VOL: 3 ISSUE 1
Abdul Kalam frisked; India irked
New Delhi, July 21 : In a
breach of protocol, former
president APJ Abdul
Kalam, who is exempted
from security checks due to
his status, was frisked by
an American airlines at the
international airport here
before boarding the
aircraft.
The civil aviation
ministry has ordered a
probe into the incident
involving the ground
security staff of ordinary passenger,"
Continental Airlines sources close to Kalam
which subjected Kalam said.
to security check before They said
he was to board a Kalam did not take up the
Newark-bound flight on issue with the
government. "It is the
airline policy to check
everyone. They never
listen to any Indian
agency," they said.
Civil aviation
minister Praful Patel said
the Bureau of Civil
Aviation Security (BCAS)
is investigating the matter
and action will be taken
against whosoever is
found responsible.
"I just got to
know about the incident.
We will ask for corrective
action and we will ask the
concerned people to
apologise," he told
reporters here.
Describing the
April 24. incident as a "normal
"The incident security procedure", the
took place on April 24 at airline public relations
the Indira Gandhi officer Aparna said "there
international airport is no special rule for VIPs
when Kalam was and VVIPs. This is the
travelling to the US. He process the airline
was treated like an adheres to."
The former
president also had to
"surrender" before the
staff for a complete body
check, the sources
claimed.
Aparna said
Kalam was "very
cooperative" and "he
happily underwent the
entire process".
DIG CISF
(airport security) Udyan
Banerjee said the first
level of security check,
which is conducted by the
force, was waived but a
second level of checking
is done by the airlines.
This is not for
the first time an Indian
VIP has been frisked at
an airport. Last year, the
then external affairs
minister Pranab
Mukherjee was frisked at
Moscow airport. In 2003,
the then defence minister
George Fernandes was
also made to undergo
security screening in the
US.
Political parties
condemn the act
Political parties
Chennai, July 21, 2009
today condemned the
incident involving the
frisking of former
president APJ Abdul
Kalam by the staff of an
American airliner here
with the BJP seeking an
apology on the issue from
the government.
" T h e
government should
tender an apology. It's a
matter relating to protocol
and they have a
responsibility in it," senior
party leader Shahnawaz
Hussain told reporters
outside Parliament.
Another party
leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy
said the behaviour meted
out to the former
president is "totally
unacceptable"
" T h e
responsibility of security
of airports in India is of
CISF, which also carries
out the frisking work," he
said adding action should
be taken against the staff
of the foreign airline for
this breach of protocol.
Te r m i n g t h e
incident as "unfortunate",
CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury
said, "We would also like to
know whether the incident
happened due to the name
which in that case makes it
all the more serious."
SP chief Mulayam
Singh Yadav said the
government should
seriously raise objections
over the incident.
C o n g r e s s
spokesperson Jayanthi
Natarajan said if there has
been a breach of protocol,
action will be taken by the
government after the
probe.
"If such a breach
of protocol has happened,
we need to look into it. I am
sure if there has been a
breach of trust, action will
be taken by the ministry
after a probe," she said.
The Congress
leader said every time
there is a breach of
protocol, it has been taken
up with the country
c o n c e r n e d a n d
explanations were offered.
Noted lawyer
Ram Jethmalani said the
concerned airline must
apologise. "It is absolutely
bad manners on their part."
Page 2 Times Chennai E-Paper
Villagers stage road roko;
disrupts vehicular traffic
Karur, July 21: Vehicular
traffic on the busy Karur-
Dindigul highway was
affected for nearly two
hours as some villagers of
Velliyanai resorted to road
roko at Velliyanai near here
Toll in cracker unit fire rises to 10
Virudhunagar, July 21:
The toll in the devastating
inferno that broke out in a
private fire cracker
manufacturing factory at
Namaskarithanpatti village
near Sivakasi, yesterday,
rose to ten, with the death
of two more people today.
Police sources
said K Murugan (39) and S
Chinna Muniyandi (40),
who were admitted to
Government Rajaji
Hospital (GRH) at Madurai
and Government Hospital
(GH) at Sivakasi,
respectively, succumbed
to their injuries, this
morning, taking the toll to
ten.
As many as eight seriously
injured were getting
intensive treatment in the
burns ward at GRH, while
18 others were getting
treatment at Government
hospital in Sivakasi and
Vi r u d h u n a g a r. T h e
condition of six injured was
still critical, hospital
sources said.
Meanwhile, a
special police team
CM announces solatium to
fire victims, orders probe
Chennai, July 21: The
Tamil Nadu Government
today announced a
solatium of Rs one lakh
each to the families of ten
people killed in a ghastly
fire mishap at a private fire
cracker manufacturing
f a c t o r y a t
Namaskarithanpatti village
near Sivakasi, yesterday,
and also ordered a probe
into the cirumstances that
led to the accident.
Replying to a
Special Call Attention
motion given by members
of various political parties in
the State Assembly, Chief
Minister M Karunanidhi
said the Government has
accepted the report of the
District Collector
recommending Rs one lakh
compensation to the
families of those killed and
Rs 50,000 to those
severely injured as they
hailed from a poor family
and were working as
labourers.
Accordingly, an
assistance of Rs one lakh
each would be paid to
those killed, Rs 50,000
each to 13 seriously injured
today.
They were
demanding that the
authorities reconstruct a
road bridge on the
Ve l l i y a n a i - J a g a d a b i
highway, which was
arrested V Muthusamy,
foreman and S
Rajadurai, manager of
the Sri Krishna Fire
Works factory under
sections 304 A (II)
(causing death by
negligence), 286
(negligent conduct with
respect to Explosive
Substance), 337
(causing hurt by act
endangering life or
personal safety of
others), 338 (causing
grievous hurt by act
endangering life or
personal safety of others)
of Indian Penal Code and
section 5 of Indian
Explosive Act.
The owner of
t h e f a c t o r y
Radhakrishnan was
absconding and police
have launched an
massive search to arrest
him.
T h e f i r e
engulfed the cracker unit
and triggered series of
explosion, destroying 35
rooms and godowns
inside the factory.
and Rs 25,000 each to
two people who suffered
30 per cent burns in the
fire accident.
Mr Karunanidhi
expressed his heartfelt
condolences to the
deceased families and
said the assistance, as
recommended by the
Collector, would be paid
from the Chief Minister's
Public Relief fund.
He said soon
after he came to know of
the accident, he had
deputed his Cabinet
colleagues K K S S R
Ramachandran and
Thangam Thennarasu,
representing the District,
to console the injured at
the hospital and also
asked them to inspect the
fire site.
The Ministers
held discussions with the
Collector and also
assured best of medical
treatment to the injured.
Stating that the
licence for the cracker
unit was renewed till
December 2011, Mr
Karunanidhi said 200
workers were working in
Tamil Nadu
damaged about one year
back.
In support of the
villagers, most of the
s h o p s i n Ve l l i y a n a i
remained closed.
The tragedy
occurred when the
workers were filling
explosive powder in
cracker varieties,
including rockets.
Manufacturing of fire
crackers was in full swing
in the factory in view of
coming Deepavali
festival.
The deceased
were M Ravi (33), P
Sokkar (28), K
Ramasamy (48) his son
R Karuppasamy (25), S
Sundaravalli (46), M
Muthu Karuppayee (26),
G Subbulakshmi (35), M
Murugan (29), S Chinna
Muniyandi (40) and K
Murugan (39).
This was the
second major fire mishap
in a cracker unit in south
Tamil Nadu within a
fortnight. Nineteen
workers were killed in an
inferno in a private fire
works at Vadakkampatti
village in Usilampatti
taluk of Madurai on July
seven.
52 units of the factory.
The licence to the
company had temporarily
been suspended
following the accident.
The Chief
Minister also announced
that a probe under
section 9(1) of the Indian
Explosives Act 1984 had
been ordered into the
circumstances that led to
the fire.
The District
Additional Magistrate and
the District Revenue
Officer would conduct the
probe, he added.
He said the
government had also
asked the officials to
monitor whether the
fireworks manufacturing
units and its godowns had
put in place adequate
Read
Times Chennai
E-Paper
Today and
every day
City hospital performs implant
surgery on UK national
Tiruchirapalli, July 21:
The city-based Dencity, a
dental care unit of the
KMC speciality hospital
has successfully
performed implant
surgery on a 74-year old
UK national.
H o s p i t a l
Managing Director Dr
Chandrakumar and
Dencity incharge Dr
Iyeppan Sankar told
newpersons here last
night that Tommy Xavier
reported to the hospital to
replace his missing right
upper and lower back
teeth and left upper back
teeth.
They said Mr
Xavier, who got removed
of those teeth 10 years
back, had never bothered
about their replacement.
What inspired him was
the treatment provided to
Nine sandalwood trees missing
from TEL premises
Vellore, July 21: Nine
sandalwood trees were
missing from the
Tamilnadu Industrial
Explosives Limited (TEL)
premises here on
Monday.
Vellore District
Forest Officer (DFO) T V
Manjunatha, who
inspected the site from
where the trees were
smuggled, told that the
trees were too small to be
of any value to the
miscreants as it could
only be used as firewood.
“They were so small that
their circumference
ranged between 20 cm
and 40 cm,” he said.
Expressing
Mettur Dam to be opened
for irrigation on Aug 7 : CM
Chennai, July 21:
Thanks to heavy inflow
due to rain in catchment
areas of Karnataka and
Kerala, the sluice gates
of the Mettur Dam will be
opened for irrigation on
August seven, Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister M
Karunanidhi announced
in the State Assembly
today.
M a k i n g a
Statement under Rule
110, Mr Karunanidhi said
the release of water from
the Mettur Dam would
help farmers in Cauvery
delta areas to take up
Samba crop cultivation.
He also urged
the farmers in the Delta
areas to take up
agricultural works
f o l l o w i n g t h e
Government's decision to
release water from the
his brother-in-law Peter
Hart (50) by the Dencity,
recently.
They said Mr
Hart had removable
dentures but of little use
as he was not able to
chew anything properly.
Nobody offered him
'implant supported
denture treatment plan'
as he was treated by
radiation therapy 15
years back for
Lymphoma.
But the Dencity offered
him mini-implant (interim
implants) supported
l o w e r d e n t u r e
(Procedure performed
under intravenous
sedation) and he was
doing very well now, they
added.
This inspired Mr
Xavier to seek treatment
from Dencity, they said
grief over the continuing
incidents of sandalwood
smuggling in the district,
he said the total value of
the trees was just around
Rs 2,000.
Ruling out
suspicion that outsiders
could have come into the
well-wired and protected
TEL campus, he
suspected the hand of
workers of the factory on
the incident.
According to
him there was an internal
problem between a
division of workers and
the management with
regard to their wages.
Claiming this to
be the first such incident
Mettur Dam.
The Chief
Minister said the inflow
into the Mettur Dam had
increased significantly
due to heavy rain in the
catchment areas of
Karnataka and Kerala.
The water level
in the Mettur Dam, which
stood at 60 ft on July 14,
rose to 81 ft yesterday as
against its full capacity of
120 ft.
The inflow into
the reservoir was 60,000
cusecs.
''If the present
situation continued, the
storage level in the dam
is expected to touch the
90 ft in the next two
weeks,'' Mr Karunanidhi
said.
''Considering
this, it has been decided
to release water from the
July 21, 2009
and added that they took
radiographs and C scan of
Maxilla and Mandible with
DENTASCAN software.
The scan was converted
into simplant planning
software mode.
They said in
simplant planner all the
planning was done and
virtually implants were
placed. Once the patient's
consent was obtained for
this treatment, the planning
along with the patients
model was sent to
Materialise Dental,
Belgium to make a
CAD/Cam surgiguide.
Using this
surgiguide as a surgical
template, implants were
placed in five locations in
the upper jaw and one in
lower jaw of Mr Xavier, they
added.
in the factory premises, he
said that the remaining
sandalwood trees there
numbered 12. He said that
they would be sending a
letter to the managing
director and general
manager of the factory
demanding an explanation
for the incident.
From their end
they have started tracking
the already arrested and
released sandalwood
smugglers in the region.
It is worth
mentioning that the forest
department had leased 700
acres of land for setting the
factory way back in 1986.
Mettur dam from August
seven to enable farmers in
the Cauvery delta areas to
take up cultivation of
Samba crop,'' he added.
Water from the
Mettur Dam would
normally be released on
the scheduled date of June
12. However, it could not be
released this year due to
poor storage level in the
dam and also due to lack of
rains in the catchment
areas, throwing a spanner
in the hopes of farmers who
were gearing to take up
cultivation.
However, there
has been heavy rain over
the last few days in
Karnataka, resulting in
increased inflow into the
Mettur Dam, bringing
smiles in the faces of the
farmers.
July 21, 2009
Editor, Associate Editor get
2 yr jail for defamation
Chennai, July 21: The
Chief Metropolitan
Magistrate (CMM) court,
Chennai has convicted
and sentenced 'Nakkeran'
bi-weekly Magazine Editor
Nakkeeran Gopal and its
Associate Editor A
Kamaraj to two-year
imprisonment in a
defamation case filed by
AIADMK MP T T V
Dinakaran.
Delivering the
judgement, CMM Judge R
Sethumadhavan said,
Gopal and Kamaraj were
found guilty for the offence
under Section 500 read
with 501 of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC).
''While passing
sentence, this court has to
balance the Right to Live
peacefully and with dignity
of an individual and the
Right of the Press to
Publish the information
about the conduct of public
functionaries.'' ''While the
court has high respect to
the freedom of the Press
and their fair criticism on
the conduct of public
functionaries, it feels that
Press cannot defame
anybody without any basis
because publication made
about an individual cannot
be retracted and any
defamation which lowers
the reputation of the
individual cannot be
restored by merely
punishing the accused,''
Madha Engineering principal
quits on excess fee issue
Chennai, July 21: The
principal of the Madha
Engineering College
c o l l e g e D r M
Premjeyakumar has
resigned. The aeronautical
engineering course for the
new academic year has
been disaffiliated. This is
the outcome of the visit of
the three-member
committee constituted to
investigate the excess fee
and capitation fee
collection in engineering
colleges. The committee
headed by Dr A
Ramasamy visited the
college on Monday.
There were
continuous protests from
students over increase in
the fees in the engineering
college in Kundrathur and
open letters to various
higher education officials
including office bearers of
TN State Council for
Higher Education and
Anna University.
The officials
including TANSCE vice
chairman Dr Ramasamy,
member secretary Dr
Bhaskaran, Vice
Chancellor of University of
M a d r a s D r S do so. He also said that
Ramachandran and Vice
Chancellor of Anna
University Dr P Mannar
Jawahar among others
Times Chennai E-Paper
the Judge observed.
The Judge
further said the court
wants to take a lenient
view to impress upon the
accused to regret for their
illegal act.
The Judge
directed Gopal and
Kamaraj to publish an
apology statement on the
Magazine cover in Bold
Letters in the ensuing two
issues. ''They should
mention in their
statement that they
regret and apologise to
Mr Dinakaran for their
baseless allegation
against him,'' the Judge
ordered.
In the case of
failure to publish the
apology, the accused are
sentenced to undergo
imprisonment for a
period of one year on
each Count. The
sentences are ordered to
run concurrently under
section 428 CrPC. the
Judge said.
n h i s
defamation case, Mr
Dinakaran said,
Nakkeeran had
published an offending
article in the issue dated
September 19, 2003 on
the front page of the
Magazine with a
photograph of him. The
article alleged that Rs 40
crore were said to have
been seized from his
asked the principal to
produce documents
pertaining to fee
collection and admission
process followed in the
last academic year.
W h e n h e
expressed his inability to
do so, other faculty
members including the
dean were questioned.
Clarifying to the media
later, Dr Ramasamy said:
“The principal said that
he has been receiving
complaints from the
students and the
complaints were
forwarded to the
management but no
action was taken. Hence,
unable to handle the
pressure to do his job, he
tendered his resignation,
a copy of which has been
provided to us.”
The principal
clarified that on the
occasions when he had
raised the issue of
excess fee collection to
the management, he was
informed that running a
college required finances
and the management
was finding it difficult to
he was resigning
because he was unable
to handle the pressure.
Later, the team
house at New Delhi, after
breaking open the lock of
the premises as per the
direction of the then Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister J
Jayalalithaa with the help
of Intelligence Officers,
Dinakaran contended.
" In the next
issue published on
September 23, 2003
also, the same offending
statement was
published", he added.
He further said
the accused without
verifying the correctness
of the contention, edited
and published the
content in the Magazine
with an intention to cause
harm to his reputation in
the general public and
the accused had not
acted honestly or in good
faith.
''The accused
had knowledge that such
publication would harm
my reputation,''
Dinakaran alleged.
W h i l e
convicting Gopal and
Kamaraj the Judge said, "
the complainant proved
his case beyond doubt
with evidence and that
the publication made by
them was without any
material. The article
offended the reputation of
the complainant with
knowledge that it would
harm his image".
visited the chairman’s
office only to see that the
officials at the office were
not present. There were
reports that some
parents had interacted
with office personnel
there a few minutes
earlier. But when the
team visited the office,
there was only a
receptionist there.
“We could not
see any document in the
college, and hence a
notice will be issued to
them and another visit
would soon be made to
inspect the documents,”
said Dr Ramasamy.
The team also
inspected the laboratory
facilities offered for the
aeronautical course in
the college following
complaints by the
students that there was
n o n e c e s s a r y
infrastructure in the
college.
Dr P Mannar
Jawahar said there was
no laboratory facilities for
the department of
aeronautical engineering
found on inspection and
currently the students
were sharing a laboratory
with the mechanical
department students.
HC holds proviso of Advocates'
Welfare Fund Act valid
Chennai, July 21: The
Madras High Court held
as valid, the proviso to
Explanation II (5) to
Section 16 of the Tamil
Nadu Advocates' Welfare
Fund Act.
A l l o w i n g
appeals by the Bar
Council of Tamil Nadu
and the Tamil Nadu
Government challenging
an order of a single
Judge, a Division Bench
comprising Justices P
Jyothimani and Aruna
Jagadeesan said in the
absence of any
legislative incompetency
on the part of the State
Nokia UniverCell Cool Campus 2009
Chennai, July 21:
UniverCell – The Mobile
chain store is all set to
rock the college campus
with a new trend for
college students.
Buy Nokia
3110c, Nokia 7210, and
Nokia 5130 and if you are
a college student flash
your college ID card in
any of the UniverCell
Protector of emigrants held for corruption
Chennai, July 21: In
what could blow the lid off
a human trafficking
racket, the CBI’s Anti-
Corruption Bureau
officials on Monday
arrested the protector of
emigrants, Chennai, R
Sekar and two of his
agents on charges of
corruption. The CBI
officials also seized
around Rs 1.5 crore from
his house and office and
documents of properties
worth several crores of
rupees.
“ A l l t h e
properties have been
registered in the name of
benamis. He has been
pushing people to foreign
countries to do menial
jobs by forging
documents and
collecting huge sums
from them through
agents,” a CBI official told
media.
IIT-M launches research journal
Chennai, July 21: To
publicise its research
works in diverse fields,
the Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras (IIT-
M) launched a research
journal, a quarterly, on
Monday. The journal will
be available online.
Launching the printed
version of the journal,
which will deal with
specific areas of
specialisation such as
mechanics, Anil
Kakodkar, chairman,
Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC), said
that scholarly journals
helped academicians
worldwide to enrich
Government in making
t h e i m p u g n e d
amendment and on the
facts and circumstances
of the case, finding that
the object of conferring
the benefit on one group
of advocates was with a
reason, it was of the view
that the change did not
suffer from constitutional
illegality or could not be
declared ultra vires to the
Constitution.
The State
Government brought an
amendment to the Act by
which a new scheme was
introduced. The scheme
stated that in the event of
store and get a scratch
card you will get superb
and amazing gifts like
Rebook Shoe, FastTrack
watches. Awesome gifts
will be there for the
purchase of selected
mobiles.
If you are lucky
enough you may get a
stylish bike too. So its
time to carry your ID card
The CBI officials
stumbled upon the racket
w h e n t h e C B I
superintendent’s office
received information that
Sekar, along with his
close associate Anwar
H u s s a i n w a s
approaching Ravindra
Babu of Andhra Pradesh
Students and Parents
Welfare Trust at
Ellaiamman Koil Street,
We s t M a m b a l a m t o
secure an engineering
seat for Sekar’s son S
Madhu by paying several
lakhs as capitation fee.
CBI officials rechecked
the authenticity of this
information and
conducted a surprise
check at the office of
Ravindra Babu and
seized Rs 13 lakh which
they were carrying to pay
as the capitation fee.
Investigations
revealed that Sekar had
knowledge and sharpen
skills in their respective
fields. “Many educational
institutions, industries
a n d r e s e a r c h
organisations benefit
from research journals
because getting access
to research work
conducted by premier
educational institutions
like IITM is rare.
Research journals help
scholars sharpen their
skills and focus on
research activities. In
atomic energy, too, we
will look forward to this
journal,” he said.
Kakodkar, who is also
chairman of IIT-Bombay,
Page 3
death of a member
advocate, his nominee or
legal heir would be paid Rs
One lakh and this was
incorporated in
Explanation II (5) to Section
16 of the Act.
The proviso
denied the benefit of Rs
One lakh to a member
advocate who retired from
government service and
enrolled as advocate and
was also receiving pension
or gratuity or other terminal
benefits from the State or
Central government.
The sum had
been increased to Rs Two
lakh from February 2001.
and rush into UniverCell
stores and purchase
selected models of Nokia
mobile and become the
luckiest in your gang.
The Nokia
Univercell Cool Campus
offer is on till July 31 rush in
to your nearest store and
flash your college ID card,
and you will get a chance to
make others jealous.
already paid Rs 5 lakh to
Ravindra Babu towards
capitation fee in May this
year. “It looks like a huge
racket. Sekar gave
emigration clearance to all
the applicants brought to
him by his associate
agents, overlooking all
prescribed norms and
collected money for that.
Anwar Hussain of Classic
Tours and Travels, who
works as an emigration
clearance agent, collected
the money on behalf of
Sekar, a 1962 batch IRS
officer. Whenever Sekar
needed money, Anwar
used to deliver it to him.
The amount for admission
of Madhu was also brought
by Anwar as per Sekar’s
direction,” the official
added. A corruption case
has been registered
a g a i n s t R S e k a r, D
Ravindra Babu and Anwar
Hussain.
mooted the idea of forming
a school of research
scholars comprising
faculty members of
premier educational
institutions to provide
scholarly work in diverse
fields. Speaking at the
launch of the journal, M S
Ananth, director, IIT-M,
said unlike in IIT-Kanpur,
the faculty at IITs in
Madras, Bombay and
Delhi did not write many
books in their areas of
specialisation. Publishing
the research journal was
also an effort to revive the
habit of writing books and
producing scholarly work
that would benefit society,
he added.
Page 4
US committed to India
nuke deal: Hillary
New Delhi, July 21: India
and US on Monday
concluded three pacts
including a strategically
important defence pact and
announced beginning of
strategic dialogue between
them. The two sides also
their commitment to the
bilateral civil nuclear deal.
The other pacts
include space cooperation
and end-user monitoring
accord that will pave way
for more defence deals
between the two countries.
The defence pact will help
India in procuring US
defence equipment.
The pacts were
signed by the visiting US
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and India’s External
Affairs Minister SM Krishna
here in Hyderabad House.
"We share a
common trait by rolling up
our sleeves and get things
done. We have shown
progress also by finalising
important agreements
today including the end
user agreement that will
pave the way for greater
defence cooperation
between our countries and
technology safeguards
agreement," Clinton said.
Importantly, the
two will chair a strategic
dialogue between the
countries dialogue based
on five pillars of
cooperation.
However, in a
move which might be seen
as giving in to American
demands, India agreed to
end use monitoring of the
defence technology by US.
Clinton said this move
would way for greater
defence cooperation.
On the nuclear
front, the Indian
government has approved
sites for setting up of two
nuclear parks. Clinton said
both India and US do not
want Iran to acquire nuclear
weapons.
"These parks will
advance the aims of the US
India civil nuclear
agreement facilitating
billions of dollars in US
reactor exports and create
jobs in both countries, as
well as generate much
needed energy for the
Indian people," she said.
This, she said, will
take forward the civil
Revised tatkal scheme to
start from Aug one
New Delhi, July 21: The
revised Tatkal (instant
ticket) Scheme of the
Indian Railways will come
into effect from next month.
"The changes will
come into effect from
August one," a senior
Railway Ministry official
said.
U n d e r t h e
scheme, the advanced
reservation period has
Times Chennai E-Paper
nuclear cooperation
between the two
countries, creating jobs
in both the nations
besides producing the
much-needed energy in
India.
She hoped
India would be ready for
the Liabilities Agreement
in the nuclear field.
Clinton said that
she "affirmed the Obama
administration's strong
commitment to
completing all the
remaining elements of
our civil nuclear deal".
SM Krishna
appreciated Clinton’s
efforts to shape closer
India-US ties and
informed that the talks
between the two leaders
covered full range of
global and bilateral
issues of mutual interest.
He added that
new forums have been
created for dialogue on
climate change and nuke
proliferation. Krishna
also said that India and
US are committed to
resist the threat of
terrorism together.
O n t h e
controversy surrounding
G-8 decision to curb
transfer of enrichment
and reprocessing
technology (ENR),
Clinton made it clear that
it would not undermine
the Indo-US civil nuclear
deal but was aimed at
p r e v e n t i n g
"unauthorised" countries
from getting such
sensitive knowhow.
"We have just
completed a civil nuclear
deal with India. So if it is
done within the
appropriate channels
a n d c a r e f u l l y
safeguarded, as it is in
the case of India, that is
appropriate," the
Secretary of State said.
"But we are
very much opposed to
unauthorised and
inappropriate transfers
that unfortunately can
take place by certain
countries or non state
actors doing so. So there
is a right way to do it and
there is wrong way to do
it," he said.
She added that
the US is "seeking advice
been reduced to two days
from five days.
He said the
Centre for Railway
I n f o r m a t i o n
Systems(CRIS), under
the ministry, has been
instructed to make
necessary changes in the
software for this purpose.
All Zonal Railways as well
as Railway Board have
been intimated, he said.
National
and suggestions from
India about how we can
prevent the unauthorised
and dangerous transfer
of nuke technology and
material which poses a
threat to the entire world."
The two sides
also reached the
Technical Safeguards
Agreement which will
enable launch of civil or
non-commercial
satellites containing US
components on Indian
space launch vehicles.
An agreement
on the creation of
Science and Technology
Endowment Board was
signed by Krishna and
Clinton after about an
hour-long discussion that
covered a wide range of
issues including
terrorism, Pakistan,
global meltdown, civil
nuclear cooperation,
disarmament, non-
proliferation and climate
change.
Asked about
US' growing engagement
with China and Pakistan,
Clinton said while
Washington has relations
with many countries,
those do not under-
estimate the broadening
and deepening ties with
India.
Clinton allayed
apprehensions about the
Obama administration
being less committed to
India than the preceding
governments of Bill
Clinton and George W
Bush, particularly on civil
nuclear cooperation.
"I can pledge
more than that," she said,
adding the Obama
administration is "all
committed to the civil
nuclear deal."
The former First
Lady conveyed President
Barack Obama's
invitation to Prime
Minister Manmohan
Singh to visit the US. "As
a sign of the importance
of the relationship to the
United States, I was
pleased to extend an
invitation to Prime
Minister Singh from
President Obama who
invited him on Nov 24 for
the first state visit of our
new administration,"
Clinton said
S u i t a b l e
instructions to all officials
concerned are being
issued to ensure smooth
change-over to the new
time limit, he added.
H e s a i d
reservation under the
tatkal scheme as per
earlier rule of five days
shall continue till July 26.
No class X board exams
from 2011: Kapil Sibal
New Delhi, July 21: As a
part of its education
r e f o r m s , t h e U PA
government on Monday
declared that Board
exams would be
scrapped across the
nation from 2011 under
the National Curriculum
Framework.
“We have a
system under which
students are not subject
to any evaluation of this
level till 14 years, though
some states have class
five and class eight board
exams. These will also
be scrapped from the
n e x t y e a r, ” H u m a n
Resource Development
Minister Kapil Sibal told
media here on Monday.
Sibal added that
the government will
evolve a system where
88 ragging cases, 12 deaths in
last one year: Study
New Delhi, July 21:
Despite sustained
campaigns by the media
and government, ragging
appears to be going on
unabated in India with 88
cases and 12 deaths
being reported in the last
one year, according to a
new study.
A n d h r a
Pradesh topped the list
with 12 ragging cases,
followed by West Bengal
(10), Uttar Pradesh (10)
and Punjab (8), the report
today released by anti-
ragging NGO Coalition to
Uproot Ragging from
Education (CURE)
claimed.
"The number of
ragging cases reported in
the media from July 2008
to June 2009 are 88,
NPS picks up; over 800 join
scheme in two months
New Delhi, July 21: After
a lacklustre start, the
New Pension Scheme, a
safety net thrown open to
all citizens of the country
in May this year, is slowly
picking up with as many
as 843 customers joining
it in the first two and a half
months.
A maximum 164
customers joined the
pension scheme through
points of presence of the
country's largest private
sector lender, ICICI
Bank, the Pension Fund
Regulatory and
Development Authority
said in a release.
P o i n t o f
presence Service
providers (PoP-SPs) are
contact and collection
points for customers
wanting to be part of
July 21, 2009
there would be examination with
c o n t i n u o u s consensus so that children
comprehensive can give one exam and
evaluation of the child decide which school or
based on a grading university they want to go.
system. Acting of the cue
Earlier, Sibal by Government the Central
had said that government Board of Secondary
intends to abolish Class Education (CBSE) too had
X Board examinations to proposed to make the
lessen the “trauma” on Class-X board exam
young students. optional and allow internal
"We must assessment in which the
detraumatise students pattern of questions would
who sometimes commit be similar to those in the
suicide," Sibal had said, board exam.
emphasising the need for To ensure that the
change in the system of quality of education is not
marking. affected, the CBSE had
Admitting that said it would ask the
the biggest challenge the schools to complete the
country faces at present required course of study of
is providing quality Class-IX and X as per the
education to the young, Board's scheme of studies
he had said that "We will and follow prescribed
introduce a single board textbooks.
number of ragging academic session, Andhra
d e a th s a r e 1 2 a n d Pradesh reported 12
number of attempted incidents of ragging,
suicides are five," the including four cases of
study said. death and a case of
During the attempted suicide. Punjab,
same period last year, 89 even though a small state,
ragging cases were has consistently reported
reported, out of which 11 high number of such
resulted in deaths. There incidents," he said.
were five attempted H i m a c h a l
suicides too, said the Pradesh and Rajasthan,
group which regularly which did not report any
records and tabulates ragging cases in the past,
reports of ragging cases recorded high number of
from the media. incidents this year (6 and 7
"This clearly respectively). Among the
indicates that despite the cases in HP was the death
tall claims made by the of medical student Aman
HRD Ministry, UGC and Kachroo, which caused
various regulatory widespread outrage and
bodies, the situation has prompted the Central and
not improved," Harsh state governments to take
Aggarwal of CURE said. a number of anti-ragging
"In the last measures.
NPS. Meanwhile, an
While 160 official of the PFRDA said
subscribers collected that the response is
forms from Kotak tremendous and it will pick
Mahindra Bank, Axis up more once the Finance
Bank attracted 106 Bill is passed.
customers, the release The Budget 2009-
said. 10 proposed to exempt
R e l i a n c e NPS from securities
Capital, with a PoP of 25, transaction and dividend
managed to attract 73 distribution tax. But it will be
subscribers, while IL&FS considered under the
saw 61 customers taking exempt-exempt-taxed
pension scheme through (EET) regime with the
it. maturity amount being
H o w e v e r, taxed unless the money is
subsidiaries of State used for buying annuity in
Bank of India like State the same financial year.
Bank of Bikaner and This is unlike
Jaipur, State Bank of other competing products
Hyderabad, State Bank like Provident Fund (PF)
of Indore, State Bank of and Public Provident Fund
Mysore, State Bank of (PPF), which continue to
Patiala and State Bank of enjoy the exempt-exempt-
Travancore could not exempt (EEE) regime and
attract any customer. are not taxed at any stage.
July 21, 2009 Times Chennai E-Paper
Nano likely to worsen the traffic
problem: Delhi HC
New Delhi, July 21: The
much-acclaimed low-cost
car Nano, which recently
hit the roads, could worsen
road traffic by adding to the
growth of private vehicles
in the coming days, a
Delhi High Court Judge on
Monday said.
"All Indian cities
are already struggling with
traffic flow problem due to
various types of vehicles
on the road, lack of need-
based road and traffic
design and engineering
and the unchecked growth
of private vehicles and with
the entry of the new cheap
car Nano on the road, the
situation is likely to get
worsen," Justice Kailash
Gambir said.
The Court made
the remarks while
delivering its verdict in the
BMW hit-and-run case
involving Sanjeev Nanda in
which his sentence was
reduced to two years from
five years for mowing down
six persons ten years ago.
The Court also
Delay in Scorpene project
to hit Navy: Antony
New Delhi, July 21: The
government on Monday
admitted that the mammoth
Rs 18,798-crore project to
construct six Scorpene
submarines at Mazagaon
Docks (MDL) in Mumbai
had been hit by slippages,
which in turn would
adversely impact the
Navy's underwater combat
capabilities.
TOI was the first
to report that the project,
under which the six
submarines were to roll out
one per year from 2012
onwards, is running around
two years behind schedule.
"On account of
some teething problems,
absorption of technology,
delays in augmentation of
industrial infrastructure and
procurement of MDL
purchased materials
(MPM), slippage in the
delivery schedule is
expected,'' defence
minister A K Antony told Lok
Sabha.
pulled up the Centre for
its "apathy" towards
public safety on roads
and made a slew of
recommendations for
road safety.
"There are no
stop signs, no speed
limits and as heavy
vehicles go zig-zak on the
roads, it is hard to ignore
the disturbing reality that
many commercial and
private drivers are drunk
and no one checks
them," the court said.
While referring
to a report, the court
pointed out that India
road mishaps account for
ten percent of the toll,
which is three times
higher than that
prevailing in developed
countries despite having
less that one percent of
the world vehicle
population.
"The statistics
clearly denote that
government has not
taken road safety very
seriously so far and does
"Delay in
scheduled delivery of the
submarines is likely to
have an impact on the
envisaged submarine
force-levels,'' he added.
As earlier
reported, the entire
project is also going to be
hit with a huge cost
escalation, which will
take total costs much
beyond Rs 20,000 crore,
because France is
demanding virtually
double the money to
supply some critical
equipment to MDL.
A big delay will
hit Navy hard since its
projections show it will be
left with only nine out of
its present fleet of 16
diesel-electric
submarines — 10
Russian Kilo-class, four
German HDW and two
Foxtrot — by 2012.
As it is, the
Foxtrot submarines are
obsolete now, and the
National
n o t h a v e a New Delhi, July 21:
comprehensive policy on
road safety. Public safety
is the last in the list of the
priorities of the
govermenmt," the court
said.
It said road
accidents cause an
annual loss of Rs 55,000
crore to the country,
which is three percent of
GDP.
"Slayer BRT
corridors, Killer blueline
buses and slaughterer
Delhi-Gurgaon
Expressway and very
recently unfortunately
Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation, for which
every citizen is most
proud of, has joined the
list of state apathy
towards the citizens," the
court said.
The court
passed a slew
recommendations to the
government to ensure
proper road safety which
included installation of
CCTVs cameras on
major roads.
It said there should be
proper and strict
implementation of laws
for minimum age of
consumption of liquor and
proper light on the streets
and better maintenance
of roads to reduce
accidents on roads.
The court also
said there was a need for
introspection for the
judicial system so that the
justice delivery system
was not interrupted by
people with doubtful
integrity.
number could further dip
to just five by 2014. This is
alarming since both
Pakistan and China are
rapidly augmenting their
underwater combat
capabilities.
In the Scorpene
project finalised in
October 2005, contracts
inked with French
companies included the
Rs 6,135-crore one with
M/s Armaris (DCN-
Thales joint venture) for
transfer of technology,
combat systems and
construction design, and
Rs 1,062 crore with M/s
MBDA for sea-skimming
Exocet missiles.
A Rs 5,888-
crore contract was also
signed with MDL for
indigenous submarine
construction, with
another Rs 3,553 crore
earmarked for taxes and
Rs 2,160 crore towards
other items to be acquired
during the project.
Black money: Govt accused
of concealing info in SC
Government was on
Monday accused of
concealing to the
Supreme Court
information relating to
stashing of black money
in foreign banks by a
businessman against
whom Enforcement
Directorate has lodged a
complaint for allegedly
violating tough Foreign
Exchange Management
Act.
The apex court
took note of the allegation
and sought a response
from the Centre to the
complaint lodged against
P u n e - b a s e d
businessman Hasan Ali
Khan for accumulating
wealth to the tune of over
eight billion US dollars in
foreign banks.
"We want
information from the ED.
All information must be
given," a Bench
comprising Chief Justice
K G Balakrishnan and
Justice P Sathasivam
said without issuing any
notice as Solicitor
General Gopal
Subaramanium said he
will respond to the
comments made by
senior advocate Ram
Jethamalani and others
who had filed the
PIL on the issue
of black money before
the general elections.
"I will seek
instructions from the ED
on the complaint lodged
by it against Khan and
respond," said the
Solicitor General who
successfully resisted the
issuance of notice by the
Bench which granted him
two weeks to file a
response to the written
submission made by the
petitioners and posted
the matter for hearing
after three weeks.
Subramanium
said government will
respond to the written
submission and
s u b s e q u e n t
developments that have
The complete half yearly magazine
for professional Education
for details call
99400 24556
taken place after the May
four hearing.
"All effective
steps have been taken,"
Subramanium said
adding the issue of ED
complaint has come to
him for the first time.
The Solicitor
General was responding
to the allegation by senior
advocate Anil Divan that
the government did not
inform about the
complaint lodged by ED
in December 2008
against Hasan when it
had filed the affidavit on
May 2.
"Why did the
government shy away
with the content of ED
complaint against
Khan?" he said
elaborating on the
enormity of the issue.
D i v a n ,
a p p e a r i n g f o r
Jethmalani, said the
complaint filed on
December 22, 2008, by
an Assistant Director of
ED against Khan,
showed that on
December 8, 2006, Khan
had an amount of over
USD 8 billion in his
account with UBS AG,
Zurich.
This amount, he
said, was equivalent to
Rs 36,000 crore.
D i v a n
submitted vigorous
investigations could have
been undertaken into this
aspect and action should
have been taken against
Khan on money
laundering charges for
custodial interrogation.
I n t h e
complaint, ED had also
made a reference to
Khan's account and
money deposited in UBS
Singapore.
Divan, who
placed the comments on
Khan's case before the
Bench, said he will file an
additional affidavit as
ED's investigations
reveal how the bank
balance swelled
astronomically in a few
Page 5
years.
The Assistant
Director also recorded that
Khan was earlier trading in
iron and steel scrap and
that at present he is in the
business of horse-racing,
Divan said adding that
according to Khan's own
submission, his annual
income is Rs 30 lakhs.
He said when
government had filed the
affidavit in May it had
mentioned about Khan but
did not make reference of
the complaint lodged by
ED against him.
B e s i d e s
Jethmalani, five others,
including former Punjab
DGP K P S Gill and former
Secretary General of Lok
Sabha Subhash Kashyap
who are petitioners, have
alleged government was
not taking action to bring
back black money stashed
in foreign banks.
The affidavit filed
by the government has not
dealt with the facts that
there was a fake passport
case against Khan and
investigations into alleged
money laundering were
also being undertaken
against him and that he
was involved in
transactions with Saudi
Arabian arms dealer
Adnan Khashoggi.
Pointing out
various alleged inactions
against Khan, the
petitioners in written
submissions said "is it not
unreasonable to infer that
the government is
interested in protecting
powerful individuals who
may be using Khan and
his wife as their
nominee/benamidar".
Further, Diwan
had said, "the most
important factor is that not
even a single individual
has been apprehended or
interrogated by the
government in the last five
years in relation to money
laundering and slush
funds parked abroad."
 Page 6
Obama honours first men
who landed on the moon
Washinton, July 21:
Hailing the Apollo 11
astronauts as ``three
genuine American heroes,''
U.S. President Barack
Obama said on Monday
that exploration spurs
ingenuity and inspires
students in math and
science.
In a White House
ceremony commemorating
the day 40 years ago when
Neil Armstrong and Buzz
Aldrin took man's first steps
on the moon, Mr. Obama
compared their
accomplishment to his goal
of the United States having
the highest college
graduation rates in the
9/11 attackers hiding in
Pak: Hillary Clinton
New Delhi, July 21: The
U.S. on Monday said a
"significant" number of
those behind the 9/11
attacks in New York are
hiding in Pakistan and
Washington was looking
for "additional information
that would lead us to them".
"With respect to
the location of those who
were part of the planning
and execution of the attack
of 9/11 against our country,
we firmly believe that a
Times Chennai E-Paper World
world by 2020. Apollo astronauts return
Mr. Obama said to Hawaii after splashing
down in the Pacific
he wanted to use the
Ocean. He said he would
anniversary of the Apollo
sit on his grandfather's
moon landing to show
shoulders and ``we'd
pretend like they could
see us as we were
waving at folks coming
home.''
M r. O b a m a
praised Mr. Armstrong,
Mr.Aldrin and command
module pilot Michael
Collins for their ``calm
under pressure, the
grace with which these
three gentlemen
operated.''
Mr. Obama did
not talk about future
NASA missions. Mr.
Aldrin, Mr. Collins and six
other Apollo astronauts
used the anniversary to
make a pitch for a
mission to Mars.
that ``math and science
are cool again.'' For his part Mr.
` ` T h e Obama said he wanted to
make sure that NASA ``is
touchstone for
excellence in exploration going to be there for them
when they want to take
and discovery is always
going to be represented their journey.''
by the men of Apollo 11,'' The Apollo 11
Mr. Obama said. He said crew has visited the
their work sparked White House every five
years and met with every
``innovation, the drive,
the entrepreneurship, the president since Richard
creativity back here on
Earth.''
Nixon, except Gerald
Ford.
The president
said he recalled watching
significant number of been denying that Al-
them are in the border Qaida chief Osama bin
Laden or his senior
area of Pakistan," U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary lieutenants are hiding in
Clinton said here. its territory.
S h e w a s
addressing a joint press
On an American
soldier being kidnapped
conference with External in Afghanistan, Ms.
A f f a i r s Clinton expressed
Minister S M concern over it and said
Krishna the US was "working to
after holding do all we can to obtain his
talks that safe release".
covered The kidnappers
w i d e - recently released a video
ranging in which the soldier is
issues, shown in captivity.
including Ms. Clinton
terrorism asserted that the
emanating international security
from the
region.
forces in Afghanistan
were committed to defeat
M s . Ta l i b a n a n d o t h e r
Clinton, who extremists despite such
was replying incidents. "This is a very
t o a difficult battle but the one
question, which must be waged."
said the U.S.
has already
conveyed Read
t h i s t o
Pakistan government. Times Chennai
"We are actively
looking for additional E-Paper
information that would
lead us to them," she Today and
added.
Pakistan has
every day
Peru's ex-President Fujimori
gets 7.5 years for corruption
Lima, July 21: Peru's
Supreme Court convicted
and sentenced former
President Alberto Fujimori
on Monday to 7-1/2 years
in prison for giving a $15
million bribe to his spy
chief, the third time he has
been convicted since
returning from exile in
2007 to face a raft of
charges.
Fujimori, who
was president from 1990
to 2000, faces charges of
embezzlement, for illegally
paying his former top aide
and intelligence chief,
Vladimiro Montesinos, a
$15 million bonus. The
sentence is to be
announced at 1700 GMT.
The case's lead
p r o s e c u t o r, A v e l i n o
Guillenin, charged last
week that Fujimori's efforts
were "carefully planned"
and that "government
officials at the highest
level, among them cabinet
ministers, looted the state
coffers."
Guillen also said
the ex-president, now 70,
"paid for the silence" of
Montesinos in the final
months of his time in
power because the top
aide knew all about
corruption and rights
abuses during the Fujimori
presidency.
Fujimori's
presidency collapsed in a
Space station astronauts
fix broken toilet: NASA
Washinton, July 21:
NASA avoided a rather
messy situation in space
after giving astronauts
aboard the
International Space
Station the green light to
use a toilet after crew
members worked for a
day to repair it.
" T h e U S
Destiny lab toilet has
been repaired and
checked out. The crew
Kasab's statement 'one-sided', says Pakistan
Islamabad, July 21: As
Ajmal Kasab, the lone
surviving terrorist of the
26/11 strikes, confessed
to his role and named
others involved in it,
Pakistan today said his
statements are "one-
sided" and that it cannot
take any action based on
the confessions of a
person who is "under
ASEAN welcomes U.S. impending accession to TAC
Bangkok, July 21:
Foreign ministers of the
Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN)
on Monday welcomed the
United States' impending
accession to the Treaty of
Amity and Cooperation
(TAC) in Southeast Asia.
A signing
ceremony for the U.S.
accession to the TAC will
be held Wednesday as
U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton will
represent her country to
sign documents with the
whirlwind of scandal after
secretly recorded
videotapes of Montesinos
bribing politicians and
businessmen with piles of
cash began to air on
television. Fujimori
resigned via fax
from a Tokyo hotel
room in November
2000.
Fujimori,
a bespectacled
agronomist by
training, is the son
of Japanese
immigrants.
M a n y
Peruvians credit
Fujimori with
crushing two leftist
insurgencies that
plagued the
country - the
Tupac Amaru
guerrillas and the Maoist
Shining Path rebels -
during his presidency.
A three-judge
court in Lima sentenced
Fujimori to 25 years prison
in April after he was found
guilty of authorizing the
operations of an army
death squad that killed 25
civilians in two bloodbaths
in 1991 and 1992, and of
ordering the kidnapping of
a businessman and a
journalist in 1992.
Fujimori was
already serving a six-year
sentence for a separate
has been given a 'go' to
use it. All three toilets are
working," NASA said in a
post to the micro-
blogging website Twitter.
The toilet
malfunction on Sunday
came just days after the
seven-person crew
aboard the space shuttle
Endeavour arrived at the
space station, bringing
the total number of
people on the ISS to a
pressure."
Reacting to
statements made by
Ajmal Kasab in a Special
Court in Mumbai on
M o n d a y, P a k i s t a n
Defence Minister
Chaudhary A Mukhtar
said they are "one-sided
and I don't know how
much one can value them
(statement) in the court of
ten ASEAN foreign
ministers.
"We warmly
welcomed the impending
accession by the United
States of America to the
Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation in
Southeast Asia as a
strong signal of its
commitment to peace
and security in the
region," said a joint
communique issued
Monday after the
ministers' meeting.
T h e TA C , a
July 21, 2009
case, in which he was found
guilty of abusing power.
The corruption
trial, which began on July
13, came after the ex-
president admitted
responsibility but did not
accept that awarding the
money amounted to a crime.
According to
Fujimori's lawyer, Cesar
Nakazaki, the ex-president
paid back the money to the
government in September
2000.
Guillen has asked
the special court for an
eight-year prison term for
the ex- president, as well as
$661,000 in damages.
Montesinos, who
fled Peru on a private yacht
just before Fujimori's
downfall, is currently serving
a lengthy prison term.
record 13.
The toilet was
likely flooded earlier in the
day when its dose pump
failed after running for
about 15 minutes, NASA
officials said yesterday.
T h e c r e w
members Gennady
Padalka and Frank De
Winne were charged with
repairing the defective
toilet with spare parts on
the orbiting outpost.
law."
"The statements
are one-sided and they
were made by a person
who is under the custody of
Indian jail authorities. If he
has stood up and given this
statement I don't know
under what pressure he
was," he told an Indian
television channel.
peace treaty, was signed in
1976. It is the group's
founding non-aggression
pact aimed at promoting
regional stability. It was
amended on Dec 15, 1987
by a protocol to open the
document for accession by
states outside Southeast
Asia.
The ASEAN
groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
July 21, 2009
Praful Patel to meet PM this
week on probables for AI board
New Delhi, July 21: Civil
Aviation Minister Praful
Patel on Tuesday said he
would meet the Prime
Minister this week to
discuss the probable
names for the post of
Independent Directors on
the Air India board and that
the report on reviving the
national carrier is expected
soon.
"We are going to
form the board of
Govt looking at listing BSNL, TCIL
New Delhi, July 21: The
government on Tuesday
said it is looking at listing
B S N L a n d Te l e
communications
Consultants India Limited,
but the timeline for this will
be decided in consultation
with the Finance Ministry.
EXIM Policy may have steps
to deal with exports slowdown
New Delhi, July 21:
Commerce Minister Anand
Sharma is likely to
announce measures to
deal with slowdown in
exports when he presents
the Export-Import Policy
for 2009-10 before the end
of current session of
Parliament.
Replying to
questions in Rajya Sabha,
Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee said Indian
exports have slowed down
since October 2008
because of economic
downturn and financial
crisis in principal markets
in North America and
European Union.
European Union
accounts for 36 percent of
the total exports by India,
US 16-17 percent and
Japan 15-16 percent.
These three main markets
together account for 68
percent of the country's
exports and naturally any
slowdown in these
economies will impact
Indian exports, he said.
Expedia signs deal with
Travel Boutique Online
Mumbai, July 21: Expedia
Affiliate Network (EAN)
today announced a
partnership with Travel
Boutique Online (TBO),
India's leading airline
consolidator, to offer its
customers access to
Expedia's market leading
hotel product.
The Expedia
global hotel product
numbers more than
100,000, including an
extensive choice of one to
five star properties,
individual guest houses
Times Chennai E-Paper
Independent Directors
very soon. I shall be
meeting the PM this
week and discuss all the
probable names," Patel
told reporters at the
sidelines of an AIMA
event.
The minister
added that the names of
people who can "give
time and contribute
meaningfully from this
great turnaround" that
" Tw o o f o u r
companies BSNL and
TCIL are not yet listed.
We would like to list them
with 10 percent
divestment, offloading 10
percent in each of them
initially. But the timeline
will be decided in
There were no
signs as yet of revival of
economies of European
Union and North
America, he said.
Mukherjee said
he has had discussions
with Sharma on the
contours of the Foreign
Trade Policy (EXIM
Policy) and couple of
rounds of more
discussions would follow.
"I am confident that by
the end of current
session, Commerce
Minister will be able to
place the EXIM Policy."
I n d i a n
exporters should look at
newer markets beyond
North America,
European Union and
Japan to tackle
slowdown, he said.
Mukherjee said
a high-tech production
export promotion
scheme was announced
in the Foreign Trade
Policy 2007 but was
operationalised only from
February 19, 2009. "I
and bed and breakfasts.
The size and
scale of the organisation
enables EAN to offer the
broadest spectrum of
accommodation options
at the best prices, both in
popular and emerging
destinations, Expedia
said in a release here.
TBO is used by
over 4,000 travel agents
across 130 cities in India.
The partnership with
EAN enables these
agent of offer customer's
access EAN's extensive
Business
the airline hopes to
achieve would be
discussed with the Prime
Minister.
O n t h e
requirement of funds for
reviving the national
carrier Patel said, "The
revival programme is
going to be given to us on
the financial side by SBI
cap and we are expecting
the report soon."
consultation with the
F i n a n c e M i n i s t r y, "
Te l e c o m S e c r e t a r y
Siddharth Behuria said at
a function.
On mobile
number portability, he
said the implementation
of this could be delayed.
admit there has been
considerable delay," he
said.
Mukherjee said
the scheme provides for
duty credit scrips against
exports of 12 notified
products equivalent to
1.25 percent of fob (free-
on-board) value of
exports or five percent of
incremental growth.
The notified
products include high-
tech items like SIM cards,
memory cards and
automated bank note
dispensing machines, as
per a notification issued
by the Department of
R e v e n u e
operationalising the
scheme.
"This incentive
will help Indian exporters
of notified high-tech
products to offset costs
involved in marketing of
these products thus
making export of their
products internationally
competitive," he added.
hotel offering through
one convenient, easy to
use, online platform.
''The EAN
solution has been
tailored to ensure that it
meets the needs of the
TBO customers. It is a
comprehensive solution
that will deliver the
potential to increase
ancillary revenue for the
agents that access it,''
EAN APAC Managing
Director Jens Uwe
Parkitny said.
'Rel Cap plans to sell
stake in life insurance biz'
Mumbai, July 21: Anil
Dhirubhai Ambani Group
(ADAG) company
Reliance Capital is
planning to unlock value
by selling part of its stake
in its life insurance
business, group
Chairman Anil Ambani
said on Tuesday.
Lakshmi Vilas Bank inks pact with
PayMate for Mobile payment solutions
Chennai, July 21:
Lakshmi Vilas Bank, has
tied up with PayMate,
India’s leading mobile
commerce company, to
provide mobile payment
solutions to its customers
across 250 branches in
India.
With PayMate,
Lakshmi Vilas Bank
customers will be able to
use their mobile to pay for
mobile recharge, utility
bills, movie & flight
tickets, online purchase,
retail shopping and so
much more at over
15,000 merchants in
India registered with
Tata Steel to raise 500 million
dollars from global investors
New Delhi, July 21:
India's leading private
steel producer Tata Steel
will make one of India's
biggest offers for global
depository receipts in
recent years, hoping to
raise 500 million dollars
to fund its expansion in
the country and for its
London-headquartered
Anglo-Dutch arm Corus.
The company's
board has approved the
issue of 65,410,589
receipts for $7.64 each,
representing one
ordinary share of Tata
Steel.
"The GDR
offering has attracted
Dish TV increases prices of STBs
New Delhi, July 21 :
Leading Direct-To-Home
operator Dishtv
announced an increase
of Rs 100 across all its
tariff plans on account of
five per cent customs
duty imposed by the
Government on import of
Set Top Boxes.
"It (price hike)
was a necessary step
due to increase in input
cost as there has been an
escalation in the cost of
set top boxes due to 5 per
cent increase (from nil) in
customs duty on the
import of STBs," Dishtv
This would be
done either through
strategic sale or initial
public offering (IPO),
ADAG Chairman Anil
A m b a n i t o l d
shareholders at the
company's annual
general meeting here.
R e l i a n c e
PayMate.
According to Mr.
V.S Reddy, MD and CEO,
Lakshmi Vilas Bank “As
a heritage bank with a
r i c h h i s t o r y, w h a t
differentiates us from
others is our relationship
with our customers and
the value we offer them.
We always
strive to bring the best of
banking convenience to
our customers whether it
is through improved
services over the years or
through technologies that
enable them to do more.
Our partnership with
PayMate will enable us to
demand from very good
quality investors which
enabled the company to
increase the offering size
from $400 million to $500
million - being one of the
largest GDR offerings by
any Indian company on
the London Stock
Exchange," said Tata
group chief financial
officer Koushik
Chatterjee in a
statement.
"Though the
company has adequate
liquidity with no material
repayments in the next
12 months, the equity
raising exercise will help
in capitalising the
Chief Operating Officer
Salil Kapoor said in a
statement.
Kapoor said the
business model of DTH is
based on subsidy and the
component cost has
gone up considerably
due to the rise in dollar
exchange rate in the last
one year.
"We have tried
to minimise the effect on
consumers by absorbing
these rising input costs
over the year, but the
trend is on a constant rise
and we have reached at a
level where absorbing
Page 7
Capital is also planning to
enter the investment
banking business, Ambani
said.
On its private
equity fund, he said that the
company plans to raise
funds from domestic high
networth individuals for it.
do both with an exciting
mobile payment solution
for our customers. ”.
Ajay Adiseshann,
MD and Founder, PayMate
says, “Our alliance with
Lakshmi Vilas Bank will
further bolster our
payments ecosystem.
Further, we are
excited to bring mobile
p a y m e n t s t o LV B ’ s
customers and are
confident that the sheer
convenience of using their
phones to make payments
will drive the uptake and
enhance customer
satisfaction and loyalty .”
balance sheet and enable
deployment in highly
attractive projects - like the
ongoing expansion of
Jamshedpur (project) in
India and overseas mining
projects," added
Chatterjee.
Citi Group Global Markets,
Goldman Sachs
International, JP Morgan
Securities and UBS will be
the joint lead Managers
and joint bookrunners to
the issue.
The GDRs will be
listed on the Professional
Securities Market of the
London Stock Exchange.
the entire cost internally
seems to be a tough
proposition," Kapoor said.
The company's
bare set top box, which is
priced at Rs 1490, will now
cost Rs 1,590.
Its combo offer for
Rs 2,090 with three months
platinum/south platinum
will now be available for Rs
2,190.
Besides, the
company's other offers
including 'Ultimate sports
bonanza' of Rs 1,790 and
Rs 2,300 each will now be
available at Rs 1,890 and
Rs 2,490 respectively.
Page 8
BSNL launches 'BSNL Live'
for 3G customers
Chandigarh, July 21:
Bharat Sanchar Nigam
Limited (BSNL) on Monday
launched its new service
delivery platform 'BSNL
Live'- a web portal that
would offer video on
demand, movie streaming
for its 3G customers for the
first time in the country.
"The portal has
movie streaming, games,
full track songs, video clips
and it will be a single
window shop for all the
mobile value added
contents," BSNL Chairman
and Managing Director,
Kuldeep Goyal told
reporters here today.
He further said
that the name of the
technical platform hosting
'BSNL Live' was Service
Delivery Platform (SDP)
which the BSNL was the
first mobile operator to
deploy and it was built to
meet the needs of mobile
network operators, media
companies, service
providers etc. It has been
developed with the
assistance of Ericsson, he
further said.
This services
SBI examining options to
increase provision on bad loans
Mumbai, July 21: The
country's largest lender,
State Bank of India (SBI),
on Monday said its
provisions on bad loans are
adequate but the cover
may be increased if the
need arises.
S B I h a s a
provision coverage ratio
(PCR) of 38.72 percent.
This being far below the
industry average, the
Reserve Bank had recently
49 per cent FDI in print
media safe: Ambika Soni
New Delhi, July 21: With
the media reeling under the
financial crunch,
Information and
Broadcasting Minister
Ambika Soni has backed
increasing FDI (foreign
direct investment) in print
media to 49 percent, saying
"it is safe".
"I think it is a good
suggestion," Soni said in
an interview when asked
about her views on
increasing FDI in print
media from 26 percent to
49 percent.
"We already have
26 percent FDI. A large
number of newspapers and
the entire journalist
fraternity is for the infusion
of more capital into print
media so that they can
have better working
Times Chennai E-Paper
which was launched
today would now be
available in over 100
cities of northern and
eastern parts of India
including Punjab, Jammu
and Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, UP, Uttrakhand,
Bihar, Jharkhand, West
Bengal, Orissa,
Andaman and Nicobar.
"After this 760 more cities
countrywide are planned
to be covered
progressively in next six
month," he said.
The launching
ceremony also saw the
movie premier of new
movie 'Jail' on BSNL 3G
mobile through BSNL
Live portal in the
presence of film Director
Madhur Bhandarkar,
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh,
and actress Mughdha
Godese.
The end user
price points of the
contents like for Games
will be Rs. 35-100, full
track songs Rs. 15, Video
Rs. 10 to Rs. 20, Video
On Demand at Rs. 40 and
wallpapers at Rs. 10.
Moreover Video category
asked the lender to
increase the cover to at
least 50 percent.
"Generally, as
per the prudential
guidelines, it (PCR) is 40
percent. But they (RBI)
have been indicating that
it should be at least 50
percent," SBI Chief
Financial Officer, S
Ranjan, told reporters
here.
Ranjan attributed the low
conditions, and the
media is facing a
financial crunch," she
said.
"I feel 49
percent is safe. It would
not give control to
someone from outside,"
she said.
Soni, however, stressed
that the government will
consult all stakeholders
before taking this crucial
decision. "But this is
something about which I
would like to talk to those
who are not of the same
view," she said.
Soni's remarks indicated
the UPA government's
interest in raising the FDI
ceiling in print media from
26 percent to 49 per cent
as recommended by the
Telecom Regulatory
Business
will have contents like
exclusive preview of
forthcoming films,
footage of celebrities,
interviews etc.
However, Goyal
said BSNL has been able
to rope in just 13,000
customers of 3G mobile
since its launch. "We
have found several areas
were not fully covered
under 3G services and
we are now improving the
coverage," he said
further adding, "the
company is laying more
focus on value added
service which will help in
attracting more
customers towards 3G
mobile."
Presently, Value Added
Services constitute 5-6
per cent of total revenue
of BSNL, he said.
RK Aggarwal, Director
BSNL Board on this
occasion said that the
portal would have all the
customer useful features
like advertisement,
subscription of monthly
services for which
customers do not have to
remember short codes.
provisioning to a single
large account, which had
earlier been classified as
a non performing asset
(NPA).
"That (low PCR)
is because one account,
Dabhol, got classified as
a non-performing asset
last year. It will now be re-
classified as a standard
asset. Automatically, the
provision will go up to 43
per cent," Ranjan said.
Authority of India (TRAI)
in its recent report.
The 49 percent
FDI, as proposed by
TRAI, also covers foreign
institutional investors.
TRAI has also
recommended a raise in
the ceiling for cable
networks from the
existing 49 percent to 74
percent and for FM radio,
from the existing 20
percent to 49 percent.
The proposed
hike in FDI is being
opposed by some media
houses, but the
government is looking at
the issue afresh in the
light of the capital crunch
that small and medium
newspapers are facing.
Kotak launches facility to open
stock market account online
Mumbai, July 21:
Leading stock broking
firm, Kotak Securities on
Monday launched a
facility to open stock
market accounts online.
Using this
facility, investors in select
cities in the country can
avail of this facility by
paying a nominal amount
through either credit card
or net banking account, a
Agri Min advising farmers on
sowing to counter poor monsoon
New Delhi, July 21: The
Agriculture Ministry has
p r e p a r e d a July 15 and 31.
comprehensive
contingency plan in view
of the poor monsoon,
whereby farmers in each
district of affected states
are advised which crops
to sow and when.
As the country's
north-western region has
been worst-hit with poor
rains, the National
Rainfed Authority
(NRRA) under the
Ministry of Agriculture
has asked farmers to sow
basmati paddy crop in
Central Punjab and
short-duration paddy
variety along with green
and blackgram,
pigeonpea in eastern
Foreign direct investment dips
by 47% in May
New Delhi, July 21:
Foreign direct
investment (FDI) in India
dipped by about 47 per
cent to USD 2.1 billion in
May due to the global
recession and the trend
is likely to continue for
some more months, a
senior government
official said on Monday.
During the
same month last year,
NPS picks up; over 800 join
scheme in two months
New Delhi, July 21: After
a lacklustre start, the
New Pension Scheme, a
safety net thrown open to
all citizens of the country
in May this year, is slowly
picking up with as many
as 843 customers joining
it in the first two and a half
months.
A maximum 164
customers joined the
pension scheme through
points of presence of the
country's largest private
sector lender, ICICI
Bank, the Pension Fund
Regulatory and
Development Authority
said in a release.
P o i n t o f
presence Service
providers (PoP-SPs) are
contact and collection
points for customers
wanting to be part of
press release issued
here said.
"This facility is
first of its kind in India and
would help investors get
an understanding of how
markets function even
before all documentation
formalities are
completed," Kotak
Securities' Senior Vice
President, Prasanth
Prabhakaran said.
Uttar Pradesh,
respectively, between
Moreover, high-
breed bajra and sorghum
can be planted in the
Bundelkhand region of
Uttar Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh during
this period.
Short-duration
bajra, moong and guar
can be sown in Haryana,
Chandigarh and Delhi
and urad, sunflower,
maize and pigeonpea in
some of the paddy-
growing areas of Bihar.
Similarly,
moong, bajra, guar and
maize can be planted in
some districts of Punjab,
Himachal and Uttar
Pradesh in the
FDI was USD 3.9 billion.
"The declining
trend is likely to continue
in the coming months,"
the official said.
FDI in the first
two months of this fiscal
is USD 4.43 billion, the
official said.
The govern-
ment had scaled down
the FDI target by USD 5
billion from USD 35
NPS.
While 160
subscribers collected
forms from Kotak
Mahindra Bank, Axis
Bank attracted 106
customers, the release
said.
R e l i a n c e
Capital, with a PoP of 25,
managed to attract 73
subscribers, while IL&FS
saw 61 customers taking
pension scheme through
it.
H o w e v e r,
subsidiaries of State
Bank of India like State
Bank of Bikaner and
Jaipur, State Bank of
Hyderabad, State Bank
of Indore, State Bank of
Mysore, State Bank of
Patiala and State Bank of
Travancore could not
attract any customer.
July 21, 2009
Investors will
receive a user ID and
password immediately
after completing formalities
and paying fees and can
access the account, it said.
Kotak Securities
is a subsidiary of Kotak
Mahindra Bank and
processes over 3-lakh
secondary market trades. It
manages equity assets
worth Rs 2,237 crore.
first fortnight of August,
while short-duration
varieties of sorghum, bajra
and moong can be sown in
the Bundelkhand region of
Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh.
"The plan has
been framed keeping in
mind the delayed monsoon
which will have adverse
impact on water availability
in the rain-fed areas in the
country.
"States have
been advised to follow the
plan to avert a food crisis,"
NRRA Technical expert
(forest) VK Bahuguna said.
The Authority has
also asked the states to
adopt contingency
measures for livestock and
horticulture, among others.
billion last fiscal.
Cumulative FDI from April
2000 to March 2009 stands
close to about USD 90
billion.
Thanks to robust
trends in the first six
months of the last fiscal,
FDI in 2008-09 was USD
27.3 billion against USD
24.5 billion in 2007-08.
Meanwhile, an
official of the PFRDA said
that the response is
tremendous and it will pick
up more once the Finance
Bill is passed.
The Budget 2009-
10 proposed to exempt
NPS from securities
transaction and dividend
distribution tax. But it will be
considered under the
exempt-exempt-taxed
(EET) regime with the
maturity amount being
taxed unless the money is
used for buying annuity in
the same financial year.
This is unlike
other competing products
like Provident Fund (PF)
and Public Provident Fund
(PPF), which continue to
enjoy the exempt-exempt-
exempt (EEE) regime and
are not taxed at any stage.
July 21, 2009
Strauss & Co break
75-year Lord’s drought
London, July 21: An
inspired spell of fast
bowling from soon to retire
Andrew Flintoff (5/92)
helped England down a
fighting Australia by 115
runs in the second Test of
the Ashes 2009 at Lord’s
and race away to a 1-0
lead.
T h i s w i n ,
incidentally, was England’s
first over their nemesis at
the Lord’s since 1934.
Resuming the
fifth day at 313/5, still 208
runs away from what would
have been a world record-
breaking victory, Brad
Haddin was the first wicket
to fall, failing to add to his
overnight tally of 80 runs.
After Flintoff broke the 185
run association between
Haddin and Michael
Clarke, which had raised
hopes of an improbable
A u s t r a l i a n v i c t o r y,
Greame Swann
removed Clarke with a gem
of a delivery, yorking
Australian vice-captain for
a defiant 136.
Clarke valiant effort lasted
227 deliveries, laced with
14 sublime hits to fence.
With the biggest
thorn in their flesh out of
their way, Flintoff snapped
Nathan Hauritz (1) and
Peter Siddle (7) before
Swann returned to cut-
short Mitchell Johnson’s
(63 runs) last ditch, albeit
desperate effort to salvage
the Aussie pride and seal a
historic victory for England.
Other that Flintoff, Swann
to was among the wickets,
ending with an impressive
haul of 4/87.
Somdev gets to career best ranking
New Delhi, July 21:
Courtesy his semifinal
appearance at the Aptos
C h a l l e n g e r, S o m d e v
Devvarman jumped eight
positions to achieve his
career best singles ranking
of 127.
After a long time,
Somdev achieved desired
result on the circuit and
Times Chennai E-Paper
Post match, Australian
skipper Ricky Ponting
admitted that his team
was outplayed over the
course of 5 days. “We
were outplayed right
through the course of the
game, England have
been the better team.
We’ve got to bounce
back pretty quickly.”
Ponting, however, took
solace from the way his
bowlers fought
throughout the match
after being on the back
foot since the opening
session of the opening
day.
“I’m pretty
proud of the way we
fought the game out. Our
bowling in the second
innings was as good as
it’s been through the
series. But after lunch on
day one we were chasing
our tail.” Ponting also
refused to blame
umpiring errors for his
team’s defeat.
“ I t ’ s a l l
irrelevant. We’ve been
beaten by over 100 runs
in a Test.” He says
Australia can only focus
on what they can do to
improve.”
At the other end
of spectrum, England
captain Andrew Strauss
was visibly delighted,
though cautious. “It’s
been a really special
victory. To win an Ashes
Test match at Lord’s is
something that plenty of
guys have dreamed
about over the last 50 or
60 years. We’re not going
to get carried away,
was rewarded in the
latest ATP rankings for
his brilliant run.
P r a k a s h
A m r i t r a j , h o w e v e r,
continued his slide as his
ranking dipped further to
264, a loss of 10
positions.
Leander Paes
(6) and Mahesh Bhupathi
Sports
there’s plenty of time left
in the series.”
Strauss also
singled out Flintoff for
special praise. “He says
was “magnificent” today.”
“Our medical
team will be monitoring
him over the coming days
but we’re still confident of
having a fit squad to pick
from for the third Test,”
Strauss said of Kevin
Pietersen.
Understandably
, Flintoff was adjudged
man of the match.
The third Test
commences on 30th July.
Scoreboard
England (1st Innings):
425 Australia 1st Innings:
215
England 2nd Innings:
311-6 dec Australia 2nd
Innings (overnight: 313-
5) Hughes c Strauss b
Flintoff 17 Katich c
Pietersen b Flintoff 6
Ponting b Broad 38
Hussey c Collingwood b
Swann 27 Clarke b
Swann 136 North b
Swann 6 Haddin c
Collingwood b Flintoff 80
Johnson b Swann 63
Hauritz b Flintoff 1 Siddle
b Flintoff 7 Hilfenhaus not
out 4 Extras (b-5, lb-8,
nb-8) 21 Total: (all out in
107 overs) 406 Fall of
wickets: 1-17, 2-34, 3-78,
4-120, 5-128, 6-313, 7-
356, 8-363, 9-388.
Bowling: Anderson 21-4-
86-0, Flintoff 27-4-92-5,
Onions 9-0-50-0, Broad
16-3-49-1, Swann 28-3-
87-4, Collingwood 6-1-
29-0.
(8) had their doubles
rankings unchanged.
In the women's
rankings, Sania Mirza
marginally improved both
singles and doubles
rankings. She rose two
rungs to get to 83 in the
singles and gained three
position to be 39 in the
doubles.
Al Hasan drives Bangladesh
to first series win
St. George`s:
Bangladesh claimed
their first overseas Test
series win when Shakib
Al Hasan`s fine all-round
performance guided
them to a four-wicket
victory over West Indies
in Grenada.
Al Hasan,
acting skipper in the Test,
struck a majestic
unbeaten 96 from 97
balls and Bangladesh,
after an early scare,
comfortably surpassed
the target of 215 with a
day to spare.
In a series
blighted by the boycott
from first choice West
Indies players, who are in
dispute with their board
over contractual and
payment issues, Al
Hasan provided genuine
Test quality with bat and
ball.
The slow left-
armer ended with figures
of five for 70 as
Bangladesh bowled out
the weakened West
Indies side for 209 in the
morning session after
picking up the final two
wickets.
I n r e p l y,
Bangladesh wobbled at
67 for four after fine
bowling from Kemar
Roach and Darren
Sammy but Al Hasan and
Raqibul Hasan (65) put
on 106 for the fifth wicket
to take the tourists close
to their target.
The pair played
with little sign of nerves,
despite the precarious
position of their team,
SAFF Cup hosts not yet
finalised: SAFF chief
New Delhi, July 21: A
final decision whether to
shift this year's South
Asian Football
Federation tournament
out of India will be taken
only after the AIFF
makes its position clear
on hosting of the event,
SAFF President Ganesh
Thapa said today.
Bangladesh
newspapers had quoted
their football federation
chief as saying that their
country was almost
certain to host the
regional tournament in
December since there's
doubt about Pakistan
players getting visa to
travel to Goa where the
tournament was
scheduled to be held.
Thapa said the
AIFF would inform him in
a few days whether India
still wants to host the
event.
"There is no
picking off the bad balls
with ease and punishing
without mercy,
particularly Al Hasan,
whose timing was
perfect.
S a m m y
removed Hasan with a
smart caught and bowled
to offer a glimmer of hope
to the West Indies and he
got rid of Mushfiqur
Rahim in the same
fashion near the end.
But Bangladesh
comfortably secured just
their third Test win in style
when Al Hasan smashed
Roach for a six to finish
on 96 not out, a
spectacular and
emphatic end to what has
been a low-key and at
times poor quality Test
series.
The two Tests
have largely been
ignored by the Caribbean
public with pitifully low
attendance on each day
in both St.Vincent and
Grenada and West Indies
fans will hope the dispute
final decision as yet on
whether to shift the
tournament out of India.
It is true there is
an issue over Pakistan
players' participation in
the tournament in India,"
Thapa told agency from
Nepal.
"I spoke to
Alberto Colaco (AIFF
General Secretary) last
week. I am expecting a
response from him in the
next few days if India is
willing to host the event.
Only after that we will
take a decision," Thapa,
the All Nepal Football
Association president,
said.
" I f t h e
tournament is not held in
India, it will be held in
Bangladesh," he added.
Bangladesh Football
Federation (BFF)
president Kazi
Salahuddin told
reporters in Dhaka on
Page 9
between the players` union
and the board can be
patched up quickly.
The only positives
for coach John Dyson will
have been the bowling of
Sammy and paceman
Kemar Roach along with
the all-round play of Dave
Bernard, who scored three
half-centuries and
delivered some than useful
medium pace.
But West Indies`
upper order batting,
without any recognised
Te s t p l a y e r s , w a s
incapable of playing the
canny spin they faced and
Bangladesh thoroughly
deserved the series.
Bangladesh`s
achievement may be
undermined in some eyes
by the weakness of their
opposition but they
deserve credit for excellent
spin bowling, particularly
from Al Hasan and
Mohammed Mahmudullah
and very enthusiastic and
quality fielding.
Saturday that his country
was almost certain to host
the SAFF Cup.
"I can assure 85
per cent at the moment that
Bangladesh will host the
SAFF Championship.
T h e S A F F
Congress will be held in
Dhaka in October with the
presence of AFC president
Mohamed Bin Hammam.
A declaration
r e g a r d i n g t h e
Championship will be
made at that time,"
Salahuddin had said.
The AIFF had
proposed to host the
tournament in Goa from
December 1-15 before the
re-think among member
countries.
India had won the
SAFF Cup four times and
they lost to Maldives 0-1 in
the final in Colombo last
year.
Page 10 Times Chennai E-Paper
Colombo Test: Late wickets
stall Pakistan’s progress
Colombo, July 21: Late Sri Lanka, 2-0
strikes with the new ball left up in the series, had
Pakistan on 289 for seven Pakistan in early trouble
at the close on the first day as the ball swung and
of the third and final Test seamed in overcast
against Sri Lanka on conditions in the
Monday. morning.
Pakistan’s But Yousuf and
M a n z o o r
steadied the
innings as
batting became
easier in the
afternoon as
cloud cover was
replaced by
bright sunshine
and Sri Lanka’s
bowlers were
forced to toil
hard.
Sri Lanka
captain Kumar
batsmen had dominated
much of the day with Sangakkara even turned
to the part-time medium
opener Khurram Manzoor
scoring 93 and Mohammad pace of former captain
Mahela Jayawardene in
Yousuf 90 after sharing a
167-run stand for the third bid to conjure-up a
breakthrough.
wicket.
However, three I t w a s
wickets fell for just two runs Chaminda Vaas, who
in the final 15 minutes of the was included for his
evening session as Sri farewell test match in
Lanka hitback. place of spinner Ajantha
Left-arm paceman Thilan Mendis, who made the
Thushara was the pick of breakthrough, finding the
the bowlers, dismissing outside edge of Manzoor
Fawad Alam (16) and and Jayawardene took
Younus Khan (two) in the the catch at slip.
morning and then sparking Minutes later
the late collapse by Yousuf threw his wicket
trapping Shoaib Malik leg away trying to complete a
before for 45. foolish second run after a
miss-field and was run
Nominated for Khel Ratna,
Sports
out.
Malik and
Misbah ul-Haq (27)
steadied the innings
once again with a 75-run
stand before Sri Lanka
took the second new ball.
Malik was the
first to go, pinned lbw by
an inswinger, before
Nuwan Kulasekera found
the inside edge of Misbah
and then bowled Umar
Gul.
Teams
Pakistan: Younus Khan
(capt), Fawad Alam,
K h u r r a m M a n z o o r,
M o h a m m a d Yo u s u f ,
Misbah-ul Haq, Shoaib
Malik, Kamran Akmal,
Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal,
M o h a m m a d A a m e r,
Danish Kaneria.
Sri Lanka: Kumar
Sangakkara (capt),
Malinda Warnapura,
Tharanga Paranavitana,
Mahela Jayawardene,
Thilan Samaraweera,
Tillakaratne Dilshan,
Angelo Mathews,
Rangana Herath,
Chaminda Vaas, Thilan
Thushara, Nuwan
Kulasekera.
Umpires: Simon Taufel
(AUS) and Ian Gould
(ENG)
TV umpire: Gamini Silva
(SRI)
Match referee: Alan
Hurst (AUS)
Aussie media howl over umpiring blunders
S y d n e y, J u l y 2 1 :
Umpiring controversies
were a burning issue in
the Australian media on
Monday as the Aussies
kept alive their faint
hopes of victory in the
s e c o n d A s h e s Te s t
against England at
Lord`s.
Michael Clarke
and Brad Haddin held
England at bay with an
unbroken sixth-wicket
stand of 185 to leave
Australia at 313 for five
and needing a further
209 runs to achieve an
improbable victory on
Monday`s final day.
But there was
raging debate in
Australia`s newspapers
and blogging sites over
three controversial
umpiring decisions that
went England`s way on
Sunday`s fourth day.
Commentators
said Simon Katich was
caught off a no-ball from
Andrew Flintoff which
umpire Billy Doctrove
failed to call and England
captain Andrew Strauss
claimed a catch at slip off
Phillip Hughes that
appeared to bounce.
Hughes stood
his ground, the umpires
conferred, and the other
m a t c h o ff i c i a l R u d i
Koertzen ruled that the
catch had carried without
referring it to the video
umpire.
The Aussie
press also contended
that Doctrove gave Mike
Hussey out caught at slip
by a delivery from spinner
Graeme Swann which
appeared to miss the
edge of his bat.
"Australian
anger is now likely to
bubble over at Hughes`s
controversial dismissal --
especially as the umpires
had referred Nathan
Hauritz`s contentious
diving catch to the third
umpire earlier in the
match," Ben Dorries said.
" R e p l a y s
appeared to show the
ball touching the ground
before Strauss`s fingers
curled around the ball
and the Australians were
entitled to feel aggrieved
that the (Hughes)
decision was not
referred," Chloe Saltau
said.
R o b e r t
Craddock called for
Koertzen to be sacked.
"I can forgive
Billy Doctrove -- just -- for
failing to detect that the
ball which dismissed
Katich was a no-ball and
the fact that Hussey hit
the ground and not the
ball when he was given
out," he said.
"But there was
absolutely no excuse for
Koertzen not to go to the
third umpire to decide
whether Strauss has
correctly caught Hughes
at slip."
"Amazingly, he
(Koertzen) is still at large
making major blunders
which shape the results
July 21, 2009
of series and if he was the
chief executive of a major
company he would have
been sacked on the spot
years ago."
The Australian`s
Malcolm Conn said cricket
continues to make a fool of
itself over its reluctance to
fully utilise technology to
adjudicate in dismissals.
" U m p i r e s
Koertzen and Doctrove
have proved with a series
of terrible blunders at
Lord`s that no amount of
technology can improve a
game if those in charge
can`t or won`t use it," Conn
said.
F o r m e r Te s t
legspinner Stuart MacGill
said umpires needed to
show fair and consistent
application and
interpretation of the laws
and playing guidelines.
"That clearly did
not happen today
(Sunday)," MacGill said.
Fellow panellist
and former Test cricketer
Greg Matthews said he
detected a little fear
creeping into the England
camp as Australia kept
their hopes flickering.
"It is undeniable
to say that England looked
just a little bit shaky,"
Matthews said.
"How many times
in the history of Test match
cricket do you see a
captain pull his boys into a
huddle with an hour to
play? I could just smell a bit
of fear."

Marykom regrets it came so late
( Photo Marykom ) New
Delhi, July 21: It's been
three-year wait for the four-
time women's world boxing
champion M.C. Marykom
to get nominated for the
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
award. The Manipuri who
was finally nominated for
the country's highest
sporting award Monday,
however, regrets it has
come after so long.
'It's been a long
wait for me, I have been
applying for the award from
the past three years.
Despite performing, I
wasn't even nominated. I
regret that,' Marykom, an
Arjuna Award winner and a
Padmshree, said as a
matter of fact.
The petite lady is
nonetheless happy to be
nominated.
'After winning my
fourth world boxing
championship, I visited the
sports minister last year
and he encouraged me a
lot. I am quite relieved and
happy today though
officially I have not been
informed about the
nomination yet,' she told
IANS.
When told
along with her, Beijing
Games bronze
medallists, boxer
Vijender Singh and
wrestler Sushil Kumar
also have been
nominated and stand a
chance to be adjudged
the joint winners,
Marykom was quick to
say: 'The things
should go as per the
rule. If the rule is that
only one person can
win the award, then it
should be so, whether
I win or someone else.'
The mother of
twin boys, Marykom, who
is an inspector in Manipur
police, said if she wins
she will dedicate the
award to her husband
and kids.
'My husband
has been a big support
throughout. I took just a
year's break after giving
birth to my twins. Without
them, I wouldn't have
reached so far. If I win, I
will dedicate the awards
to them. And I wish to do
even better in the future.'
The experts
also named 15
sportspersons for the
Arjuna awards. The list
includes cricketer
G a u t a m G a m b h i r,
badminton star Saina
Nehwal and hockey
player Ignace Tirkey.
Delhi's Tania Sachdev
has also been picked for
the award in chess.
A different
panel, headed by
eminent athlete GS
Randhawa, selected five
coaches for the
Dronacharya awards - P
Gopi Chand (badminton),
Satpal (wrestling),
Baldev Singh (hockey),
Jaidev Bisht (boxing) and
Uday Kumar (kabaddi).
T H E years of the game as part
RECOMMENDATIONS
Rajiv Gandhi
Khel Ratna: MC Mary
Kom, Vijender Singh,
Sushil Kumar
Arjuna awards: Gautam
Gambhir (cricket),
Sinimole Paulose
(athletics), Saina Nehwal
(badminton), L Sarita
Devi (boxing), Ignace
Tirkey (hockey),
Surender Kaur (hockey),
Ronjan Sodhi (shooting),
Mangal Singh Champia
(archery), Paulomi
Ghatak (table tennis),
Tania Sachdev (chess),
Yo g e s h w a r D u t t
(wrestling), Satish Joshi
(rowing), Pankaj Shirsat
(kabaddi), GL yadav
(yachting) and Boniface
Prabhu (paralympics).
Dronacharya awards:
Gopi Chand (badminton),
Satpal (wrestling),
Baldev Singh (hockey),
Jaidev Bisht (boxing) and
Uday Kumar (kabaddi).
Oxford to host two-day ICC history conference this week
Dubai/London, July 21:
An outstanding group of
current and former
administrators and
players as well as leading
academics, historians
and statisticians will
gather this week in
Oxford for the ICC History
Conference.
The conference,
taking place on July 22
and 23 in the Nissan
Institute at St Antony’s
College, Oxford, will look
back at the past 100
of the ICC’s centenary
year celebrations.
Former ICC
President Ehsan Mani
and the organisation’s
first Chief Executive
David Richards will come
together to reflect upon
the big issues they had to
deal with during their
times at the helm of the
global game.
A n d e x -
international greats
Bishan Bedi, Angus
Fraser, Sourav Ganguly,
Clive Lloyd and Bob Willis
will assess how the game
has changed since they
began their careers.
The ICC began
as the Imperial Cricket
Conference in 1909 with
just three members –
Australia, England and
South Africa. A century
later it has 104 members
and its development over
those 100 years will be
charted by a host of
experts.
They include Sir
Hilary Beckles, the Pro-
Vice-Chancellor and
Principal and Professor of
Economic and Social
History of the University
of the West Indies, Brian
Stoddart, the former Vice-
Chancellor of La Trobe
University, Australia,
Boria Majumdar of the
University of Central
Lancashire, Don Neely,
the President of New
Zealand Cricket, and
leading journalists and
cricket historians Mihir
Bose, David Frith and
Gideon Haigh, among
others.
W o m e n ’ s
cricket past and present
will be represented by
former England captain
Rachael Heyhoe-Flint,
who lifted the inaugural
women’s world cup in
1973, as well as current
captain Charlotte
Edwards and her team-
mate Ebony Rainford-
Brent, the latter duo part
of the squad that holds
the ICC Women’s World
Cup, the ICC World
Twenty20 trophy and The
Ashes.
MCC curator
Adam Chadwick will talk
about the importance of
cricket heritage and
perpetuating the game’s
legacy, and David Kendix
and Rob Eastaway, two of
the men behind the
Reliance Mobile ICC
team and player rankings
respectively, will explain
how statistics and rankings
allow comparisons across
history.
To b r i n g t h e
conference right up to date,
it will also be attended by
current ICC President
David Morgan and Chief
Executive Haroon Lorgat,
as well as ICC Director and
England and Wales Cricket
Board (ECB) Chairman
Giles Clarke and ECB
Chief Executive David
Collier.
Looking ahead to
the conference, Morgan
said: “One of the key
themes of the ICC’s
centenary year is tradition,
to use 2009 as an
opportunity to look back at
the game’s rich history, to
honour past greats and
recognise milestones.We
are honouring those past
greats through the ICC
Cricket Hall of Fame in
association with the
Federation of International
Cricketers’ Associations,
recognising the
achievements of the great
players who have graced
the game.”
And the ICC
History Conference will be
an opportunity for
administrators past and
present, as well as players,
journalists, academics,
historians and statisticians
to come together and
reflect on the events of the
past 100 years. It should be
a fantastic occasion and a
highlight of the ICC
centenary year.”
July 21, 2009
Film Review
'Achchamundu Achchamundu' -
sensitive theme, poor translation
Debutant director
Arun Vaidyanathan has got
his basic premise right by
choosing a strong theme --
sexual abuse against
children. But he hasn't
translated the concept into
an absorbing experience
on screen. The culprit, as
usual, is the screenplay,
which has more style than
substance.
Senthil Kumar
(Prasanna), an executive
in New Jersey, US, is
leading a happy life with his
wife Malini (Sneha) and
child Rinku. The happiness
is marred by some stray
incidents that scare Malini.
Senthil rubbishes them, as
they are insignificant.
Here enters a
painter Robinson (John
Shea) who's basically a
psychotic person
interested in child abuse
and sexual harassment.
The couple, unaware of his
darker side, completely
trust him. He slowly makes
his moves to get hold of the
child.
Meanwhile, the
wife conceives and Senthil
takes her fears seriously.
He sets up an alarm
system in the house and
takes more care to make
her feel at ease. But one
day he finds something
seriously wrong. How he
saves his family from the
clutches of the psychotic
Jeeva's Katcheri is now
Katcheri Arambam
After working in
offbeat flicks like
Thennavattu and Siva
Manasula Sakthi, actor
Jeeva seems to be working
on his image make-over.
The talented
actor is presently busy
shooting for his upcoming
flick Singam Puli, which
features him in a double
role.
Times Chennai E-Paper
child abuser forms the
climax.
Vaidyanathan
has to be applauded for
choosing a sensitive
theme. He has also
presented the film neatly
without any gimmick. He
hasn't resorted to cliched
sentiments to show a
happy family. But the way
he handles his theme
leaves much to be
desired.
The award
winning movie (Best
Homegrown Feature
Film award at the Garden
State
Film Festival in New
Jersey in April) presents
us some documentary
like sequences that show
us the life of the young
NRI couple.
T h e fiction on the lives of NRI
presentation is neat. But
why does the director
need to tell all these
things instead of getting
us into the movie? The
screenplay takes its own
time to come to the
subject and when it finally
does, it has been ended
abruptly with a short and
forceful fighting scene.
The newspaper
clippings being shown at
the end tell us how
children are affected by
abuse. But one wonders
why Vaidyanathan hasn't
tried to bring the issue
J e e v a i s
simultaneously busy,
facing the camera for yet
another film produced by
his father R.B. Choudary
of Super Good Films. The
film was earlier titled as
‘Katcheri’ and due to
some reasons it has been
renamed as ‘Katcheri
Arambam’.
For a change,
Entertainment
into his narrative. Does
the filmmaker feel that the
clipping would do a better
job than his narrative?
The movie
disappoints big time, as it
hardly handles the
subject. Instead, it tries to
present us a thriller
without any thrilling
elements.
The way he
depicts Robinson to
make him look like a
psychotic looks funny to
say the least. A child
abuser doesn't need to
be a psycho and he
doesn't need some
bizarre practices in the
name of exercise.
Va i d y a n a t h a n h a s
unfortunately restored to
the cliched Kollywood
way of depicting a
different kind of villain.
Performance
wise, Prasanna and
Sneha have stuck to their
brief and delivered
c o m p e t i t i v e
performances. They look
credible as NRI Tamils in
the US. To be fair to them,
we have to mention that
they have not been
offered any challenging
role to leave a mark. John
Shea is quite impressive
in a psychotic role.
Karthik Raja
has delivered a couple of
melodies while the
background score by
Martio is apt.
"Acchamundu
Acchamundu" has a
good concept on paper.
But it fails to impress, as
the screenplay lacks
excitement. The movie
has come out as a docu-
young couple dealing
with sexual abuse
against children rather
than a thriller.
Vaidyanathan
has to be applauded for
bringing a technical
r e v o l u t i o n t o Ta m i l
cinema by using the Red
One camera in the film.
F i l m
' A c h c h a m u n d u
Achchamundu'; Cast:
Prasanna, Sneha, John
Shea; Director: Arun
Vaidyanathan; Music:
Karthik Raja; Score:
45/100
actress Pooja Bajwa
would be seen in a
glamorous role paired
opposite Jeeva in
Thennavattu. Debutant
Thiraivannan is taking
care of story, screenplay,
dialogues and direction.
The music has been
composed by D. Imman
and Vaithi is capturning
the flick with his camera.
Film Preview
Vinnaithandi
Varuvaaya-Splendid love
story on the make,
Banner- Escape Artists
Motion Pictures, R.S.
I n f o t a i n m e n t ,
Production- Madan,
Ganesh, Kumar and
Jayaraman, Direction-
Gowtham Menon, Star-
casts- Silambarasan,
Trisha, Pranav and
others.
Music- A.R. Rahman
Cinematography- Manoj
Parahamsa
Editing- Antony
Costumes- Nalini Sriram
Gowtham Menon, the
reigning filmmaker of
Tamil film industry has
been churning out awe-
inspiring films in his
career. Well, he holds a
prominent place for
making films of different
genres. With his previous
f i l m s ‘ Va a r a n a m
Aayiram’ turning to be a
blockbuster; he has
almost completed
shooting for his next film
‘Vinnaithandi Varuvaaya’
too. Gowtham himself
terms his film to be a
‘Breezy Romance-
entertainer ’ starring
Silambarasan and Trisha
in lead roles. Simbhu has
precipitously shed his
mass-hero image and
gears up for a contrast
role.
So far, the film
has been shot across the
exotic locales of
Chennai, Kerala and
Malta Island. The film
revolves around two
Sony to release film of Jackson's final days
Los Angeles, July 21:
Sony is to release a
movie based on more
than 80 hours of footage
filmed during Michael
Jackson's final days as
he was rehearsing for his
comeback concerts in
London, trade paper
Variety reported Monday.
S o n y i s
expected to pay over $50
million for the rights to the
footage, which was
offered by concert
promoter AEG to
Hollywood film studios
over the weekend.
The film will
Aadhavan audio launch
on Independence Day
Kollywood's
super actor Surya has
almost completed
shooting for his next film
'Aadhavan'.
The film is
directed by K.S.
Ravikumar with
Udayanidhi Stalin (Chief
M i n i s t e r M .
Karunanidhi’s grandson)
producing it under the
banner of Red Giant
Vinnaithandi
Varuvaaya
young people who fall in
love. Sources have
revealed that filming has
been almost completed
with couple of songs and
climax portion left to be
shot.
Well, the
highlight is Academy
Award Winner A.R.
Rahman scoring music
for this film. The film has
five song situations and
Rahman has tuned
melodies for 3 songs
penned by Thamarai.
Couple of them has been
filmed stylishly. The song
‘Hosanna’ has ‘Jai Ho’
song fame Vijay Prakash
crooning while Rahman
himself has rendered his
stupendous voice for
‘Omana Penne’. Both the
songs have been shot at
Malta Island with eye-
catching visuals.
M a n o j
Paramahamsa handles
cinematography adding
to the beauty of the film
include several videos
that were shot and meant
to be shown during the
concerts, including an
alternative version of
Jackson's most famous
video, "Thriller".
"High School
Musical" director Kenny
Ortega, who shot the
rehearsal footage, is
expected to become the
director of the film, which
could be released before
year's end.
T h o u g h
Universal, Paramount
and 20th Century Fox
were also interested in
Movies. The film features
Surya as a protagonist
with negative shades
while hottie Nayanthara
stars opposite him as
female lead role.
Ve t e r a n a c e
actress Saroja Devi
performs a prominent
role.
According to the
sources, audio for this
film is slated to be
Page 11
with spectacular ambience
envisioned by Rajeevan
(art director) and the crisp
cutting of Anthony
(Editing).
Nalini Sriram
adds to the appearance of
the film with striking
costumes for all the actors
in the scenes and songs.
The costumes made for the
songs are eye catching
and hard to be missed by
audience!
The film also has
Ganesh, Babu Anthony,
P r a n a v, K i t t y, U m a
Padmanabhan and
Lakshmi Ramakrishnan
performing prominent
characters.
The film is
produced by Madan and
Ganesh of Escape Artists
Motion Pictures in
collaboration with Kumar
and Jayaraman (R.S.
Infotainment).
The film is set to
hit the screens by second
week of November.
the footage, Sony had the
inside track since the
studio owns the music
publishing rights
to Jackson's songs.
The report said
that AEG is also selling TV
and video rights to the
tribute concert featuring
Justin Timberlake and
other artists, scheduled for
Aug 29, on what would
have been Jackson's 51st
birthday.
The singers will
perform the songs that the
King of Pop had planned,
accompanied by the band
that rehearsed with him.
launched on August 15 at
Satyam Cinemas.
Think Music has
acquired the audio rights
for this musical score of
‘Harris Jayaraj’.
Duo Combo–
Surya and Harris Jayaraj
have delivered colossal
hits with ‘Kaakha Kaakha’,
‘ G h a j i n i ’ , ‘ Va a r a n a m
Aayiram’ and recently
released ‘Ayan’.
Page 12 Times Chennai E-Paper
Solved: Why raindrops
come in different sizes!
London, July 21 : The
mystery why raindrops
come in different sizes has
puzzled scientists for
years. Now, a team in
France claims to have
finally cracked it -- it's all
due to air resistance.
For their study,
researchers at Aix-
Marseille University filmed
a single falling drop of
water -- about six
millimetres in diameter --
with a high-speed camera.
In fact, they recorded how
air resistance caused it to
Mahatma Gandhi Peace
Award conferred on Suu Kyi
Durban, July 21: The
pro-democracy Myanmar
leader and Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi has
been felicitated with
Mahatma Gandhi
International Award for
Peace and Reconciliation
here.
The award was
bestowed by the South
African-based Mahatma
Gandhi Foundation at a
function at the Durban City
Hall last night.
Burmese Prime
Minister in exile, Thien Win
received the award on her
behalf which was
presented by South African
deputy minister of foreign
affairs Ebrahim Ismail
Ebrahim.
Bestowing the
award, Paddy Kearney, a
deform and eventually
break up.
Air resistance causes a
raindrop to deform as it
falls, and eventually to
fragment. The large,
round drop fell, gradually
flattened out and, as it got
wider, "captured" the air
in front of it to form the
shape of an upturned
bag.
This bag finally
"inflated" and burst apart
into many smaller
droplets - all within six
hundredths of a second.
trustee of the
Foundation, said the
award was being given
on July 20 because it
represents the 20th
anniversary of Suu Kyi's
house arrest by the
military junta in her
country.
"She is a non-
violent leader in the
mould of Mahatma
Gandhi, Nelson
Mandela and Martin
Luther King. The
a w a r d i s i n
recognition of her
strong commitment
to non-violence,
justice and peace,"
he said.
We are not sure
whether she knows
about this award but
what we can tell you
that our chairperson
Ela Gandhi, had sent
a letter to the
Burmese ambassador in
Pretoria and it was
returned without being
opened, he added.
Kearney said
that South Africa fully
supports Aung San Suu
Kyi and the Myanmarese
people in their struggles.
Accepting the
award, Win said it was a
great honour for him to
receive the prestigious
award on behalf of Aung
San Suu Kyi.
Terming Aung
News You Can Use
This happened because
drops were too large and
heavy to remain intact,
according to the
researchers.
Each large,
heavy drop accelerates
as it falls and "has to
displace the air
molecules" on its way
down, explained the
study's lead author
Emmanuel Villermaux.
"This produces the air
resistance or drag."
At a certain
speed, the number of air
molecules -- and
therefore the intensity of
this drag -- is greater than
the surface tension
holding the round drop
together, so the drop
starts to deform.
"When it bursts,
the fragments match
exactly what we find in
raindrops. This is a
precise, quantitative
explanation for their
distribution and size,"
Villermaux told 'BBC
News'.
The study has
been published in the
'Nature Physics' journal.
San Suu Kyi a devoted
follower of Mahatma
Gandhi's principles and
moral values, Win called
on India and South Africa
to support their struggles
for freedom.
The Premier of
the KwaZulu-Natal
province Zweli Mkhize,
who was the guest of
honour said "the people
and government of South
Africa fully supported the
struggles of Aung San
Suu Kyi and the people of
Burma.'
"We will work
with UN Secretary
General and the UN to
ensure that the elections
in Myanmar next year is
credible," he said.
We can fully
identify with the brutal
oppression and
restrictions imposed on
Aung San Suu Kyi and
other freedom fighters
because we too
experienced the same
situation in our country.
We want to tell her that
h e r c o u r a g e ,
determination and
compassion will be
stronger than the iron
bars and prison cages,
Mkhize said, adding "The
military will not win."
The Mahatma
Gandhi Foundation also
p r e s e n t e d t h e
Satyagraha awards
India cannot accept
emission caps: Pachauri
New York, July 21: claimed that the G8
Chairman of the Nobel- nations had "clearly
w i n n i n g U N ignored" taking any
Intergovernmental Panel concrete action to
on Climate Change R K accomplish its new goal
of limiting
climate
change.
T h e that temperature increase
certainty
with which
we can
m a k e
projections
is getting
higher and
we think it's
time for the
g l o b a l
community
to take
action,"
Pachauri
t o l d
Pachauri on Tuesday reporters at a press
asserted that India is in conference held at the
no position to accept UN headquarters.
emission caps when "We can't put
developed countries are stability and peace at risk
not doing enough. by ignoring the impact of
Pachauri, in an interview climate change," he
to a news channel, warned.
instead suggested that Just back from a
India should take steps to meeting in Venice where
m o v e t o w a r d s the panel had begun
s u s t a i n a b l e o u t l i n i n g k e y
development. He also developments and
said that the country is proposals for its Fifth
taking the issue of Assessment Report, to
climate change seriously
and referred to India’s
be released in 2014,
Pachauri called for
new national action plan
to tackle the issue.
unprecedented global
cooperation to come up
Flaying the with the right policy mix to
developed countries over comprehensively tackle
the issue, the top climate the "progressively
change expert said that serious" impacts of
their approach towards climate change.
the implementation of Pachauri said the
climate treaties – namely outcome of the G-8 talks
the Kyoto Protocol and in L'Aquila, Italy, featuring
Geneva Convention on the world's largest
Climate Change – has emitters, had been
been casual and that they "mixed (...) a bit of a
are not doing enough. dichotomy".
Separately at a He said the
press conference held at world's wealthiest
the UN headquarters in countries, "clearly
New York, Pachauri ignored what the IPCC
Indian students bag five
medals at IPhO in Mexico
Mumbai, July 21: India The top five
has bagged four golds students, who
and a silver medal at the represented India in the
40th International week-long International
Physics Olympiad (IPhO) Physics Olympiad this
held at Merida Yucatan, year at Mexcio which
Mexico. concluded on Sunday
night (Monday morning
for India), had earlier
former activists involved established their
in the anti-apartheid supremacy by securing
struggles. top positions in IIT-JEE
The Mahatma 2009.
Gandhi Foundation first "They were
initiated the awards in arguably the best physics
2003 in order to honour students in India. They
those who had struggled have now established
for South Africa's that they are also some of
freedom and also 'the best physics
international freedom students in the world' by
fighters. wining four golds and a
July 21, 2009
came up with" to reach that
goal.
On one hand, the
leaders had agreed to a so-
called "aspirational" goal of
reducing greenhouse gas
emissions by 80 per cent
up to 2050, and to seeing
did not exceed 2º C.
"But on the other
hand, they haven't taken
into account the IPCC's
formula that if we want to
limit the increase to 2º, we
h a ve to e n su re th a t
emissions peak no later
than 2015," Pachauri said.
"They pledged
deep cuts (in emissions),
but they were not specific
about what those cuts will
be," he said, stressing that
he saw "glaring gaps" that
needed to be filled
b e t w e e n s u c h
pronouncements and
policy action in the
immediate term, and to
limit temperature rise by
the end of the century, to
stabilise atmospheric
concentrations of
greenhouse gases at or
near current levels.
Responding to
questions, he said the
clean technologies
required to achieve that
were already developed or
on the verge of
commercialization. Also
needed was a mix of
policies that would spark
that kind of development.
As things stood, all
countries, rich and poor,
would have to adopt
measures to adapt to and
mitigate the effects of
climate change, he said.
"We must look at the
effects on sustainable
development -- that should
be the ultimate goal," he
added.
silver," Prof Vijay Singh,
N a t i o n a l C o o r d i n a t o r,
Science Olympiads told in
Mumbai.
The winners of
gold medals are Gopi
Sivakanth Yeleswaram
from Andhra (third in IIT-
JEE), Nitin Jain from
Faridabad in Haryana (first
i n I I T- J E E ) , P r i y a n k
Pradeep Parikh from
Mumbai (sixth in IIT-JEE)
and Shubham Tulsiani from
Jodhpur in Rajasthan
(second in IIT-JEE).
The winner of the
silver medal is Vinit Atal
from Pune (ranked 90 in
IIT-JEE), Singh said.
July 21, 2009
Young men who stay with
parents likely to be violent
Washington, July 21,:
Young men who stay with
their parents are more
violent than those who live
on their own, a new study
has found.
The research at
Queen Mary, University of
London indicates that men
still living at home in their
early twenties have fewer
responsibilities and more
disposable income to
spend on alcohol.
To reach the conclusion,
Professor Jeremy Coid
a n d D r M i n g Ya n g
surveyed over 8000 men
and women.
Participants answered
questions about violent
Babies can understand dog barks
Washington, July 21:
Babies are not as naïve as
we think they are – at least
as far as canines are
concerned. A new study
has claimed that
infants just 6 months old
can understand the
different tones of dog
barks, even if they’ve
limited previous exposure.
They can match
the sounds of an angry
snarl and a friendly yap to
photos of dogs displaying
threatening and
welcoming body language,
the research claims.
The new findings
come on the heels of a
study from the same
Brigham Young University
lab showing that infants
can detect mood swings in
Beethoven’s music.
Does stress actually make us feel sick?
Washington, July 21:
Whether it's getting a cold
during exam time or feeling
run-down after a big
meeting, we've all
experienced feeling sick
following a particularly
stressful time at work or
school. Is this merely
coincidence, or is it
possible that stress can
actually make us sick?
Janice K Kiecolt-
Glaser, psychologist from
the Ohio State University
College of Medicine
(OSUCM), reviews
research into how stress
can wreak havoc on our
bodies and offers
suggestions.
The field of
p s y c h o - n e u r o -
immunology (PNI)
investigates how stress
and negative emotions
(such as depression and
anxiety) affect our health.
Over the past 30
years, researchers have
uncovered a number of
ways that stress adversely
affects our health, and
specifically, how stress can
damage our immune
Times Chennai E-Paper Medley Page 13
Indian English is as good as
any, says UK study
behaviour over the past 5 strangers, is the most
years and mental health common scenario and London, July, 21: With target I have been trying were taught pronunciation
problems. just one of a series of English becoming lingua to achieve and the level material based on the
Their results hedonistic and negative franca and having more of intelligibility required to phonological features
showed for the first time social behaviours such non-native speakers in communicate effectively. suggested by Dr Jenkins,
that staying in the as hazardous drinking, the world than native "Very few users and those who have used
parental home is a drug misuse, sexual risk speakers, there is need of English today would traditional pronunciation
stronger risk factor for taking, and non-violent for a new approach in claim that aiming at models based on native-
young men's violence antisocial behaviour. teaching of pronunciation native-like pronunciation speaker varieties.
than any other factor. "And these are of the language, a new is necessary or even Zoghbor said,
Professor Coid more common among study suggests. desirable. I hope that my "English usage is
said: "Young adult men young men who do not The emphasis contribution to this field expanding - every five
living at home in Britain have responsibilities of on 'correct' pronunciation can challenge the years it gets bigger; in 2008
are no longer influenced providing their own of English as depicted in existing stereotypes of there were three times as
by parents to conform to accommodation, films like 'My Fair Lady' teaching English many non-native English
standards of behaviour supporting dependent should be discontinued in pronunciation," said language speakers as
expected of previous children, or experiencing f a v o u r m u t u a l Zoghbor. native speakers, and
generations. beneficial effects on their intelligibility among non- Her research therefore you can no longer
"Violence behaviour from living with native speakers, as well explores the notion that say that everyone in the
outside of the home, a female partner. as celebrating the teaching native world is using the language
mainly involving national identity of non- pronunciation might incorrectly apart from the
native speakers, it says. eliminate a significant inner core of native
Therefore, a
Chinese or Indian
indicator of an
individual's identity.
speakers. When using
English as a lingua franca
speaker of English need She said, "We what matters more than
Long before conclusion, the babies not seek to 'disguise' his recognise Indian, South native-like pronunciation is
they master speech, first saw two different or her origins in seeking African, Egyptian and intelligibility."
babies recognize and pictures of the same dog, to speak the language Chinese speakers from She suggests that
respond to the tone of one in an aggressive 'properly' - instead they their accents. As long as the goal of pronunciation
what’s going on around posture and the other in a should feel free to speak they are intelligible and teaching needs to be
them. friendly stance. Then the with their dialects and have the potential to switched from achieving
“Emotion is one researchers played – in accents intact so long as communicate effectively native-like pronunciation to
of the first things babies random order – sound what they said was clear there should be no aiming for intelligibility
pick up on in their social clips of a friendly and an and intelligible. reason for them not to during communication,
world,” said BYU aggressive dog bark. Research retain their accents – whilst at the same time
psychology professor “They only had presented at the something which they preserving an individual's
Ross Flom, lead author one trial because we University of Leicester's might like to do as this identity.
of the study. didn’t want them to learn Festival of Postgraduate accent carries their "It is difficult at this stage to
Flom and two it on the fly and figure it Research highlights the identity, ethnicity and confirm the findings of the
BYU students report their out,” Flom said. emphasis based on indicates the group of quantitative data that has
findings in the journal While the replicating the phonology people they belong to." been collected as it is being
Developmental recordings played, the 6- of native speakers – and The study processed. But through
Psychology. month-old babies spent suggests instead that an expands on the work of interviewing individuals
“We chose dogs most of their time staring intelligibility-oriented Dr Jennifer Jenkins from who have been using
because they are highly at the appropriate a p p r o a c h t o the University of English as a second
communicative picture. Older babies pronunciation teaching Southampton who language, the responses
creatures both in their usually made the would be more proposed a list of reveal that intelligibility is
posture and the nature of connection instantly with appropriate. pronunciation features influenced by attitudinal
their bark,” Flom said. their very first glance. D o c t o r a l which are the minimum more than phonological
To reach the student, Wafa Zoghbor requirement for factors."
from the School of i n t e l l i g i b l e Wafa Zoghbor, who is from
Education said, "I was
taught English as a
communication among
non-native English
Abu-Dhabi in the UAE,
hopes that her research will
system. and Parkinson's, arthritis, foreign language and language speakers. be replicated beyond the
Numerous and Type II diabetes. after years of learning Zoghbor's Arab societies to expand
studies have shown that Kiecolt-Glaser Standard English research compares the the scope to different
stressed individuals suggests that to most pronunciation. I found a speech of two groups of contexts.
show weaker immune effectively tackle the wide gap between the Arab learners, those who
responses to vaccines, questions raised by
and as Kiecolt-Glaser recent PNI research,
observes: "The evidence
that stress and distress
cross-discipline training
needs to be emphasised
Google software offers
impair vaccine
responses has obvious
for students.
Psychology 3-D map of the moon
public health relevance students who gain a
because infectious strong foundation in San Francisco, July, 21: spacecraft landing sites in Google Earth, it's now
diseases can be so areas such as biology Google on Monday narrated by astronauts on possible for anyone to
deadly." and physiology will be unveiled an interactive U.S. Apollo missions. follow in their footsteps,"
Stress and able to enter into 3D atlas of the moon, a Users can also Michael Weiss-Malik, a
depression have been powerful collaborations new feature in the view 3D models of landed Google product manager,
shown to increase the with scientists Internet search giant's spacecraft and zoom into said in a statement.
risk of getting infections conducting immunology Google Earth software. 360-degree photos to see " We ' r e g i v i n g
and also result in delayed research. The map, called astronauts' footprints on hundreds of millions of
wound healing. Kiecolt-Glaser Moon in Google Earth, the lunar surface. people around the world
Inflammation is concludes that the was released as a "Forty years unprecedented access to
the body's way of questions answered by celebration of the 40th ago, two human beings an interactive 3D
removing harmful stimuli these collaborations will anniversary of the U.S. walked on the Moon. presentation of the Apollo
and also starts the advance PNI as well as Apollo 11 mission that Starting today, with Moon missions," he added.
process of healing, via psychology in general, took the first human steps
release of a variety of says an OSUCM release. on the lunar surface,
chemicals. These findings Google said.
However, too a p p e a r e d i n Moon in Google To advertise in
much inflammation can Perspectives on Earth enables users to
be damaging and has Psychological Science, a view lunar photos and this paper mail to:
been implicated in the journal of the Association videos and take virtual
development of many
age-related diseases,
including Alzheimer's
for Psychological
Science.
tours of the moon
landscape, including
visits to human adsales@timeschennai.com
Page 14
Hindustani music exponent Gangubai Hangal passes away
Hubli, July 21 : Doyen of
Hindustani vocal music
Gangubai Hangal, who
mesmerized audiences
with her melodious voice
for over six decades, died
at a hospital here today
after a brief illness.
The condition of
97-year-old Gangubai,
who was suffering from
severe chest congestion
and anaemia, turned
critical last night and was
put on life support system,
her physician Dr Asho
Kalamadani, told PTI.
Gangubai,
hospitalised since June
three had returned home
on July 12 but was
readmitted to the hospital
two days later and shifted
to a superspeciality
hospital on Thursday last
after her condition became
serious.
"The end came at
7.10 am," Gangubai's
Conditional bail to Doc, son in
mark sheet fudging case
Chennai, July 21:The
Madras High Court today
granted conditional
anticipatory bail to a doctor
and his son in connection
with the mark sheet fudging
case filed by the Central
Bureau of Investigation.
Justice M Jeyapaul granted
the bail to Dr C
Krishnamurthy and his son
Kiruba Sridhar, on the
condition that they should
produce a surety of Rs one
lakh each.
The Judge also
imposed a condition that
the father-son duo should
appear before the CBI
twice a day and that they
should stay in Chennai.
Earlier, when the
case came up for hearing
on July 15, the Judge had
reserved the orders for
today.
The case was
posted before Justice
Jeyapaul after Justice R
Regupathi, who was earlier
hearing the case, made a
startling revelation in the
Office: F 5 and 6 1st Floor, Leo Complex, New No: 41, Madley Road, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017. Ph: 42867771, Fax: 42867772
grandson Manoj Hangal
said. Close family
members, including her
three sons and two
daughters, were by her
side.
N a g r a j
Tankasali, director of the
private hospital, said that
the singer had died of
cardiogenic pulmonary
oedema.
The frail-looking
Hindustani musical
genius had been ailing for
sometime now.
Despite being
diagnosed with bone
cancer in 2002, it was her
"never say die spirit"
which made Gangubai
battle the disease for
three years and survive.
The doyenne of
the Kirana Gharana was
awarded India's
prestigious civilian
honours of Padma
Bhushan and Padma
open court that a Union
Minister had tried to
influence him in the case
and requested the
Registry to place the
matter before the Chief
Justice for posting before
another Judge.
The prosecu-
tion case was that the
doctor, and his son,
studying in a private
medical college in the
U n i o n Te r r i t o r y o f
P u d u c h e r r y, w e r e
wanted in connection
with the manipulation of
the answersheet of
Kiruba Sridhar in the
Ophthalmology
examination in the Third-
year MBBS course to
ensure his success in the
exam.
Earlier, the High
Court had already
ordered a CBI probe into
the death of V
Jayaraman, a data entry
operator of the
Pondicherry University,
the whistleblower in the
Owned Edited and Published by S. Raghunathan Editorial and Advertisement
Times Chennai E-Paper
Vibhushan in 1971 and
2002 respectively.
A Tribute
Belonging to
the Kirana Gharana,
Gangubai's music was
filled with bhakti. Her
voice, which was both
husky and robust, had a
timbre that left a deep
impression on the
listeners. She took
Madras by storm. In the
shadow of this wave of
appreciation, she
remained a simple
woman, wearing a nine-
yard Poona cotton sari at
home, doing her riaz
(practice) and treating us
to several impromptu
sessions of soulful
music.
Gangubai is
one of the four
Kannadiga celebrities of
Hindustani music. The
others are Mallikarjun
Mansur, Kumar
Gandharva and
Bhimsen Joshi. She may
not have a high profile
like the men in this
pantheon. Nevertheless
she has held her own
and has dedicated her
life to the arduous
cultivation of her style of
expression. Her
followers know her
emotional involvement
with music and
appreciate her personal
commitment to creative
endeavour.
These qualities
have earned her a pride
of place among the great
musicians of our time.
She always did justice to
the Khayal in all its
intricacy, taking her time
case. The 30-year-old
whistleblower was
bumped off after he
came across some
corrections in the mark
list of an engineering
paper, the data of which
he was keying into the
computer.
For instance,
he found '006,' a mark
scored for a subject by a
student, changed to
'066.' Suspecting foul
play, he took up the
matter with a Deputy
C o n t r o l l e r o f
Examinations, who in
turn referred it to the
higher authorities,
triggering a probe by the
university officials.
On May 20,
2008, Jayaraman was
found murdered at his
farmland near the new
prison premises and his
relatives said it was an
act of murder as he had
been receiving life
threatening calls and
police had failed to take
over the alaap in slow
tempo, and thundering
her way through the fast
swaras. She gave new
dimensions to raga
Khamaj. Durbari Kanada,
which Gangubai usually
began in the lower
octaves, was also a raga
suited to her majestic
style.
She knew the
power of each note and
filled the air with the right
rasa that the raga
represented. Perhaps
because of her South
Indian leanings,
Gangubai, like Kishori
A m o n k a r a f t e r h e r,
reserved devotional
songs for the latter half of
a concert. The Thumri
was not part of her
repertoire.
One can safely
assume that she led the
way in making Hindustani
music a pathway to
bhakti. While she did this
with deep involvement,
she never compromised
with the wide spectrum of
classical nuances.
Gangubai was
born into a musical family
in Dharwad. Her mother
Ambabai is said to have
taught the young
Gangubai Carnatic music
with a variety of
Tyagaraja's composit-
ions.
This laid the
foundation for her later
prowess in swara
singing. Soon she was
listening to gramophone
records of Hindustani
music, particularly the
popular Marathi "Natya
Pro-Kannada outfit to protest
against Tamil saint-poet's statue
Bangalore, July 21: A
pro-Kannada outfit today
said it would protest
against unveiling of the
action on complaints
filed by him in this regard.
When the Pondicherry
University referred the
'mark sheet forgery case'
to the CBI, the larger
scam in the case came to
light.
During the
course of investigation,
the CBI found that marks
of MBBS courses were
also fudged by the staff
and suspected the
involvement of Dr
Krishnamurthy and his
son.
When the CBI
tried to arrest the father-
son duo, they went
underground and
applied for an
anticipatory bail plea in
the High Court, which
was granted to them
today with some
conditions.
Sangeet".
Sensing her
interest, her mother put
her under a Hindustani
m u s i c g u r u
Krishnacharya Hulgur.
She even learnt Kathak
from Shamlal and
Prataplal, the Jaipur
brothers who were then in
Hubli.
But fate had
ordained her for music.
She was 16 when put
under Sawai Gandharva,
after a typical ceremony
gandhabandhan, at
which 20 tolas of gold
w a s g i v e n a s
gurudakshina.
S a w a i
Gandharva lived in the
village of Kundgol near
Hubli. Here Gangubai's
talents were fine-tuned.
This was in the 1930s,
when Gangubai — a
young mother herself —
struggled to do her
sadhana.
Her mother's
death made her more
determined to pursue a
career in music and she
gradually gained a
footing in the right
direction. Over time, she
became a name to
reckon with and went on
to prove her might as a
musician in many
national festivals.
Her debut was
at the Belgaum session of
the Indian National
Congress in 1924. But
her concert career took
off in 1933 in Bombay.
Immediately noticed by
HMV, she started cutting
discs.
statue of saint-poet
Thiruvalluvar in a city
locality by the State
Government.
Addressing a
press conference here,
Karnataka Vimochana
Videke (KRV) State
President H Shivarame
Gowda accused the BJP
Government in the State
of 'playing cheap politics'
on the issue, saying it
was a move to win the
votes of Tamil speaking
people in the city in the
coming city corporation
elections.
''Politicians in
Ta m i l N a d u h a v e
constantly conspired
against the interests of
our state, be it Classic
language status to
Kannada or Hogenkal
project. Where is bon
homie between the two
states when they
(politicians) continue to
conspire against other
states,'' he asked.
H e s a i d
July 21, 2009
G a n g u b a i
received several honours
in recognition of her music.
Padma Bhushan, Sangeet
Natak Akademi award,
Tansen Samman are just a
few top accolades.
Gangubai has toured
abroad, notably France,
the U.S., Canada and
Germany.
A purist and a
traditionalist, Gangubai
has always believed in the
classical tradition of music.
But she has never denied
the usefulness of
adaptation to changing
times. She has never
believed in image building
at the cost of honest music.
She has also
expressed herself in
interviews, favouring solid
learning under a guru, and
shunning meaningless
experimentation.
As one who
knows both Hindustani and
Carnatic music, she has
said "The two systems
have enjoyed peaceful co-
existence without
shedding their basic
character and identity.
Shouldn't we leave them
alone to grow and prosper
on their own?"
Gangubai is a
legend in her lifetime. Her
stature does not stand in
her way of expressing her
affection to old friends with
spontaneity. A woman of
extraordinary talent and
courage, she has kept her
position in the male
dominated world of vocal
music right through a
whole century.
installation of Thiruvalluvar
statue was the main
demand of forest brigand
Veerappan for releasing
cine actor Rajkumar, who
he had abducted for over
100 days in the forests and
how could the Government
accept this now.
KRV would join
other 'like minded'
organisations and chalk
out the future course of
action. If the State
Government went ahead
with the unveiling of the
statue, the pro-Kannada
organisations would call for
a Bangalore bandh on that
day, he threatened.
Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu governments
recently decided to unveil
the statues of Thiruvalluvar
in Bangalore and Kannada
saint-poet Sargagna in
Chennai, to promote
harmony between the
people of two states. The
installation of the statues
had been pending for
several years.