Better to do through Government--They never go to Jail

Better to do through  Government--They never go to Jail

Audio books at World Book Fair-2012

NEW DELHI: No time to read? No worries you can always ‘listen’ to your favourite book while cooking, jogging, driving or even when out buying groceries, thanks to a range of audio books that have been available in the country for some time now. Audio versions of about hundred fi ction and nonfi ction books have been featured as part of the ongoing World Book fair 2012 by audio book brand Reado. From “Peter Pan” to “Jungle Book” and subjects ranging from waistline reduction to confi dence boosting, there is much to choose for “book-listeners”. The 100 titles available range from children stories, popular contemporary fi ction and classics, to health, self-help and books on business. Reado’s CEO & Co- Founder Sumit Suneja says the idea to bring these audio books came from the growing need to cater to that section of society which is moving in the fast lane and has very little time to read books. “I know so many people in my life who do not have the time in their lives to read books but they still want to gain knowledge. People’s lifestyles have become very busy. I have been one of them. For seven years I have been bringing audio books from America and listening to them. I wanted the same luxury to be available in India and that’s when we decided to initiate a venture in audio books here,” says Suneja. Audio books, that are pegged at USD 7 billion global is still in its infancy in India and has been estimated to grow, are easily downloadable on mobile phones, MP3 players, Ipad, Iphone, Android and other tablet devices, making it a convenient experience for hi-tech book-lovers. Audio booths available at the stall have been attracting curious visitors at the Book fair. Suneja describes the response at the fair as overwhelming and added that there is a great potential for audio-books in the Indian market. “We have received stupendous response. We took a small booth but it seems we should have taken one that is three times bigger. The interest is humongous. All phones are now compatible, no additional devices are required, and your time is well spent while doing other activities. It’s the right time for audio books lifestyle,” says Suneja. The audio books stall has been a big hit with children. 11-year-old Zenab Zaidi’s smile remains fi xed as she listens to an animated voice narrating crimes and mysteries being solved by the enigmatic fi ctitious detective Sherlock Holmes. “I really liked it; it’s like listening to stories like we listen to music. It was really fun,” says Zaidi. However, these audio books have not been able to impress all. Hyderabad-based mathematician V Anand Krishna says such books would ruin children’s vocabulary and grammar. “After book culture, it was the visual culture. Now it is the listening culture. But book culture is the best. You have to read the books and then only you will learn and improve your vocabulary. Listening is secondary, reading is primary,” says Krishna. In order to convert the books into audio formats, Reado has partnered with several publishing houses including Penguin, Hachette, Harvard Business Review and Brilliance. The audio books are available at prices ranging between Rs 299 and Rs 599.

Don’t support Lanka during voting on UN Resolution

Those involved in war crimes and genocide of Tamils in SriLanka should be brought to book as stated by the UN panel report and the Indian government should not support Sri Lanka when the resolution at the UN Human Rights Convention was put to vote. - DMK President M Karunanidhi reiterated that

After NCTC, Nitish opposes RPF Act

BHUBENESWAR: After opposing the decision of the Union government to have National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) bypassing the state governments, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today opposed another move of the Centre to amend the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Act 1957. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, copies of which were released to the press here, Patnaik said the proposed amendment of the Act was in confl ict with article 246 of the Constitution of India and a clear infringement on the powers of the state. The chief minister said the Act which had already been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Law and Justice, was against the federal structure of the Constitution. The ministry of Railways, Patnaik said, should be asked not to proceed further with the matter as the public order and police are state subjects and taking up any amendment on the subject under entry 22, 30, 93 of the Union list and entry 2 of the concurrent list without consulting the state government was a clear infringement of the powers of the state. ‘I am constrained to point out that the Centre is bent upon taking one step after another that are in confl ict with the federal structure of the country and against the interest of the people of the country,’ Patnaik said. Patnaik has joined his counterparts in non-Congress ruled states in vehemently opposing the powers delegated to the proposed NCTC, describing the action of the Union government as clear infringement of the federal structure of the state. The issue snowballed into a major controversy with chief ministers of ten states opposing the NCTC, forcing the Centre to postpone its notifi cation to March 1 and decided to hold consultation with state Chief Secretaries and Director General of Police on the matter. Raising his voice again on the proposed amendment in the RPF Act 1957, the Odisha chief minister further said the proposed amendment seeks to provide powers to the police offi cer and RPF personnel. This was a violation of the provisions of the Indian Police Act 1861. Patnaik said the justifi cation being advanced by the Ministry of railways for conferring powers of police offi cer and RPF personnel so that they could conduct investigation and make arrest was not at all convincing. The chief minister said railway tracks are not outside the jurisdiction of the state through which they run and similar arguments could be put forth by other establishments such as the CISF who were in charge of airports and other industrial undertakings in the state. Patnaik has also communicated his strong objection to the RPF Act 1957 to the Minister of Railways.

Fishermen Killing: Shipping Co asked to submit bank guarantee

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday ordered the Italian Shipping company, whose guards were allegedly involved in the killing of two Indian fi shermen off Alappuzha coast on February15, last to submit a bank guarantee of Rs three crore. The Division bench comprising Justices Thotathil BRadhakrishnan and C T Ravikumar ordered it while considering a petition fi led by the families of two fi shermen who were killed allegedly by two Italian Marines complaining of inadequacy of the bank guarantee amount directed by a single bench. The court also said that the Italian oil tanker M V EnricaLexie, which was berthed at the oil terminal here after the incident, could leave the port after remitting the amount in a bank or giving a DD to High Court Director General. However, the court said that the order was applicable only to the two petitions fi led by the families of the fi shermen. Though earlier in the morning while considering the petition, the court had asked the owner of Vassal and the families of the two fi shermen marines whether they were willing for an out of court settlement for determining the compensation, it was failed. In its oral observation the court also wanted to know who had ordered the fi ring and who was in-charge of the marines who were providing security to the vessel. The Division Bench also directed that the ship, now berthed in Kochi, should not leave till a decision was taken on the issue of compensation. The marines Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Gironi had been arrested and charged with murder for allegedly shooting the two fi shermen dead on February 15 off Alappuzha coast. The court also observed that there was no lapse on the part of the government action in the incident of killing the two fi shermen and the investigation was going on satisfactorily. The court also directed to fi le affi davit with details of the case in connection with the incident of killing, registered at Italy by Thursday. While Doramma wife of Valentine Jalastine had sought a compensation of Rs 1 crore, the sisters of Ajeesh Binki, another fi sherman had approached the High Court for Rs 2 crore reliefs. The owner of the fi shing boat, Freddy has also sought Rs 75lakh compensation for the damage caused to his boat. The single Judge had ordered the ship owner to submit a bank guarantee of Rs 25 Lakh each for the families of the two killed and Rs ten Lakh for the damage caused to the boat.

Strike has little impact in Tamilnadu

CHENNAI: The general strike called by the Central Trade Unions against the ‘anti-people and anti-labour policies of the UPA Government’ did not evoke much response with state transport corporation buses plying normally and offi ces registering more or less usual attendance. Banking services were however hit; Auto rickshaws plied normally though some of them were attacked by trade union activists. However, such incidents were few and far in between. Meanwhile, banking services were affected in Tamil Nadu as major trade union wings participated in the nationwide strike call pressing for various demands. According to sources, more than eight lakh bank employees took part in the strike all over India. Offi ces of BSNL too remained without any activity as its employees took part in the strike, reports said. A report from Tiruchirapalli said banking and industrial activities were severely affected in Tiruchirapalli, Karur, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam Districts of Tamil Nadu as most of the employees kept away from work. Work in the public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) here was almost paralysed as most of the BHEL workers stayed away from fi rst shift onwards. Similarly, the defencecontrolled OFT and HAPP units functioned with only skeleton number of employees that too those meant for essential services, according to offi cial sources. All incoming and outgoing fl ights operated from here as usual, the sources added. All the essential services like milk and vegetables, bus services were maintained as usual. Since the ruling AIADMK-affi liated Anna Thozhir Sanga Peravai stayed away from the strike, most of the buses of the Tamil Nadu State transport Corporation operated as usual. The employees of various banks and the public sector insurance companies belonging to various trade unions staged slogan shouting demonstration in front of their respective offi ces across the central parts of Tamil Nadu. The workers of the BHEL, OFT and HAPP were also staged similar demonstrations in front of their factory gates. Meanwhile, the members of various trade unions including BMS-INTUCAITUC- HMS-CITU-AIUTUC- AICCTU- TUCCUTUC- LPF and SEWAstaged a joint dharna near Marakkadai in the city and expressed their solidarity towards the nationwide strike. AIBEA General Secretary C H Venkatachalam told UNI over phone that the AIBEA would support the demands of Trade Unions like taking concrete measures to contain price rise and those for linkage of employment protection with the concession/incentive package offered to the entrepreneurs. A report from Coimbatore said the nationwide bandh called by various trade unions and worker organisations evoked poor response today in this western part of Tamil Nadu. Normal life was not affected in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Nilgiris and Erode Districts. Government buses were plying and only few autos were off the road. In this district, government buses were plying as usual and only few Industries were affected due to absence of workers. Most of the nationalised banks were working with only skeleton staff. Tirupur District, which has major hosiery units, was not affected much. In Erode and Nilgiris Districts also, there was not much response to the strike call. Police said no untoward incident was reported so far and police has made elaborate security arrangements in all the important points to prevent any such incident.

US having” very intense and blunt” talks with India, China on Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States is having “very intense and very blunt” conversations with India, China and Turkey on reducing their dependence on Iranian oil, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has told lawmakers. Hillary, testifying before a Congressional committee yesterday, said the US is asking these countries to take specifi c measures that would reduce their dependence on Iranian oil adding. But, without naming one, she did acknowledge that this would be a bit tough for some countries. “With respect to China and Turkey and India, we’ve had very intense and very blunt conversations with each of those countries. I think that there are a number of steps that we are pointing out to them that we believe they can and should make,” Hillary said while responding to questions from Senator Robert Menendez. “In a number of cases, both on their government side and on their business side, they are taking actions that go further and deeper than perhaps their public statements might lead you to believe,” Hillary said. “We are going to continue to keep an absolute foot on the pedal in terms of our accelerated, aggressive outreach to them. And they are looking for ways to make up the lost revenues, the lost crude oil,” she said. Claiming that oil defi cit is a diffi culty for several other countries, Hillary said US has come up with lots of suggestions that would help these countries in resolving the crisis. “Our expectation and the direction we are giving to countries is that we do expect to see signifi cant reductions. I am pleased to report, Senator, that we’ve been aggressively reaching out to and working with countries to assist them in being able to make such signifi cant reductions,” Hillary said. Earlier in the day, testifying before the State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hillary told Senators the US is aggressively pursuing sanctions against Iran. “We are implementing the new Iran sanctions aggressively. The (US) President issued an executive order on February 6th that blocks assets under US jurisdiction of all Iranian banks; also makes it clear that both the Departments of Treasury and State are expected to enforce the sanctions absolutely,” she said. “We have been travelling the world, high-level teams from Treasury, Energy and State, to explain what the sanctions are to counterparts around the world. We’re very frank in these discussions about the requirements of US law,” the US leader said. Meanwhile, a broad range of countries are making decisions to reduce their dependence on Iranian crude, unwind their dealings with the central bank of Iran, she said. “We are also pushing very hard to make it clear that we’ll help countries that have a signifi cant dependence on Iranian crude to try to fi nd alternatives. It is something that they have to look for. They can’t just stop cold turkey and not have anything fuelling their economies,” Hillary said. While referring to the steps being taken by the European Union and Japan, the Secretary of State said that some of the major oil producers have set forth their willingness to try to make up the difference. “We’ve seen increasing diffi culty by Iran in importing and exporting products. They cannot purchase third-party liability coverage for their vessels. So we’ve stopped them from being insured, which means they can’t travel,” she said. Hillary added that the Japan, which lost much of their electricity production because of the earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown, had reduced their imports from Iran in the range of 15 to 20 per cent since last year and is looking for new suppliers.

Case registered against 4 NGOs fueling Kudankulam agitators

CHENNAI/DELHI: Tightening the noose on those opposing the Kudankulam nuclear project, the government has registered cases against four NGOs for allegedly diverting funds to fuel protests and deported a German national for assisting the agitators. “Cases have been registered against four NGOs for violation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act,” Union Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters here. The action came days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had stated that nongovernmental organisations have received support from abroad for leading protests against the much- awaited nuclear power plant. Bank accounts of the four NGOs have been frozen after an inquiry conducted by the Home Ministry reportedly found them diverting funds meant for charity to fuel the protests. The cases were registered by the Crime Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and the CBI. Earlier, a German national was picked up by Tamil Nadu Police in Nagercoil for allegedly assisting the protests and deported him in the wee hours today. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49), against whom a ‘look-out notice’ was issued by the Home Ministry, was detained by the police monitoring the anti-KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies. Hermann arrived in India on a tourist visa and had been helping the protesters in contravention of the visa rules which invited the ‘look-out notice’. “He had no business to be in Nagercoil. He had violated all the visa rules and hence we have deported him,” a senior offi cial said. Sonnteg Reiner Hermann (49) was detained last night in Nagercoil by a section of Q branch police offi - cials monitoring the anti- KNPP protests after they were alerted by central intelligence agencies, police sources said in Chennai.

Govt committed to clarity, regulatory stability in Telecom sector: Sibal

NEW DELHI: Union Communications and IT Minister Kapil Sibal has said the present crisis being faced by India’s telecom sector is also a moment of opportunity as the government stands committed to providing clarity and regulatory stability to the industry. Delivering a keynote address at the ongoing telecom sector GSMA Leadership Summit 2012 in Barcelona, Spain on Monday, Sibal said long-term measures such as National Telecom Policy, National IT Policy and National Electronic and Manufacturing Policy would delineate the telecom sector from uncertainties, paving way for long-term investments. The Minister said India plans to move towards technology neutral unifi ed licence, delinked from spectrum in order to exploit the benefi ts of convergence. Sibal said India is aiming at a one nation -- one licence, mobile number portability, free roaming regime, across services and service areas. Further, an entity can hold maximum 25 per cent of the allotted spectrum. He said the rules have been liberalised allowing M and A between two fi rms together controlling 35 per cent of market share, which can go up to 60 per cent market share, on case-tocase basis. Sibal said all key stake holders -- industry, regulator and political class -- need to work together to benefi t consumers, empower poor and restore viability of industry. Pointing out that no business can afford to ignore India’s 400 million strong up to 14 years youngsters -- more than population of the US or Europe -- who are born and brought up in information communications technology age, the Minister said India is already networking its 800 universities and 24,000 colleges through optical fi bre cable to empower its youth. Sibal pointed out that although rural teledensity has risen from 1.73 per cent to 37.48 per cent over the past fi ve years, a large unsaturated rural market consisting of 2/3rd of the country’s population remains untapped by Telecom operators. While European markets have reached saturation with consumers demanding superior quality of products and service, Indian consumer market is far more diverse and multi-layered, comprising not only the price sensitive, semi-literate poor class but also the rich intellectual class, which demands high quality of products and services.

Jaya opposes railways amendment of RPF Act, writes to Manmohan

CHENNAI: Describing the proposal to amend the Railway Protection Force (RPF) Act as “another attempt by the Centre to take away the rights of the powers of states”, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to instruct Railway Ministry not to proceed with the move. “I, request you to issue suitable instructions to the Ministry of Railways not to proceed with the proposed amendment to the Railway Protection Act, 1957,” she said in a letter addressed to Singh. The proposal was “yet another blatant attempt by the government to usurp the powers of the states,” she said, adding, “public order and police are state subjects and proposing an amendment with regard to these is clearly an attempt to encroach upon the powers of the states. “... It would be lethal to the federal structure of the nation,” she said. Noting that the proposed amendment was seeking to provide powers of a police offi cer to a RPF personnel, Jayalalithaa, in her letter said, “... It is violative of the provisions of the Indian Police Act - 1861.” The Government Railway Police (GRP) is “illconceived”, she said, adding the GRP serves as a ‘link between RPF and the District Police’. “In the absence of his wing (GRP), coordination between RPF and the state police will suffer,” she pointed out. “The Government Railway Police deals with not only cases of theft but also death on railway tracks. Transferring these cases to the district police will place a heavy burden on the district police. Further, the States will lose the funding now given for the GRP...,” Jayalalithaa said. She warned that if the trend of making railway stations and trains exclusive to RPF personnel, “a time may come when the district police may be barred from entering Railway Stations for making the arrest of accused wanted in local police cases”.

Economic growth slows down to 6.1% in Q3; lowest in 2 years

NEW DELHI: India’s economic growth rate slipped to 6.1 percent in the third quarter this fi scal, lowest in more than 2 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining and farm sectors. The Gross domestic product (GDP) growth the in third quarter (October- December) last fi scal was 8.3 percent, as per the latest data released by the government on Wednesday. GDP in April-December period also moderated to 6.9 percent from 8.1 percent in the fi rst nine months of 2010-11. During the quarter ending December 31, growth in the manufacturing sector dipped to a meagre 0.4 percent from 7.8 percent in the corresponding period of 2010-11. Farm output also exhibited a similar trend and expanded by just 2.7 percent during the quarter, compared to 11 percent in the corresponding period last fi scal. Mining and quarrying production contracted by 3.1 percent during the quarter under review, as against a growth of 6.1 percent in Q3 of last fi scal. Growth in the construction sector also slowed to 7.2 percent during the quarter from 8.7 per cent in the same period a year ago. Furthermore, the trade, hotels, transport and communications segments grew by just 9.2 percent in the quarter under review, as against 9.8 percent expansion in the year-ago period. However, electricity, gas and water supply grew by robust 9 percent in the October-December period, compared to 3.8 percent growth in the corresponding period last fi scal. The growth of the services sector, including insurance and real estate, slowed to 9.9 percent in the third quarter ended December, compared to 11.2 percent expansion in Q3 of 2010-11. The Central Statistical Organisation has pegged the GDP growth for 2011-12 at 6.9 percent, while the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) expects that it would be 7.1 percent. The Indian economy expanded by 8.4 percent in 2010-11. As per the data released today, manufacturing growth in the 9-month period ending December, slowed to 3.4 percent as compared to 7.6 percent during the same period a year ago. During April-December, output of mining and quarrying sector declined by 1.4 percent as against a positive growth of 6.7 percent in same period last fi scal. Furthermore, the agriculture, forestry and fi shing sector grew by just 3.2 percent in the nine month period, as against 6.8 percent expansion a year ago. Growth of the construction sector stood at 4.2 percent during the 9-month period, compared to 7.7 percent in the same period last fi scal. The slowdown in the manufacturing sector, coupled with decline in mining and quarrying, is likely to put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rate at its mid-quarter monetary policy review on March 15. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too, in his Budget for 2012-13, to be presented on March 16 in Lok Sabha, is expected to announce steps for arresting economic slowdown. India Inc has been blaming RBI’s tight monetary policy, which has increased the cost of borrowings, for hindering fresh investments and slowing down the industrial growth.

AR Rahman lends music at Oscars 2012

LOS ANGELS: Music maestro AR Rahman, who had performed at the Academy awards last year, returned to the prestigious ceremony to lend music to the Oscars show. “Oscar sangamam - If you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar super band headed by Hans Zimmer perform tonight,” Rahman posted on Facebook, along with a photo of his co-performers. The 46-year-old composer, who won two Oscars in 2009 for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, pleased the audience throughout Sunday night’s ceremony with his instrumentals and vocals. He had performed his tracks from the fi lm `127 Hours` at the Oscars last year. At the 84th Academy Awards, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ composer Hans Zimmer was the show’s musical consultant with Pharell Williams. The performances at the ceremony included Esperanza Spalding`s rendition of Louis Armstrong`s `What a Wonderful World` as a tribute to the dozens of entertainment industry professionals who died in the last 12 months, including Jane Russell, Whitney Houston, Elizabeth Taylor and Etta James. There was also an interlude from Cirque du Soleil. The circus gymnasts took on an old-school cinema theme, performing back fl ips in bell-boy outfi ts, cocktail dresses and tuxedos.

Iran’s ‘A Separation’ wins best foreign language Oscar

LOS ANGELES, Feb 27 (Reuters) ‘A Separation’ won the Oscar for best foreign language fi lm becoming the fi rst Iranian movie to win the honor. Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, the domestic drama focuses on a couple going through a divorce and touches on traditions, justice, and male-female relationships in modern Iran. ‘A Separation’ was regarded as the front-runner for the foreign language Oscar after sweeping the awards circuit in Europe and the United States. It also garnered an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay. It was the second Iranian fi lm to be nominated for an Oscar, and the fi rst to win.’ At this time, many Iranians all over the world are watching us and I imagine them to be very happy,’ director Farhadi said while accepting the Oscar yesterday. ‘At a time of talk of war, intimidation and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their county, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics.’ ‘I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, the people who respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment,’ he added. ‘A Separation’ has received almost universal critical acclaim, gracing many top 10 lists for the best movies of 2011. Made for 800,000 dollar, the fi lm has generated more than $13 million in worldwide box offi ce sales, according to the web site Box Offi ce Mojo, including 2.6 million dollar in the US. Two nights before the Oscar ceremony, Israeli and Iranian artists came together in a show of peace, said Lior Ashkenazi, a star of the Israeli foreign language Oscar entry ‘Footnote’. ‘At the Academy event in honor of the foreign fi lms, we sat, spoke and all the veils came off,’ Ashkenazi told Israel’s Army Radio. ‘They are warm hearted people. We invited them to Tel Aviv and they invited us to Tehran. ‘ Farhadi, who works and lives in Iran, has been reluctant to entertain theories that his fi lm is a parable for the struggles between Iran’s young dissidents and its paternalistic mullahs, saying it is up to audiences to take from the movie what they will. Others have interpreted ‘A Separation’ as a comment on class differences, or as a critique of Iran’s justice system, or a clash between modernity and tradition. Farhadi made the movie under Iranian censors who impose strictures on fi lmmakers in the name of Islamic morality and national morale. But he has said he was not confronted with censorship. Award-winning Iranian director Jafar Panahi was sentenced to jail in 2010 and banned from making any more fi lms. Farhadi has spoken up for Panahi, putting himself in the line of fi re from hardliners in the Iranian government. But Farhadi has also criticized fellow Iranians who emphasize state censorship in order to promote their movies abroad, saying they are as morally culpable as the government offi cials who censor them.

Girl kidnapped for ransom rescued by police

DINDIGAL: Police rescued an eight-year-old girl, who was kidnapped by a gang for ransom at Santhapuram near Hubli in Karnataka, Saturday night. Police sources said here on Sunday that the girl, who was studying in fourth standard, was abducted by a gang while she was returning to home from the school at Vedikkaran Valasai village near Oddanchathiram in Dindigul district of Tamilnadu on last Friday evening. The kidnapping came to light yesterday, after one of the gang members called up the girl’s father Kuppusamy, a poultry farm owner, stating that they had abducted the girl and demanded Rs fi ve Lakh to set her free. On a complaint from Kuppusamy, a special team was formed by the Dindigul police. The team tracked the mobile call and after a day-long search rescued her in Karnataka. However, the gang members managed to escape. The girl was brought to Dindigul this morning by the special police team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Janakiraman. Meanwhile, unconfi rmed reports said the girl was released by the kidnappers after her father paid Rs three Lakh ransom.

Kerala Lottery to cross Rs 1250 cr turnover

T H I R U V A N A N - THAPURAM: The Kerala State Lotteries islikely to attain a turnover of Rs 1250 crore in this fi scaldespite encountering severe adversities posed by illegal lottery traders, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said. Speaking at the inauguration of Karunya Benevolent Fund here, Chandy said the total turnover of Rs 557 crore of previous year was already crossed by the department this year. Claiming that the banning of interstate lotteries had helped increase the revenue of Kerala State Lotteries, he said the new lottery policy of the Congress-led UDF Government had helped stopping money fl owing outside the State. The Chief Minister said the Government would do everything possible to prevent the lottery lobby from gaining a foothold in the sale of other state lotteries. The new lottery policy could create job opportunities for over two Lakh unemployed youth and provide fi nancial assistance to poor victims of deadly diseases, he said. ‘The department’s measures against illegal traders and major agents who monopolised the market helped the poor and handicapped who earn a living through lottery sales,’ he said. The department now rolls out seven weekly lotteries, namely Pratheeksha, Dhanasree, Win-Win, Akshaya, Bhagyanidhi, Karunyaand Pournami. Six bumper lotteries are also held in a year. Karunya Lottery, announced by Finance Minister K M Mani in his fi rst budget, was well received by the public. The profi t from the sale of Karunya is intended to help poor patients suffering from ailments like cancer and kidney diseases, he said. ‘Karunya even attracted those who were not in the habit of trying their luck,’ he added. Finance Minister K.M. Mani said that the income from KarunyaLottery would be used to provide assistance for treating victims of cancer, kidney disease and other serious ailments.

Congress in select of speakers for public meetings

CHENNAI: Apparently eyeing 2014 Lok Sabha polls and in need to rejuvenate itself at the grassroot level, Congress in Tamil Nadu is in the process of selecting platform speakers to reach out to the masses in order to highlight its principles besides UPA government’s achievements. “These platform speakers will be mainly used for campaigning activities including public meetings and they will highlight government’s policies and achievements besides propagating our principles,” TNCC president B S Gnanadesikan told. Congress, which was pushed off the ruling saddle in Tamil Nadu by DMK in the 1967 Assembly elections, has since found it impossible to come back to power, aligning with either DMK or AIADMK for survival. AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi has been insisting on the need to rejuvenate Congress at the local level in the state, asking supporters to reach out to the people. The effort presumably aimed at the 2014 Lok Sabha polls comes in the wake of AIADMK and DMK already taking steps to emerge victorious at the hustings. Seeking to play a larger role at the national level, AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has asked partymen to work to net all 40 seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in Puducherry) while DMK’s strained relations with Congress against the backdrop of the 2G spectrum scam has put the future ties hanging in the balance. The Congress’ state unit once boasted of veteran speakers like late thespian ‘Sivaji’ Ganesan, lyricist Kannadasan, EVK Sampath, TN Ananthanayagi, Nellai Kannan and ‘Tamizharuvi’ Manian (both former members), who could keep the crowds spellbound with their oratorical skills, a key ingredient for a party’s success mantra in state politics. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is also considered a great speaker by partymen, known for his chaste Tamil and ability to convey the most intricate issues in the simplest terms to the masses. In fact, it is an undeniable fact that DMK managed to charm the masses through sheer oratory from the likes of the late CN Annadurai, party chief M Karunanidhi and Sampath himself, who had later parted ways with the Dravidian party, using it as a ladder to cement its place in the state’s political history. On the latest initiative, Gnanadesikan said the selected aspirants will be divided into state and district platform speakers and imparted training in March. “The selection process is based on one’s voice, tone and command over the language,” he said. An audition had been held recently at Chennai. Candidates have been fi nalised and they will be trained outside Chennai, he said. Asked if this was a preparation for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Gnanadesikan asserted that the chosen speakers will popularise government policies and achievements and the Congress’ principles among people.

Media enjoying freedom, Katju’s allegation baseless

Media in Bihar was enjoying more freedom under the Nitish Kumar government than earlier regimes, Press Council Chairman Justice Markandey Katju’s allegation that the state government was pressurising the fourth Estate as baseless. -BJP National spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain

‘Indigenous Nanomaterials’ meet at Anna University

CHENNA: National seminar on ‘Indigenous Nanomaterials Development for Industrial Applications (INDIA)’ organised by Centre for Nanoscience and Technology at Anna University today in Chennai inaugurated by Prof. Dr. A.B.Mandal, Director, CLRI, presided by Prof. Dr. P. Mannar Jawahar, VC, Anna University, Prof.Dr.P.Kaliraj, Dean, A.C.Tech. Campus, AU,Chennai. Prof. Dr. R. Jayavel, Director of the Centre for Nanoscience and Technology, AU,Chennai, Dr. T.Devasena, Convener and eminent Scientists from industries and research scientists from premier institutions and research laboratories including IIT,IISC, IIBAT, University of Madras and Dublin City University, Ireland delivered talk on various disciplines participated

Sensex down by 130.42 pts

MUMBAI: The 30 scrip Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange slipped by 130.42 points at 17,793.15 following profi t booking from local operators along with mixed trend in Asian Markets. The Nifty of National Stock Exchange (NSE) eased by 53.20 points to 5376.10 though the Sensex opened higher by 51.62 points at 17,975.19 points it immediately went in red following profi t booking at higher levels. Barring, Health Care and FMCG stocks, all were seen under pressure. Realty was declined by more than three per cent followed by Capital Goods, Auto, Bankex, PSU, Technology, IT and Oil and Gas stocks dragged the market. The Sensex recorded intra day high and low at 17,975.19 and 17,746.60 points respectively. The Nifty registered intra day high and low at 5449.80 and 5368.10 points respectively. The losers were L & T by 3.33 per cent to Rs 1305, Hindalco Industries by 3.28 per cent to Rs 142.90, DLF by 3.13 per cent to Rs 219.80, BHEL by 2.98 per cent to Rs 294.95, Tata Steel by 2.52 per cent to Rs 463.70, Hero MotoCorp by 2.48 per cent to Rs 2020.90 and ICICI Bank by 2 per cent to Rs 913. The gainers were ITC by 1.19 per cent to Rs 211.95 Sun Pharma by 1.01 per cent to Rs 553, Hind Unilever by 1 per cent to Rs 389.10 and HDFC Bank by 0.82 per cent to Rs 528.80.

Marine accused to be prosecuted under Indian law: A K Antony

T H I R U V A N A N - THAPURAM: Holding that the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fi shermen off Kerala coast would be prosecuted under the Indian law, Defence Minister A K Antony today said the investigation into the case was progressing in the right direction. “The case will be preceded under the Indian law. Judiciary in the country is independent,” Antony told reporters here. “The incident of shooting down of two hapless fi shermen off the coast of Kollam on February 15 was unfortunate and equally condemnable,” he said. “The investigation in the case was progressing on the right direction and the Kerala government was handling it very strongly and powerfully. The Centre had extended full support to the state’s initiative,” he said. The arrested Italian marines -- Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone -- have been charged with murder under Section 302 of IPC. A Special Investigation Team led by Kochi commissioner, M R Ajith Kumar is probing the case. The victims -- Valentine Jalastine and Ajeesh Binki -- set out to sea in a boat along with nine fi shermen from Neendakara fi shing harbour. The two fi shermen were allegedly killed by the marines of Italian ship ‘Enrica Lexie’ when they fi red at their boat on February 15. The Italian authorities have contended that the fi shing boat was fi red, mistaking it to be a pirate vessel.

Swamy to put forth arguments in 2G case in SC

CHENNAI: Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy today said he would argue in the Supreme Court as to how the trial court erred in refusing permission to prosecute Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in connection with the 2G Spectrum Scam. Talking to newspersons here, he said he would argue the case when it comes up for hearing before the Supreme Court on March 16 and concentrate on his main contention the Trial Court Judge Saini had erred in dismissing his plea, citing murder case trials. He claimed out of the 70 pages of judgment, 68 pages were favourable to him and only in the last two pages, the judge went against his contention and rejected the plea. He claimed he had proved that Chidambaram and Former Telecom Minister A Raja, who was now in prison, had acted together in deciding the price of spectrum and also enabled companies to earn huge profi ts by selling spectrum at high prices. ‘This is enough for prosecution a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act,’ the Janata Party President said. Leveling fresh charges against Chidambaram and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Dr Swami alleged Chidambaram’s son was operating several companies abroad and said his (Dr Swami’s) friends were probing details of the same as well. He also alleged large scale pay offs in purchase of 12helicopters from Italy by the Union Government and demanded a probe into the purchase of French Rafale Jet Fighters.

Madras HC disposed highest of 50 000 cases in 2011

KANCHIPURAM: The Madras High Court has the distinction of having disposed off the highest number of 50,000 cases in the country last year, according to Chief Justice Paul Vasanthakumar. “Madras High Court has the distinction of having disposed off the highest number of cases in the country last year. In 2010 this distinction was held by Kerala. The Court disposed off 50,000 cases last year,” he said. Speaking after inaugurating a Lok Adalat at the Kanchipuram court complex here yesterday, he urged magistrates to accord priority to dispose long pending cases, some of which have been fi led 30 years back and give judgement within six months He also requested lawyers not to indulge in frequent boycotts of courts to address their grievances. Justice Hari Paranthaman of Madras High Court said Lok Adalats must also take up criminal cases and that lawyers should extend help in this regard.

Global conference on control of Nuclear fuels Feb 27

HYDERABAD: A 3-day International Conference on Characterisation and Quality Control of Nuclear Fuels (CQCNF-2012),organised by Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), will be held in the city from February 27.Experts from IAEA and 18 foreign delegates from Argentina, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Republic Korea, Russia, South Africa and USA are participating in the conference organised in cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and with the support of BRNS, NFC Public Relations Offi cer Y Nagarjuna prasad said in a release here today. As many as 140 delegates will attend the conference to be inaugurated by Atomic Energy Commission Chairman and Deartment of Atomic Energy Secretary Dr S Banerjee and IAEA Deputy Director General Dr A V Bychkov and Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI) Chairman and Managing Director, Dr S K Jain, will grace the occasion as guest of honour, the release said. This is the fourth time that a global conference on nuclear fuels is being conducted in the city and expected to provide forum for stock taking of the latest developments and sharing of views among the researchers in the area of Quality Control of Nuclear fuels, the release added.

Post-mortem on bank robbery accused bodies performed

CHENNAI: Two days after the bloody encounter in which fi ve suspected bank robbers were killed, a team of forensic experts today performed the post-mortem on the bodies of the deceased. In a pre-dawn encounter on February 23, fi ve people -- four from Bihar and one from West Bengal -- were shot dead by police in ‘self defence’. All the fi ve suspects -- Vinod Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Harish Kumar and Chandri Khare from Bihar and Abhay Kumar from West Bengal-- were said to be involved in the twin bank heists at Perungudi Branch of BOB on January 23 and at the Keelkattalai branch of IOB on February 20 in which they made away with Rs 20 Lakh and Rs 14 Lakh respectively at gun point. Police sources said the process of conducting autopsy began at around 0900 hrs and ended around noon. A 12-member-team of doctors assisted by Forensic experts performed the autopsy at the Government General Hospital. The entire post mortem process was video graphed, the sources said, adding, the autopsy was performed in the presence of Egmore 14th Metropolitan Magistrate Ms Geeta Rani, who was holding a judicial probe into the encounter. The Magistrate had examined all the bodies at the hospital mortuary yesterday and took details of identity marks and the nature of bullet wounds on their body from the doctors. Later, about 17 offi cials from both BOB and the IOB had identifi ed the bodies and saw they were the ones who were involved in the bank heist. Two automobile dealers at Triplicane area in the city too identifi ed the bodies and said they purchased two-wheelers from them and came back to sell them a few days after purchasing them. Meanwhile, confusion reigned supreme over the identity of the four of the suspects as the voter ID cards seized from the encounter spot were found to be fake. While the parents of Vinod Kumar, whose CCTV grab was released by the police leading to the tip off about his presence in Velachery resulting in the subsequent encounter, identifi ed him and said his original name was Sujay Kumar Rai, the identity cards of the other four were said to be fake.The parents and other family members of Vinod Kumar, said to be the kingpin in the bank heist, arrived here last night and identifi ed the body at the government hospital this morning. They also met the police offi cials probing the bank heist and confi rmed that Vinod Kumar was their son and that he had told them back home that he was involved in real estate business in the city. His body was later handed over to them after autopsy. However, the identity in respect of other four suspects was denied by their family members. Special teams had been sent to their native places to ascertain their real identity. As the voter identity cards of the suspects were fake, police were now pinning their hopes on the call details from the SIM cards recovered from the spot, to carry forward the investigation. The assistance of the Cyber Crime Cell would be sought in this regard, the sources added.

Software eng dies on b’day in front of dad at Chennai Airport

CHENNAI: In a tragic incident, a 30-year-old software engineer, who arrived from Australia enroute Singapore, died of massive heart attack at the Anna International Airport here in the early hours of today even as his father, who came to greet him on his birthday, watched his son swooning at the visitor’s lounge. Vishnu (30), a native of Thennoor in Tiruchirapalli District, was waiting to collect his baggage after completing immigration and customs formalities, when he suddenly swooned with blood oozing out from his mouth, right in front of his father who was waiting at the visitor’s lounge, airport sources said. Though taken aback with the sudden development, a medical team examined and declared he died of sudden massive heart attack. His father Ilangovan, an Industrialist, who arrived from Tiruchirapalli to take home the ‘birthday boy,’ stood in disbelief as Doctors and Airport authorities failed to fi nd words to console him. The sad part of the incident was Vishnu, who turned 30yesterday, had asked his father to come down to the Airport stating he wanted get birthday wishes from him before the stroke of midnight, on his arrival. However, he could not get his ‘last’ wishes fulfi lled as the Singapore Airlines fl ight, which was scheduled to land at 2200 hrs last night, aborted its landing and fl ew to Bangalore as a Cargo fl ight got stuck at the runway. Expecting to meet his son at 2200 hrs, Ilangovan came to the visitor’s lounge around 2130 hrs but learnt the fl ight had been diverted to Bangalore as the Chennai- Russia Cargo Flight got stranded on the runway. As the Singapore Airlines fl ight belonged to the Airbus class and required full runway for landing, it was diverted to Bangalore after being made to hover around the city for about 30 minutes.

SBI Cards donates computers to NASSCOM’s Prog

CHENNAI: SBI Cards, India’s leading Credit Card issuer, today donated 244 computers with associated peripherals to NASSCOM Foundation’s ‘BiG Bridge Program’. GE Volunteers, who have been a long-term partner to NASSCOM Foundation, facilitated this donation as part of their commitment to Corporate Citizenship. Nasscom Foundation’s BiG Bridge Program enables education, employability and entrepreneurship through digital literacy and livelihood projects using refurbished computers. “The vision of the program is to create a win-win situation of fulfi lling both environmental and social objective. ‘This is achieved by extending the life of responsible companies’ computers in a meaningful way and by supporting various types of NGOs with technology that they need to implement their vision”, SBI Cards CEO Kadambi Narahari told reporters here. The computers would go to support the education work of Literacy India which works with homeless children, the United Way and NASSCOM Foundation’s partner NGOs working on employability and entrepreneurship for lasting change. “We are glad to partner in this novel initiative and wish GE Volunteers and NASSCOM Foundation continued success in taking digital literacy to the underprivileged”, he added.

BHEL’s milestone dispatches fi rst set of headers 2x800 MW power project at Krishnapatnam

TIRUCHIRAPALLI: The Public sector Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) here achieved a major milestone today with the dispatch of the fi rst set of headers for the 2x800 MW power project at Krishnapatnam in Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh. At a brief function, A V Krishnan, Executive Director, BHEL fl agged off the fi rst set of headers from BHEL’s High Pressure Boiler Plant here. A BHEL press release said here today that for a typical 800MW Supercritical boiler unit 43 Headers are required. The weight of each header goes up to 38 Metric Tonnes (MT) and a length up to 24 Mts. As such special trailers are required to transport these headers from BHEL, Tiruchirapalli to site such as Krishnapatnam. Since Headers being very critical component in a boiler system, they are subjected to rigorous statutory inspection at various stages of manufacturing. It is to be noted that the weight of typical 800 MW Supercritical boiler units is about 32000 MT, the release added. These are the fi rst 800 MW supercritical boilers being set up by BHEL against a Rs.2500 Crore order placed on the company by Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company Limited (APPDCL) for setting up the 2x800 MW Steam Generator (SG) package at Krishnapatnam. BHEL had demonstrated its international competitiveness by securing this order by outbidding the L&TMitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) combine in a global tender, it said. BHEL’s scope of work in the project envisages manufacture, supply, and erection, testing and commissioning of the Steam Generators and associated auxiliaries including Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs). For the project, the supercritical Boilers will be manufactured by BHEL at its Tiruchirapalli works in TamilNadu, while the company’s Hyderabad and Ranipet plants will supply the Coal Mills and the ESPs, respectively, the release said. Supercritical technology ensures lower coal consumption, minimum emission, eco-friendly and effi cient power generation. BHEL has been promoting joint venture companies to build, own and operate supercritical thermal power plants in association with state utilities like TNEB, KPCL and Mahagenco, he added.BHEL has upgraded its technology base from sub-critical sets to supercritical sets of 660/800 MW and above. The company has ongoing collaboration agreements with Allston, France and Siemens, Germany, with a technology transfer arrangement. This will enable the country to be self-reliant in the fi eld of supercritical thermal power plants, the release said. BHEL is executing 15 once-through supercritical boilers totaling 10,500 MW. These includes 2x660 for NTPC’s Barh project in Bihar; 2x800 MW for Andhra Pradesh Power Development CompanyLtd’s Krishnapatnam project; 3x660 MW for Prayagraj Power Generation Company Ltd’s Bara project in Uttar Pradhesh; 2x800MW for Raichur Power Corporation Ltd’s Yeramarus project inKarnataka; 1x700 MW for Karnataka Power Corporation’s Bellary project in Karnataka; 3x660 MW for Lalitpur Power Generation Company Limited’s Lalitpur Project in Uttar Pradesh; and 2x660 MWDB power Ltd’s project in Madhya Pradesh, the release added.

KVB, SBI cards come out with co-branded credit card

CHENNAI: The Karur Vysya Bank (KVB), in a strategic tie-up with SBI Cards, today launched the KVB-SBI co-branded Visa credit cards. Initially, the cards would be issued for the customers of KVB, its CEO and MD K Venkataraman told reporters here on Friday. He said this was the only product that was missing from the KVB’s portfolio. “With the launch of credit cards, the product offerings from KVB is now complete”, he added. The KVB has tied up with market leaders SBI cards for its cobranded cards, which would be available in two variants -- Platinum and Gold -- and was loaded with a host of benefi ts.“The credit cards will be both magnetic stripe and chip-based providing a high level of security to the cardholders”, he added. On the reason for KVB, which was having a history of 95years, choosing a partner for launching credit card services,Vekataraman said “it’s like either you have food at your home or have it outside”.The agreement between the two banks included revenue sharing, he added. Speaking on the occasion, Kadambi Narahari, CEO, SBI Cards and Payment Services Private Limited, said even with India having a population of more than over billion, the penetration level of credit card was just 18 million. He said the credit card industry was poised for an explosive growth in the coming years.

FIR in Italian shooting case very strong

“It is unfortunate that canards are spread like this by people who do not have a clue of what the case is about. Our case is very strong and nothing was left to chance when the case was registered. There is no need for an alternative FIR,” - Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy

Singapore Flight aborts landing in Chennai, diverted to Bangalore

CHENNAI: A Singapore Airlines Boeing fl ight with 264passengers and crew members on board aborted landing at the International Airport here and diverted to Bangalore as a cargo fl ight broke down on the runway tonight. Airport sources said the Chennai-Russia cargo fl ight being pushed to the runway got stuck in the runway as the connection rod between the push-back vehicle and the aircraft broke, forcing the Singapore Airlines fl ight to abort landing and fl y to Bangalore and land. As the Singapore fl ight belonged to the Airbus class and required the full stretch of runway for taking off and landing, the Airport authorities asked the pilot to hover around, hoping that they could bring back the cargo fl ight to the bay. However, as time was ticking away, the authorities directed the Pilot to fl y to Bangalore and land.Air India and Jet Airways fl ights, however, landed as per the schedule as they were smaller in size compared to the Airbus and do not require the full runway for landing. After the authorities brought back the Chennai-Russia cargo fl ight to the taxi-bay, the Singapore Airlines fl ight took off from Bangalore around midnight, suffering a delay of about three hours. It was scheduled to land at 2200 hrs and take off for Singapore at 2350 hrs.

FIR fi led against Yeddy,daughter, offi cers

SHIMOGO: An FIR was fi led in the Lokayukta Court here against Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa,his daughter Arunadevi and eight offi cers on cheating and corruption charges. The FIR fi led was fi led on preliminary investigation taken up by the Lokayukta Police as per direction to submit a report on a complaint fi led by Advocate Vinod.In the complaint, it was alleged Yeddyurappa, during his tenure as the Chief Minister, had allotted in March 2010 four sites originally meant for allocation to journalists in 2007. Yeddyurappa was made main accused and his daughter Arunadevi second accused. Eight offi cers, including the then Karnataka Housing Board Commissioner and Engineer were made parties to the case. Lokayukta Police have been asked to continue its investigation and submit a report within 14 days.

Spinal injury patient seeks action against docs

MADURAI: A spinal injury patient has fi led a petition in the Madurai bench of Madras High Court, seeking action against two doctors for alleged professional misconduct and ‘unethical acts.’ Admitting the petition, Justice K K Sasidharan ordered issue of notice to the two doctors, Medical Council of India, Tamil nadu Medical council, Principal Secretary, Health and family welfare, among others. The Petitioner submitted he suffered an injury after a fall while doing masonry work on Dec 10 2011. He was operated on by one of the doctors at a hospital in Thucklay owned by the other and had to stay there for 32 days. Though he paid Rs 65,000 towards surgery and hospitalization, no receipt was given. Besides the pain did not subside despite the surgery. Though he got himself admitted to another hospital and paid Rs 75,000, there was no improvement in his condition. This doctor omitted the radiological report, and did not give appropriate medical treatment, or a discharge summary card. “This is professional misconduct being a specialist”. The man said his parents later got him admitted to Kerala Institute of Medical sciences, where he was operated and a 1.5 kg mass removed from his spine from the spot where the previous operation was done. He alleged that when his parents went to the doctor to seek a clarifi cation, he tore the discharge sheet, which, he said, was suppression of material facts and documentary evidences. The doctor, instead of using his name for referring to him to the MRI and SP Scan centre, used the name of the doctor who owned the hospital. He said he had complained to MCI Additional secretary and forwarded it to Registrar of Tamilnadu Medical Council. But TMC told him it is not competent to take action and resort to legal remedy. They also said there was no need to appoint an expert committee to investigate his complaint, he said.

KNPP project: Russia backs Manmohan Singh on NGOs’

NEW DELHI: Russia has come out in support of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he blamed several NGOs based in the US and Scandinavian countries for fuelling protests against the Moscow-aided Kudankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu. “The atomic energy programme has got into diffi - culties because these NGOs mostly, I think, based in the US, don’t appreciate the need for our country to increase energy. The local NGO-led protests have stalled the commissioning of two 1000 mw nuclear reactors,” Singh was quoted as telling a Science journal. Backing Indian PM’s remarks, Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said that his country had been suspecting the same all along. Kadakin further described Kudankulam as “the best and the safest (nuclear power) station in the world”. The Prime Minister’s tough remarks came days after media reports claimed that foreign agents were whipping up a campaign against the Rs 13,000-crore project located in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. The Russian-aided plant is expected to address the acute power shortage problem in the southern state. However, the project has landed into trouble waters due to massive protests by activists and the local villagers over safety concerns in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan early last year. Despite a series of negotiations between the Central government-appointed expert panel and the protestors, the controversy over the Kudankulam nuclear project has refused to die down. Meanwhile, Union Minister V Narayanasamy yesterday said three NGOs were found to be diverting foreign funds for the anti-nuclear campaign in Kudankulam. Licences of three NGOs active in the Kudankulam region have been cancelled after a Home Ministry inquiry found that they were using funds meant for social causes to fuel the anti-nuclear protests. “These NGOs were receiving funds from foreign countries for social service causes like helping the physically handicapped and eradication of leprosy but these were used for antinuclear protests,” Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the PMO, said.

‘Tainted’ BSNL-Wimax deal sparks CBI raids

CHENNAI: Offi cials of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today conducted raids in the city in connection with the controversial Wimax deal between the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Starnet Communications during the tenure of tainted Former Union Minister A Raja. Starnet was said to be owned by close aides of Raja and the Wimax deal was given to it allegedly at the instance of the Former Telecom Minister despite the fi rm not fulfi lling certain eligibility norms.The raids began at around 0900 hrs and four to fi ve teams were involved in the operations. The searches were being conducted at various offi ces of BSNL in the city, sources said. CBI sources said the raids were part of the efforts ofthe investigating agency to gather more evidence after theCBI had registered a preliminary inquiry in 2011 following allegations of discrepancies in the deal. The FIR was registered following charges that Former Telecom Minister A Raja had allegedly exerted pressure on the BSNL to ink a pact with Starnet to procure the WiMax technology. Senior BSNL offi cials, who were said to be part of the controversial deal, have come under the CBI scanner, the sources said. However, Raja, allegedly at whose instance the pact came through, was not named as accused in the new FIR. Raja has been cited as the key accused in the multicrore 2G scam and lodged in Tihar Jail for the last ten months.

India’s largest Foundry conclave

HYDERABAD: The 60th Indian Foundry Congress and Second Asia Foundry Forum will be organising a’ ‘Foundry Conclave’’ at Bangalore from March 2. The three-day event will provide a platform for networking with Asian giants and world leaders in metal casting production. ‘’The Forum will being together 12 leading Asian countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia, who will share their best Practices for sustainability and growth, which forms the main theme for all the deliberations,’’ said Dr H Sundara Murthy, President, The Institute of Indian Foundry men (IIF) in a release here on Thursday. ‘’With the present market paradoxes of high growth coupled with sudden low demand, it is imperative that the Asian Foundry Industry deliberates and take a considered view on how to sustain the industry through the upheavals in the market and in the business environment along with the demographic challenges, said N Krishna Samaraj, Chairman, Asia Foundry Forum. The Indian Foundry Exhibition 2012 (IFEX 2012) will be organised on the side line of the conclave was a leading trade fair on foundry technology, equipment and supplies, the release said. The trade fair covered the entire spectrum of the requirements of a modern day foundry and will provide excellent platform for the Indian as well as overseas companies to showcase their state-of-the art technologies and services, the release added.

ISRO organises user meet of Global Navigation Satellite System

BANGALORE: A Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) User Meet was organised jointly by ISRO and Airports Authority of India at ISRO Satellite Centre, here today. Dr T K Alex, Member, Space Commission and Director, ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) inaugurated the meet. E K Bharat Bhushan, Director General, DGCA, was also present. Two technical sessions and a panel discussion were held during the meet. An overview of GAGAN and IRNSS navigation projects was presented by A S Ganeshan, Project Director, Navigation systems. Experts in satellite based navigation presented their experiences and expertise on utilising the navigation signals for precise positioning and civil aviation and several other services, an ISRO release said. Various leading Indian industries showcased their products in an impressive exhibition organised as a part of the meet. A panel discussion with the theme ‘’Opportunities and Challenges in utilising navigation signals over Indian region’ was chaired S K Shiva Kumar, Associate Director, and ISAC with members from academia, industry and ISRO. Navigation has become an integral part of human activity. The space based navigation system has emerged as a forerunner in providing the position, velocity and timing services. ISRO has identifi ed Satellite Navigation as an important thrust area by planning GAGAN (GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation) and the upcoming IRNSS (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System). ISRO and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) are implementing the GAGAN project as Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for the Indian Airspace and Safety of Life applications. The GAGAN Signal-In-Space is now available for civilian users since December 15, 2011. Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) system being developed by ISRO is a regional navigation satellite system providing navigation services over the Indian region that will provide the user a position accuracy that is better than 20meters on a 24/7 allweather basis. Over 250 delegates from government, industry, and academia participated in the meet. The objective of this user meet is to provide a thrust in the development of GNSS based applications and user receivers utilising GAGAN and IRNSS navigation signals in India, the release said. The user meet aims to link industry, users and service providers enabling them to share information to promote navigation and positioning satellite systems for transportation, disaster management, environment and agriculture. The meet provides an opportunity to the industry on the infi nite possibilities of using navigation signals and its spin-offs. The media was however not invited for the meet.

Banks asked to check ‘untaxed’ money fl ow: Switzerland

New Delhi: In a move that has implications for India’s fi ght against black money, the Swiss Government has asked its banks to prevent acceptance of “untaxed assets” in their accounts without violating client confi - dentiality. “Banks’ existing due diligence requirements are to be extended in order to prevent the acceptance of untaxed assets of foreign clients, including Indians, more effectively. “The focus is on enhanced due diligence requirements for banks when accepting assets as well as a requirement for foreign clients to make a declaration on the fulfi llment of their tax obligations,” the Swiss Federal Council, the country’s top policy-making authority has said. However, it opposed the idea of ‘automatic information exchange’ with any other country, asserting the ‘bank client confi dentiality’ should be respected as far as possible. Swiss banks are known to have the strongest secrecy clauses globally, which have helped them attract the rich and mighty clients from across the world, but has also given them a ‘tax haven’ tag. In a multi-pronged strategy aimed at removing this tag, the council has also proposed that all those past cases should be immediately settled, where assets of foreign clients of Swiss banks have not been correctly taxed. The steps come on the back of growing international pressure on Swiss authorities to act against any possible hoarding of illicit and untaxed money in Switzerland-based banks by people from different countries, including India. Earlier this month, the CBI Chief had said at a function that Indians are the largest depositors in Swiss banks. Within days, the Swiss Embassy said in a statement that such estimates and statistics lacked evidence and were uncorroborated. The CBI Director A P Singh had also said that “it is estimated that around 500 billion dollars of illegal money belonging to Indians is deposited in tax havens abroad”. While there have been various estimates of Indian black money stashed abroad, the statement by the CBI Director was signifi cant as it was for the fi rst time someone in authority in the country had come out with an estimate. The Swiss Federal Council has asked its Department of Finance to prepare concrete measures by September, 2012. The proposed steps include a greater international cooperation and taxation of investment income and capital gains for Swiss bank clients in the future. “The Federal Council’s aim is to create favourable framework conditions for the Swiss fi nancial centre that boost its competitiveness and at the same time are accepted worldwide. Abuses of bank client confi dentiality should be prevented insofar as possible,” it said in a statement. It has also proposed international withholding tax agreements for taxing the clients as per the regulations of their home country, while safeguarding their privacy. “Despite the fact that some issues have not yet been fully resolved, there is international interest in this approach and it will be pursued by Federal Council beyond the agreements already negotiated with Germany and the UK,” it said. The Swiss authority has also proposed an improved administrative and mutual assistance in accordance with the international standards. While proposing steps to comply with the various double taxation agreements, the Council also said that serious tax crimes should be taken into account in the fi ght against money laundering in the future. It has also sought extension of due diligence requirements of fi nancial service providers as a complementary component. The Swiss banks’ lobby group, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) has welcomed many of the proposed moves. “For over two years now, banks in Switzerland have been pursuing a strategy of tax compliance, the key elements of which consist of a solution for the past (regularisation), a solution for the future (fi nal anonymous withholding tax for the future), the protection of privacy for taxed assets and growth through market access,” SBA said in a statement. The SBA also welcomed the Federal Council’s assertion against an automatic exchange of information. “The codes of conduct will stipulate a riskbased approach whereby it makes sense for banks to obtain a declaration from clients about their tax situation (self declaration) if they have indications that the clients have not complied with their tax obligations,” it noted. However, the SBA opposed any “systematic duty of self-declaration as it has no credibility abroad, is unlikely to become an international standard, does not provide a solution for assets already deposed in Switzerland and casts suspicion over all clients.” It also said that there was a need for all fi nancial intermediaries, and not only banks, to implement the new provisions.

Aerospace scientist Narasimha resigns Space Commission

BANGALORE: Aerospace scientist Professor Roddam Narasimha has resigned from the Space Commission to protest against the Union Government’s decision to blacklist former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair and three others for their role in the Antrix-Devas deal. Narasimha was part of Prime Minister’s High Powered Committee to probe the Antrix-Devas contract. Narasimha conducted the probe along with Planning Commission member and former cabinet secretary BK Chaturvedi. The twomember panel was set up on February 10, 2011 and the panel submitted its report on March 12, 2011. As per a Deccan Chronicle report, prior to submitting his resignation to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Narasimha reportedly wrote to him that ‘public humiliation’ of the former technocrats was unjustifi ed. As part of the Space Commission, Narasimha was among those who formulated India’s space policy and had important role in the PSLV and Chandrayaan Mission, among others. ISRO Chief Dr K Radhakrishnan also offi ciates the chairman of the Space Commission. Narasimha said that the report on Antrix-Devas deal had only pointed out lapses and suggested measures to prevent their recurrence and had not found any evidence of wrong-doing or fraud for personal gain. Talking to a newspaper, the Bangalore-based scientist said that he is deeply distressed over the humiliation heaped on those who had spent their lives working for the nation.” I think the Space Commission should also undergo reforms process and therefore it seems best that a new Commission implement these reforms,” he said. However, the newspaper, quoting sources at the ISRO, says that Professor Narasimha was upset with the government for having constituted another panel – under former CVC Pratyush Sinha - to probe the Antrix-Devas deal and for the action taken on Nair on the basis of the Sinha panel report. Narasimha had been vocal about his opposition to the blacklisting of top scientists. “I think the scientists should have been given a chance. There’s a strong misunderstanding that should fi rst be corrected before any action is contemplated…Blame (Nair and others) for what? Let’s fi rst get that clear. I think the debate is now going on without understanding what the blame is for. I think it would be good to release the reports,” he said. Meanwhile, the scientist fraternity in the country has termed Narasimha’s exit as a big loss for country’s space programme.

Encounter: NHRC issues notices to TN Police

NEW DELHI: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to Director General of Tamil Nadu Police and Chennai District Magistrate asking them to investigate the death of fi ve suspected burglars in a police encounter. The direction came after the commission received a complaint on the basis of media reports regarding the Chennai encounter yesterday in which the police killed fi ve persons suspected to be involved in bank burglaries. The notices have been issued to Tamil Nadu’s Director General of Police and the District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police in Chennai. “The commission has directed them to respond to its notices within eight weeks along with the magisterial enquiry report, the postmortem report and the independent investigation report into the incident as per the guidelines of the commission,” an NHRC spokesperson said. Quoting reports, the commission said that the police was n look out for a gang of robbers reportedly involved in a series of bank robberies in the city. In this connection, they surrounded a house at Velachery in Chennai where some suspects were lodged. According to the police, the encounter happened when instead of surrendering, the alleged suspects opened fi re at the police injuring two inspectors. The fi ve persons, four from Bihar and one from West Bengal, were identifi ed with the help of voters ID cards and driving licences recovered from the spot. The deceased are Chandrika Ray, Harish Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Vinod Kumar (all from Bihar) and Abhay Kumar from West Bengal. In less than a month, branches of Bank of Baroda and Indian Overseas Bank in Chennai were robbed of Rs 19 Lakh and Rs 14 Lakh on January 23 and February 21 respectively in daring daylight heist by armed men, sending shock waves. The police had set up 30 special teams to crack the cases.

UAE Tamil Sangam’s Shuttlecock Tournament 2012

DUBAI : UAE Tamil Sangam conducted shuttlecock tournament recently in Dubai for Children, men and women. Valentine’s Day celebrations also held with fun games and joy, prizes were given to the winners by the chief guest, and people from various places of UAE participated in the event. I am sure this is an unbelievable great achievement for our UAE Tamil sangam, we thank all our mates for making this event a grand success, says its president Ramesh Viswanathan and his team.

Govts ignoring homeopathy: senior homeopath

BANGALORE: The Central and State Governments need to do a lot more than mere recognition provided to enable the homeopathy system of Medicine to fl ourish and grow on an encouraging rate, a senior homeopath said. Talking to media, Dr Mukesh Batra, Chairman of Dr Batra’s Positive Health Clinic, said Homeopathy is the second largest system of medicine to be practised in India, next to Allopathy, but its coverage is woefully small and research and development is virtually nil. It is restricted mostly to the urban areas. He lamented that the country lacked the necessary political will to give prominence to Indian systems of medicine which could play more than a complementary role. It is ironical that the country which produces the largest number of homeopathy doctors in a year does not provide the necessary impetus for its growth and even the Government and ESI hospitals have no separate sections to give patients their choice of treatment, Dr Batra lamented, stating that Homeopathy is recognised in the National Health Scheme in England and in France homeopathy is as popular as allopathy. Reeling out statistics relating to Homeopathy, he said currently Homeopathy is Rs 2,788 crore businesses in India and growing at about 20 to 25 per cent. By 2017 it is expected to touch around Rs 6,000 crore. The country has the largest number of homeopathy doctors of 5,00,000 with each year, 20,000 new homeopathy doctors being turned out by 185 colleges besides 35 institutions which offer post graduate courses. The country also has around 11,000 homeopathy hospitals. Compared to this France has a business of Rs 26,000 crore in homeopathy. Homeopathy is practiced in as many as 80 countries. Dr Batra said, Homeopathy as a preventive medicine is also neglected and it can offer medical help to poor and down-trodden at relatively low cost when compared to the modern medical system. As an instance he quoted Andhra Pradesh Government which has ten years ago mass circulated Beladona homeopathy pills to prevent spread of gastroenteritis. Homeopathy offered healthcare options at relatively low cost and this need to be spread in rural areas, he urged. He said, the government should also promote publicprivate partnership initiatives to enable homeopathy get the necessary boost within the country and each government hospital should have at least some beds reserved for homeopathy patients.

Crisil’s milestone in ratings

CHENNAI: Crisil announced its 25,000th rating of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) here. The milestone rating certifi cate for the 25,000th SME rating was presented to Pure Enviro EngineeringPrivate Limited MD K Ramasubranian by Crisil, SME ratings director Sachin Nigam at a media conference. In his address, Nigam said the 25,000th rating achievement demonstrated the impact of the collaborative approach adopted by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), and Crisil. ‘’SMEs play a critical role in the Indian economy and Crisilis proud to be a facilitator in the sector’s promising prospects through SME Ratings’’, he added. Nigam also released the fi ndings of its recent study on rating trends in SMEs in India. The study revealed that SMEs with higher ratings ‘SE 2B’ and above had a larger concentration in South India comprising the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as compared to any other region in the country. The study, conducted on 8,500 SMEs which have obtained ratings from Crisil in 2011, showed that 49 per cent enterprises obtained high ratings of ‘SE 2B and above’ in south India, as compared to 40 per cent SMEs across India. Nigam said South India offers SMEs favourable operating conditions, proximity to large manufacturers, availability of a strong supply chain and superior infrastructure facilities. This has allowed SMEs in these states to maintain relatively strong business and fi nancial risk profi les. Yogesh Dixit, Head, SME Ratings, Crisil, who was also present, said, ‘the key driver that propels the growth of SMEs in South India is the stronger fi nancial risk profi le as can be seen from robust operating margins and low gearing of these companies.’’ ‘These SMEs have also benefi ted from the strong relations they have with large manufacturers’’, he added.

Railway announces new trains

CHENNAI: The Southern Railway on Thursday announced augmentation of trains and introduction of new trains. A Railway release here said T No 11013/11014 lokmanya tilak coimbatore – lokmanya tilak expresses will be augmented with one Ac 3-tier coach with effect from Thursday ex Lokmanya tilak and February 25 ex Coimbatore. Santragachi-Mangalore - Santragachi vivek weekly super fast express will be introduced ex Mangalore with effect from February 25 and ex Santragachi with effect from March one. T No 22851 Santragachi- Mangalore weekly vivek super fast express will leave Santragachi at 1605 hrs on Thursdays and arrive Mangalore central at 0945 hrs on Saturdays. T No 22852 Mangalore- Santragachi weekly vivek super fast express will leave Mangalore central at 2245 hrs on Saturdays and arrive Santragachi at 1750 hrs on Mondays. Advance reservation for the above trains will commence tomorrow, the release said. Howrah - Mysore - Howrah weekly super fast expresses: Regularservice ex Howrah with effect from February 24 and ex Mysore with effect from February 27. T No 22817 Howrah - Mysore weekly super fast express will leave Howrah at 1610 hrs on Fridays and arrive Mysore at 0500 hrs on Sundays. T No 22818 Mysore weekly vivek super fast express will leave Mysore at 0030 hrs on Mondays and arrive Howrah at 1450 hrs on Tuesdays. Advance reservation for the above trains is open, it said.

Kerala to go ahead with legal METRO action

Kerala state government would go ahead with legal action taken against the two armed guards of the Italian ship for killing two Kerala fi shermen on the high seas. - Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy

Italian Dy Foreign Minister satisfi ed with facilities for marines

KOCHI: Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Steffan de Mistura today expressed satisfaction over the arrangements being provided by the government for the two Italian Marines who were under the Kerala Police custody in connection with the killings of two Indian fi shermen off Alappuzha Coast on February 15 last. After visiting the two Italian Marines, who were lodged at the CISF Guest House here, he said the arrangements provided by the government to the two Italian Naval Guards were quite satisfactory. Extending full cooperation to the police for their investigation into the incident, the Italian Minister, however, reiterated their earlier stand that the incident took place on international waters. Mr Steffan also expressed deep sorrow over the incident and the killing of two innocent fi shermen. The Italian Minister, who is in the city in connection with the shooting incident and the subsequent arrest of the two Italian Naval guards, visited Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Kottayam last night and held discussion with him on the issue.

PIL on NCTC in Madras High Court

CHENNAI: A PIL fi led in Madras High Court has assailed the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre and charged that instead of concentrating on modernisation of security forces, the Centre was empowering itself with “stone-age authority derived from obsolete and repealed enactments”. When the PIL petition fi led by city lawyer S Vijayalakshmi came up for hearing on Wednesday , a Division Bench comprising justices Elipe Dharma Rao and N Kirubakaran declined to pass any interim order and told the court registry to post the matter before the First Bench headed by Chief Justice M Y Eqbal. Attacking the National Counter Terrorism Centre (Organisation, Functions, Powers and Duties) Order, 2012, the petitioner claimed that the proposed centre had no cadre of its own, and instead proposed to borrow its strength from existing entities, which were bound to continue their allegiance and loyalties to their parent force. The petitioner’s counsel said the Centre had not consulted state governments, many of whom had voiced their opposition to the proposal. The Centre was trying to create it through an “undated executive order,” whereas the Bill introduced in Parliament itself did not have the details the executive order had, he alleged and urged the court to stay operation of the impugned order.

Bank heists solved, 5 robbers killed in pre-dawn encounter

CHENNAI: Five people, four from Bihar and one from West Bengal, who were involved in the two bank heists at Perungudi and Keelkattalai, were shot dead in a Pre-dawn encounter with the police, at Velachery area in the city in the wee hours of today. This was the fi rst major encounter in Tamil Nadu in which fi ve people were killed. Addressing a crowded press conference about 12 hours after the encounter which took place around 0130 hrs, Chennai City Police Commissioner J K Tripathy said police were forced to open fi re in selfdefence and to protect the lives of innocent people in the thickly populated area as the gang fi red indiscriminately at the police party. In the resultant encounter, two policemen were injured and all the fi ve gang members killed. The deceased were identifi ed as Vinod Kumar, Vinay Prasad, Abhay Kumar, and Harish Kumar from Bihar and Chandri Khare from West Bengal. He said Voter Identity Cards of the accused besides a driving licence, seven pistols and two revolvers with some magazines and ammunition, a bag containing Rs 14 lakh cash, cell phones and SIM cards were seized from the spot. Mr Tripathy said it was clearly established that these gang members were involved in the two bank robberies in the city. In the fi rst heist, a fourmember gang robbed Rs 20 lakh from the Perungudi Branch of Bank of Baroda on January 23 and in the second instance, a fi ve-member gang looted Rs 14 Lakh from Keelkattalai Branch of IOB on February 20, both at gun point. ‘’We have shown the photographs of the gang members to the bank staff and the witnesses and they have established that these persons were involved in the bank robberies,’ Mr Tripathy said, adding, ‘’we are sure that these people were involved in both the bank robberies.’ The gang members, who had taken the house on a monthly rent of Rs 5,000 in December by paying an advance of Rs 20,000, were planning to vacate the house and leave the city today. Among those killed was the person whose photograph from CCTV footage was released by the police yesterday for his involvement in the bank robberies. Mr Tripathy said ‘’we have examined more than 400 hours of CCTV footages taken from various banks before zeroing in on the accused whose photos were released yesterday.’’ Based on a complaint from Deputy Commissioner of Police (Adyar) Sudhakar, who led the team, a FIR was registered and a probe by the Judicial Magistrate ordered into the encounter. ‘’As per the rules, the FIR was sent to the Magistrate for a detailed inquiry. Further probe into it would also be conducted by the State Crime Branch-CID Police on the orders of the State DGP,’ Mr Tripathy said. He said Police Inspectors Ravi and Christian Jayasil, suffered bullet wounds to the left bicep and the left upper waist when police returned fi re in self-defence in a bid to the save the lives of innocent public. The injured policemen and gang members were taken to Government Royapettah Hospital (GRH). While the policemen were admitted for treatment, the gang members were declared dead at GRH and their bodies were taken to Government General Hospital for post mortem. Mr Tripathy repeatedly said that police team had gone there only to verify the information received by them and not with the intention of any encounter. Giving a blow-by-blow account of the encounter, Mr Tripathy said acting on information from a man from the neighbourhood that the person, whose photograph was released by the police yesterday, was staying in a ground fl oor apartment along with four others, a 14-member team headed by Mr Sudhakar went to the spot to verify the information at around 0100 hrs. ‘When the police knocked at the doors of the apartment at Vandikaran Street in Velachery Area, the gang members resisted by opening fi re,’ he said. As the curious onlookers started rushing out of the house on hearing the gun shots, the police warned the gang to stop fi ring and asked them to surrender. ‘’After the police knocked at the doors, they resisted from inside and started attacking through the windows. ‘Since it is a highly congested and thickly populated area, we cautioned them to stop fi ring as it might cause injury or death of innocent people and asked them to surrender,’ the commissioner said. Mr Tripathy repeatedly said that police team had gone there only to verify the information received by them and not with the intention of any encounter. Giving a blow-by-blow account of the encounter, Mr Tripathy said acting on information from a man from the neighborhood that the person, whose photograph was released by the police yesterday, was staying in a ground fl oor apartment along with four others, a 14-member team headed by Sudhakar went to the spot to verify the information at around 0100 hrs. ‘When the police knocked at the doors of the apartment at Vandikaran Street in Velachery Area, the gang members resisted by opening fi re,’ he said. As the curious onlookers started rushing out of the house on hearing the gun shots, the police warned the gang to stop fi ring and asked them to surrender. ‘’After the police knocked at the doors, they resisted from inside and started attacking through the windows. ‘Since it is a highly congested and thickly populated area, we cautioned them to stop fi ring as it might cause injury or death of innocent people and asked them to surrender,’ the commissioner said. Despite repeated warnings, the gang members did not stop and continued their indiscriminate fi ring resulting in injuries to Police Inspectors Ravi and Christian Jayasil. In an act of self-defence and to save the lives of innocent public, police broke the door and entered the house and were forced to return the fi re, killing the gang members, he added. Denying the police had stated that one of the gang members was a former engineering student of the SRM University, the commissioner said the identity of the deceased was being confi rmed based on the address in the seized voter ID cards. ‘’Further investigation to ascertain their background, whether they are involved in any other such robberies in Tamil Nadu or other states and whether there were more accomplices is on,’ he added.

First fl ight of Rustom-2 is scheduled for Feb-2014

BANGALORE: The fi rst fl ight of indigenously built Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Rustom-2 is planned for February 2014, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) Director P S Krishnan said today. Talking to newsmen here, he said ‘’designing part has been completed and purchase orders have been placed and we are on schedule to take off in February 2014.’’ Replying to a question, he said ‘’manufacturing of ten plus fi ve spare Rustom-2 vehicles would be completed by August-2017. The total cost of the project is Rs 1,540 crore and by indigenous technology we are saving about 40 per cent of the cost.’’ ‘’The Rustom-2, designed and developed by ADE, a DRDO laboratory, is comparable to top drones in the world. Besides Rustom-2, solar-powered drones as well as unmanned aerial combat vehicles are also on the anvil,’’ he added. He said Rustom-2, weighing 1.8 tonnes, would have payloads such as synthetic aperture radar, maritime patrol radar and collision avoidance system among other things. Rustom-2 would have a wing-span of 21-odd metres and an endurance of 24-hours-plus. The recently tested Rustom-1 had only about seven metres and 12- 15 hours of endurance. Krishnan said with advanced capabilities and additional payloads, the Rustom- 2 is comparable to the American ‘Predator’ drones. Stating that Rustom-2 is manufactured solely for Defence purpose, he said Indian Army is keenly watching the developments and looking forward to the Rustom-2. Rustom UAVs could be deployed for military missions like reconnaissance and surveillance, target acquisition, target designation, communications relay, battle damage assessment and signal intelligence. India will also be developing unmanned aerial combat vehicles (UCAVs) as well as solar drones in the near future, he added.

Israeli envoys travelling in cars with local number plates

NEW DELHI: Days after the terror attack on a Israeli diplomat here, the envoys and visiting dignitaries of that country have started travelling in cars with local number plates instead of diplomatic vehicles. Israeli Ambassador Alon Usphiz, who had met External Affairs Minister SM Krishna here on February 15 after the broad-day-light terror attack on a woman diplomat of that country on Monday last week, injuring four including the lady, was the fi rst to be seen travelling in such a vehicle. The second instance of using cars with local numbers was seen today when Israel’s Water and Energy Minister Uzi Landau called on his counterpart Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister S Jaipal Reddy here on Tuesday. Offi cial sources said though so far no decision has been taken in allowing Israeli diplomats in India to use local number plates in their cars instead of the CD numbers, a request has been received by the government in this regard. Security concerns prompted the Israeli Embassy putting up the request, the sources said. Indian High Commission offi cials posted in Pakistan use local number plates instead of the cars with diplomatic marked.

Avascular Necrosis now curable without surgery

MUMBAI: The patients suffering from painful Avascular Necrosis (AVN) can now heave a sigh of relief as they won’t have to go through an expensive and painful surgery; instead they can just pop a pill to cure themselves. The AVN of the bone is an extremely painful and progressively disabling disorder and when left untreated, it leads to hip arthritis. However, it is now made curable by medication due to the efforts of Dr Sanjay Agarwala of Hinduja Hospital. Dr Agarwala for last 10 years has used the key drug ‘Alendronate’, a bisphosphonate, in over 400 patients to treat AVN of the hip, thus relieving them from the pain and perhaps avoiding the need for a surgery. Till now the most common way of treatment of AVN was hip replacement surgery. But, the drug ‘Alendronate’ prevents bone resorption and is most commonly and normally used to treat osteoporosis. ‘The good news for the AVN patients is that the cost of this treatment is approximately Rs 150 per month and it prevents an expensive Rs one Lakh surgery and the pain,’ said Dr Agarwala while addressing a news conference here on Tuesday. Describing the treatment, he said, it is a simple medication process where the patient just needs to take the tablet daily, weekly or as prescribed by the doctor. Medication also can be carried out by Intravenous therapy, in case the patient is not comfortable with tablet, he said and pointed that the success rate of the treatment for the patient of Grade 1 is 95 per cent, Grade 2 is 75 per cent, Grade 3 is 60-40 per cent and Grade 4 is arthritis which needs surgery. Citing examples of his two AVN patients, Dr Agarwala said that Jignesh Shah was suffering from AVN Grade 2. In 2006 he visited him, after visiting eight other doctors, and remained under treatment for the next three years till 2009. Now, he is leading a perfectly normal life and has climbed 3,364 steps of Palitana Temple. In another case, Abhijit Bhabe, a Grade 3 AVN patient, is under medication for two and half years and is now carrying out day to day activity along side cycling, gyming and dancing. The AVN remedial treatment has been done on over 400 patients effectively, he informed. Dr Agarwala was awarded by Journal of the Association of Physicians of India for his work on AVN treatment.

Bengaluru Intl. Airport uses Bio fuel in vehicles

BANGALORE: The Bengalure International Airport becomes the fi rst Airport in the country to use Bio fuel in its vehicles with a view to energy effi ciency and reducing carbon footprint. Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) has signed a partnership with Karnataka State Biofuel Development Board (KSBDB), for its operations at BIAL, according to a release here. Marking another Land mark in a series of many fi rsts for this airport, BIAL will migrate operations of its ground vehicles to Bio fuel supplied by KSBDB. BIAL Managing Director Sanjay Reddy said that ‘deploying biofuel reduces carbon footprint, in comparison to usage of fossil fuels and thus is a responsible way to meet our energy needs.’ KSBDB Executive Chairman Y B Ramakrishna said that ‘it’s been our constant endeavour to create an enabling environment by harnessing the optimal and sustainable utilisation of Renewable Energy sources with a special focus on biofuel resources. The adoption of Bio fuel by BIAL is a step in the right direction and will go a long way in furthering our Bio fuel programmes and policies at the state level.’

Curb on EC: Govt denies, but note out in the open

NEW DELHI: A day after the government rejected reports of a possible move by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption to take the model code of conduct out of the purview of the Election Commission , a leading daily on Wednesday published the ‘secret agenda note’ which disclosed the government’s intention. The Indian Express had yesterday published a report saying the Central government has begun the process to provide statutory backing to the election code, following which the poll panel would lose the right to act on complaints of code violations which would then be dealt with by courts. Within hours of the report being published, three senior ministers of the UPA government had denied any such agenda for the seventh meeting of the GoM on corruption, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, scheduled to be held at 1.00 pm today. Law Minister Salman Khurshid said, “To my knowledge, there is no such thing on the agenda. As far as I understand, it was agreed that once the elections are over there will be an all-party consultation on the issue about electoral reforms which are being pushed by the EC.” He added, “But if it is raised by any political party during the course of discussion, we will take it as and when it happens.” “From where this idea has come? But on the GoM agenda there is nothing,” is what Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said in Lucknow, “I am on the GoM but I am not aware of the agenda. It so happens that bureaucracy makes certain proposals and sometimes we discuss them while at others we reject them.” Even the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in a statement that the claims were “totally misconceived”. “...There is no such move under contemplation of the Government or the Group of Ministers... The GoM has not made any recommendation to make the Model Code of Conduct statutory or to take it outside the purview of the Commission,” the DoPT said in a release. However, the note published by the newspaper clearly shows that poll code is on the ‘secret’ agenda of the GoM. “...The Chairman was also of the view that ‘Code of Conduct’ was one of the biggest excuses to stall development projects, and thus agreed with the request of the Law Minister to fl ag this issue and its inclusion in the agenda papers. It was also suggested that the Legislative Department may also look into the aspects where executive instructions of the Election Commission of India were required to be given statutory shape. Accordingly, Secretary, Legislative Department, has been requested to make a presentation before the GoM on the progress made in the matter,” mentions the note. Reacting to the development, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi told the daily that the government’s move was “highly misconceived” and aimed at curbing the powers of the Election Commission.

Intl Conference on Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles from Feb 24

BANGALORE: More than 400 Aeronautical Scientists from 15 countries spread across fi ve continents are participating in the second edition of International Conference on Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (ICAUV-2) being held at Eaglet on Golf Resort on February 24 and 25, Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) Director P S Krishnan said today. Addressing a press conference here, he said it is the fi rst residential conference dedicated fully on AMV. There will be fi ve parallel technical sessions and plenary sessions on each day. Distinguished speakers include Global hawk Designers from Northrop Grumman, Chief Scientist from Air Force Research Laboratory, Directors from Locheed Martin strategic studies group, system designers from Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, SAAB, EADS France and Germany, Directors from International Civil Aviation Organisation and European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment. He said a technology exposition is also being held showcasing the products and technologies covering the Unmanned Vehicles. About 30 national and international players in the fi elds of unmanned systems and related technologies are participating in the two-day Conference. Dr V K Saraswat, Scientifi c Advisor to Rakshna Mantri, would inaugurate the Conference and Dr Siva S Banda, Chief Scientist; AFRL, USA will deliver the keynote address.Krishnan said the technical sessions would deliberate upon Aero Propulsion System, Flight and Mission Control Systems, avionics Systems, structural systems, Operational Experience and Lessons l Learnt, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, Mini and Micro UAV systems, Current and Future trends. He said three dedicated Industry Sessions to enable intra and inter cooperation between DRDO and Industry is scheduled on concluding day