Milestone - Indians have World's Best Hair.

CHENNAI: Getting down to the root of the issue, a multi-ethnic study has demonstrated the “superiority” (of health) of the Indian hair.

A team headed by Yashwanth Kamath, who used to head the Textile Research Institute in Princeton, New Jersey, tested samples of hair for four characteristics that determine healthy hair - thickness, tensile strength, shine, and smoothness. Caucasian, Asian and Indian hair samples were put to the test for the World's Best Hair study.

Their results put an end to any splitting of hairs over the issue: in terms of health, the Indian hair is the best, topping other ethnic groups on all four counts. So, are we only genetically endowed, or do we even do a better job of grooming?

S. Sugandhan, consultant dermatologist and cosmetologist, MIOT Hospitals, says other studies in the past have proved that Indian hair is also the densest – in terms of number of hairs per follicle. “Hair health depends both on several physiological, pathological causes and grooming. The latter is more to do with preventing breakages and split ends,” he says.

These are the facts: On an average, everyone with a head full of hair has one lakh follicles.

Of this, it is estimated that about 85 – 90 per cent are in the growth phase, about 15-10 per cent are resting and hair fall also happens between these stages. Normally, hair grows in cycles of growing, resting and shedding and each strand has a life of 4-6 years. Everyday, the body normally sheds nearly 50 – 100 strands of hair.

Vegetables, milk help

Is that reassuring? G.R.Ratnavel, consultant dermatologist, Apollo Hospitals, says 30-40 per cent of his patients come with hair problems – dandruff and hair fall (nutritional, hormonal or because of excessive use of cosmetics). Of this 10 per cent are unnecessarily worried about hair fall, he says.

Even as you thank your parents and ethnic group for the hair you have been endowed with, remember that nutrition is responsible for good health. Eating dates, greens, milk, vegetables and using oil (the anti-fungal gingelly oil is apparently best) help.

Among women, anaemia and thyroid problems are the major causes for hair loss, Dr. Sugandan says. High stress situations, such as examinations or pregnancy; chronic illness or acute illness resulting in hospitalisation can also cause hair fall. Dull, lifeless hair, split ends and hair breakage have external causes – frequent beauty parlour procedures - specially curling and straightening. As for hair colouring, using a darker colour is okay, but not light colours, as for this, the hair will have to be bleached first, he adds.Pollution and using hard water also affect the strength of the hair, says Dr. Ratnavel. Using shampoo (the right one for your hair and skin) regularly will, contrary to public opinion, prevent dandruff; and conditioners coat the hair and improve its strength texture. Comparisons between Indian oiled and unoiled samples in the World's Best Hair Study demonstrate that oiling modifies certain physical characteristics like the diameter of hair and also lowers loss of vital proteins.

Loss of hair density and greying are attendant with the ageing process and are determined by what genes one has inherited.

But with premature greying and balding too, solutions are available, dermatologists assure. And for those who cannot be helped that way, there is always hair transplantation.

Milestone - BSNL ‘Connectes' Amarnath Yatra route in Kashmir - India.

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology Sachin Pilot on Thursday launched the BSNL's mobile services near the Amarnath cave in Jammu and Kashmir by making the first call to Governor N.N. Vohra.

With this, the entire Amarnath yatra route, so far not served by any telecom operator, has got seamless mobile connectivity.

Lauding the BSNL for carrying out the challenging task of providing connectivity to the shrine situated at a height of 13,500 ft., Mr. Pilot said a total of 11 mobile towers had been put up at Baltal-I, Baltal-II, Baltal base camp, Noonwan, Lakipora, Betab Valley, Domail, Sangam / holy cave, Panchtarni, Chandanwari and Chandanwari base camp.

More than 4-lakh pilgrims visit the shrine every year.

Milestone for Amul Brand in Asia-Pacific Ratings.

Amul ranked No 1 'Indian' Brand in Asia-Pacific.

ANAND: Amul has maintained its position as number one 'Indian' brand in Asia Pacific for the second consecutive year in the list of top 1,000 brands released by 'Media Magazine' published from Hong Kong and Singapore, a Amul official release said today.

Amul is also ranked as no. 1 dairy brand, ahead of leading food and dairy brands of the Asia Pacific region like Kraft, Dutch Lady, Dumex, Walls, Anchor, Magnolia and Everyday.

The magazine survey has ranked Amul as the 73rd best brand in its ranking of Top 1,000 brands of Asia-Pacific based on a consumer survey conducted in Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Amul's ranking has jumped from 83rd in 2009 to 73rd this year, an official at Amul said adding "there is no other 'Indian' brand in the list of Top 1,000 brands ahead of Amul."

"Asia Pacific's top 1,000 brand listing is based on a proprietary survey conducted by Media Magazine which is sponsored by the Wall Street Journal," a official at Amul said.

Milestone in Public - Private Job Exchange in Karnataka. (India.)

First Public - Private Job Exchange .

Karnataka on Wednesday launched the country's first public-private employment exchange that would register, assess, train, certify and place young people in suitable jobs. Staffing solutions company, TeamLease Services, in a joint initiative with the State Government has launched the Karnataka Employment Centre that will train and provide employment to about 2,000 candidates in the next one year.

Terming it a lighthouse venture, Mr Manish Sabharwal, Chairman and Co-founder, TeamLease Services said, “We have been talking to several State Governments, and Karnataka was the first to recognise the reality of India's labour market.”

Under the MoU between the State Government and TeamLease, the State Government would subsidise the training costs of the candidates that register at the employment centre (about Rs 1,000/candidate) and TeamLease would ensure training and placement.

“We have assured the Government that at least 50 per cent of the people registered would get employed,” says Mr Sabharwal.

The Karnataka Employment Centre, located at the TeamLease premises would start with training in sales and retail jobs and then move on to industrial training, according to Mr Sabharwal.

Mr S.R. Umashankar, Commissioner, Employment and Training and Managing Director, Karnataka Vocational Training and Skills Development Corporation, said that there were plans to open ten such centres across the State.

On whether this could signal the end for the existing employment exchanges, promoted by the Government, Mr Umashankar said that the Government was trying to upgrade these centres (like the one at Mangalore) and these would run parallel to the private employment centres.

Milestone in Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) in India.

First Idigenous Naval Vrsion of LCA rolled out.

BANGALORE: India's first indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), designed specifically for the Navy, rolled out from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) facility here on Tuesday.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony described the milestone as “memorable” and urged the project team to conduct the first flight of NP1, the LCA trainer aircraft (Navy), by the year-end.

By 2015, the aircraft will be deployed aboard the indigenous aircraft carrier that is being built at the Cochin Shipyard. The LCA has to undergo systems integration tests, ground runs, taxi trials and eventually flights, before it will be ready for deployment, officials said.

The aircraft, developed under the auspices of the Naval Programme of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), will fly with a U.S.-made engine. It has been designed to make ‘ski jump' take-off and arrested landings aboard an aircraft carrier. A source in the ADA said the aircraft required “a new design” that would “knock out 300-400 kg from the next prototype.”

The NP2, the aircraft being specially designed for the Navy, is expected to fly for the first time in 2011, sources said.

HAL Chairman Ashok Nayak said the team has “taken longer [time] than planned earlier because of several technical challenges, important of them being “designing an integrated fuel tank and bigger landing gear.”

He sought “early go-ahead” from the government for the next prototype, pointing out that the lead time for this would be three years.

Mr. Antony said the Shore Based Test Facility at the naval air base in Goa was being used to simulate take-offs and arrested landings aboard carriers. It would also train pilots of the LCA's naval version. “It is already being used for training pilots aboard MiG-29K fighter jets, bought from Russia, which are to be deployed aboard aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov.”

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma said the LCA induction would give the Navy a “multidimensional force capability.”

R.K. Singh, Secretary, Defence Production, said the HAL would need to create separate production lines to keep pace with the defence requirements. The HAL would have a role to play in the development of the fifth generation fighter aircraft and the medium combat aircraft, a multirole stealth fighter.

Addressing journalists later, Mr. Antony said: “A chain of 46 radars for coastal surveillance will be ready soon.”

Milestone - Kapaleeswarar Temple at Mylapore - Chennai gets ISO certificate. (Tamilnadu - India.)

Chennai: The Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore was on Monday awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification. Deputy chief minister M K Stalin handed over the certificate to Hindu religious and charitable endowments minister K R Periyakaruppan at the secretariat.

The other two city temples — the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane and the Dhandayudhapani temple in Vadapalani — have also got ISO certification, according to official sources. Early this year, the three temples had applied for ISO certification following an announcement by Periyakaruppan in the Assembly.

The recognition came following a series of inspections of the three temples by ISO authorities and nearly six months after the temples applied for ISO status.

9001:2008 is a world class quality management system for companies/organizations that have an objective of improving their customer satisfaction.

The International Standards Organization has defined the elements of an effective quality management system and calls it the ISO 9000 family of standards. The standards issued in 1994 were revised in December 2000, and again in November 2008.

The three city temples had included their fixed assets, accounts and strict adherence to rituals for scrutiny by the ISO. According to HR&CE officials, Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai and Srirangam Ranganatha temple will also apply for the ISO tag shortly. “We were waiting for the city temples to get certification and now we will ask these temples to apply,” they said.

Milestone in Indo - China ties.

India, China to work together on projects in other countries

BEIJING: Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi indicated on Sunday that China and India were focusing on a rapid expansion in business collaboration in order to strengthen the feel-good factor that would help them tackle several irritants that lie in the way of a sound and stable relationship. The two countries have largely enhanced mutual political trust and were looking forward to a stronger bonding, he said.

Emerging out of a long meeting with NSA Shivshankar Menon, Yang said the discussions went ''very, very well with the two sides making a tour of the whole horizon of bilateral relationship''. He particularly emphasized the need to intensify the process of business connectivity and joint work by the two countries on international platforms like G20 and global talks on climate change.

''We even talked about the possibility of cooperating in certain subjects in other countries, whether three-party or four-party collaborative projects in the economic field as well,'' Yang said in English without interpreters, which is rare in itself. He did not specify the nature of possible joint collaboration. India and China have earlier worked together in some energy projects in third countries.

''China attaches great importance to this relationship. I think we have really enhanced our mutual political trust. If you look at the G20 or BRIC meetings, we actually work very closely together to push forward a common cause, that is to serve the interests of our respective people,'' Yang said.

Menon said he shared the same views as Yang, but did not elaborate. He attended a dinner hosted by Dai Bingguo, senior councillor and China's special representative in the border talks with India, and is scheduled to meet premier Wen Jiabao on Monday. Yang said China was taking the visit by the Chinese-speaking Menon — the third high-level visit from the Indian side in three months after foreign minister S M Krishna and President Pratibha Patil — very seriously while describing him as an old and close friend.

During the visit, Menon is expected to work out possible dates for the next round of border talks with China and also discuss Beijing's plans to sell two nuclear reactors to Pakistan during the visit of its president, Asif Ali Zardari, from July 6.