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Sports: Lee ready for T20 World Cup Pg 17 US warns of terror in Delhi

The United States today issued a fresh warning to its citizens in India asking them to refrain from visiting congested areas of Delhi following “increased indications” of terrorists planning attacks.

“There are increased indications that terrorists are planning attacks in New Delhi. Terrorists have targeted places in the past where US citizens or Westerners are known to congregate or visit. -- (PTI)

Business: Airlines lost more than $1.7 b by Tuesday -- IATA Pg 12

priCE rs. 3.00 (air surcharge rs. 1.50) pages 18

Goa’s Heartbeat: Heidi’s surgeries not good for her Pg 14

I-T raIds on IPL franchIsees KKR, CSK, Deccan, Kings offices searched PTI NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

Income Tax officials today questioned IPL chief Lalit Modi as they swooped down on the offices of IPL franchisees Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Kings XI and also on companies handling the broadcast rights of the cash-rich cricket League.

The questioning of Modi, the second time in a week, by about half-a-dozen senior IT officials at Modi’s office in a plush central Mumbai hotel, related to IPL broadcasting rights and lasted for about an hour, an IT source said.

Earlier in the day, the IT officials conducted search and survey operations at the offices of Multi-Screen Media, formerly Sony Entertainment Television, International Management Group and World Sports Group (WSG), all of which are closely connected to the Lalit Modi-led

IPL. MSM is the telecasting agency of IPL, while WSG is its marketing arm. IMG is the organising agency of the IPL. Besides, a similar exercise was undertaken at the Bandra residence of Venu Nair, CEO of WSG. Income Tax authorities broadbased its probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the Indian Premier League surveying offices and looking into documents in tandem with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigating the routing of funds from tax havens into the three-year-old league. The survey operations went on till late in the night.

The searches signalled a tense build-up to the expected showdown between embattled IPL chief Lalit Modi who is under pressure to resign and his detractors in the BCCI ahead of the April 26 meeting of the IPL’s Governing Council.

Summons were issued to the BCCI by the Income Tax authorities to furnish complete details of all eight original IPL fran-

chisees.

Modi was also quizzed late last Thursday at his office in Worli and the exercise went on through the night.

The ED registered a case against IPL —the first – under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to inquire into unauthorised transfer of foreign funds, Directorate sources said.

In another development, leading industrial conglomerate Videocon, one of the unsuccessful participants in the latest IPL bidding, is understood to have submitted a copy of its bidding document to the IT department.

It is learnt that Gujarat-based Adani Group, which also made an unsuccessful bid for one of the two new IPL franchises that went under the hammer, has not yet submitted a copy of its bid document to the authorities.

The department was currently in the process of procuring and scrutinising the original bid documents (IPL-I) of eight original franchises, the source said, adding that today’s operations at the premises of some franchises related to that aspect.

In Kolkata, a seven-member team of Tax officials surveyed the offices of Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan’s KKR and Cricket Association of Bengal.

There were simultaneous searches on the offices of the Red Chillies Entertainment (Continued on page 10)

ROYAL VICTORY: Mumbai Indians players celebrate the key wicket of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Robin Uthappa during the first IPL-3 semifinal at the D Y Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.

Mumbai won the match by 35 runs. (Report on page 18)

Modi threatens to disclose stake-holding pattern PTI NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

Beleaguered IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi appears set for a fullscale confrontation with the BCCI questioning the legality of the Governing Council meeting on Monday and threatening to disclose the stake-holding pattern of the teams in the league.

Under pressure to quit, a defiant Modi told the BCCI that the proposed meeting to consider his future was “illegal” and

dump all politicians, save Goa: remo HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

Goan pop star Remo Fernandes has said the present lot of politicians should disappear from the scene if Goa is to be saved from further destruction and felt that Goans, irrespective of their backgrounds should come together to save the State.

Making a strong case for special status for Goa, the pop star cautioned that politicians would never allow special status to be bestowed on the State. “If there is special status, how will the politicians mint crores of rupees by selling land to the builders in Delhi and the mafia from Russia?. Secondly, the special status will not come because Goans are not united.

If there is an agitation in sup-

Extend visas of stranded tourists, Goa urges Centre HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

In wake of the air traffic to the European countries literally coming to a standstill, the Tourism Department has written to Union Home ministry to extend visas of few of the tourists.

Tourism director Swapnil Naik told Herald this evening that around 150 tourists met him and they were apprehensive that the police might arrest them for staying in the State with expired visa.

(Continued on page 10)

Every time I assure them to act tough against eco-sensitive zone violations, I forget it. Can't you remind me, Idiot?

port of special status, the politicians would divide the people”, he asserted.

Remo made a special comment by mentioning that politicians are quick to uphold the rights of citizens to settle anywhere in India. “Have you (Continued on page 10)

Pop Star Remo Fernandes briefing the media on his upcoming live concert.

that only he had the powers to call such a meeting. He wanted the Governing Council meeting to be convened on May 1.

However, the BCCI is going ahead with the Monday deliberations, saying that its Secretary was fully empowered to convene the meeting which may even oust him in his absence.

The BCCI also disapproved his plans to disclose the details of share-holding of the team owners on the ground that it

was a complex issue that needs to be considered in detail.

In a communication to BCCI President Shashank Manohar today, Modi said “till post 26th I do not propose to attend any unauthorised meeting”.

Disagreeing with him on convening of the Governing Council meeting on Monday, Modi said the BCCI secretary has never called a Council meeting since inception nor is he the convenor.

Drug peddler’s assets worth Rs 2 cr frozen HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

The Goa police has frozen all the assets of the alleged drug peddler Sadanand Chimulkar, who was arrested in January after he was found in possession of drugs in North Goa. The police action has come for the first time against a drug peddler in the State in which cash, properties and investments were frozen, police officials said.

“Cash, several properties and assets worth Rs 2 crore were frozen under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act (SAFEMA) because they were bought from proceeds of narcotics sale”, Superintendent of Police (ANC) Veenu Bansal told reporters here.

“The assets were obtained as proceeds from the narcotics

trade. This is the first time ever that we have taken steps to freeze assets of drug peddlers”, Bansal said.

The SP said that the move would serve as a deterrent to drug peddlers at large in the State.

He said the aim of the police is to send a message to anyone linked to the drugs trade that on arrest, money amassed from the drug trade over the years can be frozen.

“On conviction, the frozen assets are automatically seized by the Government“, Bansal said.

Sadanand Chimulkar alias Bhui, was arrested in January this year with drugs worth Rs 4 lakh.

According to police records Bhui had more than 21 known bank accounts, over a dozen life insurance policies and properties (Continued on page 10)

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NGOs justify opposition to govt projects HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

If the government thought that some groups or NGOs make unnecessary and unwarranted noises over “development”, it was mistaken. At a marathon meeting held in the Secretariat, Secretary to the Chief Minister who also doubles up as Secretary (Town & Country Planning, Forest, etc) Raajiv Yadhuvanshi and other bureaucrats were made to realise how well-studied the village groups are when they oppose projects cleared by the government departments like TCP, etc in the villages of Goa. Armed with necessary documents, circulars of the government, notification copies, committee reports, the Village Groups came even with power point presentations, exposing the government of permitting huge projects disturbing demography and social fabric. The village groups brought to the notice of the bureaucrats and Planners from TCP department how developers have been allowed “to make hay while the sun shines”.

It was also pointed out as to how the illegalities and violations had not been acted upon by the government despite several complaints.

Showing documentary proof, some groups displayed how the big talk of conservation of eco-sensitive zones is humbug as they pointed out to constructions allowed in such zones.

Among the bureaucrats present for the deliberations were Director of Panchayats Menino D’Souza, Chief Town Planner Morad Ahmad, Senior Town Planners R Putturaju and Vinod Kumar.

Conducted by Convenor of Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) Dr Sabina Martins, the proceedings had the participation of Ms Swati Kerkar (Kerim Nagrik Samitee, Keri-Ponda), Miguel Braganza (Joint Secretary, GBA), Annand Madgavkar (GBA Treasurer), Architect Hyacinth Pinto, Ms Judith Almeida, Dr Claude Alvares (Director, Goa Foundation), Orlando de Silva (Panch, Carmona), John Philip Pereira, (Voice of Villagers, Verna & WRD Task Force on Borewells), Ruben Sequeira, Carmen Miranda, (Loutolim), Xavier Fernandes (Raikarancho Zagrut Avaz), Durgadas Gaonkar (GAKUVED), Rama Lavu Velip, (GoaMAP, Colomb, Quepem), Prajal Sakhardande (GHAG), Anton Francis Fernandes (Mull Goenkarancho Songhottona, Quelossim), Domingo Pereira (Terekhol Bachao Union, Tiracol), Franky (SEZ Virodhi Manch),

amongst the 35 persons who attended the meet.

Apparently, impressed by the well-studied presentation quoting relevant laws and bylaws, Raghuvanshi assured to go through even case pointed out by the participants and get back on the issues raised soon.

Issues were raised under three sections: Regional Plan 2021, Amendment to TCP Act and gross violations.

Besides, the participants highlighted anomalies in the uniform building byelaws, rules on construction of farm houses, misuse of section 16 and 16A etc.

To a query, TCP officials replied that they would go by the plans submitted by the committees constituted on the resolution of gram sabhas.

Participants strongly objected to the committee headed by Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinho on TCP Act saying a non-politician neutral, knowledgeable person should head such a panel.

Besides, they demanded that there should be a new TCP Act incorporating 73rd and 74th amendment to the constitution.

Claude Alvares brought to the notice of the officers that 54 violations in the mining areas have been noted by the monitoring committee of Goa government.

Ray of hope in restoration of Assolna Lohia Chowk HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

At long last, there’s a ray of hope that the sanctity of the much-neglected Lohia Chowk at Assolna will be finally restored.

Perhaps for the first time in recent years, the District Magistrate, South G P Naik had a meeting with the concerned parties, including the PWD, freedom fighters and the panchayat on ways and means to restore the sanctity of the freedom fighter’s memorial at the Chowk.

That’s not all. After the meeting, the concerned parties decided to hold another round of meeting in the village on Monday and draw up a plan of action to clean up the mess before the Chowk is handed over to the Assolna

village Panchayat for upkeep and maintenance. Says the District Magistrate, South: “All the parties have discussed the neglected state of affairs of the Lohia Chowk at Wednesday ’s meeting. Another round of meeting will now be held on Monday how to go about the beautification and cleanliness work at the Chowk”.

Beautification work of the Assolna Lohia Chowk was taken up by local MLA and M i n i s t e r f o r Wa t e r R e s o u r c e s , F i l i p e N e r i Ro drigues after his first election a decade ago. The work, however, could not taken to the logical conclusion and the memorial erected at the Chow as part of the beautification plan, was desecrated day in and

out for want of maintenance.

It was a year ago that PWD Minister, Churchill Alemao and Water Resources Minister F il ip e N e r i Ro d r ig u e s re quested the district Magistrate to take suitable steps to restore the Lohia Chowk to its past glory. Sadly, the directives were confined to the papers for reasons best know to the district authorities.

The Chowk was named after the great nationalist leader Dr Ram Manohar Lohia visited Assolna village upon the invitation of Dr Juliao Menezes. Dr Lohia later addressed a huge public meeting in Margao on June 18 from where he gave a clarion call to Goans to liberate the motherland from the Portuguese regime.

More Obituaries on Page 10

Drive against alcohol: 40 motorists booked HERALD CORRESPONDENT PORVORIM, APRIL 21

Intensifying its drive against motorists driving under the influence of alcohol, the Mapusa Traffic Cell has booked 40 cases within the last 11 days.

“We had booked only 50 cases of drunken driving in 2009. While investigating recent accidents, it was observed that most of them had occurred due to rash and negligent driving by those under the influence of alcohol, said Traffic Inspector Udai Parab.

“Accidents at night along the coastal belt from Siquerim to Baga has become a regular feature and drivers those were found responsible for the accidents were tourists, both foreign and domestic.”

“They are not familiar with roads along the coastal belt and after consuming alcohol, they lose control of their vehicles and causes accidents. Hence, it was decided the traffic department to launch a drive against drunken driving,” PI Parab said.

Four traffic police officers have been deputed along the coastal belt alone during night time to book the offenders.

These officers carry with them an alcometer and offenders are arrested and put in the police lock up at Mapusa Police station. They are then produced before the Judicial Magistrate Firs Class next day,” said PI Parab.

Cops keep tab on Sri Lankan Tamils HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

The Goa Police is keeping a watch on Sri Lankan Tamils after the Union Home Ministry warned of infiltration by surviving cadres of the Tamil Tigers.

We have also been asked to keep an eye on fishing trawler hubs and source information on any possible LTTE sympathisers working in hotels, a police officer was quoted by a news agency on Wednesday.

The instructions from home ministry reached Goa government on Monday.

Private recognised unaided schools get fee structure it maintains.

It mentions, “No transfer of fund from Based on the recommendations of the one institution to another or society or committee constituted by the State Govtrust should be done except reasonable Primary Section ernment to examine grievances of parents assistance can be rendered if both the No of classes :4 over fee hike by private recognised un- No of students for class : Minimum 20, schools are under the management of aided schools, the Directorate of Educathe same society or trust but not for the Maximum 30 tion has recommended tuition fee of Rs Average no of students : 25 college.”

1,350 per month for the primary section The circular has called upon the NO OF TEACHERS and Rs 1,800 for the secondary section. schools to maintain transparency in all : 4+2=6 The Directorate in a circular, has asked (4 general, 2 special) records, accounts, registers and transthe headmasters/managements of recog- No of non-teaching staff actions and have directed them to table nised unaided schools to take note of (1 LDC, 1 peon, 1 helper) : 1+1+1=3 audited statements prepared by charthe decision of the Government and fol- Total annual expenditure on salary as per VIth Pay tered accountants by September 30 low the same strictly. The circular men- Commission is Rs 16,05,949 without fail. The statements should contions any violation on part of school Tuition fee recommended : Rs 1,350 per month tain balance sheet, profit and loss acmanagements will attract action as per count and receipt and payment account, Secondary Section the provision of Goa School Education it states.

No of classes V-X :6 Act and Rules.

It has asked the schools to keep heir No of students per class : 44 The fee recommendation has been funds deposited in a national or schedworked out on the basis of a formula Average no of students : 30 uled or a cooperative bank or any post TEACHING STAFF (see box) that has taken into consideraoffice in the name of the school. “Funds tion the number of classes, students, Headmaster collected for specific purposes like sports, :1 teachers, non-teaching staff, etc.

Graduate teachers :6 co-curricular activities, examination, etc., The fee structure has been approved Undergraduate teachers : 3 in whatever name called should be solely Counselor (graduate scale) : 1 by the government, the circular said. spent for the exclusive benefit of the The circular permits 10 per cent in- Coordinator (graduate scale) : 1 students,” it observed. crease in tuition fees every year to meet FOR THE POOR: It has called upon NON-TEACHING STAFF additional expenditure on salary incre- UDC the schools to make 25 per cent provision :1 ment, rise in DA, TA, bonus, pensions LDC for students from the weaker sections :1 and other service benefits after taking Librarian-cum-LDC and disadvantaged groups of the society :1 the parents into confidence. as per the Right of Children to Free and Peons : 2 It states further, “Every fee, contribu- Lab Assistant Compulsory Education Act, 2009. The :1 tion or other charges collected from any Lab Atendent amount towards the education of these :1 student shall be collected by the school Total annual expenditure on salary as per VIth Pay sections will be reimbursed by the Govin its own name and a proper receipt Commission Rs 38,90,117 ernment as per Clause 12 (2) of the Act, should be issued for every collection.” it mentioned.

Tuition fee recommended: 1,800 per month ACCOUNTS: It warns the schools The committee constituted by the against profiting attitudes. “Every recogGovernment gave the recommendations nised unaided school covered by the Goa School Education Act, after hearing members of private unaided school managements, 1984 shall maintain the accounts on the principles of accounting unaided school parents associations, aggrieved parents and other applicable to non-business organisation/not-for-profit organisation,” educationists.

HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

FORMULA FOR CALCULATION OF FEE STRUCTURE

Religious structures’ demolition not likely to pose major problem in South HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

Even as the issue of demolition of religious structures may give sleepless nights to the State government, the South Goa district administration says the sensitive issue may not pose any major problem in the district, barring a couple of cases.

If the District Magistrate, South is to be believed, the Committee constituted to go through the structures case by case has already completed the exercise as far as the talukas of Quepem and Canacona are concerned. “In Quepem, there are a total of seven religious structures, which have been identified as falling in government acquired land or public places.

Of which, four can be regularised, while three small structures can be razed down. It is now for the government to take a decision”, Naik said.

Similarly, he said that the Com-

mittee has almost completed the exercise in Canacona taluka, but has now been decided to give the parties an opportunity to present their case before the panel before a final decision.

“In Quepem, there are a total of seven religious structures, which have been identified as falling in government acquired land or public places. Of which, four can be regularised, while three small structures can be razed down. It is now for the government to take a decision.”

The District Magistrate and other members of the Committee will proceed to Sanguem taluka later this week to personally inspect the structures

identified by the PWD as falling within the road widening areas or on government land.

A lot many religious structures have been identified by the PWD as falling on government land in Sanguem taluka and the Committee is expected to take a decision on their fate after personally inspecting the structures.

“The Committee will find out whether any structure can be relocated to another place or can be regularised af ter following the due process of law. A comprehensive report will be submitted to the government for an appropriate decision on the matter. But, I do not foresee any problem vis-à-vis the religious structures in the South Goa district”, Naik said, adding the Committee would go into the issue of religious structures in Salcete and Mormugao talukas in the last phase.

Verna communidade to seek probe into rubble extraction HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

The newly-appointed Managing Committee of the Verna Communidade has decided to approach the Administrator of Communidades, South and the Verna police station to investigate into the alleged offense of trespass, theft and use of explosives to extract rubble stone from the Communidade property at Poriebhatt Hills, Verna.

Members of the Managing Committee comprising of President Savio Correia, Attorney Alvaro Abranches, treasurer Joseph Guias and Escrivao Michael Luis along with complainant Franky Monteiro had carried out a surprise inspection on April 20 of properties belonging to the Communidade at Poriebhatt.

During the inspection, it was found that numerous labourers were carrying out the activities

of rubble extraction and loading the same into 15 vehicles present at the time of inspection.

Monteiro said upon finding the members of the managing committee, the labourers and the vehicles fled from the scene and the inspection later revealed that that rubble stones were being illegally excavated with the alleged use of explosives, leaving the rocky hills destroyed

and devastated.

As many as 11 hutments were seen erected in the vicinity on the Communidade land apparently to house the migrant labouers. He alleged that this activity has been going on at the site for the past many months with full knowledge of the Administrator of Communidades, south and the Verna police.

I-T searches continue HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

Income Tax sleuths continued search operations in Goa and a star-hotel and two businessmen were reportedly searched in the last two days.

I-T searches splashed the newspapers last week when a member of the now-beleaguered G7 and his business links came under the scanner. Sources

said that they were follow-up searches.

On Wednesday, I-T sleuths visited offices of a hotel and also two businessmen one of whom is a close relation of state’s top politician.

Over the last two months, several businessmen – small and big - who are also into politics or partners of politicians were raided.

Tiger killing: Home Guard, father in accused list HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

A State Home Guard and his father are figuring in the list of person accused to be involved in tiger killing at Keri.

Suryakant Majik, a home guard and his father Ganesh Majik, were booked by the department in a year old investigation in the tiger killing case.

Apart from these two, Nagesh Majik, Ankush Majik and Bhiva Gawas have also been chargesheeted in this case.

The case under Arms Act for using unlicenced weapon for killing the animal, is also registered against the accused by forest department who had managed to seize only one out of two guns involved in the crime.

Talking to reporters, deputy conservator of forest North G T Kumar said that the chargesheet has named 15 witnesses including environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar in this case.

“All these witnesses will be tried later this month in the local court,” he added.

The chargesheet filed before Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Valpoi on April 15 has absolved Kerkar from the charges, who was earlier booked as abettor.

Kumar told that inorder to confirm that the animal remains found at the sit where that of tiger, the forensic report by Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been attached along with the chargesheet.

“Of the seven samples that were sent for the forensic test, the sample of hair matched during the test,” he confirmed.

Kumar said that there as were no evidences with us, the entire investigation began just by depending on the photograph of the tiger carcass, which was published in the newspaper on April 13, last year.

Though the forest department officials found out that a local youth had clicked the picture of the killed tiger on his mobile, the department failed to get through the original mobile phone.

CD on pornographic films: businessman sentenced HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

Holding him guilty of providing a CD containing pornographic films to a minor girl, the Children’s Court has sentenced a 42-year-old businessman from Pale and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh. In case, he defaults, the accused will have to undergo one month’s simple imprisonment.

The Court ordered that the fine amount be paid to the victim by way of compensation when she attains the age of 18.

T h e C h i l d re n C o u r t o n Wednesday sentenced Manohar Gawandalkar under section 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act to un-

dergo imprisonment however it was set-off against his detention when the complaint came to be filed against him in 2006.

The Court however took lenient view as his counsel Arun Braz D’Sa produced a certificate from Apollo Victor Hospital stating that the accused has undergone kidney transplant as well as coronary angiography. And requested the Court to take lenient view as accused is continuously on medication.

The complaint against the accused was filed by mother of two girls who were aged ten and eleven ten at the time of the incident. In her complaint filed at Women’s Police

Station, Panjim, she stated that accused came to her house on July 18, 2007 and met her younger daughter and gave her one CD. He told her to watch it on the computer but not to tell her parents about the CD. The accused also made the sign by touching his right hand finger on the nose showing that the CD contains obscene scenes, she said in her complaint.

The victim viewed the CD along with her elder sister on the computer but informed their mother when found that it contained dirty films.

They removed it and handed over to their mother revealing

that it was given by the accused.

The complaint was filed at Bicholim Police Station which had warned the accused not to interfere with their family members. However, according to the complainant, the accused allegedly started harassing the family by making phone calls using abusive language.

The Complainant then lodged a complaint at Women Police Station and also handed over the CD. The defence counsel submitted that a false complaint was made against the accused as complainant had taken a loan from him. He also pointed out that CD remained with com-

plainant and it was not handed over to the police at initial stage when the first report was lodged.

However, Court held that there was no evidence that complainant had taken loan from the accused.

As regards to allegation of threat and abuses levelled by the complaint, the Court felt that there was no sufficient evidence to prove the charges and did not press the charges.

The accused was convicted under Goa Children’s Court as prosecution succeeded in proving that CD contained obscene scenes that was given to a minor.

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With monsoons nearing, Joaquim for urgent inspection of Sonsodo HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

With the monsoons fast approaching and the actual work hasn’t yet commenced at Sonsodo, Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao has called for an urgent inspection of the dumping site for a first hand information on the status at the site.

Alemao is believed to have also spoken to the Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat to fix the date and time for the proposed inspection of the waste dumping site.

The Urban Development Minister on Wednesday had a meeting with the Margao Municipal Chairperson Savio Coutinho and Chief Officer Y B Tawde and discussed the burning issue of Son-

File photo of Sonsodo site.

sodo.

The Minister made it clear to the Margao Municipal council

that all measures ought to be taken at the dumping site before the onset of monsoons.

Transport Dept for innovative idea of greeting visitors HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

From Khaki clad officers to soft spoken guys, the Transport Department intends to change the way they greet visitors in their offices.

Director of Transport Venancio Furtado has asked its officers in khaki (RTO officers) to take a back seat on the counters in RTO offices as people hesitate to seek any information from them.

“Inorder to give relief to general public, we have asked the

RTO officers not to sit in the front rows of counter in offices,” Furtado said.

He said that people hesitate to approach officers in Khaki.

“This can say on my personal experience,” he added.

Director said that there is no enough staff with the department as such RTO officers prefer to sit at the main counter to deal with people.

“RTO officers are must while making any deals. We can’t ask them not to sit in the offices but we can make them seat be-

hind,” Furtado said.

He said that as most of the people approaches office mostly for availing licenses, they think that if they don’t behave properly with the man in khaki, then he will fail them in driving test.

“I came to know from people about such fear,” Furtado said.

The department is trying to take services of pre employment training staff to deal with public at the counters. Department has also asked for more staff from government.

The MMC Chairperson explained to the Minister that the site has been handed over to Fomento to carry out the work of segregation and screening of waste at the dumping yard.

Sources in the know said the site inspection of Sonsodo may take place within a day or two depending on the availability of the Chief Minister.

Fomento, which has already take possession of the Sonsodo dumping site, has already submitted a detailed bar chart on the schedule of work they intend to take up at the site, including the capping of the entire dumping site with Tarpaulin to prevent leachate from flowing down into the adjoining storm water nullah.

An unique creation of the nature, a banana tree at Maria Rita Lilafer Gomes’ backyard at Panzorcone, Cuncolim, gets bunch of bananas at middle of stem of banana tree.

The Salcete Scheduled Tribes Association has urged the census authorities to accurately include the ST communities including Gawda, Kunbi and Velips in the ongoing population census.

In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Collector, Margao, Association President Luis Alex Cardozo said the census enumerators o u g h t t o b e p ro p e r l y i n structed not to record the ST communities in the general category as that would only mete out injustice to these communities.

He said the enumerators s h o u l d s u o m o t o i n q u i re whether the people belong to the Gawda, Kunbi and Velip communities and record the exact community in the proper column.

Cardozo made the request after he came across enumer-

Colva urges for 24-hr health centre HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

A delegation comprising of Colva Panchayat members and citizens called on the Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat and requested for the setting up of a 24-hour modern health centre at Colva under the NRI Commissioner scheme.

The delegation impressed on the Chief Minister the need to set up the round-the-clock health facility in Colva in the absence of any medical practitioner in the village after sun set.

The Committee members requested the Chief Minister to acquire the vacant land admeasuring 600 square meters from the Tourism department next to the existing Power department office.

The Chief Minister was further requested to obtain the necessary clearance for the project from the Health Minister on priority basis.

The Committee was constituted at the last gram sabha meeting to pursue the setting up of the health centre under NRI Commissioner scheme (De-

velopment of your own village) initiated by the Colva United Centre, Kuwait.

A member of the Colva United Centre, Alexander Fernandes said the Chief Minister has evinced keen interest in the project and has assured to put the project in operation.

Members of the five member committee comprises of Sarpanch Angela Borges, Alexander Fernandes, representing Colva United Centre, Kuwait, Jose Fernandes (Panch), Jovel Cardoz and Menino Fernandes.

CALANGUTE (HC): Two Italians and two Nigerians were arrested in separate incidents on Wednesday, on charges of overstaying in the country without valid documents.

While Calangute police arrested two Nigerians, Joseph Nwoye Eugene (38) and Gabriel Igbo (38) at Porba Vaddo, Calangute, Anjuna police arrested the Italians, Andrea (65) and Daniel Achensa (36). The police are investigating the two cases.

ators who hardly bothered to inquire whether a particular household owners actually belongs to the ST community or not. He raised apprehensions that grave injustice will be done to the ST communities if they are not included in the population census in the proper column.

“The enumerators should not include these communities in the general category or even in the OBC category. This will only cause irreparable loss to the cause of the ST movement and would deny the fruits of their long drawn struggle”, he said.

Sesa Goa on Wednesday discarded as ‘thus far a rumour’, the internationally reported ban by China on low grade ore.

News broke out late on April 8 that China has banned traders from importing iron ore below 60% Fe. Goa being a predominantly low grade iron ore source with China alone buying 95 percent of the total exports from here, the news of the ban has created uncertainty over the future of the industry in Goa. “We have an office in China, yet we have not come across any communication of such a ban,” claimed P K Mukherjee, managing director, Sesa Goa Ltd. He went on to add that since April 9, Sesa Goa has continued to do business in the spot market and the buyers included Chinese traders as well. “So far, Sesa's business has not been impacted with the reported ban,” said

Mukherjee.

Sesa the largest producer and exporter of ore from Goa too depends heavily on the China market. This season itself Sesa Goa has produced 22 million tonnes and sold 20.5 million tonnes of 85 per cent went to China alone. Traders contributed to 25% of Sesa sales.

Mukherjee takes solace in the fact that development in China cannot stop and for development to take place, China would need to continue importing ore.

“Mining is a resource based busi-

Anjuna police arrested four persons on charges of harassing tourists at Anjuna beach and at the flea market in the village.

Police have rounded up Riyaz Ali (34) from UP, Sana (45), Gaganna Krishnanath and Yakamma Krishnanath, all from AP, under Section 34 of IPC. PSIs Anant Gaonkar and Vidyesh Pilgaonkar are investigating the case.

Meanwhile, Sadashiv Virnodkar (35) of Bairo Alto, Assagao, has been reported missing since April 3.

Family members have lodged a missing complaint stating that Virnodkar is mentally unsound and Anjuna Police is investigating the case.

HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

In an interesting development, ex-Taleigao MLA Somnath Zuwarkar has sought to withdraw his election petition against Education Minister Babush Monserrate who had contested on UGDP ticket from Taleigao constituency in 2007.

Zuwarkar had challenged Monserrate’s election alleging that his nomination papers were improperly accepted and therefore asked for his election to be declared null and void.

It was his case that although Monserrate had tendered his resignation on May 15, 2007 at 2.30 p.m. from the INC (Congress) party, he

HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

The Margao police appears groping in the dark over the question of nabbing the “doctor” who robbed a woman of her gold chain at Hospicio, even as the South Goa District Collector has sought a report from the hospital authorities on the incident.

In the meantime, the Hospicio administration has also initiated an internal inquiry into the sordid episode to ascertain any lapse from any quarter.

Margao PI Santosh Desai has said that police investigations has so far failed to obtain any vital clues vis-à-vis the unknown person involved in the crime.

PI Desai on Wednesday contacted GMC authorities to find out the modus operandi of the unknown person, who had made his presence felt in the hospital sometime back. “We are trying to ascertain the modus operandi of the miscreant.

The police will draw up a sketch of the miscreant to help nab him in the case”, PI Desai said.

Meanwhile, the incident has come as a big shock to the Hospicio authorities as the incident has come amidst the presence of a huge army of security personnel within the hospital premises.

Hospicio medical superintendent, Dr Ruando De Sa on Wednesday took stock of the situation arising out of yesterday’s incident. He had a meeting with various officials, including the representative of the security agency.

When contacted, Dr De Sa said the Margao police are investigating into the incident, adding that the Hospicio authorities will also conduct an internal probe about any lapse that led to the unfortunate incident.

The victim woman, Savita Velip was relieved of her gold ornaments by an unknown who posed as a doctor. As per Savita’s statement, the doctor called her to an adjoining room and after asking the sister to get some papers, relieved her mangalsutra after administering her an injection on her neck.

The incident has raised questions on the presence of security personnel within the hospital

HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

Continuing its offensive against the drug trafficking in the State, the Goa Police Anti-Narcotics Cell on Wednesday arrested two persons and seized contrabands worth Rs 1.07 lakh, in a late night raid yesterday, at Arambol.

Officials in the Anti Narcotics Cell told Herald that the raid was conducted after receiving specific information yesterday between 11 pm and 1.30 am.

Two persons namely – Antomarian (24) son of Felix D’Souza, resident of Girkarwaddo Arambol and Biplab Sarkar (34), son of Shachindra Sarkar, and resident of Bombay Bar and Restaurant Kapem, Arambol, were arrested in the raid near Bombay bar and Restaurant, at Arambol.

The ANC found the duo in possession of 520 gms charas (worth Rs 52000) and 550 gms charas (worth 55000) respectively.

The officials said the duo had come to deliver the consignment to a customer.

The ANC had kept surveillance on the two for some time and wanted to arrest them red handed, officials said.

In this connection an offence has been registered under the NDPS Act at ANC police station.

PSI Shitakant Nayak is investigating the case under the supervision of SP ANC Veenu Bansal and DySP Naresh Mhamal.

ness. By its very definition it implies depletion of natural resources for better quality of life. There was a time when nobody used to buy below 63% Fe. But today even 50% Fe sells. Places like Australia, traditionally rich in high grade ore, are today finding it increasingly difficult to supply high grade ore. There is news floating around that China will ban import of ore from the 3 big supplying countries so that they can control rocketing prices. If they do that, how will their steel industry survive? And, how will their development happen? It does not add up," he reasoned.

Sesa Goa, post the acquisition of the Dempo mines has an estimated reserve of about 353 million tones. “It is difficult to come to a finite number. We have started exploring existing mines on a more scientific basis and the results have been positive,” said Mukherjee.

Zuwarkar seeks withdrawal of election plea against Babush continued to be the member of the legislative assembly till his resignation was accepted by the speaker at 3.30 pm.

Therefore, according to him Monserrate could not file his nomination as a member of UGDP as one person could not be set up as a candidate for election by two different recognised political parties.

H o w e v e r, h e h a s n o w moved an application through his counsel Ryan Menezes for withdrawal of the petition.

The High Court has clarified that petitioner will not able to withdraw the petition so easily and declaration to the effect has to be made in

Hospicio theft: cops yet to nab ‘doctor’

2 held, contrabands seized at Arambol

Sesa discards China ore-ban as rumour HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, APRIL 21

Italians, Nigerians held for overstay

Salcete ST panel urges for accurate population census HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

4 held for harassing tourists at Anjuna

premises and how they failed to detect the unknown “doctor” from straying into the hospital to commit the crime.

Incidentally, Hospicio security personnel had come under fire on umpteen times from members of the public for their rude attitude towards the patients and relatives, but were apparently let free by the authorities without any action.

the official gazette allowing any other eligible petitioner to step in if he wishes so.

Here, the eligible petitioner is one who contested 2007 election from Taleigao constituency against Monserrate.

On the other hand, the Court while hearing this petition in March, the Court had imposed cost of Rs 5000 on Monserrate as his counsel had sought adjournment. The respondent was directed to deposit the m o n e y i n t h e c o u r t re g istr y.

Incidentally, reports in political circles have it that Zuwarkar now has a cordial relation with Monserrate.

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short takes Restricted water to Bardez

PANJIM (HND): There will be restricted water supply to entire Bardez taluka on April 22, 23 and 24, due to less supply of treated water from Podocem plant and less raw water from Tillari Irrigation canal. Public is requested to bear the inconvenience caused.

Flower making course held

SANGUEM (HC): Sanguem Jaycees in association with the Centre of Human Resource Engineering and Sustainable Transfermission, Panjim, recently conducted a month-long certificate course in flower making at Government Pre Primary School, Sanguem.

At the concluding function that was held to distribute the certificates to the participating women, Goa State Jaycees President Milind Dessai was the chief guest.

Speaking at the function, Dessai appreciated the efforts put forth by Sanguem Jaycees and the Centre of Human Resource Engineering and Sustainable Transfermission in organising the month-long certificate course in the rural village, which Dessai claimed will go a long way in helping the participants earn revenue from the learning.

Dessai also complimented the large number of women who participated in the camp and urged the participants to utilise the resources to the best of their capabilities and use their talents for better formation of the society.

In his brief address, CREST President Amit Korgaonkar appraised the locals of various schemes devised by the government for the benefit of rural women and urged the locals to take maximum benefits of it.

Prominent among those who attended the programme were Goa State Jaycees Secretary Bupesh Kavlekar, Paresh Verlekar, Dattaprasad Nayak, Uma Shantaram Naik Tari and Sudesh Yeragi.

A total number of 40 women participated in the programme.

Earlier, Sudesh Yeragi welcomed the gathering, while Dattaprasad Nasnodkar proposed the vote of thanks.

CM urges technical institutes to focus on research-oriented works HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat asked technical institutes to concentrate on research-oriented works to accomplish the vision of making India a super power in the world by 2020.

“The current century is going to be of technocrats and therefore the role of technical and other allied institutions is vital and crucial,” he opined.

Kamat was speaking after inaugurating a renovated boys hostel-IV and a new building for information technology department at Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi.

Kamat said that his government has accorded topmost priority for creating adequate infrastructure in Goa Engineering College and added that during the last three to four

Ferry services suspended HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

The ferry service at KiranpaniAronda route has been suspended with effect from April 19 until further orders to carry out urgent under water repairs of ferryboat Zuari. Public is kindly requested to take note.

Meanwhile, the ferry service at Assolna-Cavelossim route has been suspended from April 21 in order to replace the ferryboat 'Brittona'.

Dearness relief to pensioners HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Chicalim Sarpanch Raul D’Costa greets Dy Sarpanch Mary Mascarenhas on her birthday.

Facru elected president

PANJIM (HND): Facru V Panjikar was elected President of the Committee of Ex-Students of Mae de Deus High School, Corjuem at a meeting held recently. Other members of the committee are as follows: Nandakishor J Polle, vice-president; Julius Pereira, secretary; Anthony Fernandes, joint secretary; Carol D’Souza, treasurer; Narahari R Polle, joint treasurer; Margaret Monteiro and Minguel Fernandes both executive members.

Meanwhile, as part of the preparations for the golden jubilee celebrations of their school, the ex-students will organise a meeting on April 25 at 5 pm in the school campus. The meeting will be followed by a get together for the ex-students along with their spouses followed by dinner.

Summer camp inaugurated

MAYEM (HC): The summer camp organized by Ideal High School, Pilgao-Bicholim, was inaugurated in the school premises on Monday.

The camp, which will continue till May 1, will be open from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm on all days except Sundays and subjects like painting, drawing, Collage painting, handicrafts and paper craft, harmonium, tabla, singing, national integration singing, dance, folk art, etc, will be taught on the occasion.

Training on special subjects like solar wood board, cloth and flower making, silver board, Science-based activities, theater workshop will also be imparted during the camp. The training will be imparted by Ashwini Mandrekar, Vijaykumar Verekar and Deepak Walve.

The participants will be awarded certificates during the valedictory function. Interested students between 6 and 16 years are requested to enroll their names with Kashinath Mayekar at Ideal High School, Pilgao.

Preetika bags gold medal

VASCO (HR): Preetika Kamat, a Std 5 student of St Therese’s High School, secured a gold medal in English subject at the International Assessment for Indian schools competition held by University of South Wales in association with Macmillan Publishers.

Besides her gold medal in English, Kamat also secured a distinction in science and mathematics.

She is the daughter of Chartered Accountant Jyotendra Kamat and Dr Gloria D’ Silva.

Summer camp held

PANJIM (HND): As a part of the college extension activities, a six-day summer camp was organized by the Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Sanquelim, for the students of the neighbouring schools of Sanquelim.

The camp was inaugurated by the Principal Dr B A Gomes.

Sessions were conducted on various topics including public speaking and confidence-building by Associate Professor in English Sharat Jamkhandi; image editing by Associate Professor in Chemistry Dr Joydeep Bhattacharjee; group singing by Anil Samant, teacher from Mapusa Saraswat Higher Secondary School; folk culture by Dilip Dhargalkar, teacher of St Xavier’s Higher Secondary School-Mapusa; quiz by Soumya Suvarna, lecturer, Government College-Sanquelim; oral hygiene and dental checkup by Dr Saroj Desai, dentist, Sanquelim; bonsai by Devdas Kotkar, college ex-student and teacher from Valpoi Government Higher Secondary School; snake show by Amrut Singh from Bicholim; clay modeling by the College Associate Professor Dr K R Badigar and environmental issues by Suman Gad, college lecturer.

At the Valedictory function, camp participants Simran Desai and Ruchi Kamat of St John of the Cross High School, Sanquelim and Shivani Naik of Progress High School, Sanquelim spoke about their varied experiences at the camp. Principal of the College Dr B A Gomes distributed the certificates to all the participants and thanked the College Summer Camp Committee members for the successful organisation of the camp.

The government has sanctioned dearness relief to government pensioners/family pensioners in view of rise in the cost of living at the rate of 35% from January 1, 2010 based on grant of dearness relief to central government pensioners and pensioners of all India services.

years, the standard of education in GEC has improved substantially due to increase in infrastructure, signing of MOU with IIT, Mumbai and dedicated services rendered by teaching faculty.

Assuring all support for further improvement at GEC, Kamat said that since Goa will enter into Golden Jubilee year of its liberation it has constituted a Golden Jubilee development council headed by eminent scientist Dr Mashelkar to prepare a vision document for the development of Goa by 2050.

Kamat also said that the interest of Goan students will be protected to reserve them seats in reputed institutions like National Institute of Technology (NIT) proposed to be set up in Goa. He hoped that

the students come out from Goa Engineering College will become patriotic citizens.

Education Minister Atanasio Monseratte said that he is endeavouring to improve the quality of education and provide requisite infrastructure in educational institutions, including professional colleges.

He said that the annual budgetary allocation for GEC is Rs 22 crore. “This premier institute is slowly transforming into a centre of excellence,” he informed and assured to extend support to the proposals of the college.

Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar expressed happiness over the construction of an independent building for IT department, which was established in 2001. He also felt the need to have a small stadium

for the benefit of GEC students.

Secretary for Technical Education Dr Mudassir advised the students to put in hard efforts and concentrate on their studies to bring laurels to the institute.

IIT-Mumbai Director and Chairman of Governing Council of Goa Engineering College Prof Devang Khakhar said that the facilities and infrastructure provided at GEC by the government will help to take it to the path of excellence. He said in the past GEC was ranked third in the country and that more efforts are needed to make it as best engineering college in the country.

Earlier GEC Principal Vivek Kamat welcomed and Prof Nilesh Faldesai proposed the vote of thanks.

Vasco railway station bags GM’s efficiency shield HERALD REPORTER VASCO, APRIL 20

Vasco Railway Station (VRS) was recently awarded with GM’s Efficiency Shield as the ‘Best Maintained Major Station’ among three divisions of South West Railway (SWR) at a ceremony at Hubli.

Vasco Railway station competed with major stations like Bangalore, Mysore, Bellary, Hubli and Belgaum and other major stations. Vasco railway station scored maximum points to win the shield for financial year 2009-10.

Last year, it was awarded to Bellary station, however, VRS scored points in overall aspect that were considered to award the shield by jury like station cleanliness, safety and security norms, passengers amenities, departure and arrival timings, modern amenities, etc.

Station Manager P C Chacko received the award from SWR General Manager Kuldeep Chaturvedi on behalf of VRS.

Vasco Railway Station Manager P C Chacko receives ‘Best Maintained Major Station’ award from SWR General Manager Kuldeep Chaturvedi.

Speaking to Herald, Chacko congratulated VRS staff for winning the award.

“Without contribution from officials, staff and workers of VRS winning such a prestigiou award by overpowering major stations among the three divisions would not have been possible,” said Chacko.

He further said for the first time, VRS has been awarded

with such an award and he assured that in the future, similar standard would be maintained to ensure better facilities for the passengers. Besides, Chacko was also awarded for his meritorious service for Indian Railways. He was earlier awarded with the Chief Operations Manager Award in 2002 and Divisional Railway Managers Award in 2007.

Bicholim music school excels

enter Limca Book of Records and it took him 12 years to create this unique record. His first drama ‘Vell’ was released in 1996 and the 25th Tiatr ‘Nattok’ was released in UK and Germany in 2008 and then it was shown throughout Goa. He is the first Tiatrist to receive the first ‘Yuva Srujan Puraskar’ Award by Art and Culture, Government of Goa, for his immense contribution in the Tiatr field.

Recently, Multidimension AIDS Awareness Social Trust (MAAST) from Margao, presented him Award of Appreciation for his Tiatr ‘Kuttumb’, which conveys a strong message on AIDS and ill effects of

Swar Sangeet Music School, Ladfe-Bicholim, excelled with cent percent results in the recently conducted All India Gandharv examination.

The students who excelled in the examination under the guidance of their teacher Krishna Chari included Swapnesha Dhuri, Pranay Malik, Mukund Malik, Rohit Naik, Saili Malik, Siddharth Malik, Laxman Chari and Gauri Mopkar.

Education on musical instruments like harmonium, tabla and pakwaz is being imparted in the school, besides classical singing, bhajan, etc.

Those interested are requested to contact school authorities and enroll their names.

John D'Silva, a well-known writer, director, actor and one of the topmost comedian of Konkani stage entered the Limca Book of Records of 2010 for writing, directing and producing 25 Konkani Tiatrs with their titles having a double alphabet in it.

They are, Vell, Dennem, Kolle, Ekvott, Vatt, Umannem, Sokallim, Menn, Avessor, Bott, Somzonni, Magnnem, Bovall, Kirnnnam, Porddo, Suknnim, Ugddas, Konn?, Vann, Vaitt, Jinn, Dhull, Xidkavnni, Voddem and Nattok.

In the history of Konkani Tiatr, John is the first Tiatrist to

alcohol. He is rated as one of the best writer of the Konkani stage as his dramas are always written with thought provoking script with logical dialogues, powerful message and moral.

In the year 1996, ‘Vell’ and in 1998, ‘Vatt’ were shown in Gulf countries i.e Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Muscat and Dubai. In 2006, ‘Jinn’ and ‘Vaitt’ were staged in Dubai. With his Tiatr troupe, he has travelled to Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, London (UK), Canada and Germany. To his credit, he is having 5 super hit comedy VCD films namely Duddvamkar, Fugddi, Jinn, Lofdde and Gondoll.

preparation for Ghodeanchi Zatra underway at poinguinim

HERALD CORRESPONDENT MAYEM, APRIL 21

Kolkata native rescued from drowning

HERALD CORRESPONENT CANACONA, APRIL 21

HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, APRIL 21

Preparations have begun for the unique Poinguinchi ‘Ghodeanchi Zatra’, a festival celebrated after every three years at Shri Betal Devalaya, Mahalwada-Poinguinim.

This year, it will begin from May 26 with performances of different rituals. The main part of these celebrations will be held on June 5, where ‘Ghode’ in human form are tied to a horizontal wooden bar and placed over two poles of 54feet tall, occasionally rotating them three times at that height from the ground.

However, the remaining customary practices go up to June 13.

Interestingly, the main celebrations depend on the existence of these two wooden poles, having suitable natural provision to safely hold the horizontal wooden bar at its top-end and that height.

With the passage of time and different difficulties including government hassles, devotees reportedly finds at odds to keep pace and still keep alive the age-old practices, started by their ancestors.

The tradition is such that these wooden poles (of locally called Khodgus tree) obtained easily in earlier times, but now

A 18-year-old native of Kolkota was rescued from drowning by Drishti Surf Life team at Calangute beach on Tuesday.

According to Drishti report, Guddu Kuraishi, who did not know to swim, had gone for a dip in water when he was pulled by underwater currents.

Kuraishi panicked and called for help. SLSG lifeguard Nagesh Dholiye saw Kuraishi struggling and rushed to his rescue and brought him to the shores.

The locally called Khadgus tree being cut at Khola-Canacona.

Photo by Kathy Pereira

had to be arranged with great difficulties lasts for approximately 10 years serving for, at the most three zatras, and then devotees had to be on a lookout to find fresh ones.

This year, sources informed that one of the two poles is destroyed, while devotees were on lookout for a new one, and accordingly ran from pillar to posts in local and neighbouring forests.

Since, the tree has to be cut ceremoniously, only private forests are targeted to avoid various hassles that go if it is decided to obtain it from government forests.

Sources informed Herald that devotees finally succeeded in finding the khadgus tree of

Dance tribute to MJ

Teen dance and music prodigy, Prince Neil, practising for the show.

PANJIM: Pioneer Western Dance Academy of Vasco, ‘Simply Ballroom’ will be presenting ‘Remembering Michael Jackson’ on April 22 from 6 p.m. at the MPT Sayantara Auditorium, Sada, Vasco-Da-Gama.

The chief guest for the show will be Dy Speaker and Cortalim MLA Mauvin Godinho while the guest of honours will be Praveen Agarwal, IRS – Chairman MPT and Milind Naik, MLA Mormugao constituency.

The highlights of the show will be teen dance and music prodigy Prince Neil - Goa’s youngest drummer Mozwin; singing sensation Wayne and dance performances by talented dancers of Vasco.

The anchors for the show are Frankie Fernandes and Dr Eliza Fernandes. The show is the brainchild of Mick and Daisey Fernandes. Donation passes are available at Dom Pedro Vasco; Kitchenmate, Sada and at the venue. Part of the proceeds will be going for charity, says a press release here.

Those interested in further details are requested to contact Mick on 9822150348 or Daisey on 9923323611.

M Boyer to be remembered

John D’Silva enters Limca book of records HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

upCoMInG eVents

the size and shape in Khola and eventually completed forest department’s formalities.

Accordingly, the tree was cut a few days ago and taken to Welwada-Poinguinim in special transportation for meeting up with the customs that goes with the zatra celebrations.

Sources further informed that one of the other unique customs of the zatra is during the entire period of Ghodeanchi-Zatra celebrations (from May 26 to June 13) no marriages, thread ceremony or any other such related functions takes place in the twin villages of Loliem and Poinguinim, and this practice is still kept alive by present generation also.

power shutdown APRiL 22 KUMBARJUA: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Gaudalim Kumbarjua Village.

DHARBANDORA: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Sacorda Bolcomem Tamdi Surla, Satpal, Sancorda, Udhalshem, Shivdem, Dharbondora, Panshi, Kumbharwada, etc.

MARGAO: Areas affected are Borda, PTI, Ravindra Bhavan, Rashtramath area, Multipurpose High School.

CARANZALEM: Areas affected are Chowgule, Bernando, La Citadel colony and surrounding areas.

PANJIM (HND): Konkani Singer Bab Andrew D’ Souza in collaboration with Tiatr Academy of Goa will stage a musical programme in different parts of Goa. The musical programme entitled ‘Padmashree M Boyer hanchea kantarancho ugddas’ will be staged on April 22, near KTC Bus Stand, Cuncolim at 7.30 pm. The same show will be performed at Goa Velha (Zuari) on April 28; at Taleigao on May 6 and at Ravindra Bhavan, Sanvordem on May 23.

The programme will depict memorable songs sung by late M Boyer, which includes ‘Ixttagoth’, ‘Goyche Convent’, ‘Mainchem Dudh’, ‘Dothik Lagon’ and his comic renditions namely ‘Kombo, Bokdi, Mazor’, ‘Choug Put’, and others.

Popular artistes of Tiatr stage namely Albert Cabral, Soccoro de Santa Cruz, Aniceto Lourenco, Comedian Domnic, comedian Luis Bachchan, Shaik Amir, Sonia and others will participate in the programme. The musical arrangement is done by Luis Cota.

The musical show is directed by Bab Andrew D’Souza and is open for public.

Thanksgiving mass

PANJIM (HND): On the occasion of the birthday of former chief minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, a thanksgiving mass will be offered at Mae de Deus Church, Saligao on April 23 April at 9 am, by Saligao Sporting Club.

Program on homoeopathy

PANJIM (HND): Fr M Britto Joseph from Mumbai will conduct a 3-day programme of introduction to homoeopathy, from April 23 to 25 at Lar De Estudantes, Altinho, Panjim. The course is specially for those who already attended his one-day course earlier. However, others who are really interested to be introduced to an alternative mode of treatment, are also welcome.

Those who have not yet registered their names may contact Fr Brito on 9850783887 (Panjim) and Tamsin on 9822158143 (Margao).

Art of living course

PANJIM (HND): The ‘Art of Living’ course will be held from April 23 to 26, from 9 am to 12 noon at Indoor Stadium, Campal, Panjim.

Millions of children over the world have experienced improved memory, concentration, immunity and health, balances right and left side of brain, overcoming negative emotions such as fear, anger, restlessness, sibling rivalry, nurturing human values and making your child dynamic, creative, compassionate citizen of India.

The course includes Pranayamas, Yoga, games, educative interactions, Sudarshan Kriya and lots of fun.

For registration and details contact Milan Zantye on 9421194343 at Mapusa and Lalita Kakodkar on 9850456610 and Asha Parekh on 9823216360 at Panjim.

Novenas at Panelim

PANJIM (HND): The novenas of Our Lady of Miracles, SaoPedro, Panelim will start on April 23. There will be Rosary at 6 pm followed by Novena Mass everyday. The feast will be celebrated on May 2. The feast mass will be held at 5 pm.

Ex-students’ get-together

PANJIM (HND): Regina Mundi High School Ex-Students’ Association, Chicalim will organise a dine and dance for its exstudents on April 24, at 7 pm at the school hall. Passes are available at Natalia Stores, Vasco and also will be available at the venue. Email maxcarnin@hotmail.com for more information.

Polyclinic on heart

PANJIM (HND): Dr T S Raghuraman, Medical Superintendent & Chief Operating Officer, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal will organize a polyclinic at Manipal Hospital-Goa on April 24, from 10 am to 3 pm. This is very beneficial for people, especially those with cardiac problems as early detection and prevention is always better than cure and the new emerging area of Paediatric Haemato-Oncology provides solution to a number of paediatric problems.

Paediatric Haemato Oncology department will screen the children with symptoms of anemia, thalassemia, thrombocytopenia, hemophilia, etc.

Cardiac surgeon is available for consultation for people with cardiac problems to assist people to detect the cardiac problems early.

For appointments and more details contact 0832-3048800 and 0832–6452111.

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CM vows to accord ST status to Dhangars

Talsan Zor locals confront PWD Nominations for Navelim ZP polls reach 7 authorities over sulabh toilets HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

Residents of Talsan Zor in Aquem area of Margao on Tuesday confronted PWD authorities to find out the reason behind the sudden decision to stop construction of sulabh toilets atop the hillock.

The residents maintained that they had been putting up atop the hillock since the last two decades and have been denied the sanitation facility by the authorities all these years.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat with the students of Gouly/Dhangar community after distributing bicycles at Union High School, Sanguem. Also present are Social Welfare Minister Sudin Dhavlikar, MLAs Chandrakant Kavlekar and Vasudev Gaonkar and others.

HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said that the government will leave no stone unturned to accord Scheduled Tribe status to Dhangar (Gouli) community and added that the detailed ethnographic report is being prepared and the same will be submitted soon.

Kamat was speaking after launching the scheme of bicycle to Dhangar (Gouli) students

Fr Viegas passes away HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

Canon Fr Antonio Cruz da Piedade Viegas, an intelligent and diligent pastor of Goa Diocesan expired on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 91 years old and was presently staying at Clergy Home, Margao.

Born in Carmonã on October 2, 1918, after his primary studies he had joined Rachol Seminary in 1932, and was ordained a Priest on April 25, 1948. He was the Assistant Parish-priest of Immaculate Conception Church, Moirá (1948-1953), the Prefect of Discipline in SaligãoPilerne Seminary (from 1953 till 1955), the Assistant Parishpriest in the Holy Spirit Church, Margão (from 1956 till 1966), the Parish-Priest of Our Lady of Pilar Church, Seraulim, (19671973), the Parish-priest of Our Lady of Piety, Divar (19731983), the Parish-Priest of St Thomas Church, Aldonã (19831994), and, since August 1994 till May 2009 he had been a priest on the Staff of Holy Spirit Church, Margao was helping in the Church Office administration. He was fond of football and Goan folkloric music and was an inspiration for young priests with his ideals and vision of the parish life.

Man found hanging to tree at Kerim HERALD CORRESPONDENT PERNEM, APRIL 21

A 28-year-old man from Thorlebag-Kerim, Pernem, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself to a tree, about 300 mtrs away from his residence.

According to Pernem police, one Swapnil Bhalchandra Kalangutkar, who was working in a hotel at Calangute, did not attend the duty for the last four days and was seen at home. On Tuesday at about 5 pm, his family members noticed Swapnil hanging from the tree. Police said the reason behind committing suicide is not yet known and is investigating the case.

Paddy mechanisation program PANJIM (HND): The Directorate of Agriculture will organise training and demonstration of paddy mechanization-transplanter machine on April 22 at Government Farm at Ela-Old Goa, at 9.30 am.

The programme will include field demonstration at Ela farm in the morning session and technical session in the evening at Krishi Bhavan-Panjim, at 2.30 pm.

Dr Jaykumaran of Kerala Agriculture University, Trichi and B C Iyenger, Executive Director VST Tractors, Tillers Ltd, Bangalore will give presentations on paddy mechanisation and transplanter machine. Agriculture Secretary K S Singh will preside over the function.

in the presence of Social Welfare Minister Ramkrishna Dhavlikar at a function held at Union High School, Sanguem.

The students of Dhangar (Gouli) community who are enrolled in the VIIth std upto 12th std are eligible under this scheme for assistance by way of bicycles. Under this scheme, 201 bicycles have been sanctioned to the students from Dhangar community from Sanguem, Quepem, Bicholim and Sattari talukas costing Rs 6.04 lakh. 125 bicycles will be distributed to the students from Quepem and Sanguem talukas.

Kamat further said that the students of Dhangar (Gouli) community are usually inhabited in remote areas as well as hilly areas mostly in talukas of Sattari, Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona etc. “In this areas, transport is not easily available and therefore the students from this community face lot of problems to attend regular schools and colleges,” he said and added that if bicycles are provided to the students of Dhangar (Gouli) community, it will be more convenient to the students to attend their regular classes.

Kamat also favoured regeneration of traditional professions like Padeli, Render, khajekar, fougeri, chandekar,

podders and others, but said that the children of these traditional profession are not keen to continue with the family business, which results in the increase of demand for such professionals, an opportunity which is easily grabbed by nonGoans who excel in such businesses.

“The government therefore intends to operationalise a scheme to give financial assistance to such small entrepreneurs who are keeping the skills,” Kamat added.

Social Welfare Minister Sudin Dhavlikar expressed happiness that the government has been able to implement these important schemes like Indira Bal Rath, Gomant Bal Rath and the bicycle schemes to Dhangar students which he said will go a long way in motivating these backward community students towards education. He thanked the Chief Minister for his wholehearted support for the good cause.

Sanguem MLA Vasudev M Gaonkar, Quepem MLA Chandrakant Kavlekar also spoke on the occasion.

Chairperson of Sanguem Municipal Council Harsha Sambari, ex-MLA Pandu Vasu Naik and Deputy Director of Social Welfare Santan Fernandes were present.

A resident Shaikh Jabbar told Herald that the residents had specifically come to find out the reasons and the people complaining against grant of toilet facility at Talsan Zor. PWD Engineer Kudchadkar gave a patient hearing to the residents and maintained that his office has been directed from Panjim not to construct the toilets on Communidade land until further orders. “I am helpless in the matter”, he told the residents.

Retired Goan seafarers yet to get enhanced ex-gratia relief HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

It’s three years since they were promised an enhancement in their monthly ex-gratia relief, but retired Goan seafarers are sore that they have to still content with a meager relief of Rs 200 a month.

That’s not all. The retired Goan seafarers, who have now come together under the banner of Goan Retired Seamen Welfare Association, says that they receive this monthly ex-gratia once in six months.

Association President Ifrona Dias said that NUSI general secretary Abdulgani Y Serang at a meeting held at NUSI Maritime Academy in February 2007 had promised to enhance the ex-gratia amount from the existing Rs 200 per month. “More than three years have passes since the promise was made in the presence of PWD Minister Churchill Alemao, but the economic condition of the retired seafarers have not changed for better since then”, he added.

The Association had been knocking the doors of NUSI and the London-based ITF, but their pleas for a substantial enhancement in the exgratia relief for the retired

seafarers and widows of seamen have not found with the powers that be.

Dias recalled that promise made by late NUSI General Secretary Dr Leo Barnes, who in his Diwali message had promised to work out the pension and family medical assistance to the retired seafarers. “The Indian seafarers are unfortunate that Dr Barnes, who toiled hard during his leadership and achieved so much for the Indian seafarer’s, passed away before the promises could be implemented “, he said in his recent letter to the ITF general secretary David Cockroft.

He demanded to know how a retired seaman drawing a meager dole of Rs 200 survives in a highly inflationary economy, where prices of all essential commodities have gone up by nearly 30-40 per cent in recent times.

The Association has now planned to intensify their movement in support of their just demand for a substantial enhancement of the ex-gratia relief. Retired seafarers had last year held a series of meetings in seamen dominated villages of Salcete and San Estevao in support of their demands.

Jabbar maintained that they have been staying on the Communidade land for many years now and wondered why the authorities are denying them the sanitation facility. “The PWD engineer saying there is a letter from Panjim not to build the toilets on the Communidade land”, he added.

Kudchadkar later told newsmen that the PWD has stopped construction of the toilets following directives received from the Petition Committee of the Goa Legislative Assembly to keep the toilet construction in abeyance. “The land atop Talsan Zor belongs to the Communidade and is the home for 90 houses. The PWD had planned to construct 30 toilets for the low income group families”, he said, adding that the process is being kept on hold following directions from the Petition Committee of the Assembly.

“There are some toilets which have been half completed, but we are helpless in completing the work in view of the directives from the Petition Committee”, he added.

HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, APRIL 21

A total of five nomination papers have been received for the by-polls for the Navelim Zilla Panchayat constituency, taking the number of nomination papers filed for the constituency to seven.

Sucona Fernandes, (Fradilem), Wilson Viegas (Sirlim), Michael Fernandes (Fradilem), Casmiro Viera (Belem) and Agnelo Salazar Da Costa (Ravora) have filed their papers for the by-polls scheduled on May 9. Besides, the Returning Officer has already received the nomination papers of Edwin Cardozo and Bishuth Themudo before the elections were countermanded following the dearth of candidate Hermino Fernandes.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on Wednesday and the last date of withdrawal of papers is Thursday, informed Returning Officer Johnson Fernandes.

Even as the election process for the by-polls has reached the last stage, all eyes are focused on the two candidates, Bishuth

Themudo and Edwin Cardozo and PWD Minister Churchill Alemao.

Both Themudo and Cardozo belong to the Alemao camp and have been close aides of the PWD Minister. Whether the PWD Minister would succeed in ensuring that one of them withdraws from the fray or not remains to be seen, given that the presence of the two candidates threatens to vertically divide the Alemao camp.

Mater dei vice principal no more HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Edna Lobo, Vice principal of Mater dei Institute Saligao expired at GMC Hospital, Bambolim Wednesday afternoon.

She collapsed in the morning while at home in Saligao and was rushed to the hospital. She breathed her last at 2 pm.

The funeral will be held on Saturday, family sources said.

OHERALDO

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OPINION

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O HERALD O

It Just Isn’t Cricket!

Vol No CX No: 105 Goa, Thursday 22 April, 2010

Politicising education

G

oa has mucked around enough with educational initiatives here, but it seems intent to make the situation even worse.

The latest initiative to enforce a “uniform fee structure” on unaided private schools is another case in point.

Let us be clear about one thing: education in Goa has grown, quite impressively at that, thanks largely to non-government initiative. Schools that educated the best have often been beyond the State-funded network, both in colonial times and after 1961.

Take the case of the first English-language schools set up in Bardez, which helped so many Goan migrants earn name, fame and decent careers across the globe.

In the 1940s, more English-medium schools were set up, making it easier for expats to get jobs in places like East Africa. At the same time, Marathi education was also being promoted through private and community initiatives. Seminaries once catered to those who couldn’t get space in State-run institutions.

In the 1960s, the government started funding middle and high school education. Soon, big money entered the field, attracting the wrong kind of people, with the wrong motives. “Education is big business in Goa,” writer-activist Dr Claude Alvares noted in the early ‘seventies, when a controversy over a Calangute school was raging.

Crores of rupees continue to be paid to schools as subsidies each year. Yet, it is individual and group initiatives that have helped education succeed in Goa. Researchers like Stella MascarenhasKeyes suggest that Goan women have sacrificed much to ensure that their children are well educated. And, this has paid off, among Goans the world over.

In the 1990s, the PDF government, with the Kakodkars and Alemaos, ade use of a court ruling in an equal-work-for-equal-pay case to push for all the Church-run primary schools to shift to the Devanagari Konkani medium. Language got mixed with a tradeunion issue, causing a long-term loss mainly to the Church primary schools in Goa. For the record, the Church in Goa has played a pioneering role in promoting education. Even if its intent has been religious, it created an amazing network of schools open to all sections of society regardless of religion or caste or sometimes even class. Non-Christian students feel as welcome in such institutions, and value them.

Unfortunately, the Church took on a wrong gamble, assuming grants would help build their primary schools. Instead, many middle-class children shifted out from the Church-run primaries to private ones. So, we have a new class-system; those who can afford (including children of Konkani protagonists) go in for English medium primary schooling. The poorer mass has no make do with Konkani or Marathi, promoted with government funding since the MGP days.

Now, the government is talking about controlling fees of an estimated 144 unaided primary schools. While profiteering should be curbed, the government should not interfere in a way that cripples the initiatives of the private and community sector to offer educational alternatives. Why are parents opting for such high-fee charging institutions in the first place? Would a “uniform fee structure” mean higher fees for those currently charging reasonable fees?

The bigger problem seems to be the artificial bottlenecks placed on government-aided schools to teach in a medium that many would prefer. This has been done by bringing in the specious logic of “regional” language education, and through it imposing Marathi or Konkani, that too in the Devanagari script, and in a dialect not all areas and segments of Goa are equally at home with.

From all signs, the government seems intent on “controlling” and regulating all forms of education, even pre-primary school education. Is this needed? Will it help?

Some time back, a Lions Club in coastal Goa set up a voluntary mobile school for migrant poor children. Education authorities told them they were “not authorised” to do so. Ironically, this group was doing this work in the public spirit, and for free. After almost closing down the school, someone in officialdom realised there was a “scheme” to promote such initiatives. his meant they ended up getting a small government grant for their do-goodism.

Government should allow, nay encourage, citizens to build positive education initiatives, not bring in artificial roadblocks. It is a fallacy for the government to believe it can regulate everyone else, when its own functioning leaves so much to be desired.

T

he Indian Premier League plods on now for over a month, the cricketers are sweating it out in the long hot summer and after an initial spurt of popularity this maha -jamboree is making news for the wrong reasons, with IPL commissioner Lalit Modi becoming the centre of controversy after his spat with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.

It is over the Kochi team franchise involving Rendezvous Sports World, partly owned by Dubaibased socialite Sunanda Pushkar who has been romantically linked with him.

Tharoor has accused Modi of “breaching all propriety” in his effort to discredit the Kochi franchise and take it away from them for his corporate friends. Tharoor has denied any romantic involvement with Ms Pushkar, but is still not out of the woods as the sweat equity accorded to Ms Pushkar is more than the amount permitted. Both parties are on a sticky wicket and the curtain is yet to descend on the show.

The spat however, has opened a can of worms with allegations flying right, left and centre, most of them targeting the suave but arrogant Modi who has apparently been treading on a number of toes.

Modi is believed to have told certain bidders how much to quote and he wanted Rendezvous Sports World to withdraw its bid. But it is Modi’s nepotistic dealings which has further queered the pitch. They say his son-in-law Gaurav Burman of Global Cricket Ventures, holds the digital and mobile rights for the Championship Trophy until 2017. Then Suresh Chelaram, Modi’s sister-inlaw’s husband based in Nigeria, holds most of the shares in Rajasthan Royals. All these connections were not known at the time of auctioning the franchises.

Digging further into his past, it was revealed that in 1985 when studying at Duke University, Durham, Modi was booked for robbery of 10,000 dollars along with three other students.

All this mud-raking puts Modi in an embarrassing position. To add to his troubles the IncomeTax Department has also visited his offices in Mumbai to look into money-laundering and hawala transactions.

Bureaucrat Sanjay Dixit. the man who crafted his entry into the Rajasthan Cricket Association and then assured his exit, has his tweet gates open, posing embarrassing questions about his

O

Augustus Alphonso, Vasco-da-Gama

Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco

In recent years, it is a well known fact in Goa that several commercial as well as residential places have had a very bad experience of electrical short circuits. Assets worth several lakhs/crores of rupees simply went up in smoke! Therefore, to ensure that this will not keep repeating, the Electricity Department must gear-up and conduct checks. They can start with the commercial places first and then follow with the residential places. God knows when these places were last checked by the Electricity Department. I have only heard of HP and BP gas leak checks that are done every year in residential places.

Likewise, it will be wiser if the Electricity Department does the same accordingly.

Ragging may not be as serious a problem in Goa as is in other parts of the country.

Fortunately there has not been a single death in the State that can be traced due to ragging. But then, we should not be complacent and should see to it that the menace is nipped in the bud.

It is thus of utmost necessity to see that the directives of the Supreme Court over the issue is followed in letter and spirit.

The Supreme Court has been giving instructions from time to time to ensure that the menace of ragging is done away with completely.

In this respect it must be said that the initiative taken by the Collector of South Goa to form Anti- Ragging committees at the State, district and institutional levels must be considered as a step in the right direction. Everything possible should be done to see that the menace does not raise it’s ugly head in our educational institutions.

22 April, 1910  It is said that in 1889 the construction of Eiffel Tower was completed.  The Order of the Ministry of Navy was conveyed to all the Governors of the Overseas Provinces stating that henceforth no employee of the internal cadre of Customs will be able to exercise any other duty without the consent of the Ministry.  Strong boxes to be installed at all the Treasury offices of the Districts with two keys being kept in the possession of the Treasurer and the Registrar respectively, was excellently determined.

Copenhagen reports that the entire cabinet of Denmark resigned en masse 

A Imperial edict published from China orders all its Viceroys and Governors to exert its powers to the maximum to thwart any hostile agitations against the Christians. 

Goan administration Praxy Fernandes, Sankhali Isn’t it an irony that people outside the State who are well known for their notorious habits of looting, robbing and cheating people are employed as security guards in Goa to man all the Government and private establishments? No wonder some of them pose as doctors and policemen and rob patients in hospitals and elsewhere. The companies who thrive on providing such security personnel should be banned as they are abetting crimes by selecting such people.

Isn’t it funny and comical on the part of the Returning Officer for the Benaulim Assembly constituency to take such a long time and waste public money just to arrive at a conclusion that he ceases to be the Returning Officer? And, the complaint lodged by Colva Panch Calvert Gonsalves against Tourism Minister, Mickky Pacheco has been dismissed for want of jurisdiction to hear the petition.

In the same vein isn’t it disgusting to know that a request made to the Dy Collector’s Office for partitioning a plot/property takes about 6 months to issue a simple

cricketer colleague Vinod Kambli who could not handle the sudden power and money - it ruined him psychologically and socially like so many world soccer stars who were propelled into sudden stardom.

Give me Saina Newhal any day. She is a performer and her racket speaks for herself. Shobhaa De, an expert on everything under the sun and maybe few even over it, wrote a piece the other day advising the tennis player how to capitalize on her brand name. Yes, today it is all about brand names and celebrity issues. But how do they reach that stature?

Then there is the “paid news syndrome” which is the new phenomenon with newspapers and TV channels selling news on page one and time on TV. In the old days the chief-sub-editor would compare the page one news items with the other newspapers to see if the stories tallied. If he missed even one important story, he could have been pulled up. Today each newspaper has its own home-made lead. This has been a cause for

concern among the top brass of journalists for whom the authenticity and ethics of news coverage is paramount. Recently the Commonwealth Journalists Association, India Chapter, collaborated with Jan Prasar, a voluntary organization of the India International Centre, to discuss the prickly issue of “paid news syndrome” - the growing trend in the media and TV time being sold for a price.

Forming the background to the panel discussion was a debate in the Rajya Sabha last month when Information & Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni termed the trend as “serious.” Asserting the government’s commitment to end the “malpractice,” she said the Press Council of India (PCI) had constituted a sub-committee to look into the matter.

Ms Soni said the government had been receiving proposals from time to time from the PCI and the Editors’ Guild of India (EGI) and a similar proposal received late last year, was under consideration. Now these panels are known to sleep over the work at hand. They must be put on the fast track, because the marketing and public relations lobbies are quite strong.

To touch briefly on the home front, the Planning Commission has increased its share to Goa by some Rs 470 crores. And this includes Rs35 crores for the National Games. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has a smile on his face on a front page picture with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia who was pleased with the performance of social sector industries.

Kamat promised Ahluwalia more security guards on the beach in the interests of safety for tourists and the commencement of cruise services from Mumbai to Goa. The State also plans to set up a Mineral Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crores.

Wonder what the powerful mining lobby feels about it?

Ahluwalia wanted the private sector to be involved in development and infrastructure and suggested their participation in the modernization of the IT and Transport sectors. But don’t we know how appalling our performance is in these sectors? Kamat made some promises, something he is very good at. Whether anything positive will ensue is another matter. At least he can smile for the time being with the G-7 also in limbo waiting for an audience with Sonia.

Cat Scan

bservation is one of the best forms of education. If this is true, my cat should make a great cook. Whenever I am in the kitchen, he watches every move. As I am slicing, stirring, measuring or mixing, his eyes never leave my hands. He keeps hoping against hope that I will stretch out my hand in friendship and drop something delicious.

At the chopping board, I get tired of the constant feeling that ‘big brother’ cat is watching me. So I hold out a piece of what I have been dicing. He races over to take a sniff, only to discover that I am offering him a piece of onion. With disgust, he saunters back to his napping spot and goes flat on the ground.

Even after being offered green pepper, carrots, beans and other food ingredients he considers obnoxious, he is never discouraged.

Every time I hold out a morsel, he hurries over, just in case I might have finally decided to cook something worthwhile - like liver or fish. In spite of what he considers my strange taste in foods, he still wants to be my friend. No matter how many times I fail him, he never gives up. My mellow yellow cat might not have a very high IQ or a college degree, but he sure has the right idea about

Check ragging

PRIMEIRO DIARIO NAS COLONIAS PORTUGEZAS

Minding Our Business one-time friend and bad-mouthing him by bringing up some contentious issues. But it is demeaning to see how seasoned cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are kow-towing to Modi to say nothing of the bimbos like Mandira Bedi, Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta who are of glamour/nuisance value.

The IPL seems to be dragging its feet too long.

It is sure to have an adverse effect on the ICC World Cup with too much of cricket. The crowds are there. A good percentage is in on freebies against ads and other sorts of promotion, but there is not as much enthusiasm as when it began.

But these gala events have the knack of getting more than their share of adverse press coverage.

Like the Sania-Shoaib affair which made the lead story in most dailies.

Sania Mirza has always been a creation of the press. In the first place her body is not built for speed. Secondly, she guilty of the foot-mouth disease and a victim of what I refer to as ‘the Kambli effect’. It refers to Sachin Tendulkar’s schoolboy

Those Were The Days

Short circuits

100 Years Ago

The Modi-Tharoor spat has opened a can of worms writes ERVELL E. MENEZES

By Marc de Souza

never giving up. His character is so specialized and stable in contrast with our dog Toto. Friends love him, children even more.

He adores them.

The fog comes in on little cat fur. And so does sunrise, sunset, nighttime, noontime and anytime at my house, these days. Since the weather changed, he has been leaving a trail of yellow fur wherever he goes - so now anybody could find the way to my house.

Leopards can’t change their spots, But this cat has sure been changing his coat, and leaving pieces of it all over the neighbourhood. I guess it’s natural for someone who had been wearing a fat yellow fur coat to feel the need to shed it at least once a year.

I’m glad there is a change of weather explanation for his change of fur. Otherwise, I might be expected to take him to a cat psychologist to find out why he is acting this way.

Recently I read about a woman who consulted a pet psychologist to find out why her usually well-behaved cat had suddenly started leaving things in her house that were even worse than yellow fur.

The expert told the woman she had been spending too much time

away from home, so her cat felt deprived and was misbehaving to get attention. She was told the only cure is to spend more ‘quality time’ with her cat. In today’s world, apparently ‘quality time’ is a cure-all for many problems.

Our cat scratches maddeningly on the bedroom door every morning. He is famous for his stealthiness and cunning. He goes out does his business, returns soon and demands, to be fed by me. He once found the shredded skin of a snake and placed it on our front doorstep.

I hurriedly got the broom and hastily swept it away. I am quite superstitious of an unsuspecting snake stepping out of a piece of its life, shedding a shell of what it used to be, leaving behind a thin transparent slip of a former reality.

Our cat lies across my belly while I am trying to read, and if I put it the wrong way, it snarls or scratches, sometimes does both and then runs off to eat some more and sulk.

For some reason, it has fixed most of its attention on me. It hates my son, barely tolerates my wife and daughter and loathes strangers. I suspect that it takes one to know one.

Letters to the Editor Letter of the Day

The IPL potboiler

SND Poojary, Miramar

The IPL controversy is almost akin to a Hindi film — a suspense plot, twists and turns to the story, heroes, heroines and villains, side-kicks and the arrival of the police when everything is over. It is almost three years since the mega cricket event started.

Now a minister in the Union Cabinet stealthily puts his hand in the ‘cookie-jar’ and is caught; the resultant dirt flew and stuck on the face of the ruling elite.

The ruling elite somehow wriggle out of the rigmarole. Now, like a small child — since you have thrown one stone at me, I shall throw two — the Central Government has alerted its regulatory agencies: Income Tax Department, Enforcement Directorate and Department of Company Affairs — to probe into the working of the IPL. This is the third edition of the IPL tournament. Had these regulatory bodies gone into hibernation for the last three years? As the saying goes, prevention is better than the cure, these agencies should have started routine inquiries about the franchises, auctioning process, payments made and source of the funds. They have become active only because the image of the ruling elite has been dented by the sticky hand of a member of the fraternity.

If the ‘smart’ minister were not to be caught, nothing would have happened. Incidentally, what has the Home Minister of the country to do with IPL, when he should have been concentrating on internal security, after the recent killings of the CRPF personnel? initial notice. Hail our administrators. If anyone wants to learn how to waste public resources then visit these Government offices.

Greening Goa Ayres Sequeira, Salvador do Mundo It does not matter how lethargic our govt. is to hill cutting and destruction of environment. Some NGOs are striving to protect Goa and preserve its green for posterity.

One such NGO is the Pilar Fathers who have brought under horticulture vast tracks of land in Birondem at Valpoi. What is admirable of this farm is the variety of plants and fruit bearing trees well laid out and taken meticulous care. Medicinal plants are the specialty of this farm. Some of them date back to our ancestors’ era. As Fr. Inacio Almeida goes round explaining the utility of these plants, to many it comes as a big surprise to know of a plant that assures cure for cancer at initial stage and make the suffering less painful in advance condition. He also conducts lectures in a specially erected shed suiting the environment to impart knowledge of cultivation to the

student community to instill in them the love for agriculture. Fr. Domnic Alvares looks after the requirements of the farm.

Says Fr. Dominc: if you love nature, you are close to the Creator. Indeed one will feel the experience true going round the farm.

It is summer time again. Most children are free and at times doing nothing. But a visit to this farm will be time and money not wasted but an experience to be remembered and knowledge gained to start even a small farm behind our backyard and make our surrounding look beautiful, green and clean. That’s how Goa must look wherever we move around.

In the name of aam aadmi!

Orlando S. A. Da Silva, Carmona In spite of my busy weekend schedule, I was privileged to watch a debate on the local channel HCN on the topic “whether the sea link bridge at a whopping cost of Rs 3000 crore is a necessity for Goa?” The participants in one voice were unanimous that the project if undertaken will be only of monumental significance in terms of

tourism and will be a catastrophe on the ecology and financial health of the State.

It will also affect the future development of the world’s best natural harbor which our beautiful Goa is endowed by Almighty.

The discussion in the end suggested that the Government before appointing the German consultants at a whopping cost of Rs 7 crore should first undertake a study by spending a few lakhs as to what would be the quantum of traffic which will be able to use this sea link route by paying the toll vis the economics and the catastrophic effect on Goa’s ecology. Is it meant to ease congestion on Goan roads or just to compete with Mumbai?

Down in South Goa, in addition to the three new bridges, the honorable PWD Minister on 18th April 2010 while laying foundation stone for the Panchayat Ghar in my village declared that he would construct a mini Ravindra Bhawan in Carmona for the benefit of the coastal villages in his Navelim Constituency. In recent past there was a controversy reported by the press about such mini Ravindra Bhawan in Mormugao constituency and finally we came to know that two such mini Ravindra Bhawans are being built one in Baina and the other in Sancoale within a radius of less than 15 kms to appease both the MLAs concerned.

I am apprehensive that since these four coastal villages namely Varca, Orlim, Carmona, Cavellosim after delimitation are going to be part of Benaulim constituency there will be another demand for another mini Ravindra Bhawan in places like Colva/ Majorda/Betalbatim.

Being a tax payer the question I intend to ask the Government whether any economic/viability/urgency study is conducted before undertaking such huge projects.

What is the criteria? Why precious land/resources should be used for not so urgent things? Is the aam aadmi the real concern or something else?

Letters should be 150 words or less in length, and should have the writer’s name, address and telephone number. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for size and readability, and to delete any personal attacks or libellous /objectionable matter.

Paths of Wisdom Holiness

By Hermann Hesse

Out of jeweled eyes, Silent and eternal, you gaze away Over us late brothers.

Neither love nor longing appears to be known among Your smooth gleaming procession.

Once, inconceivable, you walked, majestic Brothers and sisters of constellations, Among the temples.

Even today, holiness like the distant fragrance of gods Drifts round your brows, Dignity round your knees: Your beauty breathes calmly, Your home is eternity.

But we, your younger brothers, Stagger godless through a confusing life, Our trembling souls stand eagerly, opened To all the sufferings of passion, To every burning desire.

Our goal is death, Our belief a belief in what perishes, No great distance of time defies Our fleeting faces.

Nevertheless, we also, Bear, burned into our very souls, The sign of a secret affinity to the spirit, We have a foreboding of gods, a feeling for you, Images of the silent past, A fearless love. Look: We hate nothing that exists, not even death, Suffering and dying Does not horrify our souls, As long as we learn more deeply to love.

Our heart is the bird’s heart, And it belongs to the sea and the forest, and we name Slaves and wretches our brothers, We still name with loving names both animal and stone.

So also the images Of our perishing lives will not survive us In hard stone: They will vanish smiling, And in the flickering dust of sunlight Every hour to new joys and unhappiness, Impatient, eternal, they will rise.

Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna, Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa - 403001. Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin Tombat (Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road, Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 2222475 (all Editorial); 2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83.

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OPinionated BJP’s anti-inflation rally Politicians And their empty Promises

By FREDDy AgNELO FERNANDES

“Roti, kapda aur makaan”. No, I am not talking about the Bollywood movie, but rather of the slogan that every political party, trumpets before the elections. Promises have been made in election manifestos, from podiums and stages and during their election rallies. India has been hearing these very elusive and empty promises for the last 60 odd years. Our economics and statistics departments have been over worked, planning a formidable India. But there are millions who still hunger for a single “roti” a day. There are still millions who do not have “kapda” to cover their scorched and dehydrated naked bodies.

Yes, there are still millions in India who do not have a “makaan”, a roof over their heads to shelter them from the rain, wind and heat, so what went wrong with the “roti, kapda aur makaan” express from Delhi?

“Gharibi hatau” was another slogan that had been making the rounds during elections, a cosmetic surgery for the “roti, kapda aur makan”. Has any of the governments actually taken the required initiatives to alleviate poverty and provide “roti, kapda aur makaan” to the beleaguered millions? In India the gulf between the rich and the poor is becoming wider by the day, and our government has fallen flat on its face in fulfilment of its promises.

Our politicians are aiming for the stars in the sky, but fail to realize and accept the abject reality of mired poverty around.

People are thirsting for water, hungry for food, and aimlessly wandering in search of shelter. Children and women begging in the streets, others searching for morsels of food in bins, living on the pavements and footpaths, struggling to survive the day and only hoping for a better tomorrow. Is this the shining India that our politicians promise? Nowadays, every politician aspires a halo around his head, in search of their hollow and shallow austerity. But it is somehow obvious, that the gluttonous and dysfunctional politicians would not readily want their slices of cake to be reduced and they do that regularly with élan.

Six decades of independence, six decades of self rule, and poverty has not declined. We have made immense progress in science and technology but failed miserably to alleviate poverty. The dream of the Father of the Nation, “food, shelter and clothing for every citizen of India”, is still a pipe dream.

Our politicians have forgotten their own pathetic past in the wake of their new tryst with destiny in politics. They would rather build statues of themselves, be garlanded with currency notes, weigh themselves with gold or silver, butcher and roast a few fellow humans and divide the nation in the name of religion, but not lift a finger to help improve the quality of life of the poor and the downtrodden or the backward class.

Goan politicians too have fallen flat on their faces in fulfilment of their promises. Last month during the budget session our esteemed Chief Minister said that more stress would be given to agriculture. But unfortunately their actions are not entirely in consonance with their statements, nor in the interests of Goa and Goans. Agriculture in Goa is on the ebb, and it the duty of the government to encourage farming especially organic farming with subsidies and land. But unfortunately our Government is hell bent on destroying agriculture, allowing land conversion of fertile fields to facilitate mega projects, farmers from the mining areas are forced to change their age old profession of farming because the mining dust and it’s rejects have scorched and made their fertile fields barren and the immense dust pollution causing health hazards to the residents of those areas.

Today the farmers from Tivim are crying, “forget cricket, give us water to irrigate our fields”. It is a perfect example that our government is working against the will of the people.

People are crying for food, water and shelter but politicians are forcing cake on the people in form of cricket stadium. The huge amount of money for the stadium and the sea link should be used to alleviate the water and electricity paucity problems of Goa. Do we really need a cricket stadium or the sea link, or is it just to inflate their own fortunes through a few scams?

We the Goan people want uninterrupted water running through our taps, uninterrupted electricity lighting our homes and our roads, a good, feasible and affordable health policy, education policy which is more practical and for all; better roads and safety measures. And above all, a better quality of life with good governance. And for this, a long term strategy has to be built within the precincts of development, economic improvement and political involvement of the grassroots of rural Goa. Is this impossible to achieve?

‘No ban on GM food sale in India’

stops short of Parliament DELHI BUREAU NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

The Bhartiya Janata Party on Wednesday organised one of the biggest rallies in years in the capital to protest against the Congress-led UPA government's failure to control the steep rise in prices of essential commodities.

It, however, abandoned the march to Parliament for declared plan of its "gherao" to ensure the protest remains peaceful and does not end up in any clashes as the authorities barricaded roads and started arresting those trying to be first in the march.

BJP spokesman Tarun Vijay, a former editor of a RSS weekly, however, asserted that the "gherao" of Parliament was successful as every Delhite on the roads would admit that it was such a massive turnout that the protesters were all over the capital jamming all roads that lead to Parliament.

Leaders gathered on the dais quickly decided against the march, also because of the unbearable heat with temperature hovering over 41 degree Celsius that impacted even BJP President Nitin Gadkari who fainted soon after he got on a tractor to lead the march and the party workers quickly wrapped a water-soaked

white towel and brought him down.

He was centre of praise by all party leaders for displaying the organising capability in mobilising so many people from across the country in tens of thousands for the massive show that is bound to revitalize the party demoralised from a setback of defeat in the Lok Sabha elections just a year ago.

BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani was quite frank in his address that this was the biggest ever landmark rally that the party organised. "It is a rally that has beaten the records of all previous rallies," he said while asserting that prices of essential commodities shot up 100 to 200 per cent since the UPA came to power six years ago because of "bad management and corruption."

The massive mobilisation, however, created massive jams up to seven to eight kms from the Ramlila Grounds venue, making vehicles crawl and cover a distance of 30 minutes in two to three hours as the protesters walking or travelling by buses from various states disrupted the traffic. Many came by special trains booked by the party, like one from Mumbai.

The BJP leaders, who addressed the rally, were confident that the turnout shows the people's total disenchantment with

the Congress for its utter failure to provide any relief from ever rising prices of food grains, sugar and vegetables, asserting that the Congress fortunes are bound to be hit in the eight assembly elections due this and next year.

As a strategy to win over the rural poor and farmers who formed the Congress core voters because of the rural employment guarantee and a host of other schemes of the UPA government, the BJP ensured that majority of the protesters were from the villages and only a small percentage of its usual urban middle class supporters.

All the party parliamentarians joined the rally, those from the Lok Sabha walking out right at the start of the House to rub shoulders with the protesters and share their "dard" (pain) of prices shattering their economy as described by Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj who led the day's boycott while those in the Rajya Sabha could do so because of the House adjourned for the day to condole death of BJP MP Krishanlal Balmiki (67) elected from Rajasthan in 2006.

Chairman Hamid Ansari hailed Balmiki, who died early Wednesday morning, as a noted social workers and sports lover.

PTI NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

The Government on Wednesday clarified that there is no ban on sale of the genetically modified (GM) agricultural products in India. The ban applies to only the sale of GM seeds and cultivation of the GM crops that can be relaxed only on securing the mandatory prior approval of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) of the Environment and Forest Ministry.

Minister of State Jairam Ramesh disclosed this in a written reply to a question by BJP members Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Anant Kumar Hegde in the Lok Sabha. He pointed out that as of date, only Bt cotton is the GM crop is allowed to be cultivated. Only recently, the government clamped a moratorium on commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal, he said.

He also clarified that the government has not permitted Monsanto India to trade in GM seeds and other agriculture inputs. The application of M/s Mahyco to allow cultivation of Bt brinjal Event EE-I is pending consideration of the GEAC in the light of several views that emerged during the public consultations on Bt brinjal organised by the ministry in January-February this year, he added.

In reply to another question on the Karnataka govt seeking permission to allow the Shiliga tribe forest dwellers collect non-timber forest products from BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, Jairam said it was advised to approach the Supreme Court as the ban on collection of forest products was imposed on its directions on a writ petition on February 14, 2000.

After highlighting issues like bondage labour and kidnappings in Bihar with 'Damul' and 'Apaharan', Prakash Jha returns to the big screen with 'Raajneeti' but the director says his upcoming film is not a judgemental take on Indian politics.

Jha's words sound like a disclaimer before the opening of a film when he says that 'Raajneeti' "does not resemble any Indian politician, political party or incident past or present".

Understandably so, with a clutch of top Bollywood stars, four years of hard work and a huge budget, the filmmaker does not want to invite any trouble to his "epic story" and wants

Sibal under attack on MP quota in central schools DELHI BUREAU NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

The Lok Sabha members rose in protest on Wednesday, cutting across party lines, over Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal stopping the practice of allowing each MP to recommend a maximum o f tw o a d missio ns in th e Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools) every year.

They could get at least ten poor students admitted to these central government-run schools during their five-year tenure but even this has been arbitrarily cancelled by Sibal, they asserted with a noisy protest as he tried to justify his decision.

The issue cropped up during the question hour when the members first protested at the government giving grant of Rs 5 crores to an elite Sanskriti School run by wives of senior bureaucrats in Delhi and then

HERALD CORRESPONDENT BELGAUM, APRIL 20

An LPG tanker that overturned at Nanthoor pump well in Mangalore on Wednesday. Leaking gas led to panic and traffic diversions for some time.

5 chargesheeted in tourist gang rape case PTI GAYA, APRIL 21

Concluding probe in a record three-day time, the police today chargesheeted three of the five accused in connection with the gang rape of a 25-year-old Japanese tourist.

The chargesheet was filed in the court of Gaya Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Narain Sevak Pandey here this afternoon, SP

Sushil Khopade told PTI. Out of the five persons named in the case, chargesheet was filed against Pappu, Uday and Lutan, who are in judicial custody in Gaya jail, while Lotan and Rajan are still absconding, he said.

Lotan is the prime accused in the case, Khopade said.

The five had allegedly pulled the woman out of an auto-rick-

shaw carrying her from Bodh Gaya to the Gaya railway station before committing the crime at an isolated place on Friday night.

The Japanese woman is a resident of Itabolutachi in Tokyo and is currently on a tour of various Buddhist pilgrim towns in India.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had ordered a speedy trial of the case.

the audience to judge it for themselves.

"I have not tried to show something extraordinary. I am not trying to be judgemental about Indian politics with 'Raajneeti'. What I have tried to show is the conflict that emerges when we decide to forgo everything for power. I tried to tell the story of such families," the 58-year-old director told PTI. "We can't sit and pass judgement on the politics of our country. It is the largest democracy in the world and growing everyday. However, we are free to interpret certain things in it. This is why I wanted to tell this story," Jha said.

Starring Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Katrina

Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, the film hits theatres this June. The film is a modern take on Indian epic the 'Mahabharata'.

"Every story is challenging for me. It is not easy to interpret a story and present it on the screen. And the 'Mahabharata' is so deep that you can easily

find references for your story.

In this film you will find that characters are similar to the Mahabharata and how they behave in present context is the story," said Jha. Katrina dons the role of a young politician in the movie and it is being speculated that her character is inspired by none other than Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but Jha denies it.

"Soniaji's life story is very inspiring. But how can I make a film on her life without even talking to her. People are trying to find similarities because like Soniaji, Katrina also comes from England but her character is completely different and is not inspired by any real life person," he said.

At least three MBA students allegedly tried to commit suicide in their hostel rooms in Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) campus in Belgaum soon after they came to know about their failure in their MBA first year examinations on Monday evening.

According to sources, the incident occurred at 5 pm when the results of MBA previous year were announced by the VTU. While one girl allegedly attempted to hang herself, another consumed excessive sleeping pills and the third slit her wrist vein.

According to sources, some of the hostel inmates raised the alarm on seeing the girls attempting to take the extreme

Official charged in bribe case PTI SRINAGAR, APRIL 21

Jammu and Kashmir State Vigilance Organisation has filed a chargesheet against an official of the Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution in connection with a corruption case here.

The chargesheet was filed against former supervisor-cumincharge Tehsil Officer, Shopian, Mohammad Mansoor Malik in the court of Special Judge antic o r r u p t i o n y e s t e r d a y, a spokesman of the SVO said today.

He said the case was registered against Malik after an order of Additional District and Session Judge, Anti-Corruption, Srinagar on a complaint lodged

by Sabzar Ahmad Dar, a resident of Reshipora village of Shopian.

Extinction threat for mangroves, warns IUCN PTI NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

As the world observes Earth Day tomorrow, there is not much to cheer for the coastal communities whose primary source of livelihood -- mangroves is under threat due to unchecked anthropological pressures and natural calamities.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a network of several conservation groups, has set alarm bells ringing by warning that more than one in six mangrove species worldwide are in danger of extinction due to coastal development and other factors, including climate change, logging and agriculture.

one of them raise the issue of the MP's quote of admissions in the Central Schools.

Much to relief of Sibal, who was unable to complete his explanation due to the pandemonium with even the ruling Congress members shouting him, the Question Hour was over and Speaker Meira Kumar shifted to the next business on the agenda. Sibal quickly made exit.

He said the scheme of the HRD Minister having quota of 1000 admissions every year and each MP empowered to recommend two admissions a year was introduced during the tenure of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi. He, however, decided to scrap the scheme as it went against the very spirit for which the Central Schools were established to provide quality education to the wards of employees of the government, public sector undertakings and corporations.

Dr Joshi was not in the House, nor was anybody else on the BJP

benches as all the party members had staged a walkout right at the start of the sitting to join the antiprice rally organised by the party in the capital. Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj announced the boycott of the House for the day to join thousands of people coming from across the country to protest against the government doing nothing to bring down the prices. Members walked out, shouting slogans of "Mehangai ko rok do, varnaa gaddi chhod do" (Stop inflation or quit the government).

Even as the agitated members were talking in groups ignoring the Speaker's pleas to maintain decorum, Sibal was back in the House to pilot a motion listed against his name for election of two members to the National Institute of Technology Council.

He, however, ignored members approaching him and left the House after the motion was admitted.

3 MBA students attempt suicide

I am not trying to be judgemental with Raajneeti: Prakash Jha

DELHI BUREAU NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

Cyclist holding an umbrella rding through the rain in Srinagar on Wednesday. .

Mangroves are salt-tolerant plants of tropical and subtropical inter tidal regions of the world and are extremely delicate and fragile. They host several commercially important species of fish and crustaceans in countries like India and Phillipines providing source of livelihood to the coastal communities.

In its first-ever global assessment on the conservation status of mangroves for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species released recently, the organisation has also enlisted Sonneratia griffithii, a species of Mangrove found in India and southeast Asia as Critically Endangered, the highest probability of extinction measurement.

The same is the fate of Bruguiera hainesii which grows only in a few fragmented locations in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

Eleven out of 70 mangrove species (16 per cent) which were assessed will be placed on the IUCN Red List. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America, where as many as 40 per cent of mangrove species are considered threatened, are particularly affected, says the study.

In India and Southeast Asia, 80 per cent of all mangrove area has been lost over the past 60 years, says the study which estimates that there are fewer than 250 mature trees of the species

remaining.

A recent State of Forest Report 2005 shows an extent of 4,445 sq. km. mangrove areas in India, accounting for about 5 per cent of the world's mangrove forests which are salt-tolerant eco-system.

A state-wise distribution of mangroves out of the total area is 57 per cent of the mangroves are found on the East Coast, 23 percent on the west coast and the remaining 20 per cent on the Bay Islands (Andaman and Nicobar).

Compared to 2003 assessment, there has been a marginal decrease in mangrove cover of the country mainly because of the tsunami that hit Andaman

and Nicobar Islands in December 2004.

Gujarat has shown an increase in mangrove cover mainly because of plantations and protection measures.

"The loss of mangroves, will have devastating eco nomic and environmental consequences," says Greg Stone, Senior Vice President of Marine Programmes at Conservation International.

"These ecosystems are not only a vital component in efforts to fight climate change, but they also protect some of the world's most vulnerable people from extreme weather and provide them with a source of food and income."

step and brought it to the notice of VTU employees.

Later, they were given the immediate medical treatment. One of the girls, who slit her vein, has been admitted to KLE Hospital while the condition of two others is stated to be out of danger. The girls’ parents are informed about the incident by the VTU officials.

According to Circle Police Inspector of Vadgaon police station, Vishwanath Kulkarni, the VTU brought the incident to his notice and two girls were unwell due to some problems.

“The exact cause of their injuries is not known to me. I received a letter from the VTU about two girls having some serious problem. Whether they

sustained injuries in an attempt to suicide or not is yet to be investigated,” he said.

Sources in VTU Evaluation section denied to comment on the issue but said the results of MBA previous year this time were better than the previous year. Most of the students attending the examination have scored well.

At least 83 of the 120 students, who appeared for MBA previous year’s examinations, have failed this time. Some students have blamed the poor results for the lack of permanent faculty in the university.

Sources said most of the courses including MBA are totally dependent on the guest lecturers at the VTU.

APPOINtMeNtS

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FROM PAGE 1 Offices searched

which owns KKR at the Eden gardens and then on Gameplan, a sports management group which looks after KKR’s affairs on Shakespeare Sarani.

In Chennai, Tax sleuths today surveyed the office of CSK owned

by India Cements. BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan is the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements.

In Secunderabad, an IT team visited the office premises of Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures limited. “Our investigation team was there in the Deccan Chargers office”, an IT official said.

Company officials denied any searches or raids.

IT officials also went for a survey of the Kings XI office in Gurgaon, sources said.

In Mumbai, the IT department searched the premises of companies associated with the IPL in the wake of allegations that telecasting agency Multi Screen Media had paid a facilitation fee of USD 80 million to marketing agency World Sports Group.

The searches were conducted at the office premises of MultiScreen Media in suburban Malad, the telecasting agency of IPL, World Sports Group, the marketing agency of IPL, International Management Group, the organising agency, and the Bandra house of Venu Nair, CEO of WSG.

Dump all politicians... noticed that every politician would immediately uphold the right of citizens to settle anywhere? They are not bothered about other rights of citizens such as clean roads, non-corrupt Government, clean beds in the hospital, clean classrooms et al”, he said.

Saying that the politicians have built up vote banks all over Goa, Remo said the people are still under the illusion that they would vote this guy or that guy to power.

Remo was in the city here on Wednesday evening to brief the media on his live concert at the Rajendra Prasad Stadium on April 30 organised by 9 Entertainments. Incidentally, Remo will be performing in South Goa for the first time after a gap of more than two decades.

When newsmen asked Remo to outline one change which can make a difference to Goa, the pop star said “there is one change which can make a difference, that is to put all the politicians and Opposition together in a boat and sink them in the middle of the Arabian sea. Unfortunately, that would pollute the sea”.

He said the people still believed there is someone called “Mr Clean” who can save the State. “We were naive enough to believe that there is this Mr Clean, but all of them have been involved in some corrupt practices or the other. Even in case, there is some Mr Clean, he too is guilty as he has not exposed others and is part of the system”, he asserted.

Remo lamented that Goans too should be blamed for the state of affairs as they get easily divided on communal and linguistic lines. “There are divisions amongst Hindus and Christians, people who speak Marathi and Konkani. Now people are fighting over the script of our language. We get divided so easily”, he said.

Saying that South Goa is very close to his heart, Remo said South Goa today is the most preserved part of Goa. “I wish I was from South Goa. Here, the people are united and have stood up and has managed to fight against bad development. I am happy to finally perform in South Goa”, he added.

Asked to comment on the changing face of music in the country, Remo said the whole country has become Bollywood centric. “All shows today are based on Bollywood. It appears the country has gone bankrupt that we cannot give anything to our children, except Bollywood”, he added.

Remo said he is presently pre-occupied with the task of producing music for a Goan Konkani film produced by Rajendra Talak and a Bollywood film.

Drug peddler’s assets... in several parts of Goa and Maharashtra.

Bhui and his wife also owned more than a kilogram of gold, all of which has been frozen under SAFEMA, a finance ministry legislation.

“Bhui’s wife had withdrawn Rs 20 lakh after her husband’s arrest. That too has been frozen”, Bansal said.

Camo Advtg

Extend visas...

“We have written to ministry of Home Affairs to extend their visas,” he said.

Naik also said that the communication is also made to state police department informing them about the situation prevailing due to cancellation of flights to European destinations.

“State police have no powers to extend visas but we have kept them informed. There are many who were about to leave the State when air traffic ceased”, Naik said.

Naik further said that one airline Air Arabia has offered flights to Istanbul, which has train link to European countries.

“From Istanbul it’s a 48-hr journey to Germany and other European countries”, he said.

Naik said that there are unconfirmed reports that some flights have started leaving from Mumbai.

State airport authorities also said that the situation has started easing since Tuesday with first flight to Scotland leaving the state last evening.

“A boeing 767 chartered flight left for Scotland from Goa at 7 pm carrying 259 passengers”, an airport source said.

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Europe reopens for flights AGENCIES LONDON, APRIL 21

Airports across Europe began reopening Wednesday, six days after ash from an Icelandic volcano forced the shutdown of airspace and stranded thousands of passengers around the world.

The airspace over most of the United Kingdom, Norway, Belgium, Ireland and Germany was open again, and Danish, Swedish and Finnish airspace was expected to reopen fully later in the day, air traffic authorities said.

French authorities said all long-haul flights were leaving from Paris airports, along with 60 percent of short-haul flights.

A British Airways flight from Vancouver was the first to land at Heathrow Airport late Tuesday, and a total of 25 mostly long-haul flights had landed by the morning, the airport said.

There were a handful of takeoffs Wednesday morning, but the airport warned that not all flights would operate right away.

Manchester Airport said

flights were both taking off and landing Wednesday. That raised hope for a team of British cheerleaders who were trying to fly Wednesday from Manchester to Florida for the World Cheerleading Championship this week, though team member Georgina Evett said she wasn't holding her breath just yet.

"I think when we land down in America, then we'll know we're there. But at the minute, we're a bit cautious," Evett said.

Passengers arriving on the Vancouver flight to Heathrow late Tuesday said they circled over Ireland for a couple of hours before getting approval to land in London, which prompted a big cheer in the cabin.

"It was pretty harrowing," said one woman who was aboard the flight. She told CNN she had a "dizzy, kind of sickly feeling" in her stomach as they circled.

The crisis began after the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull glacier erupted Wednesday and sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere. By the next day that

cloud had reached Europe, where authorities quickly shut the airspace over safety fears.

Volcanic ash can have dangerous consequences for flights by shutting down engines and electrical systems and damaging a plane's windscreen.

By Tuesday, however, airlines had started to complain that the measures were too restrictive.

Ash levels in most parts of Europe, they said, were low enough to allow the safe operation of flights.

On Wednesday, British aviation regulator CAA issued revised its guidance on flying through volcano ash clouds. Previous guidelines recommended a total ban on flights through ash, but the new rules allow airlines to conduct their own risk assessments and require them to report any ash damage to the authorities.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated Wednesday that the Icelandic volcano crisis cost airlines more than $1.7 billion in lost revenue through Tuesday.

China mourns quake dead

Between Saturday and Monday, when disruptions were greatest, IATA said lost revenues reached $400 million each day.

"At the worst, the crisis impacted 29 percent of global aviation and affected 1.2 million passengers a day," said IATA Director-General and Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani. "The scale of the crisis eclipsed 9/11 when U.S. airspace was closed for three days."

Scientists in Iceland said Wednesday the volcano has decreased its ash output by 80 percent compared to the first day of eruption, April 14. Armann Hoskulsson, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, told a briefing that the volcano's output is now "insignificant," though it will continue to be active for a while.

That reduction in volcanic activity appeared to be the main reason that flights resumed operating in Europe on Wednesday, along with European countries relaxing their restrictions on flight, according to a spokeswoman for Eurocontrol,

Google gets 142 requests from India PTI NEW YORK, APRIL 21

Chinese youths in the city of Xining walk past flowers placed to commemorate those who died in the quake that devastated Yushu County.

AP XINING, APRIL 21

Bowing their heads in silent tribute, thousands of officials, soldiers and civilians gathered Wednesday in ceremonies across China to mourn the 2,064 victims killed in a devastating quake that hit one week ago in a remote Tibetan region.

Conspicuously absent from all the televised ceremonies were any Tibetan Buddhist monks. The monks, thousands of whom poured into the quake zone from surrounding areas to help, said Wednesday they had been ordered to leave the region -- an apparent sign of the Communist Party's unease over the leading role they played in the

relief effort.

At the quake's epicenter in Yushu County in western Qinghai province, hundreds of rescue workers, residents and children in school uniforms stood quietly for a nationally televised ceremony held on a hill with rubble from destroyed buildings behind them.

Red Chinese flags flew at halfstaff as the blaring of horns and sirens from cars, police vehicles and ambulances sounded in the background after three minutes of silence that began at 10 a.m.

Dressed in black with a white flower pinned to his chest, Qiang Wei, Communist Party secretary for Qinghai province, called on people to unite and

rebuild in the wake of the quake, which also left more than 12,000 people injured.

"The earthquake showed no mercy, but we have love.

Let us wipe our tears off ... and strive to meet a brighter tomorrow and let a more beautiful, wealthy and socialist Yushu stand on the vast Tibetan Plateau," he said.

In Beijing, President Hu Jintao, along with other Chinese leaders, led a silent tribute "to express our profound condolences" during a Politburo meeting, while soldiers in Tiananmen Square lowered the national flag to half-staff in the early morning as students in school uniforms saluted.

US weighs Iran military option AGENCIES WASHINGTON, APRIL 21

If Iran decides to go for nuclear weapons, the US may not be able to permanently stop this from happening unless it is willing to occupy the country.

This is the candid conclusion of one army general testifying in front of the Senate but one that seems to have gone mostly unnoticed amid a flurry of statements on Iran over the past few days in Washington.

Gen James Cartwright, one of America's top uniformed officers, slowly edged towards that conclusion during a Senate testimony last week, underscoring the difficult choices facing the Obama administration as it weighs what do about Iran.

Since the US would probably be extremely apprehensive about even considering putting boots on the ground in Iran, the statement raises a key question - while the Obama administration publicly maintains that it will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, is it privately discussing how to live with a

nuclear Iran?

The military is averse to any action against Iran and Adm Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a military strike would be 'his last option" and has warned of the unintended consequences of such a strike.

But during the Senate testimony, which also featured the state department's No 3 official, William Burns, the senators questioning the panel also established that UN sanctions would probably not be tough enough to really have an impact on Tehran.

Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, then asked Gen Cartwright whether the "military approach was a magic wand".

Gen Cartwright, the vicechairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged it was not, adding that military action alone was unlikely to be decisive.

Senator Reed prodded further, getting the general to agree that a military strike would only delay Iran obtaining a nuclear

Sarkozy to submit bill against veil AP PARIS, APRIL 21

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ordered legislation that would ban women from wearing Islamic veils that fully cover the face and body in public places, the government said Wednesday.

It is Sarkozy’s first political action toward an outright ban, though he has repeatedly said such outfits oppress women and are not welcome in France, home to a firmly secular government.

Government spokesman Luc

Chatel said after a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the president decided the government should submit a bill to parliament in May on an overall ban on such veils “in all public places.”

That ups the stakes in Sarkozy’s push against veils such as the burqa and niqab and chador. Some in his own party have bristled at a full-out ban, and France’s highest administrative body has questioned whether it would be constitutional.

weapon if Tehran decided to go nuclear.

The senator then went further, asking whether the only way to absolutely end any potential Iranian nuclear weapon programme "was to physically occupy their country and disestablish their nuclear facilities?"

The general answered: "Absent some other unknown calculus that would go on, that's a fair conclusion."

Internet major Google, which recently pulled out of China due to censorship issues, has ranked India third in a list of countries from which it receives requests for censoring information.

For the first time, Google has published a country-wise list of the number of requests received from governments, seeking either removal of information or more details. The list is based on requests made to Google between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.

As per the list, Google received maximum removal req u e s t s f ro m B r a z i l ( 2 9 1 ) , followed by Germany (188) and India (142).

The number of request for removal of information from India was higher than that from the US (123).

"For Brazil and India, requests for content removal are high relative to other countries in part because of the popularity of our social networking website, Orkut. The majority of the Brazilian and Indian requests for removal of content from Orkut relate to alleged impersonation or defamation," Google said in a statement.

Pak to buy missile frigate AGENCIES ISLAMABAD, APRIL 21

Pakistan has signed a deal with the United States to buy a guided missile frigate USS McInerney, Pakistani television network Geo-TV said on Wednesday.

The US Congress approved the deal in September 2008. The frigate will be commissioned as PNS Alamgir on August 31 in the United States.

Reports on the total sum of the deal vary, with several Pakistani sources putting the price at $65-$78 million.

The 32-year-old Oliver Perryclass ship will undergo "comprehensive refurbishment," including the installing of antisubmarine capability. The refurbishment is to be completed in January 2011.

The warship is equipped with anti-ship missiles, a 76-mm naval gun and torpedo launchers, among other things. It can carry two SH-60 Seahawk multi-purpose helicopters.

The deal is likely to pave the way for more purchases of Oliver Perry-class warships for the Pakistani Navy.

Under the US Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, Pakistan is considered a major non-NATO ally.

Berlusconi accused of sacrilege AGENCIES ROME, APRIL 21

Silvio Berlusconi was accused today of committing sacrilege with the complicity of the Vatican after he was shown on television taking holy communion at a funeral even though he is twice married and is seeking a divorce from his second wife.

Berlusconi, 73, took communion at the funeral in Milan of Raimondo Vianello, a veteran television variety show star.

Vatican officials said this was permissible because Mr Berlusconi, 73, was in the process of divorcing Veronica Lario, his second wife, and was de facto separated from her.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, head of the Pontifical Council for Life, said the Church had not therefore made an exception for him.

However, However Monsignor Giuseppe Casale, the former Bishop of Foggia, said that Berlusconi should refrain from taking communion not only be-

cause of his divorce but “because his behaviour is not coherently Christian”, a reference to scandals in his private life involving prostitutes and showgirls.

The ban on divorcees taking communion is the cause of anguish among many rank and file Catholics.

Father Paolo Farinella, a priest in Genoa, said ordinary Catholics would want to know whether they too could now take communion in similar circumstances.

Father Farinella said he had written to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, and Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian

Bishops Conference, to protest against the ”scandal” .

“Berlusconi has committed sacrilege, given that he is divorced and is in the process of getting divorced for a second time,” he told the newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Ordinary Catholics were scandalised “because it seems the ban on divorced people taking communion is imposed on them but not on the powerful Berlusconi, a man without moral scruples who is corrupt and corrupts others”.

Berlusconi was married in 1965 in a church ceremony to Carla Dall’Oglio, his first wife.

They divorced in 1985.

OHERALDO

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BIZ

GOA, THURSDAY, 22 APRIL, 2010

TALK BUSINESS

Offer on Orra PANJIM (HBD) – Orra, the diamond destination announces its month long anniversary sale from April 15 to May 16.

On offer is upto 25% discount on a range of earrings, necklaces, bangles, rings and platinum jewellery on display.

Big G to open eatery at Panjim outlet PANJIM (HBD) – Big G in Panjim, a 5-floor air-conditioned shopping store is planning to open a fast food outlet shortly.

Located on Dada Vaidya road next to Mahalaxmi temple, the store belonging to the Gosalia Group is the 2nd store in Goa, the first one being in Margao.

Level 1 has exclusive fashion accessories, silver jewelry with semi precious stones, cosmetics, perfumes, trendy sunglasses, wrist watches and ladies hand bags.

Level 2 is where men can get exclusive branded shirts, trousers, suits, sherwanis, kurtas and fashions accessories like cufflinks, ties and handkerchiefs Level 3 has western, Indian ethnic wear for ladies and entire range and variety of branded lingerie and shoes.

Level 4 has all what a mother would want for her kids. It has branded kids wear like Lilliput, Barbie, Mee Mee. It also has toys, games and baby prams.

Level 5 opens its doors to very exclusive home accessories and artefacts from India carpets intricate marble curios and vases, brass items, wide range of suitcases, trolleys, laptop bags, linen, quilts, duvets and towels. There is an entire range of Black and Decker and Matrix products.

Tata Photon+ Gateways PANJIM (HBD) -- Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) announced the availability of two innovative solutions - the Tata Photon+ Business Gateway and Tata Photon+ Home Gateway that would cater to the SME and Home segments respectively. The Gateway solution is powered by Cisco’s networking solutions, offering converged services in a compact device.

Built on the highly successful Tata Photon+ platform, the solutions enable sharing of high-speed wireless access between multiple users. SMEs and computer users at their homes can now connect their PCs, laptops and new-generation net books to one common solution, thereby, creating a wireless environment, at the click. Its plug-and-play nature makes the product easy to install and ready to use.

The solution is a bundle of beneficial features - 4 LAN ports, secure Wi-Fi, 2 VOIP ports and a WAN port. The WAN port functionally allows users to connect a wired broadband connection, thereby providing automatic redundancy coupled with the highspeed wireless broadband connection enabled by Tata Photon+, ensuring seamless connectivity at all times!

The solution is enabled with features like: Parental Guidance: url and keyword blocking; In-built firewall; Access to the internet, restricted to specific time periods of the day and Remote access control via a secure login to the router to ensure 100% uptime.

Children’s stories on R-Com voice portal PANJIM (HBD) -- Reliance Communications’ latest offering of Children’s stories on its voice portal is another addition to its bouquet of VAS service.

India’s largest and only nationwide operator offering both GSM and CDMA mobile services, announced the launch of its story portal on voice. The portal offers tales that retell some of the most popular stories, on Reliance Communications.

Through the Voice Portal, customers can listen to folk stories of the brilliant and witty court-poet of the Vijayanagara Empire - Tenali Raman, the famous Indian animal fables in Panchatantra Ki Kahaniyan, Vikram aur Betal - the spellbinding stories narrated by the wise King Vikramaditya, the epic story of Ramayan, Shri Krishna Bal Leela – narrating the childhood adventures of the charismatic Lord Krishna, Mahabharat and Tale Toon. Subscribers can also choose to set these tales as their caller tunes.

Mobile customers need to dial 51234 234 from their mobile phones to enter the wonderful world of these amazing tales at browsing charges of Rs 3/min. Subscribers can also choose to set these tales as their caller tunes at a basic cost of Rs 10 per tune.

The portal also gives users the choice of language including English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and Punjabi.

Sensex up 12 points; ICICI Bank, Tata Motors lead gains PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 21

Stock market benchmark Sensex rose for the second straight day today, but selling pressure in blue-chips like RIL and L&T limited the day’s gains to a modest 12 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange barometer Sensex opened on a weak note but soon surged 105 points to touch a high of 17,565.55. However, profit booking emerged at higher levels and the index settled the day with a net gain of 11.98 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 17,472.56 points.

Rally in interest rate-sensitive sectors such as banking, auto and realty stocks continued today, after investors found comfort in a modest hike in policy rates by the RBI yesterday.

Gokarn sees inflation moderating by Aug PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 21

Reserve Bank deputy governor Subir Gokarn said he would like to have inflation at 3 per cent in the long-term and 4-4.5 per cent in the medium-term, a day after the central bank effected a modest hike in the key policy rates to tame price rise.

"We would like inflation to be at 3 per cent in the longterm and 4-4.5 per cent in the medium-term," Gokarn told reporters here today. Food-driven inflation is now becoming more broad-based and is spilling over to other sectors.

Hence, the apex bank is now paying as much attention to headline inflation as to its components now, he said.

"The particular indicator that we have been watching is nonfood manufacturing inflation which is 52 per cent of the entire basket." This segment, in which inflation moved from negative in November 2009 to moderately positive in December turned sharply positive in January and reached 4.3 per cent, and more than doubled to 9.89 per cent in February and reminded static at 9.9 per cent in March against the apex bank's January projection of 5.5 per cent for the fiscal end.

"The inflation number at 9.9 per cent for March is obviously a source of worry but half of that is coming from food over which we do not have instruments to address," Gokarn said, adding, "this was the major motivator for us to act in March."

The RBI on March 19 raised

Infotech net profit at Rs 170.8 cr

repo and reverse repo rates (the short-term lending and borrowing rates) by 0.25 per cent each. In January, the banking watchdog hiked cash reserve ratio (CRR), or the portion of deposits banks park with RBI, by 0.75 per cent. Yesterday, it announced a further 0.25 per cent hike in the repo, reverse repo and CRR rates.

Asked if the CRR tool would be preferred by the central bank again to combat inflation, Gokarn said, "CRR is a tool (to suck out liquidity from the system and thus control inflation) but whether we will use it or not will depend on the circumstances."

The Reserve Bank would use CRR as a tool if situation warrants as policy transmission is less effective if only rates are used, he said. "If pricing is not going to achieve what you want, then why deny yourself the need of using quantity instruments if the need arises?

That's really the pragmatism with which we are looking at the CRR now and I think it will continue to be the tool that we will use."

Gokran, however, added he expects inflation to moderate going forward. "Depending on the monsoon, by August or so we should see a broad-based moderation in food prices," the deputy governor said.

He said the RBI projection of 5.5 per cent annual inflation for this fiscal is based on expectation of a normal monsoon and the resultant drop in food prices and also due to the RBI actions. "If we take both

We'll not allow overheating: RBI

PTI NEW DELHI, APRIL 21

The Reserve Bank today said it is vigilant to the possibility of overheating in the economy and will do everything to prevent such an occurrence.

"We are alert to the possibility of overheating (which is persistent high inflation due to supply shortages) and we will do everything possible to prevent that," RBI governor Duvvuri Subbarao said.

The governor said the approach to prevent overheating in the economy is to act on the supply side. "Our approach to preventing overheating is to act from the supply side," Subbarao added.

Rising headline inflation numbers are typically one of the first signs of overheating in the economy. As a result, govts and central banks usually raise interest rates to curtail spending and borrowing.

Yesterday, the central bank moderately raised its key shortterm rates as also the mandatory cash reserves that banks maintain with it by 25 basis points each to tame inflation.

Even though inflation drew closer to 10 per cent in March, analysts rule out an immediate danger of overheating as surging prices are not spread over and supply of food items are being augmented.

Deputy governor Subir Gokarn said the apex bank has three challenges this year-supporting growth, containing inflation and managing government borrowings without hurting the private sector needs.

Airlines lost more than $1.7 b by Tuesday: IATA

PTI HYDERABAD, APRIL 21

ReuTeRs FRANKFURT/BERLIN

Infotech Enterprises Ltd, citybased engineering design and GIS Services provider, registered Rs 170.8 crore net profit for the year ended on March 31, up 84.7 per cent over last year.

The company today announced 40 per cent dividend (Rs 2 per equity share of Rs 5 each) and also a 1:1 bonus share for every share held.

The total income reached Rs 1000 crore with operating margins at 21.9 per cent, an improvement of 180 basis points over last year.

Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy said the increase in net profits was due to the optimum utilization of employees and improvement in margins.

"Our revenue contributions from top 10 customers have increased year on year. Top ten customers contribute 61.2 per cent of the total revenues this year," Reddy said.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates that the crisis caused by a volcanic ash cloud above Europe cost airlines revenues of more than $1.7 billion by Tuesday.

"For an industry that lost $9.4 billion last year and was forecast to lose a further $2.8 billion in 2010, this crisis is devastating," IATA Director General and Chief Executive Giovanni Bisignani said in a statement on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press briefing in Berlin, Bisignani said that he expects it will take the airline industry at least three years to recover from the volcano crisis.

Most of Europe's airspace closed on Thursday after a huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano spread out, stranding millions of business passengers and holidaymakers and paralysing freight and businesses worldwide.

On the three days from April 17 to April 19, when the air

Aban Offshor, 1224, 1241.9, 1221, 1234.5 Abb Ltd., 866, 866, 848, 852.45 Abg Shipyard, 249.7, 257.5, 249.3, 253.55 Acc Limited, 926, 946.9, 926, 931.5 Adani Enterp, 526.8, 548, 524, 544.35 Aditya Birla, 844.45, 852.8, 827, 833.1 Allahabad Ba, 163.7, 165, 163.6, 164.15 Alstom Proje, 620, 625.3, 617, 622.25 Ambuja Cemen, 119, 121.6, 118.55, 121.05 Andhra Bank, 118, 119.15, 117.4, 118.35 Ansal Prop &, 82.95, 84.5, 81.9, 82.55 Ashok Leylan, 55, 56.4, 55, 55.5 Asian Paints, 2090, 2118, 2036, 2050 Axis Bank Li, 1195, 1252, 1195, 1237.4 Bajaj Hindus, 133.5, 134, 131.3, 131.75 Bank Of Baro, 639.1, 642, 626.95, 628.85 Bank Of Indi, 368, 371.8, 363.6, 364.6 Beml Limited, 1045, 1055, 1027, 1031.25 Bharat Elect, 1909.7, 1915.5, 1885, 1897.65 Bharat Forge, 275, 284, 274.6, 276.1 Bharat Petro, 501.05, 502.5, 496.5, 499.65 Bharti Airte, 306, 308.2, 303.5, 305.7 Bhel, 2495, 2519.8, 2452, 2458.6 Bhushan Stee, 1792.65, 1817.4, 1785,

the patterns going to the end of the year, we expect moderation (in inflation)," Gokarn said, adding depending on the monsoon, RBI would take a call on the way inflation is heading.

The Reserve Bank would not hesitate to take big steps if the situation warranted, he said.

"Our preference is to act in small steps but if circumstances are worrying, we will not hesitate to take larger steps."

According to him, during a crisis, a dramatic action is likely to be less risky because the consequences of not acting will be more drastic. However, on the way up (recovery), the consequences of acting very strongly in terms of tightening can have an adverse impact on recovery.

The RBI preferred the balancing act and be as non- disruptive as possible but there can be circumstances where an argument in favour of drastic action emerges, he said, adding, "but I cannot speculate on these circumstances."

On statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), or the portion of deposits that banks are required to keep in government securities, he said the RBI is not inclined to using this tool as a policy instrument.

On deregulation of savings, Gokarn said the central bank is having a dialogue with both banks and Indian Banks Association. Gokarn said in the current year, he expects credit growth to pick up to a point where pricing will start having an impact.

Pg12

1802.3 Biocon Limit, 304.5, 305.9, 300, 300.75 Bombay Dyein, 613, 625.9, 605.1, 608.3 Bosch Limite, 4925, 4960, 4893.05, 4942.45 Brigade Ente, 146.3, 152, 146, 147.05 Cairn India, 302, 303.15, 299.6, 301.75 Canara Bank, 403.9, 406.5, 394, 396.15 Central Bank, 154, 156, 152.5, 153.4 Century Text, 532.3, 537.8, 526.7, 531.3 Cesc Ltd, 395, 400, 390, 397.55 Chambal Fert, 61.45, 62.65, 61.45, 61.85 Chennai Petr, 271.5, 288.9, 271.5, 281.4 Cipla Ltd, 332, 336.8, 329.1, 334.25 Colgate Palm, 723.7, 729.7, 720, 726.55 Container Co, 1399.95, 1470, 1399.95, 1452.95 Crompton Gre, 267.45, 268.2, 260.35, 265.95 Cummins Indi, 531, 545, 530.1, 536.05 Dabur India, 176, 177.55, 175, 175.75 Deccan Chron, 156, 159.2, 155, 158.25 Dish Tv Indi, 37, 37.45, 36.8, 36.9 Divi’s Labor, 696, 708.9, 696, 703.65 Dlf Limited, 326, 333.9, 326, 330.4

traffic disruptions were the biggest, lost revenues reached $400 million per day, IATA said.

At its worst, the crisis affected 29% of global aviation and 1.2 million passengers a day.

By Wednesday morning, most of European airspace was open for business, but with so many planes having been grounded it could take days or weeks to clear the backlog. sMALLeR FueL BILL While the shut-down led to lost revenues for airlines, it also lowered their operating costs for a short time, Bisignani said. Fuel costs dropped by $110 million a day, for instance.

Overall, Bisignani reiterated that the hit by the volcano crisis was bigger than the impact of the Sept. 11 2001 attacks, which left airlines grounded for three days.

Bisignani urged governments to examine ways to compensate airlines for lost revenues. The US government provided $5 billion to compen-

Dr. reddy’s, 1175, 1185.75, 1160, 1166.65 Edelweiss Ca, 427.1, 433.5, 427.1, 432.05 Educomp Solu, 710, 718.2, 700, 704 Eih Limited, 125.9, 128.5, 124.6, 125.65 Engineers In, 2445.1, 2500, 2445.1, 2487.35 Essar Oil Lt, 144.1, 144.6, 142.1, 142.8 Essar Shippi, 95.5, 100.7, 95.1, 97.8 Exide Indust, 118.9, 119.75, 115.4, 119.2 Federal Bank, 280.9, 284.5, 280.9, 282.35 Financial Te, 1594.45, 1613.45, 1566.15, 1599.8 Gail (india), 428, 430.25, 419.9, 426.55 Gammon India, 226.1, 229, 221.15, 222.3 Glaxosmithkl, 1864.9, 1928.85, 1850, 1917.3 Glenmark Pha, 274.5, 274.75, 267.05, 270.35 Gmr Infrastr, 61.45, 62.5, 61.1, 62.25 Godrej Indus, 160.95, 169.7, 160, 168.65 Grasim Indus, 2817, 2838, 2800, 2826.1 Great Offsho, 423, 428.45, 421, 425.75 Gtl Infra.Lt, 42.8, 44.3, 42.5, 43.7 Gujarat Mine, 141.55, 143.45, 140.1, 140.5 Gujarat N R, 85.5, 86.95, 83.25, 83.55

Gujarat Stat, 94.05, 94.45, 92.3, 92.55 Gvk Pow. & I, 45.45, 46.85, 45.3, 45.8 Hcl Technolo, 348, 375, 343.65, 373.9 Hdfc Bank Lt, 1949, 1960, 1935, 1941 Hdfc Ltd, 2710, 2720, 2690.1, 2704.8 Hero Honda M, 1880, 1895, 1851, 1889.15 Hindalco in, 182.5, 183.65, 179.4, 179.8 Hindustan Co, 135.7, 137.9, 133, 133.9 Hindustan Ma, 83.8, 83.8, 81.25, 81.45 Hindustan Pe, 302, 302, 298, 298.75 Hindustan Un, 228.2, 234.75, 228.2, 232.85 Hindustan Zi, 1222, 1244.2, 1212.05, 1229.05 Housing Dev, 294.05, 298.45, 293.8, 295.65 Icici Bank L, 939.95, 954.5, 939, 951.9 Idea Cellula, 67.85, 67.85, 66.7, 67.1 Ifci Ltd, 51.05, 51.5, 50.7, 51.2 India Cement, 133.05, 141, 133.05, 140 India Infoli, 113.9, 116.1, 112.2, 115.2 Indiabulls F, 136.15, 138.85, 136, 137.25 Indiabulls R, 169.1, 176.85, 168, 174.6 Indian Bank, 189.2, 192, 184.7, 185.7 Indian Hotel, 106.8, 111.35, 106.8, 110.45 Indian Oil C, 282.3, 282.9, 280.55, 281.45

sate airlines after the Sept. 11 attacks, and the European Union also provided assistance to carriers.

Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber, speaking at the same Berlin press briefing as Bisignani, said he will not apply for compensation to offset the soaring burden.

"At the operating level, we estimate that Lufthansa's loss will exceed 100 million euros ($134.4 million) and could go as high as 200 million euros if the disruptions to traffic remain substantial until next week," LBBW analyst Per-Ola Hellgren said.

But he said that the carrier should be able to recover some of the losses as early as next week as passengers who postponed their trips fill seats on Lufthansa aircraft.

Singapore Airlines, the world's second-largest airline by market value said ash-related disruptions had cost it $29 million from cargo and passenger operations.

Indian Overs, 96.25, 97.45, 95.85, 96.75 Indus Dev Ba, 121.5, 123, 120.6, 121.25 Indusind Ban, 184.9, 194.9, 183.7, 193.85 Infosys Tech, 2743, 2749.75, 2700.3, 2712.45 Infra. dev., 170, 174.35, 168.3, 170 Ispat Indust, 20.4, 20.9, 20.25, 20.35 Itc Ltd, 264, 264.95, 261.35, 262.45 Ivrcl Infras, 176, 180.45, 176, 178.45 Jai Corp Lim, 273.8, 282.45, 270.25, 276.9 Jaiprakash A, 148.5, 151.9, 148.5, 150.05 Jet Airways, 520, 547, 519.5, 542.4 Jindal Saw L, 217.8, 220.9, 215.5, 218.3 Jindal Steel, 724.85, 725.9, 715.15, 722.35 Jsw Steel Li, 1229.7, 1245.3, 1220.1, 1225.25 Kotak Mahind, 735, 747.5, 732.4, 742.6 Lakshmi Mach, 1999, 2034.95, 1980, 2015.7 Lanco Infrat, 58, 58.7, 57.4, 58.25 Larsen & Tou, 1597, 1599.1, 1565, 1577.8 Lic Housing, 887.7, 887.7, 862.2, 871.3 Lupin Limite, 1675, 1704.8, 1630.9, 1645.3 Mahanagar Te, 73.5, 73.9, 72.8, 73.05 Mahindra & M, 516, 516, 507, 508.25

"We want to sustain the recovery process. We want to give it as much support as possible. At the same time, we do not want an accelerating growth rate to start putting inflationary pressures in the system. Also, we do have a government borrowing programme which cannot be allowed to disrupt financial markets," Gokarn said.

As such, the central bank went in for a moderate hike of 25 basis points in its key rates and cash kept by banks with the central bank in its annual monetary policy announced yesterday. "So, to strike a kind of balance between these three broad objectives, we came to the conclusion that a moderate action on the rates and liquidity provides us the best prospect of meeting all these obligations," Gokarn said.

The govt has projected its market borrowings for this fiscal at Rs 4.57 lakh crore against Rs 4.51 lakh crore last fiscal

and it is planning to mop up 63% of this in the first half itself.

Gokarn further said there is a possibility of high capital inflows posing problems, but that has not arisen so far. "Let's wait to see whether the trend is firming up before we act," Gokarn said.

BOARD MEETINGS ACC sasken Com Falcon Tyres shriram Asset Ambuja Cements Gujarat Gas state Bank Bik Birla Capital Hind syntex sterlite Tech Birla Corp Honeywell strides Arco surya Pharma Chowgule steam Kale Consl sV electricals Coromandel Intl M&M Finance Tata sponge Dunlop India Nestle India Western India Cot Panasonic Carb Wipro esab India Zensar Tech escorts Rallis India

Source: Indiainfoline.com

MF FUNDA ICICI PRuDeNTIAL MuTuAL FuND has approved April 26, 2010 as the record date for declaration of dividend under dividend option of ICICI Prudential Interval Fund II- Quarterly Interval Plan A. The face value of per unit is Rs 10. The quantum of dividend will be 100% of distributable surplus as on the record date.

FRANKLIN TeMPLeTON MuTuAL FuND has approved April 26, 2010 as the record date for declaration of dividend under Templeton Fixed Horizon Fund-series XI-Plan H (TFHF- Series XI-Plan H). The face value of per unit is Rs 10.

The fund house has decided to distribute 100% distributable surplus as dividend on the record date. uTI MuTuAL FuND has approved April 26, 2010 as the record date for declaration of dividend under dividend option of uTI Fixed Income Interval Fund - Monthly Interval Plan I. The face value of per unit is Rs 10.

The quantum of dividend will be 100% of distributable surplus as on the record date.

KOTAK MuTuAL FuND has approved April 26, 2010 as the record date for declaration of dividend under dividend option of Kotak FMP 13M series 5. The face value of per unit is Rs 10.

The quantum of dividend will be upto 100% of distributable surplus as on the record date.

QuANTuM MuTuAL FuND has approved to introduce daily / weekly systematic transfer plan (STP) in Quantum Liquid Fund with effect from April 16, 2010.

The terms and conditions are as follows: Minimum daily STP amount is Rs 100 and in multiples of Rs 100 thereafter (only on business day). Minimum weekly STP amount is Rs 500 and in multiples of Rs 100 thereafter (on every Monday).

Minimum number of installments for daily STP is 132. Minimum number of installments for weekly STP is 24. Daily / weekly STP is available under growth option / monthly dividend option / daily dividend re-investment option. The application for daily / weekly STP should be submitted at least 10 business days in advance before the commencement date of daily / weekly STP.

Maruti Suzuk, 1350, 1380, 1350, 1377.45 Max India Lt, 191.95, 192.8, 184.5, 187.55 Maytas Infr., 200, 206.4, 198.5, 204.5 Moser-baer (, 75.6, 76.4, 74.65, 75.3 Mrpl, 78, 78.4, 77, 77.2 Nagarjuna Co, 180.6, 183.65, 176.7, 177.9 Nagarjuna Fe, 31.3, 31.35, 30.8, 30.95 National Alu, 410.95, 418, 405.5, 414.05 Neyveli Lign, 148.5, 150.85, 148.15, 150.3 Ntpc Ltd, 206.2, 207.5, 205.6, 206.8 Oil And Natu, 1005.1, 1013.8, 999.95, 1009.7 Omaxe Limite, 93.8, 95.7, 93.7, 94.2 Oriental Ban, 324.95, 328.85, 320, 323.1 Pantaloon Re, 415, 436, 412, 433.05 Parsvnath De, 125, 127.25, 123, 126.7 Petronet Lng, 83, 83.6, 81.85, 82.95 Power Fin Co, 267, 273, 266, 267.3 Power Grid C, 108, 111.2, 107.9, 110.05 Praj Industr, 86.75, 87.6, 85.8, 86.75 Punj Lloyd L, 166.25, 168.9, 165.7, 167.7 Punjab Natio, 995.3, 1012.5, 988.7, 1007.85 Rajesh Expor, 127.3, 133.05, 126.2, 129.2 Ranbaxy Labs, 445, 452.35, 444.35, 450.7 Rashtriya Ch, 79.25, 80, 78.5, 78.7

Rel. nat. re, 62.8, 63.6, 62.75, 63.15 Reliance Cap, 738.9, 744.6, 733, 736.3 Reliance Com, 168.8, 169.9, 167.15, 167.7 Reliance Ene, 917.9, 917.9, 900, 902 Reliance Ind, 854.7, 858.8, 841, 842.7 Reliance Ind, 1070, 1073.7, 1048.15, 1054.1 Reliance Pow, 157, 159.9, 155.25, 159.35 Rolta India, 188, 188.25, 185, 187.05 Satyam Compu, 93, 94.8, 92.6, 93.05 Sesa Goa Ltd, 461.2, 465.8, 458, 461.75 Shipping Cor, 160.5, 162.5, 159.55, 160.6 Siemens Ltd, 701.05, 722, 701.05, 718.65 Sintex Indus, 314, 331.5, 313.1, 324.7 Sobha Develo, 328, 340, 327, 337.35 State Bank O, 2110, 2119, 2086.6, 2105.8 Steel Author, 221, 223.9, 218.5, 219.25 Sterlite Ind, 816.25, 816.25, 801, 803.4 Sun Pharmace, 1813, 1813, 1740, 1746.55 Sun Tv Netwo, 424.7, 425.3, 419, 424.5 Suzlon Energ, 72.6, 73.25, 71.5, 71.9 Tata Communi, 277.25, 280, 275.7, 276.9 Tata Consult, 795, 799, 780.25, 785 Tata Motors, 794.2, 812, 775.15, 809.4 Tata Power C, 1315, 1341.5, 1312, 1324.5

Tata Steel L, 673.1, 679.8, 665.7, 668.85 Tata Tea Ltd, 1000, 1018.8, 992.1, 1010.4 Tata Teleser, 24, 24.15, 23.8, 23.85 Tech Mahindr, 825, 838.35, 822.5, 829.95 The Ge Shpg., 336, 340.55, 330, 332.85 The Phoenix, 204, 211.45, 201, 209.1 Thermax Ltd, 715, 719.9, 708.15, 717.25 Titan Indust, 2049.7, 2074, 2038.2, 2052.35 Torrent Powe, 305.9, 321, 305.25, 317.85 Triveni Engg, 120, 120, 116.25, 116.75 Tv18 India L, 84, 85.2, 83.25, 84.4 Uco Bank, 61.25, 62.3, 60.8, 61.05 Ultratech Ce, 1104.8, 1113.8, 1095.1, 1105.3 Union Bank O, 306.3, 316.75, 304.45, 309.3 Unitech Ltd, 84, 87.05, 84, 85.5 United Phosp, 147.45, 147.45, 144.3, 144.65 Videocon Ind, 250, 250, 236.6, 241.1 Vijaya Bank, 49.95, 50.35, 49.6, 49.75 Voltas Ltd, 186.15, 187.4, 183.35, 184.3 Welspun Guj, 269, 273.3, 267.3, 272.7 Wipro Ltd, 699.5, 707.6, 688.1, 705 Yes Bank Lim, 258.85, 273.15, 258.05, 271.75 Zee Entertai, 296, 308.4, 295.8, 304.6

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HE RA LD

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GOA, THURSDAY, 22 APRIL, 2010

Bosch aims to grow sales ReuTeRs FRANKFURT, APRIL 21

Bosch, the world's largest car parts maker, aims to recoup the bulk of its sales lost in last year's industry crisis and return to profit after its first annual loss since the second world war.

A diversified industrial conglomerate that has begun investing heavily in solar power, Bosch is a bellwether for the overall German manufacturing industry.

"We want to return to profitability again in 2010," Chief Executive Franz Fehrenbach, who forecast revenue to grow by more than 10 percent to 42 billion euros ($56.6 billion) for the full year.

In the first quarter alone, Bosch expects turnover to increase by about 25 percent.

SEBI for check on mis-selling of MFs

TVS to spend Rs 175 cr on expansion ReuTeRs MUMBAI, APRIL 21

TVS Motor Co will spend about Rs 175 crore in 2010/11 on capacity expansion and new products and would fund the expenditure through internal accruals, a senior official said.

The firm had spent 650-700 million rupees in FY10, S G Murali, executive VP finance, told Reuters over the telephone.

"The Capex includes investment behind R&D, new products as well as capacity expansion," he said.

PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 21

Market-regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), today said that it is looking at the need to put a check on mis-selling of mutual fund products by the distributors through a compliance certification examination.

"There is a need to put a check on distributors, who missell mutual fund products in the market. By May or June, we will come out with an online

test for distributors," SEBI's executive director, K N Vaidyanathan, told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI event here today.

Currently, AMFI is conducting the test and accepts the registration formalities. From May onwards, the programme will be carried out by the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), a division of Sebi.

"From May onwards, NISM will conduct an online certifica-

Google gets 142 requests from India for censoring PTI NEW YORK, APRIL 21

Internet major Google, which recently pulled out of China due to censorship issues, has ranked India third in a list of countries from which it receives requests for censoring information.

For the first time, Google has published a country-wise list of the number of requests received from governments, seeking either removal of information or more details. The list is based on requests made to Google between July 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009.

As per the list, Google received maximum removal requests from Brazil (291), followed by Germany (188) and India (142).

The number of request for removal of information from India was higher than that from the US (123).

"For Brazil and India, requests for content removal are

high relative to other countries in part because of the popularity of our social networking website, orkut. The majority of the Brazilian and Indian requests for removal of content from orkut relate to alleged impersonation or defamation," Google said in a statement released late yesterday.

Other countries in the list are South Korea (64), the UK (59), Italy (57), Argentina (42), Spain (32), Australia (17) and Canada (16).

In terms of seeking data, Brazil is again at the top with 3,663 requests, while India is at the fourth place with 1,061 requests. India is behind the US (3,580) and the UK (1,166).

According to Google, other nations with maximum requests for the data were France (846), Italy (550), Germany (458), Spain (324), Australia (155), Argentina (98) and Poland (86).

In both lists, information

LAUNCH PAD

Bacardi-Martini’s Eristoff vodka now in India

MuMBAI (PTI) -- Bacardi-Martini India today launched its premium vodka brand Eristoff in the city and is set for a pan-India roll out by this year with an aim to capture a sizeable market share in the next two years.

The liquor company has already launched the product, in phases, in about 15 Tier-II and III cities last year, and will launch the vodka brand in Kolkata and a city in Andhra Pradesh in the next three months, Bacardi-Martini Controller (Marketing) Arvind Krishnan said here.

"We will soon ramping up our presence across the country.

We have already launched the brand in 15 smaller cities.

Eristoff is one of the largest selling premium vodka brands in France, Austria, Belgium, Portugal and Chile. We see India as a potential market as a huge demand is coming from youngsters and the emerging middle class," he said.

He said the vodka segment was a mere 5-million cases per annum of the 150-million cases of spirits market and there was enough room for Eristoff to garner a decent market share.

Krishnan, however, did not divulge any figures related to sales or the market share it was looking at.

The global liquor giant also sells brands like Bacardi rum, Bacardi Breezer, flavoured rum and Grey Goose vodka in the Indian market.

The company, a joint venture between Bermuda-based Bacardi and Karnataka's Gemini Distilleries, also has chalked out an aggressive campaign for the promotion and marketing of Eristoff. It would also focus on the packaging aspect, which Krishnan said, "is very important to promote a product."

On the growth of the vodka segment in India, Krishnan said the company expects a 30 per cent growth at par with the industry level for the next three years.

New handsets from CHeNNAI (PTI) -- Handset manufacturer Zen Mobiles, part of TeleCare Group, today launched Zen X220 having multiple features under the affordable price category.

Equipped with dual SIM, the phone priced at Rs 1,849 comes with wireless FM and MP3 playback system, a company release here said.

Provided with a 65K TFT screen, the handset has an extendable memory and a powerful torch light, it said.

The phone also has a VGA camera and has a talk time of upto four hours, it said.

about China has not been included since Chinese officials "consider censorship demands as state secrets", Google said.

Removal requests ask for removal of content from Google search results or from another Google product, including YouTube, while data requests seek information about Google user accounts or products.

Pointing out that statistics are not "100 per cent comprehensive or accurate", Google said the list primarily cover requests in criminal matters.

Apart from requests got directly from the government agencies, the search engine has included statistics on court orders for the removal of content, which often originate from private-party disputes.

The search engine said it has not included statistics for countries where it received fewer than 30 requests for user data in criminal cases during the sixmonth period.

8.25% growth in FY11: PM NEW DELHI: India's economy is expected to grow at 8.25 percent in the financial year 2010/11 that began on April 1, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.

tion programme. In the entire process we need to distinguish between the passing of the test and certification. This is important," Vaidyanathan said.

SEBI wants to bring all financial products certification programmes under NISM. Presently, NISM conducts certification programmes for intermediaries in currency derivatives, registrar and transfer agents for stocks and registrar and share transfer agents for mutual funds.

Just Dial now in US too HeRALD BusINess DesK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Just Dial, an allIndia virtual directory service plans to expand to every major Englishspeaking country in the next two years.

In March this year, Just Dial expanded the Rs 500 croreplus search engine business to the US. For now, Just Dial’s US operations will be handled out of India, where the company employs about 4,000 people.

“We soon plan to hire up to 1,000 people in the US, mostly in underemployed, rural areas,” says Venkatachalam Sthanu Subra Mani.

The days to come will see Just Dial expanding to Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong to fulfil Mani’s target of being present in all major Englishspeaking countries in the next two years. The company also intends to leverage the brand and knowhow for an international franchise.

Just Dial is a directory service that provides information on basically any entity that has a telephone existence — restaurants, plumbing services, shopping malls, colleges and so on. In India, Just Dial receives over 240,000 calls everyday and hosts over 200,000 visitors to its website.

It caters to over 2 million users across 240 cities in the country. Its revenue model involves a nominal fee to those who list but is free to consumers.

MoneyGram's goal was to provide choices: Pamela PTI KOCHI, APR 21

The goal of MoneyGram International, a leading global provider of money transfer services, is to provide more choices, added value and increased convenience to consumers all the world, a top official of the company said.

'With more than 190,000 valued agent locations in more than 190 countries, MoneyGram's goal is to provide more choices, added value and increased convenied to consumers all over the world , Pamela H Patsley, Chairman and CEO, MoneyGram International, told reporters here today.

MoneyGram entered the Indian market about 10 years ago and since then has developed relationships with 20 major banks and has nearly 22,000 agent locations in the country, she said.

The company had recently opened its regional offices in Mumbai and Delhi to support agents and ensure the best possible customer service in South Asia, she said.

'MoneyGram's presence in the region provides an important service to over 25 million non-resident Indians who continue to have links with India', she said.

Patsley, who was making her first visit to India, said 'Our opportunities to meet remittance

demands are changing rapidly.

In 2009, we added our service at ATMs in the Middle East, which is an important send market for India, and provided our first transfers direct to a mobile phone'.

The remittances in India totalled approximately USD 52 billion in 2008, and it has increased to USD 55 billion in 2009, Harsh Lambah, Regional Director, South Asia, MoneyGram International, said.

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharasthra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu are the key states receiving significant remittances, he said, adding the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states alone have more than 25 million expatriates.

Pg13 Oberoi renovation at $35-40 m ReuTeRs MUMBAI

EIH Ltd estimates the total cost of renovation for its Oberoi property in south Mumbai to be $35-40 million, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The property has already received insurance payment worth 620 million rupees from its insurer New India Assurance, Liam Lambert, president of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts told reporters on Wednesday.

The Oberoi's south Mumbai property was damaged in November 2008 when 10 armed militants stormed Mumbai and killed 166 people.

Lambert had earlier said the 330-room hotel will be reopened with 280 rooms as 50 have been converted into suites.

Canfin Homes 83% loan approved PTI BANGALORE, APRIL 21

Can Fin Homes Ltd (CFHL) recorded a growth of 83 per cent in loan approvals and 82 per cent in loan disbursements during 2009-10 by sanctioning and disbursing Rs 653 crore and Rs 547 crore respectively as against Rs 356 crore under sanction and 300 crore under disbursement during the previous fiscal year.

The loan outstanding has grown by 12% and stood at Rs 2106.65 crore as against Rs 1887.18 crore as on March 31 last year, a statement said.

CFHL has posted a profit after tax of Rs 39.19 crore in 2009-10 as against Rs 31.53 crore in the previous fiscal, a 24 per cent growth.

Citi CEO stresses ‘responsible finance’ ReuTeRs NEW YORK

Citigroup Inc chief executive Vikram Pandit stressed the bank was now focusing on "responsible finance," a comment that comes as rival Goldman Sachs wrestles with legal woes.

Pandit, speaking at Citigroup's annual meeting, said responsible finance "is the driving force behind the culture of the new Citi, and it is defined by the interests of our shareholders, customers and colleagues."

Pandit has mentioned responsible finance in the past, but the comments have new meaning days after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs with defrauding customers in a complicated subprime mortgage transaction. Goldman has said it did nothing wrong and will defend itself.

"Obviously he's taking advantage of the Goldman Sachs situation to talk about that -- it's clear that they're trying to distinguish themselves from Goldman," Ralph Cole, portfolio manager at Ferguson Wellman Capital Management in Portland, said in a telephone inter-

view. Ferguson Wellman does not own Citigroup shares.

Banks failing to put customers first was the reason behind much of the financial crisis and the attendant destruction of shareholder value, Pandit said.

The Citigroup CEO is trying to rebuild shareholder value at the bank, and some investors at the annual meeting were more optimistic than in prior years.

"They're moving in the right direction," said Ron Davanzo, an individual investor from Stamford Connecticut, at the meeting.

The annual meeting mainly attracts individual investors, who were vituperative when complaining about how the bank's shares used to trade at more than $50 apiece and now trade at less than $5.

Investors complained about prior management and, on at least two occasions, hissed at the mention of former adviser and director Robert Rubin, who served as secretary of the Treasury under the Clinton administration.

But some investors praised Pandit for starting to turn

around the bank.

"I applaud Mr Pandit's leadership and I know your heart is in the right place," said an investor, who took the microphone and identified herself as a former employee.

As expected, shareholders voted in every director, and approved every management proposal, including those authorizing more share grants to employees, and to grant shares to employees that immediately vest.

The US Treasury Department said it voted its 7.7 billion shares, representing about 27 percent of the bank's shares, in favor of the director nominees, and in favor of shares for employees. The government also voted in favor of a proposal allowing the bank to do a reverse stock split.

Citigroup has no immediate plans to do a stock split, but just wants to have the flexibility, said Chairman Dick Parsons.

Citigroup had that authorization last year, as well.

For most other proposals, Treasury voted in the same proportion as other shareholders, so it did not affect the outcome.

GM to launch electric car by year-end PTI VADODARA, APRIL 21

General Motors will launch India's first four-door electric passenger car by the end of this year, a top company executive said today.

"General Motors India has collaborated with Reva Electric Car Company to manufacture the E-Spark," the auto major's Director and Vice-President, P Balendran said.

The vehicle would be the electric version of General Motors' small car 'Spark'. Reva would provide battery technology for the E-Spark.

"This path-breaking initiative is in line with GM India's commitment to introduce environment-friendly mobility solutions in the country," he said.

Balendran was here to oversee the rolling out of 10,000th Chevrolet Spark in India at the company's 14-year-old plant at Halol, about 40km from Vadodara.

GM had signed an agreement with Bangalore-based firm Reva in September 2009 for collaboration in the development of electric vehicles for the India market.

China invests heavily in fertile green auto ground ReuTeRs BEIJING, APRIL 21

Chinese automakers, unscathed by a savage global downturn, are ramping up efforts to get more cleaner, lowemmission vehicles on the roads, counting on the green drive to propel them into the top ranks of the global auto industry.

From leading Chinese auto group SAIC Motor Corp to rising star Geely Automotive Holding, indigenous players will show off a host of new green vehicles at the Beijing autoshow that starts this week, including some futuristic concept models.

"Green energy cars represent sort of gold mine on the horizon that all the companies hope to reach eventually," said Stephen Dyer, principal with A.T. Kearney China.

"Almost all the major Chinese manufacturers have ongoing development programmes. Some may be more politically motivated but clearly some are very serious pursuits that are backed by large investments and substantial research teams."

Big auto groups backed by

government money, such as SAIC, are likely to emerge as winners, industry analysts say, while leading private-sector players, like Warren Buffetbacked BYD, will also be a front runner as it pushes into foreign markets.

But the road for low emission, alternative fuel vehicles in China is a long one. Sales of Toyota's Prius, the world's bestknown green car, numbered just 300 in China last year, when it overtook the U.S. as the world's largest auto market.

"Frankly, it is still a little premature to say there is now or soon to be major customer demand for electric or hybrid cars in China or anywhere in the world," said A.T. Kearney's Dyer.

"In China, there may even been a higher bar to pass. This is because the majority of consumers are first time car buyers and they tend to be practical than the green energy car buyers in the U.S. who may have political or philosophical reasons."

TeCHNOLOGY GAP CLOsING Still, many companies are betting heavily on an electric and alternative fuel future, and Chi-

nese models are expected to snatch some significant share.

SAIC, which will showcase its self-developed electric car E1 and hybrid models at the auto show, is investing 6 billion yuan ($879 million) in green vehicles. Its hybrid Roewe 750 saloon is scheduled for mass production later this year, followed by a plug-in version of a smaller Roewe 550 and E1 in 2012.

Another state-backed heavyweight, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co, unveiled its BE701 electric car in November and is building a 2.28 billion yuan production base on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, capable of making 50,000 electric vehicles and twice as many hybrids.

"There is still a technology gap between local and foreign (firms), but this is a relatively level playing field and the Chinese are not that far behind.

They have a chance to catch up," said Mervin Guo, a senior analyst with J.D. Power.

Other industry observers cited Daimler's tie with BYD as a recognition of China's growing strength in this field.

"The Daimler-BYD tie is dif-

ferent from those in the early days when local automakers tended to rely heavily on their foreign partners for technologies. They are equal partners," said Chen Liang, an analyst with Huatai Securities.

Chinese automakers, however, are still newcomers with somewhat patchy reputations for quality, and are never short of critics.

"In China, they are going to develop some low cost EVs that won't have all the performance characteristics of cars we have in the Western world," said Kevin Wale, president and managing director for General Motors' China operations. "There is going to be quite a difference in the types of electric vehicles," Wale told Reuters.

The No 1 Detroit automaker will sell its much-touted Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid in China in 2011 following its North America debut later this year.

MAJOR MAKeT DeMAND NOT IN sIGHT Foreign automakers are continuing to test the waters for hybrid or electric models in China, but but many are moving cautiously, given the chilly reception of some pioneering

hybrid models, including Toyota's Prius, GM's Buick Lacrosse and Honda Motor's gasolineelectric Civic.

A made-in-China Prius costs as much as $41,000, nearly matching the price tag of much bigger gasoline-powered Camry, making it a turn-off for Chinese buyers, who still have a penchant for big cars.

Annual sales of imported Civic hybrids are also a few hundred, according to a Honda official, who blamed the hefty price tag of nearly $40,000 -roughly twice as much a Chinamade non-hybrid version -- and lack of government incentives.

"Green cars like hybrids are expensive. Without government subsidies, the market just won't take off," said the Honda official, asked not to be identified.

Beijing pledged late last year to hand out rebates to private car buyers, expanding a pilot scheme targeting public transport operators, but no timetable has been set.

Some foreign automakers are also treading cautiously to see which technologies the government endorses before making any big investments.

Still, both GM and Nissan Motor are on track to import the Volt and Leaf next year, followed by BMW, which will bring its first hybrids for China -- a gasoline-electric BMW X6 and BMW 7 -- later this year.

On top of a formidable price tag, a lack of industrial standardisation and inadequate infrastructure network are also cited as major obstacles for plug-in vehicles.

The southern boom town of Shenzhen, where BYD rolled out its plug-in hybrid, F3DM, late last year, has just three charging stations.

Moreover, the facilities, built by a major Chinese state power grid, are off-limits to other entrants like Nissan's Leaf.

"You can't charge the Leaf at the facilities as the charger just won't fit in. We'll have to have our own facilities when we sell Leaf in Shenzhen," said Tsunehiko Nakagawa, vice president of Nissan China Investment.

"We are working with local governments and other Japanese carmakers right now. We want to make sure that new charging facilities to be built could be at least be shared by us all."

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Culture

Environment

GOA’S HEARTBEAT Scary Days Ahead

Education

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“

Relationships

The best way out is always “through - Robert Frost

Thursday, 22 April, 2010

“T

If a little romance waltzes over and asks for a spot on your dance card, say yes. Start moving more (21 Mar – 19 Apr) quickly today -- you need to be sure that you're taking on as much as possible! It's a really good time for you to lead your people in a new direction that looks appealing.

How do you spell power struggle? Good luck with whatever it is that comes up, today. Try to show a (20 Apr – 20 May) bit of tolerance for your people today -- they need it! Your own energy is a bit off anyway, so maybe you can set a good example and let others slide by on their own for a while.

You may have a little mini-crisis or two in regards to your career.

What's it mean? Your (23 Oct – 21 Nov) sense of what's important is making life a lot more interesting today -- especially for those who disagree! Watch out for power struggles, but don't be afraid to take part and come out on top.

You and your buddies could get deep into a good-vs.-evil discussion today. Your social energy (21 May – 21 Jun) is fully engaged -maybe more so than most other people's. It's one of those days when you have fun debating the finer points of every issue, but not everyone else is having fun with it.

It's the kind of day where you win plane tickets to the tropics. Don't be surprised. Your fiery per(22 Nov – 21 Dec) sonal energy is pushing you to take bigger and bigger risks -- though you should draw a firm limit when it comes to your personal safety! Gambling with money is fine if you can afford it.

You are really happy.

You laugh loudly! You stand proudly! You are just right! If you act on (22 Jun – 22 Jul) impulse today, you're likely to feel good about it. Regrets are unlikely to kick in soon, if ever, and you might impress someone who's been waiting for a signal from you.

Someone you're thinking of going into business with might be untrustworthy. Careful! Work (22 Dec – 19 Jan) and business are problematic right now, but you can make some progress if you go it alone (as much as possible). You're not one to freak out at temporary blips, so get down to business and move on.

You're sweet like honey and just as natural. You smell good, but rather sticky. Your creative en(23 Jul – 22 Aug) ergy is flowing quite strongly right now, so you ought to be able to get your coworkers or friends moving in a new, exciting direction. Your natural leadership skills come in handy!

Compromise is key, but you already knew that, you people-pleaser, you!

Please! It's hard to get (20 Jan – 18 Feb) much work done -- there's just too much going on! That's not to say you need to shut out all distractions, but if you need to finish a project, it's best to do it as soon as possible.

You might be the underdog today, but the goal is to go home with the bone. You need to relax (23 Aug – 22 Sep) a little more today -- even though someone is grating on you!

If you show them how flexible you can be when the time is right, they are sure to lighten up and leave you alone.

It's a good day to get started on a new exercise routine. Swimming pool snorkeling? Let your (19 Feb – 20 Mar) mind drift as far as it can go -- which is pretty far on a day like today! Your mental energy is focused on wild fantasies and creative plans that might never come to fruition.

Travel

Tourism

email us at: goasheartbeat@herald-goa.com

Parenting

Pg14

ers, without Our policy mak quick to point hesitation, are oan ‘shetkars’ fingers at our G riculture in the for declining ag at they are state saying th om cultivation. shying away fr all section is But when a sm hard in tilling still struggling t have to face the land and ye rete jungle a growing conc th on eir lands, encroaching up e offenders to who will take th t into task? An insigh ster sa di nding Taleigao’s impe

the fish is unsafe for consumption,” explains Dr Kamat.

The change in climate has reflected in our environment and all that we see around us, “Biologically the change can be seen in flowering and

BY JANICE RODRIGUES fruiting cycle of trees. There has been a reduction in the biodiversity, alHERALD FEATURES he heat is killing me!” “I think I’m going to get though an objective count would take time but I suppose 10-30% of our a heat stoke!” “It never used to be so hot!” do overall biodiversity is threatened,” said Dr Kamat.

A whole lot of seemingly insignificant life forms are on the verge of these statements sound familiar? They are sure to be heard of in recent times. With the hotter extinction, insects like the ladybugs, beetles and more significantly the summers, the untimely rains, and practically no fireflies, have been on a decline in the recent years; all owing to the winter season, the heat is on a rise; and Goa, being a coastal changing in climate. “Fireflies are part of a very complex food chain. state, seems to be sweating it out all through the year. The climate Besides their biochemical machinery which generates the 'living light' is a wonder of nature, which many scientists seems to be on a race to break its on record with regard to global are working on,” explains Dr Kamat. About warming, changes which were generally supposed the significance of these minute creatures to occur after centuries, seem to be takin our ecosystems, Dr Kamat says enthuing place in a matter of few years. “The siastically, “All species have intangible exrapid changes in climate include, the risistence value. Fireflies like ants, bees and ing night time temperature, the slowly butterflies too have right to exist. We rising of the maximum day time temperdon't dump our parents as useless, ature; there is now no true winter in Goa, when they grow old. Fireflies also have it seems to be an extended summer; and aesthetic, spiritual value: you feel finally there is no divide in the urban-rural good, poetic and romantic, when you temperature, even forest areas are no longer happen to look at them in the dark cooler,” explains Dr Nandkumar Kamat. night. Besides it is patrimony for our With the trend of urbanisation creeping children and the generations to into the interior areas of the state, the rural come, we cannot just show them and forest areas like Bondla, Cotigao and films of fireflies when they disapMolem are no more cooler also seem to be pear.” getting warmer.

Although there is a decrease in some species of the life forms The changes in temperature over the last decade seem to be very drastic and this is the outcome of various owing to the increasing temperatures, some other life forms seem human practices which interfere with the nature’s way of cooling to be benefiting form this change. “Unwanted species like insects, down the atmosphere. “In meteorological history of any place 10- weeds would benefit. The invasion of unwanted and nuisance 20 years don't matter much. In Goa, we need to look at human in- causing weeds and pathogens and the proliferation of insects, terference like clearing of vast vegetated areas, cutting of hills, and breeding of mosquitoes almost all through the year, all these covering more land under roads and concrete, reclamation of water factors have given rise to new diseases,” explains Dr Kamat.

The climate changes, if they continue at the alarming rate, bodies which used to act like heat buffers and sinks. So along with natural climate change Goa is experiencing the manmade changes will cause extreme weather conditions that will affect man and beast alike. “Increase in thunderstorms and lightening, thunderbolt as well drastically,” says Dr Nandkumar Kamat.

Global warming has definitely taken a toll on our day to day lives. strikes, high rainfall intensities due to cloudburst, sudden squally We, humans, have invented a whole of gadgets to make our life weather destroying villages, houses, crops; many episodes comfortable, but a major part of our environment is left without of recurrent flash floods; prolonged water-logging, are some aid to cool itself. Some life cycles have been destroyed, due to the of the mishaps that are bound to occur in wake of the increase increasing heat, and thus causing a lot of imbalance in the ecosystems. in global temperatures,” explains Dr Kamat. These calamities “The quality of our life support systems have deteriorated,” says Dr would further cause a spurt in epidemics like jaundice, Kamat. Although the Goan land has been inhabited for the last 100 cholera, typhoid, gastrointestinal diseases, brain fever and thousand years, the water bodies and land have never been polluted elephantiasis would attack the vulnerable sections. “With the and tampered with as much as it has been in the recent times, this rise in new bacterial and viral pathogens, there will be a raid has affected the biodiversity of the land. “Many species of animals, deterioration of food and grains, the infestations of all types of plants, birds are getting threatened, the fish harvests have diminished, insects in houses, ferocious attacks of the termites on the wood, mango and cashew produces have fallen. The quality of the fish paper and timber, the further deterioration of the quality of food that we have in our markets will further deteriorate, as of now 70% of produce, grains fish and shell fish,” he concludes.

You should sign up for sailing lessons. Or a running club. Get going with a group! Your leadership (23 Sep – 22 Oct) skills are vital -- and potent -- today, so make the most of them! Your coworkers or family members need guidance or direction, and you can give it to them without getting bossy.

tem bhog “ Zaitem kor, nakam - Anonymous

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Who will take these Perpetrators to Task?

Global warming has been a topic of interest among people all around the world for a long time now, but what have been the changes in climate of the Goan land and what is its toll on the environment? Herald delves into this aspect on Earth Day

­H­O­R­O­S­C­O­P­E

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Lifestyle

Prakash Jha clears ‘Raajneeti’ Misconceptions

BY CHRISTINA VIEGAS HERALD FEATURES he first farmer was the first man; all historic nobility rests on the possession and use of land,” said American poet, Ralph Emerson.

Yet today, the majority of farmers in green and glorious Goa have turned their backs on their lands, leaving them fallow; alluring victims to the rapacious builders. Goa has a unique setup as far as agriculture is concerned. The coastal talukas were predominantly the grainaries of the state with major area under paddy and coconut cultivation while the interior talukas dominated in the plantation of cashew, coconut, arecanut and other horticultural crops.

But with the advent of mining and tourism especially after 1990, agriculture has taken a downslide and continues to do so till date. The coastal areas are under threat from tourism and imbalanced construction boom while the hinterland areas are exploited for mining. The area available for farming is thus dwindling steadily and the farmer is struggling to keep himself afloat in this turbulence.

So, one hand while we have people abandoning their lands as they are trapped by their unfortunate circumstances, on the other we have some dedicated people still striving hard to protect their green Goan land. One such family is the Kerkar family in Taleigao. The late Uttam Kerkar who had ploughed the land from the Portuguese days was even awarded the first prize for All Goa Paddy Crop Cultivation in 1985. Today, his sons, Sharath and Shailesh, though as dedicated as their dad, are struggling to continue in their profession. They lament, “From the time, the new Taleigao road was laid, there have been solid problems. Initially, there was natural drainage under the road constructed by the Portuguese whereby the excess water and water during the monsoons got drained naturally. But presently, the authorities have laid a huge telephone line which is blocking the natural drainage. This in turn has spoilt our crops big time and the yield has been severely affected. We have approached the panchayat and others, but no one is bothered to remedy the situation.”

They continue, “Besides, builders have put up complexes on the remaining three sides of our holding. They have no sewage system and have just kept soak pits where the sewage comes into our land and spoils our crops as the soil is continuously damp with no respite.” A neighbouring farmer, Ms Siprose Rodrigues ruefully reminisces, “In days of my grandfather, we used to acquire about 12 to 15 sacks of rice, but now we only get about 6 to 7 sacks, that too with much more effort. When my grandparents ploughed the land, it was their sole occupation as those days it was worth it. The yield was good. Now, because of people selling off their holdings and builders building huge complexes and with roads being laid all around our plots, the water doesn’t drain out, so our lands get flooded and the crops get spoiled.”

Yet, traverse back in Goan history and you learn

“T

that 500 years ago, Taleigao was a rich flourishing village comprising of a prosperous village community which included 2,000-3,000 farmers and around 1,500-3,000 fishermen. The villagers even provided for the 300-400 sailors of the Portuguese ships anchored at sea. Taleigao was the food basket of the Tiswadi taluka, comprising of varied crops of fruits, vegetable, flowers and medicinal plants. Yet today, our own policy makers are contributing towards the rocketing growth of a concrete jungle in this village. The rainwater needs to drain out to the sea, naturally through the St Inez creek and Nagali rivulet.

But if concrete structures are going to keep mushrooming around these natural drainage systems, the result will be massive flooding. Yes, promptly people will produce documentation stating they have got legal permission to construct, but have our authorities provided an integrated drainage plan before granting permission to build, build and build?

The dangerous result: water logging. The short-term problem will surface in terms of flooding of the entire village thereby becoming a breeding place for mosquitoes and outbreak of diseases besides causing the dread of having to wade through the dirty water. The long-term problem: sinking of the entire village as the sea level will rise. Yes, scientists are not astrologers but they can most accurately tell you that in maximum 20 years from now, this fertile village will get totally inundated.

The village flanked by the Nagali rivulet and St Inez creek sustains at least 500 farmer families. According to our learned scientists, even today, Taleigao grows at least 40 crops. We are naturally blessed with large scale integrated sustainable organic farming. Dr Nandakumar Kamat enlightens, “A family having one plot of about 4,000 square metres earns on an average Rs 40,000 per year with their self labour and self marketing, which is sufficient for them, besides having their nutritional needs taken care of. Also, most are into organic farming (using cow dung, urea etc) which the world over is trying to switch to. And talking of women empowerment, 80 per cent of the farmers here are women who take care of both labour and marketing.”

But what are we doing? Contributing towards a concrete jungle encroaching on this very life system! Presently, there is no unity among the farmers such as a farmers’ organisation or association who can fight for this important issue, perhaps with the church as a force behind. Right now, it is just the case of divide and rule as discreet underhand dealings take place in the name of development.

Yes, we all need physical development whether in terms of better schools, recreational areas, better roads etc but definitely not at the cost of existing life supporting systems. Food production is a biological process that needs to be continued by appropriate policies as per the changing needs of the society and in no situation, should we dare to ignore it. The issue needs to be examined seriously by all concerned especially the government about where we will be in the years to come.

Heidi Montag’s surgeries not good for her D

A

fter highlighting issues like bondage labour and kidnappings in Bihar with ‘Damul’ and ‘Apaharan’, Prakash Jha returns to the big screen with ‘Raajneeti’ but the director says his upcoming film is not a judgemental take on Indian politics.

Jha’s words sound like a disclaimer before the opening of a film when he says that ‘Raajneeti’ “does not resemble any Indian politician, political party or incident past or present”.

Understandably so, with a clutch of top Bollywood stars, four years of hard work and a huge budget, the filmmaker does not want to invite any trouble to his “epic story” and wants the audience to judge it for themselves.

“I have not tried to show something extraordinary. I am not trying to be judgemental about Indian politics with ‘Raajneeti’. What I have tried to show is the conflict that emerges when we decide to forgo everything for power. I tried to tell the story of such families,” said the 58-year-old director.

“We can’t sit and pass judgement on the politics of our country. It is the largest democracy in the world and growing everyday. However, we are free to interpret

certain things in it. This is why I wanted to tell this story,” Jha said.

Starring Ajay Devgn, Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, the film hits theatres this June. The film is a modern take on Indian epic the ‘Mahabharata’.

“Every story is challenging for me. It is not easy to interpret a story and present it on the screen. And the ‘Mahabharata’ is so deep that you can easily find references for your story. In this film you will find that characters are similar to the Mahabharata and how they behave in present context is the story,” said Jha. Katrina dons the role of a young politician in the movie and it is being speculated that her character is inspired by none other than Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but Jha denies it.

“Soniaji’s life story is very inspiring. But how can I make a film on her life without even talking to her.

People are trying to find similarities because like Soniaji, Katrina also comes from England but her character is completely different and is not inspired by any real life person,” he said.

octors claim actress Heidi Montag may face many health problems because of her multiple plastic surgeries.

Montag, 23, who went under the knife ten times, has seriously risked her life, according to doctors.

The actress’ ten surgeries include breast implants, facial plastic surgery and liposuction in neck, all done in a day some five months ago. That could potentially cause her health issues from back problems to stringy neck muscles, say medical experts.

“The extraordinarily large implants that she had put in are excessive for her size, and that will become an issue in the future,” says Dr Brian S Glatt, boardcertified plastic surgeon.

“She can predispose herself to spine problems down the road, just from the weight of the implants,” he added.

The risk of infections and other complications rises when surgery takes longer than six hours, says Dr Angelo Cuzalina, presidentelect of the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery.

“You are more at risk for a blood clot, these usually occur within four weeks after surgery.

The worry is that it could release and go to the lungs, and that is life-threatening,” the doctor adds.

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GOA’S HEARTBEAT

Education

CURR

Thursday, 22 April, 2010

WHAT’S UP IN GOA??

A tribute concert to the guru of harmonium Nirmala Pai Kakode will be held on April 24 at 4pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Call 2420452.

A green programme, organised by the International Centre Goa and Alliance Française will take place at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula on Earth Day, April 22. Call 245280510, 2452812 or 9765404391.

A public reading of short stories will take place on April 23 from 6pm to 10pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim.

Call 2420452.

‘Primary Education, Privatisation and the Right To Education in the context of Goa’ will be the topic discussed at the Friday Balcao session which will take place on April 23 from 4pm to 6pm at the Goa Desc Resource Centre, Mapusa. E-mail goadesc@gmail.com.

The Kala Academy Annual Day will take place at the Kala Academy, Panjim on April 23 at 5:30pm. Call 2420452.

A tribute to Goan writer, the late Violet Dias Lannoy will be held through a public reading programme that will take place at the Kala Academy, Panjim on April 23 at 6pm. Call 2420452.

The art exhibition, Mixed Media on Canvas is on display till April 24 at the Sunaparanta – Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panjim. Call 2421311.

Spoken-Konkani Learning Class’, organised by the Ganga-Zuari Academy and the NIO Staff Club will begin on April 25 every Monday, Friday and Sunday at the Community Center, NIO Colony, Dona Paula. Call 9890606240 or 9422414311.

The Pinhole Photography Contest 2010 exhibition will be held on April 25, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day at the Art Chamber, Calangute.

It will be open to the public till May 10. Other events like workshops, lectures, photography quiz will run alongside the exhibition. Call 2277144.

A pottery workshop by Geeta Sahu will take place at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula on May 1

LAFFS

WORD OF THE DAY

cordial

Funny Quote “ In Hollywood, a

marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.”

– Rita Rudner

Pronunciation KOR-jul Function Adjective Meaning 1 : tending to revive or cheer 2 : sincerely or deeply felt; warmly and genially affable Example Sentence Rick and Ron greeted each other in a cordial manner.

SUDOKU 534

and 2. Call 9765404391, 9975702588 or 2452805-10.

A 6-month part time training programme for pre-school teachers, organised by Sethu will run from the month of June to December 2010 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The last date to register is May 15.

Call 6513749.

Email reachus@sethu.in.

A 3-day residential training camp, ‘AURA of Success’, conducted by the Global Academy of Meta Mind Management (GAMMA) from April 23 to 25 at Miramar, Panjim. Call 9096938269.

E-mail amey.hegde@gmail.com. Visit www.metamindmanagement.com.

A communication aides training programme, ‘Tell Me More’ for children with language impairments will be held in the month of May. The last date to register is April 27. Call 65137489. E-mail reachus@sethu.in.

An art exhibition titled ‘Spanish Eyes’, by Spanish artist, Matildalamora will open on April 24 at 7:30pm at the Gallery Gitanjali, Fontainhas,Panjim. It will remain open to the public till April 30. Call 09823572035.

Art Exhibition ‘White & Rustic’ by Evita and Rudi D’Silva will be on display at the Yellow Wall Art Gallery, Colva.

Art exhibition, ‘Groupe de Cinque’ featuring five Goan artistes will be on display till April 22 between 10am to 7:30pm. Call 2420452.

The Mr and Ms Youth Eye Contest is open for auditions. It is hosted by Mandovi Entertainment. Call 9764215051, 9923038056, 9923423946 or 9403879759.

‘Goan Brew – High Spirits and Healing’, the Feni festival will take place on August 25. Call 9822151419, 9881533456 or 9822581232.

A one-day multi-lingual literary festival for the youth will take place at the Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim on April 25. It is organised by the Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim.

Call 2224143.

DAILY GROOK SACHS CRACKS

by Francis Rodrigues goldman's usury poor folks bled, after discovery more lies ahead!

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11:00 Crime Patrol 11:30 Godh Bharaai 12:00 C.I.D 13:30 C.I.D Classics 19:00 Godh Bharaai 20:00 Pyaar Ka Bandhan 20:30 Jeet Jayenge Hum 21:00 Sukh By Chance 21:30 Crime Patrol 22:00 C.I.D Classics

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by noted actor, Pt Prasad Sawker who will be Chief Guest at the function and Paresh Joshi, Vice Chairman, Kala Academy, as Guest of Honour.

The two and a half hour programme will feature a harmonium solo by Vidhyadhar Pakale, Nirmala Kakode’s grandson accompanied by Dayanand Kandolker playing the tabla, a jugalbandi by Naresh Parsenker and Eknath Borker with tabla accompaniment by Nitin Korgaokar and a flute recital by Sonik Velinger with Tabla accompaniment by Amar Mopker.

The programme will also have performances by Laxmikant Khandekar in a sitar recital accompanied by Premanand Amonkar playing the tabla, Amit Bhosale will perform a table tarang which will feature him playing seven tablas of different pitches simultaneously, giving an illusion of someone singing rather than playing a musical instrument. He will be supported by Guitesh Mandrekar. Subhash Fatarpeker and Dilip Gadekar will perform a harmonium jugalbandi accompanied by Tulsidas Navelkar. Rajprabhu Dhotre and Sumedha Dessai will give a short vocal recital with Dayesh Kossambe on the tabla and Harmonium by Vittal Khandolker.

Kakode, affectionately known as Kakodebai, joined Kala Academy in 1980 and imparted training in harmonium to her disciples till 2002. She was trained under the tutelage of Pt Rambhau Bijapure, and had rigorous training under the able guidance of Pt Purushottam Walawalkar. Kakodebai’s solo performances in Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet Samoroha, Girijabai Kelkar Festival and Music Festival of Samrat Club were highly acclaimed.

She provided harmonium accompaniment to renowned exponents.

Konkani translation of Gospel released

M Boyer to be remembered Through Rendition of His Songs

HERALD FEATURES he book Sant Juvamvam Promanem Jezu Kristachem Subhvortaman (Gospel According to St John) was released on April 20, 2010 at the State Museum Auditorium, Panjim. The release was jointly organised by Geeta Prasar, Mapusa and Friends of the Holy Bible. Father Mousinho de Ataide, Damodar Mauzo and Professor S M Borges were among the dignitaries present.

A complete translation of the Gospel according to St John into Devnagiri Konkani, the book was released by fellow Padmashri winner and litterateur Maria Aurora Couto.

Amonkar began his speech with two quotes, one from the Upanishad and another from the original version of his most recently translated works. “This book was put together with no real planning,” he continued, adding, “but if God wants it to be done, then it will be.”

Furthering on his own religious thinking, he said, “We didn’t study prayers while I was growing up. Instead, we read out extracts, one of which had a deep and everlasting impact on my religious behaviour.” He then quoted an extract from Sanskrit, “Just as the water from the rain coming from the sky, atures Photos by Herald Fe through hundreds of rivers, ultimately reaches the ocean, in the same way our salutations all reach a single God.” His reason for choosing to translate the Gospel of St John was because, in his words, it is full of faith light and mysticism.

This book, the sixth amongst his other translations of religious texts from other languages into Konkani, is evidence enough of Suresh Amonkar’s intense passion for languages, religious texts and the ever-longing will to spread the message of harmony and peace.

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SOUTH POLE

10:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 11:15 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo 12:00 Lapataganj 12:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 13:00 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo 13:30 Maniben.com 14:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 14:30 Lapataganj 15:00 Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai 15:30 Jugni Chali Jalandar 16:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 16:30 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo 17:00 Gutar Gu 17:30 Lapataganj 18:00 Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai 18:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 19:00 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo 19:30 Lapataganj 20:00 Maniben.com 20:30 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta 21:00 Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo

Entertainment

A Musical Tribute to Kakodebai

GARFIELD

10:00 Sabki Laadli Bebo 10:30 Sasural Genda Phool 11:00 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 11:30 Behenein 12:00 Sapna Babul Ka ...Bidaai 12:30 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 13:00 Tere Mere Sapne 13:30 Hamari Devrani 14:00 Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat 14:30 Behenein 15:00 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai 15:30 Sapna Babul Ka ...Bidaai 16:00 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 16:30 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 17:00 Sasural Genda Phool 17:30 Behenein 18:00 Sabki Laadli Bebo 18:30 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 19:00 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 19:30 Sasural Genda Phool 20:00 Sajan Ghar Jaana Hai 20:30 Behenein 21:00 Sapna Babul Ka ...Bidaai 21:30 Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 22:00 Sabki Laadli Bebo 22:30 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya

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PEN T HAP

HERALD FEATURES n a lifetime, we come across several teachers, some of whom are blessed with the ability to make a make that stays with us forever. Nirmala Pai Kakode was one such teacher who, during her lifetime, thought her students to play the harmonium in such her way that even today, her teachings invoke sweet symphonies from their hearts. To pay tribute to their late teacher who passed away in March 2010, her students have decided to organise a musical festival.

Nirmala Pai Kakode was known for her excellent skills as Guru of Harmonium. She served Kala Academy for 22 years as Lecturer in harmonium in the Faculty of Indian Music and Dance and trained over 100 students to play the harmonium to perfection. Her students such as Vitthal Khandolkar, Raya Korgaonkar, Subhash Fatarpekar, Eknath Borkar and Deelip Gadekar are well known for solo and accompaniment on harmonium.

The disciples of Nirmala Pai Kakode in association with Kala Academy, Campal are organising the Indian Musical Festa ‘Shrandhanjali to Nirmala Pai Kakode’ on Saturday April 24, 2010 at 4pm at Kala Academy’s Black Box. Seven accomplished musicians, mainly comprising Nirmala’s students will perform along with eight other musicians for the show. The function will be inaugurated

Instructions for Sudoku SUDOKU SOL 533 9 x 9 letter: To solve a Sudoku puzzle, every number from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine vertical columns, in each of the nine horizontal rows and in each of the nine boxes

10:30 12/24 Karol Bagh 11:00 Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi 11:30 Pavitra Rishta 12:00 Do Saheliyaan 12:30 Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli 13:00 Jhansi Ki Rani 13:30 Pavitra Rishta 14:00 Choti Bahu 14:30 Do Saheliyaan 15:00 Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi 15:30 12/24 Karol Bagh 16:00 Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli 16:30 Choti Bahu 17:00 Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi 17:30 Jhansi Ki Rani 18:00 Pavitra Rishta 18:30 Ghar Ghar Mein 19:00 Do Saheliyaan 19:30 Choti Bahu 20:00 Jhansi Ki Rani 20:30 Yahan Main Ghar Ghar Kheli 21:00 Pavitra Rishta 21:30 Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi 22:00 12/24 Karol Bagh

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HERALD FEATURES he Kala Academy saw a coming together of various young achievers in the fields of art and culture with the Yuva Srujan Puraskar presentation ceremony. The event was organised by the Directorate of Art and Culture to mark the contributions and excellence of eight artistes from different fields of art and culture. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat along with the Vice President of the State Cultural Development Committee, Shreedhar Kamat Bambolkar gave away the awards.

The eight artistes who were awarded belonged to different fields of art and culture, from literature and drama to handicrafts.

The Puruskars were awarded to Dr Prakash Ramakant Vazrikar for his achievements in literature, Sumedha Desai for music, Lawry Travasso for music, Devidas Shankar Amonkar for drama, Rosy Alvares for tiatr, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar for film, Vasudev Yeshwant Divkar for fine arts and Shalini Kanta Gaude for Handicrafts.

This is the first year the Puruskar was awarded to a filmaker.

The Chief Minister in his address said that the award is given to the younger strata of artistes to felicitate art and help boost their performance.

He also spoke of the setting up of a regional centre for art and culture in the state to provide exposure to the artistes of the state. The centre will function as a meeting ground for artistes from all over Goa and other states as well.

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12:00 Hero No. 1 15:40 Mujrim 20:00 Ghayal: The Fighter Man 23:30 Kucch To Hai

09:30 Fatal Target 12:30 Tirchhi Topiwale 16:00 Angaaray 20:00 Corporate 23:00 Hidalgo

10:05 My Girl 12:10 Running Scared 14:30 Basic 16:30 The Affair of the Necklace 18:50 13 Going on 30

09:00 IPL 3 Kings XI Punjab vs.

Chennai Super Kings 10:00 Jai Vikraanta 14:30 Kyo Kii... Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta 19:00 IPL 3 Extraaa Innings 20:00 IPL 3: Deccan Chargers vs. Chennai Super Kings 23:30 IPL 3 Extraaa Innings

12:00 Aarzoo 16:00 Pratibandh 20:00 Gadar: Ek Prem Katha

E N T E R TA I N M E N T 21:30 Jugni Chali Jalandar 22:00 Lapataganj 22:30 Yeh Chanda Kanoon Hai

09:00 Geet 09:30 Rang Badalti Odhni 10:00 Dill Mill Gayye 10:30 Mile Jab Hum Tum 11:00 Jaane Pehchaane Se Yeh 11:30 Geet 12:00 Rang Badalti Odhni 12:30 Dill Mill Gayye 13:00 Jaane Pehchaane Se Yeh 13:30 Geet 14:00 Rang Badalti Odhni

onkani singer Andrew D’ Souza, in collaboration with the Tiatr Academy of Goa will stage a musical programme in different parts of Goa. Titled, ‘Padmashree M Boyer Hanchea Kantarancho Ugddas’, the programme will be staged on April 22 at 7:30pm near the KTC bus stand, Cuncolim. The same show will travel to Goa Velha (Zuari) on April 28, to Taleigao on May 6 and the Ravindra Bhavan, Sanvordem on May 23.

The programme will highlight memorable songs sung by the late M Boyer. They include ‘Ixttagoth’, ‘Goyche Convent’, ‘Mainchem Dudh’, ‘Dothik Lagon’ and his comic renditions ‘Kombo, Bokdi, Mazor’, ‘Choug Put’ besides others.

Albert Cabral, Soccoro de Santa Cruz, Aniceto Lourenco, comedians Domnic and Luis Bachchan, Shaik Amir, Sonia, etc, all popular artistes of the ‘tiatr’ stage will participate in the programme.

Luis Cota provides the musical arrangement while the director of the show is Andrew D’Souza. The programme is free and open to all.

Goan Artists felicitated with the Yuva Srujan Puraskar

21:00 Committed 23:15 Next 08:45 The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice 10:50 Chaos Theory 12:40 Flubber 14:35 Hart's War 17:05 Hero Wanted 19:00 My Mom's New Boyfriend 21:00 The Transporter 22:55 Chain Reaction

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14:30 Mile Jab Hum Tum 15:00 Dill Mill Gayye 15:30 Geet 16:00 Rang Badalti Odhni 16:30 Ssshhh.....Phir Koi Hai 17:30 Rang Badalti Odhni 20:00 Dill Mill Gayye 20:30 Jaane Pehchaane Se Yeh 21:00 Mile Jab Hum Tum 21:30 Geet 22:00 Rang Badalti Odhni

14:30 Criss Angel Mindfreak : Sucker 2 15:00 Video Zonkers 17:00 Slamball 17:30 Mondo Magic Singapore 18:00 Life on Mars 19:00 Wipeout Australia 20:00 Ghost Adventure 21:00 Estate of Panic 22:00 Top Chef 23:00 Drop Dead Diva

11:00 Numb3rs: The Fifth Man 12:00 Breaking The Magician's Code 13:00 Wipeout Australia 14:00 Criss Angel Mindfreak

10:00 American Idol 12:30 Prison Break 13:30 90210

14:30 Two and a Half Men 15:00 The Bold and The Beautiful 15:30 Psych 16:30 Friends 17:00 Prison Break 18:00 90210 19:00 Friends 19:30 Two and a Half Men 20:00 Psych 21:00 Friends 21:30 Two and a Half Men 22:00 Prison Break

21:00 Draw For FIFA U20 Women's World Cup Germany 2010 22:00 Sportscenter India 22:30 Sportscenter Asia

09:30 European Tour Weekly 10:00 Arch Trophy Cricket 11:00 FIFA: Futbol Mundial 11:30 UEFA Champions League 13:30 UEFA Champions League 2009/10 : Semi Final: Bayern Munich vs. Lyon 15:30 UEFA Champions League 16:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 17:00 WWE: Raw 19:00 UEFA Champions League 21:00 Football India 21:30 FIFA: Futbol Mundial 22:00 UEFA Champions League

10:30 Ballantine's Championship 13:30 TNA Ppv : Lockdown 16:30 FIA F1 World Championship Highlights 2010 19:00 TNA Sikander 19:00 F1 Classics : 2000 Japanese Grand Prix 20:00 Sports Mania 20:30 Ace 2010 21:00 Score Tonight 21:30 TNA Sikander 07:30 Flavors 22:30 V8 Supercars Championship 08:00 English News Series 2010 H/ls 09:00 Konkani News 10:00 Marathi News 11:00 Face -2-Face 11:30 Ankur: Special Children’s Concert 12:00 Konkani Duet 09:00 ICC World T20 2007 H/L 12:30 Flavors 11:00 PBA Women's Series 13:00 English News Showdown 14:00 Konkani Movie 12:00 Barclays Premier League 15:00 Sangeet 09/10 : Hull City vs. Aston Villa 15:30 Save the planet 14:00 NBA Playoffs 2009/10 : 16:00 Ankur: Special Children’s Oklahoma City Thunder Concert vs. Los Angeles Lakers 16:30 Flavors 16:30 Draw For FIFA U20 17:00 Kids Club Women's World Cup 17:30 Face-2-Face Germany 2010 18:00 Konkani News 17:30 Football Crazy 19:00 Marathi News 18:00 X Games 15 : All Access 20:00 English News Preview 21:00 Straight Talk 19:00 Goals!

22:00 English News 19:30 Global Football 23:00 Divine Sitar 20:00 Sportscenter India 23:30 Fantasia El Shaddai 20:30 Sportscenter Asia Note: Subject to change

HERALD CROSSWORD - 534 Across 1- Auto pioneer; 5- Wellbeing; 9- Shrub of the cashew family; 14- Hawaiian outdoor feast; 15- Fashion mag; 16- Writer Loos; 17Take ___ from me; 18- Sleep like ___; 19- Metal fastener; 20- Evening star; 22- One tenth, usually; 24- CD forerunners; 25- Add a point to?; 29- Milo of "The Verdict"; 32Broad valley; 34- First name in scat; 35- Goblet part; 36Impressionist Edgar; 37- Disfigure; 38- Nothing more than; 39- Best of a group; 40A single time; 41- Golf club which can be numbered 1 to 9; 42- Grain stores; 43Singer Sedaka; 44- Single entity; 45- At any time; 46Gritty intro; 47- Ghastly; 49Sticky substance; 50- Aquarium fish; 52- Entertained; 56Glossy fabric; 59- Some nest eggs; 61- Remain; 62- Pungent bulb; 63- Egypt's river; 64Harp relative; 65- Designer Geoffrey; 66- Openings; 67- Cravings; Down 1- Norwegian king; 2- Stringed instrument; 3- Raised platform; 4- Adding vitamins, say; 5Erodes; 6- Building add-on; 7Bunches; 8- Filibuster figure; 9"Peter and the Wolf" bird; 10- Informally; 11- Russian space station; 12- Broke bread; 13Cornfield sound; 21- Clean air org.; 23- Academic themes; 26-

Heavenly body; 27- Bring SOLUTION - 533 out; 28- "That is to say . . ."; 29- Dense metallic element; 30- Breastbones; 31- Noble; 32- Conveying to destination; 33- Nimble; 36- Barren place; 46- ___ de guerre; 48- Sesame plant; 49- Tenuous substances; 51Horne solo; 53- Eye sore; 54- Acquire through merit; 55- Stains; 56- Blubber; 57Hydrocarbon suffix; 58Bind; 60- High mountain, as found in central Europe;

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SPORTS

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GOA, Thursday, 22 April, 2010

Saligao United in quarters PANJIM (HSD) -- Saligao United left St. Savio, Calangute dazed with a 3-1 victory to qualify for the quarter-finals of Sodiem Siolim Super Soccer at St. Anthony’s Church ground, Siolim on Wednesday.

Cleton Rodrigues of Saligao United gave his team an early lead in the 4th minute.

Calangute equalized with a brilliant goal by Emmanuel D’Costa in the 29th minute. Saligao United with new vigour retook the lead in the 6th minute of the second half through M. A. Francis and then Cleton Rodrigues scored his second goal in the last minute.

Vishal slams century HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, APRIL 21

A brilliant century by Vishal Singh (125) enabled Salgaocar Sports Club to be in the driver’s seat as it helped them to gain a huge vital first inning lead of 323 over Chowgule Cricket Club

on the second day of GPL league at Dr Rajendra Prasad Stadium, here on Wednesday .

Vishal Singh struck two sixes and 16 fours in his blistering 125. Keenan Vaz (63) and Sherbahadur (51) made useful contributions while overnight batsman Hemant Shetgaonkar missed his century by eight runs as he scored 92.

Salgaocar were 465 all out in119 overs. For Chowgule, Amog Dessai was the most successful bowler with 3 for 31. At stumps, Chowgule were 38 for 1 in their second innings in nine overs.

Chowgule CC (1st innings): 142 in 44.4 overs. Salgaocar (1st innings, overnight 131 for 1 in 43 overs): 465 all out in 119 overs (Vivek Kolambkar 30, Keenan Vaz 63, Hemant Shetgaokar 92, Vishal Singh 125, Navin Sharma 15, Sherbahadur Yadav 51. Amogh Desai 3-51, Yeshwant Raikar 2-72, Dheeraj Narvekar, Buddhadeb Mangaldas, Rohit Asnodkar, Gaurang Dhuri and Baburao Yadav 1. each).

Chowgule SC (2nd innings) 38 for 1 in 9 overs (Amogh Desai not out 17, Santosh Shinde not out 11. Ninad Pawaskar 1-21).

HERALD REPORTER VASCO, APRIL 21

3 wickets each for 50 and 25 runs respectively.

At Porvorim ground, Goa Sports Academy (GSA) took a 105-run lead over Sarvodaya. GSA folded at 294 in 98.3 overs, thanks to Salil Dhuri’s solid 99. Rajshekar Harikant 15.

Robin D’Sousa claimed 4-70, Rakesh Badrapur 1-54.

Sarvodaya were bowled out for 189 in 52.1 overs. Ganeshraj Narvekar 49, Darshan Mishal 45, Robin 42. Salil Dhuri 3-63, Sandesh Pawaskar 4-31, Sachin Kohckar 3-19.

GSA (2nd innings) 48 for 4 (23 overs). Damodar Lotlikar 18, Sandesh 15 not, Aditya Angle 7 not out. Robin 2-13, Rohan Desai 1-9, Badrapur 1-14.

Al-Fatah lead Dempo

With some fine piece of bowling from Jineev Joshi, Al-Fatah took a 12-run first inning lead against Dempo CC in Goa Premier League at BITS Pilani ground.

With the overnight score of 33 for 2, Dempo started well but at the end were all out for 192 in 64 overs thus falling short by 12 runs.

Mumbai pacer Jiveen Joshi with his impressive bowling, single-handedly claimed seven wickets with impressive figure of 21-3-57-7.

Shirang Kapse scored 57 and Amit Yadav 46 not out ton be the top scorers for Dempo.

In the second innings, AlFatha, though started confidently with Chandrakanth Gadi 51 off 106 balls, lost some quick wickets and managed 80 for 5 wickets off 35.5 overs, while Mandar did most of the damage taking 3 wickets for 11 runs.

Earlier, Al-Fatha were bowled out for 204 with Harshad Gadekar scoring 46 alongwith Girish Yadav 41. Dempo bowled out Al-Fatah for 204.

Bandekar and Arun Vagji took

Karnataka Police up PANJIM (HSD) -- Karnataka Police scored a 3-2 sets thrilling victory against Trivandrum Six in the 1st all-India volleyball tournament organised by Shirgal Sports Club at Dhargal.

Karnataka began on a promising note taking the first set 25-20. However, Trrivandrum came back strongly in the second and equalised 25-22. Karnataka regained the lead in the third 28-26 with the scores changing lead on and often.

Trivandrum restored parity winning the fourth 25-21.

The deciding fifth set saw plenty of rallies until Karnataka clinched the issue 15-11.

Earlier, ICF lost to MEG, Bangalore 25-22, 25-21, 25-17.

Meanwhile, the organisers stated that entry for the matches will be free as the Sports Minister, Babu Azgaonkar priomised to make good the deficit.

GOA DIARY Billiards tourney at Khorlim

PANJIM (HSD) – The first 8ball billiards tournament organised by Susan and Loffee Sports Club will be held from April 29 to May 2 at Rashtroli Temple ground, Khorlim, Mapusa.

The winner will get a brand new pool table 8x4 feet while the runner-up will get Rs 15,000.

There will also be prizes for the losing semi-finalists and others.

Entries will be accepted upto April 26 and those interested may contact Sushant on 9822153197 or Suraj on 9423312251. Matches will start at 7 p.m.

National adventure selections

PANJIM (HSD) – The Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs will organise State level selection trials to select participants for 235th National Adventure Programme (May 25-31 at Pachmari, MP) on April 28 at Youth Hostel, Mira Mar at 10 a.m.

In all, 25 boys and girls will be selected based on performance in trekking, boating, horse riding, rock climbing, rappelling, rifle shooting, pistol shooting, archery, skating.

Those in 15-35 age group who can trek for 12-20 kms daily may report to Uday Navelkar, APEO at the venue with medical fitness report and certificates of achievements.

Kayak operators course

PANJIM (HSD) – The Goa Kayaking in association with Goa Tourism will hold a basic 2-day certificate course for commercial kayak operators (certified and trained kayaking operator) for those hiring or renting out kayaks/canoes at Palolem beach, Canacona on May 1-2 and May 7-8 from 710 a.m.

Those interested may contact Goa Kayaking, No.6, plot No.721/A, Airport Road, Chicalim or telephone 9422056037 or 2541715. detaila may also be obtained on goakayaking@gmail.com

1st all-India volleyball organised by Shirgal SC: Goa v.

Trivandrum Six, 7.30 p.m.; SCR v. ICF. 8.30 p.m., Dhargal panchayat court, Pernem.

GFA Taca Goa U-20 league: Sesa Football Academy (Jrs) v.Goa Velha SC, Duler stadium, Mapusa; Salgaocar Sports Club v.Vasco SportsClub, Tilak stadium, Vasco. Kick off 4 p.m.

Coca Cola Celebration Cup soccer: St Sebastian v. Nauxim SC , Nauxim SC v. Piedade Youth Assocation v. Piedade Youth Association v. St Sebastian SC, Santa Cruz ground.

Kick off 4 p.m.

3rd late Alvernaz and Lalush Alemao memorial soccer: Chandor SC v. Young Strikers Benaulim, Varca ground, 4.30 p.m.

St. Anthony festival soccer: Guardian Angel, Sanvordem v. Margao Footballers, Mapa, Panchwadi, 4.30 p.m.

Cayman Cup soccer ; Carmona Sports Club v/s St Rock’s Youth Club, Majorda at 4.30 p.m.

Sodiem Siolim soccer: United Club of Nerul v. Candolim Sports Club, St. Anthony ’s Church ground, Siolim, 4.30 p.m.

V.M. Salgaocar Trophy soccer (semis): Parish Youth Nuvem v. St. Savio Sports Club, Calangute, Saligao Sporting ground, 4.45 p.m 3rd Colormax-Imperial Rolling Trophy soccer : Valankani SC Arambol v. Penha de France, Dr. Gustavo Monteiro stadium, Candolim, 4.45 p.m.

Jaidev Gopal Kanekar memorial soccer: Sai Avtar Anjuna v. PY Nuvem, Sanquelim ground, 4.45 p.m.

21st Late V. M. Salgaoncar Trophy (semis): St. Cavio’s SC Calangute v/s PY Nuvem, at Sporting grounds, at 4.45 p.m Sodiem Siolim soccer: United Club of Nerul v. Candolim Sports Club, St. Anthony ’s Church ground, Siolim, 4.30 p.m.

GPL cricket (3rd day): Goa Sports Academy v. Sarvodaya SC; Porvorim, Salgaocar SC v.

Chowgule SC, MCC ground, Margao; Dempo CC v. Al-Fatah CC ,BITS ground, Zuarinagar, Vasco, 9.30 a.m.

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SPORTS

GOA, Thursday 22 April, 2010

Inter stun Barcelona 3-1 Maicon of Inter celebrates scoring his teams second goal at the San Siro on Tuesday.

n Anything can happen in the second leg. We can go there and lose the game and lose the coach -- Jose Mourinho

Pedro Rodriguez of Barcelona scores the first goal at Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on Tuesday.

REUTERS MILAN, APRIL 21

Tireless Inter Milan produced a rip-roaring home performance to overpower Barcelona 3-1 and leave the holders in real trouble after a thrilling Champions League semi-final, first leg.

Barca lost by a two-goal margin for the first time under manager Pep Guardiola as strikes from Wesley Sneijder, Maicon and Diego Milito, after Pedro had given Barca the lead, set up a fascinating second leg at the Nou Camp next Wednesday.

Barcelona captain Carles Puyol was booked and will miss the return along with Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic.

In one of the most electric atmospheres inside the San Siro for years, both sides stretched

every last sinew to the limit as Europe's top club competition again showed why fans the world over are so hooked on the excitement. ''Anything can happen in the second leg. We can go there and lose the game and lose the coach,'' Inter boss Jose Mourinho cryptically told a news conference yesterday. ''What happened today happened, it wasn't a dream. It was reality. We deserved to win. We saw a team working until the death. The team was destroyed by what they gave on the field.''

Inter had the better of the early chances but first blood went to Barca, forced to make a 14-hour bus journey to reach the match because of the Icelandic volcano restricting flights.

Left back Maxwell, who quit Inter for the La Liga leaders last year, exposed his ex-team mates by reaching the byline and his pull-back was slotted home by Pedro after 19 minutes.

The 22-year-old was again preferred to Thierry Henry in Barca's starting lineup and the diminutive livewire forward is fast looking a good bet to gatecrash Spain's World Cup squad.

Inter, who were last European Cup winners in 1965 and playing in their first Champions League semi-final since 2003, then demonstrated the steel-plated resilience Mourinho has instilled in his men by hitting back on the half-hour.

Argentine striker Milito, who missed two glorious chances

JCT edge past Chirag United JCT…1 Chirag …0 AGENCIES LUDHIANA, APRIL 21

Riding on a fine second half strike by Henry Chukwukere, JCT got the better of Chirag United at the Guru Nanak Dev Stadium, Ludhiana in a round 22 match of ONGC I-League on Wednesday.

Following the goalscoring spree against Viva Kerala in the previous round, JCT had a customary 1-0 victory with Henry winning the man-of-the match award.

This result puts JCT in a rather safe position with 28 points under their belt with another four round of matches to go while Chirag United seem to have slumped recently as they once again failed to add to their points tally.

After the break, the very first minute saw Penn send the ball over the bar after receiving a back pass from Okoro after some good interplay between the two JCT strikers.

The home side finally managed to break the deadlock from a defensive error by the visitors.

Okoro's pass wasn't well cleared by a Chirag defender which allowed Henry enough time to slot it past Sandip Nandy.

Sunil Kumar, playing as a midfielder, had the opportunity to make it 2-0 but his shot missed the target by not much.

Edmilson shrugged off two JCT defenders and was through on goal but missed the target from a one-on-one situation.

Gauranga Dutta continued his horror show of missing goalscoring chances as he couldn't make the most of an Edmilson cross from the left.

Izumi Arata who moved up from the left and crossed back. Amazingly it missed three Viva defenders and landed at the feet of Kutti Mani, who finished off with a powerful shot.

Five minutes later Jeje took a swipe from 30 yards but the ball flew over the bar and soon after Jeje was brought down inside the box resulting in a penalty in favour of the home side. Edmar made no mistake and his grounder had Meloly dive the other side as Pune FC took 2-0 lead in the 20th minute.

Charged up Pune FC struck soon after when Edmar collected a fine cross from Sergey Tokov before finishing it with a header

in the 24th minute.

Viva reduced the margin only three minutes into the second session. It was sloppy goal as Paul made horrendous mistake by allowing the ball go over his shoulder when Raman was right in front of him.

Yesterday, an 80th minute goal by skipper Aibor Khonjee helped Shillong Lajong FC to snatch a point against Mumbai FC. Mumbai FC drew first blood through Pradeep Mohanraj in the 16th minute, while Lajong salvaged some pride in front of the their home crowd levelling the terms through Aibor Khonjee ten minutes before the final whistle.

Edmar stars for Pune FC Pune …3 Viva Kerala…1 AGENCIES PUNE, APRIL 21

Edmar Figueira fired in two quick goals early in the first half after Kutti Mani had opened the account as Pune FC scored their second home win beating Viva Kerala 3-1 in the ONGC I-League match at Balewadi Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

The win propelled Pune FC to fifth position in the I-League table having garnered 31 points.

Pune FC will thank JCT Mills as they beat Chirag United 1-0. Chirag are also on 31 but have negative goal difference.

Kutti Mani put the home side ahead in the 10th minute. It was

from tight angles, turned his back on goal when picking up the ball in the box but cleverly played in former Real Madrid playmaker Sneijder and the unmarked Dutchman slammed home.

Goran Pandev did well early in the second half to release Milito in a barnstorming break and his cut-back was scuffed home by right back Maicon, who was later taken off on a stretcher.

Milito headed in the third after 61 minutes and for a moment feared he had again been flagged offside before running to celebrate with the ecstatic Inter fans, who have been spoilt by four straight Serie A titles but starved of European success. ''I congratulate them but we'll

see them next week,'' said Guardiola, whose side beat Inter 2-0 at home in the group stage. ''We are in the semi-final of the Champions League against a great team, it can happen. We move forward.''

Ex-Inter striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, booed repeatedly by his former beloved crowd, had a few sniffs at goal while Lionel Messi only had one good effort after largely being kept under wraps by the sheer brute force of Inter's defence.

Barca pushed hard for a way back late on but Inter held firm and now have half an eye on next month's final in Madrid.

Bayern Munich host Olympique Lyon in the second semi-final, first leg today.

PTI SOFIA (BULGARIA), APRIL 21

The Indian ace thanked the Federation for the decision.

"I am very happy to be here, it was a longer trip than we expected. The main thing I came here for is to play chess. Mr. Makropoulos described very well the situation. I want to thank FIDE for the understanding and I hope the chess fans will see a good match," said Anand.

The eight-member Indian team is now in the official hotel but Anand is yet to divulge the names of seconds during the championship.

While Topalov had said earlier that Anand is unlikely to change his team from last championship against Russian Vladimir Kramnik, the speculations are rife that the Indian will spring at least one surprise if not too many.

Grandmaster Peter Heine Nielsen is definitely there as Anand had said in an earlier interview and since Surya Shekhar Ganguly is not seen in the participant's list of Asian championship at Subic Bay in Philippines, the Indian apparently looks to be another one of Anand's team.

Dempo Sports Club would be hoping to extend their lead and inch closer to the title when they take on Sporting Clube de Goa in a 22nd round match of ONGC 3rd I- League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Thursday.

With four rounds to go, Dempo need to garner as many points as possible to ensure they don’t slip up on their way to clinch the title.

Dempo have 41 points from 21 matches. Mahindra United have 37 points from 22 matches while Sporting Clube de Goa have just 20 points from 21 matches.

“We are four points clear off Mahindra United and hope to extend the gap. We cannot afford to relax against Sporting tomorrow. Our defenders will also have to combine well to keep the Sporting attackers at bay,” said Armando Colaco, Dempo’s chief coach Dempo will be without the

services of Sameer Naik (double booking) and Mahesh Gawli (injury). Midfielder Roberto Mendes da Silva has some problems but will a decision will be taken only tomorrow, Colaco said.

Abhijit Mondal will be tending the goal. John Dias, Cresson Antao, Valeriano Rebello, Marcus Peixoto, Anthony Pereira, Clifford Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Roberto Mendes da Silva or Peter Carvalho, Ranty Martins and Joaquim Abranches will be

World Champion Viswanathan Anand got a breather today as the World Chess Federation has agreed to postpone the first game of the World Chess Championship by one day to Saturday.

Anand, stranded at Frankfurt due to air traffic disruption caused by volcanic ash in European skies, had asked for a three day postponement to the first game, knowing that he will be arriving late here.

He finally reached Bulgaria by road in the wee hours of Tuesday.

"I explained to Vishy that it is a shock for the organisation to postpone by three days. After many discussions I talked to the Presidential Board and the FIDE President and we decided to postpone the start of the match one day," FIDE Deputy President Georgios Makropoulos said at the Press Conference before the inauguration ceremony.

"I expect from the organizers understanding for the one day postponement and understanding from Anand's team that three days was also not optional," Makropoulos added.

the be Dempo’s line up.

Sporting Clube de Goa have an uphill task. Coach Vishwas Gaunkar is confident that they can put it across Dempo. There is new found confidence in the boys after their three impressive victories on home turf. They know they can beat any team on their day if they play to their strength.

“Four us it is a must win situation as we have to avopid rekegation,” said Gaunkar. The defence will miss the services of Sumanda

Singh (red carded). Nathaniel Amos is still recovering from an injury.

Chinta Chandreshakar will replace suspended Sumanda Singh .

Gaunkar is confident that his strikers Junior O and Agnelo D’Souza will provide the punch in the attack. He also believes that the midfielders will work in tandem to feed their attackers and put the rival defence under pressure. Sporting expect goalkeeper Felix D’Souza to produce another stellar performance in the goal.

Bagan deliver cruel blow to Mahindra hopes l Dempo outright favourites now to regain I-League crown

Bagan…3 Mahindra…1 AGENCIES KOLKATA, APRIL 21

Mohun Bagan dealt a cruel blow to Mahindra United's title hopes on Wednesday as they secured a 3-1 win in the ONGC I-League match at Salt Lake stadium here.

The goals came via Ryuji Sueoka, Chidi Edeh, and Snehashish Chakraborty, while Mohammed Rafi scored for Mahindra. The jeepmen are now four points behind Dempo, and the Goans have a game in hand.

With Mohun Bagan on a fourmatch unbeaten streak, it was in any case going to be tough for David Booth’s side to come back with three points from the game, and it got tougher as they went into the match leaving out two of their first team strikers

Sushil Singh and Muritala Ali. Bagan on the other hand, had their only injury worry in the form of Rakesh Masih.

The visiting team went into the attack from the very first minute as Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul had to pull off a save from Steven Dias’ shot and NS Manju cleared the ball off the line just seconds later to deny Mijin from scoring the opening goal.

On the counter, the greenand-maroon brigade got a wonderful chance via Marcos but Ryuji failed to finish from close range. And then, just when the clock struck 10 minutes, Bagan scored a brilliant goal through Ryuji, after Chidi did a brilliant job to block Kali’s tackle.

Kali though, was substituted due to injury as Lamine Tamba was introduced into the game.

Mahindra came back into the game, as the hosts could not hold on to their lead when Deepak Mondal obstructed Mohammad Rafi in the penalty box resulting in the referee pointing to the spot.

Rafi stepped up to take it, and scored coolly past Shilton Paul.

Just moments before the first half came to a close, Jose Barreto had a one-on-one opportunity and was very well placed to score a goal, until Subhashish Roy Chowdhury brought the Brazilian down in the box.

The referee awarded a penalty in Bagan’s favour and showed the Mahindra goalie a yellow card for his reckless challenge.

AGENCIES BARCELONA, SPAIN, APRIL 21

Eduardo Schwank of Argentina advanced to the third round of the Barcelona Open on Wednesday by upsetting 12th-seeded Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (3), 6-4.

The unseeded Schwank dominated the first-set tiebreaker and secured the only break of the second set against the former top-ranked Australian.

Also, third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France beat Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2, while Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain overcame Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands also advanced, defeating Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Swede Soderling is the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after a slew of withdrawals, including world number three Rafael Nadal, who has won the Conde de Godo trophy in Barcelona the past five years.

The Spanish claycourt master pulled out on Monday, saying he needed to rest after winning a record sixth consecutive title at the Monte Carlo Masters.

Barreto has missed a few penalties in recent times, and refused to take the spot kick, resulting in Chidi taking it to make it 2-1 in favour of Bagan.

The second half started with Mohun Bagan coach Biswajit Bhattacharya making a tactical change. Experienced midfielder James Singh was brought in, replacing young Manish Maithani.

The change worked well.

And in the 68th minute, it was from the right flank that James played a through ball for Surkumar on the overlap who did a brilliant job to provide a pass in front of the goal. Midfielder Snehashish Chakrabarty did nothing wrong in tapping the ball from close range to double his side's lead.

David Booth made some se-

rious changes as three points were essential for Mahindra in order to remain a challenge in the league. The inefficient Mijin was replaced by a vibrant Thoi Singh, while India midfielder NP Pradeep was introduced in place of Sushant Mathews.

Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul produced a wonderful save in the 77th minute when Thoi struck a powerful shot from close range. However, the home side continued attacking as well, as right back Surkumar Singh let fly a powerful right-footer which forced Roy Chowdhury to put it away for a corner.

Bagan move into fourth place as a result of the victory, while Mahindra fall behind in the title race. Chidi Edeh was named man-of-the match.

Lee ready for T20 WC UNI BRISBANE, APRIL 21

Injured speedster Brett Lee has declared himself fit and ready to return to international action in the upcoming World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies.

Lee is one of the four specialist fast bowlers in the 15-man Australian squad along with Mitchell Johnson, Dirk Nannes and Shaun Tait.

The 33-year-old pacer today had his first bowl since breaking his thumb in a forgettable four-match stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He said he bowled without problem and felt only minor pain in his thumb in the indoor nets at the Gabba. ''There was limited pain which was good and didn't stop me from bowling which is great,'' said Lee while training with the Australian squad here. ''It has been difficult coming back but I saw the surgeon (this week) and he cleared me to play. ''I've played with pain my whole life and a broken thumb won't stop me from bowling,'' he was quoted as saying by the AAP. His abbreviated IPL stint for Kings XI Punjab was a short-lived comeback from elbow surgery in December.

Ribery, Govou innocent at this stage: FFF Franck Ribery

Relief for Anand, WCF postpones 1st game by one day

Dempo hope to stretch lead today HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, APRIL 21

Schwank beats Hewitt at Barcelona Open

AGENCIES FRANCE, APRIL 21

Franck Ribery and Sidney Govou must be presumed innocent at this stage after being heard as witnesses by police investigating a prostitution network, the French Football Federation (FFF) said on Tuesday.

Lawyers for the two France internationals said Ribery and Govou had already been questioned and a police source close to the investigation said a third player should follow.

"The FFF wishes to state its attachment to the presumption of innocence principle and express its faith in the judicial process," the organisation said

in a brief statement.

"The FFF has no access to the case's file and will make no further statement until the judicial process comes to a conclusion."

French media said players heard by investigators were clients of a nightclub in Paris's posh Champs-Elysees district that allegedly featured escort girls.

Ribery and Govou play for Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyon respectively and could face each other in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal in Germany on Wednesday.

Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas told reporters in Munich he had complete confidence in Govou.

"Sidney came to see me in my office before the team left Lyon for Munich on Monday and his explanations

were convincing," said Aulas.

"His lawyer has confirmed he was not involved and, obviously, I'm absolutely ready to believe him," he added.

France playmaker Ribery was scheduled to appear at a news conference in Munich on Tuesday but was replaced by defender Philipp Lahm as Bayern declined to discuss the police probe.

Les Bleus, preparing for the World Cup in South Africa in June, could have done without all this.

The former world and European champions have faced criticism for under-performing since reaching the final of the last World Cup four years ago in Germany.

Serena out of Fed Cup Venus to decide

AGENCIES WHITE PLAINS, APRIL 21

Serena Williams is not going to play for the U.S. against Russia in the Fed Cup semifinals this

GOA DIARY All-India scrabble at Verna

PANJIM (HSD) -- The 7th AllIndia open scrabble tournament organised by Scrabble Association of Goa will be held on April 24 and 25 at P.C. College hall, Agnel Technical Complex, Verna.

Rs 35,000 as cash prizes will be awarded.

Entries may be emailed to rajivantao@yahoo.com.

Spot entries on the day of the tournament will be accepted upto 9 a.m. and matches will start at 9.30. In all 15 rounds will be played.

Details may be obtained from Mukesh Adhia, secretary, Scrabble Association of Goa on 9822140932.

Cricket tourney at Old Goa

PANJIM (HSD) – `D’ Star Boys of Old Goa will organise their 2nd all-Goa floodlit cricket tournament from April 24-26 at Old Goa. Rs 10,000, Rs 5000 will be awarded.

The semi-final losers will get Rs 2500 each.

Details may be obtained from Dinesh Parvatkar on 9890544092.

weekend. Venus Williams still needs to decide whether she’ll be on the team.

Both sisters have been dealing with leg problems, and U.S. captain Mary Joe Fernandez has been holding open a spot for the matches at Birmingham, Ala. The roster can be changed

up to one hour before Friday’s draw, but Venus was expected to tell Fernandez her status Tuesday. The matches are Saturday and Sunday.

Serena has been sidelined by a left knee injury since winning the Australian Open. Venus wore wraps on both legs in the tournament final on April 3 in Key Biscayne, Fla.

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SPORTS

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Inter stun Barcelona 3-1 Pg. 17

Vishal slams century Pg. 16

GOA, THURSDAY, 22 APRIL, 2010

www.oherald.in

Davorlim beat Carmona Alvernaz and lalush soccer HERALD SPORTS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Davorlim Sporting Club beat fancied Carmona SC 1-0 in the AllGoa 3rd Alvernaz and Lalush Alemao memorial football tournament organised by Churchill Brothers SC at Varca ground on Wednesday.

The all-important goal was scored by Roosevelt Gomes in the 50th minute of the second half .Wenson Figueiredo was named man-of-the match.

Sao Jose de Areal shocked Navelim Villagers Union 6-5 via the tie-breaker to move into the quarter-finals. They were level 1-1 at full time.

Alvito Colaco scored in the first half for Navelim while Fredrick Endro equalised in the dying minutes.

In the tie-breaker, Mariano Fernandes, Lawry Travasso, Caetano Fernandes, Fredrick Endro and Xavier Endro converted for Sao Jose de Areal while Navelim shot through Alvito Colaco, Domnic Cabral, Mario Fernandes, Chandrakant Naik.

MI book final berth PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 21

Kieron Pollard produced a splendid all-round display as Mumbai Indians thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs to storm into their maiden Indian Premier League final here tonight.

Pollard struck a 13-ball 33 to help his side make a splendid recovery from early jolt in company of Saurabh Tiwary (52 not out) to post 184 for five after batting first and then snared three wickets for 17 runs as the home side restricted Bangalore to 149 for nine in the first semifinal at DY Patil Stadium.

With the win today, Mumbai, who failed to reach the semi-finals in the last two editions of the IPL, also became the first team to qualify for this year's Champions Twenty20 League.

St Anthony pip Cuncolim HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, APRIL 21

Davorlim and Carmona players try to overpower each other.

PY Assonora ahead vivian memorial soccer HERALD SPORTS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

Parish Youth of Assonora beat Parish Youth of Bicholim 3-0 in the inaugural match of all-Goa seven-a-side parish youth football tournament organised by St Clara’s Parish Youth of Assonora in memory of Vivian Fernandes at Assolna parish ground.

Simpson Almeida (2) and M A Francis scored.

Parish Youth of Tivim beat Parish Youth of Sirsaim via the

tie-breaker in the other match.

Parisdh Youth of Cortalim Curpavaddo beat Parish Youth of Pomburpa 2-0, with Melvin Silva and Herald D’Silva being the scorers. Parish Youth of Morjim beat Parish Youth of Merces 53 with Cliftion D’Sousa, Neville Fernandes, Benit D’Sousa, Melwyn D’Sousa and Avelino Fernandes being the scorers for Morjim while Rickey, Francis and Joseph netted for Merces.

Prudent Fernandes who sponsored the event was the chief guest. Fr Luis Pinto, youth animator was the guest of honour.

St Anthony’s Sports Club, Cotombi came from behind to defeat Cuncolim Union 2-1 to enter the quarter-final of All-Goa Cayman Cup inter-village football tournament organized by Curtorim Gymkhana at Curtorim ground, on Wednesday. The teams were tied 1-1 at half time Cuncolim Union took the lead in the 8th minute through striker Rosario Carvalho.

Stung by the setback, St Anthony’s mounted pressure and their persistent forays paid dividends when Manush Olveira neutralized the lead with a rasping shot off a through pass from Gilbert Fernandes.

St Anthony’s constant threats paid dividends when Adney Colaco was brought down by Cuncolim Union defender Antonio Fernandes inside the box prompting referee to show the dreaded spot. Manush Olveira mad no mistake with the resultant spot kick to send the Cuncolim Union goalkeeper the wrong way.

Luciano Fernandes of Cayman Island was the chief guest and was introduced to the teams.

Coca Cola Cup kicks off

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat kicks the ball to mark the inauguration of 1st Coca-Cola Celebration U-16 Cup football event in the presence of Joyonto Chaudhary, GM Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Goa, Anand Singh, Director Marketing Coca-Cola India, Victoria Fernandes, MLA, Transport Minister Sudhir Dhavlikar, Bruno Coutinho, Savio Messias, GFA secretary and Victor Gonsalves at Santa Cruz school playground.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT MERCES, APRIL 21

A dazzling start with a heavy dose of football laced with music, dancers, acrobats and other entertainers kicked off the the 1st Coca-Cola Celebration U-16 cup football event which kept the crowd busy at Santa Cruz school playground on Wednesday.

The event is being organized

by Goa Football Association in collaboration with Coca-Cola.

On the first day, three teams vied for a spot in the next round which included CDJ Ribandar, Sao Miguel de Taleigao and Aivao Youth Club.

CDJ Ribandar, were lucky to go into the next round, on a superior goal difference.

In the first match, Sao Minguel easily accounted for Aivao Youth Club 6-0 with Shashank Naik, Neel, Ellison de Almeida, Basavraj Biradas and Loyston Fernandes (2) finding the net.

In the second match, CDJ Ribandar thumped in 15 goals against a tiring Aivao Youth Club.

Keegan Bast (5), Daris Rodrigues (3), Adrian Menezes (2), Whalan Joseph (2), Aldair Figueiredo, Kunal Shetty and Shawn Soares were the scorers.

However, the third and the crucial match proved to be a tight contest as CDJ Ribandar and Sao Minguel locked horns for a place in the next round.

The Ribandar side just needed a draw to go through while Sao Minguel needed an outright win to book their place.

Sao Minguel attacked and were immediately rewarded as

Royston Fernandes found the net to give his side a 1-0 lead.

However, much to their disappointment, a self-goal allowed CDJ Ribandar to get back into the match, with Sao Minguel’s defender heading in his own goal a cross from CDJ’s Ellison de Almeida.

Speaking to Herald, GFA Secretary Savio Messias said that the aim of the tournament is to introduce inter-village tournament at the youth level, which will help tap football talent in

the villages at an early stage and thus give the youth a chance to groom themselves to become future international stars.

Speaking on the entertainment part, Messias said that it aims to keep the fans entertained during the break.

When asked whether the playing of two matches by each team would not tire the players, Messias said that normally players play a full match for 90 minutes and here the players play only 80 minutes if both the matches are combined.

Earlier, unveiling the contest, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat congratulated the GFA and CocaCola for organizing the tournament in the villages, which will help in tapping football talent at the grassroot level and thus help them shine at the National and international levels and bring laurels to the State and the country.

Coca-Cola India Marketing Director Anand Singh said that Coca-Cola has been associated with FIFA in promoting football all over the globe and expressed his happiness to have been associated in promoting youth football in Goa, particularly at the village level.

Transport Minister Sudin Dhavlikar and St Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes spoke.. Arjuna awardee Bruno Coutinho, Victor Gonsalves were also present.

Chasing a stiff 185 for a win, last year's losing finalists Bangalore were never in the game with wickets falling at regular intervals and no substantial partnership coming up, the highest being a 34-run stand between Rahul Dravid and Robin Uthappa from 20 balls for the third wicket.

Ross Taylor top-scored for Banaglore with a 30-ball 31.

Jacques Kallis (11), Rahul Dravid (23), Kevin Pietersen (19), Robin Uthappa (26) could not convert the starts to big scores.

Lasith Malinga bowled beau-

Mumbai Indians:Shikhar Dhawan run out (Kohli) 12,S Tendulkar c Taylor b Steyn 9,A Nayar c Praveen b Pietersen 22,A Rayudu c Kallis b Steyn 40,JP Duminy c Pietersen b Kumble 3,Saurabh Tiwary not out 52,K Pollard not out 33. Extras: 13. Total: 184-5.

Fall of wickets: 11-1, 29-2, 68-3, 77-4, 144-5.Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-0-29-0,Dale Steyn 4-0-43-2,Vinay Kumar 2-0-25-0,Jacques Kallis 2-0-25-0, Anil Kumble 4-0-30-1,Kevin Pietersen 4-0-201,Virat Kohli 1-0-10-0.

Royal Challengers: Jacques Kallis c Rayudu b Malinga 11,R Dravid run out (Nayar) 23,Kevin Pietersen st Rayudu b Harbhajan 19,Robin Uthappa c Dhawan b Pollard 26,Ross Taylor not out 31, Virat Kohli c Rayudu b Pollard 9,Manish Pandey c Duminy b Pollard 5,Praveen Kumar b Harbhajan 1,Vinay Kumar b Malinga 8, Dale Steyn b Fernando 5,Anil Kumble not out 1.Extras: 10. Total: 149-9. Fall of wickets: 24-1, 47-2, 81-3, 81-4, 97-5, 108-6, 118-7, 134-8, 1469. Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-0-34-0,D Fernando 4-0-28-1, Malinga 4-0-242,Harbhajan Singh 4-0-44-2,K Pollard 4-0-1- 3.Man-of-the-Match: K Pollard.

Sporting fined Rs 2 lakh HERALD SPORTS REPORTER PANJIM, APRIL 21

Sporting Clube de Goa were reportedly fined Rs 2 lakh by the AIFF Disciplinary Committee as one of their supporter had assaulted the referee after their match at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, according to a New Delhi source.

It may be recalled that the Sporting supporter soon after the match against East Bengal ran towards the referee and allegedly assaulted the official. A police complaint was lodged and it was produced by the AIFF at the Disciplinary Committee meeting held in New Delhi yesterday, according to a reliable source.

The GFA has also been fined Rs 50,000 for the same incident.

The IFA (Bengal) has been

fined Rs 75,000 for various incidents of stone throwing while goalkeeper Arindan has also been slappped a fine of Rs 25,000 for threatening behaviour against a spectator.

Churchill Alemao,patron of Churchill Bros, has been warned against repetition of attacks on referees, even as PRO Peter Figueiredo had demanded from AIFF secretary, Alberto Colaco to know what parts of the report were offensive.

He had also reiterated that Coalco had no right to issue any notice since under the rules, Colaco was responsible to deal with AIFF correspondence and that for all other matters he had to seek the clearance of the Executive Committee or any other panel.

Navelim Villagers up v m salgaocar soccer HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, APRIL 21

Navelim Villagers got the better of Nerul Sports Club 3-2 via the tie-breaker after both the teams were involved in a goalless draw to move into the finals of late V. M. Salgaocar trophy inter-village football tournament organised by Saligao Sporting Club at Sporting ground on Wednesday.

Areal cruise past Verna HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, APRIL 21

A first half strike by Mariano Rebello helped Sao Jose de Areal to edge past Verna Sports Club 1-0 to cruise into the semi-final of All-Goa Eslinda Alemao intervillage football tournament organized by Sporting Club of Davorlim at Davorlim ground, on Wednesday .

Midway in the first session Mariano Rebello unleashed a right footer which crashed into the net.

Verna Sports Club tried their best to neutralize the lead but Sao Jose de Areal were quick and alert to frustrate the rival attacks.

Saligao pip Sai Avtar HERALD SPORTS DESK PANJIM, APRIL 21

C D J Ribandar’s Aldair Figueiredo launching an attack against Aivao Youth Club.

tifully by taking two Bangalore wickets and conceding 24 runs from his four overs. Harbhajan Singh took two wickets but was expensive, giving away 44 runs from his four overs.

At the end it was a comfortable win for Mumbai, who had topped the league tables with 20 points, the only point of concern was that captain Tendulkar, who is the top scorer in the tournament, suffered right-hand webbing split while taking a dropped catch of Dravid in the fourth over.

Saligao Sporting club registered a 1-0 win over Sai Avtar Sports Club, Anjuna, to enter the quarter-finals of 3rd Colormax-Imperial Rolling Trophy football tournament organized by United Club Nerul and sponsored by Jaysingh L. Rane, Pilerne at Dr. Gustavo Monteiro stadium, Candolim on Wednesday.

Arpora showed domination throughout the match, but their players Savio Pereira and Pramod Mardolkar, missed sitters.

Rajesh Pompuphekar’s shot was saved by Anjuna goalkeeper Francis Mascarenhas.

On crossing over Pramod Mardolkar missed in front of an open goal. At the other end Saprem Diukar failed to score from a goalmouth melee for Anjuna.

Finally Rajesh on receiving a pass from Kishor Palkar drilled a power-packed right footer which brushed the goalkeeper’s hands before entering the goal.

In a well contested match, the teams had an equal number of scoring opportunities but their forwards failed to find the net at regulation time.

Valent Pereira of Navelim had an opportunity to put his team ahead but failed to score while Abhijit of Nerul shot wide off a good cross from Felix.

Richard, Jason and Chandrakant scored for Navelim while Avinash and Jennifer found the mark for Nerul.

Chennai aim for revenge against Deccan PTI MUMBAI, APRIL 21

Chennai Super Kings have a chance to avenge their two successive defeats to Deccan Chargers as well as knock the defending champions out of this year's Indian Premier League when the two southern outfits clash in the second semifinal here tomorrow.

The Super Kings were defeated by the Chargers at home as well as away. At home, they lost by 31 runs while chasing a formidable target of 180 while in the return clash the defeat was by six wickets after setting a modest target of 139 for Adam Gilchrist's men.

Super Kings would thus go into the clash hoping their batting, that has started to click only of late, would come good against the Chargers bowling attack in which left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has been the pick of the lot with 20 wickets.

But the task of taming vChargers at the D Y Patil Sta-

Samaranch no more AGENCIES MADRID, APRIL 21

Juan Antonio Samaranch, a reserved but shrewd dealmaker whose 21-year term as president of the International Olympic Committee was marked by both the unprecedented growth of the games died on Wednesday at Quiron hospital in Barcelona, who was admitted for experiencing heart trouble. He was 89. He was considered one of the defining presidents for building the IOC and firmly establishing the Olympics as a world force.

dium, one of their home venues this year, is an arduous one as the Hyderabad franchise has been on a roll leading into the semi-finals.

They are the only team, apart from league toppers Mumbai Indians, to emerge with more victories than defeats (8 to 7) in the preliminary stage of the competition.

The two wins over the Super Kings obviously gives them the edge going into the do-or-die contest but knockout matches call for a different mindset.

As defending champions, the Chargers would be eager not to be dethroned while the Super Kings would be equally determined to make their second final in three seasons.

All pointers are there for a great contest in front of a capacity 55,000 crowd in the Navi Mumbai venue.

The indifferent form of two key players, Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist and Super Kings opener Matthew Hayden are a cause for deep con-

cern. Both are retired Australian greats and have not really clicked in the tournament so far.

While Gilchrist has scored only one half century, 54 in the Chargers' opening match, Hayden too has crossed the 50 in only one tie when he made a blistering 93 against the Delhi Daredevils at the Ferozshah Kotla in the side's third tie.

Both have got starts since then without taking full advantage of these to play match-winning knocks and the two rival teams would be wary of their destructive powers with the bat.

That the two teams have made it to the semifinals despite the modest returns from these two greats is an indication of the efforts put in by the others with the bat.

For the Super Kings, Suresh Raina has been the best batsman and he stood fourth in the run-getters list with 461 runs from 14 matches at a fine average of 46 and an excellent strike rate of 141.