OLD CITY CAN’T BANK ON ATMS
BLAKE LIVELY AND RYAN REYNOLDS MOVING IN?
With few automated teller machines located in the area, residents are forced to wait endlessly. But banks claim communal issues and congestion are keeping them away. P6
Lovebirds Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are nesting. The couple, who were first linked late last year, “bought a beautiful country home” in Bedford, NY, a source tells People. P25
Hyderabad’s first compact afternoon newspaper
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012 HYDERABAD
ODE TO THE BARD OF AVON Today is thought to be both the birthday and the death anniversary of literature’s favourite son — William Shakespeare. Almost 448 years after his death, he still stands as possibly the world’s greatest playwright. P16&17
P31
CHESS CAPTIVATES YOUNG MINDS
The national level NMDC Chess tournament saw some of the best young minds of Hyderabad fight it out on the chess board.
ARE WE BEING HASTY? According to a study, breast cancer should be treated as 10 different types and this could revolutionise treatment. City docs caution it could be too soon. P18
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EDUCATE CITIZENS FOR EMPOWERMENT Let’s imagine a nation where every citizen of our country is functionally literate, writes Abdul Mujeeb Khan, founder and president of BHUMI.
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Spirit of Twin Cities
PERFECT LANDING
Musical evening
M ANIL KUMAR
As a part of the Heritage week catch two musical performances. A qawali performance by Akhter Nawaz Saberi Qawals will be followed by a qawali performance by Naseer and Naseem, the Warsi Brothers. Where: Chowmahalla Palace, Charminar When: April 23, 7.30pm and 8.30pm Contact: (040) 2452 2032
Painting exhibition A painting exhibition titled Twinkle is being held at Inspire Art Gallery. The exhibition features artwork by R Usha Vinod and B Usha Kumar. Where: Inspire Art Gallery, Hyderguda When: Ongoing, 11am onwards Contact: (040) 3062 8447
Silk expo The National Silk Expo 2012 is being held. Head to the expo for an exclusive collection of traditional and designer silk sarees and dress materials. Where: TTD Balaji Bhavan, Himayathnagar When: April17- April 23 11am onwards Contact: (040) 2322 0852
Awadhi food festival Get a taste of Awadhi food at the Awadhi food festival. Where: Mercure Hotel, Chirag Ali Lane, Abids When: Ongoing, 7.30pm onwards Contact: (040) 6712 2000
Silk and Cotton Visit Sri Satya Sai Nigamagamam, Sri Nagar Colony for the Silk and Cotton Fab 2012 expo. Choose from an exclusive collection of silk, cotton and handloom products from around the country. Where: Sri Satya Sai Nigamagamam, Sri Nagar Colony When: Ongoing, 11am-9pm Contact: 09457955838
Every Rupee counts Syn at Taj Deccan is offering interesting meal options. The concept behind Calorie for a Rupee is to enjoy a great meal priced according to it’s calorie count. Where: Syn - Asian Bar and Grill, Taj Deccan, Banjara Hills, Rd No 1 When: Ongoing, 12 pm to 3.30pm Contact: (040) 6666 3939
IPL special Truffles Cafe is offering a great way
to catch the live telecast of IPL 5. Where: Truffles Cafe, Jubilee Hills, Rd No 36 When: Ongoing, 8am onwards Contact: (040) 2355 0105
Go Splash Splash lounge is the perfect leisure destination for you to unwind. There is also great music, martinis and aperitifs. Where: The Westin, Mindspace, Madhapur When: Monday - Friday, 5pm - 10.30pm Weekends, 8am - 10.30pm Contact: (040) 6767 6828
Goan food festival The Momo Cafe at Hyderabad Marriott and Convention Centre is hosting a Goan food festival. Where: Hyderabad Marriott and Convention Centre, Tank Bund When: Ongoing, 12.30pm onwards Contact: (040) 2752 2999
Cricket frenzy Mocha and Mocha Express is host-
CINEMAS
ing IPL specials with live screening of the match and various pizzas paying ode to the IPL teams and their spirits. Where: Mocha — Banjara Hills Mocha Express — Inorbit Mall When: Ongoing, 4pm onwards Contact: (040) 23350144
Spice fest Love all thing spicy? Head to any Mc Donald outlet for the exciting spice fest.The fest is on from April1-June 1 and offers a variety of Mc Donalds products with a spicy twist. Where: Mc Donalds outlets When: Ongoing
Show and tell Books n more presents Show and Tell, an activity to promote good expression and communication. It aims improve your child’s ability to communicate well. The activity is open for 6-8 year olds. Where: Books n more, Sivaramkrishna Colony, Marredpally When: Ongoing, 5pm to 6pm
Contact: 98859 56728
Angkor Wat A painting exhibition based on the Angkor Wat in Columbia is being presented by Kalakrithi Art Gallery and ITC Kakatiya. Where: Hyder Mahal, ITC Kakatiya, Begumpet When: Ongoing, 11am-7pm Contact: (040) 2340 0132
Dance with me Love to dance? A contemporary dance workshop by French dancer, Solenn. will be held on April 22, 28 and 29 . Where: Alliance Francaise, Marredpally When: April 22, 28, 29 Contact: (040) 2770 0734
African barbeque fest Barbeque Nation offers you a chance to experience Africa right in Hyderabad, Enjoy various African delicacies at this food fest. Where: Barbeque Nation, Banjara Hills, Rd No1 When: Ongoing Contact: (040) 6456 6693
Big Cinemas, Ameerpet: 30581470; Cinemax, Banjara Hills: 44565555; Cine Planet , Kompally: 61606060; INOX, Banjara Hills: 44767777; Prasads, Tank Bund Rd: 23448888; PVR, Punjagutta: 8800900009; Talkie Town, Miyapur: 40214175; Tivoli, Secunderabad: 27844973
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
GHMC seeks corporate aid With several beautification projects lined up ahead of the CBD, the civic body is making a desperate attempt to garner support from all quarters Md Inkeshaf Ahmed ahmed.m@postnoon.com
COUNTDOWN TO 11TH CBD
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ith the government refusing to fund the upcoming CBD and with a limited coffer of its own, the GHMC is now looking for aid to beautify the City ahead of the prestigious event. The civic body is likely to hold a meeting with representatives of corporate companies on April 27. The main objective of this meeting is to seek financial support to take up beautification projects ahead of the prestigious event. “The meeting is likely to be held before the end of this month with representatives of corporate companies. Mayor Mohd Majid Hussain and commissioner MT Krishna Babu will jointly address this meeting. Both of them will give a presentation and request the companies to come forward and provide aid so we can make the arrangements for the conference,” GHMC additional commissioner (Administration & Legal) P Sai Kumar told Postnoon. The GHMC is also writing to public and private sector banks in the City, seeking their support. “Banks will have a separate
spending even a single paisa. Here, we are seeking their support and in turn providing an opportunity to promote their brands during the event. But, how many will come forth remains to be seen,” said a senior official of the corporation.
State unperturbed
corpus fund. They can help us by using those funds,” Kumar said. The corporation is expecting to collect at least `50 crore from corporate companies. Apart from this, the civic body has decided to spend `75 crore from its own funds for the mega event.
Aid doubtful But, at the ground level, officials of the corporation are expressing doubts over exactly how much support can be garnered from corporate companies. “Companies usually think about how they will benefit before
Even after promising full support to the mega event, the State is yet to extend any financial aid to the GHMC. Earlier last month, the CM had held a review meeting with the top brass of the State government and directed them to leave no stone unturned in making the international event a success. During his recent visit to New Delhi, the CM also met the Prime Minister and requested him to allocate funds for the same. But, nothing seems to be forthcoming. “We are awaiting their response as we are running out of time,” Kumar said.
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NEWS IN BRIEF Two shops gutted in Monda Market blaze
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loosely hanging flex led to a fire accident at the busy Monda Market in Secunderabad on Monday. The incident took place at 5.30 am this morning. As many as two flower shops gutted during the incident, which took place due to a short circuit of electricity cable. The incident created fear among the residents and traders of the area. Immediately after the incident, fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire tenders sprang into action took control of the flames within minutes. Speaking to Postnoon, Monda Market police inspector S Vinod Kumar confirmed the news and said that no body sustained injuries during the incident. “The fire accident took place when a loosely hanging flex caught fire due to a short circuit of electric cables. The fire immediately spread to the flower shops and damaged them,” he said. However the police inspector informed Postnoon that they did not register any case so far and added that if they receive any complaint from the locals, they would file a case. In the past one year there have been 1,272 fire accidents in the City.
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
4
Educate citizens for empowerment Abdul Mujeeb Khan feedback@postnoon.com
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et’s imagine a nation where every citizen of our country is functionally literate. To understand the term functionally literate, we need to refer to two definitions actively used in governance and development sector around education initiatives. Indian census defines functional literacy as a person’s ability to read and write in any language. While UNESCO defines functional literacy as; a person is literate who can, with understanding, both read and write a short statement on his or her everyday life. With the effective implementation of RTE Act 2009, we can hope to eventually have a nation where every citizen in our country can claim to be at least functionally literate. Let’s look at the act itself and what it hopes to achieve through its important clauses:
Section 3 RTE Act Every child of the age of six to fourteen years shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education. The government cannot deny the fundamental right of any child to education on the pretext of not having sufficient funds. April 13 2012 was the day on which the RTE act came into full force. With the implementation of this Act, 8 million children in India belonging to the age group of 6-14 who are currently outside the schooling system should technically enrol in the nearest neighbourhood schools for compulsory and free education till class VIII. Following are some of the provisions of the act that will help us achieve this goal.
The RTE Act includes: n n
n
The right to adequate number of schools. The right to a safe and secure environment, free from physical and mental harassment. The right not to be discriminat-
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ed in schools. The right of a child between ages of 6 and 14 not to be denied admission to a school. n The right of a child not be failed in any class or expelled till the completion of elementary education. n The right to get text books and uniforms free of cost. n The right to availability of sufficient qualified teachers, present and teaching . n The right to be provided infrastructure such as table, chairs, blackboards, availability of drinking water, toilet facilities, etc. n The right of children with disabilities to be provided sufficient facilities for them to be able to attend classes and learn n The right to good quality education. On paper this is a powerful act and if implemented in full spirit by making all the necessary provisions needed to translate the spirit of this Act, we will have made significant progress on the education front in this country. The road ahead, however, seems to be rough, given that the “how” and the “where to” remain ambiguous in several important respects in this otherwise significant enactment. n
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Some significant gaps are: n
n
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To begin with, the Act fortifies the multi-tiered and unequal education structure as opposed to a common schooling system. This inherently strengthens the structures in our society that promote inequity. Lacks provision to compel the State to provide adequate funds on one hand and absolves itself of fiscal responsibility for effective implementation of the Act on the other. The role of the central government is restricted to making estimates and budgets, which must then be fulfilled by the state governments through central government grants and loans. Overall spending on education continues to remain at 3.7% of the GDP despite clear commitment of the government to raise the spending limits to 6% of GDP. The Act is unclear on how long the government is committed to reimbursing the costs of 25% of the children in case of unaided private schools and special category schools (ie Kendriya
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Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Sainik Schools). The Act fails to explicitly state how the costs of uniforms, books, special expenses incurred by private schools such as excursions, exhibitions will be covered by the government. Dilutes the Fundamental Right of children below six years to nutrition, health and pre-primary education by equating it with Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) , leaving out this critical segment of the child population from the definition is worrisome. Not only does the Act fail to cover all children, it does not provide definite timelines for many provisions. We have been constantly talking about India’s place in global knowledge economy on one hand and on the other the bill completely absolves the government of responsibility to provide equal opportunity for every Indian child to participate fully in such an economy by not including secondary and senior secondary education in the provisions of the Act. Government school children further get discriminated against as their teachers will still be deployed for census, elections and disaster relief duties, plac-
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ing these children at a further disadvantage. Further, there is uncertainty in determining the eligibility of a teacher. As a critical component affecting outcomes, eligibility of teachers would be based on minimum qualifications as laid down by an academic authority. However, the Act also allows for unqualified teachers to continue for five years after the Act comes into effect, on grounds of lack of availability of trained teachers. It also provides for relaxation of rules and appointment of unqualified teachers for five years till the Act is notified. This only reflects the government’s non-serious approach to implementing the Act and its disregard of quality of outcomes. n The act also fails to guarantee child’s mother tongue as medium of education, even at primary stage. (For children of linguistic minority groups, this violates Article 350A) In principle, the RTE Act 2009, with appropriate modifications and financial provisioning, is a beginning in a long journey to building a nation where education is seen as a means to empower its citizens to take responsibility for themselves. Such education enables citizens to be aware of rules and regulations of our country and the policies that allow us to live a meaningful life. It is only through accessing such knowledge that citizens can avail their rights, hold government accountable, and seek improvement in the functioning of governance and economy and participate fully in the democratic processes, which is the very basis of our society. As a whole, people can bring about development only when they know where improvement is necessary for the greater good. Providing such education to every child in our country requires a vision that is different from a vision of making every citizen functionally literate. This is the journey that lies ahead of us. (The writer is founder and president of BHUMI – A center for grassroots leadership development.)
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Battle of dharnas POLITICS
U Srinivas srinivas.u@postnoon.com
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eader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu today was prevented from reaching the Collector’s office in Vijayanagaram when he went there to protest against the liquor syndicates and involvement of Botsa Satyanarayana. Furious at this, Naidu charged that the SP of Vijayanagaram was acting like a Congress agent and was preventing the Opposition from staging a dharna against the liquor syndicates and the corrupt practices of the ruling party and the PCC chief. The police set up barricades
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
around 2 kilometres from the collector’s office apart from positioning water cannons to quell the mobs. Ambulances were also kept ready in case of an emergency. On the other hand the Congress also planned a counter dharna against TDP in support of
Botsa Satyanarayana. The DIG Soumya Misra warned both the Congress and the TDP that not more than 100 people would be allowed near the district collectorate. TDP leader Ashoka Gajapathi Raju lashed out at the police saying that there was no need for the police to come in such large numbers and create a panic like situation. At the time of going to press, both the Congress and TDP workers were trying to storm the police barricades and enter the Collector’s office. It is likely that the dharna staged by the two parties will continue till evening. The police might also arrest Naidu and leaders from both the parties if they go against the prohibitory orders at the collectorate.
AP to rollout PPP model for women and child welfare POLITICS Postnoon News feedback@postnoon.com
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inister for welfare of children, disabled, juveniles and women development V Sunitha Laxma Reddy said that the segment is to receive a fillip through a new public private partnership (PPP) model. Talking to Postnoon, Sunitha said that the initiatives were being taken under the Integrated Child Protection Scheme for the current year. She said that many individuals and organisations have come forward and expressed desire to contribute their mite for improving the condition of the government institutions. Considering this, the State government has issued a government order (GO 36) for accepting contributions, donations, lands as well as buildings from philanthropic individuals and organisations with stipulated rules and regulations. To streamline its operations, she said, the ministry has constituted Andhra Pradesh Society for Protection and Empowerment of Women and Children, and its operations will be co-managed by reputed NGOs based on specific criteria. Sunitha said that the Central government has introduced a new scheme of integrated child protection combining the existing child protection schemes and pooling resources to initiate new comprehensive measures to protect and safeguard child rights. During the last financial year, an outlay of `2,875.56 lakh was provided and this year there is a provision of `3,028.34 lakh, she said. This is for extension of service and for all-round growth and development of children and juveniles lodged in the staterun homes in accordance with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. These funds would also be used
Out Lay Non plan Plan Total
2011-12 `1590.81 lakh `1284.75 lakh `2875.56 lakh
2012-13 `1743.59 lakh `1284.75 lakh `3028.34 lakh
for the maintenance and rehabilitation of children in the six newly established homes at Visakhapatnam, Tirupathi and Warangal under the Act. Here services will also be provided for the probationers, exconvicts and wards placed under supervision of probation officers under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958. She said that child protection teams were constituted for taking charge of children in need of care and protection, found at railway stations, bus stations, streets and other vulnerable places and to produce them before the child welfare committee as required under Section 32(1) of the Juvenile Justice Act.
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Govt in a fix over ACB chief’s transfer Postnoon News feedback@postnoon.com
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he Congress government is in a tricky situation with the court directing it to reconsider the transfer of former ACB AD and present IG Srinivas Reddy to ACB. The CM and other officials had a detailed discussion with legal experts on this issue. If they bring Srinivas back it will not be a good precedent. They have to consult the PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and convince the high command to implement the court directions. Srinivas was promoted as IG to ease the differences between Botsa and CM. According to sources, legal
experts have advised that the CM to implement the court suggestion in this regard as the Opposition was pursuing the matter very seriously. If the government reverts back, it implies that the earlier transfer was done with a malafide intention. At the same time the government has forced the official to go out as an IG despite his boss requesting him to be retained till the interim report on liquor syndicate is filed in the court. Since the court has named Srinivas for probe and asked the government to reconsider his transfer, it should be taken as a direction from the High court, said Ramachandra Rao, member Bar council of India.
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
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Old City ‘can’t’ bank on ATMs With few automated teller machines located in the area, residents are forced to wait endlessly. But banks claim communal issues and congestion are keeping them away M ANIL KUMAR
FACILITIES Osama Salman salman.o@postnoon.com
T CERTIFICATION
EDUCATION
he Old City may be famous for its great shops, eateries and heritage sites, but it is equally notorious for its traffic snarls, narrow, congested streets and burgeoning crowds. However, there is one other little known problem that the area faces — lack of sufficient ATMs. With very few ATMs located in this area, people have to travel far to withdraw cash. At the few existing ATMs, serpentine queues and a long wait are commonplace. Contrary to popular belief, the residents of Old City do use the facilities of the ATM extensively, so much so that the cash has to be refilled every few days. Union Bank, located opposite the High Court, operates just five ATMs in the area — two onsite and three offsite. Their ATMs are used so much that they have to refill cash thrice a week. Considering there is a huge demand for ATM facilities, it is puzzling why banks shy away from setting up their outlets here. Ironically, Vijaya Bank, which is currently operating 70 ATMs in the City, has just one ATM in the Old City. On the other hand, Axis Bank has about 10 ATMs in the area as opposed to nearly 20 spread across Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills. Ahmed Ziya, a resident of the area, said that because of fewer ATMs in the area, he has to wait for at least 15 minutes for his turn to withdraw cash. “This is ridiculous, really.
There are several ATM users here, yet so few machines here. On regular days itself I have a long wait ahead of me when I want to withdraw cash. This is especially annoying when one is in a hurry. But the situation was worse during the curfew, when I had wait an hour for my turn,” he lamented. Locating an ATM is another issue that people face here. Keshav G, a businessman in Old City, said that he has to search a lot for an ATM here. “It is really hard to locate one in the area. And even if you do, you have to travel a considerable distance for it,” he complained. Every bank has a different story to tell when asked why there is an inadequate number of ATMs in the area. “Getting a place to build an
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un a search on the internet for ‘ATMs in Jubilee Hills’ as well as ‘ATMs in Old City’, and one can see a remarkable difference. The latter has a bare minimum number of machines in the area.
ATM is hard here. This is a very congested area as well as very old. However, we are expanding our network of ATMs. In 2010, we had only two ATMs here and now we have 10,” said Madhu Sudhan Pabbathi, deputy manager, Axis Bank in Gulzar House. GVS Shashtri, branch manager of Union Bank of India located opposite the High Court, agreed that setting up an ATM here is difficult.
ICONIC CITY Ramoji Film City
H HEALTH Millennium Dental Clinic, film nagar main road, opp: cafe melange, jubilee hills, HydPh: 040-31000889
yderabad might have been known for its rich heritage, culture, food and people but in the recent years is also known for its entertainment industry. Tollywood holds the Guinness World Record for the largest film production facility in the world. This being the case, one of the ‘must visit’ places in Hyderabad is the Ramoji Film City (RFC) which is the world’s largest integrated film studio complex. This 2000 acres of land holds
Vaijayanthi Kari Hyderabad as a City has a lot to offer in terms of heritage and sights. We take a look at the various places that make this City so special
tourist attractions such as an amusment park, Hawa Mahal, Miniature Golconda Fort and a 3 star hotel (Tara) and 5 star hotel (Sitara) which provide a comfortable stay. RFC also has its own coaches that take visitors across the studios for a guided tour. It has ready made sets that range from the Mauryan to the Mughal empires and also to the American Old West for tourists to see. This place is for all tourists but more so for those who want to have a 100 per cent filmi fun.
“There is a culture of using ATMs which has only been increasing over the years. But there is only so much that one can do,” he said. When asked if security is one of the reasons for the slow expansion of ATM network, he instantly said, “There is no question of security. We have armed security personnel outside every ATM.” “There is absolute uncertainty in the area. Due to communal issues, we can’t operate properly. We ourselves are constantly sitting on the hotseat. This is perhaps why there aren’t as many ATMs in the area as compared to maybe Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills,” decoded a top-level employee at Vijaya Bank near Gulzar House, who wished not to be identified.
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Campaigns, hard news and spirit of Twin Cities
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Adding flavour to City culture N SHIVA KUMAR
COMMUNITIES Anubha K Singh anubha.k@postnoon.com
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uru Nanak spread a simple message of Ek Onkar, which means that we are all creations of one creator. Guru’s message in essence is: One God and many paths, and that our true identity is infinite (Sat Nam). His followers are termed as Sikhs who religiously follow the teachings of their guru. There are over one lakh Sikhs in the twin cities. Most of the Sikhs live in Ameerpet, Secunderabad, Jeedimetla, Balanagar, Sikh Chawni, Gowliguda, Sitaphalmandi and the Dakhani Sikhs live in pockets of Old City. The City of Nizams has been their home for nearly two centuries. The old- timers of the community say that the Sikhs first came to Hyderabad and resided in the Barambala area which is now known as the cantonment area. “During the rule of Nizams the Sikhs were invited by Nizam IV in
1832 from Punjab to join Nizam’s army and since then Hyderabad is home for many generations of Sikhs” said, Ranjeet Sethi, a boutique owner in Mahindra Hills. Nanak Singh Bagga, a 76 year old who lives in Gowliguda feels Hyderabad is his ancestral home, “I came here with my grandparents at the age of four and since then Hyderabad is my home I told
my sons that after my death I want to be cremated in Hyderabad only”. He lives in his ancestral house in Gowliguda with his grandsons who according to him are more fluent in Telugu and Deccani Hindi and the younger children in the family can’t even speak Punjabi. There are many like him in the City who have made the city of pearls as their home.
Traditions and Culture It is mandatory for every Sikh to do ardas early in the morning or before the sunrise every day which is called as Amrit Vela. They religiously chant and read the Shabd Guru. Events like a nagar keertan (religious procession), vishaal deewan (mass congregation), Prabhat Pheris (morning rounds) can be witnessed during their festivals and prakash utsav of their gurus. Lakhs of people join the celebrations in the City Gurudwaras. The Punjabi community in Hyderabad is represented by the Andhra Pradesh Punjabi Sabha. However, there are many other small associations for their cultural meetings and celebrations. The Gurdwaras in the City have their own association which is called the prabandhak committee. They organise cultural events in the City and take part in charitable work. The Sikhs are known for their helpful and peace loving nature. The Guru Nanak Charitable Trust, Secunderabad runs many ventures, one among them is the Guru Nanak Medical Centre, in Secunderabad, a famous charitable hospital and medical centre. In
addition to this on many occasions the Sikhs distribute free langar to the poor people. The prabandhak committee also conducts mass marriages of girls and boys with very nominal fees.
Professions Though perceived as a martial class, the Sikhs in the City have forayed into other fields. Most of the Sikh families run businesses like automobile spare parts, transport, and many of the younger generations are in the defence. Sikh women do tailoring. According to senior citizens in the community, Sikhs actively take part in the local politics. Earlier most of the Punjabis were traditional Congress voters but it changed after the Bluestar operations in 1984. During that time NT Rama Rao ensured the safety of the community, and many shifted their votes to him. However, of late, a large section casts their votes in favour of the BJP. The Sikhs have integrated themselves into the Andhra society and culture. They have blended so well that it is impossible to think of Hyderabad without them.
Planet Corporate
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
8
Hotdesking, the latest office trend to annoy employees Non-territorial office space appeals to managers, but employees aren’t so sure. There’s also no place to keep that ‘World’s Greatest Dad’ mug. ALEXANDER LATAILLE
Suzanne Munshower
BERLIN: Aiming for that corner office, or any office at all for that matter, is fast becoming a thing of the past. Now, it’s all about hotdesking, in which employees change their workstations day-to-day. These days, management enthusiasm for the non-territorial office is growing, particularly in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. It’s also catching on in the US. According to a 2010 report by New Ways of Working (New WOW), based on a survey of 103 organisations and including Fortune 100 companies, six out of 10 respondents said they were ditching fixed desks and switching to hotdesking. Why the shift? One reason the hotdesk concept is now sizzling is that advances in technology allow for it. With a smart phone and notebook or tablet computer, the world’s an office. The need for office space continues to shrink, say Regus officials, the world’s largest provider of flexible workplaces. It’s also cheaper. The standard office uses only 30-45 percent of its space on an average daily basis. With hot-desking, many offices can cut the amount of space they use in half. Regus, founded in Brussels, offers a network of hotdesk locations in 88 countries, as well as virtual offices and meeting rooms. Currently, 42 per cent of its $1.7 billion revenue comes from the Americas, mostly the United States. The company earned net income of $306 million in 2010. “As the concept of ‘virtuality’ gains ground, monetising agility and creating a robust business case for changing the way we work will become essential,” said Mark Dixon, group chief executive of Regus in a statement. A typical day in a non-territorial office might go like this: Mary arrives at work and goes to her “team anchor point,” the place co-workers in a department share for relaxing, holding meetings, and storing belongings, sort of a coffee room with lockers. Mary hangs her coat in her locker and removes her “hotbox,” a handheld or wheeled trolley file box containing her files and supplies. She’ll have brought her
own computer and phone with her, or they might be secured inside her locker. Next she might check a list to see which hotdesk has been assigned to her that day, wander around in search of free workspace in whatever part of the building she’d like to hang out in, or go to the specific spot she’s booked in a process called “hotelling.” Hotdesks aren’t always literally desks—they can be workstations simultaneously being used by others. If Mary works in a field where confidentiality or intense concentration is important, she might be surrounded by “pink noise,” a low, barely audible hum emanating from the ceiling to
mask the conversations of others. After adjusting the chair height, she’ll take anything she needs from her file box. The station she’s sitting at might have a laptop dock, as well as a keyboard and screen. Sockets for her phone and laptop might be set into a special desk lamp designed for hotdeskers. The lamp and hotbox are part of the burgeoning hotdesking accessory business, offering a wide variety of lockers, files, and collaborative phone and videoconferencing systems (which allow workers to use the same number and voicemail wherever they are). Companies from Siemens to
QUANG CA
HOTDESKING IS AN OBVIOUS FIT FOR SALESPEOPLE WHO SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME ON THE ROAD, BUT IT ALSO IT WORKS FOR FIRMS OR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES WHERE EMPLOYEES OFTEN MEET CLIENTS OFF-SITE.
Proctor & Gamble to Microsoft, from Australian banks to London lawyers are trying it out. Britain’s Yellow Pages has even closed its offices and operates from Regus sites around the country. Hotdesking is an obvious fit for salespeople who spend most of their time on the road, but it also it works for firms or government agencies where employees often meet clients off-site. Scotland’s Glasgow City Council recently adopted the plan. It’s been touted as bringing down walls figuratively as well as literally between government and the public. The British Council Offices’ 2011 Guide to Fit Out stated that open-plan offices “boost staff interaction, improve concentration and increase the sharing of knowledge between colleagues.” Many employees, especially younger workers, or those who work partly from home, love non-territorial offices: 84 per cent of 200 office workers preferred such work environments according to a survey by Project Office Furniture, a UK firm specialising in “desking” — the term for those work surfaces previously known as “desks.” But it also makes the ritual of “personalisation” of one’s office obsolete: Wheeling that “World’s Greatest Dad” mug from place to place in a file box just isn’t the
same as keeping it on its own cherished spot. Others find the uncertainty stressful. When Arizonan Dianne Wilkinson worked at a private university in which open-plan stations were switched regularly, she found it too disorienting. “Many of the employees were much younger, so there would be joking and bantering all day long,” she says. “I like working in silence and had a lot of multitasking to balance, so it was hard concentrating. I liked the team feeling — but I think it’s challenging for anyone who’s worked for decades on her own.” In 2007, a British emergency ambulance service operator sued his employer in one of the first hotdesking lawsuits, charging that the lack of a regular workstation gave him panic attacks, and therefore discriminated against social anxiety sufferers. He lost, but an appeals judge has given him the go-ahead to take it to an employee tribunal as a disability case. Other dissatisfied hotdeskers have stubbornly tried to regain a bit of personal space. As the UK’s callcentrehelper.com notes, “Hotdesking soon turns into permanent desking. People come in every day and always sit in the same space. And before too long you start to find that they add in all of their personal effects like calendar, magazines, photos, mugs and other general items.” They will not go quietly, dragging their files on wheels behind them. Management analysts report that workers at some hotdesk offices complain of dirty mugs, damaged computers and food stains left on desks. A 2008 study by Australian academic Vinesh Oommen concluded that open work environments resulted in loss of privacy, loss of identity, low productivity, various health issues and low job satisfaction. But advocates say that as more young people enter the workforce, that will change. “There is much recent evidence to suggest that younger members of the workforce work better in teams, rather than in isolation,” said Charlie Toogood, Birmingham (UK) director of GVA, a commercial property management company. “In contrast, more senior staff prefer to work alone.”
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Matters of saving and spending
Middle class woes hit car sales FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY
Prudhvi Raju K Prudhvi.k@postnoon.com
E
ven though, the India automobile sector has achieved overall growth of 14.25 per cent, the car sector had a hard time by fall in the small car sales in last year. However, there is considerable growth in the other segments like two wheeler, Light commercial vehicle (LCV ) and utility vehicles. The market sentiment is also low with high interest rates and ever growing fuel prices. The car sales are driven by offering different promotional discounts, freebies and by launching new models and variants, said Vishnu Mathur, director general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). However, there is 8-9 per cent growth in the big car sales and 20 per cent growth in the utility vehicles.
Generally, middle class buyers who are thinking to purchase a small car already have a housing loan. They do not have sufficient income to service both the
loans forcing them to prefer a housing loan and postpone the idea of buying a car, he said. The diesel cars sales have increased month by month in
Business sentiments worse than reality: Adi Godrej NEW DELHI: ,The Indian economy and businesses are passing through difficult times due to lack of reforms and governance, but the sentiments are even worse than the reality, said Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group. “The sentiment is even worse than the reality. Of course, the reality is also not good but the sentiment is even worse,” Godrej, who took over as the new president of the CII, said. He said the growth slowdown, lack of reforms, corruption and growing concerns over governance had dampened business sentiments. “We would like the government to work, to see that the sentiment improves. Then we should work together to improve the reality.” Godrej said the proposed retrospective tax amendments and general antiavoidance rules (GAAR) have made the sentiments even worse. “The retrospective tax amendment has created a negative sentiment. It is not a good move at this point of time. This is going to hurt the country,” he said. The CII and other industry associations had urged the government to avoid such kind of moves, since it would affect both foreign and domestic investments, he pointed out.
“If you tell someone that these are the benefits of investing in India and then you take it away, it is not fair,” he said. The CII had given a representation to the finance minister requesting him to avoid the amendment. The CII’s new officebearers, Led by Godrej, also called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week to take up the concerns of the industries. Godrej said the CII would work with the government to improve the business environment and revive the sentiments. He said reforms such as the Direct Tax Code (DTC), Goods and Services Tax (GST), Companies Bill, and implementation of the National Manufacturing Policy would help uplift sentiments and bring the economy back to the over ninepercent growth path. “GST can be the single-most important reform after 1991. It has the potential to add 1.5 to 2 percentage points to India’s GDP (gross domestic product) growth,” he said. Godrej said lowering of interest rates by the RBI would help revive growth and business sentiments to some extent. However, he suggested that the RBI should lower key policy rates by at least 100 basis points (one percent) further to give a substantial push to industrial growth and investments. IANS
last nine months with the increase of petrol prices. Earlier, they diesel cars used to take 20 per cent of the overall the car sales. This year, the diesel cars may have contributed to 30-35 per cent of the cars sales. However, the industry could not exploit the demand due to its low capacities of their respective manufacturing units, said Mathur. States like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are the front runners in the race to attract automobile majors for setting up manufacturing units. However, Andhra Pradesh is still struggling hard to attract any of the automobile manufacturing companies. Talking about attracting industry to the state, he said, it is the financial benefits by the state in terms of incentives and speedy approvals would attract to set up any automobile manufacturing units. The industry will perform in
the similar way this fiscal as there are no positive signs in terms of policies. Controlling interest rates and fuel prices will facilitate the growth of the car segment in future. The recent RBIs policy would decrease interest rates may be to an extent to 0.25 per cent on car loans. However, the buyers still have to do debt servicing with13-15 per cent interest. There should be further decrease in the interest rates and there should be control in fuel prices to promote the sector, said Mathur. Ever growing Inflation does indirectly affect the small car segment by tightening the monetary policy by RBI. The government also does not need to be worrisome about the inflation. When the country is expected to have 7-10 per cent of GDP growth, it is obvious there would be rise in the inflation, he added.
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India‑View
10
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
India unveiled
Measures to check bird flu Sujit Chakraborty
AGARTALA: Timely vaccination of birds and animals, access to standard laboratories and maintaining bio-security are among the measures required to curb the sporadic outbreak of bird flu in India’s northeast, says a team of international and Indian experts touring the region. Experts of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and India, who are on a five-day visit to Tripura to probe the causes of frequent bird flu outbreaks, have asked the northeastern states to maintain stipulated protocols to stop the contagious disease from resurfacing. "The FAO and Indian experts have also suggested reaching out to common people with scientific methods of protection of poultry farms, birds, ducks and poultry products," Tripura’s animal resources development secretary Swapan Saha told IANS. He said the state government had decided to hold at least 1,000 awareness camps across the state. Saha said the team, which is likely to visit Assam, Meghalaya and other north-eastern states too, would soon submit a detailed report to the central government. Apart from maintenance of bio-security, the suggested protocols include timely vaccination for birds and animals, close coordination between lab and land and access to standard laboratories. The five-member team comprises FAO’s Emergency Centre for Trans-boundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) national project coordinator A.B. Negi, ECTAD’s chief techni-
cal adviser John Weaver, ECTAD national consultant Madhur S. Dhingra, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) project director H. Rahman and senior scientist of Bhopalbased High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) Chakradhar Tosh. The northeastern states, bordering China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, are occasionally hit by avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, affecting the poultry industry. "Sporadic outbreak of bird flu has been badly affecting the poultry industry in the northeastern states," animal resources development department director Manoranjan Sarkar said.
Four northeastern states — Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam — share a 1,880-km border with bird flu-hit Bangladesh, where the contagious disease is rampant in many districts. Even though India declared itself bird flu-free in December last year, Tripura and Meghalaya witnessed outbreaks of the disease in January. Bird flu influenza recently resurfaced in the governmentowned Gandhigram Poultry Farm in western Tripura after one and a half months, forcing the authorities to cull thousands of poultry birds, ducks and poultry products in the farm and in the adjacent four villages in a three-kilometre radius.
The authorities in Meghalaya’s East Garo Hills district had culled 6,538 birds, while 9,157 eggs and more than 800 kg of feed were destroyed at Williamnagar and adjoining villages late January. The disease also erupted in various districts of eastern, western and southern Assam last year and earlier this year. Tripura had been affected by avian influenza since in AprilMay 2008, forcing the authorities to cull over 250,000 poultry birds and ducks since then. According to an FAO report, the influenza A (H5N1) virus is very contagious among birds and carries a high mortality rate. Also, if an outbreak occurs, many healthy birds risk being culled to prevent its spread.
Leopard ‘evicted’ from Mumbai school MUMBAI: A leopard, which had sneaked into a private school two days ago, was trapped and evicted on Sunday after a 20-hour operation by the forest department and police, an official here said. The full-grown cat, estimated to be five-years-old, had sneaked into the NES School in Mulund, Northeast Mumbai, from the adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) on Friday morning apparently hunting for prey. It was spotted in the basement by an alert security guard, who immediately bolted the doors and summoned the school authorities, police and forest officials. The officials arrived soon afterwards but failed to track the cat which lay hiding in the basement, presumably since Friday night, said a forest official. In an attempt to lure and trap it, the forest officials blocked the basement entrance with a cage and kept a chicken inside it. However, the leopard stayed away from the cage and the bait. Attempting to scare the cat out of its hiding spot in the basement, the officials burst some fire-crackers. Alarmed by the sound the leopard moved into the cage and was taken away by forest officials to the SGNP, where it will be fitted with a microchip and released in the forest. IANS
Assam battles maternal deaths Azera Parveen Rahman
GUWAHATI: Assam, which has the highest maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the country at 390 per 1,000 live births, faces a serious crunch of doctors. So the state is now rolling out rural health workers, upgrading skills and making it mandatory for medical students to practise in villages. Prateek Hajela, mission director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Assam, said the state has been adopting a host of initiatives to tackle the issue. “Lack of doctors and
trained specialists, even nurses, is a huge problem in Assam. I don’t think lack of infrastructure is that big a problem. I mean, we have first referral
Rural health practioners are posted in sub-centres and health facilities in the village level. units (FRUs) which are nonfunctional because of dearth of manpower," Hajela told IANS. Admitting to the seriousness of the issue — of lack of man-
power — in the face of an already critical problem of high MMR, Assam has thus been designing new courses and implementing new laws to retain its human resources and upgrade the skills of existing health workers. "The Assam government’s own health university, the Srimanta Sankardeva University of Health Sciences, which was established in 2009, offers a three and a half year training programme, at the end of which, one can practise as a rural health practitioner," Hajela said. "It is a diploma programme and one can enrol right after
Class 12. These rural health practioners are posted in the sub centres and health facilities in the village level, and are capable of handling complicated deliveries, but not a C-section. That can only be conducted by a specialist," he added. Hajela said these health workers can largely fill the void left behind by doctors. Three batches, constituting 300 students, are already enrolled in this course. Considering that a number of medical students from Assam go outside the state for specialisation, the state decided to upgrade the skills of existing doctors in hospitals here.
India‑View
11
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
India unveiled
Samajwadi MLA booked for thuggery
ADRENALINE RUSH
VADODARA: A nine-year-old girl was killed while she was playing with a licensed pistol of her father, police said. The incident took place at their residence in Sharadnagar in Makarpura locality on the outskirt of the city, they added. The victim has been identified as Sania, daughter of Shyamsundersinh, Makarpura police said. Police were intimated after a neighbour heard the shot, investigations are on.
BADAUN (UTTAR PRADESH): An FIR has been registered against ruling Samajwadi Party MLA Abid Raza and six others for allegedly beating a person and threatening him to register his property in the name of the legislator’s supporter, police said today. The FIR was registered at Sadar Police Station on a complaint of one Mahesh Prakash on April 18. Prakash had alleged that he was called by the MLA at his office and asked to register his land in the name of Raza’s supporter. When he refused, the MLA’s aide — Manoj Gupta, Rajendra Mathuria, Rizawn and others beat Prakash badly, he alleged. The victim had met the Superintendent of Police, Ratan Kumar Srivastava, who ordered an inquiry into the matter by the SP, City. After inquiry, the role of MLA was prima facie established after which an FIR was registered against him last night, sources said. Meanwhile, one Guddu Khan, considered a supporter of the MLA, has also lodged an FIR against Mahesh alleging that he had taken advance for registry of a plot but denied it later. The police is probing the matter. No arrests have been made so far in these cases. Civil society leaders point out that incidents of violence by ruling party legislators have gone up drastically since the SP came to power. PTI
Naxals want 8 cadres freed, ops halted RAIPUR: The Maoist abductors of a Chhattisgarh district collector on Sunday demanded the release of their eight jailed associates and a halt on security forces’ action against the rebels by April 25 in exchange for freeing the hostage, while police remained “totally clueless” about his whereabouts, an official said.
Army Chief Gen VK Singh along with his family members perform rituals at the bank of Ganga. PTI
Kaalapoottu, a kind of ox race, being conducted in an agricultural field of Pantheerankave in Kozhikode on Sunday. PTI
Want to come out clean: A Raja Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
NEW DELHI: Jailed former communications minister Andimuthu Raja is not very keen on getting out on bail because he would prefer to walk out of prison with “clean hands” in the 2G spectrum allotment controversy that has dominated national attention for over a year. In an exclusive interview to IANS, Raja maintained his “innocence” and said he was concentrating on cross-examining the prosecution witnesses, but didn’t elaborate on the case which is pending before a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). “I want to come out of jail with clean hands, rather than be released on bail,” Raja said in a Patiala House court during the hearing of the case on Friday. Raja has completed more than 14 months in Delhi’s Tihar Jail in the case that cost the DMK leader his ministerial job in November 2010.
NATION AT A GLANCE Gujarat girl killed in accidental pistol fire
The trial has been dragging on for more than a year now with some 410 applications, including bail pleas from other accused, filed. But not a single application has been moved by the DMK MP seeking bail or to attend Parliament sessions. Raja was arrested February 2, 2011 by the CBI for his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, which is purported to have caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. He was sent to Tihar on February 17 last year.
Raja told IANS he was looking forward to conclude the trial “as early as possible”. “It will be better to seek acquittal...trying to complete trial as early as possible. However, I could move my bail application (if the trial drags on), wait for that time,” he said. Raja’s nephew T Srinivisan, who is not counselling him but assisting him in preparing his case, said the former communications minister is waiting for the bail application of former telecom secretary Sidharth Behura, who is also in Tihar Jail. Except for Raja and Behura, all the arrested accused have been released on bail. Behura’s bail is pending in the Supreme Court. Raja’s counsel Babanjeet Singh said: “If Behura’s bail is accepted in the top court, then we will approach the court for Raja’s bail also.” Another of his counsels said Raja’s legal team was waiting to conclude the cross examination
of DS Mathur, another former telecom secretary who had deposed against the DMK leader. “Then we will think about other matters - whether to move bail or to go parliament,” the counsel said, requesting not to be named. The special CBI court had remarked that Raja could attend parliament if he wanted to. But the MP replied that his first priority was to present his case before a judicial bench instead. Another co-accused and DMK MP, Kanimozhi had been granted permission to attend parliament. According to the government auditor, the 2G scam allegedly masterminded by Raja pertained to biased distribution of mobile airwaves and operating licences, in lieu of kickbacks, to telecom firms that could have cost the treasury up to `1.76 lakh crore in lost revenue. Nineteen individuals and six companies are accused in the case. IANS
Panel looking into Didi ultimatum, says Pranab WASHINGTON: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has asked a government panel to look into West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s ultimatum to the Centre for a moratorium on the state’s interest payments. Banerjee had given a 15-day ultimatum for a 3-4 year moratorium on interest payments amounting to about `22,000 crore.
Lanka mantri threatens to hold protest in India COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan minister has threatened to take some 5,000 fishermen to India to protest against poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters. Minister Douglas Devananda said he will lead the protest to give a message to India that livelihood of the country’s fishermen is affected due to poaching by Indian fishermen.
People look at a bus that overturned after an accident at Gazipur in Delhi on Sunday. PTI
Around the World
12
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Beyond Borders
Fear, a by-product of fracking boom Too sexy for her shoes
S
tacie Halas, the middle school teacher who also appeared in numerous porn videos, vowed today to fight her dismissal, the Los Angeles Times reported. Oxnard, California, trustees fired the 31-year-old science teacher, known as Tiffany Six in her adult films, on Wednesday. “We disagree with the decision by the board to dismiss or seek the dismissal of Miss Halas,” lawyer Richard Schwab said, according to the LA Times. “It is our intention at this time to vigorously contest the charges.” Students at Richard B Haydock Intermediate School started to whisper and spread rumors about their teacher last month, it was reported. The school district placed her on administrative leave as it investigated; on Wednesday,
trustees voted unanimously to dismiss her. “We’re dealing with the disruption that we believe it would cause our district, and the schools in our district, if she were to return back to the classroom,” Superintendent Jeff Chancer told the AP. She appeared in the videos before becoming a teacher in 2009, the AP said. Part of Schwab’s defense is that the porn industry is “very vibrant” in California, and Halas engaged in “lawful conduct,” The Daily Mail reported. That didn’t sway the school board. “Maybe it’s not a crime as far as the penal code is concerned, but we feel it’s a crime as far as moral turpitude is concerned,” Chancer told The Daily Mail. GLOBALPOST
Coincidence much? Four banks robbed in four hours in one city
T
oday was a busy day for bank robbers. Four banks were robbed in four hours in Houston, America’s fourth largest city. The timing was just a coincidence, and federal investigators don’t believe the crimes are linked, Houston’s ABC affiliate said. The first robbery happened around 10.30am local time at a Wells Fargo branch. The second happened less than an hour later at
another Wells Fargo location. The third robbery was just before noon at a BBVA Compass Bank about 50 yards from a Houston police station. One shot was fired into the air in that robbery, Houston’s ABC station reported. The last bank robbery happened at a Chase Bank branch at around 2.30pm. An investigation is ongoing, the Houston Chronicle said. GLOBALPOST
WAYNESBURG: Underneath the ground in southwestern Pennsylvania, bedrock is put under explosive pressure to fracture and spill out its lucrative cache of natural gas. On the surface, though, the society is fracturing as the new gold rush fills pockets but also creates environmental and health concerns in this hardscrabble region once dependent on coal mining. The rolling countryside around Waynesburg is the epicenter of a five-year-old boom that embodies the United States’ determination to cut its energy import bill on the new technique of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” to tap into cheap, formerly lockedup gas deposits. Some 1,00,000 jobs have been generated in the state from the rush to suck gas from the Marcellus Shale, a vast zone in the eastern United States, and billions of dollars raked in by the companies who sell it. Nationwide in 2010, the gas fracking industry generated $76 billion in revenues, and put the US on track to possibly become a gas exporter. Geologists have long known there was a lot of gas underneath the fields, but the horizontal drilling technique that gave birth to the industry was only recently perfected. Drillers inject water mixed with chemicals and sand at very high pressure underground to fracture rock formations. Thousands of drilling and production sites speckle the landscape, networks of pipelines tying them together. In small towns, lines of oversized trucks hauling equipment and chemicals lumber up to red lights. “Coal has been here forever, but until three years ago we had never heard of the Marcellus Shale,” said Melody Longstreth, head of the Waynesburg Chamber of Commerce. Businesses in the town are doing well. Pickup trucks are flowing off the lot at the local Ford dealership, and John Bruno, owner of the men’s wear shop Mickey’s, says he is pulling in profits after many years. Before fracking came, “we were paying our bills but we were not making money.” But the signs of the dangers brought by the new industry are also everywhere. Many of the trucks rolling through the town are tankers carrying water laced with chemicals
A Consol Energy Horizontal Gas Drilling Rig explores the Marcellus Shale outside the town of Waynesburg, PA. AFP/MLADEN ANTONOV
MORE RESIDENTS ARE COMPLAINING OF UNUSUAL AND PERSISTENT HEALTH PROBLEMS THEY SAY COMES FROM THE DRILLING.
in the fracking process, headed for deposit pits. At a production site near Waynesburg operated by Consol Energy, a 50-metre high derrick towers over signs warning “danger, restricted zone. Water hazard.” Fracking has stirred up intense worries countrywide because the chemicals pumped into the ground can enter the water table, polluting well water. There are also concerns that it releases dangerous gases like methane into the air. More residents are complaining of unusual and persistent health problems they say comes from the drilling. Terry Greenwood, a farmer and retired truckdriver, said 10 of his cows died in 2008 after two wells were drilled on his land. “I don’t want my cows to drink
the water from the pond anymore,” he said, and his family now only drinks water that has been trucked in from elsewhere. “Fracking has been linked to contamination of water... and of air,” says Jill Kriesky, a public health researcher at the University of Pittsburgh. She noted that a recent study by researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health found higher risks of cancer and noncancer health impacts from air emissions for people living close to wells. The fracking process has raised fears, fueled by a widely disseminated documentary which showed a water tap catching fire from methane. While many Waynesburg residents have concerns, almost all of them work in some form for the energy industry. Even the town’s mayor, Blair Zimmerman, works for a large coal company. But he says the benefits have been uneven. “My overall view of the Marcellus is a negative one,” says the well-tanned former running coach. AFP
Around the World
13
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Beyond Borders
Ball in Le Pen’s court AFP/ FRANCOIS GUILLOT
PARIS: European papers predicted Nicolas Sarkozy would struggle to keep his job after his Socialist rival drew first blood in Sunday polling but stressed farright candidate Marine Le Pen could decide the May 6 run-off. Francois Hollande led the pack with 28.56 per cent of the first round vote, while the incumbent managed only 27.07 per cent with Le Pen scoring a National Front (FN) record of 18.12 per cent, according to near-complete interior ministry results. Italy’s leftist Repubblica warned that it might be too early for Hollande to celebrate, a view echoed by La Stampa, which stressed “it is clear that we will have to wait for the May 6 runoff” to know the winner. “It’s a stinging defeat for Sarkozy, whose fate in the second round is now in the hands of Marine Le Pen’s electorate,” the Corriere della Sera’s Paris correspondent said. While the frontrunners’ score matched pollsters’ forecasts, Le Pen surged to a share of the electorate never achieved by her father and former party leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Britain’s liberal daily The Guardian said Le Pen’s perfor-
Syria conjures horrors of Bosnia, Rwanda for Annan UN: The shadow of past failures in Bosnia and Rwanda hangs over special envoy Kofi Annan and the United Nations Security Council as they dig in for a prolonged showdown with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad. Annan, who is expected to brief the Security Council about the Syria crisis again, was head of the UN peacekeeping department from 1993 to 1996 — the years of the Bosnia war and the Rwanda genocide. The butchering of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995 “will forever haunt the history of the UN,” he once said. Annan also said he could have “done more” to stop the slaughter of 8,00,000 people in Rwanda in 1994. Diplomats quote Annan as saying he is determined to avoid a repetition of those failures. “If someone fires on the observers or there are massacres, it will not be like Bosnia, we will not act as though nothing has happened,” a diplomat quoted Annan as saying. AFP
Papers see Le Pen as key to French vote run-off
French far right party Front National (FN) candidate Marine Le Pen during the election night rally of her party in Paris. mance was “stunning”, saying she could now emerge as a kingmaker in the second round. “In the run-up to Sunday’s first round presidential vote, it was hard to find many people in France publicly admitting they intended to vote for Marine Le Pen,” said the daily. “The surprise score reflected not only how Marine made inroads into the French political landscape during a campaign in which she relentlessly challenged the ‘established’ candi-
dates, but also a deep disillusion with the main parties.” The right-wing Daily Telegraph echoed the idea of growing disillusionment with the mainstream. “Famously passionate about politics, the French have followed the campaign assiduously but have been deeply underwhelmed by the main candidates,” it said. Popular title the Daily Mail carried a picture of first lady Carla Bruni on its front page above the word “humiliated”,
although it said her husband could remain in the Elysee depending on where the farright vote moves. In Spain, centre-left El Pais said in its online edition: “Hollande gives hope for socialism by beating Sarkozy” while the centre-right El Mundo opined “France wants a socialist president.” In Belgium, Le Soir daily argued that even Le Pen’s support might not be enough to save Sarkozy’s seat, claiming that Hollande “already has a foot in the Elysee palace.” “Even if he lurches further to the right than he did for the first round, it is hard to see how (Sarkozy) could turn things around,” the French-speaking newspaper wrote. The Danish daily Politiken came to much the same conclusion, arguing that Hollande was endorsed by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who scored 11.7 per cent after waging a feisty campaign. “Francois Hollande can count on the mass of support of the left but the president will have a tough task trying to convince those who voted for Marine Le Pen to back him now,” the paper said. AFP
White orca named Iceberg captures scientists fancy PARIS: A team of Russian scientists say they will embark on a quest next week to observe the only all-white, adult killer whale ever spotted — a majestic and elusive bull they have named Iceberg. The researchers from the universities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg first spotted the orca’s towering, two-metre dorsal fin break the surface near the Commander Islands in the North Pacific in August 2010. Living in a pod with 12 other family members, Iceberg was deemed to be at least 16 years old, given the size of his dorsal fin, said Erich Hoyt, co-director of the Far East Russia Orca Project (FEROP). “This is the first time we have ever seen an all-white, mature male orca,” Hoyt told AFP. “It is a breathtakingly beautiful animal.” The scientists decided to hold back on releasing photographs of Iceberg until they were able to study him further, “but we have been looking for him ever since,” said Hoyt. The scientists would like to establish whether Iceberg is
GLOBE AT A GLANCE No change to Myanmar Parliament oath: Sein TOKYO: Myanmar’s president said on Monday he has no plans to change the loyalty oath that has provoked a threatened parliamentary boycott by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Thein Sein told reporters in Tokyo he would like to “welcome” the Nobel Peace prize winner to parliament, but that it was up to her whether or not she took the seat she won earlier this month.
N Korean army vows ‘special operation’ SEOUL: North Korea’s military announced on Monday it would soon launch “special operations” against South Korea’s conservative president, accusing him of insulting Pyongyang’s past leaders. The North has for months been criticising the South’s President Lee in extreme terms and threatening “sacred war”.
Syrian security forces carry coffins of comrades, who were killed in recent violence in Damascus. AFP
George Zimmerman freed after posting bail MIAMI: Neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman was released early today after posting $1,50,000 bond after authorities charged him with seconddegree murder for shooting unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin. The release from a Florida county jail came after a Florida judge presiding over the case heard arguments during a bail hearing on Friday.
Sudan claims killed 400 South Sudanese KHARTOUM: Sudanese forces killed hundreds of South Sudanese during a days-long battle for Sudan’s most important oil field Heglig, a senior official said on Sunday. Nafie Ali Nafie, a top aide to President Omar al-Bashir, said the death toll within the SPLA and mercenaries in (the) Heglig battle amounted to 400 according to the Sudanese Media Center.
A killer whale. albino — a genetic condition that leaves animals unable to produce melanin, a dark pigment of skin, hair and the eye’s retina and iris. Many albino animals never grow into adulthood. Their visibility is a disadvantage in the hunt for food and protection against predators. Two other white orcas are known to live in the waters where Iceberg was spotted, east of Kamtchatka
AFP/MARCEL MOCHET
peninsula in Russia’s far-east, but they are juveniles. In 1970, a two-year-old white orca, Chimo, was captured in Canada for a dolphinarium, and was diagnosed with a type of albinism after its death two years later. “We want to find out a lot more about Iceberg,” said Hoyt. “We would like to find out how he is able to survive as a white whale. AFP
A fire rages at La Primavera’ forest in Mexico on Sunday. The fire which has been burning for 27 hours, consumed 800 hectares. AFP
Comment
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Fair, free and forthright
Editorials IT’S TIME FOR ANNA to introspect
Sending India to school
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he latest expulsion/exit of an important member of Anna Hazare’s core group is indicative of the fissures that have sprung in the anti-corruption coalition. Hazare’s decision to back Baba Ramdev, whose companies have been under scanner for flouting several laws, too has reduced the sheen of the leader who was celebrated by ‘India is Anna’ slogans a year back. Hazare allowed too many unscrupulous political elements to use his anti-graft campaign as a platform for propagating their views and targeting their opponents. His decision to campaign against Congress in the state elections made his stand partisan as he did not show the same vigour in taking on governments of BJP-ruled states on corruption. Moreover, the septuagenarian’s adamant stand that Parliament has to toe his line on deadline for passing his version of Lokpal Bill did not go down well with most political parties. Several prominent members including Santosh Hegde and Swami Agnivesh have parted ways with Anna camp after they felt that the movement was being hijacked by a coterie to further their agenda. It’s time the Gandhian did some serious assessment of his team and its work.
WHY WE LOVE Orcas
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he Orca is making a pop comeback thanks to sightings of an all-white version of the marine mammal. The Russians are looking out for it, but we can be sure there’s not an Ahab in sight.
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THE HUMAN ANGLE Babu Gogineni
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he recent Supreme Court of India judgement upholding the constitutional validity of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 should be welcomed by all thoughtful people. The majority judgement of Chief Justice SH Kapadia and Justice Swatanter Kumar is in line with the SC’s earlier judgement in Unnikrishnan V State of AP in 1993 when the court held that the right to education is implied in Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees the Fundamental Right to Life. In the Unnikrishnan case, the court achieved this widening of the scope of the Fundamental Right to Life to include the right to education by reading together the Constitution’s Directive Principles of State Policy on Education (Article 41 and Article 45) and the Fundamental Rights of citizens. Articles 41 and 45 enjoin the state to make effective provision for securing the right to education, and to provide for free and compulsory education to all children till the age of 14, within 10 years from the date of the commencement of the Constitution, respectively. The recent court judgement, delivered 62 years after the enactment of the Constitution, spoke in the same vein: “A child who is denied right to access education is not only deprived of his right to live with dignity, he is also deprived of his right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 19(1) (a)”. Literacy rates in India have at last reached the 70 per cent mark, as compared to a mere 12 per cent in 1947 at the end of British rule. But India is still shamefully far behind the world average of 84 per cent literacy. With more than 35 crore illiterate people our country is home to the world’s largest illiterate population. One is dismayed that there are more illiterates today in India than what the country’s population was at the time of independence. How will our democracy survive without educated citizens? How could any democracy flourish in illiteracy and ignorance? Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which sets universal standards for all the nations of the world proclaims: ‘Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary
Implement rules
Love food columns
I am a long-time reader of Postnoon, especially like your weekend editions which are far more superior in design and content compared to any other newspaper in the city. The story titled ‘Government Model Schools to take on private players’ caught my eye. It's true that while the right to education act is intended for the betterment of children from underprivileged backgrounds, there are serious doubts and credible concerns on the implementation of the inclusion of these children in private schools. It's reassuring to see the government is taking this seriously. Medha P Gachibowli
I always pick up Postnoon whenever I am in Ratnadeep. I have been meaning to subscribe to it for quite some time now but I guess it's high time I did. Do please pass on my contact details to your sales department. I, especially enjoy your weekend editions because you have two pages dedicated entirely to food which is interesting to note because none of the other newspapers in the city do such extensive coverage. I love the choice of subjects to read about. Good going fellows!
Sangeeta B Banjara Hills
education shall be compulsory.” The International Covenant on Economic, Social And Cultural Rights (ICESCR, 1966) and The Convention on the Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979) too call for binding commitments from the states as regards free and compulsory elementary education. India also ratified the 1989 Child Rights Convention of the UN which mandates “States Parties [to] recognise the right of the child to education, and with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular: (a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all”. Now that the RTE Act, 2009 is without doubt the law of the land¸ India joins 135 other countries which have vowed to provide free and universal access to elementary education. Education will be free for children between the ages of 6 and 14, and it is compulsory for the state to provide it. The burden of identifying and sending children to school will be on local authorities. All schools, except boarding schools and minority institutions, will have to set aside 25 per cent of their seats for children from the economically backward classes. The law affects the over 12 lakh elementary schools in the country, of which 13 per cent are privately managed. The litigation in the SC arose when several privately managed schools objected to the Act’s imposition of the 25 per cent quota on
TALK BACK Readers’ views We invite you to write to us comments, suggestions, viewpoint or just about anything to feedback@postnoon.com or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500 033 or even by way of a call on 4067 2222
them. Is it not a violation of their Fundamental Right to manage their own affairs? Is it the responsibility of the State or of private bodies to ensure Fundamental Rights? The court ruled that it was not an unreasonable restriction on their Fundamental Rights as the Act “seeks to remove all those barriers including financial and psychological barriers which a child belonging to the weaker section and disadvantaged group has to face while seeking admission.” Morally, can a school survive on a claim of exclusion and exclusivity? Even when it does not receive state funds, is the institution excluded from the duty of nation building and of creating an egalitarian society? If all parties in society are made to contribute to social development, can that be termed outsourcing of a state’s duty? The state can legislate for social welfare and reform. It has the right to requisition the use of private property during an emergency or a natural disaster. Is not the present lack of education in India a dire emergency? There will be much debate on these issues, there will be much highlighting of some obvious failings in the law, and perhaps there will be an appeal in the Supreme Court too. But above the din of politics and legal arguments, listen to the pealing of the school bells with joy — they are ringing the welcome to the over one crore Indian children not yet in school.
Save water first Jasveen Jairath raises an important issue in her interview about water woes in the city — zero governance in the city. I believe that is the root cause for most of the socio-economic and even cultural problems we have been facing. There was a time when awareness about rainwater harvesting was high but in recent years, no one seems to be taking measures to save water. We depend on rains so much that we don't even think of alternative measures to preserve and maintain the water levels. Munni Tabassum Mehdipatnam
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CORRECTIONS CLARIFICATIONS
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n the article, We party but with caution dated April 19, Supraja Koganti's quote was mixed with that of Seema Menon's. Although the mistake wasn't deliberate, we apologise for the goof-up. Any inconvenience is deeply regretted.
It is Postnoon’s policy to correct errors swiftly and fairly
Campus
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
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Social service this summer In this much welcome break from college schedules, spend your time productively by signing up for community improvement initiatives that are not only fun but also rewarding in the long run
Vaijayanthi Kari feedback@postnoon.com
C
ome summer and break from college, students try plunging themselves into various extra-curricular activities. Some want to learn dance while others want to paint and some just want to chill. But there is always a group of youngsters who yearn for self-discovery. They want to develop their personality and skills constantly hence they become part of youth run organizations and NGOs and do voluntary work in summers. Few of the well known youth organizations in Hyderabad are AIESEC, Streetcause and P3PA (planet 3 protection alliance) which work on various socio-economic issues and curtain call productions which is a theatre group. But does working for organizations really develop a person? Or is it just an engagement activity? Luvieen Alva, 21 years of age, the President for AIESEC in Hyderabad says, “After being in AIESEC for a year and a half I have gained practical experience to support the theoretical knowledge I already have. Which I think will
have a positive impact my immediate future. Everything I do here is an experience. It has been both good and bad but that’s how I have learnt. This experience also gives a person courage and passion to pursue their dreams or interests,” Though students say it is beneficial for them, parent still want
them to concentrate on their academics more and give less time for extra curricular activities. “Voluntary work is fine when only confined to a certain limit. What is happening is that kids start networking so quickly and to such an extent that they are always stuck to their phone and laptops
Other notable NGOs n M.A.D: Made up of mostly youth volunteers, MAD imparts English communication skills to children in orphanages, street shelters and homes. Currently, around 1200 Make A Difference volunteers teach close to 3500 children in 18 cities n Teach for India: One day all children will attain an excellent education is TFI's working ambition. Other than their two year fellowship, there are various ways to get involved with TFI as their campus ambassadors, volunteers and more. n Smile Foundation: Founded in 2002, Smile Foundation was formed by a group of corporate professionals who decided to finance, handhold and support
genuine grassroot initiatives targeted at providing education and health to underprivileged children. They are always happy to have volunteers. n Sphoorti: Sphoorti Foundation works for the rehabilitation of children belonging to underprivileged and vulnerable sections of the society. They support 140 children, run children's homes in three different premises. n Cherish Foundation: Cherish Foundation's aim is to provide shelter to orphans and make them self-dependent. The NGO takes care of their daily needs and also provides for their education. Volunteers can help in whatever way they choose to help Cherish realise their aim.
talking to each other. Whereas it should be the other way round. Which is less talk and more work. That is how it should be”, says Venkatesh Prasad, a concerned parent. But does the amount of time spent in these activities come under the category of wasting time or investment of time? Does this really develop a young individual? Does it improve his/her soft skills? Would this be of any help when they sit for an interview in their future? An HR executive at WIN IT Softwares, Pragna Gope says, “Education is not the only important thing. A student with a score of 90% was once given utmost importance. But now a even if a student has 50% academic score but has a good skill set and valuable experience, they get the job. The attitude, behaviour in corporate environment, ideas and creativity, all of it counts. And I’ve noticed these traits in the people that come for recruitment. There is confidence in those who have been in a challenging environment previously”. If its beneficial but family doesn’t completely approve, how does one bridge the gap? Balance. Spending time with family,
“After being in AIESEC for a year and a half I have gained practical experience to support the theoretical knowledge I already have. ” Luvieen Alva President for AIESEC, Hyderabad working with a youth organization/NGO, completing college work, keeping friends and girlfriends/boyfriends happy might seem like an army of strenuous tasks but is not. Keeping a track and managing so many things at the same time helps you multi task and prioritize in life. So gear up and give part time/voluntary work a shot. It might just be the best thing you ever do.
H‑Factor
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Holistic view of mind, body and soul
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Face’s left side is more appealing
WASHINGTON: Left side images
Are we being hasty? According to a study, breast cancer should be treated as 10 different types and this could revolutionise treatment. City docs caution it could be too soon Ranjani Rajendra ranjani.r@postnoon.com
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or a long time now, breast cancer has been giving women the jitters and the medical fraternity has been crying itself hoarse advocating screening tests to catch the cancer early. But according to a new study published in the journal Nature Canadian scientists have discovered that breast cancer is actually of 10 different types. Scientists from the BC Cancer Agency and University of British Columbia identified new breast cancer genes that had never before been linked to cancer. Earlier only four subtypes of breast cancer had been identified. The study also provides indicators to why some women do
not respond to conventional treatments. In short, as per the study findings, the treatment of breast cancer can be revolutionised, making it much more personalised. The scientists say that they can use these findings to tailor treatments according to individual patients for better results. “This is by far the largest study of breast cancer tissue ever performed globally and the results from this exciting and incredible study is a culmination of many years of research into the disease,” Dr P Raghu Ram, consultant oncoplastic breast surgeon at KIMS-Ushalakshmi centre for breast diseases. However, City doctors opine that it may be too premature to make any such statements about the change in cancer treatment. “I don’t think breast cancer treatment will change in the near future. What the scientists have really done here is gene mapping, a discovery made during
Bill Clinton’s regime. In fact, at the time it had been touted to be ‘the biggest discovery of the century.’ Ever since, scientists have been trying to identify genes responsible for various diseases. At the moment, this study is at research stage,” says Dr SVSS Prasad, medical oncologist at Apollo Hospital. As per the study, the scientists have found 10 genes at present. “The next step will probably be to identify the protein/enzyme that carries this gene and then go on to develop drugs for these accordingly. The whole process may take up to 10 to 15 years. So saying that it will revolutionise breast cancer treatment immediately would be wrong. It is too premature to say how the said research will progress and where it will lead us. Also a lot of publications are saying that as per the study, breast cancer can be classified into 10 different diseases. The fact however is that it can be
classified into 10 subtypes,” explains Dr Prasad. Dr Raghu Ram says, “The study has a potential to bring about revolutionary changes to the way we diagnose, treat and follow up breast cancer patients. We are slowly but steadily moving from an era of practicing ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to a new era of practicing personalised medicine based on ‘genetic encyclopedia’ and ‘genetic fingerprint of the tumour.’ This new approach will allow targeted tailor-made treatment specific to the particular subtype of breast cancer a distinct reality.” He goes on to add, “It must however be borne in mind that this research will not affect the way we manage breast cancer patients today. However, in future, there is an incredible change in waiting.” So while the study does seem very promising, we have a long way to go before something concrete emerges.
of the face are rated as more aesthetically pleasing than that of its right side, possibly because the left cheek reflects greater emotional intensity, says a study conducted by the Wake Forest University in the US. Kelsey Blackburn and James Schirillo of the university investigated whether there were differences in the perception of the left and right sides of the face in actual photographs of people. The results suggested that posers’ left cheeks tended to exhibit a greater intensity of emotion, which observers found more aesthetically pleasing, say Blackburn and Schirillo in the Experimental Brain Research journal. The participants were asked to rate the pleasantness of both sides of male and female faces on gray-scale photographs. Researchers presented both original photographs and mirrorreversed images, so that an original right-cheek image appeared to be a left-cheek image and vice-versa. They found a strong preference for left-sided portraits, regardless of whether the pictures were originally taken of the left side, or mirrorreversed. The left side of the face was rated as more aesthetically pleasing for both male and female posers. These aesthetic preferences were also confirmed by measurements of pupil size, a reliable unconscious measurement of interest. Indeed, pupils dilate in response to more interesting stimuli —here more pleasant-looking faces, and constrict when looking at unpleasant images. In the experiment, pupil size increased with the pleasantness ratings. IANS
H‑Factor
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Holistic view of mind, body and soul
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Regular soda intake spikes stroke risk WASHINGTON: Regularly quaffing sugar-sweetened, low-calorie sodas is likely to spike risk of a stroke, but intake of caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee seems to lower it, a study reveals. The study is the first to examine soda's effect on stroke (when brain is deprived of blood supply) risk. Previous research has linked sugarsweetened beverage consumption with weight gain, diabetes, high blood pres-
sure, high cholesterol, gout and coronary artery disease. “Soda remains the largest source of added sugar in the diet,” said Adam Bernstein, study author and research director at Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Institute, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported. “What we’re beginning to understand is that regular intake of these beverages sets off a chain reaction in the body that can potentially lead to many diseases including stroke, added Bernstein, according to a university statement. The research analyzed soda consumption among 43,371 men, who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study between 1986 and 2008, and 84,085 women who participated in the
Nurses' Health Study between 1980 and 2008. During that time, 2,938 strokes were documented in women while 1,416 strokes were documented in men. In sugar-sweetened sodas, the sugar load may lead to rapid increases in blood glucose and insulin which, over time, may lead to glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and inflammation, all of which are risk factors of ischemic stroke (blood supply to the brain is blocked). This risk for stroke appears higher in women than in men. Conversely, coffee contains chlorogenic acids, lignans and magnesium, all of which act as antioxidants and may reduce stroke risk. When compared with one serving of sugar-sweetened soda, one serving of decaffeinated coffee was associated with a 10 per cent lower risk of stroke. IANS
Fracture prone? Blame your genes SYDNEY: Are you prone to fractures or trip often? If yes, then blame it on some unidentified genetic regions associated with osteoporosis and bone fracture, says a study. An international team of scientists have now discovered a large number of genetic variants linked to osteoporosis and bone fracture. Osteoporosis is a silent but devastating age-related disease that kills half of those who fracture their hip after the age of 80 years within 12 months. Women
aged over 65 are at greater risk of death after hip fracture than from breast cancer. Researchers including those from The University of Western Australia (UWA), found that variants in 56 regions of the genome influenced bone mineral density, while 14 of these variants increased the risk of bone fracture, the journal Nature Genetics reported. Bone mineral density is the most widely used measurement to diagnose osteoporosis and assess
the risk of fracture, with higher density tied to with lower risk of fracture, according to a university statement. In the largest ever genetic study of osteoporosis of its kind, researchers from Holland’s Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, studied more than 80,000 individuals across Europe, North America, East Asia and Australia. Richard Prince, professor and study co-author from UWA, said osteoporosis was strongly related
to gene variation. “We have found new genes strongly related to bone structure. This latest research has helped pinpoint many factors in critical molecular pathways that may lead to therapeutic treatments,” said Prince. Researchers also found that women with an excess of bone mineral density-decreasing genetic variants had up to 56 per cent higher risk osteoporosis and a 60 per cent higher risk of all types of fractures. IANS
Spotlight
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Dance, good fun and great food, Bottles and Chimneys offers all this and much more. So, before they begin whining about Monday morning blues, the party-loving youngsters in the city gave the weekend a fitting farewell at this pub.
The party crew
Divya
Geeta
Ruchika
DEEPAK DESHPANDE
Mallika
M ANILKUMAR
CLEAR AND BEAUTIFUL
Fatima Khan & Pojitha
Miss Malaysia Anetha Reddy and Indian Princess 2012 Nikitha Sharma pose for the lensmen at the launch of OS special SAP treatments at the Soul spa on Road no 36, Jubilee Hills.
Achan & Ekon
Sakina & Sonia
Shamili & Reema
Heena & Mala
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Magic Screen
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The glamour behind the glitz
Santosh Sivan adds another feather to his cap
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Ram Charan’s Yevadu is a stylish thriller
antosh Sivan, one of the best cinematographers in the country, has added another feather to his cap. He has become the first cinematographer in the Asia Pacific region to join the elite club of American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Currently, the society has only 302 cinematographers from 20 different countries and ASC membership is by invitation only, based on the cinematographer’s body of work. Santosh Sivan was reported-
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am Charan Tej in his upcoming Telugu film Yevadu is all set to play a cop’s role. It is being touted as a stylish thriller and the film’s storyline has become the talking point in film circles. Buzz is that the film is an investigative thriller in which Ram Charan Tej tries to hunt down a serial killer. The principal shooting of Yevadu has already begun and Ram Charan shot for a few days in February before he went on to wrap up Racha. Samantha and Amy Jackson are playing the lead roles in this film. The second schedule of the film will begin from April 27 and Ram Charan will join the team from April 30 onwards. Vamshi Paidipally is directing the film and Dil Raju is producing the film. Devi Sri Prasad is going to score the music.
Amala Paul bags two more projects in Telugu
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fter impressing the audience and critics alike with her performance in films like Prema Khaidi, Nanna and Love Failure, Amala Paul has her eyes set on the Telugu film industry as well. She has bagged two more projects in Telugu apart from playing the second lead in Ram Charan, V V Vinayak’s untitled film. We hear that she’s all set to join Ravi Teja’s upcoming film to be directed by Parasuram. The film has been tentatively titled as Sir Osthaara and Amala Paul is playing the role of an NRI who returns to India. Few days ago, there were rumours that she’s in talks with Radhamohan for a film titled Gowravam and the latest buzz is that she has signed the dotted line. Allu Sirish, younger brother of Allu Arjun, will make his debut as an actor in Gowravam.
ly recommended by Michael Chapman, the cinematographer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, who was quite impressed with Santosh Sivan’s work in his earlier films like Terrorist and Before the Rains. Santosh Sivan’s recent film Urumi went on to bag plenty of awards in national and international film festivals and currently he’s shooting A R Murugadoss’ upcoming bilingual film Thuppaki which has Vijay and Kajal in the lead roles.
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T-TOWN TWEETIES
@RGVzoomin Stopping Dirty Picture telecast is a classic example of the cat shutting its eyes nd pretending that no body is watching it
@Actor_Siddharth Lead actor Ayushman Khurana wrote and sang “Pani da rang” from Vicky Donor? Wow! What a debut...serious respect!!!! Well done dude:)
@LakshmiManchu Cannot wait for all of u to see the magic we created. From where we started to where we r is nothing but a dream come true. So overwhelmed. Hamaya!
@shraddhadas43 In my fav place hyderabad,off to launch the Akshyatritiya collection today and later photoshoot for my new telugu film..excited
@shrutihaasan I detest myself when I get obsessively addicted to a tv show I could hear the theme from game of thrones in my dream lol very bad sign
@actressanjjanaa Srk’s team plz win he was n wil remain my 1st love always, Now bac on sets! Listening to d.guetta n getin makeup done
@sundeepkishan No offense to the women on my list,with full due respect those tweets are just for fun... bet you would have smiled reading them too... I did :)
@taapsee Gudmrng twitpals. On to a new start wid director chandrashekhar yeleti from 2day onwards. Let srinidhi unleash... Hahahaha
Magic Screen
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The glamour behind the glitz
Rajasmita wins ‘Dance India Dance 3’
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B-TOWN TWEETIES
@AnupamPkher Blessy, director of Pranayam moves into a new house today near Alepi, Kerala. Invited me to participate in his celebrations. On my way.:).
@NeilNMukesh
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he search for India’s best dancer finally came to an end when 21-year-old Rajasmita Kar was declared the winner at the grand finale of third season of Zee TV’s dance reality show Dance India Dance. The Odisha girl beat Pradeep Gurung, 24, from Assam, Raghav Juyal, 20, from Dehradun, Sanam Johar, 20, of Delhi and Mohena Singh, 23, from Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa to walk away with the winner’s trophy and a Maruti Ertiga car. The show had started off with 18 contestants. However, Mohena got a cash prize of Rs.3 lakh for the best desired performance of the season. The finale was hosted by Saumya Tandon and Jay Bhanushali, who opened the show with their dance performances. Judges and mentors Geeta Kapoor, Remo D’Souza and Terence Lewis also created magic with their spectacular acts, while grand master Mithun Chakraborty was seen applauding the performances. Actor Anil Kapoor came to promote his forthcoming release Tezz and support the finalists. The winners of first two seasons of the show were Salman Khan, from Bangalore and Shakti Mohan , from Mumbai. - IANS
A relationship without trust is like having a phone with no service. And what do you do with a phone with no service? You play games. Haha.
@SrBachchan T 721 - The expectation and the joy of meeting well wishers at the gate on Sunday .. so humbling... God bless all of you !! And thank you !
@kjohar25 A national award winning film cannot have a national telecast??? this is not an irony but plain and simple hypocrisy!!!! #dirtypicture
@realprietyzinta Wow! What a game! Woke up at 4am in the US 2 see this match. Was worth all the effort! Nice 2 see a brilliant group effort by the Red Lions.
@akshaykumar
Mahesh Bhatt bids goodbye to direction I n over three decades of his association with Bollywood, Mahesh Bhatt has delivered iconic films like Arth, Saaransh, Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin and Zakhm. But it’s quits on the direction front now, says the maverick filmmaker, who wants to promote young and fresh talent in the industry. "I have said goodbye to direction. I am encouraging new talents. I am 64 years old now and at this age, encouraging upcoming talents is very satisfying," Bhatt said. The filmmaker, through his production banner Vishesh Films, has
given a platform to many directors, actors and creative people with Bollywood dreams. Be it director Mohit Suri, Blood Money director Vishal Mahadkar, actor Emraan Hashmi or Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone, who will make her Bollywood debut with his Jism 2, many people from the industry have had their firsts with Bhatt. Currently the veteran is busy promoting newcomer Esha Gupta, the leading lady of Jannat 2. Miss India International 2007 winner Esha is cast opposite Emraan in the film.
For all those congratulating me for Housefull 2, honestly 100 crores is just a number but I’d be lying if I would say it doesn’t matter.
@udaychopra Ok no more of the “whoa I woke up in...” tweets. I’m in LA, eat your heart out! I was talking to the artichoke!
@deespeak In a country that worships nature, everyday can be #EarthDay. Wind, Water, Soil, Sun we bow our heads in gratitude.
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Magic Screen
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The glamour behind the glitz
25
SIMPSON STILL PREGGERS!
R
eally?! Yup, Jessica Simpson is still pregnant y'all. The Fashion Star mentor and designer, who is expecting her first child with fiancĂŠ Eric Johnson, took to Twitter Saturday to dispel rumors she'd finally given birth to a baby girl. The fashion mogul shared: "To everyone who keeps congratulating me on the birth of my baby girl...I'm still pregnant!! Don't believe what you read ladies and gents." And although Jess hasn't officially welcomed her bundle of joy into the world yet, the soon-to-be-welldressed little girl is already mingling with the stars. Jessica recently celebrated her baby with a shower complete with big-time attendees like fellow mom and pal Jessica Alba and younger sister Ashlee Simpson. We can't wait for Jessica to welcome her daughter into the world...especially so we can finally find out what that "nontraditional name" is!
GUY PEARCE IN IRON MAN 3
W
ith The Avengers just days away from opening, Marvel is now focusing on building the cast of the upcoming Iron Man 3. Guy Pearce is in talks to join Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Kingsley in the Marvel sequel. Pearce would play the role of a geneticist, and friend of Tony Iron Man Stark, named Aldrich Killian, reports Variety.com. The film is rumored to be partially based on the popular Warren Ellis-penned storyline Extremis, in
which Killian plays a small, but key, role. The film, set to shoot in China, is being directed by Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Pearce recently appeared opposite Kate Winslet on the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, and toplined the sci-fi feature Lockout. He'll next be seen in Ridley Scott's quasi-"Alien" prequel Prometheus, opening in June. Iron Man 3 is set to open May 3, 2013. Meanwhile, you can catch Tony Stark with his heroic buddies in next month's The Avengers.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds moving in? L
ovebirds Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are nesting. The couple, who were first linked late last year, "bought a beautiful country home" in Bedford, N.Y., a source tells PEOPLE. And it's not too shabby. "The house cost more than $2 million," the source said of the property. The actors, who starred together in the super-hero film, The Green Lantern, have been spotted in Boston, New York City and New Orleans but seem to have found the perfect place for settling down. They've been seen around town doing everything from horseback riding, to buying chocolate milk and dining at the Bedford Post Inn.
Chai Time
KAKURO
How to play Kakuro Kakuro is a popular game similar to sudoku in some ways. But is also suitably different. The key question: ‘How do you play kakuro?’, well here are the rules of kakuro. The answer: The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers. However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column referenced by the number. Within each collection of cells — called a run — any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once. Let’s have an example to explain this concept more clearly: In the image above, which shows a section of a kakuro puzzle, you will see the numbers ‘26’ and ‘14’ in the top row. Look at the 14. This means that the total of the three cells underneath must sum to 14. Therefore 9, 4, 1 could be the answer, or perhaps 7, 4, 3 and so on... So, how do you work out the actual combination? Well, this is done through elimination and cross-referencing. For instance, as you work out the answers for other kakuro clues, this will naturally limit the valid combinations, and hence the answer for this particular run. Note the second cell in row two — it contains two numbers, 30 and 11. The 30 refers to the vertical run underneath the number 30 and the 11 refers to the two cells to the right, horizontally, of the number 11.
SCRIBBLING PAD
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Take a shot at the brain game while sipping your cuppa
26
QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS 1 Western tracking team 6 Deerly loved animated film? 11 Kitten's cry 14 Like some diamonds or films 15 It's a real eye-opener 16 ‘Honest’ president 17 Be a successful climber 19 Indicate ‘yes’ 20 Rolle of ‘Good Times’ 21 Multi-___ (doing things simultaneously) 23 Shaped wood on a machine 26 ‘At ___!’ (military command) 27 State with many Mormons 31 ‘Hmm, I don't know ...’ 32 Wallowing whereabouts 34 Single numbers 35 Place to be marooned 37 Become accustomed (to) 41 iPad accessory 44 Type of iron or engine 45 Figure-skating feat 46 Rip 47 Young whale 49 Terminate 50 Headset, to hams 51 The two together 54 Arched foot part 57 Spiny anteater 59 Tranquilise 64 Shelter 65 It keeps coolant in 68 Fugitive's flight 69 Nutmeg coverings 70 Prefix meaning ‘numbness’ 71 67 degrees 30 minutes 72 Greek sandwiches 73 ‘Keep it in’ notations DOWN 1 Not contaminated 2 Snake eyes in Vegas 3 Improvise as a vocalist 4 ‘Parting is ___ sweet sorrow’ 5 Vivian's classic sitcom
role 6 ‘A Christmas Carol’ comment 7 It's sold by the pint 8 Filmmaker's specialeffects shot 9 Ladies, in old gangster films 10 Sitters' challenges 11 Beyond enthusiasm 12 Black shades, to poets 13 Cheese chunk 18 Heartbreaking, as ‘Romeo and Juliet’ 22 Kind of convention speaker 24 Outer layer of a seed 25 DNA shapes 27 Snail-mail system 28 Legal wrong 29 Shower gel ingredient 30 Big name in electronics
33 Personal quirk 36 Important happening 38 Eye's middle layer 39 Back of the pack 40 Commits a blunder 42 Ratite bird of crosswords 43 Meg, among the ‘Little Women’ 48 Based on two 51 ‘Beauty and the Beast’ beauty 52 Separator of continents 53 Dominant idea 55 Acme's antonym 56 Underlings 58 Pull,
SUDOKU
caveman-style 60 Darn's kin 61 Land measure 62 Diplomacy 63 Narrative poetry 66 UN agency for workplace improvements 67 Burro PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER
THOUGHT OF THE DAY Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realise `you haven't fallen asleep yet. – Anonymous
Chai Time STAR POWER
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
Your tomorrow today̶Star Power and Tarot THIRUVAIKUMAR
As per Hindu panchang
FOR 24-4-2012
thiruvaikumar@yahoo.co.in 040-27177230 / 9177596118
TAURUS
GEMINI
Self‑confidence level is set to increase. Financially you might face some deficit. However, your wishes will get fulfilled and your official tour will be a success. Some might undertake a pilgrimage.
Health problems may be a cause for concern; take necessary and immedi‑ ate care. There might be minor ten‑ sions in the family but will they get resolved soon. Avoid real‑estate deals.
Businessmen will have a good time and all their expectations are fulfilled without deviation. Good events to take place. You might be introduced to an attractive per‑ son. Romance matters are favourable.
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
Your well‑planned schedule will get exe‑ cuted and earn a name for you. Business‑ men will see ups and downs but manage well. Those in romance need to be pati‑ ent and not take things for granted.
Friends from abroad will help and extend support. Businessmen will be favoured with some export orders and gain good profit. You will be active and march ahead in all your commitments.
You can plan for the future but post‑ pone implementing important works for time being. Businessmen too are advised to postpone expansion plans. Change of residence inevitable.
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
Avoid works like starting any new venture, joining a new job, attending any meetings or making any other professional moves. You might be upset and tensed but donʼt worry.
All works will get completed though there might be obstacles and worries. Your determination makes all the dif‑ ference. Spouse's health may be a ca‑ use for concern. Businessmen do well.
Help will come from expected sources. Artists will get good and promising opportunities which should be made use of. Avoid eating outside and junk food as digestive problems likely.
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
You will be given importance and peo‑ ple will never mind about your deficien‑ cies and carry on well with you. Avoid unethical ways in business. Differentiate between expenses and extravagance.
Avoid being over ambitious and go in a practical way towards achieving your goals. Friendship circle will ex‑ pand. Never fail in commitments which might spoil your reputation.
Be cautious in spending; overspend‑ ing for non‑essential causes will make you financially weak. Some purchases can be avoided as you might end up with losses. Try and avoid quarrels.
SUMAA TEKUR
FOR 24-4-2012
tarotreadhyd@gmail.com
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
Ten of Cups – Despi‑ te wanting a breather, one job after another demands your atten‑ tion. Housewives, es‑ pecially, have a roug‑ h time catching up with all the cleaning.
Four of Swords – Youʼre settling down in a relationship and everythingʼs going as per your expecta‑ tion. Youʼre become very comfortable with your partner.
Six of Wands – Finances are looking great. An investment you made a while back is giving returns and you feel more confident than ever about your decisions.
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
Ten of Swords – Someone is playing with your mind. Donʼt heed to advice unless you trust this person completely. He/she may be mea‑ ning well for you.
Six of Cups – Get your college buddies together for a game of Scrabble or Pictio‑ nary. Re‑live old day‑ s and take comfort that there are things that donʼt change.
Three of Pentacles – Take up a training course or learn a new skill that will help you in career in the future. You may feel itʼs not required right now.
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
Queen of Swords – You may be feeling lonely, especially if those around are moving on, on the relationship front. Review your options and get into the act.
Queen of Pentacles – You have a spiritual approach to all thin‑ gs material. However dichotomous this may sound, itʼs true and itʼs putting you in a bit of quandary.
Eight of Cups – Yo‑ uʼre working hard on a project without knowing where itʼs headed or what the outcome will be. Keep working and continue to keep the faith.
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
Six of Pentacles – A senior person in your office will help get you a better deal at the work place. A recent hike or pro‑ motion may be beca‑ use of this person.
Queen of Cups – You wear your heart on your sleeve and that may be a problem if youʼre working in a job that involves ma‑ naging people. Not everyone wants truth.
King of Cups – Donʼt get emotional about a person or situation or begin to blame yourself if some‑ thingʼs not working. Not everything can be under control.
For Better or for Worse Stone soup
SOLUTIONS
Boggle DOG CAT BIRDFISH HAMSTER
Number game
Suduko
Scrabble
Ink pen
COMICS
Fred Basset
ARIES
TAROT READ
27
Vol: 1, No 281 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033 and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: feedback@postnoon.com and for subscription, please call 040-4067 2222, Fax: 040-4067 2211
93 DAYS TO GO
28
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
CHAN GEARS UP FOR BIG CHALLENGE
Shigemi Sato
Herman, Trott make the cut Monthati Molosankwe
DURBAN: South African freestyle swimmers Heerden Herman and Wendy Trott (above) qualified for the Olympics Sunday during the final session of the national championships. Herman won the 1500 metres freestyle final in 15 minutes 07.99 seconds — almost four seconds inside the Games qualifying mark — from Mark Randall (15:27.38) and Myles Brown (15:31.68). “I did not feel as good as I hoped to during the race and am just happy to secure a place in the team for London. It is a massive relief to have achieved that feat,” he said at the Kings Park pool. Trott was more than three seconds inside the time required for 800m freestyle qualification as she clocked 8:30.61 to finish first followed by Jessica Pengelly (8:41.40) and Michelle Weber (8:44.10). “I wanted to go faster but my goal in Durban this week was to make the team and I have done that. I am really happy with my performance,” said the Cape swimmer. There was final-day disappointment for the star of the one-week championships, 20-year-old Durban-born Chad le Clos, as he failed to better the 100m butterfly qualifying time. Le Clos won the race in 52.45 — 0.09 seconds outside the London mark — with Dylan Bosch (53.89) second and Neil Watson (54.43) third.
TOKYO: World figure skating champion Patrick Chan (right), who suffered his first defeat this season at the World Team Trophy in Tokyo, pledged Sunday to develop new skills against rising competition. Only three weeks after the 21-year-old Canadian retained his men’s world title, runner-up Daisuke Takahashi beat him into second spot at the seasonclosing six-nation competition on Friday. “There’s always a challenge,” Chan told AFP after the event’s gala exhibition Sunday when asked if he expected a bigger challenge from Takahashi and other rivals next season in the run-up to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. “As long as I keep on working on new things and improving, then I’m fine,” he said, adding he had a “new quad” in mind. He is considering changing the “pattern going into the quad with a smoother entrance.” Takahashi, who won an Olympic bronze medal and the world title in 2010, scored 94.00 points in the short programme on Thursday to eclipse by 0.98 Chan’s world record set at the 2011 world championships. The 26-year-old
Japanese also edged Chan in the free programme on Friday to finish at 276.22 overall, the second highest next to the world mark of 280.98 set by the Canadian at the same championships. Looking back at the 2011-2012 season, Chan said: “I set my goals up to worlds and I achieved my goals at worlds. So I think that was a good wrap-up to the season.” After the world championships, Christy Krall, who was credited with helping Chan improve his quadruple jump, resigned as his coach. His other coach, modern dance teacher Kathy Johnson, has assumed a larger role. Chan, who was fifth at the Vancouver Olympics, swept all before him in the season before the debacle in Tokyo. His winning streak stretched after he finished runner-up to Czech star Tomas Verner at the Cup of Russia in November 2010. He also won two Grand Prix events in Canada and France and the Grand Prix Final as well as the Four Continents before the worlds in Nice, France. Hosts Japan won the second World Team Trophy, which was first held in 2009 also in Tokyo. The 2009 title holders the US finished second and Canada third. The team competition will make its Olympic debut in Sochi.
Jin wins singles title, edges closer QINGDAO, CHINA: China’s Chen Jin moved closer to sealing his berth at the London Olympics by winning the men’s singles title at the Asian Championships on Sunday. Chen, who was seeded third, defeated fellow countryman and fifth seed Du Pengyu 21-12, 2118 in China’s eastern city of Qingdao. The 26-year-old Chen needs to stay ahead of rival Peter Gade of Denmark in order to assure his coveted spot at the Olympics this year, the Xinhua news agency said. Chen said he had his eyes on
the Olympics. “These two months have been continuous matches. I’m tired both physically and mentally,” he said. “But there is no other way. For the purpose of Olympic points, I have to go all out.” The Asian Championships are one of the last major tournaments before the London Olympics. But Chen played down his individual achievement, saying the performance of the Chinese team was more important. “It doesn’t matter who is champion. After all, the top four
places in the Asian Championship are ours,” he said, referring to the men’s singles event. Chen had a walkover in the semi-finals on Saturday after fellow Chinese badminton superstar and four-time world champion Lin Dan withdrew due to injury. Lin’s spot at the Olympics is assured, as he has already qualified. In the women’s single final, fourth-seeded Li Xuerui shocked by beating world champion Wang Yihan 21-16, 16-21, 21-9 in a hard-fought contest that lasted more than an hour.
29
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
METRE
S
6 279
Chris Gayle (RR)
19 4S670
Ajinkya Rahane (RR)
43
103*
HIGHEST SCORE
Ajinkya Kevin Rahane Pietersen (RR) (DD)
BEST BOWLER
5-16
Ravindra Jadeja (CSK)
A Royal clash on the cards We got a great start. We should have got 150, but KKR fielded brilliantly. We can talk about another missed catch probably, but we bowled well, and made it difficult for KKR Kumar Sangakkara DC skipper
Ajinkya Rahane (RR) 319 runs
Morne Morkel (DD) 15 wickets
Team capable of winning without Gayle
R
oyals Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori today said that his side's batting was not too heavily dependent on explosive opener Chris Gayle and they can win even if he fails. Vettori said that he was happy the way Gayle was batting but his side were capable of winning even without the West Indian contributing much. "Yes, I am happy with the way Chris is batting. He is one of the best T20 players in the world. But we are not wholly dependent on him and other batsmen are also capable of winning matches for us. We beat DD in our first match without him," said Vettori ahead of his side's match against Rajasthan Royals.
P W L T PT NR DD 6 4 2 0 8 0.681 RR 7 4 3 0 8 0.547 KKR 7 4 3 0 8 0.432 PW 7 4 3 0 8 0.290 CSK 7 4 3 0 8 0.033 MI 6 3 3 0 6 -0.117 KXIP 7 3 4 0 6 -0.467 RCB 6 3 3 0 6 -0.608 DC 5 0 5 0 0 -1.032 P-played; W-win; L-lost; T-tie; NR-net run rate; PT-points
G Aparna Sai feedback@postnoon.com
R
It will be a clash of the royals when the teams from Rajasthan and Bengaluru take on each other at the Swami Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur today. While Royal Challengers Bangalore won their previous match, Rajasthan Royals faltered at the last hurdle to gift their match to the Kings from Chennai. Yet Rajasthan are comfortably placed high on the points table while the same does not apply to the Chanllengers, who are still lagging behind. A win in favour of the RCB could help them move a rung above their present position, but if RR pockets the game, then there is a high possibility of them moving a notch above and reaching the top of the points table. RR have performed well this season winning four of their seven matches. Ajinkya Rahane continues to impress with his performance and presently holds the orange cap while
Owais Shah is another player whose batting exploits have managed to take his opponents by surprise. With a leader like Rahul Dravid and a reasonably decent batting line up, the Royals would hope to get their act right on this occasion and leave the Challengers behind like it happened the last time these two teams met - RR posted a formidable 195, chasing which the Challengers succumbed to the pressure to be left staggering at 136. RCB would hope that the ghosts of their past do not come back to haunt them. With Chris Gayle playing in a manner he is best known for (smashed
RR VS RCB AT 8 PM ON SET MAX 87 of 56 balls in RCB's previous match against Kings XI Punjab), RCB would hope that he continues this form. AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Zaheer Khan and skipper Daniel Vettori are the other RCB players to watch out for. With a thrilling match on the cards, it remains to be seen as to which of the two Royals sails safely to the coast.
SCORECARD MUMBAI INDIANS VS KINGS XI PUNJAB Mumbai Indians innings (20 overs) Franklin c Miller b Kumar 79 Tendulkar run out (Miller/Saini) 23 R Sharma c Saini b Awana 2 Karthik run out (Marsh/Chawla) 35 K Pollard c Mandeep Singh b Awana 7 Harbhajan Singh c Chitnis b Kumar 4 T Perera not out 4 AT Rayudu not out 3 Extras (lb 1, w 5) 6 Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 163 Bowling O M R W Econ P Kumar 4 1 36 2 9.00 B Bhatt 3 0 33 0 11.00 P Awana 4 0 23 2 5.75 Azhar Mahmood4 0 39 0 9.75 P Chawla 4 0 19 0 4.75 D Hussey 1 0 12 0 12.00 Kings XI Punjab innings (target: 164 runs from 20 overs) N Saini lbw b Ojha 30 Mandeep Singh c Franklin b Pollard 24 S Marsh not out 68 D Hussey c Rayudu b Pollard 21 Azhar Mahmood c Perera b Ojha 10 DA Miller not out 5 Extras (w 6) 6 Total (4 wickets; 19.3 overs) 164 Bowling O M R W Econ M Patel 4 0 41 0 10.25 RP Singh 3 0 28 0 9.33 P Ojha 3 0 28 2 9.33 K Pollard 4 0 14 2 3.50 Harbhajan Singh 4 0 34 0 8.50 T Perera 1.3 0 19 0 12.66 Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
DECCAN CHARGERS VS KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS Deccan Chargers innings (20 overs) Sangakkara b Balaji 12 S Dhawan c Das b Bhatia 50 PA Patel run out (Kallis/Bhatia) 23 CL White c Das b Lee 10 JP Duminy not out 16 IR Jaggi c McCullum b Narine 3 Ankit Sharma c Gambhir b Balaji 1 DW Steyn c Tiwary b Narine 7 A Mishra not out 1 Extras (lb 2, nb 1) 3 Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 126 Bowling O M R W Econ K Pathan 2 0 19 0 9.50 B Lee 4 0 15 1 3.75 S Narine 4 0 26 2 6.50 L Balaji 4 0 22 2 5.50 J Kallis 2 0 16 0 8.00 R Bhatia 4 0 26 1 6.50 Kolkata Knight Riders innings (target: 127 runs from 20 overs) McCullum lbw b Steyn 10 G Gambhir c Sangakkara b Anand Rajan 30 MS Bisla b Mishra 10 J Kallis c Patel b Steyn 23 Y Pathan b Ankit Sharma 6 M Tiwary not out 30 DB Das not out 9 Extras (lb 2, w 7) 9 Total (5 wickets; 19 overs) 127 Bowling O M R W Econ D Steyn 4 0 24 2 6.00 Ankit Sharma 4 0 19 1 4.75 V Pratap Singh4 0 35 0 8.75 A Mishra 4 0 27 1 6.75 C White 1 0 8 0 8.00 Anand Rajan 2 0 11 1 5.50 JP Duminy 0 0 1 0 Kolkata Knight Riders won by 5 wickets
UPSIDE DOWN
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Gautam Gambhir takes the catch of Deccan Chargers’ Ankit Sharma during their match at Barabati AFP/DIBYANGSHU SARKAR Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.
Playing Field
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The games people play
For the Chargers, Lady Luck goes walkabout Twelfth Man Babu Kalyanpur
NATIONAL SPORT Yuddhaveer wins Hind Kesari KOLHAPUR: Sena Dal wrestler Yuddhaveer clinched the Hind Kesari title by defeating Rohit Patel of Madhya Pradesh in about 14 minutes at the 46th National level wrestling competition, here today. The event was held at Shahu Khasbag Kusti Akhada here, where, Yuddhaveer defeated his rival by four points. Yuddhaveer received the cash prize of `3 lakh and a 2 kg silver mace at the hands of Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan.
Wrestling
“
T
he Indian Premier league (IPL) is now delivering its promise of exciting encounters and tight finishes. The IPL 2012 edition was under intense scrutiny after the earlier edition saw falling spectators and TV ratings. This time round, the season did not get off well. Low scores and easy victories marked the first few matches. Doubts began to resurface again whether the IPL had outlived its shelf value. One match turned it the tournament on its head. And the Deccan Chargers were involved. Played at Vishakapatnam, The Mumbai Indians were struggling to catch up with the Chargers’ total of 139 for nine. The Chargers battled hard and the Mumbai team were made to fight for very run. They were almost there with Mumbai needing 18 runs to win off the last over. In hindsight, it was a mistake to give Australian Dan Christian the last over. Rohit Sharma came to the party and smashed the last ball for six to take his team home. This ignited the tournament. Suddenly, all the good things of Twenty20 cricket began to flow. Big hitting, tight finishes and successful big chases were back. The IPL was back in business again. Chris Gayle opened his sixes tap for Royal Challengers Bangalore and even the spectators were in danger. In-between Kevin Pietersen played for his team and the gallery in one of the most destructive innings ever in the IPL. He scored an unbeaten 103 which included nine sixes. The Deccan Chargers were once again at the receiving end. Then chasing a total of 182 against the Pune Warriors India, Bangalore pulled off a last ball win with 24 needed off the last over. AB de Villiers played some audacious shots to lead his team to victory. In the match, Gayle smashed Rahul Sharma for five consecutive sixes and Saurab Tiwary clinched the match with a six with three needed. The Bangalore team were earlier hammered by defending champions Chennai Super Kings despite scoring 205 for eight. The Chennai team never looked in the running with 43 needed in the last
30
What Bhiwani means to Indian boxing, so Siliguri now has established itself as the nursery of Indian Tabel Tennis champions. Mantu Ghosh, chief, NBTTA
Datt in main draw of Open Badminton NEW DELHI: Promising
Indian shuttler Guru Sai Datt and Saurav Verma were today promoted to the main draw of the Yonex Indian Open badminton championships starting here on April 24 after 12 players withdrew from the men’s singles event. Datt and Verma were promoted from the qualifiers to the main draw of the men’s singles after the withdrawal of the players on the deadline of April 20.
NRPâã
two over. But Albie Morkel reaffirmed his reputation for big hitting by taking 28 off Virat’s Kohli’s over. Then Dwayne Bravo collected the 15 needed in the last over, the victory coming in the final ball. It is too early to predict who will emerge the winner in the tournament. Delhi have looked the strongest so far. But the wily veteran Saurav Ganguly gave them a reality check yesterday when his superb all-round display and captaincy took his Pune team to victory. Chennai have been a bit up and down but skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has helped them cross the line with some clever batting. Bangalore have been fairly consistent, thanks to Gayle of course. Kolkata Knight Riders too have been going well
so far. Pune started off brilliantly, then fell off. But they may hit the winning road again after beating Delhi. The unluckiest team in the IPL has been Deccan Chargers. Lady Luck has been looking elsewhere for them, They have got involved in many close finishes despite some strong performances. The IPL has already thrown up some future stars. Delhi’s Shahbaz Nadeem’s left-arm spin has proved effective, particularly when used to open the attack. Bangalore’s Mayank Agarwal has been almost matching Gayle when ti comes to hard-hitting. Then Big Jesse Ryder has begun to show why he is rated so highly in cricketing circles. The fact that is he has gone off the juice may have helped his case.
Is the length of the Mumbai-Pune cycle race, which was won by Atul Kumar of Patiala as he blasted his way through the finish line in a three-way contest and clinched the title tobag the top prize of `1 lakh. It was the first major win in recent times for Atul
Mehta scores 2nd win Snooker NEW DELHI: India’s Aditya
Mehta registered his second win with a 4-0 thrashing of Mubarak Alowais of Kuwait at the 28th Asian Snooker Championships at Doha, Qatar. Playing well throughout the match, Mehta won with good safety play towards the end. His highest break during the game was 64 in frame 2. He will now play against Karam Fatima of Syria later today. Over 40 players, representing 15 countries, are participating in the tournament.
Playing Field
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The games people play
31
SAI RAM REDDY
WORLD SPORT Heat shoot down Rockets MIAMI: The Miami Heat, led by LeBron James's 32 points, ended Houston's slim NBA playoff hopes with a 97-88 victory over the Rockets on Sunday. The Heat were without stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, Wade sidelined by a dislocated left index finger suffered on Saturday in a loss to lowly Washington. Bosh rested his weary legs and Mario Chalmers missed the game with flulike symptoms.
NBA
“ CHESS CAPTIVATES Rahul Ramakrishna feedback@postnoon.com
T
he national level NMDC Chess tournament saw some of the best young minds of Hyderabad fight it out on the chess board, in the presence of International Masters and reputed players from all over the country. The event was organised by NMDC, as a part of their corporate social responisbility. All five international masters had a smooth sailing through the first round of the NMDC Fide-rated chess tournament, organised by Cyber Chess Academy at Suchithra Academy, here in Hyderabad. Top seed Deboshish Das pitted against Akula Nihar opened with a Queens Gambit where upon Nihar spent most of his time defending his pieces using the the Benoni Defense. When Das’s pawn formation assumed a Semi Slav structure, Nihar's game spun out of control, consistently losing his hold over the board as Das routed his pieces. Speaking to Postnoon Deboshish said, “It was an interesting experience to play Nihar. The game would have been a lot more exciting had he extended his pawn defense. His initial defenses were very weak and I had no trouble getting through the game.” Deboshish Das is an intermediate student of science who plans on joining the Civil Services. His current FIDE Rating is 2425 and is influenced by Gary Kasparov and Vishwanathan Anand. Second seeded IMK Priyadharshan of Tamil Nadu subdued G Dheeraj of AP in no time and former national champion P Konguvel of ONGC met with little resis-
YOUNG MINDS
tance from JC Karthik of the host state. K Narsimha Rao, a chess tutor and coach spoke about the emerging minds in Hyderabad Chess. “We have immense potential here in the city to produce the next Anand. But the fundamentals of chess are not being given importance.
Besides, Hyderabad needs a lot more quality games and game equality so that these kids are challenged enough to evolve to the current trends in the game,” he said. He blamed indiscriminate usage of the internet by children, for diverting their attention from the game.
How they fared on Day 1 Name Debashis Das Dheeraj G Konguvel Ponnuswamy Kavya Srishti K Krishna C R G Mohit Jain Koshy Varugeese Mohammad Mubashir Purushothaman T Mohammad Mudassir Dhar Rajib Abhilash Reddy M L Mohan T V S R Trailokya Nanda Sai Anvith Vattikuti V Saranya J Rithika G Roshan Rangarajan Manas Khadke Viswa Teja G Anirudh Arkery Srija Seshadri Anne Sharath Chandra Harsha Bharathakoti Azit Kumar Singh Chakravarthi Reddy M Deepanshu Jagannath
State ORI AP ONGC AP AP ASM ONGC AP AP AP ASM AP AP ASM AP ONGC AP MAH AP AP AP TN AP AP NMDC AP MAH
beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to beat lost to
Opponent State Nihar L Akula AP Priyadharshan K TN Karthik J C AP Sangma Rahul Rly Toshali V AP Ravi Teja S AP Anurag Kuruvada AP Praveen Prasad P AP Vibhav Gadwal AP Aravindh Chithambaram Vr ONGC Janaki Devi M AP Rama Devi P AP Deepthamsh Reddy M AP K Ashleesh AP Cholleti Sahajasri AP Chaitanya Srihari Y AP Dave Kantilal RAJ Prasanna Arpita Ch AP Chakravarthi Y V K AP Adarsh Raghavan K AP Karthik V Ap AP Ankitha Goud Palle AP Srikanth K AP Arham Jain ASM Krishna Teja N AP Dawlekar Shrikant MAH Kandi Ravi AP
It seems to be a bit of a trait for the Chinese players because there've been instances of blatant cheating going on.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen accused China's Cao Yupeng of a ‘blatant push’ in a first round defet at the Snooker World Championships in Sheffield
Curtis ends six-year drought SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Former British Open champion Ben Curtis won his first US PGA Tour title since 2006 on Sunday, holding on for an emotional two-shot victory over Matt Every and John Huh. Curtis, the surprise winner of the British Open in 2003, birdied the par-five 18th for an even-par 72 on the day and a nine-under total of 279. "It's been a tough couple of years," a teary Curtis said as he struggled for composure.
Golf
OMM
underprivileged children participated in a mini-games event, organised by Magic Bus, an NGO, in association with British High Commission, to mark the closing of the "Sport is great" fest. The festival was organised jointly with the Abhinav Bindra Foundation and VisitBritain.
Shillingford set for history ROSEAU, DOMINICA: West Indies off-spinner Shane Shillingford will create history today when he becomes the first Dominican to play a Test match on home soil. The tall off-spinner bowled well against the Australians on his comeback to international cricket in Trinidad last week and is expected to retain his place in the team for the allimportant third and final Test at his home ground. The Windsor Park hosted its first ODI back in 2009 and Test cricket came to the island for the first time last year.
Cricket
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MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
The games people play
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Persie ‘player of the year’
PFA Premier League Team of the Year
LONDON: Arsenal striker Robin van
Joe Hart (Man City/ENG); Kyle Walker (Tottenham/ENG), Vincent Kompany (Man City/BEL), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle/ARG), Leighton Baines (Everton/ENG); David Silva (Man City/ESP), Yaya Toure (Man City/CIV), Gareth Bale (Tottenham/WAL), Scott Parker (Tottenham/ENG); Robin van Persie (Arsenal/NED), Wayne Rooney (Man Utd/ENG)
Persie (right) was named the Player of the Year by England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) at a ceremony here on Sunday. The 28-year-old Dutch international has scored 27 Premier League goals so far this season — his best return for the north London club — and was proud to be honoured by a poll of top-flight players. “If other people are saying it, it is special, but it is even more special if your opponents are saying it," he said. “It is very special because you are playing against them week in week out and every single player does everything to win and in the end if they make up their minds that I’m the best player it is a big honour." Van Persie added none of his success would be possible but for the contribution of his fellow Gunners. “Without them I could not have achieved it," he said. “For example Theo Walcott, he has given me more than 12 assists and I do really appreciate that." Van Persie was originally deployed as a second striker by Arsenal after signing from Feyenoord in 2004 in a role made famous by fellow Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp during his time with the club.
But despite his own initial doubts, van Persie has relished the role of leading Arsenal’s attack since being switched to the centre forward position by manager Arsene Wenger. “Now I am (confident). To be fair, when I first went there I wasn’t really as confident and I wasn’t really sure I
could do it. It took a bit of time but after a couple of months a slowly realised I could do a good job there." Tottenham Hotspur and England full-back Kyle Walker won The PFA Young Player of the Year award and the 21-year-old couldn’t quite believe he was receiving the honour. “I was a bit surprised because defenders don’t normally get these awards and get the limelight as much as the centre-forwards," he said. “If you look at the people I was in with then it is a great honour to get the award and hopefully there is more to come. Both Walker and van Persie were included in the PFA’s Premier League Team of the Year, which featured four players from title-chasing Manchester City. England goalkeeper Joe Hart, defender Vincent Kompany and midfielders Yaya Toure and David Silva all featured in a side where Wayne Rooney was the only representative from champions Manchester United. Tottenham had three men in the team, with Scott Parker and Wales winger Gareth Bale, last year’s PFA Player of the Year, joining Walker in a side without any players from Chelsea, the only English club to reach the semi-finals of this season’s Champions League.