THE BEST SECRETS TO WEIGHT LOSS

Weight loss is best defined as the loss in the total weight of the body. In the context of medicine losing weight is sometimes advisable or in fact recommended especially for people with a family history of diabetes, blood pressure or cardiac problems. A reduction in weight is also recommended for people with weak legs. Excessive weight can cause severe damage to the bones and joints in the legs.

Nowadays, losing weight is gaining more interest more from the cosmetic point of view. Leaner people are perceived to be fit, attractive and smart. We come across thousands of advertisements claiming to make one look slimmer within a record time. Although not much is known about the credibility of such claims, there are numerous other time tested techniques of reducing weight. Such techniques may not create an overnight miracle but nevertheless they are safe and reliable.

Exercise, dieting and hypnosis are some of the safest bets towards a leaner figure. Exercise, although effective, is rarely used by obese people as it requires lot of physical efforts. Dieting, an effective method is rarely properly understood. It is commonly believed that dieting means starving oneself. Far from it! It means consuming nutritious food which keeps the body fit and avoiding unwanted junk food which only adds to the body mass. Hypnosis neither restricts food intake nor stresses the body. It creates a psychological dislike for foods that increase body weight.

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TRAVEL TO AIRPORT

A funny observation about our so called international cities. You can buy an air ticket, to travel from Bangalore to Hyderabad, for Rs.2200. So a return journey will cost Rs.4400. Traveling (by cab) from the city to airport and back, in both cities, will cost an average of Rs.800 per trip thus totalling to Rs.3200. Thus traveling to airports is as expensive as traveling to another city!!

This is primarily due to a superficial public transport system. Of course over a period of time conditions will definitely improve and we can expect a cheaper mode of travel.

Controlling Attrition-The Latest Mantra

Organizations have always been under pressure to retain people, especially the brightest ones. But never before has this exercise taken such a dirty shape. Retaining the original documents of academic credentials, getting employees to sign agreements/contracts and bonds are a common sight.

But now what we have seen has broken alll limits. Such organizations want selected employees to place a "security" deposit equivalent to one month's salary. This is more prominent among small sized organizations which keep losing the best talent to the corporate bigwigs. The said deposit is returned after one year. This is apparently to ensure that the employee works for at least a year. Now let us step in to the employees' shoes for a while. Does the organization guarantee employment for a year? What if the employer-employee relation turns bitter? This agreement is not documented in the first place. In any case, legal recourse is both expensive and time consuming.

A better strategy is to hire the right person for the right job. An overqualified candidate will leave as his market value and demand will be great. An underqualified candidate is not of much use. So a change in the hiring process should ensure that only candidates, whose market value will significantly increase only after working in the organization for a couple of years, are hired. Binding a candidate with such rules may be futile. One, good candidates may not be willing to join. Two, employees may try to while away time to pass one year-which is again an economic loss for the organization.

Development Sector & Sustainable Livelihoods

Poverty is a denial to basic human needs. It is a sense of powerlessness and helplessness in life. Poverty is measured based on estimated minimum required income/consumption levels.
Growth and development are not interchangeable terms. Growth could simply mean an increase in the overall income level or gross production (GDP) in a country whereas development is a much broader concept. Development requires that the entire society benefits from the country’s income growth rather than a privileged few. Development encompasses change in societal attitudes and larger social inclusion. Some of the core values of development could be sustenance, self-esteem and freedom. Sustenance implies that there are certain basic needs like food, shelter, education and access to healthcare which are necessary for a reasonable quality of life. Self-esteem and freedom refer to dignity of labor and emancipation from servitude. So the primary goals of any social development project should aim at increasing the availability of life-sustaining goods, raise quality of living and expand social choices available to individuals.
Development, again, should be holistic and inclusive or else it will lead to an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Although it is said that, in a capitalistic society, over a period of time the benefits of growth percolate down to the bottommost part of society, a failure in this approach could lead to massive social unrest. Yet another school of thought puts forth the benefits of bringing up the lowermost section of society through extensive public expenditure projects. The rich tend to spend mostly on imported goods which do no good to the local industries. The lower sections of society, when uplifted, can stimulate great demand for locally produced goods and services.
A livelihood comprises of the abilities, resources and actions required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable if it can overcome shocks or obstacles, maintain its abilities and provide overall benefits. The sustainable livelihoods approach emphasizes on people, particularly poor people, the opportunities available and the threats faced by them. The focus is on the people, in entirety, rather than the resources or the supplier of resources. Based on the feedback, from the people, support is provided to overcome obstacles and utilize opportunities. The support and assistance can and should come in varied forms. The theory “Give a man some fish to eat and he will be happy for a day, teach a man to fish and he will be happy forever” need not and will not always be true. Future planning is sensible only when the present is secure. What interest will a person, who is not sure of surviving tomorrow, have if offered a 6 month training in technical skills post-which he may be gainfully employed. What is of immediate concern is his survival. So any assistance package should be dual focused- one, immediate help and two, future sustenance planning.

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Education Loans-A Hogwash

EDUCATION LOANS-A HOGWASH

Planning to go abroad for higher studies? Need INR 20 Lakhs to fund your education? I am sure you are amongst those thousands of students who approach banks for a loan. Banks are definitely very helpful. But they help only if you have 22 lakhs!!-yes you read it right!!!

Did you know that banks need a collateral security to back up the loan? This security can be in the form of property, bonds, deposits, insurance policies (surrender value should be equal to the value of the loan applied for) etc. So that essentially means you need to have that 20-lakhs (or more as some banks insist on collateral which is worth 120% of the loan amount) if you wish to get a loan!!!! Agreed that banks want to protect themeselves from any default in repayment-But how does this fancy education loan really help the needy-someone who does not have property or any other financial support?

So this essentially boils down to: ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE MONEY IN SOME FORM CAN GET A LOAN AND STUDY FURTHER. So the underserved continue to be deprived of funds to finance their education. Is this totally inclusive social development??

Resume Development

RESUME WRITING & FORWARDING SERVICE-AN ANALYSIS

Market is full of companies offering "specialized" resume writers who charge fancy prices for a resume. The front-forerunners in this business are the job sites. They employ telecallers to promote their "product". But do you know the real scene "behind the screens"?



A "professional resume" as they call it, does not actually cost a bomb. A leading job portal charges around Rs.1900/- for candidates with 10+ years experience. The charges are much higher for "international formats". The international format is no different But is the writer actually paid Rs.1900/- for his hard work? Far from truth.



A writer is paid only around Rs.400 to Rs.500 per resume. Most of the writers work on freelance basis for these companies. Part of the money collected goes in paying the front-line sales team and of-course infrastructure expenses. The rest is profit. It makes more sense to contact the free-lancers directly. Moreover, the turn around time in case of freelancers could be much better.



The only consolation is that the customer has got the resume from a "well-known" company. Many people are aware of this fact but still fall in the trap. Why? The company's sales strategy is excellent. The company prepares an excellent folder of "sample resumes" which are supposedly tailor-made to suit the customer's needs. Better still, they also offer a resume-forwarding service which sends resumes across to "top consultants" in India & Gulf. The customer is made to believe that his resume will receive "priority" on opting for this service. A simple reasoning will make us realize that if all people pay up, will they receive interview calls? A placement consultant is eager to place a candidate irrespective of the source from where he has obtained the resume. One can simply upload the resume on site for free. Moral of the story: The resume writing/forwarding service is a gimmick to play with the job-seekers' psychology.

Provident Fund

Provident Fund or more commonly known as PF is a familiar term for most of the salaried class of population. But most people are ill-informed about the withdrawal methods post-resignation or retirement.

In case the PF account is with the government PF office, it is not mandatory to get the withdrawal form attested by the employer. A notarized form will also serve the purpose. Where the PF account is with a trust (floated by the employer), getting money could be difficult but is definitely not impossible.

Organizations running a PF trust try to armtwist its employees into coughing up money before releasing the PF amount or simply hold back the amount citing improper exit etc. Whatever be the reason, release of PF amount and such silly excuses have no relation. Escalating the matter to the relevant PF commissioner is generally helpful. Registering on http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/ can also be helpful. Employees who are not aware of such channels generally get stuck and end up giving into the unreasonable demands of employers.

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