NEW DELHI, JAN 19President Pranab

Mukherjee on Mondaystrongly conveyed that theruling and opposition par-ties should find a workablesolution on law-makingand avoid issuing ordi-nances for normal legisla-tions.

During a video confer-ence with the students ofCentral Universities, IITs,NITs and other institutions,Mukherjee said that thegovernment has limitedpowers to issue ordinancesor emergency executiveorders. He said that theconstitution providesscope of issuing ordi-nances in extraordinary sit-uation but this route cannotand should not be taken for

normal legislation.Citing the present sce-

nario when the ruling partydoesn't have majority inRajya Sabha, Mukherjeesaid, "It is the responsibili-ty of entire political estab-lishment to put their headstogether and work out a

workable solution. Theopposition can oppose,expose and possiblydepose, if they have thenumbers. But always keepin mind, it is the collectiveresponsibility of the elect-ed members of the House

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

MUMBAITemperature: 280CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 55%Wind: 14 Km/hr

BRUSSELS, JAN 19EU ministers called

Monday for an alliancewith Muslim countriesto fight the growingIslamist militant threat,with Europe on highalert after the deadlyParis attacks and anti-terrorism raids inBelgium.

As Belgian troopspatrolled the streets inthe EU headquartersBrussels and othercities, the focus for the28-nation European

Union was how to pre-vent battle-hardenedcitizens returning homefrom the Syria and Iraq.

The Arab League`ssecretary general was atthe talks, which arebeing held less than twoweeks after threeFrench gunmen whocaused carnage in Parisclaimed they were act-ing on behalf of Al-Qaeda and the IslamicState group.

EU foreign affairshead Federica

Mogherini said:"Terrorism and terroristattacks are targetingmost of all Muslims inthe world so we need analliance."

"We need to strength-en our way of cooperat-ing together, first of allwith Arab countries butalso internally," she toldreporters. "The threat isnot only the one wefaced in Paris but alsospreading in many otherparts of the world."

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

HAQSAADDAFIGHT FOR RIGHTTuesday, January 20, 2015

Congress files complaint with ECagainst Kejriwal over 'bribe' remark

Lava Iris Alfa With 5-Inch Display, Android4.4 KitKat Launched at Rs. 6,550

I would like to do a biopic onMadhubala, Pallavi Sharda

NEW DELHI, JAN 9Former cop and social

activist, Kiran Bedi whorecently joined the BJP saidon Monday that she had final-ly taken the political plungeas it was the right time to doso. In an exclusive interview,Bedi said, “There is a righttime for everything, oneshould believe in that. Ibelieve in that,” and added,“During 2014 Lok Sabhapolls, politics was not on mymind and neither was it whenI was part of the Anna Hazaremovement.”

On talks about beingoffered the top post in Delhiby the Aam Aadmi Party ayear back, the BJP leader saidthat it used to come in themedia that AAP may havewanted to project her as theCM but no one approachedher directly or phoned her.

Asked to why she wasgiven the offer by the BJP tojoin the party, she said,“Maybe they thought that Iwas ready to dedicate myselfto politics.”

Bedi emphasised that it was

time to do something forDelhi, “We have to link Delhiwith the Central government.Enough of agitation,” andquestioned, “What did we getin the past one year, election

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

BJP has saved the country, its leader-ship is in safe hands: Kiran Bedi

P8

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Government on Monday

banned import of mobilehandsets with duplicate orfake unique identity numbers.The GSM Association and

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Govt bans import ofmobile phones withfake, duplicate uniqueidentity numbers

AHMEDABAD, JAN 19The special court for CBI

cases here on Monday grantedbail to two police constablesarrested in the 2003 SadiqJamal fake encounter case.

Judge MM Gandhi grantedbail to Ajaypalsinh Yadav and

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Sadiq Jamal case:Court grants bail totwo accused cops

NEW DELHI, JAN 19National Human Rights

Commission on Mondayissued notice to Uttar PradeshGovernment over hoochtragedy in Lucknow and bor-dering areas of the state.

According to an officialstatement, the commission hasissued notices to the Chief

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Lucknow hooch tragedy: NHRCissues notice to UP Govt

Vol. 1 Issue: 124 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

NEW DELHI, JAN 19India does not need to adopt a

hawkish foreign policy stance butjust has to be firm and responsiblein its dealing with its neighbours,Minister of State for Home, KirenRijiju, said on Monday.

At a function to mark the founda-tion day of the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA), healso said that although there were

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

India does not need to adopt hawk-ish foreign policy: Kiren Rijiju

LUCKNOW, JAN 19Union Minister Rajnath Singh

on Monday chaired a meeting of20th Central Zonal Council onsecurity where he held discus-sions on infrastructure and Naxalmenace with chief ministers ofUttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Madhya Pradesh andUttarakhand. The meeting chairedby the Union Home Minister here

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Rajnath Singh holds meeting withfour CMs of Central Zonal Council

PANAJI, JAN 19The government is working on a

"special mechanism" to track allvessels operating in India'sExclusive Economic Zone (EEZ),Union Defence Minister ManoharParrikar said here on Monday.

"Any vessel entering India'sexclusive economic zone will be

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Every fishing vessel in India'sEEZ to be tracked: Parrikar

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Accusing the Central

Bureau of Investigation (CBI)of working under pressurefrom Bhartiya Janata Party-led central government inmulti-crore Saradha chitfundscam, the Trinamool Congress

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Saradha chitfund scam:TMC alleges Centre mis-using CBI, moves SC

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Supreme Court on Monday

refused to entertain a PIL thatsought ban on use of loud-speakers at religious sites onthe ground that they causenoise pollution besides caus-ing communal riots. "Thereare directions in place. This

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

SC refuses to hear PILon loudspeaker ban atreligious places

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Supreme Court on Monday

said that Yoga guru Ramdevcannot be tried at differentplaces in the country for hisalleged controversial "honey-moon" remarks targetingRahul Gandhi over visiting

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Ramdev can't be tried atdifferent places for onespeech: SC

P6P2

Find workable solution on law-making: Presidentsends firm message to govt, Opposition

NEW DELHI, JAN 19The Pakistan high com-

mission Mondayapproached the Indian gov-ernment over closure noticesto PIA properties in theIndian capital, officials said.

Pakistan foreign officespokesperson TasneemAslam said in Islamabadthat Pakistan InternationalAirlines had been directed toinitiate litigation over theproperty row.

India has asked PIA toshut its office in New Delhi,alleging that the property in

Connaught Place wasbought without the manda-tory clearance of theReserve Bank of India(RBI).

"We approached the exter-nal affairs ministry today," aPakistani official said.

He said the move to closedown the offices of PIA was"unfair" and would harmpeople-to-people contactsand business between thetwo countries.

He said many Pakistanipatients used the airline to

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI, JAN 19The Enforcement

Directorate (ED) on Mondaytold a Delhi court that theywould verify the process ofserving summons to twoItalian nationals, who weresummoned as accused alongwith others in a money-laun-dering case related to the Rs3,600 crore VVIP chopperdeal.

The agency told the courtthat they would inform itabout the process of servingsummons to the foreignnationals, Gerosa CarloValentino Ferdinand andHaschke Guido Ralph.

"Complainant (ED's CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI, JAN 19State-owned carrier

Air India is to cuts itscosts by 14 billionrupees ($227 million),or about 6 percent of itstotal outlays, in the nextfinancial year after thegovernment asked theloss-making airline toimprove its finances.

Air India, which con-trols close to a fifth ofIndia`s domestic airtravel market, has beenlosing money for yearsand has long been criti-cised for its high costs.In 2012, the governmenthanded the company a$5.8 billion bailoutpackage.

The airline said in a

statement late onSunday that it wouldidentify "surplus staff",freeze contractual hiringand discontinue flightswhich are not meetingfuel cost targets, toreduce its variablespending of 140 billion

rupees by a tenth.Restrictions on staff

travel and hospitalityhave also been intro-duced, Air India said.

All but one of themajor carriers in Indiaare losing money

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Air India to cut costs by Rs1,400 crore to reduce losses

VVIP chopper deal:Will verify process tosummon foreigners,says ED

Pakistan approaches Indiaover closure notice to PIA

EU seeks anti-terror help fromMuslim countries after Paris attacks

Weather ReportDELHITemperature: 170CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity:45%Wind: 10 Km/hr

KOLKATATemperature: 240CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 34% Wind: 13 Km/hr

CHENNAITemperature: 290CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity:56%Wind: 21 Km/hr

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Former UPA minis-

ter and Congressleader Krishna Tirathon Monday officiallyjoined the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP)ahead of the upcom-ing Assembly pollsin the national capi-tal, vowing to contin-ue her work towardsthe upliftment of theoppressed.

Addressing a pressconference, BJPDelhi unit chiefSathish Upadhyaysaid, “Tirath is wel-come in the party.”

BJP's national sec-retary ShrikantSharma added,"Leaders of otherparties are inspiredby Prime Minister

Narendra Modi'sagenda of develop-ment and want to seeDelhi develop as aworld-class city andthat is why they arejoining BJP."

Shortly after join-ing the party, Tirath

told reporters,“Energy shouldn't bewasted, I am here towork for people'swell-being.”

She added,“HumC o n g r e s s - m u k tbharat banayenge,

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Krishna Tirath joins BJP aheadof Delhi polls, says will workto make Congress-free India

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Cash-strapped SpiceJet

airlines may axe 2000 jobsto cut losses.

Indicating the prospectsof a lay off, Sun GroupCFO has said that ifSpiceJet has to stay in thissector then the huge man-power must be trimmeddown.

The decision comes afterthe Maran family agreed totransfer ‘ownership, man-agement and control’ in theairline to its originalfounder and new ownerAjay Singh.

The beleaguered airlineshas also decided to balance

its aircraft versus employ-ees ratio. Sources havesaid that there might be arejig in the top manage-ment while the companymay stop its flights to nonprofitable routes.

As per sources, compa-ny's Managing Director SNatrajhen might also ten-der his resignation soon.

Last Thursday, theSpiceJet board approvedthe ‘Scheme ofReconstruction andRevival’ that would seeKalanithi Maran and KalAirways transferring own-ership along with ceding

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

ISLAMABAD, JAN 19Apparently under con-

tinued pressure fromIndia, the authorities inPakistan have extendedthe house arrest of 2008Mumbai terror attacksaccused Zaki-ur-RehmanLakhvi by one month,reports said Monday.

Lakhvi’s house arrestcase was heard inIslamabad High Court(IHC) by Judge JusticeNoor-ul-Haq Qureshitoday and his detentionwas extended for further30 days by the localadministration, ARY

News reported.During the hearing,

Lakhvi’s lawyer RajaRizwan Abbasi said thatthe fresh extension camedespite the fact that it

had already been chal-lenged in the court,adding that his client willfile a new petition chal-lenging the

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

US, UK ask Pakistan tohand over Lakhvi to India

SpiceJet may axe 2000 jobs to cutlosses; rejig top management

Kiran Bedi isCM candidate:Amit ShahNEW DELHI,JAN 19

Brushing aside murmurs ofdissent, the BJP on Mondaynamed new entrant KiranBedi, a former IPS officer, asits Chief Ministerial candi-date for the February 7 DelhiAssembly elections.

Making the announcementafter a meeting of the BJPParliamentary Board, partypresident Amit Shah said thedecision of fielding 65-year-old Ms. Bedi was “unani-mous”.

He said BJP will contestthe crucial polls for the 70-member Assembly under

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI | TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2015Delhi News2 SAADDA HAQ

NEW DELHI, JAN 19In more trouble for Arvind

Kejriwal, the Congress onMonday approached the ElectionCommission and lodged a formalcomplaint against him forappealing to the people to acceptmoney from rival parties and butcast their votes in favour of theAAP.

AICC general secretary AjayMaken had told reporters yester-day that the party would seeklegal opinion and meet theElection Commission againstAAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for"insulting" the people of Delhi.

Congress also demanded anapology from Kejriwal to thepeople of Delhi after his contro-versial remarks on Sunday wherehe asked voters to take "bribes"from BJP and Congress but votefor AAP in the Assembly polls.

"Making such statements isillegal. It is like offering moneyto the people," Maken, who iscampaign committee chief of theparty in Delhi, said.

The Congress leader said thatAAP was much ahead than itsrivals in putting up posters and

giant hoardings as also round-the-clock advertisements on theFM radio.

Kejriwal asked the voters to"fool" BJP and Congress by vot-ing for AAP even after accepting"bribe money" from them whileaccusing the parties of "deceiv-ing" the people for years.

"It's election time. When peo-ple both from BJP and Congresscome offering money, don'trefuse, accept... some have loot-ed money from 2G, some have

looted money from coal scam.And if any party does not showup, go to its office and take theamount saying we were waitingbut you didn't come," Kejriwalsaid amid cheers from the crowd.

The former Delhi chief minis-ter was speaking at a rally at westDelhi's Nawada area in supportof AAP's Uttam Nagar Assemblycandidate Naresh Balyan.

"Take money from both theparties but vote for AAP. We willfool them this time. They have

been deceiving us for the last 65years. Now it's our turn," he said.

Kejriwal also took a dig atPrime Minister Narendra Modisaying that his Ramlila Maidanspeech was a let down fromwhich he had "high expecta-tions". "I had high expectationsfrom the Prime Minister'sRamlila Maidan rally speech.But it was such a let-down. Hespent half the time branding me aNaxalite and criticising me forsitting in dharnas. This kind ofpolitics is not good. Politicsshould rather be issued based,"he said.

In an apparent reference to therecent religious conversion rowand controversial remarks bycertain BJP leaders and saffronoutfits, the AAP supremoslammed the BJP for "ditching"its electoral plank of develop-ment.

"They used to speak of devel-opment. But they have ditcheddevelopment for religious con-version. Now we also hear com-ments on Nathuram Godese'stemples, women wearing jeans,"Kejriwal said.

Congress files complaint with ECagainst Kejriwal over 'bribe' remark

NEW DELHI, JAN 19In an incident that reflects

rumblings within the party,Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)Delhi convener Ashutosh wasreportedly heckled by sup-porters of former MLARajesh Garg at a meeting inRohini last evening.

Last month, the party hadreplaced Garg and fieldedCharanji Lal Gupta as theAAP candidate from theRohini seat for the DelhiAssembly polls.

During the meeting, Gargand his supporters allegedlyheckled Ashutosh and toldhim to answer their "ques-tions".

"He was prepared to run.He brought some goons onstage. What was he scaredabout? He should have thecourage to hear the truth,"Garg alleged.

However, the party playeddown the incident withAshutosh later, saying therewas some commotion but"nothing serious about it".

"Yesterday, I had gonethere for a meeting and mycolleague and (former) MLARajesh Garg was there. Hewas denied a ticket so he was

angry and he was with hissupporters. He tried to dosome 'hungama' and somecommotion, nothing seriousabout it," Ashutosh said.

"When he was getting a lit-tle bit more uncomfortable, Itried to avoid the situationand left the scene," headded.

Ashutosh heckled by sup-porters of former AAP MLA

NEW DELHI, JAN 19In what could be an

interesting poll battle,former Aam Aadmi Partyleader Vinod KumarBinny, who joined BJPrecently, is likely to con-test upcoming DelhiAssembly electionsagainst AAP chief ArvindKejriwal, as per newsreports on Monday.

However, according tosome reports, Binny islikely to fight Assemblypolls from Patparganjconstituency.

Binny was an AAPleader earlier and wasexpelled from the partyafter he allegedly targetedKejriwal.

Apart from Binny, ex-AAP leader Shazia Ilmiand Team Anna memberand former IPS officerKiran Bedi have alsojoined the party.

Binny became a legisla-tor from Lakshmi Nagarconstituency in the 2013Delhi election, defeatingCongress leader AshokKumar Walia by around8,000 votes.

Soon after, he rebelledagainst the AAP andaccused the party ofbetraying the people ofDelhi and straying fromits principles followingwhich he was expelledfrom the party in January2014.

Delhi polls: Vinod Kumar Binny tocontest against Arvind Kejriwal?

NEW DELHI, JAN 19The Congress, which

propped up a minority AamAadmi Party government inDelhi for 49 days over a yearago, Monday said it was "toodangerous" to vote that partyback to power in the assem-bly elections next month.

Congress general secretaryAjay Maken, heading thegrand old party`s electoralfight-back in the capital,accused the AAP of makingrepeated somersaults duringits short-lived rule in Delhi.

Maken released a bookletlisting 16 "U-turns" theCongress said former Delhichief minister ArvindKejriwal made vis-a-vis hisown stands on issues in therun-up to the Delhi assemblyelections in 2013.

The compilation "49 din kiulti chaal, Dilli hui behaal,U-turn Kejriwal" is a set ofstatements and promises thatthe AAP chief and otherleaders made but were foundnot complying with, Maken,now Delhi Congress poll

panel chief, said whileaddressing media.

Describing AAP leaders as"irresponsible", he cautionedthe electorate against givingthe reins of power in thehands of such people.

"These (AAP leaders) areirresponsible leaders... Wewant to ask the voters ofDelhi that would they votefor irresponsible leaders whoonly talk, do sit-ins, andprotest?... It`s too dangerousto give the reins of power tosomebody like that," hesaid.

Contrary to the AAP`s

original stand that saw theCongress as politicallyuntouchable until it formedthe government last time,Maken said the AAP supre-mo had sought people`sopinion before striking apost-poll alliance with theCongress.

Then why did Kejriwal notconsult the people beforeresigning as Delhi chief min-ister (in Feb 2014), he asked.

Maken alleged thatKejriwal did not even live upto his pledge of keeping low-key security after becomingthe chief minister.

Delhi polls: 'Too dangerous' to voteAAP to power, says Congress

Dense fog in Delhi,46 flights delayed,24 cancelledNEW DELHI, JAN 19

Delhiites on Mondaywoke up to dense fog,which affected flightschedules at the Delhi air-port with over 46 flightswere delayed and 24flights cancelled.

Low visibility anddense fog in the morningalso hit the movement oftrains, with more than 60of them were reported tobe running late and 12had to be rescheduled.

According to the MetOffice, the overall visibil-ity across Delhi was lessthan 50 meters in themorning. The minimumtemperature this morningwas 10.2 degrees Celsius,a couple of notches high-er than that of last week.

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Delhi High Court on

Monday stayed a singlejudge's order directingSupreme Court registryto provide information toan RTI activist regardingcases whose judgementshave been pending afterbeing reserved.

A bench of ChiefJustice G Rohini andJustice Rajiv SahaiEndlaw also issuednotice to RTI activistCommodore (retd)Lokesh K Batra, the apex

court's Central PublicInformation Officer(CPIO) and the AppellateAuthority, under thetransparency law as theyhave been made partiesin the appeal filed by theapex court registry.

The high court soughttheir responses byFebruary 12, till when itssingle judge order ofDecember 4 last shallremain stayed.

Apart from directingthe apex court's CPIO togive the data sought by

Batra, the December 4order had also held as"unsustainable" the standof the registry that sincethe data asked for was notmaintained in the manneras was sought, it was notunder any obligation toprovide the same.

The Supreme Courtregistry in its appeal, set-tled by senior advocateAS Chandhiok and advo-cate Ritesh Kumar, hassaid that "informationwith respect to each andevery judgement

reserved is available inpublic domain, casewise".

"Similarly, where ajudgement or order ispronounced, same is alsoplaced in public domain.Therefore, it is not a caseof non-availability ofinformation," the petitionsaid.

It said the informationsought by Batra "may notbe in a form or manner inwhich respondent wantsit". Advocate PrashantBhushan, who appeared

for Batra, opposed thecontentions of the apexcourt registry and sup-ported the December 4judgement of the highcourt.

The High Court in itsjudgement had alsoupheld the August 4,2011 order of the CentralInformation Commission(CIC) directing CPIO ofthe apex court to providethe information sought.

The CIC order has alsobeen challenged by theregistry.

Delhi HC stays its order to SC reg-istry on data on cases reserved

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Union Science and

Technology Minister DrHarsh Vardhan on Mondaydescribed as 'unfortunate'reports that he had sought aticket for his son to contestthe February 7 DelhiAssembly elections.

"Nothing more unfortu-nate, this news is false. Mychildren are established intheir careers, there is notruth in this news," Dr.Harsh Vardhan said.

He also dismissed reportsof a discord within theparty over the joining offormer IPS officer andactivist Kiran Bedi.

"There is no crisis in theparty," he added.

Reports had earlier saidthat Dr. Harsh Vardhan was

upset with the party fordenying his son a BJP tick-et in the upcomingAssembly elections inDelhi.

The elections for the 70-

member Delhi Assemblywill be held in a singlephase on February 7, withthe counting of votesset to take place onFebruary 10.

Union Minister Harsh Vardhan deniesseeking BJP ticket for son for Delhi polls

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) leader Jagdish Mukhion Monday urged theElection Commission (EC) totake action against AamAadmi Party (AAP) chiefArvind Kejriwal for reported-ly saying that people shouldtake money from theCongress and the BJP butvote for his party.

Mukhi said that such state-ments have brought Kejriwaldown in the eyes of the pub-lic.

shows his small thinking,such kind of statements havebrought him down in the eyes

of the public. He claims thathe is the only honest person

around, this is funny. I am ofthis opinion that ElectionCommission should takeimmediate action against himon this statement," Mukhisaid.

"Arvind Kejriwal shouldknow that people know whohe actually is, blowing hisown trumpet won't work," headded.

Kejriwal, while addressinga public gathering in WestDelhi's Nawada area onSunday, had reportedly askedvoters to "fool" the BJP andCongress by voting for AAPeven after accepting "bribemoney" from them.

Jagdish Mukhi urges EC totake action against Kejriwal

NEW DELHI, JAN 19Taking its ongoing probe into

the Sunanda Pushkar death caseforward, the Delhi Police onMonday issued a notice to formerUnion Minister and CongressMP Shashi Tharoor for question-ing.

Confirming the development,Delhi Police Commissioner BSBassi said, “A notice has beenissued to Shashi Tharoor underSection 160 of CrPC. Tharoormay be quizzed within the nextfew days.”

When further quizzed by thereporters, Bassi said, “Whoevermight know about the case willbe questioned. Shashi Tharoorwill be questioned soon, may betomorrow or day after,”addingthat the Congress leader willarrive in the national capital thisevening.

The SIT probing the case willsoon arrive at a logical conclu-

sion in the case, the Delhi Policechief said.

Bassi had earlier informed thatmany people have been ques-tioned in connection with thecase and the remaining will bequizzed in the next couple ofdays.

"Our SIT (SpecialInvestigation Team) is investigat-ing the case and will reach itsconclusion soon. They are look-ing into each and every aspect.They have already questionedseveral people and the remainingwill be questioned in the next

couple of days," Bassi had toldthe media.

Bassi also said the process ofsending Pushkar`s viscera abroadfor ascertaining the poisonoussubstance was on.

Pushkar, 52, was found dead ina south Delhi hotel on January17, 2014. The Delhi Police hadlodged a murder case on January01 this year, two days after get-ting the final autopsy report fromthe All India Institute of MedicalSciences (AIIMS).

Soon after lodging the FIR(first information report), the SITquestioned Tharoor`s domestichelp.

They also questioned two fam-ily friends and Indira GandhiInternational airport staff mem-bers who reportedly witnessed analleged heated argument betweenTharoor and Pushkar after theirarrival from Kerala two daysbefore her death.

Sunanda Pushkar death case: Shashi Tharoorwill be questioned, confirms Delhi Police chief

Continuation 3

BJP has...once again after one year.”“I am from Delhi. I gave it a thought as to

whether I should consider taking up the invi-tation. I thought what kind of Delhi I wantedand if I could give anything to the city,” shefurther said.

Bedi revealed that she had questioned her-self as to whether she could give anything toDelhi. “I have been a social activist but Iwondered if I could widen my horizon and doI have the willingness to do so. I left it on mysoul and my soul told me to widen my hori-zon if I wanted India to develop.”

“If India has to improve then Delhi cannotbe disturbed. If Delhi is disturbed then Indiais disturbed. Economy gets affected.Whatever happens in Delhi makes interna-tional news.

The Nirbhaya case had affected tourism allover the country,” she opined.

On a philosophical note she said, “There isa time when your thinking changes.”

Bedi maintained that she wanted to makeDelhi safe. “I have been doing social servicefor years. Thus, I thought if I could give moreto the country then why not,” she said.

Regarding criticism by the Opposition thatshe had been imported by the BJP as it didnot have a face in Delhi, she dismissed it bysaying, “That is their politics.”

Asked as to why she had decided to join theBJP she said, “Since I have been watchingthe BJP, it is very organised, this party hassaved the country today. The dedication of itsworkers is unparalleled and so is its moralvalues.” “And its leadership is in safe andcompetitive hands. This is taking Indiatowards change, it is changing India's fate,”Bedi emphasised.

Kiran Bedi is ...Ms. Bedi’s leadership. She will contest from the Krishna Nagar

seat in East Delhi, considered a BJP strong-hold. The Parliamentary Board meeting wasattended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,Home Minister Rajnath Singh, FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley, External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj among others.

Krishna Tirath...hum mahilaon ko, naujawano ko aage bad-

hyanege, dalit ko unka adhikaar denge.”"Whatever work I have done, whether for

the city or for the country, whatever post Ihave held, I have always had only one aim:how to be of service to the oppressed. And, Ihave never held back from doing so," Tirathtold the media, while accepting a BJP scarffrom Satish Upadhyay.

"I thought at great length about the disci-pline that the BJP has, and finally I decidedto move to further help with the upliftment ofthe oppressed. The BJP has always thoughtof the upliftment of the oppressed and I willgive my best efforts in doing so," she added.

Tirath is third high-profile woman leaderafter former top cop Kiran Bedi and ex-AAPleader Shazia Ilmi to join the BJP.

According to reports, Tirath's entry intoBJP is viewed as an attempt by the party towoo dalit voters in the national capital.

Before officially joining the party, Tirath,who served as women, child and develop-ment minister in the UPA Cabinet, met BJPchief Amit Shah.

According to media reports, a disgruntledTirath had earlier sought a Congress Partyticket for one of her children to contest in theDelhi state assembly elections, but the cen-tral leadership of the party rejected therequest.

Till now, she was representing the NorthWest Delhi constituency of Delhi as a mem-ber of the Indian National Congress (INC).

Tirath was earlier a member of the DelhiAssembly and a Minister in the ShielaDikshit-led Delhi government having portfo-lios of Social Welfare, SC & ST and Labour& Employment.

She has been a former Deputy Speaker ofDelhi Legislative Assembly and a formerChairperson of Delhi Scheduled CastesFinancial and Development Corporation(DSFDC) Tirath was the North West DelhiMP since 2004 and has been Minister of State(Independent Charge) Women and ChildDevelopment in the previous UPA govern-ment.

Last week, the Election Commissionsounded the poll bigul in Delhi. Voting forDelhi Assembly Elections 2015 would beheld in a single phase on February 7 with thecounting of votes scheduled for February 10.

In the 2013 Delhi elections, BJP bagged 31seats, AAP 28 and Congress 8 in the 70-member Assembly.

Delhi has 12 reserved seats of which amajority were won by the AAP in the lastassembly polls in 2013, with BJP winningonly two while Congress got one.

VVIP chopper ...officer) said that he shall verify the present

process for serving A-3 (Gerosa) and A-4(Haschke) as they are foreign nationals,"Special CBI Judge VK Gupta said.

During the hearing, businessman GautamKhaitan and his wife Ritu Khaitan, who were

also chargesheeted by the ED in connectionwith the case along with the two foreignersand Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd, appeared before the court.

Gautam Khaitan, who was the onlyaccused arrested in the case, was earliergranted bail by the court.

During the proceedings today, Ritu Khaitanmoved a bail plea and the court fixed it forarguments on February 2.

"Put up for February 2 for reply and argu-ments on the bail plea of A-2 (Ritu), furnish-ing of procedure of process to A-3 and A-4...," the judge said.

The court had summoned these fiveaccused after taking cognisance of the ED'scharge sheet, which charged them foroffences under the provisions of thePrevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA).

Gautam Khaitan was the first person to bearrested in September last year by ED in thechopper deal case in which CBI is also run-ning a parallel probe.

Air India to...because of high operating costs and some

of the lowest fare prices in the world amidintense competition.

Find workable...whether directly elected to the Lok Sabha

or through states in Rajya Sabha.”He further added, "I ask the political estab-

lishment to engage in a dialogue and resolvetheir differences," he said in reply to ques-tions on his views on frequent resort to ordi-nance route by the Executive.

The President's views assume significancein the context of the Narendra Modi govern-ment promulgating nine ordinances includ-ing on opening the insurance sector to higherforeign investment after Parliament wasparalysed in the winter session.

US, UK...administration's decision.Next hearing of Lakhvi's case will take

place on 26th January.The fresh detention order extension comes

just a couple of days after his detention wasextended for ten days last week.

Lakhvi was detained for a month onDecember 18 under the Maintenance ofPublic Order (MPO) in Adiala jail, after hewas granted bail by an Anti-terrorism Court(ATC). Hence on January 18, his earlierdetention order was to expire. However, withJanuary 18 being a Sunday (holiday), theauthorities extended his confinement periodtill January 27. According to a report in theExpress Tribune, the key motive behindkeeping Lakhvi behind bars is to prevent himfrom attending any public meeting andpotentially regrouping. The report added thatthe former LeT commander is being keptunder detention, following pressure exertedby the Indian government, Lakhvi is accusedof planning, financing and executingMumbai terror attacks in 2008. While Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed mastermindedthe Mumbai terror attack, it was Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, who was the handler of allten gunmen who came ashore Mumbai thatfateful night and was also in touch with themthroughout the massacre.

SpiceJet may...management and control of the ailing air-

line to Ajay Singh. In the quarter endedSeptember 30, 2014, SpiceJet reported Rs.310 crore loss, widening from Rs. 124 crorein the previous quarter. The losses were,however, lower in the year-ago quarter endedSeptember 30, 2013 at Rs. 560 crore.

Pakistan approaches ...seek healthcare in India.External affairs ministry spokesperson

Syed Akbaruddin termed the issue a "stormin a tea cup".

According to the Pakistani official, PIApurchased the property in 2005 and intimatedit to RBI within 90 days, and that PIA hadbeen paying taxes on the property.

In Lahore, Pakistani Civil AviationAuthority spokesman Sher Ali Khan toldGeo News that PIA would not close its officein New Delhi.

Khan said all legal formalities had beencompleted when the property was purchasedand that the matter would be resolved"according to law".

On the issue of renewal of visas of seniorPIA staff, India has said the process was on.

Indian laws state that no national ofPakistan among some other countries canacquire or transfer immovable property inIndia other than lease, not exceeding fiveyears without prior permission of the RBI.

Three PIA executives were called for ques-tioning over the alleged illegal purchase andnotices were issued to PIA to shut down theproperties in New Delhi.

EU seeks...Arab League secretary general Nabil al-

Arabi said that "every country in the world issuffering from terrorism" and recalled thatthe pan-Arab body had called in Septemberfor a "global struggle".

"It is not just a military or security issue, it

covers the intellectual, cultural, media andreligious spheres and that is what we are try-ing to get," he said.Many of the ministerswill meet again on Thursday in London whenUS Secretary of State John Kerry co-hoststalks with some 20 countries, including Arabstates, on "shared efforts to degrade anddefeat" IS militants.

Seventeen people were killed in the attackson the French magazine Charlie Hebdo,which published cartoons of the ProphetMohammed, a Jewish supermarket and apolicewoman. Belgian authorities killed twosuspected militants in raids last week.

Belgium has led efforts to forge a Europeanresponse to the threat and Monday`s meetingwill help prepare for a special summit onFebruary 12 dedicated to fighting terrorism.

But so far many EU states have been reluc-tant to open up their intelligence networks toanyone except their most trusted allies forfear of harmful leaks.

The European Parliament, concerned aboutdata protection rights, has in turn held upefforts to introduce a system for exchangingair passengers` data in Europe which manystates say would help track suspected mili-tants.

German Foreign Minister Frank-WalterSteinmeier said however that the Parisattacks had "changed Europe and the world".

"Today, we must discuss what we must do,including possibly increased exchanges withMuslim countries," Steinmeier said.

His British counterpart Philip Hammondtook a similar line, mentioning specificallythe need for the passenger data system.

"The Muslim countries of the world are theones who have suffered the greatest burdenof terrorism and they will continue to be inthe frontlines," Hammond said.

"We have to work closely with them to pro-tect both those countries and the EU coun-tries."

Separately, ministers agreed Monday thatthe EU should appeal a controversial courtdecision in December that ordered theremoval of Palestinian Islamist group Hamasfrom the EU terrorism blacklist.Belgianauthorities meanwhile were still hunting forAbdelhamid Abaaoud, considered the brainsbehind the cell plotting to kill Belgian policethat was broken up last week.

Prosecutors said they would seek the extra-dition from Greece of a suspect arrested inAthens on Saturday "who could be linked" tothe cell. In Germany, police banned a rally bythe anti-Islamic PEGIDA movement andother open-air gatherings planned forMonday in the eastern city of Dresden, say-ing there was a "concrete threat" of an attackagainst its leadership. The group claimed thethreat came from IS, with local media report-ing that PEGIDA`s most prominent leaderLutz Bachmann was the target.

The PEGIDA marches have grown steadilysince they began in October and are spread-ing to other countries with the first Danishmarch due in Copenhagen on Monday.

In Chechnya, the Muslim region inRussia`s North Caucasus, hundreds of thou-sands of people rallied at a state-sponsoredprotest against the publication of ProphetMohammed cartoons.

India does ...apprehensions about such organisations in

the country, the NIA has proved that thesewere ill-founded.

"Idea of India is as a symbol of peace.There is no need to adopt hawkish (foreign)policy. We are naturally a soft power. But softdoes not mean weak. We have to be firm,responsible and strong in our resolve," hesaid. Rijiju's comments come at a time whenhis senior in the Home Ministry, RajnathSingh, has made it clear that India wouldgive a "fitting" reply to Pakistan on anyinstance of firing by its troops on Indianposts and civilian areas. The Minister of Statefor Home said that India's basic behaviour issoft and it must not adopt a hawkish agendatowards its neighbours.

"We must not agree to a posture of war buthave to be firm and responsible, besidesbeing a stable power," he said.

Meanwhile, lauding the NIA, he said,"There have been apprehensions among thestates about organisations like NIA andNCTC. But the NIA has proved that theapprehensions were ill-founded."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when hewas earlier the Chief Minister of Gujarat, hadstrongly opposed the previous UPA govern-ment's move to create the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC), saying it would"infringe" on the powers of the states. Giventhe opposition from several states, NCTC isyet to come into existence.

Earlier, delivering the second R V Rajumemorial lecture on 'Pakistan andNeighbourhood: A Hawkish Agenda', seniorjournalist Shekhar Gupta highlighted variousaspects of India's influence, including itsdemocracy, on the neighbouring countries.

R V Raju, a former IPS officer was the firstDG of NIA.

"We can have good influence on our neigh-bours, we can have bad influence on ourneighbours. Neighbours always look uponus," Gupta said. Peaceful change of govern-ment in India through the working of the

democratic process is a clean idea for itsneighbours to follow, Gupta said.

"Every time government change (happens)in India peacefully, it tells all its neighboursthat this is what a country should do," hesaid. Gupta averred that India has been pur-suing a particular foreign policy for Pakistanand another policy for the remaining of itsneighbours. New Delhi's approach towardsIslamabad has to changed as it would con-tribute towards ending all insecurity in bilat-eral ties, he said.

The noted journalist said India's foreignpolicy should not be guided by just "hawk-ish" or "dovish" framework, but by itsstrength of democracy and intellectual capi-tal in conjunction with the astute use of mili-tary power.

Gupta also spoke at length on India's influ-ence over its neighbouring countries, includ-ing Pakistan. He advocated a mix of "soft"and "hard" approach to attain foreign policyobjectives.

On Pakistan, he said the world should takeit upon itself to engage with the country andbring about a change in the society there.

Every fishing ...tracked through a special mechanism.

Every fishing boat will be given an electron-ic identity tag," Parrikar told reporters todayon the sidelines of an event to commissionfour Indian Coast Guard vessels.

"Around two lakh fishing and other boatscan be tracked. If any boat moves suspicious-ly, it will be automatically flagged. Any sus-picious movement of a fishing boat outsideits territory can be monitored," he said.

He said that it would take an year to bringall fishing vessels under the purview of themonitoring system.

"There is an electronic instrument whichneeds to be fitted to boats. It is like an iden-tity card which sends off signals to Indianspace satellite," Parrikar said.

"We have issued these instruments to theIndian Coast Guard. Cards issued to fisher-men can be verified for duplication or for-gery," the minister said.

He said that the work on installing radarson the coast is on.

"During phase one, 46 radars were to beinstalled and in phase two 38 coastalradars?will be installed. The first phase isover," he added.

Rajnath Singh...was attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief

Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Uttarakhand ChiefMinister Harish Rawat, Madhya PradeshChief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan andChhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, asenior official said.

Giving details of the meeting, UP ChiefSecretary Alok Ranjan said it was requestedthat density of roads should be increased spe-cially in Chhattisgarh.

"The issue was raised by Chhattisgarh aslength of roads there is very low. MP and UPassociated themselves with the demand," hesaid.

He said that it was requested that length ofnational highways should be increased.

"In Uttar Pradesh, the length of nationalhighway is 3.9 km per lakh population,whereas the national average is 5.6 km perlakh," he said.

The Chief Secretary said the discussionswere also held to expedite the ongoing proj-ects, besides on left wing extremism special-ly in Chhattisgarh and assistance needed totackle the problem.

"Chhattisgarh CM said that funds wererequired to solve the problem. At presentstate governments are charged for deploy-ment of Central forces. It was said that theexpenditure should be borne by the centre,"he said.

Ranjan said that UP presented a proposal ofRs 650 crore for modernisation of police inthree years on which the Home Ministerassured to provide assistance and asked tosubmit the plan.

He said that another issue was related toforest and environment and it was stated thatit affected the pace of development thereforethe Forest Act should be relaxed.

The chief secretary said that a discussionwas also held on mines and minerals and itwas stated that it should be kept out of thepurview of the Act.

Govt bans ...Telecommunications Industry Association

are global bodies that provide unique num-bers to mobile handset companies.

The move aims to check proliferation ofmobile handsets with duplicate or clonedIMEI numbers, which are dangerous fornational security.

An IMEI comprises 15-digit codesassigned to a handset and it appears on theoperator’s network whenever a call is made.Concerns had been raised over their usageafter terror attacks in India.

Cloning issues in the case of CDMA hand-sets are negligible but rampant in the case ofGSM handsets, the official said.

The government had banned services onmobile handsets with fake IMEI numbersafter November 30, 2009.

Mobile phones without the unique security

code are making inroads into the grey marketby cloning the IMEI numbers of genuinesets.

Sadiq Jamal...Chhatrasinh Chudasama, observing that

prima facie there was no evidence againstthem. Advocate Priyesh Limbachiya, theirlawyer, had argued that CBI had found noevidence indicating their overt role in theencounter. Jamal, a resident of Bhavnagar,was killed in encounter by Gujarat Policenear Galaxy Cinema in Naroda area here onJanuary 13, 2003. But the genuineness of theencounter became an issue after Mumbai-based journalist Ketan Tirodkar told a courtthere that he was witness to Jamal's hand-over to Gujarat Police by the 'encounter spe-cialist' officer Daya Nayak of Mumbai Policea few days before the alleged encounter.

The High Court had ordered a CBI probeon a petition of Sabir Jamal, Sadiq's brother.CBI has chargesheeted seven police officersin the case.

Lucknow hooch...Secretary, UP Government, Inspector

General of Police, Lucknow Range andDistrict Magistrate, Lucknow calling forreports within two weeks in this connection.

The notices were issued after theCommission took suo motu cognisance ofmedia reports on hooch tragedy in which 38people died in Malihabad near Lucknow andits bordering Unnao district.

The State Government had ordered a mag-isterial enquiry and removed ExciseCommissioner and 20 erring officials in con-nection with the incident.

UP police had registered four cases andarrested two of the main accused responsiblefor selling the spurious liquor.

The Commission observed that the con-tents of the press reports, if true, raise a seri-ous issue of violation of human rights of thevictims.

Saradha chitfund ...on Monday approached the Supreme Court

seeking its urgent intervention in the case.As per reports, the TMC has filed petition

in the apex court seeking monitoring of CBIinvestigation in Saradha chitfund scam case.The apex court is expected to hear the caseon January 22.

Three TMC leaders including West BengalTransport Minister Madan Mitra, TMC MPSrinjoy Bose and Kunal Ghosh are all lodgedin jail in connection with the multi-crore chit-fund scam. Several TMC leaders have alsobeen questioned by the CBI in last fewmonths.

CBI has so far registered four cases againstSaradha group in West Bengal on the direc-tions of the Supreme Court.

SC refuses...court had given them," a bench comprising

Chief Justice HL Dattu and justices AK Sikriand RK Agrawal said.

Earlier, the bench, on August 25 last year,had asked journalist and social activist VineetNarain to collect more "field data" in supportof his PIL.

However, the bench today refused to gointo details collected under the RTI by Narainand said its directions on curbing noise pollu-tion had already been passed.

"As far as Delhi is concerned, rules arebeing complied with by Delhi Police. Therecannot be a general order," the bench todaysaid.

The PIL had sought a complete ban on theuse of loudspeakers at every place of worshipfor all religions.

Not only it creates noise pollution but italso threatens "the very safety of the peace-loving citizens of this country", the PIL hadsaid, adding loudspeakers were not inventedbefore 1861, "yet Prophet Mohammed,Hindu saints, Guru Nanak Dev and ChristianMissionaries preached religion without thehelp of loudspeakers."

Narain had also said that in several Islamiccountries, the use of loudspeakers was pro-hibited in mosques.

Ramdev can't ..homes of Dalits."If he (Ramdev) is wrong then he should be

punished but simultaneously, he cannot notbe prosecuted at 20 different places," a benchcomprising Chief Justice H L Dattu andJustice A K Sikri said.

The court's observation came when alawyer submitted that persons, who gotoffended from the statement, have a legalright to file cases and the trials against theyoga guru cannot be stayed.

"We have understood your anxiety. Youhave a right but he (Ramdev) also has got aright," the bench said, adding that the casespertain to one speech.

Meanwhile, it said that all matters on thematter be tagged and asked his counselKeshav Mohan to file separate petitions forseeking transfer of complaints filed againsthim in various trial courts.

The court, had on May 9 last year, stayedall proceedings against Ramdev in differentparts of the country for his alleged controver-sial remarks.

From Page 1NEW DELHI | TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2015SAADDA HAQ

Editorial4 NEW DELHI | TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2015SAADDA HAQ

BY SMRITI KAK RAMACHANDRAN

Afirst-hand account ofhow a family of Panditsleft Kashmir and were

unable to return home. January19 marks the 25th anniversary ofthe exodus of Kashmiri Panditsfrom the Valley

You must tell your story ...You must write ....

For years I have been asked topen “my story” of exodus andexile, of homelessness andrefuge. I’ve been told to laythreadbare what happened allthose years ago and how I feelabout it all these years later.

My story is not the narrationof how we left Kashmir; it isabout being unable to returnhome. My story is not aboutdeath that stared us in our faces;it is about that one chance wegot to live.

In my story, a gun-wieldingmonster was not at my doorstep;it was the fear of him appearingthat scared me more. I did notwatch my house burn; I sawwhat was left of it in the pages ofa magazine. My story is notabout the loss of material goods;it is about the pain of carryingmemories.

It was in the evening of March19, 1990 when an excruciating12-hour journey ended and weset foot in Jammu. It was exact-ly two months to the day afterthe first batch of KashmiriPandits left the Valley. The drivefrom Srinagar to Jammu is dot-ted with hairpin curves thatblurred all the pretty sights thatnature has to offer. Exhausted bymotion sickness, I was nothappy to be greeted with a waterballoon. We had arrived a daybefore Holi, unprepared for thefestival of colours.

From a week to 25 years

We were three of us, my moth-er, my cousin and I, carrying two

small suitcases and a warm blan-ket. We had left home in theearly hours as soon as curfewhad been relaxed. Before leav-ing, we assured our neighboursthat we would return and, yes,the Army was not informed sothere would be no crackdown.Being the only Hindu householdin the area, we were perceived assome sort of an insuranceagainst military action in theneighbourhood.

We were going to Jammu tocomfort my sister; that messagehad been relayed to the areacommander of the militantgroup active in our neighbour-hood. Apparently he did not likepeople moving out without hispermission.

My sister, then a student atJammu Medical College, hadbeen witnessing convoys oftrucks and buses, crammed withfamilies and their hurriedlypacked luggage, arrive everyday since January. Those arriv-ing narrated stories of escapingdeath ... of a burning Kashmir ...of Pandits slaughtered and theArmy taking over, as if it werewar. She read about bullet-rid-den bodies, of hate messagespainted on walls, of bodies witheyes gouged out, and of women

raped and butchered in thestreets.

My sister was distressed.Assurances on the phone werenot enough; she wanted to seeus, alive. That is how the threeof us landed in Jammu for whatwas supposed to be a weeklongstay, but which turned into 25years in exile.

My grandparents joined us

four months later, arriving in ablack and yellow taxi with twosuitcases and an olive greenholdall.

We spent the next few yearswaiting for “normalcy”, for theconvoys to return to the Valleyand for us to be home.

We kept waiting and my ever-smiling grandfather began tolose hope; eventually he died ofa broken heart.

He had worried every dayabout the house we left behind,and the home he built. He hadworried about the gaps in its tinroof and about the weeds thatwould have destroyed his metic-ulously laid out garden. Most ofall, he worried about us growingup, outside our home. But it wasnot the material loss that broke

his heart.

A deep wound

On a sultry afternoon, sittingin the long, ventilated corridorof the Circuit House in Jammu, Ioverheard him tell a familyfriend that he felt “betrayed” byhis childhood friends. Thatbroke his heart. Where werethey when his house — wherethey had gathered for years, sip-

ping tea, discussing politics,worrying about the weather —was raided (we learnt the raiderseven took away the stash of coaland sugar, stowed away for theharsh winter) and later burntdown?

Some letters and a few phonecalls were exchanged; hisfriends shared their grief but theword “return” was carefullyavoided.

Somewhere in his heart, mygrandfather believed that theordinary Kashmiri — the friendand neighbour — had the powerto stop the armed militant whowas from across the border. Heread enough papers to knowwhat was happening, yet, hechose to believe that his“friends” back home wouldguard what was his and be there

for him when he returned.

He would recall how one ofhis friends had carried me on hisshoulders to the bus stopbecause the road was flooded;how another had a treat for meeach time we passed by his shop.It was not hatred, but pain thathe carried in his heart.

Months before he died, mygrandfather slipped a copy of hiswill in his journal, which I hadinsisted on taking with me toDelhi. “Immerse my ashes atPrang,” my grandfather, who didnot believe in rituals, had writ-ten.

What I remembered of Prangwas a river with gushing, icywater and round shiny rocks fora bed.

We could not go to Prang withhis ashes. He was betrayedagain.

My story of Kashmir is thestory of his betrayal.

My story is not the endlessargument about history, politics,economy and social subalternnarratives. We have trained gunson each other and drawn fault-lines, we have added dimensionsto suit our versions of the story.

We give our tuppence onKashmir and Kashmiriyat; Irefrain from commenting, I hidefrom venting. My story is notmy version versus yours. Itmeanders through discourses,but betrayal exists as a continu-um.

I find similarities with the sto-ries of the homeless, fromAfghanistan to Congo. I knowthe pain of the Myanmareserefugee who told me how his lifefits into two boxes. I search theirstories for signs of betrayal. Iask them how they deal with it,because my story of betrayal is afestering wound, and I don’tknow how to make peace with it.

Considering Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s cautionregarding the insecurity that people face over alifetime due to the deprivation of basic education,

the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2014 callsfor a hard look at the situation. Its findings amount to adistressing catalogue of the failures inherent in the peda-gogic methods of instruction in vogue. The foremostamong them is the overemphasis on a curriculum that isgeared to outcomes in the form of examination results, atthe expense of a process of learning that is oriented to amastery of concepts. These shortcomings underlie theoriginal assumption that students of a particular gradewould not measure up to commensurate standards; andthat any such evaluation would hence be an exercise infutility. That is the apparent rationale behind the ASERassessment of actual student performance based on alower set of metrics. The report points out that just a smallproportion of third-graders are able to read even a textfrom a lower grade, let alone their own. Any improvementin later years is at best marginal, says the report. The factis that reading skills are not imparted as part of classroomactivity. ASER also shows that pupils from the higherclasses are unable to perform even simple tasks of divi-sion or subtraction. This may have to do with the inade-quate reinforcement of concepts over the years owing tothe structure of the syllabus. For instance, the use of log-arithms that were once taught from Class 9 has beendropped from the Central Board of Secondary Education(CBSE) curriculum. Students are hence denied the oppor-tunity to learn complex mathematical computations.Besides, the mathematics knowledge that people need indaily life is mostly arithmetic-based. Yet, the latter hasbeen omitted from the Class 9 and 10 syllabus. Time waswhen students could opt between a basic and advancedlevel of math from Class 8 or 9 under some State boards.The current CBSE paper, tailored to the requirement ofengineering aspirants, may be imposing an undue burdenon students inclined to pursue different academic streams.A healthy pupil-teacher ratio could also help overcomemany of these shortcomings. The Right of Children toFree and Compulsory Education Act stipulates a 30:1ratio. ASER notes that the country has come consistentlyclose to universal enrolment in the 6-14 age group for sixconsecutive years. That may have afforded some consola-tion in an age where the prevailing wisdom held that poorfamilies are disinclined to send children to school. Intoday’s competitive environment, the ability of students toread, write, count and measure is a bare minimum. Thecountry cannot continue to fail its children.

School system fails studentsTuesday | January 20, 2015

SAADDA HAQ

BY ARVIND VIRMANI

The “Yojana Aayog” or“Planning Commission” hasbeen replaced by the “National

Institution for Transforming India” or“NITI” for short. From “Yojana” to“Niti”, what is the difference? Firstand foremost, it means a sharp breakfrom Soviet inspired NationalDevelopment (Five Year) Plans to“Niti”, that is “Policy” and“Institutional change for ‘transform-ing India’.” Paragraph three of theCabinet resolution states: we “requireinstitutional reforms in governanceand dynamic policy shifts that canseed and nurture large-scale change.”

“Development” is one of thosewords that everyone thinks theyunderstand but which means manydifferent things to different people. Itcovers a multitude of possibilities aswell as a multitude of ideological sinsand special agendas. The cabinet res-olution constituting Niti Aayogapprovingly quotes MahatmaGandhi: “Constant development isthe law of life, and a man who alwaystries to maintain his dogmas in orderto appear consistent drives himselfinto a false position.” The PlanningCommission took its first tentativesteps towards “policy” 28 years ago,by creating a post of AdvisorDevelopment Policy. There was somuch resistance that the Advisor (inthis case, me) had to be designated“Advisor-Development PolicyResearch.” Despite decades of effort,policy solutions always played sec-ond fiddle to increasing Plan alloca-tions and expenditures without any“social benefit-cost analysis” or“Macro-economic models” to backthe decisions.

Three other points in the introduc-tory part of the Cabinet resolutionsetting up Niti Aayog are notewor-thy: The first is the assertion that “ouraspirations have soared and today weseek elimination, rather than allevia-tion, of poverty.” The second is theimportant role given to governance inachieving desirable social outcomes:“The people of India have greatexpectations for progress andimprovement in governance, throughtheir participation. They require insti-tutional reforms in governance and

dynamic policy shifts that can seedand nurture large-scale change (para-graph 3).” Subsequently, there is anindication of how the institutionalreforms in governance can bebrought about: “Government andgovernance have to be conducted inan environment of total transparency— using technology to reduce opaci-ty and thereby, the potential for mis-

adventures in governing (paragraph6g).”

Poverty elimination

A paper in the Economic andPolitical Weekly in 2002 had raisedthe issue of corruption and gover-nance and to bring policy-institution-al reform into the developmentdebate, but to no avail. A debate onpoverty elimination, as against allevi-ation, was sought to be initiated in2005-06 through a PlanningCommission paper, but was stymied.It is therefore very encouraging thatthis is an important part of the man-date of Niti Aayog.

“The emphasis on interaction withinternational think tanks and Indianeducational and policy research insti-

tutions would be a departure for theIndian bureaucracy.”

The third is the recognition of achanged reality of economy, societyand government functioning and itsimplications: “India needs an admin-istration paradigm in which the gov-ernment is an ‘enabler’ rather than a‘provider of first and last resort’. The

role of the government as a ‘player’in the industrial and service sectorshas to be reduced. Instead, the gov-ernment has to focus on enabling leg-islation, policy-making and regula-tion (paragraph 6a).” Many old-styledevelopment planners refused toaccept these changes (even if theypaid lip service to it), though thisissue was raised first in the 1990s andsubsequently in the 2000s.

A recognition of this reality by theUnion cabinet provides a sound basisfor closing the technology gapbetween India and the advancedcountries, that is correlated with thelarge income gap between us. Thereference to the role of urbanisation(paragraph 6g) as an aid to a techno-logical catching up, suggests anunderstanding of the links betweentechnology gaps and per capita

income gaps. This further links towelfare gaps through the statement“Equality of opportunity goes hand-in-hand with an inclusiveness agenda(paragraph 8c).” The open discussionof the global environment and itstwo-way interaction with India alsodisplays a degree of self-confidencevis-à-vis foreign countries (para-graph 6c) that bodes well for building

a competitive, fast-growing econo-my.

Niti’s role

So, what is the specific role of NitiAayog in this changed environment?Its primary/central role is to “Serveas a Think Tank for the Government”… “to give “strategic and technicaladvice across the spectrum of keyelements of policy.

This includes matters of nationaland international import on the eco-nomic front, dissemination of bestpractices from within the country aswell as from other nations, the infu-sion of new policy ideas and specificissue-based support.” (paragraph 11).Several of us have argued for a longtime, without much success, that theold Planning Commission should

evolve into a “think tank” with a pri-mary emphasis on policy and institu-tions, rather than on expenditure pro-grammes and projects. By its boldmove to abolish the Yojana Aayogand set up Niti Aayog, the new gov-ernment has set the stage for a whole-sale transformation in this direction.Given the absence of any formalsocial benefit-cost analysis of pro-grammes and projects and the limitedcapacity for an appraisal of out-comes, one had also suggested to theDeputy Chairman a decade ago thatthe Planning Commission develop adatabase of best practices to guidefuture decisions. It is hoped that afull-fledged division will be set up inNiti Aayog to translate this into real-ity, with all such information digital-ly accessible to experts and policy-makers.

Emphasis on ‘lessons learnt’

Some of the specific objectives ofNiti Aayog are at the level of general-ity of the Cabinet note, not signifi-cantly different from those of thePlanning Commission or otherorgans of government. However, thefollowing objectives suggest agreater priority and emphasis on theissues mentioned in them: To designstrategic and long-term policy andprogramme frameworks and initia-tives, and monitor their progress andtheir efficacy.

The lessons learnt through moni-toring and feedback will be used formaking innovative improvements,including necessary midcourse cor-rections; to provide advice andencourage partnerships between keystakeholders and national and inter-national like-minded think tanks, aswell as educational and policyresearch institutions; to create aknowledge, innovation and entrepre-neurial support system through a col-laborative community of national andinternational experts, practitionersand other partners; to maintain astate-of-the-art resource centre, be arepository of research on good gover-nance and best practices in sustain-able and equitable development aswell as help in their dissemination tostakeholders, and to focus on tech-nology upgradation and capacity-building for implementation of pro-

grammes and initiatives

In the first of these, the emphasison “lessons learnt” is very important.Experience confirms a great reluc-tance to modify or reject programmeswhen they don’t work. In the second,the emphasis on interaction withinternational think tanks and Indianeducational and policy research insti-tutions, though expected from a thinktank for the government, would be adeparture for the Indian bureaucracy.In the third, the emphasis on supportsystems rather than funds/subsidies isan important departure.

The fourth reinforces what wassaid earlier about good governanceand best practices and suggests thatimprovement in governance will beseriously pursued to improve thedelivery of government social andwelfare programmes. In the fifth, therecognition of weak capacity andneed for “capacity building” forimplementation is critical to the suc-cess of all new initiatives and manyold ones.

The abolition of the Yojana Aayogand its replacement by Niti Aayog bythe new government is a bold andlong overdue initiative. It will helpchange the emphasis from projectsand programmes to policy and insti-tutions, from expenditure inputs toreal outcomes through better gover-nance and from political disputationover incremental allocations to newchallenges and opportunities in aglobal environment. The discussionof India in a global context alsoreminds one of Gandhiji’s sayings:“Let the windows of my mind beopen to winds from across the world,but let me not be blown away bythem.” Like all new institutions, itwill be a challenging job for NitiAayog to fulfil its high objectives.

(Arvind Virmani is a former ChiefEconomic Advisor, Finance Ministry

and Principal Advisor, PlanningCommission who participated inmost of the policy reforms of the

1990s and 2000s.)

The new name of planning

Our team will publish yourthoughts send us your articles at

news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

A story of exile, a story of betrayal

“Development” is one of those words thateveryone thinks they understand but which

means many different things to different peo-ple. It covers a multitude of possibilities as

well as a multitude of ideological sins and spe-cial agendas. The cabinet resolution constitut-ing Niti Aayog approvingly quotes MahatmaGandhi: “Constant development is the law oflife, and a man who always tries to maintain

his dogmas in order to appear consistent driveshimself into a false position.”

It was in the evening of March 19, 1990 when anexcruciating 12-hour journey ended and we set

foot in Jammu. It was exactly two months to theday after the first batch of Kashmiri Pandits leftthe Valley. The drive from Srinagar to Jammu isdotted with hairpin curves that blurred all the

pretty sights that nature has to offer. Exhaustedby motion sickness, I was not happy to be greeted

with a water balloon. We had arrived a daybefore Holi, unprepared for the festival of colours.

State Watch 5NEW DELHI | TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2015SAADDA HAQ

CHENNAI, JAN 19In a strange turn of

events, the parents of ayoung boy who made newslast year, after he reported-ly caught fire spontaneous-ly several times and wasbrought to the city fortreatment, are back here —this time with their secondson, and citing the samecondition.

According to Rajeswariand Karna from T.Parangini in Villupuramdistrict, their second son(and third child), who wasborn on January 9, ‘caughtfire’ on January 15.

The couple is now at theGovernment KilpaukHospital, where their babyhas been admitted to theneonatal intensive care

unit. Hospital authoritiessaid the child will be underobservation for a month.

“I had gone to use thebathroom which is justbehind the house. When Iwas coming back, I heardmy baby screaming andran in to find his feet onfire. I quickly doused himwith water and rushed tothe local hospital,” saidRajeswari.

Doctors at the hospitalsaid tests, including X-ray,blood and biochemistrytests, are being conductedon the child, and no causehas been ruled out as yet.“The baby has sufferedabout 5 per cent burns onhis feet,” a senior doctorsaid.

The older son Rahul,

now one and a half, isdoing well and there havebeen no more incidents ofcombustion, Rajeswarisaid.

The couple also has athree-and-a-half-year-olddaughter, Narmadha. “Sheis not yet in school as wecannot afford the expendi-ture,” said Rajeswari, whohas been asked to undergocounselling at thehospital.

A four-member team hasbeen formed to investigatethe burns on the baby, hos-pital authorities said

According to a pressrelease, health minister C.Vijaya Baskar and healthsecretary J. Radhakrishnanvisited the baby at the hos-pital.

Villupuram couple returnswith another ‘burning baby’

VIJAYAWADA, JAN 19Congress leader and former

Andhra Pradesh ministerPaladugu Venkata Rao passedaway at a hospital inHyderabad on Monday.

He was 75.Rao, presently an MLC, was

admitted to a private hospitalat Hyderabad in the earlyhours today after he com-plained of chest pain. He diedduring treatment, PCC secre-tary K Shivaji said. Hailingfrom Gogulampadu village inKrishna district, Rao joinedthe Youth Congress after hiscollege education and gotelected as an MLC in 1972.He was elected twice fromNuziveed Assembly seat in1978 and 1989.

He also served as Cabinet

minister twice in AndhraPradesh. Rao was also electedas MLC in 2007 and 2009.

His last rites will be held onWednesday at Nuziveed inKrishna district, party sourcessaid. AP Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu, Leader

of Opposition in stateAssembly YS JaganmohanReddy, APCC president NRaghuveera Reddy and manyother political leadersexpressed grief over Rao'sdemise and paid tributes tohim.

Congress leader P Venkata Rao is deadJAMMU, JAN 19

Marking 25 years of theirexile, the displaced KashmiriPandits on Monday urged theCentral government to initiate aserious dialogue with the com-munity leadership for its resettle-ment in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We appeal to government ofIndia to initiate a serious dia-logue with the leadership of thedisplaced community for itsresettlement in the valley keep-ing in view their geo-politicalaspirations," Ashwani KumarChrungoo, President, PanunKashmir, an organisation repre-senting Kashmiri Pandits said.

Speaking on the 25th anniver-sary of the Holocaust Day today,Chrungoo stated that the com-munity has "first and naturalright" over the territory ofKashmir. "We would return only

when our geo-political aspira-tions as per Margdarshan resolu-tion are fulfilled through politicaland constitutional means," hesaid. "The community was madethe selected victim of terror andterrorism, murder and mayhemon a large scale resulting in itsmass exodus from the valley."Genocide against the KashmiriPandit was used as a strongweapon to achieve ethnic cleans-ing by the fundamentalists andterrorists in Kashmir valley," headded. Chrungoo said that dia-tribe against the community byseparatist forces in Kashmirremains unabated despite com-plete banishment of the Panditsin Kashmir. "It is the secessionistand terrorist forces who wereresponsible for the genocide andethnic cleansing of KashmiriPandits," he said.

'Centre should initiate serious dialogue with Kashmiri Pandits'

KOLKATA, JAN 19After reports emerged that

McDonald's threw out a destitutechild from its Pune outlet, anNGO took 15 underprivilegedchildren to the fast food chain'soutlet in Kolkata and treatedthem to burgers and fries.

"McDonald's should know thatwe will not tolerate the kind ofdiscrimination they showed inPune. We were angry at whathappened and had to protest,"said Ritu, a member of the NGOCommittee for the Protection ofDemocratic rights (CPDR).

"What was the problem inPune? No one asked for a freemeal. The lady who took thechild in was going to pay for thefood. So why did McDonald'sevict the child ?" said SurajChokhani, another CPDR mem-ber.

PATNA, JAN 19Bihar Chief Minister

Jitan Ram Manjhi is likelyto be replaced by NitishKumar in the next fewdays, as per news reportson Monday.

Nitish is likely to replaceManjhi by the end of theweek and the decisionreportedly has the backingof the JD(U).

The report comes a dayafter possible squabblebetween the two leaderswithin JD(U) was reportedafter senior BJP leaderSushil Kumar Modialleged that Manjhi wasinsulted by the ruling partyworkers at the behest of hispredecessor NitishKumar.

"Chief Minister Manjhiwas being insulted by

some JD(U) leaders at thebehest of his predecessorNitish Kumar for visiting

the RJD supremo LaluPrasad's estranged brother-in-law Anirudh Prasad

alias Sadhu Yadav's housefor feast," he said in astatement.

Manjhi's visit to thehouse of Sadhu Yadav,controversial brother-in-law of RJD President LaluPrasad, during MakarSankranti festivities hadraked up a controversywith the JD(U) saying thatManjhi should shun suchactivities which gives abad name to the party andthe government.

Taking the JD(U) to taskfor questioning SadhuYadav's controversialbackground, Modi flayedthe ruling party leaders formaking snide remarksagainst the Chief Ministerfor being seen with theRJD supremo's relativedespite the fact that therewere other such leadersand legislators in theJD(U) ranks itself.

Nitish Kumar likely to replace Jitan Ram Manjhi as Bihar CM: Sources

KADAPA, JAN 19Union Minister for

Parliamentary Affairs MVenkaiah Naidu asked peoplehere to strengthen the BJP inAndhra Pradesh to solve theproblems of the state.

He alleged that the Congressparty "ruined the nation,destroyed the administration anddegraded the judiciary", withmany uncountable scams likecoal scam, CommonwealthGames scam, 2G spectrum scamand Agusta WestlandHelicopters scam.

Addressing a huge gathering atKadapa Municipal Stadium thisafternoon, Naidu lambasted theCongress, saying, "TheCongress and its infant YSRCongress are similar when itcomes to scams" and urged thepeople "not to believe" theseparties.

He said "only the BJP underPrime Minister Modi" wouldresolve issues of the people anddevelop the country. He urgedpeople and party workers tostrengthen the BJP in the state,

which is an ally of the TeluguDesam Party (TDP).

Naidu said that the Polavaramproject, which has been taken upas a national project by BJP, is aboon to Rayalaseema.

"After catering toVisakhapatnam's drinking waterneeds and stabilising KrishnaDelta, Polavaram's surplus waterwill be supplied to Rayalaseemato cater to drinking and irriga-tion needs of this region," hesaid.

When asked about the pro-posed steel industry in Kadapa,Venkaiah said that officials areconsidering all probabilities andwould come out with a decisionsoon.

However, he said that a pro-posed Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) project in Kadapa isnot viable due to the airport.

He said that after consideringall parameters, it would be beestablished in Rayalaseema.

Strengthen BJP in Andhra Pradesh forstate's development: Venkaiah Naidu

GUWAHATI, JAN 19Eleven NDFB(S) mili-

tants, who had massacred 81persons on December 23last, were on Monday appre-hended and a large quantityof arms and ammunitionrecovered from them in ajoint police and army opera-tion in Chirang district ofAssam, official sources said.

The militants of theNDFB(S), including an IEDexpert, were nabbed fromPanbari Forest area, IGP L RBishnoi said.

The apprehended insur-gents include Deven Goyari,Hokom Boro, UpendraNath, Raton Bengali, NamalBasumatary, Sanjay Goyari,Ulla Basumatary, RajuBoro, Konin Basumatary,Prakash Narzary aliasGahen and RanjanBasumatary aliasKipihungla, Bishnoi said.

The recovered arms andammunition include twoimprovised explosivedevices (IED), nine detona-tors, two 7.65 mm pistols,

ten rounds of 7.65 mmammunition, five rounds of7.62 mm pistol ammunitionand a packet of ball bear-ings, he said.

Goyari is an importantcadre of the outfit and anIED expert who had madean unsuccessful attempt toplant a bomb against thearmy in December last year,defence sources said.

The other major catchesare Raton Bengali who wasinvolved in providing infor-mation and other assistanceto the underground outfitleading to the December 23last carnage and PrakashNarzary alias Gahen, alocally trained cadre who isactive since 2012.

Based on intelligence pro-vided by Gajraj IntelligenceUnit, troops of Army's RedHorn Division with thepolice nabbed the 11 ultrasgiving a blow to the subver-sive activities of the insur-gent group as they dependheavily on the local cadre toprovide them with all the

necessary assistance to exe-cute their insurgency activi-ties, the sources said.

After the NationalDemocratic Front ofBodoland-Songbijit carriedout the December 23 attack,the police and army havebeen carrying out operationsin inaccessible forest areasof Kokrajhar and Chirangdistricts. On January 17 ahardcore militant and amajor linkman were appre-hended with explosives dur-ing two army operations.

Hardcore extremist DipakBoro alias Dwantham wasnabbed from Dongmari(Habibari) in Baksa district,while a major linkman wasnabbed with detonators atMirza (Palasbari) nearGuwahati. On the same daya large quantity of arms andammunition used by theNDFB(S) were recoveredfrom forests along theAssam-Arunachal Pradeshborder by a joint team ofArmy, Assam Police andNIA.

Eleven hardcore NDFB(S) militants nabbed in Assam

Kolkata NGO TakesUnderprivilegedChildren toMcDonald's

Naxals publicly kill two menbranding them as 'informers'RAIPUR, JAN 19

Maoists kidnapped two villagers andkilled them at a 'jan adalat' (people'scourt) in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hitNarayanpur district, police said onMonday.

Ramlal and Manter, natives ofAatpal and Bailapad villages respec-tively under Benoor police station lim-its, were murdered by the rebels whobranded them as police informers,Narayanpur SP Amit Tukaram Kamblesaid. As per preliminary investigation,the duo was abducted by Naxalites onJanuary 14 from their respectiveplaces.

After their interrogation, the ultrasheld a 'jan adalat' on Saturday eveningwhere they executed the two villagers,the SP said. The bodies of the victimswere recovered in a forest underFarasgaon police station limits yester-day. Prime facie, it appears that theywere strangulated to death, Kamblesaid, adding that the post-mortemwould ascertain the exact cause oftheir death.

After being informed about the inci-dent, security personnel were rushedto the spot to recover the bodies. Asearch operation has been launched inthe region to trace the assailants, headded.

AHMEDABAD, JAN 19Alleging inaction on

the part of Gujarat gov-ernment in reining in"anti-social" elementsthriving on illegal shrimpfarming in Bharuch dis-trict which was hit bycommunal clashes,around 200 members ofBJP from Hansot andAnkleshwar talukas haveresigned from the party.

Prominent among themare Ankleshwar talukaBJP chief Naran Patel,youth wing presidentVivek Bhardiwala andseveral other office-bear-ers.

In their joint resigna-tion letter sent to BJP'sBharuch district presidentYogesh Patel last night,these leaders claimedthough BJP is in power,both in Gujarat as well as

at Centre, officials areignoring them.

Naran Patel has allegedthat illegal shrimp farm-ing is the "root cause"behind the frequent clash-es as miscreants are get-ting funds from the illegalbusiness.

In the latest incident,clashes broke outbetween two communi-ties in Ambetha andHansot villages ofBharuch on January 14over a minor issue inwhich two youths werekilled and many othersgot injured.

Around 50 people haveso far been arrested inconnection with the riots.

"There are around 3000illegal ponds in andaround Hansot, which areused for shrimp farmingwithout any permission.

Some anti-social ele-ments are earning Rs 1lakh per pond every yearfrom this business. Theyare using this moneypower to spread theirdominance and causetrouble to locals," Patelalleged.

He accused the stategovernment, headed bychief minister AnandiPatel, of turning a "blindeye" to these elementswho he said are behindspreading the violence.

"We have made numer-ous representations togovernment earlier aboutthis issue but no actionwas taken," Patelalleged.

In the letter sent to thedistrict president, Patelalleged that police are"biased" against a partic-ular community and are

making selective arrests."Though BJP is ruling

in state as well as atCentre, officials do notlisten to us. Though twoof our brothers have died,police ise taking actionagainst our communityonly. Thus, around 200BJP members and leadershave given their resigna-tions as a sign of protest,"Patel said.

"They have just made astrong representationabout the issue throughtheir letter, which cannotbe considered as their res-ignation. I met them per-sonally yesterday andpacified them. In comingdays, state BJP leaderswill also meet them andfind a solution. We willalso put forward thisissue to state govern-ment" he said.

Bharuch violence: 200 BJP membersresign, blame illegal shrimp farming

MUZAFFARPUR, JAN 19At least 14 people were

arrested by police after amob torched houses in avillage in Bihar'sMuzaffarpur district killingthree people following therecovery of a youth's body,as per news reports onMonday. The governmenthas reportedly formed atwo-member enquiry com-mittee to probe the matterand a compensation of Rs5 lakh has also beenannounced for the familyof the victims.

Tension gripped a Biharvillage Monday, a day afterthree people were burnt todeath and 10 were injuredwhen a mob torched overthree dozen houses inMuzaffarpur district afterthe body of an abductedyouth was found, policesaid.

Muzaffarpur District

Magistrate Anupam Kumartold IANS by telephonethat a probe into the arsonattack began following thedirective of Chief MinisterJitan Kumar Manjhi, whois on a visit to Mumbai.

Manjhi is likely to visitthe village on Mondayevening.

Kumar said that prelimi-nary probe suggests thatclash in the village was theresult of a love affair.

"District administrationwas not taking anychances, fearing retaliationby villagers," he said.

The incident took placein Ajitpur Bahilwara vil-lage after the body of a 20-year-old boy was recov-ered Sunday. He wasallegedly abducted andkilled for his love affairwith a girl from a differentcommunity.

Muzaffarpur Senior

Superintendent of PoliceRanjeet Kumar Mishrasaid a mob attacked thehouse of the main accusedin the youth's abductionand killing, triggering aclash between the vil-lagers.

"Mob torched severalhouses in which three peo-ple were burnt to death andsome injured. They also setablaze vehicles," Mishrasaid.

Additional DirectorGeneral of police head-quarters GupteshwarPandey, who has beencamping in Muzaffarpur,about 70 km from here,said that 14 people havebeen arrested in connectionwith the clash and morearrests would take place.

"Additional securityforces have been deployedin the village in view of thetension," Pandey said.

Muzaffarpur clashes: 14 arrested, Bihargovt forms two-member probe committee

JAMMU, JAN 19Living as "refugees in their

own country" for past quarter ofa century, displaced KashmiriPandits say the biggest hurdle intheir return to their roots in theValley and rehabilitation wasconcerns for their safety andsecurity.

Most of KPs feel that oneplace-settlement is only alterna-tive for return and rehabilitationof the minuscule community inKashmir after ensuring theirsafety and security.

"Our core concern is safetyand security for the communityin Kashmir Valley," a prominentKP leader and Nationalspokesperson of Prem Nath

Bhat Memorial Trust, Dr R LBhat said.

Dr Bhat, who left along withhis family from Noorabad beltin Kulgam district in 1990, feelsthat the security aspect thatwhether the community wouldbe able to live in Kashmir aftertheir return is as relevant theseda ys as it was during thedays of migration.

"It is a quarter of a century ofour exodus and we are nowherenear to any solution. Centraland state government havefailed to ensure any type of con-fidence building measure forcommunity in terms of return ofKPs to the Valley," Dr Bhatadds.

After quarter century in exile, KashmiriPandits still on cross-roads of rehabilitation

Japanese electronicsgiant Toshiba hasintroduced a new

range of smart LED TVspowered by Android(v4.4.2 KitKat with accessto Google Play) that willallow viewers to access awide range of apps, gamesand videos. The new rangeof televisions fall under itsRegza brand.

The new range of UltraHD 4K L9450 and the HDand full-HD L5400 seriestelevisions feature person-alised content, visualdetails, stunning graphics,built-in Wi-Fi, Web brows-er to access any website,Toshiba said in a release.

The Toshiba RegzaL9450 'Pro Theatre' seriesis available in 50-inch, 65-inch and 84-inch screensizes, and is pricedbetween Rs 1.99 lakh toRs. 10.49 lakh respective-ly.

On the other hand, theToshiba Regza L5400 HDand full-HD series areavailable in 32-inch, 40-

inch, 47-inch and 56-inchdisplays priced betweenRs. 38,990 to Rs. 1.29lakh.

Toshiba India's DSDivision Country HeadSanjay Warke said: "TheAndroid interface hasopened a world of possibil-ities for consumers... Weare trying to bring thesame limitless experienceby breaking boundaries onscreen sizes. Our latestrange offers the customersa choice to enjoy latestAndroid applications on alarger screen and in a high-er image quality, than thatof smartphones andtablets."

The new range alsoallows viewers to use plug-and-play wireless key-boards and mice.

Founded in Tokyo in1875, Toshiba has a globalnetwork of over 590 con-solidated companiesemploying over 200,000people. It has annual salesof over $63 billion (rough-ly Rs. 3,88,161 crores).

Swipe has launched its UltimateTab 3G laptop-tablet hybrid inIndia, priced at Rs. 19,999. The

3G variant of thep r e v i o u slaunched SwipeUltimate, it will beavailable online vialeading e-commercewebsites startingJanuary 21.

The laptop-tablethybrid Swipe UltimateTab 3G features almostidentical specifications asseen in its predecessor,which was launched inNovember last year. Themain addition is the inbuilt 3Gconnectivity support via a SIMcard and a direct USB 3.0 port.The earlier variant only 3G con-nectivity via a USB dongle.

The Windows 8.1-poweredSwipe Ultimate Tab 3G comes witha 10.1-inch XWVGA (1280x800pixels) multi-touch IPS display withZero Air Gap technology and adetachable magnetic keyboard. It ispowered by a 64-bit Intel AtomZ3735F (4 core, 4 threads, 1.33GHzbase clock, up to 1.83GHz burst,2MB cache) processor coupled with2GB of RAM.

The Swipe Ultimate comes with32GB of internal storage with noword on expandable storage support.However, as seen in the SwipeUltimate, the new variant is likely to

support up to 1TB HDDs via Micro-USB.

The tablet sports a 5-megapixelcamera and a 2-megapixel

front camera.

Connectivity options on the SwipeUltimate 3G include Wi-Fi, 3G (viaSIM card), Bluetooth 4.0, MicroHDMI port, Micro-USB, and USB3.0.

The device packs an 7000mAh bat-tery and measures

256.4x171x9.5mm. The companyhas not provided weight details, but itshould weigh roughly around the Wi-Fi only variant's 580 grams.

"Personal computing is a dynamicarea where consumer preferences arechanging at extreme pace. Staying

ahead of the curve is essential tosurvive in this space. We takeextraordinary efforts to antici-pate the changing preferencesof consumers and developproducts that will satiatedemanding consumers oftoday. We have made ourlatest offering more pow-erful with a more power-ful Intel processor andinbuilt 3G SIM sup-port along with directUSB 3.0 slot toensure that our cus-

tomers get the best experience as alaptop. Thanks to our efficient pro-duction process, we are able to deliv-er all of this at an attractiveprice point," said Shripal Gandhi,Founder & CEO, Swipe, of thelaunch.

NEW DELHI | TUESDAY | JAN 20, 2015SAADDA HAQScience & Tech6

1. The name of Pierre Cardin is associated with whichof the following fields?A. Painting B. FilmsC. Pop Music D. Fashion Designing

2. Who is well known collector of artefacts and curios?A. Wadeyar B. Salar JungC. Rabindra Nath Togore D. Motilal Nehru

3. Ms. Vijaya Mehta has earned distinction in which ofthe field?A. Theatre B. Film DirectionC. Classical Dance D. Journalism

4. Dr. M. S. Swaminathan has distinguished himself inwhich of the following fields?A. Agriculture B. MedicineC. Astrophysics D. Physics

5. Satyen Bose has shown his excellence in which ofthe following fields?A. Stage Acting B. Drawing and PaintingC. Classical Dance D. Motion Picture

QUIZ TIME

Answer: 1(D), 2 (C), 3(A), 4(A), 5(D)

12.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 12.30 am Diya aur Baati Hum 01.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 01.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir 02.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 02.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 03.00 am Tu Mera Hero 03.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 am Everest 05.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 05.30 am Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 06.00 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 07.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 08.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 08.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 09.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 09.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 10.30 am Tu Mera Hero 11.00 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 11.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir 12.00 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 12.30 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 01.00 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 01.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 02.00 pm Everest 02.30 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 03.00 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 03.30 pm Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 pm Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 pm Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 05.00 pm Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 05.30 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 06.00 pm Iss Pyaar Ko Kya NaamDoon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 pm Suhani Si Ek Ladki 07.00 pm Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 08.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 08.30 pm Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 09.00 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 09.30 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 10.00 pm Everest 10.30 pm Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 11.00 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 11.30 pm Tu Mera Hero ___________________________

12.00 am Teleshopping 02.00 am Jodha Akbar

02.30 am Kumkum Bhagya 03.00 am Aur…Pyaar Ho Gaya 03.30 am Doli Armaano Ki 04.00 am Baba Ramdev Ka Yog 05.00 am Narayan Seva 05.30 am Teleshopping 06.00 am Sant Nirankari Mandal

06.30 am The Faith Show 07.00 am Enjoying Every Day Life 07.30 am Creflo Dollar and Taffi

Dollar 08.00 am Teleshopping 09.00 am Kumkum Bhagya

09.30 am Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai 10.00 am Qubool Hai 10.30 am Jodha Akbar 11.00 am Doli Armaano Ki 11.30 am Satrangi Sasural 12.00 pm Jamai Raja 12.30 pm Kumkum Bhagya 01.00 pm Jodha Akbar 01.30 pm Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai 02.00 pm Satrangi Sasural 02.30 pm Doli Armaano Ki 03.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 03.30 pm Qubool Hai 04.00 pm SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs 04.30 pm Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai 05.00 pm Doli Armaano Ki 05.30 pm Jamai Raja 06.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 06.30 pm Satrangi Sasural 07.00 pm Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai 07.30 pm Sapne Suhane LadakpanKe 08.00 pm Jodha Akbar 08.30 pm Jamai Raja 09.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 09.30 pm Qubool Hai 10.00 pm Satrangi Sasural 10.30 pm Doli Armaano Ki 11.00 pm Jodha Akbar 11.30 pm Jamai Raja ___________________________

01.00 am Telebrands 02.00 am Home Shop 18 05.00 am Iskcon Aarti 05.30 am Jesus Calls Ministry 06.00 am Telebrands

07.00 am Narayan Sewa SansthanTrust 07.30 am Home Shop 18 08.00 am Udann 08.30 am Shastri Sisters 09.00 am Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 09.30 am Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 10.00 am Bigg Boss : Halla Bol

11.00 am Sasural Simar Ka 11.30 am Udann 12.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 12.30 pm Shastri Sisters 01.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 01.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 02.00 pm Udann 02.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 03.00 pm Comedy Nights with Kapil 06.00 pm Udann 06.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 07.00 pm Shastri Sisters 07.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka

08.00 pm Balika Vadhu - KacchiUmar Ke Pakke Rishte 08.30 pm Udann 09.00 pm Bigg Boss : Halla Bol 10.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 10.30 pm Code Red 11.30 pm Udann

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12.00 am Comedy Classes 12.30 am Comedy Classes 01.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : TimeMachine Special 02.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : Up Fights Back 03.00 am Pukaar 04.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : TimeMachine Special 05.00 am Best Of Savdhaan India :Mumbai Fights Back 06.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : Up Fights Back 07.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : @11 - Crime Alert 07.30 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 08.00 am Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! : KahaniRudra Ki 08.30 am Comedy Classes 09.00 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 09.30 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 10.00 am Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! : KahaniRudra Ki 10.30 am Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 11.00 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 11.30 am Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani ! : Kahani Rudra Ki 12.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 01.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 02.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 03.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 04.00 pm Best Of Savdhaan India:Delhi Fights Back 05.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back (2) : Up Fights Back 06.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back : @11 - Crime Alert 06.30 pm Best of Savdhaan India:India Fights Back 07.30 pm Mere Rang Mein RangneWali 08.00 pm Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! 08.30 pm Pukaar 09.30 pm Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 10.00 pm Comedy Classes 10.30 pm Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back (2) 11.30 pm Mahakumbh - Ek RahasayaEk Kahani !

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09.00 pm Tum Aise Hi Rehna 09.30 pm Hum Hain Na 10.00 pm Bharat Ka Veer Putra:Maharana Pratap 10.30 pm Itna Karo Na Mujhe Pyaar 11.00 pm x Cricket League ___________________________

12.00 am You Have Been Warned :Greatest Hits II 01.00 am Tutankhamen 02.00 am Dual Survival (3) 03.00 am Speed of Life : CentralAmerican Killers 04.00 am A Haunting 05.00 am You Have Been Warned :Greatest Hits II 06.00 am Man vs. Wild (2) : Zambia 07.00 am How Do They Do it? 07.30 am How Do They Do it? 08.00 am Factory Made (2) 08.30 am Factory Made (2) 09.00 am What Happened Next? 09.30 am Destroyed in Seconds 10.00 am Dual Survival (2) : BuriedAlive 12.00 pm You Have Been Warned :Freaks of Nature 01.00 pm Man vs. Wild (2) : Namibia 02.00 pm Factory Made (2) 02.30 pm Factory Made : CottonSwabs / Pinball Machines / Tiles /Bread Dough 03.00 pm Man Woman Wild (2) 04.00 pm How Do They Do it? 04.30 pm How Do They Do it? 05.00 pm Man vs. Wild (2) : Zambia 06.00 pm Nature's Greatest Events 07.00 pm What Happened Next? 07.30 pm American Digger :Moonshine Money 08.00 pm How Do They Do it?

08.30 pm How Do They Do it? 09.00 pm Revealed : RashtrapatiBhavan 10.00 pm Tethered : Pacific Islands,Panama 11.00 pm Destroyed in Seconds 11.30 pm Destroyed in Seconds

TV Channels Schedule TODAY’S STARARIES Some great news could change your life forever. It might involve

a new partnership of some kind or opportunities in your commu-nity. At the least, Aries, it could involve changes in your outlookand attitudes about life. You could spend a lot of time on thephone with friends and acquaintances. You will probably want toschedule a romantic evening with your partner.

TAURUS Some changes regarding your career could make a difference inyour resources. This could involve a pending raise or promotionor opportunities for freelance work outside the job. It might implya new job, perhaps in a creative field. Whatever work you do islikely to seem more emotionally rewarding than it has been,Taurus. This should boost your spirits considerably.

GEMINI Today you're likely to feel especially romantic and sexy, andanxious to get together with a love partner. This doesn't meanyou aren't in the mood for socializing in general. In fact, youmay look forward to meeting with friends. You should be feel-ing especially creative, and you could spend a lot of your dayeither planning or working on projects.

CANCER Some deeply buried feelings about your mother and familycould come up from the past today and need release. Don't beafraid to show your pain and anger. If you're embarrassed todo it around others, Cancer, stay home and deal with it. Thisis a positive development. By the end of the day you might feelas if a large weight has been lifted from your shoulders.

LEO Group activities in your neighborhood could lead to positivechanges in your community. You will enjoy exchanging ideas andinformation with others, Leo, and could come away from theseactivities feeling exhilarated. It might be a good idea to walkhome, or perhaps go for coffee or a movie afterward. If you let theideas buzz until bedtime, you might not be able to sleep.

VIRGO Today you might find yourself in the public eye. Acknowledgmentfor work well done could come your way. It might also involve anincrease in income. This could be job related or simply a commu-nity project that you've been working on and accomplished suc-cessfully. Enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, Virgo, even though youmight find it a bit disconcerting.

LIBRA Expanding your horizons is the key for today, Libra. Communicationsreceived from distant states or foreign lands could have you enter-taining the idea of traveling to those places. Learning is very muchon your mind. You're probably curious about different cultures, ideas,and perspectives. Even though you might not make definite plans fortravel now, you're apt to at least consider it.

SCORPIO Some very intense dreams could take you back to the past, perhapsyour childhood or past lives. Write down any dreams you remember,Scorpio. They might not make sense to you now, but if you go backand analyze them later, you're likely to find that they reveal a lotabout you that you weren't previously aware of. They might eveninspire new projects of some kind. Think about them carefully.

SAGITTARIUSAn old friend you haven't seen for a while could suddenly reap-pear, and you might view this person in a different light as apotential business partner, source of inspiration, or even aromantic possibility. If this is your inclination, Sagittarius, don'twrite it off without giving it some careful consideration.Partnerships formed today are likely to lead to success.

CAPRICORN You're a service-oriented person by nature, Capricorn, and todaythe opportunity to spend time serving those in need could wellpresent itself. This could be in a professional capacity or helpingsomeone close who's having troubles of some kind. This particu-lar situation won't last long, but it's likely to change your life in apositive way. Don't resist. Go with the flow.

AQUARIUS If you've been hoping for a lucky break, Aquarius, this is theday it might come, especially if it involves love and romance.Or you might have been hoping for acknowledgment on thejob, in the field of education, or by someone who means a lotto you. Whatever breaks come your way are likely to moveyou emotionally. You won't be the same. Have a great day.

PISCES Changes in your home could take place now. These are positive,Pisces, though they might seem a bit overwhelming. Some couldeven be described as upheavals. Perhaps someone moves in orout. It could even involve moving to a new place, redecorating,refurbishing, or perhaps adopting a pet. At the very least, expectsome emotional changes within yourself.

Lava has launched anew Iris-seriessmartphone, the Iris

Alfa, priced at Rs. 6,550.The new Lava Iris Alfasmartphone will be avail-able starting Monday fromretail physical stores, whileit will be also available viaeBay India.

The Iris Alfa comes bun-dled with Truecaller premi-um app and includes Rs.2,000 worth of free down-loads on Hungama Musicapp. The smartphone alsocomes preloaded withAdaptxt keyboard app thatsupports 11 Indian locallanguages.

The Android 4.4 KitKat-based Iris Alfa supportsdual-SIM (GSM+GSM)support. The company hasannounced that the smart-phone supports FOTA(firmware over the air)updates. It features a 5-inch (480x854 pixels) IPSfull lamination display. It ispowered by a 1.2GHzquad-core (unspecifiedchipset) processor that'scoupled with 1GB ofRAM.

The Lava Iris Alfa bears

8GB of built-in stor-age that can beexpanded viamicroSD card (up to32GB). It sports a 5-megapixel rear cameraLED flash, while it alsopacks a 0.3-megapixelfront-facing camera.

Connectivity options onthe Lava Iris Alfa include3G, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n,

Micro-USB, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack,and FM radio. It is pow-ered by a 2200mAh batteryand will be available inBlack and White.

Commenting on the

launch,N a v i nChawla, VicePresident and HeadProduct, Lava InternationalLimited said, "With the

launch of Lava Iris Alfawe aim to cater to theneeds of people whoaspire to own a smart-phone that looksgood and has best inc l a s sfeatures at ana f f o r d a b l eprice.

The Lava IrisA l f as m a r t -p h o n ec o m e sequippedwith allthe nec-e s sa ryf e a -tures

required in a 5"device to offer consumers asuperior smartphone expe-rience."

Lava Iris Alfa With 5-Inch Display,Android 4.4 KitKat Launched at Rs. 6,550

Swipe Ultimate Tab 3G With Windows8.1 Launched at Rs. 19,999

Toshiba Launches New Range ofAndroid-Based Televisions in India Bangladeshi telecoms

authorities Sundayshut down smart-

phone messaging andvoice services Viber andTango, which have becomea popular communicationmedium for supporters ofthe anti-governmentprotests now in their thirdweek.

The BangladeshTelecommunications andRegulatory Commission

closed down the apps "forthe time being" on ordersfrom law enforcement andsecurity agencies, a com-mission spokesman said.

He did not give reasonsfor the decision, but localtelevision station Channel24 said Viber and Tangowere shut down to preventprotesters from "exchang-ing information" across thecountry.

Viber and Tango have

been popular among oppo-sition protesters, includingactivists from theBangladesh NationalistParty (BNP) and itsIslamist allies who havelaunched a cripplingnationwide transportblockade to try to topplethe government.

The protests have turnedincreasingly violent withactivists firebombing hun-dreds of buses and trucks,

and security forces retaliat-ing with live bullets or teargas.

At least 25 people havedied in the latest violenceincluding about a dozenburnt to death after protest-ers firebombed buses.

The government hasdeployed thousands ofpolice, paramilitaries andan elite anti-militant forceto crack down on the pro-testers. But the violence

has continued unabated,disrupting transport servic-es and shipments of gar-ments, the country'sbiggest export.

The authorities also con-fined BNP leader KhaledaZia to her office at the turnof the year after she calledfor her arch rival Hasina tostand down. Zia remainsstuck in the compound.

Zia wants Hasina to callfresh elections after last

year's controversial pollboycotted by oppositionparties and marred bydeadly violence.

The United States,Britain and the EuropeanUnion have expressed con-cern over the latest unrestwith the EU, the nation'sbiggest export destination,urging Hasina's govern-ment and the opposition tohold talks to resolve thecrisis.

Bangladesh Blocks Viber, Tango Apps to Quell Violence

MELBOURNE, JAN 19Seventh seed Eugenie

Bouchard said there wasplenty of room forimprovement after bookinga berth in the AustralianOpen second round onMonday with a "solid" winover Germany`s Anna-Lena Friedsam.

The 20-year-oldCanadian,a semi-finalist atMelbourne Park last year,downed Friedsam 6-2, 6-4,cruising through the firstset in 30 minutes thengrinding out the secondover 48 minutes.

"I started strong and itwas a little bit windy," shesaid. "I was happy to staysolid but there`s still lots ofthings to improve."

She said she always feltin control against the worldnumber 98 and was enjoy-ing her tennis afer a longoff-season that ended whenshe played the HopmanCup this month and defeat-ed world number oneSerena Williams.

"I haven`t played an offi-cial match in two-and-a-half months, so it reallydoes give your brain abreak," she said.

"For me, it makes me soexcited to play. I feel goodmentally and I`m just soready to fight and leaveeverything on the court. I

don`t feel tired at all."Bouchard rose to promi-

nence when she reachedthe semi-final of last year`sAustralian Open then fol-lowed up with appearancesin the final four at RolandGarros and the Wimbledondecider.

The world number seventook some time to warmup, conceding break pointson her first three servicegames as unforced errorsmounted but managed tohold on and stay on eventerms.

Her radar finally kickedin at 3-2, when her returnsbegan to find their rangeand she ran Friedsamaround the court, rattlingoff five consecutive gamesto quickly wrap up the firstset.

The second was a see-sawing affair as Bouchard

tried to push the pace,snatching a break in theopening game.

But her attempts at spec-tacular winners frequentlywent wide or into the netand Friedsam seized heropportunity with a doublebreak back.

Bouchard refocused totake control again andclosed out the match whenFriedsam pushed her returnwide, sparking celebrationsamong the vocal "EugenieArmy" in the stands.

"It`s never easy playing afirst round, especially of aSlam, so I`m happy I wasable to get through it," theCanadian said.

Sports 7NEW DELHI | MONDAY | JAN 19, 2015 SAADDA HAQ

BRISBANE, JAN 19Jolted by the opening loss to

Australia, India would look toplug the bowling loopholes andensure a stronger batting dis-play when they take onEngland in their second ODItri-series cricket match here onTuesday.

In Brisbane, both sides willbe looking to register their firstwin in this tournament with thehosts having stolen a march onthem with two successive wins.

Australia beat England bythree wickets in Sydney onFriday and then beat India byfour wickets in Melbourne onSunday.

They took a bonus point fromthe first game as well and sitpretty on nine points from twogames. In this series, billed asthe dress rehearsal for theupcoming ODI World Cup,these two sides will be keen toget a win under their belt.

India can take some solacefrom their match againstAustralia in the sense that theypushed the hosts a lot closer.

By their own admission, theAustralian batsmen were goingfor that bonus point againstEngland and thus lost quickwickets in the middle order.The repeated mini-collapseagainst the Indian bowling wasno such fluke.

Two bowlers played a keyrole in squeezing the run-rate,Bhuvneshwar Kumar and AxarPatel. It was quite a positive forthe Indian team, reeling underthe inconsistency shown bytheir attack in the precedingTest series.

They missed the medium-pacer in the first three Tests andwhen he returned in Sydney, hewas way off-colour, down onpace and lacking in match fit-ness.

A five-day rest since and lotmore bowling in the nets hasdone him good. Sunday's per-formance should be anotherboost for him to return to formfor the Men in Blue need him towork his magic with the newball in the next two months.

In only his first internationalouting in Australia, the youngleft-arm spinner Axarimpressed with his control asskipper MS Dhoni even optedto hold back a few of his oversand bring Patel back later dur-ing the end overs of the chase.

Later the Indian skipper eventalked about the possibility ofPatel becoming his primechoice in the death overs, if hepersists with this same consis-tency in his bowling.

That was a big vote of confi-dence in Patel's abilities.

Even so, the underlying wordhere is consistency which is a

certain weak-point with India'sbowling in recent times.

This is where Tuesday's gameassumes significance. Comingquickly on the heels of theirSunday outing, Indian bowlers? in particular Kumar and Patel? will be under the spotlight.

A similar bowling perform-ance will be expected from theduo and if they are able todeliver on their promise, then it

will be a huge step forward forthis attack seeing as R Ashwinhad an off-day in Melbourne.

Dhoni will also be lookingfor consistency from RohitSharma. He batted with muchcalm amid wickets falling at theother end and looked keen tomake his start count.

More importantly, he wasprepared to run hard betweenthe wickets and rotate the

strike, a trait previously miss-ing in his batting in overseasODIs last year. If he continuesto do the same, then the debateover his opening position infavour of Ajinkya Rahane willbe a thing of the past.

However, that topic couldrestart at the other end ifShikhar Dhawan too doesn'tstart scoring. It is too early tocomment on his failure in

Melbourne.But with a new-look batting

order, with Rahane at three andVirat Kohli at four, they need toclick in unison to take pressureoff the middle order, especiallywith Dhoni coming in at num-ber six.

In the absence of RavindraJadeja, the onus of big-hittingin the end overs lies squarely onthe skipper's broad shoulders.Early wickets for few runs, asin Melbourne, won't help hiscase and also won't make thefive-bowler strategy work.

In the last couple of years,India's ODI record againstEngland has been quite good.Since the 2011 tour when theydidn't win a single game, theMen in Blue have recorded 12wins in 15 matches, four ofthem coming in England (onein 2013 and three in2014).

The rest have all come in sub-continental conditions. Yet,Dhoni and his players will bequietly confident of taking on ateam under new captaincy.

And that is the big questionmark for England as they pre-pare for the World Cup. Theyhave made the right call in leav-ing Alastair Cook out of theirplans and instead picking EoinMorgan to lead. However, theymight have left him too littletime to introduce some new

plans and experiment with hisstrategies.

England have called upon theservices of their former star all-rounder Andrew Flintoff duringthe net-session in Brisbane onMonday, in the hope of garner-ing some confidence and moti-vation from the Big Bash play-er.

Obviously enough, they haveopted to not give a call for helpto Kevin Pietersen, who is alsoin the country to play the T20league. And so, it remains to beseen what effect Flintoff'swords will have on theirTuesday performance.

Teams (from):India: Mahendra Singh

Dhoni (c & wk), ShikharDhawan, Ajinkya Rahane,Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli,Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina,Stuart Binny, Axar Patel, RAshwin, Ravindra Jadeja,Ishant Sharma, BhuvneshwarKumar, Mohammad Shami,Umesh Yadav, DhawalKulkarni, Mohit Sharma.

England: Eoin Morgan (c),Moeen Ali, James Anderson,Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, RaviBopara, Stuart Broad, JosButtler, Steven Finn, AlexHales, Chris Jordan, Joe Root,James Taylor, James Tredwell,Chris Woakes.

3 ODI match of Tri-series: India vs England -Preview

NEW DELHI, JAN 19India hockey skipper

Sardar Singh and formercaptain Ajit Pal Singh onMonday said that the play-ers from Pakistan shouldbe allowed to be a part ofthe Hero Hockey IndiaLeague (HIL) as it wouldimprove the overall stan-dard of the league.

However, both Sardarand Ajit Pal said that theHIL officials must followthe Indian government’sdecision whether to allowthe Pakistanis to play in theleague.

“Pakistan have goodplayers and they should beallowed to play in the HIL.Good players need to playin the league. But I alsounderstand the situationand one must follow thegovernment’s stand on it,”Sardar said during a pro-motional event of the DelhiWaveriders in New Delhion Monday.

Ajit Pal echoed similarsentiments, saying, “As a

sportsman, I would saythey should be allowed.But one must understandthe situation.”

As many as nine playersfrom Pakistan had come toIndia for the inaugural edi-tion of HIL in the year2013, but they were forcedto leave the country evenbefore the start of the com-petition as there wereprotests from some politi-cal organisations.

Thereafter they havenever been a part of theleague because of continu-ous political tensionsbetween the two neigh-bours.

To add to this, lastmonth, two Pakistani play-ers were handed one-matchsuspensions by theInternational HockeyFederation (FIH) for mak-ing obscene gestures atspectators after their winover India in theChampions Trophy semi-final at the KalingaStadium in Bhubaneswar.

Pakistan players must be allowedto play in HIL: Sardar, Ajit

MELBOURNE, JAN 19Big guns Rafael Nadal

and Andy Murray success-fully blasted their way intothe Australian Open sec-ond round Monday but theGrand Slam dream of AnaIvanovic was shattered.

Third seed Nadal andsixth seed Murray bothenjoyed straight sets wins,with rising stars SimonaHalep and Grigor Dimitrovalso progressing comfort-ably on a cool and windyMelbourne day.

It was different story forfifth seed Ivanovic, a for-mer world number onewho came into the tourna-ment full of confidenceafter a stellar 2014 that sawher climb the rankings.

She started well againstunheralded world number142 Lucie Hradecka of theCzech Republic, easilywinning the first set, butwent to pieces during thematch, eventually crashing1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

"I really struggled to findmy rhythm today, I wasjust a little bit lost," saidthe stunned Serb, a peren-nial crowd favourite inAustralia where she hasfamily.

Ninth seeded GermanAngelique Kerber alsofailed to live up to thehype, eliminated in threesets by Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu.

World number threeNadal had no such prob-lems and was in full con-trol against RussianMikhail Youzhny, showingfew signs of the injuriesthat disrupted his 2014 sea-son. The Spanish 14-timeGrand Slam championromped to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

win, conceding just onebreak point on his serve.

"A very positive resultfor me," said Nadal, whomissed the end of last yeardue to appendicitis and hasalso struggled with ongo-ing back and wrist injuries.

"Always before the firstmatch you have doubts,especially in this situationI`m arriving here.

"It is never easy and itwas an important match forme. It was a comfortablevictory that give me someconfidence."

Fellow tournamentfavourites Roger Federerand Maria Sharapova playlater Monday, while topseeds Serena Williams andNovak Djokovsic anddefending men`s championStan Wawrinka are inaction on Tuesday.

Women`s champion LiNa of China has retired andis not taking part.

Murray was given a test-ing workout by promisingIndian Yuki Bhambri

before emerging a 6-3, 6-4,7-6 (7/3) winner.

Murray, who is biddingto become the first playerto win the Australian Openafter losing three finals atMelbourne Park, said hewas pleased with the stateof his tennis under coachAmelie Mauresmo.

"I`ve been playing verywell in the practices andstriking the ball cleanly inthe matches. If I keep thatup I`ll keep getting bettereach round," he said.Worldnumber three Halepopened the 2015 proceed-ings with the wind swirlingaround Rod Laver Arena,carving out a 6-3, 6-2defeat of Italy`s KarinKnapp.

The Romanian, a quar-ter-finalist at MelbournePark last year, is looking tobuild on a breakthrough2014 when she reached theFrench Open final and thesemi-finals at Wimbledon.

The 23-year-old admit-ted she felt anxious appear-

ing in the first centre courtmatch of this year`s tour-nament and struggled toput away Knapp, rankednumber 50 in the world.

"It was a tough match forme and I was very nervousbefore the match, but I`mvery happy now and I`msure that next time I`ll playbetter," she said.

Tenth seed Dimitrov,dubbed "Baby Fed" for hisplaying similarities toSwiss great Federer and apicture-perfect one-handedbackhand, also progressedwith an easy 6-2, 6-3, 6-2victory over GermanDustin Brown.

At the vanguard of thenew order of youngermen`s players, Dimitrovsaid he was happy with hisstart but the windy condi-tions were challenging.

"I think it was just a littletough for everyone to getinto that rhythm, to getused to the court. It waspretty windy today," hesaid.

Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray cruiseat Open as Ana Ivanovic crashes

LUCKNOW, JAN 19Olympic bronze medal-

list Saina Nehwal will lookto launch the new seasonwith a bang when she startsher title defence at theSyed Modi InternationalGrand Prix GoldBadminton Championshipthat gets underway with thequalifiers in Lucknow onTuesday.

The 24-year-old, whowon the title in 2009 and2010 when it was a GrandPrix event before claimingthe crown last year again,will face tough competi-tion from runners-up andthird seed P. V. Sindhu andreigning world championCarolina Marin of Spain in

women’s singles.“I am looking forward to

the event. Last year turnedout to be a good season for

me and I think Syed Modiis the right tournament tostart the year,” Saina, whowill open her campaignagainst Malaysia’s Yin FunLim on Wednesday in themain draw, said.

“I am the defendingchampion here. So I hope Ican once again win the titleand start the season on apositive note.

However, it won’t beeasy because we have afew very good players suchas Carolina and Sindhu. Sohope for the best,” addedSaina, who has fifth seedBeatriz Corrales and com-patriot P. C. Tulashi in herhalf, among others.

Sindhu, who won multi-

ple bronze medals in teamevents last year, will openagainst a qualifier but herreal challenge will start inthe third round, where sheis likely to face Thailand’sPorntip Buranaprasertsuk,seeded sixth.

Sindhu had last weekreached the semifinals ofthe Malaysian Grand PrixGold.

The USD 120,000 event,being organised by UttarPradesh BadmintonAssociation (UPBA) atBBD UP BadmintonAcademy, Gomti Nagarwill also see tough compe-tition between Indian shut-tlers in the men’s singlesevent.

While last year’s run-ners-up K. Srikanth willlook to go the distance thistime, CommonwealthGames champion ParupalliKashyap could prove to behis biggest competitor.

Srikanth, who enteredthe big league after stun-ning two-time Olympicchampion Lin Dan ofChina to win the ChinaSuper Series Premier lastyear, will also face resist-ance from compatriotsAjay Jayaram, who wonthe Dutch Grand Prix lastyear, Indonesian MastersGPG champion H. S.Prannoy, CommonwealthGames bronze medallistRMV Gurusaidutt.

Saina eyes title defence in Syed Modi International GP

`Solid` Eugenie Bouchard looks to improve

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Apair of well-done eye-brows can instantlychange your features. If

you have thin, barely-there eye-brows, we show you how to fillthem, without overdoing it.

First, mark the ends of thebrows. Ideally, the inside pointshould line up with the outsideof your nose.

For the outside point, line abrush from the outer corner ofyour nose to the outer corner ofyour eye. Your brow should endalong the same line.

If you can't draw, invest ineyebrow stencils that are avail-able in the market. These arehelpful if you are looking forvery well-defined brows. Theywill guide you as to where to fillin, so that you get clean lines.

If you want a defined look,opt for a pencil in the shade ofyour eyebrows. For a more nat-ural look, go for a power.

Don't forget to tap off theexcess power from your brushbefore applying it. If using a

How to fill in thin eyebrows

Hawaizaada beautyPallavi Sharda saidshe would like to

play iconic yesteryears starMadhubala on-screen. Shesaid if she gets the chanceto portay any real life char-acter onscreen, she wouldlove to enact the role ofMadhubala. Sharda saidMadhubala is an iconic andher life is very interested tobe told and cherish on-screen.

“I would like to do abiopic on Madhubala. I likeher story, her life was inter-esting and there is romanti-cism in her life. I think it

would be an interestingstory,” Pallavi, who’sawaiting the release of‘Hawaizaada‘, said.

Madhubala who is one ofthe most beautiful womenof all times starred in hitmovies like ‘Mahal’,‘Amar’, ‘Mr & Mrs ’55’,‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’and ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ butunfortunately , she diedyoung at 36 in 1969 due toillness.

Pallavi, who starred inmovies like ‘LoveBreakups Zindagi’,‘Heroine’ and ‘Besharam’said talent as well as luck is

important to survive in thecompetitive world of show-biz.

“Talent is important. Youcan’t be successful withouttalent, but luck also mat-ters. My luck was not thatgreat, if I may say sobecause I have workedreally hard,” said theactress, who has earlier fea-tured in films

Pallavi Sharda is lookingforward to the release of‘Hawaizaada’ oppositeAyushmaan Khurrana,directed by Vibhu Puri andwill hit big screens on 30thJanuary all over.

I would like to do a biopic onMadhubala, Pallavi Sharda

Abhishek Kapoor’s‘Fitoor’ has got anew addition.

Rahul Bhatt has beenreportedly roped in to playa major role. Last seen in‘Ugly’, Rahul hasimpressed all with hispower packed perform-ance. He is now pairedopposite Katrina Kaif.

Reports suggest thatbefore Rahul Bhatt, SaifAli Khan and Fawad Khanwas approached for therole.

Some portions of‘Fitoor’ were already shotin Kashmir. StarringRekha, Aditya RoyKapoor, Katrina Kaif , thefilm is basically a love tri-angle. Talented ghazalsinger Talat Aziz was alsoroped in. He will be pairedopposite Rekha. Says asource close to the project,"Aziz has been signed onto play a high profile diplo-mat from Pakistan, a keycharacter in the film. He

will be seen wooingRekha."

The singer is already onboard and he has shot fewscenes. "He has been givenan authentic and interest-ing look for the role. Hehas shot a few scenes withRekha and their chemistryis quite good. As of now,we won't be able to revealwhether his character isinspired by an actual per-son. But, it is definitely

going to be appealing",adds a source.

‘Fitoor’ directed byAbhishek Kapoor of ‘RockOn’ and ‘Kai Po Che’ is amodern take on CharlesDickens' ‘The GreatExpectations’. Producedby Siddharth Roy Kapur,the film will see Aditya,playing a Kashmiri boy,Noor while Katrina will beseen as his love interestFirdaus, and Rekha

Huge fans throng outsidemegastar AmitabhBachchan’s bungalow

Jalsa almost every Sunday to get aglimpse of the megastar. And BigB also never disheartens his fansand he greets all of them by wav-ing his hand and with a sweetsmile on his face. It has become aritual over the years. This Sundaythe fans again crowded outsideBig B’s bungalow and theyreceived a bonus in the form ofAaradhya Bachchan. They camewith the hope and thrille to meetBig B only but their happinessdoubled to witness Aaradhya.

Dressed in pink top and skirt,Aaradhya looked cute and sheseems a bit scared to see the largecrowd. The 72-year-old took tothe social networking site toinform the fans about the same.

“I took the little one out to meetthe Sunday well wishers…appre-hensive and wonder filled her lit-tle delicate hands and feet andmind…BUT…they are the sweet-est gifts of the Almighty…and weare blessed to have them,” a poston his official Facebook read.

Amitabh also shared a series ofphotographs with his granddaugh-ter, who is seen clutching onto hergrandfather’s shoulder.

“But the best moments comewith ‘little ones’ even though a bitapprehensive,” he posted.

Aaradhya Bachchan was born to

the star couple AbhishekBachchan and Aishwarya RaiBachchan on 16th November2011.

As Aaradhya has started goingto school few months back,Aishwarya is returning to silverscreen with Sanjay Gupta’s

‘Jazbaa’ while Amitabh Bachchanis looking forward to the releaseof 'Shamitabh', directed by RBalki.

Amitabh takes Aaradhya togreet fans outside Jalsa

Hera Pheri is a famous comedymovie franchise. The past twofilms were blockbusters and

made impressive collections at the boxoffice. The third edition is in the mak-ing and Paresh Rawal and SunielShetty will be reprising their roles. It isrumoured that Khiladi Kumar whoplayed the lead in both the previousfilms demanded a sum of Rs. 50 croreto star in ‘Hera Pheri 3’.

However, producers conferred thatthe amount being demanded will notbe offered. Due to what producershave labelled as unreasonabledemands, Akshay Kumar will not beseen in the forthcoming edition of‘Hera Pheri’.

While Akshay remained unavail-able, the makers and close sourcesrevealed quite a lot of information.According to them Akshay was beingconsidered for the film as he has beenpart of the franchise, since the begin-ning. There were several sessions ofdeliberations and due to the prolongeddiscussions the production was gettingdelayed.

Later when Akshay’s demand wasput forward, the producers denied itright away. In their opinion the amountwas in no way justified.

The two other leading actors werecast long ago and had gladly acceptedthe roles and the fees that were offered

according to them. Makers of ‘HeraPheri 3’ decided they had had enoughand could not stand any furtherdelays.

Now the casting is done and viewerswill soon be seeing John Abraham takeover Askhay’s role. Another notewor-

thy and welcome addition to the cast isthat of Abhishek Bachchan. He hasalso been cast in one of the lead roles.The popular duo of ‘Dostana’ is likelyto repeat the magic and exhibit thesame chemistry as it did before. Thistime however, there will be no gayangle.

Immensely talented and globallyrenowned actor Irrfan Khan was castto play a vital role quite early on. Healso completed several sequences, butsince his health deteriorated makerswere forced to cast Abhishek for thesame role. This angered Irrfan as hewas informed after the replacementwas finalized. Irrfan Khan may or maynot receive another role. Speculationscontinue as no official statement hasbeen released.

Fans of the ‘Hera Pheri’ franchiseare sure to miss Akshay and his comictiming in ‘Hera Pheri 3’. The trio ofParesh, Suniel and Akshay will remainincomplete but it will be interesting towitness the effects of the brand newcharacter and its addition to the mad-ness of ‘Hera Pheri’.

Akshay Kumar demands 50 crore for ‘Hera Pheri 3’

Rahul Bhatt pairs oppo-site Katrina Kaif in ‘Fitoor’