Evening daily‘Temple treasure belongs to royals’ P 4

Vol. 1, Issue 312 n Tuesday n July 5, 2011 No. of pages: 8 n Price: Rs 2

SOME HOPE FORSMOOTH TRAFFIC

Two Bangalore engineering students have developed a smart traffic signal system that is not pre-set to the timings of aclock. The new system reads traffic density and then varies the signal light time, allowing smoother flow of traffic, Abhay KKothari and Nipun Singh Chauhan explainto Aknisree Karthik Page 5

Beyond Beat

SC nod to impeachment

motion of Dinakaran

New Delhi: In a setback to Sikkim HighCourt Chief Justice P D Dinakaran, the

Supreme Court todayrefused to quashsome of the chargesframed against himby a Rajya Sabha-ap-pointed panel look-ing into allegations ofcorrupt practices andmisconduct againsthim.

A bench headedby Justice G S

Singhvi, however, allowed Dinakaran’s pleaseeking removal of senior advocate P P Raofrom the inquiry panel.

The bench asked Rajya Sabha chairmanand Vice President Hamid Ansari to recon-stitute the panel by replacing Rao with anotherdistinguished jurist.

The court, however, made it clear that Di-nakaran will be facing the same chargeswhich were framed by the three-membercommittee comprising Supreme Court judgeJustice Aftab Alam, Karnataka High CourtChief Justice J S Khehar and senior advocateP P Rao. The apex court had also rejected Sha-ran’s contention that the panel can neitherconduct its own probe nor frame any addi-tional charges as it is prohibited under Sec-tion 3 of the Judges Inquiry Act.

“How can you say that? Supposing some-one fabricates documents and submits it to theSpeaker or Chairman as the case may be. Themembers on the basis of the fabricated doc-uments adopt the notice of motion. Should thecommittee not scrutinise the material?” thebench had asked. “They are legally trainedminds who can detect the fabricated materi-al. In fact, it would offer protection to ajudge also from baseless allegations,” thebench had said. PTI

Securityguard found

murderedBangalore: A security guard, who was work-ing at a superstore, was butchered to death atUttarahalli in the city this morning.

The deceased, Rajshekar (40), was founddead in the basement of the superstore thatis located on the Uttarahalli main road.

The reason behind the murder is unknown,the Subramanyapura police said.

Girl alleges rape,burns self to death

Manjunath SharmaBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: An 18-year-old girl, who was al-legedly raped by a van driver at Jayaprakash-nagar near Peenya second stage in the city, hasburnt herself to death. Page 3

BangaloreBeatHalliwell turns designer P7

Actors Padma Vasanthi and Srinath get emotional at a function to inaugurate an exhibition of rare collection of photographs of cinematic genius Puttanna Kanagal at Kar-

nataka Chitrakala Parishath today. More photos, report on page 4

An emotional touch

Chief ministerB S Yeddyu-rappa spent

time withschoolchildren

at Yelahankatoday. All the

political leaders visited

variousschools acrossthe state in aprogramme

organised bythe educationdepartment to

promote education.

Back to school

Hyderabad: Normal life in theTelangana region of AndhraPradesh was disrupted todaydue to the two-day bandh calledby the Telangana political Jointaction Committee (JAC) in sup-port of their demand for a sepa-rate state.

Schools, colleges, shops andother commercial establishmentswere closed and public transportservices were hit due to thebandh in all Telangana districts.

The JAC, which has an-

nounced a series of protests insupport of the separate state-hood call, has also called for a

rail blockade on July 8 and 9.The Andhra Pradesh State

Road Transport Corporation (AP-

SRTC) suspended its services atvarious places as a precautionarymeasures and commuters had atough time reaching their desti-nations.

The bandh supporters helddemonstrations and stopped ve-hicular movement at variousplaces.

City buses of APSRTC in Hy-derabad largely remained off theroads and consequently, the autodrivers had a field day.

Police have made elaborate se-curity arrangements in view ofthe bandh and no untoward in-cidents was reported from any-where in the morning hours.

JAC has also planned to or-ganise the blockade of nationalhighways and other protests inthe coming days, TRS PresidentK Chandrasekhar Rao an-nounced yesterday after a meet-ing of the JAC. The JAC compris-es TRS, BJP and a number of peo-ples’ organisations.

Bandh hitsTelangana

New Delhi: A day after ten-dering their resignations, Con-gress ministers, MPs andMLAs from Telangana regionin Andhra Pradesh today metsenior party leader GhulamNabi Azad and are under-stood to have demanded anearly decision by the Centreon the separate state issue.

Three senior ministers – KJana Reddy, Ponnala Laxma-iah and Basavaraj Saraiah –reached here from Hyder-

abad last night to hold con-sultations with the Congresshigh command on the issueafter being summoned.Two MPs – Madhu GoudYashki and Ponnam Prab-hakar – and one MLA andone MLC also met Azad, par-ty general secretary in-charge,and are believed to have ex-plained as to why the Telan-gana lawmakers resignedfrom their posts.

Continued on page 3

Telangana ministers,MPS MEET AZAD

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The income tax de-partment took massive raids onthe cooperative societies andtheir presidents, directors andsecretaries residences thismorning.

The raids were conductedall over the city where morethan 30 co operative societieshave been targeted. Nearly 35official teams of IT deparment

raided the houses of coopera-tives officials and verified doc-uments relating to financial

transactions of these societies.The raids were conducted

in various localities likeMalleshwaram, Rajajinagar,Gayathrinagar, Subramanya-

pura, Thyagarajanagar andsome other places.Officials thor-oughly searched offices of thesecooperatives and seized somedocuments. However they re-fuse to divulge the names of thesocieties or the officials whomthey raided.

The raids were conductedby Manjunath deputy directorof Income Tax along with his 30plus officials in Bangalore thismorning.

IT RAIDS ON CITY CO‑OP SOCIETIES

D L HarishBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Two senior-level officersfrom the Karnataka Legislative Assem-bly Secretariat are seeking an extension,obstructing promotions of other officersin the queue.

The secretariat employees’ associationhas now raised objections and askedchief minister B S Yeddyurapa, who isthe chairman of the special board gov-erning appointment at the secretariat,not to consider their application for ex-tension.

The two officers who have applied for

extension are secretary II T N Dhruv Ku-mar, who is retiring on August 31, andsecretary S B Patil, who is retiring on Oc-tober 31. The two officers have alreadygot an extension of sorts when the re-tirement age was increased from 58 to60.

The Karnataka Legislative AssemblySecretariat Employees’ Association meton June 20 and resolved to oppose anymove at extending the terms of the twoofficers.

They have now written a letter to thechief minister asking him not to considertheir request.

Continued on page 4

2 secretariatofficials seekextension

Employeesʼ association protests, saying it will jeopardize chance of othersAll shut as two‑day agitation begins

Gangadhar Pujar BangaloreNano to

be held onDec 8, 9

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The fourth editionof BangaloreNano is goingto be held onDecember 8and 9, said IT-BT secretaryM NVidyashankarhere today.

Higher ed-ucation and

science minister V S Acharya andchairman of Vision Group onNanotechnology C N R Rao tookpart in the event.

This year, the conference willfocus on interactive networkingactivities. It will facilitate a meet-ing of scientists, industrialists,government representatives andacademics from across the globe,he said.

The global delegation will at-tend full two days of the confer-ence. There will be a special pro-gramme, nanotech for the young,where students from colleges andschools will take part.

There will also be sessionsthat open up avenues for re-searchers, he said.

Globally renowned scientistSir Richard Friend, Dr E W Meijerof Eindham University, Dr Timo-thy Fisher of Purdue University,and other prominent scientistswill take part in the event, headded. He said, “Nanotechnolo-gy will revolutionise the worldwith energy storage, ultra densestorage and water treatment. By2015, nanotechnology industrywill be $1.6 trillion industry, whereNorth America will have 25 per-cent share of it, Europe 22 percentand Asia 32 percent.”

He also outlined that nan-otechnology institute will comeup on Tumkur road. Adjacent tothe institute a nano park will beset up where incubation of the in-dustry will occur, he added.

Photo on page 4

CITY 2Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

9742918562

Bangalore Beat

RequiresCirculation

BoysUrgently

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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

JOLLY BOYS (U)Diganth, RekhaAnupama (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Adarsh (11.30 am, 2.30,6, 9 pm Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (12.40 pm, 3, 7 pm) Nandini(11 am, 2, 5, 8 pm) Uma (10.15 am,1, 4, 7 pm) Vajreshwari (11 am, 2.30,6, 9.15 pm) Veeresh (10.30 am,1.30pm)

ATHEETHA Rajesh, Priyanka Banner Bhumika (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Cinepolis (12.20 pm, 5.00 pmGopal (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (2.50 pm,9.20 pm) Prasanna (10.15am) PVRCinemas (12.45 pm, 5.45 pm) Srin-vasa (Gowdanapalya) (11.30 am,2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Tribhuvan(10.30 am,1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)

CHENNAMMA IPS AyeshaGanesh (11 am, 2, 6, 9 pm) Menaka(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)Maruthi (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30pm) Siddhalingeshwara (11 am,2.30, 6, 9.15 pm) Ullas (10.45 am,1.45, 5.45, 8.45 pm) Veerabhadresh-wara (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm)

KIRATAKA (U/A) Yash, Oviya Helen Adarsh (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9 pm

Bharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road) (4pm, 6.45, 9.45 pm) Goverdhan(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Ka-pali (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)Krishna (KR Puram) (11 am, 2, 6, 9pm) Mohan (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 4.15, 7.15pm) PVR Cinemas (10.10 am) Sid-dheshwara (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Vaishnavi (11.30 am, 12.30,6.30, 9.30 pm)

DHAN DHANA DHAN (U)Prem Kumar, Sharmila MandreBalaji (Tavarekre) (11 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Banashankari (Hongasan-dra) (11 am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15 pm)Gurusidheshwara (11 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Kamakya (10.45 am, 1.45,5.45, 8.45 pm)

MAAGIYA KAALA (U)Nishanth, Bindhu ShriKailash (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm)

I AM SORRY MATTHE BANNI PRITH-SONA (U)Premkumar, Karishma Inox (Malleswaram) (8.45 pm)

OSCAR (A)Ashok Kumar, Priyanka Venkatesh-wara (Avalahalli (11.30 am, 2.30,6.30, 9.30 pm) Vishal (11 am, 2.30,6, 9.15 pm)

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THEMOON (U/A)Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley“3D” Cinemax (2.15 pm, 7.15, 10pm) Fame Lido (10.45 am, 4, 9.15pm) Fame (Shankarnag) (6.30 pm)Fun Cinemas (10 am, 1, 4, 7, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (BannerghattaRoad) (10 am, 4.30, 7.15, 10 pm)

Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(11 am, 1.45, 9.30 pm) Inox (MagrathRoad) (10.25 am, 3.50, 9.15 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (10 am, 4.35,9.25 pm) Laxmi (Tavarkere) (11 am,1.45, 5, 8.30 pm) Mukunda (11 am,2, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Navrang (Rajaji-nagar) (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) PVR Cinemas (10 am, 1, 6, 9pm) Rex (10.15 am, 3, 9.45 pm) Ur-vashi (11 am, 3, 6, 9.30 pm) “2D”Fame Forum Value Mall (10 am,12.45, 3.35, 6.25, 9.15 pm) FameLido (4 pm, 9.15 pm) Inox (Jayanagar)(10 am, 3.35, 6.25, 9.15 pm) Inox(JP Nagar) (10.10 am, 3.25, 6.20,9.15 pm)

CARS 2 (U)Owen Wilson, Michael Caine“3D” Fame Lido (1.40, 6.55 pm)Fame (Shankarnag) (1.20 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (BannerghattaRoad) (12.45 pm) Inox (MagrathRoad) (10 am, 12.20, 2.55, 7.15 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (12 pm, 3.50,7.40 pm) “2D” Fame Forum ValueMall (2.50 pm, 5.05, 7.20 pm).

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

DELHI BELLY (A)Imran Khan, ShehnazAbhinay (4 pm, 6, 8 pm) Apsara(11.30 am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Cau-very (11.30 am, 2.30 pm) Cinemax(10.45 am, 1, 3.15, 4.15, 5.30, 7.45,10 pm) Cinepolis (10 am, 11.55,1.50, 3.45, 5.40, 7.35, 9.30, 10 pm)Everest (4.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Eshwari (11.15 am, 2.30, 6.15, 9.15pm) Fame Forum Value Mall (10.25am, 12.40, 2.55, 5.10, 7.25, 9.40pm) Fame Lido (10.25 am, 12.40,2.55, 5.10, 7.25, 9.40 pm) Fame(Shankarnag) (4 pm, 10 pm) FunCinemas (10.30 am, 12.40, 5.15,7.30, 9.40 pm) Gopalan Cinemas(Bannerghatta Road) (10 am, 12, 2,4, 6, 8, 10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas(Mysore Road) (12.20 pm, 5.30,7.30, 9.45 pm) HMT Cinemas (Jala-halli) (10.45 am, 1.30, 4.15, 7.15 pm)Innovative Multiplex (11 am, 1, 5.30,8, 10 pm) Inox (Jayanagar) (10.20

am, 12.40, 2.50, 7.25, 9.30 pm) Inox(JP Nagar) (10.50 am, 1, 3.10, 5.20,7.30, 9.40 pm) Inox (Magrath Road)(10 am, 12.15, 2.30, 3, 4.45, 7, 7.30,9.30 pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (10am, 12.10, 2.50, 5, 7.30 pm) PVRCinemas (10 am, 12.20, 12.45, 2.40,3, 5, 5.15, 7.20, 7.30, 9.30, 9.45 pm)Rex (1.10 pm, 5.55, 7.50 pm) Vaibhav(6 pm, 9.30 pm) Veeresh (4.30 pm,7.30 pm) Vision Cinemas (10.30 am,12.30, 2.45, 5, 7.15, 9.45 pm)

DOUBLE DHAMAAL (U/A)Sanjay Dutt, Arshad WarsiFame Lido (12.45 pm, 3.30, 6.15,7.05, 9.15 pm) Fame (Shankarnag)(10.35 am, 3.45, 6.30, 9.15 pm )Fun Cinemas (1.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (12.10pm, 10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas(Mysore Road) (10 am, 4.40 pm)Inox (Jayanagar) (12.55 pm) Inox (JPNagar).

HINDI

TAMIL

PILLAIYAR THERU KADAISI VEEDU Ramesh, Sanchita PadukoneAruna (10.15 am, 1.15, 4.15, 7.15 pm)Amruth (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Ajantha (10.30 am, 1.30 pm)Lavanya (4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) Ma-

heshwari (10.15 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Madheshwara (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Pushpanjali (Sultan-palya) (11 am, 2.15, 6, 9.15 pm)Pushpanjali (BNPura) (11.30 am,2.30 pm) Poornima (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Vijay (10.45 am, 1.45,5.45, 8.45 pm)

ADIMAI PENN (U/A)M G Ramachandran, JayalalithaNataraj (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.45, 7.45pm)

AVAN IVAN (U/A)Arya, Vishal Krishna, Janani IyerFame Forum Value Mall (2.25 pm,7.10 pm) Fame Lido (1.40 pm, 6.55pm) Krishna (Bommanahalli) (11am, 2.30, 6, 9.30 pm) Krishna (11.30am, 2.30 pm) PVR Cinemas (1.15pm, 7.05 pm).

BBUDDAH HOGA TERA BAAP (U/A)Amitabh Bachchan, Prakash Raj, Hema Malini

Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30 pm)Anand (3 pm, 7, 10 pm) Aruna (11am, 2.30, 6, 9.30 pm) Cauvery (6pm, 9.30 pm) Cinemax (11.30,4.45, 7.15, 9.45 pm) Cinepolis (10am, 2.45, 7.30, 9.50 pm) Everest(11.30 am, 2.15 pm) Fame Lido(10.10 am, 12.25, 2.40, 5, 9.50pm) Fun Cinemas (11 am, 3, 9.20pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 2.50 pm)

Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(10 am, 2.30, 7.30 pm) InnovativeMultiplex (10.15 am, 12.30, 5.15,10 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (10am, 12.20, 2.40, 5, 7.25, 9.50 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (10 am, 2.45,5.50, 9.50 pm) Parimala (11.30am, 2.30, 5.45, 8.45 pm) Shobha(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, pm) Vaibhav(11.30 am, 2.30 pm) Vision Cine-mas (10.30 am, 9.45 pm). Home and transport minister R Ashok presents Lion of the year award to Lion

C G Suresh Kumar. District Governor P R S Chetan and Lion Sujatha look on.

Lion of the year awarded

Bangalore: The online retail industryin India is likely to be worth Rs 7,000crore by 2015 due to easy availability ofbroadband services and increasing in-ternet penetration across the country,apex industry body Assocham has saidtoday.

Buying-selling trends received fromleading online shopping portals indicatethe online retail market currently standsat Rs 2,000 crore and is growing at asteady annual rate of 35 percent. Indiais set to become the third largest nationof internet users in the next two yearswith a large chunk of youngsters eagerto adopt new technologies with rapidlychanging lifestyles.

”A booming economy and rising dis-posable incomes have contributed tothe evolution of online shopping,” saidD S Rawat, secretary-general of the As-sociated Chambers of Commerce andIndustry of India (ASSOCHAM), releas-ing findings of a random survey con-ducted during January to June 2011 in10 cities in which 5,000 shoppers wereinterviewed.

Earlier, most online shoppers usedto evaluate options by gathering infor-mation on available products and pricesor buy low-value items like gift productsbut finally opted for final transactionsat the traditional retail outlets.

“But now the trend is changing fast.Leading companies have gauged thepotential of online retail industry andare gearing up fast to cash in,” said MrRawat.

The survey conducted by AssochamSocial Development Foundation (ASDF)involved interactions with 500 shoppersin the age group of 16 to 35 years eachin ten cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai,Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad,Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow andJaipur.

About 40 percentof those surveyed acrossthese cities said they preferto shop online consideringconvenience to shop anytimeduring the 24 hours and one can collectdetailed product information. Besides,

one can re-search variety of products

available and can easily compare pricesfrom different vendors anywhere inthe world.

Majority of consumers alsosaid they shop online to pur-chase products that cannot befound in malls and the localmarkets.

Around 25 percent (most ofthese comprised high-incomeconsumers residing in sub-urbs, NCR cities) of the re-spondents said they preferto hangout and shop atswanky malls, upmarketshopping complexes as theynot only boast of multi-brand availability under oneroof but provide air-condi-tioned, dust-free atmos-phere.

A total of 20 percent ofthose interviewed said theyprefer to shop at local tra-ditional markets becauseof the familiarity with am-biance, ease of access, va-riety of goods, early open-

ing and late closing

times and shop owners’ relationshipwith loyal customers.

A meagre 15 percent of shopperssaid they prefer to shop at specialtystores rather than making a voyage toa mall or looking for a good bargain at

traditional markets as they can get spe-cific stuff from specific stores.

Consumers in Mumbai ranked num-ber one among top five cities, with al-most 65 percent of Mumbaikars sayingthey prefer shopping online and citiedrising fuel prices as one of the primaryreason they do not want to loiter aroundmalls, traditional shopping hubs.

Ahmedabad ranked second wherealmost 55 percent of respondents saidthey prefer shopping followed by Delhiwhere 45 percent of consumers saidthey prefer shopping online.

Shoppers in Bangalore ranked on5th spot with 30 percent of respondentssaying they prefer to shop online,whereas 35 percent of shoppers (mostlyyoungsters) said they prefer to strollthrough malls for their shopping needs.

About 15 percent of respondents saidthey prefer to shop at neighborhoodmarkets and around 20 percent of themopted for shopping at specialty storesto buy specific commodities like gro-ceries, apparels, toiletries, stationaryetc.

Facilities like free shipping, productratings/reviews, multiple payment op-tions, product demonstration videosand free return policy largely influence

the purchasing decision of consumersshopping online, concluded the

survey.Of those who are averse to

shopping online cited variousreasons like prefer to research

products and services online andthen actually buy them from a store(30 percent), find delivery costs toohigh (20 percent), don’t want to sharepersonal financial information online(25 percent), lack of trust on whetherproducts would be delivered in goodcondition (15 percent), don’t have acredit/debit card (10 percent).

ONLINE RETAIL INDUSTRYto reach `7,000 cr mark

Hill stations attract property buyersBangalore: With family incomeon the rise, hill stations in Indiaare increasingly becoming at-tractive real estate destinationsfor more and more Indians, ac-cording to a survey.

While some want an abodein hill stations as only a holidayhome, some others want it as asecond home they can drop inany time they please. This ap-petite, though still niche, is catch-ing up fast amongst Indianhomebuyers.

The survey, conducted on thewebsite Makaan.com from Juneone to June 23 this year, saw par-ticipation from over 4,800 re-spondents nationally, with themajority of them belonging tothe age group of 26-35 years.

According to the survey find-ings, Indian hill stations are

emerging as probable residentialoptions.

Gone are the days when own-ing a house in the hills was most-ly looked from an investmentpoint of view; today a large ma-

jority of home buyers are readyto move into the hills and arelooking at these destinations forresiding purpose in the near fu-ture.

With 37 percent, majority of

survey takers expressed that forthem the purpose of buying ahouse in the hills was clearlyself use, be it for now or for fu-ture.

Another 29 percent respon-dents want to look at such op-tions as a holiday destination orweekend getaway.

Interestingly, only 21 percentwant to buy real estate in thehilly areas as probable invest-ment options.

The remaining 14 percent ismade up of those who want tobeat the city life and plan tosettle post-retirement in theseareas.

Among all cities, maximum(37 percent) is from Delhi, whowant to look at such options fortaking a break from the city life.For all other major cities, self

use of the property seemed tobe most important. Majority ofrespondents from the key cities,want to build a house for selfconsumption.

Climate dicates the choice ofhome buyers in selecting a prop-erty in hills. Climatic conditionof a hill station emerged as themost significant factor for at-tracting real estate buyers to thatarea.

Property options under Rs 20lakh are most in demand.

Preference for bungalows winshands down as compared to oth-er property options like apart-ments and plots, the survey said.

While the majority of nationalrespondents want to own a housein Lonavala, respondents fromDelhi/NCR had Nainital & Mus-sorie on top of their lists. PTI

Bajpai isnew BHEL

directorBangalore: P K Bajpai has as-sumed charge as Director (Fi-nance) of Bharat Heavy Electri-cals Ltd.

Prior to this, he was headingthe compa-ny’s Finan-cial Servicesdivision asExecutive Di-rector, it saidin a release.

A mchan-ical engineerfrom IIT, Kan-pur; MBAfrom the University of Leeds, theUK and AICWA from the Instituteof Cost and Works Accountantsof India, Bajpai joined BHEL asan Engineer Trainee in 1977, itsaid.

He has 34 years of diversifiedand versatile professional expe-rience through working in majorsegments of BHEL. PTI

Sterlingappointsnew MD

Bangalore: Sterling Holiday Re-sorts India Ltd., has announcedthe appointment of Ramesh Ra-manathan as its new managingdirector. Ramanathan was head-ing Mahindra Holidays and Re-sorts India Ltd and was also onthe group executive board of theMahindra group, according to aSterlings statement. Ramanathanwould be responsible for con-solidating the company’s oper-ations and guiding its growth inthe rapidly growing holiday andvacation ownership industry.

New Volvofrom city to Hospet

Bangalore: KSRTC will introduceVolvo bus service from Bangaloreto Hospet from Thursday. Theseservices are in addition to theexisting KSRTC services. The Vol-vo bus leaves from Bangalore at7 am and reach Hospet at 1 pm.The same bus will leave fromHospet railway station at 3 pmand reach Bangalore at 9 pm.You can call 7760990562,7760990561 for details and logon to www.ksrtc.in.

P K Bajpai

Decorative itemsʼexpo from July 7

Bangalore: An exhibition ofmaterials used for festivaldecoration will be held inthe city from July 7 to 9 atSamaja Seva Sangha audi-torium in Jayanagar.

The exhibition will beopen from 10 am till 7.30pm, said a press note fromPavithra Creations, organ-isers of the exhibition.

The decorative items lastlong and make your houselook attractive, said the press note.

CITYTuesday, July 5, 2011 3

1 lakh students to be giventraffic sense this year: Sood

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Over one lakh school-children will be educated abouttraffic and related issues acrossthe city this year, said additionalcommissioner of police (traffic)Praveen Sood at the inaugurationof a programme to educate thechildren in the city today.

This is the third year of theTraffic Awareness for School Kids(TASK) programme that has beentraining students in the city. Theprogramme was held at the trafficpark on St Mark’s road.

A group of traffic policemenvisits schools and brief childrenabout the importance of follow-ing traffic rules and other issues.The one-hour theory class atschools will be followed by thepractical display at the park.Traffic experts will make attrac-tive presentation using PPTs,hold theory classes and answerquestions from the students,Sood said.

The park can accommodatearound 200 students and thepractical classes are held everySaturday, he added. At the park,the students would be taughthow to follow traffic rules, whatis zebra-crossing, different sig-nages, etc, he said. “It is impor-tant to imbibe a sense of trafficdiscipline at a young age. Theprogramme aims to do just that.It has been designed to suit dif-ferent age groups, like children

from primary and secondaryschools.”

City police commissionerJyothi Prakash Mirji said, “It isimportant to follow traffic rules.It is difficult to follow rules, andeasy to break them. But some-where, some tragedy will occurbecause one has broken the rules,and you will feel very sad.”

“The TASK will teach studentsabout basics of traffic rules andregulations.

It is important to teach themyoung. This is the age theyshould be moulded. If the children are taught, they willpass on the message to theirfriends, parents and siblings,”Mirji said.

Traffic wardens will educatechildren at the park and will as-sist them in understanding var-ious rules. The children are ac-companied by their teachers andthe traffic police departmentmakes transport arrangementsfor these children.

CITY EVENTSGeneralMinistry of Defence: Passingout parade of 234 Army re-cruits, Lt Gen S S Senguptareviews, Madras EngineerGroup and Centre, Ulsoor, nearUlsoor Lake, 8.15 pm.

Rotary Bangalore Orchards:Installation of the presidentand officebearers by Dt Gov-ernor Rtn Pandurang Potnis,Justice Santosh Hegde partic-ipates, Hotel Royal Orchid,Golf Avenue, near KGA, OldAirport Road, 7 pm.

CulturalRangabugudidangal: Releaseof the book ‘Ranga Bahirangaand Benki,’ by Minister V So-manna, Ravindra Kalakshetra,J C Road, 5.30 pm.

Sundara Prakashana: Releaseof the book ‘The Charmer andhis Clarionet: Life and Achieve-ments of Pt Narasimhalu Va-davati,’ Shyamala G Bhave,Journalist Ravi Belagere par-ticipate, Indian Institute ofWorld Culture, no 6, B P WadiaRoad, Basavanagudi, 5.30 pm.

Religious Our School: Discourse by Yo-geesh, school premises, nextto Police Station, Ba-nashankari II Stage, 6.15 pm.

Vijayanagar Sri Madhwa SevaTrust: Discourse on ‘Man-galashtaka,’ by Ambar-ishachar, 37/2, Gangadhar Lay-out, II Main Road, Vijayanagar,6.30 pm.

Sri Ramakrishna Seva Trust:Discourse on Bhagwad Gitaby Swami Abhaya Chaitanya,State Bank of India OfficersCommunity Centre, 57, SnehaSadana, State Bank of IndiaOfficers Colony, BasaveshwaraNagar, 6.30 pm.

ExhibitionsPhotographs by Homai Vya-rawalla: Tuesday, July 5th,2011. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. NationalGallery of Modern Art, No 49Manikyavelu Mansion, PalaceRoad, The National Gallery ofModern art is hosting an ex-hibition of iconic photographstaken by Homai Vyarawalla,India's first woman photojour-nalist, who started workingin the 1930s and was instru-mental in tracing the lives andwork of political leadersthrough her lens.

Negotiated Positions @Gallery Blue Spade: Tuesday,July 5th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 7p.m. Gallery Blue Spade, TheChancery, 10/6 Lavelle Road,An exhibition of contemporaryart by Babu Eshwar Prasad,V G Venugopal, Sunoj D,Suchender P, Gurusidappa GE, Murali Cheeroth, ChandraBhattacharjee, Prasanta Sahu,Farhad Hussain and RajibaLochan Pani.

Group Show @ Sumukha:Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. 10:30a.m. to 6 p.m. Gallery Su-mukha, No 24/10, BTS DepotRoad, Wilson Garden An ex-hibition of sculptures, paint-ings and photographs by tentalented artists.

Group Art Show @ Renais-sance: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011.11 a.m. to 7 p.m. RenaissanceGallerie, No 13 Westminster,Cunningham Road, Paintingsby Shalini Singh, Meera Gyan-chand, Swati Rustogi and Sug-antha Priya.

The Art Mix @ Caperberry:Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. 12:30p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Caperberry,No 48/1 Ground Floor, The Es-tate, Dickenson Road, Caper-berry and Art Chutney present'The Art Mix', a group showfeaturing artwork by artistssuch as HR Das, Nagesh Goud,Amol Pawar and others.

ShoppingCrimson's Annual MonsoonSale: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011.11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Crimson ArtGallery, The Hatworks Boule-vards, No 32, CunninghamRoad, Vasanthnagar Paintingsat discount rates, along withan additional offer where pa-trons get 50% off every secondpurchase.

Crocs Candy Collection: Tues-day, July 5th, 2011. 11 a.m. to9 p.m. Crocs India Retail Lim-ited, Mantri Square, No 1,Sampige Road, MalleshwaramA collection of lightweight,stylish footwear in bright, can-dy colours.

Celio End of Season Sale:Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 9 p.m. Celio, Brigade Road,Discounts up to 70% on allapparel and accessories.

Lifestyle presents Watch Fest:Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lifestyle, AdarshOpus, Campbell Road, AustinTown Offers and discounts on a wide range of watches.

The Big Wrangler Sale: Tues-day, July 5th, 2011. 10 a.m. to9 p.m. Wrangler, No 777, 100Feet Road,Indiranagar Wrangler kickstarts its end of seasonsale, with discounts of up to50%.

Pepe Sale: Tuesday, July 5th,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pepe,No 2, Brigade Road, Discountsof up to 60% on all merchan-dise.

Sale @ Esprit: Tuesday, July5th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Esprit, No 10 Ananda Bhavan,Vittal Mallya Road, Esprit an-nounces a sale where patronscan avail discounts of up to50% on apparel and acces-sories, and a flat 25% offwatches.

Lee Sale: Tuesday, July 5th,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lee,Royal Meenakshi Mall, NoE1/16, Syndicate Bank Colony,1st Cross, Bennerghatta RoadLee merchandise at discountsof up to 50%.

Reebok Sale: Tuesday, July5th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Reebok, Royal MeenakshiMall, No E1/16, Syndicate BankColony, 1st Cross, BennerghattaRoad Reebok announces a saleacross all its outlets, whereshoppers can get merchandiseat flat 40% off.

3 for 2 offer: Tuesday, July 5th,2011. 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.Landmark, The Forum Mall,No 21, Hosur Road, Koraman-gala Landmark presents the 3for 2 offer, where readers canchoose from a collection ofover 200 best sellers and newreleases and get three bookswith the offer sticker for theprice for two.

Special EventsTuesdays with the Bard: Tues-day, July 5th, 2011. 7 p.m. Ur-ban Solace - Cafe for the Soul,No 32, Annaswamy MudaliarRoad, Ulsoor Lake Tuesdayswith the Bard is an initiativeto create opportunities for po-ets and poetry lovers to gettogether. It features poets read-ing their creations in a newexperience every Tuesday. To-day, published poet B Vinayantakes the stage.

ComedyWayne Brady Live @ LalitAshok: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011.8 p.m. to 11 p.m. The LalitAshok, Kumara Krupa Road,High Grounds Wayne Brady,of 'Who's Line is it Anyways?'fame performs live. His troupebacks him up with music.

Eating OutPower Lunch: Tuesday, July5th, 2011. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. CityBar Karaoke + Grill, Now beconnected even during thequick business lunch. Free wi-fi access while you fill up inthe middle of the day. Delec-table starters with a variety ofveg/ non veg main course op-tions along with draught beer.

Themed Dinner Buffets: Tues-day, July 5th, 2011. noon 24 @43, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 43Hosur Road, Electronic CityAdd some variety to the week.Try a new cuisine everyday.Woks and more on Mondays,Mediterranean Paradise onTuesdays, Barbeque Nights onWednesdays and Taste of Indiaon Thursdays.

Weekday Lunch Buffet @ManU: Tuesday, July 5th, 2011.noon to 3 p.m. ManchesterUnited Restaurant Bar, No 1KIRA Layout, Hosur MainRoad, Koramangala The Man-chester United Restaurant andBar launches a weekday lunchbuffet priced at Rs 350 plustaxes right from starters todesserts.

Monsoon Menu @ Shiro:Tuesday, July 5th, 2011. 12:30p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Shiro, Shirointroduces 'Flavour of theMonth An Extraordinary Culi-nary Journey'.

Burger-Binging MonsoonMenu @ Mocha: Tuesday, July5th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.Mocha, Lavelle Road, Mochaintroduces a special menu forthe monsoons. On it are specialburgers like the Mexican Burg-er, the Animal Burger and theCold Cut and Cheese Burger.Coolers like Peach and GingerSpritzer, Cranberry OrangeMelange, and Mystic Man-goade are also part of themenu, which is availableacross all outlets of Mocha.

Skewer & Satay Festival: Tues-day, July 5th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. The Grill House, No8/6 Kengiston Point, UlsoorA Festival that includes disheslike Chicken & Olive Skewers,Thyme-scented Chicken Skew-ers, Mexican Chicken Skewers,Beer Marinated Beef Skewers,Smothered Lamb Skewers, andFresh Boccochini CheesyTomato Skewers. The Festivalis on during dinner hours be-tween Monday to Friday.

Derby trophy

Actor Aindrita Ray presents the Kingfisher Derby trophy to Bangalore Turf Club chairman D M Kumaraswamy asUnited Breweries senior vice-president marketing Samar Singh Sheikhawat in the city recently. The derby will be held

on July 10.

Manjunath SharmaBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: An 18-year-old girl,who was allegedly raped by avan driver at Jayaprakashnagarnear Peenya second stage inthe city, has burnt herself todeath.

The girl, who had suffered85 percent burns and admittedto Victoria Hospital, died lastnight. The accused, ManjunathGowda (28), is said to be ab-sconding.

The victim, in her statementbefore the Bangalore North taluktahsildar Shivaswamy, statedthat she poured kerosene andbunt herself on June 27 around1.45 pm as she could not bearthe humiliation of facing herbrother Bheema Naika.

She stated that she was a10th standard dropout and herelder brother was working at aprivate company. Hailing froma poor family in Pavagada ofTumkur district, the victim’sbrother had brought her to Ban-galore and got her a job in agarment factory at Peenya In-dustrial Area.

About a year ago, she camein contact with Manjunath, a

tempo driver who used to pickup employees from her garmentfactory. He started flirting withher and told her that he lovedher. When the relationship gotserious, he promised her thatthey could marry soon. He hadtaken her once to Nandi Hillsand another time to Mysore. Hekept insisting that they shouldget into a physical relationship,which was refused by her.

Once in a while, he wouldsneak into her house after herbrother went to work. On June27, the victim told her brotherthat she was not feeling welland would not go to work. AfterBheema left, Manjunath cameinto the house around 11.30 amand raped her. Just about thesame time, her brother knockedon the door. Manjunath openedthe door and got into an argu-ment with Bheema, she statedin her declaration.

After Manjunath left, Bheemafound his sister sitting in theroom and crying. She toldBheema that she had beenraped. An angry Bheema ranout to catch Manjunath. But thedriver had already fled the area.As Bheema was searching, hegot a call on his mobile phone

from his sister, who said shewas committing suicide as shecould not bear the humiliation.When he tried calling her back,he got a message that the phonehad been switched off.

By the time he rushed backhome, the victim was in flamesand had to be immediately shift-ed to hospital.

Bheema told Bangalore Beatthat he came to know about the

love affair in December, andadvised his sister against it asshe was still a minor. But theyoung girl would have none ofit. Bheema even told her thatManjunath had not settled in

life and did not have a regularincome. He had warned Man-junath against pursuing his sis-ter.

Bheema’s neighbours alertedhim about Manjunath’s frequentvisits. On June 27 too, one ofthe neighbours called him, whocaught his sister and the driverred-handed.

But the police had a differentversion of the story. They saidthe victim committed suicideas her family was opposed toher relationship with Manju-nath. The police said that onetime, the couple had plannedto run away and get married.

The police said that on June27, Bheema came home alongwith his colleagues Shankaraand Raju to confront Manjunath.When caught, an argument en-sued and neighbours gatheredat the scene. But Manjunathcooled them and sent themback, saying he and the victimwere in love.

The two colleagues too leftthe place, saying it was a familyissue and they would not wantto get involved. After this hu-miliating incident, the victimcommitted suicide, the policeadded.

18‑yr‑old alleges rape by herboyfriend, burns self to death

An 18-year-old girl, who alleged that she was raped by her boyfriend, burnt herself at herhouse in Peenya second stage. The victim, who had sufferd 85 percent burns, died at Vic-

toria Hospital last night.

Manjunath Sharma

Bangalore: Global engine mak-ers have evinced keen interestto take part in India’s proposedRs 7,555 crore nationalcivil aircraft develop-ment (NCAD) pro-gramme, expected togive a major boost tocivil aviation industry.

Bangalore-based Na-tional Aerospace Lab-oratories (NAL), underthe Council for Scien-tific and Industrial Re-search (CSIR), has al-ready completed a fea-sibility study on the de-sign and developmentof a national civil air-craft for regional con-nectivity under the guidanceof a high-powered committee(HPC).

“Many of the engine manu-facturers came and talked to

us. They have made presenta-tions about their products,”chairman of the HPC, G Mad-

havan Nair, said. “We had de-tailed discussions with enginemanufacturers”, he said.

Based on detailed marketstudies, configuration definition

of a baseline 90 seat, twin tur-bofan engine powered aircrafthas been completed under the

oversight of the HPC,which submitted thefeasibility study reportto the government inMay this year.

Nair, a former chair-man of Indian SpaceResearch Organisation(ISRO), expects formalcabinet approval for theproject in two-threemonths and said hedoes not anticipate anyproblem in its clearanceas the programme hasbeen welcomed by allgovernment quarters.

According to officials, theaircraft would help connect tier-II and tier-III cities with majormetros, thereby boosting inclu-sive economic growth. PTI

Engine makers interestedin domestic aircraft

Telanganaministers,MPs meet

AzadContinued from page 1

The ministers, MPs, MLAs andMLCs resigned from their seatsyesterday to mount pressure onthe Centre and Congress to takean early decision on the con-tentious statehood demand.

The lawmakers have beenmaintaining that the people ofTelangana feel that only a sepa-rate state could fulfill their aspi-rations and that resignation willbe the right way to protest.

However, home minister P Chi-dambaram said yesterday thatthe Centre is yet to take a finaldecision on the issue and that itwill try to expedite the consul-tation process.

The Congress has also askedits lawmakers to wait till the con-sultation process is over, butthey want an early decision. PTI

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Film starShivrajkumar re-turned to Bangaloreafter a general healthcheck-up in Paris.

Shivrajkumar ar-rived at BIAL thismorning and was re-ceived by his brotherRaghavendra Rajku-mar, brother-in-lawMadhu Bangarappaand other personali-ties from the filmland.

After arriving Shiv-rajkumar said thereis nothing to worryabout his health andhe had been to Parisfor a health check upand did not undergosurgery as was re-

ported in some sectionsof the media. He saidthe doctors told him thatthere was no cause forconcern about a possi-ble blood clot in thehead and it could be re-moved with the help oftablets.

“I am thankful to myfans and the people ofKarnataka for their loveand affection. I will con-tinue to act in Kannadafilms and keep Kannadi-gas happy,” he said.

Shivrajkumar went toParis for treatment onJune 25 following a di-agnosis of a blood clotdue to a head injurywhich he suffered aftera decorative arch fell onhim during a functionlast month.

No surgery, Shivureturns to city from Paris

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Gadag: The BJP governmentfailed to give good governancefor Karnataka said KPCC presi-dent G Parameshwar here thismorning.

Addressing a gathering andparty workers at a function or-ganised as party of Congresswalk to villages programme,Parameshwar said the BJP gov-ernment has failed to implementthe Central government schemesin the state.

While the central governmentreleased crores of rupees underNREG (national rural employ-ment guarantee scheme) for thebenefit of poor people in villages,the state government has not re-leased the funds to gram pan-chayats. People working underNREG scheme has not been paid,he alleged.

While the state government

is claiming credit for 108 ambu-lance service, the reality is thatthe central government is con-tributing 90 per cent of funds tothis scheme, he said. The chiefminister and health minister BSriramulu photos are carried in108 ambulances, he charged.

Govt neglectingcentral schemes:

Parameshwar

Gangadhar Pujar

PUTTANNA REMEMBERED THROUGH RARE PHOTOS

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: An exhibition of arare collection of photographsof director Puttanna Kanagalwas inaugurated at KarnatakaChitakala Parishath today.

The photographs are shot byAshwathanarayana, who workedwith the cinematic genius forover two decades.

Attending the emotional cer-emony, actors Srinath, Jayantiand Padma Vasanthi, who haveall worked with Puttanna, re-called their days with the directorwho elevated Kannada cinemato greater heights.

Padma Vasanthi broke down looking at the old photo-graphs. “I remember each andevery moment I spent with Put-tanna on the sets. These photographs bring back

those memories. He was a greatman,” she said choked with emo-tion.

“I am very happy that thesemoments were captured for pos-terity.”

Srinath said, “We rememberour times with the great man.Puttanna made the Kannada filmindustry known all around thecountry.

He was a people’s director

and pulled the audience to thetheatres. Youngsters should fol-low in his footsteps.”

Puttanna’s wife Nagalakshmiand son Ramu Kanagal too werepresent.

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.

NEWSTuesday, July 5, 2011 4

IT-BT secretary M N Vidyashankar, senior scientist C N R Rao, higher education ministerV S Acharya take part in a function to announce the Banglaore Nano conference in the

city today. Bangalore Nano will be held on December 8 and 9.

Bangalore Nano on December 8, 9

Toughest Caribbean tracksIʼve played on, says Dravid

Roseau (Dominica): He might have beenthe most prolific Indian scorer in the ongoingTest series but senior Indian batsman RahulDravid says it has not been easy as he hashad to adjust to the most challenging WestIndian tracks in his four visits here.

“The two tracks (in the series) have beenthe toughest I have played on in my fourtrips (to the Caribbean),” claimed Dravidahead of the final Test starting here Wednes-day.

“From what I believe, this pitch too wouldhave pace and bounce,” he said.

Dravid is the leading scorer of the seriesfrom both sides, having made 212 runs fromfour innings at an average of 53.00.

India, leading 1-0 in the three-Test series,face a litmus test to come out unscathedfrom the final game. Dravid has no doubtthat his team would, by the time the matchis over.

“Everybody wants to finish on a goodnote. Having said so, we need five days ofbig performance. I believe we have the teamto win the Test. The attitude within thesquad is very positive,” he said.

“We would have liked to win in Barbados.But losing 130 overs due to rain was disap-pointing. We were on a roll, from the secondinnings onwards,” he said. .

India had set a target of 280 runs on thefinal day and West Indies were on the vergeof losing at 202 for seven when rain and

bad light allowed them to live another day.

“Bowling has been very good. Both thetracks were slightly tilted in favour of batsmenwhich is good. These wickets have had a lotof pace and bounce. But they have beengood cricket wickets. They have been goodadvertisement for Test cricket,” he said.

Dravid might have found these tracksmerely challenging but it has been absolutelydevastating for a few young batsmen, notablyMurali Vijay and Virat Kohli, who have beenmiserable failures.

“These tracks have been hard on batsmen.The quality of bowling has made it very

challenging. Our batting hasn’t fired but inthe context of wickets and series, we haven’tdone too badly.

“It’s not easy for young batsmen. Thesetracks probably have been the toughest theywould come across in their careers. In thatrespect they would have learnt a lot and itwould hold them in good stead,” he said.Dravid was all praise for Indian bowling,especially Ishant Sharma, and marveled atthe way the slip cordon has performed inthe series.

“Our bowling has been exceptional. Ourslip catching has been top class. It’s a greatpositive.” PTI

2 secretariatofficials seek

extensionContinued from page 1

Association president Subra-manya S Kumta told BangaloreBeat that the two officers arelured by good and influentialoffices and lucrative salaries.“But it is going to jeopardize thechances of other officers. It isnot fair,” he added.

The two officers who are goingto be directly affected by anysuch move, additional secretaryOm Prakash and joint secretaryManjunath have written to theassociation asking it to intervene.Om Prakash would come in theplace of Patil, while Manjunathwould take over from Dhruv Ku-mar.

Sources told Bangalore Beatthat Dhruv Kumar submitted theapplication to Speaker K G Bopa-iah yesterday, seeking an exten-sion.

Association members pointedto a gazette notification broughtout on December 23,.1994 thatthe government should not con-sider any extension of terms forany posts.

After the June 20 meeting, as-sociation members have writtento the chief minister on June 29,asking him not to consider theextension.

The board that appoints thesecretariat employees also con-sists of the assembly Speaker,legislative council chairman andlaw and parliamentary affairsminister.

TanveerSait visits

govt schoolMysore: Congress MLA TanveerSait inspected Gumchi Govern-ment School at Veeranagere areanext to Mysore central jail thismorning. The school comprisesof 564 students – high school210 and middle school 304. Saitreleased a poster on ‘childrenrights on education’.

He said the education shouldbe made compulsory to all chil-dren and no child should be leftwithout education. Childrenshould avail of the government’sfacility of providing free educationup to 7th standard. Sait said hewill provide library facilities andbookracks for 20 schools whichcome under his constituency. Hecalled upon the children to main-tain cleanliness in their schoolsand ensure hygiene conditions.

Rahul visitsBhatta

Parsaul againGreater Noida: Nearly twomonths after his visit to the epi-centre of farmers’ protests atBhatta Parsaul that led to hismidnight arrest, Rahul Gandhimade his way to the twin villagesagain here early this morningthrowing a fresh challenge toUttar Pradesh Chief MinisterMayawati.

The Congress General Secre-tary made Bhatta Parsaul, whichsaw widespread protests overland acquisition two monthsback, the first stop of his ‘KisanSandesh Yatra’ when he camecalling in a car at 6 am drummingup support for the planned kisanmahapanchayat in Aligarh onSaturday.

The Mayawati government re-fused Rahul permission to holda kisan mahapanchayat in BhattaParsaul in the outkirts of Delhias the two sides geared up foranother round of confrontationahead of the crucial Assemblyelections in UP next year.

Rahul looked very much athome, holding a small, beamingchild in school uniform on hislap as he talked to villagers.Rahul was accompanied by se-curity personnel. “Whatever hap-pened in Bhatta Parsaul, otherpeople were not aware of it. Iwanted to understand this landacquisition happening here, fromhere to Agra. This yatra I havestarted from Bhatta.”

Mʼrashtra students with45% can apply for engg

Nagpur: Engineering collegesin Maharashtra, which were finding it extremely difficult toget candidates for degree courses, have some reason tocheer now.

The All-India Council for Tech-nical Education (AICTE), an anadvisory body in all matters re-lating to technical education,has relaxed the basic eligibilitycriteria for admissions to the firstyear engineering course.

The criterion has been broughtdown to 45 per cent (40 per centfor reserved category) aggregatein physics, chemistry and math-

ematics (PCM) group in standardXII exam, from 50 per cent inforce till last year.

This follows the apex engi-neering body?s decision to lowerthe bar for polytechnic admis-sions to 35 per cent from 50 percent in standard X exam fromany board.

“The AICTE had taken thisdecision a couple of days back.But I’ts yet to reach us formally,”sources close to the director oftechnical education (Mumbai)Subhash Mahajan said.

The official added that DTEwill make changes only after

getting official communicationin this regard.

Sources said the last date ofsubmission of forms is also likelyto be extended, if the new crite-rion is implemented.

They pointed out that AICTEwas forced to lower the bar asdemand for engineers was globally high, but the fieldevoked a poor response fromcandidates. Not only were highfees a factor, but many studentswere also not able to fulfil eventhe basic criteria of getting 50percent in PCM group in classXII exams. PTI

Goa boozebottles to carry

hologramsPanaji: In a bid to certify the orig-inality of the liquor available inGoa, the state excise departmenthas decided to introduce holo -grams on the liquor bottles man-ufactured in the state soon.

With this, tourists, planningto have booze in Goa during thevacations gulp down the contentswithout the fear of spuriousliquor. But, for that they willhave to make sure that the liquorbottle carries a proper hologram.

Excise commissioner P S Red-dy said that such a measure isbeing put in place to make surethat the tourists are not sold spu-rious or adulterated liquor in thestate.

“Hologram will be a multi-colour seal that would be tamp -er-proof and will be pasted onthe bottle at the manufacturingfacility itself,” he said, addingthat it would be unique to thekind of liquor.

“If the hologram is removed,it will be denigrated into pieces,”Reddy said. The state govern-ment, which has invited tenders for hologram manufac-turing, has sent the samples toIIT Delhi to check the quality oflabels.

Goa, which attracts around24 lakh visitors every year, is afavourite liquor destination withthe availability of non-expensiveliquor across the state.

Reddy said the state manu-factures around 3 lakh boxes ofliquor every month, of which,only 50 per cent is consumedlocally, while the rest is exportedto other states. “Locally, most ofthe liquor sale is done throughrestaurants,” he said.PTI

Temple treasure belongs toroyal family: Sankaracharya

Kanchipuram (TN): The huge treasuresfound in Sree Padmanabhaswamy templein Thiruvananthapuram were the “exclusiveproperty” of Travancore royal family thatdedicated their kingdom to the presidingdeity of the temple, Kanchi SankaracharyaJayendra Saraswathi said today.

“For long the erstwhile royal family wasthe custodian of the temple and they de-dicted their kingdom to Lord Sree Pad-manabhaswamy.The treasures were offer-ings made by erstwhile rulers to the temple,hence the recoveries belonged to the royalfamily”, he said.

“However, the treasures should be keptin the temple cellars itself,” he said.

The cellars of the temple, closed for sev-eral decades, were ordered to be openedby the Supreme Court to prepare inventorywhile considering a private petition recently.The deity of Padmanabha Swami Templeis the family deity of Travancore royal

family. Members of the erstwhile royalfamily had dedicated their kingdom to thedeity and pledged that they will live as ser-vants of Padmanabha. The Shrine is runby a trust floated by the Travnacore royal

house.Vast collection of gold, silver, precious

stones and priceless jewellery were dis-covered in the cellars of the temple whilepreparing the inventory. PTI

TRS CHIEF, VIJAY SHANTIQUIT LOK SABHAHyderabad: The Telangana move-ment today gathered further steamwith TRS President K Chan-drasekhar Rao and party MP VijayShanthi resigning from their LokSabha membership in support ofthe demand for a separate state.

Chadrasekhar Rao and Shanthifaxed their resignation letter to theLok Sabha Speaker. Rao wouldmeet the Speaker personally in aday or two, TRS sources said.

State Textiles Minister ShankarRao, who is in the US, has alsofaxed his resignation to the DeputySpeaker, taking the total number of state ministerswho have quit to 12.

However, Rao has only resigned from the as-sembly and not from the cabinet.

75 MLAs and a dozen MPs had quit yesterday

to mount pressure on the Centrefor an early announcement in favourof separate statehood demand.

Chandrasekhar Rao representsthe Mahaboobnagar Lok Sabha con-stituency, while Shanthi representsthe Medak constituency.

TRS and the Telangana politicalJoint Action Committee (JAC) havebeen demanding en masse resig-nations by MPs, MLAs of Congressand TDP to force the Centre toaccept the separate statehood de-mand.

Speaking at a meeting here lastnight, Chandrasekhar Rao described the resig-nations of public representatives as historicaland demanded that the Centre take the en masseresignations into cognisance for accepting thedemand. PTI

Mysore city corp website launched

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Mysore: The city corporationhas launched its website, perhapsfirst of its kind in the countrythis morning.

Medical education and districtincharge minister S A Ramadassinaugurated the website alongwith mayor Pushpalatha

Chikkanna and commissionerRaikar. The website www.mysorecity.gov.in covers 9 divisions ofthe governmental activities.

Ramadass said it is heraldingof a new era of Mysore and sim-ilar websites will be launchedfor the MUDA and zilla panchay-ats. He said the website is fundedthrough the Rs. 100 crore ear-

marked by state and central gov-ernments for the overall devel-opment of Mysore. He said thewebsite will be uploaded on adaily basis and bills raised will becleared within 7 working days ofthe corporation. The website willalso provide information under RIT.Bangalore-based Patil and Com-pany developed the website.

Medical education and Mysore district in-charge miniser S A Ramadass launches MysoreCity Corporation website at Mysore today.

G S Ravishankar

Gangadhar Puja

Ashwathanarayana, who has taken rare photographs of Puttanna Kanagal, actors Srinath, Padma Vasanthi, Jayanithi, Puttanna’s wife Nagalakshmi and director T S Nagabharana at the inauguration of the photo exhibition at the CKP today.

SC holds salwa judum as unconstitutional

New Delhi: The Supreme Courttoday restrained the Chhattisgarhgovernment and the Centre fromappointing tribals as Special Po-lice Officers and arming themto counter Maoists, terming thestep as “unconstitutional”.

The court also ordered a CBIprobe into the attack on socialactivist Swami Agnivesh duringhis visit to Maoist-hit Chhattis-garh in March.

“We direct the CBI to takeover the investigation into seriesof violence and attack unleashedon Swami Agnivesh and his com-panions,” a bench comprisingjustices B Sudershan Reddy andS S Nijjar said.

Asking the Chhattisgarh gov-ernment and the Centre to desistfrom appointing the tribals asSpecial Police Officers (SPOs)and arming them for counteringthe Naxals in any manner directly

or indirectly, the court said theappointment of tribal youths asSPOs is “unconstitutional”.

The bench said that the eligi-bility criteria including the edu-cational qualification and train-ing of the tribals to combatMaoists goes against the provi-sions of statues and the Consti-tution.It said that creation ofKoya Commandos and SalwaJudum was in violation of theConstitution.

The special police officers havebeen given the name Koya Com-mandos after that of a tribe inthe Dantewada region.

The issue of SPOs has arisenduring the hearing of a petitionagainst existence of Salwa Judum(vigilante groups) in Naxal-hitregions of the state to fightMaoists.The petition was filedby sociologist Nandini Sundar,historian Ramachandra Guha,

former bureaucrat E A S Sarmaand others seeking a directionto the state government to refrainfrom allegedly supporting SalwaJudum. .

The issue of attack on SwamiAgnivesh was brought beforethe court in the month of Aprilthis year.

Earlier, Agnivesh had saidthat Salwa Judum was still activeand the chief minister was in-dulging in double-speak as noFIR has been lodged against anyof its members as per the rec-ommendation of the NHRC.

Swami Agnivesh had come tothe court in March this year whenhe was attacked by a group ofpeople – allegedly consisting ofSPOs and Salwa Judum volun-teers – when he was visiting aNaxal region near Dantewadawith activists of the Art of Livingof Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. PTI

Beyond BeatTuesday, July 5, 2011

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Traffic is a nightmare in Bangalorethat is getting scarier by the day.The traffic police department hasbeen expending all its wit and re-sources to put some order into this

chaotic rush of vehicles.Two engineering students from MVJ

College of Engineering have found a solu-tion that could solve some of the trafficproblems in the city. Traffic signal control,innovated by Abhay K Kothari and NipunSingh Chauhan, changes the signal lightdepending on the traffic density.

The city has 35 lakh vehicles and thecountry four crore. Due to this high volume,traffic congestion is a major problem in thecountry, which was what prompted the twostudents to come up with a project to finda solution.

In the city, the traffic light is set to a con-stant time, and it changes only accordingly,whether there is traffic at that signal or not.“This increases the waiting period and addsto the congestion and frustration among ve-hicle users,” Abhay Kothari told BangaloreBeat.

The project aims to reduce the waitingtime at junctions by constantly monitoringthe traffic density, using cameras placed atvantage points. The traffic signals aremade to change depending on the numberof vehicles.

For example, at a four-way traffic signal,if the density is huge on one side and lesson the other, then the light will be green fora longer time at the side where the trafficis more for the passing vehicles and will befor a shorter duration on the other side.

“The system needs to be configuredinitially for every road, based on the di-mension of the road. The system is com-pletely automated and requires no hu-man supervision. Placement of cameras atcorrect points is crucial, since a proper fieldof view is essential for the system to providethe best possible results,” Nipun explainedto Bangalore Beat.

“This system is more advantageousthan the one which uses sensors placed un-

der the roads. These could get damaged dueto environmental changes like rain, vi-brations from and weight of heavy vehicles.Our project can be used by increasing therange of the existing infrastructure of traf-fic cameras that have already been de-ployed with very little or no additionalcost,” he said.

“The placement of cameras is the

most difficult to figure out. It is configuredaccording to the length and breadth of the road. The project requires some furtherdevelopment and we have plans to contactofficials concerned to approve and implement this once we are finished with all the necessary testing and enhancements,” said Nipun SinghChauhan and Abhay Kothari.

Beetrootjuice can

help booststamina

London: Drinking beetroot juice can help athletesbeat the best, scientists have claimed.

Researchers at the University of Exeter foundthat the brightly-coloured juice gives profession-al cyclists such a boost that they can shave vitalseconds off their time.

Beetroot juice is a natural source of nitrate,which is thought to be the active ingredient in af-fecting athlete’s performance.

According to the scientists, the chemical, onceinside the body, starts widening blood vessels,speeding oxygen flow to the muscles, including thebrain, and allowing them make the most of theoxygen breathed in, the Daily Mail reported.

Previous studies have showed that the juicehelps in lowering blood pressure, warding off de-mentia, and even giving energy to elderlies.

In the latest study, published in the journal Med-icine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the Ex-eter team asked nine men who cycle competitivelyto compete in time trials over 2.5 miles and 10 miles.

Before setting off, they drank just a pint of beet-root juice. They repeated the two routes on a dif-ferent day, but this time fuelled by beetroot juicemissing its nitrite.

When the cyclists drank the nitrite-rich, ordi-nary beetroot juice they were 11 seconds quickerover the shorter distance and 45 seconds quickerover the longer route.

While this may not sound like much, the top tworiders in last year’s Tour de France were separat-ed by just 39 seconds.

“This is the first time we’ve studied the effectsof beetroot juice, and the high nitrite levels foundin it, on simulated competition,” said study authorDr Andrew Jones.

“These findings show an improvement in per-formance that, at competition level, could makea real difference – particularly in an event like theTour de France where winning margins can betight,” Dr Jones added.

And it is not just professional athletes who couldbenefit, with better use of oxygen making it eas-ier for the old and frail to complete everyday tasks,including providing the energy needed to walk tothe shops, the scientists said.

The study used shop-bought beetroot juicebut home-made versions should also be benefi-cial, they said.

However, there could be an unexpected result.A quirk of genetics means that eating beetroot

leaves some people producing purple urine, or‘beeturia’ as it is known to scientists. PTI

Kids risk ill health,shorter life with

too much saltLondon: Health experts in Britain have warnedthat the processedfoods and sauces atthe heart of the na-tion’s diet are actu-ally fuelling a dan-gerous daily over-dose of salt and put-ting children’s healthat risk.

Children are rou-tinely eating toomuch salt, risking illhealth and a shorterlife. Typical amountsare at least 50 percentmore than the rec-ommended daily maximum but some consume al-most double.

High salt consumption pushes up blood pres-sure, which in the long term can lead to strokes andheart attacks. These are the country’s biggest caus-es of death and disability, Daily Mail reported.

For their study, health campaigners took twotypical daily menus enjoyed by many children.They calculated the salt content to be 9.3g to 9.6g.

However, for a child aged seven to ten, the rec-ommended maximum is just 5g.

Eating 9.6g of salt in a day would be 92 percentabove this amount — nearly double.

Safe daily amounts of salt vary depending onage and size, starting at one gram or less for ba-bies. If the entire nation cuts down to these levels,doctors estimate that 70,000 heart attacks andstrokes would be prevented in just one year!

Katharine Jenner of the Consensus Action onSalt and Health, which has been campaigning forfood manufacturers and supermarkets to removehidden salt, said: “Popular foods like bread, ce-real, baked beans, cheese, tomato sauce andprocessed meats are some of the biggest culprits.So try not to feed your child them every day.

“Also, throw away the salt cellar. If you eat foodwhich tastes less salty, your taste buds adapt re-ally quickly.”

She said: “The higher the blood pressure inchildhood, the higher the blood pressure will bein adulthood... By getting your child used to lesssalt, you are protecting their health in the longterm.” IANS

Frog feet could solve asticky medical problem

London: British scientists claim to havefound that tree frogs possess speciallyadapted self-cleaning feet, a findingwhich may have practical applicationsfor the medical industry.

“Tree frog feet may provide a design for self-cleaning sticky surfaces,which could be useful for a wide range of products especially in contaminating environments – med-ical bandages, tyre performance, and even long lasting adhesives,” saidlead scientist Niall Crawford of Univer-sity of Glasgow.

Tree frogs have sticky pads on theirtoes that they use to cling on in difficultsituations, but until now it was unclearhow they prevent these pads from pick-ing up dirt.

“Interestingly the same factors that al-low tree frogs to cling on also provide aself cleaning service. To make their feetsticky tree frogs secrete mucus, they canthen increase their adhesion by movingtheir feet against the surface to create fric-tion.

“We have now shown that the mucuscombined with this movement allows thefrogs to clean their feet as they walk,”said Crawford.

In their research, the scientists placedthe White’s tree frogs on a rotatable plat-form and measured the angles at whichthe frog lost its grip. When the experi-ment was repeated with frogs whose feetwere contaminated with dust they lostgrip initially but if they took a few stepstheir adhesive forces were recovered, ‘sci-encecodex.com’ reported.

“When the frogs did not move the ad-

hesive forces recovered much moreslowly. This shows that just taking a stepenables frogs to clean their feet and re-store their adhesion ability,” Crawfordsaid.

White’s tree frogs have tiny hexagonalpatterns on their feet, which allow someparts of the pad to remain in contact withthe surface and create friction, whilst thechannels between allow the mucus to

spread throughout the pad.This mucus at once allows the frog to

stick and then, when they move, also car-ries away any dirt.

If this can be translated into a man-made design it may provide a re-useable,effective adhesive, say the scientists.

The findings have been presented atthe Society for Experimental Biology An-nual Conference in Glasgow. PTI

Washington: Have you ever wondered why youcan’t stop eating just one potato chip? It’s be-cause the fats in these foods help trigger a mar-ijuana-like chemical in body which makesthem hard to resist, scientists have found.

Researchers at the University of California –Irvine (ICI) found that fats in these foods trig-ger a surprising biological mechanism that pro-duces natural marijuana-like chemicals in thebody called endocannabinoids, which in-creases the craving for more fatty food.

In their study, appeared online in the Pro-ceedings of the National Academy of Sci-ences, the researchers discovered that whenrats tasted something fatty, cells in their uppergut started producing endocannabinoids. Sug-ars and proteins, the researchers noted, did nothave this effect.

The process starts on the tongue, where fatsin food generate a signal that travels first to thebrain and then through a nerve bundle calledthe vagus to the intestines.

There, the signal stimulates the productionof endocannabinoids, which initiates a surgein cell signalling that prompts the wanton in-take of fatty foods, probably by initiating therelease of digestive chemicals linked to hungerand satiety that compel us to eat more, the re-searchers said.

The findings suggest it might be possible tocurb this tendency by obstructing endo-cannabinoid activity, for example, by usingdrugs that “clog” cannabinoid receptors, saidDaniele Piomelli, who led the ICI study.

“Since these drugs wouldn’t need to enter thebrain, they shouldn’t cause the central side ef-fects – anxiety and depression – seen when en-docannabinoid signalling is blocked in thebrain,” he noted.

Piomelli said that from an evolutionarystandpoint, there’s a compelling need for an-imals to consume fats, which are scarce in na-ture but crucial for proper cell functioning.

In contemporary human society, however,fats are readily available, and the innate driveto eat fatty foods leads to obesity, diabetes andcancer.

“This is the first demonstration that endo-cannabinoid signalling in the gut plays an im-portant role in regulating fat intake,” LouiseTurner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences andprofessor of pharmacology added. PTI

Two Bangalore engineering students have developed a smart traffic signal systemthat is not pre‑set to the timings of a clock. The new system reads traffic density andthen varies the signal light time, allowing smoother flow of traffic, Abhay K Kothari

and Nipun Singh Chauhan explain to Aknisree Karthik

Here is why chips are so addictive

SOME HOPE FORSMOOTH TRAFFIC

How it Workst The images are acquired by the vi-sion acquisition tool are then passedon to the vision assistant tool whichis used to divide the road into mul-tiple regions of interest (ROI’s).t These ROI’s are used to calculatethe traffic density by using the his-togram methodt The values obtained from the his-togram form the basis of determin-ing the density of traffic for the road.t These values can vary from oneroad to another depending on thewidth, traffic conditions as well as thelighting of the roadt This data for each ROI is furtherprocessed to generate the amount oftime for which the traffic lights shouldremain red and/or green.

Abhay K Kothari and Nipun Singh Chauhan display their traffic signal management system.

Ben Ali gets 15 yrsin jail over drugs,weapons charges

Tunis: A Tunis court yesterdaysentenced ousted Tunisian pres-ident Zine el Abidine Ben Ali inhis absence to 15 years in jail forpossession of arms, drugs andarchaeological artefacts.

In his second trial since fleeingto Saudi Arabia following a pop-ular uprising in January, Ben Aliwas also asked to pay a fine of54,000 euros ($78,500).

The former strongman andhis wife Leila Trabelsi had alreadybeen sentenced in absentia to35 years in prison last month formisappropriating public fundsafter large sums of cash and jew-ellery were discovered in a policesearch of their palace.

In today’s trial, Ben Ali alonewas accused of harbouring drugsand weapons at his palace inthe Carthage neighbourhoodnorth of Tunis. He also faces adrug trafficking charge.

After fours hours of delibera-tion, the court sentenced him to10 years for drug possession, fiveyears for weapons possessionand six months for possessionof archaeological artefacts.

“Today’s trial, just like yes-terday’s trial and the 93 otherscheduled trials, is nonexistentas it breaches all standards of afair trial,” Ben Ali’s lawyers saidin a statement read out beforethe verdict was announced. “To-day’s trial is part of a politicalsmear campaign against presi-dent Ben Ali aimed at portrayinghim as a drugs, weapons andcurrency smuggler.”

The trial had been scheduledto take place last week but waspostponed due to a judges’ strike.

It opened with presiding judgeTouhmi Hafi noting Ben Ali’sabsence for the record, saying:“The accused is not present andis a fugitive.”

Ben Ali’s attorneys thenpressed for another postpone-ment to allow them more timeto prepare their defence.

After their request was turneddown, the lawyers stormed out,with Hosni Beji blasting whathe called “the disregard for therights of the defence”. Their exittriggered loud boos from thepublic. AFP

NEWS & FEATURESTuesday, July 5, 2011 6

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, heads toward a Sea King helicopter for a training exercise, inDalvay by-the-Sea, Prince Edward

Island, yesterday. Prince William willpilot a Canadian military helicopterand land it on the water for the firsttime as part of a military emergency

training exercise.

AP-PTI

world briefs

Egypt courtgrants bail to 14

accused of killingprotesters

Cairo: An Egyptian court has released onbail 14 people accused of killing protestersduring the revolt that led to the ouster offormer president Hosni Mubarak.

The court in the port city of Suez Mondaygranted bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds(around $1,680) each to the former securitychief of Suez, nine policemen, one busi-nessman and his three sons, the Al Masryal Youm daily reported.

Angry families of the victims, however,forced security officials to evacuate thecourtroom.

The suspects face charges of killing anti-Mubarak protesters during the uprisingthat began Jan 25 and led to Mubarak’sresignation Feb 11 after nearly 30 years inpower.

Suez saw the most violent clashes be-tween protesters and police during the 18-day protests.

At least 840 people were killed and morethan 6,000 wounded during the uprising,according to human rights group AmnestyInternational.

Along with his sons Alaa and Gamal,Mubarak has been charged with “premed-itated murder” of protesters in the revolt.

If found guilty, he could face the deathpenalty. Mubarak denies all charges. IANS

Putin, Medvedevmay name thirdperson for prez

Moscow: Russian President DmitryMedvedev and Prime Minister VladimirPutin may propose another candidate forthe presidential elections in 2012, an officialsaid.

“There are three equal scenarios – first,Medvedev; second, Putin; and third, somethird person whose candidacy has alreadybeen coordinated by them (the presidentand prime minister,” said Sergei Mironov,former speaker of the Russian FederationCouncil.

Mironov currently heads the State Dumafaction of the A Just Russia party.

He said Putin and Medvedev had alreadyagreed upon everything but will not maketheir decision public before the start of theelection campaign “because if one if themis announced as a candidate, the other be-comes a lame duck”.

Communist Party leader GennadyZyuganov, Liberal Democratic Party headVladimir Zhirinovsky and tycoon MikhailProkhorov also leader of the Right Causeparty, are likely to join the presidentialcampaign, he said. IANS

Iran to launchown internet

Tehran: Iran is all set to launch the firstphase of its national internet in August, aminister said.

Minister of Communications and Infor-mation Technology Reza Taqipour said thepilot and first phases – titled phases “Zeroand One” – would be completed and beoperational by late August, Press TV re-ported. Taqipour said the national internetwill initially offer 8 Mb high-speed broad-band for home users. The customers willhave 20 Mb of bandwidth when the nextphases of the internet network become op-erational.

Also called the “Clean Web”, the nationalinternet project seeks protection againstthe “loose commitment to ethics and moral-ity” across the World Wide Web.

Tehran has also undertaken a project todevelop a national search engine called“Ya Haq” by early 2012. IANS

Subsidy helps8m elders

Beijing: Old-age subsidies granted by theChinese government has benefited aroundeight million people across the country, aminister said. Minister of Civil Affairs LiLiguo said the old-age subsidy system hasbeen expanded to 14 provinces. It is nowbenefiting eight million citizens aged above80, Xinhua reported. Last year, only sixprovinces had introduced the system.

Li said the ministry will continue to pushother provinces to establish the system soas to better support aged people meet theirdaily needs.

Soon foldable twin‑seater sport plane to soar to skiesHave you ever seen or flown a smallsport plane which can both take offand land on water or ground, hasfoldable wings so that you can carryit on your trailer-truck and park itin your garage?

Now this may not remain a dream,as a prototype of the American light-sport aircraft (LSA) which is beingtested for the past three years islikely to enter the production linein the second quarter of 2012.

The two-seater ICON A5 is beingdeveloped by California-based IconAircraft.

Its wings can be folded easilyfrom the cockpit in under five min-utes while on water or land.

The company last week an-nounced that it closed a $25 millionround of equity infusion in June tofund the project through the com-pletion of its ongoing engineeringdevelopment program, manufactur-ing setup and the beginning of pro-duction of the amphibious sportplane.

The financing was led by investorsSatyen Patel and Bart Becht, whohave deep expertise in building con-sumer product companies. Patel hasbeen associated with a top IT- BPOfirm and worked at senior positionswith global brands like Pepsi-ColaInternational and Nike.

Icon is looking at India to set upa supply chain base for spares andother essential components, besides

trying to focus on the growing marketof high net-worth individuals whocould be interested in buying thisaircraft, Patel said on phone fromthe US.

Other investors include GoogleChairman Eric Schmidt, formerChairman and CEO of Boeing PhilCondit and several top Silicon Valleyventure capitalists.

The company was started in 2005by CEO Kirk Hawkins and COO SteenStrand, who met at Stanford Uni-versity while pursuing degrees inbusiness and product design, re-spectively. “We have a two-prongedstrategy for India that will be partof our global strategic plan whichwill be finalised over the next 3-6months. India features very impor-tantly in our plans,” Patel, who isnow on the Icon Board, said.

“The first part of the strategy isto source components for the aircraft,making India an important and re-liable supply base along with China,”he said.

“We will try to develop a supplychain with Indian firms. We mayalso look at starting a sub-assemblyin India in the long run,” he said,noting that HAL and Indian firmswere already manufacturing com-ponents for various aircraft producedby Airbus and Boeing, includingthe super-jumbo A-380s and B-777s.They were also associated with fight-er jets like the MiG aircraft series.

“Based on our surveys, we couldalso look at international productionline. But all these have to be dis-cussed and finalised,” Patel said.

The second part of the Icon strat-egy would be to study the market

for the A5 planes in India. “It is afairly affordable product for highnet-worth individuals who can carryout short and quick business trips,”Patel said.

“We are already looking at mar-kets in the US, Canada, WesternEurope and the Middle East,” hesaid, adding that since the aircraftwas “an affordable luxury and thereare a considerable number of buyersof such products in India, we feelthe country has a potential to becomea market for this aircraft”.

Patel said A5 could be flown forshort business trips from a city tosatellite locations around it. “Youcan fly from Pune to Nagpur orMumbai or from Ahmedabad to Jam-nagar or Surat. It has a range of 50miles with 20 gallons of gas,” he said. IANS

British PM in Afghanas soldier goes missingCamp Bastion (Afghanistan): BritishPrime Minister David Cameron wasforced yesterday to scrap a visit to anAfghan town he had held up as an ex-ample of improved security after asoldier went missing in the area.

International forces have launcheda huge manhunt for the British soldier,who disappeared just hours beforeCameron began a surprise visit to south-ern Helmand province to announceBritain would withdraw more of its9,500 troops.

Cameron said he had cancelled aplanned trip to Lashkar Gah, whereBritain is handing over control of securityto Afghan forces, so British helicoptersand ground forces could continue theirhunt. “I arrived here today and receivedthe news about this very worrying inci-dent of a British soldier going missingin central Helmand,” he told reportersafter he arrived on a Royal Air Forceplane at the Camp Bastion base.

“I was just very clear that you’ve gotsomething like that absolutely urgenttaking place, where you want to con-centrate all the assets and ability thatyou have to try and find this personand bring it to the right conclusion.

“Its just absolute common sense thatthe military should concentrate on themost important requirement of all whichis to help and find this person ratherthan to bother flying me around.”

Afghan police in the southernprovince of Helmand, where mostlyAmerican and British troops are fightingthe Taliban insurgency, said the manhad been kidnapped in the Gereshkarea of Nahri Sarraj district.

The Taliban claimed that its fightershad kidnapped and killed a British sol-

dier in Helmand, but there was no in-dependent confirmation and the militiais known to routinely exaggerate itsclaims. Lashkar Gah was one of seveninitial handover areas in Afghanistanidentified by foreign forces ahead of afull transfer of responsibility across thecountry and the withdrawal of all west-ern combat troops by the end of 2014.

After years of Taliban violence LashkarGah was seen as the most unlikely can-didate among those chosen for earlytransition. AFP

Middletonat risk ofanorexia,

says expertRome: Kate Middleton, the 29-year-old Duchess of Cambridge,is at risk of contracting anorexia,says an Italian expert.

“You only need look at thepictures from the current visitto Canada to see that she reallyhas lost a lot of weight and thatshe’s bordering on anorexia,”said Fabiola De Clercq, founderof Italy’s Association for theStudy and Research of Anorex-ia.

Prince William and Kate’s tourof Canada and the US began onJune 30.

Before her marriage in April,Kate went on a low-carbohydratediet, De Clercq said.

The Italian expert said shewas concerned what effect thesuper-slender duchess couldhave on young women.

“As happens increasingly oftenin the case of fashion models,the young duchess’s appearancesrisk becoming an advert foranorexia,” said De Clerq.

“Today, even women aged 45-50 dream of being like svelte 15-year-olds,” she said. IANS

Copper slashesrisk of hospital

infectionsWashington: Antimicrobial cop-per surfaces could be one wayof minimising hospital infections,since they rapidly kill bacterial,viral and fungal pathogens.

The latest trial, conducted atthree US facilities – has shownthat the use of antimicrobial cop-per surfaces in intensive careunits cuts down risks of hospitalinfection by 40.4 percent.

Antimicrobial copper touchsurfaces on door knobs, railingsand tray tables are made fromcopper alloys, such as brass andbronze, to prevent infections.These parts are often touchedby people in hospitals and clinics,becoming sources of infection.

Researchers at the MemorialSloan Kettering Cancer Centre,New York, the Medical Universityof South Carolina and the RalphH. Johnson VA Medical Centre,replaced bed rails, overbed traytables, nurse call buttons andIV poles with antimicrobial cop-per versions, according to a SloanKettering statement.

Data presented by trial leader

Michael Schmidt, professor ofmicrobiology and immunologyat Sloan Kettering, demonstrateda 97 percent reduction in surfacepathogens in rooms with coppersurfaces.

Schmidt said: “Bacteria pres-ent on ICU room surfaces areprobably responsible for 35-80percent of patient infections,demonstrating how critical it isto keep hospitals clean.”

“The copper objects used inthe clinical trial supplementedcleaning protocols, lowered mi-crobial levels, and resulted in astatistically significant reductionin the number of infections con-tracted by patients treated inthose rooms,” he said.

“Extensive lab tests havedemonstrated copper’s antimi-crobial efficacy against key or-ganisms responsible for theseinfections, and clinical trialsaround the world are now re-porting on its efficacy in busy,real-world environments,”Schimidt concluded. IANS

Social pressure causes peopleto form false memories: Study

London: Social pressure canmake people form false memorieswhile recalling shared eventswith their friends, a new studyhas found.Researchers from University Col-lege London found that peopleregularly replace their storedmemory with the one that is re-counted by a friend, the DailyMail reported.For the study, the researchersarranged for volunteers to watcha documentary film in smallgroups.Three days later, they were calledindividually to the lab to take amemory test, answering ques-tions about the film.They were also asked how con-fident they were in their answers.They were later invited back tothe lab to retake the test whilethe scientists scanned their brainactivity.This time, the subjects were alsogiven a “lifeline”, the supposedanswers of the others in theirfilm viewing group, along withsocial media-style photos.Planted among these were falseanswers to questions the volun-teers had previously answeredcorrectly and confidently.The participants conformed to

the group on these “planted” re-sponses, giving incorrect answersnearly 70 per cent of the time,the scientists reported in journalScience.But were they simply conformingto perceived social demands, orhad their memory of the film ac-tually undergone a change? To find out, the researchers in-vited the subjects back to thelab to take the memory test onceagain, telling them that the an-swers they had previously beenfed were not those of their fellowfilm watchers, but random com-

puter generations.Some of the responses revertedback to the original, correct ones,but close to half remained erro-neous, implying that the subjectswere relying on false memoriesimplanted in the earlier session.An analysis of the brain scandata showed differences in brainactivity between the persistentfalse memories and the tempo-rary errors of social compliance.The most outstanding feature ofthe false memories was a strongco-activation and connectivitybetween two brain areas – thehippocampus and the amygdala.The hippocampus is known toplay a role in long-term memoryformation, while the amygdala,known as the emotion centre ofthe brain, plays a role in socialinteraction.The scientists think that theamygdala may act as a gatewayconnecting the social and mem-ory processing parts of our brain.Its “stamp” may be needed forsome types of memories, givingthem approval to be uploadedto the memory banks. Thus socialreinforcement could act on theamygdala to persuade our brainsto replace a strong memory witha false one. PTI

Anti‑smokingdrugs may upheart attack risk by 72 %

Washington: People who take help of anti-smokingdrugs to kick the butt are 72 percent more prone to se-rious heart attacks than those who take sham med-ications, a new study led by an Indian-origin scientisthas claimed. Researchers at Johns Hopkins MedicalInstitutions in the US found that healthy and middle-aged smokers who take varenicline, the widely-usedsmoking cessation drug on the market, had a 72percent increased risk of being hospitalised with aheart attack or other serious heart problems.

“People want to quit smoking to reduce the risk ofcardiovascular disease but in this case they’re takinga drug that increases the risk for the very problemsthey’re trying to avoid,” said lead researcher SonalSingh, an assistant professor of internal medicine atJohns Hopkins.

In the study, published in the Canadian MedicalAssociation Journal, Singh and his colleagues analysed14 double-blind, randomised, controlled clinical trialsinvolving more than 8,200 healthy people who receivedeither varenicline or a placebo. Varenicline made byPfizer is sold in many countries including India underthe brand-name Chantix.

While the number of people who died in eachgroup was the same (seven), the researchers foundthat the risk of a major harmful cardiovascular eventrequiring hospitalisation such as a heart attack or ar-rhythmia was 72 percent in the varenicline arms.

None of the studies followed people for longer thana year. The average age of study participants was lessthan 45 years and the majority were men. Vareniclinehas been shown to increase the chances of a successfulquit attempt, compared to unassisted smoking cessationattempts. But overall, the majority of smokers whoquit do so without any assistance at all.

Moreover, Singh noted, varenicline already carriesa boxed warning – the Food and Drug Administration’shighest level of caution – because of its associationwith suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

“We notified the FDA of our cardiovascular safetyconcerns with Chantix earlier this year,” Singh said.

On June 16, the FDA announced that on the basisof a 700-person study, people with existing heartdisease who use varenicline have a slightly increasedrisk of a heart attack or other cardiovascular event.

But Singh’s study found that varenicline substantiallyincreased the risk of a serious cardiovascular eventeven among smokers without heart disease. “I thinkour new research shifts the risk-benefit profile ofvarenicline. People should be concerned. They don’tneed Chantix to quit and this is another reason toconsider avoiding Chantix altogether,” Singh said.

Pigeons never forget a faceLondon: Pigeons are cleverer than youthought – they never forget a face, sayresearchers.

A new study by the University of Parishas shown that even feral and untrainedpigeons can recognise individuals –probably by using facial characteristics– and are not fooled by a change ofclothes.

Although pigeons have shownremarkable feats of perceptionwhen given training in thelab this is the first studyshowing similarabilities in un-

trained feral pi-geons, say the re-searchers.

In a park inParis city centre,pigeons werefed by two re-

searchers, of sim-ilar build and skin

colour, wearing dif-ferent coloured lab coats.One individual simply ig-

nored the pigeons, allowingthem to feed while the

other was hostile andchased them away.

This was followed bya second session whenneither chased away thepigeons, ‘scie-ncecodex.com’ reported.

The experiment, whichwas repeated several

times, showed that pigeons were ableto recognise the individuals and con-tinued to avoid te researcher who hadchased them away even when they nolonger did so.

Swapping lab coats during the exper-iments did not confuse the pigeons andthey continued shun the researcher whohad been initially hostile.

“It is very likely that the pigeons recog-nised the researchers by their faces,since the individuals were both femaleand of a similar age, build and skincolour,” said Dr Dalila Bovet, who ledthe study.

“Interestingly, the pigeons, without

training, spontaneously used the mostrelevant characteristics of the individuals(probably facial traits), instead of thelab coats that covered 90 per cent of thebody,” Bovet added.

The fact that the pigeons appeared toknow that clothing colour was not agood way of telling humans apart sug-gests that the birds have developed abil-ities to discriminate between humansin particular.

This specialised ability may have comeabout over the long period of associationwith humans, from early domesticationto many years of living in cities.

Future work will focus on identifyingwhether pigeons learn that humans oftenchange clothes and so use more stablecharacteristics for recognition, or if thereis a genetic basis for this ability, linkedto domestication or to having evolvedin an urban environment, say the re-searchers. PTI

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron talks with British and US troopsduring a visit at Camp Bastion, outside Lashkar Gah, yesterday.

LIFESTYLE 7Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Although his contempo-raries are still active infilms, veteran actor Jee-

tendra is not in a mood to actany time soon.

Jeetendra was last seen in afull-fledged role in “Kucch ToHai” (2003) and made a specialappearance in a song in “OmShanti Om” (2007).

“When I feel like acting again,I’ll definitely do a film. Right nowI’m just not in the mood,” the69-year-old thespian said in aninterview.

When quizzed about his con-temporary Amitabh Bachchan’sage-defying role in“Buddah...Hoga Terra Baap”, theactor said: “I’ve not seen the film,I want to and have made a planwith my friends.”

So would he like to do a colour-ful and flamboyant role like that?

“That I can’t say right now.

For that I need to first see thefilm, only then can I decidewhether I would do a role likethat or not,” explained Jeetendra,who will be seen on the smallscreen as a special guest on realityshow “X Factor India”.

“X Factor India” is the Indianversion of “The X Factor”, a showoriginating from the United King-dom. It is a musical talent huntshow contested by aspiringsingers, drawn from public au-ditions from all across India.

Talking about his experienceon the musical show airing onSony Entertainment Television,Jeetendra said: “I used to watchthis show and I like it.

Then my daughter told me thatI was called on the show and Iwas very happy and glad to dothis, and today when I came hereI had the time of my life sittingwith such talented people.”

Actress Salma Hayek’s husbandFrancois-Henri Pinault has asecret love child with super-

model Linda Evangelista, court papersreveal.

The court papers, filed by Evange-lista, say he got both women pregnantin the same year. The supermodelgave birth to a boy in late 2006, whileHayek gave birth to daughter Valenti-na Paloma Pinault in September 2007.

A source, who has seen the courtpapers, told People magazine: “In thefiling, it says the child ‘was born outof wedlock to (petitioner) Linda Evan-gelista, 46, and that (Pinault) ac-knowledged (her) allegation’. It says,‘It is decided that Pinault is the fatherof (Evangelista’s son), AugustinJames’.”

“All that’s left is for a magistrate togo over the father’s filings and makea determination of support, whichwill last until the child is 21. (Pinault)is asking to be able to testify byphone,” the source added.

It is unclear how much Hayek, whomet Pinault, a French business tycoon,in 2006, knew about the cover up. Atthat time Pinault was dating Evange-lista.

American singer AaronCarter is consideringtaking legal action

against a US tabloid whichquoted him saying that poplegend Michael Jackson of-fered him cocaine when hewas a teenager.

Carter, a long-time friendof Jackson, reportedly toldOK! magazine’s Daphne Barakthat the King of Pop offeredhim wine and drugs when hewas 15.

He said this in an interviewthat recently ran in the USand Australian issues of thepublication.

The young singer insistedhe did not make the remarks.Jackson’s older brother Randyclaims Carter is looking at le-gal options, reports contact-music.com.

“I was suspicious aboutthe comment... From what Iunderstand, Carter has al-ready denied ever makingthat statement and he is con-sidering suing OK magazine.When negative things likethis surface, it is hard not tohave an emotional reaction.But the truth eventually comesout,” Randy posted on mi-cro-blogging site Twitter.

Carter likely to suetabloid over MJ remark

Halliwell turns designer, to launch evening dresses

Victoria: Iʼm not one of those to flaunt being pregnant

Aamir Khan’s home pro-duction “Delhi Belly”has broken the dry spell

at box office by earning Rs15.65 crore on its first two daysdespite being an adult comedy,while Amitabh Bachchan’sfamily entertainer “Bbud-dah...Hoga Teraa Baap”(BHTB) is at Rs.4.26 crore. Theopening collection for ABCorp’s Rs 10 crore “BbuddahHoga Terra Baap” was Rs.1.91crore, but it picked up on Sat-urday by grossing Rs.2.35, saidfilm critic Taran Adarsh on hisTwitter page.

“‘Bbuddah HTB’ would’vecollected double/triple of whatit has, had it averted clashwith other films. Would’ve gotmore screens also,” he wrote.

Anant Verma, director andbusiness head, DT Cinemassaid both the films are doinggreat, “however, ‘Delhi Belly’is slightly better as it has moreshows than ‘Bbuddah..’

“Moreover, it caters to theyoung crowd, while Bbuddah..is meant for family. ‘Delhi Bel-ly’ has an interesting conceptand it has been promoted insuch a way that the audienceknow what to expect from it,”said Verma. Made at a budgetof Rs 25 crore including printand publicity, Imran Khan-starrer earned Rs 7.15 crore fri-day and Rs 8.50 crore on Sat-urday. While “Bbuddah...” isabout a flamboyant Paris-re-turned gangster, played by

Amitabh, “Delhi Belly” cap-tures the urban, money-is-everything, foul-mouthed In-dia with Imran Khan, Vir Dasand Kunal Roy Kapoor in thelead roles.

However, considering thebudget and genre of the twofilms, both are doing well.

In fact, in some multiplexes“Bbuddah...” is giving neckto neck competition to “DelhiBelly”. “The response has beengood. All the shows of ‘DelhiBelly ‘and ‘Bbuddah..,’ are go-ing houseful. Yesterday ‘DelhiBelly’ was 99 percent whileBbuddah was 98.5 percent,”said Rakesh Warikoo, generalmanager (operations) SpiceCinemas, who are running 18shows of “Delhi Belly” andeight shows of ‘Bbuddah...Hoga Teraa Baap’.

Yogesh Raizada of WavesCinemas sees “Delhi Belly”doing well in the long run andsuggests “‘Bbuddah...’ is acomplete masala film and afamily entertainer. It isAmitabh all the way. All theperformances are also good.It makes for an enjoyablewatch,” he said.

“ ‘Delhi Belly’ cannot bewatched with parents due toits language. However, thefilm is likely to run for longtime, although it is true, withthe release of ‘Murder 2’ nextweek, the business will get af-fected to some extent,” headded.

Salma Hayekʼs husbandhas a secret love child

ʻDelhi Bellyʼ minting money

Ashley to remarry CherylFootballer Ashley Cole re-

portedly plans to marryhis ex-wife Cheryl Cole,

nine months after theirdivorce.Ashley rekindled his ro-mance with Cheryl three monthsago. According todailymail.co.uk, the 30-year-oldChelsea footballer apparently

told friends: “I’m going to marryCheryl again, it’s what we bothwant.” A source close to thefootballer said: “It was no secretthat Cheryl’s mind was not on‘The X Factor’. Simon Cowelleven said as much. Ash made itclear to all his friends that hewanted to win Cheryl back and

they’ve been properly in touchfor the past six months, meetingat his brother Matty’s house.

“They’ve spent so manyevenings together, it was all likea covert operation. There was akiss here and there, but thingsgot a little bit more intimate justbefore Cheryl went to America.”

S inger-turned-fashion de-signer Victoria Beckham,who is expecting her

fourth child with husbandDavid Beckham, says she isblessed to be pregnant but isnot interested in flaunting it.

“As any working mum outthere knows, it really is likejuggling glass balls whenyou’ve got the kids and a hus-band to look after, and you’repassionate about your career.But I wouldn’t have it anyother way. I’m blessed,” con-tactmusic.com quoted her assaying,” she said.

“I’m not really one of thosepeople that likes to go out andpose and flaunt being preg-nant. Not like there’s anythingwrong in that. I’m so proudto be pregnant and I feel soblessed and so happy, I reallydo,” she added.

Victoria had refused to posenude for Vogue magazinewhile pregnant.

Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwellis all set to follow in her band-mate Victoria Beckham’s foot-

steps by launching her own rangeof evening dresses. “I’ve been sketch-ing everything myself. I’m thrilledwith the results. The dresses arenot stupidly expens ve but they areelegant and beautiful,” contactmu-sic.com quoted her as saying.

In 2004, Beckham entered thefashion world as a designer by cre-ating a line of gowns for her self-ti-tled brand, which has now expand-ed into full clothing and accessoriescollections.

Halliwell has created a range ofdresses for British high street storeNext.

Iʼm not ready to returnto films yet: Jeetendra

Tuesday, July 5, 2011 8LIFESTYLE

Aparna & Kushi Malini

Namratv, Vicky with friend

Kavya, Sattya & Ramya

Sushil & Manjul Pauline Fareeza & Mega Manju & Divya

Photos: Gangadhar Pujar

Sex And The City actress KimCattrall is happy to look herage.

“I love setting the gauntlet downand saying, ‘This is what I looklike without make-up and greatlighting’. I’m not interested in beinga Barbie doll and making myselfinto a sausage for the next 20 years,”contactmusic.com quoted the 54-year-old as saying. Cattrall wouldlike to follow the path of actressesDame Judi Dench and Dame HelenMirren who are known for theiracting skills.

“I want to go and be like the ac-tresses who have lines on theirface, look their age and are notfrightened of portraying actresseswho are such,” she added.

COMPANIONSHIP is important: UsherSinger Usher, who divorced

Tameka Foster, the motherof his two sons, feels every

man should have a companion.Companionship is important

every man should have a womanto make him better. I’m datingat the moment not anyone in

particular, but I have a few peopleI’m interested in,”contactmusic.com quoted himas saying. “Rihanna is beautiful.But she’s not necessarily on myhit list she’s like my sister rightnow. Or cousin we have kissed,”he said.

Cattrall: Not interested in being a Barbie doll

BIPASHAgets bolder,gets navel

piercedBipasha Basu, who recently broke-

up with long-time beau, actor JohnAbraham, took a bold decision to

get her navel pierced – a wish she hasbeen harbouring ever since her teenageyears.

“From d age of 16 wanted 2 get a navelpiercing! Finally, I gt guts 2 do it! Looksgreat bt it heals slowly! Can’t workoutmuch fr d next 15days!” Bipasha postedon her Twitter page.

As soon as Bipasha posted the news ofa new addition on her body, her fansstarted sending her healing tips.

“Thank u all for sharing ur healingtips with me! Can’t post pix now! Stillhealing!Will soon plan a chat with u all!Love!” she added.

Bipasha, 32, has put up an optimisticfront ever since she has turned single.

“Everyone needs to get over their fears!So whoever is scared of whatever its timeto see eye to eye with all that u fear andovercome it!” she advised to her friendsand fans. In an industry where two ac-tresses lock horns often, Dia Mirza cameout and praised Bipasha for her decisionof getting her navel pierced.

“@bipsluvurself That’s it! Just whenppl think there’s no way you could getHOTTER you dispel the theory!!!” Diawrote.

Bipasha will next be seen in Abbas-Mustan’s “Players” and international film“Singularity”.

Stress‑free life stressedSome of the well-known experts from

the country doled out tips on healthy,happy and stress-living to the high-

flying crowd of the city recently. The event,organised by Jet Viva – an exclusive forumfor Jet Airways’ Jet Privilege women trav-

elers, saw city’s divas descending at TajVivanta on Saturday.

The experts gave out some useful tipsto the women and stressed the need forleading a holistic life.

Mickey Mehta, a well-known

holistic wellness expert; Freyaz Shroff,motivational speaker from Mumbai; AnitaVasudeva of Fleximom; and Dr A R Raghu-veer, senior naturopathist with Soukyaand Sahaya, fielded questions from theglitterati.