Actor Hugh Jackman says he loves to ski, but is not great at it.

"I love skiing. I picked it up when I was 18 so never got great but tried to learn it," Jackman said in a statement. 

It was for this love that the actor opted to do several ski jumping scenes in Eddie the Eagle — about a British underdog ski jumper who made it big at the 1988 Winter Olympics — himself. 

The actor says he had fun doing the scenes of the film, which will air in India on Star Movies Select HD on Saturday.

Talking about skiing, Jackman's co-star Taron Egerton said: "I learnt it for the movie and I am okay. I was getting there and naturally my instinct is self-preservation before I think but Hugh's awesome."

A new tool offered by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN uses real-time satellite data to track water productivity in agriculture, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday.

"The WaPOR open-access database has gone live online as of today, tapping satellite data to help farmers achieve more reliable agricultural yields and allowing for the optimization of irrigation systems," Xinhua news agency quoted Dujarric as saying.

"FAO's teams have designed WaPOR to cover Africa and the Near East, with a focus on key countries that are or are projected soon to face physical or infrastructural water scarcity," said the spokesman.

Worldwide water utilisation — the majority of which is used by agriculture — has outpaced the rate of population growth for most of the last century and some regions are close to breaching viable limits, he added.

WaPOR was presented this week during a high-level partners meeting for FAO's Coping with water scarcity in agriculture: a global framework for action in a changing climate.

It allows for fine-grained analysis of water utilised through farming systems, generating empirical evidence about how it can be most productively used.

"Water use continues to surge at the same time that climate change — with increasing droughts and extreme weather — is altering and reducing water availability for agriculture," says Maria Helena Semedo, FAO's deputy director-general for climate change and natural resources. 

"That puts a premium on making every drop count, underscoring the importance of meeting growing food production needs from efficiency gains."

WaPOR sifts through satellite data and uses Google Earth computing power to produce maps that show how much biomass and yield is produced per cubic meter of water consumed.

The maps can be rendered at resolutions of as little as 30 to 250 metres, and updated every one to ten days.

FAO's team of information technology and land and water officers has designed WaPOR — through a 10 million USD project funded by the government of the Netherlands — to cover Africa and the Near East, with a focus on key countries that are or are projected soon to face physical or infrastructural water scarcity.

Country level data will be made available in June for Benin, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Uganda, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Yemen.

Even more detailed data will come online in October, starting with pilot areas in Lebanon, Ethiopia and Mali.

Manchester United reached the Europa League semi-finals for the first time after beating Anderlecht 2-1 on Thursday, but at the cost of a potentially serious injury to Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The talismanic Swede, 35, had to go off after damaging his right knee late in the game at Old Trafford and may not play again this season, while United also lost centre-back Marcos Rojo.

United prevailed courtesy of an extra-time strike by Marcus Rashford, which secured a 3-2 aggregate success, after Henrikh Mkhitaryan's opener was cancelled out by Sofiane Hanni.

"I don't think they are easy injuries, but I prefer to wait until all the tests are done and then speak. But the news is fairly negative I think," United manager Jose Mourinho told BT Sport.

"It is an important title and we have to keep going.

Today showed how difficult it is. We are not expecting anything easy in the semi-finals."

The scrappy, sapping victory means Mourinho's side remain on course to claim the only major trophy missing from the club's collection.

But the injuries to Ibrahimovic and Rojo could prove costly, particularly with United having re-energised their push for a top-four finish in the Premier League by brilliantly beating Chelsea.

Ibrahimovic's injury occurred late in stoppage time, his right knee bending the wrong way as he landed following an aerial challenge in the Anderlecht box, leaving him grimacing on the deck.

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker, scorer of 28 goals this season, was able to hobble down the tunnel, aided by medical staff, but United's fans will fear they have seen the last of him this season.

It cast a shadow over United's evening, but Rashford's superb 107th-minute strike ensured they took up a place in the last four.

Star of Sunday's 2-0 win over Chelsea, he notched the decisive goal by gathering Marouane Fellaini's knock-down, making space with a sharp Cruyff turn and firing in a low shot with his left foot.

United first went ahead in the 10th minute after a finely measured pass from Paul Pogba found Rashford wide on the left.

Rashford's cross was blocked, but the ball came back to him and he squared it for Mkhitaryan, who drilled a low shot into the bottom-left corner.

United were on top and it took flying one-handed saves from visiting goalkeeper Ruben to repel a header from Pogba and a Jesse Lingard curler.

But United then lost Rojo — hurt as he tried in vain to halt Frank Acheampong, with Daley Blind taking his place — and Anderlecht levelled the tie in the 32nd minute.

Youri Tielemans's deflected shot came back off the crossbar and after a moment's confusion, Hanni put away the rebound.

United's chances became more clear-cut in the second half.

Rashford rounded Ruben but knocked the ball too wide after an error by Dennis Appiah and Ruben thwarted Ibrahimovic from substitute Fellaini's header.

A corner from Mkhitaryan fell for Pogba on the edge of the six-yard box, but he skied his volley into the Stretford End.

Freed by Michael Carrick, Ibrahimovic shanked wastefully wide.

Teed up by Ibrahimovic's scooped pass, Rashford found the side-netting.

Elsewhere, Ajax reached their first European semi-final in 20 years with a 4-3 aggregate win over Schalke after extra time.

Leon Goretzka and Guido Burgstaller scored in the space of three second-half minutes to cancel out Ajax's advantage from the first leg.

Daniel Caligiuri hit Schalke's third after 101 minutes thanks to Sead Kolasinac's fine cross.

But Nick Viergever quickly levelled on aggregate before Amin Younes hit a last-minute winner for the Dutch who finished the game with 10 men after Joel Veltman had been red-carded in the 80th minute.

Celta Vigo reached a European semi-final for the first time after a 1-1 draw at Genk gave them a 4-3 aggregate win over the Belgians.

In Istanbul, Lyon beat Besiktas 7-6 on penalties after the Turkish side had won 2-1 on the night to level the tie at 3-3. 

Despite his administration's certification of Iran's compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Iran of "not living up to the spirit" of the nuclear deal.

"They (Iranians) are doing a tremendous disservice to an agreement that was signed. It was a terrible agreement. It shouldn't have been signed," Xinhua news agency quoted Trump as saying.

When asked by a reporter whether the White House had any reasons to suspect that Iran was cheating on the nuclear deal, Trump appeared to ignore the question, answering only that his administration was analyzing the 2015 nuclear deal.

"We'll have something to say about it in the not-too-distant future," said Trump. He did not elaborate.

In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson certified that Iran was compliant through Tuesday with its commitments under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

It was the first certification of Iran's compliance issued by the Trump administration. Like his predecessor former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Tillerson is required to send the certification every 90 days.

However, calling Iran "a leading state sponsor of terror," Tillerson informed the Congress that the Trump administration had directed a full review of the 2015 nuclear deal to evaluate whether continued sanctions relief was in the US national security interests.

During his campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized the Iran nuclear deal, calling it "the worst deal ever negotiated." He also suggested that he would force Iran to return to the negotiation table or risk the accord being dismantled.

Iran and six world major countries — the United States, Britain, China, Russia, France and Germany — reached an agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue in July, 2015 that puts Iran on the path of sanctions relief but more strict limits on its nuclear program.

The deal sets limits on Iran's nuclear activities as it will take Tehran at least one year to produce enough fissile materials for producing a nuclear weapon, and allows regular inspections of the facilities inside Iran.

In return, the United States and the European Union will suspend nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran, with the lifting of all past UN Security Council sanction resolutions.

American Olympic champion hurdler Brianna Rollins has accepted a one-year ban for failing to report correctly her whereabouts to anti-doping officials, a media report said.

Rollins missed three tests, on April 27, September 13, and September 27 in 2016, which resulted in an anti-doping violation, Xinhua news agency reported. 

The ban is retroactive to September 27, the date of her last missed whereabouts report, which will not affect her 100m victory at the Rio Olympics.

However, it will keep her out of the 2017 World Championships in London in August.

In a statement released on Thursday, her attorneys said the computer program mix-up caused the ban as it listed her location on certain dates as both her home and a track meet where she was competing. 

Islamic State (IS) terror group has claimed responsibility for the shooting here in the French capital that saw a gunman open fire on a police van, killing one officer and injuring two, media reports said.

The terrorist network's news agency identified the attacker as Belgian man Abu Yusuf al-Baljiki in a tweet taking credit for the Thursday night attack, the New York Post reported.

IS said the assault was the work of one of its "soldiers". 

Cops killed the shooter at the scene – and said he was someone they had previously flagged as an extremist.

At 9 pm, the officers were stopped at a traffic light on the Champs-Elysees – a bustling boulevard popular with tourists and famed for its luxury stores and eateries.

The gunman pulled up next to the police vehicle, took out an automatic weapon and started shooting, New York Post quoted Interior Ministry Spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet, Efe news reported.

"On the face of it, the officers were deliberately targeted," Brandet said.

Evidence and witness statements indicate that the attack was carried out by one man, Brandet said.

Paris police ordered the immediate evacuation of the Champs-Elysees and suspension of service at nearby metro stations.

The incident comes just three days before French voters cast ballots in the first round of the Presidential election.

Although the police have also confirmed the identity of the gunman, they are withholding his name to allow time to determine whether he had any accomplices, Paris Chief Prosecutor François Molins said at the crime scene.

Investigators have already searched the shooter's residence in suburban Paris.

French President Francois Hollande, who has convened a meeting of France's Defence Council for Friday morning, said he was convinced the shooting was an act of a "terrorist character." 

"We have a great determination to battle terrorism here and everywhere our forces are engaged," the head of state said in a televised address.

"With regard to the security forces, the nation's support is total," Hollande said, adding that the government would organise a tribute to the slain policeman.

Authorities would remain on the highest alert, especially for possible threats to the election, he said.

France has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when more than 130 people were killed in a single night by coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.

Several of the candidates vying in Sunday's presidential poll issued statements of sympathy for the victims and their families, and some referred to the shooting as an act of terrorism.

Two Presidential hopefuls cancelled rallies scheduled for Friday.

US President Donald Trump, in comments prior to Hollande's televised address, said that the violence in Paris "looks like another terrorist attack."

"It never ends," he said during a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, offering condolences to the French people.

World No.1 Andy Murray was knocked out on Thursday from the Monte-Carlo Masters, after suffering a shock defeat against Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.

Ramos-Vinolas, ranked 24 in the world, defeated the Briton 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in two hours and 32 minutes, reports Efe.

Murray, 29, who recently returned from time off the court due to injury, failed to keep up with the Spaniard's pace and only managed to win the first set before losing a disappointing second set, and eventually losing the match and a place in the quarterfinals.

Ramos-Vinolas will play the last eight match against Croatia's Marin Cilic, World No.8, who eliminated Czech Tomas Berdych after a 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) victory.

Former Chief Justice of the Delhi and Madras High Courts, Justice A P Shah, has questioned the kind of ‘nationalism’ that "forces people to stand for the National Anthem at movie theatres, that tells people what to eat and what to speak".

Delivering the MN Roy memorial lecture on ‘Free Speech, Nationalism, and Sedition’, here on Wednesday, Justice Shah took on the “forces enforcing a certain kind of nationalism” and said, “A cult of nationalism is on the rise where people holding views against that of the government are being dubbed as ‘anti- national’.”

Justice Shah equated today's discourse on nationalism with what MN Roy, the eminent thinker and radical humanist, had said in 1942, before India got independence from the British Raj ~ “A parochial, selfish, narrow-minded nationalism has caused so much misfortune and misery to the world. “
Commenting on the situation at universities in India, he said, “Unfortunately, our institutions of learning are under attack today and there is every effort to destroy the independence of thinking by certain regressive forces operating in the country.”

Cautioning against the perils of stifling dissent on university campuses, he said, "We have a 21-year-old university student who is subject to severe online hate, abuse, and threats only because she dared express her views,"
Justice Shah condemned the crackdown on meat shops and slaughter houses in UP and its implication on the economy of a certain section of people. “Crackdowns that are primarily targeted at Muslim butchers are not only leaving lakhs of people with fear but without stable employment," he said.

He told the audience that his grandfather was the president of Hindu Mahasabha in 1940s. However, he himself disagreed with the thoughts of the Mahasabha and present RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for a ban on cow slaughter all across the country.

"We must be cautious of forcing a single ideology or way of living in India, where states such as Kerala, or the various states in the North-east, consider beef a staple part of their diet," he said.
Justice Shah also expressed his disagreement with the Supreme Court’s order on National Anthem. "It is important to remember that the right to free speech and expression also includes the right not to speak or express ourselves. However, under the guise of law, the court has now stepped in and restricted our fundamental rights,” he said.

Among those who were present at the lecture were Law Commission chairman Justice BS Chauhan and sitting judges of the Supreme Court, including Justice J Chelameshwar.

For sports professionals or the younger lot suffering from the debilitating disease of osteoarthritis of knee, ankle and shoulder joints, here’s some news that will offer them relief. Mumbai-based Regenerative Medical Services Regrow, the premier biotechnology group in the country, has come up with cell therapy in the field of orthopaedics. The group aims to replace the damaged tissue and accelerate the natural process of stem cell therapy with the help of minimally invasive surgeries that have no side effects at a reasonable cost.

Chondron Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation is the country’s first homegrown stem cell success saga. It makes use of the body’s own cartilage, which is cultured for a period of one month at the group’s cell processing centre at Lonavala. The cultured cell is suitably implanted into the damaged part of the patient’s body resulting in regeneration of new cartilage and making the patient refrain from joint replacement process.

Satyen Sanghavi, chief scientific officer and executive director, RMS Regrow said, “In today’s busy world, the most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis that has affected nearly 15 million people and knee pain has become chronic. The younger generation is highly prone to osteoarthritis. With Chondron ACI, regeneration of cartilage is the best option since it promises minimally invasive and personalised treatment, improves the quality of life, suits the budget of the patient, helps to regain normal activities fully and provides long-term relief. Chondron ACI is performed for patients with damaged joints within the age bracket of 15 to 65 years. Sports professionals suffering from any injury can bounce back to their physical activities only after six months with the regeneration process.”

Usually the patient undergoing stem cell therapy is discharged on the first day once he is implanted and after three weeks’ time, he is hospitalised for two days and then finally discharged.

The regenerative medical group came into existence in 2009 and till now, around 350 patients have been treated with stem cell therapy in the country. Sanghavi further said, “Patients undergoing stem cell therapy have to shell out Rs 2 lakh and the amount is reimbursed by healthcare insurance groups.” The regeneration process imparts safe and effective mode of treatment. Sanghavi said, “We are in parleys to form tieups with major superspeciality healthcare players like Apollo Group of Hospitals and Medica Group in leading metros of India. We are also in talks with state governments to introduce the stem cell therapy in state government hospitals.”

These minimally invasive surgeries are in high demand in Kolkata, the National Capital Region and Tamil Nadu. Sanghavi said, “Around 10 per cent of orthopaedic surgeries are performed in West Bengal. These days, a sedentary lifestyle, trauma, accidents, obesity and sports injuries are the major causes of osteoarthritis.”

An interesting theory has recently been posited by an author who has proved the value of statistics when a book is judged. Before we read about this author’s radical dimension of assessing writers through their books, let us read three examples of opening sentences, written by famous writers who were awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature. There could be common factors in the beginning and subsequently these factors could be added for each writer who has written several books. Perhaps that common factor, in higher numbers, could result in a “good” novel.

• The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rocks and began to pick his way towards the lagoon. (The beginning of Lord of the Flies by William Golding who was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983)
• Light, my light, the world filling light, heartsweetening light!The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light.  Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light……

(The opening lines of poem no 57, in Gitanjali or Song Offerings by Rabindranath Tagore, who was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1913)

• He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. (From the beginning of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, who was awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1953)

In each of these examples, the element of colour has been used to convey to the reader its interpretation in the narrative. In Lord of the Flies, Golding begins with a fair haired boy to describe a young child who moved towards a “lagoon”, enunciating to the reader that the lagoon was part of the blue sea; in fact, this narrative involves a group of British kids, many whom are fair haired and who are stranded on an island in the Pacific. This sets the stage for the entire book.

In the second quote, Tagore has used the power of light, which accentuates the vivid colours of nature’s beauty through the dazzling hues of butterflies, lilies and jasmines. He extols the power of sunlight, without which such beauteous colours would never be seen.

Hemingway begins with focusing on an old man — the protagonist of his famous book. He highlights to the reader an old man who would, of course, be with grey hair and beard, and explains that this man is happy to be alone, even on the blue expanse of the high seas, alluding to the Gulf Stream, a significant maritime current, which plays a role in the narrative.

These examples are random views with the new theory of statistics, in assessment of books, and a statistician would list the number of opening lines in an author’s books where colour is used. A percentage is thus calculated and that may help rate the book.

Nabokov’s Favourite Word is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing by Ben Blatt, published in March, is a tome where data meets literature to discuss an amazing phenomenon related to our favourite authors and their masterpieces. Readers tend to neglect many words, which in a novel is worth thousands of data points.

Blatt, a journalist and statistician, created a database of the text from a few 20th century classics and bestsellers, to quantify his findings. His analyses revealed patterns that could have been unnoticed by critics.

Blatt stores this information into his database. Vladimir Nabokov used the word mauve 44 times and this was more than an average writer in the last two centuries. Blatt was asked in an interview about this statistical approach. He clarified that as a data journalist he prefers studying inputs quantitatively and in an unbiased manner; he enjoys analysing information through statistics knowing that they will enlighten readers on a writer’s style and one can thus unearth trends in their writing

State-run National Aluminium Company offer for sale (OFS), got overwhelming response from investors with the retail portion subscribed 3.17 times on the second and last day of the offer on Thursday, the government announced.

Institutional investors had bid 1.84 times on Wednesday.

"The central government has successfully divested 9.2 per cent of paid-up capital in National Aluminum Company Ltd. (NALCO) to raise Rs 1,200 crore to begin financial year 2017-18 with a bang," a Finance Ministry release said.

"Originally, the disinvestment in NALCO OFS was pegged at 5 per cent of paid-up capital, but seeing the overwhelming response from the market, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) exercised the green shoe option to retain over-subscription and raised the offer to 9.2 per cent on Wednesday," it said.

With this transaction, the government's shareholding in NALCO has come down to 65.37 per cent.

For 2017-18, the government has set a target of Rs 46,500 crore through minority stake sale, and Rs 15,000 crore from strategic disinvestment.

In 2016-17, the government had raised over Rs 46,247 crore from disinvestment.

The Hitachi life limited executive managing director, Yuaaz Nassu and financial director of DLA Park Premiere’s Yasua Suzuki has made a campus placement of dozens of Delhi Paramedical and Management Institute students. During the survey, they selected for the placement in old age homes located in Japan and also students of medical lab technician, radiology, multipurpose health, and worker and general duty assistants. “There is a high demand of paramedical staff not only in Japan but all over the world. But the proportion of the demand is not met under this, we are searching for the capable paramedic students in India, which has been completed in the DPMI,” said Nassu.

Birla Sun Life Insurance launched a unique pan India campaign “Swabhimaan” to educate, empower and employ women in India. The second chapter of the campaign was launched in Kolkata recently, which witnessed women from various walks of life attending the programme. “We believe in counselling and protection for our customers. Our endeavour is to contribute in making women more self-reliant and help them contribute to their family income. We aim to tap the huge talent pool professionals and help us strengthen our sales force across cities, enabling productivity,” said Anil Kumar Singh, chief actuarial officer, Birla Sun Life Insurance. Once selected as an advisor, they will be given extensive product training to equip with need based selling and help them suggest the right solution.

Apollo Munich Health Insurance announced a tie up with Manipal Global Education Services to offer customised health insurance training programme for participants at the Manipal Academy of Banking and Insurance in Bangalore. Interestingly, out of the Rs 1.5 lakh fee for this one year course, students get Rs 1.2 lakh back in the form of stipend during the course itself. Commencing in June, it aims at creating young experts in health insurance while giving them an opportunity to join the flourishing sector.

This is a perfect blend of classroom and practical knowledge comprising four months on-campus residential training and two months of internship, followed by six months of on-the-job training. This will pave the way for many active collaborative engagements that will benefit the insurance industry. Upon successful completion, students will be awarded a postgraduate diploma in health insurance and an offer of employment at Apollo Munich Health Insurance.

Filmmaking is witnessing a paradigm shift as passionate young hearts are portraying pictures with unique perspectives. The 19-year-old Sadia Aurna Akter is one such independent filmmaker from Bangladesh who enlightened the audience with her sublime ideas on “Do films influence society?” at the Lincoln room in American Center, Kolkata, recently. She studied creative education on scholarship and at the age of 16, joined an advertising agency Applebox Films, Dhaka, as a research intern and has been working there for three years now.

She has directed music videos for bands that cannot afford the necessary platforms to promote themselves and worked as assistant director, costume designer and casting director. In one of the advert videos where she was the casting director, it featured a foreigner lady whom she selected after a random but rigorous search in social media.

A one-minute video directed by her, titled Hands Matter, poignantly depicted the issue of child abuse. “It has been shown more abstractly rather than directly as a vivid portrayal of such a sensitive issue in public medium is not easy. The cast selected are indigenous actors to draw focus towards their community as they often get rejected as minority. Also the cast are men because they too fall victim of abuse and cannot talk about it, having tagged by the society as superiors who are devoid of weaknesses. It is shameful and hard for them to share,” said Akter.

For those who have the passion but not the means to flourish in this domain, she suggested, “Approach the people who can help you. Mentors are very important as they push you into the right environment for the field”. She stated the example of the renowned director Anurag Kashyap who started as nobody and shot films outdoors during Diwali to cut the expenses of lighting.

She gave a presentation on the steps involved in making a film. “It is all about good preparation. The more prepared you are the better you do,” she shared. A number of advert videos were shown pointing out how they use your emotions and selling stories that triggers your brain. On one such video, an audience reacted, “What I liked best about it is that there were no words yet I could connect so well”. Akter suggested that to make films more impactful, filmmakers must choose Internet as the medium to reach young people.

In our fast-paced, technology-driven world, it is not an exaggeration to say that verbal communication plays an important role for climbing the professional ladder. Though incorrect use of language may convey the basic meaning yet it reflects poorly on the user. In each case you have an opportunity to impress others with your language skills and directly or indirectly enhance your career.

The list of common mistakes that people commit in social and professional situations is endless. Confusing prepositions is another malady especially in sentences, errors in use of articles or tenses. Apart from these common grammatical mistakes, people even get confused in using key expressions. There and many such expressions relevant in the use of English as they help in connecting ideas and conveying the right meaning. Thus in one sense, these expressions are the backbone of the language and individuals who wish to hone their skills, need to have a basic idea.

Mistakes are not just limited to grammar but also include vocabulary. For most people, vocabulary is all about the use of antonyms and synonyms taught in schools but it is in fact a vast area that includes knowledge of single and multi-word units. One of the commonest errors is confusing two words and then using them wrongly. Often the word is used to denote habitual action when its meaning is the exact opposite.

Not just single words but even phrasal verbs are a problem since one easily gets confused with putting the right particle after the verb “sign in/sign out” or sometimes putting a particle when it is not required. A related issue is errors made in written communication at the workplace especially emails. Excessive use of applications has caused many to write abbreviated sentences known as SMS language that reflects poorly on the language user creating a shoddy impression. Other common errors of writing are even seen in email communication such as the use of “revert back” when you mean to say “please reply.” Moreover, there is the danger of not using punctuation marks correctly, say a comma or a semi-colon, while writing which can lend an altogether new meaning to the text, often with disastrous effects.

There are many such mistakes that people make while using English. The demand to learn the language is natural since it is a global language. Yet what we need to realise is that for effective communication we need to master the basic concepts that will be helpful in speaking and writing. In other words, both knowledge and fluency are essential for a person.

Learning a language is challenging but it can be mastered with diligent effort. Some practical tips include reading newspapers, especially the editorial section and magazines on current affairs and finance. Such texts are useful in improving vocabulary, especially phrasal verbs and collocation of words. Knowledge of common errors related to grammar and vocabulary is crucial.

Another important area to work upon is key expressions. Checking the meaning and pronunciation of a new word or a vaguely familiar word on the Internet or in the dictionary is of great importance. Speaking with friends and family is also a way of developing fluency in the language besides watching films and television shows. BBC adaptations of literature are a good way to start and so writing a diary/journal about day-to-day thoughts and events. Attending workshops on communication or pronunciation are also a way to learn. With gradual practice, one can gain more confident and proficient in the use of English.

The writer is author of the book common errors in everyday English (Oxford University Press)

While a majority of college students are more anxious about exams, attendance and their weekly dose eating out, starting a company would be the last thing on their mind.

While studying in college starting a business can be fun especially for final year students. As it requires dedication, focus and energy to do multi-tasking you will be learning new skills through written assignments and practical lesson through own experience. Top colleges like Harvard University and Oxford motivate their young and dynamic students to learn through freelancing projects and think of career plans.

If you are planning to be one of a kind young and energetic entrepreneur, just like any endeavour you work on, it will require a clear and focused idea, plan and research and not something that happens the night before it’s due.

To make it more comprehensible for budding student entrepreneur, here are a few points that you need to keep in mind while starting your own organisation:

• Evaluate your business ideas, skills, knowledge, and goals: The foremost important step to be a boss on your own is to assess your idea, which you will convey to your customers/ clients for revenue making. After the idea weighs up on your skills on how they can be useful in growing your company, you can also take a good consultation from your professors or lecturers for guidance. One must also be focussed on the desired industry where you want to hit and achieve success. Don't worry many of your friends or respected people will advise you to gain firsthand experience in the industry before making the start of your venture, but the only thing you need most is self-motivation and confidence to go ahead.
• Research: Since beginning till the end of finalising of an idea for your business, research a lot about your competitors, trends and market. It will provide you better insights about the desired business you want to conduct. This process is also called as SWOT process which includes strength, weakness, opportunities to work on and the possible threats that can be faced.
• Networking and collaborating: When you're a college student network with the peers of your surrounding universities or colleges. If you have ever been to a game of cricket or football or any college fest, you will see student’s from various colleges participating behind one activity or event. In the same event, you will find and make like-minded friends from different areas, who can be equally enthusiastic like you in turning their life and as well as being their own boss. Sit with them during your breaks, talk to them and if the association permits collaborate with their skill to give a push to your mission.
• Be selfish: There is nothing wrong in being selfish for your mission because here selfishness comes with the responsibilities and investing your heart, soul and saved money in something you believe in when there is less responsibility for you to worry about. This is the perfect time to take risks and follow your heart. Move out of your comfortable position and take charge of your ideas.
• Courage to chase your dream: We all are aware of the stereotypes attached to the millennial generation. Of being lazy, social media and food freaks, old enough and yes being irresponsible who don't work hard. These negative stereotypes can be advantageous to an entrepreneur. When someone young brings in disruption, it's a big deal. Use your young age to your advantage and be a proud millennial.
• Being okay with failure: Failing is the biggest fear of our life, which brings depression but it is okay to fail and then celebrate it with an open heart. It is okay to make mistakes and face rejection but at least you are trying on your part to take life head on as it comes.

If you are too comfortable and you are not facing rejection, it means you are not stretching yourself to a limitless dimension. Supposing if you mess up something in college, there is a chance that you will bounce back with new confidence because the last thought you would want is to regret on not doing something you want passionately.

The writer is managing director, richlook.