Epaper 04 August 2013
Epaper 04 August 2013
Epaper 04 August 2013
Vol. 2 Issue 31 10.00 24 Pages RNI Reg. No.: PUNMUL/2012/45041 Postal Reg. No. PB/JL-047/2013-15
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Weekly Newspaper
Leisure 17
Lifestyle 4
National 10
Celebrity 14
International 18
Business 20
Sports 22
In what could be seen as a strong endorsement for P. Chidambaram, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh showered generous praise on his Manmohan finance minister for being a endorses key backer of reforms and Chidambaram as said here was a man intellectually brilliant and popolitically savvy litically savvy while being leader Pageand 10 capable of taking risks
India Thursday decided to hike the foreign direct investment limits in a host of sectors, notably telecom, oil refineries, commodity bourses, power exchanges and stock exchanges and relaxed the policy for retail, giving clear signal to overseas investors FDI Flood To that the economic reforms were on track. Alleviate Growth The decisions were taken by the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Drought Minister Manmohan Singh.
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Hip-hop dance is a broad category that includes a variety of urban styles. The older dance styles that were created in the 1970s include uprock, breaking, and the funk styles. Breaking was created in The Bronx, New York, incorporating dances that Page 4 were popular in the 1960s
HIP-HOP
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The government has decided to sell 10 percent of its stake in the countrys largest petroleum retailer Indian Oil Corporation. After this disinvestment the government of India shareGovernment to sell holding in the company 10 percent stake in would come down to 68.92 Indianthe Oil percent, finance ministry said Pagein 21 a statement Friday.
Board president Narayanaswami Srinivasan Friday met with some unexpected resistance from some of his colleagues in the Board Srinivasan chooses of Control for Cricket the easy way out in India (BCCI), forcPagehis 23 ing him to abandon
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COVER STORY
HC seeks report on action suspended IAS officer took against mining mafia
Lucknow The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court (HC) Friday issued notice to the union and Uttar Pradesh governments on a PIL against the suspension of IAS official Durga Shakti Nagpal. The HC asked the state government details of action taken by Nagpal, erstwhile SDM of Noida, against illegal mining mafia. Ashok Pandey, counsel for petitioner social activist Nutan Thakur, told IANS that the court had sought details on the number of dumpers the official had seized during her tenure, the number of cases she slapped on
people, their names and the action taken against such mafia after she was suspended. Taking a strong view on illegal mining, the HC asked both the state and union governments to brief it about the action taken against illegal mining mafia, including details right from the challan to the filing of first information reports (FIRs). The court also said that the matter was between employers and the employee and observed it would not directly intervene as the official had herself not represented the case. The court fixed Aug 19 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
New Delhi The BJP Friday said IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpals suspension by the Uttar Pradesh government was a clear message that honesty will be punished and goondagardi (criminal behaviour) rewarded in the state. The issue was being used for electoral gains, the party further said. Questioning the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) whether any officials were suspended for the 27 riots that have taken place in the state during its rule, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said Nagpals suspension was a ploy to demoralise honest administrative officials. She said the SP was seeking to inflame religious anger on the so called demolition of a mosque wall in a bid to pick up votes. The Indian Administrative Service officer was suspended by the Akhilesh Yadav government July 28 on charges of inciting communal tensions by demolishing the wall of an unauthorised mosque. Lekhi said Nagpals suspension was unlawful and that she had only followed the orders of higher officials. Supporting Nagpal, the BJP spokesperson said she was an honest and
hardworking officer who had seized more than 24 truck loads of illegally mined sand and arrested several members of the sand mafia. She impounded 297 vehicles and collected a fine of over Rs.80 lakh, Lekhi said. The BJP spokesperson also said that illegal dredging on the banks of Yamuna by sand mining gangs of Gautam Budh Nagar was causing ecological damage and destroying the marine environment. Lekhi also hit out at Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan over his purported defence of illegal mining. Referring to SP leader Narendra Bhati, Lekhi alleged that he was close to several sand mining mafia dons and had claimed to have got the IAS official suspended in 41 minutes. He touts this act of flexing his political muscle as a power of democracy, Lekhi said, and termed his remarks as shameless. The Samajwadi Party and its CM (chief minister) have been unable to implement any good project in (the past) 41 months, but its party members brag about the suspension of an honest IAS officer in 41 minutes, she said.
REVIEW
Movies The Smurfs 2 a fantasy film B.A. Pass: Stark, brutal saga of seduction for Smurfphiles and betrayal
Film: B.A. Pass; Starring: Shilpa Shukla, Shadab Kamal; Directed by Ajay Bahl; Somewhere towards the end of the protagonist Mukeshs descent into a self-created hell, we see him standing shamelessly at the roadside soliciting sex, being picked up by three drunken burly men. A little later, Shadab Kamal sobs in the bathroom, blood dripping to his feet in a trail of tell-tale brutality. The intense implicit violence that underlines this sequence reminded me of a similar process of sexual debasement undertaken by Mark Wahlberg in Paul Thomas Andersons Boogie Nights. That was a film about the porn industry in the 1970s. B.A. Pass is set in present day Delhi -- Paharganj, to be more precise. Bustling with sights, sounds and smells of doom and despair, it is a gripping story of a young financially-challenged mans journey into a world of prostitution. We could say, we have never seen this before. And we would be as close to the truth as this film tries to get. The taut screenplay by Ritesh Shah never allows room for superfluous moments. We follow Mukeshs descent into a life of compromised morality with an absence of condemnation and censure. Mukeshs environment and his circumstances as a displaced orphan are not exploited to generate pathos. No one in this film allows us to feel sorry for the derelict lives. The characters fit into the films wretched karma with disturbing inevitability, as though everyone we see in this motion picture was pre-ordained to suffer and fade away. As we watch the talented Shadab Kamal lay bare his characters soul, we are suddenly reminded of how far we have come in his 95-minute journey from innocence and anxiety to despair and doom. Debutant director Ajay Bahl puts forward a little gem of story which radiates the colours of lifes most grim and harsh reality. There are so many young dreams dying every day in the metropolises. As one struggler in Bollywood once told me, I came to Mumbai to kick ass. Instead I ended licking ass. To envision the withering away of innocent aspirations in the merciless light of reality without a shred of self-pitying melodrama is not an easy task. Bahl does it with great confidence and sensitivity. That he has personally done the films cinematography is such a beautiful circumstance for the film. I doubt another cameraman could capture those places in these troubled characters lives that Bahl captures with such force and vitality. B.A. Pass italicizes the characters askew lived by bathing them in silence. The soundtrack (composed by Alokananda Dasgupta, daughter of filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta) is aptly minimal austere and unsparing. The sex is suitably cold and detached. When the young virgin-boy hero arrives in the bored housewifes home for the first time, she wastes no time in getting him to lie down on the sofa clambering over him briskly and unbuckling his trousers. The seduction is swift and businesslike; the sex, sometimes ugly, never satisfying.
Film: The Smurfs 2; Cast: Neil Patrick Harris, Hank Azaria, Jayma Mays and Brendan Gleeson; Voices of: Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Christina Ricci, Anton Yelchin, George Lopez, John Oliver and J.B. Smoove; Director: Raja Gosnell; This season seems to be dedicated for kids. After Turbo and Zambezia, director Raja Gosnells The Smurfs 2 is another rollicking roller-coaster hybrid-live action-cumanimated film. Based on the characters and works of Belgian comic artist Peyo, The Smurfs 2 is a sequel to the 2011 film, The Smurfs. For the uninitiated, the Smurfs are blue, three applehigh friendly individuals who live in mushroom houses in Smurf Village, a fantasy land. In this franchise, Gargamel the wizard is flourishing in Paris. But he is running out of his magical powers. So he creates a group of mischievous Smurf-replicas called the Naughties; Smurfette (voiceover by Katy Perry), Vexy (voiceover by Christina Ricci) and Hackus (voiceover by J.B. Smoove) to obtain the all-powerful, magical Smurf-essence. Apparently, this concoction would help Gargamel to rule the world. Unfortunately for him, things dont work according to his plans. Smurfette, the cute blonde naughty, who he had sent to snoop and rob the Smurfs of their Smurf-essence, is a changed individual as she chooses to be a Smurf. So, he with the help of Vexy and Hackus kidnaps Smurfette from Smurf-land and imprisons her in Paris. Laced with familial bonding, an adventurous flight around Paris and emotional blackmail what follows is the Smurfette-rescue operation. Papa Smurf (voiceover by Jonathan Winters) along with Smurfanity, Grouchy and Narcissi-murf (voiceover by George Lopez, Anton Yelchin and John Oliver respectively) traverse to Paris and in collaboration with their human friends - Patrick (Harris), Grace (Mays) Winslow and Vic-
tor (Brendon Gleeson), they rescue Smurfette. The plot is layered with lessons like dealing with different types of parents - real parents, adoptive parents to stand-in parents. It is strongly underlined with the moral, It does not matter from where you come, what matters is what you choose to be. It takes patience to go through the first half hour of the film as the narration screeches of show and tell technique and smurfological dialogues; that is, diction morphed with smurf references. Once you get used to this, you begin to appreciate the film. The dialogues are preachy and the humour is derived from the repetitive actions or verbal jokes. But the best and crassy lines are mouthed by Patricks ever-embarrassing step-father Victor. Penned by a group of writers, the films plot points dont have a definite graph. It balances on an even keel. The action is too predictable and ineffective in 3D. Hank Azaria as Gargamel along with his Cat excels in his cartoonish avatar of the evil wizard. Brendon Gleeson as Victor sparkles with all the absurdity in the film. It is actually funny to watch him transform into a mallard and then return to his normal self, suddenly mid-air. The voice of Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf is endearing. Katy Perry and the rest of the cast beautifully and effectively synchronize their voices with the characters. Visually, the two locales - Smurf Village and Paris are distinct and beautifully captured. But its Paris with top-angle shots and aerial shots that transform this pixie tale to a fantasy film. Director Raja Gosnell and his accomplished team have seamlessly merged the camerawork with the computer generated images. But the blatant plugging of the Sony tablet in this Sony production is pointless, when in reality the target audience for this film is viewers less than ten years of age. The film will only appeal to Smurfphiles and those who understand Smurfology!
When a woman is caught with a gigolo, her husband rapes her doggiestyle in front of the toy-boy to let the wife and her lover know who wears the pants in the house even when its down to his ankles. A part of the films riveting charm originates from the authentic faces that populate Bahls nation of damnation. These are real people living out of authentic homes that exist beyond the directors domain of action and cut. Shadabs character is gauche and flummoxed to begin with but quickly begins to grasp the importance of being sexually empowered. Shadab is a discovery. And Dibyendu Bhattacharya as the chess-playing vagabond raises some grave issues. The cemetery never seemed less asymmetrical. B.A. Pass is a stark and brutal saga of seduction and betrayal. It is that unusual work of cinema which explores the darkest depths of the human consciousness without losing sight of the light that underscores life.
This book comes from a prominent retired military-man, one of our armys foremost battlefield commanders. Were told on the back cover: Lieutenant General W.A.G. Pintos experiences as a wartime divisional commander during the 1971 Indo-Pak war form the pivot of these memoirs.... Pune-based Pinto served the Indian Army during the not-so-peaceful times of 1943 to 1982 and retired as the General Officer Commanding-inChief, Central Command. At the start of the book, Pinto talks about his Goan connections. His father was from the Gustavo Pinto branch of the Pintos of Santa Cruz, Goa. Like all Goan migration stories this one too traverses many diverse parts of the globe and India too and is a mix of achievement elsewhere and a sense of loss back home. Pinto writes: In the distant past, one of my early ancestors was a Hindu of the Nayak caste or class. All the property from Campal, Santa Inez, Mira Mir, Gaspar Dias, Caranzalem, Donna Paula, Vanganim, Taleigaon,
Santa Cruz, Bambolim was all his, a mighty fortune and also a misfortune. What happened to it all and how did it happen? The starred Hotel Cidade-de-Goa on the high ground overlooking the beautiful lagoon is now located on the property, he writes. Unusual too is the story of his fathers lease of his share of the property called Mira Mar, where the estuary of the Mandovi river meets the Arabian Sea, to a Portuguese gentleman who put up a hotel called Hotel Mira Mar. Turns out that the place later became notorious as a house of ill repute. When Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who spent his honeymoon
there in Portuguese times, was at parties at which either of the Pinto brothers was present, he always said that he was proud of his army; he had two Generals, both brothers, who were running a brothel in Goa! (p.2) He studied at Bangalore, Pune and Jabalpur, before the family settled at Pune, the pensioners paradise in his parents time in the 1950s. Summer meant holidays in Goa, the ancestral home at Santa Cruz, short excursions to the Calangute and Caranzalem beaches and the historic spots of Old Goa and Chandor. But Pintos story is primarily about the army. He takes us from his joining the World War II-time training at Lahore in pre-partitioned India. Those were times of the British Cadet Wing and Indian Infantry Divisions. War meant a compressed syllabus, and then fighting on the British side in Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (todays Thailand) and even an occasional love story en route. But the heart of the story is Pintos narration of the 1971 war with Pakistan that led to the creation of the independent nation of Bangladesh and his role in it. Pinto, then a major general, is widely known as the Hero of Basantar for leading the 54 Infantry Division in what is perhaps the greatest land battle fought by the Indian Army. IANS
LIFESTYLE
HIP-HOP
Hip-hop dance is a broad category that includes a variety of urban styles. The older dance styles that were created in the 1970s include uprock, breaking, and the funk styles. Breaking was created in The Bronx, New York, incorporating dances that were popular in the 1960s and early 1970s in African-American and Latino communities. Breaking at this period was not primarily floor- oriented as seen today; it started out as toprock which dancers perform while standing up. breaking went from being a purely upright dance styletoprock onlyto becoming more floor-oriented.
Hip-Hop Dance
Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hiphop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The dance industry responded with a commercial, studio-based version of hip-hop sometimes called new styleand a hip-hop influenced style of jazz dance called jazz-funk. Classically trained dancers developed these studio styles in order to create choreography from the hiphop dances that were performed on the street. Because of this development, hip-hop dance is practiced in both dance studios and outdoor spaces, 1980s films, television shows. What distinguishes hip-hop from other forms of dance is that it is often freestyle (improvisational) in nature and hip-hop dance crews often engage in freestyle dance competitionscolloquially referred to as battles. acrobatic moves. Transitions from toprock to downrock are called drops. 2.Locking Locking, originally called Campbellocking, was created in 1969 in Los Angeles, California by Don Campbellock Campbell and popularized by his crew The Lockers. Locking looks similar to popping, and the two are frequently confused by the casual observer. In locking, dancers hold their positions longer. The lock is the primary move used in locking. It is similar to a freeze or a sudden pause. A lockers dancing is characterized by frequently locking in place and after a brief freeze moving again. Locking has specific dance moves that distinguish it from popping and other funk styles. 3.Popping Popping was created in Fresno, California in the 1970s . It is based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a jerk in a dancers body, referred to as a pop or a hit. Each hit should be synchronized to the rhythm and beats of the music. Popping is also used as an umbrella term to refer to a wide range of closely related illusionary dance styles. These are lower body dances performed with little to no movements in the chest or arms. In floating, gliding, and sliding a dancer appears as if they are drifting across the floor on ice. Many of these related styles (animation, liquid, tutting, etc.) can not be traced to one person or group. Solomon states There are people who wave and there are people who tut. Theyre not popping. I say this to give the people who created other styles their just dues and their props.
STYLES
1.Breaking Breaking was created in the South Bronx, New York City during the early 1970s. It is the first hip-hop dance style. At the time of its creation, it was the only hip-hop dance style. Breaking includes four foundational dances: toprock, footworkoriented steps performed while standing up; downrock, footwork performed with both hands and feet on the floor; freezes, stylish poses done on your hands; and power moves, complex and impressive
DJing: One of the few first hip hop DJs was Kool DJ Herc, who created hip hop through the isolation of breaks . Traditionally, a DJ will use two turntables simultaneously. These are connected to a DJ mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and various other pieces of electronic music equipment. The DJ will then perform various tricks between the two albums currently in rotation using the above listed methods. Graffiti: In 1960s, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs. The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffiti artists engaging in other aspects of hip hop culture, Graffiti is understood as a visual expression of
rap music, just as breaking is viewed as a physical expression. The 1983 film Wild Style is widely regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, which featured prominent figures within the New York graffiti scene during the said period. Graffiti remains part of hip hop. Beatbox: The term beatboxing is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes. As it is a way of creating hip hop music, it can be categorized under the production element of hip hop, though it does sometimes include a type of rapping intersected with the human-created beat. It is generally considered to be part of the same Pillar of hip hop as DJing.
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music, or hip-hop music, is amusic genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing.Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. While often used to refer to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing and scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks. Rapping: Rapping is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be created by sampling and/or sequencing portions of other songs by a producer. They also incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. Rappers may write, memorize, or improvise their lyrics and perform their works a cappella or to a beat.
REGION
Punjab bus with 20 people falls into canal, Another infiltration bid foiled in Kashmir, four militants killed two bodies found
Chandigarh A state government-owned luxury bus carrying at least 20 passengers fell into the Bhakra canal in Punjab early Wednesday and two bodies were recovered, police said, adding that some more people may have drowned. The Punbus from Amritsar depot was on its way from Delhi to Amritsar when it fell into the canal around 2 a.m. close to the floating restaurant near Sirhind town along National Highway No.1 between Ambala and Ludhiana, about 50 km from here.
Fatehgarh Sahib district police chief Gurmeet Singh Chauhan said the swift currents in the canal carried the bus three km downstream from the spot where it had fallen into the water. Police officials said they could not ascertain the exact number of casualties due to difficulty in recovering the bodies. A spokesman of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badals office said that all passengers may have drowned. Officials said that 20-25 passengers
could be in the bus at the time of the accident. While the bus was taken out of the canal in the day, only one body was recovered from inside. The remaining passengers are likely to have been swept away in the fast current of the canal. At least 42 passengers boarded the Delhi-Amritsar bus from Delhi but some got down on the way, Punjab Roadways officials said. The chief minister announced an exgratia grant of Rs.1 lakh to next of kin of each of the victims. IANS
Srinagar Four militants were killed Tuesday in north Kashmir when the army foiled a second infiltration bid in two days from across the Line of Control (LoC). Based on specific information from intelligence agencies regarding likelihood of terrorists attempting infiltration in Machil sector in Kupwara (north Kashmir), alert troops detected move of 5 to 6 terrorists in a nala (ravine), on our side of the LOC at about 6 a.m., said a defence spokesman. He said on being challenged by the troops, the terrorists opened fire. The troops retaliated, resulting in the killing of two terrorists. Operations were simultaneously launched to eliminate the remaining
terrorists, leading to subsequent killing of two more terrorists. Till the last information received, a total of four terrorists were killed in the operations, the spokesman said. The alert troops engaged the terrorists by bringing down accurate fire with grenade launchers, claymore mines and small arms. Search operations by the troops in the area are still on and are likely to continue throughout the night, he added. Earlier, Srinagar-based 15 Corps general office commanding, Lt. Gen. Gurmeet Singh told a media conference here that two guerrillas had been killed in Machil sector where the army had foiled the second infiltration bid in two days. He said operations were continuing.
Gurgaon The prime accused in the gang-rape of two Delhi-based women in a moving car last month has been arrested, police said Monday. Six accused were arrested earlier. Vikram was the mastermind in the case. He was the one who hired out the car to the victims and after that called his other accomplices, Crime Branch official Yashwant Singh told IANS. Vikram was arrested from his home village, Nangal Pita in Haryanas Mahendergarh district. After the incident in Gurgaon June 27, he had taken shelter in a religious shrine in Sirsa district. He was sure that he would elude police. He took a room near the shrine on rent and planned to live there with his wife. He came to his village to get his wife
cused followed their car in another vehicle, police said. The women were later dumped on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road. The victims then contacted police. Four cab drivers, arrested by the evening same day, were identified as Devender, Promod, Haneesh Khan and Satish. Another accused, also named Devender, was also arrested. Dhramveer alias Dharma, the main accomplice of Vikram, was arrested June 29. All the accused were cab drivers basically from different cities but living in Nathupur village area in rented accommodations.
day. The MCI had recently decided to the increase in the intake capacity of government medical colleges of Srinagar and Jammu from 100 to 150 and that of SKIMS Medical College Bemina (Srinagar) from 50 to 100. The number of seats in a government recognised private medical college in Jammu has also gone up from 50 to 100. The increase was necessary to fill the shortage of qualified medicos due to the expansion of the health infrastructure, especially in rural and hilly areas. The intake capacity of the two government-run medical colleges was IANS fixed some 40 years ago.
whether the old files were to be destroyed. The Advocate Generals office, which deals with all legal cases of the Haryana government in various courts, had been pursuing with the Haryana chief secretary and Administration of Justice Department for providing additional space so that the files of the old decided cases could be stacked at alternative places. But the government had expressed its inability and conveyed that there was no space available with it to provide for alternative space to the office of Advocate General. Already, the situation in the record room of the office has become precarious and is posing the dangers of fire apart from creating unhygienic conditions for the staff working in the record room of this office, the spokesman added.
IANS
accident and the family survives on a small piece of agriculture land. Two victims widows left their husbands families after receiving compensation cheques amounting Rs.2 lakh each and shifted to their parental houses. Krishana Devi, village head of Baghanki, also moaned the delay in building the stadium promised by Hooda. We had handed over six acres of land to the district administration for stadium and are waiting for governments response, she said. Kewal Dhingra, media advisor to Hooda, while talking to IANS, said: We will be able to say some thing on the issue only after speaking with chief minister. Such has been the impact of the incident on the minds of Baghanki villagers that even three years after the accident, none from there or the surrounding villages has dared to go on the pilgrimage to the Ganges river in Uttarkhand and bringing back the holy water to offer prayers at their village, said a Baghanki villager.
Pradeep Singh
OPINION
EDITORIAL DESK
Manu Sharma
bear the brunt for decisions taken in public interest. Under our constitutional system the legislature is empowered with sweeping powers to run the nation. Therefore the politicians will continue to wield great power and rightly so under a democratic setup. The need is to draw two important lines. The first one is defining the safety guidelines, both financial and physical for personnel manning sensitive posts or taking sensitive decisions. Secondly and more importantly the polity of India will have to be driven by right choices and governance measures.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters may be emailed to the [email protected] ,with full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
NASA Completes First Internal Review of Concepts for Asteroid Redirect Mission
NASA has completed the first step toward a mission to find and capture a near-Earth asteroid, redirect it to a stable lunar orbit and send humans to study it. In preparation for fiscal year 2014, a mission formulation review on Tuesday brought together NASA leaders from across the country to examine internal studies proposing multiple concepts and alternatives for each phase of the asteroid mission. The review assessed technical and programmatic aspects of the mission. At this meeting, we engaged in the critically important work of examining initial concepts to meet the goal of asteroid retrieval and exploration, said NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot, who chaired the review at the agencys headquarters in Washington. The agencys science, technology and human exploration teams are working together to better understand
The asteroid redirect mission is included in President Obamas fiscal year 2014 budget request for NASA, and leverages the agencys progress on its Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft and cutting-edge technology development. The mission is one step in NASAs strategy to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. Mumbai Over 2,000 doctors across the world viewed a real-time live robotic surgery performed on two patients at the Asian Heart Institute here Tuesday to cure them of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or stoppage of breathing during sleep The live workshop was conducted to display the latest robotic technique called transoral robotic surgery at the base of the tongue - a complex procedure since it is a very heavy muscle situated deep inside the throat, carried out by well-known ENT surgeon Vikas Agrawal. OSA, which afflicts 13 percent of Indians, is a disorder in which a person stops breathing during the night, perhaps hundreds of times. These gaps in breathing are called apneas. The disorder occurs when tissues in the upper throat collapse at different times during sleep, thereby blocking passage of air, Agrawal said. The first-of-its-kind live session was attended by world-renowned robotic surgeons for OSA, Italian doctors Claudio Vicini and Filippo Montevecchi and AHI vice chairman Ramakanta Panda. Agrawal said that both the patients operated upon Tuesday were nonobese and had attempted the continuous airway pressure therapy, but it did not work on them. Though studies have suggested that obese people are four times more vulnerable to OSA, nowadays, more and more non-obese persons are coming up with severe OSA symptoms, he said. Referring to a 2009 study by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Agrawal said that the number of patients suffering from OSA could be strongly underestimated. Of the approximate 13 percent of the population which is suffering from OSA, only four percent approach a doctor, and the incidence is three times higher in men compared to women, he said. Speaking on the occasion, Panda, a renowned heart surgeon, said the live surgery on TORS is a step towards honing the skills and expertise of the medical community who will benefit from this surgical knowledge-sharing. IANS
ment. The app will provide all the information required to apply for an Indian passport, locate the nearest Passport Seva Kendra, download the requisite forms, calculate the fees and even track your application status. Online application for passports is also on
the way, says the statement. You plan to travel abroad for work or study and need to legalize your documents? MEAIndia simplifies the steps involved for you and helps you identify the authorized agencies for attestation/apostille of your documents, says the release.
POLITICS
Mamata rules out Bengals division, Darjeeling on the boil
New Delhi Political arties united against a Supreme Court order on criminals in politics and wanted the government to address the issue during the monsoon session of parliament. Leaders belonging to the Left parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) expressed concern over the implications of the court order that disqualifies a legislator if convicted in a criminal case and bars him from contesting the polls if under arrest. They said the government should address the issue as misuse of the law could be rampant just before any election. We want a discussion on the apex court order, CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia said after an allparty meeting called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath. The BJPs Ravi Shankar Prasad, JD-U president Sharad Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad also expressed their concern. They also expressed concern over another Supreme Court order that bars reservations in super-speciality courses in medical colleges. The reservation issue has been settled. Why do the courts have to pass an order on it time and again. They give such orders, so the session may be disrupted, said Sharad Yadav. Leaders expressed serious concerns on the SC orders and erosion of supremacy of parliament, said Kamal Nath.
Kolkata Slamming the Congress on Telangana, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday ruled out division of her state, even as life in the Darjeeling Hills remained paralysed for the third day in response to a shutdown called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) demanding the creation of Gorkhaland. A day after the Congress Working Committee and the United Progressive Alliance approved the carving out of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, the GJM announced it will call on union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to press for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland in north Bengal. The GJM wants parts of Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of northern West Bengal to be made part of the proposed Gorkhaland. The GJM launched an indefinite shutdown in Darjeeling Hills from Saturday while its chief Bimal Gurung Tuesday resigned as the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) - an autonomous and elected hill development council. But Banerjee said there was no question of dissolving the GTA or dividing the state. There is no question of dissolving the GTA. It was formed through a tripartite agreement. Moreover, the GJM had agreed to it. The elections to the GTA were duly held and its representatives elected and the hill council had started functioning, said Banerjee, adding Darjeeling is part and parcel of Bengal...There is no question of division. Attacking the Congress on the Telangana issue, Banerjee said it smacked off divisive politics. I am not averse to Telangana, it is their prerogative. But what if other
states start making similar demands? Will the Congress allow all these demands and break the country into pieces? It is most unfortunate for the country when those who have responsibility behave irresponsibly, Banerjee said. Why has this decision been taken at a time when the general elections are approaching? The Congress, in its manifesto five years back, had committed Telangana formation, but why has this decision been taken now when the elections are knocking on the doors? Simply because it will add a few more seats? she said. I condemn this attitude and am shocked at the decision. For political purpose and vendetta, our constitutional obligations should not be jeopardised. Banerjee also accused a section of the central leadership of disturbing peace in Darjeeling by promising it a status of union territory. A few central ministers, I am sorry to say, had called a few of the GTA leaders to Delhi...Later, the GTA leaders have reported that a few of the central leaders asked them to start a movement there promising grant of union territory status. A union territory bypassing the state, is it so easy? Is it a lollypop
in a childs hand? I will remind the central government that it has a responsibility to not disturb peace in Darjeeling, said Banerjee. The chief minister said she has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking if it was right or wrong on the part of those central leaders to do so. Countering Banerjee, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told IANS: She (Banerjee) has the right to say whatever she wants, but Gorkhaland was never a part of Bengal. Creation of Gorkhaland will not be by division of Bengal, but only reorganisation of the state. The GJM held an emergency central committee meeting in Darjeeling Wednesday and announced that the rest of its members in the GTA would resign. Soon the other GTA members will resign. We will go to Delhi Friday and meet the home minister and others with our demands, said Giri.
IANS
Besides, other issues raised by opposition leaders were debates on food security ordinance, land acquisition bill, judicial commission, condition of economy, rampant corruption in the mid-day meal scheme and floods in Uttarakhand. Agreeing that judicial commission on appointment of judges was required, Ravi Shankar Prasad said his party would also like to raise the ongoing tussle between the CBI and the IB in the Ishrat Jahan shootout case. Consensus on the food ordinance will be evolved after the debate, said Sharad Yadav. We will support the food ordinance, said Lalu Prasad. The all-party meet, attended by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, was called to discuss smooth functioning of the monsoon session of parliament from August 5. We had a constructive meeting. The parties agreed on smooth running of parliament, said Kamal Nath.
On media reports that the district magistrate of Noida, in his report, had told the state government that the suspended official did not order demolition, Akhilesh Yadav said one should look into other reports too. One has to look into the reports in totality. The government has done the right thing after study of various ground reports, he said. The chief minister also vent his anger at the lobbying by the IAS association in favour of the suspended official and reminded how the IAS officials were not even able to speak during the times of his predecessor Mayawati. Everyone knows how officials were gagged during the BSP regime but we believe in openness and democracy, he added.
Hooghly. The massive democratic exercise with 1.69 lakh candidates in the fray - around 90,000 of them women - has 58,865 seats up for grabs. The counting has just started for the zilla parishad seats.In 2008, the LF conquered 13 zilla parishads, followed by Congress and the Trinamool with two each. Happy over the outcome, Banerjee dedicated the win to the people. People in the state have got back democracy through the panchayat polls.I dedicate this victory to the rural population of the state. It is the victory of Maa Maati Manush (Mother, Land and People). On the other hand, LF chairman Biman Bose accused the Trinamool of conspiring with the police and some State Election Commission officials in carrying out rampant irregularities in the vote count. Incidentally, the Trinamool won over 6,000 seats uncontested. At least 24 people were killed during the five phased polls which began July 11, but no untoward incident, according to police, has taken place yet during counting. IANS
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Concerning Durga Shakti Nagpal, IAS
Arun Jaitley , BJP A woman officer was suspended. Everybody is saying she was very honest. The reason was vote bank politics. She had prevented some illegal construction at a place of worship,
Mayawati, BSP Chief Nagpals suspension as an example of mafia raj in the state under SP and sought immediate intervention of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre and UP governor. ,
Beni Prasad Verma, Congress leader and Union Minister The suspension was done as per supremos (Mulayam Singh Yadav) order and (Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) Akhilesh (Yadav) was unaware of the order. He is a good boy. His father should not ruin his career as he is under training period,
Uma Bharati , BJP Ill stand by her and ensure the government is brought to its knees. The entire IAS fraternity should take note of this.
Shivpal Yadav, P.W.D. minister (U.P. Assembly) The fact is that she was suspended for demolishing the wall of a mosque in Kadalpur village in Raubpura area without following legal process,
V Narayanasamy , Minister of State for Personnel We are awaiting a report from Uttar Pradesh government. As per rules, state government needs to send a report (on suspension of an officer) to the Centre which is awaited,
Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh She took steps that had to be punished. The government was correct to remove her,
CAMP UPA
CAMP NDA
Kolkata The Congress hit back at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she slammed had the party over the Telangana issue. Mamata had accused Congress of stoking discord in the Darjeeling hills where the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) has intensified its movement for the creation of Gorkhaland, calling an indefinite shutdown from Saturday.
Bhattacharya also criticised Banerjee. Telangana is an old issue and has nothing to do with the upcoming polls. Her attack is not surprising as she has a knack of blaming the Congress and the central government for anything and everything. We never want a division of Bengal and instead of blaming us, she must work to resolve the issue, Bhattacharya said.
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NATIONAL NEWS
savvy leader
Should collegium system for judges Manmohan endorses Chidambaram as politically appointments stay or go?
New Delhi Even as Chief Justice P. Sathasivam stoutly defended the collegium system for appointments of judges in the high courts and the Supreme Court, the legal fraternity is almost unanimous in its view that this 20-yearold system is ineffective and should be replaced by a mechanism that is transparent and criteria-oriented. The collegium system is not rigid and the list (of recommended names) has to cross many stages, before it is finalized, new Chief Justice Sathasivam has said, defending it against the onslaught by legal eagles and the government, which is itching to get back its foothold in the selection of judges. Under the collegium system, the Chief Justice of India and four senior-most judges of the apex court decide and recommend to the government the names of the judges to be elevated to the apex court or those to be appointed to the countrys high courts. This system of appointment emerged from the majority judgment in a case in 1993. In how many cases did the government express reservations on the names recommended by the top five judges of the apex court Sathasivam asked while countering criticism that the government was being kept out and had no voice in the selection and appointment of judges under the present system. Defending the system during his address at a function to bid farewell to the retiring chief justice Altamas Kabir, Sathasivam said: There may be one or two shortcomings but the collegium system cant be overruled as the existing system was given by nine judges of the constitution bench. This was an obvious reminder to the government to keep off, as the collegium system could only be overturned by larger eleven-judge bench or by amending the constitution. However, the defence of the collegium system advanced by the chief justice is not shared by legal eagles, who feel it is devoid of criteria and was not transparent, and has created a furious debate in legal circles. Almost all the leading lawyers of the Supreme Court, particularly senior counsel Fali Nariman, Anil Divan, T.R. Andhyarujina, K.K. Venugopal, P.P.Rao and others feel that collegium system has failed, Supreme Court Bar Association president M.N. Krishnamani told IANS. All of them feel that barring one or two appointments, all other appointments done by the collegium system are vitiated either by lack of criteria or lack of transparency and by nepotism and favouratism, he added. To insulate the judicial system from the governments tinkering and manipulations, judges took upon themselves the task of appointing judges but what emerged from the 1993 case was a system which was devoid of criteria and was non-transparent, said Prashant Bhushan, convenor of the Committee for Judicial Accountability and Reforms. There is no criteria in the selection of people sought to be appointed as judges or judges sought to elevated or promoted to next higher position, no short listing of people in consideration zone, no evaluation of records, no comparative assessment of the records of the people sought to be elevated, no process of public consultations and no feedback from outside sources, Bhushan told IANS, picking holes in the collegium system. Krishnamani said most of the senior attorneys feel that all the great judges - including Justice M. Patanjali Sastri, Justice K. Subba Rao, Justice M. Hidayatullah, Justice P.N. Bhagwati, Justice Vivian Bose and Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer - were appointed under the pre-1993 system when the executive appointed them in consultation with the Chief Justice of India. The collegium system, Krishnamani said, has hardly produced any judge of any such outstanding calibre so far. But the extra-curricular task, that of recommending appointments to the highest court, has not been conducted with the care and caution that it deserves. There is too much ad hocism, and no consistent and transparent process of selection. As a result, the image of the court has gravely suffered, eminent jurist Fali Nariman said the chapter A Case I Won - But Which I Would Prefer To Have Lost in his autobiography Before Memory Fades.. It was Narimans arguments that had persuaded the majority in the ninejudge bench to create a collegium system for the appointment of judges and insulate it from the governments reach. Obviously disillusioned by the system that he had ably argued to create, Nariman today wants it to be junked.
IANS
He was awarded life term Tuesday. The court also imposed a fine of Rs.95,000 on Ahmad of which Rs 40,000 would go to Sharmas family. However, Sharma said that the family didnt need any money from Ahmad. What will we do with that money? he asked. Sharma, who had won seven gallantry medals, including a presidents medal, was gunned down during the Batla House shootout at Jamia Nagar Sep 19, 2008, seven days after serial blasts rocked the national capital. He was survived by his parents, wife and two children.
New Delhi Delhis Tihar Jail Tuesday launched a charkha (spinning wheel) unit and an FM radio channel while a blanket-making unit will be launched Wednesday, a jail officer said. The charkha unit will spread the message of non-violence and communal harmony propounded by Mahatma Gandhi and TJ FM Radio will help provide recreation to the inmates, a jail officer told IANS. Machines and raw materials for the blanket-making unit will be provided by jail authorities. The unit will have a target of manufacturing 10,000 blankets each month. The inmates would be trained as radio jockeys (RJ). Ten Nigerian inmates and other foreign prisoners are actively participating in khadi activities. Both the units were inaugurated at Jail Number 4 by Director General (Prisons) Vimla Mehra. Jail Number 4 has 2,500 prisoners while the blanket-making unit will be inaugurated at Jail Number 8, which has 1,800 prisoners. Tihar Jail houses around 12,000 inIANS mates.
New Delhi In what could be seen as a strong endorsement for P. Chidambaram, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh showered generous praise on his finance minister for being a key backer of reforms and said here was a man intellectually brilliant and politically savvy while being capable of taking risks and asserting political leadership. He is not only intellectually brilliant and dedicated to end results, he is also politically savvy. It is these attributes that have made Shri Chidambaram a leader with an enviable reputation both nationally and internationally, the prime minister said. Manmohan Singhs musings were aired at a well-attended event Wednesday evening at his official 7, Race Course Road residence to release a book. An Agenda for Indias Growth: Essays in Honour of P. Chidambaram, that has articles by several eminent people, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The fulsome praise for Chidambaram created quite a buzz as it came against the backdrop of the impending national elections in less than a year, the debate over a third term for Manmohan Singh at the helm and the reluctance of Congress party vice presient Rahul Gandhi to openly join the fray for prime ministership. Manmohan Singh recollected several instances to highlight why his finance minister was entitled to the observations about him right from 1986 when Chidambaram initiated min-career programmes for bureaucrats, kick-starting reforms in the process of governance. He then spoke about Chidambarams stint as minister of state for commerce in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in 1991. The fact that within a few weeks of taking over his first economic ministry, he (Chidambaram) brought about radical changes in trade policy, which many
academics had advocated for many years, is a tribute to the high qualities of his leadership, the prime minister said. Manmohan Singh even felt that if reforms continued after 1996, when Congress party lost power, it was in many ways thanks to Chidambaram. The policies we had implemented in 1991-96 were not only not reversed, they were in many respects even taken forward. This must have been helped greatly by the fact that Shri Chidambaram, as Union finance minister in the United Front Government, contributed to a continuity of policy. Drawing from his own experience in the government and that of Chidambaram which almost ran parallel for over a quarter of a century, Manmohan Singh underscored what it takes to pursue economic reforms successfully, and how it cannot happen unless there is a fine balance between politics and economics. While doing that, he again praised Chidambaram for statecraft, recollecting the chain of events in 1991. In those days, changes in import policy needed the approval of the commerce minister, the finance minister and the prime minister. It is indeed remarkable that Shri Chidambaram as commerce minister was able to get all the approvals in less than 24 hours. The prime minister also found in Chidambaram what it takes to be a leader, saying young members of his council of ministers constantly look up to him for advice. They seek inspiration from their senior colleagues like Mr. Chidambaram. He has shown that hard work can deliver results. Finally, came the blessings: With these words, I conclude by wishing Shri Chidambaram a long, healthy, purposeful and fulfilling life. He has done the nation proud. He has miles to go before he can rest. May his path be blessed.
New Delhi The Border Security Force has seized 5,290 bottles of a cough syrup, also abused as an intoxicant, valued at over Rs.4.5 lakh from India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal in two different operations, an official release said. It said that troopers of 130 Battalion BSF deployed at the Rajanagar border outpost in Murshidabad district seized 3,780 bottles of Phensedyl Wednesday morning. In another operation Wednesday morning, troopers of the same battalion at the Bamnabad border outpost caught a man carrying 1,510 Bottles of Phensedyl. Phensedyl is misused as a cheap in-
toxicant. The BSF troops also seized arms and ammunition from the Border in Malda district Wednesday afternoon. The release said that troops of 125 Battalion BSF deployed at border outpost Sasani in Malda observed that some miscreants were trying to throw goods over the international boundary fence. On being challenged by the troops, the miscreants fled. During a search, the BSF men recovered two country made pistols, four pistol magazines and 13 rounds of 7.65 mm ammunition from the spot, the release said.
IANS
NATIONAL NEWS
Government defends move to amend RTI Act, activists furious
New Delhi The government Friday defended its decision to amend the RTI Act to keep political parties out of its ambit, saying they would not be able to function if the CIC order was implemented. The step however drew criticism from activists, who contended it would result in an erosion of transparency and accountability. Law Minister Kapil Sibal said the government respected the Central Information Commission (CIC), but was concerned by its order. He said that political parties were not companies or trusts, but a voluntary association of persons. The union cabinet Thursday approved two amendments to the RTI Act, one aiming at keeping political parties out of its ambit and the second stating that the CIC order was not binding on any political party. Government sources said the change in the RTI Act would be made in the monsoon session starting Aug 5. The issue has been in the news after the CIC in a June 3 order said that six national political parties would be brought under the RTI Act as they were public authorities, receiving significant funding from the government. Sibal said the CIC order will strike at the root of the political system. People will seek all sorts of details from political parties including their process of consultation and decisionmaking. Nowhere in the world does this happen. The political parties are unanimous against the CIC order. Parties will not be able to function if this is allowed, he added. According to the law minister, two options were available to the government -- filing a writ petition in the
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10 kg cocaine recovered from cross LOC trade truck
Srinagar Ten kg of cocaine, estimated at Rs.10 crore in the international market, were recovered Friday from a truck that had returned to Baramulla district from Pakistan-administered Kashmir during trade across the line of control (LOC) dividing the state. On a specific input, Baramulla police intercepted a truck bearing registration number JK02F-0127 driven by Abdul Ahad Ganie of Mawar Handwara (Kupwara) this afternoon, police said, adding it had crossed the LoC Thursday with a load of bananas from the fruit mandi in Srinagar. These were to be delivered to Faizan Traders across the LoC. During the search of the truck on its return near Sheeri (Baramulla district), nine packets (approximately 10 kg) of contraband cocaine was recovered from the truck. The consignment of the contraband was concealed in a tyre on the overhead toolbox, police said. Police said that on being questioned, the driver and helper of the truck admitted that they had brought the illegal drugs from across the LoC to be be delivered to some conduit in Srinagar. A case has been registered and investigation taken up.
Patna More than 50 children, mostly girls, were taken ill Friday after drinking water from a handpump at a school in Bihars Sitamarhi district. They are now out of danger, officials said. The incident took place at the Kasturba Gandhi middle school in Runnisaidpur of Sitamarhi, a district police officer said. It came a day after 30 children fell sick after drinking water from handpumps at two separate schools of Saran and Gopalganj districts. In the Sitamarhi incident, the children complained of pain in the stomach and started vomiting after drinking the water. The sick were first admitted to a primary health centre (PHC) in Runnisaidpur. Over 30 of them, who were critically ill, were shifted to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur district for treatment. All girl students admitted at SKMCH are out of danger and their condition is stable, said Bindeshwari Kumar, a doctor at the hospital who treating the children. After the news spread, hundreds of villagers thronged the PHC where the children had been admitted. Education department officials claimed it appears to be the handiwork of some anti-social elements as the handpump might have been poisoned. Expressing concern over the incidents, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: I am really worried as after the mid-day meal tragedy, now reports of poison in handpumps at schools are coming in from various places. The chief minister added that state Director General of Police Abhayanand had been directed to initiate a probe into the incidents. As many as 23 children lost their lives July 16 after consuming contaminated mid-day meal at the government primary school in Dharmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block of Saran district, 60 km from Patna. The mid-day meal scheme is running in 72,000 schools across the state with 1.60 crore students availing hot, freshly cooked meals.
high court against the CIC order, a time-consuming process; and second, amending the RTI Act, which could be done quickly. The hurry is because the CIC order is operational. We want a quick resolution of this issue, said Sibal. The law minister gave a long list of points to indicate that political parties did not function under a veil of secrecy and were accountable. There seems to be an impression that political parties are not accountable. We get elected by the people. We have to reveal whatever donations we receive to the Election Commission. It is not as if donations to parties are unaccounted for, said Sibal. Donations received by political parties beyond Rs.20,000 have to be declared to the income tax department, the minister pointed out. This can also be made public. It is not as if the political parties operate under a veil of secrecy, he said. We give an account of assets and liabilities to the Election Commission and also give an account of our expenses, there is transparency. Political parties are not companies or trusts. Its a voluntary association of
persons, he said. Sibal said parties already make declarations to the Election Commission. We make declarations to the income tax department, and the IT department can make it public if it so thinks, he said. The minister went on to say that political parties are not appointed. We go to the people through an election process. We get elected, unlike government servants and people in a trust. There is a basic difference, he said. However, activists have slammed the move. The government has used sheer brute power to nullify the CIC order. They have again failed to live up to the transparency and accountability that they promise in every election manifesto, Venkastesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Humans Rights Initiative (CHRI) told IANS. It is a poor decision, taken in bad taste. It is certainly an erosion of democracy. They should have had the basic courtesy to at least hold a dialogue with the public, as it is a decision on the citizens fundamental rights, RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi IANS told.
roads. Initially I did worry a little when I travelled through bad roads, in an unknown place that was surrounded by strangers. But slowly everything fell in place... I did not inform my home or office about the problems I faced. When you care for others, nature takes care of you. Most of the young volunteers are reluctant to return home. They want to stay for longer periods and help rehabilitate the ruined state. We intend to stay for three years in these areas, say Sanjay Walia, Vijay Soni and Parmananda Bahuguna in unison. We cannot leave our job half-done. How do these youths go without food, water or bathing for days together? Well, pizzas and pastas are passe now, remarks Maninder Singh. Forget eating or bathing, we want to work in the right spirit. It makes me cry when I see people plucking leaves from the jungle and munching them to satiate their hunger. Maninder Singh, a young engineering student from Punjab, trekked
across the most dangerous jungles of Devalgaon village on mountain terrain. We have been through places where tigers were lurking in the bushes. There were poisonous plants... We managed to bring relief to more than eight families and we are feeling content from within, add Vasu and Harshit. Sushant Singh from Chhattisgarh has been living in the most difficult conditions in Badasu. But it doesnt matter when I see people smiling after attending our camps and doing our stress-elimination programmes. Volunteers Ali, Rahul and Vasu walked 40 km from Rudraprayag to Guptkashi through rain and debris and almost lost their lives! Jitender, Amit, Naresh and others took the arduous climb to Kalimath mountains with backpacks of 35 kg relief material. Says Namita Nainani, a young Art of Living teacher from Delhi: Come what may, we shall walk the extra mile and work towards revivIANS ing Uttarakhand.
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sion based on their business requirements. Regarding the selection of cities, Sharma said the state governments would be allowed to chose the cities where no town was eligible as per the original regulation that has the ceiling of 1 million population. Only 53 cities in India have more than 1 million population. In Asset Reconstruction Company, the government proposes to hike FDI limit to 100 percent from 74 percent. For petroleum refineries, up to 49 percent investment will be allowed through automatic route. Earlier
approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was required. Most of these decisions were taken by the inter-ministerial meeting chaired by the Prime Minister July 16. Sharma said the union cabinet and the cabinet committee on economic affairs largely endorsed the decisions taken by the inter-ministerial panel July 16. For telecom industry, the decision to allow 100 percent foreign equity will help a host of domestic promoters, reeling under billions of dollars of debt.
The move will allow the companies like Vodafone Group, Telenor and Sistema to operate in India without having a local partner. The Foreign Direct Investment inflows to India declined to $22.42 billion in 2012-13 from $36.50 billion recorded in the previous year. The decision is expected to revive the FDI, which is crucially important to finance the current account deficit. Current account deficit, the difference between the countrys total imports of goods, services and transfer and their exports, touched a record high 4.8 percent of GDP in the financial year ended March 31, 2013.
year too, he said. Other measure under consideration to curb current account deficit include liberalisation of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) norms and attracting investments from NRI deposits, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. On sovereign bonds, Chidambaram said: Sovereign bond issue is an option on the table, but I will not rush into any decision. RBI Governor D. Subbarao Tuesday had opposed the idea of issuing sovereign bonds saying it was not good for long-term financial stability of the country as it would make Indian economy more vulnerable to external shocks. On the rupee, Chidambaram said the recent depreciation in the Indian currency was quite unexpected. There is no level for the rupee, what we want is a stable currency, he said. The rupee slipped to 61.18 against a dollar Wednesday, a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left all key policy rates unchanged. The Indian currency is nearing the record low of 61.21 hit earlier this month.
New Delhi The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Tuesday sought the broadcasters views on raising foreign direct investment (FDI) limits in various segments of the sector by Aug 12. The authority has, while formulating this consultation paper, taken into account the growing convergence between the broadcasting and telecom sectors, and has been broadly guided by the principles of ensuring
a level playing field between competing technologies and maintaining consistency in policy across sectors, the release said. The consultation paper focused on the revision of FDI limits as well as the approval route for the FDI in the carriage services (Cable TV, DTH, HITS, IPTV, Teleports), content services (uplinking and downlinking of news channels) and the FM radio sector.
IANS
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gress and one from the Telugu Desam Party - resigned in protest. Earlier, the UPA coordination committee endorsed statehood to Telangana. All parties unanimously decided in favour of Telangana, Civil Avia-
CWC f u l filled a five-decade-old demand of the people of Telangana. This will create two states for Telugu-speaking people. The announcement ended a chapter in the history of Andhra Pradesh, which was formed Nov 1, 1956 with the merger of Telangana (then known as Hyderabad State) with Andhra State. Andhra Pradesh will become Indias first non-Hindi linguistic state to be divided. Carved out of Madras State in 1953, it was the first state to
Would Telanganas creation open a Telangana fallout: Groups call Pandoras box for Omar Abdullah? bandhs, blockades in Assam
Srinagar Would the creation of Indias 29th state open the Pandoras box for the countrys only Muslim majority state? Jammu and Kashsmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah believes it would. Reacting to the Congress decision to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, Abdullah said doing so without a States Reorganization Commission would mean creation of a new state in the country by succumbing to agitational pressure. This is definitely going to encourage those seeking statehood for the Jammu region. The demand for such a status has been gaining ground in the Buddhist-majority region for over four decades. It was, in fact, to address the regional aspirations of the people of Ladakh, which comprises the Leh and Kargil districts, that autonomous hill councils were formed there to deal with the growing demand for union territory status. The demand for a separate Jammu state is as old as Kashmirs accession to India in 1947. The last autocratic Dogra maharajas belonged to Jammu. Ever since political power shifted to the Muslimmajority Valley after 1947, voices for a separate Vishal Dogra state started becoming stronger in Jammu. A day after the Telangana decision, Bhim Singh of the Jammu-based National Panthers Party issued a statement seeking statehood for the Jammu region. While many argue that Abdullahs statement was a genuine expression of his concern, some maintain that inadvertently he has echoed aspirations of those demanding statehood for Jammu. There are many constitutional and legal implications that cannot be brushed aside while agitating either for statehood for the Jammu region or union territory status for Ladakh. A debate is also doing the rounds in the state whether the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir would stand the constitutional test because the states accession is determined by article 370 of the statute and one entity cant simply be removed. Its legality apart, the demands for statehood for Jammu or union territory status for the Ladakh region would make the task of the separatist Hurriyat leaders easier. Although the separatists seek the secession of the entire state from India, what they are actually aiming at is the Muslim-majority Valley where they wield political influence. Giving in to the demand of a separate state or union territory status for any region of the state would focus and concentrate the separatist campaign for secession in the Valley, said a senior ruling National Conference leader. Guwahati Following the central governments decision on Telangana, several ethnic organisations and groups in Assam are calling bandhs and blockades to intensify their demands for statehood. While the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) has threatened to launch a mass movement for Bodoland, the All Koch Rajbongshi Students Union (AKRSU) has demanded Kamatapur state for the Koch Rajbongshi community. The executive council of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) - being run by the Bodoland Peoples Front - has decided to adopt a resolution to demand creation of separate state.
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CELEB
fesses that "since cinema is a visual medium, it is required of an actress to explore her sensual side as well and therefore sensuality doesn't rule out the option of garnerportant to do a variety of roles. Had I played another deglamorised role after my debut film, I would have been typecast as someone fit only for such roles. That's why I followed it up with glamorous roles in different genres of films," Isha said. Since her debut, the young actress has starred in back-to-back successful films such as "I Love Me" (Malayalam), "Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde" (Telugu) and "Thillu Mullu 2" (Tamil). Isha, however, doesn't like to be called a successful actress yet. "I'm a beginner. I have a long way to go to be called successful. People are referring to me as lucky charm and I'm quite happy about it. I think I have to do a whole lot of films before I can claim to be a successful actress in the industry," she said. Does this mean she believes in quantity over quality? "Not number of films necessarily...because sometimes even a few films with star actors can make someone successful. It depends on which film and the role one gets to essay in it. I think I have done only a few films to demonstrate my skill," she added, giving credit to her critics. "I treat critics and audiences on par, but eventually it's the audiences who make or break an actor. Audiences pay money to watch our films and therefore they ought to be respected."
Chennai Actress Isha Talwar, known for her versatility in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films, believes glamour is defined by one's personality and not necessarily by the clothes one wears. She says someone can appear glamorous even when covered from head to toe. "I believe glamour is all about one's personality. One can be glamorous even when covered from top to bottom and not appear glamorous even in short clothes. It's like beauty and each one of us perceives it differently," Isha told. "Sometimes even when you're covered from head to toe, one can present oneself with sensual undertones to appear glamorous. Even body language makes up for being glamorous in some cases," she added. Isha, who made her cinematic debut in a deglamorised role in Malayalam romantic-drama "Thattathin Marayathu", which was a box-office winner, says an actressneed not always trade sensuality to be successful in the industry. "It's a preconceived notion that one has to be sensual to succeed in the industry. I played a Muslim girl covered from head to toe in my debut film. It was a role sans glamour, but the film was successful. Some films demand one to be glamorous and some may not," she said.She, of course, con-
Los Angeles Actress Jennifer Aniston, who wants to have a bachelorette party before she gets married to fiance Justin Theroux, denies reports of turning nudist. Talking on a chat show, Aniston said: I would just like to do a little trip to Cabo, or something fun. There were rumours that Aniston and Theroux had turned nudist, but the actress cleared the air, reports eonline. com. No, we dont walk around nude, darlin. I mean, we do when its appropriate. Its absolute Bullshit, she said. The couple has been unable to finalise a wedding date yet, but it is expected to take place later this year.
i n g attention and a little bit of success". Born and raised in Mumbai and a graduate in Economics from St. Xavier's College, Isha is the daughter of Bollywood filmmaker Vinod Talwar. She is trained in different dance forms such as salsa and ballet, and she featured in several commercials before making it to the film world. In filmdom, Isha believes it's important not to get typecast. "It's very im-
Mumbai Indo-Canadian adult film actress Sunny Leone, who was seen in a dare-bare role in Bollywood film Jism 2, has shot a bold scene with actor Sachin Joshi for new film Jackpot They are in Goa to shoot the film, and Sachin guarantees that the bold scene has been well-shot. We shot for a bold sequence, and now I would like to leave it to the audience. I am not allowed to talk much about that scene. I can assure you it is shot aesthetically and it doesnt look vulgar, Sachin told. The film is directed by Kaizad Gustad, who made the 1998 film Bombay Boys, followed by Boom in 2003. Talking about Sunny, Gustad said: Sunny will be seen in a very edgy and sharp character. She is playing a sophisticated woman. Yes, there is a bold scene in the film between Sunny and Sachin.
generations, classes and nationalities, particularly with the Arabs in the region, where every personality of his is loved and revered by his fans, Splash CEO Raza Beig said.
Mumbai Sonam Kapoor has dismissed reports claiming that her younger sister Rhea is set to tie the knot with her boyfriend Karan Boolani next month saying people got confused between making a movie and getting married. Fortunately for me, my sister is not getting married as I like her in the house. I dont think she needs to get married for another five-six years at least. She is younger than me, Sonam said here. Reportedly, Rhea and Karan have been dating for a while now. Karan assisted Rhea in her debut production venture Aisha in 2010 and since then they have been spotted together on many occasions. My sister is a baby, she is not getting married. Its like someone is just making stuff. In one month she is starting another film though and Karan is actually directing that film, Sonam said. I think they got confused a little bit between making a movie and getting married. She is not getting married, no. She is a child, she added.
Mumbai Actor Sushant Singh Rajput Thursday launched the song Gulabi from his forthcoming romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance and introduced his co-star and newcomer Vaani Kapoor to the media. Composed by Sachin-Jigar, the songs lyrics are by Jaideep Sahni and it has been sung by Jigar Saraiya and Priya Saraiya. Brinda has choreographed it. One film old, Sushant, who made a successful transition from TV to movies with Kai Po Che!, said the film focuses on conflicts between love and commitment. The films story is about three youngsters, who listen to their hearts. They have their own ideas and beliefs about love, Shushant told reporters at the launch here. Sometimes we
want everything in life but it is only when we get it, we realise it is not how they seemed to be, he added while talking about the essence of the movie. Directed by Band Baaja Baaraat fame director Maneesh Sharma and written by Jaideep, it also stars Rishi Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Vaani. Vaani, who is making her debut with the film, said she had to struggle a lot to join the cast. I got the film after a lot of struggle. I had to really convince Maneesh that I was right choice for the role, she said. A big fan of romantic comedies, she added: The film has a new story. It is a very freshly packaged film and has a very different kind of romance. Shuddh Desi Romance is all set to release Sep 6.
Shuddhi to present Hrithik Kareena in Angelina Jolie is never seen before avatar Hollywoods best-paid
Mumbai Karan Malhotra has finally pulled off a dream cast for his next directorial venture Shuddhi. Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor team up again after a long hiatus. The director says a cliche it may sound, but the two will be seen in a completely new avatar in the movie. Yes, finally we have confirmed Kareena for the role. I feel she is a stunning looking girl and she suites the character best. I am sure she will do justice to the film, said Malhotra. I am not allowed to talk much about my film, but all I can assure you is Kareena and Hrithik will be seen in a never before role in Shuddhi. I know its the most cliche line ever, but I can assure you on that, added the director who made Agneepath remake with Hrithik. Was it a conscious effort to reunite Hrithik-Kareena on screen almost after 10 years? No, it was not a conscious decision, it was just a coincidence. They both look
CELEB
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actress: Forbes
New York Although it has been three years since her last film, Angelina Jolie is the best-paid actress in Hollywood, according to Forbes magazine. Jolie pocketed $33 million in the 12 months ending June 30 thanks to the start of filming of Maleficent, in which she will play the evil witch of the Sleeping Beauty tale and which will be her return to the world of Hollywood blockbusters. After having stayed out of the cameras eye since she starred in The Tourist along with Johnny Depp in 2010, Jolie a year later directed her first film, In The Land of Blood and Honey, and in May she announced that she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy. Her revelation sparked plenty of debate and showed again why Jolie is one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, Forbes said. In second place on the Forbes list, earning $26 million, is Jennifer Lawrence, who at the last edition of the Oscars won the Best Actress award for her role in Silver Linings Playbook and starred in one of the biggest box office hits of 2012, The Hunger Games. As Katniss, Lawrence has shown that action heroes dont always have to be played by men for a film to turn a profit, said the magazine, which noted that the 22-year-old received less than $1 million for her performance in The Hunger Games. The No. 3 spot is held by last years leader, Kristen Stewart, who earned $22 million over the past 12 months for her roles in the Twilight saga and in Snow White and the Huntsman. In fourth place with $20 million in earnings
lovely together, the script demanded them and I am lucky to have them on board, he said. Kareena-Hrithik last outing together was 2003 release Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon. They were also seen together in Mujhse Dosti Karoge! and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and
Yaadein. Talking about Kareena, Malhotra said: Kareena is a thorough professional and she took it as any other job. I dont think there are any differences. Shuddhi, which will be produced by Karan Johar, will go on floors by early next year.
New Delhi Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone relived a scene from their 2007 film Om Shanti Om on the sets of a TV reality show. The duo was promoting their forthcoming release Chennai Express on Indian Idol Junior when young contestant Anmol Jaswal sang the melodious Aankhon mein teri from Om Shanti Om. Anmols performance moved King Khan enough to make him come on stage and perform with the budding singer. As the mood built up, Deepika too joined SRK on stage and they ended up enacting the song, with Anmol singing the number live! SRK and Deepika were joined on the sets by their Chennai Express director Rohit Shetty. The movie releases Aug 9.
last year is Jennifer Aniston, while Emma Stone is in fifth place with $16 million. The Top 10 are rounded out by Charlize Theron, Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Julia Roberts.
New Delhi Actor Josh Gad, who essays the role of Apple co-founder Steve Woz Wozniak in JOBS, feels the movies script is as engaging as bestselling book series Harry Potter. JOBS is a forthcoming biopic on late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. He died of pancreatic cancer in October 2011. He was 56. When I got the script, I found myself just turning through the pages like it was a Harry Potter book. I couldnt get enough of it, Gad said in a statement issued by PVR Pictures, which is releasing the film in India on
Aug 16. Talking about what he read of the late tech mastermind in the script, Gad said: It was a side of Steve Jobs that I knew nothing about. My idea of Jobs was very much the media darling he became in the 1990s and later in the 2000s up until his untimely death. I was reading it going, Oh my God, this is incredible! How come I never knew about any of this? Gad was more than willing to be a part of JOBS. I immediately called up my agent and said, I have to be a part of this.
together and I am glad they agreed, he added. If you loved Ranbir as this fun-loving guy who believes in chasing his dreams in Yeh Jawaani
Hai Deewani, his character in Besharam is complete opposite - he is naughty, shameless and justifies the title of the film, coming out Oct 2.
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Scientists are just getting to know the black holes that help anchor our cosmos The first rule for anyone dealing with a black hole is, of course, dont get too close. But say you do. Then youre in for quite a trip a oneway trip because there is no coming back once you fall into a black hole. A black hole isnt actually a hole. If anything, its the opposite. A black hole is a place in space containing a lot of stuff packed very closely together. It has accumulated so much mass and therefore gravity that nothing can escape it, not even light. And if light cannot escape a black hole, then neither can you. As you approach a black hole, its gravitational pull gets stronger. Thats true of anything with gravity, including the Earth and sun. Before long, you pass a point called the event horizon. Every black hole has one. Thats true whether the black hole has the mass of a single star or as much as the collective mass of millions (and sometimes billions) of stars. An event horizon surrounds each black hole like an imaginary sphere. It acts like a boundary of no return. What happens next isnt pretty but if you go in feet-first, you might be able to watch. Since your feet are closer to the black holes center, its gravity pulls stronger on your lower body than on your upper body. Look down: You will see your feet being drawn away from the rest of your body. As a result, your body gets stretched, like chewing gum. Astronomers refer to this as spaghettification. Eventually, your whole body gets stretched into one long human noodle. Then things really start to get interesting. For instance, at the center of the black hole, everything including your shredded self collapses to a single point. Congratulations: Once there, you really have arrived! You also are on your own. Scientists have no idea what to expect once you get there. Luckily, you dont have to fall into a black hole to learn about this cosmic phenomenon. Decades of study from a safe distance have taught scientists quite a lot. Those observations, including startling discoveries made in recent months, continue to add to our understanding of how black holes help shape the universe. How to build a black hole:
KIDS
Activity Card Roll Owl
Here we are giving your child an opportunity to enjoy our funny tongue twisters for kids and have fun trying to say some of the most difficult sentences . To get the full effect of a tongue twister you should try to repeat it several times, as quickly as possible, without stumbling. Sarah saw a shot-silk sash shop full of shot-silk sashes as the sunshine shone on the side of the shot-silk sash shop. You will need an empty toilet roll or roll of card, some colored paper in a variety of colours, a small piece of black card and a small piece of white paper. The gravitational pull of an object depends on how much stuff it contains. And just as with stars and planets, more stuff or mass comes with a greater force of attraction. Black holes arent just massive. Theyre dense, too. Density is a measure of how tightly mass is packed into a space. To understand how dense a black hole can be, imagine you could pack your own. Start with a thimble. Fill it with all of your books (you would need to really stuff them in). Add your clothes and any furniture in your room. Next, add everything else in your house. Then throw in your house too. Make sure to squeeze it all down to fit. Dont stop there: A black hole with a thimble-sized event horizon contains as much mass as the entire Earth. Stuffing your thimble increases its density, its mass and its gravitational attraction. The same is true with black holes. They pack a huge amount of mass into an incredibly small space. Imagine a black hole the size of New York City. It would have as much mass and gravity as the sun. That means this New York-sized black hole would be able to hold all eight planets (and every other object in our solar system), just as the sun does. What the black hole wouldnt be able to do is gobble up the planets. That sort of idea gives black holes a bad rap, says Ryan Chornock. He is an astronomer at the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. One popular misconception you see in science fiction is that black holes are kind of cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in things that pass by, Chornock says. In reality, black holes just sit there unless something extraordinary happens. Sometimes, a star will get too close. In May 2010, a telescope in Hawaii picked up a bright flare from a distant galaxy. That blaze peaked a few months later, in July, and then faded away. A team of astronomers, including Chornock, identified this glow as the last blast from a dying star being ripped apart by a black hole. As the remnants of the star fell toward the black hole, they became so heated that they glowed. So even black holes can create brilliant light shows by eating stars. When a star gets pulled in, it gets shredded, Chornock says. It doesnt happen very often. But when it does, its hot. Cover the toilet roll with a piece of colored paper. To make great owl ears, cut a half moon shape from the front and back of the top of the toilet roll so they meet at a peak at each side. Cut strips from colored paper long enough to circle the toilet roll. Make lots of cuts along the strips making sure you dont cut right through. These will be the feathers of the owl. Carefully run the feathers along the edge of a pair of scissors to make them curl. Be gentle as it is easy to pull them off. Glue each feather strip around the toilet roll leaving a gap in the front with the two top strips. For the tummy cut out an oval from colored paper and draw small v shapes for feathers. Wait till you have made the eyes before gluing in place so you can work out the best place to put the tummy. Use the black card to cut out a pair of eyes. Using this as a template cut out another pair of eyes using the white paper and then cut them a little smaller. Draw in some pupils. Cut out a small triangle from orange and glue to the back of the eyes to form the beak. Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar . Of all the felt I ever felt, I never felt a piece of felt which felt as fine as that felt felt, when first I felt that felt hats felt . In Trouble to be trouble is to have R Your trouble double , Never trouble trouble , till trouble troubles You.
Put your puzzle solving skills to the test with our emotions word scramble. Look carefully at the jumbled words and try unscrambling as many words related to Animals hmnucpki ndeerrie arlogli rnoiesrhco ynxl erazb
Color Me.....
TRAUMA
MEANING: serious injury or shock, emotional or physical. EXAMPLE : The trauma to the head that I sustained during the accident has left me impaired of hearing in one ear. VAGUE
MEANING: not precisely or clearly expressed or stated. EXAMPLE: The map they were given for the campus was extremely vague. Before we go further first, lets make clear that in the process of boiling a kettle of water you will actually observe two types of bubbles. 1. As the water starts to get hot, a lot of bubbles will form down the walls of your water container. These bubbles are AIR. Normally water has a lot of air dissolved on it. This is what allows breathing to fishes and other aquatic beings. The solubility of gases decreases when the temperature is raised, and that why the dissolved air bubbles out from the water. 2. When the boiling point of water is reached to100 degrees Celsius, water vapour starts to form inside the liquid in form of bubbles. Remember that at boiling point, water and its vapour are at equilibrium, that means that every molecule in the system has almost the same willingness to be in the vapour phase as in the liquid phase, so they very readily form bubbles inside the liquid. ZEAL
MEANING: interest in the pursuit or achievement of a goal. EXAMPLE: She is pursuing her dreams with great zeal and passion.
CHIPMUNK , REINDEER , GORILLA, RHINOCEROS , LYNX , ZEBRA
LEISURE
E K L Y H O R O S C O P E
Theres an old Latin saying In Vino Veritas. Roughly translated, it means; after a drink or two, folk are much more TAURUS likely to be honest. Apr 20 - May 20 Under the influence of alcohol or indeed, of any other strong intoxicant (such as inspiration or flattery), we say more about what we think and more too, about our deepest feelings. Sometimes, in our desire to take good care of the people we love and the things we care about, we can become SCORPIO unadvisedly over proOct 23 - Nov 21 tective. We try too hard, we give more than we should and, in the process, we not only stretch ourselves too far, we prevent an essential development from taking place as it should. Mercury arrives, this week, in the part of your chart that governs social interaction. Some astrologers call it GEMINI the house of friends May 21 - Jun 20 and acquaintances but there are deeper meanings to this area of the sky. You may create some drama but in the process youll help many of those around you. What goes up... must come down. Theres no denying the law of gravity but it doesnt automatically follow SAGITTARIUS that a descent will imNov 22 - Dec 21 mediately follow an elevation. Things can sometimes float, glide or hover in the air for long period before they return to earth. Nor does the eventual landing have to be unhappy. That was then, this is now. Make that your motto and repeat it this week each time you feel tempted to return CANCER to some old - and now Jun 21 - Jul 22 redundant - way of being. Cancerians do tend to be creatures of habit. They adhere to the famous old showbiz saying Once you find a successful formula; stick to it. You are emerging now, from an intense process of reflection and evaluation. You should be starting to feel older, wiser CAPRICORN and more adult. Dec 22 - Jan 19 It is possible that you may also feel slightly ashamed of a recent outburst or that you regret a development that took place some while back. You will soon though, understand how necessary this was. We all enjoy a certain amount of fantasy. Sometimes though, we have to wise up and wake up. Our cosy dreams can turn into nightJul 23 - Aug. 22 mares when we start taking them without a pinch of salt. The sky is now obliging you to face an awkward fact. Dont resent this. Youre far better off with the true picture.
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Not all your friends are true friends but those who are, are special indeed. Much the same can now be said of your opportunities. Some VIRGO should not be taken too Aug. 23 - Sep 22 seriously but in your heart, you know which ones are vital and valid. Mercurys change of sign this week is your invitation to apply some discrimination to your situation. Mars and the Sun both align to your ruler this week. Though you may now face pressure you will find that PISCES these two cosmic inFeb 19 - Mar 20 fluences soon wipe away yesterdays tears and leave you wondering what ever made you sad in the first place. You are having - or soon will have, a profound realisation.
Physical energy is important. To ensure a good supply of this, we try to eat, sleep and exercise carefully. Mental energy matters ARIES far more - yet few of Mar 21-Apr 19 us show it the same respect. Imagine trying to push over a solid brick wall or running endlessly round in circles. You wouldnt want to do either for long. How do you feel about the future? Are you looking forward to it with interest and excitement or nerLIBRA vously steeling yourSep 23 - Oct 22 self for insecurity and trouble? The Full Moon in Libra plus Mercurys arrival in your opposite sign suggests the latter. Even if youre normally full of hope, youre seeing a reason to worry.
LEO
You cant deny what you know. You cant pretend you dont know it, either to protect yourself from the pain of a harsh truth or to help AQUARIUS keep someone else in Jan 20 - Feb. 18 a state of blissful ignorance. You dont though, have to see this need for realism as a threat or a punishment. An exciting new course of action is open to you. Take this up enthusiastically and all will be fine.
1. Rushed 4. Use jointz 9. Ravens call 12. _____ wing and a Prayer (2 wrds) 13. Less wild 14. Dined 15. Unrest 17. Perched 18. Worship 19. Gluttons 21. Ice Pellets 22. Adolexent 25. Skin over 27. Declare openly 28. Ended 32. Tavern order 33. Walk 34. Eat 35. Repairs lawns 37. Without expression 39. Homes for birds 44. Lament 45. Actor ______ De Niro 46. Fawns mom 48. Arctic animal (2 wrds) 50. Under the weather 51. Turn aside 52. Mamma_____! 53. French preposition 54. Wise people 55. Foxy
ACROSS
1 12 15 18 21
3 16
4 13
9 14 17
10 11
19 22 25 26
20 23 24 27 33 36 39 40 41 42 43
28 29 30 31 34 37 44 46 47 50 53 48 51 54 38
32 35 45 49
52 55
DOWN 1. Bellows 2. Halo wearer 3. Innocent 4. Begins 5. Detest 6. Pierres friend 7. Unlocked again 8. ______ Bank of Baseball 9. Tapioca source 10. _____ Standstill (2 wrds) 11. Moist 16. Ess follower 20. Chew on 22. Valtures claw 23. In _____ We Trust 24. She-Sheep 26. Famous reducer 28. Not even 29. Compete 30. Glossy paints 31. Decorate anew 36. Nasal sounds 38. Daddies 40. Recede 41. Gives the impression 42. Hiking path 43. Wander off 45. Burger order 46. Performed 47. Bullfight cry 49. Limb
21 V 25 A 30 S 34 E
22 A N E W
48 A N Y
49 D E E
Green boon: Fast-growing trees aid paper making, help save forests
They look like normal eucalyptus trees up to 65 feet tall with a trunk girth of about 19 cm and towering over their peers in an evaluation trial on the foothills of Himalayas here. They are hybrids, progenies of two high-growth species of eucalyptus parent trees. The progenies - just about six-yearsold - have shown a growth pattern which is substantially higher over a commercially available clone variety of their age and with approximate height of 25 feet and girth of 6 cm. Welcome to the world of tree breeding at the Forest Research Institute (FRI), in the Himalayan foothills, where Indian scientists are working to develop fast-growing, taller and thicker eucalyptus trees so that their plantations can satiate the paper industrys demand and, in effect, help
produced will have identical features and growth patterns and could be distributed among farmers and growers who undertake captive plantation for the paper industry. Ashok Kumar, head of the FRIs Division of Genetics and Tree Propagation, said: Cloning continues parallel with tree breeding, adopting conventional and tissue culture techniques (in a sophisticated lab).
reduce the load on other species of the natural forests for the purpose. The fast-growing progenies are the centre of attraction at New Forest in the FRI campus and hold promise of developing future eucalyptus varieties to feed pulp or biomass to the paper industry and other wood-based industries. In eucalyptus tree breeding, scientists are developing hybrids with controlled hybridisation among desired genotypes of different eucalyptus species, said FRI Director P.P. Bhojvaid. A hybrid that grows taller and faster with greater volume is cloned and multiplied. In this way, the plants
He said the FRI recently released a clone of eucalyptus propagated through tissue culture - FRI-EH-001 - after establishing its higher growth and biomass production in different locations such as Haldwani in Uttarakhand, Hoshiarpur in Punjab and Hissar in Haryana, which report different geographical conditions like land, rainfall and temperature. Normally, a good quality eucalyptus tree is considered to be one which grows tall and its trunk fast becomes thick. The FRI, an institute of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education under the ministry of environment and forests, has, over the
years improved the quality of eucalyptus to such an extent that a biomass of up to 40 cubic metres per hectare per year could be possible in experimental conditions. A related research paper titled Sustained hybrid vigour in F1 hybrids of E. torelliana x E. citriodora was published during 2010 in World Applied Sciences Journal. In India, the eucalyptus yield has still been way behind that of Brazil, which had achieved up to 80 cubic metres per hectare per year during 2011, said scientist Parveen, who uses only one name. In general plantations in India, a yield of up to a maximum of 5-6 cubic metres per hectare per year has only been realised from improved seed sources, which has been improved to 16 cubic metres per hectare per year with clonal stocks, she added. In a way, the hybrids that have been screened after years of efforts of the scientists of FRI, compete extremely well with commercially available clones, she said. Rahul Chhabra
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INTERNATIONAL
Washington As a new US defence department report suggested that the zero option in Afghanistan - a complete pullout of US troops - is unrealistic, a Pentagon official said India and Pakistan would play significant roles there in future. I think both Pakistan and India will play and ought to play very important, significant roles going forward in Afghanistan, Peter Lavoy, the Pentagons top policy official on Afghanistan told reporters Tuesday in response to a question. Those countries and other immediate and nearby neighbours of Afghanistan are affected by the security conditions in Afghanistan, he said briefing reporters on Pentagons twice-a-year report to Congress on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan. Borders, as you know, are very porous in this part of the world. Theyre affected by it, and they in turn affect security and political developments inside Afghanistan, said Lavoy, acting assistant secretary of defence for Asia Pacific security affairs. The report addresses the effect US and NATO troops pulling back from patrolling and giving most of that responsibility to Afghan forces has had. Lavoy said there will need to be some level of US involvement in the country even after the 2014 withdrawal and the Pentagon has developed a number of plans for that based on the current situation on the ground. He did not give a recommendation for a specific number troops or funding amount that will be needed, but did call the zero option, where the United States would pull out completely, unrealistic. In none of these cases have we developed an option that is zero, Lavoy said.
UN chief urges regional, global support for Africas great lakes peace accord
Only a credible political process will end the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and address the root causes of cyclical violence in the wider Great Lakes, SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon said today in a message to a high-level international summit on the situation in this striferidden region of Africa. In a message delivered by Mary Robinson, his Special Envoy to the region, Mr. Ban said the Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes region (ICGLR), presents a significant opportunity to build on momentum generated by a six-month-old peace agreement which has been dubbed the framework of hope. The two-day summit, taking place at UN headquarters in Nairobi, is expected to be attended by the 11 African countries that signed on to the accord, formally known as the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region. I reiterate my call for all the signatories to the Framework to jointly and individually respect their commitments, including neither tolerating nor providing assistance nor support to armed groups, said the UN chief in his message. He also called on the international community to assist the signatories to work constructively to uphold their commitments and to contribute to peacebuilding programmes that could lead to stability and development for all the people of the Great Lakes region. Yet Mr. Ban also cited challenges, expressing serious concern about continuing reports of killings, forced recruitment and illegal detention of civilians, including children, by the
March 23Movement and other armed groups. He added that these activities constitute serious human rights violations and must stop immediately. Any acts that undermine or target the efforts of the United Nations on the ground to protect civilians and deliver urgently needed humanitarian relief will not be tolerated, Mr. Ban stressed. Since the signing of the framework, Mrs. Robinson has been working with civil society and a technical committee comprised of regional participants, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO) and UN partners to establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound benchmarks and indicators of progress on the framework. The Special Envoy was scheduled to present them to the ongoing Summit, ahead of the next meeting of the framework oversight mechanism which will formally adopt them on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly high-level debate in New York this September. In his message, Mr. Ban also encouraged all parties to conclude as soon
as possible the so-called Kampala talks between the DRC Government and M23 rebels, held under the auspices of the Chairperson of the ICGLR, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Since mid-May, the area has seen repeated attacks by the M23 rebel group against national troop (FARDC) positions in an apparent attempt to advance on Goma and neighbouring Sake. The M23, along with other armed groups, has clashed repeatedly with the FARDC over the past year with the rebels briefly occupying Goma in November 2012. The fighting, which recently dragged in a group of Ugandan-based rebels, has displaced more than 100,000 people, exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the region which includes 2.6 million internally displaced people (IDPs) and 6.4 million in need of food and emergency aid. Mr. Ban and Mrs. Robinson visited the region in May, along with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim who pledged an additional $1 billion for cross-border development in support of the framework.
In iraq, un goodwill envoy pau gasol urges aid for children affected by syrian crisis
Pau Gasol, National Basketball Association (NBA) champion and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF), has wrapped up a visit to Iraq by urging additional support for the hundreds of thousands of Syrian children forced out of their homeland by conflict. I met children who have fled from a tragic situation in Syria and now depend on urgent humanitarian aid to save their lives and give them an opportunity to build a new life, said Mr. Gasol, a Silver Medallist at the 2012 Olympics, two-time NBA champion and UNICEF Spain Committee Ambassador since 2003. Among the children with whom Mr. Gasol met was 10-year-old Sulinam who told the Goodwill Ambassador that his familys shop had been destroyed in Syria, I want the war to end there so that I can return home and my brothers and sisters and I can go back to school. Mr. Gasol said he was shocked to see what some of the children have seen, No child should experience such violence and destruction and be deprived of the basic services that they need to grow and develop to fulfil their potential. Since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad as many as 100,000 people have been killed,
provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Meanwhile, the main opposition party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its three allies boycotted the elections as the countrys Supreme Court, on a plea by the PML-N, had advanced the polling date Aug 6 to July 30. PPP complained of not having received adequate time to campaign for the election due to the changed date. The PML-N had requested for the change in the presidential voting date, saying many lawmakers in the country would be in Saudi Arabia for a religious ritual during the last few days of Ramadan, which is likely to end in Pakistan around Aug 9, 2013.
some 4 million have been internally displaced and almost 2 million have fled to neighbouring countries of which around 50 per cent are children, including over 160,000 in Iraq. UNICEF said it has provided around 10 million people with access to safe water, more than 2.4 million children with vaccinations against measles and 268,000 with access to education, among other responses. During his visit, Mr. Gasol saw the UN and its partners support provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities, primary education, health care and child protection services. Providing these services is a huge job, said Mr. Gasol. While we can
see some good results, the needs are enormous. So much more help is needed. The UN agency has appealed for more than $360 million to assist Syrian children in Iraq, as well as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Egypt, through the end of the year. As of 16 July, the latest figures show a $191 million funding gap. Earlier this month, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, who also visited Iraq, among other countries in the region, stressed that children will continue to suffer the consequences of the ongoing conflict in Syria unless an urgent political solution is found.
INTERNATIONAL
his India visit last month, Kerry had called on the Indians to continue that process of facilitation, as well as the Pakistanis to do things like provide MFN (Most favoured nation) status to the Indians. And Im sure that that will be part of the conversations that we continue to have, the official said. But we are external actors in this. We are in no way seeking to broker any sort of conversation on Kashmir. In meetings with Sharif, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and outgoing president Asif Ali Zardari, Kerry is expected to press the new government on eliminating militant safehavens as US-led troops prepare to leave Afghanistan next year. Asked about Pakistans refusal to give up their use of proxies through certain domestic terrorist groups in the Indo-Pak context, the official said this would be a part of the conversation with the Pakistanis. As weve said to them in the past, fostering or helping in any way to provide some sort of base for extremism is ultimately not in any of our interests, including in Pakistans interest, he said. Well have to see where the new government is on this and what theyre willing to do as how they see it as part of their broader efforts at promoting stability, the official said. Thats in large part one of the reasons we want to have to this conversation face to face and see how far we can move this forward. Moscow Fugitive US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has received temporary asylum in Russia for one year, and has moved to a safe place, said a lawyer assisting him. I have just delivered documents to him (Snowden) from the Russian Federal Migrant Service (FMS), Xinhua quoted lawyer Anatoly Kucherena as telling the Interfax news agency. Kucherena said the documents allowed Snowden to move freely within Russia. The former intelligence contractor had left the transit zone of Moscows Sheremetyevo international airport for a location that would not be disclosed. I hope you will treat this vague information with understanding ... the safety issue is a very serious one for him, the lawyer said. The FMS confirmed the granting of asylum. One of the district subdivisions of the Federal Migration Service Department for the Moscow region has decided to grant Mr. Snowden the status of temporary asylum, FMS spokesperson Zalina Kornilova said. She added that the Snowden case was nothing special. I emphasise that this is not a unique case, so, over a thousand people applied to district subdivisions in 2013 alone, so far, Kornilova said. Snowdens whereabouts after leav-
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ing the transit zone remain a mystery. Kucherena said Snowden would choose where he lived. He can either live in a hotel or rent a flat, he said. The lawyer said currently, Snowden had no immediate plan to fly to Latin America, but the former spy agency contractor would stay in touch with his family. I am finishing paperwork on the invitation to his father. He will come and we will be able to discuss all issues personally, the lawyer said. On Wednesday, Snowdens father Lon Snowden said in an interview to a Russian news channel that he hoped his son could find protection in Russia. Snowden arrived at the Sheremetyevo airport June 23, and was reportedly stranded in the transit zone since then as his passport was revoked by
the US government. He faces espionage charges for disclosing a classified intelligence surveillance project code-named PRISM. Calling Snowden a transit passenger who arrived in Russia without invitation, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said Moscow was not going to harm its relations with Washington, and that Snowden must handle his affairs without our involvement. The president said the relationship between Russia and the US is more important than any intelligence scandal. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday Moscow was aware of the atmosphere created in US over Snowden, but he had not received any signals regarding the cancellation of US President Barack Obamas visit to Russia in September. IANS
Valadao, co-chairs of the AmericanSikh Congressional Caucus, along with other caucus members and representatives, One year after gunfire shattered the peace of the gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, we are reminded of the frailty of life and the power that prejudices hold in our society, said Chu. As we mark this solemn day and remember the six people who were lost, we must work to ensure that discrimination and hateful acts based on intolerance do not have a place in our nation, she said. Sadly, hatred and prejudice toward the Sikh Community has increased over the last decade and has occurred in my own Central Valley Congressional District, which is home to a large Sikh population,
said Valadao. Heartbreaking events such as this, highlight deep societal problems, he said. As Americans, we must see past stereotypes and treat each other with compassion and respect. Meanwhile community organisations led South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), a network of 41 South Asian organizations, have planned several events for Remembering Oak Creek. These include remembrance of the six victims at the US Federal Court House hosted by US Attorney James Santelle on Friday. Chardhi Kala 6K Memorial Run/ Walk - Turning Tragedy into Triumph on Saturday, tributes to departed souls by guests, dignitaries, and well wishers on Sunday and a candle light vigil on Monday.
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BUSINESS
Hyderabad After over three years of uncertainty, the Information Technology industry here heaved a sigh of relief with Tuesdays announcement by the Congress party to carve out a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. The announcement has cleared the air over the future of Hyderabad, a major IT destination in the country. This fast growing metropolis will be the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years. Andhra Pradesh is expected to build its own capital within that period. The IT industry welcomed the decision, saying it brought an end to uncertainty and brightened the prospects of the city attracting new investments. The industry with software exports to the tune of Rs.40,000 crore was worried over frequent shutdowns and spells of violent protests for separate Telangana state. This had taken sheen off brand Hyderabad. I believe the decision has brought in a positive sentiment as the uncertainty surrounding the matter has finally been resolved, said V. Laxmikanth, managing director, Broadridge India. Hyderabad, known for its large pool of talented IT professionals and as a
RBI leaves key rates unchanged; cuts Hyderabads IT industry now breathes easy growth forecast
Mumbai The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday left all key policy rates unchanged to support the battered rupee and said the recent liquidity tightening measures will be rolled back when stability returns to the currency markets. In the first quarter review of the monetary policy, the central bank cut growth forecast for the current financial year to 5.5 percent from its earlier projection of 5.7 percent, saying continued domestic as well as global uncertainties would hit the Indian economy. The repurchase or the repo rate, the interest that commercial banks pay to the RBI on short-term borrowings, has been left unchanged at 7.25 percent. And so has the reverse repo rate at 6.25 percent. The cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the share of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, is also maintained at 4 percent. India is currently caught in a classic impossible trinity trilemma whereby we are having to forfeit some monetary policy discretion to address external sector concerns, said RBI Governor D. Subbarao. He said the liquidity tightening measures taken by the central bank over the last two weeks were aimed at checking undue volatility in the foreign exchange market. They will be rolled back in a calibrated manner as stability is restored to the foreign exchange market, enabling monetary policy to revert to supporting growth with continuing vigil on inflation. Reacting on the RBI policy, chief economic adviser in the finance ministry Rajan said the government and the central bank were on the same page and working together to ensure stability in the currency markets. Government and the Reserve Bank of India are firmly convinced of the need to do what it takes to stabilise the rupee, and we see this as being
friendly to growth over the medium term, Rajan said in a statement. No one should doubt our resolve in this matter, he said. The RBI move dampened the sentiments in equities as well as currency markets. The rupee slipped below the key psychological level of 60 against a dollar and hit a three-week low. Key indices of the Indian stock markets hit the lowest level in one month. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex slumped 1.25 percent at 19,348.34 points and the National Stock Exchanges Nifty fell 1.31 percent at 5,755.05 points. Explaining the RBI move, the Governor said while the investment climate remained weak and risk aversion continued to stall fresh plans, the outlook was also inhibited by cost and time overruns, deteriorating cash flows and lack of credit confidence. Subbarao said while in the past couple of years, the central banks stance was to address the twin issues of growth and inflation, the situation now has exacerbated with concerns over external sector, mainly on account of the current account deficit. The current situation -- moderating wholesale price inflation, prospects of softening of food inflation consequent on a robust monsoon and decelerating growth -- would have provided a reasonable case for
continuing on the easing stance, he said. Analysts said the central banks move was on expected line as it had little room to tinker with the rates, given the volatility in the currency markets. RBI has made it very clear that it can only contain the volatility of the rupee, it can support the government in growth of the economy but the kick has to come from the government, said Siddharth Shankar, advisor, broking and investment firm KASSA. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president Kris Gopalakrishnan said the moderation of growth outlook by the RBI is a matter of great concern. This enforces our view that actions on multiple fronts are required to help the economy revive, besides a large number of policies needing implementation, Gopalakrishnan said. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) secretary general, A. Didar Singh said the RBI decision was on expected line. The decision of the central bank to hold back cut in the repo rate was anticipated as the entire focus at present seems centered on supporting the rupee. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that industrial growth remains worrisome, Didar Singh said. IANS
base for leading MNCs, is expected to reclaim its reputation of being the destination of choice for businesses across industries, he said. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, chairman and managing director, Infotech Enterprises, said while he was not for or against the decision, he was anxiously looking forward for this decisive movement. The separation problem has been voiced for the last 50 years but in the last three years some of these agitations have been (hurdles) for progress of the state. The uncertainty has slowed down the growth. That is now past. Suman Reddy, vice president and managing director, Pegasystems India, hoped the development will bring back stability in the business environment of the city. Growth and expansion from the perspective of IT MNCs investing in the state had been stalled/relatively slow due to this issue, which hopefully will resume after the decision is announced, he said. Hyderabad, which emerged on the world IT map only in mid-1990s, is home to over 1,000 IT and ITeS companies including global majors like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Dell, Oracle and Amazon.
M&M tractor sales up by 12 Scotland expecting growth percent in July in business partnerships with India
Kolkata With over 100 Scottish firms forging business partnerships with Indian companies last year, a Scottish governmental agency Thursday said it is expecting a surge of 30 percent in the number of such collaborations in the 2013-14 fiscal. With 116 Scottish companies establishing partnerships with Indian companies in FY 12-13, which is an increase of 30 percent over the previous year, we expect the same rate of growth in the number of such companies by the end of FY 13-14, said Rooma Kumar Bassi, director-north and east India, Scottish Development International (SDI). SDI is the international economic development arm of the Scottish Government, which set up its base in India in 2001 with offices in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Bassi said the growth in the business partnerships will result in increase in the bilateral trade which is expected to grow by 15-20 percent in the next few years. The mutual trade roughly now stands at around 3,00,000 pounds and new partnerships will certainly add to the trade which is expected
New Delhi The government Wednesday extended the deadline for filing of income tax returns to Aug 5 from July 31 set earlier. As a measure of taxpayers convenience, it has been decided to extend the due date of filing of returns from 31st July, 2013, to 5th August, 2013, the finance ministry said in a statement. Taxpayers are requested to avail of this extension of time and file their returns after paying due taxes, it said. The government extended the dead-
Chennai Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd Thursday said it closed last month selling 18,469 tractors, 12 percent up as compared to the same period of the previous year. In a statement, the company said it sold 17,771 units in the domestic market as against 15,595 units in July 2012. On the other hand, the company witnessed 32 percent fall in its export sales last month. M&M shipped out 698 tractors last month as against
1,026 units in July 2012. The second quarter of FY 2013 has begun well and we are happy with our domestic volume of 17,771 units and 15 percent growth achieved in July 2013. The monsoon this year has been normal, which augurs well for the farm sector. A revival in agri-production will provide greater impetus to the economy amidst the overall slowdown, the statement quoted Rajesh Jejurikar, chief executive, tractor and farm mechanisation at M&M, as saying.
to grow by 15-20 percent in the next few years, said Bassi. The SDI is scouting for business opportunities with India as it looks for investment in sectors like information technology, energy, education, life science, heavy engineering among others. The SDI is expecting a growth in Indian investment in the country which currently stands at $1 billion with the presence of names like Tata Steel, Wipro, Usha Martin etc. While there is presence of big Indian companies, we welcome small and medium enterprises to invest in Scotland where they can get incentives like regional selective assistance, research and development (R&D) funding and concession on corporate tax provided to foreign investors in selected areas, added Bassi. IANS
BUSINESS
Washington Noting that growing trade and investment continue to drive the US-India partnership forward, leading South Asia experts have said the two countries should not let trade issues complicate their relationship even as they welcomed Indias admission to the trans-Pacific trade treaty as an economic coup. During his recent visit to India, Vice President Joe Biden addressed the key issues that stand out for policymakers on both sides of the US-India relationship, the lone Indian Congressman Ami Bera and South Asia expert Karl Inderfurth, noted in a commentary. Biden had highlighted protection of intellectual property, limits on foreign direct investment, inconsistent tax dues and barriers to market access as the tough problems between the two countries. In working through these current disputes, both countries should not lose perspective of the rapid expansion and future trajectory of the full bilateral trade and investment relationship, Bera and Inderfurth, wrote in Roll Call focusing on Congressional affairs. The goal should be to facilitate, not complicate, this key pillar of the deepening US-India partnership, wrote Democrat Bera and Inderfurth, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. Overall US-India economic and trade relationship is steadily growing, they said noting business ties have already achieved a nearly fivefold increase in bilateral trade since 2000. Noting that India is now the third-fastest-growing source of foreign direct investment in the US, and the US is among the top five of Indias preferred FDI destinations, Bera and Inderfurth said the growing flow of capital from India has brought many benefits to the US economy. Indian investment in the US recently touched $11 billion and has helped create 100,000 jobs. India-headquartered companies support 32,000 jobs, $1.6 billion in capital expenditures and $487 million in exports in 2010, according to the Department of Commerce. Noting growing trade and investment continue to drive the US-India partnership forward, Bera and Inderfurth said, US and Indian policymakers need to keep their eye on the prize of unleashing the full potential of their economic relations. Meanwhile, two other foreign policy experts said Indias addition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, linking together major economies in North America, South America, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia, would only enhance the TPPs transformative potential.
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HCL Infosystems to sponsor Indias admission to TPP would be Galatasaray an economic coup
A TPP including India would do more to buttress Washingtons ties to New Delhi than any number of highlevel junkets, Sean West and Jesse Kaplan wrote in the Politico, an influential Washington newspaper focusing on politics, referring to Bidens recent India visit. Kaplan, a former Babar Ali fellow at Lahore University of Management Sciences, and a student at Yale Law School and West, head of Eurasia Groups US practice, noted President Barack Obama has characterized a strong relationship with India as indispensable. But the truth is that US-India relations have stagnated since the signing of the civil nuclear deal at the end of the George W. Bush administration, they wrote. Indian admission to the TPP would be an economic coup. Adding the worlds largest democracy, and a BRIC, would represent a symbolic victory for a pact that promises to set global trading standards for decades to come, they wrote. Joining the TPP would be a smart move for India, too, Kaplan and West wrote, as The TPP offers Delhi the opportunity to gain preferential access to thriving and fast-growing markets in Southeast Asia, in addition to Canada, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. Arun Kumar
New Delhi Indian software major HCL Infosystems signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with Turkish soccer club Galatasaray. According to the deal, Galatasaray will be endorsing ME Tablet, which is manufactured by HCL Infosystems. Galatasaray will take the field with the ME Tablet logo on their shorts in this season and Galatasaray mens volleyball team players will carry HCL ME logo on their armband this year. The limited edition ME Tablet ME GS 1905, exclusively designed for Galatasaray supporters was also unveiled at the signature ceremony hosted at the Ali Sami Yen Sport
Complex - Trk Telekom Arena in Istanbul Thursday. Today, we have come together to announce this agreement between a well-known brand in the world, Galatasaray, a leader with an international identity and HCL ME Tablet, a leading technology brand based out of India. We are pleased to announce the limited edition ME Tablet Series which will be launched in the Turkey market, said nal Aysal, president of the Galatasaray Sports Club. Gautam Advani, Global Head - Mobility Business, HCL Infosystems Ltd. said: It is a proud moment for us to be a sponsor of one of the most favorite European clubs, Galatasaray. Turkey carries a great strategic importance for HCL ME Tablets.
end to them. Both countries also agreed to revive the strategic dialogue, suspended following the NATO attack on a Pakistani post in November 2011 that left 24 soldiers dead. IANS
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SPORTS
Franklin impresses in world New Zealand looks swimming championship qualfier forward to hosting 2015
Barcelona Missy Franklins quest to become the first woman to win a World Championship gold medal directly after an Olympic gold in the 100 metres backstroke remains on track as she clocked the fastest time in the heats and booked her place in the semi-final of the event at the Palau St. Jordi here Monday. Franklin, who won her first gold of the meet in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay Sunday, clocked 59.13 seconds, ahead of Hungarys Katinka Hosszu and Elizabeth Pelton with Chinas Fu Yuanhui fourth and 2009 bronze medallist Emily Seebohn in fifth, reports Xinhua. Meanwhile, defending joint champion Camille Lacourt will have to improve in the semi-final as he was only able to post the tenth fastest qualifying time. The 16-year-old Olympic champion, Ruta Meilutyte looked good as she stormed into the semi-final of the womens 100 metre breaststroke. Gold for the Lithuanian in Barcelona would make her the youngest person to win the event at both Olympic and World Championship level. Ryan Lochte suffered a disappointment when he was part of the US
4x100 metres freestyle relay team sensationally beaten into second place by France and he appeared to be suffering a hangover from that disappointment when he was only ninth fastest in qualifying in the heats for the mens 200 metre freestyle with Britains Robert Renwick fastest into the semis with a time of 1:46.88. Finally there promises to be a thrilling final to the womens 1,500 metres freestyle between Denmarks
Lotte Friis and 400 metre freestyle champion Katie Ledecky. Friis was less than a tenth of a second faster than Ledecky in qualifying but the 16-year-old American had been on track for a new world record after swimming 400 metres and seemed to ease up with the race well under control and Tuesdays final could well produce a new world or championship record in the event.
members had used a banned substance prior to the games. However, it wasnt until last August that the IOC reallocated the medals. The decision moved the Nigerian team to earning a gold medal with Jamaica and The Bahamas being awarded silver and bronze medals respectively. I want each of you to reflect on your contribution to athletics in The Bahamas and to see, as professionals, what you are doing now, and to hope that, in some way, you
are able to give something back, said Prime Minister Christie. Prime Minister Christie urged team members to travel through the Bahamas to encourage young children to pursue their dreams in athletics. The Prime Minister announced that his Government would embark on the construction of sporting complexes throughout the islands. I am hoping that tomorrow my Government signs off on the first one in Abaco, said Prime Minister Christie.
Wellington New Zealand said Tuesday it looked forward to co-hosting the 2015 cricket World Cup with Australia. This gives Christchurch a target to work toward, and signals its reemergence as a strong tourist and sporting destination capable of hosting world-class events, said Sport and Recreation Minister Murray McCully. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that New Zealand would host half of all pool matches, one quarter-final and a semi-final. Seven New Zealand cities - Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin - are to host three matches each, while seven Australian cities would host the remainder of the 49-match tournament from Feb 14 to March 29, 2015. Earthquake-battered Christchurch will be hosting the opening match. The New Zealand government will contribute 5 million NZ dollars
($3.99 million) to the tournament. This commitment will ensure the 2015 Cricket World Cup lives up to the high standards New Zealand set as a host nation during the Rugby World Cup in 2011, McCully said. The governments Tourism New Zealand agency said it could now begin planning for the influx of cricket fans and international media. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 provides us with a major opportunity to boost exposure in key target markets and encourage travellers to visit New Zealand or add New Zealand to their Australian tour plans, Tourism New Zealand chair Kerry Prendergast said. The World Cup is contested by the 10 full members of the ICC, which are England, Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the West Indies and Zimbabwe. Four associate and affiliated members will also compete to qualify for the mega event
New Delhi Delhi Police will apply for cancelling the bail of cricketer Sreesanth and 20 others who are allegedly involved in the Indian Premier League (IPL) spotfixing scandal.We are filing a chargesheet in the IPL spot-fixing case today (Tuesday) and we will apply for the cancellation of bail of all 21 accused including Sreesanth, S.N. Srivastava, special commissioner of police (Spe-
cial Cell) told . Till now, 29 people had been arrested in the IPL spot fixing case. Twenty-one of them are on bail, while eight are in judicial custody. Three Rajasthan Royals players - Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila - were arrested by Delhi Police from Mumbai, May 16. While Sreesanth and Chavan are out on bail, Chandila is still languishing in Tihar jail.
SPORTS
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New Delhi Board president Narayanaswami Srinivasan Friday met with some unexpected resistance from some of his colleagues in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), forcing him to abandon his plan to chair the working committee meeting. Sources told IANS that what was demoralising for Srinivasan more than the Bombay High Courts adverse ruling that some of his known friends bluntly asked him to keep off the board till he is cleared, both morally and judicially. It all started with senior vice president Arun Jaitley explaining to him at a lengthy meeting the legal implications if he tries to brazen out the Bombay High Court observations, which are in the nature of strictures, and by inference asking him to lie low till a legal remedy is found. Even before the Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council meeting started, Srinivasan had a lengthy meeting with Jaitley and IPL
New Delhi Both Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and organisers of the Indian Grand Prix Jaypee Group Tuesday confirmed that the 2014 India round will have to be dropped to tweak the racing calendar and it will now be held in the first half of 2015. Ecclestone, who has been controlling the F1 empire for nearly 40 years, told IANS from his London office that he and his Formula 1 management always wanted the India round early in the season, but the organisers preferred October. When we signed the five-year deal with Jaypee, we were keen on going to India in the first half and Jaypee wanted it to be in October. We gave in at that time, but now it looks we will have the race early 2015, Ecclestone, 82, told IANS. Jaypee, later in the day, more or less came around to Ecclestones view. Sameer Gaur, managing director, Jaypee Sports International (JPSI), told IANS that he would have preferred the race in the festive season, but if the F1 management wants it in the beginning of the season, he has no objection. October-November suits us weatherwise and it is also a festive season. But if Formula One Management (FOM) wants us to hold our race in March 2015, we dont have any problem with that, said Gaur. A JPSI source added that the decision was arrived at after prolonged discussions with Ecclestone. Shifting the Indian Grand Prix to early 2015 would mean the British magnate will not be celebrating his
birthday in India for the first time in four years, assuming he will be here for the October 2013 race. He said the 2014 round will not take place as it would be impossible for Jaypee to host two races within six months. As it is, the hosts shell out $40 million (Rs 237.7 crore) for every F1 race at Buddh International Circuit (BIC) as licensing fee. It (hosting one race in October 2014 and another in early 2015) was too close. Therefore, after speaking to promoters, we think it is best not to have a race in 2014 and have one in 2015, said Ecclestone, who will present the 2014 calendar to the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) in September. However, Malaysia hosted two races in a short span of time when it organised the last race of 2000 in October and from the following year onwards the round is being held in March. Ecclestone said during the Hungarian Grand Prix last week that the Indian Grand Prix was unlikely to happen next year and the reason for it was political. It is interpreted as the teams not being happy with the taxation policy of India and the red tape involved. Asked about the challenges facing the Indian Grand Prix, Ecclestone said: There are issues that need to be sorted out in your country. I hope the organisers are able to deal with it at the earliest. Having a race at the start of the season
means India will have to be clubbed with Australia, and the Asian nations Malaysia, Bahrain and China. Ecclestone did not specify how he would fit India in the 2015 calendar, merely saying: We will have to club India with the four rounds in the Asia Pacific region. The F1 czar has a possible 22 races jostling for space on the calendar with teams expressing a strong preference for a maximum of 20. Russia is looking forward to its first race in the Black Sea resort of Sochi towards the end of next year, and a Grand Prix in New Jersey, US, is also planned for 2014. Austria is also keen on returning to the F1-fold after an 11-year break. India first hosted a Grand Prix in 2011 and this years race is scheduled for Oct 27 as the 16th round of the 19-event card. The two races in India have been won by Red Bulls triple world champion Sebastian Vettel. The inaugural edition was attended by 95,000 fans while the number dropped to 60,000 in the second year. The second year is always difficult for the organisers. I hope bigger crowds turn up for the third edition, said Ecclestone. Asked whether he would want Indian GP to continue after the five-year contract, Ecclestone said: I really want it to continue, but it all depends on a lot of other factors. The sport is expanding its base every year.
IANS
Australian swimmer James Magnussen is seen after winning the mens 100 m. freestyle final of the 15th FINA World Championships at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, north-eastern Spain
Twenty20 Internationals, seven ODIs and three Tests from NovemIANS ber to January, 2014.
24 Friendship Day celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August every year. The tradition of dedicating a day in honour of friends began in US in 1935. Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries including India. On this day, people spend time with their friends and express love for them. Exchange of Friendship Day Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.
Day Dedicated to Friends
In tune with the spirit of the occasion, people dedicate Friendship Day festival to their best friends. Most choose to celebrate the entire day in the loving company of their dearest friends. Recollecting sweet memories of the time spent together and catching up with their lives over a cup of coffee is the idea of ideal Friendship Day celebration for many. where people have little time to spend with each other, friends have become indispensable. Then there are times when we find it tough to discuss matters with our family members or even with our spouse, it is on occasions such as these that friends come to our support. They guide us and become our pillar of strength when we need them most. And the best part is we dont really need to put things in words when communicating issues to our best friends. Most often friends understand us, just by looking at us or hearing our voice. This heart-to-heart bonding is what makes friendship so exclusive, setting it apart from all other relationships. enjoyment in the company of closed pals and chums!! The best way to celebrate Friendship Day would be to spend the day in a way your friendship group enjoys the most. In case you want to be creative and do something different to mark this significant day,
Significance of Friends
True friendship is about putting your feet up and knowing that someone is there to bail you out when the world might walk out on you. Besides, as a support system in todays hectic world, friends are the most reliable sources for social, intellectual and creative stimulations. In the present fast pace age of nuclear families
bashes are more popular in metros and other big cities, however, youth in small town s too are warming up to the idea of partying on Friendship Day.
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