Sensex dives350 points,Nifty goes

below 4,950Mumbai:Indian markets fell over 2 per cent to-day after a quiet opening. At 1125 hours, the sen-sex was down over 350 points, trading below16,550 mark, while the broader Nifty indextraded over 115 points lower, falling below thecrucial 4,950 levels.

Technical analysts predicted further down-side for the stocks. "The trend has reversed andthe markets are heading into 2009 lows. We areyet to establish the final low for this bear mar-ket. Even from a fundamental perspective, themarkets are far from bottoming out," Jai Bala ofcashthechaos.com said.

"There is a short term loss in momentum onthe Nifty. The daily charts are range bound andmight turn overbought in a couple of sessions.It’s time to book some profits," Independent An-alyst SarvendraSrivastava said.

According to reports, industrial productionfor the month of October slipped into the neg-ative zone for the first time in over two years,adding to the negative sentiments. Global cueswere also not supportive and markets acrossAsia traded lower.

Capital goods stocks plunged 3 per cent. Highbeta stocks such as metal and realty also wit-nessed deep cuts. Realty stocks were also downover 3 per cent. Bank, energy and power stocksalso traded lower.

On the Sensex, 29 of the 30 stocks traded low-er. Hero MotoCorp was the only stock tradinghigher. Similarly, only 3 of the 50 stocks tradedhigher on the Nifty index.

The broader markets were extremely weak,with nearly 90 per cent stocks declining on theBSE 500 index.

Mecca Masjid:Rs 70 lakh for

wrongful arrestNew Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh governmenthas ordered the release of Rs 70 lakh for thosewrongly accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blastcase.

Fifty youngsters who were detained, ques-tioned and later let off will get Rs 20,000 eachas compensation.

While 20 people who were chargesheeted andlater acquitted, will get Rs 3 lakh each.

The government released the compensationamount on the recommendations of the Na-tional Minorities Commission, which also askedthe government to consider deducting theamount from the salaries of erring police offi-cials.

Though the commission had made severalrecommendations over a year ago, the govern-ment had not acted on them.

National Minorities Commission chairmanWajahatHabibullah had also written a letter tothe Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Au-gust, asking him to take action on the recom-mendations, which also include legal actionagainst the police officers involved in arrest andtorture of innocent youths, rehabilitation of vic-tims by providing employment commensu-rate with their qualifications and issuing goodconduct certificates to all those acquitted in thecase.

Nine people were killed in the blast during Fri-day prayers at the historic Mecca Masjid May 18,2007. Five more people were killed in the sub-sequent police firing on protesters outside themosque. Following the blast, the police arrest-ed dozens of Muslims youths and filed casesagainst them. A fact-finding committee of thestate minorities commission, in its report, saidthe police tortured the youths.

The arrested youths were acquitted by thecourts during the last one year.

Last year, following the arrest of activists ofright-wing Hindu groups for involvement in themosque blast, the chief minister offered totender an apology to all the Muslim youths whowere 'illegally' detained.

Annaʼs amongtop 10 newsstories: Time

New York: Anna Hazare’s anti-corruptionmovement that saw Indians rally in support hasbeen named among the top 10 news stories inthe world this year by Time magazine, which list-ed the Arab Spring and killing of Osama binLaden as the top attention-grabbing head-lines. Time magazine compiled 54 wide-rang-ing lists of the top 10 happenings in 2011 in thefield of politics, entertainment, business, sportsand pop culture. Page 3

Evening dailyOppn wants PC’s head P 3

BangaloreBeatVol. 1, Issue 363 n Thursday n December 8, 2011 No. of pages: 4 n Price: ` 2

US worried over move on Net P 4

2G: Swamy to argue

against PC

Ramulu: Statewide toursoon to promote party

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Hyderabad: B Sriramulu, who won the Bellary Ru-ral by-election in a landslide recently, spoke to hismentor and jailed former Karnataka minister Gal-iJanardhana Reddy at the Chanchalaguda CentralJail here this morning.

Sriramulu, who rebelled against the BJP and con-tested the by-poll as an independent candidate,held talks with Reddy on starting a new regionalparty in Karnataka.Sriramulu has already an-nounced that he would launch a new party underthe guidance of Reddy. He also distributed sweetsto the inmates at the jail.Reddy is in judicial cus-tody for his alleged involvement in illegal miningin Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Sriramulu, who contested under the bannerSwabhimaniSriramulu, announced that he wouldundertake a statewide tour soon to generate interestamong the people about his new party.

Sriramulu alleged thathe and Reddy brotherswere treated as “villains”in Karnataka by the po-litical fraternity. But hedid not name any partyor leaders who were be-hind such treatment met-ed out to them. “Janard-hana Reddy’s arrest is apolitical conspiracy.There is more to it than

meets the eye. But we haveconfidence in the legal

process,” he added.Elected representatives from the BJP: J Shanta,

Somashekara Reddy, who is Janardhana Reddy’sbrother, Nagendra, Suresh Babu, SannaPhakeer-appa and MruthyunjayaJinaga visited the prisonalong with Sriramulu.

New Delhi: A special CBI court today ad-mitted JanataParty president Subraman-ian Swamy's plea to argue his case againstHome Minister P Chidambaram in the 2Gscam case, saying he'll have to take thewitness box himself on December 17 to ex-plain why he wants key witnesses exam-ined.

The court has accepted the petition bySwamy to examine Sports Secretary Sind-hushreeKhullar, who was then joint sec-retary finance, and Joint Director of theCBI, HC Awasthi.

However, the petition was acceptedwith a rider that Swamy will first have toexplain why these two have to be exam-ined.

Swamy believes their testimonies willbe crucial for backing his claim that thenfinance minister Chidambaram worked to-gether with A Raja in the 2G scam.

"The court has allowed the petition. Ihave the chance to make a strong case. IfI make a strong case then summonscould be made to Chidambaram," Swamysaid.

Swamy will take the witness stand onDecember 17.

On December 17, under section 200 ofCRPC, Swamy will record his statement.Thereafter, if the court is convinced it willrecord the statements of the witnessesSwamy wants under Section 202 of CRPC.Then the court may or may not take cog-nizance of case against Chidambaram.

The Home Minister P Chidambaram re-fused to comment on court's order.

Congress leader PallamRaju said, "Let'snot be unfair to Chidambaram, matter issubjudice."

The NDA says that they will continuetheir boycott against Chidambaram in Par-liament.

The issue has generated heat in the Par-liament. LokSabha was adjourned tillnoon with the opposition BJP demandingthat the Home Minister should resign. BJPleader Venkaih Naidu says Chidambaramshould have resigned long ago.

"Chidambaram should have resignedwhen the case has come against him. Thisis the reason why we boycotted him in theParliament. The order given by the courttoday has strengthened our stand further.BJP demands the Home Minister's resig-nation," Naidu said.

Harvard fires Swamyfor his hate article

New York: Harvard University has de-cided to remove courses taught by Jana-ta Party president Subramanian Swamyat its annual summer school session,terming his views in a controversial pieceon Islamic terrorism in India as 'repre-hensible'.

At a meeting of Harvard's Faculty ofArts and Sciences, faculty members vot-ed with an "overwhelming majority" to re-move two economics courses — Quanti-tative Methods in Economics and Businessand Economic Development in India andEast Asia — that Swamy teaches at thethree-month Harvard Summer Schoolsession.

The faculty meeting, convened to approve the 2012 Summer School course catalogue, resulted in a "heated debate" when Comparative Religion Professor Diana Eck proposed an amendment to exclude Swamy's courses from the catalogue, the HarvardCrimson reported.

In a July op-ed piece for an Indian publication, Swamy had recommendeddemolishing hundreds of mosques and suggested that only Muslims in India who "acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus" should be al-lowed to vote.

Continued on page 3

B Sriramulu

BBMP scamworth only Rs 5.22 cr,says CMBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Chief minister D VSadanandaGowda today playeddown the BBMP works scandaland said there have been irregu-larities only to the tune of Rs 5.22crore.

Making a statement on thefloor of the legislative council, thechief minister said that an inquiryis going on into the scandal thatwas earlier estimated at Rs 1539crore.

He said the government hasgot hold of 153 files related to thescandal and the inquiry com-mittee is going through them.

The scandal relates to payingbills twice for the same works,clearing bills for unfinishedworks and others in three as-sembly constituencies comingunder the jurisdiction of BruhatBangalore MahanagaraPalike.

Recently, palike commission-er Siddaiah was transferred, ap-parently for ordering a BangaloreMetropolitan Task Force inquiryinto the scandal. The govern-ment transferred Shankarlinge-Gowda from the transport de-partment to the palike

AI fails topay

service taxNew Delhi: Air India's bank ac-counts have been frozen for notpaying service tax. Sources saythat the airline's accounts havebeen frozen by the Central Boardof tax authorities for avoidingpayment of service tax. The airline has to reportedly

pay Rs 100 crore to clear theservice tax. Sources add that AirIndia says the company will makesome payment on Thursday, af-ter which accounts will be de-freezed. "I don't have any infor-mation so far. I will ask for it. Wewill sort it out," said Civil AviationMinister Vayalar Ravi.

Kingfisher Airlines accounts,too, may have been frozen for thesame reason.

Subramanian Swamy

D L HarishBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The BJP today decided to paradeits elected members before President Prati-bhaPatil to demand an immediate with-drawal of governor H R Bhardwaj, as he con-tinues to stall a proposal by the state gov-ernment to appoint Justice S R Bannurmathas the new Lokayukta.

The BJP members, led by former chief min-ister B S Yeddyurappa and party state pres-ident K S Eshwarappa, met at Vidhana-Soudha and decided to parade the membersof the party before the President. The partydid not announce when the parade wouldhappen.

There has been a standoff between the gov-ernor and the BJP government over the ap-pointment of Justice Bannurmath. The gov-ernor has pointed to media and other reportsthat have cited allotment of properties in Ju-dicial Layout in violation of rules. But the gov-ernment has categorically stated that it hasno intention of suggesting any other name.

Even yesterday, the governor reiterated thathe would approve a new Lokayukta only ifa “suitable judge”, other than Justice Ban-nurmath, is sent to him.

The assembly too has been in boil over theissue. Opposition parties, led by the Con-

gress, today continued protest against BJPstate president Eshwarappa, who attackedthe governor on the floor of the assembly yes-terday. The attack was so vituperative thatSpeaker K G Bopaiah chose to expunge alarge part of Eshwarappa’s remarks.

Today, the Speaker was forced to adjournthe assembly twice as he could not bring or-der to the proceedings. The protests startedsoon after the assembly convened at 11 in themorning.

Continued on page 3

Only suitablecandidate for

Lokayukta: GuvBangalore Beat Bureau

Mysore: “I will approve a new Lokayuktaonly if I find him suitable for the post. Tillthen there is no question of approving theproposal sent by the government,” saidgovernor H R Bhardwaj here today.

“If the new name proposed by the government is of the stature of former LokayuktaSantoshHegde, then I willimmediately approve it. But there have beenconcerns with the intention of the govern-ment,” he said.

“I am anxious that several investigationsbefore the Lokayukta against the formerchief minister and several ministers wouldhave to be conducted with probity.

“There have been concerns being ex-pressed by the people of the state too. I amresponsible for the people of the state,” hesaid.

Continued on page 3

BJP TO PARADEBEFORE PREZUps ante against guv over Lokayukta appointment

Food inflation fallssharply to 6.60%

New Delhi: Food inflation fell sharply to 6.60 percent for the week ended November 26, reflectinga decline in prices of essential items like vegeta-bles, onions, potatoes and wheat.

Food inflation, as measured by the WholesalePrice Index (WPI), stood at 8 per cent in the pre-vious week ended November 19. It was recordedat 8.93 per cent in the corresponding period lastyear.

According to data released by the governmenton Thursday, onions became cheaper by 39.20 percent year-on-year during the week under review,while potato prices were down by 15.75 per cent.Prices of wheat also fell by 4.70 per cent.

Overall, vegetables became cheaper by 1.25per cent, a big relief after double-digit inflation invegetable prices during the months of Septemberand October.

However, other food products grew more ex-pensive on an annual basis, led by protein-baseditems.

Pulses became 13 per cent costlier during theweek under review, while milk grew dearer by 11.02per cent and eggs, meat and fish by 10.04 per cent.

Fruits also became 10.72 per cent more expen-sive on an annual basis, while cereal prices wereup by 1.68 per cent.

Inflation in the overall primary articles catego-ry stood at 6.92 per cent during the week ended No-vember 26, as against 7.74 per cent in the previousweek. Primary articles have over 20 per cent

weight in the wholesale price index.Inflation in the non-food segment, which in-

cludes fibres, oilseeds and minerals, was record-ed at 1.37 per cent during the week under review,as against 2.14 per cent in the week ended No-vember 19.

Governor H R Bhardwaj

CITY 2Thursday, December 8, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

9742918562

Bangalore Beat

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638 ERS SBC SPL Ernakulam Jn 0430 000637 SBC ERS SPL Bangalore City 000 17156228 BANGALORE EXP Shimoga Town 0430 0006227 SHIMOGA EXP Bangalore City 000 23306222 MYSORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 0500 05306221 CHENNAI EXPRESS Mysore Jn 2300 23456517 BANGALORE MAIL Chennai Central 0525 0002657 BANGALORE MAIL Chennai Central 0535 0002658 CHENNAI MAIL Bangalore City 000 22452607 LALBAGH EXPRESS Chennai Central 2125 0002608 LALBAGH EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 06306021 BANGALORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 0735 (Sunday) 0006022 CHENNAI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2130 (Sunday)101S RMAS SBC PASSENGER Chennai Central 1900 000102SR SBC MAS PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 09152008 SHATABDI EXPRESS Chennai Central 1050 and2230 0002008 SHATABDI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1615 and 06002639 BRINDAVAN EXPRESS Chennai Central 1320 0002640 BRINDAVAN EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14306523 BANGALORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 2005 0006524 CHENNAI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 08005626 GUWAHATI-BANGALORE Chennai Central 1840 (Tue, Thu) 0005625 BANGALORE - GUWAHATI Bangalore City 000 2330 (Wed, Fri)2429 RAJDHANI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1835 (Sun, Mon, Wed, Thu)2430 RAJDHANI EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 0725(Mon, Tue, Fri, Sat) 0002627 KARNATAKA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 18302628 KARNATAKA EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 1340 0006217 SWARNA JAYANTHI EXP Bangalore City 000 1925 (Fri)6218 SWARNA JAYANTHI EXP Hazrat Nizamuddin 0830(Wed) 0002647 KONGU EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2315 (Sun)2648 KONGU EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 0200 (Fri) 0001013 COIMBATORE EXPRESS Mumbai 2215 23001014 LOKMANYA TILAK EXP Coimbatore 1225 12456529 UDYAN EXPRESS Mumbai Central 0905 0006530 UDYAN EXPRESS Bangalore City 00000 20006507 JU BANGALORE EXPRESS Jodhpur Jn 0400(Sat, Mon) 0006508 JODHPUR EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2125 (Mon, Wed)1017 CHALUKYA EXPRESS Dadar Mumbai 2225(Except Wed) 0001018 CHALUKYA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 0620 (Except Thu)6509 AII SBC EXPRESS Ajmer Jn 0400 (Sun, Tue) 0006510 AJMER EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2125 (Tue, Thu)6501 AHMEDABAD EXPRESS Ahmedabad 0800 (Thu) 000

6502 AHMEDABAD EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1330 (Sun)6831 MYSORE EXPRESS Thanjavur 0555 06306832 THANJAVUR EXPRESS Mysore 1845 19007086 SECUNDERABAD EXP Bangalore City 000 17007085 BANGALORE EXPRESS Secunderabad 0715 000790 KACHEGUDA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1800 (Sat)789SC MYS Secunderabad 1030 (Sun) 1020 (Sun)9775 JAIPUR EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1100 (Thu, Sat)9776 JP BANGALORE EXPRESS Jaipur 1630 (Wed, Fri) 0007209 SESHADRI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 13157210 SESHADRI EXPRESS Kakinada Town 1235 0006525 KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2145 6526 BANGALORE EXPRESS Kanyakumari 0655 0008563 PRASHANTHI EXPRESS Vishakapatnam 1000 0008564 PRASHANTHI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14006732 TUTICORIN EXPRESS Mysore City 2100 21156731 BANGALORE EXPRESS Tuticorin City 0635 06500621 SBC TVC EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2215 (Sun)6321 TRIVANDRUM EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1845 (Thu)6322 BANGALORE EXPRESS Trivandrum 0940 (Thu) 0002079 JAN SHATABDI EXP Bangalore City 000 0600 (Except Tue)2080 JAN SHATABDI EXP Hubli City 2030 (Except Tue) 0006591 HAMPI EXPRESS Hubli City 0630 0006592 HAMPI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 22056593 HAMPI LINK EXPRESS Nanded 0630 0006589 RANI CHENAMMA EXP Bangalore City 000 21006590 RANI CHENAMMA EXP Kolhapur 740 0002725 HUBLI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14302726 INTERCITY EXPRESS Hubli City 1350 000213 TIPUPATI PASSENGER Mysore Jn 2015 2030214 SCMYSORE PASSENGER Tipupathi 0725 08106205 TIPPU EXPRESS Mysore Jn 1325 0006205 TIPPU EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14156215 CHAMUNDI EXPRESS Mysore Jn 0950 0006216 CHAMUNDI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 18156519 JTJ SBC EXPRESS Jolarpettai 0815 0006520 SBC JOLARPET EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 17300235 BANGALORE PASSENGER Mysore Jn 0400 0000236 MYSORE PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 2355571SR SA SBC PASSENGER Salem Jn 1850 000572SR SBC SA PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 0730584SW SBC FAST PASSENGER Hospet Jn 0610 000

Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore

TRAIN SCHEDULE

JOGAYYA (U/A)Shivaraj Kumar, Pooja GandhiBanashankari (Hongasandra) (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Eshwari(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) FunCinemas (10.15 am, 1.15, 4, 6.45,9.25 pm) HMT Cinemas ( 10.45 am,1.30, 4.15 pm) Kapali (10.30 am,1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Keshava (11am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Lakshmi(Tavarekere) (10.15 am, 1.15 pm)Lakshmi (Gottigere) (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Lakshmi (Rammor-thinagar) (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15pm) Manasa (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) PVR Cinemas (12.10 pm)Santhosh (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Srinvasa (Gowdanapalya)(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Tirumala (10 am, 1.45, 5.30, 8.45pm) Vaishnavi (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm) Veerabhadreshwara (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Venkatesh(Avalahalli) (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Venkateshwara (Konap-pana Agrahara) (11 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm)

BADHRA (U)

Prajwal Devaraj, Daisy ShahBharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Govardhan (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (10.30 am,2, 8 pm) Maruthi (11.30 am, 2.30pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30 pm) Menaka(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)Nalanda (11,2.30,6,9.15pm) Rajer-ajeshwari (Mallathahalli) (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30,7 .15, 9.30 pm) Sid-dheshwara (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Veeresh (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Vajreshwari (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30pm) Rajarajeshwari (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.15, 9.30 pm) PVRCinemas (1, 3.30, 6.10 pm)

PANCHAMRUTHA (U) Raghu Mukherjee, Srinagara Kit-ty, RavishankerPVR Cinemas (7.10 pm)

MR DUPLICATE (U) Prajwal Devaraj, Diganth, SheetalNartaki (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 1.15, 4.15,7.15 pm) Uma (10.15 am, 1, 4, 7pm) Vijayalakshmi (Garu-dacharpalya) (11 am, 2.30 pm)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (A)Jason Momoa, Leo Howard‘3D’ Cinemax (10.15 am, 3.30, 7.45,10 pm) Cinepolis (10 am, 12.15,2.30, 4.45, 7, 9.15 pm) Fame (Lido)(11 am, 4.30, 7, 9.30 pm) Fame(Shankarnag) (10.25 am, 3.45, 9.30pm) Fun Cinemas (5.10 pm, 9.45pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghat-ta Road) (10.30 am, 3.30, 9.30 pm)

Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (1.15 pm, 7.30, 9.45 pm) In-novative Multiplex (11.30 am, 1.30,5.45, 10 pm) Inox (Magrath Road)(10.05 am, 2.20, 7.30, 9.50 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (10.30 am, 2.45,9.50 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10 am,2.35, 9.45 pm) Lakshmi (Tavarekere)(10.30 am, 1.30, 5.30, 8.30 pm)Mukunda (11 am, 2, 5, 8.30 pm)PVR Cinemas (11 am, 4.20, 9.40pm) Rex (12.15 pm, 6.05 pm) Uvashi(11.30 am, 6.30 pm) Vision Cinemas(10.30 am, 4.30, 9.30 pm) ‘2D’Fame (Value Mall) (10 am, 2.45, 5,9.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (11.45 am, 2.15, 8 pm) HMTCinemas (9.45 pm) Inox (Jayanagar)(10.10 am, 3.55, 9.40 pm)

THE DEVIL DOUBLE (A)Fame (Lido) (10.20 am, 3.55 pm,7.25, 9 pm) Fame (Value Mall) (10am, 2 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 7.50 pm)

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

YEH DOORIYAN (U/A)Achint Kaur, Ayub KhanApsara (11 am, 2.30 pm) Abhinay(4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) Everest (11.15am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (5.15pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajarajesh-wari Nagar) (1.45 pm) Vaibhavi (4.30pm, 7.30 pm)

CHITKABREY-SHADES OF GREY (A)Akshay Singh, Akshharaa GowdaCinepolis (2.40 pm, 9.20 pm) Fame(Value Mall) (9.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar)(9.55 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (11.20am) Inox (Malleswaram) (2.05 pm,7.15 pm)

NOT A LOVE STORY (A) Ajay Gehi, Mahie Gill, DeepakDobriyal, Urmila MatondkarFame (Value Mall) (10.05 am) FunCinemas (10.45 am, 4.15 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghatta

Road) (10.15 am, 3.30, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(5 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (4.45 pm, 7.35 pm)Innovative Multiplex (10 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (9.40 pm) PVR Cin-emas (10 am, 1.05, 4.10, 9.50 pm)Urvashi (9.30 pm) Vaibhav (6 pm,9.30 pm)

SAHI DHANDHE GALAT BANDE (U)Anupam Kher , Ashish NayyarGopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (3.30 pm)

CHATUR SINGH TWO STAR (U/A)Sanjay , Ameesha Patel, KherAbhinay (4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (12.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ra-jarajeshwari Nagar) (7 pm) PVR Cin-emas (12.05 pm, 5.35 pm) Vaibhav(6.15 pm, 9 pm)

HINDI

TELUGU

KERATAM (U/A)Siddharth Raj Kumar, AishwaryaCauvery (6.00 pm, 9.30 pm) Cinepo-lis (3.45 pm, 9.10 pm) Inox (Jayana-gar) (7.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar) (10.45am, 4.20 pm) Inox (Malleswaram)(2.10 pm) Murali (Gokula) (6.15 pm,

9.30 pm) Pallavi (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Renukaprasanna(10.30am,1.30pm)

DAGGARAGA DURANGASumanth, Vedika, Sindhu TolaniAnjan (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Bhumika(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Rad-hakrishna (11.30 am, 2.45 pm) Renu-ka Prasanna ( 5.30, 8.30 pm) Srini-vasa (SG Palya) (11.15 am, 2.30 pm)Vinayaka (Maathahalli) (11.30 am,2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Venkateshwara(KRPuram) (6.15 pm, 9.30 pm

MONEY MONEY MORE MONEY J D Chakravarthy, Bramanandam,Anjan (4.30, 7.30 pm) Chandrodaya(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Cinepolis (10 am, 12.20, 4.50, 7.10,9.30 pm) HMT Cinemas (4.15 pm,7.30 pm).

STAND BY (U)Adinath Kothare, Siddharth Kher

Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30 pm) Ap-sara (5.30 pm, 8.30 pm) Fame(Lido) (1.40 pm)Fame (Value Mall)(12.15 pm, 7.15 pm) Gopalan Cin-emas (Bannerghatta Road) (2.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (12.30 pm) Inno-vative Multiplex (2.30 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (12.10 pm, 7.15

pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (11.30am, 9.35 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10am) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (12.30 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (7 pm) Vaibhav (11.30 am,2.30 pm)

FKCCI happywith decisionon retail FDI

Bangalore: For socio-economicreasons, the Federation of Kar-nataka Chambers of Commerceand Industryhad been resistingUnion government’s decision toallow FDI in multi-brand retail.FKCCI president JRBangera ishappy that the government hasdecided to suspend 51 percentFDI in retailtill a consensus isachieved among all stakeholders.

Given the fragmented farmholding pattern in the country,where majority of the farmers(over 95%) are marginal farmerswith cultivated land of less than1.5 hectares on average, this stepwould not help them at all.

Also, since the modern agri-culture technology hasn’t spreadto these marginal farmers, theirproductivity would be low andhence FKCCI feels that they can’tbe major partners in this en-deavour.

FKCCI also wants the govern-ment to note that the infrastruc-ture in India is not as well de-veloped as in other countries.Many parts of India still do nothave roads and need to be de-livered through bullock carts.Lack of adequate infrastructurewith respect to roads, electricity,cold chains, etc has further ledto the impediment of a well-structured supply chains.

The FKCCI also wants the gov-ernment to take a serious notethat there would be employmentloss instead of employment cre-ationif FDI is allowed in this sec-tor. Bangera urges the govern-ment to take all stakeholders –farmers, traders, industry, con-sumers, etc – into confidence sothat a workable consensus canbe arrived at.

Finally, FKCCI would like FDIin multi-brand retail only aftertightening all the loose ends inthe supply-chain, particularlythe ones related to farmers andinfrastructure.

Even at that time, FKCCI feelsthat FDI can only be allowedonly after making strict, feasibleand mutually beneficial regula-tions.

Pre‑paid power metersfrom next fiscal year

Bangalore: Bescom has decidedto implement pre-paid smart me-ters from next financial year,said Bangalore Electric SupplyCompany managing directorManivannan.

“With the new meters, onecan pay the electricity bill likemobile phone services. The billcan be piad through internet,mobile and internet banking.This will avoid customers run-ning to bill payment centres.Bescom is launching electricitypre-paid cards, like mobile phonepre-paid cards, which can bebought at many places acrossthe city,” he added.

“The new meters will breakdown power usage to hourlyconsumption. These devices willlast 15-20 years. The smart meterswill also give you a break-up ofconsumption according to theappliances at home.Customerscan plan their consumption pat-tern and save on power bills.When the usage is high at a par-ticular hour, they can plan itand reduce the consumption.These meters will help Bescomreduce losses due to technicalissues and theft,” he said.

“The meter costs Rs 8,000.This should not be a burden onthe customer, as he would be

able to save over a period of timewith reduced consumption andplanning. Several companieshave come forward to installthese meters. Bescom will finalisethree of them. A technical com-mittee formed for the implemen-tation of smart meters, will checkmeters provided by these com-panies and take the final deci-sion,” he added.

Unified Softech senior advisorBabuAttoor, CiscomHefcomSmart Solutions director Kas-turiRangan, VNMR chiefNarasimha Murthy and Bescomofficials were present at the pressmeet.

National productivity summit on Dec 12,13

Bangalore: The Indian MachineTool Manufacturers’ Associationhas organised the National Pro-ductivity Summit 2011 on De-cember 12 and 13 at the BangaloreInternational Exhibition Centreon Tumkur Road.

The event showcases best pro-ductivity improvement projectsin metalworking through livecase study presentations andwill give away the “IMTMA –Siemens Productivity Champi-onship Awards. The summit also

features a concurrent exhibition– ‘Productivity Shop’ – whichwill display the latest innovationsin metal working in the form ofproductivity aids and equipment,product samples and publica-tions Areva T& D India, Godrej& Boyce, Hero MotoCorp, Kir-loskar Brothers, L&T Komatsu,Laxmi Oil Pumps & Systems,Maruti Suzuki India, ReliableAutotech, Sona Koyo SteeringSystems, Sundaram Fastenersand Titan Industries will present

case studies. Peter Walsh, pres-ident, Lean Enterprise, Australia,will speak on “Leaders’ roles insustaining and expanding LeanTransformations”, SaroshGhandy, former director, TataMotors, will speak on “Peoplefocus in productivity”, and RSrinivasagopal, Goldratt Con-sulting, on “Theory of Constraints– Concepts & successful casestudies in Indian Context”. Con-tact Rohith: 080-66246655 / 6514.Email : rohith@imtma.in.

MS centre begins service week

Fortis launches fertility clinic Bangalore: Fortis Hospitals yesterdaylaunched“Creation", aninfertility and assistedreproductive centre,at their Bannerghattaroadhospital. The centre was inaugurated by ac-tress PriyankaUpendra.

“Creation” is part of Fortis women andchild care programmededicated to fertilityand minimal access surgery procedure. Thecentre will provide a comprehensive careand tailor-made solutions to its customersfor all aspects of infertility. The team will beled by DrManisha Singh and DrJoshua Pe-ter.

PriyankaUpendrasaid, “With the growingproblem of infertility due to various healthand lifestyle disorders Fortis Hospitals hastaken an initiative to provide patients thejoy of childbirth. A comprehensive unit com-prising dedicated expertise and right tech-nology to deal with such reproductive issuesis a need of the current society.”

Fortis Hospitals, associate vice-president,Bangalore,P Davison said,“Infertility affectsnearly 10% of married couples worldwideand approximately 8-10% of married couplesin India. Causes of infertility in both menand women have seen a sharp rise in recenttimes. With lifestyle changes and challengeto lead a competitive life, infertility is agrowing medical condition today whichneeds immediate attention.

With such rising issues, there is an inherentdemand for ethically-managed infertilitycentres with evidence-based treatment. For-tisintends to fill this gap and provide servicesin the area of infertility based on globalquality standards and protocols.”

DrManisha Singh, consultant gynecologistand subspecialist in reproductive medicineand surgery, said, “Creation will ensure thatpatients are fully involved in all the deci-sion-making processes, and provided witha comprehensive solution. We will followthehighest standards of medical ethics andprinciples so that infertile couples get theright advice and treatment.”

DrJoshua Peter, consultant – assisted re-productive biology, said, “We will followin-ternationally accepted protocols and bestpractices, including the embryo transfer at

blastocyst stage.”Creation will offer basic infertility as-

sessment, surgical correction of pelvicpathologies (fibroid, endometrioses, etc.),intrauterine insemination, donor sperm in-semination, in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), blas-tocyst transfer, frozen embryo replacementcycles, egg donation, embryo donation andsurgical sperm retrieval to treat male factorinfertility by intra-cyto-plasmic sperm in-jection (ICSI procedure) and more. Thecentre offers expertise of highly skilled andexperienced reproductive medicine special-ists, embryologists, andrologists, counsellersand other paramedical staff.

Data analysis from the census indicatesthat there were about 4-6% married childless

women aged between 35 and 39 yearsbe-tween 1981 and 2001. Infertility, especiallyin the country, is a life crisis with invisiblelosses and many other consequences. Moth-erhood is of great social significance andchildless women are subjected to social stig-ma and isolation.

Infertility not only adversely affectswomen’s identity, economic security butstrains interpersonal relationships betweencouples resulting in anxiety and lower self-esteem.

Although attitudes about the roles ofwomen is changing especially in the upperand middle classes, child bearing still re-mains a very important factor in the socio-economic well-being of most Indian women.

Actress PriyankaUpendra inaugurates Creation, a fertility clinic by Fortis Hospitals, on Bannerghattaroad.

Bangalore: Microsoft India globaltechnical support centre has or-ganised a community week fromDecember 5 to 16, covering edu-cation, empowerment and en-vironment themes.

A10-day programme, it is or-ganised by the internal commu-nity affairs volunteer group atMicrosoft GTSC. It gives employ-ees an opportunity to engagewith and understand the variouscommunity causes supported bythe organisation. It began withthe ‘Activity for the Disabled’ onDecember 5, the World DisabilityDay. 31 students from NGOSamarthanam were invited tothe Microsoft GTSC campus andwere given a demonstration the

accessibility features of Window7 & Office 2010. This was followedby a talk on job opportunities inthe industry and a short tour ofthe workspace at GTSC. The dayconcluded with an interactivesession on Microsoft Kinect.

On Dec 6, Colour A Tee pro-gramme was held where volun-teers from GTSC and childrenfrom Dream a Dreamengaged ina colorful activity of paintingtheir dreams on T-shirts. Thiswas followed by a reflection cir-cle, where they shared what theycreated with the rest of the group.

The T-shirts painted by theteam members will be auctionedand the funds raised will be do-nated to Dream a Dream.

Daily wageworkers tosit on fast

Bangalore: Members of the StateDaily Wage Workers’ Associationare observing an indefinite fastfrom December 12, demandingthat services of daily wager work-ers at different departments ofthe state should be regularised.

“There are around 15,000 dailywage workers in the state. Manyof them have been working formore than 20 years. But the stategovernment is yet to regularisetheir services. Though, successivegovernments have promised usthat our services would be madepermanent, no decision has beentaken yet. The indefinite fast isto force the government hand toimplement the promises made,”said association state presidentChandrashekar Hiremath. Thegovernment has to take the de-cision in the present assemblysession. The protest will be heldat Banappa Park, he said.

New MBAcollegeopens

Bangalore: International edu-cation major Everonn Ltd starteda new branch at Jayanagar yes-terday. The new college offersMBA, BCom and BA courses,and also trains candidates forIIT-JEE and other entrance exams.The college has adopted satel-lite-based and other forms ofmodern education for the benefitof students. Management cours-es and software skill trainingtoo will be given at the college,which is situated on 28 A cross,10Main, Jayanagar fourth block.

The college was inauguratedby Visvesvaraya TechnologicalUniversity former vice-chancellorH P C Kincha. AXA Tech CFOand others were present.

Cleft liptreatmentBangalore: The AnnaswamyMu-daliar General Hospital has or-ganised a free checkup and sur-gery camp for cleft lip and otherdisabilities tomorrow. The camphas been organised in associationwith MansonicDhanawantri Chil-dren’s Hospital. The camp willbe held at No. 1, Moor MarketCircle, Bourdain road, FrazerTown from 8.30 am. Plastic sur-geons, kidney experts and or-thopaedics will take part in thecamp. Contact: 4240 4122.

CITY EVENTSGeneralGeological Society of India:Monthly lecture on ‘Gas Hy-drates in India: Potential andDevelopment’ by Dr KalachandSain, Gas Hydrate Group, Na-tional Geophysical ResearchInstitute, Hyderabad, at No,63, Kavita Apartments, Bas-appa Layout, 12th Cross,Gavipuram, 4 pm.

CulturalSwastik: Staging of play‘Badaku Jataka Bandi’ by Ra-jguru Hosakote, Ran-gashankara, JP Nagar, 7:30 pm

Carmel Pre-University Col-lege: Rendezvous 2011, inter-collegiate festival of talents,No. 14, 4th Cross, II Block, IIStage, West of Chord Road,Basaveshwarnagar, 5 pm

MusicAnnie and Michael DevineLive: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Take5, No 54 MSK Plaza, DefenceColony, 2nd Stage, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar A night ofjazz, blues and easy listeningwith Annie and MichaelDevine performing classictunes from years gone by.

Eating OutPower Lunch: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.City Bar Karaoke + Grill, UBCity, No 24, Vittal Mallya Road,Now be connected even duringthe quick business lunch. Freewi-fi access while you fill upin the middle of the day. De-lectable starters with a varietyof veg/ non veg main courseoptions along with draughtbeer.

Weekday Lunch Buffet @ManU: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. noon to 3 p.m. Man-chester United Restaurant Bar,The Manchester United Restau-rant and Bar launches a week-day lunch buffet priced at Rs350 plus taxes right fromstarters to desserts.

‘The Kari Culture’ at Blue Gin-ger: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.Blue Ginger, The Taj West End,23 Race Cource Road , BlueGinger creates an interestingway to learn about Vietnameseingredients and how to createsome of the popular culinaryinnovations. ‘The Kari Kulture’is for all the ladies who wantto learn the finer aspects ofVietnamese cuisine, super-vised by Chef Rishi. This isfollowed by a meal at therestaurant, where the gueststaste what they cook.

The Grand Indian Lunch Buf-fet @ Turquoise: uesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. noon to 3p.m. Turquoise, No 9, 2nd &3rd Floors, 17th A Main, Kora-mangala Experience the GrandIndian Lunch buffet consistingof over 35 dishes every week-day with around 5 starters, 4vegetarian gravies, 2 non veg-etarian gravies , 7 desserts andlots more.

NightlifeHip Hop night: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. Hypnos,Gem Plaza, Infantry Road, DJSid plays the latest hip hoptracks from around the world.

Open Mic Night @ Kyra: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.to 11 p.m. Kyra Theatre, No2001 Kattima Center, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar The OpenMic Night aims to bring outnew talent - whether it’s music,stand up comedy, poetry ordance.

Funky Tuesdays with DJsPrashant and Darsh: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. Coco Bongo, 4thFloor, Commercial Complex,National Games Village, 80Feet Road, Koramangala DJsPrashant and Darsh spinninghip hop & RnB this Tuesdayat Coco Bongo. There’s a 1+1offer on drinks all night.

Karaoke Night with KJ Val:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 8p.m. to 11:30 p.m. XtremeSports Bar, 4th Floor, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar Test thosevocal chords at karaoke nightwith KJ Val.

Happy Tuesdays with DJsPallemoni and Akso: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. The Beach, No 1211,100 Feet Road, IndiranagarDJs Pallemoni and Akso spin-ning deep house, disco andelectronica this Tue @ The

Beach.

ShoppingRio by Titan Eye+: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to11:30 a.m. Titan Eye+, SafinaPlaza, Infantry Road, A trendy,fashionable collection for theyoung and young at heart.The frames are available in ahost of bright colours.

Puma Faas Collection: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 8 p.m. Puma, A fun, tech-nologically advanced range ofrunning shoes by Puma.

Fall Winter 2011 Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 8 p.m. Esprit, No 10Ananda Bhavan, Vittal MallyaRoad, Stripes, florals, wool,tweed, retro and preppy cometogether in Esprit’s new FallWinter 2011 Collection.

OWW Sale: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.One Wit Wonders, No 32 ACRTowers, Residency Road, Flat50% off on selected productsat One Wit Wonders.

Lustrous Moon Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Collage, No21/1, Wood Street, AshoknagarThe Lustrous Moon Collectionby Bharathi Raviprakash payshomage to the glow of themoon. The collection includesgold jewellery with pearls incolours of golden, black andchocolate, and diamonds aswell.

Special EventsTuesdays with the Bard: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.Urban Solace - Cafe for theSoul, No 32, Annaswamy Mu-daliar Road, Ulsoor Lake Tues-days with the Bard is an ini-tiative to create opportunitiesfor poets and poetry lovers toget together. It features poetsreading their creations in anew experience every Tuesday.Members of the audience areencouraged to come forwardand share poems as well.

ExhibitionsCreative Perspectives: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. noonto 11:30 p.m. Caperberry, No48/1 Ground Floor, The Estate,Dickenson Road, Artwork byGopal Dey, Shan Re, KishoreChand, Ashok Kumar G, Hire-math, Parmesh D Jolad, Ran-jan Paul, Ram Onkar, MiniArora and more.

Colours & Hues: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Gallerie Third Eye, No A-1 Epsilon Office Block, YemalurMain Road, Yemalur A groupshow by artists Kanthraj N,Rima Ray & Rakesh Mandalat Gallerie Third Eye.

Synesthesia: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Galleryske, No 2, Berlie Street,Langford Town A group showfeaturing works by AndreaAnastasio, Luigi Anastasio andAvinash Veeraraghavan. Theworks are displayed in thehouse-like space of the gallery,so that they are approachedwithout demarcations and dis-tinctions thus making the view-er experience the works in onecontinuous alternation of me-dia from video and painting,to photography and sculpture.

Solo show @ Apparao: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 7 p.m. Apparao Galleries,No 82 The Presidency, St MarksRoad, Apparao Galleries pres-ents an exhibition of paintingsby T. Vaikuntam.

The Eye of Graciela Iturbide:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tasveer, No26/1, Kasturba Cross Road, Acollection of black and whitepictures shot by Mexican pho-tographer Graciela Iturbide,in locales across the world.

Now and Tomorrow : Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to7 p.m. Kynkyny Art, No 148Embassy Square, InfantryRoad, An exhibition by elevenemerging artists, which travelsinto contemporary territoryand throws up a commentaryon the rapidly changing, con-tinually shifting here and nowof modern India.

Group Show @ Renaissance:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 7 p.m. RenaissanceGallerie, No 13 Westminster,Cunningham Road, An exhi-bition of paintings by Shrad-dha DD, Deepa Vedpathak,Shama Rane and Shivaji Cha-van.

Oppn wants PCʼs head;Lok Sabha adjourned

New Delhi: The LokSabha wasadjourned till noon today fol-lowing uproar over NDA demandfor resignation of Home MinisterP Chidambaram for his allegedrole in the 2G scam, and someother issues.

As soon as Speaker Meira Ku-mar called for the Question Hour,NDA members were on their feetdemanding resignation of Chi-dambaram pointing out a Delhicourt order allowing Subraman-ian Swamy's re-examination aswitness in his complaint againstthe Home Minister in the 2G case.

DMK member T R Baalu washeard demanding a discussionon the Mullaperiyar dam issuein Parliament while some othermembers trooped into the Welland raised slogans.

The Speaker tried to bring theHouse in order but oppositionmembers were unrelenting withJD(U) members also in the Well.

BJP members continued toraise slogans 'GrihaMantriIstifaDo (Home Minister resign)' fromtheir seats.

With the unruly scenes con-tinuing, the Speaker adjourned

the House till noon.BJP leader MurliManohar Joshi

later told reporters that since aDelhi court has taken note ofthis, there should be a probe."In this situation, Chidambaramshould submit his resignationon his own, or else the PrimeMinister should sack him," hesaid. Ahead of the winter session,the NDA had decided to boycottChidambaram in Parliament, al-leging his involvement in the 2Gscam during his tenure as Fi-nance Minister. The NDA wantsChidambaram to quit.

Annaʼs movement amongtop 10 stories of 1̓1: Time

New York: Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement that sawIndians rally in support has beennamed among the top 10 newsstories in the world this year byTime magazine, which listed theArab Spring and killing of Osamabin Laden as the top attention-grabbing headlines.

Time magazine compiled 54wide-ranging lists of the top 10happenings in 2011 in the fieldof politics, entertainment, busi-ness, sports and pop culture.

Among the ‘Top 10 World-News Stories’ is “Anna Hazare’sHunger Fasts Rock India” withthe magazine saying that “in ayear with more than its share ofprotests worldwide, perhaps themost striking act of dissent tookplace in India, where the coun-try’s ruling coalition took flakfor a host of corruption casesimplicating a number of leadingpoliticians”.

Hazare’s “fasts — even thethreat of them — triggered massdemonstrations of support acrossIndia’s major cities and heapedpressure on the government tocreate an independent ombuds-man body capable of investigat-ing the nation’s political elites— even the Prime Minister —and bringing the corrupt to jus-tice”.

It said the mass support 74-year old Hazare commanded,particularly from India’s bur-geoning middle class, is a “signof the growing frustrations andaspirations of those in the world’slargest democracy”.

The top news stories of 2011were the Arab Spring that spreadto a number of countries andthe killing of bin Laden in acovert US raid in Abbottabad,

besides the famine in the Hornof Africa, fall of longtime Libyandictator Muammar Gaddafi andEurope’s financial crisis.

In a different category, Timemagazine said the death of reli-gious leader Sathya Sai Babawas among the top 10 ‘ReligionStories’ of 2011.

Given that the spiritual leaderwas one of the “most famousgurus” in India, Baba’s funeralwas attended by hundreds ofthousands of people and the“pomp wasn’t surprising”.

In other lists, Time said thestory of Casey Anthony, the Flori-da mom accused of killing hertwo-year old daughter was the“most overreported” news of theyear followed by the British royalwedding of Prince William withKate Middleton, guesswork overthe presidential candidacy ofDonald Trump and Sarah Palin,the Dominique Strauss Kahn sexscandal and the reality TV dramathat was Kim Kardashian’s wed-ding.

Time said the self-immolationof Tibetan monks was the most

“underreported” story of the year.“It usually takes a US President

tweaking Beijing by meeting withthe Dalai Lama, or a celebrity-studded Richard Gere fundraiser,to get Tibet into the news thesedays. Even then, the attention isfleeting”.

As at least eight Tibetanmonks, two of them teenagers,torched themselves this year toprotest Chinese rule, the publi-cation said “hopefully more at-tention will be paid” to the is-sue.

Time named Slumdog Million-aire actor Frieda Pinto-starrerMiral among the worst moviesof 2011.

“There was his (Director JulianSchnabel) peculiar casting of In-dian actress Frieda Pinto to playthe title character, a passionatePalestinian schoolgirl — a choicethat undercut his good inten-tions”.

Other lists included the bestand the worst tweets, businessblunders, political gaffes, scan-dals and top crime stories of theyear.

Rs 40 lakhjewellery

stolenBangalore Beat Bureau

Sakleshpur: Jewellery worth overRs 40 lakh were stolen from ajewellery store here early thismorning.

The theft took place around2.30 am. Some passersby noticedtwo persons coming out ofAlankar Jewellery Store and in-formed the store owner, who ar-rived around 4 am.

He told the police that jew-ellery worth over Rs 40 lakh hasbeen stolen.

The store is situated on themain road of this town in Hassandistrict.

The police brought dog squadto the spot to trace the culpritsof the robbery.

Swamy: Harvard actedlike a kangaroo court

Pranab: FDI not wrong, but did not want mid‑term poll

New Delhi: At a meeting of allCongress MPs this morning, Fi-nance Minister Pranab Mukher-jee dissected the government'sdisastrous attempt to allow re-form in retail. Mr Mukherjee toldthe MPs that the decision toallow 51% foreign ownership ofmulti-brand stores was not in-correct, but that the governmenthas put it on hold to avoid mid-term elections.

The Prime Minister's authorityhas been severely bruised by thegovernment's capitulation to op-position - yesterday, Mr Mukher-jee formally informed Parliamentthat "the decision to permit 51%FDI in retail trade is suspendedtill a consensus is developedthrough consultations amongvarious stakeholders."

The PM had defended his newpolicy, which would have al-lowed international super-chainslike Wal-Mart and Tesco to selldirectly to Indian consumers.His reforms were seen by IndiaInc as a much-needed CPR foran administration that had sunkinto "policy paralysis."

But unmitigated pressure fromMamata Banerjee forced the gov-ernment to suspend its two-weekold initiative. With 18 Lok SabhaMPs, Ms Banerjee is the second-largest member of the rulingUPA. When she made it clearthat she would not vote in sup-port of FDI in retail, the govern-ment was cornered.

Opposition parties like the BJPand Left had said they wouldnot allow Parliament to get to

work unless the government re-versed its decision, or put itspolicy to a vote. Without MsBanerjee, the government wouldjust about make it past the half-way mark needed to prove it hasthe confidence of the House. Theloss of face would be substan-tial.

The government insists thatits FDI policy has not been can-celled - just suspended till thereis agreement among state gov-ernments and political partiesover how to proceed. But fivestates- including the all-impor-tant Uttar Pradesh- are headingfor elections. And sources saythat the Congress will not riskfurther controversy over FDI tillthe results of the UP electionsare known.

New Delhi: Janata Party chiefSubramanian Swamy on Thurs-day said that Harvard Universityshould have informed him firstbefore scrapping the courses.

"I think the University should have sent the petition to me first for my comments and then decided it. But it seemslike a Kangaroo ourt that hastaken place in Harvard," Swamysaid.

Swamy said Harvard Univer-sity should have a re-look at itsdecision to remove coursestaught by him while maintainingthat it should have sought hiscomments before reaching a con-clusion.

In his reaction to the Univer-sity's decision to remove coursestaught by him terming as "rep-rehensible" his views in a con-troversial piece he wrote on Is-lamic terrorism, Swamy said theUniversity should have firstsought his comments which is anormal procedure and this hasnot been done.

"The article was written for aMumbai newspaper and I teacheconomics in Harvard. I wouldassume that they would havesent their petition to me askingfor my comments which is a nor-mal procedure. But they havenot done that," he claimed.

Swamy said the decision wasa "dangerous one" as it makes aperson teaching in Harvard ac-

countable for what he writes onany subject anywhere in theworld.

"If tomorrow anyone writeson India and writes rubbishabout India, they come here,then they can be punished herefor what they write in America.That would be a dangerous prin-ciple. Harvard should look atit," he said.

BJP to paradebefore Prez

Continued from page 1

Opposition party membersstormed into the well of theHouse, demanding an apologyfrom Eshwarappa for his remarks.

Opposition party members,led by Siddaramaiah, were seenarguing with ruling party mem-bers over the apology. But therecould be no semblance of orderand the Speaker adjourned theHouse for half an hour. But theprotests continued when the as-sembly reconvened forcing himto adjourn it again for anotherhalf an hour.

The decision to parade themembers at RashtrapatiBhavanwas taken at an emergency meet-ing of the BJP convened soonafter. Majority of the BJP MLAsand ministers attended the meet-ing. Excited members decidedsomething drastic had to be doneto force the recall of the governor,who has been a thorn on theside of the ruling party.

Sources told Bangalore Beatthat it has been a planned moveby the BJP to attack the governoron the floor of the House. Sinceit would not be appropriate forYeddyurappa to take up the task,it fell on Eshwarappa to be atthe vanguard of frontal attack,they added.

Even during the pre-sessionmeeting at a resort on the out-skirts of the city last week, theparty decided that Bhardwajshould be forced out of the state,come what may.

Siddaramaiah too chalked outa strategy and held a meetingwith some independent MLAsfor floor coordination. He invitedindependent MLAs ANaren-draswamy, GoolihattiShekar,ShivarajThangadagi andVenkatamanappa to his officialresidence and held talks.

After the meeting, Siddara-maiah said, “It was to discussfloor coordination. It is necessaryas we have been attacking thegovernment over Eshwarappa’sstatements. We need the help ofindependent MLAs.”

Guv: Onlysuitable

candidateContinued from page 1

“If the government thinks thatI would approve any names sentby them, they are sadly mistaken.I am not that person. There is aprocess for the appointment ofthe Lokayukta. I will consultwith the experts and only thentake the decision. I am cognizantof the issue. Even yesterday, Itold the chief minister about theissue,” he said.

SC nod to JNUunion electionNew Delhi: The Supreme CourtThursday permitted elections tothe Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents' Union (JNUSU) for thecurrent academic year by relax-ing the J.M. Lyngdoh committee'srecommendations on age andattendance.

An apex court bench headedby Justice A.K. Ganguly, whileincreasing the upper age limitto 30 years, waived requirementof 75 percent attendance as a re-quirement to contest electionsto JNUSU.

Based on the Lyngdoh com-mittee recommendations in 2006,no student beyond the age of 28years and having less than 75percent attendance is eligible tocontest elections to students'

unions inany uni-v e r s i t yacross thecountry.

JNU stu-dents hadsought therelaxationof thesetwo condi-tions ont h e

grounds of it being essentially aresearch university where atten-dance is not mandatory.

In October 2008, the SupremeCourt had stayed elections toJNUSU as the university doesnot have any attendance crite-ria.

CITYThursday, December 8, 2011 3

Power tobe cut

Bangalore: There will be no pow-er in Vidyanagar division of De-vanahallitaluk from 9.30 am till4 pm on December 11 due toemergency work taken up byBescom.

Power supply will be affected at Vidyanagar Cross, Doddajala, Chikkajala,Sonnapanahalli, Meesaganahal-li, Huttanahalli, Kolipura, Kadi-genahalli, NavaratnaAgrahara,Sadahalli Gate, Channahalli,Bailanahalli, Utopia Layout, Tara-banahalli, Gadenahalli,Kuduregere, Kattigenahalli, Hosa-halli, Dwarakanagar, Satanur,Bagalur, Hunusemaranahalli,Grindwell Norton and surround-ing areas.

CounsellingBangalore: Anarghya IAS Acad-emy is holding a free counsellingsession on December 11 for can-didates appearing for the Kar-nataka Administrative ServicesExam. The session will begin from 11,said a press note. Contact: 9916625400.

Harvard fires SwamyContinued from page 1Eck said Swamy's op-ed

"clearly crosses the line by de-monising an entire religiouscommunity and calling for vi-olence against their sacredplaces," adding that Harvardhas a moral responsibility notto affiliate itself with anyonewho expresses hatred towardsa minority group.

"There is a distinction be-tween unpopular and unwel-come political views," Ecksaid.

Earlier, more than 400 stu-dents had signed a petitioncalling for Swamy's removalafter Harvard had decided tostand by him, affirming itscommitment to free speechprinciples.

K S Eshwarappa

Pranab Mukherjee

TRS leaderʼs detention

illegal: CourtHyderabad: The Andhra PradeshHigh Court Thursday ordered re-lease of Telangana RashtraSamithi (TRS) leader CherukuSudhakar, declaring his detentionunder the National Security Act(NSA) as illegal.

Acting on petitions by his wife,TRS and Telangana AdvocatesJoint Action Committee (JAC),the court directed the govern-ment to immediately release Sud-hakar on bail.

The order came two days afterthe state government, in an ex-traordinary move, issued an or-der detaining the TRS politburomember for 12 months.

A division bench of the courtfound fault with the governmentfor ordering Sudhakar's detentionmerely on the ground of his as-sociation with Left-wing move-ment in the past.

The petitioners told the courtthat Sudhakar, a physician inNalgonda, was living peacefullybut implicated in false cases fortaking part in the movement forseparate statehood to Telangana.

The government move hadevoked strong protests fromTelangana protagonists. TRSstaged protests across the regionWednesday, demanding his re-lease. Ruling Congress party MPsfrom Telangana also condemnedSudhakar's detention and soughtthe intervention of the centralgovernment. The government is-sued an order Wednesday fol-lowing a recommendation by ahigh-powered committee headedby a retired judge. The three-member panel was constitutedby the government.

The TRS leader was arrestedin October on charges of throwingstones on buses coming fromcoastal region into Telangana.

Printed and published by B M Arun Kumar vide RNI Registration No. KARENG/2010/33126. Published by SAM Global Media, # 37, 1 Floor, 2nd Main, N. R. Colony, Bangalore - 560 019. Editor: B M Arun Kumar Printed at Lavanya Mudrana, #19, 15th Cross, Thyaarajanagar, Bangalore – 560 028. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Bangalore only.

NEWSThursday, December 8, 2011 4

US worried over Indiaʼsdecision to curb InternetWashington: Asserting that free-dom of expression applies equal-ly to the Internet as it does inthe real world, the United Stateshas said that it is in talks withIndian government over the reg-ulatory mechanism on Internet.

“We believe that freedom ofexpression applies equally to theInternet as it does in the realworld,” the State Departmentspokesman, Mark Toner, told re-porters at his daily news briefingwhen asked about the efforts ofthe Indian Government to regu-late/monitor content postingson the Internet and social net-work sites like Facebook.

However, the State Departmentspokesperson clarified twice that

its position on internet freedomis not necessarily India specific,but in general globally.

“We are concerned about anyeffort to curtail freedom of ex-pression on the Internet,” henoted.

Telecom minister KapilSibalon Tuesday said that the gov-ernment has asked companiesincluding Google and FacebookInc to block offensive material,especially content that couldhurt religious sentiments of someIndians.

With India, Toner acknowl-edged that this is indeed one ofthe topics of discussion with theIndian Government and is partof the strategic dialogue.

“In terms of India we do havea working group on information

and communication technologybetween the U.S. and India, and

it’s part of our overall strategicdialogue.

“Of course, we within thatworking group do talk about is-sues on information technology,discuss approaches our govern-ments can take to create invest-ment, for example, on regulatoryenvironments that maximise thedevelopment of these sectors,”Toner said in response to a ques-tion.

The State Department saidAmerica’s position is very clearand the Secretary of State, HillaryClinton, is scheduled to delivera major speech on internet free-dom in The Hague today.

He did not give an insight into the much anticipated

speech, but the recent develop-ments in India and South Korea in this regard is most likelyto figure.

“Our position’s clear. SecretaryClinton’s called on the globalcommunity to protect freedomsof expression,association andassembly in the online world aswe do in the regular world. Weuphold those beliefs.

I don’t want to get out too farin front.

“She’s actually going to betalking about freedom of expres-sion, Internet freedom, in theaddress in The Hague, so I don’twant to pre-empt thatspeech,”Toner said

NRI doc guiltyof falsely givingHIV medicines

New York: An Indian-Ameri-can physician here has beenfound guilty of $ 700,000 Medi-caid fraud in which he prescribedHIV medications to patients whodid not have it.

Suresh Hemrajani, 58, an in-ternal medicine physician, wasconvicted by a jury on chargesof grand larceny and 11 countsof falsifying business records,Manhattan District AttorneyCyrus Vance said.

"The defendant not only tookadvantage of a programme in-tended to assist New Yorkerswho cannot afford to pay formedical care, he also took pre-cious funds from a state facingsevere budget cuts," Vance said.

According to information athis trial, in 2008 Hemrajani wroteprescriptions for HIV medicationsfor various individuals withoutdetermining whether they actu-ally had HIV. He then billed thecost of the medications to Medi-

caid. He also created false records

for his purported treatment ofthe patients, even though inmostcases the individuals didnot visit his office more thanonce.

When some of these patientslater tried to obtain prescriptionsfrom a hospital, one of them wastested and found to be HIV-neg-ative, which prompted an inves-tigation by the Office of the Med-icaid Inspector General, the Hu-man Resources AdministrationBureau of Fraud Investigationand the Manhattan District At-torney's Office.

The investigation into thewhereabouts of the HIV med-ications is ongoing.

Medicaid is the United Stateshealth program jointly fundedby the state and federal govern-ments for certain people andfamilies with low incomes andresources.

SC: Lastchance to

implementorder

New Delhi: Giving last oppor-tunity to state governments toensure tamper-free high securitynumber plates in vehicles, theSupreme Court today directedthem to implement the schemewithin four weeks.

In a clear warning to the stategovernments, a bench headedby Chief Justice S H Kapadia saidcontempt proceedings will beinitiated against the state au-thorities without issuing any no-tice in case of non-complianceof the scheme within the timelimit fixed by it.

The bench said no further timewill be granted to put in forcethe scheme and directed the stateauthorities to file their affidavitson compliance of its order withinfour weeks.

The court passed the order ona PIL filed by Chairman of All-India Anti-Terrorist Front M SBitta seeking its direction to in-troduce tamper-proof numberplates and licences for vehicles,contending that the present sys-tem is prone to misuse by anti-social elements.

He had contended that despiterepeated orders from the apexcourt, the state governmentshave failed to introduce thescheme.

Agreeing with the petitioner,the court had said states shouldtake immediate steps to imple-ment the scheme.

The Centre had issued notifi-cation regarding this in 2001 andthe apex court in its various or-ders has repeatedly asked theauthorities to implement thescheme.

Weʼre inrecession,says CPI

New Delhi: Senior CommunistParty of India (CPI) leader Gu-rudas Dasgupta initiated the dis-cussion on price rise in the LokSabha on Thursday saying thatinflation figures falling is just aseasonal respite.

Speaking in the lower houseof Parliament, the CPI leadersaid that prices were rising in-cessantly and the governmentis not taking any action.

"Price is incessant over yearsand the government inaction isalso persisting," Gurudas said.

He also ridiculed the PlanningCommission saying that the com-mittee had said that becausepeople are eating more, food in-flation is rising.

Govt favours cleaner,cheaper nuke power

New Delhi: Despite apprehen-sion by some MPs, the govern-ment today batted for nuclearpower projects, including theone in Kundankulam, saying nu-clear power is not only ''cleanenergy'' but also cheaper as com-pared to coal and many othercountries are increasingly relyingon this.

"The question is related to theKundakulam (nuclear) Project.....I agree with you, coal energyis the main source of power inIndia, but not clean energy.

Nuclear energy is clean ener-gy," Minister of State in PMO VNarayanasamy said during Ques-tion Hour in the RajyaSabha.

The country requires an ad-ditional 50,000-60,000 megawatt of power and needs to de-velop alternative sources of en-ergy like nuclear power, he said.

He replied in the negative toa query whether the governmentis considering the option of fuelswitch to allay apprehension oflocal population.

He also said that efforts to en-hance public outreach and publiccommunication were continu-ing.

On cost of nuclear power, theminister said installation cost ofnuclear projects could be "littlehigh", but power charges willbe cheaper at Rs 1.80 per unitagainst Rs 16-18 in case of coal.

Currently, two nuclear powerplants in Kundankulam, TamilNadu are still under construction.The delay in commissioning of

these plants has led to escalationin cost to the tune of Rs 2,653crore. The delay has been attrib-uted to various reasons includingdelivery schedule of certain com-ponents from Russia and the on-going protests in Kudankulamagainst the nuclear power plant.

Responding to a supplemen-tary as to why India was pursuingnuclear power projects, whenother countries are abandoningthese, Narayanasamy said theUS and Russia were producingnuclear power in a big way.

Other countries like France,Japan and South Korea are alsoproducing nuclear power to meettheir growing demand, he said,adding that China has signedan agreement with Pakistan forsupply of nuclear power.

To another supplementary, hesaid most of the power plants inJapan were running.

"I have no knowledge of 10nuclear plants been closed down.

The safety measures of someof them are being upgraded afterFukushima (Tsunami) incident,"he said. Referring to CorporateSocial Responsibility (CRS) ac-tivities at nuclear power projects,he said as far as the Kundanku-lam project was concerned, "Wehave built roads, hospitals andschools."

The minister said barren landis used for setting up of nuclearpower projects. "So, the questionof uprooting people does notarise," he added.

Chairman Hamid Ansari post-poned a question relating to theparameters for fund distributionfor various central schemesmeant to develop of villages, es-pecially in Uttar Pradesh.

As members were not satisfiedwith the reply given by Panchay-ati Raj Minister V Kishore Chan-dra Deo, Ansari postponed it.

Obama appointsIndo‑American tokey admin post

Washington: Indian Americanlawyer PreetaBansal, who wasan adviser to Barack Obama'spresidential campaign beforeserving in the administration,has been appointed to a key ad-ministration post.

PreetaBansal has been appointed Member of the Advisory Council of the Admin-istrative Conference of the UnitedStates, the White House said ina statement, which also an-nounced the appointment ofBoris Bershteyn to the same po-sition.

"I am proud to appoint suchimpressive individuals to theseimportant roles, and I am gratefulthey have agreed to lend theirconsiderable talents to this Ad-ministration.

"I look forward to workingwith them in the months andyears ahead," Obama said in astatement.

A rising Democratic rising star,Bansal served as the GeneralCounsel and Senior Policy Ad-visor for the Office of Manage-ment and Budget from 2009 to2011.

In that capacity, she was alsoa government member of theCouncil of the AdministrativeConference of the US, serving asVice Chair from 2010 until 2011.

She is a Henry Crown Fellowat the Aspen Institute and amember of the Council on For-eign Relations.

Bansal, who studied at theHarvard Law School, has earlierserved as an adviser to Obama'spresidential campaign.

Prior to joining the ObamaAdministration, she was a Part-ner and Head of the AppellateLitigation Practice at Skadden,Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom,LLP, in New York City.

She is the former SolicitorGeneral of the State of New Yorkand a former law clerk to USSupreme Court Justice John PaulStevens.

From 2003 to 2009, while inprivate law practice, Bansal alsowas a Commissioner of the bi-partisan United States Commis-sion on International ReligiousFreedom, serving as its Chairfrom 2004 to 2005.

ISI had full control over Fai Washington: Separatist SyedGhulamNabi Fai and his Kash-miri American Council were un-der full control of ISI, being runas an extension of Pakistan’sspy agency to convince US law-makers, officials and thinktanksabout their viewpoint on Kash-mir, according to latest courtdocuments.

The US-based Kashmiri sepa-ratist pleaded guilty yesterdayto federal charges of spying forthe ISI, illegally lobbying theCongress to influence the Amer-ican policy on Kashmir and clan-destinely receiving money fromthe ISI.

As part of the plea agreement,federal US Government Attorneyand Fai signed a 26-page Stateof Fact document which revealsin details not only the modusoperandi of Fai, his relationshipwith ISI, but also his budget forannual contributions to lawmak-ers which ranged from $80,000to $1000,000 per annum.

According to this “Statementof Fact”, Fai received at least

$3.5 million (over Rs 16 croresas estimated on current rates)since 1990 for his KAC work toadvance Pakistan’s interest onKashmir in the US.

Running into 81 paragraphs,the Statement of Facts also iden-tifies the names of the ISI officialswho were Fai’s handlers or ac-quaintances in Pakistan.

The officials Fai dealt withwere Javeed Aziz Khan alsoknown as “Brigadier Abdullah(‘Khan’)” who handled Kashmiriaffairs in the mid-1990s; majorgeneral Mumtaz Ahmad Bajwa,who in late 2008 became headof the ISI’s Security Directoratethat oversees Kashmiri militantgroups, Lieutenant ColonelTouqeerMehmood Butt, and So-hailMahmood also known as“Mir”.

Fai told US District Judge O’-Grady, when asked by the latter,that all information provided inthis “Statement of Fact” weretrue and then later signed it alsoin the court.

In return for financial contri-

butions, Fai submitted to his ISIhandlers KAC’s annual budgetfor approval.

The annual document wasnormally titled “Strategy Docu-ment for the Kashmiri-AmericanCouncil, Washington DC USA”and sent to the ISI in the monthof December. These documentsdescribed KAC’s plans to provideinformation to Executive Branchofficials, use Congress to high-light the issue of Kashmir, andoffset the Indian lobby, said thestatement of fact.

For instance, KAC’s strategydocument for the year 2000 listedits three top objectives -- to per-suade the administration thatself-determination in Kashmirwould advance national interestsof the US; influence Congress;and capture media attention toinfluence debate on Kashmir.

The Strategy Document for2000 detailed KAC’s budget re-quirements for that year to be$490,000, including $80,000 forcontributions to members of Con-gress, $100,000 for a conference,

$60,000 for seminars, $50,000for opinion pieces to be distrib-uted to newspapers, and $30,000to organise a Congressional tripto Kashmir.

The Strategy Documents forthe later years detailed budgetsof $455,000 in 2001, $490,000in 2005, and $719,000 in 2006.

Each of the budgets allottedbetween $80,000 and $100,000for these different heads.

On January 1, 2008, Faiemailed Khan a document whichcontained a complete accountingof FAI’s activities for 2007, in-cluding 33 meetings with mem-bers of Congress, Congressionalstaff, the National Security Coun-cil, and State Department.

“Fai inflated his annual budg-ets and embellished his reportsof his accomplishments in orderto obtain the maximum amountof money,” it said.

These documents also re-vealed that it is at the directionof ISI that Fai and KAC raisedthe issue of mass graves in Kash-mir.

BJP MPs to givedeclarations

New Delhi: BJP MPs will submittomorrow declarations to thepresiding officers of their respec-tive Houses of Parliament, statingthat they do not have any illegalmoney stashed in any foreignbank or tax haven abroad.

BJP leader L K Advani hadannounced on the completionon his nation-wide yatra againstblack money and corruption thatall party MPs will submit decla-rations that they do not haveany illegal funds in Swiss banksor tax havens. The issue was dis-cussed at the BJP parliamentaryparty meeting today.

"Our MPs have submitted theirdeclarations to the Leader of Op-position of their respective Hous-es. Sushma Swaraj and ArunJaitley will submit these decla-rations from BJP MPs to the pre-siding officers of their respectiveHouses tomorrow which is alsothe World Anti-Corruption Day,"BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sab-ha S S Ahluwalia said.

The party had framed a dec-laration which the party MPshad to sign. Advani had madethis announcement at the cul-

mination rally of his yatra atRamlila grounds here on Dec 20.

BJP had also moved an ad-journment motion in Parliamentto discuss the black money issue.Since the parliamentary proceed-ings were disrupted over issueslike FDI in retail and price risefor the first nine days, the ad-journment motion and subse-quent discussion on black moneycould not be taken up and maybe now taken up on Dec 12.

The principal opposition hasbeen raising the issue of blackmoney since the 2009 Lok Sabhaelections. Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh had announcedafter the polls that his govern-ment would take action on thisissue within 100 days of comingto power.

The issue has also been in thenews after the French govern-ment handed over names ofaround 700 Indians holding bankaccounts in a Swiss bank. Wik-ileaks founder Julian Assangehas also stated that his site islikely to reveal names of suchIndian account holders withina year.

Zardari stable, no coup: USDubai/Washington: Asif Ali Zardari, whois undergoing treatment in Dubai followingheart complications, is in stable conditionbut would remain in hospital for few moredays, authorities said, amid assertion bythe US that the embattled Pakistan Presi-dent's UAE trip was not political and therewas no sign of a 'silent military coup'.

Downplaying Zardari's sudden departurefrom home, State Department spokesmanMark Toner, said that the US had no reasonto believe that his trip to Dubai was political."Our belief is that it's completely health-re-lated," Toner said at a regular daily briefingin Washington.

Asked about reports in Pakistan and asection of the US media that Zardari was onhis way out, he said: "No concerns, and noreason to believe" that a silent military coupwas in the offing in Islamabad.

Zardari's sudden departure to Dubai trig-gered intense speculation, with The Cable -a blog of US magazine 'Foreign Policy' -

saying that there is "growing expectationsinside the US government that Zardari maybe on the way out".

56-year-old Zardari was admitted to aDubai hospital following heart complicationsand Pakistan's Ambassador to the UAE JamilAhmed Khan said investigations done sofar are essentially within normal limits andhis condition is stable.

Khan told Khaleej Times that Zardari'smedical tests are satisfactory, but he wouldremain in hospital under observation.

"A routine evaluation of the President'shealth is being carried out at the hospitaland he is being checked for an existingheart condition. He will remain in hospitaluntil investigations are complete," the Am-bassador said.

Gulf News quoted officials as denying re-ports that Zardari underwent angioplasty."Actually the President underwent an MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to check ifhe has a blood clot in the brain."Asif Ali Zardari

Japan to study Hʼbad‑Chennaihigh speed railway route

New Delhi: Railways have se-lected a Japanese consortium toexplore the possibility of runninga bullet train on the Hyderabad-Chennai high speed rail corri-dor.

Japan External Trade Organi-sation (Jetro) and Oriental Con-sultancy along with ParsonsBrinkhoff India has bagged thecontract to conduct the pre-fea-sibility study on the proposed664 km long Hyderabad-Vijay-wada-Chennai route for runningthe high speed train, a seniorRailway Ministry official said.

Japan's high speed trainsShinkansen operate at a speedof up to 300 km per hour andare known for their punctuality,comfort, safety and efficiency.

The consortium will submitthe report in seven months. Thestudy is expected to cost the rail-ways about Rs 3.5 crore.

There were a total of 13 biddersincluding Korean, French, Britishand Spanish consultants in therace to bag the southern highspeed rail project.

With the selection of theJapanese consortium, railwayshave undertaken study of fourroutes for running bullet trains.

Railways have roped in Frenchfirm Systra for Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km) route,while UK-based consultant Mott

McDonald has been engaged toconduct the pre-feasibility studyof the longest Delhi-Agra-Lucknow- Varanasi-Patna (991km) route.

Spanish consultant Eneco hasbeen hired to carry out studiesin the shortest Howrah-Haldia(135 km) route.

Systra has submitted the re-port to the Railway Ministry,which is being examined now.

Selection for consultants forDelhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450km) and Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Thiruvananthapu-ram (869 km) high speed rail

corridor will be decided shortly. In order to expedite the bullet

train project, Railways is in theprocess of constituting the Na-tional High Speed Rail Authorityon the lines of the National High-ways Authority.

The draft of the National HighSpeed Rail Authority Bill hasbeen sent to the Law Ministry,Urban Development Ministry,Environment Ministry, FinanceMinistry and Planning Commis-sion for their views.

"The final draft of the Billwould be sent to the Cabinet forits approval before being intro-duced in the Budget Session ofParliament," the official said.

According to an estimate, itwill cost about Rs 100 crore toconstruct a one km dedicatedhigh speed corridor. As per thepreliminary report, ridership rev-enues would be able to coverthe operating cost of the proj-ect.

State governments and finan-cial institutions are expected tobe stakeholders of the high speedrail corridor project as these proj-ects will be executed throughPPP mode.

Railways plan to make thehigh speed rail corridor a catalystfor India's economic growth anda stimulus for the developmentof satellite towns.

Obscenetweet on

Medvedev'saccount

Moscow: An obscene re-tweetwas posted briefly on RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev's of-ficial Twitter account, the Krem-lin said, blaming the incidenton ''interference'' by a technicalemployee.

The post was quickly deletedfrom the account Wednesday,but not before screen shots of itwere captured by internet usersand circulated widely throughRussian social networks and me-dia websites.

"A rude re-tweet of a post ap-peared on Dmitry Medvedev'sTwitter account last night," theKremlin said in a statement, un-der a heading: "On the malfunc-tion of Dmitry Medvedev's Twitteraccount."

"It became clear after an in-vestigation that during a routinepassword change an employeeresponsible for technical main-tenance of the account interferedin an unacceptable manner withthe @MedvedevRussia account.Those guilty will be punished."

The post was a re-tweet fromthe blog of businessman andUnited Russia party memberKonstantin Rykov and was post-ed late Tuesday. "If a personwrites in his blog 'The Party ofSwindlers and Thieves', he's justa c**ksucking moron," he said.

Blagojevich sentencedto 14 years in prison

Chicago: Former Illinois governorRod Blagojevich was sentencedto 14 years in prison for tryingto auction President Barack Oba-ma's vacated Senate seat in 2008and several other corruptioncharges.

He became the second governor after George Ryan to be sentenced for corruption,who was sent 6.5 years in jail forfraud and racketeering chargesin 2006.

Blagojevich's sentence camefollowing his conviction at trialsin 2010 and 2011 on 18 felonycounts of corruption during histenure as governor, includinghis effort in 2008 to illegallytrade appointment of a UnitedStates Senator in exchange forUSD 1.5 million in campaign con-

tributions or other personal ben-efits.

Judge James Zagel, known forhumorous comments in court,remained stiff yesterday in award-ing Blagojevich the sentence say-ing that although the ousted gov-ernor has apologised for his mis-takes and was worried about hisfamily and children, he had notthought about them when actingin "reckeless" conduct by beinginvolved in "pay-to-play" politicsby holding down the horse racingand Children Memorial Hospitallegislation.

Blagojevich was sentenced forshaking down the chief executiveof a children's hospital for USD25,000 in campaign contributionsin exchange for implementingan increase to pediatric reim-

bursement rates; holding up thesigning of a bill to benefit theIllinois horse racing industry inan attempt to illegally obtainUSD 100,000 in campaign con-tributions; and lying to the FBIin 2005.

Blagojevich, who will turn 55on December 10, was ordered tosurrender to the US Bureau ofPrisons on February 16, 2012, tobegin serving his sentence.

The prison term is the longest-ever imposed on a former gov-ernor in the Northern District ofIllinois.

"When it is the governor whogoes bad, the fabric of Illinois istorn, disfigured and not easilyrepaired," Zagel said in imposingthe sentence after a two-dayhearing.