1 dies incracker fire at Dʼgeregodown

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Davanagere: One person died and two otherswere feared trapped when a major fire broke outat a firecracker godown here today.

The fire started around 10 am at the factoryin a residential area here. Eight fire engines con-tinued to fight fire for more than three hours ofnoticing the fire, but to no avail. As several “rock-ets” and other cracker were flying out of thegodown, the fire brigade officials found it dif-ficult to contain the fire.

The police said that the godown was illegalas it has been constructed at a residential area.Luckily, the fire did not spread to the sur-rounding areas, which also have three hospitals.

The fire brigade officials continued their ef-forts to rescue trapped employees of thegodown. At the initial estimate, the loss ran upto at least Rs 1 crore, the fire brigade official said,while failing to specify the reason behind theblaze.

A huge crowd gathered outside the godown.The police had a tough time controlling thecrowd and keeping the onlookers away fromharm.

Parliament adjourned over

Krishna FIRBangalore Beat Bureau

New Delhi: An FIR filed against external affairsminister and former chief minister S M Krishnain an illegal mining case found an echo in bothHouses of Parliament today, with members ofthe BJP and National Democratic Alliance de-manding the resignation of the minister for hisalleged involvement in mining-related scandalin Karnataka.

Opposition MPs in both houses shouted slo-gans as soon as the Lok Sabha opened in themorning and asked the government to removeKrishna, who is under the police scanner for hisalleged role in allowing illegal mining in Kar-nataka when he was the state's chief minister1999-2004.

As BJP members demanded action against Kr-ishna, MPs from Telangana region of AndhraPradesh also shouted slogans demanding a sep-arate state to be carved out from the southernregion.

Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the housetill 12 noon when the din grew louder andprotesting MPs refused to sit on their seats.

The Rajya Sabha was also adjourned tillnoon over Krishna, who yesterday issued a state-ment denying the charges.

The protests in the Lok Sabha were led byDakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Katil andother BJP members. They said the Union min-ister had disgraced his position and should stepdown immediately.

Speaking outside Parliament, BangaloreSouth MP Ananth Kumar said, “All the threementioned in the first information report orderedby the Lokayukta special court – all Karnatakaformer chief ministers Krishna, Dharam Singhand H D Kumaraswamy – are MPs now. Of them,the first two are ruling party MPs. They shouldresign immediately.”

BJP MP D B Chandre Gowda said, “B S Yed-dyurappa resigned as chief minister once hisname was mentioned in the Lokayukta reporton illegal mining. Krishna too should learn fromthis and quit. Congress members protested onthe floor of the assembly when the Lokayuktareport was released. The ruling party at the Cen-tre should apply the same yardstick here too.”

Zardari hadstroke, facial

paralysisIslamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardarihad a ‘’mild’’ stroke that caused bleeding in thebrain and facial paralysis before he was flownto Dubai for treatment, a media report said to-day. However, the President was stable and outof danger as the stroke and internal bleedingwere not “life threatening”, The News daily quot-ed its sources as saying. Zardari would require“some treatment, including speech therapy, toresume his normal life”, said the report in thedaily. Page 4

Evening dailyHigher FDI in insurance shot down P 3

BangaloreBeatVol. 1, Issue 363 n Friday n December 9, 2011 No. of pages: 4 n Price: ` 2

Food prices hitting GDP: FM P 4

Doubts overDVS getting

MLC seatRamulu claims 22 BJP MLAsʼ support,will back Congress, JD(S) candidate

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Will D V Sadananda Gowdacontinue as chief minister? Will the gov-ernment survive at all to finish its re-maining two-year term?

These were the questions dogging thefirst BJP government in South India todayas former minister in the BJP governmentand now an independent MLA B Srira-mulu claimed the support of 22 BJP MLAsfor his soon-to-be-launched party.

Today, he announced the name of hisparty at Vidhana Soudha. The acronymthat also will also stand for B Sriramulu,the Bellary Rural MLA said he has namedthe party as “Badavara, Shramikara,Raithara” or BSR party.

Announcing the decision to launchthe party in two days, he claimed the sup-port of the saffron party MLAs. This putsthe election of Sadananda Gowda from thelegislative council in jeopardy as hewould not attain the required numbers. Ina house of 224, the BJP has 119 MLAs. Evenif 8 BJP MLAs go with Sriramulu, then theruling party would reduce to minority.

Sadananda Gowda has already spentfour months as chief minister in bor-rowed time. He has to get himself electedfrom either House within six months tocontinue as chief minister. The election forthe lone MLC seat has been scheduled forDecember 22.

Sources within the Congress and JD(S)told Bangalore Beat that they would com-bine their forces to defeat the BJP candi-

date, which will likely be SadanandaGowda. Sriramulu, too, today said that hewould support the decision taken by theCongress and JD(S) on MLC election.

He claimed that since the election isthrough a secret ballot, the saffron partywould not know who has cross-voted. TheBJP is sure to pass a whip to ensure fullquorum on the floor of the assembly andthe members’ votes on the D-day.

There have been talks going on betweenCongress leader Siddaramaiah, who isalso opposition leader in the assembly,JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda andJD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamyon fielding a candidate for the MLC elec-tion.

Sources close to the development saidthat the candidate would most likely befrom the Congress. The Congress has al-ready drawn up a list of three probableand one of them would be chosen afterconsultations with Gowda.

The last date for filing nomination forthe election is Monday.

Sadananda Gowda has earlier saidthat he would contest as an MLC only ifthere is a consensus, which in real termmeans comfortable numbers.

Sriramulu said he would hold consul-tations with Siddaramaiah, Congressstate president G Parameshwara and Ku-maraswamy on the MLC candidate. “If theCongress and JD(S) back a single candi-date, I would go with them, and so wouldBJP MLAs with me,” he added.

Siddu, KSEbattle overʻCMʼs postʼ

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: There were momentsof light banter between opposi-tion leader in the assembly Sid-daramaiah and BJP state presi-dent K S Eshwarappa at Vid-hana Soudha today.

Siddaramaiah criticised thatEshwarappa gave up his energyminister portfolio and becamepresident of the BJP with the hope of donning the chief minister’s mantle, but thatwas not to be. “Though he lost hisminister’s post, he never becamea chief minister. That was be-cause B S Yeddyurappa neverquit his post, allowing anyoneelse,” he said.

Retorting, Eshwarappa said,“Day and night, you dream of be-coming a chief minister. You willnever become a chief minister.You should continue your fight.You changed parties for the postbut that did not materialise.”

Siddaramaiah replied: “Yes, Iwant to become a chief minister.Let me declare here (on the floorof the assembly) that I will be-come a chief minister one day.”

Kolkata: Seventy-three people were feareddead due to suffocation in a major fire thatbroke out at AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria insouth Kolkata today. All the dead are re-ported to be patients, even as hospital au-thorities fled from the spot.

As angry relatives gathered at the hospi-tal to look for their loved ones, they vent theirire at the lack of relief and rescue efforts byhospital authorities by damaging AMRI'sproperties.

Many people were, however, still be-lieved to be trapped inside. The fire was un-der control. Nearly 25 fire tenders wereworking hard to evacuate all patients andstaff.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Baner-jee rushed to the spot to take stock of the sit-uation and ordered an FIR against hospitalauthorities.

West Bengal health minister Sudip Band-hyopadhyay said that the death toll may goup. There was still no clarity on what causedthe fire. He said that the West Bengal gov-ernment was shocked to know that the firesafety measures were not in place in the hos-pital.

West Bengal planning and developmentminister Subroto Mukherjee said that the hos-pital authorities have fled. "Strict actionwill be taken against the management, butfor now the focus is on the rescue mis-sions," he said.

The angry relatives of the patients whodied alleged that the hospital staff aban-doned patients and did not help them rushout. They said that this resulted in suffoca-

tion, and therefore, deaths of the patients."Isn't it strange that in such a fire only pa-

tients lose their lives and not a single casu-alty from the hospital? They left the patientsto choke to death," said an angry relative ofa patient.

Upset and angry relatives destroyed hos-pital property shouting slogans against au-thorities for not having enough fire safetymeasures. The fire had also engulfed the ICUand relatives claim that they were the ones

who rescued most patients and that help ar-rived much later. A few of them also heck-led officials at the spot.

The hospital announced that the family ofthose who have died will be paid Rs 5 lakhas compensation.

Reports said many bodies were moved toSSKM hospital. The identification of bodieswas on but sources said some of the bodiesmay not be identified as they were charred.

Continued on page 3

KOLKATA HOSPFIRE KILLS 73Many suffocate; fire safety laws ignored

Murder solved, 6 rowdies arrested

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Six persons, who had murdered anAyyappa devotee at S J Park last month, have beenarrested. The police have found out that it was theresult of a series of tit-for-tat murders between tworowdy gangs in the city over the last few months.

On November 28, the Ayyappa devotee, Velu,was carrying his daughter to a friend’s house onthe when rowdy Rudra and 7-8 of his associates at-tacked him with deadly weapons and butcheredhim to death in front of Ambedkar’s statue on NMRoad first cross at SJ Park. Velu bled to death onthe spot. The attackers had left some of theweapons on the spot and fled.

The police have now recovered the van used forthe crime and other deadly weapons from the ar-rested. They have been identified as S Gangadharalias Gajendra alias Gaja (34), V Prakash alias Dada(23), Vijay Kumar alias Viji alias Yelugalli (24), Kr-ishna alias Loose (20), Arun Kumar alias Arul (27)and Manu alias Deepu (23). The arrested rowdieshave confessed that they were led by Rudra.

After interrogation of the arrested, the policefound out that Rudra alias Shiva, Gaja and his ar-rested associates had murdered Velu’s brother Sub-ramani alias Subra. In a retaliatory attack, Velu andhis associates killed Rudra’s brother Ashwatha-narayana at Basavanagudi police limits in 2005.

The police also learnt that the gang of Rudra and

Gaja had killed retired police superintendentThammaiah, who was working as vigilance offi-cer under KPTCL at Cauvery Bhavan in the Yela-hanka police station limits.

Rudra has a rowdy sheet at SJ Park police sta-tion, while murdered Velu had rowdy cases reg-istered against him at the City Market police sta-tion. The police are now on the lookout for Rudraand his associates.

Rescue officials wheel away a patient from AMRI Hospital Kolkata after a firebroke out today.

Six rowdies, who have been arrested for the murder of another rowdy sheeter Velu

in the city last month.

Lokpal Bill report tabled inParlNew Delhi: The parliamentarypanel examining the Lokpal Billsubmitted its report to Parliamenttoday. The bill establishes theLokpal that will investigate cor-ruption among government ser-vants.

Anti-corruption crusader AnnaHazare, who has pivoted a na-tionwide movement againstgraft, has threatened to go on anew hunger strike if the Bill doesnot grant significant power to theLokpal.

The report on the Lokpal Billwas tabled in the Rajya Sabha byAbhishek Manu Singhvi, Chair-

man of the standing Committeeon Law and Justice, Public Griev-ances and Personnel.

In the Lok Sabha, committeemember Pinaki Misra tabled thesame report.

The government is not obligedto follow the committee's rec-ommendations, and in any case,the report has failed to establishconsensus on major featureseven among the 30-member com-mittee. A total of 16 dissentingnotes accompany the report,three of them from Congress MPswho disagree with the decision toexclude 57 lakh junior bureau-

crats from the jurisdiction of thenew Lokpal.

74-year-old Anna and hisgroup of activists have alsostrongly objected to this. They sayunless the Lokpal is allowed toinvestigate junior bureaucrats,Indians will continue to en-counter corruption in everydaylife. These are the officers whoare involved in basic serviceslike sanctioning driver's licenses,or processing passports.

The committee's report doesnot suggest whether the PMshould be covered by the Lokpal,it asks Parliament to decide.

Team Anna has said excludingthe PM amounts to sanctioningimmunity to his or her office.

Sources say the governmentwill compromise by placing thePM's office, though with safe-guards, under the ambit of theLokpal. The lower bureaucracywill also be made accountable tothe ombudsman. So the re-maining flash point with Anna'steam will be who the CBI re-ports to the activists want the in-vestigating agency to be con-trolled by the Lokpal, which thegovernment and the CBI have sofar opposed.

CITY 2Friday, December 9, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

9742918562

Bangalore Beat

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638 ERS SBC SPL Ernakulam Jn 0430 000637 SBC ERS SPL Bangalore City 000 17156228 BANGALORE EXP Shimoga Town 0430 0006227 SHIMOGA EXP Bangalore City 000 23306222 MYSORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 0500 05306221 CHENNAI EXPRESS Mysore Jn 2300 23456517 BANGALORE MAIL Chennai Central 0525 0002657 BANGALORE MAIL Chennai Central 0535 0002658 CHENNAI MAIL Bangalore City 000 22452607 LALBAGH EXPRESS Chennai Central 2125 0002608 LALBAGH EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 06306021 BANGALORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 0735 (Sunday) 0006022 CHENNAI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2130 (Sunday)101S RMAS SBC PASSENGER Chennai Central 1900 000102SR SBC MAS PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 09152008 SHATABDI EXPRESS Chennai Central 1050 and2230 0002008 SHATABDI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1615 and 06002639 BRINDAVAN EXPRESS Chennai Central 1320 0002640 BRINDAVAN EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14306523 BANGALORE EXPRESS Chennai Central 2005 0006524 CHENNAI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 08005626 GUWAHATI-BANGALORE Chennai Central 1840 (Tue, Thu) 0005625 BANGALORE - GUWAHATI Bangalore City 000 2330 (Wed, Fri)2429 RAJDHANI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1835 (Sun, Mon, Wed, Thu)2430 RAJDHANI EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 0725(Mon, Tue, Fri, Sat) 0002627 KARNATAKA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 18302628 KARNATAKA EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 1340 0006217 SWARNA JAYANTHI EXP Bangalore City 000 1925 (Fri)6218 SWARNA JAYANTHI EXP Hazrat Nizamuddin 0830(Wed) 0002647 KONGU EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2315 (Sun)2648 KONGU EXPRESS Hazrat Nizamuddin 0200 (Fri) 0001013 COIMBATORE EXPRESS Mumbai 2215 23001014 LOKMANYA TILAK EXP Coimbatore 1225 12456529 UDYAN EXPRESS Mumbai Central 0905 0006530 UDYAN EXPRESS Bangalore City 00000 20006507 JU BANGALORE EXPRESS Jodhpur Jn 0400(Sat, Mon) 0006508 JODHPUR EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2125 (Mon, Wed)1017 CHALUKYA EXPRESS Dadar Mumbai 2225(Except Wed) 0001018 CHALUKYA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 0620 (Except Thu)6509 AII SBC EXPRESS Ajmer Jn 0400 (Sun, Tue) 0006510 AJMER EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2125 (Tue, Thu)6501 AHMEDABAD EXPRESS Ahmedabad 0800 (Thu) 000

6502 AHMEDABAD EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1330 (Sun)6831 MYSORE EXPRESS Thanjavur 0555 06306832 THANJAVUR EXPRESS Mysore 1845 19007086 SECUNDERABAD EXP Bangalore City 000 17007085 BANGALORE EXPRESS Secunderabad 0715 000790 KACHEGUDA EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1800 (Sat)789SC MYS Secunderabad 1030 (Sun) 1020 (Sun)9775 JAIPUR EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1100 (Thu, Sat)9776 JP BANGALORE EXPRESS Jaipur 1630 (Wed, Fri) 0007209 SESHADRI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 13157210 SESHADRI EXPRESS Kakinada Town 1235 0006525 KANYAKUMARI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2145 6526 BANGALORE EXPRESS Kanyakumari 0655 0008563 PRASHANTHI EXPRESS Vishakapatnam 1000 0008564 PRASHANTHI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14006732 TUTICORIN EXPRESS Mysore City 2100 21156731 BANGALORE EXPRESS Tuticorin City 0635 06500621 SBC TVC EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 2215 (Sun)6321 TRIVANDRUM EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 1845 (Thu)6322 BANGALORE EXPRESS Trivandrum 0940 (Thu) 0002079 JAN SHATABDI EXP Bangalore City 000 0600 (Except Tue)2080 JAN SHATABDI EXP Hubli City 2030 (Except Tue) 0006591 HAMPI EXPRESS Hubli City 0630 0006592 HAMPI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 22056593 HAMPI LINK EXPRESS Nanded 0630 0006589 RANI CHENAMMA EXP Bangalore City 000 21006590 RANI CHENAMMA EXP Kolhapur 740 0002725 HUBLI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14302726 INTERCITY EXPRESS Hubli City 1350 000213 TIPUPATI PASSENGER Mysore Jn 2015 2030214 SCMYSORE PASSENGER Tipupathi 0725 08106205 TIPPU EXPRESS Mysore Jn 1325 0006205 TIPPU EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 14156215 CHAMUNDI EXPRESS Mysore Jn 0950 0006216 CHAMUNDI EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 18156519 JTJ SBC EXPRESS Jolarpettai 0815 0006520 SBC JOLARPET EXPRESS Bangalore City 000 17300235 BANGALORE PASSENGER Mysore Jn 0400 0000236 MYSORE PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 2355571SR SA SBC PASSENGER Salem Jn 1850 000572SR SBC SA PASSENGER Bangalore City 000 0730584SW SBC FAST PASSENGER Hospet Jn 0610 000

Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore

TRAIN SCHEDULE

JOGAYYA (U/A)Shivaraj Kumar, Pooja GandhiBanashankari (Hongasandra) (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Eshwari(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) FunCinemas (10.15 am, 1.15, 4, 6.45,9.25 pm) HMT Cinemas ( 10.45 am,1.30, 4.15 pm) Kapali (10.30 am,1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Keshava (11am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Lakshmi(Tavarekere) (10.15 am, 1.15 pm)Lakshmi (Gottigere) (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Lakshmi (Rammor-thinagar) (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15pm) Manasa (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) PVR Cinemas (12.10 pm)Santhosh (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Srinvasa (Gowdanapalya)(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Tirumala (10 am, 1.45, 5.30, 8.45pm) Vaishnavi (11.15 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm) Veerabhadreshwara (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Venkatesh(Avalahalli) (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Venkateshwara (Konap-pana Agrahara) (11 am, 2.15, 6.15,9.15 pm)

BADHRA (U)

Prajwal Devaraj, Daisy ShahBharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Govardhan (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (10.30 am,2, 8 pm) Maruthi (11.30 am, 2.30pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30 pm) Menaka(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm)Nalanda (11,2.30,6,9.15pm) Rajer-ajeshwari (Mallathahalli) (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30,7 .15, 9.30 pm) Sid-dheshwara (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Veeresh (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Vajreshwari (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30pm) Rajarajeshwari (10.30am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.15, 9.30 pm) PVRCinemas (1, 3.30, 6.10 pm)

PANCHAMRUTHA (U) Raghu Mukherjee, Srinagara Kit-ty, RavishankerPVR Cinemas (7.10 pm)

MR DUPLICATE (U) Prajwal Devaraj, Diganth, SheetalNartaki (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 1.15, 4.15,7.15 pm) Uma (10.15 am, 1, 4, 7pm) Vijayalakshmi (Garu-dacharpalya) (11 am, 2.30 pm)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN (A)Jason Momoa, Leo Howard‘3D’ Cinemax (10.15 am, 3.30, 7.45,10 pm) Cinepolis (10 am, 12.15,2.30, 4.45, 7, 9.15 pm) Fame (Lido)(11 am, 4.30, 7, 9.30 pm) Fame(Shankarnag) (10.25 am, 3.45, 9.30pm) Fun Cinemas (5.10 pm, 9.45pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghat-ta Road) (10.30 am, 3.30, 9.30 pm)

Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (1.15 pm, 7.30, 9.45 pm) In-novative Multiplex (11.30 am, 1.30,5.45, 10 pm) Inox (Magrath Road)(10.05 am, 2.20, 7.30, 9.50 pm)Inox (Malleswaram) (10.30 am, 2.45,9.50 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10 am,2.35, 9.45 pm) Lakshmi (Tavarekere)(10.30 am, 1.30, 5.30, 8.30 pm)Mukunda (11 am, 2, 5, 8.30 pm)PVR Cinemas (11 am, 4.20, 9.40pm) Rex (12.15 pm, 6.05 pm) Uvashi(11.30 am, 6.30 pm) Vision Cinemas(10.30 am, 4.30, 9.30 pm) ‘2D’Fame (Value Mall) (10 am, 2.45, 5,9.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (11.45 am, 2.15, 8 pm) HMTCinemas (9.45 pm) Inox (Jayanagar)(10.10 am, 3.55, 9.40 pm)

THE DEVIL DOUBLE (A)Fame (Lido) (10.20 am, 3.55 pm,7.25, 9 pm) Fame (Value Mall) (10am, 2 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10 am, 7.50 pm)

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

YEH DOORIYAN (U/A)Achint Kaur, Ayub KhanApsara (11 am, 2.30 pm) Abhinay(4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) Everest (11.15am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (5.15pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajarajesh-wari Nagar) (1.45 pm) Vaibhavi (4.30pm, 7.30 pm)

CHITKABREY-SHADES OF GREY (A)Akshay Singh, Akshharaa GowdaCinepolis (2.40 pm, 9.20 pm) Fame(Value Mall) (9.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar)(9.55 pm) Inox (Magrath Road) (11.20am) Inox (Malleswaram) (2.05 pm,7.15 pm)

NOT A LOVE STORY (A) Ajay Gehi, Mahie Gill, DeepakDobriyal, Urmila MatondkarFame (Value Mall) (10.05 am) FunCinemas (10.45 am, 4.15 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Bannerghatta

Road) (10.15 am, 3.30, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(5 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (4.45 pm, 7.35 pm)Innovative Multiplex (10 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (9.40 pm) PVR Cin-emas (10 am, 1.05, 4.10, 9.50 pm)Urvashi (9.30 pm) Vaibhav (6 pm,9.30 pm)

SAHI DHANDHE GALAT BANDE (U)Anupam Kher , Ashish NayyarGopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (3.30 pm)

CHATUR SINGH TWO STAR (U/A)Sanjay , Ameesha Patel, KherAbhinay (4.30 pm, 7.30 pm) GopalanCinemas (Bannerghatta Road) (12.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ra-jarajeshwari Nagar) (7 pm) PVR Cin-emas (12.05 pm, 5.35 pm) Vaibhav(6.15 pm, 9 pm)

HINDI

TELUGU

KERATAM (U/A)Siddharth Raj Kumar, AishwaryaCauvery (6.00 pm, 9.30 pm) Cinepo-lis (3.45 pm, 9.10 pm) Inox (Jayana-gar) (7.20 pm) Inox (JP Nagar) (10.45am, 4.20 pm) Inox (Malleswaram)(2.10 pm) Murali (Gokula) (6.15 pm,

9.30 pm) Pallavi (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Renukaprasanna(10.30am,1.30pm)

DAGGARAGA DURANGASumanth, Vedika, Sindhu TolaniAnjan (10.30 am, 1.30pm) Bhumika(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Rad-hakrishna (11.30 am, 2.45 pm) Renu-ka Prasanna ( 5.30, 8.30 pm) Srini-vasa (SG Palya) (11.15 am, 2.30 pm)Vinayaka (Maathahalli) (11.30 am,2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Venkateshwara(KRPuram) (6.15 pm, 9.30 pm

MONEY MONEY MORE MONEY J D Chakravarthy, Bramanandam,Anjan (4.30, 7.30 pm) Chandrodaya(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Cinepolis (10 am, 12.20, 4.50, 7.10,9.30 pm) HMT Cinemas (4.15 pm,7.30 pm).

STAND BY (U)Adinath Kothare, Siddharth Kher

Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30 pm) Ap-sara (5.30 pm, 8.30 pm) Fame(Lido) (1.40 pm)Fame (Value Mall)(12.15 pm, 7.15 pm) Gopalan Cin-emas (Bannerghatta Road) (2.30pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Rajara-jeshwari Nagar) (12.30 pm) Inno-vative Multiplex (2.30 pm) Inox(Magrath Road) (12.10 pm, 7.15

pm) Inox (Malleswaram) (11.30am, 9.35 pm) Inox (J.P.Nagar) (10.10am) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (12.30 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (Mysore Road)(2.45 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (RajarajeshwariNagar) (7 pm) Vaibhav (11.30 am,2.30 pm)

Meet on qualityhealthcare tomorrow

Bangalore: TheQuality Council ofIndia presents thefirst national qualityconclave in healthcare – Enhancingquality in health-care: Dimensionsand Directions – to-morrow and Decem-ber 11 and bronzecertification in Leanby International Faculty of Sim-pler UK from December 12 to 15at MS Ramaiah Medical College& Hospitals, Bangalore

The conclave envisions pro-viding critical inputs to health-care organisations and healthprofessionals, pertaining to var-ious facets of quality in health-care.

In the last few years, increas-ing awareness of variations inthe quality of healthcare acrossgeographic areas has helped pro-pel a quality improvement move-ment. Healthcare access, quality,costs and efficiency vary widelyacross the country.

In India, benchmarks set byleading geographic regions showthere are broad opportunities to

improve andachieve better andmore affordablehealthcare. Withhealth costs risingfaster than incomesand straining family,business, state andfederal budgets andwith evidence ofvariable quality andinefficient care, all

states and nations have muchto aim higher.

The conclave aims to providecritical inputs to healthcare or-ganisations, pertaining to variousfacets of quality in healthcare.

The conclave aims to coverthe latest trends in modern ap-proaches in quality improvementtargeted towards healthcare pro-fessionals, doctors, administra-tors, nurses, nursing managers/ administrators, hospital ad-ministrators and students.

For further details, contact:Dr Asha R, assistant hospital ad-ministrator, MS Ramaiah Memo-rial Hospital, 9481162399 orPrakash Mulkunte, public rela-tions officer, MS Ramaiah Me-morial Hospital, 9008300563.

International MidnightMarathon to be run tomorrow

Bangalore: The 5th edition of the Ban-galore International Midnight Marathon(BIMM) 2011, for which an average 7,000people are expected to participate, willbe kicked off on tomorrow night.

The “Run for a child” themed mid-night marathon, focused on raisingfunds for the poor and needy children,is the only marathon that runs in themiddle of the night in the country.

The Midnight Marathon this year willwitness participation by over 20 inter-national athletes and 200 Indian ath-letes/runners for the full marathon.Apart from this, eminent personalitiesfrom across various industries, includingsports, healthcare, fitness, film and cor-porate amongst others, will participatein the corporate relay and the IT CityFun Run.

More than 3,000 people have regis-

tered for the various races to be heldon the day of the Midnight Marathon.18 international athletes have arrivedin the city to participate in the marathon.On-the-spot registrations will close by7 pm for IT Fun Race and 8 pm forother races.

Apart from the races, the BIMM 2011will have live performances by musi-cians, fire-eaters, dancers and bandsto entertain the participants.

Just before the Midnight Marathonof 42 km and the 21-km half marathon,there will be the Adecco 5 km IT CityFun Run, a community relay, the cor-porate relay and women’s corporate re-lay, besides the newlyintroduced GE10K run, which will be kicked off at 7pm.

The route for the event will be a sec-tion of the Airport-Whitefield Road in

Whitefield, starting point being KTPO.The new 10K run event that’s been

added on popular demand to the BIMMraces this year is being sponsored byGE, while the 5 km IT City Run will besponsored by Adecco.

The key partners associated with theevent include Manipal Hospital pro-viding medical assistance at the event,Cisco Systems sponsoring the women’srelay, champions group sponsoring thecorporate relay amongothers.

Bhaskar Sharma, a renownedmarathon runner, said, “Running amarathon is an experience that's difficultto put into words. Running is the greatestmetaphor for life, because you get outof it what you put into it.

If you want to win something, run100 metres. If you want to experiencesomething, run a marathon.”

ʻLounge Journalsʼ debuts in cityBangalore: The Lounge Journals, an ini-tiative of Café Coffee Day, was inauguratedin the city with asession on photographyand filmmaking yesterday.

‘The Lounge Journals’ are a series of sessions with celebrity experts on hobbies, topics and passions of the youth. The third of the series (earlierhosted at The Lounge by CCD in Chennaiand Chandigarh) was hosted by photographer Ryan Lobo, who conducteda session titled ‘The Perfect Cuppa’, with a group of filmmaking and photography students and enthusiasts.

‘The Lounge Journals’ are aimed atencouraging the youth to partake in cre-ative hobbies and developing productivetalents. Said KRamakrishnan,president–marketing, Café Coffee Day, “The ideais to channelise youth energy into creativeand productive expressions, and encour-age them to develop passions in life. TheLounge provides a relaxed ambience forartists.”

A photographer and filmmaker, RyanLobo uses his lens to capture images thatnarrate stories and delves beyond the

surface to give a new perspective. Ryanhas co-founded Mad Monitor Productions,a production company based in Bangaloreand Washington, and has produced sev-eral shows for channels like National Ge-ographic.

During the session, Ryan shared hisexperiences gained from travelling aroundthe globe and gave tips on varied nuancesof photography, equipment and tech-niques.

He demonstrated how to shoot a per-fectly brewed cup of coffee.

Ryan said, “The session was excitingand invigorating. It is always great toshare my experience with students andit is even better when the audience is soreceptive.”

Café Coffee Day will take ‘The LoungeJournals’ across all its 30 outlets of TheLounge in India.

The Lounge Journals will be a periodic series focusing on several interesting topics including photography,creative writing, painting, animation,and sculpting. Each session will conductedby a leading and renowned expert fromthe field.

Society Collection expo opens Over 85 stalls were set up at the Society Collection, an exhibition that opened at the Hotel Lalit Ashok yesterday. The exhibition was inauguratedby ADGP Praveen Sood and his wife Vinita Sood.Independent designers of cocktail sareesand dresses, designer bags, costume jewellery and accessories had displayed their ware.Trays, lamps, wall art, murals, aroma candles and decorative mirrors have been put on

sale. The exhibition is open till tomorrow.

Designer expo opensBus stand atMajestic tobe built atRs 1.4K cr

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: A bus terminus ofinternation-al standardswill be builtat Majesticat a cost ofRs 1,400crore, saidhome andtr ansportminister RAshok onthe floor the

a s s e m b l yyesterday.Replying to a question, he saidthe tender process for the con-struction project is getting oversoon. Once it is over, the workswould be awarded in stages, hesaid.

There is no provision to pro-vide space in the newly con-structed bus terminus for privatebuses. But there has been a pro-posal to start a bus terminus forprivate players in consultationwith KSRTC, BBMP and privatebus operators, he added.

The BBMP has been asked totransfer the land in MahalakshmiLayout to BMTC to construct abus stand. The process will getover soon and the constructionwill begin soon, he added.

Deepotsavafrom tomorrowBangalore:SriramaBhajana-Mandir of Chamrajpet has or-ganised the third Vishnu Deepot-savaand SatyanarayanaVratafrom tomorrow till December 12.

Rakshabandan, Ganapatipuja, Navagraha puja, Gana-Homa and other pujas will bepart of the festivities.

The BhajanMandir has completed 100 years and specialpujas will be performed to the portraits of Shiva and Parvathi, said Sri Rama Bha-janaMandir president G Kan-tharaj in a statement.

PhD awardedBangalore:Muralidhara B L, an

associateprofessor ofM C A programmeof Banga-lore Univer-s i t y has beena w a r d e d

PhD for his thesis on "ParallelComputation for Bioinformatics"in computer science.

Dr SrinivasBhogle and Dr-Pradeep G Siddheshwar wereMuralidhara’s guides.

Free trainingBangalore: The Kannada Com-puter Training Centre has invitedapplications for a free computertraining programme for SSLCpassouts and unemployedyouths.

The programmes aims to trainrural and unemployed youthsin Pagemaker, Corel Draw, Microsoft Word, Photoshop andinternet.

Interested candidates in theage group of 16 to 55 can apply,said a press statement. For moreinformation, call: 23561966.

Renowned photographer Ryan Lobo speaks at The Lounge Journals at Coffee Day Lounge, MG Road yesterday.

R Ashok

CITY EVENTSGeneralGeological Society of India:Monthly lecture on ‘Gas Hy-drates in India: Potential andDevelopment’ by Dr KalachandSain, Gas Hydrate Group, Na-tional Geophysical ResearchInstitute, Hyderabad, at No,63, Kavita Apartments, Bas-appa Layout, 12th Cross,Gavipuram, 4 pm.

CulturalSwastik: Staging of play‘Badaku Jataka Bandi’ by Ra-jguru Hosakote, Ran-gashankara, JP Nagar, 7:30 pm

Carmel Pre-University Col-lege: Rendezvous 2011, inter-collegiate festival of talents,No. 14, 4th Cross, II Block, IIStage, West of Chord Road,Basaveshwarnagar, 5 pm

MusicAnnie and Michael DevineLive: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Take5, No 54 MSK Plaza, DefenceColony, 2nd Stage, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar A night ofjazz, blues and easy listeningwith Annie and MichaelDevine performing classictunes from years gone by.

Eating OutPower Lunch: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.City Bar Karaoke + Grill, UBCity, No 24, Vittal Mallya Road,Now be connected even duringthe quick business lunch. Freewi-fi access while you fill upin the middle of the day. De-lectable starters with a varietyof veg/ non veg main courseoptions along with draughtbeer.

Weekday Lunch Buffet @ManU: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. noon to 3 p.m. Man-chester United Restaurant Bar,The Manchester United Restau-rant and Bar launches a week-day lunch buffet priced at Rs350 plus taxes right fromstarters to desserts.

‘The Kari Culture’ at Blue Gin-ger: Tuesday, August 30th,2011. 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.Blue Ginger, The Taj West End,23 Race Cource Road , BlueGinger creates an interestingway to learn about Vietnameseingredients and how to createsome of the popular culinaryinnovations. ‘The Kari Kulture’is for all the ladies who wantto learn the finer aspects ofVietnamese cuisine, super-vised by Chef Rishi. This isfollowed by a meal at therestaurant, where the gueststaste what they cook.

The Grand Indian Lunch Buf-fet @ Turquoise: uesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. noon to 3p.m. Turquoise, No 9, 2nd &3rd Floors, 17th A Main, Kora-mangala Experience the GrandIndian Lunch buffet consistingof over 35 dishes every week-day with around 5 starters, 4vegetarian gravies, 2 non veg-etarian gravies , 7 desserts andlots more.

NightlifeHip Hop night: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. Hypnos,Gem Plaza, Infantry Road, DJSid plays the latest hip hoptracks from around the world.

Open Mic Night @ Kyra: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.to 11 p.m. Kyra Theatre, No2001 Kattima Center, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar The OpenMic Night aims to bring outnew talent - whether it’s music,stand up comedy, poetry ordance.

Funky Tuesdays with DJsPrashant and Darsh: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. Coco Bongo, 4thFloor, Commercial Complex,National Games Village, 80Feet Road, Koramangala DJsPrashant and Darsh spinninghip hop & RnB this Tuesdayat Coco Bongo. There’s a 1+1offer on drinks all night.

Karaoke Night with KJ Val:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 8p.m. to 11:30 p.m. XtremeSports Bar, 4th Floor, 100 FeetRoad, Indiranagar Test thosevocal chords at karaoke nightwith KJ Val.

Happy Tuesdays with DJsPallemoni and Akso: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 8 p.m. to11:30 p.m. The Beach, No 1211,100 Feet Road, IndiranagarDJs Pallemoni and Akso spin-ning deep house, disco andelectronica this Tue @ The

Beach.

ShoppingRio by Titan Eye+: Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to11:30 a.m. Titan Eye+, SafinaPlaza, Infantry Road, A trendy,fashionable collection for theyoung and young at heart.The frames are available in ahost of bright colours.

Puma Faas Collection: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 8 p.m. Puma, A fun, tech-nologically advanced range ofrunning shoes by Puma.

Fall Winter 2011 Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 8 p.m. Esprit, No 10Ananda Bhavan, Vittal MallyaRoad, Stripes, florals, wool,tweed, retro and preppy cometogether in Esprit’s new FallWinter 2011 Collection.

OWW Sale: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.One Wit Wonders, No 32 ACRTowers, Residency Road, Flat50% off on selected productsat One Wit Wonders.

Lustrous Moon Collection:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Collage, No21/1, Wood Street, AshoknagarThe Lustrous Moon Collectionby Bharathi Raviprakash payshomage to the glow of themoon. The collection includesgold jewellery with pearls incolours of golden, black andchocolate, and diamonds aswell.

Special EventsTuesdays with the Bard: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 7 p.m.Urban Solace - Cafe for theSoul, No 32, Annaswamy Mu-daliar Road, Ulsoor Lake Tues-days with the Bard is an ini-tiative to create opportunitiesfor poets and poetry lovers toget together. It features poetsreading their creations in anew experience every Tuesday.Members of the audience areencouraged to come forwardand share poems as well.

ExhibitionsCreative Perspectives: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. noonto 11:30 p.m. Caperberry, No48/1 Ground Floor, The Estate,Dickenson Road, Artwork byGopal Dey, Shan Re, KishoreChand, Ashok Kumar G, Hire-math, Parmesh D Jolad, Ran-jan Paul, Ram Onkar, MiniArora and more.

Colours & Hues: Tuesday, Au-gust 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Gallerie Third Eye, No A-1 Epsilon Office Block, YemalurMain Road, Yemalur A groupshow by artists Kanthraj N,Rima Ray & Rakesh Mandalat Gallerie Third Eye.

Synesthesia: Tuesday, August30th, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.Galleryske, No 2, Berlie Street,Langford Town A group showfeaturing works by AndreaAnastasio, Luigi Anastasio andAvinash Veeraraghavan. Theworks are displayed in thehouse-like space of the gallery,so that they are approachedwithout demarcations and dis-tinctions thus making the view-er experience the works in onecontinuous alternation of me-dia from video and painting,to photography and sculpture.

Solo show @ Apparao: Tues-day, August 30th, 2011. 11 a.m.to 7 p.m. Apparao Galleries,No 82 The Presidency, St MarksRoad, Apparao Galleries pres-ents an exhibition of paintingsby T. Vaikuntam.

The Eye of Graciela Iturbide:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tasveer, No26/1, Kasturba Cross Road, Acollection of black and whitepictures shot by Mexican pho-tographer Graciela Iturbide,in locales across the world.

Now and Tomorrow : Tuesday,August 30th, 2011. 10 a.m. to7 p.m. Kynkyny Art, No 148Embassy Square, InfantryRoad, An exhibition by elevenemerging artists, which travelsinto contemporary territoryand throws up a commentaryon the rapidly changing, con-tinually shifting here and nowof modern India.

Group Show @ Renaissance:Tuesday, August 30th, 2011. 11a.m. to 7 p.m. RenaissanceGallerie, No 13 Westminster,Cunningham Road, An exhi-bition of paintings by Shrad-dha DD, Deepa Vedpathak,Shama Rane and Shivaji Cha-van.

Panel rejects proposalto hike insurance FDI

New Delhi: After the fiasco on retail FDI,the UPA government is facing failure inanother key reform it has long contem-plated - hiking FDI cap in insurance from26 per cent now to 49 per cent to give In-dian insurance firms an avenue to raisemuch-needed growth capital.

The Parliamentary Standing Committeehas rejected the government’s proposalto raise FDI in the Insurance sector. Thegovernment is likely to accept its recom-mendations which went on to say thatgiven the present global scenario a hikein FDI would not benefit Indian compa-nies.

Apart from various aspects of the in-surance bill, the Standing Committee onFinance also asked the government tobring an integrated modern banking lawfor India, instead of bringing piecemealamendments.

The Committee, which adopted its re-

port on Insurance Laws (Amendment)Bill, 2008, said keeping in mind the pres-ent global scenario, any hike in foreignequity would not be in the interest of In-dian companies.

It also recalled that Parliament wasassured that the present cap of 26 percent will not be breached in future.

The Committee also recommended thatthe present statement of objectives of theBill should be redrafted as it gives a “mis-leading” impression that the issue of for-eign participation in Indian insurancecompanies was decided upon the rec-ommendations of an expert committee,which is not a fact.

It also said that in health insurancebusiness, a company with with a mini-mum Rs 100 crore capital should only beallowed to set up shop and hence thepresent requirement of Rs 50 crore shouldbe accordingly increased.

Will start work on Bengalcentre in 3‑6 months: InfyKolkata: IT major Infosys Tech-nologies will start constructionwork on its first software devel-opment centre in West Bengal,at Rajarhat near here, in threeto six months, a top companyofficial said today.

“We have paid the money and got possession of the land.We hope to start constructionwork in three to six months,”Infosys Technologies ExecutiveCo-Chairman S Gopalakrishnansaid on the sidelines of a CII

event here.He said in the first phase,

5,000 jobs would be created andthe approximate investmentwould be Rs 100 crore.

He said while 35,000 profes-sionals had been already hiredso far this fiscal, another 10,000would be hired by the end ofMarch, 2012. The present head-count of the company is 1.40lakh.

When asked whether Infosyswould shift its focus outside the

US and Europe due to the slow-down in these economies, hesaid, “Any shift will take time.”

“We are looking at the marketsof China, South Africa, Malaysiaand Indonesia,” he added.

Gopalakrishnan said despitethe global turmoil, the IT sectorhas shown resilience and therehave been no lay-offs.

“There would, however, beconsolidation in IT sector andthose who have the niche capa-bility will survive,” he said.

US: Retail FDI will benefitIndian farmers, citizens

Washington: Supporting the on-going discourse in India overthe issue of FDI in the retail sec-tor, the United States has saideven though it is of view thatthis is in the benefit of India, itwould desist to comment on In-dia’s internal affairs.

“I think they have to workthrough their domestic politicalprocess and I don’t want to com-ment on their internal affairs atthis point,” the Under Secretaryfor Economic Growth, Energy,and the Environment Robert DHormats told reporters at a newsconference.

Responding to questions aboutthe decision of the Union Cabinetto put on hold its decision withregard to FDI in the multi-brandretail sector till the time a con-sensus is developed among allits stake holders, Hormats saidthat the United States has beendiscussing the issues with Indiafor some time.

“The Indians are working it

through their process. I thinkthe Indians know our position.They know the benefits that wethink would result from allowingthis multi – brand retailing totake place in India,” he said.

“I think they (India) know ourview that it would be very bene-ficial to Indian farmers, Indiancitizens, Indian consumers ingeneral.

“But the details of how theIndian Government and the In-dian Parliament and the Indianofficials work this through, Ithink I’ll leave to the Indiansand not try to advise them onhow to proceed,” he said.

Later at another news confer-ence, State Departmentspokesman Mark Toner assertedthat this is a “domestic Indianissue” and it is not for the US tocomment on it.

“We understand the govern-ment’s decision to allow timefor a consensus to be forged.You know, we believe that this

is a deal that’s in both our coun-tries’ interests,” he said.

“I’m neither happy nor dis-appointed,” Toner said whenasked if the US is disappointedwith the decision of the Indiangovernment to put on hold FDIin retail.

“The debate that’s going onnow in India is similar to debatesover economic policy in the Unit-ed States. It’s a domestic debateright now. We’re very clear inour position. This is good forboth our countries. We believeit should go forward, but, youknow, we’ll allow that debate toplay out in India,” he said addingthe Indian government knowshow the US feel about this.

“Look, they have their democratic system. This is how a democracy works. These big policy decisions needto be vetted and agreed uponand reached through politicalconsensus,” he said.

Madernaʼscustody

extendedNew Delhi: The police custodyof former Rajasthan water resources minister MahipalMaderna and his rival MalkhanSingh’s brother Parasram Bishnoi, arrested in connectionwith the Bhanwari Devi case, has been extended till December 12.

The custody of BhanwariDevi’s husband Amar Chand, who was arrested onThursday, was extended till De-cember 14.

Amar Chand was arrested bythe Central Bureau of Investiga-tion (CBI) for not cooperating inthe investigations and changinghis statements.

He had earlier alleged thatBhanwari was abducted at thebehest of Maderna.

A CD had allegedly shownMaderna in compromising position with the 36-year-oldnurse, following which she went missing from Bilara on Sep-tember 1.

Thackeray lampoonsAnna for targeting Pawar

Dam row: Thousandscreate human wall

Vandiperiyar: In a show ofstrength, the CPI(M)-led LDF onThursday mobilised thousandsof people to create a 298-km-long human chain. This was done to press the de-mand for replacing the Mul-laperiyar dam, an issue that hasled to fresh friction between Ker-ala and Tamil Nadu.

Seeking to mount pressure onthe Tamil Nadu government, aspecial one-day session of theKerala Assembly has been con-vened tomorrow to discuss thesnowballing row that has trig-

gered stray violence in bothstates.

Kerala Pradesh Congress pres-ident Ramesh Chennithala alsoobserved a one-day fast in Thiru-vanthapuram, as part of the cam-paign for a new dam which Ker-ala is insisting upon. The statebelieves the existing 116-year-old reservoir dam is not safe.

In Tamil Nadu, security wasbeefed up for shops owned byKeralites after activists of fringeTamil groups targeted some ofthem on Thursday in Chennaiand some other parts of the state.

No untoward incident was re-ported.

MDMK chief Vaiko observeda day-long fast in Theni, a districtbordering Kerala and close tothe Mullaperiyar dam, opposingKerala’s move to build a newreservoir.

Concerned over incidents ofviolence, Kerala Chief MinisterOommen Chandy appealed toall sections of people not to whipup parochial sentiments.

He also said all political partiesin the state were united on thedam issue.

Mumbai:Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray Fri-day questioned the credentials of social cru-sader Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption cam-paign, claiming it appeared to target onlyAgriculture Minister SharadPawar.

In Maharashtra and the rest of the country,Hazare has found only Pawar to be a corruptleader and all others are as clean as washedrice, Thackeray said in a sharp edit in partymouthpiece Saamna.

“If that is so, then is the Lokpal Bill beingproposed only for Pawar? Why are you (Haz-are) fasting and melting your bones at Jan-tarMantar? Both Pawar and Hazare hailfrom Maharashtra, then why are you tryingto defame the state before the rest of thecountry? Why are you singling him out andtargeting him?” Thackeray said.

Referring to Hazare’s Tuesday blog inwhich he alleged that Pawar has an oldhabit of shielding the corrupt, Thackeraydemanded why Hazare was not speakingout against those supporting Home Minister

P. Chidambaram, who is accused of involve-ment in the 2G spectrum scam. Pawar wasslapped by a man in Delhi last month overprice rise and corruption.

Raising doubts over Hazare’s knowledgeof Gandhi’s philosophy, Thackeray saidmerely wearing a Gandhi cap does not implythere is a ‘Gandhi’ in you - “Read Gandhiji

and experience him, he never used violencein words, thoughts or deeds… First Hazaresupported the Pawar slapping incident, thenregretted and then again supported it,”Thackeray said, ridiculing Hazare’s changingstance on the issue as bordering on “mad-ness”.

Saying Hazare was reduced to a mere“puppet” in the hands of his Team Annamembers, Thackeray said they were “airingtheir opinions through Hazare, which is aterrible thing”.

“This means that it is Hazare’s waist andsomebody else’s dhoti (cover). These peoplelack courage to question Sonia Gandhi, herrelatives and Bofors scam on their blog,”Thackeray said.

“We shall ensure the defeat of Sharad-Pawar and his Nationalist Congress Partythrough the ballot boxes.

For this we don’t need Hazare’s verbalmafia language,” Thackeray said in con-clusion.

India no longerpreferred

destination: MSKolkata: Global software majorMicrosoft said that for MNCs, In-dia is no longer a preferred des-tination. Microsoft India chair-man BhaskarPramanik said thiswhen asked if the company isconsidering any R&D centre forWest Bengal as it seeks to workclosely with the state govern-ment.

“It doesn’t make sense anymore. For MNCs India is nolonger a preferred destination.We have lots of issues concerningour operation here,” said Pra-manik.

Pramaniklater clarified thathe was speaking about technol-ogy and IT companies.

“I think a lot of that need tobe resolved. We have to be cau-tious about any new investmentin the state,” he said.

Asked what the issues were,he declined to list the challengesor issues the technology MNCswere facing.

“I think you had better talk toNasscom. It is the voice of theindustry,” he said.

Nasscom regional (east) headSuparnoMoitra declined to com-ment.

Asked to throw more light on‘preferred destination’, Pramaniksaid, “I think we look at every-where in the world. I think choic-es are many,” he said.

Meanwhile, reacting to theCentre’s decision to suspend FDIin multi-brand retail till a con-sensus is evolved,Pramanik saidhe felt disappointed with thegovernment’s decision.

“FDI in all form is good - be itin retail or aviation,” he said.

“We have a strong corporatesector, central and state govern-ments. Checks and controls couldbe put in place to ensure netgain for the country in terms ofemployment, growth and earn-ing rather than being negative,”he said.

Jewellery stolenat police quartersBangalore: A house was burgledof jewellery worth over Rs 2 lakhat CAR Police Quarters lastevening.

Riyan had left for her relative’shouse around 6 pm. When shereturned around 9 pm, she foundthe locks of the front door brokenopen and jewellery kept in thebureau stolen.

Man robbedA man, who was riding a car,

was robbed of his gold chainwhen he was accosted by a gangof four criminals.

K KKrishnaiah and his sonwere driving their car near Jnan-

abharati Law College when twocriminals riding a motorcyclecame suddenly in front of him,forcing Krishnaiah to brake sud-denly.

At the same time, another per-son from the criminal gang brokethe windshield at the back.

A shocked Krishnaiah gotdown to see the damage to thewindshield when the criminalsflashed knife at his son androbbed him of the gold chainworth over Rs 60,000. Krishnaiahand his son were returning fromSai Baba temple at Kengeri totheir home on Pipelane Road onMagadi road when the incidentoccurred.

CITYFriday, December 9, 2011 3

Sensex tumbles,

Rupeecrumbles

Mumbai: After hitting a low of4849 in the first 10 minutes oftrade, the Nifty managed to re-coup some losses but sellingpressure clamped the benchmarkindex below the 4900 level.

European Union leadersopened a make-or-break summityesterday aiming to resolve acrippling debt crisis as the FrenchPresident, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy,warned there would be no “sec-ond chance” to save the eurozone.

Mr Sarkozy sounded a shrillwarning as leaders gathered inBrussels, saying that Europerisked an “explosion” if the sum-mit failed.

The Sensex was down 249.81points or 1.52 per cent at 16238.43,and the Nifty was down 74.05points or 1.50 per cent at 4869.60.

The breadth continued to re-main sluggish. About 1093 sharesadvanced, 1768 shares declined,and 878 shares remain un-changed.

Capital goods, realty and autostocks took charge for bears. AllBSE sectoral indices were bleed-ing in red.

The rupee fell 1 per cent onFriday, dragged by the dip ineuro and local equities, on grow-ing concerns that European lead-ers may not be able to cobble upa far-reaching plan at summitlater in the day to tackle the re-gion’s festering debt crisis.

Recessionpossibility

low: RBIKolkata:On the back of wide-spread fears that Europe’s sov-ereign debt crisis is pushing aglobal economic downturn, theReserve Bank of India (RBI) Fri-day said the probability of aworldwide recession is low.

“The projections are Europewill have a negative two percentgrowth in 2012. I am just puttinga number but all the people aretalking about European reces-sion. America of course is notgrowing dramatically. Japan isalso recovering. So the probabilityof global recession is I thinklow,” Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Governor D. Subbarao said atan interactive session organizedby the CII here. “As far as Indiais concern, the growth rate fallen,but the characterization of thisas a recession would be textbook economics,” he said.

Asked when the current ac-count convertibility will happenin India, he said this was notlikely in the near future.

Continued from page 1“The fire engulfed four floors

of one of the buildings of theAMRI hospital in Dhakuria,” anofficer manning the city policecontrol room said.

The 161-bed hospital is locatedin Dhakuria in Kolkata. Firemenusing ladders smashed windowpanes in the facade to rescuepatients trapped inside the ICU,ICCU, ITU and critical care units.

Fire services minister Javed

Khan said the fire spread becauseof stocks of highly combustiblematerial.

The hospital also did not haveproper fire-fighting equipment,he said.

Fire brigade sources said thatfiremen were trying to locateoxygen cylinders stocked on thefloors, as the fire could makethem explode.

Thick smoke was hinderingthe operations, they said.

Fire kills 70 in Kolkata

Printed and published by B M Arun Kumar vide RNI Registration No. KARENG/2010/33126. Published by SAM Global Media, # 37, 1 Floor, 2nd Main, N. R. Colony, Bangalore - 560 019. Editor: B M Arun Kumar Printed at Lavanya Mudrana, #19, 15th Cross, Thyaarajanagar, Bangalore – 560 028. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Bangalore only.

NEWSFriday, December 9, 2011 4

FM says food, fuel pricerise hitting GDP growth

New Delhi: Finance minister PranabMukherjee today said surging food andfuel prices amid weak global economicgrowth are adversely impacting GDPgrowth of the country.

“Business sentiments are down. Food inflation and high fuel costs in times of weak global growth are taking a heavy toll on the economies of many emerging countries,including India,” he said at the thirdIndia-Africa Hydrocarbons Conferencehere.

“We meet in difficult times. The worldeconomy, just as it was beginning toshow some signs of recovery, is facinga renewed uncertainty. Another globaleconomic slowdown appears to be apossibility,” Mukherjee said.

Civil strife in the Middle East hasalso contributed to the uncertainty andspecifically to the rise in internationaloil prices, he said.

The US has suffered an unprecedent-ed debt rating downgrade and is expe-riencing slow growth and unemploy-ment, he said.

Furthermore, the sovereign debt crisisin Europe continues unabated. Emerg-ing economies that were contributingsignificantly to world growth and re-balancing of the global economy arenow facing problems of inflation andsome loss of growth momentum, hesaid.

Highlighting the need to forge strong ties with Africa, the Finance Minister said, “India has be-

come the world’s fourth-largest oil im-porter. India’s energy needs are growingexponentially. India seeks a new part-nership with the world.”

“The beneficial synergy that can be created between India and Africaneed not be emphasised,” he said, adding that today, more than one-fifth of the country’s oil imports comefrom Africa.

“India’s refining capacity, at 194 mil-lion tonnes, is set to increase to 238million by 2013. This means that weneed about 40 million tonnes of addi-tional crude per annum,” Mukherjeesaid.

To meet this demand, Africa can playa major role in the coming years, headded.

Annaʼs plans tofast worry docs,close associates

Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra:As Anna Hazare plans to embarkon yet another fast over the Lok-pal Bill, his hunger strike thistime around is emerging as amajor cause for concern. His as-sociates are worried that the pro-posed fast, his third this year,may seriously hamper his health.

The 74-year-old anti-corrup-tion crusader has warned thegovernment of intensifying hisagitation and has decided to goon another fast from December27 if his demands, with regardsto the Lokpal Bill, are not metby December 22, the day theWinter Session of Parliamentends.

Before that, though, Mr Hazarewill sit on a day-long fast on De-cember 11 at the Jantar Mantarin the national capital.

The one day fast, though, isnot a cause of worry given thefact that the septuagenarian fastsfor a day every week. It is theprolonged fast towards the end

of the month, sources have told,that his doctors are advising himagainst.

“Would advise Anna not togo ahead with his fast, it mayaggravate his pain. If he stillgoes ahead with his fast - hewill have to be careful”, Mr Haz-are’s orthopedician Dr K HSancheti said.

The concerns are not withoutreason. The veteran activist suf-fers from lumbar spondylosisand osteoarthritis. But despitemedical advice for rest, Mr Haz-are seems to be in no mood tocall off the fast.

“For one or two days due totravelling, there was some fa-tigue. Now I am fit enough tofight. Now I am healthy. Nowour first agitation will be on De-cember 11 at Jantar Mantar andthen on the 27th at Ramlilaground. I will be at the Ramlilaground and the people of thiscountry will be there,” said MrHazare.

Google outwith magreading

application

San Francisco:Google has re-leased a magazine reading ap-plication for smartphones ortablet computers powered byAndroid or Apple software.

The California Internet titanworked with more than 150 pub-lishing partners for the US launchof “Google Currents,” which isalso integrated with the Google+online social network challeng-ing Facebook.

“Content is optimized forsmartphones and tablets, allow-ing you to intuitively navigatebetween words, pictures andvideo on large and small screensalike, even if you’re offline,”product manager Mussie Shoreand technical lead Sami Shalabisaid in a blog post yesterday.

People were invited to down-load the application and sub-scribe for free to publicationswhich include Forbes, The At-lantic, ABC News, The Guardian,and Al-Jazeera English.

“Great content needs a greataudience, which is why GoogleCurrents is integrated withGoogle+ so users can share arti-cles or videos they’ve enjoyedwith their circles,” Shore andShalabi wrote.

The Flipboard-style magazineapplication was released thesame day that Google meshedits popular free Gmail servicewith its nascent social network.

“We want to bring you a greatexperience across all Googleproducts which, for Gmail andContacts, means understandingwhat you care about and deliv-ering it instantly,” engineeringdirector Mark Striebeck said ina blog post.

“If you use Google+, you cannow grow your circles, filteremails and contacts by circles,keep all your contact informationup-to-date automatically andshare photos to Google+, all rightfrom Gmail and Contacts,” hesaid.

Zardari had stroke, facial paralysis

Islamabad: Pakistan PresidentAsif Ali Zardari had a ‘’mild’’stroke that caused bleeding inthe brain and facial paralysisbefore he was flown to Dubaifor treatment, a media reportsaid today.

However, the President wasstable and out of danger as thestroke and internal bleeding werenot “life threatening”, The Newsdaily quoted its sources as say-ing.

Zardari would require “sometreatment, including speech ther-apy, to resume his normal life”,said the report in the daily knownfor its strident criticism of thePresident.

Zardari is “likely to be flownto London for detailed treat-ment”, the daily quoted a sourceas saying.

Zardari “collapsed in the Pres-idency” on Tuesday because ofthe stroke, the source claimedafter official denials that Zardarihad not had a heart attack.

The presidential spokesmanhad said yesterday that Zardari’scondition was stable and that

he would undergo more medicaltests in Dubai.

The spokesman further saidthe President had been movedfrom the intensive care unit to anormal hospital room.

Zardari abruptly travelled toDubai on Tuesday to undergotests for what officials have de-scribed as a previously diagnosed“cardiovascular condition”.

His sudden departure fuelledspeculation that he was on theverge of resigning on groundsof “ill health” due to growingpressure on him because of the“Memogate” scandal.

The News claimed one of itssources had quoted a presidentialaide while another source hadgot the information from one ofthe doctors who attended andexamined the President.

Zardari is a high blood pres-sure patient and takes bloodthinners, the report said.

“Such patients at times do ex-perience a stroke, which in thecase of the President was mild.In certain cases, it becomes fa-tal,” the report added.

It has been widely reportedthat Zardari has had two or threestents implanted in his heart inthe past to open blocked arteries.

Federal Minister MustafaKhokhar had told sections of themedia on Wednesday that Zardarihad a minor heart attack andhad undergone an operation inDubai.

However, he has been incom-municado since then and hasnot said anything further on thematter.

Pak players laud ʻKing ofEntertainmentʼ Sehwag

Karachi: Stunned by the sheer brutalityof Virender Sehwag’s epic ODI doublehundred, former Pakistani cricketershave lauded the Indian opener’s “su-perb” hand-eye coordination with ex-captain Rameez Raja calling him the“King of entertainment”.

Paying tribute to Sehwag for hisrecord-breaking innings of 219 runsagainst West Indies in the fourth one-dayer on Thursday, former Pakistancaptains said the sheer weight of runsscored by him in a 50-over match wasa big feat by itself.

“I have always enjoyed watching himbat because of his positive approach tothe game. He might not always use themost orthodox batting technique ormethods but there is no doubt he re-mains a very effective accumulator ofruns for India,” said Zaheer Abbas.

Zaheer, himself known as the ‘AsianBradman’ for his run-scoring feats, saidSehwag was a top class entertainer anddrew the crowds like a magnet.

“A double century in a one-day in-ternational is a big feat and I congratu-late him for his achievement,” Zaheeradded.

Another former captain Rashid Latif

said Sehwag’s grand return to his bestwas bad news for Australia, where Indiawould be heading later this month fora Test series.

“For the Australians, this is reallybad news because Sehwag has a terrificrecord in Australia and if he goes DownUnder with this momentum I think theAustralian bowlers are going to be infor a tough time,” Latif said.

The former wicketkeeper-batsmansaid having watched Sehwag closelyhe had no doubt that the Indian openerwas a law by himself.

“I have not seen a batsman withsuch superb coordination between eyeand feet and today he stroked the balleffortlessly.

It was savage on the West Indianbowlers,” he said.

Moin Khan said he had seen Sehwagscore a triple hundred in a Test inMultan in 2004 but felt yesterday’s in-nings was more brutal and effective.

“...he appeared on the ball from thestart and when he is batting like this Idon’t think anyone can do much aboutit.”

Moin said cricket needed entertainerslike Sehwag to become a global sport.

“These players they bring in thecrowds. It speaks volumes of Sehwag’sability that he got the record as captainof India.”

Pakistan’s former captain RameezRaja also tweeted after Sehwag’s doublehundred.

“When Viv Richards retired I thoughtit was end of entertainment. But thencame Sehwag, the King of entertain-ment! Long live the King!!” tweetedRameez.

Pakistan’s former batsman Basit Alisaid he had always admired Sehwagfor his fearless approach to the game.

“He is an outright entertainer andone could expect him to get this record.He played an outstanding innings put-ting to rest any doubts about his futurein the sport,” Basit said.

Pakistan’s former chief selector IqbalQasim said he was mesmerised by Se-hwag’s double hundred and glued tothe TV screen.

“It was one of the most enjoyable in-nings I have seen. If not for the WestIndians. But having bowled to some ofthe most devastating batsmen in theworld I can safely say Sehwag ranksamong the best of them.”

30 NATO oil tankerstorched in Pak

Islamabad: At least 30 NATO oiltankers and containers weretorched in a rocket attack at aterminal in Pakistan Thursdaynight, state-run television net-work PTV reported. There were no reports of any ca-sualties.

Unidentified people attackedwith rockets the private containerterminal at Kharot Abad areanear Quetta, capital of Balochis-tan province, Xinhua said.

Firing also followed the rocketattack.

More than 35 NATO oil tankersand containers were parked at

the terminal when the attacktook place, said local media re-ports.

No one was killed or injuredin the attack, the reports said.

Six fire engines were dis-patched to the site after the attackwas reported.

No group has claimed respon-sibility for the attack. Thousandsof NATO supply convoys arestranded in Pakistani territoryfollowing the government’s de-cision to block the supply linesvia Pakistan in protest againstthe NATO air strike which killed24 Pakistani soldiers Nov 26.

Pak to review foreign policy after NATO airstrike

Islamabad: Pakistan will reviewits foreign policy at a conferenceof envoys following the NATOairstrikes that killed two dozensoldiers.

According to the AssociationPress of Pakistan, the conferencewill be held on December 12 and13 to review the situation.

NATO helicopter gunships hadtargeted two border posts inMohmand Agency on November26, killing two dozen soldiers

and sparking outrage in the coun-try. Islamabad has stopped thepassage of NATO suppliesthrough the country to protestthe NATO attack.

“The envoy conference willdeliberate on different aspectsof the foreign policy of Pakistan,”said foreign office spokespersonAbdul Basit.

Basit said foreign policy wasbeing reviewed after decisionswere taken by the Cabinet and

its defence committee, especiallyon the issue of Pakistan’s tieswith NATO and US in the back-drop of the attacks.

He said Pakistan and NATOhad been discussing “politicalframework” for their future co-operation and so far there hasbeen no progress in this regard.

Basit added that foreign policyas a whole was not beingchanged, but relations with NATOand US following the NATO at-

tacks were being reviewed. Pakistan boycotted the

Bonn Conference on Afghanistanto protest the airstrikes, but that does not mean that Pakistanis dissociated from the peace process in Afghanistan,he said.

He said Pakistan’s future re-lations with NATO depended onthe decision of review of the for-eign policy in this regard.

Two die in VirginiaTech campus shooting

Richmond, Virginia: Two peo-ple, including a police officer,have been killed on the campusof Virginia Tech, the scene of a2007 massacre, in which 33 peo-ple died, university officials said.

The shooting took placearound noon, a universityspokesman said, after a campuspolice officer made what she de-scribed as a routine traffic stopin a parking lot near McComasHall.

During the stop, the officerwas shot and killed, said thespokesman, Mark Owczarski, Di-rector of News and Information.

Witnesses reported that theshooter fled on foot, heading to-wards a different parking lot,called the Cage, near Duck PondDrive. At that parking lot, a sec-ond person was found, also dead.

It was unclear whether thatperson had been shot.

An image posted online bythe student sports newspaperthe Collegiate Times appearedto show a cordoned off area andwhite sheet covering a body inthe middle of a narrow road.

The status of the shooter wasunknown, Mr.Owczarski said.He said students are being toldto stay inside and not come out,and that the campus is closedto visitors.

A bulletin described the sus-pected gunman, traveling on foot

in the direction of a recreationalsports building: “white male,grey sweatpants, grey hat w/neongreen brim, maroon hoodie andbackpack.”

The student publication alsosaid that a man matching thesuspect’s description had beenarrested; the university did notimmediately issue a new state-ment and the campus remainedon lockdown.

The Virginia State Police havebeen asked to take the lead inthe case, Mr.Owczarski said.

On April 16, 2007, a student,Seung-Hui Cho, shot and killed

32 people before killing himselfon Virginia Tech’s quite campus,five hours south of Washington,D.C. in the western mountainsof Virginia. It was the country’sdeadliest school shooting. Itprompted a national outcry, andeventually led to changes in leg-islation that closed loopholes,which allowed Cho to buy gunseven though he had been com-mitted to a mental hospital.

In August, university officialslocked down the campus afterthree children reported seeing aman holding what they said mayhave been a handgun.

Pak to make Osamainquiry report public

Islamabad:The inquiry reportinto the killing of Al Qaeda chiefOsama bin Laden by US specialforces in his Pakistani hideoutwill be made public, a top officialhas said.

Following the killing of binLaden in Abbottabad May 2, Pak-istani Prime Minister YousufRaza-Gilani had formed a five-memberinquiry commission under aSupreme Court judge to probethe presence of the world’s mostwanted man in Pakistan, Xinhuareported.

Justice (retd) JavedIqbal, chair-man of the inquiry commission,said Thursday the commissionwas likely to complete the inquirythis month and the report willbe handed over to the govern-

ment with a recommendation tomake it public.

“There is no hindrance tomake the report public,” Iqbal

was quoted as saying.He said the commission had

contacted US authorities for fur-ther information regarding theOsama bin Laden hideout.

So far 1,000 witnesses, includ-ing wives of Osama bin Laden,former ministers, political andmilitary officials, diplomats,members of civil society andjournalists, have been inter-viewed, he said.

The chairman also appealedto the public to volunteer andgive their statements, and as-sured them of complete protec-tion.

He said the commission wouldensure the integrity and honourof the country while compilingthe report.

Beware ofautocratic

govt: Hillaryto Web firmsThe Hague, Netherlands: USSecretary of State Hillary Clintonon Thursday warned Internetfirms to avoid offering the “toolsof oppression” to authoritarianMiddle East regimes trying tocrush democracy protests.

Clinton urged private compa-nies to “embrace their role inprotecting Internet freedom” andensure protection of ordinarypeople as well as political ac-tivists.

Speaking at an Internet con-ference in The Hague, the chiefUS diplomat cited cases where“companies’ products and serv-ices were used as tools of op-pression,” without naming thecompanies.

Companies have reportedlyturned over sensitive informationto governments about dissidentsor shut down social networkingaccounts of activists involved ina political debate, she said.

“Today’s news stories areabout companies selling thehardware and software of re-pression to authoritarian gov-ernments,” she told the Google-sponsored gathering.

“When companies sell surveillance equipment to the security agency of a Syria, or Iran, or in past timesGaddafi, there can be no doubtthat it will be used to violaterights,” she said.

Policemen shift an injured man out of Virginia Tech University campus after a shooter killed two persons.