july 22 pages 27-40

27 Indo American News • Friday, July 22, 2011online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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Friday July 22, 2011

Hillary Clinton Pushes India on Nuclear law, Easier Market Access for Trade

Hilary Clinton, US Secretary, is on a visit to India to strengthen ties and business relationships worth several hundred billion dollars.

NEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged India on Tuesday to open markets faster and resolve questions on a civilian nuclear accord that U.S. companies hope could mean billions of dollars in new business.

Clinton opened high-level U.S.-Indian talks with a polite but firm push for New Delhi to get moving on key economic issues as both sides seek to firm up a relationship

with meaning.“The stakes are high. So it is

critical that this dialogue lead to concrete and coordinated steps that each of our governments take to produce real results,” Clinton said in her opening remarks at the meeting, the latest in a series of talks aimed at deepening political and economic ties between the United States and the world’s second most populous country.

The global economic slowdown has driven U.S. and European companies to look for sales in emerging markets like India.

Clinton’s visit will cover a range of bilateral issues including counter-terrorism cooperation, an issue thrown into stark relief by last week’s deadly triple bomb attack on India’s financial capital Mumbai.

Relations between the two countries have warmed since the end of the Cold War, when India was seen closer to the old Soviet Union.

Hillary will brief Indian leaders on U.S. plans to draw down troops in Afghanistan -- which New Delhi fears may mean a hasty U.S. exit -- as well as on India’s nuclear-armed rival Pakistan, where the halting battle against Islamic militants has spurred questions about Islamabad’s true intentions.

Clinton did not mention Pakistan in her opening statements, but did underscore that Washington and New Delhi have a common

challenge in confronting the threat of militant violence.

“We are allies in the fight against violent extremist networks. And homeland security is a high priority and a source of increasing partnership,” Clinton said, pointing to a May summit between Indian and U.S. security officials.

“The events in Mumbai have driven home how important it is that we get results,” she said.

Wish list U.S. officials say they are generally pleased with growing levels of security cooperation with India, which range from intelligence sharing on terror networks to joint efforts against maritime piracy.

But India has long been unhappy about what it perceives as Washington’s resistance to sharing critical, real-time information on Islamic militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan that may be plotting to attack Indian targets.

Clinton highlighted hurdles that continue to hamper progress on economic ties, which U.S. officials

say should be growing faster and deeper given India’s $1.6 trillion economy.

On top of the list is civilian nuclear cooperation, which despite a landmark 2008 accord has yet to overcome Indian legal and regulatory obstacles which could open the doors to U.S. nuclear energy companies such as General Electric and Westinghouse, the U.S.-based arm of Japan’s Toshiba

Earlier this month New Delhi hinted that it could ban nuclear reactor purchases from countries refusing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to it after suppliers decided last month to tighten such trade against countries like India.

U.S. officials want India to “tighten up” legislation to protect equipment makers from liability in case of nuclear accident, saying it is much more stringent than other countries. India is planning to spend some $150 billion on nuclear power, key to meet soaring energy demand in India.


28 Indo American News • Friday. July 22, 2011 online edition: www.indoamerican-news.comIamBusinessnews

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Tata May Develop Engines with Jaguar land Rover unit

MUMBAI (WSJ): Tata Motors Ltd. is considering a joint engine development program with its U.K.-based Jaguar Land Rover unit, its chairman said.

Tata Motors bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford Motor Co. for $2.3 billion in 2008, just prior to a global downturn that forced auto makers to shut down plants and report losses. Ford supplies engines to the two brands, whose fortunes gradually have turned for the better.

The goal is “to optimize the synergetic strengths between JLR and Tata Motors in India,” said Chairman Ratan Tata in the company’s annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31, which

was released Monday. The program could have engine manufacturing facilities in the U.K. and India, he added.

Developing engines in-house will help Tata Motors, India’s largest auto maker by sales, use its expertise in cutting costs on manufacturing the vehicles, a step that will make the vehicles cheaper

for price-sensitive markets such as India.

Jointly manufacturing engines in-house and setting up facilities is the next step of backward integration for the two companies. Tata Motors has already started assembling the Land Rover Freelander at its west India facility in Pune and had said during the plant’s opening that it may consider assembling other products and variants from the brand in the facility.

While some reports have said Tata plans to set up one plant at Wolverhampton, U.K., the company itself has declined to comment on any details of its plans.

“The company is also considering various options for assembly and

localization of selected [JLR] p r o d u c t s i n China, which has become an important market for the company,” Mr. Tata said in the report, which did not elaborate.

Tata Motors has been saying it is in talks with companies to cooperate on an assembly plant in China, but hasn’t yet announced any names.

The company said it also will focus on increasing Jaguar Land Rover’s presence in growth markets such as Russia and Brazil, along with launching new products and variants.

NEW DELHI (WSJ): Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, a state-run Indian refinery, said it is in talks with crude oil suppliers in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia to arrange backup supplies in case of potential disruptions from Iran, as the two countries’ dispute over outstanding crude bills appears to enter a new deadlock.

MRPL said it is in touch with oil suppliers including Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., or Adnoc, and Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco.

MRPL and other Indian refiners face crude supply disruptions from Iran as they aren’t able to clear dues after the Reserve Bank of India in December stopped trade-related payments through the Asian Clearing Union, a regional clearinghouse which the U.S. says is opaque and could be used by Tehran to finance its alleged nuclear weapons program. Iran has continued to deliver oil to India pending the resolution of the problem.

But Iran has sent a fresh warning that it may stop oil exports to India from August 1 if $5 billion arrears aren’t paid.

“It is highly likely that if the problem with reception of the money isn’t resolved, Iran won’t export oil to India in August,”

the Fars news agency quoted an unnamed Iranian oil official as saying Monday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast Tuesday echoed the oil official’s warning. “The oil transaction should be carried in accordance with trading conditions and absence of necessary conditions for payment will have negative effects on the trade,” Mehmanparast said.

The statement warns that Iran could possibly interrupt oil supply to India.

MRPL, which has a 236,400 million barrels a day refinery in the southern state of Karnataka, meets 60% of its crude requirement through imports from Iran.

“Though currently supplies are maintained based on an interim arrangement, but considering the enhanced level of sanctions against Iran in [the] future, non-resolution of [the] current crisis, the availability of Iranian crude may be difficult and supply may not continue till an indefinite period,” MRPL said in its annual report for the fiscal year ended March 31.

The refiner, a unit of state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp., is seeking additional volumes from other sources to “reduce the dependency on few sources of supply and reduce the crude supply risk,”

according to the annual report on MRPL’s website Tuesday.

MRPL has a contract to buy 1.1 million tons of crude from Saudi Arabia and 1.5 million tons from Adnoc, an MRPL executive said.

“We are keeping all options open,” the official said when asked how much additional crude may be sourced from Saudi Arabia or Adnoc.

MRPL has also f inalized purchasing crude oil from Kuwait, a new source of supply, from 2011, the annual report said.

The refiner plans to finalize the term contracts for crude oil imports for the next financial year beginning April 1 by September, in order to have more suppliers, it said.

The annual report also said MRPL plans to have product storage capacity at strategic locations abroad and may enter into joint ventures with other group companies of its parent ONGC. The Reserve Bank decision was a blatant political move in a series of such moves in Indian foreign policy with respect to Iran. The evidence is now clear from various sources that these were the result of Washington’s bullying and India’s caving in quickly. Iran is India’s 2nd largest oil supplier. There is a big hole to fill for New Delhi. It deserves the headache and more.

Iran May Disrupt Oil Supplies to India Over Outstanding Crude Oil Bills

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“Why Can’t India Feed its People?”Asks Canadian MediaTORONTO (DNAI): In this

Year of India in Canada, India is making news in the media here - not for the second highest growth rate in the world but for its “absolute poverty” and failure to “feed its people.”

The Canadian media has also likened “the boom in Bihar” to “a whimper”.

Writing under the headline ‘Why India can’t feed its people,’ the country’s biggest daily Toronto Star reported from New Delhi on Sunday, “Food is an all-consuming crisis here. Waste is only one facet. Agriculture, infrastructure, inflation, innovation and corruption are others. It is a scourge and challenge for this country of 1.2 billion people...”

According to it, “40 per cent of Indian children remain chronically malnourished,” with this figure in some parts of India even higher than some sub-Saharan countries.

Citing reports of hungry children eating mud in parts of Uttar Pradesh, the newspaper story said, “Today, there is less food available for each Indian resident that there was 30 years ago. In 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available, India produced 436 grams of food grains per person per day, a drop from 445.3 in 2006.”

The report said, “As much as 40 per cent of all the fruits, vegetables and food grains grown in India never make it to the market. The country wastes more grain each

year than Australia produces, and more fruits and vegetables than the UK consumes.”

Blaming the lack of R&D for the crisis in the Indian agriculture sector which has led to 2,00,000 suicides since 1997, the report said, “While China pumps $3.5 billion into agricultural research - Chinese farmers grew 6.2 metric tons of rice per hectare in 2008, double India’s output - India’s spends a fraction of that.” In another story from Dharampur Mushahar Toll in Bihar,

the national daily Globe and Mail reported Sunday that “the boom in Bihar sounds more like a whimper.” Bihar, which has the lowest literacy rate, the highest child-mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy in India, has become a synonym not for intractable despair, but for turnaround under a new reformist government led by “a pot-bellied, teetotalling socialist engineer named Nitish Kumar,” the report said. But “to travel in Bihar - in the rural areas or in the capital, Patna,

where the streets are choked with garbage and the lights flicker out every couple of hours - is to see both how the place has changed, and how terribly far it has to go. And it is in this, more than anything else, that Bihar is emblematic of India - of its dark side of absolute poverty and exclusion, and how very difficult a task it is to change them,” the report said.

The paper said, “Half the children ( i n D h a r a m p u r Mushahar Toll) are without clothes; a third of them have the deep hacking coughs and crusted snot of chronic respiratory-tract infections. In

the newly built early-learning

centre, a gaggle of three-year-olds sits beneath one tattered poster of the English alphabet - not that there is anyone around who can read it. Few people have any food in their tiny houses; they buy what they can each day after working on the land of higher-caste villagers.”

But giving credit to chief minister Nitish Kumar, who inherited a “wretched mess” after “15 years of misrule by a theatrical thug Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri”, the report said that under him “the reign of the criminals (has) collapsed; now, in the evenings, the city streets throng with shoppers and families out for ice cream.”

Infrastructure construction is booming, school enrollments have doubled and doctors and teachers show up for duty on time.

But “(Nitish) Kumar, however good his intentions, cannot leapfrog his state into the 21st century. He can drag it to 1950, or 1970. But not to 2011. And there are pockets just like Bihar all over India where this is true.”

A kid seen starving in one of the villages in Uttar Pradesh. India is beset by enormous amounts of food wastage. Over 40 percent of the food grains, vegetables and fruits grown in India never make it to the market. India wastes more food than what Australia produces each year, and more food than what UK consumes in a year. Then added to this woe, India faces corruption, inflation, lack of infrastructure, innovation, among other disabilities. India is now set stern on rectifying these massive problems in order to bring food prices down and help subsidize prices for its massive population, over half of whom live in abject poverty

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30 Indo American News • Friday. July 22, 2011 online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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Export-Import Bank Announces $16 Million loan to Support First Solar Inc. Exports to Azure Solar Power Project in India

NEW DELHI (INN): The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) announced today that it is providing a $16 million long-term loan to support the exports of First Solar Inc. in Tempe, Ariz., to Azure Power Rajasthan Pvt. Ltd. in

New Delhi.Ex-Im Bank has approved 173

transactions (including this loan) totaling $1.4 billion in financing just in 2010 to support U.S. exports to India, which will support over 10,000 U.S. jobs. The Bank’s India-

related authorizations in FY 2011 through June rose $53 million from fiscal year 2010.

India currently ranks first among Asian nations in Ex-Im Bank authorizations and exposure. The Bank anticipates that India will be its largest single-country market in the world in FY 2012.

In the Azure Power transaction, First Solar will export thin-film photovoltaic modules to Azure Power for the construction of a five-megawatt (MW) solar project in the state of Rajasthan. Additional U.S. suppliers of related equipment include SMA Solar Technology in Rocklin, Calif., and General Cable Corp. in Highland Heights, Ky.

The Azure solar-power plant in Jayal, Rajasthan is one of the first utility-scale solar-power plants in India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, which aims to develop over 20,000 MW of installed solar power by 2022. When the Azure solar-power plant is connected to the grid, it will benefit more than 50,000 people and is estimated to reduce carbon emissions of up to 5,500 metric tons per year.

Ex-Im Bank i s the f i r s t international financing institution to approve solar-power projects under India’s National Solar Mission and one of the first to approve financings under the solar-power policy of the state of Gujarat. In fiscal year 2011 to date, the Bank has approved financing totaling approximately $75 million for four solar projects in India. The Bank also has about $500 million of India solar projects in the pipeline that will generate an estimated 315 MW of solar power.

“India has set ambitious goals to increase solar-energy production and is creating incentives to encourage solar companies to develop this market. Ex-Im Bank is pleased to partner with Azure Power to enable a robust solar-power sector in India. We are working with U.S. exporters to make sure that they have the competitive financing they need to participate in these important initiatives,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg, who announced the transaction today in New Delhi.

“This is a great example of U.S.-

India cooperation in the renewable-energy sector. The long-tenure $16 million investment from Ex-Im Bank enables us to deploy the best-in-class U.S. technology to meet India’s clean-energy objectives under the National Solar Mission, specifically the goal of reaching grid parity,” said Azure Power CEO Inderpreet Wadhwa.

“Financing is a critical part of any solar project, and the support f r o m E x - I m Bank has helped to provide Azure Power with First Solar’s advanced, t h i n - f i l m modules,” said James Brown, First Solar senior vice president. “Collaborating w i t h E x - I m Bank accelerates r e n e w a b l e -e n e r g y d e p l o y m e n t , a l l owing ou r cus tomers t o meet the growing demand for clean, renewable solar energy in India.”

The repayment of Ex-Im’s 16.5-year loan is based on the cash flows generated by the sale of electricity to NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd. (NVVN), a wholly owned power trading subsidiary of India’s National Thermal Power Corp and the agency responsible for the purchase and sale of solar power under the first phase of the National Solar Mission. The Indian government has provided special power-price incentives through NVVN.

Ex-Im Bank has also provided or assisted in financing U.S. solar-energy exports to the Dalmia Solar Project in Rajasthan, the Punj Lloyd Solar Project in Rajasthan and the ACME Solar Technology Project in the state of Gujarat.

First Solar Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries manufacture and sell solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, and also develop, design, construct, operate and maintain solar PV electricity-generating facilities. Founded in 1999, the company is the world’s largest manufacturer of thin-film solar modules and has more than 1,900

employees in the United States, including 1,200 employees at its Perrysburg, Ohio, manufacturing and engineering center. For more information, visit www.firstsolar.com.

Azure Power is an independent solar-power producer and the first private-sector company to implement a megawatt-scale, grid-connected solar photovoltaic power plant in India. The company

develops solar energy for utility, government and commercial customers. For more information, visit www.azurepower.com.

Ex-Im Bank Chairman Hochberg is now conducting a week-long business development mission in India, including participation in the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 19, that is being headed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodman Clinton.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent federal agency that helps create and maintain U.S. jobs by filling gaps in private export financing at no cost to American taxpayers. The Bank provides financing mechanisms, including working capital guarantees, export-credit insurance and financing to help foreign buyers purchase U.S. goods and services.

The Bank has a congressional mandate to increase support for U.S. renewable-energy and other environmentally beneficial exports. Ex-Im Bank has authorized almost nearly $100 million for renewable-energy products and services.

For details, visit Ex-Im Bank’s Website at www.exim.gov

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Rajasthan DGP Sets Example for Young CopsJAIPUR: Rajasthan director general of

police Harish Chandra Meena must be among the fittest police chiefs in the country. He was slammed for demanding that all new recruits into the state’s police force be selected only if they can run 10 km in an hour.

Unfortunately, many aspirants were unequal to the task, with nearly 70 fainting in the effort and a 23-year-old candidate dying in Bikaner .

So, Meena came under flak from the media. But instead of backtracking, the 56-year-old police chief ran 10 km in 47 minutes and wondered why young men wanting to join the police force shouldn’t be able to run the distance in an hour.

After his run in Udaipur on July 7, Meena gave a repeat performance in Kota 10 days later, completing the run in 51 minutes.

“It was said the run was not doable and candidates would not be able to finish the

test. I thought the best reply was to do it myself,” said Meena.

“I wanted to give the message that if I can do it, why not young people. For po l i ce p e r s o n n e l , p h y s i c a l appearance matters, so they should be fit,” he said

The police recruitment exam is currently being held in 10 centres across the state. The physical tests started on June 20.

Indian Mother Made Her Way to Saudi Arabia to Repay the Debt of HIV Infected SonBy MohaMMed Irfan

JEDDAH(SS): Qamarunnisa , 50 native of Gatta Prabha Village in Belgam district of Karnataka is stranded in Saudi Arabia and desperate to reach her home country,

According to her statement she was working for a agency that supplies maids to families, she was brought to Saudi Arabia 8 months ago by some agents in Mumbai where she was promised to have good nanny job with monthly salary of Rs. 10,000 for a family. However after arriving in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the reality that she faced was different, she went through a lot of hardship and a job

with no security whatsoever.Instead of working for a family

as she was promised in India by recruitment agents, she was sent to an agency that kept renting and rotating her to different families where she used to work from early morning to late at mid night. She can’t recall which cities she was brought to and where she worked, but says that its about 6 hours journey from Jeddah City. After work she went without any salary. She was also not in any position to even abscond as she do not have any copy of her passport.

Last week Qamarunnisa Begum ran away from the place where she was working after falling ill and

managed to reach Jeddah City .After reaching Jeddah she was

provided medical care by the Indian Consulate and process was made to repatriate her back to home country.

While speaking with this correspondent Qamarunnisa wept at her plight, and said that she is mother to two daughters and one of whom is married and another working in Belgam. She also said she had adopted an orphan boy as her foster son and later at six years age the boy was diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS where she spent nearly one lakh rupees for his treatment by

Qamarunnisa, worked as a maid with an agency, working many hours without getting paid, her passport being held by the agency was not able to leave either. This she did for her foster son who was diagnosed with HIV at six years of age.

Rajasthan Director General of Police Harish Chandra Meena is a fit police chief who can run 10 km in under an hour (6.25 mi), he feels that new recruits must be able to do the same

borrowing the amount. Unfortunately her efforts have

gone in vain now and the child has died.The debt for his medication has to be repaid thus forcing her to seek a job in the Gulf, so she came to Saudi Arabia. She also said that her husband is alive and is a liquor addict and has no concern for family at all.

Fortunately, thanks to the Indian Consulate, her nightmare has now ended.

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32 Indo American News • Friday. July 22, 2011 online edition: www.indoamerican-news.comIaminDoentertainmentnews

By rachana SrIvaStavaBased on the subject Honor kill-

ing done by ‘KHAP Panchayat’ a film KHAP is ready to be released this month.

Below are some excerpts from the interview with the main lead of the film, Sartaj Gill , who is playing the role of ‘Kush’

How did you get this film?

One day I got a call from my agent and he asked me if I could make it to meet him in another 15 minutes.

When I reached there , I chanced to meet Nilesh Inaamdar,an associate director of Ananda films and he called me for the audition. Ajay Sinha, the director of the film took my audition and appreciated my work. After two day I got a call with affirmation and I got this pleasure of being a part of the film.

What is the main subject of the film?

Name of the film is ‘KHAP’ this film is based on khap panchayat . Around 40 to 50 villages make an organization known as KHAP. The individual Panchayat in these villages altogether make a bigger panchayat known as KHAP Panchayat

This Panchayat believes that if you

marry in the same KHAP, your mar-riage will not be registered and ac-cepted because marrying in the same khap is like marrying a brother to a sister which is never acceptable. Whosoever does

do is killed by the khap panchayat

and they call it an honor killing. This again is illegal and against the law. So this is the topic which we have raised through this film.

What is your role in the film?

The character which I am playing in the film is named Kush. Kush has come to Delhi all the way from South Africa to pursue his studies. Here he meets Ria, Ria is being played by Uvika Chaudhary. Kush and Ria fall in love and get married. When they go to the village, they face KHAP Panchayat and this panchayat which refuses to recognize

their marriage. Is there any special

scene in the film done by you which u feel is unforget-

table?Yes, there is a scene where all the

villagers have gathered around me and Ria forcing us to become brother and sister ,forcing Ria to tie a Rakhi around Kush’s wrist. Each villager is giving Kush a 10 rupee note so that

once Ria is done tying the rakhi , Kush could give her the rupee as a blessing. It was such a heart touching scene, I have no words to describe it. I thought just by playing the role its hurting me so much then what about those who face it in real.

Along with you who are the other actors in the film?

Om Puri who is playing Yuvika’s Dadaji and is the sarpanch as well.

Khap: A Story of Honor KillingMohinish Behel, who is playing Yuvika’s Father. Anuradha patel as yuvika’s mother. Other actors include Manoj Pahwa, Govind Naamdev and Alok Nath

Working along with these big names, how did you like it?

They all are great and very experi-enced people and Ihave learnt a lot from them. Om Puri is a very quiet person but whenever he speaks, he makes us all laugh.

I gel well with Manoj.Yuvika is too sweet and a very good actress. It is my pleasure to have worked with her in the film.

Tell us something about the music in the film.

The music is fabulous.The film has eight songs which are sung by Shreya Ghosal, Shaan, Raahat Fateh Ali Khan, Jagjit Singh and Rekha Bharadwaj. My favorite song is khuda so raha hai Ishq ho raha hai sung by Rekha ji.

What were your set loca-tions in the film?

Vai is the place near Panchgani where the enitre village scene has been done. Other than that, we did the shooting in Mumbai and Delhi.

Khap is set to release on July 29.

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Dravid Returns to lord’s Where It All BeganBy nagraj gollapudI

LORDS (ESPNCI): Rahul Dravid may as well confess he feels at home at Lord’s. The ground operates on the same characteristics that have defined Dravid’s career: discipline, order, balance, elegance, simplicity and respect.

He is an honorary MCC member and part of the MCC’s world cricket committee and has been making an annual visit to NW8 since 2008. He intimately knows the walls and the portraits in the pavilion that houses the committee room and the famous Long Room.

So when Dravid says Lord’s is a “very special” place for him, believe it. The respect is mutual. Dravid, who will become the first active member of the world cricket committee to play a Test at Lord’s on Thursday, was even allowed today to enter the inner sanctum of the pavilion in the Indian team’s bright blue tracksuit.

In the past, this would have been an unpardonable act at the 224-year-old MCC, long known for its insular and closed attitude; a place where you cannot enter without wearing a jacket and tie. It was an exceptional allowance granted to Dravid.

“It always brings back some special memories. I think this place is personally very special for me,” Dravid said, when asked about his relationship with Lord’s, the ground of his debut. The ground where he fell five runs short of a maiden century in his very first innings. He has only got 215 runs in the three matches he has played, but his hunger that was there on June 20, 1996 hasn’t diminished one bit. The appetite for runs is still the same.

“To start your Test career, at this venue 15 years ago was indeed very special for me. And coming back here, in some strange way you always feel at home. You feel that this is the place for cricket. This is the place that truly understands cricket, and history and tradition of the game,” said Dravid, who along with Tendulkar, is the only member of the current team to play at Lord’s in the 1990s.

Our first experience at anything, regardless of the outcome, invariably becomes the inerasable reference point of our lives. For Dravid, the third day of the second

Test 15 years ago is that point. “It meant a lot to me. I had played five years of first-class cricket to break into the Indian team. I’d scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket and got an opportunity to come on the tour of England.”

“At the start to series I wouldn’t have given myself very good odds to even play with the kind of team that we had,” he said. “There were a few injuries and I was lucky to get the opportunity and I knew that probably it would be the only one. Otherwise I would have to go back to domestic cricket and start the cycle all over again, scoring runs. But in India everyone scores a lot of runs in domestic cricket and sometimes it is very tough to break in. I had waited five years so I knew the significance and importance of it. So I was lucky. It was great for me, it meant so much. I never expected it to lead to anything. I never expected to be

Dravid loves playing at Lords. “It is a special place for me” he says. “This is the place for cricket, a place that truly understands cricket, its history and tradition of the game.” Dravid and Tendulkar are the only members who played at Lord’s in the 1990s.

here 15 years later talking about it. Absolutely not.”

Usually a reticent gent, and a bit stiff in front of the media, it was interesting to see Dravid open up about his insecurity as a youngster. But it is a nice example for today’s

youth like Abhinav Mukund and Suresh Raina in this squad and Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay back in India.. Most of them are on the same wobbling platform that Dravid stood on in 1996.

“I remember when I was 50 not out at the end of the day and I was walking back to the hotel with [Javagal] Srinath and I knew somehow that this was probably a very significant innings. I knew I had some more breathing space, I got a few more Test matches at least. It gave me a lot of confidence scoring 95 here and 80 at Trent Bridge. It gave me a lot of confidence for me as a player and as a person, too.”

India Beat Sri lanka, Qualify for Asian Basketball Championship

NEW DELHI (INO): India defeated Sri Lanka 89-35 in the final of the Middle Asia Zone qualifying event at the Thyagaraj Stadium here Friday to secure their berth for the Asian Basketball Championship in September.

The convincing win shows promise for Indian basketball under their new head coach Kenny N a t t , w h o took charge only a month ago.

T h e home team continued with their defence-c e n t r i c game in the tournament and got the better of the Lankans for the second time in a row. I n d i a h a d beaten them in their only group match Wednesday.

Five players scored in double digits for India including Hareesh Koroth, who was the top-scorer with 12 points. Praneeth earned almost half of the points for Sri Lanka scoring 17.

With the defence-oriented game, India shared the ball extremely well to dominate their opponents.

The hosts only allowed Sri Lanka to score one field goal in the first quarter as they raced off to a 25-2 lead. A telling point of the match was India scoring 60 percent of their points through the field.

An Indian win seemed inevitable when they led the match 51-11 at half time.

India, however, have a much tougher task ahead in the 16-nation Asian Championship in Wuhan, China Sep 15-25. The 50th ranked team in the world is drawn with higher-ranked Lebanon, Korea, and Malaysia in their group.

Earlier in the day, Nepal won a close match Bangladesh 73-62 to finish third in the competition.

India have qualified for Group A of the 26th FIBA Asia Championship that will be held in Wuhan (China) from September 15-25. India will face Lebanon, Korea, and Malaysia in their group.

Final: India (Hareesh K o r o t h 1 2 , V i s h e s h Bhriguvanshi 11, Amjyot Singh 10, Amrit Pal Singh 10, Trideep Rai 10) bt. Sri Lanka (Praneeth 17) 89-35 (25-2, 26-9, 22-10, 16-14).

Hard Line: Nepal (Sadish P r a d h a n 2 4 , B i n o d Maharajaha 21, Bipendra Maharajaha 12, Bikram Joshi 10) bt. Bangladesh (Mithun Kumar Biswas 21, Md. Shamsullaman Khan Soyab 15, Md. Rasheduzzaman 11, Shre Mitun Sarker 10) 73-62 (23-19, 19-14, 15-9, 16-20).


34 Indo American News • Friday. July 22, 2011 online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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