'Partition is not over': Pakistani Hindus

For decades, Jogdas dreamed of moving to India to escape the persecution he suffered as a Hindu in Muslim Pakistan. But the reality of life over the border is a far cry from those dreams.<br /> Seventy years after partition unleashed the largest mass migration in human history, Hindus are still moving from Pakistan to India, where tens of thousands languish in makeshift camps near the border with no legal right to work.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aD1QSMCXCqo/WX8MjJ1ESrI/AAAAAAAACFM/NUlysjlibHA2RZaZT3UJlUc4kmhhZ00ywCLcBGAs/s1600/59841482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="400" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aD1QSMCXCqo/WX8MjJ1ESrI/AAAAAAAACFM/NUlysjlibHA2RZaZT3UJlUc4kmhhZ00ywCLcBGAs/s320/59841482.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <br /> Many have no choice but to toil illegally in the stone quarries near where they live because their movements are strictly controlled by the authorities, suspicious of anyone from across the border.<br /> It is not the welcome most of them expected in Hindu-majority India.<br /> "No job, no house, no money, no food. There, we were working in the fields, we were farmers. But here people like us are forced to break rocks to earn a living," said 81-year-old Jogdas, who goes by just one name.<br /> "For us the partition is still not over. Hindus are still trying to come back to their country. And when they come here, they have nothing," he told AFP from the camp on the outskirts of Jodhpur where he lives.<br /> More than 15 million people were uprooted following India's independence from Britain in 1947, which triggered months of violence in which at least a million people were killed for their faith.<br /> Amid the bloody chaos, Hindus and Sikhs fled the newly formed Pakistan, as Muslims moved in the opposite direction.<br /> Despite the exodus, Hindus remain one of Pakistan's largest religious minorities. Estimates vary, but they are believed to account for around 1.6 percent of the population of roughly 200 million.<br /> Many say they face discrimination and even risk abduction, rape and forced marriage.<br /> "Soon after partition, the harassment started," said Jogdas, whose family had only moved to what is now Pakistan a few months before partition to escape a devastating drought.<br /> "There was not even a single day when we could live in peace. I wanted to come back to live with my Hindu brothers."<br /> Most of the migrants to India come from Pakistan's Sindh province, taking a four-hour train journey through the Thar desert to Jodhpur in the arid western state of Rajasthan.<br /> That they share the culture, food and language of Rajasthan should make it easy for them to assimilate in their adopted homeland.<br /> In reality, they live in isolated camps, far from local communities and are treated with suspicion by authorities.<br /> PM Narendra Modi's government has said it wants to make it easier for persecuted adherents of the faith to find refuge in India.<br /> Last year it changed the rules to allow immigrants to apply for citizenship in the state where they live, rather than having to go through the central government.<br /> Hindus from Pakistan qualify for a fast track to citizenship after seven years in the country.<br /> But bureaucratic delays have meant the process of getting it can take longer to complete.<br /> Khanaramji, 64, became an Indian citizen in 2005 after fleeing Pakistan in 1997.<br /> He said many others had given up and returned to Pakistan, disillusioned by life in India.<br /> "There is no assistance from the government. We are just like cattle with no owners. We are just surviving on our own," he said.<br /> Worse even than the poverty is the suspicion from authorities.<br /> "Those who do not have citizenship are harassed by (intelligence) agencies. They are always treated like suspects and agents of Pakistan," said Khanaramji, who goes by only one name.<br /> "They spend most of what they earn on going to police stations and agency offices."<br /> Hindu Singh Sodha, who runs a charity in Jodhpur for Pakistani Hindus seeking to settle in India, said they had high hopes of Modi when he came to office in 2014, but had been disappointed.<br /> The migrants still come under increased scrutiny whenever tensions flare between India and Pakistan — a frequent occurrence under the Modi government.<br /> "Their life becomes hell," he said.<br /> "Because everything is affected. Their shelter, healthcare, access to education, their livelihood."<br /> <br /> But some feel even that is worth tolerating.<br /> Horoji fled to India with his two adult sons two years ago after receiving death threats from the family's Muslim neighbours in Pakistan.<br /> <br /> "To save our lives, we had to run to India," said 65-year-old Horoji, whose grandparents were originally from present-day India but found themselves on the wrong side of the border at partition.<br /> "My grandfather had gone to the other side for work. But he had told us to move to India when the right time comes as he had sensed times would not be safe for Hindus in future."

'Partition is not over': Pakistani Hindus

For decades, Jogdas dreamed of moving to India to escape the persecution he suffered as a Hindu in Muslim Pakistan. But the reality of life ...

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Happiness can affect physical health

<div class="lead" id="first" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 20px;"> A new review indicates that subjective well-being -- factors such as life satisfaction and enjoyment of life -- can influence physical health. The review's investigators also examine why this is so and conditions where it is most likely to occur.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uSxAuyMElDw/WX3Twxks4OI/AAAAAAAACE8/vEJrQ0XpNAgQp1W4sUJAO9F18QvrxflqwCLcBGAs/s1600/happiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uSxAuyMElDw/WX3Twxks4OI/AAAAAAAACE8/vEJrQ0XpNAgQp1W4sUJAO9F18QvrxflqwCLcBGAs/s320/happiness.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <div class="lead" id="first" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 20px;"> <br /></div> <div id="text" style="background-color: white; border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> <div style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"> Subjective well-being may exert its effects on physical health through health behaviors, as well as through the immune and cardiovascular systems. Although scientists still are exploring and debating when happiness most affects health, there is no doubt that it can do so.</div> <div style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"> With more research, it may one day be informative for clinicians to monitor individuals' subjective well-being just as other factors are currently assessed. Individuals should also take responsibility for their health by developing happy mental habits.</div> <div style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"> "We now have to take very seriously the finding that happy people are healthier and live longer, and that chronic unhappiness can be a true health threat.</div> <div style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"> People's feelings of well-being join other known factors for health, such as not smoking and getting exercise," said Prof. Ed Diener, co-author of the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em style="border-radius: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box;">Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>article. "Scores of studies show that our levels of happiness versus stress and depression can influence our cardiovascular health, our immune system strength to fight off diseases, and our ability to heal from injuries."</div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

Happiness can affect physical health

A new review indicates that subjective well-being -- factors such as life satisfaction and enjoyment of life -- can influence physical heal...

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Caffeine May Improve Breathing Ability and Lung Function in Premature Babies: Study

In the time when nutritionists and experts are debating how much of coffee in a day is good or bad, a recent Australian based study has demonstrated that a limited caffeine intake by premature babies may improve their lung function in later life.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1r7W1nIpcg/WWsu1TCcFMI/AAAAAAAACCY/nOFZ1aY_inoci8YWY0SctiCGilWE7AmmwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/coffee%2Bbeans%2BCaffein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y1r7W1nIpcg/WWsu1TCcFMI/AAAAAAAACCY/nOFZ1aY_inoci8YWY0SctiCGilWE7AmmwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/coffee%2Bbeans%2BCaffein.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The study shows that caffeine acts as respiratory stimulant that may improve short-term breathing rates in infants. In the study a regulated portion of caffeine, helped them perform slightly better in tests that measure their ability to breathe out later in life. The findings also found that the infants were also significantly better at exhaling during a forced breath.<br /> <br /> In the study Melbourne Royal Women's Hospital doctors examined the development of over 140 premature babies (under ten days), half of whom were given a dose of caffeine once a day, over 11 years, and half of them were given a placebo. The trial participants were checked at 18 months and five years, with the group that received caffeine found to have a better breathing ability at the age of 11, than the other group. The caffeine was given to the infants with milk through a tube or as an injection, once daily.<br /> <br /> <br /> Lead author of the study, Dr Lex Doyle explained that caffeine belongs to a group of drugs known as methylxanthines. This group of drugs has the ability to reduce apnea of prematurity, a condition in which the baby stops breathing for many seconds.<br /> <br />

Caffeine May Improve Breathing Ability and Lung Function in Premature Babies: Study

In the time when nutritionists and experts are debating how much of coffee in a day is good or bad, a recent Australian based study has demo...

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