FORMER RAW CHIEF'S DISCLOSURES: ON THE JOB EVEN …southasiandaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/part_1.pdfBrampton $100’s of Millions in costs that other cities like Ottawa and

SCATTERING GARDEN FORCREMATED LOVED ONES

CONGRESS WORKERS STAGE A DEMONSTRATION AGAINST MADHYA PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHANOVER THE DEATH OF THE PEOPLE LINKED TO THE VYAPAM SCAM IN BHOPAL (IANS). I DETAILS ON PAGE 11

CIRCULATED THROUGH : TORONTO, MARKHAM, SCARBOROUGH, RICHMOND HILL, VAUGHAN, WOODBRIDGE, ETOBICOKE, NORTH YORK, MALTON, REXDALE, BRAMPTON, MISSISSAUGA, OAKVILLE, HAMILTON, MILTON, STONEY CREEK, BURLINGTON

MISSISSAUGA – On May 15, 2015, Bronte Provincial Park became thefirst Ontario provincial park to install a sign identifying an area forcarrying out ceremonial practices involving scattering cremated re-mains on Crown land.The sign and accompanying bench were installed due to an increase inrequests from members of the public to clarify the rules around wherecremated ashes can be scattered. It has been legal to scatter ashes onProvincial Crown land. The sign simply makes it clear. MississaugaEast-Cooksville MPP Dipika Damerla supported this significant initia-tive. “It is important for many families of various cultures to scatter theashes of a loved one as part of the ceremonial practices of their faith.”said MPP Damerla.MPP Damerla added “The Ministry of Natural Resources recognizesthat the practice of scattering cremated remains is an important part ofthe religious beliefs of many families.”Ontario’s provincial parks are dedicated to the people of Ontario and tovisitors, for their inspiration, spiritual, education, health and recreationalenjoyment – with the intention that these areas be managed toprotect provincially significant natural and cultural features andpreserved for future generations.

SCATTERING OF ASHES OFFERED INPROVINCIAL PARKS: MPP DAMERLA

BUILDING CITY FOR BETTER TOMORROWBRAMPTON: One of my favourite

movies is a 1989 classic called“Fie ld of Dreams” with KevinCostner playing the role of a farmerfrom Iowa, who hears a mysteri-

ous voice in his cornfield whisper-ing, "If you build it, he will come."The farmer, Ray Kinsella, inter-prets this message as directionto build a baseball diamond onhis cornfield. Neighbours stopto watch and heckle as heplows under the corn. For a

while nothing happens and then one hot summer evening several deceasedBlack Sox ballplayers from the 1919 World Series team arrive and beginpracticing and playing on the field.

City building is similar to building baseball diamonds in Iowa, it frequentlyrequires a leap of faith and a vision. Where one person sees an opportunity othersare so cautious or suspicious they delay - thus missing the chance to participate.Last October the voters, gave this new Council a strong mandate to do thingsdifferently and I know that each of my colleagues wants to make the right decisionsthat will help our community reach its full potential. Upon becoming Mayor Iimmediately re-engaged with senior levels of government on Brampton’s trans-portation and transit needs. While the Province was deliberating on what to includein their budget I spoke to the Premier and various Ministers of Brampton’s need fora game-changing regional transit and transportation plan.Office of the MayorIn April the Province announced their intention to FULLY fund the Hurontario-Main LRT and to expand and enhance GO rail service in Brampton.By publically committing to make these investments – most specifically tofund the Light Rail Transit the Province has potentially saved the taxpayers ofBrampton $100’s of Millions in costs that other cities like Ottawa andKitchener are funding through proper ty taxes.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 6

OPINION BY MAYOR OF BRAMPTON LINDA JEFFREY

PREMIER WYNNE DELIVERED REMARKS AND PARTICIPATED IN THE IFTAR FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR THE INTERNATIONALDEVELOPMENT AND RELIEF FOUNDATION.

Hurontario-Main LRT

FORMER RAW CHIEF'SDISCLOSURES: ON THE JOBEVEN AFTER RETIREMENT?

BY SHEIKH QAYOOM

He has been a top spy whose claims the separatists in Kashmir couldhave dismissed as malicious and motivated. Though most politiciansclaim former RAW chief A.S Dulat's disclosures are "selective tofavour his long-time friend Farooq Abdullah", surprisingly, not manybelieve he has lied on facts. Dulat has made these disclosures in hisbook "Kashmir: The Vajpayee Years" and ruffled many a feather bysharing some star tling undercover intelligence dealings with both theseparatists and the nationalists here.Save for sex and sleaze, his account has all the trappings of aJames Bond thriller. Ever since he was posted in Kashmir in late1980s initially as an Intelligence Bureau operative, Dulat has hada roller coaster ride, dining and wining (as he claims) with bothmainstream and separatist polit icians, and encourages one tobelieve that both sections shared their fears and hopes more freelywith the spies of New Delhi than they did with their wives.Beyond this hyperbole which could be granted to someone whoengaged h imsel f more wi th undercover operat ions than h isfamily's welfare, Dulat, while making a clean breast, has putKashmiri politicians in a tight spot.Calling former chief minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who is deemedmore a wronged hero of a Greek tragedy than as a practical poli-tician, the "ultimate nationalist" reveals his respect for the Na-tional Conference patron which is more than expected from atrained spy.Describing the use of bribe as "a more ethical option than killinga militant" is something Kashmiri politicians will debate for longwhile trashing Dulat's disclosures publicly yet privately blamingeach other for proximity to Delhi's chief cashier who claims moneywas doled out to all right since the days of the legendary SheikhMuhammad Abdullah.One fact that is known is that New Delhi pays for treatment ofsenior separatist leaders and nobody has rebutted Dulat on thisso far.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 13

2 MidWeek MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015

MidWeek 3MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2012

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SHAHID, MIRA STRIKE A POSE AS

MR AND MRS KAPOOR

Gurgaon, (IANS) Newly-marriedcouple Shahid Kapoor and MiraRajput, who tied the knot on Tues-day, came hand-in-hand for aless-than-a-minute appearancefor the paparazzi here -- and thecouple looked much in love.A crowd of sor ts -- including lo-cals and mediapersons -- hadgathered outside Hotel Trident

here, where the duo was slatedto make an appearance after theirwedding, which took place at aDelhi farmhouse. But it was onlyafter a wait of over two hours thatmedia persons got a glimpse ofthe newly weds in the hotel 'slobby."Thank you," the 34-year-old ac-tor said to the media after theshutterbugs went clickety-click

to capture the couple's beamingsmiles. While Shahid was wear-ing a sherwani designed by KunalRawal, Mira looked elegant andresplendent in a light pink andsilver embroidered lehenga witha veil over her head. She spor tedan elaborate Navratna neckpieceand earrings set, and teamed herlook with a 'maang-tika' and a'jhoomar' on the side of her head.

DUM LAGA KE HAISHATO OPEN FILM FEST INOTTAWAMumbai,(IANS) "Dum Laga KeHaisha", an endearing movie aboutan overweight but educated girl'sbond with her husband, a school dropout, will open the first Ottawa IndianFilm Festival Awards (OIFFA), to beheld later this month.OIFFA will begin July 22 and will goon till July 25. "I am glad that 'DumLaga Ke Haisha' has worked wellwith both the critics and the audience.Its content, realism and per for-mances make it one of the better filmsof the year," actor AyushmannKhurrana, who essays Prem in thefilm, said in a statement."Dum Laga Ke Haisha", a projectfrom the Yash Raj Films banner, isdirected by Sharat Katariya.Ayushmann, along with the film'sleading lady, Bhumi Pednekar, toowill be present at the fest's opening.While critically acclaimed Indianfilms like "Dhanak" and"Haraamkhor" will also be shown atthe gala, organisers of this SouthAsia centric film jamboree are count-ing on the universal appeal thatAyushmann and Bhumi's film willadd, the statement read.The four-day festival with global SouthAsian cinema will be showcasing over15 films, and will play out in theaterslike Cineplex, Coliseum and the NationalArts Centres, Ottawa, Ontario.

FATE OF COMEDYNIGHTS WITH KAPILSHOW IN DOL-DRUMS, REALLY?

Mumbai, (IANS) There is no de-cision yet about "Comedy Nightswith Kapil" going of the air and allsuch talk is a "lot of rumours",says Upasana Singh who playsthe character of "Buaji" in thepopular TV programme. "There isnothing fixed yet," she said at the'If tar" par ty of upcoming movie"Chalk N Duster".Upasana however confirmed Kapilhas health issues."Yes, Kapil is not feeling good, he hashurt his back badly, so it is possiblethat he might take a break for littlewhile," she said.Kapil announced on Twitter that hewas taking a break on Twitter andever since gossip is buzzing that theprogramme might go off-air."We have dates for the whole month'sshooting, so I really don't think it willgo off air and above all it's such a hitshow, it won't go off air. We will knowmore details in three-four days butthe show going off-air hasn't beendiscussed yet," said Upasana, whois currently working in Juhi Chawlaand Shabana Azmi starrer "Chalk NDuster" directed by Jayant Gilatar.

Shahid and Mira's wedding cer-emony was attended by closefamily members and only a fewfriends. The 'ladkawalas', as de-scribed on Twitter by Shahid'sfr iend and designer MasabaGupta, who attended the nuptials,wore bright blue 'safas' (headgearfor men).The actor wanted his marriagecelebrations to be a close-knit

affair and so, only about 50people are repor ted to havebeen present to witness hisunion with 21-year-old Mira, agraduate from Delhi university'sLady Shri Ram College. Theygot engaged earlier this year, andreportedly met at a 'satsang' asboth their families are followersof the religious group RadhaSoami Satsang Beas.


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015s p e c i a l r e p o r t

Astana, (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday calledfor closer defence and security cooperation between India andCentral Asia to defend peace in the region and defeat terrorismand extremism. In his address at the Nazarbayev University in theKazakh capital, Modi also said India's engagement with CentralAsia has been short of promise and potential and added that he isdetermined to change it with closer cooperation. Speaking at lengthon terrorism and extremism, he said: "We live at the frontier ofinstability. We live close to the crucible of extremism and terror-ism. "We see terrorism spawned by nations and groups. Today,we also see cyber space become a platform without borders forterror to draw recruits to its cause. "From theatres of conflicts tothe calm neighbourhoods of distant cities, terrorism has becomea global challenge as never before."Modi said India and Central Asia would combat terrorism throughthe "strength of our values and our commitment to humanism". Hesaid India is the new frontier of opportunities for the world andCentral Asia a region of immense resources, talented people,rapid growth and a strategic location."So, I am here to start a new era in our relationship with CentralAsia.A India is prepared to invest more in a new partnership ofprosperity," he said. Modi said India's membership of ShanghaiCooperation Organisation will deepen the regional partnership."And we have begun a study on a Free Trade Agreement with theand also spoke about boosting physical connectivity for trade,transit and energy. " He expressed hope that all of Central Asiawould become members of the International North South Trans-port Corridor and said that India is keen to join the Ashgabat Agree-ment on trade and transit.He said India's upgradation of Iran's Chahbahar Port would openup routes into Central Asia. "I also hope that we can restore thetraditional route to Central Asia through Pakistan and Afghani-stan." "India is at the crossroads of Asia's land and sea routes. Weunderstand our responsibility. And, we are working with a senseof priority to connect ourselves to the East and the West, by landand success of connectivity through and across Central Asia isimportant."He said both sides would work together in the sector of minerals,industry, pharma, engineering and small and medium industries.Modi also called for Central Asia to regain its central role inEurasia. "From Europe to Asia, all nations must foster a climate ofcooperation and collaboration, not competition and exclusion, inthis region." "The region must remain stable and peaceful, freefrom conflict and the violence of extremism and terrorism," hesaid. "We will all work together to build the Silk Route of the 21stcentury. We will connect through space and cyber as we will byair, land and sea."Later, he inaugurated the India-Kazakhstan Centre of Excellence inInformation and Communication Technology.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets with Uzbek President Islam Karimov at Kuksaroy Complex, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (IANS).

GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL (R) IS GREETED BY FRENCH PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE UPON HER ARRIVAL AT THEELYSEE PALACE FOR A MEETING IN PARIS, FRANCE TO DISCUSS THE GREEK CRISIS (IANS).

EUROGROUP MEETING ENDS WITHOUTNEW PROPOSAL FROM GREECE

BRUSSELS, (IANS) TThe finance ministers of euro zone countries didn'treceive the new proposals they had expected from Greece on Tuesday,Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after the crucial meeting."We welcomed our new Greek colleague and listened to his assessment ofsituation after the 'no' vote in Greece," he said in a short statement, addingthat there are no new proposals from new Greek Finance Minister EuclidTsakalotos, Xinhua reported."The Greek government will send a new request letter for ESM support, assoon as it comes in, I hopefully in tomorrow morning we will have anotherconference call in the Eurogroup to formally start the process of dealing withthe request," Dijsselbloem said.He noted that the group will ask the European Union institutions to look at thefinancial situation in Greece, the finance need in debt stability."And then the institutions will come back to us, and we will see whether wecan formally start the negotiations," he said.Earlier on Tuesday, Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said that theGreek proposals needed to be "credible" to seek a way out.

"Given the situation after the 'No' vote in Greece, we need to hear from theGreek government first, how they seek a way out, how they think we cancome to an agreement, so I am going to listen to my new Greek colleaguefirst," Dijsselbloem told reporters before meetings of euro finance ministersand leaders."The Greek government has to indicate how they can agree with their credi-tors," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said before the Eurogroupmeeting.Put egos aside, avoid Grexit: EC presidentEuropean Commission (EC) president Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday calledon partners to put "egos" aside and return to the negotiation table to avoid a"Grexit" in light of the Greek "No" vote in Sunday's bailout referendum, Efenews agency reported."We have to put our little egos, and in my case very large ego, away and wehave to deal with the situation we face," Juncker said during his speech at theEuropean Parliament prior to the eurozone summit on the crisis in Greece.The EC president, who last week called on Greeks to vote "Yes" in the refer-

endum, was hopeful of an agreement with Greek authorities to prevent Ath-ens from leaving the euro. "I am against a Grexit, it should be clearly avoided.There are those that openly campaign for an exit of Greece from the eurozone.This is a simplistic answer and then it is a wrong answer. The EU is all aboutcompromise," Juncker added.While Juncker pledged the European Union's continued devotion to resume nego-tiations, he nonetheless said he was dismayed that Greece abandoned the nego-tiation table on June 26, when financial institutions and Athens were approachingan agreement, adding that it was a serious mistake. The EU will see the first post-referendum steps on Tuesday, when two urgent meetings will convene with theEurogroup and the heads of state and government from the 19 countries in theeurozone.The first meeting will be assisted by the ministers of economy and finance from theEurogroup, which will see the debut of newly appointed Greek Finance minister,Euclid Tsakalotos, who replaced the controversial Yanis Varoufakis following hisresignation on Monday. European ministers will endeavour to address new pro-posals that the Greek government is committed to introduce on Tuesday, althoughit is unclear whether Athens will present them in this first meeting or the later onewith European leaders. The euro leaders will hold a meeting with Eurogrouppresident Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi.US insists on need for compromise between Greece, creditorsThe US has said the needs of the Greek economy remain "the same" following thereferendum in the country on Sunday, for which it urged "a compromise" betweenAthens and international creditors to come up with a package of reforms andfinancing, Efe news agency reported."The referendum is over, but our view here at the White House remains the same...it will require both a package of financing and reforms that will allow Greece toachieve, or at least be on a path towards some debt sustainability, but also beon a path towards economic growth," White House spokesman Josh Earnestsaid in his daily press conference on Monday.In the first statement from Washington after the resounding victory of the "No"vote in this Sunday's referendum in Greece against the austerity measures de-manded by international creditors, Earnest said the US has "long indicated that it'sour view that it's in their collective interest for these differences to be resolved", butnoted that ultimately that it would be "the responsibility of the Europeans to resolve."

MODI CALLS FORCLOSER SECURITY

COOPERATION WITHCENTRAL ASIA

Indian movies very popular in Uzbekistan: ModiPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that Indianmovies, language and music were extremely popular inUzbekistan. "Indian movies, language and music are very popularin Uzbekistan. In 2012, Uzbek radio completed 50 years of Hindibroadcasting," he said in a tweet. Modi arrived here on July 6 onthe first leg of his Central Asia visit.

India, Uzbekistan to boost anti-terrorismcooperation, defence, trade

TASHKENT, (IANS) India andUzbekistan on Monday agreed toboost cooperation in fighting terror-ism and in the field of defence andcyber security as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi held talks withUzbekistan President Islam Karimov,on his first stop on his Central Asiantour. Modi and Karimov also dis-cussed ways to boost connectivityand trade on uranium supplies to In-dia. The joint statement issued afterthe talks said "President Karimovnoted that strengthening relations withIndia is one of the top foreign policypriorities of Uzbekistan, while Modiemphasised that a strong strategicpar tnership between India andUzbekistan is a key pillar of India'sengagement with Central Asia".In his media statement following thetalks, Modi said both sides dis-cussed steps to implement the con-tract signed earlier for supply of ura-nium from Uzbekistan.Modi said he briefed Karimov about

the International North South Trans-por t Corridor and proposed thatUzbekistan become a member."I sought his support for India joiningthe Ashgabat Agreement" -- a trans-port corridor that would link CentralAsia to the seaports in the PersianGulf and Gulf of Oman.

He also said both countries will alsoseek to work in the framework of theShanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO). Modi said his five-nation tourof Central Asia reflects India's resolveto start a new era in ties with theCentral Asian republics.He said his visit to Uzbekistan un-derlines its importance for India, "not

just in the context of this region, butalso more broadly in Asia"."I share President Karimov's desireto raise the level of our economicengagement. I conveyed to him thatthere is a strong interest in Indianbusiness to invest in Uzbekistan. Ihave urged him to make the process

and the policies for Indian investmentshere smoother. President respondedpositively to my suggestion," he said.He said the Uzbek president was sup-portive of strengthening ongoing coop-eration in the areas of agriculture, infor-mation technology and energy. "We alsodiscussed regional and internationalissues, including the situation in Afghani-

stan. We also have shared concernson the rising threat of extremism andterrorism in our extendedneighbourhood," he said.He said he would be visiting the me-morial of late Indian prime minister LalBahadur Shastri on Tuesday and thankedUzbekistan for "preserving the legacyof our former prime minister". He saidhis visit and talks were "very reward-ing" and would lay the foundation for a"rich harvest in years ahead". Earlier,the two sides inked agreements for fur-thering cooperation between their for-eign offices and in the fields of cultureand tourism.On security cooperation, the joint state-ment said both sides expressed theirintention to strengthen coordination be-tween the law enforcement agenciesand special services of the two coun-tries, including under the framework ofthe Uzbekistan-India Joint WorkingGroup on Counter-Terrorism. They alsoagreed to expand cooperation in thefields of defence and cyber-security.

INDIA CONSIDERING LNGIMPORT FROM CANADA

New Delhi, (IANS) India is considering impor ting liquefied natu-ral gas from Canada towards meeting its requirements, thepetroleum ministry said on Tuesday, following the second In-dia-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue in Calgary.Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Canadian Natural Re-sources Minister Greg Rickford to discuss enhancing energy cooperationbetween the two countries, a statement said."Canada could potentially supply a significant amount of the 44 billion cubicmetres of natural gas that India is forecast to import annually by 2025," theministry said. The areas of cooperation discussed at the meeting on Sun-day included oil, natural gas, clean energy, power transmission and skilldevelopment, the statement added.State-run oil marketer Indian Oil Corp has taken a 10 percent stake in anintegrated LNG project - the Pacific NorthWest LNG proposed at LeluIsland, British Columbia, the ministry said.



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TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015 s p e c i a l r e p o r t

A GRAND DAY AT ANGUS GLEN GOLF CLUB

MARKHAM - Hundreds turned out to cheer the arrival of the official PanAmFlame recently by Cailey Stollery, president Angus Glen Golf Club who ar-rived in a golf cart driven by Olympian Nicole Forrester. The celebration wasone of many that took place throughout Markham on this day. City of MarkhamMayor Frank Scarpitti,who emceed the flame's arrival, shared his thoughtson the significance of the day and congratulated Angus Glen Golf Club on itsselection as Host venue for the 2015 Toronto PanAm Games. Golf makes itsPan American debut in 2015, prior to re-joining the Olympic program, after a112-year hiatus, in Rio in 2016. A beaming Cailey Stollery remarked "AngusGlen Golf Club is proud to be playing a role in bringing the world to Toronto,and being part of the excitement that surrounds this world-class event."Cailey passed the torch to Lindsay Knowlton, three-year member of theCanadian Women's National Golf Team.Immediately following the Flame's arrival, Cailey and Mayor Scarpitti werejoined by Markham Councillors; Patrick O'Hanlon, president Angus GlenDevelopment/Kylemore Communities;Doug Erwin, head superintendent An-gus Glen Golf Club; Phil Marcoux, project manager;and members of theStollery familyto Officially cut the ribbon to open the newly renovated SouthCourse, wherePan Am Golf begins July 16.Through a request for proposal process submitted in 2012, Angus Glen wasselected by Golf Canada to host the games. The renovated south course wasthe ideal choice for the tournament because it offers the appropriate level of

difficulty, it is conveniently located in Markham (proximity to downtownToronto) and Angus Glen has experience in hosting major tournaments.Angus Glen Golf Clubis the only golf club in Canada to host a national Cham-pionship on each of its golf courses (2002 Canadian Open on the SouthCourse and 2007 Canadian Open on the North Course). The Club has alsobeen host to 2001 BMO Women's open, 2001 Telus Skins Game and the 2014

World Junior Girls Golf Tournament.In 2015, Angus Glen Golf Club celebrates its 20th Anniversary; completion ofthe $6 million renovations on the south course, hosting Pan Am Games andthe opening of its new Nike Pro-Shop - the first of its kind in Canada. AngusGlen Golf Club is located at 10080 Kennedy Road, north of Major MacKenzieDrive in Markham. Visit www.angusglen.com for more information.



Hurontario-Main LRT

community

DESK REPORT

BRAMPTON - New Hope Senior Citizens Club Brampton recently cel-ebrated during its annual function Mother's Day, Father's Day andCanada Day jointly in the traditional way. The programme was star tedwith singing 'O Canada' and 'Jan Gan Man' led by MPP Harinder Malhiand Shambhu Dutt Sharma, Dr Guru Dutt Vaid, Tara Vasani, SunitaVarmani and Rimple Thakkar joined her. Canadian and Indian flagswere hoisted. Thereafter Shambhu Dutt Sharma, president of theclub welcomed all the guests and members showing full honourand respect for attending the function.Shambhu Dutt Sharma also read Premier's message who waslooking forward to meeting New Hope seniors but could not attenddue to her prior commitments. Good wishes were also sent byMPP Amrit Mangat.S. Amar Singh Bhullar from Hamdard Weekly congratulated theorganisers for arranging this well organised event. He advised toadopt Canada as their home while keeping their their own culturalvalues alive. Harinder Malhi informed about the provincial gov-ernment programmes for seniors saying her office is always readyto extend their services on provincial matters. Kristy Duncan, MPfrom Etobicoke was very much pleased to see more than 50%ladies from various cultures in the function. She congratulated fororganising this wonder ful event and promised to help in federalprogrammes. She welcomed everyone to her office at anytime forhelp.All the executive members such as Dinesh Sharma, vice-president;Harbhagwan Makkar vice-president; BS Kalia, secretary; Saran Ghai,

NEW HOPE SENIOR CITIZENS CLUB BRAMPTONHOLDS ANNUAL CELEBRATIONS

poet; Krishan Kumar Salwan, cashier; Ram Mur ti Joshi, auditor, anddirectors Bhagwan Pandaya, Dr Guru Dutt Vaid, Dr Om Satija, SubashSharma, Per ful Bhai, Ram Parkash, Dalip Parikh, Rajinder SinghSaran, Dharmvir Chhibbar, Rajneesh Vattas, Tara Varsani and SunitaVarmani of the club were awarded with cer tificates of honour.Many other community leaders were also honoured by the club fortheir good services. Rajesh Kumar Raina, Consul Head of ChanceryCommercial and Economic Matters gave details about the working ofthe Indian Consulate General in Toronto which has made significant

A dance show par excellenceBRAMPTON - HemaKukreja, a trained Indianclassical dancer, recentlypresented the story of theGoddess Mahamaya withfive dances. The audienceswere moved to tears by thetheatrical production of Hema.The show asked very funda-mental question of who wereally are and how to comeout of the illusive life we livein? The story was wovenwith five dances to re-corded and live music.Hema's expressionswere so vivid that it tran-scended language bar-r ier. Theresa Gulat i , atheatre ar tist, was thevoice of the dance-dramawhile Anwar Khurshid en-hanced the flow of the presen-tation with his intuitive music on sitar and flute. Most people raised theirhand when asked if they felt the cool breeze during the show. So Hema canbe aptly called a dancer with a cool breeze!

improvements in all aspects. He gave the information about e-visaand told that the consulate can get emergency visas in one and halfhours only if all the documents are in place.He congratulated the club for arranging life cer tificate camp ev-ery year. This year it might be held on Wednesday, November 4from 3pm to 6pm. He promised the seniors to deliver serviceswith full respect and congratulated the president Shambhu DuttSharma for running the club in a well organised way along withother members of the club. All club members were honoured withgifts. Delicious sweets and snacks prepared by Malton Sweetswere served by the end of the event. Shambhu Dutt Sharmathanked all the par ticipants and declared that due to non-avail-ability of room no meetings will be held in July and August andonly outdoor act iv i t ies such as tours and picnics would beorganised.

ONTARIO PREMIER KATHLEEN WYNNE ATTENDED CANADA DAY IFTAR ORGANIZED BY INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & RELIEFFOUNDATION (IDRF) ON JUNE 30TH AT ELITE BANQUET HALL IN ETOBICOKE AND BROKE FAST WITH THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY.

CONTD. FROM PAGE1This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that must be seized, otherwise we poten-tially risk losing it to another community.Every day tens of thousands of Bramptonians commute out of our city to work,shop and play in neighbouring municipalities. This daily exodus reinforces thestereotype that Brampton is a “bedroom community”.Brampton has been and continues to be a great place to live. Unfortunately I, andmany Bramptonians have never felt our downtown has kept pace with thetimes. It has been neglected and the numerous boarded up storefronts andlack of customers is evidence that our downtown requires our immediateattention.Successful cities all have dynamic and accessible downtowns with vibrantparks and exciting public spaces. Brampton’s downtown can and should bea magnet that becomes a destination for people to shop, dine and be enter-tained. Brampton has a lot of the qualities that define a world-class city - safe,clean and livable; our education system; our parks and ravines, and ourdiversity. All these components are important to attract investment. But with-out addressing the serious traffic gridlock we face and the inability to getaround our city we are robbing families of time together and increasing thecost of doing business in BramptonThe Hurontario – Main LRT will lead to a downtown transit mobility hub, Two-Way, All-Day GO rail service to our downtown station, integrate with Zum andBrampton Transit and will be the lynch pin of potential investment, economicgrowth and employment.

BUILDING CITY FOR BETTER TOMORROWA regionally integrated transit system represents one of the best investmentsfor job creation. Where cities have built up transitinfrastructure there has been increased investment resulting in jobs for localcommunities. It has also allowed for greater choice in jobs by offering asimple transit commute versus a long and expensive car trip.Today LRTs are found around the world. In European cities they pass throughhistoric streets and squares providing residents and tourists alike with aseamless transportation network that alleviates traffic, congestion and envi-ronmental impact.In Canada, cities like Calgary and Edmonton have operated LRTs that passright through their downtown cores above ground for years. The City’s plan-ning and transportation experts are in agreement with Metrolinx that thisproposal will serve the needs of our community both today and tomorrow.Yet there are those who are critical and feel we are somehow getting a poordeal from the Province. To those critics I assure you that we have achieveda far better deal than I ever could have imagined – much sooner than I couldhave imagined too.The Hurontario-Main LRT has the potential to be a game changing initiativethat will revitalize our downtown and our city's future, but it is not the onlysolution.The new LRT will give us the necessary edge we need to compete with theRegion of Halton should Council decide on an urban based campus for ouruniversity. Higher order transit will be necessary to help move the antici-pated 10,000 students and staff to a new university campus that we are

aggressively pursuing with the Blue Ribbon Panel.In the coming years we as a City will be lobbying strongly for the full imple-mentation of the Metrolinx Big Move plans for Brampton, the first being aQueen Street transit line which ultimately will connect downtown Bramptonto the Viva Bus Rapid Transit project on Highway 7 in York Region.We face many challenges in the months to come but in these challenges liethe seeds of opportunity.While we will frequently hold different points of view, and debate about what’sright for Brampton going forward, it’s absolutely critical that we always re-member our ultimate goal: to make Brampton stronger.As a young and rapidly growing city we need to look ahead to a future filledwith potential, job growth and economic prosperity. Following the vote on July 8thI will continue to work with Council and our community to find solutions and raisethe bar to rebuilding the foundation necessary for our collective future success.Ray Kinsella’s story is one that touches on the theme of the fulfillment of dreams -I hope that on July 8th Brampton City Council will collectively seize this once in alifetime opportunity to transform our City and our downtown. This is only the first ofmany decisions we will need to make and I will be voting in favour of the HM-LRTfunding offered by the Province of Ontario which will help us set us on the road ofbuilding a better Brampton.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015 community

PROVINCE MAKES IT EASIER TO BUY OR SELL A HOME

Ontario Allows Real Estate Documentsto Be Signed Electronically

By MPP Yasir NaqviONTARIO - Ontario is making the process of buying or selling ahome easier by allowing real estate documents to be signedelectronically. Effective July 1, 2015, changes to the ElectronicCommerce Act will make electronic signatures legally equiva-lent to signatures on paper documents for real estate transac-tions. Under current rules, when a home or proper ty is sold,dozens of hard copy documents such as offers and agreementsof sale, must be signed by hand.Allowing these transactions to be signed electronically will alsomake it easier to send documents electronically and save timefor anyone buying or selling proper ty, especially when the twopar ties are separated by distance. I have been championing the

modernization of real estate transactions since 2012 when I co-sponsored a Private Member's Bill along with MPP Todd Smith,which sought to modernize Ontario's Electronic Commerce Actwith respect to real estate transactions. Bill 96 was suppor ted bythe Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), and you can read itonline here. I am very pleased that our government adopted thisPrivate Member's Bill into legislation. Homeowners, consumers,and local businesses in Ottawa and right across Ontario will ben-efit from the progress we are making today.I know this updatewill create faster, more convenient ways to produce, manage andtransmit legal documentation involved in a home or business pur-chase.Source: yasirnaqvi.onmpp.ca

Personal artefacts of Sikh saint-soldier on display in SingaporeSingapore, (IANS) A two-day exhibition was put up at a gurdwara inSingapore on Saturday to display the artefacts belonging to a Sikhsaint-soldier. The exhibition, put up at Gurdwara Sahib Silat Road inBukit Merah area of Singapore as part of a month-long festival to honourSikh saint-soldier, Bhai Maharaj Singh, features some of his personalitems such as a salottar (wooden stick used as a support and weapon),dastaar chakkar (turban steel quoits used to retain the shape of aturban) and a mala (rosary) belonging to the spiritual leader, The StraitsTimes reported on Saturday. The items on display are on loan until July5 from his descendents in India. Bhai Maharaj is believed to be the firstSikh in Singapore. He was taken to Singapore in 1850 after he wasarrested by the British out of fear that his detention in India may causeunrest as he was revered by the Sikh community in India for his spiri-tuality, patriotic fervour and for standing up against British dominion.Bhai Maharaj was lodged in Outram prison in Singapore where no lightor fresh air could enter.

MISSISSAUGA - Sam Patel, a local pharmacist and resident of Mississauga,under his AIM for SEVA charity organised a fundraiser to provide educationto underprivileged children in India. Now in its third year, the Bike to Educateevent attracted 20 volunteers who cycled the 110 km stretch from PortCredit to Niagara on the Lake to raise funds for the charity while providingchildren the essential push in life they deserve. Aside from raising moneyfor a good cause, Sam has also motivated his professional peers andcolleagues to get fit. "I can't believe how much I've cycled in preparation forthis ride, under the guidance of Sam," said a current volunteer. "I feel great,and I'm excited to embark on this challenge!" To learn more and to make adonation, visit www.AimforSeva.ca. Help spread the word by tweeting#Biketoeducate and #AimforSeva.

FUNDRAISER FOR UNDER-PRIVILEGED KIDS IN INDIA

COUNCIL MEETINGBrampton - The Hurontario-Main Light Rail Transit Special Coun-cil Meeting is taking place at Brampton City Hall Council Cham-bers, 2 Wellington Street West, Brampton, ON L6Y 4R2 onWednesday, July 8 at 7pm.


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GURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAGURPREET SINGH LOONAMEDIA COORDINATOR

BY AMULYA GANGULI

So, even as the economy is cer tified by the Reserve Bank governor tobe on the mend, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised totake the country into a digital age with more e-governance, it is thedaily stumbles of ministers and mandarins that are attracting greaterattention.While these missteps may be difficult to prevent, given the casualmanner in which rules tend to be flouted by the rich and powerful, aprompt and decisive intervention from the highest levels will be aneffective counter to the impression that the government is being over-whelmed by various problems.The prime minister's decision to step into the rumpus caused by thedeplaning of passengers in Leh, Ladakh, to accommodate VIPs is asign that the norms are being tightened.But there has to be more such steps at a time when the variouscontroversies range from la'affaire Lalit Modi to the mysterious deathsof the accused and witnesses associated with a scam in MadhyaPradesh to the holding up of an international flight so that a member ofa chief minister's staff can fetch his passpor t from home or the non-submission of e-tenders (even as e-governance is being hailed) by aMaharashtra minister for the purchase of fire extinguishers.Collectively, the drip-drip of allegations can erode the government'simage. It will not be until the economy reaches a high plateau of an 8-9 percent growth rate, or the prime minister's fabled penchant forenforcing discipline begins to visibly bear fruit on more than oneoccasion, that the government will be able to breathe easily.The only success which the government has been able to achieve so

far is to prevent a major communal flare-up. This accomplishmentcannot but disappoint Congressmen like Mani Shankar Aiyar whowas hoping for a "Godhra moment" to tarnish Narendra Modi's name.Related to this achievement is the government's success in tamingthe saffron hotheads. As a result, the incidents of 'ghar wapsi' and'love jehad' have tapered off, suggesting that a stern message is allthat is needed to bring the doctrinaire elements to book.What is curious, however, is why the government has been unwillingto take pre-emptive action against the fundamentalists so that theywill not be able to queer the pitch to star t with.Had that been done, much of its image problems could have beenavoided. The anticipatory steps might have been expected since theumbilical connections between those in the government and the ex-tremists outside would have warned the former what to expect.Yet, we have the instances of madrasas (Muslim schools) being down-graded in Maharashtra or the National Investigative Agency's law-yers being asked to go slow on Hindu militants, which cannot butreinforce the perception of the government being guided by theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).Arguably, by the time the economy picks up and the daily gaffes arecurbed, the next general election will not be far away. In the mean-time, the state elections in Bihar, Assam, West Bengal and elsewhere,apar t from the various by-elections, may not always yield results inthe BJP's favour, thereby denting its confidence.Since the run-up to a general election is not the time to take what maybe unpopular decisions, whatever the government has to do on theeconomic front has to be done now. If any "bitter medicine" is to beadministered, as the prime minister said right at the beginning of histenure, this is the time for it to be given.

But as long as the government continues to grapple with the variouscontroversies, any movement even on ushering in governance viamobile phones, as Modi promised, or ensuring Swachh Bharat, letalone on the economy, will be tentative.What the fate of the Congress in the last general election has shown isthat the government must always be proactive about its plus points.Otherwise, an accumulation of negative impressions can be fatal.As is known, the pover ty reduction under the Manmohan Singh gov-ernment was the fastest in the country's history. This was stated bynone other than the present government's chief economic adviser,Arvind Subramanian. Notwithstanding this remarkable achievement,the Congress crashed to its worst defeat in its history simply becausethe many scams, big and small, undermined the par ty's and thegovernment's credibility.If the Modi government wants to avoid a similar outcome, it will haveto match its performance with promise. And the promise is not onlythe one on economic growth but also on transparency in official func-tioning based on trust and credibility.However, trust cannot be gained by rejecting a Right to Information(RTI) application seeking details on the former cricket impresario,Lalit Modi's passpor t. Nor can it be enhanced if a minister of state inthe external affairs ministry accuses those seeking such informationas conducting a "supari" (contract) operation.This was the point which L.K. Advani made when he recalled how heresigned when a momentary shadow was cast on his reputation withthe mention of his name in a hawala transaction.Considering that the octogenarian leader is expected to indicate themarg or path which the party should follow, his advice should not beignored.

Governments of Canada and Ontario CelebrateNew Affordable Housing in Brampton

MODI'S POSITIVES SHOULD NOTBE SWAMPED BY NEGATIVES

BY MP PARM GILL

I, Member of Parliament Parm Gill am helping to formallyannounce that the completion of 200 new affordable housingrental units is ready for local residents. The project wassuppor ted by the governments of Canada and Ontario, and theRegion of Peel with a $15 million investment through theCanada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program. The constructionof this proper ty has suppor ted economic growth and helpedcreate 500 jobs in Brampton while providing more affordablehousing options for local seniors, families and persons withspecial needs. The federal and provincial funding is comple-mented by more than $22.2 million in municipal financialincentives from the Region of Peel.Located in the community of Bramalea, the 25-storey apar tmentbuilding features one- to three-bedroom units, including 56accessible units and 39 units that provide suppor t services.Nor ton Lake Residence is operated by Pathway Housing andSuppor t Services, and features space designed to be used for avariety of community programs. Each suite is designed withcentral air conditioning, open concept kitchen and living room,accessibility features, as well as common on-site laundryfacilities, underground parking for residents, ground-levelparking for visitors, a bicycle storage room, areas for socializ-ing, and an outdoor playground area.Annually, the Government of Canada, through Canada Mor tgageand Housing Corporation (CMHC) invests approximately $2billion in housing. These investments improve the quality of lifefor low-income Canadians and households living in existingsocial housing, including individuals who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, seniors, persons with disabilities, recentimmigrants and Aboriginal people. Economic Action Plan 2013

continued this commitment with a federal investment of morethan $1.25 billion over five years to extend the Investment inAffordable Housing Program to 2019. The Government ofCanada will ensure that funds provided to provinces andterritories suppor t the use of apprentices, which will suppor ttraining of skilled labour. Our Government is giving a hand-up tothose in need, which is why we are proud to have invested inthis project here in Brampton. Nor ton Lake plays a vital role inthe community and is more than just a safe and affordableplace for seniors, families, and people with special needs tolive. It is the key to a better life for those who will call it home.

ANNUALLY, THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA,THROUGH CANADA MORTGAGE ANDHOUSING CORPORATION (CMHC) INVESTSAPPROXIMATELY $2 BILLION IN HOUSING.THESE INVESTMENTS IMPROVE THEQUALITY OF LIFE FOR LOW-INCOMECANADIANS AND HOUSEHOLDS LIVING INEXISTING SOCIAL HOUSING, INCLUDINGINDIVIDUALS WHO ARE HOMELESS OR AT-RISK OF HOMELESSNESS, SENIORS,PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, RECENTIMMIGRANTS AND ABORIGINAL PEOPLE.

“



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


canada CANADA AND INDIAHIGHLIGHT GROWINGENERGY RELATIONSHIPIP10

416-907-4420

LIBERAL PARTY LEADER JUSTIN TRUDEAU AT THE CALGARY STAMPEDE (FLICKR.COM).

Celebrate Pan Am flame in TorontoTORONTO - From July 4 to 10, Toronto will be hosting the PanAm flame. To celebrate, the City of Toronto is holding fivecommunity celebrations to welcome the TORONTO 2015 Pan AmGames Torch Relay to the city. Event programs for each of thecelebrations are detailed below. Toronto is the final leg of the PanAm Games Torch Relay before its last stop at the OpeningCeremony for the Pan Am Games on July 10."As the Pan Am Games draw near, the city will come alivewith celebrations that will unite our communities in the spiritof spor t and friendship," said Mayor John Tory. "I encourageTorontonians to take par t in the various events being heldacross our city, as well as the final leg of the torch relayleading up to the opening ceremonies."The first community celebration to welcome the Pan Amflame to Toronto will be held on Saturday, July 4 at the PrinceEdward Viaduct (Bloor Viaduct) and will include the inaugurallighting of the Luminous Veil. This event will be held from 5to 11 p.m.The City's other community celebrations will be held fromJuly 5 to 9:o Sunday, July 5: Toronto Pan Am Spor t Centre (which will beknown as the CIBC Toronto Pan Am/Parapan Am AquaticsCentre and Field House during the Games), University ofToronto Scarborough campus, noon to 4pmo Tuesday, July 7: Albion Arena, 5pm to 9pmo Wednesday, July 8: Mel Lastman Square, 11am to 3pmo Thursday, July 9: Nathan Phillips Square, 5pm to 9pmEach event will include the arrival of the Pan Am flame, thelighting of the community cauldron, official remarks fromgovernment and torch relay par tners, and music and per for-mances that highlight the Pan American culture and spirit.

Per formers include Lisa Odjig, Kobo Town, Maracatu MarAber to, Amélie et Les Singes Bleus, TD Dots Finest, BBoy andBGirls, Maestro Fresh Wes, Parichay, Samba Squad and HenryFlow.There will be a special announcement at midnight on July 3 toreveal the headline act for the Prince Edward Viaduct commu-nity celebration.All community celebrations are free, accessible and family-oriented, and will include spor t activities for all ages, sponsoractivations and food trucks.Toronto's community celebrations are par t of the City's HostCity Showcase Program. More information about each eventprogram is available at bit.ly/1L3eMza.The five community celebrations are not the only the oppor tu-nity to see the Pan Am flame while it is in Toronto. The torchrelay will spend seven days visiting neighbourhoods across thecity and will be stopping at a number of community locations.The City has also named 16 community torchbearers who wereidentified for the contributions they have made to their commu-nities. Full biographies for each community torchbearer areavailable at bit.ly/1L3eMza.Torontonians are encouraged to come out along the relay routeand cheer on the torchbearers who will carry the Pan Am flamethrough city streets. More information about the torch relayroute is available atTORONTO2015.ORG/torch-relay.The public is reminded that there will be road closures androlling road closures as the relay travels through city streets.Residents and visitors are encouraged to use public transit,carpooling, cycling or walking to the community celebrationsand to watch the relay. Those who are driving should allowextra time to get to and from their destination.

PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER MEETS WITH JOE BIDEN, US VICE-PRESIDENT PRIOR TO ATTENDING THE 2015 WOMEN'S WORLDCUP FINAL BETWEEN JAPAN AND USA. (PHOTO BY JILL THOMPSON)

RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY VALUESIN CANADA ON THE RISEOTTAWA - According to Statistics Canada the total market value ofresidential properties in Canada was $4,064.5 billion in 2012, up5.7% from 2011.Much of the increase in value occurred in Ontario, Alberta andQuebec. Together, these three provinces accounted for 83.8% of theannual increase.Growth in residential proper ty values was slower in 2012than the previous year, but remained above the rate observedduring the economic slowdown in 2009.The growth in residential proper ty value declines slightly in2012.Residential property values concentrated in four provincesIn 2012, four provinces accounted for more than 90% of totalnational residential proper ty values: Ontario (41.0%), BritishColumbia (20.5%), Quebec (17.3%) and Alber ta (12.5%).Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and Alber ta account forover 90% of Canadian residential proper ty values, 2012.Saskatchewan leads provincial residential property valuegrowthAmong the provinces, the highest growth rates were found inSaska tchewan (+9.7%) , Newfound land and Lab rador(+9.5%) and Manitoba (+8.8%).The lowest rates of change in proper ty values were in Brit-ish Columbia (+1.3%) and Nova Scotia (+3.5%).Values grow in nearly every census metropolitan areaThe total value of all residential proper ties in census metro-politan areas (CMAs) increased 6.4% between 2011 and 2012.Regina (+12.4%) increased the most, followed by ThunderBay (+11.7%) and Saskatoon (+10.1%).The total value declined in Victoria (-2.3%), Kelowna (-1.3%)and Abbotsford-Mission (-0.2%).Growth in the total value of residential proper ties in censusmetropolitan areas (CMAs) in 2012.Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal account for almost half oftotal residential property valuesThe value of the residential stock held in Canadian CMAstotalled $3,103.5 billion in 2012, representing over three-quar-ters (76.4%) of the national total.

WEEKEND EVENTSWITH ROAD CLOSURESIN TORONTOToronto - Two special events in Toronto this weekend will in-volve road closures. Residents and visitors are encouraged tocome out and enjoy these events. Businesses in the areasaffected are open to pedestrian traffic but some roads will beclosed to vehicles.Festivals and other special events are impor tant to the city,injecting hundreds of millions of dollars annually into Toronto'seconomy, and they are enjoyed each year by local residents.In addition to road closures related to special events, a signifi-cant amount of road work is taking place in the city. People areencouraged to take public transit as a greener, faster and moreaffordable way of getting to their destinations.Those who need to drive in the general vicinity of special eventsshould allow extra time to get to and from their destination. TheCity has recently introduced a new web-based map to helpresidents make their travel plans. The new website can beaccessed at toronto.ca/roadrestrictions. Information about theCity's planned capital construction work is available attoronto.ca/inview.PrideHouse TO Celebrates Street FestivalChurch Street from Alexander Street to Gloucester Street willbe closed on Friday, July 10 from 6 p.m. to Monday, July 13 at6 a.m. The intersection of Church Street and Wellesley Streetwill remain open to traffic during this time period.Bloor West Village BIA FestivalA series of road closures involving local roads running offBloor Street will take place to accommodate this event onSaturday, July 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closures will affectWindermere Avenue, Beresford Avenue, Glendonwynne Road,Armadale Avenue, Durie Street and Kennedy Avenue.Toronto is Canada's largest city, the four th largest in Nor thAmerica, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 millionpeople. It is a global centre for business, finance, ar ts andculture and is consistently ranked one of the world's mostlivable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015Pan American and Parapan American Games. For informationon non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto resi-dents, businesses and visitors can visit toronto.ca, call 311,24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us@TorontoComms.


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015c a n a d a

PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER AND HIS WIFE LAUREEN GET READY TO KICK OFF THE 2015 CALGARY STAMPEDE PARADE.(PMO PHOTO BY JILL THOMPSON)

40 per cent of Canadians say summer isthe most expensive season: CIBC poll

TORONTO - With Labour Day just two shor t months away, Canadiansbelieve that some of their most expensive spending days of the yearare ahead. A recent poll by CIBC (TSX: CM) (NYSE: CM) finds that 40per cent of Canadians say they spend more money in the summerthan during any other season. As well, nearly half (45 per cent) ofthose polled say they will need to use their credit card or dip intosavings in order to foot their summer fun bill.Key Poll Highlights:" 40 per cent of Canadians say they spend more in summercompared to any other seasono 49 per cent of Millennials (aged 18-34) say summer is themost expensive time of year" $1,766 is the average amount Canadians plan to spend onsummer fun, including travel and day trips, dining and dinner par ties,recreational activities and summer goods like barbecues and spor tsequipment" 45 per cent of Canadians say they try to save for summerfun, but find they use their credit cards or dip into savings to pay forextra costs"Summer can be filled with social events and family travel as Cana-dians try to make the most of the shor t-lived warm weather," saysChristina Kramer, Executive Vice President, Retail and Business Bank-

ing at CIBC. "But if you haven't budgeted for this, the costs can add up,forcing you to dip into savings or take on unplanned debt." Whenasked about this summer's spending plans, 77 per cent haven't savedenough to pay for summer - including 41 per cent who haven't savedanything and 36 per cent have saved only some of what they need.Watch out for 'expense creep'Compounding the challenge of keeping expenses in check is that inother seasonal events, Canadians often spend more than what theyanticipate. For example, a CIBC poll in November 2014 showed thatCanadians expected to spend$517 on holiday shopping, however afollow-up poll in mid-December showed average spending wasalready at $678 with a busy weekend of shopping still to go beforethe holidays. "During holidays, it 's impor tant to avoid expensecreep - which happens when you spend a little more than youexpect over a period of time, and end up with an unexpected creditcard bill at the end of summer," says Ms. Kramer. "Having a bud-get and sticking to it is the best way to enjoy the holidays worryfree. Canadians should treat these expenses the same as all oth-ers and make them par t of your overall annual financial plan.Work with a financial planner so you can enjoy the summer sunand fun within your financial means and not have to hibernate forthe rest of the year."

CANADA AND INDIAHIGHLIGHT GROWING

ENERGY RELATIONSHIP

CALGARY - Greg Rickford, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, andDharmendra Pradhan, India's Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petro-leum and Natural Gas, recently met in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for the 2ndIndia-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue to discuss enhancing energy co-operation between the two countries in the areas of oil, natural gas, cleanenergy, power transmission and skill development. They highlighted Canadaand India's growing energy partnership, by strengthening government togovernment and business to business relationships, to help create jobs andlong-term economic prosperity for both countries. Canada is a secure, reli-able and responsible producer and supplier of energy to the world and has theresources and expertise needed to support India's growing energy needs. In2012, India was the fourth-largest energy consumer in the world. RecentInternational Monetary Fund studies showed that India is expected to be thefastest growing economy during 2014-25. In addition, according to the Inter-national Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2014, India's oil demandgrowth between 2013 & 2040 would be the highest in the world.Indeed, the complementarity of energy interests between Canada and Indiahas already resulted in substantive milestones conducive to building ourbilateral energy relationship, including:- In 2009, India received Canadian oil for the first time and in 2014, Indiareceived over 1 500 barrels of Canadian crude per day;- Signed Expression of Intent in 2013 to collaborate between Alberta Petro-leum Marketing Commission and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd;- In March 2014, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd acquired 10 % participating inter-est in integrated LNG project - Pacific Northwest LNG proposed at LeluIsland, British Columbia; and - On April 15, 2015, Canada welcomed theannouncement of a contract to supply over seven million pounds of uraniumto India over the next five years for the generation of electricity.Moving forward, Canada could potentially supply a significant amount of the44 billion cubic metres of natural gas that India is forecasted to import annu-ally by 2025. Two Indian companies are currently invested in projects inCanada being proposed by Pacific NorthWest LNG and A C LNG.Furthermore, the Ministers discussed opportunities to increase Indian par-ticipation in mining and oil sands activities, to grow Canadian investments inIndia's energy infrastructure and further technical collaboration in the areasof clean energy technologies, including solar, wind, power transmission andcarbon capture and storage. Canada and India will also work together toenhance skill development and share knowledge through university collabo-

ration to accelerate the adoption of clean energy tech-nologies.The Ministers have committed to continuing to exploreopportunities of mutual benefit in the energy sector.They are scheduled to meet again in 2016 in India fortheir 3rd India-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue.Quick Facts:- According to the International Energy Agency, in 2013,India was the world's fourth-largest LNG importer, with5.2 percent of global imports.That same year, about a third of natural gas to meetIndia's demand came from imported LNG.- Canada is the fifth-largest producer of natural gas inthe world and has up to 1,566 trillion cubic feet (44trillion cubic metres) of marketable natural gas re-sources, enough to meet our current production forover 300 years.- The oil sands comprise approximately 97 percent ofCanada's 172.5 billion barrels of proven reserves, thethird-largest reserve in the world.- India has one of the most aggressive growth plans fornuclear energy in the world and represents a largemarket opportunity for Canadian uranium fuel suppli-ers. India aims to supply 25 percent of its electricityfrom nuclear power by 2050.

Greg Rickford, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, andDharmendra Pradhan, India's Minister of State (IndependentCharge) Petroleum and Natural Gas, discuss the growing energyrelationship between the two countries and opportunities forenhanced cooperation in Calgary, Alberta.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


DAWOOD'S SURRENDEROFFER WASCONDITIONAL, SOREJECTED: PAWAR IP12india

AAP WORKERS COURTING ARREST DURING THEIR PROTEST AGAINST KARNATAKA LOKAYUKTA JUSTICE Y BHASKAR RAODEMANDING RESIGNATION FOR ALLEGED CORRUPTION CHARGES, IN BENGALURU (IANS).

New Delhi, (IANS/IndiaSpend) About 86 million more ruralIndians have been counted as illiterate than the 2011 censusdata found.This is revealed by the Socio Economic and Caste Census(SECC), which counted 315.7 million Indians in rural areas asilliterate in 2011, the same year as the census and the highestnumber of illiterates of any country in the world.Put another way, rural India has more illiterate people than thepopulation of Indonesia - the world's four th-most populouscountry - and twice the population of Pakistan.Released last week, the SECC, which focused on rural India,counted more people (literate and illiterate) than the census:35.73 percent of Indians in rural areas as illiterate, as against32.23 percent counted by census 2011.The new data has also revealed the low levels of literacy inrural India.Those who are literate can barely read or countAs many as 14 percent (123 million people) of literate Indiansin rural areas have not studied past class five, while 18 percent(157 million) have completed primary education, or class five.Given that educational levels in India do not reflect real learn-ing, 280 million literate Indians in rural areas are only nomi-nally literate.As IndiaSpend repor ted earlier, only a four th of all children inclass III can read a class II text fluently, a drop of more than 5

AAP GOVERNMENTWARNS OF STIR ON DELHISTATEHOOD ISSUENew Delhi, (IANS) Stressing on its demand for a referendum on fullstatehood to Delhi, the AAP government on Monday warned it wouldnot shy away from launching an agitation on the issue."It is a political issue. And if need be, we will launch an agitation. TheAAP government will not sit quietly. No one can stop Delhi from gettingstatehood," Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra said.In a cabinet meeting last week, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said thepriority of the Delhi's urban development department should be onstatehood. He had asked for a referendum on the statehood to Delhi."People (in states) have rights over their land and police and the citi-zens of Delhi should also have these rights. Give to us what you aregiving to other," Mishra added."AAP has the political will. It is high time the people in Delhi got thestatehood. We will not tolerate a stepmotherly treatment towards thepeople in Delhi," the AAP minister said."The BJP and the Congress promised full statehood to Delhi. Theyforgot their promises, but the AAP did not," he said."There will be no legal complications. Only the BJP and the Congresswill backtrack from their promises they made (to the people)," Mishrasaid.Constitutionally, Delhi is a quasi-state with the Lieutenant Governor asthe state head. The LG also has control over law and order and land inthe National Capital Territory (NCT).In the past too, there have been demands from the Aam Aadmi Partyfor statehood for Delhi but the Bharatiya Janata Party government atthe centre has remained unmoved."What is the harm in taking opinion from the public. Those who areafraid of taking people's opinion are themselves ousted by the people,"the minister remarked."Proposals stop when there is a lack of political will. L.K. Advanibrought a bill in parliament (on the matter in 2003) but he could not getit passed even though his government was then in power at the cen-tre," he pointed out.Congress leader Ajay Maken on Monday termed as "unconstitutionaland a dangerous ploy with grave fallout" Delhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal's idea of conducting referendum on statehood for Delhi.

CHOUHAN FOR CBI PROBE INTOVYAPAM, CONGRESS WANTS HIM OUT

Bhopal/New Delhi,(IANS) In a dramatic U-turn, Madhya Pradesh Chief Min-ister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday announced he had recommended aCBI probe into the Vyapam recruitment scam, but the Congress insisted thathe must resign for a fair investigation.A day after Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the CBI need not probe thescandal that has reportedly claimed several lives and a day after Chouhanhimself didn't sound too enthusiastic about the CBI, the chief minister made asudden volte-face.Addressing the media in Bhopal, a grim looking Chouhan said he was dis-patching a letter to the Madhya Pradesh High Court requesting that the Cen-tral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be allowed to probe the scandal."In a democracy, the ruler should be above suspicion," he said. "There arequestions in people's minds. People want to know the truth. Questions inpeople's minds have to be answered."I bow my head to people's wishes... I am sending a request to the high courtthat the CBI should be allowed to investigate the case," the veteran BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) leader said.BJP sources told IANS that Chouhan's change of mind followed some hardtalking by Rajnath Singh, who convinced him that a CBI probe would help toward off the negative image the party was gaining on account of the Vyapamand other issues.Chouhan, however, made it clear that he had full faith in the investigation bythe Special Investigation Team (SIT) done so far which he underlined wasbeing monitored by the high court.Until now, the chief minister had maintained that the CBI need not be broughtinto the picture as the Madhya Pradesh High Court was monitoring the SITprobe and there was no way his government could influence the investiga-tion. An unrelenting Congress stuck to its demand for Chouhan's resignation,saying his departure was important for a neutral probe.

It said Chouhan, who has been in power in Madhya Pradesh for over adecade, was trying to "mislead" people by requesting the high court for aprobe by the CBI into the scam."We remain firm on our demand for aSupreme Court-monitored probe,"party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia saidin New Delhi."If we want a neutral probe, then thechief minister should resign. We wantto clarify that if there has to be trans-parency, then he should not object toan Supreme Court-monitored probe,"he added.Senior Congress leader DigvijayaSingh said that apart from the Vyapamrecruitment scam, the probe into thedeaths of people connected with theracket should also be handed over tothe CBI. Several people associatedwith the admission and recruitmentracket in Vyapam - VyavsayikPariksha Mandal or Professional Ex-amination Board - have died since2013 -- in mysterious circumstancesor committed suicide.Chouhan insisted that he did not dis-cuss his decision to go for a CBI in-quiry with Prime Minister NarendraModi, now in Central Asia.

HOW RURAL INDIA GAINED86 MN ILLITERATE PEOPLE

TURKISH FLIGHT LANDS ATIGI AFTER BOMB SCARENew Delhi, (IANS) A Turkish Airlines aircraft made an emer-gency landing at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport herefollowing a bomb scare. However, no explosives were foundonboard after a thorough search. An official said that flight TK0065was on its way from Bangkok to Istanbul with 134 passengers onboard when someone saw a bomb threat written on a windowpaneof the bathroom. According to the sources, the threat message waswritten by using a lipstick. Turkish Airlines senior vice president(Media Relations) Ali Gence said that flight TK0065 from Bangkokto Istanbul (an A-330 aircraft, carrying 134 passengers) was di-verted to Delhi "following a possible bomb threat on board" and "suc-cessfully landed" there. All passengers and cabin crew were evacu-ated safely. He said necessary safety checks were taking place. "Fur-thermore, precautions have been taken for towing the aircraft in linewith standard safety procedures. This is currently in progress. Aftercompleting all necessary safety checks, the plane will continue itsjourney to Bangkok," Gence said in a statement.Airport sources earlier told IANS that there were 148 passengers onthe flight. "The crew saw a message about 'bomb in cargo hold' writtenon a bathroom mirror and informed the pilot and co-pilot. The pilotcontacted the Nagpur Air Traffic Control, who guided them to the DelhiATC," a source said. Sources said the plane made the emergencylanding at around 1.40 p.m. at IGI soon after directions from the DelhiATC. "The flight was made to land at an isolation parking. All passengerswere evacuated safely from the flight and emergency declared at the air-port," a police official said. All security agencies, including the NationalSecurity Guard (NSG) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) wereplaced on high alert. A bomb disposal squad scanned the plane along witha dog squad. Senior officials of CISF and NSG officials held a meeting afterthe bomb scare.

percent over four years. With math, a quar ter of children inclass III could not recognise numbers between 10 and 99, adrop of 13 percent over four years, according to the 2014Annual Status Repor t on Education (ASER).Only 3 percent (three million) of Indians in rural areas havecompleted graduation or a higher level of education.Central India repor ted the highest illiteracy rate of 39.20percent and east India 38.79 percent, followed by west India(35.15 percent), nor th India (32.87 percent), the nor theast (30.2percent) and south India (29.64 percent).Union territories fared the best with less than 15 percent of thepopulation illiterate.Rajasthan repor ted the worst illiteracy rate: 47.58 percent or25.88 million people, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 44.19percent or 22.80 million illiterate people, Bihar with 43.85percent or 42.89 million illiterate people and Telangana with40.42 percent or 9.5 million illiterate people.The surprises are the presence of the southern states ofTelangana and Andhra Pradesh in the top 10 state for illiteracy.Kerala is another surprise in the SECC analysis. While statesurveys and the census have repeatedly claimed a literacy rateof more than 90 percent, the SECC repor t says 11.38 percent,or 3 million Keralites, are illiterate.Among union territories, Dadra & Nagar Haveli repor ted thehighest illiteracy rate of 36.29 percent.


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015i n d i a

PUNJAB CM GRANTS MORE FUNDFOR SEWERAGE TREATMENT PLANTS

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal interacts with people during a programme at Jandiala Guru near Amritsar (IANS).

Delhi government to installjammers at exam centresBy Gaurav SharmaNew Delhi, (IANS) The AAP government has decided to installjammers to prevent cheating with the help of high-tech elec-tronic gadgets in examinations held for Delhi government jobs.The growing use of electronic devices in written tests has thecity government worried over the possibility of incompetentcandidates entering the government."After successfully using the jammers in a clerk-level examon a pilot basis a couple of months ago, the Delhi SubordinateServices Selection Board (DSSSB) has decided to use thedevice in its critical exams," a government official told IANS.Set up in 1996, DSSSB conducts written tests and interviewsfor middle and lower level jobs in the state government andcivic agencies.A mobile phone jammer is an instrument used to prevent cel-lular phones from receiving signals from base stations. Whenused, the jammer effectively disables cellular phones. It trans-mits on the same radio frequencies as the cell phone, disrupt-ing the communication between the phone and the cell-phonebase station in the tower. "Nowadays students are using tech-nology to pass exams which is the other facet of technology.You remember 'Munna Bhai MBBS', don't you," added the offi-cial. "Munna Bhai MBBS" is a Bollywood movie in which theprotagonist - a local goon - is shown taking a medical examwith the help of a tiny earphone.

India begins work on bridgelinking Bangladeshi portsAgartala, (IANS) India has star ted preliminary work, includ-ing making Detailed Project Repor t, to build a bridge overFeni river in Tripura to access Bangladeshi por ts to carry goodsand heavy machineries for the nor theast region, an officialsaid on Sunday."We have star ted preliminary work and making DPR (De-tailed Project Repor t) to build the all-impor tant bridge overFeni river," Sunil Bhowmik, chief engineer, Tripura Public WorksDepar tment, told repor ters. "Af ter preparing the DPR withintwo months, it would be submitted to Tripura's industries andcommerce depar tment, which is a nodal department for theproject," he added.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier SheikhHasina jointly laid the foundation stone of the Feni river bridgeon June 6 during Modi's two-day Dhaka visit recently. The150-metre (490 feet) road bridge over the Feni river will con-nect the Sabroom border town (135 km south of Agartala) ofsouthern Tripura with Ramgarh town in Bangladesh.After completion, the bridge, located nor th of the Chittagonginternational sea por t, would provide a significant road link toIndia's nor theastern states and facilitate greater trade andexchanges between the two countries. Bhowmik said Indiaand Bangladesh officials had earlier finalised the alignment ofthe bridge which, according to the official, would have a con-struction cost of over Rs. 100 crore. "All sor ts of problems,including land acquisition, have been resolved on either sideof the border," the chief engineer said.

Dawood's surrender offer wasconditional, so rejected: PawarMumbai, (IANS) NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday saidlawyer Ram Jethmalani had contacted him over mafia donDawood Ibrahim's readiness to surrender in the 1990s whenPawar was Maharashtra chief minister but the don had putforward conditions which were not acceptable.The conditions put for th for the surrender by the don were notacceptable to the state government and hence it was rejected,the Nationalist Congress Par ty president told media personshere. The incident took place when Pawar -- who then be-longed to the Congress par ty -- was the chief minister."It is true that Ram Jethmalani had given the proposal about Dawood'swillingness to surrender. But, there was the condition that he should not bekept in jail. He wanted to remain in a house. This was not acceptable to us,we said he must face the law," Pawar said. The NCP supremo wasreacting to Jethmalani's charge that the state government rejected an offerby Dawood to return to India and go under house arrest as he feared for hislife in a jail, as well as guarantees that he would not be subjected to third-degree torture by the Indian authorities. Jethmalani claimed Dawoodmade the offer to surrender when they met in London but the subse-quent terms and conditions were not acceptable either to Pawaror the then central government.

Chandigarh, (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal onMonday asked the finance depar tment to release Rs.43 crore to thePunjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board for the timelycompletion of ongoing construction of sewerage treatmentplants (STPs) along with the Ghaggar river.Reviewing the progress of the steps taken by the sewerageboard and the Punjab Pollution Control Board for the construc-tion of STPs, the chief minister sanctioned the additional fund,an official statement said.Local Government Secretary Ashok Gupta apprised the chiefminister that out of 21 towns on the Ghaggar, STPs in Zirakpur,Mohali, Banur, Patiala, Samana, Sardulgarh and Bhikhi townshave been commissioned.STPs in four towns of Patran, Mandi Gobindgarh, Rajpura andMoonak are likely to be completed by December 31, he said.

Apar t from this, funds for the six STPs in five towns of Sunam,Longowal, Khanauri, Derabassi (two) and Lehragagga havealready been tied up and would be completed by March 31 nextyear, the statement said.

BADAL APPROVES THREE MORE'MERITORIOUS' SCHOOLSChandigarh, (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal onMonday approved building of three more schools at Sangrur, Firozpurand Gurdaspur districts at a cost of Rs.30 crore.This is aimed at offering free education to government school stu-dents who scored 80 percent or above in the matriculation ex-

ams. This decision was takenby Badal at a meeting to reviewthe p rogress o f mer i to r iousschools here.An off icial statement quotingthe chief minister said theseschools would be establishedon the pattern of existing sevenmer i to r i ous schoo ls i n t hestate.These schools not only impar teduca t ion bu t a l so p rov idecoaching to students for com-pet i t ive exams and improve-ment of communication skil lsso as to be at par with other stu-dents from public and conventschools.Education Minister Daljit SinghCheema said there was an up-surge in the number of studentsaspir ing for an admission inthese meritorious schools.Near ly 8 ,400 s tuden ts f romvar ious government schoolswere eligible this year as against3,500 students last year.



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TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015 i n d i a

COMPLICATIONS IN OROPSORTED OUT, PARRIKARTELLS VETERANSNew Delhi, (IANS) Complications in the "One Rank, OnePension" (OROP) scheme for the armed forces personnelhave been sor ted out, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikartold protesting ex-servicemen. "The defence ministersaid the file of OROP has come back to his ministry. Hesaid the complications have been sor ted but no date hasbeen given," Col. (retd) Anil Kaul, spokesman of theUnited Front of Ex-Servicemen, told IANS. Kaul said theiragitation would continue and if they don't get a responsefrom the government by July 15, the protest will bestepped up. "MPs want to raise their own salary. While itwas raised by 300 percent in 2010, they want a treasureagain now. A usual public servant gets 30 percentincrease in salary," he said. "But OROP is difficult forthem to implement," he said. The ex-servicemen havebeen sitting on relay hunger strike since June 15. OnFriday, 56 veterans sat on hunger strike.

'OVER 35 PER CENT RURALINDIANS STILL ILLITERATE'New Delhi, (IANS) Over 35 per cent of Indians in rural areas areilliterate, with Rajasthan home to 47.58 per cent of the unlet-tered, Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data releasedon Friday said. Rajasthan is followed by Madhya Pradesh with44.19 per cent. Bihar and Telangana, with 43.85 and 40.42 percent, hold the third and four th place respectively in the tally,reveals the data released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.Graduates form only 3.45 per cent of the rural population, with Delhileading at 9.62 percent. Goa, Puducherry and Kerala with 9.62, 9.48 and 7.75per cent respectively have the largest numbers of highly-educated people.Gujarat leads the country in housing the largest number of people withprimary education, the data said. It has 27.99 per cent people who havecompleted their primary education.

For bulk of rural India IRs5,000is highest monthly wage

New Delhi, (IANS) For nearly 75 per cent of the 17.9 crore (nearly 180million) households in rural India, the monthly income of a highest-earning member is less than Rs.5,000 ($83), even as 40 per cent arelandless, toiling as manual casual labourers, as per latest officialdata. This is the finding of the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011for Rural India released on Friday that also shows that nearly 25 percent of the rural households still do not own a phone despite Indiaboasting a telecom subscriber base of around a billion. The survey,for the first time since 1931, gives a glimpse into the livestyles inrural India in terms of how many households own a phone, a refrig-

erator, automobiles or land, what percentage of such population paysdirect taxes, the kind of jobs they pursue and their literacy rates. Asper the Census, among the for tunate families that actually own land,the dependence on rains for their crops is rather high, with 25 per centhaving no access to irrigation, as per the Census released by FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley. Only 8.29 per cent of the rural householdsrepor ted a member who was drawing more than Rs.10,000 permonth, while for 17.18 per cent others the monthly earning wasbetween Rs.5,000 and Rs.10,000 per month. And 180,657 peoplestill do manual scavenging despite this being illegal.

BIHAR CHIEF MINISTER NITISH KUMAR VISITS MASJID HAZRAT MULLA MITAN DURING THE LAUNCH OF KNOCK-ON-DOORS CAM-PAIGN FOR STATE ELECTIONS IN PATNA (IANS).

India has one of largest social safety net programmesBy Arun KumarWashington, (IANS) WhileIndia and four other middle-income countries have theworld's five largest socialsafety net programmesreaching over 526 millionpeople, around 55 percent ofthe world's poor or 773 millionpeople still lack safety netcoverage.

This despite the fact that agrowing number of developingcountries are investing insocial safety nets to improvethe lives and livelihoods ofbillions of poor and vulnerablepeople, says a new WorldBank Group repor t.Calling for action to close thiscoverage gap, The State ofSocial Safety Nets 2015, notes

that more than 1.9 billionpeople in 136 low- andmiddle-income countries arenow on beneficiary rolls ofsocial safety net programmes.In Africa alone, the number ofcountries setting up socialsafety net programmes hasdoubled over the past threeyears, as evidenced byrigorous evaluations that

prove these programmeswork.But three quar ters of thepoorest people in low- andlower-middle income coun-tries, and more than one-third ofthe poorest people in middle-income countries, lack safety netcoverage and remain at risk.The report is the second in aseries of studies that monitor andreport on the growth andcoverage of social safety nets inthe developing world."More countries at all incomelevels are investing in socialsafety net programmes becausethey are transformational," saidArup Banerji, the World BankGroup's senior director for socialprotection and labour."Going forward, more can bedone to close the coverage gapand reach the world's poorestby improving the effective-ness of these programmes,"he said.According to the repor t, thecombined spending on socialsafety nets in 120 developingcountries amounted to about$329 billion between 2010 and2014.

CONTD. FROM PAGE 1That Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's son, who isbright academically, made it to the MBBS course throughopen merit competition is also known to all in Kashmir. Yes,Salahuddin must have been concerned about his son beingallotted a medical college in Jammu, but that he directlyapproached IB's joint director in Srinagar for a change hasbeen denied by the Hizbul chief.It now remains Dulat's word against Salahuddin but whathas seriously jolted everybody here is that Vajpayee did notfavour Mufti Sayeed as chief minister in 2002.It is widely believed in the state's public and political circlesthat not only had the Mufti been Vajpayee's hot favourite in2002 and even thereafter, but the PDP's entire healing touchpolicy of the PDP owes itself to his doctrine of "Insaaniyat,Kashmiriyat aur Jamhooriyat".In fact, Sayeed has been repeating himself that the only wayforward in Kashmir is through implementation of Vajpayee'svision, as Dulat admitted on a TV talk show on Saturday.Presuming that he would continue to champion Vajpayee'sstatesmanship on Kashmir because he doesn't know that heopposed his chief ministership and blamed his daughter ofproximity to separatist gunmen would be saying that thewily, old Mufti is political naive - a stand Dulat will findimpossible to sell.What is intriguing is not that the separatist leaders' airtickets and hotel rooms in Delhi and outside were paid bythe IB, but the fact that they shared things against each otherwith New Delhi's spies.Even more intriguing is the fact that while the poor stone-pelting protesters and policemen and paramilitary personnelhave been sending each other to hospitals with grievous andoften fatal injuries, the separatists have been feasting withofficials of the Indian intelligence agencies.This is one revelation that has already created a stir andDulat may be the only former top spy who seems to be onthe job even after retirement.(Sheikh Qayoom is the IANS correspondent in Kashmir. Theviews expressed are personal. He can be contacted [email protected])

FORMER RAW CHIEF'SDISCLOSURES: ON THE JOBEVEN AFTER RETIREMENT?


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015w o r l d

IS THE CHINA STORY SIMILAR TOTHE 1980S JAPANESE BUBBLE?

By Vatsal SrivastavaWhen China sneezes, the world catches a cold. It follows that a long-lasting serious illness within China's economy has the potential toderail the entire post-crisis global economic recovery.Fears of a real estate bubble burst, coupled with collapsing stockprices from seven year highs have led many to question whetherChina stands at the same juncture as its economic superpowerneighbour, Japan, did in the late 1980s. There cer tainly seem to bemany economic variables which would strengthen the above case:high and less efficient investment, current account surpluses, dete-riorating demographic trends, deflation and parabolic increases inasset prices of housing and equities.However, today China is at a very different stage of its economicdevelopment than Japan was in the 1980s. It is unlikely that China willgo through any "lost decades". By the late 1980s, Japan was alreadya highly advanced economy whereas today China's potential for catch-up growth has not been exhausted (although it is growing at its slow-est pace in 25 years.) Although China's GDP is huge in absolute terms,it is still a middle-income country in per capita terms.The main argument towards predicting an imminent collapse of thedragon is the outrageously high investment rate as a proportion of itsGDP which many believe to be unsustainable. The bears argue thatthe Chinese are "building bridges to nowhere". This is blamed forcurrent overcapacity and build-up of bad debt.

There cannot be any dispute over China's high investment rate whichis 10 percentage points higher than Japan's peak in the 1970s. ButChina has an even higher savings rate of 49 percent of GDP. Fur ther,China's much lower capital stock per capita implies that it still standsto gain significantly from investment. China's total factor productivity(TFP), which measures how well inputs of labour and capital combine to pro-duce output, has been on an upward trend since the reforms began in the late1970s. TFP can also be looked as a measure of the degree of "technology" in theeconomy. Considering that China's markets are much less modern than those inthe developed world, we can expect the TFP to grow over time and assume thatthere is plenty of capacity for reforms to drive efficiency. This would be similar toJapan's productivity miracle of the 1960s.China's urbanisation rate is only 55 percent, the same as that of Japanin 1955! Currently, the urbanisation rate in Japan is 93 percent.Thus, the fur ther driver of investment in infrastructure will beurbanisation and it is wrong to conclude that China has run out of"useful" investment oppor tunities.From the markets point of view, the capitulation seen in the last fewweeks represents a buying opportunity for secular China bulls. The sizeof of the stock market relative to the size of the economy still re-mains small. China's total stock market capitalisation is around40 percent of its GDP, compared with 140 percent in Japan at its peak.Further, domestic Chinese households hold 10 percent of their assets in sharescompared with 20 percent in Japan at the start of the 1990s according to HSBC.

DELEGATES FROM THE EU AND P5+1, THE FIVE UN SECURITY COUNCIL PERMANENT MEMBERS PLUS GERMANY, ATTEND A MEETINGON THE SIDELINES OF THE NUCLEAR TALKS BETWEEN IRAN AND WORLD POWERS IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA (IANS).

IRAN N-TALKS TO CONTINUEFOR FEW MORE DAYSVienna, (IANS) European Union foreign policy chief FedericaMogherini said on Tuesday that the talks between representa-tives of Iran and the six major world powers over Tehran's nuclearprogramme will continue for at least two more days, IRNA newsagency repor ted."We are continuing the negotiation... Some ministers are leav-ing, but will be back in the coming hours or days," she said,adding that the talks would go beyond the July 7 deadline but itdid not mean extension.She noted that the depar ture and comeback of ministers wassomething normal and did not mean evaluation of the talks.The EU foreign policy chief said the talks between the P5+1group of world powers -- the US, Britain, France, Russia, China,plus Germany -- and Iran were at the toughest stage and dealingwith the most difficult issues."We are continuing to negotiate for the next couple of days... Weentered the most difficult and sensitive par t of the talks,"Mogherini said.She said the two sides still believed that an agreement wasavailable, even as she acknowledged that the current stage ofthe talks would be hard and challenging.Mogherini said the negotiators were flexible about the deadlineand they shouldered an impor tant responsibility.She said that the negotiating teams have accomplished com-posing the context of the deal. "The window of opportunity shouldbe kept open. The time for agreement is exactly now," the EUforeign policy chief said.

SCORES KILLED IN NIGERIAIN FRESH ATTACKSLagos, (IANS) At least 30 people were confirmed dead follow-ing fresh attacks by unknown gunmen in Birnin-Magaji area ofnorthwest Nigeria's Zamfara, police said.Muhammad Gusami, the area's local government chairman, whoconfirmed the incident to reporters in Gusua, the state capital, saidthe attacks took place in Kokeya and Chigama villages, Xinhuareported. Gusami said the gunmen invaded Kokeya village withmotorcycles and killed two persons, set some houses ablaze andcarted away animals mostly cows.While this was going on, the attackers returned the next day andinvaded the neighboring village of Chigama, killing more than 30persons whose bodies were still being recovered from the bush.The chairman said the corpses have been taken to Birnin-magajiGeneral Hospital. Similarly, the state police spokesperson SanusiAmiru, said the police and army have moved to the area andnormalcy had been restored.

THREE SOLDIERS KILLED INPAKISTAN BLASTIslamabad, (IANS) At least three soldiers were killed and six injuredwhen a bomb hit their vehicle in Nor th Waziristan in Pakistanon Sunday, a media repor t said. Unidentified militants blewup a roadside bomb by remote control as the vehicle passedby it in Datta Khel area, a restive tribal area along the Af-ghanistan border, Xinhua reported. No group immediately claimedresponsibility for the attack. The Pakistan Army is carrying out anoffensive against the Taliban in the region.



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GREEK PRIME MINISTER ALEXIS TSIPRAS (R) CASTS HIS BALLOT AT A POLLING STATION IN ATHENS, GREECE. (IANS)

INDIA, KAZAKHSTAN LAUNCH FIRSTDRILLING AT SATPAYEV OIL BLOCK

Astana, (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan pre-mier Karim Massimov on Tuesday launched the first exploratory drill-ing of the Satpayev oil block by India's OVL and KazMunaiGaz.The two leaders launched the drilling through live video conferencing.ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) -- the overseas arm of state-run ONGC -- hadin 2011 picked up 25 percent stake in the Satpayev oil block in theNor th Caspian Sea.ONGC Videsh has committed to investing $400 million in explorationin the block.It will also pay $80 million to Kazakhstan's KazMunaiGas as a one-time assignment fee.OVL paid $13 million as a signing amount for a 25 percent stake inSatpayev in 2011. The Satpayev oil block is an offshore field in theNor thern Caspian sea, with potential reserves estimated at 1.8 billionbarrels. India is to conduct a feasibility study on impor ting crude oil

Modi cites India, Central Asia's sharedIslamic heritage to combat extremismAstana, (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesdaytouched on the shared Islamic heritage of India and CentralAsia, which, he said, has always rejected the forces of extrem-ism, as he urged for boosting defence and security cooperationto defend the region's peace and defeat terrorism and risingextremism.In his address at the Nazarbayev University in the Kazakhcapital, Modi also said India's engagement with Central Asiahas been shor t of promise and potential and added that he isdetermined to change it with closer cooperation.Speaking on the shared heritage of India and Central Asia, Modisaid the Islamic heritage of both India and Central Asia "isdefined by the highest ideals of Islam - knowledge, piety,compassion and welfare. This is a heritage founded on theprinciple of love and devotion. And, it has always rejected theforces of extremism."Today, this is an impor tant source of strength that brings Indiaand Central Asia together."He spoke of the close connection between the two sidesthrough Bollywood, Sufi music, yoga and Hindi, adding: "It isthe foundation of a relationship of hear ts and emotions. And, itcannot be measured only by the scale of trade or the demandsof states."Speaking at length on terrorism and extremism, Modi said: "Welive at the frontier of instability. We live close to the crucible ofextremism and terrorism."We see terrorism spawned by nations and groups. Today, we

also see cyber space become a platform without borders forterror to draw recruits to its cause."From theatres of conflicts to the calm neighbourhoods ofdistant cities, terrorism has become a global challenge asnever before."Modi said India and Central Asia would combat terrorismthrough the "strength of our values and our commitment tohumanism".Terming India the new frontier of oppor tunities for the world andCentral Asia a region of immense resources, talented people,rapid growth and a strategic location, he said: "So, I am here tostar t a new era in our relationship with Central Asia.A India isprepared to invest more in a new par tnership of prosperity."Pitching for boosting trade and connectivity with the land-locked region, he expressed hope that all of Central Asia wouldbecome members of the International Nor th South Transpor tCorridor and said that India is keen to join the Ashgabat Agree-ment on trade and transit.He said India's upgradation of Iran's Chahbahar Por t would openup routes into Central Asia. "I also hope that we can restore thetraditional route to Central Asia through Pakistan and Afghani-stan".Both sides would work together in the sector of minerals,industry, pharma, engineering and small and medium indus-tries, he said.He said India's membership of Shanghai CooperationOrganisation will deepen the regional par tnership.

25 killed in suicide bombings,clashes with IS in IraqBaghdad, (IANS) At least 25 people were killed and some 50others wounded in clashes with Islamic State (IS) militants andsuicide bomb attacks across Iraq on Tuesday, security sourcessaid. In Iraq's western province of Anbar, at least eight IS mili-tants were killed and some 20 others wounded in fierce clasheswith Iraqi security forces backed by allied militias known asHashd Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) around the Sunni town ofSaqlawiyah nor th of the IS-held city of Fallujah, a provincialsecurity source told Xinhua news agency.The clashes near Saqlawiyah are par t of a battle that broke outthe day before when the security forces and allied militiamenadvanced to free Saqlawiyah and nearby Sheiha area from ISmilitants, but were confronted with fierce resistance when sui-cide bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into thetroops' positions and blew them up.Also in the province, heavy clashes erupted between IS mili-tants and troops in Haqlaniyah area, some 200 km nor thwest ofIraq's capital Baghdad, the source said without giving fur therdetails.The clashes in Haqlaniyah came one day after bloody fightingwhen IS militants attacked Haqlaniyah area with four suicidecar bombers.The nearby area was also the scene of deadly attacks when theIS militants carried out a wave of six suicide car bombings on astrategic dam near the town of Haditha but was thwar ted by thesecurity forces and allied Sunni tribal fighters.The IS militants repeatedly carried out attacks to seize the keydam near Haditha on the Euphrates river but were repelled bythe troops and local Jughaifi Sunni tribesmen.In addition, an army rocket barrage struck a vehicle bombfactory in the industrial area in the militant-seized city ofFallujah, leaving seven IS militants dead, including a groupleader, the source said citing intelligence repor ts.Earlier in the day, a security source from Iraq's nor therncentral province of Salahudin told Xinhua that a total of 10security personnel were kil led and 30 others wounded inthree suicide car bomb attacks against Iraqi security forcesin the town of Baiji, some 200 km nor th of Baghdad.Separately, sporadic clashes continued in Iraq's largest oilrefinery near Baiji, as the security forces fought to drive ISmilitants out of the refinery.Since March 2, Iraqi security forces and thousands of alliedShia and Sunni militias have been involved in Iraq's biggestoffensive in order to recapture the nor thern par t of Salahudinprovince from IS militants.The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated sinceJune 10, 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqisecurity forces and IS militants.

Afghan officials in Pakistan tonegotiate peace with TalibanIslamabad, (IANS) Officials belonging to the Afghanistan Peaceand Reintegration Programme, appointed by former presidentHamid Karzai to negotiate peace with the Taliban, are in Islamabadfor talks with the militants, a media report said on Tuesday."A delegation from the High Peace Council of Afghanistan hastraveled to Pakistan for negotiations with the Taliban," the Dawnreported citing a post on Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's officialTwitter account.Ghani's deputy spokesperson Sayed Zafar Hashemi said the del-egation was being led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat KhalilKarzai. Informal meetings between the militant group and Afghanofficials have taken place in the past, but official effor ts to reopenpeace negotiations have so far borne little fruit, the daily said.The Taliban's proposal for formal talks have several hardline pre-conditions. They also demand the complete departure of foreigntroops from Afghanistan.NATO withdrew its troops from Afghanistan in December last year,but a smaller force has stayed on for training and counter-terror-ism operations. Even as effor ts are being made to negotiate apeace deal, hundreds of people have been killed across Afghani-stan since the militant group launched its so-called annual springoffensive on April 24 this year.

and gas from Kazakhstan either through a pipeline or as liquid naturalgas in ships. The hydrocarbons can be brought first to Iran via theCaspian Sea and transpor ted across the country through a pipeline.The opening of the Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway link is alsobeing explored to transpor t oil and gas to India. The rail corridor couldeventually be linked to the International Nor th-South Transpor t Corri-dor (INSTC), which is set to connect Mumbai with St. Petersburg.The Iran, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan railway line was inauguratedon December 3 last year.The railway line includes 140 km in Kazakhstan and 85 km in Iran.Agreed in 2007 and under construction since 2009, the route opens upa direct rail connection between the three countries to the east of theCaspian Sea.The railway line is expected to carry transit traffic between CentralAsia and the Persian Gulf, as well as oil and agricultural produce.

IS NUMBER TWO IN AFGHANISTANKILLED IN US DRONE STRIKE

Kabul, (IANS) Gul Zaman, the number two leader of the Islamic State (IS) branch in Afghanistan, has been killed along with six other ISmembers in a US drone strike, the country 's intelligence agency said on Tuesday."Based on information of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Daesh (the Arabic acronym of IS) number two leader and Daeshwar commander in Khorasan province, named Gul Zaman, along with his deputy named Jahanyar and five other Daesh members werekilled following an airstrike in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province," the NDS said in a statement.Earlier this year, the IS Sunni radical group, mostly active in Iraq and Syria, announced that it has established a province in Khorasan,a historic name for a region that covers Afghanistan, Pakistan, and par ts of other countries in the region.The statement did not reveal the exact date of the airstrike which led to the deaths of the targeted militants.The NDS has set up a special operation team to combat IS-affiliated militants, according to the statement."The latest targeted killing of the IS leaders has been a big blow for the group in Afghanistan. The NDS personnel will never allow anyinternational terrorist group, including Daesh, to set up safe havens in Afghanistan," it added.

CHINA URGES NEPAL TOPLAY CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE INTRILATERAL COOPERATIONKathmandu, (IANS) Nepal should play a constructive role inthe trilateral cooperation among China, India and Nepal, Chi-nese ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said on Sunday."It's time for Nepal to find the areas of cooperation, models of coop-eration and especially projects of cooperation," Xinhua quoted theChinese envoy as saying at an event here.He added that Nepal was very important for the three-party diplo-matic relations. Recalling Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi'smeeting with India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on thesidelines of the June 25 International Conference on Nepal's Reconstructionin Kathmandu, Wu said an economic corridor among the three nations maycreate more opportunities, revenues and benefits. "Reconstruction is anopportunity of social and economic development for the Himalayan nationin which Chinese initiatives like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bankand 'One Belt, One Road' can be significant," said the Chinese envoy.

Afghan parliament rejects minister-designate for defenceKabul (IANS) The Afghan Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of parliament, hasrejected minister-designate for defence, Mohammad Masoum Stanikzai,with the majority calling on President Ashraf Ghani to nominate a newperson for the post. "Since Stanikzai failed to obtain 107 votes in hisfavour, therefore the lower house wants the president to introduce anew person for the post of defence minister," Chairman of the house,Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, said after counting the votes. Out of 213 law-makers attending the voting session, only 84 voted in Stanikzai'sfavour while 104 voted against and the remaining abstained, Xinhua newsagency reported.



MIKA SINGH, SALMAN KHAN AND KABIR KHAN DURING THE LAUNCH OF EID SPECIAL SONG TITLED AAJ KI PARTY MERI TARAFSE FROM THE FILM BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN IN MUMBAI (IANS).

DID MIKA 'STEAL'SONG FROM SALMAN?Mumbai, (IANS) Salman Khan's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" launched itsspecial Eid song "Aaj ki par ty" on Thursday. Sung by MikaSingh, the song has already connected with the masses but itwas Salman who was going to sing the song before Mika"stole" it from him."Mika has stolen my song and that's why this song is a sureshot hit. I tried a lot this time again to be the one who sings thissong but Mika has beaten me again by bagging this song,"quipped Salman.However, this is not the first time that Mika has recorded asong which was originally intended to be sung by Salman.Salman had recorded his version of the superhit track "Jummeki raat" from the film "Kick", but Mika's version was the oneused in the film and it became a blockbuster track."Bhai (Salman) had sung 'Jumme ki raat' brilliantly and I toldhim to release the song in his voice. I was in Jakar ta when Ireceived a call from him at 12.30 in the night asking whether Isaid the truth about liking his version. And he told to hear itagain and send my version," Mika said."When he complimented me for the song 'Hangover', I shockedhim by saying: 'Wait, another song sung by me, 'Jumme KiRaat', is coming up'," said Salman.This sent Mika into a state of panic as he felt his version wasscrapped from the film. He contacted T-Series head BhushanKumar asking what was his fault, only to realize that he was avictim of Salman's prank."Aaj Ki Par ty" is composed by Pritam and written by ShabbirAhmed.The film, releasing on the occasion of Eid, is produced by Salmanand Rockline Venkatesh.

Basketball: India grab top spot, qualify for Asian MeetBengaluru, (IANS) Defending champions India turned in a brilliantsecond-half performance to outplay Sri Lanka 93-44 and win the four thSouth Asian Basketball Association (SABA) tournament here Sunday.India thus qualified for the 2015 Asian Championships to be held inChina from September 23 to October 3. They are clubbed with defend-ing Asian champions Iran, Japan and Malaysia.Having won all their five matches, India topped the tournament aheadof Sri Lanka who had a win-loss record of 4-1, while Nepal fin-ished third fol lowed by Maldives, Bangladesh and a winlessBhutan.India had relied all along on their much taller frontline, aggres-sive man-to-man defence, counter-attacking on the break and ef-fective outside shooting to register 100-plus points in three oftheir earlier four matches. The final game against Sri Lanka wasno different.For Sri Lanka, 22-year-old Praneeth Udumalagala and first sub-stitute Thimothi Thineshkanth fought valiantly to keep their team'sscore ticking, but with India scoring almost twice as quickly (46-26 at halftime) it was a constantly slippery slope for the islanders.

India, who took the field without young Punjab forward Gurinder SinghGill, nursing a shoulder injury, turned on the heat on resumption toemerge comfor table winners even as a fatigued Sri Lankans, alsoplaying their second game of the day like the hosts, faded from thecontest. The third quar ter saw the Indian team go on a particularlyvicious tear, star ting with a 9-0 run coming out of the halftime break."I can't deny that I am disappointed," Sri Lanka head coach PandukaRanasinghe said after the loss. "But all credit to what (his Indiancounterpar t) Prasad has managed to do with his team."Ranasinghe had posted on Facebook earlier today on the fatigue fac-tor. While India had it easy against Maldives winning 128-48, SriLanka had to struggle against a fighting Nepal before coming through76-68.India had four players in double digits, with Tamil Nadu's centre AravindAnnadurai top scoring with 22 points, which included one three-pointer,surprising for someone playing his position."We are confident of doing better at the FIBA Asia level this time, asnow other teams fear us." said small forward Prasanna Venkatesh.

I CONTD. ON PAGE 22

CRICKET'S NEW PLAYINGRULES COME INTO EFFECTDubai, (IANS) The new playing rules for Tests, One-DayInternationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) cameinto effect with the series between Bangladesh and South Africa inMirpur on Sunday.The changes made in ODI cricket include: the teams don't need toput compulsory catchers during the fielding restrictions overs be-tween 1-10. Moreover, batting Powerplay has been removed, whilefive fielders are allowed outside the circle in overs between 41-50.The interval rule in ODI says, if team two is batting and a match isclose to conclusion at the time the scheduled interval is reached,either captain can make a request to the umpires to extend play byan extra 15 minutes or minimum four overs to obtain a result.Once the interval is taken, the referee has also been given discre-tion to reduce the interval time if he feels a result is imminent.In both ODIs and T20Is, a free hit is to be awarded after all modes ofno ball. If the no ball is called for having too many fielders outsidethe circle, the field can be changed for the free hit even if there is nochange in striker, but only to the extent of correcting the breach.In Test, ODI and T20I, the law relating to defining significant move-ment of a fielder or a wicketkeeper has been amended to allowmovement before the batsman has played the ball, as long as it is inresponse to a movement by the striker to play the ball.Also in all the three formats, the bowler is permitted, before releas-ing the ball and provided he has not completed his usual deliveryswing, to deliberately attempt to run out the non-striker.The umpires are now able to use their discretion as to whether theyreport breaches of the Law 42 offences that include a bowler re-peatedly bowling more than the allowed number of bouncers aboveshoulder height in an over.The incidents like a bowler repeatedly bowling full tosses abovewaist height that are likely to inflict injury and a bowler repeatedlyrunning on the danger area on the pitch and while stealing a run, willfall in within the rights of the umpires.There have been no changes to the women's Test, ODI or T20Iplaying conditions at this time.Abhishek Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor, Asin Thottumkal and Supriya Pathak Kapur at the trailer launch of All Is Well in Mumbai (IANS).


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015b o l l y w o o d

HITEN TEJWANI, RAJPAL YADAV AND NEHA PAWAR DURING THE PRESS MEET OF FILM THODA LUTF THODA ISHQ (IANS).

REMO D'SOUZA CAUGHT BYSECURITY GUARDSMumbai, (IANS) Ace choreographer and director Remo D'Souza,who had to exude a mysterious vibe for a promo of TV show"Dance +", devised a new way to get the look right. He madeeveryone suspicious with his hoodie look and was even caughtby security guards.The choreographer says he pulled the prank to make sure hislook worked and to have some fun."I was in a candid mood and planned to play a small prank onthem. This hoodie look is for a specific reason in 'Dance +'promo and I just wanted to check if it is really working or no.Everyone got so suspicious and it was funny to see the copscatching me," Remo said in a statement.According to a source, Remo, who will be seen as super judgein Star Plus's new dance reality show, shot for the promo of theshow here recently.The "Any Body Can Dance" (ABCD) franchise director had to puton different looks for the promo and it was one of the looks, forwhich he had to cover his entire body and face."Remo came to shoot in his hoodie look with face covered com-pletely for which the security present over there misunderstoodhim as a pickpocket. He immediately removed his hoodie toassure the guards of his identity. The security guys laterapologised to him and asked him to teach them some of hisdance moves," said a source.The choreographer was also exhilarated at throwing a surpriseat the guards and he also shared his dance exper tise with them."Later they were surprised that it was me and requested me toteach them few dance steps which was fun. And in return I gotthe assurance of my look as well," Remo added.

PROTEST AGAINST'BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN'DOESN'T BOTHER SALMANMumbai, (IANS) While sev-eral religious groups, in-cluding the VHP and theBajrang Dal, have led pro-tests against Kabir Khan's"Bajrangi Bhai jaan",Salman Khan, the co-pro-ducer of the film, is not both-ered at all."If they are a religious groupthen the basic thing theyshould know that every re-ligion respects the otherperson's religion," Salmansaid at an event here Fri-day to launch special Eid song "Aaj ki par ty" from the film,along with Kabir Khan, composer Pritam and singer Mika Singh."Every religion preaches only one thing: 'to follow your reli-gion and to be respectful and to respect the other person'sbeliefs and religion.' I don't think anyone can protest on this,"he saidA right-wing groups are demanding the film's title be changedas it hur ts the sentiments of Hindus.

Hero to release on September 4 nowMumbai, (IANS) Superstar Salman Khan and filmmaker SubhashGhai's co-production Hero will release on September 4. The film wasinitially slated to release on September 25. The film is a remake of theeponymous 1983 film of the same name. Salman took to micro-blogging website Twitter to announce the release date alongside aposter of the film featuring Sooraj Pancholi. "Back off, HERO comingon 4th September @HeroTheFilm," the 49-year-old tweeted. Sooraj is the sonof Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, while leading lady Athiya is the daughter ofSuniel and Mana Shetty. The first look of the film was unveiled in May this year,which featured the title of the movie and the words -- "Love. Rebels. Freedom"."Hero" was originally directed and produced by Ghai, with Jackie Shroff andMeenakshi Sheshadri leading the cast. The remake is directed by NikhilAdvani, and it also stars Govinda, Anita Hassanandani, Vinod Khannaand Kader Khan as the suppor ting cast members.

SOORAJ PANCHOLI (IANS)

'JOLLY LLB' MY FAVOURITEMOVIE: KABIR KHANMumbai, (IANS) "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" director Kabir Khan on Fridaytermed "Jolly LLB" his my favourite movie at the special screening ofits maker and National Award recipient Subhash Kapoor's latest out-ing "Guddu Rangeela". "Very excited for 'Guddu Rangeela'... I loveSubhash's films and I love Arshad's work. 'Jolly LLB' is my favorite film," hesaid. Kabir Khan is currently busy promoting his Salman Khan and KareenaKapoor-starrer. "Salman Khan is a superstar... he is huge star of this country, andhis movies release on Eid, which is very exciting. 'Ek tha Tiger' released on Eid andit created an amazing buzz, so this year also we are seeing the same buzz," he said.Apart from "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", he has one more project in pipeline "Phantom",which stars Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif. There were rumours about movie beingdelayed but now he has confirmed the release date as August 28.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY

TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015 b o l l y w o o d

2 HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI

3 GABBAR IS BACK TERI MERI KAHAANI

4 TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS MARI GALI

5 BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN BHAR DO JHOLI MERI

6 DIL DHADAKNE DO DIL DHADAKNE DO

7 BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN SELFIE LE LE RE

8 ABCD - ANY BODY CAN DANCE - 2 BEZUBAAN PHIR SE

9 ABCD - ANY BODY CAN DANCE - 2 HAPPY BIRTHDAY

10 ABCD - ANY BODY CAN DANCE - 2 SUN SAATHIYA 2

top

10

HIT OR FLOP MIDWEEKBOMBAY VELVET AVERAGE

HAMARI ADHURI KAHANI HIT

TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS HIT

DIL DHADAKNE DO HIT

GABBAR IS BACK HIT

FILM

songsSONG

ZAROORI THA

FILM:HAMARIADHURIKAHANI

MIDWEEK BOX

OFFICE REPORTABCD - ANY BODY CAN... 98 CRDIL DHADAKNE DO 80 CRHAMARI ADHURI KAHANI 45 CRMISS TANAKPUR HAAZIR HO 2.14 CRUVAA 0.35 CR

1

‘GUDDU RANGEELA’WORTHWHILE ENTERTAINER

BY TROY RIBEIRO

Movie Review

CAST: ARSHAD WARSI, RONIT ROY, AMIT SADH, ADITI RAO

HYDARI, SHRI SWARA, SANDEEP GOYAT AND DIBYENDU

BHATTACHARYA

RATING: ****

'Tanu Weds Manu Returns'crosses IRs150 crore markNew Delhi, (IANS) After garnering appreciation from all quar-ters, actress Kangana Ranaut's "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" hasbecome the first Bollywood film of 2015 to gross over Rs.150 crore,according to trade gurus. Continuing its successful run at the box office in itssixth week, the romantic comedy film has minted Rs.150.03 crore, tradeanalyst Taran Adarsh shared on Twitter. Other sources in the market tooconfirmed that the Aanand L. Rai directorial has become the first movie of2015 to cross the mark. A sequel to the 2011 film "Tanu Weds Manu", itreleased on May 22, marking the return of the entire cast to their respectiveroles. Kangana's 'swagger' in her double role, R. Madhavan's subtle natureand Deepak Dobriyal's wit got highly appreciated at the box office,garnering rave reviews from critics as well as viewers.

Tiger Shroff doesn't want to workwith B-Town's KhansMumbai, (IANS) Unlike most emerging stars in Bollywood, actorTiger Shroff says he doesn't want to work with any of the Hindifilm industry's top three Khans -- Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir.He has his own reason for it. At an event here to unveil the newinitiative of a fashion store, Tiger was asked that out of the three,whom would he would like to work with. He said: "None of them.Who would watch me then?"

Shraddha Kapoor on hat-trick ofIRs100 crore filmsMumbai, (IANS) Actress Shraddha Kapoor, whose last two films"Aashiqui 2" and "Ek Villain" collected over IRs100 crore at thebox office, is on a hat-trick with her latest dance film "ABCD 2", which isinching towards the IRs100 crore mark. Directed by Remo D'Souza, "ABCD2", which released on June 19, has minted IRs.95.25 crore till Wednesdayand is expected to enter the coveted 100 crore club by the end of this week,read a statement. The sequel of the 2013 film "ABCD: Any Body Can Dance",it also stars Varun Dhawan, Prabhudeva and Lauren Gottlieb and has got athumbs up not only from critics but also from viewers. Meanwhile, on thecareer front, Shraddha will next be seen in "Rock On 2" and "Baaghi".

SRK's 'Raees' releasing withSalman's 'Sultan'Mumbai (IANS) For the industry, the Eid release of Salman Khan's"Sultan" and Shah Rukh Khan's "Raees" will be a clash of theBollywood titans at the box office in 2016, but SRK says they arenow both "good friends". The actor, who is back from "Dilwale"shoot for five days, was present at luxury watch brand Tag Heuer'scampaign "Do Not Crack Under Pressure" launch here on Monday.Asked how he takes the box office clash of "Raees" with Salman's "Sultan",Shah Rukh said: "It's not a clash. We both are good friends now, so we will doeverything together...will also release films together. There is nothing like aclash as there will be films which will come together, release together.Aditya Chopra is producing 'Sultan' and Salman is acting in it.

SALMAN KHAN TO BE SEEN IN 'BADTAMEEZ DIL'?Mumbai, (IANS) Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who is anxiously awaiting the release of his for thcoming film "Bajrangi Bhaijaan",has been approached to visit the set of new TV show "Phir Bhi Na Maane..Badtameez Dil". The show is a musical story, set against amusic channel as its backdrop. If all goes well, Salman will be seen singing the songs of "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" along with the Star Plus'show lead actor Pearl V Puri, who plays Abeer, a popular VJ."Just like Salman is the nation's hear t-throb, Abeer too has a cult fan base...It will make for quite a sight to see these two coming togetherjamming and grooving to the tunes of his movie. Hence the channel is in talks with Salman's team to make him come on the show forhis movie promotion," a source from the show said in a statement. Directed by Kabir Khan, "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", which also starsKareena Kapoor Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, will release on July 17.

While the mere mention of "Guddu Rangeela" conjures theimage of a frivolous and frothy tale of two bumpkins, in realitythis one is quite a dynamite. What star ts of seemingly as thetale of two small-time musicians with an orchestra in Haryana,Guddu (Amit Sadh) and Rangeela (Arshad Warsi), who are alsopar t-time informants aiding robberies to make a fast buck,unfurls as a layered revenge saga with khap politics as thebackdrop.While Guddu is always aspiring to strike it big, Rangeela isprincipled, even if he indulges in petty crime. His single-handedmotive is to collect money to pay his lawyer for a case he hasbeen fighting for the past ten years. Again, it is only to earn alarge sum of money quickly, that he agrees to kidnap Baby(Aditi Rao Hydari) and that too because he is in the dark aboutthe real purpose behind it.A sound and nuanced screenplay with well-etched characters,Guddu Rangeela is a 'paisa vasool' (wor th the money) enter-tainer, with social messages, action, drama and humour inabundance. The dialogues are sharp, hard-hitting and witty,laced with the right amount of humour, albeit in the Haryanvidialect.Amit Sadh as the jovial, flir tatious and ambitious Guddu, bringsthe right amount of energy and realism to his character, playinghis role with convivial ease and flourish. He is the per fectcomplement to his cousin Rangeela on screen.Arshad Warsi as Rangeela, is in full form after a long time andan absolute treat to watch. His entry with the famous song, "Kalraat Mata ka mujhe email aaya hai" seems a tad frivolous, buthis character blossoms into a well-rounded one, as his story isunravelled. Humour, action and emotions, Arshad as Rangeelais always in command and has the audience one with him inempathy.

Ronit Roy as the power ful and corrupt self-proclaimedmuscleman Billu Pehalwan por trays his character effor tlesslywith the right degree of rugged ruthlessness. Aditi Rao Hydariunfor tunately pales in comparison to these three actors. She isconvincing, but does not render a power ful per formance.Some of the lesser known actors who essay the characters of'Bangali' the Informer, the police inspector and his aide, light upthe screen with their brilliant per formances. The antakshariscene with the constable outside the bathroom, is nothing shor tof absolute talent, proving that an actor needs only one scene toshine. The background score by Hitesh Sonik and music byAmit Trivedi enhance the flavour of the film. The lyrics, are notonly poetry, but enmeshed with humour too, capture the es-sence of the film's setting so aptly. The cinematography byJamie Fowlds is smooth and picture per fect and can't gounnoticed. Quality writing apar t, Subhash Kapoor's directionexudes intelligence and maturity. His astute handling of acomplex drama, with strong messages, camouflaged in enter-tainment, is extraordinary. There is never a dull moment and thescript is crisp and well-contained.It is after a long time that one witnesses action scenes whichare engaging and not merely technically-sound and robotic. Youfeel for the characters and long for the villain to be punished.Big surprises come in small packages, and "Guddu Rangeela"is easily one of the best ones in the first half of this year. Watchthis one and treat yourself to a good film.

Nana best actor I've ever worked with: Anil KapoorMumbai, (IANS) Actor Ani lKapoor, who will be seen inAnees Bazmee's for thcomingmasala enter tainer "WelcomeBack", says co-actor NanaPatekar is the "best" he hasworked with."I've worked with several bril-l iant actors, some of whompeople refer to as one of thebest actors in the industry. But Ifeel that the best actor I 'veworked with in my career, in-ternationally or nationally, hasbeen Nana Patekar," Anil saidat the launch of the film's trailer.Sharing mutual admiration for

his "Parinda" co-star, Nana remi-nisced: "During 'Parinda', he (AnilKapoor) was a big star while I wasstill a newcomer. It's strange thatour friendship formed in such away that we didn't work for 19years after that. And during 'Wel-come', I got familiar with Anil re-ally well and today I can say thatalong with the remuneration, ifI've earned something then it is ahouse and a younger brother(Anil)." Despite the camarade-rie, Nana joked: "Just 10 minutesback, we had an argument.""Welcome Back", which reunitesthe actors on screen seven years

afer the first instalment "Wel-come", is gearing up for a Sep-tember 4 release. It also stars

Naseeruddin Shah, Shrut iHaasan, Dimple Kapadia, PareshRawal and John Abraham.

HOW DID ARJUN KAPOOR CHANGE PARINEETI'S LIFE?Mumbai, (IANS) Actress Parineeti Chopra, during a live chatting session with her fans on Twitter, said in response to a question by actorArjun Kapoor that it was because of him that her life changed when he "chose" her for "Ishaqzaade".Parineeti decided on a live chat on Twitter as she had amassed five million followers on the micro-blogging website.Arjun took to Twitter when the actress was chatting with her followers, and asked her to tell the world on how the "Gunday" actor changedher life."Hello excuse me madam @ParineetiChopra please tell the world how I have changed ur life...u can chat later...this news is veryimpor tant," Arjun tweeted on Tuesday.The 26-year-old actress, who had made her Bollywood debut with "Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl" and then starred in films like "Shuddh DesiRomance" and "Hasee Toh Phasee", replied: "@arjunk26 baba you ARE my world, it changed the moment YOU chose me for Ishaqzaade.Tumhi ho bandhu, sakhaa tumhi #Parineeti5Million."The duo starred together in the 2012 film "Ishaqzaade".


TUESDAY, JULY 07, 2015b o l l y w o o d

h o l l y w o o d

Aamir's banner on lookout for new female face

AMIT SADH, ADITI RAO HYDARI AND ARSHAD WARSI PROMOTING GUDDU RANGEELA AT THE LAUNCH OF CARNIVAL CINEMASNEW MULTIPLEX IN MUMBAI (IANS).

Mumbai (IANS) Aamir Khan's production house is searching for afresh female face, who can act as well as sing, for their upcomingventure which will be directed by the Bollywood superstar's teammember Advait Chandan.The 50-year-old took to micro-blogging website Twitter to mention thespecifications needed. "Hey guys, need your help to spread the word.Thanks. Love. a," the "Ghulam" actor tweeted.The complete post about the requirement reads: "Aamir Khan Produc-tions is looking for a girl who can sing, in the age group of 12-17.Record a video of yourself singing a Hindi song of your choice andemail it (or a link to the video) to: [email protected] .

WELCOME BACK TO RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 4Mumbai (IANS) Actors Anil Kapoor and John Abraham have confirmed that their upcoming film "Welcome Back" is slated to hit the theatreson September 4. John took to micro-blogging website Twitter to announce the date. "'Welcome Back' releases 4th September! Watch thisspace for more. @ErosNow," the "Dostana" actor tweeted. Anil, who was also par t of the first instalment of the franchise, wrote: "We're all set

to tickle your funny bones on the4th of Sept.

Shabana wants Hrithikto play Raanjha from'Heer Raanjha'Mumbai (IANS) He played a ro-mantic guy in "Kaho Naa PyaarHai", a Muslim boy in "Fiza", amaster thief in "Dhoom 2", anemperor in "Jodha Akbar" and asupe rhe ro i n "K r r i sh " . NowBo l l ywood ve te ran ShabanaAzmi wan ts ac to r H r i t h i kRoshan to reprise the role ofRaanjha from Chetan Anand's"Heer Raanjha".Hrithik, who has showcased hisversatility on screen, asked hisfans on micro-b logg ing s i teTwitter to suggest to him thekind of roles he should now play."What kind of characters do u think Ishould do? Inspire me. Give meideas. Looking for something," hetweeted.

RIHANNA NAMED FIRSTARTIST TO SURPASS 100 MNSONG CERTIFICATIONSLos Angeles, (IANS) Singer Rihanna is still breaking recordsdespite the fact that she hasn't released an album in threeyears. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)has announced that Rihanna has surpassed more than 100million Gold and Platinum song cer tifications.The 27-year-old now has the most Digital Single Awards, andis the first and only ar tist to surpass RIAA's 100 million cumu-lative singles award threshold, according to a statement is-sued by RIAA on Thursday, repor ts aceshowbiz.com."Gold & Platinum is the industry's premier way to celebrateachievement in the marketplace. We've given awards to ar t-ists for nearly 60 years, but it's rare that we have the oppor tu-nity to recognise a milestone like the one Rihanna has reached.Congratulations to Rihanna! She has not only surpassed RIAA'sone-hundred million mark, but also is the first ar tist to do so.It's an historic feat and a testament to an extraordinary career,"said Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA. Responding to thenews, Rihanna took to Twitter to thank her fans. "Today is a dayI'll never forget!!! Thank you #RihannaNavy for allowing me tomake history with you!" she wrote.

JLO CAUSED AFFLECK,GARNER'S DIVORCE?Los Angeles, (IANS) Actor-filmmaker Ben Affleck and actressJennifer Garner reportedly split up after 10 years of marriagebecause of singer-actress Jennifer Lopez. The duo announcedtheir divorce on Tuesday - just a day after their tenth weddinganniversary, and according to friends, one of the reasons forthe break-up was the 42-year-old's continued friendship withhis former fiancee Lopez, repor ts femalefirst.co.uk."Everyone is talking about J-Lo and Ben and saying it's inevi-table they will get together again at some point. We call themthe Richard Bur ton and Liz Taylor of Hollywood," The Sun news-paper quoted one of their friends as saying. "They were prettyflir ty at the Oscars and have stayed in touch over email. Jenni-fer Garner never liked it," the friend added.Another reason for the collapse of the couple's marriage wassaid to be that Affleck, who quit drinking after a spell in rehabin 2001, star ted drinking again to get into character for his rolein "Gone Girl", and missed Garner's bir thday in April andAmerica's Mother's Day in May, despite having three children- Violet (9), Seraphina (6), and Samuel (3) - together.

KIM KARDASHIAN 'RACIALLYABUSED' ON PLANELos Angeles, (IANS) Reality TV star Kim Kardashian remem-bers the time when she was racially abused on a plane by afellow passenger. "I did have an awful experience on a planeonce, she was slurring racial things at me. Nor th was lessthan one so she didn't know. I was about to go over and saysomething then an Indian man stopped me and said it just isn'twor th it," said Kim. But the 34-year-old thinks her and herhusband's "open" attitude will be "really helpful" with their chil-dren in understanding and accepting racial diversity, repor tsfemalefirst.co.uk. "So I have experienced it but Kanye and Itogether are so open, he is so vocal about race, so I think we'llbe really helpful for our children. We will talk to our childrenthe way our dad spoke to us.He had lots of friends in bi-racialrelationships and I think he knew I would be in an inter-racialrelationship, he would tell me story after story," she told SanFrancisco Commonwealth Club.

Shakira, Ferrera slam DonaldTrump for 'racist' remarksLos Angeles, (IANS) Singer Shakira and actress AmericaFerrera are the latest celebrities to speak out against DonaldTrump's recent "hateful and racist" comment about Mexicanimmigrants. While announcing his candidacy for America'snext presidential election last month, Trump delivered remarksthat ended up echoing across Mexico. "They are bringing drugs.They are bringing crime. They're rapists," Trump said aboutMexican immigrants, adding, "some, I assume, are good people." WhileShakira called out the billionaire on Twitter, Ferrera chose to pen a satiricletter published in a leading daily. In her tweet posted on Tuesday, the"Dare" songstress said: "This is a hateful and racist speech that attemptsto divide a country that for years has promoted diversity and democracy."

"Please include a shor t introduction in Hindi and attach a signed letterof consent from a parent/guardian."Chandan previously used to work for Aamir as one of his team mem-bers and has also assisted the "PK" actor's wife Kiran Rao in herfilms.The work on the project has star ted and is at a very nascent stage.Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman has also come on board for the music ofthe film.Aamir Khan Productions was founded in 2001. It is known for launch-ing fresh faces in the industry like Darsheel Safary, nephew ImranKhan and Prateik Babbar.

Sonakshi surprised by Poonam Sinha on 'Indian Idol Junior' setMumbai, (IANS) Actress Sonakshi Sinha, who is currently judging singing reality show "Indian Idol Junior", was paid a surprise visit onthe set by her mother Poonam Sinha.According to a source, Poonam is a big fan of the contestants on the show and so she decided to surprise them all by visitingunannounced. "Poonamji loves 'Indian Idol Junior' and has been following the journey of all the par ticipants right from the star t. SinceSunday (July 5) was the elimination round, she wanted to meet everyone and share some time with them. Also, we wanted to surpriseher daughter Sonakshi," the source said in a statement.The "Dabangg" actress is judging the Sony Enter tainment Television show along with musicians Vishal Dadlani and Salim Merchant.



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


CHILEAN PLAYERS CELEBRATE AFTER WINNING THE COPA AMERICA 2015 FINAL SOCCER MATCH BETWEEN CHILE AND ARGENTINA,AT ESTADIO NACIONAL JULIO MARTINEZ PRADANOS IN SANTIAGO DE CHILE (IANS).

SLEDGING CRACKDOWNKILLING EXCITEMENT INCRICKET: WARNERSYDNEY, (IANS) Australia opening batsman David Warner onFriday insisted that the recent moves by the International CricketCouncil (ICC) to crack down on sledging are taking the excite-ment out of the game. In recent times, Warner has borne thebrunt of the world cricket governing body's plan to clean thegame up, which chief executive Dave Richardson vocalisedahead of this year's World Cup.Twice in the past 18 months the left-hander was fined for com-ments both on and off the field: first during the series in SouthAfrica in which he inferred a ball tampering offence; and sec-ond following a confrontation with India's Rohit Sharma duringthe Australian summer. "I'm on my last warning from the ICC.These rules are being clamped down now, they're really hon-ing in on players celebrating wickets and obviously a bit ofbanter on the field. If you walk towards a player the umpiresare going to fine you, you've got to be smar t with what you do,"Warner was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au."But … you want to see that banter out there. You want theplay-and-miss, and the bowler comes down the wicket andgives you a stare. I feel that sometimes it could be takingaway from the viewers, that the viewers love that. You knowthat when you get out there the crowd gets into it, they enjoythat stuff," said the 28-year-old. Warner also asser ted that thenature of the exchanges between players was misrepresented,explaining that the banter was far less sinister than perhapsmade out in the media. "I think everyone that is sitting behindthe TV screens has to realise that ... it's not serious. There areno threats or anything out there … it's about producing enter-tainment for people that are at home watching," he added.

KIWIS TROUNCE INDIANEVES TO TAKE 2-1 LEADBengaluru, (IANS) Half centuries by openers Suzie Bates andRachel Priest and their 125-run opening par tnership carriedNew Zealand to a comfortable six-wicket win over India for a 2-1 lead intheir five-match women's One-Day International (ODI) series.Skipper Bates (59, 87b, 7x4) and Priest 64 (101b, 7x4, 1x6), after survivinga few close calls early in their respective knocks, waded through theIndian attack to set up the victory as the Kiwis overhauled the hometeam's total of 182 for nine. India put up a seemingly challenging total asskipper Mithali Raj (30), Veda Krishnamurthy (61, 85b, 6x4) who battedwith confidence and panache, and Deepti Sharma (22) held the inningstogether. Krishnamurthy and Sharma were involved in a 71-run stand forthe fifth wicket before the Kiwis checked the progress, although a smallcameo by Niranjana Nanjappa (12 off seven balls) took Indiapast the 180-run mark. However, the target proved grosslyinadequate as Bates and Priest made light of the Indian bowl-ing with their century-strong opening par tnership to effec-tively seal the issue. Although the hosts grabbed a couple ofquick wickets, the Kiwis were not to be denied. New Zealand,thus, staged a fine comeback after losing the series opener towin the next two games for a 2-1 advantage. The fourth matchis scheduled for Monday and the series will conclude onWednesday before the teams play three T20 games.

Have a young yet balanced teamfor Zimbabwe series: Rahane

Mumbai, (IANS) Ahead of India's tour of Zimbabwe, beginning July10, new skipper Ajinkya Rahane on Monday exuded confidence thatthey have a young yet balanced side that will emerge victorious in theseries.Rahane was named captain of the 15-member team as Test skipperMahendra Singh Dhoni and regular One-Day International (ODI) ViratKohli, among other seniors, were rested for the series.India leave for Zimbabwe on Tuesday morning to play three ODIs andtwo Twenty20 internationals. India face the hosts in the first ODI onJuly 10."We have a very good team, a balanced team. I am sure that as ateam we will do well in Zimbabwe. We are confident that we will dowell and win in Zimbabwe," Rahane said here at a press conference.Speaking on the new ODI rules brought in by International CricketCouncil (ICC), the skipper said, "the new rules will be very excitingand challenging for us but we will have to wait and see what willhappen.""We will get an idea after the first ODI once we play against Zimba-bwe. It will be really exciting and challenging for all the players,batsmen and bowlers as well.""We will have to come up with new plans because as per the newrules you can have four fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the last10 overs. It will take time and we will have to see how it goes as far

as the new rules are concerned," he added.The 27-year-old backed veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to per-form well in the tour after making a comeback to the team againstBangladesh in the one-off Test match last month."Harbhajan has been a star performer for our country. He has beendoing really well and I am happy for him because he came back sostrongly. He bowled pretty well all season and in the Test matchagainst Bangladesh. Whenever needed I will go to him and ask abouthis experience and strategies," he said.Speaking about the young team at his disposal he said, "It is a goodoppor tunity for all the youngsters to express themselves at the inter-national level. All the players who have been selected for this tour didpretty well in the Indian Premier League as well as in domesticcricket.""I am pretty confident about this bunch of guys that whoever gets theoppor tunity will do well. As a team our only motto will be to do well inZimbabwe and get back to our winning habit."The right-hand middle order batsman said skippering the MumbaiUnder-19 team will help deal with the burden of captaincy."I have captained Mumbai in the Under-19 level and in the T20 formatfor Mumbai. My experience was quite good even though we could notfinish on the winning side but I can cer tainly use some of that experi-ence in Zimbabwe," Rahane said.

BOPANNA-MERGEA SAIL TO MEN'S DOUBLESQUARTERS AT WIMBLEDONWimbledon, (IANS) The Indo-Romanian tennis duo of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea earned ahard fought victory against the Polish-Belarusian pair of Lukasz Kubot and Max Mirnyi 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-6 (8) to enter the quar ter-finals of the men's doubles event of the Wimbledon Cham-pionships here on Monday.The ninth seeded pair got the better of their opponents after an epic battle that stretched for threehours and 20 minutes. The match was evenly contested all the way through, as indicated by thescoreline, with each of the four sets contested stretching to tiebreakers as both the teams found itdifficult to break its opponents serves and impose itself on their opponents.The two teams matched each other shot to shot and match statistics were almost identical.But Bopanna-Mergea edged out their opponents, though marginally, in the unforced errors and totalpoints to claim the contest.The Indo-Romanian pair forced their opponents to 18 unforced errors, three more than them, andwon 169 points compared to 166 by the Polish-Belarusian duo.But the winning duo hit 22 aces and 35 winners, way more than the vanquished team's 9 and 20,respectively, which settled the fate of the keen contest. In the quar ters, Bopanna-Mergea will facethe winner of the match between top seeded American brothers duo of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryanand Croatian-New Zealand pair of Mate Pavic and Michael Venus.



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USA BEAT JAPAN IN FIFA WOMEN'SWORLD CUP 2015 TO LIFT CROWNVANCOUVER - USA ended their 16-year FIFA Women's World Cup drought inthe most emphatic manner imaginable with a Carli Lloyd hat-trick lifting theStars and Stripes past holders Japan for their third title.A scarcely believable four-goal salvo inside the opening 16 minutes meantthere was only ever going to be one winner to the joy of the largely pro-USA53,341 crowd in Vancouver. USA were quickest to the ball from the openingwhistle and immediately reaped greater rewards than they could ever haveimagined. A low driven Megan Rapinoe corner from the right deceived a flat-footed Japan defence and Lloyd finished first time from near the penalty spotto put a perfect flourish to a training ground move. Barely 150 seconds hadpassed on the stadium clock but, incredibly it was about to get even better forthe Stars and Stripes. A low free-kick from Lauren Holiday evaded a swatheof players before the ball found its way, almost magnetically, to Lloyd whoapplied the finishing touch from close range. USA were 2-0 up inside five

minutes and Lloyd had nabbed the two fastest goals in Women's World CupFinal history.Japan were looking uncharacteristically shaky at the back and when centraldefender Azusa Iwashimizu failed to deal with a Tobin Heath delivery, Holidaylatched onto the loose ball to volley home. Only fourteen minutes had elapsedbut USA already had one hand on the trophy.Just two minutes later the contest was effectively over as Lloyd completed a13-minute hat-trick with a goal straight from the realms of fantasy. Collectingthe ball inside her own half Lloyd advanced before unleashing a high shotfrom the halfway line over the head of Ayumi Kaihori, whose desperate back-peddling only resulted in finger-tipping the ball onto the inside of the post andinto the net. Incredibly Lloyd, playing the match of her life, almost immedi-ately scored another, heading just wide and narrowly failing to become thefirst person to score four in a World Cup Final of either gender.

CONTD. FROM PAGE 17He has reason to feel optimistic, as India fielded five first-time seniorteam debutants this time, who managed to more than fill in for the absence ofmissing starters Amritpal Singh, Amjyot Singh Gill, Vishesh Bhriguvanshi andYadwinder Singh. The winning team was given a cash prize of Rs.35,000 as apersonal gesture of Basketball Federation of India president K Govindraj. Trophiesand medals were handed out to the top three teams of India (gold), Sri Lanka(silver) and Nepal (bronze).The results:Evening session: India 93 (Aravind Annadurai 22, Pratham Singh 17, JoginderSingh Saharan 13) bt Sri Lanka 44 (Praneeth Udumalagala 13). Ht: 46-26.Maldives 97 (Mohamed Zilaal 18, Amhed Firaash 16, Ilyas Ibrahim 13) bt BhutanA55(Chimi Wangchuk 11, Karma Wangchuk 11). Ht: 47-32.

BASKETBALL: INDIA GRAB TOPSPOT, QUALIFY FOR ASIAN MEET

PLAYERS OF THE UNITED STATES CELEBRATE DURING THE VICTORY CEREMONY FOR THE 2015 FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP INVANCOUVER, CANADA. THE UNITED STATES CLAIMED THE TITLE AFTER DEFEATING JAPAN WITH 5-2 (IANS).



MIDWEEK NEWS WEEKLY


SOUTH AFRICAN BOWLER BATSMAN KYLE ABBOTT DURING THE 1ST T20 MATCH BETWEEN BANGLADESH AND SOUTHAFRICA AT SHERE BANGLA NATIONAL STADIUM IN MIRPUR, DHAKA (IANS).

Mary Kom bats for poverty-stricken former boxerKolkata, (IANS) Expressing solidarity with pover ty strickenformer national pugilist Krishna Raut, Olympic bronze medal-list M.C. Mary Kom on Sunday called upon the government tohelp the indigent spor tsperson.Raut, who earned laurels at National and West Bengal-levelcompetitions, now at the age of 43, earns his livelihood spray-ing disinfectants into open drains in Howrah.Earning a meagre amount, Raut, who also coaches kids free ofcost, has now sought assistance from the Mamata Banerjee ledstate government."I do not know the story about the guy... but, of course, some ofthem (boxers) are suffering. Not only him, in Manipur also thereare boxers who are facing the same problems. I do not knowwhy they are not getting a job. I have seen many doing smallbusinesses and all and I feel very sad, upset for them," Mary toldmediapersons here."But if the guy is a very good boxer then someone should come upand help him or instead he has to go forward and tell the govern-ment," said the ace boxer from Manipur.The five-time world champion egged on Raut to fight for his rightsinstead of waiting for government help."If I was him, I would have gone forward, that is what he has to do.The government would not come and just hand him the job. Thegovernment has got to do other works too. But if he is strong, he hasto go and seek a job himself," asserted 32-year-old Mary, a motherof three. Raut won the gold medal in All India Invitational BoxingChampionship (the Surya Sen Trophy) in 1987 and came second in1992. He competed in the West Bengal State Open Lalchand RoyMemorial Boxing Championship (under 40kg) in 1985 and finishedas a runner-up. He was the winner in the same tournament in 1987.Raut also clinched the West Bengal boxing championship organisedby a youth festival in 1985 and the state inter-school and collegeboxing championship in 1990.Mirpur (Bangladesh), (IANS) South Africa beat Bangladesh by 31 runs in

the second Twenty20 cricket international here on Tuesday for a cleansweep of the two-match series.Opener Quinton De Kock top-scored with 44 off 31 balls in the Proteas's169-4, before Kyle Abbott, debutant Eddie Leie and Aaron Phangiso tookthree wickets apiece to bowl out for the hosts for 138, repor tsbdnews24.com.Chasing 170 for victory, Bangladesh began with a flourish but after open-ers Tamim Iqbal (13) and Saumya Sarkar (37) departed, they never reallylooked in the hunt. They suffered a mini collapse, losing wickets fell inquick succession ro be precariously placed at 82-6.Rony Talukdar (21) and Masrafe Mortaza (17) offered some resistance

against the Proteas bowling attack but Bangladesh fell short of theirtarget and were bowled out with four balls remaining.Most Bangladesh batsmen fell to spinners Leie (3/16) and Phangiso (3/30), holing out in the deep, trying to heave them out of the ground.Skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza's quickfire 17 off 8 balls was too late, toolittle.Earlier, a blistering 95-run opening stand by A.B. de Villiers (40) andQuinton de Kock (44) and some lusty hitting in the death overs helpedSouth Africa to 169 for four.South Africa 169/4 (Q de Kock 44, AB de Villers 40; Nasir Hussain 2/26),Bangladesh 138 (Soumya Sarkar 37, Rony Talukdar 21; Eddie Leie 3/16,Aaron Phangiso 3/30)

South Africa win T20 seriesagainst Bangladesh 2-0

COOK BEST SUITED TO LEADENGLAND IN ASHES: STRAUSSLondon, (IANS) England cricket team director Andrew Straussis convinced Alastair Cook is the best man to lead England intothe Ashes, and said he will give the skipper no guarantee be-yond this series. Former England captain Strauss got a bap-tism by fire as the new director of England cricket when hesacked coach Peter Moores and closed the door on batsmanKevin Pietersen within his first week of taking office.Now, Strauss has again emphasised that sentiment will playno part in big decision-making by refusing to back his old openingpar tner to prolong his captaincy after what will be a third Ashesseries in charge. "I said at the star t of the summer that AlastairCook was very much the man to take English Test cricket for-ward. He's had two matches and batted and captained well. Somy opinion hasn't changed," Strauss was quoted as saying bydailymail.co.uk on Thursday."But none of us knows what the future holds and what willhappen over the next five Tests. It would be wrong to speculateon what happens after this series but at the moment he's verymuch the right man." For now, Strauss believes Cook, 30, willhead to Cardiff for next week's first Test ready to take on aformidable Australian side."He's incredibly motivated by this series and from a personaland team level this is a very impor tant series for him. Heenters it in a better frame of mind than he has for some time,"the 38-year-old, who scored 7,037 runs in 100 Test matches forEngland before retiring in 2012, said.

SPINNER OJHA IN BENGAL'S32-MEMBER PROBABLES' LISTKolkata, (IANS) Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was named inthe 32 Bengal probables squad for the upcoming season by theCricket Association of Bengal (CAB). The talented but out offavour Indian team spinner has recently moved to Bengal fromHyderabad for the domestic season. The 28-year-old was play-ing for Hyderabad from the 2004-05 season. Apar t from the bignames in Bengal cricket, the list also features Manoj Tiwary's youngerbrother Mahesh, who has recently been among the runs in club cricket.However, no decision on the coach has been made as yet.The list of 32 probables: Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manoj Tiwary,Wriddhiman Saha, Sudip Chatterjee, Abhimanyu Easwaran,Abhishek Das, Shreevats Goswami, Pankaj Shaw, NavedAhmed, Anup Samaddar, Sandipan Das, Writtick Chatterjee,Ritwik Roy Chowdhury, Writam Porel, Ajmer Singh, AshokeDinda, VP Singh, Sourav Sarkar, Mohammed Shami, PragyanOjha, Bapi Manna, Amit Banerjee, Sourasish Lahiri, Jayojit Basu,Subhojit Banerjee, Sayan Sekhar Mondal, Uddipan Mukherjee,Dipak Prasad, Satyabrata Murmu, Par tha Sarathi Bhattacharjee,Aritra Chatterjee, Mahesh Tiwary.

15 CANADIANS CONFIRMED FOR2015 RBC CANADIAN OPENOAKVILLE - In celebration of Canada Day, Golf Canada and RBCare proud to announce the first 15 Canadians, including 10 tournamentexemptions, confirmed for the 2015 RBC Canadian Open taking place atGlen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario, from July 20-26.Leading the Canadian contingent at Glen Abbey will be Weyburn,Sask., native Graham DeLaet, fresh off a four th-place finishthis past weekend at the Travelers Championship. The finishmoved DeLaet to No. 78 on the World Golf Ranking and securedhis spot in the field for The Open Championship at St. Andrews.Joining DeLaet will be fellow Canadian PGA TOUR players DavidHearn of Brantford, Ont., Abbottsford, B.C., natives Adam Hadwinand Nick Taylor; Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C. and Canadian GolfHall of Fame member Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., whowill be making his 25th appearance in Canada's National Men'sOpen Championship. Golf Canada has also granted a tourna-ment exemption to Web.com Tour player Brad Fritsch of Manotick,Ont. who will make his eighth appearance in Canada's NationalOpen Championship.

THE ASHES, 2015 SCHEDULE

DATE MATCH DETAILS TORONTO VENUETIME GROUND CITY

Jul 08 Wed - Jul 12 Sun England vs Australia, 1st Test 06:00 Sophia Gardens CardiffJul 16 Thu - Jul 20 Mon England vs Australia, 2nd Test 06:00 Lord's LondonJul 29 Wed - Aug 02 Sun England vs Australia, 3rd Test 06:00 Edgbaston BirminghamAug 06 Thu - Aug 10 Mon England vs Australia, 4th Test 06:00 Trent Bridge NottinghamAug 20 Thu - Aug 24 Mon England vs Australia, 5th Test 06:00 Kennington Oval London

FLAT PITCHES WILL HELP AUSTRALIA, SAYS BOTHAMLondon, (IANS) England cricket legend Ian Botham has warned that Englandwill be "playing into Australia's hands" if flat pitches are prepared for theupcoming Ashes tournament starting July 8 in Cardiff.Botham, the former England captain, is concerned that a desire to maximiseticket sales could convince the grounds hosting the Tests to prepare easy-paced,flat tracks with a view to trying to ensure that each match lasts the full five days. Buthe insisted such a tactic would be an error and that, if the series is played onsurfaces offering bowlers some assistance, England have the team to sur-prise Australia. "We don't want flat wickets. That's playing right into Australia'shands. The pitch at Lord's for the Test against New Zealand was a great pitch.Pitches like that serve up great cricket," Botham, considered one of the best all-rounders of the game, was quoted as saying by espncricinfo on Saturday. "Pleasedon't serve up five-day corporate pitches. If you do we might as well sendthe Ashes back now because that'll play right into Australia's hands,"

added Botham, who scored 5,200 runs and took 383 wickets in 102 Testmatches. "I'm not sure they will dare to prepare flat wickets. We'll be ontheir case and so will the written media and the public too becausethey've got used to seeing an expressive England. They don't want boringcricket." Botham said he has confidence and faith in England's youngplayers. He believes Joe Root is playing "magnificently" and rates BenStokes as England's most promising all-rounder since his own career ended."Ben Stokes is the real thing. He's got the right attitude. He's a tough competitor andis a good enough bowler and good enough batsman. He didn't have much luck withthe ball in the Tests vs New Zealand -- he had a few catches dropped off him -- butthat can suddenly change," Botham said. The 59-year-old also urged the seniorbowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson to lead from the front and demon-strate the positive cricket the youngsters showed in their absence during thelimited-overs games against New Zealand.

HWL: India go down to Britain, settle for fourth placeAntwerp (Belgium), (IANS) India were thumped 5-1 by Great Britain in thethird place playoff at the Hockey World League (HWL) Semi Finals at theBrasschaat Municipal Park here on Sunday.For Britain, Alastair Brogdon, Chris Griffiths, Ashley Jackson, Adam Dixonand skipper Barry Middleton got on the scoresheet, while only Rupinder PalSingh scored for the losers. In the first few minutes, both sides tested eachother's defences by some pacy movements in and around the 'D' but it wasBritain who drew first blood in the 11th minute of the game through a penaltycorner. Brogdon did not falter with a rebound attempt that beat P.R. Sreejeshall ends up. India managed to get some possession back but the passeslacked accuracy and did not help much in finding the equaliser, But, at theother end, Griffiths led his team ahead with an instinctive flick after latchingonto a pass from Nick Catlin.

Britain went into half-time leading 2-0.After the breather, there was no respite for the Indians as the oppositionstepped on the gas again. What followed were three goals in a space of sevenminutes, as Jackson, Dixon and Barry, all found the back of the net. WhileJackson's was a brilliant field goal set up from a counter attack, Dixon's wasfrom a penalty corner as he easily deflected the ball past India's custodianSrejeesh. The skipper then rammed home the fifth.In the dying seconds of the game, Rupinder got a consolation goal for India."I think we started very poorly and gave GB too much of an advantage," saidIndia captain Sardar Singh after the defeat."We are playing with a new strategy and it took some time to adjust, but wehave some young players who have done very well playing against higherranked teams and learned a lot," he said.

Pakistan jump to third place in Test rankingsDubai, (IANS) Sixth-placed Pakistan jumped three places to the thirdspot in Test cricket rankings after triumphing over Sri Lanka 2-1 in athree-match series.Pakistan won the third Test against hosts Sri Lanka by seven wicketsin Pallekele on Tuesday to clinch the series 2-1, which leapfroggedthem to third place with 101 points, pushing New Zealand (99) tofour th, according to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) latestrankings released here on Tuesday.Pakistan were in the sixth spot with 97 points at the star t of the series,behind four th-placed England (97) and fifth-positioned India (97) ondecimal points. The series win earned Pakistan four ratings points.India maintained the position after their rain-affected draw againstBangladesh in a one-off Test last month.Pakistan now trail second-ranked Australia by 10 points with South

Africa (130) continuing to lead the list.Sri Lanka, in contrast, dropped four points and slipped to 92 points,but retained their seventh position.The ICC rankings: (in order of rank, team, points)1 South Africa 1302 Australia 1113 Pakistan 1014 New Zealand 995 India 976 England 977 Sri Lanka 928 West Indies 819 Bangladesh 4110 Zimbabwe 5

