Being Different – On the left hand side

Nac ouy daer siht ecnetnes? Fi os, ylbaborp uoy era eno fo esoht wef elpoep ohw nac daer eserver osla.

The above sentence is for those people who have the ability to read the words in the reverse direction. It has been found that people who are left handers, can read it first time or faster than others.

Yes. This is about the left handed people in the world. People who used to be the called the ‘bad ones’ historically; this is for them. And you may have guessed that, this is also from one of those people. I am left handed person.

When I was a little boy, I remember that I used to write with left hand and with the same hand I used to eat. I used to do my most of the things using my left hand only. But watching me doing so, my elders in the family asked me to change my hand. According to them, I was using wrong hand to do the things. I can also say I was almost forced to change my hand and as a result, I started writing using ‘right’ hand. Initially I used to write with right hand first and when I am tired of writing with that hand; I change my hand and then start writing with the left hand. Eventually I became ambidextrous. Now I can do things with my both hands. And I don’t know whether it is good or bad.

Here I am putting some of the information which I got from various places. The information is mostly about the left handed people and their history. The information is collected from various sources and need not to mention that one can’t use it as a base of their study. But as far I know I it is from reliable sources. Here I will put all data in bullet form so that you can read points easily or skip some parts.

• There are various studies have done on number of left handed people, and it was found that approximately 10 to 12 percent of the adult population is left-handed in the world.
• Studies indicate that left-handedness is more common in males than females
• In ancient time almost all the civilization, left is taken as the "bad" side. And hence left handed people are also taken as the bad side of the society. And that could be the reason why we found very few old people who are writing with left hand and now as the society has become more open more people with left hand are visible.
• In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand, Chris McManus of University College London argues that left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centers of the brain.
• In 2006, researchers at Lafayette College and Johns Hopkins University in a study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated. The wage difference is still unexplainable and does not appear to apply to women.

One more theory divides left- and right-handed thinkers into two camps: visual simultaneous vs. linear sequential. According to this theory, right-handed people are thought to process information using a "linear sequential" method in which one thread must complete its processing before the next thread can be started. Left-handed persons are thought to process information using a "visual simultaneous" method in which several threads can be processed simultaneously. Another way to view this is such: Suppose there were one thousand pieces of popcorn and one of them was colored pink. The right-handed person — using the linear sequential processing style — would look at the popcorn one at a time until they encountered the pink one. The left-handed person would spread out the pieces of popcorn and visually look at all of them to find the one that was pink. A side effect of these differing styles of processing is that right handed persons need to complete one task before they can start the next. Left-handed people, by contrast, are capable and comfortable switching between tasks. This seems to suggest that left-handed people have an excellent ability to multi-task, and anecdotal evidence suggests that there are more creative stems due to this ability to multi-task.

Some of the causes of left-handedness according to various sources:

• In 2007, researchers discovered LRRTM1, the first gene linked to increased odds of being left-handed. The researchers also claim that possessing this gene slightly raises the risk of psychotic mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
Testosterone: Exposure to higher rates of testosterone before birth can lead to a left-handed child. This is the Geschwind theory, named after the neurologist who proposed it, Norman Geschwind. It suggests that variations in levels of testosterone during pregnancy shape the development of the fetal brain. Testosterone suppresses the growth of the left cerebral hemisphere and so more neurons migrate to the right hemisphere. The highly developed right hemisphere is now better suited to function as the center of language and handedness. The fetus is more likely to become left-handed, since the right hemisphere controls the left half of the body. The theory goes on to tie the exposure to higher levels of testosterone and the resultant right-hemisphere dominance to auto-immune disorders, learning disorders, dyslexia, and stuttering, as well as increased spatial ability.
Ultrasound theory: Ultrasound scans may affect the brain of unborn children, causing higher rates of left-handedness in mothers who have ultrasound scans compared to those who do not.

Tools and Left Handers

• As most of the people on this planet are right handed, hence most of the tools are made for them only. So for a left handed person, it is become very difficult to use tool design for wrong hand. You can take example like, scissors, handles, Japanese knives, tools or even our own computer mouse.
• Many of the left handed people have poor handwriting or they write slower than others. The pen could also be the reason for that.
• Later designers have found this flaw and now creating for both kinds of people.

Left handers in Sports

• In sports, most of the times being left handed are at advantage. In sports like boxing and fencing, most of the opponent will be right handed person and is trained to fight against right handed person only. So left handed person, who is trained to fight against right can easily defeat the opponent.
• In boxing, someone who boxes left-handed is frequently referred to as southpaw. Most boxers, southpaw or otherwise, tend to train with sparring partners who adopt a right-handed stance, which gives southpaws an advantage.
• Written rule in polo states that one must not hold a stick in his or her left arm. There are very few left-handed professionals in polo; all are required to use their right hand.
• We can see many good left handed players in games like cricket or baseball.
• In tennis, left-handers impart spin on the ball that is opposite of that which a right hander would hit. As a result, right-handed players (who are accustomed to playing right handers) have difficulty dealing with a left-hander's shots which curve in a direction opposite to what they are accustomed to facing. Rafael Nadal, despite being right-handed, plays left-handed tennis after being encouraged to do so by his coach for this very reason.
• In sports like cricket, hockey, football, basket ball, baseball; being left handed person is advantageous.

Some of the famous people

Left-Handed U.S. Presidents

• James A. Garfield (1831-1881) 20th
• Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) 31st
• Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) 33rd
• Gerald Ford (1913- ) 38th
• Ronald Reagan (1911 - ) 40th
• George H.W. Bush (1924- ) 41st
• Bill Clinton (1946- ) 42nd
• Barack Obama (1961- ) 44th

Left-Handed Actors

• Amitabh Bachchan
• Charlie Chaplin
• Tom Cruise
• Angelina Jolie
• Nicole Kidman
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Julia Roberts
• Slyvester Stallone
• Bruce Willis
• Oprah Winfrey

Left-Handed Cricketers

• Alan Border
• Alistair Campbell
• Denis Compton
• Saurav Ganguly
• David Gower
• Gary Sobers

Miscellaneous Left-Handers

• Joan of Arc, French heroine
• Alexander the Great
• Julius Caesar, Roman general
• Napoléon Bonaparte, French emperor
• Queen Victoria of England
• King George II of England
• King George VI of England
• Prince Charles of England
• Prince William of England
• Fidel Castro, Cuban leader
• Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer
• Dwight F. Davis, founder of the Davis Cup in tennis
• Helen Keller, advocate for the blind
• John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer/publisher
• Michelangelo, (artist)
• Raphael, (artist)
• Leonardo da Vinci (artist)

The list is quite long. I am putting very few names here. For full list click here (external link)

Last but not the least; August 13 is celebrated as International Left Handers Day.

Please do write your comments here about this article or give suggestions if you have some. Thanks.

Event Management at its peak

Thinking about event management??? Think about the biggest event on the planet earth. It’s nowhere else in the part of the world.... but it’s in India.

 

It is THE KUMBH MELA.

 

Here are some of the details which will tell you why it is the biggest event.

·         Last “Maha Kumbh” held at “Prayag” (near Allahabad – Sangam of three rivers) in 2001 and next one will happen in 2013

·         The event runs for 6 weeks

·         The management has to build a temporary city around the place of the Sangam and that is around 17 sq km in area. This is happened to be the biggest temporary city in the world. (Not even Mecca-stay is bigger than this). Here all the area is covered with tents, mobile dispensaries, police stations and kitchens.

·         Kitchens are running for 24x7 for around 2 million people for a day and they provide 2 time meal for free.

·         Around 3 new temporary bridges are made for the devotees and administration

·         12 new temporary hospitals were setup and around 80,000 people had to visit them

·         Around 7 crore people visited last time, and in the peak time 20,000 people are added to the city every hour

·         Around 8000 policemen, 5000 para military force, 4000 other guards and around 18000 sweepers were working during that time

·         There is a high risk of epidemic, stampede and military attack during the event.

·         During the event people are making so much of pollution, that water of river Ganga are having 1000 times more bacteria than which is safe to drink. But people here were taking this water as the divine Amrit

·         Some of the unexpected event like, attempt of mass suicide by Naga Bawas in protest of dirty water of river Ganga.

·         Around 30,000 children and hundreds of old aged people are lost during the event and amazingly only around 250 are only lost forever.

Now think of handling this event!! There are only 3 people who are responsible for this event.

·         SP – for security

·         District Magistrate – for land and law related things

·         District IAS Officer – for administration

So what do you think about managing this event?

Something about Food-Processing

• India’s food-processing sector, though still developing, contributes 14% to the manufacturing GDP (5.5% of aggregate GDP), produces goods worth Rs. 2.8 trillion ($64 billion), and employs 13 million people
• According to the Ministry of Food-processing Industries (MFPI), the food-processing industry over the last decade has grown at an average annual rate of 7.1%
• The growth is projected at around 7.3 percent per annum over the next five years.  Of the estimated total food sales of rupees 8.6 trillion ($198 billion) in 2003/04, processed food consumption was valued at Rs. 5.3 trillion ($122 billion), with the share of value-added foods (juice, jams, pickles, cheese, butter, ghee, processed meat, confectionary and chocolate, alcoholic beverages, aerated beverages, malted beverages, food services, etc.) estimated at 37 percent.
• Food accounts for about 49% of the consumers’ total expenditure
• Some of the multinational food flavour, ingredient, and machinery companies in India; are IFF, Danisco, Chr. Hansen, AB MAURI, The Solae Company, and Fine Organics.
• India annually imports vegetable oils valued at over $2.6 billion and pulses valued at $560 million. 
• Imports of food ingredients were valued at $170 million in 2003/04, and include mostly spices and condiments, dairy products, cocoa products, fish and fish products, fruit juices, and other ingredients (yeasts, sauces, soft drink concentrates, flavouring materials, soy protein concentrates and isolates, etc.).
• Unorganized, small players account for more than 70 percent of the industry’s output in volume and 50 percent in value terms.
• The government’s policy of reserving the food-processing sector for small-scale units, effective until 1991, discouraged large-scale domestic and foreign direct investment in the food-processing sector.
• Food Processing Industry:

o    Processed fruits and vegetables: Market Size, Organized: 17,200 and Unorganized: 18,450 Million Rs.

o    Dairy Products: Market Size, Organized: 255,000 and Unorganized: 906,000 Million Rs.

o    Cooking Oil: Total annual sales around: 50 Billion Rs. and growth of 7-8 percent. Branded oil count 9% at volume and 17% in value

o    Non-alcoholic beverages: India is the largest tea producing country with 860,000 tons of manufacturing and most of the part is going for the export.

o    With annual 300,000 tons of production of coffee, India is a competitive exporter of it.

o    Alcoholic beverages: Whisky, mostly low-priced, accounts for about 55 percent of the Indian spirit consumption, followed by rum, brandy, and vodka.

o    With the take-over of Shaw Wallace’s liquor business by the UB Group, the latter has emerged as the world’s second largest liquor producer. 

o    Confectionary: Size around Rs. 26 billion.

o    Sugar confectionary accounts for 61 percent of this market, with the balance being chocolates, mints, and gums

o    Market growth in last 5 years: 6%, gums: more than 10%

o    Milling and baking:

o    75% of India’s wheat goes in for milled in to wheat flour, mostly in small chakkis (un organized sector)

o    Branded atta produce around 1 million ton flour every year growing  7-9 % year

o    Grain based snacks is having share around Rs. 29 billion in which 15% is at organized sector

 

Sources:

Food-processing Policy 2005, Ministry of Food-processing Industries, GOI; http://mofpi.nic.in/fpipolicy.htm

USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, GAIN Report.

GAIN – Global Agriculture Information Network

Number: IN5031 

 

The most consumed biscuit in India

I tried finding which is the most consumed biscuit product in India; I searched various part of Internet, asked people from various part of the world (knowing Indian market), and from most of them I got one answer.

Parle-G is the most sold biscuit product in India.

While finding the question I found following interesting part about biscuit industry of India.

Something about Biscuits Industry

• India is the third largest manufacturer of Biscuits in World after US and China.
• Per capita consumption of biscuits in various countries are as below:
• US, UK and European countries : more than 10 kg
• South east Asian countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia : above 4.25 kg
• Japan : 7.5 kg
• India : 2.1 kg
• China : 1.9 kg
• Biscuit industry has the total market share of Rs. 7250 crores in which Rs. 4350 crores are from organized sector and around Rs. 2900 crores are from un-organized sector. (source 2001-2002 census)
• From total market share of biscuits industry, 60% share is there with the organized sector.
• In the organized sector, there are 2 large scale manufacturers, 50 medium scale and around 2500 small scale manufacturers
• In the un-organized sector, there are approximately 30,000 manufacturing units – bakeries.
• The production of the organized sector counted in 2001-2002 census is 1.30 million tonnes.
• If the growth of the industry is to show then, till 1999-2000 the growth rate was around 10-12%. But after the increase in the excise duty (100% hike) it faced 3.5% decline in 2000-2001. After that the growth comes to 2-3% in next two years.
• According to the NCAER Study, biscuit is predominantly consumed by people from the lower strata of society, particularly children in both rural and urban areas with an average monthly income of Rs. 750.00.
• From the census of 2000-2001, the biscuits market was divided in the following categories:
• Glucose 44%
  Marie 13%
  Cream 10%
  Crackers 13%
  Milk 12%
  Others 8%.
• The consumption of the biscuits in India according to the regions is as below:
• Northern States: 28%
  Southern States: 24%
  Western States: 25%
   Eastern States: 23%
• Britannia – which is a part of Wadia group – is the biggest and the oldest among the current giants in India which manufactures biscuits.
• It started in 1892, becomes the most trusted brand in 2002, No 1 food brand in 2001, and become a part of top 300 small companies of world by Forbes in 2000.
• The production of biscuits was around 100,000 tonnes in 1994 which becomes 300,000 tonnes in 10 years.
• Parle was started in 1929 in Mumbai. Initially they were selling sugar confectionaries only. But from 1939 they started production of biscuits. Parle-G and Monaco were the first brands launched.
• Today Parle shares 40% share of the total biscuits market and 15% share of confectionaries.

 

Sources:

Federation of Biscuit Manufacturer of India, Britannia and Parle Products sites and other surveys and reports

Something about soft-drinks

• In March’01 only total 6540 million bottles were marketed in India (India census 2000-2001). So think about now.
• Growth rate of the soft drink market is around 7-8%
• Summer, which stays for around 70-75 days in India, contributes more than 50% of yearly sales of soft-drinks.
• Around 60% of total non-alcoholic drinks are only cola based and around 36% is non-cola based carbonated drinks (in combined called soft drinks), which makes around 96% market share in the drinks and around 4% takes non carbonated drinks (like, mango based mazza and slice).
• There are only two major players in India: PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.
• Coca-Cola first came in India in 1977, but due to FERA regime it winded its operations from India and came back in 1993 after 16 years.
• Currently the brands: Thumps Up, Limca and Gold Spot which is sold under Coca cola roof was previously a part of Parle Beverages. Coca Cola also bought soft drink brands Crush, Canada Dry and Sport Cola from Cadbury Schweppes in early 1999
• The so called major brand in India, PepsoCo entered Indian market in 1991.
• PepsiCo also has bought over Mumbai based Duke’s range of soft drink brands.
• Total market share of both of these companies in 2002 is around Rs. 6247 crores.

 

Now some serious part of soft-drinks:

• Most of the soft drinks contains: carbon dioxide, artificial sweeteners like aspartame, saccharin, acesulfame-K etc., and flavouring agents like caffeine, acids like phosphoric acid, some preservatives and excessive sugar.
• Caffeine (Also found in Chocolates and Coffee)
• Large amounts of caffeine consumption can cause diseases and disorders such as insomnia, nervousness, anxiety, irritability, and deviations from the normal heart rate.
• A major concern about caffeine is that it increases the excretion of calcium in urine, which increases the risk for osteoporosis in heavy caffeine consumers. Some epidemiological studies correlate exposure to caffeine during pregnancy to the occurrence of congenital malformations, foetal growth retardation, miscarriages (spontaneous abortions), behavioural effects and maternal fertility problems.
• US FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) issued an advisory in 1981 warning that "Pregnant women should avoid caffeine-containing foods and drugs, if possible, or consume them only sparingly."
• Artificial Sweeteners (Also found in the Chewing-Gum like Orbit)
• Artificial sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame and acesulfame-K have been linked with numerous diseases like cancer increasingly.
• Saccharin has been linked in human studies to urinary-bladder cancer and in animal studies to cancers of the bladder and other organs (Lancet 1980;i:837-840. Env. Health Perspectives 1998; 25:173-200).
• Aspartame is a potent neurotoxin and endocrine disrupter.
• The overall health impact of artificial sweeteners can be gauged by the fact that they are regulated by means of Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), similar to toxic substances like pesticides.

Source: FAO Nutrition Meetings Report Series, WHO/Food Additives; http://www.inchem.org/pages/jecfa.html

• Acids and Carbon Dioxide
• Dentists around the world are reporting complete loss of the enamel on the front teeth in teenaged boys and girls, who habitually drink soft drinks.
• The culprit is phosphoric acid in soft drinks, which causes tooth rot, as well as digestive problems and bone loss. Phosphoric acid has also been associated with calcium loss and kidney stones in numerous medical studies.

 

• The most common pesticides detected in the soft drink samples were – Lindane, δ -HCH, Chlorpyrifos, Heptachlor and Malathion.
• Lindane
• It damages human liver, kidney, neural and immune systems and induces birth defects, cancer and death. Chronic administration results in endocrine disruption in birds as well as in mammals.
• Treatment with 1-40 mg of lindane/kg of body weight may adversely affect reproductive performance in males. In females lindane decreases sexual receptivity.
• Lindane is a potent carcinogen. Rats exposed to gamma HCH showed evidence of liver cancer.
• Chlorpyrifos
• Chlorpyrifos, one of the most widely used organophosphorus pesticide and has been reported to be a developmental neurotoxicant specifically targeting the immature brain.
• Malathion
• Malathion, a known cholinesterase inhibitor. Primary site of action in insects is nervous system.

Source: Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Soft drinks - August 2, 2006 by Centre for Science and Environment