Bangalore Beat 16.12.2011

Kageri: 8thstandard tobe primary

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The state government has decidedto reorganise school education in the state. Fromthe next academic year, the eighth standardwould be included in the primary school, whileninth to 12 standard would constitute the highschool.

Speaking on the floor of the council, Vish-weshwaraHegdeKageri said that the state gov-ernment has taken the decision following thecentral government decision.

This would mean the pre-university col-leges would become redundant.

He also said that all government schools withless than six students have to be closed and thestate government cannot take back the decisionas demanded by a large section of Kannada or-ganisations and writers.

Litterateurs, led by Jnanpith award winnerChandrashekarKambar, have filed a petition be-fore the Karnataka High Court to stop the stategovernment from closing down these schools.The decision would sound death knell for Kan-nada, they have argued.

AI debtsmount to`43K cr

New Delhi: Noting that Air India is passingthrough a deep crisis with its total debt touch-ing a whopping Rs.43,000 crore, the governmenttoday expressed confidence that it would be ableto wipe out the debts with active cooperation ofmanagement and employees.

Air India has also a net loss of Rs.18,000 croreaccumulated in the past three to four years, Civ-il Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi said.

Ravi said AI’s outstanding loan stood atRs.20,000 crore on account of purchasing newaircraft and Rs.20,000 crore for taking loan foroperational purposes.

However, Ravi expressed confidence thatgovernment would be able to overcome the cri-sis and wipe out its debts with the active co-op-eration of the management and employees.

Increase in revenue of the Airlines was the sil-ver lining and ‘objective’ is to double the rev-enue, he said.

Air India employees have extended full sup-port to the government in resolving the prob-lems, he said, while inaugurating the AircraftMaintenance facility put up by AI here.

On criticism that AI’s debt mounted due topurchase of new aircraft, he said the carrier wasable to operate its schedule with the 82 Airbusand Boeing aircraft it acquired.

Otherwise, it would have found it difficult tooperate its services.

Five killed in road accidentChitradurga: Five persons died and 10 were in-jured, for seriously, when the bus their bus col-lided with a lorry in this district this morning.

The accident occurred at Yaravalli village ofHiriyurtaluk around 6.30 am when the visibil-ity was low due to fog.

The bus, heading from Javalakere to Banga-lore, crashed into the lorry head-on.

The injured were admitted to the Yediyur Gov-ernment Hospital. Yediyur police visited thespot.

The police said the low visibility as the rea-son behind the accident.

Rahul supportsFDI in retail

Farrukhabad: Terming the opposition as “anti-farmer”, Congress general secretary RahulGandhi on Friday came out openly in supportof FDI in the retail sector saying it would helpfarmers.

Addressing a public meeting in Farrukhabad,which is the highest potato growing district inthe country, Mr. Gandhi said that 60 per cent ofvegetables go waste and FDI would provide achance to the farmers to directly sell their pro-duce.

On the fourth day of his five-day mass con-tact programme here, Mr. Rahul said, “farmersare facing problems as 60 per cent of vegetablesgo waste… we brought FDI in retail so that theycould sell their produce directly”.

Evening dailyNuke co-op on PM’s agenda P 3

BangaloreBeatVol. 1, Issue 363 n Friday n December 16, 2011 No. of pages: 4 n Price: ` 2

US ends war in Iraq P 4

Gold fallsbelow `2,800 per gm

New Delhi: Gold fell below the Rs. 28,000 per 10 grams-lev-el for the first time in six weeks in the national capital today, losing Rs. 375 to Rs. 27,765 per 10 grams on sustained selling amid reduced offtake athigher levels and a weakeningglobal trend.

Falling for the fifth straightday, gold prices declined to lev-els last seen on November 3 asstockists offloaded their posi-tions, taking cues from a steep fallin global markets and reduceddemand at prevailing higher lev-els.

The precious metal has lost Rs1,565 in the past five sessions. Ithad touched a record high of Rs29,540 per 10 grams on December8.

However, silver prices rose byRs. 500 to Rs. 53,100 per kg onfresh buying by industrial unitsand jewellers.

Marketmen said sustained sell-ing by stockists in tandem with aweakening global trend mainlypulled gold prices below the Rs.28,000 per 10 grams-mark.

Gold in global markets, which normally sets the price trend on the domestic front,fell by $ 5.90 to $ 1,570.60 anounce in New York last night asinvestors refrained from freshbuying amid a deepening eurozone debt crisis.

In addition, the end of the marriage and festival season and lower demand fromretail customers expecting a fur-ther correction in prices influ-enced the market sentiment tosome extent.

On the domestic front, gold of99.9 per cent and 99.5 per cent pu-rity remained under selling pres-sure and plunged by Rs. 375 eachto Rs. 27,765 and Rs. 27,625 per 10grams, respectively. However,sovereigns held steady at Rs.23,200 per piece of eight grams inlimited deals.

On the other hand, silver readyfound fresh buying support andrecovered by Rs. 500 to Rs. 53,100per kg and weekly-based deliveryby Rs. 400 to Rs. 53,600 per kg.The metal had lost Rs. 3,200 inthe previous session.

Silver coins continued to be traded at around the previous level of Rs. 59,000 forbuying and Rs. 60,000 for sellingof 100 pieces.


Bangalore: Home minister R Ashok canheave a sigh of relief. The Lokayukta police,which investigated a case of alleged illegalland denotification case against him, havegiven him a clean chit.

The police, who filed the investigation re-port before the Lokayukta special court to-day, submitted a B report, which means thecase can be closed as there is no basis for thecase filed against the minister.

RTI activist Vijay Kumar Hiremath hadfiled a petition before the Lokayukta specialcourt that Ashok had misused his office to de-notify two pieces of land near BEL Circle in2003 and 2007.

The Lokayukta police, in its 1,400-page re-

port, said that the original owner of one pieceof the land, Shamanna, had got the denoti-fied land. The other owner, Ramaswamy, toohad got 14 guntas of land from the BangaloreDevelopment Authority after it acquired 28guntas of land from him.

Ashok purchased the pieces of land thathad already been denotified thus exonerat-ing him of any wrongdoing, the Lokayuktapolice stated in the report.

Soon after the petition was filed before theLokayukta police, opposition parties had de-manded the resignation of Ashok, but the lat-ter refused, saying he would come out clean.

He had also alleged that it is the handi-work of his political opponents, who hadtried to file similar cases against him earli-er.

RBI keeps interestrates unchanged

Mumbai: Concerned over economic slowdown, theReserve Bank today kept interest rates unchangedand indicated that it could cut key policy rates fromnow onwards to arrest falling growth while keep-ing a close vigil on inflation.

“While inflation remains on its projected tra-jectory, downside risks to growth have clearly in-creased... Further rates hike may not be warrant-ed,” the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in it itsmid-quarter review of monetary policy.

The economic growth has come down to 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal from8.1 per cent in the corresponding quarter in the pre-vious financial year even as inflation remains closeto the double-digit mark. The industrial growth reg-istering a negative growth of 5.1 per cent in Octo-ber too may have prompted RBI to maintain the sta-tus quo.

The central bank maintained repo (rate atwhich banks borrow from RBI) at 8.5 per cent, re-verse repo (rate at which the RBI borrows from

banks) at 7.5 per cent.Thehalt in rate increase comesafter 13 hikes since March2010.

The RBI has also decidedto retain the cash reserve ra-tio (CRR), the amount banksneed to park with the RBI, atsix per cent. The industrywas expecting a marginalcut in the CRR to induce liq-

uidity in the system to promote investments.“I cannot really speculate on when we might

start cutting rates, but certainly that is an event,that an action that is on the way forward...,” RBIGovernor D Subbarao said on the sidelines of anevent.

The RBI will make an assessment of its growthand inflation projections for 2011-12 in the thirdquarter review next month, the policy statementsaid.

Girl who fell intosambar pot dies


Mysore: An eight-year-old girl, who hadreceived critical burn injuries after fallinginto a pot of hot sambar during the mid-day meal at a government primary schoolrecently, died here this morning.

Apoorva, a student at the governmentschool at KatteHunsur in Heggadade-vanaKote taluk, was racing with herfriend when she lost her balance and fellinto the cauldron kept on the floor. Shehad received over 80 percent burns spreadall over her body.

Apoorva, a daughter of BasvarajShet-ty, had been admitted to KR Hospital onWednesday evening.

School authorities claimed that Apoor-

va was pushed into the cauldron by oneof her friends.

The police said that Apoorva’s fatherwas not staying with the family and is analcoholic.

For the last three days, her mother Ma-hadevi, a poor labourer, kept vigil at thehospital.

Block education officer Manjunath hasplaced the school headmaster and threehelpers for preparing the mid-day mealunder suspension.

Manjunath said, “More than 30,000 stu-dents are beneficiaries of the mid-daymeal programme in the district.

I have called for a meeting of all teach-ers soon to discuss safety measures to betaken in the wake of this incident.”

CLEAN CHITFOR ASHOKNo case in land denotification: Lokayukta cops

Land grabbers to bejailed for up to 3 yrs

Bangalore: The assembly today passed a billprohibiting grabbing of government land and upto three years jail for offenders.

The bill provides for measures to curb organisedattempts to grab lands belonging to the Govern-ment, Wakf or the Hindu religious institutions andcharitable endowments, local authorities or oth-er statutory or non-statutory bodies owned or con-trolled or managed by the Government.

According to The Karnataka Land Grabbing Pro-hibition Bill, 2011, the Government may, for the pur-pose of providing speedy enquiry into any allegedact of land grabbing, and trial of cases, by notifi-cation, constitute a special court.

Official sources said tens of thousands of suchpieces of land had been grabbed in differentparts of the state.

The final report of the Joint Legislature Com-mittee on encroachment of government land inBangalore Urban district headed by former MLAA T Ramaswamy stated that 45,000 acres of landworth a whopping Rs 50,000 crore had beengrabbed.

With this law, land grabbing in any form is pro-hibited and declared unlawful.

Those who contravene provisions of the act --as also those who commit other offences in con-nection with land grabbing -- shall, on convic-tion,be punished with imprisonment for a termwhich shall not be less than one year,but whichmay extend to three years, and with fine which mayextend to Rs 25,000.

Piloting the bill, Urban Development and LawMinister S Suresh Kumar said the state had passedthe Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Bill2007, but the Union Government suggested in-

clusion of lands belonging to Wakfs, Hindu Reli-gious Institutions and Charitable Endowments also-- and they were incorporated in the present bill.

According to the bill, land grabbers are formingbogus cooperative housing socieities or setting upfictitious claims and indulging in large-scale, up-recedented and fraudulent sale of such landsthrough unscrupulous real estate dealers or oth-erwise in favour of certain sections of people re-sulting in large accumulation of unaccountedwealth and quick money to land grabbers.

In the legislative measure, the land grabber wasdefined as a person or a group of persons, socie-ty, builder, land developer who commits/hascommitted land grabbing

It includes any person who gives financial aidto any person for taking illegal possession of landsor for construction of unauthorised structuresthereon, or who collects or attempts to collect fromany occupiers of such lands rent, compensationand other charges by criminal intimidation, or whoabets the doing of any of the above mentioned acts;and also includes the successors in interest.

Many MLAswant me back

as CM: BSYBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: “There have been talks with-in the BJP circles that I should become thechief minister again. But the decision isleft to the top leadership of the party. Weonly hope that they will take a considereddecision,” said former chief minister B SYeddyurappa here this morning.

“A lot of party legislators come andmeet me regulary and ask me to resolvetheir issues. They want me back as thechief minister,” he said.

Yeddyurappa was in New Delhi forthe last three days, trying to influence thetop leadership of the party to re-anointhim as the chief minister or make him theparty state president.

But former deputy Prime Minister L KAdvani did not entertain his wish. Yed-dyurappa is supposed to have set a Jan-uary 14, Sankranti day, for the leaders totake the decision. He is also supposed tohave threatened the leaders that he wouldbring down the government if the “ap-propriate position” is not given to him.

“But the focus of the party now is to en-sure victory for chief minister D VSadanandaGowda in the legislative coun-cil election. We are confident that hewill win the seat. We are working towardsthat,” he said.

The legislative council election for thelone seat is scheduled for December 22.The Congress has fielded AnandGad-dadevaramath, while JD(S) has chosen tostay away.

Yeddyurappa said that the party isgetting ready for the next general electionand the saffron party that has a strengthof119 in the legislative assembly wouldaim to win at least 150 seats, who ensurea comfortable majority.

The government in the state was thefirst for the BJP in South India. Majorityof legislators in the party believe that Yed-dyurappa was responsible for bringing theBJP to power in the state.

Independent MLA B Sriramulu, whowas a minister in the Yeddyurappa cabi-net, said that there is nothing wrong in thedemand set forth by Yeddyurappa.

Speaking at Gadag, he said, “I mighthave said a lot of things against him in thepast. But the fact remains that he was re-sponsible for bringing the BJP to power inthe state. He has worked a lot for the peo-ple as a legislator. His contribution hasbeen commendable and should be re-spected. His demands are rightful.”

CITY 2Friday, December 16, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

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Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore

TRAIN SCHEDULE

JOGAYYA (U/A)Shivaraj Kumar, Pooja GandhiBanashankari (Hongasandra) (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Eshwari(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) FunCinemas (10.15 am, 1.15, 4, 6.45,9.25 pm) HMT Cinemas ( 10.45 am,1.30, 4.15 pm) Kapali (10.30 am,1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Keshava (11am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Lakshmi(Tavarekere) (10.15 am, 1.15 pm)Lakshmi (Gottigere) (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Lakshmi (Rammor-thinagar) (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15pm) Manasa (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) PVR Cinemas (12.10 pm)Santhosh (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Srinvasa (Gowdanapalya)(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Tirumala (10 am, 1.45, 5.30, 8.45pm) Vaishnavi (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm) Veerabhadreshwara (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Venkatesh(Avalahalli) (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Venkateshwara (Konap-pana Agrahara) (11 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm)

BADHRA (U)

Prajwal Devaraj, Daisy ShahBharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Govardhan (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (10.30 am,2, 8 pm) Maruthi (11.30 am, 2.30pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30 pm) Menaka(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)Nalanda (11,2.30,6,9.15pm) Rajer-ajeshwari (Mallathahalli) (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30,7 .15, 9.30 pm) Sid-dheshwara (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Veeresh (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Vajreshwari (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30pm) Rajarajeshwari (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.15, 9.30 pm) PVRCinemas (1, 3.30, 6.10 pm)

PANCHAMRUTHA (U) Raghu Mukherjee, Srinagara Kit-ty, RavishankerPVR Cinemas (7.10 pm)

MR DUPLICATE (U) Prajwal Devaraj, Diganth, SheetalNartaki (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 1.15, 4.15,7.15 pm) Uma (10.15 am, 1, 4, 7pm) Vijayalakshmi (Garu-dacharpalya) (11 am, 2.30 pm)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (A)Jason Momoa, Leo Howard‘3D’ Cinemax (10.15 am, 3.30, 7.45,10 pm) Cinepolis (10 am, 12.15,2.30, 4.45, 7, 9.15 pm) Fame (Lido)(11 am, 4.30, 7, 9.30 pm) Fame(Shankarnag) (10.25 am, 3.45, 9.30pm) Fun Cinemas (5.10 pm, 9.45pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghat-ta Road) (10.30 am, 3.30, 9.30 pm)

Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (1.15 pm, 7.30, 9.45 pm) In-novative Multiplex (11.30 am, 1.30,5.45, 10 pm) Inox (Magrath Road)(10.05 am, 2.20, 7.30, 9.50 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (10.30 am, 2.45,9.50 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10 am,2.35, 9.45 pm) Lakshmi (Tavarekere)(10.30 am, 1.30, 5.30, 8.30 pm)Mukunda (11 am, 2, 5, 8.30 pm)PVR Cinemas (11 am, 4.20, 9.40pm) Rex (12.15 pm, 6.05 pm) Uvashi(11.30 am, 6.30 pm) Vision Cinemas(10.30 am, 4.30, 9.30 pm) ‘2D’Fame (Value Mall) (10 am, 2.45, 5,9.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (11.45 am, 2.15, 8 pm) HMTCinemas (9.45 pm) Inox (Jayanagar)(10.10 am, 3.55, 9.40 pm)

THE DEVIL DOUBLE (A)Fame (Lido) (10.20 am, 3.55 pm,7.25, 9 pm) Fame (Value Mall) (10am, 2 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 7.50 pm)

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

YEH DOORIYAN (U/A)Achint Kaur, Ayub KhanApsara (11 am, 2.30 pm) Abhinay(4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) Everest (11.15am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (5.15pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajarajesh-wari Nagar) (1.45 pm) Vaibhavi (4.30pm, 7.30 pm)

CHITKABREY-SHADES OF GREY (A)Akshay Singh, Akshharaa GowdaCinepolis (2.40 pm, 9.20 pm) Fame(Value Mall) (9.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar)(9.55 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (11.20am) Inox (Malleswaram) (2.05 pm,7.15 pm)

NOT A LOVE STORY (A) Ajay Gehi, Mahie Gill, DeepakDobriyal, Urmila MatondkarFame (Value Mall) (10.05 am) FunCinemas (10.45 am, 4.15 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghatta

Road) (10.15 am, 3.30, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(5 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (4.45 pm, 7.35 pm)Innovative Multiplex (10 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (9.40 pm) PVR Cin-emas (10 am, 1.05, 4.10, 9.50 pm)Urvashi (9.30 pm) Vaibhav (6 pm,9.30 pm)

SAHI DHANDHE GALAT BANDE (U)Anupam Kher , Ashish NayyarGopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (3.30 pm)

CHATUR SINGH TWO STAR (U/A)Sanjay , Ameesha Patel, KherAbhinay (4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (12.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ra-jarajeshwari Nagar) (7 pm) PVR Cin-emas (12.05 pm, 5.35 pm) Vaibhav(6.15 pm, 9 pm)

HINDI

TELUGU

KERATAM (U/A)Siddharth Raj Kumar, AishwaryaCauvery (6.00 pm, 9.30 pm) Cinepo-lis (3.45 pm, 9.10 pm) Inox (Jayana-gar) (7.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar) (10.45am, 4.20 pm) Inox (Malleswaram)(2.10 pm) Murali (Gokula) (6.15 pm,

9.30 pm) Pallavi (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Renukaprasanna(10.30am,1.30pm)

DAGGARAGA DURANGASumanth, Vedika, Sindhu TolaniAnjan (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Bhumika(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Rad-hakrishna (11.30 am, 2.45 pm) Renu-ka Prasanna ( 5.30, 8.30 pm) Srini-vasa (SG Palya) (11.15 am, 2.30 pm)Vinayaka (Maathahalli) (11.30 am,2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Venkateshwara(KRPuram) (6.15 pm, 9.30 pm

MONEY MONEY MORE MONEY J D Chakravarthy, Bramanandam,Anjan (4.30, 7.30 pm) Chandrodaya(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Cinepolis (10 am, 12.20, 4.50, 7.10,9.30 pm) HMT Cinemas (4.15 pm,7.30 pm).

STAND BY (U)Adinath Kothare, Siddharth Kher

Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30 pm) Ap-sara (5.30 pm, 8.30 pm) Fame(Lido) (1.40 pm)Fame (Value Mall)(12.15 pm, 7.15 pm) Gopalan Cin-emas (Bannerghatta Road) (2.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (12.30 pm) Inno-vative Multiplex (2.30 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (12.10 pm, 7.15

pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (11.30am, 9.35 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10am) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (12.30 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (7 pm) Vaibhav (11.30 am,2.30 pm)

Red Cross to put up first‑aid kits on major roads

Cottage Emporium to expandpresence in South India

Bangalore: The Central Cottage IndustriesCorporation of India (CCIC) yesterday an-nounced plans to expand its footprint sig-nificantly in South India, especially at placesof tourism interest, through its brandedstores – Cottage.

“New showrooms of Cottage will comeup in Hyderabad, Goa and Kovalam (Kerala)shortly. The idea is to expand the marketreach for Indian artisans and promote ex-clusive handicrafts and intricately designedworks,” said Rita Menon, secretary, centraltextiles department, here yesterday.

Menon was in the city to inaugurate thethird store of the CCIC in Bangalore. Shesaid the government had implemented sev-eral initiatives for the welfare of artisansand weavers and to improve the market fortheir products.

“Textiles sector is the second largest em-ployer in India after agriculture. Severalgovernment agencies and departments areengaged in promoting handicrafts and work-ing for the welfare of the artisan clusters.The CCIC procures the products directlyfrom the artisans,” added Menon.

The CCIC was providing the best of theprices for exclusive Indian handicrafts andgoods. “The world-famous Cottage brand isIndia’s window to the world for authentichandloom and handicrafts. Cottage hasemerged as the largest emporium in thecountry, engaged in marketing of uniquequality handicraft and handloom productsin India and abroad,” said Menon.

The CCIC, which operates nine show-rooms, has generated revenue of Rs 80 crore,passing on the benefits to the artisans.

The ‘Cottage’ showroom, inaugurated yes-terday, is located in the BDA Complex, HSRLayout, Bangalore.

The sprawling emporium will meet therequirements of local residents from Kora-mangala, BTM Layout and adjoining town-ships.

The showroom is spread over 6,000 squarefeet, offering some of the unique handicraftsof India. The product range includes exquisitehandicrafts and handlooms, sarees anddress materials, shawls and scarfs, homefurniture décor, home and office furnishings,pottery and stone crafts, jute products, pa-pier-mâché, leather, wood and metal craft,carpets and durries, attractive gift itemsand corporate gifts.

A wide range of silk sarees from Varanasi,

Bhagalpur, West Bengal and silk fabrics,men’s wear and women’s wear, exclusivesilk cut work tanchoi and brocade sarees,innovative trendy woven sarees from Biharwill be merchandised in the new show-room.

In addition, a variety of shawls, acces-sories, jewelry and other traditional hand-loom and handicraft items will be on displayand sale.

Cottage has tied up with leading IT firms,as the vendor for corporate gifts in order topromote Indian handicrafts, and extendbenefits to the local artisans in the process.

Exporters seeking bailoutfrom govt: AssochamBangalore: Reeling under the economicslump in the United States (US), a sov-ereign debt crisis in Europe and a slug-gish economic growth in Japan, the ex-porters in India are expecting the gov-ernment to announce an AmnestySchemeto bail them out of the currentcrisis in international markets, industrybody Assochamsaid.

The Associated Chambers of Com-merce and Industry of India (Assocham)conducted a random survey of exporterswith a well-diversified presence acrossAsia, Africa, Europe, US and otherprominent centres across the world.

Assochaminteracted with nearly 500exporters based out of Ahmedabad,Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbaiduring mid-September and Novemberto ascertain the impact of global eco-nomic slump on India’s exports moreso as US and the European Union to-gether account for about 35 percent ofIndia’s aggregate exports.

“Consequences of slowdown in globaleconomy on exports from India are ap-parent as the growth of exports fromIndia fell to a meagre 11 percent in Oc-tober 2011 as against about 36 percent

in the last quarter of the current fiscal,”said Assochamsecretary-generalDSRawat, releasing the findings of the

survey.“Exporters across India are finding

it extremely difficult to fulfil their export

obligations due to a grim scenario inthe global markets and have urged thegovernment to come to their rescue asthe situation is going beyond their con-trol,” said Rawat.

“In order to stimulate exports andcheck trade deficit, the governmentshould provide finance to exporters es-pecially those from small and mediumsectors at concessional rates,” saidRawat.

Nearly 75 percent of the respondentssaid their exports have been sufferinga severe downfall ever since the sub-prime crisis of 2008-09 and are lookingforward to certain significant steps bythe government to boost exports fromIndia.

About 40 percent of respondents saidthat exports might slow further anddemand might slacken amid persistingglobal economic crisis.

Majority of exporters said that currentglobal economic turmoil has pushedthe trade deficit to record low hurtingthe demand for Indian goods in ad-vanced economies.

Nearly 25 per cent of exporters saidthat government’s efforts to promote

exports to markets like that in Africahave definitely eased the pressure a bitbut demand contraction in traditionalmarkets like the US and Europe is thecrux of their worry.

Besides, nearly 30 per cent of re-spondents also said that recent suddendepreciation of rupee against majorcurrencies might help Indian exportersmaintain their competitiveness to someextent.

“Indian manufacturers must take anadvantage of weakening rupee anddownward movement of globaleconomies like China and must exploitthis opportunity to boost exports andmake Indian goods globally more com-petitive more so as manufactured goodsaccount for over half of India’s totalexports,” said Mr Rawat.

About 55 per cent of respondentssaid that inflation might rise furtherand will lead to unregulated price hikein input costs and push the price oflabour upwards.

According to an AssochamanalysisIndia’s share in global exports is likelyto fall from 10 per cent in the currentfiscal over the last fiscal.

Land nottaken

over: AoLBangalore: Art of Living has de-nied allegations that it has en-croached a tank in Kagglipura,a charge made out in PIL filedbefore the Karnataka High Court.

AoL said that the case wastaken up before the chief justice’scourt on December 15. AoL’slawyers clarified that there is noencroachment of tank and allthe allegations of PIL are bla-tantly false.

They said that as per the rev-enue records, there is no tank inthe survey. No46, Kagglipura asmentioned in PIL.

They said the Art of LivingAshram is protecting a small wa-ter crater and aquatic life in thatpiece of land.

A small kutir of ashram locatedin its own land nearbyis morethan 10 feet above the flood waterlevel.

The court granted AoL timeto file objections and fixed thenext date of hearing to January19.

Hitachi launchesdata ingestor to

help firms cut costsBangalore: Hitachi Data SystemsCorporation (HDS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, to-day introduced enhancementsto Hitachi Data Ingestor (HDI),a bottomless, backup-free cloudon-ramp and filer, to help or-ganisations simplify and accel-erate cloud adoption.

Featuring new content shar-ing, file restore and NAS migra-tion capabilities, the new versionof HDI gives scalable, backup-free storage solutions to distrib-uted consumers of IT, such asremote offices and branch offices(ROBO) or cloud storage users.Working in conjunction with Hi-tachi Content Platform (HCP), avirtualised object store with ad-vanced storage and data man-agement capabilities, HDI is de-ployed as a minimalfootprint orvirtual appliance that sends datafrom the edge to the core infra-structure to easily and cost-ef-fectively help customers movedata to the cloud.

Organisations look for waysto reduce costs, complexities andrisks associated with today’s ag-gressive growth of unstructureddata, particularly when providingIT services to geographically dis-persed locations or cloud con-sumers. Together, HDI and HCPare an integrated edge-to-coresolution with seamless, bottom-less scalability and backup-freestorage. The combination greatlyreduces the cost and complexityof providing IT services to dis-

tributed environments such asremote or branch offices, organ-isations building an internal pri-vate cloud, or service providerscreating a standard on-ramp forcloud adoption.

“For many organisations, theability to store and protect com-pany data at one location canbe a daunting task. With multiplesites, the ability to securely andadequately manage that data be-comes exponentially more diffi-cult. To help organisations withthis challenge, Hitachi Data Sys-tems has taken the general con-cept of object storage a leap for-ward with the new enhance-ments to HDI,” said Miki San-dorfi, chief strategist, file, contentand cloud, Hitachi Data Systems.

“Combined with HCP, the newHDI solution will allow customersto properly manage, protect andbackup the data residing at theedge, and reduce their infra-structure footprint.”

AlkaArora, managing director, CCIC of India Ltd, (left) and Rita Menon, IAS, secre-tary, central textiles department, look at Cottage products after inaugurating a

showroom at HSR Layout, BDA Commercial Complex, Bangalore yesterday.


Bangalore: The Indian Red Cross andSurya Seva Kendra have decided to putup first-aid boxes at all police chowkisand traffic signal points along majorroads in the city.

“The additional commissioner of po-

lice (traffic) appreciated our efforts andpassed an order on November 26 to putup these first-aid boxes along all majorroads of the city,” said Seva Kendrapresident and Indian Red Cross stateadministrative board member T N Vi-jaykumar.

The traffic police have already iden-

tified 150 accident spots in the city.These first-aid boxes will be managedby nearby pharmaceutical shops, nurs-ing homes and hospitals. The IndianRed Cross conducts free first-aid coursesfor the traffic police and the public. Italso issues certificates for the course,he added.

Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda inaugurates Sri Kukke Subramanya mutt branchat Basavanagudi yesterday. Highereducation minister V S Acharya looks on.

Kukke in city

CITY EVENTSGeneralGeological Society of India:Monthly lecture on ‘Gas Hy-drates in India: Potential andDevelopment’ by Dr KalachandSain, Gas Hydrate Group, Na-tional Geophysical ResearchInstitute, Hyderabad, at No,63, Kavita Apartments, Bas-appa Layout, 12th Cross,Gavipuram, 4 pm.

CulturalSwastik: Staging of play‘Badaku Jataka Bandi’ by Ra-jguru Hosakote, Ran-gashankara, JP Nagar, 7:30 pm

Carmel Pre-University Col-lege: Rendezvous 2011, inter-collegiate festival of talents,No. 14, 4th Cross, II Block, IIStage, West of Chord Road,Basaveshwarnagar, 5 pm

MusicAnnie and Michael DevineLive: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Take5, No 54 MSK Plaza, DefenceColony, 2nd Stage, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar A night ofjazz, blues and easy listeningwith Annie and MichaelDevine performing classictunes from years gone by.

Eating OutPower Lunch: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.City Bar Karaoke + Grill, UBCity, No 24, Vittal Mallya Road,Now be connected even duringthe quick business lunch. Freewi-fi access while you fill upin the middle of the day. De-lectable starters with a varietyof veg/ non veg main courseoptions along with draughtbeer.

Weekday Lunch Buffet @ManU: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. noon to 3 p.m. Man-chester United Restaurant Bar,The Manchester United Restau-rant and Bar launches a week-day lunch buffet priced at Rs350 plus taxes right fromstarters to desserts.

‘The Kari Culture’ at Blue Gin-ger: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.Blue Ginger, The Taj West End,23 Race Cource Road , BlueGinger creates an interestingway to learn about Vietnameseingredients and how to createsome of the popular culinaryinnovations. ‘The Kari Kulture’is for all the ladies who wantto learn the finer aspects ofVietnamese cuisine, super-vised by Chef Rishi. This isfollowed by a meal at therestaurant, where the gueststaste what they cook.

The Grand Indian Lunch Buf-fet @ Turquoise: uesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. noon to 3p.m. Turquoise, No 9, 2nd &3rd Floors, 17th A Main, Kora-mangala Experience the GrandIndian Lunch buffet consistingof over 35 dishes every week-day with around 5 starters, 4vegetarian gravies, 2 non veg-etarian gravies , 7 desserts andlots more.

NightlifeHip Hop night: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. Hypnos,Gem Plaza, Infantry Road, DJSid plays the latest hip hoptracks from around the world.

Open Mic Night @ Kyra: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.to 11 p.m. Kyra Theatre, No2001 Kattima Center, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar The OpenMic Night aims to bring outnew talent - whether it’s music,stand up comedy, poetry ordance.

Funky Tuesdays with DJsPrashant and Darsh: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. Coco Bongo, 4thFloor, Commercial Complex,National Games Village, 80Feet Road, Koramangala DJsPrashant and Darsh spinninghip hop & RnB this Tuesdayat Coco Bongo. There’s a 1+1offer on drinks all night.

Karaoke Night with KJ Val:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 8p.m. to 11:30 p.m. XtremeSports Bar, 4th Floor, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar Test thosevocal chords at karaoke nightwith KJ Val.

Happy Tuesdays with DJsPallemoni and Akso: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. The Beach, No 1211,100 Feet Road, IndiranagarDJs Pallemoni and Akso spin-ning deep house, disco andelectronica this Tue @ The

Beach.

ShoppingRio by Titan Eye+: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to11:30 a.m. Titan Eye+, SafinaPlaza, Infantry Road, A trendy,fashionable collection for theyoung and young at heart.The frames are available in ahost of bright colours.

Puma Faas Collection: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 8 p.m. Puma, A fun, tech-nologically advanced range ofrunning shoes by Puma.

Fall Winter 2011 Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 8 p.m. Esprit, No 10Ananda Bhavan, Vittal MallyaRoad, Stripes, florals, wool,tweed, retro and preppy cometogether in Esprit’s new FallWinter 2011 Collection.

OWW Sale: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.One Wit Wonders, No 32 ACRTowers, Residency Road, Flat50% off on selected productsat One Wit Wonders.

Lustrous Moon Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Collage, No21/1, Wood Street, AshoknagarThe Lustrous Moon Collectionby Bharathi Raviprakash payshomage to the glow of themoon. The collection includesgold jewellery with pearls incolours of golden, black andchocolate, and diamonds aswell.

Special EventsTuesdays with the Bard: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.Urban Solace - Cafe for theSoul, No 32, Annaswamy Mu-daliar Road, Ulsoor Lake Tues-days with the Bard is an ini-tiative to create opportunitiesfor poets and poetry lovers toget together. It features poetsreading their creations in anew experience every Tuesday.Members of the audience areencouraged to come forwardand share poems as well.

ExhibitionsCreative Perspectives: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. noonto 11:30 p.m. Caperberry, No48/1 Ground Floor, The Estate,Dickenson Road, Artwork byGopal Dey, Shan Re, KishoreChand, Ashok Kumar G, Hire-math, Parmesh D Jolad, Ran-jan Paul, Ram Onkar, MiniArora and more.

Colours & Hues: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Gallerie Third Eye, No A-1 Epsilon Office Block, YemalurMain Road, Yemalur A groupshow by artists Kanthraj N,Rima Ray & Rakesh Mandalat Gallerie Third Eye.

Synesthesia: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Galleryske, No 2, Berlie Street,Langford Town A group showfeaturing works by AndreaAnastasio, Luigi Anastasio andAvinash Veeraraghavan. Theworks are displayed in thehouse-like space of the gallery,so that they are approachedwithout demarcations and dis-tinctions thus making the view-er experience the works in onecontinuous alternation of me-dia from video and painting,to photography and sculpture.

Solo show @ Apparao: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 7 p.m. Apparao Galleries,No 82 The Presidency, St MarksRoad, Apparao Galleries pres-ents an exhibition of paintingsby T. Vaikuntam.

The Eye of Graciela Iturbide:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tasveer, No26/1, Kasturba Cross Road, Acollection of black and whitepictures shot by Mexican pho-tographer Graciela Iturbide,in locales across the world.

Now and Tomorrow : Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to7 p.m. Kynkyny Art, No 148Embassy Square, InfantryRoad, An exhibition by elevenemerging artists, which travelsinto contemporary territoryand throws up a commentaryon the rapidly changing, con-tinually shifting here and nowof modern India.

Group Show @ Renaissance:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 7 p.m. RenaissanceGallerie, No 13 Westminster,Cunningham Road, An exhi-bition of paintings by Shrad-dha DD, Deepa Vedpathak,Shama Rane and Shivaji Cha-van.

3 from Bengal held forrunning flesh racket

Bangalore: The CCB sleuths ar-rested three persons from WestBengal for running a prostitutionracket from a house in KalidasaLayout in the city yesterday.

The police arrested Intaz Alialias Raj (28), Jumma alias Payal(23) and Preeti alias Dholan (22)and recovered Rs 2,780 and twomobile phones. The police havestarted further investigation.Rowdies held

The CCB police foiled a murderby arresting 10 followers of no-

torious rowdy Korangu Krishnaat Rayasandra in the city recent-ly.

The rowdies were waiting toattack rowdy Lokesh alias Mu-lamu in vehicles with lethalweapons when the police arrest-ed them.

The police recovered two dag-gers, one machete, one longknife, one stick, one rod, onechilli powder packet, and ninemobile phones. They have alsoseized two vehicles from the row-dies.

The arrested are: N Ravi Kumaralias Gali Ravi (29), a resident ofVidyaranyapura; M K RuthuPrasad alias Ruthu (27), a residentof Vyalikaval; A Rizwan Pashaalias Rizwan alias Kullu aliasKulla (26), a resident of KalidasaLayout; G Shekhar alias Sheki(27), a resident of RangaDasappaLayout; Avinash alias Dumma(23), a resident of Chamrajpet;Nagaraj alias Naga (22), a residentof Naganayakanahalli; Muralid-har alias Murali (24), a residentof Gulakamalle on Kanakapura

road; Ramesh (32), a resident ofKaggalipura; Satish alias Sathi(26), a resident of LalbaghUp-parahalli; and Venkatesh V C(27), a resident of Chikkamaval-li.

The CCB police have filed acase at ParappanaAgrahara po-lice station.

The accused, acting on in-structions from Korangu Krishna,had kidnapped scrap dealer AfsarPasha, who had been rescuedafter a police raid. The Talaghat-tapura police had registered a

case based on a complaint filedby Pasha’s wife.

The accused had also createdruckus in front of the Parap-panaAgrahara Central Jail whenhe was to be shifted from thecity to Bellary jail. Cases underseveral sections of CrPC havebeen registered against them fordamaging vehicles around thejail. Ruthu is the right hand manof Korangu and was handlingthe entire financial transactionof the notorious rowdy and col-lected interest in his money lend-

ing business. He has been bookedin three cases of robbery.

Accused Gali Ravi is a rowdy-sheeter at Vidyaranyapura policestation.

There are two cases of murder,one attempt to murder, one as-sault and four dacoity casesagainst him.

Rizwan is a rowdy-sheeter atSiddapura police station and isbooked in one murder, one kid-napping, two attempt to murderand four dacoity cases.

Mumbai: The rupee gained 74paise to Rs 52.90 perUS dollar inopening trade on Friday afterthe Reserve Bank ofIndia imposed re-strictions on for-ward tradingto check theslide of thedomest iccurrency,which hadtumbled toa record lowof Rs 54.30per dollar yes-terday.

Dealers said thesharp recovery of therupee was due to restrictions

imposed by the RBI on forwardtrading in the local currency by

FIIs and traders, besides thecap fixed on banks'

exposure to theforex market.

In addition,a higheropening inthe equitym a r k e tahead ofthe RBI'scredit policy

review laterin the day and

gains registeredby other currencies

against the US dollarsupported the rupee's rise.

CITYFriday, December 16, 2011 3

Cycle expedition toNilgiris flagged off

Bangalore: The annual “Tour ofNilgiris (TFN)”, organised by theRideACycle Foundation (RAC-F)was flagged off from Field Mar-shal Manekshaw Parade Groundthis morning.

Flagging off the ride, urbandevelopment and parliamentaryaffairs minister S Suresh Kumarsaid, “I am glad to see so manyenthusiastic participants of theevent. It is heartening that thereare some girls too in this expe-dition.”

He said, “When I was young,I and four of my friends went ona cycling ride to Nilgiris. We didnot have such sophisticated bi-cycles then, but ordinary ones.We took four days to reach the860 km distance. We used tosee such expeditions abroad, I

am glad that they have come toour country too.”

This is the fourth edition of

the event. 70 riders will cover-around 860 km across the state,Kerala and Tamil Nadu andtouching a maximum height of2240 metres. From Bangalore,cyclists will pedal throughMysore, Hassan, Madikeri, Kan-nur, Sultan Bathery, Ooty andfinish the tour at Kodanad View-point.

MajGenAKPradhan, generalofficer commanding of Karnataka& Kerala Sub Area, in the pres-ence of tribal activist DrH Su-darshan and IGP (internal secu-rity division)BhaskarRao werepresent.

RAC-F is a not-for-profit ad-vocacy organisationwith initia-tives to popularise cycling forcommuting, leisure and as anagent of social change.

PM in Russia, nuclearcooperation on agenda

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singharrived in Moscow on Thursday on a three-day visit to Russia during which he willwork on further expanding bilateral coop-eration and consolidating coordination onregional and global issues.

Singh arrived at the Sheremetyevo Inter-national Airport and was received by Russia'sDeputy Foreign Minister AM Vadakin.

The PM will be attending the 12th annualIndia-Russia summit which begins on Friday.

Cooperation in nuclear energy is expectedto top the agenda. But Moscow is discomfitednot only by the anti-nuclear protests in Ku-dankulam but also by India's nuclear liabilitylaw which makes equipment suppliers liable

for damages in the event of an accident. Noting that there is enormous mutual

goodwill in the two countries for each other,Singh, prior to his departure, had said inNew Delhi that he is "convinced that India-Russia consultation on global issues is morenecessary today than ever before".

"This is in our national interest and inthe interest of global peace and prosperity,"the PM said.

The Prime Minister also said that Indianenjoy a special and privileged strategic part-nership with Russia and the Summits havefocused high level attention on follow-upto the decisions that are taken and on chart-ing new vistas for cooperation.

Bomb threat:1,000 TCS staff evacuatedChennai: More than a thousandemployees are being evacuatedfrom an IT park near Chennaiafter the police received a phonecall warning of a bomb.

The complex houses the train-ing centre of Tata ConsultancyServices (TCS). A special policesquad has been rushed to thesite. TCS is India's biggest ex-porter of software services.

In a statement, TCS has said,"Another tenant in the buildingthat houses the TCS training fa-cility at Ambattur, Chennai re-

ceived a call threatening the safe-ty of the facility on Friday morn-ing. As the safety of our employ-ees is paramount, we have evac-uated all TCS trainees and facultyfrom the location in an orderlymanner. The police and theirspecialist teams have taken con-trol of the facility and are con-ducting their investigations intothe incident. This incident willnot have any impact on our busi-ness operations in Chennai asthe facility was a training facility."

Ex‑telecomsecy Behuradenied bail

New Delhi: Former telecom secretary SiddharthBehura, arrested for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocationscam along with former Telecom Minister A Raja on Feb-ruary 2 this year, was deniedbail on Friday by the Delhi HighCourt.

“The bail application is dis-missed,” Justice V K Shali told ajam-packed courtroom, pro-nouncing his judgment on Be-hura’s bail plea.

Justice Shali, however, did notread out the operative portionof his order dealing with thegrounds on which the formertelecom secretary’s bail plea wasdismissed.

The same court earlier on No-vember 28 had granted bail tofive other co-accused in the 2Gcase, including DMK MP Kani-mozhi and Bollywood filmmakerKarim Morani.

Rahul vs Akhilesh: thebattle of the youth in UPNew Delhi: In the run up to the Uttar Pradeshelections, as battle lines are drawn betweenCongress General Secretary Rahul Gandhiand Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav, whois Mulayam Singh Yadav's son, it remainsto be seen which youth power will attractmore votes.

The generation next is slugging it outwith Rahul Gandhi taking the battle to Mu-layam Singh's Yadav's stongholds in thecentral Uttar Pradesh. In a sharp incisiveattack on both the Samajwadi Party andthe BSP, the Congress General Secretary hasbeen trying to reach out to the young votersborn post the Mandal-Mandir era of thestate politics.

Rahul Gandhi, in this legof his UP campaign, is touring19 Assembly segments. In amajority of those seats, theCongress has tactically fieldedeither local strongmen or SPturncoats who have their ownsupport base in their respec-tive constituencies.

Mulayam Singh's sonAkhilesh Yadav has also beenextensively touring the statefor the last six months. He isnow the face of the party'selection campaign, trying tobring back the youth and the

minority votes to the partyfold.

"Rahul is a non issue inUP. He has had no impact sofar," Mulayam Singh Yadavsaid.

The Congress has alreadystitched an alliance with AjitSigh's RLD in the western UPand has been aggressivelypoaching on some local, butprominent muslim faces inthe SP, even as MulayamSingh continues to extendsupport from outside to thethe UPA.

RBI checksslide, ` gainsagainst dollar

ʻLabourersʼ robhousewife


Bangalore: Two persons, posingthemselves as labourers, threat-ened a housewifeand made awaywith valuables atJP Nagar lastevening.

The robberssaid they hadcome to lay floortiles and gainedentry when theh o u s e w i f e ,Shobana, wasalone at home.

Once theycame in, they threatenedShobana with knives, got thebureau keys and took away Rs60,000 cash, $2,000, gold ban-gles, mangalasutra chain, a pairof diamond earrings and a mobile

phone.The incident occurred around

6 pm.Dacoits held

The CCB policearrested two da-coits, who had es-caped from theclutches of the po-lice when a gangof five criminalswas raided atGarvebaviPalya.

The police raid-ed the gang on De-cember 12. Raghualias Raja alias

Chappar Raja (26), a resident ofAnjanapura, and Stephen aliasBablu (19), a resident of Begur,had managed to escape.

The police arrested the twofrom Bagalur bus-stand recently.

Printed and published by B M Arun Kumar vide RNI Registration No. KARENG/2010/33126. Published by SAM Global Media, # 37, 1 Floor, 2nd Main, N. R. Colony, Bangalore - 560 019. Editor: B M Arun Kumar Printed at Lavanya Mudrana, #19, 15th Cross, Thyaarajanagar, Bangalore – 560 028. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Bangalore only.

NEWSFriday, December 16, 2011 4

US formally ends war in IraqBaghdad: The United States military officially declaredan end to its mission in Iraq on Thursday even as vi-olence continues to plague the country and theMuslim world remains distrustful of American pow-er.

In a fortified concrete courtyard at the airport inBaghdad, Defence Secretary Leon E Panetta thankedthe more than one million American service memberswho have served in Iraq for “the remarkable progress”made over the past nine years but acknowledged thesevere challenges that face the struggling democra-cy.

“Let me be clear: Iraq will be tested in the daysahead — by terrorism, and by those who would seekto divide, by economic and social issues, by the de-mands of democracy itself,” Panetta said.

“Challenges remain, but the US will be there tostand by the Iraqi people as they navigate thosechallenges to build a stronger and more prosperousnation.”

The muted ceremony stood in contrast to the startof the war in 2003 when an America both frightenedand emboldened by the attacks of September 11,2001, sent columns of tanks north from Kuwait tooverthrow Saddam Hussein. As of last Friday, thewar in Iraq had claimed 4,487 American lives, withanother 32,226 Americans wounded in action, ac-cording to Pentagon statistics.

The tenor of the 45-minute farewell ceremony, of-ficially called “Casing the Colours”, was likely tosound an uncertain trumpet for a war that was startedto rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction it did nothave. It now ends without the sizable, enduringAmerican military presence for which many officershad hoped.

Although Thursday’s ceremony marked the end ofthe war, the military still has two bases in Iraq androughly 4,000 troops, including several hundred whoattended the ceremony.

According to military officials, the remaining troopsare still being attacked on a daily basis, mainly byindirect fire attacks on the bases and road side bombexplosions against convoys heading south throughIraq to bases in Kuwait.

Even after the last two bases are closed and thefinal American combat troops withdraw from Iraqby December 31, under rules of an agreement withthe government in Baghdad, a few hundred militarypersonnel and Pentagon civilians will remain, workingwithin the American Embassy as part of an Office ofSecurity Cooperation to assist in arms sales andtraining.

But negotiations could resume next year on whetheradditional American military personnel can returnto further assist their Iraqi counterparts.

Senior American military officers have made no

secret that they see crucial gaps in Iraq’s ability todefend its sovereign soil and even to secure its oilplatforms offshore in the Persian Gulf.

Air defences are seen as a critical gap in Iraqi ca-pabilities, but American military officers also seesignificant shortcomings in Iraq’s ability to sustain amilitary, whether moving food and fuel or servicingthe armoured vehicles it is inheriting from Americansor the fighter jets it is buying, and has shortfalls inmilitary engineers, artillery and intelligence, as well.

The tenuous security atmosphere in Iraq was un-derscored by helicopters that hovered over the cere-mony, scanning the ground for rocket attacks.

Although there is far less violence across Iraq thanat the height of the sectarian conflict in 2006 and2007, there are bombings on a nearly daily basis andAmericans remain a target of Shiite militants.

Panetta acknowledged that “the cost was high –in blood and treasure of the United States, and alsofor the Iraqi people.

But those lives have not been lost in vain – theygave birth to an independent, free and sovereignIraq.”

The war was started by the Bush administrationin March 2003 on arguments that Iraq had weaponsof mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaeda thatmight grow to an alliance threatening the US with amass-casualty terrorist attack.

British author ChristopherHitchens dies at 62

Washington: Christopher Hitchens, theauthor, essayist and polemicist who wagedverbal and occasional physical battle onbehalf of causes left and right and wrotethe provocative best-seller 'God is NotGreat', died on Thursday night after along battle with cancer. He was 62.

Hitchens death was announced in astatement from Conde Nast, publisherof Vanity Fair magazine. The statementsays he died on Thursday night at MDAnderson Cancer Center in Houston ofpneumonia, a complication of hisesophageal cancer

A most engaged, prolific and publicintellectual who enjoyed his drink (enoughto "to kill or stun the average mule") andcigarettes, he announced in June 2010that he was being treated for cancer ofthe esophagus and cancelled a tour forhis memoir 'Hitch-22'.

Hitchens, a frequent television com-mentator and a contributor to VanityFair, Slate and other publications, hadbecome a popular author in 2007 thanksto 'God is Not Great', a manifesto forathiests that defied a recent trend of reli-gious works. Cancer humbled, but notmellow him. Even after his diagnosis,his columns appeared weekly, savagingthe royal family or reveling in the deathof Osama bin Laden.

"I love the imagery of struggle," hewrote about his illness in an August 2010essay in Vanity Fair. "I sometimes wish Iwere suffering in a good cause, or riskingmy life for the good of others, instead ofjust being a gravely endangered patient."

Eloquent and intemperate, bawdy andurbane, he was an acknowledged con-trarian and contradiction - half-Christian,half-Jewish and fully non-believing; anative of England who settled in America;a former Trotskyite who backed the Iraqwar and supported George W Bush. Buthis passions remained constant and en-emies of his youth, from Henry Kissingerto Mother Teresa, remained hated.

He was a militant humanist who be-lieved in pluralism and racial justice andfreedom of speech, big cities and fine artand the willingness to stand the conse-quences. He was smacked in the rear bythen-British Prime Minister Margaret

Thatcher and beaten up in Beirut. Heonce submitted to waterboarding to provethat it was indeed torture. Hitchens wasan old-fashioned sensualist who abstainedfrom clean living as if it were just anotherkind of church. In 2005, he would recalla trip to Aspen, Colo., and a brief en-counter after stepping off a ski lift.

"I was met by immaculate specimensof young American womanhood, holdingsilver trays and flashing perfect dentition,"he wrote. "What would I like? I thoughta gin and tonic would meet the case.`Sir, that would be inappropriate.' Inwhat respect? ̀ At this altitude gin wouldbe very much more toxic than at groundlevel.' In that case, I said, make it a dou-ble."

An emphatic ally and inspired foe, hestood by friends in trouble ("Satanic Vers-es" novelist Salman Rushdie) and againstenemies in power (Iran's Ayatollah Ruhol-lah Khomeini). His heroes included GeorgeOrwell, Thomas Paine and Gore Vidal(pre-Sept. 11). Among those on theHitchens list of shame: Michael Moore,Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong il, SarahPalin, Gore Vidal (post Sept. 11) andPrince Charles.

"We have known for a long time thatPrince Charles' empty sails are so riggedas to be swelled by any passing waft orbreeze of crankiness and cant," Hitchenswrote in 2010 after the heir to the British

throne gave a speech criticizing Galileofor the scientist's focus on "the materialaspect of reality."

"He fell for the fake anthropologistLaurens van der Post. He was bowledover by the charms of homeopathic med-icine. He has been believably reportedas saying that plants do better if you talkto them in a soothing and encouragingway. But this latest departure promoteshim from an advocate of harmless non-sense to positively sinister nonsense."

Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, Eng-land, in 1949. His father, Eric, was a"purse-lipped" Navy veteran known as"The Commander"; his mother, Yvonne,a romantic who later kill herself duringan extra-marital rendezvous in Greece.Young Christopher would have ratherread a book. He was a "a mere weed andweakling and kick-bag" who discoveredthat "words could function as weapons"and so stockpiled them.

In college, Oxford, he met such long-time friends as authors Martin Amis andIan McEwan and claimed to be nearbywhen visiting Rhodes scholar Bill Clintondid or did not inhale marijuana. Radi-calized by the 1960s, Hitchens was oftenarrested at political rallies, was kickedout of Britain's Labour Party over his op-position to the Vietnam War and becamea correspondent for the radical magazineInternational Socialiam. His reputation

broadened in the 1970s through his writ-ings for the New Statesman.

Wavy-haired and brooding and aflamewith wit and righteous anger, he was astar of the left on paper and on camera,a popular television guest and a columnistfor one of the world's oldest liberal pub-lications, The Nation. In friendlier times,Vidal was quoted as citing Hitchens as aworthy heir to his satirical throne.

But Hitchens never could simply nodhis head. He feuded with fellow Nationcolumnist Alexander Cockburn, brokewith Vidal and angered freedom of choicesupporters by stating that the child's lifebegins at conception. An essay for VanityFair was titled "Why Women Aren't Fun-ny," and Hitchens wasn't kidding.

He had long been unhappy with theleft's reluctance to confront enemies orfriends. He would note his strong disap-pointment that Arthur Miller and otherleading liberals shied from making publicappearances on behalf of Rushdie afterthe Ayatollah Khomeini called for hisdeath. He advocated intervention inBosnia and the overthrow of SaddamHussein in Iraq.

No Democrat angered him more thanClinton, whose presidency led to thebitter end of Hitchens' friendship withWhite House aide Sidney Blumenthaland other Clinton backers. As Hitchenswrote in his memoir, he found Clinton"hateful in his behavior to women, patho-logical as a liar, and deeply suspect whenit came to money in politics."

He wrote the anti-Clinton book, "NoOne Left to Lie To," at a time when mostliberals were supporting the presidentas he faced impeachment over his affairwith Monica Lewinsky. Hitchens alsoloathed Hillary Rodham Clinton andswitched his affiliation from independentto Democrat in 2008 just so he couldvote against her in the presidential pri-mary.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,completed his exit. He fought with Vidal,Noam Chomsky and others who eithersuggested that US foreign policy hadhelped cause the tragedy or that the Bushadministration had advanced knowledge.

Sonia pushesrural schemes todefeat Naxalism

New Delhi: Congress chief SoniaGandhi on Friday sought earnestimplementation of rural devel-opment programmes to defeatleft-wing extremism and askedthe Centre and state governmentsto make efforts in this direction.

Addressing an All India MahilaCongress function in New Delhi,Ms. Gandhi said many districts,which have predominant tribalpopulation, were infested withMaoists and insurgents.

“We can defeat left-wing ex-tremism and insurgency if weimplement rural developmentprogrammes.

The Centre and state govern-ments should do their funda-mental and Constitutional dutyin helping tribals with fullearnest.

“If we do it, we will be able to

bring those people who are inthe culture of violence to thedemocratic mainstream,” Ms.Gandhi said.

During her speech, she saidthe party workers should takethe good work of the UPA to peo-ple and educate them about theprogrammes initiated by the gov-ernment for welfare of the people.

Waiting for this tourfor long time: Ishant

Melbourne: Four years after hiseye-catching performance in thispart of the world, Ishant Sharmais ready to have another go atthe Australians in the four-matchTest series starting on December26.

“I have been waiting for thistour for a long time,” said Shar-ma, who has 128 wickets in 48Tests.

Sharma is aware of the ex-pectations as it was here whenhe first made his mark as an in-ternational bowler, dismissingthen Australian skipper RickyPonting in both innings of thePerth Test.

“There are a lot of expectations

from me because I had done agood job on my last tour there. Iam charged up now.

I have different plans for eachand every batsman,” he said.

Sharma, 23, stands to either end the summer a wasted, injury-riddled talent orrecapture the magic of a water-shed 2007-08 tour Down Underwhere he found fame tamingPonting.

“I went on the tour as a rawbowler and returned a finishedproduct,” recalled Sharma.

“People came to know meafter that tour, they talked aboutmy bowling and it had to be apositive experience for me.

I am really excited to go backthere again,” the Indian pacerwas quoted as saying by the‘Courier Mail’

Sharma came off the fieldtwice during India’s practicegame against the Chairman’s XIin Canberra yesterday but theIndian team managementquelled concerns over his fit-ness.

If Sharma finds his bearingson the bouncy Australian pitches,it might spell trouble for the age-ing Ponting who has not scoreda century for more than 30 Testsnow.

Sharma has already claimedPonting six times.

Carlos the Jackalgets life in prison Paris: A French court convicted Venezuelanterrorist legend Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known asCarlos the Jackal, of carrying out a bombing cam-paign in France in 1982 and 1983 and sentencedhim to life imprisonment with a minimum of 18years in jail before parole.

A panel of seven judges at the special criminalcourt in Paris returned the guilty verdict after de-liberating for about five hours.

The 62-year-old Venezuelan is already servinga life sentence in France for the killing of twoFrench police agents and a Lebanese informantin 1975.

He has served 14 years of that sentence. Thurs-day’s additional sentence means he will probablydie in jail.

His lawyer and wife Isabelle Coutant-Peyrecalled the verdict “a scandal” and said he wouldappeal.

The attacks over which he was convicted claimedthe lives of 11 people and injured over 100 others.He has denied the charges.

His six-week trial reopened a chapter in terrorismannals, when The Jackal, as he was nicknamedafter a Frederick Forsyth novel, was the world’smost sought-after fugitive, wanted for a string ofhigh-profile attacks against Western targets inthe 1970s and 1980s.

The most daring attack by the pro-Palestinianguerrilla involved a mass hostage-taking at theOrganization of Petroleum Exporting Countriesin December 1975. Three people were killed inthat operation.

He evaded justice for years until he was capturedby French Special Forces in a Sudanese hospitalin 1994 and bundled to Paris in a burlap sack.

French prosecutors believe Ramirez and threeformer associates carried out the 1982-1983 attacksto pressure French authorities to release Ramirez’sGerman former partner, Magdalena Kopp, and aSwiss associate after their arrest in February 1982.

In a rambling five-hour address to the court atthe end of the trial, the Venezuelan accused theprosecution of “propaganda against Carlos andthe Palestinian cause.”

Ending his speech with a clenched-fist saluteto a few supporters in the courtroom, who repliedin kind, the Muslim convert shouted “Vive la rev-olution.

Allah Akhbar (God is great).” Born in Caracasin 1949 to a wealthy Marxist lawyer, Ramirezstudied in Moscow and then moved to Lebanon,where he fell in with the Popular Front for theLiberation of Palestine.

He later forged links with the German left-wingterrorist group, the Baader-Meinhof Group. Hewas also linked with the East German secretservice, the Stasi, and spoke fondly at his trial ofslain former Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi.

Desperate Ozlooks to

Katich for helpMelbourne: Disgruntled Aus-tralian Test discard Simon Katichcould make a stunning returnto the team for the Test seriesagainst India as skipper MichaelClarke has reportedly pushed forhis inclusion despite their bitterpast equation.

As a struggling Australia lookfor ways to strengthen their frag-ile batting line-up before thefour-Test series starting December26, Clarke, according to a TVchannel here, is behind a pushto bring back Katich.

“Australia’s selectors have dis-cussed recalling Katich to theTest XI for the Boxing Day clashwith India -- just two days afterthe veteran batsman revealedhe had all but given up on rep-resenting his country again,” re-ported ‘The Daily Telegraph’

And Katich, who was repri-manded for making detrimentalpublic comments against Clarkesome weeks back, would be alltoo happy to make himself avail-able if the need arises.

“If the report on Channel Ninethat Michael Clarke and the se-lectors are talking about Simonfor Test cricket, whether it beBoxing Day or any other day [istrue], Simon would be very ex-cited and I would be very excitedfor him,” the batsman’s managerRobert Joske said.

“The coach, the chairman of

selectors, have both said thedoor was always open for Simonand I can’t think of a better timethan now for Simon to be walkingthrough it.”

The 36-year-old Katich wasstripped off his central contractin May and he minced no wordsin making his bitter frustrationknown to Cricket Australia in apress conference after that.

Katich later held Clarke re-sponsible for the loss of his con-tract, saying that a dressing roombust—up with the current skippertwo years ago was the reasonwhy he could no longer see aTest future for himself.

Clarke, however, had deniedthe charge.

WB hoochtragedy: death

toll crosses 150New Delhi: The horror continuesto grow in West Bengal's hoochtragedy with the death toll cross-ing 150 on Friday. Twelve persons have been ar-rested so far for the toxic liquordeaths.

Barely had West Bengal cometo terms with the horror of theAMRI tragedy, a second manmade disaster struck the state,this time killing at hundreds ofpeople who consumed country-made liquor which was contam-inated with methyl alcohol.

At the Diamond Harbour SubDivisional Hospital it was chaos,with patients spilling over into

the hospital corridors and stair-cases, and helpless hospital staffand doctors working on a warfooting.

Angry locals also took to thestreets of Sangrampur, ransack-ing illicit liquor shops and settingthem ablaze.

The local people of Sangram-pur said that spurious liquorjoints, which they destroyed, ranin full public view and in com-plete knowledge of the local ad-ministration and police.

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee also ordereda CID probe into the matter onThursday.

FM welcomes RBI decisionto keep rates unchanged

New Delhi: Finance ministerPranab Mukherjee on Friday wel-comed the Reserve Bank’s deci-sion to keep policy rates un-changed and expressed the hopethat inflation would moderatein the coming weeks.

“The need to improve the busi-ness sentiments and recover thegrowth momentum in the re-maining months of the currentfiscal necessitated a review ofthe monetary policy stance.

“I believe that inflation willmoderate further in the coming

weeks and, therefore, the an-nouncement today is welcome,”Mr. Mukherjee told reporters out-side the Parliament House com-plex.

Concerned over economicslowdown, the Reserve Bank ofIndia (RBI) today kept policyrates unchanged. The centralbank maintained repo (rate atwhich banks borrow from RBI)at 8.5 per cent, reverse repo (rateat which the RBI borrows frombanks) at 7.5 per cent.

The finance minister also wel-

comed steps taken by RBI yes-terday to check the rupee’s slideand speculations by imposingrestrictions on forward tradingin the local currency by FIIs andtraders, and by capping banks’exposure to the forex market.

“I also welcome the Governor’sresolve to check the speculativeinterventions in foreign exchangemarket which among other fac-tors have contributed to the sharpdepreciation of the Indian rupeeagainst the US dollar,” Mukherjeesaid.

Parliamentadjourned

over PCprotests

New Delhi: Noisy protests byopposition members demandingremoval of Home Minister P. Chi-dambaram stalled proceedingsin parliament Friday without anysignificant business, and forcedadjournment till Monday of bothhouses.

Presiding officers of the LokSabha and the Rajya Sabha ad-journed the houses first till noonand then for the day after theopposition continued to createa ruckus over Chidambaram,who is accused of quashing crim-inal cases against a businessmanhe represented as a lawyer in1999.

In the Rajya Sabha, ChairmanHamid Ansari tried to pacify theprotesting Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) members, asking them tolet the Question Hour continueafter he had read an obituaryreference of former member RajBahadur Gour.

The protesting MPs refused tolet him read the obituary, an-gering Ansari.

"At least respect the dead ifyou cannot respect each other,"Ansari said, bringing some calmin the house.

MPs stood in silence for some-time to mourn the death of theformer member, but the din re-sumed soon after.

"Since the Question Hour can-not be held, the house is ad-journed till 12," Ansari said.

The house was plunged intodin after the MPs resumed sittingat 12, forcing the Rajya Sabhaadjournment for the day.

Similar protests were wit-nessed in the Lok Sabha, forcingSpeaker Meira Kumar to adjournthe house first till noon and thenfor the day. Shiv Sena MPs alsoprotested against alleged atroc-ities on Marathi-speaking peoplein Karnataka.

The BJP forced parliament toshut for the day yesterday alsowithout conducting any signifi-cant business.

Documents

Bangalore Beat 16.12.2011