express india august 6,2013

EXPRESS INDIA August 6, 2013

A weekly News paper featuring News & Trends from the Indian Sub-continent published from the US Capital

Vol. 23 No. 32 WASHINGTON DC • Phone: 301-445-0200/301-445-3543/301-917-4800 • email:[email protected] • August 6, 2013

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EXPRESS INDIA

Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth , and a foot out of joint. Proverbs

BHEL See Page 3

RTI See Page 2

U.S. Issues Global Travel Alert For Month Amid Perceived al-Qaeda Threat London (ANI): The U.S. Department of State has issued a global travel alert, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, amid a per-ceived al-Qaeda threat of conducting attacks in the

period between now and end of August. According to the BBC, the State Depart-ment has recommended to U.S. citizens abroad to be vigilant about using public transportation systems and

Manmohan Singh Dedicates Two Projects Of BHEL To Nation

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh dedicating the BHEL’s Power Plant Piping Unit & Unit-II High Pressure Boiler Plant to the Nation, at a function, in Thirumayam, Tamil Nadu on August 02, 2013. The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Dr. K. Rosaiah, the Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enter-prises, Shri Praful Patel and the CMD of BHEL, Shri B. Prasada Rao are also seen.

Thirumayam, Aug. 2 (ANI): The Prime Minis-ter, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Friday dedicated to the nation the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd plant’s second unit at Tiruchirapalli and Piping Plant in Thirumayam, near Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu. Speaking on the oc-casion, Dr. Singh said Bharat Heavy Electricals is one of our Maharatna public sector enterprises. “It has played an extremely important part in

the industrial development of our country, particularly in the energy sector. I believe that with the operationalization of these two units, the company has achieved an annual manu-facturing capacity of 20000 MW,” he added. Dr. Singh congratu-lated Minister of Heavy In-dustry and Public Enterprises Praful Patel and the officers and staff of Bharat Heavy Electricals on this important achievement. The Prime Minister

also congratulated Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who was instrumental in persuading Bharat Heavy Electricals to locate the new Power Plant Piping Unit at Thirumayam, a backward block in Pudukkottai dis-trict. “He has st r ived tirelessly for the all-round development of this region. This only shows the deep concern Shri Chidambaram

Cabinet Gives Nod To Amend RTI Act To Keep Political Parties Out

New Delhi, Aug. 2 (ANI): The Union Cabinet has cleared crucial changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act to keep the political parties out of its ambit by declaring that they are not public authorities. The Cabinet gave its nod to amend the transpar-ency law nearly two months after the Central Information Commission’s order of bringing the six national political parties Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP under the RTI Act. The decision in this

regard was taken during a Cabi-net meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday. As per the amend-ments, the political parties as public authorities under the RTI would ‘hamper their smooth internal functioning since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions’. They maintain that the Representation of the People Act and the Income Tax Act provide sufficient transparency regard-

ing financial aspects of political parties. Under Section 2 of the RTI Act, the definition of public authority in the proposed amend-ment will make it clear that ‘it shall not include any political party registered under the Rep-resentation of the Peoples Act’. As proposed earlier, political parties may not be added in the list of organisa-tions (Section 8) exempted from parting information under the

Chinese PLA Stops Indian Army From Patrolling In Indian Territory

Bombers Target Indian Mission In Afghanistan, 12 Locals Dead

Jalalabad, August 3: Suicide bombers on Saturday targeted the Indian consulate in Afghanistan’s eastern capital, bordering Pakistan, killing at least 12 persons. Three bombers drove in a car towards the consulate and detonated explosives, killing 12, including eight children and injuring 24 others. The dead included the bombers. The explosion, which created a large crater, occurred at a security checkpost just ahead of the consulate. All Indian personnel were safe. There was no major dam-age to the consulate, official sources said in New Delhi. The Taliban denied any hand in the attack. The Indian Embassy in Kabul has been attacked twice — 2008 and 2009 — killing scores of people. Today’s attack took place in the backdrop of threats of possible terror attacks on Indian dip-lomats and other assets in Afghanistan. A security team was dispatched from Delhi to Kabul last week to assess the threats. Afghan officials said one attacker deto-nated the explosives-laden vehicle while the other two, wearing suicide vests, were gunned down by

Leh/New Delhi, Aug 4, 2013 (PTI): Amid a spate of incursions by China in La-dakh, its troops are also resort-ing to tactics like preventing Indian Army from patrolling posts in this sector along the border which was well within India’s territory. In what is being described as an aggressive approach by China, the tactics have come to the fore in the wake of yet another incident last week when Indian troops launched its patrol “Tiranga” from Trade Junction area in North of Ladakh for two posts located 14 km up in the higher reaches along the Line of Actual Control(LAC). The Indian army personnel were stopped by Chinese troops who came mounted on heavy and light vehicles, official sources said

today. The patrol party was shown a banner that it was Chinese territory and that they cannot proceed to the posts, they said. The sources said the Chinese troops were aggres-sive in their approach while stopping the Indian patrol who were at their posts. These posts a re well inside Indian territory, the sources said, adding that from April this year, the patrol for these forward bases were launched 21 times and only twice it could complete its mission. Chinese have erected an observation post which kept a vigil on movement of Indian troops and as soon as an Indian patrol party is ready to leave, they are intercepted midway and sent back, the sources

said, adding the matter would be taken up during the next Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) at Chushul. In the same North Ladakh sector, there were instances when Chinese mili-tary vehicles were spotted in Depsang Bulge and Daulat Beg Oldi(DBO) sector where the two armies had seen a 21-day standoff from April 15 this year. Indian troops com-prising mainly Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP) im-mediately swung into action and prevented the ‘free-run’ of Chinese military vehicles in the Indian territory.In the last BPM meeting held on July 27, India also raised objections to a tower being constructed in the Chinese

PATROL See Page 8

other tourist facilities. The alert comes after the U.S. announced the closure of 14 American embassies in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday. U. S. President Barack Obama has or-dered the taking of all ap-propriate steps to protect Americans after a threat of an al-Qaeda attack alert was generated by the intel-ligence agencies.

security forces in an exchange of fire while trying to target the consulate. Three Afghan policemen were among the injured. Nangarhar province police chief Gen Sharif Amin said most victims were children at-tending religious classes at a nearby mosque. “At least eight children were killed,” Amin was quoted as saying by Tolo News chan-nel. Amin confirmed that the consulate was the intended target of the blast. Police in Jalalabad were on alert for such an attack, he said. The attack happened when many people, including women, were queuing up near the consul-ate to apply for visas.

August 6, 2013 EXPRESS INDIA

RTI From Page 1

information act. During the Cabinet meeting, some members, in-cluding Petroleum Minister Veerappa Moily voiced their dissent against the move. They were of the opinion that the people should know that amending the law was not a uni-lateral move by the government, but was based on consensus among all political parties. RTI activist Commo-dore (Retd.) Lokesh K. Batra has written a letter to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, in which he has said that amendment to RTI Act, 2005 will be contempt of assur-ance given in the Parliament. “On 05 July 2009, the

Cabinet Gives Nod To Amend RTI Act To Keep Political Parties Out

then Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions had assured the Parliament in a written response to a question that the ‘Non-Governmental Organisations and Social activ-ists’ will be consulted before any amendment to the RTI Act, 2005. The Hon’ble Minister reiterated his stand in Rajya Sabha on 25 August 2010,” he said in his letter to Swaraj. The RTI activist had last month written a letter to President Pranab Mukherjee in this regard. In June, the Cen-tral Information Commission, which ensures the RTI Act is implemented and public queries are answered by government departments, ruled that the six

major national parties, includ-ing the Congress and BJP are public authorities and must re-spond to RTI applications. The parties were given six weeks to appoint Public Information Officers (PIOs) to handle RTI requests. The decision from transparency watchdog evoked sharp reactions from political parties, especially Congress which has been credited with bringing in the transparency law but is opposed to the CIC’s directive. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of the RTI Act, in consultation with Law Ministry had earlier de-cided to amend the law.

Trinamool Congress Against RTI Amendments, Confirms Derek O’ Brein

Kolkata, Aug. 4 (ANI): Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’ Brein said that his party was strongly opposed to keeping political parties outside the realm of the Right to In-formation (RTI) Act, as the upcoming amendment seeks to do. O’Brein added that political parties cannot have double standards by allotting separate laws for the people of the country and themselves. On August 1, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Union Cabinet had cleared crucial changes to the Right to Information (RTI) Act to keep the politi-cal parties out of its ambit by declaring that they are not public authorities. Tr inamool Con-gress has made it clear that it is against the proposed changes. “We are very clear that we believe political parties should be open, as practical as possible, to share their financials and their ac-counts (and) should be part of RTI. Political parties should not make one set of rules for themselves and one set of rules for everybody else. So, we believe that political parties should be included in the ambit of the RTI—atleast the financial part of it,” Brein said here today. Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP) earlier today held protests

against the RTI amendment outside Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s residence at 7, Race Course. According to re-ports, 40 to 50 protesters had gathered at 7, Race Course on Sunday and were later ar-rested and taken to Tughlak Road Police Station. Media reports also suggest that a dharna against the RTI amendments will be staged at Jantar Mantar on August 6. The Cabinet gave its nod to amend the transpar-ency law nearly two months after the Central Information Commission’s order of bring-ing the six national political parties Congress, BJP, NCP, CPI-M, CPI and BSP under the RTI Act. As per the amend-ments, the political parties as public authorities under the RTI would ‘hamper their smooth internal function-ing since it will encourage political rivals to file RTI applications with malicious intentions’. The Cabinet main-tains that the Representation of the People Act and the Income Tax Act provide suf-ficient transparency regarding financial aspects of political parties. Under Section 2 of the RTI Act, the definition of public authority in the pro-posed amendment will make it clear that ‘it shall not include any political party registered

under the Representation of the Peoples Act’. As proposed earlier, political parties may not be added in the list of organiza-tions (Section 8) exempted from parting information under the information act. During the Cabinet meeting, some members ex-pressed the view that people should know that amending the law was not a unilateral move by the government, but was based on consensus among all political parties. In June, the Central Information Commission, which ensures the RTI Act is implemented and public que-ries are answered by govern-ment departments, ruled that the six major national parties, including the Congress and BJP are public authorities and must respond to RTI applica-tions. The parties were given six weeks to appoint Public Information Officers (PIOs) to handle RTI requests. The decision from t ranspa rency watchdog evoked sharp reactions from political parties, especially Congress which has been credited with bringing in the transparency law but is op-posed to the CIC’s directive. The Depar tment of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implemen-tation of the RTI Act, in con-sultation with Law Ministry had earlier decided to amend the law.


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BHEL From Pg 1has for the people of his con-stituency. It also exemplifies our Government’s commit-ment for the development of the backward regions of our country,” he said. Dr. Singh said there are numerous benefits that such new manufacturing units bring to an area. “They bring new employment opportunities for the youth. In addition to direct jobs, they also generate indirect employment through small businesses and service providers. There is a boost to skill development as such manufacturing units induct apprentices for training,” said Dr. Singh. “There is also an in-crease in trade and commerce in the area, contributing to an overall rise in prosperity. I am sure that some of these benefits are already accruing to the people of Thirumayam and its surrounding areas,” he added. Dr. Singh said the country needs to do much more in manufacturing. “We need to expand manufacturing substantially both in absolute terms and as a proportion of our Gross Domestic Product. Only this can enable us to generate productive employment for

our large and growing labour-force. BHEL is not only one of our foremost manufactur-ing companies, but is also contributing to our efforts for expanding manufactur-ing by helping us make our economy more competitive,” he added. The Prime Minister pointed out that a large scale capacity addition programme is needed to address the cur-rent power deficit and to meet the needs of the expanding economy. “The Government is targeting a capacity addition of more than one hundred thousand MW, including renewables, in the 12th Five Year Plan. In the 11th Five Year Plan, the country added around 55,000 MW of gen-eration capacity which is more than twice the addition achieved in the 10th Five Year Plan. Out of this Bharat Heavy Electricals alone ac-counted for almost half. This shows the critical role that the company plays in one of the key sectors of our economy,” said Dr. Singh. “I have been told that Bharat Heavy Electricals has been undertaking many new initiatives to expand its manufacturing capacity. The dedication today of Bharat Heavy Electricals’ new Units is an outcome of such initia-

tives. I understand that spread over 3 lakh square meters, the company’s Trichy complex is one of the biggest in Asia as a whole,” he added. Asserting that cli-mate change has become an urgent concern across the globe, Dr. Singh said: “India is among the countries that would be the most seriously impacted by the consequences of climate change. We need to develop ways and means to reduce our carbon foot?print through technological innova-tion.” “In our country, more than 50 percent of power comes from coal-based generation, which is a major emitter of greenhouse gases. I am very happy that Bharat Heavy Electricals has taken initiatives for the development of ultra super critical technol-ogy in line with our mission for deployment of clean coal technologies,” he added. Dr. Singh further said the Jawaharlal Nehru Na-tional Solar Mission seeks to develop 20,000 MW of solar power generating capacity by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan. “Its success has the potential of enhancing India’s energy security, and contributing handsomely to our efforts to combat climate change,” he added.

Manmohan Singh Dedicates Two Projects Of BHEL To Nation

Nitish Kumar Assures Preparedness To Confront Drought And Floods In Bihar

Patna, Aug. 4 (ANI): Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the overflow-ing Ganga river was not as much of a worry as the drought situation in some parts of the state. Kumar also assured that the state government has taken all precautionary measures to combat the drought, and is carrying out rescue operations in flooded regions. After conducting an aerial inspection, Kumar said that both sides of the Ganga are flooded due to a heightened water level. “Because of a rise in water-level in the Ganga river, both sides of the river are flooded. The situation is especially bad to the north of Patna and in the Bhojpur area. Some areas are worse than oth-ers and we have conducted an aerial inspection of the whole area. We have also inspected

the areas of drought. Rescue operations are on throughout and are functioning in full swing. Those involved in the rescue operations are working on all fronts and very hard,” Kumar assured. Kumar also said that the scanty rainfall in the begin-ning of the monsoon season posed huge challenges to the state, but the government was prepared to act on all fronts if the drought situation wors-ens. “We are concerned about the drought situation. If, in the next few days, there isn’t sufficient rainfall the situ-ation will significantly worsen. However, we have taken neces-sary precautions as far as we can,” Kumar said. Kumar added that electricity distribution has been increased in rural areas and the government has sub-

sidized diesel as part of its aid operations. On Monday, the Chief Minister is expected to discuss the situation in remote areas by consulting district of-ficials via video conference. “I will consult with them and act on further relief operations accordingly. Any help and aid they need will be provided to them by the state government,” Kumar said. The simultaneous flood and drought situation is not an unusual phenomenon in Bihar. The overf lowing rivers have flooded the north-ern part of the state, while the southern region remains parched and drought-ridden. According to the state government, 443 blocks out of a total of 534 have re-ceived less than 20% rainfall this year.

Formation Of Telangana Will Take Five To Six Months: Shinde

New Delhi, Aug 1 (ANI): Union Home Min-ister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday said that the process for the formation of the new state of Telangana would take about five to six months as per constitutional norms. Addressing the me-dia here, Shinde said: “The Congress Working Com-mittee (CWC) has passed a resolution and further procedure will be done ac-cording to the Constitution of India. Telangana will be formed by following all the procedures and it would take five to six months.” Responding to a question on the Congress Ministers and MLA’s from outside the Telangana re-gion, who are likely to re-sign by Thursday evening, Shinde said that they should put forth their demands in a peaceful and democratic way. “I am making an ap-peal to them that they should make their demands peace-fully in a democratical way,”

he said. He also added that Telangana was being formed because it was the oldest issue and the people of that region have been agitating and demanding the forma-tion of a separate state since 1956. The Union Cabinet is likely to meet on Thursday evening to take a final call on Telangana formation. AICC General Sec-retary and in-charge of Communications Depart-ment Ajay Maken on July 30, briefed the media about the resolution on the for-mation of Telengana that was passed in the Congress Working Committee meet-ing presided by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi among others. T h e C o n g r e s s Working Committee had resolved to request the Central Government to take steps in accordance with

the Constitution of India to form a separate state of Telangana and establish within a definite time frame a mechanism to address the concerns of the people of the regions of Andhra and Ray-alaseema on matters relating to sharing of river waters, generation and distribution of electricity, safety and security of all residents in all the three regions and the guarantee of the fundamen-tal rights of all residents. Congress General Secretary, Digvijay Singh disclosed that Telangana will have 10 districts. “At the moment, the decision is for the 10 districts of Telangana. But as and when the Group of Ministers are consider-ing that and if there are any other areas which have put in a demand then the Group of Ministers can look at it ” said Digvijay. He added that the Congress Party had cleared the formation of Telangana with Hyderabad as joint capital for 10 years.


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A People’s Governmentby Anadi Naik Even if a Govern-ment is voted in by the major-ity votes cast, it does not nec-essarily represent the interest of the entire population. This has been a big problem for any democracy. The United States and India, along with a host of other countries continue to suffer from this deficiency. “A Government by the people, of the people and for the people” may not perish but the way it works at times raises some unpleasant questions. For ex-ample, when the United States keeps spending money on an unwinnable war or helps an oppressive dictatorship many think that it is a waste of the taxpayer’s dollars. But they have no effective tool to stop the Government. Or when In-dia allows foreign companies to deplete its natural resources, it hurts a lot of people. But they cannot stop the Government without resorting to protest which more often than not becomes ugly and violent. Any democratically elected Government claims to have the will of the people behind it. But in reality the ac-tion of the Government and the desire of the people often run in opposite directions. When the situation becomes unbear-able the ordinary folks rise to protest and the government on its part tries to shut them up. The process continues over and over around the world. Today, every country seems to depend on every other. When the Government of any one country violates democratic values within its borders, the others get affected. Syrian refugees are now flooding the neighboring countries; many

people from Burma fled to Laos and Thailand under the military rule; the Tamils of Sri Lanka left the island to settle wherever they could. That is why to reduce the pressure the Americans are raising Human rights issues with the Chinese; the Qatar is facilitating a dialog between the Taliban and the Afghan Government; Saudi Arabia are bankrolling the Egyptians; India is helping Nepal, Burma and Afghanistan in their eco-nomic development. Some see this mutual bonding as extending the he-gemony by rich and powerful countries. But in reality it helps both ways. The helper and the helped get the benefit from mutual transactions. That is why a good relationship between India and Pakistan is so important. Both have goods and services that the other needs. By facilitating their transactions respective governments can help their people to lift themselves up economically. Self-interest dictates such action but poli-tics stands in the way. As far as the relationship between India and Pakistan goes, Pakistan’s foray into genuine democracy in recent weeks may change the situation for the better. Within any democra-cy there are elements who try to influence the Government’s thinking or position. Directly or indirectly they put pressure on Government. Each interest group such as the military, the industrial houses, the dairy farmers, the sugar mills, takes a stand which may go against some of the stands taken by others. The Government makes its decision but man-

ages to displease everyone. It happens quite often. In recent years, the most important relationship among nations has been de-fined by their economic rela-tionship with each other. The naked exploitation of the past through trade and commerce is not possible because of technological advancements in communication and travel. There are too many watchdogs around. Therefore, the playing field for everyone has become more or less a level field. Still problems do pop up now and then. Given India’s experi-ence, one has to be careful, no doubt. Since opening its market to foreign investors India’s trade with the US has reached $100 billion. Indian companies have invested $30 billion in the United States. Countries of Europe, South America and Africa are buy-ing Indian goods directly from India or through third coun-tries. India is looking eastward to Singapore, Thailand, Indo-nesia and the Philippines for sales and investment. China also has become one of the most important partners in trade and commerce. In the eyes of other countries India is a big producer as well as a big consumer. Its upward moving middle class is hungry for goods and services from abroad. When India’s demand is added to China’s it lifts the entire world because together they hold almost one third of the world’s population. It is in the interest of the entire world that both countries have to work together even if they have two different concepts for democracy.

Maharashtra Battles Tobacco Products With tainted Midday Meal and food-borne salmo-nellosis disasters in various places, and the Supreme Court directive to states to curb the sale of adulterated milk, the Congress-led administrations including Maharashtra are striving to muster the people’s good will, especially in light of the forthcoming Lok Sabha as well as various Assembly elections. The latest bone of contention is the Health department’s crack down on tobacco products such as gutka and other tobacco-based products. Saturday 3rd August 2013, about 30,000 paanwallahs in Pune city sought registration through licenses from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). Initiative for the same has been taken by the Pune Paan Association. They became conscious of the need for registration when officials of the Maharashtra Food Safety Commission told them that their objection to the ban of tobacco prod-ucts was on a weak footing, inasmuch as a vast majority of paan vendors are not reg-istered, except for about 150 vendors. Pune Pan Associa-tion Secretary Hemang Shah described at a news confer-ence, the sorry plight of the paanwallahs, should the ban be carried out. Besides seek-ing registration for all the existing 30,000 paanwallahs in Pune, the association will also train them in hygiene. However, Mr. Hemang Shah need to realize that it is point-less to serve poison in a clean bowl. What use is hygiene in tobacco trade! It’s already unclean, ain’t it? According to Hemang Shah, the flavored tobacco is less hazardous than the chewing tobacco, and hence the ban should be lifted.

As though to add to this, paan shop owners’ leader Sharad More (read: Moreh) criticized the government for the ban on scented and flavored tobacco which, he said, was different from, and better than, gutkha whose ban maybe justifiable. Mr. More laments that they cannot run their business, which means their survival is being undermined by the ban. It is understandable that Shah and More and their tobacco-trading fraternity are concerned about the in-come and profits that the paan merchants are making but at the cost of people’s health, with even school boys and girls for victims. If you were to ask them, they would admit that they would not want their own children to chew the stuff they are selling for profit—for the simple reason that all their products are tobacco-based. Saturday 3rd August 2013, the Pune Paan Asso-ciation called for a daylong agitation against the state government’s decision to ban flavored tobacco products. Over 25,000 paan shops across the city remained closed, to mark their protest against the year-long ban on the sale of processed, scented and flavored tobacco. Rallying through the city, they marched to the district collectorate where they sub-mitted a memorandum whose copy was handed to Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) also. Despite being a revenue-fetching industry, the various tobacco prod-ucts have been worrying the government(s), health authority, food and drug ad-ministrations, social thinkers, cultural champions, and reli-gious leaders, as well as teach-ers, parents, wives, and other family people. Tobacco use in

any form can only undermine the health of our countrymen, and make the nation weak. Researchers have suggested that by using these, you are not destroying your health only, but also that of your progeny that will be born in future. If earlier, it was thought that only a mother’s use of alcohol and tobacco could endanger her future children, later studies have shown that even the father’s indulgence can be equally dangerous. If our ancestors had abstained from tobacco products, we would have been a far healthier stock than we really are today. This simple knowledge should be sufficient to shock us to the spine. Evidently, it was with this terrifying realiza-tion, that the Government of Maharashtra publicized a notification on 20th July, following which the food and drug administration’s secret investigators rolled up their sleeves, and got into action, seizing gutkha and paan ma-sala worth 6.3 crore rupees, from 469 paan shops across the state. This action of the FDA creates controversy in light of more than a dozen leading Gutkha and Paan masala manufacturers’ writ petitions that are before the High Court, seeking judg-ment. However, arguing that the court has not stayed the notification, the FDA went ahead seizing the banned products. The Congress-pro-moted drive against tobacco stuff will prove a political blunder, unless they first edu-cate, refine and convince the aam admi against tobacco. The key to the success of this campaign against tobacco is in the hand of the citizen whose vote alone can vindi-cate the government.

Sujatha Singh Takes Charge As India’s New Foreign Secretary

New Delhi, Aug 1 (ANI): Sujatha Singh as-sumed charge as India’s next foreign secretary on Thurs-day. Singh, an officer of the 1976 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, succeeds Rajan Mathai who superan-nuated from the service yes-terday. Mathai is expected to go to London as India’s High Commissioner. Prior to taking over as the foreign secretary, Singh served as India’s envoy to Germany (2012-13) and the country’s High Commission-

er to Australia (2007-12). Singh started her overseas assignments as sec-ond secretary in the Embassy of India, Bonn (1978-82). Subsequently she was first secretary, High Commission of India, Accra (1985-89), counsellor, Embassy of In-dia, Paris (1989-92), deputy chief of mission and deputy permanent representative to ESCAP at Embassy of India, Bangkok (1997-2000) and consul general, Milan (2000-04). Singh has served over a third of her career at

headquarters. She was un-der secretary looking after Nepal (1982-85); director, economic co-ordination unit (1992-95), attended the National Defence College at New Delhi (1995) and joint secretary at the Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi (1996-97). Singh, 59, is the third woman to head the services after Chokila Iyer and Niru-pama Rao. She is the daughter of former Intelligence Bureau Chief T. V. Rajeshwar and the wife of former Secretary (East) Sanjay Singh.


Healing Communities And Remembering The Victims Of Oak CreekBy Attorney General Eric Holder This Monday, August 5th, marks the one-year anniversary of the senseless murders of six Sikh worshippers – Satwant Singh Kaleka, Paramjit Kaur, Prakash Singh, Ranjit Singh, Sita Singh and Suveg Singh – at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, in Oak Creek, at the hands of a lone gunman. This heinous act of hatred and terror also seriously injured several other worshippers, as well as Oak Creek Police Lieutenant Brian Murphy, who was shot 12 times at close range while attempting to save others. In the aftermath of this ter-rible tragedy, individuals and com-munities of faith across the country were badly shaken. Millions were affected deeply – because we are a nation that has always cherished the right to worship and practice one’s faith in peace and liberty. The at-tack in Oak Creek was particularly jarring not only because of its scale, and the number of victims involved, but also because it occurred in a place of worship; of fellowship; and – above all – of peace. One year ago, I traveled to Oak Creek to stand in solidarity – and to grieve – with a shattered community that had witnessed the worst of humanity. That day, I was

inspired by the response of the Sikh community, by the outpouring of support from members of other faiths, and by the heroism of the Oak Creek Police Department of-ficers who rushed to aid victims in the face of gunfire. In the months since that shooting, many have asked how we should respond to mass casualty events like Oak Creek – which constitute both hate crimes and terrorist acts. Following any such incident, the process of healing will inevitably be lengthy and difficult, as the effects of the tragedy endure long after the event. This is why, today, I’m pleased to announce that the Justice Department’s Office on Victims of Crime will offer an emergency assistance grant to the Wisconsin Department of Justice providing over $512,000 to help reimburse, and continue to pay for, mental health and trauma services for the victims and survivors of this horrific shooting. These funds are intended to assist all those af-fected – including family members, witnesses, first responders and the wider Oak Creek community – as they continue to rebuild their lives and keep displaying the extraordi-nary resiliency so many of us have

come to admire. More broadly, we also must engage in an inclusive dialogue about how we can prevent these tragedies in the future – including through the improved tracking of hate crimes reporting. Now, the victims of Oak Creek must never be reduced to mere crime statistics. But, in order to honor their untimely losses by ensuring that justice can be done – they do need to be counted. Indeed, as Harpreet Singh Saini, who lost his mother during the Oak Creek attack, said at a Con-gressional hearing organized by U.S. Senator Dick Durbin last fall, “I came here today to ask the government to give my mother the dignity of being a statistic.” Having accurate information al-lows law enforcement leaders and policymakers to make informed decisions about the allocation of resources and priorities – decisions that impact real people, and affect public safety in every neighbor-hood and community. Today, I am proud to report that we have taken steps to collect this information. After a nearly year-long process, in June of 2013, the Ad-visory Policy Board that advises the FBI on various issues, includ-

ing statistical reporting under the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program, recommended that the FBI Director add a number of categories in its tracking of hate crimes – including offenses com-mitted against Sikh, Hindu, Arab, Buddhist, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness and Orthodox Christian individuals. Director Mueller approved this recommendation. And – as we look toward the future – I’m confident that this change will help us better understand the law enforcement challenges we face. It will empower us to better enforce relevant laws to protect everyone in this country. And it is emblematic of our unwavering resolve to prevent and seek justice for acts of hate and terror. As we speak, the Justice Department – through the FBI, our Civil Rights Division and our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices – continues to vigorously investigate and pros-ecute threats and violence directed at people because of their religion or ethnicity, and to prevent acts of discrimination against them in the workplace, schools and many other areas. Since the attacks of September 11th, the Department has investigated over 800 inci-dents involving violence, threats,

assaults, vandalism and arson targeting Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, South Asians and those perceived to be members of these groups. The Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices have brought prosecutions against 60 defendants in such cases with 50 convictions to date – including, most recently, obtaining a guilty plea from a Washington state man who at-tacked a Sikh man in violation of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. And the Community Rela-tions Service is working to help communities prevent and respond to these crimes wherever they oc-cur. Protecting the safety and civil rights of every person in this country is, and must always remain, a top priority for all those who serve the American family. Through this work, my colleagues and I will continue to honor the memories of those lost at Oak Creek and all others who have become victims of terror and hate. And we will keep striving to uphold the uniquely American promise that has always united people of differing faiths, creeds, colors, races and ideologies: the promise of liberty and equality for all.


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Brinda Karat Criticizes Akhilesh Govt., Alleges IAS Nagpal

Suspended To Save Sand Mafia New Delhi, Aug. 3 (ANI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat on Saturday criticized the Samajwadi Party (SP) Gov-ernment for using the threat of communal tension as a shield while suspending Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Durga Shakti Nagpal for taking action against the sand mafia which is operating in the area. “Where are the com-munal politics in this case? Nobody there has complained except people who were hav-ing links with the sand mafia. In the name of preventing a so-called communal incident from happening, what was re-ally happening was a defense being set up to save the sand mafia. That is what’s so objec-tionable,” Karat said here on Saturday. “In this case it’s one where you have a young wom-an officer who has taken a very strong stand against the sand mafia who have many patrons working in many political parties of that area. It is that that has upset them, and they thought she was a vulnerable target because she is a young woman,” Karat added. Reiterating her stand that the suspension was un-fortunate and one that sent a wrong message to other aspiring female IAS officers, Karat said Samajwadi Party Minister Narendra Bhati’s statement that bragged about getting Nagpal suspended in 41 minutes raised new ques-tions about the reasoning of the order. “His statement raises questions on how his leaders have taken this decision. So

if his statement is completely untrue, and they have not taken the decision on the basis of his 41 minutes’ time deadline, well they should take action against him. Are they going to do that?” Karat asked. The 28-yea r-old Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar reached out to the state government yesterday to proclaim her in-nocence. The Allahabad High Court yesterday adjourned the hearing on a PIL filed in connection with the IAS officer’s suspension by the Uttar Pradesh Government. The High Cour t also sought a response from the state government and the Centre in connection with this case. The case will now come up for hearing on August 19. The clamour for rein-stating Nagpal grew louder on Thursday with representatives of the Central IAS officers’ Association meeting Minister of State in PMO V. Naraya-nasamy to demand justice for her. Nagpal was sus-pended last month ostensibly for taking on the sand mafia and for ordering the demolition of a wall of a mosque that was being built on government land in the state’s Gautam Buddh Nagar District, where she was posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate. According to reports, the 2009-batch IAS officer had seized nearly 300 trolleys of sand being illegally mined from the Yamuna river bed. Though the Uttar Pradesh Government has

called it an ‘administrative decision’, against her for de-molishing a wall which was part of an intended mosque, but many believe that it was the result of pressure from the mining mafia. Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Government said removing Nagpal was an “administrative decision” as her decision to demolish the mosque could trigger com-munal tension, especially since it came during the month of Ramzan. D e f e n d i n g h i s government’s action, Ut-tar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has said the bureaucrat ordered the demoli-tion of a portion of the mosque which might have resulted in disturbing peace in the state. “You should inquire from the people of that village. The Muslim families col-lected donation for building a mosque, a wall was built, and you took the decision without holding any consultation and spoilt the environment there,” he said. Yadav said there was no matter of mining for which the action was taken. “The government will act against all those who act against goodwill and brotherhood or try to spoil the environment by of their work,” he added, while rubbishing reports that the government acted tough only because it was a matter of illegal mining. “If you look at the re-cord of last two to three months then you will come to know that truck and machines were caught. We are also desirous that illegal mining should not take place,” he added.

Nagaland CM Neiphiu Rio Meets Assam CM Tarun Gogoi To Tackle Border Issues

New Delhi, Aug 3 (ANI): Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met the Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi on Saturday to find an amicable solution to the bor-der dispute between the two states. “I had a good meeting with the Assam Chief Minister. We have decided that as far as the border between Nagaland and Assam is concerned, we should maintain status quo, maintain peace, and keep our

NGO’s active to have interac-tion,” he told the media here today. “We will be sending our administrative officers to observe the ground realties, so that nobody violates the peace-ful atmosphere,” he added. Since the formation of Nagaland in 1963, around 59,000 hectares of Assam land has been allegedly encroached upon by residents of the neigh-bouring states. According to reports,

Nagaland residents have en-croached upon 4,000 hectares in the 5,927-hectare Geleky reserve forest in Assam’s Sivasagar district. “Since it is a disputed area there is some kind of tension but because political will is there to resolve and civil society desires for peaceful atmosphere,” Neiphiu Rio said. Nagaland is also reported to have encroached upon large areas in Jorhat and Golaghat districts of Assam.

149 Killed In Uttar Pradesh Floods Lucknow, Aug. 2 (ANI): Flooding in Uttar Pradesh has worsened causing a surge in the water levels of the Ganges, leaving at least 149 killed and approximately 1.6 million displaced accord-

ing to reports. Initially only the western part of the state faced the flood situation but now rivers have triggered damage in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, as well.

Major rivers in the sub-Himalayan Terai region are said to be in spate; amongst them are the Ganga, Ram Ganga, Rapti, Sharda, Yamu-na, Ghaghra and Gomti. Ac-cording to reports, almost one million hectare of cultivable land has been damaged and approximately 299 livestock have fallen victim across 15 districts of the state. Additionally, hun-dreds of people have been forced to vacate their swamped homes in Varanasi because of the floods. The River Sharda is flowing above the danger mark in Paliakalan while the River Ghaghra is above the red mark in Bahraich. The River Ganges is rising at Kannauj, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia, whereas the River Yamuna is in spate at Baghpat, Auraiyya, Hamirpur, Banda and Allahabad. Bahraich continues to be one of the worst af-fected districts by the ravag-ing flood waters of the River Ghaghra.

Delhi Govt. To Provide Top Priority To Transport Sector: Sheila Dikshit

New Delhi, Aug. 2 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday said that her government has de-cided to give top priority to transport sector with an aim to develop an international standard transport set up in the city. Dikshit, who inau-gurated a day-long seminar on “Urban transport in Delhi” organized by the Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi with the assistance from Institute of Urban Transport (Delhi), in her inaugural speech elabo-rated the progress made by the government in planning and developing transport for the people of Delhi. She highlighted how Delhi’s transport is much bet-ter than any other city in the country and region, however a lot still needs to be done. “This seminar would be useful in deliberating how the transport system of Delhi can be made better,” she said. Dikshit also released a souvenir which is a compen-dium of technical papers and articles on Delhi’s transport system. The seminar was pre-sided over by Transport Min-ister Ramakant Goswami.

In his speech, Gos-wami discussed in detail how the transport system in Delhi needs to be planned for the people and not vehicles. He emphasized the need for better planning and better imple-mentation of the schemes and systems so that it is the people of Delhi who are the biggest beneficiaries. In his address, the Secretary and Commissioner Transport expressed the need for knowledge, awareness and training within the department so that officials are better aware of fulfilling the needs and de-sires of the people of Delhi. This Seminar is an initiative of its kind to start deliberating and discussing urban transport by engaging experts in the field to discuss about transport planning in Delhi. The technical ses-sions began with a presentation on the Regional Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS) by the Member Secretary of NCRPB Naini Jayaseelan. This was followed by a presentation on Delhi Metro by Sharat Sharma, Director Operations DMRC. The subsequent ses-sion on Multimodal Integration contained presentations by Sh Samir Sharma from DIMTS

and Shri Yash Sachdeva. Both these presentations focused on the need for modal integration in Delhi considering there are so many modes of public trans-port available to the public. The second half of the day kick started with a session on Road Safety. Taj Hassan from Delhi Traffic Police and Dr. PK Sikdar from ICT and Dr. Geetam Tiwari from TRIPP, IIT Delhi presented the reduction in road fatalities and injuries and how additional ef-forts need to be taken towards making roads of Delhi safer. The session on Green Delhi included a very eloquent presentation by Anumita Roy Choudhary from CSE and Sandeep Mishra from DPCC. The last session of the event was on Transit Oriented Development and how it would help in densifying transit corri-dors accommodating more and more people within a higher density area around transit stations. The day concluded with a vote of thanks by Spe-cial Commissioner, Transport, Kuldeep Singh Gangar who thanked the Chief Minister and Minister Transport for being a strong source of motivation and encouragement which made the event possible.


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Need For Realty Sector To Come Forward: Girija Vyas

New Delhi, Aug. 2 (ANI): Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Dr. Girija Vyas has called upon the realty sector to come for-ward and participate through capital and technology for upgradation and creation of affordable housing stock and help the government build an inclusive India. Dr. Vyas, who ad-dressed the 9th Edition of Conference on Real Estate “ Vision for Real Estate Sector , Housing and Retail” being organized by Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) here to-day, exhorted the realty sector to come forward to supplement the government’s efforts. “In a country like In-dia, where housing represents a key component of economic growth contributing 5 percent to the GDP and there still being a shortfall of 18.7 million units ,improvised building technolo-gies to promote mass housing and economies of scale, could go a long way in addressing the housing shortfall,” Dr. Vyas said. “The Investment required for up-gradation and

creation of new affordable housing stock as envisaged by the various schemes and pro-grammes of my Ministry and Government of India would be huge,” she added. Highlighting the ma-jor initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation for providing af-fordable housing for urban poor , Dr Vyas said: “The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JN-NURM) is one of the flagship schemes, which was a fast track reform driven investment programme aimed at creating economically productive, ef-ficient, equitable, responsive and inclusive cities.” Speaking about re-cently launched programme Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY), she said “ it envisages a ‘Slum free India’ with inclusive , equitable cities and where every citizen has an access to basic social and civic services , stronger livelihood linkages and decent shelter.” “This programme envisages Central Government support for slum development and creation of affordable

housing. Under this Afford-able Housing in Patrnership Scheme ( AHP) and the Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor ( ISHUP) now called Rajiv Rinn Yojana ( RRY) dovetailed with RAY with a view to improve the sup-ply side and demand side incen-tives for affordable housing for the urban poor. Under, RAY, RRY and AHP, Government will support establishment of 2.5 million housing units,” Dr. Vyas stated. Dr. Vyas stated that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, has been approved by the Cabinet and is proposed to be introduced in the Parliament in the monsoon session. “It will ensure con-sumer protection and promo-tion of the Real Estate sector through effective regulation and introduction of speedy mechanisms for adjudication of disputes,” she said. She further stated that this legislation shall instill standardization and profes-sionalism in the sector and hence catalyzing domestic and foreign investments.


BJP Firm On Discussing All Issues In Parliament, Unsatisfied With PM’s Assurance Kolkata, Aug. 3 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday lashed out at the UPA Gov-ernment over Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s re-mark that the Centre is ready to discuss any issue which may agitate in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, and said that the ruling Congress Party’s actions are contrary to the statements made by its leaders. “We have repeatedly been in favor of discussing all issues. It was the government who was not letting us speak, even not letting the Leader of Opposition put her point of view across. She was inter-rupted 60 times in one-and-a-half minutes. Then, if you want to bring in a particular busi-ness, they want that business to be discussed under certain rules so that that cannot be discussed thereafter. So, there are several issues. What the government says is contrary to how the government behaves,” said BJP spokesperson Meen-akshi Lekhi. Commenting on the Food Security Bill, Lekhi said that the government was not ready for an open discus-sion. “Will the govern-ment be willing to discuss the Food Security Bill? We have

seen how they have brought in an ordinance. ... I think in parliamentary democracy, if the elected members or the government is accountable to the Parliament then the government better get used to the ideas and the condemna-tion of its acts by the opposi-tion. But are they willing to? Everything which is spoken or said is how the business is conducted,” she added. The Prime Minister earlier in the day said that he looks forward to a construc-tive Monsoon Session of Parliament and respectfully appealed to the opposition to cooperate with the govern-ment. “We look forward to a very constructive, productive session of Parliament. Lot of time was wasted in previous two or three sessions and there is lot of legislative agenda pending before the Congress, before the Parliament. And I sincerely hope that all sections of the house will cooperate in making it a very productive, very constructive session,” Dr. Singh said. The Prime Minister, who was talking to media here after the all-party meet-ing convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, said the government on its part is willing to discuss any issue

which may agitate the opposi-tion. “But all that we expect fully is to ask the op-position to cooperate with the government in passing the es-sential legislative work, which is the primary responsibility of Parliament. Of all the ordi-nances, five or six ordinances which are before the Parlia-ment and most important is Food Security Ordinance,” said Dr. Singh. “And I sincerely hope that the Parliament in its wisdom will find it productive, find it justified to convert that Ordinance into a Bill and an act of Parliament,” he added. The Lok Sabha Speaker had convened today’s all-party meeting at the Parlia-ment complex here to ensure smooth functioning of the house beginning on Monday to pass important legislations, including the food security bill and the land acquisition bill. The monsoon Ses-sion ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is important with several issues likely to be taken up for discussions. These include Uttarakhand floods, Telengana and other economic issues. Political parties in their earlier meeting had as-sured smooth functioning of Parliament.

Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha Leaders Meet Sharad Pawar

New Delhi, Aug 3 (ANI): Gorkha Jan Mukti Mor-cha (GJMM) leaders met Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday and renewed their demand for the creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland. “We had come to meet Sharad Pawar with our renewed demand of a separate state of Gorkhaland. After the forma-tion of Telangana by the same government, we realized that now the government is in a position to create a separate state and our case history is much older than any separate states demand in the country. And logically also, ours is the most rational and reasonable demand,” GJMM spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri told media here today “We highlighted all this to Sharad Pawarji and we will also be meeting important leaders. We have requested him to impress upon other important political allies and whenever the Monsoon session of Parliament

begins, we have requested him to advocate our case on behalf of GJMM,” he added. Chhetri said that the Union Agriculture Minister as-sured them that he would discuss this with other important lead-ers. Gorkhaland Territo-rial Administration (GTA) is a semi-autonomous body for Dar-jeeling Hills that was formed in 2012 after a tripartite agreement involving the centre and West Bengal and the GJMM. Harka Bahadur Chhe-tri who is an MLA Kalimpong further said that they had ac-cepted the GTA but the amount of autonomy that was assured was not given to them. “We have already ac-cepted the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) which was under condition from the Union Government and at that point in time the Centre was in no posi-tion to create a separate state,” he said

“But the amount of autonomy that was assured was not given to Gorkhaland Territo-rial Administration (GTA) and as a result GTA could not function properly. There was no smooth transfer of departments because of which we face lot of problems. It was a process of discrediting the movement as well as Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) and its President Bimal Gurung,” he added. Earlier in the day, an indefinite shutdown had begun in the hills of Darjeeling in West Bengal called by the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJMM) that has been spearheading the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state to be carved out of the hill re-gions of West Bengal since over a decade. According to reports, on the eve of the shutdown, Gorkhaland supporters allegedly set fire to government property, including a forest bungalow and a police outpost.

Take On Mulayam In Polls From Mainpuri, AAP Tells Durga Shakti Nagpal

Greater Noida (Ut-tar Pradesh), Aug 2 (ANI): The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Admi Party (AAP) on Friday asked suspended In-dian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Durga Shakti Nagpal to join it and contest elections against Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri con-stituency in the 2014 general elections. AAP leader Kumar Vishwas said Nagpal should set a new example by coming forward. “We have invited Durga Shakti Nagpalji to contest against Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri constituency on the Aam Aadmi Party ticket, so that no other officer like her faces the wrath of a corrupt Samajwadi Party government,” Vishwas told reporters here. Nagpal was sus-pended last month ostensibly for taking on the sand mafia and for ordering the demoli-tion of a wall of a mosque

that was being built on gov-ernment land in the state’s Gautam Buddh Nagar Dis-trict, where she was posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate. According to reports, the 2009-batch IAS officer had seized nearly 300 trolleys of sand being illegally mined from the Yamuna river bed. Though the Uttar Pradesh Government has called it as an ‘administra-tive decision’, against her for demolishing a wall which was part of an intended mosque, but many believe that it was the result of pressure from the mining mafia. Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh Government said removing Nagpal was an “administrative decision” as her decision to demolish the mosque could trigger commu-nal tension, especially since it came during the month of Ramzan. D efe n d i ng h i s government’s action, Ut-tar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has said the bureaucrat ordered the

demolition of a portion of the mosque which might have resulted in disturbing peace in the state. “You should inquire from the people of that village. The Muslim families col-lected donation for building a mosque, a wall was built, and you took the decision without holding any consultation and spoilt the environment there,” he said. Yadav said there was no matter of mining for which the action was taken. “The government will act against all those who act against goodwill and brotherhood or try to spoil the environment by of their work,” he added, while rubbishing reports that the government acted tough only because it was a matter of illegal min-ing. “If you look at the record of last two to three months then you will come to know that truck and machines were caught. We are also desir-ous that illegal mining should not take place,” he added.

side on the LAC in Demchok-Fukhche sector. During the meeting with the Chinese side which was led by Colonel Wang Jun Xian, the Indian side said the construction was in violation of Peace and Tranquality Agreement signed between the two countries in 1993. According to the agreement, no construction work has to be undertaken at the LAC by either country. The Chinese side claimed that the tower was actually a weather station for the benefit of the people of the area and instead informed the Indian delegation that its Army was engaged in military activities in Fukhche. The Indian side led by Brigadier Sanjeev Rai told the Chinesse team that PLA troops were regularly entering into the Indian area, sources said. It gave instances like on July 16 and 19 when the Chinese troops entered 1.2 km deep into Indian territory, on

Chinese PLA Stops Indian Army From Patrolling In Indian Territory

July 17 (2.5 km), on July 20 (aggressive patrol entered 200 metres) and intervening night of July 25-26 (3.5 km). These incursions mainly happened in Chumar and Demchok areas, located 300 km from Leh. The sources said that the ‘assertive posturing’ by the Chinese troops was a worry-ing trend which had been seen lately after the April 15 faceoff at the DBO sector. Chumar is the last town after which Himachal

Pradesh starts. This area also has the distinction of having a defined International Border with China. This area is not ac-cessible from the Chinese side whereas the Indian side has a road almost to the last point on which the army can carry a load upto nine tonnes. All Indian units located along the LAC have been asked to maintain a tight vigil in their Area of Respon-sibilities (AOR) and launch frequent patrols to the higher reaches, the sources said.

Chinese PLA stops Army from patrolling in Indian terri-tory

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Hassan Rouhani Takes Over As Iran’s New President

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Tehran, Aug. 4 (Xi-nhua-ANI): Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khame-nei officially endorsed Hassan Rouhni as the country’s new president in a ceremony held here on Saturday. The ceremony came before the inauguration of Rouhani slated to be held in the Iranian Majlis (parliament) in the presence of local and international participants on Sunday. Rouhani won Iran’s presidential election on July 14 by garnering 50.7 percent of the votes, far ahead of his five conservative-principlist rivals. The endorsement ceremony was attended by a number of Iranian high-rank-ing officials, including former president Akbar Hashemi- Rafsanjani, Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Parliament Speaker Ali Lari-jani, outgoing President Mah-moud Ahmadinejad, as well as a number of foreign guests. Rouhani, a moderate cleric, will succeed the outgo-ing hardliner Ahmadinejad and inherit from him an ail-ing economy and a troubled foreign policy. In the ceremony on Saturday, Rouhani said the

July-14 election showed that there was no division between the government and the people, who chose someone having served the Islamic establish-ment for years to be their new president. The election indicat-ed that the Western sanctions could not induce differences among the people, he said, adding that voters from all walks of life participated in the election, the results of which surprised many observers. The Iranian people with different views and po-litical stances participated in the election and showed that it was totally transparent and the democracy has been insti-tutionalized in the country, he added. Iran’s new president expressed his gratitude to the people who took part in the

election and thanked the su-preme leader for guiding the country at crucial junctures. “My mission is to safeguard the people’s trust and to establish stability and security, and to help the country out of the current problems and concerns,” he maintained. He said that the people voted for “change” in the presidential election and his administration will be committed to the promises that he gave during his election campaign. He will officially assume presidency after an inauguration ceremony in the parliament on Sunday. Accord-ing to some reports, he will announce his cabinet to the parliament at the inauguration, although he has two weeks to form the government.

US, Yemeni Leaders Discuss Political Transition, Counterterrorism, Detainees Beijing, Aug. 2 (Xin-hua-ANI): US President Barack Obama Thursday met with his Yemeni counterpart Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi at the White House to discuss Yemen’s political tran-sition, counterterrorism partner-ship and the return of Yemeni detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. A joint statement released after the meeting said the two leaders held talks on Yemen’s efforts to implement the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative, and Hadi spoke of the progress in restructuring the military and undertaking a national dialogue as well as making preparations for a new voter registry, constitutional ref-erendum and national elections. Hadi took office in February 2012 after the GCC initiative ended the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh and 11 months of mass protests across the country. He had pledged to carry out reforms during his two-year transitional term, to launch a national dialogue with all politi-cal factions, and to combat al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). “President Obama reiterated the United States’

support for the stability, security, prosperity and unity of Yemen,” the statement said. The two presidents “reaffirmed their commitment to a strong and enduring counterter-rorism and security partnership and agreed to cooperate closely to enable the return of Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay who have been designated for transfer,” the statement noted. It said they discussed a range of efforts to counter the threat to both countries posed by AQAP, and affirmed “the importance of combating ter-rorism within the framework of the rule of law and of supporting Yemen’s efforts to build capable, effective and professional secu-rity forces.” The Obama admin-istration is helping the Yemeni troops fight the resurgent al-Qaida off-shoot, and has stepped up drone strikes since Hadi took office, with a view to uprooting the militants in the country’s southern regions. Obama thanked Hadi for the “strong cooperation” in counterterrorism offered by his government. “Because of some of the effective military reforms that President Hadi initiated when

he came into office, what we’ve seen is al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, moves back out of territories that it was con-trolling,” he told reporters at the White House after his meeting with the Yemeni leader. On the Guantanamo Bay detainees, Obama reaf-firmed his commitment to closing the detention facility, and noted his decision to lift the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen, which was imposed following a foiled attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger plane on Christmas Day in 2009 by AQAP. “The two presidents agreed their governments would work together to facilitate the repatriation of Yemeni detainees who have been designated for transfer,” said the joint state-ment. “President Hadi af-firmed his intention to establish an extremist rehabilitation pro-gram to address the problem of violent extremism within Yemen, which could also facilitate the transfer of Yemeni detainees held at Guantanamo,” it added. Out of the 166 detain-ees there, 56 are Yemenis already cleared for transfer.

Mugabe’s Party Wins Zimbabwe Presidential Elections With Two-third Majority

London, August 3 (ANI): Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party has won the presidential elections with almost two-third majority. The Zimbabwe Elec-toral Commission said Zanu-PF had won 137 seats in the 210-seat chamber, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, Mugabe’s rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has already dis-missed the election calling it a

‘sham’. According to the re-port, the country has been torn apart by political strife and is likely to face another period of economic stagnation. Earlier, African Union (AU) mission head Olusegun Obasanjo had dismissed the complaints of fraudulent elec-tions. After Robert Mugabe was declared the winner of Zim-babwe’s presidential election on Saturday with a convincing margin, the United States and Britain have expressed their concerns over the conduct of the vote. According to The Guardian, the US secretary of state, John Kerry, commended Zimbabweans for rejecting violence but added that in the light of substantial electoral ir-regularities reported by domes-tic and regional observers, the

United States does not believe that the results announced today represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people. William Hague, the British foreign secretary, also expressed grave concerns about the conduct of the vote, the report said. The repor t added that as Zanu-PF supporters celebrated the national election commission announcement, Ts-vangirai and other MDC leaders held a press conference that was attended by the British and other western ambassadors and he said that instead of celebration, there was a national mourning. The MDC called on African and regional bodies to meet urgently to restore legitimacy in Zimbabwe and demanded a fresh election as soon as possible, the report further said.


U.N High Commissioner Orders Probe Into Syrian Rebels Executing

Government Soldiers Report Washington, Aug. 3(ANI): The United Nations (U.N) High commissioner has reportedly ordered in-vestigations into allegations that the Syrian opposition forces might have executed as many as 30 people includ-ing soldiers in rural Aleppo citing videos of the killings on internet. According to the CNN, the U.N High Commis-sioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay called the allegations ‘deeply shocking’ and called for an independent investi-

gation into the incident and called for those responsible for such crimes to be brought to justice. The videos posted on the Internet show government soldiers being ordered to lie on the ground, bodies being collected by doctors, corpses strewn along a wall and bod-ies in Khan al-Assal bearing gunshot wounds to the head. Pillay said that op-position forces should not think they are immune from prosecution and added that all captured or wounded soldiers

must be treated in accordance with international law. The U.N. Indepen-dent International Commis-sion of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic hasd earlier said that both rebel groups and government forces and their affiliated militias are demonstrating ‘emerging pat-terns of summary execution and murder’. According to the U.N, more than 1, 00,000 people have been killed since fighting began, the report added.

Germany Cancels ‘Intelligence Sharing’ Pact With US And Britain Post Snowden Revelations

London, Aug. 3(ANI): The German government has reportedly ended its Cold War-era pact for sharing intel-ligence, dated 1968-69, with the US and Britain after revelations about their secret surveillance programs by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden. According to the BBC, Snowden’s revelations about the secret snoop-op in-volving the transatlantic allies prompted Germany to take the decision. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said that the cancellation of

the administrative agreements is a necessary and proper con-sequence of the recent debate about protecting personal privacy. The report said that Germans’ experience of mass surveillance under the Com-munist and Nazi dictatorships makes them particularly sensi-tive to perceived infringements of personal privacy and the country has strong data protec-tion laws. A German official said that the agreement had not been invoked since the end of the Cold War and admitted

that the decision would have no impact on current intelligence co-operation. A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office also said that the agreement had not been in use since 1990. Henning Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations said that ending an agreement made in the pre-internet age gives the Germans a chance to show they’re doing something yet given the good relations between the intelli-gence agencies, they’ll get the information they need anyway, the report added.

Chinese FM Says South China Sea Disputes Could Be Resolved

Beijing, Aug. 4 (Xi-nhua-ANI): Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed on Friday three ways to solve the South China Sea disputes, and saying these three ways could be process-ing simultaneously. Meeting with Su-rukiat Sathirathai, Chairman of Asia Peace Reconciliation Council and former Thai Deputy Prime Minister, Wang proposed three ways to solve the disputes. First, he said, is to reach agreement through consultation and negotiation between direct parties con-cerned. He stressed that this is the fundamental way and the only way that can lead to final solution. He said that China is always opening its door for dialogue with all disputing

parties. The allegation that bilateral negotiation could not be moved forward is untrue and baseless, he said. The Chinese Foreign Minister said that the second way is to continue to imple-ment the Declaration of the Conduct of the South China Sea, while gradually push forward the consultations on the Conduct Code of the South China Sea. He said both the Dec-laration and Conduct Code are not the solutions for disputes, but meant to commonly safe-guard peace and stability in the region. Wang said the Con-duct Code was disrupted by some individual party’s behavior, China do not want to see that happen again. The Third way, The Chinese Foreign Minister

said that searching for ways of common exploitation. He said that it took time to find a final solution for the South China Sea disputes, before that the parties concerned should jointly searching for ways of common exploitation on win-win and mutual beneficial basis. He said common exploitation is not only for economic interest, but it will also send signals to the other parts of the world that the countries in the region are willing to solve their disputes in the way of cooperation. Wang stressed that China persistently advo-cates solve disputes through negotiations on the basis of respecting historical facts and international law. These two are equally important and neither should be neglected.

US Slams China Over Worsening Human Rights Record

U.S. Economy Added 162k New Jobs In July, Says Labor Department

Washington, Aug.3 (ANI): The U.S. economy added 162,000 new jobs in the month of July, but this was still below the expectations of several economists, who had projected a new hiring figure of more than 180,000. According to the BBC, the new jobs have helped reduce the unemployment rate to 7.4 per cent. This is the lowest jobless rate in four years, sug-gesting that the U.S. may now be on the slow growth path after almost five years of financial meltdown. The news may also allow the Federal Reserve to end its monetary stimulus programme. It currently buys 85 billion dollars a month in bonds which helps to keep borrowing costs low. Federa l Reser ve chairman Ben Bernanke has said that he might start cutting down the rate of bond buying

by the end of the year and stop altogether by the middle of 2014, depending on the strength of the economy. Earlier this week, figures showed that the US economy grew at a faster-than-

expected annualised pace of 1.7 per cent in the second quarter of the year. That was up from the growth rate for the first three months of 2013, which was revised lower to 1.1 per cent from 1.8 per cent.

Washington, Aug. 3 (ANI): A U.S. human rights official has said China’s hu-man rights record continues to be of a very poor standard and way short of acceptable international standards. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democ-racy, Human Rights and Labor Uzra Zeya expressed concern about Chinese authorities treating relatives of dissidents, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Zeya was in Beijing to attend the 18th round of the

annual human rights dialogue between the U.S. and China. Meanwhile, human right activists have criticised the talks for being more of a diplomatic exercise than a serious tool to press China on the human right issues. More than a dozen activists have been arrested in recent weeks in connec-tion with the New Citizens Movement, a public campaign urging government officials to disclose their assets in a bid to curb corruption in the country.

US Paid £100m To UK Spy Agency L ondon, Aug. 2 (ANI): The US government has reportedly paid close to 100 million pounds to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to gain ac-cess over Britain’s intelligence gathering programs. According to the Guardian, the documents revealed by whistleblower Ed-ward Snowden have exposed the top secret payments which indicates that GCHQ has to work hard to meet NSA’s demands in return of their investment. The classified docu-ments have revealed that GCHQ has put in its money for collection of personal information from mobile phone and apps and wants to be able to ‘exploit any phone, anywhere, anytime’.

The report said that the ministers have denied GCHQ’s participation in NSA’s ‘dirty work’ but the documents reveal that the amount of personal data available to GCHQ from in-ternet and mobile traffic has increased by 7,000 percent in the past five years. The revealed docu-ments state that NSA payments to GCHQ to support its work including those for the Nato forces in Afghanistan and its Mastering the Internet project which gathers and stores vast amounts of ‘raw’ information ready for analysis. According to the report, the documents suggest that GCHQ might have been spying on American living in the US as the NSA is prohib-ited to do so by the law.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said that in a 60-year alliance it is entirely un-surprising that there are joint projects in which resources and expertise are pooled, but the benefits flow in both direc-tions. A senior security source at Whitehall said that there is a close intelligence relationship between the UK and US and a number of other countries including Australia and Canada and there is no automaticity, not everything is shared and a sentient human being takes decisions. GCHQ said that by 2013 it hoped to have ‘ex-ploited to the full its unique selling points of geography, partnerships and the UK’s legal regime’, the report added.

US Senate Confirms Samantha Power As UN Envoy

Beijing, Aug. 2 (Xi-nhua-ANI): The Senate on Thursday confirmed human rights advocate Samantha Power as the new US ambas-sador to the United Nations. The Senate voted 87-10 for Power, a move Obama hailed as “a strong, bipartisan majority.” “As one of our coun-try’s leading foreign policy thinkers, Samantha knows

that our nation’s interests are advanced with strong and prin-cipled American leadership,” Obama said in a statement following the Senate vote. “As a long-time cham-pion of human rights and dignity, she will be a fierce advocate for universal rights, fundamental freedoms and U.S. national interests,” he added. Power, 42, a former White House national security

staffer, will replace Susan Rice, who became Obama’s new national security adviser last month. Starting the career as a freelance reporter in Bosnia, Power joined Obama’s presi-dential campaign in 2008 as a foreign policy adviser. Her 2002 book “A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide” won the Pulitzer Prize.


If you want to publish an upcoming event in our Community Calendar please send an

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AUGUST 7Wedding and Event Designs by Fatima Floral and Sahara Business Brokers are present-ing the second annual ‘Chand Raat Mela 2013’. Time is from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Location is the Waterford Hotel, 6715 Commerce Street, Springfield, VA. The program includes a fashion show and music. For further informa-tion, please call Habib Ahmed at 703-973-2942, Irma Hafeez at 301-610-0028, Asim Gill at 703-217-2259 or e-mail [email protected] or visit www.faentertain-ments.com

AUGUST 7 - 11Enjoy the Arlington County Fair, the premier community-wide event that effectively provides a range of education-al and entertaining activities for people of all ages. Timings are as follows: August 7 and 8 - 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., outdoors; August 9 - 4:00 to 10:00 p.m., indoors, and 2:00 to 11:00 p.m., outdoors; August 10 - 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., indoors, and 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., outdoors; August 11 - 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., indoors, and 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., outdoors. Loca-tion is the Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 3501 Second Street South, Arling-ton, VA. Sheela Ramanath, founder and artistic director of Kalavaridhi (www.kala-varidhi.org), will be perform-ing a special Bharatanatyam dance on August 10, at 11:00 a.m. Indian Dance Educa-tors Association (IDEA) will be presenting Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi, on August 10, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. For more information about the Fair, go to http://arlingtoncoun-tyfair.us/

AUGUST 8Richard Byrd Library opens its 55th Library Anniversary, ‘August in Antarctica’, with a lecture on Richard Byrd, Ant-arctic Explorer. Learn about the exploits of this famous aviator and explorer and his lasting impact on Antarctic research. Time is 7:30 p.m. The Richard Byrd Library is

located at 7250 Commerce Street, Springfield, VA (703-451-8055).

AUGUST 10Richard Byrd Library is host-ing Family Day: Antarctica at the Library. Try on extreme cold weather gear, play in the snow, experiment with blubber and more! There will be no “cooler” place to be! Time is from 12:30 to 4:00 p.m. The Richard Byrd Library is located at 7250 Commerce Street, Springfield, VA (703-451-8055).

AUGUST 13Montgomery College is offer-ing a US Citizenship Prepa-ration Program. Are you a legal permanent resident? Do you need help preparing for the US citizenship test and interview? Come to an infor-mation session and discover how Montgomery College may be able to help you, for free! Please come to one of the information sessions and bring your Green Card: August 13, at 6:00 p.m.; August 17, at 9:00 a.m.; September 10, at 6:00 p.m.; September 14, at 9:00 a.m.; October 8, at 6:00 p.m.; October 12, at 9:00 a.m.; November 5, at 6:00 p.m.; and November 9, at 9:00 a.m. Location is Westfield South, 11002 Veirs Mill Road, Suite 306, Wheaton, MD. The Montgomery College Citizen-ship Preparation Program is for legal permanent residents who live in Montgomery County, MD, and are learning English as a second language. For more information, Readers can contact Nancy Newton at 240-567-8169 or [email protected]

AUGUST 18National Council of Asian Indian Associations (NCAIA), together with the Indian-American community of the Washington metropolitan area, is organizing an Independence Day Gala Dinner at Martin’s Crosswinds, 7400 Greenway Center Drive, Greenbelt, MD. Time is 6:00 p.m. For details, please contact Dr. Suresh K. Gupta, President of NCAIA, at 301-332-9596, Mr.

Yogendra Gupta, Coordinator, at 301-515-1411, Mr. Pavan Bezwada, Co-Coordinator, at 301-455-0073, Mr. Sunil Singh, Chairman of NCAIA, at 571-233-1292 or Mr. Satish Gupta at 301-529-5757.

AUGUST 24All ladies are welcome to at-tend and participate in ‘Mela Teeyan Teej 2013’. Enjoy a night of music, mehendi, fashion, food and entertain-ment. Time is from 6:30 to 11:30 p.m. Venue is the Gesher Jewish Day School, 4800 Mattie Moore Court, Fairfax, VA. For details, please contact Moni Gill at 571-232-9656 or [email protected] or Varinder Randhawa at 571-243-5745.

AUGUST 25ICCC, together with Indian-American community orga-nizations of the Washington metro area, are celebrating India’s 67th Independence Day with a special program, ‘Indian Diaspora and Global Impact’. Location is Northern Virginia Community College, Ernst Community Cultural Center, 8333 Little River Turn-pike, Annandale, VA. The program is as follows: Mela from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m.; parade and flag hoisting at 3:30 p.m.; cultural show beginning at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, please contact Mr. Kumar Singh, Chairman of ICCC, at 571-451-5309, Mukund Agashe at 240-453-0580, Puneet Ahluwalia at 703-283-6644, Krishna Banaudha at 301-633-5563, Dr. Sambhu and Mrs. Promila Banik at 301-530-7539, Poonam Bansal at 703-719-0440, Pavan Bezwada at 301-455-0073, Mr. Walton Dawson at 240-701-2685 or Dr. Satish Misra at 301-340-2983.

AUG. 31 - SEPT. 1Gnanananda Seva Samajam, Inc., USA invites all to ‘Na-masankeerthanam Mela 2013’ to celebrate the divine celestial wedding of Lord Krishna and Radha. Timings are as fol-lows: August 31 - 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.; and September 1 - 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Venue is Durga Temple, 8400 Durga Place, Fairfax Station, VA. The program features bhajans, Radha Kalyanam, divyanamam, ashtapathis and guru padhuka pujas. Attend this free event to seek bless-ings of the Gods. For further information, visit www.gssus.org or e-mail [email protected]

SEPTEMBER 8 - 14Durga Temple is presenting Ram Katha by Dr. Ram Kamal Das Vedanti Ji. Katha will be followed by Aarti and bhan-dara everyday. The temple is located at 8400 Durga Place, Fairfax Station, VA (703-690-9355). For details, please go to www.durgatemple.org

SEPTEMBER 20Manish and Deepa Sood of Intense Entertainment are pre-senting top-notch Indian play-back singer Shreya Ghoshal - live in concert! Venue is the DAR Constitution Hall located at 1776 D Street, NW, Washington, DC. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; concert starts at 8:00 p.m. For details, please call 202-59-MASTI (62784) or visit www.intenseus.com

SEPTEMBER 28American Society of En-gineers of Indian Origin - National Capital Chapter (ASEI-NCC) is hosting its 28th Annual National Conven-tion. The theme is “Innovative Technologies: An Engine for Economic Growth”. The program includes: morn-ing plenary; luncheon; eve-ning gala banquet; tracks of technical presentation; and panel discussions. Tracks and panels are on information technology, healthcare IT, nanotechnology, traditional energy, renewable energy, bio-engineering and space contri-butions of Indian-Americans, STEM. Participants include major US and India corpora-tions, government agencies, Indian Embassy, entrepre-neurs, dignitaries, academia and students. The convention will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Location is the University of Maryland at Col-lege Park, Riggs Alumni Cen-ter and Adele Stamp Student

Union Building. For further information, go to www.asei-ncc.org or call 202-800-0333, Dr. Ajay Kothari, Convention Chair, at 301-935-5868, Mr. Hari Bindal, ASEI-NCC Pres-ident, at 301-262-0254, G.S. Sridhar, Convention Co-Chair at 571-274-9672, Ms. Pavithra Kenjige, ASEI-NCC Vice President, at 703-815-1629 or Mayur Kathuria, ASEI-UMD, at 240-475-2320. Note: The convention is being co-hosted by ASEI-UMD, College Park, in collaboration with PANIIT, MIBRT, USIBC, USINPAC and other professional orga-nizations.

SEPTEMBER 29Kerala Cultural Society of Metropolitan Washington (KCSMW), in collaboration with the Leukemia and Lym-phoma Society (LLS), are or-ganizing ‘Miles 4 Smiles’, a 5K run/1 mile walk. Time is 8:00 a.m. Location is the National Harbor, a 300-acre multi-use waterfront development on the shores of the Potomac River in Prince George’s County, MD. KCSMW is a non-profit organization which focuses on promoting cultural awareness and social activities primarily among Indian-Americans. For further information, visit www.kcsmw.org or www.miles4smiles.org or www.lls.org

OCTOBER 5The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) is hosting its exceedingly popular and awaited annual Gala. The ‘2013 SAJA Gala’, featuring an awards ceremony and ban-quet-style dinner, will be held at the Yale Club in New York City. The association will hon-or and recognize excellence in journalism coverage in South Asia as well as outstanding reporting by South Asian journalists. This is a fantastic opportunity to network with

fellow SAJA members, other reporters, editors and produc-ers from reputable media out-lets. Registration is open until September 30. For details, head to www.saja.org

OCTOBER 19Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will debut the world’s first exhibition, ‘Yoga: The Art of Transformation’, on the visual history of Yoga. US tour will follow. Yoga is a global phenomenon, practiced by millions of people seek-ing spiritual insight or better health. Few, however, are aware of yoga’s rich diversity and historical transforma-tions. Opening October 19, at the Sackler Gallery, ‘Yoga: The Art of Transformation’, the world’s first exhibition about the discipline’s visual history, will reveal the fasci-nating meanings and histories over the past 2,000 years. ‘Yoga: The Art of Transfor-mation’, on view through January 26, 2014, explores yoga’s philosophies and its goals of transforming body and consciousness, its impor-tance within multiple religious and secular arenas and the varied roles that yogis played in society, from sages to spies. Working with an interdisci-plinary team of scholars, cura-tor Debra Diamond assembled more than 130 objects from 25 museums and private col-lections in India, Europe and the United States, compiling a remarkable survey of Indian art. As much of yoga’s history remains shrouded in mystery, this comprehensive look at yoga’s visual culture marks the start of a new field of study. The Sackler Gallery is located at 1050 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC. For more information, readers can call 202-633-4880 or visit www.asia.si.edu


My Gulaab Gang Character Very Powerful: Madhuri Dixit

Actress Madhuri Dixit plays a woman who forms a group of women vigilantes in Gulaab Gang and says it is a very powerful character. She plays Rajjo, who brings together a group of women who dress in pink saris and fight against injustice in the Bundelkhand region. “It’s a very powerful character. As an actress, I am fascinated by it,” Madhuri said. “The message through the movie is also very strong,” she added. She is happy to have shot action scenes for the film. “There is action in the film which I have not done so far in any of the movies,” she said. Directed by debutant Soumik Sen and produced by Anubhav Sinha, Gulaab Gang also features Juhi Chawla, Mahie Gill and Tannishtha Chatterjee in key roles.

Women Scribes In War Zones Amazing: Nargis Nargis Fakhri plays a war journalist in her upcoming film Madras Cafe, and says it was wonderful to learn about the real women who risk their lives on war fronts to get truth across to people. “My experience of working on Madras Cafe was intense and interesting, like doing a lot of background work on what these women do... I think most of us watch the news and we don’t really care what’s going on in the world,” the 33-year-old said here Friday at the unveiling of the cover of magazine Hi! Blitz featuring her. “It was great for me to do so much research on certain events that happened...As well as learning about these amazing women that are out in the field, in a war zone risking their life to get truth out to us,” she added. Nargis believes Madras Cafe is very different from typical Bollywood fare. “It was a wonderful experience where I play a journalist, an on-field war correspon-

dent. This film is very different from typical Hindi films. I am hoping you all will go out and see it,” she said. Directed by Shoojit Sircar, Madras Cafe has been co-produced by John Abraham, who features in the lead in the film.

Pakistan To Submit Oscar Entry After 50 Years

Pakistan has sent only two films to the Acad-emy Awards since the foreign language category was created Pakistan will submit an entry for the foreign language film category of the Oscar awards after a gap of five decades though a committee has not yet chosen the movie. Chairing the com-mittee is Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who became Paki-stan’s first Oscar winner for co-directing the 2011 docu-mentary Saving Face, which was about the survivors of acid attacks. Other members of the panel are writer Mohsin Hamid (The Reluctant Funda-mentalist), director Mehreen Jabbar (Ramchand Pakistani), actor Rahat Kazmi, filmmaker Akifa Mian, Samina Peerzada and arts academic Framji Minwalla, Variety reported. Pakistan has sent only two films to the Academy Awards since the foreign language film category was created in 1956 - Akhtar Kardar’s Jago Hua Savera in 1959 and Khwaja Khurshid Anwar’s Ghunghat

in 1963. Each country is al-lowed one submission and it can decide how the film is chosen. The Pakistan commit-tee was formed independently and its existence has been kept quiet, with the government having no role but apparently giving its okay. The deadline for submissions in the foreign language film category is October 1. The Pakistani com-mittee will have enough films to choose from, as after a few dormant years, the country’s

film industry is enjoying a revival, with 21 releases so far this year. There is no stated government policy against Os-car participation in Pakistan but the issue seems to have been a “low priority” because of political turmoil and a “gen-eral lack of precedence within the film establishment”, Vari-ety reported. British-Pakistani di-rector Hammad Khan, whose debut feature ‘Slackistan’ was banned in Pakistan, said: “Pakistan has not officially submitted any films for the Academy Awards consid-eration in 50 years because the state has never taken film seriously, neither as a cultural art form nor as a valuable communal experience. “In all those years, Pakistan has been so preoc-cupied with coups, wars and religion that cinema has only been reduced to low entertain-ment by the powers-that-be. It is, of course, monumentally idiotic to ignore the power of cinema in the development of any nation’s narrative.”

No Happy New Year With Shah Rukh Khan For Katrina Kaif

For those who have been waiting to see Shah Rukh Khan-Katrina Kaif re-unite for Happy New Year after Jab Tak Hai Jaan, there is bad news. The actress won’t be able to do the film due to prior commitments. There were reports that the two are coming to-gether again in Farah Khan’s directorial venture Happy New Year, but according to reliable sources, “it is not true”. As Katr ina has signed two new films - Kabir Khan’s directorial venture for producer Sajid Nadiadwala with Saif Ali Khan and Ab-hishek Kapoor’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s “Great Expectations”, she has no room this year for any other film. Said a friend of Ka-trina: “She would have loved to do Farah’s film, but we be-lieve Farah initially wanted to sign a completely new girl for Happy New Year. She zeroed in on Katrina recently when Katrina had already said yes to other projects.

“Katrina and Farah are very fond of each other ever since they worked to-gether in Tees Maar Khan. The film’s failure did not af-fect their mutual fondness. To be in Farah’s next and that too with Shah Rukh with whom Katrina really hit off during Jab Tak Hai Jaan, would have been fabulous. “However much Ka-trina would like to do Happy New Year, she cannot as she is committed to finishing Vijay Krishna Acharya’s Dhoom 3 and Siddharth Anand’s

Bang Bang before going into Abhishek Kapoor’s film with Sushant Singh Rajput and Kabir Khan’s film with Saif.” Interestingly, Far-ah’s heroine in Happy New Year has to be a fast-talking Marathi girl and also a fabu-lous dancer since it’s the role of a dancer. “Kat r ina would have needed a long period of intense speech practice to sound Marathi. But where was the time?” asked a friend of the actress.

Arshad Warsi Is The Most Secured Actor In Bollywood: Naseeruddin Shah

Actor-director Naseeruddin Shah, who has worked with Arshad Warsi in ‘Ishqiya’, says he is one of the most secured actors in Bollywood. “I enjoy working with Arshad. He is one of the finest actors we have today. He is the most secured actor in Bollywood. Nasser, who will once again be seen with Ar-shad in ‘Ishqiya’ sequel ‘Dedh Ishqiya’, said his co-star doesn’t take himself too seriously Abhishek Chaubey directed 2010 ‘Ishqiya’ featured Vidya Balan in the lead role, but for the sequel the director has roped in Madhuri Dixit for the female lead. He has also cast Huma Qureshi in it. Talking about the sequel, Naseer said: “We have shot almost the entire film, now the climax portion is left, which will be shot soon. The sequel has nothing to do with the first one. It’s altogether a different story. This time we have Madhuri and the new girl Huma.”


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Nepal To Tighten Rules Governing Everest Expeditions To Ward Off Current Chaos

London, Aug. 3 (ANI): The rules to the expe-ditions on the Mount Everest are reportedly going to be tightened and for the first time a government team will be located at the base camp to monitor the activities of climbers. According to the BBC, Nepalese officials have said that the government team at the base camp will help coordinate rescue measures and also protect the environ-ment. Chief of the tour-ism industry division that oversees mountaineering, Purna Chandra Bhattarai said that permanent government mechanism at the Everest base camp will regulate mountaineering activities

and the Integrated Service Centre will also facilitate climbers by offering them communication and safety related services. The changes to the climbing rules come in light of past incidents where em-barrassing events take place at the world’s tallest peak including fights between sherpas and mountaineers. Former president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, Ang Tshering Sherpa said that these days people are trying to make bizarre records on the summit like taking off their clothes or standing on their heads. However, the new rules would require the climb-ers to announce before the be-ginning of the summit if they

plan to set any record and then the team would decide if the planned record-making effort falls within stipulated criteria set by the government. The report said that other changes in the climbing rules including restriction to the use of helicopter flights to nearby Everest slopes except for rescue measures as even the sound and vibration can cause the snow to fall thereby endangering lives of other climbers and also rubbish management. Meanwhile, an ex-pedition operator said that the idea of regulating moun-taineers from the Everest base camp itself is great, only if the officials entrusted with the duty are regulated first, the report added.

Nepalese Folk-rock Band ‘Nepathya’ To Headline Wembley Gig

London, Aug 03 (ANI): Popular Nepalese folk-rock band ‘Nepathya’ is all set to perform at one of the UK’s largest venues- London’s Wembley Arena- on Saturday. According to the organisers, people are travelling to the country from Holland, Belgium, Norway and the US for the concert, the BBC reported. Singer Amrit Gurung told the publication that it is like a dream come true to play at Wembley. The band, which was formed in 1990, is famed for its “peace tours” during the 1996-2006 Nepalese civil war, in which more than 15,000 people died. It has also played concerts across the world, includ-ing in India, Hong Kong, the United States, South Korea, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Israel.

No Lifting Of Youtube Ban In Pak Till Blasphemous Material Filter Blocking Mechanism In Place

Peshawar, Aug. 2 (ANI): YouTube will remain blocked in Pakistan unless a mechanism is adopted to per-manently block blasphemous material on the website, the Ministry of Information Technology has told the Pe-shawar High Court (PHC). A Peshawar High Court division bench com-prising Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Malik Manzoor was hearing a peti-tion filed by Mina Muhib-bulah Kakakhel challenging the ban on YouTube. According to the

Express Tribune, the video-sharing website was blocked in September 2012 by former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. The move came after the trailer of a blasphe-mous film, titled ‘Innocence of Muslims’, sparked outrage and violence among Mus-lims across the world. The ban remained in effect after Google refused Islamabad’s request to take down the video. According to the report, advocate Kakakhel challenged the ban arguing

that students were facing problems while searching for academic content and requested the court to di-rect authorities to filter all blasphemous material and unblock the site. During the case hearing, the bench was informed the ministry has been devising methods to stop such material from be-ing uploaded to YouTube. The bench, how-ever, was informed that unless a solution was found, the ministry will not unblock YouTube.

NGO Official’s Email Reveals Pak Army Officer Gave Illegal Bail-out Advice On Abbottabad Commission

Islamabad, August 2 (ANI): An email from the official of ‘Save the Children’ NGO of Pakistan has revealed that Pakistan Army officer Lt. Gen. (retired) Nadeem Ahmed was cultivated to give bail-out advice in a matter related to the Abbottabad Commission. The Abbottabad Commission is preparing a report on the U.S. Navy Seals operation that led to the kill-ing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May 2012. According to The News, an email of an official of the NGO containing secret information pertaining to Lt. Gen. Nadeem’s role was leaked out.

The leaked com-munication indicates that Lt. Gen. Nadeem, as an unofficial representative of the army and the ISI in the Commis-sion, offered bailout advice to the NGO and shared details about the internal politics and classified records of the com-mission with the former. Lt. Gen. Nadeem is alleged to have briefed the deputy country director of the NGO about the views of dif-ferent members, resulting in a dissent view being expressed by Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. According to the email, another member, Ab-bas Khan, was unwilling to sign the report in its current shape, nor did he want to put

up a dissenting note. So, he decided to prolong his stay in the U.S., where he went on the pretext of medical ground. Earlier, there were allegations of the CIA pen-etrating the NGO in a hunt for Osama bin Laden with the help of his close aide Shakil Afridi. The mail also alleged that the NGO was granted access to the Commission’s report well before it was sent to the prime minister, the report added. Meanwhi le, the NGO has clarified that their assistance to the Abbottabad Commission and its members, including Lt.Gen. Nadeem, was legal.

Rebel In Sri Lankan Police Custody Reveals Massacre In War

Colombo, Aug. 4 (Xinhua-ANI): A former Tamil Tiger rebel who is in the custody of the Sri Lankan police Terrorist Investiga-tions Division (TID) has made a startling revelation of how the rebels slew more than 80 captives including a policeman and a soldier, the police said on Sunday. The police said that the former Tamil Tiger rebel alleged that during the war the rebels had murdered more than 80 people including a TID officer and an army captain who were held at a rebel run prison. A police statement said that the rebel has also

revealed the location where the victims were burnt after being killed and this has been confirmed by three other rebels who are in police custody. The rebel said that the 80 people had been detained at a prison in Pudukuduirippu in the north, which was once under rebel control. According to the rebel, 30 of them were taken to a jungle in a truck in May 2006 and were killed while 50 others were taken in a truck and a bus also to a jungle in July 2006 and slain. The policeman was

believed to have been taken to a jungle and murdered in September of 2006 and his body was burnt while the army captain was murdered in 2009. The police said that a Magisterial inquiry will be conducted on the victims and the location where the bodies were believed to have been burnt. The Tamil Tigers were defeated in May 2009 after 30 years of war against the government, while both the government and the rebels have been accused of committing war crimes in the war that claimed thousands of lives.

Debarred Jamaat Turns Violent In Bangladesh Dhaka, August 3 (PTI): Fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami activists on Saturday held violent demonstrations, exploding several homemade bombs, to protest a Bangladeshi court ruling that barred it from contesting future polls. Jamaat and its stu-dent wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, held a procession near Mohakhali flyover in Dhaka and resorted to vandalism and blasts, police said. They exploded sev-eral country-made bombs and vandalised a CNG-run three-wheeler at Mohakhali area. In Bogra, the Islamists hurled explosive devices at police, who retaliated by firing rub-ber bullets. No casualties were reported in the incidents. Jamaat’s demonstra-tions were part of planned street protests against the High Court verdict scrapping the party’s registration with the Election Commission (EC) and disqual-ifying it from contesting future polls as its charter breached the secular Constitution. The Jamaat has called a 48-hour nationwide general strike from August 12 to de-nounce the judgement. It has also announced to challenge the verdict before the apex Ap-pellate Division of the Supreme Court. In an editorial, Ban-gladesh newspaper Prothom Alo blasted the Jamaat saying, “legal battle and street vandal-ism do not go hand in hand”

and called the new generation of the party leadership to de-cide if they would continue to shoulder the misdeeds of their leaders during the 1971 war. The High Court al-lowed the Jamaat to challenge the verdict as the issue involved constitutional matters. Legal experts said the judgement did not declare the party unlawful and just disqualified it from contesting polls on constitu-tional grounds. The Jamaat, which was once the East Pakistan wing of Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan, also received sup-port from its erstwhile mother organisation in Islamabad. Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan criticised the court judgement, calling it “unconstitutional, partial and biased.” Mr. Hasan said the

Jamaat in Bangladesh was being “victimised” and its leadership has been convicted and sentenced to life terms and even deaths by a special tribunal since the trial of war crimes suspects began in 2010. “So far, this was being done by a ‘so-called tribunal’ (International Crimes Tribu-nal) but now the High Court had stepped in to do the same,” the Pakistani Jamaat chief said. The Islamists in Ban-gladesh have been protesting against the sentencing of its top leaders by the tribunal for “crimes against humanity” dur-ing the 1971 Bangladesh libera-tion war siding with Pakistani troops. So far five Jamaat leaders have been sentenced to death for murder, mass murder, rape and religious persecution in the 1971 war.


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Pakistani Researchers Develop App To Help Night Blindness Sufferers

Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): Researchers in Paki-stan have developed a smart-phone app that keeps track of your location and distance walked from home or hotel and warns you when you are likely to be caught out after dark to help sufferers of the debilitating disease of night blindness. The app can also help travellers with the disease pinpoint hotels, should they find themselves too far from base to get home safely. Kam ran A hsan, Obaid Khan and Abdul Salam of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technol-ogy, in Karachi, explain how

night blindness, nyctalopia, afflicts millions and may be present at birth as a genetic disease, arise in childhood through malnutrition or injury or be a symptom of numerous eye diseases. The smartphone app will allow sufferers to safely leave their home knowing that their phone is keeping track of their whereabouts and can calculate both the remaining daylight hours available and estimate how long it will take the person to reach their base before nightfall. The application is geo-aware and so knows the time of sunset around the world as well as having access

to online mapping software which can offer the potentially vulnerable user with shortcuts back to their base. Moreover, it also has the added benefit of being able to locate nearby hotels should the user need to reach one before darkness falls. The researchers have had a positive response from sufferers of night blindness who recognise that the smart phone app would be a boon to their lives not only in their hometown but when they travel to other cities. The research is published in the International Journal Mobile Learning and Organisation.

China Builds 500-million-dollar Port On Strategic Sri Lankan Sea Route

Sydney, Aug 4 (ANI): Beijing is expected to have a vital foothold on the world’s busiest international shipping lane as a 500 million dollar Chinese-built port opens this week in Sri Lanka, while it seeks to secure maritime sup-ply routes. According to news.com.au, the involvement of such a large Chinese company appears to conform to a pat-tern by Beijing after it sealed a deal in January to acquire the

Pakistani port of Gwadar at a time when it is also building a 14 million dollars dry port in the Nepalese city of Larcha, near Tibet. Chinese loans and expertise were also instru-mental in the construction of a new 450 million dollar deep-sea port at the southern Sri Lankan city of Hambantota, which opened in June 2012, the report said. An independent shipping expert said that the

new terminal made economic sense for China to tap in to the growing South Asian con-tainer cargo and gave Beijing a foothold along a strategic sea route. Meanwhile, chair-man of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), Pri-yath Bandu Wickrama, in-sisted that India had nothing to fear from the new Colombo port and could in fact be a major beneficiary, the report added.

Sri Lanka Announces Date For Key Polls - Sept. 21 Colombo: Elections will be held in the once Tamil Tiger-controlled northern prov-ince and two other provinces of Sri Lanka Sep 21, it was announced Thursday. Elections Commis-sioner Mahinda Deshapriya made the announcement after handing over of nominations and accepting deposits from political parties and indepen-dent groups ended Thursday, reports Xinhua.

All the main political parties are contesting the elec-tions in the northern, central and northwestern provinces. Focus will be on the northern province where the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the ruling UPFA will battle it out for public popularity, four years after the military crushed the Tamil Tigers. The government will be campaigning on the devel-opment it has done for the area

after 30 years of war destroyed most of the infrastructure. Most parts of the north, including the main Jaffna town, have new roads, electricity and other facilities. Jaffna has been the traditional Tamil cultural heartland. The TNA will look to ride on Tamil sentiments in the north, with the Tamil diaspora calling for accountability over the civilian deaths during the final stages of the conflict.

Floods Inundate 70 Villages In Pakistan, Death Toll At 50 Lahore: Flash floods triggered by heavy rains have inundated scores of villages in Pakistan’s Punjab province, leaving thousands of people stranded. At least 50 people have been killed so far and over 50 injured since yesterday as heavy rains played havoc in Punjab, parts of Sindh and Khyber Pak-htunkhwa provinces, while the financial hub of Karachi was inundated in torrential down-pours.

Water overf lowing from Dek channel has inundated over 70 villages in the Pasrur and Zafarwal Tehsil of district Sialkot in Punjab, some 80 kilometres from Lahore. Water level in these flood-affected villages is four to five feet high. According to irrigation officials, agricultural land on hundreds of acres has also been inundated in Pasrur and Zafarwal areas. Floodwater has also cut off the land links between

various areas. Hundreds of people from Punjab’s flood-hit areas staged protests in Sambrial Tehsil as the government machinery has yet to initiate efforts to rescue the stranded people. In other provinces, thousands of people living in low lying areas have also been affected by the heavy rains. The navy has been called in to rescue stranded people in Karachi’s low-lying areas.


Hockey: ERGO Women’s Junior World Cup:

Indian Girls Wins Bronze Mönchengladbach. GER: India won their first ever medal in women’s Junior World Cup history. The Indian girls take home the Bronze medal with a 3-2 shoot-out victory over England at the ERGO Hockey Junior World Cup in Mönchengladbach. The winning goal was scored by 17-year-old Navneet Kaur. The Bronze medal match started off with an early penalty corner to England but Grace Balsdon’s shot was de-flected before reaching India’s goalkeeper Chanu Sanarik Nin-gombam. The English girls kept pushing for the opening goal but it were India who would get on the scoreboard first. A counter-attack saw Rani powerfully strike home after 13 minutes of play. A few minutes later, India failed to double their lead from a penalty corner variation. The Indian girls slowly took control of the match, but were unable to break the English defence. The halftime score stood at 1-0. England entered the second half with a different at-titude. They stepped up the pace and pressed for the equaliser and eventually got it through Anna Toman by shooting on target in a crowded circle. Both teams kept going and went for the winning goal but ran out of time. As the result remained tied 1-1 after 70

minutes of play, the Bronze medal match was decided in a penalty shoot-out competition. India substituted their goalkeepers replacing Ningom-bam by Bigan Soy who has not played a single minute in this tournament so far. Only 5 of 14 attempts were successful in the shoot-out competition with Rani scoring twice and Navneet Kaur scoring for India and Emily Defroand converting twice for England. Neil Hawgood, coach India: “It means a lot to our kids’ psychology that they can actually win a medal. They have never been in those games before. We prac-ticed shoot-outs, so I thought we would score more than three out of seven. Our goalkeeper Bigan Soy, who never played a minute the whole tournament, did a great job. It was clear, when it comes down to shoot-outs, she will be

in the goal.” Rani, Indian player: “We are so happy and we have to thank our goalkeeper Bigan Soy who did very well in the shoot-outs. We were mentally prepared for shoot-outs which was good. This is our first-ever medal in a Junior World Cup, now we will celebrate!” Bigan Soy, Indian goalkeeper during shoot-outs: “I did my very best and it’s a good feeling to know that I saved my team. I’m very happy. It now feels as I would have played the whole tournament.” Navneet Kaur, scorer of the winning goal: “This is my first Junior World Cup and my first medal, I’m so happy. It was tough to take a second penalty after I didn’t score from the first. I knew that I need to get the goalkeeper to dive and then I can score. This is what I did.”

Mishra Stars In India s Maiden 5-0 Series Win Away From Home

Bulawayo: India on Saturday created history by recording their first-ever five-match ODI series whitewash on foreign soil as they thrashed Zimbabwe by seven wickets in the fifth and final cricket one-dayer, riding on leg-spinner Amit Mishra s career-best six wicket haul. Mishra s fine effort of 6 for 48 saw India bowl out Zimbabwe for a paltry 163 in 39.5 overs after opting to bowl and the visitors then chased down the small target comfort-ably with 16 overs to spare at Queens Sports Club here. The leg-spinner also equalled the world record for most wickets in a bilateral ODI series. He took his series tally to 18, equalling the record held by compatriot Javagal Srinath. India have recorded three 5-0 series wins at home in the past five years -- white-washing England twice and New Zealand once. But, this was their maiden whitewash win in a five-match series away from home. Ajinkya Rahane, who was playing in his first match of the series, top-scored with a 66-ball 50, his third ODI fifty in his 17th match, with the help of four boundaries and a six. He shared a crucial 71-run partnership for the third wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (not out 48 from 77 balls) to lay the foundation for the win. Jadeja ended the con-test in style by hitting a six as India reached 167 for three in 34 overs. The victory target was too small for the rampag-ing Indians, who have recorded convincing wins over the home side in all the five matches. The young Indian side under Virat Kohli, who had come here without a few top players, maintained their domination over the home side and ended the series in emphatic style. This series victory also rectified their disappointing performance in this country in 2010 when they lost all their two matches in a tri-series. Captain Virat Kohli, one of the Indian centurions in the series, dropped himself down and sent Rahane at number three as the target was small. His team-mates ensured that there was no need for their captain to come out and bat.

India’s run chase though did not begin well with opener Cheteshwar Pujara dis-missed in the fourth ball for a duck. Playing in his second ODI of his career, Pujara was cleanbowled by Kyle Jarvis with a good length delivery just outside off which cut back to sneak through the gap between bat and pad before hitting the top of middle stump. Pujara was out in a similar fashion in the previous game, his debut match, when he made 13. In the fourth over, Dhawan took 15 runs off Brian Vitori with three fours and hit the same bowler for a six and a four two overs later. But Dhawan was dropped in the same over when he was on 32 in the penultimate ball before the break which was taken after the Indians had faced six overs in their small chase. The Indian opener tried to pull a Vitori delivery towards short fine leg only to top-edge it. But to the Indian’s luck, he survived following a misunderstanding between the fine-leg fielder and his captain and wicket-kepeer Brendan Taylor. The fine-leg fielder, who should have gone for the catch, left it for Taylor, who dived full length but did not get to it. Dhawan, the other Indian centurion in the series, was out in the 11th off Jarvis, the best bowler for the home side today. The Indian offered an edge to wicketkeeper Taylor as he attempted to push a good length delivery close to off stump. Dhawan, who had scored 116 in the second match, hit six fours and a six in his 38-ball innings. Dhawan’s departure saw the Indians slowing down a bit and they had the luxury to do so. Jarvis and Elton Chigum-bura bowled an accurate line and length to deny Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja room to play shots. Rahane, who survived being run out in the seventh over after a mix up with Dhawan, was out in the 28th over, bowled by a turning ball off part-timer Malcolm Waller. But by that time India were well on course for victory. Jadeja lied low for some time before a flurry of boundaries, including a six and

a four off Sean Williams in the 29th over, besides the six which ended the contest. E a r l i e r, M i sh r a notched up a career-best six-wicket haul as India dismissed Zimbabwe for 163. Opting to bowl in chilly conditions, the Indians had the home team on the mat from the very first over. Sean Williams (51) was the only Zimbabwean batsman to put up a semblance of fight before the home team’s innings folded in 39.5 overs. Mishra was the top wicket-taker for the visiting side with six for 48 in 8.5 overs. The collapse started pretty early for Zimbabwe with opener Vusi Sibanda (5) get-ting caught behind the stumps by Dinesh Karthik off Jaydev Unadkat in the fourth over. His partner Hamilton Masakadza did stay for a while and raised hopes of anchoring the innings before Ravindra Jadeja rattled his stumps. Ma-sakadza struck a 46-ball 32 which included four boundar-ies. Next man in skip-per, Brendan Taylor, departed without troubling the scorer but consumed 11 balls in the process. He was caught by Suresh Raina at second slip while trying to have a go at Mohit Sharma. Zimbabwean bats-men’s parade back to pavillion continued before Williams tried his bit to stage a fightback. In his 65-ball knock, Williams picked up six boundaries, giving his teammates a lesson in how to deal with the conditions. But Mishra brought an end to Williams’ stiff resistance when the batsman tried to sweep on one knee but ended up glov-ing it to the first slip. Mishra had earlier taken the crucial wicket of all-rounder Elton Chigumbura (17) who failed to replicate his half-century performance from the previous match. Kyle Jarvis (12 not out) and Natsai M’shangwe (16) did their bit to delay the inevitable but the Indians proved simply unstoppable.Brief Scores:India 167 for 3 (Rahane 50, Jadeja 48*) beat Zimbabwe 163 (Williams 51, Mishra 6-48) by seven wickets

Slapped, Humiliated, Jharkhand Girls Now Toast Of Nation

Ranchi, August 2: Jharkhand government today re-warded the Yuwa India under-14 girls football team for securing third position in the Gasteiz Cup in Spain. Chief Minister He-mant Soren handed over cash prize and sporting kits to the 18 tribal girls, besides allocating land for a stadium. “To encour-age the excellent performance by the little girls in Spain, the government has decided to give a cash prize of Rs 21,000 to each of the participating player, sport-ing kit to the team and a five acre ground to enable them carry their football skills further,” Soren said. “The ground has been identified at Bahumaja in Ormanjhi (on the outskirts of Ranchi), and within six months it will be developed into stadium for the children. “Later, it will be ex-panded into residential sports complex to enable children to get training staying there,” he said.

13-year-old Rinki Kumari yesterday recalled how a panchayat sevak had humiliated, slapped and forced to sweep floors when they went to the Panchayat Office to get their birth certificates for their passports.“We could not sleep that night (when we came third in the tournament)” says Rinky Kumari, one of the girls. “That is the pain of being a tribal girl in India. I do not remember the slap, I remember the Cup.” The panchayat sevak was removed from his post by the district administration.

The team consisted of tribal girls from Jharkhand who were trained in football by the NGO Yuwa, with most of them being victims of child marriage and human trafficking. Yuwa worked to pro-vide them with new oppor-tunities through sports and education. The team made it to the group phase before being knocked out by Santa Teresa of Spain.The team also made a visit to the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on July 7, which is home to 9-times Champions League winners Real Madrid.


Soon, Hormone Jab To Cure Painful Rheumatoid Arthritis

Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): A simple injection of a naturally occurring hormone could one day ease the pain of rheumatoid arthritis, a new study has revealed. Inflammatory joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are the result of carti-lage damage and loss. Chondrocytes are the only cells that are found in cartilage and their death is

linked to decreased cartilage health. Carmen Clapp and colleagues at the National University of Mexico identify prolactin as a potential treat-ment for inflammatory joint disease. Prolactin treatment prevented chondrocyte death and associated cartilage deg-radation. In a rat model of in-

flammatory arthritis, prolactin treatment reduced inflamma-tion, bone erosion, joint swell-ing, and pain. This study indicates that prolactin therapy has the potential to relieve many symp-toms associated with rheuma-toid arthritis and other inflam-matory-related diseases. The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Inves-tigation.

20 Min Brisk Daily Walk Could Keep Dementia At Bay

London, Aug 02 (ANI): A 20 minute brisk walk every day could help beat dementia, as it not only boosts memory but also improves the walker’s brain function, a new study has revealed. Dr Laura Phipps, of Alzheimer’s Research UK said that while there is currently no way to prevent dementia, the best evidence shows that regular exercise, along with eating a healthy diet, not smoking and keeping

the blood pressure and choles-terol in check can help lower the risk, the Daily Express reported. On a programme of moderate exercise, the researchers examined people aged 60 to 88, out of which half had mild cognitive im-pairment. They were all asked to do their walking on a tread-mill, guided by a personal trainer and it was found that respondents with cognitive

impairment and those without improved their cardiovascular fitness by about 10 per cent. Scans showed for the first time that the gentle workouts also improved brain function. All participants im-proved their memory perfor-mance and showed enhanced ability at memory retrieval tasks. The study is pub-lished in the Journal of Al-zheimer’s Disease.

Cutting Down Sugar Could Reduce Cancer Risk In Obese And Diabetic People

Washington, Aug 2 (ANI): Blocking dietary sugar and its activity in tumor cells may reduce cancer risk and progression in obese and dia-betic people, a new study has found. The study, by re-searchers from the Icahn School of Medicine, conducted in fruit flies, provides insight as to why metabolism-related diseases such as diabetes or obesity are associated with certain types of cancer, including pancre-atic, breast, liver, and colon cancers. Ross Cagan, PhD, Professor of Developmental and Regenerative Biology at Mount Sinai, has developed a cancer model in the fruit fly Drosophila that allows scien-

tists to evaluate diseases in the context of the whole animal and multiple genetic targets, rather than just looking at the connection of one gene to one disease. In the current study, Dr. Cagan used fruit flies to understand the effects of diet and insulin resistance on cancer progression. Cells use glucose for energy and to grow. When a cell becomes insulin resistant, glucose builds up in the blood instead of being absorbed by the cell, starving the cell and leading to metabolic diseases like diabetes. Because of this dys-functional growth, scientists have been puzzled about how tumors can thrive in an insulin-

resistant environment. “Previous research has established a strong cor-relation between metabolic diseases and pancreatic, breast, liver, and colon cancers, but we have not determined how tumors grow so aggressively in this environment if they do not have the energy provided by glucose,” Dr. Cagan, who is also Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Mount Sinai, said. “Using our fruit fly model, we discovered how tumors overcome insulin re-sistance in the body and turn metabolic dysfunction to their advantage,” the researcher added. The study is published in the journal Cell.

Glaxo Loses Patent Claim On Cancer Drug Mumbai, August 2 (PTI): The Intellectual Prop-erty Appellate Board (IPAB) has revoked the patent granted to the British drug major Glax-oSmithKline Pharma for its breast cancer drug - Tykerb. However, the Board has upheld the patent for Lapa-tinib compound, which is the active ingredient in Tykerb, citing innovative merit. Tykerb is the salt form of Lapatinib compound that is sold in the country.

The ruling was de-livered on July 27 by Justice Prabha Sridevan, chairperson of the Chennai Bench of the patent appeals agency which functions under the Commerce Ministry. A GSK Pharma India spokesperson said the Board’s ruling was a mixed bag for the company. “We are disappointed that the IPAB has revoked our expiring patent for the Lapatinib ditosylate salt. This ruling only relates to the Lapa-

tinib ditosylate salt patent in the country and does not affect our basic patent for Tykerb or corresponding patents in other countries. “We are studying the IPAB decision but maintain our belief in the inventiveness of the Lapatinib ditosylate salt and will consider the possibility of taking further steps before the appropriate authorities to validate this,” the spokesperson said in an e-mail response.

Ghulam Nabi Azad Launches Mobile Vaccine Vans ‘National Teeka Express’

Alwar (Rajasthan), Aug 1 (ANI): Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday launched the National Teeka Express, a mobile vaccine van, to protect children from life-threatening childhood diseases. Minister of State (IC) for Youth Affairs and Sports Jitendra Singh was also present during the occasion. It may be mentioned that under Routine Immunization Programme, ANMs collect vaccines from storage point (cold chain point) and transport them to session sites, i.e. either sub-centre or an-ganwari centre for carrying out vaccination. From 2005-06, Government of India is providing support for distribution of vaccine from last storage point to outreach immunization session sites at Sub-centres/Anganwaris, known as Alternate Vaccine Delivery (AVD) under NRHM. Rs. 79.3 crores was allocated to the states as support for alternate vaccine delivery in 2012-13. But Government of India noticed gaps in the implementation of Alternate Vaccine Delivery in difficult areas with low access to healthcare services. Many a times ANMs have to collect the vaccines on the day preceding the immunization day, which may compromise the cold chain maintenance and possible loss of potency of vaccine. Improper storage could also lead to adverse events following immunization. For this reason, Government of India has launched this innovative and ambitious initiative of Teeka Express. Designated vehicles under the brand name of ‘National Teeka Express’ will help not only in distribution of the vaccines and complementary

logistics from last cold chain point to immunization session sites but will also ensure holding of sessions at the mobile vaccination centre now. In order to reduce vaccine wastage and ensure better utilization of vaccines, including costly vaccines like pentavalent vaccine ‘Teeka Express’ will be used with reverse cold chain to bring back the open and un-used vaccines for use in subsequent sessions. The Teeka Express will also serve as a mobile healthcare delivery unit for the areas where there is no healthcare facility or health worker. After the immunization outreach session, Teeka Express will collect immunization related bio-medical waste for safe disposal at vaccine storage points. Teeka Express will also collect the coverage and immunization performance reports of the session for compilation and preparation of report at PHC. Teeka express is planned to be piloted in 69 high priority districts with difficult areas and low immunization coverage. For these districts, 1,850 vehicles are planned to be procured with GoI assistance. In the first phase the 120 vehicles of ‘Teeka Express’’ are planned in 6 districts of 5 states namely Rajasthan – Alwar (64 vehicles); Uttar Pradesh – Sharaswati (11 vehicles); Haryana – Mewat (9); Jammu and Kashmir - Doda (8) and Poonch (10) and Madhya Pradesh – Tikamgarh (18). Operational costs of Teeka Express have been provided under NRHM. This includes cost of hir-ing the driver, cost of POL (Petrol Oil Lubricant) and maintenance costs of the vehicle. Uniform Art work for the stickers, painting and IEC material on Teeka Express has been provided to the states.

New Diabetes Breakthrough Could Change Lives Of Moms And Offspring

Washington, August 1 (ANI): Research on the ge-netics of diabetes could help women get to know their risk of developing gestational dia-betes before getting pregnant - and lead to measures being taken to protect the health of the offspring. Gestational diabetes affects 18 percent of pregnan-cies but usually disappears when a pregnancy is over. Babies born to women with gestational diabetes are typi-cally larger at birth, which can lead to complications during delivery. They are at an in-creased risk of developing met-abolic diseases, like diabetes, in childhood and adulthood. Researchers found variants in two genes - HKDC1 and BACE2 - that were associ-ated with measures of glucose and insulin levels of pregnant women but not associated with

these measures in the rest of the population, including people with type 2 diabetes. First author M. Geof-frey Hayes, an assistant profes-sor of medicine-endocrinology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and assistant professor of an-thropology at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, said that with addi-tional study and verification of these and other risk genes, we could one day have genetic risk profiles to identify individuals at elevated risk for developing gestational diabetes. The findings sug-gest that the roles of the gene HKDC1 in glucose metabo-lism and BACE2 in insulin secretion are more important during pregnancy versus the non-pregnant state - across all ethnicities studied. Researchers used DNA and phenotype data of

more than 4,000 participants of four different ancestry backgrounds (Hispanic, Thai, Afro-Caribbean and Euro-pean) from the Hyperglycemia and Adverse Pregnancy Out-comes (HAPO) study. This study’s findings could one day help pinpoint quantitative genetic traits that predict which women may develop gestational diabetes. William L. Lowe, Jr., M.D., professor of medicine-endocrinology at Feinberg and senior author of the study, said that by knowing your risk when going into a pregnancy or early on during pregnancy, you might be screened for evidence of high glucose levels test sooner rather than later and begin preventive measures to protect the health of your offspring. The findings have been published in Diabetes, a journal of theAmerican Dia-betes Association


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REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS#151132-LEB

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is requesting proposals from firms to provide Armored Car Services. All proposals must be received by 2:00 PM, August 29, 2013, at the Virginia Department of Transportation; Central Office Mail Center-Loading Dock Entrance located at 1401 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. An OPTIONAL Pre-proposal Conference will be held at 10:00 AM; on August 13, 2013. For a copy of the Request for Proposals (RFP # 151132-LEB), go to the website: www.eva.virginia.gov VDOT assures compliance with Title VI Requirements of non-discrimination in all activities pursuant to this advertisement. For questions or additional information email: [email protected]

Looking for a experienced assistant manager and servers for a Indian fast food restaurant. Person needs to have experi-ence in food industry. Immediate opening with good com-pensation. Call 240-432-8077.********************************************************8x75 EITW08022013

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Looking for an experienced live-out nanny for 5 month old with household duties near Clarksburg, MD. Good salary. Call 301-703-8270.********************************************************8x75 EITW07262013

Ledo Pizza in Largo, Maryland looking for cashier, shift manager, pizza roller and topper. Weekly 45 hours or more. Call 240-354-5909 or 301-421-9232********************************************************24x225 EITW07262013

Desi Retirement home, 24 hr maid service, desi meals/tele-vision /activities. For info contact 240-855-9333********************************************************8x75 EITW07192013

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We are looking experiences waiter’s and waitresses with knowl-edge of wine and drinks in Indian Restaurant 4 to 5 star at least 2 to 3 year experience. Looking for full time experience waiter at Indian Restaurant . Also want Hostesses with 2 years experi-ences at Indian Restaurant. Call Gomez at 301-408-2200********************************************************8x75 EITW0607201

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Cabinet Approves Disinvestment Of 10% Paid-up Equity In IOCL

New Delhi, Aug 2 (ANI): The Cabinet Com-mittee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in accordance with the Government of India’s disin-vestment policy has approved the disinvestment of 10 percent paid-up equity in the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) out of its equity capital holding of 78.92 percent. The disinvestment will be through Offer for Sale (OFS) method in the domestic market according to the SEBI rules and regulations. After this disinvestment the Govern-

ment of India shareholding in the company would come down to 68.92 percent. The paid up equity capital of the company, as on March 31, 2013 was Rs. 2,428 crore. The Government of India holds 78.92 percent of the paid up capital in IOCL. The IOCL is a “Ma-haratna” Public Sector Under-taking under the administra-tive control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is the highest ranked Indian corporate in the prestigious Fortune ‘Global 500’ listing

with a ranking of 83 for the year 2012. The IOCL is pri-marily engaged in refining, transportation and marketing of petroleum products and pet-rochemicals with an installed refining capacity of 54.2 mil-lion metric tonnes. It has a pipeline net-work over 11,000 kilometers and marketing infrastructure of over 39,000 customer touch points. IOCL is also now ven-turing into exploration and production of crude oil and distribution of natural gas.

Govt. Eases Norms For FDI In Multi-brand Retail New Delhi, Aug 2 (ANI): The Central govern-ment has relaxed norms for foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail to make investment in retail more attractive. It has also raised FDI caps in several sectors while making it 100 percent in telecom. Announcing the decisions taken by the Cabi-net, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here last evening that the relaxation in multi-brand retail norms will give more clarity and more space to investors.

The amendment in the extant FDI policy relating to Multi-Brand Retail Trading in respect of `small industry` will bring in a balance be-tween the business exigencies of the MBRT entity and intent of the policy which is to extend the benefits of the FDI policy in multi-brand retail trading to a larger constituency of small industries. The amendment in the provision regarding back-end infrastructure will give more clarity to the policy. The amendment to the provision regarding location of retail outlets will bring in parity in the policy as it is proposed to

extend such dispensation to all States. Sharma further said, while the FDI cap in defence sector remains unchanged at 26 per cent, higher limits of foreign investments in state-of-the-art technology manu-facturing will be considered by the Cabinet Committee on Security. In single-brand re-tail, FDI up to 49 per cent will be under the automatic route and beyond that through the Foreign Investment Promo-tion Board (FIPB) route. In basic and cellular services, FDI has been raised to 100 per cent.

India Ranked Lowest In Money Management Skills New Delhi, August 2 (PTI): India has been ranked lowest in basic money man-agement skills among Asia-Pacific countries, according to MasterCard’s latest Index of Financial Literacy. India with 59 index points was ranked at the 15th place among the 16 countries surveyed ahead of Japan which

was at the bottom with 57 index points. In overall financial lit-eracy, New Zealand continued to rank number one with a score of 74 index points, ahead of Singapore (72 index points) and Taiwan (71). “Even though India’s overall index is low, it is heart-ening that the country has showed improvement on the

parameter of financial plan-ning,” Ari Sarker, MasterCard South Asia Division president, said. Sarkar further said: “Overall, however, the index highlights clear gaps in the financial literacy space and the need to inculcate better budget-ing, savings and responsible credit habits.”

The survey was con-ducted between April 2013 and May 2013 with 7,756 respon-dents aged between 18 and 64 in 16 Asia-Pacific countries. The survey was con-ducted on three aspects of finan-cial literacy, including consum-ers’ basic money management skills, investment knowledge and financial planning.

Rupee Closes At All-time Low Of 61.10/$ The rupee fell a massive 67 paise to all-time closing low of 61.10 against the dollar despite a slew of steps taken by the government and the central bank in the past few weeks to support the battered currency. Better-than-expected US GDP growth has boosted the US dollar. At the forex market, the rupee resumed lower at 60.61 a dollar from the previous close of 60.43 and touched a high of 60.58. As local stocks declined, the rupee continued its downward march and touched a low of 61.17 before closing at an all-time low of 61.10, a fall of 67 paise or 1.11 per cent. The previous record low closing was 60.72 on June 26.

express india august 6,2013

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