15 September 2013

Your World Connected
RNI Reg. No.: PUNMUL/2012/45041

Postal Reg. No. PB/JL-047/2013-15
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1 Sept Sunday Set_Layout 1 9/13/2013 11:42 PM Page 1

COVER STORY

COVER

COVER

COVER Y OR RY ST

Y

Chandigarh
Sunday 15 September, 2013
2
Death due to pressure from people:
Akshay's family
Timeline of Delhi gang rape case
'Hope court verdict will
end colonys shame'
Show no leniency to juvenile
criminals: Suresh Gopi
Patna
The death penalty awarded to the four
men convicted in New Delhi's Dec 16
gang rape was given "due to heavy
pressure from people across the coun-
try", said the family of Akshay
Thakur, one of the convicts.
Akshay Thakur is among the four
men who were sentenced to death
Friday for the brutal gang rape and
murder of a 23-year-old physiother-
apy intern in New Delhi.
"Court's order is on expected line due
to heavy pressure from people across
the country. We were hoping against
hope," Akshay's father Saryu Singh
told. "Even God has left us at the
mercy of the court that awarded cap-
ital punishment to my son," said
Saryu Singh, a marginal farmer in his
60s, over telephone from Lahang
Karma village under Nabinagar po-
lice station jurisdiction in the Maoist
affected Aurangabad district, about
150 km from here. Akshay's mother
Malti Devi, in her mid 50s, and Ak-
shay's wife Punita Devi, are incon-
solable after they watched news that
four men including Akshay were sen-
tenced to death. "For all of us, it is a
saddest news. My mother and sister-
in-law have been crying and have
fainted at least thrice after they
watched the news," Abhay Singh, one
of the two brothers of Akshay Thakur,
Thiruvananthapuram
Malayalam superstar Suresh Gopi
feels no leniency should be shown to
juvenile criminals.
"Why should there be a different set
of laws for criminals who are juve-
niles? As far as I am concerned there
should be no reason for any le-
niency," Gopi told media persons
here Friday, reacting to the death sen-
tences awarded to the four convicts in
the Dec 16, 2012 gang-rape and mur-
der of a 23-year-old physiotherapy in-
tern in Delhi.
Of the six accused in the case, one
was a juvenile and tried by the Juve-
nile Justice Board, which Aug 31 sen-
tenced him to a reform home for three
years, the maximum sentence under
juvenile law. The sixth accused was
found dead in his Tihar Jail cell.
The superstar, who has been rated as
"the best-ever police official on
screen", said the ideal judgement as
far as he is concerned would have
been one where the convict under-
goes torture for life.
"Then only those who have done this
heinous act would know what the real
pain is," said Gopi. Actress Bhavana
said that she feels really happy that
the accused have been given the
death punishment. "Today I am re-
ally happy about our judiciary be-
cause at times I felt, maybe the
accused would wriggle out for want
of proper evidence, but it did not hap-
pen," she said. Students of law at
Kochi said that the Delhi court should
be complimented for the speed at
which the judgement was delivered.
* Dec 16, 2012: A 23-year-old phys-
iotherapy intern raped by six people,
including a juvenile, inside a moving
bus in Delhi.
* Dec 17: Bus driver Ram Singh and
two other accused are arrested.
* Dec 18: Protests over the incident,
crowds clash with police in central
Delhi. Fourth accused arrested.
* Dec 19: Two accused brought be-
fore a Delhi court. Accused Vinay
tells court "hang me".
* Dec 21: Fifth accused, who was
17-and-half years old at the time of
the crime, arrested from Anand Vihar
in east Delhi while boarding a bus to
flee to his hometown in Uttar
Pradesh.
Sixth accused Akshay Kumar Singh
nabbed from Bihar.
* Dec 22: Gang rape victim records
statement before a sub-divisional
magistrate.
* Dec 23: Fast track court set up by
the Delhi High Court.
* Dec 24: The government an-
nounces setting up of a committee to
suggest amendments to laws for
speedy trials and enhanced punish-
ment for criminals in rape cases.
* Dec 27: Victim airlifted to Singa-
pore for treatment.
* Dec 29: She succumbs to her in-
juries at a Singapore hospital.
* Dec 30: The body of the gang rape
victim flown back to Delhi, cremated.
* Jan 3, 2013: A case of rape, mur-
der, kidnapping, destruction of evi-
dence, and attempted murder filed
against all the six accused in the case.
* Jan 7: Court orders in-camera trial.
* Jan 28: Juvenile Justice Board
(JJB) declares that one of the accused
is a minor.
* Feb 2: Fast track court paves the
way for trial and charges five men for
murder, gang rape and other offences.
* Feb 3: The Criminal Law (Amend-
ment) Ordinance, 2013, issued. The
relevant bill passed by the Lok Sabha
March 19 and the Rajya Sabha March
21, making laws more stringent.
* Feb 5: Trial begins in the case and
court records statements of accused.
* March 11: Accused Ram Singh
found hanging in his Tihar Jail cell.
* May 17: Victim's mother appears
as a prosecution witness before the
trial court and says "give justice to
my daughter".
* June 14: Juvenile accused turns 18
in custody. Age determined based on
school certificate.
* July 11: Juvenile Justice Board in
New Delhi defers verdict on the
minor accused to July 25.
* July 25: Juvenile Justice Board de-
fers verdict on minor accused till Aug
5.
* Aug 22: The Supreme Court al-
lows the juvenile board to go
ahead with pronouncing its verdict.
* Aug 31: Juvenile Justice Board
sentences the minor accused to a
three-year stay in a special home.
* Sep 3: Delhi court reserves its
order.
* Sep 10: All the four accused
Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay
Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh are
held guilty on all counts. Court to
pronounce quantum of punishment
Sep 11.
* Sep 11: Delhi court defers verdict
on the four men accused to Sep 13.
* Sep 13: The court sentences to
death Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay
Sharma and Akshay Kumar Singh.
said. Abhay said the entire family and
some relatives remain glued to TV to
catch the news since early Friday.
"We watched TV and were hopeful
for some relief.
It proved useless as Akshay's fate was
decided the day he was convicted by
the court. It (The sentence) was
merely delivered now," he said. Di-
nesh Singh, another brother of Ak-
shay, said dozens of local
mediapersons and people from
nearby villages gathered outside his
thatched house to know the mood of
the family after the court's order.
The four men - Mukesh, Pawan
Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Akshay
Thakur - were convicted Tuesday in
the case that shook the nation.
The judge sentenced the four to death
for murdering the 23-year-old phys-
iotherapist.
The judge Wednesday had found the
four guilty on 13 counts, including
murder, gang rape and dacoity. Six
people, including a juvenile, brutally
gang raped the 23-year-old woman
on a moving bus in Delhi. The ac-
cused then threw her and her male
companion out of the vehicle without
clothes.The woman died of her grave
intestinal injuries Dec 29 at a Singa-
pore hospital.
New Delhi
Open stares, taunts, looked over for
jobs and even school admissions - the
past nine months since the Dec 16
gang rape have been tough for resi-
dents of Ravidas Camp, mostly for
the young of this crowded slum in-
habited by mostly working-class peo-
ple.
The courts guilty verdict and death
for the four members of the slum
colony located in south Delhi for the
brutal rape has brought relief to its
residents.
Four of the six accused -- Ram Singh,
Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta alias
Kalu and Mukesh -- belong to Ravi-
das Camp, located in R.K. Puram
Sector-3. Ram Singh died in jail dur-
ing the trial. Akshay Thakur and a
minor, who dont belong to the camp
and were part of the crime, have been
held guilty.
A resident of the camp Poonam told:
I am doing my graduation from
Delhi University, but ever since after
the Dec 16 case I have hidden my ad-
dress from my friends. The four have
brought shame to our colony. The
name of Ravidas Camp now evokes
raised eyebrows and stares from peo-
ple, said the young woman whose
father is the pradhan or head of the
shanty colony.
Another youth, Faizan, went back to
his home town in Bihar after finding
that the name of his colony was a de-
terrence to getting a job.
I was not selected for the job of a
bartender despite the employers as-
surances and despite my having more
experience than the other candidates
because I belong to Ravidas Camp,
Faizan told.
Faizan returned to his home when he
learnt that the final verdict in the case
would be announced.
The children of the camp, comprising
around 250 shanty dwellings, are
finding it tough to get admission in a
local English-medium school. Ear-
lier, our children would easily get ad-
mission to the school, but now the
school authorities are not ready to
give admission to students from
Ravidas Camp, said Astha, a mother
of two who belongs to the colony.
I hope now after the verdict things
will be better and the youth and chil-
dren of this camp will not be judged
with suspicion and prejudice, Astha
told.
Another woman of the camp,
Sharmila, claimed that besides out-
siders, or those not belonging to the
colony, even police constables would
taunt the residents, calling them
Brothers and sisters of Ram Singh.
The youth, and even the girls, would
be subject to taunts like Behold, the
new generation of rapists!.
I hope with the courts final deci-
sion, the names of Ram Singh, Vinay
Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh
will be obliterated from the camp,
she said fervently.
Ram Singh, the driver of the bus in
which the crime took place, had been
living in the colony for the past 14
years. Mukesh, his brother, lived in
the same house. Pawan Gupta, a fruit
seller, was living with his parents,
while Vinay Sharma, 19, was living
in the shanty town from childhood.
He has two sisters and another
brother.
On Tuesday, Additional Sessions
Judge Yogesh Khanna found four ac-
cused - Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay
Sharma and Akshay Thakur - guilty
of the brutal crime. A sixth accused,
a minor was remanded in a special
home by a justice juvenile board Aug
3.The six had taken turns to brutally
rape and torture the young woman in
a moving bus on Dec 16 night as she
and a male friend were returning
from watching a film at Saket Mall.
The woman died of her injuries 13
days later in a Singapore hospital.

DEFENCE

DEFENCE

DEFENCE

Chandigarh
3
Obama reviews security
measures on eve of 9/11
Washington
Twelve years after the 9/11 attack, the
US national security team pledged to
take "measures to prevent 9/11 re-
lated attacks and to ensure the protec-
tion of US persons and facilities
abroad", a White House statement
said.
US President Barack Obama has re-
portedly met Defence Secretary
Chuck Hagel and other national secu-
rity officials on the eve of the 12th
anniversary of the Sep 11 attacks and
reviewed security measures, reports.
"September 11th has been a day of re-
membrance for Americans and others
around the world," White House
spokesman Jay Carney said in the
statement.
The attack on the US consulate in
Benghazi, Libya, last year also
"brought home the reality of the chal-
lenges we face in the world," he
added.
Wednesday marks the 12th anniver-
sary of Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
against the US and the first anniver-
sary of the Benghazi attack that killed
US ambassador Christopher Stevens
and three American citizens.
"We remain committed to bringing
the perpetrators of the Benghazi at-
tacks to justice and to ensure the
safety of our brave personnel serving
overseas," Carney said.
In close coordination with the State
Department, the Defence Department
has undertaken a number of efforts
over the past year to increase security
planning at US embassies and instal-
lations around the world, Pentagon
Press Secretary George Little said in
a statement.
Time to solve n-issue not unlimited:
Hassan Rouhani
Tehran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
said Tuesday that time for solving the
nuclear issue of the Islamic republic
was not "unlimited".
"The world should know that the time
span for resolving the nuclear issue
will not be unlimited and they (pow-
ers) should seize the time and we
will," reported Xinhua citing Rouhani
in a televised speech Tuesday night.
The end results of the upcoming talks
between Iran and the world powers
over Iran's nuclear issue should be
based on a win- win approach and a
win-lost formula is meaningless, he
added. The preparatory steps have
been taken here for the talks, " since
we are seeking serious negotiations
with both the UN nuclear watchdog
(IAEA) and the P5+1".
"Iran will seek to implement all its
(nuclear) rights on the basis of inter-
national regulations and nuclear non-
proliferation treaty (NPT) directives
and nobody can deprive Iran from its
legal rights," Rouhani stressed.
The Islamic republic insists the West
should recognise Iran's " civilian" nu-
clear rights, including its enrichment
program, and reduce pressures. How-
ever, the US and its allies suspect that
Iran's nuclear activities might aim at
weaponry dimensions.
I'm no spy: American jailed in Iran
London
An American man jailed in Iran has
accused the Iranian authorities of em-
ploying "unlawful tactics" to keep
him in prison with a view to swap-
ping him for Iranian prisoners held in
US custody, the Guardian reported
Wednesday.
Amir Hekmati, a former US marine,
was arrested in Tehran in August
2011 for his alleged links with the
CIA. He was accused of espionage by
Iran. Hekmati, 29, said his confes-
sion which was aired on Iranian state
television was forced and used to fab-
ricate him in the trial, the Guardian
reported citing a letter written by
Hekmati.
The letter, addressed to US Secretary
of State John Kerry, was smuggled
out of jail and was obtained by the
Guardian. "For over two years I have
been held on false charges based
solely on confessions obtained by
force, threats, miserable prison con-
ditions and prolonged periods of soli-
tary confinement," Hekmati wrote.
The authorities in Iran has told Hek-
mati's state-appointed lawyer that he
would only be released if two Iranian
prisoners held in foreign jails were
freed, according to the letter. "This is
part of a propaganda and hostage-tak-
ing effort by Iranian intelligence to
secure the release of Iranians abroad
being held on security-related
charges," the letter says. Hekmati was
sentenced to death in January 2012
by an Iranian court. The verdict was
later cancelled by a higher court. He
is still awaiting a retrial. John Kerry
last month urged Tehran to release
Hekmati from prison on the second
anniversary of his arrest, saying
Washington was "deeply concerned"
about his detention.
China reaffirms sovereignty
over Huangyan Islands
Beijing
China has an undisputed sovereignty
over the Huangyan Islands and the
neighbouring sea, Hong Lei, Chinese
foreign ministry spokesman, said
Wednesday.
Hong's remarks came following re-
ports that the Philippines was dis-
cussing how to deal with concrete
blocks installed by China on the is-
lands, reported. Dismissing concerns
raised by the Philippines, Hong said
China's activities on the Huangyan is-
lands and the neighbouring sea were
in accordance with its sovereignty.
He said China has urged the Philip-
pines not to stir up new troubles.
China hoped the country would make
efforts to maintain peace and stability
in the South China Sea and restore bi-
lateral relations, Hong added.
Curfew in Kashmir's Shopian
after man fatally shot
Srinagar
Indefinite curfew was Thursday im-
posed in Jammu and Kashmir's
Shopian town in the wake of protests
against the gunning down of a man
Wednesday, officials said.
Residents said Muhammad Rafi
Rather, a 28-year-old bus driver, was
shot down by the paramilitary Cen-
tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
personnel posted at Gagaran camp,
around 50 km from here.
They said the incident took place
near Shopian town without any
provocation as the man was passing
by the camp.
Two other people, including a girl,
sustained bullet wounds in the inci-
dent, they said.
A CRPF spokesman, however, de-
nied any firing by personnel posted
at Gagaran.
"CRPF did not open fire. Our men
were not even deployed on the
streets," CRPF spokesman Kishore
Prasad told reporters in Srinagar.
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
Kashmir Abdul Gani Mir told that
police were investigating the inci-
dent. He said they were also probing
Saturday's firing incident at Gagaran
in which four people were killed.
While residents say all the four
killed were civilians, Mir said three
had no militancy record and were
"obviously" civilians. The fourth
person killed in Saturday's firing
was a militant, he said.
"Locals said he was a labourer from
Bihar, but our channels say he was a
militant," the IGP said.
The police chief said cases have
been registered in both incidents.
Separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani
called for a shutdown in the Kashmir
valley and the Chenab valley dis-
tricts of Kishtwar, Doda and Ram-
ban Thursday over the killing of the
man in Shopian.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation
Front chairman Muhammad Yasin
Malik also called for a sit-in at the
city centre Lal Chowk in Srinagar
Friday.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah
chaired a high level meeting in Sri-
nagar Wednesday evening to review
the security situation in the town.
15 Sept Sunday Set_Layout 1 9/12/2013 1:39 AM Page 3

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

Chandigarh
4
Tommy Hilfiger's new line
is colourful, sporty
Flaunt improved version
of metal aviators
Belgian watch brand enters
India
Mumbai
Belgian watch brand Ice-Watch has
announced its launch in the Indian
market. It will be available in cities
like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Pune and Kochi.
The watches, available in colours like
deep cherry red and lime green, will
also be available through all key retail
online portals.
The brand will bring to India its latest
collections including Ice-Forever,
Ice-Love, Ice-Chocolate, Ice-Chrono
Party, Ice-Glow and Ice-Chrono Elec-
trik. The products start at Rs.5,500.
"Ice-Watch is thrilled to enter India
with the launch of distribution outlets
across the country. Ice-Watch time-
pieces continue to change the way the
world looks at time and we are confi-
dent that Indian consumers are ready
to make the brand an essential part of
their lives and become a part of the
global Ice-Watch phenomenon," Di-
dier Kinsoen, director, Belgium, Ice-
Watch, said in a statement.
Brainchild of Belgian entrepreneur
Jean-Pierre Lutgen, Ice-Watch, which
reflects European glamour, was cre-
ated as a fashion accessory. In six
years since its launch, it has sold al-
most ten million timepieces across
the world.
In India, Ice-Watch is distributed by
Ganga Watches Pvt. Ltd.
New York
Fashion apparel brand Tommy Hil-
figer's women's spring-summer
2014 collection is colourful and
sports-inspired.
The collection was presented at the
New York Fashion Week here Mon-
day.
"It's Melrose to Malibu. The West
Coast represents a golden era of
surf, sport, and optimism," Tommy
Hilfiger, founder of the lifestyle
brand Tommy Hilfiger Group, said
in a statement.
With the sun-kissed West Coast in
mind, Hilfiger has designed the line
in a palette that ranges from satu-
rated brights to sun-washed pastels.
He has added vibrant spin to clas-
sics like the polo, sports jersey, and
bowling shirt. Track-pant ease has
been given to the lowers as far as
tailoring is concerned.
Scuba, surf, and skate references
are borrowed from the active
lifestyle native to California, and
athletic details are artfully incorpo-
rated in the line.
New Delhi
Metal aviators are the classic sun-
glass frame loved by many. Now, a
better version of it has been intro-
duced by Maui Jim, a manufacturer
of luxury sunglasses.
While maintaining the style quo-
tient, Maui Jim has improved the
performance of the classic frame by
using a proprietary memory metal -
MauiFlex - which can bend and
twist, and yet keep its original
shape intact for a longer period than
traditional metal frames.
The collection, which is named Ma-
liko Gulch -- after an adventure
hotspot in Hawaii, has sunglasses
tailor-made for the adventurous
fashionista.
The double-bridged aviator with
rubber temples comes in gunmetal
frame with neutral grey lenses for
bright sunny days as well as metal-
lic gloss copper colour frame for
variable light conditions.
"Metal aviators are timeless styles
that have their dedicated fan fol-
lowing and aviator lovers who keep
their eyes open for new styles will
be thrilled with the new additions.
"They will be loved by adventure
lovers and those in high perform-
ance sports who prioritise safety
and comfort, yet do not want to
compromise on style," I. Rahu-
mathullah, managing director, Maui
Jim India, said in a statement.
The Maliko Gulch collection starts
at Rs.16,200.
Accessory industry has good scope:
Designers
New Delhi
Designer couple Richa and Ratnesh,
owners of accessory brand
January.ROSE, says the scope of
such products is great in India.
"The accessory industry is very
clearly demarcated into brands, im-
ports from China and unorganised In-
dian industry," Richa told.
Added Ratnesh: "The scope really is
great when you see the rise of modern
woman with an Indian taste and
global exposure, who has the power
and intent to try new products and
looks and accessorize attires in new
ways." They have a month-old store
in the capital. It offers quirky laptop
sleeves, satchel bags with Kutch em-
broidery and much more.
"We have been exporting footwear
for almost ten years now to countries
like Europe, Bangladesh and the US.
The retail outlet is an extension of our
export unit, Flamingo Design. Every-
thing from designing to manufactur-
ing is done in-house. We have plans
to start online selling in the next six
to eight months," said Richa.
The price of the products starts from
Rs.3,000 onwards.
The designer duo also suggests that
for working women, instead of carry-
ing plain boring laptop bags, opt for
more colourful or printed ones.
"They can also carry convertible sling
bags, which can be used with the
sling through the day, and for night
dinners one can remove the sling and
use it as a clutch. Colour block your
attire by wearing funky unusual solid
colour basic ballerinas. Go in for
more wedge heels, which are com-
fortable during the day and also look
chic for dinner parties," said Ratnesh.

REGION

REGION

REGION

Chandigarh
5
Now, a turf war over Amritsar!
After Rs.14 lakh helipad wastage,
PM visit to shut hospital gates
Amritsar
The Sikh holy city of Amritsar is
known globally for religion and
peace, being home to the holiest of
Sikh shrines - the Harmandar Sahib
(popularly known as Golden Tem-
ple). It has now become a political
battleground for leading names in
Punjab's ruling dispensation.
The turf war is primarily between the
chirpy cricketer-turned-politician
Navjot Singh Sidhu of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), who has held the
Amritsar Lok Sabha seat since 2004,
and his legislator-wife Navjot Kaur
on one side and the powerful Punjab
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh
Badal and his equally powerful
brother-in-law Bikram Singh Ma-
jithia on the other.
Sidhu, who remained "missing" from
his constituency for nearly eight
months, prompting an NGO to put up
his posters around Amritsar, returned
last week. His arrival was followed
by an outburst against the Punjab
government, blaming it for "scut-
tling" development projects in Amrit-
sar. Though Sidhu did not take
names, it was apparent that his targets
were Sukhbir Badal, who is also the
Shiromani Akali Dal president, and
Majithia, who is Punjab's revenue
minister. Majithia belongs to Majitha
area in Amritsar district and has con-
siderable influence in the belt.
As the political dust raised by Sidhu's
outburst was settling down, Sukhbir
Badal landed in Amritsar and an-
nounced that the holy city will see a
complete makeover by 2016 with a
Rs 2,000-crore development plan. He
avoided getting into a debate on the
issues raised by Sidhu, even though
he clarified on some of them.
Chandigarh
First an over-zealous administration
wasted Rs.14 lakh to build a new he-
lipad which will not be used by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh during his
visit here Saturday. Now, authorities
have ordered the closure of the main
gates of two leading public hospitals
during the visit.
The prime minister, who is arriving
here Saturday (Sep 14), will hand
over keys of 8,448 flats under the
city's slum rehabilitation scheme.
Officials of the Chandigarh Adminis-
tration built a new helipad at Sarang-
pur to facilitate the movement of the
prime minister from the Chandigarh
airport, where he will be landing after
flying from New Delhi, to the site of
the flats scheme.
The prime minister's office (PMO)
however Wednesday rejected the plan
to take the prime minister from the
airport to the flats site by an Indian
Air Force (IAF) helicopter.
The PMO said that he will, instead go
by road to the site. The distance be-
tween the two places is nearly 20 km
and passes through some of the
busiest areas of the city.
"No one took permission for the he-
lipad from the PMO before it was
built. The money (Rs.14 lakh) has
gone waste," a source in the adminis-
tration said.
The city and its residents are already
gearing up to bear the brunt of the
VVIP visit, especially the cordoning
off of major roads twice when the
prime minister moves from the air-
port to the site and back Saturday.
The local authorities have also or-
dered the closure of the main gates of
two leading public hospitals, the
Post-Graduate Institute of Medical
Education and Research (PGIMER)
and the Government Multi-Specialty
Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, during
the visit.
While the GMSH gate will remain
closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the
PGIMER gate will remain closed
from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Police sources said that traffic will be
stopped along the 20-km route for
over 30 minutes when the prime min-
ister moves. The prime minister's
visit to the city November 2011 had
drawn criticism when a vehicle car-
rying a critical patient was caught in
a traffic jam near the PGIMER due to
the VVIP visit and the 32-year-old
patient died for want of timely treat-
ment. Security personnel kept send-
ing the vehicle from one gate of the
PGIMER to another as the prime
minister was attending a function at
the institute.
It is now clear in political circles that
the posturing by the two sides has its
genesis in the political turf war here.
The Akali Dal, which runs a coalition
government with the BJP in Punjab
since 2007, is showing interest in the
Amritsar constituency.
The Punjab BJP, which has its own
issues with Sidhu, is keeping mum. It
is certainly not siding with Sidhu at
all.
Sidhu, who won from Amritsar for
the first time in 2004 by a thumping
margin of over 110,000 votes and dis-
lodged a seven-term MP, scraped
through in the 2009 elections with
just over 7,000 votes.
"We see him more on TV shows than
in the constituency. He has done the
vanishing act from here for months
together twice. No one wants to take
him seriously now," Amritsar resident
Balraj Singh said about the celebrity
MP. Seen almost daily on TV shows,
mostly laughing uncontrollably, and
giving his opinion on cricket shows,
Sidhu even participated in the "Big
Boss" reality show last year. He has
tried to justify his absence from the
constituency by saying TV appear-
ances are his "bread and butter" and
he cannot survive without them.
Sidhu has been at loggerheads not
only with the Akali Dal leadership
but also with the Punjab BJP leader-
ship. He has skipped important party
meetings and events, some of which
were held in his constituency. He has
been at loggerheads with the BJP na-
tional leadership in recent months
after he was not taken aboard as an
office bearer.
Given his recent actions, Sidhu's po-
litical innings could be headed for a
dead end. Years ago, as a cricketer, he
may have aabandoned his team mid-
way through a series in England but
that is not going to work in public
life. The need to work as a team - be
it in the party, with the government or
with the voters who chose him as an
MP - Sidhu desperately needs to rein-
vent himself if he is to survive in the
political jungle.
Virbhadra struggling
to restore Himachal's
economy
Shimla
Just eight-months-old, the Virbhadra
Singh-led government has been
struggling to bring Himachal
Pradesh's derailed economy - largely
dependent on tourism, horticulture
and hydropower - back on track.
In a rare show of strength, Virbhadra
Singh, who is in his sixth stint as
chief minister, and his entire cabinet
reached the doorstep of Prime Minis-
ter Manmohan Singh earlier this
week. They lobbied hard to get cen-
tral projects and schemes, particularly
dealing with infrastructure and con-
nectivity, sanctioned, besides timely
release of funds for relief and restora-
tion in the state's flood-affected areas.
"To show the urgency on the issue,
Virbhadra Singh, who has been chief
minister for over 16 years, for the
first time in his political career took
his entire cabinet to New Delhi," a
senior minister said.
Virbhadra Singh's vast experience - in
the state and in the central govern-
ment - would definitely help in get-
ting adequate central funding, the
minister added.
Manmohan Singh on Monday as-
sured the delegation that the centre
would release adequate funds to the
state from the National Disaster Re-
sponse Fund (NDRF) for calamity re-
lief and restoration in the
flood-affected areas.
"The state as a whole experienced
heavy rainfall and 69 lives have been
lost. And 11,157 houses, 4,519 roads
and 2,763 water supply schemes have
been badly damaged in the flash
floods," the chief minister told the
prime minister.
Assuring all possible assistance from
the centre, the prime minister said all
the demands of the state government,
like extension of an industrial pack-
age, special plan assistance and
strengthening of the rail network will
be considered positively by the cen-
tral government in a time-bound
manner.Official sources said a day
after meeting the prime minister, the
chief minister and two of his cabinet
colleagues - Kaul Singh and Mukesh
Agnihotri - met Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram in Delhi and de-
manded that a railway project linking
Chandigarh with Himachal Pradesh's
prominent Baddi industrial hub be
declare as one of national importance.
Official sources told that the state has
sought a special financial package
from the central government to over-
come a whopping Rs.29,000 crore
debt.
The state is also seeking liberal fund-
ing for central-aided projects in the
ratio of 90:10, like special category
northeastern states were getting, an
official said.
Pleading the case at a conference of
civil aviation ministers in Delhi Sep
10, Industries Minister Agnihotri, on
behalf of the chief minister, de-
manded that Himachal Pradesh be in-
cluded in the list of states were 50
new low-cost airports and 20 bigger
airports are to be developed.
At present, no flight operates to any
of the state's three airports.
Political observers say the chief min-
ister's decision to take his entire cab-
inet to Delhi was a shrewd move to
put pressure on the Congress party's
top bosses.
The government has already been at
the receiving end for its failure to get
any major central project. There is
even an abnormal delay in getting
calamity relief from the centre, a po-
litical observer said.
"The only major benefit the state has
got so far is the restoration of the cen-
tre's capital investment subsidy for
industry," he added.
Union Commerce Minister Anand
Sharma, who belongs to the state, an-
nounced this week in Shimla that the
capital investment subsidy on plant
and machinery would be extended till
March 31, 2017 to accelerate the
state's industrial growth.
In the assembly's just-concluded
monsoon session, BJP leaders, in-
cluding two-time chief minister Prem
Kumar Dhumal, said issues like de-
velopment have been pushed to the
background as registering fabricate
cases against political opponents tops
the government's agenda.
Another BJP leader and former rev-
enue minister Gulab Singh said there
was a difference in the relief being
distributed to victims by the centre in
Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
To be fair to Virbhadra Singh, he has
been credited with reforms in the ed-
ucation, social, infrastructure and
power sectors during his previous
stints as chief minister.

OPINION

OPINION

OPINION

OPINION

Chandigarh
6
EDITORIAL DESK Manu Sharma
Naya Daur
The Indian National Congress has
used the poll plank of poverty to its
great advantage in the past. Leader
after leaders of the party of gover-
nance have promised a poverty free
India, only to belie hopes. Post
1991 reforms of the Indian econ-
omy it was expected that some neo-
liberal economic agenda might have
crept into the thinking of the party
in power. However Rahul Gandhi
the dynamic scion of Gandhi-Nehru
family has effectively ended such
speculations by making it clear that
infrastructure, urban glitz and mid-
dle class are not something that ef-
fectively registers on the poll radar
of the UPA. In a charged and highly
motivated speech Mr. Gandhi
sought to clearly differentiate him-
self from the masculine and edgy
style of governance being pro-
pounded by his arch rival to the
chair of Premiership, Narendra
Modi. The policy shift is in sharp
contrast to the UPA I plank of re-
forms with a human face. A resort
to populism suggests that some-
where down the line, the economic
dream team has conceded the game
to Gujarati strongman as far dy-
namism of economic front is con-
cerned. Populism sells and is an
electoral set piece of sorts across
many nations. Examples of Hugo
Chavez and Evo Morales shine out
especially, however these countries
possess lesser diversity and scale
than India. Moreover these coun-
tries are net exporters of some nat-
ural resource or other that may earn
them royalties to finance their sub-
sidy bills. India economy on the
other hand needs a sustained rev-
enue base to deliver the doles for its
needy. In case the base is allowed to
wither away the results may turn
catastrophic.
Wages of Communal Politics
Krav Maga to give Goa
Police combative edge
Chandigarh's 'hot-spot'
remains quite popular!
'Delhi as unsafe for women as on Dec 16'
Communal politics is a deadly child
of partition that has continued to
haunt the Indian polity. From time
to time various political organiza-
tions have harnessed the power of
bitter communal fission to achieve
their fusion with chairs of rule.
Muzaffarnagar riots in Uttar
Pradesh have revived many bitter
memories and old wounds. Sleepy
town of Western UP Muzaffarnagar
is not exactly an alien to the politics
of riots but its time tested social
coalition of peasantry stood like a
formidable rock between the popu-
lace and communal ruin in the past.
It is a matter of macabre specula-
tion to understand the forces that
broke centuries old social alliance
asunder. To the riots industry of a
select kind, composed of individu-
als with certain predilections any
riot must be brought to a closure by
blaming certain vague communal
elements who are hidden and mys-
terious. There is a sustained and
constant attempt to brush away in-
cidents of aggression and domina-
tion when sourced from particular
communities.
Communalism and its ambit should
not be limited to the usual suspects
thus diverting the attention of the
public from real issues and at the
same all violent incidents should be
investigated thoroughly. UP gov-
ernment and Akhilesh Yadavs
stewardship have left much to be
desired. The riots were allowed to
fester for days before the media or
nation at large was able to fathom
the enormity of the situation. Even
post-riots the recovery has been
largely community driven with ab-
solutely no impetus from the gov-
ernment or administration. India
stand blotted once more from the
stains of communal violence.
Panaji
Goa Police have been criticised
for their high-handedness, lack of
investigative skills and poor
human rights record.
The police are now banking on
Krav Maga, an Israeli street-fight-
ing craft, to add a cutting edge to
their combative skills.
A one-day workshop in the martial
art was organised by Krav Maga
Global (KMG), the group that has
also coached the elite Special Pro-
tection Group (SPG) that guards
the prime minister and some im-
portant leaders.
This could lead to a bigger action
plan aimed at making the state po-
lice "tactically, technically, physi-
cally and mentally" better, through
Krav Maga, a lethal cocktail of
several martial arts, wrestling,
boxing and street-fighting.
Elroy Vaz, who conducted the
training session, said that the Is-
raeli martial art would also help
the police force develop "muscle
memory", a key ingredient in com-
bat situations.
"Our body has a natural response
to situations. How Krav Maga
helps is in adding a layer of prac-
tised ease to this natural response
mechanism," Vaz told.
In a situation where police offi-
cers are armed, but shooting is
often treated as a last recourse,
training in Krav Maga's combat
techniques could help in both de-
fensive and offensive situations.
"There are situations where police
have to disarm an armed suspect
or handcuff a person who is resist-
ing their attempts. Krav Maga has
a way out for this," Vaz said.
The session that Vaz conducted
was for the anti-terror squad,
whose duties range from protect-
Chandigarh
It has seen generations having fun
and passing out and yet it hardly
gives the feeling of being worn out
or being old. A 'hot-spot' among
students, the Panjab University
Students' Centre continues to at-
tract youngsters despite many
other alternatives now being avail-
able.
Popularly known as 'Stu-C' it has
only grown over time and the
number of students coming there
daily has also continued to swell.
While nearly a dozen small eating
outlets around it do brisk business
at all times, the Stu-C itself is a
circular, three-storeyed building
that was built in the late 1960s.
With its grey facade, the building
stands tall even today.
Housing one of the oldest coffee
houses in the city, it is still abuzz
with students, staff and other visi-
tors to the campus. It also has a
recreation room and offices of the
Students' Council and the dean-
students welfare (DSW).
"Many might call it a casual hang-
out spot, for many it might be a
walk down memory lane or for
many it might just be a better spot
than the city's famous Geri route
for girl-watching, but not one stu-
dent on the PU campus would
deny being there at some time or
the other," former PU Students'
Council chief Rajan Chadha
pointed out.
The Stu-C building was designed
by Chandigarh's founder-architect
Le Corbusier. Over the years, a
range of shops have opened up in
the complex, providing an ideal
place for daily treats at very com-
petitive and student-friendly
prices.
"The quality that makes Stu-C
popular is the variety of meals,
snacks, street food and drinks
available at reasonable rates.
Ranging from south Indian, Chi-
nese and fast food to north Indian
to sandwiches, burgers, shakes and
much more, Stu-C has it all,"
Jaspreet Kaur, a student, told.
Except for a few, most of the items
are priced below Rs 40.
"This place has changed over the
past years. I remember the coffee
house being the heart and soul of
the university. We could never find
a place to sit in the cafeteria at that
time," said retired army officer
Captain Rajneesh Talwar, owner
of a popular gift and cards shop at
Stu-C.
"Earlier this place was more calm
and serene. One could come and
relax here. But now with the new
shops around the building, the
place is always crowded," Jayanth
Narayanpethkar, chairperson of
the School of Communication-
Studies, told. Mannat Mundi
ing VIPs to handling extreme law
and order situations, among other
critical chores.
Goa Police officer D. Gad said
Krav Maga could lend a "cutting
edge" to the skills learnt in train-
ing schools.
"The boys saw it as a very benefi-
cial exercise," he said.
The KMG, headed by Israeli Eyal
Yanilov, one of the foremost expo-
nents of the martial art globally,
has also trained the elite Indian
Navy's marine commandos or
MARCOS, best remembered for
their anti-terror operation follow-
ing the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
There are other defence ministry
assignments, but Vaz doesn't want
to speak about them.
"We are in talks with the Goa Po-
lice for sustained training pro-
grammes. It is on track.
Training the instructors in the po-
lice is also crucial because some
of the physical drills still practised
in the police force are around 20-
30 years old," Vaz said. Krav
Maga was developed initially as a
close combat (Krav Maga means
contact combat in Hebrew) craft
used by the Israeli defence
forces.Its endorsement by Holly-
wood celebrities has given the
martial art global exposure.Some
of Daniel Craig's moves in the
opening train sequence in the lat-
est James Bond flick "Skyfall" are
inspired by the Israeli technique.
The technique also boasts of being
the most beneficial in real-life
street fighting situations as op-
posed to other more classical mar-
tial arts like karate or taekwondo,
which are fought in more sanitised
conditions and are bound by rules.
Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
New Delhi
The only thing constant about
change is change itself but this
doesn't seem to be the case when it
comes to the national capital. De-
spite the public outcry post the hor-
rific Dec 16, 2012, gang-rape of a
young woman, little seems to have
changed for most women, who feel
as unsecure as ever.
Despite the police saying they have
tightened security in the city, many
women feel it is futile to be depend-
ent on anyone, including the police,
for their security and they have to
be careful and take their own meas-
ures to feel safe in the city.
The safety of women late in the
evenings continues to be an issue,
with suspicious strangers and cars
drawing up close if you are alone
and waiting at a bus stop or walking
on the street after 8 p.m. Auto rick-
shaws play truant and refuse to take
women passengers many times at
night. spoke to a range of women
on how safe they feel in the city,
which earned the unflattering sobri-
quet of "rape capital" after the bru-
tal gang-rape. Many women
complained about being harassed at
bus stops and inside buses. And
travelling alone especially during
the night becomes a nightmare.
"I travel by bus and after 7.30 p.m.
I rethink the decision to travel by
bus every evening. I do not see any
measures (for women's safety) on
the ground. I feel men have got
more licence to eve-tease you," said
Swechha Chettri, a software profes-
sional, who commutes by bus to her
Noida office from South Delhi.
"Post the Dec 16 gang rape, there
have been so many rape incidents
which keep re-instilling the fear in
the minds of women who travel
during late evenings," said Rishita
Singh, a media professional.
Rishita, who works till late, says
she has now become more suspi-
cious of every man she comes
across on the streets.
"They (men) are so fearless about
staring at a woman's bust. Even
when you escape being raped, how
does one escape this harassment,
and where?" asked an angry
Rishita.
Some women, however, do feel
there has been a positive change
with the administration being more
alert and warnings and notices con-
tinuously put out.
"I do see a positive change. The
public buses have an electronic
scroll continuously relaying the
phone numbers one can call in case
of harassment, or there are public
announcements in buses, on the
radio - all the time. I have seen men
quickly charge off when told to
stand properly in a bus. Earlier, this
was not the case," said Delhi Uni-
versity student Madhulika Sonkar.
Errant auto-rickshaw drivers are an-
other issue that most women com-
plain about when it comes to safety.
"Auto-wallahs refuse to give a ride
to women passengers in the night or
they charge unreasonable amounts.
Just two days back a friend of mine
had a harrowing time as she got late
from work and all the autos refused
to take her to her place," said Juhi
Chaudhary, who writes on wildlife.
"Finally, my friend decided to walk
some distance. There were many
cars which kept on approaching her
and she had to suffer a lot of lewd
comments. It was only 9 p.m. and
now she is scared to work beyond 8
p.m.," said Chaudhary.
Echoing similar views, Divya Joshi,
who works with a public relations
company, says auto drivers should
be given strict warning if they re-
fuse to take passengers and there
has to be severe punishment if they
say no to female commuters.
Post Dec 16, Delhi Police have be-
come approachable as they have set
up women help desks in all police
stations across Delhi, but more
needs to be done, they said.
"Police now have become more
sensitive to women complainants
but that does not lead to heinous
crime from ending. Since the Dec
16 case, there have been many
cases that have come out. I am al-
ways alert when I am traveling
alone," said Sangeeta Verma, a
homemaker.
"I think each one of us has to intro-
spect where we are taking our soci-
ety to and do we want our
daughters, sisters, mothers and
wives to live under continuous
threat of being molested or eve
teased," she said.
Many women expressed concerns
about the safety of their daughters.
"I have a young schoolgoing daugh-
ter and I remain so worried till the
time she is back. I have strictly in-
structed her not be lured by anyone,
not eat anything from strangers,"
said Rama Devi, who works as a
helper in a private office.
A sustained campaign to change
mindsets - in homes, schools,
among peer groups and in work
places - is one of the options sug-
gested which, women feel, can help
in reducing crimes against women.
"There has to be swift and harsh
punishment and far more police
presence," said Sushmita Malaviya,
who works with a NGO in Delhi.
A fast track court Tuesday con-
victed four men for the Dec 16,
2012, gang-rape. The victim subse-
quently died of her grave injuries.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh
Khanna found the four men guilty
under charges of gang rape, murder,
attempt to murder the victim's male
friend, unnatural offences, destruc-
tion of evidence and dacoity among
other offences.
The quantum of sentence will be
announced Wednesday, the judge
said.The nation recorded a stagger-
ing 1,036 rape cases in the first
eight months of this year, according
to police data. The figure is the
highest in the last 10 years.
Richa Sharma

SCIENCE AND TECH

SCIENCE

SCIENCE AND TECH

AND TECH

AND TECH

Chandigarh
7
Bangalore
Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd has
tied up with the US-based Kana
Software to provide customer serv-
ice solutions to its global insurers
through a joint development centre,
the company said Saturday.
"As a strategic partner, we have
been certified to use Kana's tech-
nology for enhancing customer
service of its global insurers
through our joint development cen-
tre," the global software major said
in a statement here.
The partnership also provides Kana
with systems integration scalabil-
ity, as Wipro has presence across
57 countries worldwide.
The partners have built a dedicated
team to deploy the solutions and
support the insurers with business
process outsourcing and managed
services.
Located at Silicon Valley in Cali-
fornia, Kana provides customer
service solutions using cloud com-
puting (on-demand) network to
about 900 large enterprises and
mid-market organisations, includ-
ing 250 government agencies the
world over.
"The insurance industry is going
through a paradigm shift in cus-
tomer service space due to the ad-
vent of the web, mobile and social
channels, which have created a
connected world in place of the tra-
ditional way of servicing through
advisors, intermediaries and con-
tact centre agents," Wipro vice-
president Nagendra Bandaru said in
the statement.
According to the company's market
survey, about 60 percent of insur-
ance customers are ready to switch
Intel makes new chip for
Indian enterprises
Woolly mammoth's extinction
not due to hunting: Study
Bangalore
Global chip maker Intel has devel-
oped a new processor to enable In-
dian enterprises meet demand for
new services with greater efficiency
and flexibility, a company official
said Wednesday.
"Our new Xeon processor offers 45
percent more efficiency and 50 per-
cent higher performance to benefit
Indian enterprises in the service-ori-
ented mobile world," Intel Asia-Pa-
cific director Narendra Bhadari told
reporters at a preview.
The company also unveiled a new
version of its Atom processor and the
fourth generation core processors to
enhance security and productivity in
data centre with faster boot and ap-
plication start times.
"Our goal is to re-architect data cen-
tre to provide a common, software-
based foundation for both data
centres and cloud service providers
spanning servers, networking, stor-
age and security," Bhandari said.
The company's global data centre de-
velops solutions to help enterprises
keep pace with demand for cloud
services and managing data gener-
ated from billions of users and con-
nected devices worldwide.
"Our new products and technologies
will allow us to expand into new seg-
ments of the data centre in India by
becoming the means to deliver new
services to businesses and consumers
than reducing cost and increasing
productivity," he said.
As data centres enter a new era of
rapid service delivery, the company is
betting on growth opportunities
across network, storage and servers
to deliver scale and efficiency.
"We are looking to accelerate our
progress in the Indian enterprise seg-
ment with solutions that address the
high performance needs of the fast
evolving space," Bhandari asserted.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE)
in Mumbai has deployed the latest
Xeon processors in its servers to meet
its huge computing requirement, as
the world's largest bourse in terms of
equity trade.
"We align our technology needs with
Intel's new processors to meet our in-
creasing compute needs and reinforce
our leadership position in the equity
market," NSE director N. Muralidha-
ran said.
London
Researchers have found that climate
change, instead of hunting by hu-
mans, was responsible for the extinc-
tion of the woolly mammoth.
According to a DNA analysis, the
woolly mammoths disappeared much
earlier than previously assumed pri-
marily because of change in the
world's climate, reported BBC citing
the Proceedings of the Royal Society
B. Researchers said woolly mam-
moths were a dynamic species that
went through expansions and migra-
tions. "The picture that seems to be
emerging is that they were a fairly
dynamic species that went through
local extinctions, expansions and mi-
grations. It is quite exciting that so
much was going on," BBC quoted
Love Dalen of the Swedish Museum
of Natural History as saying. Re-
searchers in London studied the DNA
samples of around 300 specimens
from woolly mammoths.
The reason behind the extinction of
these gigantic creatures had been the
subject of many debates in the past.
While some researchers believed that
human hunting was the primary rea-
son that pushed them to extinction,
others attributed their extinction to
climate change.
They found out that the numbers of
woolly mammoths went down from
several million to tens of thousands
around 120,000 years ago when the
world went through a warmer cli-
matic phase. But the numbers recov-
ered after the earth entered another
Ice Age.The researchers said the
mammoth's extinction began 20,000
years ago when the Ice Age was at its
peak, rather than 14,000 years ago as
previously thought.
Wipro partners with US firm to
service global insurers
over from their respective insurers
due to poor customer service.
"With Wipro's global presence and
domain expertise, we will help in-
surers address the growing demand
for quality customer service," Kana
chief executive Mark Duffell said
in the statement.
Through its insurance practice di-
vision, Wipro works with 35 global
insurers, including property and ca-
sualty carriers and health insurance
providers and life, annuity and pen-
sion carriers.
INDIA'S ORBITER FOR MARS MISSION
COMING SOON
Bangalore
India has built the orbiter for the
country's maiden Mars mission in
October-November, to take off
from the spaceport at Sriharikota
off the Bay of Bengal, an official
said Wednesday.
"The Mars orbiter is in the final
stages of testing for launch be-
tween Oct 21 and Nov 19 on board
a rocket with five scientific instru-
ments to conduct various experi-
ments after a nine-month voyage to
the red planet," Indian Space Re-
search Organisation (ISRO) satel-
lite centre director S.K. Shivkumar
told reporters here. As the fourth
planet from sun, Mars is the sec-
ond-smallest celestial body in the
solar system, at a whopping dis-
tance of 400 million km (250 mil-
lion miles) from earth. Named after
the Roman god of war, it is also
known as red planet due to the
presence of iron oxide in abun-
dance, giving it a reddish appear-
ance. The Mars mission will cost
the government Rs.450 crore
(Rs.4.5 billion), including Rs.150
crore for the spacecraft, Rs.110
crore for the rocket and Rs.190
crore to augment ground stations
for operations, including naviga-
tion and communications. "The
spacecraft has been built in a
record 12 months to orbit ellipti-
cally around Mars for six months at
a distance of 375 km from its sur-
face when closer, and 80,000 km
when away," Mars orbiter mission
project director S. Arunan said. The
1,340 kg spacecraft (at lift-off) will
be shipped to the spaceport Sep 27
for integrating it with the 350-
tonne rocket, which is an extended
version of the space agency's work-
horse, the polar satellite launch ve-
hicle (PSLV-XL).
"The launch date will depend on
weather conditions and other pa-
rameters during the month-long
window we have," Arunan said.
The orbiter will be in the earth's
orbit for 25 days after launch and
fired the next day, to set off on a
nine-month voyage to reach Mar-
tian orbit by Sep 21, 2014. "The
spacecraft will be inserted in the
earth's orbit at 248 km and pushed
up to 23,000 km over 25 days to set
off on a long voyage to enter the
Marsian orbit after next nine
months next year," Arunan pointed
out. The five instruments on board
the orbiter are the layman alpha
photometer, methane sensor, max
exospheric neutral composition
analyser, colour camera and ther-
mal infrared imaging spectrometer.
"All the instruments are indigenous
and have been built at our centres
in Ahmedabad, Bangalore and
Thiruvananthapuram. The colour
camera will take pictures of earth
and moon when passing over the
lunar planet on the way, and finally
of Mars from its orbit," the space
agency's programme director M.
Annadurai said. India's tryst with
the red planet comes five years
after its maiden moon mission
(Chandrayaan-1) in October 2008,
which discovered water beneath
lunar soil through one of its 11 in-
struments. "Though a couple of na-
tions like the US and Russia had
launched missions to Mars, the pri-
mary objective of our mission is to
demonstrate the country's techno-
logical capability to send an orbiter
to the red planet and study its envi-
ronment to find out minerals pres-
ent there and how the atmosphere
behaves," Shivkumar asserted.

POLITICS

POLITICS

POLITICS

Chandigarh
8
Advani criticised for not
supporting Modi
Will decide PM candidate
after talks: Rajnath Singh
No shame if women dancers
entertain: UP MLA
Patna
Former Bihar deputy chief minister
Sushil Kumar Modi has criticised
senior leader L.K. Advani for not
supporting Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi as the BJP's prime
ministerial candidate.
"Advaniji has failed to gauge the
public mood. Advaniji himself de-
clared Atalji as PM candidate. Now
also he could have done the same for
Namo (Narendra Modi)," Sushil
Modi wrote on Twitter Wednesday
night.
Nearly a month ago, the Bihar unit
of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
passed a resolution to declare Naren-
dra Modi as the party's prime minis-
terial candidate for the 2014 general
elections.A BJP leader said that a
few months ago, Sushil Modi was
considered close to Advani and was
a vocal supporter of the party patri-
arch within the BJP. But the chang-
ing equation in the party in favour of
Narendra Modi forced him to take an
anti-Advani stand.
New Delhi
BJP's prime ministerial nominee
for the 2014 general elections
would be announced after "talking
to everyone", party president Raj-
nath Singh said Thursday.
"We will decide after talking to
everyone," Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) president Rajnath Singh told
a news channel. Party spokesper-
son Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi added:
"Discussions are going on and we
will announce the nominee soon.
There is no contradiction in the
party on who will be the prime
ministerial candidate. All is well."
According to party sources, there
is a broad agreement on the name
of Gujarat Chief Minister Naren-
dra Modi as the party's prime min-
isterial candidate. A formal an-
nouncement may be made Friday
when the BJP parliamentary board
meets to approve Modi's candida-
ture.
But a major concern for Rajnath
Singh is to convince senior leaders
L.K. Advani along with Sushma
Swaraj, who are of the opinion
that a decision on Modi's projec-
tion as prime ministerial candidate
should be taken after the assembly
polls in five states, said sources. In
case a general consensus among
the parliamentary board does not
emerge, Rajnath Singh can also
make an announcement even with-
out a parliamentary board meeting
as he has the power to do so.
CPI-M leaders pseudo-intellectuals:
Mamata
Seemandhra electricity employees
begin 72-hour strike
Panaji
There is no shame in women
dancers entertaining you, arrested
and now-on-bail Samajwadi Party
(SP) legislator Mahendra Singh
Wednesday claimed, justifying his
patronage of a Goa dance bar. Ac-
cording to him, women dancers in-
variably perform in Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar from mundans (Hindu
head-shaving ceremony) to mar-
riages.
Mahendra Singh was suspended
from the SP after the police ar-
rested him along with five others
from a hotel doubling up as a dance
bar in the heart of the Goa capital
Aug 27. Police said the six women
rescued from the "mujra" party
were prostitutes brought from
Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh.
"Mujra" is a form of dance origi-
nated by north Indian "tawaif"
(courtesans) during the Mughal era.
"I am saying it again. In UP (Uttar
Pradesh) and Bihar, women
dancers perform on every occasion.
From the time of 'mundan', engage-
ment and marriage, we have
women who dance to music. Why
should I be ashamed of it?" a defi-
ant Mahendra Singh told , a few
days after being released on bail.
"I have been falsely accused in
Goa. The charge of prostitution is
completely false. We did not do
anything with those women. They
were there only to dance for a
birthday party of my friend, Sanjay
(Agarwal)," he said.
The police raid followed a com-
plaint by Congress legislator Pan-
durang Madkaikar, who lives
alongside the hotel-turned-dance
bar.
Bedsides Mahendra Singh, police
picked up two other Samajwadi
party workers - Jaipratap Singh and
Dharmendra Pratap - along with
Babu Ghanta, a pimp, who the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) al-
leged has links with Congress lead-
ers. Mahendra Singh now claims
his arrest was a fallout of two rival
political parties slugging it out in
Goa. "I was just caught in between
the two parties. When a Congress
MLA complained, the BJP govern-
ment went overboard.
They made me a scapegoat in the
process. My party has suspended
me, pending an inquiry and my
image is tarnished," he said. IANS
Kolkata
Branding the Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders as
"pseudo-intellectuals", West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
Wednesday described herself as a
"pragmatist" who planned for the fu-
ture.
Banerjee hit out at the erstwhile Left
Front regime for failing to undertake
any developmental measure during
its 34 years in office, and said she
was trying to revive the state's health.
"Unlike the CPI-M and some other
political party members who are
pseudo-intellectuals, I am a pragma-
tist," said Banerjee at a gathering in
Sorisha block near Diamond Har-
bour of South 24-Parganas district.
She added, "We have to plan for the
future. For 34 years they (Left Front)
did not do anything. I realised we
could breed our own fish (Hilsa) in-
stead of importing it from
Bangladesh." In order to boost the
production of the prized fish, consid-
ered a delicacy in Bengal, Banerjee
Hyderabad
Electricity department employees of
Seemandhra region of Andhra
Pradesh Thursday began a 72-hour
strike to protest the proposed bifur-
cation of the state, thus affecting
electricity generation and supply.
About 30,000 employees in 13 dis-
tricts of Seemandhra (Rayalaseema
and coastal Andhra) launched the
strike from midnight. Another 20,000
contractual workers are also partici-
pating in the strike.
The strike is likely to hit generation
of 7,196 MW of electricity and may
even lead to collapse of the southern
grid, which connects four southern
states - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Kerala.
The strike already started having its
impact Thursday in different parts of
the state. The authorities resorted to
three-hour power cuts in parts of Hy-
derabad.
Hours after the chief minister's office
claimed Wednesday night that the
employees agreed to postpone the
strike till Sep 16, the Joint Action
Committee (JAC) of the Seemandhra
electricity employees announced
they were going on a 72-hour token
strike.
The JAC leaders threatened to go on
an indefinite strike if the centre goes
ahead with the process of formation
of Telangana state.
They demanded the Congress Work-
ing Committee to withdraw its July
30 decision to carve out Telangana.
The electricity employees have ex-
empted emergency services like
water supply, hospitals and railways
from the strike.
Following talks between Chief Min-
ister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and
JAC leaders in Hyderabad Wednes-
day night, a statement from the chief
minister said the employees agreed
to defer their strike at his request.
Srinivasa Rao, a JAC leader, said
they were not concerned with the
statement from the chief minister's
office.
As the bulk of thermal and hydel
power is generated in Seemandhra,
the strike is likely to have its impact
across the state. Farmers in Telan-
gana may be the worst hit as they de-
pend on pump sets for irrigation.
The strike by the electricity employ-
ees will intensify ongoing protests in
Seemandhra. More than six lakh
government employees and teachers
are on strike since Aug 13.
inaugurated a Hilsa research centre -
one of her pet projects - in Diamond
Harbour to propel the state towards
"self-sufficiency" in its production.
She unveiled a slew of developmen-
tal projects for scaling up the West
Bengal fisheries sector. Stressing on
increasing prduction of green chillies
and onions in Bengal, Banerjee also
announced a special card system for
fishermen.
"The health of people here is bad ...
they (Left Front) have done the dam-
age. Many people say that my health
has deteriorated. "What do I do? I am
trying to revive my people's well-
being ... the well-being of my state ...
I know what is going on ... I keep
track of progress and what is needed
to be done ... I plan for the future,"
said Banerjee. She also announced
that an employment bank will be
launched Oct 3 that will provide
Rs.1,500 per month to one lakh un-
employed individuals till they get
jobs. Starting Oct 1, the government
will provide special monetary bene-
fits to 10,000 girls under the
'Kanyashree' programme.

POLITICS

POLITICS

POLITICS

Chandigarh
9
Mulayam Singh
Yadav, Samajwadi
Party Supremo:
The guilty (in Muzaf-
farnagar) will be firmly
dealt with in an exem-
plary manner to deter
troublemakers and oth-
ers
Ajit Singh, Union Civil
Aviation Minister:
Mulayam Singh Yadav
is ruining the entire
western UP for his polit-
ical gains by polarising
the area but he does not
understand that he
stands exposed before
the people
Sushil kumar Shinde,
Union Home Minister:
As we approach the
election, we may wit-
ness more such commu-
nal violence. We have
alerted 11 states
Manish Tiwari, Union
I&B Minister:
Whatever has happened
is very sad and unfortu-
nate. This is the respon-
sibility of the state
government, people
must be brought to
book. It is not neces-
sary to politicise every
issue
Nitin Gadkari, For-
mer President BJP:
People are not feeling
safe in the state. The
president must immedi-
ately dismiss the state
government as it is in-
capable of providing
security to people
Sitaram Yechury,
CPI(M) Leader:
CPI(M) today asks the
government to be alert
during the upcoming
festive season and take
all steps to nip the mis-
chief in the bud wher-
ever it occurred
RPN Singh, Union
Minister:
Inciting riots for votes
is deeply condemnable
and our entire political
class must condemn
this not just in words
but in our actions!
Food security bill gets presidential assent
Modi steals the thunder at Gujarat agro meet
SP regrets riots, vows to punish guilty
UP cancels permission for BJP rally in Fatehpur Sikri
New Delhi
President Pranab Mukherjee
Thursday approved Congress
president Sonia Gandhi's pet food
security bill, making it a law.
"The National Food Security Bill,
2013 has received the assent of
the President of India," said a
statement from the Rashtrapati
Bhavan.The Lok Sabha passed
the bill Aug 26 while the Rajya
Sabha cleared it Sep 2.The bill
was introduced in parliament in
December 2011. The largest
scheme anywhere in the world
gives right to subsidised grains to
two-thirds of India's 1.2 billion
population numbering around
800 million.
Under the legislation, beneficiar-
ies would get five kg of grain per
person per month, including rice
at Rs.3 per kg, wheat at Rs.2 per
kg and coarse grains at Re.1 per
kg. The legislation, part of the
Congress election manifesto of
2009, is expected to be a game-
changer for the party ahead of as-
sembly polls in five states -
Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya
Pradesh, Mizoram and Rajasthan
- this year-end and the 2014 par-
liamentary elections.
Opposition parties have called it
a vote security bill.
The bill, entailing an annual ex-
penditure of around Rs.1.30 lakh
crore, has also been criticised as
it would further stress a slowing
down economy and a sliding
rupee. However, Congress says
the additional food subsidy bur-
den of around Rs.28,000 crore
can be taken care of and would
not affect the fiscal deficit. The
real challenge for Congress is
now to get the bill rolled out, a
responsibility entrusted with state
governments.
Gandhinagar
The Vibrant Gujarat Global
Agriculture Summit that ended
here Tuesday was overshad-
owed by a man projected by his
admirers as India's next prime
minister: Narendra Modi. As
thousands of farmers from all
over India gathered under one
roof over two days, it was more
than clear that the Gujarat chief
minister was the unstated hero
of the event. With Punjab Chief
Agra
Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi
Party Thursday expressed "deep
regrets" over the Muzaffarnagar
clashes which left 38 dead and
vowed to "firmly deal with" the
guilty. The statements came even
as party colleagues for the first
time voiced anger vis-a-vis senior
leader Mohammed Azam Khan
for skipping the two-day national
executive meeting that ended here
Thursday. Party chief Mualayam
Minister Parkash Singh Badal
and ministers from Madhya
Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
egging Modi on to play a larger
national role, there was no stop-
ping the loud pro-Modi slogans
in the halls. Soon after the con-
ference began Monday, the first
speaker who received thunder-
ous applause was Madhya
Pradesh Agriculture Minister
Ramkrishna Kusmariya when
he described Modi as "India's
future". So vocal was the clap-
ping and cheering that Kus-
mariya had to halt briefly for
silence to set in at the packed
5,000-strong main auditorium
at Mahatma Mandir conference
complex. Badal whipped up an-
other round of frenzy when he
began his speech by calling
Modi, who was on the dais and
paying close attention to every
word, as "desh ka mahan neta"
(great national leader).And each
time the 85-year-old Badal
praised the younger chief min-
ister - "May God give you more
strength", "I have great love for
Modi" and "Why do you con-
fine yourself to Gujarat?" - the
hall resounded with cheering
and clapping besides full-
throated slogans hailing Naren-
dra Modi.
Lucknow
The Uttar Pradesh government late
Thursday ordered the cancellation
of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
rally scheduled for Sep 15 in Fateh-
pur Sikri near Agra. Officials said
that the district administration can-
celled permission for the rally after
reviewing the situation in the state
in the wake of communal riots in
Muzaffaranagar.
The rally, to be held about 350 km
from state capital Lucknow in a city
founded in the 16th century by
Mughal emperor Akbar, was to be
addressed by party patriarch Lal Kr-
ishna Advani and BJP general sec-
retary Varun Gandhi.
The BJP had been making elaborate
arrangements for the rally over the
past month. Permission for holding
the rally in Akola, 18 km from Agra,
had also earlier been given by the
state administration, and cancelled.
As the news of the cancellation of
permission for the rally spread,
angry BJP workers raised anti-gov-
ernment slogans and charged Chief
Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his
government of working under the
pressure of state Minority Affairs
Minister Mohammad Azam Khan.
State spokesman of the BJP Vijay
Bahadur Pathak slammed the state
government and said all talk of
restoration of democracy by the
Samajwadi Party (SP) government
when coming to power was proven
a "big sham."
"Cancelling political activity with-
out any rhyme or reason... is this
democracy?" Pathak asked.
He said the cancellation of permis-
sion for the rally smacked of minor-
ity appeasement.
He asked why, when the Samajwadi
Party's national executive meeting
could occur in Agra for two days,
the BJP could not hold a rally a few
hundred kilometres away.
IANS
Singh appeared uncomfortable an-
swering questions over the three
days of Muzaffarnagar violence
that has turned some key Muslim
leaders in the state against the
Samajwadi Party. But he promised
that justice would be done for the
victims. "In Gujarat justice was
not done," he said, referring to the
communal violence of 2002. "The
guilty (in Muzaffarnagar) will be
firmly dealt with in an exemplary
manner to deter troublemakers
and others." He said the Uttar
Pradesh government, run by his
son Akhilesh Yadav, would ensure
that all victims would be duly
compensated. Speaking to IANS,
party secretary C.P. Rai said the
Samajwadi leadership "is deeply
moved and regrets the tragic inci-
dents in Muzaffarnagar. "Our gov-
ernment will do everything to help
the victims and bring them back to
(the) mainstream." The absence of
senior leader Azam Khan from the
Agra conclave turned a section of
the Samajwadi Party against the
party's best known Muslim face,
with one telling him that he was
free to leave the party.
Lashing out at Khan, general sec-
retary Ram Gopal Yadav said he
was better advised to understand
the 'garima' (responsibility) of his
position or quit.
QUOTE FIRE
POLITICAL CAMP NEWS
Muzaffarnagar Riots

NATIONAL

TION NAATIONAL

TIONAL NEWS

NEWS

Chandigarh
Sunday 15 September 2013
10
Lalu Prasad begins arguments in
fodder scam case
Ranchi
Arguments on behalf of RJD chief
Lalu Prasad Monday began in a case
related to multi-million-rupee lapses
in Bihar animal husbandry depart-
ment, popularly known as the fodder
scam.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
leader's lawyer presented his argu-
ments in the Central Bureau of Inves-
tigation (CBI) special court in
Ranchi. The lawyer told the court that
the case was filed on the instructions
of Lalu Prasad, a former Bihar chief
minister, when the scam was brought
to his notice in 1996.
He alleged Lalu Prasad was impli-
cated in the case.
Lalu Prasad earlier moved the
Supreme Court alleging bias in the
trial and sought the transfer of the
proceedings to another court. The
plea was rejected by the apex court
which asked the Ranchi court to com-
plete the arguments in the trial.
The CBI court had earlier fixed July
15 for verdict but the decision was
put off after the RJD chief moved the
Jharkhand High Court and the apex
court alleging bias.
The case is related to alleged fraudu-
lent withdrawal of Rs.37.70 crore
from Chaibasa treasury, which now is
part of Jharkhand.
The 45 accused included Lalu Prasad
and former Bihar chief minister Ja-
gannath Mishra. The scam in Bihar
surfaced in 1996. Around 54 of the 61
cases were transferred to Jharkhand
when it was carved out of Bihar in
November 2000.
India raises its game in Myanmar, opens
EXIM Bank office
New Delhi
The Export Import (EXIM) Bank will
open a representative office Monday
in Yangon, former capital and com-
mercial centre of Myanmar, as India
refashions its relations building di-
verse layers of contact with the
Southeast Asian country that will
chair the ASEAN bloc next year. The
setting up of the EXIM Bank office is
a follow up on Prime Minister Man-
mohan Singh's visit to the country in
May last year during which India
signed a credit line of $500 million to
build railway and irrigation projects.
India has also sanctioned another
$250 million for various other proj-
ects. The Bank has asked the govern-
ment to finalise those, says David
Rasquinha, executive director of the
bank.
There also plans to use the credit
scheme under the National Export In-
surance Account operated by the
Bank under which government agen-
cies can import goods and services
from India.
According the Myanmar govern-
ment's 2013-2014 fiscal report,
Myanmar will implement several
projects in sectors like agriculture,
power, communications and trans-
portation.
The McKinsey Global Institute says
Myanmar would need $650 billion in
investment by 2030 to support
growth. The IMF predicts the country
will expand 7 percent over the next
five years.
India is stepping up its development
cooperation in light of Myanmar's
continuing reform process and its
age-old interconnectedness. The
spread of ideas and trade across
India's east coast, from Bengal,
Odisha and Tamil Nadu go back to
millenia and as author Thant Mint-U
points out, that influenced its religion,
language and culture.
Also, in the not too distant past when
Myanmar was known as Burma and
Yangon was Rangoon, many in east-
ern India saw the country as an El do-
rado. That, however, came to an end
in 1962, when Indian businesses were
taken over and Indians expelled
Today, India is trying to leverage its
aid and loan programmes and forster-
ing economic and business links as
part of its diplomatic effort to weild
"soft" influence and to counter what
analysts say the Chinese ingress into
the country's economy and grabbing
of mega project contracts.
In such a context, the role of EXIM
Bank as an instrument of economic
diplomacy is seen as critical, espe-
cially when the government in Nay
Pyi Taw is looking to broaden invest-
ment and development in the econ-
omy beyond the extractive and
energy industries.
Mynamar is looking to attract foreign
investment by reforming its legal and
regulatory framework, and has plans
to open up its stock exchange within
the next two years.
Some analysts say Myanmar's ongo-
ing liberalization could cut its de-
pendence on China. There have been
protests against certain Chinese com-
panies for their violation of environ-
mental laws as well as disregard for
local customs and traditions.
Officials say development is not a
zero sum game (a situation in which
one participant's gains result only
from another's losses), and there is
enough scope for partnership. China
may have deep pockets and can lend
at very low rates, but it cannot fi-
nance every project.
India's investment in Myanmar is
around $275 million. EXIM office
would extend advisory services and
provide support to investments by In-
dian companies.
According to Rasquinha, Myanmar
offers a lot of business opportunities
in various sectors and the bank is try-
ing to encourage Indian companies to
do business there. Companies that are
upbeat about Myanmar are Ramco,
Sun Pharma, CMC, and New India
Assurance. Tata International has set
up an office for its newly-formed
agricultural trading vertical.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
has stressed the need for "democracy
friendly investments" in the country.
She has also described education as
one of the keys to development and
security.
As Myanmar takes steps to democ-
racy, India can assist in institution
building and other capacity building.
India is planning to set up an IIT-type
institute in Myanmar. Myanmar is
strategically-located as it also borders
China, Thailand, Laos and could be a
bridge between the vibrant
economies of India, ASEAN and East
Asia and offers huge scope for Indian
companies to invest across diverse
sectors. There are areas where they
would not face much competition,
such as education, healthcare, in-
fotech, entertainment and provide
cost-effective alternatives.
The Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) has suggested that border trade
and investment facilitation as well as
cooperation in services and technol-
ogy transfer must be addressed for
greater economic linkages with
Myanmar.
The two countries should conclude an
agreement on cooperation in banking
and financial services to enable
greater private sector engagement.
In the mean time, reports said tax-free
markets will come up at nine places
along the border to develop the areas
around.
According to the New Light of
Myanmar, a preliminary agreement
has reached between Chin State of
Myanmar and India to open such
markets which will allow merchants
to trade 40 commodities.
Two-way trade in 2012-13 was worth
over $1.8 billion. The two countries
have set a target of $3 billion by
2015.
German ambassador happy Zubin
Mehta concert went off well
New Delhi
Express happiness that the Zubin
Mehta concert in Srinagar went off
well, German Ambassador to India
Michael Steiner Sunday expressed
his gratitude to everyone who had
made the event possible. In a state-
ment, Steiner said: "Last (Saturday)
night, the world was guest in Kash-
mir. And the best of musical heritage
reduced all distance to zero."
The Kashmir Concert, organised by
the German Embassy, saw maestro
Zubin Mehta conduct the Bavarian
State Orchestra from Munich in a 90
minute musical tribute to the Kash-
miris."This evening in historic Shali-
mar Bagh was unforgettable. The
music enchanted us all. I am deeply
moved and grateful to the Kashmiris.
And I thank all those who have made
the Kashmir Concert possible."As I
always said: Security of the orchestra
and all our guests was, and had to be,
my first priority. With this priority in
mind, I was so delighted that yester-
day we could welcome 2,700 guests
at Shalimar Bagh - far more than en-
visaged.
"All walks of life were represented
yesterday night. Many came from far.
We had a number of VIPs. But what
made me particularly happy was the
fact that the overwhelming majority
of our guests were local shopkeepers,
craftsmen, shawl wallahs, houseboat
owners, doctors, artists, students,
teachers, neighbours of Shalimar
Bagh, you name it."Last night, the
world was guest in Kashmir. And the
best of musical heritage reduced all
distance to zero," he said in the state-
ment released by the German em-
bassy here.
Around 2,700 guests as well as mil-
lions across India and Europe
watched and listened live to the time-
less music of Beethoven, Haydn and
Tchaikovsky at the Shalimar Bagh.
Three of four Shopian
dead had no militancy
record: Police
Srinagar
Three of the four people killed in the
firing by security forces in Jammu
and Kashmir's Shopian Saturday had
no militancy record while the fourth
slain man was a foreign guerrilla be-
longing to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)
outfit, police said Monday. A police
statement issued here said that the the
incident in Gagaran (Shopian) in
which four people were killed and
one injured is being investigated.
"Three killed have been identified as
Tawseef Ahmad Bhat, resident of
Baba Mohalla in Shopian, Moham-
mad Yousuf Sofi, resident of Dur-
pora, Zainapora, Shopian and Tariq
Ahmad Mir resident of Okay, Kul-
gam."These three do not have any
previous record of militancy," it
said."The fourth non-local looking
person has neither been claimed nor
identified by any local. However, the
evidence collected from the spot and
subsequent verifications suggest that
he is Abdullah Haroon of LeT," said
the statement. It said a pistol, two
grenades and a diary were recovered
from the spot, while a mobile phone
recovered from Haroon's pocket con-
tains a video clip showing weapons
snatched from police and CRPF
(Central reserve Police Force) per-
sonnel in the incidents of Arwani and
Awnera Shopian."
NCC girl cadets to scale Mount Shitidhar
New Delhi
A group of 18 NCC girl cadets will
attempt scaling the over 17,000 feet
high Mount Shitidhar in Himachal
Pradesh's Manali, officials said Mon-
day. National Cadet Corps Director
General Lt.Gen P.S. Bhalla flagged-
off here the mountaineering expedi-
tion that will start in first week of
October.
He exhorted the young cadets to un-
dertake the challenge with cool
courage, professionalism and an in-
domitable will."The girls have been
trained extensively on rock climbing,
rappelling, search and rescue tech-
niques, snow and ice craft, and cre-
vasse rescue," said a defence ministry
official. The expedition is being led
by Lt.Col. Vishal Dubey and Captain
Deepika Rathore, who was a member
of the first Indian Army Lady Offi-
cers expedition to scale Mount Ever-
est in 2012, is the deputy leader. A
woman medical officer and 15 serv-
ice personnel will also be accompa-
nying the cadets.
"The expedition will provide precious
opportunity to the cadets to fathom
their physical and mental limits, ex-
plore the pristine and serene beauty
of the Himalayas appreciate the bio
diversity and delicate ecological is-
sues," the official added.
Pakistan violates ceasefire
again
Jammu
Pakistani troops fired at Indian posi-
tions in Akhnoor sector along the
Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and
Kashmir late Monday, an army
spokesman said Tuesday.
"Pakistani troops resorted to unpro-
voked firing using light weapons and
automatics at our positions in
Akhnoor sector of the LoC yesterday
evening (Monday)," Captain S.N.
Acharya told. "Our troops retaliated
with calibrated response. Till last re-
ports came in, intermittent exchange
of fire was going on in the sector," he
said.
Since the beginning of this year, Pak-
istan has violated many times the bi-
lateral ceasefire agreement signed
between the two neighbours in No-
vember 2003.

Chandigarh
11
Ludhiana
Police in this Punjab industrial city
Tuesday registered a case against
two unidentified people for raping
a two and a half year old girl. Her
condition was said to be serious.
Police officials here said that the
victim was assaulted and left on the
roadside. She was bleeding, they
added.
The victim was taken to the civil
Kedarnath temple opens after 86 days
Muzaffarnagar calm, toll touches 35
Teenager gang raped in Odisha, two held
Man held for killing father of
woman he wanted to marry
Court rejects contempt notice
against Shinde
Dehradun/Lucknow
The "kapat" (doors) of the Kedar-
nath shrine opened Wednesday and
proper "puja" was performed for the
first time 86 days after heavy rains
and floods devastated the region and
left hundreds of people killed in Ut-
tarakhand, officials said.
Thirty priests performed the puja in
the presence of office bearers of the
shrine management committee, rep-
resentatives of the Shankaracharya,
officials and local legislator Shaila
Rani Rawat.
Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna was
scheduled to take part in the puja but
inclement weather forced him to
abort his travel plans to Kedarnath.
Guptakashi and Kedarnath areas
were hit by rains Wednesday morn-
ing. The temple was decorated with
flowers, and the nearby platform and
other places which were damaged in
the June floods, were covered with
marquees.
The priests first performed "shud-
dhikaran" (cleansing) puja, after
which the deity at the sanctum sanc-
torum was bathed in milk, holy
water from the Ganga river, and
other items were used in the puja of
Lord Shiva, state government offi-
cials said.
Hundreds of people died in the
floods in Uttarakhand in June. Over
160 bodies were found near Kedar-
nath last week alone.
The date for opening the temple was
fixed in August at a meeting between
government officials and the temple
management.
Officials, however, said it would
take some time before the temple is
opened to the public. This was be-
cause the approach roads to the tem-
ple are in bad shape and would take
a long time to rebuild, an official
told.
The temple premises were cleared of
debris and the bodies over the last
two months.
Lucknow
No untoward incident was reported
from Muzaffarnagar Tuesday as 975
people were arrested for their "direct
or indirect" role in the communal vi-
olence that has left 35 dead.
Officials said the situation was tense
but under control. Curfew was re-
laxed for an hour to allow people to
shop for essential items. The district
administration cancelled 1,820 arm
licences. Meanwhile, motorbike-
borne assailants shot at a fruit ven-
dor in neighbouring Saharanpur. His
condition was stated to be stable, an
Bhubaneswar
Two men were arrested Wednes-
day for the gang rape of a 17-
year-old girl in a forested hilly
area in Odisha's Cuttack district,
police said.
The girl was kidnapped Sep 6 by
the two men from her home at
Bindhanima village, 100 km from
state capital Bhubaneswar.
The men kept her in an aban-
doned hut, where four others
joined them and all six of them
raped her for three days, Tigiria
police station officer-in-charge
Tapan Kumar Rout told.
Police swung into action after the
victim escaped with the help of
some villagers and lodged a com-
plaint Tuesday.
"We have arrested two of the at-
tackers. Efforts are on to nab the
four others," Rout said.
New Delhi
A 20-year-old man was Monday ar-
rested for attacking a middle aged
property dealer and his wife in their
house here when their daughter re-
jected his marriage proposal, police
said Monday.
Pushpendra was arrested by Delhi
Police from Uttar Pradesh's Budaun
district, police said.
Pushpendra Sunday morning opened
fire on Yogesh Jain, 55, a property
dealer, and attacked his wife
Poonam, 50, with a stick in Jyoti
Nagar in east Delhi.
Police said he got the weapon from
his friend.
The attack occurred around 10 a.m.
soon after he proposed to the elder
daughter of the Jains to marry him.
As the girl rejected his marriage pro-
posal, Pushpendra vent his anger by
attacking her parents.
New Delhi
A Delhi court Wednesday rejected
the pleas of defence lawyers of two
of the Dec 16 gang rape case con-
victs to issue contempt notice
against Home Minister Sushilkumar
Shinde for reportedly saying they
would get death penalty.
Judge Yogesh Khanna of the District
Court, Saket, rejected the pleas of
defence counsel of Mukesh and
Pawan Gupta who claimed that the
minister had said Tuesday that
"death is assured in this case".
The court was hearing the final argu-
ments in the sentencing of the four
held guilty in the Dec 16, 2012, gang
rape and murder of a physiotherapist
intern.V.K. Anand, counsel of
Mukesh, filed an application
Wednesday to issue contempt notice
against Shinde, but Additional Ses-
sions Judge Khanna refused to enter-
tain the plea and it was withdrawn
by counsel. Gupta's lawyer is Vivek
Sharma.
official told. The National Security
Act (NSA) was slapped on five peo-
ple in Baghpat and Saharanpur,
home department officials informed.
The state government Tuesday re-
moved the station house officers of
Meerapur and Bharkhala for being
callous and unable to control the ri-
oting. Home secretary Kamal Sax-
ena, however, clarified that rioting
had not led to any death in Shamli.
He added the killing of a man there
Monday was out of animosity.
The maximum deaths (32) have oc-
curred in Muzaffarnagar. While 67
persons have been injured there, six
have been admitted to hospitals with
injuries in Saharanpur and seven in
Baghpat. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ap-
pealed for calm and said lawlessness
would not be tolerated under any
condition. Talking to reporters after
a cabinet meeting, Yadav told re-
porters stringent action would be
taken against people who take law in
their hands and try to vitiate the at-
mosphere in the state.
Minor girl raped in Ludhiana
hospital here. Doctors there re-
ferred her to the Post Graduate In-
stitute of Medical and Education
and Research (PGIMER) in
Chandigarh, 110 km from here, for
treatment as her condition was se-
rious.
The victim's mother filed a com-
plaint with police based on the
statement of the minor girl.

Mumbai
After 'samudra-manthan' (ocean
churning), the nectar has emerged
was how Shiv Sena President Ud-
dhav Thackeray described Narendra
Modi's anointment as the BJP's prime
ministerial candidate.
"This decision was expected and is in
tune with the mood of the people,"
Thackeray said shortly after Modi's
name was officially announced in
New Delhi Friday by Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath
Singh.
Thackeray said the country was pass-
ing through difficult times and the
ruling Congress-led United Progres-
sive Alliance had pushed the country
on the brink of disaster.
He added communal forces and
scamsters have created anarchy in the
country while rioters and terrorists
have instilled fear among the major-
ity Hindus. On the country's borders,
the weak Congress and its helpless
prime minister are mute spectators to
repeated breaches by Pakistan and
China. "Under these circumstances, if
the Congress can be defeated and
Hindutva can be promoted, with the
country's reins going in the hands of
Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena will
wholeheartedly welcome it," Thack-
eray said. Earlier this afternoon, the
BJP chief spoke to Thackeray and
sought his party's support and best
wishes for Modi on the decision. The
BJP chief also spoke to another major
ally, the Akali Dal in Punjab, and con-
veyed the same decision to its lead-
ers. Late Thursday night, Modi had
called up and spoken to Thacekray,
seeking his support following which
the Shiv Sena Friday morning de-
clared its support for Modi or "any
other candidate" named by the BJP
for the country's top executive post.
New Delhi
Despite patriarch L.K. Advani's op-
position, the BJP Friday formally de-
clared Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi its prime ministerial
candidate, and he promptly vowed to
lead the party to victory in the 2014
Lok Sabha election.
There were joyous scenes at the
Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters
here as Modi, 62, one of the
youngest in the country's political
establishment, drove in to attend a
meeting of the parliamentary board
which decided to name him as its
general for the parliamentary battle.
BJP president Rajnath Singh made
the formal announcement at a media
conference, and Modi pledged to do
everything to ensure that the BJP
again got to rule the world's largest
democracy.
"I promise that in the 2014 election,
the BJP will emerge victorious," a
confident sounding Modi said
flanked by a galaxy of senior col-
leagues, the notable absentee being
his former mentor Advani.
"For this, the party will work hard
and we will leave no stone un-
New Delhi
For one who sold tea as a boy at a
railway station in Gujarat, Narendra
Modi has had a meteoric rise in In-
dian politics, catapulting from an
untested chief minister of 2001 to the
prime ministerial candidate in just 12
years. Wedded to Hindutva - or the
ideology of Hindu nationalism - from
a young age, the 62-year-old Gujarat
strongman, who evokes emotions like
no other politician, is uncompromis-
ing vis--vis his goals, with an ability
to transform every adversity into an
opportunity, colleagues say.
He became the first 'pracharak' (cam-
paigner) in Hindu rightwing politics
to become a chief minister in only 13
years, taking control of one of India's
most developed states though he had
no administrative experience until
then. But in his long political innings,
his biographers and critics have ac-
cused Modi of dumping those who
helped him to go up the ladder. The
latest in the list is Lal Krishna Ad-
vani, who as a star of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) mentored Modi
even when he was virtually unknown.
Political analyst G.V.L. Narasimha
Rao, who knows Modi intimately,
told IANS: "He is a man of firm con-
viction. He is extremely honest and
hard working. He is not given to
compromises, whatever the conse-
quences. And Modi will never bend
even for the sake of a temporary vic-
tory." In complete contrast to now,
Modi's early life was unremarkable.
Born into an ordinary lower middle
class family in Mehsana district in
Gujarat Sep 17, 1950, he was the
third of four children. His father,
Damodardas, made tea at a small
shop. The son would take it in a kettle
to sell it to train passengers at the
Vadnagar railway station. The family
house was poorly ventilated and got
little natural light, the sole kerosene
lamp only adding to smoke and
grime. Those who have known him
say he was an average school student.
By his own admission, he was a de-
vout Hindu who for over four
decades has fasted during Navratri
taking only water. According to biog-
rapher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay,
Modi married young but the marriage
was unconsummated. He kept the
wedding a secret because otherwise
he would not have become a
'pracharak' in the puritan Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
Modi displayed skills at oratory even
in school. He would often disappear
from his family for months, staying
in isolated places or wandering in the
Himalayas. Once, he camped in a
small Hindu temple in the Gir forest.
He decisively broke away from his
family in 1967. Modi formally joined
the RSS after the 1971 India-Pakistan
war. He moved to the RSS office in
Delhi where his chores included, after
waking up at 4 a.m., cleaning the of-
fice, making tea as well as breakfast
and evening snacks for senior col-
leagues, and replying to mails. He
would also clean utensils and sweep
and clean the entire building.
Modi even washed his own clothes.
When Indira Gandhi declared emer-
gency rule and jailed political foes,
Modi - back in Gujarat by then --
went underground, tirelessly criss-
crossed places on a Bajaj scooter, oc-
casionally disguised, and printed and
sent booklets against the central gov-
ernment to Delhi. Even as he em-
braced politics, Modi graduated in
political science from Delhi Univer-
sity and went on to do his Masters
from Gujarat University. Modi won
the admiration of seniors for his hard
work and efficiency. In 1987-88, he
was deputed to the BJP's Gujarat unit
as organizing secretary, marking his
formal launch in mainstream politics.
Modi slowly took control of the BJP
across the length and breadth of Gu-
jarat, interacting intimately with ac-
tivists, and played a key role in 1990
when Advani took out his Rath Yatra
(chariot march) from Somnath to Ay-
odhya, an event that catapulted the
BJP on to the national stage like
never before. Modi organised Murali
Manohar Joshi's Kanyakumari-Srina-
gar Ekta Yatra (Unity March) in 1991
when Joshi was the party president.
But even as he gained political clout,
he had his detractors. In 1992 he was
sidelined in the Gujarat BJP. Seniors
like Keshubhai Patel, Shankersinh
Vaghela and Kanshiram Rana re-
sented Modi's rise. He was said to
boss over others. Over time, Modi
was accused of exploiting differences
among other leaders to his own ben-
efit, eventually replacing Chief Min-
ister Patel - whose confidant he was
earlier -- in 2001.Modi's present day
identity is largely influenced by the
2002 communal violence when his
government was widely blamed for
conspiring with Hindu rioters against
Muslims, over 1,000 of whom died
in that carnage. The charge has stuck
for over a decade. Modi faced the
prospect of being sacked only after a
few months in office as then prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was
deeply anguished over the Gujarat vi-
olence. But Advani came to Modi's
rescue. Modi later led the party to a
remarkable win in 2002 - and has
never looked back. Over time, Modi
became a symbol of development and
the party's ability to deliver good
governance. Large sections of the
middle class began to root for him,
especially for his I-can-do attitude
and his resolve to fix the ills of the
nation plaguing by multiple prob-
lems, including a languishing econ-
omy. That was enough for the BJP,
out of power for a decade, to prop up
the determined Modi as its election
campaign chief in June and, on Fri-
day, as its prime ministerial candi-
date.
turned," said Modi in a brief speech
after accepting sweets, bouquets and
garlands from senior and junior col-
leagues.
He said the country was passing
through a crisis and the party.
"I am sure that people from Kashmir
to Kanyakumari will vote for the
lotus symbol," Modi said of the
BJP's election symbol.
But like in June, when Advani had
revolted against the BJP's decision to
name Modi its election campaign
chief, the former party leader stayed
away from the parliamentary board
meeting to express his displeasure
over the decision to make Modi the
prime ministerial candidate.
Even before the Gujarat chief minis-
ter flew into New Delhi, there were
hectic parleys within the BJP estab-
lishment, with Rajnath Singh hold-
ing a string of meetings to convince
everyone to fall in line. And every-
one did -- except Advani, formerly
Modi's mentor.
A political pundit aligned with the
BJP hailed Friday's decision."This
will make a huge difference to the
BJP," G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told .
"Across the country, there is a very,
very strong wave in support of
Modi, even among non-traditional
BJP supporters."
Like in the case of the now ailing
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and later Ad-
vani, Modi's personal popularity far
exceeded that of the party, Rao said.
"While the BJP got just about 18
percent of the votes in the last Lok
Sabha election, Modi currently en-
joys the support of more than 40 per-
cent of voters. That will make all the
difference," he said.
"This means that there is a huge
mass which will vote for the BJP
only if Modi leads the party. This is
particularly true in critical states
such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar."
Modi, who once sold tea in a railway
station in Gujarat, said it was a mat-
ter of pride that the BJP had cata-
pulted him -- despite his origin from
"a humble family" -- as the prime
ministerial candidate. In his four-
minute speech in Hindi, Modi made
it a point to pay tributes to Vajpayee
and Advani. Modi also underlined
that he had the "blessings" of the
BJP's allies, including the Akali Dal
and Shiv Sena. Rajnath Singh added
that "all our allies ... have given their
backing" to Modi's candidature.
"We have always announced prime
ministerial candidates... Seeing the
national mood, we have decided that
Narendra Modi will be our PM can-
didate in the Lok Sabha election."
Once Rajnath Singh made the an-
nouncement, BJP stalwarts, includ-
ing those who were said to be
against the announcement earlier, of-
fered him garlands and bouquets.
Rajnath Singh and Modi hugged one
another. Modi touched the feet of
former president Murli Manohar
Joshi as a mark of respect.
Narendra Modi: From tea vendor to PM candidate

Chandigarh
12
Modi is finally PM candidate, pledges
2014 victory
Modi anointment like nectar
after 'samudra-manthan':
Thackeray
SPECIAL

TOURISM

TOURISM

TOURISM

TOURISM

TOURISM

Chandigarh
13
Bali: Plethora of beaches, nightlife, temples, volcanoes
Movies amid mountains - Ladakh film fest races against odds
The moment you step out of your
aircraft at the old airport at Den-
pasar, you are struck, if you are
from India, by a sense of deja vu on
seeing the chaos all around. Even
so, this does not detract from what
the beautiful island of Bali has to
offer.
As you drive out of the airport to-
wards your hotel or resort, you can-
not miss the strong Indian
connection - from the statues and
idols of Hindu gods to the roads and
commercial areas that you drive
through. That Bali's 4.22 million
population is 80 percent Hindu
makes that connection stronger.
People on the island freely discuss
gods - from Vishnu and goddess
Saraswati to others - and even Bol-
lywood stars, be it Shah Rukh Khan,
Aamir Khan or Kareena Kapoor.
Bali has a lot to offer compared to
other tourist destinations in South-
east Asia.
Be it the beautiful Nusa Dua, Kuta,
Jimbaran or Seminyak beaches with
a lot of water-sport activities, the ac-
tive nightlife of the Kuta area, the
serene temples or the active volca-
noes - there is not a moment of
boredom on the island.
There are hotels, apartments, resorts
and private villas available aplenty
at most of these popular destina-
tions. These can suit every kind of
traveller and budget as they range
from Rs.3,000 to Rs.50,000 ($47-
$792) per night. Of course, hotels
and resorts on the beach front com-
mand a higher price.
The top-end hotels are mostly in the
Nusa Dua, Kuta and Seminyak
areas.The warmth of the Balinese is
quite evident from people on the
roads to hotel front desks to room
service."Visitors are welcome in
Bali. We try to make their stay and
experience here as comfortable as
we can," Viduri, a front desk execu-
tive at a leading hotel, told.
The moment you change the cur-
rency from dollars or any other, the
feeling of becoming a millionaire
comes instantly. For instance, $100
will get you 1.1 million Indonesian
Rupiah. "At times, while making
payments, one gets a little confused
on what is the exact dollar value of
the object or service. But you can
have benchmarks like Rp 100,000
works out to less than $10," Mariah,
a tourist from Spain, pointed out.
In Bali, a visit to the active Mount
Leh
A film festival in Ladakh? To
many, it comes as a surprise. But
for the organisers of the Ladakh
International Film Festival (LIFF),
its first edition in 2012 turned out
to be a dream come true. The sec-
ond edition, which begins here Fri-
day, aims to get bigger with a wide
variety of over 120 films, a jury
studded with gems of the film in-
dustry in India and abroad, and a
range of ecologically-friendly ac-
tivities.
The three-day gala, which is set
amid the pristine and peaceful sur-
roundings of this Little Tibet, is
expected to draw a huge local as
well as tourist audience with its
new features. But it doesn't come
without its challenges.
"There are infrastructural chal-
lenges," Melwyn Williams Chiray-
ath, founder, LIFF, told IANS.
"There is a 500-seater auditorium
which is technically very sound.
That is where we have our main
theme Role of Women in Cinema
- On and Off, Road Ahead'.
Carrying forward the focus on
women is also a flagship campaign
on women called - Campaign RED
(Respect, Equality, Dignity) which
seeks to focus attention on the cur-
rent happenings of violence
against women in every form and
condition the society to create a
conducive environment for
women. Acclaimed filmmaker
Aparna Sen will be the jury's chair-
person, while German-based docu-
mentary filmmaker Paul Amaczny
is due to visit here too. Some of
those who likely to attend the
event are Shyam Benegal, Govind
Nihalani, Shaji N. Karun, Mani
Ratnam, Santosh Sivan, Imtiaz Ali,
Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and
Mike Pandey. Aparna Sen is con-
vinced the fest will be a "peak ex-
perience", given its "incomparable
venue high up amidst mountain
ranges".
events, but we have to take a lot of
equipments ourselves. Nobody is
giving us aid on that front, and we
are having to fund it ourselves. We
wish the government would have
taken more interest," Chirayath
added.He believes that for the suc-
cess of a "vision" such as LIFF,
"local support" is inherently im-
portant. Thus, this year, they have
been able to expand their wings by
organising movie screenings at
makeshift theatres - in two inde-
pendent auditoriums and in two
school auditorioms, apart from the
500-seater space. "In total there are
five venues this time." Chirayath
said, adding how even three
Ladakhi filmmakers are also in
competition this year.
The second LIFF was earlier to be
held in July, but it was rescheduled
due to the floods in Uttarakhand.
To be inaugurated by Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Ab-
dullah, the fest has a focus on 'Cel-
ebrating Womanhood' this time.
As part of it, films like "Hunter-
wali" and Marathi movie "Mee
Sindhutai Sapkal" will be show-
cased at the fest, which will also
host a panel discussion by eminent
women film personalities on the
Flight time from Kuala Lumpur/Sin-
gapore to Denpasar - less than 3
hours.
* Accomodation: Ranges from
Rs.3,000 to Rs.50,000 ($47-$792)
per night.
For the really high end traveller,
there is the Bulgari hotel, one of
only two in the world, where a room
costs Rs.150,000 ($2,380) a night.
* A meal for four in a mid-range
restaurant will cost Rs.2,000 ($31)
without alcohol.
Batur volcano is a different kind of
experience. The most active volcano
on the island, it is located about 90
km from Nusa Dua and a car ride
can take over two hours. The expe-
rience of standing in front of an ac-
tive volcano is quite thrilling.
The drive to and from the volcano
will take you through Ubud, a town
famous for its paintings, woodcraft,
silver jewellery and other traditional
Balinese crafts. There is a lot to buy
and bargain for it. Be it galleries or
the homes of the artists and crafts-
men, every place has a lot to offer.
"Many tourists pick up paintings,
woodcraft (especially masks) and
silver jewellery from Ubud," Vinata,
a Hindu who drives a Toyota Innova
for a travel agency, told.
Hiring a multi-utility seven-seater
vehicle like a Toyota Innova can
cost Rp 500,000 (Rs.3,000/$47) for
10 hours in Bali - and this is perhaps
the best way to travel. The cliff tem-
ple in Ulluwatu is a must-visit place,
especially to see the sun setting in
the Indian Ocean. Here, one can
watch the Hindu epic Ramayana
being enacted by Balinese actors.
The Kuta beach area is full of life
with scores of bars, night clubs, eat-
ing joints, shopping areas and much
more. Hundreds of tourists, espe-
cially from Australia and the Euro-
pean countries come here. The Bali
bombing of 2002, which left over
220 people dead, has failed to kill
the spirit of the revellers here.
Bali, definitely, has a lot to offer for
a price which is also manageable.
How to reach:
* From India, travel through Kuala
Lumpur (Malaysia Airlines, Air
Asia), Singapore (Singapore Air-
lines and others) or Bangkok (Thai
Airlines). Thence, fly by carriers
like Air Asia, Lion and others to
Denpasar. Flight time from New
Delhi to Kuala Lumpur/Singapore:
5 hours 30 minutes.
15 Sept Sunday Set Shimla_Layout 1 9/13/2013 8:10 PM Page 13

CELEB

CELEB

Chandigarh
14
Ram Kapoor to do good luck
cameo for Gautami
I had a little fling with Jay
Leno: Sharon Osbourne
Ashutosh Rana, Renuka Shahane aproached
for 'Nach Baliye 6'?
When Tiesto gave
music tips to Kate
Upton
Mumbai
Ram Kapoor is ready to share the
screen space with his wife Gautami
yet again. He will be seen in a cameo
in her comeback show "Khelti Hai
Zindagi Aankh Micholi".
Gautami is returning to the small
screen after five-and-half years. Ram
will play a cameo in the show to sup-
port her with her comeback.
The real life couple last played a reel-
life couple in the film "Student Of
The Year".
Ram and Gautami met on the sets of
their TV show "Ghar Ek Mandir".
The couple got married in 2003, and
they now have two children.
"Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi"
is the story of a teenaged girl named
Ami, who wants people around her to
understand her. The show explores
the life of this impressionable young
girl who has lost the only man who
ever understood her - her father, to
AIDS. Gautami plays her mother
Shruti in the show. The creative team
Los Angeles
Singer Sharon Osbourne said that
she had a fling with stand-up come-
dian Jay Leno before she married
Oozy in 1982. Osbourne, 60, met
Leno after making a series of prank
calls to him, reports
femalefirst.co.uk. "He(Leno) liked
my voice and I kept calling. I said I
had the wrong number but I kept
talking with my English accent, he
actually came to my house and met
me and we had a little fling," Os-
bourne said. However, things be-
tween them ended after Leno
introduced Osbourne to his would
be wife Mavis Nicholson. "The fling
was more of a fling for me and not
fling enough for him because a cou-
ple of months later he brought
around the real love of his life for
me to meet, and she was lovely and
they took me to Fatburger and
showed me around town," Osbourne
said.
of the show is currently working out
an interesting way to integrate Ram's
cameo into the track of the show.
"Khelti Hai Zindagi Aankh Micholi"
went on Zee TV Monday.
New York
Supermodel Kate Upton was re-
portedly seen spinning the disc
and taking music lessons from
disc jockey (DJ) Tiesto recently.
The duo were partying at the
Provocateur nightclub, located in
the Meatpacking District here.
Upton, was initially in the crowd
but was then escorted to the DJ' s
booth when Tiesto came over to
spin the disc.
"She spent most of her time in
the booth getting tips from
Tiesto and taking photos,"
quoted a source as saying.
New Delhi
Actor Ashutosh Rana has been re-
portedly approached to participate in
the upcoming edition of celebrity
dance reality show "Nach Baliye"
along with his actress wife Renuka
Shahane.
"Ashutosh Rana and Renuka Shahane
have been approached for the show.
However, they are yet to confirm
their presence," a source from the
show's unit told.
Others who have been reportedly ap-
proached for the sixth edition of the
show include Mohit Raina, Vivian
D'sena, Nakuul Mehta, Indo-Cana-
dian actress Sunny Leone, chef Kunal
Kapoor, "Masterchef India 2" winner
Ripudaman Handa, former Indian
cricketer Sourav Ganguly, Shabbir
Ahluwalia, Rakesh Bapat, along with
their spouses or partners.
TV actors Jay Bhanushali and Mahii
Vij won the last season of "Nach
Baliye", which ended earlier this
year. The show is aired on Star Plus.

CELEB

CE

CELEB

Chandigarh
Sunday 15 September 2013
15
Chennai
If all goes as planned, then Ra-
jinikanth-starrer Tamil period-
drama "Kochadaiiyaan" will most
likely release on his birthday Dec
12 worldwide, says a source close
to the film's unit."The makers want
it to be Rajini sir's birthday gift and
in turn a treat for his fans. The idea
is to release it on his birthday pro-
vided everything goes as smoothly
as planned. We are currently busy
with the post-production work," the
source told.
The first teaser of 'Kochadaiiyaan",
which is directed by Soundarya Ra-
jinikanth Ashwin, was released on-
line Monday. It has received mixed
response from fans so far.
While true 'Rajinians' loved it,
some panned it for its poor visual
effects.Touted to be made on a
budget of over Rs. 100 crore,
"Kochadaiiyaan" is reportedly
India's first motion capture 3D film
which will be released even in for-
eign languages such as Italian,
Spanish and even Japanese.
The film also features Deepika
Padukone, R. Sarath Kumar, Jackie
Shroff, Shobana and Aadi Pinisetty
Sunny Deol approached for
'Bachelorette India...'
I too used to think about my
big posters: Shahid Kapoor
Film industry is an insecure
place: Kangana Ranaut
Afraid of spiders,
sharks, says Pink
New Delhi
Bollywood actor Sunny Deol has
been approached for a guest appear-
ance in TV show "Bachelorette India
- Mere Khayalon ki Mallika".
The show will see actress Mallika
Sherawat's journey as she selects her
partner from 30 suitors vying for her
attention.
Other than Sunny, no other celebrity
will be coming on the show as of
now, says Ajit Thakur who is the gen-
eral manager of Life Ok- the channel
that will air the show.
"We are not looking for any more
celebrities. I have met Sunny Deol
and he has been approached as a
guest on the show. We needed a real
man on the show. Other than this, no
one else is required," he said.
Based on the theme of love, the show
will go on air Oct 7.
'Kochadaiiyaan' to release on
Rajinikanth's B'day ?
in important roles.
It is jointly produced by Eros Inter-
national and Mediaone Global En-
tertainment.Double Oscar-winning
composer A.R Rahman is compos-
ing the tunes for the film which has
its audio release in October.
I'D LOVE A THIRD CHILD:
GWYNETH PALTROW
Mumbai
Actress Kangana Ranaut, who has
no film background, says the film
industry is not a secure place to be
in. She says there are times when
she has movie offers, but there are
days when she has no projects in
hand. "I won't say I don't want to
be where I am today, but the indus-
try is an insecure place to be in.
This industry is like one fine day
you get up and you get a call for
work and at times you don't get
work for six months. It's not just
about me. I think everybody has
their own insecurities," Kangana
told. She said that it is nice to have
her elder sister Rangoli around.
"I have been without my family in
this city (Mumbai) for a long time
so it's nice to have your family
around. My sister works with me.
She handles my work, manages
everything and I only act," said the
26-year-old.
"Its not about me
being successful
or unsuccessful
... no matter what
happens, she is
always there for
me. It's a great
feeling. This in-
dustry is a place
which can tend to
be an insecure
place so it's good
to have some-
body around who
doesn't judge
you," she added.
Kangana has
made a place for
herself in the
Hindi film indus-
try, but she has
one regret."I have
learnt everything
here, but my only
regret is that I
wish I had better
guidance in the
beginning of my
career. I wish
somebody was
there to guide
me. The place
where I come from, they don't give
much importance to art. I didn't
know how to behave or what ex-
pectations people have from me,"
she said. Kangana, who impressed
audiences with her acting skills in
movies like "Gangster", "Fashion"
and "Tanu Weds Manu", is also
praised for her fashion sense. She
says her inspiration comes from
"old Hollywood".
"I don't have any fashion guru as
such, but I travel a lot and take in-
spiration from different places. Old
Hollywood is my all-time inspira-
tion," said the curly haired beauty
who is looking forward to the last
quarter of 2013. "(The year) 2013
so far has been dull, but towards
the end it's exciting. I have some
good films coming up so I am re-
ally looking forward to it," she
said.She will be soon seen in super-
hero movie "Krrish 3".
Los Angeles
Singer Pink, known for her fearless
high wire acts during her concerts,
admits she is afraid of sharks and
spiders, reports.
"I'm afraid of spiders. I am afraid
of sharks," Pink said.
"I'm afraid of the world running out
of cheesecake, especially Cheese-
cake Factory. And then I would
also have to be afraid of the world
running out of key limes, because
key lime cheesecake is the best
kind of cheesecake there is," she
added. The 34-year-old is preparing
for her Truth About Love world
tour in the US in October, and she
will do acrobatics without a safety
net. "One of the most daring things
I've ever done is skydive, and that's
because Carey Hart (her husband, a
motocross champ) surprised me
with it and I had no choice. But
then I did it twice; the second time
is much more enjoyable. Another
daring thing I did was marrying
Carey Hart," Pink said.
Los Angeles
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow
says she would love to
have another child, but is
not sure about changing
diapers again. Paltrow has
two children - daughter
Apple, 9 and son Moses,
7- with musician-husband
Chris Martin."Chris and I
would love a third child,
but I dont know if I could
start changing nappies
again," said Paltrow. The
actress also revealed that
she suffered depression
during birth of Moses, re-
ports.
Also when my son was
born I had terrible depres-
sion. It was strange be-
cause with my eldest it
didnt happen. I was
super-happy," Paltrow
said.But with Moses it
took me a year to get out
of a hole," she added.
Mumbai
Actor Shahid Kapoor, who will be
seen essaying the character of an as-
piring actor in upcoming action-com-
edy "Phata Poster Nikhla Hero", says
like his character, he too, used to
dream and think of becoming an actor
and having huge posters and hoard-
ings. In the film, Shahid's character
Vishwas Rao always aspires and
dreams of becoming an actor.
"Just like my character Vishwas Rao
says in the film, 'ek din mere bhi bade
bade poster lagengey', I also used to
have such dreams before becoming
an actor and me too used to think 'me
too will have such huge huge posters'
(mere bhi ek din itne bade bade
poster lagengey)," Shahid said here in
an interview. Before foraying into
acting in 2003, the 32-year-old
worked in quite a few music videos
and commercials. Later he joined
Shiamak Davar Institute for the Per-
forming Arts and was seen as a
dancer in 1999 released film "Taal".
"I still remember when I used to stand
beneath the hoardings and think
'whether I will have such huge
posters or not' (mere itne bade posters
hongey ya nahin?). So, definitely I
too have been through those mo-
ments. I too have gone for the audi-
tions," he added. Directed by
Rajkumar Santoshi, "Phata Poster
Nikhla Hero" features Ileana D'Cruz
Chandigarh
KIDS

KIDS

KIDS

Then + Now: How Chemistry Has Improved
Our Health in the Past 125 years
Scientists using chemistry have
discovered many of the medical
breakthroughs and technologies that
allow us to live longer, happier, and
healthier lives. Here are some of their
significant contributions to health and
medicine from 1876 to today.
Then
In 1876, when people became sick
or injured, doctors could do little
more than comfort them and keep
them clean.
The idea that medicine is a science
something that we take for granted
todaywas new to most people.
Few people knew how to stay healthy
before they got sick. If you did
become sick or injured, you would
need a strong body and plenty of
luck to survive. Though doctors and
scientists knew that germs cause
disease, they did not completely
understand how they were spread or
how to destroy them until the French
scientist Louis Pasteur made some
important discoveries that led to
changes in how hospitals and
doctors practiced medicine.
1905: German chemists Felix
Hoffman and Hermann Dreser
synthesized Aspirin, which is still
used today to fight pain and
swelling.
1909: German scientist Paul Ehrlich
developed the first drug, named
Salvarsan, to cure a specific illness
by killing the germ that had
invaded the body.
1915: American doctor Joseph
Goldberger noticed that not getting
enough vitamins and nutrients in
food can cause a person to get sick.
1922: Canadian doctors Frederick
Banting and Charles Best found out
that diabetes can be managed by
giving insulin to people whose
bodies cannot make it. Before this
discovery, there was nothing that
doctors could do to treat diabetes.
1935: German biochemist Gerhard
Domagk discovered a drug named
Prontosil to cure previously deadly
streptococcal infections.
19421945: A potent substance
that could kill bacteria was studied
in the laboratory by the English
physician Alexander Fleming in
1928. A drug based on this
discovery, called Penicillin, was
created and used throughout
World War II to fight infection.
We now call this type of drug an
antibiotic because it fights bacteria.
Unfortunately, the new Penicillin was
expensive and only available in
certain areas, so many chemists
continued their hard work over
these years looking for a better
way to make the drug.
1950: Chemists Gertrude Elion
and George Hitchings created
an anticancer drug when Elion
discovered a chemical that prevents
new leukemia cells (one type of
cancer) from being formed in the
body.
1952: Microbiologist Jonas Salk
created a vaccine against polio
by studying the flu vaccine and
working with many other scientists
to stop the spread of this deadly
childhood disease.
1978: Work by scientists in nearly
every country meant that the last
cases of smallpox in the world
occurred in 1978. Smallpox is the
firstand so far the onlydisease
removed by medical science.
1980present: Medicine was
challenged by a new deadly disease
called Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome (AIDS). In 1987,
Zidovudine (also called AZT) was
made to treat AIDS, and scientists
continue to create better drugs and
search for a vaccine and a cure.
Now: Doctors heal patients by
using many medicines and
techniques to cure diseases and
repair injuries, but some diseases
are still incurable. People are living
much longer lives and know how to
stay healthy, but being poor and
living in an unclean environment still
makes many people sick around the
world. Antibiotics are important
tools to fight illness, but some
bacteria change, so new and better
drugs are needed to kill them. The
medicines and options that doctors
use to treat or cure sickness do help
thousands of people each year,
but it costs a great deal of money
to treat everyone who needs it.
Reducing the costs of medicine and
fighting new diseases continue to
challenge scientists. Many chemists
continue their everyday work to
make medical breakthroughs and
technologies that allow us to live
longer, happier, and healthier lives.
ACTIVITY
Vacation Countdown
Caterpillar
Your kids will love tearing daily
links from this adorable paper-
chain caterpillar to count down
the days until an exciting trip or
event!
Make It:
Trim a few sheets of colorful
double-sided cardstock into
strips. Staple or glue the edges
together as you help your kids
form the chain. Accent the cater-
pillar with cute pom-pom feet,
googly eyes, and a heart-shape
felt-sticker mouth. Finish this
cute little guy by punching two
small holes in the head and
threading a short chenille stem
through each to create curly an-
tennae.
The Power of Magical
Thinking
Color Me....
Here we are giving your Child an
opportunity to enjoy our funny
tongue twisters for kids and have
fun trying to say some of the most
difficult sentences. To get the full
effect of a tongue twister you
should try to repeat it several
times, as quickly as possible,
withoutstumbling.
One-One was a racehorse.
Two-Two was one, too.
When One-One won one race,
Two-Two won one, too.
Three free throws.The instinct of
an extinct insect stinks.
I saw Esau sitting on a seesaw.
Esau, he saw me.
A proper copper coffee pot.
Tactile
Example: pertaining to sense of
touch; tangible; n. person whose
mental processes are stimulated most
by sense of touch
Varietal
Example: person who chooses vari-
ety in the satisfaction of (sexual) de-
sire.
Abreaction
Example: removal of psychological
complex.
Deviate
Example: wander from the right
course, turn away, take a round about
route.
Cascade
Example: a succession of stages or
operations or processes or units.
16
A n s w e r s t o W o r d S c r a m b l e :
S O U N D , C O U N T R Y , K E Y -
B O A R D , R A D I O , N O I S E ,
V I O L I N
Is the Tooth Fairy real? How about
the garbage man? Those questions
may seem trivial, but how young
children answer them is an impor-
tant indicator of cognitive develop-
ment.
For years, imagination was thought
of as a way for children to escape
from reality, and once they reached
a certain age, it was believed they
would push fantasy aside and deal
with the real world. But, increas-
ingly, child-development experts are
recognizing the importance of imag-
ination and the role it plays in under-
standing reality. Imagination is
necessary for learning about people
and events we don't directly experi-
ence, such as history or events on the
other side of the world. For young
kids, it allows them to ponder the fu-
ture, such as what they want to do
when they grow up. "Whenever you
think about the Civil War or the
Roman Empire or possibly God,
you're using your imagination," says
Paul Harris, a development psychol-
ogist and professor at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education who
studies imagination. "The imagina-
tion is absolutely vital for contem-
plating reality, not just those things
we take to be mere fantasy." Psy-
chologists like Jacqueline Woolley,
a professor at the University of
Texas at Austin, are studying the
process of "magical thinking," or
children's fantasy lives, and how
kids learn to distinguish between
what is real and what isn't.The hope
is that understanding how children's
cognition typically develops will
also help scientists better understand
developmental delays and conditions
such as autism. For instance, there is
evidence that imagination and role
play appears to have a key role in
helping children take someone else's
perspective, says Dr. Harris. Kids
with autism, on the other hand, don't
engage in much pretend play, lead-
ing some to suggest that the lack of
such activity contributes to their so-
cial deficits, according to Dr. Har-
ris.The researchers found that while
children as young as 3 understand
the concept of what is real and what
isn't, until they are about 7 kids can
be easily misled by adults' persua-
sive words or by "evidence."
Anyone whose goal is
'something higher' must
expect someday to suf-
fer vertigo. What is ver-
tigo? Fear of falling?
No, Vertigo is something
other than fear of
falling. It is the voice of
the emptiness below us
which tempts and lures
us, it is the desire to fall,
against which, terrified,
we defend ourselves.
Milan Kundera
Chandigarh

H O R O S C O P E

17

W E E K L Y H O R O S C O P E

W

E

E K
d

L Y
e

H O R
c

O S
u

C O P
p

E

Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Category: Veg
Ingredients
Black currant crush 1 cup + for garnishing
Yogurt,chilled 4 cups
Sugar 4 tablespoons
Crushed ice as required
Method
Blend together the black currant crush, yo-
gurt, sugar and crushed ice in a blender till
smooth. Pour the lassi in four glasses. Gar-
nish with a swirl of black currant crush
and serve chilled
Black currant crush adds a
beautiful colour and taste to
this super lassi
This week is a lot like
a roller coaster for
you! Monday and
Tuesday bring a
strange sense of mounting en-
ergy and escalating weirdness
with friends and family, though
you can't pin down exactly
what's going on. It's best to just
sit back and let it happen.
Your emotions are
tricky early this week
-- but that doesn't
mean you should ig-
nore them. Let your passions
air out a bit, actually, and you
should find that you attract the
right kind of attention to im-
prove your romantic life.
Investigate your own
emotional state on
Monday and Tues-
day. You may not be
the most reflective person in
the world, but every now and
then, you can get some real in-
sights into yourself and your
deepest thoughts.
You may get testy over
the weekend as some-
one you've grown to
trust over the years tries
to influence you without much
subtlety. the rest of the week
should give you a great opportu-
nity to take things to a deeper
level with your sweetheart, career
or artistic aspirations.
It's okay to be a little
paranoid every now and
then (healthy, even),
but you start the week
way more suspicious than you re-
ally need to be. Try to give people
the benefit of the doubt -- but at
some point, you may need to
lower the boom on someone who's
really got it out for you or yours.
Your intuition and
your reason are
working well to-
gether on Monday
and Tuesday, and you ought to
be able to figure out what's re-
ally going on despite a dearth
of evidence. Keep an open
mind for as long as possible!
You might be feeling
like you're in a rut as
the week begins, but
changes are coming
that should be equal parts excit-
ing and intimidating. You
shouldn't have to do much more
than watch and wait, though,
because your coworkers handle
the brunt of it for now.
You're a Pied Piper of
sorts on Monday and
Tuesday, and ought to
be able to draw others
to you with ease. You may not
want to lead them under the near-
est mountain (that tends to be
frowned upon these days), but
whatever you suggest should work
out quite well.
You're far more
thoughtful than usual
on Monday and
Tuesday, and may
actually withdraw from your
social life a bit in order to fig-
ure out what's been happening
in your life recently. Your in-
sights are potent and unexpect-
edly sharp.
Overall, this week is
quite positive for you.
It may seem a bit
strange when friends
keep pestering you for an opinion
early on, as whatever subject
they're interested in isn't exactly
your area of expertise. Still,
you've got valuable insights so
don't be afraid to share.
You've got some-
thing weighing on
you as the week be-
gins, but it's not like
a deep, dark secret. It's more
like dead weight at work or
maybe someone at home who
just isn't living up to their re-
sponsibilities. Go slow and
work it on out.
On Monday and
Tuesday, expect peo-
ple to be on their
worst behavior --
selfish, petty and maybe even
predatory! The good news is
that you've got enough savvy
to avoid the worst of it, and
you may look like a perfect
angel in comparison.
Aries
(Mar 21 - Apr 19)
Taurus
(Apr 20 - May 20)
Gemini
(May 21 - Jun 20)
Cancer
(Jun 21 - Jul 22)
Leo
(Jul 23 - Aug 22)
Virgo
(Aug 23 - Sep 22)
Pisces
(Feb 19 - Mar 20)
Aquarius
(Jan 20 - Feb 18)
Capricorn
(Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Sagittarius
(Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Scorpio
(Oct 23 - Nov 21)
Libra
(Sep 23 - Oct 22)
Paneer Pasanda
Black Currant Lassi
Cooking Time: 30-40 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10-20 minutes
Category: Veg
Ingredients
Paneer (cottage cheese) 200
grams + for garnishing
Cashewnuts 1 tablespoon
Raisins 1 tablespoon
Oil to deep fry
Green chutney 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Cornflour/ corn starch 4-5
tablespoons
For gravy
Oil 2-3 tablespoons
Bay leaves 2
Cinnamon 2 inch sticks
Green cardamoms 5-6
Cloves 4
Onions,boiled and ground 2 - 3
medium
Ginger-garlic paste 2 teaspoons
Tomato puree 1/2 cup
Red chilli powder 1 tea spoon
Coriander powder 11/2
Turmeric powder1/2 teaspoon
Green chillies,finely
chopped 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Cream 1/2 cup
Green cardamom powder a pinch
Method
Heat sufficient oil in a kadai.
Cut the paneer into 4 thin slices and
mash the remaining. Finely chop
cashewnuts and add to mashed pa-
neer along with raisins. Add green
chutney and Tata Salt Lite and mix
well.
Spread this mixture on 2 paneer slices
and cover them with remaining two
slices. Cut into small triangles.
Mix cornflour in cup water to
make a thick batter. Dip the paneer
triangles in the batter and deep fry till
lightly golden. Drain on absorbent
paper.
To make the gravy, heat oil in a non-
stick handi. Add bay leaves, cinna-
mon, green cardamoms and cloves
and saut. Add the onion paste and
saut. Add ginger-garlic paste and
saut for 2-3 minutes
Add tomato pure and mix well.
Saut for 1-2 minutes. Add red chilli
powder, coriander powder, turmeric
powder, green chillies and Tata Salt
Lite and mix well. Saut for 2-3 min-
utes.
Paneer slices stuffed with green chutney, mashed paneer and nuts mixture, and
cooked in a flavourful onion-tomato gravy.
LEISURE
K L Y H O R O S C O P E

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LEISURE
O R
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Chandigarh

18

INTERNATIONAL

INTERNA

TIONA NAATIONAL

TIONAL

Greater efforts needed
against maritime
piracy: UAE
100 killed in Central
African Republic clash
Dubai
Maritime piracy, especially in the
Gulf of Aden and the western Indian
Ocean, needs more serious global at-
tention, UAE Foreign Minister
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al
Nahyan has said.
"Despite the efforts being exerted by
the international community to com-
bat piracy on the Somali coast, the
UAE still believes that maritime
piracy, especially in the Gulf of Aden
and the Western Indian Ocean, needs
more serious global concern," he said
while inaugurating the third annual
International Maritime Counter-
Piracy Conference here Wednesday.
"...We are convinced that success in
the fight against maritime piracy will
be the result of unifying the efforts of
the international community for ca-
pacity building in the region, address-
ing its roots in Somalia and other
similar environments," the minister
said.
He also said that the UAE stood with
and supported the efforts and objec-
tives of the Somalian government and
backed the Somali people in their le-
gitimate quest for peace and prosper-
ity. Sheikh Abdullah recalled that in
May, the UAE had pledged $50 mil-
lion for developmental projects in So-
malia to ensure a decent livelihood
for the country's people.
Bangui
Nearly 100 people were killed in days
of fighting in Central African Repub-
lic between supporters of former
president Francois Bozize and the
forces loyal to President of Transition
Michel Djotodia, the state radio re-
ported Wednesday.
Djotodia overthrew Bozize in March
and was sworn in Aug 18 as head of
the transitional government. The
takeover was condemned as a coup.
Citing a statement from the presiden-
tial office, the radio Wednesday said
the clashes since Saturday have
caused 150 or so casualties, including
almost 100 people killed in the fight-
ing and 50 injured, reported.
Bossangoa and Bouca are among the
worst hit areas northwest of the capi-
tal Bangui, it said.
Bossangoa, the home region of Boz-
ize, has become another hotspot since
the rival forces fought in the districts
seen as his strongholds in Bangui last
month. While Djotodia's Seleka fight-
ers are trying to disarm the pro- Boz-
ize elements, the latter seem to
manoeuvre for a comeback of their
leader. Levy Yakete, spokesperson for
Bozize, recently said the attacks were
launched by former armymen who
want to bring Bozize back for the
mandate as the president elected by
his people. The Economic Commu-
nity of Central African States has pro-
vided for a transitional period of 18
months, pending an election to end
the crisis. A 1,400-strong peacekeep-
ing mission is deployed in the trou-
bled country, which has witnessed
repeated coups since independence
from France in 1960.
Putin takes exception to America's
'exceptionalism'
US stops debt collection scams through
Indian call centres
Washington
As his plan to secure Syria's chemical
weapons put Russian President
Vladimir Putin centre stage, he
reached out to American people to
warn the US against bypassing the
United Nations and pursuing military
action.
"The potential strike by the United
States against Syria ... will result in
more innocent victims and escalation,
potentially spreading the conflict far
beyond Syria's borders," he wrote in
a New York Times op-ed published
online Wednesday night.
"A strike would increase violence and
unleash a new wave of terrorism,"
Putin wrote using the piece "to speak
directly to the American people and
their political leaders ... at a time of
insufficient communication between
our societies."
"We must stop using the language of
force and return to the path of
civilised diplomatic and political set-
tlement," he wrote asking President
Barack Obama to pursue the possibil-
ity of a diplomatic settlement to the
Syrian crisis.
Calling the ongoing civil war an "in-
ternal conflict, fuelled by foreign
weapons supplied to the opposition,"
Putin cautioned against siding with
an opposition in Syria which he said
includes "more than enough (Al)
Qaeda fighters and extremists of all
stripes."
Russia, he said, is "not protecting the
Syrian government" but rather
favours "a compromise plan."
Military action against the Syrian
government without UN Security
Council approval "is unacceptable
under the United Nations charter and
would constitute an act of aggres-
sion," Putin wrote.
He and Obama share "a growing
trust," Putin wrote but also chal-
lenged Obama's case for American
exceptionalism in his speech Tuesday
night.
"It is extremely dangerous to encour-
age people to see themselves as ex-
ceptional, whatever the motivation."
Putin wrote.
"We are all different, but when we
ask for the Lord's blessings, we must
Washington
A US regulatory body has put a stop
to fake debt scams by two Florida-
based companies who worked with a
call centre in India and bilked mil-
lions of dollars from consumers.
The Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) said Tuesday the companies,
through threatening debt collecting
tactics, collected about $5 million
from consumers who either did not
owe the debt or owed a debt to some
one else.
The FTC said it had imposed a judg-
ment of more than $25.3 million
against the companies, which also
used a phony interest rate reduction
scheme between January 2010 and
August 2011. The FTC alleged that
the two companies Fisher, Andre
Keith Sanders, Pro Credit Group,
LLC, and Sanders Legal Group, P.A.
set up US-based financial accounts
for a call centre operation based in
India. The operation's callers used
threats, lies, and abusive tactics to
collect debts from consumers who
had previously applied for or re-
ceived loans from online payday loan
companies and had supplied sensitive
personal financial information that
later found its way into the hands of
those involved with the scam.
Once consumers agreed to pay, Fisher
and attorney Sanders used Sanders
Legal Group, PA to process at least
$5 million from consumers whom the
India-based callers had misled, the
FTC alleged.
Although numerous consumers com-
plained to the local Better Business
Bureau chapter about the abusive tac-
tics of the callers, and many con-
sumers tried unsuccessfully to get
refunds, the defendants continued
processing consumers' payments, it
said. In the spring of 2012, at the re-
quest of the FTC, a court shut down
the two operations.
Brett Fisher, a repeat offender who
settled charges with the FTC in 2009
in a scam involving both advance-fee
credit cards and bogus interest-rate
reduction claims, masterminded both
schemes, the FTC alleged.
not forget that God created us equal,"
he concluded.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State
John Kerry and Russian Foreign Min-
ister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone
Wednesday, on the eve of their sched-
uled meeting in Switzerland.
The two discussed a "shared objec-
tive of having a substantive discus-
sion about the mechanics of
identifying, verifying and ultimately
destroying Assad's chemical weapons
stockpile," officials said.
Kerry is taking an interagency team
of experts to deal with "identifying
the mechanics" of how the plan will
work, State Department spokesper-
son Jen Psaki said. "So how would
you go in? How would you destroy?
What are the steps you would take?"
The US was going into the talks with
"eyes wide open," she said. "Our goal
here is to test the seriousness of this
proposal, to talk about the specifics
of how this would get done,"
White House spokesman Jay Carney
also said that any diplomatic solution
on Syria's chemical weapons "needs
to be credible, it needs to be verifi-
able, and we will work with our allies
and partners to test whether it can be
achieved."
Trying to reach a diplomatic solution
on Syria's chemical weapons "will
take some time," he acknowledged.
Still, the timeline is finite, Carney
said. It's "certainly not the case that
were are interested in delay or avoid-
ance of accountability here."
But even as the US pursues a diplo-
matic solution, the CIA has begun de-
livering weapons to rebels in Syria
marking a major escalation of the US
role in Syria's civil war, the Washing-
ton Post reported Wednesday.
The shipments began streaming into
the country over the past two weeks,
along with separate deliveries by the
State Department of vehicles and
other gear, it said citing unnamed US
officials and Syrian figures.
Chandigarh

19

Math can be terrifying for many people. This list will hopefully
improve your general knowledge of mathematical tricks and
your speed when you need to do math in your head.
Multiply by 15: Multiply by 10 and
add 5 times the original number, as
above.
Multiply by 16: You can double
four times, if you want to. Or you
can multiply by 8 and then by 2.
add 10 times original number.
subtract twice the original number
(which is obvious from the first
step).
subtract the original number.
then multiply by 3.
subtract 3 times the original number
step).
subtract 5 times the original number
step).
Multiply by 90: Multiply by 9 (as
above) and put a zero on the right.
Multiply by 98: Multiply by 100
and subtract twice the original num-
ber.
Multiply by 99: Multiply by 100
and subtract the original number.
1. Multiply by 4
This is a very simple trick which
may appear obvious to some, but to
others it is not. The trick is to sim-
ply multiply by two, then multiply
by two again:
58 x 4 = (58 x 2) + (58 x 2) = (116)
+ (116) = 232
2. Calculate a Tip If you need to
leave a 15% tip, here is the easy way
to do it. Work out 10% (divide the
number by 10) then add that
number to half its value and you
have your answer:
15% of $25 = (10% of 25) + ((10%
of 25) / 2)
$2.50 + $1.25 = $3.75
3. Tough Multiplication If you have
a large number to multiply and one
of the numbers is even, you can
easily subdivide to get to the an-
swer:
32 x 125, is the same as:
16 x 250 is the same as:
8 x 500 is the same as:
4 x 1000 = 4,000
4. Dividing by 5 Dividing a large
number by five is actually very sim-
ple. All you do is multiply by 2 and
move the decimal point:
195 / 5
Step1: 195 * 2 = 390
Step2: Move the decimal: 39.0 or
just 39
2978 / 5
Step 1: 2978 * 2 = 5956
Step2: 595.6
5. Subtracting from 1,000 To sub-
tract a large number from 1,000
you can use this basic rule: subtract
all but the last number from 9, then
subtract the last number from 10:
1000
-648
step1: subtract 6 from 9 = 3
answer: 352
10. Assorted Multiplication Rules
divide by 2.
Multiply by 6: Sometimes multiply-
ing by 3 and then 2 is easy.
subtract the original number.
add twice the original number.
add 10 times original number.
then multiply by 2
1. What is exam anxiety
Exam anxiety is
excessive worry about upcoming
exams.
fear of being evaluated.
apprehension about the conse
quences.
experienced by many normal stu
dents.
not mysterious or difficult to un
derstand.
manageable by following a plan of
helpful suggestions.
There are four main areas which
can contribute to your exam anxi-
ety:
lifestyle issues,
information needs,
studying styles,
psychological Factors .
Lifestyle issues that can contribute
to exam anxiety are
inadequate rest,
poor nutrition,
too many stimulants,
insufficient exercise,
not scheduling available time,
not prioritizing commitments.
Information needs that can con
tribute to exam anxiety are
exam-taking strategies,
academic information such as
course requirements, teachers' ex
pectations, exam dates and testing
location,
knowledge of how to apply anxiety
reduction techniques
while studying
before an exam
during an exam
studying styles that are
Inefficient
inconsistent content coverage
trying to memorize the textbook
binge studying
distance environment
all-night studying before exams
Ineffective
reading without understanding
can't recall the material
not making review notes
not reviewing
not studying
Psychological Factors
feeling no control over the exam
situation (rather than knowing and
applying exam strategies),
negative thinking and self-criticism
(rather than being one's own best
friend),
irrational thinking about exams
and outcomes,
Irrational beliefs "If I don't pass
my (parents/partner/boss) will kill
me!"
Irrational demands "I have to get
100% or I am worthless."
Catastrophic predictions "I'll fail
no matter what I do."
2. Do I have exam anxiety
Many students experience some
pre-exam jitters. Mild nervousness
can motivate you to do your best.
However, exam anxiety is different
from typical nervousness:
It is more intense.
It is more potentially overwhelm
ing.
It is more disruptive and disturb
ing.
It is not helpful or motivating.
How can exam anxiety affect me?
disturb my studying and exam
preparation
paralyze my decision-making
make my mind go blank on an
exam
undermine my academic confi
dence
prevent me from showing how
much I know
Exam anxiety affects different stu-
dents in different ways:
Physical symptoms
tight muscles
headache
insomnia
upset stomach
appetite changes
unable to eat
constant snacking
binge eating
shortness of breath
increased perspiration
sweaty palms
increased heart rate
"escaping" behaviours, e.g. party
ing the night before an exam
Emotionally
atypical mood swings
emotions related to the examina
tion, presentation or paper
worry
frustration
fear
anger
discouragement
depression
panic
hopelessness
Cognitively
scattered attention
irrational thoughts
difficulty concentrating
negative, self-defeating thoughts
task-disruptive daydreaming
self-abusing thoughts
Socially
social withdrawal
avoidance of friends and family
unusual irritability with others
procrastination through increased
socializing
How might exam anxiety affect my
studying?
disorganized time management
poor study habits
procrastination on papers, presen
tations and studying
obsession with fearful thoughts
about the consequences of failing
unable to concentrate on reading
and understanding study material
How might exam anxiety affect my
exams?
can't focus or organize thoughts
poor recall of important concepts,
keywords, acronyms
can't understand exam questions
going blank on familiar questions
poor scores on known material
correct recall after the exam
3. How do I reduce exam anxiety
We have identified eight steps to re-
ducing exam anxiety
1. Effective studying
2. Healthy lifestyle
3. Accurate information
4. Exam-taking preparation
5. Attitude upgrading
6. Rational (instead of irrational)
thinking
7. Test-taking strategies
8. Anxiety reduction techniques
General Knowledge
Questions:
Mastering Exam Anxiety
1. Which metal is heavier, silver or
gold?
2. How many legs do butterflies
have?
3. Which is the country with the
most people?
4. Which state is the biggest in the
US?
5. Which country has the largest
area of land?
6. Which is the country hosting the
2008 Olympic Games?
7. Which indoor sport is the most
popular in the US?
8. Which golf player's mother is
from Thailand?
9. What is Aurora Borealis com-
monly known as?
10. Which is the non contagious dis-
ease that is the most common in the
world?
11. Which was the album the Beat-
les recorded the last time together?
12. Which instrument did Miles
Davis, the jazz musician, play?
13. What is the sport in which you
could get into a headlock?
14. In which country was golf first
played?
15. Which is the sport where you
could be out "leg before wicket" or
"hit a six"?
16. When did baseball originate in
the US?
17. Which is the sport wherein you
would use a "sand iron"?
18. What is the largest mammal in
the world?
19. Which is the country where reg-
gae music originated?
20. Who was the creator of Jeeves
and Wooster?
21. Who painted the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel?
22. Who was the writer of Al-
ices Adventures in Wonder-
land?
23. Which famous person was the
teddy bear named?
24. Which is the smallest ocean in
the world?
25. What is the rhino's horn made
of?
A n s w e r s t o G e n e r a l K n o w l e d g e Q u e s t i o n s :
1 . G o l d 2 . S i x 3 . C h i n a 4 . A l a s k a 5 . R u s s i a 6 . C h i n a 7 . B a s k e t b a l l
8 . T i g e r W o o d s 9 . N o r t h e r n L i g h t s 1 0 . T o o t h D e c a y 1 1 . A b b e y R o a d
1 2 . T r u m p e t 1 3 . W r e s t l i n g 1 4 . S c o t l a n d 1 5 . C r i c k e t 1 6 . 1 9 t h C e n t u r y
1 7 . G o l f 1 8 . B l u e W h a l e 1 9 . J a m a i c a 2 0 . P . G . W o d e h o u s e
2 1 . M i c h e l a n g e l o 2 2 . L e w i s C a r r o l l 2 3 . T h e o d o r e R o o s e v e l t
2 4 . A r c t i c O c e a n 2 5 . H a i r
EDUCATION
KIDS

KIDS

KIDS

Chandigarh

20

US

BUSINESS

I try to protect kids
from limelight:
My autobiography for next generation:
Ashok Amritraj
New Delhi
Kajol lives in India's entertainment
capital Mumbai and is surrounded
by glitz and glamour. Despite this
the actress, a mother of two, tries to
shield her children from the lime-
light to ensure they lead a normal
childhood.
But it's certainly not an easy task for
Kajol and her husband, actor-pro-
ducer Ajay Devgn.
"We have done as much as we could
to take care of them, protect them
and keep them out of the limelight,"
Kajol told IANS in a telephonic in-
terview from Mumbai.
"At the end of the day, we want them
to grow up as normal kids and want
them to have as much of a chance at
childhood as they can," added the
actress, who cut down her acting as-
signments to raise her kids and focus
on her home.
Post marriage she has however been
more active in TV commercials as
shooting for them is less time con-
suming. From Olay to Whirlpool,
she has endorsed various brands. Re-
cently, the actress launched "Hug-
gies Wonder Pants".
The "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" actress
is very strict when it comes to her
kids, Nyasa, 10 and Yug, 3.
"I am very strict with my kids. I
think it is very important for them to
know exactly what the boundaries
are and that they cannot cross them.
I think they will grow up to be better
human beings if they have that in
front of them. As parents it is our re-
sponsibility to teach them what is
right and wrong," the 39-year-old
said. Do your children watch your
movies? "My daughter doesn't see
any of my movies because she thinks
I cry too much in my films. She
says, 'You should do films like Gol-
maal like papa'. I was like, 'Yes, I
will think about it'. My son is too
young to watch any of my movies.
Maybe when he is older then...," she
said.
"I think if I had to show films to
them, I would show them 'Dilwale
Dulhania Le Jayenge', 'Kuch Kuch
Hota Hai' and 'Pyaar To Hona Hi
Tha'. I think these are the kind of
films that I would like them to see,"
she said.
Coming back to parenting, she said
that being a celebrity mom isn't easy.
"It was difficult for me. I was liter-
ally micro-managing my time. I had
to wake up much earlier in the morn-
ing and finish my workouts before
my baby woke up. Then send her to
school and then after that, go for
work," said Kajol. "It was tough, but
then where there is a will there is a
way...if you really want to do it , you
can," added the actress who did
films like "My Name Is Khan" and
"We Are Family" post the birth of
her children. The actress shares a
wonderful bond with her husband as
well. She says it is important to work
on a relationship so that it does not
falter. "The fact that Ajay and I are
okay together and that we are good
together, that in itself makes him feel
stable. I think you just have to work
at it. Every relationship requires
work. That is what we do...we work
at it," she said. The actress' next will
be her husband's production venture.
New Delhi
He was a tennis ace. He is a prolific
filmmaker. And now Ashok Amri-
traj has turned author with "Advan-
tage Hollywood". The multi-tasker
describes his autobiography as an
"immigrant's journey" that focuses
on his "growing up years in Chen-
nai", "making it in the White Man's
world" and says the book is for the
new generation.
"Advantage Hollywood", result of
two years of writing and jogging
memories, will be launched Friday
at the two-day CII Big Picture
Summit. Interestingly, the book
will be unveiled by action star
Jean-Claude Van Damme, with
whom Amritraj enjoys camaraderie
since "Double Impact" days.
"It's for the next generation. People
I would love to read it are kids in
schools and colleges; people who
want to make it in the entertainment
business or any other business,"
Amritraj, who grew up in Chennai
before moving to the US, told in an
exclusive interview here.
The 57-year-old added, "the book is
also for those who want to go
global. It kind of speaks to them."
Although he is based in the US,
Amritraj felt India was an appropri-
ate place to launch the book, as it is
where it all started.
When probed about the highlights
of the book, he said: "There are few
things - one is sort of an immi-
grant's journey at a time when India
was not fashionable, Asia was not
fashionable. It's about early 1980s
when America was sort of a centre
of the world power and California
was a mythical place. So it's jour-
ney in that period of time." If one
aspect of the book focuses on his
struggle as a filmmaker, the other
talks about how he balanced work
and family after becoming success-
ful. "Another thing was growing up
in India, which has been very im-
portant part of my career," he said
and added that people kind of found
India essence in his films "Double
Impact" and "Raising Helen".
Apart from family, he also talks
about culture, tradition and
arranged marriage in his book.
"It's also about making it in a white
man's world at that time and the
lessons learnt," he added.Remem-
bering his childhood days, he said,
"Growing up in Chennai, Madras
then, was much simpler and easier."
It's a difficult situation for me:
Salman Khan
show this time, Salman said: "It de-
pends on who is going in. I don't
know who is going in. It's a wow
types or awe types."
"I am sure they are going to have
problems. But if they get along
fine, tasks will be on a level that
they will be forced to be broken."
At the same time, Salman praises
inmates.
He said: "They (inmates) are doing
a big favour by letting you in their
house, lives, and personal space. It
is a very big thing." "So much you
can learn from this. It's easy to say
he or she was wrong, but when we
are there in that situation, you think
I would have reacted like this," he
added. Asked if he would ever like
to be in the "Bigg Boss" house,
Salman said jokingly: "It's difficult.
I don't think I want to. Not for any
other reason, but I will be too en-
tertaining inside and TRPs would
hit the roof and other people won't
be able to hit that."
said the actor whose films "Ek Tha
Tiger", "Bodyguard" and "Dabangg
2" had joined the Rs.100 crore
club.
He confessed as the host at times
he lost his cool.
"Last time I lost my cool. I lost it
the year before as well. I think they
were disrespectful to Sanju (Sanjay
Dutt who co-hosted season five
with him). I remember that stuck in
my head for two weeks and I could-
n't handle that."
"As a person when I watch the
show, I detach myself. As a host I
am only there on Friday and Satur-
day. You go to the house as a com-
mon man. You are actually sharing
your life with so many people. You
behave like you are with your fam-
ily, but that is your real personal-
ity." Every year "Bigg Boss" gets
into controversies when the in-
mates indulge in acrimonious
fights, use bad language etc.
When asked if it would be a clean
Mumbai
The seventh season of "Bigg Boss"
is ready to hit the tube Sep 15 and
Salman Khan is all set to take up
the host's seat for the fourth con-
secutive year. But he confesses that
hosting is an uphill task, as he has
to do things that he doesn't enjoy
doing.
"Bigg Boss - 7" will go on air on
Colors and will see as many as 14
inmates, including celebrities, try-
ing to survive and win the title.
"As a host at times things bother
me on the sets. And I am forced to
take a stand, and I hate it. I don't
like to take a stand," Salman told.
"If I say something to someone,
that guy has the right to give it
back. It's a difficult situation in
which I am. It's a difficult position
to be in. So far we have been able
to handle it," said the 47-year-old.
Salman, who entered the small
screen as the host of "Dus Ka
Dum", joined "Bigg Boss" in its
fourth season and has been hosting
it since. The show fetches good
TRPs, thanks to the heightened
drama, mud-slinging, fights and
emotions that take place in the
"Bigg Boss" house.
But the "Dabangg" star is not
buoyed by the ratings, as his motto
is to do a good work.
Salman told : "I only have to do my
work. If the show is good, people
will watch, or else even I will not
see it. I don't understand this TRP
game at all, so it doesn't bother me
at all."
Box office number games are not
his cup of tea either.
"Even with box office they say
Rs.100 crore, Rs.200 crore, but I
don't understand this Rs.100 crore
game at all. It doesn't matter to me.
If the film is good, it will do well,"
15 Sept Sunday Set Shimla_Layout 1 9/13/2013 6:12 PM Page 20
Chandigarh

21

US

BUSINESS

Indian company to install CORE
banking system in Ethiopia
Bangladesh to take legal
action against noted
economist
India's economy in reverse mode:
US daily
Addis Ababa
Polaris Financial Technology Lim-
ited, an Indian financial solutions
provider, is set to complete installing
a $3.4 million Centralised, Online,
Real-time, Electronic (CORE) bank-
ing solution at the National Bank of
Ethiopia (NBE) by month-end, an
official said.
Though this has been delayed by two
months because of the long process
of deploying technical staff to
analyse the old system by Polaris,
once completed it will run parallel
with the old Bank Master system for
about two weeks.
The central bank wanted the upgrade
because "the old system could not
completely interface with the Na-
tional Payment System (NPS) and
had trouble in managing the cur-
rency reserves, government accounts
and processing the new bank report-
ing system," according to a report
published in Birritu, its quarterly
magazine, in January.
Polaris, locally represented by Ernst
& Young, inked a deal in October
2012, beating Britain-based Mysis,
the provider of the original solution,
and Swiss Company Temenos,
which dominates the local market, in
a tender floated in December 2011.
The new solution, called Intellect,
will assist in areas like managing the
country's foreign currency and gold
reserves, payments and settlements
of government accounts and issuing
money, in addition to interfacing
with the NPS.
The NBE began using CORE bank-
ing many years before the country's
commercial banks it supervises.
Most of these banks only started in-
stalling the solution after the NBE
required them to interface their op-
erations with the NPS.
However, the NBE system was out-
dated and could no longer handle its
operational activities, according to
Gizaw Tulu, chief officer at its Infor-
mation Technology (IT) Directorate
and project manager of the
changeover process.
"The old system could not com-
pletely interface with the NPS,"
Gizaw told IANS. "It also had trou-
ble managing the currency reserves
and accounts."
Polaris was founded in 1993 and is
headquartered in Chennai. It part-
ners with nine of the 10 top global
banks and seven of the 10 global in-
surance companies, according to its
website, and got the better marks for
both technical and financial evalua-
tions.
Dhaka
Bangladesh's cabinet Monday de-
cided to initiate legal action against
noted economist and Nobel prize
winner Muhammad Yunus for what
it called "irregularities during his
time as head of the Grameen
Bank".
The cabinet meeting with Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair
made the decision after receiving a
probe report from the country's Na-
tional Board of Revenue (NBR),
Xinhua reported citing government
spokesperson Musharraf Hossain
Bhuiyan. The NBR was asked last
year to look into the economist's in-
comes from foreign sources.
Bhuiyan said Yunus received a total
of $6.25 million as honorarium,
awards and royalties from a number
of foreign institutions from 2004 to
2011. Of the money, he said, $1.6
million was exempted of tax. Since
Yunus received foreign money
without permission from relevant
government authorities despite
being a public servant, the NBR
thinks the tax exemption was not
proper, Bhuiyan added. Apart from
this, Yunus breached law by trans-
ferring funds from Grameen Bank
to Grameen Kalyan, one of its asso-
ciated organisations. Yunus also
lent money to an organisation
linked with his family at a low in-
terest rate, Bhuiyan added.
He added that the central bank of
Bangladesh and the revenue board
may go for legal action against
Yunus and the ministry of law will
extend legal assistance to them if
need be. Yunus Centre said the al-
legations raised by the NBR were
"baseless". A statement to this ef-
fect came hours after the govern-
ment decided to take legal action
against Yunus who was relieved by
the Bangladesh Bank in March
2011 from the Grameen Bank, with
which he shared the Nobel Peace
Prize in 2006. The Bangladesh
Bank said Yunus was well past the
retirement age of 60. Prime Minis-
ter Sheikh Hasina's cabinet last
year ordered a fresh probe against
Yunus over irregularities during his
time as head of the Grameen Bank.
Supporters of 71-year-old Yunus
claim the respected economist is
the victim of a political vendetta for
his 2007 initiative to form his own
political party, backed by the pow-
erful army when the country was
under a state of emergency.
New York
India's economy is heading into a
deep slump, a leading US daily
says, calling Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh "an ineffectual
leader without much authority".
"India's once booming economy is
sliding into a deep slump. The
country grew just 4.4 percent this
summer, a far cry from the 7.7 per-
cent average for the past decade,"
The New York Times said in an ed-
itorial Sunday.
The report went on to say that un-
like other growing economies
which are facing the economic
downturn, most of India's problems
have domestic causes, which need
to be effectively tackled by the
country's government.
"Like Indonesia, Brazil and other
developing countries, India has
been hurt as investors have moved
money to the US to take advantage
of the prospect of higher interest
rates. But most of India's biggest
problems - like its high inflation,
which was nearly 5.8 percent in
July and has been rising partly be-
cause of the falling rupee - have do-
mestic causes.
"Until the coalition government led
by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh reforms the country's econ-
omy, India will fall far short of its
potential," it said.
The editorial also slammed the
country's UPA coalition govern-
ment for its involvement in various
corruption scandals and for its mis-
management in dealing with large
infrastructure projects.
"In the nine years that the coalition
government has been in power, sev-
eral ministers have resigned in cor-
ruption scandals; large
infrastructure projects have been
delayed by mismanagement; the
government's budget deficit has
ballooned, thanks to wasteful
spending like subsidies for diesel
fuel; and politics have thwarted re-
forms in labour and education," the
daily said.
It further blamed the Congress
party for showing little concern for
India's ailing economy.
"Manmohan Singh has been an in-
effectual leader without much au-
thority. The real power is held by
his political patron, Sonia Gandhi,
who leads the Indian National Con-
gress party, which has expressed
little concern for the country's ail-
ing economy," The New York
Times said.
Five steps India must take to restore
global confidence
be introduced. This will help in in-
troducing reforms and managing
the developments in the domain.
Infrastructure, manufacturing and
the supply chain should have an an-
nual execution plan to create a
great eco-system. A piecemeal ap-
proach does not work and builds no
resilience.
* Third, India needs to get started
on the path of economic diplomacy
besides focussing on the diplomacy
of terrorism and security. The fact
is developed markets have influ-
ence today, but emerging markets
will influence tomorrow; so we
need to better our relationship with
emerging markets. The US diplo-
matic corps in India is bigger than
the Indian diplomatic corps glob-
ally. India's diplomatic capability is
disproportionate to its responsibil-
ity.
* Fourth, the government should
give bigger responsibility to cham-
bers of commerce and the cham-
bers need to share their research
and opinions with the government
as a bridge between the govern-
ment and industry. They also have
to take up larger responsibility in
marketing the nation on behalf of
the government and building Brand
India.
* Fifth, India needs to introduce
single window entry solution pol-
icy like few other countries. Coun-
tries with a growth risk are looking
towards a 25-year plan while India
is not even looking at the next five
years. India needs to change this
and move forward if it wishes to be
a significant player in the economic
history of the 21st Century.
era and there is visible negotiation
for development between inclusive
growth and economic growth.
However, they ought to go parallel.
Since India cannot remain impervi-
ous in this globalised and inte-
grated economic eco-system, it has
no option but to change and be dy-
namic in its performance. The gov-
ernment cannot function on a low
performance index for long; it has
to be accountable to deliver and be
responsible for inaction. The ex-
tremely poor Balanced Score Card
of Indian government performance
demands drastic change before
India loses to lowest, if it is still in
offering amongst emerging mar-
kets. Here are a few macro-level
actions to fix the situation, to arrest
the fall and to reverse the depress-
ing escalation:
* First, policies and institutions for
restoring global business confi-
dence in India and ensuring ease of
operations for business are a must.
While it is good to have the atten-
tion of the opposition on issues of
corruption, social security, and in-
clusion, it is equally obligatory on
its part to extend cooperation to
create a dynamic economic eco-
system that can speed up growth.
A Business Advisory Council com-
prising business leaders, manage-
ment experts and economists is
needed urgently to work on policy
issues only along the lines of Na-
tional Advisory Council.
* Second, reforms for doing busi-
ness and sustaining business are
needed on a continuous basis to
balance foreign investments. A fo-
cussed annual reform plan needs to
The recent Global Competitiveness
Report 2013-14, ranking India at
No. 60, leaves no doubt that these
are exceptionally dire times for the
Indian economy. This World Eco-
nomic Forum report of Sep 4 puts
India 31 places below its emerging
market peer China and barely
ahead of Russia; it is India's lowest
rank in this survey.
Concerns on India's lack of trans-
port, information and communica-
tions technology (ICT) and energy
infrastructure are "largely insuffi-
cient and ill-adapted to the needs of
the economy". This is truly a re-
flection on India's lack of commit-
ment to economic development.
The report highlights serious con-
cerns voiced by Tata Sons Chair-
man Emeritus Ratan Tata last
month, when he said: "We have lost
the confidence of the world. We
have been slow to recognise that in
the government."
The current economic scenario is
no less grave than the 1991 crisis.
The government is in a state of pol-
icy paralysis. A trust deficit irks
foreign companies in India. Eco-
nomic growth tests a new low
every month. Independent studies
talk of rampant corruption.
The government in an Ostrich-like
approach refuses to address serious
threats, terming these as a momen-
tary phase that shall pass soon.
Economists and business groups
call it a policy paralysis and lead-
erless politics.
The political will is at its lowest in
the last few decades, operational
efficiency of the government is
analogous to the pre-liberalization
Chandigarh

22

SPORTS

SPORTS

SPORTS

It's much more than I ever thought: Nadal
New York
World No.2 Rafael Nadal of Spain
said his 13th Grand Slam title was
much more than what he ever thought
when he started playing.
The Spaniard defeated top-seeded
Serb Novak Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-4,
6-1 to claim his second US Open title
here Monday. It was the 13th overall
Grand Slam title for the 27-year-old
Nadal."Let me enjoy today. For me,
it's much more than what I ever
thought, what I ever dreamed," Nadal
told reporters."I gonna keep doing
my things to have more chances in
the future to be competitive and to
give me -- produce more chances to
win the tournament like this one."
It was the 37th meeting in their ri-
valry, which is the most in the Open
Era between two male players. Nadal
won 21 of the previous 36 matches.
Nadal now has eight French Opens,
two Wimbledon, two US Open and
an Australian title amongst his 60 ca-
reer titles.
Nadal had completed a career Grand
Slam in New York in 2010, but he
ruled out winning all the four majors
in the same calendar year. The feat
has been achieved only by Don
Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962
and 1969)."To win all four Grand
Slams in one year I think today is im-
possible for anyone. That's my feel-
ing," said Nadal. "Today the best
players are there all the time, so to
win a tournament like this you have
to win against Roger (Federer),
against David (Ferrer), against Andy
(Murray), against Novak.
"These players are not losing in the
early rounds, so that makes it impos-
sible be 100 percent in every tourna-
ment. So when your level is a little bit
lower, you will lose against these
players 100 percent," he added.
It has been a great turn around for
Nadal, whose season started in Feb-
ruary after a seven-month injury lay-
off that saw him missing the 2012 US
Open, London Olympics and the
Australian Open earlier this year.
But since his comeback, the Spaniard
is on song and has won 10 titles since
then."I never thought something like
IPL spot-fixing: Chandila, two others
get bail
New Delhi
Pointing to some "missing links" in
the probe, a Delhi court Monday
granted bail to suspended Rajasthan
Royals cricketer Ajit Chandila and
two others booked in the IPL spot-
fixing case.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh
Sharma also granted bail to former
Ranji Trophy cricket player Baburao
Yadav and alleged bookie Deepak
Kumar on a personal bond of Rs
50,000 each with one surety each of
the same amount. Cricketers S.
Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan, who
were earlier granted bail, also ap-
peared in court as directed by the
judge.
Chandila was booked under the pro-
visions of the Maharashtra Control of
Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The court, while granting bail to the
three accused, said Chandila's con-
nection with the alleged organised
syndicate was too remote.
It also pulled up the Delhi Police for
some missing links in the investiga-
tion and directed the police Commis-
sioner to examine the matter within a
month.
"There are some missing links in the
case. I am sending the full file to the
commissioner of police for letting the
case to be examined," the court said.
The court also dismissed the bail
pleas of five other accused, saying the
provisions of the stringent law
MCOCA were applicable on them.
The bail pleas of alleged bookies Ji-
tender Kumar Jain, Ramesh Vyas,
Ashwani Agarwal, Sunil Bhatia and
Firoz Farid Ansari were dismissed.
The court kept as pending the bail
plea of Chandra Prakash Jain alias
Chandresh Jain, who allegedly ac-
cepting bet by the name of Jupiter.
The court said that investigation
against Jain was still going on and
police were yet to file the charge
sheet against him.The court fixed Oct
7 for hearing the arguments on the
plea of police seeking cancellation of
bail granted earlier to Sreesanth, Cha-
van and 19 others who were arrested
in connection with the case.
On May 16, Delhi Police arrested
three Rajasthan Royals players --
Sreesanth, Chandila and Chavan -- on
spot-fixing charges on the basis of
phone conversations and footage of
IPL matches in which they were
caught giving predetermined signals
to bookies.
Police filed the charge sheet against
39 people. Accused Chandresh Jain
was arrested after the filing of the for-
mal set of charges.
Police invoked provisions of the
stringent MCOCA against 28 accused
in the case, including the three Ra-
jasthan Royals cricketers, alleging
that they were acting under the com-
mand of fugitive don Dawood
Ibrahim and his aide Chhota Shakeel.
Ex-Manchester United
striker Yorke in Kenya
Nairobi
Former Manchester United striker
Dwight Yorke arrived here Tuesday
on a three-day visit for the Airtel Ris-
ing Stars programme.
The Trinidad and Tobago national
will conduct a coaching clinic for two
schools here -- Upper Hill and
Olympic High -- that will represent
the country during the Airtel Rising
Stars Africa Championship in Nigeria
next week. Yorke will also visit the
expansive Mukuru Kwa Njenga
slums here, reports.The 43-year-old
had a successful stint at United from
1998 to 2002. During the four sea-
sons, 'The Smiling Assassin' formed
a potent strike partnership with Eng-
lish forward Andy Cole, leading the
Premier League title-holders to an
unprecedented 'Treble' in 1999 after
winning the Premier League, the FA
Cup and the Champions League.
Yorke's colourful career at United,
after arriving from Aston Villa, saw
him score 66 goals in 152 appear-
ances. He also played for Blackburn
Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney
FC and Sunderland, later turning to
management when he served as the
assistant manager of the Trinidad and
Tobago national team during the
2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
He is currently an assistant coach for
the 'Red Devils' reserves.
US media views Leander
Paes' feat with little fanfare
Washington
Indian tennis star Leander Paes' feat
of winning a Grand Slam doubles
title at the US Open at 40, largely
went unheralded in the US media
with most giving just factual agency
reports on the match.
The Wall Street Journal, however, in
a longish blog report, took note of the
fact that "For the 40-year-old Paes, it
is his eight career Grand Slam men's
doubles title and his third US Open
championship".
"He's also won seven mixed doubles
Slam titles and now has earned the
distinction of having won a Grand
Slam title in each of three decades.
He also won the 1996 Olympic
bronze medal in men's singles ten-
nis." The New York Times in a blog
post on the match day Sunday listed
"20 facts you may not know about
one of India's greatest tennis players"
in recognition of Paes' "20th year as
professional at Flushing Meadows".
Topping the list: "During his partner-
ship with Martina Navratilova to-
wards the end of her career, he used
to write inspirational messages for
her and often drop them in her tennis
bag." Sacramento Bee, published
from California's Silicon valley,
home to a large number of Indian IT
professionals, noted "Leander Paes
and Radek Stepanek followed their
upset of the Bryan brothers with a
victory Sunday in the men's doubles
final at the US Open.
" Firstpost, an ethnic Indian paper
published from the West Coast, wrote
of "Leander Paes and India's very dif-
ferent tennis revolution", suggesting
"If the big television networks around
the world have their way, then dou-
bles in tennis would quickly be for-
gotten."
"But while the rest of the world might
look at doubles as basically a second
rung competition, India doesn't do
that - doubles gets covered in a big
way in India's print and electronic
media simply because of the number
of players we have taking part in the
competition," it wrote.
"Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi
put doubles tennis on the map in
India", it said, noting "the continued
success" of Paes, who "has been
around for 20 years now and has
reached 30 Grand Slam finals".
this could happen, so excited to be
back on tour trying to be competitive.
But I never thought about competing
for all what I competed for this year,"
he said."All the Masters 1000s, the
Grand Slams. So it is just more than
a dream for me and I'm very happy
for everything. I feel very lucky about
what happened since I came back.
"It's true that I worked, but even like
this you need luck to be where I am
today." Nadal is now four behind the
record of 17 Grand Slam titles held
by Roger Federer and one short of
Pete Sampras' 14.
"I said that when I had few Slams
less, but it's true. Only thing I can say
is the same like I do every time. I'm
going to keep working hard. I'm
going to keep doing my things to
have more chances in the future to be
competitive and to give me more
chances to win the tournaments like
this one.
"So that's what I'm going to try. Then
you never know when that starts,
when that finishes, but 13 is an amaz-
ing number," he said.
Chandigarh

23 SPORTS

SPORTS

SPORTS

Improved Bhullar seeks to retain
TPC title
Taipei
A confident Gaganjeet Bhullar of
India believes he has the experience
and the talent to launch a successful
title defence at the Yeangder Tourna-
ment Players Championship (TPC)
which starts Thursday.
Bhullar will headline the $500,000
Asian Tour event alongside reigning
Order of Merit winner Thaworn
Wiratchant of Thailand, local Lin
Wen-tang, who is a six-time Asian
Tour winner and Baek Seuk-hyun,
who ranks sixth on the Order of
Merit.
The 25-year-old Bhullar has so far
enjoyed a solid season and was
Failure
to qualify
for World
Cup
could
cost
England
2 bn
pounds
Haryana assembly condemns
Chautala, seeks sports code
Chandigarh
The Haryana assembly Wednesday
condemned suspended Indian
Olympic Association (IOA) president
Abhay Singh Chautala for not paving
the way for the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) to allow India back
into the Olympic fold.
The assembly passed a resolution
condemning Chautala and other
tainted office bearers of the sus-
pended IOA "for causing incalculable
damage to the career of sportsper-
sons, sports bodies and the Olympic
movement".
This is the first ever time that a state
assembly has passed a resolution,
specifically condemning a sports ad-
ministrator or an official of a sports
organisation.
The assembly asked the union min-
istry of sports and youth affairs to im-
plement the 'Model Sports Code' to
pave the way for India's participation
in all international events.
Haryana Parliamentary Affairs Min-
ister Randeep Singh Surjewala
moved the resolution and urged the
sports ministry "to secure the future
of our sportspersons and ensure a fair,
just, equitable and morally appropri-
ate sports administration in India".
The IOC executive board, during its
meeting Sep 4-5 in Buenos Aires, de-
cided the ban on IOA would continue
if it did not change its constitution to
keep out charge-sheeted individuals.
The IOA, during its special general
meeting Aug 25 here, refused to in-
corporate the contentious IOC-pro-
posed clause barring charge-sheeted
individuals from holding any post
and suggested an alternative that
would affect only convicted officials.
The resolution adopted by the assem-
bly said the talent of sportspersons
was being compromised due to the at-
titude of a few individuals who were
running sports bodies.
"These self-serving administrators
have put a question mark on the ca-
reer of players by converting sports
federations/bodies into their personal
fiefdoms. ... Their only purpose is to
keep occupying their position in the
federations," the resolution said.
It pointed out that sportspersons from
Haryana, particularly wrestlers, box-
ers, shooters, hockey and cricket
players, javelin throwers have
brought laurels to the country.
"Nov 25, 2012, a group of tainted
sports administrators bulldozed the
election of Abhay Singh Chautala as
president of IOA. This was done de-
spite the fact that Chautala stood
charge-sheeted under Section 13 (1)
& (2) of the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1988, by a Special CBI court in
New Delhi and there were pro-
hibitory orders passed by the IOC for
not holding such meeting till appro-
priate amendments on ethics and suit-
ability had been carried out in the
IOA constitution," the resolution said,
leading to the suspension of India
from the Olympic movement.
London
England's failure to qualify for the
2014 football World Cup could cost
the British economy up to two billion
pounds.
The FA has been warned of a com-
mercial "disaster" if the country's
campaign fails, with losses of up to
50 million pounds in potential prize
cash, merchandising sales, and spon-
sorship deals, reports.
But this would be dwarfed by the
knock-on effect for the broader econ-
omy -- pubs, supermarkets, airlines,
bookmakers and TV retailers could
expect a huge boost in revenues from
England's participation in the World
Cup.
The British Retail Consortium Tues-
day estimated that qualification to the
2010 World Cup in South Africa was
worth a billion pounds. However,
some economists say the "feel good"
factor generated if England have a
good run could boost the value of
qualification to two billion pounds.
England were held to a goalless draw
in Tuesday night's away game to
Ukraine but still lead Group H with
two games remaining.
Bengaluru FC sign up
two locals
Bangalore
Bengaluru FC announced the sign-
ing of two local boys Niroshan Mani
and Amoes for the I-League season
that begins in less than two weeks.
The midfield duo Tuesday signed
one-year contracts with the club
coached by former Manchester
United player Ashley Westwood.
The twin signings takes the local
presence in the club to five.
Niroshan, 21, is a TFA graduate who
spent two seasons with Goa's Sport-
ing Clube de Goa before securing a
loan move to local club South
United. "I haven't come across a
more professional set up than the
one I've seen at Bengaluru FC. The
coach is fantastic and this is an op-
portunity that will do well for my ca-
reer," said Niroshan. Amoes, 19,
who has represented Karnataka state
twice in the Santosh Trophy and has
also been part of the state U-15 and
U-19 teams, said: "It's great to get
this chance to play for a club from
your city. This is my first brush with
the I-League and I'm going to do
everything to make it count." Coach
Westwood said that the duo were im-
pressive at the trials. "The boys were
on trial and impressed us enough to
give them a chance. It's also good to
have more local presence in the team
and it's a motivation for youngsters
in the community to do well," said
Westwood.
Jaggi replaces Tiwary in
India Red squad
Mumbai
Jharkhand batsman Ishank Jaggi will
replace an injured Saurabh Tiwary in
the India Red squad for the NKP
Salve Challenger cricket trophy.
"Saurabh Tiwary has undergone a
shoulder operation and has, therefore,
been ruled out of the NKP Salve
Challenger Trophy. The All-India
Senior Selection Committee has
picked Ishank Jaggi as his replace-
ment in the India Red squad," said
Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel in a
statement Wednesday.
All-rounder Irfan Pathan will be lead-
ing the India Red squad.
awarded the prestigious Arjuna
Award last month, which recognises
outstanding achievements by an In-
dian sportsman.
A good finish or a successful title de-
fence at the Linkou International Golf
and Country Club will also
strengthen Bhullar's position on the
Order of Merit, where he is currently
ranked second. He stands a chance to
qualify for the WGC-HSBC Champi-
ons in China in October if he can re-
main in the top-two before the cut-off
date Oct 14.
"I think my game has definitely ma-
tured a lot since I won the TPC last
year. I learnt a lot from every tourna-
ment I play in. With my previous vic-
tories and experiences playing on
both the Asian Tour and European
Tour, I think these have helped build
up my game a lot," said Bhullar.
"I don't think it's difficult to come
back and play in a tournament where
I'm defending the title. I've won a few
times on the Indian Tour and four
times on the Asian Tour now. I've got
a lot of expectations but at the end of
the day, this is what we play for. I'm
really pumped up and feeling very
positive with my game this time," he
added.
Chandigarh

24
Printer, Owner and Publisher: Manu Sharma, Editor: Manu Sharma, RNI Reg. No.: PUNMUL/2012/45041 Postal Reg. No. PB/JL-047/2013-15. Published at Central Town,
Jalandhar Printed at: Tej Mohan Nagar Jalandhar
Look bold with berry
lips
Food in Hellenic Republic ain't
that Greek
New Delhi
Hollywood celebrities like Jennifer
Lopez, Emma Watson, Rita Ora and
Kristen Stewart have carried berry
lip colour with panache and hence
are setting a new trend. Fair,
wheatish or dusky, the different
shades of berry can be tried by all
women, says an expert. Makeup
artist Niti Luthra suggests how to
use the bold lip colour: For fair com-
plexion, one can use shades like
Food in Athens with some compli-
cated names for dishes may sound
Greek! But even a die-hard Indian-
food buff, wanting dal-vegetable-
roti-rice on the plate each day, will
find the fare in Greece quite wel-
come, both to the eyes and palate -
even vegetarians.
To sum up Greek food, it is all about
fresh, seasonal vegetables, extra vir-
gin olive oil, yoghurt, salads, non-
processed cheese, a fair dose of
exotic herbs and condiments, daily
catch of seafood and meats of every
kind.
Very Mediterranean!
Melizanosalata may not be a name
that one can come to terms with right
away. But this popular dish is made
of a coarse puree of grilled or
smoked eggplant, with olive oil,
onions, tomatoes, garlic and herbs.
Does it not remind you of our own
bharta? It tastes as well.
Imam Baildi, again with eggplant
onion, chopped garlic and tomatoes
as main ingredients, literally means
the Turkish holy man fainted - per-
haps because it was so good, he
gorged a bit too much on it.
Then you have Tzatziki which is yo-
ghurt blended with cucumber, garlic,
dill, little oil and vinegar. If this
brings to you the memory of our
own raitas - or similar variants
across India - you are bang on.
Only that the Greek make their ver-
sion of the raita - or dips - slightly
thicker and creamier. It's a good ac-
companiment for meze, which are
small dishes, hot or cold, spicy or
savoury, and grilled, baked fried, or
boiled.
"We eat everything. And when I
mean everything, I mean every
thing," said Stephanos, an art collec-
tor and gourmet-chef, also a tour
guide by passion. "Lot of our dishes
are like what you have. But we use a
lot of herbs and very little spice," he
said."It is equally fun to wash it
down with some Ouzo," he added,
with a glint in his eyes, referring to
the potent, traditional alcoholic
drink flavoured with aniseed (saunf)
that turns white and cloudy when
water is added to dilute it.
Greece, or the Hellenic Republic, of-
ficially, and the same size as Tamil
Nadu, has many legends. Among
them Archestratos, a Greek, is said
to have written the first cookbook
around 320 B.C. It also has a tradi-
tion of gourmet cooking, dating
4,000-5,000 years.
light purple with a tint of pink or red
in it. Wheatish women can use light
shades for daytime and medium dark
shades with tints of red and purple
for evening. Girls who have dusky
skin tone can opt for deep purple and
deep red shades.Also, berry lip color
with lots of mascara is the way to
flaunt it. Wear a lip balm first and
apply matte berry colour to make
your lips look perfect.
Like cooking, Greece also has a long
tradition of eating out. Tavernas are
eating joints that are a bit more elab-
orate than our dhabas. Estiatorios are
traditional upmarket restaurants.
Both dot Athens and serve fares that
are pretty affordable.
When you go to a traditional Greek
restaurant, the starters are usually al-
ready laid out and will have most of
these and more, including Keftedas
- small fried balls of meat or vegeta-
bles and a favourite of Greek people.
Like our koftas sans gravy.
There is also sometimes roundels of
egg plant the way you make baigun
bhaja in the western quarters of
India; only that Greeks let the veg-
etable taste its own, then spice it up
slightly with turmeric or other condi-
ments. One difference is that many
dishes, the starters at least, are
served cold, unlike the preference
for hot in India.
There are also dishes like Dol-
madakia -- vegetables and rice
stuffed in vine or cabbage leaves and
steamed. It looks like what people in
western India make with the leaves
of yam and colocasia or Arbi.
Mousaka is again hugely popular -
slices of fried egg plant layered with
mince meat, bechamel sauce and
topped with cheese.
With such a feast of dishes in front
of your eyes - fresh, colourful, wel-
coming and also familiar - one won-
ders if the food in the Hellenic
Republic, known from ancient times
as Hellas, should sound Greek at all!

15 September 2013

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