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O HERALD O
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Sports: Kallis rescues Proteas from early jolts Pg 18 IN BRIEF Dharmendra not to contest Bollywood actor Dharmendra today ruled out contesting elections in the future saying that politics was not meant for him. “No,” said the the former BJP MP from Bikaner when asked whether he would contest elections again. “I am an emotional person. I don’t know which party is having what ideology. Take any party, no one considers the country as mother. Everywhere the country is being looted....” (PTI)
Fresh bid to resolve impasse A fresh bid to resolve the 14day-old impasse over quota to Gujjars in Rajasthan was made tonight with the state government and a delegation of the agitators resuming negotiations. A 51-member delegation, led by Basanta Gujjar, held the third round of parleys at the state secretariat here with a committee comprising Energy Minister Jitendra Singh, Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal and Transport Minister B K Sharma. (PTI)
Teenage girl found murdered A teenage girl who went to celebrate the New Year with friends was murdered in south-west Delhi with investigators today waiting for the post mortem report to ascertain whether she was raped before being killed. (PTI) (Report on Page 5)
Business: AI plans to lease four aircrafts with crew Pg 12
Indian joins UNSC as key global player PTI NEW YORK, JAN 2
India has joined the United Nations Security Council as its nonpermanent member for a two-year term after a gap of 19 years, hoping that the seat at the high table will not only cement its place as a key global player, but also pave the way for becoming a permanent member of the powerful wing of the world body. Beginning January 1, India along with Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Columbia became the five non-permanent members of this 15-member body. India’s approach to key global issues would be keenly watched not only by the members of the United Nations – especially the third world countries – but also from the P5, in particular the United States who would like New Delhi to align itself with and support Washington’s move on burning issues like Iran. As India celebrates the support of US President Barack Obama for its quest to become a permanent Council member, India’s ambassador to the UN,
Pak’s PPP-led govt reduced to a minority PTI KARACHI/ISLAMABAD, JAN 2
The beleaguered Pakistan People’s Party-led government in Pakistan was today reduced to a minority after the MQM pulled out of the ruling coalition ostensibly to protest its failure to address the people’s problems. “The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has announced its decision to sit in the opposition benches in the National Assembly and in the Senate,” the party said in a statement in Karachi. “It has been decided. We will sit on the opposition benches in the national assembly and the Senate,” MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil was quoted as saying by Dawn. The MQM, which had pulled its two ministers out of the federal cabinet last month, announced its decision to quit the nearly three-year-old coalition following meetings of its top leaders in Karachi and London. The MQM, which has 25 lawmakers in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament, has played a key role in propping up the government. The PPP, which has 126 lawmakers and is now backed by 31 more parliamentarians, was at least 14 seats short of a simple majority in the 342-member National Assembly. In Lahore, Gilani insisted that his government was not facing any crisis and would survive despite the withdrawal of support by the MQM. “Do you think the government will fall? The government will stay despite everything...I don’t see any crisis,” he told reporters. MQM leaders said their party had decided to pull out of the coalition because the PPP had failed to address problems confronting the people.
NEW ERA India along with Germany, Portugal, South Africa and Columbia became the five non-permanent members of the 15-member United Nations Security Council from Jan 1. The five existing non-permanent members are Bosnia, Brazil, Gabon, Lebanon and Nigeria. The seats for the 10 non-permanent members are filled from regional groupings for two-year terms. The five permanent members of the Security Council are the US, France, China, Russia and Britain. Hardeep Singh Puri, said New Delhi is ready to serve in the powerful stru c t u re w i t h a fresh outlook on several international issues, especially human rights. “Over the last year we have been repositioning ourselves on issues...I can anticipate that we will be much more upfront and even demanding on human
rights issues,” Puri said. “That reflects the changing priorities in India,” he told PTI. “I don’t see us having any problem in terms of where our interest lies and where the interest of the permanent members lie including the West...in fact I think we are on the same page with them on most of these issues,” he underlined. The top diplomat further stressed that while India is part of G-77 and the Non-Aligned world, this affiliation would not prevent it from taking actions and positions that contribute to the “larger public good.” “If this means going against positions that some groups take then we will have no hesitation,” he said. Puri, however, dismissed reports that India’s changing position had to do with appeasing the US and other Western countries in order to secure a permanent seat on the Security Council. “India takes position in a manner in which India deems appropriate and we think it is the right thing to do and it is in our interest..”.
Questions on MBBS exam HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 2
While the medical examination at Goa Medical College (GMC) is underway, questions of ‘General Medicine (Paper II)’ has reportedly been ‘leaked’ to students of fourth year MBBS. Herald is in possession of the three sets of questions, of which one set is to appear today. Each unit has got three sets sealed in three separate envelops, one of which is opened at the Goa University minutes before the three-hour long exam starts at GMC. It is also reportedly learnt that General Medicine (Paper I) was also disclosed to the students before it was answered by them on January 1. Herald is in possession of the three sets of Paper I as well, of which the second set of 16 questions matched the question set answered by the medicine students on Saturday. Sources said that students answering their papers every alternate day were told which questions would appear. The students are scheduled to answer ‘pediatrics’ paper on Wednesday.
“The three sets of questions of both General Medicine papers were dictated to the students, saying that one of these sets will appear for the exams. The students were accordingly asked to prepare for the exams,” the source alleged. Few of those questions in General Medicine (paper I) included short notes and short answers of 10 marks each on management of rheumatoid arthritis and approach to a patient with 14 days fever, coronary angiography and so on in section I. Section II of the same question paper had questions like causes and complications of cirrhosis, chorea and so on. Each medical paper consists of 60 marks. Several attempts to contact the GMC Dean Dr V Jindal and Medical Superintendent Dr Rajan Kunkolienkar turned futile as they neither answered to phone calls by Herald nor replied to text messages till late Sunday night. Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane also declined answering phone calls and neither replied to the text messages. “This is a very serious matter…I will speak to the Dean,” a senior examiner told Herald.
Shrinking brains making humans dumber : Report AGENCIES LONDON, JAN 2
Whether we admit it or not, the human race seems to be heading for a dumber version of itself — thanks to the shrinking size of our brains.The human brain has been gradually getting smaller in size over the last 20,000 years, says a new report. It includes both the genders worldwide. This decrease follows two million years of growth of the human cranium. “Over the past 20,000 years, the average volume of the human male brain has decreased from 1,500 cubic centimetres to 1,350 cubic centimetres, losing a chunk the size of a tennis
ball,” according to a Daily Mail report quoting Kathleen McAuliffe in Discover magazine. McAuliffe reported the comments made by John Hawks, anthropologist from the University of Wisconsin, who argues that the fact the size of the human brain is decreasing doesn’t nec-
essarily mean our intelligence is in decline as well. Some paleontologists agree with this diagnosis that our brains may have become smaller in size, but increasingly efficient. But others believe that man has indeed become steadily more stupid as he has evolved. Several theories have been advanced to explain the mystery of the shrinking brain. According to a theory, the big heads were necessary to survive Upper Paleolithic life, which involved cold, outdoor activities. The second theory is that the skulls developed to cope with a chewy diet of rabbits, reindeer, foxes and horses.
President to arrive in Goa on 4-day visit
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India: Katrina and Ranbir Pg 7 to split due to...
Pranab differs on PM appearing before PAC PTI KOLKATA, JAN 2
HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 2
President Pratibha Patil will arrive on a four-day visit to Goa beginning from today, Monday. Government sources said her visit is ‘purely a private trip’ to Goa and that no official programmes have been lined up. The president will arrive by a special Indian Air Force plane at Dabolim airport and would stay at Raj Bhavan. She will leave for New Delhi on January 6. Apart from the water-tight security arrangements, traffic arrangements have also been tightened. The Traffic Department has requested the public not to park their vehicles along the VVIP route from the airport to Raj Bhavan via Birla-Titan JunctionBambolim-Goa University between January 3 and 6. “To facilitate the smooth passage of the VVIP carcade, traffic will be stopped at various points well in advance from the security point of view. Public are requested to cooperate with the police and follow the traffic signals,” Superintendent of Police Arvind Gawas said. The traffic police have also requested that n o v e h i c l e should be parked on Jack Sequeira Road and D B B Marg from Raj Bhavan to Divja Circle on January 4.
Pranab Mukherjee, the seniormost member of the Union Cabinet, today caused a flutter in political circles by openly disagreeing with Prime Minister Mammohan Singh’s offer to appear before the PAC in the 2G spectrum scam, saying that the decision had been taken “without consulting us”. The finance minister, who is also leader of the Lok Sabha, said that the prime minister was accountable to the Lok Sabha and “not to any committee”. “The prime minister’s offer to appear before the PAC was a decision taken by him without consulting us. If he had discussed it with me I would have advised him not to offer to appear before the PAC,” Mukherjee told a special meeting of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee here. “Constitutionally, the prime minister is accountable to the Lok Sabha and not to any committee,” Mukherjee said on Singh’s letter to the PAC chairman Murli Manohar Joshi on December 27 offering to appear before the panel. Mukherjee has been the principal negotiator for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in its efforts to break the logjam over the opposition demand for the constitution of a Joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe into in the 2G scam but his repeated parleys with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other parties have not achieved any breakthrough.
He has demanded an apology from the opposition, accusing it of “destroying” parliament after they rejected his offer of a special session to discuss the JPC issue. The month-long winter session of parliament had been a wash out over the JPC demand. Meanwhile, Mukherjee today described as hypothetical a question on bringing ordinance “right now” to tackle corruption and said no ordinance has been issued yet. “You people are asking a question which is totally hypothetical. There is no ordinance right now,” Mukherjee told reporters responding to a question after a State Congress party meeting here. “Therefore let the ordinance come. Some newspapers have made some stories that there may be an ordinance. No ordinance has yet been issued. I do not know if in my absence on Sundayand Saturday it has been issued. Otherwise, to my knowledge up to Friday, no ordinance was issued,” he said.
TRS to boycott Jan 6 meeting on Telangana PTI HYDERABAD, JAN 2
In a setback to the Centre’s consultation process, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) today decided not to attend the January 6 meeting in New Delhi to discuss the Justice Srikrishna Committee report on Telangana, saying it was a “deliberate attempt” to seek divergent opinions on the issue. Echoing similar feelings, the Bharatiya Janata Party also said it will not participate in the meeting called by Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday. “Home Minister P Chidambaram should have invited one representative from a political party and asked for a single opinion from them. But calling two representatives from each party appears to be a deliberate attempt to seek divergent views,” TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao told a press conference here. Parties like Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are expected to send one representative each from Telangana and non-Telangana areas.
I gave an order to print Congress calendars you idiot, not Congress scandals...