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VOL: 2 ISSUE 47 Feb. 27, 2009

ennai, Feb 27:Ridicul ing the

position AIADMK forking dismissal of theK Government by

oking Aticle 356 of thenstitution, Tami Nadu

i e f M i n i s t e r Munanidhi today said thepreme Court has giventting reply to the partying the demand wasticaly motivated.

Answering a setquestions, the Chief

n i s te r sa i d whenA D M K l e a d e r Dakumar moved the

ex court seeking action to dismiss thevernment, invokingcle 356 for the clashween po l i ce andyers, the Judges saiddemand was politically

ivated and they were

n o t G o v e r n o r s t oconcede the demand.

He saidright from theday when theDMK came topower in May

2006, AIADMKS u p r e m o JJayalalithaa hadbeen demandingthe dismissal ofthe government,even if there wasa minor problemin the state.

None ofher statementwould completew i t h o u t ademand that theD M KG o v e r n m e n ts h o u l d b esacked, Mr Karunanidhi

said, adding after trying in

vain through statements,the AIADMK had moved

the Supreme Court with

the demand.Listing out the

series of incidents thattook place during the

p r e v i o u sA I A D M Kr e g i m e ,including hismidnight arrest,

attack on theconvoy of thethen GovernorChenna Reddy,gheraoing oft h e n C h i e fE l e c t i o nCommissionerT N Seshan anda t t e m p t t om u r d e r o fa d v o c a t e sShanmugasund a r a m a n dV i j a y a n , M rK a r u n a n i d h isaid those who

were at the helm of affairs

when all these incidents

occurred, were seekingthe dismissal of the DMKGovernment now.

He said theAIADMK, which tookserious exception tothrowing of eggs at

Janata Party PresidentSubramaniam Swamy ina c o u r t h a l l , h a dorgan ised obsceneagitation against him inthe same court complexand people had notforgotten them.

Mr Karunanidhisaid the AIADMK, whichwas demanding thedismissal of the DMKGovernment on theground that functioningof courts have come to astandstill, should realiset h a t t h e A I A D M KGovernment was not

sacked when the entire

a d m i n i s t r a t i o n w a sparalysed after it sackedm o r e t h a n 1 0 l a k hgovernment employeesand arrested more than20,000 employees in onesingle night.

O n M sJayalalithaa's demand thatthe Election Commissionshould probe into thealleged irregularities in theThirumangalam Assemblybye-election and ensurefree and fair Lok Sabhapoll, he said the AIADMKleader would continue tomake such pleas, till theElect ion Commissionallowed her a free hand inthe elections and declaredwins by herself.

-Agencies

SC gives fitting rebuff toAIADMK: MK

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ennai, Feb 27:

I n a m i n o r

huffle of the Tamil Nadu

binet, Chief Minister M

unanidhi on Thursday

nducted former Minister

ongothai Aladi Aruna

designated her as the

w M i n i s t e r f o r

rmation Technology.

On the advice of C h i e f M i n i s t e r ,

vernor S S Barnala

ointed Ms Poongothai

the IT Minister, a

tfolio hitherto held by Mr

unanidhi.

This was the

first time the Tamil Nadu

government appointed a

separate Minister for the

IT department.

Ms Poongothai,

who was the former

Social Welfare Minister,

had resigned following

allegations that she tried

to rescue her relative,working in Tamil Nadu

Electricity Board, from a

corruption case.

The telephonic

conversations she had

with former DVAC Chief

S K Upadhyaya was

made public by Janata

P a r t y P r e s i d e n t

Subramanian Swamy

and the excerpts were

p u b l i s h e d b y a

newspaper.

She later quit as

Minister on the advise of

Mr Karunanidhi.

Ms Poongothaiwould be sworn in as

Minister tomorrow at the

Raj Bhawan.

-Agencies

CM designates Poongothai as IT minister

ennai, Feb 27:

Alleging large-

le irregularities in the

c e n t l y h e l d

rumangalam Assembly

e lec t ion, A IADMKnera l secre tary J

alalithaa on Thursday

ed the Chief Election

mmissioner (CEC) to

s u r e t h a t t h e

hcoming elections were

ducted in a free and fair

nner.

In a letter to the

C, copy of which was

de available to the

dia, Ms Jayalalithaa,

senting the diaries of

Presiding Officers in the

i r u m a n g a l a m b y -

ction, said the officers reported that the total

mber of votes polled in

r respective polling

ions had been fully

caused by the number of

votes cast during the last

two-hour period from

1500 hrs to 1700 hrs.

''This confirms

the suspicion of huge pollmanipulation towards the

closing phase of the poll.

T h i s s h o u l d b e

investigated fully and the

explanation from every

officer concerned should

be obtained'', she said

and demanded action

against the errant officers

and debar them from

election duty.

The AIADMK

s u p r e m o s a i d t h e

observers appointed by

the Election Commission

to supervise the conductof the election were not

effective in ensuring a

free and fair poll.

Ms Jayalalithaa

said she was more

interested in improving

the norms of free and fair

elections rather than

benefiting herself or her

party.''Success and

failure are common in the

political arena and are

often reversible for any

party or individual. But

any diabolic misuse of

the electoral process

should not be allowed to

defeat the very purpose

of a democratic electoral

pratice.

Free and fair

election is the basic

requirement for the

representative system of

a p a r l i a m e n t a r ydemocracy'', she added.

-Agencies

Jaya urges CEC to ensure fair poll for LS

Chennai, Feb. 27 :A city-based lawyer in a legal notice on Thursday asked the Tamil Nadu

Assembly Speaker to expunge certain remarks by state Finance Minister KAnbazhagan which allegedly defamed advocates and the profession.

Advocate K Balu, who is also the president of Advocates Forum for SocialJustice, alleged that the defamatory statement was made "with a malafide intention soas to put the name and fame of the profession towards an irretrievable state".He said if the minister did not tender an unconditional apology for his remarks withinthree days of the reciept of the notice he would initiate appropriate legal action againsthim.

Lawyer demands apology from TN Minister

Journalists undertake demo

Journalists of Kancheepuram district staged a demonstrationon genocide of Tamils in Srilanka at Chingleput on Thursday

ennai, Feb 27The Tamil Nadu

embly, which met forbudget session on

bruary 17, was onursday adjourned sine

a day ahead of itsedule.

As there was noiness left for tomorrow,

Business Advisorymmittee, comprisingders of all legislatureties met this morning decided to end thesion today itself.

It was widelypec ted tha t Ch ie fister M Karunandhi,

o is recuperating in aspital after a spine

gery, might come to theuse on the last day ofsession, but he sent aer, expressing hisbility to attend.

T h e s e s s i o nan on February 17,

en Finance Minister K

Anbazhagan presentedthe budget for the year2009-10. It came to anend within fortnight inview of the coming LokSabha elections, duringwhich, leaders andlegislators of all politicalparties would be busywith electioneering.

On the last dayof the session, theHouse, besides passingdemands for advancegrants for the year 2009-10 and passing theapp r op r i a t i on B i l l ,unanimously adopted aBill, seeking to providethree per cent exclusiver e s e r v a t i o n f o r

Arunthadhiyars, a sub-caste of the scheduledcaste.

M rKarunanidhi, in his letter,which was read out byLocal AdministrationMinister M K Stalin, said

he was very muchinterested in coming tothe House, but Doctorsadvised him againstvisiting the House.

The OppositionAIADMK boycotted thebudget on the openingday and pandemoniumbroke out in the House,when the Oppositionmembers were enmasseevicted from the Houseon February 20, whenthey wanted to discussthe police-lawyers clash,a f t e r a d j o u r n i n gQuestion Hour.

Leader of theO p p o s i t i o n JJ a y a l a l i t h a a , w h o

a b s t a i n e d f r o ma t t e n d i n g t h eproceedings, came tosign the attendanceregister kept in the lobbyto keep her membershipalive.

-Agencies

TN Assembly adjournsahead of schedule

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ennai, Feb 27:M a d r a s H i g h

u r t A d v o c a t e ssoc ia t ion(MHCAA)sident and a Dravidau n n e t r a

zhagam(DMK) partym b e r R C P a u ln a g a r a j t o d a y

nounced that he wasigning from primarymbership of the party.

Despite Supremeurt direction to resumerk, the advocates werentinuing their courtcott and demandingGovernment to take

on against the StateP and City Police

commissioner for theirhigh handed act ionagainst the advocates inthe court complex onFebruary 19.

Mr Kanagaraj,while addressing theadvocates, who wereobserving fast, said hewas elected as Presidentof the MHCAA by allsections of the legalfraternity. As a member ofthe ruling party he couldnot apprise the StateGovernment of demandsand problems of theaffected advocates, headded.

He said he was

resigning from the DMKas a mark of protesta g a i n s t t h e S t a t eGovernment and byexpressing solidarity withthe advocates.

Mr Kanagaraj,was an active member ofthe Al l India AnnaD r a v i d a M u n n e t r aKazhagam(AIADMK) till2004. During the last LokSabha elections heswitched over to the DMKin the presence of partyP r e s i d e n t MKarunanidhi.

-Agencies

MHCAA President announces hisresignation from DMK

Chennai, Feb 27:P o o n g o t h a i

Aladi Aruna, who was re-

inducted into the StateCabinet yesterday, wastoday sworn in as TamilNadus first Minister forInformation Technology.

Governor SurjitS i n g h B a r n a l aadministered the oath ofoffice and secrecy to DrPoongothai at a simplefunction held at the RajBhavan.

With this thestrength of the StateCabinet rose to 30.

Senior DMKleaders, including UnionMinister Reghupathy,Tamil Nadu Ministers KAnbazhagan, Arcot N

Veerasamy and M KStalin were among thosepresent at the swearing-in ceremony.

Later talking toreporters, Dr Poongothait hanked the Ch ie f

Minister for appointing heras a Minister again.

'' I will do my bestas the IT Minister under theguidance of the ChiefMinister,'' she added.

D a u g h t e r o fformer DMK Minister AladiAruna, Ms Poongothai,was earlier inducted intothe Cabinet as SocialWelfare Minister whenDMK assumed office afterthe May 2006 Assemblypolls.

However, sher e s i g n e d l a s t y e a rfollowing allegations thatshe tried to rescue herrelative, working in TamilNadu Electricity Board,from a corruption case.

The telephonicconversations she hadwith former DVAC Chief SK Upadhyaya was made

public by Janata PartyPresident SubramanianSwamy and the excerptswere published by anewspaper.

-Agencies

Poongothai sworn in as firstIT Minister of TN

w Delhi, Feb. 27R e t a i l p l a y e r

opper's Stop Ltd todaynounced that it hassed down three outletshe company's lifestyleo k s t o r e b r a n d

ossword'.The three outlets

located in Mumbai,

Chennai and Delhi andwith their closure the

number of Crosswordoutlets has now reacheda figure of 51, Shopper'sStop Ltd said in filing tothe Nat iona l S tockExchange.

The company,however, did not provide

any reasons for closingdown the three stores.

Shopper's Stop has alsoclosed down its 'Stop &Go' store at MumbaiAirport, the statementadded. The companycould not be reached forcomments

- Agencies

Shopper's Stop shuts threeCrossword stores

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w Delhi, Feb 27:P a s s e n g e r s

arting on internationaldomestic flights fromIGI Airport here will

ve to pay a Uservelopment Fee (UDF) of1300 and Rs 200 per

ad respectively fromrch one, the Lok Sabhas informed on Thursday.

Passengers willhave to pay the UDF for aperiod of 36 months tobridge the funding gap ofRs 1827 crore, CivilAviation Minister PrafulPatel said in a writtenreply.

F u n d scollected through thelevy can be utilised only

for the construction ofsuch aeronautical assetswhich will be transferredb y D I A L ( D e l h iInternat ional Ai rportLimited) to AAI uponcompletion of leaseperiod," Patel said.

-Agencies

User fee on air travellers departingIGI Airport from March

kata, Feb. 27Championing the

se of non-violence likefather did, Martin Lutherg-III on Thursday saida nation should spend

much on public services

on defence and thata's younger generations the country's greatestet.

"The children andyoung generation aregreatest resources

ilable in India. But theyst be taught how toctise non-violence. Thedren whom I met duringshort visit to India areraordinary," Martinher King-III told thedia at the the Americannter here.

His India visitm Feb 13-26 was meant

commemorate the tourhis father, civil rightsvist Martin Luther Kingwho came to India 50

years ago to study theteachings and works ofMahatma Gandhi.

K i n g , t h esecond child of MartinLuther King Jr andCoretta Scott King, has

been actively involved ins i g n i f i c a n t p o l i c yinitiatives to maintainsocial equali ty and justice at home andabroad.

King said: "Thefuture of any nationdepends on how we raiseour children and providet h e m w i t h p r o p e reducation. We spend alarge amount of ourbudget in defence-related activities ratherthan spending thatmoney in public service. Ithink it should be, at

least, equal."Talking about

w a r f a r e a n d t h erelevance of peace in the

modern world, he pointedout that non-violencewas just not a "concept"but "a philosophy whichis available and can beu t i l i s e d e a s i l y f o rmankind.

"I am againstwar as my father wasalso against this. Icertainly believe thatnon-violence is the waywhich can be embraced."

Stressing thatthe authorities also haveto find out ways tocommunicate with theterrorists, King III said:" W e s h o u l d a l s ocommunicate with theterrorists to get theirv i e w s , i n s t e a d o fharbouring hatred.

They also havechildren, we've to find out

ways to set an example."

-Agencies

Youth are India's greatest resource:Martin Luther King-III

w Delhi, Feb 27:A day after he laid

wn office, former Lokbha speaker Somnath

atterjee Friday assertedcommunism was no

tical party's "monopoly"said he continued to be

omrade.

Communism isparty's monopoly. I am

a communist," theeran politician, who wasp e l l e d f r o m t h emmunist Party of India-rxist (CPI-M), toldorters here.

Asked if he was

still a comrade, theformer speaker laughedand said, "Even you are acomrade."On his expulsion fromCP I (M ) l as t yea rSomnath said that it wasthe saddest day of his life:I felt very bad.

H e f u r t h e rreiterated that he hasretired from politics andhas taken sanyas now.

Stressing at theneed of responsiblemedia Somnath said,Media cannot be just acritic, you must alsopublish some positivereports also. If youcriticise something in thesystem you must also tryand correct it.

Recalling histenure as the Speaker of

the House Somnathregretted not passingWomens ReservationBill when he was in chair.

Talking aboutt h e P a r l i a m e n t a r yp r o c e s s S o m n a t hstressed that there is noa l t e r n a t i v e t o

P a r l i a m e n t a r ydemocracy and thatbelieved that citizens andtheir representatives(Members of Parliament)should come closer.

Speaking on hisexperience in the last fourand a half years as theSpeaker Somnath said, Ihave been very unhappyfor last four and halfyears.

Showing h isd i sp l easu re a t t hebehaviour of MPs in theHouse Somnath said,Member of the Housemust understand thatthey have accountabilityto people..every issuecannot be raised always.He later thanked mediafor its wonderful supportand also supported

freedom of press. He alsot h a n k e d t h e a l lparliamentary ministersdu r i ng h i s t enu re :Ghulam Nabi Azad, PriyaRanjan Dasmunshi andVyalar Ravi.

-Agencies

I am still a communist:Somnath Chatterjee

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Times Chennai E-Paper Feb. 27, 2009age 6 National

w Delhi, Feb. 27Now that the UPA

vernment has doneay with self-imposedraint, the goodies aretinuing to roll ahead ofpoll code kicking in.

e Cabinet on Thursdayed DA of over 80 lakh

tral employees andsioners by 6% to 22%,ch will amount to ango of Rs 6,020 crore tillbruary 2010.

The governmentk the decision to infusemall dose of funding tor affordable housing road construction but

mbled over reducingsel price as a sop tomers . A proposa lining a Rs 2 cut insel prices was readiedhe petroleum ministry,ch argued that theres headroom to bear as of Rs 12,000 crore, butfinally considered.

The governmentmed to have developedond thoughts over theulist move to cut the

sel price even thoughministry said oi l

mpanies had a margin of4 a litre.

The desperationhe government to clearects was evident when Cabinet and i ts

mmittee on economicirs cleared about 60ects and proposals,

uding on child welfare,wo long sittings in therning and evening. Onnday only, the Cabinet cleared a mammoth 70posals and projects.

The enhancedout on DA will cost the

vernment Rs 6,020re in the 14 months tillb ruary 2010. Thesed rate of DA will be

ective from January9 and payable with nextnth's salaries. This is

second jackpot forntral employees andnsioners who had

eived a pay hike in

September when theCentre implemented theSixth Pay Commission'srecommendations withsome modifications.

T h egovernment passed offthe decision to raise DAas routine and a corollary

to a rise in consumerprice index for industrialworkers. DA is revisedtwice a year, f romJanuary 1 and July 1,payable in salaries ofMarch 1 and September1, respectively. Theincrease this t ime,however, comes wheninflation or the dailycost of living has beencoming down and settledat a little over 3% onThursday.

For the housingsector, the Cabinetcleared a scheme thatwill see the Centre sharea quarter of the costs ofconstructing roads toconnect housing projectsp rom oted by s ta teg o v e r n m e n t s i npartnership with privatecompanies.

T he Cen t ra lcontribution will alsocover peripheral civilworks such as sewages y s t e m s f o r s u c hprojects. The Cabinetearmarked Rs 5,000crore for this, to be spentin the next four years,

with the rider that aquarter of the buil thouses with at least 300sqft area will be for thepoor.

O t h e r k e ya p p r o v a l s i n c l u d eprojects worth Rs 9,565crore for four-laning ofnational highways inKerala and Tamil Nadubesides developing acontainer terminal atEnnore port; Rs 8,436crore for upgrading264km of highways inJammu and Kashmir;and Rs 7,300 crore for

construction of 7,441 km

roads in eight Naxalite-hitstates. The road projectsin Kerala and Tamil Naduwill be carried out in thep u b l i c - p r i v a t epartnership model.

On the roadprojects in Naxalite-hitstates, home minister P

Chidambaram said,``You are aware there are33 districts in eightstates, which have beenidentified (as Left-winge x t r e m i s t a f f e c t e dareas). A comprehensiver o a d d e v e l o p m e n tprogramme in thesedistricts has been drawnup.. . (The) PlanningCommission has beenrequested to make asmuch funds available aspossible in 2009-10.'' Theroads involve 1,320km ofna t i ona l h i ghways ,4 , 5 6 0 k m o f s t a t ehighways and districtroads, and 1,591km ofrural roads.

A l s o , t h egovernment cleared a Rs3,070 crore package toi m p l e m e n t t h erecommendations of thesecond Vaidyanathancommittee on the revivalof long-term cooperativecredit structure. The cut-off date for assessingaccumulative losses ofthe long term cooperativecredit institutions is nowfixed retrospectively at

March 31, 2008. Thepackage will cover loansdisbursed up to March31, 1997, overdue as onMarch 31, 2008, andremaining unpaid till thedate of notification of thepackage.

The Cabinetalso gave its approval tothe proposal of NTTDocomo Inc Japan tosubscribe and or acquireequity shares (27.31%)of equity capital of TataTeleservices which willresult in FDI worth Rs12,924 crore.

-Agencies

Govt showers sops, votershave the last laugh

New Delhi, Feb 27:I n d i a n a i r

travellers will now get thes a m e a m o u n t o fc o m p e n s a t i o n a sapplicable in Westernnations in case of loss oflives, baggage or cargowith Parl iament on

Thursday passing a Billin this regard.

The Carriageby Air (Amendment) Bill2008, which got a nodfrom Rajya Sabha onFebruary 18, was passedby the Lok Sabha afterminor amendments.

The legislationwas necessitated as incase of loss of baggageor cargo, there was onekind of compensation inIndia and another inEurope, Civil AviationMinister Praful Patel said

adding that the Bill aimedto end this disparity.M o v e t o

endanger passengers,

aircraft punishable withlife'

T h e C e n t r etoday said those whou n l a w f u l l y a n dintentionally endangerpassengers on board anaircraft in flight can bepun i shed w i t h l i f e

imprisonment." W h o e v e r

u n l a w f u l l y a n di n t e n t i o n a l l ycommunicates suchinformation which heknows to be false so as toendanger the safety of anaircraft in flight shall bep u n i s h e d w i t himprisonment for life andshall also be liable tofine," Minister of State forCivil Aviation Praful Pateltold Lok Sabha in awritten reply.

He quoted from

'The suppression ofUnlawful Acts AgainstSafety of Civil Aviation'Act, 1982 under which

such crimes are registeredwhile giving the reply.

Referring to therecent Indigo flight incidentwhere a passenger hadallegedly threatened tohijack the plane, Patel saidinvestigations were inprogress.

T h e i n c i d e n thappened on February onewhen a passenger onboard the Indigo Flight hadclaimed that the plane washijacked by him. Thepassenger , J i t ende rMohala, claimed that hewas involved in theKandhar hijacking andsoon he along with hisassociates will hijack theplane.

The plane madean emergency landing atthe New Delhi airport. Acase was registered

against Mohala and he wasarrested.

-Agencies

Indian air travellers to get samecompensation as in West

mbai, Feb 27:Gangster-turned

tician Arun Gawli willtest the upcoming Lok

bha polls under thener of BSP led by Uttardesh Chief Ministeryawati.

The BSP hasided to field Gawli fromthwest Mumbai Lok

bha const i tuency ,ording to reports.

A r u n G a w l i ,wn to his followers asddy", is based at Dagdiawl in Byculla-Saatsta, Mumbai.

In 2004, he wascted as a MLA from the

Mumbai ChinchpokliConstituency as an AkhilB h a r a t i y a S e n acandidate.

No film star:MNS

I n a n o t h e rpolitical developmentf r o m M u m b a i , t h eMaharastra NavnirmanSena (MNS) chief Raj

Thackeray today saidthat his party would notfield any film stars tocontest the forthcomingGeneral Elections.

Ruling out anypre-poll alliance withother parties, the MNSchief also stated that his

party would contest theupcoming elections on itsown.

-Agencies

BSP gives ticket to Gawli

New Delhi, Feb. 27 :I s l a m i c

seminaries will now bea b l e t o p r o v i d evocational training andeducation in modernsubjects like maths and

science to studentsunder a new governmentscheme for madrassas.T h e S c h e m e f o rP r o v i d i n g Q u a l i t yEducation in Madarasa(SPQEM) was launchedby HRD Minister ArjunSingh here on Thursday.

U n d e r t h escheme, madrassas willbe provided linkage withthe National Institute ofOpen Schooling (NIOS)w h i c h w i l l g i v ecertificates to studentspursuing education atthese centres.

Besides, thes c h e m e w i l l h a v eprovision for teachers't r a i n i n g a n dstrengthening StateMadrassa Boards.

The schemewill provide funds tomadrassas and maktabsto introduce modernsubjects like Science,

Mathematics, SocialStudies, Hindi andE n g l i s h i n t h e i rcurriculum. However, thep r o c e s s o fm o d e r n i s a t i o n o ftraditional madrassas

and maktabs will bevoluntary.

M a k t a b s ,madrassas or Dar-ul-Ulooms can opt tobecome accredited studycentres with the NIOS forprimary and middlelevels of education,officials said.

S i n g h s a i dSPQEM will bring abouta qualitative change inthe education beingi m p a r t e d t h r o u g hm a d r a s s a s a n dmaktabs.

This will bring

t h e m i n t o t h emainstream of nationaleducation system.

The schemewas started after anexpert committee of theNational Commission forMinority EducationalInstitutions suggestedthat madrassas beprovided a linkage with

the NIOS to provide forcertification of academiclevels, officials said.

T h e s c h e m eenvisages an expenditureof about Rs 325 crore in theXIth Plan.

The scheme willalso strengthen StateMadrassa Board opting forassistance by enablingthem to moni tor themadrassa modernisationprogramme and enhancea w a r e n e s s a b o u teducation among theMuslim community.

Madrassas whichhave been in existence atleast for three years andregistered under Central orState Government Acts orMadrassa Board or withWakf Boards or NIOS shallbe eligible to apply for

assistance under thisprogramme. The financialassistance will be givenyearly under the schemet h r o u g h t h e S t a t eG o v e r n m e n t s / U n i o nTerritory Administrations inwhose jurisdiction theinstitution is situated.

-Agencies

Scheme for providing moderneducation in madrassas

Pratapgarh, Feb 27:Hindu Jagran

Manch and other Hinduorgan isat ions haveobjected to allotment of"elephant " as an electionsymbol to any politicalparty and have urged theElection Commission towithdraw it.

A decision tothis effect was taken at a

meeting presided hereyesterday by Avadhpranth president of theHindu Jagran Manch,Om Prakash Misra and arequest has already beensent to the ElectionCommission.

"Hindus revere l e p h a n t a s L o r dGanesha and its use inelection provides scope

to political parties to use itfor sloganeering and itsakin to degrading the godthereby hurting thereligious sentiments ofHindus, Misra said.

He said it is alsoagainst the model codeof conduct and should bebanned immediately,Misra said.

Misra further

said that the saints,d h a r m a c h a r y a s a n dactivists of different Hinduorganisations would stagea dharna before theElection Commission andhold a "mahapanchayat"before the Parliament incase their demand is notmet soon.

-Agencies

Ban 'elephant' as an election symbol: Hindu organisations

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w Delhi, Feb 27:Indian economic

wth has slowed downstically to 5.3 percent inthird quarter of fiscal

08-09 aga ins t 8 .9cent in the same periodear ago owing to the cut

demand and exportsowing the ongoingbal economic crisis.

The slowdown is

sharp as the GDP hadgrown by 7.6 percent inthe July-Sept quarter.This time around the

sectors that grew slowerthan expected weremanufacturing and farm

production even as someservices showed robustexpansion.

T h e a n n u a l

growth for India's fiscalthird quarter was lowerthan a median forecast of6.2 percent predicted byeconomists and alsolower than a upwardlyrevised 8.9 percentannual expansion in thesame quarter a year ago.

T h emanufacturing sector fell0.2 percent in theO c t o b e r - D e c e m b e rquarter from a yearearlier.

W h i l eagricultural production isdown by 2.2 percent inthe third quarter of 2008-09 against 6.9 percentgrowth in the year-agoperiod.

I n d i a h a sestimated the economyto grow 7.1 percent in2008/09, slowing fromthe 9.0 percent in the

previous year.-Agencies

GDP slows down to 5.3% in Q3

w Delhi, Feb 26:The trademark

istry process in theu n t r y w o u l d b e

centralised soon iner to expedite and easedecision on trademark

plications, a top official

d on Thursday." S o o n t h edemark registry processuld be decentralised all five offices would be

e to issue trademarke r t i f i c a t e sependently," Controllernera l o f Patents ,

signs & Trade MarksGPDT) P H Kurian saide.

At present, therefive trademark officeshe country located in

cities -- New Delhi,mbai, Kolkata, Chennai Ahmedabad.

Currently, onlymbai office, wherentroller General of

Patents, Designs &Trade Marks sits, canissue certificates for allapplications submittedbefore different patentoffices.

But under thenew process, all the five

offices would be entitledto issue trademarkcertificates, Kurian saidadding that it will saveboth time and money.

Fur ther , thepatent office is preparingt o b e c o m e f u l l ym o d e r n i s e d a n ddigitalised by 2011.

"By 2011, wewill have a world-classintel lectual propertyadministrative system,which would be fullymodern and digital,"Kurian said during aprogramme organised

jointly by the Departmentof Industrial Policy andpromotion and industry

body FICCI."We are reviving

our present patentgranting system and bynext two years, PatentOffices would be able togrant its decision fasterthan the present pace,"

CGPDT further said.Meanwhile, thepatent office is also in theprocess of hiring nearly200 people to tackle theh u m a n r e s o u r c eshortage problem, hesaid.

However, theController General ruledo u t a n y k i n d o foutsourcing work by thepatent office. Replying toa question, Kurian saidthere is no need of anyoutsourcing f i rm orexternal resources topush patent granting

process faster."

-Agenices

Trademark registry process to bedecentralised soon: Official

New Delhi, Feb 27:The economic

health of West Bengal isdismal with the statehaving a backlog of 7.72million at employmentexchanges, the highestin the country, and wayb e h i n d B i h a r a n dJharkhand in facilitatingbusiness, a report hassaid.

" W e h a dstarted tracking thestate's own data from theearly 60s, when it wasone of India's betterperforming states, to noww h e n i t f i g u r e sm o d e r a t e l y o n a l l

Left regime responsible for WB'sdegradation: Study

w Delhi, Feb 26:In a step that is

st likely to triggerther war on telecomrates, state-run BSNLreducing local callrges from March 1 to0.33 paise a minute andD rates to 50 paise anute in its reviseddline/WLL tariff.

" B S N L h a ssed the landline/WLLff under all plansctive from March 1,"

d Minister of State formmunicat ions andormation Technologytiraditya Scindia in theya Sabha today.

B S N L w i l llaunch a pre-paid mobileservice called 'IndiaGolden 50' which willbring in STD rates to 50paise a minute. Thegovernment said thesuccessful bidders forgrant of Mobile NumberPortability (MNP) servicel i c e n c e s w i l l b e

announced by March 5this year.

They will alsobe issued Letters ofIntent (LoI) by this date.There is no delay ini m p l e m e n t a t i o n o fnumber por tab i l i t y ,Scindia said.

T h egovernment i ssuedguidelines for award ofMNP service licence(s)last year. MNP is to beimplemented in all metroand category A serviceareas within six monthsof the award of thelicence and in rest of theservice areas within one

year of the award of thelicence.

The ministersaid Rajasthan has no3G spectrum available tobe auctioned while theNorth-East region hasonly 5 Mhz of spectrum.

-Agencies

BSNL to slash call rates

parameters in the middleorder of all states,"economic research firmI n d i c u s A n a l y t i c u sF o u n d e r D i r e c t o rLaveesh Bhandari toldreporters here.

T h e s t u d y ,'Transforming WestBengal', by economistsB ibek Debroy andLaveesh B handar i ,i d e n t i f i e s f i v e"symptoms" that aretelling instances of thes t a t e ' s d e g r a d e dposition.

The backlog atemployment exchangesis at 7.72 million, chiefly

due to the fact thatemployment growth hasstagnated with the averageannual growth at zero percent in urban areas.

Also the state isnot growing fast enough interms of net state domesticproductivity (5.8 per centfor 2001-06); averageWest Bengal residents arepoor (gross state domesticproduct per capita for2007-08 at Rs 29,457against the nat ionalaverage of Rs 33,299);high levels of poverty inbackward districts (28.6per cent BPL population).

-Agencies

New Delhi, Feb 26:Embattled retail

chain Subhiksha onThursday claimed thatnone of its vendors,including FMCG majorHUL, mobile firm TataTeleservices and PCmaker HCL Infosystems,have filed any winding uppetition against it."There has been media

reports regarding claimsf r o m v e n d o r s l i k eHindustan Unilever, HCLInfosystems and TataTeleservices that theyintend to file winding uppetitions. We wish toconfirm that none of

these vendors nor anyother vendor for supply ofgoods have filed anywinding up petitions,"S ubh i ksha T rad i ngServ ices ManagingDirector R Subramaniansaid in a statement.He added that anypetition of such kindwould not stand up to law."We believe that anysuch petition filed bythem would be withoutbasis in law and wouldnot be sustainable. Wewill naturally vigorouslycontest any such petitionto ensure that the ends ofjustice are met and these

petitions are defeated," headded.Earlier, FMCG major HULhad confirmed filing apetition in the Madras HighCourt. "We have filed ourpetitions with regard toobjections to the proposedscheme of merger andwinding up of Subhiksha,f o r n o n - p a y m e n t o foutstanding dues, beforethe High Court of Madras.As the matter is sub-judice,we will not be able tocomment on it," a HULspokesperson had saidearlier this week.

-Agencies

No winding up petition filedagainst us: Subhiksha

New Delhi, Feb 27:India's exports

continued to dip for thefourth month in a row withthe month of Januaryregistering 17 percentdrop, the biggest slumpthis fiscal, to USD 12.26billion over a year ago, asd e m a n d f o r t h e

merchandise in the USand Europe fell due torecession.

Exports in theApri l-January periodstood at USD 144.26billion, up 13.3 percentfrom USD 128.14 billionin the same period in FY2008.

W h i l e t h e

overseas shipments forthe current fiscal haveshown growth, the paceo f e x p a n s i o n h a sdrastically shrinked fromover 30 percent til lSeptember.

The country hasbeen feeling the impact ofthe global downturn since

October." I n a n

interconnected world,India cannot escapeunscathed, however,India will suffer less (fromthe global f inancialcrisis)," Commerce andIndustry Minister KamalNath said.

During the fiscal

u p t o D e c e m b e r ,sh i pm en ts f rom thecountry stood at USD 132billion.

F u r t h e r , t h eminister set the exporttarget for 2009-10 at USD200 billion, which is thesame as that set for fiscal2008-09. He, however,

scaled down the target thisyear.

W i t h t h es l o w d o w n l i k e l y t ocontinue in the comingmonths, we expect that thetarget for 2008-09 wouldbe between USD 170 and175 billion," Nath said.

-Agencies

January exports dip by 17%

Mumbai, Feb 26:

Lakshmi VilasBank (LVB) on Thursdaysaid it has cut its fixeddeposit rates up to 100basis points for variousmaturities effective fromMarch 1.

T h e t e r mdeposit rate for maturity

over five years would

earn 9 percent interestrate as against existingrate of 10 percent, LVBinformed the BombayStock Exchange.

T h e f i x e ddepsoits in between 3-5years has been reducedby 50 basis poionts to 9.5

percent, while 2-3 year

fixed depsoit would attract10 percent against 10.5percent, it said.

D e p o s i t i nbetween 1-2 years wouldearn 9.75 percent interestas compared to 10.25percent, it added.

-Agencies

Lakshmi Vilas Bank cutsdepsoits rates up to 100 basis points

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lington, Feb 27:I r f a n P a t h a n

ck twice at a criticalction when he rattled

ss Taylors furniture off

second ball of the 18thr and then scalpedob Oram for nought offsuccessive delivery to

ate panic in the Kiwiout. He then bowled thel over under immensessure but succumbed toBrendon McCullum twocessive boundariesdid the job for the hoststhey won the second by 5 wickets.

It did not endre for India. Mahendragh Dhoni , in thesentation ceremony,e another bad newsing that Ishant Sharmas injured.

Needless to state,ndon McCullum wasudged the Man-of-the-tch for his matchning 69 off just 55veries.

The match went

o the last delivery whenscores were level and

e n d o n M c C u l l u mshed it for the hosts withngle. Brendon hit one inair but Rohit Sharmald not pluck the cherryit was victory for New

aland in an encountercan be termed simply

nomenal.Earlier, the NZ

ket keeper went on toke a marvellous halftury and played thehor role for the hosts.s was McCullumsond half century is asny matches. He, along Ross Taylor, had had

en the Kiwis past therun mark and thus,

er to victory.Irfan Pathan had

o v i d e d I n d i a aakthrough when Jesseder dragged one on tostumps. However, theakthrough came rather

as Ryder along withC u l l u m g o t N e w

aland to a flier that tookKiwis to 45 for no loss atend of the fourth over.

The duo had put

a 53 run partnership forfirst wicket. Ryderred 26 off 15 deliveries.on after, Harbhajangh had struck to dismissrtin Guptill for 10 whencaught the batsman int of the wickets. Theays however showed

there was an inside

edge.In the Indian

innings, Mahendra SinghDhoni had failed to play acaptains knock as he

struggled againstboth spin andpace. Both Yuvrajand Dhoni hadcome in at thesame time and

w h i l e Y u v r a jdeparted in the13th over afterstriking a quick50, Dhoni, whocarried the bat,could score only28 runs at a strikerate of less than

100.A few lusty hits

by Irfan Pathan (15 off10) saw India post 149 forthe loss of 6 wickets intheir allotted 20 overs.

Yuvraj Singhbrought up his 50 in stylewith a monstrous hit for a

six off Iain OBrien.Coming in to bat afterthree quick wickets, thesouthpaw bailed Indiaout of trouble with his 50off jus 34 deliveries whichincluded three hits out ofthe ground.

However, hesuccumbed to Ia inOBrien just after her a i s e d h i s b a t t oacknowledge the crowdsappreciation.

Yusuf Pathanf o l l o w e d t h e h a l fcenturion as Vettorirattled the elder Pathansstumps. Later, Ravindra

Jadeja fell in an attemptto up the tempo. Hescored 19 off 16 balls.

F i r s t m a t c hhero Suresh Raina andGautam Gambhir hadfallen in quick successionafter Virender Sehwaghad departed giving Indiaa good start to capitalizeon.

R a i n a h a dperished after a mistimedpull landed in the handsof Tim Southee off Butler.The next to go wasGautam Gambhir, whoedged an away going

delivery from Butler andthe rest was done byk e e p e r B r e n d o nMcCullum.

Prior to Rainasd e p a r t u r e , t h evoluptuous VirenderS e h w a g , w h o h a dunleashed an array ofshots in the first couple ofovers, was caught bycapta in Vet tor i o f fOBrien. He scored aquick fire 24 off just 11deliveries.

Earl ier, NewZealand captain DanielVettori had won the tossin the second T20 matchat the Westpac Stadium,Wellington.

As expected,the Kiwi captain decidedto put their opposition,India, into bat.

India made onechange in the team.Dhoni included Ravindra

Jadeja in place of RohitSharma, whereas NewZealand went into thesecond T20 of TheNational Bank series witha n u n c h a n g e dsquad.

This is a drop inpitch, heavily grassed butit is dead grass. Prettyhard as Mark Richardson

knocks it with his hand.Outfield is in superbc o n d i t i o n . T h eboundaries are a bitl a r g e r w i t h t h edimensions measuring70 metres.Teams:

New Zealand:Brendon McCullum(w),Jesse Ryder, MartinGuptill, Ross Taylor,Jacob Oram, Neil Broom,N a t h a n M c C u l l u m ,Daniel Vettori(c), IanButler, Tim Southee, IainO'Brien

India: GautamG a m b h i r , V i r e n d e r

Sehwag, Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh, MahendraSingh Dhoni(w/c), YusufPathan, Irfan Pathan,R a v i n d r a J a d e j a ,Harbhajan Singh, ZaheerKhan, Ishant SharmaBrief Scores: India 149for 6 in 20 overs, NewZealand: 150 for 5 in 20overs

New Zealandwon by 5 wickets

ndia go down fighting to NZ in a cliff-hanger

Wellington: Feb. 27Losing Yuvraj

Singh and Yusuf Pathanin successive overs costI n d i a t h e s e c o n dTwenty20 match againstNew Zealand, accordingto captain Mahendra

Singh Dhoni who said abetter display by thepacers could have tiltedthe game in his team'sfavour.

Dhoni felt theteam got off to a decentstart and as long as heand Yuvrai Singh were inthe middle, there wasnothing to panic about.But losing both Yuvrajand Yusuf in a span offour balls proved costly inthe end, he rued.

"Yusuf got outoff inside edge, that wascrucial because we

banked on those kind ofbatsmen. When me andYuvi were batting, wewanted to play the middleovers. We had a decentstart and we had bighitters down the order,"Dhoni pointed out.

" T h o s e 2 - 3wickets we lostin the middlewas very crucialfor us," he said.Dhoni also felt aslightly bettershow by the newb a l l b o w l e r scould have tiltedthe close gamein India's favour."I think if we hadbowled a littlebetter with thenew ball and notgiven so many

runs upfront, may bethings could have beendifferent. The match wentto the last ball and you

don't expect anythingbetter," said the Indiancaptain.

Dhoni, however,was happy with the wayhis spinners, especiallyRavindra Jadeja, tried todefend a sub-150 score.

"I'm still happywith the way the spinners,e s p e c i a l l y J a d e j a ,bowled. There was a chataround in the camp toplay one more seamer

but Jadeja did a fantasticjob. He scored a few runsand bowled well too,"Dhoni said.

N e w Z e a l a n dskipper Daniel Vettori washappy with the bowlerswho, for the second matchon the trot, restrictedIndia's star-studded line-upto a modest total.

"I'm pleased withthe bowling effort. Guys like(Jesse) Ryder stepped upreally well. We had anopportunity to attack theirfifth bowler but it didn'twork," Vettori said.

Lavishing praiseon Brendon McCullum,who picked his secondsuccessive Man-of-the-Match award for hisunbeaten match-winning69, Vettori said, "It wasgreat batting by him. Thetwo fours he hit in the lastover brought us back in thematch and he then finished

it off." McCullum, on hispart, said his 53-run standwith Ryder made the jobeasy.

"I'm really happyand I think I played betterthan the last match. Wehad a really quick start andit was a matter of keepingpace with things," he said.

-Agencies

Mid-innings slump cost us the match: Dhoni

Wellington, Feb. 27:Kiwi cricket associationchief Heath Mills isb a f f l e d b y B C C I ' sdecision not to allowSachin Tendulkar andDinesh Karthik play in theNZPCA-ACA MastersT20 match because itf e a t u r e s H a m i s hMarshall who had acontract with the rebelIndian Cricket League.Mills, CEO of the NewZealand Players CricketAssociation, said it was asilly decision by theIndian board not to allowthe duo to play thematch.

" W e a r esurprised. Both teamswere excited with thepossibility of playing withtwo of the Indian players,Sachin and Dinesh. Itwould have been greatfor our game.

"Some of thebowlers were young(from the U-19 level) andlook ing forward tobowling to one of thegreatest players (Sachin)who have played the

game. "We are reallydisappointed. The fanswould have liked to seethose two players inaction in this country,"said Mills. Mills said heheard about the Indianboard's decision this

morning."I heard about it

th is morning at 8.Obviously during theweek we had made theoffer to the managementand were happy toinc lude two Ind ianplayers in the side to givethem a hit in the middle.The team managementseemed really keen withthe idea and yesterdaythey confirmed twoplayers would play andthat they were allowed todo that.

"Then, we wokeup this morning withnews that the BCCI didnot want the two Indiansto play in the matchb e c a u s e H a m i s hMarshall was playing. Asy o u w o u l d k n o w ,Marshall was an ICLplayer. However, hiscontract finished with theICL last year so we didnot think there would beany problem," said Mills.M i l l s sa id he wasdisappointed with theBCCI's decision.

"To be honest

w e a r e r e a l l ydisappointed with theposition of the BCCI. I\understand the situationwith the ICL, but givenHamish is no longer aplayer with ICL, cricket'sthe loser on this day.

"The fans as

well as the players werelooking forward to thisgame and obviouslyeveryone misses out. It just seems a bit silly tome," Mills said.

"When I learnta b o u t t h e B C C I ' sdecision from JustinVaughan, the CEO ofNew Zealand Cricket, Iwent back and tried tof ind a so lu t ion byexplaining that Hamish isno longer an ICL playerand we want him to play(in the match).

"I was hopingfor a change in theirp o s i t i o n . B u t Iunderstand I would haveto speak to the rightpeople in Mumbai and sowe had to run with theirdecision last night," headded.

Mills said hehad spoken to GaryKirsten and knew that theIndian duo were reallykeen to play the game.

"I didn't speakto Sachin but spoke toGary Kirsten three or fourtimes during the day. I

know both players,including Sachin werevery keen to p laybecause they haven'thad a hit so far.

" T h e y w e r elook ing forward toplaying in what was acompetitive game of

cricket against some prettygood bowlers and get a hitin the middle," he said.

Mil ls said theBCCI and the ICL shouldresolve the issues as themost exciting players weremissing out on playinginternational cricket.

"I think we can'tcontinue to have some ofthe best players excludedfrom international cricket. Iunderstand the position ofthe BCCI. Down here wehave got Shane Bond, LouVincent and Andre Adams.They can't play because oftheir allegiance to ICL.These are good playersand it's sad that they arenot playing internationalcricket.

"The BCCI andthe ICC should come to aresolution to bring ICL tothe fold and that would befan tas t i c f o r c r i c ke tworldwide. I just hope theyare mindful of the impact onc o u n t r i e s l i k e N e wZealand. I am sure there isa solution," said Mills.

F o rm er B CCIsecretary Niranjan Shah,

who is here as theadministrative manager ofthe tour, said, "This matchis very insignificant. I don'thave to react to this."

-Agencies

BCCI's stand to stop Sachin, Dinesh

play in T20 baffles Mills

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ennai, Feb 27:IMI Eventz an

e n t M a n a g e m e n tmpany in Chennai,

ked off i ts 3 day

pping festival EVEsST 2009 today. Thepping festival which

s inaugurated by actor.Poornima BhagyarajValluvar Kottam ands on March 1,

M r . B h a r a t h ,

Manager, IMI Eventz andPromos said, Eves Fest2009 is a tribute towomanhood and the

s p i r i t o f w o m e n

entrepreneurship. Weare extremely happy toorganize this event inChennai. We wanted tooffer a unique shoppinge x p e r i e n c e t o t h eenthusiastic shoppers ofChennai. With more than

7 0 e x h i b i t o r sparticipating in thisfestival, we hope to meetall the shopping needs of

women under one roof.On display for

sale were a host ofproducts includingHouseho ld i t em s ,Home Dcor, Clothes,Fashion accessories,Food items, ImitationJewellery, Cosmeticsetc. The Fest will alsoh o s t i n t e r e s t i n gac t i v i t i es f o r t heshoppers. Visitors canalso experience freefac ia l makeovers ,Mehendi and get healthand fitness tips from

experts during thefestival. More than 70e x h i b i t o r s a r eparticipating in thisexhibition.

F o r f u r t h e rdetails contact: Bharath,IMI Eventz 9884644442

-Agencies

EVEs FEST 2009 gets underway

ennai, Feb. 27Triveni Bialetti

ustries, the Indianbsidiary of Bialet t iustry S.p.A, Italys no. 1kware company ande o f t h e l e a d i n gnufacturers of cookware

e world, announced thench of their internationallity non stick cookwarege. The range will ben u f a c t u r ed a n dketed in India under then d n a m e S t e l l a ,

aning Star in Italian.Stella range will also

ure traditional Southan products such as

achetty, Dosa Tawa,iyarakkal etc., with safehigh quality non stick

ting for everyday use.T h e T r i v e n i

etti joint venture isas first Foreign Direct

estment in the cookwarenufacturing category.e 2,00,000 sq. Ft.nufacturing facility ist over 16 acres ofperty and the unitloys Indias only roboticstick coating machines.facility is capable of

nufacturing over 5on pieces of cookwareually located at Kardi inharashtra.

Triveni Bialetti hasctured the focus of itst r i b u t i o n n e t w o r k

dominantly towards thethern region. The

ducts being offered forsouthern markets haven customised to theuirements of the Southan customer. Triveniettis southern networkconcentrate more on

ditional and modernde involving visual

merchandising and anactive brand campaign.All Stella products will bemade in accordance withthe all-new 3X - DuratekTe c h n o l o g y . T h eproducts will be made outof high quality 3mm

aluminium with uniqueergonomically designedd u r a b l e h a n d l e spatented by Bialetti.Standard 3 layers ofrobotised non stickcoating will ensure evendistribution of the nonstick coat on the surface.Stella range of productswill be available atleading stores andhypermarkets and will bepriced at Rs. 495 andabove.

Com m ent i ngon the occasion, Mr.Fi l ippo Trau, Sales

Director, Asia Pacific,Bialetti Industrie Spa,said This joint ventureunderlines our long termcommitment to theregion and marks theentry of Bialetti in theIndian market. Thesuccess of Bialet t icookware all over theworld is a reflection of theconfidence and trust,which we share with ourconsumers. Bialettisinnovative approachbacked by intensivequality control and safetyp o l i c i e s e n s u r e so p t i m u m q u a l i t yproducts, which are thebest in the business. Westrive to understand theevolving mindset of ourconsumers around theworld and offer themproducts which suit theirrequirements.

Mr. Dinkar Suri,Chief Executive Officer,Triveni Bialetti IndustriesPrivate Limited, saidK eep ing i n m ind ,Bialettis philosophy,Tr iveni Bialet t i hasconducted extensive

research to read theI n d i a n c o n s u m e r s mindsets and is proud topresent world classcookware that trulyunderstands their needsat affordable prices.Stella, which is a result ofa n i n t e n s i v ecollaboration work of theIndian Technical &Marketing teams withBialetti, is truly destinedto be the new star on thecookware horizon.

Addressing thecompanys marketingplans, Mr. Suri said We

intend to invest in ourt r a d e a n d b r a n dmarketing spends for theIndian market by initiallyfocussing on the launchof Stellas exclusive non-stick range, followed bythe entire range ofcookware, house wareand coffee makers fromBialetti Mr. Suri furtheradded that TriveniBialetti is honoured toplay a leading role inpromoting export ofcookware from India,developing the localv e n d o r b a s e t ointernational standardsand making India apreferred supply pointt h r o u g h B i a l e t t i sextensive network ofd i s t r i b u t o r s a n dcustomers.

-Agencies

Italian major launches internationaluality non stick cookware in Chennai

Chennai, Feb. 27D r . A n t o n y

A shok K um ar , t heDirector and Principal forSRM Institute of HotelManagement, wasrecently conferred thedoctorate by University of

M a d r a s . H i ss p e c i a l i z a t i o n i nDoctorate is, Study ofH u m a n R e s o u r c eDevelopment of anOligopoly firm in Hotels,Tourism and TravelIndustry with specialreference to ON-THE-JOB-TRAINING Thedoctorate conferred onhim is The First PhD inInd ia per ta in ing tohospitality industry.

D r . A n t o n yAshok Kumar has aprolific, academic andprofessional exposure.He has a repute andexperience spanningover two decades indiverse environments.Presently he holds multid i m e n s i o n a lresponsibilities of being,T h e D i r e c t o r a n dP r i nc i pa l f o r S RMI n s t i t u t e o f H o t e lM a n a g e m e n t a n d

Sr.General Manager,SRM Hotel Pvt. Ltd.He was born in

Thirunelveli dist in March1961. He, had his Hr.seceducation in Coimbatore.Later he enrolled himselfas a commerce graduatein Loyola, an institutionknown for its rigorousacademic standards. Buthe had to discontinue ashe was destined for ad i f f e r e n taccomplishment. He gotan admission in thecentral National Councilfor Hotel Management,

Taramani; chennai.Hetook up h is undergraduation in Sociologyfrom Osmania University,Hyderabad. He pursuedan M.A in Sociology fromAnnamalai University..

D r . A n t o n yAshok Kumar began his

illustrious career at hotelholiday inn. Later he joined one of the mostesteemed organizationsin the hospitality industry,the Welcome group, ParkSheraton Chennai. Dueto his passion and drive

for teaching he moved toacademic ring, andserved as a lecturer witht h e m o s t r e p u t e dI n s t i t u t e s l i k e :Government Institute ofHotel Management,Hyderabad: GovernmentI n s t i t u t e o f H o t e lManagement, Chennai;Merit Swiss Asian Schoolof Management, Ooty.His immense experience,p r o f i c i e n c y , a n dexpertise had made himh o l d n u m e r o u sresponsibilities.

He was also anexpert member for theuniversally acclaimed,International LabourOrganization; Geneva.He has also served forBrit ish BroadcastingCorporation and SaudiAirlines.

(Saudi Arabia)H e h a d t r a v e l l e dextensively and had

g a i n e d i m m e n s eknowledge about variouscultures and practices inhospitality and tourismsector. He has worked inall suit Hotels in Houston,Texas (U.S.A) in Food

and Beverage department.His drive and

academic quest enabledhim to hold key positions inthe industry. He is ExpertMember, AICTE, SouthernRegion and NorthernRegion; Chairman, Board

o f S t u d i e s ( H o t e lManagement) University ofMadras; Chairman, Boardo f S t u d i e s ( H o t e lManagement) BharathiarUniversity; Chairman,Board of Studies (HotelM a n a g e m e n t )Manonmaniam SundranarUniversity; Guest Lecturer,Annamalai University;Guest Lecturer, (HumanResource Management)Loyola College.

To his credit hehas authored a journal onManagement for MBA(Hospi ta l i t y & Hote lManagement), which ispracticed, and is part ofsyl labi at AnnamalaiUniversity.

U n c d e r h i sstewardship the SRMI n s t i t u t e o f H o t e lManagament won manyaccolades includingwinning of the topinstitution in the list of

catering institutes for twoyears consecutively by ACNeilsen and also by theWeek magazine.

-Agencies

Doctorate conferred ona prolific professional

Chennai, Feb 27:Protesting Chennai lawyers, who are

boycotting the High Court, are on fast and observing a

black day on Friday.They are condemning the violence in the HighCourt and demanding immediate action against policeofficials who carried out February 19 baton charging onlawyers in the Madras High Court premises.

The courts are however, are functioning andthere are no report of any untoward incident.

-Agencies

Chennai High Courtlawyers continue boycott

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