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Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 4 No. 190 CITY EDITION 20 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in
NEW DELHI: By providing a plat-
form for Pakistani serials in
India, the Zee network has ad-
dressed a long-held grouse
among people on the other
side of the border about
how Bollywood had nished
their lmindustry.
Though a trickle compared
to the Bollywood lms that
ood Pakistan, the phenom-
enal viewership for the hand-
ful of Pakistani television
serials that have been aired on
Zees Zindagi channel, since
its launch on June 23, is
bound to encourage Pakis-
tans entertainment industry,
which is trying to get back on
its feet against huge odds.
Whether it was just fatigue
with the same old saas-bahu
fare dished out by heavily
dressed actors living in pala-
tial homes or the latent thirst
for what has mostly been for-
bidden fruit as the laws do
not allow direct downlinking
of Pakistani channels into In-
dian homes there is no de-
nying that serials like Aunn
Zara and Zindagi Gulzaar Hai
have breathed new life into
television viewing here.
The viewership cuts across
age, gender and class divide as
the routine fare on offer on
both Hindi and regional chan-
nels appeared to be clones
of each other.
So you have a grandmother
watching it with her yet-to-
reach-the-teens granddaught-
er withthe soncatching one of
the repeats and a colony beau-
ty parlour running the chan-
nel through the day.
Evidently, the clientele al-
ready hooked to the program-
ming does not complain.
The themes of these sto-
ries which mainly focus on
the problems of women of-
ten remind one of the story-
lines of Hindi lms of the
1960s and 70s. But it is the
handling of the subjects, the
rened language, which is a
mix of Urdu and Punjabi but
sounds so much like the lan-
guage that was spoken in our
households till about 30 years
ago, that comes as a pleasant
change, says Aradhana Bhat-
nagar, who is in her seventies.
I amjust glad that I get to see
these serials with my grand-
daughter since it will help her
pick up the language. It is our
common heritage.
Suchare the eyeballs for the
Pakistani content that it is un-
likely to be edged out even
when Zee diversies to in-
clude programmes fromLatin
America, Turkey, Egypt and
West Asia on Zindagi. Apart
from the business gains and
the footprint that Pakistani
television industry has got in
India, Zindagi has challenged
some deep misconceptions
Indians have about Pakistan
and made them realise how
much the two countries have
in common.
Pakistani soap power hooks India
Anita Joshua
A still from Pakistani serial 'Zindagi Gulzaar Hai'.
Smriti says she has
Yale degree
NEW DELHI: The controversy
over Human Resource
Development Minister
Smriti Iranis educational
qualications has taken a
new turn with her
assertion that she also has
a degree fromthe
prestigious Yale
University in the United
States. Page 10
NEW DELHI: The Union Home
Ministrys recent communi-
qu to the Reserve Bank of
India mint requisitioning ve
Bharat Ratna medallions has
triggered speculation that
there might be more than one
recipient of the countrys
highest civilian award this
year.
While the Ministrys move
led to speculation that the
Centre planned to bestow the
coveted award upon ve per-
sonalities, including former
Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, sources said the
Rashtrapati Bhavan has not
yet received any list of names.
Conrming that the Minis-
try has asked for the medal-
lions, a senior official said,
People are unnecessarily
speculating. Although we
have requested for ve med-
allions, it does not mean that
the award would be conferred
on ve persons in the same
year. BJP leaders remained
tight-lipped about the issue,
stating a decision would be
taken by the government.
Names of Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose and Madan
Mohan Malviya have also
been suggested.
More on Page 11
Speculation
over Bharat
Ratna
Devesh K. Pandey
NEW DELHI: Reserve Bank of In-
dia Governor Raghuram Ra-
jan has said that demand for
bank loans for industrial in-
vestments has not picked up
even after two back-to-back
cuts in the statutory liquidity
ratio (SLR) since the change
of government at the Centre.
The industrial sectors de-
mand for credit frombanks is
not picking up growth re-
mains muted, Dr. Rajan told
presspersons after a meeting
of the RBIs central board
here on Sunday.
Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley said at the joint
press conference that the
RBIs policy regime was being
geared for higher growth,
apart from lower ination.
Dr. Rajan, on the other hand,
said any change in the policy
regime, which has been anti-
ination so far, would be con-
tingent on fresh data coming
in. The Ministers statements
indicate that the government
is of the view that lowering
the cost of capital can spur
investment growth. Dr. Ra-
jan, however, seems to sug-
gest that the major obstacle
to investment climate might
be risk appetite rather than
the cost of capital.
The Governors statement
on no pick-up in the credit
growth for industrial invest-
ments assumes signicance
as the expectation was that
after the formationof the Mo-
di government the invest-
ment sentiment in the
economy would revive
swiftly.
Monetary policy could not
simultaneously achieve lower
ination and higher growth.
For lower ination, growth
must be sacriced. To attack
ination, the RBI had in the
last two monetary policy re-
views kept interest rates un-
changed, but lowered the SLR
from 23 per cent to 22 per
cent.
Demand for bank credit not picking up despite easing of norms
Puja Mehra
Risk-averse industry keeping
investment down, says Rajan
No sharp revival in
investment sentiment is
a worrying prospect
CHENNAI: The attendance re-
cord of cricketer Sachin Ten-
dulkar and actor Rekha might
have raised questions about
the role and relevance of ce-
lebrity MPs in the Rajya Sab-
ha, but many of their elected
counterparts do no better.
At least 33 MPs across both
Houses of Parliament cur-
rently have less than 50 per
cent attendance. That is, they
are absent more often than
they are present. Only three
of those 33 are nominated
members, an analysis of the
parliamentary attendance re-
cords, compiled by PRS Leg-
islative Research, shows.
Actors Hema Malini and
Tapas Pal, who are bothelect-
ed members of the Lok Sabha,
have not attended even a sin-
gle day of the ongoing budget
session. Others with a poor
attendance record include
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Akhilesh Yadavs wife, Dim-
ple Yadav, deputy leader of
the Congress in the Lok Sab-
ha Captain Amarinder Singh
and Rajasthan Chief Minister
Vasundhara Rajes son Dush-
yant Singh.
Sachin, Rekha
have company
At least 33 MPs
have less than
50% attendance
Ajai Sreevatsan
XIAN/BEIJING: With China
rming up in the coming
two or three months a
masterplan for its
ambitious land and
maritime new Silk
Road project, a top
official has said Beijing
wants India to play a key
role in the initiative.
Beijing envisages an
economic corridor
linking its south-western
Yunnan province
through Myanmar to
Kolkata as a key segment
of a land-based Silk
Road economic belt,
and is also planning to
boost ties with port
cities, such as Chennai,
through a Maritime Silk
Road starting out from
south-eastern Fujian
province and linking
littoral countries in the
region.
More on Page 10
Key role for
India in Silk
Road project,
says China
Ananth Krishnan
GURGAON: Around two dozen
Muslim families, operating
small enterprises such as
barber shops and tailoring
and scrap units were
thrashed and forced to ee
Basai village in Gurgaon
earlier this week.
Conrming the incident,
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (West) Sangeeta Rani
told The Hindu that ve
persons, including prime
accused Amit, have been ar-
rested.
A case has been registered
under Sections 148, 149,
323, 427 and 506 of the Indi-
an Penal Code.
A senior police officer
said the attackers suspected
the involvement of the scrap
dealers in petty theft. He,
however, said only four or
ve families were targeted.
Earlier this year, Mewat
saw an escalation of commu-
nal tension over cattle
smuggling, which resulted
in the death of a Hindu
youth.
Several Muslim youth
have been arrested for al-
leged involvement in cattle
smuggling, but members of
the community argued that
most of the victims of last
weeks attack were from Ut-
tar Pradesh and Bihar who
have been running their
shops for nearly a decade.
They alleged that the at-
tack was aimed at polarising
the two communities to seek
political mileage. Haryana is
one of the two States which
will go to the polls this year.
More on Page 4
Ashok Kumar
Muslims at a dhaba near
Basai village.
- PHOTO: ASHOK KUMAR
Muslims forced to ee Gurgaon village
HYDERABAD: The Telangana
government is determined
to go ahead with a massive
survey of households in the
State on August 19 despite
mounting criticismfrom
the opposition about its
feasibility and intention.
The Telangana Rashtra
Samiti regime is gearing up
to deploy about four lakh
employees for the survey,
and may even use the
police, if necessary.
The opposition is mainly
on the ground that the
survey is aimed at denying
welfare benets to sections
of the poor. Parties in
Andhra Pradesh allege that
it is an exercise to
ascertain the nativity of
Telangana residents and
exlcude those who hail
fromthe Seemandhra
region fromgovernment
benets such as supply of
essential commodities at
subsidised rates, fee
reimbursements, social
security pensions and
housing. Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao
however, denies these
charges.
Mr. Rao said
categorically at a meeting
that the survey was meant
only to prevent ineligible
persons cornering benets
funded by public money.
There were 22.5 lakh
bogus ration cards in use
and huge amounts in the
formof fee reimbursement
were reaching the
ineligible and helping
unscrupulous professional
colleges, he claimed.
B. Chandrashekhar
TRS rm on
household survey
Opposition parties fear
it could be an exercise
to deny welfare to
non-domiciles
NEW DELHI: Kingsher Air-
lines, with the tag line of
King of good times has
nose-dived but there will be
another, as-yet-unnamed
airline that will unveil its
brand identity on Monday
promising a full-service
ight experience.
This airline is part owned
by the Tatas, which found-
ed Indias rst civilian air-
line that was later
nationalised, with the icon-
ic Maharaja as the logo
promising a luxurious ex-
perience in the air.
The groups partner in
the new venture is Singa-
pore Airlines, which pro-
vides vistas of ultimate
passenger comfort .
Most ights will have
double the number of busi-
ness class seats currently
being offered by the exist-
ing airlines while paring the
number of economy seats.
But there is likely to be
an in-between class too for
those unlikely to afford the
business fare but yearn to
be looked after.
Speculation now centres
on the name of the airline
which is being referred to as
Tata-SIA Airlines Ltd. One
media report has the name
as Vistara.
Sandeep Dikshit
Tatas promise luxury
for yers in new airline
J.R.D. Tata was a
pioneer of Indias rst
civilian airline before it
was nationalised.
BRIEFLY
39 killed in Iran
airliner crash
TEHRAN: An Iranian
passenger plane crashed
on Sunday moments after
takeoff fromTehran,
killing at least 39 on board
and narrowly avoiding
many more deaths when it
fell near a busy market.
AFP More on Page 12
Odisha ood toll
mounts to 45
BHUBANESWAR: The death
toll in oods in Odisha
climbed to 45 and the
number of people affected
to over 32.9 lakh on
Sunday as the situation
improved gradually with
receding water level in
many areas. More on Page 10
METRO PLUS
4 Pages
Rain wreaks havoc
in Delhi
NEW DELHI: The rush of
Rakhi-bearing sisters
heading to the homes of
their brothers coupled
with a few hours of
torrential rain at noon
brought the Capital to a
standstill. Traffic was
gridlocked in many parts
of the city as drains were
unable to absorb the load
of stormwater. Page 3