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STUdenT aGe
R E A D T H E N E E D
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20138 Pages
Rs: 1.00
Jammu Edition
www.thestudentage.com
JKENG/2012/41612
Vol. 2 No: 32
IN BRIEFIN BRIEFNo proof juvenile most
violent, CJI saysPATIALA,FEB 3: The Chief
Justice of India (CJI),
Altamas Kabir, on Saturday
said that it was not yet proven
that the juvenile, sixth
accused in the Delhi gang-
rape case, was the most vio-
lent. "Branding the juvenile
as the most violent is but a
creation of media as of now.
At this stage, we don't know
who contd on page 2
Congress leader SarojiniReddy passes awayHYDERABAD,FEB 3:
Veteran Congress leader and
former Andhra Pradesh min-
ister Sarojini Pulla Reddy
passed away here on Sunday
following prolonged illness.
She was 85. A former mem-
ber of the Congress Working
Committee (CWC), she was
suffering from cancer. She
breathed her last at her resi-
dence here, family sources
said. Joining the Congress
five decades ago, Sarojini
Pulla Reddy was elected as a
councillor contd on page 2
BJP for CBI probe into YSR son-in-law's
assets
HYDERABAD, FEB 3: TheBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Sunday demanded a CBI
probe into the assets of Anil
Kumar, son-in-law of late
Andhra Pradesh chief minis-
ter Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.
The party has alleged that
the evangelist amassed huge
assets by floating 11 compa-
nies when Rajasekhara Reddy
was the chief minister from
2004 to 2009. BJP spokesman
N.V.S.S. Prabhakar told
reporters that Anil Kumar also
invested hundreds of crores in
other companies
contd on page 2
Borders of election-bound northeast
states to be sealed
AGARTALA, FEB 3: The
international and national
borders of three northeastern
states which will see elec-
tions will be sealed to check
the smuggling of arms, offi-
cials said Sunday. The
Election Commission has
told the authorities to beef up
border checks in Tripura,
Meghalaya and Nagaland.
"The Commission has direct-
ed all concerned to take all
possible steps to seal the
international borders besides
contd on page 2
PM Cameron to hostChequers Afghanistan
summit
Modi likely to visitKumbh on Feb 7
Indian democracy
compromisedPage 6 Editorial Page 7
NEW DELHI, FEB.3:
President Pranab Mukherjee
on Sunday signed the anti-
rape ordinance to amend
criminal laws so as to put a
check on crimes against
women.
As per news reports, the
ordinance, which was
announced by the Union
Cabinet last week, has
included a majority of the
recommendations forwarded
by the three-member JusticeJ.S. Verma Committee.
The Union Cabinet had on
Friday recommended to the
President to issue an ordi-
nance to effectively deal with
crimes against women.
Union Law Minister
Ashwani Kumar informed
media then about the decision
soon after a Cabinet meeting
held on Friday night at Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh's
residence.
Kumar had then said:
"The Cabinet has decided to
recommend the ordinance to
the President. It will have
most of the Justice Verma
Committee recommenda-
tions. The UPA Government
is committed to protect the
dignity and safety of women
in the country."
The three-member com-
mittee led by former Chief
Justice of India Justice
(Retired) J. S. Verma, was
constituted after the country-
wide outrage following the
gruesome gang rape of a 23-
year-old woman student on a
running bus by six persons,
includinga juvenile on
December 16 last year.
The committee took a
month to submit its elaborate
report, which suggests ways
to deal with crimes against
women.
The panel has recom-
mended enhanced punish-
ment of imprisonment up to
20 years for rape and life
term for gang rape and mur-
der.
It has also suggested that
crimes like stalking, disrob-
ing a woman and voyeurism
be treated as new offences
with stringent punishment.
The government has said
that it is looking into the pos-
sibility of giving capital pun-
ishment in cases of rape that
are gruesome and can be
assessed to be included in the
rarest of rare by the judiciary.
Women and Child
Development Minister
Krishna Tirath on Saturday
said the ordinance approved
by the Union Cabinet on the
basis of the Justice Verma
Committee report, woulddefinitely create fear among
criminal elements of the soci-
ety.
Tirath said then: "The
Cabinet has agreed to most of
the recommendations pro-
posed by in the Justice Verma
Committee report. We have
included issues like s talking,
acid attack and the stringent
punishment in the ordinance
sent to the President. We will
get it passed through
Parliament in the upcoming
Budget session."
External Affairs Minister
Salman Khurshid said: "All
you can do is that when
Parliament is not in session,
we can promulgate an ordi-
nance. It does not mean that
widespread consultations
cannot take place when the
actual bill is brought inParliament." "I am sure that
vivid organisations and all
political parties will come
together for widespread con-
sultations. With all the sensi-
tivity, this area of law I think
requires from all of us and
then an updated Bill will
come to the parliament. But
this contd on page 2
President Mukherjee signs anti-rape ordinanceWomen's groups rejectanti-rape law ordinancePlans to protest against ordinance on Monday
NEW DELHI,FEB 3:The women activists, repre-
senting a number of organisations including Jagori,
All India Progressive Women's Association and
Partners for Law and Development, slammed the
government for coming out with the ordinance when
Parliament session is just three weeks away and
had urged the President not to sign the it."We are
alarmed at the complete contd on page 2
NEW DELHI,FEB 3:
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi has assured of initiat-
ing steps to allot a flat at
Dwarka and a job for one of
the family members, the
brother of the Delhi gangrape
victim has said.
He said on the request of
his mother, Sonia assured to
initiate steps to get a flat
allotted at Dwarka and job to
him when she visited the
family along with Congress
vice president Rahul Gandhi
yesterday.
The Congress president
told them that charges had
been framed against the
accused in court and justice
would be done soon, he said.
The brother said Sonia
spent almost an hour with the
family and for the maximum
time, she was with the girl's
mother, who got emotional
and broke down several
times.
The family discussed
about punishment to the sixth
accused, who had been
declared juvenile, and to
frame a law to reduce the age
of being juvenile.
He said Sonia intently lis-
tened to them and assured
that she would see at her own
level what could be done
within the framework of the
law. She assured the family,
saying they should not worry
about anything and she con-
sidered them as her family.
She contd on page 2
ISLAMABAD,FEB 3: Former military
ruler Pervez Musharraf kept such a tight
lid on intrusions by Pakistani troops into
Indian territory in Kargil in 1999 that the
ISI learnt of the development when it
intercepted Indian Army communica-
tions, a retired general says in his new
book.
Lt Gen (retired) Shahid Aziz, who
headed the analysis wing of the Inter-
Services Intelligence at the time, writes
that when he brought "strange wireless
intercepts" to the notice of then ISI
chief, Lt Gen Ziauddin Butt on May 3 or
4, 1999, he asked Aziz to keep the docu-
ments with himself.
Aziz says the intercepts made it clear
that troops from 10 Corps had "carried
out an aggressive operation" along the
Line of Control.
In his book "For How Long This
Silence", written in Urdu and released
last week, Aziz says the entire operation
in Kargil was planned and executed by
then army chief Musharraf, Chief of
General Staff Lt Gen Aziz Muhammad
Khan, 10 Corps chief Lt Gen Mahmud
Ahmad, and Maj Gen Javed Hassan, the
chief of the Force Command Northern
Areas.
Besides these four generals, "no
other senior officer knew about the oper-
ation", Aziz writes.
"Even the staff of 10 Corps head-
quarters was unaware of the operation in
the beginning. The Military Operations
directorate also knew later when every-
thing had been done," he says.
ISI chief Butt later acknowledged
that Pakistani troops had taken control
of many areas on the Indian side of the
LoC that were empty or had for evacuat-
ed by Indian troops for winter.
Aziz writes that the communications
intercepts showed the "nervousness" and
"confused talk" on the Indian side.
"Indian forces seemed to be fright-
ened. I said, contd on page 2
BANGALORE, FEB
3:Karnataka Governor H R
Bhardwaj today said he
would summon the Joint
Session of the State
Legislature tomorrow and
address it.
"I am going to summonthe House tomorrow and
address it," he told reporters
before leaving to meet
Speaker K G Bopaiah, whom
he invited to address the ses-
sion.
To a query, Bhardwaj said
no political party has so far
informed him about "order-
ing" a floor test for the
Shettar ministry and resigna-
tions of 13 BJP legislators
loyal to the B S
Yeddyurappa-led Karnataka
Janata Party. "These people
also have not approached me.
It is happening outide Raj
Bhavan, contd on page 2
Musharraf hid Kargil intrusionsfrom ISI: former general
Delhi gangrape: Sonia promises house, jobs to victims family
BJP ministry faces survivaltest in Karnataka
KARNATAKA,FEB 3:The Karnataka legislature
begins the last session of its five-year term Monday
with the survival of the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) government indoubt following large-scale deser-
tions from the party. The 10-day ses-
sion has been called to enable Chief
Minister Jagadish Shettar present
his maiden budget on Feb 8. He took
office six months ago to become
BJP's third chief minister in its first rule in the state.
The term of the 225-member assembly expires
May-end. Of the 225 members, contd on page 2
K'taka Guv to address joint session tomorrow
NEW DELHI, FEB 3:
Frowning upon routine
adjournments, the Supreme
Court has said that speedy
disposal of cases was the
"primary morality of justice
and ethical fulcrum of the
judiciary".
"The foundation of jus-
tice, apart from other things,
rests on the speedy delin-
eation of the list (of cases)
pending in courts," said the
apex court bench of judges
K.S. Radhakrishnan and
Dipak Misra in a recent ver-
dict.
"It would not be an exag-
geration to state that (speedy
justice) is the primary moral-
ity of justice and ethical ful-
crum of the judiciary," the
two judges said.
"Its profundity lies in not
allowing anything to cripple
the same or to do any act
which would freeze it or
make it suffer from impoten-
cy," Justice Misra said,
speaking for the bench.
Holding that the "virtues
of adjudication cannot be
allowed to be paralyzed by
adjournments and non-
demonstration of due dili-
gence to deal with the mat-
ter", he said: "One cannot be
oblivious to the feeling
necessities of the time.
"It is devastating to expect
infinite patience. Change of
attitude is the warrant and
command of the day."
The court said this while
taking note of 10 years taken
by the Rajasthan High Court
in deciding whether an
appeal in a civil matter per-
taining to a piece of land
involved a substantial ques-
tion of law.
The case was instituted in
1990. On Sep 12, 1997, the
civil judge (junior division)
of Nohar in Hanumangarh
dismissed the suit and
decreed in favour Noor
Mohammad.
The additional district
judge of Nohar July 10, 2001
dismissed an appeal against
the lower court order by
appellant Jethanand.
This was challenged in the
high court July 27, 2001. The
appeal was dismissed as no
one appeared on behalf of
Jethanand. The apex court
noted that in 2004 an applica-
tion was moved for the
restoration of the dismissed
appeal. contd on page 2
Speedy justice is a right, says Supreme Court
JAMMU, FEB 3: Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP)
patron Mufti Mohammad
Sayeed, while welcoming the
recommendations of Justice
J.S. Verma Committee and
the prompt action on it taken
by the central government,
regretted the failure to revoke
the AFSPA, as suggested by
the panel Jan 23.
The proposal was a part of
the report the committee sub-
mitted on ways to make rape
laws more stringent in the
country.
"The decision to ignore
the Verma panel recommen-
dations could prove counter
productive," Mufti said about
non-revocation of the
AFSPA.
In its 631-page report, the
three-member committee
called for amendment to
Section 6 of the AFSPA
which gives the Indian armed
forces search and seize pow-
ers and immunity from legal
action against them during
the operations in the states
that have been declared "dis-
turbed areas" riddled with
militancy.
"This is clearly a case of
double standards and reflects
poorly on our national
resolve to uphold women's
dignity and rights without
discrimination, which got a
resounding expression
recently in the wake of Delhi
gang-rape," the Mufti said at
a public meeting at Marh
near here.
The Mufti said Justice
Verma's recommendations on
bringing crimes against
women universally under the
jurisdiction of civil courts
was a welcome, first step
towards revocation of the
AFSPA which was intro-
duced in totally different cir-
cumstances in states. "(It)
was contd on page 2
SRINAGAR, FEB 3: Living
in perpetual 'power misery',
Kashmir is witnessing a
change, these days. The
power department has
launched a campaign to
recover outstanding power
tariff from 'powerful andwillful' defaulters and most
of them are from high society
in power and politics.
What makes the drive
interesting is that the default-
ers include the Nawa-ie-
Subah complex, the NC
building that houses is post-
militancy headquarters. It has
an outstanding of Rs 7.80
lakhs, according to the notice
that was made public by the
power development depart-
ment that Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah heads.
Party headquarters is just
the top of the iceberg. Those
in default include the Hari Niwas Palace, a vintage pre-
partition monster overlook-
ing Dal lake that Dr Karan
Singh owns. Apart from the
son of state finance minister
Hilal Rather, who runs
Simula Software Solutions &
Research Centre, a BPO in
Jammu, those listed include
the powerful family of Molvi
Iftikhar Ansari, a PDP law-
maker whose family runs a
number of business concerns.
Some top business, manufac-
turing facilities and telecom
facilities in Kashmir and
Jammu also figure in the list
besides an army school indown south of the Valley.
Last month, the PDD
made list of all the consumers
public who have defaulted
beyond a million rupees. A
whopping sum of Rs 54 crore
was in arrears against 130
consumers of whom 103
were in Jammu (with out-
standing contd on page 2
Mufti regrets the falilure to revoke the AFSPA CBFC condemnsallegations
against board
MUMBAI:The Central
Board of Film Certification
(CBFC) condemned the alle-
gations made by Tamil Nadu
Advocate General
Navaneetha Krishnan in con-
nection with the certification
of Kamal Hasan's film "
Vishwaroopam".
"The Central Board of
Film Certification would like
to put it on record for all con-
cerned that every action
taken/procedure followed by
CBFC for certifying
'Vishwaroopam' or any other
film has been done in accor-
dance with the Act and Rules
framed by Parliament," the
board said in a statement. It
said contd on page 2
NC party office is a power tariff defaulter
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No proof juvenile ....did what in the brutal gang-rape of the
student, but everything will become
clear soon. Till then, we all should
wait," said the CJI, who was in Patiala
on Saturday to preside over the first
convocation of Rajiv Gandhi National
University of Law(RGNLU), Punjab
and award degrees to students.
Justice Kabir reiterated that he too
wanted to protest against Delhi gang
rape but could not and that the grue-
some gang-rape of the girl has awak-
ened the country from deep slumber.
"But it's not the only heinous case
of crime against women. Such crimes
against women keep surfacing in our
country and we have now put all such
cases on fast track," said the CJI.
On the demand for harshest pun-
ishment even to juveniles, who com-
mit gruesome crimes against women
like rape, CJI said, "Someone below
18 years of age comes under minor
category and the law takes its course
as per the law of the land."
He said that, after putting all rape
cases on fast track across the country,
they have now decided to focus on
pending cases, where petitioners or
accused have died but cases are still
going on in various courts.
"We would start from SupremeCourt. In the coming some days, we
would establish two special benches
of SC to fast track all such cases. One
court would decide civil cases while
other would decide criminal cases,"
said the CJI.
Chairman of Law Commission of
India, Justice DK Jain, Supreme Court
judge SS Nijjar, chief justice of
Punjab & Haryana high court and
chancellor, RGNUL, AK Sikri, jus-
tices Hemant Gupta, Rajive Bhalla
and Jasbir Singh were also present.
Congress leader....
in the Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation in 1965.
She became the first lady mayor of
Hyderabad -- and the second woman
to don the honour in India after Tara
Cherian, who became the lady mayor
of Madras in 1966.Sarojini was elected to the Andhra
assembly from Malakpet in 1967. She
represented the constituency twice but
lost in 1978. She became the first
chairperson of Hyderabad Urban
Development Authority in 1975.
She was inducted into the cabinet
in 1979. She was also a minister in the
cabinets of T Anjaiah, Bhavanam
Venkatram and Vijayabhaskar Reddy.
She was the first woman president
of the Hyderabad Congress
Committee.
In 2001, Sarojini was nominated a
member of CWC. Soft spoken,
Sarojini had a good rapport with both
Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL
Narasimhan, chief minister N Kiran
Kumar Reddy, and senior Congress
and opposition leaders condoled her
death.
BJP for CBI.....
and committed irregularities.
He sought a probe into the assets of
both Anil Kumar and his wife
Sharmila. "People should know how a
religious preacher amassed such huge
wealth," he said.
Rajasekhara Reddy, popularly
known as YSR, died in a helicopter
crash Sep 2, 2009.
Targetting the late YSR's family for
the first time, the BJP leader said Anil
Kumar was not an evangelist but a
businessman.
Prabhakar gave details of the com-
panies in which Anil Kumar is a direc-
tor.
Sharmila, a leader of the YSR
Congress party, was injured during a
padyatra last month.
Sharmila's brother and YSR
Congress party president Y.S.
Jaganmohan Reddy is in jail in an
alleged illegal assets case.
Borders of election....
deploying additional BSF and Assam
Rifles troopers," a poll panel official
said.
Four northeastern states - Tripura,
Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam -
share a 1,880-km border with
Bangladesh. Mizoram, Manipur,
Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh
share a 1,640-km border with
Myanmar.
Most of the international border is
unfenced and runs through dense
forests and mountainous, making it
porous, vulnerable and advantageous
for terrorists and others.
Tripura will elect a new assembly
Feb 14. Meghalaya and Nagaland will
see elections Feb 23.
Tripura (856 km) and Meghalaya
(443 km) border Bangladesh.
Nagaland has a 215-km border with
Myanmar.
The EC official said: "The borders
of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland
with other northeastern states would
also be sealed to prevent interstate
movement of criminals, militants and
other armed goons.
"To seal the borders effectively,
adequate para-military troopers - BSF
and Assam Rifles -- and other security
forces would be deployed along both
international and domestic bound-
aries."
A Tripura police official said over
250 companies of paramilitary forces
and state armed forces would make
the election incident free.
"Armed police forces of Punjab,
Kerala and Mizoram would be
deployed in and around the polling
stations and counting centres," he
said.The poll panel has also formed fly-
ing squads to check illegal arms and
distribution of money to woo voters.
Delhi gangrape: Sonia....
said she was personally watching
every activity related to the case, he
said.
The brother said the Congress pres-
ident expressed grief at not being able
to save the girl despite all efforts.
He said it was the fourth time
Sonia had visited the family. Earlier,
she went twice to the hospital and also
met them at the airport when the body
was flown back from Singapore, he
said.
He said during her stay, she
enquired about the family moving
from Ballia to Delhi in 1983 and
regarding various aspects of the life of
the girl since her childhood up to her physiotherapy course.
Sonia also went to the room of the
girl and had a look at her books.
He said the family was impressed
with Sonia's affection and straightfor-
wardness.
Musharraf hid....
'It seems that our forces have con-
ducted a major action in Kargil'," he
writes.
At a briefing at the Military
Operations directorate in early May
that was also attended by Aziz, then
Director General of Military
Operations Maj Gen Tauqeer Zia said
the orthern Light Infantry and other
regular troops had "occupied empty
hilltops in Kargil".
Mufti regrets....
unfortunate that the union cabinet
did not even discuss the recommenda-
tions. This sends out a highly negative
signal to people of Jammu and
Kashmir and other states covered by
it," he said.
Currently, Jammu and Kashmir and
four northeast states of Manipur,
Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and
Assam are under the AFSPA.
Security personnel have been
accused of committing rapes in these
regions where the forces enjoy special
powers to tackle militancy and insur-
gency.
Rights activists have been demand-
ing revocation of the AFSPA from
these regions.
The "AFSPAcould not be a perma-
nent feature of governance", the Mufti
said. Such laws were meant only for
exceptional situations which no more
exist in Jammu and Kashmir," he
added.
NC party office....
of Rs 39 crore) and 27 consumers
in Kashmir (Rs 14 crore).
Power ministry officials said they
have already issued disconnection
notice under Section 50 of J&K
Electricity Act 2010 (read with regula-
tion 8.3 of J&K SERC Supply Code
Regulation 2011) to 137 VIP default-
ers. The law has the provision of con-
fiscating even the immobile property
of the defaulters, if the government
wishes so.
These defaulters exclude a huge
list of central and state government
institutions which have not been pay-
ing their tariffs for a long time. While
in Jammu, the power tariff outstand-
ing with various government depart-
ments is Rs 629 crore, it is Rs 271
crore in Jammu. Unofficially, it is
being alleged by defaulting depart-
ments that the PDD is booking the tar-
iff to government departments after it
fails to manage the distribution loses.
Despite being water abundant,
J&K lives is an energy deficit state
that imports more than half of its
requirements. For the current fiscal,
its power purchase is expected to
cross Rs 2200 crore as the overall
costs of supplying energy to con-
sumers would be around Rs 3300
crore. But the biggest crisis with the
state is that it is unable to manage col-
lecting even half of the tariff that
sends public finances in a tizzy. The
increasing gap between the funds
spent and tariff collected is one of the
major reasons for the instability of the
public kitty in J&K.
President Mukherjee....
is in response to the sense of
urgency that has been felt," he added.
"And, I think, we should r ecognise
that urgency that a lot of young people
have also wanted. But the content willnot be the content that we do not have
the maximum consensus on by the
time we actually get into the parlia-
ment to pass the bill that will replace
the ordinance," he said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist
(CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat said:
"We disapprove of the ordinance. The
CPI-M has issued a statement that we
disapprove of this ordinance. See
when Parliament is meeting, it is just
three weeks away; it is undemocratic
in fact to bring an ordinance like this.
And the content of the ordinance is
doing injustice to the Justice Verma
recommendations because it is highly
selective in what it has included in the
ordinance. And in fact what it has
included in some parts also is against
what Justice Verma has recommend-
ed. We don"t agree with this ordi-
nance."Karat further said: "as far as death
penalty is concerned, Justice Verma
has already clarified and correctly that
there is rarest of rare categories on our
statute books today".
"Therefore, a case of murder and
rape would any case come under this
category if that is what the judges
want. Therefore, there was no need
except to divert attention from the
serious recommendations of the
Committee on state"s culpability,
including recommendation to include
the armed forces in the criminal law as
far as sexual offences are concerned,"
she added.
Former Indian Police Service (IPS)
officer and activist Kiran Bedi said the
government needs to give a holistic
response to the society on the Justice
Verma Committee's recommenda-
tions.
"Justice Verma Committee is not
only about the law. There is a lot
before the law and there is a lot after
the law. I think the government needs
to give a holistic response to the soci-
ety on Justice Verma Committee"s
recommendations. It concerns police
reforms, it concerns judicial reforms,
it concerns electoral reforms. I think
what the people of this country
demand of this government is a holis-
tic response," said Bedi.
"It"s a beginning made, but it"s a
very long way to go because Justice
Verma (Committee"s) recommenda-
tions is a holistic correction. A politi-
cian involved in crime, a person in
uniform involved in crime and then
police reforms as such. I think this is a
beginning. I hope this is not an inten-
tion for people to say we have done it
and that"s it. I think what this country
is demanding is a holistic response
because Justice Verma Committee is a
very holistic way at looking at crime
prevention," she added.
Various women's rights activists,
however, have criticised the govern-
ment for ignoring the committee rec-
ommendations regarding marital rape
and reviewing controversial sections
of the Armed Forces Special Powers
Act (AFSPA).
The ordinance introduced yester-
day is also silent on the recommenda-
tion to prevent politicians facing
charges of sexual crimes, from con-
testing elections.
Women's groups....
lack of transparency shown by the
government.... We had urged the
President not to sign such an ordi-
nance," the group said.
Kavita Krishnan, secretary of All
India Progressive Women's
Association (AIPWA) termed the
ordinance as "an absolute mockery" of
Justice Verma panel's recommenda-
tions.
"We were alarmed to see the ordi-
nance as it ignored many recommen-
dations of that committee. The gov-
ernment has stealthily passed this
ordinance without sharing it with the
public and without actually debating
and discussing it. All the recommen-
dations than can actually strike at the
heart of impunity have been dropped,"
she said.women's groups have planned
a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday
against the ordinance.
K'taka Guv to....
" he added.
Bharadwaj had stated on January
26 that the Jagadish Shettar govern-
ment still enjoyed majority and as
leader of the BJP legislature party, it
was left for him to take action on the
issue of the resignation of the MLAs.
A cloud of uncertainty has beenhanging over the Shettar ministry ever
since Yeddyurappa quit BJP to float
KJP in December 2012.
The former BJP strongman has
repeatedly put the government on
notice about their stability, claiming
support of 20-30 BJP MLAs.
His party had set two deadlines
earlier to unseat the government but
they turned out to be damp squibs.
Shettar had brushed aside these
threates and insisted last week that his
government still enjoys majority even
after the resignation of the MLAs and
that he was ready for a no-confidence
motion if Opposition moves it.
BJP ministry ...
224 are elected and one is nominat-
ed. Polls to elect the new assembly are
likely in April-May.
Ahead of the session, the BJP findsitself in almost the same position it
was in after the last polls in May 2008
in terms of numbers.
Then it had won 110 seats in the
assembly and crossed the majority
mark with the help of five of the six
Independents who were elected.
To get a majority on its own, the
BJP encouraged defections from the
Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-
S) assembly members in the first two
years of its rule. Several of the mem-
bers quit the house and their party and
won by-polls as BJP nominees to take
its numbers to 120.
That has now come down to 106,
including the speaker - as of Sunday -
as 13 party members have quit the
assembly and the party since Nov 30
and one much earlier.
The 14 resignations have brought
down the house strength to 211 in
which the strength of the combined
opposition, including six independ-
ents, is 103.
Of this, the Congress has 71 mem-
bers and the JD-S 26.
Apart from its own 106 members,
the BJP has the support of one of the
seven Independents, who is a cabinet
minister.
The BJP numbers could go down
further to 104 if the speaker on
Monday accepts the pending resigna-
tion of two party members from the
assembly. The first of the 13 to leave
was BJP's former chief minister B.S.
Yeddyurappa, who quit the assembly
and the party Nov 30 to lead his
Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) while
12 of his loyalists quit last Tuesday.
All eyes are now on Governor H.
R. Bhardwaj, who has said if he feels
the government is in a minority by
even one vote, he would direct Shettar
to prove his majority in the assembly
before transacting any other business
in the house. Bhardwaj is scheduled to
address the joint sitting of the assem-
bly and the legislature Feb 4 as this is
the first s ession in the New Year.
Speedy justice....
This was allowed Jan 9, 2006.
"As the order sheet would reflect,
time got comatosed for more than six
years and eventually ministerial order
of restoration was recorded on
11.5.2010," the apex court noted.
The apex court said: "The proceed-
ings in the second appeal before the
high court, if we allow ourselves to
say so, epitomizes the corrosive effect
that adjournments can have on a liti-
gation and how a list can get entan-
gled in the tentacles of an octopus.
"It is also astonishing that the
lawyers sought adjournments in a rou-
tine manner and the court acceded to
such prayers..."
The judges observed that "unfortu-
nate characteristics of endemic delays
have to be avoided at any cost.
"One has to bear in mind that this is
the day, this is the hour and this is the
moment when all soldiers of law fight
from the path. One has to remind one-
self of the great saying, "Awake,
Arise, 'O' Partha"."
Referring to its earlier judgments,
Justice Misra said: "This (apex) court,
in different contexts, had dealt with
the malady of adjournment and
expressed its agony and anguish.
Whatever may be the nature of litiga-
tion, speedy and appropriate delin-
eation is fundamental to judicial
duty."
Noting that in a democratic set up,
"intrinsic and embedded faith in the
adjudicatory system is of seminal and
pivotal concern", the judges said:
"Delay gradually declines the citizen-
ry faith in the system."Holding that the access to speedy
justice was a human right, the court
said: "It is faith and faith alone that
keeps the system alive. It provides
oxygen. Fragmentation of faith has the
effect potentiality to bring in a state of
cataclysm where justice may become
a casualty.
"Timely delivery of justice keeps
the faith ingrained and establishes the
sustained stability."
CBFC condemns ....
the board has been functioning
since 1951 and that there are judicial
precedents upholding the legality of
the certification process.
"In view of the above, the state-
ment of Advocate General
Navaneetha Krishnan calling the certi-
fication process 'a scam' is baseless
and irresponsible," the statement said.Krishnan had last month alleged
that the film was not certified by the
competent authority and that it was
not in accordance with law. At one
stage, he also said that "film certifica-
tion is a very big scam" and that it
required an investigation.
The board also condemned the
statement of advocate Sankarasubu
who called the board members "pur-
chasable commodities" and deemed it
to be "utterly reprehensible and gross-
ly defamatory".
The CBFC called upon Krishnan
and Sankarasubu to issue an apology
for the statements made by them.
Gurezi reviewsfunctioning of
Agriculture
Production depttJAMMU, FEB 03- Minister of
State for Animal Husbandry,
Agriculture, Horticulture and
Floriculture, Mr. Nazir Ahmed Gurezi
underlined the need for reaching out
to the farmers at ground level to aware
them about the various schemes and
programmes launched by the govern-
ment for their betterment in agricul-
ture and allied sectors and a better
monitoring system. The Minister was
addressing at an introductory cum
review meeting of the officers of the
Agriculture, Horticulture and
Floriculture departments and scien-
tists of SKUAST-J held at Directorate
of Agriculture, Krishi Bhawan Jammu
today. Asserting the Officers to work
with more zeal and dedication, the
Minister impressed upon them to
mobilise their field functionaries to
provide basic knowhow to the farmers
by involving represent atives of
Panchayati Raj institutions. He added
that yet a number of steps have to be
taken to make state self sufficient in
agriculture and allied sectors to
improve the socio-economic condition
of our farmers in the wake of shrink-
age of cultivable land due to huge
construction and other non agricultur-
al uses. Mr. Gurezi called upon the
officers to aware the farmers with the
latest knowledge and innovations in
the field of Agriculture for increasing
the production and productivity.
STUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20132
Contd. from page 1... Jan Skinder appointedState Secretary of PYC
J & K state
JAMMU, FEB 3: National President IYC
(Indian Youth Congress) Sh. Rajiv Satav, has
appointed Mr. Jan Skinder as the State
Secretary of Pardesh
Youth Congress Jammu
and Kashmir.
The announcement in
this regard was made by
Sh. Chetan Chauhan,
National Secretary
Indian Youth Congress
and In-charge Jammu and Kashmir and Sh.
Shahnawaz Choudhary President PYC, J&K
here today at Guest house Gandhi Nagar.
Jan Skinder has been appointed in view of
his good performance and support of Youth
congress members and delegates during the
recently held organizational elections in
Jammu and Kashmir. He has also been award-
ed for his leadership skill.
Institutions of higher learning plays key role
in shaping youth: Shabir RAJOURI, FEB 3: Minister of State for
Health, Mr. Shabir Ahmad Khan has said that
Institutions of higher learning can play a cru-
cial role in shaping career of the new genera-
tion and also building confidence in them toface challenges at national and international
level. He exhorted upon the student communi-
ty to work hard and dedication in achieving
excellence in their academics and in co-curric-
ular activities by leaving an indelible mark in
the society.
Addressing at the Annual Day-cum-Prize
distribution function of Himalayan Collage of
Education, , the Minister said that the college
students at this stage are full of energy and
added that they should utilize it in construc-
tive way to prove an asset to the Nation.
Suggesting tips to students for shaping their
overall personality, Mr. Shabir said that per-
spective planning and congenial atmosphere
are the two main factors in career building
process.
Expressing his optimism over the capabili-
ty and desire to excel in different streams, the
Minister said that the youth of our country has
proved their worth globally. For the purpose,
he said the State Government under thedynamic leadership of Chief Minister, Mr.
Omar Abdullah is making all out efforts in
providing job oriented education to students
so that they could easily get employment just
after completion of their academics in the
country and aboard.
He said that the Government has started
market friendly and job oriented courses in the
colleges and introduced various courses of
Information Technologies, Business
Management and Science keeping in view the
emerging need of present scenario.
The Minister further said, that government
has already opened a number of University
Campus and Colleges to expand the higher
education sector beyond the cities and towns
so that the students of far-flung, hilly and neg-
lected areas get higher education at their door
steps.
The Minister underscored the need for
mass awareness on the deadly causes of drug
abuse. He stressed upon the field functionaries
of health and Education department to carry
out a mass awareness programmes in schools
and colleges to prevent the future builders of
the State from this menace.
The Minister appreciated the role of pri-
vate educational institutions for providing
quality and job oriented education to the stu-
dents. He said in this regard the government is
providing all logical support to these institu-
tions.
The Minister also distributed the prizes
among the outstanding students of the college
who have excelled academically as well as in
co-curricular activities.
The Principal of the college presented
annual report highlighting various achieve-
ments registered during the academic session
2012-13.
Earlier, the students of the Institution
thrilled the audience by presenting various
colorful cultural bonanza.
SSP Rajouri, Mubashir Latifi, Prof
Mushtaq Ahmed Lone, Prof Shakeel Raina,
Prof Farooq Mirza, Prof Nizaqat Hussain,
Prof Iqbal Raina, Dr Sheraz, Ishtiaq Ahmed,
Mr. Nisar Hussain Rahi, Mr. Nazeer Qureshi,
Mr.Mohd Nazeer Qureshi, Mr. Kuldeep Raj
Gupta, Mr. Khurshid Bismal and Founder
Patron Mr. Farooq Muztar were present on the
occasion.
Later, the Minister kick starts the construc-
tion work on 4 kilo meter Mehari-Gujjara
road. The road have been taken up under flag-
ship programme PMGSY at an estimated cost
of Rs. 2.36 crore, would be completed during
next financial year. After completion the road
would provide better road connectivity facili-
ty to over 5000 population of the area.
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7/29/2019 Daily Paper February 4, 2013
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/daily-paper-february-4-2013 3/8
STATESTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20133
SRINAGAR: Support has
been pouring in from all cor-
ners on social networking
sites for the first all-girls
rock band of Kashmir after it
received abusive and hate
messages on its Facebook
page for defying convention
by choosing the field of
music.
At least three pages have
come up on Facebook in the
past three days throwing
their weight behind the three
Class X students of
Kashmir, urging them not to
be cowed down by the hate
mongers and continue their
band named 'Pragaas h'
(light).
'I support Pragaash,
Kashmir's first all-girls' rock
band' is the most popular
page with more than 1,000
'likes' since it was created
less than two days ago in
Facebook.
"I am with u. Follow your
passion sincerel y and be
good. God bless special peo-
ple with art and you are one
of them, that's why every-
body is not artist," Kanu
Sharma posted on the page.
The all-girls rock band,
which came to limelight in
late December last year after
their performance at the
annual 'Battle of the Bands'
competition here, had defied
the convention by stepping
into the male-dominated
field of music.
The online threats have
left the families of the
teenage girls worried and
forced them to keep a low
profile.
Though there are dozens
of bands currently playing
music of different genres in
the Kashmir Valley, the girls
-- vocalist-guitarist Noma
Nazir, drummer Farah
Deeba and Guitarist Aneeka
Khalid -- formed the first
all-girls rock band under the
name of 'Pragaash' (light).
The band had won the
best performance award in
their first public appearance.
Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah also came out in
support of the girls yester-
day, saying police will probe
the threats. "I hope these tal-
ented young girls will not let
a handful of morons silence
them," he said.
It was a matter of shame
for those who demand free-
dom of speech on social
media networks but use it to
threaten the girls, Omar said.
"Shame on those who
claim freedom of speech via
social media and then use
that freedom to threaten girls
who have the right to choose
to sing," he said.
While Omar's support
was lauded by most of his
followers in Twitter, some
questioned his silence on the
police action against the
Valley's first rapper
'MCKash', who sang about
protests and alleged atroci-
ties by security forces in
quelling the protests in the
summer of 2010.
"I support #pragash the
band but if you are talking
about freedom of speech, I
support #MCKash also.
Never saw @abdullah_omar
tweeting about that," one
Shahid Zor posted on
Twitter.
The issue has generated a
debate as to whether
Kashmiri society is getting
influenced by right-wing
extremism.
"My Support (to the
band). Kashmir is in India,
not in extremist supportive
Pakistan. We live in the era
of technology, we want
Indian muslims be ahead of
any other Muslim in this
world. We want Indians to
be on top," another netizen
Sree Jith posted.
However, the comment
evoked sharp criticism from
netizens of Kashmir.
"I think it's a problem of
the entire word. Misogyny is
not restricted to Kashmir. It's
only being recognised here
now because people are rais-
ing a voice against it. You
must've heard about the
recent incident in Mangalore
where RSS women wing
attacked women in a bar
who were smoking," Shehla
Rashid Shora responded.
"Misogyny is not a pre-
rogative of Pakis. It's every-
where, right from Jhumri
Telaiya to Timbaktu. So stop
this blame game," another
netizen Sara Alam contend-
ed.
Support pours in on social sites for Kashmir all-girl rock band
JAMMU, FEB 3 :The "deci-
sion to ignore" a recommen-
dation of a panel, formed for
making anti-rape laws strin-
gent, to revoke the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act
(AFSPA) could prove "count-
er-productive", Jammu and
Kashmir's main opposition
party said here.Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) patron Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed, while
welcoming the recommenda-
tions of Justice J.S. Verma
Committee and the prompt
action on it taken by the cen-
tral government, regretted the
failure to revoke the AFSPA,
as suggested by the panel Jan
23.
The proposal was a part of
the report the committee sub-
mitted on ways to make rape
laws more stringent in the
country.
"...The decision to ignore
the Verma panel recommen-
dations could prove counter
productive," Mufti said about
non-revocation of the
AFSPA.
In its 631-page report, the
three-member committee
called for amendment to
Section 6 of the AFSPA
which gives the Indian armed
forces search and seize pow-
ers and immunity from legal
action against them during
the operations in the statesthat have been declared "dis-
turbed areas" riddled with
militancy.
"This is clearly a case of
double standards and reflects
poorly on our national
resolve to uphold women's
dignity and rights without
discrimination, which got a
resounding expression
recently in the wake of Delhi
gang-rape," the Mufti said at
a public meeting at Marh
near here. The Mufti said
Justice Verma's recommen-
dations on bringing crimes
against women universally
under the jurisdiction of civil
courts was a welcome, first
step towards revocation of
the AFSPA which was intro-
duced in totally different cir-
cumstances in states.
"(It) was unfortunate that
the union cabinet did not
even discuss the recommen-
dations. This sends out a
highly negative signal to peo-
ple of Jammu and Kashmir
and other states covered by
it," he said.Currently, Jammu and
Kashmir and four northeast
states of Manipur, Arunachal
Pradesh, Nagaland, and
Assam are under the AFSPA.
Security personnel have
been accused of committing
rapes in these regions where
the forces enjoy special pow-
ers to tackle militancy and
insurgency.
Rights activists have been
demanding revocation of the
AFSPAfrom these regions.
The "AFSPA could not be
a permanent feature of gover-
nance", the Mufti said. Such
laws were meant only for
exceptional situations which
no more exist in Jammu and
Kashmir," he added.
PDP regrets non-removal of AFSPAJAMMU: After witnessing a
fall in 2010 due to the sum-
mer unrest in Kashmir Valley,
political activities in Jammu
and Kashmir are again show-
ing signs of revival as about
1,800 political rallies were
recorded in the state last year.
The rallies, which define
political atmosphere in thestate, have fallen down by 50
per cent in 2010 as compared
to the previous year.
As per a report on security
and militancy, compiled by
the state Home ministry upto
November end, as many as
1,794 political rallies took
place in 2012 as compared to
1,591 in 2010.
As many as 1,646 rallies
were held in 2011 in Jammu
and Kashmir.
The state has recorded a
total of 31,384 political ral-
lies during the past 22 years
period of militancy in J&K.
No political rally was held inJ&K between 1990 to 1998
due to the eruption of mili-
tancy. The reason of an
increase in the political ral-
lies and political activity is
due to peaceful environment
and falling militancy in the
state, senior officials said.
Giving breakup of the ral-
lies organised by various
political parties during the
past ten years in the state, NC
tops the table with 9,094 ral-
lies, 8,083 rallies by
Congress, 7,843 rallies by
PDP, 2,892 rallies by BJP,
1,197 rallies by JKNPP, 798
rallies by BSP and 436 rallies by CPI(M).
However, in 2009, politi-
cal rallies were far less than
2008's figures of a record
6,783. As many as 3,021
political rallies were held in
JK in 2009, the report
reveals.
Giving further details, it
said that various political par-
ties undertook 2,137 rallies in
2007 followed by 1,560 such
rallies in 2006 and 1,781 in
2005. Similarly, 2004 wit-
nessed 4,081 political rallies
followed by 1,158 in 2003,
2,975 in 2002, 633 in 2001,
510 in 2000 and 1,600 in1999.
In 2012, upto November
end, Congress has organised
479 political rallies followed
by coalition partner National
Conference (NC) with 515
rallies followed by opposi-
tion PDP and BJP with 509
and 167 political rallies
respectively.
Similarly, Jammu and
Kashmir National Panthers
Party (JKNPP) undertook 55
rallies followed by BSP with
22, CPI(M) with 15,
Samajwadi Party with four,
NCP with one, Peoples
Democratic Front with sevenrallies, People Conference
with 20 rallies.
In 2009, NC had organ-
ised the highest number of
895 rallies, followed by PDP
with 764, Congress with 745,
BJP with 336 and JKNPP132
rallies.
JAMMU 03 FEBRUARY:
Observing that PDPand BJP
is destined to see doomsday
in 2014 J&K Assembly
Elections, the Sr. Vice
President National
Conference and former
Cabinet Minister, Mr. Surjit
Singh Slathia today said that
the peace loving People of
the State have understoodtheir politics of deceits & lie.
Addressing a Public gath-
ering at Mahalshah,
Vijaypur, after laying foun-
dation stone of Irrigation
Tube Well Project, which
shall be completed at an esti-
mated cost of Rs. 65 lacs
under the scheme NABARD
.The discharge of the said
tube well is 15 to 20,000
gallons per hour which shall
irrigates 80 acres of land .
Mr Slathia also inagurat-
ed construction of road/
drain from Mahalshah Adda
to Mahalshah village .The
length of the road is one
kilometer and is completed
at an estimated cost of Rs
20 lacs .
Mr. Slathia said that
People of the State have
strong secular and democrat-
ic credentials and will never
allow politics founded on the
malafide intentions and the
policy of divide and rule. Mr
Slathia Said while BJP takes
its roots from religious and
emotional fanaticism, the
PDP is its brain child with an
ulterior motive to weaken
N.C. for throttling people's
voice as it was single largest
political party of the State
representative of urges andaspirations of the people.
BJP and likeminded people
did not want to see Peoples'
voice reaching to higher ech-
elons of Power corridors
both within and outside the
country through the power-
ful medium of N.C. and
unsuccessfully hatched con-
spiracy to introducing PDP
as an alternate regional party
just to weaken N.C by divid-
ing its strong vote bank. But
their all the investments,
both in cash and kind, failed
to overshadow peoples' deep
love respect and faith for the
N.C. and its leadership," Mr
Slathia said adding that on
the contrary people inflicted
a humiliating defeat on PDP
in the elections. He said after
seeing growing popularitygraph among masses, the
entire PDP leadership has
been rendered into a frustrat-
ed lot and was resorting to
character assassination and
lies.
Mr. Slathia cautioned the
people against the disgrun-
tled and divisive politicians
who are changing their
colours like Chameleons to
grab the power.
JAMMU, FEB 03: Minister
for Housing, Horticulture and
Culture Mr. Raman Bhalla has
said that Government is mak-
ing all out efforts to upgrade
living profile of urban poor
lot, adding that for this pur-
pose several new projects
have already been taken in
hand at a number of places
like multipurpose community
halls, deep drill tube wells,
receiving stations, schools
besides better link roads, lanes
and drains.
This was stated by the
Minister while laying founda-
tion stone of second storey
multipurpose community hall
at Ambedkar Nagar, here
today. He said the second
storey of the hall would be
constructed at an estimated
cost of Rs. 25 lakh and com-
pleted by May this year
.However, he asked the offi-
cers that there would be no
any compromise on usage of
quality and latest technique
material. He informed that
Government has already dedi-
cated Rs. 45 lakh ground floor
hall to the people of Trikuta
Nagar Extension, Ambedkar
Nagar, Channi Bija for
arranging their social as well
as religious functions on nom-
inal fees. He further said that
Government has already dedi-
cated Rs. 9 crore multipur-
pose community halls to
urban poor of Govindpura
Kullian, Barazalla, Preet
Nagar, Channi Rama, Nai
Basti, Babliana, Gangyal,
Bahu Fort, Shanker Colony
and Ambedkar Nagar people.
Mr Bhalla said
Government is committed to
provide all basic amenities to
the inhabitants of Ambedkar
Nagar like adequate drinking
water, electricity, road con-
nectivity, education, health-
care besides better lanes and
drains adding that for this pur-
pose, Government has provid-
ed liberal funding for devel-
oping all the basties on mod-
ern lines.
Mr. Bhalla asked the R&B
engineers to immediately start
the construction work for rais-
ing the height of lanes and
drains besides two to three
feet height of 200 meter nal-
lah embankments so that the
overflow of nallah water do
not harm the property of resi-
dents. He warned the
unscrupulous elements eying
to grab nalllah land and added
that stringent action will be
taken against them besides
eviction of the Government
property.
Responding to the
demands of locals, the
Minister said upgradation and
blacktopping of link road of
Ambedkar Nagar would be
started immediately.
Regarding upgradation of
Government High School up
to Higher Secondary level, he
said that the proposal is under
active consideration with
School Education Ministry.
At Shastri Nagar, the
Minister laid foundation for
upgradation of lanes and
drains, for which Government
has earmarked Rs. 13 lakh. He
asked the executing agency to
complete the project within
stipulated time frame for the
benefit of the people.
Political rallies on rise in Jammu and Kashmir
PDP BJP nexus failed to overshadow Peoples' love, faith in N.C : Slathia
Former Cabinet Minister, Mr. Surjit Singh Slathia addressing aPublic gathering at Mahalshah, Vijaypur at Jammu.
SRINAGAR: Cold wave
conditions in Kashmir
today abated as the night
temperatures continued the
upward trend, much to the
respite of Valley residents.
The minimum tempera-
ture in Srinagar, the sum-
mer capital of Jammu and
Kashmir, settled at 4.1
degrees Celsius last night,
up from 3.1 degrees
Celsius the previous night,
an official of the MET
department said.
The gateway town of
Qazigund in south
Kashmir also registered an
upward movement of the
mercury as night tempera-
ture settled at 2.6 degrees
Celsius, up from 0.8
degree Celsius yesterday,
he said.
The night temperature
in Kokernag increased
slightly to settle at a low of
1.1 degrees Celsius, as
against the previous night's
0.8 degrees Celsius, he
said.
The spokesman said
that in north Kashmir's
Kupwara town, where the
previous night's low was
minus 0.6 degrees Celsius,
the minimum temperature
settled above the freezing
point at 1.7 degre es
Celsius during the night.
He said the Gulmarg
skiing resort in north
Kashmir recorded a low of
minus 7.0 degrees Celsius,
while Pahalgam health
resort in south recorded a
low of minus 3.2 degrees
Celsius.
Leh and Kargil towns in
Ladakh region continued
to reel under severe cold.
While Kargil recorded a
low of minus 10.4 degrees
Celsius, the mercury set-
tled at minus 6.4 degrees
Celsius in Leh town.
The weatherman has
forecast heavy snowfall
across Kashmir Valley
over the next few days.
Kashmir Valley gets respitefrom biting cold condition
Bhalla lays foundation stone of Community hall at Ambedkar Nagar'
Minister for Housing, Horticulture and Culture Mr. Raman Bhalla addressing a public gathering atAmbedkar Nagar.
JAMMU FEB 03: Minister for
Planning, Development, Labour and
Employment, Mr Ajay Kumar
Sadhotra today visited Bikram
Chowk, the site for mega flyover proj-
ect being taken up at a cost of Rs 95.50
crores.
The Minister was accompanied by
the Chief Executive Officer, Economic
Reconstruction Agency, Mr. Saurab
Bhagat, Director Tanche III, Mr.
Naresh K. Langeh, Director
Safegaurd, Mr. Vinod Sharma, Project
Manager, Mr. J. G. Mengi, Dy. Project
Managers, Dr Sanjeev Chadha, Mr S
K Sethi, Mr Anil Pandoi.
The main feature of the flyover will
be its grandeur which has been
designed keeping in view the overall
landscape of the city. The 1.3 kilome-
ter flyover, being executed by the
Economic Reconstruction Agency,
will go a long way in reducing the traf-
fic congestion in the capital city.
Urging the executing agency for early
completion of this vital project in stip-
ulated time frame, Mr. Sadhotra said
that special thrust should be laid over
the quality of the work. He also
stressed on the engineers to see that
the commuters are not put to incon-
venience while the work is executed
on the project.
The Minister said that this project
will in a long way help in easing pres-
sure of traffic into the city and reduce
congestion. He said the coalition gov-
ernment; led by Chief Minister Omar
Abdullah is endeavoring for planned
development of the state keeping in
view its future requirements. He said
that special care is being taken that all
the regions and areas get equal oppor-
tunities of progress and development.
Sadhotra visits Bikram Chowk; discusses flyover project
JAMMU, 03 FEB: Satwari Sabzi Mandi
Association is going to organize 2nd Chandi
Mata Jagran on March 9th at Sabzi Mandi,
Satwari.
Addressing a press conference, Sunny
Mehra, President, Satwari Sabzi Mandi
Association said that the Association is organ-
izing Chandi Mata Jagran for the second time
and urged the Jammuities to take part in the
Chandi Mata Jaran and took away the blessings
of Chandi Mata for happy and prosperous life.
He said that the jagran will commence at 8:
00 pm and conclude at 6:00 am next morning.
Various artists from in and around Jammu
are going to perform various programme dur-
ing the Chandi Mata Jagran followed by Jyot
Prajawlit at 12:00 mid night and Tara Rani
Katha, he added.
The artists who were performing during the
Chandi Mata Jagran are Daljit Singh Rathore,
Surinder Manhas, Komal Sharma, Naveen
Punjabi, Pamma Punjabi, Sona Dogra and Anil
Punjabi. The organizers of the Jagran are
Sunny Mehra,Ramesh Gupta, Jimmy, Sunny,
Tony, Binder besides other members of the
association.
Chandi Mata Jagran on Mar 9th
Ramesh Gupta member of Satwari Sabzi Mandi Association addressing media persons at AapShambhu Temple in Satwari.
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STATESTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20134
JAMMU FEB 03: Lauding
the valour of Sikhs, Minister
for Planning, Development,
Labour and Employment,
Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra
today recalled the important
role of the community in
maintaining sovereignty,
integrity and unity of the
country besides socio-eco-
nomic transformation of the
State.
Addressing a big congre-
gation held in connection
with the Gurpurab celebra-
tions at Karwal in Marh
block, the Minister referred
to the bonds of amity and
brotherhood between vari-
ous communities and said
this is required to be sus-
tained and passed on to pos-
terity.
The Minister recalled
with reverence the preaching
of Guru Gobind Singhji and
called upon the people to
work for imbibing and dis-
seminating the message of
love and peace for making
the world better place to live
in. He said great Gurus stood
for justice, equality and
peace and called for making
these cherished principles as
way of life.
"These occasions provide
us an opportunity to pledge
for creating a society based
on justice and equality.
Service to the making should
be our primary objective", he
added.
Mr Sadhotra hoped that
the people of the State irre-
spective of cast, creed and
colour should strive to main-
tain centuries old traditions
of communal harmony and
brotherhoo d. "The people
have, in fact, withstood the
test of times by frustrating
the machinations of divisive
forces", he maintained,
The Minister assured the
Sadh Sanghat that the gov-
ernment will take all possi-
ble measures to mitigate
their grievances and urged
them to contribute and coop-
erate in implementing vari-
ous schemes and pro-
grammes for betterment of
the society. He referred to
the initiatives taken for
development and prosperity
of the State and gave an
insight of the schemes and
projects launched and com-
missioned since 1996. He
said the Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah is keen to
take this initiative forward
for achieving overall devel-
opment of all the regions and
sub regions of the State.
On the occasion a big
Dewan was held in which
the people from the periph-
eral areas participated.
Shabad and Kirtans were
also held on the occasion.
Sadhotra for strengthening bonds of unity, amity
Minister for Planning, Development, Labour and Employment, Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra addressing a big congregation held in connection with the Gurpurab celebrationsat Karwal in Marh block at Jammu.
NEW DELHI, FEBRU-ARY 03: Minister of State
for I&C, Home, R&B &
Tourism, Sajjad Ahmad
Kichloo today called on
Union Minister for New &
Renewable Energy Dr.
Farooq Abdullah and Union
Minister for Health &
Family Welfare, Ghulam
Nabi Azad, and apprised
them about issues of vital
importance concerning the
development of the State.
During his meeting with
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the
Minister apprised the Union
Minister about additional Air
Force sorties to far-flung
areas of Kargil, Marwah and
Dacchan so that stranded
passengers are safely air-lift-ed to their respective desti-
nations. He apprised the
Minister about prioritizing
work on Singhpora-Vailo
tunnel for which he met
Chief Engineer BEACON
earlier this week. The tunnel
will connect Kashmir Valley
with district Kishtwar and
bring in circular connectivity
between Kashmir and
Jammu divisions.
Kichloo also briefed the
Minister about taking up the
issue of installation of crash
barriers on Kishtwar-Batote
road to reduce the number of
road accidents that have
risen alarmingly over the last
few years and consumed
several precious lives.The Minister also
requested the Union
Minister for allocating
10,000 solar lights in remote
villages in district Kishtwar.
This, the Minister said, will
bring relief to people resid-
ing in inaccessible areas
which are still not power-
connected.
On the issue of augment-
ing road and tunnel connec-
tivity in the State, Dr.
Abdullah assured the
Minister that he will take up
the matter with Union
Surface Transport Ministry
so that BEACON and GREF
works in the State are fast-
tracked. He also assured the
State Minister of all help in New & Renewable Energy
sector which is under his
charge.
In a separate meeting
with Union Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kichloo
apprised him about the status
of health sector in the State,
especially district Kishtwar.
He sought expansion of
health facilities and infra-
structure under Central
Financial Assistance. The
Minister requested for sanc-
tioning a 100-bedded mater-
nity hospital under CFA in
the newly-created district of
Kishtwar. This, he said, will
result in prevention of fatali-
ties when expectant mothers
are shifted to other districtsin cases of emergency.
The Minister also
requested Azad for setting
up a Trauma hospital on
Batote-Kishtwar road which
will facilitate immediate
medical treatment to injured
patients in cases of acci-
dents, which have occurred
frequently in erstwhile Doda
district over the last few
years. The Union Minister
also assured Kichloo of all
help in augmenting health
services in J&K. He also
expressed his commitment
to take up issues of road and
tunnel connectivity in the
State with the Union Surface
Transport Ministry.
JAMMU, FEB 03: Minister of State
for Forests, Environment & Ecology,
Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma, underlined
the need for involvement of the local
communities in conservation of wet-
lands. Highlighting the role played by
communities in various prominent
environmental movements of India,
he said the wetlands and water bodies
are our main water resources.
The Minister and Chief Guest ,Dr.
Manohar Lal was addressing at a
function organized in connection with
celebrating World Wetlands Day by
the Department of Wildlife
Protection, in collaboration with
World Wide Fund for nature-India
(WWF-India) and Department of
Environment and Remote Sensing,
Govt. at Mansar Wetland, a Ramsar
Site, in Jammu here today.
The Minister assured that the
Government shall strive hard to
ensure that the wetlands of J&K are
conserved and maintained in the best
interests of the people of the state.
The World Wetlands Day was, for the
first time, organized on 2nd February,
1997 and every year since then vari-
ous agencies at all levels of the com-
munity have taken advantage of the
opportunity provided by this day to
undertake actions aimed at raising
public awareness of wetland values
and benefits in our daily lives .
Dr Lal highlighted the importance
of wetlands & their significance in
human life. He said that wetlands
apart from providing multiple bene-
fits to human society also act as
important wildlife refuges and added
it gives shelter to priceless migrated
birds.
The programme was attended by a
numerous personalities, senior citi-
zens including school students, mem-
bers of panchayat, scientists, acade-
micians, conservationists, officials
from different Govt. departments and
common masses.
Dr. O.P. Sharma, Chief
Conservator of Forests underlined the
threats that jeopardize the existence
of wetlands in the so called modern-
ized world.
Sh. Suresh Chough, Director,
Environment and Remote Sensing
highlighted the role of Mansar and
Surinsar wetlands as an important
source of water in the surrounding
Kandi belt
Wildlife Warden, Mr. Saleem-ul-
Haq, while welcoming the guests,
gave an overview of the programme.
Mr. Pankaj Chandan, Head,
Himalayan Wetlands Conservation
Programme, informed the gathering
that WWF is working for the sustain-
able conservation of wetlands
through good science and policy &
advocacy both nationally and interna-
tionally. Dr. Deepika Salathia,
Assistant Professor, Dept. of
Environmental Sciences, University
of Jammu, spoke about the services
provided by the twin wetlands of
Mansar and Surinsar and their rele-
vance for local communities.
On this occasion a symposium on
the importance of wetlands was also
organized in which Ms. Priya
Sharma, Mr. Jeevan Lal and Ms.
Poonam Sarmal received first second
and third prizes respectively.
Kichloo meets Farooq, Azad in DelhiUrges construction of Singhpora-Vailo tunnel; demands 100-bedded maternity hospital for Kishtwar
Director Social Welfarereviews performance
UDHAMPUR, FEBRUARY 03: Director,
Social Welfare Department Jammu, M.H.
Bhatti convened meeting of Officers of SocialWelfare Department to review the schemes
being implemented by the department at
Udhampur.
The meeting was attended by the
Programme Officer (ICDS Project)
Udhampur, District Social Welfare Officer,
Udhampur and all the Child Development
Project Officers of District Udhampur.
During the meeting, Director Social
Welfare undertook a detailed review of the
progress made under the schemes like Post-
Matric and Pre-Matric Scholarships to
SC/OBC students, Widow, Old Age and
Disability Pensions, working of Nari Niketan
and Bal Ashram etc.
Director also reviewed the functioning of
AWC's in detail and the status of procurement
of Nutrition items in the AWC's.
Strict instructions were issued to the
Officers concerned for timely disbursement of
the honorarium to AWW's and AWH's,
Pension and Scholarships and to monitor theAWC's rigorously, in order to ensure that they
are fully functional, so as to provide maxi-
mum benefits to the beneficiaries.
DDC Rajouri holdspublic grievance camp
RAJOURI, FEBRUARY 03: District
Development Commissioner Rajouri, Mr.
Saugat Biswas convened a public grievances
redressal camp at Fathepur Gurian to take
stock of the problems of the people.
The people of the area puforth their
demands regarding setting up of a primary
health centre, improving road connectivity,
restarting the defunct dugwell at Danna,
installing hand pump at Mohalla Lohara and
improving irrigation facilities in the area.
They also demanded installation of solar
lights in the park developed in Sain Ganji
Sahib.
The DDC assured the people that all their
genuine demands will be taken up in a time
bound manner. He directed the concerned
officers to ensure proper implementation of
all development schemes and monitor the
ongoing projects for their timely completion.
Assistant Commissioner Development,
Chief Planning Officer, Executive Engineers
of PHE, PDD, PMGSY, REW and Tehsildar
Rajouri and other block level officers besides
Panchayats representatives were present on
the occasion.
Govt keen to promote sportsculture among youth: Taj
JAMMU, FEBRUARY 01: Minister for
Medical Education, Youth Services and
Sports, Mr. Taj Mohi-ud-Din has said thatgovernment is keen to promote sports culture
among youth of the state.
Addressing the closing ceremony of 9th 3
day Jammu and Kashmir Wushu champi-
onship here this evening, the Minister said
more and more such tournaments would be
organized all across the state to seek the
involvement of youth from length and breadth
of the state. He said Department of Youth
Services is planning the expansion and
strengthening of sports infrastructure in a big
way. He asked youth to take benefit of all
these events and help in changing their per-
sonalities. He hoped that more and more such
competitions the youth of the state would be
able to prove their mettle at the national and
international level. In the overall tally Jammu
district emerged victorious whileas Budgam
and Bandipora districts came first and 2nd
runner-ups. Director SSG, Mr. H. K. Lohia,
Secretary J&K Sports Council, Mr. Daleep
Thusoo and a large number of sports loverswere present at the closing ceremony.
Manohar Lal lays foundationstones of various projects
KATHUA, FEBRUARY 03: Minister of
State for Fisheries, Co-operatives and
Finance, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma today laid
foundation stone of a park at Gujru Nagrota
market in Tehsil Billawar besides foundation
stone of a passenger shed, toilet and a bath-
room at Durga Mandir Complex in the
Panchayat Kah-Kashad. The projects will be
completed at a cost of Rs.42 lakh by
Lakhanpur Development Authority. He direct-
ed the concerned officers for speedy execu-
tion of these projects The Minister sanctioned
Rs.3 lakh out of his CDF for the construction
of lanes and drains for the panchayats of Kah
and Kashad. He also directed the authorities
concerned to invite tenders for the speedy
construction of road from main road tent
house to Mohalla Sainik Colony in Panchayat
Kashad.
The Minister also sanctions 8 hand pumps
and 15 electric poles out of his CDF for the
Panchayats Kah-Kashad. . Earlier, the
Minister convened a public grievance camp at
Panchayat Kah-Kashad and listened the prob-
lems of the locals very patiently. He assured
them that their genuine problems would be
solved on phased manner.
JAMMU, FEB 03: The Minister for Higher
Education Mr. Mohammad Akbar Lone today
said the University Campuses of Kargil,
Ladakh and Kupwara shall be made functional
very soon to facilitate higher education to the
students of these areas. He said in this regard a
meeting with the concerned high level officers
will be held on February 8 to deliberate upon
the various aspects regarding operationaliza-
tion of these campuses.
The Minister was speaking at an 18th
Annual Day Function organized by the All
Kargil Student Association Jammu (AKSAJ) in
collaboration with the Yoga Centre, University
of Jammu at General Zorawar Singh
Auditorium Hall, University of Jammu today.
The Minister said after assuming the
responsibility of Higher Education Ministry he
immediately sought details from the concerned
departments about the status of these
University Campuses. He said efforts are afoot
to make these campuses functional so that the
students of Kargil, Ladakh and Kupwara dis-
tricts will get higher and quality education at
their door steps.
Congratulating the students of the region
for celebrating annual day, the Minister said
that the students of Kargil have achieved a lot
in the field of education braving difficulties at
various fronts and hoped that they will push
forward the mission in future also.
Recalling the contribution of Sheri-e-
Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for the
development of the Kargil region, Mr. Lone
said that it is due to the efforts of the great leg-
endry leader that Kargil has been given the sta-
tus of the district headquarter. He said it was
his dream to improve the socio-economic con-
dition besides overall development of the
region, adding that the Chief Minister, Omar
Abdullah is striving hard to push forward the
mission of late leader. He said that teaching fra-
ternity has a great responsibility in nurturing
the students in right direction so that, they
became responsible citizens and shoulder the
responsibilities of the nation.
Kargil, Ladakh, Kupwara UniversityCampuses to functional soon: Lone
ANANTNAG, FEBRUARY
03: Minister for Public
Enterprises, Hajj, Auqaf
Floriculture, Peerzada
Mohammad Sayeed today
visited far flung area of
Magam Kokernag to assess
the latest situation in the area
resulting due to outburst of
Hepatitis C disease.
The Minister was accom-
panied by a team of Health
experts, and senior Doctors.
Speaking on the occasion,
the Minister said that the
samples of about 1600 per-
sons have been collected, out
of which 350 testes are
reported positive. He further
added that expert teams from
Directorate of Health
Services Kashmir, SKIMS
and from Union Health
Department have also visited
the area and have initiated the
process of knowing the root
cause of the disease.
The Minister urged upon
the people of the area to
cooperate with the visiting
teams so that the disease
could be controlled immedi-
ately and uprooted well in
time.
Mr Syeed also stressed
upon the local people to
adhere health guidelines,
adopt precautionary meas-
ures, maintain proper sanita-
tion and cleanliness in and
around the area besides in
homes.
On the occasion the
Minister announces free
medical treatment camp for
the affected people and said
that government will bear the
expenses for the treatment of
victims, adding that if central
government help is needed,
that too will be sought.
The Minister also made
announcement of providing a
Primary Health Centre for the
Magam village very soon.
Deputy Commissioner
Anantnag, Director Health
Services Kashmir, Additional
District Development
Commissioner, Senior
Superintendent of Police and
other district officers accom-
panied the Minister.
Peerzada visits Hepatitis hit Magam
Minister for Public Enterprises, Hajj, Auqaf Floriculture, Peerzada Mohammad Sayeed addressing a public gathering at Anantnag.
World Wetlands Day observed at Mansar
Minister of State for Forests, Environment & Ecology, Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma pre-senting memonto to student during World Wetlands day function at Jammu.
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EDITORIALSTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20135
India's politicians cannot take
too much reality. The one
certain sign of this is the
Centre's decision to ignore the
J.S. Verma committee's recom-
mendation that marital rape be
considered a crime. This recom-
mendation struck at the heart of
patriarchal aggression. That the
government rejected it suggests
that the invisible structures of
gender hierarchy are yet to be
breached, even though there is
obvious urgency on the govern-
ment's part to set the right ball
rolling. It would not be fair to
crib about urgency after criticiz-
ing the establishment's lack-
adaisical attitude to crimes
against women. The govern-
ment's visible eagerness to dis-
cuss the Verma committee rec-
ommendations is, perhaps, little
less than historic, since commit-
tee reports in India are better-
known for gathering dust on
inaccessible shelves. Yet the
wary will ask whether haste is a
good thing in the matter of lay-
ing down the law regarding
actions that inhabit the shadowy
and turbulent region of intimateand violent physicality, overt and
covert power, oppression, gen-
der, personhood, fear, hatred,
destruction, unequal perceptions
and politics.
But if haste can be criticized,
urgency cannot. So the govern-
ment's decision to formulate an
ordinance on sexual crime to be
sent to the president for approval
is to be seen, presumably, as its
sensitive response to nationwide
protests against the Delhi gan-
grape in December. Ordinances
are an emergency measure for
the most acute need when
Parliament is not sitting. The
next session is less than three
weeks away. How acute was the
need for the decision on sexual
crimes? As acute as the govern-
ment's need to be seen reacting
sympathetically to people's
protests? That would partly
explain why capital punishment
has been left in as an option for
those convicted of 'aggravated'
rape, although the Verma com-
mittee rejected it. By including
capital punishment as an option,
the Centre seems to have ignored
the possibility that the death
penalty could lower the rate of
conviction. And that is just one
of the arguments against death
for rapists.
But there is much to be thank-
ful for, especially if this haste
signals greater promptitude and
proper method in responding to
crimes against women. The
acceptance of the recommenda-
tions regarding stalking or
voyeurism is encouraging too,
although there should be safe-
guards put in to ensure that inno-
cent people are not victimized or blackmailed in such cases. The
doubt about the nature of the
government's impulse springs
from its flat rejection of radical
changes - not just in the case of
marital rape but also in the case
of army personnel accused of
rape. The deeper structure is
being left untouched. In that con-
text, the substitution of 'sexual
assault' for 'rape', a change the
Verma committee had argued
against, is a little worrying.
Indians can only hope this will
not mean dilution.
By Swapan Dasgupta
On hearing that the
Supreme Court has
directed the police to
refrain from arresting Ashis
Nandy, arguably India's most cele-
brated contrarian, a wicked
thought entered my head. Imagine
a situation if, instead of Nandy,
some other (perhaps lesser-
known) non-political public figure
had given similar offence, real or
contrived, to a group that enjoys
exceptional Constitutional protec-
tion? Would the judges have used
their common sense and brushed
aside the contention that a casual
statement in a discussion constitut-
ed an "atrocity" that must automat-
ically be accompanied by a non-
bailable arrest warrant against the
deemed offender?
Asking an awkward question
does not imply that I am demand-
ing that Nandy be arrested and
peremptorily sentenced to ten
years of rigorous imprisonment.
Far from it! Nandy, as even his
academic friends who signed peti-
tions in his support maintained,was guilty of clumsy formulation,
unwarranted impishness and even
lack of empirical rigour.
These are grave charges to be
levelled against a public intellectu-
al of Nandy's standing. Anyone
else would have been pilloried
mercilessly for such failings and
perhaps even been castigated as a
"goondaintellectual" - Dalit
activist Kancha Ilaiah's gratuitous
description of Arun Shourie and
me at a CNN-IBN programme last
week.
But since Nandy's heart was
apparently in the right place, his
defenders insisted that a literalist
interpretation of the law would be
a travesty.
I have enormous sympathy for
this argument which also has
found favour with the Supreme
Court. Nandy's analysis of the
social contours of corruption
would not have contributed to
social tensions. Indeed, had it not
been for a panellist who carries a
permanent chip on his shoulder, I
doubt whether it would have been
noticed outside the Jaipur Literature Festival venue.
After all, such festivals are
occasions where the chattering
classes can let their hair down and
say a few outrageous things-as
long as some red lines aren't
crossed.
By suggesting that the corrup-
tion story in India couldn't be writ-
ten without a special section on
Madhu Koda and that Bengali
wholesomeness had been pre-
served by maintaining the caste
character of bhadralok society,
Nandy did cross the Lakshman
Rekha. Interestingly, as a British
MP of African origin pointed out,
so did former diplomat Pavan
Varma when he alluded to the
"half-castes" of the former British
Empire.
But since Varma's target was
cultural inter-mixing and a
defence of national purity, it was
overlooked. I daresay if Varma had
spoken in a similar vein at a liter-
ary meet in Britain, he would cer-
tainly have been booed by the
audience. He may even have had a
case under the Race Relations Actslapped on him.
Of course, if such a case had
indeed come up before the British
courts the judges would-like our
Supreme Court-have dismissed it
out of hand. Labelling a phenome-
non as 'half-caste' is very different
from a racist assault on misce-
genation.
The law, as Mr Bumble
famously said in Charles Dickens'
Oliver Twist, "is an ass-an idiot."
But experience also tells us that
the "show me the man and I will
show you the law" principle is a
universal one. It is also one that is
unduly influenced by prevailing
fashion. If the citadels of intellec-
tual power in India had not stood
by Nandy, it is entirely possible
that the ham-fisted State machin-
ery would have harassed him no
end.
There are two possible conclu-
sions from the fuss over Nandy.
The one that may strike a chord
among the permanently aggrieved
is that there is not enough justice
to go around, and that the man got
away because he was well-con-nected.
A less famous pamphleteer
who may have put the same views
in colloquial terms would
undoubtedly have been languish-
ing in jail by now, completely un-
mourned. The other conclusion
which I am tempted to pursue lies
in a simple question: why have
such absurd, inflexible draconian
laws at all? This is a relevant
query in the context of today's
India.
The past few years, especially
since 'civil society' became the
arbiter of right and wrong in soci-
ety, have seen every crime, misde-
meanour or a perceived act of
injustice being accompanied by
spirited and angry demands for
harsher laws.
The Roop Kanwar sati was fol-
lowed by a new law that made the
'glorification' of that awful custom
a crime; the rise in Dalit assertive-
ness was accompanied by the Act
that landed Nandy in such a mess;
dowry deaths prompted legal
changes that turned the presump-
tion of innocence on its head; and
the outrage against the Delhi gang-
rape last year is likely to lead to a
significant enlargement of the
legal meaning of rape.
The point to note is, in all these
cases legal modifications were
brought about as a consequence of
sectional indignation over horrible
events.
Yet, no one can seriously deny
that most of these draconian laws
carry the potential of cynical mis-
use. The SC-ST Atrocity Act has
been used to settle personal scores,
the Dowry Act has been used for extortion, and I have no doubt that
the new rape laws may also
become a cynical plaything in the
hands of the unscrupulous.
In recent weeks, the quality of
Indian democracy has been com-
promised by assaults on basic free-
doms.
What is curious is that every
assault has had the backing of the
letter of the law. It is time India
explored the virtues of less laws
(however well-intentioned) and
more freedom (however ill-inten-
tioned).s
Indian democracy compromised
In r
ec
ent weeks
, th
e qu
a
lit
y of Indi
an d
em
ocrac
y ha
s been co
m
p
r
omi
sed by a
ssau
lts on basic f
reedoms. What is c
ur
i
ou
s i
s th
at e
ve
r
y a
ssau
lt h
a
s h
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plor
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rtues of l
ess l
aws (h
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nd m
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.)
TO STITCH UP IN TIME
By Anuradha Dutt
Continued use of fossil
fuels to generate electric-ity adds to global warm-
ing trends
Last week, the Supreme Court
came down hard on anti-dam
campaigners while observing that
power projects - even nuclear
power plants - are opposed while
all citizens want power.
The court dismissed the peti-
tion filed against Vishnugad-
Pipalkoti hydro-electric project
on the Alaknanda river. The pro-
posed scheme entails diverting
80.507 hectares of forest area.
Matu Jan Sangathan challenged it
on the grounds that it lacked
cumulative impact assessment.
However, the apex court, which
has upheld the cause of conserv-
ing Aravallis and its green rem-
nants, sided with the Government
on the dam issue. This has dis-
mayed green activists, who have
since long been campaigning
against the systematic assault onthe Himayalan eco-system, with
mountains perforated with tun-
nels, rivers diverted from their
natural course and trees felled for
development purposes.
In another case in the Supreme
Court, relating to Tehri dam peti-
tioners ND Jayal, Shekhar Singh
and another, have highlighted the
inadequate rehabilitation of thou-
sands of displaced families even
though the Uttarakhand
Government's projected earnings
from power generation is a mini-
mum of `1,000 crore, a recurring
income.
The earlier State Government
in its affidavit averred that Tehri
Hydro Development Corporation
Ltd had not provided the requisite
funds for rehabilitation. The court
in November 2011 ordered the
company to part with `102.99
crore for the purpose, a sum con-
sidered meagre. Environmentalconstraints were bulldozed so as
to clear the project.
Economist and conservationist
Bharat Jhunjhunwala, fighting a
case to save the ancient Dhari
Devi shrine, overlooking the
Alakananda from submergence
by a hydropower project, is espe-
cially worried about the Ganga's
survival.
He states that policy makers
need to strike a balance between
the imperatives of power genera-
tion, conservation of biodiversity
and the cultural values of the free-
flowing Ganga. So, whether it is
on grounds of ecology and her-
itage or for humanitarian reasons,
hydropower projects are extreme-
ly hazardous. Continuing use of
fossil fuels such as coal to gener-
ate electricity via thermal plants
accelerates global warming. Use
of other fossil fuels - petrol,
diesel and natural gas - alsoalarmingly enhances pollution
load.
The fairly recent Fukushima
Daiichi disaster in Japan is a
warning about the failings of
nuclear power projects. In the cir-
cumstances, sustainable energy
proponents have intensified lob-
bying for Governments to fast-
track the switch-over to safer
green power and fuel options. Mr
Jhunjhunwala and his colleagues
argue for saving the Ganga via
novel means. Their concept is
excerpted:
"The Government agrees that
e-flows must be released, and part
of the river should be left free for
rejuvenation. This much hydro-
potential will be sacrificed. An
alternative would be to use part of
the water of the river along its
stretch for generation of electrici-
ty. The water removed may be
passed through a cascade of hydro projects and ultimately dis-
charged in the canal for irrigation.
This will enable the remaining
water in the river to flow freely. It
will help preserve the ecological
and cultural functions of the
river".
Engineer Subodh Kumar, who
also runs a gaushala in Ghazipur
that harbours hundreds of cows,
too has been lobbying on behalf
of sustainable technology. He
projects solar energy as a viable
option to fossil fuels and other
commonly deployed energy
sources.
India should be able to access
solar energy very easily, given the
abundant sunshine. He cites the
example of Germany, where solar
energy accounts for 50 per cent of
power supply. Brian Merchant's
write-up, dated May 28, 2012 -
'Last Weekend, Half of Germany
was running on solar power' -should spur Indian policy makers
to consider putting up solar pan-
els on rooftops and other suitable
locations, with disposal strategies
for such panels, after their utility
is exhausted, in place.
One quotes from the article:
"German solar power plants
produced a world record 22
gigawatts of electricity - equal to
20 nuclear power stations at full
capacity - through the midday
hours of Friday and Saturday, the
head of a r enewable energy think
tank has said...Norbert Allnoch,
director of the Institute of the
Renewable Energy Industry in
Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts
of solar power fed into the nation-
al grid on Saturday met nearly 50
per cent of the nation's midday
electricity needs…And it's the
result, primarily, of two forces:
First, In the wake of Fukushima,
Germany is shuttering all of itsnuke plants, but has vowed to
replace them with clean sources;
second, Germany has instituted a
feed-in-tariff system-which
requires utilities to buy solar
power from producers, large and
small, at a fixed rate-that has
fuelled the nation's solar boom.
Basically, anyone can buy solar
panels, set them up, plug them
into the grid, and get paid for it.
Now, FITs do make electricity
more expensive, since the cost of
subsidising that higher fixed rate
is absorbed by all electricity con-
sumers. But Germany doesn't
really mind. And why not?
Simple: Its citizenry has agreed
that producing more non-nuclear
clean power is worth shelling out
a few extra bucks for each
month."
India needs solar power
By Vivek Sugandh:
It has been years since the madman
named Nathuram Godse shot our
father of the nation and brutally
ended his charismatic journey. Our
Independence took its final redemption
by ravaging his life and alas! the most
loved protagonist departed from the
stage and took all his wisdom along with
him. The entire country was wrapped in
a blanket of gloom and every soul was
mourning owing to his demise. This
poignant loss left a deep void which will
never be filled.
Gandhiji has impressed humanity as
an apostle of peace and as one who has
been rightly hailed as the world's Second
Saviour. Mahatma had a monumental
zeal despite his fragile body; he had an
eternal hope despite the darkness all
around and most importantly a belief
that one day, he would be able to see a
better India. He believed that the people
of India are potent enough to live in
brethernity and prosper. He nurtured a
dream to see us on the pinnacle of suc-
cess, glory and sophistication and for
this he strived hard for our independ-
ence. This old knight never fought for
himself, rather he fought for the millions
of disillusioned Indians who were trau-
matized during the British reign.
As 64 years have passed since his
death, India has completely changed and
today, everything seems to be going
against his principles. Gandhi believed
that "The best way to find your self is to
lose yourself in the service of others" but
today, we have become so inflicted with
the evil voracity. He bedazzled the entire
world by making us achieve freedom
through ahimsa and Satyagraha but
today, we are so engulfed in violence
and cheating. He propagated that we
must be the change we wish to see in the
world but now, nobody wants to be a
change maker. Everyone will blame the
society, the government and the others
but no one would take the responsibility
to make a difference. Our Bapu called
for effective governance directed
towards the growth of the people of
India but the current prevailing political
system has flouted every rule that he
talked about. Evincing the very fact,
India has been ranked 94th by the
Transparency International's Corruption
Perception Index.
He said that there is enough in this
world to satisfy one's need but not greed.
But then, why just blame the govern-
ment, even the common people have
been deformed. All that love for the
nation and a sense of concern is lost
now. We have become so selfish that we
don't want to do something which could
ameliorate the current aggravated posi-
tion. Even the youth lacks that zeal and
alacrity to work towards an improved
India. We merely want to develop as
individuals.
He made the impossible look possi-
ble by maintaining solidarity among
every religion without any bias but
today's society is bifurcated into legions
of sections based upon some gruesome
methods of caste, creed etc. Today,
every individual is so unsettled that he
can't make out what he is up to. Gandhi
preached that "Happiness is when what
you think, what you say, and what you
do are in harmony." So basically no one
is happy now, in fact we have based our
happiness upon facile things. He
demanded value based knowledge; the
current education may give you a source
of livelihood but cannot make you a
reformed human being.
Our nation had a glorious past and
the Indian people tend to take pride in it.
But then, for how long will we stick our-
selves to old triumphs? Do we have any-
thing substantial to say to our grandsires
when they ask, "What have you done to
provide us a good tomorrow?" We are
definitely growing with a good GDPrate
but we seem to have lost our incredibili-
ty in the race of economic development;
that incredibility which made us to win
laurels all over the world. We feel boast-
ful in calling him as our torchbearer and
our guardian but are we even living up
to his expectations?
Mahatma Gandhi would be really
mourning at this depraved India. Our
degradation is really pellucid as he aptly
said "The things that will destroy us are:
politics without principle; pleasure with-
out conscience; wealth without work;
knowledge without character; business
without morality; science without
humanity; and worship without sacri-
fice." Gandhi was sent as a watchman to
serve the interest of humanity. He was
sent as a guiding light to guide us
towards spirituality and divine peace.
Although we remember him on his
birth anniversary, Mahatma Gandhi is
probably a figure whose influence is not
as it used to be. We are far from the prin-
ciples and ethics which he wanted to
inculcate in us. His absence has marked
a deterioration in the world and Pandit
Nehru truly emphasized after his death
that "the light has gone out of our lives
and there is darkness everywhere."
Are We Living Up To Bapu's Expectations?
As 64 years have passed since his death, India has completely changed and today, every-
thing seems to be going against his principles. Gandhi believed that "The best way to find
your self is to lose yourself in the service of others" but today, we have become so inflicted
with the evil voracity. He bedazzled the entire world by making us achieve freedom through
ahimsa and Satyagraha but today, we are so engulfed in violence and cheating. He propagat-
ed that we must be the change we wish to see in the world but now, nobody wants to be a
change maker. Everyone will blame the society, the government and the others but no one
would take the responsibility to make a difference. Our Bapu called for effective governance
directed towards the growth of the people of India but the current prevailing political systemhas flouted every rule that he talked about. Evincing the very fact, India has been ranked
94th by the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index. He said that there is
enough in this world to satisfy one's need but not greed. But then, why just blame the gov-
ernment, even the common people have been deformed. All that love for the nation and a
sense of concern is lost now. We have become so selfish that we don't want to do some-
thing which could ameliorate the current aggravated position. Even the youth lacks that zeal
and alacrity to work towards an improved India. We merely want to develop as individuals.
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7/29/2019 Daily Paper February 4, 2013
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/daily-paper-february-4-2013 6/8
NATIONALSTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20136
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court is like-
ly to frame charges against Suresh
Kalmadi and others on Monday for
allegedly causing a loss of over Rs 90
crore to the exchequer.
The court had on December 21,
2012 passed the order on framing of
charges under various provisions of
the IPC and the Prevention of
Corruption (PC) Act against Kalmadi
and nine other accused in the case.
Besides cheating and conspiracy,
the accused will also be charged with
the offences of forgery under the IPC
and criminal misconduct by public
servants under the PC Act. "Charges
under section 120B (criminal conspir-
acy), read with 201 (destruction of
evidence), 420 (cheating), 467, 468,
471 (relating to forgery), 506 (crimi-
nal intimidation) of the IPC and sec-
tion 13(1) (d) read with section 13(2)
(criminal misconduct by public ser-
vants) of the PC Act is
ordered to be framed against
all the accused," the court
had said.
The accused have been
chargesheeted by the CBI for
"illegally" awarding a con-
tract to install Timing,
Scoring and Results (TSR)
system for the 2010 CWG to
Swiss Timing at inflated
rates causing a loss of over
Rs 90 crore to the public
exchequer.
Besides Kalmadi and
Bhanot, the other accused in
the case are OC's former
Director General V K Verma,
former Director General
(Procurement) Surjit Lal, former
Joint Director General (Sports) A S V
Prasad and former Treasurer M
Jayachandran. They are no more
associated with the sporting body.
The court had also said that sub-
stantial charges of misusing official
position have been made out against
six former OC officials, who were
public servants.
Apart from the six, promoters of
two construction firms -P D Arya and
A K Madan of Faridabad-based Gem
International and A K Reddy of
Hyderabad-based AKR Constructions
are also accused in the case. Swiss
Timing Omega is also an accused in
the case.
The court, while ordering framing
of charges against the accused, had
said that as accused Swiss Timing
Omega, which was allegedly awarded
the contract at exorbitant rates, is not
appearing in the court despite proper
service of summons, its "trial is sepa-
rated."
The CBI had alleged that Kalmadi
and others had rejected Spanish firm
MSL's much lower bid of Rs 62 crore
and awarded the contract to Swiss
Timing Omega, causing a loss of over
Rs 90 crore to the exchequer.
CWG scam: Court to frame chargesagainst Kalmadi and 9 others on Feb4
NEWDELHI: Seeking to set
at rest controversy over
Aadhaar, Planning
Commission Deputy
Chairman Montek Singh
Ahluwalia today said UID is a
number and not an identity
card. "The Aadhaar is actuallya number, linked to that num-
ber is a biometric record which
is centrally stored. The
(Aadhaar) number comes in a
form of card. But that card is
not an identity card,"
Ahluwalia said when asked
about the raging controversy
over the issue. Some Cabinet
Ministers have reportedly
raised the issue pertaining to
Aadhaar that whether it is a
number or an identity card. The
govt. has recently constituted a
Group of Ministers to look into
the issue. Elaborating his point
of view, Ahluwalia said, "I can
tear up the card. As long as I
have the number, I don't need
the card. There is no such thing
as UIDAI (Aadhaar) card. You
need it only because you wantto remember your number. If
you stick your number in the
wallet. That is fine." As regards
the GoM, he said, "There are
concerns that if you issue a
card which is mandatory, it will
become basis for harassment
so the GoM has been constitut-
ed to go into that issue only in
relation to the (NMIC) card."
There is a separate proposal
which is national multipurpose
identity card (NMIC) which is
being run by the Ministry of
Home Affairs, he said adding
that when the law was amend-
ed by the NDAgovt., this card
(NMIC) was made mandatory.
The govt. has mandated that
Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) to
enrol and collect biometrics
details of 60 crore population
of the country. The biometric
details of rest of the 61 crore population would be collected
under National Population
Register project.
NEWDELHI: Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi is
likely to go to Kumbh on
February 7 - the same day the
Vishva Hindu Parishad
(VHP)-led Dharam sansad
will be held there and it is
likely that a statement in his
support will be issued. Modi
is also likely to be in the new
BJP parliamentary board, the
highest decision making body
of the party. Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj
Chauhan could also be made a
member of the board.
Meanwhile, the Janata Dal
(United) has questioned VHP
leader Ashok Singhal's back-
ing to Modi as the NDAprime
ministerial candidate, saying
it is for political parties and
not sadhus to decide who'll be
their leader. "How can the PM
candidate be decided by sad-
hus and nagas. This is com-
pletely absurd," said JD(U)
spokesperson Shivanand
Tiwari.
Tiwari has once again
made it clear that a final call
could be taken only after con-
sultations within the coalition.
While the JD(U) and more
specifically Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar's
objections to Modi's candida-
ture are well known, another
BJP ally, the Shiv Sena is keen
on projecting senior BJP
leader Sushma Swaraj as the
PM candidate.
The Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD), on the other hand, has
announced that it will back
Modi.
Modi likely to visit Kumbh on Feb 7
Minutes after train passes,blast onrailway trackin Kokrajhar KOKRAJHAR: Passengers
of the Howrah-Guwahatidown Garibrath Express had
a providential escape on
Sunday when a powerful
bomb exploded on the r ail-
way tracks minutes after it
passed Goabari in lower
Assam's Kokrajhar district.
There was no casualty or
injury. The bomb suspected
to have been planted by the
anti-talk faction of the
National Democratic Front
of Bodoland (NDFB)
exploded at 1.10 am two
minutes after the train
passed the area between
Gossaigaon and Fakiragram,
police said.
The blast blew away
three feet of railway track
and left a two feet deep
crater at the spot, they said.Security forces have
launched a search operation
to nab the ultras.
Aadhaar is a number notan ID card: Montek Singh
BANGALORE: In the latest
twist in Karnataka govern-
ment crisis, Governor HR
Bhardwaj on Sunday denied
having any information of 14
BJP MLAs resigning from
the state government.
Bhardwaj will address
both houses of the Karnataka
legislature on Jan 4, outlining
the policy initiatives of the
government for the year.The BJP government is
bracing itself to face the cru-
cial budget session on
Monday, thelast one of the
13th Assembly
term. The BJP
government led
by Chief
M i n i s t e r
J a g a d i s h
Shettar, surviv-
ing on a wafer
thin majority
following resignation of 14
MLAs in the last one week,
faces a threat in the backdrop
of threat by Yeddyurappa
loyalists to quit.
However, fireworks could
be on cards in the coming
days as opposition Congress
and JDS will question the
government's continuance
despite losing majority.
The en masse resignationof MLAs, former minister
Shobha Karandlaje's charge
that government has "failed"
to check attacks on womenand on girls reported missing
across the state are expected
to generate much heat.
Shettar, who will be pre-
senting his maiden budget on
February 8, which will also
be the last by the BJPgovern-
ment as Assembly elections
are likely in April-May, will
have a tough job on hand to
sail through the session.
MLAs and Ministers loyal
to Yeddyurappa have so far
not spelt out their strategy,
but BJP feels they may not
pose any problem.
The government's fiscal
performance in implement-
ing programmes announced
in the 2012-13 budget and
also the tardy phase of
drought relief work would become major issues for the
opposition to embarrass the
government.
No information about resignationsof MLAs: Bhardwaj
NEW DELHI: More than
1,100 exhibitors from 23 coun-
tries will flock to the Pragati
Maidan in the capital for the
New Delhi World Book Fair
2013 during February 4-10. The
fair will be in 2,100 vends
spread across 45,000 square
metres of tastefully decorated
display space to exhibit and
trade in books.
One of the biggest book
extravaganzas presented by the
country's apex publishing body,
the National Book Trust (NBT),
the fair will be inaugurated by
minister of state for human
resource development Shashi
Tharoor, who will deliver the
keynote address in the presence
of Indian Council for Cultural
Relations (ICCR) president
Karan Singh, MP, and French
ambassador Francois Richier,
the NBTsaid.
The theme presentation of
the festival will be "Indigenous
Voices: Mapping India's Folk
and Tribal Literature". The fair
will include special exhibition
of books on various aspects of
folk and tribal literature, culture,
exhibits of art and crafts, work-
shops and panel discussions.
As part of the theme presen-
tation, the trust has tied up with
the Sangeet Natak Akademi to
showcase the cultural heritage
of the country's tribal areas with
performances every evening at
the Lal Chowk Open Air
Theatre.
France will the guest country
of honour with focus on "its
publishing industry and its con-
temporary literature through a
large contingent of publishers,
authors and scholars".
Discussions, conversations,
interactions with the country's
publishing fraternity, profes-
sional roundtables for rights and
business, food, music and cul-
ture will be at the core of French
representation in India.
The bureau of the
International Promotion of
French Books, the Festival of
India in France, Bonjour, and
the Institut of Francais en Inde
are displaying close to 2,000
French titles. The French liter-
ary sessions will host leading
writers like Tahar ben Jelloun,
Kenize Murad and Dominique
Siguad.
An exhibition, "French
Remains", will showcase vari-
ous aspects of French colonial
culture with 15 panels on the
French presence in India. The
participating countries include
nations like China, the US,
Poland, South Korea, Turkey
and United Nations agencies.
The regional participation
will include 100 language pub-
lishers. Special enclosures have
been set up for government par-
ticipation and e-books. Digital
publishing will be in focus with
deliberations and development
of e-books.
The NBT, in association
with the College of Art, will
mount a collective exhibition on
Book Art. The Trust, in associa-
tion with Khublei, an organisa-
tion engaged in literary activi-
ties, and the Tadpole Repertory
will host a cosplay competition
Feb 8-9 where young partici-
pants will dress up as their
favourite literary characters and
enact them.
A pavilion exclusively for
youth and children will draw
schoolchildren with a variety of
events, including an authors-
illustrators' corner. The pavilion
will be inaugurated by minister
of state for human resource
development Jitin Prasada.
The NBT has also tied up
with the Kolkata-based Advaita
Ashram to celebrate the 150th
anniversary of Swami
Vivekananda at the fair.
A new B2B initiative, Rights
Table, will offer match-making
sessions at Pragati Maidan to
bring together publishers, writ-
ers, agents, translators and edi-
tors from India and abroad at a
forum to network and explore
business opportunities together.
A session, CEO Speak, a
first of its kind forum of CEOs
and senior executives of the
Indian publishing industry, will
be organised by the NBT with
FICCI to "share common issues
and concerns to evolve a com-
posite agenda for Indian pub-
lishing.
1,100 exhibitors from 23 nations at World Book Fair on Feb4
NEW DELHI: Fearing oil
refineries will be hit hard by the
Finance Ministry's move to
change the way petrol and diesel
are priced, Oil Minister M
Veerappa Moily has asked Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to
constitute an expert committee to
decide on the issue. The Finance
Ministry has informed the
Petroleum Ministry that auto fuel
needs to be priced at export pari-
ty rather than import parity as the
2.5 per cent customs duty was
adding to the under-recoveries of
the state-run oil marketing com-
panies without contributing any
revenue to the exchequer.
"Immediately switching over
to export parity, whether it is pos-
sible or feasible is a question
which has to be examined," he
said. Oil companies, Moily said,
feel the new pricing norm would
make oil refining a difficult busi-
ness.
"I am suggesting to Prime
Minister that an expert commit-
tee, like the previous ones headed
by C Rangarajan and Kirit
Parekh (based on whose sugges-
tion trade parity pricing was
adopted), can be constituted," he
said.
Moily said India's surplus
refining capacity, which enables
export of large vol-
umes of petroleum
products, was a
strength and if
refineries do not
function to their full
capacity, imports of
fuel would add to
the current Rs
7,00,000 crore of
oil import bill.
Sources said the
finance ministry has informed the
oil ministry that it plans to
remove the 2.5% import tax on
petrol and diesel since the duty
on diesel was adding to the
under-recoveries of the state-run
oil marketing companies
(OMCs) without contributing
any revenue to the exchequer.
This would lead to a change
in the methodology for calculat-
ing the under-recoveries. The
imported price of petrol and
diesel, which includes customs
duty, is used by the refineries to
calculate the prices charged from
retailers.
The difference between this
price and the pump price is the
under-recovery or revenue loss.
While the government had
freed petrol from its control,
diesel continues to be subsidised.
There is no import duty on
kerosene and LPG, the other two
subsidised fuel.
At 2.5%, its net effect is an
increase of Rs. 1.13 per litre on
the ex-refinery price of diesel.
This translates into an under-
recovery of Rs. 18,000 crore. On
petrol, the customs duty impact is
about one rupee but it is passed
on to the consumers and there is
no impact on government's sub-
sidy bill.
Appoint expert panel to examine fuel pricing: Moily
NEW DELHI,FEB 3: Ansari, a Rajya
Sabha member of the JD-U said that some
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders appear
to be in a hurry to propose the name of
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as
the prime ministerial candidate but other
alliance partners have indicated they have
their own views on the matter.
He said a meeting of the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) could be called
to decide the prime ministerial candidate.
"BJP should form its opinion on the
question and propose names at such a meet-
ing so that a consensus could be reached,"
he said. Ansari favoured early declaration of
the prime ministerial candidate of the NDA,
and said people would like to know the
leader of the alliance. "It is a question con-
cerning the country. People want to know
who is the candidate," Ansari said. Ansari
said some people in the BJPappeared "rest-
less" that Modi should be declared the
prime ministerial candidate, but indicated
that the JD-U would not accept any such
move.
He said JD-U had contested the assem-
bly polls separately in Gujarat where the
BJP was led by Modi. While some leaders
in the BJP have said that Modi should be
declared the prime ministerial candidate,
the Shiv Sena, a constituent of the NDA,
has expressed its preference for Sushma
Swaraj, leader of opposition in the Lok
Sabha, as the NDA’s PM candidate. Ansari
said declaration of candidate will bring clar-
ity to the issue .He said the BJP could also
declare its candidate on its own and the
party will then be given reaction by others.
PATNA,FEB 3: Known for experi-
menting with new political ideas ,
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar this
time made sure to introduce reserva-
tion in the organisation pollsof the
JD(U), a move which many believe
will help consolidate its political base
in the state . It all started with elec-
tions at the lower level from
Panchayat to town and block in which
60 per cent reservation was prescribed
for extremely backward castes
(EBCs), Mahadalits , minorities and
women , the constituencies whose
voting behaviour has largely been
influenced by the JD(U) in recent
years . The organisational polls of the
JD(U) at the panchayat level were
completed between 15 Jan to 20 Jan
while that of the town and block lev-
els , the polls were completed between
25 Jan to 30 Jan. Such a reservation
formula will now be adopted for the
JD(U)'s organisational poll at the dis-
trict and state level . This is for the
first time any political outfit has
adopted reservation formula for its
elections setting a new benchmark for
the other political parties like RJD
which has been charting its own
revival plan. While the RJD is already
done with its organisational polls , the
ruling JD(U) has fastidiously gone
about implementing the reservation
formula in its organisational polls
leaving room for comparison between
the two parties. The fact that Nitish
Kumar has been able to buttress its
political position is mainly attributed
to the growing support base among
the EBC's and the Mahadalits.
The EBCs benefitted in a big way
in the past when Nitish Kumar gov-
ernment in 2006 allowed reservation
for them in the panchayati bodies , a
move which made Nitish Kumar quite
popular among the EBCs.
" It is not without reason the EBCs
are referred to as the silent voters of
Nitish Kumar . Nitish Kumar has also
been doling out policy support and
other incentives to the Mahadalits ,
minorities and women. Now that the
provision of reservation has been
adopted for the organisational poll ,
the JD(U) can hope to further cement
its support among sections which have
been rallying behind it" remarked a
political observer.
NEW DELHI, FEB 3: Days
after the Supreme Court ques-
tioned the government over allowing FDI in retail, Law
Minister Ashwani Kumar has
said the Judiciary, the
Executive and the Legislature
should respect limits of their
jurisdiction and work in har-
mony with each other.
He also defended a contro-
versial clause in a new bill
which debars judges from
making verbal comments
against people in open courts,
saying the provision has a
"strong logic" as observations
by judges are often "torn out
of context" affecting the repu-
tation of people.
"I would like to only reiter-
ate that the three organs of the
state (the Executive, the
Judiciary and the Legislature)
have to work in harmony witheach other, respecting the lim-
its of their jurisdiction.
"I have no hesitation in
saying that so far the
Constitutional parameters of
the jurisdiction assigned toeach organ have more or less
worked in accordance with
the scheme of the Constitution
and the judges also have
themselves stated on a num-
ber of occasions that it is not
their remit to enter the domain
of policy making," he told.
He was responding to a
question on the perception
that judiciary was "overreach-
ing" its domain and in this
context was referred to the
questions raised by the
Supreme Court last month
over government's decision to
allow FDI in retail.
The Supreme Court had
asked the government
whether FDI in retail was a
"political gimmick" and
sought its response on how itintends to safeguard the inter-
est of small traders after open-
ing up the retail sector.
Organs of Constitution shouldrespect limits: Law Minister
BJP should talk to allies onPM candidate, says JD-U MP
JD(U) introduces reservation inits organisational polls in Bihar
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CUBA: Cubans are set to vote in
polls to select 612 members of the
National Assembly, in balloting
derided by opponents of the ruling
regime as a "farce".
Critics note that the number of
candidates vying for seats in the leg-
islature's next five-year-long term is
identical to the number of open seats,
leaving little suspense about the out-
come.
However, about two thirds of this
year's candidates are running for the
first time, raising hopes that the elec-
tion will bring some change to the
country.Another prominent opposition fig-
ure, Elizardo Sanchez, called the
election "a race with only one horse"
- since the Communist Party is the
only one running.Cuban authorities, however, hail
the electoral system as a grass-roots
democracy since all nominees are
elected by municipal delegates and by
citizen assemblies.
"One of the candidates is Mariela
Castro. She is [President] Raul
Castro's daughter, who is expected to
become a high-profile figure in the
new assembly," she said.
No dissident has ever been
allowed to run for office and no
national legislator has stood up to the
Communist leadership by casting a
no-vote.
Cuba watchers also say there has
been an increasing number of blank ballots cast in recent elections.
Havana held a round of municipal
elections in October, one in a series of
votes ahead of Castro's impending
coronation..
That vote traditionally takes place
on February 24, the anniversary of
the start of the war of independence
in 1895.
If Castro is re-elected - and there
is no doubt that he will be - it would
be his second five-year mandate as
Cuba's leader.
Castro was elected president in
2008, after taking over from his
brother, Fidel Castro, whose health is
faltering and who has largely retreat-ed from the public eye.
MUNICH: Iran announced on Sunday fresh
talks with world powers on its nuclear drive
and said it was open to a US offer for two-way
discussions if Washington's intention was
"authentic". Iranian Foreign Minister AliAkbar Salehi said the six world powers
planned to resume talks in Kazakhstan on
February 25 and he insisted Iran had never
pulled back from the negotiations.
"I have good news, I've heard yesterday
that 5+1 or EU3+3 will be meeting in
Kazakhstan 25th of February," Salehi said at
the Munich Security Conference.
Iran and six world powers the US, China,
Russia, Britain, France and Germany held
three rounds of talks last year aimed at easing
the standoff over Iran's nuclear activities,
which Tehran insists are peaceful.
Since then, talks have been held up over
disagreements on their location.
The new date for talks has not been con-
firmed by the office of the EU foreign policy
chief, leading the negotiations.
"It was not us who has stepped back. But
anyway we still are very hopeful," Salehi said.
"We have no red line for negotiations,
bilateral negotiations when it comes to negoti-ating over a particular subject," he said.
"If the subject is the nuclear file, yes we are
ready for negotiation but we have to make
sure... that the other side this time comes with
authentic intention with a fair and real intention
to resolve the issue," he said.But he criticised as contradictory the desire
for negotiation with Iran on the nuclear issue,
while, on the other hand, the use of "threaten-
ing rhetorics that everything is on the table".
Asked when direct US-Iranian negotia-
tions would happen, Biden replied: "When the
Iranian leadership, Supreme Leader, is seri-
ous." "We have made it clear at the outset that
we would be prepared to meet bilaterally with
the Iranian leadership," he said.
"That offer stands, but it must be real and
tangible, and there has to be an agenda that
they're prepared to speak to. We are not just
prepared to do it for the exercise."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, speaking just before the formal
start of talks to build Israel's new ruling coali-
tion, said the most important mission facing the
new government was preventing a nuclear
Iran. "It is a mission which has become more
complicated because Iran has equipped itself
with new centrifuges which reduce the enrich-ment time," he said
INTERNATIONAL & ECONOMYSTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20137
ECONOMY
The Reserve Bank has said that policy
interventions are necessary to bridge
the demand-supply gap and bring
down inflation on a sustained basis. "In
order to bring inflation down on an
enduring basis and anchor inflation
expectations there is a need for policy
action on several fronts.
It is important to aim for nutritional
security not only to harness the demo-
graphic dividend stemming from our
sizable young population but also to
contain food prices. This will require
addressing the supply-demand imbal-
ance in the agricultural sector and
modernizing the supply chain,"
Reserve Bank Executive Director
Deepak Mohanty said during an event.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based
inflation fell to 7.18 per cent in
December from 7.74 per cent over the
same period a year ago. However, it is
much above the comfort level of RBI.
"The Reserve Bank's technical
assessment suggests that the threshold
level of inflation for India is in the
range of 4 to 6 per cent. I f inflation per-
sists beyond this level, it could lower
economic growth over
the medium-term," he
said. He stressed to
increase the depth of
financial markets as
well as calibrating mon-
etary policy with
g r o w t h - i n f l a t i o n
dynamics.
while persevering
with the steps to
increase the depth of the
financial market and addressing credit
constraints, monetary policy needs to
be calibrated to the evolving growth-
inflation dynamics so that we move
towards our potential growth in a non-
inflationary manner," Mohanty said.
On fiscal consolidation, he said it is
important to maintain both domestic
and external balance to avoid the risks
of twin deficits.
Further he said India needs to have
a reliable power supply as well as
availability of industrial raw materials
to ensure industrial capacity utilization
and productivity improvement.
"Besides moderating inflation, this will
also reduce reliance on imports of
products for which domestic capacity
exists," he added.
Among others, he said maintaining
exchange rate stability to cushion
transmission of international price
pressures in commodities, particularlycrude oil is also important. "This will
require management of the current
account in our balance of payments
with the rest of the world at sustainable
levels," he said.
Policy action needed to fill demand-supply gap: RBINEWDELHI: State-run
insurance giant LIC has low-
ered its holdings in as many as
27 of the 50 blue-chip firms
forming the market bench-
mark index Nifty, while sell-
ing shares worth an estimated
Rs 8,000 crore.
Amid stepped-up share
purchase by FIIs and an
uptrend in the stock market,
the Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC)
appears to have booked profits
in many blue-chip stocks,
shows an analysis of share-
holding data of Nifty compa-
nies for the three-month peri-
od ended December 31, 2012.
LIC holds shares worth
about Rs 2.33 lakh crore in all
the Nifty companies put
together, but it lowered its
holding in a total of 27 Nifty
companies during the quarter.
The cumulative value of
LIC holding in these 27 com-
panies fell by little over Rs
8,000 crore during the quarter
shows the analysis of changes
in their shareholding patterns.
Individually, LIC is esti-
mated to have sold shares
worth Rs 500-1,000 crore in
each of Mahindra &
Mahindra, HDFC Bank, ICICI
Bank, Tata Motors, L&T,
HDFC, Wipro, SBI, Maruti
Suzuki, Dr Reddys and Bajaj
Auto.
The insurance behemoth
also trimmed holdings in
Ambuja Cements, Cipla, TCS,
Lupin and Asian Paints. A
marginal decline was also wit-
nessed in its stakes in compa-
nies such as IDFC, Hindustan
Unilever, Grasim, ACC,
BPCL, Bank of Baroda,
Punjab National Bank, Sun
Pharma and Tata Power.
On the other hand, LIC fur-
ther ramped up its stake in a
total of 14 Nifty constituents
with purchase of shares worth
an estimated Rs 4,000 crore.
The major companies
where LIC has raised its stake
include Infosys, RIL and
Cairn India. Other such com-
panies are ITC, Power Grid
Corp, NTPC, Siemens, Bharti
Airtel and Hero MotoCorp.
The state-run insurer also
marginally hiked its exposure
in Ultratech, Gail India,
Ranbaxy, Kotak MahindraBank and HCL Technologies,
while its shareholding
remained almost unchanged in
companies like ONGC, Tata
Steel, BHEL and Reliance
Infra.
Nifty is a well-diversified
50-stock index accounting for
22 sectors of the economy.
The index represented about
three- fourth of the free float
market capitalization of all the
stocks listed on NSE as on
December 31, 2012.
The insurance major
appears to have mainly
booked profits in select stocks
from sectors like banks, phar-
ma, auto, refineries and metal.
LIC cuts stake in 27 Nifty firms
NEW DELHI: With the government in
expenditure cutting mode, various min-
istries are bracing for reduction in their
annual budgets for the year 2013-14
which could be even up to 24% of this fis-
cal.
While some ministries are reconciled
to the anticipated budgetary cut by the
Finance Ministry, a few others are crib-
bing about it.
According to indications to various
ministries, the Finance Ministry would be
slashing the annual budget of ministries in
view of the poor financial health of the
economy.
"The Finance Ministry and Planning
Commission have said there will be a 24%
budget cut for all ministries," a union min-
ister said.
When contacted for his comment amid
apprehensions of budget cut, Union Rural
Development Minister Jairam Ramesh
said it is "inevitable" and that his Ministry
will have to make do with whatever it
gets.
"Budget cut is inevitable given the
grim fiscal position. We have to make do
with what we get," he said.
Ramesh seemed to be reconciled even
though media reports had suggested that
he had written to Finance Minister P.
Chidambaram, requesting that there
should be no cut in budget for his ministry.
Rural Development Ministry was allo-
cated a budget of Rs85,000 crore during
the 2012-13 fiscal.
Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore
Chandra Deo refused to get into specifics
but said "if such a huge cut" is done in the
budget for a ministry like his, "then hard-
ly anything will be left for it".
Tribal Affairs Ministry was sanctioned
a budget of Rs4,000 crore approximately
for the current financial year.
Deo said there should not be any budg-
et cut in the social sector ministries, keep-
ing in mind the small size of their annual
allocation..
"I have written to Finance Minister P
Chidambaram and Planning Commission
Chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia over this
and I think on this area -social sector- they
should not cut budget so massively," he
said.
The Defence Ministry also suffered a
cut of Rs12,000 crore in the revised budg-
et of Rs1.93 lakh crore in the current fis-
cal. Besides, its request for additional
Rs40,000 crore in the current fiscal was
also turned down by the Finance Ministry.
NEWDELHI:The Reserve Bank is planning to set up
an automated and unified data processing and monitor-
ing system for all exports from the country. The new
system would also be used for reporting of serious cases
of default by exporters and other entities and to forward
these cases to the customs and excise departments for
further action, a senior official said.
The move comes at a time when several export and
import firms in the country have come under the scan-
ner of DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) and
other financial intelligence agencies for stating wrong
information in their invoices and declarations about
export value and goods.
The current system for processing of export data fol-
lows mostly a declaration-based regime, wherein
exporters declare the export value to the custom author-
ity at the time of shipment for verification and certifica-
tion of the same. Once the goods get shipped, the
exporters have to lodge the relevant forms applicable in
their case along with shipping documents with their
Authorized Forex Dealer banks for handling of the
export documents and realization of the declared value.
After the documents are sent for collection, AD
banks report the transaction to RBI. Under the Foreign
Exchange Management Act (FEMA), it is obligatory on
exporters to realize and repatriate the full value of the
exports within stipulated time and the amount of full
export value needs to be received through an
Authorized Dealer bank (AD). However, several irreg-
ularities have come to the fore in the recent past in these
declarations and there have been several instances of
mis-match between the declared value and the amount
processed by the banks. Presently, RBI receives the
export data based on the exporters' declarations through
customs and other agencies and the same is also report-
ed by the ADs as and when exporters submit the export
documents or the export amount is realized through the
banks. RBI then matches these transactions and gener-
ates the unmatched list of transactions to forward them
to its concerned departments and banks for follow-up
with the exporters.
Due to the huge volume of the data coupled with
errors of data entry at multiple places, it has been
observed that the large number of transactions remain
unmatched one to one, the official said.
RBI to set up new monitoring system on data flaws
Ministries brace for budget cuts up to 24% BHEL granted Maharatna statusNEWDELHI: Power equipment maker BHEL today said it has been
granted Maharatna status by the government. "Consistent high per-
formance, while operating in a highly competitive environment and
fulfillment of the required eligibility criteria has enabled BHEL to
attain the Maharatna status," the company said in a statement.
Maharatna status will help BHEL realize its long-term objectives and
reach a turnover of Rs 1 lakh crore by 2016-17, it added. BHEL had
a turnover of Rs 49,510cr and net profit of Rs 7,040cr in 2012. The
company will be able to pursue growth opportunities in the areas of
transportation, renewable and transmission and "tap big ticket oppor-
tunities for equity participation in large size international projects to
gain access to technology, engineered materials and market".
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's
navy on Sunday rescued
more than 100 Bangladesh
and Myanmar nationals from
a sinking fishing vessel off
the island's eastern coast, a
spokesman said. One pas-
senger was found dead while
many of the 138 plucked
from the boat were dehydrat-
ed, he added, but it was not
immediately clear where the
vessel was headed or whether
they were asylum seekers.
"We sent three ships for
the rescue at a location 50
miles (80 kilometers) off the
eastern coast of
Akkaraipattu," navy
spokesman Kosala
Warnakulasuriya said. "Some
have been admitted to a local
hospital. Others are being
taken to Colombo."
The early-morning rescue
came amid stepped up naval
patrols to check Sri Lankan
fishing boats taking would-be
illegal immigrants to
Australia.
Sri Lankan authorities
arrested more than 1,200
people trying to leave the
island illegally last year.
Many of those who make the
perilous journey pay up to
$3,000 for a place on trawlers
run by people-smugglers.
Warnakulasuriya said the
passengers rescued on
Sunday identified themselves
as Bangladesh and Myanmar
nationals. "We have not been
able to get much information
about their port of origin or
the destination, but we have
asked the embassies of the
two countries to help us with
translations," he said
Sri Lanka rescues 138 on sinking boat
KIRKUK: A car bomb detonated by a
suicide attacker followed by gunmen
storming a police headquarters in the
north Iraq city of Kirkuk killed 30 people
and wounded 70 others on
Sunday, a police spokesman
said.
Militants had apparently
sought to take control of the
compound, but were unsuc-
cessful, Brigadier General
Natah Mohammed Sabr, the
head of the city's emergency
services department, said.
The attackers struck at
morning rush hour in the city
centre, Sabr said, with the
militants armed with guns,
grenades and suicide vests looking to
force their way into the police headquar-
ters in the chaotic aftermath of the car
bombing.
In addition to the casualties, the attack
caused massive damage to nearby build-
ings, Sabr said.
The deadly attack shattered a relative
calm in recent days in Iraq, which has
been grappling with a political crisis pit-
ting Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against
his erstwhile government partners amid
weeks of ongoing protests calling for him
to resign. No group immediately claimed respon-
sibility for the violence, but Sunni mili-
tants including al-Qaeda's front group in
Iraq frequently target security forces and
government targets in a bid to destabilize
the country and push it back towards the
sectarian bloodshed that blighted it from
2005 to 2008.
Kirkuk, an ethnically mixed city 240
kilometers (150 miles) north of Baghdad,
lies at the heart of a swathe of disputed
territory claimed by both the central gov-
ernment and Iraq's autonomous northern
Kurdish region.
The unresolved row is persistently
cited by diplomats and officials as the
biggest threat to Iraq's long-term stability.
Militants often exploit a lack of coordina-
tion between the two sides' security forces
and launch deadly attacks in the city,which remains one of the most violent in
Iraq, and also in nearby towns.
30 dead in attack on north Iraq policeLONDON: The Prime Minister
will dine with Hamid Karzai and
Asif Ali Zardari at Chequers as
part of his ongoing efforts to help
to strengthen Afghanistan-
Pakistan relations and promote
regional peace and stability.
It comes ahead of in-depth dis-
cussions tomorrow focusing on
how the Pakistani and internation-
al community can support the
Afghan-led peace process.
Foreign ministers, Chiefs of
Army Staff, Chiefs of Intelligence
and the chairman of the Afghan
High Peace Council are expected
to attend the third trilateral session
since last summer. Today a senior
Afghan commander said with-
drawing British troops could spark
a 'global jihad' and allow the
Taliban to return to power.
Colonel Amin Jan of the
Afghan National Army said that
Afghan troops, trained by the
British for three years, are too
weak to defeat the Taliban.
Asked if 2014 was the right
time for a handover, Col Jan said:
"No, I would say that it is too
early, because the situation will
not have ended. If the Britishleave, the jihadists will see it as a
good sign. Aworldwide jihad will
take place."
Asked if the ANAalone could
defeat the Taliban, he said: "Our
leaders might say we are able to
do the task, but it will be difficult.
"We have enough soldiers, we
have the quantity, but we need the
quality. We need more profession-
al and better trained command-
ers." A Downing Street spokes-
woman said: "As the Prime
Minister has set out previously, a
stable Afghanistan is not just in
the interests of Afghans, but also
in the interests of their neighbours
and the UK. We share the same
vision for Afghanistan: a secure,
stable and democratic country that
never again becomes a haven for
international terror. "We are
working together to achieve it and
Afghanistan's neighbours have a
vital role to play. It is vital not justfor the future security of their citi-
zens, but for their prosperity too."
PM Cameron to host ChequersAfghanistan summit
Iran announces nuclear talks
Cuba set for parliamentary elections
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SPORTSSTUDENT AGE
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 20138
CHIEF-EDITOR, PUBLISHER, OWNER: Rohit Singh Rana, ADMINISTRATIVE HEAD (J&K):Pawan Rathore, DY. CHIEF EDITOR : Vikram Singh Shan, Bureau Chief Kashmir: Allayee Faizan, LEGAL ADVISOR: Advocate Ashok Parihar EDITORIAL BOARD: NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Shweta Bhat, STATE AFFAIRS: Jaswant Singh Rana,
DEFENCE EDITOR: Kewal Singh Rajput, SPORTS EDITOR: Naina Jamwal, GRAPHIC DESIGNER : Baleshwer Bali, DESIGNER: Gagandeep Kour, Abhishek Kashyap CIRCULATION TEAM: Sunil Gupta, Rohit Bakshi. PRINTED AT JK PRINTING & PUBLICATIONS, SUJWAN, JAMMU TAWI.
For Contributing articles mail us at callme.ranasahib@gmail.com, editor.studentage@gmail.com. For Complaints, Querries or Advertisement Contact us: 0191-2459701, 2459702. Address: Sector-12, H.No-12 Nanak Nagar, Jammu
(All disputes are subjected to the exclusive jurisdiction of Jammu District courts only.)
MUMBAI: Skipper Charlotte Edwards
led from the front with hundred to help
defending champions England over-
come a poor start and post a challenging
272/8 against India in their Group A
match of the ICC Women's World Cup
here today.
Edwards played a captain's knock of
109 and became the highest run-scorer
in women's cricket with 4901 runs, sur-
passing Aussie Belinda Clarke's 4,844.
Incidentally, she also became the fourth
woman to score over a 1,000 runs in
World Cup. During her 107 minutes at
the crease, Edwards struck 16 fours,
before being run out.
For India, Jhulan Goswami and
Nilanjana Nagrajan grabbed two wick-
ets apiece. The hosts, however, lost their
way after a good start, allowing England
off the hooks in the middle overs.
England got off to a slow start and
lost opener Danielle Wyatt (2) in the
fifth over, after being invited to bat.
Wyatt, who had got a reprieve when
first slip fielder Thirushkamini
Murugesan failed to latch on to the ball
off Jhulan Goswami, was dismissed in
the bowler's next over, when she was
caught at mid wicket by Amita Sharma.
Having been reduced to four for one,
the defending champions consolidated
and skipper Edwards forged a century
stand with one-down batter Sarah
Taylor.
Taylor hit three fours, including the
first one of the innings, before she was
run out.
England added 62 runs for the third
wicket with captain Edwards and Lydia
Greenway taking the attack to India. The
duo extracted 15 runs of spinner Reema
Malhotra's over -- the 32nd of the
innings.
The two made most of the powerplay
overs even though Greenway was dis-
missed in the process. England scored
45 runs in those five overs. Greenway's
contribution was a quick 29 off 27 balls,
which comprised of five fours.
Pacer Katherine Brunt also chipped
in with 21 in 16 balls and struck four
fours. England then lost a clutch of
wickets quickly, but the middle order
ensured that the overall score stood at
fighting 270.
Indian pace spearhead Jhulan
Goswami and Niranjana Nagrajan
snapped up two wickets apiece, while
left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana picked
up a one.
Edwards' ton takes England to 272/8 against IndiaNEWDELHI: India's Davis
Cup campaign ended on a
poor note as Ranjeet Virali
Murugesan and Vijayant
Malik lost their respective
reverse singles matches giv-
ing South Korea a 4-1 win on
the final day of their Group I
Asia/Oceania first round tie
here Sunday.
A v as tl y i mp ro ve d
Ranjeet went down fighting
4-6, 4-6, 2-6 in the must-win
first match of the day to a
higher ranked Suk-Young
Jeong as South Korea took an
unassailable 3-1 lead against
India on the hardcourts of the
R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium
here.
In the fifth dead rubber,
Vijayant, who conceded the
singles Friday against Jeong
due to cramps, lost 2-6, 4-6
against Ji Sung Nam as South
Korea sailed into the second
round where they will face
Japan.
India will now play the
first round play-off, slated for
April 5-7, against Indonesia,
who were whitewashed by
Japan.
For India it was a disap-
pointing loss as they had to
field a depleted side after top
players, led by Somdev
Devvarman, made them-
selves unavailable for the tie
over a charter of demands.
Trailing 1-2, both Ranjeet
and Vijayant had a mountain
to climb to avoid India's loss
Sunday. The sizeable crowd
that had turned out here
expecting a miracle, saw an
inspired Ranjeet going down
fighting. Having suffered a
humiliating defeat in the first
singles Friday, Ranjeet,
ranked 511, punched above
his weight against the 321-
ranked Jeong but still lost in
an encounter that lasted two
hours and 23 minutes.
Inspired by Leander Paes
and Purav Raja's doubles win
Saturday, Ranjeet was
charged right from the start.
But lack of maturity and
experience at the top level
made the difference.
Ranjeet, hammered 1-6,
0-6, 1-6 in the first singles by
an unranked Min Hyeok
Cho, raised his game several
notches and was impressive
with his serve and volleys.
But he erred when he tried to
put too much power behind
his shots, committing errors.
Jeong played a waiting
game from the baseline and
waited for Ranjeet to commit
mistakes. However, it was a
different Ranjeet Sunday
who was determined not to
be tamed easily.
Ranjeet surprisingly took
a 1-0 lead as he broke the
Korean No.1 in the first set.
But Jeong was quick to draw
parity at 2-2. The Indian was
not willing to let it go with-
out a fight. He made a great
comeback in the fifth game,
on his own serve, and saved
two game points to take a 3-2
lead.
But the Indian committed
too many errors and failed to
finish off points that allowed
the Korean to come back
from 3-4 to pocket the first
set 6-4.
The second set also con-
tinued in the same breath as
Ranjeet came back from two
breaks down to make it 3-3
but failed to capitalize on it.
In the third set, Jeong was
unstoppable as Ranjeet soon
ran out of steam but went
down respectably.
Davis Cup: South Korea hammer India 4-1
CHENNAI: Rising
Australian all-rounder Glenn
Maxwell stole the thunder
from his illustrious compatri-
ots, fetching a whopping
USD one million (Rs. 5.3
crore), while Abhishek Nayar
and R.P. Singh also invited
unexpectedly high bids in the
players' auction for the sixthedition of the IPLin Chennai
on Sunday.
The 24-year-old Maxwell
was bought by Mumbai
Indians after fierce bidding
war with new entrants
Hyderabad Sunrisers in an
otherwise low-key auction
where 108 players went
under the hammer.
"He is an upcoming
youngster. He can bat, bowl
and I think he is a great field-
er. We had thought of some
names before we came here
and he was one of them," said
Mumbai owner Nita Ambani
on the logic behind making
such a high bid for the
youngster who is just eight
ODIs and nine T20s old in
the international arena.
Currently playing against
the West Indies in an ODI
series, Maxwell was ironical-
ly out for a first-ball duck in
Perth while franchises bid for
him here.
Mumbai all-rounder
Abhishek Nayar, who per-
formed consistently in the
domestic arena, went to PuneWarriors for $675,000 (Rs.
3.5 crore), a huge improve-
ment on his base price of
$100,000.
Sri Lankan all-rounder
Thisara Perera also fetched
Rs. 3.5 crore from
Hyderabad Sunrisers, while
Indian paceman R P Singh
managed to get a good deal
from Royal Challengers
Bangalore, who bought him
for $400,000 (Rs. 2.1 crore).
It was a surprise given
that his base price was
$100,000 and he has not done
anything significant to merit
such a high price tag.
South African all-rounder
Johan Botha was bought by
Delhi Daredevils for
$450,000 (Rs. 2.3 crore).
Mumbai Indians buy GlennMaxwell for Rs. 5.3 crore
PERTH: George Bailey scored a maid-
en century and Mitchell Starc took
another five-wicket haul as Australia
beat the West Indies by 54 runs in the
second one-day international at the
WACA in Perth on sunaday.
Set 267 to win after Bailey's unbeat-
en 125, the West Indies were cruising at
159-3 in the run chase, before the return
of left-armer Starc to the attack turned
the match, as the tourists were bowled
out for 212 in the 39th over.
Starc took 5-32, following up his
haul of 5-20 as the Australians routed
the West Indies for 70 in Friday's open-
ing game, en route to a nine-wicket vic-
tory.The West Indian chase did not start
well when Starc claimed the key wickets
of Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan
in the second over.
A 126-run stand between Kieran
Powell (83) and Dwayne Bravo (45) had
the tourists in front in the game, before
Glenn Maxwell removed Bravo with his
first limited-overs wicket and then Starc
claimed two more in the 30th over.
Sunil Narine (26) did his best to pro-
duce an unlikely victory when he hit
Maxwell for four sixes in a row, but
Maxwell had him stumped with the final
ball of the 37th over. The tourists were
then all out for 212 in the 39th over as
Bailey put the icing on the cake with a
run-out of Jason Holder.
Earlier, Australia had made a steady
start to their innings before openers
Usman Khawaja (three) and Aaron
Finch (11) went in quick succession.
The hosts then slumped to 56-4 in the
13th over when Phillip Hughes (21) and
Michael Clarke (16) fell within three
balls of each other.
Bailey then combined with Matthew
Wade (16) for a 37-run partnership
before Faulkner linked up with the
Australia number five for a 100-run
stand. Bailey brought up his hundred off
the final ball of the 49th over with a six
over wide long-on and then unleashed
on Dwayne Bravo with 25 coming off
the final over, which included three
sixes and a four.
Australia beat West Indies
in second ODI at WACA
WAS H ING TO N: T he
San Antonio Spurs have
continued their supremacy
in the NBA, beating
Washington 96-86 for a
10th successive victory.
The Spurs dominated
the first half, leading 51-
26 at the break, before
easing the tempo in the
second to improve to an
NBA best 38-11, confinin g
the Wizards to an equal
league worst 11-35 in the
process.
It was not all good
news for the Spurs who
lost All-Star Tim Duncan
to knee and ankle sprains
in the first half after he
became tangl ed with
Martell Webster.
Tony Parker led the
Spurs with 19 points and
12 assists, while all 12 of
their players got on the
score sheet. John Wall
scored a game high 21
points f or the Wizar ds and
added nine assists.
VALENCIA: Cristiano
Ronaldo scored the firstown goal of his career to
send Real Madrid to a
shock 1-0 defeat at lowly
Granada , further damag-
ing their already slim
hopes of retaining the title.
Ronaldo has scored 21
league goals this season
but headed into his own
net at a corner in the 22nd
minute and his side rarely
threatened after that in the
face of resolute opposi-
tion. The result left the
champions 15 points adrift
of leaders Barcelona, who
can extend their advantage
over their great rivals to 18
with a win at Valencia.
Real have 43 points from
22 games and remain four
point s behin d secon d- place d Atlet ico Madri d,
who host Real Betis
tomorrow. "We played a
bad game, the respo nsibili-ty is mine," Real coach
Jose Mourinho said"The
result bothers me. The first
half was horrible, and
although we improved in
the second half, it wasn't
enough.
"Granada defended
with heart and soul, and a
lot of motivation, and it
was a great night of foot-
ball for them."
Their hard-running
hosts, inspired by a change
of coach from Juan
Antonio Anquela to Lucas
Alcaraz , took advantage
of a familiar failing for
Real this season when they
went ahead at a corner.
Ronaldo rose at the near
post and s kimmed t he bal l past Di ego Lope z and into
the roof of his own net.
Ronaldo own goal sendsReal to shock defeat
THAILAND: Second seed
Maria Kirilenko fought her
way back from a set down to
defeat Sabini Lisicki in the
final of the
WTA PTT
P a t t a y a
Women's Open
in Thailand.
The 26-
y e a r - o l d
R u s s i a n
claimed his
first title of the
season by over-
coming the
fifth-seed 5-7 6-1 7-6 (7-1) at
Dusit Resort in Pattaya City
in two hours 37 minutes.
Kirilenko made up for losing
in last year's final at the
hands of Daniela Hantuchova
by battling her way back into
the contest before dominat-
ing the deciding set tie-
breaker to claim her sixth
WTATour title.
Lisicki was aiming to win
her fourth WTAtitle after an
injury-plagued 2012, but
eventually ran out of power
as Kirilenko extended her
winning streak over the
German to 3-0.
"I was a little disappoint-
ed in the third set," said
Kirilenko.
"I was leading and every-
thing was good and I made a
return that was just out. If it
was in I could win it 6-2, but
after that miss she was serv-
ing so well afterwards.
"Then somehow I
returned her serves (at 6-5)
and it was a tiebreak and then
I started to feel I can win it."
The world number 15,
who turned 26 just before the
start of the tournament
revealed her wish had come
true.
LONDON: Smoking tobac-
co might be bad for health,
but a genetically altered ver-
sion of the plant might pro-
vide a relatively inexpensive
cure for the deadly rabies
virus. In a new research
report, scientists produced a
monoclonal antibody in
transgenic tobacco plants that
was shown to neutralize the
rabies virus. This new anti-
body works by preventing
the virus from attaching to
nerve endings around the bite
site and keeps the virus from
traveling to the brain.
"Rabies continues to kill
many thousands of people
throughout the developing
world every year and can also
affect international travel-
ers," said Leonard Both,
M.Sc., a researcher involved
in the work from the Hotung
Molecular Immunology Unit
at St. George's, University of
London, in the United
Kingdom. "An untreated
rabies infection is nearly 100
percent fatal and is usually
seen as a death sentence.
Producing an inexpensive
antibody in transgenic plants
opens the prospect of ade-
quate rabies prevention for
low-income families in
developing countries."
To make this advance,
Both and colleagues "human-
ized" the sequences for the
antibody so people could tol-
erate it. Then, the antibody
was produced using trans-
genic tobacco plants as an
inexpensive production plat-
form. The antibody was
purified from the plant leaves
and characterized with
regards to its protein and
sugar composition. The anti-
body was also shown to be
active in neutralizing a broad
panel of rabies viruses, and
the exact antibody docking
site on the viral envelope was
identified using certain
chimeric rabies viruses.
"Although treatable by
antibodies if caught in time,
rabies is bad news," said
Gerald Weissmann. "This is
especially true for people in
the developing world where
manufacturing costs lead to
treatment shortages. Being
able to grow safe, humanized
antibodies in genetically
modified tobacco should
reduce costs to make treat-
ments more accessible, and
save more lives.
AUSTRALIA: Scientists at
the Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute have for the first
time visualized the molecular
changes in a critical cell
death protein that force cells
to die.
The finding provides
important insights into how
cell death occurs, and could
lead to new classes of medi-
cines that control whether
diseased cells live or die.
Cell death, called apopto-
sis, is important for control-
ling the number of cells in the
body. Defects in cell death
have been linked to the
development of diseases such
as cancer and neurodegenera-
tive conditions. Insufficient
cell death can cause cancer
by allowing cells to become
immortal while excessive cell
death of neurons may be a
cause of neurodegenerative
conditions.
Dr Peter Czabotar,
Professor Peter Colman and
colleagues in the institute's
Structural Biology division,
together with Dr Dana
Westphal from the institute's
Molecular Genetics of
Cancer division, made the
discovery.
Dr Czabotar said activa-
tion of the protein Bax had
long been known to be an
important event leading to
apoptosis, but until now it
was not known how this acti-
vation occurred.
"One of the key steps in
cell death is that holes are
punched into a membrane in
the cell, the mitochondrial
membrane," Dr Czabotar
said. "Once this happens the
cell is going to go on and die.
Using the Australian
Synchrotron, Dr Czabotar
and colleagues were able to
obtain detailed three-dimen-
sional images of Bax chang-
ing shape as it moved from
its inactive to active form.
"By using the powerful X-
ray beams created by the syn-
chrotron, we obtained struc-
tures of Bax that were really
exciting," Dr Czabotar said.
"Bax is activated when small
protein fragments called
BH3-peptides bind to it.
We saw that these pep-
tides open up the Bax mole-
cule like a key unlocking a
padlock. This unlocked form
of Bax can bind to another
Bax molecule, which can
then form larger Bax com-
plexes that can go on to break
up membranes in the cell.
The research was support-
ed by the National Health and
Medical Research Council,
the Australian Research
Council, the Australian
Cancer Research Foundation,
Cancer Council Victoria, the
German Research
Foundation, the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society (US)
and the Victorian
Government.
Researchers capture key moments in cell death??
WTAPattaya Open 2013: Maria Kirilenko battles past Sabini Lisick
Genetically modified tobacco plantsproduce antibodies to treat rabies
Spurs win 10th successivegame with win over Wizards
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