We

he StateJULY 06 TO JULY 13, 2014

Vol-02. Issue-41. Bhopal. Monday Page-12 Price-5/-

POSTAL REGD. MP/BHOPAL/4-323/2013-15

Published simultaneously from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

Online edition availble at wethestate.com and wethestate.blogspot.in

2

Red rebelswon’t be allowedto thwart developmentwork: CMRaman Singh

3

MPPEB wouldbe restructured:Shivraj

4

Traders shouldensure complete disposal ofstock: Mohle

11Alia Bhatt croon

SamjhawanUnplugged

10Sania Mirza

enters top-5 indoubles rankings

7Jaitley likely to

make budgetinvestor friendly

MP budget offers relief to farmers,industrialists, common people

adhya PradeshFinance MinisterJayant Malaiya onTuesday presented a" f a m e r s - f r i e n d l y

budget" for the fiscal year 2014-15.After a long time, no new tax has

been proposed and there is noincrease in existing taxes. In a bigrelief to farmers, industries andcommon people, taxes on certainitems have been decreased in thisyear's Rs. 1,17,000 crore budget.The tax on stamp papers has beenreduced by 50 percent.

The budget allocation for agri-culture section has been increased19.15%, health by 55% and skilldevelopment and technical educa-tion by 40%. It aims at developingand modernising agriculturalinfrastructure, upgrading powersector and improving educationsector. The government has decid-ed to bear 50% of electricity bills offarmers. Government schemessuch as Fasal Bima Yojna, LadliLaxmi Yojna and Indira AwasYojna have witnessed maximumfunds allocation.

Bhopal

M

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh High Court-appointed Special Task Force (STF) could not so fararrest mining baron and former Higher EducationMinister Sudhir Sharma for his alleged involvement inVYAPAM scam. First it could only dare to serve anotice to Sharma but after the high court hardened itsstand, it declared him absconding and announced areward of Rs. 5000 placed against his name.

Sharma, who is considered to be close to RSSleader Suresh Soni, is accused of manipulating con-tractual teachers’ recruitment examination results.Three FIRs have been filed against him in this con-nection. Although Sharma, who has a businessempire of Rs. 4000 crore, is at large on paper, but itis open secret that he is doing all his work freely. In2006, he left the government job and tried his luck inmining. Soon, he bought property in Delhi, MumbaiBhopal, including other places of the country.

He started setting up companies one afteranother. Some of his companies are: S R Ferro AlloysLtd, Shyam Refractories Ltd, S R Ceramic andRefractories Pvt Ltd, SR Formulation India Pvt Ltd,S R Singh and Company Pvt Ltd, Shivalika MineralsJabalpur, Orchid Biotech Pvt Ltd, Vidya Niketansamiti (VNS Group of Institutions). Experts saythat it is not difficult to apprehend a man who hassuch a huge business empire."I can tell you with fullresponsibility that Sharma has a very strong politicalbacking and therefore, he is not being arrested. It isimpossible to believe that a man who runs such ahuge business can play hide and seek with the police.If STF intelligently puts a trap, he can be easilynabbed," said former MP DGP Arun Gurtu.Sharing the same view, Joginder Singh, former direc-tor of the CBI, said, "Everyone fears attachment ofhis property and cannot evade arrest for a long time."

NEWS MAXPEB scam: Why STF is

unable to arrest miningbaron Sudhir Sharma?

Highlights of the budget* Rs. 1070 crore for development of cities' infrastructure

* Rs. 25 crore for Urban Infrastructure Investment Programme

* Rs. 75 crore for National Urban Livelihood Mission

* Rs. 15 crore for conservation of ponds and lakes

* Rs. 87 crore (upto 2017) for upgradation of public toilets and urinals

* Rs. 11,102 crore for development of villages

* Rs. 830 crore to completely remove open defecations in villages

* Rs. 2,536 crore for construction of roa3ds in villages

* Rs. 66 crore for self employment of youth

* Rs. 3 crore for training of young engineers under the Mukhya Mantri Yuva Contractor Yojna

* Rs. 111 crore for financial assistance provided to girls on their marriages under the 'Beti

Kanyadan Yojna'. Under this scheme, a cash amount of Rs. 25,000 is given to girl's family.

* Rs. 153 crore for girls’ empowerment schemes being run 31 districts of the state

* Rs. 7 crore for construction and repairing f roads in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and

Ujjain. The government has started preparations for implementation of master plans for

parking and public transport and Transit Oriented Development Master Plan.

Red rebels won’t be allowed to thwartdevelopment work: CM Raman Singh

NTPC land compensation scam: Revenue officials among 22 booked

RAIPUR: Eight new species ofsnakes were discovered in a surveyconducted for the first time in fourdistricts of Chhattisgarh by forestdepartment and Nova nature welfaresociety, a wildlife NGO.

Snake expert from Nova naturewelfare society Moiz Ahmed said thathis team found the new species in atime span of one year and there werechances of many more being identi-fied. While state is known for havingrich species of snakes and reptiles,the initial survey was conducted inGariyaband, Baloda Bazaar,Dhamtari and Raipur districts.

Other places like Jashpur may besurveyed in near future, confirmed aforest official. "Chhattisgarh is richin wildlife due to immense forestcover and study of snakes has becomethe need of hour owing to their regu-lar killing. Catching a snake is a

tedious and challenging job. Wefound 27 species of snakes of whicheight were discovered for the firsttime. 43 species of reptiles includingtoads, lizards and rats were alsoidentified," Moiz said.

He said parts of Barnawapara,Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve andDhavalpur areas have a huge variety

of snake species. In absence of anydatabase, researchers also saw ablock in studying them. Known asthe 'naglok' of Chhattisgarh, Jashpurhas been waiting for proposed snakepark for years.

Speaking about threat to snakes,Moiz said that with increasing defor-estation, mining, industrialization,destruction of natural habitat andkilling of snakes, many species likethose of spectacle cobra, rock python,bandet krait etc face fear of extinc-tion. Spectacles cobra and commonkrait fall under the poisonous catego-ry and are often killed by villagersout of fear.

Nova nature welfare society isknown for rescuing snakes in emer-gency. Whenever snakes are spotted,especially at residential areas or incase of snake bite, members of thisNGO are called.

8 new species of snakes found in Chhattisgarh No ineligible person has theright to consume ration

meant for poor people: CM

2 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)Chhattisgarh Explore

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh dis-cussed an elaborate plan to develop and strengthensecurity in Maoist-hit Bastar District with seniorofficials. Singh said that road construction wouldspeed up and every police station in the districtwould have solar power and better connectivity.

Singh said that every effort would be made toensure the red rebels are not able to thwart anydevelopment activity in Maoist infested areas. Hesaid they often attack workers and destroy the workdone but this time safety measures will be strength-ened. Singh also drew the Union Government’sattention towards providing urban facilities to 19villages in insurgency-hit Bastar region.

Raman Singh, who recently met Union UrbanDevelopment Minister Venkaiah Naidu, said urgedNaidu to approve the long-pending UndergroundSewerage Project for Raipur city. The Chief Ministersaid Naidu assured him that the project will be sanc-

tioned on priority basis after the Budget. He said thestate will soon submit to the Centre the proposal forthe Phase-I of the project at an estimated cost of Rs485 crore.

The Chief Minister also discussed 26 infrastruc-ture projects under UIDSSMT in 14 towns anddemanded sanction for the same. He informed Naiduthat solid waste management work in 13 towns ofthe State is under progress and also demandedassistance of Rs 500 crore for implementation of thescheme in other towns. Singh said Rs 1,000 crore isrequired by Chhattisgarh for starting drinkingwater project through surface water in 141 local bod-ies. The Chief Minister also sought allotment of landfor opening a tribal cultural centre in New Delhi.The Chief Minister said he has demanded amend-ments in Essential Services Maintenance Act(ESMA), providing more power to States to takemeasures to curb inflation and crackdown hoardingand black-marketing.

RAIPUR

Raigarh police have registered an FIRagainst 22 people including officials of rev-enue department in a scam related to pay-ment of compensation of the land acquiredby government for the proposed 4000 MWNTPC project at Lara. Raigarh collectorMukesh Bansal said these people got intoshady land deals, in connivance with the rev-enue department officials, to claim compen-sations on land that did not legally belong tothem. Explaining their modus operandi,Bansal said some of these suspects had sold

their lands to people hailing from other partsof the state and then managed to get themregistered back in the names of their familymembers in order to claim compensation.

He said in almost all the cases, the actuallandowners were not even aware of the deal.The suspects along with the officials tam-pered land records. Bansal did not rule outpossibilities of more people being involvedin the scam as investigations are still inprogress.He said those named in FIR includeLara village sarpanch Saraswati Saral, pat-wari Keshav Rathia and secretary ParshitChahuwan. This FIR comes close on the

heels of another scam, related to the sameproject, exposed recently in village Jhilgitar.

The ongoing investigations into themulti-layered scam have revealed a deep-rooted conspiracy to defraud government bytaking advantage of its decision of a uniformbonus payment of Rs 5 lakh per acre to allfarmers whose land had been acquired. Asper the policy, farmers with lands smallerthan one acre were also offered the samebonus payment.In an attempt to make moremoney, these farmers had on paper dividedtheir land in small chunks among their fami-ly members and filed separate claims for Rs

5 lakh each. Seven people have already beenbooked in this scam.

Raipur

Raipur: Chief Minister Dr RamanSingh said that the scheme of providinglow-cost food grains to poor people in statewill never be dissolved. Chhattisgarh isthe first state of the country to empowerpoor and needy people of state with Rightto Food Security and Nutrition Security.No one can take away this right to foodsecurity from people. But ineligible peoplehave no right to collect or consume theration supply meant for poor people. DrRaman Singh was addressing the massivecongregation of farmers at Berla BlockHeadquarters of Bemetara district todayafternoon.

Dr Singh inaugurated and laid founda-tion of construction works worth nearly 84crores, including Government Collegebuilding in Berla and DivisionalSuperintendence Engineer Office ofChhattisgarh Power Company in Saja ofSaja-Berla area in the district.

3 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)BHOPAL

The Supreme Court has set aside writpetition against allotment of 140 minesmade before last Vidhan Sabha elections inMadhya Pradesh. The court has found asbaseless all the charges leveled againstMineral Resources Minister RajendraShukla pertaining to allotment of thesemines. Parishram Samaj Evam SamajKalyan Samiti had filed a writ petition inOctober 2013 alleging that Rajendra Shuklahad allocated 140 mines from among 1200applications within 3 days before enforce-ment of model code of conduct for VidhanSabha elections committing irregularities.

Hearing the petition on October 8, 2013,the Supreme Court ordered status quo inthe case of mines’ allotment in MadhyaPradesh. The petitioner had alleged in hisappeal that hearing process on August 20,27 and September 3, 2013 was illegal.Therefore, hearing done on these datesshould be investigated through CBI. Thepetitioner had also made CBI a party in thecase. The Supreme Court had fixed July 1,2014 as the last date for hearing and direct-ed all litigants to produce their versions.Madhya Pradesh Mineral ResourcesDepartment produced its reply before theSupreme Court saying that all processeswere adopted as per rules in allotment ofmines. In its reply, the CBI informed thecourt that allegations leveled in the petitionare baseless and no illegality was committedin mines allotment. Therefore, the petiton isworthy of being set aside.

News BriefSC sets aside petition againstallotment of 140 mines; reliefto Mineral Resources Minister

BHOPAL

Health examination campaign for peopleover 30 years of age under consideration

Health examination campaign for

examining blood pressure, diabetes and

heart ailments of over 30 years of age

people in urban areas in the state is

under consideration. This was informed

at state level quarterly meeting of health

workers here. Such health examinations

will benefit outpatients in hospitals. The

meeting was chaired by Principal

Secretary Health Praveer Krishna. The

meeting was informed that now National

Rural Health Mission has been re-named

as National Health Mission and it will

provide health services in urban areas

too. Attention will be paid mainly to vac-

cination, Janani Suraksha Yojana and

implementation of National Health

Programme. Work to increase health

awareness will also be undertaken

through Mohalla Arogya Samitis. The

Principal Secretary directed all Chief

Medical and Health Officers to pay con-

stant attention to maternal and infant

health safety, TB control, cancer treat-

ment, fluorosis and prevention of season-

al diseases.

MPPEB would be restructured: Shivraj

Bhopal

Bhopal: The Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhanhas said that during Congress regime recruitments weremade arbitrarily throwing to winds the rules and proce-dures. The BJP government has corrected the recruitmentprocess making it transparent. He announced a probe intothe re recruitments made during the Congress govern-ment. He said that MPPEB would be re-structured and anew MPPEB Act would be brought during the currentAssembly session. He said that competitive exams wouldbe recast.

Chauhan was addressing MLAs after giving a writtenreply to the debate on the adjournment motion on MPPEBin Vidhan Sabha recently. The Chief Minister said that itis not the Congress that detected the MPPEB case; it isShivraj Singh government that not only brought to lightthe case but also ordered a thorough inquiry into it. Hesaid that on receiving a complaint of irregularities in PMTthrough an anonymous letter, the Indore police arrestedthe fake examinees. The state government took a veryserious view of the matter and directed an exhaustiveprobe into it. Subsequently, it was decided to hand overthe inquiry to the STF. No offender would be spared andthe STF inquiry is continuing.

He said that while hearing the petitions filed to ques-tion the STF inquiry, the High Court has observed thatthe state government had ordered STF probe withoutwasting time. The STF inquiry is being conducted with

full authenticity, he added. The Chief Minister said thatthe entire inquiry is being conducted under the supervi-sion of the High Court. So far, 299 cases of irregularitiesin recruitment tests have come to light. The Congress isseeking to cast aspersions on his family by leveling base-less and unfounded allegations. The Congress dragged thename of venerable late Sudershanji and the RSS bydesign to divert the inquiry. The RSS teaches patriotismand devotion to duty. The name of his late maternal unclewas also dragged, who had passed away about eight years

back. All this is being done at the instances of Sonia andRahul Gandhi.

Chauhan said that the Congress is trying to createconfusion on this issue. In Congress regime even handpump mechanics were appointed as teachers. No rules orprocedures were followed in giving government jobs. Thenorms prescribed for r ecruitment of police personnel weregrossly ignored. We have adopted a transparent process.

The Chief Minister said that the Congress is finding isdifficult to digest his becoming the chief minister for athird term. Hence the baseless allegations are beingmade. The state government would not allow anyone toplay with the future of the youths in the state. TheCongress doled out permanent government jobs to its ownpeople. The Junior Public Service Commission was dis-solved. Earlier, the recruitment of Patwaris was made atdistrict level by the Collectors.

We have introduced online Patwari examination andso far not a single complaint has come to light. Earlier,Shikshakarmis were recruited by zila and janpad presi-dents. We recruited contractual teachers through exami-nation.

The CM said now PMT has been computerized. Fromyear 2014 the admissions are being given through AllIndia PMT. We have endeavoured to check the corruptpractices of the Congress. We have prepared a roadmapfor prosperity and development of Madhya Pradesh. Weare determined to implement it in right earnest. Nothingwould be allowed to hinder the process of development.The people would be apprised of the truth, he asserted.

Bhopal

Cleanliness, safety and drinking waterAll officers from districts were directed to ensure cleanliness at hospitals, safe-

ty of patients and clean drinking water arrangements. Quality of food should also

be monitored.

Don’t hide information about contagious and other diseasesIt was directed not to hide information even if a single case of malaria, diar-

rhoea, dengue etc. is noticed. Instead, efforts should be made to check disease

spread and make people aware about health. Apart from cleaning of village wells,

lakes etc. from time to time, bleaching powder and chlorine should also be used as

per requirement. Health Commissioner Pankaj Agrawal, Mission Director

NRLM Faiz Ahmad Kidwai and Director Health Rajiv Dube were also present

on the occasion.

4 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)

Sex ratio atbirth declines

in ChhattisgarhThis is bad news for Chhattisgarh. The state,

which boasted of a high sex ratio at birth (SRB)

of 975 females for every 1000 males in the 2001

Census, has all the reasons to worry as it has

witnessed a decline of 6.15% (falling to 915) a

decade later in the 2011 Census Report.

While the state can still claim to be better off

than the national SRB average of 909 females

per 1000 males, the gap is fast decreasing as the

SRB nationally in 2001 was 927 vis-a-vis

Chhattisgarh's 975. The gap in the SRB has fall-

en to a mere 6 in 2011 from 48 in 2001. While the

exact SRB figures for 2001 are not available, it

could be considered close to the child sex ratio

(0-6 years) 975. According to Census India, prior

to 2001 the child sex ratio was considered close

to sex ratio at birth. It states that child sex ratio

is primarily influenced by sex ratio at birth and

mortality in the early childhood. Presuming that

child mortality would be more or less same in

the cases of boys and girls, the figures for the

SRB and child sex ratio were considered to be

close or somewhat similar.

Even, if one takes the Census data from

2002, when the census started recording the

SRB figures, Chhattisgarh's decline has been

steady, though varied, in the last decade.

According to figures, the state's SRB was 920 in

2002, 926 in 2003, 919 in 2004, 939 in 2005, 919

in 2006, 919 in 2007, 886 in 2008, 924 in 2009,

906 in 2010 and 915 in 2011.

What is also worrying is that the SRB is on a

significant decline even in the Tribal areas of the

state, if compared to the child sex ratio of 2001.

Barring the district of Jashpur, which has wit-

nessed a rise in the child sex ratio between 2001

and 2011, the other tribal areas have witnessed

a downfall. According to figures while Jashpur

has seen a rise from 975 in 2001 to 1056, the

SRB has fallen in Bastar from 1009 to 969,

Dantewada from 1014 to 1000 and Sarguja from

977 to 907. The declining trends are there in

major cities too. In the same period, the SRB has

fallen in Raipur from 965 to 905, in Billaspur

from 965 to 860 and in Durg from 966 to 899.

According to Census 2011, there is a consid-

erable gap in the estimated births in the state

vis-a-vis the registered ones. While the estimat-

ed births in the state in 2011 were 6.06 lakhs,

only 55.1% (3.34 lakhs) were registered. The

report also states that registration of births in

Chhattisgarh declined in the last decade from

62.9 in 2002 to 55.1% in 2011. The Census report

brackets Chhattisgarh among the 10 states,

including Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Andhra

Pradesh, with lowest birth registration of 50% to

80%. Incidentally, Chhattisgarh is the last on

the last on this list with a registration percent-

age of just over 50%.

Chhattisgarh Food MinisterPunnulal Mohle said it should bemade mandatory for the tradersto ensure complete disposal ofstocks under the EssentialServices Maintenance Act(ESMA), as imposing a stock hold-ing limit on a particular commod-ity is not very effective in control-ling hoarding. Mohle said thiswhile addressing a conference ofState food ministers in New Delhirecently.

Maximum profit and commis-sion should be fixed in case ofbusiness in food items. The meet-ing was attended by Union Foodand Consumer Affairs MinisterRam Vilas Paswan and FinanceMinister Arun Jaitley. Mohle alsosuggested that offence underEssential Commodities Act shouldbe made non-bailable. Hedemanded that States should begiven the power to add or removenew commodities as per require-ment and issue controlling orders.Coming down heavily on hoarders

while holding them accountablefor the recent spurt in prices ofonions, potatoes and other fooditems, Paswan said there areenough food stocks and hordersare responsible for price rise.

“When production of food items ishigher than last year and stillprices rise, then it means thatintermediaries are keeping thestock somewhere,” Paswan said.Expectations of poor monsoonhave led to hoarding, he said.

Finance Minister Jaitley askedthe state governments to taketough action against hoarders. Hesaid that the Centre and stateswill work out action plan to con-tain inflation. There were manyrecommendations from state foodministers.

Chhattisgarh Food MinisterPunnulal Mohle said thatarrangements should be made toregister common man’s complaintagainst hoarding and black mar-keting in consumer courts. Inorder to check price rise, the min-ister suggested that production ofpulses, edible oil, vegetables,fruits etc should be done as perthe demand. He also emphasisedon formation of funds for keepinga check on prices. He added thatdisplay of stock list and its pricesshould be made compulsory.

Traders should ensure completedisposal of stock: Mohle

RAIPUR TRAIL

Govt discusses monsoon delay situation, CM’s directive to chalkout contingency plans for farmers

RAIPUR

A high-level meeting ofAgriculture Departmentwas held recently to dis-cuss situations emergingin Chhattisgarh due tomonsoon delay. The meet-ing, chaired by ChiefMinister Raman Singh,finalised contingencyplans for farmers.

Chairing the meeting,Singhsaid that prepara-tions should be made atevery level to deal withany adverse situation. Hedirected departmentalofficers to chalk out con-tingency plans for farm-ers. It is noteworthy thatmonsoon situation hasdeteriorated in the wakeof climatic changes due toAl Nino factor. Extremelybelow normal or negligiblerains have been registeredin many districts in thestate. Concern is beingexpressed throughout thecountry on delay in arrival

of monsoon. Raman Singhhas assured farmers not toworry about situationarising out of delay inmonsoon. The governmenthas detailed and effectivecontingency action plan.

Taking a serious viewon sellers of spurious fer-tilisers and seeds, theChief Minister said that itwill not be enough to reg-ister FIR against them.Such sellers cheating onfarmers should be sent tojail. The meeting wasinformed that 17 sellers ofsubstandard seeds havebeen caught.

Singh directed to pre-pare 2 separate contin-gency plans for arrival ofmonsoon before July 15and after July 15. Hedirected to chalk outaction plans regardingavailability of water inreservoirs in the state,seeds & fertilisers andalternative sowing on thebasis of type of soil and

fields. He said that a cam-paign should be launchedto advise farmers as tosowing of which crop willbe beneficial for them incase of late sowing due tomonsoon delay. A schemeto inform and educatefarmers should also bechalked out. He instructed

for district-wise review ofseed and water availabili-ty. He said that attentionshould be paid to avail-ability of seeds of cropsgrown in tribal areas inemergency situation. Ifneeded, control roomsshould also be set up atstate and district levels.

RAIPUR

RAIPUR

5 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)MADHYA PRADESH

Madhya Pradesh’s rice quotato be increased: Paswan

BHOPAL: The Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhanhas said that he would retire not only from politics but from lifeif even a single allegation against his is proved. He said thatthe Congress is trying to derail and divert the inquiry intoMPPEB case that is presently going in the right direction. Theopposition does not want to allow it to come to a logical end, hesaid. Referring to the demand of handing over the case to theCBI the Chief Minister pointed out that the Hon’ble High Courthas dismissed 14 petitions in this regard, expressing satisfac-tion on progress of the STF inquiry. The STF inquiry is beingconducted under the supervision of the High Court. ShriChouhan was replying to a debate on adjournment motion onirregularities in the examinations conducted by MadhyaPradesh Professional Examinations Board, in Vidhansabharecently.

Shri Chouhan said that immediately after receiving com-plaints about irregularities in MPPEB examinations the stategovernment took the initiative for an exhaustive inquiry intothe case and its credit goes only to him and his government. Hesaid that the opposition has no faith in the police, government,the High Court or the STF. In fact, the opposition has no faithor confidence in itself. Seeing that the matter was slipping fromtheir hands, the opposition started leveling baseless allega-tions. Disgusting individual allegations were made. He saidthat anyone found guilty in the case would not be spared. Onlythose persons have been arrested against whom substantialproofs were available, he asserted. Referring to the High Courtorder the Chief Minister said that the court has observed thatthe STF has shown no laxity in the inquiry and took promptaction without wasting time. The court has also observed thatthe STF comprises experienced officers with impeccable image.

Referring to the irregularities committed in the recruit-ments made during the Congress regime the Chief Ministersaid that irregularities on large scale were order of the day atthat time. The MPPEB was set up to check these irregularities.He said that in the Congress regime no Chief Minister took aninitiative to hold inquiry into such irregularities.

State government’s budget exampleof efficient fiscal management

Congress trying to divert inquiryinto MPPEB case: CM Chouhan

BHOPAL: Amending food grainsquota for Madhya Pradesh under publicdistribution system, eligible families willbe provided 75 percent wheat and 25 per-cent rice, respectively. Earlier, this was80 percent and 20 percent. Process adopt-ed by Madhya Pradesh to implementFood Security Act will be replicated inentire country. This was stated by UnionConsumer Affairs, Food and PublicDistribution Minister Shri RamvilasPaswan while distributing eligibility slipsto beneficiaries under National FoodSecurity Act during Food SecurityFestival at Seoni. Chief Minister ShriShivraj Singh Chouhan, Food and CivilSupplies Minister Kunwar Vijay Shahand Farmers Welfare & AgricultureDevelopment Minister ShriGaurishankar Bisen were present on theoccasion. Shri Paswan said that FoodSecurity Act could not be implemented in20 states and 5 Union Territories in thecountry. Madhya Pradesh has done anunprecedented work by implementing itand Chief Minister Shri Chouhandeserves compliment for this. He said

that Chief Minister Shri Chouhan hastried to extend the Act’s benefit to maxi-mum number of people by simplifyingrules under it. Centre and state will workin tandem to develop Madhya Pradesh asan ideal state, he added. Chief MinisterShri Chouhan said that taxes receivedfrom natural resources are being used toextend benefits to the poor through vari-ous schemes.

The Chief Minister said that MadhyaPradesh state is the first that had startedproviding subsidised food grains to thepoor by launching MukhyamantriAnnapurna Yojana way back in year 2008much before passage of National FoodSecurity Act. Efforts have been made toextend Act’s benefit to maximum numberof people by simplifying some of its provi-sions.

About 75 percent people of the stateincluding 25 categories of poor along withSCs and STs and BPL families have beenbrought under the Act’s purview. Eligiblebeneficiaries have been included after asurvey of all people except Class-1, II andIII officers and income tax payers.Condition of producing caste certificatefor SCs and STs under the scheme has

been abolished. Instead, they can availbenefit of the scheme by just giving anaffidavit.

The Chief Minister said that stategovernment wishes that every poor per-son has a house. In Madhya Pradesh,occupants of land till 2013 will be madeowners. He urged people to cooperate inSchool Chalen Ham Abhiyan. He admin-istered an oath to people and public rep-resentatives to get admitted to schoolchildren living in their neighbourhood.During Food Security Festival, 2 lakh 34thousand 900 families have been identi-

fied and 9 lakh 82 thousand 804 personshave been brought under purview of FoodSecurity Act by distributing eligibilityslips to them. Along with eligibility slips,food grains were also distributed as atoken to street vendor Shri Rajesh Patel,scheduled tribes member Shri NareshMarkam, scheduled castes member Smt.Gita Bai Mana, minorities member anddomestic help Baswin Khan and hairdresser Dalchand Sarathe. Seoni districtadministration was also given ISO certifi-cate for giving concrete shape to good gov-ernance.

Bhopal

Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhanhas described state government’s budget tabledin Vidhan Sabha as an example of efficient fis-cal management. He said that Prime MinisterShri Narendra Modi is making efforts to reduceinflation and state government’s budget is agood and effective step towards this.

Shri Chouhan said that this is a uniquebudget under present circumstances since nonew tax has been imposed. On the contrary, bur-den of taxes has been reduced on a number ofpublic utility items like farm implements, whichwill bring down their prices. Now, MadhyaPradesh has become a state whose annual budg-et is to the tune of Rs. one lakh 17 thousandcrore, which was Rs. one lakh 2 thousand crore

last year. State has made this achievementwithout any new taxation. In year 2003-04, 22percent of revenue receipts went to payment ofinterest on loan. Present state government hasreduced this down to 6 percent.

This budget contains separate agriculturebudget also under which Rs. 22 thousand 413crore has been provisioned. It is more than 19percent of the total budget. He said that thestate government has chalked out VisionDocument 2018 for development of MadhyaPradesh. This budget is the roadmap of theVision Document. Funds have been allocated inthe budget for development programmes andschemes keeping in view the roadmap to getincluded Madhya Pradesh among most devel-oped states of the country by year 2018.

Adequate funds have been earmarked for allsectors including agriculture, irrigation, infra-structure, rural development, power, drinkingwater etc. Provision has also been made in thebudget for Narmada-Gambhir Link Projectafter Narmada-Kshipra Link Project.

Funds have also been earmarked for start-ing light metro train in Bhopal, Indore andJabalpur. In view of requirement of humanresources, budget for technical education hasbeen increased by 40 percent. Now, upto Rs. onecrore loan will be given under MukhyamantriYuva Swarozgar Yojana. Adequate arrange-ments have been made keeping in view educa-tion, health and women’s empowerment. Taxrelief has been given on highly essential goods.This budget is an effort to ensure upliftment ofevery section of society.

Bhopal

6 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)Editorial

Investors hope govt scrapssubsidies to poor farmers

Office of governor notmerely a political appointmentbut an institution

ach time a new government assumesoffice at the Centre, the office of gover-

nors lands into controversy. The office of thegovernor should not be viewed merely as apolitical appointment but as an institutionwhich is created under the constitution by thefore founders and therefore the sanctity of theoffice must be maintained at all cost. Thepractice of removing governors began in 1977when the Janata Party sacked several gover-nors appointed by Indira Gandhi’s regime. In1980, Indira Gandhi bounced back into officeand paid back in the same coin and thusbegan the practice. The decision in 1977 wastaken by the first ever non-Congress govern-ment formed at the Centre on an anti-emer-gency wave and was justified as reflecting thewill of the people.

A similar situation arose in 2004 after theUPA came to power after drubbing theVajpayee-led NDA at the hustling. The pres-ent government has received a mandateunprecedented in last three decades. UnlikeVajpayee or Manmohan who had to compro-mise because of coalition politics, Modi facesno such compulsion from either coalition part-ners or party colleagues. He displayed thepower of his unprecedented mandate whileforming the council of ministers, allocatingportfolios and when he established directchannels of communication with secretariesof ministries. One expected, therefore, Modito be more forthright in nipping any exercisethat paints his government in a bad light.

Yet, the prime minister has chosen toignore reports and allowed the matter ofremoving governors to become an intense con-troversy. The parties coming to power at theCentre should respect the constitution andthe judgment of the apex court in appoint-ment and removal of the governors. The argu-ment advanced by certain quarters is thatwith new government at the Centre all gover-nors must resign and allow the new govern-ment to appoint the governors who are insync with the policies and agenda of the cen-tral government. They forget that ours is afederal system under which the governmentat the Centre and at the state may be headedby different political parties with differentideologies and political compulsions andequations. If tomorrow the President is not insync with central government, does thatmean that the president must resign? That isquiet an unacceptable preposition.

Modi’s government has received a hugemandate cutting across caste, religion, regionso as to say breaking all barriers seen orknown in Indian politics in last 30 years. Thisvote has been a vote for hope, aspiration,dream, faith for developed, strong and avibrant India. This opportunity must not gowaste at any cost and Modi must desist fromthe politics of confrontation with respect toconstitutional post and continue on the pathof inclusive politics which he stated whileaddressing his party members for the firsttime in the central Parliamentary hall, thetemple of world’s largest democracy.

nvestors feel small farmoperations received a lotof subsidies from theUnited Progressive

Alliance, but production wasflat and inflation rose. In theyear 2000 under BJP PrimeMinister Atal Vajpayee, Indiafarmers received 553.4 billionrupees in subsidies on every-thing from fertilizer to elec-tricity and irrigation. In2009, under the UPA govern-ment, they saw that numberjacked up to 1200 billionrupee, according to govern-ment data. Indian inflationaveraged around 4% in 2000,but in 2009 it hit 10.8% andhas not been in the 3% to 4.3%range since 2005 when the

UPA was in power. Now theBJP party is running theshow, and its front-man,Narendra Modi, has promisedto revive the Indian economy.Investors have been bullishon India since September,when Raghuram Rajan waspicked to run the ReserveBank and got tough withinflation. The market rose over 20% inthree months. Then at thestart of the year, when itlooked like the UPA would bekicked to the curb by the BJPand its National DemocraticAlliance with Modi as the new

Prime Minister, the marketran up another 20-plus per-centage points. The stockmarket is taking a pause andwaiting for the budget.Investors are hoping for areduction in state subsidiesand a new focus on manufac-turing and productivity. Themanufacturing sector con-tributes a little over 15.2% ofGDP. Finance Minister, ArunJaitley, wants to createregional hubs for manufactur-ing and be more flexible withlabour laws. Jaitley andModi are also looking at taxmeasures that would remove

hurdles for manufacturing,but precisely what thosemeasures would be remainsunclear.

One thing is clear, if Modiis the change agent more thanhalf the population voted for,then he needs to revive manu-facturing to get the economygrowing at its full potential.Indian GDP growth has beena stubbornly low 5% over thelast few years. For Modi, itwill be more critical to createjobs and please voters who arenot as worried about subsidiesto poor farmers as wereGandhi and the UPA.

I

E

eturn of political stabilitywith a single party domi-nance at the Centre does notautomatically translate into

unlimited power for the new govern-ment to make early breakthroughs infulfilling the great expectations BJPhad generated in its vociferous vote-seeking campaign.

There is no doubt that PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has withinthe first month galvanised the govern-ment machinery at all levels. But thefirst month has also brought to the foreissues on which there are no quickfixes, though Modi in a passionatereport card says that whatever is beingconsidered or decided on, is all in the‘national interests’.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley con-fronts a formidable situation in repair-

ing finances, giving a boost toinvestors, promoting job-creatinggrowth prospects and controlling infla-tion. It is here that the governmentwould be critically tested whether byinvestors, domestic and foreign, orcredit rating agencies or by the worldat large. Understandably, he is buyingsome time by extending his predeces-sor Chidambaram’s duty cuts forstressed segments of industry likeautomobiles and consumer durables,till December. States have been givenanother three months to begin operat-ing the new food security enactment.

Modi has reviewed the inflationand monsoon situation and detailedsome steps in combating inflation witha call to states to sternly deal withhoarders as well as some contingencyplanning to cope with a fitful monsoon

this year. India’s low-growth, highinflation syndrome cannot be easilyovercome in order to restore economicgrowth to its pre-crisis stability in thenear future. The Budget will, there-fore, be somewhat modest in its exer-cises for the rest of the current fiscal sothat government gets time to firm upits reforms agenda and also get thestates involved in finalising the Goodsand Services Act for its introduction, ifpossible in the latter half of the year orfrom 1 April 2015. As the ReserveBank points out in its latest FinancialStability Report, the prospects ofrecovery with the new government inplace, appear bright. India’s GDPgrowth in 2014-2015 would be not lessthan 5.5 per cent though the momen-tum that the Budget could providemay lift it to six per cent or above.

Govt has no unlimited power to fulfilpeople’s great expectations

Investors theworld over arehoping thatthe new gov-ernment ofIndia makessome radicalchanges to itssubsidy program, particularlythe one forsmall farmers.

R

7 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)Commerce

rial run for India’s fastest trainwas conducted recently; the semi-high speed bullet train wasflagged off from Delhi to Agra

and it clocked maximum speed of 160km/h. One of the key agendas of the ModiSarkar during the election campaign wasintroducing India to the much talkedabout bullet trains. Modi had promisedbullet trains that would crisscross thecountry, bringing an infrastructure con-struction boom along the lines of Japan’spost-war success. The BJP manifestoeven laid out a “Diamond Quadrilateral”project of bullet trains and as per theexperts bullet train might find a mentionin the upcoming budget. Bullet trains areonly being run in countries like China,Japan, France and Germany.

In fact Japan just tested the world’sfasted train recently, this new supertrain, Maglev would run close to thespeed of 500 km/h. Maglev is short formagnetic levitation, which means thatthese trains will float over a guidewayusing the basic principles of magnets toreplace the old steel wheel and tracktrains. Due to the magnetic force thetrain will be raised in the air by a few cen-timetres. Japan has a host of trains run-ning at the speed of 318 km/h; on theother hand most of the trains running inIndia can only travel with the speed of 70-80 km/h. The neighbouring country,China has the largest high-speed rail net-work in the world, the country boasts of10,000 km of rail network running acrossthe country and as per the plan the coun-try intends to expand this to 19,000 kmby year 2015 and 25,000 km by year 2020.

T

Challenges aheadfor fast speed train

Jaitley likely to make budget investor friendlyFinance Minister Arun Jaitley is determined to makethe budget as investor-friendly as possible and what-ever the fiscal measures are embodied in it shouldnot result in any acceleration of inflation. Already,one of the ministers has realistically pointed out thatwhat government could do at present is to see that atleast inflation is contained and not allowed to edgeupwards. Cement prices have risen and the govern-ment has to make decisions on pricing of diesel andLPG. At the same time, there is no escape from sub-sidy cuts on fuel products for achieving fiscal consol-idation under a new road map Jaitley may outline.

In line with UPA’s annual exercises of raisingminimum support prices of foodgrains and otheragricultural commodities, the Modi government hasalso raised minimum support price for kharif paddyand oilseeds in order to motivate farmers and com-pensate for higher input costs. But these farmer-friendly exercises in the past have been at the cost ofconsumers. Market prices, especially rice, have beenon unabated uptrend for over five years. It remainsto be seen what new mechanisms the finance minis-

ter will unfold in fighting inflation which hasadversely affected savings and investments in recentyears. Two sets of tough measures are needed in thebudget, one to move projects still held up for clear-ances as also land availability, especially for infra-structure, and two, to launch credible supply-sidemanagement to tame food prices fuelling consumerprice inflation. His efforts would be to frame andpresent a credible result-oriented Budget for the ninemonths left in 2014-2015 while setting out a medi-um-term agenda of fiscal consolidation and ofreforms.

It may be clothed in high sounding phrases. Thereturn to political stability, as RBI puts it, has pro-vided impetus to the economic outlook.

While the current account deficit was broughtdown to 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2013-2014 throughpolicy measures and interventions during the year,the structural imbalances in current account remainto be addressed. But fiscal consolidation has becomethe major policy imperative for the Budget. In thiscontext, RBI report suggests public sector banks canapproach capital market for meeting their additionalcapital requirements.

NEW DELHI: As more Indians log online to seek infor-mation before entering into property deals, Internet today isestimated to be influencing decisions worth about Rs 900 bil-lion, search engine giant Google said. According to a studycommissioned by the US-based firm, over 50 per cent of realestate buyers’ decisions are influenced by Internet research.“This phenomenon of researching online for real estate infor-mation before making a decision is not limited to metros butalso extended to buyers in tier II cities,” Google India IndustryDirector Nitin Bawankule told reporters here. The overall influ-ence of Internet on real estate transaction value of both resi-dential and commercial property including rentals amounts toUSD 43 billion (USD 31 billion for residential and USD 12 bil-lion for commercial), he added.

The primary reasons for researching online were easyaccess to in-depth property information and market trends (60per cent), large comparison options (52 per cent), easy access tocontact details of owners and developers (49 per cent) andfinancing and document processing information (43 per cent).The survey, conducted by consultancy firm Zinnov across 15cities in India included the metros, Pune, Lucknow andAhmedabad with 6,196 respondents. Talking about searchtrends on Google, Bawankule said the number had seen a 3xgrowth in the last three years. “There is tremendous opportuni-ty for both online real estate aggregators, brokers and develop-ers to engage the buyers online by providing rich, meaningfuland immersive experience to buyers on the Internet,” he added.According to the study, 62 per cent respondents said aggregatorsites (like makaan.com and magicbricks.com) were top sourcesof information for them on the Internet, followed by websitesof real estate companies (52 per cent). About 45 per cent saidthey visited broker sites, blogs and forums to find informationbefore making a decision. An increasing number of people arealso using their mobile devices to search for properties online.

“Mobile queries (those originating from mobile phones)are doubling every year and about 40 per cent of total searchescame through mobile phones,” Bawankule said. Also, the studyfound 73 per cent respondents saying they prefer using theirmobile apps for researching for property. However, a major con-cern for people researching online was the lack of accurate andupdated information. Respondents said websites of developersand aggregators often lacked availability of in-depth informa-tion about property and features like easy price comparison.

New Delhi

By: P.D. Nagar, F.C.A.E-mail: nagarpd@rediffmail.com

A per the former Rail advisor, Sunil Kumar, India is confronted by challengesin creating high-speed train network. Some of them are:1. India is faced by the problem of animals crossing the tracks, even the peopleoften cross tracks and numerous accidents are reported each year. To avert suchaccidents, the corridor of thousands of kilometers will have to be fenced.2. The current railway tracks are unfit to run high speed trains. The railwaytracks are already congested due to heavy traffic which results in slowing downof trains. In a railway network of 64,000 km, only 15-20% of tracks can supporttrains running at the speed of 170 km/h.3. The new tracks will require huge amounts of investment, land and time.Japan had laid down the tracks for its high-speed bullet train in 1964. Sincethen only a network of 2240 km has been laid. As per Kumar these trains andthe tracks require much more time and precision. The approximate cost to laydown the track for 1 km is Rs. 8 crore. A cost for one bullet train can buy 5000coaches of the normal trains run by Indian railways.4. The existing trains need to be made secure in the wake of increasing derail-ments and accidents. The facilities have to be improved and hygiene has to betaken care of.5. The problem of crowds thronging the trains and travelling uncomfortably hasnot been solved and thus looking at a bullet train is a farfetched idea.6. Trains are mostly running late and the existing tracks hinder the trains fromrunning at one constant speed throughout the journey.7. Some of the stations do not have a help desk or information desk and thereare times when passengers are not aware of the platforms their train will bearriving at.

Internet influencing realestate decisions worthabout Rs 900billion

Challenges confronting India

8 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)Must Read

hen Anti-Dowry Act, partic-

ularly Section 498-A of the

Indian Penal Code, was

passed by Parliament in

1983, it had the noble intention of res-

cuing hapless dowry victims and bat-

tered wives of brute men who tortured

and abused their spouses to extort

money. Roughly three decades later, the

landmark law had been converted into

a heinous tool of extracting personal

vendetta and unfairly settling scores by

large section of mostly upwardly mobile

urban women.

While statistics don’t lie and thou-

sands of dowry harassment cases are

ritually registered every month in

every corner of this country, mostly in

its northern and western swathes, in

2012 alone there were about 50,000

cases of fake charges being leveled at

husbands and in-laws by disgruntled

wives. Even as millions of women go

through unimaginable humiliation,

domestic violence and maltreatment at

the hands of their in-laws, the other

side of this dark tale happens to be how

clueless husbands are slapped with

Section 498-A of IPC, a cognisable, non-

compoundable and non-bailable

offence. Hence, in the light of the new

facts and figures, the Supreme Court

judgement striking down automatic

arrest under anti-dowry law comes as a

welcome intervention. Does this

amendment affect gender justice in a

negative way in any conceivable man-

ner? Not in the least. The apex court

has only ensured that proper and thor-

ough investigation is carried out before

taking the extreme step of sending the

husband and his relatives to

police/judicial custody. Not only would

this ensure that conviction rates actu-

ally go up since dowry harassment is a

bitter truth and ugly pathology that

plagues a huge chunk of our diverse

society, it would also result in innocent

husbands not getting scarred for life

and carry around the stigma of being

charged, arrested, or worse convicted,

of crimes they have nothing to do with

in the first place. Misuse of Section 498-

A actually imperils the thousands of

women who actually go through hell in

the hands of their in-laws.

W

Anti-Dowry Act: Law, notrevenge, must be the goal

Nine years after it was formed, New York-based BrahmaManagement has lined up big investments for the Indian realestate market. Brahma, an FDI-funded investment and assetmanagement company, has already invested around Rs 2,500crore in the sector and has plans to put in another Rs 3,000crore over the next two years.

So far, its investments in the realty sector includeGurgaon-based projects Brahma City and Athena, and TheValley, a joint venture township project in Panchkula. WhileAthena is a retail and commercial office center, Brahma Cityis a gated township spread over 150 acres of land.

Indian real estate market has been facing slowdown overthe past several quarters due to low demand and oversupply inboth residential and commercial segments. Gulbir Madan,chairman of Brahma, thinks differently. He says that India iscoming out of a cyclical downturn. “We are just coming out ofa real estate recession. The largest wealth creator in India willbe real estate. I am very bullish on the sector,” says Madanadding that in the US, the single-family homes are the biggestwealth holder, more than bond and equity markets.

“Whenever you have a real estate recession, it affects thecountry dramatically. One of the biggest shortfalls in ourcountry will be real estate.”

Madan says that there are multiple roadblocks for the sec-tor, including the recently introduced land acquisition act. “Ithink it will become very difficult to acquire large tracts ofland. To acquire land for a project like Brahma City will be

extremely tedious,” he says. Madan says that he is fortunate tohave acquired land (for Brahma City) back in 2009 and 2010.“Going forward, it will be practically impossible to maketownships unless developers move out of the cities. But theyhave to wait for the infrastructure to come up.”

“Real estate projects elsewhere in the world succeedbecause they have 10-lane highways. People can travel 30miles out which will take them 30 minutes. They are not con-strained in a city. It becomes too difficult to move out 30 mileshere. That’s why the pricing gets skewed,” explains Madan.

With a big presence in Gurgaon, the fund is now planningto foray into other markets such as Bangalore and Mumbai.“We don’t buy things for appreciation.

We don’t expect booms. We buy things to make a businessreturn out of it.” Brahma also claims to be a debt-free compa-ny. “The problem in India is that half of the developers arelevered. I get projects constantly which are half done and theycannot complete it because they are out of funding. They offerus projects. None of my projects have any funding because thecost of money is around 15 per cent. We have put in all ourequity,” says Madan.

New Delhi:

Brahma Management to invest Rs 3,000crore in Indian real estate sector

9 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)Politics

NESCO recently decided to put the GreatHimalayan National Park (GHNP)Conservation Area in Kullu district of

Himachal Pradesh on the World Heritage List,acknowledging it as one of the world’s most impor-tant and significant natural habitats for conservationof biological diversity, containing threatened speciesof outstanding universal value. Set up in 1984,GHNP (754.4 sq km) was formally declared a nation-al park in 1999. Two wildlife sanctuaries —Sainj (90sq km) and Tirthan (61 sq km) —were notified in1994 and together they form the Great HimalayanNational Park Conservation Area, spanning 905.4 sqkm.

More than 15,000 residents of 160 villages in thebuffer zone are dependent on GHNP’s naturalresources. The glacial and snow melt waters from thepark become the westerly flowing Jiwa Nal, Sainjand Tirthan rivers and the north-westerly flowingParvati river — all headwater tributaries that feed

the Beas and, subse-quently, the Indusriver. Home to rarespecies such as theWestern Tragopan,Chir Pheasant,Snow Leopard,

Himalayan MuskDeer, Asiatic Black Bear, Himalayan

Tahr, Blue Sheep and Serow, the park supports 8 per-cent of all plant species, 10 percent of mammals, 21percent of birds, 7 percent of reptiles and 9 percent ofamphibians. Many of these are endemic and globallythreatened.

To begin with, GHNP was free of human habita-tion. But people from nearby villages moved in andout to graze their sheep and goats and collect herbs.In 1999, the administration paid Rs 1.8 crore to 369families to settle these rights. For several others,who did not have such traditional rights but depend-ed on the park for their livelihood, the forest admin-istration began income generation programmes.Subsequently, many villagers benefitted from alter-native livelihood activities, particularly ecotourism.

The process of resettling three villages from Sainjwildlife sanctuary and providing monetary compen-sation to settle grazing rights in Tirthan is still underway and facing some resistance. But there is nodearth of local goodwill for GHNP. This May, 70members of the community-based ecotourism cooper-ative society were among those who wrote toUNESCO in support of GHNP’s claim. The reasons

are not hard to find. The park authorities have notdenied the locals access to their many sacred sitesinside the park. During festivals, villagers enter thepark to pray and make offerings to their deities,accompanied by forest guards who ensure no poach-ing or littering takes place. Unlike many otherforests and national parks across the country, here,no complaint has been lodged by local people con-cerning access to religious sites in the past 12 years.“This, indeed, is a very significant moment in theconservation history of the Western Himalayas,” saysSanjeeva Pandey, Additional Principal ChiefConservator of Forests, who served eight years asGHNP’s first director. “There are so many smallsacred groves commemorating saints who came hereto meditate in the great sanctuary of Himalayas.This inscription as a World Heritage Site is an hon-our to the indigenous traditional conservation prac-tices as well as those sacred places.”

Amid celebration and hope, one cannot but won-der what is in store for this magnificent wilderness inthe near future. So far, GHNP has been lucky, thanksto its demographic advantages and fine manage-ment. But that could turn into a ticket for infrastruc-ture development as well — free as the area is ofhuman habitation and subsequent costs and compli-cations of rehabilitation. There has been talk ofhydro-electricity projects on the Sainj and Tirthanrivers. A critical part of the national park was deno-tified soon after it was set up in 1999 to make roomfor the Parvati hydroelectricity project. No, evenGHNP is not out of bounds for development.

SHIMLA

Good conservation measures wonHimalayan park world heritage status

U

10 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)SPORTS

Sania Mirzaenters top-5in doublesrankings

New Delhi: Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza

achieved a career-best rank of number five in the

world as the new WTA doubles chart was released

today. Sania, who turned a pro in 2003 and over-

came a career-threatening wrist injury in

between, has entered the top-five for the first

time in her career. Sania and her Zimbabwean

partner Cara Black could not go deep in the just

concluded Wimbledon championships, but a sec-

ond round appearance fetched her crucial 130

ranking points, enough to push her in the top-5.

"Its been a long hard journey since my come-

back to tennis from my third surgery when my

career seemed to be over.. It is a very satisfying

feeling to have bounced back from those despair-

ing times and to be ranked in the top-5 of the

world today," Sania told.

Her father and coach Imran Mirza said, "I've

always believed Sania had the potential to be a

top-5 player. I'm happy she has overcome heavy

odds to justify her promise." In the singles rank-

ings, Ankita gained one place to be 285 as coun-

try's best player.

Meanwhile in the ATP rankings, Somdev

Devvarman's dropped 10 places to 135 as his poor

run continued unabated. In the doubles, Leander

Paes remained unchanged at number 13 and was

highest ranked player from the country. Rohan

Bopanna dropped three places to sit on the edge

of top-20.

Both Dhoni andCook have theirheads on the line

t should come as no surprise that Indiacaptain MS Dhoni came to the defence ofembattled England captain Alastair Cookat his first press conference after arriving

in the old country. "I think it's very important toback players. It does not matter whether he isthe captain of the side or a batsman or abowler," Dhoni said. Dhoni should know.

He has been no stranger to criticism inrecent years, especially of his Test captaincy. Hehas been pilloried by the media for exactly thesame reasons as Cook – he is too defensive, he istoo reactive, he lets the game drift. UnderDhoni’s leadership, India has careened to 10losses in 12 away Tests over the last three years.It is a record that would have led to the sackingof a captain who did not have the full support ofhis board president, in this case the currently-

suspended-from-the-BCCI-but-new-ICC-head NSrinivasan. Dhoni has been pilloried by themedia for exactly the same reasons as Cook – heis too defensive, he is too reactive, he lets thegame drift. Meanwhile Cook has led England tosix defeats in their last seven Tests and therehave been calls for him to step down from thelikes of Shane Warne and Sir Geoffrey Boycott.

So far though, the ECB has stood firmbehind its appointed team leader. All of whichraises the stakes for the first five Test seriesbetween the two sides since 1959. A loss forCook will raise the volume of those calling forhis head and make it harder for the ECB toignore them. Another series loss for Dhoni,especially one where India fails to win a Test,will damage his once glittering reputation stillfurther. Eventually, the shine will wear off.

I

Djokovic beats Federerin five set thriller towin Wimbledon 2014

ovak Djokovic wonhis secondWimbledon title anddenied Roger

Federer his record eighth byoutlasting the Swiss player infive sets on Sunday. Djokovicwasted a 5-2 lead, and a matchpoint, in the fourth set butheld on for a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4 Centre Courtvictory that returned theSerbian player to theNo. 1 ranking.

It wasDjokovic's sev-enth Grand Slamtitle and broke astreak of three con-secutive losses inmajor finals and infive of his pastsix. In the lastset, Djokovicbroke in thefinal gamewith the helpof four mis-takes byFederer toseal the win.

N o v a kDjokovic cele-brates afterdefeating RogerFederer in theirmen's singlesfinals tennismatch on Centre

Court at the Wimbledon.Novak Djokovic celebratesafter defeating Roger Federerin their men's singles finalstennis match on Centre Courtat the Wimbledon. After theplayers met at the net,Djokovic went to the middle ofthe court, knelt down andplucked out a piece of grassand ate it, similar to what hedid in 2011 when he won his

first title here.Trailing 5-4 in the

fourth set, Federer dou-ble-faulted to make it 30-

30. He then put a back-hand into the net to set upa championship point for

Djokovic. The 32-year-old Federer then hit a

serve that was ruledout, but he chal-lenged it and theHawk-Eye replayshowed that it hit

the line for anace — one of his29 in the match.Federer went onto break in thenext game beforeforcing a fifthset. "I was hoping

that Roger wasgoing to miss thefirst serve, but thatdidn't happen,"Djokovic said.

N

Silverstone: Force Indiadriver Nico Hulkenberg fin-ished eighth, despite startingfourth, to bring home fourpoints in a tough Formula 1British Grand Prix on Sunday.His Mexican teammate SergioPerez failed to score any pointsas he ended the race in 11thplace after recovering frombeing tapped in a spin on theopening lap. "It was quite atricky afternoon. My start wasnot great, I lost a couple ofplaces and after that we didn'tseem to have the pace to fightfor big points.

I was struggling with thebalance, which may have beenrelated to the wind because itwas very gusty out there,"said Hulkenberg, who is sev-enth in the drivers' standingswith 63 points. "I had somegood battles, especially in theearly laps, but we were justmissing the performance toreally fight.

Force India in fifthplace, after Hulkenberg

finishes eighth in British GP

11 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)GLAMOUR

Pancholis file Rs100-cr defamationsuit against JiahKhan's mother

Your guide to the hot,new Bollywood show

ctor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab,whose son Suraj is facing charges of abetting the

suicide of actress Jiah Khan, have filed a Rs 100 croredefamation suit in the Bombay High Court against RabiaKhan, the mother of the deceased. Actress Jiah Khanallegedly committed suicide last year.

Two days back, the High Court, hearing Rabia's plea,had transferred the probe from Mumbai police to CBI,asking the agency to find out whether it was a case of sui-cide or homicide. The suit, filed by the Pancholis, washeard by Justice S C Gupte who yesterday asked theplaintiffs to serve a notice on Rabia and posted the mat-ter for further hearing on July 9.

"So far, we have not got any notice but we know thatthe suit has been filed and would be heard on Wednesday(July 9)," said Rabia's lawyer Dinesh Tiwari. The suit,filed by Aditya, wife Zarina and daughter Sana, allegedthat Rabia, a UK national, had posted slanderous, defam-atory and abusive comments on Twitter which had putthe Pancholi family in poor light in the eyes of the socie-ty. The suit referred to 18 tweets posted by Rabia betweenMarch 4 and May 1 which it said were defamatory to thePancholis. It said in these 18 tweets, Rabia had allegedlymade personal comments about the three members ofPancholi family.

The suit said that both Aditya and Zarina had beenassociated with the film industry for 30 years and hadearned goodwill in the society. However, due to attack onthem by Rabia in her tweets, the family was defamed andseveral fans, relatives and friends are "shocked and dis-turbed." "An environment of hatred and embarrassmenthas been created for us and we have been shunned beforethe right thinking people in society," says the suit.

Alia Bhatt croonSamjhawan Unplugged

here are 288 mem-bers of theMaharashtra Vidhan

Sabha. We see posters withtheir faces speckling differ-ent parts of the city, but thatdoesn't solve the central mys-tery surrounding most MLAs-- what exactly is it that theydo other than wish us on fes-tive occasions like Diwali andEid? We can't say much about287 of the MLAs in theMaharashtra Vidhan Sabha,but we know why BabaSiddique, elected fromVandre West, keeps gettingelected. Each year, aroundthis time, Siddique settles anissue that is critical toBandra (W)'s wellbeing: thefeud between Salman Khanand Shah Rukh Khan. As anMLA who has been electedand re-elected, it goes with-

out saying that he does a lotfor his constituency.However, little is knownabout Siddique the man. Somuch so that on his personalwebsite, he's chosen to put upthe uninformative Wikipediapage that tells us his birth-day and that he's organisedcrib contests for Christmas.However, there is more to theman than his Wikipediapage.

As his Twitter reveals,Siddique hasorganised foot-ball matches, wished peopleHappy Maharashtra Day viaTwitter, given many speechesand made sure his smile isn'thidden under his moustachewhen he was out campaign-ing with Priya Dutt duringthe general elections. Lastyear, he also had the misfor-tune of being threatened by

Dawood Ibrahim. However,Siddique's greatest accom-plishment is, without doubt,his iftaar parties. Last year,history was made whenSalman and Shah RukhKhan were not only bothpresent at Siddique's iftaarparty, but they hugged eachother. Back in 2008, the twoactors had a much-publicisedfight at Katrina Kaif's birth-day (it was one of the inci-dents that made Bandranews for an entire week). Ittook five years and one BabaSiddique to fix things. Sure,Salman's brother Sohail saidthat no one should read toomuch into the hug because'Bhai' was just being polite,fans of both stars wentabsolutely nuts.

In the intervening year,there hasn't been much toshow that the two Khanshave become BFF. However,for all those who were feelingdisheartened by the idea oftwo of Bollywood's biggeststars not getting along, neverfear, Siddique's iftaar partyis here. This year again, thetwo actors were pho-tographed hugging oneanother. Not just that,Siddique decided to providesome commentary, in caseyou all thought that he didn'thave his eye on the realissues that a MLA shouldkeep under surveillance.

or Alia Bhatt, actress Priyanka Chopra is an inspirationand she feels confident that even she can cut aninternational album one day. Priyanka turned

singer in 2012 and has released three interna-tional singles since then. Her album is expect-ed to be out soon. "I think the one person whohas done our country and the industryproud is Priyanka Chopra. She has cut aninternational album. She is an inspirationfor me to make me believe that I can also dosomething in that space," the 21-year-old saidhere Thursday in an interview. Besides acting, Aliahas also taken to singing and has already sung twosongs - "Sooha Saha" for "Highway" and now "Maintainu samjhawan ki" for "Humpty Sharma KiDulhania".

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Salman-Shah Rukh hug

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12 JULY 07 TO JULY 13, 2014 (MP & CG)

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NATION

Worsening droughts have impact on desertification trend

orsening droughts in India are having an impact on thedesertification trend, as vegetation dries up and isoften never replaced. India’s environment minister,

Prakash Javadekar, recently said that up to 25% of the countrywas now desert. Farmers and environmental policy makershave been watching out for India’s ever expanding deserts foryears. “Land is becoming barren, degradation is happening,”Javadekar said. “A lot of areas are on the verge of becoming

deserts but it can be stopped.” Land degradation, not to be con-fused with desertification, is estimated at 105 million hectares,constituting 32% of India’s total land. It’s monsoon season inIndia. But the rains are not coming.

Rivers have run dry. Drought-like conditions have devel-oped throughout India as a result. The monsoon season’s rain-fall deficit has widened to 49% less than this time last yearsince the rainy season began on June 1 and temperaturesremain close to 40 degrees Celsius in many regions, delayingcrop planting and worrying policy makers who would like to seea fat harvest to help curb the years long rise in food prices.Lacklustre rainfall in the early part of the monsoon season

occurred in 2009, when the worst drought in four decades trig-gered a prolonged burst of inflation something the new govern-ment does not want to mess with.

This deficit is worse than 2009. That year, rainfall was 47%less than the previous year in June before it returned to nor-mal in July.

Besides unreliable weather patterns, poverty and environ-mental degradation are also problems in dry areas of India,where forests and trees contribute significantly to rural liveli-hoods. In order to eradicate poverty in the dry lands, it isimportant to protect the land from deforestation, fragmenta-tion, degradation and drought.

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-S. ManiEmail: sastrymani@hotmail.com

New Delhi

People, party speculating aboutdirection of budget

NEW DELHI: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's attempt to rein inhis supporters' soaring expectationsby talking about tough, unpopular,decisions to revive the economy hasleft people as well as his own partyspeculating about the direction ofhis government's first budget earlynext month. While one section of theBJP leadership points towards thepossibility of curtailing petroleumsubsidy, a senior BJP functionaryexplained that Modi's attempt wasto make his cadre base realise thatthe impact of inflation and high foodprices cannot be reversed overnight.

The leader said personal incometax sops that are being widelyexpected and speculated can lead toserious revenue losses that the gov-ernment cannot afford at this junc-ture. The middle classes expect taxrelief that will leave more money forthem to spend, but the BJP func-tionary pointed out that without theeconomy growing it will be difficultfor the government to let go of itsscarce accruals.

"I am well aware that my stepsdent the immense love that countryhas given me. But when my country-men would realise that these stepswould result in getting the financialhealth back then I will regain thelove," Modi had said in Panajirecently. But all leaders do notaccept that this implies cutting sub-sidies that will immediately pinchBJP's middle class support base."Petroleum subsidy is an issue thatneeds to be tackled, but at whatcost? Very soon, we will have elec-tions in Maharashtra and Haryana.We need the euphoria to continuethe whole of the first year. But at thesame time we need to take toughmeasures. So, Modi is trying to bal-ance expectations and reality," saida BJP functionary.

The crude oil prices are increas-ing with the situation in West Asiaturning worse by the day. But even ifoil companies are forced to bear thebrunt of the rising prices, the middleclasses have been expecting a cli-mate of large investments and greatspending.