Young India Network for Good Health

Alcohol consumption among teenager’s triples during the Christmas and New Year’s Eve between ages of 14 to 19, especially in cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Chandigarh etc, reveals the ASSOCHAM survey conducted under its ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF). More than birthdays and traditional weekends, December and January are the periods of greatest alcohol consumption of months, reveals the ASSOCHAM latest survey on “Consumption of alcohol during Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2013”  points out that the average alcohol consumption of teenagers triples during the festive seasons, from age 28 in the 1985s, it has come down to age 14 now, adds the ASSSOCHAM survey. “Reasons for rising liquor consumption among teens include easy money, availability of imported brands, absent parents and more spending power are some of the major reasons that contribute to the high consumption of alcohol among the teenagers”, said Mr. D S Rawat, Secretary General ASSOCHAM while ...

  In Boxa village, Buxar district, Bihar, Najma Begum was always starving herself so that she could feed her five children. Her daily wager husband, an alcoholic, would beat her regularly. The violence would increase when she would refuse to hand over money to buy liquor. After learning she could open a no frills savings account through a mobile phone and deposit as little as `20, she began taking out money from her husband’s pocket. When her husband fell ill some months ago, it was this saving of `3,000 that came in handy. When her husband learnt how his wife saved his life, not only did he gave up drinking but has not laid a hand on Najma since then .... Indian women are traditionally good savers. This is particularly true for rural India where rising prices and shrinking incomes impact women the most. The self-help group experience has shown that they are also good borrowers. Yet, women living below the poverty line have remained disconnected from formal financial services ...

(5 Ways alcohol can affect…) Weeks of weight watching and diet control can all go for a toss on a night out when you splurge on alcohol. A few drinks does not just add those extra calories, but also induces hunger, affects sleep and influences your metabolism, thereby effectively ruining your diet plans. If you think that a drink or two can easily be made up for, read on to find out how alcohol can affect your diet. Extra Calories A can of beer contains about 154 calories and a martini contains about 250 calories. These calories have absolutely no nutritional value. The same is the case with other alcoholic drinks. These empty calories are not utilised by your body in any way and you end piling on the pounds. Increases appetite You may consider skipping a meal to make up for the extra calories you consume while drinking, but drinking on an empty stomach will only make you want to binge eat later to overcome that queasy feeling. Drinking also impacts you...

A few months back, 14-year-old Vikram Batra (name changed) started behaving oddly. Normally quite a talkative boy, Vikram, started keeping to himself. On returning home from school, he would head straight to his room and remain locked there for hours at a stretch. Two month’s back, his mother, Vibha, an IT professional, received a call from the counsellor at Vikram’s school, a renowned private  institute in central Delhi. The counsellor told her that Vikram had become unresponsive in class and was often lost in his own world. One day, when Vikram was out, Vibha searched his room and found three empty bottles of white solvent in his school bag, traces of which she had occasionally seen on Vikram’s lips. She called the counsellor and told her that the child was into substance abuse. Substance abuse among Indian children is growing at a much faster rate than previously believed. And contrary to popular belief, the addicts are not just street children. A first-of-its kin...

Singapore bans alcohol consumption, sale in riot hit Little India Singapore's civil defence officers extinguish burning vehicles following a riot in Singapore's Little India district. (Reuters) SUMMARY While cause for the riot is unknown, officials feel that alcohol consumption could be a factor. S ale and consumption of alcohol will be banned this coming weekend in Little India's Race Course Road area where riot broke out on Sunday night after a fatal accident. Announcing the ban on Monday, Second Minister for Home Affairs S Iswaran said details of the ban, such as exactly what time it would apply and what geographical area it would cover, would be worked out by the police. Though it was too early to say definitively what caused the riot, which was triggered after a fatal traffic accident, it is "plausible that alcohol consumption was a contributory factor", The Straits Times quoted the Minister as saying. "And that is why we have taken th...

  On Human Rights Day IOGT International highlights the growing obstacles that corporations like Big Alcohol pose to the promotion and protection of Human Rights New York, USA, (December 10, 2013) -- The global achievements in Human Rights protection and promotion over the last 50 years, are today under attack by aggressive corporations. Abusing free trade agreements these corporations seek to undermine Human Rights accomplishments, in order to make it harder for governments to regulate harmful products and often-unethical operations. The UN General Assembly proclaimed 10 December as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention ‘of the peoples of the world’ the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. In 1993, following the momentum of the World Conference on Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action was adopted and the mandate of High Commissioner for the promotion and protection of all...

The alcohol economy   State governments are becoming more and more dependent on alcohol revenue to pay their bills. The increasing consumption of alcohol will only fuel this dependence, says K.P.M. Basheer. Sabko maloom hai main sharaabi nahin   Phir bhi koi pilaye to main kya karoon  (Everyone knows that I am not an alcoholic  But what can I do if someone pours me a drink?) Pankaj Udhas’s   ghazal  couplet on the classic excuse of a drunkard echoes the fluidity of most State governments over alcohol taxation. “We don’t need the tax money from alcohol, you know,” seems to be the argument. “But if people want to get drunk what else can we do but tax the drink?” The truth: governments are increasingly relying on alcohol revenue to pay their bills. Roughly one-fifth of most State government budgets are funded by booze. And, that share is going up by the year . Big contributor With the exception of Gujarat, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, wher...

BULANDSHAHR: A  man  allegedly sold his  wife  of six years to some people for Rs 2 lakh who tortured and then gang-raped the woman in Bulandshahr district. Police have lodged an FIR and a manhunt has been launched to nab the culprits. This incident came to light on Friday when the victim, a native of Sultanpur in Bulandshahr district, narrated her nightmarish experience to senior cops. In her complaint, the victim said that her husband belongs to a well-off family, but he lost everything due to alcoholism. "On December 3, he sold her to five locals for Rs two lakh," a senior police officer said. The victim said the accused injected her with a sedative and, when she lost consciousness, took her to an isolated place and raped her repeatedly for two days. When she resisted, the victim was tortured and thrashed. The accused told her that as they had bought her, she would have to follow instructions like a slave. An FIR has been lodged against the victim's husband and fi...

In a move to curb crime against women and keep the beaches in the state clean, Goa Tourism department asked Indian Reserve Battalion (IRB) to restrict people with alcohol or glass bottles on beaches in Goa. According to sources, alcohol on Goa beaches will be banned soon. Times of India quoted a senior tourism department official as saying, "Implementation of this (ban on alcohol on Goa beaches) has begun." "To prevent eve teasing incidents on Goan beaches we have taken this step," added the official who also informed that even locals would not be allowed to enter into the beaches with alcohol. "Domestic tourists coming to Goa, buy liquor in bulk from wholesale stores and enter beaches with snacks which is one of the reasons for littering on beaches. This will also help to keep beaches clean," the official was quoted as saying.  The daily report also mentioned that the state tourism department has been trying to prevent tourists drinking on beaches and th...

A new study has revealed that prenatal exposure to alcohol severely disrupts major features of  brain  development that potentially lead to increased anxiety and poor motor function, conditions typical in humans with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). The study by neuroscientists at the  University of California, Riverside , discovered that prenatal exposure to alcohol significantly altered the expression of genes and the development of a network of connections in the neocortex- the part of the brain responsible for high-level thought and cognition, vision, hearing,  touch , balance, motor skills, language, and emotion- in a mouse model of FASD. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health/Drinking-alcohol-in-pregnancy-affects-kids-brain/articleshow/26857195.cms