Do U Know - India worse than Bangladesh in IMR & MMR

The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (HDI) was created by the late Mahbub ul Haq and by Amartya Sen on a scale of zero-to-one to mathematically represent a country's human indicators in terms of life expectancy, income generation and literacy. Since the methodology used is common across all countries, the index is an excellent means of comparing human indicators across national boundaries. In the latest annual rankings of nations based on this index, India has retained its previous position - 127 out of the 177 countries considered. In South Asia, Sri Lanka is the only country in the top 100 nations; it is ranked 96. Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are at 135, 136 and 139 respectively.

The index is simply a decimal value by which to rank countries and study trends. To evaluate the HDI, one needs to go into its specifics.

For example, the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in South Asia varies widely between 13 per thousand live births in Sri Lanka and 81 in Pakistan; it is 63 in India, 61 in Nepal and 46 in Bangladesh. China has an IMR of 30. Based on a population of 1.1 billion and a birth rate of 24 per thousand, we know that roughly 26 million children are born each year in India. Of these, nearly 1.64 million children will will die before they reach the age of one. If our IMR were instead 46 (the number in Bangladesh) then the number of deaths would reduce to about 1.2 million. In other words 450,000 lives would be saved each year if we could achieve the status of Bangladesh in the Infant Mortality Rate.

Question 1
The Planning Commission in the Tenth Plan has outlined that we should achieve the current Bangladesh standard by the year 2007 and the current Chinese standard by the year 2012. The Sri Lankan achievement is very far away, our best-performing state (Kerala) has an IMR of 19, still 50% worse than Sri Lanka's average.

Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) this varies between 0.92 per thousand births in Sri Lanka and 7.4 in Nepal; it is 5.4 in India, 5.0 in Pakistan and 3.8 in Bangladesh. This translates into 140,000 mothers dying each year in India due to childbirth. This figure would reduce to 24,000 if our MMR were to drop to the Sri Lankan level, a saving of more than 100,000 lives each year.

Question 2
The Planning Commission's goal is to reduce the MMR to 2 by the year 2007 and 1 by the year 2012.

Please mention the years for answers.
Hint : The target years for IMR and MMR are the same. eg : 2006 and 2007.

Source

Unfortunately none got it right.

7 - Tagged again

I have been tagged again by Colors
So here it goes



Seven Things you want to do before you die:
Drink 8 glasses of water everyday
Make a positive difference however small
Write few books and be successful with it
Be a successful psychologist
Spread Gandhian philosophy
Bring out the best in as many people as possible
Learn Learn Learn and never fail in any exam :D

Note : To be honest, I wouldnt mind if I died now and not achieve even a single one:)

Seven Things you can do :
Laugh at myself (well so what if others can too. It helps me maintain my sanity)
Tell a story anytime based on anything anytime
Liason happily and successfully with the government even if it means hours of waiting in dreadful offices and hours of documentation
Be honest even if I sound cliched, weird, stupid, untrue, holier than thou, naive, ridiculous, too good to be true or whatever:)
Never judge a person (hate crime not criminals. behaviour can be good and bad. not persons)
Recollect a movie just from 5 seconds of the movie (no kidding can recollect even the ones I have seen decades ago)
Be horribly lazy, quite happily

Seven Things you say most :
Love you to my husband
Bigdeal to most of the things in my mind
Told you so though not much now, said a lot to my sibling and parents. And they dread hearing it even now I guess.
24000 die from hunger Everyday & A woman dies every minute due to childbirth to my blog readers
Thank you to God
Illai (tamil meaning "no" used colloquially at the start of a sentence) and Pavame/Paavam a Tamil word along the lines of oh no, you poorthing etc. (would like to restrict both these usage)
And errr "ukandu" Tamil meaning "sit/sat and" (I dont know how on earth a person can use it frequently, but I do use it more than others)

Seven Things you can't do:
Stop loving those I love
Stop Imagining (even if its about ghosts and gives me gitters.) and thinking ( Exception of course : Deep Sleep)
Relax during travelling (its worse in planes of course), Shopping (Hate shopping for self, love shopping for others) or while watching a horror movie (So I dont watch them of course:D)
Relax while listening to music (I do love music, but cant relax while listening and cant stop thinking and let go of myself.)
Talk about my feelings (thats not the same as talking about my thoughts:D, Suffer from a touch of autism)
Not get irritated with stupidity even if its in a movie
Pity myself

Seven Things that attract you to the opposite sex:
Humour
Logical mind
Caring attitude
Empathy
Having the same rule for self, as for others
Ethical
The ability to be, and behave, beyond a gender sterotype

Seven Celebrity crushes:
Kiran Bedi
Dr.Phil Mcgraw
Mani Ratnam
John Gray
Vikram
John Grisham
David E Kelly

Seven People you want to tag:
Kalpesh posted
Pramod posted
Shady posted
Vyuha
Deepthi posted
Techj posted
Esprit

A Poem for Pam

Muse : Wow have I got a topic for you !

Self : Huh you look happy

Muse : Well Pam has topped the list of Lycos 50 most popular search terms from September 1995 through last Saturday.

Self : So?

Muse : Blog about it

Self : Hmmm dominating over a decade, great for her. But what else can I write?

Muse : Well no need to write, atleast put up a few pics

Self : I dont have her pics and I dont want to search for her pics and help in her topping another search engine.

Muse : Well Ok OK here is a Poem for Pam, blog about it or I Quit.


Pam Pam Pam
Your fan I am

Pics of you, can never be a spam
Pics of you, cause Net traffic jams

If you were the syllabus,who would fail in exam
You rule the net, just like you rule the hearts, lamb

We need the net and the net is to know more of you mam
So what if the world and this poem is lousy, dont give a damn

Pam Pam Pam
Your fan I am.

PS : You would use search engine to search for _______

Do U Know - Maharashtra Child Hunger Deaths

Maharashtra, state government said that 2,814 children, mainly from tribal areas, had died of starvation in 2005.
The state made the admission before the Bombay High Court that is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activists on child hunger deaths in this highly industrialised state.
***

The Maharashtra government told the court that, during the first three months of this year, 1,180 children up to the age of six had died in the state’s five poorest districts. In the next four months, up to the month of July, the death toll from hunger among children stands at 1,634 in the state’s 15 tribal districts. This means a total of 2,814 children have died so far this year.

Rage against the mad dogs got it nearly right. Kavita & max made a very good attempt.

Last week's Do U Know was on Child Hunger Death in the world, and for those of you who dont know, its a Death every 5 seconds.
Perhaps it seemed quite distant and to happen only in African continent and perhaps a few 100 in some remote parts of India.
To present these facts in a quiz format is not to make it another trivia.
But to increase awareness on issues which concerns US.
We would care if these many children were kidnapped by some terrorists and starved to death, and I assume that we would awaken and try to make a difference even now.

One need not leave the job and take to the streets, and I do not care to adopt a holier than thou attitude and preach what should be done.

Awareness is the first step in any fight. And join the fight against hunger and do your best.

http://www.thehungersite.com
http://www.wfp.org

Tagged - 55 word story - Normal

I have been tagged by Colors
And so here is the 55 word short story titled Normal.

NORMAL
He enters the costume party in tshirt, jeans,
without mask or makeup.
To queries just looks in the eyes -
shrugs, smiles, asks us to guess
Girl with excellent makeup?
Midget pretending to be taller?
Gatecrasher?
Costume ruined enroute?
Amnesia?
Disguised Millionaire?
Gay (without lisptick?)
Detective (without pipe, glasses?)
Spy (without gadgets?)
Serial killer?
Terrorist?

Guess?

I tag @$#!$# has posted with this one

yet to post , Dirtydoggy & Downtoearth

Kidding - I am not right or They are not right

Dear Diary
My Parents hate me.

I embarrassed them again today.
Guests came to our house and while shaking hands I made The Mistake
While eating I started the way my parents told me to
But the pain became unbearable and I made The Mistake.

My family and neighbours criticise me
Parents of my friends criticise me
Kids at school laugh at me
I feel different and lonely
Many times I wish they would just leave me alone
I cant even use the scissors properly
or button my clothes easily.

I dont want to eat in front of others
I dont want to take things in front of others
I dont want to write in front of others and it hurts when I am not able to even draw a line properly.
I dont want to go to temple

I wish I could write more but my parents are watching and its painful to write with the right hand.

A diary of a 5 year old left handed child.

Do U Know - Children - Hunger Deaths

One Child dies every 5 seconds from hunger and related causes. United Nations - World Food Programme

None got it right. Rage against the mad dogs came close to it in http://o3.indiatimes.com/wisedonkey

The Terror of Hunger
Does it make a difference what a child dies from?
We get repelled by the images of Beslan.
While a Beslan can occur to someone we know, are we untouched by the hunger deaths because its cold fingers has not touched our life and cant enter our lifestyle?
Or is it because the enemy is not that easily identified?
Can the problem of hunger and hunger death ever be solved?
The problem amazingly is Not the Lack of food .

Do we care enough for those children.
The Terrorists care for their groups alone and other lives mean nothing to them.
We are not them. We can pause now. We can express outrage and ask
Why there cant be a War against Hunger.

Every child deserves to live and it doesnt matter if the child dies from a bullet or from hunger. Death is Death. And Apathy is Apathy.

Aargh Diaries - Not before the knot

An email from a friend of mine
I am searching for my soulmate and all the men I meet seem to think marriage is just about sex and some are even suggesting a physical relationship before marriage. I am no prude but cant help being shy and I certainly dont want to have a physical relationship before I am sure of the guy. HELP !

Aargh answer

1.All men are not like that and many will pretend to be not like that :D

2.If a guy wants to marry you based on your performance in bed just tell him you want to decide, based on his performance in kitchen. And suggest a day's work in your kitchen. If he merely wants to discuss your sex life (or the lack of it), start discussing his culinary and cleaning skills (or the lack of it).

So if he asks "Did you have a boyfriend"
reply "I will tell you after you tell me how good you are with bhaigan bharta"

3.And kitchen tasks dont merely involve cooking they also involve washing vessels and cleaning. And also ask him if he knows how to handle the washing machine and vaccum cleaner.
So if he asks "Can I kiss you when I meet you"
reply with "Perhaps you can do it in my bedroom, but just vaccum it first and make the sheets and change the curtains and fold all my clothes and keep them in the wardrobe"

4.Its not that the men whom you met think marriage is just about sex. They are not going to be pleased to have less salt in their lunch even if you are fantastic in bed.
Its just that they think your mom would have taught you these stuff (so what if you were working hard for your engineering exams) but they would have to teach you the important stuff themself.

5.If a guy happens to be looking for a homemaker, point out he gets weekend off and retirement while you dont. And tell him, while you will take care of the home till he retires, after retirement you both will have to share the tasks.

6.This will generally turn off many

7.If the guy persists, and does the tasks successfully, try toilet cleaning

8.If that rare gem persists , get to nappy changing and baby care (borrow your neighbour's baby for trial)

9.If this rarest of rare gem persists, talk about financial planning and auditor and taxes and mention that you will also have a say in the financial planning.

10.If a guy still talks to you after this, Grab Him :)
(OK dont grab him literally but do introspect on what more you want)

Some men might think women is just about sex, while some women might think men are just about money. Thats just their point of view and their priority. Instead of generalising the entire gender or judging them, if we disagree with this point of view, lets avoid making them our life partner :D
Wish you the best and if you get married, dont forget to send an invitation, and regarding the gift, well after this email, do you really need a gift ?

PS : Due to the female infanticide and foeticide, there are more men then women, so dont worry you have more to choose from.

Aargh Diaries UN COO

So Annan messed up oil for food programme and the Volcker panel has recommended creation of a new post of a Chief Operating Officer (COO) nominated by the Security Council and approved by the General Assembly.

Click to know about it

A fishpond at work on Who could become the COO. My thoughts in brackets

Sonia Gandhi (Thanks for not writing Priyanka Gandhi)

Bill Clinton (Yeah the scandal wouldnt be on oil for food, it could be on work for favours or whatever)

Pamela (Well if she decides to make a run for the post, I am sure there will be plenty of supporters)

Dissolve UN (Thats throwing the baby with bath water)

Bin Laden (Is that supposed to be a form of punishment?)

Sania Mirza (Aawwwww lets leave her alone)

Nelson Mandela (Great guy, but surely we should look forward)

George Bush (Well it would be tough to convince. After all the post of US President is the highest position in the world and why take a position in a low organisaiton.)

Tom Cruise (Is keeping UN corruption free, the Mission Impossible 3)

Bill Gates (A window of opportunity for him or for the UN)

Big B, Amitabh (The purpose is to stop people from becoming "crorepathis" not aiding them.)

Me (And do you have a name?)

Saurav Ganguly (Hmmmm a supporter who believes Saurav can do no wrong or a sarcastic comment? Well if he gets into form, stays as captain due to other captains being out of form and wins the World Cup and if Indians gets to decide, I am sure he can become. But guess too many Ifs involved)

Who cares (Aaaaaaaaargh! Do I? Do you?)