29 September 2013

Your World Connected
RNI Reg. No.: PUNMUL/2012/45041

Postal Reg. No. PB/JL-047/2013-15
Vol. 2 Issue 39
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10.00 24 Pages
Sunday 29 September, 2013
Weekly Newspaper
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Pernia Qureshi's
book a holistic
fashion guide
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Lifestyle 4 Health 10 Celebrity 14 Leisure 17 International 18 Business 20 Sports 22
I I I I I I
Battle of Samba: How
army subdued fidayeens
Page 4
Page 2
Page 15
Tips for a
healthy heart
Page 10
Pakistan
earthquake toll
reaches 328
Page 11
Tourist season
begins hoteliers
see no boom
Page 13
Museums are valuable source of history,
heritage: Vice president
Page 12
29 Sept Sunday Set Lucky_Layout 1 9/27/2013 11:52 PM Page 1
Chandigarh
2
Srinagar
The Indian Army Thursday foiled
what is described as the largest bid
this year to infiltrate into the Kash-
mir Valley by 30 militants from
across the Line of Control (LoC) in
Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara dis-
trict. The bid to infiltrate occurred on
the LoC in the Keran sector of Kup-
wara district, in north Kashmir.
Defence sources told : "A group of
30 heavily armed terrorists has been
trapped in a cordon by the army in
the Keran forest area on our side of
the LoC."The sources said the group
was surrounded by army troops
some 200 to 300 metres from the
LoC fencing on the Indian side, and
engaged in a gunfight which was on-
going. "Some of the infiltrators have
already been killed. Forward troops
have reported that 10 to 12 of the in-
filtrators have been killed so far,
while others are still engaging the
troops in firing exchanges," defence
sources said.
The precise number of guerrillas
killed will be known only once the
gunfight concludes, the sources said.
Battle of Samba: How army subdued fidayeens
Samba attack: Lt Col cremated with
military honours
Terror kills 15 in Kashmir,
PM says talks to go on
Army foils infiltration bid by
30 guerrillas in Kashmir
Jammu
An injured army colonel took on the
terrorists, soldiers locked up families
before airdropped commandos en-
gaged them in a bitter gunfight to the
end, taking care to ensure that the bat-
tle did not spill over into the nearby
school. These are some of the dra-
matic details of the nine-hour opera-
tion in an Indian Army camp during
a fidayeen raid in Samba in Jammu
region Thursday. Eye-witnesses said
the terrorists sneaked into 16 Cavalry
regiment around 7.30 a.m."They had
a verbal altercation with the guard at
the gate who obviously thought all
the terrorists were army jawans since
they wore army uniforms and were
clean shaven. After the guard refused
to allow them entry they shot the
guard from close range, but this gun-
shot was not heard by others inside
the camp. "The three terrorists en-
tered the camp, passed the offices of
the cavalry's colonel, adjutant and
subedar major and started moving to-
wards the officers' mess situated
some distance from the offices." Lt.
Col. Bikramjeet Singh was "moving
in the lawn outside the mess when he
saw the three terrorists in army uni-
forms approach him. Before he could
ascertain their identity, they shot him
from close range and the officer died
on the spot". Mess keeper Kiran
Kumar Reddy had gone inside the
mess to get some breakfast for the of-
ficer. "When he came out and saw
that the officer had been shot, he tried
to withdraw back into the mess build-
ing, but the terrorists shot him. De-
spite being critically shot, Reddy
crawled to alert Colonel Avin Adhiya
who was also outside the mess build-
ing when the first two firing incidents
occurred," the eye-witness recounted.
On seeing Reddy crawl towards him,
"Colonel Adhiya took out his weapon
and started engaging the terrorists.
But...he was shot in the shoulder by
the terrorists. He fired at the terrorists
and at the same time ensured that a
tank inside the camp was driven to
safety". By this time, troopers inside
the camp knew it was a fidayeen
strike. "They took all the families in-
cluding women and children of the
officers to the second floor of the
mess. Locked them inside and placed
some furniture and other obstructions
to ensure that the terrorists were pre-
vented from taking the families as
hostages." The eye-witness went on
to say the terrorists were engaged in
a firefight by the soldiers and the ter-
rorists took position in a `nallah' (a
dry stream) inside the camp from
where they kept on returning fire.
Since 16 cavalry armoured unit
comes under 9 corps headquarters of
the Western Command, the troopers
alerted their chain of command about
the terror strike. Defence sources
told the Western Command authori-
ties immediately got in touch with the
Northern Command headquarters in
Udhampur town of Jammu region.
Chandigarh
The body of Lt Col Bikramjit Singh,
killed in a terrorist attack in Jammu
and Kashmir's Samba Thursday,
was cremated with full military ho-
nours here Friday.A second genera-
Srinagar/New Delhi
Four soldiers, six policemen and
two civilians were killed in Jammu
and Kashmir Thursday in an auda-
cious terror attack that also left three
militants presumably from Pakistan
dead. Furious over the nine hours of
mayhem, the BJP asked Prime Min-
ister Manmohan Singh to call off his
talks with his Pakistani counterpart
Nawaz Sharif in New York Sunday.
But he vowed to go ahead with the
meeting. The heavily armed guerril-
las first barged into a police station
in Jammu region, killing eight peo-
ple, and then drove off with a truck
to attack an army base where they
shot dead an officer and three sol-
diers. It was one of the worst terror
attacks in recent times in Jammu
and Kashmir, where a separatist
campaign for which India blames
Pakistan shows no signs of ending.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said
the terrorists sneaked into the state
from Pakistan in the last 12 hours.
He hoped the killings would not de-
rail the India-Pakistan talks on the
sidelines of the UN General Assem-
bly. The attack began in the morning
when the attackers reached a rela-
tively unguarded police station at
Hira Nagar in Kathua district, not
far from the Pakistan border, lob-
bing grenades and firing away auto-
matic weapons. In no time, eight
people lay dead: six policemen, a
shopkeeper and the driver of a truck
parked in the complex. Four others
suffered splinter and bullet injuries.
The guerrillas escaped in the truck,
drove on the Pathankot-Jammu
highway and entered an army unit's
Officers' Mess in Samba, some 35
km from Jammu, killing Lt. Col.
Bikramjeet Singh and three soldiers.
Some soldiers were also wounded in
the second attack that began around
8.30 a.m. and ended nine hours later
when commandos flown in shot
dead the terrorists. An incensed
Bharatiya Janata Party asked the
government to cancel the Manmo-
han-Sharif talks. "The PM is in a
hurry to start a dialogue with Pak-
istan," BJP president Rajnath Singh
said. "There should be no talks with
Pakistan unless there is a conducive
environment."His colleague Sushma
Swaraj tweeted: "No dialogue over
dead bodies. Cancel your meeting
with Nawaz Sharif." The Indian
prime minister, who was on his way
to the US when he learnt of the at-
tack, refused to oblige. Manmohan
Singh said that "such attacks will
not deter us and will not succeed in
derailing our efforts to find a reso-
lution to all problems through a
process of dialogue".Conveying his
condolences to the families of those
killed, he said: "This is one more in
a series of provocations and bar-
baric actions by the enemies of
peace." In an obvious reference to
Pakistan, he said: "We are firmly re-
solved to combat and defeat the ter-
rorist menace that continues to
receive encouragement and rein-
forcement from across the border."
In Srinagar, Omar Abdullah said "it
would be great injustice" if the
India-Pakistan dialogue process got
stalled following the terror attack in
Jammu region. He blamed the attack
on "forces inimical to peace be-
tween India and Pakistan". He said
it would be difficult to speculate if
Thursday's attack had the backing of
the new government in Pakistan.
The Pakistan High Commission in
New Delhi also pressed for the
talks."Our hearts go out in sympathy
to the families of all those who fell
victim to terrorist violence in
Jammu today," a statement from the
mission said. "It is imperative that
senseless act of violence do not
deter us from pursuing a path to a
better future for our peoples," it
said.
tion army officer, he leaves behind
his wife, eight-year-old daughter
and parents. He was from the 16
Cavalry. Western Command Gen-
eral Officer Commanding in Chief
(GOC-in-C) Lt Gen Philip Compose
and a number of senior army and
civilian dignitaries laid wreaths and
paid their respects to the martyr.
Wreaths were also laid on behalf of
the governor of Punjab, chief minis-
ter of Punjab, the Chief of Army
Staff and others. "Lt Col Bikramjit
Singh, second-in-command, 16
Cavalry, attained martyrdom while
participating in counter-terrorist ac-
tion at Samba, following the highest
traditions of the Indian Army. Lt Col
Bikramjit Singh displayed commit-
ment beyond the call of duty, con-
spicuous courage, bravery and
devotion to duty in the face of ter-
rorist attack. On the day of the ill-
fated incident, Lt Col Bikramjit
Singh immediately reacted and
reached the spot where the terrorists
had entered the garrison and organ-
ised his men to counter the attack.
In the ensuing fire fight, the officer
was grievously injured and suc-
cumbed to the injuries," an army
spokesman said here. Singh's body
was kept at the Western Command
headquarters in Chandimandir can-
tonment, 10 km from here, after
being flown in from Jammu Thurs-
day evening. Four soldiers, six po-
licemen and two civilians were
killed in Jammu and Kashmir
Thursday in an audacious terror at-
tack that also left three militants,
presumably from Pakistan, dead.
The heavily-armed guerrillas first
barged into a police station in
Jammu region, where they killed
eight people. The guerrillas then es-
caped in a truck they hijacked, driv-
ing down the Pathankot-Jammu
highway, and entered an army unit's
Officers' Mess in Samba, some 35
km from Jammu, where they shot d -
ead Singh and three soldiers.
Authorities moved commandos of 9
Para regiment in helicopters to the
shootout site. The Para commandos
first carried out an aerial reconnais-
sance of the camp before landing
there to neutralize the three terrorists.
"The Para commandos had identified
the exact spot during the aerial recce
from where the terrorists were return-
ing the army fire. After landing, the
commandos started engaging the ter-
rorists in a direct gunfight, but in
order to give them an impression that
their exact spot of hiding had still not
been identified, an abandoned build-
ing inside the camp was blasted.
"This made the terrorists complacent
that their hiding spot had not been yet
been pin-pointed. They kept on inter-
mittently returning the army fire till
all three of them were eliminated,"
said defence sources. The entire op-
eration from the moment the terror-
ists entered the camp and till they
were gunned down took nearly nine
hours to complete. "The main worry
of the soldiers tasked to eliminate the
terrorists was the Army Public School
situated some distance from the place
where the terrorists had been engaged
in a sustained firefight. "We were
worried about the possibility the ter-
rorists moving into the school and
taking children and staff as hostage.
That is why the exercise to eliminate
the terrorists was carried out with ex-
treme caution and patience," defence
sources added.
STORY

DEFENCE

DEFENCE

DEFENCE

Chandigarh
3
Army officer among nine
killed in Jammu terror attack
Jammu
Nine people, including an army offi-
cer, were killed Thursday when sep-
aratist guerrillas mounted an
audacious attack on a police station
in Jammu region and commandeered
a truck which they drove into an army
camp where soldiers took them on.
The brazen attack took place ahead of
ahead of Sep 29 meeting between In-
dian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif in New York on the
sidelines of the UN general assembly
meet. Three militants reached the
Hira Nagar police station in Kathua
district in an autorickshaw, police
sources told. They then attacked the
police station, which is barely seven
km from the international border.
"Militants used grenades and auto-
matic weapons to attack the Hira
Nagar police station today (Thurs-
day) morning...," said a source.
The rebels lobbed grenades and fired
automatic weapons, killing a shop-
keeper. Four policemen were also
killed. At least four people suffered
critical splinter and bullet injuries.
Once the attack at the police station
got over, the guerrillas shot dead a
truck driver and stole his truck that
was parked at the police station com-
plex and escaped. They took to the
Pathankot-Jammu highway and the
gunmen opened fire in Samba town -
- only to run into Indian troops. The
highway has now been closed.
"We intercepted the truck which the
militants were driving in Samba
area," a military spokesperson told.
Army sources said the militants then
entered an army unit of Samba
brigade, about 35 km from Jammu,
and opened fire. Exchange of fire be-
tween the militants and the security
forces is underway. An army officer
and two soldiers were killed while
three soldiers were wounded.
"There has been an attack on a police
station and an army camp...we are
collecting information," union Home
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told re-
porters in New Delhi. Army sources
say that they have taken the help of
helicopters, which were used to bring
army commandos to the site of the
firing. The Samba brigade belongs to
the 9 Corps, which is headquartered
in Himachal Pradesh. It falls under
army's Western Command.
India, US to reaffirm strategic ties during
Manmohan visit
Washington
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan ar-
rives here Thursday for his third sum-
mit with US President Barack Obama
in four years that both sides hope
would essentially reaffirm their com-
mitment to a strategic partnership
amid a perception of a bilateral drift.
No big ticket announcements are ex-
pected to emerge from Manmohan
Singh's meeting Friday at Obama's
Oval Office, barring one relating to
the landmark 2008 India-US nuclear
deal that has been stalled over India's
2010 tough nuclear liability law.
Indications are there that the State
owned Nuclear Power Corporation of
India Limited or NPCIL and US-
based supplier, Westinghouse Electric
Company, would sign what is called
a "Pre Early Works Agreement" on
setting up a nuclear plant at Chayya-
Mithivirdi in Gujarat.
India plans to buy six of the Westing-
house-manufactured AP 1000 nuclear
reactors in a deal worth about $14 bil-
lion for the Gujarat project, one of the
two sites allocated to US companies
for developing atomic power plants
under the nuclear deal.
The "Pre Early Works Agreement",
analysts suggested, essentially side-
tracks for now the nuclear liability
issue that has caused an uproar in
India over alleged dilution of the In-
dian law under which an operator
may sue the supplier too in the event
of an accident. But defence appears
to be a more promising area with
India, which has procured US mili-
tary equipment worth over $10 bil-
lion since 2003, keen to go beyond "a
buyer-seller relationship to a joint
partnership in design, development
and production of defence material,"
as Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh
said in New Delhi.
US too on its part seems willing with
US Deputy Secretary of Defence
Ashton B Carter ahead of the summit
offering to co-produce main stream
defence equipment in India, including
co-development of the next version
of the Javelin anti-tank missile now
built by Raytheon Co and Lockheed
Martin Corp. Washington was also
offering a new electromagnetic tech-
nology for catapulting fighter jets off
aircraft carriers called EMALS and
built by privately held General Atom-
ics to India, said Carter during his re-
cent India visit. "There are no
boundaries from the US point of
view, and as far as I know from the
Indian point of view," said Carter
who heads the the two countries' De-
fense Trade and Technology Initiative
(DTI), a joint effort with Indian na-
tional Security Adviser Shivshankar
Menon. Manmohan Singh is also ex-
pected to convey India's concerns
about the Senate version of the US
Immigration Bill that could lead to
Indian companies such as Infosys,
Wipro and TCS, paying steep visa
fees as penalty that could render them
uncompetitive. Without using the
word "Indian" the bill practically sin-
gles out Indian and Indian-American
information technology (IT) compa-
nies that have operations in the US
for punitive restrictions on temporary
H-1B work visas for skilled workers.
This is an issue on which American
firms fully back New Delhi as Indian
IT companies like TCS, Infosys,
Wipro, and HCL Technologies help
them with all sorts of non-core func-
tions such as tech support, human re-
sources, payroll and recordkeeping.
However, corporate America and the
US government has a beef with India
over a host of other economic issues
and a call for more economic reform
to attract greater international invest-
ment will "certainly be a centrepiece"
of Obama-Singh discussion as a sen-
ior administration official previewing
the visit put it. So much so a leading
US trade body plans to greet Manmo-
han Singh with a massive ad cam-
paign asking the Obama
administration to raise the issue of
India's alleged unfair trade practices.
"Manufacturers and Congress Agree:
India must play fair on trade," says an
advertisement issued by the National
Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
in major publications in Washington
and New York. Nevertheless notwith-
standing differences, both sides insist
that what Obama has repeatedly
called a defining partnership in the
21st century was indeed "scaling that
trajectory" as a US official put it.
Srinagar
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister
Omar Abdullah Wednesday said ex-
army chief V.K. Singh's allegations
have put state politicians in a very
difficult position. He asserted that
the allegations should be thoroughly
probed. After his arrival here from
New Delhi, Abdullah told reporters:
"The allegations by V.K. Singh have
put mainstream political parties in a
very difficult position.
"I am formally taking up the issue
with the government of India. So far
as the issue of Ghulam Hassan Mir
is concerned, it should be left to me
and my alliance partners in the Con-
gress."
A report carried by the "Indian Ex-
press" had said state Agriculture
Minister Ghulam Hassan Mir re-
ceived Rs.1.19 crore from the army's
secret funds in 2010 to topple the
Omar Abdullah-headed coalition
government.
Mir, in a signed statement issued
here Wednesday, said he was offer-
ing himself to a fair and time-bound
probe into the allegations.
He also said the allegations were lev-
elled to dent his integrity and popu-
larity among the people.
The chief minister said Singh's alle-
gations were extremely unfortunate.
Singh had said the army has funded
ministers in Jammu and Kashmir for
decades. "It's extremely unfortunate.
Most of us have no financial deal-
ings whatsoever with the army," Ab-
dullah told reporters. "These
statements and accusations only
cause us great difficulty here."
He demanded "a thorough inquiry"
into the matter, saying there was an
attempt to vilify all mainstream po-
litical parties in Kashmir.
"I believe these accusations cannot
be dismissed off-hand, they require
further investigation", Omar said.
Gen Singh Tuesday said army was
funding ministers in the state "since
(India's) independence" to maintain
peace in the Kashmir Valley.
The ruling National Conference
(NC) challenged Singh to reveal the
names of the ministers he believed
received the army's secret funds fail-
ing which NC would file a defama-
tion suit against him.
Separatists have been using the alle-
gations to up their ante against the
mainstream political leaders alleging
these people represented the demo-
cratic face of India's occupation of
Kashmir.
New Delhi
The armed forces' demand for fair
representation on the Seventh
Central Pay Commission (CPC)
has been supported by retired offi-
cers who said it will enable views
of the forces to be reflected faith-
fully. Indian Air Force chief
N.A.K Browne, who is chairman
of the chiefs of staffs committee,
has written to Defence Minister
A.K. Antony for full representa-
tion of the armed forces on the
commission. Sources said the IAF
chief wrote the letter earlier this
month and urged Antony to press
for the demand of the services.
There were suggestions earlier for
a separate pay commission for
military personnel. The govern-
ment Wednesday announced the
7th Central Pay Commission,
whose recommendations on
Damascus
An Iraqi woman was killed and
three others wounded Thursday
when a mortar shell struck the Iraqi
consulate in Syria's capital Damas-
cus, Xinhua reported citing the
state-run SANA news agency.
The mortar round slammed into a
hall in the consulate and caused
material damage to the building,
the report said.
The embassy is adjacent to the
empty US embassy in the upscale
district of Abu Rummaneh in Dam-
ascus. Mortar attacks have become
increasingly common in Damascus
and its suburbs but Thursday's at-
tack marks the second instance
when mortars targetted foreign
missions in Damascus.
Last week, three people were in-
jured when a mortar shell struck
the Russian embassy on Burnieh
Street in Damascus. The Syrian
government blames the Western-
backed rebels for indiscriminate
mortar fire that often misses the
target and hits populated areas.
salaries, payscales and pensions
are likely to be implemented from
Jan 1, 2016. The commission will
go into the structures of salaries,
allowances and pensions of all
central government employees and
pensioners, including those in de-
fence and railways. The govern-
ment has said the names of the
chairperson and members of the
pay commission and its terms of
reference will be finalised shortly.
Lt. Gen. (retd) Raj Kadyan, former
deputy chief of army staff, said
that representation of the armed
forces on the pay panel was ab-
solutely necessary."Their (armed
forces') service conditions are pe-
culiar and distinct. I fully support
the demand for representation on
the panel. Even veterans should be
represented," he said.
Maj. Gen. Narendra Bahadur
Singh, who retired from the Quar-
ter Master General's branch as an
additional director general, said
that the armed forces should have
a separate pay commission in the
long run.However, he said there
should at least be a member from
military on the seventh pay com-
mission. "Serving conditions of
the armed forces are different.
These can't be equated with equiv-
alent rank of civilian counter-
parts," he said. Group Captain
(retd) V. Krishnappa said the de-
mand for representation of the
armed forces on the central pay
commission is not new.The pay
commission could be broadened to
include a representative from the
military, he added.
Armed forces backed on demand for
nominee on pay panel
Mortar shell strikes Iraqi mission in
Damascus
V.K. Singh's allegations difficult
for Kashmir politicians:
Abdullah
29 Sept Sunday Set_Layout 1 9/26/2013 6:45 PM Page 3

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

LIFESTYLE

Chandigarh
4
Must have skin care products
while travelling
Pernia Qureshi's book a holistic fashion guide
New Delhi
Pernia Qureshi's debut book "Be
Stylish with Pernia Qureshi" will not
only be a guide on understanding and
honing one's personal style, but will
also reflect the writer's journey to be-
coming a full-blown stylist from an
"overdressed toddler". Random
House Publishing India is set to
launch the book, which will give
handy tips on the Do's and Don'ts for
individual body types and personali-
ties, allowing people to embrace their
character and create their own "sig-
nature look". The book also makes
references to different celebrities that
have been styled by Qureshi. Sonam,
for example, shares her style choices
and the rationale behind them. The
book will be available as a paperback
for Rs. 299 that is set to release Oct
16, while a luxe edition will cost Rs.
999 and is tentatively set to be
launched Nov 1.Qureshi says fashion
and style has always been an innate
part of her."I didn't study fashion or
take any classes in style, but I guess
you could say it's always been part of
my embroidery. My progression from
an overdressed toddler in a sari to a
full-blown stylist with my own online
boutique has been a journey of pas-
sion and imagination, as well as self-
knowledge," Qureshi told. A fashion
stylist and costume designer, Qureshi
has worked with established names
like JJ Valaya and Tarun Tahiliani.
She stepped into the role of a costume
designer in 2010 when she styled
Sonam Kapoor for "Aisha" and she
also dressed the actress in the 2011
film "Thank You". She also has an
online pop-up shop. As a child too,
she was always fascinated with fash-
ion. "Although I was just four, I ab-
solutely adored wearing the outfits,
jingling around in heavy jewellery. I
remember spinning around on stage,
seeing my skirt twirling in front of
me and feeling so beautiful. This was
the first time I felt the transformative
power of dressing," she said.
Qureshi believes "the last few years
have been a total adventure" for her.
"Since that tummy-flipping moment
in 2008 Chanel Spring couture show
in Paris , I've worked for fashion
magazines, on film sets, and even
crafted my own clothing line. My ca-
reer has transported me around the
world and across dozens of seasonal
trends. "But whether I'm dressing a
movie character like 'Aisha' or a
model for a shoot, one fact remains
the same - one's outfit must reflect the
inside of the person, otherwise it's
simple not stylish," she said.
New Delhi
Celebrate World Tourism Day by
taking a day off and travelling to a
relaxing destination. But while
packing your bag, make sure to take
along skin care products like mois-
turiser and face wash. Here are a
few must-carry skin care products
suggested by Aakriti Kochar,
beauty and makeup expert, Ori-
flame India:
- Light-weight moisturiser or sun-
block: These will help to avoid skin
damage and pigmentation.
- Face wash: When excess oil set-
tles on your skin for long, it causes
acne. It is advised to wash face
every six to eight hours to avoid
such skin problems.
- Sanitizer: Our hands come in con-
tact with many surfaces that attract
bacteria and infections. An anti-
bacterial sanitizer will keep hands
clean and bacteria-free.
- Toner or astringent: Regularly use
a toner or astringent to remove im-
purities from skin.
- Blotting paper: Use it to wipe ex-
cess oil or dirt from the 'T' zone of
your face. The blotting paper also
removes impurities and also keeps
makeup intact.
New Delhi
Festival time does not just give you
a reason to gorge on lip-smacking
food or to meet friends and rela-
tives, it's also the time to put your
best foot forward as far as makeup
is concerned.
Makeover consultant Aashmeen
Munjaal suggests how to adjust
your makeup style for different fes-
tivals to look your best:
Navratra: Shades of yellow and or-
ange are dominant colours during
the festival. Bright eye makeup
colours like sharp blue with orange
and a hint of green will go well with
yellow or orange coloured outfits.
Karwa Chauth: Women dress up in
saris or lehengas in bright colours
and are generally high on glitter
quotient during this festival. Opt for
eye makeup colours that will match
the attire, but stick to matte. A fuch-
sia lip shade will do well for the
look.
Diwali: Try golden makeup for the
festival of lights. Colour either your
lips or eyes golden!
Christmas: Red is the colour of the
winter festival. To keep up the fes-
tive spirit, put one red element in
your makeup - either red lips or red
eyelids. You can even use glitter
powder on cheekbones or below
brow bone.
If you don't want to go loud with
makeup, try the nude look, which
works at all times.
Traditional yet natural look: Pale
pink lip shades with a hint of pink
blusher will help to attain the look.
New Delhi
Many think straight hair is bor-
ing, but the runway trend reflects
the opposite. An expert says
straight hair is enviable.
Leave it long and loose or tie it
up in a ponytail, straight hair is
easy to maintain. "To those who
don't have it, straight hair is envi-
able - it rarely frizzes, beautifully
reflects light and is so simple to
style," Anthea Rodriques, Brand
Ambassador, Schwarzkopf Pro-
fessional India, said in a state-
ment.
She suggests that those who are
not blessed with straight hair, can
try Strait Therapy.
Chandigarh on a new gourmet high
Chandigarh
For a city that survived on the tradi-
tional tandoori and butter chicken for
years, digging into choicest variety
of dimsums and sushi sitting in an
eatery crafted on a Japanese temple,
enjoying Asian fare from near and
far, enjoying the best of American
yoghurt or relishing sizzlers from a
leading chain from Mumbai :
Chandigarh, the joint capital of Pun-
jab and Haryana, seems to be on a
real gourmet course. In the last few
months, Chandigarh is getting a taste,
literally, of newer things in the food
business as eating joints are opening
almost every other day. Bigger and
better brands are bringing in the best
of foods from around the world.
You may never have taken a trip to
Japan, but you don't bother now be-
cause 'Plum' at Elante Mall, Chandi-
garh's latest happening place and the
biggest mall in the region, takes you
on a ride there. Built like a Japanese
temple, following the 'house in a box
concept', it has a wooden hut-like
structure. The brain behind the con-
cept, entrepreneur Ankit Juneja, says
that people are lapping up the new
joints. "There was a gap in the mar-
ket for an authentic Asian restaurant.
People travel and are now becoming
more and more aware. Besides, it's
healthier, and there was a subtle de-
mand for the same," Juneja, whose
joint specialises in dimsums, told.
"We take pride in having the largest
dimsum menu in the city. We have
over 15 kinds of dimsums and they
are our crowd pullers," he added.
"Oriental food enthusiasts can enjoy
a multi-Asian cuisine like Thai,
Burmese, Chinese, Japanese, Ko-
rean, Singaporean and Vietnamese
food," Plum's executive chef Sunil
Rana, who has worked as chef in
Hilton-Abu Dhabi for five years,
told.
International yoghurt chain Red
Mango from the United States is tar-
geting the city's youth.
Rahul Kumar, CEO and managing
director of Red Mango in India, said:
"The idea of Red Mango yoghurt is
hip and trendy and I am sure that
youngsters would love to walk in our
store, press the lever and fill a cup
with their favourite flavour."
India's oldest sizzler restaurant chain
from Mumbai, Kobe Sizzlers is of-
fering oriental sizzlers for those who
don't mind the steam. Sachin Suri,
managing director of Kobe Sizzlers,
told "Chandigarh is a huge upcoming
market.
After doing a survey, we thought this
will prove fruitful." Claiming that the
variety at Kobe was a "guilt-free
treat", Suri lists the lamb and sea
food sizzlers and a whole range of
pizzas, pastas and salads that the
place offers. 'Girl In The Cafe'
(GITC), is wired up with young and
middle-aged crowd. "Our authentic
wood fired pizzas and British sand-
wiches are delectable and a must
have," Neha Singh, the young entre-
preneur behind GITC, told.American
chain 'Chillis', 'Nando's', ice cream
giant 'Haagen Dazs' and many more
international names are competing
with several desi eating joints and
most of them are doing good. Gour-
met lovers, who used to have limited
options in markets in Sector 17, 26
and 35 earlier, now have a wide vari-
ety to take a pick from.
Deck up right for festive season
Flaunt straight hair, it's in vogue
Chandigarh
5
BJP banks on old warhorses
to regain ground
Shimla
The BJP seems to be banking on
its old warhorses to regain its lost
political ground in Himachal
Pradesh. In the process, foes are
turning friends and deserters are
being brought back in sync with
the maxim: In politics, there is no
permanent enemy and no perma-
nent friend. Ahead of the 2014
general elections, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP), ousted from
power after last November's as-
sembly elections, has begun an ex-
ercise to keep its house in order.
Insiders said a state core group
meeting called by BJP president
Rajnath Singh in Chandigarh this
week has told both warhorses -
Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta
Kumar - to sink their differences
and work unitedly to improve the
party's prospects in the general
elections.
"Reposing faith in both Dhumal
and Shanta Kumar, the party pres-
ident was categorically clear that
infighting cost the party much in
the assembly elections," a senior
leader told. After the polls, the
Dhumal faction had openly
blamed the Shanta Kumar group
for the defeat.
At the meeting, the party president
also conveyed that Shanta Kumar
would always be consulted on all
important issues.
"The party could not ignore
Shanta-ji at this crucial juncture
when every Lok Sabha seat mat-
ters. Shanta-ji was told to focus
more on regrouping the party's
cadre, especially in the Kangra
parliamentary constituency," said
the leader, who didn't wish to be
identified.
Party insiders said that at the
meeting, Shanta Kumar again
raked up the issue of senior lead-
ers like Maheshwar Singh, a four-
time former MP who deserted the
party last February and floated a
new political front. Shanta Kumar
said the party could be strength-
ened only by bringing the rebels
back.
"After giving a patient hearing to
Shanta Kumar's suggestions, Raj-
nath Singh said any decision on
taking back the rebels should be
taken after going through the pros
and cons of this," said the leader.
Sources said the party might field
Dhumal and Shanta Kumar from
the Hamirpur and Kangra con-
stituencies respectively in 2014.
Currently, Dhumal's son Anurag
Thakur is the MP from Hamirpur.
The BJP's other MP, Rajan
Sushant, representing Kangra, has
been suspended from the party for
indiscipline. From Shimla, sitting
BJP MP Virender Kashyap is
likely to be fielded again, while
legislator Jai Ram Thakur is likely
to contest again from Mandi.
In the June parliamentary by-elec-
tion, Himachal's ruling Congress
party retained the Mandi Lok
Sabha seat by a handsome margin.
"If Maheshwar Singh returns to
the party, then he can be the BJP's
candidate from Mandi. But the
chances of his returning are re-
mote as just four months back his
party backed the Congress candi-
date from Mandi," said a political
observer.
On the other hand, Congress
leader and Chief Minister Virb-
hadra Singh, who is at the helm of
government for the sixth time, has
been trying hard to win all the
state's four Lok Sabha seats. He
has been repeatedly cornering for-
mer chief minister Dhumal and his
MP son Anurag Thakur over al-
leged misdeeds during the BJP's
term in office. Ahead of the clo-
sure of roads owing to snow, the
chief minister began Sep 26 a
three-day tour of tribal areas that
are part of the Mandi parliamen-
tary constituency. Virbhadra
Singh's wife Pratibha Singh had
won the seat in the June by-poll.
Jaipur
Scandals involving ministers and leg-
islators have rocked the Congress in
Rajasthan, a state which will vote for
a new assembly before the end of this
year. With former minister Mahipal
Maderana and legislator Malkhan
Vishnoi already in jail for around one
and a half years on charges of kidnap-
ping and murdering nurse Bhanwari
Devi, another minister who has now
resigned, Babulal Nagar, has put the
Ashok Gehlot government in the
dock. A woman has registered a case
against Nagar, accusing him of raping
her. A first information report (FIR)
was registered on September 17
against Nagar, the minister of state
for dairy and rural industries, under
Sections 376 (rape) and 323 (causing
hurt) of the Indian Penal Code at the
Sodala police station here. The case
was subsequently handed over to the
Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI)."Nagar called me to his resi-
dence on the pretext of providing a
job. He took me to a room where he
beat me and raped me on September
11," the woman has alleged.
Though Nagar, a legislator from the
Dudu constituency, denied the
charges and said that he was being
framed in a political conspiracy, the
repercussions are being felt in the
state. The opposition BJP is not los-
ing any chance to rake up the issue in
a big way. State BJP president and
former chief minister Vasundhara
Raje said that this indicated the con-
dition of women in the state. "If the
chief Minister has any shame left, he
should resign immediately," Raje said
in a statement. Meanwhile, another
Congress legislator, Udai Lal Anjana,
has been accused by a 45-year-old
woman of sexually exploiting her on
the pretext of marrying her. The po-
lice started investigating the case late
last week after an additional district
court ordered the police to register a
case of sexual exploitation."It is a po-
litical conspiracy and I deny all the
charges. I request the government to
conduct and finish the inquiry before
the elections. I have full faith in the
law of the land and am sure that I will
come clean out of it," said Anjana
who is a legislator from the Nimba-
hera constituency in Chittorgarh dis-
trict. "All these cases coming up
before state assembly elections do not
augur well for the Congress party
which already is fighting anti-incum-
bency," said political analyst M.K.
Sharma."Gehlot really faces an uphill
task in the assembly polls as he is not
only fighting the anti-incumbency
factor but is also trying to fight with
tarnishing of image of his ministers.
The BJP will not leave any stone un-
turned to raise these issues in a big
way before the polls," Sharma
added.Rajasthan, which has 200 as-
sembly seats, goes to the polls before
the end of the year.
Jagan to intensify
united Andhra stir
In election year, Rajasthan Congress
in the dock
Hyderabad
YSR Congress party leader Y. S.
Jaganmohan Reddy, who was re-
leased after 16 months in prison
this week, is all set to intensify the
ongoing movement in Seemandhra
against the proposed bifurcation of
Andhra Pradesh. With a clear
stand in support of
'samaikyandhra', or united Andhra,
the young leader is likely to seize
the initiative and emerge as a fron-
trunner in Seemandhra, as Ray-
alaseema and coastal Andhra
regions are together known. Jagan,
as the MP from Kadapa is popu-
larly called, will be returning to
the political trail after being out of
the public eye because of his al-
leged involvement in a case of
suspected corruption. As the
court, while granting bail, has di-
rected Jagan not to leave Hyder-
abad without permission, the
young leader has filed a petition
seeking its nod to visit Kadapa and
Guntur districts in the first week
of October. Jagan, whose return
has already boosted the morale of
the party cadre, is expected to go
all out to use his first public ap-
pearance after a long time to
strengthen the party in See-
mandhra. Jagan's release and his
decision to plunge into the
'samaikyandhra' agitation have al-
ready sent the alarm bells ringing
in both Congress and Telugu
Desam Party (TDP) camps. Al-
ready feeling the heat of the ongo-
ing protests, the leaders from the
Congress and the TDP, including
MPs and state legislators, may
switch loyalties to the YSR Con-
gress. About a dozen legislators of
the ruling and the main opposition
parties had joined the YSR Con-
gress even when Jagan was in jail.
They know that a free Jagan may
be more dangerous for them.
The YSR Congress hopes many
fence-sitters may take a plunge
once Jagan hits the roads in See-
mandhra, where government em-
ployees, students and other
sections of people have been con-
tinuing their protests for nearly
two months. "YSR Congress is the
only party in the state which has
not only taken a clear stand
against the decision to divide the
state but is joining the people in
the fight to keep the state united,"
said party leader Shobha Nagi
Reddy.She claimed that unlike the
Congress and the TDP, who are
playing gimmicks over the issue,
the YSR Congress has shown its
sincerity. Shoba pointed out that
both MPs of the party and all 17
state legislators have not only sub-
mitted their resignations but are
also pressing for their accept-
ance.The YSR Congress is accus-
ing its rivals of playing a double
game on the issue to fool the peo-
ple of Seemandhra. Its leaders
point out that the TDP sent a letter
to the centre declaring its support
to the demand for Telangana state
and this paved the way for the de-
cision to divide the state. After
floating the YSR Congress in
2010, Jagan had taken an ambigu-
ous stand on Telangana by stating
that the centre should respect the
sentiments of people of all regions
while taking a decision. The July
30 decision of the Congress Work-
ing Committee (CWC) however
forced the party to take a calcu-
lated risk. It has now accused the
Congress of taking a decision
without ensuring justice to all re-
gions. Its top leaders in Telangana
quit the party to protest what they
called a U-turn on Telangana. Po-
litical observers say Jagan, who
was active in working out the
party strategies even behind bars,
decided to go for 'samaikyandhra'
as he realized that he has virtually
no stakes in Telangana. As he hails
from the Rayalaseema region and
as a Congress MP had stood up in
the Lok Sabha to protest against
the centre's Dec 9, 2009, decision
to carve out a Telangana state, he
is always seen as 'anti-Telangana'
leader in the region. The son of
late chief minister Y. S. Ra-
jasekhara Reddy, who was also op-
posed to the state's division,
decided to take a clear stand on
both the Congress and the TDP,
which remain divided on the issue
along regional lines.
29 Sept Sunday Set Shimla_Layout 1 9/27/2013 1:59 PM Page 5
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2004-2011 was the golden time
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Chandigarh
6
Not Quite Sharif
EDITORIAL DESK
Dealing with Downturn
Will Modi toe the RSS line?
While Manmohan Singh and his
merry bunch of peaceniks were busy
concocting yet another uninterrupted
and uninterruptible round of disaster
that Indias Pakistan policy consti-
tutes, Pakistan stuck our military es-
tablishment once again. The
boundless appetite for talks on
Indias side is matched by a bound-
less appetite for Indian blood by the
Pakistani establishment and its run-
ning hounds in the form of assorted
terror organizations. The martyrdom
of Indian soldiers is hardly a factor
in the grand matrix of peacenik
worldview that seeks to promote a
blinkered and meek diplomatic pol-
icy by India.
In a buildup reminiscent of Sharm El
Shaikh fiasco the media and Prime
Ministers Office worked up a
frenzy leading to the United Nations
Summit at New York where the In-
dian and Pakistani PMs were sup-
posed to meet. The frenzy has met
its hackneyed end at the hands of
Pakistani terror outfits but the Prime
Minister is undeterred in his quixotic
quest for a legacy to his banal twin
terms at the helm of India.
It is hardly the considered view of
Indians to go to a war with Pakistan,
however some sort of red lines are
definitely in order. India is facing a
troublesome situation whereby it has
tried strengthening the hands of so
called civilian establishment in Pak-
istan but the military establishment
has undone everything. The critical
call that needs to be taken now is to
decide whether we can afford talking
to a civilian authority that is not in
control of its nation or worse still is
in cahoots with a diabolical and big-
oted military?
Economic downturns are the ugliest
feature of modern day neo-capital-
ism that has come to dominate the
global governance discourse. India
being new to this philosophy of eco-
nomic governance is staring at a new
specter. The specter of job losses and
loss of livelihoods in the formal sec-
tor; that can unleash forces this re-
public may not have witnessed as
yet. 2004-2011 was the golden time
period for Indias youth in smaller
cities in terms of job creation and
upward mobility. An EMI pyramid
was built upon elaborate structures
of service sector and industrial ex-
pansion that fueled better housing,
car sales, credit schemes and con-
sumption expenditure. However as
is the bane of private sector careers
none of the higher salary packages
came with warranty for life. Weak-
ening economic climate and poor
governance has driven the Indian
private sector into depression and in-
vestment contraction. This is best
exemplified by the numerous
stressed assets notices that are
printed in the newspapers, retrench-
ment across all sectors of the econ-
omy, slow hiring by blue chips and
rising interest rates. The magnitude
of the problem stands unidentified as
of now. Media is already beginning
to report stories of employee sui-
cides, broken homes and crimes ris-
ing in big economy hubs such as a
Bangalore and Mumbai. If proper
counseling and corrective measures
are not put in place then the govern-
ment may find such large numbers
of educated, relatively self aware
and formerly prosperous employees
a cause of concern. Economic hard-
ships are known to breed wars, ex-
tremism and anarchy; we certainly
do not wish that for productive sec-
tion of population.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) cadres burst firecrackers and
beat drums to celebrate Narendra
Modi's nomination as the party's
prime ministerial candidate, it was
in the quiet environs of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) headquarters in Nagpur
where the mood must have been
even more joyous.
For the first time since the BJP's for-
mation three decades ago, the or-
ganization of Hindu supremacists
has been able to launch someone on
the road to national political power
who is not only a former saffron
pracharak (campaigner), but also a
person who is expected by the RSS
to render yeomen's service to the
cause of Hindutva, or Hindu cultural
nationalism.
Till now, the RSS had been pre-
vented from achieving this objective
by the reluctance of the BJP's fore-
most leaders of the last 20 years -
Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Ad-
vani - to pursue a pro-Hindu agenda.
Not only that, Vajpayee even
shelved the three main points of the
agenda - building the Ayodhya tem-
ple, scrapping Article 370 of the
Constitution granting special status
to Kashmir and introducing a uni-
form civil code for all religious
communities in India.
The RSS believes that Modi does
not have the urge for moderation
which always characterized Vaj-
payee's conduct and later of Ad-
vani's as well. It is not for nothing,
therefore, that the RSS pushed,
prodded and pummeled the BJP
leadership as never before to anoint
Modi.
The eagerness of the RSS did not
stem from an appreciation of Modi's
development plank. The RSS is not
bothered about the building of roads
and bridges. Its preference for Modi
dates back to the chief minister's
controversial role in the 2002 riots,
which made the Hindu middle class
hail him for "teaching the Muslims
a lesson". Although Modi may have
sought to divert attention from that
chapter in his career by focussing on
governance, both he himself and his
hardcore supporters know that his
USP (unique selling point) is his
macho, no-nonsense personality
dating from that period. This is the
reason why the "Hindu hriday sam-
rat" (king of Hindu hearts) has per-
sistently refused to express regrets
for that communal outbreak, which
claimed 1,200 lives in official esti-
mates, lest it should undermine his
combative image.
As Modi faces the toughest chal-
lenge of his life, he may want to em-
phasize his "inclusive" outlook by
pushing the riots further into the
background - without apologizing
for them, of course - but it is open
to question whether the RSS will let
him do so.
As the attempt of the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) to revive the temple
issue (which was foiled by the U.P.
government) showed, the saffron
brotherhood seemed to believe that
the reappearance of hardliner at the
top provided an opportunity to the
Hindutva warriors to return to the
day of the Ayodhya agitation of the
1990s.
Instead of Advani who led the
movement at the time, it is now
Modi who is at the helm while the
85-year-old former 'rath yatri' (char-
iot rider), who was seen to have
spearheaded the demolition of the
Babri mosque at Ayodhya, is cur-
rently a forlorn figure, having failed
in his attempt to forestall Modi's
crowning.
No one knows, however, how long
Advani will be shunned by his party
for failing to read the "popular"
mood. Much will depend on how
Modi handles the RSS-inspired pro-
Hindu campaigns of which the VHP
has given some hints.
Apart from the temple issue, the
VHP has raised a battle cry against
the alleged seduction of Hindu girls
by Muslims youths in what the
Hindu outfit has described as "love
jehad". Related to this campaign is
one against beef-eating, which has
made the VHP coin the slogan that
the country and its women and cows
will only be safe if Modi becomes
the prime minister.
With friends such as these, Modi
will not need enemies. But, it will
take considerable tact, patience and
determination on his part to defuse
any possibility of a rise in the com-
munal temperature, which is un-
doubtedly the last thing which the
hero/villain of 2002 wants.
Unfortunately, Modi's skills in these
respects haven't been tested. In Gu-
jarat, he rode to power in three suc-
cessive elections on the basis of
pro-Hindu sentiments generated by
communal tension. Although he has
maintained a tight control on the sit-
uation for the last 10 years, it was in
a state with which he was familiar.
Uttar Pradesh, however, is different.
So, will be any other state where a
drive against cow slaughter or
Christian missionaries - two of the
several targets of saffron storm-
troopers - may create law and order
problems.
Moreover, the RSS will not be
amused if Modi acts or speaks
against such outbreaks. After all, the
head of the Sangh Parivar (the fra-
ternity of pro-Hindu groups) could-
n't have put in so much effort to
boost Modi only to have him play
the moderate card a la Vajpayee and
Advani.
It will not be long, therefore, before
the RSS and the VHP express their
approval or disapproval of Modi. If
it is the former, then Modi's reign
will head towards a "disaster", as
Advani told BJP president Rajnath
Singh, since it will confirm all the
standard fears about Modi.
If it is the latter, then Modi will find
the ground slipping from under his
feet with the RSS withdrawing its
cadres. Amulya Ganguli
Obama, Rouhani about to
clasp on the trapeze
India reclaiming global
leadership on climate change
The decision making systems in
Washington must be saturated with
memos, position papers, back-
grounders, by dove-nosed hawks and
hawk-nosed doves, both in and out-
side the administration, on the at-
mospherics required for the initial
moves with Iran after the recent
signs of a thaw. President Hassan
Rouhani, meanwhile, must also be
casting a glance on the internal dy-
namics in Iran. That a casual meeting
with President Barack Obama on the
margins of the UN General Assem-
bly did "not" take place is, by the ad-
mission of Iranian diplomats, a
"good outcome" because a "casual"
meeting at such a delicate juncture
would give out misleading signals.
The ball is in play and in the foresee-
able future a dour, defensive game
should be expected. There are going
to be no electrifying, solo runs
through the field. President George
W. Bush got the US into a jam in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama learnt
his lesson the hard way: that was the
wrong way to go. His 2009 speech in
Cairo was the route he had charted
for himself but it took him a full term
to realize that there is a Presidency,
an establishment and the Deep State,
circumventing Obama. Israeli and
Saudis, Washington insiders much
before Obama was conceived, began
to play that system, fast and loose.
It is commonly recognized in
Jerusalem, and elsewhere, that the
Likud PM nurses an adversarial
chemistry with the US President. He
went ahead with Jewish settlements
in a most insulting reception to US
Vice President, Joe Biden a year ago.
That was precisely what Biden had
come to prevent. To reverse the Arab
Spring, Security Council Resolution
1973 was brazenly misused for
NATO strikes over Libya, a misuse
Vladimir Putin has not forgotten to
this day. Saeed Naqvi
When Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh launched India's National Ac-
tion Plan on Climate Change in 2008
and its target to reduce energy inten-
sity, he was hailed as a global leader
for taking bold steps to address the
issue. More recently, India has re-
ceived a wake-up call from climate-
driven tragedies such as the floods in
Uttarakhand and the dire droughts of
2012 and and Manmohan Singh is
once again returning to a leadership
role. Earlier this month, the Indian
prime minister joined Chinese Presi-
dent Xi Jinping, US President Barack
Obama and the other G-20 leaders to
support "full implementation of the
agreed outcomes under the United
Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC)" and its
ongoing negotiations towards a new
UN climate treaty by 2015. India and
the other G20 leaders also agreed to
support "operationalization of the
Green Climate Fund" and to "sup-
port...using the Montreal Protocol to
phase down the production and con-
sumption of hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs)...," leaving HFCs within the
UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol for
"accounting and reporting of emis-
sions." There are many benefits to
India from supporting the Montreal
Protocol strategy. First, with India's
leadership, it will now be possible to
quickly complete the consensus to
phase out HFCs, providing the world
with significant near-term climate
protection through a treaty that never
fails. The HFC phase down will avoid
the equivalent of 100 billion tonnes
of carbon dioxide by 2050 and up to
0.5 C of warming by the end of the
century. Second, the HFC amend-
ment will catalyze improvements in
the energy efficiency of refrigerators,
air conditioners (both stationary and
in vehicles), and other equipment
using HFCs as refrigerants. This
means using less electricity to operate
refrigerators and air conditioners,
which means lower fossil fuel use
and lower carbon dioxide emissions,
giving this strategy a double climate
benefit. These efficiency gains will
save money for consumers and re-
duce India's import burden of fossil
fuels and the current account deficit,
a key parameter for India's recent fi-
nancial crisis. Third, the HFC amend-
ment will reaffirm the principle of
"common but differentiated responsi-
bility" for climate protection. This is
a central principle for India and in-
deed all developing countries during
all climate negotiations. Simply put,
this principle means that all countries
must do their part to solve climate
change - our common responsibility
- but that some have greater respon-
sibility and capabilities to do more,
sooner - the differentiated responsi-
bility. All parties to the Montreal Pro-
tocol fully follow this principle.
Developed countries act first to phase
out their production and use of the
CFCs and other ozone-depleting
gases, while developing countries are
given a grace period of several years
to continue their production and use.
At the end of the grace period, the de-
veloping countries are required to
take their own actions to phase out
controlled chemicals, with the devel-
oped countries paying the agreed in-
cremental costs of implementing the
transitions to environmentally
friendly substitutes in the developing
countries. The Montreal Protocol's
dedicated funding mechanism was set
up with India's diplomatic leadership
in 1990, and so far has paid more than
$3 billion dollars to developing coun-
tries, including funding to support na-
tional ozone offices in all 147
developing countries. The Montreal
Protocol's approach to solving the
threat to the ozone layer has phased
out nearly 100 dangerous chemicals
by nearly 100 percent, saving mil-
lions of lives and preventing untold
other damage to the planet. Fourthly,
success with the HFC amendment
under the Montreal Protocol will help
build the trust and momentum needed
to conclude a successful agreement
under the UN climate negotiations in
2015. Leadership on climate policy
must come from the heads of state,
and the leaders of the large
economies must work together to
pave the way forward for all coun-
tries of the world. The agreement by
India, China, and the US, along with
the other G20 leaders, shows this is
possible. Manmohan Singh is now
preparing for a bilateral summit with
the US and talks with President
Obama end-September. He has an op-
portunity to demonstrate his leader-
ship in climate change in a renewed
way. This year India is reclaiming its
rightful place as a leader among na-
tions for the essential task of protect-
ing our common climate and the
future of humanity.
Manu Sharma

SCIENCE AND TECH

SCIENCE

SCIENCE AND TECH

AND TECH

AND TECH

Chandigarh
7
China advocates peaceful
use of space technology
Vidya launches tech-based
learning system
Beijing
Chinese Vice President Li Yuan-
chao Monday called for peaceful
exploration and use of space tech-
nology to serve the interests of peo-
ple and countries throughout the
world. Addressing the opening cer-
emony of the 64th International As-
tronautical Congress (IAC 2013),
Li said space resources were the
common wealth of mankind and
countries enjoy equal rights to use
such resources, Xinhua reported. It
would be a blessing for mankind if
space technologies are used for
peace; if they are used for war it
would be a human disaster, he said.
China was willing to share its expe-
rience with other countries in using
space technologies to boost eco-
nomic development, the vice presi-
dent said. The conference is being
held Sep 23-27.With its theme
"Promoting Space Development for
the Benefits of Mankind", the event
has attracted around 3,600 people
including leading space scientists,
academics, researchers, industry
and commerce executives, students
and young professionals from 74
countries.
Thanapur (Uttar Pradesh)
Actress Vidya Balan here Sunday
launched a mobile phone-based
learning system that seeks to make
the learning process interesting for
children. According to the system,
following a missed call on toll free
No.18001208989, a recorded mes-
sage would play on the return call
that would take children through a
learning module in an interesting
manner. The learning system, as part
of Nihar Naturals Shanti Amla's
'Chotte Kadam Pragati ki Aur' initia-
tive, will help children learn English
words. The brand, in association with
Child Relief and You (CRY) India, is
in its second phase of the campaign
and brand ambassador Vidya showed
how to use the IVR (interactive voice
response) system. "I did a similar
thing (play a teacher) last year in
Lusa village of Mirzapur district. But
this time, I had more information to
share," Vidya told IANS here. She
even used Bollywood songs to teach
children of the village, also situated
in the same district. The "Paa" star
believes movies have the largest
reach in this context. "When you use
a song to tell them something ... you
are hoping it stays with them. It has
strong impact on them," said Vidya.
Nihar Naturals Shanti Amla in asso-
ciation with CRY also created a
learning environment by placing
wind chimes of alphabets and num-
bers and wall paintings with simple
Hindi to English translations in the
village. Vidya also interacted with
self-help group women who are
spearheading the campaign in their
respective regions. They took a
pledge to ensure the progress of chil-
dren's education. Launched in Sep-
tember 2012, the initiative, aimed at
empowering women to support chil-
dren's education in the country, has
made an impact on many lives. As
part of the initiative, two percent of
all proceeds from the sale of the hair
oil are contributed to the cause of
children's education. Nihar Naturals
Shanti Amla has so far supported 19
projects across 10 states, including
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
Rajasthan. Across India, 36,058 chil-
dren have got the opportunity to get
educated. Vidya highlighted that in
Lusa village alone, the initiative
helped motivate 128 children to stay
in school, 31 dropouts to re-enrol and
upgrade middle school infrastructure.
Abracadabra! Kerala magician gets
US patent for power generation
Thiruvananthapuram
M.C. David, a 57-year-old amateur
magician from Kerala, has secured
a US patent for an invention that
generates electricity "anywhere,
anytime". The invention relates to
generation of electricity from grav-
itational energy.
An iron pipe, filled with water, is
placed vertically and hollow balls
made of concrete or wood are
driven into the pipe from below. As
each ball rises due to buoyancy and
is forced out of the pipe, it falls on
to a moving platform which is con-
nected to a wheel. The wheel is
connected to a generator and elec-
tricity is generated, David said.
David sums up his invention as one
that can generate "energy anywhere
anytime" in every household.
The principle of buoyancy is used
to raise the solid objects to the de-
sired height prior to letting them
fall on to the platform. In the copy
of the patent granted by the Direc-
tor of the United States Patent and
Trademark Office, it states the re-
quirements of law have been com-
piled with and it has been
determined that a patent on the in-
vention shall be granted under the
law. After close to two decades
working in Qatar and Bahrain as a
quantity surveyor/ estimator with
leading companies, David returned
for good to his home in Kayamku-
lam, about 100 km from the state
capital, three months back. Since
Deep Impact comet research
mission ends: NASA
Washington
The US space agency has an-
nounced an end to its eight-year
Deep Impact mission that included
an unprecedented impact, comet
flybys and the return of approxi-
mately 500,000 images of celestial
objects, Xinhua reported Friday.
Deep Impact was most travelled
comet research mission in history,
going about 4.7 billion miles (7.58
billion km). The project team at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) gave up on the Deep Impact
after being unable to communicate
with the spacecraft for more than a
month. The last communication
with the probe was Aug 8.
"Deep Impact has been a fantastic,
long-lasting spacecraft that has
produced far more data than we had
planned," Mike A'Hearn, Deep Im-
pact principal investigator at the
University of Maryland said in a
statement. "It has revolutionised
our understanding of comets and
their activity." Launched in January
2005, the spacecraft first made
worldwide headlines July 4, 2005,
when it released a refrigerator-
sized impactor to collide spectacu-
larly with comet Tempel 1, giving
scientists their first-ever view of
pristine material from inside a
comet.
then, he has been trying out exper-
iments on his novel project.
"After my wife died a decade back,
I did not think of anything
else...and only this project was in
my mind. In 2008, I applied for In-
dian patent but am yet to hear from
them. I got the US patent last
month," David said. He tried this
successfully on a model and is now
trying it out on a much bigger
scale."The new prototype has been
prepared using the services of a
blacksmith and would be ready
shortly," he said. "From what I
have calculated any household can
erect this at a cost of just Rs.2 lakh
and can meet their electricity de-
mands. The biggest advantage is
that this is totally pollution-free
and very cheap," David said.David
said his invention is based on con-
tinuously converting the potential
gravitational energy of falling solid
objects on a moving platform to
electrical energy.
Louboutin's new app to match skin tone
with shoes
Paris
French footwear designer Christian
Louboutin has introduced the Nudes
collection and a free iPhone that will
help buyers decide which shade suits
their skin tone best. The app is called
Louboutin Shades and it allows one
to take a photo of their foot and find
the matching shade of nude, reports.
"The shoes are there to give the
woman an extra lift, not to take atten-
tion away from the legs and what she
is wearing. They disappear like magic
and become a fluid extension of her
legs, as in a sketch, elongating the sil-
houette," Louboutin said. The 50-
year-old introduced the Nudes
collection in select stores internation-
ally, a re-imagining of his five most
popular styles -- Pigalle, Fifi, Simple
Pump, Flo and Vendome -- in shades
meant to match the wearer's skin
tone.
Worldfloat goes
beyond Facebook
with search
engine
New Delhi
Indian social networking site World-
float has introduced a search engine
that will help users access real-time
news, information and images while
networking. Worldfloat.com founder
Pushkar Mahatta said the new feature
would help the company widen its
user base. He said the new feature on
India's homegrown social networking
site would work like the search en-
gines of global players like Google
and Yahoo."The new search engine is
one of its kind in India. No other site
has the facility of social networking
as well as search engine which
sources news from all over the world
on a real-time basis by automatic al-
gorithms," Mahatta said.
Worldfloat.com, which was launched
in June 2012, claims to have nearly
30 million users in 62 countries
across the world. A substantial num-
ber of them are in India. Mahatta said
with the introduction of new features,
Worldfloat has become unique in
many ways as even the global players
like Facebook don't have search en-
gine facilities."Right now social net-
working and search engine are
separate media. We want Worldfloat
to be a bridge between social net-
working and searching the world,"
Mahatta told. Worldfloat would soon
introduce "sharing" feature in the
search engine by which users will be
able to share news and information
with other users and connect with
people of common interest, Mahatta
said. "People interested in technology
can meet with the other people inter-
ested in technology; similarly doctors
can meet doctors, architects can meet
architects from various cities of the
world," he said.
29 Sept Sunday Set Shimla_Layout 1 9/26/2013 11:40 AM Page 7

POLITICS

POLITICS

POLITICS

Chandigarh
8
Congress has lost capacity
to fight BJP: Modi
SC reserves order on
Jayalalithaa's plea
Goel to file criminal complaint
against Kejriwal
Bhopal
The Congress has lost the capacity
to fight the BJP, Gujarat Chief Min-
ister Narendra Modi said Wednes-
day, adding that the coming
assembly and Lok Sabha polls will
be fought by the "CBI and not the
Congress". Addressing a massive
"Karyakarta Mahakumbh" (party
workers' mega conclave) here,
Modi, who is the Bharatiya Janata
Party's prime ministerial candidate,
took repeated digs at the Congress
and called upon party workers to rid
the country of the party that heads
the coalition central government. He
said that "a Congress-free India"
will fulfil "Mahatma Gandhi's desire
of disbanding the Congress".
The BJP sought to put up a show of
unity at the rally in the poll-bound
state with party veteran L.K. Advani
sharing dais with Modi for the first
time after the latter was named as
the party's prime ministerial candi-
date. Advani had not attended a
party meeting earlier this month that
selected Modi as the BJP face in the
2014 general elections. A galaxy of
BJP leaders attended the Bhopal
rally. Modi, who was the main
speaker at the rally, referred to the
Congress-led United Progressive
Alliance government as "sultanate"
and "Delhi ke shahanshah (rulers of
Delhi)" in his nearly 35 minute
speech. Attacking the Congress,
Modi said the party was not going to
put up candidates in the assembly
elections in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi,
Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and in the
general elections and the CBI would
fight the elections on its behalf.
"The Congress is not going to put up
its candidates. It is not the Congress
but the CBI which will fight the
polls. The Congress does not have
the capacity to fight the BJP.
They have fielded the CBI. It (Con-
gress) should hear clearly how it had
been paid back by people for the
atrocities of the emergency," he
said. Former prime minister Indira
Gandhi had imposed a state of emer-
gency in 1975 that lasted 18 months
during which political opponents
were jailed, civil liberties curtailed
and press censored. The BJP has
often accused the Congress of mis-
using the CBI for its political ends.
Modi's close aide and former Gu-
jarat minister Amit Shah is expected
to be quizzed by the CBI in the
Ishrat Jahan alleged staged shootout
case. The Modi government has
been facing the heat over alleged
stage shootouts in the state with sus-
pended police officer D.G. Vanzara
alleging in a letter that the chief
minister and Shah were also to
blame for the incidents. The work-
ers conclave was organised on the
birth anniversary of party ideologue
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay and
seen as a show of strength by the
Shivraj Singh Chouhan government
in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP is
seeking a third successive term in
the assembly elections to be held
later this year. Modi heaped lavish
praise on Chouhan and said the
chief minister deserved the maxi-
mum credit for "forcing" the Con-
gress to talk of inclusive growth. At-
tacking the Congress over corrup-
tion, he said if "numeral one is put
in Bhopal, the number of zeros (for
the money involved in graft) will go
upto Janpath (the Delhi road which
has the residence of Congress pres-
ident Sonia Gandhi". He said people
should think of their future genera-
tion while casting their vote. "You
have faced difficulties but do you
want your children to be forced to
live in poverty and illiteracy...," he
said. He said all surveys were in
favour of the BJP. "People say there
is a storm in favour of the BJP from
Kashmir to Kanyakumari. We also
feel good listening to this," Modi
said. Modi said it was the duty of
party workers to translate the wave
of support into votes. He said the
Congress-led central government
had stopped bringing out a progress
report on the 20-point programme
as the BJP or National Democratic
Alliance-ruled states had been
among the top five performers for
the past several years. Modi alleged
the Congress government in Mad-
hya Pradesh led by former chief
minister Digvijay Singh had "de-
stroyed" the state.
"Today Madhya Pradesh is ready for
a leap. The Congress is hungry for
the last 10 years. If a mistake is
made (Congress comes to power),
you can imagine how things will
take a turn for the bad," Modi said.
He accused the UPA government of
discriminating with the BJP govern-
ment in Madhya Pradesh. Chouhan
slammed the Congress for corrup-
tion. "A stands for Adarsh scam...Z
for zamin (land) scam," he said. BJP
president Rajnath Singh accused the
Congress of resorting to lies to drag
the name of the Rashtriya Swayam-
sevak Sangh, the ideological foun-
tainhead of BJP, in a blasts case in
Jaipur. The rally was also attended
by BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj,
Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti.
New Delhi
The Supreme Court Wednesday re-
served its order on Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J. Jayalalithaa's plea seeking
to bring back a Karnataka prosecutor
and retaining after retirement a judge
hearing an illegal assets case against
her. The trial court judge hearing the
case is due to retire Sep 30 while Spe-
cial Public Prosecutor (SPP) Bhavani
Singh was recently removed from the
case by the Karnataka government.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister con-
tended that removal of Bhavani Singh
and not giving extension to the trial
court judge would further delay the
proceedings in the case that is pend-
ing for last 18 years. The apex court
bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and
Justice S.A. Bobde reserved the order
as her senior counsel Shekhar
Naphade told the court that under Ar-
ticle 21 of the constitution Jay-
alalithaa had a right to speedy justice
which would be frustrated if the pre-
siding judge was not given an exten-
sion upon his retirement. Naphade
said if the trial judge was not given
an extension, then the new SPP and
judge would require a lot of time to
peruse the evidence running into
34,000 pages which would further
delay the 18-year-old case, which is
now nearing conclusion. Naphade as-
sailed the attempts by senior counsel
Vikas Singh, appearing for DMK
general secretary K. Anbazhagan,
casting aspersions over the presiding
judge. "They can move the higher
court saying that the trial court judge
is guilty of misdemeanour of miscon-
duct" but no insinuation could be
made against him, he said. Unless
upset by the higher court, the verdict
of the trial court remains final, he said
contesting Attorney General G.E. Va-
hanvati's submission that a retiring
judge could not be given extension.
Jayalalithaa's counsel said that serv-
ice conditions of judiciary were in
line with the service conditions of
civil servants and under the rule any
retiring person could be offered re-
employment. Anbazhagan's counsel
assailed the manner in which SPP
Bhavani Singh conducted the prose-
cution's case in the trial court. Not
only the investigating officer was al-
lowed to become the defence witness
but he also chose not to cross-exam-
ine him. The case is based on a peti-
tion filed by Anbazhagan.
The case relates to the period when
she was chief minister 1991-1996 and
involves an amont Rs.66 crore dis-
proportionate to her known sources
of income. The trial in the case was
shifted outside Chennai by the apex
court in 2003 to ensure a free and fair
trial.
No attempt to protect convicted
lawmakers: Sibal
New Delhi
Delhi BJP president Vijay Goel will
file a criminal complaint against AAP
leader Arvind Kejriwal "in view of
mischievous and baseless allegations
of corruption" levelled by him. A
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) release
Wednesday said Goel served a legal
notice of defamation on Kejriwal but
the reply given by the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) leader lacked specific
details of his allegations. "The reply
given by Kejriwal has no specific de-
tails that could prove even an iota of
the allegations levelled against the
Delhi BJP president. Hence, the Delhi
BJP president is compelled to file a
criminal complaint against Kejriwal,"
the release said. The party said Kejri-
wal's "vitriolic and personal attack"
against the party was helping the
Congress.
"It is surprising that instead of target-
ing the Congress government, AAP
leaders are targeting the main oppo-
sition party BJP which is all set to de-
feat Congress," the release said.BJP
claimed that people had seen through
"Kejriwal's attempts to divide the
anti-incumbency vote" and his party
was losing support. Goel, in the legal
notice sent Sep 23, said Kejriwal
made defamatory statements deliber-
ately and with mala fide intention
through his pre-recorded telephone
messages, radio broadcasts and tele-
vised debates. He sought an uncondi-
tional apology from Kejriwal and
Rs.1 crore as damages towards ha-
rassment and mental agony. Kejriwal,
in his telephone messages and radio
broadcasts, had targeted both Con-
gress and BJP. Goel cited Kejriwal's
telephone messages and radio broad-
casts in his legal notice. In his reply
to Goel's notice, Kejriwal said
Wednesday that there was no ques-
tion of tendering an apology. "You
have asked me to tender an apology.
There is no question. We have been
fighting against corruption and will
continue to do so." The AAP leader
also pointed at alleged corruption in
the working of the Municipal Corpo-
ration of Delhi, run by the BJP.
Chandigarh
Even as the opposition BJP leaders
urged the president not to sign an or-
dinance to protect convicted law-
makers, Law and Justice Minister
Kapil Sibal Wednesday said there
was no attempt by the central gov-
ernment to shield convicted politi-
cians. Sibal, who was here to attend
a function of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court Bar Associa-
tion, claimed the ordinance being
brought in by the government was in
line with the recent Supreme Court
ruling which said that leaders con-
victed for two years or more would
be disqualified as members of the
legislature.The law minister said the
ordinance was being misunderstood
Ranchi
Jharkhand Agriculture Minister and
Congress leader Yogendra Sao has
sought the help of Chief Minister He-
mant Soren in withdrawing legal
cases pending against him, sources in
the state government said Thursday.
Sao wrote to the chief minister de-
manding the withdrawal of cases
pending against him, and a narco test
on the investigating officer (IO), re-
liable sources said. Two cases, in-
cluding one of extortion, are pending
against the minister. Sao alleged in
his letter to Soren that he had been
implicated in false cases, and the in-
vestigation of the alleged crimes was
not done properly. Sao is not unac-
customed to being in the news for the
wrong reasons. When he became
minister, he told reporters: "To be-
come a minister, I did lots of home-
work, including stitching up shoes of
central leaders." On another occa-
sion, he said: "Sonia Gandhi is my
mother, and Rahul is my big
brother".The Congress has reacted
with caution to his statements. "The
issue has come to notice of the party.
We will look into the matter and an
appropriate decision will be taken
after getting the details," Shailesh
Sinha, chief spokesperson of the
Jharkhand unit of the Congress, told.
IANS
adding that it was going beyond the
scope of the Supreme Court ruling
by making the law more stringent
for convicted lawmakers. "There is
no attempt by the government to
protect any convicted politician. No
one has read the ordinance and un-
derstood it correctly," Sibal said. He
said he was surprised at the reaction
of Leader of Opposition Sushma
Swaraj, who had Wednesday de-
manded that the president should not
sign the ordinance on convicted law-
makers saying that the government
was trying to protect some convicted
leaders. Sibal said the opposition
party and the media were projecting
the ordinance in a wrong way.
Jharkhand minister
takes his legal troubles
Chandigarh
9
QUOTE FIRE
POLITICAL CAMP NEWS
India's Muslims can survive without political protection
BJP leader Yashwant
Sinha said:
"The government stands
condemned in the eyes
of the people of the
country for taking this
unconstitutional and im-
moral route."
Prashant Bhushan, ad-
vocate and AAP leader
said:
"The Supreme Court had
said that laws should not
be different for the com-
mon man and for MPs.
This ordinance is against
that.
Law and Justice Minis-
ter Kapil Sibal told re-
porters in Chandigarh:
"There is no attempt by
the government to pro-
tect any convicted politi-
cian. No one has read the
ordinance and under-
stood it correctly."
, Congress spokesper-
son Raj Babbar said:
"The Congress doesn't
want to protect any con-
victed law maker. If he is
finally convicted he will
be disqualified as per
law."
Sitaram Yechury said:
that at an all-party meet-
ing convened to discuss
the issue, it was decided
that if somebody has
been convicted in a
lower court, it is possible
that he gets reprieve
from the higher court.
Lok Sabha Sushma
Swaraj of the BJP
tweeted:
"Union cabinet has ap-
proved an ordinance on
convicted MPs. We are
opposed to this. We re-
quest the president not to
sign this ordinance."
Party president Arvind
Kejriwal said:
"We will challenge the
ordinance in the
Supreme Court if it
passes."
Ordinance should be torn up: Rahul Gandhi
Divisive Congress should be thrown out: Modi
Ordinance brings relief to Bihar's tainted law-makers
New Delhi
In what is being seen as a divide
between the government and the
ruling party, Congress vice presi-
dent Rahul Gandhi Friday said the
Manmohan Singh government was
"wrong" in clearing an ordinance
that seeks to save convicted law-
makers from disqualification and,
in his opinion, it should be "torn up
and thrown away". "What the gov-
ernment has done is wrong,"
Gandhi told journalists in a dra-
matic appearance at the Press Club
of India this afternoon and a three-
minute interaction with the media
there. Seeking to project the Con-
gress party's line on the controver-
sial ordinance - sent by the cabinet
to the president - that has evoked
sharp response from sections of the
opposition and the public at large,
Gandhi said: "It is time to stop this
nonsense. "My opinion of the ordi-
nance is that it is completely non-
sense and should be torn up and
thrown away." He said the ordi-
nance was born out of "political
considerations" and it was time
"political parties, including mine,
should stop making these kind of
compromises."The arguments that
are being made and I have heard
the arguments in my organisation,
the arguments that are being made
is that we need to do this because
of political considerations. Every-
body does this, the Congress party
does this, the BJP does it, the
Janata Dal does this,
Samajwadi Party does it," a
bearded Gandhi, wearing his trade-
mark kurta-pyjama, said."Whether
it is the Congress or the BJP, we
cannot continue make these small
compromises. I am not interested
in what any opposition leader says.
I am not interested in what the
Congress party is doing.
Trichy (Tamil Nadu)
Divisiveness is in the DNA of the
Congress and it has to be ousted
to protect India's integrity, BJP's
prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi said Thursday.
Addressing a huge rally of over
200,000 people, Modi said: "Divi-
sive nature is in the genes of Con-
gress... If the nation's integrity has
to be protected, then we have to
understand Congress' DNA. Con-
gress is divisive in its thinking,
speech and other aspects." Ma-
hatma Gandhi understood this and
wanted the Congress to be dis-
banded soon after independence,
said Modi who began his speech
in Tamil and spoke for about two
minutes in it before switching
over to a mixture of Hindi and
English. "If the nation has to be
saved, then it should be freed
from Congress, its allies and oth-
ers supporting them," he said in
the Tamil Nadu town, some 350
km from Chennai, from a dais de-
signed like the Red Fort. He said
it was the Congress that gave
"separate status" for Kashmir
under the Indian constitution. He
began his address with a request
to observe two-minute silence in
memory of the Indian security
personnel who lost their lives in
the terror attack in Kashmir
Thursday and those Indians who
lost their lives in the terror attack
in a Nairobi mall earlier this week.
Modi wondered whether Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh should
hold talks with his Pakistani coun-
terpart under foreign pressure
when Indian soldiers are getting
killed. Seeking to reach out to
people of Tamil Nadu, Modi
quoted Tamil poet Ramalingam
Pillai who said the Tamilian race
has a special quality.
Patna
Many of Bihar's MPs facing crim-
inal charges are relaxed, and their
supporters upbeat, after the union
cabinet approved an ordinance to
negate a Supreme Court order dis-
qualifying members of parliament
and legislatures convicted in crim-
inal cases. Legislators Lalu Prasad,
Jagdish Sharma, Purnmasi Ram,
Om Prakash, Rama Devi, Maha-
bali Singh are among those who
felt relieved with the cabinet ap-
proval of the ordinance. "It is a big
relief to Laluji as a special court in
Ranchi, Jharkhand, is about to pro-
nounce on Sep 30 conviction in the
multi-crore fodder scam. He is
likely to be convicted in the case,"
a Rashtriya Janata Dal worker
close to Lalu Prasad said here Fri-
day. Lalu Prasad, who is the
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief,
appeared worried till early Tues-
day, hours before the union cabinet
cleared the ordinance allowing
MPs and legislators to retain their
membership of the house despite
being convicted. "We will organise
a celebration after court's verdict in
fodder scam on September 30,"
said Akhilesh Yadav, an RJD
worker. "A relief to Laluji is a god
sent mercy to the party, which is
facing tough time for last eight
years after it was ousted from the
power in Bihar," an RJD leader
said. According to official records,
of the 40 members of parliament
from Bihar, a dozen are facing
criminal charges including for
murder, intimidation, assault, fi-
nancial fraud and criminal conspir-
acy. Janata Dal-United MP Jagdish
Sharma is an accused in the fodder
scam, and BJP MP Rama Devi is
facing serious criminal charges.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
criticised the Congress-led central
government for bringing the ordi-
nance to protect convicted law-
makers from immediate
disqualification.
It's a national tragedy that policymak-
ers needed a 2006 report to realise
that Muslims in India are still back-
ward. The bigger tragedy is the UPA
government hasn't really done any-
thing to genuinely address the find-
ings of the Sachar Committee. We
don't need another report to confirm
this. Yet it's tempting to quote the
findings of the "Social Development
Report 2012: Minorities at the Mar-
gins" by the Council for Social De-
velopment (CSD). More than its con-
tents, what makes it so revealing are
the people who have prepared it.
Coming from Zoya Hasan, Mushirul
Hasan, Tanweer Fazal, Javed Alam
Khan and Abusaleh Sharif, the report
exposes UPA's agenda of ensuring
that Muslims remain backward
enough to play into its vote bank pol-
itics. The game-plan is to keep the
community subjugated and at the
same time present a Muslim-friendly
face. The gambit is played through
the crucial sphere of education. As
pointed out in the report, it has fo-
cussed programmes intended to im-
prove school education among
Muslims on modernization of
madarsas. This is vote-bank politics
at its worst. For one, very few Mus-
lim children go to madarsas. The re-
port puts it at 4 percent. This is be-
cause the parents of 96 percent of
Muslim children know madarasa ed-
ucation can do nothing to ensure the
future of their children. The real em-
powerment will happen only when
the government creates opportunities
for every Muslim child to join the
formal and mainstream education.
The need of the hour is quality formal
and vocational education with a fair
dose of religious and moral syllabus.
Despite UPA-aided modernization,
madarsas deliver just the reverse.
Their style tends to keep the students
insulated from the mainstream. With
the hardline Tablighi ideology domi-
nating the madarasa scene in India,
the students get neither spiritual train-
ing powerful enough to trigger inner
transformation nor worldly skills. In
short, madrasas churn out misfits.
On convicted lawmakers

POLITICS

POLITICS

POLITICS

On another occa-
s

On another occa-
s

Chandigarh
10
As dengue cases rise, Azad asks
people to take preventive steps
New Delhi
As Delhi sees a spurt in dengue cases,
union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi
Azad Thursday asked people to take
preventive steps and also directed pri-
vate hospitals to reserve beds for
those suffering from the mosquito-
borne disease. Speaking to reporters
after holding a two-hour-long high-
level meet that was attended by both
Delhi and central health officials,
Azad said: "Delhi has seen a large
number of cases, the situation in the
other states is not as alarming."
Nearly 50 officials of the Delhi gov-
ernment as well as the union health
ministry attended the meet.
Azad also asked people to take pre-
ventive steps, like cleaning water
coolers and keeping water tanks cov-
ered. He said the centre has asked pri-
vate hospitals and nursing homes in
the capital to reserve up to 10 beds for
dengue patients. Azad assured people
that there was no shortage of blood
platelets and added that the Red
Cross would supply blood to hospi-
tals as and when it was required.
The health minister said it was also
decided at the meeting to provide Ac-
credited Social Health Workers
(ASHAs) or health workers in rural
areas with kits to test dengue.
Nearly 1,400 dengue cases have been
reported from the capital and adjoin-
ing areas. At least five people have
died of dengue in Delhi.
Punjab launches massive cancer
awareness campaign
Chandigarh
Faced with rising number of cases of
cancer in the state, the Punjab gov-
ernment Tuesday launched a mas-
sive cancer awareness campaign in
the state.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash
Singh Badal and cricketer Yuvraj
Singh, both of whom have battled
cancer, launched the campaign here.
Yuvraj Singh has been made the
brand ambassador of the campaign.
Badal said the campaign was aimed
at early detection and timely treat-
ment of cancer at all district level
hospitals, active participation of
noted oncologists from leading can-
cer hospitals and support from
NGOs. "I have myself suffered from
cancer nearly 20 years ago and have
fought it. Yuvraj Singh has fought
against the disease so bravely. My
father and wife both died of cancer.
We have launched this campaign so
that people are made aware of cancer
and early detection of the disease
takes place," Badal told media here.
The Punjab health department is or-
ganizing massive cancer screening
camps in all 22 districts Sep 28-29,
said Principal Secretary (Health)
Vini Mahajan. "Three state-of-the-
art cancer treatment hospitals at
Baba Farid Medical University of
Health Sciences at Faridkot, the
Medical College at Amritsar and the
Medical College at Patiala, have
been established and equipped with
latest cancer detection and treatment
equipment," Badal said.
He said that the state government is
also establishing a new 400-bedded
Cancer Hospital at Mullanpur, near
Chandigarh, in collaboration with
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Mumbai (BARC), besides a 100-
bedded cancer treatment hospital at
Bathinda. "The state government
had also established a dedicated fund
of Rs. 200 crore for cancer treatment
in the state. As on date the govern-
ment is providing Rs. 1.5 lakh to
each cancer patient for treatment,"
Badal said.
Bathinda, Mansa, Sangrur, Barnala
and Muktsar district in south-west
Punjab, which comprise the state's
Malwa belt (south of river Sutlej),
are the worst-affected by cancer
cases. Most surveys and reports have
indicated that the high incidence of
cancer is owing to excessive use of
pesticides by farmers in this belt
which is known for high agricultural
productivity. A government survey
conducted last year, had revealed a
shocking 34,430 deaths - nearly 19
deaths per day - in the last five years
due to cancer. This forced the gov-
ernment to initiate steps for making
the state cancer-free. The door-to-
door health department survey cov-
ered nearly 97 percent of Punjab's
2.70 crore population and had
brought out glaring figures of cancer
deaths and the spread of the fatal dis-
ease in the agrarian state.
Tips for a healthy heart
* Get active. Regular brisk
walking for 30-45 minutes, or
moderate exercise every day
helps your heart and overall
well-being
* Watch whats on your plate.
Eat fresh vegetables and fruits,
wholegrain bread and rice, and
look out for food with high
trans-fatty acid. Junk the junk
food
* Avoid smoking
* Monitor your alcohol intake
* Learn to manage your stress.
An eminent cardiologist very
pragmatically said that its not
possible not to get stressed, but
managing it you can. He relies
on music
London
Britain will contribute one billion
pounds ($1.5 billion) to the Global
Fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and
Malaria over the next three years, said
Justine Greening, international devel-
opment secretary at the UN.
The investment, she said, showed
Britain was leading the way in inter-
national aid and claimed the contribu-
tion would save a life every three
minutes, Daily Express reported Tues-
day. The aid will fund lifesaving anti-
retroviral therapy for 750,000 people
living with HIV, 32 million more in-
secticide-treated nets to prevent the
transmission of malaria and TB treat-
ment for over a million people. The
Global Fund was created in 2002 as a
public private partnership to raise
funds to significantly change the
course of HIV/AIDS, TB, and
Malaria. Britain is the third largest
donor, after the US and France. Speak-
ing at the UN General Assembly meet-
ing, Greening said: "AIDS, TB and
Malaria are among the world's biggest
killers despite being entirely prevent-
able and treatable. "The Global Fund
has already helped save millions of
lives but we must keep up the momen-
tum if we are to beat these diseases for
good. "It is in all our interests to help
people live longer, healthier, more pro-
ductive lives so we all need to play our
part in working towards a world free
of HIV/Aids, Malaria and TB."
Glaucoma main cause
for blindness: Doctors
Britain to give $1.5 bn aid
for AIDS, TB, Malaria
New Delhi
Glaucoma has emerged in recent
times as one of the most corroborat-
ing factors for blindness among pa-
tients, doctors in the national capital
said Wednesday.
It originates in the form of minor reti-
nal disease and later because of late
detection develops into glaucoma and
leads to blindness.
"The Indian subcontinent is home to
12 million glaucoma and retinal dis-
ease patients. It is also on the verge
of notching the top position for the
maximum number of patients of glau-
coma and retinal diseases," said
Devinder Sood, director of Eye-Q In-
stitute of Glaucoma, inaugurated here
Wednesday.
The World Retina Week is being ob-
served Sep 23-29.
According to WHO statistics, the
prevalence of glaucoma in India is
2.6 percent. Glaucoma is an eye con-
dition where the optic nerve (nerve
that carries information from our eyes
to the brain) gets damaged usually
due to raised pressure inside eyes.
"What makes glaucoma dreadful
among many other eye diseases is its
covertness," said Ajay Sharma, for-
mer opthalmologist from the All
India Institute of Medical Science
and chairman and managing director
of Eye-Q.
"By the time people realise they are
losing vision, most of the damage has
already been caused," Sharma added.
Doctors suggest regular check-up to
keep a tab on the disease.
"People staying in cities who rush to
the doctor for every reason forget to
do an eye check-up in months, which
might prevent them from being aware
of the eye disorders, which some time
may lead to glaucoma," Sharma
added.
HEALTH

Chandigarh
11
Islamabad
At least 328 people were killed and
over 500 injured in the massive 7.7-
magnitude earthquake that jolted
Pakistan's southwest Balochistan
province Tuesday, Jan Muhammad
Buledi, spokesperson for the
Balochistan government, told Xin-
hua Wednesday. Buledi said Awaran
district of the province - the epicen-
tre of the earthquake - was the worst-
hit area where about 40 to 50 percent
of houses in urban areas and 90 per-
cent houses in rural areas were lev-
elled to the ground. Awaran, 645 km
away from Balochistan's capital
Quetta, is home to 300,000 people
and is among one of the country's
least-developed districts where
health, medical and other facilities
are not easily available. Rasheed
Gadozai, deputy commissioner of
Awaran, told local media that an es-
timated 100,000 people have been
affected in Awaran, while losses in
some of the district's far-flung areas
are yet to be determined as rescue
teams couldn't reach there yet due to
mountainous ridges in the area
where road network was damaged
by the earthquake. The provincial
government started rescue opera-
tions in the area and announced a
budget of about $1.6 million for im-
mediate rescue and relief. The gov-
ernment dispatched two trucks
carrying food for the affected peo-
ple.Awaran's district commissioner
sought help from the army and gov-
ernment, as the district administra-
tion doesn't have adequate facilities
to provide relief to the affected. The
Pakistan army sent 1,600 troops to
the worst hit areas of Khuzdar and
Awaran, and shifted 174 people to
hospitals after rescuing them from
the debris of collapsed houses. The
military has provided 200 tents and
7,000 kg of food to the affected peo-
ple. Meanwhile, a team of 21 mili-
tary doctors and 50 medics arrived
in the area to provide medical treat-
ment. Six army helicopters were tak-
ing part in the rescue work to airlift
the seriously wounded people to
hospitals in the country's southern
port city of Karachi. Pakistan's navy
also set up a medical camp in
Runaway Delhi cash-van
driver arrested
Another Meghalaya cop sacked for rape
Ex-employee kills caretaker,
arrested after fleeing with cash
Woman found murdered in
moving train in Uttar Pradesh
Three-year-old girl raped in Rajasthan
New Delhi
The cash-van driver, who sped away
with Rs.49 lakh Wednesday, has been
arrested and the cash has been recov-
ered, police said Thursday. Satish, 30,
was working with Cash Management
Services (CMS) as a driver under
false identity of Sanjay. He drove
away the cash van around 10.50 a.m.
Wednesday from Karol Bagh area in
central Delhi. The man was, however,
arrested Thursday from Etah in Uttar
Pradesh, along with his cousin and
accomplice Shailender. Police are
still looking for Shailender's brother
Chhotu, who also helped them. Po-
lice said Satish hatched the plan with
Shailender and Chhotu. After driving
away with the van, the three met in
Regharpura locality in Karol Bagh,
where they transferred the money in
two bags.Satish and Shailender then
left for Etah on a motorcycle while
Chhotu boarded a bus.A police offi-
cial said the three robbers were
tracked down on the basis of elec-
tronic surveillance. Satish joined the
cash management company Aug 31
and gave a fake house address in his
office, police said. According to a po-
lice officer, three other employees
Amit Mishra, Kapil and guard F.D.
Sharma were with Sanjay when the
cash van left its main office in Jhan-
dewalan Axis Bank with Rs.83 lakh
in the morning. The van staff put Rs.5
lakh in an ATM in central Delhi's
Faiz Road area, and on reaching an
ATM at Padam Singh Road in Karol
Bagh, Sanjay's colleagues carried
away Rs.29 lakh to replenish cash in
the Axis Bank ATM there, police
said. At this point, Sanjay drove off
with the rest of the money, police
said.
New Delhi
An ex-employee of a company
importing electronic goods killed
its caretaker and fled with Rs.1.5
lakh from the office locker, police
said, adding the accused was ar-
rested. Caretaker Bhagwan Dass,
28, was found murdered Tuesday
morning in his Rajinder Nagar
area office. Firm owner Ravinder
Singh informed the police about
the crime. The owner also told the
police that around Rs.1.5 lakh in
cash kept in the locker was miss-
ing. "On the basis of investigation
it was found that Deepak Kumar,
an ex-employee, was furious over
being replaced. A team laid a trap
and arrested Deepak Kumar, 21,
and Bunty, 22 from the same
area," said Deputy Commissioner
of Police Alok Kumar.
Bhagwan Dass had replaced
Deepak Kumar, who was harbour-
ing ill will against the deceased.
Shillong
The Meghalaya government
Wednesday sacked from service a
policeman accused of raping two
minor sisters, a police official said.
He is the second policeman in the
state to be axed for rape since Au-
gust."The government has termi-
nated from service Sub-Inspector
Nurul Islam from today (Wednes-
day) because of his involvement in
the crime and for absconding after
being accused in the crime," Ra-
machandran Muthu, district police
chief of South West Garo Hills,
told. Islam is the second police of-
ficer in Meghalaya to be dismissed
from service after sub-inspector
S.N. Roy who was sacked last
month for being allegedly involved
in the gang-rape of a 13-year-old
school girl at a city hotel here
March 17, 2011. Islam, who was in
charge of the Ampati Police Sta-
tion, went into a hiding June 2
after escaping from a police quar-
ter at Tura town in the West Garo
Hills, police said. He allegedly
raped a 14-year-old girl in the po-
lice station March 13. On March
31, he raped the victim's 17-year-
old sister at gunpoint in their
house, police said. The officer had
threatened to kill both the girls if
they informed anyone, police said.
"He (Islam) is still on the run and
we have no specific information
about his whereabouts," Muthu
said. At least five policemen, in-
cluding a deputy superintendent of
police and a sub-inspector, were
placed under suspension after
Islam's escape.
Lucknow
A young woman was found mur-
dered Thursday in the toilet of an
AC coach of a train passing
through Uttar Pradesh, police
said.
The woman, aged around 25
years, was found dead in the
coach of the Dibrugarh-Amritsar
Express. Her body was taken off
at Ghazipur railway station, said
a Government Railway Police
(GRP) official. The body was
lying in a pool of blood and the
throat had been slit using a sharp
edged weapon, railway police
said. Passengers of the train, that
links Guwahati in Assam to Am-
ritsar in Punjab, told investigators
that the victim was accompanied
by a man but he had gone miss-
ing. The woman and her compan-
ion dined at Barauni in Bihar and
later the woman left for the wash
room and the man went behind
her, passengers told police.
A bag was found on the woman's
seat but it did not carry any iden-
tity card or rail ticket, an official
said.A badge of the paramilitary
Central Industrial Security Force
was found lying near the bag, po-
lice said.
Jaipur
A three-year-old girl was ab-
ducted and raped by an unidenti-
fied man in Rajasthan, police
Wednesday said. The child has
been admitted to hospital where
her condition was stated to be crit-
ical. According to the police, the
incident occurred at Dabla village
in Sikar district, 120 km from
Jaipur. The girl had gone to get
water from a public water cooler
near her house late Tuesday when
an unidentified man kidnapped
and raped her. He left her near the
railway track and escaped, police
officer Sohan Lal told."The girl
somehow reached her house
bleeding profusely. She was ad-
mitted to a local hospital in Sikar,
but due to her critical condition,
she was referred to JK Lone Hos-
pital in Jaipur today (Wednes-
day)," said the officer. A team of
doctors operated upon the girl
Wednesday. "The doctors said her
condition is stable, but still seri-
ous. Her intestines are damaged,"
the police officer said. "We have
some clues about the man who
raped the girl. We are trying to
trace him," Sohan Lal added.
Pakistan earthquake toll reaches 328
Gwadar area and dispatched a ship
carrying blanket, tents, medicine,
food and water. A navy spokesper-
son said 300 troops have been sent
on aircraft to the quake-hit areas.
The provincial disaster management
authority of Balochistan sent 19
trucks carrying food, water, blan-
kets, tents and other necessities to
the affected people. The earthquake
measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale
hit Balochistan and parts of the
country's east and south provinces of
Punjab and Sindh at 4.29 p.m. Tues-
day.The meteorological department
said Wednesday that several after-
shocks, including one of 5.9 magni-
tude, were recorded following the
major quake.

The National Security
A

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh
C

Bangalore
The second edition of the Banga-
lore Literary Festival opened Fri-
day with a bang, as hundreds of
book lovers and cultural aficiona-
dos flocked to the venue on the
city's outskirts to interact with
their celebrity authors, historians,
actors and theatre personalities.
"There was a huge rush for the
day-long event, which began with
a traditional folk dance (Dolluku-
nita) of the host state (Karnataka),
followed by a talk on spirituality
by Art of Living founder Sri Ravi
Shankar and lively sessions with
literary giants, historians, actors,
artistes," festival trustee and au-
thor Vikram Sampath told re-
porters on the margins. The
three-day fest is being held at a
star hotel in the sprawling Ve-
lankani Park in the electronics
city, about 20 km from Bangalore.
Prominent Kannada poet and play-
wright Chandrashkhara Kambara
flagged off the event in the pres-
ence of celebrity authors such as
U.R. Anathmurthy, historians like
Ramachandra Guha and William
Darlymple, Bollywood actor
Farhan Akhtar, award winning di-
rector Rakesh Omprakash Mehra
and other luminaries.
"The action packed sessions and
noteworthy discussions were
among the sought-after events,
with audiences engaged in all
inter-actions. The overwhelming
response has reinforced our firm
belief that there is no dearth of
zeal for literature, art, culture and
poetry in Bangalore," Sampath
said. As the hero of Bollywood
flick "Bhaag Milka Bhaag",
Akhtar was the cynosure of all, as
he had the stage rocking with ap-
plauds during his narrative on the
biopic in conversation with song-
writer Prasoon Joshi and Mehra.
Fashion designer Wendell Ro-
dricks from Goa was another star
who drew full house as he spoke to
fashion guru Prasad Bidappa on
their favourite subject.
"A woman-oriented panel com-
prising authors Shobaa De, Kish-
war Desai and Gita Aravamudan
discussed sensitive issues like
rape, dowry and female foeticide,
while Darylymple enchanted the
audience with his lecture on the
princes and painters in Mughal
Delhi," Sampath said.
Books of poet and lyricist Gulzar
- "Hindi for Heart", Desai's "Sea
of Innocence" and veteran film
journalist Bhawana Somaaya's
'Talking Cinema' were launched
on the occasion, followed by read-
ings by the respective authors and
lively discussion.
Not to be left out, several chil-
dren's sessions and activity cor-
ners were held at the 'Makkala
Koota' (children's corner) at the
venue and workshops were organ-
ized on Slam Poetry by Bas
Bottcher and Fantasy by Janaki
Murali, while Kathalaya presented
Japanese folklore.
One of the highlights that kept the
audience spellbound was the Car-
natic performance by Mysore
brothers Manjunath and Nagaraj in
association with the Bangalore In-
ternational Arts Festival.
Kolkata
Let the political tensions be damned.
Get ready for a trans-border cultural
ride to Pakistan this Durga Puja.
Bringing together a psychedelic
mash-up of motifs from the trucks of
Peshawar, Karachi and Rawalpindi,
celebrated truck art artist Haider Ali
and his team have painstakingly
recreated the "canvas on wheels" at
a marquee here in an unique cultural
bonding otherwise warring neigh-
bours. A walk through the narrow
alley of Nabin Pally in Hatibagan in
north Kolkata, that exudes an old
world charm, brings one to a
canopied pandal ensconced between
the residences. A peek inside the
passage-like metal arrangement re-
veals a stunning array of roses, par-
tridges and geometrical patterns in a
riot of colours that transports one to
the vibrant world of Pakistan's truck
art. Dubbed as "moving art", the
genre is used to deck up trucks and
other moving vehicles in a competi-
tive display of ownership and status
in the country. For Gopal Poddar, a
veteran consultant for Durga Puja
themes and designs, who first
thought of introducing truck art as a
marquee theme this year at the
Nabin Pally, given the ongoing strife
between the two nations, a link a la
art would foster unity and peace.
"Hopefully when Indians see the
decorations, they will be inspired to
think differently about
Pakistan...they will take it as a coun-
try equally in love with art and cul-
Agartala
Good museums are an invaluable
source of history and heritage, Vice
President Hamid Ansari said here
Wednesday after inaugurating north-
east India's biggest museum at the
112-year-old Ujjayanta Palace,
Tripura's royal mansion, here.
"Museums provide a wealth of infor-
mation and required resources for ac-
ademics, researchers and students of
history, apart from helping the gen-
eral economy by generating revenue
and employment through promotion
of tourism," Ansari said. The vice
president said it is befitting that
Tripura now has an important mu-
seum in such an impressive heritage
building. The Ujjayanta Palace once
housed the royal families of Tripura,
and later the state legislative assem-
bly. It will now stand as a memorial
to the region's glorious past, the vice
president said. Hamid Ansari, accom-
panied by Tripura Chief Minister
Manik Sarkar and state Higher Edu-
cation Minister Bhanulal Saha, later
took in the sights at the museum, and
appreciated the richness of the ex-
hibits in its collection. "The museum
has embraced a new approach to-
wards exhibits, having adopted a
broader national perspective while re-
maining focused on Tripura and
northeast India. Given the cultural ex-
changes and intermingling of various
cultures of the sub-continent and be-
yond over the centuries, this is a com-
mendable step forward," the vice
president remarked. "The museum is
also expected to serve as a centre for
active research and cultural activities
which will link culture and heritage
to the broader aspect of human devel-
opment in the present-day context.
These are welcome steps and must be
applauded," Ansari said. Chief Min-
ister Sarkar said that more valuable
artifacts would be collected for the
museum from various parts of the
country and abroad. Set up over 800
acres of land in the capital city, Uj-
jayanta Palace was the command hub
until the erstwhile princely Tripura's
accession to India in October 1949.
"The museum will showcase the
lifestyle, arts, culture, tradition and
utility crafts, beside the customs and
practices of various communities re-
siding in northeast India," Kishore
Ambuly, Tripura's higher education
department secretary, told. "The state
museum will exhibit cultural tradi-
tions and the perception of spiritual
life and rituals, religious beliefs, util-
ity articles and aesthetic creative
forms," he said. The collection dis-
played in the 22 galleries of the mu-
seum include sculptures, terracotta
figurines, coins, copper and stone in-
scriptions, bronze images, textiles, oil
paintings, sketches and drawings,
tribal ornaments, musical instru-
ments, art and craft objects, folk arti-
cles and a number of other antique
treasures. Lalit Kala Academy chair-
man K.K. Chakraborty and experts
from various parts of the country
have guided the authorities in setting
up the museum in the erstwhile royal
palace. Ujjayanta Palace, purchased
from the royal family by the Tripura
government in 1972-73 for Rs.25
lakh, housed the state legislative as-
sembly till July 2011. It was con-
structed between 1899 and 1901 by
then Tripura king, Maharaja Radhak-
ishore Manikya Bahadur.
ture, as we are," Poddar told , saying
he scouted for Ali and his co-work-
ers on the internet.
The layout of the pandal - designed
by Ali, Mohammed Iqbal and Mum-
taz Ahmed - resembles the interior of
a truck complete with a replica of the
driver's cabin and the cargo hold.
Eight metal panels, each divided into
around 20 square blocks, border the
glittering inner sanctum which mim-
ics the luxurious interiors of the dri-
ver's cabin - with a typical jutting
steel-panelled head.
"The cabin will be decked up in
colourful metal cut-outs, mirrors and
stickers. It will house the devi (god-
dess) and will dazzle all," Ali ex-
plained. Covering each block, im-
ages from Pakistan's trucks, includ-
ing flashes of snow-capped
mountains, sunsets, flowers and
birds, held together by artistic bor-
ders in contrasting colours and back-
grounds, form a vibrant
kaleidoscope. Fluorescent, magenta,
orange and aquamarine dominate the
colour palette. Fancied by transport
companies and individual owners in
Pakistan as trappings of success,
each bespoke vehicle is a one-of-a-
kind creation. The more ostentatious
and attractive a truck is, the more af-
fluent is its owner.
"Partridges and eagles are really
popular and the birds are shown in
various phases of movements. The
motifs vary from region to region.
It's up to the owner to decide what to
display on their prized possessions,"
said Iqbal. The art has evolved to in-
clude accessories like glitters, stick-
ers and metal embellishments to
revamp the look of trucks.
"Among Indian elements, Agra's Taj
Mahal and the Royal Bengal tiger in
action are a rage.. even though tradi-
tionally animals are not sketched,"
Ahmed revealed as he gracefully
rendered a saffron border to a snow-
capped mountain scene, another in-
vogue composition.
Having exhibited in and taught en-
thusiasts from the US, Britain,
Canada, Turkey and India, the artists
- intrigued by the "overwhelming re-
sponse" - are gearing up to peg the
craft as a "regular" art form on the
same lines as folk art of India and
other nations.

"When he came out and saw
t

Defence sources
t

In no time, eight
p

Chandigarh
12
Artistic crowds flock to
Bangalore literary fest
CULTURE
Transcend borders this Puja with Pakistan's truck art
Museums are valuable source of history, heritage: Vice president
Chandigarh
13
Tourist season begins but Agra hoteliers see no boom
Indian wanderlust continues
despite economic woes
Agra
The fall in the value of the Indian
rupee should normally have given
a big fillip to tourism in Taj city
Agra, but half a dozen factors, in-
cluding the crisis in Syria, have
been a setback to a "projected
boom this year". The tourist season
here usually begins on the World
Tourism Day on September 27.
"The footfalls at the Taj Mahal
may have increased due to the
opening of the Yamuna Express-
way which most 'same-day return'
visitors find convenient and time-
saving, but the night-stay problem
continues to dog hotels in Agra.
The occupancy rate at the moment
is very low and reports for coming
weeks are not too flattering either,"
Rajiv Tiwari, president of the Fed-
eration of Travel Agencies, told.
Figures from the Archaeological
Survey of India and the Agra De-
velopment Authority suggest an in-
creasing trend in the number of
visitors to the Taj Mahal, which at-
tracted close to six million tourists
last year. The number could be
higher if you take into account the
fact that a significantly large num-
ber of visitors who do not have to
pay are below 15 years of age and,
therefore, not recorded.
"A lot of people keep telling us
Agra does not have a night life and
that is the reason why tourists do
not stay here overnight. Well, if by
night life they mean promoting ac-
tivities like they do in Thailand's
Pataya or Phuket, we certainly are
very happy with selling our assets
of culture, architecture and history.
"We have yoga, dances and
cuisines. We are for clean eco-
friendly tourism, one that brings
peoples of the world and cultures
closer and strengthens understand-
ing. Our religious tourism is grow-
ing and the number of domestic
visitors is going up steeply in the
whole of the Braj region," Tiwari
added. According to Sandeep
Arora, ex-president of the Agra
Hotels and Restaurants Associa-
tion, "the increased entrance ticket
rates for foreign tourists
(Rs.750/$12) is a huge deterrent. If
a tourist has seen the Taj once, he
avoids visiting it again because he
would need to buy another ticket
for Rs.750. Earlier this was not the
case." Arora said tourism in Agra
was on the decline due to the crisis
New Delhi
Neither the wobbly Indian rupee nor
rising airfares can deter the growing
wanderlust of the Indian middle
class.
Travelling has become more of a
lifestyle thing, Karan Anand, head
of relationships at Cox and Kings
told. We have observed the average
holidays an Indian traveller takes is
three: two are small ones and one is
a big one. The other two important
things he seeks while travelling is
better connectivity and accommoda-
tion, he added. The change in atti-
tude has come because many
travellers now look at these holi-
days as a gift to themselves.
I work hard and I can treat myself
with a good break' this is the mantra
an Indian traveller believes in, said
Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall.
Money isn't a constraint because no
one wants to compromise on their
personal time. After all, they are
earning for their happiness, he
added. Tourism ministry figures
show that 14.92 million Indians trav-
elled abroad in 2012 against 13.99
million in 2011 and 12.99 million in
2010. The figures are however much
lower than China which saw 82 mil-
lion outbound tourists in 2012, mak-
ing them the number one global
travellers. According to the World
Travel and Tourism Council
(WTTC), growth in global travel and
tourism was robust in 2012 despite
many economic challenges. The
growth in the last fiscal has been
around three percent, the Council
says. As for India, the total contri-
bution of travel and tourism to the
GDP was 6.6 percent in 2012 and is
forecast to rise by 7.3 percent in
2013. Though the weakening of the
Indian rupee against the dollar has
been a blow to the economy, travel
experts say it hasn't done much dam-
age to the tourism industry and the
growing Indian middle class, with a
lot of disposable income and a yen
for seeing new places and experienc-
ing new cultures, are willing to spend
for pleasure and for shopping in ex-
otic places. We have been saying
this from day one that the deprecia-
tion of Indian rupee hasn't been more
than 10-12 percent against dollar. So
technically, this is only a small por-
tion of a holiday package, pointed
out Anand, adding that overall, for
outbound travel, if one opts for a
group package there is an increase of
five to seven percent.
Bhupender Mehta, CEO, Overall-
travel.com feels the slump has seen
a boom in domestic travel.
There are always two sides of a
coin. Domestic destinations has done
well because of the sliding rupee.
in Syria. "A large number of west-
ern tourists are holding back till
the crisis gets resolved." He felt
the new trains that have connected
Agra with Jaipur have also affected
night stay, as tourists return in the
evening to Jaipur. "The publicity
by Rajasthan is aggressive and
their marketing is also first class
unlike in Uttar Pradesh, where
tourism is generally directionless.
Agra has so much to offer but no
marketing strategy. In contrast,
Varanasi has virtually nothing ex-
cept the Ganga ghats but more for-
eign tourists spend days and nights
there, moving around temples and
lanes." Rajiv Narain, vice presi-
dent Jaypee Hotel and former pres-
ident of the Tourism Guild of Agra,
told: "Yes, the slowdown in global
economy and the tension in the
Middle East has had their impact
on tourism in Agra. In October
there could be a turnaround, but
for the moment, there's nothing ex-
citing." "We are still way away
from our targets. A lot could have
been done to bolster tourism in the
Taj city, but we have not been able
to make tourism everybody's busi-
ness and get people involved
through theatre, various cultural
activities or opening new avenues
to keep tourists engaged in the
evenings," Narain added. On the
flip side, Dinesh Kumar, the
deputy director of Uttar Pradesh
Tourism, felt it was "too early to
come to any conclusion. We do not
have any information on this. But
it's true that the number of visitors
at the Taj Mahal has gone up.
Night stay, after the opening of the
Yamuna Expressway, has been af-
fected." Hotelier Surendra Sharma
told: "The anticipated windfall
from the falling rupee has not ma-
terialised. Where have the tourists
gone? No one knows. But the
socio-political conditions and the
general attitude of the locals are
not very positive or friendly.
Tourism is yet to be accepted as a
serious money-spinning activity in
Agra." With three World Heritage
Sites, scores of other monuments,
the religious shrines in Mathura-
Vrindavan, the land of Ghalib,
Meer and Nazir, plus the headquar-
ters of the Radhasoami faith, Agra
does not so much need promotion,
Sharma contended. "What this city
badly needs is a change in the cul-
tural mindset, a warm and friendly
ambience and reasonable security
to allow tourists to spend time in a
memorable way," said K.C. Jain,
president of the Agra Development
Foundation.
Even neighbouring countries have
come out as favourite hot spots,
Mehta told IANS, adding Kerala,
Goa and Jaipur are the hottest do-
mestic destinations. Even though bet-
ter connectivity and low cost carriers
have given wings to the Indian glo-
betrotter, the rise in domestic airfare
by almost 40 percent has resulted in
travellers increasingly opting for
buses and trains as a mode of travel.
Domestic airfares have gone up, so
people opting for destinations that
are nearby, said Dhall, adding this
shift has been a contributing factor in
planning short holidays.
Mehta agreed: Flights cut down on
travel time. But when prices have in-
creased, people don't want to burn
their pockets. So they seek near-by
destinations. They change their travel
destination, but not travel plans.
And this is what 25-year-old Abhijit
Singh did recently.
He had planned to travel to Pune to
meet his friends but the exorbitant
airfares came in the way and he in-
stead opted for for Macleodganj near
Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh.
I had switched my job and had to
quickly plan something. Air tickets
were expensive, so I chose a nearby
place instead, he said.
For longer holidays it is wise to pre-
book your tickets, he added.
TOURISM
Miley Cyrus:
Have good
relationship
with Kanye
Mumbai
Actress Soha Ali Khan believes that
her upcoming film "War Chhod Na
Yaar" has the potential to have an im-
pact on the public just like her 2006
film "Rang De Basanti" did. "We
hope that when the audiences leave
the theatre, they will not just talk but
also do something. Like people ac-
cepted the message of 'Rang De Bas-
anti' and actually took to roads to
protest. We feel this film also has
similar potential," Soha said here
Tuesday. "There is a very beautiful
message. The war does not benefit us
and the film will tell you whom does
it benefit and it will also tell you how
to stop the war," she added.
The 34-year-old says that the war-
comedy is a very realistically shot
film. "It is realistic cinema. We
haven't used lights for night scenes,
instead all the lighting was of
torches. It was very good," she said.
"War..." also stars Javed Jaffrey,
Sharman Joshi and Sanjay Mishra.

CELEB

CELEB

Chandigarh
14
No casualties in fire on
'Comedy Nights...' sets
Shraddha's dance number
not item song: Shakti Kapoor
Mumbai
Fire broke out on the sets of popular
TV show "Comedy Nights With
Kapil" at Film City here Wednesday
morning, but there were no casual-
ties, said an official.
The accident was reported around
6:30 a.m.
"It is unfortunate that such an inci-
dent has occurred on the sets of
'Comedy Nights With Kapil'. There
have been no casualties and we are
currently in the process of assessing
the extent of the damage," the official
from Colors channel said in a state-
ment.
"Meanwhile, we are focusing all our
efforts to resume shooting for the
show so that we have no disruption
and we don't disappoint our loyal
viewers," the official added.
"Comedy Nights With Kapil" airs on
Colors.
'War Chhod...' can have same impact
like 'Rang De...': Soha
Soha enjoys doing comedy films
more than the serious ones and says
doing comedy in the presence of
such stars was very easy. "It was in-
teresting because for a serious film
you have to stay in the mood, sit in
your van alone. But in a comedy film
you can interact with everyone on the
sets, you don't need to concentrate
much, just learn your lines," she said.
"When you have such great comic
actors like Javed Jaffrey, Sanjay
Mishra and Sharman, it becomes
very easy because half the acting is
reacting. So, I enjoyed and one
month just flew by," added Soha who
plays a journalist in the film.
Directed by debutant Faraz Haider,
"War Chhod Na Yaar" hits theatres
Oct 11.
KAMINI KAUSHAL RECEIVES
KALPANA CHAWLA EXCELLENCE
AWARD
RICHARD GERE, CAREY
LOWELL TO DIVORCE?
Mumbai
Actress Bipasha Basu finds it tough
to shoot at outdoor locations in the
country as they are not shoot-friendly
and the weather conditions are not
favourable either.
"For any actor it's very tough, basi-
cally to combat the outdoor locations
in India, because they are not very
shoot-friendly," Bipasha revealed
while shooting for new BoroPlus
facewash range.
"Our country (India) is predomi-
nantly hot and humid, so you have to
take care, especially when you have
make up on. It is very difficult to
manage all that with the heat and hu-
midity as you have to look good,
pretty, give your shot right and you
have to be in character," she added.
Bipasha finds it tough to shoot even
in Mumbai and Goa because of the
humid climate.
She says as an actor she is always
combating these conditions.
"I have shot a lot in Goa, it can get re-
ally humid there. You really tan and
burn after the whole day shoot. So it
has been tough and it is not easy to
look pretty all the time," Bipasha,
who has shot for films like "Dhoom
2" and "Dum Maro Dum" in Mumbai
and Goa, said.
"You have to really combat all these
things all the time," she added.Cur-
rently, Bipasha is busy shooting for
"Humshakals" and "Bang Bang".
New York
Actor Richard Gere and wife
Carey Lowell have reportedly
separated ways, reports dai-
lystar.co.uk.
According to sources, Gere,
64, is not a very social person
but Lowell likes spending time
outside in a good social circle.
This has created a distance be-
tween them.
They have been married for 11
years and have a 13-year-old
son Homer.
Gere was previously married
to supermodel Cindy Craw-
ford.
Los Angeles
Pop star Miley Cyrus says she
shares a good relationship with rap-
per Kanye West.
During an interview with Rolling
Stone, the 20-year-old recounted a
visit paid by West in her dressing
room before her performance at the
MTV Video Music Awards 2013,
reports showbizspy.com.
"He comes in and goes, 'There are
not a lot of artists I believe in more
than you right now.' The whole
room went quiet. I was like, 'Yo -
can you say that again?'," Cyrus
said.
"Kanye is the s**t. I kind of have a
good relationship with him now.
It's good to have someone you can
call and be like, 'Yo, do you think I
should wear this?
"Do you think I should go in the
studio with this guy? Do you think
this is cool?' That's what homies
are supposed to do," she added.
Gurgaon
Veteran actress Kamini Kaushal re-
ceived the Kalpana Chawla Excel-
lence Awards for Women at its 10th
annual function here Wednesday for
her contribution to Indian cinema.
The 86-year-old actress was last seen
in Rohit Shetty's "Chennai Express".
She started her career with Chetan
Anand's "Neecha Nagar" for which
she was awarded the Palme d'Or
(Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film
Festival in 1946. During her time,
she worked with top actors like Raj
Kapoor and Dilip Kumar in films
like "Shaheed", "Nadiya Ke Paar",
"Shabnam", "Arzoo" and "Biraj
Bahu". From donning leading roles,
the actress moved to character roles
with "Shaheed" and was seen in
many Manoj Kumar films.
She has essayed roles in almost 90
films. The actress also steeped into
the world of writing and many of her
stories have been published in the
children's magazine "Parag".
She acted in the TV serial "Chand
Sitare" on Doordarshan. She also
made an animation film "Meri Pari".
Others who received the award in-
cluded junior world chess champion
Tania Sachdev, innovative educa-
tionist Minoti Bahri and Kathak
dancer Vidha Lal.
The award ceremony was organised
by Punjab Engineering College
Chandigarh Old Boys Association in
memory of its alumnus, late astro-
naut Kalpana Chawla.
Chawla was the first Indian Ameri-
can astronaut and the first Indian
woman in space. She was one of the
seven crew members killed in the
2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disas-
ter.
Mumbai
Actress Shraddha Kapoor is set for
her first item number in Karan Johar's
"Ungli" and actor-father Shakti
Kapoor describes the song as a kids
number and not the regular item
song. "It is not an item song. It is a
delicate kids song. It's an amazing
song. There is nothing that is hidden
in our family, we all know about
everyone. So, it is not an item song,
like 'Dhak dhak' or anything," Shakti
said here Wednesday at the birthday
bash of Yogesh Lakhani, CMD of
Bright Outdoor Media Pvt. Ltd.
When asked if the 55-year-old would
like to see it, he said: "Why wouldn't
I see it? I have seen everyone's item
numbers."
"Ungli" is directed by Rensil D'Silva
and stars Emraan Hashmi, Kangna
Ranaut, Randeep Hooda and Sanjay
Dutt. Shakti went on to say that an
actor should not have any inhibitions
and told reporters that his son Sid-
dhanth has given a bare-body scene
in "Ugly."
"An actor should not have any inhi-
bitions. My son has done a bare-body
dance sequence in Anurag Kashyap's
film 'Ugly,' in fact he has danced in
his underwear. When Ranbir Kapoor
can, they why can't Siddhant
Kapoor?," he asked."Ugly" is a psy-
chological thriller written and di-
rected by Anurag Kashyap. The film
also stars Ronit Roy, Girish Kulkarni
and Tejaswini Kolhapure. It is cur-
rently slated for Oct 11 release.
Bipasha
finds it
tough to
shoot
oudoors
in India

CELEB

CE

CELEB

Chandigarh
15
Pune
The acting and dancing bug has
again bitten Bollywood actor Sanjay
Dutt who is serving a 42-month sen-
tence at the Yerawada Central Jail
(YCJ) here.
Sanjay, 54, along with some four
dozen other inmates, has been se-
lected to perform in a stage drama at
a welfare show organised by the
state Prisons Department, here next
Thursday. The mega-annual show
will be held at the Bal Gandharva
Auditorium here, officials said.
Raring to do what he loves, Sanjay
has been polishing his acting-danc-
ing skills and furiously rehearsing
for the show inside the YCJ prem-
ises since the past fortnight along
with the other inmates.
Though jail officials remain tight-
lipped on the show details, it is
learnt that Sanjay and his team will
perform the famous 'Lungi dance'
from the recent Shah Rukh Khan-
Deepika Padukone blockbuster
"Chennai Express." Besides, he may
also dance to a patriotic song and a
number from his superhit movie,
"Lage Raho Munnabhai".
The rehearsals for the two-hour
final show are carried out in the
community hall regularly without
any of the inmates disturbing their
routine of doing jail chores.
For instance, Sanjay has been as-
signed the task of making big and
Eesha Koppikar finds Marathi
debut 'challenging'
'In Rahon Mein' perfect for
long drives: Meiyang Chang
Mumbai
Actress Eesha Koppikar will be
seen playing a supermodel in her
Marathi debut film "Maat". She
says the role is challenging. "It
('Maat') is a story of a married
woman whose life is full of tribu-
lations. She is a supermodel. Then
how her life changes all of a sud-
den, this is what the story is all
about," Eesha told reporters here
Monday. "It is a very challenging
role. I enjoyed it a lot. Also, the
good thing is that I have dubbed
for the film myself," she added.
Produced by Manali Mangesh
Sawant, "Maat" is being directed
by Manohar Sarvankar and fea-
tures actor Samir Dharmadhikari
opposite Eesha. Eesha is making
her comeback to the big screen
after a gap of almost two years as
she was busy learning and setting
up her hospitality business. She
has no regrets and says as long as
an actor maintains himself or her-
self, acting can be pursued when-
ever one wants.
"Since 2011, I am looking after
my hospitality business. I had no
knowledge of this industry and it
took me two years to understand
the business and learn about it.
Last year (2012), I was constantly
travelling. So I didn't have any
time to sign anything," said Eesha,
who is married to hotelier Timmy
Narang.
"I believe if you are a good actor
then you can pursue acting when-
ever you feel like as long as you
maintain yourself and as long as
you look good," she added.
Sanjay Dutt to act, dance for jail
fundraiser
Hurley upset Warne wouldn't
set a wedding date?
Mumbai
Singer, actor and anchor Meiyang
Chang, who has sung for the up-
coming music album "In Rahon
Mein", says its numbers are perfect
to hear during long drives. "It ('In
Rahon Mein') has been touted as
one of India's first road albums.
You can listen to it along with your
friends or love interest while going
on drives. It is for very easy listen-
ing and perfect for a long drive,"
Meiyang told reporters here Mon-
day at the album's launch."In that
case you need something to soothe
you, something to make you feel
nice about yourself and that is
what this album is all about," he
added.
Meiyang, a former "Indian Idol"
contestant believes the album
brings back the simplicity of old
songs."Today we are so much into
item songs, we are so much into
party numbers and over-processed
songs, but this album goes back to
the simplicity that we once had,"
he added.Meiyang came into the
limelight with the third season of
singing reality show "Indian Idol",
where he made it to the top five.
Later, he ventured into acting also
with Yash Raj Films' "Badmaash
Company". He has also hosted
shows like "Indian Idol" and
"India's Got Talent". Besides him,
singers like Ash King, Shriram
Iyer and Raman Mahadevan have
also sung for "In Rahon Mein".
Elaborating on the kind of songs in
the album, he said: "It is a mix of
simple, philosophical, romantic
and sentimental songs. This will
take you back in time."
Mumbai
Ace choreographer Saroj Khan will
be felicitated at the Mumbai Women's
International Film Festival (MWIFF),
which starts Oct 8.
The event aims to give women film-
makers a platform to showcase their
talent. It is organised by Oculus Cre-
ations with the support of the Maha-
rashtra Tourism Development
Corporation (MTDC). Saroj, known
for her choreography in films like
"Devdas" and "Jab We Met", has cho-
reographed in over 200 films and
Avinash Pawar, festival director, be-
lieves she is an inspiration for many
aspiring dancers and upcoming cho-
reographers. "Being a woman who
has been an inspiration to many and
has achieved a remarkable position in
the struggling and competitive film
industry, the festival is honoured to
have a persona like her," Pawar said
in a statement. The seven-day festival
will also screen a documentary on the
choreographer titled "The Saroj Khan
Story" by Nidhi Tuli.
Los Angeles
Actress Elizabeth Hurley has report-
edly broken off her engagement to
Shane Warne because the former
cricketer refused to set a wedding
date. Hurley, 48, wanted to set a wed-
ding date and take their relationship
to the next level but Warne was happy
with the way things were going."She
kept pushing for a date, but he was
happy as things stood. She ended it
furiously. She started to question
whether Shane had any intention of
marrying her," quoted a source as
saying.
Hurley is disappointed with the way
things have shaped up.
"She feels let down. They had big,
big plans. She really thought she had
found 'the one' in Shane. He could
have easily saved the relationship by
agreeing to a definite date," said a
source.The duo was dating for almost
three years and got engaged less than
a year later after dating.
small paper bags which are sold to
the outside world through NGOs
and he also gets a nominal payment
for his labour.
However, for the main show, San-
jay, who sports a long salt-and-pep-
per beard-moustache now, and the
others are likely to be permitted sa-
loon facilities to get a shave, hair-
cut and pedicure-manicure. He will
get a chance to get some make-up
applied by a make-up man and don
costumes to be brought in by a de-
signer. Sanjay and the performing
inmates shall be transported to-and-
from the Bal Gandharva Audito-
rium, around five kms away under
tight security. On May 16, Sanjay
had surrendered before a Mumbai
court and a week later shifted to
YCJ, Pune to serve the remainder of
a five-year sentence after he was
convicted in the March 1993 Mum-
bai serial blasts.
Saroj
Khan to be
felicitated
Harry Styles' first tattoo artist waiting for him
Los Angeles
Tattoo artist Freddy Negrete, who
gave singer Harry Styles his first tat-
too, says the teen sensation does not
visit him regularly anymore. Ne-
grete says he is clueless about where
the 19-year-old had got his new tat-
toos from. "Harry said he would be
back. I did his first tattoo and a lot
of them since, until the big one
when he was here with Taylor Swift
last year," quoted Negrete as saying
"I don't know why he's gone some-
where else now. I didn't do the rose.
Styles has as many as 44 tattoos on
his body.
Chandigarh
KIDS

KIDS

KIDS

Ozone: Friend AND Foe
Does your city or town have
bad air days in the
summertime? Are you reminded
to wear sunscreen when you go
out to play?
The same gasozonethat
is the main factor in bad air also
protects us from the suns harmful
effects.
How can one gas be both
good and bad?
Ozone is a gas that occurs natu-
rally in very, very small amounts
in the Earths atmosphere. But
human beings make more ozone
every day. Ground-level ozone is
formed when exhaust from cars,
trucks, factories, and lawn mowers
interact with sunlightespecially
in the late spring and summer.
When ozone is close to the
ground, it can irritate lungs and
trigger asthma attacks.
Some communities offer free bus
rides, encourage carpooling, and
ask people to mow lawns or ll
gas tanks in the evening on high
ozone days.
But we wouldnt want to get rid
of ozone entirely. Ozone is our
protection from the suns ultravio-
let (UV) light, which can cause
sunburn, skin cancer, and eye
damage. High in the atmosphere,
about 25 kilometers above the
Earth, ozone serves as a protective
layer that absorbs harmful UV
light. Certain materials, such as
those used in air conditioners,
refrigerators, and spray cans, can
damage the ozone layer. When
damage occurs, more UV light
leaks through. Each fall, the re-
sults are visible over Antarctica,
where an ozone hole forms. Be-
cause this hole has so little
ozone, it allows lots of UV light to
leak through. The red and yellow
areas in the image [far right] show
the location and size of the ozone
hole over the South Pole during
October 2001.
NASA will soon launch a new
satellite into orbit around Earth to
measure ozone. Called AURA, the
satellite will measure many other
gases, as well as smoke and dust
in both the lower and upper
atmospheres. It will also be able to
measure and track chemicals that
produce ozone. Look for the
launch
of this new NASA satellite in
January 2004!
World leaders have agreed to
work together to reduce the
amount of ozone-depleting sub-
stances released into the atmos-
phere. You can reduce the amount
of ground-level ozone by walking,
riding a bike, taking public
transportation, or carpooling.
By lowering the number of
automobiles on the road, we can
reduce the amount of pollution in
our air.
ACTIVITY
Fairy Flower Crown
Nothing makes you feel as
special as a beautiful
crown atop your head,
and this one is sure to put
a smile on any young
fairy's face.
What you'll need:
Printed flowers
Scissors
Craft knife
Ribbon (not wider than half an
inch)
How to make it
Print out the flowers on regular
paper or cardstock. Cut out as
many flowers as you would like
to use in your crown. You can
print multiple pages if you re-
quire more flowers.
Using a craft knife, cut along
the two grey lines in the center
of each flower. Do not allow
children to use a craft knife.
Measure a ribbon around a
child' s head, leaving extra at the
ends to tie a bow, and cut the
ribbon at that length. With the
flowers face-down, weave the
ribbon through the cut slits in
the flowers until all the flowers
are strung on the ribbon. Place
the flower crown on your child' s
head and tie it into place.
Color Me....
Here we are giving your Child an
opportunity to enjoy our funny
tongue twisters for kids and have
fun trying to say some of the most
difficult sentences. To get the full
effect of a tongue twister you
should try to repeat it several
times, as quickly as possible,
withoutstumbling.
"The big bug bit the little beetle,
but the little beetle bit the big bug
back."
"Give papa a cup of proper coffee
in a copper coffee cup."
"Not these things here, but those
things there."
"Eleven owls licked eleven little
liquorice lollipops."
Abactor
Example: One who steals and drives
away cattle or beasts by herds or
droves.
Abear
Example: To put up with; to endure,
To bear; to behave.
Acaricides
Example: any drug or formulation
for killing acarids
Accipiter
Example: A hawk of the genus Ac-
cipiter, characterized by short wings
and a long tail
Accubation
Example: The act or posture of re-
clining on a couch, as practiced by
the ancients at meals
-
16
A n s w e r s t o W o r d S c r a m b l e :
P R E S S U R E , R A I N , S U N ,
F R E E Z E , T O R N A D O , F O G ,
T E M P E R A T U R E

Chandigarh

H O R O S C O P E

17

W E E K L Y H O R O S C O P E

W

E

E K
d

L Y
e

H O R
c

O S
u

C O P
p

E

Cooking Time: 0-5 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10-12 minutes
Category: Veg
Ingredients
Chilled Milk 2 cups
Rose syrup 3 tablespoons
Apple 1
Ice cubes as required
Method
Put rose syrup, milk and ice cubes in a
Boston shaker. Shake well till the ingre-
dients are well-blended. Cut apple into
cubes and place in individual small
glasses. Shake the rose milk once more
and pour into the prepared glasses.
Serve immediately.
Rose flavoured milk served with
apple cubes.
This week will be
comparatively quite
good. You will be
successful in work
too. Best part about this week is
that there will be an increase in
your assets. You might crave
for junk food during the first
part of the week. Well, for your
health's sake, avoid it.
Generally speaking,
this week will be pleas-
ant for you. But please
do not get carried away
in emotions and spend unneces-
sarily. This will bother your men-
tal peace and sleep. Use electricity
and phone wisely or else you may
be handed over a bill that will dis-
turb your sleep.
As the week begins,
Moon will be located in
your 11th house. So,
there is hope that you
will benefit from this. If you'd
been trying to get admission into a
school, then there is a possibility
that you will be successful this
time. You must gift your sister or
a relative because of this.
The week will start
fairly well. You will
get success in almost
all your works. Your
colleagues will commend you
for your good work. You may
be innovative at work. Don't
hesitate at it, because you will
be successful.
The week will begin
in a very auspicious
manner for you Leo.
You will be in a dif-
ferent mood today. You may
have been reading a book that
is dedicated to social or reli-
gious cause. This will leave an
impact on you.
This week may not be
very pleasant for you in
the beginning. You may
face some software is-
sues in your laptop or computer.
Avoid consuming cold drink and
fast food. Be careful of your cash
too. The middle part of the week
will be very lucky. You may have
to take on a long journey.
This week will offer
you mixed results.
You will mainly face
problems in your
family affairs. Love and mar-
ried life may be in a tight spot.
You will enjoy your meal in at
some exciting venue. Mid part
of the week will be lucky for
you.
You will be full of en-
thusiasm as the week
begins. There will be an
increase in luxurious
commodities. Your schemes will
prosper. If you are married then
this is a good time for you to plan
a rendezvous with your partner.
You may also visit some old
friends.
Major part of this week
will be positive for
Sagittarians. But, the
week will begin with
you worrying about your child's
admission. As the days pass by,
your efforts will be acknowledged
and you will meet success. You
may spend some romantic time
with your wife or lover.
The initial days of the
week may not be very
bright for you. You will
be a little tense about
family expenditures. If you intend
to help someone then don't waver
from it. But, don't allow your
work to be damaged in the
process. Mid part of the week will
be very good for you.
This week will start
wonderfully for you,
Aquarians. You will be
deeply concerned about
improving your health. You may
rise up early and go for morning
walks or you may even join a
gym. During the mid part of the
week, you will be worried about
your family.
This week will be
full of mixed bag of
events. But, you will
need to pay special
attention to what you say. Your
income will be constant but
expenses will rise. You need to
be closed fisted. You may just
purchase something online.
Aries
(Mar 21 - Apr 19)
Taurus
(Apr 20 - May 20)
Gemini
(May 21 - Jun 20)
Cancer
(Jun 21 - Jul 22)
Leo
(Jul 23 - Aug 22)
Virgo
(Aug 23 - Sep 22)
Pisces
(Feb 19 - Mar 20)
Aquarius
(Jan 20 - Feb 18)
Capricorn
(Dec 22 - Jan 19)
Sagittarius
(Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Scorpio
(Oct 23 - Nov 21)
Libra
(Sep 23 - Oct 22)
Hot and Sour Cabbage
Rose Milk with Apple
Cooking Time:15-20 minutes
Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 10-15 mins
Category: Veg
Ingredients
Cabbage,cut into
1 inch cubes and 1 medium
layers separated
Oil 2 tablespoons
Sichuan peppers 12-15 ,crushed
Dried red chillies 2
Salt to taste
Brown sugar 1 tablespoon
Light soy sauce 1 tablespoon
Vinegar 3 tablespoons
Sesame oil (til oil) 1 teaspoon
Method
Heat oil in a non-stick wok, add
Sichuan peppers and red chillies
and saut for a minute. Add cab-
bage, mix well and saut for two
minutes. Add salt and brown
sugar and saut for a minute.
Add soy sauce, vinegar and
sesame oil, mix well and saut for
one to two minutes. Serve hot.
Cabbage cooked with Sichuan peppers, red
chillies and vinegar
LEISURE
K L Y H O R O S C O P E

L

LEISURE
O R
r

LEISURE

Crossword Solution 1

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Aug, 2013

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orks on a tan W 19.
22. Sense of self
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31. Lincoln, informally
33. Mama sheep
34. Unable to hear
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24. Put into a new order
31. Lincoln, informally
Pradesh, Himachal khand,

Sudoku Solution 1 1
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Aug, 2013

t s e l t t i l s r e l t t i L . 2 5
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Aug, 2013

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FOOD & BEVERAGES
Chandigarh

18

INTERNATIONAL

INTERNA

TIONA NAATIONAL

TIONAL

Migrant workers help New
Zealand economy: report
Maldives poll panel halts
presidential poll
Wellington
Migrant workers, mainly from Asia,
and from India in 2011, have helped
create jobs and build the New
Zealand economy, according to a
government report. Temporary work-
ers accounted for about 1 percent of
the months worked for wages and
salaries in the 2001 tax year, and the
figure peaked at 4.6 percent in the
2009 tax year, before slipping to 4.3
percent in the 2011 year, Xinhua
cited from the report from the Min-
istry of Business, Innovation and
Employment."Even more profound
changes have occurred in the coun-
tries from which New Zealand em-
ployers source such migrants. Great
Britain and Ireland provided most
temporary workers in the early part
of the decade to 2011, China domi-
nated in the period from 2006 to
2008, and India emerged as the main
source of temporary migrant employ-
ment in 2011," it said. Most tempo-
rary migrants came to New Zealand
under essential skills categories,
working holiday schemes, horticul-
ture and viticulture seasonal work
schemes or with family, according to
the report. Immigration Minister
Michael Woodhouse said the report
showed that New Zealand temporary
migrant policies were generally
working well. "The government has
a clear policy that New Zealanders
should be given first priority for jobs,
but our labour market has always re-
lied on overseas workers to fill cer-
tain gaps, and in areas of particular
skill shortages," Woodhouse said in
a statement.
"The research concludes that tempo-
rary migrants and New Zealanders
are complementary sources of
labour. Put simply, migrant workers
are helping create an economy with
more jobs and higher wages for New
Zealanders," he said.
Male
The Maldives Election Commission
stopped all preparations for the pres-
idential polls to be held this month
following the Supreme Court's deci-
sion to delay the runoff. The apex
court of the Maldives issued an in-
terim order Monday indefinitely post-
poning the presidential elections that
are expected this weekend, sparking
protests from political parties, reports
Xinhua. The decision came in the
wake of tycoon Gasim Ibrahim, who
lodged a case at the Supreme Court
asking that the first round of voting,
which took place on Sep 7, be can-
celled because of vote rigging allega-
tions. However, local and
international monitors insist there
were no instances of vote rigging and
that Gasim's Jumhoory Party (JP) has
so far been unable to provide evi-
dence of election corruption. Vice
president of the commission Ahmed
Fayaz Hassan told media that they
had stopped all processes related to
the polls following the decision.
However, the commission is cur-
rently observing and holding discus-
sions over the Supreme Court order,
he added. The order was issued after
all administrative processes of the
runoff had been completed, and ballot
papers had also been dispatched to
polling stations for the runoff.
Ousted president Mohammad
Nasheed, who won the first round of
voting, has called on the election
commission to ignore the Supreme
Court and hold the polls as previously
planned. Scattered protests were seen
in the Maldives capital by Nasheed
supporters following the order.
Nasheed, the country's first demo-
cratically elected president, got an
impressive 45.45 percent of the vote
in the first round, but failed to obtain
a crucial 50 percent that would have
prevented the run-off.
Obama says fear of his wife
keeps him from smoking
Rouhani blasts West for
imposing sanctions
Washington
US President Barack Obama told a
UN official that fear of first lady
Michelle Obama motivated him to
stop smoking. Obama, unaware of
being caught over an open mic, was
chatting with UN Special Rappor-
teur Maina Kiai during an event at
United Nations headquarters in New
York."I hope you quit smoking,"
Obama said as the two men greeted
each other. Kiai admitted to the pres-
ident that he hadn't given up smok-
ing altogether, to which Obama
answered that "I haven't had a ciga-
rette in probably six years."
"That's because I'm scared of my
Tehran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani
Tuesday lambasted the Western pow-
ers for imposing sanctions against
other nations, especially in the less-
developed countries of the world,
IRNA reported.
We should not forget millions of
Iraqis who were harmed and killed by
sanctions imposed on them under the
legal guise prescribed by bodies and
still a considerable number of them
have to suffer throughout the world,"
Rohani said in his address at the
68th session of the UN General As-
sembly. The Iranian president
stressed that these sanctions are vio-
late human rights.
"These sanctions violate the inalien-
able human rights, including right to
peace, right to development, right to
access health, right to education and
more importantly right to live,"
Rouhani said.
He warned that the outcome of the
sanctions would be warmongering
and destruction of humans.
"Iran islooking for solution to prob-
lems and not creating problems,"
Rouhan said. The president said the
flames of sanctions do not only affect
the victims of sanctions, but are also
harmful for the economy of the coun-
tries facing the sanctions.
"Let me point to Iran's nuclear case,
as Supreme Leader of the Islamic
Revolution (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali
Khamenei) has put it admitting Iran's
natural legal and inalienable right is
the easiest way to resolve this issue.
"This is not a political motto, but it is
based on a deep knowledge of Iran's
nuclear technology, the international
conditions... and the necessity for
finding common goals and interests
for reaching a common understand-
ing and common security," he added.
The Iranian president said that in
other words, Iran and other regional
players should pursue two common
objectives as two inseparable parts of
political solution to Iran's nuclear
case.
wife," the president confided during
an exchange that was aired on CNN.
Obama acknowledged in recent
years that he was struggling to stop
smoking, while the first lady, a pro-
moter and champion of healthy liv-
ing, was one of the people who most
insisted on it. Obama was still a
smoker when he had his first med-
ical checkup as president in Febru-
ary 2010. However, months after
being elected president, he admitted
that he still smoked from time to
time. It wasn't until 2011 that doc-
tors confirmed that Obama was lead-
ing a smoke-free life.
World Bank approves funding for
Myanmar power project
Washington
The World Bank Group (WBG) Tues-
day announced that its board of exec-
utive directors has approved $140
million of interest-free credit to fund
the installation of a modern power
plant in Myanmar's Mon state. The
funding comes from the International
Development Association (IDA), the
WBG's fund for the poorest develop-
ing countries, Xinhua reported. This
effort is part of Myanmar's power ex-
pansion plan and the cornerstone of
the WBG's support for the country's
energy sector development, the WBG
said in a statement. "The World Bank
Group provides financing, analysis,
and advice, bringing good practices
from across the globe to Myanmar's
energy sector. We are also working to
leverage private sector investments in
power generation and distribution,"
said Axel van Trotsenburg, World
Bank's vice president for east Asia
and the Pacific. The project will re-
place aging gas turbines with new
units, which will produce 250 percent
more electricity with the same
amount of gas and reduce emissions.
It is the first step to bringing more
and cleaner electricity to the people
of Myanmar. In Myanmar, where
more than 70 percent of the people
have no access to electricity, turning
on the lights is an urgent priority, the
statement said.
We're lagging
badly in some
MDGs: Ban
Ki-moon
United Nations
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-
moon said Tuesday that the world is
lagging badly in some of the Mille-
nium Development Goals (MDGs)
it has set for itself. He said this
while addressing the 68th session of
the UN General Assembly that
began its annual general debate
here, Xinhua reported.
More than 130 heads of state,
deputy prime ministers, foreign
ministers and other high ranking of-
ficials will address the conference.
"We come together not to preserve
the status quo, but to drive our
world forward," Ban said in his
opening speech. While noting that
the current era was one of wondrous
opportunity, he said that the pres-
sures on the planet and people are
building.
He lamented that young people
were without jobs, the world's cli-
mate was warming and scattered
conflicts remained unresolved.
"2015 is the year by which we have
pledged to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals," he said,
adding that it is also the year in
which the international community
will adopt a new development
agenda.
The UN chief stressed that the
MDGs captured the imagination,
generated remarkable gains and
beat back doubts about develop-
ment itself.
"Yet on some goals, we lag badly,"
he said, noting that inequality is
growing and too many people face
exploitation - from the fields to the
factory floor. " A new development
agenda must be as inspiring as the
MDGs, but it must go further," Ban
declared, calling for a universal
framework with ending poverty as a
top priority, sustainable develop-
ment at its core and governance as
its glue. Moreover, the rights of
women and girls must be at the
heart of all such efforts, he contin-
ued, calling for the 21st century to
be the century of women. Turning
to the conflict in Syria, the secre-
tary-general urged the member
states to bring the parties to the ne-
gotiating table to end nearly three
years of bloodshed. "Military vic-
tory is an illusion. The only answer
is a political settlement," he noted.
In addition, Ban called on the mem-
ber states to take bold steps and
work together to tackle a host of
concerns, including a new climate
change regime and the situation in
the Middle East and North Africa.
Chandigarh
19

This
e

H

T

Chemistry - MCQs
(C) 0.82 atm
(D) 0.52 atm
11. Which one of these is NOT
TRUE for benzene?
(A) It forms only one type of
monosubstituted product
(B) There are three carbon-carbon
single bonds and three carbon-car-
bon double bonds
(C) Heat of hydrogenation of ben-
zene is less than the theoretical
value
(D) The bond angle between car-
bon-carbon bonds is 120
12. Which one of the following is
paramagnetic?
(A) N2
(B) NO
(C) CO
(D) O3
13. Which one of the following is
a covalent crystal?
(A) Ice
(B) Rock salt
(C) Dry ice
(D) Quartz
14. Which one of the following
DOES NOT involve coagulation?
(A) Formation of delta region
(B) Clotting of blood by the use of
ferric chloride
(C) Peptization
(D) Treatment of drinking water
by potash alum
15. Which one is not a constituent
of nucleic acid?
(A) Uracil
(B) Guanidine
(C) Phosphoric acid
(D) Ribose sugar
1. +I effect is shown by
(A) -N02
(B) -Cl
(C) -Br
(D) -CH3
2. 0.023 g of sodium metal is re-
acted with 100 cm3 of water. The
pH of the resulting solution is
______.
(A) 11
(B) 10
(C) 12
(D) 9
3. 0.5 mole of each of H2, SO2
and CH4 are kept in a container.
A hole was made in the container.
After 3 hours, the order of partial
pressures in the container will be
(A) pH2 > pSO2 > pCH4
(B) pH2 > pCH4 > pSO2
(C) pSO2 > pH2 > pCH4
(D) pSO2 > pCH4, > pH2
4. 10 cm3 of 0.1 N monobasic
acid requires 15 cm3 of sodium
hydroxide solution whose nor-
mality is
(A) 1.5 N
(B) 0.15 N
(C) 0.066 N
(D) 0.66 N
5. 10-6 M NaOH is diluted 100
times. The pH of the diluted base
is
(A) between 6 and 7
(B) between 10 and 11
(C) between 7 and 8
(D) between 5 and 6
6. 2 gm of a radioactive sample
having half life of 15 days was
synthesised on 1st Jan 2009. The
amount of the sample left behind
on 1st March. 2009 (including
both the days)
(A) 1 gm
(B) 0.5 gm
(C) 0 gm
(D) 0.125 gm
7. 2HI(g) H2(g) + I2(g)
The equilibrium constant of the
above reaction is 6.4 at 300 K. If
0.25 mole each of H2 and
I2 are added to the system, the
equilibrium constant will be
(A) 3.2
(B) 1.6
(C) 6.4
(D) 0.8
8. 2SO2(g) + O2(g) is an exam-
ple for
(A) irreversible reaction
(B) heterogenous catalysis
(C) homogenous catalysis
(D) neutralisation reaction
9. 30 cc of HCl, 20 cc of 5 HNO3
and 40 cc of NaOH solutions are
mixed and the volume was made
up to 1 dm3. The pH of the result-
ing solution is
(A) 1
(B) 3
(C) 8
(D) 2
10. 5 moles of SO2 and 5 moles of
O2 are allowed to react. At equi-
librium, it was found that 60% of
SO2 is used up. lf the partial
pressure of the equilibrium mix-
ture is one atmosphere. the par-
tial pressure of O2 is
(A) 0.21 atm
(B) 0.41 atm
Current affairs Questions
for competitive exams
1. Who is newly appointed as United
Nations goodwill ambassador for
UNAIDS ?
2. Which country won T20 World
cup 2012 ?
3. Which country won T20 Womens
World cup 2012 ?
4. What is the name of new book
written by JK Rowling ?
5. According to the Forbes annual list
of the world's 100 most powerful
women on August 2012, Who has
been ranked in the first place ?
6. What is the name of new ship
commissioned on 2012 for coast
guard ?
7. Who won the 2012 Amnesty Inter-
national Ambassador of Conscience
Award ?
8. Which Country won Asian Kabadi
Championship 2012 ?
9. Who is the Winner of 2012 US
Grand Prix ?
10. The seventh meeting of the G-20
summit was held in which country ?
11. Which is the fastest super com-
puter ?
12. Who is the new chief of RAW ?
13. Who will be the first Muslim head
of Intelligence Bureau (IB) ?
14. Which country won Davis cup
2012 (men's tennis) ?
15. In which jail Ajmal Kasab hanged
?
16.Who is the new CBI director ?
17. Who is the Winner of Miss Uni-
verse 2012 ?
18. Who is the winner of Laureus
Award Sportsman of the Year 2012 ?
19. Who is the winner of Laureus
Award Sportswoman of the Year
2012 ?
20. Who is the winner of SASTRA
Ramanujan Prize in 2012 ?
21. Who is the brand ambassador of
BMW in India ?
22. Who is the special public prose-
cutor of 2008 Mumbai attack ?
23. Who is the winner of 2011 Jnan-
pith Award ?
24. Who is the present president of
Ghana ?
25. Who is the new chair man of Tata
group ?
26. Who is America's New Foreign
Secretary ?
27. Who is the winner of Australian
Open 2013 Women's title ?
28. Who has been conferred won
Keerthi Chakra (the second highest
among peace time gallantry awards
of the country) ?
29. Which country recently test fired
Hatf-9 (Nasr) missile ?
30. Which Indian scientist conferred
with China's top science award ?
31. Who is the first female Chief Jus-
tice of Sri Lanka ?
32. Who is the winner of Australian
Open 2013 Women's title ?
33. Who is appointed as the next Per-
manent Representative of India to the
United Nations ?
34. What is the theme of 2013 world
water day (march 22) ?
35. Who is recently reelected as
IAEA (International Atomic Energy
Agency) Director general ?
36. Who is the first US women in
space ?
37. What is the theme of 2013 World
population day (July 11)?
38. Where did the World Economic
Forum annual meeting held ?
39. Which is the Longest Railway
Tunnel in India?
40. Who is the chief guest of republic
day 2013 ?
A n s w e r s f o r C h e m i s t r y M C Q s :
1 . ( D )
2 . ( C )
3 . ( D )
4 . ( C )
5 . ( C )
6 . ( D )
7 . ( C )
8 . ( B )
9 . ( D )
1 0 . ( B )
1 1 . ( B )
1 2 . ( B )
1 3 . ( D )
1 4 . ( C )
1 5 . ( B )
A n s w e r s t o G e n e r a l K n o w l e d g e Q u e s t i o n s :
1 . A i s h w a r y a R a i B a c h c h a n
2 . W e s t i n d i e s ( b e a t i n g S r i L a n k a )
3 . A u s t r a l i a ( b e a t i n g E n g l a n d )
4 . T h e C a s u a l V a c a n c y
5 . A n g e l a M e r k e l
6 . R a j a t a r a n g
7 . A u n g S a n S u u K y i
8 . P a k i s t a n ( d e f e a t i n g I n d i a )
9 . L e w i s H a m i l t o n
1 0 . M e x i c o ( L o s C a b o s )
1 1 . T i t a n
1 2 . A l o k J o s h i
1 3 . S y e d A s i f I b r a h i m
1 4 . C z e c h R e p u b l i c
1 5 . Y e r a w a d a J a i l ( P u n e )
1 6 . R a n j i t S i n h a ( 2 5 t h d i r e c t o r )
1 7 . O l i v i a C u l p o
1 8 . N o v a k D j o k o v i c
1 9 . V i v i a n C h e r u i y o t
2 0 . Z h i w e i Y u n
2 1 . S a c h i n T e n d u l k a r
2 2 . U j j w a l N i k a m
2 3 . D r . P r a t i b h a R a y
2 4 . J o h n D r a m a n i M a h a m a
2 5 . C y r u s M i s t r y
2 6 . J o h n K e r r y
2 7 . V i c t o r i a A z a r e n k a
2 8 . M a j o r A n o o p J o s e p h
2 9 . P a k i s t a n
3 0 . C N R R a o
3 1 . S h i r a n i B a n d a r a n a y a k e ( r e -
c e n t l y i m p e a c h e d )
3 2 . V i c t o r i a A z a r e n k a
3 3 . A s o k e K u m a r M u k e r j i
3 4 . W a t e r C o o p e r a t i o n
3 5 . Y u k i y a A m a n o
3 6 . S a l l y R i d e ( R e c e n t l y s h e w o n
h i g h e s t c i v i l i a n h o n o u r o f U S A ,
P r e s i d e n t i a l m e d a l o f F r e e d o m )
3 7 . A d o l e s c e n t p r e g n a n c y w i t h a n
a s p i r a t i o n o f s a f e c h i l d b i r t h a n d
t h a t e a c h p r e g n a n c y i s w a n t e d
3 8 . D a v o s , S w i t z e r l a n d
3 9 . P i r P a n j a l R a i l w a y T u n n e l
( B a n i h a l r a i l w a y t u n n e l )
4 0 . J i g m e K h e s a r N a m g y a l
W a n g c h u c k , K i n g o f B h u t a n
Reaction Action
Pfsst...sizzlephwoosh!
You could be hearing a chemical
reaction. A chemical reaction
can happen when chemicals are
mixed together. When a chemical
reaction takes place, you might see
a color change or bubbles form.
Other signs of chemical reactions
are when you see light or feel heat
after the chemicals are mixed
together. Chemical reactions occur
all around us! If you leave your bi-
cycle out in the rain, the chain
could rust. The rainwater reacts
with the iron in your chain and
oxygen from the air to make or-
ange rust spots. When you cut an
apple in half and leave it sitting on
the table for a few minutes, a
chemical reaction will occur. The
apple turns brown
because it is also reacting with the
oxygen in the air.
Many toys use batteries to make
them work. There is a chemical
reaction inside the battery. You
cant see that reaction, but you
know it happens because when the
batteries are there, your toy works
when you turn it on. Sometimes
you have to put a new battery into
your toy because the chemicals
have reacted completely and can
no longer power the toy.
What toys use chemical reac-
tions?
Snap a light stick. Chemicals
combine and give off light. Some
toys contain chemicals that turn
colors. For example, there are
rubber ducks that change color if
the water is too hot. There are
markers with special inks that
change colors when you write or
completely disappear because of
chemical reactions.
Toy makers use chemical reactions
in developing new materials for
toys. They make materials like
plastics that can hold any sort of
shape. They can be completely
round like a ball, or detailed like a
truck. Toy makers experiment with
different chemicals to find the
brightest colors to use in toys.
They have tried many different
chemical reactions to make slime
slimier and balls bouncier.
Chemical reactions occur in many
ways and they occur all around us.
See what chemical reactions you
can observe today!

KIDS

KIDS

KIDS

sunlightespecially
i

You can reduce the amount
o

Education
Chandigarh

20

US

BUSINESS

AirAsia India gets no
objection certificate
Poverty growing in some regions, social
groups: Report
New Delhi
Budget passenger carrier AirAsia
Thursday said its proposal for setting
up a new airline has received no ob-
jection certificate (NOC) from the
civil aviation ministry.
"I am thrilled to announce that AirA-
sia India has received NOC approval
from the government of India. Very
exciting and hugely profitable. I
want to praise th government of
India for quickest approval ever in
granting NOC for Airasia India,"
Tony Fernandes, AirAsia's Indian-
origin founder and chief executive,
wrote on the micro-blogging site
Twitter. "This is the fastest an NOC
has been granted, and with this we
will focus on obtaining the air oper-
ating permit," said Mittu Chandilya,
chief executive, AirAsia India.
"We will continue with our prepara-
tions and get ourselves ready for
take-off once the air operating per-
mit is acquired. The air operating
permit has to be obtained from the
Directorate General of Civil Avia-
tion (DGCA) and is necessary to
start the airline's operations. The
NOC from the ministry would en-
able the proposed airline to import
the three aircraft it has in its fleet to
its operational base of Chennai.
The airline in its application pro-
posed to start operations with a few
aircraft and eventually operate
around 37 in the next five years. Last
month, the proposed airline obtained
security clearance from the home
ministry. The low-cost carrier (LCC)
has said it will operate from Chennai
and focus on providing connectivity
to tier-II and -III (smaller) cities.
In its proposal which got the nod
from the Foreign Investment Promo-
tion Board (FIPB) in April, AirAsia
said it intended to hold 49 percent
stake in the joint venture (JV).
Tata Sons will hold a 30 percent
stake in the JV and Arun Bhatia-pro-
moted Telestra Tradeplace 21 per-
cent. The initial investment
approved for the airline stands at
Rs.80.98 crore.
The FIPB approval allowed the pro-
posed budget passenger carrier to
initiate the process for rolling out the
seventh scheduled domestic carrier
in the Indian skies, after receiving
regulatory clearance from the civil
aviation ministry. Currently, there
are six scheduled domestic airlines
in the country -- Air India, Jet Air-
ways, Jet Lite, SpiceJet, IndiGo and
GoAir. The operating licence of
Kingfisher Airlines was suspended
last year. The approval came after a
change in the foreign capital invest-
ment rules in the Indian domestic
aviation sector initiated by the gov-
ernment last year by allowing for-
eign airlines to invest up to 49
percent in private domestic carriers.
The proposed AirAsia India would
have a fleet of just three Airbus
A320 aircraft and a staff of over 200
to start the operations.
New Delhi
Though overall poverty in India is re-
ducing, it is increasingly becoming
concentrated within certain regions
and among some social groups, a new
report on rural development released
Thursday said. "In 1993-94, nearly 50
percent of the rural poor lived in
seven states -- Jharkhand, Bihar,
Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Mad-
hya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This
rose to 65 percent in 2011-12," ac-
cording to the "India Rural Develop-
ment Report 2012-13" released
Thursday. The report was prepared by
IDFC Foundation, the non-profit arm
of the private IDFC Limited. The re-
port said these states, along with Ra-
jasthan, also fare worst on education
levels, child and maternal health and
penetration of healthcare services in
rural areas. Only 18 percent of rural
households have access to all three
basic services -- drinking water
within the premises, sanitation and
electricity -- while 20 percent have
none of these, it said. Rural Develop-
ment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who
released the report, said: "The story
has not been positive in terms of so-
cial infrastructure like sanitation and
drinking water." Poverty is markedly
higher among the Scheduled Castes
and the Scheduled Tribes who to-
gether constituted 44 percent of the
rural poor in 2009-10. The report
highlighted the need to develop new
strategies for farm livelihoods. It said
income from farm livelihoods is no
longer sufficient for a household, es-
pecially for smaller and marginal
farmers who make up 85 percent of
farm holdings. There was a need to
encourage new crop models for them,
and revive traditional crops like mil-
lets that suit dry lands, the researchers
recommended. The report said non-
farm income is becoming increas-
ingly important, with 43 percent of
rural families relying on non-farm
employment as their major source of
income. Thus, the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guaran-
tee Scheme (MGNREGS) has be-
come more important. It has provided
an average of 40-50 days of employ-
ment per year to about 25 percent of
all rural households. The scheme
holds considerably greater potential,
which can be unlocked by ensuring
that good quality assets are built, the
report found. Ramesh said: "I think
it is possible for us to make more
durable community assets. The gov-
ernment will shortly announce
changes in the NREGA to incorporate
this." The report was prepared by
IDFC Foundation in collaboration
with the Centre for Economic and So-
cial Studies, Institute for Rural Man-
agement - Anand, Gujarat, and the
Indira Gandhi Institute of Develop-
ment Research, Mumbai
End 'Special Category' status for
states: Rajan Committee
hand, Madhya Pradesh, Megha-
laya, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh, the finance minister said.
According to him, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has asked the
Department of Economic Affairs in
the finance ministry to examine the
recommendations of the Commit-
tee and take necessary action.
National Sample Survey Organisa-
tion (NSSO), the poverty ratio, and
a number of other measures which
correspond to the multi-dimen-
sional approach to defining
poverty outlined in the 12th Five-
Year Plan. The Committee has rec-
ommended that States that score
0.6 and above on the Index may be
classified as least developed;
States that score below 0.6 and
above 0.4 may be classified as
less developed; and States that
score below 0.4 may be classified
as relatively developed.
The Committee has observed that
the demand for funds and special
attention of different States will be
more than adequately met by the
twin recommendations of the basic
allocation of 0.3 percent of overall
funds to each State and the cate-
gorisation of States that score 0.6
and above as least developed
States. According to the Commit-
tee, these two recommendations,
along with the allocation method-
ology, effectively subsume what is
now Special Category.
Using the index, the Committee
has identified the least devel-
oped States as Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jhark-
New Delhi
The Raghuram Rajan Committee
for evolving a composite develop-
ment index of States has suggested
doing away with the "Special Cat-
egory" criterion for providing ad-
ditional assistance to poorer States.
Instead, it has proposed a general
method for allocating funds from
the Centre based on both a State's
development needs as well as its
development performance. The
Committee has recommended that
each State may get a fixed basic al-
location of 0.3 percent of overall
funds, to which will be added its
share stemming from need and per-
formance to get its overall share.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram,
to whom the Committee has sub-
mitted the report, disclosed this in
a statement here. The Committee
was asked to suggest methods for
identifying backwardness of States
using a variety of criteria and also
to recommend how the criteria
may be reflected in future planning
and devolution of funds from the
Centre the States. The finance min-
ister further informed that the
Committee has come up with a
"multi dimensional index" of back-
wardness based on per capita con-
sumption as measured by the
Sanitation is India's biggest failure, says
Jairam Ramesh
New Delhi
Rural Development Minister Jairam
Ramesh Thursday said poor sanita-
tion was the one "significant failure"
of Indian society, and linked it to
malnutrition among children."The
sanitation story is unfortunately de-
pressing. At least two-thirds house-
holds (in rural areas) are indulging in
open defecation," Ramesh said, re-
leasing a report on rural development
here. He said that physical infrastruc-
ture in rural areas has seen a signifi-
cant transformation, but the story
was not positive in terms of social in-
frastructure. Ramesh observed that
the situation with regard to availabil-
ity of drinking water was better, but
quality remained a concern. "The
problem is not with availability, but
quality of water," he said. The min-
ister said one factor that has been ig-
nored is the link between
malnutrition and open defecation.
"Sanitation picture is the single
biggest failure not only of the Indian
state, but also of Indian society," he
said. Ramesh also said that the divide
between rural and urban areas was
decreasing. "Rural areas are becom-
ing more and more urban, they retain
rural governance, but have urban
characteristics. We have no policies
to deal with this," the minister said.
Indian aviation market grew
three times in 10 years: Official
Miramar (Goa)
Despite challenging economic condi-
tions, India's aviation market is three
times larger than it was 10 years ago,
Civil Aviation Secretary K.N. Srivas-
tava said Thursday.
Srivastava was speaking at a two-day
Aviation Information Communica-
tions Technology Forum 2013 that
began at a resort here on the outskirts
of the state capital.
"Despite challenging economic con-
ditions, India's aviation market is
three times larger than it was 10
years ago, and we expect traffic to
triple again," Srivastava said. "Air-
ports are upgrading to new technol-
ogy, airlines are re-inventing
themselves and passengers expect a
more personalised and faster experi-
ence," he said.
The secretary said that the ministry
was also contemplating setting up 60
airports over the next few years.
"In this dynamic environment, we
are creating a framework that will
encourage more advanced technolo-
gies and enhance the passenger expe-
rience," he said.
Chandigarh

21

US

BUSINESS

Quick progress at Gujarat n-plant
US to help UP minimise
post-harvest losses
IATA downgrades industry net
profit to $11.7 bn
Chennai
Construction work at the Rs.11,000
crore double-unit 700 MW atomic
power plant in Gujarat is progressing
at a quick pace and setting up of
major equipment will begin soon, a
senior official of the Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL)
said."We expect AERB's (Atomic En-
ergy Regulatory Board) approval to
begin erection of major equipment.
Nearly 70 percent of the civil works
have been completed," Lokesh
Kumar, project director for the 3rd
and 4th units of Kakrapar Atomic
Power Station (KAPS) told IANS
over phone from Kakrapar in Gujarat.
Already NPCIL has two units of 220
MW each at KAPS which are operat-
ing successfully with a capacity fac-
tor of around 97 percent.A senior
AERB official had earlier told IANS
that the construction of the two new
units at KAPS has progressed well
and NPCIL would seek the regula-
tor's permission to erect major nu-
clear reactor equipment. According to
Kumar, the AERB permission may
come in early next month and the
next six months are going to be cru-
cial for the project.
"The project is on time and the first
unit is expected to go critical in 2015.
We are hopeful of completing the
project three months ahead of sched-
ule. The plant will have all the safety
features recommended by a commit-
tee after the nuclear accident in
Fukushima in Japan," Kumar said.
Concrete was first poured in Novem-
ber 2010 for the 3rd unit at KAPS and
in March 2011 for the fourth unit. For
NPCIL that has been building 220
MW and 540 MW pressurised heavy
water reactors (PHWRs), it is a major
jump to go in for 700 MW PHWRs.
According to Kumar, major equip-
ment have been received at the proj-
ect site. "We expect the turbine for
the power plant at site in March
2014," Kumar said. The project is ex-
pected to generate a fresh direct em-
ployment opportunities for around
500 people once the two units begin
operation.
Incidentally, the two new units at
KAPS are not under safeguard agree-
ment of the International Atomic En-
ergy Agency (IAEA).
Lucknow
The US will extend support to the
Uttar Pradesh government to min-
imise post-harvest losses in the
state's agriculture produce, officials
said Tuesday. The US would also
help the state farmers in growing cot-
ton, spices and olives in Bundelk-
hand.
This was discussed at a meeting be-
tween Chief Minister Akhikesh
Yadav and the chief agriculture ne-
gotiator in the Obama administra-
tion, Islam A. Siddiqui, Sunday. The
two discussed the actual capacity and
the potential of the agriculture sector
in India, and decided to tap the scope
of work the state offered. It was also
decided that agriculture universities
on both sides would work closely, a
state government official told.
"The US officials mentioned some
US techniques which can minimise
the post-harvest losses, and invited
the chief minister to visit US for a
first-hand account," the official said.
The US officials has also invited of-
ficials from the agriculture depart-
ment to see the mechanisation of the
agriculture sector in their country.
Crop planning and structural survey
of agriculture farm lands in state was
also discussed.
New Delhi
The International Air Transport Asso-
ciation (IATA) Monday downgraded
its outlook on the net profit of the
global industry from $12.7 billion to
$11.7 billion in 2013 from last year.
According to IATA, slow cargo seg-
ment growth, slowdown in emerging
markets and high oil prices have led
it to downgrade its earlier projection.
However, despite the downgrade, the
current expected net profit of $11.7
billion will be more than 58.10 per-
cent from $7.4 billion in 2012.
"Overall, the story is largely positive.
Profitability continues on an improv-
ing trajectory. But we have run into a
few speed bumps. Cargo growth has
not materialized. Emerging markets
have slowed. And the oil price spike
has had a dampening effect," said
Tony Tyler, director general and chief
executive, IATA. "We do see a more
optimistic end to the year. And 2014
is shaping up to see profit more than
double compared to 2012," Tyler said
in a statement. IATA expects that an
upward trend will continue into 2014
when airlines are expected to return a
net profit of $16.4 billion.
"This ($16.4 billion) would make
2014 the second strongest year this
century after the record breaking
$19.2 billion profit in 2010," the
statement said. IATA further said that
it expected the industry to post 3.2
percent as operating margin, despite
a 54 percent hike in jet fuel prices.
"Industry has been able to absorb this
enormous (fuel) cost increase as a re-
sult of changes in the industry struc-
ture (through consolidation and joint
ventures), increased ancillary sales
and reduced new entry due to tight fi-
nancial markets." Passenger growth
is expected to be five percent, al-
though slightly below the 5.3 percent
which was previously projected.
"Passenger numbers are expected to
grow to 3.12 billion -the first time
that they have topped the 3 billion
mark," the statement added.
BSNL, MTNL join hands to offer
better services
tomers. Particularly, small and
medium business customers will
be served through managed serv-
ices.
BSNL operates mobile, land line
and internet services in 20
telecommunications circles in
India, while MTNL operates in
Delhi and Mumbai zones.
MTNL to concentrate more on im-
proving customer services. Seam-
less mobile services with
customized pan-India plans will be
offered, he said. MTNL CMD A.K.
Garg said MTNL is being devel-
oped as network and system inte-
grator for providing total telecom
and IT solutions to enterprise cus-
New Delhi State-run telecom serv-
ice providers - Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Ma-
hanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
(MTNL) - Tuesday inked an agree-
ment to share infrastructure and
entreprise business to enhance op-
erational efficiency and augment
customer care, company officials
said here.
We are going to provide now a
very cost effective solution for
their pan-India requirements. We
are going to share the resources of
each other, which will ultimately
bring down the cost of operations,
said R.K. Upadhyay, chairman-
cum-managing director (CMD) of
BSNL. Both companies will use
each other's infrastructure like
ducts, buildings, towers, intelligent
network services and toll free serv-
ices. This will help BSNL and
TRAI cautions banks, financial institutions
against unregistered calls
New Delhi
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India (TRAI) has cautioned banks
and financial institutions against use
of unregistered telemarketers for pro-
moting their business, an official said
Monday. The authority has taken a
series of measures for addressing the
menace of Unsolicited Commercial
Communications. However, notwith-
standing the action taken by TRAI, a
large number of complaints contin-
ued to be received from consumers
regarding calls/SMSs originated by
unregistered telemarketers on behalf
of banks, insurance companies,
builders etc. for promoting their busi-
ness in utter disregard to the regula-
tions issued by the authority, a TRAI
spokesperson said here.
The TRAI has said such behaviour of
these banks and companies is in vio-
lation of The Telecom Commercial
Communications Customer Prefer-
ence (Thirteenth Amendment) Regu-
lations, 2010, which provides that in
case complaints continue to come in,
then on receipt of the third complaint,
all the telecom resources of the entity
or organization shall be disconnected.
The TRAI has named such banks and
financial institutions which have been
flouting the aforesaid regulation by
marketing their products and services
through unregistered telemarketers.
These banks or financial institutions
are - Axis Bank, Citi Bank, HDFC
Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra,
Punjab National Bank and State Bank
of India. These institutions have been
directed to look into the specific cases
of breach, initiate corrective action
and report back to the authority
within a period of seven days, failing
which the banks are liable to have all
their telecom resources disconnected
throughout the country.
Petrol pump in north Bengal
sealed for adulteration
Siliguri
A petrol pump owned by an Indian
soccer icon in this northern West
Bengal town was sealed by police
Tuesday after one of its tanks was
found to be allegedly filled up with
water instead of fuel. The pump at
Champasari under Pradhannagar
police station was ransacked by
angry car owners, truck drivers and
helpers Monday night after they
faced problems in running the ve-
hicles shortly after filling tanks of
their vehicles from the petrol
pump."Fuel experts sent to the
pump said one of its three tanks
was filled with 4,000 litres of
water. The pump was ransacked.
Police later sealed the pump," said
Siliguri Police Commissioner K Ja-
yaraman.
"Two employees of the petrol pump
have been arrested. Cases of cheat-
ing and adulteration have been
slapped against them," he said.
North Bengal Petroleum Dealers
Association president shaymal Pal
Chowdhury said the dealership for
the pump was in the name of a for-
mer star footballer who captained
the national team for a long time.
Jayaraman, however, said no FIR
has been registered against the
player. "Probe is on. We are verify-
ing all facts," he said.
Chandigarh

22

SPORTS

SPORTS

SPORTS

Andy Murray
undergoes
successful
back surgery
Kuala Lumpur
India put on a clinical show when it
mattered the most and sailed into the
semi-finals of the 8th Women's Asia
Cup hockey with a facile 2-0 win
over hosts Malaysia at the National
Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil Sta-
dium here Tuesday. After a goalless
first half, India turned on the heat in
the second half with Poonam Rani
(39th minute) and Lily Chanu
Mayengbam (46th) sounding the
board to secure three crucial points in
pool A. With two wins a defeat, India
finished second in their group after
tournament favourites China.
With the win, India's hopes for a
berth in the next year's World Cup at
The Hague, Netherland also re-
mained alive. The winner will get a
direct entry in the World Cup.
Against the hosts, India were in a
must-win situation and they churned
out their top game when it matted the
most. The Malaysians did well to
hold Indians to a goalless first half.
But the Indian came back well in the
second half. India broke the deadlock
in the 39th minute with Poonam Rani
through a field goal.
Mayengbam doubled the lead, also a
field goal, in the 46th minute to put
India through to the last four as the
group runners-up. Malaysian coach
Mohmed Nasihin Nubli said they
were not able to sustain their defen-
sive play in the second half.
"They caught us fast with their
counter-attack early in the second
half. We should have been more alert.
But the players did well and it was
probably our best game here and now
we must remain fifth in Asia, he
said. Meanwhile, China finished on
top of Group A after whipping Hong
Kong 7-0 for their third win. Liang
Meiyu scored a hat-trick (27th, 48th
and 51st). The other scorers were
Peng Yang (13th), Xu Xiaoxu (37th),
Xi Xiayun (42nd) and Wang Na
(49th). In Group B, Japan also
booked their berth in the semi-finals
with a 12-0 rout of Kazakhstan.
Mazuki Arai (third, 40th and 70th),
Akane Shibata (second and 19th),
Aya Ueda (26th and 59th), Akiko Ota
(8th), Miyuri Nagakawa (15th),
Mayuri Ono (21st), Shiho Skai (64th)
and Aki Matsuhashi (68th).
The Japanese finished runners-up be-
hind unbeaten South Korea with six
points. The Koreans completed their
group match with a 16-2 win over
Taiwan. In the semi-finals, Japan will
play defending champions China
while South Korea will take on India.
China and South Korea have booked
their World Cup berths through the
World Hockey League. Japan and
India need to win the title to go
through to the showpiece event.
Neha Tripathi leads Hero
golf meet
New Delhi
Kolkata golfer Neha Tripathi finally
seemed to have rediscovered her
touch to lead the field with level par
score on the first day of the 11th leg
of Hero Women's Professional Golf
Tour 2013 here Tuesday. The Rs.5
lakh tournament is being played at
the historic Delhi Golf Club (DGC)
Sep 24-26. Trailing Neha by a stroke
is Delhi's Vani Kapoor, while in-
form veteran Delhi golfer Smriti
Mehra is third with a total score of
two over 74 after the first round.
Neha played a very consistent game
here with two bogeys on the 14th
and 17th holes and equal number of
birdies on the 15th and 18th holes.
Neha, who currently is the Hero
Order of Merit leader, finished her
first round with a level par score of
72. Delhi golfer Vani Kapoor had a
turbulent start with bogeys on the
second, fourth, ninth and 10th holes,
but recovered to card birdies on the
first, third, fifth and 12th holes. She
finished second with a score of one
over 73 after 18 holes.Smriti Mehra
finished third with a total score of
two over 74 after the first round. The
Delhi golfer carded a single birdie
on the eighth hole and had three bo-
geys on the fourth, 15th and 17th
holes. Kolkata's Vandana Agarwal,
Delhi's Ankita Tiwana and Hero Mo-
toCorp sponsored Bengaluru golfer
Sharmila Nicollet were tied for the
fourth place with identical scores of
five over 77 after 18 holes.
Snooker: Madan to meet
Sachdev in final
Lucknow
Delhi's Varun Madan beat fancied
Sourav Kothari (Petroleum Sports
Promotion Board) 6-0 to set up a
title clash with Maharashtra's Rahul
Sachdev who overcame Ketan
Chawla of Madhya Pradesh 6-1 in
the men's semi-finals of the National
6-Red snooker championship here
Tuesday. The women's final will be
between Karnataka's Vidya Pillai
and Neena Praveen of Tamil Nadu
both of whom scored similar 4-2 win
over Amee Kamani (MP) and R.
Umadevi (Karnataka), respectively.
The results:
Me n - S e mi - f i n a l s : Va r u n
Madan(DEL) bt Sourav
Kothari(PSPB) 6-0; Rahul Sachdev
(MAH) bt Ketan Chawla(MP) 6-1.
5-6 Placing: Brijesh Damani(PSPB)
bt Kamal Chawla (MP) 3-2.
7-8 Placing: J. Varun Kumar(TN) bt
Aneesh Saini (HAR) 3-2.
Quarter-finals: Madan bt Varun
Kumar 5-1; Kothari bt Damani5-4;
Sachdev bt Kamal Chawla 5-3;
Ketan Chawla bt Saini 5-4.
Women - Semi-finals: Neena
Praveen(TN) bt R. Umadevi (KAR)
4-2; Vidya Pillai(KAR) bt Amee Ka-
mani (MP) 4-2.
5-6 Placing: Judy Walia (KAR) bt
Chitra Magimairaj (KAR) 2-0.
7-8 Placing: Keerath Bhandaal
(DEL) bt Meenal Thakur(MAH) 2-
1.
Quarter-finals: Praveen bt Walia3-
1; Umadevi bt Bhandaal 3-1; Pillai
bt Thakur 3-1; Kamani bt Magi-
mairaj 3-1.
Sindhu gets
her Arjuna
Award
New Delhi
India's rising shuttler P.V. Sindhu,
who recently won the World Cham-
pionship bronze medal, was con-
ferred with the Arjuna Award by
sports minister Jitendra Singh here
Tuesday. The minister presented
Sindhu a statuette, citation and a cash
prize of Rs.5 lakh at the governing
body meeting of Sports Authority of
India (SAI).
Sindhu could not receive the award
from President Pranab Mukherjee
during the award ceremony Aug 31 at
Rashtrapati Bhavan since she was
busy playing the final of the Indian
Badminton League (IBL). The 18-
year-old last month became the first
female singles player from India to
win a bronze medal at the World
Championships.
London
Scottish tennis star Andy Murray,
the defending Wimbledon cham-
pion, has undergone successful back
surgery, although he is expected to
miss the rest of the 2013 season.
Without providing details on Mon-
day's minor operation, Murray
posted a photo Monday to his Twit-
ter account showing him lying on a
hospital bed. The 26-year-old world
No. 3 is seen giving the thumbs-up
and says in an accompanying mes-
sage "thanks for all the well wishes,
means a lot to me". He also joked in
another tweet that the "first thing I
said when I came round was 'did I
win?'" The tennis star announced
last week that he would not play the
rest of this season because of the op-
eration, saying he did not want to
further aggravate the ailment. Mur-
ray's recurrent back problems flared
up in May during the Rome Mas-
ters, forcing him to withdraw from
that tournament and subsequently
pull out of the French Open. But he
recovered in time to win Wimbledon
a few weeks later, becoming the first
British man to win tennis' most
prestigious title since Fred Perry in
1936.
India eves beat Malaysia to
enter Asia Cup hockey semis
Titans beat Brisbane Heats
by four runs
Mohali
Titans kept alive their hopes of a
semi-final berth as they successfully
defended a small total to beat Bris-
bane Heats by four runs in a Group
B match of the Champions League
Twenty20 at the Punjab Cricket As-
sociation (PCA) Stadium here Tues-
day. It was some poor batting that
let down the Titans of South Africa
after they were put in by the Heats.
Henry Davids (39), Heino Kuhn
(31) and AB de Villiers (28) were
the only players to get to double
digits as the Titans were all out for
123 runs with seven balls to spare.
For Heats, pacer Matthew Gale got
four for 10 while Dan Christian
took two for 16. Titans atoned for
their poor batting with some excep-
tional bowling to pack up Brisbane
Heats for 119 runs in 20 overs.
Pacer Marchant de Lang was the
pick of the bowlers with three for 13
while left-arm pacer Rowan
Richards got two for 20. Heats'
skipper James Hopes was the top
scorer with 37 while Christian made
21. There was, however, some ex-
citement at the end as Heats needed
10 runs off the final over. But they
lost three wickets instead, including
two run outs, and the match ended
with de Lange bowling Alister Mc-
Dermott.
Brief scores: Titans 123 all out in
18.5 overs (Henry Davids 39, Heino
Kunn 31; Matthew Gale 4-10, Dan
Christian 2-16). Brisbane Heat 119
all out in 20 overs (James Hopes 37,
Christian 21; Marchant de Lange 3-
13, Rowan Richards 2-20). Titans
won by four runs.
AIFF congratulates East Bengal
New Delhi
The All India Football Federation
(AIFF) Tuesday congratulated East
Bengal on their sealing a berth in the
Asian Football Confederation (AFC)
Cup semifinals after beating Indone-
sias Semen Padang 2-1 on aggre-
gate over two legs. East Bengals
James Moga came off the bench to
cancel out Padangs Edward Junior
Wilson first half strike to edge past
the Indonesian outfit 2-1 on aggre-
gate courtesy the red and gold
brigades 1-0 win at home last Tues-
day, Sep 17. AIFF President Praful
Patel lauded the Kolkata outfit for
their achievement and wished them
luck for the semis. "I congratulate
East Bengal Club for their historic
triumph. I wish them luck for the
semifinals," Patel said. AIFF Gen-
eral Secretary Kushal Das too con-
gratulated East Bengal and said that
it was a proud day for Indian foot-
ball.
Chandigarh

"When he came out and saw
t

Defence sources
t

In no time, eight
p

23
Bollywood actress Zarine Khan unveils a preview of the lat-
est `India Wedding Collection` being launched by Gitanjali
Group in Mumbai
Gunjan Walia, actress of upcoming film Ishq
Garari strikes a pose for lensmen at the music
launch event held in Tri City
Mahie Gill adderssing reporters at a promotional event
held in Tri-city
Punjab University youth marked the Heart Day by highlighting presence of heart ailmenrts amongst the young. The young in India are increasingly
succumbing to lifestyle problems formerly associated with advanced or middle ages
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan speaks at the 40th National Management
Convention ``Courage in Uncertainty`` organized by AIMA in New Delhi
Bollywood actress Vidya Balan during a
press conference announcing the Indian Film
Festival of Melbourne, in Mumbai
The starcast of Punjabi film Ishq Garari was all smiles at the launch event of the original
soundtrack of movie
Hum an nterest
Chandigarh

sunlightespecially
i

You can reduce the amount
o

24
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