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What you should pay for cable TVBy N Vidyasagar
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Consumers will payabout Rs 200 a month as cable sub-scription when the conditional ac-cess regime (CAS) kicks off on July14, 2003, say analysts.
While cable operators feel themonthly amount should be Rs 350,industry watchers say consumers inthe metros — where the CAS will beintroduced initially — will resist. ‘‘Amajority of consumers will not paymore than Rs 200,’’ said HareshChawla, CEO, CNBC India.
The final bill will depend on whatthe government fixes as the maxi-mum price band for the free-to-airTV channels. These channels do nothave to viewed with a set-top box.The money will go towards meeting
the cable operator’s operationalcosts. Some of the existing free-to-air channels include DD, Aaj Tak,MTV, BBC, Sab TV, Sahara, Sun TV.
While the government is yet to fixa final figure, reports say this pricecould be under Rs 40.
‘‘Even if the government fixes Rs80 as a maximum price for free-to-airchannels, the competition will bringit down to Rs 30,’’ said Ajay Ni-
jhawan, consultant Spectranet. Theannouncement is expected in thenext fortnight.
As for pay channels, they have tomandatorily be routed through a set-top box — to be bought by the con-sumer. An analog set-top box willcost Rs 3,000, while a digital one willcost Rs 6,000.
Apart from this, consumers willhave to buy pay channel bouquetsfrom broadcasters.
There are three major bouquets —Star (14 channels), Zee-Turner (17),and Sony (6) — including the small-er ESPN-Star Sports and Modi Net-works. The Star bouquet costs Rs 50.
McDonald’s outlet stormed:Activists of the Sarvadharm JivdayaSamiti stormed a McDonald’s outletin Vadodara asking it remove displayboards saying beef was not servedthere. P11
Punnpur affair: In a low-key affair,Congress presidentSonia Gandhi hand-ed over the keys ofthe house con-structed by theAICC to Ram Bha-jan, the Dalit fromPunnpur who wasgiven a helping
hand by Priyanka Gandhi. P8
BJP media units: BJP presidentVenkaiah Naidu on Sunday askedhis party’s media units to highlightterrorism, illegal immigrants fromBangladesh, religious conversionand the performance of the NDAgovernment. P7
24 hurt in blast: About 24 per-sons were wounded in a grenadeblast in a crowded market in Kulgamin Pulwama district in south Kashmiron Sunday. Militants also killed anASI of the STF and his son in Bandi-pora in Baramulla district. P11
Waterfowls for dinner: A com-plaint lodged with the Orissa chiefminister says that at least 100 mi-gratory waterfowls from the Chilkalake were cooked and served at abirthday dinner party hosted at theBhubaneswar Club by senior IAS of-ficer Priyabrata Patnaik. P11
Genome music: Spanish scien-tists have turned the human genomeinto music. The end product isGenoma Music, a 10-tune CD, dueto be out in February. The melodieswere influenced, even dictated, bythe mood and rhythm of the underly-ing genetic code. P12
England qualify: England quali-fied for the finals of the triangularone-day series despite losing toAustralia by four wickets at AdelaideOval on Sunday. P18
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Tragedy onropeway: 7die, 60 saved
TIMES NEWS NETWORK & PTI
Pavagadh (Gujarat): Sevenpersons were killed and 20 in-jured, when three of the tencable cars on the ropeway toa Mahakali temple in thePanchmahals district col-lapsed on Sunday.
The deceased, including awoman and a five-year-oldboy, have been identified.
This is the first mishap onthe 700-metre ropeway be-tween Macchi and Pavagadh,a pilgrim town on a hill inPanchmahals. More than 50cable cars operate daily onthe ropeway between Macchiand Pavagadh, which wascommissioned 14 years ago.
The mishap occurredaround noon, when one ofthe ropeway’s cables snapp-ed. It hurled three cable carsinto a trench. Seven cablecars were dangling in the air,trapping 60 pilgrims. All ofthem were rescued by Armyand Air Force personnel.
‘‘All the 60 people trappedin seven cable cars were rescued in an operation that lasted seven hours,’’Panchmahals district super-intendent of police N Kumar said.
According to some reports,onlookers set ablaze the of-fice of Usha Braco, a Kolkata-based private company thatmanned the ropeways.
A magisterial inquiry hasbeen ordered into themishap. According to eyewit-nesses, the ropeway’s pulleycame off, when three trolleysdashed against a beam.
While three injured havebeen admitted to a hospital inPanchmahals district, 17have been shifted to a Vado-dara hospital.
A mixed sense of relief,grief and shock gripped thesurvivors.
Among the injured admit-ted to the SSG Hospital inVadodara was five-year-oldDeepak Patel. He succumbedto severe head injuries.
He fell from the cable caron to a wire mesh, supposedto serve as a safety net in caseof accidents.
Deepak’s father was stillmissing while his motherwas in a semi-conscious statein the hospital. She sustainedinjuries on her back, chest,legs and hands. Deepak’s sister Ansuya said, ‘‘It wasour annual badha. We comefor darshan every year, butthis was hardly what Ithought it would be like. Thebadha was for me.’’
Deepak’s uncle BhikhuTadvi said, ‘‘My sisterJenuben, her husbandGovindbhai and Deepakwere in the cable car. Deep-ak’s skull broke and theHalol PHC could do nothingexcept bandage it. He was lat-er sent here... They fell fromthe cable car on to the wiremesh, but they bounced off.’’
Jaswantiben Patel (30)from the Baroda Dairy es-caped the disaster with mi-norinjuries as the cable col-lapsed when they were closeto the starting point. ‘‘I waslucky, I was close to theground,’’ she said.
MTNL gives back cell linksBy Sanjay Anand
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Cellphone userswere suddenly able to connect toMTNL networks on Sunday after-noon, ending the two-day cell-MTNL connectivity problems.
Cellular operators AirTel andHutch confirmed that their sub-scribers were able to talk toMTNL users from about 2 pm, butwere unable to provide reasonsfor the restoration.
‘‘It was just like power going offand then coming back,’’ saidHutch VP, sales and marketing,Harit Nagpal. AirTel officialssaid a similar thing.
It is believed that connectivitybetween MTNL and private cellu-lar companies in Delhi was re-stored after some intervention bysenior government officials.
Cell firms alleged that MTNLwas behind the service disrup-tion because cell-cell networkscontinued to work. They did notrule out the possibility thatMTNL could have retaliated aftercell firms continued to block thecalls of Tata Indicom that werebeing routed through MTNL.
Telecom networks of cell firmsand Indicom are not yet intercon-nected because the two sides arefighting on commercial terms.
Cellular operators resented thefact that state-owned companiesMTNL (which operates in Delhiand Mumbai) and BSNL (whichoperates in the rest of the coun-try) were taking away Indicom’straffic, bypassing them.
They blocked Indicom’s andHFCL’s traffic on MTNL andBSNL and have not restored iteven after a show cause from thetelecom regulator, TRAI.
Cell operators are demandingthat basic phone companies paythem Rs 1.20 per call for connect-ing with their subscribers like
cell users pay basic operators.The parity, they say, will help
cell operators make incoming ca-lls free much like WLL-M (mobilewireless in local loop) service.
Cellular companies are op-posed to basic phone companies(like Indicom, HFCL and Re-liance) being allowed to provideWLL-M, without being provideda level playing field.
Sunday’s restoration of servic-es, said industry officials, neededto be followed by a proper net-work, interconnection deals andresolution of the WLL-M case.
On Monday, the telecom dis-pute tribunal, TDSAT, will beginproceedings on the WLL-M caseon the Supreme Court’s order. It
may also hear cell firms’ pleaagainst TRAI, BSNL, MTNL andIndicom on the interconnectivitywar. Then cellular firms have toshow cause to TRAI for continu-ing to block Indicom’s calls fromMTNL/BSNL. TRAI also has tohear a complaint against MTNL’stwo-day connectivity disruption.
Meanwhile, communicationsminister Pramod Mahajan willkick off a three day SupercommIndia exhibition.
Pak action aviolation ofcode: MEA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: India has takenserious note of the harass-ment of its charge d’affairesin Pakistan, Sudhir Vyas.Vyas’ vehicle was blockedseveral times by intelligenceofficials while he was goingto attend engagements in Is-lamabad on Saturday.
‘‘We have received reportsof tailing and harassment ofVyas (currently holding thecharge in the absence of In-dia having any high commis-sioner in Pakistan),’’ exter-nal affairs ministryspokesperson Navtej Sarnasaid on Sunday.
‘‘This is part of a patternof harassment of Indiandiplomats followed by Pak-istani agencies. It is in viola-tion of the bilateral code of conduct, internationalnorms as well as the ViennaConvention,’’ added Sarna.
AFP
Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan lead the funeral procession of literary giant and poet Harivanshrai Bachchan in Mumbai on Sunday. Obituary on page 10
Fog blinds all traffic in cityTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Fog disrupted air andrail traffic here on Sunday, leavingbehind a trail of rescheduledflights, delayed trains and harriedpassengers.
The visibility at the IGI airportdipped below 200 metre at 10.49 pmon Saturday. Air traffic was dis-rupted for over 11 hours.
‘‘After the long disruption, aLufthansa flight was the first touse the airport. The plane landedat 9.40 am,’’ said an airport official.
‘‘The situation has been bad allthrough the week,’’ said a seniorAirport Authority of India officialon Sunday.
Barring one day, fog forced clo-sure of airports throughout lastweek, he said.
An Indian Airlines official saidthe prolonged spell of fog over thecity had reduced flight operationperiod at airports to just over six
hours a day. ‘‘It is proving difficultto clear the backlog as about 13 to14 planes have not reached Delhi.’’
At the domestic airport, thechaos and inconvenience causedby delays reportedly led to heatedarguments between passengersand airlines staff.
Rail passengers were probablyworse off. As train delays compounded on Sunday, crowdsspilled over from waiting rooms toplatforms. Several passengersspent their entire day on platforms
braving chilly winds.Over 54 trains were either can-
celled or rescheduled due to fog.Many trains reached Delhi behindschedule. At least 10 trains were re-portedly running over 10 hours behind schedule on Sunday, a rail-way official said.
On the roads, there were severalminor accidents though no casual-ties were reported. In one such ac-cident on the Okhla-Noida tollbridge, a Baleno car hit a vehiclewhose driver stopped it in the mid-dle due to poor visibility.
‘‘The errant driver had not evenswitched on his blinkers,’’ said atraffic police officer.
Tania, a private firm executive,claimed she almost lost her waywhile returning home. ‘‘It was dif-ficult to drive in the green areanext to the IIT campus. I helplesslylooked on as clouds of fog settleddown on the road ahead,’’ she said.
IndiaS M Krishna faces revoltfrom within Cong afterDeshmukh’s ouster Page 10
InternationalFearful Saudi leadersseek a way to oustSaddam HusseinPage 13
Agassi, Ferreira moveup; Davenport crashesout of Australian OpenPage 20
Times Sport
New Delhi, Monday, January 20, 2003 Capital 34 pages* Invitation Price Rs. 1.50
What went wrong?For most of the weekend, cellular subscriberswere not able to connect to MTNL phones and vice versa.
Why did it happen?MTNL disrupted traffic because cellular operatorshave been blocking WLL calls coming from MTNL network.
How was it fixed?No one really knows. MTNL officials remained unavailable for comment, but cellular officials said that their networks were working.
What’s next?Networks should work on Monday as cellular operators explain their stand to the telecom regulator, TRAI.
INTERCONNECTIVITY MESS
• Analysts say that Rs 200 amonth to a cable operator ismore than fair • The free-to-air channels should not cost more than Rs 40 to cover the cable operator’s expenses
PAY TO VIEW
• The prolonged spell of foghas reduced flight operationperiod at airports to just oversix hours a day • As train delays compoundedon Sunday, passengers spenttheir entire day on platformsbraving chilly winds
STRANDED AGAIN
• The mishap occurredon a mountain ropewayto the pilgrim town ofPavagadh• Sixty pilgrims weretrapped in seven cablecars dangling in the air• An inquiry has been ordered into the mishap• Eyewitnesses say theropeway’s pulley cameoff, leading to the collapse
Comment: In the interest of theindustry — and most importantlyin the interest of the consumer —the authorities should ensure a level playing field so that there are no further glitches inconnectivity.
Comment: The government shouldtry and promote as much competi-tion as possible so that the consumeris kept fully in the picture at the low-est possible price.
Max. 17.1oC/ Min. 4oCMoonset: Tuesday — 0929 hrs.Moonrise: Monday — 1951 hrs.Sunset: Monday — 1750 hrs.Sunrise: Tuesday — 0714 hrs.
Related report and picture on page 4
Picture on page 8
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CMYK
D E L H I The Times of India, New Delhi2 Monday, January 20, 2003
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Q: When do yousee the smallscreen revolution-ising and becom-ing as interesting
as the big screen?-RimA: Small screen has alreadystarted giving a lot of competition to the latter. Alot of what an Indian cine audience used to watch inmovie halls, he can see it inthe luxury of his house onTV. TV can bring much morediversity and this has already started putting
pressure on filmmakers.Q: According to you, whatare the expectations of theIndian TV viewers?-NeoA: The Indian TV viewer expects a lot more thanmundane, cloned serials.One needs to map the mindset of the Indian TV viewersto understand that only creatively designed programming which toucheshis sense and sensibilitiescould whet his appetite. Intelligent humour in our TVserials is thoroughly lacking.
“Indian TV viewers expect a lot more than mundane, cloned serials” — NAVEEN CHAMOLI,
Media & Entertainment Strategist, Planman Life
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NATIONAL BOARD OF EXAMINATIONS(AN AUTONOMOUS BODY OF THE MINISTRY OF
HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE)
SCREENING TESTFOR INDIAN NATIONALS WITH FOREIGN MEDICAL QUALIFICATIONS
FOR
MCI REGISTRATIONNational Board of Examinations has been entrusted by the Governmentof India to conduct the Screening Test for Indian Nationals with foreignmedical qualifications. The purpose of the screening test shall be onlyto qualify for his or her registration with the Medical Council of India orany State Medical Council and qualifying the same shall not confer anyother right whatsoever on a candidate.The examination will be held on Saturday the 29th and Sunday the 30th
March 2003 at Delhi. The exact venue of the examination will beintimated to the candidate individually and can also be seen on thewebsite (www.natboard.org).Bulletin of Information and Application form can be obtained from:1. Forms can also be downloaded from the website-
(www.natboard.org). The downloaded forms MUST beaccompanied by a demand draft of Rs. 3500/- (form+exam fee)drawn in favour of National Board of Examinations, New Delhi.The envelopes may be superscribed - “Application for ScreeningTest for Indian Nationals with Foreign Medical Qualifications.
2. Assistant Controller of ExaminationNational Board of ExaminationsMahatma Gandhi Marg,Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029(through Bank Draft of Rs. 500/- drawn in favour of National Boardof Examinations payable at New Delhi)Instructions contained in the current Bulletin for March, 2003examinations should alone be consulted for filling up theapplication form.Application form duly completed with all particulars should reachthe Assistant Controller of Examinations, latest by 28th Feb 2003.Applications received after the last date will not be considered atany circumstances.Incomplete application forms without requisite enclosures areliable to be rejected and no correspondence whatsoever will beentertained in this regard.
davp 1041(10)2002
TENDER NOTICEThe Executive Engineer,
Construction Division-II,C.P.W.D., B-322, I.P. Bhawan,I.P. Estate, New Delhi-110002on behalf of President of India,invites sealed item rate tenderfrom the approved and eligiblecontractors of CPWD and thoseof appropriate list of MES upto3:00 P.M. on 30.01.03 whichshall be opened at 3:30 P.M. onthe same day.Name of Work: A/R & M/O 294type-V qrs. and 26 type-IV (SPL)qrs. at Nivedita Kung, Sector-X,R.K. Puram, New Delhi. SH:Watch and Ward of unoccupiedquarters and common Areas.Estimated cost: Rs.15,06,501/-. Earnest Money:Rs. 37,663/-. Time Allowed: 12Months. Cost of tender: Rs.500/-.
Complete conditions regar-ding submission of tenders areavailable in the office of theEE/CD-II, C.P.W.D., New Delhi.The contractor must submitvalid Income Tax ClearanceCertificate and Sales TaxRegistration Certificate beforetender papers can be sold tohim. Tender papers can bepurchased at the office between11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. onevery working day exceptSunday and public holiday upto27.01.03. Receipt of applicationfor issue of tender form will bestopped on 25.01.03 by 4.00p.m.
All intending C.P.W.D. as wellas Non-C.P.W.D. contractorsmust have completed at leastthree works amounting to Rs.4,52,000/- each of similar natureduring last five years and theywill have to produce thecertificate to this effect at thetime of submission ofapplication for issue of tender.
Earnest Money (unlessexempted) should be depositedin Reserve Bank of India, NewDelhi and receipt challan sentwith the tender or it may bedeposited in the form of depositat call receipt and fixed depositof a scheduled bank guaranteedby the Reserve Bank of India infavour of Executive Engineer,Construction Division-II,C.P.W.D., New Delhi.
Sd/- Executive EngineerConstruction Division-II
CPWD, New Delhi
‘Chor Bizarre’ vouchers awarded as consolation prizes to Prabha Bhargav, Vikram, Ajeet Singh, Nidhi Chopra, Neeraj Virmani, Arvind Dhayal, Rahul Chaturvedi, V.P. Verma, Naveen Verma, Deepshikha Mohan, Ashish, Praveen, Sidharth Bhargav, Preet Tanwar, Angel, S.J. Duvedi, Sandeep Malhotra, Rahul Mishra, T.R. Joshi, Anagat Chabra, Roopa Jain and Veena Joshi
Manpreet Brar awards winners of Dilli Dambola at The Grand New Delhi. (From left) Divya Trehan won a 29” Philips TV. Neelu Kapoor and Dinesh Dubey each won a 14” Philips TV.
Pop singer Anamika presents a Durian gift voucherof Rs 50000 to Virender Kumar Arora and a 14”Philips TV to Harsh Parmar.
Photographs: K K Laskar
Su-30s to formTrishul on R-Day
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A new ‘Trishul’manoeuvre by three Sukhoi-30 fighter jets will be the cli-max of this year’s RepublicDay parade in which 25 air-craft will take part.
‘‘As the three Su-30s flyover the spectators, the wing-men will carry out upwardand outward splits and theleader will execute a three-and-a-half turn ‘VerticalCharlie’, to form the ‘Tr-ishul’ over Rajpath,’’ IndianAir Force (IAF) spokesper-son Squadron Leader R KDhingra said on Thursday.
The airshow will includethree MI-17IVs, the advancedversion of the high-altitudehelicopters used during theKargil conflict, and four MI-35 assault helicopters. Tendeep-penetration Jaguars, intwo arrowheads, flying at 780kmph, will also take part inthe flypast.
Stating that the rehearsalsfor the flypast would beginon Friday, the IAF appealedto the people not to throweatables and garbage in theopen along the flypast routesince birds posed ‘‘a seriousthreat to aircraft flying at lowlevels’’.
MCD will probeparking lot fraud
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: A vigilance in-quiry has been ordered intothe terms of contract be-tween the Delhi MunicipalCorporation (MCD) and acontractor running an un-derground parking lot atAsaf Ali Road.
The civic agency’s deal forthe annual contract and suc-cessive renewals is suspectedto have caused a loss ofcrores of rupees to the ex-chequer.
Officials of the remunera-tive project cell have alleged-ly shown undue favour to thecontractor by offering con-cessions in payment of dues.
Leader of the opposition in
MCD, Subhash Arya, said onFriday senior MCD officialswere involved in offering thecontractor rebates rangingfrom 25 to 40 per cent of theannual contract fee.
‘‘Officials appear to haveshown undue favour towardsthe contractor. Not only werepenalties waived, but also hewas also offered relief on thepayment of dues,’’ he alleged.
Chairman of the standingcommittee, Ram Babu Shar-ma, ordered an inquiry intothe matter of award of con-tract for the parking lot. ‘‘Of-ficers and employees foundguilty of irregularitieswould be severely punished,’’he said.
Racket in fakearms licencesbusted
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Faridabad: A licence clerkin the deputy commission-er’s office, a draftsman in theSP’s office and an employeeof a local arms dealer havebeen arrested for their in-volvement in issuing of fakearms licences.
Draftsman Ashok Kumarallegedly forged the signa-tures of the DSP and SP, usedfictitious ration card andhelped one Chhote Khan, aresident of Ghaziabad, to getan arms licence. A case offraud has been filed againstclerk Om Prakash, drafts-man Ashok Kumar andFaridabad Gun House em-ployee Sunil Kumar, and hisbrother Rajiv Ranjan andChamanpal.
The case came to light dur-ing a special drive launchedto unearth unlicenced arms.It was found that no one bythe name of Chhote Khanlived at the given address inSehatpur village. The policethen traced Khan.
He told the police thatAshok Kumar used his posi-tion to get the fictitious pa-pers verified from SeraiKhawaja police station andforwarded the documents tothe licence clerk in the DC’soffice after faking the signa-tures of the DSP and SP. Thepolice said the three accusedalso helped some more peo-ple in getting arms licences.
Three accident deaths: A 45-year-oldcook with the Navy died in a road mishap onSaturday night. According to the police, theaccident took place at the flyover oppositethe ISBT. Nathi Singh, a resident of PauriGarhwal, was found dead on the flyover di-
vider. The police established his identitythrough the CSD identity card in his pocket.the Kashmere Gate police have registered acase of causing death due to rash and negli-gent driving. In another accident, two youthsdied and one was injured on Saturday night.
CMYK
This minister likesfacts, not fictionAjay Maken (City powerand transport minister):● Born on: January 12, 1954. AjayMaken studied at St Xavier’sSchool in Civil Lines where he wasawarded the best all rounder prize.He joined Delhi University’s Han-sraj College thereafter. For thefirst two years, he studied Chem-istry honours but then shifted to BA (Pass) in the third year when hewas elected university president.
Maken said theshift was essen-tial because hecould not attendChemistry prac-tical classes.
● Been there done that: Theyoungest Delhi Cabinet member,Maken’s tryst with fame reachedits heights when he initiated pow-er reforms in Delhi. The distribu-tion of electricity was handed overto two private firms. During histenure as transport minister, thecity’s commercial vehicles shiftedto CNG, and air pollution levelsdropped. Even though glitchesmarked the initial availability ofCNG, the procedures weresmoothened out.● Loves to: Switch TV channels.Maken said he hardly had anytime to himself. But whenever hedid, he found going through differ-ent TV channels very relaxing.Maken also reads but never fic-tion. ‘‘I like to read books thatteach something new. I usuallypick up authors who specialise ina certain subject,’’ he said.● Mantra of success: Focus andpatience. Maken said he simplygoes by what is to be done and doesit. ‘‘I do not get distracted easily. Isimply go ahead and complete agiven task despite any number ofhurdles,’’ he said.
NINAN’S CITY
D E L H IThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 3
Pvt participation sought in hospitalsTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The Delhi state government wants to run its 100-bedded hospitals with private participation. This was an-nounced by city health minister A K Walia at the 97th birthanniversary of Padma Vibhushan late Dharma Vira at theSir Ganga Ram Hospital on Sunday.
Walia said the government had started around 10 new hos-pitals and more were under construction. Hospital chairmanS K Sama also expressed a desire to help in the government’sBhagidari programme for the poor. Chief minister SheilaDikshit presented awards to hospital workers.
‘Fare increasewon’t affectdrive againstauto drivers’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Delhi statetransport minister AjayMaken said even though afare hike for autorickshawswas in the offing, the enforce-ment drive against those whorefuse passengers or do notply by the meter would con-tinue.
‘‘The drive is an ongoingprocess and will not stop. Wemay consider an increase inthe fare structure but disci-plinary measures includingimpounding of autos wouldcontinue,’’ he said.
Maken said the report ofthe committee formed to lookinto a possible hike had beenforwarded to the cabinet for adecision. The recommenda-tions would then be sent tothe Lt-Governor for ap-proval.
A source in the transportdepartment said: ‘‘After thehike, the minimum farewould be Rs 10. This would beincentive enough for autos toaccept customers who maywant to go a short distance.As of now the minimum fareis Rs 5.’’
The source added: ‘‘Thefare per kilometre would beincreased from Rs 2.50 to Rs3.50. Despite the hike, passen-gers would probably have topay less than what they havebeen paying. All autos wouldhave to ply by the meter.’’
Besides, a hike in the nightcharges is also expected.‘‘Passengers would have topay about 20 per cent extrabetween 11 pm and 6 am,’’ thesource said.
Maken said: ‘‘We havemade the autorickshawunions accept a code of con-duct and we have also toldthem that a default would in-vite strict action from our en-forcement department. In allabout 22 unions have accept-ed the code.’’
The source said, ‘‘Thetransport department is get-ting a distance-fare chartmade. This chart would coverabout 2,500 different destina-tions in the city. From Febru-ary 15, auto drivers wouldhave to display this chart intheir vehicles.’’
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Your garbage will get youBy Rahul Chhabra
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: It’s a race against time. About 6,500tonnes of garbage is generated in the city dailyand dumped at landfill sites. These sites are fastgetting filled and in the absence of any news onof new sites, the Delhi Municipal Corporation(MCD) seems to be heading for major trouble.
MCD officials admit the city is running out ofspace to dump garbage but express helpless-ness as there is very little space left in the cityand some neighbouring states have refused toprovide landfill sites.
The three existing landfill sites — at Bhal-swa, Ghazipur and Okhla — have already out-lived their utility.
‘‘Bhalswa is overflowing, the Okhla site isout of use and Ghazipur cannot be stretched formore than a year,’’ said director sanitation, V KMehrotra. ‘‘If a new site for a sanitary landfill(SLF) is not found soon, the situation could getcritical,’’ he said.
B y2007, thecity is ex-pected top r o d u c e8 , 0 0 0
tonnes. ‘‘This will go up to 18,000 tonnes by2021,’’ a senior official said.
MCD officials said the huge quantities ofgarbage being dumped on overflowing landfillsites could collapse during heavy rain. ‘‘Addi-tional load on an existing site might createcracks. This will allow pollutants to seep intothe earth and contaminate ground water,’’ anofficial said.
Additional commissioner Ramesh Negi saidthe only way out was to shift Delhi’s garbage toother areas in the National Capital Region.‘‘Delhi does not have land, but can invest in bor-dering states where land is available and cheap-er,’’ he said.
The MCD had pinned its hopes on a 142-acreplot in the Narela-Bhawana area, but litigationin the high court has come in the way. A 52-acreplot in Jaitpur near Badarpur for building alandfill has also run into complications.
‘‘The only hope now are pits in Bhatti mines,which if given to us would serve the city forover 50 years,’’ said MCD commissioner RakeshMehta.Standing committee chairman RamBabu Sharma said the fate of the project woulddepend on the environment impact reportabout the two pits selected for use as landfillsites. ‘‘The studies were ordered after environ-mentalists argue that using the pits would ad-versely affect the environment of the area,’’ hesaid.
Mehta said earlier, the civic agency had se-lected seven pits, but environmentalists had ob-jected saying these fell partly in the Ridge areaand partly in the Asola sanctuary. Environ-mentalists also feared that the liquid pollutantsin the garbage would contaminate ground wa-ter. ‘‘We then selected two pits, numbers 1 and7, neither of which fell in the area under theRidge or the sanctuary,’’ Mehta said.
The environment impact report should calmall concerns, he said. ‘‘We took care while se-lecting the pits. The site was declared suitablefor an engineered landfill in a study conductedby consultants aided by the World Bank,’’ hesaid.
TOI
MOUNTAINOUS PROBLEM: The Ghazipur landfill is overflowing with garbage.
IN THENEWS
LET’S MAKEDELHI BETTER
Where westand The three existing landfill siteshave outlived their utility. Bhalswa isoverflowing, the
Okhla site will not last formore than 6 months andGhazipur a year.
DEADLY DUMPINGMore tocome About6,500 tonnes ofgarbage is generated everyday in the city.
By 2007, the volume isexpected to touch 8,000tonnes.
2 No concretesolution The142-acre plot inNarela-Bawanaarea is tied up in litigation. A
proposed site in Bhattimines is facing oppositionfrom environmentalists.
31Clean ways of disposing waste
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: As landfills are of-ten criticised for being an out-dated technique for garbagedisposal, city planners havetried to look for alternativeways. Some ideas related tohandling of garbage and man-agement of landfill sites for al-ternative use of waste are:
Composting: The DelhiMunicipal Corporation (MCD)in 1999 opened a compost plantat Bhalswa with capacity toprocess 500 tonnes garbagedaily. Almost 40 per cent ofgarbage brought to the plantgets converted into compost.But plant has suffered due topoor demand for the compost.‘‘Due to a subsidy for chemicalfertilisers, the cost of compostproduced by the plant appears
costly to potential buyers,’’said an MCD sanitation de-partment official.
Chicken feed: The MCDhad chalked out plans plans toconvert waste generated bythe Idgah abattoir into chick-en feed and tallow. A plant wasproposed to be set up inGhazipur, east Delhi, for thispurpose. The waste from theslaughter house is normallydumped at the Ghazipur land-fill. The chicken feed was to besold to poultry farmers whiletallow was to go units manu-facturing detergents andsoaps.
Power generation: The ill-fated Timarpur plant of 1980s,set up with assistance from theHolland government, couldnever produce electricity from
garbage. Despite its failure,the MCD had in 2000 proposedto set up by a power plant atthe Ghazipur landfill.
The Rs 12-crore project wassupposed to use up around 800tonnes of garbage daily andgenerate 10 mw.
Trapping methane gas fordomestic use: State-of-the-arttechnology was proposed to beused to harness gases that areemitted from garbage. MCD of-ficials said garbage at landfillsites emitted 12 tonnes of gasper acre every day. As per theMCD’s plan, private entrepre-neurs were to be provided landat landfill sites for collectinggases by boring pipes there.The gas was to be provided tohouseholds through pipes fordomestic use.
What you need is a defrost button
CMYK
D E L H I The Times of India, New Delhi4 Monday, January 20, 2003
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WEATHERRain or snow is likely to occur at isolated places inHimachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Rain orthundershowers are likely to occur at isolatedplaces in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and southTamil Nadu. Mainly dry weather will prevail over the
rest of the country. The trough in the lower levels over southwestbay now lies off south Tamil Nadu coast and adjoining Sri Lanka insouthwest bay.
Max Min
INDIA
Guwahati 26 08Dehradun 21 05Hyderabad 28 13Indore 28 08Jaipur 24 02Lucknow 15 05Patna 16 04Rajkot 32 16Shimla 16 09Srinagar 09 -03
FLIGHTS OUTOF DELHI
Mumbai: I-A 0700,0800, 0900, 1200, 1300,1700, 1800, 1900, 2000,2300 Jet Air 0650,0800, 0935, 1400, 1725,1935, 2030, 2200,Sahara 0700,1800, 2015KOLKATA: I-A 0700,1600★★ ,1700,1945Jet Air 0600, 1720,Sahara0705,1915CHENNAI: I-A0640,0955★★★1645,1900 Jet Air0645,1900BANGALORE:I-A 0650, 1645, 1900Jet Air 0635,1715,Sahara 0715, 1745HY’BAD:I-A 0630, 1745GOA: I-A 1200,Sahara 1135 KULU: Jagson 0630,0650, 1215 ★AHMEDABAD:I-A 0600,1700★★ 1845,Jet Air 0610 GUWAHATI—BAGDOGRA:I-A 0555★★ , 1010•★ Jet Air 1010
BANGKOK/TOKYO:Thai Air 0010 (TG-316), I-A 0050 (IC-855) FRANKFURT: Lufthansa0305 (LH-761) AMSTERDAM:KLM 0140 (KL-472) LONDON/NEW YORK:British Air 0210 (BA-142), A-I 0715 (AI-111) PARIS: Air France 0040(AF-147) SINGAPORE: Sin’poreAirlines 2055 (SQ-07),I-A 0050 (IC-855) HONG KONG/SEOUL:A-I 2340 (AI-312)United Airlines 0215(UA-2) ROME/MANCHESTER:A-I 0300 (AI-131)
MUMBAI: 0315 (AI755),0345 (AI 156), 0615(AI 146), 2330 (AI 112) GOA: 1245 (AI 643)
NATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL
AIR INDIA
Ph: I-A:140,142. ★ Mon, Wed,Fri, ★★ Tue, Thu, Sat, ★★★Mon-Fri, Sun, Jet Air: (City)6853700, (Airport) 5665404Sahara: (City) 335901-9,(Airport) 5675234/875, (Tele-Checkin) 5662600. • Mon, Fri.
A-I: (City)3736446 /47/48 (Air.)5652050, British Air : (Air.)5652908, Lufthansa:3323310, Singapore Airlines:3356286, United Airlines: 91-357 555, Thai Air: 3323638
TRAIN RESERVATIONS
No. of passengers dealt on 18.01.2003 (Delhi Area): 47,722 (N. Rly. Area)1,80,427. It does not necessarily mean that reservation is available on allsubsequent dates. For further information regarding reservation: Ph: 131 forcomputerised PNR, for status enquiry contact 1330, 1335, 1345.
(Information supplied by Indian Railways)
Earliest date on which berth / seats were available at 1402 hrs. on19.01.2003 in important trains leaving various Delhi stations.
Train No. Train / Exp / Mail 1 ac 2 ac Ac 3t SlNORTH4033 Jammu Mail 20.01 20.01 26.01 20.014645 Shalimar Exp — 29.01 30.01 20.012403 Jammu Exp 20.01 20.01 20.01 29.01EAST2302 Calcutta Rajdhani 21.01 21.01 26.01 —2304 Poorva Exp 22.01 22.01 22.01 30.012382 Poorva Exp 20.01 20.01 21.01 17.022312 Kalka Mail N.A. 21.01 30.01 29.012392 Magadh Exp N.A. 20.01 20.01 20.012402 Shramjeevi Exp — 20.01 20.02 20.012418 Prayag Raj Exp 25.01 22.01 22.01 20.014056 Brahmputra Mail — N.A. 16.02 16.025622 North East Exp — 21.01 12.02 18.022554 Vaishali Exp 20.01 23.01 22.01 23.012816 Puri Exp — 20.01 23.01 22.012802 Purshottam Exp — 29.01 05.02 26.018476 Neelanchal Exp — 26.01 26.01 21.014230 Lucknow Mail 24.01 26.01 27.01 26.01WEST2904 Golden Temple Mail 21.01 22.01 21.01 10.022926 Paschim Exp 20.01 27.01 28.01 05.022952 Mumbai Rajdhani 21.01 24.01 26.01 —2954 AG Kranti Rajdhani 22.01 20.01 22.01 —2474 Sarvodaya Exp — 30.01 23.01 23.011078 Jhelum Exp — 21.01 21.01 10.022916 Ashram Exp 20.01 27.01 22.01 27.01SOUTH2616 G T Exp 20.01 21.01 21.01 20.012622 Tamil Nadu Exp 23.01 20.01 22.01 21.012432 Trivandrum Raj 21.01 28.01 21.01 —2626 Kerala Exp — 20.01 20.01 22.012618 Mangala Exp — 30.01 26.01 21.012628 Karnataka Exp — 20.01 20.01 20.012724 A P Exp 22.01 21.01 21.01 20.012430 Banglore Rajdhani 20.01 21.01 27.01 —7022 Dakshin Express — 22.01 — 21.01
Max MinDelhi 16 04Mumbai 34 22Chennai 29 23Kolkata 25 12Bangalore 29 16Ahm’bad 30 12T’puram 34 23Bhopal 27 06B’eshwar NA 11Pune 28 10
WORLDMax Min
Amsterdam 05 02 Bahrain 21 13 Bangkok 32 22 Beijing 02 -06 Chicago -04 -14 Geneva 06 -02 Hong Kong 21 14 London 08 02 Los Angeles 28 11
Fog is too much for the ILS By Rahul Chhabra
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Overcomingfog-related delays at the In-dira Gandhi International(IGI) airport, it seems, willremain a dream in the nearfuture due to limitations inthe advanced InstrumentalLanding System (ILS) Cate-gory-III (A).
The ILS Cat-III (A), whichguides a pilot to land andtake off from the airport inpoor visibility conditions, isincapable of ensuring airtraffic movement in zerovisibility.
‘‘More often than not thedense fog that envelops thecity in peak winter createsconditions with zero visibil-ity. Such conditions usuallyset in about 11 in theevening and last till noonthe next day. And duringthis 12-hour period the Cat-III (A) system is of little useand all activities at the air-port comes to a grindinghalt,’’ said an airportofficial.
The Cat-III (A) system atIGI airport was importedfrom Germany and in-stalled at a cost of Rs 50crore. The system enableslanding when runway visi-bility is 200 metres but is oflittle help if visibility dipsbelow this level.
Aviation experts believecity’s fog woes can be miti-gated only if Cat-III (C) sys-tem which helps blind land-ing and enables taxing of anaircraft from runway tothe bay is installed at theairport.
Chairman of Airport Au-thority of India (AAI), S KNarula, said a system so-phisticated enough for blindlanding is not used any-
where in the world for civilaviation. ‘‘We have no otheroption but to live with thelimitations of the Cat-III (A)ILS. There is no precedenceof using a Cat-III (C) ILS atcivil airports and we are notconsidering it as a solutionfor fog delays in Delhi,’’ hesaid.
On the other hand, pilotsclaim the Cat-III (A) ILS atthe IGI airport doesn’t workto perfection. ‘‘Recurringcommunication snags be-tween the control tower andthe outer marker at IIT inHauz Khas have neverreally given us the confi-dence to use the systemfreely,’’ said an domesticairline pilot.
An AAI official said re-curring fog delays are morelinked to lack of training ofpilots in using Cat-III (A)
ILS. ‘‘The facility is mainlybeing used by pilots of in-ternational airlines. Very
few domestic airline pilotsare using it,’’ he said.
‘‘Besides, very few pilotsare believed to have com-pleted the mandatory train-ing required to use the newsystem. Even the numberthose trained for the lowerCategory-II system is verysmall,’’ he said.
Civil aviation ministry of-ficials co-ordinating pilottraining with the DirectorGeneral of Civil Aviationcountered this by claimingthe number of pilotstrained for Cat-II and Cat-III(A) has been increasingsteadily.
According one of them,nearly 100 Indian Airlinespilots, 140 Air India pilotsand around 80 pilots fromprivate airlines had com-pleted the training in Cat-III(A) system till 2001.
Neeraj Paul
NO ILLS HERE: While zero-visibility may have grounded flights, Delhiites were undeterred intheir movement on a foggy Sunday morning.
Fog alert• Flight delays due tofog not ruled out incoming days.Glitches•The InstrumentLanding System in-stalled at IGI airportis not capable ofblind landings.•The available ILS fa-cility at IGI airport isnot being used to itsoptimum due to lackof training of pilots.•Even trained pilotslack faith in thefacility.
Out of focus
Power crisis foranother 7 days,says Maken
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Residents ofmany areas in Delhi woke toa cold, grey and powerlessSunday morning. The cityfaced a massive shortfall inpower supply that triggeredoff loadshedding in severalcolonies.
Despite the fact that mostoffice complexes were shut,the availability of electricityfell short by about 500 MW. Inmany east Delhi colonies, thepower supply went off at 7am and was restored only at10 am.
Nita Mehta, a resident ofShakarpur said, ‘‘The day be-gan miserably. It was coldand damp. I could not switchon the heater. It was quite ahorrible weekend.’’
At Inderpuri in west Delhi,the residents of BF-blocksaid that they had been put-ting up with power cuts thatlasted more than 10 hours,for over three days.
Delhi power minister AjayMaken said the power short-age was likely to continue foranother week.
‘‘The weather conditionshave aggravated and thepower demand in the domes-tic segment has gone up con-siderably.’’
He said, ‘‘There would notbe much change in the city’spower situation till theDadri-Rihand transmissionline was restored. This linebrings us about 300 MW ofpower and has been out of or-der since early January,’’ hesaid.
He said the line would be-gin functioning on January26. ‘‘The problem in the line
is due to a faulty transformerin Rihand. First the PowerGrid Corporation officialstried to repair the trans-former and when they failedthey decided to get anothertransformer from Dadri,’’he said.
Maken said the whole ofnorthern India was facing acrunch. ‘‘All transmissionlines are overburdened dueto the breakdown. Even if
the Northern Grid sends usmore power, the present net-work is not capable of carry-ing it to us,’’ he said.
The third unit of the Pra-gati power plant will startfunctioning on January 29.‘‘We will get about 110 MW ofelectricity from this unit andthis should ease the shortfallconsiderably,’’ he said.
The problem• Although mostoffices were shuton Sunday, there wasa shortfall of about500 MW.•The situation couldtake a week toimprove.Fault points•The Dadri-Rihandtransmission line,which supplies 300MW, is yet to berestored.•The prolonged coldconditions havepushed up powerdemand beyondcapacity.
Short supply
CMYK
D E L H IThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 5
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Inspector’s killers caught TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The west dis-trict police have arrestedthe killers of Delhi policeinspector Abhey Kumar,who was fatally injuredwhile fighting train dacoitson the Kalka Mail nearMughal Sarai six years ago.Kumar had killed two mem-bers of the Nitya-Satya da-coits gang.
Kumar’s heroism madeheadlines in national dai-lies. The incident had oc-curred in March 1997 whenKumar was travelling to Ho-wrah on the Kalka Mail. Hewas going there in connec-tion with a kidnapping casethat the Civil Lines policestation was investigating.
On Sunday, the policenabbed Nitya Sonar, theleader of the gang alongwith his younger brotherand an associate who wereliving in Prem Nagar in theSultanpuri area underforged identities. Sonar iswanted in more than 12train dacoity/robbery cas-es, deputy commissioner ofpolice (west district) Depen-dra Pathak said.
He was arrested after thepolice received informationthat criminals involved inseveral heinous cases in Bi-har were residing in PremNagar, Pathak said. Follow-ing this a close watch wasmaintained at the premisesand a team was sent to Mug-hal Sarai to confirm NityaSonar’s antecedents and getfurther details, he added.
On Sunday, Sonar, hisbrother Nand Kishore andan associate were spotted inNangloi and surrounded. Inretaliation Sonar openedfire but was eventually dis-armed. On interrogation,Sonar said that he, hisbrother Vidhya and otherassociates had carried out adacoity on the Kalka Mailwhere inspector Kumar wastravelling. Kumar killedSonar’s two associates. Vid-hya was also killed in theencounter.
On Sunday, when the po-lice nabbed the three ac-cused, they recovered twocountry made pistols andtwo live cartridges, a knifeand a polyethene allegedlycontaining potassium chlo-rate used for making acrude bomb. On searchingtheir residential premisesin Prem Nagar, the policerecovered huge quantitiesof looted items includingcameras, wrist watches,walkmans, jewellery, suit-cases, a silver coin and
clothes. They also foundchemicals and materialsused for making bombs in-cluding sulphur, sulphuricacid andpotassium nitrate.Ration cards issued in dif-ferent names were also re-covered.
Sonar’s brother NandKishore ran a TV repairingshop/ CD library in Sultan-puri, but was booked underthe Explosives SubstanceAct a few months ago whenhe was caught throwing acrude bomb.
Katara murder trial begins todayTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The trial in theNitish Katara murder case isscheduled to begin on Mon-day. Rajya Sabha member D PYadav’s son Vikas Yadav andnephew Vishal Yadav arecharged with abduction andmurder of Katara, son of asenior bureaucrat.
Vikas Yadav, meanwhile,has also moved the highcourt to stay the trial. He haspleaded that since he was ac-cused in the Jessica Lall mur-der case as well, he could notattend both hearings simul-taneously.
Additional sessions judgeS N Dhingra on November 23,
2002, charged Vikas Yadavand his cousin Vishal Yadavwith abduction. The judgehad fixed Monday for begin-
ning final arguments. He hadrefused to grant any adjourn-ment and said the trial couldbe held daily.
Appearing on behalf of theaccused, advocates K N Bal-gopal and G K Bharti arguedthat another court of addi-tional sessions judge ManjuGoel was also conducting tri-al in time-bound manner, asinstructed by the high court.
They said it was not practi-cally possible to appear in an-other court as well, wherethey are supposed to proceedon day-to-day basis. Balgopalsaid because of this situa-tion, the trial in Katara casewould be prejudiced andshould be kept at abeyance.
The high court fixed Janu-ary 20 for the response of Ut-tar Pradesh state police coun-sel, the same day when casewas listed for final argumentbefore the trial court.
Earlier last week, the ac-cused had filed another peti-tion in the high court sayinghe should be discharged inthe Katara case. The accusedargued that there was no evi-dence to suggest that Katarahad been forcefully takenaway from the wedding cere-mony. Also, the hammer withwhich Nitish was killed wasnot sent along with bloodsmears for the DNA test to es-tablish whose son the de-ceased was.
Mohammed Ilyas
Seema Singh, widow of inspector Abhey Kumar, with her brother-in-law Mani Bhushan atthe Delhi Police headquarters on Sunday.
• February 16, 2002: Ni-tish Katara abductedfrom a marriage in Gha-ziabad and murdered.• February 23, 2002:Accused Vikas andVishal surrender inDabra, Madhya Pradesh. • August 23, 2002: SCtransfers trial fromGhaziabad to Delhi.• November 23, 2002:Vikas and Vishalcharged with abduction.
Case trail
CMYK
The Times of India, New Delhi6 Monday, January 20, 2003
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I N D I AThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 7
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Terror, Bangla migrantstop Venkaiah’s hitlist
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: BJP presidentVenkaiah Naidu on Sundayasked his party’s mediaunits to highlight terror-ism, illegal immigrantsfrom Bangladesh, religiousconversion and the per-formance of the NDA gov-ernment in the past fouryears.
Addressing the party’smedia cells, he asked partycadres to prepare them-selves for the assembly elec-tions due in 10 states laterthis year and said theyshould aim to win 300 seatsin Lok Sabha elections nextyear.
On the question of illegalimmigrants fromBangladesh, he warnedthat if detection, deletionand deportation is not doneimmediately, there could bea major demographicchange in the country.
Attacking the Congress,he said the party, which tillrecently had been an ardentcritic of the BJP’s conceptof Hindutva, was ‘‘chang-ing its tune. But the party isexpert in doing this, so onewonders whether this is apermanent change of atti-tude’’.
‘‘Cultural nationalism,’’he repeated, ‘‘is closest toour hearts — you can call itwhatever you want. Evenpolitical rivals like MadhyaPradesh chief ministerDigvijay Singh are now be-coming followers of Hin-dutva.’’
He said BJP’s mediaunits had a big responsibil-ity to bring the electronicand print media around tothe party’s line on variousissues as they were itsbiggest critics.
On the English media,Naidu said they wereagainst the party becausethey appear to be in tunewith British colonialism.However, after the Gujarat
assembly polls, Hindu-bashing appears to havetaken a back seat, he added.
Talking to mediapersonslater, Naidu said: ‘‘TheDMK is still BJP’s ally atthe national level eventhough there may havebeen some problems at thestate level between the twoparties.’’
On the DMK’s criticismof the manner in which thegovernment had conductedthe disinvestment process,he said: ‘‘We are ready forconsultations with our al-lies on this issue. There isnothing wrong with theDMK’s suggestion for a de-bate on the issue.’’
On whether the BJPwould contest the comingassembly byelections inTamil Nadu, he said: ‘‘Letus see.’’
Earlier, Naidu, while ad-dressing the BJP ScheduledCaste Morcha here, criti-cised previous govern-ments for not implementat-ing the reservation policyand said the NDA govern-ment was committed to im-plementing the policy sothat there was 50 per centreservation, as envisagedin the Supreme Courtverdict.
TOI
Activists of Panun Kashmir and Youth Wing of the All IndiaKashmiri Samaj lead a torchlight procession near the JantarMantar on Sunday to highlight the plight of the internallydisplaced Pandit community.
Kalla to beCong chief inRajasthan
By Prakash BhandariTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Jaipur: The Central leader-ship of the Congress has giv-en the clearance for makingurban development ministerBulaki Das Kalla the PradeshCongress Committee (PCC)president in place of GirijaVyas.
However, resentment isbrewing in the state unit ofthe party with the strong lobby of the Jat communitydemanding that top post go to someone from the com-munity.
Though sources said thatthe Congress high commandhad recommended that sen-ior minister in the Gehlotcabinet, Kamla — who is aJat — be made the deputychief minister, the lobby isinsisting on the president’spost.
It is also averse to Kamlabeing made the deputy chiefminister as she is a ‘‘liberal’’.
The Jat lobby headed byMember of Parliament SisRam Ola sent feelers to AICCgeneral-secretary AmbikaSoni that the high commandshould do some rethinkingand not impose Kalla as thePCC chief.
Another party MP, ColSona Ram Choudhry, is sup-porting the plea of Ola.
The Jat leaders follow thediktat of the Jat Mahasabhaand its leader Gyan PrakashPilania has told Jat leadersnot to accept the positions ofPCC president and deputychief minister.
He said a Jat getting thechief ministership is longoverdue.
Pilania, who is considereda father figure in the Jat com-munity and led the anti-Con-gress agitation during thelast Lok Sabha elections,feels somebody from the com-munity should head the gov-ernment as it has been back-ing the Congress for over halfa century now. This will havea positive impact on the peas-ants and the party could re-turn to power under a Jatleader.
PollsAsks cadres to aim for300 seats in the nextLok Sabha
MigrantsWarns that illegal Banglamigrants could changeIndia’s demography
HindutvaMedia cells told to bringelectronic, print media totheir point of view
Pep talk
DMK, BJP play down discordTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Chennai: In the light of therecent strain in BJP’s tieswith NDA ally DMK, thePrime Minister’s Office hassent an emissary to TamilNadu in an apparent patch-up move.
Minister of state in thePMO, Vijay Goel, on Sundayheld a 45-minute meetingwith DMK chief Karunanid-hi.
Talking to mediapersonslater, Goel termed the DMKas a ‘‘reliable and valuableally’’. He brushed asidequeries regarding any differ-ences between the two par-ties over the disinvestmentissue.
Goel played down the reso-lution adopted by the DMK atits last executive meeting,cautioning the Centreagainst privatisation. He cit-ed earlier instances whenNDA partners had expressedtheir views.
‘‘Two senior DMK minis-ters, Murasoli Maran and T RBalu, are in the Cabinet and Iforesee no problem,’’ saidGoel.
Karunanidhi too seemedkeen on dispelling notions ofa possible parting of ways.He said the resolution op-posed the sale of profit-mak-ing PSUs and those engagedin essential services andthrowing open of Indian
markets to foreign goods.On whether he had de-
manded that the commerceportfolio — held by Maran,now undergoing treatment inthe US — be given to a DMKmember, Karunanidhi said,‘‘We never bargain for portfo-lios.’’
Goel had, in New Delhi,stated that his visit to Chen-nai was aimed at sorting outdifferences between the BJPand the DMK. Karunanidhi,however, denied that Goelhad come to the state in thecapacity of Prime MinisterVajpayee’s emissary.
Goel also denied reportsthat the BJP was looking for-ward to some sort of align-ment with the AIADMK. Hesaid this was not necessaryas the DMK was a depend-able ally.
On a possible alliance withthe BJP for the byelections inSattankulam, Karunanidhisaid the party would discussthe matter on Monday.
DisagreementDMK-BJP relations hadturned sour over the di-vestment issue
TrucePM’s emissary in TamilNadu, Vijay Goel, saysDMK a reliable ally
Rumours dispelledGoel says BJP is notplanning any truck withJayalalithaa
Patch-up
Amethi’s new name staysLucknow: Uttar Pradeshchief minister Maywati onSunday termed Congresspresident Sonia Gandhi’sstatement, on changingAmethi’s name, as falseand baseless.
In a statement, the chiefminister said the name ofthe newly-constituted dis-trict would not be changedat any cost and that Soniashould have cross-checkedthe facts before issuingsuch a statement.
Mayawati said Amethiconstituency had been re-constituted as a new dis-trict and had been named
after renowned social re-formist ChhatrapatiShahuji Maharaj.
She said the question ofchanging the name did notarise since no district ex-isted earlier in the con-cerned geographical area.
Mayawati said by oppos-ing the precursor of socialchange, ChhatrapatiShahuji Maharaj, the Con-gress was showing disre-spect not only to the sentiments of the back-ward sections of the state,but also to the backward sections of the country. PTI
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I N D I A The Times of India, New Delhi8 Monday, January 20, 2003
Sonia wraps upAmethi foray
By Manjari MishraTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Lucknow: What herdaughter started, Con-gress chief Sonia Gandhifinished. In a wellplanned and closely-guarded move, she hand-ed over the keys of ahouse, constructed by theAll India Congress Com-mittee, to Ram Bhajan. Adalit from Punnpur, RamBhajan’s cause was takenby by Priyanka Gandhiduring her visit to Ame-thi in November.
Contrary to expecta-tions that Priyanka woulddo the needful, Sonia tookthe last-minute decisionand handed over the keysherself.
Many feel Sonia is tak-ing a cautious approach asshe does not want to opentoo many fronts in UP.
Already, the Punnpur in-cident has stirred a hor-nets’ nest and Mayawatimatched it with a dalit ral-ly in Amethi. The Con-gress would not be keen ona repeat performanceahead of the Gauriganj by-election.
The party is on a stickywicket going by its per-formance in the last as-
sembly polls. The Con-gress victory margin waswafer thin.
Congress chances of vic-tory in Gaurignaj are slimin view of a pre-poll al-liance between the BSPand the BJP. According toreports, BSP may not fielda candidate to make theway smoother for the BJP.
With poll mathematicsin favour of the rulingcoalition, the Congresscamp is panicky. A defeatin Gauriganj segment ofAmethi parliamentaryconstituency would be per-sonal blow to Sonia. Ef-forts have already begun toforge an alliance with theSamajwadi Party.
Rajputs in Gujarat seek12 p c quota
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Gandhinagar: Close on theheels of the demand put for-ward by the Rajputs of Ra-jasthan, Gujarat Rajputshave decided to stridently in-sist on a 12 per cent reserva-tion at the international Ra-jput conference at Gandhina-gar which will be held onJanuary 25 and 26.
The demand will be madein the presence of two Rajputministers, BhupendrasinhChudasma and I K Jadeja.
Talking to newspersonshere, conference convenorJayendrasinh Jadeja said,‘‘We will demand quota bothin education and jobs. We ful-fil the criterion of being a so-cially and economicallybackward community(SEBC) as fixed by theSupreme Court.’’
About 10,000 Rajputs fromall over the world will partic-ipate in the meet which willdemand quotas for Rajputs inproportion to their popula-tion in each state.
‘‘This is in lieu of the sac-rifice 664 Rajput princesmade for uniting the coun-try,’’ Jayendrasinh said.
Of the 664 princes who losttheir privileges after thecountry became independ-ent, 200 belonged toSaurashtra.
TOI
Rescue efforts in progress near the Mahakali temple in Panchmahals district in Gujarat on Sunday.
Two killed, 24hurt in attackon J&K market
By M Saleem PanditTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar: About 24 personswere wounded in a grenadeblast in a crowded market inKulgam in Pulwama districtin south Kashmir on Sunday.Militants also killed an assis-tant sub-inspector (ASI) ofthe Special Task Force (STF)and his son in Bandiporain Baramulla district onSunday.
Militants hurled a hand-grenade near a bus stand inKulgam market. No militantoutfit has claimed responsi-bility for the blast.
The injured were shifted todifferent hospitals here, thepolice said.
Three burqa-clad personsentered the house of ASIMustaq Ahmad Bhat andopened fire on the inmates,killing Bhat and his 18-year-old son on-the-spot.
Bhat’s nephew was injuredin the shoot-out, the policesaid.
Mustaq Bhat was targetedpossibly because of his asso-ciation with the STF, the po-lice said.
Militants damaged a BSFvehicle in Sheerabad in Pul-wama district’s Tral butthere was no loss of life, aBSF spokesman said.
Playing safeSonia played down Dalitissue brought up byPriyanka
FearsWants to avoid anotherMayawati rally in Amethi
Way outTo defeat ruling combineCong may look towardsMulayam
Backing off
Housewives miss TV soaps, petition PM By Mohit Dubey
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Lucknow: A group of irkedhousewives in Lucknow havepetitioned Prime MinisterVajpayee and informationand broadcasting ministerSushma Swaraj to take ac-tion against several cable op-erators, who have blockedtransmission of the Star Pluschannel this week, denyingthe ladies their must-seeevening soap operas.
The move, spearheaded by64-year-old SaraswatiMishra, who lives on Sapru
Marg, has brought togetherseveral like-minded telly-bugs. They have called uponthe PM to act on their prob-lem as ‘‘their member of Par-liament’’. A copy of the mem-orandum is also being sent toSushma Swaraj and the en-tertainment commissioner,for ‘‘necessary and promptaction’’. The kitty-party net-work in these areas is also atwork, to provide ‘‘furtherbite to the pressure group’’.
As their first victory inthis conflict, they have al-ready succeeded in puttingenough pressure on a major
cable operator to air record-ed episodes of these serials.
The issue owes its genesisto a recent circular by theStar Group, which informedof a hike in the prices andturned certain channels intopay channels.
Cable operators havepassed on the burden of en-hanced payments to the hap-less subscribers, with thenew subscription chargesvarying between Rs 220 andRs 260. Tony Sikka of the Sik-ka Cable Network says thehike in charges was to beborne jointly by them.
SOS to PMAs their ‘member of Parliament’, housewiveswant the PM to take action
Cause Blocking of transmissionof serials following hikein cable charges
ResultMajor cable operatorhas started airingrecorded episodes
United they stand
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Monday, January 20, 2003 11The Times of India, New Delhi
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I N D I A The Times of India, New Delhi10 Monday, January 20, 2003
Sinha to Iraq:Comply withUN directives
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Patna: External affairs min-ister Yashwant Sinha re-quested Iraq here on Sundaynot to precipitate the ongoingcrisis in the Gulf region. Hesaid Iraq should comply withthe UN directives on the is-sue of weapons of mass de-struction.
He said that it was the re-sponsibility of Iraq to con-vince the UN inspectors thatit did not possess suchweapons. Iraq should imme-diately destroy such weaponsif it did possess them.
However, Sinha made itclear while addressing aPress conference that Indiawas not in favour of any uni-lateral US action againstIraq. India favoured multilat-eral action against Iraq and,that too, under the supervi-sion of UN if the situation sowarranted, he said. He saidthat India was in favour of apeaceful solution to the ongo-ing Iraq crisis.
Sinha justified the pres-ence of the US forces inKuwait and Saudi Arabia,saying both the Gulf coun-tries had given their consent.Replying to a question, hesaid that he did agree withthe view that Iraq PresidentSaddam Hussain should beforced to resign.
Maintaining that exceptfor Pakistan, India’s relation-ship with all countries hadimproved over the years, Sin-ha said the world no longerformed any opinion about In-dia on the basis of the propa-ganda launched by Pakistan.
Dissidents renew call for Krishna’s ousterBy Mahendra Ved
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: The leadershipchange in Maharashtra hasemboldened KarnatakaCongressmen who are seek-ing the ouster of chief min-ister S M Krishna. Theirmain argument is that hishandling of the Cauvery wa-ter dispute with Tamil Naduand the death of formerminister H Nagappa in thecustody of forest brigand
Veerappan has hurt the‘‘pride of the Kannada peo-ple’’.
For the last one month,they have been lobbyinghere. Representations havealready been made to partychief Sonia Gandhi, besidesgeneral secretaries, VayalarRavi, Oscar Fernandes andMukul Wasnik.
Next week, they are ex-pected here for the impend-ing change in the PradeshCongress Committee. But ef-
forts would be made to get achange at the governmentlevel as well, well placedKarnataka party sourcestold Times News Network.
Their main argument isthat come next election, twoyears from now, the partycould suffer badly becauseof Krishna’s handling of thetwo issues. The party, theysay, is already losing groundto a revived Janata Dal andthe BJP.
A minister in the Krishna
cabinet camping here saidthe central leadership hadbeen apprised of the ‘‘alien-ation’’ of the CM from thepeople and the party. TheCM, he claimed, has evenbeen going to his own con-stituency only under heavysecurity cover.
The dissidents say thatthe Krishna governmenthad allowed Nagappa’s ab-duction to drag on for longand failed to act effectivelytill he was killed. Karnataka
Congressmen, particularlythe Lingayats, the communi-ty to which Nagappa be-longed, are drawing compar-isons with the effortsmounted to get Rajkumarreleased two years ago.
In this regard, the chargeslevelled by former policechief C Dinakar that thegovernment had paid a hugeamount as ransom to Veer-appan to secure Rajkumar’srelease had hurt Krishna’scredibility.
VHP criticisesLyngdoh again
By P P SinghTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Guwahati: Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) J MLyngdoh has come under firefrom the VHP once again.
The outfit’s internationalgeneral secretary PraveenTagodia on Saturday at-tacked him for not reactingto the Church issuing guide-lines to voters and politicalparties in Meghalaya and Na-galand.
Togadia was speaking tomediapersons while on athree-day tour of the state.
He said the VHP had comeunder attack in Gujarat formerely advising voters whilein these states, as well asChhattisgarh, the CEC re-mained silent even as theChurch intervened directlyin the electoral process byasking voters to support aparticular party. He pointedout that the church issuing aguideline to voters in a secu-lar state amounted to theoc-racy.
He said any directive is-sued by any organisationother than the Election Com-mission amounted to a directinterference with the elec-toral process and it was theElection Commission’s duty
to put an end to all such prac-tices.
The Church had asked peo-ple to vote for candidates whoare ‘‘God fearing, guided byvalues, committed to workfor the development of thestate and promote fundamen-tal rights of all’’.
Secretay general of theCouncil of Naga BaptistChurches Rev. V K Nuh de-nied the allegation and saidthey had only issued 15guidelines to the people ofNagaland to help the Elec-tion Commission conduct afree and fair election.
‘‘We all know that ECguidelines are not followed.We are only trying to help inenforcing them and givesome directives from ourside which is in tune with thetradition and culture ofNaga society,’’ he said.
Shinde set towin vote ofconfidence
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Chief ministerSushil Kumar Shinde is allset to win the confidence votein the special session of thestate legislative assembly onWednesday.
The Congress LegislatureParty has issued a whip toparty MLAs to attend themeeting.
To ensure that they are ontime, the Congress MLAshave been asked to reachMumbai by Tuesday evening,to avoid any last minute de-lays. Shinde is not takinganything for granted. He hasalso requested other partnersof the Democratic Front (DF)to issue similar whips totheir members.
NCP leader and formerminister Dilip Valse Patilwill be coordinating with theCongress, for ensuring pres-ence of members of thesmaller partners of the DFgovernment.
AICC general-secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Vay-alar Ravi, who supervisedthe change of guard in thestate, has left for Delhi. How-ever, he will return to Mum-bai on Tuesday to remainavailable for consultations.
Shinde inducted two cabi-net and nine ministers ofstates on Saturday, giving adequate representation toindependents .
A poet drunk on life in animmortal Madhushala
By Ambarish MishraTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Mumbai: Madhushala, the literary mas-terpiece of well- known poet HarivanshraiBachchan who passed away in Mumbai onSaturday, intoxicated the Hindi heartlandin the mid-1930s.
Thousands heard him in rapt attentionat kavi sammelans as he unveiled his worldview: A goblet of wine, a book of verse anda life trapped in perpetual struggle. Tracesof Omar Khayyam? Harivanshrai often ad-mitted that Khayyam’s Rubaiyat hadmoulded his sensibilities.
The uniqueness of Harivanshrai as a lit-erary artist lies principally in his ability tooverthrow chhayavaad, the swirl of mysti-cal romanticism which then was the USPof Hindi literature.
Unmoved by criticism and steeled by do-mestic difficulties (financial worries, lone-liness which was compounded by the un-timely death of his first wife, Shyama),Harivanshrai continued to write, combin-ing mature subtlety with discretion.
Harivanshrai’s Hindi translation ofMacbeth and Othello has won critical ac-claim. His four-part autobiography is con-sidered a seminal work. Harivanshrai’smarriage with Teji Suri changed thecourse of his life and, by his own admis-sion, his poetry. Taking a sabbatical fromAllahabad University where he taughtEnglish, he went to the UK in the 1950s toobtain a doctoral thesis on WBYeats.
Harivanshrai was nominated to the Ra-jya Sabha in 1966. Three years later, he wonthe prestigious Sahitya Akademi award. In1976, he was honoured with the Padma
Bhushan in recognition of his sterlingcontribution to Hindi literature. He alsowon the Saraswati Puraskar.
One is prompted to recall Harivan-shrai’s description of a cup of wine inMadhubala: Mitti ka tan, masti ka man,kshan-bhar jivan — mera parichay!...(Abody of clay, a mind full of joy, a momen-tary life — my introduction.)
New crownsfor Miss Indiaunveiled
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bangalore: The 26 finalistsof the Sunsilk Femina MissIndia 2003 made their firstpublic appearance at the FBar of Le Meridien to unveilthe newly designed crowns.
The girls are in the city totake part in the semifinal tobe held on January 24 at thePalace Grounds.
The contestants unveiledthe glittering crown at a cere-mony organised by theTimes Infotainment MediaLtd and Trendsmith. Thecelebrity-studded evening be-gan with the arrival of thegirls and a formal welcomeby Suresh Badlaney, generalmanager of Le Meridien. Thethree crowns were then dis-played and the girls tookturns presenting them, whilethe audience got a chance toview the three exquisitelycrafted crowns at close quar-ters.
Designed by TrendsmithMumbai, each crown is stud-ded with 400 pieces of cubiczircon in various shapes andsizes, made at a cost of ap-proximately Rs 2,50,000 each.Trendsmith is part of therenowned jewellery housefrom the TBZ Nirmal Zaverigroup of companies.
The Sunsilk Femina MissIndia 2003 pageant hasreached a crucial stage now.
Fundamental rightsin focus once again
By Rakesh Bhatnagar TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Vice PresidentBhairon Singh Shekhawat’scriticism of the neglect ofthe needy by the Central andstate governments has goneunheeded. Shekhawat evenexhorted the NHRCto intervene and en-sure that the author-ities concerned act-ed in accordancewith the Constitu-tion.
Shekhawat has enlargedthe ambit of NHRC. So far,the role of NHRC was consid-ered to be limited to probingallegations of police excessesthough some of its formerheads such as M N Venkat-achaliah and J S Verma hadpassed directives to restorebasic fundamental rights tothe needy. But NHRC’s man-dates remained on paper.
Shekhawat has identifiedtwo hurdles in doing justiceto the needy —corruptionand lack of accountability.Only 15 per cent of the totalfood grain allocated for thepoor under the PDS is usedfor feeding them. The rest‘‘never reach them’’, he said,
adding ‘‘any govern-ment that can’t pro-tect human rights isnot fit to govern.”
In the past also,legal luminaries like
former Supreme Court chiefjustice Adarsh Sein Anandhad passed certain judg-ments on human rights. ‘‘Un-less human rights are madethe focal point in good gover-nance, no progress is eitherpossible or sustainable as noamount of economic develop-ment can be sustained with-out a baseline of respect forhuman rights,’’ Anand said.
ChargesInept handling of Cau-very dispute and Nagap-pa abduction case
Advantage OppnRebels say Cong losingground to JD, BJP
Poll factorParty may suffer in 2005assembly polls
Trouble brewing
DirectivesChurches in Nagaland,Meghalaya issuedguidelines to voters
TogadiaspeakIn a democracy, thisamounts to theocracy
At it again
LEGALVIEW
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For more coverage, read Navbharat Times
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I N D I AThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 11
Salman summonedto court on Jan 21Mumbai; Film star SalmanKhan has been summoned bythe court on January 21 witha warning that his absencewould compel the court to is-sue a non-bailable warrantagainst him.
Magistrate S Y Sishodewill give his ruling on Janu-ary 21 on the actor’s plea forreturning the vehicle whichrammed into a bakery onSeptember 28 last year. PTI
IAS officerfeasts onmigratorybirds
By Rajaram SatapathyTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bhubaneswar: If youever wondered who arethe people who buy thethousands of birdskilled daily in Chilka,here’s a tip-off.
A complaint lodgedwith the chief ministerindicates that at least100 migratory water-fowls from the lake werecooked and served at adinner party held at theBhubaneswar club onJanuary 17.
The party was hostedby senior IAS officerand club vice-presidentPriyabrata Patnaik onhis birthday. Senior gov-ernment officials andprominent businessmenwere among the nearly70 guests.
The birds, mostly gad-walls, shoevellers, wige-ons, pochards and pin-tails belong to the pro-tected species as per theWildlife Protection Act.They were obtainedfrom poachers operat-ing in Chilika lake, saidBiswajit Mohanty, stateco-ordinator of IndianBird Conservation Net-work, in his letter to thechief minister.
He demanded an im-partial inquiry by an in-dependent agency notconnected to the stategovernment. Actionshould also takenagainst the host and theguests, he said.
When contacted, clubmanager Sanjib Pati de-nied that migratorybirds were part of themenu at the party.
Finance minister Beig, militants’ new targetBy M Saleem Pandit
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar: With the J&Kready to start talks withCentre, militants havetrained their guns on thetwo key people in the state —chief minister Mufti Mo-hammad Sayeed and thestate finance ministerMuzaffar Hussain Beig.
The logic is simple — ifthe militants succeed, the‘‘healing touch’’ plans go fora six. Governance issueswill go on the backburnerand fear psychosis will gripthe state again.
The decision to assassi-nate the two was reportedlytaken two weeks ago during
a meeting of the Lashkar-e-Taiba at Muzaffarabad, inPakistan occupied Kashmir.A price of Rs 50 lakh wasplaced on the head of thechief minister. Rs 40 lakhwas the prize declared forBeig.
Mufti seems an obvioustarget. But the choice ofBeig is even more simple.
A Harvard law schoolgraduate, Beig was an ex-tremely successful SupremeCourt lawyer.
The former advocate-gen-eral of J&K now holds sev-eral key portfolios in theMufti government — plan-ning, finance, law and par-liamentary affairs. He wasalso pivotal in cobbling to-
gether the coalition withCongress and giving shapeto the cabinet. Since hejoined the Mufti govern-ment last November, Beighas been threatened thrice.
Beig recalled getting thefirst threatening phone call
when he had gone to paycondolences to the family ofslain law minister GhulamMohi-ud-din Lone in Lolab.
‘‘I was told to desist fromvisiting the Lone family,whom they described astraitors,’’ said Beig.
The second threat camewhen Beig started lookinginto the problems of the peo-ple — visiting hospitals andeducational institutions andother public places. Theminister was asked to startcounting the days of his life.
It was obvious, said Beig,that the militants did notwant anyone to mitigate thewoes of the people.
The third time, Beig re-ceived a long distance call athis Jammu government res-idence.
The caller warned him ofdire consequences for beingtoo active a minister.
The pro-people policies ofthe new government areproving to be a problem for
the militants, said Beig.They want the state and thepeople to suffer, and hencethe bid to derail every moveaimed at the betterment ofthe people, he added.
‘‘But I assure you thateven if I face a threat to mylife, I would go on... we can-not afford to remain mutespectators to what is goingon around us,’’ he said.
Beig has also reportedlytaken on the sluggish bu-reaucracy.
Hypocrisy and lobbyingwill not be tolerated in thestate administration, he isquoted as having said. Gov-ernment officials need towork to mitigate the prob-lems of the people.
Gorshkov likely to joinNavy onlyby 2006
By Rajat PanditTIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: It will take atleast three years for Russianaircraft carrier Admiral Gor-shkov to be inducted into theIndian Navy, even if thepackage deal is inked inMarch.
By then, India’s solitarycarrier INS Viraat would beentering its last lap of opera-tional life and the indigenousconstruction of an air de-fence ship would still beabout six years away.
Navy Chief Admiral Mad-hvendra Singh dismissedcriticism that the partly-burnt 44,570-tonne AdmiralGorshkov will prove to be awhite elephant for India anda sitting duck for adver-saries.
Though the 273-metre-longdecommissioned carrier hasbeen rusting at the Severod-vinsk shipyard in Russia fora decade now, Navy officersinsist it’s still in good condi-tion. Admiral Gorshkovshould join the Navy by mid-2006 if the deal is signed inMarch,’’ said a senior officer.
But that may be a little op-timistic since several Indo-Russian defence projectshave run into huge time-over-runs.
Officers are keeping theirfingers crossed. ‘‘AdmiralGorshkov has to undergo anextensive refit, including abow ski-jump take- off rampat a 14-degree angle for theMiG-29K fighters,’’ said one.
The missile launchers onthe carrier’s front will be re-moved to make way for theski-jump for STOBAR (shorttake-off but arrested recov-ery) operations. ‘‘Then, wehave to get the arrestor gearat the flight deck for the fight-ers to land,’’ he said.
AP
S.S. Dabolkar drives his 1935, Austin Harley car, at a vintage car rally in Mumbai on Sunday. Sixty-one vintage cars took partin the 125 km (78.6 Miles) rally.
Beef or no beef, Big Mac in a soupTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Vadodara: It seems to be ano win situation for the USfast food major McDonald’s,which has now incurred thewrath of activists here forposters saying beef is notsold in its outlets.
Sarvadharm JivdayaSamiti activists stormed anoutlet on Saturday, demand-ing that the display boards beremoved.
SJS activists said theboards implied that beef wasconsumable, but not sold atthe restaurant. They forciblyremoved one such board andasked the personnel workingthere to remove the others.
SJS general secretary andBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) functionary Niraj Jainthreatened to come back if
the outlet did not heed theirwarning.
‘‘We will keep track ofwhat is happening here. We
request you not to put suchdisplays again, otherwise wewill return,’’ Jain told theemployees.
Jain, a former VHP ac-tivist, had earlier spearhead-ed a protest against a fashioncontest a few years ago. Healso opposed eggs beingserved in mid-day meal
schemes in various schools.‘‘They can do business
here without any hasslesfrom us. But we will not tol-
erate anything that hurts re-ligious sentiments. Theboards have to be removed,’’said SJS vice-president R TShah.
Another activist, DeepakGandhi, said the fact that theoutlet had to make such anannouncement indicatedsomething was wrong. He
said no other restaurant inthe city felt the need to makesuch an announcement.
McDonald’s functionarieshere said the idea behind put-ting up the posters was mis-taken. ‘‘It was for dispellingapprehensions among thosewho come to eat here. Howev-er, it has been misunder-stood. The issue is beingraked up unnecessarily,’’ anemployee here said.
A McDonald’s spokesper-son in Mumbai said thechain was foxed by the objec-tions. ‘‘In any case we havebeen maintaining total segre-gation of vegetarian andnon-vegetarian materialfrom the suppliers. It is alsotrue that we do not serve beefin India and have always tak-en care not to hurt religioussentiments.’’
FirstWhen Beig went to pay condolences to the family ofslain law minister Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Lone in Lolab
SecondWhen he started looking into people’s problems —vis-iting hospitals, schools and public places
ThirdPhone call at his Jammu official residence for being tooactive a minister
Threatened thrice
• McDonald’s posters say beef not sold here• Activists say this implies cow meat is con-sumable and this hurts religious sentiment• Clarification proves something is wrong,
say activists• Mountain out of a molehill,
says McDonald’s
Meaty issues
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Madonna as guest star:Madonna will make her
episodicTV seriesdebut inMay onNBC’sWill &Grace.She’s justone ofthe bignames
called on by the sitcom tohelp juice up ratings duringupcoming “sweeps” months,which are used to help setlocal advertising rates. DemiMoore and Minnie Driver alsowill guest star on Will &Grace, NBC said. In Febru-ary, Moore will play a formerbaby sitter to Jack (SeanHayes) who meets up withhim again. In another Febru-ary episode, Driver plays awoman who romancesKaren’s former husband andthen really makes Karen(Megan Mullally) angry by be-friending pal Jack. AP
Rare Lennon-Jaggerrecording found: If rockand roll fans could conjureup their dream recordingdate, it might be a jam ses-sion between Beatle JohnLennon and Rolling StoneMick Jagger. A record collec-tor in London says he hasfound just that — and will beoffering the previously un-known recording at an auc-tion next month. Tom Fishersaid on Saturday he hadbought the unmarked recordfrom another collector. Whenhe listened to it, he was con-vinced it was Jagger on vo-cals, singing a raucous oldblues song called Too ManyCooks. Auction house Coop-er Owen says Lennon is partof the backup band. It wasrecorded during Lennon’s so-called Lost Weekend, an 18-month period he spent in1974-75 estranged from wifeYoko Ono, when he madefew recordings of his own,but dabbled occasionallywith friends like Elton Johnand David Bowie. Snippetsof the track played on Britishtelevision feature a growlingJagger in top form, althoughit is hard to hear any obviousevidence of Lennon, whodoes not sing. Reuters
Cannes salutes Shakira:Shakira, the sultry Colombiansinger-songwriter, swept theboard at the fourth annualNRJ music awards on Satur-day, winning the best inter-national album award forLaundry Service, best inter-national song and best inter-national female artist. Thechart-topping artist added to
an already stacked trophycase. Laundry Service hassold over 10 million copiesworldwide and has picked upawards all over the world.Shakira beat stiff competi-tion, including Eminem, Sha-nia Twain, and last year’sbest female artist at NRJ,Jennifer Lopez. “I’m over-whelmed,” said Shakira, giv-ing her reaction by televisionbackstage in Chicago, whereshe is on a US tour. Reuters
Redford steps out atSundance: Amid the glitz,celebrity-watching and deal-making that has overrun his
Sundance Film Festival,Robert Redford figures nowand then he has to step outfrom behind the scenes andremind people it’s really allabout movies. Redford gen-erally prefers to stay in thebackground so his own starpower does not steal atten-
tion from the films. Someyears, he has not even at-tended the festival if he wasbusy shooting a movie. Butthis year, Redford has takena higher profile, introducingthe opening-night film Thurs-day with a passionate state-ment of Sundance’s missionto encourage diversity anddissenting opinions. “Some-times, I feel the need, if any-thing, to remind people ofwho we are and what we’redoing,” Redford said. “Itsometimes gets blurredby all the surrounding fac-tors, the media, fashion, par-ties, which is fine. That’s allpart of the deal, but it’s notTHE deal.” AP
Parisians gearing up forValentine’s Day: Declara-tions of undying devotion willflash across Paris’s municipalbulletin boards every 20 sec-onds next month as theFrench capital invents a newway to say “I love you” onValentine’s Day. BertrandDelanoe, the left-wingmayor known for his innova-tive city festivals, said theelectronic boards would car-ry the best short love letterson Friday, February 14 —Valentine’s Day — andthroughout that weekend.Announcing the amorous adson Friday, he said they would“help Parisians tell eachother ‘I love you’”. He urgedParisians to send in their
messages with a note indi-cating which neighbourhoodthey wanted them to beposted in. A special commit-tee would pick out the bestones to display. The illumi-nated boards, which normallyannounce everything fromcity festivals to traffic warn-ings, stand at key squaresand intersections all aroundthe French capital. Reuters
Actor Crenna dead:Richard Crenna, the Emmyaward-winningcharacteractor whostarred asa lovesickteenageron OurMissBrooksandSylvester Stallone’s GreenBeret mentor in the Rambofilms, has died. He was 76.Crenna, whose credits alsoincluded Wait Until Dark, TheFlamingo Kid, and televi-sion’s The Real McCoys,died Friday of pancreaticcancer at Cedars-Sinai Med-ical Center, daughter SeanaCrenna said Saturday. Cren-na’s role on the CBS dramaseries Judging Amy was re-cently put on hold as he bat-tled cancer. Born in Los An-geles, Crenna’s career beganat the age of 10 when hebroke into radio. AP
US singer Mariah Carey performs at the NRJ Music Awards in Cannes, southern France,on Saturday.
AROUND THE WORLDReuters
I N T E R N AT I O N A L The Times of India, New Delhi12 Monday, January 20, 2003
DUBYAMAILThose who don’t have any sense of hu-mour can be the only ones who do notlike the strip. I think you are expressingthe feelings and thoughts of commonpeople through the strip. Please keep itup.— Asha GawriI like Dubyaman very much and nevermiss it. You must introduce more char-acters to make it more lively. I fail tounderstand how some people feel thatit is a waste of space.— Rahul Fouzdar
e-mail: [email protected]
Human genome set to music By Daniel Woolls
Madrid: Imagine the hu-man genome as music. Un-ravel DNA’s double helix,picture its componentslined up like piano keys andassign a note to each. Runyour finger along the keys.
Spanish scientists didthat just for fun and record-ed what they call an audioversion of the blueprint forlife. The team at Madrid’sRamon y Cajal Hospital wasintrigued by music’s lurehow it can make toddlersdance and adults cry andlooked for hints in the ge-netic material that makesus what we are. They alsohad some microbial geneswax melodic.
The end product is Geno-ma Music, a 10-tune CD dueout in February. “It’s a wayto bring science and musiccloser together,” said Dr Au-rora Sanchez Sousa, a pi-ano-playing microbiologistwho specialises in fungi.
DNA, or deoxyribonucle-ic acid, is composed of longstrings of molecules callednucleotides, which are dis-tinguished by which of fournitrogen-containing bases
they contain: adenine, gua-nine, thymine or cytosine,represented as A, G, T andC. These became the musi-cal notes.
French-born composerRichard Krull turned DNAsequences a snippet of agene might look like AGCG-TATACGAGT into sheet
music. He arbitrarily as-signed tones of the eight-note, do-re-mi scale to eachletter. Thymine became re,for instance. Guanine is so,adenine la and cytosine do.
Played solo on percus-sion, classical guitar or theother instruments used onthe CD, the sequences would
sound cute but rudimenta-ry, the musical equivalent ofPacMan in an era of Mi-crosoft Xbox.
So the alphabet soup ofbases served as just that,base lines to accompanymelodies composed by Krulland his scientific colleague.They say the melodies wereinfluenced, even dictated,by the mood and rhythm ofthe underlying genetic code.
In general, the genomemusic is an easy-listeningsound that is vaguely NewAge. One of the prettiestsongs is based on Connexin26, a human gene that caus-es deafness when it mu-tates. The DNA skeleton isexpressed with tinklingbells and a flute melodydoes the rest.
Another song draws on ayeast gene known as SLT2.Sanchez Sousa, the mainauthor of the project, isfond of the sequence be-cause it features a stretch inwhich one triplet of nitro-gen bases appears severaltimes in rapid succession —a repetitive phenomenonthat has a musical equiva-lent called obstinato. AP
MIT conference takes aim at spamCambridge: It’s going to take the bestand the brightest to slam the spammers.
Hundreds of programmers gatheredat the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-nology to apply their collective brain-power to a problem that has evolvedfrom annoyance to menace: the risingflood of unsolicited e-mail.
Companies and Internet serviceproviders put up a fight with the latestfiltering programs, but spammersquickly bypass their defenses.
“This is the most dastardly thing I’veever seen,” said attendee John Graham,expressing grudging admiration for atechnique he’s encountered in whichspam messages are broken up then re-assembled in order to elude filters.
“This is ingenious. There are some re-ally clever people making spam difficultto filter.” Organizers had expected asmall gathering of 40 to 80 program-mers, hackers and Internet activists,but several hundred packed an audito-rium Friday to hear the latest in spamcounter-measures.
For the more clinical, spam simplyposes a difficult technical challenge.Others are downright offended by it.
William S Yerazunis, an MIT comput-er scientist, compared spam to pettystreet crime cheap to carry out, prof-itable for the offender and enormouslyexpensive to halt.
“It’s really theft,” said Yerazunis, 46,a researcher at MIT’s Mitsubishi Elec-
tric Research Laboratories. “And thetheft efficiency ratio is about the sameas stealing hubcaps and car radios.”
The conference wasn’t for the casualcomputer user. The speakers threwaround hacker-speak like “bit buckets”and “polynomial hashing,” occasional-ly tossing out terms like “spamacus in-terruptus” and skewering unpopularsoftware, sending chuckles through theaudience.
But the tone was serious. Spam traf-fic has grown from 8 percent of Internete-mail in 2001 to as much as 40 percentin 2002, according to Brightmail Inc.,which provides filtering products forseveral major Internet serviceproviders. AP
AP
A page of notations from a song based on the DNA of ahuman gene called Connexin 26. Spanish scientists haverecorded an audio version of the blueprint of life by assigning musical notes to units of DNA’s double helix.
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I N T E R N AT I O N A LThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 13
No cheating on Ayurveda, says Britain
By Rashmee Z AhmedTIMES NEWS NETWORK
London: An unseemlymodern marketing spathas begun over the ancientAyurvedic system of medi-cine, with Britain reject-ing the claims of leadingIndian Aurvedic practi-tioners that it is “diluting”5,000 years of therapeutictradition and allowingquacks to “hijack” it forthe consumption of West-ern fashionistas.
Delegates at a confer-ence in London, attendedby some 200 Ayurveda spe-cialists from India andBritain, also blamed theIndian government andmore specifically, healthminister Shatrughan Sin-ha for “indifference andtimidity” in the face of aconcerted Western bid to“pilfer Indian intellectualproperty”.
The stakes may neverhave been higher asBritain prepares to regu-late Ayurveda treatmentand training and exploresthe possibility of becom-ing the first Western na-tion to offer India’s ancienttherapy free on its Nation-al Health Service.
Meanwhile, the battlefor control of the estimat-ed 130-billion-pound globalmarket in alternative med-icine is becoming increas-ingly urgent with Ayurve-da gaining Western streetcred from its A-list celebri-ty consumers, such asMadonna, Cher, KateWinslet and Demi Moore.
Conference organiser
Gopi Warrier, a laymanwho chairs the privately-run British AyurvedicMedical Council and ownsthe Ayurveda Company ofGreat Britain, told this pa-per: “I believe India shouldhave at least a 60 per centshare of the huge marketin Ayurveda therapy andproducts. But the Indiangovernment appears tohave gone to sleep and In-dian officials here are toblame that Britain plans tointroduce a lamentablyshort Ayurveda course ofstudy before one can sayone is qualified”.
Indian officials have al-ready rejected British pro-posals for 1150-hours com-pulsory training as too lit-tle, because an Ayurvedadegree course in India isfive-and-a-half years long.
However, Indian sourcessaid a compromise, slight-ly longer, but still-truncat-ed training period may bethe price for havingAyurveda in a British cur-riculum at all.
Motorists willhave to paytax to get intocentral LondonLondon: A controversialscheme beginning nextmonth to charge motoristsfor entering central Londonwill come at a heavy price fordrivers, and could also provecostly for mayor Ken Living-stone, whose future may wellbe riding on the scheme hehas pushed through.
From February 17, mo-torists entering the city cen-tre between 7 am and 6:30 pm,Monday to Friday, will haveto pay a tax of five pounds($8) — a move aimed at cut-ting traffic and pollution.
Under the plan, motoristswill have to pay for enteringan area of around 20 squarekilometres. Some 230 cam-eras will be installed to pho-tograph car licence plates,which will then be checkedwith a database to see if thedaily fee has been paid.
Mayor Livingstone saysthe charge will reduce trafficcongestion in city centre by15 percent and cut journeytimes by 30 percent. Current-ly some 250,000 motoristsdrive into the city centre onweekdays.
Hailed by green groups,the project has unsurprising-ly not gone down so well withmotorists. According to a re-cent survey, a third of Lon-don’s drivers say they will tryto bypass the law and not paythe tax, while 55 percent be-lieve the scheme will do noth-ing to reduce traffic conges-tion during rush hours.
One of UK’s largest publicsector unions, Unison, hasasked Livingstone to delaythe project and to exemptpublic sector workers frompaying the tax. It fears massresignations among keyworkers, saying the schemewill cost each driver 1,200pounds a year. Reuters
Bhangra in big leagueFinally, a Bhangra anthem, one Mundianto Bach ke or Beware of the boys. Poisedto make it into the UK top 10, the godfa-ther of British Bhangra is an unlikelysounding man called Panjabi MC, akaRajinder Rai, from Coventry in the Eng-lish Midlands. Bach ke, which will givethe desi beat its first real, landmark en-
try intothe Euro-pean bigl e a g u e ,
may sound a bit like a group of farmerson a high in Jullunder. But it is at num-ber two in Germany and number three inAustria at the moment and its real sig-nificance lies in its perceived worth. Andits symbolism. BBC Radio 1 acknowl-edges that “the desi or bhangra soundsells millions of albums and attractshundreds of people to club nights everyweek but is still ignored by the main-stream music! industry”.
MTV yogaAnd staying with music, what to make ofthe coupling of Patanjali and MTV? Themusic station known for its edgy, out-of-here-now body language is testing awhole new way of being, with the ulti-mate 21st-century exercise video. Word isthat MTV Yoga sets the scene for the soulwars among the corporate big boys, withNike kaftans, Starbucks incense and Nes-tle herbal teas coming soon to a cornershop wherever you are.
Embassy in row with MEAThe external affairs ministry in NewDelhi and the Indian embassy in Wash-ington have gotten into a wrangle involv-ing the use of funds for Indian commu-nity events in the US. The embassy lastyear hosted several events intended toshowcase India’s awesome pluralism anddiversity. That meant colourful galas onmany of India’s cultural and religiousholidays — from Diwali to Id to Christ-mas to Guru Nanak jayanthi. The em-bassy also held events for Navroze, theParsi New Year, and Hannukah, the Jew-ish commemoration, to show that Indiais home to almost all faiths in the world.But the MEA has now put its foot downand asked the embassy to can the eventsfor this year, saying that the funds arebetter utilised to woo the American con-stituency rather than pander to the NRIs.Ambassador Lalit Mansingh’s con-tention that the events, besides energis-ing the Indian-American community,were also attended by many Americanguests, hasn’t impressed foreign secre-tary Kanwal Sibal, who himself did astint in Washington from 1993-1995.
Award for South AsiansWhen Americans refer to Asians, theyinvariably mean Asians from the FarEast, like from say China or Japan or Ko-rea. Most ‘Asian’ organisations in the USare actually ‘East Asian’ organisationsand people from the sub-continent sel-dom feature in them. But the New York-based Asian American Legal Defenceand Education Fund is a rare exceptionin trying to reach out to South Asians.This year the Fund is honouring Come-dian Margaret Cho and Bhairavi Desai ofthe New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Thetwo will receive the Justice in Actionaward in February.Reports from Rashmee Z Ahmed in London and Chidanand Rajghatta inWashington
Saudis exploring waysto overthrow Saddam
By Patrick E Tyler
Riyadh: Increasingly desperateto avoid war, Saudi Arabia is en-gaged in a campaign to inciteIraqi security forces to over-throw Saddam Hussein if hecontinues to refuse to step downor go into exile, officials here say.
The Saudi leadership is advo-cating Hussein’s removal as partof a war-avoidance strategyeven as the kingdom signalsWashington that it will cooper-ate extensively with an Ameri-can military buildup in the Per-sian Gulf, including offering theuse of crucial bases and air-space, Saudi officials said.
It seemed possible that a num-ber of Arab and Muslim statescould join the effort this comingweek as Turkey seeks to assem-ble Iraq’s neighbours for urgentdiscussions in Ankara, Turkey’scapital, with an explicit agendaof averting military conflict,though a number of Saudi offi-cials said they considered this aremote possibility.
Turkey’s prime minister, Ab-dullah Gul, said on Friday thathe had encouraged Hussein toconsider stepping down and,separately, a senior Saudi intelli-gence officer is said to be en-gaged in discussions with Hus-sein’s son Qusay, on a proposal tooffer amnesty to the Iraqi leaderalong with an exile home formembers of his extended family.Iraqi officials have denied thatsuch talks are under way.
News reports of a Saudi planaimed at heading off a war byencouraging Hussein’s removal,perhaps through a UN SecurityCouncil resolution grantingamnesty to senior Iraqi officialswho assist in his ouster, havecirculated in recent days. Saudiofficials cautioned, however,that while they were formulat-
ing a general amnesty plan,there was no concrete proposalyet.
“The Americans want to getSaddam out by military means,and we want to get him out bypsychological intensification,”an adviser to the Saudi royalfamily said. “The most impor-tant thing for the generals andeveryone else in Iraq is to sepa-rate themselves from Saddam,especially if he wants to killhimself through resistance and
through war that will takeeveryone with him.”
Another adviser to the royalcourt said senior officials werepressing the campaign mostly inunofficial statements that theyknow will be broadcast into Iraq,and through private diplomaticand intelligence channels, “be-cause no one wants this war”and because “no one wants to bequoted publicly as advocatingthe overthrow of another sover-eign state.” NYT News Service
Nepal refuses to honour TenzingLondon: Even fifty years after Tenz-ing Norgay attained glory by con-quering Mount Everest with Ed-mund Hillary, Nepalese governmentrefuses to honour him posthumouslyas he had subsequently acquired In-dian citizenship.
“There is a problem. Declaringhim a national hero is difficult,”Ganesh Karki, an official at Nepal’sTourism Ministry, told The Observer.Campaigners led by the Nepal Moun-taineering Association want Tenzingto be made a “Rastriya Vibhuti” — anaccolade awarded to the Himalayankingdom’s elite dead. Previous recip-ients include Lord Buddha, who wasborn in the border town of Lumbini.
But Nepal has so far refused togrant Tenzing the honour althoughhe planted a Nepalese flag on Ever-
est’s summit, arguing that he spentmost of his life in India and even ac-quired an Indian citizenship.
Tenzing, who grew up in Nepaltending his father’s yak herds on ahigh mountain pass below Everest,migrated to India in his teens. Hefound work as a porter on several pi-oneering pre-war British expeditionsto the Himalayas in Darjeeling.
After he and Hillary reached thesummit on May 29, 1953, governmentin Kathmandu hailed Tenzing’s suc-cess as its own, and swiftly awardedhim Nepal Tara (Star of Nepal)medal.
Shortly afterwards, however, Tenz-ing accepted an Indian passport fromthe then prime minister JawaharlalNehru, so that he could travel to Eng-land. PTI
DIASPORIUMAP
Americans gather outside the Richard Nixon Library in California onSaturday to protest a possible US-led war against Iraq.
Bush fire ragesin Australiancapital, 4 killedCanberra: Hundreds of peo-ple began sifting through thecharred remains of theirhomes in Australia’s capitalon Sunday, after the worstwildfires in the city’s historyswept through suburbs,killing four people and forc-ing thousands to evacuate.
At least 388 houses weredestroyed, officials said. Hos-pitals treated about 240 peo-ple for burns and the effectsof smoke from the fires thathit Canberra on Saturday.
Many were residents whobattled flames with gardenhoses and buckets filled fromswimming pools. Fire crewsadmitted they had been over-whelmed by the ferocity andmagnitude of the flames.
‘‘I have been to a lot ofbushfire scenes in Aus-tralia... but this is by far theworst,’’ Prime Minister JohnHoward said Sunday.
By late Sunday, officialssaid all fires were contained,although some areas werestill smoldering and therewere fears strong winds fore-cast for Monday couldreignite the crisis. Police pa-trolled charred and desertedneighborhoods following iso-lated cases of looting andsuspicions that some firesmight have been deliberatelylit.
At the height of the crisison Saturday, when a state ofemergency was called, fire-fighters called on people notto panic. Many residents re-ported no fire crews in theirburning streets.
More than 20 percent ofthe city was without powerSunday morning and red hotembers fell, sparking fearsmore lives and homes couldbe lost.
A mist of fine ash blewthrough the streets and athick pall of smoke hungover the city of about 320,000people that’s surrounded bydrought-hit farmland andtinder dry forests. AP
Health spatBritain planning to introduce Ayurveda ina big way in its healthservice. Experts complain that it’s diluting the therapeutictradition
Celebrity clientsMadonna, Cher, KateWinslet and DemiMoore
In focus
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A THOUGHT FOR TODAY
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles;but today it means getting along with people.
— Indira Gandhi
In Indian philosophy, kamaor sexual desire has beenaccorded an important place.There are four kinds ofpurushartha, ends of life,and one of them is kama.This is because the worldwas born out of kama. Weknow that all beings are bornout of kama. What we don’tknow is that the cosmos itselfis a product of kama. Howwas the world born?
In the very beginning,according to the Upanishads,was sah akamayata. Therewas the ‘worldstuff ’ or sadvastu in the beginning, and itwas seized with kama. Itagitated in kama and desiredexpansion. At the height ofthis agitation, there wasbindu visphota.
The word bindu meansboth a point and semen.When the guru advises hisdisciples to keep to celibacy,he says: ‘‘Falling of binduis death; keeping of binduis life.’’ Visphotameans bursting out.Therefore bindu vis-phota denotes theorgasm. The worldwas born out ofbindu visphota. Onecan think of thisbindu visphota aswhat modern scientistsspeak of as the ‘big bang’that generated the universe.The big bang is the orgasm ofkama in the worldstuff.
Bindu is also knownvariously as teja, prana, kamand vaishwanara. It is thebindu’s kam (energy) thatbecomes kham (space). Fromthis energy was born matterin the form of panchabhutas.The panchabhutas aremostly misunderstood. AsVedanta explains it, thepanchabhutas include thesolid prithivi, the liquidapa, the gaseous vayu, theenergy within matter, agni,and the amount of spacean object takes up for itsshape, called akasha. Thisway, the world was bornout of kama.
Since energy is kama, theuniverse is imbued withkama. Matter in all its statesand diversity is kama, andthe space that houses matteris also an expanse of kama.Kama is the substance ofthe universe. That is whykama is such an indomitableforce in the life of beings.There is no beating it.
In the Mahabharata,
Kamadeva, the god ofkama and love, brags: ‘‘Ifanyone tries to beat me, Igrow manifold over hisbeating.’’ The attempt tosubdue or win kama onlymakes it burst out withgreater force.
Since kama is the originand quiddity of existence,it has to be accorded itsrightful place. Thereforekama has been included asone of the purusharthas.The ultimate purusharthais moksha — liberation ofthe soul from the clutchesof finite existence.
Generally, kama is regard-ed as an obstacle to mokshaand brahmacharya whilecelibacy is seen as anessential pre-requisite onthe road to moksha. Theguru commands, keep thebindu, don’t let it fall. Thereason given as to why kamahas to be overcome for theattainment of moksha is that
kama is the openingup of cosmic energywhile moksha is itsopposite — which isshutting energy inall its diversity upin its primordialcause, the world-stuff or sad vastu.
So they are deemed naturalcontraries.
However, anything thatbelongs to this world can beturned into an instrumentfor moksha and kama is noexception. Kama also can bea means to moksha. Butactually doing this needsextraordinary skill. Somesects of tantra use kama asan instrument of moksha.For these, kama is morespiritual and less carnal.Genuine practitioners oftantra achieve an experienceof oneness with the Divine atthe height of the physicalorgasm. For them, kama is agreat magnetic pull towardsthe divine and the orgasmis a perfect communion.
Kama as a means formoksha is extremely individ-ualistic, slippery, esotericand unreliable as far as laypractitioners are concerned,and therefore its use isnot advisable for the generalpublic. An example isOsho, who took this extreme-ly individualistic practiceto the public domain andbecame controversial.
Kama as MeansTo Moksha
By K M Gupta
By Sunil Mehra
The untouchability surrounding the wordsexuality in our country has been reinforcedat various levels in different forms. Politicalparties, intellectuals and parents themselveshave been the most significant antagoniststo the subject of sexuality.
The expression of sexuality is influencedby social, economic, ethical, spiritual, cul-tural and moral factors. Sexuality expressedpositively, through consensual and mutuallyrespectful relationships, enhances well-being, health and quality of life of anindividual. Adolescent sexuality is a norma-tive development process for that stage oflife, not an aberration.
It may be worthwhile to examine theconcept of sexuality education. Sexualityeducation does not relate solely to thephysical aspects of sex. Often sexualityeducation is termed as life skills educationand the contents include information onvarious life skills such as decision-making,communication, body physiology and as-pects of reproductive and sexual health.
It is interesting to trace the journey ofsexuality education in different settings. Adeveloped country like Sweden initiatededucation on sexuality hygiene to its lateteen girls through its first woman doctorKarolina Widerstorm as early as 1897. But itwas only in 1955 that sexuality education wasmade compulsory in Swedish schools. Therewas a national debate and it was adolescentparticipation that made this possible. Arecently-published country report fromUganda categorically states that sexualabstinence may have played a significantrole in reducing HIV infection; this is astrong reflection of the definite impact onthe lives of young people when sexuality isdiscussed through proper channels. There isa comprehensive consensus that sexualhealth programmes encouraging abstinencewhile providing medically accurate informa-tion can actually reduce sexual activity andpromote good health among young people.
Why is sexuality education linked topromiscuity? This relationship seems to bebased more on societal perception, mythsand misconceptions surrounding sexuality,rather than on hard facts. Studies, sponsoredby MacArthur Foundation in particular,suggest that comprehensive sexualityeducation does not cause increased sexualactivity among adolescents. In fact, somestudies suggest that the age of initiation ofsexual activity increases and frequency ofsex and number of partners decreases withsexuality education.
The socialisation process of an individualplays a significant role in how sexualityis perceived. Experiences in social develop-ment suggest that knowledge and educationare first and foremost empowering; andknowledge can never be disempowering orthe precursor to negative outcomes. Fromthe rights perspective, the ability tomake informed choices is central. This
can be ensured through imparting correctknowledge and skills to an individual.
Initiation of sexual activity in Sweden isas late as 17 years and above. Studies fromacross the world strongly suggest that wheresexuality education is not provided throughproper channels, adolescents seek informa-tion elsewhere. This information is usuallyincomplete, incorrect and highly gender-in-sensitive; resulting in sexual coercion, rape,unwanted pregnancy, sexually-transmittedinfections including HIV, and an environ-ment of insecurity for both boys and girls.
It also influences the relationship betweenthe two sexes significantly, since there is alack of understanding between them. Aboveall, sexual rights are human rights and notprivileges or favours, but the entitlements ofall young women and men. Who are the bestproviders of sexuality education? It may notnecessarily be schoolteachers or healthcareproviders. International and even somenational experiences show that they areoften not prepared to carry it forward.
Our own recent findings reveal thatadolescents appear comfortable with theirparents, especially the mother impartingaccurate sexuality-related information.Adolescents are placed in different settings,there are married and unmarried adoles-cents and, at the same time, there aredifferent needs for information between10-14 and 15-19 year adolescents. Youth/adolescents are the best communicatorsfor their peers on appropriate information.
Without sexuality education being seen asan integral part of the examination system,no school will take it too seriously. Themedia, especially electronic, plays an impor-tant role in adolescents/young peoples’ lives.We need sexuality education based onthe cultural context and adolescent needs.Sexuality in adolescence is a normativedevelopment process, let us make sexualitya normal development and not view itas a pathological development. This maycounter a lot of myths and misperceptions inour films and other media.
Recently, the apex institutions for educa-tion in India have initiated the NationalPopulation Education Project. This has yetto achieve wide acceptability. Life skillseducation or family life education has alsobeen strongly recommended by various UNinstitutions. We need to find a via-media toaddress the issue of sexuality throughdifferent perspectives. We are at a stagewhen we have to confront the issue of sexu-ality openly. Strategies, ground realities andinterventional experiences strongly suggestthat the sooner we impart gender- and value-based sexuality education to our adolescents,the better it shall be for the health and deve-lopment of our youth.
(The author is execu-tive director, MAMTA,a Delhi-based NGOdealing with adolescenthealth and rightsissues)
Sexuality EducationLet’s Talk About it in India
Government for AllA political cartoon of the early ’80s had Indira Gandhigravely inspecting a queue of Congressmen and thentell one of them, “You are the chief minister ofMaharashtra, what’s your name?” That joke, as goodjokes always do, had a serious subtext. Under the thenpowerful Congress ‘high command’, it was the lot of theregional satraps to be used like pawns on a chessboard.Does the chief-ministerial change in Maharashtrasuggest that the Congress leadership is back to its badold game? Not by a long stretch. If Sushil Kumar Shindehas replaced Vilas Rao Deshmukh, it’s hardly becausethe junior Mrs G has suddenly decided to emulateher more illustrious mother-in-law. Indira made andunmade chief ministers at a time her party occupiedthe commanding heights in Indian politics. As anunrecognisable shadow of that once imposing politicalforce, today’s Congress is simply not in a position to beauthoritarian. In other words, Mr Shinde’s appointmentis less a whimsical manoeuvre of an imperious bossthan a tactical move by a party looking desperatelyto arrest its decline. But is Mr Shinde a shot in thedark or is there a larger design here?
There has been some attempt from within theCongress to project Mr Shinde’s appointment as aconciliatory signal to Dalits, not only in Maharashtrabut across the country. If that is indeed the case,then we are possibly seeing the beginnings of a much-needed overall strategy in the Congress. The post-Indira Congress’s biggest drawback has been its inabi-lity to enunciate a clear vision of where it is heading. Asa consequence, rather than setting the agenda, theCongress has been reacting to the BJP’s agenda, fromplaying second fiddle to the BJP on reforms to respond-ing to Moditva with soft Hindutva. Where is the Cong-ress’s distinct all-encompassing ideology? Where arethe imaginative slogans that can capture the people’sminds? For all that Indira’s ‘Garibi Hatao’ was a mag-nificent fraud, it worked wonders as a slogan. The samewith Indira’s ’80s slogan: ‘A government that works.’Today, there is nothing from the Congress’s stable thatcan match Hindutva’s powerful appeal. The Congress ofIndira stood for the little man. To counter the BJP’ssectarian appeal, Sonia’s Congress has to project anall-embracing image. And what better way to do thisthan to promise a government that will not discriminatebetween people, a government that stands for all?
Doom & GenesisThe apocalyptic clock is ticking for the end of the world.But don’t hold your breath, for it is still 7.5 billionyears into the future. In a soon to be released book,The Life and Death of Planet Earth, two Americanastrobiologists, Donald Brownlee and Peter Ward,declare that the earth has already begun its long devo-lution back to the primordial chaos from which it arose.Calculating the earth’s life on a 24-hour timescale, theauthors say that corresponding to its 4.5 billion years ofexistence, the earth has reached 4.30 a.m. On the samescale, by 5 a.m., animal and plant life would end and at8 a.m. all water will evaporate from the earth’s surface.At noon, the sun, also on its last legs, will transform intoa red giant star and gobble up the by-then barren earth.The planet, along with its solar system companions, willbe reduced to cosmic debris. Doomsday scenarios arenothing new for humankind and are interwoven intomythologies of most religious traditions. But fromthe Nostradamus-predicted Antichrist to Hinduism’sapocalyptic horseman, Kalki, these talk more in termsof decimation of dharma, the established order, or oflife and vegetation, as in Native American Hopi myths.
That the very ground beneath our feet could cease toexist was beyond human imagination until scienceadvanced sufficiently to enable humanity to peekbillions of years into the future. While the finality of aJudgment Day might have been a Damocles’ sword overbelievers in the Judeo-Christian world, Eastern thoughthas preferred to view reality as dynamic. For everydeath, there is a birth, whether it is the individual or thecosmos. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s vishwaroop,cosmic self, is depicted as perpetually devouring thecosmos and its components from one end, even asthe other births new universes at every moment. Allthis, however, remains a moot point. For with thedouble-edged weapon of technology, humankind mightannihilate itself long before the prophesied end of theworld. On the other hand, the ever-expanding frontiersof science may encompass an ultimate escape routefrom global destruction. A decade ago, for instance,cloning would have been in the realm of fantasy. Today,it is increasingly becoming a practical reality. It isimpossible to envision what distant tomorrows maybring. For evolution has a way of having the lastchuckle on the oblivion that seeks to overwhelm it.
Election Fundas“More important than winning the election, isgoverning the nation”, said US politician AdlaiStevenson, 50 years ago. “That is the test of a politicalparty — the final, acid test”. But in India, elections loomlarger than life in people’s and political parties’ minds.A long election season will soon engulf us, and over thenext 18 months, “the voice of turtles” will be heard allover the land. This is when partymen bestir themselvesfrom their long torpor, cobwebs are cleared inhurriedly-spruced up party offices, and hiddenpersuaders and poll-fund collectors emerge from thewoodwork. Manmohan Singh, former finance minister,was asked to suggest ways to extricate the Congressfrom its financial crunch. Shiv Sena supremo BalThackeray faulted his party ministers at the Centre as“Alices in Wonderland” because “they do nothing forparty, are club-less and dream of achieving nationalgoals by 2012”. He summarily removed from officeone influential incumbent because (to improvise onGoldsmith), “He gave to mankind what was meant forhis party”. Many all-party suggestions on poll reforms,including state funding of election funds, have provednon-starters. Samata Party’s Jaya Jaitly says, “The realPandora’s box is the nature of fund collection’’. No onewants to discuss it, because awkward unmentionablesfor all parties are the questions on probity, on partymembership, on its democratic functioning and spreadof black money in India’s corporate sector and ingovernance. Election expenses invariably exceed legallimitations. The Income Tax Act allows parties to useincomes from property, interest earned on fixeddeposits and voluntary donations. The first two pre-sume inherited assets, which excludes new parties. Inthe third, private donors demand anonymity because(one suspects) their donations come from black money,but it’s parties and politicians who get the blame. Thesame holds true of enrolling party members. As onespokesman rues, “No party can cover even a month’s ex-penses from funds generated by genuine membership”. http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
The midnight knock and months spent inprison without any hope. Iftikhar Gilani’sstory could be set anywhere — in Indiaduring the Emergency, or Russia during theStalinist years. And yet, it happened in theIndia of 2002, a democracy wedded to theidea of rule of law. In an interview withAndalib Akhtar, he recounts the traumaof the seven months he spent in custodybefore the government finally dropped thetrumped-up charges against him:
What are your feelings on being releasedfrom jail?
I feel immensely relieved and, ofcourse, vindicated. But I also think that Iwas very lucky that I had been in thenational capital. What’s more, I had friendswho had access to those in power. Theylobbied with political leaders. However, Ishudder to think of the fate that awaitscitizens in small towns when they aredeliberately wronged by the long arm of thestate. Who speaks for them? With my release,I felt as though I had been transportedfrom dark medieval times to the 21st century.But I am really grateful to my friends andwell-wishers who reposed faith in me evenwhen I was behind bars. They tried theirbest to get me free. They proved thosewho fabricated casesagainst me wrong. Iparticularly thankmy paper, KashmirTimes, which stoodby me in all mytribulations.What was you experi-ence in Tihar jail?
It was hell. I wasbeaten up by jail in-mates. People calledme gaddar or trai-tor. Interestingly, aprisoner who wasconvicted for murdering his motherand other family members, called me agaddar and gave me lessons on patriotism.The days seemed endless. I began to losehope. Everything I identified with slippedaway. I thought I would never come out.However, things improved slowly. Friendlyjail officials helped me escape theattention of hostile inmates. Then Ienrolled for a diploma in creative writing.But every week when I was brought tothe court in a crowded bus, with hostileprisoners, I became desperate. I knew Iwas the victim of a conspiracy.When did you first hear you werebeing released?
On January 10, I learnt from the BBCthat the government had decided towithdraw the cases against me. It restoredmy faith that there is still a systemin place in this country and I will at lastget justice.Did you lose faith in the system earlier?
No, how can I lose faith in a system whenI am in it? No doubt the system led meto hardship and misery but the system
came to my rescue too. Had there beendictatorship, I don’t know how long Iwould have survived. By withdrawingfabricated cases against me, the governmenthelped in removing the stigma of beinga traitor that had traumatised me, myfamily and friends. I was dubbed anti-national, ignoring my track record as anationalist. However, I will say those whotried to pervert the system from withinmust be exposed and punished.Did Military Intelligence (MI) help youin any way?
I am grateful that the MI head, anarmy general, appeared in the court notonce but twice and categorically rejectedthe charge that I had been in possessionof a classified military document thatimperilled the country’s security. At thesame time, I feel sad that those bent uponpersecuting me not only dragged the armyto the court but didn’t care even aboutcalling a general incompetent for givingme a clean chit — just to justify theirprosecution of me. I believe that intelligenceagencies like MI will not be able to operateeffectively if they are treated in this manner.That will compromise the security andfreedom of all Indians.
Admittedly, there must be some mecha-nism in place tokeep the intelli-gence agencies un-der check andmake them account-able, so that theydon’t fabricate casesagainst innocentpeople and insteadgather valuable inte-lligence for the gov-ernment. But thisshould be done with-out exposing themto public gaze.
What are your views on the OfficialSecrets Act?
It’s time for all right-thinking persons,including journalists and politicians, toreflect seriously about amending the Act.It’s basically a legacy of the colonialraj which can be misused by vested elementsin the government, to harass honest citizens.In an era where greater transparency isthe norm — Parliament has just passed theFreedom of Information Act — there can beno place for draconian laws like the presentSecrets Act.What’s your final take on your own ordeal?
I can only hope that no representativefrom the media — indeed no citizen — isforced to undergo the kind of trauma thatI had to suffer at the hands of the officialmachinery. Basically, the moral of mystory is that if it could happen to me today,it can happen to anyone tomorrow. Mycase should act as a wake-up call to allconcerned citizens that a great deal ofvigilance is required to prevent excesses ofthe kind that the state is now capable of,given the kind of powers it has acquired.
Trial by Ordeal
THESPEAKING
TREE
I shudder to think ofthe fate that awaitscitizens in smalltowns when theyare deliberatelywronged by thelong arm of thestate. Who speaksfor them?
Q&A
Appalling Attitude‘Abuse of Power: Punish Those Who JailInnocents’ by Siddharth Varadarajan (Jan14) brought tears to my eyes. While IftikharGilani languished in jail for seven months,the powers-that-be fiddled in the name ofnational security. The insensitive attitude ofofficials of the ministry of home affairs, asalso the Delhi police and the IntelligenceBureau, is as appalling as it is frightening.
Even 10 years ago, fairness and justicewere what we, as ordinary citizens, couldtake for granted while dealing with those inauthority. Today, the average citizen, eventhe most law-abiding one, is fearful, being atthe mercy of those in power whose tenetsfor wielding authority, as shown in thepresent case, seem to bear no relation tojustice. I pray that our government willchange its ways after this case.— Rufie D’Souza, Mumbai
Doctored HistoryI protest against Amartya Sen’s angst-
ridden sarcasm in ‘Not Frog, But Falcon’(Jan 9). Marshalling convenient historicalfacts won’t really get him to hold back therising anger at ‘doctored history’. Ifsangh-led historians talk against the AryanInvasion Theory (AIT), was it not theMarxists who insisted that ‘‘all referencesto the Muslim invasions be deleted’’ fromhistory books? There hasn’t been a retrac-tion of that diktat by the West Bengalgovernment yet. Instead, Romila Thapar,whose speciality is ironically the Mauryanperiod, now extends her ‘experience’ to theTurkish era and says that Mahmud Ghaznidemolished Somnath because ‘‘it remindedhim of the pre-Islamic goddess Mannatin Mecca’’. Six hundred and fifty yearsafter the Prophet did the same in Arabia?A rather specious form of logic, ifMr Sen won’t mind his own sarcasmthrown back at him.
What Mr Sen and neo-Macaulayitesshould realise is that nobody has made acase that ‘‘India’s role as a dynamiccivilisation interacting vigorously with theworld’’ is a fallacy. What is being objected tois the Marxist-Macaulayite axis straining toshow India as an empty land colonised bywave after wave of conquerors who laid ontheir own palimpsests of power and pelfonto the ‘natives’, without the dispossessedever being there most of the time.— Ashok Row Kavi, via e-mail
CONVERSATIONS WITH READERS
Letters to this column should be addressed to Letters c/o Edit pageEditor, The Times of India, 7, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002. email:[email protected]
No 17 Vol. 54. Air charge: Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai ,Cochin, Chennai & viaRs.3, Indore and via 50 paise. National edition: No aircharge.Price in Nepal: NEP Rs 5, except Sun-day: NEP Rs 7. RNI No. 508/57 MADE IN NEW DELHI REGD. NO. DL-25002/92. Published for theproprietors, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd., by Balraj Arora at Times House, 7, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, New Delhi - 110 002 and printed by him at 13, Site IV Industrial Area, Sahibabad (UP), ‘TimesHouse’, Plot No. 2, Block EM, Sector V, Salt Lake City, Calcutta 700 091, Karuna Age PublicationsPvt. Ltd, A-44/54, Mancheswar Ind. Estate, Bhubaneswar 751017, Pearl Printwell Ltd.,Kumhrar,Pat-na-800020 and MNS Printers Pvt. Ltd., Industrial Area, Phase II, Panchkula, Haryana-134109 Regd.Office: Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Mumbai - 400 001.Editor (Delhi Market): Umesh Anand-respon-sible for selection of news under PRB Act. Executive Editor: Shekhar Bhatia. © All rights reserved.Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. PostalRegistration No.: TN/Chief PMG/399/2002
American EncountersBy Ka Di Sontakke
An American lady accostedus from behind when mywife and I were takingour usual morning walkin Northridge, California.“Would you mind if I walkwith you for some time?”she asked. “Of course not”.We exchanged routineintroductory information:“Oh, you are visitors”;“We are Hindus”; and soon. Our surname waspractically unpronounce-able for her.
On another occasion shetook us home, showed us agreen blouse, a gift fromone of her Indian friends,presented us a cup andsaucer her Irish grand-mother had given her,and said: “You now giveme one of your stories toremember you by”.
Later I handed her a copyof a short story publishedway back in 1986 inthe Western HumanitiesReview, Utah. That seemed
the only English storywhich I could easily getfrom India as my Marathiwritings wouldn’t havemade any sense to her.
“When would we be ableto see the beacon comingout from India?” sheinquired. “After about50 years”.
“Fifty years!”I reconsidered. “It is
bound to take at least 20to 25 years”, I said.
On yet another occasionshe told us about an Indianfriend of hers, a ladydoctor, who had claimedshe couldn’t have beenone in India because offamily and social restric-tions. It must be old times, Iconceded. “Not old”, shesaid. “She can’t be even 40”.
“Visit India”, I said, “andsee for yourself howmany lady doctors arepractising there”.
After a pause she said,“We ought to meet more.You are the first Indians I
have met who like Indiaand who would like toreturn there. The otherssimply despise it. I likeIndia”. (She had only somevague idea about Gandhifrom India.)
As part of my work Ihad been reading seriousmaterial. After a couple ofmonths, I felt it’s time Iread some American hu-mour. The only Americanhumorist I was acquaintedwith was James Thurber.But he is an old name.Many others must havecome up after him and Ishould read them, I decid-ed. So I accompanied mydaughter-in-law to a libraryand said to the womanthere: “I wish to read a topAmerican humorist”.
“Do you have any parti-cular name in mind?”
“No. Any top humoristwould do”.
“Read James Thurber”,she said, directing me tothe humour section.
Be the Non-doer
You are not the doerof any action here,
O Rama; so why do youassume doership? When
one alone exists, whodoes what and how?
Do not become inactive,either; for what isgained by doing
nothing? What has tobe done has to be done.Therefore, rest in theself. Even while doingall the actions natural
to you, if you areunattached to those
actions, you are trulythe non-doer; if you are
doing nothing andare attached to thatnon-doership you
become the doer! Whenall this world is like thejuggler’s trick, what is
to be given up and whatis to be sought?Yoga Vasishta,
Sage Vasishta’s preceptsto Sri Rama
✥
Whatever with thyheart thou dost desire,That is thy God adored,
undoubtedly;Whatever thing is in
thy heart always,That, be thou sure,
thou shalt attain, at last.If rose be in thy heart,
thou’lt be a rose;If nightingale, then that
sweet-singing bird.Thou art a part, Godis the whole; if thouEngage and occupythyself, some while,
With that Great Whole,it will fill all thy being,And make thee Whole.
The part becomesthe Whole.
Sufi Writings✥
I can honestly say thatI was never affected by
the question of thesuccess of an under-taking. If I felt it wasthe right thing to do,
I was for it regardless ofthe possible outcome.
Golda Meir✥
Man’s Desires are limit-ed by his Perceptions;
none can desire what hehas not perceived.
William Blake
Ud
aysh
anka
r
The Times of India, New Delhi14 Monday, January 20, 2003
PAGEEDIT PAGEEDIT
Helpless PolicewomenApropos of the news story ‘Policy tiespolicewomen’s hands’ (Jan 16), thewomen constables must be applauded fortheir attempts at making Delhi safer forwomen. Yet, it is ironical that those whoare trying to protect the public are not al-lowed to protect themselves. I think thesecourageous women should be allowed touse whatever means they have at theirdisposal to teach eve-teasers a lesson.
Manak Matiyani, via e-mail
From timesofindia.com
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Business bookslosing shineWe were offered a management
book on geese once, recallsStephen of Palgrave Macmillan,
a publisher. Apparently a different gooseflies in the lead position every time. Butwe don’t have any examples of geese run-ning successful businesses. Somebodyelse published it.
The avian school of management theo-ry may be small, but the search for appro-priate leadership metaphors is relentless,given the collapse of this part of thebooks market. Business books are in thewilderness, trying to get a sense of whatpeople want to read, says Raphael Saga-lyn, a literary agent who specialises inthe genre. Relying on zoology produces alimited field: Managing the Human Ani-mal by Nigel Nicholson, for instance, de-scribed the primeval instincts raging inthe business suit. History is a more fruit-ful source.
Some historical figures have left be-hind handy management texts. Machi-avelli is, of course, required boardroomreading. A couple of years ago, theBoston Consulting Group produced a ver-sion of Clausewitz’s thoughts on strategy.The Art of War, by Sun Tzu, a Chinesemilitary strategist of some 2,500 yearsago, far outsells Michael Porter’s latesttome and has inspired some 50 or sobooks with such titles as Sun Tzu’s Art ofWar for Traders and Investors. Readers ofbusiness books seem to like violentmetaphors, observes Tom Davenport,who has a book on management-thinkingon the way.
Some business authors see the careersof historical figures as case-studies. Giv-en the imminent disaster and fragilemorale that today’s managers often face,Ernest Shackleton’s ill-fated voyage of-fers inspiration, described by MargotMorrell in Leadership Lessons from theGreat Antarctic Explorer.
If history does not work, try Shake-speare. Britain’s Cranfield School ofManagement offers courses, with the re-built Globe Theatre in London, on Man-aging the Edge of Chaos: Leadership les-sons from Hamlet. Stabbing rivalsthrough the arras, however, is not a com-pulsory module.Tomes in decline: With profits falling,unemployment rising and Sophocleantales of corporate fraud and greed stillfresh in people’s minds, executives evenwell-known, successful ones are nolonger unquestioningly accepted as Sav-iors With Solutions. At the same time, themarket is glutted with business books,many commissioned in the 1990s but notdelivered until after the market startedits tumble or worse, after corporate scan-dals began to undermine the conceit ofexecutive infallibility. Economist and NYT Svc
MANAGEMENTMETAPHORS
How fair is cellfirms’ demand?
By J Mulraj
Oh, what a tangled webwe weave when firstwe practise to deceive.
There can be no better exam-ple of this than the mess thetelecom sector finds itself in,due to failure of, ironically,communication but also ofregulation. In all such gamesto capture public sympathy,there is often a lot of ‘noise’and it is essential for con-sumers and investors to re-move this noise and concen-trate on the core issue. Thecellular operators are seek-ing to protect their businessfrom competition by a farmore affordable service,WLL. They argue for a fairerdeal on two counts; one thatthey have paid huge licencefees which WLL operatorshaven’t and two that they arebeing asked to pay fees (Rs1.14 per call) to access fixedline networks, whether the
call originates from fixed lineand terminates on cellular orvice versa. WLL operators,being fixed line operators, re-ceive access charges.
TRAI argues that the cellu-lar players have paid huge li-cence fees of their own voli-tion; nobody asked them to.This is correct. Cellular oper-ators got an initial duopolyin metros and foolishly triedto milk it (remember the Rs16/minute call charges theyimposed?).
They considered mobile te-lephony to be an expensive,metropolitan habit and be-haved as such. Too bad forthem that new technologiesdeveloped to make mobile te-lephony, linked wirelessly inlocal loop, possible at muchmore affordable cost. Also re-member that WLL playershave a Universal ServiceObligation (USO) to providethe affordable service in
small towns and villages, andcan only do so at a cost andan investment which far ex-ceeds that made by cellularplayers, including the licencefees.
Europe was for long aleader in mobile telephony.The next big application wassupposed to be 3G. Europeangovernments got greedy, likeours did, and auctioned thelicences, for which Europeancompanies paid a total ofover $ 100 billion to acquire.But 3G failed to take off,largely due to the debt bur-den for acquiring licencesbut also due to technologyconstraints imposed by theGSM platform.
Reed Hunt, the FCC com-missioner when the USopened up telecom in a bigway in a 1996 Act, said that inthe resultant competitionsome investors make moneyand others lose money; aslong as the system and con-sumers benefit it is okay. Sothe fact that cellular opera-tors have made huge invest-ments in licence fees and soneed protection, is unten-able; recent WLL entrantshave made larger invest-ments in their networks toensure scale, and thus afford-ability adherence to the USO.
On access charges, theremay be a case for cellular op-erators to be heard, and TRAIand TDSAT should quicklysettle the case. Negotiationsof charges are best left toplayers; however, whenagreement cannot bereached, the regulator has tostep in promptly and judi-ciously. Authorities, in India,have an unfortunate habit ofshirking decision making,hoping that the problem willresolve itself when the pa-tience of players gets ex-hausted. The SC lobbed thedecision back to TRAI. Ifplayers continue blockingeach other out the consumercannot communicate andTRAI’s first priority is to pro-tect the consumer.
The consumer cannot beasked to decide whether ornot to opt for the service ofany particular operator with-out assuring him of connec-tivity and features like mobility. It is stupid to askhim to bear the risk ofuncertainty due to TRAI’s indecisiveness .
M&M to phase out old modelsBy Byas Anand
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Riding on the spiralling de-mand for its latest sting Scorpio andBolero, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) isbidding adieu to some of its older city-cen-tric models. The firm has decided to in-crease manufacturing capacity for Scorpioand drive it across the Great Wall. It alsoplans to steer its multi-utility vehicleBolero down the price ladder.
The firm has already rung down cur-tains on Armada and Armada Grand, andhas restricted production of its two-seaterjeep Classic. However, M&M will continueto produce its rural vehicles — Max andCommander.
M&M ED and president Alan Durantesaid: “The Armada and Armada grandwere phased out as part of a natural pro-gression, while the Classic is now beingproduced only on specific customer de-mand. We are now moving into an all-newline-up of city UVs with Scorpio andBolero. Some of the learnings from Scor-
pio have already been incorporated inBolero and Max, helping us turn themaround and boosting sales.”
On Bolero pricing, executive v-p PawanGoenka said: “We have already dropped thetag to the sub-Rs 5 lakh level. We will re-duce it further and will also look at a fur-ther stripped down version...may be closerto the Rs 4 lakh level.” The move followsgood response to recently introducedBolero Sportz.
Bolero, the officials said, has bounced
back after the introduction of the Sportzvariant. M&M is now selling close to 700units of the vehicle every month and ex-pects to touch 900-a-month in a few months.Even the Max has been re-engineered witha new tooled-up body and roof, helping themodel garner monthly sales of around 900units.
M&M is working towards cutting downthe waiting period for Scorpio. Introducedin the last summer, production of the vehi-cle is currently limited to 1,700 units amonth. M&M is in the process of strength-ening the supplier base and hike produc-tion to 2,500 units a month over the next sixmonths. The firm is now fine-tuning plansto launch a left-hand driven version ofScorpio as a completely built-up unit inSouth Africa, Indonesia, Russia and China.
“We in the process of negotiations withone or two probable partners in China andhope to close the deal soon,” Duranteadded. With this deal in place, M&M wouldbecome the first Indian firm to ventureinto the highly protected Chinese market.
Loss wipes outnet worth ofAmtrex Hitachi
By Narayan B BhattTIMES NEWS NETWORK
Ahmedabad: A significant amoumt of Networth of Amtrex Hitachi Appliances hasbeen wiped out after a net loss of Rs 20.51crore for the fiscal ended September 30,2002. This loss has resulted into making thereserves negative at Rs 14.23 crore whilethe share capital is Rs 14.67 crore —the dif-ference being positive by Rs 44 lakh.
So, the company has managed to save it-self from being classified a sick companyby showing a net worth of Rs 44 lakh.
But, within 60 days from finalisation ofaudited accounts, Amtrex Hitachi willhave to report to BIFR that over 50 per centof its net worth has been eroded as per Sec-tion 23 of the Sick Industrial Companies(Special Provision) Act, 1985.
On infusing fresh funds to shore up thenet worth, a company spokesperson said:“Hitachi is in the process of acquiring thepromoter’s stake in the Lalbhai group, tak-ing its stake upto 54.6 per cent. After com-pletion of this process the promoters willdecide the steps necessary for adequate fi-nancial planning for the business needs.”
Recently, Hitachi has informed the stockexchanges that it plans to acquire the en-tire shareholding of 19.40 per cent of JVpartner Lalbhai group. Hitachi is planningto buy the Lalbhais stake at a price ofabout Rs 41 per share as against the rulingmarket price of Rs 22-23. Once the stakesale is completed, Hitachi’s representative,Shoji Tsubokuta, currently the joint MD,will take control at the helm.
2003 opens with highinflation at 3.64%: TheNew Year saw a sharp hike indiesel and petrol prices withinflation surging to 3.64 percent, even as the rate wasway below at 1.89 per cent inthe comparable period in theprevious year. A marginal risein the heavy-weighted manu-factured items compoundedthe woes of common peopleas price change, measured byWPI, shot up by 0.32 per centfor the week ended January4 from 3.34 per cent a weekago. WPI rose by 0.2 per centto 167.3 against 166.9 in theprevious week. FIIs are net buyers inequities: FIIs were net buy-ers in equities at Rs 536.7crore while netting sales ofRs 65.2 crore in the debt mar-ket during the trading weekended January 18. MFs’ at-traction towards debt marketcontinued year as they nettedinflows of Rs 342.5 crore whileregistering net sales of Rs7.16 crore in equities, accord-ing to data SEBI.
Essar Shipping net up13% in Dec quarter: EssarShipping’s net profit rose13.38 per cent to Rs 16.36crore in the quarter ended De-cember 31, 2002 against Rs14.51 crore in the previouscorresponding period. Totalincome during the quarter un-der review stood at Rs 122.49crore against Rs 117.37 crore,a company release said.Arvind Mills Q3 net atRs 37 crore: Arvind MillsLtd has reported a net profit ofRs 37 crore for Q3 ended De-cember 2002 against a netloss of Rs 22 crore in thesame period of last fiscal.Sales and operating incomewas at Rs 379 crore againstRs 360 crore in Q3 of lastyear, up 5.27 per cent.GCMMFL bags milkplayer award: Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Fed-eration (GCMMFL) hasbagged the UHT milk playerin India award and the highestretail availability award. Theaward is hosted by Tetra PakIndia and the food processingministry.
E X E C U T I V E D I G E S T
NATIONAL
Fiat chairman job to goto U Agnelli: Fiat’s control-ling shareholders willstrengthen their role in itsmanagement, with ailing hon-orary chairman Gianni Agnel-li’s younger brother likely tobecome chairman, La Re-pubblica said. Umberto Ag-nelli, who looked to be takingan increasingly central role inmanaging the crisis engulfingFiat, is expected to be namedchairman of the group in July,succeeding Paolo Fresco, thenewspaper said. Agnelliwould likely take the reinsonly after a spinoff and recap-italisation of Fiat’s cash-burn-ing auto unit, the newspapersaid, while Fiat CEO Alessan-dro Barberis would keep hispost alongside Agnelli.
UK retail tycoon Greenreadies Safeway bid: Re-tail entrepreneur Philip Greenis preparing a cash takeoverbid for Britain’s fourth-biggestsupermarket chain, Safeway,and is expected to confirmhis intentions on Monday, theSunday Times reported. Sucha move would mark the fifthbid plan for Safeway, alreadytargeted by rival chains WmMorrison Supermarkets Plc, JSainsbury Plc and Wal-MartStores Inc’s Asda, as well asUS buyout giant KohlbergKravis Roberts & Co. Green,who owns British clothes re-tail groups Bhs and Arcadia,has requested the financial in-formation given to Morrisonbefore its offer 10 days ago,Safeway sources said. AllanLeighton, chairman of RoyalMail, is also in talks with Mer-rill Lynch on a possible bid.
Davis group preparesnew bid for Vivendi: Bil-lionaire oil man Marvin Davisis preparing a new bid for theentertainment assets of me-dia company of Vivendi Uni-versal in a round of meetingsset for later this month, aDavis spokesman said. “Heand his group will be leavingfor Paris and looking forwardto good, substantive talks.”He declined to detail any ofDavis’ new financial plans orgive a date for the meeting. InNovember, Davis, who ownedthe 20th Century Fox moviestudio in the early 1980s,launched a $ 20 billion bid forVivendi’s movie studio, televi-sion and theme park assetsthat include Universal Pic-tures and the USA and Sci-Ficable TV networks. Vivendicalled the offer too low, butleft the door open to talks.
Major airline group getsconditional ok: The USconditionally approved analliance among Delta, North-west and Continental airlinesthat would allow them to sellseats on each other’s flights ifthey agree to rules aimed atkeeping air travel competitive.Low-fare airlines lobbiedagainst the deal. Eight stateAGs also opposed it.
INTERNATIONAL
Today’s question: Do yousupport cellcos or WLL players
in the current face-off?
• The poll reflects the opinions of Net users who chose to participate, and not necessarily of
the general public.
Yesterday’s results: Is hiring aPC better option than
buying one?
Yes 18% No 78%
ET INSTA POLL
The number of Chineseworking in the farm sectoraccounted for 50.1 per centof the total labour force atthe end of 2001, comparedwith 70.5 per cent in 1978.
Heading for thebasement: Thehome loan war continues as ICICIBank cut interest oncertain tenures byhalf a percentagepoint. Clearly, themarket is ripe foreven lower rates,but is an interestrate bottom insight?
BOSSBOSSI N C
Debt market reforms:FM Jaswant Singh flagsoff retail trading of
government securities (orgilts) on stock exchanges,
but it remains to beseen if small investorsbite this new investment opportunity.
The man who would beking: Steve Case, the manbehind the AOL-Time Warner mega-merger, finally bows out to investors pressure and scathingcriticism on themerger. RichardParsons nowstands alone at thehead of the largestmedia company inthe world.
Regulation jamTRAI has failed to takeprompt action and sortout the problems.
The objectiveThe consumers shouldbenefit with affordableservices and assuredconnectivity and mobility
Telecom tangle
The Times of India, New Delhi, Monday, January 20, 2003
“There will be a negative effecton Jordan’s economy and the region. I cannot say Jordanwill not suffer, but wewill not collapse.”Jordanian PM Ali Abu Ragheb onthe impact of war in Iraq
No long-haul flightNo-frills airlines are beginning totake off in the Asia-Pacific region,but limited air traffic rights, national pride and other hurdlescould block long-term growth, industry analysts say
Edible oil imports dipAfter a long time, edible oil imports have shown a declining trend, falling 8.8% to 3.1 lakh tonnes in Dec2002 from 3.4 lakh tonnes in the previous year
PC shipments up in 2002The global PC market showed anestimated 2.7% increase in shipments to 132.4 million units in 2002, returning to growth after a decline in 2001, Dataquest said.In 2001, shipments declined 4%
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‘Rich must end agri subsidies’New Delhi: Amid conflicting view onWTO negotiations on agriculture, Indiawill strive for a common strategy with like-minded countries to mount pressure on ad-vanced nations to substantially cut farmsubsidies besides improving access.
“We will lobby hard to garner supportfor our proposals on agriculture. We haveto evolve a common strategy with like-minded countries to protect Indian farmsector and interests of farmers”, agricul-ture minister Ajit Singh said before his de-parture for Geneva for talks on the issue.
Singh said he would hold separate meet-ings with ministers of a large number ofcountries, including Japan, the UnitedStates, South Africa, Keniya, Pakistan andSri Lanka as also members from Cairnsgroup on India’s concerns during histhree-day visit to Geneva.
Expressing optimism about building acommon “network of support” for Indianproposals, he said “we want elimination ofexport subsidies and substantial reductionof domestic support on farm items. PTI
Reuters
Students carry an anti-GMO slogan in Guangzhou during a campaign against genetical-ly modified foods. China’s agriculture ministry has extended its temporary GMO importrules to September 20, 2003, requiring soybean suppliers to re-apply for import permits.
CMYK
B U S I N E S S T I M E S The Times of India, New Delhi16 Monday, January 20, 2003
Microsoft introduces CDcopy-protection softwareCannes: Microsoft Corp an-nounced on Saturday the in-troduction of new digitalrights software aimed athelping music labels controlunauthorised copying ofCDs, one of the biggestthorns in the ailing indus-try’s side.
Stung by the commonpractice of consumers copy-ing, or “burning,” new ver-sions of a store-bought CDonto recordable CDs, musiccompanies have investedheavily in copy-protectiontechnologies that have main-ly backfired or annoyed cus-tomers.
For example, most copy-proof CDs are designed sothat they cannot be played ona PC, but often this preventsplayback on portable devicesand car stereos too.
Last year, some resource-ful software enthusiasts
cracked Sony Music’s propri-etary technology simply byscribbling a magic markerpen around the edges of thedisc, thus enabling playbackon any device.
Microsoft believes it mayhave come up with a solu-tion. The new software iscalled the Windows MediaData Session Toolkit.
It enables music labels tolay songs onto a copy-con-trolled CD in multiple layers,one that would permit nor-mal playback on a stereo anda PC.
The PC layer, laid digitallyon the same disc, can be mod-ified by the content provider,so that they could prevent,for example, burning songsonto another CD, said DavidFester, general manager, dig-ital media entertainment forMicrosoft.
Universal Music and EMI,two of the biggest record la-bels in the world, “are veryexcited about this because itenables the industry to builda CD with their own protec-tions built in,” he said, speak-ing at the Midem music con-ference in southern France.
Microsoft has invested$500 million in digital rightsmanagement, or DRM, formusic. The Toolkit was co-developed with technologypartners Phoenix-based Sun-nComm Technologies andFrance’s MPO InternationalGroup. Reuters
AP
Evan Marriott (left) of the FOX Television show “Joe Millionaire” speaks to members of themedia on Saturday in Los Angeles as Paul Hogan, who played the butler on the show, lookson. The session was part of the Television Critics Association press tour.
Pharma vigilance system vitalThe continuing debate
over the safety of thedrug nimesulide is a
pointer to the absence of aneffective and comprehensivesystem of pharmacovigi-lance in the country to moni-tor adverse drug reactions(ADR) in general and to con-duct independent post-mar-keting surveillance and safe-ty evaluation of new drugs inparticular.
In the United States, whereadverse drug reactions areone of the leading causes ofmorbidity and mortality inhealth care, it is estimatedthat about 6.7 per cent of hos-pitalised patients have seri-ous drug reactions, with a fa-tality rate of 0.32 per cent.
Explaining the need for acomprehensive ADR report-ing system, the Centre forDrug Evaluation and Re-search at the Food and Drug
Administration, US, saysthat most new drugs are ap-proved with an average 1,500patient exposures and usual-ly for only relatively shortperiods of time. However,some drugs cause seriousADRs at very low frequencies
and would require manymore exposures to detect thereaction. A drug that is test-ed in a few thousand peoplemay have an excellent safetyprofile in those few thousandpatients. However, within ashort time after entering themarket, the drug may be ad-ministered to several millionpatients. That means that fordrugs that cause rare toxici-ty, their toxicity can only bedetected after, not before,marketing.
Dr Vasantha Muthu-swamy, senior deputy direc-tor general, Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR),makes the same point whenshe emphasises the urgentneed for a comprehensivesystem of pharmacovigi-lance covering the entirecountry and laments that, sofar, post-marketing surveil-lance of drugs in India hasbeen left to pharma firms.
Even though India too setup a national pharamacovig-ilance centre at the All Indi-an Institute of Medical Sci-ences, as part of the WHOprogramme, the Centre’s rolein reporting ADRs has beenlimited. Since the completesafety profile of a new drugis defined only after it is inuse in the market, we need toset up a competent system ofpharmacovigilance with ut-most urgency.
If it’s broke, fixit right now
By Jay Bhattacharjee
Winter is the seminarseason in the capitaland there is no bet-
ter place to have these VIPtalkathons than Vigyan Bha-van, the place that was origi-nally designed by our man-darins for such cerebral exer-cises.
However, the SEBI semi-nar last Friday on investorawareness of market prac-tices had boththe PrimeMinister andthe financeminister ass p e a k e r s ,apart from ahost of spe-cialists andmarket ad-ministrators.Much was ex-pected fromthis high-pow-ered meeting,and this ob-server wasnot all thatdisappointed, since therewere some surprising fall-outs from the discussionsthat the organisers may nothave factored in.
The interesting phase ofthe seminar got going whenthe working sessions started.At this juncture, the conceptof recovery of investors’funds wiped out in the vari-ous capital market scamswas put forward by somepanelists and audience mem-bers. This had the big chief-tains squirming; after all,every analyst in this countryand his/her pet poodleknows that the market regu-lator and the stock exchanges
are most ill-equipped to givejustice to investors who havebeen victims of various eco-nomic crimes.
Leaving aside the twincurses of sloth and venality,the glaring reality is that theenforcers of corporate andeconomic laws in this coun-try are lacking in the requi-site skills and knowledge.
It is in this context that oneshould examine the potential
role in Indiaof forensic ac-c o u n t a n c y,which is ac-quiring signif-icant impor-tance inNorth Ameri-ca and Eu-rope. Thephrase itselfis a bit of anoxymoron andsounds glam-orous andscary at thesame time. Ase c o n o m i ccrimes have
increased and investors havestarted probing for evidenceof corporate offences, foren-sic accounting has assumedpole position.
It is certainly a growth in-dustry in the US and there iseven an Association of Certi-fied Fraud Examiners, thathas nearly 3,300 accountantsas members and plans to addan additional 1,500 in thenext year or so.
Now, it is this combinationof specialised financial, ac-counting and legal skills thatwe need in our regulatorsand stock exchanges.
(The author is a Member ofthe Delhi Stock Exchange)
The ProblemThe regulator and thebourses are ill-equippedto give justice to in-vestors who have beenvictims of various economic crimes.
The SolutionSet up specialised auditteams that help in litiga-tion and investigatefirms’ finances to findmissing money.
Market mess
SEBI to inkpact with Chinese regulator New Delhi: Securities andExchange Board of India isplanning to ink an agree-ment with its Chinese coun-terpart for sharing of infor-mation on securities deal-ings, which would assist theregulators to unearth andtake action against marketmanipulators.
“We are planning to signan agreement with the mar-ket regulator of China for in-formation sharing,” SEBIchairman G N Bajpai saidhere.
The two leading emergingmarket regulators — SEBIand China Securities Regula-tory Commission — cameinto existence about a decadeago following liberalisationof the two economies and thegrowth of capital market.
The proposed agreementwould be fourth in the seriesas SEBI has already signedpacts with Securities and Ex-change Commission of US,Malaysian regulator and Fi-nancial Services Commis-sion of Mauritius.
Bajpai declined to give atime-frame for the proposedagreement but said the regu-lator intends to sign suchpacts with more regulators.
“We are part of the Inter-national Organisation of Se-curities and Exchange Com-missions. So, we are alwaysin touch with other regula-tors,” he said.
The series of agreementson information sharing as-sumes significance after theshare scam of 2000-01, whensome brokers allegedly rout-ed funds through overseascorporate bodies. PTI
CHECKOUTPushpa Girimaji
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Moody. Aloof. Technically in-adequate...the allegationsstill fly thick and fast whenone talks about the Indianskipper Sourav Ganguly. Butsurprisingly enough, notmany of his peers would liketo step into his shoes - whichis often called the secondmost important job in Indiaafter the Prime Ministership.This is precisely the reasonwhy he would need all thesupport when Ganguly leadsthe ‘Men in Blue’ into theeighth World Cup in less thanthree weeks from now.
During the New Zealandnightmare, the Prince ofKolkata was candid enoughto admit that things were nev-er as bad for him ever sincetaking charge of the team in
2000 - both with his personalform as well the team’s for-tunes. There have been occa-sions, like in the first year ofhis captaincy when Gangulywas in roaring form - espe-cially in One-day cricket - butthe team was flounderingwith an alarming regularity
in the finals. Then came astretch in 2001 when hisdrought of runs was offset bysome of the most enduringsuccess of the team like theTest series triumph overSteve Waugh & Co.
However, there was no
such respite for him in NewZealand. As the team contin-ued to take a battering inboth forms of the game - Gan-guly’s bat yielded a total of 29runs in the four Test inningswhile he managed to get intodouble figures only twice inthe seven One-dayers! Worse
still, the dismissals camemore by way of the tentative-ness of a batsman short onconfidence or desperationrather than being bouncedout.
What, however, is encour-aging that he had shown the
maturity to take it all on hischin and move on. “The remedy lies in all of us look-ing back and thinking aboutthe good run we have had andnot to sulk over what hasgone by,” Ganguly said theother day.
The same should hold truein his case also - for Gangulydid have a fine run with thebat in the One-dayers the lasttime India toured the Pro-tealand in late 2001.
An owner of 8255 ODI runswith as many as 19 centuries,Ganguly is certainly thereamong the top five ODI bats-men in the world. His experi-ence of the last World Cup,where he was the secondhighest scorer among the In-dians after Rahul Dravid,should also give him the fillipto give his best shot - andhope for the best !
—Gautam Bhattacharyya
Sourav needs all the support to turn it around
If cricket is a game of glorious un-certainties, India are its most ardentflag-bearers. Inconsistency and prodi-gality have been synonymous with In-dian cricket for long. But the rollercoaster spin that India have gonethrough in the last one year in limit-ed-overs cricket has been extraordi-nary even by their own whimsicalstandards.
It was only in September last year,after an impressive Champions Tro-phy campaign, that India were toutedas a possible World Cup victor. Theteam exuded dynamism, all-roundstrength and a capacity to fight backfrom difficult situations. Their graphin ODIs in the previous months indi-cated a big upswing. They had beatenWest Indies in the Caribbean before
bettering England and Sri Lanka inthe Tri-series in England. And whocan forget the final of this eventwhich then seemed to have marked aturning point for India as it broke it’sOne-day final jinx by chasing a mas-sive 326.
It looked that Indian cricket hadcome of age and was ready to com-pete as equals with the best. Theview was only reinforced by a strongChampions Trophy campaign.
Thus, the West Indians looked likelambs to the slaughter when theyconfronted India in the latter’s terri-tory for the seven-match ODI series.But it was the Indian bowling whichwas cut to shreds as the Caribbeansnotched up an unexpected 4-3 win.The halo started to shrink and thebubble burst completely on the NewZealand tour in December-Januarywhich saw the Indians go throughthe mother of all slumps. This timearound, it was the vaunted battingline-up which capitulated spectacu-larly.
In less than four months, Indianshave gone from being world-beatersto humble pie-eaters. And as it headsSouth Africa for the World Cup, theteam is beset with a crisis of confi-dence. However, they can take heartfrom the fact that expectations arenot running sky-high after the recentdebacles. This should be welcome bythe team. Now they should try anduse the underdog tag to their advan-tage just as Kapil’s Devils did in 1983.
—Shashank Shekhar
India: Black and blue What Indian stars can hope for during the CupSTAROSCOPE
Dinesh Mongia is ofRevati nakshatra andPisces lunar sign. Hisbirth lagna is Scorpio.As per solar sign he is an Arien.
The significator in hishoroscope is Venus and
Jupiter, so he has acquireda space in Indian Cricketduring the period ofVenus/Jupiter of January2001 to September 2001.Now, he is running underVenus-Saturn.
The World Cup 2003 should be a boom for Dinesh’s ca-reer. He will be a good and popular batsman. He is a prod-uct of fire sun sign and Saturn in his fate house whichmakes him a master of the tricks of batting. He can be adelightful cricket star, solid even in World level matches.He will play eminently watchable innings at whatever slothe bats in.
During the Maha Kumbha of World Cup 2003, advancedates will be favorable to him i.e., the 3rd and 4th weeks ofFebruary. In the prime matches, Dinesh will probably notget too many chances because the entire dasa and Bhuktiis not totally favorable to him. Yet his contribution willcontinue even after World Cup 2003.
—Pt. Kewal Anand Joshi
It’s a dream come true for all of us that he’s reached thislevel. Especially since he started playing cricket quite latein his life. Till class 10th he wasn’t into serious cricket. Itwas only after he moved to the DAV School that he was selected to play for the Indian schools team thattoured the West Indies. We do get nervous whenhe’s out there playing but have started to livewith it. May God be with Dinesh and help himexcel against all opposition.
Fond wishes from his father B L MongiaIN THE FAMILY04
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How the top teams have performed over the last year in One-dayersSLOG OVERS
On the roadSOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI
Venkatesh Prasad: I reallydon’t know what happened toAamir Sohail in that particularover. He was tonking us allover and we thought the matchwould be over in no time. Thestadium was full, the crowdwhich was cheering when In-dia were batting went ab-solutely quiet. I was bowlingover the wicket to Sohail andhe hit me through cover-pointfor a boundary. Then, for somereason he pointed his bat to
the region where ball had goneand said, “I’ll hit you in thesame place again.” I absorbpressure well as has beenepitomised by my performanc-es against Pakistan. I didn’t sayanything. Instead, I decided tochange my line by going roundthe wicket. As luck would haveit, Sohail tried to play a similarstroke and was out cleanbowled. I think it was the turn-ing point in that game.
—as told to Dinesh Chopra
Controversies and incidentsTHE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE GOOGLY
South African Tourism
As a child, Aamir Sohail might never have playedwith a boomerang. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have
let Venkatesh Prasad castle him in the Indo-Pakquarterfinal at the Chinnasawmy Stadium in the1996 World Cup.
Even as Imran Khan flew in to be a special guestin the television commentary box, chasing 290 underthe lights, Sohail (in the 14.5 over) showed his baturging Prasad to pick the white ball (quite brown bythen — after his hammering) from the cover bound-ary. Little did he knew, that Prasad had grown up onthe same ground. And that audacity can sometimebackfire in queer ways. Sohail had no idea that whatwas coming next was going to become a high point ofthe that World Cup. A worked-up Prasad sent thewhole nation into raptures by bowling the southpawwith his next delivery. And immediately pointed to-wards the dressing room, asking him to head to-wards the it besides giving him a mouthful.
It was the turning point
The India-Australia encounter in the 1983 World Cup atChelmsford (June 20) was a virtual quarter-final. The
Australian captain, Kim Hughes withdrew to rest his injuredthigh and David Hookes led the Aussies for the first time. In-dian captain Kapil Dev won the toss and elected to bat. At174 for six with the top six batsmen - Gavaskar (9),Srikkanth (24), Amarnath (13), Patil (30), Kapil (28) andYashpal (40) - back in the pavilion, the Indians were in dan-ger of being shot out for a low total. However, thanks to use-ful contributions from Kirti Azad (15), Roger Binny (21) andMadan Lal (12 n.o.), the Indians managed to score 247 off55.5 overs.
The Aussies, who had scored a huge 320 against the In-dians only a week earlier in the same tournament, were apoor copy of their earlier confident self. They collapsed dra-matically, losing six wickets for 32 runs (from 46 for one to78 for seven) and when Madan bowled Allan Border for 36,India’s entry into the semi-final was ensured with their 118-run triumph. It was the nagging medium-pace of Madan andBinny (Man of the Match), who took four wickets each, thatproved a bit too much for the opponents. The duo engi-neered the slide which turned the game away from the for-midable Aussies. The triumph gave India four vital pointswhich took their tally to 16 from six games. They finishedsecond in the Group B table behind West Indies to reach thesemis. What happened thereafter is history.
—Rajesh Kumar
The slip between the Cup and the leapTURNING POINT
■ In the first Super Sixgame between Australiaand India at The Oval in1999, Bill Lawry, Aus-tralian commentator, wasquite upset and close totears as two pigeons paidfor their lack of cricketknowledge with theirlives in two separate inci-dents. The first instanceoccurred when Indianwicketkeeper, NayanMongia smashed a drivestraight to Paul Reiffel inthe outfield in the 42ndover. Reiffel killed the pi-geon with a throw backfrom the boundary, whichstruck the bird in flight.Six overs later, anotherfatality occurred whenAjay Jadeja, trying a cutto third man, sent the ballflying into another pi-geon standing in the out-field.■ At Perth in the 1991-92Cup, Ravi Shastri com-pleted a well-made fiftybefore skying a slog offPhilip DeFreitas straightup in the air. The bowler,perhaps distracted bymoving batsmen,dropped the chance butretained enough compo-sure to run Shastri out.■ During the UAE in-nings against England atShahi Bagh Stadium, Pe-shawar on February 18,1996, England speedsterDominic Cork, whilebowling, saw blue spotson the white ball. The um-pires took some time tofind out the source andumpire Ramaswamy hada good look at one of thebats and asked the playerconcerned to put a tapeon the blue sticker whichhad the brand name on it.
—Rajesh Kumar
Sourav GangulySUPERBATS
FIXTURES
February 10: Sri Lanka vsNew Zealand
February 22: South Africa vsBangladesh
March 3: Namibia vs Holland
March 8: Super Six game
March 12: Super Six game
Goodyear Park, BloemfonteinTHE BATTLEFIELDS
BIRTH
During the early1990s the Bloem-
fontein base was a cru-cial nursery for thecountry’s stars. Theyoung Hansie Cronjecaptained Free State,while Allan Donaldplied his trade on theslowish pitches at theground. A large, openvenue, it often plays sec-ond fiddle to the rugbystadium across the road,and attendances at Testsand Oe-day matcheshave been notoriouslypoorly attended by theBloemfontein public.
LIFELINESCapacity: 20 000
Highest innings score: 310/6(50 ovrs), SA vs Aus, 1997 Lowest innings score: 90
(37.1 ovrs), Ken vs Ind, 2001 Top individual score: 140,Jayasuriya (SL) v NZ, 1994 Best individual bowling:
5/42, Klusener (SA) v Ind, 1997
THE PITCH
Bloemfontein nearly alwaysoffers some encourage-
ment to fast bowlers early on,particularly at the start of themorning session of daygames, with the ball nippingoff the seam and carryingthrough to the wicketkeeperwell. Any batsmen willing totake risks can score freely inthese opening overs of thegame; but the pitch then oftenslows, making strokeplay dif-ficult. A hard pitch also means
that the ball can go soft relatively quickly, limitingboundary-scoring opportuni-ties but also negating much ofthe penetration of fasterbowlers. The long-term statistics show no marked difference between sides batting first or second,although those chasing scoresare marginally better off,probably a factor of the pitchflattening out or baking in thehot Free State sun for much ofthe day.
GOLDEN MOMENT
On Australia’s 2002tour of South Africa,
Ricky Ponting had beenstruggling for form de-spite his team’s over-whelming successes. AtBloemfontein he hit hisstride in spectacular style,stroking one of the bestOne-day innings ever seenat the venue. Dazzlingwith his off-side play andsavage pulling againstshort balls, the elegantright-hander raced to 129from 126 balls. A brilliant Johannesburg
Veteran paceman Javagal Srinath used the conditions to great effect in New Zealand. India will need an en-core from him if they are to make an impression in the World Cup.
Ajit Ninan
Ajit Ninan
Nicknamed Egoli (place ofgold), Johannesburg
glints as the largest jewel inthe SA urban crown. A smor-gasbord of diverse influences,it is a place where gleamingskyscrapers contrast with thetraditional bustle of Indianbazaars and traditional heal-ers. Close by is Soweto — thecradle of the struggle againstapartheid and the largestblack township of the country.The administrative capital isan apt showcase for theprovince Gauteng that boasts of an amazing 97% of ur-banisation. Yes, this ain’t the dark continent no more!
★★ ★★ ★★
The pitch is up and the fever is on in the host nation tothe extent that the Southern Sun Hotel group is train-
ing more than 5000 staff from 65 hotels to be cricketfriendly. This lot are studying their googlies and yorkersto be privy to the mysteries of the game before the Cupbowls them over. Word has it that even Ali Bacher thinksthat it’s a great idea.
★★ ★★ ★★
When England take on Namibia at Port Elizabeth inthe eastern cape province and there may not be too
much action on the field to hold the spectators to theirseats. Especially as there is a lot just beyond the stadiumwalls. Former president Nelson Mandela’s village Mvezofor one. Scuba diving, mountain biking and the nation’sonly traditional healing village for others.
The Times of India, New Delhi, Monday, January 20, 2003
Border makes his pitchAllan Border has condemned poorquality of pitches Down Under as athreat to Australia’s position as topteam. He was concerned by the“dodgy” tracks prepared this summer for domestic competition
Quote pe quoteIt was like playing in an oven. Tributeto all those players who have scoredhere and thumbs up to Dean Jonesfor his double hundred in tied Test.— Stephen Fleming during the 1996WC describing the Chennai heat
Good news for AustraliaShane Warne gave the injury-hit Australian team some hearteningnews ahead of the World Cup. Thechampion leg-spinner showed someof his old magic, claiming 2/41 off 10overs against Victoria
COUNTDOWN TO THE 8th CRICKET WORLD CUP
19days to go
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A smiling Zulu woman
CMYK
T I M E S S P O R T The Times of India, New Delhi18 Monday, January 20, 2003
Mat or mud?
Akharas are ourmandirs and no at-tack in their func-
tioning will be tolerated,’’says Mohinder Nigam,president of the IndianStyle Wrestling Federationof India. Reacting tomoves by the WrestlingFederation of India tocurb wrestling on mud,Nigam asserts that theWFI writ won’t run on this issue and would bechallenged. ‘
In the same vein, G.S.Mander, former chief ofthe WFI, says ; ‘‘The mudakharas are our nurseriesand a tradition and no one should think of dis-turbing these.’’
The concern of the WFIcould be understood be-cause international eventstake place on mats and therules differ from those inhome competitions. Itwould not like to lose anymore time in getting Indi-an wrestling to fall in linewith the modern trend. Itmust also be prepared forresistance, for history tellsus that reform is alwaysresented.
Power of ‘money’
The power of moneyprevailed when theEngland and Wales
Cricket Board decided togo ahead with their WorldCup match in Zimbabwedespite pressure from theBritish Government toboycott the match toprotest against humanrights issues. The Aus-tralian government hasalso given up trying to per-suade their team not toplay there.
Meanwhile, protestgroups in Zimbabwe havedecided to organizemarches to expose to theinternational communitythe excesses of Robert Mu-gabe’s regime.
ECB chief Tim Lambjustified the decision say-ing that the ECB had al-ways found it perverse andinequitable when asked tomake an isolated and pure-ly symbolic gesture. ButLamb insists that the teamwill not shake hands withpresident Mugabe if he de-cides to attend.
Fare thee well!
The Delhi Golf Clubwill never be quitethe same again. For
Bedi Saab is no more. Hewas an institution. Theclub, and every memberwho had the privilege of
knowing him, of savour-ing his friendship, feels re-duced by his sudden deathin a freak car accident.
Before dawn on Satur-day morning he was, typi-cally, on his way to hiscourse duty, despite thebitter cold. It was to be adate with destiny, ironical-ly, opposite the very cre-mation ground where, lat-er that day, the tributescame spontaneously fromthe golfers: a good man,no-one ever had a badword to say about BediSaab, tactful, polite, al-ways cheerful, neverafraid to say anything toanybody, one to one, be-cause he had nothing tohide, everyone had a storyto tell. Andfor today’stop golfersBedi Saabwas thehelpful, fa-therly pres-ence oftheir junioryears.
One for your shelf
That guru of cricketstatisticians, BillFrindall, rates it as
best statistical compendi-um on One-day Interna-tionals. India’s best knownstatistician Anandji Dossacalls the compiler an out-standing statistician.
It’s mind boggling, butyoung statistician Ra-jneesh Gupta has come upwith his stupendous effort,One-Day Internationals:the Complete Record Book.
Rajneesh, a qualified engineer and acontributor to The Timesof India, has drummed up innumerable facts andfigures about the ODIs in316 pages. You name it andit’s there in the book,priced at Rs 250.
Exemplary action
While there hasbeen agroundswell of
sympathy for Australianbatsman Darren Lehmannafter he was given a five-match suspension forracial vilification, the fact
remains that anyracial slur, even ifmade half-seriously,must not be encour-aged in any sphere oflife. The ICC chief ex-ecutive MalcolmSpeed, for a change,would win approvalin Indian for the ur-gency he showed indealing with the is-sue. Match refereeClive Lloyd had letLehman off with awarning after theplayer had tendered averbal as well as awritten apology tothe Sri Lankans atwhom his remarkwas aimed. It wasSpeed who, to the
surprise of many, took upthe matter and insistedthat Lloyd take a secondlook at the incident andhand out exemplary pun-ishment.
The whole episode hasonce again demonstratedthe growing influence ofthe Asian countries inworld cricket, somethingthe chauvinist white willonly scoff at. However, thefact remains that the epi-centre of cricket is now inAsia and not England orAustralia.
Udayshankar
Cool Clarke guides Australia homeAdelaide: An ice-coolMichael Clarke, unflappablein his first One-day interna-tional, guided Australia to athrilling four-wicket winover England in a tri-nationsseries One-day clash underlights here on Sunday night.
Floundering with 104 forsix wickets in the 37th over,Australia finished with 153for six wickets — with 15balls to spare — as theychased down England’s 152all out. England’s consola-tion in defeat was that theyearned the single bonuspoint which is likely to en-sure they qualify to play Aus-tralia in the finals of the$112,000 contest.
Clarke, 21, went to thewicket with his country anuncertain 97 for four, but heldfirm to make an unbeaten 39from 47 balls, with threeboundaries. He and numbereight batsman Shane Watsonpiloted Australia across theline with an unconquered 49-run stand which enabled thehome country to completetheir 11th successive winagainst England.
England’s openingbowlers, Andy Caddick andJimmy Anderson, foundpeak form to lift the side’shopes in the early overs asAustralia began their smallchase. Anderson trappedJimmy Maher (0) in his firstover, and Caddick accountedfor Adam Gilchrist (four) inhis second over. CaptainNasser Hussain made the un-usual decision to allow Cad-dick and Anderson to bowltheir full quota of 10 overswithout a break.
The move paid dividends,with Australia struggling to46 for two in the first 20 overs.Anderson’s spell of 10 overs(with six maidens) for a re-turn of one for 12 was themost economical spell by anEngland bowler in a One-day-er for almost 11 years.
It equalled former all-rounder Ian Botham’s 2-12from 10 overs against Pak-istan, also in Adelaide, inMarch, 1992. When third-wicket pair Martyn and Be-van scrounged 91 runs off 189balls to take Australia to 96for two. AFP
Reuters
Michael Clarke (L) and Shane Watson of Australia share a lighter moment during their One-day match against England at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
England:M. Trescothick c Gilchrist b Bracken 6N. Knight c Gilchrist b Bracken 11M. Vaughan c Gilchrist b Williams 21N. Hussain c and b Bracken 0A. Stewart c Maher b Watson 6P. Collingwood not out 63I. Blackwell b Watson 0R. Irani c Bevan b Clarke 20A. Caddick c Martyn b Hogg 6J. Anderson lbw Hogg 8M. Hoggard run out 5Extras (lb2, nb4) 6Total (all out in 48.3 overs) 152Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-38, 3-39, 4-40,5-67, 6-71, 7-116, 8-122, 9-136Bowling: B. Williams 7-1-20-1, N. Brack-en 7.3-2-21-3, S. Watson 7-2-18-2, B.Lee 10-2-28-0, B. Hogg 10-0-39-2, M.
Clarke 7-0-24-1.Australia:A. Gilchrist c T’cothick b Caddick 4J. Maher c Stewart b Anderson 0D. Martyn c Collingwood b Blackwell 59M. Bevan c Knight b Blackwell 30B. Lee c Collingwood b Vaughan 0M. Clarke not out 39A. Symonds st Stewart b Blackwell 0S. Watson not out 13Extras (lb4, w2, nb2) 8Total (for 6 wickets in 47.3 overs) 153Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-5, 3-96, 4-97,5-104, 6-104Bowling: A. Caddick 10-2-34-1, J. An-derson 10-6-12-1, I. Blackwell 10-2-26-3, M. Hoggard 7.3-0-35-0, M. Vaughan 5-0-20-1, R. Irani 5-0-22-0Man of match: Nathan Bracken (Aus).
SCOREBOARD
Nasser slamsofficials forheavy scheduleLondon: England skipperNasser Hussain has comedown heavily on cricket au-thorities for drawing upheavy schedules resulting ininjury-induced gradualburnout of leading playerslike Shane Warne, MuttiahMuralitharan and DarrenGough.
“The intensity of modernschedules has a direct corre-lation with the amount of in-juries suffered by leadingplayers and despite my rais-ing of this at internationalcaptains’ meetings, the au-thorities appear blind to theproblem,” Hussain wrote inhis weekly column in TheSunday Telegraph.
“It seems as though thepeople in charge of interna-tional schedules are only in-terested in how much moneythey can make in one calen-dar year. They sell every pos-sible date to television com-panies, leaving the players asa final thought,” he said.
“We mention this at cap-tains’ meetings and the ICCrepresentative says they arelooking into it yet nothing isdone. Despite assurances tothe contrary I have seen anincrease in the amount ofcricket rather than a reduc-tion and it worries me thatthe sport has become a mon-ey-making exercise.
He said One-day crickethas always been played at afrenetic pace but now field-ing has become such an es-sential part of the game thatcoaches and captains are asking players to dive aroundtrying to save every boundary. PTI
ROAD TO THE WORLD CUP
PTI
Punjab governor and administrator of Chandigarh Union Territory, Lt. Gen J F R Jacob felicitates Dinesh Mongia at a function in Chandigarh on Sunday.
Lanka threaten pull-outColombo: Sri Lanka onSunday issued a thinlyveiled threat to totally pullout of the World Cup tour-nament or field a B team asSanath Jayasuriya’s men re-fused to compromise on apay demand.
The Board of Control forCricket in Sri Lanka (BCC-SL) said its offer of perform-ance-based payments at theWorld Cup starting nextmonth had been turneddown by the national squad.
The BCCSL was itself in acrisis with the InternationalCricket Council (ICC) whichhad set a January 17 dead-line for Sri Lankan playersto sign contracts to play atthe tournament.
“In the event that thesquad members fail to do sothe BCCSL will be reluctant-ly compelled to avail itself ofall remedies available to it,”the board said in a statement.
A top cricket board sourcesaid the options includedfielding a different squad orcompletely pulling out asJayasuriya’s men were mak-ing totally unacceptable de-mands. The players were in-sisting on a 20 per cent shareof the BCCSL’s guaranteedfee of 6.4 million dollarsfrom the World Cup, but theauthorities were only will-ing to offer 10 percent plusan incentive payment.
The incentive was a$100,000 bonus to the entire
team if they won the WorldCup, taking place in Africafrom February 9 to March23, plus the doubling ofmatch fees from $700 to$1,400. An additional $20,000was also being offered if theteam entered the finals.
The BCCSL said it hadpaid 70 per cent of its totalrevenue last year to its play-ers and argued that the newpay demand would leave theboard without adequatecash for promoting the gamein rural areas of the island.
BCCSL chief executivesaid he did not see a way outof the match fee crisis, butsaid the players must havethe matter resolved “in a dayor two.” AFP
Lehmann getssupport fromChappell, BlewettAdelaide: Australian bats-man Darren Lehmann’s five-match suspension for racialvilification was “a crueltwist of fate”, former Aus-tralian Test captain and all-time great batsman GregChappell said on Sunday.
As family and friends ral-lied around a devastatedLehmann, Chappell — nowcoach of Lehmann’s SouthAustralian state side — saidhe was the last player he ex-pected to be found guilty ofracial vilification. “This isone of the most unkind ofmany cruel twists of fate forDarren,” Chappell said.“Darren is one of the greatfellas of Australian cricket.”
Chappell said: “He’s thequintessential Australianand the quintessential Aus-tralian cricketer — he playsit hard, but fair, and for himto be made an example likethis is sad. It seems so unjust— he’s such a likeable blokewho is well-liked throughoutthe cricket-playing world.
Former Test star GregBlewett, who plays alongsideLehmann for SA, said hewould not judge his team-mate on the one-off indiscre-tion. He said he still regard-ed Lehmann as “a greatbloke” and not a racist.
Yorkhsire to retainLehmann: Lehmann will beretained as Yorkshire countycaptain next season despitehis five match suspensionfor making racial remarks, aspokesman for the club saidon Saturday. Agencies
Hussain could bejailed for not shakinghands with MugabeLondon: England skipperNasser Hussain’s decisionnot to shake hands with Zim-babwean President RobertMugabe during the team’sopening World Cup fixturein that country, may landhim in jail, a British daily re-ported on Sunday.
Two years ago Zimbabweintroduced a legislationmaking it a criminal offencefor anyonetravellingin thecountry toshow anysign ofdisrespectfor thePresident,the Sunday Times reported.
The law has already beenused to jail local people forbreaches as minor as failingto cheer Mugabe’s motor-cade, and critics of theregime say Hussain could beprosecuted if he refuses toshake hands with the dicta-tor. Hussain made it clearlast month that he will re-fuse to shake hands with Mu-gabe at the World Cup gamescheduled to be played inHarare on February 13.
England and Wales Crick-et board Chief ExecutiveTim Lamb had also main-tained that the team wouldnot play any part in “cere-monial activities” thatmight be used to bolster Mu-gabe’s position.
Zimbabwean opposition
politicians say the Englandteam will find it all but im-possible to avoid beingcaught in Mugabe’s propa-ganda net. However, Lambdismissed the prospect ofany member of the Englandteam being arrested.England players havemoral concerns: Hussainalso said that some of histeam-members had moral
concer nsa b o u tplaying inZ i m b a b -we.
‘‘I haveasked theplayers toread up on
it and the only thing I willsay about Zimbabwe is thatwe have a split in our con-sciences because of what wesee on television,’’ Hussaintold Britain’s Press Associa-tion in Adelaide, Australia.‘‘They are getting conflictingmessages but our board hasagreed to go and we havesigned our contracts so weare going. What we have areyoung lads in hotel roomswatching on television aboutZimbabwe and asking them-selves about the issue.’’
Hussain said he was try-ing to find out as much in-formation as possible aboutthe situation in Zimbabwe,including talking to Essex colleague AndyFlower, the country’s leadingplayer. Agencies
Anand in joint lead after a drawWijk Aan Zee (The Netherlands):World Cup champion ViswanathanAnand quickly settled for a draw withGrandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk ofUkraine in the sixth round to remain injoint lead in the 65th Corus Chess tour-nament here.
Anand shared the lead with world’shighest rated woman Judit Polgar ofHungary and local star Loek Van Welywho put in another fine performance tobeat erstwhile leader Evgeny Bareev ofRussia. All three have four points eachin their kitty and are followed by Grand-master Alexie Shirov of Spain who wasdefeated by Polish Grandmaster MichalKrasenkow yesterday.
Shirov is on 3.5 points while five play-
ers — Braingames champion VladimirKramnik, Alexander Grischuk (bothRussia), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Ba-reev and Ivanchuk shared the fifth spotwith three points each with seven morerounds remaining in this 14-player tour-nament. In the Grandmaster ‘B’ tourna-ment, former world junior girls cham-
pion Koneru Humpy failed to stage acomeback after the second rest day tooand went down against GM Jonny Hec-tor of Sweden.
Top seed GM Zhang Zhong of Chinacontinued with his winning run andscalped Dutch GM Harmen Jonkman toreach 5.5 points from six games.
Humpy is placed a distant 12th rightnow on 1.5 points. Ivanchuk has notshown any brilliance at all in this event.In fact the magician from Lvov, Ukrainehas not gone past the 20th move in thelast four rounds and has agreed todraws just after or during the opening.
It was a Queen’s Indian defence asAnand was probably looking for someexciting battle, knowing well thatIvanchuk was win-less so far in thetournament.Results (Round 6): Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukr, 3) drewViswanathan Anand (4); Vladimir Kramnik (Rus, 3) drewAlexander Grischuk (Rus, 3); Evgeny Bareev (Rus, 3) lost toLoek Van Wely (Ned, 4); Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukr, 2.5) drewJudit Polgar (Hun, 4); Michal Krasenkow (Pol, 2.5) beat Alex-ei Shirov (Esp, 3.5) Anatoly Karpov (Rus, 2.5) drew TeimourRadjabov (Aze, 2.5); Jan Timman (Ned, 1.5) lost to VeselinTopalov (Bul, 3). PTI
Harikrishna leads the tableMumbai: Grandmaster PHarikrishna of AndhraPradesh was leading themen’s section with threepoints at the end of the thirdround in the National ‘A’Chess Championships hereon Sunday.
Playing white, Harikrish-na took 43 moves to beat SSatyapragyan overcomingthe Nimzo Indian defenceadopted by his opponent. Ab-hijit Kunte played the Cata-lan opening as he defeatedGM Dibyendu Barua. The
game lasted 31 moves.
International Master S Ki-dambi, playing black, openedwith Caro Kann defence toget a creditable draw againstGM K Sasikiran while
Sachchidanand Soman, whogot the better of GM Pravin
Thipsay yesterday, tasted de-feat at the hands of IM TejasBakre.In the women’s sec-tion, WGM S Vijayalakshmihad a smooth sailing againstKavita J E while WIM Swati
Ghate defeated KrutikaNadig in 34 moves.Men’s (Round 3): K Sasikiran drew withS Kidambi; Tejas Bakre bt S Soman; PHarikrishna bt S Satyapragyan; M RVenkatesh drew with Sriram Jha; ArvindShastry drew with Suvrajit Saha; V Sar-vanan drew with G B Prakash; AbhijitKunte bt Dibyendu Barua; R B Rameshdrew with Lanka Ravi; R Saptarsh drewwith S S Ganguly; Neelotpal Das drewwith P Mokal.Women’s (Round 2): S Vijayalakshmi btJ E Kavitha; Swati Mohota lost to RAarthie; Tania Sachdev bt Saimeera; Ee-sha Karwade lost to D Harika; Y Pratib-ha drew with Nisha Mohota; KrutikaNadig lost to Swati Ghate. PTI
DP, Moonlight win: Delhi Police upsetIndian National 1-0 with a goal from V.Samson while Moonlight defeated NestorGoans by a solitay goal scored byBikram Bhandari in the matches of DSA-SAIL Senior Division Football League.
Sandeep Suri Memorial Cricket: LB Shastri: 223/8 in40 overs (Gauatm Gambhir 79, Dalip TT 54, Naresh Jain27, Jaginder Singh 4/34, Jatin Khanna 2/37) bt Rajd-hani Sports: 219 all out in 39.2 overs (Manish Chawla73, Ravi Yadav 34, Daman Jeet 30, Gaurav Mehta 25,Amit Mishra 3/44, Naresh2/25) by 5 runs.
RP Jain Trophy A fine unbeaten knock(54) by Akhil Yadav and deadly bowling(4/23) by Akshay Arora helped N.C. Jin-dal school beat Manav Sthali by tenwickets in the 6th Reebok Rohtak RoadGymkhana R.P. Jain inter-school (uner-
15) cricket tournament at Bharat Nagarground.
Manav Sthali 120 in 34.5 overs: (Karan Anand 31,Puneet Chopra 4/23, Akhsay Arora 3/30, Lalit Kumar3/24), lost to N.C. Jindal School 124 without loss in17 overs: (Akhil Yadav 54 n.o., Chirag Sharma 51 n.o.)
DDCA league, Rajnigandha Cricket Club 291 in 39.3overs: (Ajay Sharma 101, Gaurav 28 n.o., Dalik Kumar3/70, Kulvinder 2/57), lost to DTC 294/4 in 37.3 overs:(Mahesh Sharma 101 n.o., KulvinderSingh 84, AshishMaheshwari 2/46).
DDA 147/9 in 35 overs: (Ravi Sharma 34, PradeepDeshwal 4/20, Ali-bin-Azhar 2/16), lost to Ravi Broth-ers 148/6 in 26.3 overs: (Neeraj Sharma 60, SureshKohli 4/33).
Rajanigandha 138 in 30 overs: (Naveen Kumar 33,Vipin Kumar 32, M. Madhavan 3/10, V.S. Salhotra 2/25),Ministry of health 140/7 in 25.3 overs: (Sanjeev Kalra34, Mukesh Kumar 2/34).
CAPITAL SPORT
Kerala wrest initiative from MPKochi: Kerala wrested theinitiative from MadhyaPradesh dismissing them fora paltry 112 in the first in-nings to take a 44-run lead onthe second day in the RanjiTrophy plate division semi-fi-nal match at the Nehru Sta-dium here on Sunday. But MPbowlers struck back laterand at draw of stumps, Ker-ala were 78 for five in theirsecond innings.
Resuming at theirovernight score of 21 for noloss, MP openers MuddisirPasha and Sachin Dholpurefaced problems in negotiat-ing Kerala medium pacers
Tinu Yohannan andSreesanth, who troubledthem from the very first over.
The hosts got an earlybreakthrough in the thirdover when Pasha was ad-judged leg before to Yohan-nan, without any addition to
his overnight score of nine,with the total on 23.
MP lost two more wicketsat the same total, before cap-tain Amay Khurasia and De-vendra Bundela put on 38runs for the fourth wicket.But Kerala spinners k NA n a n t h a p a d m a n a b h a n
(3/29), M Sureshkumar (2/2)and Sreekumar Nair (1/29),struck at regular intervals todismiss mp 70 minutes afterlunch. Kerala too did not dowell in their second essayand lost wickets regularly, be-fore captain Sunil Oasis (33)and Hemanthkumar (14)added 32 runs for the thirdwicket. MP off-spinner Ab-bas Ali struck twice in theclosing stages to put thehosts in further trouble.Brief scores: Kerala (1st inns): 156, MP (1stinns) 112 (A Khurasia 42, Yohannan 2/18,Sreesanth 2/25, Ananthapadmanabhan3/29). Kerala (2nd inns) 78/5: (S Oasis 33,A Kudua batting 3, V Lal batting 0, Pandey2/21, Hirwani 1/27, Abbas Ali 2/2). PTI
UP off to ashaky startKanpur: Hosts UttarPradesh were off to a shakystart reaching 187 for six intheir first innings on theopening day of the Under-17Vijay Merchant trophy crick-et final against Delhi at Kam-la Club grounds here on Sun-day.
At close, Devendra Israni(12) and Vineet Singh (8) wereat the crease. Put in to bat, Ut-tar Pradesh lost opener ShivKant Shukla for a duck withjust two runs on the board.
Tanmay Srivastava and AliMortza set aside the initialshock to put on 52 runs be-fore Tanmay was dismissedfor 12. But Murtza playedwith patience and compiled avaluable 42 runs when hewas dismissed in the post-lunch session.
Arish Alam joined RaviKat Shukla and the duo tookthe score to 126 runs.
While Alam was dismissedfor 12, Shukla emerged as thetop scorer with 63. PiyushChawla chipped in with 27.For Delhi Ankur Garg andAjit Ranjan claimed twowickets each while ShawezKhan and Wilkin Victor tookone apiece. PTI
NATIONAL A CHESS
CORUS CHESS
India seek solaceDhaka: A new team is guaranteed tolift the title when hosts Bangladeshand Maldives lock horns in the final ofthe South Asian Football Federation(SAFF) Championship on Monday.
India, whose dream for a hattrick oftitles was shattered with a 1-2 semifi-nal defeat against Bangladesh on Sat-urday, will play in the consolationthird place play-off against Pakistan.
Indians will look for some solacewhen they meet bitter rivals Pakistanfor the second time in the tourna-ment. They had earlier lost the groupleague match 0-1. But it will be verydifficult for the team to focus on thematch after heartbreaking defeatagainst the hosts. PTI
RANJI TROPHY
MERCHANT TROPHY
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T I M E S S P O R TThe Times of India, New Delhi Monday, January 20, 2003 19AFP
Manchester United’s Gary Neville shows his delight after his team beat Chelsea 2-1 during the Barclaycard Premiershipmatch at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Forlan demolishes Chelsea chancesLondon: Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieripaid tribute to Manchester United’skiller instinct after watching his side’stitle ambitions destroyed by Diego For-lan’s injury-time winner.
Forlan ran on to a sublime throughball from fellow South American JuanVeron in the third minute of injurytime to clinch a 2-1 win that lifted Unit-ed back to within two points of Arsenal.
In other action, an Alan Shearer goalafter 10 seconds helped Newcastle downManchester City 2-0 and lifted the Mag-pies over Chelsea into third place.
An Emile Heskey header after 14 min-utes was enough to give Liverpool a 1-0victory at Southampton, their first winin 12 matches.
Forlan’s winner for United was a cru-el blow for Chelsea who had taken a de-served lead through Eidur Gudjohnsen
after half an hour and, after Paul Sc-holes equalised six minutes before thebreak, looked set to hold on for the draw.
Everton maintained their drive for aplace in the Champions League by com-ing from behind to beat struggling Sun-derland 2-1 at Goodison Park.
Tottenham are also not out of therunning for a place in Europe and theirchances were boosted by a 1-0 win at As-ton Villa that was secured through for-mer England striker Teddy Sheringhamin the 69th minute. Birmingham ended arun of three straight defeats with a 1-1draw at Blackburn. West Brom heldLeeds to a goalless draw.
Sociedad retain top spotMadrid: Real Sociedad beat Celta Vigo1-0 on Saturday to hold on to the top spotin the Spanish championship and con-
tinue to upstage more illustrious rivals.However, reigning champions Valen-
cia, despite playing with 10 men for overhalf the match, stay third after a 4-2 winat Barcelona.
Parma defeat EmpoliRome: Romanian striker Adrian Mututallied his ninth season goal as he helpedParma beat Empoli 2-0 in an early matchof Round 17, marking the halfway pointof the Italian Serie A.
Sochaux thrash Lyon Paris: Lyon fell 2-0 to Sochaux in theLeague Cup. Brazilian Santos gaveSochaux early 2-0 lead before SidneyGovou (2) and Pegguy Luyindula made it3-2. Marseille cruised into the next roundwith a 4-0 win over Creteil while SaintEtienne beat Le Mans 3-2. Agencies
‘Pak coach is giving excuses’TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: “Pakistan’s jun-ior coach Ayaz Mahmood isinsecure. He’s trying to savehis neck,” charged his Indiancounterpart Harender Singhafter learning that the Pak-istan coach has accused theIndian players of foul play.
Harender’s reaction cameafter Mahmood had allegedthat some members in the In-dia under-19 squad that wonthe four-nation tournamentin Malaysia were overage.“Ayaz is making lame excus-es to save his job since histeam has been winless. Ourboys were in superb form
and nothing can snatch thecredit away from them,” saidHarender.
He charged back that Pak-istan should concentrate onproper planning for theirjuniors instead of indulgingin mud-slinging.
The coach was surprisedthat why didn’t the Pakistancoach raise the issue inMalaysia itself.
“It’s a shame that they areselling rubbish stories now,”he said.
Gill had earlier rubbishedthe charges and said thatsuch things would put a ques-tion mark on the future ofIndo-Pak hockey ties.
Title for Arjun New Delhi: Arjun Singhshot a final round six-under66 on his way to a convincingvictory in the Business To-day-American Express Pro-Am Championship.
Arjun tallied nine-under135 for the two-day tourna-ment. Besides winning thebest individual pro scoreprize, Arjun Singh was alsodeclared the overall Individ-ual Pro winner. Arjun Atwalfinished second at six-under138 to finish runner-up. Thetrio of Jeev Milkha Singh,Amandeep Johl and Amritin-der Singh finished tied-thirdat two-under 142 and pocket-ed Rs 10,000 each. PTI
Churchill meetEast BengalKolkata: Churchill Brotherssurvived a scare to scrapeinto the final of the TVSFiero 108th IFA Shield wherethey will cross swords withcity challengers East Bengal.
The teenagers of TFA sen-sationally came back in thefirst semi-final at the SaltLake Stadium on Sunday af-ter twice being in the redagainst the Goan elites butcouldn’t produce the finalspark. A depleted East Ben-gal carved out a deserving 2-0victory over Goan chal-lengers Vasco SC in the sec-ond semi-final. TNN
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By Rohit BrijnathMelbourne: It was the day ten-nis’ long-limbed ladies were sup-posed to remind us that heightand reach are invaluable assetsin the modern game. Mostlythey did, yet, ironically, it wasone of the shortest players onshow who wrote the tallest tale.
In the morning, No.7 seedDaniela Hantuchova, who at anelegant 6ft could make a livingon the catwalk, produced a mod-el performance to hold off 5 ft6in Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-3, whileNo.2 seed Venus Williams, a tow-ering 6ft 1inches, stooped to con-quer a hustling 5 foot 4in NicolePratt 6-3, 6-2.
But this was only an appetiserfor the afternoon’s feast, when adiminutive Justin Henin-Hardenne, a mere 5ft 5 inches,produced a performance that re-sulted in a standing ovation infelling 6ft 2in Lindsay Davenport7-5, 5-7, 9-7 in 3 hours and 13 min-
utes. A tournament waiting for aclassic was delivered one.Guillermo Coria, another Argen-tine who carries Vilas’ name butnot yet his hefty game, quicklytired of being tutored on the artof baseline tennis by his idol An-dre Agassi, and defaulted withan injured foot when down 1-6, 1-3. This takes to nine the playerswho have forfeited through in-jury, and suddenly the phrase“the last man standing” appearsto have an ominous ring to it.
Meanwhile, Juan Carlos Fer-rero, the No.4 seed with clay-court genes, insisted he is solv-ing the mystery of hard courtsby chastising Mario Ancic 6-0, 6-3, 6-2. Ferrero in full flow re-minds one of a car of a similar-sounding name, but next up forhim is 31-year-old South AfricanWayne Ferreira, a testing en-counter for both players andcommentators. Ferreira beatSargis Sargasian 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
But it was Henin-Hardenne’sfirst win over Davenport in sixencounters that illuminated cen-tre court. Davenport, 175 pounds,wields her racket like a baseballbat, Henin, 126 pounds, like arapier. In boxing terms this ap-peared a mismatch.
But Henin-Hardenne’s spec-tacular footspeed and a tenacitythat would embarrass a terrierseemed to even the equation, andshe buzzed around like a bee
Davenport could not swat. Whenshe was up 7-5, with three oppor-tunities for a 5-1 lead in the sec-ond, it appeared Davenport’s re-turn to championship form aftera knee injury was still some dis-tance away. But Davenport,whose casual body language con-ceals a quiet determination, heldher serve to 3-4, and then brokeHenin-Hardenne before the taletook another twist. Serving forthe set at 6-5, Davenport went
down 0.40, at which point the Bel-gian was presented with a mid-court smash that pleaded to beput away but which she nervous-ly deposited in the net.
It was a mental error that ap-peared to gnaw at the Belgian’sself-belief, for she not only lost thesecond set but went down twobreaks, 1-4, in the third. But thismatch, where both players alter-nated between painting the courtwith winners and littering it with
errors, was never going to con-clude so timidly. Henin-Hardennebroke back to 4-4, Davenportbroke to 5-4, the Belgian evenedthe match again at 5-5, even con-juring a matchpoint at 7-6 whichDavenport erased with a pound-ing serve. The improbable was notenough, the impossible followed.
At 7-7, 0.15, Henin-Hardenneserved a fault and then collapsedin slow motion like an old ladyfainting, her body ricked withcramps, her face taut in agony.She limped to the chair, was cov-ered with six ice packs (to herpainful hip, underarms, neck),and then, after an injury time-out, returned to serve a secondserve ace!
Flinching on the serve but stillrunning, she fought off a breakpoint, held serve, and then final-ly, incredibly, broke Davenport toclose the match 9-7. The epic over,the Belgian raised her fist andthen pounded her heart. Therewas nothing more to be said.
CMYK
T I M E S S P O R T The Times of India, New Delhi20 Monday, January 20, 2003
AUSTRALIAN OPEN RESULTSMen (singles), 4th rd: Juan Carlos Ferrero (4), Spain, def. MarioAncic, Croatia, 6-0, 6-3, 6-2; Wayne Ferreira, SA def. SargisSargsian, Armenia, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; Andre Agassi (2), US def.Guillermo Coria,Argentina,6-1,3-1, ret; Sebastien Grosjean (12),France, def. Felix Mantilla, Spain, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Dou-bles, 3rd rd: Mark Knowles, Bah/Daniel Nestor (1), Canada, def.Raphael Durek/Alun Jones, Aus, 6-3, 6-3; Albert Portas/TommyRobredo, Spain, def. Martin Damm /Cyril Suk (5), Czech Rep , 7-6 (4), 6-3; Gaston Etlis /Martin Rodriguez (16),Argentina, def.OtaFukarek /Petr Luxa, Czech Republic, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3; Jeff Coetzee/Chris Haggard (12), SA def.Wayne Black /Kevin Ullyett (6), Zim-babwe,6-4,7-5; Michael Llodra /Fabrice Santoro (8),France,def.Yves Allegro/Roger Federer, Switzerland, 6-2, 6-4 Women (sin-gles),4th rd: Venus Williams (2), United States,def.Nicole Pratt,Australia, 6-3, 6-2; Daniela Hantuchova (7), Slovakia, def. PattySchnyder (12), Switzerland, 7-5, 6-3; Virginia Ruano Pascual,Spain, def. Denisa Chladkova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3; JustineHenin-Hardenne (5), Belgium, def. Lindsay Davenport (9), US 7-5, 5-7, 9-7 Doubles, 3rd rd: Kim Clijsters, Belgium/Ai Sugiya-ma (7), Japan, def. Kirstin Freye, Germany/Dragana Zaric, Yu-goslavia, 6-1, 6-1; Serena/Venus Williams (1), US, def. MartinaNavratilova, US/Svetlana Kuznetsova (16), Russia, 6-2, 6-3; Em-manuelle Gagliardi, Switzerland/Petra Mandula, Hungary, def.Zsofia Gubacsi, Hungary/Conchita Martinez Granados, Spain, 7-6 (4), 6-2; Conchita Martinez, Spain/Nadia Petrova (8), Russia,def.Anna Kournikova, Russia/ Chanda Rubin (9), US 6-7 (3), 6-3,6-3 Mixed doubles, 1st rd: Robbie Koenig, SA/ Els Callens, Bel-gium, def. David Rikl, Czech Republic/Tina Krizan, Slovenia, 6-4,6-2; Martin Damm, Czech Republic/Rita Grande, Italy, def. Gas-ton Etlis, Argentina/Silvia Farina Elia, Italy, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7);Thomas Shimada/Ai Sugiyama,Japan,def.Bob Bryan,US /Kata-rina Srebotnik, Slovenia, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5); Kevin Ullyett, Zimbab-we/ Daniela Hantuchova (5), Slovakia, def. Andres Schneiter, Ar-gentina/Virginia Ruano Pascual, Spain, 6-1, ret; Daniel Nestor,Canada/Kristie Boogert, Netherlands, def.Wayne/Cara Black (6),Zimbabwe,6-3,6-4; Mike Bryan/Lisa Raymond (2), US def. San-don Stolle/Catherine Barclay, Australia, 6-4, 6-1; Donald John-son, US/Rennae Stubbs (4), Australia, def. Peter Luczak/Christi-na Wheeler, Australia, 6-2, 7-6 (4); Mark Knowles, Bah/ElenaLikhovtseva (3), Rus vs. Jeff Coetzee, SA, Svetlana Kuznetsova,Russia, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4).
Short Henin achieves tall target, downs DavenportAP
Justine Henin-Hardenne cries in pain during her match against Davenport at the Australian Open.
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