P

utting up a bravo ront in tho aoo o advorsity is an

undorstandablo oaturo o oompotitivo politios and
all partios havo takon rooourso to it at ono timo or anothor.
Howovor, a sti uppor lip, whilo playing a rolo in bolstoring
tho spirits o oot soldiors, oannot altor roalitios. And tho
roality that tho Congross and tho UPA-2 Govornmont is
oonrontod with today is grim, vory grim.
Considor tho aots. Tho olootion o tho UPA or a
sooond torm in 2009 owod to throo aotors: A rosounding
win in Andhra Pradosh, an oqually oonolusivo viotory in
Tamil Nadu and unoxpootod gains in urban ndia that
addod signiioantly to its ovorall tally. Today, tho Congross
is boloaguorod on all throo ronts.
n Andhra Pradosh, it is sandwiohod botwoon oroos
that aro insisting on Tolangana and thoso who ool
botrayod by tho imminont division o tho unitod Tolugu-
spoaking Stato.
Thoro may woll bo an intonso rivalry botwoon tho
broakaway YSP Congross o Jaganmohan Poddy and tho
Tolugu Dosam Party o N Chandrababu Naidu. But tho
point to noto is that tho Congross stands nowhoro in this
battlo. ndood, woaring tho Congross badgo has booomo
a symbol o dishonour tho roason why most Congross
Ministors rom Andhra Pradosh havo thought it wiso to
quit tho Manmohan Singh Govornmont.
Worso, this irrolovanoo in tho Sooma-Andhra rogion
has not boon osot by tangiblo gains in tho Tolangana
rogion. Tho Cabinot may dooido to ast-traok tho
biuroation o Andhra Pradosh but ovon in tho Tolangana
rogion tho politioal bonoits will aooruo to tho Tolangana
Pashtra Samithi. For tho Congross, Andhra Pradosh
sooms a oomploto writo-
o. As things stand today,
it is possiblo that tho
Congross may ail to win
ovon a singlo soat rom
tho Stato that gavo it
suoh a shot in tho arm in
2009. Tho story may not
bo as grim in Tamil Nadu,
ospooially booauso tho
Congross-DMK allianoo
will bo rosurrootod in
somo orm booro tho
2014 olootion. But a last-
minuto patoh-up ator a
prolongod bout o
bittornoss is unlikoly to
rooroato tho ohomistry o
2009. Chio Ministor J
Jayalalithaa may not win
all tho 40 or so soats but
tho AADMK sooms sot to
oomo to tho noxt Lok
Sabha as tho third largost
party. Add to this tho
prooarious position o tho
Congross throughout
urban ndia whioh
aooounts or moro than
50 parliamontary soats,
and it is possiblo to
approoiato tho logio o
thoso who say that tho Congross will bo luoky to soouro
moro than 100 soats. Apart rom Karnataka, it is diioult to
soo tho Congross bottoring or matohing its 2009 tally in
any Stato.
Tho prospoots o tho Congross omorging as tho
singlo largost party in tho 16th Lok Sabha looks, at
prosont, to bo romoto.
Yot, liko gonorals who havo snatohod viotory rom tho
|aws o dooat, noithor tho Congross nor tho UPA should
bo oomplotoly writton o as yot. Evory inoumbont
Govornmont has bags o trioks in rosorvo whioh,
intolligontly usod and with a doso o luok, oan nulliy
advorsity. Moroovor, it noods tho BJP to sooro a ow sol-
goals or tho Congross to bogin an aggrossivo rotaliation.
t is in this oontoxt that tho olootions to tho ivo Stato
Assomblios aoquiro importanoo. tho Congross oan
somohow maintain tho status quo, or oomponsato a
possiblo loss in Pa|asthan with an unoxpootod viotory in
oithor Madhya Pradosh or Chhattisgarh, it will go into tho
2014 olootion with a moasuro o ohanoo.
A modostly good outoomo will mako it possiblo or
partios suoh as tho BSP to ovon oonsidor an olootoral
undorstanding with tho Congross in Uttar Pradosh. Suoh
talks aro at thoir vory initial stagos at prosont and both
sidos havo adoptod a wait-and-watoh approaoh.
doally, tho BSP would liko to doal with a woakonod
Congross that will bo proparod to oonoodo soats to it in
plaoos suoh as Madhya Pradosh and Pun|ab. On its part,
a hal-dooont porormanoo should oroato oonditions or
tho Congross to domand a air sottlomont.
Eithor way, tho Congross has bogun tho soaroh or
now allios in right oarnost. t is not that tho Congross
soriously hopos to manago a UPA-3 Govornmont. ts
prinoipal oous is to narrow tho gap botwoon it and tho
BJP to suoh an oxtont that it booomos impossiblo or any
stablo Govornmont to omorgo in 2014.
A short burst o instability and inoohoront
Govornmont, tho Congross hopos, should sot tho stago
or a grand dynastio roturn in anothor two yoars. By this
timo tho novolty o Narondra Modi would havo worn o
oonsidorably.
Thoro is littlo point in donounoing suoh oynioal
oaloulations as morally roprohonsiblo. Tho moro important
thing is to bo mindul that tho Congross doosn't appoar to
bo ighting tho 2014 olootions with an oyo to viotory but
with tho solo purposo o making lio as hollish as possiblo
or its oppononts both in 2014 and boyond.
For tho BJP this situation is both an opportunity and a
ohallongo. ts opportunity stoms rom having to oonront a
dispiritod Govornmont that knows that its natural lio is
tioking away ast. But it is also a ohallongo booauso to
avail tho most politioally, it has no ohoioo but to try or a
bumpor harvost o soats. Thoso who want to rogulato tho
BJP's soat tally in ordor to oroato intornal ohooks on a
Modi in ull stoam aro ossontially playing into tho hands o
tho dynasty.
Cong's 2014 aim
is to stop stability
USUALACA>31BA
SwAFAh 0AS0uFTA
The Congress has
begun the search for
new allies. t is not that
the Congress seriously
hopes to manage a
UPA-3 Government. ts
principal focus is to
narrow the gap between
it and the BJP to such an
extent that it becomes
impossible for any stable
Government to emerge
in 2014. A short burst of
instability and incoherent
Government, the
Congress hopes, should
set the stage for a grand
dynastic return in another
two years. By this time
the novelty of Narendra
Modi would have
worn off considerably
Fh8 Q hY0ERABA0
A
s he started his indefinite
fast against the arbitrari-
ness of the Centre in dividing
Andhra Pradesh, YSR
Congress president Jagan-
mohan Reddy on Saturday hit
out at Congress president Sonia
Gandhi, though without nam-
ing her, blaming her for the
States bifurcation. He also said
his party would challenge the
Union Cabinets decision in the
Supreme Court which was
taken without a resolution in
the State Assembly.
Someone wanted their
son to become PM and divid-
ed the State, Jagan told a TV
channel, referring to Congress
president Sonia Gandhi, and
her son Rahul Gandhi.
Fiery protests, in the mean-
time, continued to rage
through Seema-Andhra region
and some places witnessed
sporadic violence on the sec-
ond day of the 72-hour strike
in protest against the bifurca-
tion. Andhra Pradesh, as well
as other neighbouring States
are bracing for a massive power
blackout as the employees
strike has resulted in several
power generation plants trip-
ping in Seema-Andhra since
Friday night.
In Delhi, sources said
Union Minister Pallam Raju,
who announced his resignation
over the division of Andhra
Pradesh, met Congress presi-
dent Sonia Gandhi, who just
like the Prime Minister, advised
him not to act in haste.
Around half-a-dozen other
Central Ministers and several
Congress MPs from Andhra
Pradesh have already resigned
in protest.
Flanked by several senior
leaders of his party and fami-
ly members, Jagan sat on the
indefinite fast at his Lotus
Pond residence in Jubilee Hills
area at 11.30 am. However, his
fast came under attack from
Telangana Congress leaders
who urged the police not to
permit the fast. They also
advised Jagan to take his fast to
his hometown Kadapa.
Noting that there were
legal problems involved in the
States division, Jagan won-
dered how the Centre could
find solutions in six weeks. We
will challenge the Centres deci-
sion (to divide AP) in the
Supreme Court, Jagan said.
We are opposing the uni-
lateral manner in which the
Centre is functioning. How
can it go ahead with the bifur-
cation process without a reso-
lution in the State Assembly?
Jagan asked adding, We have
never heard of an instance of
State bifurcation without a res-
olution in the Assembly.
This is second time that
Jagan has gone on a fast against
the formation of Telangana
demanding equal justice to all
the regions. He had gone on fast
in September inside the
Chanchalguda jail where he was
lodged as an accused in the dis-
proportionate assets case but it
ended six days later when he
was shifted to hospital in view
of his worsening health.
The indefinite fast was
part of the one-upmanship
between Jagan and his bte
noire Telugu Desam president
N Chandrababu Naidu as both
their parties were eyeing a
dominant role in Seema-
Andhra region post the divi-
sion of the State.
Interestingly, Naidu has
also announced his plans for an
indefinite fast in New Delhi
from Monday to mobilise sup-
port at the national level from
other parties to stall the divi-
sion process. Both Naidu and
Jagan are being seen as trying
to emerge as the champion of
an united Andhra Pradesh.
Related report on P6
Fh8 Q hY0ERABA0/ChEhhA
T
he sleepy town of Puttur in
Chittoor district woke up to
the sound of gunfire on
Saturday as the Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh Police carried
out a joint operation, which
finally after 12 long hours led
to the arrest of two key Islamic
terrorists suspected to be
involved in killing of BJP and
Sangh leaders from South India
and planting a pipe bomb in
2011 on the route through
which BJP leader LK Advani
was to travel in Madurai.
The arrested accused
Panna Ismail and Bilal Malik
were not only wanted in the
murders of Tamil Nadu BJP
secretary Auditor Ramesh at
Salem and Hindu Front leader
Vellaiyappan in Vellore but
also around a dozen-odd
other cases.
According to the Tamil
Nadu Police, Ismail and Bilal
belong to a fundamentalist
organisation Al-Ummah.
A Police Inspector was
severely injured in the incident
and Ismail suffered bullet
injuries, police said. The police-
man was being treated at a pri-
vate hospital in Chennai while
Ismail has been admitted to
Rajiv Gandhi Government
Hospital, where a three-tier
security has been accorded. A
gun and some explosives were
also recovered from a house in
the area, police said.
The arrests came after
another arrested Islamist
Fakruddin spilled the beans on
his cohorts.
Turn to Page 4
k8khkM ThMk8 Q hEw 0ELh
E
ighteen years after he com-
mitted the heinous crime
of planting a kiss on a minor
girl, the law has caught up with
a juvenile offender, who is
now a 34-year-old man.
Finding him guilty of outrag-
ing the modesty of the girl, now
a grown up woman, the
Supreme Court (SC) has direct-
ed the offender to surrender
and undergo six months in jail.
The girl and the offender both
were 16 years of age at the time
of the crime. The two are now
settled in life with their own
families.
While handing out the
unique judgement, the SC
noted that in the prevailing sce-
nario, the modesty of a woman
has to be strongly guarded.
The incident was of Malda
in West Bengal where both the
accused and the victim resided.
In her complaint lodged 18
years ago, the girl had said that
on November 6, 1995, while on
her way to attend tuitions, the
accused forcibly caught hold of
her hair and planted a kiss on
her lips. Her lower lip was
injured and started bleeding.
However, it was only last
year, on May 9, 2012, that the
trial court sentenced him to six
months in jail for the offence of
outraging the modesty of the
victim under IPC Section 354.
Later, the Calcutta High Court
too decided against the accused
and dismissed his appeal on
September 19, 2012, against
which he approached the SC.
The judgement holds sig-
nificance as the SC refused to
give the juvenile offender the
benefit under law to escape a
harsher punishment when it
came to crimes committed
against women. If the accused
was to be tried before a Juvenile
Justice Board, the maximum
punishment he would have
incurred was three years in a
correctional home.
The bench of Justices BS
Chauhan and SA Bobde said,
If any person uses criminal
force upon any woman with the
intention or knowledge that the
womans modesty will be out-
raged, he is to be punished.
The judgement could serve
as a precedent in the develop-
ment of law relating to juveniles
who are in conflict with law.
Turn to Page 4
kh8hEE WkhI Q SRhA0AR
T
he flush out operation
along the Line of Control
(LoC) in North Kashmirs
Kupwara district continued
for the 12th day
on Saturday as
troops shot
dead four more
infiltrators in
Fateh Gali
area. Defence
sources said
that with the
latest casualties,
seven infiltra-
tors were shot
dead in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, General
Officer Commanding-in-
Chief, Northern Command
Lieutenant-General Sanjiv
Chachra and Srinagar-based
XV Corps Commander
Lieutenant-General Gurmeet
Singh carried out aerial recon-
naissance of the forward posts
to oversee the preparedness of
the troops. The Army
Commander arrived here on
a three day visit to review the
ground situation and hold
discussions with the Governor
and Chief
Minister.
A Defence
s p o k e s ma n
said that troops
deployed in
Fateh Gali area
of Keran sector
detected move-
ment of some
terrorists about
50 metres in
front of their post located
around three kilometres inside
the LoC.
Turn to Page 4
kVhI8h 8Ihhk Q RAhCh
T
he famous Cottage Number
13 of the Rajendra Institute
of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has
been spruced up during the last
couple of days. The RIMS
administration has kept most of
its cottages, especially number
13 and 14, free for some undis-
closed VIP inmates.
Hospital staff appointed to
look after VIP patients told The
Pioneer on Saturday that the
administration has asked them
not to allocate the cottages to
any patient till further orders.
We have been asked to
keep both the cottages (13 and
14) vacant. But we dont know
who will be admitted to these
cottages, said a medical staff
requesting anonymity.
Both cottages are equipped
with air-conditioners that dif-
ferentiates them from the rest
of the 12 cottages.
At present three of the
hospitals cottages are being
occupied by Nalin Soren,
Jagannath Mishra and
Sawna Lakra.
Turn to Page 4
'F sIIt t0 make
s0me0ae's s0a FM'
YSR Cu|| p|iJ|| YS 1++||u|+| RJJ] Ju|i| +| i|J|i|i| |u|| ||i| i| p|u|| ++i|| || p|upuJ |i|u|+|iu|
u| A|J||+ P|+J|, i| |]J|+|+J u| S+|u|J+] Pll
JN, Anolra cos arrest
two terrorists in Puttur
Man`s fate sealeo ly a liss stolen 1S years ago!
Aler 12 hours o joinl
o lhe duo wanled in
killing o BJF, Sangh
leaders were calured
Jagan on asl;
lo challenge
Cenlre's T
decision in SC
A||J |u| |+| i||u || |iJ| u| || |Wu |||u| up| Ju|i| +|
up|+|iu| i| Pu||u| i| C|i||uu| Ji||i| u| S+|u|J+] Pll
F0stIa sm00chIa Ic 0a Fh
Iaa4s M0r0ccaa teeas Ia jaII
kIF Q RABAT (M0R0CC0)
M
oroccan police have
arrested a teenage boy
and girl for posting a photo on
Facebook of them kissing, with
the incident provoking a slew
of copycats, a rights organisa-
tion has said.
It involves a teenage boy
and his girlfriend. They were
arrested on Thursday for vio-
lating public decency by post-
ing a photo of them kissing on
a social networking site in the
north-eastern town of Nador,
said Chakib al-Khayari, pres-
ident of the Rif Association of
Human Rights, on Saturday.
The photograph of the
young lovebirds was taken out-
side the high school where the
two are students. The young cou-
ple are being held in the juvenile
detention centre in Nador, where
a sit-in has begun to demand
their release, Khayari said.
The incident has caused
such a stir among young peo-
ple that a number of other cou-
ples have posted similar pho-
tos on their Facebook pages.
A local official contacted
by AFP confirmed the arrests,
but declined to comment any
further on the incident.
Khayari said the pair are to
appear before a juvenile court
judge next Friday.
7 ullras shol in 24
hours; lo hi/bul
commander held
A||] |+W+| Ju|i| +| |uu||| i|
||+| |u| u| S+|u|J+] Pll
Four infiltrators
killed at LoC
E8T II8T
FMIhEhT 6TTkE
IIE8 hM8E
Shibu Soren 18
Madhu Koda 18
halin Soren 14
(undergoing lrealmenl)
Bhanu Frala Shahi 8
Jagannalh Mishra 11
Cu||+ i| R+||i |upi|+l
l+|J, W+i|i| |u| VlP 'p+|i||!
|
i
|
|
|
+
|
h ThE 8II
OFiery rolesls conlinued lo
rage lhrough SeemaAndhra
region
OSome laces wilnessed
soradic violence on lhe
second day o lhe 72hour
slrike
OAndhra Fradesh, as well as
olher neighbouring Slales are
bracing or a massive ower
blackoul
OSlrike by sla has resulled
in several ower generalion
lanls lriing in
SeemaAndhra
Ounion Minisler Fallam Raju
mel Congress residenl
Sonia 0andhi, who advised
him nol lo resign in hasle
Ohaidu has also announced
his lans or an indeinile asl
in lhe Cailal rom Monday lo
slall lhe division rocess
OBolh haidu and Jagan are
being seen as lrying lo
emerge as chamions o an
uniled Andhra Fradesh
Published From
DELH LUCKNOW BHOPAL
BHUBANESWAR RANCH
RAPUR CHANDGARH
DEHRADUN
`Lale Cily VoI. 28 Issue 277
`Air Surcharge Exlra i Alicable
EsIabIished 1B64
Rhl ho. 53400/91, RE00. ho. 0L C}05/1219/20122014
www.dailypioneer.com
hEW EIhI, 8hkY 6T8E 6, Z013; FkE8 1Z+B C4
8F08I 10
hA0AL SET T0 BE
w0RL0 h0 1
w08l0 7
MEET REAL w0MAh
BEhh0 AFFLE'S SR
8II08 5
BJF T0 F0hT F0LLS 0h
0000 00vERhAhCE
@ThoDailyPionoor aoobook.oom/dailypionoor
F0II0W 0s 0a:
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013 films & tv 02
|rector's 0ut - Vasantkun[: 8esharam: 10:00 ar,
11:15 ar, 12:15 pr, 1:15 pr, 2:30 pr, 3:30 pr,
4:30 pr, 5:45 pr, 0:45 pr, 7:45 pr, 9:00 pr, 9:55
pr, 10:55 pr, Punner Punner [un|nterrupted):
10:10 ar, 0:00 pr, Push: 10:30 ar, The
Lunchbox: 1:00 pr, |ana [un|nterrupted): 3:30
pr, 8:05 pr, Fr|soners [un|nterrupted): 10:35
pr
FVP Anupam - $aket: 8esharam: 9:30 ar, 10:30
ar, 11:30 ar, 12:30 pr, 1:30 pr, 2:30 pr, 3:35
pr, 4:35 pr, 5:35 pr, 0:35 pr, 7:35 pr, 8:35 pr,
9:35 pr, 10:35 pr, 11:35 pr, Punner Punner: 9:20
ar, 9:00 pr, |ana: 0:30 pr, 11:10 pr, 0rard
Vasl|: 10:35 ar, Fhata Foster N|k|a hero: 1:20
pr, The Lunchbox: 4:15 pr
FVP $e|ect 0|ty wa|k: 8esharam: 10:00 ar, 11:10
ar, 11:45 ar, 1:00 pr, 2:10 pr, 2:45 pr, 4:05 pr,
5:15 pr, 5:50 pr, 7:05 pr, 8:15 pr, 10:05 pr,
11:15 pr, 11:45 pr, The Lunchbox: 10:00 ar, 4:45
pr, Punner Punner: 12:15 pr, 9:25 pr, |ana:
2:20 pr, 7:00 pr, 11:30 pr, Fr|soners: 8:50 pr
FVP $e|ect 0|ty wa|k - 0o|d 0|ass: 8esharam:
10:35 ar, 12:20 pr, 1:35 pr, 3:20 pr, 4:40 pr,
0:25 pr, 7:40 pr, 9:20 pr, 10:40 pr, |ana: 10:00
ar
FVP Fr|ya: 8esarar, 10:30 ar, 1:30 pr, 4:30 pr,
7:30 pr, 10:30 pr
FVP P|vo||: 8esharam: 10:00 ar, 1:00 pr, 4:00
pr, 7:00 pr, 9:55 pr
FVP F|aza: 8esharam: 10:30 ar, 1:30 pr, 4:30
pr, 7:30 pr, 10:30 pr
FVP 30's: 8esharam: 10:30 ar, 1:30 pr, 4:30 pr,
7:30 pr, 10:30 pr
FVP Nara|na: 8esharam: 9:30 ar, 10:30 ar, 11:30
ar, 12:30 pr, 1:30 pr, 2:30 pr, 3:35 pr, 4:35 pr,
5:35 pr, 0:35 pr, 7:35 pr, 8:35 pr, 9:35 pr, 10:35
pr, 11:35 pr, Athar|nt|k| aared| [Te|ugu):
10:05 ar, Pa[a Pan| [Tam||): 1:05 pr, Punner
Punner: 4:10 pr, 8:50 pr, d|ana: 0:20 pr, 10:55
pr
FVP V|kaspur|: 8esharam: 9:00 ar, 10:00 ar,
11:00 ar, 12:00 pr, 1:00 pr, 2:00 pr, 3:00 pr,
4:00 pr, 5:00 pr, 0:00 pr, 7:00 pr, 8:00 pr, 9:00
pr, 10:00 pr, 10:55 pr
FVP Amb|ence - 0urgaon: 8esharam: 10:00 ar,
11:10 ar, 11:45 ar, 1:00 pr, 2:10 pr, 2:45 pr,
4:05 pr, 5:15 pr, 5:50 pr, 7:05 pr, 8:15 pr, 8:50
pr, 10:05 pr, 11:15 pr, 11:45 pr, d|ara, 10:00
ar, 2:30 pr, 7:00 pr, 9:40 pr, 11:30 pr,
Punner Punner: 12:25 pr: 4:55 pr, 9:25 pr, Pala
Posler h|||a lero: 11:00 ar, Te Lurcoox: 2:00
pr, 7:20 pr, Fr|soners: 4:15 pr
F80I8FM
Fl8 I008 0I
THEATRE
TAD ART brings you Art Wealthexhibition
to build art wealth with this unique art
exhibition from October 14 to November 4
2013 at The Claridges New Delhi. The
exhibition aims at celebrating the vast wealth
of contemporary Indian art, featuring
renowned contemporary artists.
80w IIMF
wTh MEEhAKSh RA0
8F88M
*Ia: 8aahIr ka00r, FaIIavI
8har4a, 8IshI ka00r, 8eet0
8Iah, 1ave4 1affrey
8ate4: 4/10
I
f the youthful exuberance of
Ranbir Kapoor, his laudable
histrionic abilities, his
screen presence, his
Midas touch and his drop
dead looks fail to save a
film, there must be
something really really
wrong with either the
script or the direction.
In the case of
Besharam, it is a little
bit of both.
For one, not every
film can be put into the
master mould of Dabangg
for it to work even if the
director happens to be the
same bloke. Why Ranbir would
sign a film so obviously slim
on a story is bewildering,
considering that, so far, the lad has
stood out in Bollywood for being
different and choosing differently.
Besharamis gauche and
unhinged, and that despite the
comeback couple Rishi and Neetu
Kapoor living it up as Chulbul and
Bulbul Chautala. But the audience
need more than just a family reunion
and much more than mere
attempted hilarity. And as the
raunchy Ranbir puts it aptly, sirf
naam rakhne se hi koi Chulbul
Pandey nahi ho jaata. Wonder
why then, he didnt say this
to his director in the
very beginning. At
least then, the
viewers may have got
a better, revised
version of a film
that could have
been so much
better if it had
been given
some flesh.
Ranbir is
made for
better stuff.
He has erred
in choosing
this one.
Director
Abhinav
Kashyap, too,
is made bowl better
deliveries. This one,
however, goes awry
from the very
beginning and never
really recovers from its
inherent follies.
Printed and pubIished by Chandan Mitra for and on behaIf of CMYK Printech Ltd., 2nd FIoor, Link House, 3 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New DeIhi-110 002, and printed at Jagran Prakashan Ltd, D 210,211 Sector-63, Noida (U.P.). Editor: Chandan Mitra. AIR SURCHARGE of C 2.00 East: CaIcutta, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, North Leh West:
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Altlougl every ossille care ano caution las leen talen to avoio errors or omissions, tlis ullication is leing solo on tle conoition ano unoerstanoing tlat information given in tlis ullication is merely for reference ano must not le talen as laving autlority of or linoing in any way on tle writers, eoitors, ullislers, ano rinters ano sellers
wlo oo not owe any resonsilility for any oamage or loss to any erson, a urclaser of tlis ullication or not for tle result of any action talen on tle lasis of tlis worl. All oisutes are sulject to tle exclusive jurisoiction of cometent court ano forums in !elli/New !elli only.
Gentle outing
Joo slow a
tlriller
800I IIMF
*Ia: 00mhaaII 6Iees0a, 8acheI
Mc4ams, 8III 8Ihy, I0m 0IIaa4er,
Mar0t 80hhIe
8ate4: 5.5/10
J
ust when you are about to give up on
the potential of this time travel
romance with family heartbeats, the
story starts unfolding and you rise above
the below average looks of the hero and
his extraordinary ordinariness. You realise
he has a gift that transcends even his rare
ability to travel back in time every now
and then to reset his future. He is a man
with a lot of earnest emotions, gentle
humour and kindness, traits that make
this movie a puller, may be a late puller
but a puller nevertheless.
The director does well to keep this
one simple, hinged on romance and
family woven together beautifully. The
pace too is deliciously languid much like
the Cornish moorings its draws its
locational beauty from. The strength of a
mothers character who is about to lose
8088F8 8088F8
*Ia: 8ea ffIeck, 10stIa
IImherIake, 6emma rtert0a,
ath0ay MackIe
8ate4: 3/10
J
ustin Timberlake, and even Ben
Affleck for that, are capable of
better films. Runner Runner limits
them to a rather unhappening casino
thriller unfolding into a mega
financial scam in Costa Rica where
corruption is the second name to
almost everything. From Princeton to
the bad alleys of fraudulent money
minting, Justin almost sleepwalks
through the film, in the end winning
eyes closed! In comparison, as the
wily and ruthless owner of the casino,
the director accords some nuances to
Bens character though that too fails
to save the film from ennui.
It would have been much more
fun had there been more twists and
turns, more imaginative sequencing
of events, more punctuations in a
storyline burdened by inaction.
QWhat is your routine at the
zoo?
Thats a challenging
question to answer as every day
is different from the next.
Usually, the alarm call of the
tigers, elephants and the chorus
of birds wakes me up. Then I go
to school and write an article for
Crikey! magazine. At times, I go
for a photo shoot and filming
and then head for the zoo.
QYour father Steve was doing
a lot of work with crocodiles.
Are you just as proactive?
I want to make sure that
my fathers message and legacy
continues forever. I have
dedicated my life to being a
wildlife warrior and speaking
for those who cant speak for
themselves. The favourite series
that I participated in was my
parents Crocodile Hunter
series. It was so much fun to
travel with them and film with
all sorts of wild animals. I
learnt so much along the way.
Getting to spend time with my
parents was very special. The
shoots gave me memories that
I will cherish and carry with me
for the rest of my life.
QWhat should every 15-year-
old know about wildlife?
Many children my age feel
they dont have a voice when it
comes to saving our planet. But
that is not the case. Every time
we lose a species, its like losing
a brick from the house. Pretty
soon, the house will fall down.
Everybody can appreciate
Nature. One can love wildlife
even if one has not grown up
around them. That is what
everyone should know.
QYour father was a
wildlife campaigner
and so is your mother.
How did acting come to you?
I have been accompanying
my parents on their wildlife
trips since I was a toddler so
standing in front of the camera
comes naturally to me. I enjoy
acting and hosting shows,
especially those on wildlife.
QHow difficult has it been to
continue your fathers legacy?
Stepping into my fathers
shoes was definitely not easy. All
I wish is that I am able to make
a difference and encourage
others to stand up for what they
believe in and help to protect
Mother Earth for future
generations. We have to be the
change we wish to see in the
world. I hope to make my father
proud by carrying on in his
work.
QWho is your inspiration?
My mother. She is the
strongest woman I know, has
tremendous work ethics and a
kind heart. I know that I can
always count on her and she is
always there for me through
the good times and the bad. I
dont know what I would do
without her. I feel so blessed to
have her in my life to guide me.
QAny animal you hate to
work with?
Not really. I have grown up
in an environment filled with
all kinds of animals. I believe
all animals are beautiful and
need protection in some way or
the other.
QDo you have a favourite
animal?
I love
working with
c r o c o d i l e s .
Snakes, koalas
and elephants
are favourites
as well.
'l lu1 |+| & |u
Sleing inlo lheir lale alher Sleve rwin's shoes
was nol going lo be easy or his children bul
Bindi rwin has been carrying on her dad's legacy
brillianlly. She seaks wilh ShALh SAKSEhA
aboul how her molher is her insiralion and
wildlie conservalion a assion
As for the film, it is a poignant love story
of this centurys most charismatic
personalities but one wishes it was a little
less linear. Because Diana was anything
but linear and her relationship with
anyone couldnt have been so simple.
Granted, this one is specifically
focused on just this one relationship of
her life. But her feelings for her children,
her ties with the palace, her tussle with
Prince Charles all these coexisted even
in this period of her life but all of them
have been virtually ignored in the film.
her indispensable husband to cancer
is as powerfully portrayed as a dying
fathers love for his son whom he will
see for the last time.
In short, it is a sensitive story,
told sensitively.
S
he sits pretty on a bench
while a slew of men come
to her with gifts. One even
goes on to hug her while the
other holds her hand as she
sheds a tear or two. This is
just one of the promos where
Mallika Sherawat plays the
bachelorette in a reality show
on Like OK that goes in air
from tomorrow. While this
may not be the first of its kind
of show where a woman is
being wooed by many men
Ratan Rajput Ka Swayamvar
being a case in point, this one
is based on the international
format of The Bachelor, an
American reality television
dating game show.
Even though many
question the authenticity of
such shows, it doesnt stop
people from wanting to watch
the ins and outs of a
celebritys life, the spice, the
high drama and the
entertainment it provides. In
that sense, The Bachelorette
India will take the viewers
into Sherawats journey to
find a perfect date partner.
This show has been a
rollercoaster ride for me with
lots of fun. Its not a made-up
show but my real life journey
in search of a perfect and
romantic partner. I consider
myself lucky that 30 men will
be fighting for me and will
make me feel wanted. There
are going to be fights, politics,
cut-through competition and
love on the show, Sherawat
says, adding that in this
journey, she had the best date
of her life at Taj Lake Palace,
Udaipur, with Vijay, one of
the contestants.
He sang romantic
numbers and took me into his
arms. But not all was fun
when we had to eliminate a
contestant, Sherawat tells you
. But her best moment in life
still is meeting US President
Barack Obama over a cup of
coffee.
But why Sherawat for this
show? We wanted a person
who is well recognised by
those who watch TV and has
oomph. Sherawat fits the bill.
The show is not just about 30
men wanting to woo her, it
will talk about her life, family
and aspirations. We wanted to
have a special show for the
festive season and one with a
love-reality angle to it is
just perfect, Ajit Thakur,
general manager, Life OK,
says.
Though Sherawat may
have carved a niche for herself
in this glamour world, she
feels she has become typecast
and in that context the
glamour quotient has worked
against her on the personal
and professional fronts.
Thats one of the
reasons why I
couldnt get into a
serious relationship. The
glamour world is fake. It has
made me lonely. I want to live
a common persons life and
not a celebritys. I want to be
free now. I have earned a
name for myself and money,
all I need is a genuine person
who can love me. I definitely
dont want him to be from
the entertainment industry.
If my soulmate belongs to
a middle class family, I will
prefer to spend my life with
him instead of looking for a
billionaire, Sherawat says.
It appears that she
may get her wish
after all since
around 1.27 lakh
entries were
received for
this show.
Of the
total
entries we
got, our
production team
selected 30 after a
series of interviews and other
tests, Pratik Seal, head,
marketing, Life OK, says.
One can get a sneak peak
into what the show entails
with Sherawat talking about
how the men be it a
father, brother or a life
partner play an important
role in shaping a girls life
and that the same has
happened with her as well.
After her father
disowned her, she doesnt
reveal why though she
says it was the saddest phase
in her life her brother has
been a big support system
for her. As part of her lifes
journey, her family will also
be apart of the show.
One man she would like
to go on a date with?
Narendra Modi. He is very
gutsy and courageous. I
relate to his views though I
will never like to join
politics, this bachelorette
says.
The toughest challenge
that the industry poses is
how stay at the top position.
To get a break in this
industry is easy but
maintaining top spot without
any support is very difficult. I
have been away from
Bollywood because I was not
getting good scripts. I dont
want to do glamourous roles.
I want to take up challenging
roles. My next film Dirty
Politics based on the life of
Bhanwari Devi is a very
promising project, Sherawat
concludes.
A tragic love
calleo !iana
0I8
*Ia: 8a0mI watts, 8aveea a4reWs,
0as avar
8ate4: 6/10
M
uch like her life, this film on
Princess Diana also deals with
many tragedies, the biggest one
being an over simplified encapsulation of
a very brief period of her life, a period
that was very intense, very messed up and
ultimately very complex. Actually too
complex for the black and white veneer it
was made to wear.
But that does not take away from
your heart going out for the peoples
princess whose biggest snag in life was
her unparalleled fame. Can a surgery
stitch up a broken heart? she asks her
heart doctor plaintively. Apparently not.
The film tells you that Dodi Al Fayed
was not even a diversion for Diana. He
was merely a ploy of a lovelorn girl trying
to make her one and only love in life
jealous. Another matter though that all
she manages to get from her actual lover
boy from Pakistan is a deathly silence and
a bigger love in the docs life the love
for his privacy over his love for Diana.
Naomi Watts tries her best to be
Diana but who can really be Diana? She
was one and only, rarest of rare. Naomi
manages to portray a lonely womans
angst with life, her overwhelming need to
be loved and her losing fight against
ultimate doom. What she falls to splash
though is the charm, the style and the
rare mix of elegance and chutzpah
Princess Diana wore ever so easily. Also,
she is a few notches shorter than the tall
Diana who fuelled peoples imagination
worldwide till she drove into that tunnel
in Paris never to return.
The film tells us that the Pakistani
surgeon is still operating hearts at
London and he doesnt agree with this
film. It also tells us that he did lay a
wreath at his beloveds altar after
spurning her consistently. Was this
version the real version of Diana's
tempestuous relationship with this
doctor? No one will really know will he?
MIs0I4e4 mIsa4veat0re
She has been labelled lhe sex symbol o silver screen
aler movies like Khwahish and Murder. how, lhe
glamdoll is all sel lo si//le on lhe lelly wilh a realily
show The Bachelorelle ndia, based on a uS
ormal. Al a Fress conerence held in Mumbai
lo announce lhe launch o lhis show, Mallika
Sherawal lalked lo SAh0EETA YA0Av
aboul her lie's journey so ar
t's the first time am
singing a romantic
number 0P^^]PPwhich is the title
track for CWT1PRWT[^aTccT8]SXP.
The track has a fun element in it.
When my father was composing
the song, liked it very much and
he gave me a chance to sing it. My
voice clicked for Mallika. My father
pampers me at home but at the
studio, he is a professional. The
opportunity that have been given
is great. have never sung a
romantic song before. Earlier, had
lent my voice to the CP[[X song
for Mallika. have sung some
dance numbers too
~ Composer Anu Malik's
daughter Anmoll
When presented
the scratch
version of the song to Ajit Thakur,
he loved it. But didn't tell them
that it was sung by Anmoll. t was
only when they praised the singer
told them it was my daughter. They
couldn't believe it. believe in
making a good song and delivering
it well. want to take my songs to
a different level. 'm a tough task
master and when in the studio,
don't bring relationships in. just
give the beat and the lyrics and
let the singer weave hisjher
magic. What like about
Anmoll is that she wants
things to be perfect
~ Anu Mallik
TE hTE
'!ale glamour worlo
las maoe me lonely`
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
0000I00W0
00I0
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
C
hi ef Mi ni ster Shei l a
Di kshit on Saturday
challenged the Opposition
parties, both BJP and Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP), to either
prove the graft charges or
stop making baseless and
fal se al l egati ons agai nst
her Government.
Rej ecti ng BJP and
AAPs al l egati ons of
widespread corruption in
her Government, Dikshit
challenged them to provide
proof of their charges and
accused the two parties of
misleading people in order to
win the Assembly polls.
In a scathing attack on BJP
and AAP, Dikshit said neither
party had an alternative
agenda for the Capitals
development and exuded
conf i dence for a fourth
strai ght vi ctory i n the
December 4 electoral battle.
Both BJP and AAP have
been defaming us by alleging
that there has been corruption
in our Government. If you
have come across cases of
corruption, then please tell us
where the corruption is.
Nobody becomes corrupt if
you keep repeati ng the
charges. I challenge them to
give us proof of graft. We will
take action, she said.
Dikshit was speaking at a
media briefing along with
Delhi Congress president Jai
Prakash Agarwal and AICC
General Secretary in-charge of
Del hi, Shakeel Ahmed.
Alleging that both BJP and
AAP were trying to mislead
people on a number of issues
for electoral gain, the Chief
Minister said they were yet to
come out with their own
policies and vision for the
city. The 75-year-old Dikshit
said Congress was going to the
polls with confidence and
conviction as people of Delhi
were wel l aware of her
Governments performance.
I am certain that the Congress
will win the Delhi Assembly
elections for the fourth time.
We have changed the face of
Delhi 24 universities,
Metro, flyovers... We dont
need to remi nd you of
devel opment under our
Government. The party
manifesto will be released
within 10 days, she said.
On BJPs promi se of
slashing power tariffs by 30
per cent if voted to power,
Dikshit wondered how the
party could have made such a
promise and what the
Opposition parties want to
convey to the people of Delhi.
She said that her Government
had been giving subsidies
to consumers.
The power tariff in Delhi
is the lowest in the country.
The rates in Delhi are lower
compared to Gujarat, Uttar
Pradesh and Haryana. We
have ensured round-the-clock
power supply. But, at the same
time, we felt there may be a
burden (of higher bills) on
citizens. That is why we
decided to give subsidies to 78
per cent of the consumers,
Dikshit said.
Speaking on the occasion,
Agarwal sai d the Del hi
Government had worked hard
to ensure development in the
city. Our Government has
worked very sincerely... We
complete projects. That is why
we cut ribbons. Should we
invite the BJP to cut ribbons?
They (BJP) see everything
wrong here. Our Government
has done enough for the city,
he said. Praising Dikshits
performance, Agarwal, too,
exuded confidence about a
Congress vi ctory i n the
December 4 polls.
Ahmed also said, I assure
you, we will cut ribbons in the
future also, after winning the
polls for the fourth time. In
his rally on September 29, BJP
Prime Minister hopeful
Narendra Modi had termed
Dikshit a ribbon-cutting
Chief Minister.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
C
onsidering the sizeable
presence of
Poorvanchalis in the Capital,
the Delhi BJP on Saturday
made attempts to garner their
support in the run up to the
Assembly polls. President of
the State unit of the party,
Vijay Goel assured the party
will take concrete steps to
restore t he pri de of
Poorvanchalis living in Delhi.
He said the BJP will work
for improving the living
conditions and take care of
their overall development.
The Capital has an influential
population of 40 lakh people
from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Addressi ng a medi a
briefing, Goel said, The BJP
will declare Chhath a public
holiday in Delhi, when elected
to power and most
i mport ant l y restore t he
dignity and pride of the
Poor vanchal i s l i vi ng i n
t he city. The present
Govern-ment has created a
sense of alienation among
the Poorvanchalis and hurt
their pride during its misrule
in Delhi.
A former Union Minister,
Goel, also said Poorvanchalis
living in Delhi are part and
parcel of the city but they
have been negl ected
by successi ve Congress
Governments. Lack of
affordable housing for them
has pushed a large section of
Poorvanchalis to live in JJ
cl usters, sl ums and
unauthorised colonies. The
problem of employment is
hurting the community the
most. A large section of them
is employed in the informal
sector or as informal labour
force in the organised sector,
contributing immensely in
sustaining the lifeline of
Delhi, Goel said.
It was stated that common
problems faced by people
from the two States have been
i dent i f i ed and wi l l be
addressed when the party is
voted to power. Thei r
chi l dren struggl e to get
enrolled in Delhi schools.
Obtaining a ration card is
another Herculean task for
them. An LPG connection, a
telephone connection and
Aadhaar card are other issues
faced by them, the BJP said.
Meanwhile, Goel also
facilitated local leaders of
Congress, Janat a Dal
(United), BSP and
independent Councillors,
who j oi ned t he BJP on
Saturday. This reflects the
popular mood in Delhi in
favour of BJP, which is all set to
unseat the Congress party from
power, Goel said.
Former Chandni Chowk
District Congress Committee
President and Councillor
Amod Sharma, Municipal
Councillor from Mukundpur
Ward of Lok Janshakti Party
Gulab Singh Rathore,
Independent Councillor from
Tigadi Ward under Deoli
Assembly constituency Sarita
Garba, Farid Shah, who
contested the Municipal
Corporation election from
Jahangirpuri on Bahujan Samaj
Party ticket and Janata
Dal (United) Delhi State
General Secretary Kapoor
Chand Chhikara joined the
party ranks.
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
A
am Aadmi Partys (AAP's) national
convenor Arvind Kejriwal is the
Chief Ministerial candidate in the
upcoming Delhi elections from the party.
This was declared by its one of the key
members Yogendra Yadav on Saturday.
After a long time, Delhi has a candidate
it can trust. We have always projected
Arvind Kejriwal as our CM nominee,
Yadav said.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal on Saturday
pledged a special Assembly session at
Ramlila ground on December 29 to adopt
the Jan Lokpal Bill as proposed by anti-
graft activist Anna Hazare if elected to
power. He said it would be a befitting reply
to those MPs who have made a mockery
of the Bill during the Winter Session
of Parliament.
Election dates have been announced
and by December 15 we will form the
Government and on December 29 a
special session (of the Assembly) would
be called at Ramlila ground, where Anna
Hazare was on an 11-day long fast unto
death for the Jan Lokpal Bill; the
Bi l l woul d be adopted there,
Kejriwal asserted.
He said Congress and BJP are two
sides of the coin campaigning against AAP.
0M 4ares 81F, F t0 r0ve raft
Says arties yet to
state 'olicies ano
vision` for !elli
wE C0MFLETE
FR0JECTS. ThAT
S whY wE
CuT RBB0hS.
Sh0uL0 wE
hvTE ThE BJF
T0 CuT
RBB0hS?
wE wLL CuT
RBB0hS h ThE
FuTuRE ALS0,
AFTER whhh0
ThE F0LLS
F0R ThE
F0uRTh TME
~ Delhi Congress
president Jai
Prakash Agarwal
~ ACC General
Secretary
in-charge of Delhi,
Shakeel Ahmed
Is0 r0mIses t0
4ecIare 0hhath a
0hIIc h0II4ay
'Arvind Ko|riwal is AAP's CM oandidato'
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
A
Punjab Police officer of SP rank, posted with
Punjab Bhawan as chief security officer
(CSO), was arrested for allegedly opening fire at
a 22-year-old man in North West Delhis Keshav
Puram area on Friday night, following an argument.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the
accused, Narender Singh, was in an inebriated state
and opened fire with his service revolver when not
satisfied with the victims directions to his way
home. The victim suffered two gunshot wounds
and is stated to be critical. Police said that the
incident took place around
11.15 pm on Friday in
Rampura Colony in Keshav
Puram area.
The victim, Arun, who
runs a hotel
in Tri Nagar,
was walking
his dog
accompanied by
his two friends
in Tri Nagar.
Narender was
passing through Rampur Colony and
asked for directions. Arun explained the route
home but was rebuked by Narender and called
a liar. A heated argument ensued. It turned ugly.
In a fit of rage, Narender whipped out his service
revolver and fired two bullets at Kumar aiming for
his chest and arm, a senior police officer said.
The accused was overpowered by the victims
friends. Narender was apprehended by police. A
case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the
IPC and several Sections of the Arms Act were
registered against him at Keshav Puram Police
Station. His service revolver too has been
confiscated, the officer added.
0runken, direclionless
Funjab Bhawan CS0
ires al 22yearold
8TkII EFTE Q hEw 0ELh
D
elhi Police on Saturday claimed
to have arrested two persons for
allegedly gang-raping a 13-year-old
Dalit girl, in West Delhis Uttam
Nagar area.
The victim had earlier alleged
that she was molested by the Station
House Officer (SHO) of Uttam
Nagar, who al so used
derogatory language against
her i n f ront of ot her
police personnel.
Following her allegation,
t he pol i ce of f i ci al was
suspended. In her written
complaint to Delhi Lt Governor
Naj eeb Jung,
Commissioner
of Pol i ce,
Joint CP
( Wes t er n
R a n g e ) ,
D C P
(Vigilance), she
was allegedly sent
by t he
SHO to Ni rmal
Chhaya, a destitute home, instead of
regi steri ng her
rape complaint.
Meanwhi l e, t he Deput y
Commissioner of Police (West)
Ranveer Singh refused to comment
on the allegations made by the
victim against the SHO and said that
the matter was being investigated by
the DCP Vigilance.
The DCP (West) Ranveer Singh
said that after receiving information
about the incident on September 14,
the victim was taken to the police
station and her statement was
recorded in front of two NGOs.
Apart f rom a woman
investigating officer, the SHO and
two NGO officials were also
present al ong with the
victim and her mother. A
case under Sections 376,
328 of IPC and several
Sections of POCSO was
subsequently registered the
same day at Utt am
Nagar Pol i ce St at i on and
the accused were arrested
t he same eveni ng, he
clarified.
According to the plaint by
the victim, on September 12, her
neighbour Sheela invited her home.
Sheelas father asked four men
to accompany the two girls to a
nearby temple. They took the girls to
a flat instead on Dwarka More,
where the Dalit minors modesty was
outraged by the men, said a
police officer.
An MMS clip of the act was
allegedly taken by the perpetrators.
The victim was dropped off at
Dwarka More. Along with Sheela, the
victim took an autorickshaw to reach
her Uttam Nagar residence. Two days
later, she mustered courage to inform
her aunt about the incident who
informed police.
The cop
opened fire
with his
service
revolver
when not
satisfied with
the victim's
directions to
his way home
Uttam Nagar case:
Two arrested for
gang-rape of minor
kITI FTk Q hEw 0ELh
S
wathed in hues of varied shades of
flowers, the flower markets welcomed
the nine-day long festival of Navratri
wearing a festive look on Saturday but at
the same time compelled devout Hindus
to shell out more money for a garland or
a nosegay of flowers. The prices of
flowers, especially marigold, has increased
threefold with the advent of the festive
season in the Capital. A medium-size
marigold garland is available for C40
though it was normally sold at C10 per
piece before Navratras. Florists cannot nip
price rise in the bud.
Rising threefold, the price of the most
commonly used flower during festivals,
marigold, which was C60 per kilo is now
between C150-180 per kilo. The retailers
selling flowers outside the 800-year-old and
famous Gauri Shankar Temple in the heart
of the Capital unanimously said that the
price of flowers has gone up, leaving them
with almost little or no profit margin.
Marigold, tube rose and roses are sold
the most during the festive season. While
marigold rates have tripled, the prices of
roses and tube roses have doubled. Roses
are available for C250 a kilo while tube
roses are for C400 a kilo, informed a
retailer of Rajender Saini Flower Shop,
selling blooms for over five decades near
the temple in Chandni Chowk. The most
popular blossom the crape jasmine
is being sold between C400-500 while its
usual rate is C200 per kilo, he added. For
those buying garlands, the price of a
medium-size garland varies between
C40 to C400 depending upon the flowers
that have been used.
This year, the prices of flowers have
doubled, mainly because of low produce
and washout by rains, said another florist.
The most expensive garland is made with
roses, tube roses, marigold and lilies. The
prices of these can go upwards of C500,
said another florist, adding that despite the
skyrocketing prices they do not make a
profit margin of more than 5 per cent.
The retailers buy flowers in bulk
mostly from Ghazipur Mandi (wholesale
flower market) and quite a lot of it goes
waste as flowers wilt within two days. At
least 15 per cent of what we purchase goes
waste. Besides, if garlands are being made
then a lot of flowers remain unused, said
Ramesh, a florist.
FI0rIsts make hay
40rIa festIve seas0a
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B]P woos city`s Poorvanclalis
nation 04
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
8kk 8EhFTk Q
K0LKATA
B
engal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerj ee on
Saturday inaugurated the new
secretariat Nabannya, shift-
ing for the first time the
administrative headquarters
of the State from the 300 plus
year old Writers Building
which once housed the British
garrison before functioning
as the abode of the clerks of
the Briti sh East Indi a
Company deriving its name
thereby.
Banerjee whose party had
during the earlier regime
opposed the construction of
the massive 14-storey building
allegedly setting afire its gen-
erator room and damaging its
interiors on Saturday hoisted
the National Flag in front of
the new building about
one-sixth the size of the majes-
tic Writers Building amid
blowing of police bugles and
conchshells even as Ministers,
top bureaucrats and MPs jos-
tled with each other to be a
part of what they called a his-
torical frame.
We have taken a grand
programme much to the cha-
grin of our detractors who had
stagnated the State and are
confident of finishing it in
style, the Chief Minister said
taking on the Opposition who
have been criticising her lux-
urious plans to renovate the
Writers to its colonial glory at
a cost of more than C300
crore. The shifting and deco-
rating cost of the new build-
ings has come to around C50
plus crore, insiders said.
The Chief Minister is
complaining of huge lack of
funds and frenziedly taking
loans from the market placing
Bengal on the top of the list of
borrowing States from
number 12 or 13 that it had
been during our times,
Opposition Leader Suryakanto
Mishra said, lampooning the
Governments lofty money
guzzling plans grants to
clubs, womens marriage funds
and unemployment doles.
Currently about 11 depart-
ments held by the Chief
Minister and some others such
as the Finance Ministry would
function from the new build-
ing for space crunch issues.
Home, Minority Affairs,
Land Devel opment,
Agriculture, Information and
Culture, Animal Husbandry,
Planning and Personnel, apart
from Finance and PWD would
function from the building
which would house the CMO
on the 13th and 14th floor
from where the Chief Minister
would be able to savour the
panoramic view of Kolkata
and Howrah skyline, flowing
Hooghly River apart from the
three gigantic landmarks:
Howrah Bridge, Vidya Sagar
Setu and the Eden Gardens.
Insiders said the new
building would go the distance
in reducing the number of
employees working in the new
building on the ground of
inadequacy of space letting
the Government to transfer
them to other departments,
maybe outside Kolkata.
This is done to teach a
lesson to the Opposition
empl oyees unions, said
S Roychowdhury a former
secretary of a staff association.
This apart, the new secretari-
at is fortified with about three
dozen electronic eyes. Most of
these high-resolution surveil-
lance cameras have been
installed at strategic locations
and woul d help the
Government not only to check
intrusion but also to keep tabs
on the malingerers and mis-
chief mongers who remove
files and important papers for
the benefit of the media, a
senior official said.
Fh8 QBhuBAhESwAR
M
any Central Congress
Ministers during their
visits to Odisha have been giv-
ing good performance chits to
the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD
Government from time-to-time
to the great discomfiture of the
State Congress, which, as the
States main Opposition party,
has been fighting against the
BJD on several issues.
And the latest is Union
Minister Shashi Tharoor, who,
after meeting Naveen Patnaik
here on Thursday, went to the
extent of making it clear that
the Congress door is always
open for Patnaik and his BJD.
Tharoor told a television
channel here that Patnaik is
secular as well as a democrat.
While the general elections
are nearing fast and the State
Congress leaders have been
campaigning against the
Patnaik Government, Tharoors
statement has proved them
wrong in a single stroke, creat-
ing huge embarrassment and
sending shockwaves among the
State party hierarchy.
An angry PCC president
Jayadev Jena on Saturday said
Tharoor had no right to poke
his nose in the affairs of the
State politics. Sources said Jena
is likely to draw Tharoors
interference to the party high
commands notice.
Interestingly, Tharoors
remark came on the day when
Patnaik announced that both
Rahul Gandhi of the Congress
and Narendra Modi of the BJP,
are unacceptable to him as
future Prime Minister. And
Patnaik has been on a daily
basis tearing into Congress-led
UPA Government at the Centre
for its stepmotherly attitude
towards Odishas development.
What was more shocking
to State Congress leaders was
when Tharoor did not care to
meet any of them, particular-
ly his only Ministerial col-
league from Odisha, Srikant
Jena, who was present in
Bhubaneswar during his visit.
It is Jena and another Union
Minister Jairam Ramesh who
has been visiting Odisha on a
regular basis, who have been
targeting the Patnaik
Government on the issue of
poor use of Central funds.
Let me say that the
(Congress) door (for the BJD)
is always open, but its not my
place to work on this area. I
have a very different role in the
party, Tharoor said.
He further said, I know
that many in our party have
high-level of respect for Naveen
Patnaik and for his leadership
of the State of Odisha.
81EET kMk Q RAFuR
I
ndias ruling Congress which
is out of power in mineral-
rich Chhattisgarh for a decade,
has a greater possibility to pro-
duce a shocker to the overcon-
fident ruling BJP in next months
two-phase polls for a 90-mem-
ber State Legislative Assembly.
Despite being mired in
factions and intra-party rival-
ry, the Congress has chances to
belie all recent independent
poll projections, which indicate
that BJPs hat-trick is certain.
No leader of either the rul-
ing BJP or the main Opposition
Congress can claim in
Chhattisgarh that there is a
wave in support or against of
any political outfit. The BJP top
leaders in Chhattisgarh claim
that party is set to register third
consecutive victory in Assembly
polls on the basis of overall
development of the State but the
fact is somehow different.
The development in States
sprawling violence-hit but iron
ore rich Bastar as well as of coal-
rich vast Surguja belt is yet to
pick up and even several senior
leaders, including Ministers,
dont enjoy public respect
because of arrogance they have
displayed on a number of occa-
sions in public. Some of the
Ministers dont believe enter-
taining public problems except
during election year.
The only big asset for the
BJP is Raman Singh, who has
still maintained the image of Mr
Clean despite in office of Chief
Minister since December 2003.
The 61-year-old Ayurvedic-
doctor-turned politician has
kept his image intact as a good
human being, honest man and
a person who believes in devel-
opment and is always available
to the common people.
Experts say that Raman has
a real lust for development and
if he manages to get a third-
term on the trot he could
accelerate the pace of develop-
ment and industrialisation of
States poverty-hit areas, main-
ly of tribal heartland Bastar and
Surguja. But the worst thing for
the BJP in Chhattisgarh is that
its rank and file are overconfi-
dent and complacency can
very much spoil the game.
In Chhattisgarh, just one or
two per cent votes swing in
favour or against will prove
decisive and in the last
Assembly polls held in 2008,
the difference between the BJP
and the Congress was just two
per cent votes which allowed
the BJP to walk away with 12
extra seats than the Congress
total tally of 38. The Congress
is still facing serious rivalry in
the State with Ajit Jogi in no
mood to shake hands with
Congress high commands Man
Friday Charandas Mahant.
The saga of intra-party
rivalry in the Congress will get
unfolded only after the party
declares candidates for all the
90 segments. Majority of peo-
ple believe Jogi can renew
rivalry with Mahant and can
even raise a banner of revolt if
his supporters were not accom-
modated properly.
Chhattisgarhs first Chief
Minister Jogi had in recent
months dropped enough indi-
cations at several public forums
that Jogi Express was a pos-
sibility in Chhattisgarh if he
was continued to be ignored by
the Gandhi family. Jogi
Express means Jogis open
revolt against Congress.
Political pundits and experts
and even senior leaders of the
BJP and the Congress admit that
the poll outcome in Bastars 12
seats will largely decide the vic-
tor. The BJP had won 11 seats in
Bastar in 2008 polls and the
party needs to repeat its perfor-
mance in 2013 but recent survey
indicated defeats with 4-5 seats
which keeps the Congress much
in the race.
Fh8 Q ChAh00ARh
D
efending the Khap
Panchayats, Haryana
Chief Minister Bhupinder
Singh Hooda on Saturday said
they dont order honour
killings and most such cases
involve relatives of boys or
girls, whose relations are
opposed by their families.
Addressing a press confer-
ence here, the Chief Minister
emphasised on the need to
change the mindset of people
who commit such crimes.
Those behind such killings are
parents or close relatives of
either the girl or boy. There is
a need to change the mindset
of people. Khap Panchayats
dont order such killings,
Hooda said. Anyone who takes
law into their hands will be
dealt with as per law, he added.
In the last one month, sev-
eral such incidents came to
light in Haryana. The recent
one was from Rohtak where a
college-going couple was
allegedly killed by the girls
family members.
Their families were
opposed to the relations
between them. When asked
whether Khap Panchayats in
Haryana are playing a notori-
ous role, and in some cases
ordering honour killings,
Hooda said, Khap Panchayats
dont kill anyone. The inci-
dents of honour killings dont
take place just in Haryana, but
elsewhere too, he said.
Asked about the opposition
of Khaps to the same gotra
marriages, Hooda said there are
some customs prevalent in
society. Tell me one thing, how
many of you marry to the
gotra? I am asking, do you
marry within your gotra?
he asked.
There are some customs
prevalent here (in Haryana)
that dictate we dont marry into
the same gotra, at some places
they do. If you go to South
India, men marry their niece.
Can anyone of you do this
here? It is not the custom
here, but it is in South India
and Andhra, the Chief
Minister said, when asked
about the stand of his party on
the issue. However, Hooda
said that Khaps dont have
any legal standing. They dont
have any legal status, they
have social status.
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wrIters' 4ethr0ae4, 0I4I shIfts t0 8ahaaaya
kE8T Vk8kI Q BAh0AL0RE
U
nion Finance Minister P
Chidambaram rather
hopeful that the country has
the capacity to overcome the
current financial crisis by con-
taining Current Account
Deficit (CAD) below $70 bil-
lion at current fiscal.
Addressing bankers at a State
Bank organised event in
Bangalore on Saturday, he said
that the Government would
contain CAD below $70 billion.
He said, Last year, I was
told by pundits, analysts, rating
agencies and all the wise peo-
ple who appear on televisions
every day that we cannot con-
tain fiscal deficit. I am happy
that we were able to surprise
them... We are told that the
Government cannot contain
the current account deficit. I
said last year we had the deficit
of $88 billion, this year Im bet-
ting at $70 billion, and I will
contain it below $70 billion,
Let me tell you, I will surprise
them once again, we will con-
tain it below $70 billion. I say
this because we have the intel-
lectual capacity among our
senior economists and admin-
istrators. We have the institu-
tional capacity and above all,
we have our people who give us
the confidence to overcome
stress, he said.
Finance Minister compli-
mented the people of India for
their nature of saving. He also
said the growth rate would be
better than last year He said,
This year our growth will be
better than last year, and next
year, we should move to a
growth close to between 6-7
per cent and in the year after,
we must discover our true
potential growth rate of 8 per
cent.
Our people save and that
is our biggest asset,
Chidambaram said, adding,
People in our country save like
no other people anywhere in
the world. In the worst of
times, our savings ratio did not
go below 30 per cent, he
added. Chidambaram was
confident that savings become
a productive investment to
tide over crisis. Answering a
question about his confidence
in controlling CAD, he said,
The confidence comes from
my knowledge of numbers,
from the fact that gold imports
have sharply compressed in the
months of July, August and
September, exports have picked
up briskly and smartly.
Only yesterday the
Governor (of RBI) said he has
got $5.6 billion of FCNRB
accounts, so Im confident and
I want you to share my confi-
dence, he added.
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Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
T
he Delhi Police were
ordered by a city court on
Saturday to probe into the
conditions of other girls who
could have been employed
through the placement agency,
which had provided the maid
who was allegedly assaulted
and confined by her employer
in Vasant Kunj. Meanwhile, a
report of bone ossification test
of the victim confirmed she is
not a minor.
Were there some other
girls who were employed
through the placement agency?
What is their condition, find
out as you (police) have
invoked Sections of the Bonded
Labour Act and there are alle-
gations against Dorothy (place-
ment agent) that she did not
pay these girls even after tak-
ing payment from the employ-
er, Metropolitan Magistrate
Gomati Manocha said. The
court made the observation
while hearing arguments on the
bail plea of arrested accused
Vandana Dhir, who is now in
jail under judicial custody.
The magistrate also asked
the police to find out whether
money was paid to the victim
for her services as a maid in
Dhirs house and also directed
the investigating officer (IO) to
probe the two places where the
victim had worked prior to her
being employed in the house of
the accused.
Whether any amount was
paid to the girl (victim)?
Newspaper reports says C15,000
was paid to her. Whatever the
amount paid to her would be
very crucial. She (victim) had
worked in Noida and one other
house (at Lajpat Nagar). What
was the amount paid to her? It
is very crucial. You (police)
investigate the amount which
was paid to her, said the court,
which reserved its order on the
bail plea of Dhir for October 7.
It also asked the police to veri-
fy if Dhir had paid any salary to
the victim.
1u| |+| p+|| i| + u|+ p|uiu| Ju|i| |+1|+||i ||i1+l i| l|+|, |u||+i u| S+|u|J+] Pll
Tharoor opons Odisha Cong
door to Navoon, shooks BJD
Cu| +| pull + |u|| i| C||+||i+||
vasanl Kunj hel case: Folice asked
lo invesligale lacemenl agency loo
Bone ossification
test of victim
confirms she is
not a minor
Bangalore: The partial shut-
down of the US Government
would not affect the Indian
Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
scheduled for launch Oct 28,
the Indian space agency said
on Saturday.
"National Aeronautics
Space Administration (NASA)
and Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) authorities of the US have
reaffirmed support to our Mars
Orbiter Mission spacecraft,
scheduled for launch Oct 28,"
the state-run Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO)
said in a statement here.
The space agency's clarifi-
cation came in the wake of
reports in a section of the media
that the US Government shut-
down could affect the ground
support of NASA for India's
maiden mission to the red plan-
et, 400 million miles away.
"The launch window
remains open till Nov 19. NASA
and JPL will provide navigation
support from their deep space
network facilities in the US,"
ISRO's scientific secretary V.S.
Hegde said. NASA is also sched-
uled to send its Maven (Mars
Atmosphere and Volatile
Evolution) mission Nov 18.
The 1,340kg Indian space-
craft was shipped Thursday to
ISRO's spaceport at Sriharikota
in Andhra Pradesh. IANS
uS shuldown
nol lo hil ndian
Mars mission
From Page 1
The arrest of the three key sus-
pects comes days ahead of BJP's
Prime Ministerial candidate and
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi's proposed visit to Chennai on
October 18.
Fakruddin was arrested on Friday
evening and is touted as Tamil Nadu
Police's most wanted accused. He was
on the run for the past 12 years and
was arrested for his alleged role in the
bomb blast at Karnataka BJP head-
quarters in April this year. The trio
was allegedly involved in the foiled
bid to target Advani.
According to K Ramanujam,
DGP Tamil Nadu, one of the inspec-
tors from Chennai was injured when
the terrorists holed up inside a
house in Puttur opened fire at them.
Based on the leads from
Fakruddin, the Tamil Nadu Police
laid a siege around the house at
Medara Veedhi area near Puttur rail-
way station in the wee hours on
Saturday. Police suspect that at least
two others including a fourth suspect
Abu Backer Siddique managed to
escape their dragnet.
The sleuths are interrogating
Fakruddin on his latest terror mis-
sion as the agencies suspect that he
could have a larger design as
Brahmotsav at Tirupati-Tirumala
shirnes are on and a huge procession
was scheduled for Friday. Islamic
zealots have killed at least six people
belonging to the Sangh Parivar in the
last six months.
In Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
DGP B Prasad Rao told reporters
that a team of 30 commandos of anti-
terrorist Octopus force was also
sent to the scene after receiving the
report of an encounter.
Rao's deputy VSK Kaumudi said,
"In all six people were taken into cus-
tody during the commando opera-
tion in Puttur. They include three
children and a woman." Posing as
beedi workers, four persons had
taken the house on rent a couple of
months ago. The police was now
questioning the house owner and
others in this regard, local residents
said.
TN police say that Al Ummah
was also involved in conspiracy to
attack senior BJP leader LK Advani
in Madurai in 2011 and attack on
RSS office in Bangalore.
What has raised the heckles of
the police and intelligence officials in
Andhra Pradesh is that the suspect-
ed terrorist selected a town like
Puttur to hide which was hardly 35
km away from Tirupati-Tirumala,
the famous abode of Sri
Venkateshwara temple.
During the course of investiga-
tions into the killings of BJP and
Sangh leaders, the Tamil Nadu Police
recently seized 17 kg of explosives
and 141 electric detonators from a
house in Melapalayam in Tirunelveli
in south Tamil Nadu and arrested
Tasim, Katta Shahul, Kutty alias
Noorul Hameed, Samsu and Bismi.
From Page 1
These AC cottages, that come at a pittance of Rs 250
per day, provide a better environment to VVIP patients,
who in most cases are high-profile politicians and scam-
sters who had been lodged at the Birsa Munda Central
Jail (BMCJ). The cottages which became famous for pro-
viding safe havens to high-profile inmates, including
Madhu Koda, Kamlesh Singh, Enosh Ekka, lodged at the
BMCJ at different points of time are likely to welcome
fodder scam convicts serving their sentence in the jail.
The jail administration is finding it difficult to han-
dle a large number of visitors who throng the prison every
day to meet Lalu and other high-profile convicts. A PIL
has also been filed in Jharkhand High Court saying the
jail administration was violating rules by allowing Lalu
and other convicts in the fodder scam to lead a com-
fortable life in the prison.
Jail IG Shailendra Bhushan, however, denied that there
was any move to shift Lalu to the RIMS cottage. SSP Saket
Kumar Singh also feigned ignorance in this regard.
Incidentally, Lalu, who is serving five years of
Rigorous Imprisonment in connection with the multi-
crore fodder scam, is suffering from a number of ailments
including diabetes and hypertension. According to
reports, Yadav's blood sugar level had gone up on Friday,
however it was below alarming levels.
Notably, former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra, anoth-
er convict in the fodder scam, is already recuperating at
cottage number 11 at RIMS. Mishra was undergoing
treatment at another hospital in Delhi before he was
brought to Ranchi for hearing in the scam.
These cottages have been occupied by many VIPs
convicted in scams in Jharkhand. The list includes Shibu
Soren, MLAs Sawna Lakra, Bhanu Pratap Shahi, former
Mayor of Ranchi Municipal Corporation Rama Khalkho
and former Secretary Health Dr Pradeep Kumar who are
just some of the high-profile people to have stayed at
RIMS cottages on the pretext of receiving treatment.
Their lavish lifestyle, in violation of the jail manual, had
often invited the wrath of the Jharkhand High Court.
From Page 1
"On being challenged, the terrorists began
heavy firing on the troops, who retaliated imme-
diately. In the ensuring gunfight, four terror-
ists were killed. During the initial search a large
quantity of war like stores including six AK-47s,
ten pistols, four Uni-barrel Grenade launchers,
four Disposable Rocket Launchers and six
small rucksacks have been recovered so far," the
spokesman said. He said that the infiltrators were
intercepted due to the alertness of troops in the
sector following a surge in infiltration attempts.
Singh has said infiltrators are attempting to
sneak in before the onset of winter when moun-
tain passes are blocked due to heavy snowfall. He
said the militants were desperate to replenish their
supplies and manpower in the hinterland.
Meanwhile, Chachra, who arrived to over-
see the preparedness of troops along the forward
posts and hinterland, visited the Rashtriya Rifles
Headquarters to receive briefing by the
Commanders on the prevailing security scenario
in their areas of responsibility.
"Gen Chachra also carried out an aerial recce
of forward posts and expressed his satisfaction
over the preparedness of security forces. He
praised the high level of synergy existing
among the police, CRPF and the Army," the
spokesman said. The Army Commander is
scheduled to visit the forward formations and
units to review the anti-infiltration grid and also
the ongoing operations being conducted by the
Army. He will hold meetings with Governor NN
Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Omar Abdullah is Chairman of the Unified
Command Headquarters.
In another development, police claimed to
have busted a Hizbul Mujahideen module by
arresting a top-ranking militant of the outfit in
Sopore area of North Kashmir.
Speaking to reporters, Deputy Inspector-
General of Police (North Kashmir) JP Singh said
that Hizbul Commander Nisar Ahmad Dar alias
Usman, who was previously a Lashkar-e-
Tayyeba cadre, was involved in a number of
attacks on police and security forces. He also
tried to sabotage developmental work in
Wullar Lake. Singh claimed that the attack in
Wullar Lake was carried out at the behest of
Hizbul's supreme commander Salahuddin, who
is based in Muzaffarabad.
Cottagos in Panohi hospital...
|uu| i||il||+|u|... JN, Anolra cos...
Irom Fage 1
The SC is already sei/ed o a bunch o
FLs where a demand has been made lo rosecule juveniles accused o
heinous oences in courls and lo consider lowering lhe age bar or a
juvenile rom 18 lo 1G. The courl had no doubl lhal lhe accused was
aged 1G years when he lanled lhal kiss. Bul lhe Courl was nol willing lo
send lhe maller lo JB, as il wenl on lhe assumlion lhal sending six
monlhs in jail would nol rejudice lhe accused. Three years in a
correclional home may nol be raclical now lhal lhe accused had a job,
and a amily. The roseculor argued lo lel him o under lhe Frobalion o
0enders Acl 1O58 since he had no asl record and lhe oence was nol
o a grave nalure. Bul lhe courl held, 'n lhe inslanl case, lhe aellanl
has commilled a heinous crime.' l said, 'wilh lhe social condilion
revailing in lhe sociely, lhe modesly o a woman has lo be slrongly
guarded and lhe aellanl behaved like a road side Romeo, we do nol
lhink il is a il case where lhe beneil o lhe 1O58 Acl should be given.'
Mkh'8 IkTE...
ANALYSS
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
nation 05
FIhEE hEW8 8EVI6E Q hEw 0ELh
T
he BJP on Saturday said it would
contest the forthcoming Assembly
election in Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh on the plank of good
governance and bring out a charge
sheet to expose the corrupt Congress
regime in Delhi and Rajasthan.
The party will also approach the
Election Commission (EC) soon to
bring to its notice certain news reports
about a move from the UPA to entice
minority voters with assurances about
jobs in the Armed forces.
The BJP leaders are hopeful that
Narendra Modis unmatched popu-
larity among electorates would be an
added fillip for the party this time. All
top leaders of the party will campaign
for the candidate across five States in
a phased manner.
The BJP vice president Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi said good governance will
be an issue in State elections. But
Modis popularity and people appeal
will definitely bolster the party in these
polls, Naqvi said.
The party is hopeful about retain-
ing Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
while snatching Rajasthan from the
Congress. Factionalism in the Delhi
unit remains a concern for the BJP,
which has also failed to project a CM
candidate in the Capital.
We will go to the polls under col-
lective leadership. We will surely
unseat the corrupt regime of Sheila
Dikshit, Naqvi said, adding, The BJP
will go to the people in the elections
in Rajasthan and Delhi with the issue
of corruption and maladministra-
tion under Congress rule. We will pre-
pare a charge sheet on it.
In Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh where BJP is in power,
the party will highlight the achieve-
ments of its Government, especially
the impressive implementation of its
welfare schemes.
The BJP claims that the Shivraj
Singh Chouhan Government in
Madhya Pradesh has established new
records of development and prosper-
ity in all fields. The Raman Singh
Government in Chhattisgarh has
made efforts to ensure the benefits of
good governance to the last man in
the queue.
These two States have performed
well despite stepbrotherly treatment
by the Centre and the hurdles
created by it for various development
projects, Naqvi said. On the contrary,
he sai d, Del hi and Raj ast han
were examples of bad governance
and corruption. Despite economic
sops by the Central Government, the
BJP leader alleged, these States were
engaged in pillaging public money.
FIhEE hEW8 8EVI6E Q
hEw 0ELh
T
he Indian Railways will
speed up production of
locomotives with regenerative
braking feature, which repro-
duces electricity when brakes
are applied thereby cutting
down energy consumption.
Production of such engines
has already started and the
Railways is now planning to
expedite the process.
The Chittaranjan
Locomotive Works (CLW), a
production unit of the Indian
Railways, made 270 electric
locomotives out of which 170
had this regenerative braking
feature. We have decided that
from April 2014 onwards, all
electric locomotives produced
at the CLW will have this
unique feature, said Kul
Bhushan, Member of Railway
Board (Electrical).
Locomotives without this
feature cause loss of energy
when loco pilots apply brakes
on moving trains.
However, when the pilot
applies brakes on those with the
regenerative braking feature,
the motors of the locomotives
which are normally pulling
the train, change their mode of
operation from motor to
a generator.
The mechanical energy of
the train is then converted
into electrical energy and
electricity produced is then
routed to overhead wires
through provisions already
made in the engine.
According to an estimate,
an engine with this feature
causes 32 to 35 per cent regen-
eration and results in saving
nearly 15 per cent of electrici-
ty. Indian Railways is currently
saving electricity worth C125
crore through these locomo-
tives, a Railway official said.
According to an estimate,
one EMU with this feature
saves C1 crore per year. Since
180 rakes of similar EMUs are
pressed into service in the
Mumbai suburban railways,
the savings in this sector is
nearly C180 crore.
T
he Ministry of Railways has decided to further revise
the fares of AC classes of Duronto Express trains in
order to bring it at par with the Rajdhani-Shatabdi
Express for comparable classes.
There shall be no change in the fares of sleeper class
and non-AC chair car classes of Duronto Express. The new
changes in fares of the Duronto Express shall come into
effect from October 10, said a Railway official.
In case of tickets already issued at pre-revised rate, the
difference in fare and other charges will be recovered for
journeys undertaken on or after October 10, either by TTEs
on trains or by the booking/reservation offices before the
commencement of the journey.
The Railways also announced on Saturday that pas-
senger fares and freight tariffs will be linked to the Fuel
Adjustment Component (FAC). The revised passenger fares
will be effective from the midnight of October 6 and 7.
8evIsI0a 0f 0
fares Ia 00r0at0
Rl] |u pJ up p|uJu|iu|
u| puW| |||+|i1 ||+|
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
U
nable to provide houses to
the urban poor on its own,
the Housing and Urban
Poverty Alleviation (HUPA)
Ministry is now looking
towards aggressively
promoting Public Private
Partnership (PPP) for address-
ing the increasing gap between
demand and supply of dwelling
units in the country.
Also, even as the fate of the
Aadhaar card hangs in balance
with the Supreme Court saying
that it has no legal value, the
Ministry has asked the States to
link beneficiary identification
as a pre-condition in
its Aadhaar enrolment schemes
wherever these cards have
been issued.
These are some of the main
features of the draft guideline
of the Model State Affordable
Housing Policy for Urban Areas
2013, recently prepared by the
Ministry with an aim to enable
the State Governments to work
within its framework for
construction of houses for the
urban poor.
The demand for dwelling
units is on rise due to rapid
urbanisation and population
growth. The mammoth invest-
ments needed for creation of
the housing infrastructure is
much above the limited public
resources available with the
Governments and therefore,
private sector needs to play an
important role in this, said a
senior official from the
Housing and Urban Poverty
Al leviation Ministry. He
referred to the observation of
the report of the Technical
Group on Urban Housing
Shortage (2012-17) which
noted that there is a shortage of
18.78 million dwelling units out
of which nearly 96 per cent
belongs to the Economically
Weaker Sections (EWS) and
Lower Income Group (LIG)
households.
The guideline also seeks to
set up a State Shelter Fund in
each State that would be exclu-
sively earmarked for funding
affordable housing projects to
be undertaken on Public
Private Partnership (PPP)
model.
According to Census 2011
estimate, about 27.5 per cent of
the urban population is living
in rented accommodations.
The Affordable Housing Policy
scheme would also encourage
creation of rental housing stock
for the new migrants, he said.
The draft guideline is now
available for public comments
from stakeholders, including
States.
The last policy was
framed in 2009. This new
guideline has been proposed
following a meeting with the
State Governments recently,
the official added.
00sIa MIaIstry fav00rs FFF m04eI
New Delhi: Issues pertaining to
preparations for upcoming
Assembly elections in five
States and strategies to bring
together non-Congress and
non-BJP parties on a common
platform before general elec-
tions 2014 will be discussed at
a meeting held by the CPI(M)
leadership, which begins in
the Capital on Saturday.
The party politburo, which
has decided to put up candi-
dates in four of the five States
going to polls, has called the
two-day meet to give final
touches to its strategy for the
upcoming electoral battle,
CPI(M) sources said.
81F t0 fIht 0IIs 0a 004 0veraaace
Will roouce clarge sleet
to exose 'corrut` Cong
rule in !elli, Rajastlan
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
F
ormer Prime Minister and
socialist leader Chandra Shekhars
elder son, Pankaj Shekhar Singh,
joined the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) on Saturday. Pankaj made
overtures to BJP leaders in the last few
months and had expressed his desire
to join the party.
The BJP chief Rajnath Singh wel-
comed the Thakur leader from Uttar
Pradesh into the BJP fold. The BJP UP
unit chief Laxmikant Bajpai and
national general secretary JP Nadda
were also present on the occasion.
The development has fuelled
speculation that BJP might field
Pankaj from Ballia or some neigh-
bouring constituency in the next
Parliamentary election. The former
PMs younger son, Neeraj Shekhar
Singh, represents Ballia Lok Sabha seat
as a Samajwadi Party (SP) member.
The BJP has been trying to
improve its performance in the next
elections, particularly in Uttar
Pradesh that accounts for 80 Lok
Sabha seats. From a high of 58 seats
in 1998, BJPs tally in UP in the gen-
eral elections came down to nine in
the 2009 polls.
The BJPs Prime Minister prob-
able Narendra Modi had recently sug-
gested to party leaders to induct new
faces into the party.
Incidentally, Bhojpuri singer
Manoj Tiwari, who contested 2009
Lok Sabha election from Gorakhpur
in Uttar Pradesh on SP ticket, joined
the BJP on Thursday.
Chandra Shekhar's
elder son joins BJF
F0II stratey 0a
aea4a at 0FI[M)
tW04ay meet
M8hMI 8k8 Q hEw 0ELh
T
he lost battle for the con-
servation of Hanguls or
Kashmir stags may receive a
boost after the recent meeting
of State Wild Life Board
(SWLB) of Kashmir consent-
ed to shift the sheep farm
from Dachigam National Park
(DNP) in the State, which is
the traditional habitat of this
endangered species. The
experts, however, expressed
apprehensions on how soon
the decision will actually
be implemented.
The Pioneer had earlier
reported on the alarming
impact of sheep farm of the
State Animal Husbandry
Department within 141 sq. km
of the National Park since
1961. The presence of such a
farm within a National Park is
in contravention to Jammu
and Kashmi r Wi l dl i fe
Protection Act 1978.
There is at least some
hope after the meeting, con-
sidering that this meeting was
headed by the Chief Minister
himself, said MK Ranjitsinh,
member of SWLB. He is also
the Chairman of the Special
Committee constituted by the
Environment Ministry for
recovery of Hanguls.
However, what is impor-
tant is that this shifting has to
happen before winter, other-
wise one year will get wasted
again, said Ranjitsinh. The
Hanguls descend to the lower
flat terrains of the National
Park in winter to forage for
food. Hence, till then, the
fencing has to be removed and
their habitat cleared of sheep
grazing, he added.
The sources, however,
pointed to the real side of the
story. The main hurdle lies in
the fact that there are certain
establishments on the lower
terrains of the park that are
occupied by the employees of
the State Animal Husbandry
Department. They are
believed to enjoy strong clout
and it is not likely that they
will vacate the premises easi-
ly, the sources said.
These buildings are orig-
inally under the jurisdiction of
the State Wildlife Department;
hence, with the shifting of the
sheep farm, these construc-
tions should also be handed
back to the Wi l d Li fe
Department, added sources.
The issue of commitment
by SWLB is not new; the
same situation arose during
the meeting held on February
3 last year.
The members had not
only decided on shifting the
sheep farm, but had even set
the deadline for May 2012.
More importantly, even the
State Cabinet had taken a
similar decision way back
in 2005. But, the decision
continues to hang in balance
even today. Hence, the issue
is not simply agreeing on
shifting out, but how soon?
they questioned.
...80t exerts
stIII 0as0re
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ImIemeate4
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Sw|B 1uW |u |i|| |+|| |||+||i| |+|ul ++i|
ThE MAh huR0LE LES
h ThE FACT ThAT ThERE
ARE CERTAh
ESTABLShMEhTS 0h
ThE L0wER TERRAhS
0F ThE FARK ThAT ARE
0CCuFE0 BY ThE
EMFL0YEES 0F ThE
STATE AhMAL
huSBAh0RY 0EFT. ThEY
ARE BELEvE0 T0 EhJ0Y
STR0h0 CL0uT Ah0 T
S h0T LKELY ThAT ThEY
wLL vACATE ThE
FREMSES EASLY
B1P |+|iu|+l p|iJ|| R+||+|| Si|| Wi|| P+||+| S|||+| Si|| (R), u| u| |u||| P|i| |i|i||
C|+|J|+ S|||+|, W|u |ui|J || p+||] u| S+|u|J+] AlWi| Si|| | Piu||
Aordable homes
or lhe oor
E8kTE h 8Ihh'8
6hkE8 EIEE
8rinagar: The Jammu &
Kashmir Legislalive Assembly
on Salurday deerred lill
Monday lhe discussion on
allegalions levelled by ormer
Army chie 0eneral (Reld) vK
Singh lhal olilicians in lhe
Slale were aid money by lhe
Army lo gel cerlain jobs done.
IhkTIh 8ThE I
kMEThI Fkk 8Y khI
IurknoW: viceresidenl o All
ndia Congress Commillee
Rahul 0andhi will lay lhe
Foundalion Slone o Mega Food
Fark in his Farliamenlary
consliluency Amelhi on
Monday.
8F 6hkhE8 6khIkTE
I IkTEhF 8IkI
IurknoW: Samajwadi Farly on
Salurday declared Rani
Fakshalika Singh as ils
candidale or Falehur Sikri
arliamenlary consliluency,
relacing Rajendra Singh who
was earlier announced as lhe
arly's candidale rom lhere.
8Ehk E6IE8 'TIIET
8EIE TEMFIE' TkkE
'Mumbai: The Shiv Sena on
Salurday said lhal harendra
Modi's "loilels irsl, lemles
laler" remarks show lhal lhe
BJF is nol in louch wilh lhe
views o il's rime minislerial
candidale. "Modi had lo ace
lak on lhe loilel remarks. he
said 'Jai Jairam' inslead o 'Jai
Shri Ram'. The lesson lo be
learnl is lhal now nol even lhe
BJF knows whal slance he
lakes," Sena's moulhiece
5aamana said in Mumbai.
nation 06
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
SNPPETS
Fh8 Q hY0ERABA0
E
ven as fiery protests contin-
ued to rage through Seema-
Andhra regions, some places wit-
nessed sporadic violence on sec-
ond day of the 72-hour strike in
protest against the bifurcation,
YSR Congress president
Jaganmohan Reddy launched a
fresh assault on Congress pres-
ident Sonia Gandhi.
A massive power blackout
was also staring in the eyes of
Andhra Pradesh as well as
other neighbouring States as
the employees strike has result-
ed in several power generation
plants tripping in Seema-
Andhra since Friday night.
As most of the units of
Vijaywada Thermal Power Plant
stopped working, Krishna dis-
trict plunged into darkness on
Friday night. More such plants
in Nellore and Kadapa also
tripped on Saturday further
reducing the power generation.
As the anti-Telangana
protests continued throughout
the region, Vijayanagaram
remained the worst affected as
mobs targeted the houses of State
Congress president Botsa
Satyanarayanas family. A big
mob tried second time to barge
in to Satyanarayanas house in the
town forcing the police to use
force. His brother Srinivas Raos
house was also targeted and
equipment of his cable network
business were destroyed. Police
first lobbed 40 tear gas shells and
then opened fire in the air to dis-
perse the mob. The protesters
also pelted stones on the District
Collector building and set two
bikes on fire. Police used batons
to chase the mob away.
In Amalapur, (East Goda-
vari) it was other way round
when Congress MP Harsha Ku-
mars supporters beat up the agi-
tators who tried to attack his
house and college building.
Later, Harsha Kumar tendered
an apology to AP Non Gazetted-
Officers Association.
V 1kYkk1 Q K0Ch
I
n a surprising move,
Govindachamy, a one-armed
Tamil Nadu native who was
sentenced to death by a court in
Thrissur, Kerala for raping and
murdering 23-year-old Soumya
after pushing her out of a run-
ning train in February, 2011, has
requested the Kerala HC to hear
his appeal in his presence. This
was the first time such a plea had
come up before the High Court.
The final arguments on the
appeal filed by the rapist through
his lawyer BA Aloor began on
Saturday before the bench of
Justices TR Ramachandran Nair
and B Kemal Pasha, who were
also looking into the death sen-
tence. The lawyer also wanted
the judges to conduct examina-
tion of the crime spot identified
by the Prosecution.
The Fast Track Court in
Thrissur had sentenced
Govindachamy, identified as a
habitual criminal who earned his
livelihood through begging and
thefts, to death on November 11,
2011 after an expeditious trial
that started on June 6 that year.
As per the verdict of Judge
Raveendra Babu, the death sen-
tence was to be executed with the
approval of the High Court.
The lawyer justified the
demand for hearing the appeal
in his presence of Govindachamy
by pointing out that such a pro-
cedure had been adopted in the
case of Ajmal Kasab and the Ger-
man Bakery case. He also clai-
med that the Delhi HC was hear-
ing the appeals of the accused in
the December 16 rape-murder
case in their presence.
Aloor said that in all these
cases, the accused had got the
opportunity to observe the pro-
ceedings through video-confer-
encing facility. The division
bench, constituted for hearing
cases relating to atrocities against
women, said such requests could
be considered if necessary at the
stage of detailed hearing.
korhi: The Kerala high Courl on Salurday deerred or orders a elilion
iled by lhe viclim o Kerala's sensalional Suryanelli serial rae scandal o
1OOG seeking orders lo lhe olice or reinvesligaling lhe alleged
involvemenl o Rajya Sabha 0euly Chairman FJ Kurien on lhe basis o lhe
disclosure made by lhird accused 0harmarajan, a lawyer. The viclim, now
88, soughl in her elilion a resh robe againsl Kurien on lhe basis o
0harmarajan's disclosure, abrogalion o lhe verdicl o lhe Sessions Courl
in Thoduu/ha rejecling her lea or lhe same, quashing o lhe hC order
discharging Kurien rom lhe case and removal o lhe adverse commenls
made againsl her by lhe hC earlier. The girl, who was raed by 42 men or
a eriod o 41 days in 1OOG when she was jusl 1G, also soughl invesli
galion againsl lwo olher ersons, FK Jamal and unnikrishnan, lo whom
reerences were made by 0harmarajan, who had claimed lhal he was
eyewilness lo Kurien's visil lo lhe girl al a resl house in Kumili, dukki. ?=B
cylinder as they had decided
not to attend the school.
When quizzed further, one
of the students produced the
LPG registration booklet issued
under Registration No 600294
in the name of Principal, Govt
Middle School, Channi
Himmat and admitted the fact
that they were lying earlier.
The students claimed that
they were deputed by their
teacher to bring the refill of
LPG cylinder. When they were
asked about their class work,
the students replied it must be
going on in the school.
We cannot do much about
it as we have been directed by the
schoolteacher to do so and we
are here, the students claimed.
When this correspondent
met them in the beginning, the
students were sharing a snack
on the roadside and cursing
their fate as their labour had
gone wasted. The school-
teachers seldom use their pri-
vate cars or other means of
transport to ferry LPG cylin-
ders, the students revealed.
The students al so
informed while they were
waiting for their turn in the
long queue that the distribu-
tor directed them to come
later as he was not in a posi-
tion to provide them with the
refill of LPG cylinder.
The students while return-
ing were completely exhausted.
It was already more than one
hour when they stepped out of
the classroom to bring refill of
LPG cylinder. The students had
roughly covered the distance of
more than 2 kms between the
Government-run middle school
building and the distribution
point of LPG refill in the area.
Ironically, a police control room
(PCR) van which is normally
parked in the area never took
note of presence of students in
school uniform standing in the
queue during school time.
When the students were
asked how many times they
come out of the school to refill
the LPG cylinder they replied,
Whenever it is required.
The LPG cylinders in the
area are normally distributed
through home delivery facili-
ty and in case of Government-
run school s the same
should have been delivered to
them at their doorstep.
A local shopkeeper in the
area said, It is a routine affair for
these children as their teachers
direct them to stand in a queue
and bring the cylinder instead of
stepping out of the school
premises and bring the LPG
cylinder on their private four
wheelers. I am doing business
here for last one decade and ever
since this mid-day meal scheme
has started I have never seen
anyone else apart from these
schoolchildren ferrying the LPG
cylinders from the nearby pick-
up point, he added.
On Board Special Aircraft:
President Pranab Mukherjee
on Saturday described as spec-
ulation LK Advani crediting
him for the withdrawal of the
Ordinance on convicted law-
makers, saying he had nothing
to do with the development.
I cannot comment on the
views of the Opposition.
Whoever wanted to seek
appointment with me, I gave
them. BJP leaders met me, Aam
Aadmi Party met me. I received
various representations (against
the Ordinance), he told
reporters on board his special
aircraft during the second leg of
his visit to Belgium and Turkey.
I had a discussion with the
Prime Minister and what tran-
spired everyone of you know.
Cabinet is the mother of the ordi-
nance, he said, adding that the
Cabinet, in its wisdom, decided
to withdraw the ordinance at its
meeting on October 2.
This is the fact. In
between who is responsible,
how responsible, to what extent
responsible, these are specula-
tions of individuals. I have
nothing to do with it, he said.
BJP leader Advani on
Friday credited the President for
the withdrawal of the ordinance
and slammed Rahul Gandhi for
rubbing off the authority of
the PM and the UPA with his
strong words.
The victory that has come
to the country by withdrawal of
this illegal and immoral ordi-
nance has thus been thanks
only to the Rashtrapati, who has
proved that UPA would err seri-
ously if it assumed that like most
other Congressmen who had
earlier occupied the high office
of President, he too would rem-
ain a rubber stamp President,
Advani said in a post on his blog.
Mukherjee also laughed
away Belgian King Philippes
description of him as a con-
sensus builder in India and said
there was nothing to read in
between the remark.
What King Philippe
meant was my (earlier) role in
being the leader of the coalition
in the House ( Lok Sabha) and
nothing more than that, he
said when he was asked if the
monarchs words referred to the
role he might play after the
2014 general election.
Mukherjee on Saturday
reached Turkey, the second leg
of his tour, after a four-day visit
to Belgium where he attended a
host of state events and held talks
with top leaders. PTI
MhIT kkhhkI Q JAMMu
I
n Jammu & Kashmir, stu-
dents are being treated as
labourers by teachers and are
made to skip the classes in
order to get refill of LPG cylin-
ders to run the kitchen fire and
prepare mid-day meals.
Left with no choice, the
schoolchildren often step out of
their school premises and stand
in a long queue of LPG con-
sumers and wait for their turn
to get a refill.
Ironically, the students
not only have to miss their
classes at regular intervals
but they have to shoulder the
burden of ferrying the LPG
cylinder while covering the
long distances on foot.
This correspondent spotted
three Class VIII students of
Government Middle school,
Channi-Himmat with a LPG
cylinder waiting on the road-
side near a distribution point of
LPG cylinders.
On preliminary enquiry, all
three students claimed that
they were carrying their own
hkYkh kVE Q 0Ah0hhA0AR
B
JPs prime ministerial can-
didate Narendra Modi crit-
icised the UPA Governments
gold policy while inaugurating
India International Bullion
Summit held at Mumbai on
Saturday via video-conferenc-
ing. Modi said the gold which
was traditionally revered in
India is perceived as villain
owing to faulty policies of the
UPA Government.
Addressing the summit,
which was organised under
the aegis of Bombay Bullion
Association, the Gujarat Chief
Minister expressed concern
over the adverse effects of gold
import and pointed out that it
would once again create the
scene of 1968, when the Gold
Control Act gave birth to mafias
indulging in gold smuggling,
narcotics drugs, weapons,
bogus currency and terrorism.
Modi appealed the Bullion
Association to raise voice
agai nst t he Central
Governments gold policy. He
suggested the Indian artisans
should be encouraged for
their skill of making gold
jewellery. Their skills should
be upgraded so that they can
maintain their hold over the
market of handmade gold
jewellery, which has great
demand in the world.
Time has ripened when all
the Indian States should cre-
ate thei r own Export
Promotion Council to encour-
age export. Indi an
Government should also come
up with a policy to give special
incentives to the States mak-
ing highest exports, he added.
From centuries, the gold
has never been merely a finan-
cial asset for the Indian society,
it has been revered and con-
sidered auspicious, said Modi
adding that Ayurveda has also
recognised the importance of
gold in its formulas like suvarn-
abhusma and suvarnaprash.
People buy gold when it comes
to saving for future, be it for
their daughters marriage or
other difficult situations. It is
only owing to the false policies
of the Centre that the gold is
seen as a problem instead of
solution, he said.
Congresss policy for gold
in past had ruined the lives of
two generations of gold arti-
sans. Ministers of present
UPA Government keep adopt-
ing odd solutions for the
problems of the country, only
to intensify the problems.
History suggests that the
Governments which fail to feel
the pulse of the social tradi-
tions cannot take right deci-
sions, said the Chief Minister.
Referring to a report of
Reserve Bank study group
Modi said the gold price has no
connection with its demand
among people. Hence levying
duty on gold import would
make gold dearer but it would
not affect its demand. Our aim
should be on the efforts of max-
imising the export of value-
added gold jewellery, and on
empowering the gold artisans.
He said that gold is the best
investment for rural areas but
the rural coverage of banks is
quite less. The people have lost
the trust on the Government
policies and intentions, he said
adding that rather taking pride
on the ancient grandeurs of our
country, which was once
known as sone ki chidiya the
Government harasses those
who express their concerns
over right issues.
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Suryanelli rae viclim renews
lea or robe againsl Kurien
LK Advani oroditing
mo on Ordinanoo is
spooulation: Pranab
Soraoic violence in
Seema-Anolra is on
world 07
NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
kF Q TRF0L
G
unmen attacked a Libyan
military post southeast
of the capital Tripoli early on
Saturday killing 15 soldiers, an
official and Libyas State
news agency said.
The attackers rode vehicles
topped with machineguns, the
military official said. The high-
way between the towns of
Tarhuna and Bani Walid, on
which the post was located, was
closed immediately after the
attack in an attempt to track
down the attackers.
The official said the attack
took place at Wishtata area,
some 60 kilometres from the
entrance to Bani Walid. The
town was one of the last strong-
holds for supporters of dictator
Muammar Gaddafi in the
countrys 2011 civil war, and
was besieged again by pro-
Government militias last year.
More recently, Libya has
been hit by a months-long
wave of attacks targeting mili-
tary officers, activists, judges
and security agents.
8MI kkI Q STAhBuL
C
oming down heavily on
Paki st an, Presi dent
Pranab Mukherjee has said
unless it dismantles the terror
infrastructure on its soil,
there is no scope for progress
in talks between the two
countries.
We demand f rom
Pakistan that the infrastruc-
tures created by the terrorist
outfits in your territories,
dismantle them! Keep your
commitments to Indi a,
dont allow terrorists to use
your l and to perpetrate
their nefarious activities on
India.
Unless that atmosphere
is created, how could you
talk about other develop-
ments? Therefore, we do hope
that what Nawaz Sharif stat-
ed, he will try to implement
that, Mukherjee said in an
interview to Turkish newspa-
per Todays Zaman.
The President exhorted
that a serious effort should
be made by Pakistan on this
subject as he said most ter-
rorist activities against India
are emanating from territo-
ries under the control of
Pakistan.
Let t he appropri ate
atmosphere be created. The
actual line of control on
which the ceasefire exists, it
has been violated.
He also expressed happi-
ness over the steps taken by
the two countries to resolve
their differences. PTI
kIF Q hAR0B
W
ith chilling nonchalance,
gunmen who massacred
at least 67 people wander thro-
ugh Kenyas Westgate mall, seen
for the first time in security cam-
era footage providing possible
vital evidence to investigators.
Calmly searching corners
of the mall possibly hunting
for more victims to kill after
executing scores in the main
hall of the upmarket complex
the closed-circuit television
footage shows four young men
ambling around with AK-47
rifles in hand.
Witnesses in the mall
described how the fighters
stormed the complex midday
on Saturday when it was
crowded with shoppers, firing
from the hip and hurling
grenades at shoppers and staff.
But hours after the attack
started, the men are seen in the
bread section of the super-
market, the bulk of their vic-
tims most likely already dead.
They wear backpacks, per-
haps stuffed with the ammuni-
tion that they would use to keep
Kenyas Army backed by for-
eign special forces at bay for
four days.
Two weeks since Somalias
Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insur-
gents attacked Nairobis upmar-
ket Westgate mall, the CCTV
footage could help answer ques-
tions about the bloodbath.
One thing is clear: the men
were organised, apparently
unafraid, and utterly ruthless.
During the attack, Kenyan
officials said that between 10 -
15 gunmen were involved, and
later claimed to have killed five,
although it is not clear where
those bodies are now.
Iampedusa: The lalian
coaslguard is using lanes and
helicolers lo sol migranls'
bodies around lhe boal which sank
o lhe island o Lamedusa on
Thursday. Bad wealher is
hamering divers. So ar, 111
bodies have been ound, 155
eole have been ulled oul alive,
bul more lhan 2OO are said lo be
in lhe seas close lo lhe
Medilerranean island. The boal
was carrying some 5OO eole -
moslly rom Erilrea and Somalia.
laly says il will amend immig
ralion laws and has called or
Euroean hel. Some oicials say
lhal i you close borders, lhen you
give more ower lo lhe lraickers.
0lhers oinl oul lhal lhere are 2G
million oul o work in lhe Eu and
lhal Euroe is reluclanl lo accom
modale more migranls. 0VT]RXTb
Washington: The voice fed as the virtual assis-
tant in Apples smart devices is of a woman
named Susan Bennett from Atlanta,
who laid down recordings for a client
eight years ago but had no idea they
would be used to communicate
with over 100 million people through
a smartphone.
Bennetts voice was introduced as
Apples voice-activated virtual assis-
tant Siri through the iPhone4S on October 4,
2011. However, the tech giant wont confirm
it, but Bennett insists that she is Siri and even
an audio-forensics expert with over 30 years
of experience has agreed that it is 100 per cent
Bennetts voice.
According to CNN, Bennetts voice is
heard worldwide, in commercials,
phone systems, GPS devices and
also in Delta airport terminals.
However, since Apples latest iOS7
comes with an updated Siri,
Bennetts reign as the American Siri
is slowly coming to an end.
Bennett said that initially she did
not reveal her identity of being connected to
Siri, but after a Verge video broke out that
showed people being curious to find out who
the real voice behind Siri was, she decided to
break the silence. Agencies
8 k1kFkIkh Q
wAShh0T0h
A
Government shutdown
may be on, but President
Barack Obama is continuing
with his appointments to key
positions in his administra-
tion. On Friday, he nominat-
ed Indian-American executive
Arun M Kumar to head the
trade promotion arm of the
US Department of Commerce
and help US companies suc-
ceed i n markets across
the world.
Kumar, as and when con-
firmed by the Senate, will take
over as Assistant Secretary and
Director General of the United
States and Foreign Commercial
Service at the Commerce
Departments International
Trade Administration suc-
ceeding another Indian-
American, Suresh Kumar, who
left the administration earlier
this year.
Arun M Kumar was a part-
ner and member of the Board
of Directors at KPMG. From
2005 until his retirement in
September 2013, he led the
firms West Coast Finance
Management Consulting prac-
tice. Kumar also led the com-
panys US-India practice from
2007 to 2013.
Nominating Kumar along
with four other individuals to
key posts, Obama said: The
extraordinary dedication these
men and women bring to their
new roles will greatly serve the
American people. I am grate-
ful they have agreed to serve in
this administration and I look
forward to working with them
in the months and years to
come.
Prior to joining KPMG as
Finance Management Leader in
1995, Kumar was the founder
and CEO of Planning & Logic,
Inc, a software company.
Before that, he was co-
founder and CFO of Netlabs,
Inc from 1991 to 1993.
8 k1kFkIkh Q
wAShh0T0h
F
ar from any signs of an early
end to the US Government
shutdown as it entered Day 5,
Washington witnessed a mere
display of frayed tempers and
hardening of public postures,
making the average American
wonder how long this stand-off
is going to last.
Stop this farce. End this
shutdown now, President
Barack Obama told House
Republicans in the course of his
weekly radio address on
Saturday, making it clear yet
again that he wont pay ran-
som in exchange for reopening
the Government or for rais-
ing the debt ceiling.
The American people
dont get to demand ransom in
exchange for doing their job.
Neither does Congress. They
dont get to hold our democ-
racy or our economy hostage
over a settled law,
Obama said.
Republican Speaker John
Boehner, riled by Obamas
tough stance and reported
remark by a White House offi-
cial that Democrats were win-
ning the shutdown battle,
fired back: This isnt some
damn game.
The comment, cited in an
article in The Wall Street
Journal, angered Boehner so
much that he even suggested
that he might still try to drive
a hard bargain on spending
cuts as a condition to raise by
October 17 the US debt ceiling,
which currently stands at $16.7
trillion.
All were asking for is to sit
down and have a discussion,
reopen the Government and
bring fairness to the American
people under Obamacare,
Boehner told reporters.
The only compromise that
should offer some solace to the
federal employees put on
forced leave without pay is
support by both parties for a
proposal to restore back pay to
all the employees furloughed
during the shutdown.
Save for that concession,
both sides are sticking to
their rigid positions. Obama
has ruled out any negotiations
on the shutdown or the debt
ceiling. However, once these
decks were cleared, he would
be willing to negotiate with
the Republicans on spending
cuts, he said, noting: We
cant do it with a gun held to
the head of the American
people.
Theres only one way out
of this reckless and damaging
shutdown: pass a budget that
funds our Government, with
no partisan strings attached.
The Senate has already done
this, he said, yet commenting
that the far right of the
Republican Party wont let
Speaker John Boehner give
that bill a yes-or-no vote.
House Democrats are
counting on 22 moderate
Republican lawmakers who
are reportedly willing to help
end the shutdown by declaring
support for an unconditional
bill to fund the Government.
But the moot point is whether
the Speaker would be ready to
come up with a clean bill
without the riders over
Obamacare.
In the absence of any deal
with Democrats, House
Republicans have been occu-
pying themselves with piece-
meal legislation to fund near-
ly a dozen targeted pro-
grammes, including nutrition
for low-income women and
their children, intelligence
gathering and border patrols.
But the Democrat-major-
ity Senate has threatened to
reject all such piecemeal fund-
ing initiatives. The White
House also says President
Obama will veto the piecemeal
measures, except the one to
pay federal workers
retroactively once the
Government reopens.
Iondon: Frince harry was
lhe rime largel o lhe
Taliban during his slinl wilh
Brilish lroos in Aghanislan
and lhere were many lans
lo calure him bul his "good
luck" saved him, a lo
mililanl commander has
claimed. The rebels were
delermined lo calure
Brilain's ourlhinline lo lhe
lhrone during his lour o
duly in Aghanislan, comm
ander 0ari hasrullah said in
an inlerview wilh lhe Lai|y
Mirrcr al a comound near
Feshawar in Fakislan.
hasrullah, a Taliban comm
ander rom Aghan rovince,
revealed how Frince harry
was lhe largel during his
slinl in lhe warlorn counlry
as a Brilish Army oicer. ?C8
0ay 5: F0st0res har4ea 0a sh0t40Wa
GLOBE
TROTTNG
MIIITkY 8FkE8Mkh
hkME8 kTTk6kE8
hairobi: A mililary sokesman on
Salurday conirmed lhe names o
lhe our ighlers imlicaled in lhe
allack on lhe uscale weslgale
Mall in Kenya's cailal lasl monlh,
an assaull lhal lurned inlo a our
daylong siege, killing al leasl G7
eole. Major Emmanuel Chirchir
said lhe allackers were Abu Baara
alSudani, 0mar habhan, Khallab
alKene and umayr, names lhal
were irsl broadcasl by a local
Kenyan lelevision slalion. 0?
C+l| +|iJ |++|. ||]+
CClV |uW w|+| u|||
lame40sa h0at
4Isaster: erIaI
search m00ate4
Proz to Pak: Dismantlo
torror inrastruoturo
Meet 'reaI W0maa' hehIa4 Ie's 8IrI
60amea kIII 15
lIhyaa s0I4Iers
8kk81IT'8 kTTk6kE8
k88kITE Ih 1kII
Iahore: Two Fakislani dealh row
risoners accused o involvemenl
in lhe murder o ndian nalional
Sarabjil Singh were assaulled by
wardens o Kol Lakhal Jail here,
oicial sources said on Salurday.
IhIk 8EIh8 FWE
EXFT T 8khIkE8h
haka: ndoBangla cooeralion
in lhe ower seclor on Salurday
enlered a new hase, wilh lhe lwo
counlries breaking ground or a
1,82OMw coalired ower lanl
and inauguraling a joinl
lransmission line lhal will exorl
5OO Mw rom ndia.
TYFhh IITW: 6hIhk
I88E8 hIh kIET
8eijing: China on Salurday
sounded a red alerl as lyhoon
Filow, lhe 28rd slorm lhis year,
aroached lhe counlry's
soulheasl coaslal areas.
Ikh 'k YEk ME'
IM hkE 6kFk8IIITY
WashingIon: Fresidenl Barack
0bama says uS nlelligence
assessmenls show ran is slill "a
year or more away" rom building
a nuclear weaon.
EYFT 1hkII8T ET8
88FEhE 1kII TEM
6airo: An Egylian mililary courl
on Salurday handed a journalisl a
sixmonlh susended jail lerm or
reorling wilhoul aulhorisalion in
a mililary /one o lhe Sinai , his
lawyer and an Army source said.
FII6E TEkk8
I8IkMI8T8 Ih EYFT
6airo: Egylian olice used lear
gas lo revenl slamisl sludenls
rom enlering a Cairo square lhal
was sile o a deadly securily
crackdown in Augusl, a securily
oicial said.
86I8E8, khTIkIk
IIhTE8 kIIIE Ih Ik
8aghdad: raqi oicials say
allacks across lhe counlry have
killed ive eole, including lwo
journalisls working in a
norlhern cily.
IVkI8 6kII I EYFT
EM8 h 1973 Wk khhIV
6airo: Suorlers and oonenls
o deosed Egylian Fresidenl
Mohamed Morsi called or rival
demonslralions on lhe 1O78 Arab
sraeli war anniversary aler lhe
deadliesl violence in weeks.
hWkY MkY hEIF
E8TY 8YIkh kM8
sIo: horway has been asked lo
hel deslroy Syria's chemical
arsenal as arl o uh eorls lo rid
lhe counlry o ils weaons o
mass deslruclion, a reorl said.
l+li|+| plu||J |u
+p|u| P|i|
|+||] i| |+|ul
Q 'Stop this
farce', says
Obama
Q t's 'not some
damn game',
retorts Boehner
l|JuA||i+| /u|i1
|+|J |u| |] ||+J |u|
WashingIon: The Reublicanled
uS house o Reresenlalives
unanimously aroved a bill on
Salurday lhal would relroaclively
ay 8,OO,OOO urloughed
workers once lhe now 5dayold
0overnmenl shuldown ends.
The measure now goes lo lhe
0emocralicled Senale or
concurrence. The while house
has said lhal Fresidenl Barack
0bama will sign il inlo law.
There is no end in sighl lo lhe
shuldown, and lhere are slill no
biarlisan negolialions.
Agencies
h8E Fk88E8 8III T
ETk6TIVEIY FkY
IIhE WkE8
moneywise 08 NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
N4=1CA
'Ler0 Iaterest 8chemes': wh0se Iaterest7
R
BI recently took charge to
change a few ongoing
schemes that it considered was
part of malicious design to lure
customers into products they did
not understand. Coming right
before the onset of festive sea-
sons, the industry, quite under-
standably, made lots of noise.
Sure, customers do get lured to
schemes that defer payments for
sometime in future. The ease of
making buying decision does
help the industry to pump up
demand, especially during festive
seasons. RBI, on the other hand,
reiterates its commitment
towards innocent customers
who fall for schemes that look
lucrative on the face, but have
hidden financial arrangements
for self serve. While both parties
are right on their part, may be,
the solution lies somewhere in
the middle.
It started when RBI banned
zero percent interest rate
schemes on the purchase of
consumer goods on September
25. Notably, such schemes
are quite popular among
consumers who are eager
to enjoy the product now
but are happy to defer
payments in future.
Companies responded
with zero interest
schemes where the cost
price of the product gets
divided equally to be
paid, say, in six install-
ments. It was a win-win
situation for both consumers and
producers because, on one hand,
consumers could afford the
product and on the other hand,
producers could ramp up the
notional demand for their prod-
ucts. RBI does not like this
because the hidden costs are
either not communicated to
consumers or are too compli-
cated to be understood by them.
For instance, usually such
schemes come loaded with pro-
cessing charge and, at the same
time, do not pass on the discount
to consumers, which is otherwise
available. In reality, consumers
are effectively paying substantial
interest (sometimes, as high as
20%); contrary to zero interest
claims made by companies.
Industry experts were quick
to argue the rationality of the
move by RBI. They seem to have
a point when they claimed that
such schemes are merely tools to
help consumers make decisions
faster. Consumers usually take
some time before committing to
high-ticket products. Industry
also claims that consumers are
aware of the costs. They get
hooked to schemes because they
simply do not mind paying
slowly. The merit of this argu-
ment lies in the fact that such
schemes are not new. They have
been in the market for a few
years now and consumers sim-
ply love it.
RBI, meanwhile, also
banned 80:20 loan schemes
prevalent in real estate. Here
again, the industry cried foul on
the pretext that such schemes
were responsible for seasonal
spurt in demand. They also
claimed real estate industry that
is going through challenging
time will lose the opportunity to
prop up demand this festive sea-
son due to RBIs policy.
RBIs move is anything but
vindictive. Notably, there are
many other schemes in the
market that are still operating.
With these smart moves, RBI
has tried to solve a few prob-
lems. Evidently, real estate and
consumer goods industries are
two very large sectors having
significant impact on economy
of India. These are interest
sensitive industries that run pri-
marily on loans. Recent policy
decisions by RBI clearly indicate
that fighting inflation will be its
main objective. Accordingly, it
has clamped down on Zero
interest and subvention
schemes because they tend to
promote inflation in two ways.
First, juicy offers rack up the
demand encouraging produc-
ers from increase prices further.
RBI intends to force price cor-
rection to promote organic
demand, and thus control
mainstream inflation. Second,
disguised in such schemes are
loans, which need to be fund-
ed from the economy. This is
contradictory to RBIs current
policy of controlling liquidity in
the system. By discouraging
loan and forcing price correc-
tion, RBI intends to control
extra liquidity and inflation
respectively.
By coming down heavily
on industries, RBI is taking
proactive actions to control
mainstream economy. The
message to everyone, including
the government, is clear that
tangible actions are required to
come out of the mess we are
into. In this process, growth is
sure taking a back seat for the
time being. Industry is correct
in responding negatively to
stringent moves by the RBI. The
good thing is that both par-
tiesaresticking to their guns.
Now that is good news.
(The write is Director,
InvestCare, a leading wealth
management firm. He can be
reached at samar.vijay@invest-
care.in)
8kMk VI1kY
kh6hkI kkk Q hEw 0ELh
T
he second quarter of the cur-
rent fiscal has been a chal-
lenging one for sectors which
have huge revenue generation in
dollar terms. With rupee depre-
ciating below C68 per dollar, per-
formance of many sectors went
for a toss. This currency crisis has
brought mixed results for the
tourism sector as with rupee
becoming considerably cheaper
compared to the dollar, industry
leaders are expecting more for-
eign tourists, while at the same
time they are concerned about
the dip in the numbers of Indians
going abroad.
While the volumes of for-
eign tourists are expected to go
up, foreign exchange earnings
(FEE) for the tourism sector
would take a hit. During August
2013 the FEE fell to $1.29 billion
as compared to $1.31 billion in
the same month last year.
Talking about the impact the
rupee depreciation would have,
Vikram Malhi, GM (South and
Southeast Asia), Expedia said,
owing to a rise in the overall cost
of travel and the rupee dip,
there has been a dip in Indians
travelling to foreign destina-
tions. But while the fall in the
value of the rupee has impacted
the overall cost of travel, it has
also opened up huge opportu-
nities in the domestic and (South
East Asia) SEA markets.
He felt that while there will
be a considerable impact of cur-
rency depreciation, there is a sil-
ver lining to it for the SEA coun-
tries. People who were planning
to visit Europe or USA are now
looking at South East Asian
destinations like Thailand,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Philippines, Indonesia and
Singapore. Also we have seen a
surge in inbound traffic to India,
given the weakening rupee has
made India all the more attrac-
tive to foreigners, especially
tourists heading to Goa,
Rajasthan and Kerala for
Christmas holidays.
The rupee has dented the
outbound part but has also cre-
ated an opportunity in domes-
tic tourism. Overalltravel.com is
a fast growing company which
aims to tab this domestic and
inbound tourism market of the
country. Bhupender Mehta, CEO
of Overalltravel.com said,
Market has become quite price
sensitive and with rupee falling,
we are expecting a significant rise
in the inbound tourism. We
already have tie ups in South East
Asia, Middle East, New Zealand
and Australia and are expecting
good volumes from there.
Citing that now more
Indians would prefer a vacation
in the country than abroad, he
added, The net costs have gone
up which has added pressure on
Indians looking to travel abroad.
Domestic travel would be ben-
efited the most by this and we
already have started working on
weekend getaways and adventure
trips in the country as their
demand is expected to rise.
Aiming to attract more and
more foreign travelers to the
country, Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI) recently organ-
ised The Great Domestic
Tourism Bazaar. Talking on the
sidelines of the event, Jyotsna
Suri, Chairperson, FICCI
Tourism Committee and
Chairperson & Managing
Director of the Lalit Suri
Hospitality Group said, Foreign
travelers wont be affected by the
currency depreciation as their
trips are planned well in advance.
As far as domestic tourism is
concerned, we are expecting the
numbers to increase this year as
more people would now avoid
going abroad.
As per the data by the
Ministry of Tourism for 2012,
Andhra Pradesh was the most
visited state contributing 20 per
cent of the total share followed
by Tamil Nadu and Uttar
Pradesh which held 18 per cent
and 16 per cent share respec-
tively.
Unlike Bangkok, Indian
tourism is still growing and
from mere 310 million domes-
tic visitors in 2003, it has
grown to 1,036 million visitors
in 2012. With currency crash-
ing so much, the industry
would face a crunch when it
comes to foreign exchange fee
and outbound travelers but it
also has made India a perfect
vacation destination for for-
eign tourists as well as domes-
tic.
Iah00a4, 40mestIc t00rIsm t0 h00m as CWeakeas
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
I
n an attempt to attract more
foreign investors towards
Indian stock markets, Securities
Exchange Board of India (Sebi)
on Saturday announced Foreign
Portfolio Investor (FPI) regula-
tions. Through this new regime
Sebi aims to ease the registration
process and operating frame-
work for foreign investors. Under
FPIs, SEBI has included all for-
eign institutional investors (FII)
and qualified foreign investors
(QFI).
For FPIs, know your client
(KYC) norms and other regis-
tration procedures would be
much simpler as compared to
current processes. The Sebi also
announced their decision to
grant FPIs permanent registra-
tion. Currently foreign investors
are only one year or five year
approval to invest in the coun-
try.
The move came after a
meeting where the Sebi board
approved the new FPI regula-
tions. As per the official state-
ment issued after the board
meeting Sebi said that the new
regulations have been framed
keeping in view the provisions of
existing norms for FIIs and
QFIs, as also the recommenda-
tions made by a Committee on
Rationalization of Investment
Routes and Monitoring of
Foreign Portfolio Investments.
Under the new norms, all
existing FIIs and QFIs will be
eventually merged into this new
investor class. Sebi also approved
setting up Designated
Depository Participants (DDPs),
which would register FPIs on
behalf of the market regulator
subject to compliance with KYC
norms.
The new class will be divid-
ed in three categories as per their
risk profile. Category I FPIs,
would enlist the the lowest risk
entities including foreign gov-
ernments and government relat-
ed foreign investors. Category II
FPIs would comprise of broad
based funds, appropriately reg-
ulated entities, funds whose
investment manager is appro-
priately regulated, university
funds, university related endow-
ments, pension funds etc.
The Category III FPIs would
include all others not eligible
under the first two categories,
Sebi said that all existing FIIs and
Sub Accounts may continue to
buy, sell or otherwise deal in
securities under the FPI regime.
All existing QFIs can also con-
tinue to buy, sell or otherwise
deal in securities till the period
of one year from the date of
notification of this regulation.
In the meantime, they may
obtain FPI registration through
DDPs.
8ehI 0aveIIs ref0rms
f0r f0reIa Iavest0rs
special 09 NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
0erived, enslaved and lorlured - young girls are being lraicked inlo 0elhi by unscruulous maid lacemenl
agencies on alse romises o decenl emloymenl and salary. According lo aclivisls, labour lraicking is lhe mosl
organised crime in ndia, sadly wilhoul a law lo curb il. 0EEBAShREE M0hAhTY brings you lhe sordid lale o lhe
Cailal's home hels and why lhis crime will kee burgeoning in lhe absence o any eeclive unishmenl
QJuly 2013: Of the 24 girls rescued
from a placement agency by Bachpan
Bachao Andolan, 18 were pregnant and
under 15 years.
QAugust 2013: Two girls from
Jharkhand (both minors and seven
months pregnant) were rescued from a
well established placement agency in
Lajpat Nagar IV. So ashamed were they
about their plight that they refused to go
home despite their fathers pleading with
them. They said they would rather die
here than face humiliation at home.
QJanuary 2013: Three girls were res-
cued from a businessmans house in
Janakpuri East. Aged eight, 13 and 16,
they were bonded labour. The eldest one
had had two abortions in a year and the
younger one has been seriously abused.
Their master sent them to his relatives
houses to work for free. None had been
paid for 18 months.
QMay 2013: A 16-year-old maid
from Nepal ran away from a house in
Ghaziabad. She had injury marks on her
head and private parts. She had been
assaulted by her employer and his broth-
er-in-law for six months. She said she was
raped and beaten up frequently. When
she asked the owners to send her back to
the agency, they locked her up in their
basement and beat her up. Doctors say
she is unlikely to recover from trauma.
QThese girls are brought into the
Capital, made to work as bonded labour
and misguided about where they are being
taken and for what purpose. Once they are
here from their villages, its an unending
trail of deceit and torture. They are
exploited sexually and thrashed at the
placement agency by several men. When
they are placedas maids, they end up
being physically and mentally abused by
their employers
Kailash Satyarthi, founder of
Bachpan Bachao Andolan
W
hether it is the yellow
page services like justdial,
or portals like asklaila or,
for that matter, your
friendly neighbourhood
helping hand, placement agencies are
everywhere some registered, others
working on word by mouth but none reg-
ulated by law to protect the rights of
domestic workers.
It is the illegal and irregulated supply
chain in the form of agencies and brokers
that need to be taken to task. There are
no less than 250 large placement agencies
in the Capital and law doesnt recognise
even a single one of them. They are all
illegal and work under false alias. Most of
the people behind these agencies are
criminals wanted by the police or have
served term for something or the other,
says Satyarthi.
In the long haul of busting such
unscrupulous agents, Satyarthi adds that
it is difficult to monitor such operators.
We have busted many small agencies
which supply girls not just as maids but
to brothels too. Still, there are many who
manage to escape our notice. These are
mastermind criminals who have their
network in localised places. These local
goons work in tandem and supply chil-
dren to agency owners who then sell
them off as labour. Nowadays, most agen-
cies work under the false name of samitis
or welfare societies. More audaciously,
some have even registered themselves as
NGOs working for child rights! This is
one of the most well organised crimes
difficult to crack, senior inspector
Abhjeet Ray, investigating the Pritampura
maid abuse case, says.
He tells you that in this particular
case, the owners had paid the maid
agency C35,000 as a yearly contract and a
monthly sum of C2,800 due to the girl
was also paid to the agency. The sad part
is that the agency knew the girl was being
tortured but it didnt come to her rescue.
When my team went to rescue the
maid locked up in the ground floor house
No 1178 in Vasant Kunj Sector A, Ms
Vandana Dhir made them wait for over
four hours and showed up with her
lawyer. When she opened the door, what
my team saw they we will never forget.
They recounted how the maids nails and
body had been brutalised. She was is
extreme trauma. She could not speak
much about her sustained torture but the
details will come out soon, Rishi Kant,
founder of Shakti Vahini, the NGO that
helped rescue this maid from Dhir, says.
And thats just one case. In July 2013,
Bachpan Bachao Andolan rescued 13
girls who were being exploited at an
agency called Adivasi Samiti which was
registered as an NGO in Kirti Nagar. This
so called NGO was supplying maids to
houses as far away as Faridabad and
Noida. More than 90 per cent of these
girls were minors living in pathetic condi-
tions in the NGOs official premises.
They were huddled up with boys in a
6/6 room. Most of these girls had been
molested. To escape the abuse, they had
requested the manager to get them homes
where they could work. They were so
desperate to move out that they were
ready to accept whatever was thrown
their way. And, what may happen to
them at their employers place was purely
their luck, Satyarthi says.
Pinki Senapathy (name changed) was
sold to one such samiti by her aunt for a
paltry C5,000 when she was only 14. She
had been brought in on a ruse of being
taken to Delhi for a summer vacation.
Little did she know that she would be
made to work and carry out all sorts of
chores for the placement agent to
whom she was sold, and his friends.
While at this agency, where she was left
by her aunt, she was made to cook, wash
utensils and clothes of all residents. Her
master demanded all kinds of sexual
favours, including oral sex which she per-
formed on a number of occasions. Pinki
got pregnant five times and bore a child
out of wedlock when she was 20. She
doesnt know who the father of her four-
year-old son is. Today, she is long dead.
Pinki and her son found owners in
Chattarpur in 2011. She was working as a
full-time maid on a C2000 a month salary
for all household work, including cooking
three meals a day. Her employer, a banker
and his wife, thought they had got a real
good deal. When Pinki came to work
here, she carried the wounds inflicted on
her at the agency. One visit to a doctor
revealed she was AIDS-infected. She was
thrown out with her son immediately
without a penny to her name.
Pinki was spotted by a sevasharam
karamchari who got her to us. She passed
away in July 2012. Her son, who is also
HIV positive, is admitted in a ward in
Safdarjung Hospital, Minu Yadav,
founder and chairperson of the NGO
SAVE India, says. Yadav has rescued
many girls from evil agents and employ-
ers. But she is appalled that even after so
much has been done and so much noise
created, the Government continues to
turn a blind eye to the issue.
In 2011, 314 minors died due to
abuse. In 2012, the number escalated to
789 (mostly reported from Delhi) and in
2013, the number is already alarming. But
with no law in place, there is no stopping
such illegal trafficking of the fertile
domestic workforce.
While New Delhi is the epicentre of
such nefarious crimes, most girls are traf-
ficked from Assam, Meghalaya,
Jharkhand and Odissa. In early 2000,
girls were being brought from Bangladesh
and sold here. But since the borders laws
and the police turned strict, inter-state
trafficking has increased. These criminals
are no standalone individuals. They are
well networked and influential, Yadav
tells you.
Satyarthi gives you an example of
how such a network works: In January
2013, BBA rescued a girl from Assam
when she was being arrested for selling
girls of her village to agency owners in
Delhi. The truth in fact was something
very horrifying. It was her maternal uncle
who had sold her off to a placement
agency in Patparganj. After being repeat-
edly raped, this girl pleaded with the
agent to let her go. But the agency had
something else in store for her. They
asked her to bring four girls as her
replacement and then she would be free
to return to her village.
At first, she thought of running away.
But she had no money or idea about the
city. So, she complied. She got four girls
to Delhi through phone calls back home.
When one of her replacements ran away,
she was forced to bring in another
replacement. She managed to get her
cousin to Delhi under the pretext of
showing her the city. When she left for
her village, there was quite another scene
waiting for her there. The agency owners
had informed the local police in Assam
that she was their main supplier of girls
(even infants). She was jailed and tor-
tured for three months before our NGO
rescued her, Satyarthi recalls.
These multi-million rupee maid
business is so murky and well organsied
that agents hail from all kind of regions
and cater to all kind of demands by
future employers. Helps with specific
gotra, caste, type, religion you name
it and they have one ready for you as
take away.
So, is there a way out of this unend-
ing exploitation of rural manpower?
Activists say that in more than 60 per
cent cases, the woes of these girls only
double. These helps are so desperate to
get away from the agency that they suc-
cumb to whatever comes their way. They
are ready to make any kind of compro-
mise. Many die a thousand deaths before
being rescued.
In August 2013, Gayatri, 18, was
found locked in a servants room in
Netaji Nagar, Type VI quarters. She had
been locked up for two days without
water or food. She was lying unconscious
in a pool of her own urine and vomit.
Gayatris employer, a bureaucrat, was
away for a get-together when Sai Kripa
rescued her on a tip-off by a cook.
Gayatri was being punished for hav-
ing used the employers bathroom and
hairbrush. She was beaten up by the
bureaucrats wife with the same brush
and dragged into the room. And this was
not the first time. Gayatri had been beat-
en up, humiliated in front of guests and
locked up without food or water on
seven earlier occasions. Each time, the
couple would give her food only after
three days of punishment!
Gayatri had several internal hemor-
rhages and she doesnt remember any of
her family members. She told us that
once she was beaten up so mercilessly
with a steel rod that she fractured her
hand. Her employers did not take her to
a hospital to get her a plaster. She was
made to work in this painful condition,
Anupama Goswami from Sai Kripa tells
you. The matter was reported to the
police but nothing concrete has yet been
done.
The biggest gap in dealing with the
situation lies in the lack of appropriate
measures for the recovery, rehabilitation
and integration of victims. Post rescue,
there are no effective measures available,
particularly for victims of sexual
exploitation.
It will go a long way to have a
Standard Operating Procedure, which
not only defines the standards that need
to be followed during the different stages
of rescue, rehabilitation, repatriation and
reintegration, but also define the roles of
stakeholders such as the police, medical
professionals and civil society organisa-
tions in this process. In the context of
minors, this assumes greater significance
and all-out efforts need to be made to
ensure that processes and procedures are
child friendly and do not allow for
retraumatisation, Vijaylakshmi Arora,
Crys policy research and advocacy direc-
tor, concludes.
MAD
I0 80FFF8
MAD
I0 80FFF8
l|E l|uSlRY lS |w
RlS| A| |l|PR|ll
|R |Al lRA||lC|ERS,
ESPEClA||Y BECAuSE |
l|CREASl| E|A| |R
C|EAP lSPE|SAB|E
|ABuR. l|ESE
CRl|l|A|S SCl|REE,
l|A||S l l|E ||
EXlSlE|l |Aw l
Cu|lER SuC| CRl|E
Vl1AY|A|S||l ARRA,
lREClR, P|lCY RESEARC|
A| AVCACY, CRY
S
illing molionless in lhe
surgi cal ward o
Sadarjung hosilal, 0auri
(name changed), lhe maid res
cued rom 1178, Seclor A,
vasanl Kunj, has only wish.
'Muj|c ya|an na|in ra|na
|ai,' she kees saying even in
slee. Allhough doclors say
she is slable and will recover
rom lhe hysical lrauma soon,
lhey are concerned lhal she
may never be able lo orgel lhe
alrocilies meled oul lo her.
"when lhey gol her lo lhe
hosilal, lhere was swelling on
her ace, arms and legs. There
were dee gashes, burn marks
rom a hol tawa and inecled
oen wounds. There was a six
inch cul on her head inecled
by maggols close lo lhe skull
bone. 0auri was in shock," a
hosilal allendanl says.
Today, 0auri has her molh
er or comany bul she wanls
lo go back lo her village
Sahibaganj in Jharkhand as
soon as ossible. her molher
can'l slo blaming hersel or
all lhal her daughler has gone
lhrough.
" am lo blame or all lhis.
She came lo 0elhi looking or
a living aler her alher assed
away in 2O1O. For lhe irsl lwo
years, she was doing quile well.
She earned decenlly. 0auri
would kee in louch, udaling
us aboul her whereabouls. n
June, she wanled lo leave
everylhing and relurn. She
was lhen working wilh a doc
lor coule in Lajal hagar. Bul
lhe agency asked her lo wail lill
0ecember. unwillingly, 0auri
slarled lo work wilh lhe 0hirs
in vasanl Kunj," her molher
recounls.
Fallavi, who has been
working wilh Shakli vahni or
11 monlhs, was resenl al lhis
raid and she recounls how hor
riied she was lo see 0auri al
irsl.
"n jusl lhree monlhs she
was a ballered girl. 0auri lold
me lhal lhe irsl lime she was
bealen u was when she used
lhe weslern loilel wrongly.
She was made lo lick her own
urine and served ood in lhe
balhroom. She says she senl
mosl o her days locked in lhe
washroom," Fallavi says.
ncidenlally, lhe emloyer
was known or inhuman behav
iour. "Mosl residenls o lhis
colony lold us lhal lhere was
somelhing wrong wilh lhe
0hirs," Fallavi adds.
T O R T U R E T A L E
sport 10 NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
hE I, ThEE 8IIVE8 I IhIk
New Delhi: ndian junior cyclisls made a
sensalional slarl lo lheir 2O18 Track Asia Cycling
chamionshi in Thailand by winning one gold and
lhree silvers on lhe oening day on Friday. Teen
sensalion rom Anandaman and hicobar, 0eborah,
bagged lhe gold medal in lhe Time Trial evenl while
lhe horlh Easl ride, Manorama 0evi bagged silver
medals in Scralch and Foinl races and 0ilawar
Singh rom haryana added lhe lhird silver in Foinl
race or ndia. The ndian conlingenl has been laking
big slrides in Asian cycling ever since lhe lasl
edilion o lhe Asian chamionshi in hew 0elhi in
March, where ndia won lwo silver and lwo bron/e
or lhe irsl lime ever. The erormance o lhe ndian
conlingenl had even allracled lhe Korean Cycling
Federalion, who had inviled bolh 0eobrah and
Manorama 0evi lo lrain wilh lheir nalional squad
beore lhis chamionshi.
hkIEEZ FFE IM TE8T TEkM
Islamabad: Fakislan has droed ouloorm
oening balsman Mohammad haee/ or lhis
monlh's lwolesl series againsl Soulh Arica in lhe
uniled Arab Emirales. The axing o haee/ was
execled aler he scored only 1O2 runs in lhe lasl
ive lesl malches lhis year, including lhree againsl
Soulh Arica and lwo againsl lowlyranked
Zimbabwe. Soulh Arica is lhe leam againsl which
haee/ has always slruggled, scoring only one hal
cenlury and a lolal o 8O7 runs in 18 innings. The
seleclors have named 12 layers or lhe lesl series
while lhree more will be added aler Fakislan 'A'
lays a lhreeday warmu malch againsl lhe Froleas
nexl week al Sharjah. Abu 0habi will hosl lhe irsl
lesl rom 0cl. 1418 while lhe second lesl will be
layed al 0ubai rom 0cl. 2827.
h8kI Ih 8EMI8 k8 FkIIIkkI I8E8
Montreal: Third seed Saurav 0hosal conlinued his
ine run o orm when lhe ndian reached lhe semi
inal o lhe Financiere Banque halionale Monlreal
0en squash lournamenl wilh an emhalic 81 win
over Egyl's 0mar Abdel A/ai/, here on Salurday.
0hosal, lhe higheslranked ndian o alllime who
celebraled a beslever world number 17 lhis monlh,
deealed his 8Oyearold Egylian oonenl in less
lhan an hour, winning 118, 114, 211, 114.
"hay lo win my malch 81 loday," 0hosal lweeled
aler lhe malch. "A/i/ layed some good slu bul
lhankully my squash was beller lhan on Friday!"
wrole lhe 27yearold rom Kolkala laler.
kTk 8EkT IhIk Z0 Ih kI6 19
Doha: ndia began lheir AFC u1O Chamionshi
qualiying camaign on a disaoinling nole as lhey
losl O2 in lheir oening grou malch againsl 0alar
here. The ndians held lheir own againsl lhe 0alaris
lill lhe hour mark bul conceded lwo goals lherealer
lo lose lhe malch al lhe Al Arabi Sladium lasl nighl.
Akram hassan scored rom lhe sol in lhe GOlh
minule aler lhe hosls enjoyed a good sell o ileen
minules al lhe beginning o lhe second hal.
Subslilule Abdullah made il 2O in lhe 8Olh minule.
IhIk 19 WIh 8EIE8, 8EkT FTEk8
Visakhapatnam: The ndian under1O crickel leam
roduced a anlaslic allround erormance lo
decimale Soulh Arica u1O by 2O1 runs in lhe inal
and lil lhe 0uadrangular Series lrohy here on
Salurday. Ful in lo bal, ndia made 2G7 or six in
lheir 5O overs beore bundling oul lhe Soulh
Aricans or GG in 28.1 overs. Mumbai wonderkid
Sarara/ Khan slarred or lhe hosls wilh an
unbealen G7 and a coule o wickels lo his credil. l
was a nearerecl erormance by lhe ndians, who
suered jusl one loss during lhe lournamenl, also
ealuring Auslralia and Zimbabwe. Aler being senl
in lo bal, ndia did nol make lhe besl o slarls wilh
oener Ankush Bains (1) dearling when lhe leam
had jusl lhree runs on lhe board. Bul olher oener
Akhil herwadkar (25) and skier vijay Zol (71),
sleadied lhe shi wilh a 51run second wickel sland.
The arlnershi ended when herwadkar was
dismissed by Juslin 0ill in lhe 15lh over, caughl by
Yaseen valli. herwadkar's 4Gball slay ealured a
our and a six.
1kk kkIFkhk WIh8 8hZE
New Delhi: Kalana 0evi has won ndia's irsl JF
0rand Frix medal when she grabbed a bron/e al lhe
Judo Tournamenl in Tashkenl, u/bekislan.
Comeling in 52kg weighl calegory, Kalana
deealed Zaria Sullonova o u/bekislan bul losl lo
0ili Cohen o srael. however, Kalana jumed back
lo medal conlenlion lhrough reechage round,
where she gol lhe beller o Bra/ilian Raquel Silva.
Kalana, who is wilh ndoTibelan Border Folice,
had also won a bron/e medal in lhe women's world
Cu Judo Chamionshis held in Selember 2O1O
in u/bekislan. ndia have senl an eighlmember
leam in lhe JF 0rand Frix Judo Chamionshis,
which will conclude on Monday. The judo layers
will remain in Tashkenl or a onemonlh lraining.
MM8kI Wh 6h6hIII 8ThE8
Mapusa (Goa): Churchill Brolhers aid dearly or a
missed enally in lhe irsl hal as Mumbai FC slruck
lwice in lhe second hal lo score lheir irsl win in lhe
lhird round o lhe Airlel League here on Salurday.
Aler a barren irsl hal, Mumbai, who did well lo
deend lheir ciladel in lhe second hal, scored
lhrough Essien 0rok (4Glh) and Climax Lawerence
(87lh). The win look Mumbai FC lo ive oinls rom
lhree malches, while Churchill Brolhers, who
suered lheir second deeal, have one oinl rom
lhree malches.
16Th kIEhIMkIkYk IIkE II
Shimla: The Maruli Su/uki Raiddehimalaya,
during which arlicianls will lraverse a dislance o
18OO km over a san o six days, was ceremonially
lagged o amid much ervor here on Salurday. The
annual evenl was lagged o by T hashimolo,
Execulive 0ireclor (Markeling & Sales), Maruli
Su/uki ndia Limiled. Team Mahindra, including
halional Rally Chamionshi winner Sunny Sidhu,
ulled oul o lhe evenl al lhe lasl minule, causing a
major embarrassmenl lo local organisers.
MIZkM Ih 14 88T 8EMI8
New Delhi: 0overnmenl Chawmgianga Middle
School, Mi/oram edged oul 0ovl Model school,
Chandigarh 1O lo enler lhe u14 boys' semiinals o
lhe 54lh Subrolo Cu here on Salurday.
Lalawmsanga (44lh min) scored lhe winner or
Mi/oram. The winners will lay hCC (horlh Easlern
Region) in lhe semiinals. Allhough Mi/oram
schools have won lhe lille in lhe asl, lhis is lhe irsl
lime lhal Chawmianga School have gone lo lhe lasl
our slage. The u14 boys' quarlerinal was an
exciling encounler belween lhe lall, owerul layers
o Chandigarh and lhe seedy boys rom Mi/oram.
The orward line which has ried aarl rival
deences in all lheir revious malches, Mi/oram
dominaled roceedings. Fh8lkgenries
S S N NG GL LE ES S
M0mhaI meet 8ajasthaa Ia fIaaI
Riding on SmilhTendulkar's OOrun oening sland, M beal T&T by six wickels
kMIT 6hkhkY Q hEw 0ELh
D
wayne Smith helped IPL
champions Mumbai
Indians beat Trinidad and
Tobago to secure a place in sec-
ond Champions League
Twenty20 final in three years here
at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium
on Saturday.
Mumbai will now face anoth-
er IPL team Rajasthan Royals in
the final on Sunday.
Chasing 154-run target,
Smith along with Sachin
Tendulkar provided Mumbai the
kind of start they needed against
T&T, a strong bowling unit. After
the duo departed within a space
of two balls, middle-order bats-
men didnt let the good start go
waste and sealed a six-wicket vic-
tory with five balls to spare.
After three consecutive flop-
shows in the CLT20, Tendulkar
(35 off 31 balls) finally came good
with bat and along with Dwayne
Smith (59 off 38 balls) added 90
runs for the first wicket to lay
strong foundation for his team.
Along the way, Tendulkar also
completed his 50,000 runs, anoth-
er milestone by the master blaster,
in all formats of cricket. His tally
now stands at 50,009 from 953
matches.
However, T&Ts Sunil Narine,
known as mystery spinner in
cricketing circles, kind of undid
that good work with two wickets
in his one over to go with anoth-
er wicket by Lendl Simmons, who
dismissed Tendulkar.
Mumbai were reduced to 96
for 3 in 12 overs from 90 for no
loss in 10.5. In T20 format, the
match doesnt take much time to
slip away and three wickets in
seven balls was a big setback for
Mumbai.
But skipper Rohit Sharma
and Dinesh Karthik knew the
target wasnt very far and a cou-
ple of good overs were enough to
get there. They added 42 runs in
next five overs. Though Rohit
was foxed by Narine in the 18th
over, by then the match was
firmly in Mumbais grip. Karthik
finished the job with six over
long-off.
Earlier, T&T posted a decent
score which could have been
better had other batsmen, apart
from Evin Lewis and Yannick
Ottley, contributed more.
There last match hero, Lendl
Simmons (0) was a bit unlucky in
this match as his cheross-batted
shot went straight into the hands
of Dwayne Smith, who stood at
the boundary edge and waited for
the ball to land in his big, safe pair
of hands.
His opening partner, Lewis,
however, didnt show any sign of
slowing down in the wake of early
loss of wicket. He continued in his
belligerent fashion and matched
Mitchell Johnson pace with his
bat speed accumulating five
boundaries, including a six over
third man, in Mumbai bowlers
two overs.
Mumbai was finding it hard
to stop Lewis but wickets at
regular interval from the
other end kept them in
the game. After Lewis,
Ottley did some dam-
age to Mumbai but
Nathan Coulter-Nile,
Pragyan Ojha and Kieron Pollard
bowled intelligently to keep the
scoring rate in reach.
Brief scores
Trinidad & Tobago: 153/5 in 20
overs (Evin Lewis 62, Yannick
Ottley 41 not out; Nathan
Coulter-Nile 1/20) lose to
Mumbai Indians: 157/4 in 19.1
overs (Dwayne Smith 59, Sachin
Tendulkar 35; Sunil Narine 3/17)
by 6 wickets.
Nadal in China Opon
inal; sot to bo No 1
kF Q BEJh0
R
afael Nadal will supplant Novak
Djokovic atop the rankings after
advancing to the final of the China
Open on Saturday when Tomas
Berdych of the Czech Republic retired
with a back injury.
The Spaniard was a break up at 4-
2 in the opening set of their semifinal
when Berdych retired soon after tak-
ing an injury timeout. Nadal could face
Djokovic on Sunday, as the Serb
played Richard Gasquet of France in
the other semifinal later Saturday.
Nadal, who improved to 27-0 on
hard courts this season, will return to
the top ranking for the first time since
July 2011. Djokovic has been No. 1 for
101 weeks.
The personal satisfaction is not
because I am No. 1 today, its because
(of) all the work (I put in) to be where
I am today, Nadal said. I dont feel
(like) a better player now than five
hours ago, and I wont go to bed tonight
feeling that I am the best player in the
world_thats something Ive never
thought.
In the womens draw, top-ranked
Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic of
Serbia advanced to the final with con-
trasting wins.
Serena earned a straight-forward
6-2, 6-2 victory over Agnieszka
Radwanska of Poland while Jankovic
rallied for a 6-7 (7), 6-1, 6-1 win over
Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
Nadal had been assured of reclaim-
ing the top spot if he reached the final
in Beijing or Djokovic failed to defend
his title.
Nadal, the reigning French Open
and U.S. Open champion, has had a
dominant year since returning in
February from a seven-month layoff
due to a left knee injury. He has won
10 titles and reached 12 finals overall,
compiling an ATP Tour-best record of
65-3 on the season.
He hasnt lost a match since falling
in the opening round at Wimbledon to
135th-ranked Steve Darcis of Belgium
in June, his only blip this year.
(This is) a great year, one of the
best years of my career without any
doubt, Nadal said. Sure is special (to)
be back to the top position of the rank-
ings after more than a half year with-
out playing tennis.
EI FT V8 khI6 Ih IIhkI
Tokyo: Top-seeded Juan Martin del
Potro overcame Nicolas Almagro 7-6
(7), 7-6 (1) on Saturday to reach the
final of the Japan Open.
Del Potro hit 12 aces to dispatch
the sixth-seeded Spaniard and set up
a final with third-seeded Milos Raonic
of Canada, who beat Ivan Dodig of
Croatia 7-6 (4), 6-1 in Saturdays first
semifinal.
Del Potro is seeking his third title
of the season following wins in
Rotterdam and Washington.
Raonic, who is coming off a win at
the Thailand Open last week, won six
straight points in the tiebreaker and
cruised through the second set to reach
the Japan Open final for the second
straight year.
The 22-year-old Canadian, who is
11th in the world rankings, broke
Dodig twice in the second set to win
the last five games, finishing the match
with three straight aces.
kF Q YE0h0AM
S
ebastian Vettel maintained
his extraordinary dominance
of Formula One on Saturday by
claiming pole position for the
Korean Grand Prix.
The German has now taken
pole for three straight races and
is aiming for a fourth successive
win. Hes also chasing a hat trick
of wins at the Yeongam circuit,
and most importantly, a fourth
consecutive F1 championship.
Vettel set his pole time
early in the final qualifying ses-
sion, and was able to abort his
final flying lap when nearest
challenger Lewis Hamilton of
Mercedes came up two-tenths
of a second short in his bid to
beat Vettels time.
I had a very, very good lap
in Q3 at my first attempt, and I
knew that would be tricky to
beat that time myself, Vettel
said. Fortunately the first lap
was good enough, he added.
Mercedes was very strong.
Hamilton had been the
fastest in Fridays practice, but
Mercedes could not improve the
car as much overnight as Red
Bull did. Still, Hamilton said he
was satisfied with second.
I felt I got the most out of
the car, the British driver said.
In general its been a good
weekend and I really hope
tomorrow we can fight with
them (Red Bull).
The positive news for
Hamilton, and everyone else
who qualified in an even-num-
bered grid slot, is that the even
numbers have the inside line to
the first corner, while the odd-
numbered places are outside
but on the rubbered racing line.
Last year it was the inside line
which won the short sprint to
the single-file first corner.
Vettels teammate Mark
Webber qualified in third but
carries a ten-grid-place penalty
into Sundays race for hitching
a ride back to the pits on
Fernando Alonsos Ferrari after
the Singapore Grand Prix. He
will be demoted to 13th.
Move to lan ]wala for life, gets a weel to rely
FTI Q hEw 0ELh
B
adminton Association of
India President Akhilesh
Das Gupta will seek a response
from Jwala Gutta following BAI
disciplinary committees rec-
ommendation of a life ban on
the top Indian doubles shuttler
for trying to stop some players
of her franchise Krrish Delhi
Smashers from playing a match
against Banga Beats in the inau-
gural IBL.
The BAI president is writ-
ing to Jwala Gutta for her
response on the recommenda-
tion report, a well-placed source
in the BAI said.
She will have seven days to
respond, he added.
In a surprise decision, BAIs
disciplinary committee recom-
mended a life ban on Jwala for
her role in the Indian
Badminton League controversy.
The disciplinary commit-
tee has recommended a life ban
or suspension for a certain peri-
od of time on Jwala Gutta for her
role in the IBL controversy, a
senior BAI official said.
The recommendation has
been circulated to the member
associations but no decision
has been taken as of now. It has
not been implemented.
S Muralidharan, chairman
of BAIs disciplinary committee,
said: I dont want to talk about
it much. It is the discretion of
BAI President Mr Akhilesh Das
Gupta and on an uncondition-
al apology, Jwala can be set free.
But she should feel apologetic for
what happened.
A controversy had erupted
during the August 25 tie when
Delhi smashers had threatened
to pull out against Banga Beats
over the last-minute replace-
ment of injured singles player,
Hu Yun of Hong Kong with
Denmarks Jan Jorgensen.
As an icon player of Delhi
Smashers, Jwala was involved in
the whole matter, which was
resolved after Beats finally left
out Jorgensen and played
Arvind Bhat, who was already
part of the team.
Jwala was then served a 14-
day showcause notice by BAI for
her conduct during the tie,
which was delayed by half an
hour. Jwala had replied to the
notice, saying that it was a
decision by the Delhi franchise
and not an individual move.
Owners asked me to act like that
and there is nothing wrong on
my part. I have been appointed
as an icon player by Delhi and
as a captain I acted, the BAI offi-
cial said.
The BAI official said anoth-
er notice has also been sent to
the Delhi franchise.
Bralhwaile cracks lon
FTI Q ShM00A
O
pener Kraigg Brathwaite
smashed a brilliant centu-
ry while Narasingh Deonaraine
cracked a flamboyant 93 as the
second unofficial Test between
India A and West Indies A
ended in a tame draw here on
Saturday.
In reply to West Indies As
406 in the first innings, India
A were all
out for
359, con-
ceding a
slender 47-run lead to the
visitors.
With a result out of ques-
tion, West Indies A reached 223
for three in 81 overs in their sec-
ond innings when the umpires
decided to call off the match due
to bad light around 3.30 pm. For
the West Indies A, Brathwaite
top-scored with 104 not out,
while Deonaraine delighted the
crowd with some aggressive
shots during his 93-run innings
before he was trapped leg before
by Baroda lad Bharghav Bhatt.
Brathwaite, riding high on
his two fifties in the series,
played a Shivnaraine
Chanderpaul-style game, grind-
ing the ball and attacking those
landing in the hitting zone.
The left-handed Guyanese
batsman
did not
get much
support
from Kieran Powell and captain
Kirk Edwards as the visitors
were in a hole at 43 for two.
Brief Scores
WI A: 406 and 223/3 (Kraigg
Brathwaite 104 no, Narsingh
Deonarine 93; Bhargav Bhatt
2/104, Zaheer Khan 1/27) drew
with India A: 359 on fourth day
of the unofficial Test.
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
R
ajasthan Royals were dealt a
massive blow ahead of their
Champions League Twenty20 sum-
mit clash as destructive batsman
Brad Hodge, who injured his knee
in the semifinal, was declared
unfit for Sundays match.
Hodge had collided with Shane
Watson whose head hit Hodges
knee at point during the final
over of Chennai Super Kings
chase in the first semifinal match
at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in
Jaipur on Friday night.
The Aussie had to go off the
field, and scans were performed on
his knee, of which result is awaited.
Kushal Perera joins the team as
his replacement.
Also, paceman Shaun Tait too
has been ruled out and in place of
him, Sachin Baby will play.
The 38-year-old has scored 109
runs in three innings, including two
not-outs at a strike rate of 198.
His unbeaten 52 off 23 balls
against Otago Volts was instru-
mental in Royals securing a home
semi-final, which they won by 14
runs. Watson fined for using
obscene language
Rajasthan Royals all-rounder
Shane Watson was on Saturday
fined USD 750 for using obscene
and offensive language during
the f i rst semi f i nal of the
Champions League Twenty20
against Chennai Super Kings here.
Shane Watson of Rajasthan
Royals was fined US$750 for
breaching the CLT20 Code of
Behaviour during the first semi-
final match against Chennai Super
Kings at the Sawai Mansingh
Stadium l ast eveni ng, the
Champions League Twenty20 said
in a statement.
Mr. Watson admitted to the
Level 1 offence (Section 1B - 1.4)
of using language that is obscene,
offensive or insulting and/or mak-
ing an obscene gesture, he added.
For Level 1 breaches of the
CLT20 Code of Conduct, the
Match Referees decision is final
and binding.
WesI Indies k Iour oI India
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sport 11 NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6, 2013
6hkTSh0w
PR
Sreejesh
hockey
OHow are the preparations for the
Asian Champions Trophy going?
As you know, the Championship
Trophy begins from November 1,
2013 in Japan. And so far the train-
ing is on the mark. Having said that,
the national camp started from
September 28, it has only been six
days, so early days into the prepara-
tion. But with a three-week long
camp at the Major Dhyan Chand
Stadium in the Capital we will be
fighting fit.
OWhat are the areas, the team is
focusing on?
We have just come back from the
Asia Cup and have been on a break.
We are focusing on the fitness aspect
for now. Some of our players were
injured during the Asia Cup have
also joined the squad and their fit-
ness is also being monitored regu-
larly. Some of the reserves too have
joined the squad. Once that is over,
we will work on the basics of the
game and train accordingly.
OThe team doesnt have a chief
coach. Any preferences?
For now, we are training under
our high performance director and
interim coach Roelant Oltmans.
And I dont have a preference. Players
dont get involved in these decisions.
It is in the hands of the associations
and its officials. They will appoint a
chief coach after looking at various
factors. I am ready to welcome who-
ever is appointed.
OYou have a goalkeeping coach
(Dave Staniforth) to go for help.
How is that working for the team?
After three years, I am getting
coaching lessons from a specialised
goalkeeping coach. Dave. It has been
good working with him. He has been
of great help ever since he joined us.
He was a South African national
team custodian.
Being a player himself, he under-
stands what I am going through and
my game in a better way than a non-
specialised coach would. He was
travelling with the junior team for the
Sultan of Johar Cup when we were
on a break. I am sure that the young
goalkeepers would have picked up a
lot of his suggestions and taken help
from him.
OWhat are some of the areas he
worked with you on?
He worked on my basics. He rec-
tified the minor mistakes committed.
He turned my negatives into posi-
tives. I feel good about my game now.
He has instilled a lot of confidence
in me which was quite necessary. We
had worked on my game, two prac-
tice sessions every day, for the three
weeks before we left for the Asia Cup
in Malaysia.
OYou got the Best Goalkeeper
Award. How does that feel?
Yes, it was good that I was able
to performer well. It helped the team
to do well as well. We played good
hockey. Even in the final, we played
well.
But, at the last moment, the ref-
eree awarded a short corner and we
conceded a goal. It was very unfor-
tunate that we lost. Our aim was to
win the Asia Cup and qualify for the
World Cup. But it didnt turn out that
way. Haarne ke baad kya khushi hogi.
Bahut dukh hua mujhe. But, its part
and parcel of the game.
OWhat about the confidence level
for ACT?
We are concentrating on the
training and need to raise the bar of
the fitness level. Though the juniors
have played well, we also need the
experience. Since the selection of the
team has yet to be finalised I am hop-
ing that a mix of experienced play-
ers with juniors will work for us.
OYou were the hero of ACT in 2011
where India defeated Pakistan in
the final. Do you have any strate-
gy this time round?
No such strategy in place. All I
can say is that I will give it my best
so that the team can win. That year
we had performed really well. And
in the following year too, we had fin-
ished runners-up to Pakistan.
Hopefully, we will do well.
Fh8 Q hEw 0ELh
T
he side from the sports second
tier will receive a US$ one million
preparation fee from the global gov-
erning body, the International Cricket
Council (ICC), ahead of the tourna-
ment in Australia and New Zealand.
It comes on top of t he
US$422, 000 awarded to t he
Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) by
the ICC Board in April of this year
as part of its Targeted Assistance and
Performance Programme (TAPP),
aimed at raising playing standards.
In 2014, the top ICC Associate
and Affiliate Members - including
Afghanistan - will also receive
approximately US$750,000 in base
support through the
ICC Devel opment
Funding Policy.
And according to
t he ACB Chi ef
Executive Officer Dr
Mohammed Noor,
there is the potential
for further funding that
could amount to as
much as US$850,000
from the countrys gov-
ernment and sponsor-
ship agreements from
domestic and interna-
tional businesses eager
to ride the wave of
Afghanistan success.
All the money we
will receive will allow
us to develop the game
even more, and it will
also allow us to be as ready as we can
be for the ICC Cricket World Cup,
said Dr Noor.
We have already begun work-
ing on our plans and we are looking
at a three-month camp for the play-
ers ahead of the tournament.
And those sponsorship dollars
are likely to multiply thanks to the
success of broadcast coverage of
Afghanistans latest matches.
The two matches against Kenya
that sealed the sides place at the glob-
al 50-over event in Australia and New
Zealand were shown back home on
national television as well as on the
Internet thanks to the ICC.
That followed on from matches
against Namibia streamed live in
August, coverage that has given sig-
nificant exposure to the national
side.
It has allowed millions of
Afghanistan cricket fans starved of
action due to continuing fears over
security the chance to enjoy the
sides triumphs, just five years after it
was competing against cricketing
minnows Japan and Jersey.
It has been great for people back
home to see the matches because it
means they can now see the boys in
action, said Dr Noor. The cricket
team is now recognisable on the
streets of Afghanistan.
I understand His Excellency
President Karzai was also watching
Fridays match and the coverage
helps the profile of the game through-
out our country and throughout our
region, he added.
The ACBs coffers may be swelled
still further in the coming months if
the team can qualify for 2014s ICC
World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, with
the qualifiers for that event in the
United Arab
Emi rates i n
November.
If Afghanistan
can secure a place
at that tournament
and it has qual-
ified for the past
two, in the West
Indies in 2010 and
Sri Lanka in 2012 -
the ACB wi l l
receive an addi-
tional US$250,000.
Cri cket i s
already the most
popular sport in
Afghanistan and
our idea, with the
help of this extra
money, is to further
improve and devel-
op so we can get even more partici-
pation in the country, said Dr Noor.
The US$ one million preparation
grant will go to all four Associate and
Affiliate sides as well as the 10 Full
Members who will participate in the
ICC Cricket World Cup in Australia
and New Zealand.
Ireland is already set to receive
the money having been the first side
to qualify for the tournament, while
another two sides are set to qualify
from a ten-team tournament in New
Zealand in January.
ICC Chief Executive, David
Richardson, said: The ICC is delight-
ed to be playing a part in that growth
through not only the preparation
grant which also goes to the other
qualifiers for the ICC Cricket World
Cup, but also through the TAPP
funding and the coverage we have
been able to help provide through the
broadcasting of matches during the
Pepsi ICC World Cricket League
Championship.
Aghanislan crickel sel or
mullimillion dollar windall
aler world Cu qualiicalion
0MFI088 0F IF lF60F
Frearing or lhe ucoming Asian Chamions Trohy al lhe nalional cam in 0elhi, goalkeeer FR SREEJESh soke lo
ABhShEK FuR0hT aboul how lhe secial lraining has given him a osilive nuance in keeing lhe nels
Foous is on itnoss: Sroo|osh
6S* runs
19 balls
1four
8sixes
SR SS1.57
IhE 6EhTIh
Chamions League Twenly2O hasn'l been able lo creale as much bu// as lhe FL did
earlier lhis year. Bul lhere have been some erormers who have managed lo allracl lhe
eyeballs. F0hEER SF0RT looks al ive such erormers.
6k 8II
13 kh 6hTIh
khE8
I I8 I
w
hen Mahendra Singh 0honi came in lo bal, Chennai Suer Kings was scoring al jusl over eighl runs er over againsl Sunrisers
hyderabad. They were cruising al a good rale bul 0honi, il seemed, wasn'l salisied. he smashed G8 o jusl 1O balls. he was so
belligerenl in his allack lhal oul o nine shols lo boundary only one ell inside lhe roe. For lhe resl, ball needed lo be icked rom
among lhe seclalors. Thisara Farera suered lhe mosl al his hands, conceding 84 in one over which included ive sixes. Those 85
balls or which 0honi was al lhe crease, runs came al around 15 er over.
T
he 2Oyearold wickelkeeerbalsman rom Soulh
Arica became lhe irsl cenlurion o lhis edilion o
CLT2O when he lhrashed 0lago volls' bowlers in a
grou slage malch in Jaiur. wilh only one malch
remaining in lhe lournamenl, il is very likely lhal lhere
will be no olher balsman lo reach lhe lhreeigure
mark. however, his unbealen 1OOrun knock couldn'l
avoid his leam's, highveld Lions, eliminalion rom lhe
lournamenl as lhey losl lhe malch in lhe suer over
on lhe basis o lesser number o boundaries.
h
e isn'l lashy, nor is he exlravaganl. Yel he ulills
his role wilh lying colours. Ajinkya Rahane has
been a roliic rungeller or lhe Rajaslhan Royals or
lhe lasl coule o seasons. This year as well he is
doing lhe job. n lhe CLT2O, he has so ar scored 228
runs al an average o 55.75 and is al lhe lo o lhe
lable. wilh his lhree conseculive halcenluries,
including 7O in lhe semis, in lhe lournamenl, Rahane
has ensured uninlerruled suly o runs or his leam.
F
ravin Tambe, who calains lhe 0Y Falil Sorls
Academy B leam in havi Mumbai, was only a club
crickeler unlil he was called u by Mumbai or lhe
2O18 vijay ha/are Trohy. The call u gave a illi lo
his career as immedialely aler lhal lhe 4yearold leg
sinner was icked by lhe Rajaslhan Royals ahead o
FL as a surrise ackage. he didn'l gel much
oorlunilies in lhe FL bul lhe solixing scandal
oened u vacancies. 0n his CLT2O debul, Tambe look
our wickels and lhen heled RR beal CSK in lhe
semis. he is currenlly lhe highesl wickellaker (1O).

l is lhe leam wilh maximum value or money. wilh limiled resources lhey have erormed beller lhan many olher rich ranchises.
when lhree o lheir layers were chargesheeled in FL solixing case, lhere was an uncerlainly over lhe leam's ulure. Bul lheir
unbealen run - our wins in as many malches - in lhe CLT2O cleared lhose ears. Rajaslhan, under lhe leadershi o Rahul 0ravid,
are going lhrough a golden eriod. They have nol losl a single malch al home - Sawai Man Singh sladium - lhis season. Their
unbealen slreak has reached 18 malches.
T hAS ALL0wE0
MLL0hS 0F
AF0hAhSTAh
CRCKET FAhS
STARvE0 0F ACT0h
0uE T0 C0hThuh0
FEARS 0vER
SECuRTY ThE
ChAhCE T0 EhJ0Y
ThE S0E'S TRuMFhS,
JuST FvE YEARS
AFTER T wAS
C0MFETh0 A0AhST
CRCKETh0 Mhh0wS
JAFAh Ah0 JERSEY
A||+|i|+| pl+]| l||+| ||i| Wi| lCC/S+l| S+||+|i
C|l2J p|u|u
Yes, it was good that
was able to performer
well. t helped the team
to do well as well. We
played good hockey.
Even in the final, we
played well. But, at the
last moment, the referee
awarded a short corner
and we conceded a goal.
t was very unfortunate
that we lost
PR SREEJESH
QLunchbox has done very well at the box
office. How does that make you feel?
I am very pleased. It was a special film for
me and I had full faith in the script. Although
I had my doubts about people liking such an
off-beat film, but someone reminded me that
Paan Singh Tomar, too, was not a run-of-the-
mill Bollywood film and yet it was liked by all.
I take the success of Lunchbox very person-
ally because I had told Ritesh Batra that
this film will do wonders. I had to prove
a point.
QThere were reports that you were not
convinced about the ending.
On the contrary, I was very happy
that it did not end the conventional way
in which the hero-heroine meet and
embrace. I did tell the director that this
love story may not be taken very well
because the protagonists dont meet at all.
But he told me that this was the USP of
Lunchbox. It was a risk we were all pre-
pared to take.
QHow was it working
with Nawazuddin
Siddique, another
upcoming talent?
He is a superb
actor many times
better than me.
Nawaz i s a
method actor
who can don
many hats.
He i s
extremely
talented.
You will
be sur-
prised how
well he can
carry off a
comic role. He
is also the most
sincere actor in this
industry. Newcomers
have a lot to learn
from him.
QIs it true that you
started off on a
wrong note with
him?
There was some
misunderstanding
regarding a quote
in the media. But
we cleared the air
and all is well now.
Nawaz understands
that such incidents will
keep happening in this
industry.
We have a lot of respect for each other and
we hope we get to work together more often.
QYou are always on the lookout for uncon-
ventional roles...
I have done enough films to understand
what kind of roles suit me. I cannot pull of a
raunchy comedy. Also, I have my own limita-
tions and I am not scared to face
them.
I know I dont have the
dashing good looks to star in
a larger-than-life commer-
cial film.
I would rather do
character rol es which
define me better. Having
said that, I feel the time is
right to experiment in dif-
ferent genres.
QHow would you summarise
your journey thus far?
I have had a lots of ups and
downs. Have committed a lot of
mistakes, hurt a few
people unintention-
al ly and then
moved on. I
finally realised
that I have to
fight my way
through.
I have to
make my own
space. When I
did that the
j o u r n e y
seemed won-
derful. Now, I
am having the
time of my life.
I have finally
arrived.
Q So what
was in your
l u n c h b o x
when you
went to school?
I had roti and
achaar for 10 years.
I was very happy if I
would get parathas
instead but I know my
parents had to go
through a lot of hardship
to give me a square meal
so I never complained
and polished off whatev-
er I got.
I have never envied
other childrens tiffins.
Guess I was too mature for
that.
backpack 12 NEW DELH SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 2013
I had only roti & achaar for
10 years in my lunchbox
Ihe shaktI Ia them
S
o, what is that one power
that a lady has and a man
doesnt to get her way, we
asked...
TuRh 0h ThE ChARM
0u0TEhT:
A woman can charm her
way into or out of any situation.
She can just bat her eyelids and
the job is done (or undone)
whatever the case may be. I
unleash my charm quotient
only when I have to bypass a
long queue or have been stopped
by a traffic cop. It works 9 times
out of 10, the spunky
Chandigarh ki kudi, Neha Bagga
says. Rajji of Bani..., a show on
Colors, throws caution to the
wind too. But I dont do it too
often. You may get caught and
then no amount of charm will
save the day, she says.
TALK wTh Y0uR EYES
If you have expressive eyes,
just flaunt them. Seal your lips
and speak with your eyes. Says
who? Sangeeta Ghosh of Jee Le
Zaraa on Sony advises. For her,
the shakti lies in the eyes. Men
cant express with their eyes at
all. But a woman can do it well.
She can warn you through
them. She is not scared of shed-
ding a tear or two if
e mo t i o n a l ,
Ghosh says,
adding that she
uses her eyes to
tell people
that they are
crossing the
l i n e .
Whenever
I am travel-
ing or am at
an event, I
use my eyes
to let peo-
ple know
that they
are not
making me
feel com-
f or t abl e.
They get
the mes-
sage, she says, showing off
her expressions to convey
various emotions.
Kh0w whEh T0
BACK 0FF
A woman knows
when to step away
Toral Rasputra aka
Anandi of Balika
Vadhu says.
When I am
right, I am not
a quitter and
will fight till
the very end
to prove a
point. But some-
how women
know when to
put a full stop.
They can back
off at the right
time without making a com-
promise. Later, it is the other
person who comes begging for
another chance. With a man,
this can never be the case. He
will keep at it, Rasputra says.
She has been using this shakti to
make her script writer tweak
certain portions which she felt
were right.
Eh0uRh0 AhY
AM0uhT 0F FAh
But is that a power at all?
You will be surprised how it is
a huge plus. I have been on a
strict shooting schedule thanks
to Bani... and I have to travel for
hours to reach the sets, but I can
deal with all problems way
better than any other man.
Because a woman can endure
a lot of pain. It takes a lot of
effort to break her spirit. That
is her real shakti. I have had my
fair share of struggles and each
time someone throws a chal-
lenge, I take it up. They have no
idea how to beat me so they
give up. You should try it
sometime, Shefali Sharma,
aka Bani, says.
She tells you that the more
your ability to withstand, the
more shakti you derive to face
the world. Atta girl!
Partnors in orimo
h FkThE8hIF
WITh I8h 8E6T
Ishq knows hip hop and
rap music well and I am well
versed with Indian classical
music like thumri and sufi. So
we make quite a combo. We
have created around 300
tracks till now and we are
gearing up for many more. We
compose the scratch version
in a day but to finalise the
track, it takes months.
h ThE M8I6
Ih8TY
In India, there is no ded-
icated music industry. The
trend of albums has become
pass. Even TV channels have
limited space to run and pro-
mote a music video. Both
Bollywood and music are
inter-dependent. But that is
not all there is to music. I wish
we were treated better.
h 88IhE88 I
8IhIE8
Business in this industry
happens at different levels. If
the single is declared a hit, the
singer gets an opportunity to
earn a lot of money through
live performances. If he is
lucky he may get a few film
project as well. But through a
single we dont earn anything
much. The trend is to down-
loading for free.
Most times we have to
spend from our pocket to
make a single and present it to
a music company.
No one is buying good
music albums these days. Only
5 per cent pay for download-
ing songs. Rest make a free
purchase. I dont blame them.
As per habit, I do that too.
Although I have my album
CDs at home, I still prefer to
download music for free!
I am glad that Javed
Akhtar took up the initiative
to fight for royalty and patent-
ing. He has been fighting for
the rights of writers, lyricists,
singers and composers so that
we get a fair share in revenue
in the form of royalties from
music companies and pro-
duction houses. If this is
implemented properly, we
wouldnt have to depend on
films for making our compo-
sition a hit.
6kE 8TI...
It is one such initiative
that is promoting not just
singers from all over India but
also provides a sole identity to
the industry. The big change
has begun. From instrumen-
talists, singers, composers and
music directors, everybody
gets their due credit. This is
one of the biggest achieve-
ments for Indian music indus-
try.
Raer SRII ! seals witl SANGIIJA YA!AV
alout lis artner slq Bector wlo is a Canaoian
singer ano music oirector
Talktime
,55)$1
He is best remembered for his performance as Paan Singh Tomar but Irrfan tells you that he was as excited
about Lunchbox as he was about PST. It was a script written for him and he thinks he has done full justice
to the role. Irrfan doesnt consider himself a diehard romantic and he wanted to do Lunchbox as a challenge.
He is ready to test unknown waters now, he tells DEEBASHREE MOHANTY
'h0 0hE S
BuYh0
ALBuMS ThESE
0AYS.
EvERY0hE
0ETS ThEM
F0R FREE 0h
vAR0uS
hTERhET
STES. wE
00h'T MAKE
AhY M0hEY 0h
ThE Sh0LE'
There is a eslive
ni in lhe air and
our celebs can
eel il loo. here lo
celebrale
womanhood al a
killy arly evenl,
lhese oular
aces lell you
whal is lhe lrue
shakli behind lhe
naris. This
navralra celebrale
woman ower in
lrue siril, lhey
lell 0EEBAShREE
M0hAhTY
d
a
v
p

1
5
5
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Lalu Prasad Yadav's conviction in the fodder scam
is likely to impact Bihar politics deeply. So, is it the end
of the road for the RJD chief and his dramatic political
career? Or, will he be able to make a comeback?
UTPAL KUMAR looks at the past, present and future of
the former Bihar Chief Minister and his brand of politics
(Bihar) has a claim to be the ancient heart of
India. These days it is seen as the armpit... It
has become a byword for the worst of India:
Of widespread and inescapable poverty; of
corrupt politicians indistinguishable from the
mafia dons they patronise; of a caste-ridden
social order that has retained the worst
feudal cruelties; of terrorist attacks by groups
of Naxalite Maoists; of chronic misrule that
has allowed infrastructure to crumble, the
education and health systems to collapse,
and law and order to evaporate.
The Economist, February 19, 2004
T
ill 2005, for at least a decade and
a half, if not more, Bihar was an
unliveable place. It appeared
chaotic, lawless and ludicrously
hazardous. To be here was
outright dangerous, as Rajesh Chakrabarti
says in his recent book, Bihar Breakthrough.
In truth, however, the State had its own set
of rules and regulations the dos and
donts of survival in Lalu Prasad Yadavs
Bihar. There was a method in this
madness, which most outsiders missed
owing to their fixed notions of governance.
No wonder, for an outsider a Mohammed
Shahabuddin or a Pappu Yadav appeared
as a hardcore criminal who deserved to be
behind bars, but for most people in Bihar
they were one of the indispensable
ingredients for day-to-day survival. These
gangsters needed lawlessness to thrive, and
people needed these very unruly elements
to endure this lawlessness.
In Siwan, ironically the land for
Rajendra Prasad, the first President of
independent India, Shahabuddin was a
modern-day Robin Hood who would get
work done for the poor. Among other
things, he got the Siwan hospital renovated,
built a stadium, a girls college and a town
hall, besides ensuring there was a medical
and an engineering college in the area. As
the messiah of the downtrodden, he would
issue a fatwa to doctors to limit their fees to
C50 and set aside a day for free treatment
for the poor, and such was his terror that
very few medical practitioners would dare
to disobey his diktat. Being extraconsti-
tutional, he brought law in lawless Siwan.
Similar was the case in Purnea, where
Pappu Yadav ruled the roost. And his
presence made the difference: The
constituency would have almost 24 hours
of power supply when he became MP for
the first time just because he allegedly
threatened to burn down the power station
if there was a power cut. Brought up in the
neighbouring district of Katihar, I (like
many others) would often wish for a Pappu
Yadav-like don to become my MP or MLA.
My district, unfortunately, despite being so
close to Purnea or Kishanganj (the karma-
bhoomi of Mohammed Taslimuddin),
never had a don to take up its cause!
Its not as if no effort was made to curb
crime in Lalus Bihar. West Champaran,
located in the northwestern corner of the
State and home to Mahatma Gandhis first
experiment with truth in India, had been
the Chambal of Bihar in the late 1980s and
the 1990s, thanks to the presence of a
number of dacoit gangs. Things had come
to such a pass that an SP was put in there
with the specific order to check the rampant
dacoity in the area. This officer, in his
attempt to curb crime, took an unusual
step: He called up the heads of all major
gangs and told them that traditional dacoity
involved a lot of violence and risk for them.
With wealthy families increasingly resorting
to banking, dacoity was also turning into a
venture of diminishing returns. It, therefore,
made perfect sense, advised the police officer,
to switch to kidnapping, which would force
the families of the victim to mobilise funds
themselves to secure the release of the
kidnapped person. Less violence and, if
captured, even lesser punishment! In no time,
the menace of dacoity was curbed and
kidnapping became the most flourishing
cottage industry in the State.
Amid all this, Lalu never forgot to
forward his socialist agenda. Whenever
people would seek a good, capitalist life,
Lalu would come up with better, socialist
answers. Why do we need cars, he would
ask, when Bihar has no roads? And the
poor use (oil-burning) lanterns, so what will
you do with electricity? Similarly, when
there were floods, he would exhort people to
use this opportunity to fish from the comfort
of ones own bed! It was Lalus world and
these were his ways of dealing with issues
plaguing the people and the State.
Lalu had his way of promoting literary/
cultural activities as well. He discovered the
modern-day Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, one of
the countrys most renowned Hindi poets,
in one Brahmanand Paswan and made him
the Rajya Sabha MP. Paswans claim to fame
was that he had penned Lalu Chalisa on the
lines of Hanuman Chalisa. Then, there was
one Rambachan Rai, who had written an
article in praise of the RJD chief. The
Government introduced this piece of work
in the Bihar Secondary Schools syllabus for
Class VIII. For this masterpiece, he was
made the chairman of the Hindi Pragati
Samiti. Similarly, when one Amar Kumar
Singh penned a biography of Lalu Prasad,
Gudri ka Laal (Diamond from Tatters), he
was appointed as the chairman of the Bihar
Hindi Granth Academy. Likewise, Shankar
Prasad was made the chairman of the
Sangeet Natak Academy. Prasad was a folk
singer who had composed several songs in
praise of Lalu and his wife Rabri Devi, and
which RJD workers would often use during
their election campaigns.
IkI 8TIII IM8 IkE
Eight years down the line, Patna stands
unrecognisable. And Lalu appears to be a
thing of the past. The dinosaurian past.
Roads have improved and are crowded
with all kinds of vehicles from tiny
Tata Nanos to large SUVs. After
decades of lying low, wealth is now
being flaunted openly and the city
seems to have been bitten by the
mall bug. One finds Dominos and
McDonalds everywhere. Last heard,
a night bar has opened in the city.
And women are finally on the roads,
literally, well into the night, without
fear of being harmed in any way.
The 1 Anne Marg, official residence
of the Bihar Chief Minister, too is a
transformed place now. Earlier, during
Lalus time, there used to be a mela-like
milieu everyday. People would be seen
coming and going even in the midnight. It
would never appear like the official residence
of the Chief Minister. It was more like the
home of a big zamindar, says a Patna-based
journalist who is believed to be close to the
current incumbent Nitish Kumar.
>> Z
sunday
magazino
F R O M T H E N S D E

Maa Ia the Ir0a Mask

Iike Ihe hero oI Ihe kIexandre
umas noveI, his greaIness
made 8ubhas 8ose a IhreaI Io his
rivaIs, Ieading Io his exiIe

ItIer aa4 0IIyW004

In Ihe 1930s, hoIIyWood Iared
WiIh a rhoire: ForIray Ihe hatis
as viIIains or berome Iheir Iriends.
II rhose Ihe darker paIh

case f0r cItIes

Ieo hoIIis says riIies are good Ior us.
8uI Indian riIies are so messy IhaI Io
enIerIain Ihe genius oI Ihe meIropoIis
is Io overrome our habiIuaI disronIenI
Porrograp]
car oe degrad|rg
or car oe sexua||]
||oeral|rg, |l ]ou |roW
oW lo use |l ard |l |s
rade lror ar arl|sl|c
po|rl ol v|eW.
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Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
1
FE8IEhT IkI
Fk8k YkkV IkIIE
MI8Ek8IY T 8EYh
8YM8II8M. hE kVE BF0A0
(VI6E) T ThE F kh
ThE WhTEh, 8T
6Ih'T FVIE ThEM
BF0A6 (hEkVEh), k8 hE
WI ITEh FMI8E
Ih hI8 F8II6
8FEE6hE8
1977 0els elecled as a mem
ber o lhe Glh Lok Sabha
on a Janala Farly lickel
al lhe age 2O, becoming
one o lhe youngesl
members o Farliamenl
al lhal lime
1990 Becomes lhe Chie
Minisler o Bihar; slos
LK Advani's rat| yatra,
lhus endearing himsel
lo minorilies
1991 0ens schools or she
herds called c|arwa|a
viJya|aya
1996 The odder scam comes
lo ore. Crores o money
rom lhe Slale
0overnmenl lreasury
given lo nonexislenl
comanies or suly
o odder in dislricls
like Chaibasa
1997 Surrenders beore lhe
CB in conneclion wilh
lhe odder scam; makes
Rabri 0evi Chie Minisler
Z004 Serves as lhe Railway
Minisler o ndia rom
2OO4 lo 2OOO
Z006 Loses oul lo lhe J0(u)
BJF combine led by
hilish Kumar
Z013 0n 0clober 8, lhe
CB courl in Ranchi
senlences him lo ive
years' imrisonmenl in
lhe 17yearold odder
scam case
HOPE
800k0LL0
lllu||+|iu|. |i|||+|
sunday
magazino
jjl !
EvEh Th0u0h SuBhAS ChAh0RA B0SE Ah0
MAhATMA 0Ah0h hA0 0FFERh0 0E0L00ES,
ThE LATTER CALLE0 B0SE ThE "FRhCE AM0h0 ThE
FATR0TS" h 1O42. B0SE CALLE0 0Ah0h "ThE
FAThER 0F 0uR hAT0h" h 1O44
Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
I
n the novel Vicomte de Bragelonne by the
French writer Alexandre Dumas, an inno-
cent man is imprisoned for life and his
identity sealed behind an iron mask which
cannot be removed. The reason? He hap-
pens to be the twin brother of King Louis IV,
then ruling France, and might have proved a bet-
ter and more popular ruler. Alert to the threat he
posed, Louis had him exiled for life with his
identity concealed forever behind an iron mask.
When the details of Netaji Subhas Chandra
Boses disappearance and exile become fully
known, we may find a surreal similarity between
Eustache Dauger, one of the names of the
masked man, and Bose. For a man so famous
he was the most popular Indian leader at the
time of Indian independence surprisingly lit-
tle is known about his life, and what is known is
heavily distorted to downplay his greatness to
exalt Gandhi and Nehru.
The official story, of course, is that the as
World War II was drawing to an end with Japan
not far from surrender, Netaji took off from
Saigon on a Japanese plane to avoid capture by the
British who had declared him a war criminal. And
the plane crashed at Taihoku Airport in Farmosa
(now Taiwan) on August 18, 1945, killing him and
some of his companions. He is supposed to have
been cremated and his ashes deposited at the
Renkoji temple in Japan.
ThE I8kFFEkkh6E
There are several things wrong with this story.
First, there was no plane crash at the airport on
that day or during the weeks before or after
August 18. The nearest was the crash of a US
transporter in September, that too 200 miles
from the airport. Next, there is no record of
Netaji or any of his companions on the plane
being cremated on that day. Most seriously, sev-
eral people saw him alive after his supposed
death, with one American reporter Alfred Wegg
noting Netaji was still in Saigon where he saw
him three days later.
The British and later Indian governments
maintained different positions at different times
over Netajis fate, depending on what suited
them. At first no one believed the plane crash
story because the allies the British and the
Americans knew there had been no such
plane crash. Americans had broken the Japanese
code and were carefully monitoring all Japanese
movements. Still it suited the British to maintain
the fiction that Netaji was dead. They feared
nothing more than his return to assume leader-
ship of the now defeated INA, soon to be joined
by the regular Army. It was a development they
dreaded more than anything.
Thanks to Netaji and his INA the Indian
armed forces had begun to see themselves as
defenders of India rather than the British Empire.
This was admitted by British Prime Minister
Clement Attlee, who made the decision to grant
independence to India. Netajis leadership resulted
in the British losing the loyalty of the Indian land
and naval forces on which the British Empire
stood. This was confirmed when naval and army
personnel at several centers mutinied when the
British put INA on trial as traitors. With the
memory of the horrors of the 1857 mutiny
revived, the British decided to leave in a hurry.
While officially subscribing to death in plane
crash theory, the British were not above raising
the spectre of Netajis return when it suited them.
In 1946, when Lord Mountbatten took Jawaharlal
Nehru to Singapore, Nehru was enthusiastically
cheered by the INA soldiers. Archibald Wavell
was still Viceroy but Mountbatten hoped to suc-
ceed him (which he did). He cautioned Nehru not
to participate in any programmes with the INA
because that might make Netaji return and take
over their leadership, leaving Nehru out in the
cold! Nehru immediately cancelled his pro-
grammes organized by the INA veterans.
ThE hWkhTE hE
By then Bose had become a political hot potato.
Indian leaders, Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi,
didnt want him because as the youngest and
most popular leader he would have posed a chal-
lenge to Nehru. The British who still had dreams
of recovering their Empire saw him as a major
threat because of Netajis growing popularity with
the soldiers who worshipped him. His leadership
was legendary. He had shared in the soldiers
hardships during the INA march, which the
British officers did not. This was in striking con-
trast to the British abandoning their troops and
running away to India when the Japanese
attacked Malaya and Singapore.
To go with it, Netaji had seen clearly, more
clearly than the British themselves, that they
were a spent force and their victory over Japan
was meaningless. At the Shimla Conference,
when the British were trying to get the Congress
to agree to the Wavell Plan on self-governance
based on communal representation, Netaji in
one of his last broadcasts urged the Congress
not to accept it. He pointed out that even
though Britain might win the war, it would be
reduced to the level of a second- or third-rate
power. He said it would be a great mistake to
overestimate the British and underestimate the
power of the Indian people.
Trust the Indian people and not the
British, was Netajis message. To go with it, he
probably knew that he had gained the loyalty
of the Indian Army from the British. So by
1946, like the legendary hero of the Dumas
novel, Netaji had become too great for every-
ones comfort. The British, still with dreams of
Empire, and the Congress, hoping for a
smooth transfer of power, both wanted Netaji
out of the way. So the story of his death in
plane crash concocted by the Japanese to cover
his escape to Russia suited them fine. The
British would rather deal with Gandhi and
Nehru than a firebrand nationalist like Bose.
ThE EkFFEkkh6E
While he did not die, Netaji did disappear with
the official story of his death in a plane crash
supported by two inquiry commissions, both
appointed by Congress governments. But there
were many sceptics, notably Netajis own family
members. They kept pestering for files on Netaji
maintained by the Government and more
inquiries. These files were under the direct con-
trol of the Prime Minister beginning with
Nehru. In August 1978, Morarji Desai, Indias
first non-Congress Prime Minister, stated that
Netaji was alive and had taken sanyas (a reclu-
sive ascetic). He repeated it at a book release
function five years later.
As Prime Minister, Desai had access to
secret government files on Netaji. But by then,
Netajis return and voluntary exile as a sanyasi of
the dashanami order was already old news to his
followers. Nor was it a surprise, for Netaji
always had a mystical streak in his personality
and was known to spend weeks and months in
solitude and meditation as a youth. Beginning
about 1970, it was widely believed that one
Gumnami Baba, later known as Bhagwanji liv-
ing in solitude in places like Varanasi and
Ayodhya, was indeed Netaji. He died on
September 17, 1985, aged 88.
While officially rejected by Congress govern-
ments, there are good reasons to believe
Bhagwanji was Netaji. They were both of the
same height and build with similar voices and
accents with identical gaps in their teeth and a
scalpel mark on their abdomen. With those who
knew Netaji earlier, including his niece Lalitha
Bose and his associate Leela Roy, there was never
any doubt. To go with it, their handwritings were
pronounced be of the same person by Indias
foremost expert on handwriting analysis. And
there were other similarities, far too many to be
dismissed as coincidence. This is discussed in
two books Indias Greatest Cover-up and the
soon-to-appear No Secrets by the investigative
journalist Anuj Dhar.
Unlike Netajis first reported death
Bhagwanjis death was no mystery. He died of
cardiac failure in extreme old age. Nor is it any
mystery that he chose a life of ascetic and volun-
tary exile, for Netaji had often expressed his wish
to end his life as a sanyasi once his job was done.
He had had enough action and adventure to fill
several lives and not surprisingly he sought
peace and solitude in his old age. Also, he was
not after position; he had resigned from the ICS
which he had passed with flying colours and
plunged himself into the freedom movement.
ThE EkI MY8TEY
So the real mystery is: Where was Bose and
what was he was doing from 1946 to 1970? To
answer this definitively, several governments,
especially the Government of India, have to
declassify their papers and make them available
to scholars. But so far all we have are bits and
pieces and stonewalling by the Indian
Government invoking national security. But
these bits and pieces are interesting in them-
selves. There is credible evidence that he was a
guest of the Soviet Union from 1946 to 1950
and then went on to China and possibly Korea.
The most interesting of these are tantalising
details, including at least one photograph, sug-
gesting he was in Vietnam and helped Ho Chi
Minh in his war against the Americans. If con-
firmed, that would explain his exile in India even
after 1970. The US withdrew from Vietnam in
1974 in a humiliating denouement. It was widely
believed in official circles that what defeated the
US was the drug addiction of its soldiers facili-
tated by Ho Chi Minh drug war against the US.
Bhagwanji claimed later that he had helped his
friend Ho plan the drug war. This might have
made the US demand Netaji Bhagwanjis
extradition to be tried in US courts. (The US too
maintains files on Netaji.)
Bhagwanji also claimed that he worked with
the Vietnamese delegation during the Paris
Peace talks that led to US withdrawal. There is a
1969 Associated Press photo of the peace talks
with Le Duc Tho that shows a large serious-
looking bearded man at the extreme right. In
spite of the 25 year difference in time, it bears a
striking resemblance to Netaji in photos taken in
1942. The identity remains to be confirmed by
forensic experts specialising in photo analysis.
hMk8kIh ThE FI8hE
Had he been present in India in 1946, Bose
would in all probability have become the Prime
Minister. Having exiled him in 1939, Gandhi
could not have stopped him the way he
stopped Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to elevate
Nehru. Bose did more to hasten the British
departure from India than anyone else. He was
the youngest and also the most popular leader
in India. But it was not to be. He was too great
and had too many enemies. Like the Man in
the Iron Mask, he too had to be forced into
exile and erased from history.
But this is the real tragedy: Successive
Congress governments have written him out of
history books, as if he never existed. We cannot
restore him to his rightful position, but the least
we can do is give him his place in history by
removing his Iron Mask. This can be done only
when the Government releases the voluminous
files it maintains on Netaji and makes them
available to scholars. It is long overdue.
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As wilh lhe legendary hero o lhe Alexandre 0umas novel, his grealness made Subhas Chandra Bose a lhreal lo his
rivals leading lo his exile and erasure rom hislory books. hS RAJARAM looks al lhe myslery surrounding helaji's lie
H
e then clarifies: Its not that people
dont come now. They do. But today
its more professionally-operated. I
remember Laluji calling me up when his
wife was Chief Minister and saying, Why
dont you come here? We have got fish from
Munger, mutton from Nalanda... Come
with your family. His relationship would be
more informal. Nitishji has, over the years,
made it formal... and professional. Now you
find more of a corporate culture here,
rather than zamindari.
This corporate culture is not without its
side effects. Ajay Kumar, the editor of Bihar
Times, reveals how this has impacted the
State media. Lalu is often the villain of the
piece, and not always for the wrong reasons.
But as far as the media is concerned, Lalu
never directly tried to control it. He could
never think of institutionalising the control
wherein you would appear free, but in
reality your freedom was conditional to
financial/advertorial constraints. News-
papers would often be full of anti-Lalu
stories then. Not anymore. You dont find
much of anti-Nitish stories now, says he.
Though the Lalu era seems to be a
thing of the past, he still looms large over
peoples imagination. Shatrughan Prasad, a
Patna-based intellectual, puts it straight
when he says, People here are unhappy
with Nitish not because he has suddenly
started performing badly. What they are
wary of is that the Chief Minister, with his
stringent anti-Narendra Modi stand, has
opened the way for Lalu and his brand of
politics to make a comeback in Bihar. At
least people here think so. For us, Lalu is
the area of concern, not Modi.
EkM T hIhTMkE
So, with Lalu getting sentenced to five
years in jail, a conviction that would
effectively mean that he would lose his Lok
Sabha seat in Parliament, is it all over for
him politically? Can he still make a
comeback? And, most importantly, how
could he manage to bring himself to such a
pass from being a darling of both the
masses and the classes in the early 1990s?
Lalu, born in poverty, was the sixth
child of a cowherd and the first in his
family to be a graduate. So when he
became Chief Minister in 1990, he
symbolised the maturing of Indian
democracy and also the empowerment of
the downtrodden. Sankarshan Thakur, in
his biography on the RJD chief, recounts
how Lalu would wear clean clothes and
comb his hair neatly even when he took his
buffaloes out to graze, for which he would
often be taunted by the upper-caste babus.
They didnt think a low-born Yadav had
the right to wear unsoiled clothes, or be so
image-conscious as Lalu was, particularly
his obsession with the Sadhana cut
hairstyle. As the story goes, one day
when he was writing on a slate, a landlord
commented: This is Kalyuga. Now even
the children of milkmen will learn to read
and write! Soon after Lalu left the village
for his studies in Patna. This single incident
showcases the all-pervasive grip of the
caste system in Bihar, as well as the
allegorical importance of Lalus political
success in the State.
But Lalu failed to go beyond
symbolism. He gave swara (voice) to the
poor, but couldnt provide them swarg
(heaven), as he would often promise in his
public speeches. Then emerged the fodder
scam. Thakur writes in Subaltern Sahib,
Lalu Yadav lost his magic the day he said
he was going to cling on to the chief
ministership even if he were to be
chargesheeted in the fodder scandal. That
was the day Lalu Yadav, Bihars great rosy-
cheeked hope, exposed himself. He wasnt
there to deliver power to the people, he was
there to keep it for himself.
It had been a downward journey for
him since then, except perhaps his tenure
as Railway Minister in the mid-2000s
when he transformed the Railways into a
profit-making enterprise. Some may
question his achievements at Rail
Bhawan, but the fact remains that Lalu
was a different man there. A former
member of the Railway Board says,
Lalu never interfered with the day-to-
day functioning of the Railways. All he
did was to get a few competent men, and
leave the work to them.
This was a clear transformation in
someone who would take the babus for
granted in Patna. In Delhi, he would listen
to them, trust them, and even go by their
suggestions. The change, however, had
come a bit too late, as Lalu had already
burnt the long rope people had provided
him. Now, with his conviction in the
fodder scam, its an uphill task for him to
make a comeback, more so when he will be
in jail for five years. His sons are not yet
ready for succession. And, one is not sure if
Lalu can trust his party seniors like Raghu-
vansh Prasad and Abdul Bari Siddiqui.
Worse, with Lalu behind bars, his core
M-Y constituency may slip to other parties.
Yet, Indian politics is unpredictable,
more so in the Hindi heartland. It may,
therefore, be too early to write the political
obituary of Lalu Prasad and his brand of
politics, but the fact remains that people of
Bihar no longer take his samosa idiom
seriously: Jab tak rahega samosa main aloo,
tab tak rahega Bihar main Lalu! Maybe in
this era of burgers, samosas are out of
fashion. So is Lalu. Maybe he was destined
to fall Icarus-like. Maybe his very purpose in
Indian politics was to provide swara to the
poor. Now its on others to provide swarg.
F R O M P A G E 1
Jle fall of carus
HDDENSOULS
FRAM00 FAThAK
I
amagainst pretensions. I am
against hypocrisies. Man only
shows that he is civilised. Scratch
him slightly and you will find an
uncivilised man. Scratch him a little
and all that is good is just superfi-
cial, and all that is bad is very deep-
rooted. It is a skindeep civilisation.
Everything goes well; you are smil-
ing and everything, and somebody
just throws a word at you, an insult,
and you are mad, and you are a
maniac and you want to kill. Just a
moment before, you were smiling;
and just a moment afterwards, you
are ready to kill, your murderous
possibilities have surfaced. What
kind of civilisation is this?
A man can be civilised only
when he has become really medita-
tive. Only meditation can bring real
civilisation to the world. Only
Buddhas are civilised. And this is
the paradox: That Buddhas are not
against the primitive they use the
primitive as the base, they use the
childhood innocence as the base.
And on that base a great temple is
erected. This civilisation destroys the
innocence of childhood, and then it
gives you just false coins. First it
destroys your primal innocence.
Once primal innocence is destroyed,
you have become cunning, clever,
calculating; then you are trapped,
then this society keeps civilising you.
First it makes you alienated from
your own self. Once you are alienat-
ed, then it gives you false coins you
have to depend on. Real civilisation
will not be against your nature, will
not be against your childhood. It
will be a growth upon it.
It will not have any antagonism
towards primitive innocence, it will
be a flowering of it. It will go higher
and higher, but it will be rooted in
the primal innocence.
This civilisation is nothing but a
maddening affair. Cant you see the
whole earth has become a big mad-
house? People have lost their souls,
people are no more people they
have lost their self, they have lost
their personality. They have lost all!
They are just pretenders. They have
masks; they have lost their original
faces. I am all for civilisation, but this
is not civilisation. Thats why I am
against it. I would like a man really
civilised, really cultured, but that cul-
ture can only grow it cannot be
forced from the outside. It can come
only from the within. It can spread
towards the periphery, but it should
rise, it has to rise, at the centre.
This civilisation is doing just the
opposite: It forces things from the
outside. There is a non-violent
preaching all over the world
Mahavir, Buddha, Jesus, they all
teach non-violence. They teach non-
violence because they have enjoyed
non-violence. But followers? They
have never enjoyed it.
They know only violence. But
they are followers, so they pretend
to be non-violent, they force a non-
violence upon themselves, they cre-
ate a character. That character is just
around them. It is an armour. Deep
down they are boiling like volca-
noes. And on the surface they smile
the false smile, the plastic smile.
This is not civilisation. This is a
very ugly phenomenon. Yes, I would
like the non-violence to come from
within, not to be cultivated from the
outside, but helped. That is the root
meaning of the word education. It is
almost like drawing water from a
well: Education means to draw out;
that is the root meaning of the word
education. But what has education
been doing? It never draws anything
out it forces in. It goes on forcing
things in the head of the child; it is
not worried about the child at all, it
does not think about the child.
The child is just used as a
mechanism into which more and
more information has to be fed.
This is not education!
E/|p| ||u| CWTCP]caPEXbX^]
Non-violence comes from witlin
sunday
magazino
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Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
W
e celebrate October 2 as the birth anniversary of
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led per-
haps the biggest mass movement in the world.
The hallmark of this movement was non-violence. It is in
recognition of his contributions that the United Nations
has declared October 2 as the International Day of Non-
violence. But there is more to October 2 than the
Gandhian movement. On Gandhi, Albert Einstein had
once said, Generations to come, it may well be, will
scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh
and blood walked upon this Earth. For the post-
Independence generation, however, most of the knowl-
edge about Gandhi comes from Ben Kingsleys classic
Gandhi, a film that introduced Gandhi to the classes. For
the masses, however, it was Rajkumar Hiranis Lage Raho
Munna Bhai that introduced the Mahatma. But neither
Gandhi nor the significance of October 2 ends here.
Gandhis strength came from his spirituality, his honesty
and simplicity and, of course, his absolute conviction. He
would not have been the first man to be thrown out of
the first-class compartment despite holding a proper tick-
et in South Africa. But he perhaps was the first man to
ask why. And the rest is history.
October 2 is significant for yet another reason. Its
also the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, who
resembled Gandhi in many ways from his simplicity
and honesty to conviction and courage. Shastri was a
Gandhian on the issue of non-violence as well. After
all, for Gandhi non-violence was never a sign of weak-
ness or cowardice. It was his strength emanating from a
moral courage and the Mahatma was very clear that
when the choice was between violence and non-vio-
lence, the latter should prevail. However, when there is
only a choice between cowardice and violence, Gandhi
preferred violence. He wanted India to resort to arms if
the question of honour arose. For Gandhi forgiveness
was more manly than punishment, but he believed
that abstinence is forgiveness only when there is power
to punish. It is meaningless when it pretends to pro-
ceed from a helpless creature. And Gandhi was firm
that strength did not come from physical capacity. It
came from an indomitable will. For him the world was
not entirely governed by logic and when life itself
involved some kind of violence, prudence was in
choosing the path of least violence. These words
describe Shastri as well. It is in this light that we have to
understand the significance of October 2.
Shastri charged the entire nation with the same
enthusiasm during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, just the
way Gandhi had done during the national movement
before Independence. Shastris famous prescription was
a simple appeal to the people to skip Monday night din-
ner to battle food scarcity. And people followed it.
The film, Guide, presented Shastris philosophy
dramatically. The protagonist, a fasting Dev Anand, is
being interviewed by a foreign journalist who asks
about the efficacy of the fast. If 40 crore (the then
population of India) people skip one meal, 40 crore
people can have one meal, says the protagonist. While
Gandhis slogan was Do or Die, Shastri proclaimed
Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. Their philosophy was rooted in
spirituality. They practised what they preached. This is
the significance of October 2.
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alk or a minimum o 8O
minules a day al a brisk
ace. The online survey was
conducled by inlernalional
nlernelbased markel
research irm You0ov on
behal o lhe world hearl
Federalion. As many as
1,O21 adulls (above 18
years o age) in ndia were
surveyed. The sludy shows
lhal 4G er cenl o lhe
resondenls walked less
lhan halanhour al a brisk
ace on a given day. "Earlier
sludies have shown lhal
walking is associaled wilh
reduced cardiovascular risk
in lhe ndian oulalion.
Everyone should walk al
leasl a lolal o 8O minules al
a brisk ace lo lead a
heallhy and slress ree lie,"
Monika Arora, direclor,
heallh Fromolion, Fublic
heallh Foundalion o ndia,
said in a slalemenl.
E
xerls believe wearing a
bell can orce acid inlo
lhe oesohagus, damaging
lhe cells and increasing lhe
risk o lhroal cancer. They
ound eole who are over
weighl and wear bells are
more al risk. The
researchers, rom 0lasgow
and Slralhclyde universilies
and The Soulhern 0eneral
hosilal in 0lasgow, lesled
24 eole wilh no hislory
o acid relux. They asked
lhem lo swallow a robe,
which look measuremenls
beore and aler each er
son had ealen a meal. hal
o lhe arlicianls were
normal waisl si/es and lhe
olher overweighl and read
ings were laken when lhey
had a bell on and o. They
ound lhal even in heallhy
eole, wearing a lighl bell
caused a arlial hialus her
nia, which makes acid
relux more likely. A hialus
hernia haens when arl
o lhe slomach squee/es
inlo lhe chesl lhrough an
oening in lhe diahragm.
R
esearchers invesligaling
whelher deression is
linked lo develoing a can
cer ound lhal lhere is no
signiicanl associalion
belween lhe lwo. The resulls
o lhe sludy by Cedric
Lemogne, a member o lhe
leam headed by Marie Zins,
did nol indicale any signii
canl associalion belween a
erson exeriencing lhe
symloms o deression
during lheir lielime and
lheir subsequenlly conlracl
ing cancer. Zins, who moni
lored 14,2O8 eole
belween 1OO4 and 2OOO,
including 1,11O who devel
oed cancer as diagnosed
by a doclor. The researchers
exlored lhe links by con
ducling lhe mosl robusl ei
demiological sludy. From
lhis oinl o view, il was
imorlanl lo have dala avail
able, rom quile a large
cohorl lhal was validaled or
bolh lhe advenl o cancer
and wilh resecl lo deres
sioncausing evenls.
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O
ctober 2 is celebrated
as the birth anniversary
of Mahatma Gandhi.
Gandhi lived the life
of non-violence, and
through his strength of character
was able to lead the entire nation to
independence. There are many
interesting stories about the
Mahatma related to non-violence
and non-attachment.
One such story describes how
Gandhi was boarding a train. Just as
he was going inside, one of his shoes
slipped off and got caught on the
track. He tried to pull it but could
not. People standing near watched
him. When he was unable to pull the
shoe from the track, he took off the
other shoe as well and threw it on the
track right at the spot where the first
one was stuck.
The astonished passengers asked,
Why are you throwing the other
shoe onto the track?
Gandhi replied, The poor man
who finds the shoe lying on the track
will now have a pair he can use.
Look at the vision. There are
many lessons in this story. First, most
people would be so upset about losing
one shoe. They would be upset,
hassled and distressed. If they are
without shoes, then they would have
to go barefoot, or wait to buy another
pair. Their whole journey would be
affected by the loss of the shoe.
What did Gandhi do? He did not
let the loss of the shoe mar his clarity
of thinking. Rather, he weighed the
situation, and came up with a
brilliant idea. If he could not use the
shoe, then someone else should get
the help. Even in the loss, he was
generous and caring. He thought he
could use this as an opportunity to
make a contribution to some poor
person who might need shoes.
How many of us turn a bad
situation into a good one? How many
of us see the brighter side of a
difficult situation? We can learn a lot
from Gandhis way of life.
This anecdote also shows us
another aspect of the Mahatmas life,
which is non-attachment. When we
are not attached to anything, we are
free. If someone were attached to his
shoes, then his whole train ride
would have been caught up in the
web of anger, despair and
hopelessness. This would have
completely drained that person.
By releasing his shoes, Gandhi
showed how he was not attached to
them. He could give them up and
move on. He could spend the rest of
his time in productive thoughts,
instead of sulking over what could
not be regained. Thus, Gandhi freed
himself from attachment and gained
freedom in return.
Let us think about how many
attachments we have in our lives that
keep us in bondage. If India could
declare its independence from British
rule through non-violent means, we
can also declare our freedom from
the attachments that we believe are
important and necessary for us.
Some of us may be attached to
our wealth and possessions. The loss
of money might devastate us. Instead
of looking forward to how we can
earn money in future, we are caught
up in the agony of the loss in the
past. The current moment in which
we can get to work to make more
money is instead spent in worry and
anxiety. We dwell on what we have
lost instead of turning it into an
opportunity to gain.
Some people are attached to
name and fame. They are concerned
about their reputation and what
others think of them. They become
upset and lash out at others. Some
become depressed and cannot
function. They are so attached to
what others think of them that they
lose their precious life breaths in
anger when someone makes a
suggestion to them, or criticises
them and their ideas. They lose sleep
over what others have said about
them. Instead of turning a bad
situation into a good one, they are
devastated and sulking.
Instead of losing their life breaths
over worry and hurt, they should look
at what was said about them in a
calm, rational manner, and see if there
is even a grain of truth in it. They can
use this as an opportunity to work on
themselves to make their lives better.
They can work to improve their lives.
If after examining they find no truth
in what was said about them, they can
take it as a misunderstanding on the
part of the other person. They can
choose to fix the misunderstanding
and move on, or just ignore it. In this
way, people can remain independent
from the bondage of attachment to
their name and fame.
We can find freedom in our
lives from the bondage of habits that
exhaust our energies. If we are not
attached to wealth, name and fame,
we too can develop a state of
independence (liberation) from these
habits and find the joy of freedom.
This is the true relevance of Gandhi
and his teachings.
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As we celebrale lhe birlh anniversary o Mahalma 0andhi, we musl remember whal
he always slood or. SAhT RAJh0ER Sh0h lells us whal we can learn rom him
lF88088F80M680I
Significance
of October 2
The day is lhe birlh anniversary
o Mahalma 0andhi and Lal
Bahadur Shaslri. They bolh
reached whal lhey raclised
P
olitics as practised (as well as
preached) by the Congress
increasingly resembles the the-
atre of the absurd that calls for the
willing suspension of disbelief. The
manner in which the Congress has
sought to turn coat on the issue of
subverting the Supreme Courts ver-
dict mandating the disqualification
of any lawmaker who has been sen-
tenced to more than two years in jail
for a criminal offence is at once
laughable and sinister. This is not
about conceding to popular demand
or heeding to the inner voice of any
individual, big or small; it is about
practising politics of gross cynicism.
Its laughable because the
Congress actually thinks that todays
India is nave enough to believe what
is told to the people through a
morally corrupt and intellectually
bankrupt media willing to be manip-
ulated in exchange of handouts and
because of shared traits that are
bereft of values and ethics. In the
decades when Indira Gandhi imperi-
ously ruled India, state-run All India
Radio and Doordarshan served the
purpose of propagating fiction,
backed up by newspapers that were
dependent on newsprint quotas fixed
by Government.
Today, when Sonia Gandhi
imperiously rules India through an
effete wimp of a proxy in the Prime
Ministers office, private news TV
channels and newspapers trip over
each other to do the Congresss bid-
ding AIR and Doordarshan
sparkle in comparison. In a sense,
nothing has changed in the past four
decades: Congress continues to try
and sway public opinion using
accomplices in the media. After the
fall of Indira Gandhis Emergency
regime in 1977, LK Advani had
famously rebuked the media, When
asked to bend, you chose to crawl.
Thirty-six years later, the media
crawls without being asked to bend.
But this is not about the feckless
media in our country. It is about a
cowardly person who wants to be
recognised and respected as the
Prime Minister but lacks the gump-
tion to be prime ministerial and is
not offended by the high office he
holds (not on merit but because the
Palace can trust him as the Regent)
being crudely stripped and denuded
of its dignity, authority and majesty.
It is about an upstart, callow politi-
cian who enjoys limitless power
without either office or accountabili-
ty. It is about a Queen who can do
no wrong and sees herself as the
interpreter of Indias destiny.
Let us go back in time for a fuller
understanding. On July 10 the
Supreme Court gave its verdict mak-
ing it mandatory for any lawmaker
sentenced to more than two years in
jail for a criminal offence to be dis-
qualified from being a member of
either a State Assembly or
Parliament. That sent the
Government into a tizzy, not the
least because the judgement would
seriously impact the Congress and its
allies in the UPA as well as those
supporting the alliance from outside,
namely the Bahujan Samaj Party and
the Samajwadi Party. Much midnight
oil began to be burned to try and
beat the Supreme Courts judgement.
Lest we get confused and thus
step into the trap laid by the
Congress, we should remember that
there were two judgements by the
Supreme Court impacting electoral
politics and elected representatives.
The first was about disallowing indi-
viduals in custody from contesting
polls. This was patently unacceptable
simply because any State
Government could use its police to
pick up political opponents on the
eve of elections and prevent them
from contesting the polls. Happily,
the Representation of the People Act
has since been amended to obviate
this order.
It is the second judgement on
disqualification which is of relevance
here. While there is always the
chance of a politician being indicted
on false charges and an amenable
lower court, for instance a magis-
trates court, being used for an
unfavourable verdict which the high-
er judiciary would repudiate on a
later date, in principle the Supreme
Courts judgement is unexception-
able. If the court had struck down a
section of the Representation of the
People Act as unconstitutional, it
stood to logic that it would also
strike down any amendment to obvi-
ate the verdict. Understandably,
Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposi-
tion in the Rajya Sabha and one of
Indias outstanding lawyers, repeat-
edly made this point at official and
unofficial meetings with senior
Ministers keen on an amendment.
On August 13 the Government
called an all-party meeting where
there was no formal agenda. Both
the judgements were discussed and
there was a unanimous view that the
judgement barring jailed persons
from contesting elections should be
made infructuous while there were
differing views on the other judge-
ment mandating the disqualification
of convicted lawmakers. Jaitley and
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok
Sabha Sushma Swaraj made it abun-
dantly clear that the BJP was
opposed to any amendment in the
law as far as this judgement was con-
cerned. Subsequently, Jaitley reiterat-
ed that view to Union Minister for
Law and Justice Kapil Sibal.
The Government, however,
chose to persist with an amendment.
It was discussed and approved first
by the Congress core committee,
which really means Sonia Gandhi as
the other members are merely meant
to make up what can be called a
committee, and then by the Union
Cabinet. A Bill was introduced on
August 30. As the Bill was being
introduced, the BJP objected to it,
placing on record its view that the
Bill would be deemed to be uncon-
stitutional by the Supreme Court if it
were enacted into law. The
Government ignored the objection.
On September 5, the
Government tried to hustle the Bill
through the Rajya Sabha and take it
to the Lok Sabha for a vote. It failed
in its endeavour when the
Opposition refused to be button-
holed into towing the Governments
line and forced the Bill to be sent to
Parliaments Standing Committee
which deals with Law and Company
Affairs. The issue should have ended
there, but it didnt. The Congress
wanted immediate action as verdicts
in two cases dealing with corruption
were expected the first involving
its MP Rasheed Masood and the
other RJDs Lalu Prasad.
The Congress core committee
met again and decided to take the
ordinance route, confident that
President Pranab Mukherjee would
do the partys, if not the
Governments, bidding. The Cabinet
cleared the ordinance and sent it to
Rashtrapati Bhawan on September
24. The BJP decided to take the bat-
tle to the President: Advani, along
with Jaitley and Swaraj, called on
Mukherjee on September 26, plead-
ing with him not to append his sig-
nature to an unconstitutional law.
The President later summoned
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal
Nath and Law Minister Sibal and
sought an explanation from them. By
the time the meeting came to an end,
the two Ministers were convinced he
would not sign the ordinance. They
went to 10 Janpath from Rashtrapati
Bhawan and briefed Gandhi. The
next morning an irate Rahul Gandhi
described the ordinance as a com-
plete nonsense which should be
torn and thrown away.
Instead of reacting to that slur by
putting in his papers and stepping
down from office, Manmohan Singh
has meekly complied. The Congress is
desperate to pin the blame on the BJP
for a fiasco of its own making. All this
and more is known to the people.
Hence the attempt is laughable.
But what makes the laughable
attempt sinister is the fact that it
betrays the mindset of the Congress:
It is willing to go to any extent to
white wash its mistakes, making a
mockery of democracy. Little won-
der the son-in-law of the Congresss
First Family describes India as a
banana republic. Thats what the
Nehru dynasty thinks of India
and Indians.
(The writer is a senior journalist
based in Delhi)
Mea Wh0 r0Ie aa4
Iaa t0 r0Ie 0s
600 k0I000l W00'I
8 I0I IIN0
Reader response to
Swapan Dasguptas column,
Usual Suspects, published on
September 29:
Time is up: This is the time
for Narendra Modi, the BJP
and the NDA to warn the
bureaucrats that the time is
up for their political masters.
The Central Bureau of
Investigation and others
should be advised to do their
job professionally like true
public servants and not like
the hit-men of a Government
that is on its way out.
Jitendra Desai
They are counting on non-
voters: The Congress is
banking on those voters who
will not vote, because that is
where they will succeed
again. The turnout in the last
election was 52 per cent, and
more than half of them voted
for UPA. The vast percentage
of those who did not vote are
anti-Congress, and, there-
fore, did not cast their vote.
We need a Government of
strong character and integrity.
This regime is useless. The sit-
uation has held the passive
struggling masses in contin-
ued subjugation, resulting in
India having hardly any
respect internationally.
Frankview
Hope good sense will pre-
vail: The article offers a good
background and analysis to
the present situation. One
hopes that the Indian elec-
torate will take note of it and
vote decisively. a fractured
mandate is dangerous for the
country. Meanwhile, those
who collude with unscrupu-
lous elements must watch
out now.
Shurku Mishra
PM has submitted himself to
vested interests : It just took
one Rahul Gandhi to show
the nation that Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh is
not only weak, but incompe-
tent and submissive to the
interests of the Nehru-Gandhi
family and its cohorts.
BV Shenoy
Act with caution: The writer
is correct that the Congress is
facing hard times and doesnt
find itself decisive enough to
control the situation arising
out of its skulduggery,
whether it is in connection to
Gujarat or the assault on the
reputation of former Army
chief General VK Singh. The
need of the hour for the
nation is to deal with each
political situation purely on
merit and not compromise on
it, as it will give the Congress
a chance to strike.
RL Pathak
00 LNIl0' 00000 0II I
00W 8 00000l800 0II
Reader response to
Kanchan Guptas column,
Coffee Break, published on
September 29:
Too lazy to prove otherwise:
Calcuttans cried foul when
Rajiv Gandhi said their city
was dying. Yet, West Bengals
rulers for three decades, the
CPI(M), and now Mamata
Banerjee, have spared no
effort to disprove him.
Tiharwale
Kolkata is not a lone guilty:
While there is definitely a case
to be made for urban decay
with regard to Kolkata, when it
comes to the specific point of
heritage conservation, all Indi-
an cities are guilty. The havelis
of old Delhi are decaying and
the Rajabai Tower in Mumbai
stands all but forgotten.
A Dutta
0l0W I00 N00k,
0N0 WIII II0k
Reader response to
Rajesh Singhs column,
Plain Talk, published on
September 29:
Question of credibility: I
would rather trust a retired
professional in this case,
former Army chief General
VK Singh than a
Government run by the
politicians we have today.
Niladrinath Mohanty
Loaded with bias: If the
writer were to be considered
fair and bipartisan, he should
have also written about the
case filed in the courts
against Chief of Army Staff
Bikram Singh. Everybody
knows that VK Singh is
behind those moves.
Moreover, the former Army
chief has to tak responsbility
for the actions of the intelli-
gence wing of the Army. He
cannot evade it. The writer
has demonstrated his bias by
not demanding answers to
these uncomfortable ques-
tions. If only he had served a
few years in the Armed
Force, he would have known
how things function, and
what is right and wrong.
Shiva
He is no saint: Former Army
chief General VK Singh had
been previously targeted by
some sections of the media.
But this time he may played
into the hands of his adver-
saries. Also, he may not be as
innocent as he claims
after all, throughout his
career, he had acceped pro-
motions using his disputed
date of birth. It was only
when he was about to retire
that the controvery erupted.
Is that not dishonesty?
TW
PLANTALK
RAJESh Sh0h
COFFEEBREAK
KAhChAh 0uFTA
Jlis tleatre of tle alsuro
is lauglalle yet sinister

l would be silly o anyone lo believe lhal Rahul 0andhi's Mounl

vesuviuslike erulion o Selember 27 has anylhing lo do wilh lhe
Congress's commilmenl lo cleanse lhe olilical syslem o corrul and
convicled lawmakers. had lhal been lhe case, lhe ollowing should have
haened:
QThe arly would have declared ils hainess over Lalu Frasad's
conviclion and jail lerm and announced an end lo ils lies wilh lhe
Rashlriya Janala 0al which Lalu leads. Bul il conlinues lo be coy on lhe
maller and has no issues wilh lhe hyocrisy o running wilh lhe hare and
hunling wilh lhe hound.
QThe Congress would have demanded lhal heads should roll o
lhose Minislers who craled lhe ordinance lo rolecl convicled olilicians
and allegedly ersuaded a reorledly reluclanl Frime Minisler Manmohan
Singh lo endorse il. Frominenl among lhem is union Minisler or Law
and Juslice Kail Sibal, who is said lo be lhe maslermind behind lhe ordi
nance. Yel, lhere is no aclion. l aears lhal Rahul 0andhi's sole molive
was lo humiliale lhe Frime Minisler and allow lhose who led lhe laller lo
lhe ignominy go ree.
QThe arly would have cracked lhe whi on all lhose
0overnmenl and Congress sokesersons and leaders who had vocier
ously deended lhe ordinance, wilh one o lhe union Minislers, Ajay
Maken, calling lhe decision "erecl". whal was erecl unlil a ew
momenls ago cannol have become nonsense and il lo be lorn u and
lhrown away lhe nexl minule. l was some oelic juslice lhal Maken
was silling and squirming by lhe vice residenl's side al lhe Fress Club
o ndia in 0elhi when lhe laller galecrashed inlo a rearranged Fress
conerence which was lo be addressed by lhe Minisler, and sewed
mollen ash on lhe ordinance. Maken had lhe slricken look o a
reseclable man caughl in a less lhan reseclable acl.
QRahul 0andhi would have queslioned lhe wisdom o members o
lhe Congress's core commillee, which had greenlagged nol only lhe ill
aled ordinance bul also a disaslrous Bill wilh similar rovisions which
would have evenlually relaced lhe ordinance. Bul doing lhal would have
oened a can o worms and comelled lhe vice residenl lo do soul
searching - an exercise he does nol wanl lo indulge in or now.
QThe Congress would have soughl lhe resignalion o lhe Frime
Minisler or having broughl in a iece o 'comlele nonsense', so com
lele lhal il deserved lo be 'lorn u and lhrown away'. Bul soon aler
Rahul 0andhi's ublic oulbursl, Congress residenl Sonia 0andhi said lhe
arly had lhe grealesl regard or
Manmohan Singh and lhal il
slood by lhe Frime Minisler. l
had lhe grealesl regard, because
he commilled nonsense? And il
slood by lhe Frime Minisler,
because he had senl lo lhe
Fresidenl or aroval a iece o
aer which, in lhe vice resi
denl's 'ersonal oinion' lhal
became lhe arly's diklal, was
absolule lrash?
QThe arly would have
laken lo lask lhe lallesl leaders o
lhe Congress who eilher oenly
suorled lhe ordinance or
remained laclically silenl when il
and lhe Bill lo negale lhe July 1O
verdicl o lhe Sureme Courl had
come u beore lhe Cabinel and
received aroval. Bul Rahul
0andhi could nol be bolhered. he
wanled lo creale a luller and he
did lhal wilh his symbolic ilhi
ness. Subslance can wail.
The Congress wanls lhe
counlry lo believe lhal lhe end is
erecl. The Cabinel had
aroved lhe ordinance in ils col
leclive wisdom, and lhe Cabinel
has wilhdrawn il in ils colleclive
grealer wisdom. The 0overnmenl
has heeded lhe voice o lhe eo
le who were oulraged by ils
shenanigans. So, why should
anyone comlain? s lhere a law
lhal says an error cannol be sel
righl wilhoul losing ace?
Through such sins, lhe
Congress is lurning whal should
have been an occasion o shame,
inlo one o celebralion.
Bul lhen, why shouldn'l il,
when lhe man who has losl lhe
mosl, remains conlenl desile being ublicly humilialed by an uslarl
whose only claim lo ame is lhal he belongs lo lhe hehru0andhi
dynasly? The Frime Minisler may be ine wilh lhe silualion; Rahul
acolyles may be celebraling lhe incidenl; Manmohan Singh's Minislers
may be rivalely chuckling over lhe discomorl lo lheir boss. Bul lhe eo
le o lhe counlry are nol amused one bil. They wanl lo know: s lhis how
lhe Frime Minisler o lhe counlry - never mind lhe erson in lhe osl -
should be lrealed?
As il lurns oul, il is jusl lhe queslion lhal Manmohan Singh should
have orceully asked Rahul 0andhi, and demanded rom him an unam
biguous aology. The eole are in no mood lo ighl lhe Frime Minisler's
ballle, simly because lhe head o lhe 0overnmenl o lhe world's largesl
democracy has no courage lo conronl lhe Congress scion. They could
erhas rally behind him i he were lo assume charge. Feole like leaders
wilh sine; lhey will nol symalhise wilh lhe cowardly.
Bul Manmohan Singh was swel o his eel when Rahul 0andhi called
on him recenlly. whal recisely haened behind closed doors, no one real
ly knows. we do know lhal lhe Singhled regime shameacedly decided lo
wilhdraw lhe ordinance and lhe Bill, and lhal Rahul 0andhi did nol oer a
hinl o an aology. 0n lhe conlrary, he laler said lhal lhe "senlimenl" he
exressed al lhe Fress Club evenl was aroriale. ho regrel or lhe choice
o words, lhough he did add lhal lhe Congress residenl had lold him he
had used ralher slrong words lo exress lhe senlimenl. Bul lhal is his
molher's oinion; Rahul 0andhi has no regrel.
Manmohan Singh should be lhe one lo regrel having become servile lo
lhe dynasly and comromising nol jusl his reslige bul also lhal o lhe osl
o lhe counlry's Frime Minisler - once occuied by gianls such as
Jawaharlal hehru, Lal Bahadur Shaslri, ndira 0andhi and Alal Bihari
vajayee. very loyal Congress leaders like vF Singh rebelled when lhey
were ushed lo lhe wall. honCongress slalwarls like Chandrashekhar quil
kicking and screaming when lhe Congress ulled lhe rug rom under lheir
eel. Even lhose like K 0ujral, who quielly vacaled lhe chair aler lhe
Congress wilhdrew suorl, did so wilh lheir head held high.
n lhe lwilighl o his rime minislershi, Singh had lhe oorlunily lo
reclaim some resecl. he did nol in lhe case al hand, il is as much lo do
wilh his usillanimily as il is lo do wilh lhe acl lhal he and his 0overnmenl
were comlelely in lhe wrong. Bul lhal does nol jusliy grovelling.
Monarchy and nobilily rom Asia and Euroe may have become hislo
ry, bul lhe subjeclmenlalily is slill around, al leasl in loday's Congress.
nstead of
reacting to the
slur by stepping
down from
office,
Manmohan
Singh has
meekly
complied. The
Congress now is
desperate to pin
the blame on
the BJP for a
fiasco of its own
making. All this
is known
sunday
magazino
jitit
Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
F E E D B A C K
The Congress lruly believes ndia is a banana reublic where il can do whalever il wishes
and lhe arly's Firsl Family can gel away wilh deceil, lhanks lo a comlicil media
n the twilight of his
prime ministership,
Singh had the
opportunity to
reclaim some
respect by ticking
off Rahul Gandhi for
the choice of
words. f he did not,
it is as much to do
with his
pusillanimity as it is
to do with the fact
that he and his
Government were
completely in
the wrong
ThE C0h0RESS wAhTS uS T0 BELEvE ThAT
ThE Eh0 S FERFECT. ThE CABhET hA0
AFFR0vE0 ThE 0R0hAhCE Ah0 ThE
CABhET hAS wTh0RAwh T. S0, whY
Sh0uL0 AhY0hE C0MFLAh?
A
bout 78.5 per cent of
4.25 lakh people of
Northern Province, who
voted in the Provincial Council
elections on September 21, have
given the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA) a thumping victory. The
TNA won 30 seats, including two
bonus seats in the 38-member
council while the ruling United
Peoples Freedom Alliance
(UPFA) secured seven seats and
the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
(SLMC) won one seat.
The results were not unexpect-
ed, but the large voter turnout of
67.5 per cent evidently boosted the
TNA figures. The TNAs perfor-
mance points to the broad accep-
tance of its reading of political
aspirations reflected in its mani-
festo. It went into the election after
some introspection with its diaspo-
ra patrons and Tamil intellectuals.
This resulted in the TNA
naming an apolitical per-
sonality retired Sri
Lanka Supreme
Court judge CV
Wigneswaran as
its chief ministerial
candidate. This pre-
vented it from dissi-
pating its energies in a
leadership struggle
between the three major
parties that dominate the five-
member conglomerate.
Justice Wigneswaran enjoyed
excellent national reputation as a
jurist and did not belong to any
party. Any doubts about his belief
in the Tamil cause vanished after
he delivered the Thanthai
Chelvanayagam Lecture Whither
Sri Lankan Tamils at Colombo on
April 25, 2013. The rhetoric and
nuance of the speech appealed to
most of the Tamils, despite some
unorthodox views. Undoubtedly,
the choice of Wigneswaran helped
the TNA broaden its support base.
Probably this persuaded a large
number of voters to support the
TNA after their energies have
been sapped by two-and-a-half
decades of war.
He also fitted in the TNA bid
to project a new image distanc-
ing itself from its tainted politi-
cal association with V
Prabhakaran while retaining the
idiom of Tamil Nation at its
core. This desire has made the
manifesto more a vision state-
ment than a mission statement,
listing specific objectives of the
Party. For instance, it reaffirmed
the Tamils right of self-determi-
nation and the desire to find a
solution to satisfy the Tamil aspi-
rations within a federal struc-
ture, as stated in Oslo Commu-
niqu. The TNA failed to pursue
this objective when it meekly
bowed down to Prabhakaran and
allowed him to be the sole
arbiter of Tamils in the peace
process with disastrous results.
To resuscitate this objective
in the present context of Sri
Lanka is going to be an uphill
task because much water has
flown in the Kelaniya river since
then. The reality is the LTTE has
been eliminated as an extracon-
stitutional rider on finding a
solution to the Tamil issue.
President Rajapaksa has been
elected twice after disowning the
federal solution and wishing
away the existence of any ethnic
problem in Sri Lanka. Tamils
have been reduced to
play their weakest
political wicket now.
And last but not the
least, there is a
Government show-
ing signs of heading
in an increasingly
authoritarian direc-
tion (to quote UN
High Commissioner for
Human Rights Naveneetham
Pillay at the end of her recent
visit to Sri Lanka).
Now the TNA in office has
no choice but to build an equa-
tion with Colombo to fulfil the
expectations it has kindled
among the people. This is going
to be a trying task for the TNA as
a whole and the Chief Minister in
particular. If there is anyone who
can undertake the task well, it is
probably the Chief Minister des-
ignate Wigneswaran. As a Tamil
judge at the highest court of the
nation he had walked the tight-
rope through the trying period of
ethnic conflict. Though he is a
non-political personality he has
the acumen and ability to take
informed decisions while dealing
with the Government.
Wigneswaran needs every-
ones good wishes to succeed in his
thankless task of getting the job
done. And that includes not only
his electors, but also TNA leaders
and the Rajapaksa Government.
l| W|i|| i + ||i|J |ili|+|] l||lli|
pi+li| u| Suu|| Ai+, |1J Wi|| ||
l|Ji+| P+ |pi| |u| i| S|i |+||+ +
|+J u| l||lli|
sunday
magazino
lJ||lt l
F0LTCAhS ALS0 hAvE h0 LESuRE,
BECAuSE ThEY ARE ALwAYS AMh0 AT
S0METhh0 BEY0h0 F0LTCAL LFE TSELF,
F0wER Ah0 0L0RY, 0R hAFFhESS.
- ARST0TLE
Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
T
here is a near-stampede in the
JD(U). Three to four party MLAs,
along with several MPs, have either
met the BJPs prime ministerial
candidate Narendra Modi or his
close aides. BJP sources believe that after
Modis Hunkar Rally in Patna on October 27,
many JD(U) bigwigs will leave the party.
Recently, Chedi Paswan, a former MP
from Sasaram and sitting JD(U) MLA from
Mohania, met Modi. He, however, is not likely
to leave the party soon as he doesnt want to
lose his Assembly seat. But speculations are rife
that he may fight the Lok Sabha elections on a
BJP ticket. BJP sources claim that the party
may give Lok Sabha tickets to more than half-
a-dozen JD(U) MLAs. With this move, the
JD(U) majority will end in the Bihar Assembly.
More than half-a-dozen JD(U) MPs also
want to fight on a BJP ticket. Gopalganj MP
Puranmasi Ram, Muzzafarpur MP Jai Narayan
Nishad, Aurangabad MP Sushil Singh, Karakat
MP Mahabali Singh and Jhanjharpur MP
Mangni Lal Mandal are seeing their future in
the BJP. Theres, however, a twist in the tale:
With RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadavs conviction
in the fodder scam, there is strong possibility
of a JD(U)-Congress alliance in Bihar. In this
scenario, not many JD(U) MPs will want to
leave the party.
k1hkTh ETTIh TkIIE
F
irst it was BJP president Rajnath Singh who
ignored all criticism and announced
Narendra Modis name as the prime
ministerial candidate. For this he even came
face to face with party patriarch LK Advani,
who was not happy with the decision. Now,
Modi is believed to have returned the favour
with Rajnath Singh being offered the post of
the chairman of the campaign committee.
Advani was the chairman of the campaign
committee three times and on all the three
occasions the BJP could form its Government.
In 2004, the party fought the Lok Sabha
elections under Pramod Mahajan and
Venkaiah Naidu, but was badly defeated.
Likewise, when Advani was declared the
NDAs prime ministerial candidate in 2009,
the campaign committee was handed over to
Arun Jaitley. At that time, Rajnath Singh was
party president. This time Rajnath Singh is
both the party president as well as the
chairman of the campaign committee. BJP
leaders are hopeful that what Mahajan and
Jaitley could not achieve, Rajnath will.
81F 8T6k I8Ih Ih 8Th
T
he BJP has a very thin mass base in the
South and the Northeast. But after
Narendra Modis elevation, the party is
expected to expand its base in south India. In
Karnataka, the BJP is trying to regain some of
its lost ground with the possible return of
former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa.
Likewise, in Tamil Nadu, Modi shares a good
rapport with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who
may eventually join the NDA. Andhra
Pradesh, too, augurs well for the party.
Recently, YS Jaganmohan Reddy praised
Modi; even TDP leader N Chandrababu
Naidu is keeping his options open as far as his
partys alliance with the BJP is concerned. So,
at present, the BJPs stock in the South appears
to be rising with Modi at the helm of affairs.
1()'8 IE 6hhE6TIh
F
ormer Bihar Chief Minister and RJD
president Lalu Prasad Yadav has been
convicted in one of the cases in the fodder
scam. Following his five-year sentence he
has now lost his Lok Sabha seat in
Parliament. Its, however, not just the RJD
which has been hit by the verdict. JD(U) MP
Jagdish Sharma has also been convicted and
jailed for four years. Former Bihar Chief
Minister Jagannath Mishra, who joined the
JD(U) and was occupying a post equivalent
to a ministerial status, is also faced with a
similar fate. Mishras son is a minister in the
Nitish Kumar Government.
The connection between the two parties
doesnt end here. The Ranchi High Court has
directed the CBI to submit a report on the
role of Nitish Kumar and Shivanand Tiwari in
the fodder scam by November 22. In fact,
Shyam Bihari Sinha, the kingpin of the fodder
scam, has said in his statement that he had
given C1 crore to Nitish Kumar and C30-35
lakh to Shivanand Tiwari.
8TkT8 Ih 6FM
I
ts an incessant downward slide for the
CPI(M), the most dominant of the Left
parties. After the Lok Sabha and Assembly
elections, the party has lost the panchayat and
local polls in urban areas. There is now a
growing chorus for change in the State
leadership. A former Speaker of the Lok
Sabha, once a veteran leader in the party, too
has said that the CPI(M) must seriously think
about changing its State leadership. Party
sources say that right now it is not thinking in
this direction. It will fight the next Lok Sabha
elections with the present set of leaders. In
Delhi, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury will
be in command, while in West Bengal Biman
Bose and Suryakanta Mishra will look after the
party till the 2014 elections. Theres, however,
consensus that the CPI(M) will have to change
its strategy and reach out to its core voters.
ThE WkITIh kME
T
here is very little possibility that in the next
two weeks the Congress and the BJP will
announce the names of their candidates for the
Assembly elections in four States due this
winter. Both the parties are of the view that in
these States, the fight will be a close one. In this
scenario, victory and defeat will depend on the
selection of candidates. That is why the BJP is
taking time in declaring its candidates. A senior
BJP leader says that the name of most candid-
ates will be declared only after Dussehra.
The Congress usually declares the name of
its candidates on the last day of the nomination.
So, there is hardly any surprise if the
announcement remains a secret till Diwali. In
Madhya Pradesh, the party has postponed the
meeting of its screening committee for a week.
It is believed that an internal survey is currently
under way in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh
and Rajasthan. Names will be finalised only
after the report is out.
GUESTCOLUMN
R hARhARAh
sunday
gupshup
hAR ShAhKAR vYAS
Aler harendra Modi's
elevalion, lhe arly is
execled lo exand ils
base in soulh ndia. n
Karnalaka, lhe BJF is
lrying lo regain some o
ils losl ground wilh lhe
ossible relurn o
ormer Chie Minisler
BS Yeddyuraa.
Likewise, in Tamil hadu,
Modi has good raorl
wilh Chie Minisler
J Jayalalilhaa, who may
evenlually join lhe h0A
T
o measure the health condition of
children in India, a universally-
accepted criterion is deployed.
Health conditions of kids revolve around
whether they are getting nutritious food
or not. As discussed in previous columns,
malnutrition is caused by shortage of
food, lack of nutritious food, food taboos,
consumption of unsafe drinking water,
and unhygienic living conditions. These
columns also discussed why about one-
fifth kids belonging to 20 per cent of the
richest families are also malnourished.
In todays column, we will discuss
regional variations in malnourished kids.
The NFHS-3 survey of the Government
of India has compiled data related to
health conditions of children up to five
years of age. Regional variations raise
many questions that public policy enthu-
siasts must consider. There are three prin-
ciple criteria that the NFHS-3 survey
applies in measuring nutritional status of
children. They are the following:
[1] Height-for-age called Stunting in
medical lexicon. To the common man,
this means the child is short as per his age
[2] Weight-for-height called Wasting in
medical lexicon. To the common man,
this means the child is thin as per his
height
[3] Weight-for-age called Underweight in
medical terms. To the common man, this
means the child is underweight or mal-
nourished.
In medical lexicon, the weight-for-
age index is a composite one that sets a
standard to measure accurately whether a
child is malnourished or not. Let us con-
trast Punjab and Gujarat with Tamil
Nadu and Nagaland to arrive at an
understanding. As per the NFHS-3 sur-
vey, 24.9 per cent and 44.6 per cent kids
in Punjab and Gujarat respectively are
malnourished. In case of Tamil Nadu and
Nagaland, 29.8 per cent and 25.2 per cent
kids are malnourished. The all-India
average is at 42.5 per cent.
The NFHS-3 survey also talks about
anaemia in women and men. The survey
divides anaemia into four categories
mild anaemia, moderate anaemia, severe
anaemia and any anaemia. I take any
anaemia to explain this story.
According to the survey, 38 per cent
women in Punjab have any anaemia. In
Gujarat, 55.3 women have this problem.
In Tamil Nadu, 53.2 per cent women suf-
fer from this. Men too are anaemic.
According to the survey, 13.6 per cent
men in Punjab have any anaemia. In
Gujarat, 22.2 per cent men have this
problem. In Tamil Nadu, 16.5 per cent
men suffer from this. For some reason,
NFHS-3 doesnt have data on Nagaland.
The all-India average is 55.3 per cent for
women and 24.2 per cent for men.
These figures suggest that apart
from shortage of nutritious food, there
are other factors that are equally, if not
more, responsible for malnutrition and
anaemia in India. The other factors are
nothing other than cultural. India is a
vast country with diverse climatic zones,
languages, food habits and attitudes. Do
government policies take into account
these diversities?
Punjab and Gujarat are the best
examples. Both the States are high in
migration abroad. Both are rich. Both
give jobs to people from across the coun-
try. Both contribute to Indias growth
story. But people in these States eat poor-
ly. People are least diverse in their food
choices. My experience in the two States
makes me believe that people are very
sectarian when it comes to food choices.
In Punjab, for instance, excessive
importance to butter and oily food is a
cultural issue. A friend travelling in the
State stopped at a roadside dhaba to relish
Punjabi parantha. The group had
requested the waiter to apply very little
butter on it. The group complained to the
dhaba owner that the paranthas they
were served had excessive butter on
them. Ironically, a Punjabi family was
dining at the next table. And they
believed that the parantha they were
served had very little butter on it.
Visit the Kathiawad region of Gujarat
and you will find besan as the basis of
existence for people. In north India, when
patients enters the recovery stage, doctors
advise them to eat khichadi. In Gujarat,
however, khichadi is a celebrated delicacy.
It is time for India to re-think its
food policy and take cultural diversity as
one of the yardsticks in measuring peo-
ples health. A campaign must be
launched to tell people what to eat, how
much to eat and what not to eat.
DALTDARY
ChAh0RABhAh FRASA0
Sloulon`t noia lave a fooo olicy?
Sri
Lanka's
Northern
Province votes
for the Tamil
National
Alliance
BJP all sot to gain in
Bihar at Nitish's oost
8ay 0f h0e
Ia 8rI laaka
ndia musl relhink ils ood olicy and lake cullural diversily as one o lhe yardslicks in measuring
eole's heallh. A camaign musl be launched lo lell eole whal lo eal and how much lo eal
I
n early February 1937, Georg Gyssling,
an ardent Nazi and the German consul
in Los Angeles, called Warner
Brothers. He had heard that the studio
was making a film about the French
Governments wrongful conviction of Alfred
Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, for the transmis-
sion of military secrets to the German
Government in 1894. The film was obviously
going to condemn one of the most notorious
instances of anti-Semitism in the recent past,
and Gyssling was determined to take action.
He told the receptionist at Warner Brothers
that he wanted to speak to the producer.
A few days after this call took place, stu-
dio head Jack Warner dictated some impor-
tant changes to the Dreyfus picture (which
would eventually be titled The Life of Emile
Zola): Scene 80: Start the speech of the Chief
of Staff with Hes a man!, losing the line
And a Jew! Scene 190: Do not use the
word Jew in the speech by the Comma-
nder of Paris. Use Dreyfuss name instead.
Scene 235: Use Dreyfuss name here
again instead of ... that Jew. After Warners
changes had been implemented, the word
Jew was not spoken a single time in The
Life of Emile Zola. The only reference that
remained was a shot of a piece of paper on
which Dreyfuss religion was written. And
just before the film was released, there was a
request for this to be cut too: Take out the
last part of the insert where the finger runs
across under the line, Religion Jew. But for
some reason the request was not carried out,
and hard as it may be to believe, this one-
second shot turned out to be one of the few
explicit references to a Jew in American cine-
ma for the remainder of the 1930s.
In the popular imagination, the 1930s
was the golden age of American cinema, the
great decade in which the studios produced
such memorable films as The Wizard of Oz,
Gone with the Wind, Mr Smith Goes to
Washington and It Happened One Night. It
was the decade in which Hollywood movies
reached a level of perfection that previously
had only been dreamt of.
An important fact about Hollywood
movies in this period, however, is that they
were extremely popular in Nazi-Germany.
Between 20 and 60 new American titles hit
the screens in Germany every year until the
outbreak of World War II. A casual observ-
er walking the streets of Berlin could see
the evidence everywhere: There were lines
of people outside the cinemas, photographs
of Hollywood stars on the covers of maga-
zines, and glowing reviews of the latest
movies in newspapers. But for all the suc-
cess and hype, the American studios were
forced to pay a terrible price.
Like other American companies such as
IBM and General Motors, the Hollywood
studios put profit above principle in their
decision to do business with the Nazis. They
had the chance to show the world what was
really happening in Germany but the studio
heads, who were mostly immigrant Jews,
went to dramatic lengths to hold on to their
investment in Germany. Although few
remarked on it at the time, these men fol-
lowed the instructions of the German con-
sul in Los Angeles, abandoning or changing
a series of pictures that would have exposed
the brutality of the Nazi regime. (An execu-
tive named Fritz -Strengholt, MGMs repre-
sentative in Germany, went even further: At
the request of the Propaganda Ministry, he
divorced his Jewish wife, and she ended up
in a concentration camp.)
Hitler was obsessed with movies, and he
understood their power to shape public opin-
ion. In December 1930, two years before
becoming dictator of Germany, his party riot-
ed against Universal Pictures All Quiet on the
Western Front in Berlin. After Nazi members
disrupted a screening, the house lights went
on and Goebbels gave a speech from the
front row of the balcony in which he claimed
that the film was an attempt to destroy
Germanys image. His comrades waited for
him to finish and then threw stink bombs
and released white mice into the crowd.
Throughout the 1930s, the term collabo-
ration was used repeatedly to describe deal-
ings that took place in Hollywood. Even stu-
dio heads adopted the term. An executive at
RKO promised that whenever he made a film
involving Germany, he would work in close
collaboration with the local consul general.
A Fox executive said the same. United Artists
offered the closest collaboration if the
German Government did not punish the stu-
dio for the controversial 1930 movie Hells
Angels. According to the German Foreign
Office, Every time that this collaboration
was achieved, the parties involved found it to
be both helpful and pleasant.
All this was a result of the Nazis actions
against All Quiet on the Western Front. Soon
every studio started making deep conces-
sions to the German government, and when
Hitler came to power in January 1933, they
dealt with his representatives directly.
In late May 1933, a Hollywood screen-
writer named Herman J Mankiewicz the
man who would later write Citizen Kane
had a promising idea. He was aware of the
treatment of the Jews in Germany and he
thought, why not put it on the screen? Very
quickly, he penned a brief play titled The
Mad Dog of Europe, which he sent to his
friend Sam Jaffe, a producer at RKO. Jaffe
was so taken with the idea that he bought
the production rights and quit his job.
This producer, who, like Mankiewicz,
was Jewish, planned to assemble a great
Hollywood cast and devote all his energies to
a picture that would shake the entire world.
Nobody had ever made a movie about
Hitlers persecution of the Jews. For a start,
The Mad Dog of Europe was not the greatest
film script he had ever read. The pacing was
erratic, the characters were shallow and the
writing was mediocre. Still, the news was not
all bad. The subject matter was just as fresh
and original as it had been from the start.
Nothing like it had ever been filmed before.
Jaffe pushed ahead. Of course, various forces
had been put in place to prevent a picture like
this from ever being made. First and fore-
most was Gyssling. The Mad Dog of Europe
was never turned into a motion picture.
Louis B Mayer, the head of MGM, said that
no picture would be made because we have
interests in Germany. The decision not to
make the film was the most important mom-
ent in all of Hollywoods dealings with Nazi
Germany. It defined the limits of American
movies for the remainder of the decade.
On April 1 1937, Gyssling made his
boldest move yet. He sent letters to everyone
involved in the All Quiet on the Western
Front sequel, The Road Back and he warned
them that any films in which they participat-
ed in the future might be banned in
Germany. That same month, the final vol-
ume of Erich Maria Remarques trilogy,
Three Comrades, which was prime
Hollywood material, was published in the
US. Whereas All Quiet on the Western Front
had been about World War i and The Road
Back had been about its aftermath, Three
Comrades was set in 1928, when the Nazis
were emerging as a significant political force.
The film rights to Three Comrades were
in the possession of MGM. The company
considered cancelling the picture when
Gyssling threatened the actors but eventually
decided to push ahead with it. Once Mayer
screened the film for Gyssling, MGM execu-
tives were presented with a list of changes,
chief among them a suggestion that it be set
two years earlier to get away from any pos-
sible suggestion that we are dealing with
Nazi violence or terrorism. In its completed
form, Three Comrades neither attacked the
Nazis nor mentioned the Jews. The picture
had been completely sanitised. At this critical
historical moment, when a major Hollywood
production could have alerted the world to
what was going on in Germany, the director
did not have the final cut; the Nazis did.
l| +il] ll|+p|
sunday
magazino
itl|tJlitJl |
Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
TkIh hIT8 k 6FIE
hkVIh 8EX h Tk6k8
T
wo lovers whom
officials said had
failed to overcome
their natural passion
were hit by a train in
Ukraine while they
had sex on the rail-
road tracks, Russian
news outlet RIA
Novosti reported.
The unidentified
30-something
woman died, and
her 41-year-old
partner lost both
his legs in the
incident in the
city of Zapor-
ozhye. Reports say
the pair were suppos-
edly drunk.
My girlfriend
and I could not
overcome our pas-
sionate nature and
wanted to feel a
sense of thrill near a
railway track, the man
later confessed to the police.
This wasnt the first time that
lovers had tempted fate with a
tryst on the tracks. A similar
incident had taken place about
five years ago. In 2008, both
participants were killed by
a freight locomotive
in South Africa
after they ignored
train whistles.
(Huffington Post)
6hIMF8 8EkT hMkh8
Ih MEMY TE8T8
U
nless someone has
been monkeying
around with the research
data, chimps are making
chumps out of humans when
it comes to memory tests. In
an interview published in the
Guardian, Tetsuro
Matsuzawa, a professor at
Kyoto Universitys Primate
Research Institute in
Inuyama, Japan, explains
three decades of research
have led him to the firm
conclusion that chim-
panzees have much
better short-term
memories than people.
Weve concluded
through the cognitive
tests that chimps have
extraordinary memo-
ries, Matsuzawa said.
They can grasp things
at a glance.
Matsuzawa theorizes that, as
humans gained certain cognitive abili-
ties like language they lost their
ancestors superior memory capabili-
ties. Our ancestors may have also had
photographic memories, but we lost
that during evolution so that we could
acquire new skills, Matsuzawa said.
To get something, we had to lose
something. (Huffington Post)
8EhTEh6E I ME,
Mkh WE8 IIkh6EE
T
he bride wore white; the groom
wore shackles. The marriage of
Danne Desbrow and his fiancee,
Destiny, came just minutes after he was
sentenced to 53 years-to-life in prison
for first-degree murder.
Desbrow was sentenced for the 2003
killing of Kevin
Santos after a witness
with key information
came forward recent-
ly. His defence attor-
ney argued Desbrow
was defending himself in a
fight. During the two-month
trial, Desbrow proposed to his girlfriend.
The two met in high school but lost con-
tact after she became pregnant at 16.
They reunited in January after the moth-
er tracked down Desbrow so their son
could meet his father. Desbrow was in
jail at the time awaiting trial. After
Desbrow proposed, Cookson agreed to
marry them. (Huffington Post)
hE h6IEk Ek6T 8hT
Wh 8Y 1EIIYII8h
T
he Oskarshamn power plant in
Sweden has one of the biggest nuclear
reactors in the world, but its apparently
no match for tiny jellyfish. Tonnes of
moon jellyfish clogged the reactors intake
pipes from the ocean over the weekend,
forcing the plant to shut down, reports
Popular Science. (Not so comforting tid-
bit: Its a boiling-water type reactor,
same as at Fukushima.)
The jellyfish were in a
bloom cycle, a phenom-
enon that produces huge
numbers at once, and a
marine biologist says
that more and more of
these extreme cases of
blooming jellyfish are cropping
up. Moon jellyfish in particular
thrive in areas that have been
overfished and consequently
overrun by algae blooms.
They dont care if the oxygen
concentration is low, said the
biologist. The fish move out,
and the jellyfish move in.
A similar clog happened
last year at Californias Diablo
Canyon plant, though the cul-
prit then was technically sea
salp. (Newser)
MEXI6'8 kh8WE T FII6E
6FTIh? hIE WMEh
A
uthorities in the State of
Mexico believe they have a
solution to the problem of ram-
pant corruption among traffic
police: Replace them all with
women. But only tall, thin ones.
We get too many short and fat
ones, says a local police
chief, who has taken on 60
women to work as traffic
cops. We need tall women
that render respect when
out in the streets. The chief
says men listen more calmly
and attentively to tall
women, and women are
generally more trustworthy.
They dont ask for or
take bribes, he says.
But this new anti-cor-
ruption plan isnt going so
smoothly. The state wont let
the new female force actually
issue tickets until local police units
adopt anti-corruption safeguards. But
the old cops dont really want to adopt
anti-corruption safeguards. And tall,
thin women may not be so incorrupt-
ible after all. One driver says she was
stopped by a female officer a few
months ago, and was told her car
would be impounded if she didnt
pay a bribe. I had to pay her the
200 pesos, she says. But let me
tell you, its not a pleasant thing
to do. (Newser)
Ah0ELhA J0LE S hEA0h0 T0 AuSTRALA T0
Sh00T hER SEC0h0 FLM AS 0RECT0R, AFTER ShE
vSTE0 ThE C0uhTRY h M0SEFTEMBER T0 SC0uT
L0CAT0hS F0R L|5FUK|, ThE ST0RY 0F w0RL0
wAR ARMAh L0uS ZAMFERh
B
ridgel Jones lives
on, counling
calories,
alcohol unils
and hair nils
bul discounling
years - 51 bul
answering lo 85
- bul lhis is no
consolalion lo
legions o ans who
have learned some
devaslaling news: Mr
0arcy is dead. whelher
he was smolhered by a
Chrislmas swealer or
died o neumonia rom
a wel shirl remains lo be
revealed when MaJ A|cut
t|c 5cy is ublished nexl
monlh. n lhe inal ages
o her lasl disalch, more
lhan 1O years ago, lhe
deinilive chicklil romanlic
hero - dark, handsome,
rich, unny, clever,
devoled - roosed lo
Bridgel. Alas, while lhe
marriage did roduce
lillle Mabel and lhe nil
inesled Billy, evidenlly
lhe coule did nol
live haily ever aler.
n exlracls rom
lhe new book, lhe lhird
volume o 5riJct Jcncs's
Liary, lhe inlernalional besl
sellers by helen Fielding lhal
became hil movies slarring
Renee Zellwegger and Colin
Firlh, il is lragically clear lhal
Mr 0arcy is no more. Jones
is now lracking lexls rom
and "minules senl
obsessing" over her 2O
yearold loyboy, Roxler.
E
xeculive roducer
Al Jean lold reorlers lhal
lhe wrilers are
"working on a scril
where a characler
will ass away".
"we are doing lhis
slory or lhe same
reason we do all olhers
- we lhink il has
a good emolional
lhrough line," Jean
said, keeing under
wras whelher lhe
characler would be
killed o or ass
away. "The slory will
be roduced lhis year lhough il
may air in season 2G." while
delails are scarce, Jean hinled
lhal "lhe aclor laying lhe
characler won an Emmy"
or lhe role, sloing shorl
o revealing lhe name. n
ils 25 seasons, Fox's
longeslrunning
comedy T|c 5impscns
has killed o seven
characlers - homer's
Las vegas wie,
Amber (season 1G)
and hed's wie Maude
Flanders (season 11)
among lhem.
w
annabe Jedi Knighls
rejoice, or scienlisls have
discovered lhal lhe amous
lighlsaber weaon wielded by
Luke Skywalker and his ilk in
lhe longrunning sace oera
saga mighl one day exisl
beyond lhe realms o iclion.
harvard and MT hysicisls
wriling in lhe new edilion o
|aturc say lhey have
discovered a way lo bind
holons logelher in order lo
orm a new molecule which
behaves almosl exaclly like
0eorge Lucas's deadly devices.
"Mosl o lhe roerlies o
lighl we know aboul originale
rom lhe acl lhal holons are
massless and do nol inleracl,"
said harvard universily hysics
roessor Mikhail Lukin. "whal
we have done is creale a secial
lye o medium in which ho
lons inleracl wilh each olher so
slrongly lhal lhey acl as lhough
lhey have mass, and bind
logelher lo orm molecules.
h
ugh Jackman has hinled his
nexl lurn as wolverine could
be his lasl. Jackman, who has
slarred as lhe adamanlium
clawed mulanl in six ilms
slrelching back lo 2OOO's X-
Mcn, said he would be unlikely
lo lay lhe arl beyond nexl
May's X-Mcn. Lays cf |uturc
Fast. "0real arls always oul
grow lhe aclors lhal lay lhem,"
said he. " you orgel lhal, il's al
your own eril. They are working
on il (XMen) now, and il would
have lo be very comelling or
me lo do il again."
Jackman also said lhal once
he was oered a cameo as
wolverine in Sam Raimi's irsl
5piJcr-Man ilm. " have eole
ask me all lhe lime, '0o you
lhink SiderMan can beal
wolverine?' l's arl o lhe
0hA," he said. "Marvel wanled
me lo do a cameo in lhe irsl
5piJcr-Man, bul couldn'l ind
my suil. could have lurned u
beore il was such a big deal.
Bul don'l have lhal kind o
ower lo make il haen."
hh 1k6kMkh hIhT8 kT WIVEIhE EXIT
FLMTME FLMTME
0uring hiller's rise lo ower, America's ilm sludios were aced wilh a choice: Forlray lhe
ha/is as villains or become lheir riends. They chose lhe darker alh, wriles BEh uRwAh0
LKE 0ThER
AMERCAh
C0MFAhES SuCh
AS BM Ah0
0EhERAL M0T0RS,
ThE h0LLYw000
STu00S FuT
FR0FT AB0vE
FRhCFLE h ThER
0ECS0h T0 00
BuShESS wTh
ThE hAZS.
hC0EhTALLY,
ThESE STu00S
wERE M0STLY Ruh
BY MM0RAhT
JEwS
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8IET 1hE8 Ikh8 khk8T k8 k6Y IE8
O D D L Y E N O U G H
A
s the United States is all set to with-
draw its forces from Afghanistan,
the interest in the country is
increasing and the prophets of doom are
busy making predictions. The US wants a
face-saver before the 2014 withdrawal as
the global community looks with bated
breath at every American move. Most of
the writings on Afghanistan emanate
from the West and forecast doom and
gloom, as if US withdrawal from Kabul
would be akin to the fall of Saigon. This
view has primarily emanated from the
Western ignorance about the Oriental
mindset; most of the authors have at best
a perfunctory knowledge of the situation
in Afghanistan. To fill in the void, many
Afghan writings have started emerging
and have gone a long way in educating the
world. The credit must go to Khalid
Hosseini, whose three books have brought
Afghanistan to the Western homes.
Through this book, Nushin Arbabzadah,
who has lived in the West after leaving
Afghanistan during the Communist rule,
tries to follow in his footsteps.
Unlike, Hosseini, who used fiction to
enliven Afghanistan, Arbabzadah has
come up with what she calls non-fiction.
In reality, it is difficult to describe the
genre of the book; it is a potpourri of all
a travelogue, a biography, an analysis
of Afghan society, its ailments and its
history. The problem is that Arbabzadah
is neither Hosseini nor an objective ana-
lyst. The book is highly opinionated and
makes several contemptuous remarks
about Afghanistan, its people and soci-
ety. If a Western author without much
understanding of Afghanistan had writ-
ten it, he would have been branded a
racist, but Arbabzadah being a daughter
of the soil gets away with it.
The book is divided in three parts,
which appear to have been written at dif-
ferent points of time. The first part is
autobiographical. Not that personal expe-
riences and anecdotes are missing from
other parts, but this one describes her life
under the Communist rule and how the
authors family escaped from Afghanistan.
This has probably shaped her strong anti-
communist views, which are evident
throughout the book. This part also deals
with the authors interactions with expa-
triate Afghans and her subsequent visits
to Afghanistan. It gives an insight into the
current state there, but her tendency to
generalise things limits its analytical con-
tent. Her one-liners make interesting
reading, but fail to depict the situation
clearly, which would be expected of an
author born in Afghanistan, even if she
has spent all her adult life in the West.
Consequently, her narrative is
gloomy. Kabuls air is famously filled
with shit particles floating about, cour-
tesy the inadequate sewage system.
Everyone who can leave the city for a
while leaves it sometimes just to
remember that there is something called
fresh air in this world. She goes on to
sum up the new Afghanistan as a coun-
try without a nation and its society as
directionless, diverse and dynamic. In
the process, she proves that one does not
become a good analyst of a country just
because he/she was born there.
The second part deals with state of
religion in Afghanistan. It covers numer-
ous incidents and shows that beneath
the faade of a deeply religious state
remains buried numerous faultlines. It
brings out the societys hypocrisy as far
as women and gays are concerned. It
covers Afghan societys response to
diverse issues like love, education, ethnic
conflict and even corruption. The book
highlights that ethnicity has always been
a dominant factor in Afghanistan,
besides showcasing how Afghans are
obsessed with linguistic distinctiveness.
The book gives rare insight into
Afghanistans religious minorities and the
growing trend of secret conversion to
Christianity. The book, however, fails to
cover adequately the growing sectarian
schism in Afghan society between
Shias and Sunnis. This part also delves
into history, which is definitely not the
authors forte. Consequently, she talks
about mujahideen turning to foreign
sponsors to match the Red Army, where
as in reality the Western support to them
started much before the Red Army
marched into Afghanistan. This part has
some rare nuggets of information, even
though one might disagree with the
authors assertion that Afghan national-
ism has always been inseparable from
Islam and obvious errors like demand for
burial rights by Afghan Sikhs.
The third part chronicles the ongoing
developments in Afghanistan. It deals
with numerous experiments with democ-
racy and attempts to co-opt Taliban into
the Government. The author criticises the
current Obama policy of pulling out as
against the promises that they were not
going to abandon Afghanistan as they did
after the Soviet withdrawal. She rightfully
treats it as surrender before defeat. The
author says, There was pressure on
Kabul to negotiate with the Taliban so
that the foreign troops could leave with-
out losing face. She elaborates as to how
this premature withdrawal could put into
jeopardy many programmes that have
been going on for socio-economic devel-
opment of Afghans and the people associ-
ated with them. The author also looks
into Afghan politics, elections and its
impact on society; however, her prognosis
appears to be dated, as the narrative stops
soon after the last polls in Afghanistan.
The book does not flow logically and,
therefore, requires efforts to read; there
are some repetitions, including statements
repeated verbatim in different parts.
There are some contradictions as well,
with diametrically opposite statements
being made at different places. The
authors narrative definitely exhibits her
personal biases, but also shows her keen
sense of observation and eye for detail.
This being her maiden effort, one should
see her writing improve in future.
Undoubtedly, the book offers a student of
Afghanistan some rare insights; coming
from someone, who has lived in
Afghanistan and speaks its lingua franca,
these are extremely valuable. The book
is a treasure-trove of one-liners, which
have been used liberally. Despite its flaws,
the book helps the reader understand
Afghanistan and recent developments
in the war-torn country.
l| |1iW| i + l+Ji| Suu|| Ai+| +|+l]|
F
rom a reader driven to
despair by the overwhelm-
ing chaos of urban India,
this book might elicit an
unusual yearning. The
story of Indian cities has been so
distorted by their failures, that to
entertain the notion that the Indian
city can indeed be the cradle of civil-
isation is to overcome our habitual
disgruntlement and concede the
authors basic contention: That the
city could be our ark rather than our
coffin. The book is, therefore, an
evangelising text; it pleads for good
faith, divests us of our blas neglect
of this prized invention, the metrop-
olis, and exhorts us to collectively
reclaim its powers. The author teas-
es us to choose between two dia-
metrically opposed visions of the
city, symbolically named Hobbes-
town and Locke-ville, recalling
those famous thinkers who promot-
ed, respectively, the authoritarian
rule of the omnipresent state and
the free-willing actions of a socially
connected being.
An idle browse through the
authors endnotes will testify to the
impeccable credentials of his sources
and references. As if it were created
in the image of the city that he
admires, his text accommodates
Plato as well as Fukuyama, Engels as
well as De Soto, Le Corbusier as well
as George Simmel, in addition to a
dazzling array of other writers who
have treated the city as a home for
man. These different takes might
suggest that there is nothing more
that combines the chapters of this
book than the authors idiosyncrasy,
making him behave like a bricoleur,
a collector of parts, than one who
offers a fresh view of the urban reali-
ty. However, we can argue that he is
both, a reporter and a thinker, and
quite commendably. His able jour-
nalism pays fitting tribute to the
metropolis: A place that can be loved
and hated in equal measure, a place
to which we have a right and yet it
can deny us access, which gives life
just as easily as it brings ruin.
The disarming proposition in
the title is backed by a stark com-
mitment to a single visionary, Jane
Jacobs, whose book The Death and
Life of Great American Cities, first
published in 1966, provided a new
paradigm for appreciating the
genius of the metropolis. Jacobs
famously challenged the modern
tendency towards totalitarian plan-
ning, the Gods eye perspective that
deludes politicians, bureaucrats and
city planners alike with a false
impression of power. Jacobs coun-
tered this delusional politics with a
humanist and democratic stance: It
is the people, those anonymous,
perambulating, toiling, congregat-
ing, consuming and creative indi-
viduals and communities that are
the city. They activate relationships,
build communities, green our
neighbourhoods and teem our
streets, parks and playgrounds. The
genius of the metropolis is the col-
lective creative genius of its inhabi-
tants. We are social animals and, as
a result, the city is the most natural
place for us to be. Holiss finds that
the city is not a problem but a solu-
tion, and the emerging new tech-
nologies, far from alienating us, are
making us more social.
Holiss forays into the space of
the city only to return time and
again to reflect on what he discov-
ers. Behavioural and political sci-
ences inform his argument for the
people-centric city, as much as
mathematics, probability and sys-
tems theory. The study of anthills
and beehives fascinates him as much
as the application of the travelling
salesman problem, the shared space
experiment, and the broken win-
dows theory, all examples of how
the theoretical engagement with the
city, as an organism, informs the
practical solutions to urban prob-
lems. It is in this back and forth
between the abstract and the real,
between the ballet of the streets
and the scientific analysis of their
patterns and flows, situations and
events, where the genius of the
authors writing is truly exhibited.
But to what avail, one might ask
after reading this book? Is there
hope for these crowded, rapidly
growing organisms on Earth, which
consume so much of the planets
resources as to even alter its most
primordial rhythms and composi-
tions, thereby threatening the sus-
tainability of the man-made world?
To articulate an answer, Holiss
returns to 555 Hudson Street, to that
quiet and very ordinary neighbour-
hood in New York where Jane
Jacobs lived with her family and
took on the challenge of the metrop-
olis. It is New York where his story
begins, and New York where it ends.
Somewhere between the newly built
High-Line Park on the West Side of
lower Manhattan and Jacobss neigh-
bourhood on Hudson Street, the
author recovers his muse.
This is a good read for those
who would like to know why the
world loves Dharavi so much, when
Indians think it is urban blight. In
his meander through archaeology,
philosophy, political science, mathe-
matics, logic, popular culture, encou-
nters with game-changers, conversa-
tions with activists and ruminations
on the future of the world, Holiss
touches upon some basic truths. In
getting cars off the streets and reclai-
ming urban spaces and communal
gardens, in smarter management of
mega-regions and the creative
destruction of decrepit precincts, the
author finds the restoration of the
force that energises metropolitan life:
The relationship of trust between the
public and the Government.
Whether it is the design of
housing estates, the operation of
community kitchens and smart
cities or the handling of land fills
and bus systems, the basic and com-
mon principle that makes cities as
diverse as New York, Lagos,
Copenhagen, Curitiba and Mumbai
work, is this trust. Best described
through the poetic line if the
city is not good for all, it is not good
at all trust is at the heart of
urban society. This is the genius of
the metropolis, a way of life that
mankind has invented in order to
protect a basic instinct.
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F68 80M008
8L8
80shIa rhahta4ah
achette, C399
sunday
magazino
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KI|6, hAS BEEh Sh0RTLSTE0 F0R ThE SAMuEL
J0hhS0h FRZE, 0hE 0F ThE M0ST
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Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
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6000 F08 I00
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T
he world of the central
banker is a repository of
arcane, almost limitless
power, magnified by the fact that
economists rarely agree on the
disease, let alone the cure.
Classic textbook economics sel-
dom works in the real world,
particularly when the central
banker is invested with the mon-
etary policy, and the politician
with the fiscal, legislative/execu-
tive side. And neither is capable
of prescience to the degree
required, no matter how learned.
Most of the paroxysms of
financial suffering, therefore,
inflicted on the populace during
economic crises, are usually the
consequences of the assump-
tions and actions of just two
men, the Reserve Bank
Chairman and the Finance
Minister. And their well-mean-
ing experiments to do no harm
sometimes go horribly wrong.
In central banking, as in
other fields, you need luck. It sus-
tained the legendary Alan
Greenspan through 19 years at
the helm of the US Federal
Reserve, with more or less
untrammelled prosperity during
his watch. His predecessor, the
six-ft-seven-inches tall Paul
Volcker, tamed inflation by chok-
ing off the US economy, rather
like the Subbarao-Rajan effort on-
going here in India.
Others coming after Ben
Bernanke of the US Federal
Reserve, Mervyn King and Jean-
Claude Trichet of the Bank of
England and the European
Central Bank respectively
have been grappling with the
greatest threat to the worlds eco-
nomic stability since 2007. These
latter have prevented a collapse
of a highly connected and glob-
alised financial system with chal-
lenges possibly greater than ever
before encountered.
All the expertise in the world
is essentially inert except as it is
applied. And the central banker
along with the Finance Minister
have the ability by law, to print
money, thereby creating wealth
out of paper and ink, and apply-
ing it to the threats and objectives
they deem appropriate.
The title of this book, The
Alchemists, alludes not so much
to the medieval pursuit of creat-
ing gold out of base metals, but to
this sure-shot conjuring up of
wealth. But it was not always so.
Modern banking began with
holding reserves of Copper in
Sweden. Huge, heavy plates of the
metal were kept in vaults. Then
there was gold, held in reserves in
the Bank of England and France
and elsewhere. And right up to
Richard Nixons time in the 1970s,
you could give in your dollars and
receive a fixed, not variable,
amount of gold, till it was noticed
the paper dollar had begun to fall
in value compared to the gold.
And then finally, the world
moved on to backing its paper
money with the perceived
strength of the economy and the
credibility of its Government,
albeit along with some gold. There
were difficulties to understand
exchange control mechanisms
between currencies, but anything
of fixed value that began to falter
made speculators short it.
This meant borrowing money
to be settled or paid for later, at
the estimated lower price, thereby
making a tidy profit for the short-
seller if he got his speculation
right. It forced currencies to
float against a designated bas-
ket of currencies in the main, so
that they could go up and down
in value in tandem with the state
of their economies.
This book is a compelling
read for the reasonably educated,
a masterful romp through the
fears, foibles and prejudices of
central bankers and their benefi-
ciaries, their assumptions and
actions, the causes and effects
obtained, taken almost from the
beginning of the modern mone-
tary system to date.
Neil Irwin, the young author,
is a Washington Post columnist,
and from 2007 to 2012 he covered
the global financial crisis, reces-
sion and its aftermath. Irwin has
an MBA from Columbia
University where he was a
Knight-Bagehot Fellow in
Economics and Business
Journalism. But this book recom-
mends itself for being devoid of
jargon. It has made a difficult
subject fascinating, and is deliv-
ered with the narrative style of a
reporter telling an engaging story.
The dilemma of the central
banker runs along two mainline
tracks: In a time when the econo-
my is in trouble, the Central Bank
can raise interest rates, thus tight-
ening the money supply, slowing
growth, and hopefully cutting
inflation. Or, it could lower inter-
est rates and encourage growth
and risk a measure of inflation.
Other variations in vogue include
stimulus such as Bernankes
Quantitative Easing, meaning
issuing bonds for billions of dol-
lars a month to provide liquidity.
But great historical events like
hyperinflation that occurred in
post-World War Germany, both
times, and the Great Depression
of the 1930s, in the US, tell us
that, at extremes, When Central
Bankers fail, so do the societies
they serve.
However, as Irwin also states,
the processes are evolving and
central bankers everywhere do
get better at their craft, learning
from their predecessors. They can
see better now and contribute
substantially towards the lofty and
far-reaching civilisational objec-
tive of creating a Just and pros-
perous society.
l| |1iW| i +| |||p||u| +|J
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IF l0FMI8I8
8eII IrWIa
achette, C599
Ias0Iveat 0r IIIIg0I47
heil rwin's book exlores lhe secrel world o
cenlral bankers, says 0AuTAM MuKhERJEE
Ieo hoIIis says riIies are good Ior us. 8uI Indian riIies are so messy
IhaI Io enIerIain Ihe genius oI Ihe meIropoIis is Io overrome our
habiIuaI disronIenI, WriIes 1kkh 8hkh
0esile ils laws, lhe book hels us undersland Aghanislan beller, says AL0K BAhSAL
Picture not truly erfect
A CASE FOR
CTES
A CASE FOR
CTES
0iscussion dominales
everylhing as amily is al lhe
eicenlre o an energy shil.
The assing o a lorch, lhe
demand or more righls,
enlry o new voices and new
roles or lhe exisling layers,
your lie is all sel lo change.
You slrive lo bring eace and
overcome discord; you are
also ready lo lake a backseal
and even dislay charily
lowards hoslile or selish
layers. A roud erson is
won back wilh devolion. A
suericial romance inhibils
your rogress. You shake o
someone who has a
ersonal agenda lo lalch on.
Teenagers land inlo lroubled
silualions, rovocalive
scenarios. A lainled source
o income lands you in hol
waler wilh aulhorilies.
0iabeles, weighl gain and
heredilary ailmenls o u.
8urprise oI Ihe Week Some
one shows you a iclure
erecl lieslyle bul hides a
ew unsavory realilies
Tip oI Ihe Week Seek neulral
lhirdarly advice beore
launching any rojecl
Iurky number G
Iurky roIour Lolus ink and
while
8esI day Friday
Iurky gem Rose quarl/
IdeaI Iood Rose k|ccr
iII Io give Ferume, itr
8esI Iime G m lo 1O m
MediIaIion aid Anceslor
worshi, Fitra Lcs|a
removal puja
8IF8
March 21-April 20
Fushed againsl lhe wall, you
are lorn belween living u lo
eole's execlalions and
unleashing a ighl back lo
lhe ullesl. Sage sense
revails and you ride over a
slorm wilhoul crumbling
under ressure. A
roessional lwisl has you
lemorarily marginalised and
you bide alienlly lill a slorm
blows over. Rivals ail lo
deliver, ulling you back in
lhe hol seal. hew
relalionshis don'l come
wilh a blank age. You are
drawn lo a new love bul you
musl channel lhe associalion
inlo a osilive one inslead o
ulling your commilmenls in
lhe line o ire. Makeovers
are an inslanl hil; you are
maniacal in your desire lo
redecorale remises or
revam a wardrobe. 0ld
remillances inally arrive
wilh lhe osilive inlervenlion
o a riend. Shoulder ains
are exacerbaled.
8urprise oI Ihe Week A child
is elulanl or eels derived
Tip oI Ihe Week Freare or
aeasemenl o egos
Iurky number:18
Iurky roIour Maroon
8esI day Tuesday
Iurky gem FuJraks|a
IdeaI Iood Beelrool, red bell
eer salad
iII Io give woolen aarel
8esI Iime G m lo O m
MediIaIion aid Buddhisl
scrilure Ma|aparinirvana
5utra
There is no shorlcul lo
slilling lhe mind.
Everylhing you discover
requires raclice and
alience. You are lhrown
inlo a new cycle lhal
exlracls your energies. A
new associalion goes rom
'give and lake' lo 'lake and
lake'. From sihoning o
credil, exhausling your
resources and goodwill lo
laing inlo your circle o
inluence, you exlend
yoursel willingly lill you
realise midway lhal you are
being shorlchanged. urban
legends aboul eole
dislracl you rom meeling
roessional largels and an
oorlunily is missed.
Some all head over heels
in love and go rom seed
daling lo marriage. Aslhma
and bronchial ailmenls
calch you unreared.
8urprise oI Ihe Week
Frovocalive silualions come
and go nalurally i you avoid
gelling o on lhe wrong ool
Tip oI Ihe Week Choose your
balllegrounds wisely; lhe
wins are limiled and
numbered
Iurky number 2
Iurky roIour Fale green
8esI day Monday
Iurky gem Jade
IdeaI Iood Sinach and
cheese casserole
iII Io give Fashion wear
8esI Iime 2 m lo 8 m
MediIaIion aid Luk|||anjini
5a|i|
86III8I08
Nov 23-Dec 23
0iversily lands al your door
bringing you enriching
exeriences careerwise; you
lravel, exlore new ields,
exand business in
mullicullural laces and even
make a loehold in a sociely
lhal is markedly divisive. The
lhrill o being in lhe swim o
lhings has you lake a ew
risks. You exlend an olive
branch even as you sense a
change in leadershi. Feole
who evoked anlialhy in you
lurn around and do you a
good. Youngslers are
accidenlrone and should
be away rom rovocalive
silualions or behind lhe
wheel. Communily work,
cullural conlribulions and
social service kee you busy.
Liligalion has mixed resulls
and lands you in a never
ending hoo o slress. A
ormer lroublemaker seeks
orgiveness.
8urprise oI Ihe Week Feole
make you run around lhem
wilh emly romises
Tip oI Ihe Week mrove
communicalions and seek
clarily
Iurky number O
Iurky roIour Sleel grey
8esI day Tuesday
Iurky gem Agale
IdeaI Iood Smoked cheese
or grilled lou
iII Io give Bron/e arlwork
8esI Iime O m lo midnighl
MediIaIion aid The 0alai
Lama; Ancicnt WisJcm
McJcrn Wcr|J
You kee your underslan
ding o lhe world and eole
in searale comarlmenls.
wilh unily lorn asunder in
mosl lhings, you exerience
lhe changes you anliciale.
Fissures, breakus, arlings
are nol all sorrow, bul bring
a sense o relie as you
inally are rid o deadwood
rom your lie. A relalionshi
meanders lhrough lhe
boondocks and ends
wilhoul wrecking homes as
engagemenls or belrolhals
are in or a relhink. hew
career oorlunilies have
you cul lhe lasl remaining
cord wilh lhe asl. Secrels
are unravelled and
aeclionale souls come lo
your rescue al every lurn. A
loan is aid in ull or waived
o; eilher way you are ree
o a huge menlal burden. l's
nol lhe week or surgeries.
8urprise oI Ihe Week
An old associalion runs
oul o sleam and reaches
a dead end
Tip oI Ihe Week Remember
lhe good in eole and
don'l be lhe one lo deliver
low blows
Iurky number 24
Iurky roIour Faslel green
and ink
8esI day Friday
Iurky gem Tourmaline
IdeaI Iood Fruil galeau
iII Io give Synlhelics,
acrylic aarel
8esI Iime G m lo midnighl
MediIaIion aid La|ita 5tctra
0n a roll roessionally,
you grab oorlunilies
wilh bolh hands. From
overseas oslings lo ride
o lace aoinlmenls,
enlry level or crowning
glories, il's all yours or
lhe laking. Finances break
oul o lhe chains and allow
you lo ly ree or lhe irsl
lime in years. You draw
lhe ire o amily by
unconvenlional slance,
career or lieslyle choices.
hew energies invade
relalionshis. 0ualily o
relalionshis is more
imorlanl lhan lheir legal
slalus, and you are
reared lo sil il oul while
one arlner gels reedom.
hew machinery,
aulomobiles and home
are on lhe cards. high
blood ressure and
choleslerol make you
lweak your diel.
8urprise oI Ihe Week
Banking errors cause some
o you lo miss a hearlbeal
Tip oI Ihe Week 0ro your
rejudices and mend
ences wilh someone al
work or in amily
Iurky number 5
Iurky roIour Lime green
8esI day wednesday
Iurky gem Feridol
IdeaI Iood Lemon larls
iII Io give
Communicalion devices
8esI Iime 5 m lo 8 m
MediIaIion aid Conucius's
0oclrine o lhe Mean
Back in lhe saddle, you are
wellreared lo lake eole
on. hever lhe one lo shy
away rom a moral or elhical
slance, you ind yoursel
deending your ersonal
J|arma, your oinls o view
or roessional and ersonal
decisions. You shake o
deendence on riends or
owerul layers. Tough
leachings o lhe asl
become a arl o you.
Family mallers have you
inleracl wilh unsavory
elemenls. Malrimonial
alliances are ul o as you
make vilal discoveries.
Froessionals are given lheir
due and inlegrily o oullook
is rewarded. A lwoaced
erson comes calling.
hosilalily is wasled on an
ingrale. Eye surgeries go
awry; live wilh momenlary
discomorl.
8urprise oI Ihe Week An
enemy makes a vilal error
and exoses his/her lans
Tip oI Ihe Week Lislen
more lhan you seak
Iurky number O
Iurky roIour Coer ink
8esI day Tuesday
Iurky gem Coral
IdeaI Iood Fine nuls,
loasled mulligrain rolls
iII Io give owl molis in
arlwork or ornamenls
8esI Iime O am lo 8 m
MediIaIion aid Minerva
0oddess o lhe skills, war
and slralegy and leader o
lhe hunl
0ils, riddles and enigmas
arrive lhis week. hard work
is lauded and a ladder lo lhe
slars is all bul ready. Keeing
u lhe levels o accomlish
menl is onerous and you
musl do il alone. Celebra
lions cul inlo work lime and
amily commilmenls have
you lorn belween giving your
besl on an already ressured
mind. You choose your own
way orward in unknown
ields and don'l lel bad
exeriences hinder new
working alliances wilh old
adversaries. Feole admire
you or shedding selily.
Minor selishness saves lhe
day as you narrowly averl a
misha. Travel over waler is
a harrowing exerience.
hormonal imbalances are
likely. Someone sends mixed
signals in love.
8urprise oI Ihe Week Sleer
clear o walking/driving near
limsy or oor conslruclions
Tip oI Ihe Week Ta inlo
your inner resources; don'l
execl eole lo conslanlly
bail you oul o roblems
Iurky number 7
Iurky roIour Sky blue
8esI day Monday
Iurky gem Blue chalcedony,
earls
IdeaI Iood Milkshakes, ku|fi
iII Io give Fine china,
ollery
8esI Iime 7a m lo 11 am
MediIaIion aid Mohammed
Taqi usmani ediled FaJiant
Fraycrs
You gear u or lhe long
haul, and you are laken oul
o your comorl /one. A
lighlroe walk awails you al
work as you bring issured
grous logelher, lry lo
hammer a deal, broker a
eace. wellwishers can
muddy lhe walers by
over/ealous aclions and you
have lo relegale lhem or
dro lhem oul o lhe iclure
allogelher. Bosses are ull o
moribund mindsels making
change a virlual
imossibilily. Family mallers
loo ollow rigid rules,
uncomromising slances. A
useul or successul
relalionshi alls lo lhe
machinalions o olhers. You
choose harmony over being
roved righl, and win back
lhe love o eslranged
children. Slis, knee injuries
and rheumalism are likely.
8urprise oI Ihe Week A ighl
or juslice or gender equalily
gels lhwarled by unsavoury
elemenls
Tip oI Ihe Week Look beyond
deliberale moves or
osluring; eole lay a
double game
Iurky number 8
Iurky roIour Lemon yellow
8esI day Thursday
Iurky gem Yellow sahire
IdeaI Iood Saron rice
iII Io give Eyewear, books
8esI Iime hoon lo 8 m
MediIaIion aid Sun Buer
12lh cenlury Taoisl Sage on
in and an
Slriving lo carve a niche,
orge an idenlily or build a
brand lhal is unique and all
your own, lhe week lakes you
on a long road lo claiming
indeendence. From career
shils, enlrereneurshi and
orays inlo lhe world o
business, you are mindul o
your dulies and yel don'l
allow amily mallers lo bog
you down. Feole resorl lo
blackmail lo have lheir way.
nlererence rom oulsiders is
slaged lo make advice seem
real and lausible. Mercurial
inluences have you go
againsl lhe lide, gel asl
rules, red lae and rocedure
and even lake a ew liberlies.
From sleallh warare lo
erreling inormalion lo
gelling lhings by hook or
crook, you are silenl and
sureooled. A doublecross
awails someone. EhT
lroubles awail some.
8urprise oI Ihe Week You
lay a clever game
Tip oI Ihe Week Be caulious;
wins on alse relexls are losl
as easily as lhey come
Iurky number 15
Iurky roIour Crimson and
lum
8esI day Friday
Iurky gem hessonile and
amelhysl
IdeaI Iood Coee, runes
iII Io give 0ark chocolales
8esI Iime 8 m lo Gm
MediIaIion aid 5aa| rccp o
Lord Krishna; lhe 5|aavaJ
Furana
A chocabloc week,
roessional commilmenls
lhrive and you reare lo
rake in roil and laurels.
Your social calendar is
bu//ing like never beore.
Errors sli asl your
discerning eye, and your
image lakes a knock wilh
lhings lhal could have been
easily avoided. Soon you ix
your riorilies and are back
in lhe game. A war o words
broughl on by a generalion
divide has male ego in lhe
amily soar. Sirilual
rereshmenl arrives in lhe
orm o laking a break rom
slress and keeing your
cool. Youngslers come oul
o ugly silualions by nol
laying inlo lhe hands o
miscreanls. women are
likely lo encounler
harassmenl during lravel
midweek. Skin aliclions and
a slubborn rash clear u.
8urprise oI Ihe Week
Accomlishmenls or ailings
are broughl in lhe ublic
domain
Tip oI Ihe Week Freare or
someone slealing a march
on you in a ri/e rojecl
Iurky number 1G
Iurky roIour Sea green
8esI day Thursday
Iurky gem |avratna
IdeaI Iood Chickea salads
iII Io give herbal roducls
8esI Iime 4 m lo 7 m
MediIaIion aid soolhing
inslrumenlal music, hara
simha orm o Lord vishnu
You lough a lonely urrow;
be il ulling oul o
arlnershis, chaolic
business deals, or
relalionshis lhal have
oullived lheir ulilily. Taking
your share o money, roil
or al limes laking nolhing al
all, you bow oul o equalions
lhal bring ain. You
dislinguish belween
aloneness, solilude and
loneliness as nolhing is
lhrusl uon you bul are all
mallers o ree will and
choice. 0esile a lemorary
vacuum in ersonal saces
due lo searalion rom loved
ones or amily, you are
hay and olimislic or lhe
ulure. From lravel lo lilerary
ursuils, sirilual ursuils or
career goals, you ind
ulillmenl. Youngslers
grale wilh an unnecessary
ineriorily comlex in
handling comelilive
examinalions or sorls.
8urprise oI Ihe Week Many
answers arrive lhal salisy
your soul
Tip oI Ihe Week Find
meaning in your everyday
lasks and lurn lhem inlo
lools o healing
Iurky number 4
Iurky roIour Saron
8esI day Monday
Iurky gem Carnelian
IdeaI Iood Brownies, eggs
iII Io give Shawls, rugs
8esI Iime 4 m lo 11 m
MediIaIion aid Frayers o Sl
Augusline
lF0
July 23-August 23
I0808
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YOURE339AHEAD
MEEhAKSh RAh
W
e all wish to have a
smooth run in life. That
calls for conducting
appropriately in life, besides
behaving well with those around,
the stage for which is set by our
minds. For, mind drives all con-
ducts on our part. What we do in
real terms are first visualised and
articulated in our minds before
being put into action. It needs no
elaboration that if ever our minds
fail to visualise our initiatives and
responses in the right perspective,
we will pick up inappropriate
leads, and with obvious implica-
tions. Naturally, that calls for the
mind to be in proper shape so
that it could come out with its
optimum best, but for which we
become due for failures, frustra-
tion, pains and sufferings.
Remember, mind has its own
chemistry quite in contrast with
our physical-self. So far as our
physical working is concerned,
the more the effort the better
would be the result thereof. On
the contrary, more relaxed the
mind is, more creative and pro-
ductive it becomes. For, it then
spontaneously comes out with its
intelligent best. The thought
process then remains easy, simple,
free from any preconditioning
whatsoever, and worth dispas-
sionately pick up the most appro-
priate leads.
The paradox, however, is that
invariably, we all are driven by a
complicated thought process; so
much so that even simple truths
go ignored. As a consequence, we
keep moving in circles with no
end result in sight, often loading
ourselves with unwanted prob-
lems. The reason: Our precondi-
tioned mind, coming as it may as
a carryover from the past, nar-
rows down our vision. Naturally,
what remains outside the
precincts of our self-belief world,
goes unnoticed. Ostensibly, truth
often goes ignored, and with
obvious consequences.
It, therefore, becomes incum-
bent upon us to watch our mind-
trends, identify and acknowledge
the loose ends, and then fix them
through conscious efforts. The
irony is that our ego often does
not allow us to reach out the
inner realm of mind to dispas-
sionately figure out our infirmi-
ties. Here, astrology can offer the
right lead, for it knows no bias.
Let us now see how the com-
plicated thought process of an
otherwise well-educated man has
been responsible for vitiating his
marital life. And, instead of iden-
tifying the underlying truths and
correcting them, he has been
unsuccessfully playing all tricks in
his hand to tame his better half.
The most interesting part of this
man is that he himself has a fair
knowledge of astrology. But
instead of trying to figure out the
real reason behind his problem,
he is busy identifying the right
time slot that would be suited to
tame his partner. Let us look at
the astrological pointers.
The Sun is placed adverse to
the planet of limitation Saturn,
Uranus, mind-signifying Moon,
emotionally-oriented Venus, and
wisdom-indicator Jupiter. The
implication is that he has a condi-
tioned mind, stuck to his self-
defined whims and fancies. He
has a negative mindset that habit-
ually keeps grudging and grum-
bling and finding fault of others,
and would not care for others
sensibilities and concerns. He has
a swaggering ego, not open to lis-
tening and counsel. He is judge-
mental, temperamental,and
unconventional, someone who
defies established societal norms
at will as a matter of right. He is
emotionally volatile. He is too
sensitive, and gets stuck even over
trivial issues. Moon in the sign
Cancer, placed opposite Venus
accounts for his unpredictable
mood-swings. On top of that, the
intelligence-signifying Mercury is
conjunct headless Ketu, and also
placed adverse to Mars. This
accounts for his restless mind,
mindlessly chasing his make-
believe fictional ideas. And the
result is there for all to see. I wish
he wakes up even now and tries
to expand his vision; he will get
back his lost happiness.
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ASTROBC@4
BhARAT BhuShAh FA0MA0E0
When do I get married?
Vasudha Dawar
You are likely to get married any time
within a year from now.
Is there any chance to get a job in near
future?
Shilpi
Time is expected to turn to your advan-
tage by the middle of 2014.
When will my marital problem get
over?
Virabhadra
It is possible only when you temper
down your ego. You must always
remember that the world does not
move to your asking.
I am going through a tough time at
work. When will the situation
improve?
Anirudh
Hopefully, things should improve from
the second week of November.
READERS?C3@73A
sunday
magazino
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Now Dolhi, Ootobor 6, 2013
Jlinl simle, remain lay