Vol. 2 Issue 10 10.00 24 PagesRNI Reg. No.: PUNMUL/2012/45041 Postal Reg. No. PB/JL-047/2013-15 SUNDAY 10 MARCH 2013

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National 4 International 6 Campus 10 Celebrity 14 Leisure 16 Business 20 Sports 22

Halle Berry returns in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

Punjab Police Fame In Shame

Charges framed against Manipur’s “Iron Lady”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez loses battle with cancer

Sehwag axed from Test squad

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Your World Connected

Weekly Newspaper

DEMOCRACY VS 144

The incident in which Punjab Police personnel savagely thrashed a helpless young woman and her father have again left the country shocked. The video clipping of the event was aired on na-tional TV channels where the police personnel were seen chasing, slapping, abusing and even hitting the 21-year-old victim with a baton.The victim, had made a complaint to the police about being sexually harassed by some taxi driv-ers outside a marriage venue in Tarn Taran . In recent months ,the image of the Punjab Police has been very eventful for all the wrong reasons.A teenaged girl who had been gang-raped com-mitted suicide in Patiala district after the area police officers continued to harass her over the incident and were even pressuring her to compro-mise with her perpetrators. A police officer was dismissed from service and arrested following the suicide.

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“If I get married and have children, I will be status quoist and will like my children to take my place.” - Rahul Gandhi

2 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013OPINION

Democracy under critical spotlight in India-oriented books

EDITORIAL DESKLOUD & CLEAR

S.K. Sinha

Manu Sharma

Sati was a woman The mother screamed aloud and the wailing of a newborn was heard.

She wanted to kill her right there but she survived to be called Sati. She was

taught to be tolerant while her brothers learnt the alphabets. She saw her mother

getting the worst of all. With no education and just armed with the knowledge

of house keeping, “Sati” grew up to a cruel world and before she knew that she

had grown up, they married her to a widower who had many children older than

the new mother. Sati learnt the household chores well and one night she was

forced into womanhood. Her young mind and body were made to carry another

one and Savitri it was. As destiny and tradition met, Sati was forced to lie on the

pyre of her Swami while people chanted and Savitri cried for her mother.

Celebrating Women’s day, somewhere in the remote corners of this vast

nation, a Sati or Savitri cries in the dead of the night in sobs that none may hear.

They still want to kill the daughter at birth and educate only the boys. Child

marriage is still practiced as a tradition. But no matter what their condition, the

solemn duty of progeny will remain with Sati and Savitri . You may outrage

them or kill them but they will always be their waiting for you to return home

with a prayer from their heart.

Jai Hind

Wharton and Politics

An Aggressive Prime Minister

Wharton Business School is one of the foremost business schools of the world, an MBA from Wharton is an impor-tant stepping stone in one’s career in corporate world. A premier institution and a part of University of Pennsylva-nia, Wharton carries great heft in the intellectual world. A testament to ris-ing strength of students from India at Wharton they initiated a forum called Wharton India Economic Forum a while ago.The forum was initially supposed to serve as a stage for debate on India’s growth path on the highway of reforms

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shed his characteristic self to attack the op-position in Lok Sabha. The poetic ver-bal duel between Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and the Prime Minister had the parliament in splits. Humour aside it marked one of the rare occa-sions apart from big ticket legislative events like nuclear deal or a vote of confidence that Dr Manmohan Singh deigned to address his colleagues. It begs enquiry as to what prodded the PM to speak out and that too in this fashion? Grapevine has it that politi-cal strategists of UPA are getting wor-

instituted two decades ago. Currently Wharton alumni occupy the command-ing heights of politics and business leadership in India, from Ambanis to Singhs, Wharton has touched them all. It was therefore fitting that Wharton’s forum tried serve as the battleground for the idea of India. A debate on our future and its shape could hardly find a better setting than the current forum. However academics associated from other schools and faculties had other thoughts.A mere mention of Narendra Modi is often enough to prompt hysterical re-

ried about increased credibility and strength of attacks by the opposition. In other words there is a feeling that electorate has started to believe and invest into an alternative.UPA and the Prime Minister in the past too have come under fire for non performance but all such previous in-stances had the government feeling smug in absence of a credible chal-lenger. The characterisation of UPA as termites of modern India has some-where hit the ruling dispensation hard. Runaway inflation and multiple scams have created a precarious condition for

sponse from a section of Indian ori-gin academics in the US. Hence a full fledged invite for Mr Modi to speak at Wharton was nothing short of blasphe-my. After a bitter and acidic campaign Wharton forum withdrew its invite from Mr Modi. As a result most ma-jor sponsors of the event backed away from the show and it left Government of India as one of the major sponsors of the event. An American capitalist busi-ness school forum thriving on support of a socialist government of India and denying freedom of speech under leftist protest, does it get stranger than this?

Dr Singh whereby his past credentials are under a threat of being subsumed by current performance.In any narrative the facts are the first to change followed by a change in the discourse. In 2004 our nascent eco-nomic boom required a stabilizing and steady hand, current economic doldrums call for a far more strident approach to kick start the stalled eco-nomic engine. Dr Singh by trying to shed his normal genial self wants to signal that he may also provide a dif-ferent style of leadership. But is it too late for that?

New DelhiThe Indian democratic apparatus is in-creasingly being placed under a critical scanner by a new tribe of writers who are exploring the functional dynamics of the country to pin down faultlines and prescribe pills for change.Soon after the country became inde-pendent in 1947, icons and ideologues of the freedom movement like Mahat-ma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad began to express their reflections of the nascent democracy in books that were sweeping commen-taries on the making of a new India - often suggesting western-type growth models.Now, a new breed of writers is critiqu-ing the decline in the country’s value system and questioning the erosion of some of the country’s democratic in-stitutions over the six-odd decades of

independence.Journalist-turned-novelist Anupam Srivastava speaks about how the lack of power can reduce the individual to a non-entity in a democracy. His debut novel, “A Piece of the Giant”, comments on failed social reforms in an independent India and perpetua-tion of elite institutions that keep the divide between the rulers and the peo-ple intact. The narrative encompasses a fictional tale of the erstwhile ruler of Teekra who becomes a wandering seer after a brush with governance as reforms minister, his son Pratap, a woman with supernatural powers and a slogan writer.“I have tried to understand the rela-tionship between the rulers and the ruled is one of common people queu-ing up (at the rulers’ door in Lutyen’s Delhi - the bungalows that were once the symbols of colonial India). I have

tried to find out the kind of democra-cy India had been striving for where you cannot prosecute a policeman, act against injustice and fight the injus-tice,” Srivastava told Management strategist, writer and TV presenter Pavan Choudary, the author of books like “A Trilogy of Wisdom”, “Machiavelli for Moral People” and “When You are Sinking, Become a Submarine”, challenges the notions of goodness and victory in a corrupt world in his new work, “How a Good Person can Win”. It uses examples from everyday India and history to argue that goodness coupled with wis-dom is a winning combination.“Corruption is not the only big prob-lem in our democracy; lack of educa-tion among voters is another. They are often swayed by traditional appeals of caste and kinship. Only in India is it possible to convince people and sell

them a party on the strength of its elec-tion symbol,” Choudary told “We still have a traditional society that fails to understand the importance of science. The approach to the new so-lutions should be scientific, free of re-ligious superstition,” he said, adding: “Subhas Chandra Bose’s solution to educate people before teaching them to vote is relevant to modern India”.Writer, commentator and social thinker Ramachandra Guha says the 10 po-litical and social challenges that Indian democracy has to tackle headon are: Left wing extremism, religious extrem-ism, a corrupt centre, decline of public institutions, the growing gap between the rich and the poor, environment deg-radation, political fragmentation of the electoral system, unreconciled borders,

unstable neighbourhoods and apathy of the media.In his new book, “Patriots and Parti-sans”, Guha recommends a complete overhaul of the political system to do away with dynastic politics and a pro-active role for the Left in the country’s decision-making process.Diplomat-politician-writer Shashi Tha-roor, who had shot to fame with his satire about contemporary Indian poli-tics and the democratic process in “The Great Indian Novel” using allegories from the “Mahabharata”, advocates a more aggressive role for India in the changing global order in “Pax In-dica”, a study of India’s foreign affairs down the decades.He also urges greater “South Asian and regional solidarity” for a matured and stable democracy.

By Madhusree Chatterjee

By Commander (Retd.) Neil GadihokeIndia’s defence budget needs to match strategic expectations

India’s defence budget has been hard-est hit, as the government scrambled to cut costs given the bleak economic growth of five percent -- the lowest in a decade. The cut came also against the backdrop of a history of under-utilisation of allocation by the de-fence ministry and the political hesi-tancy to conclude deals.Unveiling the national budget for the next fiscal last , Finance Minister P. Chidambaram proposed a defence spending of Rs.2.03 trillion ($37.45 billion). This is a 5.2-percent increase from 2012-13, when the budget stood at Rs.1.93 trillion. Since the alloca-tion and utilisation may change in the course of the fiscal year, the revised estimates accord a more realistic esti-mate of funds outflow.Accordingly, the budget hike, in real terms, amounts to Rs.251.68 billion ($4.57 billion) over the revised esti-mates of Rs.1.78 trillion for the fiscal ending March 31, which amounts to a 14-percent increase. In 2012-13, the increase had been 17 percent.Figures also reveal that the defence

ministry suffered a budget cut of over Rs.140 billion last year, a majority of which -- over Rs.100 billion -- had been marked for procurement of new defence hardware.India’s annualised inflation rate of around 6 percent implies that the mil-itary has actually gained little from this year’s increase. The U.S. defence expenditure amounted to $500 billion last year and China’s was $110 bil-lion. In comparison, India’s defence budget of $38 billion is humble and barely 1.79 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). This is a record low for India in at least three decades, with the figure drop-ping considerably from 3.16 percent of the GDP in 1987.This year’s allocation is also the low-est in terms of percentage of the to-tal annual government expenditure. This year’s defence budget is 12.23 percent of the estimated spending of the government in the upcoming fis-cal year, considerably down from the 15.79 percent in 1999 -- and lower from last year’s 12.97 percent.

Despite this dismal allocation, De-fence Minister A.K. Antony put up a brave front by saying taking into account the “difficult economic situ-ation both at home and abroad” this was the best possible outlay. “Factor-ing the current economic scenario, he (the finance minister) has been fair to the defence sector also by increasing the budget and assuring that should there be any urgent need in future the same would be provided.”The allocated budget of Rs.2.03 trillion will be bifurcated into two broad sections, capital and revenue. The capital budget is earmarked and utilised for the force build-up, which includes procurement of new weap-ons and systems and toward meet-ing committed liabilities in the form of payments for contracts signed in previous years. The other part of the budget, termed as revenue budget, is meant for salaries, pension, recurring expenditure, maintenance of arms and equipment and expenditures of a repetitive nature.Out of the Rs.1.169 trillion allocated

for revenue expenditure, the army has been allocated Rs.818.33 billion, the navy has got Rs.121.94 billion while the air force has got Rs.182.95 bil-lion.Out of the Rs.867.41-billion capital expenditure, the air force has the larg-est share of over Rs.380 billion fol-lowed by the navy and the army. The major portion of these funds would be used to procure aircraft and aero-engines. India is also in the process of finalising a contract for 126 Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft, valued at approximately $20 billion .But all such number crunching and analysis obscures two key short-comings in India’s quest for getting greater bang for the buck. The first entails a history of under-utilisation. Due to the long-winded, complicated and extremely bureaucratic defence procurement procedures, delays in procurement are endemic.Hence, a host of defence procurement funds allotted for a given financial year commencing April 1, are sur-rendered by the following March

31 due under-spending. The Indian Navy being an exception, utilising its full budget year after year, owing to proactive monitoring and automated funds utilisation system.

Second, in spite of checks and bal-ances incorporated into the defence acquisition process, allegations of scams are embarrassingly regular. The latest news headlines relate to al-leged kickbacks for the Agusta West-land helicopters bought from Italy for use by key dignitaries, for which a former air force chief is alleged to have been involved. The investiga-tions are yet inconclusive.Consequently, political hesitancy to conclude defence deals is substantial, especially in a juncture like the pres-ent one, where general elections are only a year away. This is certainly not a welcome scenario. Indian defence spending will require a massive boost both in terms of allocation and utili-sation if the rhetoric of the country being a rising economic and military power is to be accomplished.

LETTER TO THE EDITORLetters may be emailed to the editoruconnect@gmail.com ,with full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

3CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 COVER STORY

The incident in which Punjab Police personnel savagely beating up a help-less young woman and her father have again left the country shocked. The video clipping of the event was aired on national TV channels where the police personnel were seen chasing, slapping, abusing and even hitting the 21-year-old victim with a baton.The victim, had made a complaint to the police about being sexually ha-rassed by some taxi drivers outside a marriage venue in Tarn Taran . In recent months ,the image of the Punjab Police has been very eventful for all the wrong reasons.A teenaged girl who had been gang-raped committed suicide in Patiala dis-trict after the area police officers con-tinued to harass her over the incident and were even pressuring her to com-promise with her perpetrators. A police officer was dismissed from service and arrested following the suicide.In Patiala, a woman who was accused of stealing a purse, was slapped and beaten in full public view earlier this year. She was holding a child in her arms but that did not stop the police-men who insisted on taking her to the

police station. Strict directions of the Punjab government that only women police officers should deal with women and that women should not be called to police stations went unheeded.In Faridkot, the town came to a stand-still for days together after Punjab Police botched up the kidnapping and rape case of a minor girl, allegedly to favour a local gangster from a wealthy family with links to the ruling Shiro-mani Akali Dal.Two senior police officers then did something that even violated Supreme Court guidelines. They not only iden-tified the victim but even showed her “marriage” photographs to the media to prove that she was not kidnapped but had eloped.In Amritsar’s Chhertta area, a sub-inspector in uniform lost his life last December after he resisted a local gangster and ruling Akali Dal leader who was sexually harassing his young daughter. The gangster shot the police officer dead in full public view. The area police, barely a few metres away, failed to turn up on time despite being informed of the incident.

SC issues notice to Punjab

Taking note of media reports of the thrashing by police of a Dalit woman and her father in Punjab and a group of teachers in the Bihar capital Patna, the Supreme Court on Monday is-sued notice to the chief secretaries of both the states.An apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, while issuing the notice, said: “Both the incidents have shocked the conscience of the entire nation.”“These incidents raise important con-stitutional issues relating to Article 21 of the constitution and dignity of individual. We, therefore, feel that it is proper for this court to take cog-nizance of the gross violation of the human rights as well as the constitu-

Wrong to hit woman: Punjab DGP

On the defensive after its personnel were caught on camera thrashing a young woman in public in Tarn Taran district, Punjab Police said that it was “examining all evidence” of the inci-dent.Punjab Police Director General of Po-lice (DGP) Sumedh Singh Saini told media here: “Whatever the facts may be, whatever the provocation, it was wrong to raise a hand or lathi (cane baton) on a lady.”Saini said two police personnel, seen in the video hitting the young woman Sunday, would remain under suspen-sion till the magisterial inquiry or-dered by Punjab Chief Minister Par-kash Singh Badal was completed.Defending the police personnel, Saini said that “they also have their point of view”.“The fight was between two groups and police had responded to that. There are different versions to the

incident. We are examin-ing them,” he said.The young woman, who was slapped, pushed, abused and hit with a baton by policemen in uniform demanded strict punishment for her tor-menters.“I have been humiliated and beaten in public by them. Why is the chief minister not coming to my rescue now,” the vic-tim asked Four to five police per-sonnel were caught on camera assaulting the

victim and her father after she report-edly complained to police against some taxi and truck drivers harassing her near a marriage venue.The policemen also beat up her father and pushed him to the ground. His turban was also thrown away.The incident was recorded by a by-stander on his mobile phone Sunday and was aired by TV news channels.The Punjab chief minister directed the Tarn Taran district magistrate to as-certain the causes and circumstances which led to the incident and submit the inquiry report within three weeks.“This was an unpardonable offence and anyone connected with this grave crime, howsoever influential he may be, would not be spared and brought to book as per the law of the land.” he said.The DGP suspended two policemen seen in the video.

Magisterial probe ordered

NCW seeks probe

The National Commission for Wom-en (NCW) has asked the Punjab Police chief to probe the attack on a woman by policemen in the state’s Tarn Taran district.The NCW has issued a notice to the Punjab’s director general of police (DGP) to investigate the incident and apprise the commission about the ac-tual facts of the case along with ac-tion taken report within three days.The commission took suo motu cog-nizance of the media reports of the incident and sent the notice, NCW sources said.

The Official website of Punjab Police SaysIt is not enough for the police alone to fight crime. Reducing the risk and fear of crime is a task for the police and the community working together.To achieve our aim of making Punjab one the safest State in the world we need the people who live here, work here and visit here to do their part in making life difficult for criminals. Each of us can do something to protect ourselves from crime. Crime prevention is no joke! If we all work together we can make our homes and families safer. Please help prevent crime today! In many cases the basic information contained in this section and Common Sense methods can help you contribute to the fight against crime by protecting yourself and your prop-erty. REMEMBER, they who do nothing to prevent crime encourage it!

Even as the victim of an assault by Punjab Police personnel sought their dismissal, an embarrassed Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered a magisterial probe into the incident.The young woman was slapped pushed, abused and hit with a baton

Punjab Police Fame In Shame

by policemen in uniform in Pun-jab’s frontier district of Tarn Taran on Sunday, demanded strict punish-ment for her tormenters.Area police officers initially denied that such an incident took place.Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is the state home minister, asked Saini to initiate strict action against the po-licemen for assaulting the woman.He said that there would be zero tol-erance to any misconduct, especially against women.Opposition Congress leaders con-demned the assault on the woman saying Punjab had become a “law-less” state under the Badal govern-ment.Leader of Opposition Sunil Jakhar said the assault on the woman was “shameful”.“We have been highlighting how Punjab has become a lawless state. The latest incident confirms this. Strict action should be taken against the policemen involved,” Jakhar told media.

tional rights of the people,” the court said.Some Punjab Police personnel were caught on camera brutally thrash-ing a young Dalit woman and her ex-serviceman father in public after she approached them to file a sexual harassment case in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district Monday.In another case, nearly 50 fixed-pay teachers on contract, including women, were injured in a police cane charge during a protest in Pat-na Tuesday. The teachers were de-manding permanent jobs and equal pay for equal work.Taking on record the various news-paper reports of the two incidents, the court in its order said: “The con-tents of the news items revealed that members of the Punjab Police and Patna Police have mercilessly beat-

en an unarmed woman and teachers.”The court said: “Unfortunately, the administration of the governments of Punjab and Bihar have not taken ad-equate steps for protecting the people against the wholly unwarranted ac-tion taken by the police at Tarn Taran and Patna.”The court asked Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati to assist the court in the matter. The court also asked se-nior counsel Harish Salve and U.U. Lalit to assist the court as amicus cur-iae.The court directed the registry to place the matter before the Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and seek his direction for the listing of the case March 11, 2013.

4 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013NATIONAL NEWS

Nearly dozen injured in clashes, curfew in entire SrinagarSrinagarNearly a dozen civilians and security men were injured in clashes during pro-tests across the Kashmir Valley against a youth’s death in firing, leading to authorities to impose of curfew in en-tire Srinagar city from midnight and restrictions in other major towns.A police statement issued this evening said the situ-ation across the valley re-mained largely peaceful although stone-pelting in-cidents occurred in Srina-gar and other parts.“Miscreants pelted stones in Batamaloo and Zakoora in Srinagar, Khanpora, Cement Bridge and Pal-halan in Baramulla, Narbal crossing in Badgam, Papchan in Bandipora and Cherkoot Lolab in Kupwara district. Police exercised maximum restraint while chasing away the protesters. Nine policemen and two civilians received minor injuries.“Protesters also torched a vehicle be-longing to a private cement factory in Pulwama district,” the statement said.

Senior separatist leader, Syed Ali Gee-lani, who arrived here from Delhi was placed under house arrest by the author-ities in his uptown Hyderpora residence. A group of protesters also clashed with the security forces outside Geelani’s house after his arrival.

Srinagar’s district magistrate announced Thursday evening that pedestrian and vehicular movement would not be al-lowed in the state’s summer capital Fri-day till further orders to maintain law and order.Restrictions under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code have also been imposed in other major towns including Sopore, Baramulla and Badgam.An assembly of five or more people is deemed as unlawful under this section and the security forces are authorized to use force to break such unlawful as-

semblies.Curfew continued for the second day Thursday in police station areas of Rain-awari, Nowhatta, Khanyar, Safa Kadal, M.R. Gunj, Zadibal, Maisuma and Kr-alkhud areas of Srinagar as well as Tre-hgam and Sopore towns.

Despite the restrictions, stone-pelting youths en-gaged security forces in clashes in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town where 24-year-old Tahir Lateef Sofi was killed in firing by security forces .While the state police have lodged a first information report (FIR) against some security personnel believed to be responsible for the

youth’s killing, the army has also an-nounced a time-bound probe into the firing incident.Kashmir Divisional Commissioner, As-gar Hassan Samoon meanwhile said that a police station would soon be set up in Baramulla’s old town for better policing of the area.The old town in Baramulla, seen as a strong bastion of separatist sentiment, has remained a vulnerable area from the law and order point of view and has often seen violent clashes between pro-testers and security forces.

Security being tightened in Ajmer ahead of Pakistan PM’s visit

JaipurA Pakistani security team arrived in Rajasthan’s Ajmer town, a day ahead of the visit of Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Prevez Ashraf to the world famous shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty in Ajmer, over 140 km from here.A senior police officer told IANS that elaborate security arrangements were being made in consultation with the Pakistani security team.“At least 1,000 policemen will be de-puted in and around the shrine area for the security of Prime Minister Ashraf. The district administration has deputed 10 duty magistrates to oversee the se-curity,” the officer said.The officer added that the shrine will be vacated minutes before the arrival of the Pakistan prime minister Saturday morning.Four-layered security arrangements will be put in place from the helipad to the shrine, the officer added.“There will be snipers on several roof-tops in the shrine area and also at the windows of houses lining the main road leading to the shrine. Police will

be deputed every fifty metres of the route the Pakistan prime minister will pass,” the officer said. The administration has ordered closure of the shops situated in the area.“The shops will remain closed until he leaves the shrine,” the police officer said.Ajmer divisional commissioner Kiran Soni Gupta also held a meeting of se-nior police and administration officials and asked them to remain extra vigilant as some groups have planned protests during the visit.The Ajmer Bar Association has de-manded that the status of “state guest” given to the Pakistan prime minister be withdrawn.“Asharf is welcome in Ajmer as a com-mon devotee, but providing facilities and security will not be tolerated,” said bar association president Rajesh Tan-don.He said the association had planned to show black flags to the Pakistan prime minister if his cavalcade passed the dis-trict and session court.

Effective measures check infiltration from Bangladesh: R.K. SinghNew DelhiEffective steps were being taken to guard the India-Bangladesh border and check illegal infiltration from the neighbouring country, union Home Secretary R.K.Singh said .Presiding over a tripartite meeting of the officials from the centre and Assam governments and pro-talk United Lib-eration Front of Asom (ULFA), Singh “assured that effective measures were being taken in this regard which had helped to control the illegal influx and also that the additional measures, if re-quired, would be taken”, a statement said here.The tripartite meeting was held to re-view the progress made in talks with ULFA and also to discuss their de-mands. It was decided to follow up on a few specific steps on some issues.Singh told the meeting that he would “very soon” hold a meeting with the heads of various central ministries and Assam government in connection with the various issues raised by the delega-tion.ULFA representatives urged the home secretary that the genuine grievances of

the people of Assam needed to be ad-dressed on priority. In response, Singh emphasized that the government “at-taches highest priority and importance to address the grievances of the people of the country including Assam”. The meeting was attended by an ULFA delegation headed by its chairman Ara-binda Rajkhowa, the central govern-ment’s representative at the peace talks P.C. Haldar and Assam Chief Secretary N.K.Das.After the meeting with Singh, ULFA delegation also met the union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

Court dismisses petition against Robert Vadra

Lucknow In a respite for Robert Vadra, business-man and son-in-law of Congress presi-dent Sonia Gandhi, the Allahabad High Court rejected a plea seeking a probe against him following news reports al-leging wrongdoings in land deals.The petition filed by activist Nutan Thakur sought action against Vadra on the basis of news reports on allegations levelled against the businessman by politician Arvind Kejriwal.In her petition filed Oct 9 last year, Thakur contended that the prime minis-ter’s office should conduct a probe into the allegations against Vadra.The central government, in the last hearing, told the court that the petition was untenable as it was based on news reports.A division bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Virendra Kumar Dix-it said the petitioner “utterly failed to make out a case....”“There is no proper affirmation and verification of her affidavit filed in sup-port of the writ petition,” the court said.Activists who were said to have re-leased the news items had not come for-ward to file their affidavits to prove the authenticity of the documents sought to be relied upon by the petitioner, the court said.There was also no legal obligation upon the respondent (government) ... to hold inquiry of any kind into the trans-actions said to have been entered be-tween two private entities, court said.The court said there was absolutely no merit and it deserved to be dismissed while recording a note of caution against filing of such petitions.

Parliamentary nod for anti-rape ordinance by March 22: Kamal Nath

New DelhiThe UPA government is committed to getting the parliamentary nod for the anti-rape ordinance by March 22, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said.”We are committed to pass-ing the anti-rape ordinance in the par-liament by March 22 under any circum-stances... there will be a special cabinet meeting (for the purpose) shortly,” Ka-mal Nath told reporters.The ordinance, which was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee Feb 3, has to be approved by parliament with-in six weeks from the date of its prom-ulgation. The first half of the ongoing budget session ends March 22 and the house will reconvene only on April 22.The ordinance proposes death in rarest of rare cases of rape and for repeat of-fenders while keeping marital rape out

of its ambit.According to informed sources, the government, which had replaced the word “rape” with “sexual assault” to make such crimes gender-neutral, is again considering going back to the original word.The issues have been in sharp focus af-ter the brutal assault and gang rape of a Delhi woman on Dec 16, 2012. She later succumbed to her injuries in Sin-gapore.The ordinance was framed by the government to show its intention to treat the issue of crimes against women with urgency and incorporated sugges-tions of the Justice J.S. Verma panel formed to give views to make anti-rape laws more strong.The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs has also endorsed the punishment.

Rs.7,222 crore fake bill scam unearthedMumbaiThe Income Tax (IT) Department has detected a scam of bogus bills issued by hawala dealers enabling tax pay-ers to suppress their taxable income, an official said . The scam includes 150 cases in Mumbai with bogus bills worth Rs.6,500 crore and 39 in Pune with fake bills worth Rs.722 crore, total-ling Rs.7,222 crore. The IT Department found that many tax-payers obtained the fake bills for non-genuine purchases of expenses from some hawala dealers and used these bills to suppress their taxable incomes. “Bogus bill are issued by hawala dealers to beneficiaries without actual dispatch of goods,” the official said,

explaining the rampant use of this practice to evade taxes. The IT Department investigated the cases based on inputs by the VAT and Sales Tax Department of Maharash-tra - which found over 2,000 similar cases of evasion in the state - as part of the regular sharing of information between the central and state revenue departments.The IT Department has appealed to the assesses/tax payers who have availed of such bogus bills to come forward and disclose the correct state of affairs by filing returns or revised returns. Tax payers have also been asked to clear their tax dues by March 15, which is the last date for payment of advance tax.

5CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 NATIONAL NEWS

Charges framed against Manipur’s “Iron Lady” New DelhiSocial activist Irom Sharmila, who has been on fast for about 12 years demanding the repeal of the contro-versial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), refused to plead guilty of attempting suicide, and a Delhi court framed charges against her.Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain framed charges against her for attempt to commit suicide and issued show cause notice to Sharmila after she re-fused to plead guilty.She told the court that she “loves life and does not want to take her life”.Sharmila, who was present in the court, refused that she attempted to commit suicide here at Jantar Matnar in 2006.She said: “I only want justice.”

“If I wanted to commit suicide I might have died. My protest was non-violent for my demand, just to live as human being,” she added.She appeared before the court under IPC 309 (attempt to commit suicide) for fasting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.The court hearing the case told Sharmi-la: “We respect you but the law of land does not permit you to take your life.”When asked if she tried to commit sui-cide she replied “No”.The court earlier told her counsel to explain to her that maximum punish-ment in the case was a few months to a year and that she has been in custody for more than 6 years, so if she pleads guilty, the case would be settled Mon-day.

Supporters protest outside Delhi courtDemanding revocation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, (AFSPA) over 30 supporters of Manipur’s “Iron Lady” Irom Sharmila Chanu gathered outside Patiala House Court Monday morning and raised slogans in support of her campaign.The renowned rights activist has been on an indefinite hunger strike since Nov 2, 2000 in Manipur, demanding the withdrawal of AFSPA from the state after witnessing the killing of 10 people by the army at a bus stop near her home. Raising slogans “we want justice” Bhavan Meiti, a journalist from Ma-nipur said: “We demand the repeal of the draconian AFSPA which violates

the human rights of people in the name of curbing the insurgency. We are with her (Irom Sharmila) the ‘Iron Lady’ of Manipur.”“The army often misuses the power given to it by the government. The demand to revoke AFSPA is not the demand by the people or by few activ-ists, but even the committee appointed by the central government has recom-mended it,” Meiti said.Sharmila appeared at the Patiala House Court in connection with a fast unto death protest she had staged against AFSPA at Jantar Mantar here in 2006.Meanwhile, another protester Djorgi, a student from northeast said that Irom Sharmila is not just an activist fighting

Mukherjee is honoured in Bangladesh amid more violence

DhakaA “minor explosion” outside the hotel where President Pranab Mukherjee was staying caused a flutter among the vis-iting Indian delegation but police dis-missed it as only a firecracker aimed to enforce the strike as Bangladesh con-tinued to be rocked by days of a mass upsurge and killings as Islamist fun-damentalists faced off with secularists to claim the nation’s soul and political space.The explosion on the road intersec-tion outside the Hotel Pan Pacific So-nargaon, first thought to be a cocktail explosion, found virtually no mention in Bangladeshi media. Indian officials said “none of the delegation members heard any explosion nor knew of any such incident”. Police later said it was only a firecracker and that the incident had been blown up by the media.The incident came even as three people were killed in fresh clashes in Bangla-desh and three compartments of a train were set on fire at Kamalapur Railway Station in the city.Referring to the incident, Venu Ra-jamony, press secretary to the Indian president, said in a statement that “life in and around the hotel in Dhaka where the president is staying is completely normal. None of the delegation mem-bers heard any explosion nor knew of any such incident.”“Bursting of such cocktails are com-mon in Bangladesh during hartals and cannot be described as a bomb,” the statement said.“It was a small cracker. The explo-

sion took place at 2 p.m., on the middle of the road away from the hotel,” said Kabir.The Jamaat-e-Islami has called a two-day strike from Sunday to protest the death sentence to Jamaat leader Delwar Hossain Sayedee for the 1971 war crimes, including rape and genocide. Over 70 people have been killed in clashes since the Thursday sentence handed down by a war crimes tribunal.Three more people died in fresh clashes in Shatkheera and in Sirazganj by pro-testing Jamaat members Monday, taking the toll since last Thursday to over 70.Mukherjee had in the morning attended a convocation ceremony at the Dhaka University where authorities described him as “the first Bengali president of In-dia” and conferred on him a doctorate of law degree.Speaking at the convocation, Mukherjee expressed confidence that Bangladesh’s democratic traditions would grow stron-ger with time and the people would pre-serve democracy with their “constant vigil”.His comments come when the country is witnessing its largest protests in 20 years at Shahbag, near the university. Spearheaded mostly by students active

on social media platforms like Face-book, twitter and blogging forums, the protests have galvanised thousands to demand death penalty for those guilty of war crimes, mostly Jamaat activists.Mukherjee was later conferred the Lib-eration War Honour Award in recogni-tion of his “outstanding contribution” to the 1971 liberation war.In his acceptance speech, Mukherjee re-called events of the 1971 war and how he in June 15, 1971, he initiated a dis-cussion on the floor of the Rajya Sabha “..when I suggested that India should accord diplomatic recognition to the Government of Bangladesh in exile in Mujibnagar.He assured Bangladesh of India’s con-tinuing cooperation and friendship, say-ing: “As in 1971, so in 2013, the people of India stand beside the people of Ban-gladesh. We will walk with you as equal partners, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm.

for a cause in the northeast, but a sym-bol of “women power”.“She is not a terrorist. Nobody has been allowed to meet her and she is not allowed to meet anybody. The way she is being confined for such a long time is violation of human rights,” Alok Singh, from Krantikari Yuva Sanghat-an, said.Sharmila, who has been on fast for about 12 years demanding the repeal of the controversial AFSPA was flown to Delhi from Manipur ,reached the court here in the attempt to suicide case, slapped against her due to her 2006 protest.She is now in judicial custody and is being forcibly fed with a feeding tube through the nose.

Maharashtra rape case: Three detained

Police thrashing: SC issues notice to Punjab, Bihar

US honours Indian as exchange alumni

100 huts gutted in Mumbai slum blaze

Bhandara Maharashtra Police detained three people in connection with the rape and murder of three minor sisters here.An official from Bhandara’s Lakhani police station said that three suspects have been taken into custody. “They are being interrogated for their pos-sible role in the rape and murder of the three minor girls,” he said.The police official refused to name the suspects or confirm whether they were acquainted with the victims stat-ing that it would be too premature.The three girls aged five, nine and 11 had gone missing Feb 14 from Lakhani village of Bhandara district, 65 km from Nagpur. Their mother lodged a complaint with the police after they did not return from school.Additional Director General of Police Ahmed Javed had said many people have been questioned in the case.Since then, the police have been go-ing around in circles with their in-vestigations, not having found any substantial leads leading to the perpe-trators of the crime.A police official had been suspended for dereliction of duty after the in-cident.Two days after the incident of rape and murder, some villagers discovered the brutalised bodies of the victims from a well near Mur-madi village, following which the police registered a case of ‘accidental death’.It was only after the villagers took to the streets, blocked traffic and pro-tested outside the police station that police finally lodged a case of mur-der, kidnapping, rape and other seri-ous charges.

WashingtonIndia’s Shubhalaxmi Vaylure has been selected by US State Department as In-ternational Exchange Alumni Member for March for her dedication to build-ing greater environmental awareness in India.Dr Shubhalaxmi’s will be recognized on the International Exchange Alumni website, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ official website for the more than one million Department-sponsored exchange alumni worldwide.Shubhalaxmi first came to the US in 2003 as part of the Fulbright Indo-American Environmental Leadership Programme which took her to the Uni-versity of Montana to study educational nature centres, the State Department announcement said.Upon returning from this programme, she drew inspiration from her Fulbright Programme as she implemented inno-vative educational Programmes at the Mumbai Conservation Education Cen-tre.Shubhalaxmi went on to study non-profit management at Boston Univer-sity through the Hubert H. Humphrey Programme. This experience enabled her to bring her environmental advo-cacy to a new level.Returning from the Humphrey Pro-gramme, she developed online courses in natural history and worked in the organization development sector of the Bombay Natural History Society where she conducted staff training workshops and boosted fundraising and marketing efforts to benefit the Centre.In 2012, Dr. Shubhalaxmi and a team of her alumni peers won support from the State Department’s Bureau of Educa-tional and Cultural Affairs Alumni En-gagement Innovation Fund to provide management trainings for professionals from Indian environmental NGOs. The team has already trained nearly 150 in-dividuals.Shubhalaxmi Vaylure loves nature, ac-cording to her official biography. On her Facebook page, her “dream house” overlooks a lush, marshy, nature scene. “It was in my childhood that I got the nature bug,” she said. “I spent my growing years surrounded by trees and bees. Science was my favourite sub-ject.”

New DelhiTaking note of media reports of the thrashing by police of a Dalit woman and her father in Punjab and a group of teachers in the Bihar capital Patna, the Supreme Court Monday issued notice to the chief secretaries of both the states.An apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice Ran-jana Prakash Desai while issuing the notice said: “We are taking suo motu congnisance...after seeing the dis-turbing visuals on television.” Some Punjab Police personnel were caught on camera brutally thrashing a young Dalit woman and her ex-serviceman father in public after she approached them to file a sexual harassment case in Punjab’s Taran Taran district .In another case, nearly 50 fixed-pay teachers on contract, including wom-en, were injured in police lathicharge during a protest in Patna Tuesday. The teachers were demanding per-manent jobs and equal pay for equal work. The court has directed Attorney Gen-eral G.E. Vahanvati, Additional So-licitor General Haren Rawal, senior counsel Harish Salve and U.U. Lalit to assist the court in the matter.The court has listed the matter for March 11.

MumbaiEight people sustained burn injuries and around 100 huts were reduced to ashes in a major fire that engulfed a slum near Bandra station in west Mumbai.The fire which started around 2 a.m. quickly spread to adjoining slums in the congested Shastri Nagar slum colony, catching people unawares in their sleep, according to BMC Disaster Control room. However, local youths immedi-ately raised an alarm and helped evacu-ate the people and their belongings quickly to safe spots.As the flames spread, several gas cylin-ders also caught fire and started burst-ing, and added to the damage and losses.Ten fire tenders rushed to the spot and finally douzed the fire by 6 a.m.. The cause of the fire is being investigated, the officials said. Of the eight injured, five were discharged after treatment for minor burns.

6 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013INTERNATIONAL

Khaleda Zia calling off meeting with Pranab ‘very unfortunate’: BangladeshDhakaBangladesh described as “very unfor-tunate” its opposition leader Khaleda Zia calling off her meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, a meet-ing the BNP leader had herself sought.Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, address-ing a press conference, said “”It is very unfortunate that from her side (Zia’s side) the meeting was called off. It should not have happened.”Moni also said that Zia, the head of the Bangladesh National Party and former prime minister, had herself sought the meeting with the Indian president, which was scheduled for Monday.“The Indian president is a highly re-spected person in Bangladesh. The opposition leader had sought the ap-pointment, and it was expected that she would call on him. It is unfortu-nate that it was called off.”However, pressed on whether she thought it was a breach of protocol, Moni declined to say anything, except that it was very unfortunate.She also added that the opposition par-ty had fixed the meeting with Mukher-jee through the Indian High Commis-

sion.“As a Bangali nation we take pride in being hospitable and be-ing gracious. And this is obvious departure from that,” she added.Asked if it was a “potential threat to democratic norms”, Moni said “What it shows is that not all parties share similar democratic attitudes and practices.. That this was a departure from democratic norms are demonstrated..”She added that Bangladesh did “not want the close relations with India to suffer due to the depar-ture”.Moni’s comments come on a day the BNP has called a dawn-to-dusk strike on which two buses have been set on fire in Mirpur and Kawran Bazar of Dhaka. Processions, explosions were re-ported from Sabujbagh, Mugda, Gulshan Link Road and other areas of the capital. Vandalism was reported from Golapbagh area of Jatrabari.Rail links were snapped at Bhatiari of Chittagong early Tuesday.The BNP has called for the strike to

protest the deaths, numbering over 70, which it blames on “police atrocities” during the last few days of clashes dur-ing between the Jamaat-e-Islami and police over its leader Delwar Hossain Sayadee bein awarded death penalty by the war crimes tribunal last week.

It kills me not to be president, says RomneyWashingtonAs President Barack Obama faces one crisis after another, Mitt Romney, his Republican opponent in the November election, says “it kills me” not to be in the White House finding solutions to the nation’s problems.“I’ll look at what’s happening right now, I wish I were there,” Romney told. Accusing Obama of “campaign-ing” rather than governing as the se-quester - $85 billion across the board spending cuts that kicked in - loomed, he said: “It kills me not to be there, not to be in the White House doing what needs to be done.”“The president is the leader of the na-tion. The president brings people to-gether, does the deals, does the trades, knocks the heads together; the president leads. And - and I don’t see that kind of - of leadership happening right now,” he said.Romney said that he was con-vinced he’d win until Ohio’s vote came in, and that he damaged his campaign by failing to attract black and Hispanic voters and speaking too freely in his in-famous “47 percent” comments.“I think we were convinced we would

win. We saw that the polls were very close, but we knew that the energy and passion was with our voters. My heart said we were going to win,” he said.Romney said he doesn’t look back at the campaign with anger or regret.“You look back at the campaign and say, ‘OK, what did the president do well?’ And you acknowledge that his campaign did a number of things very effectively.“Of course you rehearse all the mis-takes that you made, and I went through a number of my mistakes, I’m sure. Then you think about the things that were out of your control. But you move on. I don’t spend my life looking back,” said Romney.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez loses battle with cancerCaracasVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez lost his battle with cancer at the age of 58. He died in a military hospital in Ca-racas, Vice President Nicolas Maduro announced on national radio and tele-vision.With tears in his eyes, Maduro ad-dressed Venezuelans from the Doctor Carlos Arvelo military hospital, where Chavez passed his last two weeks after returning from Cuba Feb 18, Xinhua reported.“At 4.25 p.m. (Tuesday), the com-mander President Hugo Chavez de-ceased,” Maduro said.He called the event a “historical trag-edy” and urged Venezuelans to be vigi-lant for the peace of the country.Accompanied by key members of the Executive Cabinet, Maduro offered thanks to friends from other countries.“In this time of sorrow, we thank you for your eternal solidarity,” he said.He also called on the Venezuelan peo-ple of all political sections to unite to-gether.“Let there be no violence or hatred, but love, peace, unity and discipline,” Maduro said.Meanwhile, Venezuelan Defence Min-ister Diego Molero Bellavia said in a statement: “The National Bolivarian Arms Force echoes the call for unity. We are being deployed to ensure the se-curity and sovereignty of the Venezu-elan people.”Chavez was in power for 14 years. He was re-elected to a third six-year term in October 2012, but could not be sworn in as scheduled Jan 10 due to his serious health problems.After seeking medical treatment for 70 days in Cuba, he returned home Feb 18. Since then, he was in the Caracas mili-tary hospital.Maduro’s announcement came hours after an emergency government meet-ing following reports that the health of Venezuela’s charismatic socialist lead-er was failing, RIA Novosti reported.Molero appealed for “unity, tranquil-ity and understanding” among Venezu-elans and vowed that the military will remain loyal to the constitution in the wake of Chavez’s death.Chavez had four operations for can-cer and four courses of chemotherapy in Cuba and Venezuela within a year.

His fourth operation, to remove cancer-ous tissue, took place in Cuba Dec 11, 2012.Under the constitution, the head of Ven-ezuela’s Congress, Diosdado Cabello, will assume the interim presidency be-fore new election is held.Maduro earlier said he had no doubt that “the historical enemies of the country sought for a weak spot to harm the health” of Chavez.He insisted that in due time, a scien-tific commission will be formed to cer-tify whether the president was attacked with the illness he has been suffering for almost two years.Venezuela expelled two US diplomats on alleged espionage charges.Following the announcement of Chavez’s death, US President Barack Obama issued a brief statement reaf-firming US support “for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Ven-ezuelan government”.“As Venezuela begins a new chapter in its history, the US remains committed to policies that promote democratic prin-ciples, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,” the statement said.BBC said that in Argentina, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner sus-pended all activities after Chavez’s death was announced.Both she and her late husband, Nestor Kirchner, were close friends of the fire-brand Venezuelan leader.In Peru, Congress held a minute of si-

lence in his honour. Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said he was leaving imme-diately for Caracas.The governments of Chile and Ecuador also released official notes of condo-lence to Venezuela while Ecuador said it felt the loss as its own, and hoped its neighbours could carry on Chavez’s revolution.British Foreign Minister William Hague said he was “saddened” to learn of the death, saying Chavez had left a “lasting impression” on Venezuela.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon offered his “deepest condolences to the families and people and the government of Venezuela” and noted Chavez’s con-tributions to his country’s development.Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cancelled her trip to Argentina.“This death should fill all Latin and Central Americans with sadness,” she said. “Hugo Chavez was without doubt a leader committed to his country and to the development of the people of Latin America.”She added that on many occasions “the Brazilian government did not agree to-tally with Chavez” but always recog-nised him “as a great leader” and re-garded him as “a friend of Brazil and the Brazilian people”.At the UN, Russian envoy Vitaly Chur-kin called the Venezuelan leader’s death “a tragedy”.“He was a great politician for his coun-try, Latin America and the world,” he said.

Former Maldivian president Nasheed held in Male

Deadly, drug-resistant bacteria spreading in US

MaleFormer Maldivian president Moham-med Nasheed was arrested, causing a fresh uproar and protests in this capital city, Xinhua reported.Nasheed was arrested just outside his house by around 20 police personnel, who took him away without an explanation, Xinhua reported citing Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson Hameed Abdul Gafoor. “They just took him. We do not know why and we do not know where he has been taken,” Gafoor said.Meanwhile, Maldivian government of-ficials said that Nasheed was arrested after a court issued a third arrest war-rant against him .Nasheed is charged with ordering the military to unconstitutionally detain the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed, while he was head of state.Last month, Nasheed had evaded previous two arrest warrants by seeking diplomatic shelter in the Indian High Commission in Male. He took shelter in the Indian Mission for 11 days after failing to appear in court.

MDP believes Nasheed has been ar-rested over fresh summons issued by a court, said MDP Party member Shauna Aminath.“The party is shocked as we do not know the real reason behind his ar-rest. We do not even know where he is taken. The government has properly planned this just before the elections,” Aminath said.MDP, however, said this is a politically motivated case designed to ensure he does not contest the Sep 7 presidential polls.

WashingtonDeadly infections from bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics are on the rise in the US, and hospitals and health care workers must take immedi-ate action to protect patients, doctors at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.“Our strongest antibiotics don’t work and patients are left with potentially untreatable infections,” said CDC Di-rector Tom Frieden.“Doctors, hospital leaders, and pub-lic health must work together now to implement CDC’s ‘detect and protect’ strategy and stop these infections from spreading.”The germs - called carbapenem-resis-tant Enterobacteriaceae or CRE - are “nightmare bacteria”, said Frieden, and kill up to half of the patients who get bloodstream infections from them.Infections don’t currently occur in healthy patients, but people who need breathing machines, urinary or intrave-

nous catheters or take certain antibiot-ics long-term are most at risk, accord-ing to the CDC.So far, CRE has been found only in hospitals or nursing homes.In the first half of 2012, at least 200 health care facilities reported at least one patient with CRE, said the CDC.The bacteria are generally transmitted from person to person, often on the hands of health care workers, and can be carried from one facility to another.“We have seen in outbreak after out-break that when facilities and regions follow CDC’s prevention guidelines, CRE can be controlled and even stopped,” said Michael Bell, acting di-rector of the CDC’s Division of Health Care Quality Promotion.Recommendations include grouping patients with CRE together, dedicating specific staff and equipment for CRE patients, and implementing an alert system when CRE patients are trans-ferred to different facilities.

CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 7INTERNATIONAL

UNESCO chief condemns murders of journalists in Pakistan and Brazil

UN imposes tough new sanctions on DPRK

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today condemned the killings of two journalists in Pakistan and another in Brazil, and called for measures to in-crease the safety of media workers. “I am deeply concerned over the kill-ing of Mehmood Jan Afridi and Malik Mumtaz,” the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said. “Measures must be taken to improve the safety of journalists in Pakistan for the sake of press freedom and free-dom of expression, which are essential for democracy and rule of law. I trust that these murders will be investigated thoroughly and that their culprits will be brought to trial.” On 27 February, Mr. Mumtaz was shot dead as he was driving to his home in Miran Shah, the main city of North Waziristan. He worked for Geo News television, Jang Online News and the daily paper News International in both

The U.N. Security Council has unani-mously adopted a resolution imposing tough new sanctions on North Korea in response to last month’s forbidden nuclear test. The international move came just hours after the rogue state threatened a preemptive nuclear strike against the United States.The full council, including North Ko-rea’s main ally, China, approved the biting new sanctions. They aim at stopping Pyongyang from acquiring any new nuclear or ballistic-missile technology.UN Security Council Resolution 2094Condemns in strongest terms North Korea’s ongoing nuclear activities• Imposes new financial sanctions to block transactions in support of illicit activities• Strengthens states’ authority to in-spect cargo, deny port, overflight ac-cess• Enables stronger enforcement of sanctions by U.N. member states• Imposes sanctions on new individu-als and entities• U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who led the negotiations with her Chinese counterpart, said the resolution will raise the cost of North Korea’s illicit

English and Urdu. Mr. Numtaz had re-portedly received threats concerning his work in the past. Two days later, Mr. Afridi was gunned down in the city of Kalat in Baluch-istan, where he worked for the Urdu language newspaper The Daily In-tekhab. According to media reports, he had previously received threatening phone calls. Five journalists have been killed in Pakistan since the start of 2012. UNES-CO, in conjunction with press freedom organizations in Pakistan, is currently holding an international conference on the safety and security of journalists in Islamabad, the capital. Radio journalist Mafaldo Bezerra Goes, 61, was shot dead on 22 Febru-ary in the Brazilian town of Jaguaribe as he was walking to work at radio FM Rio Jaguaribe. He was the host of a programme which often denounced drug traffickers and criminal groups, and was reported to have been the ob-ject of death threats.

nuclear program and limit its ability to fi-nance and find mate-rials and technology.“Taken together these sanctions will bite and bite hard,” said Rice. “They increase North Ko-rea’s isolation and raise the cost to North Korea’s lead-ers of defying the international com-munity. The entire world stands united in our commitment

to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and in our demand that North Korea comply with its interna-tional obligations.”For the first time, the sanctions target North Korean diplomats. Pyongyang’s banking relationships and illicit trans-fers of bulk cash will also be scru-tinized, making it harder to launder money for their ballistic-missile and nuclear programs.There are also new travel restrictions and tighter constraints on North Ko-rea’s importing of luxury goods such as yachts, jewelry and fancy cars, aimed at the impoverished country’s ruling elite.Just hours before the sanctions vote, North Korea intensified its rhetoric, threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States. Am-bassador Rice said such threats would achieve nothing but further isolation for North Korea.Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong said Beijing wants to see full implementa-tion of this resolution. He stressed the goal is a nuclear-free Korean penin-sula, the de-escalation of tension and a return to Six Party Talks.

States must ensure children’s health is not undermined by discrimination – UN official

Countries have an obligation to en-sure all children have access to health care without facing discrimination, the United Nations human rights chief said today, noting that many groups of chil-dren are particularly vulnerable to mar-ginalization. “A child rights-based approach to health emphasizes the need to eliminate exclusion and reduce social disparities in health between different groups of children,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said at the annual meeting on the Rights of the Child during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council. Children who may be disproportion-ately vulnerable include children with disabilities and chronic illness, migrant children, children living in the streets, children in institutions or without pa-rental support, children who are vic-tims of violence and sexual exploita-tion, and children living in remote or disadvantaged areas, or in situations of extreme poverty, Ms. Pillay said. “States must recognize this potential vulnerability and ensure that these chil-dren too are protected,” she added. The right of every child to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health is enshrined in article 24 of the Con-

vention on the Rights of the Child, in which States commit to ensuring that no child is deprived of access to health care. The Convention stipulates that States must also take measures to diminish infant and child mortality, as well as to combat disease and malnutrition. Addi-tionally, they must take all appropriate measures to abolish practices that are harmful to children’s health. Ms. Pillay underlined that the right to health is interlinked with other rights. If a child lacks health services, his or her ability to attend school will be affected. Equally, if a child is not free from vio-lence, this will have an impact on his or her health. The High Commissioner also under-scored that children living in low-in-come countries are more vulnerable, with the risk of a child dying before turning five years old being 18 times higher in low-income countries. “Every hour, 300 children die because of malnutrition, which additionally stunts the development of an estimated 170 million children worldwide. This is unacceptable, and urgent measures must be taken to protect the right of all children to life, survival and develop-ment,” Ms. Pillay said.

Other increasingly significant health risks include child obesity, substance abuse, and mental health problems among teenagers, she said, adding that the international community, civil soci-ety, health professionals, families and the private sector must all work togeth-er to protect children’s rights. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, told the Council that despite significant devel-opments across regions, progress re-mains uneven and successful initiatives need to be scaled up to sustain and wid-en the achievements so far. “We find ourselves at a crossroads. If efforts are not sustained and scaled up, the imperative of protecting children from violence may become diluted in the face of other competing priorities,” she said. “It is critical to invest in the protection and social inclusion of the most vulner-able children, for whom the multiple dimensions of deprivation go hand in hand with a cumulative exposure to violence.” Presenting her annual report to the Council, Ms. Pais said the results of the global survey conducted by her office on violence against children highlight serious and cumulative exposure of girls and boys to various manifestations of violence, in different contexts, and throughout a child’s life cycle. The survey also acknowledges emerg-ing areas of concern which will need to be further researched and addressed, such as the risk associated with the use of new information and communica-tion technologies. “To be effective, national strategies will need to be tailored to children’s evolving stages of development,” Ms. Pais added.

By 2020, more than 140 million girls will become child brides – UNIf current child marriage rates con-tinue, more than 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020, the United Nations said today, warning that little progress has been made towards ending this harmful practice. Of these 140 million girls, 50 million will be under the age of 15, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which added that young girls who mar-ry before the age of 18 have a greater risk of becoming victims of intimate partner violence than those who marry later. “Child marriage is an appalling viola-tion of human rights and robs girls of their education, health and long-term prospects,” said UNFPA Executive Di-rector Babatunde Osotimehin. “A girl who is married as a child is one whose potential will not be fulfilled. Since many parents and communities also want the very best for their daughters, we must work together and end child marriage.” Child marriage is increasingly recog-nized as a violation of the rights of girls as it interferes with their education, blocks their opportunity to gain voca-tional and life skills, and increases their risk to sexual violence as well as their chances to contract HIV. “No girl should be robbed of her child-hood, her education and health, and her aspirations. Yet today millions of girls are denied their rights each year when they are married as child brides,” said the Executive Director of the UN En-tity for Gender Equality and the Em-powerment of Women (UN Women), Michelle Bachelet. In addition, child marriage also expos-

es girls to the risks of child-bearing at an early age, which can have fatal con-sequences. According to the UN Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF), complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading causes of death for girls aged 15-19 years in developing countries. Still births and newborn deaths are also 50 per cent higher among mothers un-der 20 than in women who get pregnant in their 20s. “Child marriage makes girls far more vulnerable to the profound health risks of early pregnancy and childbirth – just as their babies are more vulnerable to complications associated with prema-ture labour,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. While 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young children is upheld by tradition and social norms. The practice is most common in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These issues are the focus of a special session on child marriage being held

today by the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York. Strategies to be discussed include sup-porting and enforcing legislation to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years; providing equal access to quality primary and second-ary education for girls and boys; mo-bilizing girls, boys, parents and leaders to change practices that discriminate against girls; providing girls who are already married with options for schooling, employment and sexual and reproductive health information and services; and addressing the root causes of child marriage, including poverty, gender inequality and discrimination. Currently, the 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are: Ni-ger, Chad, the Central African Repub-lic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Malawi. However, in terms of absolute numbers, because of the size of its pop-ulation, India has the most child mar-riages – in 47 per cent of all marriages there, the bride is a child.

CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 20138 POLITICS

Jammu Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah underlined the need for working out an amicable solu-tion to political issues of the state in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir, Leh and Kargil.Replying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s address to both the houses of the state leg-islature, Abdullah said: “The task is tough but not impossible.”He said it was not possible to find

New DelhiAsserting that there was a credibil-ity crisis in the Congress-led UPA government, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said “When the UPA came to power nine years ago, there was a buzz of ex-citement about India. The NDA had left power with an eight percent growth rate and now we may have less than a five per-cent growth rate. The atmosphere has changed from that of enthusiasm to a sense of cynicism about India,”

LucknowAs opposition leaders demanded that former minister and indepen-dent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya be ar-rested on suspicion of conspiring to kill deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Zia-ul-Haq, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav re-mained non-committal.Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators staged a walkout in the state assembly, demanding the arrest of Raja Bhaiyya.

a solution that would have the ap-proval of every citizen. “But a solution with maximum sup-port of people of all the regions of the state has to be found. We have to strive for it,” he said and expressed hope that the central government would address both domestic and international aspects of the political issues of Jammu and Kashmir.He added: “Jammu and Kashmir has been reflected in the Shimla Agree-ment and there is need to engage Pakistan in a dialogue process.”

Jaitley said during a discussion on the motion of thanks to President Pranab Mukherjee for his address to the joint session of parliament on the opening day of the budget session.“It is time for the government to reflect. Was the UPA government’s model right for the world’s largest democracy? There was a leadership crisis and a credibility crisis. There was a crisis on how to formulate policies. Dual power centres cannot work for policy decisions,” Jaitley

The chief minister said the matter was now referred to the Central Bu-reau of Investigation and one should wait for the law to take its course.The chief minister had also visited the families of slain village pradhan (headman) Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh in Bilapur village of Pratapgarh. Condemning the killing of the Ya-dav duo, which resulted in the ar-son and mob violence that claimed the senior official last weekend, the

He said issues of Jammu and Kash-mir are political and cannot be re-solved either by money power or by the gun.“We have seen neither gun nor mon-ey is answer to this issue,” he said.Stating that peace is essentially im-portant for resolving all issues and putting the state on the road to prog-ress and prosperity, Abdullah said that during the last two years, peace had greatly rooted the people.He said 2012 could be rated as the most peaceful year in the last 20

years. “Besides over 12-13 lakh vis-itors to the valley, the development process received a big fillip during 2012,” he said.The chief minister said he would continue to advocate the gradual re-moval of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from areas where there is no need for it and that of the army.“I have not put this issue on the back burner. It is alive and we are con-tinuously engaged with the central government on it,” he said

said in the Rajya Sabha.The BJP leader said it was time for the government to decide how it wanted to go down in history.“The UPA government has com-pleted nine years. So much time is enough to change the course of a country. When the government en-ters its final year, it will have to de-cide how it wants history to write it,” he said.Jaitley’s comments came soon after Congress member Renuka Chow-

chief minister said the incident was tragic and said the state government would leave no stone unturned to hunt down the culprits. “There is no question that law and order was a priority for the state government and everything would be done to ensure that the law of the land prevailed,” Akhilesh Yadav said.He also gave ex-gratia cheques of Rs.20 lakh each to the families of the deceased village pradhan, Nan-

dhury lauded the government for helping the country sail through the global economic downturn.“We were enjoying a boom time but the world underwent a financial cri-sis. Our armour was dented but is still strong. We could go through the 2008 economic crisis because we had the UPA (United Progressive Al-liance) government and because of the sound policies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” Chowdhury said initiating the discussion.

he Yadav, and his brother, Suresh Yadav. Both the men had been killed in Bilapur village of Kunda in Pratagarh. Urban Development and Parlia-mentary Affairs minister Mohd Azam Khan, who was with the chief minister, said that he consid-ered everyone guilty but added that he was not the court. “The case is with the CBI now and I am sure the guilty would be brought to justice” he said.

Amicable political solution in J&K needed: Abdullah

UPA’s dual power centre affected growth: BJP

Akhilesh remains non-committal on Raja Bhaiyya’s arrest

POLITICAL CAMP NEWSCAMP UPA

CAMP NDA

AgartalaThe people of Tripura rejected Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi’s appeal to oust the Left and voted overwhelm-ingly for the Left Front fifth time in a row in the state, CPI-M general secre-tary Prakash Karat said.Rahul Gandhi, during his poll cam-paign in the state, had called upon the people of the state to vote out the Left Front from Tripura but the alliance re-

tained power for the fifth consecutive time in the Feb 14 polls. The alliance secured three-fourths majority by winning 50 of the 60 assembly seats. The Congress managed only 10 seats.“In the electoral history in India people of Tripura scripted two path-breaking records -- cast 93.57 percent vote in the polls and 52.30 percent people gave vote to the Left parties. No party or alliance in India secured

such a huge mandate in any poll in In-dia,” Karat said.The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front in Tripura assumed office March 6 with the 64-year-old Marxist leader Manik Sarkar at the helm as chief minister. Sarkar assumed office for a record fourth successive term at the head of India’s only Communist government.Addressing a mammoth victory rally

here, Karat said: “After running the government for five terms in a row, how the Left parties secured such huge votes? Many people across the country are asking this of us.”The CPI-M leader said the Left Front in Tripura is working for the ‘aam admi’ (common people), while the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government in New Delhi is “active to serve the interest of the corporate

sectors, capitalist and millionaires”.“Like the previous Left Front gov-ernments, the current and future Left governments would continue to run a corruption-free, secular, ethnic-friendly and pro-people government. Tripura’s Left leaders and workers have sacrificed themselves in the struggles against the princely periods, Congress rule besides terrorism,” Karat said.

Salman Khurshid, External Affairs MinisterIndia will ask the Sri Lank-an government that an in-dependent inquiry is con-ducted into allegations of violation of human rights in that country.”A closure must be brought to the 27 years of violence.”

Yashwant Sinha , BJP“Let India not merely vote in the UNHRC but take the lead in drafting the resolu-tion and carry it through the UNHRC “Foreign pol-icy is not conducted out of fear, but with confidence and elan.” India had a lot of clout but it seemed that had lost momentum.

D Raja , Communist Party of India (CPI) leaderIndia should demand an impartial and international inquiry on the war crimes committed by Sri Lankan military on Tamils as well as should vote against the island nation in the current meeting of UN Human Rights Council.

J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu“The incidents of arrests of fishermen and the recent fir-ing should be viewed as an indirect attempt to intimidate the Government of India and browbeat it into not raising its voice against Sri Lankan atrocities on innocent Sri Lankan Tamilians in the in-ternational fore.”

MK Stalin, DMK leader“Tamils require resettle-ment and rehabilitation very urgently. The world community should think of creating a credible, inde-pendent, international in-quiry into all the events in Sri Lanka. A lasting solu-tion lies in a referendum,”

Saugata Roy, Trinamool CongressSri Lankan issue should be treated at par with war crimes in other countries and if the Sri Lankan mili-tary is responsible for this, then they should be put on trial at international court.

Dayanidhi Maran,DMK“They are out closest neighbor and they have misbehaved. We are asking that India should ensure that there is an internation-al inquiry.”

QUOTE FIRE

Tripura rejected Rahul’s call to oust Left: Karat

CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 9POLITICSBajwa replaces Amarinder as Punjab Congress Chief

CBI slaps murder charges on Raja Bhaiyya

ChandigarhThe Congress appointed Pratap Singh Bajwa as the new chief of its Punjab unit, replacing Amarinder Singh.Bajwa, Congress MP from Gurdaspur, has replaced Amarinder Singh, Con-gress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said in New Delhi.The exit of Amarinder Singh, a former chief minister and scion of the erst-while royal family of Patiala, was im-minent with the latest loss of the Con-

gress in last month’s by-election on the Moga assembly seat.The Congress lost two successive assembly elections - in 2007 and 2012 - when Amarinder was in the forefront.While in 2007, he was the incum-bent chief minister, in the January 2012 assembly elections, when ev-eryone thought that the Congress would return to power, the party lost to the Shiromani Akali Dal-

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance.In the Moga bypoll, held after its sitting legislator resigned and joined the Akali Dal, the Congress had to taste defeat on a seat traditionally held by it.In a related development, Congress MP Harish Choudhary has been appointed a national secretary of the All India Congress Committee and given charge of party affairs in Punjab. Choudhary is MP from Rajasthan’s Barmer.

LucknowThe CBI named former Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya as an accused in the mur-der of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Zia-ul-Haq, based on the com-plaint of his widow Parveen Azad, as it filed four FIRs in the case, officials said.This is in addition to the charges of criminal conspiracy, which the state police had slapped on Raja Bhaiyya last Sunday after Parveen alleged that the former minister, an Independent legislator from Kunda, had conspired to kill her husband. Officials said that with the charges con-verted to murder under section 302 of

the IPC, the arrest of Raja Bhaiyya was now imminent and the CBI team investigating the matter could interrogate him and then arrest him. The Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) had late Wednesday night taken over the sensational case and Thursday began the probe into the killing of Haq and the Bi-laspur village headman Nanhe Ya-dav and his brother Suresh Yadav.Four others - Rohit Singh, Guddu Singh, Om Srivastava and Gulshan Yadav - have also been accused

in the Haq murder case. Following his name figuring in the FIR filed by Parveen, Raja Bhaiyya had quit the one-year-old Akhilesh Yadav ministry.While the chief minister has so far par-ried questions on the likelihood of the arrest of Raja Bhaiyya, he said the law will be allowed to take its own course and that since the CBI had been handed over the case, it was for the agency to act further.Azad demanded that Raja Bhaiyya be arrested for his role in the killing of her husband. She also said that a bravery award should be given posthumously to her husband and that the place where he laid his life in line of duty should be re-named after him.

UPA’s retail FDI decision against national interest: Opposition

New DelhiContinuing their attack on the Con-gress-led UPA government for allow-ing FDI in multi-brand retail, opposi-tion parties Thursday accused it of working against the national interest, with the BJP asserting that it will op-pose the move till its “last breath”.“This FDI (foreign direct investment) is not in favour of the consumer, farm-er, trader, manufacturer and the coun-try. That’s why we are opposing it and will continue to oppose it till our last breath,” Jaitley said as he addressed a rally held at Ramlila Ground here or-ganised by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader argued that under FDI, 60-70 percent of the business will go into the hands of just two or three com-panies which will be harmful for the farmers.“The farmers would be left with no choice but to sell their produce to them. When the number of sellers de-crease, how will it benefit the farmers,” asked Jaitley.BJP president Rajnath Singh accused the government of working against the national interest and under US pres-sure.“The government went ahead without building any consensus ... it was only because the government was under the pressure of America, as it was during

the nuclear deal,” said Singh assert-ing that if the BJP returned to power, it would revoke the agreement.Sharad Yadav - chief of the Janata Dal (United), BJP’s ally in the National Democratic Alliance, agreed: “As soon as NDA returns to power, the PM’s dream of FDI will turn to dust.”The Communist Party of India (CPI) accused retail giant Wal-Mart of cor-ruption, referring to the allegations of lobbying by the company with US law-makers to enter India.“The incident shows how foreign com-panies will be allowed to set shops in the country by adopting corrupt prac-tices. Walmart’s entry into India began with corruption, how can it act clean after this,” party leader A.B Bardhan said.Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Basudeb Acharia said any major intervention in the Indian economy by foreign companies will destroy the small traders, who are the foundation of the country’s economy. He claimed at least 4,000 people will be left unemployed by each retail shop set up by Wal-Mart.Hundreds of trader, hawkers and unions from across the country partici-pated in the rally while several markets in the capital remained closed till af-ternoon as traders downed shutters in protest.

Mukul Sangma sworn-in as Meghalaya chief minister

ShillongMukul Manda Sangma was sworn-in as the Meghalaya chief minister for the second time in a row.Governor R.S. Mooshahary adminis-tered the oath of office to the 47-year-old leader who was seen as the archi-tect of the Congress’s victory in the assembly elections in this mountainous northeastern state, on the lawns of the Raj Bhavan.Mukul Sangma will announce the list of his council of ministers later this week.The Congress emerged the single larg-

est party with 29 seats - two short of a majority in the 60-member house. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which secured two seats, and 11 inde-pendent legislators have extended “un-conditional support” to the Congress.Party sources said Sonia Gandhi en-dorsed Sangma’s name as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader for the impressive wins in the Garo Hills re-gion, considered the stronghold of her bete noire, former Lok Sabha speaker Purno A. Sangma.The Congress has won 13 of the 24 seats in Garo Hills districts, while the tribal-centric National People’s Party (NPP) founded by Purno Sangma man-aged only two.James Sangma, the eldest son of Purno Sangma, and Nihim D. Shira were the only NPP candidates who managed to win.Mukul Sangma took oath as the state’s 26th chief minister in the presence of hundreds of Congress legislators, lead-

ers of other political groupings and se-nior government officials. He first as-sumed office April 20, 2010, replacing veteran Congress leader D.D. Lapang. Mukul Sangma, a medical practitioner, gave up his government job as medical and health officer in Tura health centre and plunged into the electoral fray in 1993. He contested and won the Ampatigiri assembly constituency in West Garo Hills as an independent candidate. There was no looking back for him since then.At the age of 33, Mukul Sangma bagged a cabinet berth and held various posts as minister of taxation, informa-tion and public relations and others.In 2005, he was appointed deputy chief minister in-charge of home and educa-tion departments. But he was forced to quit after the Garo Hills police firing, in which nine people lost their lives, over the Meghalaya Board of School Educa-tion issue.

Modi seems set for national role, tears into CongressNew DelhiSetting the stage for a likely national role in the BJP, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Congress, comparing it to a termite while party leaders stressed on unity, discipline and a clean image for success in the upcom-ing elections.Modi, seen by many in the BJP as the party’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, accused the Nehru-Gandhi fam-ily of keeping its inter-ests above that of the country and referred to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a “night watchman” in his loudly-applauded speech at the two-day national council meet-ing .Senior leader L.K. Advani lauded Modi but also show-ered praise on Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He lavishly praised Sushma Swaraj’s speech, virtually comparing her oratori-cal skills to that of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.In a session on good governance, Modi mainly spoke on national issues as he at-tacked the Congress and its top leader-ship repeatedly.“The Congress just does not have the spirit to take the country forward. Other countries have overtaken us. It has sac-rificed interests of the country to that of one family,” he said.

Congress leaders reacted sharply say-ing that Modi will get an answer from people.Exhorting party workers to strive to un-seat the Congress in the next general elections, Modi sought to downplay his own role as a possible prime ministerial candidate.“Who is the person, who is not does not matter in the BJP,” he said, while giv-ing credit for his third straight victory to

party workers, Gujarat’s people and the party’s national leadership.Training his guns on the Gandhi family, he claimed that the Congress had ap-pointed Sitaram Kesri as party president so that no one emerges as a threat to “the family”.“It appeared that a night watchman had been put in place,” Modi said, adding that when the turn came to chose a prime minister after 2004 polls, another “night watchman” was appointed.Modi claimed that the political future of

those who can emerge as threat to the family is finished.He said that if Pranab Mukherjee had been made prime minister, the country would not have suffered as much. “Had Pranab been successful, what would have happened to the family.Hence the tradition of night-watchman.”“Getting rid of Congress is a patriotic job, the same work that was done to get freedom. The way swaraj (self-gov-

ernance) came, su-raj (good governance) will also come,” Modi asserted and added that “Congress was like a termite.”Advani, in his concluding re-marks, emphasised that the party should not compromise with corruption.In his written speech, Advani talked of the need to change the “mutual equation” between the BJP and minorities but skipped it in his oral speech. He also said there was need to remedy BJP’s recent image as “party with differences”.

Sushma Swaraj said the party had lost in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand due to groupism and called upon party workers to take the council’s message of “Sushasan sankalp, BJP vikalp (Good governance is the determination, BJP is the alternative)” to each household in the country.The political resolution attacked UPA over price rise, corruption and misgover-nance and said BJP-led National Demo-cratic Alliance (NDA) was the alterna-tive.

Andhra to provide jobs to kin of terror attack victimsHyderabadThe Andhra Pradesh cabinet Thursday decided to provide government jobs to one family member each of those killed in last month’s terror attacks in Hyder-abad.The cabinet at its meeting, chaired by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, also decided to provide jobs to those who became permanently disabled or their family members.Briefing the media of the cabinet deci-sions, Information and Public Relations Minister D.K. Aruna said the govern-ment would extend all possible help to the families of the victims.Twin bomb blasts on Feb 21 at crowded Dilsukhnagar area in Hyderabad had killed 17 people and injured 116 others.The state government has already handed over Rs.6 lakh each to the kin of the victims.

10 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013CAMPUS

Indians among top 4 sources for business studies in US

WashingtonBusiness-related programmes are the most popular single field of study among international students in the US with China, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia being the top four source countries, according to a new study.However, among Indian and Saudi students business ranks third behind engineering and math, and engineering and English respectively, while it is the single-most popular field among Chi-nese and Korean students, according to World Education Services (WES).This growth in the popularity of busi-ness programmes has paralleled, to a degree, the overall demand for under-graduate programmes at US institu-tions, the WES study on “International Student Mobility Trends 2013: To-

wards Responsive Recruitment Strate-gies” noted.As a result, international undergradu-ate students in business studies grew by approximately 60 percent in the US be-tween 2003 and 2011, with nearly three out of ten international undergraduates enrolled in business fields-a proportion that is now comparable to the UK and Canada.The authors Rahul Choudaha, direc-tor of research and advisory services, and research associates Li Chang and Yoko Kono noted how student mobil-ity patterns to the US have changed in the decade following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Due to visa policy changes and per-ceptions that the US had become a less welcoming host country for inter-

Indian Ocean creates youth anthem for ‘Satyagraha’

MumbaiMusic band Indian Ocean has com-posed a track for upcoming social dra-ma “Satyagraha” and the film’s director Prakash Jha has praised the work say-ing it is “brilliant” and would be like a “youth anthem”.“It is true that I have roped in Indian Ocean to compose one of the tracks in ‘Satyagraha’. They have composed a brilliant track that will move us all,” said Jha.

The filmmaker said that keep-ing their popularity among the youth in mind, he couldn’t think of anyone else to “create an an-them for the youth to stand up for what is right, to stand up and fight against corruption, and to stand up for democracy. They are a fantastic band with a super fan following among the youth”. Jha is currently shooting the film in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, with Amitabh Bachchan, whose character is reportedly mod-elled on activist Anna Hazare. Others in the film include Ajay Devgn, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Rao.According to a source from the production, Indian Ocean have not only composed a track for the film, they will also be part of the movie. “Prakashji wants them to fea-

ture in the film. It will be a crucial junc-ture where the band will be shown belt-ing out a youth anthem that motivates one and all to stand up for democracy and their rights. “They have been flown down to Bho-pal for the shoot. It will be a three-day shooting schedule for the band,” added the source.Co-produced by UTV Motion Pic-tures and Prakash Jha, “Satyagraha” is scheduled for an August release.

national students, enrolment growth stalled in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.At that time, Indians represented the largest international student popu-lation, rising almost 12 percent in 2002/03 compared to just two percent among Chinese students-bucking an overall downward trend in enrolments that would last until the 2006/07 aca-demic year.Within a decade, that story has been turned on its head. Overall enrolments are again growing at a healthy level.Chinese enrolments have been boom-ing at an average annual growth rate of well above 20 percent since 2007/08, while Indian enrolments have stag-nated and recently started a downward trajectory.A look into the level of study reveals that India is a graduate market, but a combination of socioeconomic and demographic factors suggest an inflow of more Indian undergraduates in the coming years.Three fourths of Indian students at the graduate level (77 percent) were enrolled in S&E fields, significantly higher than the concentration for inter-national students overall (59 percent), according to WES.In addition to aggressive outreach in traditional Asian markets, particularly China and India, the WES study high-lighted the need for diversification of international student populations by place of origin.

The latest images of Punjab Police personnel savagely beating up a helpless young woman and her father have again left the country shocked. In the clip, repeatedly aired by national and other TV channels, the police personnel were seen chasing, slapping, abusing and even hitting the 21-year-old victim with a baton.What triggered this, according to the victim, was her complaint to the police about being sexually harassed by some taxidrivers outside a marriage venue in the fron-tier district of Tarn Taran, 50 km from Amritsar.

WE HIT, WE THRASH, WE KICK - EVEN WOMANBecause we are the brave Punjab Police

The UConnectt team met a cross section of youth to know what they say about this incident

Manvinder Kaur Deptt. of Education P.U., ChandigarhM.Ed. These policemen should definitely be put behind bars. But it makes me to think why these kind of policemen are allowed to work in our system.

Prabhjot Kaur Deptt. of Education P.U., ChandigarhM.Ed. Not a new thing against women.

SimranGovt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, ChandigarhM.Sc. (IInd Semester)This was another heinous act done by our country’s security. This was a very brutal and unacceptable act.

Rupinder Kaur Govt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, ChandigarhM.Sc. (IInd Semester) Women should raise their voice against these kinds of acts. It is very shameful act .Strict laws should be made.Reshma

Govt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, ChandigarhM.Sc. (IInd Semester HFR)It is a very shameful act after Delhi Gang rape case .Nothing is changed yet.

AmandeepGovt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, Chandigarh

It is shameful for Punjab Police. They promise the security of women at one end and at the other, they themselves are indulged in such activities.

Iram Architecture Every female should be listened to by some female vigilance.

Nisar Architecture There should be at least 30% female police staff in each state’s police sta-tion.

Simarpreet Govt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, Chandigarh M.Sc. Such police men should be hanged. This is not humanity but humiliation of women. Women should be respected not beaten.

PreetiGovt. Home Science College, Sec-tor-10, Chandigarh M.Sc. It is too shameful for our society, it should not be repeated.

Unnatie

NIFD B.Sc. FDIt was disgusting and was not expected from the gov-ernment who is meant to save women.

Manish Grover UBSPU MBAThis is really a heinous act, an act next to rape. Physical harassment of women by males is shameful. If police man

does this act, it brings disgrace to the protectors of the society.

Samarpreet P.U. Chandigarh M.Sc. This is very ridiculous. Police is for safety not for these kinds of actions. Those policemen should be punished.

Jasmeet Kaur D.A.V., Sector-10, Chan digarh B.Sc. IT It is very shameful for Punjab Police. Moreover, raising voice against eve-teasing on one side and beating women on other

side is intolerable.

Ritu DCSA PUMCASeriously, shameful act by Punjab Po-lice. Government should take a strict action against them.

Dr. Shobhna ManPUMPH I feel very bad on behalf of that lady and suspension is not enough for those

policemen. They should be punished also.

Jaspreet Singh UBSPU MBA It is shameful for our country. People in uni-

form who save us are molesting and harassing the people.

DeepakUBSMBA What a shame! Protectors have become violators.

JayaGJIMTMBA Suspension is not only the way out. They should be beaten by the public, the way they did.

Shefali Bajaj Allianz Suspension is not the right punishment. Put the cops should be put into jail so that they can realize their mistake.

11CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 REGION

Haryana to get medical college for womenChandigarhNearly a century after the Lady Hard-ing Medical College was established for women in New Delhi, a medical college for women is being set up in the government sector in Haryana, a minister said here.“United Progressve Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi will dedi-cate the Bhagat Phool Singh Govern-ment Medical College for Women at Khanpur Kalan in Sonipat district (50 km from New Delhi) to the people of Haryana on March 8,” Haryana Health Minister Narender Singh said. “This women’s medical college has been set up in government sector after a gap of nearly 100 years as the Lady Harding Medical College, Delhi was established in 1914,” Singh said.The foundation stone of the college was laid by Sonia Gandhi in March 2009.He said that the institute is being devel-oped at a cost of Rs.700 crore.Haryana has already set up an all-wom-en university at Khanpur Kalan.

13 school-children killed in Punjab accident

JalandharAt least 13 children were killed morn-ing when their school bus collided with a truck near Nakodar town in Punjab, police said. The bus driver was also killed.The children from Akal Academy School in Boparai Kalan were on their way to school when the mini-bus (Tempo Traveller) in which they were travelling collided with a truck near Gahira village near Nakodar, 170 km from here.The injured children were taken to hos-pitals in Jalandhar and Nakodar. Four among them were in serious condition, doctors said.Most of the children were under 10 and had boarded the bus just minutes before the accident took place.“Seven children died on the spot while five others died in hospital,” Jalandhar Superintendent of Police (Rural) Ra-

jinder Singh told IANS.The mini-bus, which was not painted in the mandatory yellow colour to iden-tify school-buses and was being plied illegally, was carrying 24 children to school when the accident happened, police officials said. The children had been picked up from nearby villages.Bags, books, tiffin boxes and water bot-tles of the victims lay strewn at the ac-cident spot. The school bus was badly damaged.Eyewitnesses told police that the bus and the truck were speeding when the collision took place. The impact of the accident was such that the roof of the school bus sheared off.The truck driver fled from the spot after the accident. He has been booked for rash and negligent driving, police said.

Shakespeare now comes in Punjabi; Darwin to followMohaliIt took a retired history professor two decades of meticulous effort to bring William Shakespeare closer to Punjab. Eighty-two-year Surjit Hans has finally translated all the works, including 38 plays, of the 16th century Bard of Avon into Punjabi.Hans, who taught history at Amritsar’s Guru Nanak Dev Univer-sity and chose to translate Shakespeare into Punjabi full-time only after his re-tirement in 1993, recently finished the translation of Henry VIII, the last of the plays of the Bard (1564-1616). He was assigned the translation work by the Patiala-based Punjabi University.And there is no stopping him.Hans says he is ready to start translat-ing Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species”.“This is worth doing. Darwin is the founder of the modern times. His work has modernity of thought,” he said.“Now, I want Punjabi readers to know about ‘The Origin of Species’ too,” Hans said.Hans’ relationship with Shakespeare goes back to his college days when he played the part of the wounded soldier in ‘Macbeth’ and acted in ‘Hamlet’.“The inspiration to translate the work of Shakespeare into Punjabi came at that time. I wanted that the average reader in Punjab should be able to read Shakespeare even if he did not know English,” Hans told IANS in an inter-

view at his residence in Punjab’s Mo-hali town, 10 km from Chandigarh.“I translated ‘Macbeth’ into Punjabi when I was in college in the mid-1950s. I started full-time translation of Shake-speare’s works only in 1993 after my retirement,” he said.Hans says his ‘ustaad’ (mentor) Raj Kumar Kaul in Hoshiarpur told him in the early 1950s that “a good reader should also write”.“An Anglo-Irish teacher of mine also helped,” he said.His love for the Bard’s works got stron-ger when Hans lived in London for seven years in the 1960s and saw plays at the Royal Shakespeare Club.Asked about the difficulties he faced in translating the Bard’s works into Punja-bi, Hans said: “Translating Shakespeare constructionally and in verse form was not difficult. In Punjabi though, there are no words to translate English words like he, she, him or her. You have to use a verb to tell the gender. In his poem, ‘Venus and Adonis’, the reference to these words comes in every line. But the beauty of the verse gets lost in do-ing translation. The weakness of (Pun-jabi) language is there.”Among all the works of Shakespeare translated by him in Punjabi, Hans took the maximum time over “Two Noble Kinsmen” and “Henry VIII”. “These have a lot of rhetoric,” he pointed out.

IGMC plans to revive Welfare fund for poor patients

ShimlaWith an aim to help the poor patients who do not have the BPL and IRDP cards, IGMC authorities are thinking to renew the “Poor Patient Welfare Fund” for giving free treatment to them.The “Poor patient welfare fund” has been lying leftover since 2011. This fund is given to the poor patients who cannot afford the treatment in the IGMC. This fund was earlier managed under the Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) of IGMC.According to the IGMC authorities a written letter has been sent to the state government and demanded for the re-vival of this fund.It is noted that in 2007, a scheme was evolved to provide medicine up to Rs 5000 as per recommendation of the HoD, unit in charge consultant and CMO to provide financial assistance to the needy indoor patients.Under this fund not only poor who have IRDP and BPL card but also poor who do not have these cards, unattend-ed or accidental cases were included,

said by sources.Bal krishan from the Choppal district said “I am suffering from the stone problem and came here for the treatment. I am a poor person and cannot afford this treat-ment. So if the IGMC au-thority provides this fund again then people like me can get treatment”. It is a good initiative taken by the authorities and will

be benefited for maximum of us, he addedRamesh Chand, IGMC senior medical Superintendent says, “IGMC authori-ties are working on the modalities for the reinforcement of the poor patients welfare fund and hope for the positive results from the state government too”.“ As the welfare fund was owning to be absence from last two years , the hospital authority has requested the principal secretary , health to obtain agreement with the financial depart-ment so that fund could be made in operation”, Chand said .Chand added that many times the hos-pital authorities feel helpless to pro-vide assistance to the poor patients be-cause of lack of funds. It is noted that in Audit of 2011-212 the Auditor gen-eral asked the state government to ob-tain an agreement with the competent authority to take the charge of welfare fund but has stop in 2011 as the com-petent authority failed in approving the expenditure.

Inheritance - why can’t tribal women have property rights?

Rekong Peo Nearly 90 years after it came into ex-istence, an inheritance law is all set to be challenged in the Himachal Pradesh High Court on the grounds of being un-fair to women.The law, Wajib Ul Urj, which came into existence only in the state’s tribal dis-trict of Kinnaur in 1926, permits only men to inherit ancestral property, if it is not bequeathed.The patriarchal law bars even widows from inheriting their husband’s prop-erty, which is transferred to the sons.“We are shortly going to knock on the doors of the high court to get justice,” 60-year-old social activist Rattan Man-jari, chairperson of the Mahila Kalyan Parishad, a women’s rights group, said.She told IANS that in the past three years, campaigns on educating tribal women about their rights to ancestral property have failed to evoke any re-sponse.The rights group in association of “ma-

hila mandals” or women groups have also carried out a signature campaign in the district, demanding the amendment of local laws.“We initially launched a drive to edu-cate women about their rights to inherit ancestral property. Then a signature campaign was carried out. We got over 20,000 signatures, mainly from the women,” she said.A memorandum was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee Jan 26 to get rid of the social evil, Manjari, who is among those rare fortunate women in the dis-trict who inherited ancestral property, said.A prominent apple grower from the picturesque Ribba village, some 250 km from state capital Shimla, her moth-er bequeathed to her the entire agricul-tural land and not to her brother.“If Manjari can be an exception, why not others,” asked Subhash Mend-hapurkar, director of Shimla-based NGO Social Uplift Through Rural Ac-

tion (SUTRA). He said there should be one law for all the citizens of the country. “The amended Hindu Succession Act of 1956, which grants equal rights to men and women, should also be applicable here and nullify the century-old patri-archal law.”According to Census 2011 figures, the sex ratio in Kinnaur has gone down from 857 in 2001 to 818 in 2011. It’s ranked the lowest in the state, while in 2001 its rank was 10th.But the literacy rate in the district is 80.77 percent - 88.37 for males and 71.34 for females - for a population of 84,298.Social activists said the awareness campaigns got a lot of opposition from men. Obviously, they fear that change in customary laws would divide their property.“They (the men) had a fear that once the property is transferred in the name of a woman, someone outside the com-munity would get it if the woman mar-ried outside the group. This law some-how discourages women to get married outside the community,” Mendhapur-kar said.Another activist, Kanta Negi, said the condition of deserted women, widows and spinsters in the district is deplor-able. “They have to literally depend on the mercy of other members of the family. If they have the right to inherit property, they can live with dignity,” she said.The prevailing law is totally unnatural and unconstitutional, S.K. Garg Nar-wana, a senior advocate with the Pun-jab and Haryana High Court, said.“As per Schedule I of the Hindu Suc-cession Act, the wife is the first succes-sor of husband’s property. The tribal women will get justice in the court of law,” he said.

Mystery over Punjab police official’s deathTarn Taran (Punjab)The Punjab police launched an inves-tigation into the mysterious death of a junior police officer who was found dead near village Jiowala in this fron-tier district.The police officer, assistant sub-in-spector (ASI) Kulbir Singh’s body was found near the village morning, police said.The police is looking into the allegation that the ASI could have been killed. The ASI had gone with a police party to the village Tuesday night to make preventive arrests of farmers’ leaders who were to start a “rail roko” (“stop trains”) agitation in the area Wednes-day for their demands.Police officials alleged that the villag-

ers held the police party hostage for some time to stop them from detaining farmers’ leaders.“While the rest of the police party came back later, ASI Kulbir Singh was found dead today morning,” one police offi-cer said.However, villagers said that the ASI could have suffered a heart attack when he tried to run.

CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 201312 Special

Democracy vs 144

Jaipur violence: Court orders probe, bars 9 policemen from office

Teachers’ strike hits train, road services in Bihar

Section 144 in The Indian Penal Code, 1860

JaipurThe Rajasthan High Court Friday or-dered a judicial inquiry into the clashes between police and lawyers that rocked Jaipur over the past two days and di-rected the city’s commissioner of po-lice and eight other police officials to not hold office until its report is sub-mitted.A division bench of Chief Justice Ami-tava Roy and Justice Ajay Rastogi, while hearing a plea on the clashes, said a sitting judge of the court will conduct the enquiry and submit a report within 15 days.Clashes between lawyers and police here Wednesday and Thursday left at least 60 people, including over 40 po-licemen, injured.The same bench had Thursday issued notice to the state home secretary and police chief seeking explanation over police action against agitating lawyers on a public interest litigation (PIL) by Rajasthan High Court Bar Associa-tion’s former general secretary Mahen-dra Shandilya.After hearing the arguments from the state government as well as the peti-tioner Friday, the court ordered Com-missioner of Police B.L. Soni, Addi-tional Deputy Commissioner of Police Raghuveer Saini, Deputy Inspector General Giriraj Meena, Deputy Com-missioners of Police Yogesh Yadav and

PatnaTrain and road services were hit in Bi-har Thursday owing to a strike called by contractual teachers to protest against police action during earlier protests.“Contractual teachers forcibly stopped trains in Patna, Shekhpura, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, Jehanabad, Gaya and Bhagalpur districts,” a police officer said.Road traffic was also disrupted at sev-eral places after agitating teachers blocked national and state highways, the officer added.The strike, supported by opposition parties, comes two days after nearly 50 fixed-pay teachers on contract, in-cluding women, were injured in police lathicharge here. About 2.5 lakh con-tractual teachers in Bihar are demand-ing permanent jobs and pay parity with regular teachers. An officer at the police headquarters here said that thousands of contractual teachers took to streets Thursday to press for their demands.In view of the strike, security has been beefed up in the Bihar capital Patna.“We have deployed additional forces in sensitive areas. Besides, patrolling has been intensified and all police stations have been put on alert,” Amrit Raj, se-

144. Joining unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon.-- Whoever, be-ing armed with any deadly weapon, or with anything which, used as a weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, is

Yogesh Goyal, Assistant Commission-er of Police Bajrang Sharma and three station house officers not to hold office till the enquiry is completed.About two dozen people, including advocates and police officers, were in-jured when clashes occurred between lawyers and police outside the state assembly building during the ongoing budget session Wednesday.To draw attention to their demands, the lawyers broke security barricades put up by the police and marched towards the assembly building. The police re-sorted to baton charge on the lawyers.The violence again took place Thurs-day after a group of lawyers torched the temporary lock-up used for holding prisoners in the court premises in the morning.Judicial services were crippled as the lawyers continued to boycott work Fri-day.The lawyers said the state govern-ment is yet to look into their demands for which they had taken out the rally Wednesday.The demands include a residential project on subsidised rates for lawyers, allowance of Rs.2,000 per month for lawyers with less than five years of ex-perience, allocation of Rs.10 crore to the Rajasthan Lawyers’ Welfare Board and the constitution of a Lawyers’ Wel-fare Act.

nior superintendent of police in Patna said.

Amrit Raj, however, said that normal life in Patna remained unaffected by the strike as markets and other business establishments remained open.Pradeep Kumar, leader of Bihar Rajya Shikshak Sangharsh Morcha, an um-brella body of the contractual teachers, said they would boycott the matricula-tion examination scheduled in March.“Academic work in all primary and secondary schools would be boycotted by the teachers against the brutal police action” he said.The Bihar Rajya Prathamik Shikshak Sangh has also said that all primary school teachers will go on mass leave from Thursday and boycott all the ex-amination related work.Thousands of teachers staged protests at various places in Patna, district headquarters and development blocks across the state.Puran Kumar, a leader of protesting teachers, said that 11 first information reports (FIRs) related to arson and vio-lence were lodged in Patna Wednesday, and 53 contractual teachers were sent to judicial custody.

a member of an unlawful assembly, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

The police are a responsible arm of the State and are accountable for their conduct and for the service they are ex-pected to provide.The Problem is the lack of effective ac-countability mechanisms and periodic review of performance is causing the police to lose confidence of the public.The Police Act, 1861 was legislated by the British in the aftermath of the Mu-tiny of 1857 or the First War of Inde-pendence. The British, naturally at that time wanted to establish a police force that would suit the purpose of crush-ing dissent and any movement for self government. This Act continues to this day in most states of India despite far reaching changes in governance and India is transition from being a colo-

nised nation to a sovereign republic. The government and its police today are obliged to respect political diver-sity and guarantee a climate of peace in which people feel secure in the exercise of their rights and the protection of their freedoms. Because these sentiments are not reflected in the legislation gov-erning the police, it has contributed to the police remaining outside the loop of prevailing democratic values. It is also the primary reason for the police being perceived by many as the handmaiden of the political elite rather than as an organisation that provides essential ser-vices through ensuring peace and secu-rity to the people.The Police Act of 1861 governs most police forces in India. Some states like

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Delhi have indeed enacted their own Acts but eventhese closely resemble and are modeled on the Act of 1861. The National Po-lice Commission, 1979-81 (NPC) was alive to the need for reform in legisla-tion governing the police and went on draft a Model Police Actí in its Eighth Report submitted in 1981. Unfortu-nately, this proposed bill, which was developed as a response to the context of the times, and addressed to end some of the ills that plague policing has not been adopted by any state. Neverthe-less, it has served as the template for nascent initiatives for many who are trying to replace the out of date Police Acts in their states with more relevant legislation.

The Police Act, 1861

SpecialCHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 13

Lawyers clash with police near Punjab Raj BhavanChandigarhAgitated over their colleagues being named in a police case, lawyers of the Punjab and Haryana High Court clashed with police near the Punjab Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. The police had to use force and water cannons to dis-perse the lawyers.The high court lawyers, who have stopped working since Tuesday, are demanding cancellation of a first in-formation report (FIR) lodged against senior lawyer Rupinder Singh Khosla

and 19 other lawyers by the police.To press for their demand, around 200 lawyers marched from the high court complex here to the Raj Bhavan to meet Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil, who is also the administrator of Chan-digarh. They staged a protest at the round-about near the Raj Bhavan and refused to move until Patil meets them. Later they clashed with police who had to use batons and water canons to force them leave the high-security zone. The Chandigarh police had Monday

booked Khosla and other lawyers for allegedly assaulting a police head con-stable and later ransacking a security room at the high court complex.Khosla, a former additional advocate general of the Punjab government, had an argument with the head constable over entry into the high court com-plex. The argument soon resulted in a clash and the policeman was allegedly thrashed by lawyers.A police probe into the incident blamed the lawyers for vandalising the security room and beating up the policeman.

The clerks association has also joined the lawyers in the agitation

According to the President, Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association Mr. K.S. Dhaliwal “At the time of strike, ten advocates wanted to meet the governor (Chandigarh),but he did not meet them. This led to the clash between the Police and the advocates.”

14 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013CELEB

MumbaiMegastar Amitabh Bachchan wants Shoojit Sircar’s much-delayed project “Shoebite” to release soon. He says a lot of hard work went behind the mov-ie.“Shoebite” is stuck in controversy over its rights, and Big B remembered the project as he was due to shoot an advertisement with Sircar in Bhopal Monday.“Shoojit Sircar shoots it. Shoojit of now ‘Vicky Donor’ fame, but before that of ‘Shoebite’ with me. I do hope we get to see the light of day of that film. There is some battle on regarding its rights and

UTV who produce and 20th Century Fox in the US are, I am told, sorting it out,” Amitabh posted on his blog srbachchan.tumblr.com.“Fox says the rights are with them, and they wish to make the film with Den-zil Washington, but much before that we had already

completed the film on the assurance that the rights were cleared,” he added.He says the team at UTV has assured that “all shall be worked out”, but the 70-year-old veteran says: “I wonder when”.“A great amount of hard work and personal sweat has been put into that film... But such is life! Sometimes, the most amount of energy spent on the accomplishment of an issue does not necessarily translate to better result,” he added.Amitabh is currently in Bhopal to shoot for Prakash Jha’s “Satyagraha”.

Big B wants ‘Shoebite’ soon!

US honour for Nirbhaya will keep the incidence fresh, says SonamNew DelhiActress Sonam Kapoor got emotional while talking about Nirbhaya, the gan-grape victim who will be honoured by US first lady Michelle Obama. She said the honour will not allow people to for-get the incident soon.“Every time I talk about it, I get teary-eyed. It becomes very difficult for me to talk about it. Doing something like this to any man, woman or animal is de-plorable. To honour someone, who was courageous and fought a battle, is bril-liant,” Sonam told reporters here.The 23-year-old, who was brutally gang-raped and tortured in the Indian capital, died in December last year. Nirbhaya is among 10 extraordinary women who will be honoured on the occasion of the International Women’s Day Friday with the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award by Michelle Obama in Washington, US.Nirbhaya will be awarded posthumous-ly and Sonam said it will give give “publicity” to her, which is needed “be-cause people tend to forget it”. “When something like this (rape) hap-pens, there is a lot of hue and cry, but later it is forgotten. This honour will make the incidence fresh in our mem-ory,” she added.The 27-year-old was in the capital to announce the second edition of L’Oreal

Paris Femina Women Awards 2013.Honouring women with extraordinary accomplish-ment, outstanding leader-ship qualities and excep-tional commitment to their careers, the awards will be held March 19 in Mumbai.Sonam, L’Oreal Paris’s brand ambassador, said: “The most powerful people in our country are women and we need to encourage them, who are doing so much for art, culture, and society.”She has been shooting in the capital for sometime now and believes educa-tion is important to change mindsets.She says that as a woman she has the freedom to move around in Mumbai on her own, but her movement gets restricted in the capital.“I am shooting in Delhi for the past six month. As someone from Mumbai, I go out whenever I want to. But when I am in Delhi, I know I can’t go out after 7:30 p.m. on my own. We cannot blame a city. The basic thing required is edu-cation.

“It is about being open, aware and start respecting women. I think illiteracy is the biggest cause of this kind of mind-set. I think once people get more edu-cated, things will change,” said Sonam.She is currently shooting for Yash Raj Films’ untitled project with actor Ay-ushmann Khurrana in the capital.

Norah Jones leaves capital mesmerized with performance

New DelhiSinger Norah Jones left fans spellbound with her soulful voice as she performed for the first time in the capital .The show was opened by singer M.Ward, who played for almost an hour, before making way for Jones.Jones, 33 was greeted by a huge roar from fans as she appeared on the stage. Dressed in a black and white printed short dress, the singer said she was “excited to perform here”. In a performance appearing magical due to the innovative lightning ar-rangement on the stage, Jones sang her famous numbers like “Happy Pills”, “What am I to you” and “Rosie lul-laby” and responded positively to the members of the animated audience who shouted “Norah I love you” and “You are great”. Accompanied by two guitarists, a drummer and a keyboard player and

even accompanying herself on the gui-tar and piano for some of the songs, Jones responded light-heartedly: “We can just sit here (on stage) and you guys can continue praising us.”The daughter of late Indian sitar leg-end Ravi Shankar and half sister of Anoushka Shankar, Jones also took out some time from singing to express ap-preciation for the audience’s support.“This is our second performance in In-dia and it’s a lot of fun. Thank you for having us here”.The singer has already performed in Mumbai as part of the ‘A Summer’s Day’ music festival and will again per-form before heading to Banglore for her final gig in India March 8.The Norah Jones India Tour produced by Only Much Louder is in partnership with Women’s Cancer Initiative-Tata Memorial Hospital to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer in India.

I started hating myself while playing Kasab: Sanjeev Jaiswal

MumbaiActor Sanjeev Jaiswal, who portrayed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Nov 26-29, 2008 Mum-bai terror attack in the movie “The At-tacks of 26/11”, has revealed that he started loathing himself while shooting for the film.“I want to confess that I also hate Kasab as much as the whole of India. But for me, it was only like I have to just act,” Sanjeev said at a press conference .“While portraying the character of Kasab, I hated myself,” said the actor and added that he was thinking, “What is happening? And what the hell did this person do?”Kasab was hanged in November last

year for his role in the terror attacks, in which 166 people were killed.Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, “The Attacks of 26/11”, which also features Nana Patekar as Joint Commissioner of Mumbai Police, released March 1. As an actor Sanjeev is happy with the response to his character.“As a character, people are hating it but liking me as an actor. They are appre-ciating my work. While watching the movie, they are abusing me, throwing chappals (slippers) on the screen. So, as an actor that is a compliment for me,” he said.“I didn’t know that people are going to react this way. But I was prepared for it as the character is such,” he added.

Turning 40 was best for Rachel WeiszLos AngelesActress Rachel Weisz says turning 40 was one of the “best years” of her life - both professionally and personally.The 42-year-old actress didn’t mind reaching the milestone age because she married James Bond star Daniel Craig in 2011, and took on more “interesting” and “complicated” characters on the stage as well as the big screen, reports femalefirst.co.uk.“When I turned 40 it was one of the best years of my life; I played Blanche in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Hester Collyer in ‘The Deep Blue Sea’ and got married - none of which I’d ever done before. As you age, the characters you play get more interesting, more compli-cated,” Wiesz told Daily Telegraph.

No dieting for Sonal Chauhan

MumbaiActress Sonal Chauhan, who worked hard on her body to carry off bikinis in her forthcoming release “3G”, does not believe in dieting and eats everything.She prefers hitting a gym for physical and mental fitness.“My fitness mantra is eat everything. I don’t believe in dieting. I eat every-thing. I go to the gym and burn it all out,” the 27-year-old said here Mon-day at a gym while promoting “3G”, in which she has teamed up with Neil Nitin MukeshShe suggests out of seven days, one should work out at least for five days for an hour. “I think every person deserves that much time for themselves. When we hit the gym, then besides physical fit-ness, we achieve mental fitness as well. It has been scientifically proven that when you exercise, your body produces happy hormones,” she added.Co-directed by Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber, “3G” is a hor-ror thriller slated to release March 15.

15CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 CELEB

Richa wraps up ‘Fukrey’ shootingMumbaiActress Richa Chadda, who got critical acclaim for her performance in “Gangs of Wasseypur”, says her “Fukrey” shooting is completed.“Fukrey”, a buddy movie that revolves around Delhi-based youngsters, is be-ing produced by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar under Excel Entertain-ment.“It is a wrap for me on‘Fukrey’, the second film I have finished since the release of ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’. Absolutely loved working with this exceptional team,” Richa tweeted.“And Excel, you truly do ex-cel. Ritesh and Farhan. Loved the experience. Feel blessed and content,” Richa further posted.Mrigdeep Singh Lamba has directed the film.Richa was seen in Dibaker Banerjee’s “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!” in 2008 and her other forthcoming films are “Ram Lee-la”, “Tamanchey”, and “Ishqeria”.

Stewart willing to wait for Pattinson

Los AngelesActress Kristen Stewart is unhappy about her temporary separation from actor Robert Pattionson and is report-edly willing to wait for him.The actor is in Australia for the shoot of his film “The Rover”. “Kristen is really missing Rob. Regard-less of their romantic relationship, they are still really good friends. That is something that won’t change. Kristen is not ready to say goodbye to this re-lationship and will do whatever it takes to make it work,” contactmusic.com

quoted a source as saying.“She is just being patient and spending a lot of time with her mom. Her mom has been very supportive and just keeps encouraging her to be true to herself and to keep things simple,” added the source.According to eonline.com, the 22-year-old was thrilled when Pattinson, 26, got in touch with her recently. “She is counting down the minutes until he is home. He loves her, but he wants to work, too, which is understandable,” said a source.

Halle Berry returns in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

‘Gunday’ boys Ranveer, Arjun bromancing in Kolkata

KolkataContrary to rumours that they are not getting along, “sizzling chemistry” and “serious bromance” keep the boys of “Gunday” - Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor - ticking on the outdoor sched-ule of the movie here.“It’s an absolute dynamite. He (Arjun) cracks me up all day. He is my favou-rite co-star to work with. There is seri-ous bromance. He has got an amazing sense of humour, which is the one vir-tue of his I appreciate the most,” said Ranveer at a media conference here Tuesday.The actor, who shot to fame with his debut film “Band Baaja Baaraat” in 2010, was in the city to shoot “Gun-day”, an action-drama-cum-romance written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar and produced by Aditya Chopra.

Also featuring Priyanka Chopra in the female lead, it is slated for release later this year.“We used to get along like a house on fire whenever we used to meet at par-ties. I always knew my chemistry with him is really special and I used to joke that we should do a film together. Soon-er than later it happened, I couldn’t ask for more. It’s everything I expected it to be,” said Ranveer.Putting rumours about the two actors not getting along together to rest, Ar-jun, who made a stellar debut in Bolly-wood with “Ishaqzaade” in 2012, said he too enjoys his co-star’s company.“I love hanging out with him. I have always got along very well with him. These rumours were started and we can’t put them to rest because that’s

how things function when two people work together, unfortunately,” said Ar-jun “It’s a great opportunity for me to clari-fy that it been a great experience. There is sizzling chemistry between us,” he added.Acknowledging Ranveer’s sporting spirit, Arjun said the experience of working together was “surreal”.“Ranveer is one of the most sporting people in the world. It is quite surreal because I know Ranveer from before he became an actor and I became an actor. In many ways ‘Ishaqzaade’ wouldn’t have happened if ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ wasn’t as successful as it was,” said Arjun.Irrfan, who also has a role in the film, is scheduled to shoot in the city soon.

Los AngelesActress Halle Berry has confirmed she will reprise her role as Storm in the lat-est “X-Men: Days of Future Past”.The Oscar-winning actress will play Storm in the Bryan Singer-directed mu-tant movie, and she can’t wait to don her superhero outfit once again, reports

contactmusic.com.Asked if she would be taking part in the sixth film of the Marvel franchise, Berry told accesshollywood.com: “I’m in. I think I’m in. I am excited. I love Storm. That’s one of my favourite char-acters that I’ve played. And people love that character as well.”

16 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013LEISURE

Sudoku Solution 3 Mar, 2013Sudoku 10 MARCH, 2013

Sun and Venus in Capricorn. Moon and Jupiter in Taurus. Shani and Rahu in Libra. Ketu in Aries. Mars and Mercury in Aquarius.

V. Kumar (Scientific Horoscope Consultant) You can consult him with appointment on: 9855150789; 9592095234

DOWN1. Water barrier2. Sense of self 3. Caveman’s time (2 wds.)4. Unbroken5. Belonging to us 6. Wind direction (abbr.)7. Freon and oxygen8. Adjoin 9. Extra 10. Nights before holidays 11. Take five 17. Fruity refresh 19. Rushed 21. Circle segments 22. Gather crops 23. Impressed utterance 24. Gown 26. Bowling term 27. Large terrier 28. Bachelor party29. Dangle 32. Wrestling Pad 36. Religious dessent 37. Dinner 38. ________ glance (2 wds.)39. Not ashore 40. Rock’s partner 41. Thanks ______ ! (2 wds.)42. Mellow 45. Kind46. Salmon eggs48. Bonnet 49. NBC’s rival

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

Some gain from spec-ulation is seen. Take care of your health, some minor mental tension can affect your health. Some professional gains cannot be ruled out.

Success in government related matter is seen. Remedies for Ketu and Rahu are suggested.

Very good week in re-gards to health, busi-ness or progression. Buying of vehicle is seen. Gains from spouse is indicated. Health of younger

one will be of concern. Do not take risk as it can cause losses. Remedy for Sani and Ketu is suggested.

Promotion is on the cards. Success from higher author-ity is seen. Inter-est in religious rites will increase. Some unforeseen expenses

cannot be ruled out. Remedy for Ketu is suggested.

Good luck is on your side. Some minor dis-cord with spouse is seen. Avoid arguing. Charity will give you mental peace. Your siblings will do good. Some unexpected ex-

penses cannot be ruled out. Enemies will be defeated. Remedy for Sani and Rahu is suggested.

ARIESMar 21-Apr 19

LEOJul 23 - Aug. 22 VIRGO

Aug. 23 - Sep 22TAURUSApr 20 - May 20

Journey to a holy place is foreseen. Charity will fetch you good results. Success in love af-fairs and from gov-ernment is seen.Some

property related matter can be sorted out. Children will bring news. Reme-dies for Sani and Rahu are suggested.

Some mental tension is seen. Health of mother can be of con-cern. Some dispute in property related mat-ter is seen. Transfer in profession cannot

be ruled out. Friends will help you in the time of need. Remedies for Rahu and Ketu are suggested.

GEMINIMay 21 - Jun 20

CANCERJun 21 - Jul 22

A friend of yours can ditch you. Do not de-pend on others. Try to be more independent. Struggle in business is seen. Minor financial gains can cheer your mood. Health of moth-

er will be of concern. Do not buy any property or vehicle at this time. Rem-edies for Rahu and Ketu are suggested.

LIBRASep 23 - Oct 22

Positive energy will bring in good results. You can think of changing your busi-ness. Hidden enemies can cause some loss, so be alert. Do not specu-late. Love life will be

average. Remedy for Sani and Rahu is suggested.

SCORPIOOct 23 - Nov 21

Litigation in property related matter cannot be ruled out. Some professional success is seen. Transfer of spouse can cause mental unrest. Mild

stomach upset is seen. Avoid specu-lation. Strengthening of Jupiter will bring good results.

SAGITTARIUSNov 22 - Dec 21

Some financial gains are seen. Success in govern-ment related matter is seen. People in iron and chemical can expect good

business. Time not good for buying property or vehicle. Remedies for Ketu and Rahu are suggested.

CAPRICORNDec 22 - Jan 19

Week starts with a promising note. Health and business will im-prove. Promotion cannot be ruled out. Foreign contact and journey will bring in good results. Finance

will improve. Gain from speculation. Remedy for Sani and Rahu is indicated.

AQUARIUSJan 20 - Feb. 18

Mental agony and loss of some valuable can-not be ruled out. Re-lationship with spouse will improve. Trans-fer in profession is seen. You can suffer

from dental disease. Gain from sibling is seen. Medical expenses will rise. Remedies for Ketu are suggested.

PISCESFeb 19 - Mar 20

ACROSS1. French preposition4. Electrified Atom7. Player 12. FBI Employee (Abbr.)13. Cloistered one14. Over15. Cows comment16. Values deeply18. Gun owners’ org. 20. Loathe21. Long distance (prefixes two wrds)25. Nuclear_______26. Soft belt 30. Pen31. Skirt border 33. Flat bread 34. Went fast 35. North African 37. Holiday hunters prize (2 wrds.)39. Biblical mountain43. Apple color 44. Card game for one 47. Gotha! 50. Marry clendestinely51. Angeles preceder 52. Hunting dog, for short53. Change 54. Florida island 55. List abbr.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14

15 16 17

18 19 20

21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29

30 31 32 33

34 35 36

37 38

39 40 41 42 43

44 45 46 47 48 49

50 51 52

53 54 55

Crossword Solution 03 FEB, 20131A

2S

3A

4P

5A

6B

7C

8A

9C

10H

11E

12L A V A

13L E I

14S E E M

15E M A N

16A T E S

17H A R M

18R I C O T T

19A

20S O Y

21A

22L I C E

23L E S

24S E N S

25N Y C

26E R I E

27D E E

28P

29E

30N

31N A T

32U

33R

34E

35E R O

36S

37S U N

38 O

39N

40E T I M E

41A

42M E N D

43P A L

44C A R

45A M E L

46A V O

47W

48D E C A D E

49N

50T

51L A P S

52I N

N

53I S E E

54S L E W

55C E E

56A S E A

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Water your best drink to fight the heat

New DelhiThe summer is round the corner and it’s time to check your car’s coolant level to guard against overheating. But what about your body? Doesn’t it need something special to adjust to the expected gradual increase in mercury over the next few weeks?It does, say nutritionists and health experts, who recommend nothing but water - in liberal quantities - to keep you properly hydrated.Water makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For ex-ample, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.Lack of water can lead to dehydra-tion, a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your en-ergy and make you tired.Palliative care physician Divya Pal Singh said: “Proper care needs to be taken of the body’s fluid requirement as the weather starts getting warmer.”“Drinking adequate amounts of water also ensures that cancer causing toxins are flushed out of the body,” he said.“Your water needs depend on many

factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live. At least two-three litres of fluids daily should keep a person healthy,” he said.The doctor warned fizzy drinks or juices aren’t the ideal replacement for water.Parents of small children have their own set of problems. Anjali Madan, a Delhi-based human resource consul-tant, complained about her eight-year-old son refusing to drink water in ad-equate quantities.“He takes just a few sips of water after meals and a session in the playground. Since I do not want to give him colas, I am confused how to ensure his regular and proper hydration,” she said.While instant sweetened, flavoured additives and lemon concentrates are some of her tested ways of drawing her son into drinking more and more water, she said it was not practical to prepare such drinks all the time.The HR professional said she was not really sure about the new breed of flavoured water, some of which even claim to carry benefits of vitamins, to improve her child’s water drinking habit.Said Steve Verma, director, Beltek Ca-nadian Water Limited, which makes vitamin enriched water drink, Wild Water: “Our product is a natural alter-native to colas and an exciting alterna-tive to normal packaged water.” “We have focussed on tasty hydration and meeting the needs of calorie-con-scious consumers,” he said.“Even children and reluctant water drinkers may get attracted to our natu-ral flavoured water with vitamins,” he said, adding that some of the variants of Wild Water came with the benefits of Vitamins A, B and C along with elec-trolytes and zinc.“People moved away from carbonated soft drinks to juices and now are further shifting towards healthier, less calorific and more natural alternatives. There-fore, we see a positive future trend to-wards such categories,” he said.Verma claimed his product has opened a completely new category in the Rs.300-crore functional drink market (excluding energy drinks). A functional drink is one that contains additives like herbs, vitamins and minerals, among others.According to American NGO Institute of Medicine, an adequate intake for men is roughly three litres (about 13 cups) of beverages a day. For women, it is 2.2 litre (about nine cups) of bever-ages a day.Nutritionist Ruchi Sharma maintains that water, in whatever form, is the best way to take on the harsh summer.“For fussy kids the parents need to add lemon, squashes or flavours to water to get them into the habit of relying on water more than carbonated drinks,” she said.The bottomline is that water has to be consumed, in whichever form it is, to fight the summer heat, Sharma added.

Happiness level linked to a brain chemicalLos AngelesWhat makes us happy? Family? Mon-ey? Love? How about a peptide? For the first time, scientists have found a link between happiness and levels of a chemical within the body, which could offer hope for patients with psychiatric disorders, says a study.The neuro-chemical changes underly-ing human emotions and social behav-iour have hitherto remained largely un-known. Now, though, for the first time in humans, scientists at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) have mea-sured the release of a specific peptide, a neurotransmitter called hypocretin, that greatly increased when subjects were happy but decreased when they were

sad.The find-

ing sug-gests that b o o s t i n g hypocretin

could e l e v a t e both mood and alertness in humans, thus laying the foundation for possible future treatment of psychiatric disorders like depression by targeting measurable abnormalities in brain chemistry, reports Science Daily.In addition, the study measured for the first time the release of another peptide, called melanin concentrating hormone, or MCH. Researchers found that its release was

minimal on waking, but greatly in-creased during sleep, suggesting a key role for this peptide in making humans sleepy.The study is published in the March 5 online edition of the journal Nature Communications.“The current findings explain the sleepi-ness of narcolepsy, as well as the de-pression that frequently accompanies this disorder,” said senior author Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry and di-rector of the Centre for Sleep Research at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neurosci-ence and Human Behaviour. “The findings also suggest that hypocre-tin deficiency may underlie depression from other causes,” Siegel said.

CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 17REVIEW

Music: Sajid-Wajid, Sachin-JigarLyrics: Indeevar, Sameer AnjaanSingers: Sunidhi Chauhan, Mam-ta Sharma, Bappi Lahiri, Shreya Ghosal, Mika Singh, Shaan, Soham Mukherjee, Subh Mukherjee

After Housefull 2, Sajid Khan is back with his Bollywood action romance flick Himmatwala produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani featuring Ajay Devgan opposite Ta-mannaah in the lead roles. Composer Sajid-Wajid and Sachin-Jigar try to bring back the 80’s era of retro tunes. Naino Mein Sapna -originally com-posed by Bappi Lahiri and sung by Shreya Ghosal and Amit Kumar takes you back to the vintage 80s. The song is accurate to the original number with orchestra and sitar beats in the begin-ning. .Shreya has done a excellent job as always and Amit Kumar pays an ap-propriate tribute to his father Kishoare Kumar who has done the original num-ber.Taki Taki- The repeated version of Taki Taki by Mika ,Shreya Ghoshal and composers Sajid-Wajid does justice in updating this track as a chartbuster . Mi-ka’s voice sounds refreshing, whereas Shreya has does much in sounding orig-inal throughout this entertaining track. The lyrics by Indeevar remain the same and the result too is the same.Dhoka Dhoka-This catchy number fea-turing Sunidhi Chauhan and Mamta Sharma, along with Bappi Lahiri results in an entertaining dance track. Anjaan’s lyrics are the catchy and the use of all the major languages in the beginning of has been efficiently done. Bum Pe Laat –highly situational track sung by Shaan is childish number. The lyrics introduces the bad guys of the film in a very unique manner, through the eyes of the lead .The amazing Shaan treats this song with his style, but it just sounds like a disharmony. So, don’t go for this number.Thank God Its Friday-Decent original composition by Sachin-Jigar is suc-cessful in recreating that Disco era with Sunidhi Chauhan.The perfect composi-tion from the lively drums to the violins in adds fun and gets you grooving to this number. Sunidhi Chauhan makes this song pleasing to ears.With spunk, disco “Himmatwala” revis-its and redefines 1980s. An entertaining album that promises a lot of fun and frolic, it does not have even a single dull moment. Naino mein Sapna and taki re taki are gives the fresh feel to the origi-nal ones whereas Thank God Its Friday is a chill out number.Sajid-Wajid music fails to hit the mark. Only Bappi La-hiri’s iconic tracks manage to impress.

Himmatwala- Revisits the 80’s tunes

‘Oz - The Great and Powerful’ an enchanting fairytale

Film: “’Oz - The Great and Power-ful”; Cast: James Franco, Mila Ku-nis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King, Tony Cox, Stephen R. Hart, Abigail Leigh Spencer, Bruce Campbell; Di-rector: Sam Raimi; Rating: ** 1/2

“Oz - The Great and Powerful” is a fantasy film about a hero’s journey that deals with conflict between good and evil prevalent in the land of OZ and his personal struggle with greed and mo-rality.The film is laced with messages for its impressionable target audience. One of the lessons revealed early in the film is three ups in life,- show up, keep up and shut up. And the other, “when we be-lieve, anything is possible”. With these as the success mantra, the wizard proves that he is great and pow-erful.The film initially begins in a black and white exposition giving it a feel of a pe-riod drama. Set in 1905 on the outskirts of Kansas, the story focuses on Oscar (James Franco), a magician. He is a charming Casanova who hypnotizes his audience as well as every pretty girl he meets. Unfortunately, luck is not on his side. In his hope to escape from the clutches of an overtly jealous and angry boyfriend of one of the girls he charms, Oscar hops onto a hot air balloon and is whisked away by a swirling tornado to the vibrant-coloured land of OZ.From then on, the film takes a mystical twist. The Land of Oz is an enchanting fairyland with giant blooming flowers, river fairies, flying baboons, porcelain dolls, dwarfs and witches that reside in Emerald City. Here Oscar meets the three beautiful and powerful witches - Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Ra-chel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Wil-liams) who vie for his attention. Their motives are initially masked in

mystery.Ridden with problems of their own, the people of OZ are waiting for a saviour to rescue them. And they believe that Oscar is their knight in shining armour. Franco as the shady magician with pointed shoes, vest and top hat slips into the role of the sly wizard with slick, and sleazy charm. Of the three witches, Kunis’ Theodora lacks a bit in histrionic stature, but she does create her mark when her cor-rosive tears burn rivulet scars on her cheeks.Weisz’s Evanora portrays accurately the right notes of cold ambition, while Michelle Williams as Glinda glows with convincing goodness.Cinematically the film radiates with excellent workmanship and eagerness. The developments flow spontaneously, from the china doll (beautifully voiced by Joey King) and Finlay the flying monkey (voiced by Zach Braff) who pledges his eternal servitude to Oz, to the otherworldly landscapes including the flora and fauna.The script comes off as ordinary, full of flat, repetitive dialogues about who is good, who is wicked and also whether Oscar is a real wizard or an opportunis-tic scoundrel or perhaps both. Apart from this, director Sam Raimi’s unstrained passion to put together this thin, simplistic story with abundant care and precision is amply clear.Editing by Bob Murawski is flawless. He links the film with the 3D-lensed imagery to produce a fluid, unaffect-edly multidimensional experience. Gary Jones and Michael Kutsche’s painstakingly detailed costumes and Robert Stromberg’s multihued sets take on an almost radiant glow in Peter Deming’s wide screen cinematography.“Oz - The Great and Powerful” is a mesmerizing visual treat to a genera-tion that has not seen “Wizard of Oz”.

Bonsai Kitten - Deals with a common crime hidden below the majority householdAuthor: Lakshmi NarayanFormat: PaperbackLanguage: EnglishPages: 296Price: Rs. 195Publishers: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd

“I m nothing but a bonsai kitten! thought Divya despairingly. Bonsai kitten a pervert s conflict that just as plants can be short, so can living be-ings. And wasn’t that the guiding prin-ciple behind securing a suitable girl? Catch her young when she is compliant like playdough, so she can be twisted and mangled to your liking. This way, she knows her place and stays there. At the lowest stratum. But little does Di-vya suspect that the Cosmic Jester that celestial imp who specializes in trip-

ping up humans has other plans for her. Plans that include a roller-coaster ride from Delhi to Mumbai to Singapore, with tears and laughter, betrayal and friendship, loss and rebirth, as her com-panions. And through it all, she would have to fence with that master puppe-teer to reclaim her destiny.

“Lakshmi Narayan began her career as a journalist. She was editor of Flair and Eve’s Weekly, before relocating to Sin-gapore, where she wrote extensively for international publications. Lakshmi now lives in Mumbai with her husband Arun and her two gorgeous rescued dogs – Donna and Tiger.

About The Author

“Lakshmi Narayan makes a spunky literary debut with a novel that will find ...several echoes and resonances, not just with women but also from men who want to understand us a little better-Shobha De”

Music Movies

Book

Award winning director Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Saheb Biwi Aur GangsterReturns, the sequel to his 2011 hit film Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster features Jimmy Shergill and Mahie Gill, who will all be seen reprising their roles from the previous film, while new additions to the cast include Irrfan Khan and Soha Ali Khan.

PlotThere are four main characters in the film – Jimmy Shergill as Aditya Pratap Singh king of a small village who is ac-

Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns – gritty thriller with great dialogues

Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga

tive in politics and plays real dirty with his fellow kings. Aditya is paralyzed by legs but still is an arrogant king, while his wife Mahie Gill who betrayed him in the earlier part, has increased her alcohol consumption. Aditya, meanwhile devel-ops liking to his stepmother’s friend’s daughter Ranjana (Soha). Ranjana is in love with Indrajeet Singh (Irrfan) who has an age-old rivalry with Saheb as his ancestors were destroyed by Saheb’s family. Madhvi is still in search of love and lust and so she finds that space in Irrfan’s arms and many others.

Directed By : Anshul SharmaProduced By : Ashok Pandey (Revel Films Pvt. Ltd.)Starring : Sanjay Mishra, Zakir Hussain, Vishwa Mohan Badola ….

Saare Jahaan Se Mehnga is a satirical comedy about a middle class family crushed under the burden of inflation. Puttan Pal (Sanjay Mishra) who is a middle class commuter and works in a government-run Animal Breeding Centre , Harayana lives with his wife

Noori (Pragati) runs a beauty parlor in her home while Puttan’s younger brother Gopal (Ranjan Chabra) is good for nothing. The family crying over rising prices discovers an idea of sav-ing money.Thus Puttan decides to fight mehngai by taking the loan and saving money on three years’ ration.A great idea turns into a nightmare creating hi-larious situations with entry of Zakhir Hussain,a loan inspector. What hap-pens to Puttan and his family? Do they come out of this big problem?

CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 201318 SCIENCE AND TECH

Jupiter moon lander project to get first funding in 2014

Major Delhi hospitals to have new blood-screening technology

Facebook acquires Microsoft’s digital-ad service

MoscowRussia’s Jupiter research project, which includes a lander mission to its moon Ganymede, will receive its first funding next year, a space agency official said.“The project has been included in the Federal Space Programme until 2015; next year, first funding for the project will be supplied, though so far it is not very large,” said Viktor Voron, aide to

the chief of the federal space agency Roscosmos.Between 10 million and 30 million rubles (about $300,000 to $1 million) will be provided during the first year for R&D, and construction of the first mockups could start by 2017, said Maxim Martynov, deputy general de-signer at the Lavochkin Science and Production Association.The project envisions sending one or-biter and one lander to Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, by 2023, in order to study the planet for about three years.It is not yet clear whether the Ganymede Lander will be a partner mission for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Jupi-ter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE).JUICE is the first large-class mission that is part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme.It will be launched in 2022 from Eu-rope’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on an Ariane 5, arriving on Jupiter in 2030 to spend at least three years making detailed observations.The spacecraft will finally enter orbit around Ganymede in 2032, where it will study the icy surface and the inter-nal structure of the moon, including its subsurface ocean, ESA said.

HIV cure raises hopes tempered with cautionWashingtonThe report of an American toddler “functionally cured” of HIV has raised hopes of a breakthrough in the global fight to end the AIDS epidemic, but researchers suggest treating the development with caution.Calling it “The Intriguing Case of a Baby Cured of HIV”, The New York Times editorially said: “There are reasons to treat this apparent break-through cautiously.”“Researchers must still demonstrate conclusively that the baby had truly been infected and was not simply pre-vented from absorbing its mother’s in-fection - a process achieved routinely in many babies,” it said.“They must also show that this is not an exceptional, non-replicable case with an atypical baby, but that the same treatment would work in other newborns,” the influential US daily said.Doctors cited by USA today agreed that extending the success in curing the 2-year Mississippi girl infected with HIV at birth “will be a chal-lenge”.Noting that more than 300,000 babies a year worldwide are born infected with HIV, researchers cautioned that “it will likely take years before they’re

able to extend that success to a broad-er community of patients, if ever”.Doctors credit the child’s cure to early treatment; her physicians began treat-ment soon after delivery, which is the standard of care for the child of an un-treated, HIV-positive mother.Most adults can’t benefit from such early therapy, because they typically don’t even learn that they’re infected for months or years, USA Today said citing Rana Chakraborty, an associate professor of paediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.While the child’s story has been hailed as a victory for science, Chakraborty said the case also illustrates the single greatest challenge in treating AIDS: actually getting care to patients.Delivering on the prom-ise of scientific break-throughs has been a challenge not just in developing countries of Afri-ca, but in the US, the daily said.Only 28 percent of peo-ple of the 1.2 million HIV-positive

Americans have been diagnosed and treated successfully so that their lev-els of virus are undetectable, accord-ing to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.However, CNN said the toddler’s case could have wide-ranging effects on the global fight to end the AIDS epidemic.“If we can replicate this in other in-fants ... this has huge implications

for the burden of infection that’s occurring globally,” Deborah Per-saud, a paediatrician at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre was quoted as saying.“For the unfortunate ones who do get infected, if this can be repli-

cated, this would offer real hope of clearing the virus,” added Persaud

the lead author of a report on the toddler’s case.

“We are enthusiastic about the potential of this case, but

it is one case and it needs to be replicated and con-firmed through future studies and clinical tri-

als,” said Meg Doherty, the World Health Orga-

nization’s Department of HIV/AIDS coordinator of treatment

and care, as cited by CNN.

New DelhiThe Delhi government approved a proposal for new technology to screen donated blood in the government hos-pitals’ blood blanks to curb risk of transmitting infection.The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.“To minimise the risk of transmission of infections due to transfusion of do-nated blood, the cabinet has decided to introduce nucleic acid amplification testing of donated blood in blood banks in government’s major hospitals,” Dik-shit told reporters.The new testing and screening technol-ogy will replace the existing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay which detects infections in respect of HIV, Hepatitis B & Hepatitis C viruses in the donated blood after approximately 21, 60 and 75 days of infections respec-tively. The period is known as window period.“The new technology will reduce the duration of window period to 11, 20 and 15 days respectively and therefore would reduce the risk of transmission of infections,” said a government of-ficial.It has been proposed to introduce the new technology at Lok Nayak Hospital or GTB Hospital.

WashingtonFacebook Inc. announced that it has reached a deal with Microsoft Corp. to acquire its Atlas Advertiser Suite, a ser-vice that enables marketers and agen-cies to get the most out of their online advertising.“We’re pleased to announce that we have agreed to acquire the Atlas Adver-tiser Suite from Microsoft,” Facebook said in a blog entry Thursday, without disclosing the terms of the deal.The purchase of Atlas, a set of tools that help companies choose the place-ment of their ads on web sites and mon-itor their effectiveness, is part of Face-book’s bid to battle Google for market share in the online display-ad business.

Market research company eMarketer Inc. forecasts that Google and Face-book will have 18 percent and 15 per-cent shares of the US market for dis-play ads, respectively, this year.“Atlas is a leader in campaign manage-ment and measurement for marketers and agencies. We believe this acquisi-tion will benefit both marketers and us-ers,” the blog post said.“If marketers and agencies can get a holistic view of campaign perfor-mance, they will be able to do a much better job of making sure the right mes-sages get in front of the right people at the right time. Atlas has built capabili-ties that allow for this kind of measure-ment,” Facebook added.

Now fundraising app for girls’ education

MumbaiOn International Women’s Day, Plan India, an NGO that works towards the upliftment of under-privileged chil-dren, will launch a web-based applica-tion to raise funds for the education of girls in the country, an official said.The app based on the micro site www.educateagirl.org is being supported by women achievers like Indra Nooyi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anu Aga, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Kirthiga Red-dy and Shobhaa De.To be launched under the aegis of “Be-cause I am a Girl” campaign, the ap-plication projects a happy child, in mo-saic, made of blocks.

Each block is worth a donation of Rs.500 and when a donor makes a con-tribution, his or her picture gets embed-ded in that block, providing the instant satisfaction of ‘standing behind the girl child’.“There is no greater wish a woman can have on Women’s Day than to have her own identity, economic self reliance and live a life of dignity. Only educa-tion makes that possible,” said Bhag-yashri Dengle, executive director, Plan India.“It is our collective responsibility to en-sure that our girls go to school, gradu-ate from college, join the workforce and change the world,” said Kiran Ma-zumdar Shaw.Plan India’s primary objective under this campaign is to enable girls to enrol and complete quality primary and sec-ondary education in a safe and support-ive community environment.Through the fundraiser, Plan India aims to raise at least Rs.12 million to educate 2,000 girls in our country for one year.Plan India’s ‘Because I am a Girl’ cam-paign aims to ensure over 3,40,000 girls remain in school and access qual-ity education, 1,00,000 girls complete secondary school through various school improvement programs and 50,000 girls receive vocational training by the year 2015.

Fresh insight into how taste buds sense flavoursWashingtonUnravelling what was pretty much a mystery until now, a new study has revealed how cells transmit taste in-formation to the brain for sweet, bitter and savoury flavours.A team of researchers from nine in-stitutions discovered how ATP - the body’s main fuel source - is released as the neurotransmitter from sweet, bitter, and umami (savory) taste bud cells.The CALHM1 channel protein, which spans a taste bud cell’s outer mem-brane to allow ions and molecules in and out, releases ATP to make a neu-ral taste connection. The other two

taste types, sour and salt, use different mechanisms to send taste information to the brain, reports Science Daily.Kevin Foskett, professor of physiol-

ogy at the Perelman School of Medi-cine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and others, de-scribe in Nature that how ATP release is key to this sensory information path.They found that the calcium homeosta-sis modulator 1 (CALHM1) protein, recently identified by Foskett’s lab as a novel ion channel, is indispensable for taste via release of ATP.“This is an example of a bona fide ATP ion channel with a clear physiological function,” says Foskett. “Now we can connect the molecular dots of sweet and other tastes to the brain,” adds Foskett.

Meteorite perfume to be launchedMoscowAuthorities in the Chelyabinsk region, which was hit by a meteorite Feb 15, have announced plans to launch a new perfume with the scent of the celestial body, which brought the Urals city to international fame.The new fragrance will be named “Chebarkul Meteorite”, after the lake where the meteorite’s fragments were found, the administration of the town of Chebarkul said on its website.Local businessman Sergei Andreyev proposed to analyze the meteorite’s fragments to create a fragrance.“It (the perfume) will most likely fea-ture metallic and stony notes,” the ad-ministration quoted Andreyev as say-ing.The administration said it will continue

searching for ways to profit from the meteorite strike.Chelyabinsk authorities earlier an-nounced plans to erect a monument to commemorate the meteorite and to hold a competition for the best design pro-posal.The flaming meteorite streaked across the sky and slammed into central Rus-sia Feb 15 with a massive boom that blew out windows and damaged thou-sands of buildings around Chelyabinsk, injuring more than 1,500 people in the area.US space agency NASA estimates the meteorite was roughly 15 metres in diameter when it struck Earth’s atmo-sphere, travelling several times the speed of sound, and exploded into a fireball brighter than the morning sun.

19CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 KIDS

Strange Facts You Didn’t Know

•I am an insect, and the first half of my name reveals another insect. Some famous musicians had a name similar to mine. What am I?

•I have streets but no pavement.I have cities but no buildings.I have forests yet no trees.I have rivers yet no water.

•What type of house weighs the least?

•I have keys that open no locks,I have space, but there is no room,You can enter, but you can’t go in.What am I?

• Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

• Dragonflies can fly up to 50 miles per hour.

• A mosquito flaps its wings 500 times a second.

• Jupiter is a planet made entirely of gases.

• Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, was actually afraid of the dark.

• One inch of rain is equal to 10 inches of snow.

• In one day your heart beats 100,000 times

Answers : •Beetle •Map•A Light House•Keyboard

Vernacular - everyday languageExample-” The vernacular of today’s young people is very confusing for some of the older generation.”

Entreat- to make an important requestExample-” I entreat you to donate some time tomorrow for our neighbor-hood clean-up program.”

Penchant- a strong likingExample-” Because of my penchant for eating chocolate cupcakes, I have gained weight.”

Laconic- BriefExample-” To save valuable time, give me a laconic explanation of what hap-pened.”

Copious- large in number or quantityExample-” Take copious notes in class so that you have plenty of review mate-rial for the test.”

Lament- to express sorrowExample-” The least you could do is lament for hurting my mother’s feel-ings!”

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilo-metres over an area of approximately 344,400 square kilometres. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, Australia.The Great Barrier Reef can be seen from outer space and is the world’s biggest single structure made by living organ-isms. This reef structure is composed of and built by billions of tiny organisms, known as coral polyps. It supports a wide diversity of life and was selected as a World Heritage Site in 1981.The Great Barrier Reef fish all lead very different lives. Some are solitary, while some live in large schools run-ning throughout the coral reef systems, enjoying the freedom of this unpolluted natural paradise. An essential part of this amazing natu-ral ecosystem, Great Barrier Reef fish

are a part of the food chain, have devel-oped amazing symbiotic relationships with corals and also provide ‘cleaning services’ for some of the reef’s larger residents. For People perhaps the most amazing thing is the diversity in colour, shape and size of the Great Barrier Reef fish, so we will look at these areas are little more closely.

Some quick facts about the Great Bar-rier Reef: • The Great Barrier Reef is classed as the single largest living organism in the world, spanning a total distance of over 2600km from the Torres Strait in the North to the Fraser Island area in the South • The Great Barrier Reef is comprised of over 900 individual islands• The widest sections of the Great Bar-rier Reef reach over 65 kilometres at their largest areas

• Over 1500 species of tropical fish, 400 different types of coral, 200 types of birds and 20 types of reptiles are just some of the life forms which inhabit the reef• The Great Barrier Reef is one of the few Australian features that can be seen from space• The Great Barrier Reef is a UNESCO World Heritage area and listed as one of the “Seven Natural Wonders of the World” • The Great Barrier Reef cov-ers an overall area that is larger than the size of Italy• The Great Barrier Reef draws over a million visitors from all over the world each year• In terms of the Australian economy, the Great Barrier Reef alone generates over 6 billion dollars worth of revenue per year• Around 10 percent of the world’s total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef

Did you know The world’s first website was about the web.?

Knowing about the famous “Great Barrier Reef ”

The Dandi March -Turning point of Indian independence movement

In 1989, CERN was the largest Inter-net knot in Europe, and Berners-Lee saw an opportunity to join hypertext with the Internet . According to Berner “I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the Transmission Con-trol Protocol and domain name system ideas, the World Wide Web Creating the web was really an act of despera-tion, because the situation without it was very difficult when I was working at CERN later. “What Berners-Lee planned was a plan to merge the technologies of per-sonal computers, computer network-ing, and hypertext into a powerful and easy-to-use global information sys-tem. Berners-Lee had just created the World Wide Web. On August 6, 1991, at a CERN facility in the Swiss Alps,

The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian inde-pendence movement. It was a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wid-er Civil Disobedience Movement. On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi and 78 satyagrahis set out on foot for the coastal village of Dandi to protest British salt laws. They covered 390 kilometres from Satyagraha Ashram, popularly known as the Sabarmati Ashram, to Dandi in south Gujarat. As they continued on this 23 day, growing numbers of Indians joined them .When Gandhi broke the salt laws at 6:30 am on April 6, 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the British Raj salt laws by

36-year-old physicist Tim Berners-Lee published the first-ever website .Info.cern.ch was the address of the world’s first-ever web site and web server, run-ning on a NeXT computer at CERN. The first web page address was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/ThePro-ject.html, which centered on informa-tion regarding the WWW project. Tim Berners-Lee followed his dream of a better, easier way to communicate via computers on a global scale, which led him to create the World Wide Web.

millions of Indians.This turning point in the freedom struggle of the nation has since in-spired a number of marches. But the Salt March was more than a mass po-litical action. Gandhi saw the march as a pilgrimage, as a living discourse. It was not merely about throwing out the mighty British Empire but to dem-onstrate what an ideal non violent so-ciety should look like and how ideal lives should be lived. The Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent protest called satyagraha, which he loosely translated as “truth-force.”Literally, it is formed from the Sanskrit words satya, “truth”, and agraha, “force.” In early 1930 the In-dian National Congress chose satya-graha as their main tactic for winning Indian independence from British rule and appointed Gandhi to organize the campaign.

Science finds more takers at college levelNew DelhiThere is good news for future of sci-ence in India. A study by a premier In-dian research organisation has found an increase of 44 percent and 121 percent in enrolment in science at undergradu-ate and postgraduate courses respec-tively in the last six years, dispelling apprehensions that students are not opting for it.The study by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) re-ported an annual growth of eight per-cent and 19 percent in science courses at college level between 2004-05 and 2009-10.The study found that 2,148,956 students enrolled for undergraduate courses in science in colleges in 2009-10 com-pared to 1,490,785 in 2004-05, an in-crease of 44 percent. The response was much better in postgraduate courses in science with 439,725 students enroll-ing in 2009-10 compared to 198,719 in 2004-05, an increase of 121 percent.The authors from the Human Resource Development Group of the CSIR also studied data pertaining to students availing themselves of science research fellowship for pursuing PhD in aca-demic and scientific institutions across India. “There has been an increase in the en-rolment of students for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science during the period 2004-05 to 2009-10 and it is accompanied by significant increase in registration for science re-search fellowship,” Rajesh Luthra, lead author of the study, toldThe study also showed that the NET-qualified candidates who did not avail themselves of the fellowship are actu-ally staying in the same stream.

20 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013BUSINESS

Indian IT industry targets $300 billion revenue in seven years

India-Latin America trade to double in five years

Drive against fake products will help curb fiscal deficit: Maken

BangaloreTargetting $300 billion revenue from IT sector by 2020, the industry repre-sentative body Nasscom announced ex-pansion of its focus to include internet, mobile technology and cloud comput-ing.Currently revenue from software and services is around $100 billion.The larger focus for Nasscom, from just software and services, has been suggested by a panel the industry body had set July last year under the chair-

manship of Infosys co-founder N. R. Narayana Murthy.Releasing the recommendations of the panel to media here, Murthy said inter-net, mobile technology, cloud comput-ing and domestic IT market had great potential.Hence the Nasscom executive council would be expanded to give representa-tion to these IT segments, he said.Nasscom would also set up five cen-tres of excellence in five years, Murthy said.

New DelhiDrive against counterfeiting and smug-gling can generate huge revenue for the exchequer and help contain fiscal deficit, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken said .Addressing an event organised here by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Maken said counterfeiting and smug-gling were invisible enemies and should be eliminated. “If counterfeiting and smuggling were checked, it can help in curbing fiscal deficit,” He said. The event was organised by FICCI committee against smuggling and counterfeit activities destroying the economy (FICCI-CASCADE) in as-sociation with Management Interaction Cell of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, University of Delhi. Fiscal deficit is one of the major prob-lems facing the Indian economy. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain at 5.2 percent of the country’s gross do-mestic product (GDP) in the financial year ending March 31. The government targets to bring it down to 4.8 percent of the GDP in the next fiscal. According to a study conducted by

FICCI-CASCADE, sale of counterfeit and smuggled products and tax evasion in seven key sectors that include auto, fast moving consumer goods, alcohol and tobacco, resulted in Rs.26,190 crore ($4.85 billion) loss to the exche-quer in 2012. “The report released by FICCI-CAS-CADE highlighting the impact of counterfeit and smuggling on seven key sectors of the economy and the loss to government is a right step in creating awareness,” Maken said.

Serious lapses in farm loan waiver scheme: CAGNew DelhiThe Comptroller and Auditor Gen-eral (CAG) has said there were serious lapses and malpractices in implement-ing the government’s Rs.52,000 crore ($9.5 billion) farm loan waiver scheme in 2008.In a report tabled in parliament Tuesday on the “Implementation of Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008” CAG said there were irregulari-ties in at least one in five cases.“Overall, the performance audit re-vealed that in 20,216 or 22.32 percent of the 90,576 cases test checked in audit, there were lapses/errors which raised serious concerns about the im-plementation of the scheme,” the CAG said.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government had announced a debt

HyderabadThe bilateral trade between India and Latin America is likely to double in five years from the current level of $30 bil-lion, said a senior Indian official .“At the rate at which it is growing in about five years, we should be able to double it. If not, it will be $50 billion,” said Dammu Ravi, joint secretary (Lat-in America and Caribbean) in the min-istry of external affairs.He was talking to reporters on the side-lines of a seminar organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on “Opportunities in emerging mar-kets: Latin America and Caribbean”.The Indian companies have so far in-vested $16 billion in the region, while more companies are exploring oppor-tunities in trade, investment and min-ing. Ravi said direct shipping, air con-nectivity, visa on arrival and free trade agreements were some of the steps be-ing taken to boost trade with the region.Sixty percent of the current bilateral trade is in oil, hydrocarbons, minerals and agriculture commodities but it is now moving into niche area like phar-ma and IT services.

Underlining the need for direct ship-ping, he pointed out that it is currently taking 45 days due to transshipments to Europe and Singapore. “We are working on direct shipping, which will not take more than 30 days. We are talking ministries of commerce and shipping.”Ravi said there was also a proposal for direct air connectivity to the region. “Indian Airlines can perhaps have direct connection to Panama, where we have large Indian community and which is a hub connecting north and south America,” he said adding the target is to launch the direct flight next year.The joint secretary said they were aim-ing at visa waiver and requesting all the countries in the region to relax the visa norms by disposing of visa applications of Indians within a day. He pointed out that Indians holding a US visa don’t need separate visas for all eight central American countries.“Now in reciprocity we are planning to give them visa on arrival facility. This facility is already available to 11 coun-tries. We will extend it to more coun-

tries,” he said. India is also negotiating Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Peru and Mexico.“We know that when Pacific Alliance takes shape, we will have FTA with Pacific Alliance which include all four countries and the entire area will be-come a very potent trade region for India.”Jaime Nualart, ambassador of Mexi-co and chairman, Grouping of Latin American & Caribbean (GRULAC) in his address pointed out that Latin America offer tremendous business opportunities for Indian business com-munity. He said that Mexico and India shared common values for the prosper-ity of the both nations.Deepak Bhojwani, former Indian am-bassador to Cuba, Colombia and Ve-neuzela, noted that trade between India and Latin America has increased sig-nificantly. He was also of the view that Latin America is being far from India is only myth.Ambassadors of Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Paraguay and Peru highlighted the business opportunities available in their respective countries.

waiver for farmers across the coun-try in 2008, a move that analysts say helped the government win the 2009 general election.The scheme was originally estimated to benefit 3.69 crore marginal and small farmers and 60 lakh other farmers.Over the last four financial years the government has waived more than Rs.52,000 crore related to approxi-mately 3.45 crore small, marginal and other farmers.“It was found that out of the 9,334 ac-counts test checked in audit across nine states, 1,257 accounts, or 13.46 percent were such who were found to be eli-gible for benefit of Rs.3.58 crore under the scheme, but were not considered by the lending institutions while preparing the list of eligible beneficiaries,” the government’s official auditor said.

BRICS Business Council to be set up during Durban summitNew DelhiThe BRICS Summit in South Africa later this month will see the launch of the BRICS Business Council - a plat-form to strengthen ties among the busi-ness communities of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.“The BRICS Business Council will constitute a platform to strengthen economic ties between the business communities of the five BRICS coun-tries and facilitate regular interactions between the members as well as with the five BRICS governments,” South African Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Elizabeth Thabethe told .The BRICS summit as well as the 4th BRICS Business Forum are slated to be held in Durban March 25-27.Thabethe, who is leading a delegation of South African businesses to partici-pate in the country’s fourth Investment and Trade Initiative to India (March 4-8), said: “We look forward to engag-ing 100 Indian executives in areas of mutual interest and driving trade and investment.”Pointing out that India is a key partner with South Africa in many multilateral fora like IBSA, G-20 and the WTO, Thabethe said the two countries seek to advance South-South relations.“The rationale for this is rooted in the enhancement of South-South econom-ic integration and cooperation. The broadening of economic space through

larger consumer markets gives devel-oping countries such as South Africa and India the opportunity to develop economies of scale, increase their com-petitiveness and become global com-petitors.”Thabethe said as India’s economy con-tinues growing, so too will its require-ments for Africa’s resources, provid-ing further impetus to the continent’s growth.In 2012, trade between India and South Africa was worth over $14 billion.The composition of trade, however, shows that South Africa’s exports to In-dia mainly consist of raw materials and there is a need to promote the export of value-added products, Thabethe said.“Indian businesses wishing to invest in South Africa need to be prepared to in-vest in value addition over time,” she said.In recent years, Indian business in sectors like mining and agriculture has started doing value-addition in South Africa to bring back valued-added or semi-finished products to India.Total foreign direct investment from India to South Africa amounts to $3.8 billion till date.Thabethe said the India-SACU Pref-erential Trade Agreement (PTA) that would boost trade by reducing tariffs on several key products is expected to be finalised by this year-end.Besides South Africa, the South Afri-can Customs Union (SACU) consists

of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.On business collaborations, Thabethe said her visit to India last year had re-sulted in a number of MoUs.Cesep, a South African pharmaceutical company, has signed an MoU with the Alves Group to set up a medical facil-ity in the underdeveloped mining areas of Mpumalanga in South Africa. The expected foreign direct investment is around $23 million.Tubular Track from South Africa, which has a patented technology for laying rail tracks without ballast, is in a joint venture currently with Essar Ports that is working on a railroad project in Mozambique.Thabethe said the Joint Ministerial Commission that oversees bilateral economic relations is expected to con-vene this year in South Africa for its ninth session.

Tata Power’s Gujarat plant fully operationalMumbaiA Tata Power’s subsidiary said its 4,000 megawatt (MW) ultra mega power project is fully operational with the synchronisation of its fifth 800 MW unit in Mundra in Gujarat.The company said synchronisation was completed thorough its wholly-owned subsidiary Coastal Gujarat Power Lim-ited (CGPL), a special purpose vehicle of Tata Power. The company has inked power pur-chase agreements for the project with seven procurers from five states, Gu-jarat, Haryana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab.“The synchronisation of the last unit is a significant achievement in a sector, which is ridden with numerous chal-

lenges. The Mundra ultra mega power project (UMPP) features a number of new and advanced technological initia-tives based on super critical technolo-gy,” said Anil Sardana, managing direc-tor of Tata Power.“We eagerly await a viable solution by the Central Electricity Regulatory Com-mission (CERC) and look forward to an early resolution of this issue,” he added.Against the backdrop of increase in

prices of imported coal, Tata Power has approached CERC seeking higher tar-iffs for the electricity generated from the Mundra plant.With this, the total power generation capacity of Tata Power stands at 8,500 MW. The statement further said that the company’s thermal power genera-tion capacity stands at 7,647 MW while generation through clean sources such as hydro, wind and solar stands at 852 MW. The first unit of Mundra UMPP started commercial operations in March 2012.dThe 4,000 MW Mundra is the first of the project that heralds the entry of 800 MW supercritical boiler technology in India, which is environment friendly and efficient.

21CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 BUSINESS

Government mulling new scheme for non-SEZ units

Swedish energy giant to cut 2,500 jobs

Indian standards are well laid down: BIS

First Saudi MNC sets up shop in India

Wipro ranked among world’s most ethical firms

KolkataThe central government is mulling in-troducing a new scheme to provide export benefits to non-SEZ units, the country’s largest IT trade facilitation body Electronics and Computer Soft-ware Export Promotion Council (ESC) said.This move of the government is aimed at restoring a level-playing field be-tween the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units and non-SEZ units in India following the expiry of the STPI sunset clause effective March 31, 2011.Under the Software Technology Park of India (STPI) regime, Indian IT firms had enjoyed export-oriented tax ben-efits.The SEZs, however, allows direct tax exemption on export-linked profits for a 15-year period. According to D.K. Sareen, executive director, ESC, dis-cussions were on with the commerce ministry to seek tax benefits similar to STPI scheme for small-scale software firms.“Small and medium software firms should be given tax incentives at par

with the bigger companies having set up their units in a SEZ,” Sareen said.“The centre has agreed in principle and promised us of a new scheme to com-pensate for the loss of tax benefits in a non-SEZ unit. Unfortunately, it has not announced any scheme yet,” said Nalin Kohli, past chairman, ESC and president of the association of small & medium knowledge industries.Sareen said the Indian IT companies were eyeing the upcoming World Cup soccer and Olympics, to be held in Bra-zil in 2014 and 2016, respectively, for a slice of the pie.“We will be focusing on Brazil a lot as the upcoming World Cup soccer and Olympics will open up huge opportuni-ties for Indian IT companies.The IT infrastructure budget for the events is pegged at $180billion,” he added.Meanwhile, a two-day international IT exhibition and conference ‘INDI-ASOFT 2013’, mainly focused on small and medium ICT companies will be held in Kolkata from March 21.

Bangalore Indian IT bellwether Wipro Ltd has been recognised for the second year as one of the world’s most ethical firms by leading business ethics think-tank Ethi-sphere Institute, the company said“The recognition is for our commit-ment to ethical leadership,compliance practices and corporate citizenship,” the global software major said in a statement issued here.As a leading US-based international or-ganisation dedicated tocreation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business

ethics, governance and anti-corruption and sustainability, the institute selects global firms that embrace ethical busi-ness practice and demonstrate indus-try leadership, forcing peers to follow them.“Integrity and ethics have always been a core part of how we think and act. Our endeavour is to keep raising the bar with our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and investors,” Wipro chief sustainability officer Anurag Behar said in the state-ment.According to Ethisphere executive di-rector Alex Brigham, morecompanies had applied this year than in the past for the recognition, affirming that ethical activity was an important part of theirbusiness models.“We are also seeing more global firms being proactive and takinginitiatives to expand ethics programmes and cultures across industry verticals,” Brigham noted.Companies from 100 countries across 36 industry verticals applied for the recognition this year.

EU fines Microsoft $732 mn for restricting browser options

BrusselsThe European Commission imposed a 561-million-euro ($732.6-million) fine on Microsoft Corp. for failing to pro-vide consumers a choice of web brows-ers on a version of Windows 7.The European Union’s executive arm said the US tech giant breached a com-mitment reached with European insti-tutions to create a screen on its operat-ing system offering users the option of

several other web browsers apart from Microsoft Explorer. That commitment was binding until 2014.But Brussels found that Microsoft did not fulfill that obligation on its Win-dows 7 Service Pack 1 between May 2011 and July 2012 and therefore was remiss in offering 15 million users a clear choice of browser.The commission said in a press release that in 2009 it closed an investigation

into potential competition problems arising from the tying of Internet Ex-plorer to the Windows operating sys-tem, which dominates the PC market, after accepting Microsoft’s legally binding commitment.Anti-trust decisions such as these “re-quire strict compliance. A failure to comply is a very serious infringement that must be sanctioned accordingly”, the commission’s vice president in charge of competition policy, Joaquin Almunia, was quoted in the press re-lease as saying. The Redmond, Wash-ington-based company accepted full re-sponsibility for the breach, attributing the problem to a technical error that has since been corrected.Microsoft faced a possible fine of up to 10 percent of its total annual revenue, which would have amounted to more than 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) based on figures from the previous financial year.The EU fined Microsoft more than 1.7 billion euros in all in three separate en-forcement actions between 2004 and 2008.

StockholmThe Swedish energy giant Vattenfall has announced that the company was going to cut around 2,500 jobs before the end of next year.The company’s operations in Germany were most affected by the job reduc-tion plan where it had to let go 1,500 employees, reported Xinhua citing the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). The company also planned to reduce 500 jobs in the Netherlands, 400 jobs inside Sweden and another 50 in other countries. The present job reduction was mostly due to the continuous low demand of electricity in the market which dragged down the price of electricity.

Olof Gertz, personnel director of the company described the present market as a “entirely updated energy market” where there was an excess of electric-ity. “The new circumstances require us to further improve our efficiency and to strengthen our financial position,” said Oystein Loseth, head of Vattenfall. The company planned to cut the costs by 4.5 billion Swedish kronor (about $700 million) this year and next year which meant fewer investments and also the possibility to sell its power sta-tion in Denmark, and part of its power plant in Lippendorf, Germany. Vattenfall is one of the largest energy companies in Northern Europe.

MumbaiZamil Industrial has become the first Saudi Arabian multi-national corpora-tion to establish a fully-owned sub-sidiary in India to exploit the booming air-conditioners and home products segment, a company official said.The company has acquired full stake in Advantec Coils and renamed it Zamil Air Conditioners India Pvt Ltd (ZACI) to launch its comprehensive range of residential, commercial and industrial air-conditioners, including the Tur-bomiser series chillers.Headquartered in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Zamil Industrial had acquired 30 percent stake in Advantec Coil in February 2008, and recently bought the remaining 70 percent stake in the joint venture.“The acquisition is a result of the com-pany’s strategic direction of value play to leverage multiple investments... We are confident of making big strides in the Indian market,” says Zamil Indus-trial chief operating officer Osama Al-Bunyan.

In the next three-five years, the com-pany will target to get Rs.1,500 crore worth of business, or 10 percent of the Indian air-conditioner market. “We will now be able to offer world-class technology at extremely com-petitive prices, revolutionising the air-conditioner market not just in India but also the SAARC Region,” says Dinesh Vijapurkar, director, ZACI, which is headquartered in New Delhi.Presently, Zamil Industrial’s opera-tions are spread across 55 countries and products marketed in over 90 countries.ZACI will now have two fully-inte-grated manufacturing facilities in Nal-agarh in Himachal Pradesh with a total installed capacity of 1.20 million units per annum.ZACI will also get direct access to the parent company’s air-conditioner arm, Zamil Air Conditioners, Saudi Arabia, and Clima Tech/Geoclima, Italy.Besides India, Zamil Industrial has manufacturing facilities in Saudi Ara-bia, UAE, Egypt, Vietnam and Italy.

India-Italy trade to reach $15 billion by 2015: EnvoyKolkataInviting joint ventures and invest-ment from India, the Italian envoy said bilateral trade is likely to nearly double to $15 billion by 2015.“It’s high time we took our bilateral trade to the next level. Its time for joint ventures and investments. Like India is an attractive invest destina-tion for us, I hope Italy will be the same for Indian investors,” Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini said here.Participating in a Bharat Chamber of Commerce organized business

seminar here, Mancini said the bi-lateral trade with India will go up to $15 billion by 2015 from the current $8.5 billion.“As regards our trade with India is concerned, there are so many av-enues yet to be explored. We need to connect better than what we are doing now. The need is creation of joint ventures.”Italian investment in India is 2.5 billion euros (approx $3.25 bn), which is 10 times more than Indian investment in our coun-try. I sincerely hope Indian inves-tors would express more interest in Italy,” said Mancini.He also said both countries needed to shift the focus from bigger cities to smaller towns and concentrate more on the SME sector.“Italy so far has been focusing more on its strengths like food, furniture and fashion. But it’s time we fo-cused more on other sectors like re-newable energy, construction etc.,” said Mancini.

KolkataIndia, a founder member of the Interna-tional Organisation for Standardization (ISO), has “well laid down” standards compared globally, a senior official of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) said here “India has well laid down standards when it comes to the international sce-nario. It is doing quite well internation-ally. We are the founding members of ISO, so that says a great deal,” BIS’ deputy director general (east) D.K. Nayyar told on the sidelines of an in-dustrial awareness programme organ-ised by the Merchant’s Chamber of Commerce and Industries here .

BIS also represents India in Interna-tional Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Telecommu-nication Union (ITU) and the World Standards Service Network (WSSN).“Our standards are harmonised to in-ternational standards. A committee of experts decide the standards,” said Nayyar.He also said that South Asian Associa-tion for Regional Cooperation(SAARC) nations are setting up an organisation that would unify and harmonise stan-dards within its member nations.“It will be a huge advantage for us. Trade will flourish across the borders,” said Nayyar.

22 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013SPORTS

Former Dutch cyclist Boogerd admits to doping

The HagueFormer Dutch cyclist Michael Boogerd Wednesday admitted to doping during ten years of his career.Boogerd, one of the best Dutch cy-clists of all-time, made his confession in three Dutch media, the newspapers NRC Next and De Telegraaf and televi-sion channel NOS.The 40-year-old former rider, who was professional from 1993 until 2007, de-clared to have used EPO, blood trans-fusions and cortisones from 1997 until end of his career, Xinhua reports.The highlights of his career, a climb stage to La Plagne in the Tour de France of 2002 and his victory in the Amstel Gold Race 1999, were achieved

with the help of doping. His best per-formance in the Tour de France was a fifth place in the general classification in 1998.Boogerd is the eighth former Rabobank cyclist to confess. Former teammates as Grischa Niermann, Levi Leipheimer, Michael Rasmussen, Danny Nelissen, Thomas Dekker, Steven de Jongh and Marc Lotz earlier admitted to have used illegal substances during their period at Rabobank, which quit as sponsor last year following doping revelations in cycling. In recent months, the pressure on Boogerd to confess was increasing in Dutch media and finally he did.“I knew I had to tell my story,” he told De Telegraaf. “I want to continue my

life without that lie.”Boogerd said in the interview with the NOS that he did not constantly use doping.“It was in periods, usually periods of training in preparation for races. I also rode many Tours clean,” he said.The Dutchman started using EPO in 1997 and later moved on with blood transfusions.“EPO was too risky at a certain point of time,” he said. “They could detect the use of EPO better at some point, so I went looking for something else.”According to Boogerd the use of dop-ing at the Rabobank team was not as structural as was said about the use of doping in the US Postal team of Lance Armstrong. He claims to have acted on his own.Boogerd is not planning to name peo-ple who helped him with using the dop-ing. “I am responsible for my decision to take doping and I don’t want to make someone else responsible for that. I’m not a traitor and keep my principles in-tact.”During his confession Boogerd ex-plained the doping culture in cycling the 90s and why he acted the way he did. He caught increasing signals about the use of doping in the peloton. “It was a devil’s dilemma. I wanted to go along with the top riders. In 1997 I made the choice to use. That was the turning point,” Boogerd said.

Hockey India congratulates Sardar, RituNew DelhiHockey India (HI) congratulated Indi-an midfielder Sardar Singh for winning the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) Player of the Year (Men) award for 2011 and Ritu Rani, captain of the India women’s team, for winning the Player of the Year (Junior women) award for the same year.The awards were announced during the mid-term Congress of the AHF held in Kuala Lumpur March 2.In the recently concluded Hockey World League Round 2, the Indian

men’s and women’s teams qualified for Round 3 under the captaincy of Sardar and Ritu.While congratulating both, HI secre-tary general Narinder Batra said it’s an honour that two India players have been selected for the most prestigious awards in Asian hockey, and hoped that more India players will win such awards in future.HI will honour both the players in the coming weeks where each player will be presented the AHF trophy along with a cheque of Rs.1 lakh each.

Miami Heat extend winning streak to 14 games

New YorkLeBron James snatched 29 points, in-cluding a game-sealing dunk to extend the surging Miami Heat to their NBA franchise record-tying 14 streak victo-ry by beating eastern conference rivals New York Knicks 99-93.Dwyane Wade contributed 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Sun-day night while Chris Bosh scored 16 as Miami roared back from a 14-point halftime deficit to avenge a pair of 20-point blowouts to Knicks, reports

Xinhua.The defending NBA champions will shoot for a team-record 15 straight win Monday night on the road against Min-nesota Timberwolves.Carmelo Anthony scored 32 points, Ja-son Kidd grabbed four threes in his 14 points, while J.R Smith added with 13 points with 12 rebounds for the KnicksThe defeat snapped the Knicks’ three-game winning streak as a result of be-ing outscored 54-34 in the second half.

Lewis wins HSBC Women’s Champions golf in Singapore Neglect at domestic level

ruining Aussie spinners: Warne

Yuvraj’s memoir to be auctioned online

SingaporeUS player Stacy Lewis holed a two-foot par putt on the last hole of a thrilling final round to win the HSBC Women’s Champions golf tournament here, beating her opponent from South Korea Choi Na Yeon.World No.4 Lewis, who shared the lead with Choi before the fourth round be-gan Sunday, finished 71 for 15-under-par 273, reports Xinhua.Choi, world No.2, carded 72 for 14-un-der-par 274, while Paula Creamer, Lewis’s teammate, who is suffering whiplash injuries after a car crash last week in Thailand, finished 71 for 13-under-par 275.However, the top-ranked player Tseng

Yani from Chinese Taipei, out of ex-pectation, finished joint-28th place. Meanwhile, Feng Shanshan of China, carded 71 for 1-over-par 289 at the end of the game, finishing joint-32nd place.“The last four or five holes, I was pret-ty nervous, I’m not going to lie,” said Lewis at the media conference after the game.“That golf course is hard and it can jump up and get you at any second, and to have to play with two great players on your tail all day, and they played un-believable,” Lewis said.Lewis took home $210,000 dollars for her efforts, out of the total $1.4 million for the tournament here.

South Africa can become ODI No.1

DubaiSouth Africa enters the five-match One-Day International (ODI) series against Pakistan at Bloemfontein Sun-day with an opportunity to reclaim the No.1 ranking in the ICC ODI Champi-onship Table.South Africa is currently at fourth but can leapfrog India, England and Aus-tralia if it wins all five matches of the series. If the Proteas achieve this series result, then the side will win the ODI Shield as well as $175,000 as the top three sides have no ODIs scheduled be-fore the April 1 cut-off.South Africa has previously won the ODI Shield twice in 2008 and 2009.If South Africa wins the series 4-1, then it will move ahead of England into sec-ond position and will collect a cheque of $75,000 to compliment the presti-gious mace and $450,000 which it has already won by sealing the No.1 posi-tion in the ICC Test rankings.In contrast, sixth-ranked Pakistan can move to as high as fourth. But for this to happen, they will have to win all five ODIs of the series. If Pakistan blanks out South Africa, then it will jump from 107 ratings points to 114 while South Africa will drop 10 ratings points and plummet to 102.If Pakistan beats South Africa 3-2 then both sides will be locked at 109 ratings points but South Africa will be ranked above Pakistan when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

HyderabadShane Warne feels neglect of Australian spinners at the do-mestic level is ruin-ing them, which is the reason for the dearth of top-class talent.Pained at the uninspir-ing performance of the Australian spinners in India, the spin wizard is upset at the lack of backing young spin-ners get at the domestic level, from their cap-tains, coaches and curators.“I think the problem lies in what we ex-pect from our young spin bowlers and the way they are handled at domestic level by their captains and coaches,” the legendary leggie, who is here as a part of the commentary team, was quot-ed as saying by The Age. Warne, who gave some tips to the Aus-tralian spinners after heavy thrashing against India in the first Test in Chen-nai, said the attitude should be about taking wickets.“The attitude should always be about taking wickets and not about economy rates: 4/100 off 25 overs is a good re-sult and better than 2/60 off 25 overs.“My guidelines on what to look for in a young spinner is pretty simple; some-one who can spin the ball. Any fast bowler that can swing or make the ball

move has a chance to take wickets; if they bowl straight they will struggle,” he said.Warne feels that conditions at domestic level were stunting the development of the next generation Australian spinners. “They also have to play under a captain who is prepared to back the spinner and play them in all 10 Shield games not just in Adelaide or Sydney where the ball spins. This way, the spinner gets experience in all the different condi-tions and the good spinners will adapt and find a way to be successful,” Warne said.“Easy to say, I know, but I believe we should identify our top four spinners and put them on a decent contract and have them play nothing but first-class cricket for twelve months and then take a view and reassess,” he said.

BangaloreThe first 20 copies of Yuvraj Singh’s memoir ‘The Test of My Life’, which chronicles the cricketer’s battle against cancer following the euphoria of the 2011 World Cup, will go up for bid on Collectabillia.com’s newly launched auction portal at 9.00 a.m. on Saturday.Collectabillia, along with Random House, is offering fans an opportunity to own the first 20 autographed copies long before the book hits the stands. Bids open at Rs.5,000.

The limited edition books will also in-clude a handwritten letter by the Arjuna Awardee and proceeds raised from the week-long auction will be donated to the YouWeCan Foundation.Sharing an insight on the book, Yuvraj said, “I have always believed in fight-ing hard, and not giving up and through this book, I hope to encourage the thou-sands of others, who are facing similar challenges, to not give up. I also want them to know they are not alone in their fight.”

CHANDIGARH SUNDAY 10 Mar 2013 23SPORTS

Sehwag axed from Test squadMumbaiOnce explosive India opener Virender Sehwag was Thursday dropped from the squad for the last two Tests against Australia, after failing to perform and impress the selectors.The All-India Senior Selection Com-mittee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), trimmed the side to a 14-member squad, naming no replacement for the 34-year-old bats-man.Sehwag, who was already in the lime-light for not performing consistently in the last two years, scored only 27 runs from three innings at an average of 9 in the first two Tests of the Border-Gavas-kar Trophy. His figures read 2, 19 and 6.Delhi state mate Shikhar Dhawan is likely to make his debut and open the innings with Murali Vijay, who scored a solid 167 in the second Test in Hyder-abad to cement his place in the team.Sehwag was also dropped from the one-day international (ODI) squad in January in the series against England which India won 3-2.The Delhi batsman has an impressive record in Tests having scored 8586 runs from 104 Tests at an average of 49.34. However, he has been going through a slump in form for some time now.He last scored a century in the first of the four Tests against England last No-vember, where he made a swashbuck-ling 117. This was his first three figure

score in two years as his last century before this came in November 2010 against New Zealand.India currently lead the Border-Gavas-kar Trophy 2-0. The third Test will be played at Mohali from March 14-18 and the fourth at Delhi from March 22-26.India Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wick-etkeeper), Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Dinda, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma

Winning most matches is a collective effort: Dhoni

HyderabadIndia skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels winning most matches as an In-dian Test captain is a collective effort and said the credit should go to all the team members.Dhoni surpassed Sourav Ganguly as the most successful Indian Test captain with 22 wins after India won the second cricket Test against Australia by an in-nings and 135 runs here Tuesday. India now have a 2-0 lead in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.“Credit goes to the team and the sup-port staff. And winning most matches as captain is a collective effort, and

credit goes to each and everyone. We have gone through a period we haven’t won many games,” said Dhoni.Dhoni lauded pacer Bhuvaneshwar Ku-mar for giving the team a good start on the first day.“It was important to get off to a good start. Bhuvneshwar provided that. You don’t see fast bowlers getting too many in these conditions,” he said. On the 370-run stand between Cheteshwar Pu-jara (204) and Murali Vijay (167), Dho-ni said: “We often talk about long part-nerships. If you get 40-50, you have to score big. That’s what Pujara and Vijay did. That resulted in a massive partner-

ship, which gave us the freedom to ac-celerate yesterday.” Dhoni was impressed with the way Pu-jara, Man of the Match, and Vijay ne-gotiated the Australian seamers.“It was very important to not give their seamers wickets, and I think they saw that period off really well. After that they could dictate terms,” he said.The India captain also had words of praise for his bowlers. “Very good bowling performance. It was important to start today’s play re-ally well, and Ishant gave us the impor-tant breakthrough. I think I have got a very good side,” he said.Pujara on a lighter note said there was pressure on him to score since his new-ly-wed wife was worried.“Really happy about it. There was a bit of pressure on me. I just got married, and my wife was worried I should per-form,” Pujara laughed. On a much serious note, Pujara said the experience of scoring big innings in the domestic circuit stood in good stead for him.“We knew that the new ball would do a bit. The plan was to not lose any wickets in that first session. My natu-ral game to play that fast. Scoring those many runs in domestic runs has given me the experience to help me keep the tempo. It was a very important partner-ship with Vijay, our communication was good and it set the platform,” he said.

Wrestling’s Olympic exit due to poor management: Sergey Bubka

Saina in quarters of All England

MoscowWrestling was dropped from the core Olympic programme because the sport is run by a federation with deficient management and no clear rules on how to punish breaches of “ethical norms”, champion pole vaulter and Internation-al Olympic Committee member Sergey Bubka said Bubka was on the executive board that voted wrestling off the programme from 2020 onwards and relegated the sport to battling seven other candidates for the final remaining slot.The IOC has not given any reason for the decision, but Bubka outlined the arguments made before the vote, say-ing wrestling’s governing body FILA lacked important governance struc-tures.“There are certain significant argu-ments because as of today there’s no commission for athletes, no adminis-tration for decisions of the federation’s executive committee, there’s no wom-en’s committee,” he said.“There are no rules regarding sanc-tions for the federation’s ethical norms. There are simply statistical data that (breaches) happened.”

He added that the final round of voting saw “eight votes against wrestling in the final round, three against modern pentathlon and three against field hockey”.Since the decision was an-nounced, two gold-medal winning wrestlers have re-turned their medals to the IOC and one Bulgarian of-ficial has gone on hunger strike. Bubka said dramatic gestures of protest were a mistake and detracted focus from making necessary re-forms at FILA.“I don’t thank you need to do that. Today professionals should work to correct those mistakes that were commit-ted,” he said.“I am confident that wres-tling can return because

wrestling has ancient traditions, it was on the ancient Olympic programme. So now it’s necessary to work solidly on what’s needed to return and to do everything so that wrestling is on the Olympic programme.”Wrestling’s cause has brought together unlikely allies, with US and Iranian na-tional Olympic officials among those to call for the sport’s reinstatement. The Russian government will do everything possible to salvage the sport, a spokes-man for President Vladimir Putin has said.In the aftermath of the IOC vote to cut wrestling, the president of FILA re-signed and has since been replaced by an acting head.The final decision on the Olympic pro-gramme for the 2020 Games will be made by the IOC in Buenos Aires in September along with the announce-ment of the host city.The sport has been included in various forms at every Olympics since 1904. In recent years, it has attracted scant spectator interest outside its stronghold countries and faced claims of corrupt refereeing at the Games.

BirminghamWorld No.3 Saina Nehwal reached the women’s singles quarterfinals of the All England Open Badminton Champi-onships after beating Indonesia’s Bela-etrix Manuputi in straight games here at The National Indoor Arena.However, it was curtains for rising shuttler P.V. Sindhu and mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V. Diju, who lost their second round, matches in their respective categories in the Super Series Premier tournament.Saina, who turns 23 March 17, de-stroyed her opponent 21-16, 21-11 in 34 minutes in the second round in their first ever career meeting.The second seed next faces sixth seed and old nemesis Shixian Wang of Chi-na against whom the Indian has a 3-1 head-to-head.After a tough first round against Thai Sapsiree Taerattanachai, Saina had it easy against the Indonesian.She dominated the match with her tra-ditional smashes as Belaetrix proved no match for the Olympic medallist.Saina had 13 smash winners to the World No.42’s four.In the first game, the Indian led from the start but really took off from 13-all, clinching the game in the next few min-utes.Saina just proved why she belongs at the top in the second game, as she com-pletely dominated her opponent mak-ing her run all around the court.The Hyderabadi took flight right from

the start taking a 12-2 lead, from where she never looked back. She plays her next match Friday.Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Sindhu went down to German fourth seed Juliane Schenk in another women’s singles clash losing 17-21, 14-21 in 39 minutes on Court No.2.This was Sindhu’s second straight loss to Juliane after losing to the World No.4 in the second round of the Indo-nesia Open last year.Sindhu took off well in the first game and led the World No.4 5-1.Schenk fought back but the Indian managed to keep the lead till the end of the game where the 30-year-old Ger-man used all her experience to bag four straight points and the game from 17-all.The Hyderabadi started well again in the second game but lost the lead quickly and never looked to gain it back as Juliane was completely domi-nant on court.From 8-all, the 2011 World Champion-ships bronze medallist kept on extend-ing the lead till she won the game and match.Juliane will next face Thai eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon Friday.Jwala and Diju also lost their mixed doubles match to Polish eighth seeds Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Zieba 17-21, 16-21 in 30 minutes.This brought an end to India’s doubles campaign at the prestigious tourna-ment.

Smriti fights back to lead in Hero Women’s golf

MumbaiVeteran golfer Smriti Mehra made a remarkable comeback to lead the field at the close of the second day’s play in the Hero Women’s pro golf tour .Smriti, who had been struggling with her form lately, brought in all her experience to play a superb round of two under 63 to take a single stroke advantage over overnight leader Sharmila Nicollet.Smriti played a flawless front nine with a birdie on the sixth and carded three more on the 11th, 15th and 17th to fin-ish the day with a total score of 130. Her two bogeys on the 10th and 13th were the only blemish on an otherwise perfect outing for the senior pro. Sharmila had a disappointing day with second round score of three over 68 and a total score of 131. Her five bogeys on the first, fourth, sixth, 16th and 18th and just two birdies on ninth and 15th, forced her to concede her lead and trail by a shot.Kolkata golfer Neha Tripathi played a steady round of one under 64, with birdies on third, fourth and seventh, to finish third with a total score of 134. Pallavi Jain, who was placed second af-ter the first round had bad day and card-ed 10 over 75 in the second round to be placed fourth with an overall score of 140.Saaniya Sharma and Vani Kapoor are tied fifth with identical scores of 141 after the second round.

24 CHANDIGARHSUNDAY 10 Mar 2013

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

Haute couture inspires ready-to-wear in Paris

ParisDesigners, including Venezuela’s Os-car Carvallo, presented a wide range of garments, accessories and jewellery in the studios and boutiques of the French capital during Paris Fashion Week.Carvallo, who has worked in Paris since 2003, designed a ready-to-wear collec-tion inspired by haute couture.The Venezuelan designer said his col-lection, which was presented to the pub-lic in late January, was inspired by the sea, “a daily reality”.Carvallo works out of a studio on up-scale Faubourg Saint Honore street in Paris.The marine-themed ready-to-wear col-lection features leather, silk and mac-rame in “black, gold, beige and gray”, accompanied by jewellery that looks like small mussels, Carvallo said.“We included leather vests in this col-lection,” Carvallo told EFE during an interview in his studio.The collection also includes big jackets decorated with marine plant patterns, the Venezuelan designer said.Jeweler Goossens Paris, whose founder worked with Coco Chanel in the 1950s and seduced design houses like Balen-ciaga, Yves Saint Laurent and Jean Paul Gaultier with its art, presented its latest designs at its boutique on Georges V avenue.

Now shop for ‘Saheb Biwi...’ apparels onlineNew DelhiAre you fascinated by the saris and lehen-gas worn by Mahie Gill or Soha Ali Khan in “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns”? Worry not! You can own similar designs through cbazaar.com, the official partner of the film.Going by the promos, Tigmanshu Dhu-lia’s directorial venture promises to be high on thrill as well as style quotient.Releasing Friday, a sequel to 2011 hit thriller “Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster”, the film also stars Jimmy Sheirgill and Irrfan. The promos shows the leading ladies and the male actors in some of the best cos-tumes created by Dhulia’s wife, costume designer Tulika.“We are extremely pleased to unveil the exclusive wardrobe inspired from the wardrobe of the lead characters of ‘Saheb,

Biwi Aur Gangster Returns’ on cbazaar.com. From the comfort of your home, you can now log in to our website, order your

favourite and have it delivered to your doorstep,” Rajesh Nahar, co-founder and CEO, Cbazaar.com, said in a statement.

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