Lanka spin wizard says the workload is taking a toll on his body

SPORT >> P14

MURALI MAY QUITBEFORE 2011 WC

hindustantimes.com

New Delhi / CHANDIGARH METRO ■ Rs 2.00 ■ Vol. LXXXV No 285 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2009NIFTY 4,941.8 –110.65 SENSEX 16,632.0 –389.85 DOW JONES 10,309.92 –22.48 NASDAQ 2,138.44 –18.36 RUPEE/$ 46.7 –0.1 RUPEE/EURO 69.6 - 0.3 GOLD/10G 17,850.0 +350 SILVER/K 28,000.0 –680

INDIA, CANADA N-PARTNERSReach landmark agreement on civil nuclear cooperation

OMAR’S U-TURNON J&K TALKSChief Minister now in favour of involving Pakistan

GE EYESHOME LOANScouting for partners, talks at initial stage, P13

WORLD >> P12 NATION >> P4BUSINESS

BSF’s power women

■ The Border Security Force’s newly-raised women’s wingparticipates in its 44th anniversary parade, in New Delhi onSunday. SUBHAV SHUKLA / PTI PHOTO

TOP UP IASOFFICER SHOOTS SELF

shortstories

US GOOFED UP ON OSAMA?

M O V I N G W O R D S

Sarika Sharma■ sarikakullu@gmail.com

CHANDIGARH: “Did a man likehim really exist?” filmmakerAnurag Kashyap had won-dered when he first readPash’s poetry that a friendhad gifted. Now, he is on hisway to explore the NaxalitePunjabi poet and his worksthrough a biopic.

“The man stood againstthings nobody had the gutsto take on. He spoke for asection of people and againsta certain line of thought thateventually went on tobecome the Khalistan move-ment, which led to turmoil in

the country,” says the direc-tor of Black Friday, theaward-winning film onMumbai blasts, and the criti-cally-acclaimed Dev D.

Poetry was the only

weapon in Pash’s hand,potent enough to have defiedthe establishment, Anuragsays. “Ghar se nikalna kaampar, aur kaam se loutkarghar aana, sabse khatarnak

hota hai, hamare sapno kamar jana,” he revisits thelines at DikshantInternational School inZirakpur on Sunday.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

■ Naxalite Punjabi poet Pash.

Bollywood tribute to Pash, research for film on

HT Correspondent■ letters@hindustantimes.com

LUCKNOW: Uttar PradeshPrincipal Secretary (Housing)Harminder Raj Singh (55)reportedly committed suicideat his official residence by shoot-ing himself in the early hours ofSunday.

No suicide note has beenfound, according to the police.Additional Director General ofPolice (Law and Order, West)A.K. Jain ruled out foul play inSingh’s death. Singh was in theIndian Administrative Service(IAS) of the 1978 cadre.

When asked if Singh wasunder pressure from any quar-ter, Jain said no such thing hadbeen learnt during the investi-gation.

“The police are yet to recordstatements of family members.If Singh’s wife and children bringany such thing (pressure) to ournotice, the police will investigatethe matter,” he said, adding thatthe police were yet to collectSingh’s mobile phone for calldetails.

The body was taken to Delhi.“The family members have

left for Delhi. When his wifereturns after the cremation, wewill talk to her and other fami-ly members. We have done thebody’s videography,” Jain said.

Deputy Inspector General(Lucknow Range) PremPrakash said Singh shot him-self on the right side of his fore-head with his licensed .32 borerevolver at around 1.30 am.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

Firm conducting onlineCAT has failure recordSwaha Sahoo■ swaha.sahoo@hindustantimes.com

NEW DELHI: Prometric, theAmerican firm conducting theCommon Admission Test (CAT),is under fire for failing to con-duct the first online version.

CAT, the test for admissionto the Indian Institutes of Mana-gement (IIMs), was resched-uled at centres across the coun-try for the second day on Sunday.

Prometric, part of the US-based Educational TestingService (ETS), has been accusedof failing to conduct online testsearlier too. In August 2008, TheGuardian reported that the

Qualifications and CurriculumAuthority of the UK had endedits five-year contract with ETSEurope after “serious problemswith the administration andmarking of tests”. ETS, on itspart, blamed the authority.

In December 2008, Pakistandaily The News Internationalreported that students in Lahore“suffered due to frequent poweroutages and poor Internet con-nection while attempting a test(TOEFL) conducted by ETS”.

In India, students questionedthe decision to outsource CATto Prometric.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

>> CAT FAILS AGAIN, P11

Hormone-fed veggiesbeing sold in PunjabAmit Sharma■ sharmaamit@hindustantimes.com

LUDHIANA (PUNJAB): Gurdial Singh’scucumbers would not pass adrug test. In fact, they wouldnot pass a health test of anykind.

They look good enough, freshand juicy. But it’s artificial mus-cle, courtesy the oxycotin inject-ed into them. Oxytocin is a hor-mone best known for its role infemale reproduction.

“Oxytocin can prove fatal ifconsumed through vegetablesand fruits for a period of eventwo months,” said Dr GursharanSingh, former vice-president ofthe Indian Medical Association.

If nature had had its way,Gurdial’s crop would have failed.All of last year, temperaturesfluctuated in Ludhiana. Rainfallwas erratic. As a result, mostof the plants on his 20-acre farm

in Ladhowal — a village alongthe ancient Grand Trunk Road,90 km west of Chandigarh —showed no signs of bearing fruit.

“I kept checking… day afterday,” said Gurdial. “They werebarren.”

In desperation, the 53-year-old began injecting his plantswith oxytocin 11 months ago.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

■ Fluctuating temperatures anderratic rainfall have affectedcrops across Uttar Pradesh,Punjab and Haryana

■ In Punjab, desperate farmersare resorting to injecting theirplants with the horome oxytocinand even banned steroids

■ Oxytocin can prove fatal ifconsumed through vegetablesand fruits

DESPERATE MEASURES

■ Avtar Singh Sandhu fromTalwandi Salem village ofJalandhar wrote under thepen name of Pash. Inspired bythe Naxalite movement, hewas known for his poetry ofresistance, which shifted theparadigms of Punjabi poetry inthe Seventies.

■ The four volumes of his poet-ry — Loh Katha, UdadiyanBazan Magar, SaddeySamiyaan Vich and KhilreHoye Warke — have beentranslated into many lan-guages. He was gunned downby Khalistan militants onMarch 23, 1988, at age 38.

POET OF RESISTANCE

DIALECTIC

MATERIALISTDarwin changed theway we look atthe world, saysSitaramYechury

>> PAGE 8

comment

WASHINGTON: Osama binLaden was cornered byUS forces in the Afghanmountains just monthsafter 9/11 and could havebeen killed or captured,but the military brassdecided not to attack theAl-Qaeda leader with themassive force at their dis-posal, a Senate report hasrevealed. P12

Tatas rejects £10 mnloan by British govtLONDON: The Tata Grouphas rejected a £10 millionBritish government loan,which was supposed to beused for developing anelectric version of oneof its existing car models, a media report said. PTI

PM concludes 8-daytour, heads for homePORT OF SPAIN: Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singhwound up his visit to Portof Spain, Trinidad andTobago, and left for homeafter concluding a two-nation tour that also covered the US. PTI

TODAY: 34 pages.

mustreadMedal a gift,claims Mogaman; heldSolving the mysterybehind the theft of theGeorge Cross from aHimachal widow, the statepolice have arrested aMoga resident and hopeto stall the upcoming auction in London. >> P4

Salil Mekaad■ salil.mekaad@hindustantimes.com

BANGALORE: About 55 workers ofthe Kaiga nuclear power plantin Karnataka suffered minorradiation after drinking from acontaminated water cooler inthe complex, the Nuclear PowerCorporation of India Limitedsaid on Sunday.

“Preliminary enquiry doesnot reveal any violation of operating procedure or radioac-tive releases or security breach,”said the corporation’s chairmanand managing director, S.K. Jain,adding: “It was an act of mis-chief.”

“Somebody deliberately puttritiated water vials into a drink-ing water cooler,” Atomic EnergyCommission chief Anil Kakodkartold PTI in Mumbai. “We areinvestigating who is behind themalevolent act.”

Tritiated water — a liquidform of tritium, which is a radioac-tive isotope of hydrogen — wasmixed in the water through thedrainage to the overflow line ofthe cooler, said sources refusing

to be named as an investiga-tion is underway. The Kaiga plantis in Uttara Kannada district,around 500 km from Bangalore.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

FBI team in India soon COOPERATION Will share details of Headley-Rana interrogation, says NSAVarghese K George ■ varghese.george@hindustantimes.com

PORT OF SPAIN: A Federal Bureauof Investigation (FBI) team fromthe United States will travel toIndia soon with “exhaustivedetails” on David Headley andTawahur Rana, US PresidentBarack Obama assured visitingPrime Minister ManmohanSingh during their meeting onNovember 24.

“The President assured thePM there will be no holding backinformation. Let’s see what weget,” National Security Adviser

M.K. Narayanan said.Headley and Rana, alleged

members of the Lashkar-e-Tayebba terror outfit suspect-ed of planning attacks on India

and Denmark, were arrestedby the FBI in early October.

India’s own investigationssince then have revealed thatHeadley and Rana visited Indiaa number of times in the twoyears before the 26/11 terrorattacks in Mumbai last year.Indian security agencies arekeen to find out if the two hadany role in the attacks.

India has not yet sought tointerrogate the duo, officialsources said. But the US hasoffered to share all that its interrogation has revealed sofar with India, they added.

Later, if Indian agencies feelthe need to interrogate the sus-pects, the matter will be takenup with US authorities, they said.

The sources also said Indiaand the US have agreed on ahigher level of cooperation incounter-terror measures. TheAmericans will share informa-tion on threats without reser-vations.

Indian diplomats were com-pletely satisfied with the USreponse to handling Pakistan’sinvolvement in providing safehavens to terrorists.

■ David Coleman Headley andTawahur Rana — suspectedLashkar-e-Tayyeba operatives —were allegedly plotting attacksin India and Denmark

■ They were arrested by the FBIand are currently in its custody

■ India has not yet sought tointerrogate the two and is waiting for the FBI to share their information

■ India and the US have alsoagreed on a higher level ofcooperation on terrorism

TERROR TRAIL

■ Tritium is a weakly radioactiveform of hydrogen

■ It is produced by the action ofcosmic rays from outer space,by atomic explosions and bynuclear power plants

■ The radiation emitted by tritium is a very low-energy formand is not penetrating

■ Like all radioactive substan-ces, tritium can cause cancer,genetic mutations or develop-ment defects in unborn children

WHAT IS TRITIUM?

( )The President has

assured the PM there will be no holding back

information. Let’s see what we get.

M . K . N A R AYA N A N

National Security Adviser

Mischief led to poisoning atKaiga N-plant

( )Preliminary probe does not reveal any violation of operating procedure

or radioactive releases orsecurity breach.

S . K . J A I N

NPCIL chairman

SO WHO IS GOING TO BE THEINDIAN OF THE YEAR FOR 2009?Join the hunt and vote for yourcandidate. This award is present-ed by CNN-IBN in partnershipwith Hindustan Times. Go toPage 10 for the first category ofnominees, politicians. Four morecategories will be announcedover the next few days — enter-tainment, business, sports andpublic service. All you have to dois go to the link and click or sendan SMS. This round will leave fivecandidates vying for the top slot.The Indian of the Year will beannounced on December 21.