VOL: 2 ISSUE 58
BJP tries to woo
Vijayakant's DMDK
Chennai, March 18,
Amid intense efforts by
Congress to bring
Vijayakant's DMDK into
DMK-led front in Tamil
Nadu, BJP has also held
discussions on a possible
tie-up with the actor-
turned-politician for the
Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP, which
is without any allies in the
state so far, has held
"some preliminary talks"
with DMDK, BJP state
president L Ganesan told
reporters here.
Mr. Ganesan,
however, declined to
attach much importance
to the talks with the party,
which polled eight per
cent of the votes in the
2006 Assembly elections
March 18, 2009
Parkava Kula community
raising its head in TN
Chennai, March 18: The Motherland Pictures Having over one
and is perceived to be a invitation to the DMDK Parkava Kula community Kovaithambi. crore voters belonging to
significant player in the and blamed a section of comprising Moopanars, Addressing the their community in the
Parliamentary polls. media for such reports. Nainars and Udayars is media, Mr. Pachamuthu state the Sangam seeks
The state Mr. Ganesan
politics, of late, has said DMDK could retain
already seen the two its 'identity' as a party
major regional party opposed to the two
DMK and AIADMK Dravidian parties if it
becoming part of UPA aligned with BJP.
Photo S. Mohan
just raising its head after said that continuously sufficient representation
a century of its existance. their community is as a Sangam in the
The 100-year- denied the opportunities forthcoming parliamentary
old Tamil Nadu Parkava by major political parties elections. At a later date is
the newly made third "DMDK will Kula Sangam, which in Tamil Nadu. Hence to likely to become a political
front respectively. lose its identity by claims that the make their voice heard at outfit said Lawyer Rajan
Congress has aligning with either of community has over 65 the state level and at the who is also a high level
openly expressed its the (Dravidian) parties, lakh voters, is proposing central level their committee member.
to float the party with a community is organsing Talking on the
desire that DMDK but can retain it by view to striving for the a massive rally on March sidelines of the meeting
should be part of the aligning with BJP," he welfare and growth of the 29 at Kallakurichi near Mr. Pachamuthu said we
DMK-led front and said. community. Villupuram and that wil want our requests to be
reportedly stepped up Mr. Ganesan Chairman of the show our strength to the acceded by the political
efforts to woo said parleys were also SRM group of insitutions, political parties. parties and we would
Vijayakant's party. But, held with the All India T R Pachamuthu, who It may be noted support them in toto.
also heads the Parkava that the Parkava Kula W i t h t h e
Tamil Nadu CM and Samathuva Makkal Kula Sangam's Community is the decider rejuvenated Parkava Kula
D M K c h i e f M Katchi (AISMK), led by parliamentary board in almost 40 assembly Sangam outfit taking
Karunanidhi had denied actor R Sarathkumar. (High Level Committee), constituencies of the shape Tamil Nadu is all set
having extended any -Agencies is the key person behind State and that the to see another caste based
the move. who is ably parties woo them in party in the near future.
s u p p o r t e d b y every election. -Staff Reporter
Page 2 Times Chennai E-Paper
Ramadoss postpones alliance decision
Chennai, March 18 : So
now we have to wait for
some more days to know
which way the PMK
swings. The party’s
general body meeting,
scheduled for Wednesday
to decide on pre-poll
alliance, has been called
off, according to party
sources.
“Till Monday, we
were of the impression that
the meeting would be held
on Wednesday but since
we have not been informed
about it even by late
Tuesday evening, they
must have called it off,”
HC orders notice on IIT
Registrar appointment
Chennai, Mar 18 : The
Madras High Court has
ordered notice on a quo
warranto petition
questioning the legal
validity of the appointment
of Mr K Panchalan as
Registrar of IIT-Madras.
Admitting the
petition filed by IIT SC/ST
Employees Welfare
Association general
secretary V Neethinathan,
J u s t i c e V advertisement for the
Ramasubramanian
Plus 2 exam blues: Economics
paper hoodwinks
Chennai March 18
Language bloopers and
conceptual questions
dismayed the Class XII
students writing
Economics paper of the
State Board Examinations,
here on Tuesday .
T h e m o s t
common complaint was the
question number 78, which
was on the elasticity of
demand. It required
students to explain the
methods of measurement
of price elasticity of
demand in detail whereas
the Tamil question was
worded differently and did
not mention that a few
aspects of the question had
to be answered in detail,
said an Economics teacher
at a Government Higher
Secondary School in city.
But another
Economic teacher said the
question number 78 was
more explicit in English
than in Tamil. The students
of Tamil medium attempted
the question in detail only
said a district-level
leader, and member of
the general council.
The eleventh
hour cancellation of the
general body has been
attributed to
differences
among the
top brass of
the party
over the
issue of
alliance.
It is
said that
Union Health
Minister
Anbumani
Ramadoss,
favours the
D M K -
Congress combine, while
senior leader Kaduvetti
Guru wants the party to
go with the AIADMK-Left
combine.
However, more
than the individual
preferences of the
leaders, the larger
question appears to be
the ability to win and long-
term political survival.
yesterday directed the IIT
administration and the
Centre to file counter
within two weeks.
Seeking to
know under what
authority Mr Panchalan
was holding the post, the
petitioner sought to
restrain him from
functioning as registrar.
The petitioner
further submitted that the
post of registrar issued in
because it was for 20
marks, but the language
blooper had resulted in
confusion for the
examinees, he said.
Janaki Raman,
an Economics teacher at
the Corporation Higher
Secondary School, CIT
Nagar, said six one-mark
questions were not as per
the blueprint rules given
by the Department of
G o v e r n m e n t
Examinations. He also
said the exam paper
should carry questions
only from the back of the
book but this exam
contained questions
which were conceptual
and not exactly those
given at the back of the
books.
There was a
huge gap between the
questions given in
English and Tamil with no
exact translation, he said.
It just confused the
students and a lot of time
was wasted in
March 18, 2009
Take action against lawyers, cops
Party founder S Chennai, March 18: action against the met Radhakrishnan at the
Ramadoss fears that the The Tamil Nadu Press advocates who were commissionerate office
cadre might crossvote Photographers allegedly preventing and complained against
and undermine the Association on Tuesday them from doing their the advocates who
party’s chances of urged the City Police duties and also reportedly assaulted the
winning as many seats as Commissioner K assaulting them. The Tamil daily photographer.
it won in the last Radhakrishnan to initiate association members -Agencies
elections. He is also
concerned over the party
losing its credibility if it
were to go back to the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms
DMK after the verbal
duels between Amendment Act upheld
Ramadoss and CM M Chennai, Mar 18 : The statement of objects and petitioners ignoring the
Karunanidhi. Madras High Court has reasons, the amendment legal provision, such an
According to upheld Tamil Nadu Land was to make the section order could only be a nullity
party sources, Anbumani Reforms (Fixation of in consonance with the as it had not taken note of
Ramadoss feels that the Ceiling on Land) Second principles laid down by the true legislative
PMK vote bank has Amendment Act, 1994. the Supreme Court and to meaning as well as the
shrunk and it would be Dismissing a make it clear that if any intent and purport of
safer to sail with the VCK. batch of writ petitions by transfer or partition, had Section 22.
On the other hand, an R Sivashanmugam and the effect of reducing the The provision as
AIADMK alliance would others challenging the extent of surplus land in amended by the impugned
make it difficult for the constitutional validity of excess of the ceiling Act had restored the
party to win seats, as the the amendment Act, area, such transfer or correct meaning and the
AIADMK and MDMK do Justice K Chandru, citing partition whether bona spirit of the Act. The Judge
not have a strong base in rulings, said it was clear fide or not, should be said the petitioners had no
the northern districts. So that the legislature had construed as defeating vested right in making a
it may need the DMK and the power to enact a the provisions of the transfer to defeat the very
Congress to win seats in retrospective legislation legislation. purpose of the legislative
the region, considered a for the purpose of It was also to injunction over such
PMK bastion. clarifying certain make provisions for transfers.
ambiguities. validating all acts done or F u r t h e r, t h e
-Agencies The present proceedings taken by the amendment itself had put
amendment did not make authorised officer and to an embargo by prescribing
a new amendment to
section 22, but only gave
reopen the past cases,
based on the apex court's
a limitation for reopening
the issues beyond five
a statutory backing to the judgment. years from the date of the
interpretation given by The Judge said gazette notification.
August 2007 had the Supreme Court in a if an Authorised Officer
stipulated several case, the judge said. had given an order in -Agencies
conditions tailor-made According to the favour of any of the
for Mr Panchalan.
Describing the
selection process as
mockery, the petitioner
association wanted the
authorities to recover the
salary from the terminal
benefits of the registrar,
scheduled to retire from
service this month.
-Agencies
understanding the
question, he added.
According to Suganti
Rajaraman, an
Economics teacher at a
State Board Syllabus
School in T Nagar, the
students were baffled as
they attempted the one-
mark questions first with
the general assumption
that they were not very
difficult.
C
C h a n d r a s h e k h a r, a
Class XII student
admitted that the
question was indeed
confusing but most of his
friends had attempted it
somehow. However,
students of private
schools said that they
encountered no such
problem while attempting
the paper. There are a
total of 81 questions in
t h e e x a m p a p e r,
including three 20-mark
questions.
-Agencies
March 18, 2009 Times Chennai E-Paper News You Can Use
Mission Netaji contests Italian
envoy's views on his death
Mumbai, March 18: An
organisation researching
Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose's death on Tuesday
criticised Italian
ambassador Alessandro
Quaroni's remarks that
there was no point in
continuing research on
whether Netaji died in a
plane crash on August 18,
1945.
In a statement,
Mission Netaji, the
research unit said, there is
a historical evidence which
held Netaji did not die in a
plane crash.
Mr. Quaroni at the
112th birth anniversary of
Netaji in Kolkata recently
said, "I don't see any point
in continuing with the
research on whether he
Discovery docks with space station
Washington, March 18:
The space shuttle
Discovery docked with the
International Space Station
(ISS) on Tuesday for a
construction mission that
will allow the station to
double its crew.
The Discovery
will deliver the fourth and
final solar panel that will
enable ISS to double the
size of its crew to six
astronauts. Three
spacewalks are planned to
install the solar panels and
conduct other construction
p r o j e c t s . T w o
died in a crash or not."
Mr. Quaroni is
the son of diplomat Pietro
Quaroni who helped
Netaji escape to Moscow
in 1941.
Mission Netaji
cited reference to a note
preserved in the
Princeton University
Library which clearly
q u o t e s M r. P i e t r o
Quaroni as saying that he
did not think the news of
Bose's accidental death
was true.
The Mission's
statement also refers to a
note written by Mahatma
Gandhi's biographer
Louis Fischer who met
Mr. Pietro Quaroni in
Moscow in November
1946 and quoted him
spacewalkers will put the
panels in place on
Thursday with help from
the station's robotic arm.
"Welcome to the Space
Station, Discovery. We're
glad you're here," the ISS
crew said as the two craft
made contact at 2120
GMT above Australia.
The mission will
also deliver Japanese
astronaut Koichi Wakata,
who is to officially join the
permanent crew on the
orbiting space station
l a t e r T u e s d a y. I n
recognition of the
saying it was possible
"that Bose is still alive".
Mr. Pietro
Quaroni had told Mr.
Fischer that Netaji "did
not want the British to
look for him so the false
rumour of his death was
circulated and he may be
biding his time for a
return to India."
V . P. S a i n i ,
convenor of the Netaji
Subhas Kranti Manch,
which is also researching
Netaji's death has asked
the Italian Prime Minister,
in a letter, whether the
ambassador was
speaking on behalf of
Italian government.
- Agencies
Japanese crew member,
the first permanent ISS
resident from that
c o u n t r y, D i s c o v e r y
astronauts awoke
Tuesday morning to
Radio Exercise, a song
used by Japanese
school children to
exercise, and performed
by the Tokyo Broadcast
Children's Choir.
The shuttle
launched Sunday after
weeks of delays caused
by concerns about
hydrogen fuel valves and
a later leak in a fuel vent.
-Agencies
KISS' therapy for infertile women
Washington, March 18:
British researchers claim
that hormone kisspeptin
shows promise as a
potential new treatment
for infertility.
The study, led
by Dr Waljit Dhillo from
Imperial College London,
has shown that giving
kisspeptin to women with
infertility can activate the
release of sex hormones,
which control the
menstrual cycle.
According to
researchers, the study
could lead to a new
fertility therapy for
women with low sex
hormone levels.
Kisspeptin is a
product of the KISS-1
gene and is a key
regulator of reproductive
f u n c t i o n .
Animals and humans
lacking kisspeptin
function do not go
through puberty and
remain sexually
immature.
Dr Waljit Dhillo
and colleagues have
already shown that
kisspeptin treatment
leads to the production of
sex hormones in fertile
women.
Now, they have extended
their research to look at
the effects of kisspeptin
in women whose periods
have stopped due to a
hormone imbalance.
In this study, a
group of ten women who
were not menstruating
and infertile, were
injected with either
kisspeptin or saline.
Blood samples
were then taken to
measure their levels of
luteinising hormone (LH)
and follicle stimulating
hormone (FSH), two sex
hormones essential for
ovulation and fertility.
T h e annual Society for
researchers found that
kisspeptin led to a 48-fold
increase in LH and 16-
fold increase in FSH,
Page 3
when compared to the
control treatment.
This is the first
study to show that
kisspeptin can stimulate
sex hormones in women
with infertility and presents
kisspeptin as a potential
new therapy for human
infertility.
Dhillo said: This is
a very exciting result and
suggests that kisspeptin
treatment could restore
reproductive function in
women with low sex
hormone levels.
Our future
research will focus on
determining the best
protocol for repeated
kisspeptin administration
with the hope of
developing a new therapy
for infertility."
The research is
being presented at the
Endocrinology BES
meeting in Harrogate.
- Agencies

'Visit India Year 2009'

Berlin, March 18: In an
effort to reverse the decline
in international tourist
arrivals in the country after
Mumbai terror attacks,
India has launched a new
tourism promotion
campaign to woo the
foreign visitors.
T h e n e w
campaign 'Visit India Year
2009' has been launched at
the current International
Tourism Exchange in Berlin
to present the country as an
attractive destination for
the holidaymakers.
The campaign is a
joint initiative by the
government and the
tourism industry to win
back international visitors
who have stayed away
since the terror attacks in
Mumbai last November,
said Secretary for Tourism
Sujit Banerjee, who
launched the campaign at a
conference of international
media and travel trade
representatives.
India's tourism
industry has to cope with
global terrorism and global
economic downturn, which
are threatening to put a
break this year on a
decade of phenomenal
growth in international
arrivals, driven by the
successful 'Incredible
India' marketing
campaign and steady
improvements in the
tourism infrastructure,
Banerjee said to a
news agency.
International
tourist arrivals in
India continued to
grow last year even
after the financial
crisis began to unfold
in some major
tourism markets
such as the United
States and Britain,
but the Mumbai
attacks dealt a severe
blow to foreign tourist
travelling to the country,
he said.
International
arrivals have been falling
since November and this
trend gained momentum
this year, Banerjee said.
"Therefore, the
government has joined
hands with leading
airlines, hoteliers, holiday
resorts and tour
operators in this
ambitious marketing
campaign to bring back
foreign tourists by
offering them a wide
range of incentives and
bonuses during the
period between April and
December, 2009."
According to the
estimates of the India
To u r i s m O f f i c e ,
international tourist
arrivals in India slumped
to around 5.6 per cent in
2008 to 5.37 million
visitors after averaging
10 per cent up to
S e p t e m b e r. T h e i r
number dropped to more
than 17 per cent in
January, 2009.
The decline in
international tourist
arrivals comes after India
achieved a 14.3 per cent
growth with arrival of
5.08 million tourists in
2007. A similar growth
was registered in 2006
when over 4.45 million
foreigners visited the
country.
Between 2003
and 2007, the number of
international arrivals in
India went up from 3.09
million to 5.37 million.
The airlines
participating in the
campaign, Air India, Jet
Airways and Kingfisher
Airlines will offer a
"companion free ticket"
for every ticket
purchased for
international and
domestic flights.
Connecting flights to the
departing airports are
included in the final travel
costs.
The Indian
Travel Agents'
Association (IATO) offers
holiday-makers a free
sightseeing tour in a city
of their choice.
Page 4
Costs for vandalizing properties
to be imposed on offenders: SC
New Delhi, March 18:
Angry over growing
incidents of damage being
caused to properties by
politicians and hooligans,
the Supreme Court on
Tuesday said it would
frame suitable guidelines
on Monday to recover the
cost from offenders and
pay it to the victims.
"Why should the
poor taxpayer pay for the
fault of these elements?.
There are instances where
public properties worth
crores of rupees are
damaged and at best the
offenders may be in jail for
six months," the apex court
said.
A bench of
Justices Arijit Pasayat and
Asok Kumar Ganguly said
the guidelines would be in
force until Parliament
makes suitable
amendment to the Public
Safety Act, 1984.
The guidelines
would be framed on
Monday next after the
Solicitor General G E
Vahanvati and amicus
curiae Rajeev Dhawan
submit their suggestions on
the issue.
The apex court's
decision assumes
significance as at present
under the Prevention of
Damage to Public Safety
Act, a maximum of six
months imprisonment is
imposed on arsonists
damaging public and
private properties, but
there is no civil liability in
Army orders departmental
probe into activites of Purohit
Mumbai, March 18: The
Army has ordered a
departmental inquiry by a
three-member team led by
a brigadier-level officer into
the activites of Lt Col S P
Purohit arrested for his
alleged involvement in
Malegaon blasts.
"The inquiry is in
the form of an internal audit
that would identify and
BrahMos Aerospace chief gets
'Level A Project Directorship'
New Delhi, March 18:
DRDO's distinguished
scientist and BrahMos
Aerospace chief A
Sivathanu Pillai on
Tuesday received a 'Level
A Project Directorship'
certificate for his
contribution to and
expertise in project
management.
The certificate
was awarded by the
International Project
Management Association
(IPMA), Switzerland -- a
body of 44 national Project
Management associations
Times Chennai E-Paper
the form of compensation
to the victims.]
I n c i d e n t a l l y,
counsel of various states
present in the court said
they have no objection to
such a step and assured
that they would abide by
the directions of the
court.
The decision by
the apex court was taken
while dealing with the
violence during the 2007
Gujjar agitation in which
properties worth several
crores of rupees were
destryoed in several
parts of north India by
arsonists.
The apex court
at that time took suo moto
cognizance of the arson
and sought explanation
from the Centre and the
states to tackle such
recurrent problems.
The bench felt
that fixing civil liability has
become inevitable as the
sentence of six months
imprisonment has not
deterred arsonists from
damaging public and
private properties during
agitations like the Gujjar
community stir and
bandhs called by various
organisations and
political parties.
According to
the bench, though
offenders are jailed in
certain cases, properties
damaged runs into
several crores of rupees
for which it is ultimately
the tax payer who has to
pinpoint the lapses and
lacunae in the existing
system to enable suitable
measures to be instituted
to prevent the recurrence
of such incidents," an
official statement issued
by the Army stated.
"The inquiry
would run concurrent to
the investigation already
underway by the ATS and
across the world, at
DRDO Bhawan here.
Pillai, DRDO officials
said, is the first Indian to
receive this certification
for his leadership at
BrahMos.
With over 40
years of experience in
project management at
ISRO and DRDO, Pillai
holds a Ph.D in
T e c h n o l o g y
Management from
Harvard Business
School.
Under his
leadership as the Chief
National
foot the losses.
P r i v a t e
properties like cars,
buses and houses are
also damaged for which
there is at present no
compensation to the
victims, the bench
pointed out.
In such a
scenario, since it would
take considerable time
for Parliament to make
amendments to the
existing Act, the apex
court will frame
guidelines for recovering
compensation from the
offenders and those
behind the instigation, the
apex court said.
In an apparent
bid to ward off criticism
that courts cannot usurp
the legislative power, the
bench hastened to add
that the guidelines will be
in force until Parliament
makes suitable
amendments to fix civil
liability on the offenders.
The bench cited the
earlier precedent set by
the apex court in the
historic 1997 "Visaka"
case wherein despite
there being no law, the
apex court framed a rule
that it would be
mandatory for all
e m p l o y e r s
private/government in the
country to constitute in-
house mechanism to
check sexual harassment
of women at work place.
-Agencies
the custody of Purohit
had not been sought by
the Army," it said.
Purohit was
a m o n g 11 p e r s o n s
arrested for his alleged
involvement in the
September 29 Malegaon
blasts in which six
persons were killed.
-Agencies
Executive Officer of
BrahMos Aerospace,
India and Russia have in
a short span of time
completed the design
and development of
BrahMos supersonic
cruise missile family.
BrahMos has
been successfully
inducted into the Indian
Navy and the Army and
now the future versions
of BrahMos are being
developed.
-Agencies
India wants Pakistan to act
fast in Mumbai case
New Delhi, March 18
Four days after India
responded to Pakistan's
30 questions in
connection with the
Mumbai attacks, New
Delhi Tuesday asked
Islamabad to act fast in
bringing the perpetrators
of the carnage to justice
and underlined that it will
do everything it can to
encourage this process.
"Certainly, we
would hope that those
things (bringing
perpetrators to justice
and dismantling terror
infrastructure) would
happen and happen as
soon as possible and we
will do everything we can
to encourage that
process," Foreign
Secretary Shivshankar
Menon told reporters
No end in sight to Jaitley-Rajnath spat
New Delhi, March 18
Even as senior BJP
leader Arun Jaitley's
high-voltage spat with
party chief Rajnath Singh
over the appointment of
c o n t r o v e r s i a l
b u s i n e s s m a n
Sudhanshu Mittal
hogged attention, the
party approved some
candidates for Bihar
including former actor
Shatrughan Sinha from
Patna Sahib.
While Sinha has
been pressing hard for
the Patna Sahib seat, his
far-from-subtle pressure
tactics of openly liaising
with Samajwadi Party
leader Amar Singh have
left a bitter taste in the
mouth for some BJP
leaders.
They feel the
party has succumbed to
the bluster and bullying of
the ex-actor who has
largely been an absentee
from the Bihar scene.
The other
strong contender was
BJP spokesperson Ravi
Shankar Prasad who was
keen to contest the seat.
But with Jaitley not
attending meetings of the
election committee, a
consensus may not be
possible on a large
here.
" W e w i l l
continue down that road
with whoever is willing to
help us to achieve our
goal," Menon said, while
adding that India had
replied March 13 to 30
questions posed by
Pakistan to enable it to
prosecute the
terrorists
behind the
M u m b a i
mayhem.
H e
added that
Pakistan
understands
what India
expects it to
do and the
responses
New Delhi
has received from
authorities in Islamabad
"represent the first step in
the direction for meeting
those goals".
"We will do what
we can to encourage
them to do the right thing.
But I cannot say that
everything has happened
yet and perpetrators
have either been brought
to justice or there has
been credible action
against the infrastructure
number of seats that
have come to the BJP's
share.
Under the seat-
sharing formula, BJP will
contest 15 to JD(U)'s 25
seats.
Though he is
keeping out of the
election committee
meetings, Jaitley has
b e e n p a r t o f
consultations aimed at
narrowing down
probables for Bihar, a
state he is in-charge of.
The consultations had
continued through
Monday night till 1 am on
Tuesday. It is expected
that a sub-group will be
formed on Bihar headed
by Advani whose
discussions will be
attended by Jaitley.
T h e RSS to try and ensure that
embarrassing stand-off
between Jaitley and
Singh has not been
resolved even after some
RSS leaders tried to
mediate.
T h e i r e ff o r t s
have borne no fruit as
Jaitley has ruled out
withdrawing his
objections to Mittal being
named as co-incharge of
northeastern states. The
Delhi businessman has
been described as a
March 18, 2009
of terror in Pakistan,"
Menon said.
Alluding to the
volatile political situation in
the neighbouring country,
Menon said Pakistan has
shown ability to address
the issues.
"We would wish
them well and we hope, as
we have often enough, for a
stable democratic
Pakistan, which is at peace
with itself."
The Pakistan
g o v e r n m e n t Tu e s d a y
handed over to the Federal
Investigation Agency (FIA)
replies to 30 questions by
India for "further
examination and
necessary legal action".
The Indian replies
were reviewed at a meeting
chaired by Interior Ministry
chief Rehman Malik and
attended by Interior
Secretary Kamal Shah and
FIA Director General Tariq
Khosa.
The meeting
agreed that any further
response to the Indian
authorities would be
"conveyed through
diplomatic channels in due
course of time", officials
said.
-Agencies
"wheeler-dealer" who has
been able to work his way
by offering the use of his
apartments and fleet of
cars to leaders looking for
creature comforts.
As things stand,
Singh has allied with Mittal
to play the faultlines in the
BJP as well as within the
RSS. Though the RSS has
been seen as a final arbiter
in the past, its current
leadership seems unable to
take a concerted view on
the latest crisis to hit the
BJP. Aware that his tenure
as BJP chief would not last
long without Sangh
backing, Singh has
strenuously wooed RSS
brass.
Party sources
point out that Singh has
worked the wires within
he does not get pushed
aside when his current
tenure ends later this year.
The possibility of Advani
campaign succeeding does
not suit his interests as this
means being definitely
sidelined. On the other
hand, he is also keen to
avoid having to step down
as M Venkaiah Naidu did
after the NDA defeat in
2004.
-Agencies
March 18, 2009 Times Chennai E-Paper
Shaky Pakistan situation opening
door for extremists: US
Washington, March 18:
Political uncertainty in
Pakistan is fuelling a sense
of chaos and opening the
door for Islamist extremists
intent on destabilising the
country, warns a leading
US analyst.
"The situation in
Pakistan was already
fraught with challenges for
US policymakers, and the
current political crisis will
add one more layer of
uncertainty," said Lisa
Curtis, a senior research
fellow in the Asian Studies
Centre at the Heritage
Foundation.
"Instability in
Pakistan has become a
major source of
international concern,
especially since Pakistan is
one of a handful of
countries that possess
nuclear weapons," she
said in a paper released by
the Washington think tank.
"The current
political turmoil will
certainly distract the
government from dealing
with the multiple
Japan to ready defence against
North Korea rocket: Kyodo
Tokyo, March 18 : Japan
will clear the way for the
deployment of ballistic
missile interceptors as it
prepares for the possibility
of a planned North Korean
rocket launch falling onto
its territory, Kyodo news
agency reported on
Wednesday.
Japanese law
allows it to shoot down any
dangerous object falling
t o w a r d s t h e c o u n t r y,
excluding aircraft, although
the planned North Korean
rocket would not hit
Japanese territory if it
follows its expected path.
North Korea has
given notice to global
agencies of its plans to
launch a satellite between
April 4 and 8, presenting a
FARC rebels in Colombia free
Swedish hostage: Official
Bogota, March 18:
Colombian rebels have
released Swedish citizen
Erik Roland Larsson who
was kidnapped in 2007 by
the leftist FARC guerrilla
movement, a Colombian
intelligence spokesman
has said.
"We know that he
was set free by his
captors," the spokesman
told reporters yesterday,
adding that the Swede was
set free near Monteria, 790
kilometers northeast of
Bogota.
The 69-year-old
engineer was snatched by
guerrillas from the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia
challenges facing
Pakistan, including
spreading Talibanisation
in the North West Frontier
Province (NWFP),"Curtis
warned.
Even before the
political crisis, the
government and the
military had failed to deal
decisively with Taliban
forces gaining ground
across the semi-
autonomous tribal belt
bordering Afghanistan
and in parts of the settled
areas of the NWFP, she
noted
In the Swat
Valley, for example, the
government recently
struck a peace deal with
pro-Taliban elements that
had been terrorisng the
locals by bombing girls'
schools and viciously
murdering opponents.
The Pakistan
government insists that
the establishment of
Islamic courts in the
region will not usurp state
authority, but many
analysts believe the
challenge to U.S.
President Barack Obama
and allies who see the
launch as a disguised
missile test.
Japan's cabinet
plans to approve
preparatory steps to
destroy the rocket if it falls
onto Japanese territory,
Kyodo said, citing
government sources.
C a b i n e t
approval, which may
come by the end of the
month, would clear the
way for defence minister
Yasukazu Hamada to
order the deployment of
ground-based Patriot
Advanced Capability-3
interceptors, Kyodo said.
Cabinet approval is
required in Japan, where
(FARC) in May 2007
along with his partner,
who escaped four days
later and publicised his
fate.
I n F e b r u a r y,
Sweden's ambassador to
Colombia appealed for
his release and recalled
that he was the only
Swedish hostage in the
world.
According to
the Colombian
intelligence agency,
FARC guerillas had
demanded five million
dollars for Larsson's
release.
Larsson's
health "is fragile" and is
being reviewed by a
World
situation in Swat Valley
eerily resembles that in
Afghanistan under harsh
Taliban rule in the late
1990s. Early reports of
the Pakistan military
vacating posts, while
released militants roam
the streets freely and
demand families provide
one son to the Taliban,
reveal that Swat may be a
terrorist safe haven in the
making, Curtis said
"Al Qaeda-
backed extremists are
salivating at the prospect
of more political
uncertainty and will
exploit fissures in the
system and discontent
among the people," she
said.
"Although the
Army is loath to re-
involve itself in politics, it
will not stand by idly if the
political situation
deteriorates into violence
and chaos," Curtis
warned.
-Agencies
military activity is strictly
limited under its pacifist
constitution.
A defence
ministry spokesman
declined comment.
Japan is also considering
deploying two high-tech
Aegis-equipped
destroyers carrying
Standard Missile-3
ballistic missile
interceptors, one to the
Sea of Japan and the
other to the Pacific
Ocean, Kyodo added.
Pyongyang has
said the first stage of the
rocket would splash
down in the Sea of Japan,
while the second stage
would splash down in the
Pacific Ocean.
-Agencies
medical team in
Monteria, said the
intelligence spokesman.
The jungle-
based FARC have fought
a four-decade long
struggle against the
Colombian government,
but are classed as a
terrorist organisation by
Washington and the
European Union.
The group --
thought to consist of up to
10,000 fighters -- is
believed to hold more
than 700 hostages,
actions which have
heavily eroded public
support for the
organisation.
-Agencies
Iran is 'test case' for nuclear
co-operation: Brown
London, March 18 :
British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown Tuesday
urged Iran to 'make the
right choice' in its current
stand-off with the West
over its nuclear
programme and said
Tehran could become a
'test case' for co-
operation between
atomic nations and non-
nuclear states.
Brown, in a
speech in London, said
Iran remained a "critical
proliferation threat" while
it continued to enrich
weapons grade uranium
and risked severe
sanctions.
However, if the
government in Tehran
decided to opt for an
exclusively civil nuclear
programme the benefits
and rewards in the form
of international
France to return to NATO
Paris, March 18: As
expected, lawmakers in
the French National
Assembly voted late
Tuesday in favour of a
measure that effectively
approved President
Nicolas Sarkozy's
decision to return France
t o N AT O ' s m i l i t a r y
command structure.
By a vote of 329
to 238, the deputies
passed a vote of
confidence in the foreign
policy conducted by
Prime Minister Francois
Fillon and his
government, including
the decision to return to
full NATO membership.
In 1966, then-
president Charles de
Gaulle pulled France out
of the alliance's military
command and evicted
US bases from French
soil.
Tuesday's vote
in favour of the
assistance would be
substantial, Brown told
diplomats and scientists
in his speech.
"I urge Iran,
once again, to work with
us rather than against us
upon this. The
opportunity to do
so remains on
the table and the
choice is theirs to
make. I think they
will make the
right choice,"
said Brown.
He argued that
Iran could be a
test of how
nuclear nations
c a n w o r k
together with
non-nuclear
states to equip them with
sources of new energy.
"We have to
c r e a t e a n e w
international system to
help non-nuclear states
acquire the new sources
if energy they need," said
Brown.
His speech,
though reiterating the
Western offer of
technological assistance
if Tehran chose to go
down the route of civil
nuclear power, was
described by diplomats
as "important" because
of its timing.
Brown wanted
government was a
foregone conclusion,
because Sarkozy's UMP
party and its centre-right
allies hold a substantial
majority in the National
Assembly.
However, the
d e b a t e w a s l i v e l y.
Opposition deputies
accused Sarkozy of
avoiding a direct
confrontation over
the issue by linking
the NATO measure
with a vote of
confidence in the
government.
"This debate is
decisive, but the
decision has already
been made," former
prime minister Laurent
Fabius said.
E v e n
conservative lawmakers
had complained about
the ploy.
" W e ' r e
condemned to vote for it,"
UMP deputy Georges
Tron told the daily Le
Parisien. "The executive
is telling us: Push the
nuclear button or shut
up."
Socialist Party
head Martine Aubry said
that the return to NATO's
military command would
be an obstacle in the
construction of a
Page 5
to "get on with opening up
the dialogue with Iran"
ahead of the planned
Afghanistan conference in
The Hague later this month
which will be attended by
representatives from Iran,
said one diplomatic
observer.
"He (Brown)
wants to give a strong
signal to Iran not to drop the
ball, but to pick it up," said
one analyst.
Along with the
current review of US policy
towards Iran Brown's
appeal could mark the
beginning a process that
would "unravel 30 years of
discord" with Iran and bring
the country back into the
international fold.
Brown described
Iran as a "test case" of a
country which had the
"right to develop nuclear
power" while being made
fully aware that the
development of atomic
w e a p o n s w a s
"unacceptable".
"Continue in this
way and face further and
tougher sanctions - or
change to a UN -overseen
civil nuclear energy
programme that will bring
the greatest benefits to its
citizens," said Brown.
-Agencies
European defence.
That argument
was dismissed by Fillon,
who told lawmakers during
the debate that Europeans
do not want to have to
choose between NATO and
their own, independent
defence capability.
In defending his
decision, Sarkozy said
earlier this month that
France's return to full
NATO membership would
strengthen European
defence capabilities by
giving Paris a say in the
alliance's mission
strategies and planning.
"Now we have
soldiers deployed on the
ground ... but no influence
on the missions in which
they participate," Sarkozy
said. "We have excluded
ourselves."
France currently
is the fourth-largest
contributor of troops to
NATO and has some 2,800
soldiers deployed in
Afghanistan.
France will now
officially be re-admitted to
t h e i n t e g r a t e d N ATO
military command structure
during the NATO summit
during April 3-5, held jointly
in the cities of Strasbourg,
France, and Kehl,
Germany.
-Agencies
Page 6 Times Chennai E-Paper
Pay Subhiksha's remaining
PF dues: EPFO to ICICI Ventures
Chennai, March 18: The
Subhiksha saga has taken
a new turn. The
Employment Provident
Fund Office (EPFO) in
Chennai is learnt to be
asking ICICI Ventures to
pay Subhiksha's remaining
PF dues. Sources say
EPFO believes ICICI
Ventures controls the
retailer's business.
However, ICICI Ventures
maintains that it only holds
a minority stake in the
company, and so is not
liable.
"Under the
Articles of Association it
seems you were having the
Trivitron Commences Production
For Chennai Manufacturing Facility
Chennai, March 18
Aloka Trivitron Medical
Te c h n o l o g i e s P r i v a t e
Limited, a medical
equipment manufacturing
company formed with the
joint venture between
Aloka Japan and Trivitron
Healthcare, announced
the commencement of the
production of Aloka SSD
500, portable black and
white ultrasound scanner.
This is the first production
from the manufacturing
facility of the company
located at Poonamallee,
Chennai, which aims to roll
out world class medical
equipments at effective
costs to national and
international customers.
Aloka SSD 500 is
multi-purpose diagnostic
ultrasound system
providing excellent image
q u a l i t y w i t h
comprehensive function in
truly portable body.
Aloka SSD 500 is
a world premier portable
model now being produced
India's growth rate slowing
dramatically: IMF
Washington, March 18:
India's economy is slowing
dramatically and
uncertainty surrounding the
outlook is unusually large,
the International Monetary
Fund said.
The IMF forecast
on Tuesday that India's
gross domestic product
growth would slow to 6.3
percent in the 2008-09
fiscal year, ending in
March, and to 5.3 percent
the following year. That
would be well below the 9
percent growth rate in the
2007-08 year.
"Policy measures
to stimulate the economy
and a good harvest should
support domestic
demand," the IMF said.
"The uncertainty
surrounding the forecast is
ultimate control over the
affairs of the company
and hence you are
requested to remit the
amount by adjusting the
already remitted
amount."
E a r l i e r
Subhiksha MD R
Subramanian offered to
pay PF dues from his PF
account. EPFO sources
said that Subhiksha MD's
PF account attached;
holds Rs 73 lakh.
Sources also say that
Subhiksha owes over Rs
1 crore in employee PF
dues. EPFO is asking
ICICI Ventures to pay
in India with international
quality standards.
Said Dr GSK
Velu, Managing Director,
Trivitron, "We are proud
to commence the first
production of portable
black and white
ultrasound scanner
Aloka SSD 500 from our
manufacturing facility at
Chennai.
The aim of the
Aloka, Trivitron JV is to
offer products of high
quality suited to
developing countries
needs on a most cost
effective basis.Apart
from meeting the needs
of the Indian market, the
products manufactured
by the JV will be exported
t o s e v e r a l
developing/developed
countries across the
world."
The core vision
of Trivitron Healthcare is
to bring world-class
medical technology
within the reach of
unusually large, with
significant downside
risks. The main upside
risk stems from a larger-
than-anticipated impact
of the stimulus measures
that the authorities have
already implemented."
The Fund
cautioned that India's
debt as a percentage of
GDP was already high,
so a big expansion of the
deficit could raise
concerns about fiscal
s u s t a i n a b i l i t y. A n y
additional stimulus
should be focused on
" h i g h - q u a l i t y
infrastructure and
poverty-related
spending" or to
recapitalize banks if
needed.
The IMF said
Business
balance dues.It is learnt
that EPFO has written to
ICICI Ventures after
verifying Articles of
Association (AoA).
Subhiksha's AoA spells
out powers vested with
ICICI Ventures.
ICICI Ventures,
on the other hand said it
only has a minority take in
Subhiksha and has no
control over the
company. It further said
that it will make suitable
response to EPFO's
intimation.
-Agencies
medical professionals all
over the world. It also
aims to set up advanced
facilities in joint
collaboration for
manufacture of
laboratory reagents for
routine and special
diagnostics testing in JV
with Bio-systems, Spain
and operation theatre
lights, a JV with Brandon
Medical, UK.
T h e various national stock
manufacturing facility at
Chennai will adhere to all
international standards
such as ISO 9000-2001,
ISO 13485 for medical
product manufacturing
and will also be compliant
with requirements for CE,
US FDA and Japan MITI
certifications.
An array of
indigenous products
from electronic
e q u i p m e n t t o
consumables will be
introduced under PRIDE
SERIES.
-Agencies
given the budget
constraints, monetary
and structural policies
would have to do the
heavy lifting. But
directors were split on
whether there was scope
for more interest rate
reductions or if a wait-
and-see approach was
preferable.
They supported
India's flexible exchange
rate policy, and said
currency market
intervention "should be
consistent with the goal
of ensuring sufficient
domestic liquidity."
IMF staff
concluded that India's
exchange rate appeared
to be close to its
equilibrium level.
-Agencies
Ban on edible oils export
extended till March 2010
New Delhi, March 18:
The government on
Tuesday extended the
ban on the export of
edible oils by one year, till
mid-March 2010, a move
aimed at boosting
domestic supply.
The one-year-
old ban, imposed in
March last year, was to
expire today.
The ban will be
applicable till March 16,
2010, the Directorate
General of Foreign Trade
said in a notification.
Earlier in
November 2008, the
government had eased
restriction on the
Bourses pay crores to chiefs;
business take hit
Mumbai, March 18: It
pays literally in crores to
head the entities
facilitating trading in
stocks and commodities,
although the economic
downturn seems to have
forced investors to fly
away from the markets.
An analysis of
remuneration paid to the
business heads at
and commodity
exchanges in the country
shows that most of them
were paid crores of
rupees in the last
financial year and were
mostly awarded a
considerable increase in
their compensation from
the previous year.
However, with
the economic downturn
weighing down on the
investors' sentiments,
the business has taken a
hit at stock exchanges,
although the commodity
bourses have managed
to grow their turnover in
non-agricultural
products.
BSNL to launch BlackBerry
services by April
New Delhi, March 18:
State-owned telecom
operator Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will
launch BlackBerry
services by April, a top
official said here
Wednesday.
"We have got
the required approvals
from the government and
will launch BlackBerry
services by next month,"
BSNL chairman and
managing director
Kuldeep Goyal told
reporters on the sidelines
of a conference.
At present, four
telecom operators -
shipment of edible oils by
allowing exports of such
oils in branded consumer
packs of up to 5 kg,
subject to a limit of
10,000 tonnes till the end
of October 2009.
The notification
further said that the
extension of the export
ban, however, would not
be applicable to the
relaxations allowed
earlier.
Before the ban
was slapped last year,
India used to export
mainly groundnut oil and
coconut oil.
As per industry
estimates, vegetable oil
Leading the
r e m u n e r a t i o n t a l l y,
National Stock
Exchange (NSE) gave its
Managing Director Ravi
Narain a total payout of
Rs 3.34 crore in 2007-08.
At the same time, the
bourse's deputy
Managing Director Chitra
Ramakrishna was paid a
remuneration of Rs 2.16
crore.
Not far behind,
BSE paid a total
remuneration of Rs 1.18
crore to its MD & CEO
Rajnikant Patel in 2007-
08, which more than
doubled from about Rs
52.3 lakh in the previous
year.
Patel had,
however, resigned from
BSE and in November
2008 joined as
President-Exchange
Business at Anil Ambani
group firm Reliance
M o n e y, w h i c h h a s
entered the commodity
exchange business
through a stake
purchase in National
R e l i a n c e
Communications, Airtel,
Vo d a f o n e a n d Ta t a
Te l e s e r v i c e s - a r e
providing BlackBerry
services.
BlackBerry
phones offer a host of
services, including
allowing users to access
their e-mail on the move.
BlackBerry
devices, manufactured
by the Canada-based
Research In Motion
(RIM), had earlier come
under scrutiny after
Indian security agencies
expressed concern that
the data being
March 18, 2009
imports in India rose 48 per
cent in February to 7.62
lakh tonnes.
I n d i a h a d
imported 5.6 million tonnes
of edible oils in 2007-08.
The country, which is the
largest buyer of vegetable
oils after China, consumes
over 12.5 million tonnes a
year.
India's edible oil
import bill in the first nine
months of the fiscal was Rs
10,943 crore, 29.7 per cent
more from that of Rs 8,440
crore in the year-ago
period.
-Agencies
Multi-Commodity
Exchange of India Ltd
(NMCE).
The average daily
turnover at Asia's oldest
stock exchange and the
country's largest in terms of
listed companies, Bombay
Stock Exchange, more
than halved to about Rs
3,500 crore in January this
year, from over Rs 8,000
crore a year ago.
Similarly, at NSE,
the country's second
largest stock exchange in
terms of number of
companies listed there,
has seen its average daily
turnover falling to close to
Rs 9,500 crore from about
Rs 19,500 crore in a year.
At commodity
bourses, the total turnover
till January this fiscal grew
by over 31 per cent, but it
was mostly due to a surge
of about 81 per cent in
bullion trading. The
agricultural commodity
turnover actually fell by
about 32 per cent in the
same period.
-Agencies
transmitted through the
device could not be
intercepted due to the high
encryption codes being
used by the company.
H o w e v e r ,
Canadian Minister of of
Industry Tony Clement,
after a meeting with
Communications Minister
A. Raja in February, had
said the security concerns
over the BlackBerry
phones had been
"resolved as far as
possible".
-Agencies
March 18, 2009 Times Chennai E-Paper
3G auction unlikely before polls’
New Delhi, March 18: It is
unlikely that auction of the
spectrum for third
generation (3G)
telecommunication
applications will take place
before the Lok Sabha
elections, telecom
secretary Siddharth
Behura said Wednesday.
"We cannot talk about 3G
spectrum auctions since it
is election time and nothing
seems to be feasible
currently," Behura told
reporters on the sidelines
of 17th Convergence India
conference here.
The government
had constituted a 10-
member group of ministers
(GoM) in March, led by
External Affairs Minister
DLB to open 80 new
branches and 500 ATMs
Thiruvananthapuram,
March 18 Dhanalakshmi
Bank, one of the traditional
old-generation private
banks based in Kerala, has
worked out plans to expand
its business base and open
80 branches across India,
a top bank executive has
said.
"At a time when all
the talk is about recession
and retrenchments, DLB is
on a recruitment spree and
plans to take in nearly 1000
professionals in the coming
days," Bank Managing
Director and Chief
Executive Officer Amitabh
PNB sees credit growth
of 25-26 per cent
New Delhi, March 18
Punjab National Bank, the
country's second largest
public-sector lender, on
Wednesday said it expects
a credit growth rate of 25-
26 per cent in the current
fiscal.
"Credit growth
now is 30 per cent and we
see the growth at 25-26 per
cent in fiscal year 2008-09,"
PNB Chairman and
Managing Director K C
Chakrabarty said.
The complete half yearly magazine
for professional Education
for details call
99400 24556
Pranab Mukherjee, to
look into the auctions of
the 3G spectrum. The
GoM was alos supposed
to take a decision on the
number of players
allowed to offer 3G
services in each telecom
circle.
In January, the
Department of Telecom
had proposed a reserve
price at Rs 35.4 billion
(Rs 3,540 crore) per
telecom circle for the 3G
auctions.
E a r l i e r, t h e
Finance Ministry had
suggested a base price
of Rs 40.4 billion (Rs
4,040 crore), while the
DoT had wanted to keep
it at Rs 20.2 billion (Rs
Chaturvedi told reporters
here on Tuesday.
Of the 80
branches, 63 would be in
other states.
The approval
from the Reserve Bank of
India for opening new
branches was expected
by this week, he said.
The Bank
planned to increase its
capital base by Rs 400
crore through bond
issues and had already
received necessary
sanction of the same, he
said.
On the bank's
The bank also
expects net interest
margin at 3.5 per cent
this fiscal.
"Our goal is to
reduce non-performing
assets (NPA). Gross NPA
should be around two per
cent and net NPA should
be around 0.4-0.5 per
cent," he said.
Current gross
NPA of the bank is around
Rs 32,000 crore, the
bank's CMD said at a CII
Business Page 7
'Leading Jewellers of the World'
2,020 crore).
When asked
(LJW) launches India operations
about status of release of
Mumbai, March 18 : The integrity of their product. transparency to
15 mega hertz (Mhz) of
'Leading Jewellers of the We believe our services customers. ''Many
spectrum from defence
World' (LJW), involved in will cut down their jewellers mix their products
forces, Behura said:
marketing, branding, marketing and with certified jewellery and
"There is no fixed date for
training and quality advertising costs, uncertified ones. Our
it. It may happen
control of top especially in times of members will give
anytime."
independent jewellery downturn,'' LJW Vice guarantee to customers on
T h o u g h
players in the US, has President (Sales and quality and price. There is a
Communications
launched its operations Marketing) Paresh Das need for such a service as
Minister A. Raja had said
in India. said here Tuesday. customer awareness has
in February that 3G
Membership to He said that also gone up,'' he said.
spectrum auctions can
the LJW will be open to membership drive should LJW members
happen this fiscal, the
the leading 70 be completed in four-six can also avail of training for
government in the Interim
independent jewellers in months. LJW will provide staff on product
Budget 2009-10 said that
the country for an annual a platform for jewellers to knowledge, customer
the auction process will
fee of Rs 3,00,000. LJW, collaborate and service and quality control.
take place only in the next
in return, will provide a cooperate on events, ''We are also
fiscal.
host of services, joint marketing and brand holding talks with leading
including marketing, enhancement ventures, fashion designers to get
-Agencies
branding, quality control, Mr Das said. them together on a similar
public relations and LJW is also platform, and LJW will
event management. promising radical open the market for
''Our focus is on
leading independent
changes that will benefit
buyers.
segments like the NRI,'' he
said.
jewellers, depending on F o r o n e ,
their turnover, store members of LJW will -Agencies
spread and location, and offer uniformity and
performance, he said the
business volume had
surpassed the target for
the current fiscal.
Deposits would
touch Rs 4,700 crore by
this month end, an
increase of Rs 1,300
crore this year. Similarly,
advances would touch
Rs 3,000 crore during the
year, he said.
T h e N R I
deposit was around Rs
300 crore, he said.
-Agencies
function here.
On whether
PNB would slash rates,
Mr.Chakrabarty said,
"There is no room to cut
lending rate."
In the fiscal
FY'10, the bank expects
profit growth of 20-25 per
cent.
Further, he said
that PNB Gilts is to be
merged with the parent
bank next fiscal.
-Agencies
 Page 8 Times Chennai E-Paper Sports March 18, 2009

Kiwis post 279; India 29/0 at stumps on Day 1

Hamilton, March 18: India
wrapped up a fine display
of Test cricket with the
openers Virender Sehwag
and Gautam Gambhir
ending the day at 29/0. The
visitors didn’t lose any
wicket in the short duration
that they played for, giving
them an upper hand in the
match.
New Zealand
were wrapped up for a total
of 279 runs by the Indian
bowlers. The main action
emanated from the first and
the last sessions, while a
major bulk of the scoring
was done in the post-lunch
session for the hosts.
Daniel Vettori and
Jesse Ryder were the
saving grace for the hosts
on the first day as both
slammed fine centuries to
k i c k s t a r t t h e i r Te s t
campaign in style.
For India, Ishant
Sharma came up with a
brilliant display of pace
bowling as he notched up batsmen helped NZ Score Card:
four wickets for his register 162 runs for the
New Zealand 1st Innings Bowling: India
efforts. His counterpart, loss of six wickets at tea
Munaf Patel was not far time. T McIntosh c V Sehwag b I Sharma 12 Zaheer Khan 16 3 70 2 Ishant Sharma 19.2
behind as he too got a The Indian new MGuptill c R Dravid b Z Khan 14 4 73 4 Munaf Patel 18 4 60 3 Harbhajan
bag full of wickets (3), a ball bowlers Zaheer Daniel Flynn c M Dhoni b Z Khan 0 Singh 22 7 57 1
welcome change for him Khan and Ishant Sharma Ross Taylor b I Sharma 18 Virender Sehwag 3 0 18 0
on his comeback in the played their part perfectly JRyder c VVS Laxman b I Sharma 102 India 1st Innings
Test squad. as the former notched up JFranklin c M Dhoni b I Sharma 0 Gautam Gambhir batting 6
Munaf rocked two wickets while the
BMcCullum c VVS Laxman b M Patel 3 Virender Sehwag batting 22
the Kiwi camp with a latter took three crucial
thunderous over post tea scalps in the form of Tim DVettori (c) c M Dhoni b M Patel 118 Yet to bat
as he claimed the all McIntosh, Ross Taylor Kyle Mills b M Patel 0 Rahul Dravid
important wicket of and James Franklin. Iain O'Brien st M Dhoni b H Singh 8 Sachin Tendulkar
Daniel Vettori and then The post lunch Chris Martin not out 0 VVS Laxman
followed it up with Kyle session didn’t yield any Extras: b - 0, w - 0, nb - 3, lb - 1 4 Yuvraj Singh
Mills’ scalp. positive results for India Total:(279 for 10 in 78.2 overs) 279 Run Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c)(wk)
New Zealand as the bowlers went
Rate: 3.56 Harbhajan Singh
captain Vettori had led wicket less as a few
from the front and edges flew past the Fall Of Wickets 1/17 (Martin Guptill, 6.5 Zaheer Khan
smashed his 3rd Test fielders with no catches ov.), 2/17 (Daniel Flynn, 8.2 ov.), 3/40 Ishant Sharma
century. collected. (Tim McIntosh, 16.2 ov.), 4/51 (Ross Munaf Patel
The dynamic On the spin Taylor, 20.4 ov.), 5/51 (James Franklin,
duo of Ryder and Vettori front, Harbhajan Singh 20.6 ov.), 6/60 (Brendon McCullum, 23.1 Extras: b - 1, w - 0, nb - 0, lb - 0 1 Total:(29
had steered New kept a tight line and ov.), 7/246 (Daniel Vettori, 70.2 ov.), for 0 in 7 overs) 29 Run Rate: 4.14
Zealand out of a possible length even though just a
8/246 (Kyle Mills, 70.3 ov.), 9/275 (Iain Bowling: New Zealand
catastrophe after the wicket came his way.
hosts lost six wickets in O'Brien, 77.1 ov.), 10/279 (Jesse Ryder, Chris Martin 4 1 9 0 Kyle Mills 2 0 18 0 Iain
the first session of play. -Agencies 78.2 ov.) O'Brien 1 0 1 0 .
The efforts of the two

Day 1 in Pictures

Ishant Sharma knocked the top order

Daniel Vettoti acknowledeges crowd

after slamming his third Test century. Advantage India after Day one of Hamilton Test

Yes he `Khan`...Zaheer provided India early Jesse Ryder is all smiles after The Patel Rap` left Kiwis dancing to Munaf`s tunes
breakthroughs, as India wrested early advantage scoring his first ever Test ton. He scored 102. on the opening day of the Hamilton Test.
March 18, 2009 Times Chennai E-Paper Sports Page 9

Loss against New Zealand
disappointing: Jhulan
Sydney, March 18: With
their chances of qualifying
for the finals of the ICC
Wo m e n ` s Wo r l d C u p
almost over after losing to
N e w Z e a l a n d ,
disappointed India skipper
Jhulan Goswami said her
team will have to lift its spirit
in the remaining matches
then," she said.
Meanwhile,
lauding her teammates
for their impressive
performance in the last
two matches of
tournament, a jubilant
Kiwi skipper Haidee
Tiffen said today`s victory
has enabled her side to
Safina edges closer to world number one spot
Indian Wells, March 18:
Top seed Dinara Safina
took a step closer to
becoming the world
number one when she
beat American Jill
Craybas 7-5, 6-4 in the
fourth round of the WTA
event in Indian Wells.
The Russian
again struggled for top
form but saw off the world
No 102 in two tight sets to
advance to a quarter-final
against eighth seed
Victoria Azarenka of
Belarus.
Fourth seed
Vera Zvonareva and
ninth seed Caroline
Wozniacki will meet in
another quarter-final
after straight-set
victories.
Craybas had
upset Serbian Jelena
Dokic and 16th seed
Anabel Medina
Garrigues of Spain on her
way to the fourth round
and showed plenty of
spirit against Safina.
Safina, who will
replace Serena Williams
at the top of the rankings
should she reach the
final, let slip an early lead
but broke in the 11th
game and served out for Poland 7-5, 6-3 to set up
the opening set. the clash with Zvonareva,
In the second who has not dropped a set
set, Craybas recovered during the tournament, but
an early break to level at said she was determined
4-4, but Safina broke in not get carried away.
the next game and then "There are going
held her nerve to take her to be some mistakes and
place in the last eight. I'm going to make them
Azarenka probably over and over
edged out unseeded again," she said.
Israeli Shahar Peer 7-5, "It's tennis. It's the
6-4 while Zvonareva game. But I accept this and
continued her smooth I'm just trying to
progress with a 6-4, 6-4 concentrate on the next
win over China's Li Na. point and try and take it one
Ninth seed point at a time."
Wozniacki overcame
Urszula Radwanska of -Agencies

to salvage some pride by settle scores against the

finishing third.
"It is very difficult
to lift your spirits after you
know you have been
knocked out of the title
match. But yes, we have to
motivate ourselves and try
to win matches against the
West Indies and Australia
so that we could finish, at
least, third in the
tournament," Julan said at
the post match press
conference.
Jhulan was
emotional and almost in
tears after the loss as it
virtually shattered their
chances of making it to the
last four.
"It is a very
disappointing day. We
worked extremely hard for
the World Cup but all has
gone down the drain
because of one bad
performance. It is a
devastating blow to all of us
as the next World Cup will
be after four years and who
know who will be there by
Indians against whom
they lost in the last edition
of the event.
"I am really
pleased with the way the
girls lifted themselves
after the defeat against
England. I saw India`s
last game against
Australia and had a fair
idea how to take them
on.”
"I suppose we
took the match as a semi-
final and came hard at
India. I am happy to know
that we achieved
something which no
other team has achieved
in the tournament to date
(successfully chase a
target of 200 or more).”
"I am also
happy that we were able
to avenge for previous
World Cup`s defeat
(when India beat New
Zealand by 40 runs in the
semi-final)," she said.
-Agencies

No use of flood lights

during India-New Zealand
Test series
Hamilton, March 18:
The ICC Match Referee
Allan Hurst on Wednesday
ruled out 12 noon start in
the last two Tests of three-
match series between
India and New Zealand as
both the teams are
reluctant to play under
flood lights.
Hurst advised
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
and Daniel Vettori that
lights will not be available
after New Zealand and
India indicated they prefer
not to use them.
The series playing
conditions allow the use
of lights where available
but only if agreed by the
teams.
The Seddon
Park, venue for the first
Test in Hamilton and
McLean Park, Napier
venue for the third Test
from March 26 have the
flood lights facility.
New Zealand
Cricket had also stated
on Tuesday they will stick
to the original start time
of 1100 hrs (local time).
-Agencies
 Page 10 Times Chennai E-Paper
Neelam Kapoor set to be
youngest PIB chief
New Delhi, March 18
Neelam Kapoor is set to be
the youngest chief of the
Press Information Bureau
(PIB), a position that will
make her the principal
spokesperson of the
Government of India.
The information
and broadcasting ministry
has cleared the
appointment of the 51-
year-old Ms. Kapoor, a
1982 batch Indian
Information Service officer,
who is currently director
general of the Directorate
Computer makers turn to mobiles
for the next big thing
Washington, March 18:
Taking a cue from Apple's
success with its iPhone,
many personal computer
makers and chip
companies are now into the
mobile-phone business,
promising devices with the
power of standard
computers but in palm-size
packages.
T h e n e w
smartphones promised by
PC companies will, among
other things, handle the full
glory of the Internet, power
t w o - w a y v i d e o
conferences, and stream
high-definition movies to
your TV.
I t i s
development that spells
a Acer, a Taiwan-based
serious competition for
established cellphone
makers and phone
companies, reported the
N e w Yo r k Ti m e s o n
Monday.
Apple was the first
to spot a sleepy industry,
shaking up the handset
category two years ago
with the iPhone. Until
recently, the handset
makers were the ones
reacting to the iPhone - and
then with me-too products.
W i t h
smartphones and PCs
taking on many of the same
functions, there is certainly
a fear among PC makers
that if they do not get into
cellphones, cellphone
makers will start building
PCs.
Acer, the big PC
manufacturer, has gone
from offering no cellphones
Office: F 5 and 6 1st Floor, Leo Complex, New No: 41, Madley Road, T.Nagar, Chennai 600 017. Ph: 42867771, Fax: 42867772
of Advertising and Visual
Publicity (DAVP). Her
appointment is, however,
yet to be approved by the
A p p o i n t m e n t s
Committee of the
Cabinet (ACC).
Ms. Kapoor is
expected to take
charge of the PIB as
the principal director
general April 1,
sources in the
ministry said.
I f h e r
appointment is
approved by the
ACC, she could hold
the position for the
next nine years,
which will make her
the longest-serving
spokesperson of the
government. However,
there is nothing that
prevents the government
from appointing another
senior officer from other
allied services if it
chooses to, but it will
have to find credible
reasons for doing so,
to selling eight new
models, with more to
come this year.
Dell has also
worked on prototype
phones but has not
committed to making a
new product. And
Asustek, the company
that was first to market
ultra-portable laptops
known as netbooks, has
new smartphones
coming.
" T h e
smartphone market is the
natural direction of our
long-term mobile
strategy," Gianfranco
Lanci, chief executive of
company, said as he
announced the products
at last month's World
Mobile Conference in
Barcelona.
"We're just
taking on another
dimension."
The suppliers to
the PC industry have also
started shifting to the new
market. Intel announced
a deal to supply the
cellphone maker LG with
chips for new mobile
devices.
Nvidia, the PC
graphics-chip titan,
signed a deal to provide
three smartphone
makers - which supply
handsets to brand-name
manufacturers and
carriers - with its new
Tegra processor.
"This is a once
in a lifetime deal where a
huge market changes the
Owned Edited and Published by S. Raghunathan Editorial and Advertisement
Medley
reliable sources said.
M s . K a p o o r,
who will replace Umakant
Misra, a 1973 batch IIS
officer, will get the top job
in the PIB largely due to a
quirk in the recruitment
process in the late
seventies. Between 1974
and 1982, there was a
freeze on recruitment to
the IIS due to court cases
involving direct recruits to
the IIS promotees to the
services.
The freeze in
those years has made
Ms. Kapoor the
seniormost IIS officer
and, therefore, a natural
choice for the top position
in the PIB that is
equivalent to the rank of
special secretary in the
Government of India. In
the much-coveted Indian
Administrative Service
(IAS), an officer of 1979
batch has yet to be
promoted to the rank of
additional secretary.
-Agencies
things that are important
to it," said Michael
Rayfield, the general
manager of Nvidia's
mobile business unit.
T h e
convergence of the two
devices has long been
predicted, but it took a
confluence of industry
changes for it to begin in
earnest.
For decades chip
manufacturers rushed to
leapfrog one another
with faster processors,
and computer makers
scrambled to squeeze
more functions into
smaller boxes. But ever-
faster chips eventually
become impractical.
Their blazing speed
requires vast amounts of
power and cooling.
Both Acer and Nvidia
have promised very low-
cost smartphones,
threatening the most
lucrative part of the
cellphone makers'
business.
At the same time, the
phone market has been
bombarded with
operating systems from
Microsoft, Google and
Intel.
This gives companies
like Motorola and Nokia
an entirely new set of
problems besides falling
sales and shrinking
margins.
"It's cataclysmic for the
phone guys, who were
used to playing golf on
Wednesday afternoons,"
said Roger Kay, ood
Angry heart can be deadly
London, March 18
Angry heart can kill,
suggests a study, which
found that rage and
hostility are significantly
linked with a high risk for
coronary disease.
According to the
research, which appears
in the latest issue of the
Journal of the American
College of Cardiology,
anger and hostility was
harmful to the heart,
especially among men.
"Anger and
hostility were found to
predict a 19 percent and
Comedians are shy, says study
Washington, March 18
: Introversion isn't the
first quality associated
with comedians, but a
fascinating study has
suggested that those in
the profession of funny
business are shyer than
most other people.
Gil Greengross,
an anthropologist at the
American University of
New Mexico in
Albuquerque, and his
colleague Geoffrey
Miller, gave standardised
personality tests to 31
professional comedians.
The 60-question test
gauged the "big five"
classic personality traits:
openness to experience,
conscientiousness,
e x t r o v e r s i o n ,
agreeableness and
neuroticism.
Revealing a flip
side of comedy, the study
found that comedians
had lower scores on
a v e r a g e f o r
conscientiousness,
agreeableness and
extroversion, compared
president of Endpoint
Te c h n o l o g i e s
Associates, a research
firm. "Those times start to
look pretty good now."
Not that such a move will
be easy for the PC
makers. The PC industry
has a spotty record for
expanding into consumer
electronics. Dell
stumbled with its MP3
player, and Hewlett
Packard's line of
televisions failed to catch
on with consumers. Both
products have been
discontinued.
Perhaps most critically,
traditional phone and
mobile chip companies
have expertise in making
phones that work.
"It has to be a good
cellphone first," said Ed
Snyder, an analyst with
Charter Equity
Research. "This is about
as far away from PCs as
raising elephants."
-Agencies
24 per cent increase in
coronary heart disease
(CHD) events among
initially healthy people
and those with pre-
existing CHD,
respectively," says Yoichi
Chida of the Department
of Epidemiology & Public
Health, University
College, London, UK.
"The harmful
association of anger and
hostility with CHD events
in healthy people was
greater in men than
women. This suggests
that the accumulation of
with 400 university
students and 10 humour
writers.
The personality
tests indicated that those
in the profession of funny
business tend to be more
restrained than their on-
stage performances
suggest.
"I guess the
stage gives them the
opportunity to be what
they want to be and may
not necessarily represent
their daily-life
p e r s o n a l i t i e s , " M r.
Greengross was quoted
as saying by the New
Scientist on Tuesday.
"The fact is that
a lot of the time they
spend by themselves.
That might explain why
they do have introverted
personalities," stressed
Mr. Greengross, who
performed the study as
part of a dissertation on
the evolutionary value of
humour.
Robert Provine,
a developmental
neurobiologist at the .
Minimum use of cars needed to
fight climate change: Scientist
New Delhi, March 18:
A combination of an
effective public transport
system and minimum use
of cars is the cure for
climate change in cities
like Mumbai and Kolkata,
according to a noted
British scientist.
"We should
strive for minimum use of
cars and give more
emphasis on building an
effective public
transport," said David
Banister, Professor of
Transport Studies in
Oxford University while
delivering a lecture on
transportation systems
and climate change on
Monday.
About 40 per
cent of the world's cities
are located on sea
shores and these cities,
March 18, 2009
stress responses in daily
life might have a greater
impact on future CHD in
men," he stressed.
The authors
extensively reviewed the
literature on the
longitudinal associations of
anger and hostility with
CHD events, and identified
25 studies of initially
healthy populations and 18
studies of patients with
CHD, the Science Daily
online reported on
Tuesday.
-Agencies
University of Maryland,
Baltimore County, and
author of the book
Laughter: A Scientific
Investigation, agrees with
Mr. Greengross and Mr.
Miller's findings. However,
he points to another
feature of comedians that
is even more noteworthy
— their sex.
The vast majority
of all professional
comedians are men, he
notes, adding that both
women and men tend to
laugh more at male
speakers than female.
Some researchers
speculate that this is
because humour is an
adaptive trait that helps
women assess the fitness
of a potential mate, New
Scientist reported.
In another paper,
he and Mr. Miller found that
men and women see self-
deprecating humour as an
attractive trait in potential
wives or husbands, it said.
-Agencies
such as Mumbai, Kolkata,
Chennai, Colombo or
Bangkok, are under threat
due to global warming, he
said.
"Fifteen of the 20
mega cities lie on the coast.
Asian mega cities like
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai,
Karachi and Bangkok are
under risk of flooding if the
temperature increases by
another two degrees," Mr.
Banister said.
In this situation,
"Priority should be given to
high quality public
transport, cycling and
walking. The role of the car
in the city may be limited to
ultra clean electric or plug-
in hybrid vehicles powered
by renewable energy," the
scientist said.
-Agencies