Epaper English Edition Lucknow Edition 2013-04-16

CAPSULE
HIMAYAT BAIG CONVICTED

FOR BEST BAKERY BLAST
Pune: A Pune court on Monday
held Indian Mujahideen operative
Himayat Baig, a prime accused
in the German Bakery blast,
guilty for his role in the terror
attack, officials said.
SAD MEETS PM, SEEKS
LIFE TERM FOR BHULLAR
New Delhi: Punjab's ruling
Shiromani Akali Dal sought
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh's immediate intervention
in commuting the death
sentence of 1993 Delhi bomb
blast convict Devinder Pal Singh
Bhullar to life imprisonment.
PETROL PRICE CUT
DOWN BY `1/LITRE
New Delhi: Petrol price was cut
by `1 per litre, effective Monday
midnight the third reduction
in rates in one month. The price
cut, which was made possible
because of fall in international
oil prices, excludes local sales
tax or VAT.
SIT CLEAN CHIT TO
MODI: ZAKIA FILES PLEA
Ahmedabad: Zakia Jafri, wife of
2002 post-Godhra riots victim
and former Congress MP Ehsan
Jafri, filed a protest petition in a
local court seeking rejection of
the SIT report giving a clean chit
to Chief Minister Narendra Modi
and others in the Gulburg
Society riot case.
PAKISTAN INSTIGATING
BDESH VIOLENCE: MP
Kolkata: A senior Awami League
MP and Minister of Bangladesh
Government accused Pakistan of
instigating violence in
Bangladesh.
PNS n NEW DELHI / PATNA
A
day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar unleashed a veiled attack on
his Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi,
questioning his secular credentials to
become NDAs prime ministerial candi-
date, State BJP leaders told the Central
leadership that enough was enough.
The BJP officially retaliated against
Nitish Kumar with full force on Monday
by saying it did not need a certificate on
secularism from the Bihar CM.
So far as any allegation, accusation
against our CM is concerned, we com-
pletely abhor that. Kumar is nobody
whose certificate is required as far as that
particular aspect is concerned, BJP
spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told
reporters.
She rubbed the point in that Kumar
was part of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Government when the Godhra incident
took place and still continues to be a part
of the NDA. In 2002 too, Nitish Kumar
was part of our (NDA) Government.
During the Sabarmati Express incident
(Godhra, 2002), he was the Rail
Minister, Lekhi said.
On a day that saw the leaders of the
two parties locked in a verbal duel, Modi
loyalists from Bihar met party chief
Rajnath Singh and registered their
protest against Kumar. Former State unit
chief CP Thakur, Health Minister
Ashwani Choubey, Animal Husbandry
Minister Giriraj Singh and PHED
Minister Chandramohan Rai told the
BJP chief that party workers in Bihar
were upset with the manner in which
Modi has been attacked over the past
few months.
The Bihar BJP leaders had skipped
a recent meeting of the State executive,
expressing resentment over certain
organisational decision, and party chief
had summoned them to national capi-
tal to discuss the issues. However, they
chose the opportunity to highlight
Bihar BJPs failure to protect its own
interest in alliance with the JD(U)
there.
The BJP leadership is understood to
have asked its Bihar leaders to exercise
restraint till a formal decision on the
PM-candidate issue is taken by the
Parliamentary Board of the party. But,
party leaders continue to express their
displeasure with Nitish.
The way Narendra Modi has been
targeted has not gone down well with the
BJP leaders and workers. It is surpris-
ing that he chose to attack Modi but had
good words for the Congress and its
leadership, Bihar BJP chief Mangal
Pandey said.
Young BJP MLA Nitin Naveen told
The Pioneer that Narendra Modi was the
partys respected leader and any promi-
nent leader of an alliance partner should
refrain himself from attacking him. He
said that Nitish Kumar should concen-
trate his energy on cornering Sonia
Gandhi and Manmohan Singh so that
the UPA Governments failures could be
highlighted.
Meanwhile, posters projecting
Narendra Modi as next PM have
been put up in several places of Patna.
Activists of Narendra Modi Vichar
Manch have erected his posters, describ-
ing him as the next PM, while Atal
Bihari Vajpayee as the best PM at var-
ious parts in the State capital.
Continued on Page 10
RAHUL DATTA n NEW DELHI
I
n a significant move, the
Army will recruit more than
200 women and grant them
permanent commission in var-
ious branches, which are so far
exclusive domain of male offi-
cers. This decision will address
the long-standing grievance of
women officers who have to
quit the Army after 15 years of
service as short service com-
mission(SSC) officers.
The far reaching step was
approved in the five-day long
A r m y
Commanders'
Conference last
week after the
top brass
reviewed two papers prepared
in this regard by the Army
Training Command
(ARTRAC) and South-Western
Command.
Giving details here on
Monday, officials said the Army
will now open more avenues
for permanent commission for
women in streams like
Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers(EME), Ordnance
Corps and Intelligence Corps,
Army Service Corps and Army
Aviation Corps.
At present, most women
officers numbering 1,214 will
serve 15 years in these branch-
es and retire as SSC officers
after attaining the rank of Lt
Colonel. They
are inducted
as permanent
c o m m i s -
sioned offi-
cers in only two branches like
Judge and Advocate
General(JAG) and Army
Education Corps where they
can rise to rank of Lt General.
While the Army has agreed
in principle to induct more
women officers, the top com-
manders, however, wanted a
more detailed review of prac-
tical issues and asked the South
Western Command to come up
with solutions.
The South Western
Command had interviewed
more than 400 women officers
besides their commanding offi-
cers over the last two years for
this study before tabling the
report.
The commanders flagged
some issues like absence from
duty to raise a family and its
impact on the overall perfor-
mance of the unit, tenure of
posting of the spouse, and cre-
ating separate infrastructure for
women officers in inhospitable
terrain. The study found that a
woman officer remains absent
from duty for family reasons
for a period of four years at an
average during her career.
These issues cropped up as
the Army, unlike the IAF and
Navy, operates in inaccessible
terrains, officials said.
The South Western Command
was asked to keep these
factors in view while framing
the policy.
The Services threwopen its
doors for women officers in
1992-93 and the percentage of
women officers in the Army,
Navy and Air Force, excluding
medical streams, is 3.3 per
cent, 3.9 per cent and 10.04 per
cent respectively.
In numbers the figure is
1,214 (Army), 302(Navy) and
1,079(IAF).
PNS n LUCKNOW
S
oon after the Akhilesh
Government robbed Amethi of
its VIP status by ending its unin-
terrupted power supply,
the Allahabad High Court
on Monday took away the
district status of the Lok
Sabha constituency of
Congress vice-president
Rahul Gandhi.
The courts verdict will
come as a obstacle in the
way of the Centres efforts
to pump in money for cen-
trally-funded schemes in
Rahuls area. Rahul will
also no longer be able to oversee sev-
eral Amethi district committees
which will now cease to exist.
The Lucknow bench of the
Allahabad High Court quashed the
Mayawati Governments notification
of July 1, 2010 for creating a newdis-
trict namely Chatrapati Shahuji
Maharajnagar, which was later
renamed Amethi by the SP
Government.
The directive was issued by the
bench of Chief Justice Shiva Kirti
Singh and Justice DKArora on peti-
tions filed by Brij Kishore Verma
and three others.
The Mayawati Government had
carved out Amethi, Gauriganj and
Jagdishpur tehsils from Sultanpur
District and Salon and Tiloi tehsils
from Rae Bareli district to form the
new district.
The full bench decided on
September 21, 2012 that the State
Government could not issue the
notification for creating a new dis-
trict while Census survey was under
progress by the Union of India.
Appearing on behalf of the peti-
tioners, the counsel submitted before
the court that issuing the notifica-
tion dated July 1, 2010 for creating
a new district, namely Chhatrapati
Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, was totally
arbitrary action on part of the State.
The counsel further contended
that the State must know
the minimum require-
ment of the common cit-
izen before creating a new
district.
The larger bench
directed to place the mat-
ter before the Lucknow
bench. The court on
Monday observed that as
the parties accepted the
decision of the larger
bench, hence the notifi-
cation was liable to be quashed and
the writ petition was allowed accord-
ingly.
It observed that the State
Government may proceed afresh in
this matter.
PNS n NEW DELHI
A
ctor Sanjay Dutt on
Monday sought a six-
month extension to surrender
in the 1993 Bombay blasts
case. The Supreme Court had
given hima month-till April 18
to surrender to undergo his
remaining punishment of
three-and-a-half years.
Besides Sanjay Dutt, three
other accused in the 1993
Mumbai blasts have also sought
stay on their surrender. Citing
old age and the fact that a par-
don petition had been filed on
their behalf before the
President, the three petitioners
Zaibunisa Ahmed Kazi,
Issaq Mohammad Hajwane,
and Sharif Abdul Gafoor
have urged the apex court to
await the decision on their
pardon pleas.
Senior advocate Fali S
Nariman who appeared for
the three petitioners men-
tioned the matter before a
bench headed by Chief Justice
Altamas Kabir. The Court is
expected to hear the petition on
Tuesday. Dutts application is
also expected to be mentioned
along with the other petitions.
Along with Zaibunisa, the
other two petitioners Sharif and
Issaq are 88 and 76 years
respectively. They had sepa-
rately appealed for mercy to the
President on April 10. Apex
courts decision granted all the
convicted accused bail to sur-
render within four weeks. Issaq
and Sharif were acquitted of the
conspiracy charge by the
TADA court. On an appeal
filed by Maharashtra
Government, the apex court
reversed this finding and
awarded them life sentence.
Sharif informed the Court that
due to his advanced age and the
fact that he had spent 14 years
in jail, his case must be con-
sidered by the apex court.
PNS n NEW DELHI
E
nding Gujarats monopoly
as the only State to house
Asiatic lions, the Supreme
Court on Monday directed
that a small portion of the 400-
odd strong population of the
critically endangered species,
be translocated from Gir to
Kuno Sanctuary in Madhya
Pradesh.
The switch, to be effective
in six months, would require
the Centre to constitute an
expert committee to study the
number of lions to be shifted,
based on prey density and
guidelines of the International
Union for Conservation of
Nature (IUCN) on re-intro-
duction of critically endan-
gered species.
The apex court said that in
matters of preserving and
developing critically endan-
gered flora and fauna, it is
essential to decide in the best
interest of the species to be
protected. Setting this princi-
ple, the Court urged the Centre
to bring out an exclusive
Parliamentary legislation to
preserve and protect other
endangered species, which
included the great Indian bus-
tard, wild buffalo, Bengal flor-
ican, dugong and Manipur
brow antlered deer among
others.
The population of Gir
lions was roughly about 400,
and fears of a forest fire or epi-
demic affecting the entire pop-
ulation of the only existing
sub-population of Asiatic lions
led the Court to pass this
order.
Gujarat objected to the
proposal as it claimed that
lion was a family member of
the State and in it rested the
pride of Gujarat.
Trashing this argument,
the bench of Justices KS
Radhakrishnan and CKPrasad
said: Animals in the wild are
properties of the nation for
which no State can claim own-
ership. The States duty is to
protect the wildlife and con-
serve it, for ensuring the eco-
logical and environmental
security of the country.
It asked the States not to
approach such matters with a
narrow family-centric or
human-centric approach but
an eco-centric approach.
In such an approach, only
the best interest of the species
must be regarded, it added.
Another proposal of the
Centre to introduce African
cheetahs from Namibia into
Kuno, the same place that was
to house the lions, was shot
down by the Court. It priori-
tized the re-introduction of a
native species, i.e. Asiatic lions
over the introduction of a for-
eign species, particularly when
lions were critically endan-
gered. Moreover, the National
Board of Wildlife was not con-
sulted on this proposal, which
served as another ground for
rejection.
Using this opportunity to
urge the Centre to play its pre-
cious part in saving animals on
brink of extinction, the Court
directed urgent recovery pro-
grammes to be initiated by
MoEF for preserving endan-
gered species of flora and
fauna. The Government was
further asked to conduct peri-
odic reviews to correlate with
the IUCN's endangered species
list known as Red List every
three years.
AP/AFP n CARACAS
V
enezuelas acting President
Nicolas Maduro has won
presidential election to succeed
his late mentor Hugo Chavez
by a razor-thin margin that
highlights rising discontent
over problems ranging from
crime to power blackouts.
Former bus driver and union
leader Nicolas Maduro, who
was raised as a Roman
Catholic, is an ardent follower
of Satya Sai Baba. He and his
wife, Cilia Flores, visited Putta-
parthi in
2005.
Mad-
uros rival
a n d
oppos i -
t i o n
leader Henrique Capriles
demanded a recount, portend-
ing more headaches for a coun-
try shaken by the death of its
dominating leader. One key
Chavista leader expressed dis-
may over the outcome of
Sundays election, which was
supposed to cement the self-
styled Bolivarian Revolution
of their beloved president as
Venezuelas destiny. National
Assembly President Diosdado
Cabello, who many consider
Maduros main rival within
their movement, tweeted: The
results oblige us to make a pro-
found self-criticism.
Maduro promised to carry
on Chavezs legacy, while chal-
lenger Henrique Capriles main
message was that Chavez put
this country with the worlds
largest oil reserves on the road
to ruin.
Related report on P13
Young lives, devoid of all hope, help
Bihar BJP asks
Rajnath to call
Nitish's bluff SWETA GOSWAMI n NEW DELHI
R
elentless violence might have
forced them to migrate to
India in search of a better life, but
there is literally no end to the mis-
eries of the 500 Pakistani-Hindus
who have taken refuge in a dilap-
idated two storey house at
Bijwasan, in the national Capital.
Their hopes have seemingly
crashed for want of a rehabilitation
plan, proper accommodation and
means of livelihood in India.
The children while away their
days on the narrowstreets near the
house in Bijwasan as they have
nothing better to do and life is far
from easy in their makeshift home
where hundreds jostle for space in
the 28 rooms made available to
them by a kind Government offi-
cer Nahar Singh, about
whom The Pioneer
had reported on
Monday.
Sadly, no
Gover nment
official has
turned up as yet
even to speak to them; forget about
rehabilitation or succor.
Pooja, (12), who came to India
with her
grandparents,
aunt and
uncle, last
m o n t h ,
dreams of
becoming a doc-
tor. However, the
aspirations of this
young mind seem des-
tined to die as there is no certain-
ty of a stable life.
Even though the city has pro-
vided them security and they
dont live in perpetual fear of
their lives anymore, they contin-
ue to be in a deplorable state.
With no financial help or
assurance coming from the
Government, it looks like Pooja
and her compatriots dont have
much of a shot at a decent life.
My parents have sent me
here to get an education so that I
can have a respectable life. I could-
nt study in Pakistan as it was not
safe to go out of the house and they
used to teach us Islam, which did
not interest me.
I will go to school here once
the Government does something
for us. I miss my parents though,
said Pooja, with a hopeful look on
her face.
There are many more like
Pooja.
16-year-old Mala wants to be
a teacher and earn for her family,
which has ten members. Vikram,
20, wants to work in the
city so that he can buy a home
for himself.
HC blow to powerless' Amethi
Sanjay Dutt
files plea
for 6-month
breather
Satya Sai devotee
Nicolas Maduro
wins Venezuela's
presidential poll
An Asiatic lion walks through the Gir Sanctuary in Gujarat File photo
HAZY FUTURE: An innocent child looks at the Pioneers cameraman Alwin Singh | Pioneer
exclusive
pioneer
New era for women in Army: Permanent commission in offing
At present, most women
officers serve 15 years and
retire as SSC officers after
attaining the rank of
Lt Colonel. They are
inducted as permanent
commissioned officers in
only two branches like
Judge and Advocate
General and Army
Education Corps where
they can rise to rank of
Lt General
Rahul Gandhi's
seat stripped of
district status
Leaders say enough
is enough, don't need
JD(U)'s certificate
on secularism
The hopes of the 500
Pak-Hindu refugees have
seemingly crashed for want
of a rehabilitation plan,
proper accommodation and
means of livelihood in India
SC grants Girs Asiatic pride new home in Kuno
Gives preference
to native species,
rejects plan to shift
African cheetahs
HEAD-ON COLLISION!
mModi loyalists from Bihar met party
chief Rajnath Singh and registered
their protest against Kumar
mThe BJP leadership is understood to
have asked its Bihar leaders to exercise
restraint till a formal decision on the
PM-candidate issue is taken by the
Parliamentary Board of the party
mPosters projecting Narendra Modi
as "next PM", and describing Atal Bihari
Vajpayee as the "best PM" put at
various parts in Patna
III
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Late City Vol. 149 Issue 103
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SPORT 14
KXIP UP AGAINST KKR
AS STRUGGLING DD
LOCK HORNS WITH RCB
WORLD 13
STRING OF
ATTACKS KILL
36 IN IRAQ
OPINION 8
ALLIES SHOULDNT
TARGET BJP; WORK
TO OUST UPA REGIME
RNI NO.2016/1957, REGD NO. SSP/LW/NP-34/2010-12
LUCKNOW, TUESDAY APRIL 16, 2013; PAGES 16+16 `3
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LUCKNOW TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
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HUJJAT RAZA n LUCKNOW
F
looded with complaints of
passengers being over-
charged for the food which was
being provided to them in
trains, the railway authorities
were planning to get tougher
for getting rid of this problem.
In the trains the food was
being provided through pantry
cars which were usually given
to the contractors on a contract
basis. But even after the
Railways has prescribed the
rates for different meals and
snacks it received several com-
plaints of overcharging from
the passengers everyday.
In order to check this, the
North-Eastern Railway offi-
cials are planning to act
tougher than they were in the
past. To keep a check on such
malpractices, we have been
conducting surprise checks
and once even the managers of
a pantry car were arrested, said
the DRM, NER, Lucknow, VK
Yadav.
He said that the authorities
concerned had got the rate list
printed on stickers and got it
pasted it in the coaches so that
the passengers could easily
know the exact rate which
they had to pay for the food
purchased by them on trains.
Its a continuous process and
we are doing the same, he
adds.
Earlier the tray in which
the food was served to the pas-
sengers was covered by a paper
on which the rate chart was
printed so that they could
know the exact rates. But after
some time this practice was
stopped and the tray was cov-
ered with a simple paper
instead of the rate list.
We can start providing the
rate charts in the tray in which
the food is served to the pas-
sengers so that they dont get
overcharged. This facility will
start soon, said Yadav.
Though in the pantry car
the rate list has been provided
hardly any passenger goes
there as he or she has nothing
to do there as he or she gets the
food and snacks at their respec-
tive seats.
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n LUCKNOW
T
he Department of Zoology,
University of Lucknow, and the
Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board
in joint collaboration with the Regional
Science City will observe the Save the
Frogs Day on April 27 at the Regional
Science City here.
On the above day a number of
competitions on frog-related topics
will be organised with the aim of cre-
ating awareness regarding frogs
(amphibians) among the students.
An Associate Professor, Zoology
Department, LucknowUniversity, Anita Kannaujia, said that the competitions
would include a frog leap competition,
a competition for designing and paint-
ing a pond for the frog and a quiz on
it. She said that pamphlets would also
be distributed on the occasion.
She said that frogs were both preda-
tors and preys in the eco system.
They eat other insects and are
eaten by others hence they are use-
ful. A frogs skin is made of stuff
which helps find a cure for heart
diseases and cancer. Frogs provide
an early warning system to the envi-
ronmental problems because they
are the first to be affected. Frogs
make a huge biological family
which has 6,711 species each with
its own DNA and can be studied for
medicines, said Kannaujia.
She said that threats to amphibians
come from increased ultraviolet (UV)
radiation, pollution and pesticides,
alien species, climate change over col-
lection and diseases. The amphibian sci-
entists have formed an amphibian con-
servation society.
This plan also includes the
amphibian ark wherein the scientists
keep the frozen eggs of the frogs in con-
servation. One can help by telling oth-
ers to conserve the frog and keep them
protected, said Anita Kannaujia.
Overcharging in pantry cars
to be checked by Railways
T
he North Eastern Railway
(NER), Lucknow Division,
earned 11.4 per cent more than its
earning of the previous year and it
was recorded as Rs 688.62 crore in
the year 2012-13.
This information was given by
the Divisional Commercial
Manager (DRM), NER, Lucknow,
VK Yadav, while interacting with
the pressmen at the DRMs office
here on Monday.
The DRM said that in year
2011-12 its gross earning was
recorded as Rs 618.12 crore and
with an increase of 11.4 percent in
the year 2012-13, its total earning
reached Rs 688.62 crore. There
has been an increase in the past
three years as in year 2010-11 its
earning was recorded as Rs 582.68
crore, he added.
In the year 2012-13, the
Lucknow Division earned Rs
567.23 crore from passengers and
Rs 36.49 crore from other coach-
ing earnings. Under goods earning,
the division got Rs 76.89 crore.
The punctuality report of the
division was not satisfactory in
comparison to last year. According
to figures, the punctuality rate of
mail and express trains was 90.2
per cent in 2011-12 and with a
slight increase it was recorded as
91.8 per cent in 2012-13.
In the case of passenger trains
the punctuality rate was 70.6 per
cent in 2011-12 but it dipped to
68.7 per cent in 2012-13.
While speaking on Adarsh
Stations, the DRM said that the
work on adarsh stations had been
completed at Barhni, Naugarh,
Sitapur, Bahraich, Gonda and
Balrampur but it was still going on
at Basti, Khalilabad, Maghar,
Burhwal and Nautanwa.
For lighting the stations high
or mini mast towers have been pro-
vided at 19 important stations
and energy-efficient lighting had
been provided at all the modern
and adarsh stations, he added.
Women Security: Taking a
strong note on the question of
womens security in the trains and
at the railway premises, the NER,
Lucknow, with the cooperation of
the Railway Protection Force and
the Government Railway Police
had launched a helpline number
for taking their complaints.
We have opened the helpine
for the female passengers so that if
they land into any trouble they can
ask for help, said the DRM.
Along with it the division car-
ried out a drive to catch the males
travelling in reserved female coach-
es where in the year 2012 546 and
in the year 2013, 132 persons
were booked under the Railway
Act.
SUMMER SPECIALS: The
Division has introduced some 24
summer specials to meet the rush.
The list of all the special trains has
been issued and these trains to
popular destinations will run from
April to June for the convenience
of the passengers, said the DRM.
In order to clear the festival
rush during the year 2012-13, the
Division got 4,262 additional
coaches attached in the broad-
gauge trains and 5,554 coaches in
metre-gauge trains.
Earning of NER, Lucknow
Division, crosses Rs 688 cr
DRM), NER, Lucknow, VK Yadav, talking to pressmen at his office on Monday. Pioneer
FOR GETTING HELP
THE FEMALE PASSENGERS
CAN CONTACT:
GOVT RAILWAY POLICE
(GRP);
LANDLINE: 0522-2288103A
MOBILE: 9794866946,
9919099190 AND
9454402544
RAILWAYPROTECTION
FORCE (RPF):
LANDLINE: 0522-2233031
MOBILE: 9794842711.
SHARMILA KRISHNA n LUCKNOW
P
rof MS Swaminathan, who
is known as the Father of
Green Revolution, will visit
the city on Tuesday. He will be
the chief guest at the 24th
National Conference on
Sustainable Farming Systems
and Bioindustrial Watershed
Management for Food Security
and Enhancing Income of the
Farming Community which is
being organised by the Soil
Conservation Society of India
at the Indira Gandhi
Pratishthan here on Tuesday.
President of the Soil
Conservation Society of India,
Suraj Bhan, while talking to
The Pioneer said that this was
the second time that the con-
gress was being organised in
the state capital. Bhan also
confirmed that Prof
Swaminathan would be meet-
ing the Governor, BL Joshi.
It may be pointed out here
that Prof Swaminathan was
declared as the living legend by
the United Nations Secretary
General, Peres De Cures. He
has been rated by the US Times
magazine after a global survey
among the 20th century Asians
and the thirdmost influential
Indian of the 20th century
along with Mahatma Gandhi
and Rabindranath Tagore.
Regarding the conference
which is the 24th one, Bhan
said that it would be attended
by agricultural scientists from
the state and the Central
Government academicians and
administrators. The basic
purpose of holding the meet is
to discuss agricultural pro-
duce, its storage and value
addition for farmers. As Uttar
Pradesh is the biggest state with
focus on agriculture the con-
ference is being held in the state
capital, said Bhan.
Commenting on the soil of
Uttar Pradesh, he said that at
several places it had either
deteriorated or eroded and
there were areas which had
saline soils and waterlogged
soils which needed to be
worked upon and brought
under agriculture if the pro-
duce of the farmers had to be
increased.
He also said that much of
the area of Uttar Pradesh was
covered by a deep layer of allu-
vium spread by the slow-mov-
ing rivers of the Ganga system.
These extremely fertile alluvial
soils range fromsandy to clayey
loam. The soils in the southern
part of the state are generally
mixed red and black or red to
yellow.
The first session on April
16 at the conference will have
as its theme: Production
Enhancement through
Diversified Conservation
Farming Systems and
Management of Soils for Food
and Livelihood Security.
Devashish Panda will preside
over the session while its co-
chairman will be KB Singh
Rappoteur I.
The lead papers that will be
presented are as follows: The
farming system approach-a
panacea for enhancing farmers
income-will be presented by
VW Ambekar and GN Singh,
Integrated Farming Systems
approach for Climate-Resilient
Agriculture by Dr Anil K.
Singh and Protection of Natural
Resources and enhancing pro-
ductivity through reorganisa-
tion of cropping and land use
- A dry land perspective by Dr
MM Roy and Praveen Kumar.
Reducing Water and Land
and Increase in Food needs will
be presented by Dr HS
Chauhan, Improving health
and quality of salt-affected
soils for food security and
enhanced income of the farm-
ing community by Dr DK
Sharma and SK Chaudhari,
Farming System Approach- A
Way Forward for Viability of
Small and Marginal Farmers in
Uttar Pradesh by Dr Rajvir
Singh Rathore and
Management of Sodic Soils
through Flyash- A Show Case
Project by Neelam Mishra and
Girish Pandey.
Economics, Water
Productivity and Land-use
Efficiency of Sesame-based
Cropping Systems under North
Gujarat Agro-climatic condi-
tion will be presented by AI
Oyeogbe, BS Patel and S
Vaghela.
Session two will have Bio-
industrial Watershed
Management for Rural
Livelihood and Profitable
Farming as its theme. It will be
chaired by Manoj Kumar Singh
and co-chaired by VW
Ambedkar.
The lead paper, Special
Bio-industrial Watershed
Zones (SBZ) for Profitable
Farming will be presented by
Prof JS Bali and Suraj Bhan,
Need and scope of bio-indus-
trial watershed in Uttar
Pradesh for enhancing eco-
nomic status of Farmers by
VW Ambedkar, and
Agricultural Processing and
Value Addition in Production
Catchments for Rural
Prosperity by Dr Pitam
Chandra.
The Paper on Support
Livelihood Systems in water-
shed development for sustain-
able development with
improved food, employment
and income security will be
presented by DC Das, and the
Success Story of Community
Managed Bio-industrial
Watershed by Dr MS Hadda
and RSS Hopper, and Value
addition to agro produce for
income and employment gen-
eration in Rural Areas will be
presented by Dr SD Kulkarni.
The Paper on Uses of
Renewable Energy in
Agriculture and other fields
will be presented by AK
Tripathi, Participatory Bio
Industrial Watershed
Management for Sustainable
Farming System in Uttar
Pradesh by KB Singh and
Girish Pandey and Farmer-
Friendly Marketing of Pulse
through Farmer Producer
Organisation (FPO) in Rainfed
Area of Uttar Pradesh by Girish
Pandey and KB Singh.
Prof MS Swaminathan to
visit Lucknow today
Save the Frogs Day to be observed on April 27
Prof MS Swaminathan
Children frolicking in the river Gomti to beat the heat on Sunday. Pioneer
It is informed that one
assistant teacher Aaliya required in
aided Madarsa salary band Rs.
9300-34800 and Grade Salary Rs
4600, educational qualification
Fazil by U.P. Madarsa Education
Board or M.A. with Arabic &
Persian and also will have teaching
experience certificate of minimum
three years in fauqaniya in any
recognized madarsa. One
assistant teacher Tahtaniya salary
Band Rs. 9300-34800 and Grade
Salary Rs. 4200, Educational
qualification Aalim or intermidiate
with Urdu or Hafiz. For both the
above aforesaid posts minimum
55% marks is mendatory for the
eligibility. If there is higher degree
than eligibility then 5%relaxation is
given in educational qualification.
Intrested candidate may send their
application by registered post with
the designation name of Manager
upto 3rd May 2013. Interview is
being taken on dated 5th may 2013
at 8:00 am. No T.A.D.A. will be paid
to the candidate. Irshad Ahmad,
Manager, "Madarsa Islamiya
Warsi," Village & Post Kathiraon,
District Varanasi (U.P.)- Pin-221207
Required
MEDICAL
MEDICAL
SITUATION VACANT
MEDICAL
EDUCATION
city 03
LAW REPORTER n LUCKNOW
T
aking a strong view of the fact that
all the three accused in the Kunda
DySPmurder case were sent tojail with-
out any medical examination, special
judicial magistrate, CBI, Mirza Zeenat
summoned jail superintendent along
withthe superintendent, Juvenile Justice
Board, on April 17.
The aforesaiddirective was issuedon
the objections filedby the accusedinpur-
suance of the CBI applicationfor taking
the accused on 15 days police remand.
In the objection, it was stated that the
medical check-up was not conducted
before sending the accused to the jail.
The accused had charged the CBI with
adopting third degree measures to force
the former to own up the crime. The
court orderedthat the CBI might alsofile
anapplicationfor the ossificationtest of
the juvenile.
Earlier, three persons arrested in
connectionwiththe killing of DySPZia-
ul-Haq inKunda, were remandedto the
judicial custody on Sunday.
The accused, including slainvillage
head Nanhe Yadavs brothers Pawan
Yadav andPhool Chandra Yadav andpri-
vate guard Manjit Yadav, were present-
ed in the court on Monday.
In an application moved on behalf
of investigating officer Surendra Singh,
CBI public prosecutor BrijeshSinghhad
sought for 15 days judicial remandof the
three accusedonSunday. AccusedPhool
Chandra Yadav hadsaidinthe court that
the CBI had severely beatenhimup and
he had suffered several injuries. Balipur
village head Nanhe Yadav, his brother
SureshandDySPZia-ul-Haqwere killed
on March 2 in Pratapgarh, triggering a
public outrage after whichthe Samajwadi
Party government handed over the
probe to the CBI.
A
day after the gory killing
of an elderly couple in
Gomti Nagar, the police on
Monday failed to make any
headway in the double murder
case that rocked the city on
Sunday night.
Taking strong note of the
incident, SSP J Ravinder Gaud
suspended station officer,
Gomti Nagar, Satish Gautam,
sub-inspector Parashuram
Ojha and two constables,
Rakesh and Narendra, for lax-
ity.
The police maintained
that the double murder was an
insiders job and ruled out any
robbery bid.
On Monday, police team
visited the crime scene to
collect evidences from the
spot.
Sources, however, claimed
that the couple might have
been killed in a robbery bid.
The cops revealed that
one kilogram gold was recov-
ered from the slain couples
house.
Sources said that the
recovery of gold indicated
that there might be huge
quantity of ornaments in the
house.
The killers must be in the
C
ontinuing his onslaught
on the Samajwadi Party,
Union Minister for Steel
Beni Prasad Verma said on
Monday that the days of the
Akhilesh Yadav government
were numbered.
This is the first time that
Verma has fired a salvo at
Akhilesh Yadav, whom he has
always described as his nephew.
The Samajwadi Party will
crumble like a pack of cards
after the Lok Sabha election as
people will reject it, the Union
Minister for Steel said at his res-
idence here on Monday.
Earlier, Verma had pre-
dicted that Mulayam Singh
Yadavs party would win only
four seats in the Lok Sabha
election which will see the
funeral procession of the
Samajwadi Party.
However, in view of the
Congress vice-president Rahul
Gandhis advice to remain soft
towards the Samajwadi Party as
it was supporting the Congress-
led United Progressive Alliance
government in the Centre,
Verma was very cautious in his
fresh attack on Monday. He
avoided electronic media and
invited only a select group of
reporters at his residence. The
reason was obvious; Verma
did not want his statement to
be aired directly from his
mouth through recording.
This had caused a lot of embar-
rassment to Congress, partic-
ularly Sonia Gandhi, who had
to tender apology to Mulayam
Singh Yadav in Lok Sabha to
avert any danger to the UPA
government. Reporters of some
electronic channels who
reached Vermas house to cover
his statement were refused
entry by his personal staff.
Talking to the select group,
the Kurmi leader reportedly
said that MulayamSingh Yadav
should be held responsible for
the demolition of the Babri
Mosque at Ayodhya.
The Samajwadi Party and
the Bharatiya Janata Party had
joined hands in conspiring to
demolish the mosque.
MulayamSingh Yadav is equal-
ly responsible for the demoli-
tion, like BJP leaders, he is
reported to have said.
Commenting on the dis-
pute between the BJP and the
Janata Dal (United) over prime
ministerial candidature of
Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi and the JD(U)
support to Lal Krishna Advani
for the post, Verma said both
Modi and Advani were com-
munal and both were respon-
sible for communal riots in the
country.
He said while Modi was
responsible for massacre of
innocent people of a particular
section of society in Gujarat,
Advani was responsible for
flaring up communal tensions
and riots during his Ayodhya
Rath Yatra.
He also held Advani and
Mulayam Singh Yadav equally
responsible for the demolition
of the Babri Mosque.
Earlier, Verma had raised a
stormby alleging that Mulayam
Singh Yadav had terrorist links
and accusing the SP supremo
of betraying the members of
the minority community. He
had also alleged that Mulayam
Singh Yadav and Lal Krishna
Advani had tactical under-
standing to win elections after
flaring up communal tension.
RAJ BAHADUR SINGH n LUCKNOW
T
he Bharatiya Janata Party
high command has sum-
moned the members of the
core committee of the state
unit to New Delhi on Tuesday
to discuss organisational issues
and political affairs in the state
in the wake of
upcoming Lok
Sabha elections.
The proposed
core committee
meeting assumes
significance as it
has beenconvened
at a short notice
and it is believed
that thorough
scrutiny of the state
organisation will
be done in the wake of the
unrest that erupted after the
announcement of officials and
chairpersons of frontal organi-
sations.
Those invited for the meet-
ing include the present and
former state party presidents,
party leader in the Legislative
Assembly and the Legislative
Council, central office-bearers
from the state and other senior
leaders.
According to sources, the
inclusion of several office-bear-
ers had invited sharp reaction
and criticism among the rank
and file in the party. The issue
was taken up with the central
leadership headed by party
president Rajnath Singh.
There were several com-
plaints regarding the recently
concluded two-day meeting of
the state working committee.
The state leadership may be
asked to explain why many
senior leaders didnot attendthe
state working committee meet
held recently at Chitrakoot.
It is also expected that the
national party president may
announce the incharge of the
party for the Lok Sabha election
as UP holds the key to Centre
with 80 crucial seats. It may be
recalled that during the tenure
of Nitin Gadkari as the partys
national president,
the then national
general secretary
Narendra Singh
Tomar was the
incharge of the
state who was
assisted by Radha
Mohan Singh and
Karuna Shukla as
co-incharges.
Ever since
Rajnath Singh
took over the reins of the party,
the appointment of new
incharge for the state is being
eagerly awaited. However, it is
not yet clear if the incharge
would be fromUttar Pradeshor
an outsider. If someone from
UP is given the responsibility,
the authority of the state presi-
dent is surely to be under-
mined which will indicate that
he has lost favour of the party
high command.
However, preparedness for
the upcoming Lok Sabha elec-
tion will top the agenda of the
meeting as the party is desper-
ate to improve its tally which
stood at a meagre 10 in the last
elections.
If insiders are to believed,
the present state of affairs is not
very encouraging and the state
leadership might be pulled up
on the issue.
Days of Akhilesh Govt
numbered, says Beni
BJP high command
summons state core
committee members
To discuss LS
poll preparedness
know of the jewellery kept at
the house.
The day being a Sunday,
Lata Mehra, who was a labour
enforcement officer, was also
at home and fell prey to the
criminals.
The el derl y coupl e,
Rakesh Narayan Mehra (61)
and Lata Mehra (58), were
brutally murdered with a
sharp-edged weapon.
Their throats had been slit
and their bodies were found in
the drawing room of the
house.
No headway in elderly
couples murder case
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
LUCKNOW
T
he murder of the elderly
couple in Gomti Nagar on
Sunday highlighted the fact
that senior citizens are not safe
in the city.
Even though there is a
senior citizens security cell
which had been put in place
for the specific purpose, such
cases come to light quite fre-
quently.
AK Singh from the
Helpage India said that there
was a need to involve senior
citizens in the security cell as
the elderly, even if they were
suspicious about something,
were not comfortable in
approaching the police.
I think that there is a
need for senior citizens to be
connected with the senior
citizen security cell so that
they can contact the cops as
soon as they start getting sus-
picious about something, said
Singh.
He added that generally it
was found that close relatives
were involved in crime against
the elderly. It is very impor-
tant for senior citizens to see
that they prepare a will
because in most of the cases
of crime it has been found that
a person known to them is
involved, said Singh.
Senior citizens should
not keep valuables at home
and should not boast about
their property. They should
not make ostentatious display
of cash and jewellery and
should not trust strangers.
They should not provide ser-
vants an access to the almi-
rahs, said Singh.
Iron grills and auto-locks
should be ensured and a safe-
ty latch should be used while
opening the door. Senior cit-
izens should instal a burglar
alarm linked to the neigh-
bours house.
They should be in regular
touch with neighbours and
take at least two references
before employing any domes-
tic servant.
Senior citizens a soft
target for criminals
Kunda case: Jail
supdt summoned
Shivpal asks Maya to
check her language
I
ssuing a warning to Bahujan Samaj Party president
Mayawati, Samajwadi Partys senior leader and PWD
Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav asked her to exercise
restrainonthe language she usedagainst her political oppo-
nents and stop frominciting the ruling party workers oth-
erwise the situation could go out of hand.
The Samajwadi Party workers are a disciplined lot. If
they are called goonda, they may react in a different way
and even call her a goondi, he told reporters here on
Monday. Yadav saidthe Samajwadi Party government had
never acted to settle political scores. Had it done so,
Mayawati andher brother wouldhave beenbehindthe bars
by now. The BSP president is repeatedly calling the rul-
ing partymengoondas. She shouldexercise restraint onher
language, he added. Yadav was reacting to the allegations
levelledby Mayawati against the SPgovernment whenshe
said that ruling party workers were goondas and the state
government was acting ina partisanmanner. She evensaid
that whenher party wouldreturntopower she wouldteach
the Samajwadi Party goons a lesson.
There is no political vendetta in SP governments
action. The government is trying to enforce the lawof the
land. What canwe doif BSPministers, legislators andwork-
ers are corrupt andhadmade money duringthe last regime.
Action needs to be taken against them, Yadav said.
He saidhowcouldthe BSPleader compare the lawand
order scenario during her tenure with that of the present
regime. Has she forgotten the Sheelu Nishad case or the
Sonamcase. Over half-a-dozenBSPministers were sent to
jail during the last regime for involvement in crime. In
Auraiya, anengineer was beatentodeathbecause he refused
togive money for the Chief Ministers birthday. TwoCMOs
were killedinbroad-daylight while a deputyCMOwas killed
inside district jail. The morale of the officials was so low
that a senior IAS officer was forced to commit suicide, he
added. Yadavalsosaidthat the BSPpresident was the biggest
land mafia as she had grabbed land in Lucknow as well
as in New Delhi. Mayawati says she will teach SP work-
ers a lessonif her partyreturns topower. She is daydreaming.
She will not come to power for at least a decade, he said.
city 04
AMENDMENT TO APPENDIX A TO NOTICE OF TENDER
1. Refer Appendix A to notice of tender issued vide this letter No. 8100/884/03/E8 dated 21
Mar 2013.
2. Following amendments shall be carried out to Appendix A; issued vide this office letter quot-
ed above:-
Sl. Reference to Sl Nomenclature Details
No. No. of Appendix
A & Para of
Notice of tender
1. Para 1 (i) Name of work For: Repair to boundary wall at MH
and provn of internal wiring at Adm
Block of Office of the PAO (OR) SIKH
LI at Fatehgarh
Read: Repair to boundary wall at MH
and other sanctioned works at Fateh-
garh Cantt
2. Para 1 (ii) Estimated cost of For: 11.70 lakhs
work Read: 14.90 lakhs
3. Para 3 (i) Last date of receipt For: 30 Mar 2013
of applications Read: 25 Apr 2013
4. Para 4 (i) Date of issue of For: On or after 26 Apr 2013
tender Read: On or after 16 Apr 2013
5. Para 4 (iii) Amount of Earnest For: 24000.00
money and name of Read: 30000.00
GE
3. All other entries will remain unchanged.
GE Fatehgarh
The Executive Engineer (E), BSNL, Electrical Division, Varanasi invites on behalf of
the BSNL Wax sealed item rate tender for the following works:
1. Operation and Comprehensive maintenance of Electro-mechanical Services in
various BTS sites (05 Nos) and Operation of Electro-mechanical Services in
various BTS Sites (11 Nos) (list of sites attached) in distt Chandauli.
2. Comprehensive maintenance of Electro-mechanical Services in various BTS Sites
(14 Nos.) (list of sites attached) in distt Chandauli.
3. Comprehensive maintenance of Electro-mechanical Services in various Rural /
MTCE-I BTS sites (15 Nos) (list of sites attached) under ESD-I, Varanasi.
(45 Nos) (list of sites attached) under ESD-I, Varanasi.
5. Operation and comprehensive maintenance of Electro-mechanical Services in
various BTS Sites (05 Nos) (list of sites attached) under ESD-I, Varanasi.
various BTS Sites (04 Nos) (list of sites attached) under Distt. Bhadohi.
various BTS Sites (04 Nos) (list of sites attached) under ESD-II, Varanasi.
(51 Nos) (list of sites attached) under ESD-II, Varanasi.
For further details please visit our Website: www.upe.bsnl.co.in
NIT No. 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 & 75 / BED/VNS/2012-13 Dated 11.03.2012
Executive Engineer (E), BSNL Electrical Division, Varanasi.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.
O/OTHE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (E), BSNL ELECTRICAL
DIVISION, CTO COMPOUND, CANTT, VARANASI-221002 BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAMLTD.
P U RVA N C H A L
VIDYUT VITRAN
NIGAM LIMITED,
VARANASI TEN-
DER DATE EXTENSION
NOTICE Due to unavoidable
reasons the date of receiving
and opening of Tender Part-I
and Part-II of short term
Tender No. EAV-133 &
134/RAPDRP-B/12-13 i s
hereby ext ended up t o
27.04.13. Please visit our
website http://puvvnl.up.
nic.in for details/download
and for any other correc-
tions/amendments/modifica-
tions/extensions till the date of
submission of bids. Other
terms & conditions shall
remain unchange. SUPERIN-
TENDING ENGINEER (MM)
Pu.V.V.N.L., VARANASI No.
1387 Date 15.04.2013 "SAVE
ELECTRI CI TY I N THE
INTREST OF NATION"
B
engali Club on Monday
celebrated the Bengali New
Year with traditional fervour.
The old tradition was followed
by taking out of a prabhat
pheri. This is the 1420th year
of the Bengali New Year. In the
evening, Chandrabali Rudra
from Kolkata presented musi-
cal melodies.
Secretary Arun Banerjee
said that on the new year day,
the Bengalis preferred tradi-
tional cuisine like rice, fish, five
types of bhaja, shukto and
payesh, mishti doi, rasogolla etc.
People wear new dresses and
offer puja at Kali temples.
Bengali businessmen open new
account books in their business
establishments, said Banerjee.
He said that the Bengali
New Year was always celebrat-
ed with pomp and show. In
the previous years when almost
all the Bengalis used to live in
Sunderbagh, Model House,
Hewette Road, Nazar Bagh,
Maqboolganj and other near-
by areas, there used to a prab-
hat pheri coupled with famous
songs of Atul Prasad Sen, said
Banerjee.
We have tried our best to
keep the same spirit alive, he
added. Though most of the
Bengalis are scattered in dif-
ferent corners of Lucknow, the
majority resides in and around
Rabindra Palli.
RAFTING EXPEDITION
The Central Command
White Water Rafting expedition
was flagged off from
Rudraprayag by Brig Digvijay
Setia on Monday. The expedi-
tion team, comprising one offi-
cer, two JCOs and 15 other per-
sonnel, is led by Pushp Sharma.
The expedition will be con-
ducted in two legs. In the first
leg, the team will cover a dis-
tance of nearly 140 km from
Rudraprayag to Rishikesh on
Alaknanda and Bhagirathi
rivers over a period of five
days, travelling in two rafts
with nine team members in
each. The teamwill halt for the
night at Srinagar, Devprayag,
Kaudiyala and Shivpuri. On
culmination of the first leg, the
team will move to Lucknow for
rafting on the Gomti river as
part of the second leg. The aim
is to inculcate the spirit of
adventure and teamwork inthe
ranks of the Army, while
encouraging the sporting activ-
ities which develop leadership,
initiative and camaraderie. Brig
Setia, while interacting with
the expedition team, conveyed
the best wishes of Army
Commander Lt Gen Anil Chait
and the entire Central
Command fraternity.
TALENT HUNT
Central Command is
organising a Kabaddi camp at
JATRegimental Centre, Bareilly,
fromApril 15 to 21. Facilitated
by Uttar Pradesh Olympic
Association and Uttar Pradesh
Kabaddi Association, the camp
aims at identifying talent in far
flung areas and providing an
opportunity to the young
sportsmento display their skills
and proficiency in the game.
The camp will be a major
opportunity for the Kabaddi
players fielded by Uttar Pradesh
Kabaddi Associationtocompete
with seasoned counterparts.
W
ith a view to establishing
coordination and coop-
eration in maintenance of Waqf
properties registered as monu-
ments with the Archeological
Survey of India (ASI), the
members of Central Waqf
Council and UP Sunni Central
Waqf Board met ASI officials
on Monday.
During the meeting, the
Waqf officials laid stress on sev-
eral points related to upkeep
and maintenance of the mon-
uments registered with Waqf
boards. There is a need to
ensure coordination among
the three bodies and the meet-
ing was called for that purpose.
It turned out to be a success,
said an official.
At present, there are near-
ly a dozen 12 such Waqf prop-
erties which are registered as
monuments with ASI in
Lucknow circle only, while
there are more such properties
in other circles of the state.
The meeting discussed
the issue of encroachment on
Waqf monuments as it threat-
ens the condition of these
structures. The ASI and Waqf
officials have agreed to take
legal action against the
encroachers with the help of
local administration in near
future, the official said.
Superintending archeolo-
gist, ASI (Lucknow circle), PK
Mishra said it was the first
phase of the meeting for co-
ordination in maintenance and
conservation of Waqf
properties registered as
monuments.
We will try to take action
on the points discussed and
agreed upon in the meeting.
We will decide the course of
action in the next meeting, he
added. Law officer of Central
Waqf Council, members of UP
Sunni Central Waqf Board and
ASI officials from different
circles were present in the
meeting.
ENCROACHMENTS
REMOVED
A joint team of Lucknow
Municipal Corporation,
Lucknow Development
Authority and Public Works
department officials carried
out an anti-encroachment drive
near Butler Place and sur-
rounding areas on Monday.
The drive was conducted under
the leadership of tax superin-
tendent (zone-1) Sridhar Yadav
from YMCA Building to
Gokhle Marg Crossing and
near Butler Place. During the
drive, the officials removed
several temporary encroach-
ments, including kiosks, hand
carts, etc. Three permanent
encroachments by shopkeepers
were also removed. We have
seized a truckload of material
during the drive. Three ramps
constructed by local shop-
keepers were also removed,
said Yadav. Though there was
slight protest against the drive,
but the presence of adequate
police force negated it making
it a smooth affair by the anti-
encroachment drive team. On
Tuesday, the drive will be car-
ried out in Bazarkhala area
from Haiderganj trisection to
Cotton Mill trisection.
PROTEST
Scores of farmers, under
the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan
Union, staged a demonstration
opposite Vidhan Bhawan on
Monday to press their 14-point
demands. Besides, the protest
of UP Police Association con-
tinued for the third day on
Monday.
DAKSHIN MAHOTSAV
Dakshin Mahotsav, which
was underway at Ashiyana
Colony, concluded on Monday
with a colourful programme.
BIRTH ANNIVERSARY
The 122nd birth anniver-
sary of Dr BR Ambedker was
celebrated at Research Designs
and Standards Organisation
(RDSO) on Monday. Director-
general, RDSO, V
Ramachandran, along with
officers and staff, paid tributes
to Ambedkar. Dr Ambedkar
was a constitutional expert, an
educationist and a great
reformer of the society, said
Ramachandran.
BABY SHOW
Uttaranchal Mahotsav at
the Vartika lawns, Rajajipuram,
concluded on Monday with
several competitions, including
a baby show.
OVERLOADING
Transport Minister Durga
Prasad Yadav, in a reviewmeet-
ing held on Monday, said that
overloading had to be stopped
at any cost and even FIRs
should be lodged, if necessary.
Lucknow(PNS): Black flags and banners dotted the Old City
areas mourning the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammads
daughter Hazrat Fatema Zahra on Monday. Several pro-
grammes and majalis were held in different areas to observe the
solemn occasion during the last couple of days known as Ayyam-
e-Fatmia. Jamat-e-Jafri organised three majalis at Chhota
Imambara, last of which concluded on Monday with a proces-
sion, in which scores of mourners took part. Addressing the gath-
ering, Maulana Abid Bilgrami said women should take Hazrat
Fatema as a role model and draw inspiration from her life as she
had been the most pious woman of Arab. She set several exam-
ples for Muslim girls to follow, he added. Similar programmes
were held at Dargah Hazrat Abbas, Kazmain, Fatmain etc.
Lucknow(PNS): To spread
awareness among people
regarding necessity of education
for children in the age group of
between 6 to 14 years, District
Magistrate Anurag Yadav
flagged off School Chalo
Abhiyan on Monday.
Yadav said the aim was tell
people that they must send
their children to schools.
In the district, a scheme
has been prepared in which we
will try and ensure that no child
misses out on education. Every
child in the age group of 6 to 14
years has the constitutional
right to free and compulsory
education, that is why Sarv
Shiksha Abhiyan has been
launched, he added.
The District Magistrate said
one should take inspiration
from girl students enrolled in
Lajpatnagar primary school and
not opt out before completing
the education.
Chief development officer
(CDO) Udayveer Singh Yadav
saidfor covering all the children,
the state government had been
providing mid-day meal, school
uniform, books, etc to children.
Meanwhile, scores of stu-
dents of various schools
marched on the streets of Old
City to spread awareness. The
band leading the rally played
tunes of patriotic songs. The
rally started from Bara
Imambara and culminated at
Chowk Stadium.
I
n order to revive growth, it is
essential to kick-start both
investment and consumption
demand. The Reserve Bank of
India needs to work in tandem
with the government in boost-
ing growth by easing interest
rates by at least 100 bps in the
current fiscal.
This was said by new CII
president Kris Gopalakrishnan
at a press conference to unveil
the CII theme for 2013-14.
According to CII analysis,
GDP growth for the year is pro-
jected in a possible range of 6.0
to 6.4 per cent.
Industrial growth is like-
ly to recover, given the lowbase
of the previous year, but will
probably remain at 5.0-5.5 per
cent. Agriculture is forecast to
grow at its average pace of 2.5-
3.5 per cent. Growth in the ser-
vices sector will recover but is
not likely to accelerate beyond
7.2-7.5 per cent in the light of
fragile global conditions,
Gopalakrishnan said.
CII has finalised the theme
for 2013-14 as Accelerating
economic growth through
innovation, transformation,
inclusion and governance. This
is in line with the national pri-
ority of generating revenues for
social programmes for inclu-
sive growth.
Emphasising the need to
accelerate economic growth,
the CII president suggested
aiming for a growth rate of 8-
9 per cent in the next two years
through kick-starting invest-
ment and consumption
demand.
Reviving stalled projects is
a critical precursor for facili-
tating higher overall invest-
ment. He, therefore, laid stress
on the need for the Cabinet
Committee on Investment
(CCI) to aim for making a
repository of the top 50 stalled
projects in terms of the invest-
ment incurred and go for their
revival on a priority basis.
Also, streamlining procedural
reforms is another major step
for India to catapult itself to the
high growth trajectory.
Gopalakrishnan also high-
lighted the need to increase
investor confidence and invest-
ments by aiming for fiscal con-
solidation, maintaining the
momentum of economic
reforms and allowing FDI in
critical sectors such as insur-
ance and banking. Start up
activities need to be also
increased by announcing mea-
sures to foster entrepreneur
spirit, he asserted.
W
ith gold price taking a
tumble during the last
two days, there has been a mas-
sive rush for buying the yellow
metal. City jewellers said that
the 15 per cent fall in the gold
price had made people go on a
buying spree.
Talking to The Pioneer,
Adheesh Jain, a jeweller in
Chowk area, said there was a
huge rush for gold jewellery.
There is a 15 per cent
drop in the price of gold and as
of now, the cost is Rs 27,900 per
tola. Most of the buyers are
going in for heavy jewellery in
the range of Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh,
said the jeweller.
He said that the basic
mindset of the buyers was to lay
their hands on jewellery for
weddings in future. Most of
the buyers have weddings in
the coming season and the
decrease in price has prompt-
ed them to go for gold, he
added.
One of the buyers said
that she was making the most
of the gold price drop. You
rarely find the price of gold dip-
ping and this is the time to
make the most of it. My son is
getting married in October
and I ambuying all the gold for
the occasion, she added.
Yet another buyer said that
he was buying gold jewellery
even though his daughter had
still a couple of years to tie the
knot.
But the intention of buy-
ing the gold is definitely for
marriage. Its rare to see the
gold price dip, so a wise invest-
ment will help in future, he
added.
STAR POWER AT
ICFF-2013
The 5th International
Chi l drens Fi l m Festival
(ICFF-2013), organised by
City Montessori School, will
commenci ng at schools
Kanpur Road auditorium on
April 19. The fest will be
i naugurated by UP Jai l
Mi ni ster Raj endra
Chowdhary, who will be the
chief guest on the occasion.
Several film personalities will
be visiting Lucknow for
encouraging the children and
youth. This is the fifth time
when CMS films division is
organising the nine-day ICFF
in which over 250 childrens
films of 24 countries will be
screened.
Darsheel Safary, of Taare
Zameen Par fame, child artiste
Saloni Daini, Miss India-2013
Zoya Afroz, Life of Pie actor
Suraj Sharma, besides Marc
Robinson, Tom Alter and
Makrand Deshpande,
Nivedit a Bhatt achar ya,
Krutika Desai, Smita Bansal,
Dol l y Thakur, Abhij eet
Sawant, Atul Tewari, Sudhir
Mishra and Muzaffar Ali are
some of the prominent film
figures coming to Lucknow
for the childrens film festival.
Films will be screened free of
cost for children, youth, par-
ents, guardians and teachers of
all the schools of the city.
SCHOOLSCAN
CITYBRIEFS CANTTWATCH
Massive drop in price
triggers gold rush
Hazrat Fatemas martyrdom
Essential to revive
kick-start investment,
consumption demand
School Chalo Abhiyan flagged off
Bid to ensure
maintenance of
Waqf properties
LIST OF PROPERTIES
Tomb of Mohammad Ali
Shah, Lucknow
Tomb at Musabagh,
Lucknow
Tomb of Mushir Zadi, wife
of Saadat Ali Khan, Lucknow
Tomb of Saadat Ali Khan,
Lucknow
Jama Masjid, Mahoba
Juma Masjid, Jaunpur
Bengali New Year celebrated
Singer Chandrabali Rudra performing at Bengali Club on the occasion of Bengali New Year day on Monday Pioneer
Schoolchildren taking part in School Chalo Abhiyan rally on Monday Pioneer
Farmers, under the aegis of Bharatiya Kisan Union, staging a demonstration
opposite Vidhan Bhawan on Monday Pioneer
city 05
P
anic gripped the area as a
major fire broke out in a
building in Aminabad on
Monday evening.
The firemen battled with
the flames on the third floor of
the building for three hours
before the fire could be con-
trolled. Though no casualty was
reported, property worth lakhs
of rupees was gutted.
According to reports, fire
broke out on the third floor of
the Prakashdeep building in
Aminabad at around 7 pm.
The building has a branch
of the State Bank of India on
the ground floor, a shopping
complex on the first floor, a
branch office of Oriental Bank
of Commerce on the second
floor, the store room of
Oriental Bank of Commerce on
the third floor and residential
blocks on the fourth floor.
The fire was sparked by
short-circuit in the generator
kept in he store on the third
floor. On seeing smoke bil-
lowing out fromthe third floor,
the guard on duty immediate-
ly informed the fire officials
about it. Fire officials reached
the place at 7:15 pm with 15
fire-tenders hydraulic plat-
forms summoned from all the
fire stations in the city.
Fire in Aminabad building
B
haratiya Janata Party gen-
eral secretary Varun
Gandhi on Monday recorded
his statement in a case related
to firing and clash between his
supporters and police after his
arrest over hate speech in
Pilibhit in 2009.
Varun recorded his state-
ment before Pilibhit district
judge Vinod Mishra after mak-
ing personal appearance in the
court. The case will now come
up for hearing on April 23. It
relates to an FIRlodged against
Varun and nine others under
sections 147, 148, 149, 307, 427,
336, 332, 12(B), 188 of the
Indian Penal Code and the 7
Criminal Law Act registered at
Kotwali police station on
March 28, 2009 when he was
arrested and was being taken to
the jail.
Varun has already been
exonerated in both the cases
related to hate speech.
The BJP leaders in the dis-
trict had made arrangements to
accord a rousing welcome to
Varun as he was coming to the
district after becoming the
general secretary of the party.
However, the reception was
postponed at the last moment
as Varuns newly-born daugh-
ter Adhya Priyadarshini
Gandhi died on Saturday due
to some infection.
Lucknow(PNS): Director General of Police
Deo Raj Nagar on Monday warned policemen
termination from service if their act tarnished
the image of the states police.
According to IG (Law and Order) RK
Vishwakarma, the DGP issued the warning on
Monday evening in an SMS sent to all senior offi-
cers and lower rank cops posted as incharge of
police stations.
The message warns that if any policeman is
found involved in any act that tarnishes the
image of the UP Police, he/she will be terminated
from service with immediate effect.
The warning has come as in many cases
policemen have been found to be indulging in
inhuman acts that show their insensitivity to
anyone, particularly while dealing with cases
relating to the fairer sex.
Sources said that the cops who put a 10-year-
old rape victim in the lock-up in Bulandshahr
could be terminated from service very soon.
The DGP office is only waiting for the report
of the inquiry ordered into the incident and once
it is received, necessary orders will be issued.
Besides, the cops who deserted Deputy
Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq, resulting
in his brutal killing in Kunda tehsil of Pratapgarh
on March, were also likely to be served termi-
nation orders. The report of an inquiry con-
ducted by ASP of Pratapgarh, Asharam Yadav,
has already been submitted to the government
for necessary action.
T
ension built up in
Madwadih locality of
Muzaffarnagar after the local
panchayat ordered social boy-
cott of the family of a teenag-
er who eloped with a village girl
despite stiff opposition by their
families.
The police officials, who
did not take cognisance of the
panchayats diktat, have now
deployed a heavy force in the
village to avert clash between
the two groups.
Meanwhile, in fear of being
lynched by the other group, the
family members of the boy
have reportedly left the village.
According to reports, two
teenagers of Madwadih were in
love with each other and want-
ed to enter into wedlock.
However, their family members
were opposed to this as the girl
and the boy belonged to dif-
ferent religions.
On seeing no other way to
live together as couple, the girl
and the boy eloped on April 6.
Subsequently, the agitated
family members of the girl
not only lodged a report of kid-
napping against the boy and his
family members but also
attacked their house and issued
threats of dire consequences if
the girl was not set free.
But before the police could
swing into action, the girls
father took the matter to the
local panchayat which sum-
moned both the families on
Sunday.
Sources said that after
going through the sequence of
events, the panchayat ordered
social boycott of the boys fam-
ily and also asked them to set
the girl free so that she returns
to her home. The panchayat
also did not approve the mar-
riage between the two unless
both the families gave their
consent.
After the panchayats
decree, the family members of
the boy left the village in fear
of being attacked.
As tension built up after
the panchayats diktat, senior
officers deployed a heavy police
force in the village to avert a
simple case of elopement
becoming a cause of commu-
nal clash in the area.
Police teams have also been
formed to trace out the couple
and produce them in the local
court for appropriate legal
action.
O
pposing the proposed pri-
vatisation of power distri-
bution in four cities of UP, the
power employees unions on
Monday held protest meetings
across the state and announced
indefinite boycott of work from
May 13.
The protest meetings of the
power engineers and employ-
ees at Varanasi, Ghaziabad,
Meerut, Kanpur, Gorakhpur,
Azamgarh, Allahabad, Bareilly,
Jhansi, Agra, Aligarh, Anpara,
Pipari, Obra, Harduaganj,
Paricha and Panki were large-
ly attended.
Addressing the protest
meetings, the leaders of power
Lucknow (PNS): The
Chandauli police claimed to
have arrested a Chhattisgarh
officer of the rank of deputy
superintendent of police, for
trying to marry a minor girl
on Monday morning.
He was booked on
charges of child marriage and
sent to jail.
According to reports, the
Chandauli police learnt that a
minor girl was being forced to
marry a youth in Kiraram
Ashram in Ramgarh locality
of Baluwa on Monday morn-
ing. The cops rushed to the
ashram and found the infor-
mation to be true as the girls
date of birth was recorded as
July 15, 1999 in her school
certificate.
PNS n LUCKNOW
A
ccusing the Samajwadi
Party government of being
sympathetic to the sugar mill
owners, the Bharatiya Janata
Party on Monday staged
statewide demonstrations at
the offices of the district cane
officers and submitted memo-
randums demanding imme-
diate payment of cane arrears
amounting to `9,500 crore to
the farmers.
The BJP state unit also
said that the ongoing war of
words between the Samajwadi
Party and the Bahujan Samaj
Party was nothing but shadow
boxing as both the parties were
playing second fiddle to the
Congress and they shielded the
corruption of each other when-
ever they came to power in the
state.
BJP state spokesman Vijay
Bahadur Pathak said the
demonstrations were staged in
Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut,
Bijnor, Gorakhpur, Amroha,
Hapur, Bareil ly, Pilibhit,
Shahjahanpur, Azamgarh, Mau,
Saharanpur, Kannauj,
Ghazipur, Kushingar, Deoria
and other districts of the state.
He said if the farmers dues
were not paid immediately,
the BJP would launch a massive
agitation against the state gov-
ernment.
Citing the statement of
Cabinet minister Shivpal Singh
Yadav on Monday, the BJP
state spokesman said it was
ridiculous and a futile attempt
to divert attention from the
core issues of corruption.
What happened to the
Samajwadi Partys promise to
set up a commission to probe
into the corruption during the
Mayawati regime? Pathak
asked.
He said it was not surpris-
ing as Mayawati had also not
taken any action after coming
to power in 2007 though she
too had promised to put SP
supremo Mulayam Singh
Yadav and others behind the
bars.
Pathak alleged that the
common agenda of the SP and
the BSP was to loot the state
exchequer and they shielded
each other when in power.
As the Lok Sabha election
is coming closer, both these
subsidiaries of the Congress are
feigning aggressiveness against
each other only to fool the peo-
ple but their tactics will fall flat,
Pathak said.
T
he Rashtriya Lok Dal
(RLD) took out proces-
sions across the state on
Monday to press for payment
of outstanding cane arrears
and 50 per cent bonus on the
minimum support price of
wheat.
In the state capital, RLD
state president Munna Singh
Chauhan led the procession
which culminated in a dharna
in front of Vidhan Bhawan.
Addressing the party work-
ers, Chauhan said the Akhilesh
Yadav government was hob-
nobbing with the sugar mill
owners. He said the Samajwadi
Party leaders had ditched the
farmers to whom they had
promised sops during the
assembly elections. Nowthese
very SP leaders are hand in
glove with industrialists and are
busy preparing for the next Lok
Sabha election, he added.
Later, Chauhan submitted
a memorandum of the
demands to Governor BL Joshi.
In Meerut, the procession
was led by party MP Sanjay
Singh Chauhan and in Aligarh,
by RLD leader in Vidhan
Sabha, Thakur Dalbir Singh.
T
he state government gave new postings to two IAS officers
on Monday. According to an official spokesman, addition-
al chief executive officer of Yamuna Expressway Authority,
Pramod Chandra Gupta, was made its chief executive officer
(CEO) while registrar of Gautam Buddha University, Pramod
Kumar Agrawal, was shifted to Noida Authority as additional
chief executive officer.
BJP demands payment of
cane arrears to farmers
SP, BSP engaged in shadow boxing
The ongoing war
of words between
the SP and BSP is
nothing but
shadow boxing as
both the parties
are playing second
fiddle to the
Congress and they
shield the
corruption of each
other whenever
they come to
power in the state
RLD processions,
dharnas for
cane arrears
RLD leaders staging dharna in front of Vidhan Bhawan to demand early payment of
cane arrears to farmers, in Lucknow on Monday Pioneer
Tension in village after panchayats diktat
unions said the state govern-
ment was pursuing the pri-
vatisation policy to benefit pri-
vate players at the cost of state
exchequer and the consumers.
In the state capital, the
protest meeting was held at UP
Power Corporation headquar-
ters, Shakti Bhawan. The meet-
ing passed a resolution for
indefinite work boycott from
the next month.
While demanding with-
drawal of the decision to pri-
vatise power distribution in
four cities, the Vidyut
Karmachari Sanyukt Sangharsh
Samiti (VKSSS) leaders warned
that if the state government did
not cancel the tender for
appointment of technical con-
sultant, the power corpora-
tions engineers and employees
would go on indefinite work
boycott from May 13. They
alleged the decision to privatise
the power sector aimed at loot
of public money.
The VKSSS leaders said
Meerut, Kanpur, Varanasi and
Ghaziabad, where the power
distribution was proposed to be
privatised, had a record of less
line losses and better
revenue realisation than other
cities of UP.
The UP Power Officers
Association also held an emer-
gency meeting in which it
warned the government that if
the privatisation process was
not stopped immediately, the
employees of the reserved cat-
egories may go on strike any
time.
Power employees protest
privatisation of distribution
Threaten indefinite
work boycott
from May 13
New postings to two IAS officers
Cops warned against
tarnishing police image
Varun records statement
before district judge
DySP-rank officer
held for trying to
marry a minor
(Appx A to GE (MES) Fatehgarh
Letter No.8319/308/E8 dt. 15 Apr 2013)
Garrison Engineer Fatehgarh (UP)-209601 on behalf of President of India invites
applications from eligible enlisted contractors of MES and enlisted/unlisted contrac-
tors working with other Govt. Department meeting eligibility criteria for selection of
contractors for issue of tender mentioned work:-
Name of work Estima- Comple- Earnest Class and category Last date Cost of
ted cost tion money of tender
(in lacs) period in favour For MES For other receipt (in Rs.)
of GE Contrac- Contrac- of appli-
(in Rs.) tors tors cation
1 Periodical Rs. 06 (Six) 29500.00 Class E (i) Meeting 25 Apr 500.00
Services in 14.60 months & criteria of 2013
JCOs/ORs Category (ii) No out-
married acco- a (i) standing
mmodation at recovery
Fatehgarh in Govt.
Cantt deptt
2 Repair/Maint Rs. 06 (Six) 30000.00 Class E -do- 25 Apr 500.00
of Rising Mains 14.88 months & 2013
to Dl Water Category
Mains from a (ii)
Moude Line
Pump House
to Kasimbagh
Pump House
at Fatehgarh
NOTES:-
1. Application not accompanied by requisite value DD/Bankers Cheque towards cost
of tender shall not be considered for issue of tender.
2. Contractors not enlisted with MES will be required to enclose necessary docu-
ments to prove their eligibility as given above including Affidavit for no recovery
outstanding.
3. In case of rejection of application for issue of tender, the applicant shall be returned
the cost of tender. However, contractor may appeal to next higher Engineer Authority
i.e. HQ CWE Kanpur for rejection of his application for issue of tender whose deci-
sion shall be final and binding and contractor shall not be entitled to any com-
pensation whatsoever for non issue of tender.
4. The above details are also available on MES website: www.mes.gov.in full notice
of tender IAFW-2162 & Enlistment criteria is available in all offices of MES and
also on MES website.
Garrison Engineer Fatehgarh
S
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N
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.
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nation 06 LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
SC NOTICE TO GOVTS ON
GLORIFYING LEADERS
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
has issued notice to the Centre
and State Governments on a plea
seeking its direction to restrain
them for spending public money
on glorifying political leaders
through advertisements on their
birth and death anniversaries. A
bench of justices CK Prasad and
VG Gowda granted four weeks
time to governments to file their
response. The court passed the
order on a plea of an NGO,
Centre for Public Interest
Litigation, seeking its
intervention on the issue as
crores of rupees of tax payers
money are spend by the
governments and public sector
units to glorify personalities of
ruling political parties by way of
advertisements.
CHINESE PREMIER TO
VISIT INDIA IN MAY
New Delhi: Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang will visit India in May in
his first official tour abroad after
assuming office two months
ago. While newly-elected
President Xi Jinping made
Russia his first stop last month
to show the importance Beijing
attached to its relations with
Moscow, for his part Li would
like to begin his foreign tour by
visiting India first in the third
week of next month.
20 CHILDREN FROM
ARUNACHAL MEET PREZ
New Delhi: A group of 20
children, including six girls, from
Arunachal Pradeshs remote areas
on Monday met President Pranab
Mukhejee as part of their maiden
trip to tour the country. The
children, hailing fromareas like
Seppa, Lower Subansiri, Upper
Subansiri, Kurung Kumey, East
Kameng, Papumpare and Bomdila
districts have been brought on the
excursion by the authorities of the
border guarding force Indo-
Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
DETENTION: SC SEEKS
UP STAND IN A WEEK
New Delhi: The Supreme Court
on Monday directed the Uttar
Pradesh Government to file
response within a week on
detention of a 10-year-old rape
victimby police in Bulandshahr,
when she approached themto
lodge a complaint. A minor
cannot be put in lock up, a
bench headed by Chief Justice
Altamas Kabir said while
expressing its displeasure over
the incident.
INSHORT
PNS n NEW DELHI
P
unjab Chief Minister
Prakash Singh Badal on
Monday sought Prime Minister
Manmohan Singhs interven-
tion to stop the execution of
death rowconvict Devinder Pal
Singh Bhullar.
He pleaded clemency for
Bhullar on the ground that it
would affect the peace and har-
mony and create law and order
problems in the border State.
The Chief Minister, who
was accompanied by his son
Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh
Badal, submitted a memoran-
dum urging the PM to con-
vince President Pranab
Mukherjee to stop Bhullars
execution and commute it to
life imprisonment. The
Supreme Court had last week
rejected Bhullars mercy plea.
Highlighting the psycho-
logical and emotional fallout
of the case, the Shiromani
Akali Dal president said that
he was deeply concerned
over the implications.
I have experienced how
much the country lost due to
incorrect decisions, he said
and stressed the need for cau-
tion to avoid damage.
The process must be start-
ed for finding ways to ensure
that the ends of justice do not
clash with the long-term inter-
ests of the nation. In the over-
all national interest and in the
interest of peace and commu-
nal harmony in the country in
general and in Punjab in par-
ticular, the death penalty in this
case may be commuted into life
imprisonment, the memoran-
dum stated.
Rejecting suggestions that
commuting Bhullars death
sentence will send a wrong
message, the CM said, It will
become an emotive issue. We
are warning the Government
that people are emotional.
Moreover, he is in a poor
health condition... what will
they gain by hanging him.
He also cited that the pre-
siding judge of the Bench of the
Supreme Court that decided
the appeal had recommended
acquittal of Bhullar and given
note of dissent. Because of
this, the case no longer remains
beyond all reasonable doubt.
Also, the External Affairs
Ministry had requested the
President to commute the
death penalty. All these make
the case distinct and unique
from other death row cases in
the country, he claimed.
Later, the CMand Sukhbir also
met Home Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde.
While PMO sources said
that they are looking into the
memorandum, the Congress
steered clear of the controversy
saying it respects the Supreme
Court judgement. Nobody can
interfere in the legal process as
the lawwill take its own course,
Congress spokesman Rashid
Alvi said and reminded that
maintaining lawandorder is the
responsibility of the
State Government.
PNS n NEW DELHI
T
he Navy is increasingly
finding itself in troubled
waters. Just a couple of days
after Defence Minister AK
Antony sacked a Commander,
found guilty of having illicit
relations with his senior officers
wife, the Navy on Monday dis-
missed another Commander
fromservice after he was found
guilty by a court martial in
Mumbai of sending lewd mes-
sages to women inside and
outside the force.
The dismissals on count of
immoral acts come even as the
Navy grapples with the wife
swapping scandal involving
senior officers in Kochi.
Giving details of the lat-
est dismissal, officials said
Commander RV Desai was
dismissed on charges of con-
duct unbecoming of an offi-
cer. They said the officer was
using multiple numbers to
send lewd messages to sever-
al women both in and out of
the force.
The officer was posted on
aircraft carrier INS Virat and
was recommended for dis-
missal by the court martial in
January this year. The Naval
Headquarters scrutinised the
recommendations and con-
curred with the court martial
and sacked him last week.
Navy spokesman PVSatish
said, The Navy reserves harsh-
est of punishment for any con-
duct unbecoming of any offi-
cer. Moreover, as a service that
values women any miscon-
duct with women is taken
most seriously.
This action comes against
the backdrop of the Navy try-
ing to save its image after the
wife of an officer alleged wife-
swapping and torture by her
husband and senior officers at
Kochi last week.
The Navy so far has rub-
bished the womans charges
and maintained that there is
no merit in allegations even as
she filed an FIR with the
police in Kochi. Antony has
sought a report from Navy
chief Admiral DK Joshi and
made it clear that strict action
would be taken if anyone was
found guilty in the case.
Antony also said three simul-
taneous investigations were
going on by the Delhi Police,
Kerala Police and the Navy
itself in the wife-swapping
allegations.
Inrecent times, several cases
of misconduct inthe Navy have
come up including one involv-
ing a Commodore-level officer
who was dismissed by Antony
for having sexual relations with
a woman in Russia during his
posting there tooversee the con-
struction of aircraft carrier
Admiral Gorshkov.
MOUSHUMI BASU n NEW DELHI
A
fter a spurt in poaching
and reports of escalating
incidents of man-animal con-
flicts from the Corbett Tiger
Reserve (CTR) in Uttarakhand,
there is finally hope for big cats
in the State.
The forest department has
decided to add two forest
ranges under Lansdowne for-
est division to CTRs buffer
zone. This will also link up
Corbett with Rajaji National
Park which is on its way to
become the second tiger
reserve in the State.
According to a reply filed
under RTI, about 28 tiger deaths
have taken place in the Corbett
Tiger Reserve during the past 3
years. Of these more than50 per
cent of these deaths have been
due to unnatural causes includ-
ing poaching, poisoning, beaten
todeathetc, due tostrayingof big
cats in human landscapes.
However, in a welcome
move, the Uttarakhand forest
department has decided to add
onthe Kotri andDuggada ranges
under Lansdowne forest division
to CTRs buffer zone. Corbett
has one of the highest tiger den-
sities (of about 18 tigers per 100
sq kms) in the world. This new
additionwill certainly ease pres-
sures fromthe saturatedCorbett
Reserve, said Chief Wildlife
Warden, SS Sharma.
Further, Landsdowne Forest
Divisionserves as anactive cor-
ridor that is heavilyusedbytigers
and elephants. But since it was
not a part of the Protected Area
network, it was very vulnerable
to various pressures--including
poaching. However, its addition
to CTR buffer will certainly
ensure stepped up protection
mechanism,he added.
Pointing to the vulnerabil-
ity of these areas , the sources
reminded out that no so long
ago notorious poacher Bheema,
was arrested in August 2012.
He had confessed to skinning
two tigers in Kotri range,
Lansdowne Forest Division.
The proposal toinclude the
two new ranges will give a new
lease of life to a vital corridor
connectivity and the exercise if
carried out can be the first of its
kindinthe country, pointedout
Bijendra Singh, Member,
National Tiger Conservation
Authority and Honorary
Wildlife warden CTR since the
past thirty years. Otherwise,
these forests would have been
reduced to fragmented islands,
leading to more incidents of
straying of wild life and
man animal conflicts, he
added.
Adding to the above,
the proposal to make
Rajaji into a tiger reserve
is also in full swing.
According to well-placed
sources, Member
Secretary, NTCA, Dr.
Rajesh Gopal has made
site inspections prior to the
final nod.
According to Dr Bibhash
Pandav, Wildlife Scientist from
Wildlife Institute of India (WII),
monitoring has revealed the
presence of at least a dozen
tigers in Chilla and Ghauri
ranges, of Eastern Rajaji. This
recovery has been made possi-
ble due to strong connectivity
of Eastern Rajaji with Corbett
Tiger Reserve (CTR) through
the Lansdowne Forest Division
(FD). Now, the ongoing efforts
will certainly give a further
boost, he added.
PNS n NEW DELHI
A
n Inter-Mi ni steri al
Committee for
Promotion and Facilitation of
Film Production in India has
been constituted to promote
t he count r y as a maj or
Internat i onal Fi l mi ng
Destination.
The nine-member com-
mittee headed by Information
and Broadcasting Secretary
Uday Verma will act as sin-
gle window for filmmakers
seeking permission from dif-
ferent agencies for filming of
feature films, short films and
TV programmes.
It woul d have Joi nt
Secretaries in the Ministries
of Home, Tourism, Railways,
External Affairs, Defence,
Culture and Civil Aviation as
memerbs while their coun-
terpart in I&B Ministry will
act as member secretary. It
can co-opt Joint Secretary
from any other ministry or
official of any state govern-
ment as member depending
on t he case under
consideration.
The panel will facilitate
granting of permission for
both foreign as well as domes-
tic producers from relevant
authorities of Central and
State governments. It would
ensure a proactive mecha-
nism and coordination unlike
in the past when 30 agencies
were involved for granting
permission for shooting films
in India.
PNS n NEW DELHI
F
acing flak from the
Opposition for trying to
influence CBI probe in the coal
block scam, Law Minister
Ashwani Kumar on Monday
received support from the
Congress which rejected the
BJPs demandfor his resignation.
The party tried to justify
the Law Ministers meeting
with CBI officials saying that it
was a normal practice and
meeting does not mean that he
had tried to influence the probe
into the coalgate. It asked
the BJP and other polit-
ical parties to wait for
the CBI to file an affi-
davit before the
Supreme Court
before making any
such allegations.
Congress spokesman
Rashid Alvi, who had received
a call from Kumar on Sunday
explaining his position, told
mediapersons that he was not
aware of any such meeting but
even if it had happened there
was nothing surprising.
Generally, the CBI officials meet
the LawMinister to discuss any
case before going to court as
Attorney General and Solicitor
General andother legal officials
are under the Ministry.
However, this does not
meanthe Government interfered
he said and claimed that CBI is
anindependent agency whichis
probing the matter under the
Supreme Courts direction.
PNS n NEW DELHI
P
rime Minister Manmohan
Singh and a majority of the
Chief Ministers gave the high-
profile conference convened
by the Home Ministry to dis-
cuss the Administrative
Reforms Commissions rec-
ommendations on police
reforms a miss on Monday.
A change in the original
agenda - from internal securi-
ty to police reforms - led to the
sheer disinterest among those
preferring to stay away. The
ARC had submitted its recom-
mendations on police reforms
six years ago.
Only seven Chief
Ministers, mostly from
Congress-ruled States, attend-
ed the conference. The Prime
Minister, who was in town, also
preferred skipping it.
The Chief Ministers who
attended the meeting were -
Naveen Patnaik (Odisha),
Tarun Gogoi (Assam), Vijay
Bhauguna (Uttarkhand),
Manik Sarkar (Tripura) Nabam
Tuki(Arunachal Pradesh),
Mukul Sangma (Meghalaya)
and Neiphiu Rio (Nagaland).
The rest of the Chief
Ministers sent their Ministers
as representatives to the meet-
ing to read out their speech.
Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal came to
the venue in Vigyan Bhawan to
meet Home Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde to appeal
for the clemency to Khalistan
terrorist DS Bhullar but he did
not attend the conference.
Under the chairmanship of
Veerappa Moily, the second
ARC was set up in August,
2005 to suggest measures for
achieving a proactive, respon-
sive, accountable, sustainable
and efficient administration
for the country at all levels of
the Government. The
Commission submitted its
report in June, 2007 to the
Government. Out of its total
165 recommendations, 153 fall
in the domain of the States.
The conference was on the
fifth report of the ARC on
police reforms, management of
public order, reforms in the
criminal justice system, feder-
al crimes and special laws and
the role of civil society and
media in the management of
public order. The Chief
Ministers from the Opposition
party-ruled States in their writ-
ten speech vehemently object-
ed the recommendations of the
ARC, alleging the Centres hid-
den agenda of encroaching
upon States powers.
No words can express the
importance of this conference.
Public order and police today
in India is facing challenges.
With the ever-changing social
landscape and the ever-rising
public expectations, the load on
the police force will only
increase further with an
enhanced focus on account-
ability and transparency in
police functioning, Home
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde
said after inaugurating the
meet, seeking States support in
implementing the recommen-
dations of ARC. Petroleum
Minister Moily, the author of
the report, was also present in
the CMs conference.
PM, CMs miss police reforms meet
PNS n NEW DELHI
T
wo tiger cubs were hit by a
speeding train near
Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
on Sunday. While one died on
the spot, the other is seriously
injured. This is the second
animal death on the same track
in two months, the other being
that of a sloth bear.
The incident took place on
Chandrapur Gondiya railway
route which pass through the
Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
(TATR) in Chandrapur district.
Both the cubs hit were females
about one-year-old. Surprisingly
their mother seems missing and
hence the cubs probably crossed
the track despite the speeding
train, the sources said.
Standing Committee mem-
ber of National Board For
Wildlife (NBWL) Kishor Rithe
pointed out that during the
September meeting of NBWL,
chaired by the PM, stress was
givenfor allocationof for imple-
menting mitigationmeasures to
address such deaths because of
linear projects like existing rail-
way lines, roads, highways, rail-
ways, transmissionlines andirri-
gationcanals throughsuchcru-
cial wildlife corridors. However
nothing has happened so far.
Inthe recent railway budget
too, they have considered ele-
phant deaths but not the Tiger
and other animals at these
important stretches, he added.
Navy sacks another
for lewd messaging
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde addresses the inaugural session of Conference of Chief Ministers on Public Order in New Delhi on Monday PTI
THE NAVY RESERVES
HARSHEST OF
PUNISHMENT FOR ANY
CONDUCT UNBECOMING
OF ANY OFFICER.
MOREOVER, AS A
SERVICE THAT VALUES
WOMEN ANY
MISCONDUCT WITH
WOMEN IS TAKEN MOST
SERIOUSLY
NAVY SPOKESMAN
IAF goes Livewire
against Pak, China
New Delhi: In the first ever
exercise, the IAF last month
testedits capabilities tofight a
two-front simultaneous war
with Pakistan and China by
deploying more than 400 air-
craft and helicopters all over
the country in a three-week
exercise codenamedLivewire.
Givingdetails onMonday,
IAF officials said these capa-
bilities were testedsuccessful-
ly in the exercise in which all
the air bases throughout the
country besides advanced
landing grounds ininaccessi-
ble terrain in North-East
including Arunachal Pradesh
were activated.
IAF created a simulated
scenario of a challenge from
both eastern and western
fronts andswiftlymobilisedits
frontline fighter andtransport
aircraft fromPakistan border
to the eastern front.
All the major aircraft
including Su-30MKI, Mirage
2000, Jaguars, MiG 29, MiG
27s andthe MiG21s tookpart
in the war games and flew
8,000hours of sorties. The IAF
also deployed Phalcon air-
borne early warning radars
(AWACS) and mid-air refu-
ellers besides recentlyacquired
C-130 J transport aircraft and
AN-32s. Army commandos
were also airdropped in
enemyzones bytransport air-
craft and helicopters in day
and night operations, offi-
cials said. PNS
PNS n NEW DELHI
W
ith child pornography
getting free circulation
on the internet traffic, the
Supreme Court asked the
Centre to explain what action
it had taken over the years to
block websites that promoted
such content.
Issuing notice on a petition
filed by an Indore-based lawyer
Kamlesh Vaswani, who blamed
the easy access of such websites
to be the major cause for vio-
lence against women, the bench
headed by Chief Justice Altamas
Kabir also appointed a cyber
expert lawyer MisunHossainto
assist them in the matter.
Initially, the bench was not
convinced to entertain the
matter as it felt that the Centre
could not block websites that
are connected to servers in far-
flung countries. But the peti-
tioners lawyer Vijay Panjwani
showed a July 2003 order
issued by Ministry of
Communi cati ons givi ng
power to the Centre to block
websites with child pornogra-
phy content.
The sexual content that
kids are accessing today is far
more graphic, violent, brutal,
deviant and destructive and
has put entire society in danger
so also safety threats to public
order inIndia, the petitionsaid.
Most of the offences com-
mitted against women/
girls/children are fuelled by
pornography, it added.
Badal seeks clemency for Bhullar
Wants PM to
convince Prez
against execution
IT WILL BECOME AN EMOTIVE
ISSUE. WE ARE WARNING THE
GOVERNMENT THAT PEOPLE ARE
EMOTIONAL. MOREOVER, HE IS IN
A POOR HEALTH CONDITION... WHAT WILL THEY GAIN
BY HANGING HIM
P PARKASH SINGH BADAL ARKASH SINGH BADAL
The process must be started for
finding ways to ensure that the ends
of justice do not clash with the
long-term interests of the nation
MEMORANDUM MEMORANDUM
One of 2 train-hit
tiger cubs dies
The incident took place
on Chandrapur Gondiya
railway route which pass
through the Tadoba-
Andhari Tiger Reserve in
Chandrapur district
New Delhi: The petitioner
NGO in the coal scam PIL
filed a fresh application in
Supreme Court onMonday to
demanda special investigation
teamtoprobe the current con-
troversy of Government vet-
ting the CBI status report.
With the Government
and CBI having lied to the
Supreme Court on the pre-
vious date of hearing on
March 12 denying any
part of the investiga-
tion being shared with
the political executive,
NGOs counsel
Prashant Bhushan
accused the Governments
lawofficers of contempt. He
demanded an independent
probe by an SIT, headed by
retired judge, into
Governments interference
in the coal scam investiga-
tion. PNS
NGO files fresh
application in SC
Cong rejects demand for
Ashwanis resignation
Panel to project
India as key global
filming destination
Child pornography: SC notice to Govt
THE SEXUAL
CONTENT THAT KIDS
ARE ACCESSING
TODAY IS FAR MORE
GRAPHIC, VIOLENT,
BRUTAL, DEVIANT
AND DESTRUCTIVE
AND HAS PUT
ENTIRE SOCIETY IN
DANGER SO
ALSO SAFETY
THREATS TO PUBLIC
ORDER IN INDIA
PETITION
MAN-ANIMAL
CONFLICT
This will also link up Corbett with Rajaji National
Park which is on its way to become the second
tiger reserve in the State
About 28 tiger deaths have taken place in the
Corbett Tiger Reserve during the past 3 years
Uttarakhand forest department has decided to
add on the Kotri and Duggada ranges under
Lansdowne forest division to CTR's buffer zone
The proposal to make Rajaji into a tiger reserve
is also in full swing
According to Wildlife Scientist from Wildlife
Institute of India, monitoring has revealed the
presence of at least a dozen tigers in Chilla and
Ghauri ranges, of Eastern Rajaji
VULNERABLE NO MORE?
2 forest ranges for Corbett reserve soon
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
nation 07
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
T
hirty eight months after a
powerful blast ripped apart
Punes German Bakery killing
17 persons and injuring 60 oth-
ers, a trial court on Monday
convicted Mirza Himayat Baig,
the lone arrested accused in the
case, for murder, criminal con-
spiracy and other charges.
Delivering the verdict in
this presence of 30-year-old
Baig, who had been brought
to the court amidst tight secu-
rit y, Punes Addit i onal
Sessions Judge NP Dhote
ruled: Taking into consider-
ation the evidence before me
I am holding Baig guilty.
On April 18, the judge
will pronounce the quantum
of sentence on Baig for
offences which are punishable
with death.
In his Mondays ruling,
the judge held Baig guilty
under Sections 302 (murder),
307 (attempt to murder), 435
(mischief by fire or explosive
substances), 474 (forgery),
153(A) (promoting enmity
between different groups on
ground of religion, race, place
of birth, language and doing
acts prejudicial to maintenance
of harmony and 120 (B)
(Criminal Conspiracy) of IPC.
He also convicted Baig under
various sections of Unlawful
Activities Prevention Act and
Explosive Substances Act.
A native of Beed district in
Maharashtra, Baig is the only
accused who has been arrest-
ed and convicted in German
Bakery blast case, in which the
investigators have filed a
chargesheet against seven per-
sons. The six others abscond-
ing accused. They are:
Mohammed Ahmed Zarar
Siddibappa alias Yasin Bhatkal,
Mohsin Chaudhary, Riyaz
Bhatkal, Iqbal Bhatkal, Fayaz
Kagzi and Zabiuddin Ansari.
All the accused have links
to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-
Tayyeba and home-grown ter-
ror outfit Indian Mujahideen.
Among other things, the
judge accepted the prosecu-
tions contention that the
German Bakery blast was a
carefully planned and execut-
ed attack calculated to ter-
rorise the public in general by
causing extensive damage to life
and property and that the pri-
mary objective was to under-
mine and reduce faith of the
common citizen in the elected
Government and destabilise
the system of law.
The court also upheld the
prosecutions charge that the
terror attack was specially
designed to cause damage to the
lives of foreign nationals visit-
ing the country and its reputa-
tion in the matter of security.
Among the 17 people
killed in the blast that rocked
the Koregaon Park based pop-
ular eatery on the night of
February 13, 2010, four
were foreign nationals two
Sudanese, an Italian and
an Iranian.
In the trial, the prosecu-
tion examined as many as 103
witnesses. On his part, Baigs
defence lawyer rejected the
prosecutions charges, main-
taining that his client had
been falsely implicated in the
case and that the accused
was in Aurangabad on the
day of attack.
Baig, who ran a cyber cafe
at Udgir in Beed district, was
arrested by the Maharashtra
Anti TerrorismSquad (ATS) on
September 7, 2010. He was later
charged with hatching a crim-
inal conspiracy with the six
others to launch the terror
attack on Punes Germany
Bakery, frequented by foreign-
ers and young collegians.
The prosecutions con-
tention is that the conspiracy
to trigger an explosion at the
German Bakery was hatched in
March 2008 in Colombo where
Baig where he underwent a
bomb-making and commu-
nication skills training for 15
days at a LeT facility there.
During the same visit to
the Sri Lankan capital, Baig
confabulated with Zabiuddi
Ansari and Fayyaz Kazgi, and
hatched the German bakery
blast conspiracy.
Baig was given money for
funding the purchase of
explosive devices and for
sending indoctrinated Muslim
youths for terrorist training
in Pakistan.
DHEERAJ KUMAR n PATNA
B
ihar politics went into over-
drive once again with Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar leaving
no doubt about his strong
objection to the projection of
Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi as the Prime
Ministerial candidate for the
2014 Lok Sabha elections while
a group of senior BJP leaders
from the State vehemently
opposing Chief Ministers
utterances against their most
popular leader.
Besides BJP vice-president
CP Thakur, three Cabinet col-
leagues of Nitish Giriraj
Singh, Ashwani Kumar
Choubey and Chandra Mohan
Rai called on BJP president
Rajnath Singh to express their
frustration with the Chief
Ministers comments on
Narendra Modi.
Nitish who returned to
Patna on Sunday evening after
making a veiled and vitriolic
attack on Narendra Modi
remained elusive for the wait-
ing mediapersons while he
again disappointed them when
he did not hold his customary
Press conference being held
after his weekly Janata Dabar.
Though it is yet to be seen
how frayed tempers of the BJP
leaders will be pacified by the
BJP central command, it is
certain that a section of State
BJP leaders has a strong grudge
against Nitish for his attack on
Narendra Modi time and again,
informed a senior BJPleader on
the condition of anonymity.
A young BJP MLA Nitin
Naveen told The Pioneer that
Narendra Modi is one of the
partys respected leaders and
any prominent leader of an
alliance partner should refrain
himself fromattacking him. He
said that Nitish should con-
centrate on cornering Sonia
Gandhi and Manmohan Singh
so that the UPA Governments
failures could be highlighted in
the right way.
Meanwhile, activists of
Narendra Modi Vichar Manch
have erectedposters of Narendra
Modi, describing him as the
next PM while Atal Bihari
Vajpayee as the best PM across
Patna. Onone side of Narendra
Modi, there is a photograph of
CP Thakur while on the other
side, photograph of BJP secre-
tary andparty MLARameshwar
Prasad Chourasia is seen.
Senior BJP leader and State
Labour Minister JanardanSingh
Segriwal said that the State BJP
has not givenany permissionto
erect these posters and activists
of NarendraModi Vichar Manch
had done so on their own.
Sharpening his diatribe
against the Chief Minister, RJD
chief LaluPrasadsaidthat Nitish
Kumar is only symbolising the
present alleged infighting with-
in the BJP on Narendra Modi
and he is just parroting what
some BJP leaders want.
He said that even the
Godhra train burning hap-
pened when Nitish Kumar was
the Railway Minister and hence
he should not make tall claims
on secularism.
The Congresss Bi har
affairs co-in-charge, Sanjay
Nirupam told The Pioneer
that both the BJP and the
JD(U) have made up their
minds to part their ways as the
BJP could not stop itself from
projecting Narendra Modi as
the PM nominee and the
JD(U) has also committed
itself not to support the
Gujarat Chief Minister.
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
A
controversy is raging in
Kashmir over the supply of
spurious drugs to hospitals as
doctors and civil society have
accused the Government of
playing with the lives of com-
mon people. The authorities
have initiatedinvestigations into
the multi-layeredscandal but the
probe findings are not revealed.
On Monday, Doctors
Associationof Kashmir president
Dr Nisarul Hassancomparedthe
supply of spurious drugs to
Kashmir hospitals with a silent
genocide. If the Government
wants to kill Kashmiris, they
shouldkill themwithbullets but
not withspurious drugs, Hassan
said at a Press conference.
The drug scandal came to
fore when laboratory tests
revealed that antibiotic
Maximizin-625, prescribed for
post-operative care of patients,
was not containing even an iota
of amoxicillin, althoughit has to
contain 500 milligrams of it.
IANS n JAIPUR
A
woman and her eight-
month-old daughter were
killed when a truck mowed
themdownwhile they were rid-
ing pillion on a motorcycle here
on Monday, police said. Her
husband and son had a mirac-
ulous escape. The incident
occurred in Ghat Ki Guni tun-
nel around 2.30 pm on Sunday.
CCTVfootages showedthat
the womans husband and his
four-year-old son beseeched
passers-by for helpfor almost 10
minutes. However, no one
stoppedtohelpthem, police said.
The survivor, Kanhaiyalal
Raigher, tried to call relatives
from his mobile, but failed as
there was no network connec-
tivity in the tunnel.
Raigher, a resident of a vil-
lage on the outskirts of Jaipur,
was on his way to his in-laws
house with his wife Guddi
Devi, 26, daughter Arushi and
son Tanish. Guddi and Arushi
died on the spot.
The entry of two-wheelers
is banned in the tunnel, which
was inaugurated by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and
Congress president SoniaGandhi
January19. However, two-wheel-
er riders flout this restriction to
save time, said a police officer.
After driving for about 300
metres in the tunnel, Raigher
overtook a truck, which later
rammed into his motorcycle,
the officer added.
We sawthe CCTVfootages
in which the truck involved in
the mishap sped away, while
Kanhaiyalal kept crying for help
for 10 minutes. Several sports
utility vehicles, cars and trucks
passed by them. However, no
one stoppedtohelpthe victims,
said the officer.
TN RAGHUNATHA n MUMBAI
M
aharashtra Chief Minister
Prithiviraj Chavan on
Monday assured the State
Assembly that he would speak
to his Karnataka counterpart
on the issue of FIR registered
against State Home Minister
RRPatil last week for an alleged
provocative speech by the
Belgaumpolice and request the
latter to drop the charges
against Patil.
Intervening in a debate on
t he i ssue i n t he St ate
Assembly, Chavan said the
FIR registered against Patil by
the Karnataka police was a
wrong action and said he
would take up the issue with
and request the Karnataka
Chief Minister to drop the
charges agai nst t he
Maharashtra Home Minister.
On a day, when leaders and
members cutting across the
party lines condemned the
Karnataka Government for
registering a case against Patil
for his alleged provocative
speech, the Chief Minister said,
If the State Legislature wish-
es, I am not averse to meeting
the Prime Minister again or
leading an all-party delega-
tion on the boundary dispute.
An FIR was registered
against Patil by the Belgaum
police on April 10 for alleged-
ly promoting enmity between
different groups through
his speech on Belgaum, a
bone of contention between
the two States.
The FIR was registered
under Sections 153(A) of IPC
for provoking and creating
disharmony between commu-
nities on the basis of religion,
race, place of birth and
language under the
Representation of People Act.
The case related to a
provocative speech allegedly
delivered by Patil at a function
organised here on Sunday to
celebrate the birthday of
Kiran Thakur, l eader of
Maharashtra Eki karan
Samithi (MES) and editor of
Marathi daily Tarun Bharat.
Earlier, initiating a debate
on the issue in the Assembly,
Labour Minister Hassan
Mushrif condemned the
Karnataka governments act of
registering a case against Patil.
Mushrif said that the
Karnataka government had
over the years suppressed the
voice of the Marathi-speaking
people in Belgaum and 765
others villages located in the
border of the two states.
Shiv Senas group leader
Subhash Desai said the FIR
was not just an insult of R R
Patil but that of the entire
Maharashtra. We will not
tolerate this. We should meet
the Prime Minister again and
reiterate our demand that the
disputed areas be declared as
Uni on territory ti l l the
Supreme Court settles the
issue, Desai said
Coming out in full support
of the ongoing struggle of the
Marathi-speaking people in
the disputed border areas of
Maharashtra and Karnataka,
leader of Opposition Eknath
Khadse expressed reiterated
the States demand for declar-
ing the disputed areas as Union
territory pending a Supreme
Court verdict on the vexed bor-
der row.
KESTUR VASUKI n BANGALORE
A
group of bachelor politi-
cians cutting across party
lines in Karnataka are taking
centre stage in the ensuing
Assembly elections with their
own charisma. This group has
joined the bandwagon of bach-
elor politicians in the Indian
politics like, Congress vice-
president Rahul Gandhi,
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik, Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J Jayalalitha, West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee, BSP leader Mayavathi
and off course senior BJP
leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to
name a few.
Shobha Karandlaje of KJP,
BJP Minister Ramdas, Haladi
Srinivasa Shetty, who quit BJP,
Mallajamma of Congress, S
Rajendran from KGF, BJPs
Jayanagara MLA BN
Vijayakumar, S Jayanna of
Congress, former MLA MP
Venkatesh, independent MLA
who played an important role
in Yeddyurappa-led BJP
Government, Goolihatti
Shekhar and many more in the
bachelor bandwagon actively
taking part in the May 5
Assembly elections.
For them it is not just an
ideology but social commit-
ment and politics kept them
away from the idea of getting
married. These politicians
always feel that they are com-
mitted to work for their con-
stituency and welfare of the
people. And it is quite inter-
esting that these bachelor
politicians in Karnataka cutting
across the party lines have
been a success.
A former Congress MLA
and Dalit leader Mallajamma
known for her fiery speeches,
always says that she did not get
time to think about marriage
and its consequences.
Mallajamma whois the womens
voice inthe Congress has a hurt
feeling that she has beenneglect-
ed in the party. A rebellion by
nature, she has been depressed
as she could not get a ticket to
contest. However, she nourish-
es an ambition to continue to
work for the voiceless.
BJPs Medical Education
Minister SA Ramdass, a prac-
ticing bachelor feels he was
happy as it is and got had
enough time to work for his
constituency and the party.
An RSS activist, this bachelor
Minister in BJP sometime plays
a trouble shooter also. All the
bachelors in Karnataka politics
are now busy working hard to
sustain their identity.
Another powerful lady
voice, Shobha Karandlaje who
has quit BJP to join KJP led by
Yeddyurappa has always been a
fighter. Shobha an RSS func-
tionary and a close aides of
Yeddyurappa is nowcontesting
from Bangalores Rajajinagara
constituency giving a tough
fight to her one time colleague
Suresh Kumar another Minister
in the BJP Government. She
says as a full time RSS activist,
she did not get time to think
about marriage. Shobha a seri-
ous politician has been a sup-
porter of Yeddyurappa.
In another development,
the ruling BJP on Monday
released its third list with 37
candidates for the May 5
Assembly polls but still has not
taken a call about three taint-
ed MLAs, keeping the sus-
pense factor alive.
The BJP had announced its
first list of 140 candidates on
April 5 and subsequently
released a set of 35 nominees.
With todays list, it has named
candidates in 212 segments.
Its yet to name candidates
in the remaining 12 con-
stituencies the Karnataka
Assembly has a total of 224
seats including Hebbal,
Malur and KGF, represented by
tainted MLAs Katta
Subramanya Naidu, SN
Krishnaiah Setty and Y
Sampangi, respectively.
According to the third list,
TourismMinister Anand Singh
will seek re-election from
Vijayanagara in Bellary district.
Singh has done a u-turn as he
had said earlier this month that
he would contest as an inde-
pendent candidate. Bangalore
Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy is
contesting from Shantinagar
segment in the city.
As Monday is considered
auspicious as hundreds of can-
didates, including key politi-
cians BS Yeddyurappa, G
Parameshwara and
Siddaramaiah, entered the fray
for the May 5 Assembly elec-
tions in Karnataka.
Former Chief Minister
Yeddyurappa, who quit BJP
and formed Karnataka Janatha
Paksha (KJP) late, last year filed
the nominations from
Shikaripura in Shimoga dis-
trict, accompanied by a large
number of his supporters.
Lone German bakery blast
accused Baig convicted
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu
Assembly on Monday unani-
mously passed a resolution
urging the Centre to name the
newly built domestic terminal-
II of Chennai airport after MG
Ramachandran, the former
Chief Minister and founder of
the AIADMK. The resolution
moved by CMJ Jayalalithaa was
supported by even the opposi-
tion DMK and the Congress.
Moving the resolution,
Jayalalithaa said this was being
done as per the suggestion of
Union Civil Aviation Minister
AjithSingh, whohadtoldher to
get a resolution passed in the
State Assembly andsendit tothe
Centre for consideration. She
toldthe House that she hadboy-
cottedthe inaugural functionof
the domestic terminal-II on
January 31, 2013 by vice-presi-
dent Hamid Ansari because of
the indifference of the Union
Government tothe States plea to
name the new terminal after
MGR. PNS
Tamil Nadu for
airport terminal
named after
ex-CM MGR
Will take up Patil case with
Ktaka: Maha CM to House
A CCTV screen grab shows Kanhaiyalal
Raigher and his young son attempting
to flag down passing motorists
Motorists in Jaipur dont stop to
help dying woman with infant
In this Feb 14, 2010 file photo, Indian police inspect the scene of an explosion
outside a German bakery business close to the Osho Ashram in Pune, India AP
Doctors, society
blame J&K Govt
for spurious
drugs row
Bachelor politicians vs bachelor politics
Tibetan artists perform the Tibetan dance Reppa during the Himachal Day
celebrations in Dharamsala on Monday PTI
Bihar BJP gunning for Nitish
HYDERABAD: Denizens of
people on Monday heaved
a sigh of relief with authori-
ties deciding to reduce the
power cut peri od f rom
three hours to one hour per
day.
Andhra Pradesh Power
Transmission Corporation
started to implement the
decision from Monday itself
and the people reeling under
sweltering heat were in for a
pleasant surprise on Monday
evening when there was no
power cut.
Apart from the major
cities, Transco has also pro-
vided relief to the consumers
all over the State.
Now, the district head-
quarters will have only two
hour power cut instead of
four hours, municipalities
wi l l have four hours
instead of six hours and it will
be six hours instead of eight
hours in the block headquar-
ters.
The AP Government has
the policy of supplying free
hour to almost 3 million
agriculture pump sets for 7
hours everyday and observers
say that this has become the
biggest burden on the power
supply system. PNS
PNS n THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
T
he Kerala Forests and
Wildlife Department has
issued a circular banning use of
elephants for parading during
festivals between 11 am and
3.30 pm in order to save the
pachyderms from unbearable
atmospheric heat in the peak of
summer but temple commit-
tees are protesting against the
move saying it could make con-
ducting festivals impossible.
The Wildlife Departments
move has come close on the
heels of the order issued by the
State Labour Department that
workers toiling in open spaces
should be given break between
12 noon and 3 pm after many
cases of sunstroke were report-
ed. Maxi mum dayti me
atmospheric temperature in
certain places in Kerala has
already crossed the 40-degrees
Celsius mark.
The circular has also stipu-
lated that elephants used for
parading (Ezhunnallippu) in
temple festivals should not be
made to stand in the sun con-
tinuously for more than six
hours. In unavoidable circum-
stances, however, parading the
jumbos twice a day for four-hour
periods could be permitted.
Another stipulation men-
tioned in the circular is that
el ephants used for
Ezhunnallippu during night
should not be made to work
the following day. The circu-
lar also says that spectators at
festivals should be kept at
least three metres away from
the elephants. Also, drunken
mahouts shoul d not be
allowed to manage jumbos
during festivals at any cost.
The Wildlife Departments
circular has come at a time
when incidents of elephants
running amok during festivals
are being reported frequently as
they are made to stand in open
sun surrounded by tens of
thousands of spectators. There
are already several stipulations
regarding the use of elephants
for temple festivals.
However, organisers of the
Thrissur Pooram Festival,
known as the Pooram of
Poorams in Kerala, have raised
strong protests against the cir-
cular saying that the stipula-
tions in it would make the con-
duct of the festival impossible.
The Pooram, held right in the
centre of Thrissur city, is being
held on April 21 this year.
Noon break for Kerala jumbos
Finally, some
relief from
power cuts
in Andhra
PNS n NEW DELHI
I
n an attempt to come clear of
the controversy generated
by its Director (Finance), Ravi
Khandelwal complain to the
Chief Vigilance Commission
on irregularities committed by
the ITI management, the PSU
has come out with a rejoinder,
which does not touch on spe-
cific charges that payments to
private vendors were made
without recovering the dues
from them.
Responding to a report
published in The Pioneer in its
edition dated April 2013 titled:
Loss-Making PSU ITI lining
coffers of Pvt firms, the PSU
said it refuted all the allegations
about undue favour shown by
ITI to any of the private firms
as contained in the letters of
Ravi Khandelwal.
We hereby clarify that for
the execution of 9 million GSM
order fromBSNLwest zone, M/s
Alcatel-Lucent are the technol-
ogy partners to ITI and tripar-
tite agreement had been signed
betweenITI, Alcatel-Lucent and
BSNLfor the executionof 9 mil-
lion Phase II project on 7th
August 2009. All invoices were
being raised by ITI on BSNL
against the work executed by
Alcatel-Lucent as per this tri-
partite agreement between ITI,
BSNL and Alcatel-Lucent. The
signing of invoices for the work
executed by M/s Alcatel-Lucent
has also been ratified by ITI
Board, the company said.
It said M/s HCL Limited
was also ITIs technology part-
ner for the IT solution as a
System Integrator for GSM
project and payment to the
vendor is per the agreement
between ITI and HCL.
ITI also clarified that M/s
Exicom were already the part-
ners of ITI for SMPS project for
many years and the award of
UP Police Contract for Solar
Panels to EXICOMwas ratified
by the Board of Directors of ITI.
With respect to the pay-
ments fromM/s Trimaxwhohas
been provided space and utility
services for the Data Centre
Business in Bangalore, ITI clar-
ifies that payments referredinthe
news item have already been
recoveredfully fromthe party as
per the approval of the Board of
Directors of ITI.
As far as the membership
fee of the Chartered Institute of
Bankers in Scotland and
Financial Services Institute of
Australia is concerned, the
same has been made to the
CMD, ITI, as per the approval
of Board of Director of ITI.
ITI refutes charges,
silent on specifics
The Pioneers report is
based on the complaint that
Director (Finance) of ITI,
Ravi Khandelwal, has
submitted to the Chief
Vigilance Commission
Nowhere in its response has
the ITI management disputed
Khandelwals claims that
payments to Alcatel were
made despite a sum of about
`250 cr pending for recovery
Nowhere, in its response
has the ITI management
disputed Khandelwals claim
about undue pressure on
him to release payment to
Alcatel despite dues pending
against it
Nowhere in its response has
the ITI management disputed
Khandelwals claim that M/S
Exicom was awarded a UP
Police project on nomination
basis and without a tender
being floated
The ITI management has not
disputed Khandelwals claims
that CMDs private
membership of foreign
institution had nothing to do
with ITI business, so the
payments were improper
PIONEERS RESPONSE
S
peaking on the role and
the functions of the
Comptrol ler and
Auditor-General of India
in the Constituent
Assembly on May 30, 1949, BR
Ambedkar, Chairman of the
Constitution Drafting
Committee, said that this officer
was probably the most important
officer in the Constitution of
India because he is the one man
who is going to see that the
expenses voted by Parliament
are not exceeded or varied. If this
functionary is to carry out the
duties and his duties, I submit,
are far more important than the
duties even of the judiciary.I
personally feel that he ought to
have far greater independence
than the Judiciary itself .
Without exception, every
member of the Constituent
Assembly who spoke on the arti-
cles relating to the CAG, includ-
ing TT Krishnamachari, Pandit
Hirday Nath Kunzru, KT Shah
and RK Sidhva fully endorsed
Ambedkars sentiments. The pri-
mary objective of the assembly
appeared to be to clothe the
CAG with such powers that the
executive would in no circum-
stances be able to weaken his
independence and objectivity. As
a result, the first amendment
moved that day was to change the
nomenclature of the Auditor
General to Comptroller and
Auditor-General, because as TTK
said, the function of the Auditor-
General is not merely to audit but
to have a control over the expens-
es of Government. The debate in
the Constituent Assembly and the
final wording of these Articles in
the Constitution tells us a lot of
the exalted perch that the found-
ing fathers gave to the CAG.
This background is essential
in order to understand the mis-
chief that may be afoot at this
juncture to undermine the inde-
pendence of this institution while
choosing a successor to Mr Vinod
Rai, the incumbent CAG, with
whom the Congress-led UPA
Government at the Centre has
been having a running feud. The
Union Government has repeated-
ly locked horns with the CAG
over the last two years because its
image has taken a beating over
the scams exposed by the coun-
trys supreme audit agency includ-
ing the ones relating to the con-
duct of the Commonwealth
Games and the scandalous and
unfair manner in which 2G
Spectrum and coal blocks were
sold to private entities. Since
they had no credible defence, sev-
eral Ministers in the Union
Government and some leading
members of the Congress have
gone on the offensive and tried,
without much success though, to
accuse the CAG of having a
political agenda.
Meanwhile, since Mr Rai is
due to retire in May 2013, there
is a lurking fear that the Union
Government may see this as a
god-send and try to have a com-
mitted CAGin place, just like the
committed judiciary that the
Congress wanted during the
Emergency. This fear is not with-
out basis. In fact, Mr V
Narayanasamy, Union Minister of
State in the Prime Ministers
Office let the cat out of the bag
some months ago when he told
Press Trust of India that the
Government intended to make
the office of CAG a multi-mem-
ber body. The Ministers state-
ment caused a political uproar
forcing the Minister to retract and
even claim that he had been
misquoted. But, this was enough
for al l to realise that the
Governments intentions were
not sanguine.
There is a history to these
fears because the Congress, which
enjoyed a two-thirds majority in
Parliament in the 1970s, turned
Indias democracy into a dictator-
ship, made drastic constitution-
al changes to weaken the judicia-
ry and virtually wrecked the
independence of many constitu-
tional authorities, including the
CAG. The mantra in those days,
as stated earlier, was a commit-
ted judiciary meaning a judi-
ciary committed, not to the
Constitution, but to the Prime
Minister of the day, Indira
Gandhi. Similarly, the
Government, which had imposed
the Emergency in 1976, passed
orders to weaken the office of the
CAG. Mr Y Krishnan, former
Deputy CAG says in his book,
Audit in Indias Democracy, that
until 1976, all papers and docu-
ments pertaining to the subject
matter under audit scrutiny were
made available to the CAG and
this included secret and confiden-
tial records. However, in 1976, the
Government decided that only
books and accounts need be
made available to audit and it was
not obligatory for Government to
furnish records or papers contain-
ing discussions within the
Government, leading to a partic-
ular decision or formulation of a
particular policy. Luckily, the
Janata Party, which was voted to
power in 1977, restored the orig-
inal provisions in the
Constitution and also withdrew
the undemocratic orders passed
by the Emergency regime to sti-
fle the CAG.
In recent years, the appoint-
ments of Navin Chawla as
Election Commissioner and PJ
Thomas as Central Vigilance
Commissioner go to establish
that the Congresss discomfort
with healthy democratic norms
and independent constitutional
authorities persists. The latest
example of the Governments
contempt for norms is its move to
appoint Mr SC Sinha and former
Supreme Court Judge Cyriac
Joseph as members of the
National Human Rights
Commission. The NHRCs mem-
bers are chosen by a six-member
committee comprising the Prime
Minister, the Union Minister for
Home Affairs, the Lok Sabha
Speaker, the Deputy Chairman of
the Rajya Sabha and the leaders
of the Opposition in the two
Houses of Parliament. Ignoring
the objections of the Opposition
leaders, the Congress, using its
majority, is pushing for these
appointments. This is exactly
what the Government did while
appointing Mr Thomas as the
Central Vigilance Commissioner.
Later the Supreme Court struck
down the appointment.
Given the rank irresponsibil-
ity and partisanship displayed by
the Government in these matters,
the people must demand that a
collegiumbe appointed to choose
the CAG. Some retired bureau-
crats and members of the Forum
of Retired Officers of Indian
Audit and Accounts Service have
fired the first salvo in this regard
by writing to President Pranab
Mukherjee and demanding that
the need of the hour is a trans-
parent, institutionalised, selection
mechanism for choosing the
next CAG. They have suggested
that a six-member committee
which includes the Chief Justice
of India or his nominee should be
appointed to select the CAG.
The President must exert his
moral pressure on the
Government to consider this
proposal. Since he is the appoint-
ing authority and since he is
under oath to protect the
Constitution, he must prevent the
Government from appointing a
pliant, committed CAG.
I
f the Begum Khaleda Zia-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its partner the
Jamaat-e-Islami thought the Sheikh Hasina Government would buckle under
their street-protests and dilute Bangladeshs secular ethos, they have been proven
wrong. During a nationwide address this Sunday, on the eve of the Bengali New
Year, Ms Hasina lashed out at her Islamist Opposition and made clear that sec-
ularism will remain an integral component of the state policy of democratic
Bangladesh. This is a bold move given the political unrest that has engulfed
Bangladesh in recent months. Ever since protesters took to the streets in February,
demanding the death sentence for Jamaat leaders convicted of committing war
crimes during the 1971 Liberation War, Islamist supporters have been hell-bent
on communalising the issue. They have sought to present the protesters as anti-
Islamic and portray the Shahbagh movement as a Government-sponsored cam-
paign of repression. In fact, some
bloggers were even recently arrested
for supposedly posting material online
that was considered to be anti-
Islamic. Consequently, today the
Shahbagh movement is no longer just
about demanding deterrent punish-
ment for war criminals but also
about defining Bangladesh's nation-
al identity as being both Bengali and
Muslim. This shows that Ms Hasina
and her Awami League regime have
their fingers on the pulse of the peo-
ple. The Bangladeshi Prime Minister
has also made it evident that she will
not pander to the extremists that com-
prise the Jamaatis and some elements
of the BNP, come what may.
In fact, Ms Hasina's Sunday
speech comes only days after she
stated in unambiguous terms that her Government will not introduce a new blas-
phemy law. Instead, she made it clear her Government will protect the religious
sentiments of one and all, and for that the existing laws are more than adequate.
This announcement came as a major blow and a shock to the Islamists who had
come to conclude that Ms Hasina would capitulate in the face of their threats.
In fact, the Hefajat-e-Islam a newly formed Islamist coalition has even threat-
ened to blockade the capital if the Government does not meet its demands which,
apart from wanting a blasphemy law, include the introduction of compulsory
Islamic education in primary and secondary schools, the declaration of Ahmediyas
as non-Muslims and the restoration of the pledge in the name of Allah in the
Constitution. The last has been done away with by the Sheikh Hasina Government
in its welcome bid to secularise national environment and more so mainstream
politics. Although the Prime Minister has assured, in a bid to reach out to the
saner elements among the protesters, that each of these demands will be reviewed,
there is no reason to believe that she will seriously consider the outlandish con-
ditions. Having come this far in her commendable campaign for the sake of a
strong and secular Bangladesh, Ms Hasina mustnt retract.
E
ither now or later, the Bharatiya Janata Party will have to take a call on its
prime ministerial candidate. Should it heed the warning issued by its ally,
the Janata Dal (United) that the latter would walk out of the BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance if someone like Mr Narendra Modi were to be named, or
should it stick to its belief that the Chief Minister of Gujarat is the most popu-
lar choice of its party cadre for governing the country? It appears to be a sticky
issue, and it is. The way forward for the BJP is to concentrate on its core inter-
ests first. After all, if the BJP cannot secure adequate numbers in the coming
Lok Sabha election, neither Mr Nitish Kumar nor his JD(U) can catapult the NDA
to power. Being the largest constituent of the NDA, the BJP has to first emerge
strong, and that is where the partys top brass must focus its attention. The ques-
tion, therefore, is: Can the BJP become strong by sidelining Mr Modi and appeas-
ing Mr Nitish Kumar? There is no doubt in the minds of the rank and file of the
party that the BJP's best bet in the coming election is the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
That the workers want him as the prime ministerial candidate is evident by the
spontaneous, overwhelming response
which he has garnered in meeting after
meeting from Delhi to Gujarat to
West Bengal and elsewhere. They
believe that Mr Modi will help rejuve-
nate the party cadre across the coun-
try and add significantly to the party's
tally in the Lok Sabha election. If such
is the mood of the workers, then the
BJP will find it difficult to ignore the
sentiments. Moreover, various surveys
by the media have been projecting Mr
Modi as the strongest and the most
preferred candidate in the BJP. Yet, if
the BJP is still shy of officially project-
ing him as the party's candidate, it is
because the JD(U) has thrown a span-
ner in the works. The BJP, understand-
ably, does not want Mr Nitish Kumar
to walk out months before the crucial general election which is expected to throw
out the inefficient Congress-led UPA Government. Its partnership with the JD(U)
is long and has worked extremely well in Bihar, where the two parties are in power
and have together done a commendable job. But, now that Mr Nitish Kumar has
announced (without taking names) at his party's National Council meeting in Delhi
on Sunday that someone like Mr Modi will not be acceptable to him, it is clear
that he wants to determine the BJP's choice. It's not a directive that any party
should willingly accept and certainly not the country's main Opposition and
the largest constituent of the NDA.
If Mr Nitish Kumar is indeed serious about removing the UPA from power
and he has said on many occasions that he is then he must stop target-
ing leaders of his own ally and weakening the NDA. He must realise that the
Congress is exploiting the situation to its advantage. In the process, the Congress
is also attempting to project to the people that the NDA is not only falling apart
just before the election but also that it is seeking to project a communal' Mr
Modi as the country's future Prime Minister. The Chief Minister of Bihar must
not play into the Congress's hands and must remember that the Congress along
with its friends, Mr Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal and Mr Ram Vilas Paswan's
Lok Janshakti Party, are its principal opponents in Bihar.
Work to oust the UPA
Allies shouldnt dictate terms to BJP
opinion 08 LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
Looking for pliant and
committed babus
The Congress has always plotted, sometimes with failure, to have spineless officials at the helm
of key institutions. The party is now trying to do that in the case of the next CAGs appointment
Taking Islamists head-on
Sheikh Hasina stands firmly by secular ideals
Provide relief soon
Sir This is with reference to the
news report, Godof small things
(April 15). It is laudable that indi-
viduals like Nahar Singhare work-
ing in this selfless fashion. On the
other hand, it is shameful that the
UPA Government is not taking
steps to rehabilitate the Hindus
who, having faced violence and
discrimination in the neighbour-
ing country, have fled to India. It
seems only vote-bank politics
decides the Governments actions
and policies.
One fails to understand how
so many Bangladeshi Muslims
received citizenship and the right
to vote in this country. Its high
time we set aside our sectarian
aspirations to build a stronger and
secure India which provides shel-
ter to all who face injustice.
Manu Taneja
Delhi
Sacrificing larger good
Sir This refers to the article,
Democracy is all about people
(April 15) by KG Suresh. In the
Indian context, democracy seems
to be a game of numbers.
We have a Government at the
Centre which is surviving not on
its strength but on the props pro-
vided by two allies, antagonistic
towards each other but who are
extending support from outside,
for reasons best known to them.
Decisions about major devel-
opment projects and welfare
schemes are taken on the basis of
personal whims rather than keep-
ing the general good in mind.
Unless decisions are taken in
national interest with equitable
development of each region,
regional politicians will continue
to rock the development agenda
with their private agenda.
Shailendra Kaul
Lucknow
Contest polls separately
Sir This refers tothe news report,
Modi or alliance: Nitish (April
15). The insistence of Bihar Chief
Minister NitishKumar that the BJP
must declare its prime ministerial
candidate, who is secular and
acceptable to the NDA, much
before the announcement of 2014
Lok Sabha election, is ridiculous.
The Bihar Chief Minister is only
trying to consolidate his Muslim
vote-bank by deprecating Mr
Modis formula for development.
Mr Kumar forgets that, while
the JD(U) has been in power in
Bihar with the support of the BJP,
Mr Modi has beenholding the fort
inGujarat onhis ownstrength. Let
the JD(U) and the BJP contest the
LokSabhaelectionwithout anypre-
poll alliance.
RC Sharma
New Delhi
Iron out differences
Sir Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumars reservationabout Gujarat
Chief Minister Narendra Modi
being projected as a prime minis-
terial candidate, is unethical and
undemocratic incoalitionpolitics.
A coalition is the conglomeration
of like-mindedparties withanaim
to provide an alternative and bet-
ter governance to the people.
In any coalition, it is the pre-
rogative of the main party to
choose its leader. There can be
mutual discussions toironout ide-
ological differences, as the JD(U)
is contending. But to kill the entire
alternative throughrigidutterances
and outbursts is unfair. All the
NDA constituents have a duty to
the nation, and to the peoples
expectation that the UPA regime
does not return to power.
VN Ramachandran
Vadodara
www.dailypioneer.com
p a p e r w i t h p a s s i o n
A SURYA PRAKASH
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
We are warning the
Centre that people are
emotional. Bhullar is in
poor health. What will
Government gain by
hanging him?
Punjab Chief Minister
Parkash Singh Badal
I used to shout at dad
(Shakti Kapoor) for doing
villain roles. I used to be
sad that he did that. In
real life, he is very funny.
Bollywood actor
Shraddha Kapoor
The United States
remains open to
authentic and
credible negotiations,
but the burden is
on Pyongyang.
US Secretary of State
John Kerry
IN RECENT YEARS,
THE APPOINTMENTS
OF NAVIN CHAWLA
AS ELECTION
COMMISSIONER
AND PJ THOMAS AS
CENTRAL VIGILANCE
COMMISSIONER
ESTABLISHED THE
CONGRESS'S
COMFORT WITH
SUBMISSIVE
OFFICERS
SOUNDBITE
Plight of Sindh Hindus is
akin to Kashmiri Pandits
T
his refers to the news report, Life in Pak not worth it, say Sindh Hindus
(April 14). The report makes for disturbing reading. While these hapless
victims of an intolerant and theocratic society deserve all sympathy, one won-
ders whether the secular' Congress-led UPA Government will do anything
credible to help and rehabilitate them in India.
I have my own reasons to doubt the UPAGovernment's intent, which has
shown in recent times that it is uncaring of Hindu sentiments and more anx-
ious to keep its vote-bank intact. The rehabilitation of illegal Bangladeshi immi-
grants, largely in Assam, is ample proof of this kind of vote-bank politics. Again,
in 1947, Hindus fromWest Pakistan came and settled in Jammu region. More
than six decades on, little has been done to declare themresidents of Jammu
& Kashmir. Instead, the State Government, with New Delhi's blessings, has
formulated a rehabilitation policy for reformed' militants, many of whomwere
responsible for terrorising Kashmiri Pandits out of the Valley and forcing them
to live like displaced citizens. Such is our secularism'.
JL Ganjoo
Delhi
Send your feedback to:
letterstopioneer@gmail.com
JANE CORBIN
SHIVAJI SARKAR
I
t is ticking. The current
account deficit is leading to
a severe balance of pay-
ment situation. The rupee is
losing its sheen every day.
Indias forex reserves have
shrunk. It would be just
enough for imports of less
than seven months. The situ-
ation is only slightly better
than in June 1991. Then, the
country had reserves for three
weeks only.
Solutions are simple but
not plausible. It would have
been easy had it been possible
to make payments in rupee.
That is not only not possible but
measures by the West against
Iran is closing the option for
such payments that it was mak-
ing for its oil imports. The
Western measures have also
stalled the oil pipeline that was
envisaged as a way for easy
import and possibly cheaper
than international rates.
India is ina critical situation.
It needs to study whether the
step against Iran is not aimed
against Indias progress. It
appears so, because Europe and
the US are not imposing such
strict conditions on Pakistan,
which is going ahead with a
pipeline withIran. It needs tobe
read in the backdrop of the
Wests assessment of growth
forecasts of India. The West tom-
toms about the twoAsiancoun-
tries, but apparently it does not
want India to progress much. It
has a lurking fear that if India is
allowed to go free sooner than
later, it could overtake the
Western economies.
Except for moving to insti-
tutionalise BRICS and develop-
ing closer ties with Asean, so
far India has not shown much
initiative to create a systemthat
could counter the West. So it
has to depend on the dollar
and the pound for its interna-
tional transactions. Shrinking
exports to the Eurozone and
the US since 2010 have today
led it to the difficult situation.
Foreign exchange earnings are
falling every day.
Exports have slowed down
considerably. Based on GDP
data from the expenditure
side, the year-on-year real
exports of goods and services
have decreased from a peak of
36 per cent in 2011 to about
four per cent by the end of
2012, and merchandise
exports have slowed down to
minus six per cent
Indias exports have not
earned much even during the
best of days. The countrys
remains an exporter of low-
end goods raw materials
like iron ore and other metals,
handicrafts and some engi-
neering goods. Most of these
are products which could
expect a demand in the West,
if the economy had been
booming there.
The forex is now just
enough to repay 78.6 per cent
of the borrowings. Till 2009-
2010, the country did not have
a problem. But the gulf is now
increasing. The forex position
had never been very comfort-
able. It was being managed by
the Reserve Bank of India
through the purchase of dollars
in the open market.
Till the rupee was in the
range of around `45 to `48 to
a dollar, the RBI found it
somehow easy to create a kind
of stockpile. This had gener-
ated what is now termed as a
comfortable forex reserve. It
was helped by the flow of for-
eign direct investment and
short-term foreign institution-
al investment. But as the rupee
slid beyond and now touches
around `55 to a dollar, it has
become a difficult operation.
The reserves of around
$290 billion would be just
enough to sustain imports for
seven months. The annualised
rate of return on the multi-cur-
rency, multi-asset portfolio of
the RBI has shown declining
trend over the years. It declined
from4.8 per cent in 2008-2009
to 2.1 per cent in 2009-2010,
1.7 per cent in 2010-2011 and
below 1.5 per cent now.
The depletion of reserves
is also caused by the RBIs steps
to sell $20 billion worth hard
currency to stem the rupee
slide in 2011-2012. Pressure on
the rupee continued in 2012-
2013 because of the ongoing
eurozone crisis. The import
cover for forex reserves as a
result has declined from 14.4
months in 2007-2008 to less
than seven months now.
It has further hit the rupee.
Some estimates say that, if the
situation does not improve, the
rupee could go to `60 and
beyond. The RBI is scared of
intervention. It has a cost. It
leads to further dwindling of
reserves. The liquidity of rupee
also increases. It may stoke
inflation, which already
remains high. It impacts every
aspect of the economy.
Managing the budget
deficit or the fiscal deficit is
easier to achieve. However,
unless imports are reduced,
the solution to the current
account deficit is not easy.
The global crisis is unlikely to
abate soon. The Government
alone is not in a position to
solve it. The new Government
in 2014 will also not find it easy
to tackle the situation.
Unless imports are reduced, the solution to the current account deficit is not going to be easy. The Government
alone is not in a position to solve it. The new Government in 2014 will also not find it easy to tackle the situation
Inside Britain's Sharia courts
3rdeye 09
Sometimes you have to wear a cap,
sometimes you have to sport a tilak. Nobody
should think the country can be run by force.
Bihar Chief Minister
NITISH KUMAR
It is unfortunate if our allies should
concentrate their energies on our Chief
Ministers and dilute focus on removing UPA.
BJP spokesperson
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
The previous
Government gave
up on its attempt
to investigate
Sharia councils
when they could
not get proper
access to them.
This
Government's
view is that
Sharia law is not
law in England
and Wales. If
decisions made
by Sharia councils
conflict with
national law, then
national law will
always prevail
POINTCOUNTERPOINT
I
na terracedhouse inEast London,
just a stones throwfromthe glitter-
ing stadiums of the Olympic Park,
a handful of people wait in a small
reception room. A young Asian
woman and her mother hitch their
scarves over their heads while a Somali
couple stare at the floor.
This is Leyton Islamic Sharia
Council, the oldest andmost active such
council in the country where scholars
hear about 50 cases a month, most of
them marital disputes. Nine out of 10
cases are brought by women because, in
an Islamic marriage, it is far easier for a
mantodivorce; the onlywayfor a woman
is through one of these Sharia councils.
No one knows how many there are in
Britain today, in mosques and in hous-
es one report estimates at least 85.
Although they cannot enforce their
judgements, these councils control the
lives of many Muslimwomen who may
only have hada religious marriage. Even
if they hada civil marriage too, some feel
the need for a Sharia divorce as a way of
moving on with their lives.
Asignoutside one of the rooms says
Arbitration. Inside it looks like a court,
a wall lined with religious books and a
raised dais for the judge. The tension in
here crackles as a couple argue in front
of Leytons most senior Islamic scholar,
Dr Suhaib Hasan, an elderly man with a
white beard wearing long robes. They
have been coming here for a year now.
The woman accuses her husband of
refusing to work, ignoring the children
and verbally abusing her, all of which he
vehemently denies. When he is ordered
to leave for a moment, she breaks down
in tears. I hate him, he has ruined my
life, she cries. Dr Hasans face is impas-
sive as he tells her to give her husband
one more month to try and reconcile,
with the help of Allah. The woman sobs
as she begs him to grant the divorce as
she only hada religious marriage andher
fate is inthe councils hands. We are not
just here to issue divorces, we want to
mediate first, Dr Hasan explains.
But this pressure fromSharia coun-
cils andthe communitytheyserve is caus-
ing suffering Islamic rulings are not
always inthe interests of womenandcan
runcounter toBritishlaw. There are more
worrying cases involving domestic vio-
lence andchildren. InLeeds, I met Sonia,
an attractive woman in her thirties in a
mini-dress and ankle boots. She was
granted a civil divorce due to her hus-
bands extreme violence towards her and
their children. He was only allowedindi-
rect access to the children by the courts.
But whenshe went toLeytonfor a Sharia
divorce, she was told she would have to
give up her children to him.
Sharia courts are not allowedtointer-
vene in matters involving child custody,
but Leytons website features Sharia rul-
ings on children. I could not bear the
thought of such a violent person having
my children, Sonia told me. What was
even more shocking was when I
explained to Leyton why he shouldnt
have access to the children. Their reac-
tionwas well youcant goagainst what
Islamsays. Sonia stood her ground and
eventually got Leyton to drop their
demand. Whenaskedabout Sonias case,
Leyton said with children if a marriage
ends, the question of access to both par-
ents is crucial. Safety is paramount and
any UK court order must be followed.
Leyton say they do not advise abused
women to return to their husbands, but
given what we had heard, we sent an
undercover reporter toconsult Dr Hasan
with a story about an abusive husband.
The Government says domestic vio-
lence is a crime that should be reported
to the police. The Islamic scholars reac-
tion to her account of being hit and
whether she shouldinformthe police was
to ask her if she was actually being beat-
enseverely. The police, that is a very, very
last resort, he said. If he becomes so
aggressive starts hitting and punching
you, of course youhave toreport it tothe
police. Dr Hasanadvisedher that telling
the police would be the final blowas she
wouldhave togotoa refuge whichwas
a bad option. He also referred our
undercover reporter to his wife, a coun-
sellor at Leyton. She too advised against
involving the police. Both suggested she
should ask if the violence was due to her
own actions and she should strive to be
a goodwife: Cooking, cleaning andlook-
ing after her appearance
When we asked Leyton council
about what we filmed secretly they said
with domestic violence it may be essen-
tial to involve the police and other
authorities but that can be a step with
irrevocable consequences. I showed our
secret footage to Nazir Afzal, the Chief
Crown prosecutor for the North West, a
Muslimwho has taken the lead in tack-
ling honour-based domestic violence.
Imdisappointed but not surprised, he
said. Most of them[Sharia councils] are
fine but there are some clearly like this
one who are putting women at risk.
And doing so for ridiculous reasons,
namely that they are somehow respon-
sible for the abuse they are suffering.
In Bristol, Cara, a Muslim convert
told me her husband had persuaded her
toonly have a Sharia marriage. He ended
upabusing her emotionally andcontrol-
ling her by taking all of her earnings.
When he brought prostitutes home,
Cara ran away to a refuge. She contact-
edLeytonSharia council for a divorce but
they told her she would have to go to
them with her husband for arbitration.
I was shocked, says Cara.
Sharia councils in other parts of
Britainhave also meddledinlegal issues
that should be matters for the UK
courts. In Dewsbury, west Yorkshire, an
old pub is nowa Sharia council. Ayesha,
a thin and haunted-looking woman in
traditional dress anda headscarf toldme
her husband, whohit her evenwhenshe
was pregnant, had been imprisoned for
his violent behaviour. She and her chil-
drenhadinjunctions against him, andyet
when she went to Dewsbury Sharia
Council for a divorce, they still wanted
the couple tomeet for mediation. I said,
I cant dothat as he isnt evenallowednear
my house, says Ayesha, but they didnt
take any notice.
Eventually, whena barrister special-
ising in family law became involved,
Dewsbury agreed to see Ayesha without
her husband but she still had to face
five menalone without legal representa-
tion. It tookher twoyears toget a divorce;
meanwhile, her husband had moved to
Pakistan and married again. Across the
country where there are large Muslim
communities, there are nowSharia coun-
cils. Some seemto discriminate against
women in different ways. Women are
required to produce two male witness-
es, and it costs a woman at least 400 to
get an Islamic divorce while a man can
pay nothing. Under Sharia law, a woman
must hand over all of her dowry before
a divorce canbe granted. Sharia marriage
is not recognised under UK law, so
women are not automatically entitled to
half the house or financial assets when
it comes to a divorce.
The previous Government gave up
on its attempt to investigate Sharia
councils when they could not get prop-
er access to them. This Governments
view is that Sharia law is not law in
England and Wales and existing legisla-
tion already deals with issues about
Sharia councils raised by campaigners.
If decisions made by these councils con-
flicts withnational law, thennational law
will always prevail. The women I spoke
to believe that it is not the Islamic code
that is at fault but the way Sharia coun-
cils interpret it, and they want them
investigated and held accountable.
Sonia, Cara and Ayesha eventually
freed themselves from their unhappy
marriages but they believe that many
women in Britain are being condemned
by Sharia councils to miserable lives.
(Courtesy: The Daily Telegraph)
One financial crisis upon another
think
now
W
hen we want to help the
poor, we usually offer
them charity. Most often
we use charity to avoid
recognising the problem and
finding the solution for it.
Charity becomes a way to shrug
off our responsibility. But charity
is no solution to poverty. Charity
only perpetuates poverty by
taking the initiative away from
the poor. Charity allows us to go
ahead with our own lives
without worrying about the lives
of the poor. Charity appeases
our consciences.
Muhammad Yunus
Economist and Nobel
Peace Prize recipient
When personality
triumphs reason
T
here is no disputing that, around West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee over many years and several encoun-
ters, a cult of personality has formed, that was built on
truth claims that produced a powerful bond between her and
a significantly large section of the masses. Her cult status is
captured vividly in the description Agni Kanya; literally it would
translate into something as commonplace as firebrand, but
that is not quite its significance in the always turbulent and
more recently tempestuous politics of West Bengal.
It used to be said that when London sneezed, Kolkata
caught a cold, so loyal where the babus to the Empire. The
habits seem to die hard. Left students organisations, includ-
ing the Students Federation of India, demonstrated in New Delhi
outside the Yojana Bhavan against Ms Banerjee. They disbe-
lieved her explanation that Sudipto Gupta has died an acci-
dental death. They demanded an independent inquiry into the
killing in police custody. The fall-out: Widespread ransacking,
arson, assault on party offices and leaders of the CPI(M), its
Left allies and the Congress.
In politics, the cult of the personality is associated with
theatre, performance and, above all, drama. It stirs up emo-
tions by prodding memories; in the case of Ms Banerjee and
West Bengal, the memories of her engagement with CPM
violence, be it her encounters with the police or
the cadres of the CPI(M). In public memory, the
police and the cadres became the same, not
just interchangeable, as the cult of Ms
Banerjee blossomed and spread till it even-
tually became synonymous with poriborton
or transformation.
So, politics and the persona of the
leader were fused into one truth, poribor-
ton. That poriborton guaranteed a politics-
free Government that would deliver efficient
governance, be it by the police, bureaucracy,
education institutions or any other service that the
State was mandated to provide to the people is now
blissfully forgotten, as the Presidency University's Vice
Chancellor Malabika Sirkar revealed.
There is no connection between Presidency University and
the demonstrators in New Delhi and yet, the premises of this
institution that epitomised Ms Banerjee's promise of poribor-
ton in West Bengal's education system was broken into, its
students and teachers and staff were roughed up and ransacked
by flag-bearers of the Trinamool Congress, while the police
stood by as they had no orders. The cult needed targets and
Presidency University was a potent symbol of the Left's past.
The outspoken condemnation by the Vice Chancellor has pro-
voked the Trinamool Congress to verbally attack her, accus-
ing her of impropriety and by implication falsehood.
The truth is metamorphosed into the persona of the leader.
So, challenging the leader by word or action is tantamount
to challenging the truth. It was audacious, therefore, for the
rag-tag of Left student activists, to stage a demonstration at
the gates of Yojana Bhavan in New Delhi. It was guaranteed
to produce the reaction that it did: One-sided escalating vio-
lence that the Trinamool Congress threatened could spin out
of control.
The demonstrators fault was that they challenged the truth
of Ms Banerjee's statement on the killing of Sudipto Gupta in
police custody as the prison van or rather the bus entered
Presidency Jail compound. To the demonstrators, the custo-
dial death was not an accident. To the demonstrators, Sudipto's
death was not a small incident or an insignificant matter.
As a very senior politician, Ms Banerjee would have been
better served if she could, in fact, have ensured a violence-
free fall-out to her precipitate decision to walk through demon-
strators in New Delhi. As a charismatic leader with a cult fol-
lowing, it was perhaps impossible for her to do so.
In West Bengal, truth has really metamorphosed into
the persona of the leader. Challenging the leader has
now become tantamount to challenging the truth
A new documentary that goes undercover in the UKs Islamic courts reveals the shocking discrimination some women
suffer there. Religious rulings are not always in the interests of women and can run counter to British law SHIKHA MUKERJEE
FIRST
COLUMN
A couple seeking a final judgement on their divorce from Dr Suhaib Hasan of the Leyton Islamic Sharia Council. Photo courtesy: BBC
nation 10
PIONEER NEWS SERVICE n
HYDERABAD
C
ongress members of
Parliament fromTelangana
region were back in focus with
Telangana Rashtra Samiti
(TRS) president K
Chandrashekhar Rao making a
public offer to them to field
them in the next Lok Sabha
elections on his party ticket if
they resign from the Congress
and join his party.
Rao, known as KCR, met
senior Congress leader from
Telangana region K Keshav
Rao at his residence on Sunday
and offered his partys ticket
from either Secunderabad or
adjoining Malkajgiri Lok Sabha
constituency.
Keshav Rao confirming
the offer said, I think he is
right when he says that all the
pro-Telangana leaders joining
the TRS will strengthen the
Tel angana movement.
We will take our decision at
the right time.
Keshav Rao was among
several others who dropped
clear indication that they
were heading towards exit in
the Congress.
S Rajaiah, the Congress
MP fromWarangal said that he
was ready to make any sacrifice
for Telangana as the party had
failed in taking a timely deci-
sion. I am now tired of raising
Telangana demand in the
Congress. The issue of
Telangana has reached a stage
of now or never. If we are not
able to achieve it now, we will
never be able to have a separate
Telangana State, he said.
I will take a decision on
my future keeping in view the
aspirations and wishes of the
people of my region, he said.
All the MPs from
Telangana region, rising above
their party lines should raise the
issue of Telangana in the next
session of Parliament. Not only
the MPs, but Ministers and
MLAs should also fight for
Telangana, he said.
Another Congress MP
from Telangana G Vivekanand
(Peddapally constituency) was
busy consulting his supporters
in the Congress on his next
course of action. He met his fol-
lowers and supporters in
Dharampuri town of
Karimnagar onMonday against
the backdrop of speculation
that he along with another MP
from Karimnagar Ponnam
Prabhkar had made up their
minds to quit the Congress and
join the TRS as they had lost
hope of the Congress high
command granting Statehood
to Telangana.
In another related develop-
ment, Gangula Kamlakar Reddy,
TDP MLA from Karimnagar
announcedthat he was going to
jointhe TRS. Kamlakar saidthat
he took the decision as there
was no freedom in TDP to
fight for Telangana.
Meanwhile, TRS president
K Chandrashekhar Rao met
the party leaders from
Karimnagar district on the
issue of admitting TDP MLA
and others into the party.
Rejected in Cong, MPs may
join TRS for Telangana soon
File photo: Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Telangana Joint Action Committee
members participate in a bandh on the outskirts of Hyderabad
SAUGAR SENGUPTA n KOLKATA
B
engal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee wants to
learn from her mistakes and
move on. The Chief Minister,
who has been recuperating at
her home after being dis-
charged from a South Kolkata
hospital where she was admit-
ted after returning from Delhi,
on Monday communicated her
strong resolve to Trinamool
Congress MP Derek OBrien
who went to wish her on the
Bengal New Years Day: Poila
Baisakh (First of Vaisakh).
Quoting Banerjee, the
Trinamool MP said that in the
past two years there has been
a lot of developmental works in
the State in the course of which
we may have committed some
mistakes. But we will learn
from our mistakes.
Deliberating on the
Presidency attack, the Trinamool
MPsaid that the Chief Minister
had reiterated that the
Presidency University was cen-
tre of excellence and would
continue to remain so. After
coming to power Banerjee had
dreamt of restoring the world
class academic centre to its lost
glory and had constituted a
mentor group, ledby the likes of
Amartya Sen, Sugato Basu et al.
Let me convey it to you on
behalf of the Chief Minister
that Presidency will continue to
remain a centre for acade-
mics, OBrien said warning
those found guilty of vandalis-
ing the university would be
taken to task. He reminded
how those six-seven people
have been arrested by the police
in the Presidency case.
The university was van-
dalised by a group of
Trinamool Congress workers
who were protesting the heck-
ling of State Finance Minister
Amit Mitra in Delhi by the
CPI(M) supporters.
Notwithstanding OBriens
claim, the Left leadership con-
tinued to complain that the big
fishes involvedinthe Presidency
episode like Tapas Basu, a coun-
cilor and husband of Deputy
Speaker Sonali Guha, were being
shielded by the police.
However, the Trinamool
leaders argued that the
Government had taken action
in the Presidency case but no
action had been taken by the
Delhi Police against the
CPI(M) cadre who were
involved in the heckling of
Banerjee and Mitra in Delhi.
Regardless of the
Trinamools claim of learning
from its mistakes, the CPI(M)
leadership showed how attacks
were being carried out in the
State against the Opposition.
Thousands of party offices
and houses have been ran-
sacked and burnt down in the
State in the past three days and
the police are not only sitting
idle during these attacks but
also implicating our men in
false charges, said senior
CPI(M) leader and former MP
Sujan Chakrabarty.
Meanwhile, committing
yet another mistake Trinamool
MP Kalyan Banerjee on
Monday warned the Left Front
of dire consequences if there
was another attack on Banerjee.
We will break your hand
if you dare to attack Mamata
Banerjee who is like our moth-
er, Kalyan Banerjee, a senior
counsel, said and warned
both Biman Bose (Left Front
chairman) and Suryakanto
Mishra (Opposition leader)
would be tonsured and thrown
out of Bengal if they dare to
incite people against the
Trinamool Congress.
The Left on the other hand
alleged Opposition party
offices had been attacked, burnt
down or even forcibly occupied
by the Trinamool goons in
large parts of the State.
MAYABHUSHAN n PANAJI
W
riggling out of a difficult situation,
Goa Chief Minister Manohar
Parrikar said that his Government would
not grant licence to Playboy Club as a
beach shack without directly saying that
he would not allow the Playboy franchise
to set up shop in Goa.
Replying to a Calling Attention Motion
raised by his own party legislator, Michael
Lobo Parrikar said that giving licences to
international franchises was not in tune
with the States shack policy.
I am assuring the House that Playboy
Club will not be allowed as a shack. We
give permissions only to individuals and
not to global chains, Parrikar said.
According to the Goa Governments
beach shack policy, shacks could not be
allotted in the name of branded interna-
tional chains, but in names of individuals.
Whether Playboy can function away
fromthe shore has not been spoken about.
Whether the Government would
grant permission to the PB Lifestyle to
start a club, generated much debate in
the State especially after Tourism
Minister Dilip Parulekar had initially
said that the Government had asked for
an affidavit from the franchise that
there would be no obscenity and vul-
garity on the premises.
Lobo, who represents the Calangute
constituency in whose area the village of
Candolim in which the club is scheduled
to come, is also the North Goa president.
He had accused his own Government of
trying to promote prostitution.
Actress Sharmila Tagore is presented a memento by West Bengal Industries
Minister Partha Chatterjee as State Transport and Sports Minister Madan Mitra (C)
looks on, in Kolkata on Monday PTI
Didi wants to learn from
past mistakes, move on
Violence continues
in West Bengal
KHURSHEED WANI n SRINAGAR
T
hree youngsters were
buried alive under a snow
avalanche in North Kashmir
as surge i n temperature
started triggering shooting
stones and avalanches in the
upper reaches.
The tragedy occurred in
mountainous Dara Kujul pock-
et of North Kashmir Uri pock-
et situated along the Line of
Control in Baramulla district.
Police said the trio had gone to
the upper reaches to fetch fire-
wood when a heavy avalanche
buried them alive.
Before the villagers raised
alarm and rescue operation
was initiated, the youngsters
died under the colossal snow
mass. They have beenidentified
as Deen Muhammad Sood,
Muhammad Haleemand Lateef
Ahmad, all in their thirties.
The people in border areas
live in abject poverty and col-
lecting firewood and grazing
cattle in the pastures is their
mainstay apart fromworking as
coolies for the Army.
The disaster management
cell of the divisional adminis-
tration has issued a warning for
the residents in upper reaches
to remain vigilant about shoot-
ing stones and avalanches.
They said the rise in tempera-
ture starts melting process in
the glaciers.
3 buried alive
after snow
avalanche
in Kashmir
Playboy in Goa beach shack avatar baulked
MAYABHUSHAN n PANAJI
N
ow, entering into Goa via
road for that cheaper sip
of beer and cheaper petrol is
going to be more expensive.
After around a month back
announcing such a decision,
the Government began charg-
ing a minimum of `100 on the
all vehicles except two-wheel-
ers registered
in neighbour-
ing States.
Speaking at
a Press confer-
ence, Parrikar
said that this
step would help
mop up the
revenue for the
State. Five toll
booths have already been erect-
ed at five entry points. One
more entry points will be erect-
ed soon. Three-wheelers enter-
ing Goa would be charged
`100, tempos `500, four-wheel-
ers `250 and heavy vehicles will
be charged `1,000, he added.
Those staying in areas
near the border and regularly
travel between States will be
exempted from paying the toll.
Vehicles which are using Goas
roads as only a means of tran-
sit will be charged toll but will
be refunded as they exit the
State, Parrikar said, giving
limited relief to those, who
often visit Goa especially those
who drive in for trade.
With the State taking a
huge revenue hit, owing to the
shutdown in mining imposed
by the Supreme Court, the
State Government has had to
increase vari-
ous commer-
cial taxes in a
bid to cope
with the short-
fall in revenue.
W h e n
asked about
t he protests
witnessed in
neighbouring
States over the issue, Parrikar
said they would consider
dropping the toll only when
and if the other two States
Maharashtra and Karnataka
stop charging toll along
the highways.
They can save a lot more
than the toll on cheap petrol
and diesel prices. Diesel is
cheaper by `1.75 considering
the existing rate in Karnataka
and `3 lesser than the price in
Maharashtra, Parrikar said.
Now, shell out
more for Goa
road trip fun
Young lives devoid of all
hopes
However, with the Government maintain-
ing a stoic silence on the Pakistani-Hindu
refugee issue, rehabilitation or citizenship for
them is a distant dream.
Yet, these 500-desperate souls have not
given up. The hopes of these migrants are
pinned on the Government and they are pray-
ing that the Government would at least relocate
them to a livable place.
Surrounded by filth and an awful stink that
fills the air, these migrants are forced to live in
severely unhygienic conditions. 80 families, all
with extended members, barely manage to fit
into the 28 small-sized rooms provided by
Nahar Singh.
To add to their woes, the rooms are poor-
ly lit and a few of them do not even have fans,
which makes life unbearable in this sweltering
heat.
Around 24 people have to sleep in one
small room. Sometimes we sleep outside in the
corridor so that others, especially children and
women can sleep inside, said Shankar Lal, 32,
who is here with his wife, five children and a
few relatives.
There are only six toilets and bathrooms
and they do not suffice as there are 500 people
living here. At least 25 to 30 people have to share
one small room, making life extremely difficult,
complained Bahadur Hans, who has started
working as a labourer at a nearby construction
site.
While the refugees wait for the Government
to act, the people living in the area have decid-
ed to lend a helping hand.
21-year-old Sarita Verma, who lives in the
neighbourhood, has taken the initiative to teach
a few of the refugee kids. I have ten students
and I teach them English, Maths and Hindi. It's
a bit difficult to teach them as their language
is a bit different from ours, she said.
As of now, food for them is being provid-
ed by Nahar Singh and his aides.
Thankfully, several other organizations
and individuals have come forward to help them
in whatever way they can.
Initially, Nahar Singh provided us with
food, fruits and vegetables, but now, many oth-
ers have started giving us eatables, said a vis-
ibly happy Sitaram.
The families cook their own meals with
foodstuff provided by the volunteers.
However, this is not enough and the con-
dition of the 110 children living here is quite
worrisome. They are not getting a proper diet
and a few days ago, a five-month-old baby,
Kiran, died of malnutrition.
Another infant, two-and-a-half-month-
old Kapil is suffering from pneumonia, but his
parents have no access to any medical facilities.
The children can often be seen lying by the
sewer, but there is nowhere else to go. Needless
to say, school education is a very distant
dream for them.
Ashish who represents a Sindhi organiza-
tion that has been distributing powdered milk,
ORS packets and cough syrup bottles among the
refugees said: The children have a right to a
healthy life. There are so many children here,
who will help them if we do not take some ini-
tiative?
One wishes that the powers that be, also
thought the same way!
Satya Sai devotee Maduro
wins Venezuela's poll
Despite the ill feelings, both men sent their
supporters home and urged themto refrain from
violence. Capriles insisted on a recount and
Maduro said he was open to one, though it was
not immediately clear if election officials might
permit it.
We are not going to recognise a result until
each vote of Venezuelans is counted, Capriles
said. This struggle has not ended.
Maduro, meanwhile, said, Let 100 percent
of the ballot boxes be opened. ... Were going to
do it; we have no fear.
Maduro, acting president since Chavezs
March 5 death, held a double-digit advantage
in opinion polls just two weeks ago, but electoral
officials said he got just 50.7 percent of the votes
compared to 49.1 percent for Capriles, with near-
ly all ballots counted.
The margin was about 234,935 votes out of
14.8 million cast. Turnout was 78 percent, down
from just over 80 percent in the October elec-
tion that Chavez won by a nearly 11-point mar-
gin over Capriles. Analysts called the slim mar-
gin a disaster for Maduro.
Maduro, a longtime foreign minister to
Chavez, rode a wave of sympathy for the
charismatic leader to victory, pinning his hopes
on the immense loyalty for his boss among mil-
lions of poor beneficiaries of government
largesse and the powerful state apparatus that
Chavez skillfully consolidated.
New era for women in
Army
The overall officer strength including men
and women is 36,788 officers in the Army, the
Navy 7,744 and IAF force 10,747.
Women officers are inducted in the branch-
es open to them within the overall authorised
strength of officers cadres of respective service,
based on merit on an all- India basis and there
is no separate fixed sanctioned strength for
women officers.
In the Army, women officers are recruited
in the Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Army
Air Defence, Electronics and Mechanical
Engineers, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance
Corps, Intelligence Corps, Army Education
Corps and Judge Advocate General branches.
In the Navy, they are inducted into the Judge
Advocate General, Logistics, Observer, Air
Traffic Controller, Naval Constructor and
Education branches and in the IAF women offi-
cers are recruited in all branches and streams,
except the fighter stream of the flying branch.
Bihar BJP
On one side of Narendra Modi, there is a
photograph of Dr CP Thakur while on anoth-
er side, photograph of BJP Secretary and party
MLA, Rameshwar Prasad Chourasia is seen.
It is learnt that the BJP leaders from Bihar
told the BJP president that the party was not
growing in Bihar due to its alliance with the
JD(U) and conveyed their opposition to the con-
tinuance of ties with it. We have told our party
president about all the issues. He has promised
us that he will take an appropriate decision at
an appropriate time, Giriraj Singh said after
meeting with the party chief.
Rajnath Singh remained tight-lipped after
the meeting, but the party continues to be appre-
hensive about the continuity of the alliance. A
top BJP leader said, Sometimes it (parting
ways) becomes inevitable. When a political
party passes a resolution then it is beyond a mat-
ter of loss or gain.
The BJP leadership fears that the Nitish
could be preparing to snap ties on ground of
secularism and testing electoral waters on its
own strength. Another section of the BJP feels
that Nitish Kumar wants to break free to have
manoeuvring space in a post-poll situation,
which at present seems to be quite fluid.
Talking to Headlines Today, Rajnath said,
BJP is a secular party. It would have been bet-
ter had this (Nitish attack on Modi) not have
happened. Whatever has happened is unfortu-
nate.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
2 terrorists get life term in
Modinagar bus blast case
SP SINGH n GHAZIABAD
A
local court in Ghaziabad
on Monday awarded a life
imprisonment to two terrorists
in 1996 Modinagar bus blast
case. Third accused was acquit-
ted due to lack evidence.
The two terrorists had
planted the bomb in a UP
Roadways bus on April 27,
1996. The bomb went off on
National Highway-58 at 3.56
pm leaving 16 people dead and
18 passengers critically injured.
The court of Additional
District & Sessions Judge
Mangal Prasad Yadav while
pronouncing the quantum of
punishment on Monday
awarded life sentence to
Mohammad Mateen and Iliyas.
However, the court acquitted
third accused Tehseen in
absence of convincing evi-
dence. The court also imposed
a penalty of `50,000 each on
convicted terrorists.
Additi onal Di stri ct
Government Counsel
(ADGC) Rajendra Kasana
claimed that after the incident,
a criminal case was regis-
tered with Modi Nagar police
under Sections 302, 307, 120B,
147, 148 of IPC and Explosion
Act but the case was, later,
transferred to the CB CID of
the UP Police, which submit-
ted the charge sheet against
three accused.
The charge sheet states
that the main accused
Mohammad Mateen, a resident
of Sindh province in Pakistan,
was arrested from Jammu &
Kashmir in 1997. It, further,
states that Mateen reached
India from Pakitan and
Mohammad Iliyas a resident of
Muzaffar Nagar gave him shel-
ter at his residence in the town,
said the counsel.
Duri ng t hei r st ay i n
Muzaffar Nagar they hatched
a conspi racy. The t hi rd
accused Tasleem joined them
in the conspiracy. Then they
planted a bomb in a UP
Roadways bus plying on the
Nati onal Hi ghway-58 to
Dehradun on April 27, 1996 at
Anand Vihar bus terminal
which exploded near Modi
Nagar while the bus was head-
ing towards Meerut.
The bomb exploded at 3.56
pm on April 27, 1996 in which
16 people were killed. Ten
people were killed on the spot
while six others were died dur-
ing treatment in different hos-
pitals in Ghaziabad city.
Eighteen people sustained crit-
ical injuries in the explosion
added the counsel.
During pronouncing the
judgement when Iliyas came to
know that he had been award-
ed a life sentence started shout-
ing that he had lost a faith in
the judicial systemof the coun-
try. Till now he was thinking
that he would get justice but he
had lost the faith in judiciary.
However, Mateen was calm
and quite. Some relatives of the
victims expressed dissatisfac-
tion to the judgement. They
wantedthe deathsentence for all
the three accused who had
killed 16 innocent people and
left some crippled for life.
RATHIN DAS n AHMEDABAD
M
umbai-based activist
Teesta Setalvad is in for
fresh trouble as surviving res-
idents of the destroyed Gulbarg
Society have provided proofs of
her organising various func-
tions at the premises and mak-
ing false promises.
In a letter to the Assistant
Commissioner of Police, some
residents of the Gulbarg Society
have sent photographs of
Setalvad posing with many of
them on the anniversaries of
the massacre in which 69 peo-
ple were killed during the
bandh following the Sabarmati
Express inferno at Godhra on
February 27, 2002.
Earlier in March this year,
as many as 11 surviving resi-
dents of the Gulbarg Society
had written to the Joint
Commissioner of police about
Setalvad making false promis-
es to them about providing
financial support.
Along with the latest letter
to the ACP (SOG) Crime
Branch, the former Gulbarg
Soceity residents have attached
nearly half a dozenphotographs
of themposing with Setalvad.
The photographs attached
with the letter show the resi-
dents along with Setalvad hold-
ing aloft placards with the
ruined houses in the backdrop.
In one of the photographs,
Setalvad was herself shown
doing videography as the res-
idents were lined up with plac-
ards provided by her NGO.
Even small children aged
4-5 years were used by her to
carry such placards, the letter
to the Assistant Commissioner
of Police complained.
All the functions at the
Gulbarg Society were properly
photographed and video-
graphed by her which were
later shown to national and
international organisations, said
in the letter written by Firoz
Sayeedkhan Pathan and others.
To prove their point, the
residents sent four photographs
of Gulbarg Society functions in
which they are standing with
placards and banners along
with two children also carrying
banners in their hands.
The letter pointed out the
Setalvad had made the promis-
es of financial support to the
residents in the presence of the
media. These photographic
proofs provided by the Gulbarg
Society residents nowpaves the
way for the police to through-
ly investigate the complaints
made against Setalvad about the
promises of financial help
which have not been fullfilled.
Gulbarg residents submit
evidence against Teesta
FALSE PROMISES
MUKESH RANJAN n RANCHI
T
aking a tough stand in the
horse-trading case during
the Rajya Sabha elections of
2012, the Jharkhand High
Court on Monday directed the
State police to arrest JMM
MLA Sita Soren, accused in an
abduction case of her former
PA Vikas Pandey, by May 6. A
division court of Chief Justice
Prakash Tatia and Justice Jaya
Roy also directed State DGP
and Home Secretary to appear
personally before it, if the
police fail to arrest Soren dur-
ing the prescribed time.
In case Sita Soren is not
arrested before May 6, the
DGP and Home Secretary of
Jharkhand will have to appear
before the court with an affi-
davit that why she has not been
arrested till date, said Advocate
Rajeev Kumar.
Meanwhile, anaffidavit was
submitted by the police before
the Court saying that despite
raids conducted in Odisha and
other places she has not yet
been located by the police.
On the other hand the
CBI in its status report sub-
mitted before the court that
investigations have been com-
pleted in the horse-trading
case and is preparing to file
charge-sheet in the case.
According to the CBI some
sanctions are yet to be obtained
against some of the persons
accused in the case.
The court had granted two
weeks time to the State
Government on April 02 for
arresting Soren expressing dis-
pleasure over the status report
submitted by the CBI.
Arrest Sita Soren by
May 6, HC orders DGP
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013 money 11
PNS n MUMBAI/ NEWDELHI
G
old prices continued to tum-
ble evenonMonday. After the
yellow metal lost `1,250 on
Saturday to touch its lowest level
since December 31, 2011, it again
tumbledby`750to`27,600per 10
grams tohit anover 15-monthlow
in the national capital due to per-
sistent sellingbystockists triggered
by a heavy sell-off in global mar-
kets.
With gold prices tumbling to
a 15-monthlow, retailers are wit-
nessing a surge in demand and
expect up to 50 per cent spike in
sales volume in this marriage
season.
They are alsoexpectingprices
to fall further to around `25,000
per 10 grams in the immediate
short-term.
Over the weekend, demand
has picked up and there is surge
in footfalls. As such, demand for
jewellery has been up since Holi
due to the upcoming wedding
season. However, the recent
plunge in prices have added to
the momentum.
We are expectinga whopping
50per cent growthinsales volume
during this season over the same
period last year, Vice-Chairman
of the Mumbai Jewellers
AssociationKumar Jaintold PTI.
Jain, whoalsoowns Umedmal
Tilokchand Zaveri retail chain,
said jewellers are expecting a
goodseasononthe backof expec-
tations that the prices are likely to
tumble further toaround`25,000
due to global cues.
Prices in Mumbai Spot mar-
ket todaywas rulingat `26,550per
10 grams comparedto `28,410 in
the same period last year.
Echoinga similar view, Delhi-
based PCJ Jewellers Managing
Director Balrram Garg said the
demand for jewellery has grown
during the last two-three days as
gold prices started declining.
We are expecting 30-40 per
cent sales growth, bothinvalue as
well as volume terms, during this
season, he said, adding that the
prices may decline by another 2-
3 per cent. Tribhovandas Bhimji
Zaveri Chief Executive Prem
Hindujasaid there has been a
positive change in the attitude of
buyers withgrowingfootfalls inall
stores.
Historically, we have always
seen that whenever there has
beena decline ingoldprices, jew-
ellery demandhas increasedeven
during the inauspicious periods.
And the present trend is not dif-
ferent. However, it is too early to
give any figures, he added.
However, Gitanjali Gems
CMD Mehul Choksi feels that
people are still waiting for prices
to go down further before going
in for any heavy purchase.
It was a good weekend. As it
is the demand was already there
for the wedding season. However,
for any additional purchase, peo-
ple are still waiting for the prices
to decline further. Currently, we
are seeingmore preference for dia-
monds and not gold, he said.
If prices continue to remain
weak, there is likely to be upto 15
per cent growth in demand, he
added. Bombay Bullion
Association President Mohit
Khamboj said wedding demand
will always remain even if prices
are high. If gold prices continue
to decline there is likely to be up
to 40 per cent rise in sales.
However, it is still early days to
comment as people are lookingfor
more price decline, he said.
The Government had hiked
the import duty on gold and
platinum to 6 per cent from ear-
lier 4 per cent in February to dis-
courage imports with a view to
check the widening current
account deficit.
Jewellers eye moolah as demand surges on cheaper gold
AP n LONDON
T
he price of oil dropped to near
USD 89 a barrel today, its
lowest level since mid-December,
as a slowdown in Chinas growth
added to doubts about the
strength of the world economy
and global demand for crude.
By early afternoon in Europe,
benchmark crude for May delivery
was down USD 2.28 to USD 89.01
a barrel in electronic trading on the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
On Friday, the Nymex contract
fell USD 2.22 to USD 91.29.
Chinas slowdown, weak economic
reports from the US and Europes
malaise suggest demand for crude
and refined fuels wont be strong
enough to absorb the ample
supplies on the world market,
which is pushing down oil prices.
The Chinese government
today said growth in the worlds
second-largest economy slowed to
7.7 per cent in the first quarter
from 7.9 per cent in the final
quarter of last year. Growth was
expected to accelerate slightly after
several quarters of decline.
Poorer-than-expected data
from China has fuelled new fears
about demand. On Friday, the US
had already published
disappointing retail sales figures,
said a report from Commerzbank
in Frankfurt.
In other words, demand in
both of the leading oil consumer
countries is currently weaker than
anticipated. Still, oil consumption
is expected to rise this year, even if
at a slower pace than previously
expected.
There is thus no fundamental
explanation for the USD 10 price
slide over the past two weeks,
which is due above all to other
factors such as market sentiment,
short-term momentum, charts and
selling by money managers,
Commerzbank said.
In London, Brent crude was
down USD 1.79 to USD 101.25 a
barrel on the ICE Futures
exchange.
In other futures trading on
Nymex: Wholesale gasoline fell
1.91 cents to USD 2.791 a gallon.
Heating oil dropped 2.44 cents to
USD 2.8474 a gallon. Natural gas
added 2.8 cents to USD 4.25 per
1,000 cubic feet.
Oil falls to around $ 89
as China growth slows
Some 158,200 taels of gold bullion (roughly six tonnes) were sold in
six auctions held by the State Bank of Vietnam.
Cyprus plans to sell gold reserves to raise around 400 million euros to
help finance a bailout and other indebted euro zone countries like Italy,
Spain and Portugal could follow suit. So, investors have cut exposure
to gold
US data released on Friday gave an indication that US wholesale prices
arent rising. Any such signal will prompt investors to sell old.
REASONS FOR GOLD PRICE CRASH
SEEMA SINDHU nNEWDELHI
S
istema Shyam Telecom
Limited (SSTL), which oper-
ates under MTS brand in India,
will breakeveninendof 2014or
first half of 2015. SSTLPresident
and Chief Executive Officer
Vsevolod Rozanov said that the
companyhas gonethroughsome
tough times over the last twelve
months, but the doubts and the
ambiguity are nowover.
Despite the challenges dur-
ing the last year we were able to
growour revenues by31per cent
and improve on our operating
income before depreciation and
amortisation (OIBDA) margins
by 64 percentage points, which
reflects the strong fundamentals
of MTS business inthe country.
As seen in our results, we con-
tinued to lower OIBDA loss,
and in the last quarter achieved
breakeveninour first circle- West
Bengal. Most importantly the
results demonstrate the strength
of our data franchise which in
2012brought almost athirdof all
our revenues, Rozanov added.
Last week in Moscow, SSTL
hadannouncedanet loss of `779
crore for the quarter ended
December 2012, comparedwith
a net loss of `1,197 crore in the
year-ago period. The company
recently won spectrumin 8 cir-
clers and now operates in 9 cir-
cles.
Our focus will be ondevel-
oping a stronger data franchise,
restarting the smartphone busi-
ness and harvesting voice seg-
ment. We will now follow tailor
made business strategies for each
of the nine circles to bring the
OIBDA break even at the earli-
est and also create assets which
can be transferred easily to new
technologies. We aimto achieve
this with strict cost control, he
added further.
Hesaidthat thecompanywill
also provide LTE or 4Gservices
in the near future. MTS, which
has asubscriber baseof 10.58mil-
lion and 1.18 million data users,
will focus oncircles withgreatest
data potential andLTEopportu-
nityinthe country. It alreadyhas
60 per cent coverage of potential
data market in Indian market.
The company said that 850
MHz spectrum provides an
opportunity for SSTLtomigrate
to LTE and provide users with a
better experience than 3G.
Playingtoour strengths we
selected and secured the highest
data potential circles in India
whilst at the same time main-
tainedmajorityof our subscribers
and revenue. 8 out of 9 nine cir-
cles have technological neutrali-
ty and all circles nowhave 3 car-
rier slots substantiallyimproving
our network,Rozanovinformed.
It will invest around $200
million (about `1,093 crore) to
roll out 4Gservices. However, it
doesnt have any plans to launch
the 4G services this year. SSTL
now has an enhanced network,
whichwill deliver excellent qual-
ity and a clear roadmap to LTE
(4G). Our network is easily
upgradable with likely expendi-
ture being $200 million spread
over several years, he further
added.
Till nowSSTL, whichentered
India in 2008, has invested
around$3.6billion(over `19,000
crore at exchange rate of `55) in
the India.
SSTL to break even
in a year, plans to
launch 4G services
NEW DELHI: Cash-rich IT giant
Infosys slashed its exposure to
liquid mutual funds by a whop-
ping`5,600crore (over USDone
billion) during the first quarter
of 2013, as yields onsuchinvest-
ments are expected to flatten.
Countrys second largest IT
services exporter, which had
ramped up its investments in
debt mutual funds toanall-time
high of `7,365 crore at the end
of 2012, reduced exposure to
`1,739 crore during January-
March quarter of 2013.
Returns on liquid mutual
fund schemes typically peak off
towards the end of the year.
Liquid funds are generally seen
as investment instruments suit-
able for parking money for
tenures of less than 3 months.
The shift is purely a deci-
sion based on what yield we get
on our investments, Infosys
director V Balakrishnan, who
has earlier been its chief finan-
cial officer, toldthe news agency.
At current level, Infosys
liquid MF exposure is lowest
since the `32 crore recorded at
the end of January-March 2012
quarter. Large corporates use liq-
uid debt MFs to park cash for
short-termand also earn good
returns, while waiting to deploy
the funds for future projects.
After increasing its liquid
MF exposure for consecutive
quarters up to December 2012,
debt-free Infosys latest portfo-
lio move coincides with the
industry-wide over `1 lakh
crore outflows seen in liquid
funds in March. PTI
Infosys
slashes debt
MF exposure
by $1 billion
India, EU
open new
round of
trade talks
PNS n NEW DELHI
O
il major and Europes sec-
ond biggest oil firmBritish
Petroleum (BP Plc) head Bob
Dudley along with exploration
partner Reliance Industries
Chairman Mukesh Ambani on
Monday criss-crossed the cor-
ridors of power, urging upon
the Government to bring clar-
ity on the proposed formula on
market-driven natural gas pric-
ing.
Dudley, visiting India for
the second time in as many
months, during a brief stopover
to the national capital, did
rounds of Prime Minister
Manmohan Singhs office and
that of other senior officials like
Deputy Chairman of Planning
Commission Montek Singh
Ahluwalia and Law Minister
Ashwini Kumar.
With Ambani in tow, the
BP head honcho asked the
Government to lay a clear
roadmap for market driven
pricing of natural gas as current
sub-market rates were not
drawing big investments.
The duo pressed for clari-
ty on pricing of natural gas that
will be implemented upon
expiry of the $4.2 per million
British thermal unit rate a year
from now.
They are very concerned,
they are very keen that gov-
ernment take a view (soon).
That process is underway. I
wasnt able to tell him what we
are going to decide, Ahluwalia
told reporters. I did say that
there is an EGoM(Empowered
Group of Ministers) and it will
be considering Rangarajan
Committee (recommenda-
tion), he added.
Dudley, who also met
PetroleumSecretary Vivek Rae,
briefed the Prime Minister and
others about the investments
BP along with RIL plans to
make in quickly putting satel-
lite gas fields in the flagging
KG-D6 block as also bringing
discoveries in eastern offshore
NEC-25 block to production.
We are the largest investor
in India. We have come to
review progress of plans, he
said, adding that BP was very
pleased with the events that
allowed the firm to drill an
exploration well on the cur-
rently producing fields in KG-
D6 block well after the expiry
of exploration phase.
BP, RIL meet PM, urge for
greater clarity on gas pricing
{usp}
Union Minister of Civil Aviation Ajit Singh and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan light the lamp on the
occasion of Unveiling of Statue of Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb BR Ambedkar at Dr Bababasheb Ambedkar International
Airport, Nagpur. Seen in the picture are Bhadhant Arya Nagarjun Surai Sasai, AAI Chairman VP Agrawal and other
diginitaries
The foundation stone laying of ESI Dispensaries at Vilakudy & Kadampanad(Kunnathoor), Kollam, (Kerala) was done by
Kodikunnil Suresh, Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Govt of India recenlty. KN Balagopal, Member of
Parliament, Rajya Sabha was the Special Guest at Vilakudy. Kovoor Kunjumon, Member of Legislative Assembly, Kerala
presided over the function at Kadampanad (Kunnathoor)
On the occasion of PNBs 119th foundation day, KR Kamath, CMD, PNB, handing over the cheque of `4 lakh under CSR
activity to Kulanand Joshi, Addl PS to Chief Minister, Delhi and Akshaya Patra Foundation-an NGO. Also seen in the
picture are Rakesh Sethi, Usha Ananthasubramanian and SR Bansal, Executive Directors of the Bank
Citigroup beats on earnings, revenue
AP n NEW YORK
C
itigroup beat analysts
estimates for first-quar-
ter earnings and revenue,
and the banks stock rose in
pre-market trading. Citis
investment banking business
jumped and the bank also
released funds it had set
aside for bad loans.
Citigroup bank made $4
billion, up 17 per cent from
a year ago, after stripping out
the effects of an accounting
charge. That amounted to
$1.29 per share, beating the
$1.17 that analysts polled by
FactSet were expecting.
Revenue was $20.8 bil-
lion after stripping out the
accounting charge, up 3 per
cent from a year ago. That
also beat the $20.2 billion
that analysts had expected.
Investment banking rev-
enue there jumped 31 per
cent, the bank reported
Monday, while revenue from
consumer banking was flat.
Citis investment banking
unit advised more companies
on mergers and acquisitions
and underwrote more stock
and bond offerings.
In the consumer bank,
credit card revenue inched
down. Citi Holdings, the unit
where the bank has shuttled
troubled assets related to the
financial crisis, lost less than
in the same period a year
ago. Citi Holdings lost $789
million, compared with more
than $1 billion a year ago.
The bank also continued
to release money it had set
aside for bad loans, including
releasing reserves from Citi
Holdings North American
mortgage portfolio for the
first time. Its total allowance
for loan losses is now $23.7
billion, or 3.7 per cent of total
loans, compared to $29 bil-
lion, or 4.5 per cent of total
loans, a year ago.
Citi also benefited from a
deferred tax credit. When
companies have big losses,
they get a break on taxes.
Citigroup, which suffered big
losses in 2008, was allowed to
hold onto tax credits to use in
the future, in years when it
was profitable.
CEO Mike Corbat high-
lighted the banks improving
capital levels and the reduced
drag from Citi Holdings. It
was Citis first full quarter
under Corbat, who took over
last fall. Former CEO Vikram
Pandit stepped down under
pressure from a board that
was unhappy with his efforts
to turn around the bank.
Corbat is now under pressure
to turn around a bank that
his predecessor couldnt.
Corbat called the banks
first quarter results encour-
aging, but he sounded more
cautious about the economy
than his peers at JPMorgan
and Wells Fargo did when
t hey report ed earni ngs
Friday.
PTI n BONN
I
ndia and the European Union
on Monday opened a new
round of trade negotiations here
in an attempt to overcome their
remaining differences, which
have been holding back the sign-
ing of a long-awaited free trade
agreement (FTA).
Uni on Mi ni ster for
Commerce and Industry Anand
Sharma held discussion with
EU Trade Commissioner Karel
De Gucht at the European
Commi ssi on bui l di ng i n
Brussel s, a commi ssi on
spokesperson told the news
agency. The negotiations are
taking place in the backdrop of
fresh optimism expressed by
both sides that after more than
six years of negotiations a deal
on a comprehensive Bilateral
Trade and Investment
Agreement (BTIA) between
India and its largest trading
partner could be reached before
the end of this year.
money 12
Script Last Abs Change
Traded Price Change %
3M India 3417.95 42.05 1.25
A2Z Maint & Engg 19.1 -0.25 -1.29
Aban Offshore 260.1 0.85 0.33
ABB 471.55 -2.35 -0.5
Abbott India 1386.65 3 0.22
ABG Shipyard 325.95 0.85 0.26
ACC 1138.95 -10.5 -0.91
Adani Enter 212.5 2.25 1.07
Adani Ports 145.2 -3.25 -2.19
ADANI POWER 46.75 -0.15 -0.32
Aditya Birla Nuv 947.15 -3.05 -0.32
Advanta India 925 -10 -1.07
Agro Tech Foods 504.45 4.5 0.9
AIA Engineering 320 8.75 2.81
AIL 315 3 0.96
AKZOINDIA 987.65 -7 -0.7
Allahabad Bank 129.45 2.95 2.33
Allcargo Logistics 116.95 -0.8 -0.68
Alok Inds 10.06 0.24 2.44
Alstom T&D 151.7 1.45 0.97
Amara Raja 242.8 -0.3 -0.12
Ambuja Cements 175.15 -0.3 -0.17
Amtek Auto-$ 64.6 -0.25 -0.39
Amtek India-$ 78 -0.6 -0.76
ANANTRAJ-$ 61.2 3.9 6.81
Andhra Bank 91.15 1.05 1.17
AP Paper 189 1 0.53
Apollo Hosp 817.45 -9.05 -1.09
Apollo Tyres 83.75 0.4 0.48
Aptech 45.65 0.2 0.44
Arshiya Intl 16.2 0.7 4.52
Arvind 81.85 -0.8 -0.97
Asahi India 49.4 0.4 0.82
Ashok Leyland 22.05 0.15 0.68
Asian Paints 4639.35 -27.9 -0.6
Astrazeneca Phar 660.75 8.45 1.3
Aurobindo Phar 175.85 1 0.57
Axis Bank 1291.3 27.9 2.21
Bajaj Auto 1725.9 5.35 0.31
Bajaj Corp 228.1 -1.8 -0.78
Bajaj Elect-$ 166.5 4 2.46
Bajaj Finserv 748.8 -0.3 -0.04
Bajaj Hind 19.9 -0.4 -1.97
Bajaj Holdings 841 -61.25 -6.79
BAJFINANCE 1101.9 -16.15 -1.44
Balkrishna Inds-$ 270.95 5.8 2.19
Ballarpur Inds 17.5 0.25 1.45
Balmer Lawr 638.5 14.35 2.3
Balrampur Chini 48.95 -0.15 -0.31
Bank of India 313.8 11.3 3.74
Bank of Maharashtra 47.85 0.05 0.1
BASF India 564 -8.65 -1.51
Bata India 752.2 26.9 3.71
Bayer Crop 1096.35 -9.65 -0.87
BEML 159.4 -0.3 -0.19
Berger Paints 189.75 -3.15 -1.63
BF Utilities-$ 252.05 5.3 2.15
BGR Energy 184.15 -1.4 -0.75
Bharat Elect 1149.85 -13.05 -1.12
Bharat Forge 212.25 -3.55 -1.65
Bharti Airtel 279.85 6.5 2.38
Bharti Infratel 165.6 -5.4 -3.16
BHEL 178.55 -0.9 -0.5
Bhushan Steel 454.5 -3 -0.66
Bilcare-$ 78.7 -4.1 -4.95
Biocon 287.2 -2.55 -0.88
Birla Corp 237.6 -4.85 -2
Blue Circle 10.4 0.2 1.96
Blue Dart 2255 -37.75 -1.65
Blue Star 158.85 0.35 0.22
BOB 677.95 21.85 3.33
Bombay Dyeing 86.15 0.9 1.06
Bombay Rayon 241 -3 -1.23
Bosch 8614.8 -85.2 -0.98
BPCL 394.7 20.35 5.44
Britannia Inds 527.25 -8 -1.49
Cadila Health 729.25 0.4 0.05
Cairn India 290.1 -3.45 -1.18
Canara Bank 409.75 21.4 5.51
Capital First 147.05 4.05 2.83
Carborundum Uni 118.8 2.25 1.93
Care 751.45 -3.55 -0.47
Castrol India 305.4 -0.9 -0.29
CCL Intl 32.05 -1.35 -4.04
Central Bank 66.9 1.05 1.59
Century Tex 281.05 -1.45 -0.51
CESC 274 -0.9 -0.33
Chambal Fert 51.5 -0.15 -0.29
Chennai Petro 122.5 -1.55 -1.25
CHOLAFIN 253 -5.65 -2.18
Cipla 397.5 -7 -1.73
City Union Bank 53.65 -1.25 -2.28
Clariant Chem 466.1 -8.05 -1.7
Claris Lifesciences 187 -3.75 -1.97
CMC 1410.3 22.45 1.62
Coal India 294.45 -5.5 -1.83
Colgate Palmolive 1341.65 -9.55 -0.71
Container Corp 1099.95 29.4 2.75
Core Projects 56.6 0.15 0.27
Coromandel Intl 195 7 3.72
Corporation Bank 382.6 -2.95 -0.77
COX KINGS 127.1 0.9 0.71
CRISIL 925.4 4.35 0.47
Crompton Greav 88.45 -3.15 -3.44
Cummins India 482.35 -11.3 -2.29
D B CORP 226 1.5 0.67
D B REALTY 59.6 1.5 2.58
Dabur India 138.15 -0.8 -0.58
Dalmia Bharat 142 0 0
Deepak Fert 99.15 -0.75 -0.75
Delta Corp 74.1 12.35 20
DEN NETWORK 212.35 1.05 0.5
Dena Bank 90.6 2.1 2.37
Dev Credit Bank 44.2 0.65 1.49
Dewan Housing 163.1 1.05 0.65
DHANLAK BANK 44.4 0.35 0.79
Dish TV India 67.7 0.45 0.67
Divis Lab 1023.25 -14.9 -1.44
DLF 242.15 -4.3 -1.74
Dr Reddys Lab 1851.2 -50.35 -2.65
Eclerx Serv 665 -9.2 -1.36
Edelweiss Financial 30.15 0.05 0.17
Educomp Sol 56.9 0.85 1.52
Eicher Motors 2705 -50.55 -1.83
EID Parry 155.5 2.15 1.4
EIH 56.1 0.75 1.36
Elder Pharma 387.9 27.55 7.65
Elecon Engr 33.85 0.65 1.96
Electrosteel Steels 5 0.01 0.2
Elgi Equipments 75.5 0.5 0.67
Emami-$ 596.5 1.9 0.32
Engineers India 156.1 3.45 2.26
Entertainment Netw 223 -1.9 -0.84
Era Infra-$ 134.2 2.65 2.01
Eros Intl Media 170.9 -0.1 -0.06
Escorts 54.1 0.8 1.5
Ess Dee Alum 443.55 -28.7 -6.08
Essar Oil 80.3 1.5 1.9
Essar Ports 91.95 0.9 0.99
Exide Inds 120.7 0.2 0.17
FAG Bearings 1390 24.1 1.76
FDC 88.5 0.1 0.11
Federal Bank 418.2 -22.4 -5.08
Financial Tech 710 -6.95 -0.97
Finolex Inds 96.25 -0.3 -0.31
Fortis Healthcare 97 0.3 0.31
Fresenius Kabi 129.7 5 4.01
FRL 147.45 3.9 2.72
Future Ventures 9.55 -0.08 -0.83
Gail India 317.35 1.5 0.47
Gammon India 21.05 -0.75 -3.44
Gateway Distr 123.1 3.6 3.01
Geodesic 10.1 -0.13 -1.27
Geometric 99.85 0 0
Gillette India 2017.1 -12.9 -0.64
Gitanjali Gems 590.6 -14.5 -2.4
Glaxosmithkl Cons 3900 -158.55 -3.91
Glaxosmithkl Phar 2195.55 5.75 0.26
Glenmark Pharma 494 7.15 1.47
Glodyne Tech 15.19 -0.79 -4.94
GMR Infra 21.65 0.25 1.17
Godfrey Phil 2500 -62.25 -2.43
Godrej Cons 776.5 -27.8 -3.46
Godrej Inds 305.3 -2.6 -0.84
GODREJ PROP 570.4 11.95 2.14
Gol Offshore 63.6 -0.55 -0.86
Graphite India 77.8 -0.35 -0.45
Grasim Inds 2782.5 55.25 2.03
Gravita India 41.75 1.95 4.9
Great Eastern Sh 217.5 -6 -2.68
Greaves Cotton 69 0.95 1.4
Gruh Finance 196 -4.45 -2.22
GTL 16 -0.01 -0.06
GTL Infra 2.43 -0.05 -2.02
Guj Nar Val 73.85 0.25 0.34
Gujarat Alk 173.95 2.15 1.25
Gujarat Fluo 293.65 2.7 0.93
Gujarat Gas 253.55 2.25 0.9
Gujarat Mnrl 149.8 -4.4 -2.85
Gujarat NRE Coke 16.85 -0.1 -0.59
Gujarat Pipavav 49 -1.1 -2.2
Gujarat State Fert 57.15 0.95 1.69
Gujarat State Pet 68.45 1 1.48
Gulf Oil Corp-$ 63.7 0.65 1.03
GVK Power 9.34 0.19 2.08
HATHWAY CAB 270.5 4.85 1.83
Havells India 622.1 -15.65 -2.45
HCL Infosystems 38.7 -0.3 -0.77
HCL Tech 765.7 -10.4 -1.34
HDFC 775.05 7.85 1.02
HDFC Bank 645 1.05 0.16
HDIL 46.95 0.2 0.43
HEG 163.1 0.15 0.09
Hero MotoCorp 1436 -14.55 -1
Hexaware Tech 89.85 -1.1 -1.21
Himachal Futur 8.19 0 0
Hindalco Inds 91.15 -0.4 -0.44
Hindustan Const 14.27 0.19 1.35
Hindustan Copp 97.5 -0.8 -0.81
Hindustan Oil 61.85 1.5 2.49
Hindustan Unilever 474.95 -3.05 -0.64
Hindustan Zinc 113 -3.8 -3.25
HMT 28.05 -0.3 -1.06
Honeywell Auto 2436 -11.7 -0.48
Hotel Leela 21.5 0.05 0.23
HPCL 311.95 14.6 4.91
HSIL 97.8 3.45 3.66
HT Media 96.8 -1.1 -1.12
ICICI Bank 1047.6 2.65 0.25
ICRA 1025 0.7 0.07
IDBI Bank 82.95 1.25 1.53
Idea Cellular 109.65 -1.1 -0.99
IDFC 146.45 2.2 1.53
IFCI 28.15 0.65 2.36
IL&FS TRANS 180.25 0.05 0.03
India Cements 83.9 0.35 0.42
India Infoline 55.3 -1.85 -3.24
INDIAB POWER 8.63 0.08 0.94
Indiabulls Real Est 55.75 1.45 2.67
Indian Bank 157.05 -1.45 -0.91
Indian Hotels 56.6 0.55 0.98
Indian Info 22.8 1.5 7.04
Indian Oil Corp 301.65 10.9 3.75
Indraprastha Gas 299.65 9.85 3.4
Indusind Bank 402.15 2.3 0.58
Info Edge India 350.75 -4.25 -1.2
Infosys 2333.95 38.5 1.68
Infotech Enter 171.9 2 1.18
ING Vysya Bank 533.35 8.45 1.61
Ingersoll Rand 385.05 -0.55 -0.14
IOB 64.45 0.5 0.78
IPCA Lab 516.45 8.8 1.73
IRB Infra 114.95 0.5 0.44
ITC 299.95 6.85 2.34
IVRCL LTD 19.7 0.25 1.29
J&K Bank 1223 32.7 2.75
Jagran Prakashan 88.35 -2.85 -3.13
Jai Corp 60.75 3.65 6.39
Jain Irrigation 58.35 -0.1 -0.17
Jaiprakash Asso 72.45 1.85 2.62
JB Chemicals 80.25 0.25 0.31
JBF Inds 105.3 3.1 3.03
Jet Air India 500.55 26.5 5.59
Jindal Poly 147.55 0.55 0.37
Jindal Saw 80.25 0.45 0.56
Jindal South 460.55 5.2 1.14
Jindal Stainless 56.25 2.3 4.26
Jindal Steel 329.55 1.85 0.56
JK Cement 252.5 -0.65 -0.26
JK Lakshmi Cem 88.95 0.1 0.11
Info Edge India 350.75 -4.25 -1.2
Infosys 2333.95 38.5 1.68
Infotech Enter 171.9 2 1.18
ING Vysya Bank 533.35 8.45 1.61
Ingersoll Rand 385.05 -0.55 -0.14
IOB 64.45 0.5 0.78
IPCA Lab 516.45 8.8 1.73
IRB Infra 114.95 0.5 0.44
ITC 299.95 6.85 2.34
IVRCL LTD 19.7 0.25 1.29
J&K Bank 1223 32.7 2.75
Jagran Prakashan 88.35 -2.85 -3.13
Jai Corp 60.75 3.65 6.39
Jain Irrigation 58.35 -0.1 -0.17
Jaiprakash Asso 72.45 1.85 2.62
JB Chemicals 80.25 0.25 0.31
JBF Inds 105.3 3.1 3.03
Jet Air India 500.55 26.5 5.59
Jindal Poly 147.55 0.55 0.37
Jindal Saw 80.25 0.45 0.56
Jindal South 460.55 5.2 1.14
Jindal Stainless 56.25 2.3 4.26
Jindal Steel 329.55 1.85 0.56
JK Cement 252.5 -0.65 -0.26
JK Lakshmi Cem 88.95 0.1 0.11
L&T Finance Holdings 71.85 0.4 0.56
Lakshmi Mach 1930 52.6 2.8
Lanco Infra 10.45 0.03 0.29
LIC Housing Fin 225.25 4.55 2.06
LINDEINDIA 255 -13.4 -4.99
Lovable Lingerie 276.95 6.65 2.46
Lupin 657.3 -2.35 -0.36
Madras Cements 233.3 -1.45 -0.62
Magma Fin 82.65 2.65 3.31
MAH HOLIDAY 258.4 -3.45 -1.32
Maharashtra Seam 212.4 1.2 0.57
Mahindra & Mah Fin198.55 -3.9 -1.93
Mahindra & Mahindra813.45 -10.4 -1.26
Mahindra Lifesp 367.95 -3.95 -1.06
Manappuram Finance 17.4 -1.9 -9.84
MANDHANA 242.45 0.45 0.19
Mangalore Ref 49.8 0.3 0.61
Marico 213.6 -2.4 -1.11
Maruti Suzuki 1423.5 13.7 0.97
Max India 216.5 0.25 0.12
Mcleod Russel 340.65 4.65 1.38
MCX 883.05 -11.3 -1.26
Mercator-$ 13.5 -0.11 -0.81
Mindtree 854.4 12.9 1.53
MMTC 205.5 -3.9 -1.86
MOIL 218.35 -3.5 -1.58
Monnet Ispat Energy 205 -2.65 -1.28
Monsanto India 567.2 -4.45 -0.78
Motherson Sumi 176.15 -3.4 -1.89
Motilal Oswal 79.65 1.5 1.92
Mphasis 357.3 -4.75 -1.31
MRF 11864.7 151.5 1.29
MTNL 20.4 -0.25 -1.21
Muthoot Fin 131.35 -19.85 -13.13
Natco Pharma 439.9 1.15 0.26
National Alum 34 0.4 1.19
National Fert 45 0.15 0.33
Nava Bharat Vent 164.5 1.5 0.92
Navneet Pub 57.1 0.1 0.18
NCC 30.65 0.75 2.51
NESCO 767.35 -4 -0.52
Nestle India 4569.65 58.85 1.3
Network18 Media 30.75 1.4 4.77
Neyveli Lignite 67.65 -0.5 -0.73
NHPC 21.8 0 0
NIIT 23.35 0.3 1.3
NIIT Tech 279.45 -2.6 -0.92
Nitin Fire 66.5 2.4 3.74
NMDC 128.3 2.85 2.27
Noida Toll 20.6 -0.05 -0.24
Novartis India 588.05 10.15 1.76
NTPC 140.7 -0.05 -0.04
Oberoi Realty 243.4 2.05 0.85
OIL INDIA 537.45 10.2 1.93
Omaxe 149.15 -0.1 -0.07
ONGC 319.15 10.65 3.45
Onmobile Global 35.1 0.05 0.14
Opto Circuits 61.95 1.4 2.31
Oracle Fin 2566.1 -50.05 -1.91
Orchid Chem 62.7 -0.35 -0.56
Oriental Bank 246.1 6.65 2.78
Page Inds 3645 7.3 0.2
Parsvnath Dev 34.1 1.6 4.92
Patel Engr-$ 56.25 0.6 1.08
PC Jeweller 101.85 -6.1 -5.65
Peninsula Land 44.65 0.65 1.48
Persistent Sys 532.1 -0.55 -0.1
Petronet LNG 134.7 0.05 0.04
Pfizer 1007 4.4 0.44
PHOENIX MILL 248.7 -1.4 -0.56
PI Inds 122 -9.9 -7.51
Pidilite Inds 252.25 2.2 0.88
Pipavav Defence 73.95 -0.4 -0.54
Piramal Ent 571.15 -0.6 -0.1
PNB 734.65 20.65 2.89
Polaris Fin Tec 117.05 -1.75 -1.47
Polyplex Corp 157.1 -0.6 -0.38
Power Finance 194.65 4.4 2.31
Power Grid Corp 104 -1.55 -1.47
Praj Inds 37.05 -1.7 -4.39
Prakash Inds 37.1 -0.15 -0.4
Prestige Estates 158.95 0.65 0.41
Prime Focus 40 -0.35 -0.87
Prism Cement 41.85 0.3 0.72
Procter & Gamble 2542 12 0.47
PTC India 58.4 -0.45 -0.76
Punj Lloyd 51.65 -0.8 -1.53
Punjab & Sind Bank 59.6 0.65 1.1
Puravankara Proj 94.05 -0.2 -0.21
Radico Khaitan 123.5 -0.35 -0.28
Rain Commodities 46.8 -0.8 -1.68
Rajesh Exports 117.25 0.85 0.73
Rallis India 124.2 2.35 1.93
Ranbaxy Lab 438.25 -3.45 -0.78
Rashtriya Chem 37.7 0.15 0.4
Raymond 258.35 3.2 1.25
REC 220.3 2.6 1.19
Redington India 74.45 -0.6 -0.8
REI Agro 11.93 0.54 4.74
Reliance Cap 329.75 6.5 2.01
Reliance Comm 78.05 0.4 0.52
Reliance Indl Infra 373.65 5.25 1.43
Reliance Infra 354.75 7.5 2.16
Reliance Power 66.95 0.25 0.37
Religare Enter 292 2.05 0.71
RIL 793.55 18.25 2.35
Rolta India 65.1 0.2 0.31
Ruchi Soya 69.9 3.65 5.51
S Kumar Nation 8.75 0.14 1.63
Sadbhav Engr 112.5 -3.3 -2.85
SAIL 57.45 -2.1 -3.53
SANOFI 2572 -59.4 -2.26
Satyam Comp 111.15 -2.05 -1.81
SBI 2144.7 62.65 3.01
Schneider Elec 73 -1 -1.35
SE Investments 381.8 0.55 0.14
Sesa Goa 143.9 -3.75 -2.54
SGJHL 97.95 -5.85 -5.64
Shasun Pharma 78.15 0.3 0.39
Shipping Corp 42.65 -0.05 -0.12
Shiv Vani Oil-$ 40.75 0.45 1.12
Shoppers Stop 375.55 -4.95 -1.3
Shree Ashtavina 1.33 0.06 4.72
Shree Cement 4020.05 -93.25 -2.27
Shree Global Trd 33.6 1.6 5
Shree Renuka Sug 24.45 -0.4 -1.61
Shriram City Uni 1029 8.2 0.8
Shriram Trans 666.7 -29.35 -4.22
Siemens 477.1 -13.9 -2.83
Simplex Infra 113.25 3.95 3.61
Sintex Inds 45.5 0.25 0.55
Siti Cable 23.4 0.4 1.74
SJVN 19.3 -0.3 -1.53
SKF India 547.35 2.75 0.5
SKS Microfinance 121.9 1.6 1.33
Sobha Dev 356.05 5.75 1.64
Solar Inds 1020 -5.2 -0.51
South Indian Bank 23 0.25 1.1
Spicejet 29.2 1.75 6.38
SREI Infra 27.05 0.8 3.05
SRF 174 4.3 2.53
Standard Chartered 116.4 -0.7 -0.6
State Bank BikJpr 417.5 6.55 1.59
State Bank Mysre 548 8.3 1.54
State Bank Trav 536.15 20.25 3.93
STC 162.75 -0.9 -0.55
Sterlite Inds 86.2 -2.3 -2.6
Sterlite Tech 24.5 -0.05 -0.2
Strides Arco 801.1 -12.85 -1.58
Sun Pharma 870.3 0.1 0.01
Sun Pharma Adv 115.6 1.4 1.23
Sun TV Network 352.1 -9.8 -2.71
Sundram Fast 39.5 0.1 0.25
Sunteck Realty 425.6 0.65 0.15
Supreme Inds 311 1.4 0.45
Suzlon Energy 13.69 0.26 1.94
Swan Energy 117.65 -2.05 -1.71
SYMPHONY 344 -8.95 -2.54
Syndicate Bank 111.7 2.3 2.1
Tamil Nadu News 94 -0.2 -0.21
Tata Chemicals 318.05 2.3 0.73
Tata Coffee 1500.8 9.5 0.64
Tata Comm 224 -4.3 -1.88
Tata Elxsi 193.9 1.9 0.99
Tata Invest 422.4 -6.7 -1.56
Tata Motors 269.2 -6.2 -2.25
Tata Power 94.15 -1 -1.05
Tata Steel 294.55 -4.8 -1.6
Tata Teleservices 8.22 0.03 0.37
TATAGLOBAL 132.25 0.55 0.42
TCS 1475.4 -35.9 -2.38
Tech Mahindra 966.95 -12.55 -1.28
Techno Elec And Engg 123 -0.55 -0.45
Texmaco Rail & Engg 50 0.95 1.94
Thermax 559 -0.15 -0.03
Thomas Cook 49.35 0.2 0.41
Time Techno 40.5 -0.35 -0.86
Timken India 150.6 0.85 0.57
Titagarh Wag 166.4 -1.7 -1.01
Titan Inds 238.8 -10.9 -4.37
Torrent Pharma 681 6.75 1
Torrent Power 138.4 0.05 0.04
Tree House Edu 256.65 7.2 2.89
Trent 1003.8 17.45 1.77
Triveni Turbine 52.5 -0.05 -0.1
TTK Prestige 3085 1 0.03
Tube Invest 158.4 -1.1 -0.69
Tulip Telecom 13.29 0.63 4.98
Tuni Textile 19.4 0.35 1.84
TV18 Broadcast 27.15 1.35 5.23
TVS Motor 35.3 -0.25 -0.7
Uco Bank 62.1 2 3.33
Uflex 76.6 0.55 0.72
Ultratech Cem 1856.15 41.55 2.29
Unichem Lab 169.4 1.65 0.98
Union Bank 224.65 6.35 2.91
Unitech 24.6 0.3 1.23
United Bank 57 1.45 2.61
United Brew Hldg 39.35 -0.25 -0.63
United Brew-$ 767.45 20.6 2.76
United Phos 121.8 -1.25 -1.02
United Spirits 2007.95 82.3 4.27
Usha Martin 26 1.55 6.34
Uttam Galva 67.6 0.75 1.12
VA Tech Wabag 503.2 1.15 0.23
Vakrangee Soft-$ 74 -0.25 -0.34
Vardhman Tex 257.85 -5.65 -2.14
VGuard Inds 480.7 4.2 0.88
Videocon Inds 214.65 4.75 2.26
Vijaya Bank 49.6 1 2.06
Vikas WSP 27.45 -0.35 -1.26
VIP Inds-$ 57.2 -1.4 -2.39
Voltas 80.15 1.3 1.65
VST Inds 1482.2 -18.2 -1.21
WABCO India 1269.7 -14.7 -1.14
WELCORP 48.05 -1.8 -3.61
Whirlpool 198 2.45 1.25
Wipro 380.05 -3.25 -0.85
Wockhardt 1708.2 -42.6 -2.43
Wyeth 842.1 -4.1 -0.48
YBRANTDIGI 21.7 -0.4 -1.81
Yes Bank 458 14.8 3.34
Zee Entert 208.1 0.45 0.22
Zydus Wellness-$ 430 1.65 0.39
Zylog Systems 50.2 0.65 1.31
NIFTY STOCK WATCH
SCRIP OPEN HIGH LOW LTP CHANGE
BPCL 377.95 405.95 377.95 394.4 20.05
BANKBARODA 649 688 645.1 675.9 20.55
ONGC 308 327.2 306.25 318.3 9.5
PNB 711.9 743.5 708.1 733.55 20.45
SBIN 2,063.00 2,158.40 2,062.60 2,140.00 58.2
ULTRACEMCO 1,810.00 1,885.85 1,810.00 1,865.00 49.55
RELIANCE 773.05 799.95 773.05 794.2 18.85
BHARTIARTL 271 283.8 270.85 280.1 6.6
RELINFRA 345 360.75 339.5 354.9 7.75
GRASIM 2,706.10 2,805.30 2,696.00 2,790.00 58.4
ITC 292 300.9 289.2 298.55 5.65
NMDC 125 129.15 124.2 127.75 2.35
HDFC 766.9 790 766.1 776.5 11.7
JPASSOCIAT 70.1 74.2 69.9 71.85 1.05
AXISBANK 1,256.00 1,311.35 1,254.00 1,282.95 18.65
IDFC 143.1 147.5 142.35 146.25 1.85
INFY 2,290.00 2,357.00 2,204.00 2,325.90 29.25
LT 1,352.55 1,390.70 1,342.20 1,375.80 16.05
MARUTI 1,400.00 1,444.90 1,396.35 1,424.90 16.45
INDUSINDBK 404.2 408.5 400 402.95 2.4
SUNPHARMA 873 878 866 875 5.25
JINDALSTEL 325 332.75 325 328.55 0.7
GAIL 315.25 322 315.25 316.65 0.65
NTPC 140 141.35 139.2 140.8 0.2
KOTAKBANK 638.35 649 633.25 639.05 0.7
ICICIBANK 1,037.50 1,068.90 1,031.50 1,045.00 -0.35
BAJAJ-AUTO 1,709.00 1,754.00 1,709.00 1,720.00 -1
HDFCBANK 642.1 643.45 635 641.3 -2.4
HINDALCO 91.4 91.6 89.5 91.15 -0.45
RANBAXY 437.25 445.5 436.5 438.5 -3.1
AMBUJACEM 175.5 177.75 171.75 174.5 -1.45
LUPIN 658 670 653.55 654 -5.8
ASIANPAINT 4,652.00 4,705.05 4,620.00 4,620.05 -41.95
ACC 1,146.30 1,155.55 1,127.50 1,137.30 -10.8
HINDUNILVR 479.1 479.7 470.6 474.5 -4.55
BHEL 178 181.45 177.5 177.75 -1.85
CAIRN 292 292.55 286.2 290.3 -3.25
HEROMOTOCO 1,451.00 1,459.15 1,435.00 1,439.00 -16.35
POWERGRID 105 105 103.65 104 -1.5
HCLTECH 775 784 763.25 765 -11.1
M&M 817.6 823.65 808.95 810.55 -12.8
TATAPOWER 95.55 95.55 93.6 93.75 -1.6
COALINDIA 299.1 299.6 292.9 294.1 -5.8
TATASTEEL 298 298 293.7 293.7 -5.8
CIPLA 405 409.35 396.1 397 -8.55
TATAMOTORS 270.4 272.3 264.1 268.75 -6.4
DLF 243 249.6 241 241.15 -6.25
TCS 1,513.50 1,514.00 1,448.35 1,473.00 -38.75
DRREDDY 1,904.00 1,904.00 1,845.25 1,850.55 -53.25
SESAGOA 146 147 143 143.05 -4.9
se 500 B
VITAL STATS
GOLD SILVER
Delhi 29975 53150
Mumbai 29390 53060
Kolkata 29905 52500
BSE: SENSEX
Open
High
Low
Current value
Previous close
Change (Pts)
Change (%)
54.44
83.79
71.34
0.55
JUNIOR NIFTY
SCRIP OPEN HIGH LOW LTP CHANGE
CANBK 390 415.45 384.25 409 20.45
HINDPETRO 300 316.5 300 312.15 14.85
MCDOWELL-N 1,919.00 2,022.80 1,915.00 2,001.00 77.1
YESBANK 445 463.3 443.1 457.95 15.4
BANKINDIA 299.8 315.75 299.7 312.15 9.4
UBL 749.8 773.4 747.6 769.05 20.45
PFC 189.75 195.25 188 195.2 4.9
UNIONBANK 217.05 228.3 215.65 224 5.25
RELCAPITAL 320 335.9 317.3 329.65 6.4
LICHSGFIN 219 227 219 225 4.1
IDBI 81.75 83.8 81.1 82.95 1.4
INDHOTEL 54.55 56.75 54.55 56.7 0.65
CONCOR 1,050.25 1,105.40 1,050.25 1,082.60 11.95
GLENMARK 482 495 482 492.85 4.85
RECLTD 218 224 214.7 220.25 2.05
ADANIENT 208 215.55 206.05 212.4 1.9
EXIDEIND 119 122.45 119 121.25 0.8
TATACHEM 317 318.95 314.4 318.05 1.65
ASHOKLEY 21.95 22.25 21.7 22.05 0.1
ABIRLANUVO 945.1 954.5 940 954.5 4.1
TATAGLOBAL 131.1 133.7 131.1 132.3 0.55
RPOWER 65.9 67.9 65.8 66.8 0.1
GLAXO 2,200.00 2,213.95 2,200.00 2,204.00 2.4
RCOM 77.05 78.95 76.25 77.75 -0.1
ZEEL 207.25 211 204.6 207.4 -0.3
PETRONET 135.9 136.15 134.1 134.7 -0.25
BAJAJFINSV 758.6 758.6 748.65 748.65 -1.65
DABUR 138.15 140 137.8 138.15 -0.8
COLPAL 1,364.90 1,364.90 1,336.30 1,345.00 -10.05
MPHASIS 367.35 382 355.7 358.1 -3.25
IDEA 108.65 112.65 108.65 109.7 -1.05
BOSCHLTD 8,709.00 8,724.95 8,615.00 8,615.00 -83.95
APOLLOHOSP 822 832 815 820 -8.7
TECHM 974 982.75 965 969 -11
BHARATFORG 213 216.9 211.3 213.15 -2.45
UNIPHOS 122 124 121.4 121.5 -1.5
DIVISLAB 1,043.00 1,053.00 1,018.00 1,025.00 -14.4
CUMMINSIND 495.95 498.7 470 485 -10.3
ADANIPORTS 147.3 148.4 142.9 145 -3.5
OFSS 2,614.20 2,655.00 2,555.00 2,555.00 -61.95
JSWSTEEL 673.5 684 661.7 663 -16.55
SIEMENS 487.1 498 475 475.25 -16.6
GSKCONS 4,146.90 4,146.90 3,880.10 3,929.50 -147.85
GODREJCP 819.8 819.8 772 773 -29.5
CROMPGREAV 91 92.35 88.1 88.2 -3.45
SAIL 59.5 59.9 57.25 57.35 -2.25
FEDERALBNK 441 444 405.9 420 -20.7
SRTRANSFIN 691 697 662.55 663.55 -33.15
TITAN 245.8 245.8 236.4 237 -12.6
BAJAJHLDNG 893.35 912 865 865 -46.55
18196.09
18424.40
18144.22
18357.80
18242.56
115.24
0.63
BSE: GAINERS
Kailash Ficom Ltd 10.70 (116.60)
SRF Polymers Ltd 384.00 (20.00)
Phoenix Lamps India Ltd 37.35 (19.90)
Gokak Textiles Ltd 48.15 (19.78)
Asian Hotels (East) Ltd 199.00 (19.09)
Current (Chng %)
NSE: GAINERS
Phoenix Lamps India Ltd 37.80 (20.00)
Arrow Webtex Ltd 73.95 (19.95)
Subros Ltd 28.15 (19.03)
Jindal Worldwide Ltd 103.55 (13.92)
N R B Bearings Ltd 34.45 (11.13)
Current (Chng %)
BSE: LOSERS
B D H Industries Ltd 14.69 (19.90)
Ahlcon Parenterals Ltd 285.95 (19.45)
Hindustan Hardy Spicer Ltd 57.30 (17.55)
GMR Industries Ltd 23.15 (17.32)
Zodiac JRD MKJ Ltd 19.35 (15.87)
Current (Chng %)
NSE: LOSERS
Muthoot Finance Ltd 132.25 (12.21)
Kavveri TelecomProductsLtd 49.10 (12.09)
Manappuram Finance Ltd 17.40 (9.84)
Reliance Gold Exchange... 2412.80 (8.94)
GoldBenchmarkExchange... 2507.00 (8.33)
Current (Chng %)
SENSEX NIFTY
CII calls for 1% rate cut, reforms to boost growth
PNS n NEW DELHI
R
ate cut hope brightened as
inflation eased to a three
year low of 5.96 per cent in
March. This is the lowest level
of Wholesale Price Index
(WPI) inflation since
December 2009 when it was
4.95 per cent.
India Ratings said the cool-
ing off in both core and general
inflation readings, coupled with
fiscal consolidation and reform
measures undertaken by
Government, will help RBI
Governor Duvvuri Subbarao
go for a cautious monetary
easing.
Citing the downward
trend, Crisil said the average
headline inflation for FY14
will go down to 6.3 per cent
from the 7.3 per cent in FY13.
The probability of infla-
tion surprising on the down-
side is high, the rating agency
said.
We expect the central
bank to cut the repo rate by
clips of 0.25 per cent in the next
two policy meetings in May
and June. We think RBI will
support an easing monetary
policy bias in the next few
months, Deutsche Bank said.
Foreign brokerage Credit
Suisse said there is a green sig-
nal for a rate cut in the May
monetary policy announce-
ment and also discounted the
only inhibiting factor of trade
data for March, which is due to
be released later this week.
Credit Suisse pointed that
RBIs preferred measure of core
WPI inflation is also down to
3.5 per cent, the seventh con-
secutive drop and the lowest
since February 2010.
Data released on Monday
said softening vegetable prices
help pull down inflation to 5.96
per cent in March rom6.84 per
cent in the previous month.
However, Sonal Verma of
Japanese financial firm
Nomura sounded cautious,
saying the downward trend is
not sustainable due to the like-
ly release of suppressed infla-
tion on coal and electricity
price hikes, a rise in food
prices and an expected depre-
ciation in the rupee in second
half of the year.
Besides weak demand, the
bulk of moderationincore WPI
inflation is due to lower com-
modity prices, she said.
Inflation based on the WPI
stood at 6.84 per cent in
February. InMarch 2012, it was
7.69 per cent.Food inflation,
which has 14.34 per cent share
in the WPI basket, declined to
8.73 per cent in March from
11.38 per cent in February.
Easing of food inflation was on
account of a sharp drop in
prices of vegetables. Inflationin
vegetables stood(-)0.95 per cent
inMarch, from12.11 per cent in
the previous month.
Commenting on the infla-
tion numbers, Planning
CommissionDeputy Chairman
Montek Singh Ahluwalia said
inflationary pressure is coming
down gradually.
Inflationbehaviour is con-
sistent with what Government
has been saying that it is slowly
coming under control, he said.
The easing has happened
on account of a significant
decline in global commodity
prices in March and growing
deflationary trends in manu-
facturing sector. I expect RBI to
reduce both the repo rate and
CRR by 0.25 per cent, Bank of
Baroda Chief Economist Rupa
Rege Nitsure said.
Inflation for January, how-
ever, was revisedupwards to7.31
per cent, from6.62 per cent pro-
visionally.
The decline inMarch infla-
tion and a slowdown in indus-
trial output growth to 0.6 per
cent in February has raised
expectations of rate cut by RBI
to boost growth. RBI will
announce its annual policy on
May 3.
Rate cut hope rises as inflation
falls to 3-year low of 5.96%
PNS nNEWDELHI
R
eliance Cement Company
(RCC), a unit of Anil
Ambani-led Reliance
Infrastructure, on Monday for-
ayed into the Amravati market
inMaharashtra tosell the build-
ing material produced from its
Butibori plant in the State.
We are pleased to
announce the launchof Reliance
Cement in Amravati. Vidarbha
is a key market for us andwe are
happytoexpandour distribution
network in the region. We are
already being counted amongst
the leading players inNagpur in
a short spanof six months, said
RCCs CEOArvind Pathak.
RCC, which is setting up
twoplants of five milliontonnes
annual capacity eachinMadhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra, has
plans to enter into Wardha,
Chandrapur andBhandara mar-
kets of the western state soon, it
said in a release.
Reliance Cement
enters Amravati
PNS n NEW DELHI
C
ontinous fall in interna-
tional crude prices result-
ed into slashing of petrol prices
by `1litre effective midnight
tonight the third reduction
in rates in one month.
After including VAT, the
reduction in price of petrol in
Delhi comes to `1.20 per litre
and the fuel will cost `66.09 per
litre from midnight tonight
against `67.29.
However, there will be no
change in diesel prices even
though Monday was the
appointed day for putting into
effect the Government decision
to hike rates by 40-50 paise a
litre.
Mondays cut in petrol
price comes on the back of 85
paise a litre reduction in rates
on April 2 and `2 a litre
decrease effected on March
16. The March 16 cut after
including VAT translated into
a `2.40 a litre reduction at
pumps. It was the steepest cut
in nine months.
Petrol in Mumbai will cost
`1.26 less at `72.88 per litre. In
Chennai, the price has been cut
by an equal measure to `69.08.
It will cost `73.48 a litre in
Kolkata from Tueday against
`74.72.
Announcing the reduc-
tion, Indian Oil Corp (IOC),
the nation's largest fuel retail-
er, said since the last price
change international prices
have declined from$119.23 per
barrel to to $116.61 a barrel.
"Rupee-US dollar exchange
rate has, however, deteriorated
slightly from `54.28 to a US
dollar to `54.51," it said, adding
it was decided to pass on the
benefit of reduced oil prices to
customers.
IOC, however, did not say
why the rates of diesel, which
as per the January decision of
the government are to be hiked
by 40-50 paise per litre every
month till all of the losses on
the fuel are eliminated, were
not changed.
Petrol price cut by `1 per litre
PNS n NEW DELHI
E
ven as inflation hit a 40
month low of 5.96 per cent,
industry body CII on Monday
called for a 1 per cent cut in
interest rates by the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) to attract
investment and sought greater
reforms to spur the economy.
CII' s newly elected
President Kris Gopalakrishnan
told mediapersons that in order
to put economic growth on a
fast track, it is important that
greater investments come for-
ward.
Early implementation of
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
and Direct Tax Code (DTC) is
also important, he added.
"The RBI needs to work in
tandem with the Government
in boosting growth by easing
interest rates by at least 100 bps
in the current fiscal. Steps like
early implementation of GST
would help in adding 1-1.5 per
cent in the GDP," he said.
Concerned over stubborn
inflation, RBI had been keeping
a tight leash on its monetary
policy. It cut its key rates after
a gap of nine months in January
this year.
Gopalakrishnan said sup-
ply side constraints is the main
reason for inflation and reduc-
tion in interest rates would
help in enhancing investments
and increase in boosting capac-
ity.
"There are certain things
which we can do at the domes-
tic level to boost economic
growth. We can not do much
(to improve) the external fac-
tors," he informed.
world 10 LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
Gl betrotting
Tom Cruise buys co-star 2000
pounds worth exercise bike
London: Superstar Tom Cruise has reported-
ly bought his Oblivion co-star, Olga
Kurylenko, an exercise bike worth 2000
pounds. Toms always thinking of ways that
he can make the lives of people around himbet-
ter, so when Olga was complaining that she
wants to exercise but finds going to the gym
boring, he took her to a Soul Cycle class. Its
basically a posh spinning class lasting 45 min-
utes, with candles and dim lighting, a source
said. Tom had the bike shipped to her apart-
ment in London to use when she gets back from
the gruelling Oblivion press tour, the source
added. The pair have been inseparable while
promoting their new film in which Cruise is
an astronaut who must destroy the remains of
an alien race and Kurylenko is a woman he res-
cues from a spaceship crash, reported Sun
Online.
Jessica Simpson throws baby
shower
Los Angeles: Pregnant
star Jessica Simpson
celebrated the immi-
nent arrival of her sec-
ond child with a liter-
ary-themed baby
shower. The 32-year-
old singer-turned-fash-
ion designer is expect-
ing a baby boy this
summer and family
and friends, including
her sister Ashlee and
Jessica Alba, joined the
star at the Bel-Air
Hotel for the event, inspired by novelist Mark
Twains adventurous character Tom Sawyer.
Jessica already has a 11-month-old daughter
Maxwell with her partner Eric Johnson.
Jessicas initial baby shower plans had gone awry
when her divorced parents said they didnt want
to be in the same room together.
Angelina Jolie flies Indian curry to
Brad Pitt in LA
London: Hollywood star Angelina Jolie report-
edly had a special consignment of Indian del-
icacies like lamb bhuna, chicken korma and
chicken tikka made for her to fly home to fiance
Brad Pitt. The 37-year-old actress was on an
official trip for the G8 summit here and she
arranged for the three special dishes picked up
from Pitts favourite curry house in Surrey,
reported Sun online. Brad is back in America
and has been longing for a decent curry. He
really misses their Indian takeaway nights from
when they lived in Surrey last year. Angelina
arranged as a surprise for a load of it to be
cooked and flash-freeze packed for her to fly
home, said a source. So while she was at the
G8, she sent her bodyguard Ray and eldest son
Maddox to collect it and to stock up with more
treats. They even got a load of Kingfisher and
Cobra beer for Brad to wash it all down with,
the source added.
Ashley Tisdale rules
out nude scenes
Los Angeles: High
School Musical star
Ashley Tisdale
insists she would
never do a nude
scene even though
she is very com-
fortable in her
body. The 27-year-
old actress recently
posed in an open
leather jacket and
underwear for a
magazine but she
says she draws the line at baring all on-screen,
reported E! online. I dont think Id ever do a
topless role. Ill do drama and stuff but I dont
think Ill ever go topless for something. Imvery
comfortable in my body. Im definitely more of
a comedian. I dont really take myself too seri-
ously, Tisdale said.
PTI DUSHANBE (TAJIKISTAN)
A
number of Indian eateries here,
with clever names like the Delhi
Darbar and Salaam-Namaste, serving
a variety of food items including the
good-old Chicken Tikka Masala are a
hit among Tajiks.
Typical Punjabi dishes like the
Butter Chicken and Daal Makhani
attract a large number of foodies, most-
ly the Tajiks, to these restaurants who
come here to taste food prepared with
ingredients brought especially from
India.
We opened a restaurant ten years
back when my father came here for the
first time and saw the problem of get-
ting good Indian food here. We initially
opened a restaurant called Ashoka.
When I came here the last time, I
decided to open an Indian restaurant at
the centre of this city naming it Salaam-
Namaste, said Apoorva Bhushan Mitra,
an Indian who runs the eatery that
serves almost all Indian vegetarian
and non-vegetarian dishes.
We have all the dishes from India.
We have both vegetarian and non-veg-
etarian food. Our butter chicken is very
famous here among all people, the 23-
year-old entrepreneur told PTI.
All ingredients for the dishes come
from India, he said.
There are a lot of people who like
Indian food. All our cooks are from
India, Mitra said.
Asked as to why the eatery was
named Salaam-Namaste, he
said it shows the confluence of cul-
tures of both the countries.
Tajik people are very friendly.
Whenever they see an Indian here they
say Namaste (Greetings in Hindi). And
when we (Indians) meet these people,
we say Salaam (Greetings in Arabic).
Thats why we decided to keep the name
as Salaam-Namaste.
It shows connection between both
the countries and is very catchy with the
people here also, Mitra said.
He said there were plans to open
some more restaurants in the land-
locked country surrounded by moun-
tains.
We are getting good business. We
plan to expand it also.
We have got two restaurants here.
We will soon open more eateries in
other parts of the country, Mitra
added.
Another restaurant Delhi Darbar
also does a brisk business, with a host
of guests, mainly Tajiks, relishing Indian
foods here. I came here about 12 years
ago. Since then I have been cooking
food here. Tajiks like Indian food a lot,
said chef Kasturi Bali, who hails from
Jammu and Kashmir. One can enjoy
snack-items like the Samosa and main
course dishes like Paneer Makhani,
Butter Chicken and Naan (bread) here
at an affordable price. I feel Tajikistan
is my second home. Serving Indian food
to them (the Tajiks) also makes me feel
good, a happy Bali said.
Indian restaurants a hit in Tajikistan
RELISHING INDIAN DELICACIES
String of attacks kill 36 in Iraq
AP BAGHDAD
I
nsurgents launched what
appeared to be a highly
coordinated string of attacks
in several parts of Iraq on
Monday morning, killing at
least 36 and wounding more
than 200, according to officials.
The attacks, many involv-
ing car bombs, erupted less
than a week before Iraqis in
much of the country are sched-
uled to vote in the countrys
first elections since the 2011 US
troop withdrawal, testing secu-
rity forces ability to prevent
bloodshed.
There was no immediate
claim of responsibility, but
coordinated attacks are a
favourite tactic of al-Qaedas
Iraq branch.
Iraqi officials believe the
insurgent group is growing
stronger and increasingly coor-
dinating with allies fighting to
topple Syrian President Bashar
Assad across the border.
They say rising lawlessness
on the Syria-Iraq frontier and
cross-border cooperation with
a Syrian group, the Nusra
Front, has improved the mili-
tants supply of weapons and
foreign fighters.
Nearly all of the deadly
attacks reported by police offi-
cials were bombings.
They were unusually broad
in scope, striking not just
Baghdad but also the western
Sunni city of Fallujah, the eth-
nically contested oil-rich city of
Kirkuk and towns in the pre-
dominantly Shiite south.
Other attacks struck north
of the capital, including the for-
mer al-Qaeda stronghold of
Baqouba and SaddamHusseins
hometown of Tikrit.
Windows rattled from the
force of a blast in central
Baghdad when a bomb struck
the central commercial district
of Karrada. In another of the
Baghdad explosions, a parked
car bomb exploded in a bus sta-
tion in the eastern suburbs of
Kamaliya, killing four.
Civilians gather at the scene of a car bomb attack in east Baghdads neighborhood of Kamaliya, Iraq, on Monday. Less than a
week before Iraqis in much of the country are scheduled to vote in the countrys first elections since the 2011 US troop
withdrawal, a series of attacks across Iraq, many involving car bombs, has killed and wounded dozens of people, police said
AFP CARACAS
V
enezuelas acting President
Nicolas Maduro was
declared the winner of the elec-
tion to succeed his late mentor
Hugo Chavez by a razor-thin
margin, but his rival refused to
concede defeat.
The contested result
plunged the deeply divided oil-
rich South American country
into uncertainty, with the hand-
picked heir of Chavezs social-
ist revolution declaring victory
and Opposition leader
Henrique Capriles demanding
a recount.
Fireworks erupted after the
National Electoral Council
announced that the irre-
versible results showedMaduro
hadwonwithjust 50.66 per cent
of the vote comparedto 49.1 per
cent for Capriles a difference
of less than 300,000 votes.
Mission accomplished
Comandante Chavez. The peo-
ple fulfilled its pledge, Maduro
said in front of cheering sup-
porters at the Miraflores presi-
dential palace.
The 50-year-oldformer for-
eign minister declared that he
secured a fair, legal, constitu-
tional victory. But he said he
was opento anaudit of the close
vote tally. He is scheduled to be
sworn in to complete Chavezs
six-year termonFriday. Maduro
said he spoke with Capriles by
telephone and that he told his
rival he must recognise the
outcome of the election. Both
candidates had pledged during
the campaign to accept the
results.
Chavez heir wins Venezuela
vote, Opposition cries foul
Government supporters celebrate after the official results of the presidential
elections were announced at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela early
Monday AP
US aid to India drops by 16 pc
PTI WASHINGTON
U
S Secretary of State John
Kerry has proposed a 16
per cent cut in the American
aid to India, reflecting the
transition from a traditional
donor-recipient relationship
to a strategic partnership
between the two coun-
tries.
With respect to India, for
the fiscal year 2014, the State
Department request is USD 91
million. This represents a 16
per cent decrease from the fis-
cal levels 2012 (the previous
actual spending), a senior
State Department official told
PTI.
This is in continuation of
the trend that has emerged
over the past few years.
In 2010, the United States
aid to India was USD 126.7
million, which drooped to
USD 121.6 million in 2011
and USD 108 million in 2012
and was proposed to USD
98.3 million in the current fis-
cal of 2013, which ends on
September 30. That (drop in
US aid to India this year)
reflects the ongoing transition
we had under way from the
more traditional donor-recip-
ient kind of relationship to
much more of a strategic part-
nership, the official said on
condition of anonymity as he
was not authorised to speak to
the press.
It is a partnership that is
addressing India and increas-
ingly global developmental
challenges. I think the signa-
ture initiative there is the
Agency for International
Development Millennium
Alliance, the official said.
Of the US aid to India, the
largest portion - two/third - of
that is slated for the health
sector.
The biggest programme
is in global health. About
USD 61 million is going to the
health programme. India still
has quite a number of health
challenges, the official said.
In 2012, the US aid to
India in the health sector was
some USD 76 million.
Overal l t he St ate
Department budget request
for FY-2014 was USD 47.8 bil-
lion, which is a six per cent cut
from the previous FY-2012 of
actual spending.
The development assis-
tance from the US to India for
the fiscal 2014 has been pro-
posed to USD 12 million as
against USD 18.5 million
actually spent in 2012.
Pointing to the letter writ-
ten by Secretary of State John
Kerry to the Congress along
with his budgetary proposals,
in which the top US diplomat
emphasises the rebalance
towards the Asia Pacific
region, the official said, India
is going to play an important
role in this.
The current fiscal 2013
ends on September 30, 2013
and the 2014 financial
year would begin on October
1.
In terms of the budget for
Sout h and Central Asi a
(SCA), Kerry has proposed
USD 514 million for the fiscal
2014.
But this does not include
Afghanistan and Pakistan,
which have been budgeted
separately by the Obama
Administration in view of the
war against terrorism in the
region.
If you exclude emergency
food aid, our total request for
the SCA region is three per
cent less than the 2012 actu-
al spending. In effect we are
taking less of a cut than rest
of the building reflecting the
strategic importance of SCA
regi on to t he St ate
Department, the official
said.
Kerry has also requested
an increase of USD 18 million
above its FY-2012 levels to
promote greater regional co-
operation.
That of course is partic-
ularly to support the New
Silk Road vision and the eco-
nomic transition that is taking
place in Afghanistan, a goal
which we are working very
closely with our friends in
India, the official added.
That (drop in US
aid to India this
year) reflects the
ongoing transition
we had under way
from the more
traditional donor-
recipient kind of
relationship to
much more of a
strategic
partnership
State Department Secretary of State John Kerry
Scotland Yard probes Indian triple deaths
PTI LONDON
S
cotland Yard, which is prob-
ing the circumstances
around the unexplained
death of an Indian-origin lab
technician and her two daugh-
ters here, fear the use of a poi-
sonous gas concoction that
could have been made by the
mother herself.
Officers remain at the
scene of the house and
inquiries continue to establish
the full circumstances. We are
awaiting a post-mortem, which
will take place in due course,
a Metropolitan police
spokesperson said.
Heena Solanki, 34, and
daughters Jasmine, 9, and sis-
ter Prisha, 4, were found dead
by a London Ambulance
Service team at their semi-
detached home in Ruislip on
Friday night.
Scotland Yards Homicide
and Serious Crime Command
team probing the unex-
plained deaths fear Heena,
who worked at a local sec-
ondary school laboratory, may
have used her expertise to cre-
ate a poisonous chemical con-
coction and confirmed that at
this stage they are not looking
for anyone else in connection
with the incident.
Officers had cordoned off
the house and had ordered
neighbours to remain indoors
with doors and windows closed
in the immediate aftermath of
the discovery.
They were also seen
removing a bag marked cau-
tion health hazard.
Meanwhile, tributes were
pouring in for the beautiful
mother and daughters as the
local church devoted its week-
ly Sunday prayers to the close-
knit family.
They were well known in
the area and clearly for the
community it is devastating.
The church will be there to sup-
port the community, said local
vicar Reverend Nigel Cowgill
in reference to the triple death
tragedy that has shaken up the
quiet residential borough,
which is home to many Indian-
origin families.
The youngest daughter,
Prisha, attended the nursery
located behind the church
while Jasmine was enrolled at
a local primary school.
Their father, 42-year-old
Kalpesh Solanki, is employed
with an IT company and was
often away on work.
He was not at the five-bed-
room family home they shared
with his parents during the
incident last week.
His parents 71-year-old
Chaganlal and 61-year-old
Kalavati Solanki were report-
edly on holiday in Greece but
have now returned to the UK
to join their son.
Heena, originally from
Surat, was set to start a newjob
here next month and according
to neighbours showed no signs
of experiencing any problems.
However, some have indi-
cated rumours that she may
have been suffering from
depression.
The Met police have
refused to comment on the
mothers mental state in the
lead up to the deaths until the
results of a post-mortem are
available later this week.
Neighbours reported a foul
smell emanating from the
home before alerting emer-
gency services.
PTI CAIRO
D
eposed Egyptian president
Hosni Mubarak on
Monday won an appeal for his
release over the killing of hun-
dreds of protesters during the
revolution that toppled his dic-
tatorial regime but will remain
in custody for corruption
charges.
An Appeals Court exam-
ined a request submitted by
Mubaraks lawyer Farid al-
Deeb for the release of the 84-
year-old on the grounds that
the period of provisional deten-
tion has expired.
The court granted his peti-
tion, technically freeing him in
the case involving the killing of
non-violent protesters during
the 2011 uprising that brought
him down. But the court
ordered him to remain
detained in connection with
other cases, state TV said.
Mubarak will remain in
custody pending investigations
over corruption charges relat-
ed to the misuse of funds allo-
cated for the renovation of
presidential palaces, Egypt
Independent reported.
The memorandum sub-
mitted by Deeb argued that
Mubaraks provisional deten-
tion, which started in April,
2011, has ended because two
years have lapsed since the start
of his trial.
Prosecutors told the Cairo
Criminal Court that the time
the former President has
already spent in detention
exceeded the legal limit for cus-
tody detention and there would
be no legal reason for him to
detained.
Mubaraks earlier trial
ended in early June 2012, when
he was sentenced to 25 years in
prison, the maximum amount
of jail time in Egypt. The for-
mer president challenged the
ruling, and the courts granted
him a retrial.
Mubaraks retrial on
Saturday was indefinitely
adjourned after presiding judge
Mostafa Hassan withdrewfrom
the case and referred it to a
lower court.
Mubarak, who was toppled
in January, 2011, during the
Arab
Spring uprising, has suf-
fered several health scares and
MENAeven reported himclin-
ically dead at one point. He is
currently being treated at a mil-
itary hospital here.
Mubaraks sons, Alaa and
Gamal, also arrived at the
Police Academy today to attend
a court session that will rule on
their release pending review of
a case in which they are
charged with financial corrup-
tion.
Mubaraks former interior
minister Habib al-Adly was
sentenced to life last year for
contributing to the killing of
protesters, and for five and 12
years for corruption charges.
Business tycoon Salem is
being tried in absentia.
Cruise ship disaster
pre-trial hearings
begin in Italy
AFP GROSSETO (ITALY)
I
ndictment hearings against
six suspects in the Costa
Concordia luxury liner disas-
ter began in Italy today, with
local authorities at the site of
the shipwreck requesting
compensation of more than 80
million euros (USD 105 mil-
lion).
The main suspect is cap-
tain Francesco Schettino, who
is accused of multipl e
manslaughter, causing a ship-
wreck, misinforming the coast
guard after the crash and
abandoning the ship during
the rescue.
A s o mb r e - l o o k i n g
Schettino, who usually lives on
probation in his home town of
Meta on the Amalfi Coast in
southern Italy, was present at
the hearing with special per-
mission from the judge.
Thirty-two people lost
their lives among them a
five-year-old girl when the
giant luxury liner crashed
into an Italian island on the
night of January 13, 2012
duri ng a Mediterranean
cruise. Lawyers for the island
of Giglio, where the ship still
lies, said the local council
had asked to be a plaintiff in
the case and was seeking com-
pensation in excess of 80 mil-
lion euros.
Mubaraks release ordered over
killings, held on graft charges
My job is to get wickets through the middle
there and every time Rahul gives me the ball
I feel welcome to take the ball and get
wickets for my team. I am happy to do
whatever my team wants me to do
KEVON COOPER, Rajasthan Royals
Ross Taylor became the fifth player to lead Pune
Warriors in IPL. Sourav Ganguly (15 matches),
Yuvraj Singh (14 matches), Angelo Mathews (4
matches) and Steven Smith (one match) have been
the other four skippers
INDIAN
PREMIERLEAGUE
sport 14 LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
TIME UT
DHAWAN COULD RETURN VERY SOON
New Delhi: Having missed the first two weeks of the
Indian Premier League (IPL) due to a fracture on his
hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Shikhar Dhawan is
hoping to return to action very soon and is awaiting a
clearance from the NCA. The 27-year-old left-handed is
back in India after spending time with his family in
Melbourne. Sunrisers coach, Tom Moody, tweeted, we
are hopeful its within the next 10 days. Dhawan
suffered the injury during the Mohali Test against
Australia last month. That was his debut game and he
shot to prominence with a record-breaking 187, the
fastest by a debutant in Test history. Dhawan was ruled
out for six weeks after sustaining the injury. Hopefully I
will be able to take the field soon. I just have to get the
clearance from NCA. It will be soon, very soon, he had
said before leaving for Australia.
UMESH GETS ENGAGED
New Delhi: Amidst the hectic schedule of the IPL,
India and Delhi Daredevils pacer Umesh Yadav got
formally engaged to Delhi based fashion designer Tania
Wadhwa in a quiet ceremony in Nagpur on Monday.
Umesh, who is an important member of the Daredevils
set-up took a day off from the teams training schedule
in Bangalore to fly back home for the engagement. The
26-year-old will marry Tania on May 29 once the IPL
gets over. We met in Delhi and then our friendship
grew... And then I proposed her. We decided to get
married after a years courtship and our families
agreed, Umesh said after the engagement ceremony.
SC ASKS BANKS TO GIVE `400 CR TO BCCI
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked
three nationalised banks to deposit `400 crore towards
securing the claim of BCCI in a dispute over termination
of the `1,600-crore contract between the cricket board
and Nimbus Communications, pending the hearing of
their dispute. A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and
Ranjana Desai asked Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank
and the Union Bank of India to deposit the amount
within 15 days with the Bombay High Court Registry,
which would then remit the money to the bank account
of BCCI. The order of the apex court came on a Special
Leave Petition filed by the BCCI stemming from the
banks refusal to pay the money to the tune of `1,600
crore under the conditional bank guarantees issued by
them towards the contract executed in consideration of
the Media Rights License Agreement (MRLA) between
BCCI and Nimbus for broadcasting the cricket matches.
PNS/Agencies
UP NEXT UP NEXT
PTI n BANGALORE
S
trong contenders Royal
Challengers Bangalore face
a woefully out-of-form Delhi
Daredevils as they resume
their IPL campaign here on
Tuesday following a heart-
breaking defeat against
Chennai Super Kings.
A big no-ball by R P Singh
in dying minutes of the match
haddeprivedBangalore froman
exciting win. It was secondclose
defeat for Bangalore, having
lost another thriller via Super
Over to Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Hosts Bangalore are
expected to face some good
resistance from Delhi since
the visitors are the only side to
not have won a single game this
season and would do every-
thing to get on board.
Having lost all four games,
Delhi have no option but to go
all out as one more defeat
would make their journey
more tougher, so they will
throwanything and everything
they have against Bangalore.
Skipper Virat Kohli and
explosive Chris Gayle have
done extremely well for the side
so far but Bangalore need other
batsmen to fire and bowlers
need to be more efficient.
Over-reliance on top-order
may hurt them. Building part-
nerships is the way forward for
Bangalore so they need Mayank
Agarwal and Karun Nair to bat
well in the middle order.
They also need their other
forei gn recruits such as
Ti l l akratne Di l shan and
Daniel Christian to stand up
and counted.
As far Bangalores bowling
is concerned, they have bowled
well as a unit but struggled in
death overs. This was
quite evident in the
match against CSK
where Vinay Kumar,
Ravi Rampaul and R
P Singh bowled far
too many length
balls and in process conceded
53 runs in last five overs.
ABHISHEK PUROHIT n JAIPUR
A
s T20 cricket continues to
be a batsmens game,
many skippers are trying to
check the flow of runs at the
start of an innings by opening
the bowling with spinners.
The spinner canbe a viable
option as the slower ball does-
nt come onto the bat and the
batsman has to use the power
inplaying strokes, whichcanbe
fatal. This is a situation in con-
trast to the opening batsmen
who like the ball coming onto
the bat for conducive strokelay.
But, bowling with flight and
loop can go two-ways - either
it will pick wickets or it will be
smacked for runs. And, its
worth a gamble given that in
the shorter versionof the game,
the difference between win-
ning and losing is also shorter
and an wicket is crucial.
Another benefit is that a
spinner earlier on can be flat
and tries to maintain line and
lengthwhichcanstemthe flow
of runs. That is equal to taking
wickets, feels RajasthanRoyals
off-spinner Ajit Chandila.
In the game against Kings
XI Punjab on Sunday night,
skipper Rahul Dravid threw
the ball to Chandila in the first
over and the off-spinner
reposed the captains faith by
giving away only a run in his
first over. Chandila was effec-
tive as he not only conceded
only 14 runs in his full quota
of fourteen overs, his pressure
tactics worked for Royals
pacer S Sreesanth as the bats-
men duo of Adam Gilchrist
and Mandeep Singh lost out of
patience and gave their wick-
ets away to Sreesanth.
It was a good perfor-
mance from me. I feel if you
give away 18-20 runs in four
overs, it is like taking two
wickets and you have done
your work. At the start, the
batsmen are in the mood to hit
you out of the park so not giv-
ing enough space for scoring
is important. You have bowl a
line which will keep the bats-
man in control. My role in this
team is to check the flow of
runs and if I do that I am sat-
isfied. If you keep a batsman
in check, he will try you to hit
in next couple of balls and
then you will have a chance to
pick wickets, Chandila, who
plays for Haryana in domes-
tic cricket, told The Pioneer at
his team hotel.
And now he faces a big
challenge, one on the form of
present IPL table-toppers
Mumbai Indians, Chandila,
though, he is excited at the
prospect of bowling the first
over to Sachin Tendulkar and
Ricky Ponting. They have
big names as openers -
Tendulkar and Ponting. I am
excited at the fact that I may
bowl at them. I am planning
how not to leak runs against
them, 30-year old Chandila
singned off, saying that his
immediate aim is to help the
Royals win the ongoing T20
championship and ultimate
ambition is to represent the
country.
Opening with spinner is
slowly becoming a trend and
Chandila feels that his bowling
suits the situation although one
has to practice hard as getting
the grip of the early ball is not
easy for a spinner.
It is important that you
watch the batsmans step and
eye what he is trying it to do.
I like to take up the challenge
with the new ball. It is not easy
to bowl in the opening overs.
I practice it a lot with the new
ball at the nets. Another help-
ful thing for me is that I release
the ball quite late. I change my
grip at the point of delivery and
the batsman keeps guessing.
For this even Rahul Bhai
(Rahul Dravid) has comple-
mented me saying that he has
faced a lot of spinners through-
out the world, but my chang-
ing the grip of the ball late is a
rare. Rahul bhai backs me well
and so does the support staff,
the Faridabad-lad said while
crediting his confidence to a
good domestic season,.
I had a very good domes-
tic seasoninthe T20 andODIs.
If you do well there, the confi-
dence goes upandthis year I am
more confident with my bowl-
ing, Chandila, who had came
into limelight by taking a hat-
trick against the Pune Warriors
India in2012 season, explained.
Chandila says Narendra
Hirwani and Pankaj Thakur
have helped him a lot in his
career.
NEW DELHI: It is amazing what an
impact one path breaking perfor-
mance can have. It was way back
in 2008 that Steve Waugh called
Ishant Sharma the next big thing
in cricket and rated him high up
there amongst the new crop of
Indian fast bowlers. Five years
back, Ishant had pace, Ishant was
consistent and was getting the best
in the business hop around at the
crease with his sheer accuracy and
wicket taking ability.
Five years on, times have
changed; suddenly one gets an
impression that the wicket-tak-
ing Ishant is wrapped in a clos-
et. Some believe that the tall pacer
has forgotten the art of taking
wickets, while the rest believe he
is one of those bowlers who
showed a lot of promise, but is
slowly fading away like a candle
lit in a dark room. There is still
a particular sect though, that
believes in Ishant Sharma and
feels he is genuinely Indias
brightest prospects in the fast
bowling department.
Ishant has a lot working in his
favour. For starters he is just 24
years old, almost a regular in the
Indian whites and now he shares
his space with two of the most
exciting fast bowlers in world
cricket wherein each day is like a
learning experience. In this exclu-
sive chat with IPLT20.com, the
fast bowler talks about the
matured Ishant , an Ishant who
does not care about his critics and
an Ishant with tremendous self
confidence.
From 2008 to 2013, is Ishant
Sharma a different bowler?
I am the same bowler. I
havent changed at all. I love to be
aggressive on the field and look at
the positives in my game. I was
always ready for the challenge five
years back and I still am. I have
tremendous self confidence in
myself which has never faded
away since 2008. I am a more
matured bowler now. I know
about my body well, and I am
more matured when it comes to
fitness, preparations and mindset.
In the previous Test series
against Australia, you had just
seven wickets to your name.
Disappointed?
I dont worry when I go wick-
et-less. I have takenwickets when-
ever I have got an opportunity. We
all know that the wickets in the
India-Australia Test series were
spinner friendly where I got very lit-
tle to bowl. In the limited oppor-
tunities I got to bowl, I took wick-
ets. That is what I look to doing in
the future, Every time I have the ball
in my hands representing India!
But the questionhere is, Ishant
is 51 Test matches old, shouldnt
he have taken a lot more wickets
in that span of time?
Look, after playing 50 Test
matches for your country, no one
wants to change the way you bowl.
Only the mindset has to be
changed. Waqar Younis, our bowl-
ing consultant in the IPL asked me
to believe in myself and said,
Ishant if you are bowling to a
batsman of high caliber, tell your-
self that you are a big bowler for
your country as well. Take pride
in your name, take pride in how
you are bowling to him and take
pride in the skill and ability that
you have as a bowler. These are
words that have stuck in my mind
and I look forward to implement
it in my bowling.
As you said, Waqar Younis
showed a lot of keenness to work
with you, what aspect of your
bowling has he worked on?
The goodthing about someone
like Waqar, who is a legend of the
game, is that he has never wanted
me to change anything in my
bowling. Yes, there are certain
minor changes like line and length
that he has asked me to work on.
Apart fromthat he hasnt askedme
to bring about any drastic changes
in my bowling.
Youobviouslywouldhave alot
to learn from Waqar and Dale
Steyn, your SRHteammate.
Being amongst Dale and
Waqar inthe side, obviously for me
as yousaidis a great learning curve.
There is a lot you can learn from
the best fast bowler inthe worldand
one of the best fast bowlers in an
era gone by. It is great to have them
inthe dressing room. Little advices
onhowto bowl and where to bowl
makes a lot of difference.
How do you plan to get more
consistent withrespect toline and
length?
Consistency depends on con-
fidence. It has nothing to do with
how you are bowling, if you are
going to be confident about your-
self and confident about the skills
you hone, the consistency will
come on its own.
Your detractors say you have
lost your wicket taking abilities.
How do you react to that?
I donot needtoprove anything
to anyone. I am playing for my
country and have picked up wick-
ets in India and abroad. Everyone
has their ownopinion. My job is to
pick wickets for India whenever I
have the ball in my hand.
Courtsey: iplt20.com
Formidable Bangalore take
on struggling Daredevils
PTI n MOHALI
H
aving slumped to two suc-
cessive defeats, Kings XI
Punjab will be hoping to revive
their fortune when they take on
defending champions Kolkata
Knight Riders in the Pepsi IPL
6 match here on Tuesday.
Lacklustre KXIP would be
looking to exploit the home
conditions against a strong
Kolkata outfit, who got back to
winning ways, outplaying
Sunrisers Hyderabadby 48 runs
yesterday at their home ground.
Kings XI had begun their
campaign on a winning note
against Pune Warriors but had
failed to sustain the momen-
tum against Chennai Super
Kings and Rajasthan Royals.
In fact, in their match
against Rajasthan last night,
they were handed a royal
thrashing with the opposition
running away with a comfort-
able six-wicket win.
The biggest problemfor the
Adam Gilchrist-led side is that
it had failed to utilise its full 20
overs in the last two games.
The team folded in the
20th over against CSK, where-
as it lost the plot inthe 19thover
against formidable the Royals.
For Kings XI tomake a con-
test against KKR, who start as
clear favourites at the PCA
Stadiumtomorrow, they would
needthe likes of Gilchrist, David
Hussey, Mandeep Singh,
Gurkeerat Singh, R Sathish to
fire in unison.
David Hussey has been
the lone bright spot in KXIPs
batting line up and they would
expect him to continue his
good show.
As far as their bowling is
concerned, Praveen Kumar will
spearhead the attack with Ryan
Harris, Azhar Mahmood and
Parvinder Awana in the ranks.
Even spinner Piyush Chawla is
yet to play to his potential.
The hosts need all their
bowlers to play like a unit to
make an impact against KKR.
On the other hand, the
Knight Riders are well aware
that against a weak opposition
they stand a good chance to
improve their tally at the league
stage and hence, they would
everything to go for that kill.
KKR would look to repeat
their power-packed batting
performance of last night
against Hyderabad.
ABHISHEK PUROHIT n JAIPUR
R
ajasthan Royals skipper
Rahul Dravidknows that his
teamwill be underdogs in their
Wednesdays clash in its home
ground - Sawai Man Singh sta-
dium, here against the much-
fanciedMumbai Indians. But, he
is not complaining andfeels that
his teamhas players for every sit-
uation to fight.
They are a very strong
side. They have a lot of big play-
ers andspenda lot of money for
them. They have a lot of depth
and the kind of reserve, they
have, you say awe. We will be
underdogs against themandwe
have no issue with it. We like to
be calledunderdogs. We have to
be at our best against them,
Rahul Dravid told reporters at
the post-matchpress conference
after the Royals defeated Kings
XI Punjab by six wickets on
Sunday to register their third
win in four matches of this edi-
tion of Indian Premier League.
Arguably Indias greatest
No 3 batsman said that unlike
previous editions, this time the
teamhas got every base covered
and got variety of players to
achieve success in any kind of
conditions.
This time we did well in
auctionto have very good play-
ers who canadapt and play well
on any kind of tracks or in any
kind of conditions.
I have told this before as
well that in the last edition we
found a weakness in our death
bowling and we had certain
plans to counter it during the
auction. I believe we have got
good bowlers to start with and
alsofor deathovers, Dravidsaid
while adding that the middle-
order, which seems to be a bit
fragile, has enough depth with
BradHodge andStuart Binny in
good form.
Binny has done reasonably
well in couple of matches and
this failure (against KXIP) is
one of the things to forget. As
far as the matter of Hodge bat-
ting up the order is concerned
I feel he has been very good in
accelerating at the end overs. If
need arises, he can be promot-
ed up the order. The good
thing is that we now have
enough options for all the posi-
tions and can shuffle in accor-
dance with the need of the hour.
Sanju Samson got the
chance today (on Sunday) and
he played well. So, we have
healthy competition inside the
team. Hopefully, we can make
it to the play-offs. We like to
fight and I can assure you that
this team will fight, Dravid
signed off.
This team will fight
Fast bowler talks of learning with Waqar Younis and his mature present
The real Ishant stands up
HEAD TO HEAD
Played 9
Bangalore 4
Delhi 5
LIVE AT 4:00 PM
Ajit Chandila File Photo
Ishant Sharma celebrates Chris Gayles wicket PTI
KXIP face stern test against KKR
Virender Sehwag PTI
KXIP skipper Adam Gilchrist PTI
LIVE AT 8:00 PM
(From left) RCBs AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and Ravi Rampaul PTI
The good thing
about someone like
Waqar, who is a
legend of the game,
is that he has never
wanted me to
change anything in
my bowling. Yes,
there are certain
minor changes like
line and length that
he has asked me to
work on. Apart from
that he hasnt asked
me to bring about
any drastic changes
in my bowling
Ishant Sharma
HEAD TO HEAD
Played 9
Kolkata 5
Punjab 4
(From left) KKRs Brett Lee, coach Trevor Bayliss and Jacques Kallis PTI
Rahul Dravid PTI
Excited at the prospect of bowling first over to Tendulkar-Ponting
I feel if you give
away 18-20 runs
in four overs, it
is like taking
two wickets and
you have done
your work
Ajit Chandila
sport 15 LUCKNOW | TUESDAY | APRIL 16, 2013
AP n AUGUSTA
A
dam Scott finished the job this
time, and put an end to more
thana half-century of Australianmis-
ery at the Masters.
With the two biggest putts of his
career, Scott holed a 20-footer for
birdie on the 18th hole of regulation
that put himintoa playoff withAngel
Cabrera, and then won his first
major championship Sunday with a
12-foot birdie putt on the second
extra hole.
We like to think were the best
at everything. Golf is a big sport at
home, andthis is the one thing ingolf
we hadnt been able to achieve,
Scott said. Its amazing that its my
destiny to be the first Australian to
win. Its incredible.
Scott leaned back and thrust his
arms inthe air after the putt dropped
onthe 10th hole, a celebrationfor all
of Australia andpersonal redemption
for himself.
It was only last summer when
Scott threwaway the BritishOpenby
making bogey on his last four holes
to lose by one shot to Ernie Els. The
32-year-oldScott handledthat crush-
ing defeat with dignity and pledged
to finish stronger given another
chance. Next time - Im sure there
will be a next time - I can do a bet-
ter job of it, he said that day.
Scott was close to perfect, andhe
had to be with Cabrera delivering
some brilliance of his own.
Moments after Scott made his
clutch birdie on the 18th hole for a
3-under 69 to take a one-shot lead -
Cmon, Aussie! he screamed -
Cabrera answered with a 7-iron
from163 yards that plopped down3
feet from the cup, one of the great-
est shots under the circumstances.
That gave him an easy birdie and a
2-under 70. They finished at 9-
under 279.
They both chipped close for par
on the 18th in the first playoff hole,
and Cabreras 15-foot birdie putt on
the 10th grazed the right side of the
cup.
With his long putter anchored
against his chest, Scotts putt was true
all the way. Under darkening clouds
- no sudden-death playoff at the
Masters hadever gone more thantwo
holes - Scott saidhe couldbarely read
the putt. Thats when he called over
caddie Steve Williams andaskedhim
to take over. Williams was onthe bag
for 13 of Tiger Woods majors, and
read the putt that helped Woods to
the 1999 PGAChampionship. I said,
Do you think its just more than a
cup? He said, Its at least two cups.
Its going to break more than you
think, Scott said. He was my eyes
on that putt.
The winning putt might be the
highlight putt of my career, Williams
said. Because he asked me to read
it.
Scotts winmeans four of the last
six major champions used a putter
pressed against their belly or chest, a
stroke that might be bannedin2016.
What matteredmore toScott was
that the Masters had been the only
major an Australian had never won.
He was among dozens of golfers who
routinely rose in the early hours of
Monday morning for the telecast,
only to watch a horror show. The
leading character was Greg Norman,
who had four good chances to win,
none better thanwhenhe blewa six-
shot leadonthe last day toNickFaldo
in 1996.
Norman, though, was the face of
Aussie failures at the Masters, and
Scott paid him tribute in Butler
Cabinbefore he slippedonthat beau-
tiful green jacket.
Australia is a proud sporting
nation, and this is one notch in the
belt we never got, Scott said. Its
amazing that it came down to me
today. But theres one guy who
inspireda nationof golfers, andthats
Greg Norman. Hes been incredible
to me and all the great golfers. Part
of this belongs to him.
PNS n NEW DELHI
I
ndian fans would be deprived of watch-
ing their Olympic medal winning grap-
plers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt in
action at the upcoming Senior Asian
Wrestling Championship as the two have
not yet recovered from their respective
injuries.
Amit Dhankar (66kg) and Bajrang
(60kg), who were named as reserves, will
replace Suhil and Yogeshwar for the cham-
pionship, starting from April 18, here.
Both Sushil and Yogeshwar are nurs-
ing their injuries. During the trials last
month, they had said that they will be fit
for the completion. But we cant force them
to participate. They are consulting their
doctors and will hopefully return to the
arena soon, Wrestling Federation of India
(WFI) president, Brij Bhushan Singh said.
Events such as this are a test for the
new crop of wrestlers. It gives them an
opportunity to perform. And that too in
front of their home crowd, Bhushan
added.
More than 225 wrestlers from19 coun-
tries will be competing in the three disci-
plines Freestyle, Greco-Roman and
Female in the five-day event.
Asian powerhouses such as China,
Japan and Kazakhstan, besides hosts will be
fielding wrestlers in every weight catego-
ry at the K D Jadhav Wrestling Stadium.
The Pakistan team was also invited by
the organisers, but their federation did not
send any representation. We had sent an
invite and also spoke to the Pakistani fed-
eration. They cited lack of funds as the rea-
son for not sending entries. We would have
wanted them to participate as well,
Managing chairman of the Senior Asian
Championships, G S Mandher said.
Sushil, Yogeshwar
to skip Asian cship
AP n BARCELONA
C
ristiano Ronaldo scored
his 49th and 50th goals in
all competitions this season as
Real Madrid won 3-0 at
Athletic Bilbao on Sunday,
while Barcelona didnt need
Lionel Messi to brush aside
Real Zaragoza 3-0 and ease
closer to the Spanish league
title.
Ronaldo opened with a
dipping free kick two minutes
in and scored again in the
69th, before passing for
Gonzalo Higuain to net a
third in the 76th.
We have a great player in
Ronaldo, Madrid midfielder
Xabi Alonso said. He is so
competitive. He wants to play
every game and score as many
goals he can.
We got a great result
tonight that lets us continue in
second place.
Barcelonas own convinc-
ing victory led by a double
from 21-year-old forward
Cristian Tello kept it 13 points
clear of Madrid with seven
rounds to go.
El sewhere, Radamel
Falcao scored twice in Atletico
Madrids 5-0 rout of Granada
as it remained three points
behind Madrid in third place,
while Real Sociedad cement-
ed its hold on fourth place and
the last Champions League
spot by winning 2-0 at Rayo
Vallecano.
Ronaldo struck a perfect
free kick to put Madrid ahead
at San Mames Stadium.
Known for his blistering
long-range blasts, Ronaldo
instead used an exquisite
bending effort to swerve the
ball over the barrier and land
it beyond the reach of goal-
keeper Gorka Iraizoz.
Cristianos first goal put
us on the way to victory,
Higuain said. Hes in great
form, and I hope he keeps it up
for all of us.
Bilbao responded well,
but Madrid goalkeeper Diego
Lopez got just enough of
Markel Susaetas and Ander
Herreras shots to push them
wide and protect the lead
until Ronaldo struck again in
the 69th.
After Ronaldo had com-
plained vehemently following
a col l i si on with Ander
Iturraspe at the beginning of
the second half, the Portugal
forward fought off Ramalho
to thump home Xabi Alonsos
free kick with a stinging head-
er. Ronaldo has scored 31
league goals - 12 fewer than
Messi, who has scored 57 in
all competitions.
Ronaldo capped his out-
standing night by beating the
offside trap with a pass that
Higuain drove past Iraizoz.
Messi was left out of
Barcelonas squad as he recov-
ers from a right hamstring
injury that he played through
as a substitute to help
Barcelona rally against Paris
Saint-Germain and reach the
Champions League semifinals
earlier this week.
The Argentina forward
wasnt the only Barcelona
player to take the day off. It
played with only five of its
regular starters, given that
the league title is well in hand
and several players need extra
rest before its Champions
League ti e with Bayern
Munich begins on April 23.
Madrid faces the first leg of its
semifinal against Borussia
Dortmund the next day.
PNS n NEW DELHI
O
lympic bronze medallist
Saina Nehwal says the
draw at the upcoming Yonex
Sunrise India Open bad-
minton tournament is tough
and that it would not be a
cakewalk for the shuttle queen.
Stating that her first-round
opponent, Belaetrix Manuputi
of Indonesia, has been show-
ing impressive form, Saina
said: The drawis quite tough,
it is not easy. In the first
round itself I am playing with
an Indonesian player who is
doing really well. But I am
preparing hard to win the
Yonex Sunrise India Open
Superseries.
Saina, however, said that
she is determined to give her
100 per cent. Every tourna-
ment is tough, its a Superseries
event and all the top players
will be playing in the Yonex
Sunrise India Open, but I am
looking forward to put my best
feet forward, said Saina.
The Hyderabadi said she
would look forward to having
her fans and parents in the
crowd during the tournament,
to be held at the DDA Squash
and Badminton Stadium (Siri
Fort Complex), from April
23-28. Its special because its
held in Delhi. Lots of home
fans will be there to cheer me
up and at the same time my
parents can come and watch
me. Youngsters will also get a
chance to learn from the
senior players.
Meanwhile, national
coach Pullela Gopichand was
hopeful that India will come
up with an impressive show.
Preparation is pretty decent
and I think we had the time
post-All-England and Swiss
Open. We have the Asian
Championship coming up this
week and the experience will
help us in the Yonex Sunrise
India Open, the former All-
England champion said.
I think we are getting
closer each time and hopeful-
ly Saina will be able to get us
that coveted thing. We also
have (World No.7 Parupalli)
Kashyap who is doing well. I
feel all the players have
emerged stronger in these
years not only in singles but
also in doubles events.
Somebody will win us the
Yonex Sunrise India Open
Superseries title.
AP n SHANGHAI
F
ernando Alonso says he has no
illusions about his prospects inthe
Formula One championship despite
ending a 12-race drought with an
authoritative victory at the Chinese
Grand Prix.
The dozenraces without a winwas
the Ferrari drivers longest barren
period since his winless 2009 season,
andrepresenteda sharpchange of for-
tunes after a Did-Not-Finish result at
the previous race in Malaysia.
It couldnt have gone better than
this today, Alonso said after Sundays
race. This has a special feeling because
it was a tricky race full of action. Along
withthe secondplace I got inAustralia,
this result shows that the car is com-
petitive andthat we are working inthe
right directionto always be inthe fight
for the podium.
Alonso said he had pace in his
pocket which he kept in reserve, yet
still drove away to a comfortable 10-
second victory margin over Lotus
driver Kimi Raikkonen. Mercedes
driver Lewis Hamilton clung on for
third, just twotenths of a secondahead
of the fast-finishing SebastianVettel of
Red Bull.
The comfortable nature of the win
raised Ferraris hopes of taking its first
drivers championship since 2007,
particularly withthe next race coming
this weekend in Bahrain, giving rival
teams no chance to introduce any sig-
nificant aerodynamic upgrades in the
meantime.
However, the 2013 season is
already shaping as one in which for-
tunes will change fromvenue to venue
depending onthe layout of tracks, sur-
faces and the various team strategies
revolving around tires. The Red Bulls
were dominant inMalaysia, yet absent
fromthe podiumin Shanghai. With
no one dominating the championship,
it makes it extremely interesting, even
if we are aware this is only the third
race, Alonso said. We are under no
illusions andwe must continue tocon-
centrate and do all we can to improve
still further.
Vettel still leads the drivers stand-
ings, with his advantage sliced to
three points over the consistent
Raikkonen. The Finns secondplace on
Sunday was his 20th consecutive
points finish in Formula One, joining
Alonso (23) andMichael Schumacher
(24) as the only men to achieve that
feat. That string of points finishes
appeared to be in serious jeopardy
when he ran heavily into the back of
Sergio Perezs McLaren early in the
race, but remarkably his Lotus lost lit-
tle pace andthe teamoptedtokeepthe
damaged front wing and nose on the
car.
If not for that accident, and a slow
start that saw the Finn immediately
shuffled down fromhis second place
on the grid to fourth, Raikkonen
would have posed a much stronger
challenge to Alonso. It was quite dif-
ficult out there, Raikkonensaidof dri-
ving witha rearrangedfront assembly.
The car is not designed like that oth-
erwise we woulduse it all the time, but
I was surprised how good it was. Of
course there were some handling
issues, whichwas not ideal, but we just
hadtotry tolive withit andwe still had
pretty okay speed.
Lotus trackside operations man-
ager AlanPermane calculated that the
damage cost Raikkonen about one-
quarter of a second per lap. Given it
happened with 40 laps to go, that was
10 seconds in all - precisely the mar-
gin behind the race winner. Without
the poor start andwithout the incident
for Kimi thenwe definitely wouldhave
fought for a win today, team princi-
pal Eric Boullier said.
Alonso has no illusions about title chances
Fernando Alonso (left) celebrating his Chinese GP win with Lewis Hamilton on Sunday AP
Adam Scott (foreground) of Australia reacts after winning the Augusta Masters title AP
Saina Nehwal in a File Photo
Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid dribbling past a couple of Athletic Bilbao players AP
Yogeshwar Dutt (left) and Sushil Kumar File Photo
AUSTRALIA IS A
PROUD SPORTING
NATION, AND THIS
IS ONE NOTCH IN
THE BELT WE
NEVER GOT
ADAM SCOTT
The draw is quite tough
Half century for Ronaldo
Hits 50th goal for season in win against Athletic Bilbao
Scott breaks Aussie Jinx
Becomes first Australian to win Augusta title in 50 years
PTI n CHENNAI
P
une Warriors bowlers
kept their cool during
slog overs as they
shocked title contenders
Chennai Super Kings com-
prehensively beating them
by 24 runs in the Pepsi
Indian Premier League, here
on Monday.
Having managed 159 for
five in 20 overs, courtesy
Aaron Finchs 67 and Steven
Smiths late surge, the Pune
bowlers put up a commend-
able show keeping tight leash
on a formidable CSK batting
line-up restricting them to
135 for eight.
While this Punes second
win in five matches, CSK
tasted their second defeat at
home, having lost to
Mumbai Indians in their
lung opener. While Rahul
Sharma (1/24) was brilliant
in the middle overs, speed-
ster Ashoke Dinda (2/34)
bowled a brilliant 18th over
in which he not only gave
away only four runs but also
removed Mahendra Singh
Dhoni out of the equation.
Having given 63 in the
last match, it was a good
comeback from Dinda.
Catching in the outfield
was brilliant with Smith tak-
ing three catches and Finch
also pulling off a stunner.
It all started when,
Aniruddha Srikkanth, pre-
dictably looking out of place,
couldnt even get his bat
down to a sharp incutter
from Bhuvneshwar Kumar
(2/12). The UP seamer was
again splendid with new ball.
Suresh Raina (8) didnt
fire as his mistimed swat was
taken by Tiru Suman at mid-
on.
Vijay (24) was playing
well but mistimed a lofted
shot off Abhishek Nayars
bowling to get out.
Domestic run-machine
Subramanium Badrinath
(34, 26 balls, 4x4) added 46
with Ravindra Jadeja before
he was caught in the deep off
Mitchell Marshs bowling.
With 70-odd to get, the
stage was perfect for skipper
Dhoni to launch his signa-
ture assault at the death.
But the skipper lost a set
partner in Ravindra Jadeja
(27), who was caught at
short fine-leg to give Marsh
his second wicket.
From 98 for five, it soon
became 104 for six as
Dwayne Bravo was sent back
by Sharma caught in the
deep. Dhoni never got going
and once he was out for 10,
the match was as good as
over.
Pune Warriors' AM Nayar celebrating the wicket of Chennai Super Kings' Murali
Vijay during the IPL-6 match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on
Monday PTI
Warriors
shock CSK
Super Soccer match underway between Star XI and RA Boys at Dilkusha ground
on Monday. Star XI beat RA Boys 5-3 in the tie-breaker Pioneer
vivacity 16
BRADLEY COOPER and
JENNIFER LAWRENCE won
the trophy for delivering the
best male and best
female
performances
respectively, for
their roles in
Silver Linings
Playbook at the
MTV Movie
Awards. The
actors even won
the award for
the best kiss for
the same film,
at the event.
Rebel Wilson
won the
breakthrough
performance award
for her role in Pitch
Perfect. Zac Efron
and Seth Rogen
presented actor
Taylor Lautner
with the best
shirtless
performance
award.
ANGELINA JOLIE
arranged for spicy
Indian delicacies like
lamb bhuna, chicken
korma and chicken
tikka to be made for
her to fly home to
fiance Brad Pitt.
While on an official
trip for the G8
summit, Jolie
arranged for a special
consignment of the
three dishes picked
up from Pitt's
favourite curry house in Surrey. Brad is back
in America and has been longing for a decent
curry. He really misses their Indian takeaway
nights from when they lived in Surrey last
year. Angelina arranged as a surprise for a
load of it to be cooked and flash-freeze
packed for her to fly home, said a source.
ZOYA AKHTAR, who was in the news to bring
cousins Kareena and Ranbir
Kapoor together on the
screen, says she is not
making any film with them
right now. The two films
old director said: I am
not making a film
with Kareena and
Ranbir right now. I
haven't finished my
script yet. I am
writing a script for
a family drama
right now. In her
last two films,
Zoya teamed up
with her actor-
filmmaker brother
Farhan, who made
his acting debut
with Rock On!!.
So would she cast
him in her next? I
don't know whether he is
going to be in the film
because I wont cast him
in all my movies and he is
not going to say yes to
every film that I will offer
him, she said.
No film with Ranbir,
Kareena
Niceness is
not some-
thing I set
out to
achieve by
holding
myself to a
certain stan-
dard of
behaviour. I
don't know why people like
me. I am glad they do and I
am glad they still go and see
my movies
MATT DAMON
S
he developed a character called Simran
Singh who investigates crime and is
also a social worker. Simran appeared
in two of Kishwar Desai novels which have
now extended into a series.
The first books about female foeticide
and surrogacy, were in the form of
thrillers.
But they also touch upon social issues
concerning women that Kishwar, who had
an earlier life as a journalist, was and still
is keenly interested in. The latest of these,
The Sea of Innocence (Simon & Schuster)
concerns rape. It is also in the shape of a
thriller that is set in Goa.
Simran receives a video
tape of a girl called Liza who
has disappeared. She is seen
being raped in the film by
various men. Kishwar, who
lives part of the year in Goa,
said that she had partly drew
upon the famous case of the
British teenager Scarlett
Keeling, whose case was never
solved, though her mother
came down from the UK to
Goa, where she fought for the
murdered girl.
Mrs Keeling had pointed fingers at the
government and accused them of being a
conspiracy to prevent further investigation.
Kishwar added that she blended some
aspects of that case with those of another
story involving a girl called Jyothi, whom
she seemed reluctant to talk about.
In any case the story is a tribute to
many girls like these who have had to bear
tragic fates.
She explained, It was written last year,
and the final edit was done when the
Nirbhaya case was going on. It would have
been odd if we did not mention it. Anyhow,
there were already lines in the book like the
streets of Delhi are not safe. She added,
The larger idea has been that my area of
interest has been joining forces with an
India which is warming up to what women
have to deal with. I have always and con-
tinue to be interested in womens subjects.
Kishwar shared, The Scarlett Keeling
case was never completely solved. And the
two accused were released on bail.
Moreover, after keeping her
body in Devon for five years,
she was eventually given a
burial. There wasnt enough
evidence anyhow.
She has introduced to a
politician as one of the cul-
prits in Lizas case. As for
the government cover-up
accusation in the Keeling
case. There was never any
real proof about that. But when nothing
happens for a long time, there is a lot of
local gossip. Until people invest properly
and rapidly, little can be done. In Scarletts
case, most of the evidence was lost. (It was
suggested she might have been given
cocaine).
Kishwar explained, I was researching
several unsolved rape cases, while writing
for this book, so I came across other sto-
ries too that had resemblances to my sorry.
The difference is that Liza vanishes. In fact,
you are left wondering if she actually exist-
ed.
She continued, These are contempo-
rary stories of men, just as much as they
are about women. Im chronicling contem-
porary India through the viewpoints of
ordinary women. So there is Simran,
investigating such cases that are actually
happening in a real India.
Her next books will be about
Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani, the filmi
couple, another Simran novel and a third
book that she wasnt revealing details
about yet.
W
e have seen Mary Koms
glam avatar, making
rounds at store openings and
other launches. The boxer
also walked the ramp for
designers. But people who
know her, say she is a simple
person, who sometimes dress-
es traditionally, mostly she is
in sporty outfits. Rajat Tangri
researched on the boxers
sense of fashion and what she
wore as a kid for a film on the
boxer. Priyanka Chopra will
appear as Kom.
Tangri styled Kangna
Ranaut for Shootout at
Wadala and presented his
Summer/Resort collection at
Lakme Fashion Week last
month. Even then he did
rounds of Kangathei, Marys
hometown in Manipur. I
researched the weaves, craft, pat-
terns and colours of the place. I also
collected pictures of her child-
hood. I will not add glamorous just
because it is a Bollywood film. The
audience should know the reality.
He added that over 100 tribes
exist in Manipur and Mary belongs
to the Kom tribe.
There use sarongs and cotton
fabrics. Even their wools have cot-
ton. Though they are tribes, what-
ever they wear is not in-your-face
tribal, but contemporary in a sense.
The tribe creates its own clothes
and men mostly wear blacks and
reds. Women prefer subtle tones
like off-white. Each tribe uses
certain symbols and create pat-
terns around them. It has been an
interesting study, said Kom.
The film will be produced by
Sanjay Leela Bhansali and direct-
ed by Omung Kumar Bhandula.
It will feature phases in the
boxers life. Rajat is working on
garments that will describe the
transformation of Mary. As a
young girl, she mostly wore the
traditional Phanek a wrap
around skirt with a top or a
blouse. As she became an ath-
lete, she preferred sporty outfits.
Even today, when we think of
Mary Kom, her image in a tee
and tracks comes to our mind,
said Tangri.
The five-time world boxing
champion has been lending her
support to the project. One
thing that comes across is that
she places comfort first and fash-
ion is not something she looks at.
She is cool, casual and very open.
S
inging for over six days at a stretch
is no joke. But if you have the pas-
sion and your aim is to be famous,
nothing is impossible. This is what
motivates Paras Mani Choudhary to
set new Limca Book records. The
vocalist and sitar player has played
non-stop sitar for 92.35 hours in 2009
and was at the violin for 50 hours in
2011. He now wants to set more
records, with a 135 hour recital,
singing for 144 hours, over six days.
He will begin on April 25, at eight in
the morning. The venue will be the
Purboshree Mahila Samiti Hall K
Block, Chittranjan Park.
Like some people work hard for
money, it is all about making records
in my case. If you ask what do I get out
of this deal working hard for
months, then playing an instrument or
singing for a few days continuously
I would say no monetary benefit. Just
the certificate and fame I receive. I live
for it. He added, Each time I set out
to make a record, I end up spending
lots of money.
When I made a record for a sitar
recital I spent `75,000. I had to pay for
the venue and other things. It was more
than the amount spent on making a
record with the violin recital as then I
didnt have to pay for the venue. This
time Im spending `1,25,000. I had to
lock the venue, arrange for food and
other facilities for people who will
accompany me. Plus the visitors,
informed the artist, who got the idea
very randomly.
He told a students to find out what
record had been registered for sitar
recital. It was of ninety hours, which
was unexpected.
He had to work harder. I remem-
ber I played for four days and nights
continuously. I was unmarried then.
It was easier. I had nothing else to take
care of. I devoted time for riyaaz.
While I was playing sitar, my relatives
would put food in my mouth. But by
the end of the fourth day, I nearly lost
it. I was playing and it was around the
wee hours that I asked my brother
Why am I playing? Everyone around
was shocked. I thought I had turned
mad.
My brother began crying, but
thankfully I regained my senses. But
my fingers hurt for a long time. It was
painful, shared Choudhary, who
comes originally from Bhagalpur,
Bihar and was first introduced to
music by his mother.
She was a great patron of music
and a brilliant singer. She was my first
guru and I began learning vocals and
harmonium from her when I was 14.
In 1999, I came to Faridabad and
started training under AS Gill
Maharaj, who was taught by Lachoo
Maharaj. Pandit Birju Maharaj and he
learnt together. I learnt sitar from
Deboo Choudhary in 2003, he added.
For his record-breaking perfor-
mance Choudhary has chosen a Sai
Baba bhajan and Raghupati Raghav
Raja Ram.
I could not have chosen some-
thing where I had to stretch the sur.
Both bhajans can be chanted as
mantras and I am doing riyaaz over
two to three days continuously. But
the good thing is that Limca Book of
Records allow you to take a 10-
minute break every hour to attend to
natures call, drink water or eat, he
ended.
RAJAT TANGRI chats with DIVYA KAUSHIK about designing for Sanjay Leela Bhansalis
biopic on boxer MARY KOM to be played by PRIYANKA CHOPRA
Marys must-haves
Women on edge
KISHWAR DESAI spoke
to SHANA MARIA VERGHIS
about her thriller based
on unsolved rape cases.
By coincidence, it was
nearly complete when
Nirbhaya was assaulted
Nuts about going non-stop
From April 25 two-time Limca Book of Records holder PARAS MANI CHOUDHARY will sing
for 144 hours. The vocalist tells D KAUSHIK he spent `1,25,000 on preparing for the feat and
went a bit crazy during an earlier attempt
Best kiss award
for Cooper

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