COMMON NEWS

1.Silence on Netaji's End is a Shame: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today lamented that final word was yet to be spoken on the date of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death and said this 'shame' would remain till it was done. "Sad, but true, we know the birthday of Netaji, but not the date he died. This is a shame and it will remain till the date is discovered," Banerjee said at Netaji's 116th birth anniversary function at his ancestral house Netaji Bhavan. Controversy persists over the mysterious disappearance of Netaji and the successive governments at the Centre set up three commissions of inquiry to inquire into it. While the Shahnawaz Committee and Khosla Commissions, set up by the successive Congress governments at the Centre, concluded that that Netaji had died in a plane crash at Taihoku (Taipei) in Japan on August 18, 1945, the Manoj Mukherjee Commission, set up by the BJP-led NDA government, said that the leader did not die in the crash. "After Netaji left this house, no one knows whether he is alive or dead," Banerjee said, referring to Bose's escape from the house in 1941. In an apparent reference to the CPI(M) which criticised her government for not inviting the Opposition to the official garlanding of Bose's statue today, Banerjee said, "Those who once called Netaji the 'dog of Tojo (the then Japanese prime minister)' are now paying homage to him. This cannot happen." Without naming the party, she said, "It is said that a prophet is not honoured in his own country. Some are having a late realisation of this, but it is good that they are realising it at least." Banerjee, who earlier garlanded Nejai's statue, said that this was for the first time that the government had honoured the leader with a march past by the Kolkata Police. "I am proud of this. I have also written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare Netaji's birthday as a national holiday," she said. Recalling the influence of Swami Vivekananda on Netaji, Banerjee said their writings had inspired her from an young age to face adversities with boldness. The chief minister ended her speech by saying 'Netaji Amar Rahe,' but immediately after she corrected herself by adding, "I will not say this. I do not know whether he is alive or dead. So I will say 'Long Live' and wish him a long life."

2. No banners on Shiv Sena supremo's b'day due to election code

Owing to the model code of conduct in effect, the birthday celebrations of political leaders, including Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, who turns 86 on Monday, is a simple affair-without any cut-outs, hoardings and banners at public places. Due to the ongoing model code of conduct for the upcoming Zila Parishad and municipal polls in the state, the party workers cannot put up banners, arches at public places and junctions. They cannot even hold promotional functions and competitions due to the election code, sources in the party's district unit said. Similarly, the party workers will not be able to celebrate the birthday of late Sena leader Anand Dighe on January 27. Likewise, there would be no celebrations for MLA Eknath Shinde's birthday on February 9, they said.

3. UP: BJP accuses Cong of creating communal divide

Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday charged the ruling Congress Party of following an appeasement policy to woo voters in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. BJP leader Kalraj Mishra described it as unfortunate that the Congress Party is inciting people on the basis of religion. "It is unfortunate that from the starting, the Congress Party is following the strategy of appeasement, because in Uttar Pradesh the Congress is rapidly losing public support and that is the reason why Congress has always followed the policy of inciting people on the basis of religion," he told the reporters here. Mishra said the Congress Party, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are working hand in glove to divide the society. "This government (Congress) is receiving full support from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party and these three parties are trying to divide the society," he said. Mishra further said that appeasing people on the basis of religion is unconstitutional and is a move towards creating a communal divide in the country. "Diving the country on the basis of religion, following the strategy of appeasement and giving special privilege to people on the basis of religion and creating a divide in the country, announcing to provide special privilege to people on the basis of religion, these policies are a step towards the division of the society," said Mishra.

4. Trinamool to contest 48 seats in Manipur

UPA ally Trinamool Congress which takes on the ruling Congress in Manipur for the January 28 assembly polls there on Monday slammed the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the State saying the party would raise it in parliament, if necessary. People in Manipur are fed up with the AFSA and it is wrongly utilised. If necessary our party MPs will raise the issue in parliament demanding its withdrawal, Al-India Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy told PTI here. He said that Trinamool Congress which has a lone member in the outgoing assembly would contest in 48 of the 60 seats in Manipur. We are confident that Trinamool will do well in the polls. The Trinamool Congress wants that there should be a pro-people and transparent government in Manipur, Mr. Roy, the union minister of State for shipping, said.

He said that party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would campaign for party candidates in Manipur. She would address a meeting in Imphal on January 25. Mr. Roy who would accompany Ms. Banerjee in the campaigning said that the party was yet to finalise seat-sharing with the Janata Dal (United) in Uttar Pradesh.

SPORTS
Dilshan quits Sri Lanka captaincy
Test and one-day series defeats in South Africa prove final straw

Tillakaratne Dilshan has resigned as Sri Lanka captain after less than a year in the job. Dilshan took over from Kumar Sangakkara last year's World Cup, where Sri Lanka lost in the final to India. But his stint in charge was not successful, Sri Lanka suffering Test series defeats in England, at home to Australia and in South Africa. Sri Lanka also lost the one-day series in South Africa 3-2, victories in the final two dead rubbers not enough to prevent Dilshan tendering his resignation one day after the end of the series. "T.M. Dilshan sent his resignation from the captaincy of the national team to Sri Lanka Cricket a short while ago," SLC said in a text message alert to its subscribers.

International News
Chinese new year: first the 'tiger mother' now the 'dragon baby'
Hospitals across Asia with large ethnic-Chinese populations and those in China especially are bracing for a baby boom in the Year of the Dragon which began on Monday.

The dragon is the most auspicious sign in the Chinese zodiac as it is the only year represented by a mythical character, rather than an animal, as in the eleven others of the dozen-year cycle. The symbol of royalty, it is thought by superstitious ethnic Chinese to be the bringer of wealth, wisdom, courage and power, with the result many couples will plan that their offspring be born during the lunar year. Couples are believed to have until about May 2 to conceive in order that their child will be born before the Year of the Dragon draws to a close next February 9. But many couples got a head-start. Beds in the Chinese capital's Maternity Hospital are fully booked until August and nannies in Beijing and neighbouring Tianjin have hiked their rates. In predominantly ethnic-Chinese Singapore the government is hoping a boom can rescue its dramatically declining fertility rates. In the most recent years of the dragon in 1988 and 2000 the numbers of babies born in the city state spiked by 10 per cent, in stark contrast to the declining birth rate during the years in between. In 2010 the Singapore fertility rate fell to 1.15 per female, way below the 2.1 needed to replace the population, to the dismay of the prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. "I fervently hope that this will be a big 'dragon' year for babies," he said. "This is critical to preserve a Singapore core in our society. We don't want to rely more and more heavily on immigration, nor do we want to see our population shrinking year by year."

Education News Cyber Saturday: School Boards have local control of eduction
The nation is riveted by the Republican primary elections and what they mean for the nation, but when it
comes to whats most precious to many of us our kids educations local school boards have most of the real power. And its time for these school boards to use that power to create high-quality learning opportunities for all students particularly minority students, who now represent the majority of U.S. newborns. True, 37 states spend less per pupil today than they did the previous school year, but school boards cant simply point the finger of blame at their state capitols. Instead, they must reprioritize how they use their considerable resources and authority. The modest gains posted by U.S. students in reading and math on the most recent "Nations Report Card" underscore the need for local school boards to take greater responsibility now to close the persistent opportunity gaps that have left minority students and less affluent children far behind.

Despite slight gains in math by fourth- and eighth-graders on the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress, the same worrisome trends remain: Black and Hispanic students continue to score much lower, on average, than their white counterparts. Achievement gaps are not the inevitable result of poverty or race. Schools can either accelerate or hinder learning. They can close opportunity gaps or widen them. On this premise, the federal No Child Left Behind law focused extensively on closing achievement gaps, pushing states to test more students and holding low-performing schools accountable. But if accountability and testing havent bridged achievement gaps, what will? The reality is that where children attend school too often determines the quality of their education. That might be different were all Americans committed to creating an integrated society, where people of all economic groups and races live together, study together and advocate for each others children. Until then, heres what we can do to ensure a high-quality education for all children: School boards must allocate resources equitably among the schools they serve. They must ensure that schools in high-poverty neighborhoods have the resources to support learning, such as new textbooks, foreign language courses, technology and offerings that raise students sights .