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THURSDAY 21 November | 2013 | 16 Muharram 1435 AH | PAGES 12 | VOL NO: 3 | ISSUE NO: 294 | RS: 2/- (AIR SURCHARGE FOR JAMMU /DELHI/LEH 50 Paisa)Pen For JusticeLargely Circulated, No. 1 Bilingual Daily of J&Khttp://www.zabarwantimes.com

WEATHER

TEMPERATUREMAXIMUM MINIMUMSUNSET ON(THURSDAY)SUNRISE ON (FRIDAY)

05:25 pm07:12 am

-1.6 0C16.4 0C

FORECAST FOR NEXT 24 HRS:

FORECAST OF SRINAGAR:

Weather will be mainly dry over the state.

Partly cloudy sky. Maximum & Minimum temperatures will be around 15°C & 00°C respectively.

Inside story

On Edit Page

BJP’s PM candidate has neither shame nor morals recommended

for Padma Bhushan

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BoPEE the blunder bus – punctured at last

The raids conducted by the state crime branch on the residences of former chair-man BoPEE in Srinagar and Jammu are indicative of the fact that a lot of mess was going on in BoPEE ...

Rahul Gandhi ridicules BJP

govt's claim of laying roads

Nitish rubbishes BJP's

telephone tapping charge

Srinagar, Nov 20:

After evading arrest from past few days, former Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Exams (JKBOPEE) chairman, Mushtaq Ahmad Peer surren-dered before the Crime Branch on Wednes-day morning. The Crime Branch quizzed Mushtaq Ahmad in connection with paper leakage case for Common Entrance Test (CET)-2012.Talking to Kashmir News Service, Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani the IGP Crime said that Peer was questioned by the sleuths of Crime Branch for the full day today. “We have not detained him. He was questioned today and it will continue tomorrow.”When asked, how many persons have been

sofar arrested by the Crime Branch in the matter? Mr Gillai replied: “We have arrest-ed only one person Sajad Ahmad Bhat. He is from Anantnag and deals with some con-sultancy with its office in Bangalore. His

consultancy deals with admissions.” It may be recalled that the Crime Branch has registered a case against Peer and se-nior CB officials are supervising the inves-tigations under (FIR NO. 24/2013).The Crime branch carried out raids at peer’s residences in Srinagar and Jammu and seized some ‘incriminating documents and cash.”Peer while talking to KNS had termed the raids carried out by Crime Branch at his residences in Jammu and Srinagar as ‘un-ethical’. “I have held a responsible position and am the member of over four national level committees. If there was some alle-gation, which I am sure is baseless, it was imperative for the crime branch to have my response first before carrying out such

raids,” peer had told KNS on Tuesday.The former chairman BOPEE had observed that unfortunately there is no appreciation for working with dedication, commitment and honesty in Jammu and Kashmir. “I had given a system and work culture in BOPEE. There were many attempts to malign my image but with God’s grace, elements in-imical to my position and status had to eat a humble pie,” Peer had told KNS.Meanwhile, the IGP Crime had informed KNS: “We conducted raids at the residence of Peer Mushtaq in Srinagar and Jammu where we found some incriminating docu-ments. We have seized those documents be-sides the property papers. The documents will be scrutinized and

See BoPEE On Pg 11..

Former BoPEE chairman surrenders Quizzed for a full day Interrogation to continue : IGP Crime One arrest effected so far

‘“‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘We have not formally arrested him but the fact is that he surrendered before the Crime Branch. Soon after, we started questioning him and hopefully CB is capable enough to unearth everything that has occurred during the tenure of Peer.”

Srinagar, Nov 20:

State Accountability Commis-sion (SAC) chairperson Justice (retd) Y P Nargotra and state Chief Vigilance Commission-er (CVC) Kuldeep Khuda on Wednesday opined the selec-tions of the candidates who have benefitted illegally in Common Entrance Test (CET) in 2012 should be declared null and void.Talking to Kashmir News Ser-vice, Justice (Retd) Nargotra said: “the SAC has no power to take suo moto cognizance of this

matter and we can probe into the matter only after we receive a formal complaint. But if the investigations establish that candidates have benefited from the paper leakage as is being re-ported in press, the admissions of those candidates who got se-lected in 2012 CET should be de-clared null and void.”Agreeing with the observa-tions made by the SAC chair-person, Kuldeep Khuda, state CVC maintained that he had shot some recommendations to secretary General Administra-tion Department (GAD), Board

of Professional Entrance Ex-amination (BOPEE), urging the authorities to take certain cost effective measures to make the entrance examination transpar-ent.Elaborating on his recommen-dations, Mr Khuda told KNS: “I had recommended online exam-ination for CET on the pattern of other competitive examinations held across the country. Second, I had suggested installation of CCTVs in examination centres for recording of impersonation, cheating and any

See Khuda On Pg 11..

Selections of CET-2012 should be declared null and void: Justice (Retd) Nargotra, Kuldeep Khuda

Received no reply on recommendations for transparency in CET: KhudaSrinagar, Nov 20 :

As the valley continues to reel under darkness due to unscheduled power cuts, the health experts in valley Wednesday-expressed serious concern over the ef-fects of erratic power supply on children and the ailing people.Dr. Altaf Hussain, the leading Child Spe-cialist of Valley while talking to Kashmir News Service (KNS), said the power cri-ses can have the adverse affects valley’s children and that it could also affect their mental well being. “The most hazardous affect of the power crises on Children would be that it could damage their eye sight and if this could happen at young

age, it becomes difficult to cure it later.”Dr. Altaf further stated that the mental health of children could be adversely af-fected and that there are high chances that a child could land into depression.The General Physician Syed Sajad Hus-sian said that the patients suffering from Astama are expected to be in the tough times in winter and especially when there is dearth of electricity. “We have some patients who are on nebulizers and the supply of electricity is necessary for the same and when there is dearth of the power supply the patient could land in trouble.”Dr. Sajad who is also the presi-dent of the Junior

See Erratic On Pg 11..

Erratic power supply to affect children, ailing people

Jammu, Nov 20 :

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Wednes-day reiterated the necessity of e-gover-nance to galvanize the system of service delivery with promptness, bringing in transparency and catapulting respon-siveness of the Administration to at-tend the needs of people on development count. “e-governance is right initiative to pro-vide good governance and remove all

kinds of red tape that hampers delivery of services in a time bound manner”, he said adding that his government’s focused concentration on IT and ST sec-tors is yielding encouraging results. He said that the process of change in the functioning of government departments through IT initiatives and e-governance measures would bring revolutionary turn around in the system.Taking re-view of the

See Omar On Pg 11..

E-Governance right initiative to ensure prompt service delivery: Omar

Cabinet records to be digitalized7000 MW capacity mega projects in offing

Masrat remanded to police custody

Srinagar, Nov 20:

A lower court on Wednesday remanded Muslim League chairman and Huriyat conference (G) leader Masarat Alam Bhat on police custody for a day.According to the reports received by Kashmir News Service (KNS), Bhat was produced before the court of 3rd Munsif in connection with the case registered against him in police station Nigeen under FIR no. 60/2010. The court sent Bhat for one day police remand and he is expected to be produced before the court on Thursday.Talking to Kashmir News Service (KNS), deputy spokesman of Muslim League Showkat Hakeem while condemning the continuous detention of Bhat, accused that the authorities are detaining Bhat on ‘false’ cases and that the attempts are being made to crush the political will of Masarat Alam. (KNS)

Srinagar, Nov 20 :

Castigating the Omar Abdul-lah government for worsening power situation in the Val-ley, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP)Wednesday said only an insensitive, cruel and inefficient regime can resort to such anti- people policies and try to sell it as a favour to the people.In a joint statement, the party legislatures Abdul Rehman Veeri, Abdul Haq Khan and Syed Basharat Bukhari said the deplorable electricity scenario has thrown the life out of gear in Kashmir, with student and busi-ness community worst hit. “The students have been preparing for different university exams

these days, and they have to face tremendous problems. Similar-ly, the grim power scenario has been forcing the business com-munity to shut down their oper-ations too early in the evening,” they added.The situation has gone from bad to worse in Srinagar; the summer capital of J&K, with the Power Development Depart-ment resorting to unscheduled but pestering power cuts for hours together, even in the me-tered areas, they said and added the state of affairs is sad in the non-metered areas, where peo-ple have to face maximum brunt of the anti-people policies of the rulers.The legislatures said it was

ironical, in a situation, when people have been paying hefty electricity dues, five folds more what they have been paying five years ago. In the rural areas, the authorities have been taking the masses for ride where electricity goes off for days together.Omar Abdullah, who came into power with the promise that he will be giving free electricity to people, owes a lot of answers for making Kashmir to suffer. They said the previous PDP-led gov-ernment’s reforms in the power sector, were made fun by the Chief Minister himself by ‘prom-ising’ people ‘Meter Hatau, Heat-er Lagau (destroy heaters, use heaters), but all

See PDP On Pg 11..

Grim Power ScenarioOmar Govt Resorting To Anti-people

Policies as Favour to Nation: PDPKathua, Nov 20 :

Minister for Youth Ser-vices and Sports and Medical Education, Mr. Taj Mohi-ud-Din, on Wednesday said that State government in-tends to equip every pan-chayat with sports in-frastructure to nurture sporting talent among rural youth. Mr Taj was speaking on the Final day of the 12th J&K Open State Fencing Champi-onship in Government Degree College at Billa-war.Minister of State of Fish-eries, Cooperatives, Fi-nance and Planning Dr Manohar Lal Sharma was also present on the occasion.Mr. Taj said that the mo-

Rural sports infrastructure to be upgraded: Taj

tive behind organizing such championship of modern sports like fencing is to attract the youth hailing from rural pockets and far flung areas to new games, where youth otherwise remain confined

See Taj On Pg 11..

CM working very proactively for

industrial development: Tanvir

Srinagar, Nov 20:

Stressing the need to invest big way in industrial sector in Jammu and Kashmir, Political Secretary to Chief Minister, Tanvir Sadiq said that indus-trialization is the key to state’s economic development.Talking to a delegation from Kingdom of the Netherlands headed by Counsellor Economic and Commercial

See Tanvir On Pg 11..

Manohar inaugurates 2-days Employment Fair at

Phinter, BillawarMinister of State for Fisheries and Cooperatives, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma inaugurated a 2-day Em-ployment Fair organized by District Employment and Counselling Centre, Kathua here at Phinter Ground in Billawar today.

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Aijaz tours Gool, addresses public rallies, announces

Community Hall for ChachuwahMinister of State for Revenue and Relief, Aijaz Ahmed Khan on Wednesday conducted extensive tour of far-flung areas of Gool block and addressed various public gathering at Chachuwah and Ind in district Ramban.

16 dead in Uttarakhand accidentDEHRADUN: At least 17 persons aged between 25 to 45 years, including 6 women, were killed and 5 seriously injured on early Wednesday.

Gunshots at TralKar IrshadTral, November 21:

Prior to the visit of Chief Min-ister Omar Abdullah to Tral, Today at around 8 P.M gunshots were heard near Wani Masjid locality followed by a blast in other side of the town. Police, CRPF and Army cordoned off the area and search operations were going on when this report was filed.

Owner , Printer & Publisher: Suhail Malik Editor -in-Chief: Shahana Malik RNI NO. JKBII/2011/39764, Email: zabarwantimes@gmail.com Publised at Govt. Quarters ( M-13 Magarmal Bagh Srinagar-190001 J&K, Printed at:- Sangarmal Offset Press Humhama Sheikhpora Tele/Fax: 2478370 Cell No. 09999964750, 9796 787844

From the front page

BoPEE

Khuda

Erratic

Omar

PDP

Taj

Tanvir

11 Thursday 21 November 2013 Zabarwan Times

JAMMU, NOVEMBER 20-

Minister for Planning and Devel-opment, Mr Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today said that a massive effort is underway to ensure inclusive devel-opment of the three regions of Jam-mu and Kashmir with focused atten-tion on remote and far-flung areas.Interacting with people after the in-auguration of Ashirvaad Medical Hall at village Ladhore in Marh, the Minister said while thrust is being laid on ensuring infrastructural de-velopment in key sectors like roads and building, health, education, power and drinking water sectors, special attention is being provided towards prioritizing employment generation schemes.

Mr. Sadhotra expected continued support of people in implementing developmental agenda and assured that all necessary measures are being taken to meet basic require-ments of the people in the far flung areas.Referring to the initiatives taken for steering the state to progress and development, Mr Sadhotra said that the performance of Omar Abdullah led government is self explanatory and visible in good measure. This effort will be taken to logical conclu-sion with the support and coopera-tion of the people, he maintained.He said the initiatives taken in re-cent years have fructified in the em-powerment of the people in decision making with the Panchayati Raj be-

coming a reality. He also referred to the Right to Information and Public Services Guarantee Acts and said these revolutionary measures are aimed at empowering the people to make government accountable. He said a new era of peace has dawned across the state that has given fillip to economic activity and spurt to developmental initiatives. He par-ticularly made a mention of turn-around in the situation and said that peace and normalcy have created a situation conducive for enhanced economic activity and faster devel-opment.Responding to local demands, the Minister assured that these will be examined at appropriate level for early redressal.

Development receives impetus during peace in J&K: Sadhotra

further action will be taken accordingly.”When asked about the documents and other material seized by the Crime Branch, Peer had told KNS: “During the raids, the Crime Brach has seized certain files, a lap-top, pen drives and cash (1,35000) from my residence. The laptop and pen drives contain some confidential details as I am the member of five national level examination committees. Perhaps they have seized my passport also.”Asked will he cooperate with Crime Branch in its inves-tigations into the matter, Peer had said: “Why not. There is no question of noncooperation. When I have mot com-mitted anything wrong, why I should shy away from in-vestigations. I am ready for a thorough probe,” peer told KNS.

other violations of examination code.”Mr Khuda said that third he had recommended frisk-ing of candidates so that it is ensured they don’t carry any prohibitory gadgets inside examination halls. “Like some Bluetooth devices were recovered from some can-didates in some competitive examinations outside J&K recently. Fourth recommendation was that applications for the CET should carry scanned photographs and not the hard copies affixed on the applications. This will pre-vent exchange of photographs on applications.”Mr Khuda told KNS that he had also suggested automat-ic photography on entry points of examination halls for CET and other competitive examinations in Jammu and Kashmir.But the state CVC also expressed dismay, informing KNS that sofar he has not received any reply from the author-ities who got these recommendations. “I have written them again asking them if any recommendations have been considered and any measures take in this regard,” Mr Khuda told KNS.The state CVC agreed with the viewpoint of Justice (Retd) Nargotra that government should take a call on the veracity of the admissions of the candidates who were selected in CET 2012. “I am sure that investigations under crime branch led by IGP Crime Syed Javed Gilani will have a transparent and credible probe. Mr Gilani is a professional and I am sure he will take this case to logi-cal conclusion. I also agree that the admissions should be declared null and void if the investigations establish any wrongdoing.” (KNS)

physicians association Kashmir said that the doctors at present in valley are advising the patients, suffering from breathing aliments, should leave valley during the harsh winters. “But at the same time we understand the plight of those patients who cannot afford to move out-side valley, they will have to bear the brunt, we can only feel sorry for them.”Several people across the state are also raising appre-hensions that the private nursing homes in valley are not having any hot lines and those patients undergoing treatment in these hospitals are expected to go through the troubled times due to the prevailing power crises in valley. (KNS)

achievements registered in the departments of Informa-tion Technology and Science Technology at a high level meeting, he chaired here, the Chief Minister gave nod to the digitalization of cabinet records and approved Rs. 40 lakhs for the purpose.Omar Abdullah directed for exploring possibilities of direct placement of 1.5 percent budgetary grants earmarked in each department for e-governance to the IT and ST Department making it accountable for initiating measures for total e-governance in the government departments in a phased manner. “The Planning and Development Department should look for working out a viable and befitting strategy in this regard”, he added.The meeting was attended by Minister for Science and Information Technology, Feroz Ahmad Khan, Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, Prin-cipal Secretary Planning and Development, B. R. Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, B. B. Vyas, Commissioner Secretary Science and Information Technology, Bipul Pathak and various senior officers.Giving brief about the performance and achieve-ments of the departments, Commissioner Secretary ST&IT in a PowerPoint presentation said that State Data Centre has started functioning in the State since 2013 while posting of CCTNS, Commercial Tax (DR Site) and NPR is in process and the RFP for State-wide area network has been floated. He said DPR have been approved and RFP floated for e-district scheme and State Service Delivery Gateway is likely to be launched fully in January 2014.Bipul Pathak said that under the capacity building programme of J&K e-Governance Agency (JaKeGA) 150 KAS officers have been trained in project man-agement and soft skills, 100 officials in EGLC and 1150 officials in CCC. He said 130 FA/CAO of Finance Department have been trained while capacity build-ing training for 540 Accounts Officers and Assistant Accounts Officers has been completed and for 280 more is in pipeline.He said 17 departments have been covered under e-procurement while as 1074 tenders have been floated worth Rs. 500634 lakhs till date. He said pay roll account-ing and personal information system has been imple-mented. He said 84 Urban Local Bodies have been brought under e-municipalities while as 140 locations have been covered under mother and child tracking system. He said national animal diseasing system, e-hospital, vahan-sarathi and e-treasury besides date of birth certificates, electoral roll system etc are in place.He said a Vision Document for Rs. 427 crore has been pre-pared for implementation in the State for realizing vari-ous short term and long term goals in IT sector.The Chief Minister while receiving brief on Science and Technology Department gave nod to the undertaking of projects upto 10 MWs by JAKEDA and said that with the capacity building improvement in the Agency the upper limit can be further raised upto 25 MWs. He laid stress on harnessing of solar and other non-conventional energy sources to meet the domestic and commercial require-ment of power in the feasible areas particularly in rural and far-flung villages.The meeting was informed that 28 mini and hydro elec-

tric projects of about 50 MW-capacity have been taken up for execution during the current year. It was given out that 104 projects with 180 MW-capacity have been identified and DPRs of 75 have been prepared.The meeting was informed that work is also in progress to explore launch of 2000 MW MMRE projects in Kargil and 5000 MW in Leh. It was stated that a Special Pur-pose Vehicle has been put in place to rope in joint ven-ture partners in these projects. (KNS)

those ‘promises’ stand flat now.The leaders said the latest curtailment schedule an-nounced by the government is humiliating and insult-ing in all means which shall be revoked keeping in view the tough wintry conditions ahead. (KNS)

to the contemporary and traditional sports only. On the occasion, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma appreciated the efforts of the Sports Minister for organizing the fenc-ing championship in the Billawar tehsil. He also raised the demand for a sports stadium for Billawar Tehsil for which the Sports Minister Taj Mohi-ud-din assured that a team will assess the requirements. As many as 207 players from 9 districts of the State took part in the 3- day Championship in which a total of 68 medals comprising 17 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze med-als were given. The matches during the event were held in Sabre, Foil, Epee, Open and Open Epee categories of under-12, under -14, under-17 individual age groups.Three matches were played on the final day of the championship, in Open Saber Boys individual catego-ry in which Vishal Thapar of Jammu District bagged gold, Javed Ahmed of Jammu clinched silver, while Su-shant Sharma of Jammu & Kushal Sharma of Kathua clinched bronze.In open Saber girl’s individual category, Priya Khaju-ria of Jammu clinched Gold, Mansi Bral of Jammu won silver while bronze medal was bagged by Seema Bhagat and Simram Sharma both from Reasi district.In under-17 Epee boys individual category Rajan Prasar of Udhampur won gold, Teja Singh of Jammu clinched silver while Ravi Sharma of Kathua district and Shub-ham Shari of Jammu won bronze medal.Later the Ministers also gave away cheques among 98 beneficiaries of Billawar town under Integrated Hous-ing and Slum Development Programme.ACR Kathua S.P Rakwal, SDM Billawar, SDPO Basohli, President J&K Amateur Fencing Association, Secre-tary J&K Amateur Fencing Association, Principal Government Degree College Billawar were also present on the occasion. (KNS)

Affairs Sharmila Bihari along with Ravleen Pal Repre-sentative of the Business support who called on him at his downtown residence Srinagar, Tanvir said “State government under Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been working very proactively for the industrial devel-opment of the state,” he added that Jammu & Kashmir has immense potential in Horticulture and Packaging of Food Processing.Emphasizing the need of nurturing horticulture industry and the growers associated with it to nur-ture State’s economy. He said horticulture, handi-crafts and tourism are the resourceful sectors in Jammu and Kashmir which can catapult financial status of the State and uplift the lot of the people as-sociated with these sectors. “Controlled Atmosphere Storage facility would help regulating the market and ensuring remunera-tive price for Kashmir horticulture produce” said SadiqThe Political secretary to Omar Abdullah said that setting up of infrastructure like Controlled Atmo-sphere Storages in the Valley and regulating the market by dispatching fruit as per the demand in the terminal markets would benefit growers in a larger extent. “This will also check the sudden fall in prices of fruit in the markets due to the glut”, he said.The Political secretary to Chief Minister said that Kashmir is famous throughout the World for its handicrafts, fruit and natural beauty. He stressed the need of focusing on this aspect. Tanvir said various facilities and concessions are being provided to the growers to strengthen their economic activity.He added Omar’s Government has focused on nur-turing locals to invest in the feasible fields and play an important part in the growth and development of the State’s economy.J&K has been rapidly moving forward on all vital parameters of growth including infrastructure, in-vestments, agriculture and tourism. “J&K government is supportive, the climatic con-ditions are congenial and the connectivity is im-proving.” Tanvir said adding “that the climate of the state is conducive for the promotion of floricul-ture in the state”The state government has taken several steps to promote floriculture in a big way. The annual rate of growth in the floriculture industry is about 20 percent said the political secretary adding the flo-ricultural products include cut flowers, which con-tribute about 60 per cent of the global trade, flower-ing and green potted plants and flowerbed plants.While taking about the tremendous investment op-portunities in hydropower sector he said that Omar led Government is also seeking investments in mi-cro hydel projects as well as solar panel manufac-turing, Tanvir added. “Hydro power generation is key to achieve econom-ic goals and generate employment and business ac-tivities for youth particularly in far-off villages and remote areas.” He added “The state has targeted generation of 9000 MWs of pow-er within next 7 to 8 years. He said projects for genera-tion of 2000 MWs of hydro electricity have been cleared and are at various stages of implementation. He said lo-cal generation of 9000 MWs would not only enable JK to provide 24x7 electric supply to domestic consumers and industry but its export would generate enough funds to launch wide-ranging development projects in various sectors of development. “It would also help to generate large-scale employment and give rise to various eco-nomic activities across the state”.Later the Dutch delegation presented the political secre-tary with mementos and materials about their country and showed keen interest in investing in the state as they have done in other states. (KNS)

JAMMU, NOVEMBER 20 –

Mr. N. N. Vohra, Governor, today emphasized the need for the promo-tion of Scouts and Guides movement in the State to bring a significantly large number of youth under its um-brella.The Governor, who is the Patron of the J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, was interacting with a large group of Scouts and Guides who, along with the functionaries of the J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, called on him at Raj Bhavan here today, in connection with their Annual Flag Day.Mrs. Usha Vohra, First Lady, was present on the occasion.The Governor observed that scout-ing and guiding helps in character building and promoting the spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood which is of vital importance for sustaining the unity and integrity of the coun-try. In this context, he stressed the high importance of bringing more and more youth under the ambit of Scouts and Guides movement in the State.The Governor announced a support of Rs. 4 lakh for providing uniforms to the Scouts and Guides who are studying in the Govern-ment educational institutions and for meeting other priority needs.Referring to the support provided by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board for organizing the Scouts and Guides camps at Katra in the past year, the Governor suggested to the functionaries of the J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides to con-sider organizing such Camps during the lean period of the pilgrimage so that the required facilities can be provided without dislocating other arrangements. The Governor observed that our children from J&K are very bright and talented and if provided the en-abling opportunities they can excel

in their chosen fields of study and other extra-curricular activities, win awards and honours at the na-tional level and bring laurels to the State.Describing celebration of the An-nual Flag Day as a very important event, the Governor congratulated

all the functionaries of the J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, scouters, guiders and the Scouts and Guides on this occasion.The Governor and the First Lady made a contribution to the Annu-al Flag Day Fund and wished the Scouts and Guides all success in their mission. The Governor called upon all sections of the society to contribute generously to the Annual Flag Day Fund, for facilitating en-hanced Scouts and Guides activities in the State.Earlier, the Scouts and Guides pre-sented Scarfs to the Governor, Lady Governor; Mr. Navin K. Choudhary, Principal Secretary to the Governor; and pinned on them the Flag Day

stickers, what are symbols of the Scouts and Guides movement.In his welcome address, Mr. I. D. Soni, State Commissioner, J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, dwelt on the activities of the orga-nization undertaken in the recent past and those planned for the com-

ing months. He thanked the Gover-nor for taking keen interest in the Scouts and Guides movement and for extending strong support for this purpose. Mrs. Roma Wani, Senior Vice Presi-dent, J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, presented a Vote of Thanks.Mrs. Nasreen Khan, Guides Com-missioner, J&K State Bharat Scouts and Guides, also spoke on the occa-sion.Among those present on the occa-sion were Mr. G. A. Qureshi, Di-rector, Industries and Commerce, Jammu, senior functionaries of the organization, Scouts and Guides and Principals of various educational in-stitutions.

Governor emphasizes sustained promotion of Scouts and Guides movement in J&K

Symposium on National Integration held

Muneshwar declared best speaker

UDHAMPUR, NOVEMBER- 20:-

Muneshwar Sharma a student of GHSS Boys Udham-pur was declared as best speaker in an Inter School symposium contest on the topic, “ National Integra-tion”, organized in connection with the weeklong programme celebration of Communal Harmony and National Integration in the premises of Govt. Girls Higher school, Udhampur here today. The programme was organized by Department of Information in collaboration with Education and Youth Services & Sports Departments. Chief Educa-tion Officer, Mr. Balbir Singh was chief guest on the occasion. While speaking on the occasion, CEO said a comprehensive programme has been chalked out to celebrate the Communal Harmony and National Inte-gration in a befitting manner, which mainly includes symposium, cultural programme and skit. He called upon the students to spread the message of communal harmony and brotherhood among the masses for peace and prosperity of the nation. Miss Meerul Samyal and Miss Sonam Sharma both students of GHSS Girls Udhampur were adjudged for second and third positions respectively. As many as 19 students from different schools participated in the programme and deliberated upon the various facets of communal amity. They stressed on the need for communal harmony and brotherhood for the peace and prosperity of the country.

High Court organizes pre lok adalat session

JAMMU, NOVEMBER 20-

Pre Lok Adalat session for the MACT cases and forest cases was organized in Jammu wing of High Court, by Secretary J&K High Court Legal Services Committee, under the Chairmanship of Justice Virender Singh, Judge, High Court of J&K and Executive Chairman, J&K State Legal Services Authority. Four benches were constituted comprising of Sanjay Gupta, Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jammu, Mohd Akram Choudhary, Presiding Officer, MACT, Jammu, Yash Pal Boureny, Ist Additional District and Sessions Judge Jammu and Mrs Nighat Sultana, 2nd Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jammu. The pre-lok adalat session was attended by advo-cates, representatives/standing counsels of respective banks/departments and litigants. The national lok adalat is scheduled to be held on November 23rd.

DDC reviews progress of developmental activities in Doda

DODA, NOVEMBER 20-

District Development Commissioner, Doda Mr. Mubarak Singh today convened a meeting to review the progress of developmental activities under District Plan, Centrally sponsored Schemes and flagship pro-grammes. Additional District Development Commissioner Doda Mr. G. N. Balwan, Chief Planning Officer Doda Mr. Yoginder Katoch besides others District and Sec-toral Officers were also present in the meeting. He expressed his displeasure in respect of those officers whose achievements is very low and asked them to speed up the pace of progress by ending of No-vember 2013. District and Sectoral Officers were asked to restrict to 75% expenditure under Revenue and Normal Capital component instead of 100% on the revised outlay communicated to them and 50% funds under SPA (Projectised), till details are uploaded on CAS-MIS and subsequent authorization by the Plan-ning and Development Department.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER | 21 | 2013Daily ZABARWAN TIMES NEWS

Sakina inaugurates 10 day JKWDC’s exhibition

JAMMU, NOVEMBER 20:

Social Welfare Minister, Sakina Itoo, who is also the Chairman JK WDC, inaugurated a 10 day exhibi-tion at Jammu, today.

Being sponsored by Na-tional Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), the exhibition has been organized by J&K State Women Corporation with an objective to provide mar-ket support to the beneficiaries besides helping them learn market trends and get required exposure.

As many as 40 stalls have been established by 80 beneficia-ries of different Self Help Groups from almost all the districts of the State including Rajouri, Poonch, Pulwama, Baramulla, Kulgam, Shopian, Kishtwar, Ganderbal, An-antnag, Jammu, Kathua, Samba, Doda etc.

The Minister also distrib-uted loan Cheques worth Rs. 80 lakh among 48 beneficiaries besides giv-ing certificates of appreciation to the various entrepreneurs.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister informed that the JKWDC has disbursed Rs. 75 crore among 10236 beneficiaries across the State. Besides, the Corporation has also dis-

bursed Rs. 31.06 lakh among 2980 beneficiaries, after supply of 2.50 lakh jute bags to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

Appreciating the WDC for organizing the event, the Minister said that such efforts would go a long way in educating the women about the schemes meant for their socio-economic emancipation besides giv-ing them much needed exposure and marketing support. “Gone are the days wh en women were confined to the four walls of the house. The women today are equally participat-ing in every sphere of life”, she main-tained. She, however, expressed concern that the women especially tribals and those living in inacces-sible parts of the state are still not being covered under such schemes and asked the officers to expand their network to such unattended areas also.

Spelling out the achieve-ments of the department, the Minis-ter extolled that for the first time, the government has sanctioned Rs. 12.50 lakh for women under SKEWPY. She said under the stewardship of Omar Abdullah, the department is accord-ing focused attention to empower women socially, economically and politically particularly those belong-

ing to poor and under privileged sections of the society by launching several innovative social welfare pro-grammes.

Sakina also stressed upon the need of promoting female education in rural and far off areas, describing it essential for women empowerment. She appealed that the women to go for education which is being ensured under different government schemes without any hesitation as age should not be a bar to learn.

She asked the beneficiaries to adopt self-employment ventures in Agriculture, Horticulture, Floricul-ture and other vital sectors instead of confining themselves to only conven-tional sectors.

She lauded the WDC offi-cers for their earnest efforts in imple-menting the women development schemes successfully, expressing hope that they will carry forward their noble services with the same spirit. Among others present were Director, Social Welfare, Jammu, MD, SC&ST Corporation, Director Handi-crafts, Mission Director, Women Em-powerment, Director Tribal Affairs, Social activists Indu Rathore and Nasreen Khan besides other senior officers of the department and Cor-poration.

KATHUA, NOVEMBER 20:

Minister of State for Fisheries and Co-operatives, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma inaugu-rated a 2-day Employment Fair organized by District Employment and Counselling Centre, Kathua here at Phinter Ground in Bil-lawar today.

The Minister after inaugurating the employment fair visited the stalls and in-spected the exhibits of various departments. Stalls drawn from different departments including Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericul-ture, Floriculture, Fisheries, Industries, Han-dloom, Cooperatives, and Animal husbandry, Sheep Husbandry, Rural Dev. Deptt, DRDA, Social Welfare, Health, education, labour, JKEDI, Handicraft, Khadi Village Industrial Board, Employment &Counselling Centre and bankers were installed.

The stall of progressive farmer name-ly Sanjay Kumar remained the attractive stall during the first day of the fair.

Member Parliament ChLal Singh, MLC Subash Gupta, DDC Kathua, Jitendra K Singh, Deputy Commissioner Excise Mush-taq Ahmed, SSP Kathua, Mohan Lal SDM Bil-lawar Deep Raj, SDPO Basohli Rafiq Manhas were among the present on the occasion.

Dr. Manohar Lal Sharma on the occa-

sion said that Youth shoud avail the benefits of state and central sponsored employment schemes viz PMEGP, SKEWPY, UDAAN and UMEED. He said Billawar has diverse climatic conditions which is ideal for multi crop-ping and multi trade farming. He said youth should come forward to adopt bee keeping, fish farming, dairy farming and flower grow-ing besides contemporary crops to get suf-ficient earning.

He said the purpose of the Em-ployment Fair is build awareness among unemployed educated youth about the existing government sponsored schemes implemented by different departments and agencies for establishment of income gen-erating units. He said employment deptt is shouldering responsibility to reach out to the unemployed educated youth to provide the benefits of various schemes and make them become self-reliant.

MP Ch Lal Singh while speaking on the occasion said that Government of India has formulated scheme for skill develop-ment of the youth by sponsoring their pur-suit of professional education. He said PRI’s bear responsibility to make aware the people about the schemes / programmes of the gov-ernment. He added that government of India is providing agricultural implements, high

quality seeds and fertilizers at subsidized rates to raise the socio economic status of the farmers.

MLC Subash Gupta while speaking on the occasion appealed the youth to come forward and avail the benefit of various self employed scheme to become self-reliant.

Leaflets, literature and pamphlets of schemes and programmes of different de-partments were distributed among the visi-tors in the fair.

Resource persons and technical ex-perts of the departments presented details about self-employment schemes. They also suggested methods & means to establish small units not only to become self-reliant but providing employment opportunities for others too. Speakers also called for registra-tion of unemployed youths to get benefit of Voluntary Service Allowance under Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Pro-gramme of state government under which allowance is given to unemployed youths.

District and Tehsil level officers, Panches and Sarpanches and a large number of people were also present on the occasion.

Later on the concluding day of the Co-operative Week a function was organised to commemorate the occasion. The programme was organized by Cooperative Deptt. in col-

laboration with the societies of cooperative command area development District Kathua and J&K State Cooperative Union at Day-alachack in Tehsil Hirangar.

Minister of State for Cooperative, Dr Manohar Lal Sharma was the Chief Guest on the occasion.

MP Ch. Lal Singh, MLC Sh. Subash Gupta were also present on the function.

The Societies of Command Area Devel-opment District Kathua, highlighted their achievement and overall performance. The representatives of participating societies putforth the problems faced by the societies before the Minister.

Dr Manohar lal Sharma Sharma while speaking on the occasion said coopera-tive is a movement chiefly meant to organize the agricultural and allied sector which is the backbone of the Indian economy. He said government has initiated several steps to nurture the cooperative culture in the state by restoring sick cooperative societies.

Among others Registrar, Additional Registrar, Deputy Register Command Area Development Hiranagar, Asstt. Register co-operative Hiranagar Asstt Register Barnoti, Representatives from societies Sarpanches, Panches and large number of people were present on the occasion.

Manohar inaugurates 2-days Employment Fair at Phinter, Billawar

GOOL (RAMBAN), NOVEMBER 20:

Minister of State for Revenue and Relief, Aijaz Ahmed Khan on Wednes-day conducted extensive tour of far-flung areas of Gool block and ad-dressed various public gathering at Chachuwah and Ind in district Ram-ban.

Speaking on the occasion, the Min-ister said that State government has launched various social and develop-mental schemes for overall develop-ment and welfare of remote areas and weaker sections of the society.

The Minister announced a Commu-nity Hall at Chachuwah and directed the Rural Development Department to submit a DPR in this regard so that work on the project can start at the earliest.

He said that UPA government initi-ated several flagship programmes in-cluding, MGNREGA, NRHM, SJSY, SSA,

RAMSA, PMGSY for the benefit of rural and far flung residents of the country. He said governments recent initiatives regarding food security and Land Ac-quisition will also provide necessary succour to the millions of farmers and people belong to weaker sections of the society.

Earlier, people apprised the Min-ister about their demands including

opening of PHC and Higher Secondary School at Chachu-wh, new ration cards, roads under PMGSY, new Niabat, block status to the area, up-gradation of schools, adequate staff for chools and health cen-tres, electrification of the un-covered areas, poles and trans-formers, additional JK Bank branches, More Health Centres and Ambulance etc.

Responding to the demands of the people, the Minister said that government is committed

to provide health facilities, electricity and road connectivity to all uncovered areas besides assuring that all genuine demands will be fulfilled in a phased manner.

Tehsildar Gool, other District and Sectoral officers, Sarpanches, Panches and other prominent citizens of the area attended the function.

MEGHALAY NOVEMBER 20:

Achieving a significant milestone to unify the nation into one common mar-ket, the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers converged the views of various States and framed recommenda-tions by consensus on the revised draft Constitution (One Hundred and Fifteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 regarding intro-duction of Goods and Services Tax in In-dia.

This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Abdul Rahim Rather, who is also Finance Minister of J&K in a two days marathon meeting of the Em-powered Committee of State Finance Ministers chaired by him at Shillong in Meghalaya which concluded today.

Various issues including the crucial issues of settlement of CST compensa-tion claims of various States and revised draft Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST were comprehensively deliberated upon in the meeting which was attended by the Chief Minister, Meghalia, Finance Ministers of various States, officers of Government of India and Taxation au-thorities of the States.

While giving details of the decisions taken and recommendations made, Mr. Rather said that the Empowered Com-mittee has recommended that the spe-

cial status enjoyed by the State of Jammu and Kashmir as guaranteed under the Constitution of India should not be tem-pered with in any case while introducing GST in the State. The argu-ments advanced by the State Finance Minister in this respect from time to time were unanimously agreed. It was also rec-ommended that an in-dependent mechanism needs to be provided in the constitution for en-suring the determination and settlement of compensation to the states against the losses, if any, which they may suffer by the implementation of GST. The Empowered Committee also endorsed the view of most of the States, that the petroleum products, alcohol and Entry Tax, in lieu of Octrio, should not be brought within the ambit of GST. The Empowered Committee was also against any provision in the constitution empowering Government of India to de-clare any goods as “goods of special im-portance” thus categorizing them as “de-clared goods”. The empowered committee also felt that insertion of GST in State and

Union lists is not at all required as the pro-posed Article 246-A gives power to the Union and the Stated to levy GST.

Mr. Rather said that the Empow-ered Committee more or less agreed with the recommendations of the Committee of officers constituted by Empowered Com-mittee to look into the revised draft Consti-tution (One Hundred Fifteenth Amend-

ment) Bill, 2013. Briefing the press after the meet-

ing, Mr. Rather said that all the States and union territories of the country were in agreement for implementation of this important tax reform in the country pro-vided the genuine concerns of the States were addressed appropriately while leg-islating GST in India.

Apart from revised draft Con-stitutional Amendment Bill, 2013, Em-powered Committee had thorough de-liberations on the settlement of GST compensation claims of various states. These States expressed deep anguish

against the delay in the settlement of their genuine claims. The Chairman in-formed the Empowered Committee that he has already taken up the issue with the Union Finance Minister and request-ed him for an early settlement of these claims out of the budgetary allocations of Rs.9000/- crores earmarked for the pur-pose. The representative of Government of India assured that the matter was be-ing looked into by the Government of India. Other issues that were deliberated upon were the update on Goods and Ser-vices Tax Network and Proposed Pre GST Service Project for which detailed pre-sentations were made by the Chairman of GSTN and NSDL.

Earlier Dr. Mukul Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya welcomed the guests to the abode of clouds, “Megha-laya” and thanked the Chairman for ac-cepting his invitation to hold the meeting of Empowered Committee in Meghalaya. He mentioned that there was a continued misunderstanding regarding law and order situation in the State and requested the guests to see it for themselves and be the ambassadors of the State to convey about the peaceful atmosphere in the State and encourage people of their states to visit this unique region which used to be the summer capital of eastern region in the undivided India.

EC of State Finance Ministers reaches consensus on various issues

Aijaz tours Gool, addresses public rallies, announces Community Hall for Chachuwah

Mrs. Kiran Prasad stresses for latest techniques of education.

JAMMU, NOVEMBER 20:

Indian Air Force (IAF) will start to operate AN-32 Cou-rier Service to Kargil from the first week of December,2013 and will remain operational as per the requirements of LA-HDC, Kargil during the winter season after closure of the only surface link Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway.

The decision was taken in a high level meeting, chaired byAdvisor to the Chief Minister Mr. Qamar Ali Akhoon here, following the requisition made by Ladakh Autono-mous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil for start of IAF Sorties.

Executive Councilors Ladakh Autonomous Hill Devel-opment Council (LAHDC) Kargil Haji Mohammad Shafi and Kacho Ahmad Ali Khan besides Officers of Civil Ad-ministration, Air Force (AF), Airport Authority of India (AAI), Civil Aviation, Police, Transport and other security agencies participated in the meeting.

After discussing threadbare, the pros and cons for smooth operation of the service, it was decided that the AN-32 Courier Service shall operate as per past practice from Srinagar to Kargil and back thrice in a week on every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, while as it will also operate from Jammu to Kargil and back once in a week on every Tuesday.

It was also decided in the meeting that in view of heavy rush of passengers at Jammu, the government will take up the matter with the Ministry of Defence for operation of one additional sortie from Jammu to Kargil for the conve-nience of the people who get stranded due to closure of Zojila Pass following heavy snowfall in the area.

The Advisor instructed the Deputy Commissioners of Kargil, Srinagar and Jammu to nominate Liaison Officers in their respective district who can easily be contacted by the people for booking of tickets and other related matters.

Distributes Rs. 80 lakh loan chequesAN-32 Courier Service to Kargil

from first week of Dec: Akhoon

Motorcycle rally organized for electoral participation

REASI, NOVEMBER 20-

To spread the message of voter awareness and participa-tion motorcycle rally was organized in which more than 50 bikers and car borne youth participated, here today.

The rally took off from Mini Secretariat Reasi and went up to Ransoo, base camp of Shiv Khori Shrine, holding youth meetings en route covering a distance of over 120 KM with day long cultural programmes and awareness sessions.

Slogans showcasing voter participation in elections and ensuring cent percent voter coverage were main attrac-tions of the march. Deputy Commissioner Reasi, Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary flagged off the rally. People from town and villages enroute the rally participated enthusiastically. Elec-toral registration related material was also distributed for coverage of left out voters. A Non-Governmental Organiza-tion (NGO) “We Care” motivated the youth to come forward for effective participation in the motorcycle rally, which gen-erated tremendous response from urban as well as rural ar-eas. Volunteers of NGO carried out placards, banner showing slogans regarding voter participation in Lok Sabha and As-sembly Elections. Cartoons and caricatures were a attraction. Choudhary appreciated the overwhelming participation of youth in these programmes and lauded the active role played by participating departments and NGO.

Rather chairs meeting at Shillong, Meghalaya

Newspapers may bring knowledge of strange events that capture your imagination. You might want to learn more about the stories and similar events. Your mind is sharp enough to grasp it all, yet there will still be hidden elements that render it that much more fascinating. The human mind and its dark side might be especially interesting to you today.

A heightened sense of ambition might have you developing your writing skills today. This could mean learn-ing technical or creative writing. Either way, if you’ve been thinking about it, this is an excellent time to take a course or jump in and do it. Books on the subject as well as talks with those experienced in these matters could help.

A letter or other communication serves as a sort of wake-up call today. A long-term goal is finally going to be reached. Your ambition should take on a new dimension, possibly going for a second career either in addition to or in-stead of the one you have. You might not be sure where you want to take it, but it’s worth pursuing.

A letter or call from someone you know who’s ill and confined to the hospital or home might come today. You might decide to pay this person a visit. You may not know him or her well, but your humanitarian instincts are awakened. Take care of business that needs to be handled and then go see this person. You’ll feel better for it.

Letters and calls pertaining to your long-term goals or those of a group you’re affiliated with could take up a lot of your time today. You might have to deal with paper-work at some point, and you might not understand some of it. Ask for help if you need it. You might not be familiar with the material, and the matters involved are too important to take a chance on getting it wrong.

A lot of paperwork might need doing today. You’ll feel mentally sharp and able to take care of it easily, though some of what needs to be done may momentarily elude you. Communications from neighbors or other acquaintances might seem suspect. You may feel they have their own agen-das. Don’t repeat anything you hear.

The presence of children in your home could arouse your nurturing instincts today. You might want to read to them or tell them stories. Stay away from any par-ticularly gruesome fairy tales. The atmosphere may be a bit gloomy, and the macabre may have too powerful an effect on them and you. In the evening, plan a private, intimate eve-ning with your special someone.

Recognition could finally come for hard work and goals reached. You’re feeling very good about the situation. Your self-confidence and mental strength are high. You’ll receive a lot of letters or calls, some from far away. Don’t be surprised if you spend most of the day talking.

Information on psychology, particularly dreams, could capture your imagination. You could decide to collect as much information as you can. The dark side of the person-ality may be especially appealing. You’ll remember anything you read or hear today, as your mind is particularly retentive. This includes financial trends and ways to increase your in-come.

Short trips and long talks with your special some-one are on the agenda today. You may decide to drive into the country, perhaps to visit quaint shops and rustic restau-rants. A confusing call could come from an acquaintance this evening. The person won’t seem to be telling you any-thing yet expect some kind of feedback. Don’t be afraid to ask for an explanation!

A lot of paperwork that you need to complete could have you nervous and stressed. You might experience some headaches. Don’t sacrifice your well-being for this. You won’t lose your focus if you have to put off some tasks un-til tomorrow. Calls or visitors could also get on your nerves. Turn off the phone and tell people you’ll visit later. They’ll understand.

Ideas you read could inspire you to develop some new ideas of your own. You might want to write these down or share them with others. Some of the ideas you explore might be unclear in some way, but you’ll enjoy digging into them. The dark side of life might hold a special fascination for you now, too.

Daily Zabarwan TimesEDITORIAL/ OPINIONEDITORIAL/ OPINIONDaily Zabarwan Times Thursday 21 November 2013

Daily Zabarwan Times Thursday 21 November 2013

Disclaimer : The contents and comments appearing in any article published in this paper are purely the personal opinion of the writer

The raids conducted by the state crime branch on the residences of for-mer chairman BoPEE in Srinagar and Jammu

are indicative of the fact that a lot of mess was going on in BoPEE and the institution has been turned into a den of favoritism, omissions and commission and alleged cor-rupt practices. Even the Jammu & Kashmir High Court had earlier expressed its displeasure on the working of BoPEE which is be-ing run like a private enterprise by some politicians through their stooges whom they appoint in this Board on various posts. This year also like previous years BoPEE created a mess in the entrance ex-aminations and subsequently ex-amnation of the papers was can-celled when the public pressure mounted on this Board. Yester-days raids and alleged recovery of incriminating documents besides the stories published in local me-dia have exposed the wrong do-ings of this Board which was once considered to be a transparent and creditable body. As the media has always been in the forefront to point out the various omissions and commissions of this Board and the honorable High Court has ex-pressed its anguish on its working hence at last the authorities seem to have woke up and ultimately some action in the shape of yester-days raids were initiated. It needs guts and courage for every gov-ernment to immediately act when complaints are received about a certain body or organization but in our state the things are totally different and everybody takes the reports and allegations so lightly that no action which could satisfy the people is taken.Similar action is needed in case of BOSE also which has always been in the news for wrong doings and recently the two out of syllabus pa-pers have claimed the lives of two innocent students who could not face the humiliation of getting a low percentage of marks. This re-ally strange and shocking that no FIR was registered against BOSE officials though the whole media reported the incidents in their sev-eral issues wherein allegations leveled that the two students com-mitted suicide because of the out of syllabus papers. The government of J&K particularly the chief min-ister should at least show some respect to the departed souls and initiate action against the BOSE officials if the charges provecorrect.

BoPEE the blunder bus – punctured

at last At the time of attaining our Independence our vision-ary leaders saw the central-ity of a powerful Navy and set us on the right course

by envisaging an Indian Navy centred on aircraft carriers for sea control in our expansive areas of maritime interest. INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier was acquired from Great Britain and commissioned on 04 Mar 1961. INS Vikrant was a Ma-jestic class CATOBAR (Catapult As-sisted Take Off but Arrested Recov-ery) carrier and operated Sea Hawk

fighters, Alize (Anti-Submarine Warfare) aircraft and Seaking helicop-ters. Consistent with its vision, India next acquired HMS Hermes, a Centaur class STOVL carrier and a veteran of the Falkland War. INS Viraat was com-missioned on 12 May 1987 as India’s sec-ond aircraft carrier and India’s first STOVL carrier operating the Sea Har-rier aircraft. Soon after the acquisi-tion of INS Viraat, INS Vikrant was also converted from a CATOBAR car-rier to a STOVL (Short Take-off and Vertical Landing) carrier. INS Vi-krant was decommissioned on 31 Jan

1997, after 36 years of glorious service under the Indian ensign. For almost a decade India had two aircraft carriers and the Indian Navy was fully cogni-sant of the criticality of having an air-craft carrier available for deployment on each seaboard to fulfil the Navy’s assigned tasks. In recognition of the importance of aircraft carriers, the In-dian Navy had already started explor-ing the possibility of indigenously de-signing and constructing an Aircraft Carrier, this project took off in right earnest in the late 90s as the Air Defence Ship was conceived. However, given the

long gestation period of such projects, the search for a replacement for INS Vi-krant gained momentum as its decom-missioning drew closer.It was at this juncture that Russia of-fered Admiral Gorshkov to the Indian Navy. Negotiations over acquiring the 44,500 ton Admiral Gorshkov started in 1994. Various high level delegations who had assessed the ship had inde-pendently concluded that the ship’s hull was in good material state and would be worth considering for exploi-tation in the Indian Navy with a suit-able mix of aircraft.

INS Vikramaditya – Game changer

The Journey of Admiral Gorshkov (nee Baku)The journey of ‘Vikramaditya’ began as the Kiev class aircraft carrying cruiser ‘Baku’. Developed from the Moskva class helicopter carrying guided missile cruisers the Kiev class was a pioneering Soviet era design, featuring a flight deck arrangement capable of operating fixed wing VTOL fighters for the first time in the Soviet Navy. Baku was constructed by Chernomorsky Ship Building En-terprise, Nikolayev (now in Ukraine).

About 400 enterprises and nearly 1,500 - 2,000 workers from different repub-lics of USSR took part in building of the ship. The ship was commissioned on 20 Dec 1987. Conceived as an armed cruis-er, Baku was heavily armed with twelve Anti-Ship Missile launchers, ten gun mounts of differing calibre and rocket launchers and depth charges. The air element comprised Yak-38 aircraft.‘Baku’ was envisioned to be a full-

fledged aircraft carrier by Admiral SG Gorshkov, however, due to conflicting dynamics at that time, the ship turned out as the last ‘compromise’ ship of the Kiev series. After her development and construction, it became clear to the So-viet leadership that the vision of Ad-miral Gorshkov of a classical aircraft carrier with ship borne aircraft as the primary weapons was indeed the most logical way ahead to develop the sur-

face forces. On 07 Nov 1990, the ship was named after Admiral Sergey Georgiyev-ich Gorshkov.Baku/Admiral Gorshkov began its active operational service with the Northern Fleet and was deployed in the Mediterranean Sea and remained in active service till 1992 and thereafter continued in service albeit with limited operational deployments. The ship was finally decommissioned in 1996.

Creation of Ski Jump

Creation of the flight deck with structural modification to convert the VTOL carrier to a STOBAR carrier was the most intricate and arduous. The task involved instal-lation of Sponsons to increase the breadth at the Flight Deck and a fitment of a new 14 degree Ski jump, strengthening of arresting gear area, strengthening of run way area and elongation of the aft end to generate the required length of landing strip aft of the arresting gear. In all 234 new hull sections were installed to achieve the desired shape. Total steel work for carrying out struc-tural modification on flight deck amounted to 2500T.

Signing of the ContractAfter detailed negotiations the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in Dec 1998 during a visit by Russian PM Yevgeny Primakov. The Inter-Governmental Agreement which included acquisition of Project 11430 (Admiral Gorshkov) was signed between the Federation of Russia and the Union Government of India on 04 Oct 2000. After a Detailed Project De-velopment Review, contractual negotia-tions and thereafter price negotiations, Government approved the acquisition

on 17 Jan 04 at a cost of Rs 4881.67 Cr for the complete package of R&R of the ship, spares, infrastructure augmenta-tion and documentation. The deal was signed on 20 Jan 04 and the effective date of the contract was established as 24 Feb 04. The R&R of the ship commenced from 09 Apr 04.The repair and refit was being undertak-en by FSUE Sevmash, the state owned shipyard at Severodvinsk, Russia. The R&R was scheduled to have been com-pleted within 52 months. Though the

refurbishment process was started in right earnest, soon it was realized that the work and equipment requiring re-placement was significantly higher than originally estimated. Entire length of cable, large portions of steel hull, mo-tors, turbines and boilers, etc. would have to be completely replaced with resulting in cost escalation and time slippage.A protracted renegotiation for arriv-ing at a mutually acceptable price for refurbishment was held in the ensuing

months. Finally, in Dec 2009, the In-dian and the Russian sides arrived at an agreement on the final price of de-livery of this ship. More significantly, it was agreed that the delivery of the ship would take place only in the year 2012. Though the re-negotiated price was significantly higher than what was originally agreed upon, the fillip that the addition of Gorshkov would give to the Blue water requirements of Indian Navy compensated the greater price.

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Admiral Gorshkov was put in hibernation after her last sailing in 1995. With most of her equipment lying un-utilised since then, the task of breathing life and convert-ing her from a VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) missile cruiser carrier to a STO-BAR aircraft carrier involved substantial degutting, equipment removal, refit and re-equipping. The major works envisaged were modification of flight deck to include ski-jump and arrester gear; modification of bulbous bow, aft aircraft lift & ammuni-tion lifts; modification of 1750 out of 2500 compartments; installation of new main boilers; installation of new and additional Diesel Generators; replacement of existing distilling plants; fitment of Reverse Osmo-sis plants, new AC plants and Refrigera-tion plants and installation of new sensors and equipment. In 2007, as the refit and repair of the ship was in progress, the yard realized that the scope of work was much larger than initially estimated and so a revised timeline for completion of the task of modernization was agreed upon by both Russian and Indian sides. With a revised timeline the delivery of ship was expected by end 2012.

Modification of Super structureThe superstructure was modified to accommodate a host of sensors and equipment such as radars, Electronic Warfare suite and Action Information Organisation system and other systems to suit the requirements of ship borne fighters and rotors. A very unique structural modification that was carried out on board the ship was the installation of the aft mast for accommodating vari-ous communication antennae.

Machinery ModificationVikramaditya in its older avatar was powered by boilers fuelled by heavy oil, FFO. The re-equipping included replacement of these old boilers with state of the art boilers utilizing LSHSD and providing a steam capacity of 100 Tonnes per Hour each.

Electrical re-cablingThe initial estimate included replacement of only 1400 kms of old cable with new cables. However, as degutting progressed and confined spaces were accessed it was realised that an additional 900 kms of cable will need to be replaced. Finally the mammoth task involved replacing 2300 kms of cable, which is a little short of half of the entire coastline of India.

OutfittingThe modification plan of Vikramaditya was not restricted to the gears and sparks alone. The change also necessitated revamp of the living spaces and galleys to cater to the needs of the Indian men in uniform. Of 2500 a total of 1750 compartments were completely re-fabricated. A host of new galley equipment suited for preparation of Indian food like dosas and chapatis was also installed.

Arrestor and Restraining Gears

The conversion of VTOL carrier to STOBAR involved fitment of three 30m wide arrester gears and three restraining gears. Instal-lation of these equipment not only involved modification and strengthening of the flight deck but also changes to internal layout of compartments.To sum it up, a total of 234 new hull sections were fabricated using 2500 tonnes of steel which is almost equivalent to the standard displacement of a mid-size frigate. Repair and re-equipping of Vikramaditya to give a new lease of life as a full- fledged carrier was no mean task and was probably as demanding a task as constructing a similar tonnage ship from the drawing board. The task was enabled by the expertise and experience of the Russian designers and yard workers working hand in glove with Indian experts. The extreme cold weather conditions of winter only made the work environment harder. At the end of this refit, spanning a little short of a decade, Vikramaditya has metamorphosed into a fully capable and potent platform.Rise of the Phoenix …Vikramaditya sailed for the first time under own power at 1200 hrs on 10 Jun 12, after a gap of about 17 years.

The New Avtar ‘Vikramaditya’ An aircraft carrier carrying potent long range multi-role fighters is a platform inherently deigned for power projection. In as much as ‘Gorshkov’ was transformed to create ‘Vikramaditya’, so also Vikramaditya will transform the face of the Fleet Air Arm of the Indian Navy.Vikramaditya, the floating airfield has an overall length of about 284 meters and a maximum beam of about 60 meters, stretching as much as three football fields put to-gether. Standing about 20 storeys tall from keel to the highest point, the sheer sight of this 44,500 tonnes mega structure of steel is awe inspiring. The ship has a total of 22 decks.With over 1,600 personnel on board, Vikramaditya is literally a ‘Floating City’. Associated with this large population is a mammoth logistics requirement - nearly a lakh of eggs, 20,000 litres of milk and 16 tonnes of rice per month. With her complete stock of provisions, she is capable of sustaining herself at sea for a period of about 45 days. With a capacity of over 8,000 tonnes of LSHSD, she is capable of operations up to a range of over 7,000 nautical miles or 13000 kms.

HEALTH AND FITNESS

ZABARWAN TIMES Tuesday 29 October 2013

9 Attitudes towards a happy ‘You’The key to happiness is to do the same things you do everyday but with a slight-ly different approach. Start bringing those changes in your attitude towards life and you'll see how simple it is to be happy!Life Coach Ramon Llamba shares nine significant at-titudes that help you be-come happier in life.

GratitudeAppreciate what you have and value it. Try count-ing your positives and be grateful for all the good things and people in your life. Stop complaining and be thankful for what you already have and you'll soon start feeling happy.

OptimismTreat failure as an oppor-tunity to learn a new and better lesson from life, and that's the trick to manufacture optimism in life. Never give up try-ing because that's an in-dication that something better is in store. Once you start harbouring an optimistic attitude to-wards life, success will automatically follow.Avoid comparisonNothing is as awful as comparing yourself to someone else. If you think you're better that the other person,

you're letting yourself regale in an unhealthy sense of superiority. If you demean yourself in front of others, it means all your hard work and progress has been in vain. While social com-parisons are unhealthy, self-improvement is ef-fective.

KindnessThere's a scientific rea-son behind every act of kindness that you do. Helping someone self-lessly releases serotonin in your brain (Serotonin is the hormone that con-trols your mood) and hence makes you feel good about yourself al-most instantly. Try do-ing one act of kindness everyday to flush out the toxins of depression from your system.

Nurture relation-

shipsRelationships keep us alive and kicking. In fact, ac-cording to research studies loneliness doubles people's mortality rates. A circle of good friends, loving fam-ily members and cheerful colleagues are a reminder that you have people who care about you. There's

nothing like having some-one who you can share your experiences with. So nurture these relation-ships and say goodbye to a lonesome existence.

ForgiveHatred is a negative feel-ing and harbouring it will have nothing but negative effects on your well-being. Stop thinking about the hateful emotion/person and let it go. Forgive if needed, take things lightly and let it not affect your system.

Commit to

your goalsIf you have a goal, work towards it. Anything is achievable if you put your heart into it. Wholehearted dedication and diligence can bring extraordinary re-sults and consequentially add to your happiness.

Spiritual-ity

Spirituality teaches us that life is bigger than us and it helps us connect to the larg-er meanings of life. Practice spirituality to understand the source of all creation

and feel connected to ev-erything that exists in this world.

Care for your body

Love yourself and love your body! Your physi-cal condition has a direct connection with your well-being. A fit body and healthy mind is reflective of happiness. Start work-ing towards the health of your physical, men-tal and emotional en-ergy by caring for your body.

Spirituality boosts mental health

Despite differences in ritu-als and beliefs among the world's major religions, spirituality often enhances individuals' health, ac-cording to University of Missouri researchers. The MU researchers be-lieve that health care pro-viders could take advan-tage of this correlation between health - particu-larly mental health - and spirituality by tailoring treatments and rehabilita-tion programs to accom-modate an individual's spiritual inclinations. "In many ways, the re-sults of our study support the idea that spirituality functions as a personality trait," said Dan Cohen, as-sistant teaching professor of religious studies at MU and one of the co-authors of the study. "With in-creased spirituality people reduce their sense of self and feel a greater sense of oneness and connected-ness with the rest of the universe. What was inter-esting was that frequency of participation in reli-gious activities or the per-ceived degree of congre-gational support was not found to be significant in the relationships between personality, spirituality,

religion and health," Co-hen added. The MU study used the results of three surveys to determine if correlations existed among partici-pants' self-reported men-tal and physical health, personality factors, and spirituality in Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Protestants. Across all five faiths, a greater degree of spirituality was related to better mental health, specifically lower levels of neuroticism and greater extraversion. Forgiveness was the only spiritual trait predictive of mental health after personality variables were considered. "Our prior research shows that the mental health of people recovering from different medical conditions, such

as cancer, stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, appears to be related significantly to positive spiritual beliefs and especially congregational support and spiritual in-terventions," said Cohen. "Spiritual beliefs may be a coping device to help in-dividuals deal emotionally with stress," he added. Cohen believes spirituality may help people's mental health by reducing their self-centeredness and de-veloping their sense of be-longing to a larger whole. As the authors note, spiri-tual interventions such as religious-based counseling, meditation, and forgiveness protocols may enhance spiritually-based beliefs, practices, and coping strategies in positive ways.

Are weight loss pills a fact or a myth? Can you really lose weight with a pill? The US FDA recently approved a drug Lorcaserin, a drug that helps you lose weight. To clear doubts about this 'magical' pill we spoke to Dr. Verinder Anand, Consulting doctor in Internal Medicine from Moolchand Medcity. He sheds light on the weight loss pill and strips bare the ugly truth. Why would In-dians fall prey to this drug? "Obesity is a growing prob-lem in India and other developing countries and is largely the result of a chronically improper diet and lack of physical activ-ity. Obesity is an outcome of sedentary lifestyle and westernization of our so-ciety. Over-eating junk food and lack of physi-cal exercise result in high body mass index (BMI)." Will this drug work for an Indian body? "Vis-a-vis to western countries where junk food is cheaper, in In-dia, the population, mostly the upper strata of society,

in metropolitan cities are getting afflicted because there is a lack of exercise, there is a tendency to eat more junk food and so they are putting on more weight and becoming obese. Yes, these drugs have positive impacts on Indians for a small period of time only." How does this drug work? What is the effect on the body? "Most of these drugs sup-press appetite by activat-ing the brain receptors for a neurotransmitter called serotonin, which triggers feelings of satiety and satis-faction. This drug raises the energy levels and suppresses the appetite and pushes the body to burn more calories. But continuing weight loss medicine in long term is un-healthy and ineffective." Is this drug another marketing gimmick? It has been proved to be effective. A trial period of 12 weeks is suggested. In this duration there should be a minimum 5 percent weight loss. Can we expect drastic weight

loss with this drug? No, these weight-loss drugs will shed about 2-3 kilos per year. Expert views on Weight loss drugs These medicines are avoidable and should not be con-sumed by just anyone. Only those who are obese and suffering from condi-tions related to this should take prescribed ones, which doctors term "life-style medications" rather than "diet pills". These medicines are prescribed only to those people with

a BMI (body-mass in-dex) over 27, as part of a broader weight-loss re-gime that involves other medications such as di-uretics and a calorie-restricted diet and exer-cise. Dr. Verinder Anand sums up HMU's belief, exercise plus right diet equals weight loss, "In a nutshell, there is no oth-er effective and health-ier alternative to lose the extra flab apart from good eating habits and regular exercise."

Next time, delay that appointment at the wellness centre for chemicals or danger-ous injectables that aim to turn back the clock. The latest technique to get rid of your wrinkles is simple and non-inva-sive and well, you can pull faces while doing it. Called face yoga, the set of facial exercises has caught the fancy of Holly-wood celebrities such as Gwyneth Pal-trow and Jennifer Aniston, who are said to be advocates of it. Here's how you can get glowing with pulling a few faces...

Its benefitsLike regular yoga, the moves in face yoga also have unique names. Want to try The Marilyn, Bumblebee or Lion — all expressions intended to turn back the ageing clock and and reduce wrinkles. Experts state that face yoga not only reju-venates the face, but simultaneously helps in putting back that glow. Explains yoga trainer Yogesh Chavan, "The face mus-cles are not different from the muscles of the rest of the body. Thus, if they are not exercised, they become flabby. Face yoga, which allows for oxygen to rush to the face, is extremely rejuvenating and acts as a beauty booster. It en-tails toning one's facial muscles by smiling, stretching the eyebrows out-wards, twisting your lips or moving the cheeks from side to side, stretch-ing out your tongue and even making

the mouth into the shape of blowing a kiss. One can do this every morning or even while travelling."How it has helped peopleFace yoga aims to tighten facial mus-

cles and aid blood circulation. Rajiv Ananth, an advertising executive, who regularly practises this yoga in the morning, is gung-ho about it. "Due to long work hours I had developed a puffi-ness around the eyes. But I tried face yoga and found it to be beneficial. After just a week of exercises such as Kapalb-hatti and deep breathing techniques, I found that my dark circles had greatly reduced," he informs.According to busi-nesswoman Nisha Shrimant, what really attracted her to facial yoga in the past was the fact that she could do

it anywhere. Says she, "With my sched-ule I travel a lot on work and so I can't get onto a treadmill or spend time on a yoga mat. I realised facial yoga could be done on the go and after my yoga teach-

er taught me a few exercises I loved it," she admits, adding, "Now, when I also feel my face tightening due to stress I take a break and go into a wash-room or a quiet corridor and do facial contortions. It's funny to someone who sees me, but it really works; my face relaxes almost imme-diately," she adds.Practise these ex-

ercises today!While Chavan states that

yogasanas like Simhasan (lion pose) and Vyaghrasan (tiger pose) are apt to fit into facial yoga, holistic health guru Mickey Mehta also presents easy face exercises to do at any time. "Chewing is a good exercise, as well as blowing (like blowing a balloon), sucking in one's cheeks holding it for seven to eight seconds and releas-ing it, frowning, then relaxing then a repeat of this also helps. In addi-tion, try smiling, laughing and most important, 'still the face' for a few minutes each day. W

Stressed and unfit, with no time for the gym? A towel and sock can save you from fatLong work hours keeping you from a fitness regime? While nothing can sub-stitute the recommended hour of daily exercise needed to stay slim, fitting fitness activities in your daily routine isn't as tough as you'd imagine. Take the stairs, instead of the lift; Use your chair as support for leg lifts; and lift water bottles as weights to tone your arm muscles.That much, you already know. But what of com-mon household objects that can yield results to ri-val barbells and resistance machines? Read on.

Build your musclesBooks:

The next time you're reading a tome, put it to another use. Bal-ance it on your stomach to increase the load on your abs while perform-ing stomach crunches. To turn the heat on

your lower abs, lie flat on your back with your arms extended above you, holding a heavy book. Use only your stomach muscles to propel the movement as you lift your shoulders straight off the ground, keeping the rest of your body flat. Here's an-other exercise: Sit on a chair with your legs to-gether and extended in front of you, with your feet eight inches above the ground. Balance the book on your shins as you slowly lift your legs up, while keeping them extended. Lower the legs and repeat. Fill a satchel with books. Lift it bending only your elbows, and voila, you have for yourself a for-midable » dumbbell.De-stress your nerves

Tennis balls- Who doesn't want a genie to massage their feet after a particularly trying day? Believe it or not, a tennis ball is a wonderful substi-

tute. While sit-ting, slide a ten-nis ball under your foot. Keep rolling it back and forth, as it massages your heel. Start with less pressure and progress to rolling the ball under your foot while stand-ing. If it hurts, it means your nerve endings are not relaxed. Switch to the other foot after five minutes. Load four tennis balls into an old legging, or a much-washed sock. Tie the end and roll this makeshift massager on your back (as you would a towel after a shower) for a soothing back rub. A ten-nis ball can also help tone your muscles. Hold one between your knees while sitting on the edge of a chair. Squeeze your legs together to work out your inner thighs.

Bathing towels It might seem like an ex-aggeration, but a well-devised strength train-ing routine featuring the humble towel can have you sweating bul-lets in no time. With nothing but a towel, you can break into a slew of effective exercises like resistance repetitions, where you use your own strength to build and tone arm, chest, shoulder, thigh and leg muscles.

If you have been meaning to buy a resistance band, but haven't got around to doing it, pick up your towel and start with a simple squat. Stretch the towel like a bar over your head and push your weight down. This helps strengthen your arms along with your thighs. Arm extensions and a single leg squat with the towel held under the other foot are other instances of strength training with a bathroom necessity.

7 Postures to avoid when exercising

If you often wonder about why you suffer frequent in-juries at the gym, it's time to take a long, hard look at your workout form.While exercising, method and posture play an im-portant role. We give you an insight on why poor form is to blame for your aches and pains.Stop jerking: Stop jerk-ing your weights and your body, it will only cause in-jury and it will have no ef-fect on the muscles. Take a cue from James Bond; being smooth gets the best outcome. Smooth weight training will surely get you the much needed muscles. When you twist and jerk your body while lifting weights, you open your-self up to a world of inju-ries like joint pain, muscle pulls, even fractures.Slow movements: You don't want to workout in a jiffy, it defeats the purpose. Muscle fibers need slow yet smooth movement to

build size and strength. If you workout really quick-ly, all the fibers don't get worked out. Take time and do a proper workout.Pain in the neck: Summertime is the best time to flaunt your six pack abs. But, if you are gung ho about stomach crunches, you need to know one thing. Do not place your hand on your neck as you pull your neck forward. This will cause severe neck pain. In-stead, place your hand on your chest or by your side. If you are accustomed to placing your hands behind your head, then use them only as markers. Do not force your head forward in order to compensate or start the crunching move-ment.Squat right: When it comes to squats, balance and body alignment is im-portant. Do not bend too forward nor go down be-low your knee level. When squatting, arch your back, your abs should be tight,

head up and your body should be in proper align-ment. Do not let your knees cross your toes, and do not lock your knees as you lift yourself.Full range mo-tion: When weight train-ing even if you do easy and few exercises make a note to do full range motions. There are two benefits: your joints are more mo-bile, but more importantly your muscle has a boost of strength when completely extended.Straighten your back for a deadlift: If you arch your back, chances are you will risk a slip disc or hernia. Also keep your head in neutral position, not up or down.Bench press posture: You may think that bench press doesn't have a right posture, but arching your back can induce lower back pain. Here's what you should do; feet should be on the floor, butt on the bench, with slight arch in your lower back and you're good to go.

Thursday, 21 November 2013 8HEALTH7Lake City Times

Monday 12-18 November 2012

Weekly

The Gallbladder is a vital part of one’s body. This pear-shaped organ is situated right under the liver and stores bile - the digestive enzyme pro-duced by the liver.

The main function of gallbladder in the body is to digest the fats. However, problems with the gallblad-der and biliary system are very common and might consist of swelling of the bile ducts and gallbladder, stones forming in the gallbladder, lack of free flow of the bile and muscular spasms of the bladder. Dr Kapil Kochhar - Senior Consultant Minimally Invasive & Bariatric Surgery at Artemis Health Institute -

takes us through gallbladder problems and helps us un-derstand them in detail.

Gall bladder stone is also known as cholelithiasis. The stone can slip into the bile duct leading to jaundice, pancreatitis and renal failure. Secondly, cancer of the gall-bladder is a major complica-tion. Because the gallbladder is closely attached to the liver, it spreads very easily to the liver and in 90% of the cases the diagnosis is so late that the hope for cure is lost.

Symptoms of a gallblad-der attack are:

Regular upset stom-ach after eating heavy/fatty meals.

If someone experiences/feels acidity or heaviness in the upper part of the abdo-men or centre of chest regu-larly.

Acute pain in chest. Vomiting. The pain fever and vom-

iting along with occasional

mild jaundice is what is com-monly called a gallbladder attack.

However, symptoms of cancer of the gallbladder are few and range from dull ache to jaundice which is usually severe. It might be associated with weight loss and even

itching all over the body due to jaundice.

The commonest cause of aggravation of gallbladder disease, or a gallbladder at-tack, is eating fatty meals. It happens mostly after eating out, and eating deep fried or cheese-heavy foods.

A simple ultrasound is the most effective tool for di-agnosis of gallbladder stone. For difficult diagnosis and es-pecially cancer, a gallbladder CT scan and even MRI may be needed.

The only and most ef-fective treatment for extreme cases of gallbladder stone dis-ease is removal of gallbladder by surgery.

Scientists are trying to build hu-man brain using the world’s most powerful computer.It is intended to combine all the information so far uncovered about its mysterious workings -- and replicate them on a screen, right down to the level of indi-vidual cells and molecules.If it works it could be revolu-tionary for understanding dev-astating neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Par-kinson’s, and even shedding light into how we think, and make decisions.Professor Henry Markram, based in Switzerland, is lead-ing the project and will be working with scientists from across Europe including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Insti-tute at Cambridge.They hope to complete it within 12 years.“The complexity of the brain, with its billions of interconnected neu-rons, makes it hard for neurosci-entists to truly understand how it works. Simulating it will make it

much easier -- allowing them to manipulate and measure any as-pect of the brain,” he said.Housed at a facility in Dusseldorf in Germany, the ‘brain’ will fea-ture thousands of three-dimen-sional images built around a semi-

circular ‘cockpit’ so scientists can virtually ‘fly’ around different ar-eas and watch how they commu-nicate with each other.It aims to integrate all the neuro-science research being carried out all over the world -- an estimated

60,000 scientific papers every year -- into one platform.The project has received some funding from the EU and has been short-listed for a 1 billion euro EU grant, which will be decided next month.When complete it could be used

to test new drugs, which could dramatically shorten the time required for licencing them than human trials, and pave the way for more intelligent robots and computers.There are inevitably concerns about the consequenc-es of this ‘manipulation’ and creating computers, which can think for themselves. In Ger-many the media have dubbed the researchers ‘Team Franken-stein’.But Prof Markram said: “This will, when successful, help two billion people annually who suffer from some type of brain

impairment.”This is one of the three grand challenges for hu-manity. We need to understand earth, space and the brain. We need to understand what makes us human,” he added. Our brains have 100 billion neurons.

“Chocolate is one of the foods with the greatest appeal to the general population,” said Sunil Kochhar, Ph.D., one of the symposium par-ticipants at at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). “The luscious aroma, taste and textures of chocolate have delighted the senses of people in many parts of the world for centuries and make it a well-known comfort food.” Kochhar, who is with the Nestle Re-search Center in Lausanne, Switzer-land, is noted for landmark research that is helping to establish chocolate’s potential health benefits. He described one study, for instance, detailing the biochemical basis for chocolate’s reputation as a comfort food. The study, which included 30 healthy adults, found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate per day reduced levels of stress hormones and other indicators of emo-tional anxiety in people who felt stressed-out. “The flavonoids and other ingredients in choc-olate with beneficial health effects originate in cocoa,” Kochhar explained. “In making chocolate, cocoa seeds undergo natural fermentation before being processed into key ingredients for making chocolate - namely cocoa fat and cocoa powder.” Among other presentations at the symposium,

scientists reported about how the introduc-tion of new varieties of the cacao tree that re-sist “witch’s broom,” a fungal disease that has decimated some crops, may affect the taste of cocoa and chocolate. That chocolate may be useful in treating of diseases involving disorders of the trigeminal nerve, including migraine and temporoman-dibular joint (TMJ) disorder. The study found evidence that cocoa contains biologically active ingredients that soothe the nerve’s excitability, a probable cause of these disorders.

Findings about the biological basis of choco-late’s anti-inflammatory effects. Its rich con-tent of polyphenols inhibit secretion of certain enzymes into the small intestine that cause inflammation. How chocolate may be helpful in fighting cardiovascular problems for individuals with type 2 diabetes. Flavonoids in the chocolate strengthen mitochondria, the powerhouse of

body cells, which are in a weakened condition in patients with cardiovas-cular problems.On chocolate and high blood pres-sure. They found that flavonoids in chocolate lower blood pressure and thus might help in reducing heart disease risks. A cocoa-rich diet may reduce the risk of colon cancer by preventing un-desirable changes in the cells or de-

stroying cells that form precancerous lesions. That epicatechin, a beneficial antioxidant es-pecially rich in dark chocolate, strengthens cell membranes and offers protection from some forms of cardiovascular disease. Feeding chocolate to animals in laboratory experiments helped protect their livers from damage that can lead to liver disease. Chocolate consumption may be especially beneficial for cigarette smokers. Polyphenols in the dark chocolate act on blood platelets to prevent clot formation.

Tur-meric may help lower

heart attack risk in people post bypass surgery, thanks to

curcumin, the yellow pigment present in the spice which has

antioxidant and anti-inflam-matory properties.

Bypass surgery improves blood supply to the heart muscle. However, during the surgery that is usually per-formed with the heart stopped, the or-gan can be damaged by prolonged lack of blood flow, increasing the patient’s risk of heart attack. The new findings suggest that curcumins may reduce such risks when added to tradition-al drug treatments.The results need to be confirmed through further research, said Wanwarang Wongcha-roen from Chiang Mai University in Thailand, who led the study, the American Journal of Cardiology reported.Researchers at the Thai university studied 121 patients who had non-emergency bypass surgery between 2009 and 2011. Half the patients were given one-gram curcumin capsules to take four times a day, starting three days before their surgery and continu-ing for five days afterwards. The other half took the same number of drug-free placebo capsules. The researchers found that during their post-bypass hospital stays, 13 per cent of the pa-

tients who’d been taking curcumins had a heart attack, compared to 30 per cent in the placebo group. After accounting for any initial pre-surgery differences, Wongcharoen and his colleagues cal-c u - lated that

peo- ple on curcumins had a 65 per cent lower chance of heart attack.”It’s very, very encouraging,” said Bharat Aggarwal of the study. Aggarwal works

with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, which studies the use of curcumins in cancer therapy, according to the Daily Mail.According

to researchers, it is likely that the an-tioxidant and anti-inflammatory prop-erties of curcumin may have helped limit heart damage in the patients.

Getting great skin is now within your reach without spending oodles of money in the parlour. Here are some food and beverag-es to help boost your skin’s vitality Cocoa: The bean has high lev-els of flavanols, plant compounds with antioxidant properties that help protect skin from sun damage. Apart from sipping it in the morning and evening you can also use it as a bath soak - add 1/8 cup ground cocoa pow-der and 1/3 cup fat-free dry milk in your bathtub. Curd: The calcium and phospho-rus in it helps strengthen

tooth enamel and protect your teeth from cavities. It is also high in protein, which is an essential nu-trient for the production of collagen, a fibrous sub-

stance that keeps your skin looking young. You can also apply it to the face to sloughing away dead skin

cells and unclogging pores. Strawberries: The vitamin C in strawberries help protect skin from environmental damage. Puree the berries in a blender and mix in

chilled curd and add a half of lemon juice. This will help lighten dark spots. Strawber-ries have high dosage of vitamin C and ellag-ic acid which is essen-tial for the production of collagen and acts as an antioxidant. Avaca-do: It is the king of beauty foods. It is rich in antioxidants and essential fatty acids,

which help keep skin plump and smooth. Add avocados to salads and shakes to help bring out the shine.

Expert advice: Understanding gallbladder attack Super foods for great skin

Getting fit by cyclingThe Hindu Bicycle riders enjoy a sunrise

ont he Beach Road in Visakhapatnam. File photo

It is worth it having a bicycle helmet ruin your hairdo every morning. Cycling, after all, is healthy -- but only if the cyclist has a suit-able bike and cycles with the proper posture.

Having a healthy attitude is important, too.

Cycling is a good way to incorporate “measured” amounts of exercise into your daily routine, said Detlef Detjen, spokes-man for the Campaign for Healthier Backs (AGR), a German association dedicated to fostering research into preventing backache.

The two other main aerobic sports are swimming and jogging. So why should leisure-time athletes choose a bike over running shoes or a bathing suit? Andreas Strack, educational director of the German University of Applied Sciences for Preven-tion and Health Management in Saarbruecken, offered two compelling arguments: You go far-ther and you go faster.

“They get around a lot more,” Strack said of cyclists, which is a motivating factor. Experienc-ing the thrill of speed is another.

Cyclists know -- quite literally -- what it is like to be on a roll.

Riding a bicycle strengthens mainly the leg muscles but also has beneficial effects on the car-

diovascular system, Strack said. It is also easy on the joints.

“If you’re not well conditioned, jog too of-ten and for too long, and maybe are overweight to boot, at some point you can develop minor or major orthopaedic problems,” he said. Cycling’s

risks are much lower because the bike carries your weight. But other sports outpace cycling in efficiency.

“With cycling, you’ve got to allow for sub-stantially longer workouts,” Strack said, pointing out that cyclists needed about twice as long as joggers to achieve the same cardiovascular benefits.

Swimming is roughly comparable to jogging in this regard. The reason: Cycling does not work as many parts of the body si-multaneously.

According to Detjen, the key to healthy cycling is having the right bike. The wrong bike, or a wrongly adjusted one, can negate the positive effects of exercise, he warned.

Since “there’s no bike fit for everyone,” as Detjen said, the AGR has put together a list of bike—buying tips. One of them is: Don’t be afraid to buy a lady’s bike, even if you’re a man.

“A conventional man’s bicycle has a cross-bar, but it doesn’t have to,” Detjen remarked. He said that building a bike with a crossbar made it structurally sounder. Getting on re-quires swinging a leg over the bar, which puts a strain on the back.

New way to treat prostate cancer in men A new treatment for

prostate cancer can free the disease for nine in ten men without debilitating side effects, say scientists.

The result offers new hope for tens of thousands of men with prostate cancer.

It is hoped the new treatment, which involves heating only the tu-mours with a highly focused ultra-sound, will mean men can be treated without an overnight stay in hospital and avoiding the distressing side ef-fects associated with current therapies.

In a study, the scientists found that focal HIFU, high-intensity fo-cused ultrasound, provides the ‘per-fect’ outcome of no major side effects and free of cancer 12 months after treatment, in nine out of ten case,” the Telegraph reported.

Traditional surgery or radiother-apy can only provide the perfect out-come in half of cases currently.

Experts have said the results are ‘very encouraging’ and were a ‘para-digm’ shift in treatment of the disease.

It is hoped that large-scale trials can now begin so the treatment could be offered routinely on the NHS with-in five years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will say in new guidance next week that the treatment is safe and effective and larger scale trials should go ahead.

Focal HIFU involves careful selec-tion of tumours, as small as a grain of rice, within the prostate gland and tar-geting them with highly focused ultra-sound to heat them and destroy them.

The advantage over previous HIFU and other treatments is that damage to surrounding tissue is mi-nimised, meaning there are far fewer

side effects. In the study, 41 men were treated

with focal HIFU. After 12 months, none were incontinent and one in ten suffered impotence. The majority, 95 per cent, were free of cancer after 12 months

“This changes the paradigm. By focusing just on the areas of cancer we reduce the collateral damage to surrounding tissue,” said Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study at Univer-sity College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University Col-lege London. “Our results are very en-couraging. We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case sur-gical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects. That could mean a significant im-provement in their quality of life.

“This study provides the proof-of-concept we need to develop a much larger trial to look at whether focal therapy is as effective as the current standard treatment in protecting the health of the men treated for prostate cancer in the medium and long term,” he stated.

Chocolates loaded with health benefits

Experts from across the world recently re-ported about the emerging health benefits

and other aspects of chocolate - the food that has delighted people for almost 2,000 years.

Omega-3 fatty acid supplements may not help patients with relapsing-

remitting multiple sclerosis, according

to a new study. Multiple sclerosis is a

chronic, incurable disease of the central nervous system that affects about 2.5 million people worldwide. Some pa-tients use, or have tried, ome-ga-3 fatty acids supplemen-tation to control the disease because the essential fatty acids could theoretically have anti-inflammatory and neu-roprotective effects in mul-

tiple sclerosis, the authors wrote in their study back-ground. Oivind Torkildsen, M.D., Ph.D., of Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, and colleagues in-cluded 92 patients with mul-

tiple sclerosis in their double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to examine whether omega-3 fatty acid supple-mentation as a monotherapy (single therapy) or in com-bination with subcutaneous (under the skin) interferon beta-1a could reduce disease

activity. Half of the patients (46) were given omega-3 fatty acids - 1350 mg of eicos-apentaenoic acid and 850 mg of docosahexaenoic acid daily - and the other half (46) were administered placebo.

After 6 months, all patients received interferon beta-1a three times a week for another 18 months. Research-ers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure disease activity by the number of new T1-weighted gado-

linium-enhancing lesions in the brain. “The results from this study did not show any beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acid supplementation on disease activity in mul-tiple sclerosis as a monother-apy or in combination with interferon beta.

Omega-3 fatty acids do not help sclerosis patients

Turmeric lowers heart attack risk post surgery

Agencies

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took excep-tion to counsel Prashant Bhushan’s comment that it was hesitant in taking action against Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati, but later in the day accepted his apol-ogy that he did not intend to lower the esteem of the court or hurt judges.The apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha, hear-ing the matter of irregulari-ties in coal blocks allocation, capped the controversy as it recorded Mr. Bhushan’s statement: “I have highest regard for the court and if the

statement of mine has hurt the court, I apologise.”At the outset of the hearing, Justice Lodha said that when the extracts of the interview by Mr. Bhushan to a news mag-

azine were brought to their notice, they were deeply hurt. More so, because such a statement came from an arguing counsel and that too Mr. Bhushan.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER | 20 | 2013ZABARWAN TIMES 7

Two persons shot dead by Maoists, bandh in Odisha’s

MalkangiriMALKANGIRI (Odisha): Maoists

shot dead two persons in Odisha’s Malkangiri district suspecting them to be police informers even as a bandh was being observed by the ul-tras on Wednesday demanding with-drawal of security forces and halt to anti-Naxal operations.

A group of heavily armed ultras stormed into Bahiliguma village in remote Chitrakonda area late Tues-day night and gunned down Satirao Hantala (45) and Laxmi Khara (37) after calling them out of their houses, Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh said.

The assailants left the place im-mediately after committing the crime and swiftly disappeared into the nearby forest, he said.Hantala was be-lieved to have worked for the Maoists earlier but appeared to have snapped ties later, the police said. The ultras apparently killed the duo as they sus-pected them to be police informers.Security personnel rushed to the area soon after the incident and a combing operation was launched to track the ultras, the police said.

Cold reception for PM, Sonia in Mumbai

Harsh Vardhan takes on Sheila Dikshit, but only for reforms

Agencies

MUMBAI: High profile Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh and more than half a Union Cabinet members were in the city on Tuesday for the launch-ing of the first ever women’s bank in the memory of late PM Indira Gan-dhi, but the crisis-ridden Congress miserably failed to en-cash the land mark event.

On the occasion of their visit, there was not a single banner or post-er across the metropolis to welcome them. “It was for the first time in the history of the Mumbai Congress that the organization completely ignored the visit of both Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh,” a senior Congress minister told ToI.

If the Congress minister is to be believed, then an upset chief minis-ter Prithviraj Chavan asked women and child welfare minister Varsha Gaikwad and minority affairs minis-ter Naseem Khan to ensure that a few posters and banners are displayed at least near the airport. “It’s shocking, we did not seek even a single poster or banner,” the minister said.

Since the visit of the Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh and Sonia

Gandhi was decided a week ago, it was expected that in view of the guidelines prescribed by the Bom-bay high court either the Mumbai Congress led by Janardan Chan-dorkar or state Congress president Manikrao Thakre seek permission from the BMC for displaying ban-ners and posters. “No one approached the BMC, as a result, the visit went unno-ticed, particularly when the Lok Sabha polls are just six months away. Most of the Congress leaders were busy collecting their entry passes for the event,” he said.

In his budget speech, finance minister P Chidam-baram had declared that the Centre will set up a bank exclusively for the women folk. The launching was scheduled to be held in New-Delhi on November 19, the birth anniver-sary of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, however the venue of the event was shifted to Mumbai in view of the code of conduct in force fol-lowing the New Delhi assembly elec-tions.

On the day the election commis-sion declared the polls dates, it was

decided to launch the bank in Mum-bai and accordingly, it was informed to governor K Sankaranarayanan, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Chandorkar and Manikrao Thakre.

“Chavan was indeed upset over the complete failure of both Chandorkar and Thakre to take the advantage of visit of Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. We failed to create a pro-Congress atmosphere in the city on the occasion of their visit,” the min-ister said.

The minister pointed out that if there is no change in the approach of the Congress leaders, then it will be difficult for the party to take on the saffron combine in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Agencies

NEW DELHI: BJP’s chief min-isterial candidate Harsh Vard-han criticized her for failing to reform the city in every aspect in 15 long years, even as he ex-pressed his regard for Sheila Dikshit at a personal level.

Vardhan, who was at an in-teraction in Indian Women Press Corps on Tuesday, promised that Delhi will be granted “full state-hood” if his party comes to pow-er in the city as well as at the Centre for better coordination between agencies.

“Once we come to power and once Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister, of which we are confident, we will work on getting Delhi statehood,” he said while accusing Dikshit of never trying to get full statehood for Delhi despite being at the helm for so long.

Taking on Dikshit for her claims of development, Vardhan said it “starts with the Metro and ends with flyovers”. He also accused her of taking credit for projects started during the BJP rule. “There are multiple au-thorities and lack of coordina-tion leads to harassment of the public. Delhi needs statehood so that land and police come under it and all development programmes and policies can be

implemented well,” added Vard-han.

He said that a bill for grant-ing statehood to Delhi that was tabled in Parliament during the NDA regime, but it was referred to a parliamentary committee following reservations by Con-gress. He claimed that after the NDA lost the election, the bill was not taken up again.

Accusing Dikshit of doing nothing to improve the lives of people, Vardhan said BJP will make Delhi a better city if it comes to power.

“I want to return Delhi back to Delhiiites. Delhi has lost a lot in the last 15 years. Delhi was known for its values, art, culture and greatness on so many other fronts. But it has become inhu-man now and things have be-come mechanical,” he said.

“She failed on every front. There has been acute shortage of paramedical staff, essential drugs at hospitals, power and water scarcity, inflation, scams, corruption. Thousands of posts for teachers are lying vacant in schools,” he said.

Prashant Bhushan apologises to Supreme Court

Nitish rubbishes BJP's telephone tapping charge

He is in the eye of a storm over alleged snooping of a woman

in 2009Agencies

Amid the war of words between former NDA allies, Bihar Chief Minis-ter Nitish Kumar today rubbished BJP’s allegations of telephone tapping and snooping and took a jibe at Narendra Modi, saying his government does not have expertise in them like a ‘big leader from the west’.

“We do not have expertise in sting operations and snooping like a big lead-er from the west who specialises in such acts,” Kumar told reporters to a question on allegations of telephone tapping and sting operation levelled against him by senior BJP leader and his former deputy

Sushil Kumar Modi.Narendra Modi, Kumar’s bete noire,

is in the eye of a storm over alleged snooping of a woman in 2009.

Sushil Modi had yesterday charged Kumar with ordering tapping of phones of the party’s leaders and carrying out

sting operations to settle po-litical scores.

The charges followed Nitish Kumar deriding him for scold-ing party leaders at Hajipur for inadequate attendance of me-diapersons when he had gone there last week to meet those injured in the October 27 serial blasts.

The episode was put on Youtube in which Sushil Ku-mar Modi is seen angrily tell-ing partymen that reporters of only a few TV news channels were present and the channels would drop his programme af-ter two hours to highlight BJP

Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.It seemed Sushil Modi was in competition with the BJP prime min-isterial candidate (Narendra Modi) for whom he was initially firing salvos at him, Kumar had added.

Rahul Gandhi ridicules BJP govt's claim of laying roads

Agencies

NEW DELHI: BJP on Wednesday warned Congress that it should desist from raking up the issue of the alleged snoop-ing of a woman by Gujarat government, saying the party “would have nowhere to hide if the skeletons in its cupboards are brought in the open”.

Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said Congress should let the matter rest now that the girl’s father has written to the National Commission for Women stating that the Nar-endra Modi government had made security arrangements for his daughter with the fam-ily’s consent.

“I think Congress should stop at that. If personal attacks begin, Congress has many skel-etons in its cupboards and it will have nowhere to hide,” Ja-vadekar told reporters.

He remarked that, bereft of any issue, the ruling party had resorted to the “disgraceful” tactic of attacking the privacy of a family to target Modi.

“This is disgraceful and dangerous. Let’s do politics of issues,” he said.

BJP also attacked finance minister P Chid-ambaram for his attack at Modi over the issue yesterday.

Javadekar said that instead of attacking a family’s privacy, Chidambaram should talk about price rise, the fall in the value of the ru-pee and rising unemployment.

“The first time I have heard that there is a request for providing security and in that wonderful state (Gujarat), security is provid-ed by stalking and snooping,” Chidambaram

had said in his comments.Congress and BJP have been sparring over

the issue after two investigative portals re-leased audio tapes allegedly of conversations between the then Gujarat home minister and Modi aide Amit Shah and an IPS officer dis-cussing the surveillance of the woman.

Congress said it was illegal and showed how individual liberty was being undermined by the Modi government while BJP asserted that it was part of security arrangements for her with her father having sought the same.

Gujarat snooping row: Beware of ‘skeletons in cupboard’, BJP tells Congress

16 dead in Uttarakhand accidentAgenceis:

DEHRADUN: At least 17 persons aged between 25 to 45 years, including 6 wom-en, were killed and 5 seriously injured on early Wednesday, after a private taxi carry-ing these 22 persons from remotely located Ranthi village to Dharchul town on Kailash Mansorvar-Dharchula road, in Pithoragarh district, skidded of the road and fell into a 100-meter deep ravine.

A senior IPS officer said a 10-member police rescue team has managed to recover all 14 bodies from the ravine, two hours af-ter the accident. DIG (Kumaon range) G N Goswami said the incident occurred around 7am when the taxi was returning to Dhar-chula tehsil from Ranthi village, some 25km from Dharchula.

Goswami said that the accident oc-curred as driver of an overloaded speeding taxi applied the brake to negotiate a sharp bend near Dobat crossing, to head for Dhar-chula, it suddenly slipped off and fell into a roadside ravine. DIG Goswami said while 14 persons including six women aged between

28 to 40 year, died on the spot, two others succumbed to their deep head and other multiple injuries in Dharchula Community Health Center (CHC), soon after they were admitted there.

A senior MO in Dharchula CHC said five other seriously injured are also admitted there in a critical condition.

“As most of the injured are in a critical condition, possibility of them being suc-cumbed to injuries cannot be ruled out”, said a senior medical officer at Dharchula.

A senior police officer in Pithoragarh told TOI that the accident occurred primarily be-cause of the taxi being overloaded and rash and negligient driving. Chief minister Vijay Bahguna has expressed his shock over those killed and injured in the accident. Bahuguna said he has asked Pithoragarh DM and other senior officials concerned to immediately release an ex-gratia to the kin of those killed and seriously injured in the incident. “I have also asked senior medical authorities to re-fer the injured persons to a higher medical centre in Dehradun for better and immedi-ate treatment”, said CM Bahugna.

BJP’s PM candidate has neither shame nor morals: Manish TewariAgencies:

There is no question of asking Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to resign following the “unauthorized” surveillance scandal because BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has neither shame nor morals, Information and Broadcast-ing Minister Manish Tewari said here Wednes-day.

Tewari was taking political questions at a press conference in Panaji ahead of the inau-guration ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Responding to a question as to whether Modi should resign following the revelations of the controversial tapes, Tewari said: “Resigna-

tions should be sought from those who have morals.”

“If he had any shame, he would have re-

signed after the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat. This is a shame,” Tewari further said without nam-ing Modi directly.

The image of Narendra Modi and his aide Amit Shah is under cloud after the tapes re-leased by the media last week revealed that a woman allegedly had been put under surveil-lance by the state government.

The tapes also revealed that the state anti-terror police was allegedly keeping tabs on her, purportedly on the request of her father who feared for his daughter’s safety.

“It is a travesty. Putting people under un-authorised surveillance is a criminal offence which is punishable under our constitution,” Tewari said.

Agencies

DHAR (Madhya Pradesh): With BJP tom-tomming about development of roads in states ruled by it, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said mere creation of infrastructure has no meaning till the needy have access to education and healthcare.

“It is not that we do not create infrastructure. But the opposi-tion’s thinking is that you make roads and everything will be all right...(but) the poor don’t get benefit from the roads,” he said at an election rally here.

The Congress vice-president said while farmers sweat it out in their fields, the roads and airports are used by the selective rich.

“Roads alone won’t give food to the child or a woman... from his field, a farmer sees an aircraft and hopes that one day his chil-dren will travel by it,” Gandhi said, castigating the BJP govern-ment in Madhya Pradesh.

He said in Rajasthan, the Congress government has provided free medicine to people.

Gandhi said when the government brought employment guarantee scheme, people asked about the funds required.

“When we talk about needs of dalits, tribals, minorities and the poor, we are asked about funds...but people remain silent when the sand mafia robs you,” he said.

Mumbai girl stalked on Face-book, commits

suicide

A 14-year-old girl reportedly committed suicide on Tuesday after she was allegedly stalked and hu-miliated on Facebook by a 16-year-old boy in Mumbai.

The girl ended her life after she was continuously stalked by a boy who posted explicit material on her Facebook page, said a newspaper report.

The Class IX student was a resi-dent of Kandivali West.

The girl's parents called the po-lice that they found her body hang-ing in the study room.

According to the girl's father, a 16-year-old boy was posting ob-scene messages on his daughter's Facebook page for the past few days.

He had also gone to a police sta-tion to lodge a complaint against the boy. He also alleged that police did not take any interest in the case and told him to go back without fil-ing any complaint.

A police official said they had identified the boy. He has not yet been arrested.

Agencies

It would be a mistake to believe that India will enjoy an upper hand against the West Indies in the ODI series just because the Caribbean side has lost the Test series, Mahendra Singh Dhoni said.

India had won the series 2-0, but Dhoni said it was not an easy task to get that scoreline and the ODI for-mat may actually suit the West Indies cricketers.

“The West Indies are a good team. You may say that the Test matches got over on the third day itself and it was easy, but it was not. There were situ-ations where we were under pressure and then we had to build a partner-ship. It was not an easy series as the scorecards suggest,” Dhoni said at the pre-match press conference.

“It is important that we take the match with a right frame of mind and not thinking about whether the oppo-sition played well or not.”

Most of the matches in the ODI se-ries against Australia were high score affairs. Asked if similar scores could be expected in the three-match series, the Indian skipper said it could not be predicted at this stage.

“It all depends on how the wicket here is going to behave. Before the start, it is not easy to say what will be the good score to win a match. We will see how the wicket behaves and then we plan and may be 260 or 280 could

be a good score if it becomes flat. If the dew factor comes into play, then an average of 230 or 240 could be an ideal score.”Dhoni said his players have worked hard on bowling in the death overs, and hoped that the re-sults will show on the field gradually.

“They are putting in a lot of effort and we have seen a lot of improve-ment in that front. I am hoping that they come out well after the effort they are putting in,” he said.

Dhoni said there was no fixed slot for any batsman in the team and the batting order maybe changed accord-ing to the situation, but emphasised

that number four slot was crucial.“Number four is the platform

where you consolidate the innings. It is a very huge slot and who will bat at four or five you will have to wait and watch. We do not give anyone a slot that you will bat at number four or five or so on. It all depends on the number of overs available.

“If a good partnership is going and they bat for 30 or 32 overs, then we shuffle our batting order. It depends on the situation,” he said.

Talking about Yuvraj Singh’s comeback, Dhoni said,”The condi-tions will be tough. You know it is very

humid out there. So, I think it is very important that he enjoys the game without thinking about our perfor-mance in the Test series. One has to be in a good frame of mind.”

Asked if he had a team from the current lot of players in mind for the next World Cup, he said, “As of now, we have to get a pool of bowlers. That is what we are doing. Most of them have done well at the domestic levels and they have also played in few in-ternational matches and done well. But we have to see them in few more games to see as to how they bowl and then we will have a fair idea as to what needs to be done.“We are trying to give the present lot chances and of course there are priority and at the same time you are looking at winning the ODI se-ries. It is a slow process and it is good if they are able to get their chances in the middle and see how they handle pressure,” the skipper added.Asked If the Indian team was under pressure to win ODIs against the West Indies after an emotional series and before embarking for South Africa tour, Dho-ni said there was nothing new when it comes to pressure.“You are talking about emotions but we will have to see which was difficult. Whenever an Indian team plays whichever the op-position, we play irrespective of where we are playing. We are always set to be under pressure and we always are set in a situation where it is difficult to win a series.

Force India eye strong finish to end 2013 season

Agencies

SAO PAULO: Sahara Force India would not be complacent going to Brazil-ian Grand Prix, final race of the F1 season, as the team wants to finish sixth on the constructors title and the drivers want to sign off on a high on Sun-day.Force India enjoy a strong 24-point lead over Sauber and are not likely to lose the sixth position.

“I think the odds are in our favour, but there’s no room for complacency. We need to make sure we get the job done in Interla-gos,” Team Principal Vijay Mallya said.

“The weather forecast is for some rain and that

would introduce an element of unpredictability. That was the case last year when Nico [Hulkenberg] was leading the race, so we have good memories of Interlagos.”

Paul Di Resta said the small 4.309km Interla-gos circuit is difficult to negotiate.“Because it’s such a small track every hundredth and thousandth of a second

becomes even more critical in qualifying. The lap has a very nice flow with a real variation of corners. There are fast sections, slow cor-

ners, elevation changes and off-camber parts of the lap. It may be small, but it has everything you need from a track.“..It would be great to round off the year with a special result. The weather fore-cast looks uncertain and it’s a track which always generates an interest-ing Grand Prix. It’s the final race for the V8 en-gines so I really hope we

can end the era on a positive note.”Adrian Sutil said the track should suit their car and likely wet conditions would also benefit them.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER | 21| 2013Zabarwan times6

Agencies

DEHRADUN: Sachin Tendulkar, who an-nounced his retirement from the international cricket, on Wednesday arrived in Mussoorie to spend a quiet vacation with his fam-ily.

The legendary batsman, ac-companied by wife Anjali, headed straight for the hill station soon af-ter landing at Jollygrant Airport in a chartered plane, airport authority officials said.

Tendulkar would be staying at a family friend and business partner Sanjay Narang’s hotel in Mussoorie.

Tendulkar had spent a few days in Mussoorie last year also after an-nouncing his retirement from the ODI cricket.

The master blaster used to visit this hill station along with his family to cel-ebrate Christmas and the New Year.

Tendulkar brought the curtains down on his glittering career after playing his final and

200th Test last week against the West Indies. He bowed out as the most successful bats-

man in international cricket with 15,921 runs in 200 Tests. In his ODI career, the Mumbai-kar amassed 18,426 runs in 463 matches.

Tendulkar is the only batsman in interna-tional cricket to score 100 centuries. He was the first batsman to get a double hundred in one-dayers.

Sachin Tendulkar arrives in Mussoorie after retirement

We are more confident in limited overs format: D. Bravo

Dhoni refuses to underestimate WindiesAgencies

BANGALORE: There is a definite Bengal flavour in Padma awards for sports this year. Tennis star Leander Paes is the Union sports ministry’s lone choice for Padma Bhushan while veteran footballer Arun Ghosh has been nominated for Padma Shri.

Also in the Padma Shri mix is the Kolk-

ata-born table tennis legend Indu Puri, who moved to New Delhi to further her career in the game in the 1970s and 80s and won the national title a record eight times.

Former national shooting coach Sunny Thomas and wrestler Late Khashaba Jad-hav, who won India’s first individual Olym-pic medal (bronze) at Helsinki in 1952, too have been shortlisted for the award.

Paes, who won the US Open doubles

title in August with Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, is the only sportsman recommended by the ministry for Padma Bhushan. Last year, the ministry had for-warded the names of Rahul Dravid (cricket) and Sushil Kumar (wrestling) for the same honour and Dravid ended up getting it.

Paes, who got the Arjuna award in 1990, the Khel Ratna in 1997 and the Padma Shri

in 2001, has won the min-istry’s vote for his con-sistent performance on the ATP circuit. He has 53 titles against his name including the Winston-Salem crown with Daniel Nestor of Canada and the US Open title this year.

He would be only the second tennis player from the country to be bestowed the honour after Ramana-than Krishnan in 1967.

A 1960 Olympian ( Rome), Ghosh was also a gold medallist at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta.

He served as India’s coach and AIFF’s tech-nical director later in his career.

The Union home ministry will make its final choices from this list. Last year, Sushil’s recommendation was rejected although he had won the silver at the London Olympics owing to a guideline that says that there has to be a gap of five years between two Padma awards to the same sportsperson. Sushil had been given the Padma Shri in 2011.

Agencies

Kochi: Seeking to put the humili-ating Test-series defeat behind them, West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo on Wednesday said his team is more comfortable and confident in playing the limited-overs format as it gives them freedom to express themselves.

“This format (ODIs) gives us more freedom. In Tests, it is about balance of skills and other things. It is a dif-ferent story altogether here. The Test series loss is behind us now. We see ourselves more comfortable with this format and more confident too,” Bravo told reporters on the eve of first one-dayer here.Bravo, who joined the team for the ODI series, said they are aware of the challenge in front of them, and is expecting his players to put their best foot forward.

“We are aware of playing the world champions. We respect their strengths but at the same time we know as to what we need to do to win matches. It is not going to be easy. We will represent ourselves well in

the coming one day series,” he said.The recent matches against Aus-

tralia witnessed totals over 300 being scored frequently and Bravo said he would want his bowlers to bowl bet-ter than their Indian counterparts.

“It happened in different condi-tions and different venues and differ-ent bowlers as well. So, our bowlers are mostly in different mould of tal-ents. If we can bowl better in this se-ries than India, it will be better for us.

“I think One-day and T20 cricket gives you more freedom. One player could be turn out to be a match win-ner. That is why this format is rather easy for us playing be it against In-dia or Sri Lanka. As long as you play smart in a 50-over match, then one could win the series,” the allrounder said.While the Caribbean side pos-sess genuine quickies like Ravi Ram-paul and Tino Best, Bravo wants his bowlers to not only look for pace but mix up their deliveries to get success in the Indian conditions.

“It is good we have two good fast bowlers in our ranks. They are used

to bowling 140 and above. But, here in India, there are small fields and batting friendly pitches. One has to display his skills and not bowl with too much pace. Most of the guys who bowl sheer pace haven’t been successful,” Bravo said.

Bravo, who was appointed ODI cap-tain earlier this year, said he would like to emulate his India opposite number Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni under whom he plays in the Indian Premier League.“Most of the West Indian and In-dian players have been together playing in IPL for dif-ferent team. We are definitely going all out to give our best for our coun-try. As a new captain, I will certainly try and emulate Dhoni in certain ways,” the 30-year-old said.

Asked about the slump in West

Indian cricket in the recent years, Bravo said sufficient opportunities should be given to the youngsters to showcase their talent.

“There are ups and downs in every players performance and as a team we have not been consistent and our senior players were not playing. But, now we have a new and young team and when there are changes in the team, there are more challenges.

‘Mr Ego’ Pietersen set to sweep to 100th TestAgencies

BRISBANE (Australia): He’s “arrogant” and “Mr. Ego”, but as he prepares for his 100th Test this week

in Brisbane, England’s Kevin Pietersen is not just unapologetic, he seems to be loving the attention.

The swaggering, flashy batsman with a mouth to match has been the main target of Australian me-dia in the Ashes build-up, eclipsing even unpopular bowler Stuart Broad.

“He’s so arrogant not even his own team likes him,” read a headline in Brisbane’s Courier-Mail, while another report said he was “widely despised in the cricketing community”.But Pietersen, whose

South African accent has marked him out as different for his entire England career, has shown every sign of relishing the exchanges.Like Broad, who is under attack for failing to give himself out at a key moment in the last Ashes series, Pietersen has happily returned fire.

In mainly good-humoured exchanges on Twitter, Pietersen labelled Australians as “convicts” and suggested nobody outside the country had even heard of Brisbane.

As he approached the 100 Test milestone, Pietersen, who has survived turbulent times to remain a linchpin of the England side, ex-plained why he can come across as brash.

“I’ve got to be confident in my ability,” he said. “Clearly, as a South African coming into Eng-land, I had to really fight some tough battles and had to be single-minded in achieving what I’ve had to try and achieve.

“I can’t help people thinking that I’m arrogant. I think a lot of great sportsmen out there have that

little bit of something to them that makes them try and be the best and want to be the best.

“I call it confidence. You guys (media) call it ar-rogance, it makes for better headlines.”

Pietersen, born and raised in South Africa, has been a controversial figure since opting to represent the native country of his mother.

Even his telling contributions with the bat have failed to convince doubters, who still question whether the man with the Three Lions tattoo should be wearing an England shirt.His maiden Test cen-tury was an audacious counter-assault against an at-tack including Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Shane Warne that saw England wrest back the Ashes in 2005.And in Mumbai last year, he made 186 against India on a spinners’ pitch where most batsmen were struggling just to stay at the crease.

Pietersen’s decision to abandon South Africa was partly motivated by the post-apartheid quota sys-tem, which he felt was harming his prospects.

The fact that South Africa, which classed him as an off-spinner who batted, didn’t quite realise what they had may have been due to Pietersen’s unortho-doxy.An initial overly-long stride forward, and an ability to whip off-stump deliveries through mid-wicket, are not in the coaching manual.

Agencies

15-year-old Mumbai teenager Prithvi Shaw created a national record today, hitting an astonishing 546 playing for Rizvi Spring-field against St Francis D’Assisi Borivali in an inter-school match for the prestigious Harris Shield here today.

Touted as one of the bright young pros-pects emerging out of Mumbai school of batsmanship, the state U-16 captain Prithvi hit 85 boundaries and five sixes in the match played at the Azad Maidan.In the process, Shaw became the first schoolboy cricketer to hit a 500 plus score in an official inter-school match. Prithvi eclipsed his senior schoolmate and former India opener Wasim Jaffer’s nephew Arman’s score of 498, which he scored a few years back.

Having bowled out St Francis for 92, Shaw was unbeaten on 257 off 166 balls yes-terday and smashed another 289 runs on the day.

It was Harris Shield, which first brought Sachin Tendulkar into national prominence after his world record partnership of 664

with Vinod Kambli that was broken a few years back.The previous highest by an In-dian in any form of registered competitive cricket is 515 by Dadabhoy Havewala for BB and CI Railway vs St. Xavier’s College at

Mumbai during 1933-34 season.This is the third highest score if one goes by all the reg-istered scorecards available worldwide since the inception of competitive cricket. As per available information, AEJ Collins scored

628 not out in a competitive match in Eng-land in 1899 and CJ Eady struck 566 in an-other competitive match in 1901.There has been a buzz about Prithvi’s immense talent in the Mumbai cricket circuit for quite some time. He also went on a cricket scholarship to the United Kingdom where he had trained at the Gloucestershire academy and also played some practice matches for their sec-ond team.His personal coach is Raju Pathak and father Pankaj Shaw has been everything for the boy, who lost his mother when he was only four years old. Father Pankaj, who is a Bengali by birth, has a modest income but he has tried his best to give his son best of facili-ties. That he was talented also helped as he got scholarships from various associations.

From the age of eight, he used to travel around 70 kms from suburban Virar to be in time for his coaching camp and matches in Mumbai Maidans.With performances like these, there is a possibility that the junior se-lection committee under the chairmanship of Connor Williams will be seriously think-ing about Shaw with the Under-19 World Cup in mind next year.

Baskaran to be part of Indian hockey team's coaching staff

Agencies

NEW DELHI: Hockey India on Wednesday appointed for-mer Olympic gold-medallist V Baskaran as a coach of the men’s national team to work under the recently-appointed chief coach Terry Walsh.

“Baskaran has joined the training camp of the senior men’s hockey team at SAI Centre, Bho-pal for preparations of the FIH World League Finals in Delhi in January 2014 and the FIH World Cup to be held in The Nether-lands next year,” the HI said in a statement.

HI secretary general Narinder Batra felt Baskaran’s experience will come in handy for the team. Baskaran has coached the team several times, the last time at the 2006 Men’s Hockey World Cup in Monchengladbach.

Currently he is the chief coach

of Bhopal Badshahs in World Se-ries Hockey league.

“Mr Baskaran will form an integral part of the coaching staff headed by Mr Terry Walsh. I am sure his valuable experience will help the Indian team in its 2014 World Cup and help take Indian hockey to new heights,” Batra said.

Baskaran said he was pleased to come back as coach for the side. “It’s a pleasant comeback for me with the senior men national team. It will be excellent to work with Mr. Terry Walsh for the betterment of Indian Hockey,” he said. Baskaran, who was the captain of the team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, has 287 international caps and has represented India in the Olympic Games in 1976 Mon-treal, two World Cups in 1973 Amsterdam (Silver) and in 1978 Buenos Aires.

Leander Paes recommended for Padma Bhushan