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China Steps Up Offensive, Says Oil Hunt Illegal

Tata Turnaround: JLR to Set Up New Automotive Plant in UK

MUMBAI (HT): When Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which cost Tatas $2.5 billion (Rs12,500 crore in 2008), dragged Tata Motors into the red with a consolidated net loss

BEIJING (HT): Citing national interest, China on Monday upped the ante against exploration of oil and gas in the South China Sea by India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), saying any such project without Chinese approval would be illegal and invalid.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei did not name India but urged “relevant countries” to refrain from unilateral actions that may “complicate and magnify” the dispute.

China’s mounting opposition comes less than a week before planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will lead a high-level team to Beijing from September 24 to 26 for the first India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.

HT had broken the story last week about the diplomatic row between India and China over OVL’s activities in what New Delhi described as Vietnamese blocks in the South China Sea. Beijing issued a demarche to New Delhi over the issue and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson expressed her country’s objections to OVL’s exploration a day later.

engine plant to make advanced low emission 4-cylinder JLR petrol and diesel engines.

This comes amid progressing talks over a joint-venture plant in

Tata has successfully purchased Jaguar Land Rover to catapult itself into the world car market.

of Rs2,505 crore in the recessionridden 2008-09, many dubbed this acquisition as a foolhardy step of a cash-rich Indian corporate. Two years down the line, Tata Motors turned around to post a record Rs9,273 crore-profit with JLR contributing 60% of its Rs1,23,133 crore revenue and much more to the bottomline in 2010-11.

While critics swallowed their words, Ratan Tata’s dream of catapulting Tata Motors into a global automotive giant seems not too far from fruition. While his other dream — a people’s car which will take scooter-driven families to proud car owners — stutters with varied production, safety and marketing challenges, JLR has successfully waded through the troubled waters of slowdown in the West.

JLR, which was facing plant shut down not long ago, has expanded production, opened a new assembly plant in India and is now building a Rs2,760-crore (£355 million)

JLR’s fastest growing market China and an encouraging 18,000 prelaunch booking for the upcoming smaller Range Rover — Evoque.

The new plant fits into the longterm strategy of JLR to develop fuel-efficient smaller engines and a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions.

More importantly, the new plant will relieve JLR of constraints in engine supply from Ford when its sales volume is poised to cross 300,000 units with the addition of Range Rover Evoque, Jaguar XF and new Freelander.

The sales volume was 26% up at 243,000 last fiscal. In the first five months this fiscal, despite its key market Europe giving trouble signals, the cumulative sales is up 10% at 102,451.

Ralf Speth, CEO of JLR said the company would annually invest £1.5 billion (Rs11,200 crore) for the next five years.

The new engine plant is expected to create 2,000 direct employment in Britain alone.

China is calling the shots on Indian oil exploration in the South China sea without approval to be illegal and invalid.

Hong said at a daily media briefing on Monday, “Any country engaged in oil and gas exploration activities in this jurisdiction without the approval of the Chinese government constitutes an infringement upon China’s sovereignty and national interest and are therefore illegal and invalid.”

India’s stand has been that the exploration by OVL is being carried

out in two Vietnamese blocks in accordance with international rules and would continue.

External affairs minister SM Krishna had during his visit to Hanoi last Friday said that the energy sector, including oil and gas exploration, would be the key area of cooperation between India and Vietnam.

India, Mexico to Deepen Agriculture Trade Ties

NEW DELHI (ET): Blessed with similar climatic conditions suitable to agrarian activities, India and Mexico promised to deepen their partnership in agri-biotechnology, farm equipment, fertilizers and agro-chemicals.

“India represents an opportunity for diversification. Trade is a twoway street, so we are ready to increase and diversify our imports from India,” Mexico Vice-Minister of Agriculture Mariano Ruiz Funes said at a seminar organized

by FICCI here. He stressed on mutual cooperation in areas like agricultural machinery, spices, meat and poultry, seeds and grains and dairy products.

At present, the balance of trade with respect to agricultural products is in favour of India, Funes said,

adding that Mexico is looking forward to working with India to increase each other’s agri trade.

While Mexico exported agri and agri food products worth $ 5.1 million to India in 2010, it imported items from India valued at $ 69.9 million, giving bilateral trade figures.

India’s exports to the Latin American nation include sesame seeds, plants for perfume or medicine and tea extracts. The major products exported by Mexico to India are chickpeas, beer, instant coffee, fish flour and essential aromatic oils.

Highlighting that India and Mexico shared similar geo-climatic conditions, Ministry of Agriculture Joint Secretary S K G Rahate said there is huge scope for mutual

cooperation in areas like improved seeds and farm equipments.

He said an MOU was signed between Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Mexico’s National Institute of Research on Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock during the visit of Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar in September, 2010, to promote joint research . Stressing on further technological cooperation between the two countries, Rahate said Mexican wheat varieties were used for producing the Indo-Mexican hybrids that were the backbone of India’s Green Revolution in the 60s.

Mexican Ambassador to India Jaime Nularat said bilateral relations between the countries were “solid” and based on shared values.

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September 23, 2011

Kashmiris Finally Coming Home to the Valley, Setting up Businesses

BY CHANDER SUTA DOGRA SRINAGAR (Outlook): After two decades of uncertainty, today a few young Kashmiri entrepreneurs have taken it upon themselves to light up the business environment in the troubled Valley. Breaking the

and for several years was the only vendor of fresh flowers in Srinagar.

Eventually it invited the wrath of the militants, who once even threatened to throw grenades at her.

During the last three years of the agitations, business came down by 70 per cent and Nusrat even left the Valley for a while. But she returned, and now even exports flowers. “Working in Kashmir is tough...but after a while one just learns to take it in one’s stride,” she smiles.

When his grandfather H.N. Wanchoo, the wellknown rights activist, was shot dead by militants in 1992, Amit’s Kashmiri Pandit family Nusrat has Ferns & Petals franchise resisted migrating from psychological barriers of fear and the Valley and stood their ground. intimidation, they have succeeded “The huge support of our Muslim in bringing to Kashmir a slice of the friends in Kashmir ensured that India growth story. It hasn’t been I did not become anti-Muslim,” easy. They have had to reinvent the says Amit. After studying medicine business wheel, sometimes run their and qualifying as an oncologist, he units at night (after a day bandh), got the Yale World Fellowship for even take the occasional attack by emerging leaders in 2007. Amit goons in their stride. They have had then gave up his steady government to organize curfew passes for staff, job and joined his father’s pharma find homes for them close to work. company Eton Laboratories.

Here’s to a few businessmen who With boys in the villages either really are walking the walk.

A Kashmiri woman from a conservative middle-class family, Nusrat is today the president of the 2,000-strong J&K Flowers Association.

She grows her own flowers in a hi-tech facility in Pahalgam and holds the only franchise of ‘Ferns and Petals’ in Srinagar. Struggling with a small government job in 2000, Nusrat realized that she’d be better off starting a business.

So, braving the snide remarks Amit Wangchoo with Eton laboratories from neighbors, she began educating Kashmiris about cut joining militant ranks or landing flowers. “In Kashmir, where every up in jail, Amit began running an house has a garden, it was an alien emergency medical training capsule concept to use cut flowers,” she of 21 days for village girls. During recalls. Nusrat began by supplying the oppressive night curfews, flowers for government functions these girls used to handle medical

emergencies in rural areas and later the bylanes of violence-prone, he persuaded the government to downtown Srinagar. He also give them licenses to run chemist revolutionized the company’s shops in villages. Amit started interactions with weaver artisans, production of super-speciality in the process unlearning some drugs in 2007 but was immediately concepts acquired in the US. The hit by the Amarnath agitation in results were positive: in the past the following year. During the blockade, Eton Labs offered free medicines and the goodwill that it generated saw them doubling profits in 2009. He now also runs Space Communications, an event management company, to “galvanize depressed Kashmiris through social entertainment...anything that brings life back to Kashmir.

Though I don’t make much money from this venture, the Imran started Sunsilk Industries aim is to make people smile once again”. three years, Sunsilk Industries has When he was just 10 years old, notched up 12 state and national level Imran was kidnapped by militants. awards for quality management Though he was eventually released, and highest turnover in the small this led to his being packed off and micro industries category (the to a boarding school in Ooty, company’s turnover increased which was followed by university from Rs 16 crore in 2008 to Rs 56 in Sharjah and then New York, crore in 2010-11). It hasn’t been where he got a degree in systems easy—against much opposition management. With a great job in from employees, he introduced British Petroleum, Imran wasn’t CCTVs in the company’s scattered keen to head back to Kashmir. downtown godowns and units. “I But the family wanted him back to run the old-style trading business in shawls and cotton yarn used for weaving carpets. When he returned in 2003, Imran’s first priority was to overhaul the old business and get into manufacturing of silk yarn. So, Kashmir Sunsilk Industries began manufacturing silk yarn for carpets in Bangalore and Delhi in 2007.

While his father handled manufacturing, Imran took Amin has Kanwal Spices to marketing the yarn in

was initially labelled a moneylaunderer. When I made money on volumes and not on margins, people said that I am harming Kashmiris by undercutting in prices. Now there is no label and I continue to grow,” says Imran.

Amin’s family ran a small spices business of turmeric and chillies, National Masala Mills in Anantnag, which barely survived the turbulent years. This was also the time when Farooq left the Valley to continue his studies in Delhi. He later went to the University of Lincoln in England and returned in 2002 with an MBA. It took him three years to adapt himself to the system in Kashmir, and he used his skills to turn around the old enterprise from a fourproduct outfit to one that now boasts of a range of 98 products.

These include the popular ‘ver’, a traditional Kashmiri spice paste, sauces, jams and now also bakery products and processed foods. The company was renamed Kanwal (lotus) Spices and in 2005 Farooq began Kashmir’s first indigenous mineral water facility called Triesh, which produces 50,000 bottles a day. “We lost Rs 40 lakh a month during the four-month-long agitation last year but that is part of life in Kashmir. I had better opportunities outside, but I wanted to do something for the state, to generate employment and bridge the gap between the youth and the government”, he says. Amin claims that 70 per cent of the investment in private sector enterprise is being fuelled by “returning youngsters” like him. “Leaving during the turmoil was a brilliant decision by my family. If I had stayed back, none of this would have been possible,” he says.

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30 September 23, 2011

Babulbhai

INDIA

No Clinching Evidence Yet in Agra Blast Case

LUCKNOW (The Hindu): The assembled. A small iron rod was Senior Superintendent of Police/ investigating agencies, including employed for assembling the crude Deputy Inspector-General of Agra, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) contraption in which six nine-volt Aseem Arun, said on Sunday that and the Uttar Pradesh Police, were batteries were used. These were the motive of the crime was still yet to gather clinching evidence to attached to a filament with the unclear. establish the motive of the crime, 24 help of a wire and kept in the crude Terror angle was the third aspect hours after a low-intensity blast hit device along with the explosive for the investigating agencies the reception area of the Jai to explore. Sources said that Hospital in Agra on Saturday. the police was also looking According to the police, four into the possibility of whether people were injured in the Saturday’s low-intensity blast blast, although reports said was a dress rehearsal for a that seven people sustained bigger blast as had been the injuries. case in the two bomb blasts at After denying the the Delhi High Court, one of possibility of a terror attack a low intensity and the other on Saturday, the police on more deadlier, which claimed Sunday said that this cannot 15 lives. be ruled out. “All possible Senior State police officials angles to the blast are being have denied that sleeper probed,” the Special Directormodules of terror organisations, General ( Law and Order ), mainly the Indian Mujahideen, Brij Lal, said after visiting had started regrouping in U.P. the explosion site on Sunday.

With the investigating teams He was accompanied by groping in the dark, the U.P. the Director General of police have announced a reward Police, R.K. Tiwari, and the of Rs. 50,000 for providing Panchayat Raj Minister and clues to the Jai Hospital blast.

State Bahujan Samaj Party The Uttar Pradesh Chief president, Swamy Prasad An explosion took place near a hospital Minister, Mayawati has reception area near Agra, a curious crowd Maurya. directed the investigating Four persons are said to assembles at the site of the blast agencies to conduct a have been detained by the threadbare investigation of the police and were being interrogated material, he told journalists in Agra incident and ensure that the by the police and the ATS. The Agra. culprits were nabbed. Ms. Mayawati staff of the Jai Hospital were Initially the police were working announced a compensation of also interrogated by the security on the possibility of the blast being Rs. one lakh each to the injured agencies. No arrests have been the fallout of a business rivalry persons. made yet. A team of National between the owners of private The Union Minister of State Investigating Agency reached Agra nursing homes on the Kanpur-Agra for Home, Bhanwar Jitendra on Sunday to begin investigations. highway (NH-2). This motive Singh, who visited Agra along Lal said preliminary investigations could not be established. The with Raj Babbar, Congress MP revealed that the explosion was explosion being the handiwork from Firozabad, announced a caused by a crude improvised of some miscreants out to create compensation of Rs. 50,000 each explosive device sans the timer, panic was another angle being to the injured persons. which seemed to have been locally investigated by the police. The

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Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Tamil Filmmaker K. Balachander CHENNAI (The Hindu): Director K. Balachander, one of the influential filmmakers and trendsetters in Indian cinema, received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2010, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry announced.

“Direction has been my passion and continues to be so. Yes, this is a very happy moment,” said the veteran director. Balachander’s story is as fascinating as the ones he has told on screen.

When he was a government servant, he was drawn to theatre and wrote a set of plays that were marked by realistic portrayals. He later took to penning dialogues and gradually found himself wearing the director’s hat with ease.

Amid several television interviews and telephone calls, a very enthusiastic Balachander said: “It has been over a 100 films in direction. I have also produced a good number of films. But what is really fulfilling is having had the opportunity to shape and mentor several actors and technicians.”

It must be, for he was the director who spotted and groomed several talented artists, including the celebrated Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

Film buffs and critics have often credited “KB sir,” as he is fondly known, with making films that were not hero-centric. He has presented an admirable variety of protagonists, the character of a struggling youth

played by actor Nagesh in ‘Ethir Neechal’ being a classic example.

His films such as ‘Avargal’ had female actors performing meaty roles, challenging the conventional notion of a “heroine” in films.

Also, a Balachander film was always expected to have very good music.

On how he managed to ensure that the music in all his films were super hit numbers, Balachander said: “As a director, I have always felt responsible for all the departments in filmmaking. With that conviction, it was possible to bring out the best in my technicians.”

Balachander has explored very interesting themes in several of his films, including ‘Aboorva Ragangal,’ ‘Bama Vijayam,’ ‘Sindhubhairavi,’ ‘Varumayin Niram Sivappu,’ and ‘Thanneer Thanneer.’ His ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’ caught the attention of cinema lovers in other parts of the country.

“Sometimes, when I see my old films now, I am really surprised.

‘How did we manage to take this scene?’ I wonder. It seems like I knew some magic. Otherwise, people would not have let me take those films. It would be nearly impossible now,” he said.

His tryst with television serials also proved successful, again, setting trends in the field. His ‘Rayil Sneham’ and ‘Kai Alavu Manasu’ were virtually a phenomenon on television, at a time when television soaps were not too common. Even

Veteran Tamil filmmaker K Balachander receives the coveted Dadasaheb Phalke Award from India’s President, Pratibha Patil

now, the director is busy working on a Tamil serial.

The announcement of the award to ‘Iyakkunar Sigaram’ as he is known in Kollywood has brought tremendous happiness to the fraternity of artists and technicians.

However, some felt that it could have come much earlier.

Actor Kamal Haasan said this was a “belated honor.” “Had I been in the committee, I would have recommended his name soon after ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye,’ but people would have attributed motives. In a country like India, a talent like Balachander sir has to wait this long before he gets a well-deserved honor,” he said.Director Vasanth, who was earlier his assistant, said: “It feels great to have known a

genius like him for 30 years. It is a matter of great pride that he gets this award given for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. I think after Sivaji sir, he is the first person to get it in Tamil Nadu.”

Balachander is loved by juniors, for he never fails to send a note of appreciation to a technician who has done well.

Director Gautham Vasudeva Menon, who received a letter with nuanced feedback on ‘Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa’ said: “All of us have grown up watching his films. I am truly excited and happy. He is someone who keeps in touch with everyone in the industry and his words are very reassuring to all of us.”

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VoiceOfAsia_2011 copy.pdf 9/13/2011 12:33:00 PM

Pakistan Claim Prevents Christie’s Auction of Fasting Buddha Statue

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Katy Indian Cultural Association (KICA)

ISLAMABAD (Dawn): Pakistan has claimed a fasting Buddha statue put up for auction by Christie with a starting price of $4.45 million and wants it back.

Dawn has learnt that at UNESCO’s intervention, the world famous fine arts auction house has stopped the planned auction and has asked the Pakistani authorities to prove their claim. Sources in the Capital Administration Development Division (CADD) a sharp-eyed UNESCO

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smuggled out in early 1980s.

“We have checked all the sculptures on the (Christie) website. It is difficult to ascertain the authenticity and origin of all the sculptures from the photographs but some definitely look original. They can be certified only after physical and scientific examination.

“Nonetheless, it is quite clear that all artifacts belong to the ancient Gandhara region of Pakistan,” said the official.

Relief works, heads, busts, figures and stupa basis made up the collection. It includes a 3rd century grey schist relief of Buddha, price tag $182,500; a 7th/8th century bronze figure of seated Buddha from Swat Valley, price tag $122,500; a 4th/5th century Gandhara large stucco head of Buddha, starting auction price of $80,500, and a 2nd/3rd century grey schist figure of a pensive Buddha for going price of $68,500.

Other pricey relics in the collection include a 2nd/3rd century grey schist relief of Buddha and another grey schist head of Buddha C from the same period for $30,000. Several more M had the price starting from Y $2,000 upwards.

Pakistan is demanding that these artifacts CMbe returned to the countryMY of origin under UNESCO convention on the MeansCY of Prohibiting and Preventing CMY the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership K of Cultural Property 1970.

The grey schist figure of the emaciated Siddhartha, It obliges UNESCO to take or ‘Fasting Buddha’, is the most fascinating 3rd/4th appropriate steps to recover century Gandhara piece in Christie’s entire collection and return any cultural property to its country of of items up for auction, say experts origin at the request of a official in Paris raised alarm after seeing a State Party.

Toby Unsik of the Communications Christie advertisement about the auction.

The advertisement described the grey Department of Christie, responding schist figure of the emaciated Siddhartha, to a Dawn e-mail said: “We take our or ‘Fasting Buddha’, as the most responsibilities in relation to the sale of fascinating 3rd/4th century Gandhara cultural property very seriously and abide piece in Christie’s entire collection. It strictly by the laws in the countries in came to the auctioneer from a private which we operate.

We have invited the Pakistan authorities collector who acquired it in Germany to provide us with full details of the back in 1981.

The UNESCO official’s alertness, made grounds for any concerns they may have Islamabad’s Department of Archaeology in relation to the sale of this lot and await and Museums (DOAM) look deeper for hearing from them.”

He declined to comment further Pakistan-origin artifacts that might have reached the auctioneer surreptitiously until Christie heard from the Pakistan government. for sale.

If this collection does return to Pakistan, Indeed search revealed 60 more relics of Gandhara period lying with Christie with it will be the second time that the country gets back its cultural property. The first price tags from $2,000 to $200,000.

A DOAM official called them Pakistan’s time was when the USA returned a lot of cultural property, excavated illegally from more than 40 relics in 2008-09.

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34 September 23, 2011

India Rules Out England Tour Post-Mortem

MUMBAI (Dawn): The new belief in this team and we believe back home early.

Indian cricket board (BCCI) that this team will bounce back While the BCCI president blamed president N. Srinivasan on Monday very well.” injuries as one of the main reasons ruled out any formal inquiry into India were plagued by injuries for the debacle, he refused to accept the team’s abysmal performance during the tour and critics have that the Indian team was playing too on their tour of England.

India arrived in England as the number one test team in the world but meekly surrendered their top ranking after a 4-0 whitewash.

The 50-overs world champions did no better in the shorter versions and failed to win a single international match during the tour.

The board and the national selectors w e r e h e a v i l y India failed to win a single international match during the tour criticised by pundits and fans for the performance of blamed a punishing schedule for much cricket. the team but Srinivasan ruled out the team’s plight.

“We did not have our best team any review on the lines of what This year Indian players were together from the beginning,” he Australia did after their 3-1 Ashes involved in series against South said. “We have taken stock of the loss to England in the beginning Africa, West Indies, the World Cup number of days of cricket played of the year. and the Indian Premier League by the other countries. There is not “I don’t like to lose,” Srinivasan before being humiliated during the much difference.” told reporters after the board’s two month tour of England.

“In any case it’s not the same annual general meeting at its The jam-packed itinerary took team for all three versions. Except headquarters in Mumbai. its toll on the players as Sachin for a few players, most don’t play “And the BCCI can’t wait to get Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh —named all three formats of the game. back to the top spot. But we have Man of the Tournament at the “The players who do play all not formed any committee to look World Cup —Virender Sehwag, three formats were not the ones who into it. paceman Zaheer Khan and spinner got injured.”

“Yes, we did not do as well as Harbhajan Singh were just some of expected. (But) it happens. We have the players who were forced to fly

SPORTS

Rahim Named New Bangladesh Captain

Mushfiqur Rahim, wicketkeeper is the new captain for Bangladesh

DHAKA (Dawn): Wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim has been appointed Bangladesh captain for the home series against West Indies and Pakistan in October and December, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Tuesday.

He replaces all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was sacked in the wake of a disappointing Zimbabwe tour in August.

All-rounder Mahmudullah was named vice-captain.

Bangladesh lost a one-off test to Zimbabwe, returning to cricket after a six-year exile, as well as the one-day series.

Bangladesh have sacked captain Shakib Al Hasan and his deputy Tamim Iqbal following the team’s dismal tour of Zimbabwe, the Bangladesh Cricket Board said on Monday.

Cricket Ranks: India Slip to 5th, Pakistan Remain in 6th Place KARACHI (Dawn): World champions India have dropped to fifth position in the International Cricket Council’s ODI rankings after England’s 3-0 series win in Cardiff on Friday.

According to the latest rankings released by ICC on Saturday, it is India’s lowest ranking since October 2008 when they spent three months at the No 5 position to sum up a disappointing summer in England where they slipped from top position in the ICC Test Championship to third place after losing all four Tests.

India had entered the series in third position on 117 ratings points and finished on 112 ratings

Pakistan have gained one ratings point for their 3-0 victory against Zimbabwe

points after they lost the second, third and fifth matches of the oneday series, while the first ODI at

Chester-le-Street was washed-out and the fourth at Lord’s had ended in a tie.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have gained one ratings point for their 3-0 victory against Zimbabwe. Latest ODI rankings: 1. Australia 130 2. Sri Lanka 119 3. South Africa 116 4. England 113 5. India 112 6. Pakistan 101 7. New Zealand 90 8. West Indies 78 9. Bangladesh 63 10. Zimbabwe 44 11. Ireland 41 12. Netherlands 15 13. Kenya 0

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 2011• WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Zimbabwe, returning to test cricket after a six-year exile for political reasons, beat Bangladesh by 130 runs in a one-off match.

The home side also won the one-day international series 3-2, Bangladesh’s first limited-overs series defeat by Zimbabwe in six years.

“Shakib and Tamim and have been removed from their posts as they failed to lead the team to success in Zimbabwe,” BCB spokesman Jalal Yunus told reporters after a meeting of the Board of Directors.

Shakib was appointed captain on a permanent basis in February and was due to lead the team until Bangladesh’s home series against Pakistan in December.

Earlier he led the side on an interim basis in the absence of injured Mashrafe Mortaza and almost single-handedly guided Bangladesh to an unprecedented 4-0 win over New Zealand in a one-day series last year.

He came into conflict with officials when he questioned team selection before the Zimbabwe tour and received a written caution.

Bangladesh’s next opponents are West Indies who they host in in a Twenty20 International, three one-dayers and two tests starting in October.

SPORTS TIDBIT:

ISLAMABAD: A 15-member Pakistan squad will depart for Iran on this week to participate in the first circle-style Asian Kabaddi Championship that takes place from September 24 to 28 in Tabriz.

September 23, 2011

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35

INDIA

36 September 23, 2011

Google Honors Uncle Pai for Creating Comic Revolution in India

NEW DELHI (IBN Live): A comic book style doodle featuring the Anant Pai welcomed Google users in India on his 82nd birth anniversary. The doodle drawn in classic Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle style shows Uncle Pai, as Anant Pai was known to millions of young readers, surrounded by Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle comic books.

Anant Pai was born on September 17, 1929 at Karkala, Karnataka. A scientist by education, but an entertainer by vocation Uncle Pai initiated a comic revolution in India.

Amar Chitra Katha has shown millions of Indians the route to their roots. Tinkle has been the childhood companion of many for over two and half decades.

In 1967, the educational comics series Amar Chitra Katha was launched. Each of the comics

Anant Pai known to millions of Indians as Uncle Pai is an icon for creating the comic book revolution in India introducing funny and imaginative characters through Tinkle Comics, a division of Amar Chitra Katha Comics. Google has honored him through its doodle

in this series was devoted to a person or event in Indian history, religion and mythology. Anant Pai conceptualized of all of these, and wrote the scenarios for most of them.

The India Book House publishers, and which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters.

In 1980, he launched Tinkle, a children’s anthology, which was

started under Rang Rekha Features, India’s first comic and cartoon syndicate, that lasted till 1998, with him as the Managing Director.

Just a month before his death he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award India’s first ever Comic Convention held in New Delhi on February 19-20.

Uncle Pai died on February 24, 2011 at the age of 81 following a heart attack.

Apart from being the brain behind these two comics, Anant Pai had also trained thousands of teens in personality development.

Google doodles have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google team has put out commemorative doodles on events ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history.

Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010 and more than 150 in 2011.

The most popular comics by Pai is no doubt Amar Chitra Katha. At the height of its popularity, in the mid-eighties, it had been translated into Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Sanskrit and Urdu and selling half a million copies a month.

Some titles were also translated

Anant Pai, behind his favorite comic books, created a cultural phenomenon that educated kids all over India

into French, Spanish, German, Swahili, Fijian, Indonesian, and Serbo-Croat.

Today, Amar Chitra Katha, sells about three million comic books a year, in English and more than 20 Indian languages, and has sold about 100 million copies since its inception in 1967 by Anant Pai, and in 2007 was taken over by ACK Media.

Swami Ramdevji Launches His Historic Start of Yatra from Ramparts of Jhansi Fort

Swami Ramdev Ji began his phase-II of Bharat Swabhiman Yatra from ‘Laxmibai Stadium, Jhansi’ today at 5am. largest stadium is on forecourt of and on rampart of Jhansi Fort was jam-packed. People spaced on walls after long wait & no space inside.

People of Jhansi were just on street to welcome and embrace the move & mood of new struggle for economic freedom to total revolution.

Swami Ramdev was in his natural lion’s persona and reiterated the his fight for truth will continue. None can stop his steps on the path of great revolution to bring back pride of our great motherland. He said that his yatra is neither targeted against any person, party, organistion nor aimed to seek power.

It’s simply to create mass awareness about 400 lakh crore rupees ($8.69 billion) of black money stashed abroad, his

crusade agaist corruption and for change in system of governance of education, land acquisition, jurisprudence, health & cure, time bound mechanism for guarantee of public service etc.

He strongly stated that he and his aid Acharya Balkrishan are being targeted to malign and defame under sinister design. He said that world knows what good deeds they have done for millions of people.

He doesn’t need any character

certificate from those who have no character at all.

On issue of passport of Acharya Balkrishan who was present with him on dias, he showed Letter of Nepal Government stating that Acharya was neither born in Nepal nor is a Nepali Citizen.

Besides, Shia Guru Syed Rushaid Kalbe Rizwi, eminent columnist Ved Pratap Vaidik, Gurus of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christians were present on the dias.

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This program has been made possible by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and with the help of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, India, The Consulate of India in Houston, Goradia Foundation, Anu & Mani Subramanian, and our Arts Partners - Asia Society Texas Center, Bharathi Kalai Manram, Abhinaya School of Dance, Anjali Center for Performing Arts, Darshi’s School of Dance, Nritya School of Dance and Silambam School of Bharatanatyam

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 2011• WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

BUSINESS

September 23, 2011

India Diamond Industry Still Shaken by Mumbai Bomb Blasts

37

MUMBAI (LA Times): When to build, or, as one local newspaper three bombs tore through Mumbai noted, “longer than the Taj Mahal.” in July, the blasts scattered scores of But Mehta believes momentum is diamonds being carried by traders as shifting, helped by security concerns they rushed to safe deposit boxes on in the wake of the recent attack. “Once their way home. After frantic panning the head of the herd moves, everyone of drains, sewers and monsoon else moves,” he said. puddles, about 65 were recovered.

Traditionalists counter that Indian The industry plans to auction off family connections and global any that can’t be returned to their diaspora will keep India’s trade ahead rightful owners, with the proceeds of competitors for years to come. going into a fund for victims of the Theories on why the diamond blasts and their families. district was targeted in the attack The coordinated bombings, which include a desire to damage India’s killed 26 people in the biggest attack economy, a revenge move by criminal against India’s financial capital gangs or a sectarian strike against since late 2008, when a three-day the industry’s primarily Hindu siege killed 166, also staggered workforce. the country’s diamond-cutting and “Seventy percent of Mumbai lives polishing industry, the world’s in slums,” Mehta said. “There sure are largest. enough disgruntled people around.

“Everyone is worried, upset, Police controlling pedestrian traffic in the diamond district after a bomb blast intended to down the Something must be done at a social perturbed,” said Sanjay Kothari, Indian economy back in July level to address this. vice president of the 5,000-member Gem & Jewelry Export Promotion Council. “Terrorists may have wanted to hurt the economy. But we’re not lying low.”

14809 Lindita Dr., Houston, TX - 77083 One effect of the attack may be a move that the insular, tradition-bound industry has resisted: an accelerated relocation to the fortress-like Bharat Diamond Bourse — Bharat means “India” in Hindi — in suburban Mumbai.

The multibillion-dollar industry still transacts million-dollar deals in rabbit-hutch offices around Opera House, a dilapidated British Raj-era music hall, with brokers haggling over gems on sidewalks below.

Diamonds worth a fortune are carried in vest pockets by unarmed, shabby-looking couriers mostly from Gujarat state, north of Mumbai, from families so interwoven that few dare steal anything because the community opprobrium would be so great.

Despite calls to upgrade security around Opera House, it has remained haphazard even after the attack.

Sri Durga Puja Celebrations Saturday, September 24, 2011 Nine miles away, the $225-million, Sunday, September 25, 2011 20-acre Bharat exchange boasts a Worship 9:30 AM fenced perimeter, 2,500 security cameras, 600 guards and airportWorship 9:30 AM Homa/Lunch 12:00/12:30 PM style baggage screening, but very little sign of business.

“Smaller companies aren’t happy Light Dinner 5:00 PM Lunch 12:30 PM with the new center,” said Paresh Shah, 47, a diamond broker. “It’s Cultural Program 6:00 PM far from the train station, which is dangerous when you’re carrying diamonds after dark.”

And although land was earmarked Event Highlights for the bourse in 1984, infighting, 1. Four senior most Swamis of the Ramakrishna construction setbacks and budget Order in the USA will attend problems meant it took 26 years 2. Rituals will be performed by Ramakrishna Order Swamis

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INDIA

38 September 23, 2011

2G Scam: PM a Man of Honesty, Integrity, Says Congress

NEW DELHI (TOI): Congress on Monday dismissed BJP’s demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G issue, saying that he is a man of “honesty, integrity and rectitude�. “If at all anyone raised questions about the processes on the 2G issue, it was the Prime Minister,�

Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.

He was replying to former telecom minister A Raja’s claims that the issue of sale of equity by spectrum licences was discussed with Singh and then finance minister P Chidambaram. “The allegations are made by an accused,� he said, adding that it would be a “very sad day for Indian democracy if excessive reliance is given to a statements by an accused who is making a point�.

The Congress spokesman said he made the statement with regard to the Prime Minister with “full and complete responsibility�. “The Prime Minister is known for his integrity, probity and rectitude all over the world,� Tewari said.

His comments came after BJP president Nitin Gadkari demanded resignation of Singh and Chidambaram stating that what Raja had said in court showed that the top leadership of the government was aware of all 2G transactions.

Raja told a Delhi court hearing the 2G case that Chidambaram, then ďŹ nance minister, had told the

Prime Minister that dilution of shares by 2G licencees to attract FDI did not not amount to sale of licence.

On the allegations that two new telecom licencees -- Unitech and Swan-- divested their equity at premium, the telecom minister asserted that “there was no disinvestment and it was only dilution of stake by bringing in additional equity�.

Asked whether the Prime Minister knew about the dilution of equity by Unitech and Swan, Sibal said “yes, the Prime Minister knew that it was dilution of equity� by way of issuing new shares and there was no divestment of promoters’ equity. “The way these issues are being raised by them (BJP) ahead of Parliament session, it seems thay have no other issue and they are adopting these tactics to disrupt the session�, Sibal said.

Former telecom minister A Raja on Monday defended himself against corruption charges in the 2G scam, saying he had not done anything wrong and was merely following the policies pursued by his predecessors and the NDA government.

Raja said that the sale of equity

by Swan and Unitech to foreign companies was to attract FDI, nothing wrong as per corporate law. Dragging the Prime Minister into the 2G mess, Raja claimed that the ďŹ nance minister had said

that the sale of equity is not illegal in presence of PM and let the PM deny it. “Telenor buying a stake in Unitech wireless and Etisalat buying a stake in DB Realty - the ďŹ nance minister approved it in the

a certain policy then all telecom ministers since 1993 are liable to be prosecuted as they too followed the same policy. “If policy pursued by me was wrong, then all former telecom ministers since 1993 should also be

Former Telecom Minister Raja and Kanimozhi, the prime accused in the 2G scam say the PM and Chidambaram had knowledge of the Sale of Equity to foreign companies.

presence of the Prime Minister. Let the PM deny it,� Raja told special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge O P Saini.

The 47-year-old DMK MP pleaded before the judge that there was nothing wrong in his decision of not auctioning 2G spectrum as he had “implemented only what I have inherited.�

Senior advocate Sushil Kumar, appearing for Raja, said if Raja is being prosecuted for following

in jail with me (Raja),� the counsel said while opposing framing of charges against Raja.

He said, “As telecom minster Arun Shourie distributed 26 licences while Dayanidhi Maran distributed 25 and I (Raja) distributed 122 licences. Numbers make no difference, however, it is to be noted that none of them auctioned the spectrum.� “If they had done no wrong, why am I being questioned? Let

them deny that they have not done what I did. I was just following the 2003 Cabinet decision that is not to auction 2G spectrum. If I am following the law, I am not liable to be prosecuted. Infact, I should be rewarded,� Raja said.

While defending his policy as telecom minister, Raja submitted that it is because of his policy that mobile phone call rates came down and they became affordable to even a ‘rickshaw wala’. “It was my obligation to social justice that every man on the street should have a mobile phone. I am a servant of my people and I made the call rates of mobile phone so cheap that even a ‘rickshaw wala’ or a maid servant can be seen using it,� Raja said.

Raja, who was arrested on February 2 for his alleged role in the 2G scam, began his arguments opposing charges of cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy against him. CBI had begun its arguments on framing of charges against Raja and 16 others, including three telecom firms, from July 21 and had completed its arguments on July 23. All the 14 accused including DMK MP Kanimozhi are presently lodged in Tihar Jail.

Meanwhile, DMK has distanced itself from Raja’s statement where he named the Prime Minister saying that it was his personal view.

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HEALTH

September 23, 2011

Health Officials at Risk as India’s Medical Graft Thrives

BY LYDIA POLGREEN LUCKNOW (NYT): The first doctor to die, a senior government health administrator, was shot on his morning walk last October by two men on a motorbike. Six months later, his successor, a cardiologist, was shot to death while out on a predawn stroll. A third government doctor, accused of conspiring to murder the first two, was found dead in jail in June, lying in a pool of blood with deep cuts all over his body.

The one thing the doctors had in common? All three had at one point been in charge of spending this city’s portion of the nearly $2 billion that has flowed to Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, as part of a nationwide push to improve the health of India’s poorest citizens.

The state’s health infrastructure remains abysmal, and officials say they now suspect that the murders resulted from a virulent combination of fast money, scant oversight and a notoriously graft-addled state political leadership. The last doctor to die, relatives say, was preparing to name names in a widening scandal. The central government has stepped in to investigate.

“When this much money is given to a government that is basically a criminal enterprise, violence cannot be ruled out,” said Kamini Jaiswal, a prominent lawyer who has filed several lawsuits in the case.

The recent hunger strike by the social activist Anna Hazare has drawn attention to the everyday corruption that has infuriated India’s middle class — the large and small bribes people must pay to evade the annoyances and harassments of an overbearing and inept state.

But in places like Uttar Pradesh, the price of corruption can be far higher, witnessed not just in the deaths of the doctors but in the toll it takes on the health of India’s most vulnerable people.

Uttar Pradesh is by almost any measure one of the most corrupt states in the nation. It also has some of the worst health statistics anywhere, including rates of infant and child mortality and malnutrition to rival sub-Saharan Africa. If Uttar Pradesh were independent, its 200 million people would make it the world’s fifth-largest nation, more populous than Brazil, a country with 35 times the land mass.

In 2005, the government, led by the Congress Party, created the National Rural Health Mission, which sought to overhaul the delivery of health care to the rural poor by building hundreds of thousands of new clinics and hiring millions of health workers.

Because of India’s federal structure, most of the work was carried out by state governments like the one here, run by a lower-caste leader, Mayawati, who once accepted a garland of 1,000-rupee notes from supporters worth about $36,000. Not all of the states were prepared to handle it, and here, at least, much of the money

Express, a leading newspaper that broke the story about the scandal.

Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Uttar Pradesh’s health minister, said that the state had asked for the central government’s inquiry. Asked for more details, he hung up the phone.

Two state minIndia has opened rural clinics, like the one above in Kurebhar, Uttar isters have Pradesh, but the infusion of cash has attracted corruption. Photo: been forced to Daniel Etter resign.

It is hard to see where the money went. Two years ago state officials approved a plan to build a 30-bed health clinic in the village of Kurebhar, a three-hour drive from Lucknow. The new clinic would replace a four-bed site, which was straining to provide decent health services for 74 villages. More than $700,000 was budgeted for the project.

The building was supposed to be ready last December. Nearly eight months past that deadline, the health center was still a skeleton of red brick.

“We are trying to push them to do the work faster,” said J. L. Mishra, the chief medical officer in the Sultanpur district. But the government had already paid all the construction fees in advance, leaving almost no leverage.

There is little evidence of the influx of cash in the health center. “We sometimes don’t even have soap for our hands,” said P. N. Tiwari, the center’s vaccination officer. “Meanwhile, they are looting like monkeys,” a reference, he said, to politicians, bureaucrats and contractors. never fulfilled its promise.

Half a dozen babies are born in the clinic daily, Some states fared much better, using the but the water tank is broken, so deliveries are money effectively. Supporters of Hazare say performed without running water. The center that his demand for the creation of an ombuds- has an ambulance, but it, too, is broken. Repairs man in every state could help stem corruption would cost only about $30, but there is no cash and protect whistle-blowers. to pay for it.

The central government handed over the cash Crucial medical supplies, like oral rehydration to Uttar Pradesh with virtually no oversight. salts for children with diarrhea, have been out Only after the doctors were killed did a review of stock for months. Tiwari said that the money by the central government’s investigators find to fuel the generator ran out, leaving workers that contracts worth millions of dollars were scrambling to keep vaccines cold. granted without competitive bidding, and milTiwari, a 30-year veteran of the government lions more was paid in full to contractors who health system, said he was among those who did not complete the work they were required believed that the vast increase in health funds to do, leaving health centers in ruins and with- with so little oversight had led to murder. out vital equipment. The government failed to “Because of this money two doctors were make its investigative report public; The New killed,” he said. “A huge amount of money is York Times acquired a copy from The Indian involved, so a huge amount of crime is taking

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39

place.”

Doctors started dying in Lucknow last October. When the first to die, Vinod Kumar Arya, was shot, the case was treated as a puzzling mystery: why would anyone kill a mild-mannered government doctor?

The government did not immediately replace Dr. Arya, who had been the chief medical officer for the city, installing as interim chief a more junior officer, Dr. Y. S. Sachan. It was an important position that included responsibility for spending millions of dollars in rural health money from the central government.

In February, a cardiologist, B. P. Singh, was named chief medical officer. He had accepted the job in March under pressure, relatives said, and felt a great deal of strain in the post.

“He used to say there was a lot of corruption,” said a cousin, Inder Pratap Singh, a lawyer at Lucknow’s high court. Dr. Singh had begun keeping a diary of improprieties, Singh said, and complained that he was being pressured to approve false expenditures worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On April 2, Dr. Singh was killed by two gunmen. A police investigation later concluded that the same weapon had been used in the killing of Dr. Arya.

Suspicion fell on Dr. Sachan, a politically connected bureaucrat who had worked in the city’s health department for years. He was an associate of the minister who managed the health funds, Babu Singh Kushwaha, a close ally of Mayawati, the state’s chief minister. Dr. Sachan was arrested, but few people believed that a relatively junior bureaucrat would have carried out the murders on his own.

Dr. Sachan’s wife, Malti, who is also a physician, said that her husband had been sacrificed to protect more powerful people.

“He told me, ‘I am being framed in this case,’ ” she said. Dr. Sachan had told his wife that he feared someone would kill him and felt safer in jail. He had decided to reveal who had directed him to steal money from the health department, relatives said, in a court appearance.

But the day before he was to appear he was found dead. Initially, officials ruled his death a suicide, but an autopsy revealed that he had bled to death from deep wounds that could not have been self-inflicted.

“The intention was very clear,” said R. K. Sachan, Dr. Sachan’s brother. “He was going to disclose the involvement of senior politicians in the scam. That is why he was silenced.”

The families of the dead doctors hope for justice, but they have kept their expectations low.

“If he had been corrupt, he would have survived,” said Mr. Singh, Dr. Singh’s cousin.

“Never will a senior bureaucrat or politician be convicted. Some small fish will suffer, but never the big ones.”

INDIA

40 September 23, 2011

Earning Less Than 50k? Marriage’s Tough, Dude

GARIMA SHARMA & ARPITA NATH MUMBAI (TOI): The IT boom didn’t last nor did the demand for software professionals, it seems. In a recent survey conducted by a matrimonial search engine, over 50% women chose finance professionals over software professionals as their preferred life partners.

The survey, conducted among 5,000 respondents in India was based on parameters like working hours, professional stress, sector culture, field trips, shifting base, etc. It also interestingly revealed that marketing professionals were the least sought after life partners. The dynamics of partner preference have only begun changing post recession in India, says Savita Dutta, a matchmaker based in north Delhi.

She adds, “Parents in India lay utmost emphasis on a stable future, and of late the fascination for IT professionals has reduced in that respect. IT jobs are not as stable anymore, especially at the starting level, and those guys find it the toughest to find partners of

their choice. Mid-level managers are still better off.”

But the preference for finance professionals is primarily there because it’s assumed they earn handsome packages, courtesy their industry.

Says Sakshi Chawla*, 23, “I was initially engaged to a guy who had his own business, but we never saw

“My husband is from the IT field, and I understand the kind of time constraints people in this field have.

The hours are crazy. When I started suggesting matches for people, I noticed that many girls who are software professionals themselves would not want their partners to be from the same field.” Says Kapoor’s daughter, Garima Kapoor Vohra (28), an IT professional, “I know the kind of hours we had to put in

one cannot continue with the crazy hours.”

Perhaps the “crazy hours” are a big consideration for women because the survey also reveals that even though nearly 80% of the women are willing to work after marriage, 50% of them might call it quits after having a child.

Also, when it came to income expectations, nearly 70% of the women expected their spouses to earn between `50,000 and 1 lakh per month.

Almost 20% wanted to marry a man

earning more than `1 lakh per month.

Says Sakshi Khurana (59), “While we were looking for a match for our daughter, we wanted someone who could guarantee a stable future for her.

And salaries of `30,000-50,000 are so common these days. Also, since our daughter was anyway earning almost `40,000, we wanted someone who would bring home a pay packet of at least `70,000-80,000.”

(Some names have been changed on request)

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Maharani Gayat ri Devi passes away at the age of 90 Read all about it inside.

BollywoodSho EXPLOSION 200ws4U Brings 9 to Houston HOUSTON: Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan and Hard to make a stunning Kaur are set the Explosions eventappearance in Bollywood Shows organized by 4

by Moid Khan. The U conducted event is set to be held at the Reliant Arena on August 7, 2009.

ers to Houston thus

making Houstonian s dreams organizing “Explosion come true, by 2009” Concert.

“Explosion 2009 will Houston residents be giving a night non-stop session long of rocking Bollywood melodies, promising one of the most memorable musical treats like never witnessed before.

For tickets log on to www.bollywoodshows4u.com or call 281-2354711.

Moid Khan informed that Houston residents have been waiting for a long time to see the live performance of Sonu Nigam. Bollywoodshows4u is bringing the perform-

Houston. The Foundatio n could not have chosen to raise awarenessa better topic among IndoBY PRAMOD KULKARNI Americans in Houston about its HOUSTON: If there’s one recent Indian studies programs. Prior movie that has to polarized opinions the discussion of the film, Parul about India, it Fernandes is lionaire. The movieSlumdog Mil- explained and Krishna Vavilala has that all the the Foundatio elements of entertainm ent designed is currently conducting Hindin to glue you to your seat – shock, Level I and Level II courses as awe, amuseme well as nt, love and inspiratio disgust, true Jainism classes on Hinduism, and the Anthropo have seen movie n. Some people India. logy of The each time moved several times, received Foundation has also to tears and joy. support from There are a few Indian others, however, government’s Ministry of Overwho could not get past the slum seas Indians to fund a Chair for kid’s jump into Indian studies at the UH. blinding of a child. cesspool or the An 11-minute clip of Slumdog More than 120 people with prob- Millionaire, edited by Anil Kuably 200 opinions about the movie mar, was screened to stimulate assembled at a the discussion. The town clip included held at India House hall meeting scenes depicting negative last Sunday afternoon. aspects of India such as religious disharThe town hall meeting was or- mony, child prostitution, ganized by the and Foundation for lice brutality. These scenes poIndia Studies at were the University of followed by uplifting scenes in CONTINUED

common ground and split. I am now married to a finance professional who has lived alone abroad, earned a lot of money, and is able to lead a certain kind of lifestyle.”

The lifestyle that women need is not something that software professionals are able to provide at times, says Geetika Kapoor, mother of two and a rookie matchmaker. She says,

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Revolving Musical Chairs in Hill State of Uttarakhand

BY RAJ KANWAR U T TA R A K H A N D : T h e Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has had a change of guard at the top on Sunday (9/11) when its BJP incumbent chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was asked by the party high command to step down due to reports of maladministration and prevalent rampant corruption that stalks the state.

The retired army general, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri was sworn in the same day as his successor. It was Khanduri’s second inning.

Earlier he was the chief minister of the state from 08 March, 2007 to 23 June, 2009. Ironically, it was Nishank who had replaced Khanduri last time around. Now it is Khanduri who replaced Nishank in this game of musical chairs.

The large and the unwieldy state of Uttar Pradesh were divided on 9 November, 2000 when the mountainous and its adjoining the north-western districts were constituted into a separate state of Uttarakhand. It has a population of over 10 million and spread over an area of 20,681 miles. It is one of the most literate states in the country though its literacy spread is uneven. It boasts of cities like Dehra Dun, Haridwar, Roorkee and hill stations of Nainital and Mussoorie. In population, it ranks 19th and in area 18th in the country.

Much of its area is hilly with a large

Retd. Army General, Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, replacing Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank who was pressured to step down by the party high command.

forest cover.

In the l1 years of its existence, Uttarakhand has had six chief ministers. Its first chief minister was Nityanand Swami of Bhartiya Janata Party who barely lasted less than 11 months. He was succeeded

by Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, another BJP leader. Then the state’s first general election followed and the Congress party came to power.

Its stalwart Narayan Dutt Tiwari took charge on 2 March, 2002 and continued for his full term of five

years. In the subsequent elections in 2007, BJP again returned to power and Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri was appointed as the chief minister. But due to intense infighting in the party, the general too had had to abdicate his office midway. This paved the way for Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, a former Hindi journalist, for becoming the new chief minister.

This change of guard was sudden and unexpected so much so that it even took by surprise the incumbent chief minister Nishank. Political observers though feel that with the state’s general elections only a few months away, the change at the top was untimely and doesn’t give the new chief minister much time and space to introduce any meaningful changes and do some damage control to put together all the scattered pieces.

The haste with which the BJP high command acted indicated a panic reaction when it received report after report from party men and other sources about widespread corruption and maladministration.

The party leadership has also instituted a secret inquiry of its own which too confirmed its worst fears.

Immediately on taking over the reins of new government, Khanduri voiced his determination to initiate measures for minimizing corruption and bribery. He also said he would

BJP incumbent, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank stepped down due to charges of maladministration within his government and growing corruption among officials of the state of Uttarakhand

The public reaction has so far been a mixed one. The Congress party is licking its lips in anticipation of a victory in the coming state elections since it feels that the new chief minister will not have enough time to put the party’s house in order.

Like the BJP, the Congress too is a house divided. The victory will eventually go to the party which will be relatively more united.

amend the law to give sharp teeth to the state Ombudsman. He also asked his ministers and all the bureaucrats to declare within a month all their assets.

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Raj Kanwar, Journalist

Raj Kanwar is a Dehra Dun based freelance journalist and writes columns on current affairs for local and national newspapers. He is also the author of the official history of ONGC, which is one of the top three companies in India in terms of market capitalization. Kanwar is also associated with World Oil as its Contributing Editor for South Asia.

FILM & ARTS

September 23, 2011

List of Winners: 58th Indian National Film Awards

NEW DELHI (IBN Live): The prestigious National Film Awards were announced on Thursday. The feature films jury was headed by JP Dutta and the non-feature films jury was headed by AK Bir and Best Writing on Cinema jury was headed by Ashok Vajpeyi.

Here’s the complete list of winners at the 58th National Film Awards: Best feature film is Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam) Producer

for Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best supporting actor: J Thambi Ramaiah for Mynaa (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best supporting actress: Sukumari for Namma Gramam (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best child artist: Harsh Mayar for I am Kalam (Hindi), Shantanu Ranganekar and Machindra Gadkar for Champions (Marathi) and

Best costume designer: Indrans Jayan for Namma Gramam (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best make-up artist: Vikram Gaikwad for Moner Manush (Bengali) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best music direction (Songs): Vishal Bhardwaj for Ishqiya (Hindi) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best music direction (Background Score): Issak Thomas Kottakapally for Adaminte Makan Abu

Best feature film is Adaminte Makan Abu in Malayalam won the Swarna Kamal with Rs 2,50,000

& Director: Salim Ahamed. Swarna Kamal and Rs 2,50,000 Indira Gandhi award for best debut film of a director: Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi) Producer: Nita Jadhav Director: Rajesh Pinjani, won the Swarna Kamal and Rs 1,25,000.

Aw a r d f o r b e s t p o p u l a r film providing wholesome entertainment: Dabangg (Hindi) Producer: Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan and Dhilin Mehta Director: Abhinav Singh Kashyap, Swarna Kamal and Rs 2,00,000 Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration: Moner Manush (Bengali) Producer: Gautam Kundu Director: Goutam Ghose Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best film on social issues: Champions (Marathi) Producer: Aishwarya Narkar, Director: Ramesh More, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best film on environment conservation/preservation: Bettada Jeeva (Kannada) Producer: Basantkumar Patil, Director: P Sheshadri, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best children’s film: Hejjegalu (Kannada) Producer: Basantkumar Patil, Director: PR Ramadas Naidu, Swarna Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best direction: Vetrimaran for Aadukalam (Tamil) Swarna Kamal and Rs 2,50,000.

Best actor: Dhanush for Aadukalam (Tamil) and Salim Kumar for Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 Best actress: Mitalee Jagtap Varadkar for Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi) and Saranya Ponvannan

Vivek Chabukswar for Baboo Band Baaja (Marathi) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 (Shared) Best male playback singer: Suresh Wadkar for Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

For rendering soulful lyrics in a resonant voice soaked in emotion with a purity of musical expression and spiritual empathy.

Best female playback singer: Rekha Bhardwaj for Ishqiya (Hindi) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best cinematography: Madhu Ambat for Adaminte Makan Abu (Malayalam) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best screenplay: (Original): Vetrimaran for Aadukalam (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best screenplay: (Adapted): Anant Mahadevan and Sanjay Pawar for Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi). Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best screenplay: (Dialogues): Sanjay Pawar for Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best audiography: Kaamod Kharade (Location Sound Recordist) for Ishqiya (Hindi).

Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best audiography: Subhadeep Sengupta (Sound Designer) for Chitrasutram (Malayalam). Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best audiography: Debajit Changmai (Re-recordist of the final mixed track) for Ishqiya (Hindi), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best editing: TE Kishore for Aadukalam (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best production design: Sabu Cyril for Enthiran (Tamil) Rajat Kamal Rs 50,000.

(Malayalam), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 Best lyrics: Vairamuthu for Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Tamil) Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Special jury award: Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (Marathi) Producer: Bindiya and Sachin Khanolkar, Director: Anant Narayan Mahadevan, Rajat Kamal and Rs 2,00,000.

Best special effects: V Srinivas M Mohan for Enthiran (Tamil), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best choreography: Dinesh Kumar for Aadukalam (Tamil), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best feature film in each of the language specified in the schedule viii of the constitution.

Best Assamese film: Jetuka Patar Dare, Producer: Md. Noorul Sultan Director: Jadumoni Dutta Rajat Kamal, Rs 1,00,000.

Best Bengali film: Ami Aadu, Producer: New Theatres Pvt. Ltd, Director: Sonmath Gupta Rajat Kamal, Rs 1,00,000.

Best hindi film: Do Dooni Char, Producer: Arindam Chaudhuri, Director: Habib Faisal, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Best kannada film: Puttakkana Highway, Producer: Shylaja Nag and Prakash Raj, Director: B Suresha, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Best malayalam film: Veettilekkulla Vazhi, Producer: BC Joshi, Director: Dr Biju, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Best Marathi film: Mala Aai Vhhaychay, Producer: Samruddhi Porey, Director: Samruddhi Porey, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Best Tamil film: Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru, Producer: Shibu

Isaac, Director: Seenu Ramasamy, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Best English film: Memories in March, Producer: Shrikant Mohta, Director: Sanjoy Nag, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Special mention: Bettada Jeeva (Kannada), Late Shivaram Karanth Certificate only.

Special mention: Aadukalam (Tamil), VIS Jayaraman, Certificate only.

Non-feature films: Best nonfeature film: Germ (Hindi), Producer: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata, Director: Snehal R Nair, Swarna Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best debut non-feature film of a director: Pistulya (Marathi & Telugu)Producer: Nagraj Manjule, Director: Nagraj Manjule, Rajat Kamal Rs 75,000.

Best Ethnographic film: Songs of Mashangva (Tangkhul, Manipuri & English), Producer: Oinam Doren, Director: Oinam Doren, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best biographical film: Nilamadhaba (English), Producer: Films Division, Director: Dilip Patnaik, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best arts and culture film: Leaving Home (English & Hindi), Producer: Jaideep Varma, Director: Jaideep Varma, Rajat Kamal Rs 50,000 Best science & technology film: Heart to Heart (Manipuri & English) Producer: Rotary Club of Imphal, Director: Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best promotional film: Ek Ropa Dhan (Hindi), Producer: Meghnath Bhattacharjee, Director: Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharjee, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best environment film: Iron is Hot (English), Producer: Meghnath Bhattacharjee, Director: Biju Toppo and Meghnath Bhattacharjee, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best film on social issues: Understanding Trafficking (Bengali, Hindi & English), Producer: Cinemawoman, Director: Ananya Chakraborti, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best educational film: Advaitham (Telugu), Producer: K Vijaypal R e d d y, D i r e c t o r : P r a d e e p Maadugula, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 Best film on sports: Boxing Ladies (Hindi), Producer: Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute, Kolkata, Director: Anusha Nandakumar, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best Investigative film: A Pestering Journey (Malayalam, Punjabi, Hindi, English & Tulu), Producer: Ranjini Krishnan, Director: KR Manoj, Rajat Kamal Rs 50,000.

Special jury award: Kabira Khada Bazaar Mein (Hindi), Producer: Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology, Bangalore, Director: Shabnam Virmani, Rajat Kamal and Rs 1,00,000.

Short fiction film: Kal 15 August Dukan Band Rahegi (Hindi), Producer: Film & Television

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 2011 • WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

41

Dabangg - the best popular movie providing wholesome entertainment for all

Institute of India, Pune, Director: Prateek Vats, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best film on family values: Love in India (Bengali & English) Producer: Overdose, Director: Kaushik Mukherjee, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000 Best direction: Shyam Raat Seher (Hindi & Engish), Director: Arunima Sharma, Swarna Kamal and Rs 1,50,000.

Best cinematography: Shyam Raat Seher (Hindi & English), Cameraman: Murali G, Laboratory: Film Lab, Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best audiography: Harikumar Madhavan Nair (Re-recordist final mixed track) for A Pestering Journey (Malayalam, Punjabi, Hindi English and Tulu), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best editing: Tinni Mitra for Germ (Hindi), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Best narration: (for Writing the Narration): Nilanjan Bhattacharya for Johar: Welcome to Our World (Hindi and English), Rajat Kamal and Rs 50,000.

Special mention: Ottayal (One Woman Alone) (Malayalam), Director: Shiny Jacob Benjamin.

Special mention: The Zeliangrongs (Manipuri & English), Director: Ronel Haobam.

Special mention: Pistulya (Marathi & Telugu), Child Artist: Suraj Pawar.

Best book on cinema: From Rajahs and Yogis to Gandhi and Beyond: Images of India in International Films of the Twentieth Century (English) Publisher: Seagull Books, Author: Vijaya Mulay, Swarna Kamal and Rs 75,000.

Special mention: Cinema Bhojpuri (English), Publisher: Penguin Books India Ltd, Author: Avijit Ghosh Certificate: Special mention: Thiraicheelai (Tamil), Publisher: Trisakti Sundar Raman, Author: Oviyar Jeeva Certificate.

Best film critic: Joshy Joseph (English), Swarna Kamal and Rs 37,500.

Best film critic: N Manu Chakravarthy (Kannada & English), Swarna Kamal and Rs 37,500.

ENTERTAINMENT

42 September 23, 2011

SRK Dances with His “Chammak Challo” MUMBAI (TOI) RA.One music and RA.One songs seem to be the anthem of the day. Actor Shah Rukh Khan’s ambitious venture seem to have begun on a high, melodious note. The famous number Chammak Challo - rendered by Akon is gaining much popularity and has already climbed the top of the charts. In fact, Chammak Chalo is increasingly being played at nightclubs, and the foot-tapping beats have become a huge hit with the masses and DJs at large. Another song that’s being much applauded is ‘Dildara’.

Sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali, Dildara is a beautiful soft love song that can’t be missed. The music composers of this album Vishal-Shekhar are more than happy with the response RA.One is getting. “It gave us great

opportunities. It was a lot of hard work and we are only glad that it’s working!” f the 14 tracks, everyone involved with the film is finding it difficult to pick just one favourite. Shah Rukh Khan at the music launch of RA.One profusely thanked his entire team and especially the music directors and technicians to bring to celluloid the first Indian super hero flick in 3D. He also thanked his stunt double.

“Everyone does the hard work for me. I just get the benefit. They do the stunts and all the difficult tasks.

The only thing I do is dance to Chammak Challo,” said SRK.

Bipasha: ‘Men Should Woo Me’ MUMBAI (TOI): Ever since Bipasha Basu broke up with John Abraham, she has constantly been linked to other Bollywood leading men. First, it was Shahid Kapoor.

Then, it was suggested that she was cosying up to Salman Khan.

And recently, another report claimed she was trying to “woo” her Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) co-star Ranbir Kapoor. But Bipasha isn’t amused. “Ranbir is a great friend and an awesome guy. I’ve known him for many years. If I need to, I can speak to him directly. I don’t have to go through Twitter,” she says.

The actor adds with a laugh, “And seriously, I don’t need to woo men now. I feel I am at a stage in my life where men should Let us start from the beginning.

When you were first approached with this profile, what was your initial reaction?

Well when I first heard the script, I thought it wassomething very different, something very new, I was shooting for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in Spain at the time and I downloaded it from my email and I read it and I felt that it was something which had not been done before, something which had not been seen before and I mean at the end of the day that’s the kind of way I have always tried to choose my films.

I don’t have any great detail or logic or exact point that I look

woo me. It shouldn’t be the other way around.”

And while Bipasha informs that she met Salman at a Bodyguard premiere, which he had personally invited her to, she refutes talks of shooting a song in his next venture, Sher Khan.

“I was surprised to read that I am bonding with Salman over text messages and poetry. Let me clarify that I am not into poetry.

And until I know the person well, I don’t send text messages,” she retorts.

The Lamhaa (2010) actor accepts that she and Salman who isn’t on good terms with John didn’t “speak much” all these years.

“But he was very nice to me at

the premiere. I have heard he is doing well after his operation in the US, and I really wish him a speedy recovery,” says Bipasha, adding that she has no idea about the “issues” that existed between Salman and her ex-boyfriend.

As far as her current relationship status goes, the actor insists she’s keen on widening her friend circle now. “Since I’m a single girl, I will go out and meet new people.

I won’t be a person who wraps up work and sits at home. If anyone spots me meeting new people and later writes about it, I’m ok with that,” says the actor.

I Slapped Imran Some 16 Times: Katrina Kaif for in a film. It’s just if I get a good sense from it and I feel that there is something interesting that we may be able to do with it, then I just kind of go for it.

What was the special thing about the character which you would like to tell us about?

There was room to interpret it the way I wanted to and I think that there was freedom. I knew the director, I knew what he was trying to do with the film and I

Madhuri Shifting Back to India

felt that there was room for us to experiment with a very different kind of a heroine, a different kind of a girl and I thought that was going to be something

interesting and I mean at the end of the day you try, you experiment and you only get to know once it releases at the box office whether you are right or wrong but at least you can you can give it that attempt.

This is quite a girldriven film. The female protagonist of the film drives the movie. Was that something very challenging for you?

I don’t know if there’s ever been a female-driven film or a male-driven film. I don’t believe in that.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 2011• WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Good news for all you Madhuri DixitNene fans! The Aaja Nachle actress is relocating to India, she posted on Twitter on Saturday. Madhuri, though, did not mention when will the move take place.

“For all my fans, we r relocating to India! It will b good to b back home (sic),” she tweeted through her handle @ MadhuriDixit1.

Madhuri moved to Denver, US, after she married Shriram Nene in 1999, but visits India to work fulfill her commitments and assignments. They have two sons Arin and Ryaan.

The actress is currently working with chef Sanjeev Kapoor for the Food channel.

She also appeared as one of the judges in reality dance show Jhalak Dikhla Ja this year.

INDIA

Road Rash, Final Take

September 23, 2011

Hyderabad’s superbike fetish is a killer. Ayazuddin is its last victim.

BY MADHAVI TATA HYDERABAD (Outlook): It was an Id gift. A spanking new Suzuki GSX R1000 from cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin to his 19-yearold son Ayazuddin. The youngster couldn’t resist revving it up. On 11/9, Sunday morning, he slipped out of the house with the unregistered bike along with cousin Ajmal. He sent his older brother Asaduddin an SMS at 7.30 am, saying he was racing on Hyderabad’s swank but notorious Outer Ring Road on which bikes are not allowed. A worried Asaduddin replied right away, asking him to get back immediately but it was too late.

About a couple of hours later, Ajmal was dead and Ayaz hung on to life on a ventilator in Apollo Hospital. Ayaz, a league cricketer, was scheduled to play a club match on Monday. He skipped cricket practice to go racing on the ORR. He’s not alone. There have been 32 accidents on the ORR stretch this year, 11 of them involving superbikes. Manish Kumar Sinha, DCP Madhapur, says in all possibilityAyaz had taken his bike out for a test ride, and that the accident took place near a toll-gate where the road’s contour changes. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority seems to have forgotten the security aspect on the ORR altogether. There are 15 entry points on the busy ShamshabadGachibowli stretch of the highway leading to the airport, with not one speed check.

In fast-growing Hyderabad, superbikes are an epitome of cool, the ultimate must-have for the young arriviste. Ayaz’s wasn’t the first bike accident involving a celebrity son.

In June 2010, actor Kota Srinivasa Rao’s son Kota Prasad, riding a Honda CBR 1000 RR, was killed in an accident on the ORR. Other Telugu stars share a passion for fast bikes.

Superstar Nagarjuna is a collector— his son Naga Chaitanya owns a Yamaha R1 and a Harley Nightrod Special. ntr Jr too owns a Nightrod Special and a Hayabusa. Designed to touch speeds of 300 km an hour and weighing around 200-250 kg, these machines are the latest playthings of Hyderabad’s rich boys, feeding an obsession with speed that often forces the unthinking enthusiast to cough up a toll in blood—but the repeated cautionary tales are almost always ignored.

So how does it work? How are these races arranged? How do they dodge the police? We tracked down a few who obviously didn’t want to

Azharuddin with son Ayazuddin

in a controlled area—in Hyderabad, and bikers come in from Mumbai and Bangalore. He has organised a couple of races on the Outer Ring Road with prior permission and says it is one of the best roads in the world. Then what explains the accidents on it? “Bikers don’t know how to control speed,” says Rao. “Ayaz, for instance, was simply too young for the vehicle. He just did not know what speed is. When a 1000 cc superbike is revved up properly, a weak person’s heart can stop. That is the kind of power it wields. When we don’t know how to use superbikes, they can take lives.” Rao says the most popular superbikes are Harley Davidson, Suzuki and Honda. Pillion riders are not allowed in drag races.

Rao says a pillion rider without a helmet can cause whiplash, leading to a fatal lapse of balance. This might be a reason why Ayaz crashed.

Will this high-profile accident put an end to illegal bike races in Hyderabad? “It won’t cause a blip,” predicts Phani Kumar. After this incident, there won’t be racing for some weeks.

As the shock wears off, the lust for speed will reclaim its worshippers, young men who exult in the inherent, glamorous, danger of it all, one that occasionally spills blood.

Ayazuddin’s damaged bike

be named. Ranjith (name changed), a superbike enthusiast and dealer, says illegal racing on the ORR is a common, weekly practice. “Every Sunday morning, bikers congregate for races. Word gets around through Orkut, Facebook and bbm through coded messages. Anyone who buys a sports bike is automatically added to the group.” When he was a regular two years ago, a biker’s average age was 23. “Now they start at 17-18.

Earlier, we started with a 400 cc, graduated to a 600 cc and then a 1,000 cc. Now kids start with a 1,000 cc as they are in a hurry,” says Ranjith.

Moreover, friendly bets are placed on beating past ‘records’. In the present incident, Ayaz’s cousin Ajmal had invited a friend along. “Let’s break our record of 220 km tomorrow,” he is said to have gushed excitedly. The friend was unable to join in. People in the know say there are at least 150200 superbikes in the city. While normally 1,000 cc bikes cost around Rs 10-15 lakh, those smuggled in from Maharashtra are worth Rs 5-8 lakh— the preferred choice of many illegal

IamNEWS

is

sioner, traffic, C.V. Anand. “Motorbike showroom owners are supposed to check the credentials of buyers, but seldom do,” he says. Besides, many of the seized bikes show they are made from smuggled assembled parts, or are unregistered. “These bikes are for racing, not for riding to college.

Bike races need slope, smoothness of track, side walls, biker gear, and a lot of training. You can’t just climb on to a 1000 cc bike and zoom off. How many kids on a superbike know that brakes can’t be applied when going at 200 km/hour,” asks Anand. Drunk on speed, safety is the last thing on a biker’s mind. “Bikers don’t even wear helmets because their faces have to be on display. Otherwise how will people know this guy owns a superbike,” Ranjith says. Azhar’s son Ayaz was wearing an ARAI-certified air-conditioned helmet that costs Rs 16,000, which experts say was the only reason he did not meet with the same fate as his cousin.

The genuine biking fraternity here is deeply disturbed after high-profile accidents, says Venkat Rao, president of the Speedway Motor Sports Association. Rao organises quarter-mile drag races—in which two bikers race their machines over a short distance

43

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racers. Phani Kumar, a former racing enthusiast, says races are popular on weekends. Many perform stunts.

“Many youths who race come out at 2.30 am and hit speeds of up to 250 km/hr. These youngsters come from rich families but some are mechanics from the old city. A group of 40 racers gathers at an agreed location after a recce. In fact, they know more about police movement than the police know about them,” says Kumar.

The police say it’s impossible to patrol the entire 160 km stretch of the ORR all night. The bikes shouldn’t be sold to teenagers in the first place, says Hyderabad additional commis-

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COMMUNITY

44 September 23, 2011

Samskriti Presents Ashish Khokar’s Purusha to Rave Reviews

BY PRABHA BALA HOUSTON: Purusha, presented under the banner of Samskriti, conceived and curated by the renowned classical dance critic and historian Ashish Khokar, created a memorable afternoon for the audience who came to the Kaplan Theater, JCC, on September 4. It was a unique program with a focus on the male dancer, and its presentation was a departure from many of the traditional dance programs one has witnessed in Houston.

It was a multi dimensional presentation that included an exhibition of rare photographs, letters and documents, the screening of a short film

by Ashish Khokar titled “Century of Indian Dance”, to the accompaniment of hauntingly beautiful music scored by the famous violinist L. Subramaniam, followed by a dance performance. The event informed, entertained and educated the attending patrons of dance and the arts.

In his introduction, Ashish Khokar, editor of the prestigious journal of dance, attenDance (which addresses issues and concerns pertaining to the dancescapes of India), spoke briefly about what led him to develop and curate Purusha. As he explained, a recent national survey pointed to the severe decline in the number of male solo dancers in all fields of classical dance in India. Out of his desire to create an awareness of this situation and increase the focus on male solo dancing was born the concept of Purusha, which premiered in New Delhi to rave reviews for both concept and performance.

Khokar’s choice of the three styles of dance most pursued by male dancers - Bharatanatyam, Odissi and Kathak, as also the choice of its three outstanding exponents - Tushar Bhatt and K Murali Mohan (Kathak), Seshadri Iyengar (Bharatanatyam) and Lingraj Pradhan (Odissi) - was excellent and impeccable. The silence was palpable as the lights dimmed following the short and informative film and the curtain opened with all four dancers in a beautifully choreographed Ganesha Vandana in all three

styles, in unison.

The hour and a half long dance performance included short and succinct solo dance items, showcasing the intrinsic aspects of Indian classical dance forms, namely pure technique in the first half and expressional dances in the second. Ashish Khokar, with his outstanding introductions and contextualization of the dances, was as much a main attraction as the performers.

A Pallavi in Odissi by Lingraj Pradhan, a Teen-taal three-speed Kathak

number by Murali Mohan Kalvakalva and Tushar Bhat, and Lalgudi’s Rasikapriya Jatiswaram by Seshadri Iyengar in Bharatanatyam, all demonstrated the strength and precision of the male dancers. The latter half of the concert showcased exquisite abhinaya from all the four dancers portraying both nayika and nayaka characters. If there had been any doubts regarding male portrayal of female characters and any of the navarasas, the performance of the four male dancers completely dispelled them. The concert ended with flourish, with a Tarana in Jhap Taal and Raag Bhageshri, bringing all the four artists back on stage and energizing the entire auditorium with their grand finale performance! A euphoric sense prevailed as the audience filed out of the auditorium.

These rave reviews from some of the rasikas in the audience are a measure of the success of Purusha – “When one sees a stunning sunrise over a spectacular horizon or beautiful flowers blossom in early spring, or witness your baby’s innocent deeds, the joy one feels is pure. That is pure bliss. I witnessed such a moment of stunning bliss yesterday evening. A classical dance event in three genres merged the PURUSHA with Prakriti, to bring out a joyous creation that is beyond words. It is a feeling only a direct experience can even fathom - a creation that is still lingering in my mind - it stopped the concept of time. The Ravana Sthavam by Tushar Bhat in Kathak was mesmerizing.

The chiding of young Krishna by

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, SEPT 23, 2011• WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

a Gopaka for stealing the churning stick was enchantingly portrayed

by Dr. Iyengar in Bharatanatyam; the heart-rending plea of a Muslim leper to Sri Narayana to rid him of his misery was enacted masterfully and touchingly by Lingaraj Pradhan in Odissi. His depiction of the plight of Gajendra in the grips of the crocodile, and the story of the Game of Dice were exquisite. Each one of these pieces was incomparable but if I am forced to choose the best, then Murali Mohan Kalvakalva’s depiction in Kathak, of the tribal king Guha taking Rama, Sita and Lakshmana across the Sarayu river, and when offered a token gift by Rama, praying to Rama to help him cross the Ocean of Life, was pure Bhakti in its content and divine in its presentation. I wish I had the skills of Thyagaraja or Jayadeva to express what I felt inside in poetic form. I know that I have not done justice in explaining the advaitic bliss that I felt” – Sudesh Pillutla “It was an “ah’some performance.

Hats off to Ashish Khokar for the great work of exhibiting the art - rare pictures and information on dance history. We are really fortunate to have you all in Houston and be able to witness the wonderful presentation of Purusha” – Sailaja Khokar’s message of conveying the need to encourage male solo dance was well received. When the Artistic Director of Samskriti, Rathna Kumar, remarked that she would like to organize a dance conference on the subject of male dancers, Ashish Khokar’s mission must be considered a success.

INDIA

September 23, 2011

Modi Ends Symbolic Fast, Speaks for Communal Harmony

BY JYOTI MALHOTRA AHMEDABAD (WSJ): In an airconditioned hall in Ahmedabad on Monday evening, as Gujarat chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modi sipped from a glass of lemon water offered to him by a group of Hindu religious leaders in a gesture that signaled the end of his 55-hour fast for communal harmony, the strains of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite hymn “Vaishnava jana to tene kahiye je” rent the air.

The symbolism was not lost on anyone. The 15th century devotional song in honor of the devotees of Vishnu has become a national song of sorts since the Mahatma’s assassination in 1948.

By having the hymn played at the exact minute, Modi was challenging his audience to not only think of him as the rightful inheritor of Gandhi’s legacy, but also, just like the Mahatma, as a pan-Indian leader.

“But all he has managed to pull off is a political stunt. He has not addressed the issue of the Gujarat riots of 2002, in which more than a thousand people were killed.

He has not apologized or sought reconciliation or allowed the riot victims to get justice.” the BJP leader added, acerbically.

(NDTV): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s closing remarks at his camp in Ahmedabad where he ended his three-day sadbhavana

fast he spoke: • I can speak from the experience minorities.” They were shocked.

• I had written an open letter a of Gujarat. We could have run a What a statement to make! I told few days ago, in which I had said I routine government. But we did them, my government does not do would begin a fast on the September not think like that. We were not anything for majorities either.

• My government works only 17 and end on September 19. But satisfied with the routine course for 6 crore Gujaratis, for their the Sadbhavana mission does not of things. end.

• We had a dream in Gujarat- to collective good and progress. I • Nobody would have thought bring together 6 crore Gujaratis. don’t follow these divisions.

• All politicians are worried that this would start such a about is winning the next nationwide debate. elections. Development plans • Why did Anna Hazare’s are governed by vote-bank anti-corruption campaign strike politics. As a result, there is no such a chord all across the atmosphere of development in country?

India.

• The common man in India is • A World Bank report has disturbed by what is happening examined all countries and in the country and is feeling recommends Gujarat as a model alienated. for development.

• My sadbhavana fast has • Other states don’t understand united India. why Gujarat is progressing so • I surrender myself quickly. What is unique about completely to the service of us is that we don’t rely just my people. on the government to change • Let my life, my body, my Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister things, we all work together for mind, heart be used for my improvement. country, not for myself but for • We have made fundamental others.

This has been my mantra.

• Don’t examine everything • I dream of taking Gujarat changes, our policies are transparent in terms of political gain and further. We have tried to examine and we’ve forced investors to come loss, don’t weigh everything on a 6 crore dreams, and realise them to Gujarat. If we want development, we must link the people to the political scale. together.

• Some things are done in the • Every citizen has a dream, and efforts of the government. Gujarat is a good example of public-private interest of the country, not politics, your dream is my dream. like the sadbhavana mission.

• A few years ago, the union partnership.

• It is this strength- of our • People across the world say government formed a commission that India cannot dream big, that is to examine the conditions for collaboration with the people - that crux of our problems. minorities. The Sachchar Committee makes us effective. For 10 years, • It is essential for India to dream visited Gujarat. I was asked what I we have worked hard and non-stop, big, and resolve to make those do for minorities here. I told them, we have done tapasya.

• Now people know Modi does dreams a reality.

“My government does nothing for

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not make empty promises for political gain, he works for us.

• In all the Planning Commission meetings I have attended, I’ve been asked about public-private partnerships and other development initiatives in Gujarat.

• Aam admi wants peace - and its not just peace for the majority.

The poor need peace more than most. If there is any disturbance, they lose even their means to earn their daily wages.

• “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” (all together for progress) - this mantra is not just a slogan. It is what we have lived by, we have practiced it religiously. Everyone talks of our development model. As Sushma (Swaraj) said, even our opponents praise our governance.

• Actions speak, I believe in action. People speak of this term:game-changer.I see each citizen as a game-changer.

• I have seen the power of togetherness, of unity. To strengthen that bond is my dream.

• I will fast in every district of Gujarat.

• I am not satisfied. I have to take Gujarat to newer heights. I have to find new strength.

• Gujarat has done what people in India thought could not be done.

• We have to focus on our target and never lose sight of Gujarat’s development. Our target - Develop Gujarat to Develop India.

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48 September 23, 2011

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