Express India - May 14, 2013

EXPRESS INDIA May 14, 2013 Page 1

A weekly News paper featuring News & Trends from the Indian Sub-continent published from the US Capital

Vol. 23 No. 20 WASHINGTON DC • Phone: 301-445-0200/301-445-3543/301-917-4800 • email:[email protected] • May 14, 2013

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EXPRESS INDIACongress Axes Bansal, Ashwani KumarJoshi To Handle Railway Ministry, Sibal Law Ministry

New Delhi, May 11 (ANI): President Pranab Mukherjee as advised by Prime Minister Dr. Manmo-han Singh has accepted the resignations of Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar with immediate effect As advised by the Prime Minister, President Mukherjee has directed that the additional charge of the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Law and Justice shall be given to Dr. C. P. Joshi and Kapil Sibal

respectively. In a swift and de-cisive move, the Congress Party dropped both Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal from the Union Cabi-net yesterday in view of the charges of corruption and impropriety surrounding the duo. The decision in this regard came soon after Con-gress President Sonia Gandhi met the Prime Minister and it was decided that both the ministers should be asked to

U.S. Lawmakers Caucus To Push FBI To Track Hate Crime

put in their papers to contain any further damage to the UPA Government. The government was finding to difficult to de-fend Law Minister Ashwani Kumar after the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks over changing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) status report in the coal scam. Kumar today stated that he had one no wrong, but had submitted his resignation

By Ravinder Singh Robin Amritsar, May 10 (ANI): Taking a strong view of the vicious attack on 82-year-old Piara Singh at Fresno Sikh Temple in California, the American Sikh Congressional Caucus, a recently set up group of US lawmakers, has taken up the issue of hate crimes against the Sikh community with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Caucus’s co-chairs Judy Chu and David G. Va-ladao, while condemning the incident in strong terms, are pushing the matter with the top investigating agency. “I have pushed the FBI to finally begin tracking hate crimes against American Sikh community. This will

help law enforcement officers in every locality to do all they can to prevent violence against this – and all communities. We cannot wait any longer,” said Chu in her statement. She said: “My heart broke when I heard about suspected hate crime on Piara Singh, an elderly Sikh man dedicated to his faith and his community. He was doing what he did every day, volunteering at his gurdwara, when a man viciously attacked him.” American lawmakers also expressed a commitment to combat the growing wave of violence and intolerance that threatens the safety and civil liberties of all Americans, including the Sikh American

Siddaramaiah To Be Next Karnataka CM Bangalore, May 10 (ANI): K. Siddaramaiah, a five-time MLA from Varuna in south Karnataka, was on Friday selected to be the new chief minister of the state. The decision in this regard was taken after four AICC observers led by Defence Minister A.K. Antony took the views of newly-elected MLAs on the issue of chief minister-ship. Siddaramaiah, who is a backward caste leader from the Kuruba community, met former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna for about 20 minutes earlier in the day to seek his support for the coveted post. Siddaramaiah, who was virtually the face of the Congress Party in the Karna-taka assembly election, will be the 22nd chief minister of the state. Siddaramaiah had earlier on Wednesday said he is confident that the national leadership would back him to become the state’s new chief

minister. “Let us see, I am con-fident that national party will certainly back me. The question of management doesn’t arise at all. See, it is left to the legislature party and the high command. Let us see what decision the high command takes ,” he told the media in Bangalore. Congress made a spectacular come back in Kar-nataka wresting power after seven years in its old southern fortress. The party won 121

seats in the 224-member as-sembly. The BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) finished second with both winning 40 seats each. Yeddyurappa’s KJP won six seats, while the indepen-dents and others won 16 seats. Elections in Karnata-ka were conducted for 223 seats. Elections in one constituency - Periyapatna -- was deferred to May 28 due to the death of the BJP candidate.

Indian Leaders Welcome Sharif’s Win In Pakistan Polls

Jabalpur/Nandiad/Srinagar/Mumbai, May 12 (ANI): Leaders of various political parties in India on Sunday welcomed the victory of Pakistan Muslim League0Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif in the May 11 general elections in Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday applauded Nawaz Sharif and his party Pakistan Muslim League- (Nawaz) (PML-N) for their convincing victory in the recently concluded elections and conveyed India’s desire to work with him to chart “a new course” in India-Pakistan relations. Singh also invited Sharif to visit India at a mutually convenient time. A PMO said, “The Prime Minister has extended his congratulations to Sharif and his party for their emphatic victory in Pakistan’s elections.” Singh also congratulated the people and all the political parties of Pakistan for braving the threats of violence and voting in large numbers. The Prime Minister also “expressed India’s desire to work with the new govern-ment of Pakistan in charting a new course for the relationship between the two countries,” it said. With Sharif close to achieving a majority in the polls, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav said elections in Pakistan had been held as per established democratic tradi-

tions inspite of incidents of sporadic violence in different parts of the country. “The election has happened in a very democratic way. We have very high expecta-tions of Nawaz Sharif. Relations between India and Pakistan will improve with him at the helm of affairs.” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Union Minister for Heavy Indus-tries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said in Nandiad: “ I believe now we will have a new beginning between India and Pakistan. Things will be better. I believe whatever he has promised during elections, he will complete it.” Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister

SHARIF See Page 7

India, US Agree To Focus Further On Economic Issues

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): US Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai here on Friday during which they reviewed the full range of bilateral relations and agreed to focus further on the economic issues. According to of-ficial sources, India raised matters relating to immigra-tion reforms currently under

consideration in the USA and sought greater access for highly-skilled non-im-migrant categories, while the US raised issues relating to Preferential Market Access. There was also a detailed discussion on en-ergy related issues including reiteration of Indian interest in LNG sales from the US. Education as a future pillar of the Indo-US relations.

AXE See Page 8

community. Notably, Piara Singh volunteered at the Nanaksar Sikh Temple daily. He sustained head wounds, a punctured lung, and broken bones and ribs during the assault. The Central Valley is home to more than 25,000 Sikhs. Meanwhile, Ameri-can Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, while condemn-ing the incident, hailed the caucus for taking up the matter at the right platform withy the federal government. While talking to ANI over phone, AGPC Coordina-tor Dr.Pritpal Singh asked the community to stay calm and resort to prayers. He stressed that the incident shows how justified is the caucus which aims to seek government and policy makers help on community issues in the United States.

Official sources fur-ther said India also reaffirmed its commitment to pursuing nuclear cooperation with the US. Both sides looked forward to the commercial aspects of civil Nuclear Agreement being taken forward. There was a discussion on regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan.

INDIA See Page 2

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is al-ways to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison

Page 2 May 14, 2013 EXPRESS INDIA

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Salman Khurshid’s China Visit Fruitful New Delhi, May 11 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said that the meeting over the India-China border dispute with the Chinese leadership was ‘fruitful’. Salman Khurshid said he felt that both India and China were on the ‘ same page’ as far as the bor-der incident in Ladakh was concerned and the effort was to ensure that such incidents would not affect the ‘larger picture between India and China’. Salman Khurshid said that both countries felt that there were ‘mechanisms in place for dealing with such issues and such episodes or incidents’. The mechanisms had worked and both coun-tries had the confidence that they will work. “With the degree of

satisfaction with the mecha-nisms in place for dealing with such issues and such episodes or incidents we both had the confidence that they will work. It was also very clear that we both believe that our vision and our commit-ment is to the larger picture between China and ourselves and we were both equally de-termined that such incidents should not be allowed to stand in the way and obstruct a very meaningful growth in our relationship,” Khurshid told the media here. Salman Khurshid disclosed that he discussed the matter with the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and the feeling was that “ it was im-portant to analyze our respec-tive systems to work out why such things happen or indeed why the most recent incident happened and we would be able to draw lessons to ensure

that they are satisfactorily resolved. “We should also learn lessons to ensure that such things do not happen,” he added. Khurshid said that the talks between special representatives of India and China on the boundary issue is scheduled to take place in a couple of months. When asked to com-ment the contentious issues, which could be raised during the Chinese Premiers visit, Salman Khurshid responded by saying that there were no ‘prickly issues’ or ‘ major issues of significant differ-ence that could be seen as obstacles’. Besides meeting Li during his China visit, Khurshid also met State Councillor and China’s new Special Representative for border talks Yang Jiechi.

INDIA From Page 1

Manmohan Singh A ‘Misfit’ As Prime Minister, Says BJP

The US Deputy Secretary of State also made a courtesy call on Prime Min-ister Dr. Manmohan Singh. In his meeting with Dr. Singh, William Burns recalled the distance that Indo-US rela-tions had traversed since early 2000 and attributed the suc-cess to the visionary leader-ship of the Prime Minister.

India, US Agree To Focus Further On Economic Issues

The US Deputy Secretary of State’s visit to India comes as part of the ongoing process of high-level engagement between US and India. Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, was here last month, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had visited Washington in April. Union Human Resources Devel-opment (HRD) Minister M.M. Pallam Raju is leaving

on a visit to US for the education dialogue and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde will visit Washington for the homeland security dialogue. The present visit was in preparation for the forthcoming Strategic Dia-logue between US and India scheduled to be held in New Delhi in the latter half of June.

New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Prakash Javadekar termed Manmo-han Singh as a ‘misfit’ for the office of Prime Minister, and called for his resigna-tion. Javadeka r was commentin on the demon-stration taken to the resi-dence of the Prime Minister at 7 Race Course road this morning. “The Prime minis-ter who prides himself to be the economist, the econo-mist prime minister has failed not only in managing the economy, but he has failed to tame the corruption and he has presided over the most corrupt government since independence,” said Javadekar. T he Bha r a t iya Janata Party (BJP) called for a nationwide campaign against the ruling Congress in the wake of recent allega-tions of corruption. Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal as well as Former Law minister Ashwani Kumar tendered their res-ignations from the cabinet in New Delhi on Friday. Bansal was ex-pected to step down after police arrested his nephew

on suspicion of accepting a bribe in a case that was seen as embarrassing to the Con-gress party-led government, which has been battered by a series of corruption scan-dals. Kumar’s depar-ture comes days after the Supreme Court said the government substantially changed a report by the Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) into alleged ir-regularities in the awarding of mining rights potentially worth billions of dollars to private companies. The scandals have dented the image of Man-mohan Singh. The main opposi-tion Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also demanded Singh’s resignation, but stopped short of calling a no-confidence motion in parliament to bring down the government. However, the op-position clamour for the resignations proved so dis-ruptive that parliament was adjourned on Wednesday until further notice, two days ahead of its scheduled close, as it became impossible to carry out meaningful legis-lative business. The government has had to postpone eco-

nomic legislation and a flagship programme to give cheap food to 70 percent of the population. Meanwhile, the spokesperson of BJP, Prakash Javadekar also addressed the media in Srinagar, and accused the government and the called the Prime Minister a misfit ruler. The so-called Coal-gate scandal emerged last August with the release of a report by the CAG that questioned the lack of trans-parency and undervaluing in the award of potentially valuable concessions. But it was quickly eclipsed by Singh’s launch of investor-friendly economic reforms on September 14 that shifted the narrative of a government in crisis to a government in overdrive to win back foreign investors. Despite the seem-ingly endless stream of corruption scandals and setbacks, the Congress party is still hopeful of winning a third term in office. The BJP too is in disarray and has lost control of four state governments in the past year - most recently its only southern stronghold Karnataka - where Congress swept to victory on May 8.

Advani Says Karnataka Results Not Surprising

Bangalore, May 12 (ANI): Calling the electoral outcome in Karnataka as ‘not surprising’, Bharatiya Party Leader (BJP) leader LK Advani on Sunday said the party had erred in not taking immediate firm action on allegations of corruption against BS Yeddyurappa and its handling of the state had been “absolutely opportunis-tic”. He also demanded resignation of Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh after reports that he had to be nudged in asking Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar to resign as union ministers. Advani said he felt sorry for the party’s loss in Karnataka but he was not surprised. “The surprise would have been if we had won,” he said. The Bharatiya Jana-ta Party (BJP) leader said that if the party had immediately taken firm action when it became apparent that Yedy-urappa, its first chief minister in south India, was “unabash-edly indulging in corruption”, the course of events would have been quite different. He said Karnataka results had a profound les-son for his party as its tally came down to 40 from 110 in 2008 but also had one for the Congress. “The common les-

son for both of us is: let’s not take the common man for granted... If corruption provokes indignation in Bangalore, why would it not cause the same feeling in New Delhi,” he asked. Advani cla imed that the common man may occasionally deviate from the norms of ethical conduct, but does feel extremely angry when he sees those at the helm of national affairs behaving immorally. He said it was a reason for intense allergy towards politicians generally witnessed nowadays. “BJP lost Karnataka because it threw out Yeddy-urappa,” Advani said “Let me first point out that BJP did not throw out Yeddyurappa; it is he who broke away from the BJP and decided to form a factional party of his own, the KJP,” he said, adding that the party had kept up frantic efforts for several months to keep placating Yeddyurappa. “The justification given was that if the party did not adopt such a ‘pragmatic’ approach we would lose the only government that we had in the south,” he said. He contrasted this with an example of Jan Sangh, the precursor of BJP, which faced the situation of having to expel six of eight legisla-tors in Rajasthan after 1952 elections over their refusal

to abide by the party line on abolition of jagirdari system. Advani said the then party chief Shyama Prasad Mook-erji had told the party not to hesitate in taking disciplinary action. He said while in-stances can be cited when other parties get away with gross misdemeanours, BJP should realise that the yard-stick by which the people judge it was not the same by which they judge other par-ties. He said BJP had aroused high expectations in people by its track record and even minor indiscretions can prove costly. “And our response to the Karnataka crisis was not at all a minor indiscretion. I have consistently maintained that our handling of Kar-nataka has been absolutely opportunistic,” he said. Referring to reports in a newspaper that Congress president Sonia Gandhi will meet senior party leaders soon to discuss the cabinet reshuffle, Advani asked if the prime minister “had abdi-cated his right even to decide about his own cabinet”. Citing news reports that it was Sonia Gandhi who was instrumental in sacking “two PM’s men”, Advani said, “sheer self-respect demands that the Prime Minister calls it a day, and orders an early general election”.


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Italy Asks For ‘Fast’ And ‘Fair’ Trial Of The Two

Marines In Captivity Amritsar May 11 (ANI): The Italian envoy Daniele Manchini said here today that they want fast and fair trial of the two marines involved in the killing of two Indian fishermen and also suggested that the accused should be tried under Italian jurisdiction. The Italian envoy Daniele Mancini said in Amritsar on Saturday that they want speedy trial of the accused. “We continue to say that jurisdiction should be Italian since they are navy of-ficers, members of the Italian establishment. In any case we accepted this trial to be held in New Delhi provided it is again, faster and fair,” said Mancini. The marines Massi-miliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone were charged with murder for shooting of fisher-men off the coast of Kerala last year while serving as security guards on a cargo ship. The two say they fired warning shots at a fish-ing boat believing it to be a

pirate vessel with armed men onboard. Italy maintains the incident happened in inter-national waters and that the men should be tried on home soil. Recently, Italy had contested India’s decision to assign the anti-terrorism National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the case, saying that the NIA only had the jurisdiction to investigate terrorist crimes. Tensions between India and Italy have escalated over the case since the shoot-ing, peaking recently when Italy refused to send the ma-rines back from a home visit. Outraged, India’s top court briefly barred the Italian envoy from leaving the country. Rome returned the marines for trial after New Delhi promised them the men would not face the death sentence. Italy’s Foreign Min-ister resigned after the marines returned to India, saying he did not agree with the decision to send them back.

India Welcomes Pakistan’s Democratic Election Result: Khurshid

Surat, May 12 (ANI): External Affairs Minister Salman Khur-shid on Sunday welcomed Pakistan’s democratic elec-tion result and hoped that it will continue to have good relations with neighbouring country. “India welcomes whatever result that comes out of a democratic election. From Prime Minister’s side also congratulations will be offered to him,” Khurshid said. “Our government has had relations with Nawaz Sharif. I hope we can continue to have good relations if he comes to power,” he said. “The relations with Nawaz Sharif built a belief that there can be good rela-tions between both the na-tions. We can hope that they can continue having same approach,” he added. Echoing similar

sentiment, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said that India always want to build good relations with Pakistan. “Believe that if democracy is strengthen in Pakistan it will be good for the country and the neigh-bours. We always want to build good relations with them (Pakistan) and Nawaz Sharif has also said that he will work to improve rela-tions,” he added. Nawa z Sha r i f, known to his supporters as “the Lion” claimed victory on Saturday night in one of most dramatic general elections in the country’s history, 14 years after he was overthrown and exiled by military dictator Pervez Musharraf. Pa k is t a n Mus-lim League-Nawaz party (PML-N) chief Shar if was set to become the next prime minister of the troubled country after it

became clear he had se-cured a commanding lead despite the challenge from Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan. The election was the first time in the coun-try’s history that one elected government has handed power to another.

PM, Sonia Decided Jointly On Axing: Dwivedi New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): Congress Party spokes-man and general secretary Janardan Dwivedi on Sunday said in a statement that the removal of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law and Justice Minister Ashwani Kumar from the Union Cabinet was a “joint decision” of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, while dismissing reports that the action was at the insistence Gandhi only. “It has appeared in a

section of the media that it was at the insistence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi that the two Ministers were dropped. This perception is not correct. The correct position is that it was the joint decision of the Congress President and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,” party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said. He also rubbished reports that quoted senior BJP leader L K Advani as taking a dig at the Prime Minister, saying

he should now call it a day as he appeared to have “abdicated” his right to decide on his Cabinet. “Has the Prime Min-ister abdicated his right even to decide about his own Cabinet? Today’s news reports about the removal of two Union Ministers generally emphasise that, it is Soniaji who has sacked ‘two PM’s men. Sheer self-respect demands that the PM calls it a day, and orders an early general election,” Advani wrote on his blog post.


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E D I T O R I A L A Bangladesh Tragedyby Anadi Naik Recently, in the tragic collapse of a multi-story building in Dhaka, nearly a thousand people died. The building was being used as a production center for brand name garments sold in well-known stores in the West. In order to maximize profit neither the owners nor the pro-ducers had given any attention to safety. Several thousand workers worked in the build-ing and its vicinity. When the building collapsed a large number of them perished. It is sad. But this accident could have been easily avoided. Had the government officials had done their work properly they would have helped correct the violations for safety. The building owners and garment manufacturers are people with money and connection. So the rules did not apply to them, literally. A few months back there was a fire in Dhaka in a similar manufacturing place. A city block burned to ashes and many people died. Again, this was a man made tragedy that did not have to happen. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries. Severe floods after torrential rains are a fact of life there. In order to bring economic prosperity for its people the country needs help from abroad. Brand name garment manufactur-ers have found a haven there to manufacture their goods because of its readily avail-able labor force at a cheaper rate. In a strictly transactional

way, the manufacturers buy labor from those who provide them; the laborers sell their productivity for money. How-ever, this give and take form of capitalism has developed certain wrinkles that need to be ironed out. Not only does the Government of Bangla-desh but multinationals who produce and the countries who buy their products have a shared responsibility to see that the poor of the poorest country are not exploited. In a mad race to pros-perity not only in Bangladesh but in many other countries the workers are getting the short end of the stick. In recent years a series of mining col-lapses has happened in China. Because of the break in a dam thousands of people have been swept away there. Miners in South Africa and Brazil have been buried alive. Even in the United States, rescuing miners from underground has been heart wrenching. Many of these accidents could have been avoided. But the lack of sincerity among inspectors also contributed to these mishaps whose results were catastrophic. Accident, by definition, happens without warning. Nobody can help it. Yet, if the warning is ignored and deliberately overlooked then it proves a systemic deficiency. Sadly, developing countries like Bangladesh suffer from this problem. There is a tendency among bureaucrats and gov-ernment leaders to give the “connected people” what

they want. The connected people break the rule in the hope that they will continue to have the upper hand no matter what. Political leaders go out of their way to please them because industrial houses contribute heavily to various political leaders and Parties. So the leaders stay mum about any violation. However, an incident where a thousand people are killed wakes up the conscience of everybody involved. Both the producer and buyer of these goods feel shame. Some of the Western buyers of the Bangladesh gar-ments have declared that they will help the victims and their families. A similar promise also was made to help the victims of the Union Carbide victims in Bhopal, India. After twenty years, many are still seeking justice and fairness. Nobody should be surprised if a similar fate befalls the cur-rent victims of Bangladesh. After this incident there is a lot of cry in the Western World for better working condition for the workers engaged in garment industries. It is the same old story: The poor can’t protest too much and the rich don’t care. It is the role of the government to look after the interest of both in a fair way. To do so the government has to be effective and independent. And there lies the dilemma not only in Bangladesh but in many other countries. Our condolences to the victims’ families.

Famous Asian American MomsAsian Pacific American (APA) Women Blazing Trails

by Cameka Crawford Asian Pacific Amer-icans have made great strides in paving new inroads into business, fashion and me-dia, making Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and Mother’s Day the perfect time to celebrate the innova-tions of famous APA moms who manage to balance being a mother as well as a trailblazer in their respective industries. Ranked third on Forbes’ “World’s 20 Most Powerful Moms” list in 2012, PepsiCo Chairperson & CEO Indra Nooyi is no stranger to accolades. For more than a decade, Nooyi has directed the company’s

global strategy and led many highly successful mergers and acquisitions. Designers Vera Wang and Kimora Lee Simmons have pioneered new trends in the world of fashion by carving out their own unique niche. Wang is internationally known for her wide range of haute couture bridesmaid and wedding gowns and Simmons created the popular female urban fashion line Baby Phat. In the culinary world, chef Cristeta Com-erford has been the White House Executive Chef since 2005, making her the first woman and first APA to be selected for the post. An-

other mom who knows a little about food is ‘Top Chef’ host Padma Lakshmi, who has received two Emmy Award nominations for her work on the hit show. Speaking of televi-sion, Julie Chen, Juju Chang and Lisa Ling have become fixtures of broadcast news while actress Ming-Na will star in the highly-anticipated adventure series ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ this fall. Verizon is celebrat-ing APAHM all month long with its 2013 APAHM Tour featuring K-pop sensation B.A.P and YouTube musi-cians Jason Chen, Clara C, Joseph Vincent and New Heights.

China Begins to Understand India Having just returned from his visit to Beijing, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid stated on Saturday 11th May 2013, that India and China are in the process of engineering a new Border Defense Cooperation Agreement. Elucidating the need for such bilateral cooperation, Khurshid points out that apart from being neighbors, India and China are two very prominent countries capable of making an ocean of difference internation-ally, and more effectively in Asia, if only both the entities would converge on common perceptions, positions and attitudes. Minister Khurshid also recalled the legacy of cooperation and collabora-tion between India and China, including the effects of their ancient trade and cultural exchanges, which are con-spicuously noticeable to the student of history. Therefore, it is no misplaced confidence that Salman Khurshid has expressed about the great good that can come from Indo-China collaboration. The immediate con-text in which External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid made these observations was the recent Chinese incursion in Daulat Beig Oldi (DBO) sector in Ladakh. More pre-cisely, the Chinese troops advanced 19 kilometers into Indian territory. However, according to Minister Khur-shid, India did not want to do a post-mortem of China’s military encroachment, or throw blame on them. What is more impor-tant right now is to explore the ways and means of establish-ing a sound and amicable relationship with China. Gratifyingly, however, China has admitted that the 20-day stand-off between the two sides resulting from the Chinese troops’ pitching tents

in DBO sector in Ladakh, could have been avoided, and should not happen in future. Both sides also agreed that the baggage of this regrettable issue should not get in the way of bettering the bilateral relations. It is imperative, however, that one studies and analyzes the factors that prompted the Chinese troops to intrude into our territory, in the first place, as it is necessary to prevent such episodes from recurring. And if at all it does by any chance, we should be able to resolve it much quicker than we could this time. Talking to the press, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid stated that representatives of either side will meet in a couple of months to thrash out the issues related to Indo-China bound-ary. Some time back, China proposed a Border Defense Cooperation Agree-ment about which India has also given their suggestions. Khurshid seemed satisfied that things were working out well towards resolving the standoff. Basing on what he heard on Friday 10th May, from Chinese Foreign Min-ister Wang Yi, Khurshid clarified that Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang was expected to visit New Delhi during May 19-21, which will be shortly followed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s reciprocal visit to Beijing. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid pointed out the historical sig-nificance of prime ministers of India and China paying mutual visits during the same year. The last time it happened was way back in 1954! According to Wang Yi, this scheduled prime-ministerial mutual visits held great promises and oppor-tunities for both China and India who could scale up their

relations. And he added that China was willing to make all out efforts to exploit the opportunity to promote the bilateral strategic coopera-tive partnership to a higher level. Salman Khurshid also was optimistic about the outcome of the mutual visits. Khurshid observed that this is India’s opportunity as well, to augment the mutual cooperation in various levels and areas. Regarding the con-tentious issues which could be raised during the visit of Chinese premier Li Keqiang, Salman Khurshid clarified that there are no outstanding prickly issues of major differ-ences which can obstacle the mutual ties. To be honest, this is the first time ever, that India is able to recognize some posi-tive inclination on the part of China which seems commit-ted and determined against any gestures that would harm the rights of India. Also for the first time ever, China has shown “sensitivity” towards India’s demand for expanding mechanism to deal with issues pertaining to trans-border riv-ers. Yet another matter of grave concern is India’s trade with China, which declined last year to about US dollars 66 billion, from what was 74 billion in 2011. And taking all these aspects into account, during the said visits, both the digni-taries will be signing mutual agreements of peace, coopera-tion and collaboration. Nations that are truly peace-loving ought to know that Buddha’s, Ashoka’s and Gandhi’s India has always stood for peace, ahimsa, and non-aggression. It is hearten-ing that China has finally rec-ognized India’s true worth and heritage of nonviolence, non-aggression, non-interference, cooperation, and peace.


‘Our Priorities For Innovation Should Be Conditioned By Our Socio-Economic Realities’: Mukherjee

New Delhi, May 11 (ANI): President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said India has to unleash its innova-tion potential to increase ca-pacity, productivity, efficiency and inclusive growth in a globally competitive world. President Mukher-jee, who presented National Technological Awards at a function held here in Vigyan Bhawan to mark the National Technology Day, said that the future prosperity of India in the new knowledge economy will increasingly depend on its ability to generate new ideas, processes and solutions. “The process of in-novation shall convert knowl-edge into social good and economic wealth,” he added. President Mukherjee said that globalization has re-written the rules of business. He said that the most competitive and resilient com-panies can expect to survive in the fiercely global market, and added that we must make sure we have the capacity to compete, to innovate and to deliver on time. “If our systems are strong and robust, the world will respect us and be will-ing to work with us. In this context, the theme of the

National Technology Day this year, “Innovation - Making a Difference”, is timely and appropriate,” he said. President Mukherjee stated that the needs and re-quirements of our democratic polity are different from the other nations. “Our priorities for innovation should be condi-tioned by our socio-economic realities. The Indian innova-tion strategy, therefore, has to be different. It should focus on generating ideas that promote inclusive growth and benefit people at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid,” he added. President Mukher-jee stated that to conceive a sustainable growth strategy, we must focus on inclusive innovation. He stressed that inno-vation in thought, innovation in effort and an all-pervasive innovative spirit can maintain our position and status in the fast changing world, where technological obsolescence is the order of the day. Welcoming the Presi-dent, Union Science and Tech-nology and Earth Sciences Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said technological developments in the global history have also

led to economic asymmetries within the society. “Technology has made a difference to global societies; but some what inequitably on account of dif-ferentiated access. The nations have come to be categorized as developed, developing and emerging. The question is whether these classifications relate to the differential access of people to technologies. In modern times, innovation is expected to make even greater difference to people than technology,” he said. The Science and

Technology and Earth Sci-ences Minister said true cel-ebration of development rests in providing equitable living choices to all people in the country. The question ahead of the Government is “How to make technology render equi-table access to developmental choices to people?” Reddy said in mod-ern economy, where innova-tion is likely to emerge as the next driver of change, access to knowledge more than labour might become a key. He said the DST in all three departments and

Ministry of Earth Sciences are actively engaged in de-velopment of an ecosystem for innovation. “We have described in our STI policy of 2013 in-novation as a tool for conver-sion of knowledge into societal value or wealth. Open Source Drug Discovery and CSIR 800 of CSIR, Millennium Alliance and Grass Root Innovation System of DST, Vaccine pro-grammes of DBT and Ocean Information System of MoES are all indicators of the com-mitment of my two ministries to the cause of Innovation

making a difference to all,” he added. Reddy said work on development of a system that will enable online submission and tracking of all competitive grant proposals in our science ministries has been started. “This will ensure that all such proposals are scrutinised in time bound manner and will bring greater transparency in the system. This online system will be in place in the next few months and will be adopted by all the departments under the S & T and Earth Science ministries,” he added. Reddyfurther said our Science, Research and Innovation must evolve into a System which paves a High Technology-led Path for India as evinced in the New STI policy 2013. Among the dignitar-ies present on the occasion were S Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister of Science and Tech-nology and Earth Sciences, Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Prof. S.K. Brahmachari, Secretary, De-partment of Scientific and In-dustrial Research and Director General Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The President, Shri Pranab Mukherjee and the Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy launching a modular Tablet PC designed, devel-oped and manufactured by two young IITians- Sh. RohanPandey and Sh. Rohit Rathi, at the ‘Technology Day 2013’ celebrations, in New Delhi

India, China Review Ladakh Border Stand-off, Ink Protocol To Enhance Bilateral Cooperation

Beijing, May 10 (ANI): India and China have reviewed the fallout of their recent army-related stand-off in the Depsang Valley iof the Ladakh region during talks between External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing. During the meeting, Khurshid sought to make existing mechanisms more ef-fective to respond with greater urgency in dealing with border violations. Khurshid told Indian media in Beijing after his talks on Thursday that China has not yet given any reason for the recent intrusion in Ladakh, an episode that had cast a shadow over bilateral ties. He said that both leaders also discussed the recent episode on the border on the Line of Actual Control, LAC. He said it was very

refreshing to get a very posi-tive and meaningful response from China. Khurshid further termed the meeting as ex-tremely balanced, satisfying and friendly, during which both sides finalised the agenda that will be taken up during the forthcoming visit of Chi-nese Premier Li Keqiang to India. Both countries also signed a new protocol to en-hance cooperation between their foreign ministries, while working at the same time on a mechanism to step up coor-dination for providing timely information to the media. The face off in La-dakh had almost resulted in Khurshid cancelling his two-day visit to China. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang will now undertake his visit to India from May 20. The issue has now been resolved peacefully

with the two sides agreeing to restore status quo along the Line of Actual Control in the western sector of the boundary, as it existed prior to April 15. The nearly three-week-old stand-off between India and China over the latter allowing its troops to enter and occupy 19 kilome-ters of Indian territory in the Daulat Beg Oldi sector near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, ended last week, with both sides withdrawing their troops to previously agreed positions. India had earlier asked China to maintain sta-tus quo on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Daulat Beg Oldi, which is located in northern-most Ladakh, is a historic campsite. It is located on an ancient trade route connect-ing Ladakh to Yarkand in Xinjiang, China.

SC Remarks On Coal Scam, CBI Functioning Correct: Director Ranjit Sinha New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Ranjit Sinha on Thursday ac-cepted the Supreme Court’s observations on the coal block allocation scam, saying that whatever the court has said is correct. The Supreme Court had on Wednesday pulled up the CBI, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Coal Min-istry officials for changing the “heart” of the coal scam probe report and directed the government to come out with a law before July 10 to insulate the agency from “external influence and intrusion”. Even as it came down heavily on these entities, the apex court also made a refer-ence to Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar’s role in vetting the probe report and asked, “does it not subvert the integrity of the investigation if changes are brought in status report on the suggestion of

Law Minister and government officers.” The coal scam con-cerns the government’s al-location of the nation’s coal deposits to public sector entities (PSEs) and private companies by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In a draft report issued in March 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) office accused the government of allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner during the period 2004-2009. Over the Summer of 2012, the BJP lodged a com-plaint resulting in a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into whether the allocation of the coal blocks was in fact influenced by corruption. The essence of the CAG’’s argument is that the government had the authority to allocate coal blocks by a process of competitive bid-ding, but chose not to.

As a result both pub-lic sector enterprises (PSEs) and private firms paid less than they might have otherwise. In its draft report in March this year, the CAG estimated that the “windfall gain” to the allocatees was Rs.10673.03 billion (approxi-mately USD 200 billion). The CAG Final Report tabled in Parliament put the figure at Rs.1855.91 billion (approximately USD 34 billion) On August 27, 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh read a statement in Par-liament rebutting the CAG’’s report both in its reading of the law and the alleged cost of the government’’s policies. Former senior po-lice officers have also by and large welcomed the Supreme Court’s strictures against the government and the Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI)in the coal block alloca-tion scam report/affidavit.


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EXPRESS INDIA Pallam Raju To Visit USA For Dialogue On Higher Education New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister M.M. Pallam Raju would be on a five-day visit to Washington DC, Phila-delphia and Boston beginning on May 13 for dialogue on higher education. “This a continuation of India-US higher education dialogue which was initiated in 2009 after the Prime Min-ister Dr Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US during the same year, “ Pallam Raju told the media here today. This visit is the fol-low up of the Obama-Singh initiative taken on higher edu-cation. The focus of the visit would be on strengthening and enhancing higher education initiatives- 8 projects have been identified under this initiative. Strategic dialogue on higher education would

take place. The visit will also cover school education and skill development sector. Pallam Raju also discussed ‘Connect to India’ programme where US stu-dents will be coming and join-ing higher research institutes in India. The visit will also focus on exchange of faculty and development of faculty. The Government has also initiated a scheme through University Grants Commission (UGC) to spon-sor Indian researchers at the Post-Doctoral level and the first batch of 126 Indian schol-ars is ready to go to the US Institutions for post-doctoral research. The HRD Minister expressed the hope that the partnership in scientific re-search and technology will definitely have its impact on academic world.

Pallam Raju further said that he has been invited by the Temple University, Phila-delphia to receive the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honaris Causa, at the 126th commencement exercises on May 16. The commencement exercises will be held at the Liacouras Center on Temple’s Main Campus. The HRD Minister’s visit will also focus on devel-opment of community colleg-es in India. Pallam Rajustated that the US has a very healthy, vibrant and strong network of community colleges which responds to the local needs. “It is an informal system of education and building up of vocational skills and caters to the local requirements,. The American Association of community colleges is very keen on vis-iting India and making their

presence in India. As far as school education is concerned, as a part building of capacity of teachers, educators and teach-ers would be sent to various US universities. First batch will be leaving shortly,” he said. The HRD Minister also answered a volley of questions on four year under graduate programme of Delhi University, normalization of JEE (mains) exam, RTE,and accreditation of higher insti-tutes of learning for quality education. On the issue of four year course, he said that the Ministry does not have any intent to impinge on the au-tonomy of Delhi University. On the question of RTE, Pal-lam Raju stated that the major concern is the shortcoming in the capacity of teachers and the Government is working on it.

Germany Seeks Clemency For Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): Almost a month after the Supreme Court dismissed convicted Khalistani terrorist Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar’s plea that his death sentence be commuted to life impris-onment, German President Joachim Gauck and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have written to their Indian counterparts seeking clem-ency for him. “Germany is oppos-ing death penalty, we believe it does not serve justice,” Ger-man envoy Michael Steiner told media here. Bhullar’s family members, including wife,

Navneet Kaur, met the Ger-man envoy here along with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjeet Singh. “Their (Germany’s) foreign minister has written a letter to our foreign min-ister, Salman Khurshid, that Germany government seeks the commutation of Bhullar’s death penalty into life impris-onment,” Singh told media. Bhullar was sen-tenced to death in 2001 for plotting terror attacks on Punjab SSP Sumedh Singh Saini and M.S. Bitta in 1993, leading to several deaths in New Delhi. The apex court had

on 26 March, 2002, dismissed Bhullar’s appeal against the death sentence awarded by trial court and endorsed by the Delhi High Court. He had filed a review petition, which was also dismissed on 17 December, 2002. Bhullar had then moved a curative petition, which too had been rejected, by the apex court on March 12, 2003. Bhullar had filed a mercy petition before the President on 14 January, 2003. The President, howev-er, rejected his mercy petition on May 25 last year, clearing the decks for his execution.

German Bakery Reopens In Pune Pune, May 12 (ANI): The eatery, German Bakery that came into the limelight after a bomb blast that killed 17 patrons and injured over 60 others in 2010, has been formally reopened at the posh Koregaon Park area here with the owners hoping to erase the terrible memory. Vijay Shevale, who has taken over the manage-ment of the bakery on 23 year lease from the Kharose family who own the place on a 25-year lease, said that a structural audit report was submitted which got the nod to restart the eatery. He said:” All signs of the dam-

age caused by the explosion have been removed during the renovation process, as we do not want the patrons to remember the unpleasant episode.” Shevale said about 40 new food items have been added to the old menu that had made the eatery popular among young people and for-eigners staying at the nearby Osho ashram. Renovated at an es-timated cost of Rs 1.5 crore, the eatery was thrown open to customers last evening by a new management, whose earlier plan to reopen it on February 13 was deferred

due to a technical issue as Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) insisted on submission of a structural audit report. The normal ambi-ance of the new look eatery is, however, laced with the hard reality of a security set-up that includes a metal detec-tor, installation of 16 CCTV cameras and deployment of guards. A sessions court here last month convicted one of the accused Himayat Baig in the bomb blast case, awarding him death sentence. The blast had occurred at the bakery on February 13, 2010.

BJP To Start “Jail Bharo Andolan” Against UPA Govt.: Venkaiah Naidu Bangalore, May 12 (ANI): Asserting that the Prime Minister Dr. Manmo-han Singh has no moral right to continue, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said the opposition party will start a “Jail Bharo Andolan” from May 27 to June 3 against the Congress-led UPA Gov-ernment. “The BJP has de-cided to take up a nationwide campaign about the UPA Government failure and also explain to the people about the non-functioning of parlia-ment, non-functioning of the government, confrontation between the government and the opposition and also vari-ous scam and scandal of the UPA Government,” Naidu told media here. “We will protest, for the Prime Minister’s resigna-tion. Our demand is that the UPA Government should go,” he said. “The Prime Minster is not able to do anything , he keeps on safe guarding himself by misusing CBI. The sooner this Government leaves it will be better for the nation.

We are a party which believes in transparency,” he added. On Saturday, BJP President Rajnath Singh had asked Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to step down from his post following the resignations of his two ‘’tainted’’ ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar. “I would appeal to the Prime Minister with all humility that you introspect and decide what should be done so that there is a trust in the people with regard to the country’’s political system. I believe that if the Prime Min-ister does the introspection with all sincerity, then there is no other option left rather than tendering the resignation pa-per,” Singh told mediapersons at a press conference here. “I want to say to the Prime Minister and Soniaji (Congress President Sonia Gandhi) that is it not an at-tempt to cover up the corrup-tion,” he added, while throw-ing light on the 2G spectrum scam. In a swift and de-cisive move, the Congress

Party dropped both Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal from the Union Cabi-net in view of the charges of corruption and impropriety surrounding the duo. The decision in this regard came soon after Sonia Gandhi met the Prime Min-ister and it was decided that both the ministers should be asked to put in their papers to contain any further damage to the UPA Government. The government was finding to difficult to defend Ashwani Kumar after the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks over changing the CBI status report in the coal scam. Meanwhile, Bansal’s ouster from the Cabinet became inevitable after it became clear that the CBI was all set to question him following the arrest of his nephew Vijay Singla in the cash-for-job scam. The arrest of Singla and media revelations about his family’s business trans-actions and bank loans had caused the government major embarrassment.

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Coal Block Allocation Scam:

CVC Seeks Detailed Report From CBI New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): The Central Vigi-lance Commission (CVC) has sought a detailed report from the Central Bureau of Investi-gation (CBI) over the central government’s interference in investigations related to the coal blocks allocation scam. The CBI has also been asked to submit its latest status report on the case to the Commission. The move came after it came to light that certain changes were made in the agency’s draft status report on the case submitted to the Supreme Court. The CBI is probing irregularities in al-location of coal mine blocks on the direction of CVC. According to televi-sion reports, the commission will soon hold a meeting with CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to take stock of the agency’s probe in the matter. The CBI has so far registered 11 FIRs in the matter. The apex court had on Wednesday pulled up the CB, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Coal Min-

istry officials for changing the “heart” of the coal scam probe report and directed the government to come out with a law before July 10 to insulate the agency from “external influence and intrusion”. Even as it came down heavily on these entities, the apex court also made a refer-ence to Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar’s role in vetting the probe report and asked, “does it not subvert the integrity of the investigation if changes are brought in status report on the suggestion of Law Minister and government officers.” In a draft report issued in March 2012, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) of-fice accused the government of allocating coal blocks in an inefficient manner during the period 2004-2009. Over the Summer of 2012, the BJP lodged a com-plaint resulting in a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into whether the allocation of the coal blocks was in fact influenced by corruption.

The essence of the CAG’’s argument is that the government had the authority to allocate coal blocks by a process of competitive bid-ding, but chose not to. As a result both pub-lic sector enterprises (PSEs) and private firms paid less than they might have other-wise. In its draft report in March this year, the CAG estimated that the “windfall gain” to the allocatees was Rs.10673.03 billion. The CAG Final Report tabled in Parliament put the figure at Rs.1855.91 billion. On August 27, 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh read a statement in Par-liament rebutting the CAG’’s report both in its reading of the law and the alleged cost of the government’s policies. Former senior po-lice officers have also by and large welcomed the Supreme Court’s strictures against the government and the CBI in the coal block allocation scam report/affidavit.

Omar Abdullah said in Srina-gar: May God make Nawaz Sharif reach his aim which he initiated when he was last in power. I will request (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh to extend the hand of friend-ship towards Pakistan the way Atalji (former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee) did.” “He will have to try to sort out the problems. Unless these two nations join hands, we will keep making parks schools and roads, but the issue of Jammu and Kashmir will not get sorted. We have always tried that relations between both nations improve. We aren’t that nation that makes promises and then breaks it,” he added. In Mumbai, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said: “Nawaz Sharif is a liberal man, he should work on the issue of terrorism and should improve relations internally first, and then work towards improv-ing ties with India and other neighbouring countries.”

Indian Leaders Welcome Sharif’s Win In Pakistan Polls

“Nawaz Sharif should get a chance.Pakistan will be-come a better country. This will benefit us too,” he added. The comments of the Indian leaders came as Sharif’s Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party emerged as the single largest party in the one-day-long elections that were held on Saturday. Sharif will become Pakistan’s prime minister for a record third time. According to latest media reports, the PML-N has won between 120 to 130 of the 272 directly elected parlia-mentary seats, while the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party has 37 seats and others 61 seats. The Pakistan People’’s Party (PPP), which is led by President Asif Ali Zardari secured 35 seats. The May 11 election should lead to the country’’s first transition from one elected government to another. The turnout was huge but the poll was marred by violence. In Karachi, the Paki-

stan Taliban said they planted a bomb which killed 11 people and wounded 40 others. The bomb was placed outside the office of the Awami National Party. There were also attacks in Balochistan and the north-western city of Peshawar. Sharif’’s victory is largely being attributed to his promises of correcting Pakistan’’s energy supply and encouraging economic growth. Since the bulk of his support is confined to Punjab Province, he will need to work for a broader consensus across the country if he is to succeed in meeting these challenges. An election commis-sion spokesman said they hoped for a voter turnout of between 60 to 80 percent. In 2008 it was 44 percent. Sha r i f pol it ica l comeback after 14 years is remarkable, considering that he was deposed by General Pervez Musharraf in a coup in 1999 and subsequently put on trial and given a jail sentence.

SHARIF From Page 1


Yeddyurappa Claims His Party Got Ten Percent Votes With Four Months Effort

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddy-urappa on Thursday pointed out that the party founded by him four months ago got ten per cent votes in the assembly elections, and promised to build the newly-floated po-litical outfit Karnataka Janata Party (KJP). Yeddyurappa said he is delighted with the re-sult of the assembly election and making all attempts to strengthen his party. “I am more satisfied about the result because I got the ten percent votes and recognition from the Election Commission also. I contested for 109 seats in the assembly elections, I won six constitu-encies and I stood second in 29 assembly constituencies. I am happy about that,” said Yeddyurappa. “I have not damaged any party. I have tried my level best to strengthen my party.

And other things are left to the concerned party’s leader-ship to comment, I don’t want to comment on it,” he added, when asked whether his party was responsible for the BJP’s defeat in Karnataka. He, however, com-pared the performance of the Karnataka Janata Party which was only four months old and was not in office to the BJP which was ruling in the State for four years and could man-age only forty seats. Yeddyurappa re-called that he has been in poli-tics for nearly four decades. His efforts for four months enabled his party to get ten percent of the votes. The BJP state government, which was in office for four years, could manage only forty seats. Yeddyurappa also made it clear that he would not join hands with the BJP in near future. “No, that question does not arise. I told you long

back I have just started to build my own party,” he said. Yeddyurappa fur-ther lashed out at the ruling Congress Party at the Centre on the charges of corruption, saying the entire country is aware of it. Congress made a spectacular come back in Karnataka wresting power after seven years in its old southern fortress. The party won 116 seats in the 224-member assembly. The BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) were in neck and neck race with both win-ning 40 seats each. Yeddyurappa’s KJP won six seats, while the inde-pendents and others won 16 seats. Elections in Kar-nataka were conducted for 223 seats. Elections in one constituency - Periyapatna -- was deferred to May 28 due to the death of the BJP candidate.

following the outbreak of controversy. Meanwhile, Bansal’s ouster from the Cabinet became inevitable after it became clear that the CBI was all set to ques-tion him following the arrest of his nephew Vijay Singla in the cash-for-votes scam. The arrest of Singla and media revelations about his family’s business transactions and bank loans had caused the government major embarrass-ment. In his resignation let-ter, Bansal maintained that he was not aware that his nephew was in contact with Railway Board Member Mahesh Kumar but he still thought it proper to step down. 64-year-old Bansal, who was made Railway Minis-ter in October last year, said he looks forward to an expeditious investigation into the allega-tions. The CBI had earlier on Thursday grilled Bansal’s personal secretary Rahul Bhan-dari, a 1997 batch Punjab cadre IAS officer, who is believed to be privy to all the crucial decisions taken in the Railway Ministry. Bansal had earlier

Congress Axes Bansal, Ashwani KumarJoshi To Handle Railway Ministry, Sibal Law Ministry

told the Congress leadership, including the Prime Minister, that he has no business links with his nephew. Sen ior Congress leader Digvijay Singh hailed the decision taken by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to oust cabinet ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar, post ‘railgate’ and ‘coalgate’ scams. Commenting further on the image of Congress he said, “Congress has again made it clear that even if a slightest thing is wrong with a certain minister he will resign, showing we don’t endorse corruption. This has never been the same

with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The decision taken by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi is correct.” Lashing out at BJP he said, “Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never allowed the Parliament to function because their dirty side would come to the fore.” Meanwhile Com-munist Party of India (CPI) said: “Congress have twisted the rules, they have been pro-tagonists of most of the scams, one of their ministers had to be forced by the Supreme Court to resign. They cannot manage their own party nor can they manage the Cabinet, they are good for nothing.”

AXE From Page 1

MiG-29 K Black Panther Commissioned Into Navy

Panaji, May 11 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony commissioned fighter aircraft MiG-29 K Black Panther squad-ron into the Indian Navy here in Panaji. The commissioning was held at INS Hansa which would be the base for Black Panther squadron along with other fighter aircraft squadrons of Indian Navy. The squadron initially comprising 16 aircrafts would be known as IANS 303. Naval officials said that MiG-29 K is a potent carrier borne fighter, which, once integrated with INS Vikramaditya will bolster the Navy’s punch with its multi-role capability. The aircraft is armed with its arsenal of weapons in-cluding advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, precision bombs and sophisticated system to support weapon delivery.


Assam Govt. Agrees To Form New Land Policy, Crack Down On Mafia

Guwahati, May 9 (ANI): Thousands of demon-strators led by Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS) chief Akhil Gogoi, organised a huge protest against the land mafia in Assam on Thursday, and forced the state govern-ment to frame a new land policy, which will benefit the landless masses and farm-ers. The change in atti-tude of the state government is like a ray of hope for the landless, whereas the land ma-fia finds itself on the backfoot after the tough stance taken by the demonstrators. It may be mentioned here that the KMSS has been fighting for the cause of land-less and farmers in the state for long. The KMSS staged the huge demonstration in front of the Deputy Commis-sioner’s office in Guwahati. The demonstrators shouted slogans against alleged land violators like Suresh Prithani and Ram Avatar Burakia and

burnt their effigies too. The public pressure led the state government to convene a meeting with KMSS representatives at the Assam Secretariat. Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) led the government delegation at the talks with the KMSS repre-sentatives, and at the end, it was agreed by both parties that a new land policy is the need of the hour, and as such, the government in principle, agreed to frame the same at the earliest. Later, speaking to the demonstrators, KMSS

leader Akhil Gogoi described it as a win for the landless masses of the state. Gogoi said that the state government has assured him that it will conduct an rev-enue enquiry against alleged land violators like Suresh Prithani and Kailash Lohia. The land scam that rocked Assam has the po-tential to be the biggest land scam of the country involv-ing farmland. The monetary worth of the scam is reported to be around 1000 crore rupees. It approximately in-volves around 10,000 bighas of agricultural land.

Chidambaram Hints At Providing Special Status To Bihar

Patna, May 11 (ANI): Hinting that the Centre might provide special status to Bihar, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday declared to set up a committee to determine the new criteria for backwardness. Chidambaram said the committee under the chairmanship of the economic advisor, Raghuram Rajan, would be given a month to submit its report. “The committee, under the chairmanship of the economic advisor Raghuram

Rajan, will be announced in next few days. That commit-tee will be given a month or so to work on the criteria and submit a report to the govern-ment. Once the committee gives its report, I hope that we can have new criteria to determine backwardness,” Chidambaram told the media here. “States will qualify under that criteria. Going by whatever information I have, Bihar will certainly qualify under the new criteria,” he added.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier this year met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia to discuss granting of special status to Bihar. The Janata Dal (United) has for long sought special status for the state, especially in the aftermath of its division, with most of the natural resources ending up in Jharkhand.

Cabinet Nod To Amendments In Cooperative Societies Bill

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): The Union Cabinet has given its approval for moving official amendments to the Multi-State Co-opera-tive Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2010 pending in the Lok Sabha. The objective of the official amendments is to ensure that the provisions of the Bill are in conformity with the provisions of the Constitution (Ninety-Seventh Amendment) Act, 2011. The official amend-ments also proposes to have provision for revival of sick societies. It is proposed that if the Central Registrar at any time is of the opinion that a multi- State co-operative society has become sick, then it may, by order, declare such society as sick co-operative society. The Central Govern-ment or any person authorized by it shall prepare a scheme for rehabilitation and recon-

struction of such sick society and the society shall place it before the General Body for approval. It is also proposed that where a scheme for rehabilitation and the recon-struction of a multi-State co-operative society has been prepared, the Central Gov-ernment may, on the recom-mendation of General Body, reorganize the board of such persons having experience in the field of co-operative, management finance, ac-countancy and any other area relating to such societies as may be recommended by general body. The Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amend-ment) Bill, 2010 was intro-duced in Lok Sabha on 15 November, 2010. The objec-tive of the Bill is to further amend the provisions of the Multi-State Cooperative So-cieties Act, 2002 to keep the legislation in tune with the

changing economic policies and to facilitate the multi-state co-operative societies to take advantage of the new and emerging opportunities. These amendments are intended to enhance the public faith in the coop-eratives and to ensure better accountability of the manage-ment towards its members and law of the land. The Bill was referred to the Committee on Agriculture for examination and Report. The Chairman, Committee on Agriculture presented the 41st report on the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2010 to the Lok Sabha on 20.12.2012. The Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has accepted the recommen-dation of the Committee and has accordingly, proposed to move the official amendments to the Multi-State Coopera-tive Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2010.

Jaganmohan Reddy Loses Bail Application In Supreme Court

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): The Supreme Court of India rejected the bail plea of jailed regional leader Jaganmo-han Reddy in disproportionate assets case on Thursday. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), alleged Jagan, lawmaker and the chief of regional party YSR Con-gress, pressured companies to invest in his vast business em-pire when his father Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy was chief minister of southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

The court asked the CBI to file its final chargesheet before September 9 and then Jaganmohan Reddy could ap-peal for bail. “Today is 9th May. Before September 9th they (CBI) will have to file their final chargesheet and then Jaganmo-han Reddy can appeal for bail. We oblige the Supreme Court order with a lot of agony,” said defence counsel Prabhakar in New Delhi. The CBI counsel Ashok Bhan pointed out that

the Supreme Court has come down heavily on the grave the ‘white collar offences’ committed by Jagan and his friends, to enrich themselves . “Therefore Supreme Court came (down) heavily on such white collar offences,” said CBI counsel Ashok Bhan. In 2011, Jagan de-clared assets worth rupees 3.6 billion rupees. Jagan Reddy’s father, former Chief Minister, YSR Reddy died in a helicopter crash in September 2009.

Pakistan Prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay Dies Chandigarh, May 9 (ANI): Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah, who had been admitted to Chandigarh’s PGIMER Hospital in critical condition after being beaten up by inmates at Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal Jail, died at 5.30 a.m. on Thursday. Senior doctors at the PGIMER said he had died of kidney failure. Sanaullah, 52, a convicted terrorist serving a life sentence in Jammu’s Kot Bhalwal Jail, was undergoing treatment at the PGIMER, after being hit with a brick by a fellow inmate on May 3. The attack followed a similar fatal assault in a Lahore jail on Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh on April 26. “The patient had become extremely critical. He had developed renal failure with no urine output since morning. Hence, he was put on peritoneal dialysis by nephrologists,” a medical bulletin released on Wednesday said. Ranjay’s death came a day after the Supreme Court rejected his repatriation to Pakistan, citing his incomplete jail term as the reason. The Supreme Court had also sought an explanation from the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government as to why adequate steps were not taken to prevent the assault on Sanaullah. “The respondents shall explain as to why adequate steps were not taken in advance to avoid the physical assault on May 3 on prisoner Sanaullah, lodged in Kot Balwal Jail in Jammu,” an apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha said, while issuing notices to the Central and the state governments. The apex court had also sought details about the action taken against the erring jail officials, besides asking the Centre and the

state government to ensure that such incidents do not recur. During the hearing, the two-judge bench, also comprising Justice Kurian Joseph, expressed its anguish over the incident inside the Jammu jail, saying, “This is a very serious matter”. Ranjay died with two members of his family by his side. Sanaullah’s brother-in-law Moham-med Sehzaad and nephew Mohammed Asif had arrived in Chandigarh via Amritsar through the Wagah-Attari border earlier this week. Till Monday evening, Sanaullah’’s condition continued to be “critically sick” and in “deep coma”, said a medical bulletin from Chandigarh’’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research. Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir had also visited Sanaullah at the hos-pital, and said his chances of survival seemed bleak. Demanding an impartial probe into the attack on Sanaullah, Bashir had said then, “We want him to be repatriated to Pakistan.” However, India on Monday said the Pakistani prisoner’’s medical condition is such that it does not permit any movement. “My understanding is that the doctors had examined the condition of the Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah Ranjay and they felt his condition is such that it does not permit any movement. So, medical condition is such that it precludes any movement of the prisoner,” MEA official spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin had said. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had also said that he had or-dered a time-bound inquiry into the attack on Sanaullah Ranjay.


UPA Draws Sharp Criticism Over Diesel Price Hike

New Delhi/Patna/Kanpur, May 11 (ANI): Com-munist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Saturday lashed out at the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre over the diesel price hike, saying this move would merely added to the woes of the people. “Even though the Fi-nance Minister can claim that he has not imposed any new tax on the common people, but everyday people are compelled to pay more. Everyday this kind of camouflaged tax is imposed on common people,” he told the media in the national capital. Meanwhile, Sama-jwadi Party (SP) leader Na-resh Agarwal condemned the government’s anti-people move, and expressed shock over the spiralling inflation. “I have failed to understand as to with which country are these people trying to compete. If they are trying to set standards as high as Europe and America then they should also try to increase the per capita income in the same ratio. A country which has such a large population of people living below poverty line and

you are trying to compete with a country like America. In this situation there will be only two kinds of people left, the rich and the poor. The middle class will be finished,” said Agarwal. Meanwhile, Janata Dal (United) leader Shivanand Tiwari also criticized the gov-ernment over this move, and questioned its policies. “The prices are al-ready very high. The govern-ment as well as the planning commission keeps claim-ing that the common man’s standard of living has really improved, his income has in-creased. But on the other hand, the increased income is being consumed by inflation. Infla-tion is further increasing the ordeal of the common man. So, who will prevent the price hike in this nation?” he asked, while talking to the media in Patna. Meanwhile, traders in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur city staged a protest against the fuel price hike, and blamed the Centre for burdening the common man. The traders burned the effigy of Prime Minister

Dr. Manmohan Singh, and also raised slogans agaisnt the Con-gress-led UPA Government at the Centre. “The Central Gov-ernment is increasing the price of diesel continuously, which is resulting in the increase in prices of everything. Till now, the trend of this government was to increase the price by 50 paise, but yesterday the diesel was raised by rupee one per litre. The Central Government is burdening people from all directions by inflation,” said Gyanesh Mishra, leader of the Kanpur Traders Association. Diesel prices have been hiked by one rupee two paisa per litre. This came into a effect from Friday night. This is the fourth increase in rates this year. State-owned oil firms, which had been mandated in January to raise prices by up to 50 paisa per litre every month till entire losses on the fuel are wiped out, skipped raising rates in April. The companies have made up for skipping the April revision by increasing rates by Rs 0.90 per litre, excluding local sales tax or VAT.

‘If PM introspects, he will have no option but to resign’, says Rajnath Singh

New Delhi, May 11 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Saturday asked Prime Min-ister Dr. Manmohan Singh to step down from his post fol-lowing the resignations of his two ‘tainted’ ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar. “I would appeal to the Prime Minister with all humility that you introspect

and decide what should be done so that there is a trust in the people with regard to the country’s political system. I believe that if the Prime Min-ister does the introspection with all sincerity, then there is no other option left rather than tendering the resignation pa-per,” Singh told mediapersons at a press conference here. “I want to say to the Prime Minister and Soniaji

that is it not an attempt to cover up the corruption,” he added, while throwing light on the 2G spectrum scam. Rajnath Singh fur-ther alleged that not only the CBI, but also the judicial system has been misused. The BJP President held the Congress-led UPA Government responsible for the disruption of parliamen-tary proceedings.

Government Has Allies’ Support On Food Security Bill: Manish Tewari

Mumbai/New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Friday said that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government has complete support of its coalition part-ners on the Food Security Bill. “With a lot of re-sponsibility I would like to say that we (Congress party) respect all our supporters. But whereas Food Security or its Bill is concerned, we are on the same page with our allies,” he told the media in Mumbai. Tewa r i f u r t her lashed out at the BJP for blocking crucial bills in the Parliament, particularly the one pertaining to food secu-rity. “The UPA wants to remove hunger, while it seems that the BJP wants to remove the hungry,” he added. The Prime Minister,

Dr. Manmohan Singh, earlier on Wednesday said the UPA Government is committed to the passage of Food Security Bill. “The Food Security Bill is a very important leg-islation for the government. The UPA is committed to make this law after consider-ing all opinions,” he said. Food Minister K.V. Thomas had earlier said he has to look into various angles before taking a call. “I am neither rul-ing in or ruling out. I have not thought of that. I have to study all these things. There are so many options,” he told mediapersons outside the Parliament, when asked whether government could bring an ordinance to imple-ment the food security law. The bill could not be passed as the budget ses-sion of Parliament adjourned Sine die two days ahead of its schedule.

The Food Bill aims at giving legal right over a uniform quantity of 5 kg foodgrains at a fixed price of Rs 1-3 per kg via ration shops to 67 percent of the population. The amendments to the Food Bill, which was originally introduced in Parliament in December 2011, was moved in the Lok Sabha last week, but discus-sion could not take place due to disruption of proceedings on several issues, including coalgate scam. The government had made three attempts in the Lok Sabha last week to get the bill passed. The main opposition party had said that it will not allow the Congress-led UPA Government to push its im-portant bills in Parliament till the resignations of Union Law and Justice Minister Ashwani Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.

Left Leaders Meet PM, Chidambaram; Demand CBI Probe

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Leaders of the Left Parties met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram here on Thursday, and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the chit fund scam in West Bengal. The delegation in-cluded CPI-M leaders Sitaram Yechury, Basudeb Acharia, Suryakanta Mishra and Asim Dasgupta, CPI leader Prabodh Panda and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Manohar Tirkey. Mishra, who is the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, had earlier claimed that those run-ning ponzi schemes provided funds to the ruling Trinamool Congress and a dozen MPs and MLAs would be in trouble if a CBI probe was conducted. He

also alleged that the TMC had ‘a give and take relationship’. Yechury said that the state government’s recent move to enact a new law to protect small depositors was only to provide chit fund operators time to re-locate their proper-ties. The delegation is expected to meet President Pranab Mukherjee later this evening. In wake of the Saradha Chit Fund scam, the Central Government had earlier set up a Special Task Force in the Serious Fraud Investigations Office (SFIO) to investigate the affairs of such companies. The Centre has also set up an Inter-Ministerial Group to strengthen coordina-tion among different govern-ment agencies to curb fraudu-lent money raising activities

in the wake of Kolkata-based Saradha Group cheating inves-tors through fraudulent money pooling scheme. The group would hold its first meeting on May 16. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier last month an-nounced the setting up of an inquiry commission headed by a former Calcutta High Court judge to probe the chit-fund scam. She had also announced the setting up of a Special Investigation Team led by the Director-General of Police to probe the scam. Banerjee urged peo-ple to register their complaints with the inquiry commission that would have four members, including a retired IPS officer, one person from the corporate sector and renowned econo-mists.



Air India To Stop ‘Companion Free Scheme’ For Employees

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has di-rected national carrier Air India to stop the “companion free (travel) scheme” (CFS) which allowed its employees to take their spouse or any other family member for free on the fare of a single ticket. “This action was taken following the detection of irregularities. Vigilance Department of Air India earlier discovered serious irregularities and misuse of CFS from October, 2011 to April, 2012, for tickets issued

at Delhi Airport,” the civil aviation ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, from a sample of 332 CFS tickets issued at Delhi Airport terminal-III, irregularities were found in 196 tickets. “Similar irregulari-ties have also been detected in the CFS tickets issued at Chandigarh where 435 tick-ets were scrutinized,” the statement said. The ministry said Air India has filed a police report against its traffic as-sistant Rajesh Sharma, who

has been suspended. “Airport manager (Delhi) has been directed to lodge FIR (first informa-tion report) against all other errant officials. Besides the vigilance department has advised the commercial director, Air India to verify the CFS tickets issued on all-India basis and to initiate action against erring employ-ees,” the statement added. Under the scheme , passengers buying first class or business class tickets or full fare economy class tick-ets are entitled to one free ticket for their companion.


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SC Rejects Sanjay Dutt’s Review Plea New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s plea seeking review of its March 21 judge-ment upholding his convic-tion under the Arms Act and sentencing him to five years in jail in 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, saying there is no merit in it. The apex court also rejected the similar pleas made by other six convicts in the case.

A day before the deadline for his surrender ended, the apex court had on April 17 granted Dutt, 53, four weeks time to surrender before jail authorities to undergo 42 months remaining sentence in the case. The apex court, which had upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, ordered that Dutt return to jail to serve three-

and-a-half years sentence for possessing illegal arms. A total of 257 persons were killed and 713 others injured when a series 13 coor-dinated explosions shattered the metropolis on March 12, 1993. The blasts occurred at 12 places, including Bom-bay Stock Exchange building, Air-India Building at Nariman Point, at Worli opposite Cen-tury Bazaar, Hotels Sea Rock and Juhu Centaur.

Manish Tewari Presents Dadasaheb Phalke Award To Veteran Actor Pran

Mumbai, May 10 (ANI): Information and Broadcasting Minister Man-ish Tewari presented the Dadasaheb Phalke award to veteran actor Pran at his Mumbai residence this af-ternoon. Tewari decided to visit Pran at his residence as the actor was too ill to travel to Delhi to receive the award. The actor’s daugh-

ter, Pinky Bhalla, said: “My father was not fit enough to travel to Delhi to receive the award.” Although it has been a tradition that the winner has to go to Delhi to receive the award, it is probably the first time that an artiste will re-ceive his award at his home. Fellow actor Prem Chopra welcomed the gov-ernment’s gesture of sending

the information and broad-casting minister to personally give the award to Pran. He said that it is a proud moment not only for Pran and his family, but also the Indian film industry as a whole. He wished Pran and his family well on receiving the award. Pran has worked in films for 65 years and has to his credit about 350 films.

Free Syrian Army Rebels Defecting To al-Qaeda-linked Group Jabhat al-Nusra

London, May 9 (ANI): Syria’s main armed opposition group, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), is losing fighters and capabilities to Jabhat al-Nusra, an Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaida. The group is fast emerging as the best-equipped, financed and motivated force fighting Bashar al-Assad’s regime. FSA commanders said that their entire units have gone over to al-Nusra. Abu Ahmed, a former teacher from Deir Hafer who now com-manded an FSA brigade in the countryside near Aleppo,

said that fighters were feeling proud to join al-Nusra because that meant power and influ-ence. According to the Guardian, Ahmed said that the FSA has lost fighters to al-Nusra in Aleppo, Hama, Idlib and Deir al-Zor and the Damascus region. The FSA’s Ahrar al-Shimal brigade joined al-Nusra en masse while the Sufiyan al-Thawri brigade in Idlib lost 65 of its fighters to al-Nusra a few months ago for lack of weapons. Abu Islam of the FSA’s al-Tawhid brigade in Aleppo said that fighters were

heading to al-Nusra because of its Islamic doctrine, sincerity, good funding and advanced weapons. According to the report, the growing strength of al-Nusra underlines the dilemma for the US, Britain and other governments as they ponder the question of arming anti-Assad rebels. The US, which has outlawed al-Nusra as a ter-rorist group, has hesitated to arm the FSA, while the western and Gulf-backed Syr-ian Opposition Coalition has tried to assuage concerns by promising strict control over weapons, the report added.

Violence In Rohtak Over Opening Of An Ashram By Controversial Godman

Rohtak (Haryana), May 12 (ANI): Violence erupted as people, mostly followers of Arya samaj, people protested agaist the opering of the Satlok Ashram in Rohtak leading to a clash between the youth and police, which claimed the life of one, and left several others injured. Angry mobs clashed with the police and set two buses on fire during the violent protest here on Sunday against the opening of an ashram of the

controversial Godman. Following the vio-lence, the police opened fire and resorted to baton charge to disperse the mob, injuring several protesters, one of whom succumbed to the injuries in a hospital, at Karontha village of Rohtak. The crowds, mostly of activists from the Arya Samaj sect, were protesting against the opening of the Satlok Ashram headed by godman Rampal at Karontha village.

Nearly 10,000 sup-porters of Rampal had gathered inside the ashram complex . The protestors marched towards the ashram where they were stopped by the police on the Rohtak-Jhajjar national highway. Tension had been brewing in the area for the past week following opposition to the ashram by the Arya Samaj members. They were joined by residents of Karontha village in the protests on Sunday.


INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Bahraini King Says ‘Terrorism Has No Religion’

Manama, May 11 (ANI): Bahraini King Ha-mad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa has said terrorism has no religion and it has the same ugly face around the world. He said that in Bahrain and in Boston, ter-rorists used pressure cookers to assemble their homemade bombs, which killed in-nocent people and injured hundreds. According to Gulf News, in an interview with

Nieman Foundation for Jour-nalism at Harvard the king said that he himself wanted change for Bahrain. He said that they all wanted change for the best of Bahrain, adding that “things are moving in the right direc-tion” in the country. He said that the country had a very success-ful Formula one event and the country benefited im-mensely from the economi-cally.

However, he cau-tioned against taking for granted information posted online on Bahrain that sug-gests that “not much has changed”. King Hamad re-jected claims by some or-ganizations in the West that no real change had occurred following the publication of a report by an international fact-finding panel he es-tablished in June 2011, the report added.

Former Guatemala Dictator Montt Sentenced To 80 Years In Prison For Genocide

Washington, May 11 (ANI): Ex-military leader Rios Montt has been given a sentence of 80 years in prison on account of genocide after a two-month long trial in Guatemala city. Montt is convicted for inflicting crime against humanity by ordering death for 1,771 people of Ixil maya ethnic group in office from 1982 to 1983. It is the first time a former leader of state has been convicted for inflicting crimes in own country. People belonging to the maya ethnic group gave testimony about the hor-

rific treatment by the armed forces. It was one of the most violent phases of Guatemala’s civil war from 1960 to 1996, the BBC reports. According to the report, Montt’s army was accused of inflicting torture

to the ethnic group consid-ered as an inferior race. The soldiers allegedly used rape, arson and other ways of in-flicting inhuman pain to the innocent lives on suspicion of supporting left-wing rebels. Montt has been sentenced to 50 years for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity. However, Montt has denied the charges, and will be ap-pealing against the court’s decision. The sentence is considered as a major break-through decision in protec-tion of human rights in the region.

Turkey Claims Having Evidence Of Chemical Weapons Use In Syria

London, May 11 (ANI): Turkish Prime Minis-ter Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told US media he has evidence that Syria used chemical weapons against opposition forces. He said that missile remains were discovered and Syrian patients showed signs of wounds from chemical weapons. Similarly, US Secre-tary of State John Kerry said he now believed there was

‘strong evidence’ that Syria used gas. Earlier on Friday, Erdogan said he believed Syria had crossed the red line ‘a long time ago’, the BBC reports. He said Turkish intel-ligence had determined that the Syrian government had used at least 200 chemical missiles. He did not give de-tails on the type of chemical weapons he believed Syria had used, the report added.

Norwegian Mass Murderer Breivik Denied Permission To Create Fascist Group

Sydney, May 11 (ANI): Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik has been refused permission to create a fascist group. Norwegian authori-ties said that permission was not granted to Breivik due to missing paperwork and a lack of support. Breivik was held for killing 77 people in twin at-tacks in 2011, and had placed an application to create an association, which he wanted to name ‘The Norwegian fascist party and the Nordic league’. According to Herald Sun, Mette Siri Broenmo, a spokeswoman for the body that registers such applica-tions, told the Aftenposten daily that Breivik’s bid fell short of the legal require-ments. She said that to be an association, you need to have

two people or more, and in this case, there’s only Breivik. She added that Breivik even failed to attach the necessary statutes to the application. Creating a political

party in Norway is a more arduous process than found-ing an association, requiring 5,000 supporters to be offi-cially recognised and benefit from public cash, the report added. US Could Have 9 Afghan Bases In Return

For Security, Economic Guarantees: Karzai

First Female Candidate To Run For Mongolian Presidency

Ulan Bator, May 12 (Xinhua-ANI): The Mongo-lian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) has nominated Health Minister Natsag Udval for the June 26 presidential election, making her the first woman to run for the country’s top office. Udval, a pediatrician and staunch supporter of jailed former president Nambar Enkhbayar, actively took part in demonstrations demanding his release. Enkhbayar, who was in office from 2005 to 2009, was sentenced to two and half years in prison last year for

corruption. The ruling Demo-cratic Party of Mongolia named incumbent President Tsakhia Elbegdorj as its candi-date and two minor parties, the Mongolian National Demo-cratic Party and the Civil

Will-Green Party, said they would support Elbegdorj’s reelection. T he opp osi t ion Mongolian People’s Party nominated former champion wrestler Bat-Erdene Bad-maanyambuu, who is popular in rural areas. The decision late Saturday by the MPRP, which is part of the Justice Coalition with the National Democratic Party, to run its own candidate indicated a split within the coalition, analysts said. They predict Elbeg-dorj is likely to win reelec-tion.

Ex-Iran President Rafsanjani To Contest Presidential Elections Next Month

Islamabad, May 12 (ANI): Former Iranian presi-dent Akbar Hashemi Raf-sanjani and the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s close ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have both registered as candidates for next month’s presidential election. The 79-year-old Raf-sanjani, who is expected to win the support of the country’s reformers, and his hardline rival both announced their candidacy just before the deadline on Saturday, reports the Guardian. Since Tuesday when the official registration had began, there were anticipation on whether the two men, who are feared to issue challenges to the establishment by their candidacy, would eventually sign up. More than 680 candi-

dates, including at least a two dozen women, have registered but Iran’s Guardian Council, a powerful group of six clergy-men and six jurists controlled by the supreme leader Ayatol-lah Ali Khamenei, has the final say on who can stand. Only a handful of candidates are expected to be allowed to run in the 14 June vote. Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and a close ally of Khamenei, also registered at the interior min-istry in Tehran’s Fatemi street on Saturday. Rafsanjani is one of Iran’s great political survivors who played an instrumental role in the appointment of Khamenei as the current su-preme leader after the death in 1989 of the Islamic republic’s founder, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini.

However, Rafsanjani and Khamenei have been at odds since the former lost to Ahmadinejad in 2005 presidential election. In 2009, Khamenei sided with Ahma-dinejad who was alleged to have won in a rigged election while Rafsanjani showed mod-erate support for the opposition Green Movement and its lead-ers who disputed the results. Rafsanjani signalled last week that he would not run without Khamenei’s consent. It was unclear on Saturday whether the supreme leader had in fact intervened in the final hours before registration drew to a close. Tehran’s mayor, Mo-hammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and Ahmadinejad’s elder brother, Davoud, were also among the politicians who registered on Saturday.

London, May 10 (ANI): Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that the government could allow the US to keep nine bases in the country after most NATO forces withdraw next year, but added that he had demanded security and economic guar-antees from the US in re-turn. Karzai said the US wanted nine bases in Kabul,

Bagram, Mazar, Jalalabad, Gardez, Kandahar, Helmand, Shindand and Herat. He further said that US’ presence beyond 2014 in the country is in the interest of Afghanistan. But said that the US should accelerate its efforts to ensure peace in the country. He said the US should also “co-operate seriously in strengthening the Afghan economy”.

The US would not confirm “specifics” but said it did not seek permanent Afghan bases, reports the BBC. Repor ts suggest the US wants an agreement signed before a NATO summit expected in mid-2013. The US embassy in Kabul refused to confirm any details of the deal currently being worked out.



Jewell Underscores Commitment to Telling America’s Story at White House Forum on

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Washington D.C.: Sally Jewell today underscored the importance of efforts to commemorate and interpret Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) culture and history, particularly through the National Park Service, in order to tell a more complete story of those who have contributed our nation’s rich heritage. “Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have long been leaders in every aspect of our social fabric – in government, business, science, medicine, the arts, education and our armed forces,” Secretary Jewell said. “From Angel Island where more than one million Asian immi-grants arrived on these shores, to the Chinese immigrants who helped build the railroads across the country, to the Japanese American internment camps of World War II, these stories are all important threads in the great American tapestry.” Today’s White House Forum which was hosted by the Department, along with the White House Office of Public Engagement and the White House AAPI Initiative, attracted scholars and other leaders from the AAPI community to celebrate Asian American Pa-cific Islander Heritage Month and discuss the National Park Service’s new Asian American Pacific Islander Theme Study. Under the leadership of Dr. Franklin Odo, former head of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, schol-ars are developing a theme study and other materials over the next 18 months to further the understanding of how the National Park Service might

Sally JewellSecretary of the Interior

appropriately identify and understand AAPI heritage and culture. “The Asian American Pacific Islander Theme Study is an important first step in what must be a longer journey to more completely document and pre-serve Asian American Pacific Islander heritage sites across our country,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis. “The National Park Ser-vice remains committed that our parks and historic preservation programs reflect the diversity of the American experience, and this study will allow us to add to the growing body of resources that tell the AAPI story.” Jewell noted that the theme study is part of an overall effort by the Obama administra-tion to commemorate the stories and contributions of women and minorities that have been not been fully recognized in the past. Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget at the Interior Depart-ment, Rhea Suh, said, “This is a pivotal moment for our community – the National Park Service AAPI Theme Study is

an invitation for all of us to share the incredible contributions we have made to our country’s rich cultural and natural heritage. I am proud and honored to be part of Interior’s efforts to build a department that reflects the needs and diversity of America and look forward to continuing this conversation.” In her remarks today Jewell highlighted steps that have already been taken to rep-resent a more inclusive story of the AAPI contributions to our nation’s history. This includes the designation earlier this year of the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle as an affiliated area of the National Park System, which recognizes the national significance and mission of the museum. Jewell also recognized Interior’s distinct responsibility, through the Office of Insular Af-fairs, to work with our nation’s island areas to empower them and to help find solutions to their most pressing challenges. “The federal govern-ment under this administration through its various initiatives is working daily to find innovative approaches to highlight and showcase some of our unique cultural sites and historic arti-facts that celebrate Americans in and from the Asia-Pacific region,” said Eileen Sobeck, Acting Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs. “In many ways our gathering is a reflection of our commitment to this initia-tive but also a demonstration of our collective duty to holisti-cally represent and celebrate peoples from Asian American Pacific Islander identities.”

APIAHF And Community Leaders Meet With President Obama

Leaders Call for Inclusive Immigration Reform and Urge President to Make Sure Health Reform Reaches all Communities Washington D.C.: National Asian American, Na-tive Hawaiian and Pacific Is-lander (AA and NHPI) leaders met with President Obama and White House officials yesterday to discuss key issues impacting AA and NHPI communities. Kathy Ko Chin, president and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Is-lander American Health Forum (APIAHF), issued the following statement. “Yesterday President Obama reemphasized his com-mitment to Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific

Islanders through policies and federal efforts that prioritize and meet community needs. President Obama’s leadership and commitment has already brought us health reform and has now paved the way for an immigration reform bill to pass this year. With open enrollment for health reform’s marketplaces set to start in October, we asked the president to make sure that all communities are able to benefit from this historic achievement. Health reform offers the oppor-tunity to significantly improve the health of AA and NHPI

communities by expanding ac-cess to affordable coverage and addressing health disparities. We are concerned, however, that two vulnerable communities—persons who do not speak English very well or at all and those who do not have legal immigration status—will be left out. We are committed to ensuring that everyone in our country has access to affordable health care, and look forward to working with the president and Congress to make sure that everyone will benefit from health reform.”

Rep. Chu Reacts To Attack On Elderly Sikh American

Washington, DC: Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27) released the follow-ing statement following a vi-cious attack on an elderly Sikh man outside of his temple in Fresno, California: “My heart broke when I heard about suspected hate crime on Piara Singh, an elderly Sikh man dedicated to his faith and his community. He was doing what he did every day, volunteering at his gurdwara, when a man viciously attacked him. In the wake of Oak Creek and Elk Grove, it is clear that hysteria and stereotyping are still far too common. We must combat the growing wave of

violence and intolerance that threatens the safety and civil liberties of all Americans, including the Sikh American community. “That is why I have pushed the FBI to finally begin tracking hate crimes against the American Sikh community. This will help law enforcement officers in every locality to do all they can to prevent violence against this – and all – com-munities. We cannot wait any longer” Piara Singh, 82, vol-unteers at the Nanaksar Sikh Temple every day. As he left Sunday evening, Singh was attacked and beaten with an

iron bar. He sustained head wounds, a punctured lung, and broken bones and ribs during the assault. Singh’s is the most recent attack in a string of vio-lence against Sikh Americans that spike following the Sep-tember 11th terrorist attacks. In the wake of more than a de-cade of similar attacks – most notably the shooting at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis-consin that claimed six lives last year – Congresswoman Chu created the American Sikh Congressional Caucus and serves as Co-Chair. She also serves as Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Bobby Jindal’s New Hampshire Speech Sparks 2016 Presidential Bid Talk

Washington, May 11 (ANI): Indian-origin Louisi-ana Governor Bobby Jindal delivered a keynote address on Friday at a Republican fund-raiser in New Hampshire, an appearance that has renewed speculation that he is eyeing to contest presidential elections in 2016. Jindal, who served a term in Congress, is head-lining a GOP state Senate Political Action Committee fundraiser in Manchester,

where tickets are reportedly running from 1,000 to 5,000 dollars. According to the Washington Times, Steven Duprey, Republican National Committee member from New Hampshire, said that the Granite State is a good place to start laying the groundwork for a presidential run. Duprey served as Senator John McCain’s cam-paign manager during the Arizona Republican’s bid for

the White House in 2008. Former Massachu-setts Governor Mitt Romney also won the New Hampshire primary last year on his way to winning the Republican nomination. According to the report, the University of Vir-ginia’s Center for Politics this week handicapped the field of potential 2016 candidates, and placed Jindal in the second tier of candidates for the GOP nomination.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Immigration Advocacy Group Loses High-profile Backers

Washington, May 11 (ANI): Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s immigra-tion advocacy group is loosing some high-profile backers, including billionaire eco-en-trepreneur Elon Musk, upset over its controversial political strategy. In a statement to AllThingsD on Friday, Musk, the founder of the electric carmaker Tesla Motors, made clear he was unhappy with the pro-oil ads. Musk said that he agreed to support the group because there is a genuine need to reform immigration, adding that this should however not

be done at the expense of other important causes. Fwd.us told The Huff-ington Post that a second funder also had decided to withdraw. Several media out-lets have reported that David Sacks, founder of the business networking site Yammer and a former colleague of Musk’s, has also withdrawn his name from the list of the group’s supporters. According to the report, Zuckerberg started Fwd.us to press for compre-hensive immigration reform, but the group has been heavily criticized by some immigration reform supporters in recent

weeks for its television ad campaign praising lawmakers for backing projects like the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Fwd.us has argued that the ads were meant to give home district support to lawmakers backing immigra-tion reform, the report added.





‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’ To Be Honoured With German Film

Award For Peace Internationally ac-claimed director Mira Nair will be felicitated with the pres-tigious German Film Award for Peace – The Bridge 2013 for her upcoming film ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist’. Nair will be con-ferred with the award on July 4, 2013 for an outstanding film and the direction. The ceremony of the international film award for peace will take place at the Cuvillies Theatre, Munich. The Prime Minister of Bavaria, the Bernhard Wicki Memorial Fund and the

Umbrella Organization of the German Film Industry will also attend the event. In the invitation let-ter, Elisabeth Wicki Endriss, the founder of the Bernhard Wicki Memorial Fund, wrote, “The Reluctant Fundamental-ist is an exquisite example for a high-class extraordinary film, for her attitude as a defender of enlightenment and inviolabil-ity of human dignity.” “The realism she portrays in her films to the details attains great effects – emotions, extremely breath-taking tensions, and veracity.

Thank you very much for this creative powerful and mov-ing picture which we urgent need in a world of violence, prejudice and abuse of power beyond all morality in all our societies,” Endriss wrote. The Reluctant Fun-damentalist is a touching and engaging story of a young man chasing corporate success on Wall Street. The movie, which stars Riz Ahmed, Kate Hud-son, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri, is set to release on 17th May, 2013.

Dhanush All Set For Bollywood Debut Opposite Sonam Kapoor

Bollywood actors Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush promoted their upcoming romantic film ‘Raanjhanaa’ here in Mumbai. The film is a Tamil film actor Dha-nush’s debut into mainstream Bollywood, and the actor admitted that he struggled to speak Hindi language. “I have tried my best. It was tough of course. There are a lot of sounds that are not there in Tamil. So I found it tough, I am still finding it tough. Hopefully I will live up to Anand sir’s expectations and yours too,” he said. Sharing candid moments about her experience of playing a girl who was being stalked, Kapoor said that since she grew up among her brothers, she never felt insecure about being stalked. “I grew up with six brothers. You know how Arjun looks, with his height and all, and there is Mohit, I have like four or five brothers, who used to surround me all the time. And they were all my age, so I never realised it. I was very protected but apparently I was. And I remember during Valentine’s Day, we had something called Rose Day as well, my desk used to be filled with those things, it was like that. But I never realized it, especially when I was in school,” she said. The actors gathered for the promo-tional event along with the film’s director Anand Rai and the cast and crew. A colourful function was organised

where even the actors gyrated to the tunes of the film’s songs. The film is a romantic comedy set in Uttar Pradesh about a boy who stalks a girl for years before finally winning her over. The film’s trailer has already gone viral online and is generating curiosity among moviegoers. The film is slated to release on June 21.

WIFT Felicitates ‘National Women Achievers’ New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Women in film and television association of India felicitated the women National Award winners of 2013 in the Mumbai chapter of WIFT. The evening saw the presence of many women achievers from across the country, who came in to be a part of the event. Filmmaker, Kiran Rao, who is also one of the advisory board’s members warmly welcomed the guests present. “Its really exciting what we are doing today, we have so many interesting women who are doing all kinds of different work in the industry and they have come from all over the country and have made time for this eve-ning so I would like to thank all of you,” she said. Rao expressed her

happiness for women winning national awards this year and hoped that WIFT would soon expand to other cities of the country. “It’s actually great because it’s what WIFT is sup-pose to do, it is suppose to con-nect women in this fraternity from across the country. Off course this is just the Mumbai chapter of WIFT and we are hoping for many such chapters across the country,” she said. “Slowly we will have WIFT Chennai, Kolkata etc. And today we have women from all over the country who all have won National Awards this year and we are so proud of them that we thought we should have a little evening raising a toast to them,” Rao added. Many B-Town Ce-lebes like Imran Khan, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap,

Kabir Bedi joined in the ladies to celebrate their success. Khan appreciated the initiative and expressed his concern over men dominating the film industry all over the world. “I think it’s a won-derful initiative. The sad truth is that our industry and industries all around the world have always been dominated by men and the fact that these talented women have actually come together and are sup-porting each other, and are encouraging more women to enter this field and are encouraging new talent so its wonderful,” Khan said. With so many suc-cessful women coming to-gether under the same roof to celebrate their achievement in the film and television industry was indeed very magical.

Shah Rukh Khan Gets Chevalier Sivaji Award

Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in Chennai Express. Bollywood baad-shah Shah Rukh Khan was conferred with Chevalier Sivaji Award, constituted af-ter veteran Tamil actor Sivaji Ganeshan, at the 7th edition of Vijay awards. Shah Rukh received the award from the hands of Kamal Haasan, Vijay and members from the family of Sivaji Ganeshan. “I have enjoyed working with Kamal Haasan and Ajith Kumar in my career. I may be the owner of Kolkata

Knight Riders in IPL cricket league, but my favorite team is Chennai Super Kings,” said Shah Rukh while receiving his award. Shah Rukh, 47, worked with Kamal Haasan in Tamil-Hindi bilingual Hey Ram and with Ajith Kumar in Hindi film Asoka. King Khan handed over special category awards to actor Vijay and filmmaker AR Murugadoss. The awards were presented to actors under dif-ferent categories for the year 2012.

Kangana Ranaut: My Film Journey Has Been A Roller-coaster Ride

Kangana says the ups and downs in her career have been worth it National-award win-ning actress Kangana Ranaut, who registered her first hit this year with Shootout at Wadala, says the ups and downs in her filmy career have all been worth it as she got to work with big names and bigger projects. After tasting success with Gangster, Fashion, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Raaz-2 and Tanu Weds Manu, the 26-year-old also went through her share of flops in Tezz, Miley na Mi-ley Hum, Knock Out, No Problem and Rascals among others. But this year looks promising to her as she has an interesting range of movies lined up for release. “I have been very lucky to have worked with some of the biggest names and been part of some interesting projects. My journey has been a roller coaster but it has all been worth it,” Kangana told PTI in an interview here. Ask her

how she deals with success and failure, she says, “I don’t let the two of them get to my head.” In Shootout at Wadala, Kangana played the love interest of gangster Manya Surve, essayed by John Abraham. “I am glad that the film has done well. And ironically in films where I have played a gangster’s moll have been successes. But I don’t read too much into it. I’m an actor and at the end of the day delivering a good solid performance is my priority,” she said. The actress is gearing up to play a nautch girl in her next film Rajjo, to be directed by newcomer Vishwas Patil. The film will trace the journey of a nautch girl who goes on to become a classical dancer. “There was a lot of research that went into my role for Rajjo. I have visited kothas and met with women working there to understand their body language and mindset,” she said. Next, she would be seen in Vikas Bahl’s Queen. The film reportedly will see Kangana playing the role of a small town girl whose boyfriend ditches her right before their marriage. “Its an exciting role about a girl from Delhi who sets out on her honeymoon all by herself. I had a great time shooting for Queen and it’s different from what I have done before,” she said. Apart from this, she will be seen in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s home production film Re-volver Rani and Rakesh Roshan’s much talked about Krrish 3.



Woman Garment Worker Pulled Out Alive 17 Days After Bangladesh Building Collapse Beijing, May 11 (Xinhua-ANI): Rescuers on Friday evening worked miracles when they pulled alive a woman garment worker named Reshmi from piles of rubble of the collapsed eight-story building 17 days after the country’s worst industrial disaster at Savar on the out-skirts of capital Dhaka. Fire Depar tment Operations Director Major Mohammad Mahbub told Xinhua that “We gave up the hope of finding any more survivor since the rescuers on April 29 failed to pull out alive female garment workers Sha-hiha, whom we believed was the last remaining survivor of the collapsed building.” “We’ve not found any survivor after Shahina,” he said. “Though we gave up the hope of finding survivor but expected such miracle.” “Thanks to Allah there was no mistake this time. we pulled out her alive from the wreckage at about 4:27 p.m. (local time) from a corner of a mosque in the basement of the building,” Mahbub said. As cranes and bull-

dozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel, he said” Reshmi shook a pipe to draw their attention and made some sounds.” “The rescuers dis-covered her by a faint, distant sound. she said ‘please rescue me’.” “She was rushed to a hospital shortly after being pulled out of the rubble by rescuers with hectic efforts for half an hour.” Mahbub said hun-dreds of rescuers who weep as their efforts to pull Shahina alive went in vain due to a fire that broke when a rescuer was cutting a steel bar to pull her out, shouted for joy. She was too weak to talk but managed to introduce herself to the rescuers who provided her food and water before pulling out, he added. Rescue operation leader Major General Chow-dhury Hasan Suhrawardy of Bangladesh Army said she has made history as she managed to survive 17 days. “I can’t tell you right this moment exactly how did she survive. She ate whatever she got there,” he said.

“When I talked to her while she was trapped, she was crying and told me,’Please pull me out’.” P r i me Min is t er Sheikh Hasina congratulated the rescuers. Rescuers had earlier pulled alive more than 2,437 people after the building crumbled on April 24 morn-ing. An official at the Dhaka district administra-tion’s control room, set up outside the building Rana Plaza to coordinate rescue operation, told Xinhua that the death toll approached 1,100 Friday afternoon after dozens of bodies were pulled out from the wreckage of an eight-storey building housing five garment factories. The official who pre-ferred to be unnamed said the rescuers have been continuing their efforts as the stench of decaying bodies remained strong around the ruins of the sandwiched building that crumbled like a pack of cards on April 24 at about 8: 30 a.m. local time. Following the cracks detected just one day before

the man-made disaster, thou-sands of workers were evacu-ated but none has bothered about the cracks when officials of the factories forced them on the next morning to return to their workplaces to make clothing for many major global brands. No authentic esti-mate that how many bodies remain trapped in the piles of the rubble because the exact number of people inside the building at the time of the collapse has not been known, he said. Many family mem-

bers still at the scene, await bodies of their loved ones. A school ground was used to temporarily keep the bodies for identification. An initial govern-ment probe has blamed vibra-tions from giant generators combined with the vibrations of sewing machinery for the collapse of the building, al-legedly constructed without proper permission with sub-standard materials. At least 12 people have been arrested, including the owner of the collapsed building and owners of the

factories. According to sourc-es, almost all the fatalities are workers of the five factories -- Phantom Apparels, Phantom Tac, Ether Tex, New Wave Style and New Wave Bottoms -- which make clothing for many major global brands. Apart from a bank’s branch and hundreds of shops, six floors of the building, owned by a ruling party leader, housed the five garment factories which, according to the months-old data of the owners’ association, employed nearly 3,122 workers, mostly women. But the BGMEA, which is now preparing a list of all workers to disburse salary, says there were more workers in the factories than those figures showed. The tragedy revived questions about the commit-ments of factory owners and their global buyers to provid-ing safe working conditions in the 20-billion-U.S.-dollar export sector, which com-prises about 5,000 factories employing more than 4 mil-lion workers, 80 percent of whom are women.

Nawaz Sharif Set For 3rd Term As Pakistan PM Islamabad/ Lahore, May 12 (PTI): Nawaz Sharif was poised for a record third term as Pakistan’s Prime Minister with his PML-N party on Sunday taking an unassailable lead over its rivals in landmark general elections, in a triumphant comeback after being toppled in a coup and sent into exile. Trends from 264 of the 272 parliamentary seats that went to the polls showed that the PML-N was set to bag in excess of 125 seats, while Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party were lagging far behind with 34 and 32 seats, respectively. Mr. Sharif, 63, is set to re-turn to power at a time when Pakistan is facing several major challenges, in-cluding growing extremism, a strong Taliban presence in the country’s northwest, rampant corruption, un-easy relations with the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of foreign forces from war-torn Afghanistan and an economy that has virtually been in free fall for the past few years. He has already made it clear that he intends to take up India-Pakistan relations from where he had

left them when he was ousted from power in 1999. The PML-N was returned to power at the national level af-ter millions of Pakistanis braved Taliban threats and violence that claimed some 50 lives to vote in the landmark general elections that marked the first transition from one civilian government to another in the country’s 66-year history that has witnessed numerous military coups. Mr. Sharif proclaimed vic-tory for the PML-N while addressing a group of jubilant supporters at his home in Lahore last night and asked people to pray that the final results would deliver an “absolute majority” for his party so that he would not have to lead a weak coalition. “The results are still com-ing in but we almost have confir-mation about one thing — that the PML-N has emerged the largest party in this election. I ask you to pray that the results that come in the morning will show that the PML-N can form government without outside support, so that the PML-N doesn’t have to seek support from anyone,”

he said. The PML-N’s strong per-formance will make it possible for Mr. Sharif to form government at the centre with the backing of indepen-dent candidates and smaller rightist parties like the Jamiat Ulema-e-Is-lam which was leading in 11 seats. Analysts said it was pos-sible that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, leading in 12 seats, could back the PML-N. To win a simple majority, a party or coalition would have to bag 137 of the 272 National Assembly seats for which polls were held. Another 70 seats in the 342-member National Assembly are reserved for women and non-Mus-lims and will be allocated to parties according to their performance in polls. The PML-N was also set to form government in the most populous province of Punjab, where it was leading in 188 seats out of 297 seats in the provincial Assembly. In Sindh province, the Paki-stan Peoples Party and its ally MQM were leading in 66 seats and 15 seats, respectively, and were comfortably

placed to form government in the 130-member Assembly. The Awami National Party suffered a washout in Khyber-Pak-htunkhwa province, leading only in three seats while the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf was set to bag 31 seats. There were no trends for Balochistan though the PML-N, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Balochistan National Party-Mengal were expected to perform well in the southwestern province. Most top leaders of the PPP, including several former Mnisters, and senior leaders of parties that were allied to it — like the ANP and PML-Q — were defeated in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Mr. Sharif vowed to deliver on all the promises he had made dur-ing the campaign, including pledges to end crippling power cuts, set right the tanking economy and to counter corruption. The two-time former premier also struck a conciliatory note, appealing to all parties to sit together with the PML-N to find ways to tackle Pakistan’s pressing

problems. In remarks apparently aimed at Mr. Khan, who had launched personal attacks on PML-N leaders during the campaign, Mr. Sharif said: “I never abused anyone but I forgive those who abused us”. Sources told PTI that the PML-N would also not be averse to working with the PPP after forming government as the party’s leaders were not keen on any sort of alliance with Mr. Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf. Mr. Sharif, served as pre-mier during 1990-1993 and 1997-1999 but was ousted from office before he could complete his term - once on corruption charges and later because of a military coup led by Pervez Musharraf. After being deposed in 1999, he was jailed and sent into exile to Saudi Arabia. He returned to Pakistan shortly before the 2008 polls and rebuilt his party, especially in Pun-jab, a politically crucial province as it has more than half of the seats in the lower house of parliament.


Karzai Advises Pakistan Government And Military To Reform Themselves

Islamabad, May 11 (ANI): Afghan President Ha-mid Karzai has advised Paki-stan Government and military to ‘reform themselves.’ Karzai, speaking at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of Kabul Universi-ty, said that Afghanistan make a distinction between Pakistan nation and their government, adding that their government and military should reform themselves. According to the Ex-press Tribune, Karzai’s recent verbal onslaught has sparked anti-Pakistan sentiments in

Afghanistan. People took to the streets in Kabul and other major cities and burned the Pakistani flag over the Af-ghan government’s claim that Pakistani forces have constructed four check posts in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kunar provinces in the east. The allegation has been rejected by the Pakistani military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the re-port, on May 4, Karzai lashed out at Islamabad during a press

conference in Kabul, accusing it of the recent border clashes in an attempt to get the Durand Line recognised as the official border between the two coun-tries. In a veiled reference to Pakistan, Karzai said the Taliban should use their guns not against Afghan forces but against “the place that is hostile to Afghanistan.” Karzai said his gov-ernment has ordered the re-moval of the “checkpoints set up by the Pakistani military” on the Afghan side of the Du-rand Line, the report added.

Nepal To Blacklist Foreigners Working Without Permit

Beijing, May 9 (Xi-nhua-ANI): Nepal’s Depart-ment of Labor (DoL) is going to strictly regulate the non-diplomatic foreign workers working without employment permit in the country, accord-ing to a government official. The non-compliant workers, if found, would be blacklisted, said Krishna Hari Pushkar, director general of the department. “Some 50,000 for-eign nationals are working here without official work permits, which could pose threats to our national sover-eignty, integrity and even job creation for Nepalese youths. Se we have decided to strictly impose the work permit system as per the Labor Act 1992,” he told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday. Only 9,119 foreign-ers working in various hydro-power projects, construction companies, telecommunica-tions, banking and hospitality sectors, among others, have been granted official work permit, according to DoL statistics. There are mostly Chinese nationals among the foreigners who have obtained the official employ-ment permit to work mainly in infrastructure and commu-nications sectors in Nepal. A team led by DoL officials, comprising repre-sentatives from the Ministry of Labor and Employment, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Department of Immigra-tion, will start on-the-spot monitoring of the non-dip-lomatic foreigners working in different sectors such as

social organizations, charities and diplomatic missions from next week, the official said. The DoL has planned to put the names of non-com-pliant foreigners who will continue their jobs without official work permits finally in the blacklist and such individual will have to leave the country. Likewise a separate team will conduct the status assessment study of the in-formally working foreigners in Nepal that is expected to reveal the facts. Assessing primarily that Nepal is losing some 46 million U.S. dollars annually due to tax avoidance by for-eigners working informally in Nepal, the DoL has begun scrutinizing the applicants ‘ details before issuance of the work permit. The DoL has initi-ated the process of interview-ing respective candidate who seeks employment permit to work in Nepal. During the interview, one must justify his/her com-patibility to Nepal’s national interest, correlation between the academic certificate and nature of job along with the necessary approval from other concerned authorities accord-ing to the job specifications. Though the DoL received some two dozens of applications for work permit in the last fortnight, it has approved only four of them after successful completion of the interview. Most of the foreign-ers working without official permit in Nepal are from Bhu-tan, South Korea, Europe, the

United States and Australia, according to the DoL. Bhutanese nationals are informally working in the education sector largely whereas the South Koreans and Europeans are illegally working in various chari-ties. The citizens of the U.S. and Australia are found to be working in several non-governmental organizations, international nongovernmen-tal organizations and even in some diplomatic missions. “The donor agencies such as UNDP, DFID, ADB and the like are also hiring non-diplomatic staffs for very common job positions like computer operator or vehicle driver which is against the provision in section 4(a) of the Labor a Act 1992 given that foreigners can be hired for high level technical jobs only,” Director General Push-kar stated. A ny i nd iv idua l working in Nepal for more than 180 days must pay the income tax as per the Income Tax Act 2002. But most of the illegally working foreigners are supposed to receive their benefits directly at their bank account in their home coun-tries. “If any foreigner generates income here in Nepal, he/she must obtain a permanent account number and paying the income tax, rental tax and other necessary taxes, which is mandatory by law,” said Bishnu Nepal, deputy director general of the Inland Revenue Department, adding, “We will coordinate with the DoL to investigate the issue further.”

Imran Faces Test In Taliban Stronghold Islamabad, May 12 (PTI): Cricketer—turned—politician Imran Khan seems to have bowled an over pitched delivery in Pakistan’s general elections by winning far lesser seats than what he expected, but has yorked everyone out in the troubled Khyber Pak-htunkhwa province where his party is set to emerge as the single largest. The flamboyant 60 year old Imran, whose party Pakistan Tehreek—e—Insaf is set to come a distant second in the historic general elections, won from three National As-sembly (NA) seats while losing in Lahore. Mr. Im ran won NA—71 Mianwali in Punjab province with huge mandate, bagging 101,000 votes, Geo

News reported. According to unof-ficial results, Ubaidullah Shadi Khel received 53,000 votes as a runner up from the same constituency. Mr. Khan also won from NA—1 Peshawar—1 with 66,465, defeating Awami Na-tional Party stalwart Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, who secured 44,210 votes. Accepting defeat, the ANP leader said that to lose and win was a part of politics. Khan also won aginst PML—N candidate Hanif Abbasi in Rawalpindi, media reports said. However, in a setback to Khan, he lost NA—122 Lahore—5 seat (61,300 votes) against Pakistan Muslim League—N candidate Sardar

Ayaz Sadiq (71,420 votes). Trends from 264 of the 272 parliamentary seats that went to the polls showed that the PML—N was set to bag in excess of 125 seats, while Pakistan Tehreek—e—Insaf and the Pakistan Peoples Party were lagging far behind with 34 and 32 seats, respectively. Imran may not have swept the 2013 elections as he predicted but his party proved itself to be a force to reckon with by securing a sizeable number of seats for the Na-tional Assembly. Imran Khan had formed PTI in 1996. His party had won only one seat in 2000. Imran resigned from Parliament in 2002 in protest and boycotted the 2008 elec-tions.

Gilani, Ashraf Face Rout In Polls; PPP Suffers Huge Setback

Islamabad, May 12 (PTI):In an embarrassing set-back to Pakistan Peoples Party that ruled the country since 2008, former Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf lost the election along with his predecessor Yusuf Raza Gilani’s two sons. Mr. Ashraf, has suf-fered a humiliating defeat in NA-51 (Rawalpindi-II), Geo News reported. As per unofficial and initial results, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) can-didate Raja Mohammad Javed Ikhlas won the seat. Ikhlas drew 82,339 while Raja Pervez Ashraf was way down with 23,233 votes received. Similarly, Mr. Gi-lani’s both sons, Ali Musa Gilani and Abdul Qadir Gilani, have lost in polls from their Multan constituencies. Abdul was kidnapped by suspected Taliban terrorists last week while he was cam-paigning. Earlier, a Pakistani

court had disqualified Yousuf Raza Gilani. Going by the unof-ficial results, the PPP — which ruled the country for the last five years — has faced a major setback and has been effec-tively confined to Sindh. As per available trends, PPP is likely to come a distant third but could play an important role in the gov-ernment formation if PML-N fails to get a simple majority in the 342 seat strong National Assembly. Top leaders of the party, including former Infor-mation Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, lost their seats in the largest province of the country, Punjab. Currently, the PPP has a majority in the upper house of Parliament, at least for the next one and a half years. Major legislation would not be possible for the new ruling party without the PPP’s con-sent. In the 1970 elections, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP con-

quered Punjab, with Lahore being considered one of the party’s hubs for some time after that stunning victory. But the unofficial re-sults of the 2013 election show that the party has once again been confined to Sindh, as it was in 1997 when the Benazir Bhutto—led PPP secured less than 20 National Assembly seats, Express News reported. The party tried hard to restore its image in Punjab during the last five years but ap-parently its poor performance shattered its dreams. The PPP also promised to bifurcate Punjab, but even this slogan could not earn it votes in south Punjab, it said. In the 2008 elections, the Asif Ali Zardari—led PPP secured 97 National Assembly seats. After getting 24 reserved seats for women and four re-served seats of minorities, the total number of NA seats for the PPP was 124 in a house of 340. The party formed a coali-tion government with the help of MQM, ANP and JUI-F.

Pak Court Accepts Petition Seeking To File Murder Case Against Musharraf

Islamabad, May 9 (ANI): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has admitted a petition seeking registration of a murder case against former President Pervez Musharraf for ordering military operation against Lal Masjid. Haroon Rahid, in his petition, mentioned an order of Supreme Court dated October 2, 2007 in which it was stated by

IG Police that after recording the statements of all the concerned, the police would proceed in the matter strictly in accordance with law, reports The Nation. The petitioner con-tended that in ‘Operation Si-lence’ a large number of inno-cent persons were killed and a large number of students went missing. Haroon stated that

now the evidence has been produced before the fact-finding commission and it is clear that then president Musharraf had ordered military operation. He added that Mush-arraf committed atrocities and by misuse of his powers man-aged to murder innocent people including his father Ghazi Abdul Rashid and his grandmother Sahib Khatoon.


Speedy ATM hackers Breach Cards To Steal 45 Million Dollars In ’21st Century Heist’

Plants Being Used As Alternate Source To Generate Electricity

Washington, May 10 (ANI): Researchers led by an Indian origin professor at the University of Georgia are developing a new technology that will make it possible for plants to generate electric-ity. “Clean energy is the need of the century,” Ramaraja Ramasamy, as-sistant professor in the UGA College of Engineering and the corresponding author of the paper said. “This approach may one day transform our ability to generate cleaner power from sunlight using plant-based systems,” he said. Plants are the un-disputed champions of solar power. After billions of years of evolution, most of them operate at nearly 100 percent quantum efficiency, mean-ing that for every photon of sunlight a plant captures, it produces an equal number of electrons.

Converting even a fraction of this into electricity would improve upon the effi-ciency seen with solar panels, which generally operate at efficiency levels between 12 and 17 percent. During photosyn-thesis, plants use sunlight to split water atoms into hydrogen and oxygen, which produces electrons. These newly freed electrons go on to help create sugars that plants use much like food to support growth and reproduction. “We have developed a way to interrupt photosyn-thesis so that we can capture the electrons before the plant uses them to make these sug-ars,” Ramasamy, who is also a member of UGA’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, said. Ramasamy’s tech-nology involves separating out structures in the plant cell called thylakoids, which

are responsible for captur-ing and storing energy from sunlight. Researchers manip-ulate the proteins contained in the thylakoids, interrupt-ing the pathway along which electrons flow. These modif ied thylakoids are then immobi-lized on a specially designed backing of carbon nanotubes, cylindrical structures that are nearly 50,000 times finer than a human hair. The nanotubes act as an electrical conductor, capturing the electrons from the plant material and sending them along a wire. In small-scale ex-periments, this approach resulted in electrical current levels that are two orders of magnitude larger than those previously reported in similar systems. The research is pub-lished in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science.

Washington, May 10 (ANI): In another incident of cyber-crime, 45 million dollars have been stolen by hacking a prepaid debit card database, followed by drain-ing ATMs across the world, according to federal prosecu-tors. Prosecutors have compared the hacking to the Lufthansa heist in the late 1970s where in a heist mas-terminded by Jimmy Burke, 5.8 million dollars in cash was stolen from a Lufthansa Airlines vault at Kennedy Airport, the Fox News re-ports. Dubbing this in-cident as ‘a massive 21st century heist’, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch has said that the cyber criminals

have sped their way to rob off financial institutions around the globe. Lynch has called the heist ‘a virtual criminal flash mob’, where he claims the possibility could have been that the fraudsters used plastic cards such as an old hotel key card or an expired credit card to withdraw the cash provided they possessed the account data and correct access codes. The report said that the crime involved the use of certain magnetic swipe cards to steal money from thousands of ATMs, add-ing that seven suspects who have been arrested so far are young US citizens originally hailing from the Dominican Republic. Lynch said that the

hackers have been charged with conspiracy and money laundering and their convic-tion would ensure 10 years of imprisonment. The arraignment has brought to the limelight eight people kept in the New York prison who have admitted that they have withdrawn a total of 2.8 million dollars from hacked accounts in less than a day’s time. The report further said that the scheme involved attacks on UAE-based Rak-bank and the Bank of Muscat in Oman. Hackers obtained debit card data, eliminated withdrawal limits on the ac-counts, created access codes and then sent out a network of operatives to withdraw the big money in multiple cities.

Walnuts And Their Extracted Oil Cuts Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Washington, May 9 (ANI): Consumption of whole walnuts or their extracted oil can reduce cardiovascular risk through a mechanism other than simply lowering cholesterol, researchers have claimed. “We already know that eating walnuts in a heart-healthy diet can lower blood cholesterol levels,” Penny Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State said. “But, until now, we did not know what component of the walnut was provid-ing this benefit. Now we understand additional ways in which whole walnuts and their oil components can improve heart health,” she said. In a randomized-controlled trial, the research-ers gave 15 participants with elevated blood cholesterol one of four treatments -- either 85 grams of whole walnuts, 6

grams of skin, 34 grams of defatted nutmeat, or 51 grams of oil. The team evaluated biochemical and physiologi-cal responses in the partici-pants before the treatments were administered and again 30 minutes, one hour, two hours, four hours and six hours after administering the treatments. The researchers repeated this process for each of the remaining three treatments. Results showed that a one-time consumption of the oil component in walnuts favorably affected vascular health. In addition, con-sumption of whole walnuts helped HDL -- good cho-lesterol -- perform more ef-fectively in transporting and removing excess cholesterol from the body. “Our study showed that the oil found in walnuts

can maintain blood vessel function after a meal, which is very important given that blood vessel integrity is often compromised in individuals with cardiovascular disease,” Claire Berryman, graduate student in nutritional sci-ences, Penn State said. “The walnut oil was particularly good at preserv-ing the function of endothelial cells, which play an impor-tant role in cardiovascular health,” she said. According to the researchers, walnuts contain alpha-linolenic acid, gamma-tocopherol and phytosterols, which may explain the posi-tive effects of the walnut oil treatment. “Implications of this finding could mean improved dietary strategies to fight heart disease,” Berryman said. The study is set to be published in the Journal of Nutrition.

Congress ‘Adopts’ Paperboy Bhopal (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Congress has “adopted” a 10-year-old hawker who gave a newspaper for free to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, because the latter had no change. On Saturday, state Congress Chief Kantilal Bhuria met Kaushal Shakya and his father Dulichand Shakya at the party office in Bhopal and an-

nounced, after felicitating the boy, that Congress was “adopt-ing” him. Mr Bhuria said the party would give Rs. 1,000 per month to the boy, who had told Mr Gandhi that he wanted to become a doctor. Senior Congress leader Sajid Ali has offered a job to his father, a school drop-out, as a peon at a college run by him.

Kaushal, a class 5 student, sells newspapers. On April 25, when Mr Gandhi was heading for Raja Bhoj airport in a car, Kaushal approached him and requested him to buy a newspaper. Mr Gandhi took the newspaper and handed him a Rs. 1,000 note, but the boy returned it, saying he had no change, and he was offering the copy for free.

Mukesh Ambani Forgoes Rs. 24-crore From RIL Salary

Mumbai, May 12 (PTI): Reliance Industries’ billionaire chief Mukesh Ambani has kept his annual salary capped at Rs. 15 crore for the fifth year in a row, while forego-ing nearly Rs. 24 crore from the remuneration approved for him by shareholders. Mr Ambani has kept his salary at the country’s biggest private sector entity, RIL, unchanged at this level since the fiscal year 2008-09. “The Chairman and Managing Direc-tor’s compensation has been set at Rs. 15 crore as against Rs. 38.93 crore that he is eligible as per the shareholders’ approval, reflecting his desire to continue to set a personal example for moderation in managerial compensation levels,” the company said in its annual report for the year ended March 31, 2013. Mr Ambani was eligible for a pay package of Rs. 38.93 crore for the last fiscal year, which was higher by Rs. 23.93 crore from the salary actually paid to him. In the preceding year 2011-12 also, Mr Ambani had foregone Rs. 23.82 crore from the remuneration approved for him by the shareholders. His remuneration for 2012-13 in-cluded Rs. 4.16 crore as base salary, Rs. 60 lakh towards perquisites and allowances, Rs. 89 lakh as retiral benefits and Rs. 9.35 crore as commission. The decision to cap Mr Ambani’s salary at Rs. 15 crore was taken way back in October 2009, amid a raging debate on right-sizing of CEO salaries. The decision had led to a hefty pay cut for Mr Ambani, as his remuneration dropped to Rs. 15 crore for fiscal year 2008-09, from over Rs. 44 crore in 2007-08 when he was

India’s top-paid executive. RIL’s total payments towards remu-neration of its key managerial personnel also remained unchanged at Rs. 44 crore during 2012-13, after rising in the preceding year to this level from Rs. 41 crore in 2010-11. Among the top executives, Nikhil Meswani and Hital Meswani were paid Rs. 11 crore each, PMS Prasad got Rs. 5 crore and P K Kapil was given Rs. 2 crore as their remuneration for 2012-13. RIL’s overall staff cost at consolidated level rose considerably to Rs. 5,179 crore in 2012-13, from Rs. 3,955 crore in the preceding year. The number of employees rose marginally from 23,166 to 23,519 during 2012-13. The company hired 75 management graduates and 436 graduate engineers through campus placements last fiscal year and said that these numbers are likely to increase in the future.


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Devotees Throng Ajmer Shrine To Mark 801st Death Anniversary Of

Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmer, May 11 (ANI): Devotees in large numbers thronged the shrine in Ajmer during the 801st Death anniversary of the Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Ch-ishti, and took part in religious rituals to mark the commemo-ration ‘Urs’ of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz. “This is the 801st death anniversary of the Sufi saint and there is a ritual of sandal. On this auspicious day we clear the sandal offered by the devotees in the past one year and later distribute it among the devotees coming from far and nearby places. We also keep the sandal for those devotees who could not attend the ceremony and later we give them when they visit the shrine. It is believed that sandal cures various diseases and that is the reason devotees take the sandal, keep it in bottles of water and drink that water throughout the year,” said Qutubuddin Sikkhi, ser-viceman at the shrine. Six days of Urs of Kh-waja Gharib Nawaz is observed every year in the first week of Rajab, the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. “I get peace here and

the peace I get by coming here, I don’t get in anywhere. I have come here with a hope and with god’s grace my prayers would be heard. I have come on a very auspicious day which comes once in a year, today the ritual of sandal is performed and I feel lucky to be here. If Khwaja Garib Nawaz blessed me, my dreams would fulfill,” said Gulfisha Mirza, television actress. People belonging to various faiths from across the country thronged the shrine in the heart of Ajmer to pay obeisance and seek blessing of the Sufi saint. Devotees were lucky to witness and be part of the sandal ritual which was per-formed. The sacred sandal which is pasted throughout the year at the shrine is cleared on this day and distributed among the devotees. Devotees take the sandal to their homes and keep in the water filled bottles and drink that water throughout the year, as it is believed that the sandal cured various dis-eases. The ‘Dargah’ of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti

is one of the most revered shrines of the country and it presents a perfect example of religious harmony. During Urs devotees from various parts of the coun-try and abroad visit the shrine to seek blessings . Urs is observed to mark the death anniversary of any departed saintly figure. Al-though it is an Islamic tradition, people of all faiths participate with equal reverence. Hindus and Sikhs also visit the shrine, which lies some 350 km southwest of New Delhi, and is seen as a symbol of communal harmony. Qawwalis (chorus singing) are performed in the praise of the almighty and the shrine is decorated with lights and fresh flowers during the Urs. The Muslim shrine opened its main gates called the ‘Jannati Darwaza’ (Gateway to Heaven) early this morning . It is said that who-soever performs the act of crossing the gate towards the holy tomb is sure to secure a place for him in heaven. Devotees believe that the saint fulfils their wishes during this time.

U.S. Government Bans World’s First 3-D Printed Plastic Guns

Washington, May 10 (ANI): The US govern-ment has banned 3-D printed plastic guns which has been seen by the law executors as a potentially dangerous weapon allowing anyone with access to a 3-D printer to manufacture guns at home. The move comes after over 100,000 blueprint copies of the plans for the working handgun, Liberator have been posted online, the Fox News reports. U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls has called for removal of the downloadable files from public access until further notice.

The functional plas-tic guns that have been rec-ognized as a breakthrough by some Second Amendment ad-vocates, have been reportedly manufactured by the founder of Defense Distributed, Cody Wilson who said that the Lib-erator project was intended to highlight how technology can decrease the significance of laws and governments to nothing but irrelevant. The making of Lib-erator involves 16 parts made from a tough, heat-resistant plastic used in products such as musical instruments, kitchen appliances and ve-hicle bumper bars and fifteen made with a 3D printer. The

weapon has been designed with features like an inter-changeable barrel so that it can handle different caliber rounds. While the Liberator blueprints have sparked out-rage in the country, Wilson believes that though the gun breeds harm but liberty is certainly in a better interest. U.S. Representative Steve Israel noted that the gun would ensure no regulatory hurdles as security check-points, background checks, and gun regulations will not prove helpful if criminals can print plastic firearms at home and carry them through metal detectors as well.




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MAY 14The renowned Smithsonian Institution is celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The theme is ‘I Want the Wide American Earth’. Everyone is invited to view the exhibition, ‘I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian American Story’, at the National Museum of Ameri-can History, third floor. The banner exhibition explores and celebrates the history, culture and literary works of Asian Americans in the United States. Rich with compel-ling stories and images, this 30-banner exhibition takes a sweeping look at this history, from the very first Asian im-migrants centuries ago to the complex challenges facing Asian Pacific American com-munities today. Enjoy the cel-ebrations and join in watching and listening to presentations by local writers, a spoken word artiste, and participate in family activities such as arts and crafts, gallery tours, conversation with curators and a scavenger hunt. For more information, Readers can go to http://apa.si.edu

MAY 15Asia Heritage Foundation and Doonya Dance Company are co-presenting ‘Fiesta Asia-MOVES’ and inviting every-one to join in the Bhangra Mania. All you have to do to participate is to learn the routine online through tutori-als and come out to perform on May 18, at 1:00 p.m. (Call time is 12:30 p.m. - wear orange/yellow wristbands), to the Fiesta Asia Street Fair, Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street, NW, Washington, DC. Public lessons and rehearsals are scheduled for May 15, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., at Ar-lington Cultural Affairs, 3700 Four Mile Run S., Room 174, Arlington, VA. Please direct queries to 202-470-0899 or [email protected] or go to http://asia-heritagefoundation.org/par-ticpate/bhangramania/

MAY 16Join the Bethesda Multicultur-al Committee as it celebrates Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The program will feature a special Bharatanatyam performance by students of the Natananjali School of Dance, founded and directed by supremely gifted

Lakshmi Swaminathan. The event will be held from 11:30 to 12:30 p.m., in the Ameri-can Building, Atrium (piano area), Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD. Enjoy samples of free food! For more information, please contact SFC Jason Zielske at 301-400-3542 or HMC Oluyinka Adefisan at 301-295-6482.

MAY 18, 28‘Fiesta Asia’, an entertainment extravaganza is being held in the Washington area featur-ing: performances by dancers, singers, musicians, martial arts experts; a cultural parade; food and more). Mark your calendars for this festival as follows: May 18 - Fiesta Asia Street Fair on Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC; and May 28 to 30 - Fiesta Asia Film Fest at West End Cinema. Now, in its eighth year, partake in the excitement and fun of this festival! For further information, check the web-site at www.asiaheritage-foundation.org

MAY 18 - 31The Gandhi Memorial Cen-ter, in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Embassy of India, is presenting ‘An Exhibition on Sikh Heritage of India’. This is a photographic exhibition by Sandeep Shan-kar. Exhibit opening is at 4:00 p.m. with remarks by Indian Ambassador Mrs. Nirupama Rao and Dr. Manmohan Singh Kumar, IMF. Following the inauguration, the exhibit will be on display through May 31. It may be viewed on Fridays and Saturdays, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and by appointment. The Gandhi Memorial Center is located at 4748 Western Ave., Bethesda, MD. To attend the opening, please RSVP to [email protected] . For more information, Readers can call 301-320-6871 or go to www.gandhimemorialcenter.org . Note: Sikhism, established in the 15th century, is just over 500 years old. Its teachings are founded in the philosophy of humanism, pluralism and universal brotherhood. It was deeply influenced by the Bhakti movement and synthe-sized liberal traditions of all religions prevalent in India at that time. Sandeep Shankar’s

photo exhibition provides a glimpse of rich Sikh heritage and traditions. For more than two decades, Sandeep Shankar has roamed the length and breadth of India in an effort to photographically document the heritage of Sikhism.

MAY 18 - 19S.G. Theater Group is present-ing ‘Ahimsa’, a thought-pro-voking new play, in English. It is written and directed by Shree Iyengar. The play examines the question: Is the message of Ahimsa, promoted and practiced by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., relevant for the 21st century? A cast of 10 talented actors will depict the events and circumstances that affect the lives of two wounded war veterans and a mother who lost her son in the Afghan war and how these and other characters resolve the conflict posed by guilt and vengeance. The story is predicated on the messages of Gandhi and King. The play will be staged as follows: May 18 - 8:00 p.m., at the Jewish Community Center, 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville, MD; and May 19 - 2:00 p.m., at Ernst Community Cultural Center, 8333 Little River Turnpike, Annandale, VA. For further information, please call Shree Iyengar at 410-551-4308, Latha Kannan at 301-493-0428, Mathew Thomas at 301-352-9641, Pad-manabhan at 703-339-7872 or go to www.sgtheater.org The Institute of Sri Ramchan-dra Consciousness is offering a free two-day course in ‘Pra-nahuti Aided Meditation’, a unique Raja Yoga system. This course is suitable for young aspirants who seek Realization and an effective meditation method to achieve it. It is for those who want to understand the meaning of existence and to realize their full potential. Time is from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., on both Saturday and Sunday. Location is Gaith-ersburg, MD. Topics covered are: A complete set of daily meditation practices; Happy and balanced way of living; Control of mind and con-centration; Pranahuti (yogic transmission) and its support; the complete map of spiritual journey up to the highest levels of consciousness. To register, please call 301-947-9040 or e-mail kannan@sriramchandra.

org or go to www.sriramchan-dra.org

MAY 22The DC Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs and Many Languages Voice are presenting a free screening of ‘English Ving-lish’, an acclaimed film about the struggles to learn English and be introduced to Ameri-can society. Bollywood super-star Amitabh Bachchan, upon seeing the film wrote on his blog, “A viewing of ‘English Vinglish’ ... leaves me with collective lumps in the throat and a surge of flushed eyes near the tear ducts”. The organizers of the film screening will be joined by Counselors Helping South Asians/Asian Indians (CHAI), a local organiza-tion focusing on the mental health needs of South Asian communities. Show time is from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Lo-cation is Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th Street, NW, Washington, DC. RSVPs are required at http://englishv-inglish.eventbrite.com/ Note: For many immigrants to the United States, the impact of not speaking English fluently is felt deeply through their struggles to fully participate in American civic, popular and political life. On a more immediate level, the language barrier is experienced through relationships with people in their lives such as their child’s teacher, doctor, neighbors and family. ‘English Vinglish’, a 2012 Bollywood film by direc-tor Gauri Shinde is a heart-warming film which narrates the story of an Indian house-wife, Shashi Godbole, who en-rolls in an English class along with other immigrants from around the world. Shashi’s experiences as an English Language Learner echo those of many immigrants in Wash-ington, DC. Fifteen percent of District residents speak a language other than English at home, a figure that includes students, working adults and the elderly.

MAY 24Emdo Entertainment, in as-sociation with PME, is pre-senting Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - live in concert! Time is 8:30 p.m. Venue is the spacious Patriot Center, George Mason University, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax, VA (703-993-3000; www.pa-

triotcenter.com). After a sold out international tour, Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is back in the Washington area once again with a brand new show. Accompanied by an ensemble of 20 talented musicians, the Ustad promises an unforget-table performance! For more information, Readers can call 571-207-6750 or visit www.rahatDC2013.com

MAY 26Ik Punjabi presents the 4th annual ‘Punjabi Mela’. Time is from noon to 8:00 p.m. Location is the Bull Run Re-gional Park, 7700 Bull Run Drive, Centreville, VA. The program includes: sports such as kabaddi and volleyball; per-formances by legendary Pun-jabi singers and local Bhangra teams; shopping stalls; Indian cuisine and more. Enjoy all these free features - entry, parking, entertainment, wa-ter and car win. The event is based on the ideology of bring people of multiple ethnic backgrounds together to show the energy and vibrancy of everyone’s culture. For more information, Readers can call 571-308-9131 or e-mail [email protected] or go to www.IkPunjabi.com

JUNE 7 - 9Celebrate Fairfax!, Northern Virginia’s largest community-wide celebration, arrives to the Fairfax County Govern-ment Center. Presented by Celebrate Fairfax, Inc., the annual festival hosts tens of thousands of visitors during the three-day run. On June 9, at 2:00 p.m., talented students of Balaji Music Academy, founded and directed by Mrs. Vatsala Mehra, renowned ghazal and Sufi music artiste, will be performing. Over three days, the 25-acre site will be magically filled with fascinating sights and sounds of more than 300 exhibitors, food vendors, crafts and interactive activities. Cel-ebrate Fairfax! Showcases live concerts on eight stages, ExxonMobil Children’s Av-enue, a petting zoo, the Fairfax County Karaoke Champion-

ship, carnival rides and great festival foods. Another fun activity for kids is the Inova ‘Train Ride to Good Health’. Nightly fireworks, presented by SAIC, are a highlight of the festival and one of many great family programs. For more information, Readers can call 703-324-FAIR (3247) or visit www.celebratefairfax.com/info

JUNE 28AAPI, in association with VAAPI and IMA, is present-ing Shankar Ehsaan Loy - live in concert ! Time is 8:00 p.m. Venue is the spacious Patriot Center, George Mason Uni-versity, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax, VA (703-993-3000; www.patr iotcenter.com). This show is being managed by Manish and Deepa Sood of Intense Entertainment. It will be a memorable journey celebrating 100 years of Bol-lywood music. For more information, Readers can call 201-59-MASTI (62784) or go to www.intenseUS.com The Smithsonian Asian Pa-cific American (APA) Center has announced internship op-portunities for Fall 2013. Se-lected interns will be provided with an office space equipped with a computer, phone access to Smithsonian collections, libraries, reference materials and other resources, as well as advice and research guidance from the APA Center and other Smithsonian staff. Applicants will be chosen based on their scholarly qualifications, ex-perience working with APA communities and the quality of the research project pro-posed and its suitability to APA Center’s missions and goals. Eligible applicants must be a current college student, recent college gradu-ate (within one calendar year) and/or have been accepted to enter an advanced degree program. The deadline to apply is June 28. Please go to http://apa.si.edu/internships.asp . For more information, Readers can contact Krista Aniel, Internship Coordinator, at [email protected]


Nalanda University To Continue To Receive All Central Assistance In

Next 10 Years: Chidambaram Patna, May 12 (ANI): Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has said that Nalanda University would continue to receive all cen-tral assistance in the next ten years. Talking to media at the Patna Airport yesterday, Chidambaram said that for proposed Nalanda University funds would be available for ten years from 2010-11. The assurance he has given in Parliament would definitely be implemented, he said. He further said that discussion has taken place be-tween him and the vice-chan-cellor to propose UNESCO to declare Nalanda a world heritage site. Hinting that the

Centre might provide special status to Bihar, Chidambaram further declared to set up a committee to determine the new criteria for backward-ness. Chidambaram said the committee under the chairmanship of the economic advisor, Raghuram Rajan, would be given a month to submit its report. “The committee, under the chairmanship of the economic advisor Raghuram Rajan, will be announced in next few days. That commit-tee will be given a month or so to work on the criteria and submit a report to the govern-ment. Once the committee gives its report, I hope that we can have new criteria to determine backwardness,”

Chidambaram told the media here. “States will qualify under that criteria. Going by whatever information I have, Bihar will certainly qualify under the new criteria,” he added. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier this year met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia to discuss granting of special status to Bihar. The Janata Dal (United) has for long sought special status for the state, especially in the aftermath of its division, with most of the natural resources ending up in Jharkhand.

Manipur Hosts Shumang Leela Festival To Promote Northeast Culture

Imphal, May 10 (ANI): The 41st edition of the All Manipur Shumang Leela Festival was recently held here to promote the culture of northeast India. Not many may know, but the art form derives its name from “Shumang”, which means “courtyard” in local parlance. The fest ival has traditionally been showcasing several plays based on contem-porary themes. Though these performance have popularly been known to have an all-male cast performing in them, of late young women have also started getting roles in the Shumang plays. The 41st edition of the courtyard theatre was orga-

nized under the aegis of Mani-pur State Lalit Kala Academy. The 15daylong event saw the participation of 20 groups. “Our main objective is to preserve our rich culture heritage and we give more important to the women artists who are preserving the origi-nal form of Shumang Leela,” Bhubon Singh, Programme-in-charge, Manipur State Kala Academy The theatre origi-nated in the mid-nineteenth-century when it was known as Phange Leela and was an out and out comedy. It has evolved over a period of time and has become a vehicle for drawing attention to various issues that affect the society. Visitors mostly sit

on elevated ground surround-ing the theatre court from all sides. N o w - a - d a y s Shumang Leela is of two types - Nupa Shurnang leela, performed only by male ar-tistes, and Nupi Shumang leela, performed only by female artistes. “Sometimes we also perform Shumang Leela out-side. I am doing this because I want to preserve our culture so I will continue to do it,” said Ibetombi Devi, artist. “It is very important for the new generation because if the youngsters do not watch such Leela then they will not know about the history of Manipur and its culture,” added Satyaban, a visitor.

Tripura Spread Awareness About Conservation Techniques Through Handwritten Scripts

Agartala, May 12 (ANI): A treasure trove of old manuscripts has kicked off a campaign to spread awareness of conservation techniques practiced in the past with good results. Tripura University Professor Satyadeo Poddar said that it was essential to preserve these manuscripts for the future. “You know after ten to fifteen years, the paper manuscript will be lost, it will be brittle, it will be lost forever. So, if you want to keep your property forever, your duty is to ensure the manuscript’s safety. It is your property and it is your duty to keep the property intact for the coming generation at least for 10 to 15, or 50 years,” said Poddar. The five-day pro-gramme, which was held in state capital Agartala, impart-ed knowledge to local residents about affordable methods of safeguarding the hundreds and thousands of manuscripts found in the region as well as in other parts of our country. The Manuscr ipt Resource and Conservation Centre of Tripura University in association with the National Mission for Manuscripts ini-tiated the programme where the owner of around 60 manuscripts in tribal language Chakma and Mog also par-ticipated along with the master degree students of the history department. Most of these knowl-edge treasures are written on

bhoj-patra (birch bark), barks of certain trees and palm-leaf while many other in paper and a large percentage of these manuscripts are badly in need of preserving. Recent trends have shown a general lack of awareness of the importance of manuscripts among the public as well as authorities of institution that own a vast collection of manuscripts. There is also a lack of awareness, of understand-ing of methods of preventive conservation, shortage of con-servation facilities across the country to ensure the safety of these valuable manuscripts. Many private own-ers as well as religious centre possess ancient manuscripts, which they consider to be sa-cred and religious for them. Majority of these manuscripts were preserved as a part of their “Dharma”, or religious duty and they offer salutations to them without un-derstanding their importance and utility. They also fear that the government may confis-cate these manuscripts and hence avoid displaying their manuscripts. Over time any manu-script whether on paper or palm leafs deteriorates in condition and at this stage it is crucial to ensure that the text is repaired and strengthened. Presence of acidity in the paper is a big problem for manuscripts written on paper where as manuscripts written

on palm leafs are infested by insects which results in brittleness and reduction of their flexibility. During the workshop participants were taught the process of indirect application to protect the manuscripts in their collection from heat, humidity, temperature and biological agents, which con-tribute to the deterioration in the condition of a manu-script. Apart from that par-ticipants were also taught the proper methods of handling and storage of these manu-scripts, which is information essential for the owner of any manuscript. The workshop also aimed at discussing the meth-odology adopted for conser-vation of manuscripts with methods such as storage, reorganization and emergency treatment of the document through use of various chemi-cal reagents and techniques such as digitisation. Manuscript resource centre (MRC) has so far taken preventive care of about 800 manuscripts and possesses a huge collection of paper text stored in good condition. The manuscripts were found written mostly in Sanskrit, Bengali, Chakma and Mog scripts. MRC has document-ed more than 500 manuscripts in different subjects like Ayurveda, Tantra-Mantra, Jyotisha, Pujavidhi, Drama, and Medicine etc.

13 Short Films Based On Tagore’s Poems Released In Delhi

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch launched 13 short films based on the poems of Rabindranath Tagore here on Thursday. These films have been produced with the financial support of Ministry of Culture. Noted director Buddhadeb Dasgupta has directed this series through National Film Development Corporation. This project for pro-duction of 13 short films/ documentaries is a part of the commemoration celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. The Screening Com-mittee under the chairmanship of Shyam Benegal was consti-tuted to examine film produc-tion and related proposals for the commemoration. These short films

(each of 25-30 minutes dura-tion) are based on Tagore’s poems namely, Bansi (The Flute), Krishnakali (The Dark Maiden), Mukti (The Free-dom), Phanki (Deception), Pu-kur Dhare (From the pool side), Ek Gaye (A Village), Camellia (Camellia), Banshiwallah (The Flutist), Shesh Chithi (The Last Letter), Hothat Dekha (The Unexpected Meeting), Patralekha (The letter ought to be written), Basha Bari (The mansion) and Istition (The Sta-tion). Tagore, one of the greatest sons of India, is glob-ally known for his literary and artistic genius, creativity, humanism and international-ism. He was a great poet, an author, a composer, a philosopher, a musicologist, a visual artist of a very high

caliber, a social reformer and a celebrated educator. There is hardly a field of activity not explored by him. He is an integral part of the famous tril-ogy namely, “Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore.” Gitanjali or the ‘song offering’, that got him the Nobel in 1913 showcased his “innermost feelings and the humblest prayers”. These films encap-sulate Tagore’s humanism and showcase the creativity that he had in him and a genius that he was. These films reflect a wide range of his intellectual thinking from Romance to Philosophy, to tradition to the contemporary ills to western thoughts. They are as much as relevant today as they were when conceived and written by Gurudev a Radical man of Indian Renaissance of his time.

Foreign Exchange Earnings From Tourism Increases By 7.5 % In April

New Delhi, May 9 (ANI): The foreign exchange earnings from tourism increased by 7.5 per cent in April as compared to the same period last year, even though there was no change in the number of foreign tourists. The Foreign Tourist Arrivals ( FTAs) in April 2013 was 4.52 lakh which was the same in April 2012, according to Tourism Ministry data. However, FTAs during the period

January-April 2013 were 24.80 lakh with a growth of 1.9 percent, as compared to the FTAs of 24.34 lakh during January-April 2012. Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arriv-als (FTAs) on the basis of data received from major ports and Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism on the basis of data received from Reserve Bank of India.


Teen Discovers iPad 2 Interferes With Functioning Of Pacemaker

Washington, May 11 (ANI): A teenager from California has found that the magnets in iPad 2 tablets and covers are capable of interfer-ing with cardiac rhythm de-vices, like pacemakers, Heart Rhythm Society has said. The research con-ducted by 14-year-old Gi-anna Chien of Stockton, who initially organized the study as part of a school science

fair project, discovered that cardiac rhythm devices can be affected by magnets and radio-frequency energy in products ranging from cellphones to MRI machines. When heart devices are near magnets, they switch into “magnet mode” that can potentially disrupt function, Fox News reported. With help from her cardiologist dad, she asked

26 patients with implantable cardiac devices (ICDs) to hold the iPad 2 at reading distance, at this length the iPad caused no electromagnetic interfer-ence. However, when the patients placed the tablet on their chests, as if they had gone to sleep with the iPad there, “magnet mode” was triggered in 30 percent of patients’ ICDs.

How To Use Aspirin To Treat And Prevent Heart Disease, Cancers

Washington, May 12 (ANI): A Florida Atlantic University researcher has pub-lished a review for clinicians on the optimal utilization of as-pirin to treat and prevent heart attacks as well as commentary on the cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent colorectal and other cancers. Charles H. Hennek-ens, M.D., Dr.P.H., the first Sir Richard Doll professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at the University and James E. Dalen, M.D., M.P.H., dean emeritus, University of Arizona College of Medicine and executive di-rector of the Weil Foundation published this update in the current issue of the American Journal of Medicine. In a commentary published in Clinical Investi-gation, Hennekens and David J. Bjorkman, M.D., M.S.P.H., dean and executive director of medical affairs for the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine consider the emerging evidence on aspirin in the prevention of colorectal and other cancers and provide advice to doctors. “All patients suffer-ing from blockage of an artery in the heart or brain should receive 325 mg regular aspirin promptly and daily aspirin

thereafter to reduce their death rate as well as subsequent heart attacks and strokes,” said Hen-nekens. In addition, he also stressed that “among long-term survivors of prior heart attacks, occlusive strokes or blockages in the arteries of the legs, aspirin should be contin-ued long-term unless there is a specific contraindication.” Hen nekens a nd Bjorkman advise doctors that, based on the current totality of evidence, in the primary pre-vention of vascular disease and cancer, any judgments about prescribing long-term aspirin therapy for apparently healthy individuals should be based on individual clinical judgments between the doctor and each of his or her patients. General guidelines that advocate the routine use of aspirin in all apparently healthy individuals do not seem to be justified for the primary prevention of either cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer. The increasing bur-den of CVD in developed and developing countries underscores the need for more widespread therapeutic lifestyle changes as well as the adjunctive use of drug therapies of proven net benefit in the primary prevention of

CVD. These should include statins to lower cholesterol, and the multiple drug thera-pies likely to be necessary to achieve control of high blood pressure. Hennekens was the first to discover that aspirin prevents a first heart attack and has lifesaving benefits when given during a heart attack or among long-term survivors of prior events. S c i e n c e Wa t c h ranked Hennekens as the third most widely cited medi-cal researcher in the world from 1995-2005, and five of the top 20 were his former trainees and/or fellows. In 2012, Science Heroes ranked Hennekens No. 81 in the his-tory of the world for having saved more than 1.1 million lives. On March 2, the American Heart Associa-tion honored the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine as well as Hennekens, Dick and Barbara Schmidt, and Bjork-man for their past, current, and future contributions to reduc-ing suffering and death from heart attacks and strokes. On May 1, Hennek-ens received the Presidential Award from his alma mater, Queens College, the highest honor bestowed upon any graduate.

Food And Exercise Tips For Summer Slim Down Washington, May 12 (ANI): University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) exer-cise and nutrition experts have offered tips for those in search of a summer slim down. EatRight by UAB Weight Management Services Clinical Dietitian Lindsey Lee R.D., said nutrition is neces-sary to support weight loss efforts. “Incorporate good nutrition habits — eating fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, whole grains and lean protein sources — to get the calories you need to main-tain an exercise program,” Lee said. “If you restrict calo-ries too much, you could start to feel burn out,” Lee stated. To bolster the burn, Lee suggested: Fill up on lower calorie fruits and vegetables, choose water over high calo-rie sodas and decrease high calorie, high fat options. The expert suggests switching up food prepara-tion: Instead of steaming vegetables, grill them or toss unique vegetables like skew-ered okra or fresh asparagus on the grill. “The one important

thing to remember is to limit the fat source you use. Try different herbs and spices to season your veggies instead of heavy amounts of olive oil, canola oil, or butter,” Lee said. Restaurant meals can be deceptive and pose a special challenge to healthy eating. “Even meals you think are healthy in restau-rants are loaded with calories because of cooking methods that add a lot of fat and sodium, so ask to have foods prepared as light as possible to avoid ex-tra calories,” Lee suggested. She also suggests that people generally under-estimate the calories they take in, and they overestimate the calories they burn. The best bet, she said, is to watch the calories consumed daily and get in at least 30 minutes of physical activity five days per week. UAB School of Edu-cation Associate Professor of Health Education Retta Evans, Ph.D., said to start by adding a walk or bike ride to a daily routine, then mix it up with other activities to keep things interesting.

“Piloxing, which is a combo of Pilates and kickbox-ing, is fun,” Evans said. “There are also a variety of yoga disciplines to try, as well as barre fitness dance classes. Mixing it up with different activities is a good way to ramp up your program,” she added. Evans said a personal trainer could take physical activity and weight loss goals to another level. “They can sit down with you and map out a time-line to meet your goals, and then they can be there as a motivator to keep reaching those,” Evans explained. If a personal trainer is not in the cards, Evans sug-gests looking to the internet for free exercise program-ming instruction. Either way, properly setting expectations is important. “In a three month period, you can expect to drop up to three percent of your body composition. Some people will drop more, and some will drop less. But in that time frame, you’ll start to see changes in how your body looks and feels,” she asserted.

Air Pollution Raises Insulin Resistance Risk In Kids

Washington, May 10 (ANI): Kids, who grow up in areas where there is an increase in air pollution, risk insulin resistance (the prescur-sor to diabetes), a new study has claimed. Joachim Heinrich, study author, said that although toxicity differs between air pollutants, are all considered potent oxidisers that act either directly on lipids and proteins or indirectly through the acti-vation of intracellular oxidant pathways. He said that oxidative stress caused by exposure to air pollutants may therefore play a role in the development of insulin resistance. In this new study by Elisabeth Thiering and Heinrich, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Neuherberg, Ger-many, and colleagues, fasting blood samples were collected

from 397 10-year-old kids within a follow-up of two pro-spective German birth cohort studies. Individual-level ex-posures to traffic-related air pollutants at their birth address were estimated by analysing emission from road traffic in the neighbourhood, popula-tion density and land use in the area, and the association between air pollution and in-sulin resistance was calculated using a model adjusted for several possible confounders including socioeconomic sta-tus of the family, birthweight, pubertal status and BMI. Models were also further adjusted for second-hand smoke exposure at home. The scientists found that in all crude and adjusted models, levels of insulin re-sistance were greater in kids

with higher exposure to air pollution. Insulin resistance increased by 17 percent for every 10.6 microg/m3 increase in ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and 19 percent for every 6 micro(2 SDs) increase in particulate matter of up to 10 micrometre in diameter. Proximity to the nearest major road raised in-sulin resistance by 7 percent per 500 metres. Heinrich said that there is some evidence that air pollution is associated with lower birthweight and growth restrictions—also shown pre-viously in one of the cohorts of the present study—which are known risk factors for type 2 diabetes. The research has been published in Diabe-tologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

Stressful Work Conditions Can Up Diabetes Risk Washington, May 10 (ANI): Work conditions can predict development of diabetes in healthy employees, a new study has found. Cases of type 2 diabe-tes continue to rise in the US. And while the development of the disease is more commonly associated with risk factors such as obesity, high blood pressure, and physical inactiv-ity, research has shown that stress can also have a significant impact. Now Dr. Sharon Toker of Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Management has found that low levels of social support and high levels of stress in the work-

place can accurately predict the development of diabetes over the long term — even in employees who appear to be healthy other-wise. The study contributes to an ongoing body of research linking work conditions to physi-cal and mental health. The researchers’ 3.5-year-long study of male and female employees established that work conditions had a preventative or predictive effect on the development of type 2 diabetes. Participants who re-ported having a high level of social support at work had a 22 percent lesser chance of devel-

oping diabetes over the course of the study. And those who described themselves as either over- or under-worked were 18 percent more likely to develop the disease. The results were con-trolled for various risk factors including age, family history, activity level, and body mass index. Dr. Toker says these findings paint a grim picture, with a worrying rise in the rate of diabetes in the researchers’ middle-aged study cohort, which had a mean age of 48. The study is published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.



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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYGlobal Carbon Dioxide In

Atmosphere Touches Milestone Level London, May 11 (ANI): For the first time in human history, the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has passed the milestone level of 400 parts per million (ppm). Two CO2 monitoring stations high on the Hawaiian volcano of Mauna Loa run by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, provide the global benchmark measure-ment., the data released on Friday shows that the daily average has passed 400ppm for the first time in its 50 years of recording, the Guardian reported. Analysis of fossil air trapped in ancient ice and other data indicated that the level has not been seen on Earth for 3-5 million years,

Pliocene period. At that time, global average temperatures were 3 - 4C higher and up to 8C warmer at the poles. At that time reef cor-als suffered a major extinction while forests grew up to the northern edge of the Arctic Ocean, a region which is today bare tundra, Arctic was ice-free, savannah spread across the Sahara desert and sea level was up to 40 metres higher. These conditions could return in time, with bad consequences for civilisation, unless emissions of the gas from the burning of coal, gas and oil are curbed rapidly. But despite warnings from scientists and a major economic recession, global emissions of CO2 have con-tinued to soar unchecked. Professor Ralph

Keeling, who oversees the measurements on Mauna Loa, which were begun by his father in 1958, said that the landmark level is symbolic, it’s like turning 50: it’s a wake up call to what has been build-ing up in front of people all along. P r o f R a j e n d r a Pachauri, chair of the Inter-governmental Panel on Cli-mate Change, which serves as science adviser to the world’s governments, said that the passing of this milestone is a significant reminder of the rapid rate and the ex-tent to which people have increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. He said that at the beginning of industrialisation the concentration of CO2 was just 280ppm.

Flu Strains Circulating In Pigs And Birds Show Pandemic Potential

Washington, May 11 (ANI): A new study from MIT led by an Indian origin scien-tist has identified influenza viruses circulating in pigs and birds that could pose a risk to humans. In the summer of 1968, a new strain of influ-enza appeared in Hong Kong. This strain, known as H3N2, spread around the globe and eventually killed an estimated 1 million people. The MIT study revealed that there are many strains of H3N2 circulating in birds and pigs that are ge-netically similar to the 1968 strain and have the potential to generate a pandemic if they leap to humans. The researchers, led by Ram Sasisekharan, the Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT, also found that current flu vaccines might not of-fer protection against these strains. “There are indeed examples of H3N2 that we need to be concerned about. From a pandemic-prepared-ness point of view, we should potentially start including some of these H3 strains as part of influenza vaccines,” said Sasisekharan, who is also a member of MIT`s Koch In-stitute for Integrative Cancer Research. The study also offers the World Health Organiza-tion and public-health agen-cies̀ insight into viral strains that should raise red flags if

detected. Sasisekharan and his colleagues wanted to determine the risk of H3N2 strains re-emerging in hu-mans, whose immune systems would no longer recognize the more dangerous forms of H3N2. This type of event has a recent precedent: In 2009, a strain of H1N1 emerged that was very similar to the virus that caused a 1918 pandemic that killed 50 million to 100 million people. “We asked if that could happen with H3.You would think it`s more readily possible with H3 because we observe that there seems to be a lot more mixing of H3 between humans and swine,” Sasisekharan said. In the new study, the researchers compared the 1968 H3N2 strain and about 1,100 H3 strains now circulat-ing in pigs and birds, focusing on the gene that codes for the viral hemagglutinin (HA) protein. After comparing HA genetic sequences in five key locations that control the viruses` interactions with infected hosts, the research-ers calculated an “antigenic index” for each strain. This value indicates the percent-age of these genetic regions identical to those of the 1968 pandemic strain and helps determine how well an influ-enza virus can evade a host`s immune response. The researchers also took into account the patterns

of attachment of the HA pro-tein to sugar molecules called glycans. The virus` ability to attach to glycan receptors found on human respiratory-tract cells is key to infecting humans. Seek ing vi ruses with an antigenic index of at least 49 percent and glycan-attachment patterns identical to those of the 1968 virus, the research team identified 581 H3 viruses isolated since 2000 that could potentially cause a pandemic. Of these, 549 came from birds and 32 from pigs. The researchers then exposed some of these strains to antibodies provoked by the current H3 seasonal-flu vaccines. As they predicted, these antibodies were unable to recognize or attack these H3 strains. Of the 581 HA sequences, six swine strains already contain the standard HA mutations necessary for human adaptation, and are thus capable of entering the human population either directly or via genetic reas-sortment, Sasisekharan said. “One of the amazing things about the influenza vi-rus is its ability to grab genes from different pools. There could be viral genes that mix among pigs, or between birds and pigs,” he noted. Sasisekharan and colleagues are now doing a similar genetic study of H5 influenza strains. The study appeared in the journal Scientific Re-ports.

US Navy’s Ion Tiger Drone Shatters Own Endurance Record

Washington, May 11 (ANI): Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory were able to fly their fuel cell powered Ion Tiger unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for 48 hours and 1 minute on April 16-18 by using liquid hydrogen fuel in a new cryogenic fuel storage tank and delivery system. This flight shatters their previous record of 26 hours and 2 minutes set in 2009 using the same vehicle, but with gaseous hydrogen stored at 5000 psi. Liquid hydrogen is three times denser than 5000-psi compressed hydrogen. The cryogenic liquid is stored in a lightweight tank, allowing more hydrogen to be carried

onboard to increase flight endurance. Success in flight re-quires developing a high qual-ity, lightweight insulated flight dewar for the cryogenic fuel, plus matching the boil off of the cryogenic hydrogen to the vehicle fuel consumption. “Liquid hydrogen coupled with fuel-cell technol-ogy has the potential to expand the utility of small unmanned systems by greatly increasing endurance while still afford-ing all the benefits of electric propulsion,” said Dr. Karen Swider-Lyons, NRL principal investigator. Although long en-durance is possible with conventional, hydrocarbon-fueled systems, these are

usually loud, inefficient, and unreliable in this aircraft class. Similarly, small, electric, battery-powered systems are limited to endurances of only several hours. To address the lo-gistics of in-theater supply of liquid or gaseous hydrogen, NRL proposes in-situ manu-facture of LH2 for use as fuel. An electrolyzer-based system would require only water for feedstock, and electricity, possibly from solar or wind, to electrolyze, compress, and refrigerate the fuel. The NRL LH2 flight capability is being developed by NRL’s Tactical Electronic Warfare and Chemistry Divi-sions, and is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research.

NASA’s Astronauts Take Impromptu Spacewalk To Fix Leak At ISS

Washington, May 12 (ANI): NASA ordered two astronauts for an impromptu spacewalk Saturday to find and, possibly, fix a serious leak at the International Space Station. But Thomas Marsh-burn and Christopher Cassidy discovered “no smoking guns” as they worked to replace a suspect pump, Fox News reported. Marshburn has been on the space station since De-cember and is set to return to Earth late Monday. Cassidy is a new arrival, on board for just 1 1/2 months. On Thursday, the agency’s astronomers spotted flakes of frozen ammonia coolant drifting from the long frame that

holds the solar panels on the left side. Barely 48 hours later, the two astronomers hunted in vain for the leak as they inspected and removed an old pump. No new, major flaking occurred after that. NASA had ordered up the fast, impromptu spacewalk hoping that ammonia flakes might lead the astronauts to the bedeviling hole or crack, which is too small to notice without a trail of icy evidence. Despite the lack of visible damage, Mission Control ordered the spacewalkers to in-stall a spare pump. The ammonia pump was the chief suspect going into Saturday’s spacewalk, and

the fact that nothing amiss was found meant that the problem, in all likelihood, was going to continue to vex NASA in the weeks ahead. Mission Control ex-plained that there’s nothing to lose by putting in a fresh pump and pressing ahead with addi-tional detective work, but noted that the mystery still remains. NASA’s space station program manager Mike Suf-fredini said it’s a mystery as to why the leak erupted. Possibilities include a micrometeorite strike or a leaky seal. Ammonia already had been seeping ever so slightly from the location, but it increased dramatically Thursday.

Newly Engineered Biomaterials Reverse Diabetic Symptoms In Mice

Washington, May 10 (ANI): Researchers have made a significant first step with newly engineered biomaterials for cell transplantation that could help lead to a possible cure for Type 1 diabetes. Georgia Tech engi-neers and Emory University clinicians have successfully en-grafted insulin-producing cells into a diabetic mouse model, reversing diabetic symptoms in the animal in as little as 10 days.

The research team en-gineered a biomaterial to protect the cluster of insulin-producing cells – donor pancreatic islets – during injection. The material also con-tains proteins to foster blood ves-sel formation that allow the cells to successfully graft, survive and function within the body. “It’s very promising,” Andres Gar-cia, Georgia Tech professor of mechanical engineering said. “There is a lot of ex-citement because not only can

we get the islets to survive and function, but we can also cure diabetes with fewer islets than are normally needed,” he said. Four weeks after the transplantation, diabetic mice treated with the hydrogel had normal glucose levels, and the delivered islets were alive and vascularized to the same extent as islets in a healthy mouse pancreas. The research is set to be published in the journal Biomaterials.


Australia And India Engaging On Corporate Affairs

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): Countries around the world face common challenges in getting their corporate regulation frameworks right, balancing the objectives of fairness and efficiency, and there is a lot that India and Australia can learn from each other in this regard, according to Australian legal expert, Dr Robert Austin. A former NSW Su-preme Court Justice, distin-guished academic, and leader in corporate law reform, Dr Austin is visiting India to discuss ways the two countries can cooperate, share informa-tion and build stronger institu-tional linkages in the corporate affairs arena. Dr Bob Austin has called for Asia-region solu-tions to Asia-region corporate governance issues. “The US and European models don’t sufficiently adjust for market circumstances in India or Aus-tralia, or most other economies in the Asian region. It is time for us to share and adapt the best of each other’s regulatory experience, so as to build on the Asian region’s existing

economic success. Good regulation creates value,” Dr Austin said. Dr Austin’s visit comes at a time when cor-porate regulation in India is under the scanner: the pending Companies Bill, new CSR and Corporate Governance Guide-lines, and higher governance standards for listed companies being framed by SEBI mean his visit is a timely one for India’s regulatory and business community. “We welcome Dr Austin to India and thank him for his commitment to forging closer ties between the Indian and Australian corporate af-fairs communities. With our countries having such strong inter-personal connections and a shared legal heritage, Australia and India have much to learn from each other and much we can do together to en-hance the operation of global, regional and national markets. Establishing a more formal dialogue, and creating stronger networks between our policy, regulatory, professional and academic institutions creates value,” said Australia’s High

Commissioner to India, Mr Patrick Suckling. Visiting New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai from 13-17 May, Dr Austin will meet with legal practitioners, academics, policymakers and regulators to share knowledge as part of a speaking tour sponsored by the Australia India Institute and jointly or-ganised by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs and the Australian High Commis-sion. A former Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Dr Austin of-fers a unique set of perspec-tives on Australia’s corporate regulatory reform journey as a distinguished academic, jurist and legal practitioner; senior adviser to major corporate boards; and as a prominent business media figure. After serving as a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales from 1998 to 2010, Dr Austin has returned to full-time legal practice as a Senior Legal Consultant with Minter Ellison, and is Head of Minters’ Corporate HQ Advisory Team.

Strawberry Farmers In Kashmir Expect Bumper Production

Srinagar, May 11 (ANI): Timely rain and fa-vourable weather has proved a boon for the strawberry farmers in Kashmir and they expect bumper production. The relatively new concept of strawberry farm-ing has become quite popular among traditional paddy farmers in the Kashmir val-ley since they are able to get better returns as compared to rice. The farmers in Sri-nagar are cultivating as many as eleven imported varieties of the fruit. Strawberry is the first fruit in Kashmir valley that grows after the six months of harsh winter. Mohammad Iqbal, a strawberry grower said on Friday that he expected good yield of strawberry . “I thank god for the favourable climate, as the crop does not require too much of

sun or excess of rain. It rained properly this time. I am in strawberry cultivation for the past three years and this year I expect bumper production of the crop,” said Iqbal. Strawberries from the Kashmir Valley are sup-plied to states in north India, including New Delhi. The state horticul-ture department is providing assistance to farmers to ensure better production of strawber-ries. Director of horti-culture department, Sonam Norbu suggested that the farmers should engage in the processing of strawberry so that they can earn good money. “We are witnessing an increase in strawberry production due to favourable weather this season. Last year the production was 1200 metric tones but this year it would be more than that. For

the farmers benefit, I would like to suggest that if they are getting less money, then they should engage in its process-ing, they can make jams and drinks from the crop, which can be sold in the sweet shops as well,” said Norbu. The roots of straw-berry plants spread out close to the surface. The soil re-quires moisture and saplings should be kept free from weeds and other pests. The horticulture department has urged the farmers to be actively in-volved in the entire process ranging from cultivation to its packaging and marketing. The cool and dry climate of Kashmir is suit-able for fruits like strawber-ries, apples, pears, cherries, plums, grapes, mulberries, peaches, apricots, walnuts and almonds, which require moderate rainfall and bright sunshine.

RBI Gears Up For Plastic Notes As 20% Paper Bills Get Soiled

New Delhi, May 12 (PTI): As the Reserve Bank gears up for a trial of plastic currency notes, it has to dispose of soiled paper currency bills worth an estimated amount of over Rs. 2 lakh crore a year. On an average, one out of five paper notes in circulation (over 20 per cent) gets disposed of every year after getting soiled and the number of such soiled currency bills stood at over 13 billion units during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012, as per the latest data available with RBI. The figures are not yet available for the last fiscal year 2012-13, but the number of soiled currency notes has remained above 13 billion for at least three financial years. As per the RBI data, the total value of all currency notes in circulation stood at over Rs. 10.5 lakh crore at the end of financial year 2011-12. However, soiled notes valued at an estimated amount of Rs. 2.05 lakh crore had to be moved out of circulation by RBI during that fiscal year. A proposed introduc-tion of plastic or polymer cur-rency notes, depending on the success of a trial pilot project, is expected to tackle this problem to a large extent because of a much longer shelf-life of the plastic bills. Pioneered by Aus-tralia, the plastic currency notes are already in use across a number of other countries, including Singapore, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia, Viet-nam, Fiji, Brunei, Papua New Guinea and Romania, while the UK is also said to be toying with the idea. In India, the RBI is planning to introduce one billion pieces of Rs. 10 notes in polymer or plastic on a trial basis in Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Shimla, although a timeline is yet to be decided. Addressing the stu-dents of Business School of Kashmir University in Srina-gar last week, RBI Governor D Subbarao had said that the central bank is trying to intro-duce plastic currency, as they have longer shelf life. “We hope to intro-duce it on a trial basis and if that succeeds, it will be repli-cated in the entire country,” he had said.

The proposed launch follows years of consultations over the feasibility of plastic notes in the country. Way back in early 2000s, the RBI had re-jected a similar proposal, but it later began working seriously on trying out plastic notes, given their high longevity and growing menace of paper bills getting soiled and the rising costs of their disposal. At the same time, the successful launch of plastic notes across various countries has also led to a serious thought over similar practices in India, experts say, while adding that the concerns over greater pos-sibility of counterfeit notes in plastic format have also been addressed to a large extent. According to Gerry Wilson of Australia-based Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisa-tion (CSIRO), the polymer notes have longer life time and can be produced at a faster rate than paper currency. Mr Wilson is Theme Leader (Flexible Electron-ics), Materials Science and Engineering, at CSIRO, which worked closely with the Re-serve Bank of Australia in developing polymer notes. Australia was the first country to shift to these currencies. Replying to PTI queries on plastic notes, Mr Wilson said that polymer notes would be suitable for “tropical and sub-tropical conditions” and the lifeline could be more than four times longer than their paper equivalent for even lower denomination notes which are used more frequently. Leading consultancy Ernst & Young’s Partner & Na-tional Leader (Global Finan-cial Services) Ashvin Parekh said there are huge benefits of using plastic currencies. “In the case of plastic currency, the life cycle would be much longer than paper currency. This will result in significant cost benefit. “Sec-ondly, plastic currency is highly secure. The security features in plastic currencies will be difficult to tamper with,” he noted. Industry body Ficci’s Secretary General A Didar Singh said that RBI’s move to introduce plastic notes would be an environment-friendly measure and extend the life of

currency. He st ressed that plastic notes would help in eliminating the problem of soiled notes. Banks are using machines and manpower to handle soiled notes and “all are expensive and also waste of time for people as well as for banks,” he added. “Also, the technol-ogy in printing plastic notes involves highly sophisticated processes. It would, there-fore, be highly difficult to manufacture duplicate notes. Thus distribution of fake and duplicate currency notes can be controlled,” he said. According to CSIRO, polymer notes can be printed much faster, in some cases up to 10 per cent faster, than the paper notes, while plastic notes can also be suitable for Indian weather conditions. “India has a wide range of climates. Fortunately, being a non-porous substrate polymer notes do not become soggy and limp in hot, humid conditions and so are perfectly suited to tropical and sub-tropi-cal conditions,” Mr Wilson said. These notes can also be granulated and recycled into products like garden furniture and other plastic items. Mr Wilson, however, said creating public awareness about plastic notes and handling of such currencies could pose some challenge in India. When it comes to security features of polymer currencies, Wilson said that “a very obvious transparent window is integrated into the overall design is a security feature that has thwarted many a potential counterfeiter.” “This is a strong anti-counterfeiting feature as it is inherent to the note. It is not easily copied or simulated and it is also a rather simple way to prevent photocopying or scan-ning and printing a counterfeit note,” he said. Polymer notes also have a feature of change in colour of printed images when the note is tilted. Mr Wilson, however, cautioned that since such colour shifting inks are becoming commercially avail-able, the public needs to be well informed about the specific colour shift so that it is not misled by counterfeit note using a commercially available ink.


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Cabinet Approves Land For IOC’s Ennore LNG Terminal

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): The Union Cabinet has given its approval for leasing of land of Ennore Port Ltd for a Rs 4,320-cr liquid gas (LNG) import terminal being built by state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC). IOC plans to build a five million tonne a year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility at Katupalli (Ennore) by 2016. Ennore Port is lo-

cated near the North Chen-nai Industrial Hub which houses industrial units, such as Madras Fertilizers Limited (MFL) and Chennai Petro-leum Corporation Limited (CPCL) who would also be the users of LNG. The project will help EPL to utilize gainfully the land and waterfront available with them. Further, it will attract major petroleum and other companies to contribute

towards the development of the region. It will lead to the socio-economic development of the backward areas in and around Ennore Port. LNG is an environ-ment friendly clean fuel and its use as a substitute for other petroleum products will bring down the pollution levels. It is also cost effective and avail-ability of LNG in the area will lead to sustainable industrial development.

Supreme Court Tells Centre To Decide On Posco Mining License

New Delhi, May 10 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central Government to take a deci-sion on giving an iron ore license to the South Korean firm Posco for its proposed steel plant in Odisha’s Khan-dadhar Hills. The apex cour t quashed the Odisha High Court’s order which had set

aside a state government petition to allot an iron ore license to Posco. The court referred the matter to the central government, asking it to consider all objections raised by various parties against the allotment of an iron ore license in the area. The Korean steel major, which is not able to

set up the unit for the past seven years due to land ac-quisition issues and agitation by the locals, has revised its land requirement to 2,700 acres from the earlier 4,000 acres. It has also scaled down its production plan to eight million tonnes in the first phase from 12 million tonne earlier.

States Oppose ‘Declared Goods’ Tag For Mobile Phones

Shareholders Call For Rupert Murdoch To Step Down As News

Corporation Chairman London, May 9 (ANI): Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is being pressed once again by dissident sharehold-ers to step down as chairman of News Corporation. Shareholders from the US, UK and Canada filed a resolution, calling for News Corp to appoint an indepen-dent chairman. A similar resolution attracted strong support at the media company’s annual shareholder meeting last year, reports the Guardian. The proposal was introduced by Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), which manages 4.6 billion dollars for Catholic institutions worldwide. A CBIS statement

said that a resolution intro-duced at last year’s meeting which called for an inde-pendent chairman was ap-proved by two-thirds of the independent shareholders, while another calling for the elimination of the company’s dual-class share structure was approved by 62 percent of the public. It added that share-holders believe that by re-sponding positively to the corporate governance issues, News Corporation can im-prove oversight of manage-ment, reduce business risk and better represent the interests of all shareholders. In a separate resolu-tion, Nathan Cummings Foun-dation, an ethical investment

group, has called on News Corp to end the dual-class share structure that allows the Murdoch family to control its media empire despite owning a minority of shares. Pressure for change from shareholders has been mounting since the phone-hacking scandal at News Corp’s UK newspapers trig-gered investigations on both sides of the Atlantic. The company an-nounced last year that it is intending to split its publish-ing assets, including the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and Times newspapers, from its faster-growing TV and film assets. Murdoch plans to be chairman of both compa-nies.Surge In Cross-border Trade

Between India And Pakistan

Mussoorie, May 11 (PTI): State finance ministers, on Saturday, turned down the Centre’s request to place mobile phones and tablets in the list of declared goods in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, saying the idea was untenable. The Ministry for Communication and Informa-tion Technology’s request for placing mobile phones and tablets in the declared goods list came up for discussion at the meeting and was re-jected, Sushil Kumar Modi, Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST, told re-porters after the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the committee. “The panel is of

the firm view that the idea is untenable, and no item should be kept in the declared goods list in the GST regime,” he said. Mr. Modi, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, said the GST network would create a robust infra-structure for effective imple-mentation of GST regime. T he I T- enabled GSTN will provide an inter-face to stakeholders and avoid evasion in indirect taxation systems. The empowered committee also set up two important committees, one to look into taxation of sugar, textile and tobacco products, and the other to draft GST legislation. Giving the latest

VAT revenue position of States, Mr. Modi said Bihar was at the top with 30.5 per cent VAT revenue growth followed by Tamil Nadu with 27.7 per cent and Gujarat with 26.5 per cent. However, the panel could not take a call on revis-ing the lower VAT rate from 5 per cent to 6 per cent, Mr. Modi said. The GST panel decided to hold a meeting of special category States, in-cluding Jammu and Kashmir, by the end of June or early July, to discuss the implications of the proposed GST regime on them in view of the fact that they enjoyed a number of tax exemptions due to their special category status.

Poonch (Jammu and Kashmir), May 9 (ANI): Cross border trade between India and Pakistan has been increasing and it is seen as a step towards increasing people-to-people contact. Despite a combined population of 1.4 billion people and thousands of years of shared history and culture, cross-border trade between India and Pakistan was paltry for many years - a legacy of three wars since their inde-pendence from Britain in 1947. Basheer Ahmed Lone, the custodian of cross LoC trade at Chakan Da Bagh, Poonch, has hailed the initiative taken by the govern-

ments of India and Pakistan to increase cross border trade. “This is very good initiative taken by the Govern-ment of India and Pakistan. This is a Confidence Building Measure (CBM) by the prime ministers of the two countries. The trade at the Chakan Da Bagh near Line of Control began due to this Confidence Building Measure and there has been an increase in the people to people contact,” said Lone, Custodian of cross-border trade. Liberalising heavily restricted trade and invest-ment flows has become a driv-er of peace efforts between the neighbours, whose fragile relations were shattered when

Pakistani militants attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008. Lone said that they would try to hold cross LoC meetings with an aim to in-crease the number of items in SOP (standard operating procedure). Lone further said, “The trade will increase. Currently we have 21 items in SOP. We will try to increase the number of items in SOP by conducting cross LoC meetings which will provide a boost to trade.” According to figures released by the Government of India there has been a 66 percent increase in trade with Pakistan last year.

Gold Sales Escalate In Rajkot Ahead Of Festival ‘Akshaya Tritiya’ Rajkot, May 12 (ANI): Gold sales pick-up in Rajkot as tumbled prices encouraged people to buy the yellow metal ahead of Hindu festival, Akshaya Tritiya. Sona Chandok, a customer said that she is happy to see such good offers ahead of the festival. “We are getting a discount of rupees one thou-sand and that is the reason we have come here to shop for gold. I saw a lot of varieties of necklaces but I chose the one I am wearing so most probably I will buy this one. Marriages are coming and at the same time this is a festival season and on top of it we are getting discounts because of festival Akshay Tritiya”, Sona Chondok said.

The wedding sea-son has begun in India and will continue till early June. Akshaya Tritiya, the second biggest gold buying festival after Dhanteras, also falls in this period. Businessmen in the city are reaping good profits as they have come up with excit-ing offers to lure gold lovers. The Rajkot Gold Dealers Association that has more than 130 gold show rooms under the association have kept special discounts of 1000 rupees per 10 grams on the labour charges on all sort of gold ornaments ahead of the auspicious occasion. Akshaya Tritiya, the third day of the lunar fortnight of ‘Vaishakh’ - the second month according to Hindu

calendar, is considered one of the foremost sacred days of the year. The word Akshaya means, ‘which never dimin-ishes’. Hence it prompts people to buy valuables particularly gold. A large number of buyers were seen thronging the jewellery shops. The Gold traders expect good business on this occasion The Akshaya Tritiya festival is one of the two most auspicious days of the year to buy the yellow metal in the world’s largest gold market, as Hindus believe they can get lasting prosperity by buying precious metals on the day. The other festival is Dhanteras in November.


Kirsten Steps Down As Proteas Coach Johannesburg, May 11 (ANI): South Africa na-tional cricket coach Gary Kirsten has stepped down from his post and has declined to renew his contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA), ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy. Kirsten was ap-pointed from the beginning of August 2011 for a two-year period with an option to renew it for a further two years, Sport24 reports. The report further said that Kirsten has informed the CSA Board of Directors that he will not be renewing his contract for family reasons. Stating that it is

understandable that Kirsten wishes to spend more time at home with his young family, CSA president Chris Nenzani said that the board is grateful to the coach for his substan-tial contribution to the team, adding that he has brought a standard of excellence to the national team. Hoping that Kirsten will complete his tenure by bringing home the Champions Trophy next month, Nenzani added that they have to find a new coach quickly in view of the Sri Lanka tour in July-August and a homes series against India and Australia next season, adding that the board will try to retain

Kirsten’s services in some capacity keeping in mind his substantial experience as player, coach and mentor. Expressing his grati-tude to CSA, Kirsten said that he is happy for the confidence that the board has showed in entrusting him with the for-tunes of the national team and allowing him the flexibility to combine his coaching job with his family life during his tenure Kirsten further said that he is confident that that the Proteas will continue to go from strength to strength in view of the well-documented highlights over the past two years.

Force India’s Di Resta Vows Grand Prix Win Before Season End

ICC Denies BCCI-led ‘Vote-fixing’ Allegations

Bangladesh Skipper To Step Down After Dismal Show In Zimbabwe ODI Series

Huge Medal Haul By Indian Paddlers New Delhi: Indian paddlers came up with their best ever performance, but the chalk and cheese difference became palpable in the 19th edition Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships when the hosts miserably failed to up the ante in six of the eight semi-finals they were in on Friday. Thus the great In-dian show at the Thyagraj Stadium here ended, minus the glitter of gold, as the hosts had to remain satisfied with six bronze medals which they added to the collection of two silver medals (men’s team and mixed doubles) and one bronze (women’s team) they had won until Thursday for an overall tally of nine medals. Canada’s Zhang Mo, who won gold in women’s singles beating Yu Mengyu 4-3, stopped Singapore on their tracks from making a clean sweep. Singapore, however, finished with six gold, two silvers and three bronze med-als. England finished with three silver and two bronze medals. The biggest In-dian culprits were world’s top-ranked Indian Achanta Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra and defending champions in men’s doubles, Sharath Ka-mal and Subhajit Saha. Even Mouma Das, the best Indian on view with four medals at the championships, flattered to deceive. It was an outing that Sharath would like to forget for he and Saha first lost to

a relatively inexperienced English pair of Christopher Doran and Samuel Walker 11-4 8-11 11-6 10-12 7-11. The Indian duo had its chances on several occasions but messed them up at crucial times, giv-ing away easy points to their opponents. Sharath could have made amends in the singles semifinals, but failed to match the speed and guile of Hu Li. The 31-year-old Indian was making far too many mis-takes, including service errors, which cost him the match. But the world No 55 must get his due as he rarely allowed the Indian any liberty and went for the kill. Li won 4-1. In the first game, Sharath levelled the score 8-8 and then 10-10 with his serve on. But another service error allowed his opponent take 1-0 lead. So frustrated was Sharath that he flung his racquet up in the air. Luckily for the Indian, the umpires missed failed to show him the yellow card. Then the Sin-gaporean went 2-0 up before Kamal staved off some threat in the third to win it 13-11 with good back hand returns and longer rallies. There was a time in the fourth when the two were almost going neck and neck, but for the third time Sharath made the cardinal blunder at his serve and Li clinched the game 12-10. Li was merciless in the final game as he wrapped it up with 11-4 score. Sharath admitted to his mistakes. “I failed to

make a match of it and the first game loss really hurt me. Though I executed my plans (attacking Li on his forehands) well, I was very bad with too many service errors,” Sharath rued missing his chances. In the women’s singles, Mouma Das fell to top-seed Mengyu Yu 2-4. Despite leading 2-1, the 29-year-old Indian failed to mea-sure up to a classy world No. 27. Mengyu, with excellent footwork and sharp returns troubled the Indian far too much. The Singaporean did give some opportunities, but the Indian failed to cash in on their loose offerings. In the other women’s semifinal, Manika Batra was done in by her own mistakes against Mo Zhang of Canada. The Indian teenager was er-ratic in her shot select and gifted away several points. Lacking in maturity, the Delhi girl’s lapses were vis-ible when she let the Canadian take the first game despite the Indian’s 6-0 lead. Zhang, who won 4-3, was the cleverer of the two to make a match of it, winning the crucial points as Manika wilted under pres-sure. In the women’s doubles, Mouma Das and K Shamini lost to the top-seeded duo of Feng Tianwei and Mengyu Yu of Singapore 0-3. In the other semifinal, England’s Joanna Parker and Kelly Sibley beat the Indian pair of Madhurika Patkar and Neha Aggarwal 3-1.

London, May 11 (ANI): Force India driver Paul di Resta has vowed to secure his first grand prix victory before the end of this season ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix. Although Di Resta, touted as the ‘Flying Scot’, has yet to even step on to the podium in Formula One, he is sure that a chequered flag is there for the taking after making his strongest start to a campaign, the Daily Star reports. The report further said that Di Resta, who equalled a career-best re-

sult in Bahrain when he finished fourth, is even willing to challenge triple world champion and Red Bull ace Sebastian Vettel and fellow Britons Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Jenson Button (McLaren) for the title. Stating that some-thing special is on the horizon with a car that has been termed as a top-10 challenger, the British driver said that he would never talk down a win as it would look silly, adding that he thinks that he has the potential to do much better

in the nest 15 grands prix after achieving the fourth place in the Bahrain GP. Di Resta further said that the key to success in F1 is by building one’s reputation as then one is always being watched which prods him to keep working hard and improve himself, adding that a driver always delivers on pressure. Overall, Di Resta finished 10th quickest, 1.2 seconds behind Vettel, with the Red Bull star 0.017 sec-onds ahead of home hero Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, the report added.

Karachi, May 10 (ANI): The International Cricket Council (ICC) has dismissed allegations of vote fixing following the Tim May affair, saying that ‘confusion’ over procedures was the rea-son for a re-vote in a troubled election for one of its commit-tees. The choosing of for-mer Indian leg-spinner Lax-man Sivaramakrishnan over longtime players’ representa-tive Tim May for a place on the ICC’s Cricket Committee was viewed by critics as evi-dence of the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) powerful influence over the sport and ICC’s continued favoring of its richest member, The Dawn reports. Following the an-

nouncement of Sivaramak-rishnan as the new member of its committee after votes by 10 Test captains, the ICC denied having any evidence to back up allegations that some of those captains may have been pressured to choose Sivaramakrishnan because of the might of the Indian cricket board. The Dubai-based ICC further stated that the re-vote took place according to the determined procedure, adding that it was required because of uncertainty over the process if there was a tied vote and which player should be allowed to vote in countries that have different captains for the test and one-day formats. According to the

report, the entire scenario, with accusations of vote fix-ing and a powerful governing body apparently reluctant to investigate itself or change, has parallels with the criti-cism currently being leveled at world football’s top deci-sion-makers at FIFA. India’s dominance of cricket’s upper levels has been long accepted because of the country’s large population of cricket fans and resulting commercial strength, the report further said. According to the report, India has significant influence over other cricket-playing countries and often gets their backing because of its ability to enrich them with series against Indian national team, the report added.

Johannesburg, May 9 (ANI): Bangladesh cap-tain Mushfiqur Rahim will reportedly step down from his post after playing two Twenty20 internationals against Zimbabwe this weekend. The wicketkeeper-batsman had made the an-nouncement following his team’s loss in the third one-day international against Zimbabwe by seven wick-ets, conceding a one-day series to their rivals despite beating them by a record margin in the first match,

Sport24 reports. According to Ra-him, the Zimbabwe tour will be his last tour as captain, adding that he will resign once the team returns back home. Rahim, who took over as Bangladesh captain in September 2011 after the removal of his predecessor Shakib Al Hasan from the job, further said that the reasons behind his decision is the way his side lost the games against Zimbabwe and also his failure to per-form in the ODI series.

According to the report, Al Hasan’s dismiss-al also came in the wake of a Test tour to Zimbabwe, which the African side won, signaling their return to the five-day game and triumph-ing 3-2 in the one-day series that followed. Bangladesh began their tour of Zimbabwe as favourites after an encour-aging trip to Sri Lanka, but lost the first Test by 335 runs before winning the second to earn a share of the series, the report added.


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World’s Oldest Marathon Man Fauja Singh Can’t Imagine Life Without Running Shoes

Zaka Ashraf Declared PCB’s First Elected Chairman

Karachi, May 9 (ANI): Under the new PCB constitu-tion, Mohammad Zaka Ashraf has been declared as the first elected PCB chairman for a span of four years, following a Board of Governors (BoG) meeting. While the Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC) directed all its members to have a democratic administration of the boards without government interference, Ashraf had been ap-pointed by the Pakistan president and PCB patron-in-chief Asif Ali Zardari and served as the PCB Chairman since October 2011, The Nation reports.

The report further said that the nomination committee had unanimously recommended Ashraf for the post of PCB chair-man after interviewing Ashraf and former chairman of Lahore Stock Exchange Aftab Ahmad Khan. The PCB has report-edly been facing opposition from various associations and former PCB chiefs on the voting process despite Ashraf’s election for the chairman post. PCB patron-in-chief Asif Ali Zardari had opted for only two names instead of three names that he had been asked to

recommend. While the BoG meet-ing deciding on electing the PCB chairman to control the helm of affairs marked an important historic event, sources said that Ashraf wanted to get elected before May 11 elections which he managed to do, despite receiving oppositions from the cricketing circles who wanted to take legal action. According to the report, Naveed Akram Cheema and M Rafiq Bughio were elected according to the PCB constitu-tion to represent the BOG in the nomination committee.

Washington, May 10 (ANI): 80s is an age when most pensioners are winding down their lives but following the loss of his wife and one of his sons, Fauja Singh began a new one as a marathon run-ner. Singh, who has been named as the world’s oldest marathon man at 102, told CNN’s ‘Human to Hero’ series that running showed him kind-

ness and brought him back to life by making him forget all his traumas and sorrows. The man, who origi-nally hails from Punjab, said that when he took up running, it was like meeting God him-self and he has been running ever since. His distinctive flow-ing grey beard and the tra-ditional Sikh headgear has earned him the nickname

“the Turbaned Tornado” and has made him a star entrant at marathons all around the world. Singh was unable to walk until he was five due to the weakness that he had in his legs. He said that it took him another five years to gain strength and become strong and by age 10 he was living a normal life.

Kohli, Unadkat Steer RCB To A Thrilling Win Against Delhi

New Delhi: Some brilliant performances from Irfan Pathan, Ben Rohrer and Unmukt Chand went in vain as Delhi Daredevils fell four runs short off the target in a nail-biting contest against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium on Friday. Earlier, riding on superb innings from Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers, RCB reached a stiff total of 183 runs in their 20 overs. Kohli scored 99 runs whereas De Villiers played a superb cameo of 32 runs off just 17 balls. Later, it was Jaydev Unadkat who did the most of the damage to DD as he ended up picking five wickets. Chasing the target of 184 was never going to be easy but Mahela Jayawar-dene and Virender Sehwag started off well until they were reduced to 1/25 in the third over as Unadkat bowled out Jayawardene. But Sehwag and Chand kept the

score board ticking. But very soon DD got two huge blows as Unadkat got rid of Sehwag and Moises Henriques took the wicket of David Warner. Sehwag and Warner contrib-uted 18 and four runs to their team’s total. However Unmukt Chand and Ben Rohrer put up a great fight as they kept the run-rate in check and added 58 runs for the fourth wicket. Unadkat again came hard on Daredevils and Rohrer departed after scor-ing 32 runs whereas Chand scored 41 runs. Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel did put up a fight in the last few overs as they scored 23 and 19 runs respectively. But Delhi Daredevils had a bad day as ended up scoring 179 runs in their 20 overs. Earlier in the match, RCB had a terrible start as they lost the wicket of Chris Gayle quite early and Chetashwar Pujara was sent back to pavilion after scor-ing 17 runs. But Captain

Kohli came as a saviour for RCB as he went on to score 99. Kohli got two lives dur-ing his batting – once when Sehwag dropped his catch in the initial part of his innings and second when Morne Morkel over-stepped the line when he was caught cleanly. Henriques and Koh-li gave the much needed mo-mentum to the RCB innings in the mid-overs as they added 57 runs. Henriques got out after scoring 26 runs off 22 balls.De Villiers once again went onto score 32 runs off the 17 balls the he faced. Kohli did the maximum damage to Daredevils as he scored 56 runs on 18 balls that he faced in the last five overs. DD were smacked for 77 runs in their last four overs and Umesh Yadav ended up at the receiving end and ended up with the figures of 0/65. RCB ended up with 183 runs in their 20 overs.


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Express India - May 14, 2013