VOL: 05 I ISSUE NO: 220 I REG NO: ANDENG/2011/38184 I 24.09.2015 I THURSDAY I Rs.2.00 I DAILY I PORT BLAIR I www.andamansheekha.com

LG addresses historic first batch of MBBS students

Calls upon them to setbenchmark, rise above their potentials

to become best doctorsPort Blair, Sept. 23: Starting ofthe A&N Islands Institute ofMedical Science (ANIIMS) inthese Islands is indeed a his-toric achievement of the Ad-ministration, said the Lt. Gov-ernor, Lt. Gen. A K Singh(Retd.) while addressing thefirst batch of students ofANIIMS at the GB Pant Hos-pital auditorium here today.The function was also at-

Director M&P Electionsexpresses gratitude to all Agencies

for free and fair Election (See page 2)

Port Blair, Sept 23: The Direc-tor of Panchayat and Munici-

Sanjit Das& Dilip Majhi

Sheekha News Service

pal Election today expressedgratitude to all agencies, po-litical parties and voters foreffective execution of the elec-toral process and for the sup-

BJP candidate to become next PBMC Chairperson

BJP gets much needed support

from three independent Candidates

Port Blair, Sept 23: After a frac-

Sanjit Das& Dilip Majhi

Sheekha News Service

tured verdict that saw thelargest political party failingshort of two seats to gain ab-

(See page 8)

(See page 7)

Pre-Poll Clash Continues in Port Blair

Port Blair, Sept 23: In yet an-other case of Pre-Poll clash be-tween party workers of two dif-ferent political parties a major

Sarthak KanjilalSheekha News Service

fight have been reported fromSouth Point area of Port Blairthis evening.

According to reportsthe BJP workers of South PointWard No. 11 were celebratingthe victory of Vinita Malhotrain their area and when the

procession reached infront ofthe shop, which is owned bythe candidate of AIADMK, afight broke out between thesupporters of two politicalparties. Soon PCR vansreached the spot and con-trolled the situation.

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tended by the Chief Secre-tary, Shri Anand Prakash,Smt. Rupa Ray, the Chairper-son SSWB, Smt. RatnaKannan, the Ex- ChairpersonPBMC, Shri K Ganeshan,Senior Citizen, Shri H.NArora, President AndamanChamber of Commerce &Industry, Senior Officers ofthe Administration and thedoctors of GB Pant Hospi-tal, faculty and students ofANIIMS.

At the outset, the LtGovernor, on behalf of the Is-landers, thanked the PrimeMinister, Shri Narendra Modiand the Central Govt. forstarting the Medical Collegein these Islands. “It was thevision of the Prime Ministerto have at least one MedicalCollege in every District. TheA&N Islands took the leadand the College was madefunctional in a record time ofone year”, he said. The Lt.Governor also thanked theMember of Parliament, ShriBishnu Pada Ray and all thePolitical Parties for their un-flinching support to make thisdream project happen. Healso complimented the Is-landers, the Chief Secretaryand his whole team, media,entire team of doctors of GBPant Hospital and ANIIMS,parents, and the first batchstudents of Medical Collegeand the pioneer of theProject, Consultant Maj.

Gen.(Dr) AK Dutta.The Lt Governor

stated that the Medical Col-lege has been established withtwin objective i.e admission ofIslands’ students to MBBSstudies and providing besthealth care facilities to the citi-zens here.

Turning to students ofthe historic first batch ofMBBS here, the Lt Governorcalled upon them to set abenchmark and study hard, ris-ing above their potentials, tobecome best doctors. Admin-istration is ready to provideextra coaching, if required tothese students, he said. In hismessage to the faculty, the LtGovernor urged them to workas a united team. “I want youto become best teaching fac-ulty and each one of you tocontribute immensely for thebetterment of this MedicalCollege students”, the Lt Gov-ernor said.

Referring that the GBPant Hospital has now be-come a teaching Institute, theLt Governor directed theDHS to ensure that all theequipments in the Hospital areupgraded and kept in goodcondition. He also underlinedthe need for maintaining bet-ter administration of the Hos-pital. “Time should be fixedfor people visiting the patientsin hospital wards besidesstreamlining the parking atGB Pant area should be en-

sured” he said. Stating that the GB

Pant Hospital provides besthealth care facility as com-pared to those in the mainlandIndia, the Lt Governor, how-ever, asked the doctors to bemore sensitive towards pa-tients, especially to those be-longing to lower strata. Re-garding Andaman Nicobar Is-lands Scheme for Health In-surance (ANISHI), the Lt.Governor urged the DHS toestablish a single window sys-tem to deal with referral casesso that the patients can availthis facility without any delay.He also said that more hospi-tals, including some inChennai, will be empanelledunder ANISHI soon.

Mentioning aboutthe progress made in Educa-tion Sector, especially in higherstudies, the Lt Governor saidabout 560 seats have beenadded for higher studies in theA&N Islands. About 720 stu-dents have been admitted inANCOL since its inceptionwhile the Community College,which will commence fromthe month of October, willhave 90 students. In the em-ployment front, the Lt Gover-nor said, as many as 1459 per-sons have got employmentunder different Departmentswhile the Administration willalso fill up the left out vacan-cies accordingly. Setting up ofa separate University for

Andaman, a Law Collegeand Nursing College are theprojects that will materializein the coming days, the LtGovernor added. To meet thehousing needs of the resi-dents, a suitable housingproject is being formulatedwith the approval of CentralGovt. To give impetus to tour-ism, it is proposed to developBotanical Garden and a La-ser Show, the Lt. Governorsaid.

He also mentionedthat with the successful trialof night landing here by aSpice Jet flight recently, add-ing a chartered flight in thePort Blair-Kolkata sectorshould become a reality soonwhile an international flight isalso being planned.

Referring to theArmy recruitment rally, theLt Governor stated that lastyear altogether 84 Isles youthwere enrolled while this yearthe total vacancies for A&NIslands are 200. Pre-requisitetraining will also be providedto the aspiring candidates,the Lt Governor said addingthat efforts are also beingmade to establish additionalTerritorial Army Battalion.

Referring to inclu-sion of Port Blair under‘Smart City’ project of theGovt of India, the Lt Gover-nor said, we must also ac-tively consider developingother towns, especially ofNorth & Middle Andaman andaccordingly, one of the placeswill be identified for ‘Class CCity’. He also directed theChief Secretary to visit outly-ing Districts, along with seniorofficials, at least once in threemonths, to take governance atthe doorsteps of people there.The first such visit should bemade to N&M Andaman inOctober 2015, he directed. TheLt. Governor also congratu-lated the winners of thePanchayat & Municipal elec-tions as well as the entire Elec-tion machinery and Police forconducting the elections in islesin a free, fair and transparentmanner.

The students of theFirst Year MBBS presented amemento to the Lt Governor

to express their gratitude to theAdministration for starting theMedical College, which hasbeen demand of the Islanderssince many decades. VinvkyNagar, a first year MBBS stu-dent herself, compeered theentire programme. Proposing the vote of thanksat the end of the of theprogramme, the Secretary(Health), Shri Theva NeethiDhas expressed gratitude tothe Central Government, A&NAdministration, the Islandersand all other stakeholders inmaking the dream of MedicalCollege come true for A&NIslands. Much to the delight ofthe gathering, the Health Sec-retary informed that for the firsttime in the history of the A&NIslands, altogether 101 Islands’students are going to pursueMBBS studies this year.These include as many as 93Islands’ students in the Medi-cal College here and the 8 stu-dents who have been allottedMBBS seats in other parts ofthe country by the CentralGovt.

The ANIIMS Con-sultant, Maj Gen. (Dr) A.K.Dutta (Retd.), through a powerpoint presentation explained thegathering about the chronologi-cal aspects of the project andthe establishment of the Medi-cal College in Port Blair. TheMedical College in Andamansis a game changer, he said in-forming that the first sessionof the first batch of MBBS hasalready commence w.e.f Sept.1, 2015. He also encouragedthe MBBS students ofANIIMS, ‘ANIIMOSIANS’,to be compassionate to every-one and be joyful themselves.

Earlier in the morn-ing, the ANIIMS Director,Maj. Gen. R.P. Chaubeytook the gathered media per-sons and other distinguishedguests around the MedicalCollege and along with hisother faculty and HoDs ex-plained the functioning ofvarious units in the MedicalCollege.

He was accompa-nied by the HoD Anatomy,Col (Dr.) Bhatnagar and Dr.Bahe, HoD Physiology, dur-ing this guided tour.

Calls upon them... (From page 2)

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Prize Distributed to theWinners of Painting Competition

by Traffic PolicePort Blair, Sept 23: In a simplefunction held at PS Aberdeenon 21/9/2015 at 1600 hrs,prizes were distributed to thestudents who had participatedin the painting competition onRoad Safety held on 12/9/2015. Shri Mohd. Aslam,Dy.SP, South Andaman inpresence of Shri M.Umar,Dy.SP(Traffic) gave awaythe cash prize alongwith cer-tificates to the winning stu-dents. Among the recipientsof the prizes are G.Janisha ofVKV, Gayathri of Govt. Sr.Sec. School, Mohanpura,A.Asha of K.V-I, FatemaKhatun and Goutami Roy ofR.B.V from the first category

and T.Naveen Vamsi of Govt.Model Sr. Sec. School,C.P.Anand of VKV,D.Sarath of Govt. S.S.S,Haddo (Telugu Medium),

V.Naveen of Nirmala Sr. Sec.School and Sutapa Roy ofMahatma Gandhi Interna-tional School were from thesecond category.

IGNOU Study materialsPort Blair, Sept 23: TheIGNOU Regional Centrehere will distribute Studymaterials for learners whohad been admitted for thesession from July 2015 forvarious programmes. Stu-dents belonging to Study Cen-tre 0201 have been advisedto collect their materials fromIGNOU Warehouse (Con-tact no. 03192-211088) atShadipur nearby Post Office,from Sept 28, 2015 on wards

during working hours fromMonday to Saturday. Studymaterials for the candidatesbelonging to other Study cen-tres at inter islands have al-ready been dispatched to theirrespective centres.

Outstation studentsmay kindly contact their re-spective Study Centre Coor-dinators for receipt of studymaterials, a release from theIGNOU Regional Centresaid.

Idd-ul-Azha NamazPort Blair, Sept 23:The Idd-ul-Azha Namaz will be heldat Jama Masjid, AberdeenBazar, at 7.45 am and at 8am at Police Masjid, Sup-

ply Line on Sept 25, 2015,informed the Secretary,Jama Masjid Committee,Mr MZ Siddique in a re-lease.

What does countrygain from PM Modi's foreign

visits, Congress asksNEW DELHI: As PrimeMinister Narendra Modiembarked on a seven-dayvisit to Ireland and the UStoday, Congress took a dig athim asking what gains thecountry makes from his fre-quent trips abroad.

"The Prime Ministertravels to various nations butthere is hardly any resultfrom these visits for India,"Congress spokesperson R PN Singh told reporters here.

Referring to the 3.1billion dollar deal with USdefence major Boeingahead of the PrimeMinister's visit, Singh saidthis meant "Make inAmerica" is going to benefitfrom such trips, and not hismuch-hyped 'Make in India'.

While the Prime

Minister is paying frequentvisit to various nations, evencountries like Nepal are rais-ing questions about some ofIndia's actions, Singh said.

The Congressspokesperson also hit back atBJP for taking potshots atparty vice-president RahulGandhi over his visit to theUS.

"Stop being obsessedwith Rahul Gandhi. Instead oftargeting the Congress vice-president, BJP should focuson fulfilling the promisesmade to people," Singh said.

Earlier in the day,BJP leader Sambit Patra saidGandhi's US trip might be a"forced vacation" as Con-gress' allies, JD(U) and RJD,wanted him out of the Biharpoll campaign.

Shri Shivshankar Biwas, State Organizer (Bharat Swabhiman), along withother members of Patanjali Yoga Samiti called on the Hon’ble LtGovernor, Lt Gen A K Singh (Retd), at Raj Niwas on 23.09.2015.

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24.09.2015 Daily Issue::220

EDITORIAL.....

Bhagwat's AdviceMerits Debate

RSS SarsanghchalakMohan Bhagwat’s sug-gestion that an apoliti-cal committee could beformed to review thereservation policy hasbeen blown out of pro-portion by the likes ofRashtriya Janata Dalleader Lalu PrasadYadav. His adviceshould be seen in thecontext of reservationspeople have about theexisting quota policy,which has led to a situ-ation where even aprosperous communitylike the Patidars inGujarat insists on hav-ing state crutches.Bhagwat did not say, letalone demand, that thereservation for govern-ment jobs and seats ineducational institutionsfor Scheduled Castes,Scheduled Tribes andeducationally and so-cially backward classes,popularly known as theOther BackwardClasses, should bescrapped. Few canquestion him when hesays that a committee ofexperts should reviewthe policy.Several politi-cal parties favour quotafor the poor, irrespec-tive of caste or creed,though they do notopenly speak againstcaste-based reservationfor obvious reasons.Even a party like theCongress has changedits stance.

Now, it alsosupports reservation forthe poor. The SupremeCourt has already put acap on reservation — it

should not exceed 50per cent. There aresome parties like theRJD, JD (U) and theSamajwadi Party,which want the present27 per cent quota forOBCs to continue, de-spite the fact that asizeable number of thebeneficiaries have longsince ceased to bebackward.When thefounding fathers of theConstitution thought ofreservation to providea level-playing field tothose who had beensuffering social inequi-ties for centuries, theycould not have foreseenthat it would be usedby political parties toform vote-banks.Though reservation wasthought of as a stop-gap arrangement, poli-ticians have been vy-ing with one another toextend it for 10 yearsevery time it was toend. Some of them con-sider the policy unal-terable as the law ofmotion. This does notshow the political classin a good light.

The RSS chief’ssuggestion should betaken in the right spiritand the parties, insteadof chest-thumping andgetting into a preach-ing and slangingmatch, would be welladvised to debate thepros and cons of thequota policy objec-tively. It’s essential ifIndia, set to be theyoungest country, is toachieve inclusivegrowth.

As NDA w oos Yadavs, amurder exposes its fault lines

BARH/ MOKAMA: A lateafternoon in June this year, afleet of SUVs pulled up out-side Barh's ANS College, lo-cated right in the middle ofthe town. Before thecrowded bazaar could realisewhat was happening, armedmen had leapt out of theSUVs, grabbed 4 youths bytheir hair and bundled theminto their vehicles.

Three of them werelater heaved out of the SUVswhich sped towards Barh'sLadma village, home to MLAfrom nearby Mokama con-stituency Anant Singh, alsoknown as chote sarkar in theregion. Chote because hiselder brother late Dilip Singhwas known as Bharat sarkarthere.

The fourth youth,named Phuttus Yadav, was ofspecial interest to the kidnap-pers. Once in Ladma, Phuttushad his fingernails forciblyextracted, as Lalu Prasadhimself alleged in theMahagathbandhan rally inPatna, and his eyes gougedout before he was beaten todeath.

Phuttus's body wasthen dumped in the Gangataal or the riverine area.Three months later, the issueremains so sensitive nobodywants to talk about it onrecord.

Requesting strictanonymity, a professor withthe college says Phuttus hadstarted to challenge Singh inseeking theka (contract)

from the local NTPC thermalpower station and so paid forit with his life.

Most in Barh bazaarseem to believe though thatthe victim was the leader ofa gang of 8-10 men, mostlyformer students of the college,who regularly eve teased girlsstudying in the same college."They chose the wrong girl asshe was the sister of one ofSingh's men," says a memberof an eminent family of thearea.

Whatever be the rea-son, the ghastly murder isthreatening to expose thefaultlines within NDA whichis trying to wean awayYadavs from Prasad evenwhile retaining its traditionalupper caste Bhumihar-Brah-min-Rajput support in ruralBihar. BJP has given ticketsto as many as 22 Yadavswhich some in the party? de-scribe as a gamble.

The incident is alsofeeding the stereotypes whichboth NDA and Lalu-Nitishmahagathbandhan havetagged themselves to aheadof the elections.

As he complimentedKumar in the rally for arrest-ing Singh, Prasad went on tosay this was not "90 ke pehlewala Bihar". For the localBJP leaders though, the sameincident is a throwback to thedays of Prasad's RJD inpower or, as Narendra Modichose to put it, RozanaJungleraaz ka Dar days.

"We hope this is also

not 90 ke baad wala Biharwhen the situation was suchthat upper caste crime lordstook it upon themselves toprevent harassment of theircommunities. RJD is creatingtension in the area by focus-ing on the caste of the vic-tim," says a local BJP worker.

After having enteredinto an alliance with Prasad,Kumar had no option but toorder the arrest of Singh, hislong time associate, even ifnot for the murder of Phuttus(there was no evidence to linkSingh directly with it) butsome other crime. WhileSingh was a JD-U MLA,Prasad lost no time - afterPappu Yadav tried to rally theYadavs over Phuttus murder- in portraying Singh, aBhumihar, as representativeof "feudal interests" embed-ded in BJP. Caste hereclearly transcends politicalaffiliations. Already there istalk that if Singh wins as anindependent from Mokamahe will support the BJP evenif the party doesn't ask for itbecause of his criminal back-ground.

"Rajputs, who arenumerically superior in Barh,have in the past aligned withYadavs to check Singh's buton this issue, since it involvedeve teasing of upper castegirls, many of them havejoined hands with Bhumiharsand there is a clear OBC-up-per caste polarisation takingplace in the region, " says alocal lawyer.

Stalin thanks Jayala lithaafor follow ing his Facebook page

CHENNAI: Responding toTamil Nadu chief minister JJayalalithaa's comment thatthe posts on DMK treasurerM K Stalin's Facebook pagecould be written by thosemanaging it and not by Stalinhimself, the DMK scion said,"I can assure her that theposts are mine, (they are) mythoughts, my messages andrequests to the people ofTamil Nadu".

In a statement, hethanked Jayalalithaa for fol-lowing his Facebook page.By doing so, he said, "I hopeshe gets to have a virtual tourof Tamil Nadu and (knowabout) the plight of commonpeople".

His Facebook page

has been updating news onhis 'Namakku Naamey' tourbeing conducted across the

state in which he has beeninteracting with commonpeople in various walks of life.

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Dengue claimsnother life, toll climbs to 25

Despite the opening of 55fever clinics by the Delhigovernment, hospita lsacross the Capital continueto remain overcrowded.

On Tuesday, a 14-year old boy from WestDelhi died of the vector-borne disease at SanjayGandhi Memorial Hospital,taking the toll to 25.

While the officialf igure stands at 17, thescene at Safdarjung Hospi-tal only seems to be gettingworse. Failing to maintainadequate preventive mea-sures for mosquito breed-ing, two patients who un-derwent surgeries a fewdays back are now suffer-ing from dengue.Not justthat, at least 12 residentdoctors there have also be-come patients of the deadly

Respiratorydisease cases roseby 5m since 2012

Air pollution may be posing arising health risk in India as thenumber of cases of acute res-piratory infection (ARI) haverisen by five million since 2012even though deaths have de-clined in the same period, gov-ernment data released onTuesday evening shows.Cases of ARI have been risingeven before 2012, thoughdeaths began to decline sincethat year.The government re-port notes the strong associa-tion between air pollution andrespiratory diseases. WhileARI cases rose by five million,deaths due to the conditionreduced marginally. As manyas 2,932 people died due toARI in 2014, as against 3,513in the previous year, accord-ing to the ̀ National Health Pro-file 2015' released by healthminister J P Nadda. Thereport's profile stated that airpollution leads to a wide arrayof health effects, of whichARI "has accounted for themaximum number of cases"while noting that "over theyears, ARI cases are showingan increasing trend".The in-creasing trend in number ofARI cases is clearly discern-ible since 2011. The NationalHealth Profile 2015, publishedby the Central Bureau ofHealth Intelligence (CBHI),covers demographic, socio-economic, health status andhealth finance indicators,along with comprehensive in-formation on health infra-structure and human re-

sources in health.Around 3.5crore ARI cases were reportedin 2014, out of which 1.7 crorewere females and 1.8 crorewere men, the data shows. TOIhad earlier reported that on anaverage, more than 2.6 crorecases of ARI were reported inIndia every year, whereas over35,000 people died due to theair pollution-linked disease inclose to 10 years. The data waspresented by the environmentministry to Parliament duringthe monsoon session this yearin a rare official admission thatpollution could be causingdeaths on a largescale.However, global studieshave attributed far more deathsdue to air pollution in India. AWHO assessment, reported byTOI in May , showed India andChina as worst-hit countriescompared to the global averageof deaths due to air pollution.Italso noted that pollution issharply increasing in develop-ing countries leading to variousserious health problems.InDelhi, close to 3,39,506 ARIcases and 104 deaths were re-ported in 2014. However,deaths due to the disease in UPand Bengal were much higher,at 619 and 625, respectively.

Delhi sawhighest diphtheria

cases in 2014India witnessed 4,071 casesof diphtheria and 104 deathsin 2014, while among thestates, Delhi had the highestnumber of cases at 1,418 andalso the highest number ofdeaths at 60.

This was stated inthe National Health Profilereleased by the health minis-try on Tuesday.

Diphtheria is a bac-terial infection affecting themembranes of the throat andnose. Although it spreads

easily, diphtheria can be pre-vented through vaccines. Ifleft untreated, diphtheria cancause severe damage to kid-neys, nervous system andheart.

Haryana recordedthe second highest diphtheriacases at 663. However, it wasWest Bengal that saw the sec-ond highest number of deathsat 10. Assam recorded thethird highest figure of casesat 506, followed byMaharashtra at 444.

viral disease. The hospitalwas earlier challaned by theNew Delhi MunicipalCouncil for having Aedesmosquito breeding spots.Fever clinics opened by theDelhi Government on Mon-day also witnessed a hugerush. As per data releasedby the municipal corpora-tions, 3,194 dengue caseshave been recorded so far.However, the actual figurescould be much higher. Withthis , the Capital hascrossed 2010’s figure of2,360 dengue cases till Sep-tember end. Unfortunately,fresh rain showers in thecity have only increasedfears of dengue cases flar-ing up in the coming days.Atotal of 1,919 new caseswere reported last weekalone, marking a rise of

over 102 per cent, com-pared to the previousweek. Taking a ser iousnote on the spiralling trend,the civic bodies in the Capi-tal have initiated intensivefogging dr ives.RamManohar Lohia Hospitalrecorded 1,065 suspecteddengue cases and 748 con-firmed cases at the sametime.

While six peoplehave died till date at RML,the emergency ward at theAll India Institute of Medi-cal Science also receivedabout 2,000 suspected den-gue cases.

Meanwhile, theUnion Health Ministry hasissued an advisory to theDelhi government to “in-tensify” measures to checkthe breeding of mosquitoes.

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Researchers Create Self-FoldingStructures Using 4D Printing

Researchers have developeda four-dimensional printingtechnology that allows cre-ation of complex self-foldingstructures.

The researchersused smart shape memorypolymers (SMPs) with theability to remember one shapeand change to another pro-grammed shape when uni-form heat is applied.

The technology canhave a broad range of appli-cations. For example, an un-manned air vehicle mightchange shape from one de-signed for a cruise mission toone designed for a dive.

The technology, de-veloped by researchers at theGeorgia Institute of Technol-ogy in the US and theSingapore University of Tech-nology and Design (SUTD),could be used to create 3Dstructures that sequentiallyfold themselves from compo-nents that had been flat orrolled into a tube for shipment.

The componentscould respond to stimuli suchas temperature, moisture orlight in a way that is precisely

timed to create space struc-tures, deployable medical de-vices, robots, toys and a rangeof other structures.

The ability to createobjects that change shape ina controlled sequence overtime is enabled by printingmultiple materials with differ-ent dynamic mechanicalproperties in prescribed pat-terns throughout the 3D ob-ject.

When these compo-nents are then heated, eachSMP responds at a differentrate to change its shape, de-pending on its own internal

clock."An important aspect

of self-folding is the manage-ment of self-collisions, wheredifferent portions of the fold-ing structure contact and thenblock further folding," the re-searchers said.

"A metric is devel-oped to predict collisions andis used together with the re-duced-order model to designself-folding structures that lockthemselves into stable desiredconfigurations," they noted.

The findings appearedin the journal Scientific Re-ports.

Tiny motors can tack lerising carbon diox ide leve ls

Nanoengineers, including oneof Indian-origin, have de-signed tiny machines - smallerthan the width of a human hair- that rapidly zoom around inwater, remove carbon dioxideand convert it into a usablesolid form.

"We are excitedabout the possibility of usingthese tiny enzyme-functionalised micromotors tocombat ocean acidificationand global warming," saidstudy co-author Virendra VSingh, postdoctoral scientistfrom the University of Califor-nia-San Diego.

The micromotors areessentially six-micrometer-long tubes that help rapidlyconvert carbon dioxide intocalcium carbonate - a solid

mineral found in egg shells, theshells of various marine organ-isms, calcium supplements andcement.

According to lead re-searcher and professor Jo-seph Wang, the proof of con-cept study represents apromising route to mitigatethe buildup of carbon diox-ide - a major greenhouse gasin the environment.

In their experiments,nanoengineers demonstratedthat the micromotors rapidlydecarbonated water solu-tions that were saturatedwith carbon dioxide.

Within five minutes,the micromotors removed 90percent of the carbon diox-ide from a solut ion ofdeionised water.

The micromotorswere just as effective in asea water solution and re-moved 88 percent of the car-bon dioxide in the same timeframe.

"In the future, wecould potentially use thesemicromotors as part of a wa-ter treatment system, like awater decarbonation plant,"noted Kevin Kaufmann, un-dergraduate researcher inWang's lab.

"If the micromotorscan use the environment asfuel, they will be more scal-able, environmentally friendlyand less expensive,"Kaufmann suggested.

The work was pub-lished in the journalAngewandte Chemie.

Male lizardsput the ir lives at risk

to at t ract matesLondon: The bright coloursthat male lizards use forsexual signalling to attractfemales also increase theirexposure to preying birds,new research reveals.

Using models thatreplicated the colouration ofmale and female wall lizardsfound on the Greek islandsof Skopelos and Syros, theresearchers found that themale lizard models were lesswell camouflaged againsttheir habitat and more likelyto fall prey to bird attacks.

"It has previouslybeen assumed that conspicu-ous male colours are costlyto survival, but this has notbeen tested before amongthese specific lizards living ondifferent islands, and in gen-eral rarely in a way that takesinto account the particularsensitivities of avian vision,"said lead study author KateMarshall from University ofCambridge.

To test whether themales really are more visibleto feathered predators, the

researchers had to developclay models that accuratelyreplicated the lizards' colourto a bird's eye.

Using visual model-ling, they tested around 300colour variations to find onesthat matched the male andfemale colours in order tomake the 600 clay lizardsused in the study.The re-searcher placed the male andfemale lizard models in 10sites on each of the two is-lands and checked them ev-ery 24 hours over five daysto see which had been at-tacked by birds. "The mod-els that had been attackedshowed signs of beak marks,particularly around the head,and some had been decapi-tated," Marshall explained.

At the end of thestudy, the researchers foundthat the models with malecolouration had been at-tacked more than the modelswith female colouration.

The study appearedin the journal Ecology andEvolution.

WWW.ANDAMANSHEEKHA.COM

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Heavy ra ins lashPunjab at harvest t ime

CHANDIGARH: Heavyrains have lashed vastswathes of Punjab andsome parts of Haryanasince yesterday, raisingfears of damage to paddycrop which is ready for har-vesting.

After untimely rainsand hailstorm in March-Aprilthis year caused heavy dam-age to crops in the two lead-ing agrarian states, heavyshowers at the fag end ofthe monsoon have again in-creased the woes of thefarmers.

"Heavy rains, justbefore the paddy procure-ment, may affect the qual-ity of grain and increasemoisture content in standingpaddy plants. The currentspell of rain is not good forpaddy including basmati asthe crops are almost ready

for harvest."Moreover, there

have been reports of rainsbeing accompanied bystrong winds at many placesin Punjab which will furtherdamage the crop and mayaffect yield," Bhartiya KisanUnion (Rajewal) PresidentBalbir Singh Rajewal said.

During the past 24hours ending at 8:30 thismorning, heavy rains lashedseveral places in Punjab andfew parts of Haryana, aMeT Department officialsaid.

Amritsar received60.2 mm rains, Ludhiana36.8 mm, Patiala 13.8 mm,Ropar 108 mm, AnandpurSahib 60 mm, Hoshiarpur190 mm, Madhopur 200 mm,Gurdaspur 185 mm, Sangrur29 mm, Tarn Taran 76 mm,Moga 31 mm, Nakodar 55

mm, Nabha 75 mm andMohali 100 mm.

Chandigarh re-ceived 101 mm rains.

In Haryana, amongother places, Panchkula re-ceived 90 mm rains, Ambala106.7 mm, Karnal 17 mm,Naraingarh 108 mm, Jind 30mm, Kurukshetra 17 mm,Morni 47 mm and Jagadhri74 mm received heavyshowers.

Notably, betweenJune 1-September 15 pe-riod, rainfall deficiency inthe two states was at over40 per cent, as monsoon hadremained inactive for mostpart of August and earlySeptember.

Earlier in March-April this year, untimelyrains had caused heavydamage to some crops in thetwo states.

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Man hangs himself to death

Port Blair, September 23: A32 year old man committedsuicide by hanging himselfat his resident at Dilanipur

on 21.09.2015.A ccord ing to re-

ports, Mr Ravindra Das tookthis extreme step at 05:00pmand accord ing to policesources no suicide noteshave been found from the

spot.The reason behind

taking this extreme step isyet not known. However,the Postmortem of the deadbody was conducted yester-day at G B Pant Hospital.

Sarthak KanjilalSheekha News Service

solute majority in the Munici-pal Elections, the BharatiyaJanata Party, on Wednes-day, announced the supportof three Independent Candi-dates to head the civic bodyfor the next five years.

At a hurried calledpress conference, the StatePresident of BJP, Mr VishalJolly declared that two In-d epend ent Cand id ates,Dharmendra Narayan andRamzan Ali, had joined theBJP, while the third inde-pendent Candidate, Mr.

Sanjay Meshack, has agreedto lend outside support tothe BJP.

The BJP State Presi-dent, however, did not dis-close the name of the candi-date who will head the Mu-nicipal Co uncil as theChairman for the first yearterm. The BJP will decide onthe Chairperson candidatefor the Municipal Councilby tomorrow, Jolly said.

In the MunicipalCo uncil electio ns, BJPemerged the single largest

party with 11 seats, whileCo ngress secured sixWards. TDP claimed twoseats, while AIADMK andDMK bagged o ne Wardeach and three Wards weresecured by IndependentCandidates in the elections.

BJP, however, fellshort of two seats to gainabsolute majority and soonafter the results were an-nounced, political partiesbegan hectic parleys to seekmajority to head the Mu-nicipal Council.

BJP gets much... (From page 1)

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8 24.09.2015 Rs. 2.00 Andaman Shee kha Daily Port Blair

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PM Narendra Modileaves for I re land, US

NEW DELHI: Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi onWednesday left on a visit toIreland and the US.

"Working westward.PM @narendramodi de-parts on a 2 nation, 3 cityvisit to Ireland & the US, willaddress the @UN," tweetedexternal affa irs ministryspokesperson Vikas

Swarup.Modi will spend

Wednesday in Irelandwhere he will hold discus-sions with Prime MinisterEnda Kenny. He will departfor New York the sameevening for the US leg of histour.The Prime Minister willbe in the US till September29.

'Not ificat ion on OROPmay take another month'

NEW DELHI: A governmentnotification implementing'One Rank One Pension'scheme may take anothermonth, top defence sourcessaid today.

"I t can take 2-4weeks more easily becauseit is quite an extensive is-sue," the sources said.Asked if the governmentwill have to wait till theBihar Assembly polls getover, they sa id the an-nouncement has alreadybeen made and what is nowexpected is just a formal

notification.The government

had announced the OROPscheme earlier this monthand Defence MinisterManohar Parrikar had saida notification could be ex-pected in a month.However, some of the vet-erans have objected to thescheme.

They claim that thegovernment has createdavoidable confusion by in-cluding VRS (VoluntaryRetirement Scheme) in theirannouncement as it does not

port extended for a free andfair Municipal andPanchayat Elections.

Addressing a pressconference, the Secretary, Mu-nicipal and Panchayat Elec-tions, Mr NK Sharma saidthat the local bodies elections,being a massive exercise, re-quired the support of all agen-cies to ensure free and trans-parent polls. “Detailed plan-ning for the month long exer-cise, effective coordinationbetween different agenciesand strict adherence to theprovisions of law ensured thatthe elections were conductedin a peaceful and transparentmanner. The support of thePolice, political parties andmedia in particular has beeninstrumental in the success-ful conduct of the elections,”said Mr Sharma.

The Director of Mu-nicipal and Panchayat Elec-tions, Mr VK Bidhuri in-formed that over 7000 person-nel from various departmentsof the administration weredeployed for the elections thisyear. The local media tooplayed a crucial role during

exist in the defence forcesand those who have takenpremature retirement mustcome under OROP.

The ex-servicemenhave also objected to thegovernment's taking of thecalendar year 2013 insteadof financial year 2013-14for fixing the base.

They are alsoagainst the formation of aone-man judicial commis-sion and demanded that itshould consist three ex-ser-vicemen, one serving of-ficer and a bureaucrat.

the 30-day long exercise bydisseminating day to day in-formation to the public in therun up to the local body elec-tions, he said. Among somefirst-time initiatives imple-mented in the Municipal andPanchayat Elections 2015, MrBidhuri said that the PhotoElectoral Rolls were for thefirst time introduced success-fully in the local body elec-tions in these islands.

B e s i d e s ,randomisation of polling per-sonnel for Panchayat elec-tions, deployment of policebased on locations, deploy-ment of alteast one womenConstable/ Home Guard ineach polling booth, decentral-ized of Mike permissions,regular updates in the Elec-tion Web Portal, SMS facilityfor the facilitation of the Vot-ers are among other initiativesimplemented successfullyduring the elections, in-formed Mr Bidhuri.

The Superintendentof Police, South Andaman,Mr Shibesh Singh said thatthe Police too made meticu-lous arrangements to prevent

any election malpracticesand to ensure level playingfield for all candidates. Toovercome communication is-sues particularly in remotepockets of these islands,Wireless Communicationdevices were utilised totransmit information andother poll related date to theelection headquarters.

The Andaman andNicobar Islands were di-vided into five zones and ef-ficient coordination was en-sured among all during theentire election process. Ear-nest efforts were made tothwart attempts to entice vot-ers particularly through li-quor.

Crackdowns on at-tempts to transport liquorthrough water-ways duringodd hours were also con-ducted. Further with the sup-port of the administration,the Police Department wassuccessful in ensuring rein-forcement of local police inremote locations by deploy-ment of personnel, said theDistrict Superintendent ofPolice.

Director M& P... (From page 1)