics also indicate an increasing longevity with a more active lifestyle after retirement owing to betterment in medical facilities.

While this is good news, it also means that tomorrow's retirees will have a longer retirement and must, therefore, accumulate a bigger corpus for their sunset years. Retirement planning involves disciplined saving, vigilant investment to build a sufficient retirement corpus and its judicious drawdown in the post-retirement phase.

The National Pension System (NPS), launched by the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA), takes all these concerns into account. The NPSis a sophisticated innovation that is based on the world's best practices in the pension sector. While saving for a long-term goal such as retirement, the cost matters a lot. Over 35-40 years, the charges can shave off a significant amount from the corpus. The NPS charges fund management fees of 0.0102% for the government employees and there's a ceiling of 0.25% for the private sector.

This is perhaps the lowest in the world. Account opening, handling and administrative charges are also the lowest, making the cost-adjusted returns of the NPS quite attractive in the long run. It is estimated that the total cost of the NPS, including the fund management fee, will not exceed 0.5% per year, making it the cheapest financial product in India. The NPS is a well-regulated, transparent and flexible scheme. It has laid down prudent investing norms for fund managers, and their performance and portfolios are regularly monitored by the NPS Trust under the overall supervision of the PFRDA.

The scheme offers complete flexibility. The investor decides the percentage of the corpus that goes into equity, corporate bonds and government securities, with the only limitation being the 50% cap on exposure to equity. One of the most outstanding features of the NPS is the 'lifecycle fund'. It is meant for those who are not financially aware or can't manage their asset allocation themselves. It is also the default option for someone who has not indicated the desired allocation for his investments.

Under this option, the investor's age decides the equity exposure. The 50% allocation to equity is reduced every year by 2% after the investor turns 35, till it comes down to 10%. This is in keeping with the strategy to opt for a higher-risk, higher-return portfolio mix earlier in life, when there is ample time to make up for any possible black swan event. Gradually, as the investor approaches retirement, he moves to a more stable fixed-return, lowrisk portfolio. This automatic rejigging of the asset allocation is a unique feature of the NPS.

No other pension plan or asset allocation mutual fund offers such a facility to investors. There are a few funds based on age, but they are one-size-fits-all solutions, not customised to the individual's age. Another unique feature of the NPS is the tax benefit it offers under the newly added Section 80 CCD(2).

Source : The Economic Times, 21 Jan, 2013

BSNL wants to offer voluntary retirement to 1 lakh employees!

NEW DELHI: In order to bring down the salary burden, which constitutes about 48 per cent of its revenues, state-owned telecom company BSNL wants to let go one lakh employees by offering them voluntary retirement (VRS).

"If these people opt for voluntary retirement, the salary burden of the company will come down to 10-15 per cent, which is manageable," a top official of the company said. 

Source : The Economic Times, 21 Jan, 2013

3.5 crore MGNREGA post office accounts can now be used for cash transfers

With a single stroke, the government has made over 3.5 crore existing post office accounts ready for its new Aadhaar-linked cash transfer scheme.

The accounts, which belong to MGNREGA workers over the country, were originally to be used only for receiving wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme. However, the government has now woken up to the potential of using the ready-made network of accounts to directly transfer benefits such as pensions, scholarships and social welfare payments.

 Last month, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh wrote to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram bemoaning the fact that due to an August 2008 notification, “No deposit other than NREGA wage can be made in these accounts.”      In his letter to the Finance Minister, Mr. Ramesh said: “This, you will agree, defeats the very purpose of the direct benefits transfer initiative launched by our government recently and described by you as a ‘gamechanger’.”

The Finance Ministry promptly responded by amending its notification to allow MGNREGA beneficiaries to now receive other “government benefits and deposits” in their post office savings accounts. The Department of Posts has also been notified about the changes.

Under the new cash or direct benefit transfer initiative, the Aadhaar number will be used to authenticate the identities of beneficiaries, who will then receive their government benefits directly into their accounts. This requires all beneficiaries to open bank or post office accounts, which will then have to be seeded with their Aadhaar numbers.

With MGNREGA already launching its own initiative to link its payments with Aadhaar, it would speed up the process and prevent duplication of work to allow the existing accounts to be used for the cash transfer scheme as well.

Of the 8.26 crore MGNREGA accounts in the country, 43 per cent — or 3.5 crore — are post office accounts, while the remainder are bank accounts. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra have an especially high percentage of MGNREGA workers using post office accounts, and are likely to benefit from this move once the cash transfer scheme comes into full swing.

Source : The Hindu