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HI refers sex scandal to Delhi police Not to avail Kaushik’s services in future PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

People trying to scramble on to the roof of a train to participate in Guru Purnima fair in Govardhan town near Mathura on Saturday.

Shah resigns, still untraceable PTI NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD, JULY 24

Facing arrest on charges of murder and kidnapping, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, a close associate of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, resigned from the government today but remained untraceable for the CBI. Forty-six-year-old Shah, who has been slapped charges of murder and kidnapping in the fake encounter killing of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in 2005, sent his resignation to Modi’s residence this morning, which will be accepted, the Chief Min-

ister said this morning on arrival in Delhi.

Modi, who is here to attend a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) meeting announced Shah’s resignation but contended that he was “completely innocent” and that the charges against him were “politically motivated” by the Congress government at the Centre.

The resignation of a man, considered a very close associate of Modi, did not, however, impress the Congress which said it was “too little, too late”.

The resignation coming after resisting it for days and weeks

was not “graceful and voluntary”, said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singh.

For the BJP top leadership and Modi to fully justif y Shah’s actions showed there was no “contrition, apology or acceptance” on their part, he said adding this was contempt of court.

However, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar contended that Shah should be congratulated for submitting his resignation and was only availing all options before law to face charges that “are well known to be false and concocted”.

Meanwhile, CBI continued its

PWD mulls footbridge at Comba rail crossing HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JULY 24

PWD officials have mulled a footbridge at the Comba railway crossing and a pedestrian way inside the subway for the benefit of the student community when the railway crossed is closed for vehicular traffic.

The tragic death of a Std XII student at the Margao railway crossing earlier this week finally brought senior PWD officials to the site to find solutions to the crossing problem faced by the students.

Led by Principal Chief Engineer Rego, the PWD officials inspected the water logged subway and discussed measures to prevent it from flooding by raising the level of the road.

It was also discussed to build a raised platform inside the subway for the pedestrians.

The officials have further decided to hold a meeting with Konkan Railway officials on the question of building a footbridge at the level crossing.

Rego told Herald that they have discussed two possible solutions to the crossing problem.

One, to build a footbridge – which forms part of a long term solution — and the second option to raise the height of the road at the subway after discussions with KRC officials

Senior PWD officials inspecting the waterlogged subway at Comba railway crossing.

Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

“Raising the road level at the subway can offer solution to the problem. Even at Vile Parle, the road level is raised to meet the situation”, he said.

The suggestion to raise the road level at the subway was made by Rego after he was informed that the subway gets water logged due to water gushing from the River Sal. He said the PWD would prepare estimates for the construction of a subway at the railway crossing, adding that the suggestion would take a concrete shape only after a meeting with the Konkan Railway officials.

He further said the pedestrian way inside the subway will be taken up after receiving clearance from the KRC, adding “if the KRC agrees with our sug-

gestions, work would start soon”.

PWD Executive Engineer, Ringe said he would invite KRC officials early next week to find a solution to the problem at the Comba crossing. He suggested construction of a walkway with railings inside the subway for the students.

“When the subway was constructed by the KRC, we had no say. Water gushes in the subway when the water table in the River Sal is high”, he said.

Ringe recalled that even Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had spoken to the KRC officials on the need to build a footbridge at the level crossing, adding that the proposal would taken up with the Konkan Railway early next week.

I-T dept biggest litigant in Govt, says Pranab PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

Calling it the biggest litigant in the entire Government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked the Income Tax Department to reexamine the way it handles tax disputes.

Speaking at the 150th anniversary of the Income Tax in India, Mukherjee also exuded confidence that direct tax collections, hit by the global financial crisis in the last two fiscals, will regain its pre-crisis collection with the economy poised to grow by 8.5 per cent this fiscal, nine per cent the following year and double digits thereafter.

“One area of concern is litigation with taxpayers. The Department is filing appeals in a routine manner without careful thought and examination lead-

ing to the Department earning the dubious distinction of being the biggest litigant in the Government of India,” Mukherjee said.

He said some of the appeals filed by the department have been dismissed by the courts on account of inordinate delays.

“These issues require a relook at the system of legal and judicial management,” the finance minister said.

He said that there must be institutional arrangements to address tax disputes to the satisfaction of both taxpayers and tax collectors so as to reduce the number of litigations.

The finance minister said that the proposed Direct Taxes Code, expected to replace the Income Tax Act from the next fiscal, will provide a taxation regime which is simple and broad based.

search for Shah, who along with two other accused Yashpal Chudasama and Ajay Patel, have gone underground.

“All three are key accused in the fake encounter case and we are searching for them,” C B I o f f i c i a l s t o l d P T I in Ahmedabad.

Teams from the Central agency, which filed a charge sheet in the case yesterday, are searching for the accused in various locations, they added.

Shah was exploring legal options after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Special CBI Court yesterday, sources close to the minister said.

Hockey India (HI) today took serious note of player Ranjita Devi’s complaint against coach MK Kaushik by referring the matter to the Delhi Police and asking it to immediately investigate the issue as it involves the allegations of outraging the modesty of a woman.

Taking a strong stand, HI also said that it will not avail the services of Kaushik and videographer Basavraj, who courted controversy by being in the company of sex workers during the tour of Canada and China, in future.

Addressing a press conference here, HI secretar y general Narinder Batra said the national federation felt that the written version of the player commanded “high credibility” with specific charges being levelled against Kaushik.

“We feel that the committee does not have coercive powers to go into the issue. In view of the Supreme Court judgement in the Visakha case regarding sexual harassment at work place, which relates to Section 354 of IPC (relating to outraging the modesty of a woman), we are marking a copy to the Delhi Police Commissioner for taking

suo moto notice so that this can be taken to its logical conclusion.” he said.

Batra said that the five-member committee which probed the allegations should have “recommended action and not merely suggested for action to Ministry of Sports.”

The Sports Ministry sources made it clear that the government was watching the developments very closely and would act as necessary.

Batra, meanwhile, said HI felt that certain things that have come to light that should be looked into and the case be made an example.

M K Kaushik

LeT expanding to West: Mullen PTI ISLAMABAD, JULY 24

LeT, blamed for the Mumbai attacks, has expanded its operations to Afghanistan and the West and has become more active throughout the region, which calls for concerted action against the outlawed group, America’s top military official said tonight.

“I’ve watched LeT (grow) since the end of 2008, move to the West, become more active in other countries, more active throughout the region, more engaged with other terrorist groups,” Mullen, who arrived in Pakistan today to meet with the leadership and military officials, said during an interaction with a group of journalists here.

Besides expanding to the West, the LeT “is in Afghanistan (and) other countries”, Mullen said in response to questions.

He said there is “heightened

concern about (LeT’s) emergence and what is significant (is its) emergence not only on the regional stage but potentially as a terror organization with global aspirations”.

“There is an increased level of concern where the LeT is and where it appears to be headed.

It is something we all have to address,” he said.

Mullen initially tried to parry a question on whether he had raised America’s concerns about the LeT with Pakistan’s leadership by saying that everyone would have to work together to address the threat posed by the group.

In response to a pointed question on the same issue, Mullen indicated he had raised the matter with the Pakistani leadership on more than one occasion.

“I tried to make the case that the LeT is a growing threat, it is an organisation that is becoming

more lethal.

(This has been) proven so and it is not just operating where it used to be. It’s expanding, it is in the West, it is in Afghanistan, it is in other nations. All of us have to be concerned about it,” he said.

India says Pakistan-based LeT, which was founded by terrorist leader Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, was behind the 2008 Mumbai carnage and wants Islamabad to take action against terror emanating from its soil against India.

The LeT, which was banned during the tenure of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, reemerged as the Jamaat-ud-Dawah. The JuD, which is also headed by Saeed, was banned by the UN in the wake of the Mumbai attacks.

Replying to another question, Mullen said the US believed top Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Aiman alZawahiri, are in Pakistan.

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Rains continue unabated for more than a week, property damaged at few places HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

The rain showers continued pouring in the state for more than a week with low lying areas of the capital city remaining inundated. There was no casualty reported even as the chaos on the road was a common feature for most of the time in the week.

Met department officials stated that the state has received 72 inches rainfall for the current monsoon season. Last three days received around 8 inch rainfall.

The tardy pre-monsoon work by the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) has been exposed frequently during the recent monsoon, which has caught the pace right from the day one.

The city roads in major parts including D B Bandodkar road,

18th June road and B B Borkar road remain partially under water when it starts pouring with drainages not being able to flush the rainwater out.

A slight lull in the showers brings back the life to normalcy.

CCP workers are seen troubleshooting for majority of the time as the rain continues lashing the city. The mud heaps piled alongside the road is cleared often by the CCP workers, who are seen working even in the dead end of the night.

CCP Mayor Caroline Po said that they have former a special night squads, which attend to the emergency calls and keep round the clock vigil.

“A group of eight workers form night squad and when there is no call, they usually lift the mud from the roadside,” she said.

House damaged in Bicholim HERALD CORRESPONDENT BICHOLIM, JULY 24

A house was damaged at Karapur-Sarvan as heavy rains affected normal life in many parts of Bicholim taluka on Saturday.

According to reports, the incident occurred at about 7 pm, when branches fell on the house belonging to one Purushottam Katkar from Karapur, causing a loss of about Rs 10,000. A fire brigade rushed to the site and cleared the debris.

In another incident late Saturday evening, live wires fell on the road at the Bicholim Industrial Estate.

Several internal roads in Pale constituency have been damaged due to heavy rains and heavy mining traffic.

Speaking to Herald, Devanand Gawas of Devulwada-Pale claimed that the main road and most internal roads in the constituency have been damaged.

“The cause of this is not only the rains but continuous mining traffic in the area,” Gawas said.

“The road leading towards Devulwada, which is about 2 km from Pale panchayat, is in a bad shape. This poses a threat to motorists, especially two wheeler riders”he added.

Tree crashes on govt workshop at Poinguinim

Workers repairs the broken portion of the Government saw mill at Iddar-Poinguinim.

Photo by Kathy Pereira HERALD CORRESPONDENT CANACONA, JULY 24

A cashew tree came crashing down on a government carpentry workshop at IddarPoinguinim, while a residential house collapsed at Palolem, as heavy rains lashed Canacona taluka on Saturday.

The government carpentry workshop, presently used as a saw mill, suffered a loss of about Rs 40,000, informed the Canacona fire services.

Firefighters later cleared the cashew tree which brought down a part of the government’s carpentry unit.

Gurupournima Mahotsav at Pajifond today

This unit was previously used by ITI students as a workshop to study carpentry trade, while the staff also operated the premises for other trade related activities, earning revenue to the government.

Lately, residents have complained that this unit is now a white elephant, which has bben poorly maintained by authorities.

In another includent, a house with mud walls collapsed at Palolem, causing a loss of Rs 35,000 to the owner, Ulhas Dessai.

Woman arrested for kidnapping niece HERALD CORRESPONDENT VALPOI, JULY 24

Valpoi police on Friday arrested a woman on charges of kidnapping and severely assaulting her niece from Brahma Karmali-Sattari.

According to Valpoi police, the incident took place on July 16, when the accused, Snehal Gaonkar, a native of Bicholim but married at Sattari, visited Poriem on July 16 at about 11 am. She picked up her niece from her school at Poriem and took her to an isolated place in Bicholim where she confined her in a room.

When the school was over for the day, the girl’s father went to collect her from the Valpoi bus stand, but she could not be found till evening.

Suspecting Gaonkar’s involvement in the disappearance of his daughter, the father contacted Valpoi police later in the night.Valpoi police along with their counterparts in Bicholim went to the site and managed to locate the missing girl.

The girl’s father told police that Gaonkar had kidnapped his daughter to settle scores following a rift among family members some months ago.

The accused was arrested on Friday evening, after the father complained that his daughter had been admitted at GMC due to severe injuries, following the assault by Gaonkar.

Cortalim residents demand fly-over

HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JULY 24

HERALD CORRESPONDENT CORTALIM, JULY 24

Sanatan Sanstha, in association with other organization will organize Gurupournima Mahotsav at Sree Veershaiva Lingayat Mutt, Pajifond, Margao on July 25 at 4 pm.

The Mahotsav has been organized in order to revive the great tradition of “Guru-Disciple” and practice it.

The mahotsav should contain programs such as Sree Vyas Puja and Gurupujan, documentar y on “How to practice Dharma” with practical demonstration, a play spreading awareness on the attacks on Dharma, guidance lectures by speakers on various topics, including the topic “The necessity of spiritual practice for protecting the nation and the dharma.

A meeting convened to deliberate on problems likely to be faced by residents of Cortalim due to the proposed six-lane highway has demanded a flyover to save houses from demolition.

Speakers urged the government that the ideal solution would be to build a flyover from Zuari Bridge to the Toyota showroom as these could save houses and other structures from demolition.

They also averred that the flyover would also do away the problems that residents would face at the crossing in case of the six-lane highway.

The speakers, however, cautioned that if the six-lane highway was constructed by demolishing houses, the government would have to com-

pensate owners as per the prevailing market price and would have also to make available suitable land to the affected persons.

NHAI Project Director P S Dodamani said the central government had reduced the width of the road from 60 metres to 45 metres to save the structures, but refused to divulge further details.

Ligorio Monteiro, private secretary to the local ML A Mauvin Godinho, said every attempt would be made to save houses and assured that the ML A would be with the people on this issue.

Others speaking at the meeting included Cortalim sarpanch Anthony Miranda, Cortalim ZP Cynthia D’Silva, former sarpanch Caitano Xavier and former Cortalim Block Congress president Devendra Kenkre.

‘Stereotype teaching methods used in most Goan schools’ HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

“About 77 per cent of schools in the State use stereotype methods in teaching leaving very little scope for interactive and experimental teaching.

There is no creativity in teaching methods and experimental teaching is almost neglected as teachers are more interested in completing syllabus in time,” says Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS), an NGO in its special report for 2007-2008.

The BJS has developed an integrated Educational Quality Improvement Project (EDUQIP) to improve quality of education in the educational institutes. It conducted extensive study of the schools in Goa and made several recommendations to upgrade quality of education.

The report was tabled in the House, this week, in response to a question tabled, “What is being done to improve the quality of education in Goa?” It further says, “about 40 per cent of schools of Goa do not have adequate toilets and also their maintenance is very poor.

Above 50 per cent of schools have common toilets for staff and students. Also, most of the schools provide unfiltered tap water to the students for drinking and 42 per cent schools have insufficient number of taps and supply of drinking water.”

About 27 per cent of schools have no playgrounds and about 45 per cent schools have very small playground with uneven surface making it almost unus-

Chinmaya Mission plans to start school in Goa HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

Chinmaya Mission, an international spiritual organization is planning to have its school in Goa, which will blend the modern education with India’s ancestral wisdom.

“School students are not mentally fit to accept the failure.

Hence we are coming across increasing incidents of suicides and crimes. The violence in the school campus is alarming,” Shubhalakshmi Naik, member of Chinmaya Mission, Panaji center said.

She said that the school will help the younger generation to grow positively and be a good citizen.

Market yard for vegetables in Canacona

HERALD CORRESPONDENT CANACONA, JULY 24

A market yard for locally grown vegetables and fruits in Canacona will be set up before the forthcoming Ganesh Chathurti festival, which will be used as an outlet for farmers and a collection centre for the department.

This was announced at a Kirshi Melava, attended by a large number of farmers, at the Gaondongrim panchayat hall.

The agriculture department will form a committee to ensure the commencement of this market outlet-cum-collection yard at Canacona and will make payments on weekly basis to farmers who provide products

through this collection centre (yard).

While attending to grievances of farmers, Agriculture minister Vishwajeet Rane assured farmers, affected by the floods in October 2009, that their destroyed field pumps would be replaced before Ganesh Chathurthi.

The agriculture department will finalize a dealer who will be asked to directly provide a pump set to those affected farmers.

It is learnt that around 190 farmers, mostly from Gaondongrim and Khotigao, have claimed destruction of their pump sets installed in their respective fields, during the October 2

floods, which had devastated the taluka.

The government had earlier asked farmers to either repair or purchase a new pump set in place of the destroyed one and to submit bills to the department for reimbursement.

Departmental sources have claimed that except for one or two farmers, others have not submitted the bills for reimbursement.

The government will also provide 2,500 metres of electricity fencing for cultivable fields, from the present 500 metres, to provide protection from wild animals.

Poinguinim ML A Ramesh Tawadkar, Khola ZP Krishna Velip

and Poinguinim ZP Daya Pagui were present and spoke on the occasion.

E a r l i e r, a p o w e r - p o i n t presentation was shown on various government schemes for farmers, which if availed, could help increase production and profit.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Director of Agric u l t u r e S Te n d u l k a r a n d Canacona Zonal Agriculture Officer Rajesh Dessai.

Sarpanchas Vishant Gaonkar (Gaondongrim), Rajesh Gaonkar (Khotigao), Tejaswini Daykar (Poinguinim) and Pranali Prabhugaonkar (Loliem-Polem) were also present on the occasion.

Penha da France VP, Aldona PHC hold massive cleanliness drive HERALD CORRESPONDENT PORVORIM, JULY 24

The Aldona Primary Health Centre (PHC) along with the Penha da Franca panchayat picked up over 300 discarded tyres lying scattered in Britona and surrounding areas.

Aldona Health Officer Dr Pradeep Dhavjekar, Sanitary Inspectors Nanda Pisurlekar, Dattanand Gaunkar and Extension Educator Sridhar Acharya took part in the drive. “We conducted the cleanliness drive on a regular basis in areas where cases of Malaria are detected,” Dr Dhavjekar told Herald.

“In May, we conducted a cleanliness drives in Halliwada, Virlosa and Moira and at Manshebhat and Halliwada in Britona in June.”

“Water stagnates in used tyres and provides a good breeding site for mosquitoes. Cases of Malaria were detected in Manshebhat and Halliwada in Britona. Hence, we decided to collect all discarded tyres from these areas,” Dr Dhavjekar added.

Around 100 discarded tyres were found in an open area at the crematorium at Britona. The

Employees of Aldona Primary Health Centre collect discarded tyres.

Green India Recycling company from Margao has agreed to take these tyres,” he said.

Dr Dhavjekar added that there had been a substantial drop in malaria cases due to cleanliness drives, surveillance activities and educational programmes.

In 2009, 203 malaria cases were reported by Aldona PHC from January to June, consisting of Plasmodium

Falciparum (38) and Vivax (165). During the same period this year, malaria caseshavedroppedto96,whichincludes Plasmodium Falciparum (10) and Vivax (86).

“Britona, Salai and Sucorro are high risk areas, where the population is high,” said Dr Dhavjekar.

“Our surveillance teams visit houses to collect blood samples of those people down with fever.

able, says findings of BJS. As regards to participation of management in orientation programmes it found that 80 per cent of the private management members have never or rarely attended any orientation programme on education. They showed keen willingness to attend suchprogrammes, nevertheless, says BJS in its report.

About 42 per cent schools do not have libraries with sufficient books.

It also found that small rooms are used as library to store books. Also, most schools did not have enough number of reference books and magazine.

The BJS in its study also checked safety and security in the schools and discovered that an alarmingly 90 per cent of schools do not have sufficient safety and security systems like compound wall, fencing, fire extinguishers, safety in labs, speed breakers outside school.

Besides, in most of the schools no disaster management drill and training has taken place

whereas first aid facility was also found to be inadequate.

The State Government in reply to the House clarified that every schools has been now asked to prepare road map to upgrade their present standard.

Heads of institutions and teachers are trained and they have been asked to focus on strengths and weaknesses indicated in the school report.

Heads of institutions have also been directed to have effective teaching –learning process in the school.

Some Recommendations of BJS are: Conduct repeated workshops on creativity in teaching, teachers should be trained on continuous basis on different kinds of teaching and assessment techniques, disaster management training and drills should be made compulsory in schools for both teachers and students along with the staff, immediate need to review and upgrade the safety and security measures in the all the schools in Goa, should have a formal vision and mission statement, make alternative arrangements for schools that do not have playgrounds, proper system with constant monitoring of cleanliness of the toilets is essentialm make immediate arrangements for construction and repair of toilets, a proper system with constant monitoring of cleanliness of the water tanks is essential and make provision of funds to upgrade library in terms of infrastructure and books.

Photo by Anil Shankhwalker

Besides we conduct information, education and communication programmes in villages under our jurisdiction to create awareness about malaria.”

“As stagnant water provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes, the Aldona PHC has also engaged field workers to fumigate construction sites and in open spaces, where water stagnates,” Dr Davjeker added.

“Till date over 10 lakhs students have gained knowledge through the education institutions of the mission all over the world,” Naik stated.

President of the Chinmaya Mission, Panaji unit, Shrinivas Dempo confirmed that the Mission is yet to get a suitable land for setting up of school.

“We are scouting for a land.

We have approached to several organizations over the matter,” he told reporters.

Dempo announced that the Panaji unit of the Mission is in the process of establishing its Ashram at Taleigao, which will be functional before the end of this calendar year.

“At the Ashram, the center

will be conducting regular activities for all age group people,” he said.

Chinmaya Mission, which has over 250 centers in India and 75 centers abroad, was founded

by Swami Chinmayanandaji.

Since its Panaji center establishment in 1994, it has been conducting regular Gnana Yagna’s for the benefit of the general public.

This year too, the Mission is organizing its annual geeta gnana yagna from July 26 to August 1 on the topic ‘know your mind’. The gathering will be addressed by Swamini Amitanandaji.

The gathering will also have evening discourses from July 27.

Farmers’ mela held at Cuncolim HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JULY 24

The State Bank of India, Cuncolim branch in association with Krishi Vigyan Kendra, South Goa held a Farmer’s mela at TalvardaCuncolim.

Around 70 farmers actively participated in the mela in spite of heavy showers, which was inaugurated by a senior most Vishnu Xetkar .

At the outset, SBI business facilitator Oscar Martins and convener of the program high-

lighted the importance of the mela in the backward area of Ta l w a r d a , c o m p r i s i n g o f Scheduled Tribes agricultural farmers. He requested the farmers to make use of the govt. schemes and financial schemes of the SBI. Subject Matter Specialist (Fisheries), KVK South Goa Brenda Fernandes appraised the farmers of the present farming scenario and the problems facing the agriculture in the state.

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Political parties flay attack on Sunil Kauthankar Congress mum on the issue

HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

Political parties sans Congress have reacted strongly to the attack on the National Students Union of India (NSUI) Sunil Kauthankar, who had demanded for a federal inquiry into the police-politician-drug mafia nexus.

However, surprisingly though the Congress, which is the parent body of NSUI has been mum on the incident so far.

Sunil Kauthankar was attacked by unknown person at Assonora yesterday when he was proceeding to Bicholim for the signature campaign for the CBI probe in drug case.

Kauthankar had recently met Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on the issue and according to him the junior Gandhi had supported him.

“We hope Rahul Gandhi realises that one of his young leaders have been attacked for supporting a public good.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had endorsed the campaign started by Sunil for a federal probe in Goa's drug nexus,” BJP general secretary Govind Par vatkar told re-

Bailancho Ekvott flays attack HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JULY 24

Bailancho Ekvott has strongly condemned the cowardly attack on NSUI President Sunil Kauthankar for his brave fight against drug racketeers.

President of the NGO Auda Viegas demanded the government should immediately act and put the culprits behind bars and also ascertain the mastermind behind the attack.

“It is necessary that the hoodlums should understand fro once and all that this type of suppression act will not be tolerated any more. At a time, when society expect youth to come forward to clean the system, this is a dastardly act to discourage the youth”, she said, adding that this type of incident intended to create fear psychosis should be strongly dealt with so that the people freely come forward to fight against injustice and the evils in society.

porters here.

“In this Congress regime we are seeing lawlessness, experienced never before. Young Congress leaders are being attacked for raising a voice against an evil like drugs, when their own government is in power,” Parvatkar said.

The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) which is a part of ruling coalition has demanded immediate police action in the case.

“Police has to act immediately and arrest the culprit,” said MGP president Dipak Dhavalikar when contacted.

He said he is not just condemning it for Kauthankar but for every citizen of Goa. “Otherwise the total beach control will go to drugs mafia,” he stated.

The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Subash Shirodkar has offered no comment on the issue so far.

When contacted by Herald three times on phone he gave just one answer “I am busy will call you back.”

The AICC general secretary and incharge of Goa desk BK Hariprasad stated that he has

Need to secure energy infrastructure: Mehra HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, JULY 24

Claiming that 30-35% of total terrorist attacks are on energy assets, former secretary (security) Shyam Mehra on Friday highlighted the need to secure energy infrastructure and enhance energy security.

He was addressing a gathering on the second day of ‘Public Good v/s Private Good’ Conference organised by Independent Power Producers Association of India deliberated on various issues at the Fort Aguada Beach Resort, Sinquerim.

The speakers were of the general view that threat, risk, analysis approach is needed to classify establishments on sensitive/strategic scale vulnerabilities and a National Security Plan is needed to secure and synergize efforts towards safety of Indian’s infrastructure.

Former IOL Ltd Chairman

Sarthak Behuria delving on subsidies stressed that the country spends 10-23% of its revenues in direct subsidies, which needs to be outlined through a system for efficient delivery to the right people.

In case of oil, the speaker outlined the intentions of subsidising it but lack of allocations from central/state budget has left the oil companies to bear them. He further asserted that for years, kerosene subsidy is considered unavoidable but the mechanism to reach it to the right people continues to be flaw.

Therefore, the kerosene subsidy should be made direct instead of being price-based. LPG is now widely being acknowledged as the subsidised fuel consumed by most undeserving consumers. The best possible solution is to eliminate LPG subsidy straightaway.

In his address, Prof Bibek De-

broy, Centre for Policy Research said: “we will never be able to identify BPL and target subsidies. The need of the hour is to address the multiplicity of BPL cards through UID and food security legislation by identifying geographically the backward areas that require subsidies.”

Other prominent speakers at the ‘Public Good V/s Private Good’ Conference were Diane McMohan (Energy Security - A Global Perspective), William Bryan (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration), Anil Razdan (Former Secretary, Ministry of Power and former special secretary Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas), Dr Devdutt Pattnaik (Chief Belief Officer, Future Group), Prof Brahma Chellany (Professor of Strategic Studies, Centre for Policy Research), Maj Gen Ashok Mehta (Retd) and Suhel Seth.

no knowledge on the attack and hence cannot offer any comment.

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat too did not answer the phone call as he was reportedly out of station.

While the top Congress leaders did not offer reaction, the State youth Congress president Sankalp Amonkar said that the police should arrest the Sunil's unknown assailants within 24 hours or face a statewide agitation.

“The police should be doing a thorough job. This is not something we will sit quiet about. We will not tolerate such attacks on our people,” Amonkar said.

The opposition has already demanded a CBI probe into the police-politician-drug mafia nexus, in which state home minister Ravi Naik's son Roy, has been linked by the Israeli media.

Kauthankar, who had started a signature campaign demanding a central probe in the drug scandal had also sought the arrest of a key Crime Branch official, who he said was linked to the drugs mafia.

Chicalim woman found dead at Siridao HERALD REPORTER VASCO, JULY 24

The 35-year-old woman who was reported missing from her residence at Chicalim was found dead at Siridao beach.

According to police reports, Nutan Sunil Salkar had left her residence on Friday evening following an argument with her husband and did not return home.

“The Drishti Special Response Service noticed a semi-nude body floating along the shore at Shirdao beach on Saturday morning and retrieved the body,” informed Agascaim PI Vishwesh Karpe.

However, family members suspect that Nutan may have committed suicide as she had left her house after a minor argument with her husband and she had said that she would go to her mother’s place, added police.

Landslide at Ponda poses threat HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARCEL, JULY 24

The landslide along the highway at onem-Priol.

Photo by Amresh Parab

Incessant rains since last the few days have caused a landslide along the highway at ConemPriol in Ponda taluka, posing a threat to motorists.

A signboard warning commuters of the falling rocks has been installed near the site.

The area has several such dangerous spots and a few years ago, a similar landslide was reported a few metres from the spot.

It may be recalled that in 2008, the PWD had constructed a retaining wall at Conem after the hillock gave away possibly due to heavy rains.

Reasons for under utilisation of SSA fund outlined HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

Poor response from NGOs, nonfilling up of certain posts and slow progress in preparation of estimates for various civil works by the Public Works Department have remained the major reasons for under utilisation of amount meant for schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) from 2005 up till now.

In a written reply to a question tabled by Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar, Education Minister Babush Monserrate informed Goa SSA was formed in September 2005 and being the inception year filling up of all posts of Cluster Resource and Block Resource Persons, etc., wasn’t possible.

Monserrate stated as a result, the activities approved by the Project Approval Board (PAB) could not be undertaken as provided in the Annual Work Plan and Budget for 2005-06.

He mentioned in 2006-07 the amount provided under the Intervention for Out of School Children scheme could not be spent due to poor response

from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Also, slow progress in preparing estimates for various civil works by PWD was the major reason, he replied.

Monserrate said in 2007-08 the non-filling up of posts of Cluster Resource and Block Resource persons continued. Also, amount provided under the head, Children with Special

DoE to provide Rs 60,000 for literacy programme HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JULY 24

The Directorate of Education will provide a total grant of Rs 60,000 in three installments to the agency implementing the Revised Scheme for Literacy and Vocational Training for Adults in a bid to boost the literacy rate of the State from 82 per cent (as per 2001 census) to 100 per cent. The first instalment of Rs 20,000 will be installed after the issue of sanction order from the directorate.

Government statistics reveal that most of the 18 per cent illiterate people are in the age bracket of 50 to 60 years. The scheme is will help these people to learn read, write, use numbers. It will also impart voca-

tional training and skills in an effort to fulfil the aim of achieving 100 per cent literacy by 2011. The scheme aims to train people from the age of 20 and onwards.

As per the scheme, the State Government will endeavour to set up vocational training centres and each of these will have an intake of 20 candidates. Each centre will operate four times a week for duration of one-andhalf hours daily.

The training has been divided into literacy and vocational segments. In the literacy segment, learners will be taught topics on health, education, science, etc., and also writing skills. Besides this, they will witness motivation sessions.

Needs, could not be spent due to delay in holding assessment camps for identifying such children, he continued.

Specifying the expenditure under SSA from 2005 onwards, the Education Minister informed, “In 2005-06 Rs 490 lakh were sp ent out of the Rs 1102.69 lakh approved by the PAB as per sanction order. The expenditure was pegged at Rs 1,108.99 (sanction order for Rs 2,096.36 lakh) for 2006-07. It was Rs 1,219.33 lakh, Rs 1,179.32 lakh and Rs 1,440.19 lakh (unaudited figure) for the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10, respectively.” Upto June 2010 for the academic year 2010-11, the expenditure figure is Rs 40 lakh, he stated.

The reply of the minister further informs, “The sharing pattern of the amount between the Centre and the State was in the following ratios: 2005-06 (75:25), 2006-07 (75:25), 200708 (65:35), 2009-09 (65:35), 2009-10 (60:40) and 2010-11 (55:45). For 2010-11 the Government of India has not released any amount till date.”

Malaria claims one life in Nuvem HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JULY 24

Malaria has raised its ugly head in Nuvem with a young boy falling victim.

A 23-year-old youngster, resident of Pateapur reportedly died due to Malaria, even as Health officials rushed to Nuvem on Saturday to hold an awareness program for the Panch members.

If the Medical officer attached to the Loutolim Health Centre, Dr Succoro Quadros is to be believed, there’s been a spurt in malaria cases in Nuvem due to the presence of migrant construction labour in the village.

Given that the deceased boy was hailing from Pateapur ward of the village, Health officials rushed to Nuvem on Saturday and held an awareness program with local Panch members Saying that Nuvem is facing a problem because of the construction activity, Dr Quadros solicited support from the Pan-

chayat body to tackle the situation.

In his power-point presentation to the Panchayat members, Dr Quadros explained that malaria cases are found mostly in Pateapur, Cupem, Raloi, Murda-Grande and Murdaiqueno – wards where migrant labour from Jharkhand and Orissa are working at the construction sites.

“Around 26 locals and 20 migrant labourers have got malaria in the last few days in the village.

Four cases were reported in Pateapur area”, he added.

Dr Quadros appealed to the Nuvem villagers to send their tenants to the health centre to undergo malaria screening tests.

As far as the deceased boy is concerned, Dr Quadros said the health centre had undertaken screening in Pateapur recently, but could not contact the boy since he was working as a conductor. “We had collected samples of the family members of the deceased boy”, he said.

Teenager held with stolen goods HERALD CORRESPONDENT CANACONA, JULY 24

Canacona police arrested a teenager and recovered items worth Rs 1.02 lakh allegedly stolen by him from the house of an Israeli national at Bhagatwada-Canacona.

According to Canacona police, the Israeli, Sheron Salman, had complained of theft at his place on Friday night.

Acting swiftly, police arrested a 16-year old local boy and recovered from him two laptops, Ray-Ban glasses and a PAN card, all worth Rs 1.02 lakh, which had been stolen from the Israeli’s house.

Police later shifted the boy to the Apna Ghar in Merces.

Sources informed Herald that the boy is a school dropout and has been a habitual offender.

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s H o Rt tA K e s Cong Seva Dal’s medical camp

Contempt petition filed against Mapusa Council HERALD CORRESPONDENT PORVORIM, JULY 24

Chief Minister Digambar Kamat inaugurating the medical camp at Sirvodem, Margao.

PANJIM(HND): Goa Pradesh Congress Seva Dal organized their 1st general medical camp at Sirvodem, Margao on the eve of 125th anniversary of Indian National Congress Foundation which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and in the presence of eminent doctors of Hospicio Hospital headed by Dr Nachinolkar and team, nurses Dr Geeta Kakodkar and team of Urban Health Centre, Margao. The camp was well organized.

About 358 patients were examined, 160 blood tests done, 15 ECG tests conducted and free medicines were given to all patients. Congress Seva Dal plans more camps in the State, says a press release.

Awareness drive organised

Ex- MLA Victor Gonsalves addressing the gathering in the presence of Dr Sunita Perni, Dr Jagdish Cacodcar, Walter Cabral and Dr Nitin Dhupdale.

PANJIM(HND): Cleanliness cum awareness drive was carried out by the Urban Health Centre in Santa Cruz in partnership with Primary Health Centre, Corlim, Sub Centre at Taleigao and Santa Cruz Higher Secondary School recently as a part of ongoing anti-malaria, dengue and chikunguniya control programme. Santa Cruz MLA Victoria Fernandes was the chief guest at the inaugural function. This was followed by the house to house visit of NSS students.

An advocacy programme towards the conduct of this drive was held at Santa Cruz Higher secondary school and was attended by ex-MLA Victor Gonsalves as the chief guest, Fr Cristavo Caldeira, Parish Priest of Santa Cruz, Walter Cabral, Principal of Santa Cruz Higher Secondary School, Dr Jagdish Kakodkar, Associate Professor at Goa Medical College, Dr Nitin Dhupdale, lecturer In-charge at UHC, Santa Cruz, Dr Sunta Perni, Medical Officer at Directorate of Health Services, Dr Rashmi, Dr Annet, Dr Soniya and Dr Ashwini, and staff of PHC, Corlim; UHC, Santa Cruz, Sub-Centre Taleigao and 200 students of higher secondary school.

The entire programme was coordinated by Dr Nitin Y Dhupdale, Lecturer In-Charge of Urban Health Centre of Santa Cruz and Dr Palekar, Medical officer of PHC, Corlim under the guidance of Dr D D Motghare, professor and HOD of Department of Preventive Social Medicine at Goa Medical College.

Workshop at PCCE

The faculty of Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Goa College of Engineering and Rayeshwar Institute of Technology.

PANJIM(HND): Mission 10X, the brainchild of techno giants Wipro Technologies under the aegis of the Azim Premji Foundation, unveiled its pilot programme in Goa with a five day faculty empowerment workshop held recently at Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Verna.

The workshop that spanned five arduous days witnessed keen participation of 24 faculty from Padre Conceicao College of Engineering, Goa College of Engineering and Rayeshwar Institute of Technology. Toeing the lines of Mission 10x, the resource persons of Mission 10x who conducted the workshop at PCCE began with a day-and-a-half session on Dale Carnegie's High Impact Teaching Skills that centered around use of innovative teaching techniques and learner centeredness in the realm of pedagogy.

Dr Luis C Mesquita, Principal of PCCE inaugurated the workshop while Dr Shailaja and Dr Dattakumar from Wipro Technologies were the trainers for the workshop. Vinayak Nayak, chairman from The Computer Society of India, Goa Chapter, sponsored the event and Niyan Marchon, Associate Professor, Electronics Dept and Head of the Training and Placement cell co-ordinated the workshop and propsed the vote of thanks.

Kevin, Sparsha awarded

Kevin D’Mello and Sparsha Deshpande.

PANJIM(HND): Kevin D’Mello and Sparsha Deshpande were awarded the title ‘Mr and Ms Talented’ in the Mr and Ms Youth Eye Goa 2010 contest amongst 22 participants selected for the finals, at Taleigao community hall. Kevin D’Mello was also chosen King of Forests, audience favourite and received the highest SMS voting, says a press release.

The Mapusa Nagrikancho Ekvott has filed a contempt petition in the High Court against the Administrators of Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) for not implementing the directions of the High Court.

The Mapusa Nagrikancho Ekvott members in their petition have stated that many footpaths within MMC market have been allowed to be blocked by shopkeepers, who place their wares or other items on the pavements, thus frustrating the orders of the High Court that pavements should be clear of all obstruction.

“MMC has not taken measures like cancelling licenses of those shopkeepers who consistently violate directions as stated in the High Court order dated October 18, 2000, thus giving clear message not only to the violators but also everyone in the market that it is permissible to continue breaking the law with impunity,” stated the petitioners.

The members further stated that in front of Alankar Cinema theatre, where traffic island used to exist, shops have been allowed to come up which entirely block the streets from 4 pm upto 1 am.

“Some shop owners have become so brazen that they have set up tables and chairs on the

Graduates feted at Sanquelim HERALD CORRESPONDENT MAYEM, JULY 24

A felicitation function in honour of graduates of BA, BSc and BCom of Goa University examinations of April-May 2010 was held in Government College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Sanquelim.

College Principal Dr B A Gomes congratulated the fresh graduates and urged them to put to use the knowledge, skills and values imbibed from the institution over the last three years and wished them success in their future endeavours.

Associate Professor in Chemistry Ashok Chodankar, speaking on behalf of the faculty, applauded the students for their performance in their examinations and urged the students to focus on their careers.

The function was organized by the Students’ Welfare Committee under the leadership of its Convenor Avinash Patil, Assistant Professor in Computer Science.

Bonita da Silva compered the function, while Rucha Joshi proposed the vote of thanks.

n MMC in the course of years has allowed new shops, hawkers, stalls and fruit vendors to occupy all these lanes in the market, which has caused congestion and chaos in the market. street,” claimed the members.

“Even entrances of MMC market have not been spared, as some vendors like lottery vendors, tailors, etc have been allowed to set-up tables and chairs within the corridors of the entrances and to carry out their activities,” states the petition.

“Though the notification of MMC stipulates that vehicles may not enter the market on two sides between 10 am to 12.30 pm and from 4 pm to 6 pm and on Fridays from 6 am to 6 pm, the vehicles enter the market at all hours.”

“Within MMC market, there are lanes between various small buildings. These lanes were provided by the original plan-

ners so that public would have easy access by way of pavements bordering the shops and to go from building to building.”

“MMC in the course of years has allowed new shops, hawkers, stalls and fruit vendors to occupy all these lanes in the market, which has caused congestion and chaos in the market,” added the members in the petition.

“Further, these lanes are also allowed to be occupied by cars, motorcycles and cycles, which move in and out of the market with impunity at all hours thus causing the public enormous hardships.”

“Despite orders of the High Court that road setbacks should not be occupied, many shop/kiosks still continue to operate within the road widening areas.”

The petitioners have stated that MMC has violated the spirit behind the orders passed by the High Court, which were ultimately for the benefit of people and hence actions of the MMC amount to contempt of Court.

“MMC, by its uncaring attitude, seems to consider that they can flout the orders passed by the High Court with impunity and it is therefore submitted that they deserve to be severely penalized,” prayed the petitioners.

Fellowship in diabetes for Dr Bhatkurse

HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

Dr Rajesh Bhatkurse MD, Consultant Physician from Mapusa, was awarded the Post Graduate Certificate of Diploma and Fellowship in diabetes by Distance Education Cell of Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Dr Bhatkurse is the first consultant from Goa to be conferred with the fellowship at the hands of the Dean of CMC, Dr George Thomas at a recently held convocation at Vellore.

The one year correspondence course consisted of details in various aspects of Diabetes management with recent advances and treatment of complications.

Dr Bhatkurse passed the final examination held in Mumbai with distinction. He was guided throughout the course by Dr Nihal Thomas of CMC, Vellore.

Various organizations have congratulated Dr Bhatkurse on his achievement, says a press release.

Students, teachers organise cleanliness drive in Khola HERALD CORRESPONDENT CANACONA, JULY 24

Students and teachers of a government high school, Gowal Khola, conducted a cleanliness drive in the area under Village Health and Sanitation Committee assisted by Community Health Centre Canacona recently.

About 76 students and seven teachers from the GHS Gowal Khola guided by health workers conducted cleaning of the residential areas. They also visited each and every house in the locality providing information on the need of maintaining cleanliness.

The students themselves identified exposed empty bottles, cups, coconut shells, etc, and turned it upside down to avoid accumulation of water, which in turn help to stop further growth and breeding of mosquitoes and other waterborne germs.

The students also urged the residents to keep their houses and surroundings clean, test blood in case of fever, take com-

BoB completes 102 years in Calangute

Students clean a residential area in Canacona.

Photo by Kathy Pereira

plete treatment, use bed nets, etc.

GHS Khola teachers who assisted the students are Rafica Sayyad, Adelson Alfonso, Amit Lotlikar, Jagdish Bhandari, Vithoba Shirodkar, Kavita Naik, Vishal Bandekar, besides School Headmistress Celina Dias was also present during the inaugural programme.

‘Baby-friendly hospital initiative’ meet organised

Earlier on the day, in a programme held in the school hall, Umesh Kholkar, Eetension educator and Eveera Dias, PHN spoke on National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP), Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, etc and its prevention and treatment, telling the students to keep their houses and surroundings clean.

A meeting of members of the Goa State Committee on ‘Baby friendly hospital initiative’ was held under the Chairmanship of Secretary Health Rajeev Varma at Secretariat on Friday.

The meeting reviewed the efforts by the Committee members to promote breast feeding at District Hospitals, GMC hospital and other private hospitals in the State.

It was informed at the meeting that Asilo hospital Mapusa has already taken the initiative to provide cubicles to mothers inorder to facilitate breast feeding when they visit the hospital.

Secretary Varma expressed dissatisfaction for not providing cubicles or rooms for breast feeding to visiting mothers at Goa Medical College Hospital. It was informed at the meeting that such provision was necessary to give ‘Baby Friendly Status’ to the hospitals. This facility is also being provided at Hospicio Hospital Margao.

It was informed at the meeting that efforts are being made through education, pamphlets and other media to promote breast feeding.

Directorate of Health Services in cooperation with voluntary organizations, breast feeding support groups and other concerned bodies organizes programmes at various places to encourage beast feeding.

Secretary of Health Varma suggested the involvement of the Collectorate offices at both the Districts in the programme.

August 1 will be observed as breast feeding week and nutrition week with various programmes. The main function will be held at Government College, Khandola.

Dr Rajnanda Dessai, Director of Health Services, Pramod Jain, Director of Food and Drug Administration, Raj Vaidya, Representative of Breast Feeding Network of India, Bharati Vernekar, programme officer, Directorate of Women and Child Development, Nelly de Sa, Goa Association of Pediatrics were amongst those present on the occasion.

upcoming events CME on critical care

PANJIM(HND): The Department of Anesthesiology, Department of Medicine in collaboration with the Medical Education Cell of Goa Medical College Bambolim will be organising a CME (Continuing Medical Education )Programme on August 29 between 9 am and 5 pm in the GMC Library Auditorium , Bambolim.

A CME programme in critical care is being organised for the first time in GMC and the faculty and the topics are as follows: Dr Jigi Divetia, Professor and Head of Anesthesiology Department, Critical Care and Pain, Tata Memorial Hospital Mumbai will speak on acute lung injury - newer strategies in mechanical ventilation. He will also speak on Sepsis - early goal directive therapy. Dr S Wagle Consultant Intensivist, Bombay Hospital will speak on Ventilatory acquired Pneumonias, prevention and treatment. Dr V Billa Consultant Nephrologist Bombay Hospital will speak on acute kidney injury in critically ill - management. Dr Shivkumar Iyer Intensivist Pune will speak on the role of nutrition in critically ill.

Dr Sameer Jog Consultant Intensivist Dinanath Mangueshkar Hospital and Research Centre Pune will speak on Hemodynamic monitoring in critically ill. There will also be a panel discussion on criteria for ICU admission, brain death and organ transplant which will be moderated by Dr Chico Vas, Consultant Neurologist GMC. The Goa Medical Council has given four CME credits for the programme. For registration contact Dr Dalia D Bhandare, Department of Anesthesiology, Goa Medoical College Mobile No 9422058198. The CME is coordinated by Dr Dalia D Bhandare, Dr R G Wiseman Pinto, Dr Marilyn Nazareth, Dr N G Dubashi and Dr V N Jindal.

Ponda mayor urges citizens to plant trees

Musical show on C Alvares HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

Branch Manager Rohidas Gadekar and Regional Manager A Bhende give away the winners trophy.

Photo by Thomas Fernandes HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, JULY 24

Bank of Baroda, Calangute Branch, celebrated its 102 years of existence at Calangute.

The Bank enters into 103rd year providing yeoman service to the customers of Calangute and surrounding areas. Bank of Baroda was opened to public in 1908 and has been providing service to the villagers and village of Calangute.

To mark the completion of 102 years of its existence, the Bank organised an elocution competition for schools of Calangute and surrounding areas. The competitions were held in two categories, juniors and seniors.

The students were asked to deliberate on topics ‘Drug, smoking bad to health’ and ‘National Leaders’ for juniors and seniors.

Mark Fernandes Memorial High School, Calangute, bagged the top honours in both the categories with Rasul Budiyal and Yashodeep Jadhav winning the senior and junior category.

In the seniors categories, Sanjana G Salgaonkar (Holy Family

High School, Porvorim) and Fatima Khatif (Don Bosco High School, Calangute) bagged second and third place, while in juniors category, Arti Patil (Don Bosco High School, Calangute) and Sneha Maruti Sutar (Mark Fernandes Memorial High School, Calangute) bagged second and third place.

Speaking on the occasion, Bank of Baroda Regional Manager A Bhende congratulated the staff of Calangute branch for the splendid achievement and hoped its customers would be satisfied with the banking services provided by staff at Calangute.

“Our motto is to give better service to the customers,” said Bhende and thanked its esteemed customers for their support. Bhende also had a word of praise for the landlord of the bank premises Dr Aleixo Proenca.

Earlier, Senior Branch Manager Rohidas Gadekar welcomed the valued customers and the students along with their teachers with floral presentations while Anthony Fernandes compered the programme.

Mil–Mel–Nel in collaboration with Tiatr Academy of Goa will stage a musical show ‘C Alvares – Patxea Duetancho’ on August 1 at 10.30 am at GVN hall, Margao, to commemorate the birth anniversary of the most popular Konkani Tiatrist who was known as ‘King of Duets.’

The immortal songs sung or composed by late C Alvares will be sung by galaxy of stars namely Jessie Dias, Maria Cardozo, Livia D’Silva, Buska, Ivy Pereira, Elina Fernandes, Anthony San, Boney Alvin, Socorro de Santa Cruz, Xec Amir, Mathew, Agnelo Borim and Mil–Mel–Nel backed by top musicians Luis Cota, Norbert Cota, Agnelo Dias, Mukesh (organ), a n d o n D r u m s Pa u l ( e x Syndicate/Archies).

PMC Chairperson Pradip Naik plants a sapling at Warkhande-Ponda.

Photo by AMresh Parab HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARCEL, JULY 24

Ponda Municipal Council (PMC) Chairperson Pradip Naik has urged citizens to plant more and more trees and help conserve the environment.

The PMC commemorated Vanamotsav by planting around 150 saplings in the municipal area.

“Many trees during road

widening were axed. Even whenever there were complaints from public on grounds of threat to human life and property, trees were cut,” said Naik.

“In a way by planting these 150 saplings, we are supplementing trees those were cut within the council jurisdiction.

I feel each one of us should plant at least one and should continue doing it,” added Naik.

Wood craft, carvings workshop HERALD NEWS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

‘C Alvares–Patxea Duetancho’ will also be staged at Saligao, the birth place of late C Alvares, on August 7 at 7 pm at Saligao Panchayat hall and on August 8 at St Andrew’s Church hall, Vasco at 6:30 pm.

The shows are free of charge and complementary passes are available with Damu (GVN counter, Margao), Jerry Fernandes (Saligao) and Fr J A Costa (Vicar of Vasco Church), says a press release.

The Directorate of Art and Culture will be organizing three different workshops (ten days each) of ‘Wood Craft and Carving’ for General, SC and ST category.

The registration period is extended for SC category and ST category till July 30.

This Department organizes various activities towards promotion and preservation of Goan traditions by way of workshops, festival, competitions etc. Wood crafts and carving workshop will benefit the participants for self employment. The enrollment will be on first come first basis. Only first fifteen applicants will be entitled for the workshop. Experts in the field will conduct the training.

Interested persons should collect the application forms available in the Department of Art and Culture, Shrama Shakati Bhavan, 5th floor, Patto, Panaji on or before July 26 during office hours and submit the same by July 30 duly filled.

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K’taka, Goa docs to be updated on diabetes management HERALD CORRESPONDENT BELGAUM, JULY 24

Doctors from Goa and Karnataka will be updated on the latest advances in diabetes management at a two-day scientific meet on ‘New Frontiers in Diabetes-2010 (NFD-2010)’ at the Dr B S Jirge Auditorium of KLE University campus, Belgaum from August 7.

The meet is being organized by the KLES Dr Prabhakar Kore Hospital & Medical Research Centre (an affiliate of KLE University) in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and National Diabetes Foundation, Belgaum.

KLES Hospital Medical Director and CEO Dr M V Jali told Herald that this meet will give the opportunity for academic knowledge and experience sharing with each other and the rare opportunity of listening to stalwarts of India in dia-

betes care and research.

“Moreover, Belgaum is known as the winter resort of Karnataka and is well known for its traditional hospitality.

Doctors from Goa and the region will avail the full benefits of the meeting which will include sightseeing tours,” Dr Jali said.

“The success of any conference depends on scientific presentation and interaction. A scientific committee under the coordinators, professor emeritus P S Shankar and professor V A Kotilwale, will strive to ensure a good academic feast for the participants. The Conference will have sufficient time for lectures and interactive sessions.

Further details of the meet are available on phone at: 09341101268, 09614008199, by email at: kle.nfd2010@gmail.com or at the website: www.klehospital.org.

Nine acquitted in Khandhamal violence PTI PHULBANI (ORISSA), JULY 24

A Fast track court here today acquitted nine persons accused of indulging communal violence in Kandhamal district in 2008.

Additional Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court No. 1), Phulbani, Sovana Kumar Das acquitted the accused due to lack of evidence.

The nine belonged to Baraganda village under Gochapara police station and were arrested on charges of house torching, unlawful assembly and other charges under Riots Act consequent upon the riots in 2008. Altogether 891 cases had been registered in connection with the riots in the district of which 129 cases disposed of so far.

Bogus teachers served show cause notices: Nagaland govt PTI KOHIMA, JULY 24

The government today informed the state assembly that the on-going probe and verification drive had detected many bogus teachers appointed in Nagaland with

forged letters.

Replying to opposition Congress members’ queries on probe by a special investigation team (SIT) under the state Vigilance Commission, School Education minister Nyeiwang Konyak told the house that the

department had served show cause notices to all bogus and absentee teachers why their services should not be terminated.

He said only after the com-

pletion of verification committees formed to examine the SIT findings, the department would be able to ascertain the amount of fraudulent withdrawals.

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Move to target Modi will backfire on Cong: BJP PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

Striking a combative note after the resignation of Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP today said it fully supported Chief Minister Narendra Modi and any move to target him will “boomerang” on the Congress.

"The Congress needs to learn that the more they try to scratch Modi, It will boomerang on them," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

He ruled out any possibility of Modi stepping down as demanded by the Congress. Shah, a close aide of Modi, resigned today after CBI brought murder and kidnapping charges against him in the fake encounter killing of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in 2005.

Prasad alleged that the UPA government was trying to frame the Gujarat home minister in a case against Sohrabuddin from whom several AK-47s were recovered and who was linked to under world don Dawood Ibrahim.

“This is the Congress design

Top jurist flays Shah’s move to ‘boycott’ CBI

Resignation has come too late, says AICC PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

Top jurist Fali S Nariman today termed as “unfortunate” Gujarat junior Home Minister Amit Shah's decision not to appear before the CBI and said he should answer the charges levelled against him.

“It is unfortunate. He should appear before the CBI and answer their charges. If charges are not correct then he can protest later on but right now

he has to answer the charges levelled by the investigating agency,” Nariman said on the sidelines of a conference here.

Shah resigned from the state ministry after CBI charged him with murder in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.

Criticising Shah's decision to “boycott” the investigating agency, Nariman said, "I do not approve the boycott. If somebody (investigating agency) calls you then you must go.”

Congress today said that the resignation of Gujarat junior Home Minister Amit Shah, an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, has come too late in the day.

“Since he was involved, he should have resigned much earlier and now that the chargesheet has been filed, he has put in his papers. This has come too late in the day," Rajiv Shukla, AICC coordinator for Gujarat, said.

to divert attention from the fiasco in Pakistan, the mess-up in Kashmir, price rise, rotting of grains and the historical messup on Warren Anderson," he said.

Prasad said the BJP will expose the “duplicity and misuse” of the CBI by the Congress.

“We will expose this device of distraction adopted by the Congress....we have enough ammunition to nail this govern-

ment on the abuse CBI,” he said.

On P Chidambram's statement that the BJP should have objected when Shah's name first figured in the case, Prasad said the Home Minister has been in the Congress for long and would remember "how CBI was used to help Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrochi escape, to give a clean chit to Jagdish Tytler (in anti-Sikh riots) and a 'bounty' to Satish Sharma (apparent refer-

ence to petrol pump allotment scam).

“We have seen how CBI was abused as a tool to manage Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati,” he said.

He further alleged that though "Rs 2000 crore were recovered from the chamber" of UPA Minister A Raja, the prime minister did not take any action.

On Amit Shah's resignation,

PTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 24

On the BJP's attack on the Congress and the Centre for allege misuse of CBI in the case, he said the investigation has been ordered by none other than the Supreme Court.

Shah's resignation comes a day after CBI charged him with kidnapping and murder of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi in November 2005.

Echoing similar views, AICC General Secretar y B K Hariprasad said that people sit-

ting in responsible positions should have responded immediately in the wake of the investigations in the case.

He said that by attacking the CBI, the opposition party was in fact attacking the Supreme Court as the investigations were carried out by the agency following its directions.

The opposition has several senior lawyers as their leaders.

They should have gone to the Supreme Court to appeal instead of targeting the Congress and the Centre, he said.

the party said he was being framed and it stood by him.

“BJP took a position that once the chargesheet was filed, which we will contest strongly as it is a frame-up, he (Shah) resigned immediately. This the standard of BJP,” it said.

The party said the “mischievous designs of the CBI” will be exposed in court. "We have always had the highest regard for our judicial system and always

cooperate with law, so there will be a legal fight,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He maintained that though Shah has resigned, the party was fully with him and will be raising its voice against “abuse of CBI for political purposes.”

“He will fight against the mischievous designs of CBI in the court and the truth will be upheld,” Javadekar said.

Gujarat minister tried to threaten witnesses, hamper probe: agency PTI AHMEDABAD, JULY 24

After the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case was transferred to CBI by the Supreme Court, Gujarat Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, along with two other accused, tried to hamper probe and threaten witnesses, the investigating agency has said.

Shah directed Ajay Patel and Yashpal Chudasama, his close confidants and accused, to “convince, coerce, threaten and influence the witnesses on his behalf to conceal the truth from CBI about the fake encounter of Sohrabuddin”, according to the chargesheet filed by the agency in a court here yesterday.

The 2005 encounter case was transferred to the Central agency in January this year.

Investigations revealed that Ajay Patel conveyed a message to two witnesses, Raman Patel and Dashrat Patel, that what they say before CBI would be provided to them in the form of written statements by DCP Abhay Chudasama, who is also an accused, it said.

Both witnesses had four meetings with middlemen sent

by Shah at separate places.

These meetings were videographed by the two witnesses in a discreet manner. This audiovisual recording has been seized by the CBI. “The transcription of the these meetings revealed obstruction and influencing of the witnesses by Shah and Abhay Chudasama," the chargesheet said.

The CBI document further

said that audio-visual records indicated how the witnesses retracted their statements at the instance of Shah, who resigned from the Gujarat Ministry this morning, and Abhay.

“The audio-visual records indicate that Ajay Patel and Yashpal had actively participated in the main conspiracy and the crime committed in furtherance t o t h e c o n s p i r a c y, ” t h e chargesheet said.

Raman Patel and Dashrat Patel are owners of real estate firm Popular Builders. Gujarat Police had stage managed a shootout in the company's office in December 2004 for the purpose of lodging an FIR against Sheikh, it said.

The chargesheet said that complaint was filed against Sheikh at the behest of Shah who was under pressure from the marble lobby in neighbouring Rajasthan. Marble merchants were being harassed by Sheikh, who made frequent demands for hefty protection money.

“Elimination of Sohrabuddin was being used for extortion by the accused to establish an element of fear in the minds of businessmen and others,” it said.

While Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi were in illegal custody of Gujarat Police, IPS officer D G Vanzara was in constant touch over telephone with Shah and was continuously seeking instructions, it said.

Instructions for killing Kausarbi were also given by the BJP leader to Vanzara, who is among four IPS officers arrested in the case, it said.

Tamil Nadu Commando Police personnel demonstrating during an awarness programme on self defense techniques at Stella Marrys Women's College, in Chennai on Saturday.

Court accepts chargesheet against Madhuri PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

A court here today accepted the chargesheet filed against disgraced diplomat Madhuri Gupta, accused of passing sensitive information to Pakistani intelligence officials.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja took cognisance of the charges framed against IFS Grade-B officer after going through the 700-page chargesheet which was filed by the Delhi Police on July 20.

The judge posted the matter for further proceeding on August 5.

GoM ignoring Bhopal gas tragedy victims: Chauhan PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

Accusing the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Bhopal of “completely ignoring” those who died in the gas tragedy, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan today demanded a special session of the ministerial body to discuss the additional compensation issue.

He said that more than 90 per cent of the gas victims will not get any additional compensation as only some amount has been recommended for 42,166 victims by the GoM and more than 5,20,000 victims recognised by the Welfare Commissioner have been left out.

“I must also point out that the GOM completely ignored 10,047 gas victims who died as a result of the gas tragedy.This

group has not been given any additional compensation,” Chauhan said.

“I would urge that the entire question of additional compensation is revisited and a special session of the GoM should be convened for this subject," he said.

Last month, the GoM led by Home Minister P Chidambaram favoured enhanced compensation for victims and a govern-

ment-sponsored clean-up of the Union Carbide factory premise.

On the disposal of toxic waste, the chief minister said there was resentment among locals in Pithampur area in Dhar district on the issue as they “have a lot of misgivings about the after affects of burning of chemical waste and there is opposition to this act.”

PTI ITANAGAR, JULY 24 As many as 183 species of butterfly have been identified and photo documented in the buffer area of Namdhapa National Park in Arunachal Pradesh during the five-day 13th Butterfly India Meet.

Stating this, Ariff Siddiqui, an organiser, said more species would be found in the core area of the park which they could not venture into due to rain.

During the brief hearing, the investigating officer informed the court that some forensic report of the hard disc recovered from Gupta's residence is yet to come and it has also sought sanction from the Ministry of External Affairs to prosecute the diplomat in the case.

The chargesheet and annexures filed before the chief metropolitan magistrate had sought the prosecution of the officer under various provisions of the Official Secrets Act and the Indian Penal Code.

The probe agency, citing

KOCHI, JULY 24

An animation film titled 'My Dear Bapuji', on the life of Father of nation is getting ready.

The Mahatama Gandhi National Foundation is aiming to release the Malayalam version of the film by August 15. The film would be dubbed in English, Hindi and other languages, Foundation chairman, Eby J Jose, told reporters here.

The film would be released

in all Indian languagues including hindi, producer, Retheesh Pazhayaveettil and Director, A K Saibar said.

The work on the 45-minute film started over a year ago.

Special effort has been taken to make the presentation impressive to children, they said.

The film is getting ready as part of the foundation's Mahatma Gandhi National Foundation decision to launch a 'Know Gandhiji' campaign at the national level to impart Gandhi-

she got in touch with Rana and Jamshed after her introduction to them by Javed Rashid, a journalist of Jung newspaper.

Rana created an email ID for her and asked her to send information to a particular email ID, the chargesheet said and also referred to recovery of two mobile phones from her possession besides one SIM card and a Blackberry having a Pakistani SIM card, the police alleged.

Police has cited 30 witnesses to buttress the charges against Gupta.

Faced with a serious threat, villagers kill 100,000 snails PTI PATHANAMTHITTA, JULY 24

After life becoming miserable with the onslaught of snails, a panchayat in Kerala was forced to launch a 'snail eradication' campaign to free area of the slow-moving creature.

Around one lakh snails were killed yesterday alone in Konni village panchayat in Pathanamthitta district, the civic unit secretary Haribalan said.

Since it is bigger than the normal type of snail found in Kerala, the villagers call it “African snail”, believed to have made its way into the plains of Kerala from the WesternGhats.

The fast-breeding mollusk has emerged as a serious threat to farming.The villagers were

Animation film on Gandhiji getting ready PTI

Gupta's purported e-mails in the chargesheet, claimed that she used to pass on information to Pakistan intelligence agencies through her handler Jamshed whom she planned to marry and Mubshar Raza Rana.

“The contents of an email showed that she was in love with Jim (Jamshed). Both had planned to get married. It is further very clear from the content that Jim is a Pakistani. The motive is clear and established from the email,” the chargesheet said.

The police, in the chargesheet, had claimed that

ji’sideals to the young generation.

The programme aims at warning the children on the evils of racism and terrorism, Jose said.

The foundation also has plans to produce animation films on the great freedom fighters like Subash Chandra Bose, Bhagath Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad among others. Another dream project is a similar presentation on the former President, late K R Narayanan.

compelled to launch the snailhunt as the slimy insect began moving into houses leaving a sticky trail in its wake.

“Some of these snails are as long 21 cm and with a height of upto 7 cm height.They attack crops like plantains,tapioca and other tuber crops. They could scale up the coconut palms and damage tender nuts," the Konni panchayat secretary K N Haribalan told PTI. They mostly come out after the dusk and could be seen moving up the walls of the houses.

The ugly creature would sneak into anywhere including kitchen or the dining room, making in a nauseating sight, a villager said.

It was joint operation launched by the panchayat with the support of health and agri-

culture departments and local self-help groups.

The snails were annihiliated by sprikling a mixture of tobacco and salt. They were then mass-buried in a pit.

According to a study done by the experts Forest Research Institue, the "African snail" might have got into a particular through some consignment brought from some other place.

Only one snail might have came to the village during the time but it multipled many folds after laying eggs, the study said.

According to experts, a single snail would lay one thousand eggs and 80 per cent of them would hatch. They not only eat farm products but also relish wastes thrown around," a villager said.

183 species of butterfly spotted in Arunachal ITANAGAR, JULY 24

As many as 183 species of butterfly have been identified and photo documented in the buffer area of Namdhapa National Park in Arunachal Pradesh during the five-day 13th Butterfly India Meet.

Stating this, Ariff Siddiqui, an organiser, said more species would be found in the core area of the park which they could not venture into due to rain.

The 30 participants from different parts of the country also

identified numerous moths apart from some glittering beetles .

Dr Alfred, former director of the Zoological Survey of India also said, "This is an encouraging indicator for existence of many other species of the butterflies in the core area in Namdhapa and in new forests in the area."

Students from five schools in and around Miao town were invited to participate in an awareness programme entitled 'Breakfast with butterflies'. (PTI)

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Nitish govt trying to Centre should decide on banning PFI: Kerala govt forestall CBI probe: RJD PTI THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 24

CPI-M led LDF government in Kerala today left it Centre to take a decision to ban the radical Muslim outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), whose activists were responsible for chopping the hand of a college lecturer for preparing a question paper with derogatory references about Prophet Mohammed.

PFI operates not only in Kerala but also in some other states, so it was for the Centre to examine the activities of the outfit and take a decision, State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters after a high level meeting of top police officials here today.

In Kerala, PFI was trying to inflame communal passion and religious sentiments, he said.

Kerala would give its opinion on the question of banning the organisation when Centre asks for it, he said.

Kerala wanted the Centre to take up the probe into the case of tampering the brake of a passenger train at Nilambur on July 7. 'This is the first case in Kerala involving trains.

“A probe by Centre would reveal whether it has any connection with train related incidents in other states,” he said.

Without giving details, Balakrishnan said one suspected Maoist was taken into custody

at Nilambur and investigation was progressing whether he had any role in the incident connected with cutting off the brake system of a stationary Nilambur-Shornur passenger train.

Literature and documents seized from the offices and residents of PFI activists as part of probe into the attack on lecturer had revealed many things about their activities, Balakrishnan said.

On the question of preventing the parade organised by the outfits in certain parts of the state on August 15, he said district authorities have the right to take a decision on the matter considering the law and order situation. Few district authorities had already banned the proposed parade by PFI. More people were involved in the attack on lecturer T J Joseph and probe into the case was progressing in right direction, he said.

So far, 10 PFI activists were arrested in connection with the attack on lecturer of Newman's College Muvatupuzha T J Joseph on July 4.He was attacked when he was returning with his family after Sunday mass at Muvatupuzha.

The newly formed anti-terrorist squad has also started functioning in the state, he said.

Balakrishnan said state had also requested Centre to probe

into the utilization of funds received by religious and other outfits which receive funds from foreign countries. As per the record 1533 organisations in Kerala got foreign funds to a tune of Rs.884 crore during 2006-07.

State has limitations in probing the use of such funds and Centre should conduct a probe on how they use the funds, he said.

As part of government resolve to check religious fundamentalism, Balakrishnan said a book titled 'Chinvadpalam' written by one pastor, have been banned as it contained derogatory remarks about another religion. Police have been instructed to seize the copies of the book in circulation, he said.

Referring to reforms in police in the state, he said community police would be strengthened by introducing the system in more places. An international seminar on Community Policing would be held at Kochi in October.

An amount of Rs 25 crore has been earmarked to set up Community Police Resources Centre in 70 police stations across the state, he added.

State Home Secretary and additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar, DGP Jacob Punoose, ADGP (Intelligence) Sibi Mathew were also present at the press conference.

PTI PATNA, JULY 23

Sticking to its demand for sacking of the Nitish Kumar government in the light of the CAG report on alleged withdrawal of money from the state treasuries, opposition RJD today said it was a 'systematic and merciless' plunder of the state exchequer and accused the state government of trying to 'forestall' a CBI probe. ''Why are you (Nitish Kumar) worried when you have not committed any offence?'' RJD spokesman Shakeel Ahmed Khan and its General Secretary Ramkripal Yadav said talking to reporters here. ''The state government is making a sinister bid to forestall a probe by CBI into nonreconciliation of the advances of Rs 11,412 crore drawn from the state treasuries on abstract contingent (AC) bills which is fraudulent in nature,'' Khan said.

Khan, a senior lawyer of the Patna High Court and former law minister, said the court had

n The state government is making a sinister bid to forestall a probe by CBI into non-reconciliation of the advances of Rs 11,412 crore drawn from the state treasuries on abstract contingent (AC) bills which is fraudulent in nature ---RJD spokesman Shakeel Ahmed Khan rightly observed that huge amounts have been 'systematically and mercilessly' plundered in the state with purposive and complete absence of government attention and it must be investigated by CBI, which is beyond the reach of the state government.

Commenting on the recent ruling of Speaker Udai Narayan Choudhary that no agencies

would be allowed to interfere in the matter being examined by the Public Accounts Committee of the house, Khan said the cases of fraudulent nature formed a criminal offence and only a prosecuting agency had the authority to bring the culprits to justice. ''The state government should have supported the inquiry by an independent agency instead of making attempts to forestall the investigation, which is also an offence,'' he said.

Equating the present case to the multi-crore rupees fodder scam, Khan recalled that two of the charimen of the Public Accounts Committee -- Jagdish Sharma and Dhruv Bhagat, were put behind the bars by CBI on similar charge of forestalling the inquiry.

He also took a pot-shot at the ruling NDA in the state for not sparing even the Rajbhavan in the controversy and said RJD would continue its agitation for the ouster of the Nitish Kumar government.

Cameron to seek 1 billion pound Hawk deal with India PTI LONDON, JULY 24

UK will seek to sell 57 more Hawk Jet trainers to India in a deal worth a million pounds during David Cameron's first ever visit to New Delhi after taking over as Prime Minister next week.

The 57 trainers will be in addition to the 66 fighters already contracted for by the British aerospace company BAE. Cameron is leading a clutch of cabinet ministers, who are among a 90-strong delegation, on a trade mission to India.

According to the Financial Times, defence exports will be one of the most concrete and contentious manifestations of the "special partnership" Cameron wants to forge with a rising power, which he feels Britain has neglected for too long.

According to The Times, Cameron will lead the big delegation to showcase his "commercially based foreign policy with a 1 billion pounds defence

K’taka Cong seeks protection for padayatra BJP to organise four rallies to counter oppn yatra PTI BANGALORE, JULY 24

Opposition Congress leader in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah today met Governor H R Bhardwaj and requested him to direct the BJP government for protection to the "Bellary chalo" padayatra programme starting here tomorrow.

The Congress is undertaking the padayatra to highlight "failure" of the BJP government and against illegal mining.

After his nearly hour-long meeting with the Governor, Siddaramaiah said, "It is the duty of the government to maintain law and order," apparently apprehending trouble during the padayatra that passes through nine districts The padayatra culminates in a rally in Bellary on August nine, coinciding with the "Quit India Movement" day.

He said he had submitted the road map of the padayatra to the Governor seeking police protection.

Siddaramaiah said Congress was prompted to seek Gover-

PTI BANGALORE, JULY 24

In a bid to counter the opposition Congress 'Bellary Chalo' padayatra from tomorrow to highlight BJP government's "failures", the ruling party today announced holding of four rallies across the state from August 2.

"The BJP campaign would highlight two years of our government's achievements and opposition's anti-people stance in contrast to the 15-day Congress padayatra to 'protect' the state," BJP state unit president K S Eswarappa told reporters here.

He said BJP has chosen Davanagere, the central part of Karnataka for its first rally, to be followed by rallies at Gulbarga on August 5, Mysore on August 12 and the final one at nor's intervention to get protection to the padayatra after Health Minister B Sreeramulu, hailing from Bellary, met some anti-social elements inside Bangalore Central Jail recently.

Sreeramulu, however, asserted that his visit to the jail was in his capacity as Health

Bellary, home district of the three Bellary Ministers, on August 20.

"We have already held a conference in Bangalore to showcase achievements of the BJPled Government. We wanted to take this to people of all districts. Besides highlighting the achievements, we will also focus on the antipeople attitude adopted by opposition parties," he said.

He alleged that the Congress padayatra was solely for political gains and said they were misleading people on the mining issue.

On the Congress charge that BJP had betrayed people by reneging on many of its poll promises made in 2008, he pointed out they still have three more years to fulfill all promises.

Minister to make an on the spot assessment of the problems faced by the inmates and in view of demands for better health facilities in the jail hospital.

To queries by mediapersons, he said he had been planning to visit the jail for a long time,

as he also wanted to actually know under what conditions the convicts live.

"I was longing to visit the jail. I just went one day. I met fake stamp paper kingpin Abdul Karim Telgi and also notorious Dandupalya gang, convicted for rape and murder of

Curfew Three greenfield airports Hizbul Mujahideen chief says continues in approved for North-East Kupwara, frequent strikes not good option

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Girls preparing for audition of ‘Vivel Miss PTC Punjabi 2010’ at Jalandhar on Saturday.

PTI SHILLONG, JULY 24

To improve air connectivity, the Centre has approved three greenfield airports in the North-east, an official statement said today.

The one at Pakyong in Sikkim is already under construction at a cost of Rs 264 crore, while the other two will be at Itanagar and Cheithu (Nagaland), it said.

Besides, the viability gap funding to Alliance Air for providing air services in the NE region has been approved for the years 2010 and 2011 at a cost of Rs 94.14 crore.

The development of Tezu airport, at a cost of Rs 79.00 crore, has been approved during 2009-10, the statement

said adding that the project is being implemented by the Airports Authority of India and is expected to be ready by March 2012.

"So far, about 596 km length has been completed during the year 2009-10. About 2319 km of roads and highways have been developed in Arunachal Pradesh. Bids have already been received for four projects with a total length of 776 km to be awarded shortly. The TransArunachal Highway forms an important part of this initiative," the statement added.

It said the mega rail-cumroad bridge at Bogibeel over river Brahmaputra which has been taken up will provide an important link between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Pulwama

PTI SRINAGAR, JULY 24

Curfew remained in force today in Kupwara and Pulwama towns even as restrictions were lifted from most parts of the Kashmir Valley.

Restriction on the movement of people were imposed in Palhallan town of Baramulla district after residents defied curfew and indulged in large scale violence yesterday leaving 15 people, including seven securitymen, injured, police said.

Meanwhile, life continued to remain disrupted in the Valley with shops and business markets remaining closed and transport off the roads due to the week-long shutdown.

Amid frequent strikes called by separatists in the Kashmir Valley, Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Sallahuddin has said such protests were not a good option as the common man was suffering badly.

"This movement is not for two or four days, it will take time...so continuous strikes are not a good option. The movement should continue and educational institutions and economy should run simultaneously," he said.

"There should be a strategy and direction to the movement so that people don't suffer and the ongoing movement against India continues. The hartal call

PTI SRINAGAR, JULY 24

Sonam is not going West, says Anil Kapoor PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

It's not westwards ho for daughter Sonam Kapoor, says Anil Kapoor dismissing reports that the young actress is making a move for Hollywood.

The actor's agent in Los Angeles is handling the offers for Sonam, including one for comic star Ben Stiller's next, but she has turned them down.

"Sonam is only four films old in Bollywood. She needs to establish herself in India first before even thinking of doing a international project," Kapoor told PTI. The 50-year-old actor himself had got a head-start in Hollywood with Danny Boyle's multiple-Oscar-winning film 'Slumdog Millionaire' in 2009 and went on to star in the cult American TV show '24'.

But Kapoor says he will focus on his Bollywood projects in the coming year, including 'No Problem', 'Race 2' and 'No Entry 2'.

"This year I am going to focus on my Indian projects and I have not signed on for anything new in Hollywood. I will soon start work on 'No

Problem' which I am producing and acting in," said Kapoor.

The veteran actor is right now busy promoting his home production 'Aisha' which stars Sonam as the leading lady and also marks the debut of younger daughter Rhea Kapoor as a producer.

"I am happy with the film and my daughters have done me proud. I am more excited than nervous about 'Aisha' because I know they have worked hard and done a good job," said Kapoor.

But the actor is nervous about the debut of '24' in India. His turn as President Omar Hussain, the peace loving leader of a fictitious Islamic country won him rave reviews in the US and he is hoping for the same here.

"24 begins telecasting in India in August and I am nervous about it. I hope that the Indian audiences like what they see because I was one of the first Indian actors on the show," said Kapoor.

When asked whether he saw the role as a part of the racial stereotyping so prevalent in Hollywood, Kapoor laughed the theory off as intellectual bogus.

Abu Salem attacked by Dawood gang member PTI MUMBAI, JULY 24

Extradited gangster Abu Salem was today injured in an attack allegedly by his fellow inmate, a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang, inside the high security Arthur Road Jail here, police said.

"Salem was attacked by Mustafa Dossa with sharp object. He was injured and doctors are treating him inside the jail. A police team is at the spot," Vasant Tajane, Senior Inspector at N M Joshi Marg police station, told PTI. 42-year-old Salem, a key accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts, has been lodged in the South Mumbai jail since his extradition from Portugal in 2005.

He is currently housed in barrack number 10 of the jail along with scores of other prisoners.

Salem is facing trial in nine cases, including two murders.

can be given in a phased manner so that common man is not put to trouble and the education of children continues," he told a local news agency.

The Hizbul chief, who also heads the United Jihad Council, an amalgam of 13 militant outfits, favoured taking the protests to district levels.

"Calls should be given for march to Sopore, Anantnag, Baramulla and Kupwara or other districts, while the people in other areas continue their normal work. This will not affect the economy and education," he said.

Opposing Centre's talks with separatists, he said, "The Hurriyat leadership should stay away from any dialogue

process with India for the time being. Instead they should formulate a joint strategy."

He said UJC has suspended all its armed activities in the plains of Kashmir where people are protesting.

"However the Hizbul Mujahideen would intensify their attacks in the hinter lands," he warned.

Refuting the government's claim of influx from across the border, the UJC chairman said India has deployed 3.5 lakh security personnel on the LoC and asked how infiltration could be possible in such a scenario. "If they (government) make such claims, then what are they doing on the LoC," he wondered.

President for strong school education system PTI KARNAL (HARYANA), JULY 24

Observing that youths can play a vital role in making India one of the largest economics and the most influential nations, President Pratibha Patil today said there was a need for strong school education system.

"Stronger the foundations of school education, the greater the possibilities of progress...Our country stands at the threshold of becoming one of the largest economies as well as one of the most influential countries in the world...it is the youth, who will play a critical role in taking India to its promised destiny," Patil said at a function to celebrate the golden jubilee founder's day of Sainik School Kunjpura here, about 140 km from Delhi.

Emphasising on the role of schools in nation's progress, she said, "Schools are the basic units of an educational system.

Here, children spend the formative years of their life...The

development of students at higher levels of education depends on the knowledge base and the value system acquired in school." "...the quality of education imparted in schools, determines the nation's future.

Therefore it is very necessary for schools to impart good education and make students understand the worthiness of discipline, integrity and doing their work with dedication."

The President said an effective education system is one that responds to the challenges of its time.

"In today's context, education should make students aware of their social and cultural milieu, so that they can contribute meaningfully to society...It should acquaint them with the marvels of science and technology... with a view to encourage them to develop a scientific temper...The education should enable the students to work intelligently and in a systematic manner," she said.

Stressing on the need of nur-

deal".

The prime minister is to travel with seven cabinet ministers, including the foreign secretary, chancellor and business secretary, in an effort to revitalise ties with New Delhi and to generate business in the insurance, financial services and technology sectors.

Cameron's team will also seek to press British interests in India's USD 11 billion (7.1 bn pounds) 126-aircraft fighter procurement contest.

Six manufacturers are in the running for the lucrative deal with EADS, the consortium that includes BAE Systems, offering the Eurofighter Typhoon jet.

The most immediate big deals, the paper said, may come in defence.

BAE hopes to sign a deal worth up to 500 million pounds to supply 57 more Hawk trainer jets, building on an established partnership with state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bengaluru.

India ordered 66 Hawk jets from BAE in 2004 at 1 billion pounds cost.

All the aircraft in the followup deal, if achieved, are likely to be built by HAL. The model for technology transfer and joint manufacturing could also be extended to UK aircraft carriers and shipbuilding.

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China reviews law to cut down executions PTI BEIJING, JULY 24

China, accused by rights groups of carrying out largest number of executions in the world, is considering proposals to cut back on the use of capital punishment.

The country's top legislative committee is set to revise China's criminal law to reduce the number of crimes that attract death penalty. The new proposals will also seek exempt people above 70 years from capital punishment.

Top legislators, state run 'China Daily' said today are studying new proposals which would be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) next month, it quoted officials as saying.

According to the Amnesty International, China has executed thousands of people last year, though the human rights group said it has not been able to provide exact figures.

Chinese officials say the number of executions has come down since 2007, following an amendment that all death sentences should be reviewed by a higher court.

The rule was changed following allegations of miscarriages of justice as the lower courts had the powers to impose death penalty in the 1980s.

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India, Pak should demilitarise Siachen, says Zardari PTI ISLAMABAD, JULY 24

India and Pakistan should demilitarise the Siachen glacier as the troop deployment on the snowy heights has become a burden on the exchequers of the two countries, President Asif Ali Zardari has said.

Zardari's fresh comments on the glacier on which the two countries have held a number of rounds of talks at the Defence Secretary-level came days after the parleys between the Foreign Ministers' of the two countries here.

The time has come to demilitarise the Siachen glacier because of the high cost of the troop deployments, Zardari told the media last night at the Chief Minister's House in the southern city of Karachi.

He claimed that the Indian army's expen-

diture on troops deployed on Siachen was more than that of Pakistan. Despite this, Pakistan had suggested to India that both countries should withdraw their forces from the region, he said.

On the Foreign Minister-level talks between the two countries on July 15, Zardari claimed that India's domestic politics was responsible for glitches in the parleys.

However, Zardari said Pakistan was hopeful about the resumption of "meaningful dialogue" with India.

Addressing another gathering at the same venue, the President said Pakistan had hired an international firm to work as an arbitrator to resolve differences with India on the sharing of river waters.

Since India had not come up with a viable solution to the water issue, Pakistan opted

for international arbitration, he said.

"The first time I met (Indian Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh, the first thing I spoke to him about was water. I am talking about the time almost two years ago, when I had just become President and I was at a UN programme where I met Manmohan Singh," he told the gathering.

"When (Singh) met me again, he said if there is a dispute on water, then you can go to the World Bank, you can go to the adjudicating authorities with your problem and we will not mind that," he said.

Zardari said he had then consulted the water and power ministry and the federal government and Pakistan hired an international firm as an arbitrator to negotiate with the World Bank and the Indian government on the water problem.

Pak gained nuke capabilities through international deception: US lawmakers PTI WASHINGTON, JULY 24

Pakistan has gained atomic capabilities through "international deception" and "clandestine procurement" networks, eminent US lawmakers have said, while warning that the continuation of 'secretive' Sino-Pak nuclear ties is setting a wrong precedence for others.

"In 1998, Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test, having developed its weapons far before then. Pakistan had gained that capacity through international deception in part whereby the true end-user of various equipment was obscured through clandestine procurement networks," Congressman Brad Sherman said at a Congressional hearing.

"We now see similar networks on behalf of other states that either are trying to develop nuclear weapons or have done so illegally. These proliferation techniques need countries to be the transhipment hub in the supply chain," said Sherman.

He made the remarks on Thursday while chairing a hearing on 'Transhipment and Diversion: Are US Trading Partners Doing Enough to Prevent the Spread of Dangerous technologies' by the Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Tr a d e Sub-Committee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"Technology and equipment from companies in countries with high-tech manufacturing can then go to those hub countries and then on to the prohibited country," Sherman said.

He alleged that these hub countries have weak or non-existent export controls, ineffective customs and law enforcement officials and most importantly, little or no political will to do anything about this critical problem.

"In addition, large trade volumes at major transhipment ports can help camouflage the illicit shipment of diverted goods," he said.

The Congressman said the US experience with Pakistan's nu-

clear programme demonstrated that export control laws will be of little value unless the US can properly control the flow of global cargo at transhipment hubs.

Congressman Ed Royce said China's notorious record as a WMD – weapons of mass destruction – proliferator demands that it be given very close scrutiny.

"I'm a sceptic on China's commitment to export controls given its past behaviour and certainly given its nonchalance about non-proliferation in general," he said.

"Its planned sale just announced of two nuclear reactors to Pakistan and its multi-billion dollar investment in Iran's energy sector are additional cases in point in terms of the way China behaves in this regard and I think Beijing's pressure on the Obama administration to loosen export controls is concerning," said the Congressman, who is co-chair of the Congress India Caucus.

5 US troops die in Afghan blasts

18 militants killed in Pak drone attack PTI PESHAWAR, JULY 24

A man put his clothes out to dry near his makeshift tent after torrential rains in Lahore on Friday. Fifty people were killed when torrential rains unleashed flash floods in different parts of eastern Balochistan, according to Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

US asks Pak to implement UN action against Haqqani network

AP KABUL, JULY 24

PTI WASHINGTON, JULY 24

Five American troops died on Saturday in bombings in southern Afghanistan where international forces are stepping up the fight against the Taliban, officials said.

Four of the victims died in a single blast, NATO said in a statement without specifying nationalities nor providing further details. A fifth service member was killed in a separate attack in the south, NATO said.

US officials confirmed all five were Americans. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity under rules regarding casualty identification.

The latest deaths bring to 75 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this month, including 56 Americans.

The US-led force is ramping up operations against the Taliban in their southern strongholds, hoping to enable the Afghan government to expand its control in the volatile region.

The US has said it wants Pakistan to implement UN curbs against three key financers who raised money for the Taliban and Haqqani network, a day after slapping sanctions on the leaders of these outfits.

The three were named by the UN Security Council early this week while the US Department of Treasury slapped sanctions on Gul Agha Ishakzai, head of the Taliban's financial commission; Amir Abdullah, former treasurer to senior Taliban leader Mullah Barader; and Nasiruddin Haqqani, an emissary for the Haqqani network, on Thursday.

"Pakistan, as a UN member, must implement this international action," the State Department said in a statement.

The Treasury Department's Executive Order 13224 blocks any property the designees have under US jurisdiction and prohibits US persons from engaging in transactions with

them, the State Department said.

"Not only have these individuals been designated under domestic legal authorities, they were also listed at the United Nations 1267 Consolidated List on July 19, 2010 for being associated with al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, or the Taliban," it said.

"All United Nation members must implement a travel ban restriction, asset freeze and arms embargo against these individuals," the State Department said.

Gul Agha Ishakzai is the head of the Taliban's financial commission and has collected money for suicide attacks in Kandahar and has been involved in the disbursement of funds for Taliban fighters and their families.

A childhood friend of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, Gul Agha has served as Omar's principal finance officer and one of his closest advisors.

US Cong seeks report on alarming Chinese military build up PTI WASHINGTON, JULY 24

Citizens visit Chinese 'Cangzhou' missile frigate during an open day in the framework of an ocean festival in Qingdao city, eastern China's Shandong province, on Saturday. In the scope of the event, the missile frigate opens three days for citizens and tourists.

Al Qaeda claims responsibility for attacks in Iraq Reuters BAGHDAD, JULY 24

Al Qaeda in Iraq has claimed responsibility for two attacks against its former Sunni Muslim allies which killed at least 43 people last Sunday.

In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber struck members of the government-backed "Sahwa" militia as they lined up to be paid on Baghdad's southwestern outskirts, killing at least 39 and wounding 41, Iraqi security sources said.

In the second, a suicide bomber killed four and wounded six at a meeting of local Sunni militia leaders in western Iraq, near the Syrian border, police in Anbar province said.

In a statement posted on a website often used by Islamists, al Qaeda said it had conducted the attacks as part of action against "leaders of apostasy", a term used for Sunni fighters who once allied with al Qaeda but turned on the militant group in 2006/07, helping US forces turn the tide in the war. "A lion of the Islamic State managed to intrude among the cattle after they were blinded by pickings of money

thrown by the ... government and they fell into the torture of God," the statement said.

Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda have sought to exploit the political vacuum created by a failure of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish factions to agree on a coalition government following an inconclusive March 7 parliamentary election, and have carried out a series of attacks since the vote.

Sahwa leaders have been among the primary targets.

Some of the attacks have been attributed to acts of revenge by former fellow insurgents, while others have been blamed on long-running blood feuds between families.

The sectarian conflict between once dominant Sunnis and majority Shi'ites that began after the 2003 US-led invasion has largely subsided but a Sunni Islamist insurgency persists.

The US military has increasingly taken a backseat role since pulling out of Iraqi urban centres in June last year and US troops will end combat operations formally on August. 31, before a full withdrawal next year.

Quake off Philippines; no damage reported Reuters MANILA, JULY 24

A strong earthquake and a series of aftershocks struck off the southern Philippines on Saturday, officials said, but they occurred at such great depths that their impact dissipated and there were no reports of casualties or damage.

No tsunami warning was issued.

In just over an hour early today, an earthquake and two aftershocks recorded at magnitudes of 7.3 to 7.6 by the US Geological Survey, at considerable depths of between 576 and 617 km southwest of Cotabato on Mindanao island.

An aftershock of 6.2 magnitude was measured in the same area at 1:35 p m 1105 IST today, the USGS said, at a depth of 564 km. The magnitude was initially reported at 6.7. ''We expect these aftershocks, but we don't expect them to cause any damage,'' Renato Solidum, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told Reuters, adding there had been 68 aftershocks.

Expressing alarm over rapid Chinese militar y build up which they say threatens to challenge US freedom of action in space, cyberspace, at sea and in the air, influential US lawmakers want Pentagon to file a report to the US Congress on Beijing's growing military might.

"China's extensive military build-up is alarming", said five Republican Senators, John Cornyn, John McCain, James Risch, Pat Roberts and James Inhofe in a letter to Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

"The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has undertaken a military modernisation programme, supported by a military budget that has experienced double-digit-percentage annual increases for more than two decades," they said.

The Senators alleged that the Pentagon has failed to submit a report to the Congress on the military power of China as mandated by the 2000 National Defence Authorisation Act. The Defence Department's annual Chinese military power report informs Congress on the true nature of the extent of Beijing's rapidly growing military capabilities and military strategies.

"With the Chinese military power report now almost five months overdue, we ask that you submit it to Congress immediately and provide an explanation as to the significant delay," they said.

"Continued delay would further hinder Congress' ability to fully and accurately understand the potential threat that China's rapidly expanding military poses to US national security," the Senators said.

N Korea declares ‘sacred war’ on US, South Korea Reuters SEOUL, JULY 24

North Korea said on Saturday it would begin a "sacred war" against the United States and South Korea at "any time necessary" based on its nuclear deterrent, in response to "reckless" military exercises by the allies.

North Korea has driven tensions on the Korean peninsula to new heights after the South accused the North of sinking one of its warships in March, killing 46, and took steps to boost its defence including massive military drills with the United States.

P yongyang customarily voiced shrill anger in the past when the allies conducted exercises, but US officials said further provocations are possible, especially as the North tries to build political momentum for succession of power to Kim Jong-il's son.

US and South Korean militaries begin large-scale naval and aerial drills tomorrow with a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier taking part and they have additional exercises planned in August.

"The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sa-

cred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent any time necessary in order to counter the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," the North's National Defence Commission said.

DPRK is short for Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"All these war manoeuvres are nothing but outright provocations aimed to stifle the DPRK by force of arms to all intents and purposes," the powerful commission said in a statement carried by the North's official KCNA news agency.

It again denied that the country was behind the sinking of South Korea's corvette Cheonan, and said the planned military drills were "as reckless an act as waking up a sleeping tiger".

SIX-PARTY TALKS Washington brushed off the latest threat and said it had no interest in getting into a war of words. "What we need from North Korea is fewer provocative words and more constructive action," State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said.

The North escaped rebuke by the UN Security Council, which

condemned the attack in a statement early in July without directly blaming the Pyongyang government.

An official speaking on the sidelines of a multilateral Asian forum in Vietnam last week said the US-South Korean drills also violated the spirit of the UN statement, which called for dialogue to ease tensions.

North Korea has called for the resumption of six-party nuclear disarmament talks that it had boycotted since late 2008, a move analysts said was an attempt to put the Cheonan incident behind and win lucrative aid through a deal with the South, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

North Korea again on Saturday said that it was prepared to engage in talks with regional powers and take strong physical actions against any sanctions.

"If the US puts sword to us, we will put sword to them, which is how we counteract. We are ready for both talks and wars. We are not the one who would be surprised by military threats or sanctions," North Korean foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement carried

by KCNA.

Amir Abdullah has served as treasurer to senior Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Barader and was the former deputy to the Taliban governor of Kandahar Province.

Abdullah has travelled to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to collect money for the Taliban, the Treasury said. In 2001, Abdullah helped many senior Taliban members who fled Afghanistan settle in Pakistan.

Nasiruddin Haqqani is a key leader of the Haqqani network, the Treasury said. He is the brother of dreaded warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani, previously designated by US in March 2008.

Nasiruddin Haqqani functions as an emissary for the Haqqani network and spends much of his time raising money.

Breaking a lull in attacks, US drones fired a volley of missiles at a terrorist compound in Pakistan's restive South Waziristan region, killing 18 militants including foreign fighters.

Sixteen militants were killed instantly while two more bodies were later pulled out of the rubble of the compound in the Angoor Adda area bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

At least five missiles were fired by several pilotless spy planes during a coordinated attack.

TV news channels said the death toll could rise.

The strike came as the US Joint Chief of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen arrived in Islamabad for discussions with the Pakistani military top brass.

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GOA’S HEARTBEAT For all you Lovely Grandmas…

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nivoichem “ Xellem xitt- Anonymous

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Sunday, 25 July, 2010

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bring up their own children. But I feel that importance to grandparents should not be confined to one day of the year. Grandchil-

dren should always love, care for and respect their grandparents.”

Being a grandparent is not an easy task, one has to nurture their own child to make them responsible enough to nurture another child. A lot of troubles and hardships go into forming an individual, especially ones own child, with love, care and even strictness. “Being a grandmother is a great feeling, that too after a long time. I am very happy and a proud grandma. I have a granddaughter and a grandson. It is a satisfying feeling when I see my daughters filling in the roles of being mothers as they also realise the hardships in life especially while bringing up a child. They know the value of how they have been brought up and what their parents have experienced. It is the next best feeling of being a mother,” says Agnes Fernandes from Mapusa.

Antonette Barretto says, “St Anne is considered the patroness of childless mothers and people throng to her, praying for her intersession. I am very proud of being a grandmother of three grandchildren. When I see them I remember and relive the days of me being a mother. An important aspect of grandchildren is that they teach us new lessons in life.”

Hilda Rodrigues from Margao says, “It is such a joy to be a grandmother I love playing with my grandchildren. I love it when they tell me, “Grandma, we were looking forward to when you will come back again.” They have so much to say and they feel nice when someone listens to them. When I am with them, we share stories, jokes and songs. Most importantly, they are loving and caring.”

Photos by Amresh Parab

­H­O­R­O­S­C­O­P­E Put positive visions in your mind today -- seeing a better reality can make it so. You're more con(21 Mar – 19 Apr) cerned with what others are saying about you than with what you're actually doing today, which may influence your decisions quite a bit. There's nothing wrong with building your rep.

Add some romance to your day by taking yourself out on a date.

Splurge a little! Your (23 Sep – 22 Oct) home life needs attention today. It may be as simple as taking out the trash, or it may be pretty serious and involve multiple family members. Make sure you take it all seriously!

Your conservative ideas are fighting your more radical ideas. Today, one will win. Travel is on your (20 Apr – 20 May) mind right now, and it's a great time to make big plans. Book a flight, figure out who you want to hit the road with or just peruse an atlas to figure out where you want to go next.

Think about creating a fresh environment and satisfy your urge to redecorate. Work is impor(23 Oct – 21 Nov) tant today -- meeting goals, tracking down new leads or even embarking on a major career switch. Whatever you're doing, you're taking it quite seriously, and should see good results.

Suddenly your ideas have been radically changed - defend your way of thinking. You're having a (21 May – 21 Jun) hard time making yourself understood today, and that can mean that you're in need of a rescue in terms of your love life. That's not hard to arrange, though things should ease up on their own soon.

People feel very relaxed around you today -- it's a great day to talk to strangers. You're focused (22 Nov – 21 Dec) on your possessions today, which makes sense -- it's time for a shake-up! You may want to have a yard sale soon to clear space for incoming acquisitions. Have fun with it!

You can learn to be more flexible -- for inspiration, watch those who do it best. Your awareness (22 Jun – 22 Jul) saves the day today -your people are a bit confused, but you can help to guide them toward something like sanity. Stay grounded if you want to make a real difference.

Money may be on your mind, but there are more pressing personal matters to address. You can (22 Dec – 19 Jan) make a really great impression today without working too hard at it. In fact, if you just do things your way and at your own pace, you should find that people are quite happy with what they see.

As long as you keep your pride intact, you can get away with anything today. Others are quite (23 Jul – 22 Aug) receptive to your style and ideas today, so make sure that they get the chance to hear you out!

Your personal energy is low-key and just right for making good impressions.

Your quest for excitement will finally be over today when an opportunity arises. Cause and effect (20 Jan – 18 Feb) seem to be out of whack today, so you may want to take a break and just let things happen.

You should be able to make sense of it all at some point in the near future.

Yo u r r o u t i n e h a s changed, and today you will discover how much better it has become. If (23 Aug – 22 Sep) you're single, this is a great time to flirt with coworkers or others you see quite a bit of -- familiarity is hot! If you're happily coupled, it's a good time to expand your horizons together.

Think about the goals you've set recently. One of them might be unrealistic right now. There's (19 Feb – 20 Mar) a vacuum in leadership near you today, and you need to step in to at least find someone to fill it -- if you don't want the job yourself, that is! Your common sense is your best guide.

BY AMRESH PARAB undreds of revellers gathered together to participate in the annual Chikalkala celebrations held at Devkikrishna Temple, Marcel.

An age old tradition carried forward by the villagers, Chikalkala is celebrated on the 11th day of the Hindu lunar month of Aashadh and has people playing in the mud, dancing and enacting plays which were believed to have been played by Lord Krishna in his childhood. This is one day when people willingly get dirty and let people witness them without any qualms or reservations. The celebrations are witnessed by large crowds from the village as well as other parts of the state.

The run-up to festival begins from AshadiEkadashi as per the Hindu Calendar, the day associated with Shri Vithal. On that day, people perform bajans dedicated to Shri Vithal in temples across the state. Though there are certain places that celebrate Chikalkala on the following day, ie Ashadi-Duadashi, at Marcel, the festival is celebrated two days later.

On Ashadi-Duadashi, devotees participate in a 24-hour bhajan dedicated to Shri Vithal at Shri Devkikrishna Temple. Said Krishan Bhagat, “Every year on this day we participate in the 24-hour bajan dedicated to Shri Vithal and the next day we have Chikalkala. People also visit in large numbers to pay obeisance and take blessings from Shree Krishna.”

The next day at noon, soon after the 24 hour bhajan concludes, devotees, with their bodies covered with oil, enter the ground just opposite the temple to participate in the Chikalkala. Here prasad is distributed to rev-

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th e g e t lo s t in to d It is e a s y to an as vours, arom ambience, fla od fo us io of scrumpt presentations give s. Does anyone at food festival out n ur hands that ch to thought to the in es lv Herald de t those delights? en es pr ’s kitchen to Cidade de Goa Paul to Goa Chef Prasad

Joyful Revelry of Chikalkala ine to the Div Praying ting nd enac Po w e r a ds their dee some of rm mmon fo are a co e th d hip an f of wors o l a fe s ti v u n iq u e s re e la adh Chikalka deed ery to this v

Parenting

The Man behind Magnificent Food

The annual feast of St Anne is celebrated with great pomp on July 26. It is also observed as Grandmother’s Day for St Anne was the grandmother of Jesus Christ. Herald chats with grandmas and learns of their precious experiences

BY DOLCY D’CRUZ HERALD FEATURES he elderly relive their young, playful days when their hold their grandchildren in their arms. As they hold the little bundles of joy and armfuls of mischief, their aches and pains are all forgotten. According to the Bible, St Anne and her husband Joachim, after years of being childless, were visited by an angel who told them that they would conceive a child. Anne promised to dedicate the child to God's service. Joachim and Anne are believed to have given Mary to the service of the Temple when the girl was three years old. St Anne is hence the patron saint of childless mothers and being the grandmother of Jesus Christ, here feast day is observed as Grandmother’s Day. In Goa, every church celebrates the day with grandchildren praying for their grandmothers and some parishes even having small get-togethers after the Mass. Children are seen singing and dancing songs especially related to their grandmas.

The Church of St Anne at Talaulim, Ilhias has its own unique celebrations. The feast is famous as Touxanchem Fest (cucumber feast) as childless couples offer cucumber to St Anne, praying in Portuguese, ‘Senhora, tomai pepino, dai me menino’ which translates to ‘Our Lady, take this cucumber and give me a child’. Other prayers offered to St Anne are ‘Senhora, tomai colher, dai me mulher’ which means, ‘Our Lady, take this spoon and give me a wife’ and ‘Senhora, tomai urido, dai me marido’ which says ‘Our Lady, take this Udid dal and give me a husband’.

An interesting story which still makes the rounds is that when this church was constructed, it wasn’t dedicated to any saint. A senior villager had a vision of an old lady who told him that the church was her home and she wanted to live in it. Another old woman was miraculously cured when an old lady visited her in her dreams and told her that her name was Anne and she wanted to live in the church. Once these incidents came to light, the church was dedicated to St Anne.

Explaining her experience about being a grandmother of 15 and a great grandmother of 3, Rosy Rodrigues from Chimbel, says, “It is a great feeling and I am so happy for my children and their children. It is a feeling of satisfaction to see all my children settled in life and to know that they are responsible to

Tourism

BY CHRISTINA VIEGAS HERALD FEATURES aking you surrender to the sensual caress on your tongue to creamy rich ‘moglai’ gravies, rousing your senses to sizzle to the fiery spices of South Indian food, compelling you to succumb to the subtle temptations of Gujarati and Maharashtrian cuisine – Chef Prasad Paul has foodies eating out of his palm, literally, as he makes you not just fall, but plunge into a loving relationship with food as he tantalises you throughout the year with alluring food festivals.

Known for his soft nature and balanced temperament, he prefers staying in the background and lets his food do the talking; no crowing from table-tops for this culinary expert. This is the very reason I get perked up to profile this talented cordon bleu.

Don’t be fooled by that unassuming veneer, the chef has 22 years of rich experience in culinary management in leading hotels and is currently working as Executive Chef at the Cidade de Goa beach resort. His earlier assignments include Mahindra Holiday Resorts, Oberoi Group of Hotels, Guestline and the Residency, Chennai.

Amidst various other skills and project planning, he specialises in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines. Humbly he informs, “While at Mahindras, I was into setting up of new restaurants. Through this, I have done research in 21 places all over India where I’ve studied the culture of the people, their eating habits, the food served in the small local restaurants and so on.”

Interestingly, he is originally from Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu; an unspoiled town with old-world charm, skirted by green villages filled with little eat-outs. It is intriguing to get into his boyhood days as he takes me back in time, “As a young lad, I ate out a lot at the little local restaurants. The aroma, flavour and presentation of food always stirred me. This drew me to catering.”

Now it is easy to see how he churns out those authentic South Indian ‘parothas’ with chicken curry/stew, mutton curry/stew.

In fact, today is the last day to a successful Malabar Food festival where the chef and his hardworking team have dished out some of the most delectable treats that include ‘appams’ with the chicken, mutton and vegetable stews, Malabar ‘kozhi’ (chicken) curry, ‘Nadan meen curry’ (fierce and tangy fish curry stewed in an earthen

M

pot), ‘Nai meen pollichathu’ (spiced kingfish slices baked in banana leaf envelopes) fried long beans, ‘muttakose thoran’ (braised cabbage and peas with coconut) ‘avial’ (tender vegetables in yogurt curry) and much, much more.

So, how does he plan the festivals for a year? Chef Paul enlightens, “We see what kind of food moves fast and accordingly plan a festival around it. For example, when we had a South Indian festival, most of the demand was for Kerala food. So this time we solely concentrated on Malabar cuisine.

Similarly, when last we had a mango festival of just drinks and desserts, there were suggestions from guests to have more dishes.

So, recently we had a mango festival where mango was incorporated in every course of the meal.”

And the next one coming up in August is the Mumbai street food festival. He enlightens, “We will serve all the interesting ‘chaats’ and food that you get on the Mumbai roads.” His take on food habits of the Goans, “While Goans love their ‘Xit Codi’, they are always open to experimenting on occasions, especially the present day Goans.

I like the revelling spirits of the Goans!

They celebrate their annual occasions with such grandeur.”

Detour from food a little, and one learns that the culinary expert is highly literate in computers too. And yes, he has a heart of gold! He serves on the board of trustee of Gemaria Clement Trust that provides educational support for under privileged children, for which he visits his home town twice a year in the midst of a hectic profession.

To aspiring girls and boys who want to don the chef ’s cap, apron and gloves, he advises, “Initially when you start, don’t think of the money, just struggle it out and learn your skills. Then on, money and success will automatically follow you.” We don’t dispute that, Sir!

Shah Rukh and Son may act Together

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ellers as well visitors. Once the mud playing begins, many revellers are dragged into the muddy pond by the others and the fun begins on full swing. In the end, a pot containing curd is broken by men forming a human pyramid in the ritual called Dahihanda.

In many of the previous years’ Chikalkala, water tankers had to be called in to create the muck, but this year, the heavy rains created the right ambiance for the festivities, naturally.

“Since last two years there is good rainfall and this has added to our joy in celebrating Chikalkala,” said Krishna Bhagat, a villager.

“We have been following this tradition for several years. It has been going on since ages and every year, more and more people participate and witness this ritual,” he added.

Another villager, Vaibhav Bhagat, commented, “I have been participating in the Chikalkala since I was a kid. It’s been over 20 years now and I never missed this event. I make it a point to be here along with my friends.” Viraj Mashelkar too piped in, “Participating in the Chikalkala is an altogether different experience. This is the only day our parents happily allowed us to play in mud and we as kids loved it. Till now, I haven’t missed this event.”

ll hail, Prince Khan is here! A prominent film producer has recently approached actor Shah Rukh Khan to let his son Aryan star in his film. That’s right! Believe it or not, King Khan's 12 year old son, Aryan has been offered a film alongside dad Shah Rukh Khan. Khan has been offered the role of Aryan's father in the film.

The film centres around the problems of growing up amongst teenagers. The conflict and contrast between a father and son's perspective is the basis of the film. “The filmmakers are very confident that Shah Rukh will like it but there has been no response from SRK yet. The filmmaker is keeping his fing e r s c ro s s e d , ” i n f o r m s a source.

Interestingly, Aryan made his acting debut as a child artist in Karan Johar's 2001 magnum opus, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ but this will be his full-fledged role if he and Shah Rukh say yes.

So, will protective papa give this project the green signal? SRK's staff neither confirmed nor denied the news. “Aryan is only 12 now. I don’t think Shah Rukh will green-light a n y p ro j e c t like that. However, we cannot confirm any information at the moment,” said one of Khan's staff members.

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GOA’S HEARTBEAT Sunday, 25 July, 2010

WHAT’S UP IN GOA??

Guru Pournima and Sangeet Melava will be held on July 25 and 26 from 9.30am to 6pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Call 2420452.

The finale of the art camp, ‘GO AA’ will take place on July 25 from 7pm to 8.30pm at the Kerkar Art Complex, Calangute. It will be on display till July 31. Call 2276017.

The 7th felicitation function of the SSC toppers of the schools in Loutolim and Raia will take place on July 25 at 11am at Ancestral Goa, Big Foot, Loutolim. Call 2777034.

A physical fitness test for referees, conducted by the Goa Football Association will take place on July 25 at 6:30am at the PJN Stadium, Margao. Call 2225532.

‘Giving Voice to India’, a music workshop conducted by soprano Patricia Rozario and pianist, writer, composer and broadcaster, Mark Troop will take place from July 27 to 31 at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Visit www.associationsargam.com/march2010/patricia2010.html.

E-mail diasfluis@yahoo.com. Call 9011051950.

A 1-day workshop for children on Harry Potter, by the children’s book club, the Pageturners will take place on July 25 from 10am to 4pm at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula.

Visit www.internationalcentregoa.com.

E-mail prog@incentgoa.com. Call 9765404391 or 2452805-10.

Tailoring, machine and hand embroidery, crochet, flower making, fabric painting, candle making and bakery and cookery courses, organised by Caritas, Goa will be held from August for a period of 6 months at Dr Graciano de Santana Ribeiro Empowerment Centre, Porvorim. The courses are specially designed for the benefit and empowerment of women. Call 2416716 or 9765256547.

Scholarship for advanced training in the field of Indian classical music

corniche Function Noun Meaning :a winding road cut into the side of a steep hill or along the face of a coastal cliff Example Sentence Though she grew up in Alta, Tina got nervous while driving around the Alta Corniche.

Photos by Chiquitita D’ Sousa

SOUTH POLE

08:00 Uttaran 09:00 My Friend Ganesha 3 12:00 Maa Tujhe Pranam 14:00 New Talent Awards 2010 16:00 Bhoothnath

09:30 Sky Teleshopping 10:00 Infomercial 10:30 Infomercial 11:00 CSI: NY : Battle Scars 12:00 Supernatural: The End 13:00 Wipeout 14:00 Guinness World Records Smashed 15:00 Sports Crash 16:00 So You Think You Can

HERALD FEATURES ala Academy’s Faculty of Indian Music & Dance will celebrate Guru Purnima today, July, 25, 2010 in a day-long programme to be held at the Black Box of Kala Academy, Panaji. The programme will commence at 10am with ‘Guru Pujan’ followed by various programmes of classical music and dance which will be presented by the students.

On July 26, 2010, Kala Academy’s Rural Music Centres will celebrate ‘Sangeet Melawa’ at the Block Box. The selected students of the Rural Music Centres from Pernem, Valpoi, Sankhali, Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona will perform Indian Classical Vocal and Instrumental music programmes and the students of Curchorem Dance class will perform Bharatnatyam.

The programme will be commence at 10am and will conclude by 5pm.

Both the programmes are open to all.

K

08:30 America's Got Talent

HERALD FEATURES resident of Lions Club of Ponda, MJF Lion Sagar Ram Sakordekar was honoured with the Best President Award of District 324-D2 from among 102 club presidents from Goa and Karnataka. MJF Lion Frank Fernandes was honoured with the Best Zone Chairman award, from among 22 Zone Chairpersons of the District. Awards were presented by the District Governor PMJF Lion Dr U Madhava Shetty at the District Award Presentation Ceremony held on June 27, 2010 at Hubli.

The duo has also received the MJF plaque from Lions Club International for their contribution to the LCIF fund, which is used by Lions Clubs International Foundation to meet humanitarian needs in communities around the world.

Under the leadership of President Sagar Sakordekar, the social work undertaken by the Lions Club of Ponda include a total of 126 different service activities which were conducted in three focal areas of health, education and sports, besides the regular ones.

The club has also received other awards which include Best Club Bulletin Award, Best Computer Education Program and Best Sight First

BY NOMRATHA FERNANDES HERALD FEATURES he three-day workshop, ‘Enhancing Human Development Coverage: Skills for Reporting/Writing’, organised by the International Centre Goa, JM Foundation for Excellence in Journalism, Goa Union of Journalist, Media Information and Communication Centre of India in association with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung – India commenced yesterday, June 24 at the International Centre Goa, Dona Paula.

The 50 or so participants comprised journalists from local English, Marathi and Konkani papers, students of journalism and those with journalistic inclinations and interests. The resource persons for the workshop were Shishir Joshi, Aloke Thakore Shishir Joshi and Nandini Sahai, experienced and well-established, national journalists. After the formalities of the introduction ceremony were complete, Thakore began the workshop.

Workshop was touted as tailor-made for Goa! Really? Not when a pre-notion was formed of Goa and Goan journalists and a series of baseless judgments made in appendage to it. Unfortunately, among the various issues plaguing Goa, only a Mickky’s kind of story seems lapped up by media persons out of the state. This was clearly evident during the workshop where of the many issues that are gnawing at the Goan bone, most ironically, keeping in mind, that the workshop aimed at enhancing human development coverage, ex-tourism minister Francisco (Mickky) Pachecho was chosen to be dissected. Of the various cuts, post dissection, the comparison of the headlines of three local English dailies of the reports on the Mickky scandel was deep and unacceptable, especially when one is not fully aware of the dynamics behind the reporting and sub-editing scene.

Before addressing a group of people and students from Goa with an affinity to

T

09:30 Jumbo 12:00 Raja Hindustani 16:55 Ghayal 20:00 Mr. & Mrs. Khiladi 23:00Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega

09:30 Yakeen 12:30 Astitva 16:00 Waqt 20:00 Ghajini

08:25 Ella Enchanted 10:25 August Rush

12:45 Outlander 15:00 The In-Laws 17:05 The Foreigner 19:00 If Lucy Fell 21:00 Dead Man Running 23:05 Point Break

12:00 Om Shanti Om 16:00 Jab We Met 20:00 Karan Arjun 23:35 Ghulami

12:00 Yuvvraaj 16:00 Big Brother 20:00 Nayak

E N T E R TA I N M E N T Dance : Audition 17:00 Whacked Out Sports 17:30 Whacked Out Sports 18:00 Fear Factor : Fear Factor Martinis 19:00 Guinness World Records Smashed 20:00 Guys Choice Awards 2010 22:00 Whacked Out Sports 22:30 Fear Factor : Fear Factor Martinis 23:30 So You Think You Can Dance : Audition

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Program. On the administrative front, the Club bagged second position in the district. MJF Lion R G Desai received the Appreciation Award for District Chairman.

Enhancing Human Development Coverage Workshop: Lack of Essence on Main Issues

17:00 Apsara Awards 21:00 Chak Dhoom Dhoom

08:00 Joel Osteen 09:00 Namaste Cinema 09:30 Khana Khazana 10:00 Dance India Dance 10:30 Kahani Ab Tak 11:30 Keshav Pandit 12:30 Dance India Dance L'il Masters 19:00 Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani 23:00 Keshav Pandit

Parenting

P

Instructions for Sudoku SUDOKU SOL 613 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

08:30 Star Box Office 09:00 Laughter Dons 10:00 Rang Badalti Odhni 11:00 India's Magic Star 12:30 India's Magic Star 14:00 India's Magic Star 15:30 Geet 16:30 Laughter Dons 17:30 Hum Tum Aur Ghost 20:00 India's Magic Star 21:30 Star One Horror Nights 22:30 Rang Badalti Odhni 23:30 Laughter Ke Phatke

Tourism

Lions Club of Ponda bags District Award

DAILY GROOK GLOSS LOSS

by Francis Rodrigues a magician's limousine if often dull at night, its possible the sheen varnishes from sight!

09:00 The Tale of Despereaux 11:00 The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

12:45 Turbulent Skies 14:30 Hancock 16:30 10,000 BC 18:45 Deep Blue Sea 21:00 Coraline 23:00 The Pacific : Part Nine

Travel

Kala Academy to celebrate Guru Poornima and Sangeet Melawa

K

“I am free of all prejudices. I hate every one equally.”

– W C Fields

08:30 Telebrands 09:00 Gutar Gu 09:30 Gutar Gu 10:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta...

12:00 Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabadwale 14:00 Rafoo Chakkar 17:30 Gutar Gu 18:00 Taarak Mehta Ka Oolta...

20:00 Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon 22:30 Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabadwale

Fashion

email us at: goasheartbeat@herald-goa.com

HERALD FEATURES ala Academy organised ‘Swaroopancha Kalpataru’ – a musical programme of recitation of ‘Abhangas’ by Dr Shubhada Gokhale and her group of artists from Sangli, on July 23, 2010 at the Black Box of Kala Academy, Panaji. The programme was based on the research done by Dr Shubhada on ‘AbhangMantrageeta’ of Saint Tukaram.

Dr Shubhada was accompanied by Vocalist Amol Patwardhan and Swagata Kulkarni with instrumental accompaniment by Goan artist Subhash Fatarpekar (Harmonium) and Dayanand Kandolkar (Tabla).

09:45 Hannah Montana 11:50 Scary Movie 13:35 Hot Shots! Part Deux 15:25 I Shot a Man in Vegas 17:00 Police Story II 18:55 The Day the Earth Stood Still 21:00 Titanic

Entertainment

INGS

Swaroopancha Kalpataru captivates Audience

GARFIELD

09:00 Boogie Woogie Kids Championship 2010 10:30 Indian Idol 12:00Comedy Circus Ke Super stars 14:00 C.I.D 17:00 C.I.D : Salman Special 18:00 C.I.D 20:00 3 Idiots

EN

PEN T HAP

Funny Quote

Pronunciation kawr-neesh

09:30 Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 11:00 Chhote Ustaad 13:00 Wanted 16:00 Sasural Genda Phool 17:30 De Dana Dan 21:00Chhote Ustaad 23:00 Sasural Genda Phool

CURR

Information Technology

LAFFS

WORD OF THE DAY

SUDOKU 614

and dance, Western classical music, drama, folk-art and painting and sculpture outside the state of Goa are available at the Kala Academy, Panjim.

Registration closes on August 5. Call 2420452.

‘Yuva Goa 2020’, an incident writing competition, organised by Hauns Theatre Training Centre, Ponda is open for registration till July 31. E-mail haunstheatre@rediffmail.com. Call 9823229961 or 9823645380.

A pranic healing session by Dr Anjali Shackelton will take place on July 25 at 5pm at Clube Gasper Dias, Miramar, Panjim. Register is open. It is free and open to all. Call 2451080 or 09987062209.

A Konkani literary contest in the Roman script, organised by the Goan Review Art Foundation (GRAF) is open for registration till July 31.

Call 2630139.

Applications for various music examinations are open at the Bal Bhavan, Campal Goa. Registration closes on August 16. Call 2226823.

Gurupoornima Mahotsav 2010, organised by Samarpan Dhyan Parivar, Goa is being held till July 26 at the Mandovi Sabha Mandap, Porvorim.

A Konkani Musical Programme on National Integration held under the Tiatr Academy of Goa’s (TAG) scheme, ‘Production of Musical Programmes on Patriotism/ National Integration/ Communal Harmony’ will be held on July 27 at 7pm at the Kala Academy, Panjim. Call 2420452.

‘Memento’, the film will be hosted July 26 at 6.30pm at the Sunaparanta - Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panjim. Call 2421311.

English speech, and drama classes, held by the Helen O Grady, English Speech and Drama Academy is commencing regular classes at Fatorda in the month of July. Visit w w w. h e l e n o g r a d y. c o . i n . C a l l 9096700377 or 9370673600.

Education

10:00 How I Met Your Mother 10:30 The Simpsons 11:00 Glee 12:00 Friends 13:00 How I Met Your Mother 14:00 Whose Line Is It Anyway?

14:30 The Simpsons 15:00 Castle: Hell Hath No Fury 16:00 Lost 17:00 V.I.P 18:00 Glee 19:00 White Collar 20:00 Friends 20:30 Rendezvous with Simi Garewal 21:00 Lost 22:00 Whose Line Is It Anyway?

23:00 V.I.P

09:00 Golf Focus 2010 09:30 International German Open : Semi Final 1 11:00 International German Open : Semi Final 2 12:30 Mobil 1 The Grid 13:00 TNA Impact 15:00 FIA F1 World Championship Qualifying 2010 16:30 FIA F1 World Championship Raceday 2010 17:15 FIA F1 World Championship 2010 Main Race 19:15 FIA F1 World Championship

Chequered Flag 2010 20:00 TNA Ppv : Slammiversary 23:00 Hitz 23:30 Gp2 Series 2010

08:00 World Sport 2010 08:30 2010 FIFA World Cup Matchday H/ls 09:30 2010 US Figure Skating Championships 11:30 Sportscenter Weekend 11:32 2010 Espys 13:28 Sportscenter Weekend 13:30 Grand American Series : New Jersey 14:30 Hitz 14:55 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup Germany 2010 17:00 National Tenpin Bowling Championships 2010 19:00 World Sport 2010 19:30 Senior Open Championship 2010 : Day 4 23:30 World of Gymnastics

08:30 Indian National Rally Championship : Nashik 09:00 2010 Australia vs. Pakistan H/ls : 2nd Test Day 4 11:00 WWE: NXT 12:00 WWE: Specials : Money In the Bank 15:00 2010 Australia vs. Pakistan : 2nd Test Day 5 22:00 ICC Cricket Show 22:30 WWE: NXT 23:30 WWE: Specials : Money In the Bank

08:00 Megastructures : The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque 09:00 Terraquiz 2010 : Semi Finals

09:30 Terraquiz 2010 : Semi Finals 10:00 Most Amazing Moments 12:00 Nat Geo Women's Hour 13:00 Wild Specials : Walking With Lions 14:00 India : Girl With Two Faces 15:00 Best of True Stories 16:00 True Stories : Hunting Pablo Escobar 17:00 Wild Detectives : Sita Tiger 18:00 Most Amazing Moments 19:00 Apollo Flight of the Hawkz 20:00 Earth Day Special 21:00 Preserve Our Planet 22:00 Nat Geo's Top 10 Photos 23:00 True Stories : Hurricane Hospital

07:00 Kids Club 07:30 Flavors 08:00 English News 09:00 Konkani News 10:00 Marathi News 11:00 Straight Talk 12:00 Konkani Palkachim Noketram 12:30 Flavors 13:00 English News 14:00 Konkani Movie 15:00 HCN Smash Hits 15:30 Dudhsagar 16:00 Sunday Mass 17:00 Kids Club 17:30 Konkani Palkachim Noketram 18:00 Konkani News 19:00 Marathi News 20:00 English News 21:00 Straight Talk 22:00 English News 23:00 Konkani Palkachim Noketram 23:30 Fashion show 00:00 HCN Smash Hits 00:30 Flavors 01:00 Art of living 01:30 Talking Talkies 02:00 Kids Club Note: Subject to change

journalism and a handful of experienced journos, one has to research well on the people, the nature of the information source and the complete story, the sensitivity of the Goan journalist and the condition she/he gathers and presents the story, besides other factors. When addressing a group of such a nature, criticism should be focused and constructive rather than condescending. Three hours at the session and one would deduce that Thakore made an excellent public speaker. Humour was intertwined into every third sentence he spoke. Unfortunately, most of it was a kind that was laced with sarcasm, but saw a lot of the easily-charmed audience collectively chortling away. Obviously, how would they understand the challenging job of journalists, esAloke Thakore pecially crime reporters?

The issue at hand was well dissected and analysed and the audience was eagerly participative but the manner in which it was done was overall unhealthy and its customisation to the Goan context was barely there. He didn’t meet the expectations of a few ‘mid career’ journalists, the expectations that included novel, out-of-the-box pointers to improve their stories or headstrong advice regarding commonly-faced problems that persons of the Goan media specifically face. It was old wine in a new bottle, one that was shaken so hard, it had to pop. All in all, a workshop that lacked the very essence of why it was held!

Prior to the start of the workshop, Nandini Sahai, director, International Centre and one of the three resource persons welcomed the participants and introduced the other two resource persons, as mentioned earlie, Aloke Thakore and Shishir Joshi, co-founder of the Journalism Mentor. Programme for the first two days, June 24 and 25 comprised of sessions that will run the entire day from 9:30am to 5pm and the last, June 26, for half a day till 1.30pm.

HERALD CROSSWORD - 614 Across 1- Ledge; 6- Raised platform; 10- Cat's nail; 14- Capital of Japan; 15- Hungary's Nagy; 16- Conceal; 17- Diciembre follower; 18- Greek temple; 19- Take ___ from me; 20Previous monetary unit of Spain; 22- Photograph; 24Lotion letters; 26- Strikes; 27Haunt; 31- Single unit; 32- Declare; 33- Fabric hand-dyeing technique; 36- Touch lightly; 39- E-mail command; 40Tied; 41- Letterman rival; 42Disapproving sound; 43Seraglio; 44- Artery that feeds the trunk; 45- "Losing My Religion" band; 46- Quest; 48Carve; 51- Bruins great Bobby; 52- Limitation; 54Woven container; 59- Winglike parts; 60- Trompe l'___; 62Cool!; 63- Soviet news service; 64- Branta sandvicensis; 65- Imply; 66- Formerly, formerly; 67- Editor's mark; 68- Uneven; Down 1- Pace; 2- Give an edge to; 3Supplements, with "out"; 4- Harp relative; 5- Flirting; 6- Cacophony; 7- Latin I word; 8- Golf clubs; 9Shaped like a bagel topping; 10Virginal; 11- Supple; 12"Farewell!"; 13- Cried; 21- Big galoot; 23- Undercooked; 25Messed up; 27- Attention-getter; 28- Salt Lake City hoopsters; 29Social standing; 30- Old Ford; 34-

"___ Ventura" was played SOLUTION - 613

by Jim Carrey; 35- Beat; 36Andean country; 37Against; 38- Exactly; 40Satirises; 41- Acapulco article; 43- Gripped; 44- Place in order; 45- Least polite; 47Metro area; 48- Word with panel or energy; 49- Category; 50- Chirp; 52- Detest; 53- Baseball team; 55- Clairvoyant; 56- The Green Hornet's sidekick; 57- Greek letters; 58- Carry; 61- Court call;

Pg 14:Layout 1 7/24/2010 10:47 PM Page 1

SPORTS

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GOA, Sunday, 25 July, 2010

Young Strikers enter quarters fraxier soccer HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, JULY 24

Hosts Young Strikers, Benaulim played an extravagant game to rout St Rock’s Youth Club, Majorda 4-1 to enter the quarterfinals of 35th Fraxier inter village football tournament, organised

by Young Strikers, Benaulim, at St John Baptist ground, DandoBenaulim, on Saturday.

Young Strikers were leading

2-0 at the breather.

It was one sided affair right from the word go with Benaulim lads camping in the rival territory with Rody Fernandes and Polvin Silva excelling at the front.

Young Strikers drew the first blood in the very 5th minute when Striker Rody Fernandes bulge the net after he picked up a through pass from Polvin D’Silva.

Spurred by the early success, Young Strikers doubled the lead

when midfielder Polvin D’Silva slotted past the rival goalkeeper with stiff grounder, off a pass from Rody Fernandes.

The second half did not bring any respite for St Rock’s Youth Club as Young strikers attacked from both the flanks. Carlos Fernandes increase their tally with a snap shot.

Stung by the triple blows, St Rock’s Youth Club fought back and reduce the margin through Russel Monteiro after he received a through pass from Allister Monteiro.

Stunned by the reducer, Young Strikers went into attacking mode and drove the last nail into Majorda coffin when Santan Fernandes punished the rival goalkeeper with deft placement off Alfred Fernandes.

SPORTS GOA, Sunday, 25 July, 2010

Anurag ahead

PANJIM (HSD) -- Anurag Mhamal beat Pranav Zantye in the 4th round and Akhilesh Rai in the 5th of sub-junior State chess selection tournament at Curca.

Anurag is the sole leader in the boys category with 5 points out of 5 rounds.

Niraj Saripalli beat Suyan Belurkar and stands on 4.5 points while Pranav Zantye, Rohan Ahuja, Akhilesh Rai and Omkar Damle are on 4 points each.

In the girls section, Gauri Hadkonkar, Aishwarya Thorat, Urvi Bandekar and Aditi Prabhugaonkar Thorat are on 3 points each.

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GFA names Santosh squad l

Felix D’Souza retained captain

The Goa Santosh team displays new jersey along with GFA Secretary Savio Messias, GFA Vice-President Vinod Parkot, SAG Executive Director V M Prabhudessai, Divisional Vice-President, Kingfisher-UB Group Govind Tiwari and Procam International official Ajit R during the announcement of the 20-member squad at a glittering function at Hotel Marriot, Mira Mar on Saturday. Also present are Chef-de-Mission Anthony Pango, Coach Mariano Dias, Manager Lawrence Gomes and Physio Akash Chopra.

Photo: Rozario Estibeiro HERALD SPORTS REPORTER MAPUSA, JULY 24

Felix D’Souza has been retained captain of Kingfisher Goa senior football team for Santosh Trophy National Football Championship in progress in Kolkata.

The Goa Football Association announced the following 20member squad at a glittering function at Hotel Marriot, Mira Mar on Saturday.

Laxmikant Kattimani, Mathew Gonsalves, Rowilson Rodrigues, Covan Lawrence, Fulgencio Cardozo, Adil Khan, John Dias, Denzil Franco, Godwin Franco, Savio Carneiro, Joseph Pereira, Wilton Gomes, Nicolau Borges, Nicholas Rodrigues, Clifton Gonsalves, Milagres Gonsalves, Branco Cardozo, Peter Carvalho, Cavin Lobo.

Officials: Anthony Pango, chefde-mission, Mariano Dias

(coach), Lawrence Gomes (manager), Akash Chopra (physio).

The team will leave Goa on July 27 by flight to Kolkata, where they play their first match against Karnataka on July 29, at 3.30 p.m. and the second match against Punjab on July 31, at 6 p.m.

The travelling and kitting of the team will be taken care of by “Kingfisher”, the sponsors of the Goa Professional Football League, promoted by Procam International.

Speaking on the occasion, Govind Tiwari, Divisional VicePresident, Kingfisher-UB Group, said, “The Santosh Trophy is one of the most popular football championships in the country.

Kingfisher is proud to be associated with the Goan football team, a team that spells the at-

titude of the brand. Kingfisher’s association with football has garnered appreciation across the country and has become synonymous with the brand and its promise of bringing in the ‘Good Times’. We wish the Goan team all the very best for the Santosh Trophy and we are confident that the team will make us all proud by bringing the Trophy back home again.”

Tiwari also addressed the sports associations and suggested handing out free tickets to school children to fill the stadiums as he has observed recently in cricket.

Coach Mariano Dias, who is the technical director of Youth Development with Salgaocar Sports Club, is now eyeing to defend the title for the second time.

"Our team is a mixture of

Assam continue undefeated streak

AGENCIES KOLKATA, JULY 24

Assam continued their undefeated streak and trounced Uttarakhand 7-0 to brighten their chance IN S a n t o s h t ro p h y N a t i o n a l Football Championship here on Saturday.

With an impressive 10-0 win over Himachal Pradesh in their opening league match, Assam once again proved too strong for their opponents and registered a thumping victory to garner six points from two matches.

Akum Ao continued his superb scoring form and netted in a brace, while Jelendra Brahma too found the back of net twice. Sisuram Chutia, Ajit Singh and S.Warry were the other scorers for the winning team.

Kerala hammered Himachal Pradesh 10-0 to register their second straight victory.

Javed Ok scored a fluent hat-trick, while Rakesh K and Sakeer MP scored a brace each.

Martin John, Bijesh Ben and Subair KP too registered their name in the scoresheet as Kerala now face Assam in their last group league match to decide the winner from Cluster VII and see them through to the prequarters.

Both the teams are locked

Assam... 7 Kerala... 10 Railways... 4 Mizoram... 10

Uttarakhand... 0 HP... 0 Orissa... 0 Bihar... 0

with the same points (six) but Assam are enjoying a better goal average than Kerala.

Railways drubbed Orissa 4-0 to pocket their second win and emerge group toppers before the final round takes place on the July 26.

Bijoy Das opened the scoring for Railways in the 20th minute, while S. Freedy doubled his side lead in the 27th minute. D.Nanda Kumar put Railways in commanding position before the break scoring the third goal in the 26th minute, while Suraj Mondal sealed the match in favour of Railways scoring the fourth goal in the 61st minute.

Mizoram blasted Bihar 10-0.

MV Niketan, St Paul HS up

HERALD CORRESPONDENT BELGAUM, JULY 24

M V Niketan beat Cantonment 3-1 in Royceton Gomes Memorial Cup 2010 here yesterday.

Vanessa Gomes, sister of late Royceton was the chief guest.

Rohan Angolkar put Niketam a h e a d b u t V i t t a l Te j a m equalised. Vaibhav Konbarkar score two goals which brought M.V Niketan to victory.

In the other match, St Paul HS hammered G G Chitnis 8-0 with goals coming from Aamil Bepari (6), Jeevan Rodrigues and Rakesh Marathe.

Sant Meera and MVM were locked in a 3-3 draw. Vakib Saraf score a brace for Sant Meera, the other goal coming from Azim Kumbari. Sourabh Tubashi scored two goals for M.V.M with Abhiram Honnavarkar scoring the third.

youth and experience. I have faith in my boys who show lot of promise and I am confident that they will defend their title.

We have lot of promising talent and I am happy with the way things have gone so far," said Mariano.

Coach Mariano when asked if he felt last year’s team was better than this year’s, he said the current squad is better although the strike force is lacking due to the players’ withdrawal through injury.

He further disclosed that he will be utilising Peter Carvalho as a striker instead of his usual position in the midfield.

Speaking on behalf of Procam International, Ajit R said, “Procam International is indeed proud of its association with the Goa Professional League, and

All-India bodybuilding championship in Margao HERALD CORRESPONDENT MARGAO, JULY 24

The Musclemen’s Body Building Association, Goa in association with Indian Body Builders Federation will be organising All-India Inter-Zonal Bodybuilding Championship from September 24 to 25, in Margao.

Chetan Pathare, Associate Secretar y of Indian Body Builders Association, in his address, here, said that more than 100 bodybuilders from all over India will be competing.

“It will be a great opportunity for Goans to showcase their talent,” Pathare added.

Pathare disclosed, from the Championship, 10 best bodybuilders will be selected for the World Body Building Championship to be held in Las Vegas, USA, from November 18 to 19.

Defending champions, Vikas Singh along with Sagar Katurde, who secured joint first place in the recently held Musclema-

GOA DIARY Snooker trials at Mira Mar

PANJIM (HSD) – The Cue Sports Association of Goa in association with Clube Tennis De Gaspar Dias will organise the second and final leg of Goa selection tournament for snooker for the late Mohan Caculo Trophy from July 28 to 31. Details may be obtained from Nicholas D'Sousa on 9850464878 before July 27.

would like to wish the Goa state team all the very best as they embark to defend their National title.”

Savio Messias, GFA secretary said, “The Santosh Trophy is a tournament very sentimental and dear to the Goan fans. A victory at this tournament makes every Goan proud. Since the inception of this tournament in 1941, Goa has won it just four times and once Goa were the joint winners with Bengal.”

“One of the proudest moments during my tenure as secretary was to watch Goa lift the Trophy on two occasions -- in 2005 and 2008. However, this time, it is going to be a tough tournament as we would be playing on the home turf of our arch-rivals Bengal.”

“Besides, the team would

39th Custodio memo r i a l s o c c e r s e m i s : Ra i a Sporting v. Nerul Sports Club, Raia ground, 4.30 p.m.

All-Goa St Anne’s festival soccer semi-finals: Rebello Pandal, Curtorim v. Ponda Footballers, Animal Husbandry ground, Curti-Ponda, 4.30 p.m.

25th Fraxier Soccer: Sai Avtar Sports Club v. Varca Sports Club, St John Baptist ground, Dando, Benaulim, 4.30 p.m.

4th Remigio de Araujo memorial married soccer: 3 Star Married v. Santa Cruz Married, St Agostinho ground, St Cruz, 4.30 p.m.

nia Mr Universe, (Novice category) in Miami, USA; Mulkan Singh, Virender Balan M (both from Delhi), Rosshan Khambata and Goa’s Joel Gonsalves are among the top bodybuilders, who will vie for the top honours.

The winners of various categories will be awarded cash prizes.

Renowned bodybuilder and General Secretary of Indian Body Builders Federation Premchand Degra said this is a lifetime opportunity to bodybuilders to showcase their talent.

Concluding, Pathare mentioned that the Federation will also organise Women Fitness Championship, during the Senior National Body Building Championship, scheduled in November.

Others present were Pascoal Norohna, treasure and Vinayak Naik, secretary of Musclemen’s Body Building Association.

miss many star players due to the National camp and injuries.

However, we have a bunch of very talented players, who are very eager to go to the battlefield and regain the Trophy and I am very confident that they would not let down the Goan football fraternity. We wish them a very successful tournament,” he concluded.

Savio, when asked why the Goa team’s jersey colours had been changed from their traditional yellow and blue to red and white, stated that it was the choice of the sponsors.

However, Savio added that the colour could be changed the next year.

Vinod Parkot, GFA vice-president, VM Prabhudessai, executive director of SAG were among those present.

Navelim enter final HERALD SPORTS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

Navelim beat United Club of Saligao 2-1 to enter the final of Custodio memorial cup football tournament at Raia ground on Saturday.

Saligao led 1-0 at the break.

Saligao went ahead in the 22nd minute as Mahesh Rane converted a corner kick.

Navelim equalised through Deetmar. They clinched the issue as Tyson scored an own goal in an attempt to keep away Sanford’s try. The finals will be played on August 5.

pg16_Layout 1 7/24/2010 11:37 PM Page 1

SPORTS GOA, SUNDAY, 25 JULY, 2010 www.oheraldo.in

In BrIef

3 Sikkim players tested positive for swine flu Sikkim's Santosh Trophy campaign received a huge blow today with three of their players tested positive for swine flu.

Bikas Jairu, Sanjay Chhetri and Sagar Rai tested positive for the disease after they were admitted at the state-run Infectious Diseases Hospital this morning with high fever, according to the local manager of the team Somnath Chatterjee.

Young Strikers enter quarters Pg 14

Anderson turns Pakistan register historic win down NZC offer

Modi seeks minutes of AGM Suspended Indian Premier League Chairman Lalit Modi has asked the Disciplinary Committee formed by the BCCI to provide him with minutes of meetings of the Special General Body of the Board and the IPL Governing Council held after his suspension, sources said today.

In an application to the Disciplinary Committee yesterday, Modi has also asked for a copy of the amended agreement between the Board and SonyMSM, they said.

Korean broadcaster fined $1.64m South Korea's SBS TV has been fined 1.97 billion won (1.64 million dollar) by the state regulator for not sharing coverage of World Cup matches with other broadcasters, local media reported on Saturday.

SBS had exclusive rights to show the matches from South Africa but after complaints from rival television companies KBS and MBC, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) instructed them to negotiate a share of some games, Yonhap news agency reported.

Drogba doubtful for season opener Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is set to miss next month’s Community Shield clash with Manchester United and their Premier League opener after undergoing groin surgery which will rule him out for three weeks.

The Ivory Coast international, who was troubled by the groin problem during Chelsea’s Premier League and FA Cup doublewinning campaign last season, successfully had “minimal invasive surgery” on Friday, the club said on their website (www.chelseafc.com) Saturday.

Portugal federation probes Queiroz The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) is investigating allegations that coach Carlos Queiroz insulted members of Portugal's anti-doping authority during the World Cup training camp in May, Secretary of State for Sports Laurentino Dias said.

"The facts that have been discovered in an inquiry oblige the federation to ponder them," Dias told Radio Renascenca.

Menezes set to coach Brazil Five-times world champions Brazil offered Mano Menezes the coach's job on Friday shortly after original choice Muricy Ramalho's club Fluminense refused to release him.

If he accepts, Menezes, who has lifted two of the country's most popular clubs out of the doldrums, will have the huge task of trying to rebuild Brazil's national team and win a sixth world title when they host the 2014 World Cup.

Karthikeyan finishes in 20th After his best-ever NASCAR finish at 11th spot in Texas recently, India's first F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan was back behind the wheel of the Chevrolet Silverado to finish at the 20th position in O'Reilly Raceway Park here.

The day began with two practice sessions in which Karthikeyan concentrated on finding the racing line and dialing in the best set up of the truck. His times were consistent in practice and the truck was improving as the session progressed.

Pg 16

GFA names Santosh squad Pg 15

Pakistan team celebrate victory historic victory against Australia in the second cricket test match at Headingley Carnegie cricket ground in Leeds on Saturday.

through cover off Mitchell Johnson.

They made the runs with seven wickets down to deny Australia an eighth straight test win. Australia won the first match at Lord's by 150 runs, also inside four days.

The Pakistan team took a lap of honour around the sparselyattended ground in what was Salman Butt's first Test as captain, as a smattering of vocal Pakistanis cheered them.

Number eight and man of the match Mohammad Aamer had five and Gul one, as Pakistan got

home despite the late wobble that saw the loss of six batsmen for 42 runs.

Left-arm pace bowler Doug Bollinger made a late impression on the series with three for 51.

Ben Hilfenhaus claimed three for 39.

Kamran Akmal scored 13 and calmed the nerves with three late boundaries - a cover drive off Bollinger to reduce the target to 15, an edge to third man off Hilfenhaus to take the target to 10, and a more convincing push through cover in the same over to leave six runs needed.

Akmal survived a scare with five runs needed when he square

IWF suspends coach on sexual harassment

Malinga ruled out of 2nd Test

AGENCIES HEADINGLEY, JULY 24

Pakistan scrambled the 40 runs they required to beat Australia in a Test for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, winning the second Test at Headingley by three wickets to draw the series 1-1.

Pakistan, chasing 180, lost four wickets on a sunny morning in what was expected to be a comfortable run chase but was eventually far from it as a resilient Australia went on the attack. Umar Gul scored the winning run with a drive

PTI NEW DELHI, JULY 24

Indian Weightlifting Federation today suspended SAI coach Ramesh Malhotra after Sydney Olympic bronze medallist Karnam Malleswari alleged sexual harassment by him on junior lifters.

Malhotra, who was recommended by the IWF for Dronacharya Award for the last two years, has been relieved of his job at the Bangalore SAI Centre with immediate effect.

"We have suspended Malhotra with immediate effect and has relieved him for his coaching job with Commonwealth core group weightlifters at Bangalore SAI Centre," IWF Secretary General Sahdev Yadav told PTI. Malleswari had alleged that a SAI coach, who has also been recommended for Dronacharya award, has been sexually harassing junior lifters for more than a decade now.

Yadav said a three-member committee to be headed by IWF vice-president Kumbasi Subramanya with veteran coach Pal Singh Sandhu and IWF joint secretary Madan Lal Salvi as other members, will submit a report within seven days after probing the matter.

He said the allegations levelled by Malleswari, also an IWF vice-president, were not related to

the present executive committee which took over in December last year.

"The allegations might have related to incidents happened earlier. We took charge only in December last year and we don't have any complaint by anybody, including lifters, about sexual harassment by any coach or officials," Yadav said.

"But we don't want to ignore anything so we have decided to suspend Malhotra and constitute a three-member committee to look into the allegations," added Yadav, who was the treasurer in the earlier executive committee.

The federation also denied that Malleswari raised the sexual harassment issue during the executive committee meeting held in Udaipur in February before the National Senior Championships.

"No grievance or objection from any executive committee member had been received in the executive committee meeting (in Udaipur)," it said.

The committee though is unlikely to call Malleswari to present his case before the committee.

"It is upto the committee to decide. But the committee will look into past records whether there have been complaints of sexual harassment made by anybody, including players, against coaches or officials," Yadav said.

cut Johnson to Mike Hussey at gully. The fielder claimed the catch and the fielders celebrated but Akmal stood his ground.

After a third umpire review as to whether the shot was grassed, Akmal was reprieved.

Once Aamer edged Hilfenhaus through the slips for another boundary to leave one for victory, the result was as good as sealed.

There was time for one last blip though when Hussey did catch Akmal in Johnson's next over with a flying leap to his left to leave Gul the task of finishing off the game.

Australia struck early with the wicket of Azhar Ali (51), caught behind off Bollinger to the tenth ball of the morning.

Overnight batsman Umar Akmal (8), usually aggressive in his approach, pushed at a Hilfenhaus ball outside off stump and gave Tim Paine his third catch. That was 150 for five.

It could have been 156 for six if Michael Clarke had not dropped Malik (on four), diving to his right at second slip off Bollinger.

But Malik did not remain for long. He clouted a half-volley from Hilfenhaus straight to Marcus North at short extra cover.

Australia first innings: 88 all out Pakistan first innings: 258 all out. (Watson 6-33) Australia second innings: 349 all out (Ponting 66, Clarke 77, Smith 77) Pakistan second innings: (overnight 140-3): Imran Farhat b Bollinger 67, Salman Butt c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 13, Azhar Ali c Paine b Bolinger 51, Umar Amin c Paine b Bollinger 0, Umar Akmal c Paine b Hilfenhaus 8, Shoaib Malik c North b Hilfenhaus 10, Kamran Akmal c Hussey b Johnson 13, Mohammad Aamer not out 5, Umar Gul not out 1. Extras: 12. Total: 180 for 7. Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-137, 3-137, 4-146, 5-150, 6-161, 7-179. Bowling: D Bollinger 13-2-51-3, B Hilfenhaus 13-2-39-3, M Johnson 10.4-1-41-1, S Watson 5-1-18-0, S Smith 9-2-24-0.

Man-of-the-match: Mohammad Aamer and SR Watson.

A local court on Saturday issued arrest warrants against IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab co-owners actress Preity Zinta and industrialists Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman for failing to appear before it on a complaint accusing them of not filing its balance sheets and annual returns.

The bailable warrants were issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate J S Sidhu after neither the three co-owners nor their counsels appeared before the court on a complaint filed by the Registrar of Companies (ROC) here.

However, another co-owner and industrialist Karan Paul's counsel appeared before the court and submitted that he

Krishal, Tejas clash in final Bopanna & Co major ranking TT HERALD SPORTS DESK PANJIM, JULY 24

Following are the results of junior boys and junior doubles of 3rd all-Goa Major ranking TT tournament organised by Shree Mangirish Vidya Dayini Saunstha, Mangeshi.

Junior boys (quarter-finals): Tejas Shevde beat Tejas Morajkar 11-3, 11-4, 11-5; Krishal Peres Da Silva defeated B.S.Siddharth 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-9; Arjun Sood beat Yash Salgaonkar 118, 11-6, 8-11, 13-11 and Wesley Do Rosario defeated Nishad Shevde 12-10, 11-7, 4-11, 11-8.

Semi-finals: Krishal Peres Da Silva beat Wesley Do Rosario 11-4, 11-8, 11-3 while Tejas Shevde defeated Arjun Sood 11-

6, 13-11, 11-4.

Junior doubles (quarter-finals): Arjun Sood and Yash Salgaonkar beat Vijay Gokhale and Sohan Satarkar 11-3, 11-5, 11-3. Wesley Do Rosario and Nishad Shevde defeated Nandan Sakordekar and Amey Naik 11-9, 11-4, 118. B.S. Siddharth and Tejas Morajkar beat Pranav Totekar and Anup Velingkar 11-6, 11-7, 118. Krishal Peres Da Silva and Tejas Shevde defeated Bhavik Khadapkar and Bhuvan Kadapkar 11-4, 11-7, 11-5.

Semi-finals: Krishal Peres Da Silva and Tejas Shevde beat B.S. Siddharth and Tejas Morajkar 411, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 while Arjun Sood and Yash Salgaonkar defeated Wesley Do Rosario and Nishad Shevde 11-7, 11-4, 119.

enter semis AGENCIES ATLANTA, JULY 24

Bopanna and Vliegen overcame a first set deficit to beat Erlich and Tipsarevic and book a semifinal berth in the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Bopanna and his Belgian partner scored a 3-6 7-6(7) 10-8 win over the Israeli-Serbian pair in the quarter-finals of the USD 531,000 hard court ATP event.

Erlich and Tipsarevic had ousted British top seeds Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski in the opening round.

The next opponents for the Indo-Belgian pair are Stephen Huss of Australia and Brazilian Andre Sa, who got a walk over from American pair of Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish.

PTI WELLINGTON, JULY 24

The International Cricket Council today received another setback in its s e a rc h o f a n e w vice-president as New Zealand administrator John Anderson has refused to take up the job.

After rejection of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard's candidature last month, the ICC had asked the cricket Boards of Australia and New Zealand to re-nominate a person.

The New Zealand Cricket checked with Anderson, originally their first choice for the job, but the administrator turned down the offer.

"In light of ICC's rejection of the nomination of John Howard, I approached Sir John Anderson to assess his availability for the role. Unfortunately Sir John advised me that he is not available to be considered as a possible nominee," NZC Chairman Alan Isaac said in a statement.

"The NZC Board respects Sir John's position and acknowledges the outstanding contribution he has made to game of cricket. We have recommen c ed d is c u s s io n s w it h Cricket Australia around a pro-

posed a way for ward," he added.

As per ICC's rotation system, it is New Zealand Cricket and Cricket Australia's turn to jointly nominate a Vice-President candidate to the ICC. Both the boards jointly nominated Howard in February but his candidature was blocked by strong Asian-African bloc and the ICC was forced to drop his nomination.

To become an ICC Vice President, a candidate needs to secure seven votes in the Executive Board of the world governing body.

India's Sharad Pawar became the ICC President for a two-year term at the last Executive Board meeting in Singapore last month.

PTI COLOMBO, JULY 24

Sri Lanka suffered a big jolt ahead of the second cricket Test against India as paceman Lasith Malinga was today ruled out due to a stiff knee.

Malinga's absence from the line-up, which will also be without retired Muttiah Muralitharan, will give India a huge relief as they seek to level the series. The second Test begins here from Monday.

Malinga returned to Test cricket in a spectacular fashion as he took seven wickets, five in the second innings, in Sri Lanka's comprehensive 10wicket win in the first match at Galle.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar discuss strategy during a practice session ahead of the second test match against Sri Lanka, in Colombo on Saturday.

Book won’t have my blood: Sachin AGENCIES NEW DELHI, JULY 24

When news first came out that a new book on Sachin Tendulkar was to have the master batsman's blood in it, the cricketing world did not quite know how to react, eventually settling for terming the act 'bizarre' but laudable, since it was for a charitable cause.

However, the person most shocked by the news is quite possibly Sachin Tendulkar

himself.

Tendulkar, who was not aware of the uproar created by the claims of the publisher of 'Tendulkar Opus', denied all such reports on Friday.

'There is no truth in my blood being part of the book. It is basically a photographic publication and is not an autobiography or biography,' he was quoted saying by the Times Of India.

Warrants issued against Preity, Wadia AGENCIES CHANDIGARH, JULY 24

for ICC post

would appear in person on the next date of hearing.

The court later adjourned the case till October 4.

The court had in April issued notice to the four co-owners of KXIP and fixed July 24 as the next date of hearing.

The prosecution submitted that the co-owners of the company had tried to conceal the

financial position of KPH Dreams, which owns KXIP, from the public by not filing the balance sheets and annual returns.

In our complaint, "we had submitted that the Mohali franchise had not filed any annual return and balance sheet since it came into existence," Gaurav Hooda, counsel for the ROC, said on Saturday.

Nuvem in final HERALD CORRESPONDENT CALANGUTE, JULY 24

Parish Youth, Nuvem overcame Sodiem Siolim Sports and Cultural Association 4-3 via the tiebreaker to book their place in the finals of Vagator Parish Youth Trophy InterVillage football tournament organised by Vagator Parish Youth at Ozrant ground, Vagator on Saturday.

Both teams began on a positive note with Siolim having the first crack at the goal through Dylan Noronha in the 6th minute after a good move by Anthony Fernandes.

Nuvem fought back but a good try by Jose Colaco missed the mark narrowly in the 15th minute. Siolim keeper Nandan too came to his side's rescue a couple of times.

Changing ends, both teams had an equal number of scoring opportunities but they failed to score.

Preston missed a couple of chances for Siolim while Siolim keeper Nandan blocked a good try from Xavier Colaco off Jose Colaco.

With both teams failing to score, the winners were decided on penalties.

Jose Colaco, Daniel Colaco, Xavier Colaco and Cristo Colaco converted for Nuvem while Raghu Shirodker, Dylan Noronha and Rajesh Vaigankar were on target for Siolim.

Parish Youth Nuvem now await the winners of second semi-final between Holiday Club, Arpora and Milagres Sports Club, Mapusa, to be played on July 27.

Tendulkar, who has been busy with the Test series against Sri Lanka said: 'I understand this information came out during the Test match. As I was focusing on the game, I only got to hear about it on Thursday.

There is no truth in my blood being part of the book. The book is basically a photographic publication that celebrates my life and is not anautobiography or a biography.'