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Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology to use Kankaria design for Bhopal Lake makeover
- The Madhya Pradesh government has awarded Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (Cept) University the project of making a detailed concept plan for the lake.
- The Bhopal Lake, known as the Upper Lake or 'Bada tal,' was built around a thousand years ago and is perhaps the oldest man-made lake in the country. The lake spans over 31 square km and was built by Raja Bhoj in the 11th century by constructing an earthen dam across the Kolans River.
- Bhopal have shown keen interest in the model and the design of Kankaria Lakefront project in Ahmedabad, which is one of the most commercially successful models.
Why drinking benefits Europeans, not Indians
- In the latest advisory on spirits, the UK House of Commons has requested the British to keep away from alcohol for at least two days a week. The lawmakers reason the body needs a break twice a week to repair the liver. This is a climbdown from earlier guidelines to drink moderately every day.
- Are the health benefits of alcohol overrated?
- In the country's various watering holes, it's difficult to miss the flurry of advice: have beer to flush out kidney stones, wine to cut down risk of heart attack. Some even claim that diabetes can be kept at bay with a regular drink.
- Consider beer, whose popularity in urban India is increasing steadily because of its low alcohol content. Urologist says it is a myth that beer can treat kidney stones. "Studies in the US have shown that certain beers, such as stout, prevent calcium deposits and reduce stone formation by 30 to 35%. But beer contains a chemical called purine, which increases the risk of uric acid stones." He adds that orange juice, or even tea or coffee, would have the same flushing-out effect as beer on kidney stones.
- Then there is the widespread contention that alcohol is good for the heart. Malika Arora, of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), points out that this contention doesn't hold for Indians. "We have done a study which shows that alcohol offers no cardiovascular protection for Indians,"
- "Indians mainly drink hard liquor, like whisky or even scotch. Europeans drink a lot of wine and it has been shown to be beneficial for them,"
- A World Health Organization survey a few years back showed that spirits made up for 88% of what Indians regularly drink, while beer only had a 10% share and wine was barely 2%.
