VOL: 03 I ISSUE NO: 287 I REG NO: ANDENG/2011/38184 I 19 FRIDAY 2014 I Rs.2.00 I DAILY I PORT BLAIR I www.andamansheekha.com

NO CHARTER FLIGHT IN 2014Inaugural Charter flight

services between Chennai-PortBlair-Chennai in Jan3, 2014

Port Blair, Dec 18: The in-augural charter flight by AirIndia from Chennai to PortBlair will be on 3rd January2015. The modalities for res-

ervation of tickets on thisflight shall be informed tothe public on 23rd Decem-ber 2014 by the Administra-tion.

MNREGA wagetrouble continues to haunt

N & M labourers

DJ VenkateshSheekha News Service

Diglipur, Dec 18: Reacting tothe report on hold up ofMNREGA wages in N&M re-gion published in this dally,the Pradhan, Ram Nagar, MrSubodh Mondal admittedthat the wages to the labourersworking under the schemehas not been disbursed sincethe last two months. “Poorvillagers, who are fully depen-dent of the wages, have nowstarted flooding my officewith their grievances. I’ve al-

ready informed them that thewages have been held up dueto some official hurdles andthe money will be releasedimmediately after the sanctionof the government is ob-tained,” he told AndamanSheekha.

Also admitting thedelay in disbursement ofMNREGA wages, the Assis-tant Commissioner of the re-gion. Mr Arava Gopikrishna,passed on the buck to the of-fice of the Deputy Commis-sioner of the district and theMinistry. “All I know is that

MNREGA wages are dis-bursed directly to the bankaccounts of the workers bythe office of the Deputy Com-missioner or from the con-cerned Ministry. They canbetter answer the reason forthe delay in release ofwages,” he said. On the is-sue of problems being facedby the labourer, the AC in-formed that about 4-5 per-sons met him recently andinformed him of the problemsbeing faced by them.TheAndaman Sheekha in a re-

Rangat fumes overlack of Ophthalmologist

Rangat, Dec 18: Lack of anOphthalmologist in the Com-munity Health Centre has trig-gered unrest at Rangat inMiddle Andaman. Sourcesclaim the Ophthalmic Roomin the CHC has been lockedup for the last three monthsand even consultancy ser-vices were not provided to thepatients forcing them to visitGB Pant Hospital for even theminor of ailments.

“The Ophthalmicroom in the Rangat CHC isclosed for more than 3months. Hundreds of pa-tients here are forced to eithergo to Mayabunder,Billyground or Port Blair withtheir problems. The healthstaffs posted in the Centredon’t pay heed to the prob-

Senthil KumarSheekha News Service

lems of the patients. Evenconsultancy services are notbeing provided from severalmonths. Moreover, there havebeen no specialty eye campsin this region for the last manymonths,” say some fuming vil-lagers speaking to AndamanSheekha.

When contacted, theChief Medical Officer of CHCRangat informed that a re-

quest has already been madeto the Director of Health Ser-vices to post a full-time Oph-thalmologist at the Centre atthe earliest. The CHC Rangathas a huge area under its ju-risdiction and is also the onlyCentre that provides for eyecare. “Supreme efforts will bemade to get a full-time Oph-thalmic Doctor for this Cen-tre,” he assured.

(See page 2)

Thara Thappattai to go to Andaman

Port Blair, Dec 18: Wellknown director Bala is nowbusy shooting for his upcom-ing film Thara Thappattaiwhich has Varalaxmi SarathKumar and Sasikumar in thelead roles. The shooting ofthis film is making briskprogress.

We hear that direc-tor Bala has decided to shoot

some of the important por-tions in Andaman. The cur-rent schedule will be com-pleted in mid-January afterwhich the Andaman sched-ule would begin.

R e p o r t e d l y ,Varalaxmi plays aKaragattam dancer in the filmwhile Sasikumar essays therole of a Nadaswara Vidwan.

Peshawar school attack: Students, activists hold

candle light march at Rangat

Senthil KumarSheekha News Service

Rangat, Dec 18: A candlemarch was conducted by theschool students and generalpublic of Rangat for those

killed in the terror attack atPeshawar’s Army PublicSchool.

Holding candlesagainst the terror attack, thepeople of Rangat organised

(See page 2)

2 19.12.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair

Port Blair, Dec. 18: As apart of nationwide mem-bership campaign BJPA&N has also star tedmembership Drive in theseislands. As a part of thisprimary membership bookshave been issued through-out the islands at Lok Sabha

BJP startsmembership drive in Islands

Booth level along with a for-mat for Active Membershipeligibility data. In this con-nection if there is any diffi-culty you are advised to con-tact Shri Ajoy Bairai, StateMembership In-charge BJPA&N Islands – 9434297937,7063928937.

cent issue revealed how offi-cial hiccups have renderedtrouble for hundreds oflabourers engaged underthe Mahatma Gandhi Na-tional Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme(MNREGS) in the North andMiddle Andaman District. 

For shortage of

MNREGA wage...funds and other reasons, theMNREGA workers engagedin various projects have notbeen disbursed their wagesfor the last three months, de-spite a firm guideline of theAct to disburse wages to theworkers within 15 days afterthe completion of the work,the daily reported.

(From page 1)

Students, activists.... (From page 1)

the March from SBI Rangatto Block office.

After the rally a twominutes silence was ob-served at BJP Chowk payinghomage to victims of terror-

ism. The Assistant Commis-sioner, Middle Andaman,Pradhan Gram PanchayatRangat and a large number ofpeople were present in thecandle march.

MP office clarifiesabout MP’s appointment

as President of SOAPort Blair, Dec 18: The MP of-fice today clarified about theappointment of Mr. BishnuPada Ray, Member of Parlia-ment as a President in theState Olympic Associationthrough General Body Meet-ing held in Port Blair on 29/11/2014.

The release said thatthe appointment has beennow conformed by the Secre-tary General of Indian Olym-pic Association vide letterdated 12/12/2014.

Before selection ofShri Bishnu Pada Ray, Mem-ber of Parliament as a Presi-

dent for the State OlympicAssociation, there were vari-ous allegations from the dif-ferent corner including Me-dia/ Public/ Administra-tions against the State Olym-pic Association for the lastten years about Participationof non-Islanders in the Na-tional Games/Events as arepresentative of the UT Is-land; Mis-appropriation offund by the State OlympicAssociation and Corruptioncharges against the officebearers on various issues.

In order to make thecorruption free management

of the State Olympic Associa-tion, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray,Member of Parliament in thecapacity of President of StateOlympic Association has ap-pealed to all concerned in-cluding Media/ Administra-tion and individual concern toextent all the documentary evi-dence, proof of allegations forverification of the allegationsand for confirming the accu-racy of the charges of corrup-tions alleged upon the StateOlympic Association prior tohis selection as a President inState Olympic Association ofA & N Islands.

India prepares strongresponse on bail to LeT commander Lakhvi

NEW DELHI: India is work-ing with its mission in Paki-stan to prepare a strong re-sponse against granting of bailto LeT commander ZakiurRehman Lakhvi, one of themasterminds of the 2008 ter-ror attack.

Within hours of anAnti-Terrorism Court inRawalpindi granting bail toLakhvi, one the seven Paki-stani nationals accused of plan-ning and abetting the Mumbaiterror attacks, sources said thegovernment here started work-ing along with its mission inIslamabad on a strong re-

sponse against the courtverdict.Lakhvi and six othershad filed bail applications onWednesday even as lawyerswere observing a strike to con-demn the terrorist attack on anarmy-run school in Peshawarthat left 148 people, mostlychildren, dead.

The FIA (Federal In-vestigation Agency) prosecu-tor disagreed with the bail re-quest, however, advocateRizwan Abbasi, the lawyer rep-resenting Lakhvi stood beforethe court as the bail was ap-proved, the Dawn reported.The seven accused — Lakhvi,

Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal,Hamad Amin Sadiq, ShahidJameel Riaz, Jamil Ahmed andYounis Anjum — are facing trialat the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Lakhvi, who was theoperational head of the bannedLaskhar-e-Taiba, was one ofthe key planners of the Mumbaiattack that killed 166 people.

His release from jailcomes a day after PakistanPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifpledged to announce a "nationalplan" to tackle terrorism withina week, saying "this entire re-gion" should be cleansed of ter-rorism.

19.12.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair 3

Port Blair, Dec 18: A 13-daymicro-entrepreneurship de-velopment programme on“Integrated skill developmentfor Self Help Groups” underthe aegis of NABARD wasinaugurated at RangachangPanchayat Hall on Wednes-day. To programme in aimedat equipping various ruralwomen members of the SelfHelp groups on various liveli-hood options such asgoattery, piggery, poultry, hor-ticulture and floriculture.

In his address, theGM, NABARD, Mr.Gananath Tarai highlightedthe objective of the MEDPProgramme and dwelt inlength about the relevance oftaking up such programmesin order to equip the Self HelpGroups with multiple skills forlivelihood. While citing theuncontrolled price mechanismof vegetable products in theCity where middle men thriveon but the consumer continueto get affected due to soar-ing prices of vegetables, theGM, NABARD advised thewomenfolk to take up horti-culture as livelihood option togrow vegetables in their back-yard which can be marketedin the local market without

giving space to middlemen,thus earning good means oflivelihood. He also empha-sized on taking up other live-lihood options such asgoattery, piggery, floricultureand poultry which have goodentrepreneurial prospects inthe local market. The DGM,NABARD Mr. R.K.Tanvicalled upon the self helpgroups to work in tandem inorder to garner the support ofother groups and utilize theMEDP programmes con-ducted by the Yuvasakthi fortheir entrepreneurial develop-ment.

Smt Maimoona,Pradhan of the BeodnabadGram Panchayat thanked theYuvasakthi of having broughttogether various rural women

to form self help groups inher constituency and also or-ganizing several programmesin order to equip them withvarious life skills. She alsospoke in length about the on-going Swatch BharatAbhiyan where she stressedthe need for keeping our en-vironment tidy and also en-couraged the women to usethe PMs Jan Dhan Yojana toopen bank accounts for instill-ing a sense of savings in eachhousehold.

Earlier, Mr J.N.Raja,President, Yuvasakthi wel-comed the gathering. Mr KSubramani, Founder Memberbriefed about the activities ofYuvasakthi. Mr.P. SenpagaRaja, Founder Member pro-posed the vote of thanks.

EDP on integrated skill dev. forSHGs underway at Rangachang

Port Blair, Dec 18: The Cen-tral Board of Secondary Edu-cation, Delhi will conduct theCentral Teacher EligibilityTest (CTET) for a person tobe eligible for appointment asa teacher for classes I to VIIIon 22.02.2015 (Sunday). Can-didates can apply only On-line for CTET-FEB 2015 onCTET website http://ctet.nic.in/.

Online submission ofapplications, which com-menced on Dec 18, 2014 willcontinue till Jan 8, 2015.Check Status & Particularsof candidates whose fees re-

Online submission ofappl. for Feb CTET begins

ceived will be announced on16.01.2015, candidates cancontact CBSE, if Fee not re-ceived from 16.01.2015 to23.01.2015, Online Correc-tions in Particulars from16.01.2015 to 23.01.2015,candidates can downloadAdmit Card from the Websitew.e.f.: 02.02.2015 and theCTET examinations will beheld on Feb 22, 2015.

The CTET shall ap-ply to schools of the CentralGovernment (KVS, NVS, Ti-betan Schools, etc) andschools under the Administra-tive Control of UT of

Chandigarh, Andaman &Nicobar Islands,Lakshadweep, Daman &Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveliand NCT of Delhi. CTETmay also apply to the unaidedprivate schools, who may ex-ercise the option of consider-ing the CTET. Schools ownedand managed by the StateGovernment/local bodies andaided schools shall considerthe TET conducted by theState Government. However,a State Government can alsoconsider the CTET if it de-cides not to conduct the StateTET.

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib b’day celebrationsPort Blair, Dec 18: The birth-day anniversary celebrationof Sri Guru Gobind SinghSahib will be held at PoliceGurudwara, Aberdeen Bazarfrom Dec. 21 to 28, 2014.Prabhat pheries will be heldin the city from 3.45 to 5 am

from Dec. 21 to 25, ‘SewaNishan Sahib’ will be heldfrom 6 to 7.30 am afterwhich Sri Akhand Path Sahibwill commence, on Dec. 26.On Dec. 28, ‘Bhog AkhandPath Sahib Ji’ will be held at8 am while ‘Assa-di-bar’,

shabad, kirtan and speecheson the life of Sri Guru GobindSingh Sahib will be held from9 am to 1.15 pm followed byArdas and langar. Guru kalangar will be served upto 3pm, everyday from Dec. 26-28.

Power suspensionPort Blair, Dec 18: To carryout replacement of damagedpole and erection of one polebeside three pole structureinside IPP campus,Bambooflat, power supplywill remain suspended from

8 am to 2 pm on Dec. 20,2014. The areas to be af-fected are Bambooflat toWimberlygunj, Wimberlygunjto Shoal Bay, Wimberlygunjto Ferrargunj and Ferrargunjto Jirkatang.

Port Blair, Dec.18: It hasbeen decided by Smt.Ratna Kannan, Chairper-son, A&N Sta te SocialWelfare Boa rd to holdAwareness Camps in differ-ent Mahila Mandal andPanchayats of the southAndaman District.

The camps will cre-ate awareness amongst thepeople against the evils ofdrugs, a lcohol, tobaccochewing and smoking thesocial evils of rape, moles-

ANSSWB to holdAwareness Camps

tation and awareness aboutSwatch Bharat Abhiyan andJan Dhan Yojana.

The beginning of thecamps will be at GuptaparaPanchayat on 19.12.2014from 10.00am to 11.30am atMahila Mandal, Guptapara.The Primary Health Centreand the Police Personnelfrom the Panchayat will alsobe involved in the camps.The Pradhan of Guptaparapanchayat has also been in-vited for the programme.

Port Blair, Dec.18: In a letterwritten to the Lt. Governor,Shri. P. Kannan, President,Government Employees Fed-eration has sought appoint-ment of “Chief Engineer”and its subordinate officials inElectricity Dept.

He has also invited

the attention of the Lt. Gov-ernor for development ofElectricity Dept. and its infra-structure, which will help usfor uninterrupted supply ofPower and generate moreemployment opportunities forEducation UnemployedYouths of these Islands.

GEF demands Chief Engineerfor Electricity Department

WWW.ANDAMANSHEEKHA.COM

4 19.12.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair

19.012.2014 Daily Issue::287

EDITORIAL.....Wedded to democracy

Marriages may or may not be madein heaven. But a lot of wedding re-ceptions are being held thanks to theupcoming elections.

With the ElectionCommission’s model code of con-duct having kicked in, poll officialsare keeping a hawk eye open toensure that campaigning politiciansdo not go around distributing all man-ner of free goodies to potential vot-ers in an effort to woo them. Butwily vote-catchers in rural Orissahave reportedly devised an ingeniousway to get around such restrictions– which prohibit contestants fromspending more than Rs 70 lakh ontheir campaigns – by organisingfake wedding receptions – completewith ’bride’, ‘groom’, ‘pundit’ and‘parents’ of the ‘couple’ – to whichthousands of people flock from lo-cal villages, lured by the promise ofa free bottle of liquor for each maleguest, a sari for each woman guest,and, of course, a typically lavish In-dian wedding feast for everyone.Indeed, to use wedding receptionsas a camouflage for electioneeringis particularly apt in that Indian mar-riages and Indian democracy havemuch in common. Both are con-ducted with a great deal of pompand what is called ‘sho-sha’. Astrolo-gers are consulted regarding auspi-cious days when the important event– the marriage ceremony, or the an-nouncement of a contestant’s can-didature from a particular constitu-ency – should take place. On bothoccasions foo-foo bands play loud,and largely tuneless, music. Garlandsare exchanged, and much food andother forms of refreshment are con-sumed.

In both instances, manypromises are made and vows takenregarding loyalty and honesty in allfuture dealings. However, like onlytoo many nuptials involving real

brides and grooms, in today’s era ofcoalitional politics many of the alli-ances which areformed are purelymarriages of convenience and aredoomed to failure from the start.

More than any arrangedmarriage, politics breeds the strang-est of bedfellows, with yesterday’ssworn foes and bitter adversariescosying up to each other and hitch-ing up to form alliances with no re-spect to caste, creed, gotra or ideol-ogy. Nor is there any fear of venge-ful ‘elders’ – the electorate – mak-ing such matings a provocation for‘honour killings’. The rules with re-gard to political ‘marriages’ are farmore lax than those relating to con-ventional wedlock. While unfaithful-ness, the breaking of nuptial vows,and other such transgressions ulti-mately leading to a divorce aredeemed to be highly deplorable inIndian marriages, in the ‘dharma’ ofcoalition politics, promiscuity inchanging one’s alliance partners isnot only considered perfectly nor-mal and natural but is held in regardas a sign of great acumen in the artof self-survival.Both forms of mat-rimony – the supposedly holy unionof husband and wife, and the oftenunholy union of pre- or post-poll po-litical alliances – involve the give-and-take of dowry. In one case, thedowry demands are in the form ofcash or consumer durables, like re-frigerators or cars. In the case ofpolitical marriages, the dowry de-mands are in the form of ministerialberths that the dominant party is tobe given in the new governmentwhich will be born as the result ofthe union.Tragically, a number ofmarriages in India end in dowrydeaths. Many political marriagesalso end in dowry deaths, the victimbeing not any of the members of thecoalition in question, but the bridewe call democracy.

Avian flu hits Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: One of severalsamples taken from dozens of domes-tic geese that died in Chandigarh'sSukhna lake has tested positive forthe dreaded avian flu, triggering alarmacross Punjab, which is a big sup-plier of chicken and poultry productsto many parts of north India.

As many as 35 geese havedied in the past fortnight around thelake, which is close to the adminis-trative hub of Punjab, Haryana andUnion Territory of Chandigarh andalso some of the toniest residentialareas of the city. Bhopal-based Na-tional Institute of High Security Ani-mal Diseases (NIHSAD) has con-firmed the presence of the dreadedvirus, H5N1.

The Union Territory admin-istration will launch several measures,including mass culling of the geeseand poultry, to contain any outbreakfrom the virus as five more geesewere found dead on the lake's islandon Wednesday. Another three werein a critically-ill condition.

"The UT administration heldhigh-level meetings on Wednesday.Some measures have already beentaken, while others will soon be an-nounced," said Prince Dhawan, di-rector, animal husbandry,Chandigarh, and the nodal officerappointed by the administration fortackling the outbreak. Central gov-ernment sources said notification hasbeen issued for culling of birds withina radius of one km of Sukhna lake.People have been advised not to take

a dip in the lake, they added.Boating was stopped at

Sukhna on Wednesday afternoon asa precautionary measure. "The for-est and wildlife department sent 16personnel to the hospital for screen-ing as the men were dealing with thedead and sick geese over the pasttwo weeks. According to WHOguidelines, poultry within a 10-kilometre radius of the affected areais at risk and we may have to cull allthe birds. Culling operations of thegeese at the lake may commence onThursday," the department's deputyconservator, Birendra Choudhary,told TOI.

The confirmation of the avianflu came on Tuesday in a letter tothe Central Poultry DevelopmentOrganisation, northern region,Chandigarh, Rajbir Singh Rana, jointsecretary, Department of AnimalHusbandry, wrote, "With referenceto the mortality in some ducks(geese), one sample has been foundpositive for H5N1."

WHO states that most avianflu viruses do not affect humans, butthe H5N1 found in poultry in parts ofAsia and Africa has caused humandeaths. Although no human being inIndia has so far been detected withthe virus, commonly called bird flu,state governments have culled in-fected species to check its spread.In November, the Kerala governmenthad culled more than two lakh ducksand poultry in Kuttanad region afterthe virus was detected there.

19.12.2014 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Sheekha Daily Port Blair 5

Broccoli can reducepremature ageing in kids

A substance found in broccolican reduce disease-related de-fects in children who suffer fromHutchinson-Gilford ProgeriaSyndrome (HGPS).

The HGPS is said to beresponsible for premature age-ing in children, mainly due to adefective protein in theircells.Scientists at TechnischeUniversitat Munchen (TUM)University in Germany haveidentified the system respon-sible for removing cellular debrisand for breaking down defectiveproteins.

They also succeededin reactivating protein break-down in HGPS cells and reduc-ing disease-related defects withthe help of a substance found inbroccoli.The defective protein is

referred to as progerin, whichcauses the cell to "age".

Consequently, HGPSpatients develop classic dis-eases of old age such as athero-sclerosis, osteoporosis, heartattacks and strokes.

The disease is, there-fore, regarded as a possiblemodel system for the naturalaging process in cells.

In order to find outwhich specific metabolic path-ways are affected by the muta-tion and the defective protein,professor Karima Djabali and herteam conducted a comparativestudy of diseased and healthytissue cells in which they inves-tigated the composition of pro-teins in the cell nuclei and lookedfor differences.During the re-

search, they found a substancein broccoli called sulforaphanethat activates protein degrada-tion in cells.

The scientists treatedthe HGPS cells with the sub-stance and found that signifi-cantly less progerin accumu-lated within the cells.

Moreover, DNA dam-age and nuclear deformations,other effects of the disease,were also reduced in treated cellsas compared with untreatedcells."Of course our experimentsare very basic, but every activesubstance and every new ap-proach brings us a step closerto a treatment for HGPS patients.It could also help us developanti-aging strategies in the fu-ture," Djabali said.

Bird flu contained, curbs lifted in KeralaThe State government has liftedthe restrictions imposed on thetransportation and consumptionof poultry in the wake of theavian influenza outbreak, follow-ing the successful containmentof the H5NI virus in the affectedareas.

Minister for AnimalHusbandry K.P. Mohanan toldthe media here on Wednesdaythat the H5N1 virus responsiblefor the outbreak reported fromparts of Alappuzha, Kottayam,and Pathanamthitta districts hadbeen contained. “The affectedareas have been disinfected.With this, all the restrictions im-posed on the transportation and

consumption of poultry andpoultry products have beenlifted,” he said. The Minister saidit was safe to consume the eggand meat of chicken and ducksreared in the area.

The govern-ment would set up a hatchery-cum- brooder complex and par-ent stock farm with the capac-ity to produce 10-lakh duck-lings every year.

Mr. Mohanan said ithad been decided to equip theAvian Disease InvestigationLaboratory at Thiruvalla withLevel 3 bio-security measuresand upgrade it to the standardsof the National High Security

Animal Disease Laboratory atBhopal. A duck farming re-search centre would be estab-lished in Kuttanad to promotemodern methods of duck farm-ing and disease prevention.Standards would be prescribedfor private hatcheries.

The action plan alsoincluded an avian disease vigi-lance unit to keep a tab on thehealth sta tus of bi rds inKuttanad.

Mr. Mohanan said amonitoring system would beput in place for monitoring mi-gratory birds that act as carri-ers of the avian influenza vi-rus.

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British Spaceplane receives approvalfrom ESA for next stage development

The European Space Agency(ESA) has given its approvalto technology which couldtransform space travel.

Reaction Engines, aBritish aerospace companybased in Oxfordshire, En-gland, got next stage devel-opment approval for a specialplane, which could carry pas-sengers to anywhere in theworld within four hours.

The plane can alsocarry spaceships out of theatmosphere without usingrockets. The high powered jetplane, which comes with aUSD 1.1 billion price tag, willmeasure 276 feet long, andwill be called the Skylon.

The ESA operates asan independent auditor forReaction Engines' Sabre

(Synergistic Air-BreathingRocket Engine) technology,which works like a jet enginein the atmosphere and arocket in space.

While the developer,Reaction Engines is yet tocomplete a full version of theengine, it has constructed acritical component, which hasbeen approved to be used onSkylon plane.

Although, the com-pany has not yet disclosedhow the engine works, it ap-pears that the engines will in-volve tightly-packed, verysmall pipes.

The company has thespecial heat exchanger thatcools air incredibly quickly,taking it from 1,000 degreesCelsius to minus 150 degrees

in one hundredth of a second.That helps it get

around the issues that haveso far held jet engines backto a maximum of about 2.5times the speed of sound. Thenew engine will allow it to getup to twice that speed.

There will be sometime until the plane is a real-ity but the company says thistechnology will have majorimplications for air travel andis thought to be the only pieceof technology of its kind indevelopment.

Reaction Engineswill now look to raiseAUD$480 million to fund asmaller version of the engineover the next three years andhopes to have one for sale in10 years time.

Ancient Egyptian burial sitemay contain one million bodiesAround 1,700 bodies have sofar been uncovered at the Fagel-Gamous (Way of the Wa-ter Buffalo) site, around 60miles south of Cairo. But ex-perts believe that countlessmore are contained in theburial ground.

“We are fairly cer-tain we have over a millionburials within this cemetery.It's large, and it's dense," saidproject director KerryMuhlestein, an associate pro-fessor in the Department ofAncient Scripture at BrighamYoung University (BYU),which has been examining thesite for around 30 years.

They were placedthere between the 1st and the7th centuries AD, but thescale of the site has left manybaffled. A nearby village hasbeen deemed too small towarrant such a large cem-etery, while the closest major

settlements had their ownburial grounds.

"It's hard to knowwhere all these people werecoming from," ProfessorMuhlestein told Live Science.

Another interestingfind was that the corpses ap-peared to be grouped to-gether by hair colour, withone section containing the re-mains of those with blondehair and another for those

with red hair.The bodies, which

included a man of more thanseven feet in height, arethought to be of ordinary citi-zens, rather than the royaltyfound at many famous Egyp-tian sites. They were not bur-ied in coffins, according toMuhlestein, and were in factmummified not by design butby the arid natural environ-ment.

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I have lost my Nokia Mobile phone between Tushnabadto Dhannikhari on 18.12.2014. Finder may please con-tact at mobile number 9679519265 .

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I have lost my Identity card Name Vijaya W/o G.Manoharan R/O Rangat in between Hawa Mahal toRangat. Finder may please contact 9531814523.

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No plans to createseparate time zone for northeast: Govt

NEW DELHI: Governmenthas no plans to create a sepa-rate time zone for sevennortheastern states, RajyaSabha was informed onThursday.

Minister of state fordevelopment of north easternRegion Jitendra Singh alsodenied that the region waswasting a huge amount ofelectricity at home and of-fices in absence of a sepa-rate time zone.

A scientific studybased on regional load curvesand several assumptions car-ried out by the National In-stitute of Advanced Studies,Bengaluru has indicated amodest saving of power be-

tween 1.2 to 1.5 per cent ofthe total usage if North East-ern Region has a separatetime zone, which is not veryhigh, he said replying a writ-ten question.

The demand for twotime zones in India had firstcome from the northeasternstates in the mid-1990s withthe reasoning that the sunrises in the region between4.30am and 5.00am, at leastone hour ahead of the rest ofthe country.

Noted film makerJahnu Barua and several stu-dents organisations in theNorth East have been quitevocal in raising the demandfor past several years, say-

ing many nations worldwidefollow different time zoneswithin their territory.

India currently fol-lows a time, which is 5-1/2hours ahead of the interna-tional standard, GreenwichMean Time (GMT).

Russia has 11 timezones, while the US andCanada have six.

However, China,which is much broader thanIndia, sticks to only one timezone, the largest country to doso.

The decision gener-ally rests with the country, tak-ing into account its conve-nience and international con-ventions.

Isro successfully testsits heaviest space launch

vehicle, eyes global marketNEW DELHI: India's spaceagency successfully tested onThursday its most powerfulsatellite launch vehicle that canput heavier payloads into space,and, it hopes, win India a big-ger slice of the $300 billion glo-bal space industry.

The Indian Space Re-search Organisation (Isro) alsochecked the working of an un-manned crew module on thevehicle, which could give theagency the option of mannedmissions.

Once operational, theGeosynchronous SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (GSLV) MarkIII will be able to put satellitesweighing about 4 tonnes intoorbit, almost doubling India'scurrent capability.

"The powerful launchvehicle ... will change our des-tiny in placing various space-craft into communication or-bits," said S Somnath, projectdirector of the new GSLV ve-hicle.

Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wants to de-velop India's 50-year-old spaceprogramme and the govern-ment increased funding forspace research by 50 percentto almost $1 billion this finan-cial year.

But Isro's growth hasbeen stymied by a lack of aheavier launcher and the slowexecution of missions. Be-tween 2007 and 2012, it ac-complished only about half ofits planned 60 missions, gov-ernment data showed.

Experts said the testof the GSLV took India a stepcloser to attracting more for-eign business which would helpAsia's third-largest economyemerge as a stronger player inthe global space race.

The experiment onThursday also helped Isro testthe vehicle's atmospheric sta-bility and its design. It waspowered by two engines whilea third is under development.

NEW DELHI: Informing that615 essential drugs have beenbrought under price controlmechanism, government onThursday told the Lok Sabhathat the costs of medicineshave reduced over the last sixmonths and more steps are inthe offing to check prices.

Government said thatby next month, it will comeout with a new list of life-sav-

615 drugs under controlregime, more steps in offing: Govt

ing drugs whose prices wouldbe controlled. Chemicals andfertilisers minister AnanthKumar said since the newgovernment came to power inMay, 175 essential drugs havebeen added to the list of drugswhich are under price controlmechanism, taking the num-ber to 615 as 440 were alreadycovered under it. New stepsare being planned to check

prices and increase availabil-ity of generic drugs, he saidreplying to a Calling AttentionMotion. In the motion, Con-gress members RanjeetRanjan and Susmita Dev ac-cused the government of al-lowing substantial hike in es-sential drug prices, includingthose used for treating cancer,heart ailments, HIV and dia-betes.

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DATE -18-12-2014

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Modi congratulates Isroscientists on successful launch

of heaviest rocket yetNEW DELHI: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Thurs-day congratulated Isro scien-tists on the successful launchof its heaviest rocket, GSLVMK-III.

"Successful launch ofGSLV MK-III is yet anothertriumph of brilliance and hardwork of our scientists.Congrats to them for the ef-forts," Modi said in a state-ment.

India successfully testfired the 630-tonne Geosyn-

chronous Satellite Launch Ve-hicle-Mark III, its heaviestnext generation rocket and thecrew module from Sriharikotain Andhra Pradesh Thursday.

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Sharad Pawar discharged from hospitalMUMBAI: Nationalist CongressParty chief Sharad Pawar went homeafter two weeks of hospitalization atBreach Candy due to a fractured hip.The 74-year-old leader had had a fallat the lawn of his Janpath residenceearly this month.

Hospital sources confirmedthat Pawar was discharged on Thurs-day early morning. "He has been ad-vised rest by doctors. We appeal topeople not to throng his residence,"said NCP leader Nawab Malik.

Pawar may not get back toactive daily routine as yet. "He willtake around 4-6 weeks to recover

completely and walk without support,"said a party source. Pawar had suf-fered a fracture at the neck of thefemur bone (upper end of thigh).Doctors had advised a total hip re-placement surgery, as it was the bestway to restore mobility at the earli-est at his age.

Pawar was airlifted fromDelhi after doctors at Sir Ganga RamHospital found out that he had frac-tured his hip and may need a surgery.His family subsequently brought himto Mumbai on December 3 and gothim admitted to the south Mumbaihospital.

Who is Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi?NEW DELHI: Lashkar com-mander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi,one of the seven Pakistani nation-als accused of planning and abet-ting the 2008 Mumbai terror at-tacks, was granted bail on Thurs-day by the anti-terrorism court.

Here are some importantdetails we know about Lakhvi:

*Lakhvi is said to be bornin Okara district of Punjab, Paki-stan.

*Lakhvi was the opera-tional head of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba.

*Lakhvi, along with HafizSaeed, was one of the key plan-ners of the Mumbai attack thatkilled 166 people.

*Lakhvi is said to have fa-thered a child while being in high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindisince his arrest in December2008.

* The US treasury de-partment had frozen assets ofLakhvi in 2008.

READ ALSO: Pak courtgrants bail to 26/11 accusedZakiur Rehman Lakhvi

Home ministry reactsto 26/11 accused Lakhvi's bailNEW DELHI: The Unionhome ministry on Thursdayreacted strongly to the grant-ing of bail to 26/11 accusedZakiur Rehman Lakhvi by acourt in Pakistan.

The ministry said itwas very unfortunate, espe-cially since it came just daysafter the massacre inPeshawar in which 132 chil-dren lost their lives.

It said Pakistan mustappeal in the next court. "Pa-kistan needs to show moreseriousness in taking the 26/

11 case trial to its logical con-clusion," the ministry added.

A Pakistani anti-ter-rorism court on Thursdaygranted bail to top LeT com-mander Zakiur RehmanLakhvi, charged with in-volvement in the Mumbai at-tacks.