COLD COMFORT.

What is it about a crisp, cold morning that makes you want to stay huddled under the covers? What is it about a chilly afternoon that makes you want to rustle up some ultra-comforting fried food and something hot to drink? What is it about a wintry night that makes you want to reach out for buttery goodness and sweet temptation? 

Well, whatever it is, that moment - or two or three - on the lips can forever lodge itself on the hips, especially during these winter months.

There are theories abound as to why weight gain seems to be such a foregone conclusion during winters. According to one school of thought, winter doesn't increase hunger, reduces it reduces thirst. You don't drink the same amount of water as summer months, which leaves you dehydrated. That impacts your weight. Because hunger and thirst centres in the brain are set very close together, and sometimes, you may wind up eating because you feel thirsty, leading to a lot more overeating. Add to this lack of physical activity, comfort eating, and overeating during the holiday season, and suddenly you have got yourself a new problem. Or problems. As we already know, weight gain is not just about the aesthetics of it but adds increasing pressure on your heart and interferes with other health parameters. And in many cases, the kilos creep up, year after year without you realising it.

While your body has to work harder to maintain a normal body temperature, you can eat more. But if winter sees you stay put under the covers and reach out for something fatty, try these...

More physical activity: The cooler months is when physical activity tends to dwindle a little. Morning workouts tend to be eschewed in favour of lying in - there's always tomorrow, right? Wrong. Keep up with your workouts and burn your calories. You are never too cool for (old) school.

Avoid Comfort Eating: Magically, during winters, chocolates, pies, samosas, pakoras seem to be an extension of your arm. Dis'arm'. Put down that bit of food and disengage yourself from bingeing just because you are in the category of food. Try and ensure that your days are long and keep you occupied so that you stay away from comfort foods. It's very easy, when you are at home surrounded by a mountain of chocolate, to be buried under it.

Holiday overindulgence: The winter months are also party months, where festivals coincide, weddings happen and relatives and friends come down from all over the world. Suddenly, you are out almost every night. Keep a watch on the journey from the plate to the mouth. Eat before you go out and avoid too many cocktails. Stick to a glass of white wine spritzer for as long as possible.

While this all sounds very dreary, don't forget to have fun this winter and find inventive ways of having your cake and (not) eating it too. Happy holidays.

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ROBIN SHARMA'S MOKSHA MANTRA.

His super skills to communicate have made Robin Sharma one of the world's most successful premier thinkers on leadership in business and in life. His gyaan is like Bible for executives around the globe. He has authored many books, including the international best seller, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari; its best seelling sequel, Leadership; Family: Who Will Cry When You Die? And many others. In an interview, he tells what makes the world sit up and listen to him...

--What prompted you to choose such an unconventional profession and preach the happiness mantra?

----I used to be a lawyer, very successful and very unhappy. Like Julian Mantle in The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, I decided to go out on a search and seek how a human being can find true happiness and real success. I found what I was looking for in books and in the wise people I encountered. Within a few months of applying what I learnt, my entire life changed. I then thought that if an ordinary man like me could use these ideas with such profound results, others could too. And so I wrote and self-published, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. Thee book took off and I have never looked back.

--What have been your most enlightening moments?

----I have had many enlightening moments because my life is one big adventure. I have been on top of the mountain many times and in the valleys from time to time. But I learn from each experience. My philosophy of life is simple: "The person who experiences the most wins". Here are a few of my defining moments:

(a). The birth of my two children (my favourite people in the world). 

(b). My divorce (pain can be excellent professor).

(c). The day, early in my career, that a well-known CEO told me my book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari was the best business book ever read and encouraged me to start doing more work with companies.

(d). The day my friend's father died. I realised that without great health, even the richest of people are poor.

(e). The day I shared a speaking platform before 10,000 people with Bill Clinton. It was a great win for a simple man like me who grew up in a small town of 2,000 people, without a silver spoon in his mouth.

--What values can one imbibe from the Eastern and Western spiritual traditions?

----From the East, we can all learn what's most important in life - things like discovering our best selves. From the West, we can learn the value of chasing our dreams, thinking big and taking wise risks.

--What advice would you like to give to the stressed out city dwellers?

----I don't like to give advice - that makes me sound like a guru - when I am not. But I do have some suggestions:

(a). Take a sixty minute 'holy hour' for yourself everyday. This is a time, each day, to think deeply about your life and how to improve it, to read, to meditate or watch the sun come up, or to write in a journal. Leadership in your outer life begins from within yourself. You cannot do great things until you first feel great about yourself.

(b). Put your health first. Most people don't care for their health until they lose it. That makes no sense to me. You don't want to be the richest person in the graveyard.

(c). Try and find some time each day for what I call the "3 Ss": Silence, Stillness and Solitude. They really work beautifully to renew you.

--How do manage your stress?

----I manage my stress by exercising daily. It's amazing how a 30-minute run restores a sense of perspective over any problems, and fills me with joy. I also get a massage every week to keep me relaxed. My two children are incredibly funny human beings who help me beat stress, and teach me not to take life too seriously.

--Is there a state of complete happiness and peace? How can one achieve it? Are you in one?

----Yes, I do believe that one can be completely happy. Perhaps only a few great sages have ever reached that lofty stage. I am basically a happy human being. However, I cannot be happy all the time. I have good days and not so good days.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203, 

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com

Cell: 09985732397.

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VIMAL SINGH'S FUTURE POLITICAL PREDICTIONS PUBLISHED ON 06TH AUGUST, 2014.

1. Narendra Modi will be the Prime Minister of India of India for next ten years.
2. Hillary Clinton will be the President of United States of America.
3. India and Pakistan will have one common currency like the Euro in Europe.
4. India and Pakistan will join hands and the importance of ISI will diminish.
5. There will not be a World War III as predicted by Nostradamus.
6. Congress Party will revive and relive, but Priyanka Gandhi will be forced to join the same.
7. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar will witness the rise and regaining of power by the national parties, leading to the decline of the regional parties. India will once again see the rise of the two-three party system.

Compiled by: 
C.S. Chakravarthy
H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,
Lane. No. 1, Flat. No. 203,
Satya Classic Apartments,
Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,
Telangana State, India.
E-mail: chakkuresearchscholar13@gmail.com
Cell: 09985732397.
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FOR A TRUER DECENTRALISATION.

Much has been written on decentralisation in India though, on the ground, there is very little to show despite the seventy-third and seventy-fourth constitutional amendments. The rationale for decentralisation comes from the need to strengthen participatory democracy, facilitate responsive governance, ensure greater accountability and capable public service delivery according to diversified preferences of the people. The possibility of greater visibility and linkage between revenue-expenditure decisions is supposed to ensure greater responsiveness and accountability. There are some who advocate decentralisation as an end in itself while others take this as a means to strengthen the democratic fabric through participatory governance and responsive and accountable public service delivery.

the history of decentralisation in India is somewhat chequered. Although the village panchayats as institutions of governance and justice existed for a long time, the founding fathers of the Constitution were not keen to empower them. Dr. Ambedkar was apprehensive that in the hierarchical society with highly skewed nature of asset and power distribution, vesting more powers at the village level would only perpetuate exploitation of the dispossessed. Not surprisingly, the Constitution placed local governance in the State List (Entry 5).

Towards self-governance: Rajiv Gandhi wanted to energise the local bodies in rural and urban areas to make them the institutions of self-government by effecting seventy-third and seventy-fourth Constitutional amendments. Part IX was inserted into the Constitution with Article 243 (A to O) specifying matters such as the constitution, elections and the functions to be devolved for panchayats and for urban local bodies under Article 243 (P to Z). Article 243 I and Y mandated the appointment of the State Finance Commission by the Governor every five years to balance their functions with funds. Article 280 was seeded with an additional term of reference (TOR) to the Union Finance Commission to take cognisance of the resource requirements of local bodies. However, the role envisaged in this seeding is only tangential or supplemental.

There are five important issues for understanding the legal framework for the decentralisation process in the country. First, the Constitution assigns decentralisation including funding entirely to the discretion of state governments. While this may be to evolve the system of decentralisation appropriate to a state considering the strength of its history, economy and capacity, it also hinders the process. It is entirely left to the states to decide, what and how much powers and functions should be devolved to the local bodies.

Secondly, the constitutional framework does not (and perhaps should not) prescribe any pattern, standard or model of decentralisation which again is left to the discretion of state governments. Third, there are no easy mechanisms to ensure compliance of even the prescribed provisions of the Constitution by the states. Most states have not complied with the requirement of having to appoint gram sabhas (243A), ward committees, district planning committees and metropolitan planning committees. There have been several attempts to postpone elections though they are required to hold them well before the expiry of the prevailing elected body or before six months if the body is dissolved for some reason, as required under 243K and U. The states are required to appoint a Finance Commissions every five years and their reports are required to be placed in the legislatures with the action taken reports.

Unfortunately the states' record shows complete violations of Article 243 I and Y. Fourth, on the financial side, local bodies do not have any independent revenues. There is no separate list of tax bases assigned to them in the Constitution and they have to depend on the state governments to levy the taxes. There is also the problem of administrative capacity and interest groups resisting payment of taxes and user charges.

Does the framework allow the Union Finance Commission to act as a champion of decentralisation? While one would like to think that an organic link is provided to it by seeding an additional term of reference in Article 280, a careful reading of the Article shows that the role is confined to "...recommend measures to augment the Consolidated funds of the states to supplement the finances..." of local bodies on the basis of the recommendation of the State Finance Commissions" (emphasis added). 

In this context, the criticism that the Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) did not continue the deceentralisation reform initiated by the Thirteenth Finance Commission (TFC) needs explanation. Specifically, while the TFC initiated a package of conditionalities for availing the performance grants which was not continued by the FFC. The important features of the TFC recommendations included linking the grants to local governments to previous year's divisible pool of taxes and linking a significant proportion of the grants for performance.

Changed conditions: In contrast, the FFC while recommending a much higher level of transfers, did not see Constitutional validity in linking the transfers to the divisible pool. It continued the performance grants, but linked them directly to the actions by the panchayats and municipalities rather than the state governments. Thus, the FFC in its report explained that it did not carry on the scheme of rewards and punishment because truthful adherence to the Constitutional framework did not permit it to do so. It is another issue that only a fraction of the performance grants recommended by the TFC were actually utilised and the union government was the beneficiary in the process!

That of course, begs the question as to who will champion decentralisation. First, it is important to have clarity in the assignment of functions and the local governments should have clear and independent sources of finance. Second, there should be clear mechanisms to ensure that states comply with the constitutional provisions, particularly in the appointment and implementation in the recommendations of the SFCs. Third, sustainable decentralisation comes from the demands of the people and advocacy should focus on a decentralisation agenda.

Indeed, the framework needs to be evolved to accomodate the demand for decentralisation. Even within the existing framework, it is important for intellectuals and the press to pressurise the states to comply with the constitutional provisions like creation of planning authorities and appointment of SFCs, if necessary through Public Interest Litigations. The SFCs have an important role to play which can be fulfilled only when state governments take them seriously.

C.S. Chakravarthy

H. No. 12-13-302, St. No. 9,

Lane. No. 1, Flat.No. 203,

Satya Classic Apartments,

Tarnaka, Secunderabad- 500 017,

Telangana State, India.

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