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q On World Health Day,
experts caution people about
adulterated edibles
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Chennai’s No 1 English evening daily since 1982
www.newstodaynet.com
NATIONAL DAILY
VOL. XXXIII NO. 121
FOUNDER EDITOR: T.R.R
H CHENNAI H TUESDAY 7.4.2015 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS WEDNESDAY 8.4.2015 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H
READY TO SOAR
Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
AP police shoot
down TN smugglers
q 20 red sander poachers killed in encounter near Tirupati
Dwayne Bravo rests during a training session at the
M A Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
Photo: A R JAYAKUMAR
Time for
‘cricketainment’
q IPL-8 set for grand kick-off
q Focus on CSK, KKR
Is food on
your plate safe?
NT Bureau / Agencies
Chennai, Tirupati, Apr 7:
At least 20 red sander
‘smugglers’, most of them
from Tamilnadu, were today killed by the Special
Task Force of Andhra
Pradesh police in two gunﬁghts in Chittoor district.
The incidents took place
near the forests of Tirupati
hills in Chandragiri Mandal where the smugglers
camped to illegally cut
down red sanders trees
and smuggle them out to
international markets.
Sources said smugglers
and labourers were moving
around in the forests in the
early hours when the special police team confronted
them. The smugglers then
allegedly attacked the police with stones and axes
and the police opened ﬁre.
‘About 20 smugglers were
killed in the incident which
can be termed as a major breakthrough. We are
combing the area to nab
the remaining smugglers,’
Andhra Pradesh Home
Minister Nimmakayala Chinarajappa said.
While 11 persons were
killed in Cheekatikona, nine
nearest human habitation.
Some reports said out
of the 20 killed, 12 were
from Tamilnadu (most of
them hailing from Salem
area). Two among those
killed were international red
sanders smugglers.
Deputy Inspector General
of Police (Task Force) M
Kanta Rao said that over
100 smugglers and labour-
MORNING ATTACK
Personnel of Special Task Force of Andhra Pradesh
Police killed 20 ‘smugglers’ in an encounter this morning.
TN parties condemn, CM chairs meet
The encounter has created ripples in Tamilnadu, as most of them belong to the
State. With political parties condemning the incident, protection has reportedly been
provided to business establishments run by Telugus in the city, Also, Chief Minister
O Panneerselvam has chaired a high-level meeting at the Secretariat to take stock
of the situation. The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary, DGP, Chennai
police Commissioner and other higher ofﬁcials. DGP Ashok Kumar has instructed the
police to monitor law and order situation in border districts such as Vellore, Thiruvallur
and Thiruvannamalai.
Condemning the incident, BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan said it was
so wrong to kill them. ‘They (police) should have taken legal action, killing them is
extreme.’ TNCC president EVKS Elangovan also condemned the encounter.
JAYANTHI PAWAR
Chennai, Apr 7:
Food that tickles your taste bud and is priced relatively
low is the ﬁrst choice for any person to ﬁll their stomach,
but the question is how hygienic it is. As part of World
Health Day (which falls today), food safety ofﬁcers
caution people about adulterated food that is ﬂooding
the market. With increasing demand of food mainly
sweets, milk and meat that is commonly consumed,
health experts point out the negatives.
A food safety ofﬁcer in the city, points out that most
of the shopkeepers to meet rising demands stock
sweets. Most of the sweets have colouring agents
and adulterated substances which most people are
not aware of. For instance, metaline yellow colour
is added to laddus which causes stomach upset,
vomiting and sinus.
He further said that 20 per cent of the shops though
aware of the rules under the FSSAI to run a sweet shop
still violate norms. While some 40 per cent are unaware
about the act, serve quality food enduring being truthful
to their conscious.
He says that chicken delicacies sold at TASMAC
shops are prepared using adulterated colouring agents.
Though according to Rule 28 under the Prevention of
Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (PFA) and the Prevention
of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955 and 1999 permits the
usage of synthetic colour in food for red colouring the
components.
‘The masala packets and colouring agents in streetside shops use fabric dye. We found that vendors who
are illiterate are not unaware that fabric dye, which is
listed on the packet, is non-edible. This packet is available in the open markets which is called as organic
dye,’ said the ofﬁcer.
According to Rule 30 the amount of the colouring
agent should not exceed 100 ppm.
‘In India the colouring agent is used in excess which
causes damage to the health,’ said a senior professor, department of Chemistry from Indian Institute of
Technology - Madras.
‘People always choose their food by the look, followed
by its smell and then only comes the taste. Hence, to
draw their attention coloring agents like synthetic dye
substances are used,’ he said.
He also said that the basic spice that gives colour is turmeric which also adds medicinal value,
however, fried meat are not prepared with such
spice as it does not give the intense red colour.
Therefore yellow and red colouring substances
such as tartrazine (E 102), sunset yellow (E110)
and ponceau 4R (E124) are used to enhance the
appearance of chicken.
‘Our ofﬁcers go on routine visits to eateries to check if
vendors follow the required hygiene rules. If doubtful,
samples are collected and sent for testing. If the reports
are positive for contamination, we register a criminal
case for prosecution in the court,’ the ofﬁcer added.
Meanwhile, though the State has taken steps to
ensure that the food supplied to people is safe and
healthy, the department lacks manpower.
The State has only six government laboratories to
test food products but all of them lack manpower.
There are around 32 designated ofﬁcers, 510 FSOs,
six food analysts across the State. The ofﬁcers send
the samples to private clinics who are inﬂuenced by
the company and such results are not authentic,’ said
another FSO seeking anonymity.
C SHYAM SUNDAR
du Plessis, Suresh Raina
and Ravindra Jadeja and
Chennai, Apr 7:
bowlers like R Ashwin and
From the days of Test
Mohit Sharma, CSK is alcricket alone to ODIs to
ways going to be a threat
T20s, it has been one
What, why &
for rivals.
whirligig. These are mod12 July 2011: Forest ofﬁcer M Srinivasulu was killed
where
They looked the team to
ern times and the sport is
by red sanders at Panuguru near Chittoor in Andhra
Classified as endanbeat in last year’s IPL bealmost round-the-year. The
Pradesh.
gered in International
fore a brutal Virender SeWorld Cup may have just
3 December 2012: A red sander was killed by police.
Union for Conservation
hwag attack laid them low.
got over but the IPL is upon
16 December 2012: Red sanders attacked two
of Nature’s Red List, red
It would be difﬁcult to look
us. The 47-day event, will
forest officials and stoned them to death in Sessanders fetch Rs 25 lakh
beyond CSK in IPL-8 too.
kick off with a grand openhachalam forests. Deputy Range Officer Sridhar
per tonne in the internaing ceremony later tonight
Meanwhile, Kings XI
and Assistant Beat Officer David Kumar were
tional market. It is mainly
in Kolkata and the opening
coached by the low-proﬁle
killed on the spot
used in aphrodisiac drugs
game tomorrow.
Sanjay Bangar and boast29 May 2014: A major encounter broke out between
and for making musical
ing of Sehwag and Murali
The tournament returns
Judicial probe
forest ofﬁcers and three red sander smugglers in
instruments and furniture.
Vijay at the top and power
to Chennai after a long
ordered
Seshachalam forests. Five police ofﬁcials were also
In Andhra Pradesh, red
hitters like David Miller and
gap and fans have shown
injured in the encounter.
The Chittoor District Colsanders grows mainly in
George Bailey will be hard
a lot of enthusiasm witlector today ordered a
the Seshachalam hill ranges
to stop while KKR have
nessed by the teeming
ers helping them attacked certaining the number of
judicial probe into the
spread across Kadappa,
the depth to pose a stiff
crowds at the ticket sales
policemen, forcing them to policemen injured,’ the ofencounter by the Special
Chittoor and Kurnool districts
challenge to the rest. India
on Monday. Chennai Suopen ﬁre in self-defence.
ﬁcer said. The ofﬁcer said
Task Force of the Andhra
in the Rayalaseema rediscard Gautham Gambir
per Kings (CSK), led by M
‘They attacked task force they were yet to identify
Pradesh Police, in which
gion and parts of Nellore
leads a strong side but
S Dhoni, will be among the
personnel with sickles and those killed.
20 red sander ‘smugglers’
district. The area under
they are known to be slow
pre-tournament favourites
other sharp-edged weapons
The police and forest
were killed, according to
red sanders is estimated
starters and would aim to
along with the defending
and the police had to open personnel launched joint
late reports.
to be 4.67 lakh hectares.
start with a win over former
champions Kolkata Knight
ﬁre in self defence,’ he said. operations on Monday
champs Mumbai Indians
Riders (KKR) and Kings
sonnel had acted after
He said the shoot-out night following tip-off about
at the Eden Gardens to- more died in Eethagunta,
XI Punjab, beaten ﬁnalist
receiving information that
smugglers
entering
the
happened
between
5
am
both deep in the forest,
morrow.
of 2014.
trees were being felled.
forests.
The
security
perand
6
am.
‘We
are
asaround
10
km
from
the
DD have once again gone
A lot has happened befor
a
complete
overhaul
and
tween the last ﬁnale and
Neighbour files
apart from Yuvraj, they have
now and off-field action
invested in a 36-year-old
complaint
kept administrators on the
Zaheer Khan who too would
toes. There was some
against actress
be aspiring to don India
uncertainty over the particiNT Bureau
colours one last time. To be
eter continued his tirade
New Delhi, Apr 7:
pation of CSK and RajasNT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
against Dhoni, saying,
led by South African pro JP
Yograj Singh, father of
than Royals owing to legal
Chennai, Apr 7:
A complaint has been ﬁled
‘There was a time when he
Duminy, DD have his com- Indian all-rounder Yuvraj
issues but things seem to
Valuables were stolen from a house by unidentiﬁed
was nothing but today he with the Virugambakkam
patriot Imran Tahir as the Singh, lashed out at Mahave blown over now and
persons at Korukkupet here this morning.
sits before the media and police against actress Maya,
Pakistani-born leg-spinner hendra Singh Dhoni, saythe teams are set for action
According to police, R Chandrasekar of
rips them apart. He laughs alleging that she had atwould look to replicate his ing, ‘I would have slapped
on the ﬁeld.
P
arthasarathy Street complained that a gang
at media people who gave tacked her neighbour.
Dhoni, had I been a jourWorld Cup show.
The auctions earlier this
barged into the house and got away with gold,
him
so
much
hype
and
nalist.’
It’s a strong team on paper
Police sources said the cash and silver.
year saw teams go in for
laughs at those who cheer
Yograj Singh told a Hindi
but it remains to be seen
complainant Manohari said
strategic changes and YuThe men broke open the main door of the house
him when he scores runs.’
whether they better their news channel that Dhoni
vraj Singh was the biggest
that she objected when
and locked Chandrasekar and his wife Shanthi in
He then smacked Dhoni
was
nothing
but
had
start2012 show where they ﬁngainer and went for the
comparing him with Ra- Maya parked her car in front a room.
ed to consider himself as
ished on top and crashed
highest bid to Delhi Darevana. Yograj told the news of her (Manohari’s) house,
the ‘God of cricket’ due to
After which, police said, the men unlocked the almirah Victim Shanthi showing the
out of the play-offs. They
devils while Dinesh Karthik
channel that Dhoni has as it caused inconvenience and ﬂed with 50 sovereigns of gold, Rs 2.5 lakh cash,
the media. Yograj added,
almirah from where cash
also have last-four ﬁnishes ‘Media has made him great
against invited a pricey bid.
become arrogant and will to her. ‘The argument soon silverware and a mobile phone.
and gold were stolen.
in 2008 and 2009.
CSK, as always will be
suffer the same fate as that turned into a ﬁght that led to
which he never was.’
R K Nagar police have registered a case.
Photo: R THIYAGARAJAN
Another power-packed
among the teams to beat
assault,’ she said.
of Ravana.
The former Indian crickteam, who are yet to win
that stems in a large part
the coveted silverware is
due to the consistency in
Royal Challengers Banselection and a relaxed
galore, the ﬁnalists in 2009
team atmosphere. The
and 2011.
challenge will probably
NT Bureau
among many sections
a major case in point. Most
much district in Madhya
But you wouldn’t have
place just a few days back.
come from the holders KKR
The team would look no
of mainstream media,
of the media initially went to
Pradesh. What happened
got this information from
Just for contrast, imagine
Chennai, Apr 7:
and and Kings XI, who
further after having Chris
whose editorial rooms are
town taking the unfortunate
there? On the eve of
your usual sections of the
what would have the headDid you read of incidents
boast of balanced squads
Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de in Neemuch in your mornmostly peopled by Leftincident to be the handiwork
Hanuman Jayanthi last
mainstream media. Even
lines and discussions been
while the underachieving
Villiers and Dinesh Karthik ing papers over the last
ists and so-called liberals
of the Hindutva brigade. But
week, some Hindus who
the sketchy reports on Neehad communal skirmishes
Royal Challengers Bangain their top four.
(and who have still not
when it eventually emerged
were part of a procesmuch arson carry the usual
broken out in a place shortfew days? Highly unlikely,
lore and Mumbai Indians will
come to terms with havthat the rape was carried
sion were reportedly atanodyne headlines on the
ly after Modi’s visit there?
But with Varun Aaron it would seem. And how
be eyeing the trophy.
ing Narendra Modi as the
by illegal immigrants from
tacked by some Muslim
theme: ‘Two communities
and Ashok Dinda their two about the blast at Belur RaThe issue is not here
Prime Minister), to downBangladesh, many newspagroups with stones. The
clash’, whereas the facts on
Dhoni has always harped
leading pacers to begin makrishna math? Well, you
about which religion is bad
play incidents against the
pers and TV channels just
events escalated (there
the ground is Hindus were
on a settled line-up and
with, the bowling looks a bit might have come across the
or good. The issue here is,
Hindu community, while
silenced themselves. And
was arson and shops and
targeted for attack during Haminimum of tinkering and
shaky in absence of World news, but it would not have
why are major sections of
even typical law and order
there was hardly any apology
vehicles were set on ﬁre)
numan Jayanthi celebrations.
it has been the hallmark of
Cup player of the tourna- reached you with the insistmainstream media hesitant
crimes against minorities
for the impassionate, chestand eventually the police
the team’s success over
ment Mitchell Starc who is ent stridency of the reportage
What adds intrigue to the
to name one religion, while
get an amplified spin as
beating threnodies masordered curfew, which
the years. With a line-up
likely to miss three weeks that surrounded, say, the
unfortunate happenings
another religion is dragged
‘concerted campaigns’.
querading as op-ed pieces
was in place till this mornthat includes the explofor a knee injury, while attacks at some churches.
in Neemuch is Congress
into any kind of crime,
condemning
(that
curfewPrinters
was Private
sive New Zealand
captain on
Adam
Milne
is recovering
The (GST
heinous
rapeGuindy,
of an Chennai
president
Gandhi
when
no evidence
exists.
there85,
seems
Published
by K. Balakumar
behalf
of News
Today MediaThe
(P)point
Ltd.,isfrom
Mount Road
Road),
600 the
032‘Sanghis’.
and printed ing
by him
at is,
Frontline
Ltd.,Sonia
M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka
Industrial
Estate, Guindy,
there
for
3
full
days).
Brendon
McCullum,
Faf
from
a
heel
injury.
old
nun
in
West
Bengal
is
Now
we
will
go
to
Neehad
made
a
tour
of
the
(More
stories
on
Page
7)
to
be
a
unwritten
code
Chennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Timeline
Yuvraj’s father hits
out at Dhoni again
Cash, gold stolen from
house at Korukkupet
News not reported: Curfew in Neemuch
2 TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
City
Centre
CHENNAI
Big brother is watching
MISSING CONVENIENCE
Cops hold awareness meet at Mugappair
C
hennai City Police conducted
a programme on ‘Crime prevention by video and audio visual
presentation’ to the residents of
Nolambur recently. The event at
Velammal School, T S Krishna
Nagar, evoked good response from
the public.
Police officials made a powerpoint presentation under the topics
of chain snatching, house robbery,
road accidents and crimes against
senior citizens. The main aim of this
programme was to bring awareness
on crimes and alert the residents.
Faculty and co-ordinator of
Police Department, V
Raghunathan, said,
‘As part of crime prevention measures, the
Police have started conducting such events. We
have selected some important places in the city to alert
the residents. These programmes
help reduce and control the crimes’.
‘I thank the residents of Nolambur
for attending the event. The support
given by the associations was remarkable. Those who attended will
have complete knowledge about the
situations and locations of crimes.
Our aim is to bring awareness
among the residents and be watchful and take preventive measures to
avoid crimes,’ he added.
‘Nolambur is a vast area, where
most of the vacant lands are converted into multi-storey buildings
and big bungalows. Few VIPs are
also dwelling in the locality. Most
residents are educated and earn
high income. Especially IT workers
at Ambattur prefer this locality,’ says
Suresh, a resident of Nolambur.
‘Even though we are aware of
our area, this programme was
useful for us.
IR We will speak
A
P
P
MUGA
about this
event in our association meeting and take preventive
measures for a better life. I thank,
the Police department for selecting
our area,’ he adds.
‘There are many senior citizens
in our area, we are planning to
safeguard and protect them from
the crimes after watching this
programme. Police patrol vehicles
are coming regularly to our area.
Police
ofﬁcials
made a
power-point
presentation
under
the topics
of chain
snatching,
house
robbery, road
accidents
and crimes
against
senior
citizens
Lack of maintenance of a toilet
for MTC staff at Mugappair
East bus terminus puts them in
trouble.
Photo:
M SRINIVASAN
Median work at Ambattur
nears completion
C
onstruction of median on CTH
Road that began last year is
nearing completion. It is expected
to ease trafﬁc and make travelling
comfortable for roads users.
The authorities have taken up the
project as the stretch witnesses
heavy traffic, and the highway
serves as a prime route for commuters to reach other parts of the city.
According to Saravanan, a regular motorist, ‘Riding a bike on the
road especially at night was a total
nightmare. The stretch witnesses
constant vehicular movement all
Work on CTH Road is fast nearing completion.
through the day and absence of
median is a perfect gateway for
two-wheelers to negotiate with other
vehicles from opposite direction.
Hence, construction of median will
force commuters to stick to their
speed limit and will also control
speeding vehicles and trafﬁc ﬂow’.
As the work on median construction is nearing end, of- f i c i a l s
‘Electric posts have been
middle of the road which is attribshould now focus on
left behind and they
uted to poor illumination of street
implementing
stand right on the midlights’.
other regulatory
R
U
dle
of
the
road
posing
Also, considering both commuters
TT
mechanisms like
AMBA
a
serious
danger
to
and
pedestrian safety, implementreﬂectors and signcommuters’,
says
a
motorist.
ing
other
effective mechanisms on
boards, feel many.
He
adds,
‘The
stretch
has
witthe
stretch
will increase the safety
Despite the fact that
t h e
nessed
several
accidents
as
motorof
people,
feel
many.
median being installed along the
- NT Bureau
ists
especially
two-wheelers
have
stretch to regulate and help ease
trafﬁc, it has its own set of problems. failed to spot these poles on the
Construction of median will
force commuters to stick to
their speed limit
The crime rate has been reduced
compared to previous years,’ says
Kumar, another resident.
He also mentions ‘the police booth
installed in the locality is very useful for us’. We are also planning to
demand for some more at important
places to curb crime rates, he adds.
Raghunathan can be contacted at
98407 81987.
- NT Bureau
IN THEATRES
IN
SONY PIX
SAGAPTHAM
06:33 PM Rocky
Kamala Theatre, Udhayam Theatre, PVR Cinemas,
09:00PM The Maiden Heist
AGS Cinemas, INOX National, Abirami Mega Mall,
11:05PM District B13
Woodlands Multiplex, Mayajaal Cinema, Sangam
Multiplex, Sri Ganga Cinema, Raj Theatre, Maharani
Theatre
HBO
NANBENDA
9
1
3
4
7
MOVIES NOW
PVR Cinemas, Sangam, AGS, INOX National, Hall, Rakki
06:45 PM Five Shaolin Masters
Multiplex, Abirami Theatres,
09:00 PM The Siege
11:20 PM Olympus Has Fallen
KOMBAN
STAR MOVIES
PVR Cinemas, Sangam, AGS, INOX National, Abirami
06:37 PM Hellboy II: The Golden
Army
Theatres,
09:00 PM Jurassic Park III
Mayajaal, Escape Cinema, Devi Cineplex, Kamala Theatre,
ANSWER TO
SUDOKU 3039
(6.4.2015)
10:48 PM Conan the Barbarian
TV TODAY
JAYA TV
04:30 PM Kollywood Gallery
05:00 PM New Songs
05:30 PM Arusuvai Neram
06:30 PM Galatta Comedy
07:00 PM Ramayanam
06:30 PM Pasamalar
07:30 PM News
07:00 PM News
08:00 PM Hits
07:30 PM Nadhaswaram
08:30 PM Akka
08:00 PM Deiva Magal
09:00 PM Priyamana Thozhi
08:30 PM Vamsam
09:30 PM Poomagal
09:00 PM Priyamanaval
10:00 PM Kavidhaiyae Theriyuma
09:30 PM Vani Rani
10:30 PM English News
10:00 PM Sakthi
10:30 PM Azhagi
11:00 PM Movie
SU N TV
KA LAIGNAR TV
03:00 PM Valli
04:00 PM Pudhu Paadal
03:30 PM Movie
04:30 PM Sirippu Varudhu
06:00PM Mundhanai Mudichu
05:00 PM Endrum Super
The object is
to insert the
numbers in
the boxes to
satisfy only
one condition:
each row,
column and
3x3 box must
contain the
digits
1 through 9
exactly once:
Easy nah?
2
3
2
7
6
6
1
2
3
7
5
4
7
1
3040
11:30 PM Star Trek Into Darkness
Mayajaal, Escape Cinema, Devi Cineplex, Kamala Theatre,
11:00PM Thenkinnam
8
06:23 PM V for Vendetta
09:00 PM Now You See Me
10:45 PM Tamil News
S
U
D
O
K
U
1
2
4
2
7
3
6
9
1
8
3
4
7
9
8
1
6
2
5
1
7
9
8
6
3
2
5
4
7
3
2
4
1
8
5
9
6
6
1
4
5
9
8
5
6
2
4
7
3
1
9
3
7
8
2
2
8
3
6
7
4
8
3
9
1
1
9
6
5
5
2
4
7
5
9
2
7
3
1
4
2
7
5
6
8
8
4
9
6
1
3
STAR SPORTS 1
05:30 PM Kalai Koil
06:00 PM En Kanavan En Thozhan
06:00 PM Utchakattam
06:30 PM Puthu Kavithai
06:30 PM Idhu Pudhusu
07:00 PM News
07:00 PM Kalyanam Mudhal
Kaadhal Varai
07:30 PM Mohini
07:30 PM Aandaal Azhagar
08:00 PM Bhavani
08:00 PM Deivam Thandha Veedu
08:30 PM Romapuri Paandiyan
08:30 PM Saravanan Meenatchi
09:00 PM Odi Vilayadu Pappa
09:00 PM Mahabharatham
03:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Quarter Final 11:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Final: Aus2: Bangladesh vs. India
tralia vs. New Zealand
04:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Semi Final 1: TEN SPORTS
03:00 PM UEFA Champions League
New Zealand vs. South
2014/15 H/ls
Africa
09:30 PM Madippakkam Madhavan
09:30 PM Super Singer T20
05:00 PM Great Knocks
04:00 PM WWE Raw
10:00 PM News Headlines
10:30 PM Office
05:30 PM Close Encounters
07:00 PM Gillette World Sport
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Kaadhal Varai
06:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Australia vs.
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07:30 PM Football League Show
10:30 PM Sirippu Varudhu
11:00 PM Telebuy
VIJ AY TV
03:00 PM Saravanan Meenatchi
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04:30 PM Super Singer T20
05:30 PM Uravugal Thodar Kadhai
11:30 PM Movie
2015 H/ls : Quarter Final
3: Australia vs. Pakistan
08:00 PM Edge Sports : Bowl-ARama
05:00 PM S K Shoppe
07:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
08:30 PM ICC Cricket 360
2015 H/ls : Quarter Final
09:00 PM WWE Raw
3: Australia vs. Pakistan
05:30 PM Vellithira
08:00 PM Team Talk
06:00 PM Raj News
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06:30 PM Thirai Vaanil
09:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
05:00 PM
2015 H/ls : Quarter Final
4: New Zealand vs. West
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06:00 PM
10:00 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
RA J TV
07:00 PM Sindhu Bhairavi
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TEN CRICKET
003:00 PM South Africa Tour of Sri
Lanka 2014 H/ls : 1st Test
West Indies Tour of South
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T20
West Indies Tour of South
Africa 2014/15 H/ls : 2nd
Around Town
CHENNAI
TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
3
HEAT IS ON... BUT ZOO
AUTHORITIES COOL
q Percolation ponds help store water to meet summer needs
C SHYAM SUNDAR
Chennai, Apr 7:
The heat is on and there is already
concern about availability of drinking water in several parts of the
city. Meanwhile, the welfare of the
animals is uppermost on the minds
of authorities at the zoo as the summer looms.
With temperatures on the rise,
the need to conserve water has
been felt by the authorities
at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur
and they have already
swung into action.
According to sources,
networking of channels and creation of
percolation ponds
have not only helped
in arresting rainwater
draining out of the zoo,
but also improved the
region’s groundwater
table.
It may be noted that the
zoo authorities are entirely
Nurture human values
in youth: Governor
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
‘Unity in diversity is the hallmark
of our nation. We have to develop
a mind that is ready to help those
in distress. It is the act of kindness,
understanding and mutual respect
for other religions and faiths that will
further strengthen the bonds of unity,’
Governor K Rosaiah has said while
stating that the onus is on society to
nurture human values among modern day youth.
Participating in the Baisakhi and
Tamil New Year- Interfaith celebrations, organised by Developers India,
he presented the Vibrant Indian
Award to R Natarajan Natanam.
He praised Developers India’s
Chennai unit for striving to promote
peace, harmony, and social well being of people. ‘The initiatives taken by
Developers India, towards building a
progressive egalitarian and harmonious society by organising seminars,
CG officer is now
CSG commandant
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
In a ﬁrst of its kind initiative, Tamilnadu government has appointed a
serving Indian Coast Guard officer
as the Commandant for its Coastal
Security Group (CSG).
Commandant Uday Kumar Choudhary will be the Commandant for State
police’s CSG on deputation .
While Commandant Choudhary
would serve for the ﬁrst two years,
Commandant Surojit Dey would take
charge for the next two years, according to a GO by the Tamil Nadu
government.
Commandant Choudhary took
charge on Monday in the presence of
Additional Director General of Police
(CSG) C. Sylendra Badu.
Governor K Rosaiah conferring the ‘Vibrant Indian Award’ on art
director and muralist R Natarajan ‘Natanam’ at the Baisakhi and Tamil
New Year Celebrations organised by Developers India in Chennai
yesterday. Prince of Arcot Mohammed Abdul Ali and Taminadu Eyal
Isai Nataka Mandram Member-Secretary Chitra Visweswaran are
among those present.
lectures, interactions, get-togethers
spiritual facets of human personality.
etc., deserve commendation.’
Developing of good qualities, posiQuoting Mahatma Gandhi, the
tive thinking, nurturing human values
Governor said, ‘There is no religion
in the youth rests with the parhigher than truth and righteousness’ ents, educational institutions, NGOs,
and pointed out that truth, righteous
elders and senior members of the
conduct, peace, love and non-vio- society.
lence are directly linked to physical,
Prince of Arcot Mohammed Abdul
intellectual, emotional psyche and
Ali was present.
For the wellness
of women
q Novo launches sanitary napkins
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
Novo Health and Hygiene, a Chennai-based start-up venture unveiled
Vanessa Sanitary Napkins in city on
Monday. Actress Andrea Jermiah
who is the brand ambassador of the
product launched it to provide better
health and hygiene for women.
Speaking at the launch, the actress
said, ‘There is no need for women
to shy away from buying napkins.
And, that it is not a drug to be quietly
wrapped up in a black cover’.
Novo Health and Hygiene managing director K Sivanathan said,
‘Though there are many ﬁelds, we
Kudankulam second
n-plant to be operational soon
chose this product so as to break
the tabboo of menstruation which
continues to be a secret and silent
health threat for women even today.
There is no harm in this as it is just
a process and we have to gracefully
accept these times.’
Leading gynecologist Kamala
Selvaraj, who was present on the
occasion said, ‘Exposure to dioxins
is a threat, but many products today
have no protection for women. Also,
cervical cancer can be avoided if they
use the right product.’
Vanessa Sanitary Napkins will be
available across all retail stores in
Tamilnadu from 16 April.
dependent on groundwater resources and draw upto ﬁve lakh
litres every day to meet their requirements. Water is used to ﬁll up animal
enclosures, and also to bathe and
feed the animals.
Sources said 18 percolation ponds
have been created with minimal
concrete structures. Importance
has been given to bund formation
and weirs (a structure to raise water
level), and ﬂush escape hatches
have been constructed around the
ponds, each of which serve to automatically drain excess water from
one into another, he added.
A total of 67.5 crore litres of rainwater is expected to be harvested with
the new structures in place. The new
ponds now store 22.5 crore litres
of water, enough to meet the zoo’s
requirements, they said.
Sources said that the measures
taken during the monsoon season
had helped the zoo manage the water supply so far and expected the
rainwater harvesting programme to
beneﬁt the park in the long run.
How much?
The zoo requires six lakhs litre of water per day to meet the
demand towards the cleaning of 85 animal houses, providing
drinking water to the animals, visitors, staff members, ﬁlling up
wet moats and irrigating the fodder bank, fruit orchard, hedges
and lawns. Tamilnadu Water Supply and Drainage Board is supplying about two to three lakhs litres of water daily from the Palar
river water source and the balance quantity is met from 13 open
wells and 2 bore wells situated inside the Zoological Park.
GEARING UP
Meanwhile, the zoo authorities
are gearing up for the summer
rush and
three wild dog pups born in December 2014 have been brought
into enclosures for public view.
The new pups have come after
a gap of nearly two years. The
Asiatic wild dog, Prabhavathi, had
last given birth in January 2013.
The number of wild dogs at the zoo
now stands at eight, said sources.
‘The mother and newborns are
doing well. They have been provided special care,’ and the public
will be allowed to view them now
at their enclosures. The pups, two
male and one female, weighed
around 100 grams each at time of
birth and were provided special
care, with veterinarians keeping
a tab on their growth.
FOR THE PUBLIC
The Zoo officials are taking
measures to ensure that members of the public don’t suffer
during the summer. Shelters
have been constructed at various
spots to ensure that visitors can
get to take rest.
Also, water booths will be provided at more places so that people
can quench their thirst.
Applications
invited for
courses
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
The Directorate General of Employment and Training, Santhome,
invites applications from SC/ST
candidates for its coaching-cumguidance courses.
As part of the coaching, the guidance centre would provide training
on various subjects including general
awareness, English, numerical aptitude and also provide for training in
computer science.
The course is designed to equip the
candidates for the various clerical
grade competitive examinations.
The last date for receipt of application is 15 May. Those who would
like more details can contact the
sub-regional employment ofﬁce at
2461 5112.
Over 250 people
attend health
camp
The Naval Air
Station, INS Rajali organised a
medical camp
at Athur village in
Arakkonam on Sunday as
part of its 23rd anniversary
celebrations.
Over 250 people from the village
were screened. Free medicines
were disbursed to all the participants of the camp, and patients with
minor medical, surgical and dental
problems will be treated free of cost
in the naval hospital inside the air
station.
The camp was inaugurated by
Captain V.K. Pisharody, commanding ofﬁcer, INS Rajali , in the presence of the panchayat president of
Athur village.
Commuters using the newly opened escalator
CMRL opens escalator
at Central Station
Ofﬁcials conducts safety audit
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
Metro Rail will make commuting
easy. But the years of trafﬁc deviation and construction work taking
up road space can be harrowing for
commuters.
With such reports of people ﬁnding it difﬁcult to enter the Central
Station due to the ongoing Metro
Rail work, the Chennai Metro Rail
Limited (CMRL) has opened a
modern escalator near the existing
Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Central
Station yesterday.
‘There were media reports that
commuters were ﬁnding it difﬁcult
to enter the station premises even
though a FOB connecting the Moore
Market complex with the Park railway station. So, we constructed an
escalator at a cost of Rs one core.
It was built in two to three months
and began functioning on Monday,’
a CMRL ofﬁcial said.
Meanwhile, as a step closer to
the completion of the Metro Rail, a
safety audit was carried out from
Koyembedu to Alandur- a 10 kilometer stretch on Monday.
The mandatory check was carried
out by Commissioner of Rail Safety
Authorities are
waiting for approval
from Railway Board
and Railway Ministry
to carry out next test
between Koyembedu
and Alandur
S K Mittal, Deputy Commissioner
for Rail Safety Srinivas and Deputy
Chief Electrical Engineer K Palani.
The report has been submitted to
Central Government Railway Board
and Railway Ministry.
However, this is one test of the numerous ones to be done. ‘Only after
a response or approval is received
from the Railway Board and Railway
Ministry, authorities can carry out
the next test,’ ofﬁcials said.
It may be noted that seven metro
stations are nearing construction work and are expected to be
functional soon. The phase I of the
project consists of two corridors
covering a length of 45.1 kilometers.
The Koyambedu-Alandur stretch
is part of the corridor from Central
Station to St Thomas Mount.
VIT entrance test
from tomorrow
Chennai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Work is underway for the second
unit of Russia-assisted Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamilnadu and will be operational soon,
a senior Russian Consulate ofﬁcial
here said yesterday.
27,604 registrations, followed by
NT Bureau
‘The second unit will be operaAccording to VIT
Andhra Pradesh with 25,087 and
Chennai, Apr 7:
tional soon and work is on for that,’
University Chancellor
Bihar with 17,314.
A total of 1.95 lakh students will
Vice-Consul (Cultural), Consulate
In cities, Delhi topped the chart
appear for VIT Engineering EnG
Viswanthan,
the
General of the Russian Federation,
with
14,219 registrations, Hyderabad
trance Examination (VITEEE) to
university has
Mikhail Y Gorbatov said.
stood second with 13,486 registrabe held in the form of a Computer- schools9.com. The counselling
witnessed an increase
As regards the proposed units
tions and Kota came third with 10,009
Based Test (CBT) from 8 to 19 April. will be held from 11 to 16 May.
three and four, preliminary work
in
sale of applications
For
those
with
ranks
upto
8,000,
registrations.
In Tamilnadu, 13,647 students have
had begun, he said in brief remarks
The university is also providing
registered for the CBT and in Chen- the counselling will be held on 11
for its entrance exam
at a book release function.
May, followed by those with ranks
special
scholarships for students.
nai alone, 6,229 students will take
this year
India and Russia were strategic
upto 12,000 on 12 May. Ranks up
of Indian economy from other coun- up the test.
Central and State board toppers will
partners and ties between the two
to 16,000 will sit for counselling on
tries,’ he said, without elaborating
be awarded 100 per cent fee waiver
This year, the CBT will not only be
this year, compared to 1.93 lakh
countries would continue to grow
for
all four years. ‘VITEEE ranks holdfurther.
held in India but also in Dubai and 13 May and those with ranks upto
last year.
20,000 on 16 May.
strong and be mutually beneﬁcial,
ers between 1 and 50 will be given
Praising the time-tested Indo- Kuwait. The number of entrance
Viswanthan said the number for
According to VIT University Chan- applications from Tamilnadu has 75 per cent fee waiver, while those
he said as he insisted that Moscow
Russian ties, Secretary General of examination cities are 112 and
cellor G Viswanthan, the university
is not against any help and coop- the Indo-Russian Chamber of Com- examination centres are 134.
also increased this year. The uni- in the bracket of 51 to 100, will be
has witnessed an increase in sale
eration New Delhi is receiving from
The results will be announced
merce and Industries, P Thangapversity has received 13,640 applica- given 50 per cent and between 101
of applications for its entrance exam
other countries.
pan said: ‘Russian technology is on or before 30 April at various
tions compared to 12,000 last year. and 1,000, will be given a 25 per cent
this year. As many as 2,2,406 ap- Among prominent centres in India, tuition fee waiver,’ according to the
‘We are not against India getting
websites
always
cost
effective,
safe
and
Published by K. Balakumar on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai
600
032received
and printed
by him at Frontline Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate, Guindy,
plications
were
for VITEEE
VIT University Chancellor.
help and
cooperation
for the
beneﬁ
t
including
www.vit.ac.in
Uttar Pradesh
topped the chart with Circulation:
secure.’
Chennai
600
032. Ph: 4202
1111.
Editor:
K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt:
22504000,
Fax: 2250and
1800www.
(Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail:
[email protected],
4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
q 6,229 students from Chennai to appear for exam
Blend
4 TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
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TODA
TODAY
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PRINTS
INTS
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Change in air
o, a national air quality index is in place. In 10 cities, including
the pollution-rich national capital, the level of breathing
discomfort can be laid out in ﬁgures at any given time on a daily
basis. The global standard shows air quality on a six-colour scale,
dark green being the cleanest and maroon the most polluted. The
AQI has been at present launched for 10 cities -- Delhi, Agra,
Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai,
Bangalore and Hyderabad. It will have ‘one number, one colour and
one description’ to inform the public about air quality in a simple
and easily understandable format. The ministry said that each of
these cities will have 6-7 continuous monitoring stations with AQI
display boards. Traditionally, air quality status has been reported
through voluminous data, but it is important that such information
is put in the public domain in a format that can be easily understood
by a layman. The AQI has been developed by the Central Pollution
Control Board in consultation with IIT-Kanpur and an expert group
comprising medical, air-quality professionals and other stakeholders.
The index is not likely to make a real impact on improving the
quality of air, apart from possibly seeing the start of regular health
advisories. Take the national capital Delhi. There was a time that
it was rated as proactive and a window to the rest, phasing out old
vehicles, relocating industries, the switch to CNG. That seems a long
time ago. Air quality this winter was assessed as poor or worse on
86 per cent of the days. Air quality is city-speciﬁc, as are measures
to keep it within parameters. In Beijing, if the pollution levels
remain high for three consecutive days, restrictions are clamped on
construction, industrial activity and vehicles entering the city.
To combat the smoggy haze last month, Paris as an urgent measure
halved the number of cars on the road by ﬁxing days for those
with even and odd-numbered licence plates. The public transit was
made free. The effect was immediate. In India, no action plan has
been spelled out even if pollution levels reach very high limits. The
Prime Minister, whose government has been accused of diluting
environment protection norms, chose to spoke of the country’s long
tradition of recycling at the index launch.
In the absence of precise data, ‘you can’t manage what you can’t
measure’ was a good alibi for the government to avoid the pollution
issue. With the air quality index, that defence has gone. Hard
decisions will have to be taken, starting with shifting gears on the
car culture in favour of public transport. Upgrading the institutional
capacity to assess pollution sources, bigger ﬁnes for violators of
set emission quotas and a stronger legal framework for air quality
management cannot now be avoided.
Farah Khan
@ TheFarahKhan
CHENNAI
Malaysia’s attack
on terrorism
Parliament passes crucial bill
KUALA LUMPUR:
Malaysia’s parliament passed a
tough anti-terrorism bill to deal with
‘extraordinary’ threats posed by terror
entities such as the Islamic State (IS),
a move denounced by opponents as
a harsh blow for civil rights.
After 15 hours of heated debate,
the parliament passed the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Bill’ without any
amendments. The bill will allow those
involved or commissioned to carry out
terrorist acts to be detained for years
and have their movements restricted.
Members of the ruling Barisan
Nasional (BN) coalition vociferously
defended the necessity of preventive
measures to deal with ‘extraordinary’
threats posed by terror entities such
as the Islamic State (IS).
Opposition lawmakers, however,
argued that some provisions in the bill
were against human rights and civil
liberties. The decision came hours
after authorities arrested 17 people
GAME ON
C
The bill will allow those involved or
commissioned to carry out terrorist acts
to be detained for years and have their
movements restricted
who were planning terror strikes in the Muslim
majority country.
Earlier, Deputy Home
Minister Wan Junaidi
Jaafar told reporters that
the arrests of the 17 Malaysians, including two
who had just returned
from Syria, showed that
the law was needed and
would prevent things
from happening rather than wait for
things to happen.
Ruling party members said the law
had enough provisions to safeguard
the rights of everyone. Opposition
Twitter launches
‘Retweet with comment’
L ICK
PIC
SAN FRANCISCO:
Twitter just ofﬁcially launched its
‘retweet with comment’ feature, which
it began testing last summer.
‘Retweet with comment’ allows
users to embed a tweet in their own
tweets, which lets them get around
Independent ‘lucha libre’ wrestlers take part in a protest demanding
health insurance policies that will cover them when injured in the ring,
in Mexico City. In the other photograph, runners and dancers kick-off
the 12th annual Scotland Run in New York’s Central Park to celebrate
Scotland Week festivities.
The censor board should make
an exception & issue a circular
to Air India pilots listing words
that shouldn’t be used. Start
with ‘uncle’.
Omar Abdullah
@ abdullah_omar
WASHINGTON:
Earth-like planets with two suns such as Tatooine in the ‘Star Wars’
series - may exist and could potentially support life, a new research
has claimed.
Luke Skywalker’s home in ‘Star
Wars’ is the desert planet Tatooine,
with twin sunsets because it orbits
two stars. So far, only uninhabitable gas-giant planets
have been identiﬁed circling such binary stars, and
many researchers believe
rocky planets cannot form
there.
Now, mathematical simulations
show that Earth-like, solid planets
such as Tatooine likely exist and may
be widespread. Tatooine sunsets
may be common after all,’ concludes
the study by astrophysicists Ben
Bromley of the University of Utah
and Scott Kenyon of the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory.
‘Our main result is that outside a
small region near a binary star, (either
rocky or gas-giant) planet formation
can proceed in much the same way
as around a single star,’ they wrote.
‘In our scenario, planets are as
prevalent around binaries as around
single stars,’ said researchers.
‘The ‘made easy’ part is really
saying the same recipe that
works around the sun will
work around Tatooine’s
host stars,’ said Bromley.
‘When planets form around a
binary, the binary scrambles up
the dust bunnies unless they are on
just the right orbit,’ Kenyon said. Scientists call that a ‘most circular orbit,’
which in reality is a not-quite-circular,
oval-shaped orbit in which the entire
oval has numerous little waves in it,
Bromley said.
VOICE MAIL
Wrong place
Sir,
A garbage bin permanently placed near a shrine in Naickammar Street in
Mambalam looks no good both for the devotees visiting the place and the
residents.
Sadly, the bin overﬂows very often and the passersby are forced to inhale
the bad odour in the area. The place is not cleaned often and it becomes a
breeding ground for mosquitoes and ﬂies.
I request the authorities to relocate the bin to another place to make the
area clean and neat.
Magesh,
Mambalam
but as the platform matures, many
inﬂuential users have been devising
ways of getting around the character
limit so they can use Twitter as their
main public communication platform
instead of, say, a blog. Hence the
rise of ‘tweetstorms,’ which were ini-
This allows users to embed a tweet in
their own tweets, which lets them get
around Twitter’s 140-character limit
when they write their own commentary
You can slaughter men but not
animals. I can think of a 100
things they can ‘Ban’ but don’t!
How I hate that word BAN!!
‘Star Wars’- style
planets may exist
member N Surendran questioned the
need for a two-year detention period
without trial as countries with bigger
threats such as the UK and the US
had shorter detention periods. He
argued that the existing Security Of-
fences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) had sufﬁcient detention periods.
‘Although POTA states that no person shall be arrested for their political
beliefs or activities, it also states that
the decision of the Prevention of Terrorism Board cannot be challenged
unless it is on procedural matters,’
he added.
Several opposition MPs said they
planned to table their own version
of POTA, omitting the provisions on
detention without trial and the antiterrorism board.
They also proposed that the High
Court should have the power to decide if a suspect should be remanded.
Opposition lawmakers attempted to
push in three proposed amendments
to the bill but were rejected.
Home Minister Ahmad Zahid gave
an assurance that POTA would not be
abused and no one who had political
differences of differing opinion would
be detained under this law.
Twitter’s 140-character
limit when they write
their own commentary.
The feature is now
available on Twitter’s
site and iPhone app and
will be available on its Android app soon.
Twitter previously let user’s embed
quoted tweets by cutting-and-pasting
its URL, but ‘retweet and comment’
lets you do that by just pressing a
button.
The feature’s arrival has been heralded with much
rejoicing by Twitter
users. Unfortunately, you can’t embed
the full retweet and comment, as I
just found out to my disconcertment
while preparing this post.
Forcing users to truncate their rambling thoughts into pithy soundbites
was one of Twitter’s original charms,
tially derided by many
long-time Twitter users, but show no
signs of abating.
Another popular
way of getting around
Twitter’s enforced brevity is posting screenshots of quotes
from articles. This inspired the app
OneShot, made as a side project by
Twitter veteran Jason Goldman, a
former VP of product
at Twitter.
Of course, hacking
Twitter’s character
limit is nothing new.
Users have been ﬁguring out ways to enable their loquacity since the platform
was launched with products like TwitLonger and JumboTweet. The ofﬁcial
rollout of Twitter’s ‘retweet with comment’ feature just puts an imprimatur
on one kind of longform tweet.
World’s oldest person dies
Qaeda kidnaps
300 Syrian Kurds
At 116, woman had the title for 5 days
ISTANBUL:
Al Qaeda’s ofﬁcial Syrian wing, the
Nusra Front, kidnapped 300 Kurdish
men in the country’s north, a Kurdish
ofﬁcial in Syria said on Monday.
Idris Nassan, an official in the
Kobani canton, said the men were
taken on Sunday evening as they
were travelling from the town of Afrin,
which is under Kurdish control, to
the cities of Aleppo and the capital
Damascus. ‘They left women and
children but they kidnapped 300 men
and young people,’ he said. ‘They
captured them in Tuqad village, 20
kilometres west of Aleppo and then
they moved them to al-Dana town in
Idlib province,’ he said. The Nusra
Front has not claimed the kidnapping.
Syrian state media did not report the
incident. The Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights monitoring group,
which tracks the conﬂict from Britain,
said Kurds were kidnapped but it was
not clear how many.
WASHINGTON:
A 116-year-old American woman,
who became the world’s oldest person last week, has died after suffering
complications from pneumonia.
Gertrude Weaver from Arkansas became next in line to ofﬁcially earn the
title of oldest person when 117-yearold Misao Okawa of Japan died.
Weaver fell sick on Saturday and
died yesterday at Silver Oaks Health
and Rehabilitation Centre. She is
survived by her son, Joe Weaver,
who turns 94.
Weaver was fully aware of her
unique place in the world and ‘knew
everything’, Washington Post quoted
Kathy Langley, administrator at the
rehabilitation centre, as saying.
‘She was alert and oriented,’ Langley said. ‘She knew that she was the
oldest person in the world, and she
Gertrude Weaver
enjoyed that distinction greatly. She
enjoyed every phone call, every letter, every comment - everything was
read to her.’
Born in 1898 as the youngest of
six children in southwest Arkansas,
Weaver was the daughter of sharecroppers. She once told a newspaper
that her longevity was due to ‘treating
everybody good’ and eating her own
cooking.
Weaver married Gennie Weaver in
1915, and their marriage certiﬁcate
was used by researchers in July to
help verify her age, according to the
Gerontology Research Group, which
validates ages of the world’s longestliving people.
At age 104, she brieﬂy entered a
nursing home to recover from a broken hip, but she soon left the home
and continued living with her granddaughter until the age of 109. Figuring
out the world’s oldest person is not
an easy task, and the title goes to an
individual whose age can be veriﬁed
by some sort of documentation who
typically applies for the recognition.
The world’s oldest known person is
now Jeralean Talley, who was born
on May 23, 1899 and will turn 116
next month, according to the group.
Rebels reject Poroshenko’s proposal
As the commission began work on
are trying to impose from outside
KIEV:
Ukraine ... to destroy our unity. And constitutional reforms on Monday,
Ukraine’s President Poroshenko
we will not allow it,’ Poroshenko Poroshenko also said that powers
said he was ‘ready to launch a
told the constitutional commission. in Ukraine will be decentralized
referendum if necessary.’
A rebel spokesman for the self- but not defense, security or foreign
He said this while speaking at
proclaimed pro-Russian rebels policy.
the ﬁrst meeting of a constitutional
‘Donetsk People’s Recommission set up to carry out
The commission
public’, Denis Pushilin, NEWS MAKER was established in
political reforms required under
quickly rejected the
Petro Poroshenko
February’s Minsk peace accord,
of the day
response to interThe Ukrainain leader said ‘de- tion,’ which is favored by separatist notion of working with
national demands
the Kiev commission.
centralisation’ would concern ‘not leaders in east Ukraine.
following the uprising by pro‘The people who represent DonetADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
regions but the city, village and ter‘Federalisation is like an infection,
Russian separatists in the east of
sk in Kiev do not represent us,’
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
ritorial community” and would focus
a
biological
weapon
which
they
the countryIndustrial
last spring.
Published
Balakumar on behalf of News
Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount
(GST Road),
Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at Pushilin
Frontlinesaid.
Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka
Estate, Guindy,
or e-mailbytoK.
: [email protected]
/ [email protected]
not on Road
the question
of ‘federalizaChennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Enterprise
CHENNAI
India’s iron ore
imports jump
manifold in FY’15
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
India’s iron ore imports jumped
manifold to a record 15 million tonnes
in the ﬁnancial year 2014-15 owing to
ban on mining activities and declining global prices, a report said on
Monday.
A report by industry consultancy
SteelMint said that FY’15 marked an
all time high of 15 MT iron ore imports
into India.
The huge import of Iron ore last ﬁscal, ended March 31, by an iron ore
rich India is attributed to the bans on
various mines by the Supreme Court
and declining global prices of the
commodity.
In 2013-14, the imports stood at a
mere 3.2 lakh tonne.
The report said the imports last
ﬁscal were largely from South Africa
(5.9 MT) followed by Brazil (3.7 MT),
Australia (1.9 MT) and Oman (1.4 MT)
among others. Exports were recorded
at 4.5 MT during the ﬁscal.
JSW Steel, India’s third largest steel
producer imported 8.4 MT iron ore followed by Tata Steel at 3.04 MT. Other
major importers were Tata International, Essar Steel and Jindal Saw.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
United India Insurance Co Ltd has
been recently conferred with two
awards from leading publications.
According to a press release, a
media house selected United India
as the ‘Most Consistent Performer of
the Year- General Insurance’ award,
based on various factors such as net
sales, operating proﬁt, net proﬁt, balance sheet etc.
Another honour was the runner-up
in the ‘best health insurer’ category.
These awards were presented to
United India director and general
manager Asha Nair at separate functions recently.
Railways to rope in Amazon, Flipkart e-commerce through RuPay cards of PSBs
NT Bureau/PTI
New Delhi, Apr 7:
E-commerce giants Amazon and
Flipkart have reportedly been approached by the Indian Railways
to give a much needed push to the
latter’s parcel business.
According to a report, the railways
are planning to introduce a special
scheme to attract online retailers that
use road transport to transfer heavy
volumes.
According to a report appearing in
the Economic Times, the railways
earns around Rs.2,100 crores from
its parcel business, and this has the
potential to go up to Rs.5,000 crores
by 2018 if the railways manages to
tap emerging businesses.
If this e-commerce initiative takes
off, the railways could reduce its
Over 30,000 online merchants in the country
now accept RuPay cards, which includes
Flipkart, IRCTC, Jet airways, Snapdeal,
LIC, Bookmyshow and Homeshop18
existing ﬁnancial woes and use any
surplus for the upgrade and modernization of rail infrastructure.
India’s e-commerce market will
grow to $100 billion by 2020 from $3
billion in 2013, according to a report
by Morgan Stanley.
The railways do feel it can offer signiﬁcant cost advantage, particularly
over long haul transport.
Meanwhile, the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) on Monday said it has completed system
integrations to enable e-commerce
Young or old?
Around 55 per cent of the
survey respondents fall under
the age bracket of 20-29 years,
followed by 30-39 years (26%),
40-49 years (16%), 50-59 years
(2%) and 60-69 years (1%).
can modify occupational morbidity, mortality and
injury risks that
can further affect workplace
absence, disability, productivity and healthcare
costs.
High blood pressure and diabetes are the third and fourth-largest
diseases with a share of 9 per cent
and 8 per cent, respectively. Other
disease ailing corporate employees
are spondylosis at 5.5 per cent, heart
disease 4 per cent, cervical 3 per
cent, asthma 2.5 per cent, slip disk
1 per cent and arthritis 1.5 per cent.
The report is based on the views
of 1,250 corporate employees from
150 companies across 18 broad sectors like IT/ITeS, ﬁnancial services,
engineering, telecom, FMCG, real
estate, infrastructure, media, telecom,
education, manufacturing and advertising, among others.
The report included major cities
like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore,
Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad,
Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh and
Dehradun etc.
Identifying the causes of
the ailments, the
study found that
nearly 38.5 per
cent corporate
employees sleep
less than 6 hours a
day due to high stres
levels that arise out of tough targets
set by employers.
In terms of the physical ﬁtness, it
was found that around 57 per cent
of the employees in the private companies said they ‘do not exercise at
all’, 23 per cent do physical workout
devoting less than 1 hour/week, 12
per cent of the employees exercise for
1-3 hours/week, 8 per cent employees exercise for 3-6 hours/week and
merely 7 per cent stay ﬁt by exercising
for more than 6 hours/week.
Facebook rolls out
new guidelines
London, Apr 7:
Facebook has launched a new set of
guidelines in its ‘privacy basics portal’ in
an attempt to make its complicated privacy
settings more accessible for users.
The expanded portal now
includes newly created 11
visual and interactive guidelines, which cover topics on
how to ensure information is
kept secure and how to recognise
attempts to steal information, The Independent reported.
The ‘How to keep your account secure’
section will offer advice to users on creating a strong password, identifying suspicious activity and will also tell them what
to do if their account is hacked.
Melissa Luu-Van, a product manager
at Facebook, said in the company’s blog
post that the new guidelines
were launched to help millions of
people who had questions about
the social media website’s
security tools. She noted that
online threats were a growing concern for people and
the social media giant hoped
that the platform would help users better
understand how to stay safe and secure
on Facebook. The new content on the
revamped guidelines is available in 40 languages and easily accessible on phones,
tablets and computers.
Emirates invests
$6 mn to train crew
Dhanlaxmi Bank
gets new MD
Chennai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Private sector Dhanlaxmi
Bank yesterday said the
RBI has approved the appointment of G Sreeram
as its Managing Director
and Chief Executive Ofﬁcer
with immediate effect. ‘The
Reserve Bank of India has
conveyed its approval for
appointment of G Sreeram
as MD and CEO of the
bank for a period of three
years... G Sreeram has
taken charge with effect
from yesterday,’ Dhanlaxmi
Bank said in a BSE ﬁling.
transactions through RuPay cards of
the public sector banks.
‘RuPay card holders of all public
sector banks are now eCommerce
enabled. Card-holders can now conveniently purchase rail, road and air
tickets by logging into the websites of
travel companies or buy goods and
services from online stores’, an NPCI
statement said.
Multiple levels of integrations with
the bank servers are required for
enabling transactions like ATM usage, usage at point of sale terminals
Indian economy
in for good
times: Morgan
Videocon D2H withdraws
Rs 700 cr IPO application
Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Predicting an average
sub-5 per cent inﬂation this
year, Morgan Stanely has
said India is in for a long period of higher sustainable
growth and lower prices.
‘We are more constructive on inﬂation outlook and
we expect the retail rice
index to decelerate to 4.75
per cent by this December
against the consensus
estimate of 5.8 per cent.
We also expect growth
momentum to pick up,
but do not expect a rise in
inﬂationary pressure’, says
Chetan Ahya of Morgan
Stanley in a note.
He also notes that rural
wage growth has come
down to a nine-year low of
5.5 per cent in January this
year from a steep 20 per
cent in FY 2013.
Morgan Stanley draws
optimism from a slew of favourable factors, which inﬂuence retail inﬂation trend,
such as wage growth, ﬁscal
policy, growth-mix, real
interest rates and global
commodity prices.
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
Direct to Home services provider Videocon
D2H has withdrawn
its Rs 700-crore initial
public offer proposal
amid reports that it
plans to start a fresh
process to hit the capital markets. The company had filed draft
offer documents with
the Securities and Exchange Board of India
for the proposed IPO
in in September last
year. However, the
company through its
lead merchant banker
Dena Bank,
LIC sign MoU
Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI):
State-run lender Dena
Bank on Monday signed
agreement with LIC to provide insurance cover to its
savings account holders
under the Prime Minister’s
Pradhan Mantri
Jeevan Jyoti Bima
Yojana (PMJBY)
scheme.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, LIC will
give a life cover of
Rs 2 lakh in case of death
of the insured person at a
nominal premium of Rs 330
per annum.
Account holders in the
age group of 18 to 50 years
can avail of the product.
People who join the
and e-commerce thorough the cards.
The RuPay cards, launched by the
RBI-promoted NPCI, are alternative
to foreign cards like Visa and MasterCard, which earn high revenue
for facilitating transactions. There
are 140 million RuPay cards in use
at present. The state-run lenders
are the most active in issuing these
indigenous cards.
For using the RuPay card for ecommerce transactions, a one-time
user registration will have to be done
at the time of the ﬁrst transaction after
which there would be the standard
two-factor authentication process.
Over 30,000 online merchants in
the country now accept RuPay cards,
which includes Flipkart, IRCTC, Jet
airways, Snapdeal, LIC, Bookmyshow and Homeshop18.
scheme before completing
50 years can continue to
have the risk of life cover
up to the age of 55 years
subject to payment of premium. The scheme will
come into effect from 1
June, 2015.
The bank customers can join the
scheme between 1
June, 2015 to 31
May, 2016.
‘It is a very important step towards
meeting the government ﬁnancial inclusion plan. This
will increase the insurance
penetration’, Dena Bank
Chairman and Managing
Director Ashwani Kumar
told reporters after signing
the MoU.
Yuvraj Singh’s
new avatar
New Delhi, Apr 7:
As a cricketer, Yuvraj Singh is a
well-known face, and now he is starting a new innings as a businessman.
He is ﬂoating a venture fund that aims
to support young entrepreneurs by
investing in startups across sectors.
Yuvi for millions of his
fans, the 34-year-old
cricketer will put about
Rs 50 crore - mostly
his own money - over
a period of three to
ﬁve years in the fund,
YouWeCan Ventures. Yuvraj Singh
The fund is expected to raise around
Rs 300 crore from other investors
during the period. ‘I had been thinking
about this for four-ﬁve years. There
are a lot of young entrepreneurs with
great high-potential ideas and I plan
to invest in these startups, to build
their brands and companies’, Yuvaraj
said to ET.
Cricketers, the wealthiest among
the nation’s sportspeople, are known
to put money they earned playing for
the country and from endorsements
in businesses, but no one else has
ﬂoated a venture fund. YouWeCan
Ventures will primarily fund startups
in healthcare, sports products, services and fashion, travel and tourism,
hospitality and e-commerce.
Axis Capital withdrew
its offer documents on
27 March this year, as
per the latest update
available with Sebi.
The regulator, in February, had decided
to keep the processing of the company’s
of f er docum ent in
‘abeyance’ following
a request made by
Videocon D2H in this
regard.
Videocon D2H Ltd,
the satellite television arm of Videocon
group, got listed on the
Nasdaq last month.
NAME CHANGE
I, G.VIJAY, Son of Thiru
E.Gunasekaran, born on 6th
October 1993 (native district:
Kancheepuram) residing
at Old No.8, New.No.10,
Sankaranarayanan Street,
V.O.C Nagar, Pammal,
Chennai - 600 075, s h a l l
henceforth be known as
G VIJAY SELVA.
G.VIJAY
Chennai, 8th July 2014
PASSPORT LOST
This is to inform to the
general public that I have
lost my Passport issued by
R.P.O / Trichy in my Name
G.Kailasam. I lost the same at
Pallikaranai, Chennai. Finders is
/ are requested to hand over the
same to me at below mentioned
address. G. Kailasam, C1, IInd
Floor, Sri Ranga Flats, No.23,
Five Furlong Road, Guindy,
Chennai - 32.
G. Kailasam
9884851387
MISSING
I have lost my following original
documents while proceeding to Madras
High Court from my house in my two
wheeler on 3.4.15 in IInd line Beach
Road, Chennai.
1 Passport No.E 3248984
2 Election I.D. No.UKV 0285056
3 New College Membership Card
4 Dr. Zekir Hussain Membership card
5 Legal Heir Certiﬁcate Sharing my
father and his younger brother are
legal heir of Shaik Madhar.
If anyone found the same, Contact my
following address.
Musathick Ali
4, Sadayappan St,
Sever Wells, Chennai-1.
5
Double honour
for United India
Private power to
public sector
42% Indian employees
face depression
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
Nearly 42.5 per cent private sector
employees in India suffer from depression or general anxiety disorder
due to demanding schedules, high
stress levels and performance-linked
perquisites, a study said yesterday on
the eve of World Health Day.
Delhi ranks ﬁrst in terms of number
of corporate employees suffering
from depression or general anxiety disorder, followed by Bangalore,
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh,
Hyderabad and Pune.
The study surveyed employees
from 17 broad sectors, with maximum
share coming from IT/ITes and BPO
sector at 17 per cent.
The rate of emotional problems
such as anxiety and depression has
increased by 45-50 per cent in the last
eight years, the study by the industry
body Assocham revealed.
‘Corporate employees have to
survive the stiff global competitive environment to save their jobs, adding
pressure on their health, leading to
silent diseases’, Assocham Secretary
General D S Rawat said.
Moreover, 23 per cent corporate
employees suffer from obesity which
TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
MISSING
We, (1). Tmt. S. Karthiyayini (Wife) (2).
Tmt. S. Padmavathy (Daughter) (3). Thiru. S.
Muralidharan (Son) and (4). Tmt. S. Nirmala
(Daughter), are residing at No.20/13, 36th
Street, Thiru Nagar, Villivakkam, Chennai - 600
049, the legal heirs of the Late. P.Sivaraman,
hereby informs that the property situated in
Plot No.7, measuring 1800 Sq.ft in “Lakshmi
Nagar Annex Layout”, in Survey No.331/2
comprised in Patta No.522, Old No.42,
New No.38, Vellanur village, Vellanur village
panchayat, Villivakkam union limit, was
purchased by the said Late. P. Sivaraman,
registered as Document No.2162/1985
on 22.04.1985 at Registrar Ofﬁce South
Chennai, Sub-Registrar Ofﬁce at Poonamallee.
Saidapet Taluk, We are in enjoyment and
possession of the said property as on date
after his death as his legal heirs. In the above
said circumstances the original Sale Deed has
got missed while taken to take Photo copies of
the said original Sale Deed at Mugappair East,
Chennai on 23.02.2015. We searched for the
above said original Sale Deed but, till this date we
are not able to trace anywhere. If anybody found
the above said original Sale Deed, please contact
us immediately in the address given below.
S.Muralidharan,
S/o. Late. P. Sivaraman,
No.20/13, 36th Street, Thiru Nagar,
Villivakkam, Chennai - 600 049
Cell No: 9841676712
NOTICE
My client Anusuya D/o. Perumal,
residing at No.1, Theradi Street, Minjur
village, Ponneri Taluk, Thiruvallur
District has lost her handbag, while
travelling from Minjur to Thiruvottiyur
Therady in 56P Bus at about 10.00
am on 20.3.2015. In the mean time
my client has lost the sale Deed in
respect of S.No.149 part Plot No.52
and bearing Document No.1439/1972.
Which was kept the said bag. Any
person found the said bag and the
doucment may kindly handover the
same to my client or to me.
S.Dharani
Advocate
No.38A, Appar Samy Koil Street,
Thiruvottiyur, Chennai-19
Cell: 93823 41684
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
(Testamentary and Intestate Jurisdiction)
O.P.No. 220 of 2014
In the matter of the Indian
Succession Act XXXIX of 1925
And
In the matter of the Last Will and
Testament Of Late
Amirthammal - Deceased
G.Gnana Soundari, W/o. late G.G. Prakash,
No.1/2, Murugesan Street, Tondiarpet,
Chennai 600 081.
-Petitioner
--Vs-1.Mr.G.Chidambaram,
S/o.late S.Gnanaprakasam,
No.28, Thirunavukarasu Thottam 5th
Street,
Korukkupet, Chennai 600 021.
2.Mrs.M.Gnanasoundari, D/o.late
S.Gnanaprakasam, W/o.Mr.Malaikani,
No.10, N.N.Garden 8th Street, Royapuram,
Chennai 600 013
3.Mrs.Gnanapushpam @ Janaki,
D/o.late S.Gnanaprakasam,
W/o Mr.Selvaraj, No.14, Baskara Street,
Rangarajapuram, Chennai 600 024
4.Mrs.Bhagyalakshmi, D/o. late
S.Gnanaprakasam, W/o Mr.S.Ramu,
No.22/6, Nagappan Street, Korukkupet,
Chennai 600 021
5.Mrs.S.Gnanaselvi, D/o.late
S.Gnanaprakasam, W/o late Chelladurai,
Ayanavaram, Chennai 600 023
--Respondents
All persons claiming to have any interest
in the estate of the above named deceased
Amirthammal who was residing at No.28,
Thirunavukarasu Thottam 5th Street,
Korukkupet, Chennai 600 021 and who died
on 13.12.1999 are hereby cited to come and
see the proceedings on 15.04.2015 at 10.30
a.m. before the Learned Master sitting in the
Original Side of the High Court of Judicature
at Madras and ﬁle their objections, if they
think fit, before the grant of Letters of
Administration.
Dated at Chennai on this the 30th day of
March, 2015
Sd/- (S.Gurumurty)
Assistant Registrar,
Original Side-I,
High Court of Judicature,
Chennai -600 104.
M/s.Amar D.Pandiya,
M.Arumugam, Advocates,
86, Addl. Law Chambers,
High Court Buildings Chennai 600 104
Counsel for Petitioner
FORM No. URC -2
Advertisement giving notice about registration under Part I of Chapter XXI
(Pursuant to section 374(b) of the Companies Act, 2013 and rule 4(1) of the Companies
(Authorised to Register) Rules, 2014)
1. Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of sub-section (2) of section 366 of the
Companies act, 2013, an application has been made to the Registrar at 31st March
2015 that M/s. Phoenix Logistics, a partnership ﬁrm may be registered under
Part I of Chapter XXI of the Companies Act 2013, as M/s. Phoenix Logistics India
Private Limited, as Company Limited by Shares.
2. The Principal object of the Company are as follows;
l To take over the business of Phoenix Logistics, a partnership ﬁrm and to carry
on the business of freight forwarding, steamer agency (GSA), stevedoring,
clearing and forwarding, chartering, and to carry on the activities of multimodal
transport operator (MTO), Main Line Operator (MLO) and / or a Non vesel
operating common carrier (NVOCC) facilitating the transport of goods from
door to door, involving transport by sea, air, road and/or rail as may be
required and to arrange for securing or protecting the cargo against natural
and/or human events which are likely to cause harm to or loss of cargo and
to act as principals / agents for any concern in the shipping line including
warehousing and distribution concerns and to do all that is necessary to so as
such agent, including consolidating, documenting, and any other thing which
may be required for the purposes of business of the Company and to handle
transport of goods for complete projects and to take part in the handling of the
projects themselves or to create projects for establishing facilities and services
in themselves or to create projects for establishing facilities and services in the
logistics industry that may be of general use or use by the company for self or
for facilitating its own operations.
3. A. Copy of the draft Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Proposed
Company may be inspected at the registered ofﬁce at No.40, Rajaji Salai, II Floor,
Chennai - 600 001 during business hours i.e. between 10.00 A.M. and 06.00 P.M.
4. Notice is hereby given that any person objecting to this application may
communicate their objection in writing to the Registrar of Companies, Block No.6,
B wing 2nd Floor, 26 Shastri Bhawan, Haddows Road, Chennai - 600 034, within
twenty one days from the date of publication of this notice, with a copy to the
company at its registered ofﬁce.
Dated this 7th day of April 2015
Name(s) of Applicant
1. Eric John Wynne
2. Nambi Hariharan
Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial
Estate, Guindy,
3. M Varadharajan
Dubai, Apr 7 (PTI): panied off the aircraft for
Dubai-based Emirates medical attention, the airAirlines has invested more craft is usually refueled
PUBLIC NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
than $6 million to train and en route to its original
This is to inform that I
This is to inform that I
have obtained the proposed
crew for onboard emer- destination within one to
have obtained the proposed
environmental clearance before
gency care. Last year, two hours’, he said. All
environmental clearance before
the state level Environment
the state level Environment
Emirates delivered a total Emirates cabin crew go
impact Assessment Authority
impact Assessment Authority
of 33,430 hours of medical through a comprehensive
Tamil Nadu for the purposed
Tamil Nadu for the purposed
initial training protraining for cabin
of at S.F.No 173/1A(P),
of at S.F.No 51(P), Othivakkam
gram, which
crew and pilots,
Puliyambakkam
Village,
Village, Chengalpattu Taluk,
is required by
ensuring they are
Kancheepuram
Taluk,
Kancheepuram District with a
the UAE Genequipped with the
Kancheepuram District with a
lese extend 3.14.5 ha.
eral Civil Aviaright support to assist
lese extend 3.16.0 ha.
The same approved by
tion Authority, as
passengers on board, the
The same approved by
the
SEIAA-TN/F.No.3456/
airline said in a statement. well as additional speciﬁc
the
SEIAA-TN/F.No.3455/
EC/1(a)/2096/2015,
Dated
‘In 2013 and 2014, we training for the use of onEC/1(a)/2079/2014,
Dated
01.04.2015 and copy of the
diverted over 100 ﬂights board medical equipment.
30.03.2015 and copy of the
clearance available in the State
This includes both practifor medical emergencies,
clearance available in the State
Pollution Control Board and
costing more than $12 mil- cal and theory elements.
Pollution Control Board and
also website of the SEIAA TN
The
training
prepares
lion. Unplanned en route
also website of the SEIAA TN
at http://selaa.tn/gov/in and
diversion of a flight has them to provide emerat http://selaa.tn/gov/in and
a copy same is being sent to
its own challenges and gency medical attention
a copy same is being sent to
the Regional Ofﬁce of Ministry
logistics, and in a number for situations.
the Regional Ofﬁce of Ministry
Government and Forest, Govt. of
of cases extended delays
Pilots also attend training
Government and Forest, Govt. of
India located at Bangalore.
India located at Bangalore.
are experienced’, said sessions covering topics
Thiru. S. Devendran,
Thiru K. Gunasekaran,
Adel Al-Redha, Emirates’ such as hypoxia, malaria,
No. 2/22, School 1st Street,
No.6, O.V. Alagesan Street,
EVP & COO.
dengue, trauma, CPR, and
Palavakkam,
New Perungalathur,
‘Once the affected pas- choking and occupational
Published by K. Balakumar on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GSTChennai
Road),
Guindy,
032 and
by him at Frontline Printers
Chennai
- 600printed
041.
- 600
063. Chennai 600
senger has been accom- health issues.
Chennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
6 TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
Sports
CHENNAI
CSK set to roar at home again
Squad:
The story so
far...
How CSK has fared in
the IPL tournaments
since 2008 2008: Runner-up
2009: 4th
2010: Winner
2011: Winner
2012: Runner-up
2013: Runner-up
2014: 3rd
Brendon
McCullum
RR is not about a
few players: Watson
Shane Watson
Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Rajasthan Royals are not depending
on only a few match-winners but a
whole lot of them this season to propel
the IPL franchise’s fortunes, captain
Shane Watson has said.
‘We have match winners all the
way unlike in the
past. To me
that’s very exciting
for
the IPL season.
With the quality we have, the
most important
thing is to get off
to a good start.
We have to hit the
ground running and
with
the quality of players we have I think
we will do it,’ said Watson at a media
conference here yesterday.
The Australia all-rounder reached
here yesterday along with his World
Cup-winning team mates Steve Smith
and James Faulkner, the Man of the
Match in the ﬁnal against New Zealand.
Also in the squad is Tim Southee,
the Kiwi pacer who ended up on the
losing side in the ﬁnal at the Melbourne
Cricket Ground, and India’s middle
order mainstay Ajinkya Rahane, who
was part of the team that lost to the
eventual champions in the semi ﬁnals
at the SCG.
Dhoni the calmest
captain: Hussey
M S Dhoni (captain/WK), Mike Hussey, Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum,
Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan,
R Ashwin, Ashish Nehra, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma, Kyle Abott, Ankush
Bains, Ekalavya Dwivedi (WK), B Aparajith, Samuel Badree, Matt Henry,
Mithun Manhas, Ronit More, Pawan Negi, Pratyush Singh, Rahul Sharma,
Andrew Tye.
Coaches: Head coach - Stephen Fleming, Bowling coach - Andy Bichel,
Fielding coach - Steve Rixon.
X-factor
Brendon McCullum;
The New Zealand skipper
has provided rapid starts
ever since he donned the CSK
colours and they have proved
vital more often than not. He will
be expected to go bang-bang
in IPL-8 and set the tone,
whether the team is
setting a target or
chasing.
C SHYAM SUNDAR
Chennai, Apr 7:
That the Chennai Super
Kings (CSK) is the most
popular among
IPL fran-
chises is an understatement.
R Ashwin, one of the
Manchester United and it would
team’s mainstays
not be an exaggeration to say
Key players:
has earlier spothat they have
made big
Dhoni.
ken of the amstrides
t o Inspirational captain
bition to see
and brilliant ﬁnisher, the
CSK as the
Jharkhand dasher will be
I P L ’ s
expected to lead CSK to
another triumph. Raina
wards
and Ashwin will be the
that end.
other men to watch
The M S
out for.
Dhoni-led
side has set
t h e
benchmark for the r e s t o f t h e
field with gold standard performances, though the fans would be
disappointed that CSK hasn’t won
the (IPL) trophy since
2011. They started the
2014 season strongly
Suresh Raina
and notched up six
wins on the trot before and looked
good for another tilt at top honours
before being outbatted by Kings
XI Punjab in the second qualiﬁer.
That is all part
of history now. A
new season
beckons
and after
missing out
on the comfort
of playing at
home, the powerful CSK will be
happy to begin the 2015 campaign
in their own den - against the Delhi
Daredevils (on 9 April). Several of the
players are coming off the World Cup
campaign but fatigue isn’t expected
to be a factor in what is going to be
another long-drawn campaign.
Murali’s take on spinners’ action
Lankan ace sees huge role for tweakers in T20s
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
With the ICC cracking down heavily on spinners with suspect action,
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling
coach Muttiah Muralitharan feels
youngsters should try to bowl deliveries that come naturally to them.
Kolkata Knight Riders turned
lucky before the IPL after ace spinner Sunil Narine was cleared by the
BCCI to bowl in the competition.
Muralitharan, who has bagged a
record 800 Test scalps, had a note
of caution for youngsters -- to bowl
within their limitations.
‘There is a certain degree of bend
allowed and if you can’t spin the
ball within that rule, then you simply
can’t do it. So if they can’t bowl that
delivery but still try do that, then it’s
trouble. If you can bowl with a 15 degree bend then it’s ﬁne, if you can’t,
just don’t bowl it,’ the Sri Lankan
spin legend told PTI in an interview.
‘There is a certain degree of bend allowed and if you
can’t spin the ball within that rule, then you simply
can’t do it. So if they can’t bowl that delivery but still
try do that, then it’s trouble. If you can bowl with a
15 degree bend then it’s ﬁne, if you can’t, just don’t
bowl it’ - Murali to young spinners
‘Everyone cannot hit shots like
Gayle. So similarly while bowling,
you can’t imitate what others are
doing because you might get
into trouble. Like batsmen will
get out while imitating a Gayle
shot. These youngsters watch
somebody on TV and then try
and imitate it. But that doesn’t
work. Some things come naturally to you. Nobody
can bowl a slider as
well as
Wozniacki has a
hit with Obama
Barack Obama
The White House Easter
Egg Roll takes place in President’s Park on the South
Lawn of the White
House and for
the sixth consecutive year
the USTA has
been involved in the
event, providing tennis courts sized for
kids in support
of First Lady
M i c h e l l e
Obama’s #GimmeFive initiative to
get kids active.
Also among the
WTA stars who
went were WTA
Rising Stars CoCo
Vandeweghe, Vicky
Duval and Alicia Black
and ex-player Katrina Adams, now the USTA Chairman of the
Board, CEO and President.
Shane Warne can do. Some genius
can do that but if you can’t just don’t
do it,’ he added.
The 42-year-old Murali, who has
been a part of Chennai Super
Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore as a player in the previous
editions, asserts that spinners
play a big part in T20 cricket.
‘In every format of the game,
be it ODIs, T20 or Test
cricket, you need spinners. Spinners form an impor-
tant composition of your team. Every
team has two or three spinners, especially in T20 cricket you have more
spinners. Because spinners have
more chance of getting a wicket and
hence they will continue to play a
big role in the shortest format,’ he
said. Muralitharan adds that most of
the spinners rely on the containing
act in T20.
‘See 90 per cent of the bowlers
are trying to contain runs. One has
limited number of overs in hand,
therefore batsman wants to get quick
runs. They have a go from the very
ﬁrst ball and so the chances of getting
a wicket is more. Even while trying
to restrict a batsman, you can get a
wicket.’ Having spent some time with
his new franchise SRH, Muralitharan
was hopeful about Indian spinners
Karn Sharma and Parveez Rasool
making it big one day.
Muttiah
Muralitharan
Nethra sails to
win in Israel
Nethra Kumanan
ranging from 10-14
knots with a demanding sea state of one
metre waves.
Nethra, a class 12
Incheon Asian Games making her
the best woman Laser Radial sailor
of India.
Summer camps at Santhome
School
Santhome Higher Secondary
School here is conducting the 'Santhome Annual Summer Coaching
Camps 2015' in the following
disciplines: Cricket, Basketball,
Volleyball, Athletics and Boxing
for Boys and Girls aged between
10 and 18 years (5th to 12th standard) at Santhome School grounds
and Montfort Indoor stadium from 18
April to 9 May 2015.
For registrations and details contact 9444140943, 9962125009,
24641468, said a press note.
FSCA will conduct a tournament
from 11 April to 31 May for those aged
six and above at Meenakshi College.
Call 98418 11912 for details.
Chennai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Former Australia batsman Michael
Hussey called Mahendra Singh Dhoni
the calmest captain and said he would
Washington, Apr 7:
love to have the Chennai Super Kings
A number of WTA
skipper’s ‘equanimity at the end of the stars past, present
NT Bureau
innings.’ After a season with Mumbai and future went to
Chennai, Apr 7: student of APL
Indians, the 39-year-old is set to once the White House
Nethra Kumanan of the Tamilnadu Global school,
again team up with Dhoni in IPL-8 start- Monday for the
in a
Sailing Association (TNSA), who is has achieved this
ing Wednesday.
very
short
period
balancing
her
White House
training in Israel has come from being
‘I would like his power. I would love to Easter Egg Roll,
a beginner in 2013 to beating the ﬁght studies at a crucial stage to conhave his equanimity at the end of the and one of those
out by winning the Israel National centrate on a sailing career. This
innings. Sometimes, it might look that WTA stars in particular
Youth Sailing Championship 2015 in current achievement is on the back
of the silver in the second leg of the
I have it but I’ll tell you right now that got the photo opp of a lifeTel Aviv recently.
I don’t. MS is just fantastic to bat with time - Caroline Wozniacki got to hit
A press note said the event was ASAF youth cup in Hong Kong and
at the end of the innings because he with US President Barack Obama.
held in Tel Aviv, in medium winds a very creditable performance in the
is so cool and he has got it all planned
out,’ Hussey was quoted as saying by
IPL website.
The left-handed batsman from Australia felt Dhoni is always positive while
another birdie.
‘I’m on the better side of it now,’
Augusta, Apr 7:
Tiger Woods
chasing big targets.
Tiger Woods strolled up to his sec- Woods told reporters when asked
Woods completed the front nine
‘He knows exactly what needs to be ond shot at the short par-four third how he had fared with his chipping
with O’Meara, the 1998 Masters
done to win the game. In a similar situ- hole and routinely hit a 35-yard pitch during his 11 holes of practice on
champion, then played the 10th hole
ation, I tend to panic a lot, wanting to shot at the pin that ﬁnished about Monday.
on his own before coming back up
get it done with as quickly as possible. eight feet from the cup to cheers at
Woods arrived at Augusta Nathe par-four 18th with Larry Mize,
He is very methodical in breaking down Augusta National.
tional after most of the practise round
who won the prized green jacket in
the target into fractions and playing the
It was only a practise round with old crowds had begun streaming out.
1987. Woods only announced
situation.
When word began circulating that
friend Mark O’Meara on the Monday
last week that he would compete
‘While I sometimes get nervous think- of Masters week, but it gave hope the 14-times major winner was hitting
in his ﬁrst Masters since 2013
ing, ‘Oh we’re falling behind the rate’, that the four-time winner of the green balls on the practice range, many
after missing last year while
he is very positive all the time saying, jacket might still be capable of major patrons turned back and returned to
recovering from back surgery.
watch him.
‘No need to worry, we are right on tar- championship magic.
The pressure is on him after a twoDespite being the last pair to tee off
Routine for the Woods of old, but full
get’ - very assured and very conﬁdent
month
absence from the PGA Tour
of drama for those who have cringed on the front nine, a massive throng
throughout.’
that
followed
an abysmal stretch in
Asked to compare Dhoni, Michael at the startling loss of short-game gathered at the ﬁrst tee, and Woods four ﬁrst way left to the eighth fairway another afﬁrmative display,
which
his
best
ﬁnish in six ofﬁcial
Clarke and Brendon McCullum’s cap- control that sent the former world was greeted with shouts of encour- but showed a ﬂash of brilliance by and at the 240-yard, parevents
was
69th
at the British Open,
sending
his
second
over
the
trees
to
three
fourth
hole
threatened
agement.
Woods,
who
has
also
been
number
one
into
a
self-imposed
exile
taincy in the ODI World Cup, Hussey
battling
to
get
comfortable
with
a
new
since
he
withdrew
after
11
holes
at
ﬁ
ve
feet
and
made
birdie.
He
reached
to
make
an
ace
before
dropping
ranksaid the by
Indian
was the calmest
of of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at Frontline Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate,hisGuindy,
Published
K. Balakumar
on behalf
swing,
hit
his
opening
shot
at
the
parTorrey
Pines
on
5
February.
the
par-ﬁ
ve
second
in
two
shots
in
sinking
the
short
putt
for
ing
to
111th.
the
lot.
Chennai 600 032. Ph: 4202 1111. Editor: K. Balakumar. Phone: Editorial/Admn /Advt: 22504000, Fax: 2250 1800 (Editorial)/2250 1200/2250 0101 (Advt/Admn). e-mail: [email protected], Circulation: 4202 1111. Fax: 4212 0000.
Woods shows ﬂashes of old form at practice
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
Massive immunisation
campaign begins
‘Mission Indradhanush beginning
7 April, catch-up campaign during
April, May, June and July to cover all
children upto two years and pregnant
women,’ Nadda said in a tweet as the
exercise began. He said the ministry
had involved the Members of Parliament to publicise the mission. ‘I am
greatly encouraged by the response
from MPs... Massive framework put in
place to monitor effective implementation of Mission Indradhanush,’ he said.
Focus will be on 201 high-priority
districts with largest number of partiallyvaccinated and unvaccinated children
during the ﬁrst phase, Health Ministry
had earlier said. Under the second
phase, 297 more districts will be
covered. Nadda had earlier said that
despite the provision of free vaccination
for the past more than 30 years, only
65 per cent children in India receive all
vaccines during their ﬁrst years of life.
7
UNDER ATTACK
SC to hear Italian
marine’s plea
9 April
Little mention of Hindus
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
Italian Marine Massimiliano Latorre,
who along with a colleague is accused of killing Indian ﬁshermen in
2012, today moved the Supreme
Court seeking extension of his stay
in Italy on medical grounds.
A bench comprising justices A R
Dave and Kurian Joseph ﬁxed the
plea of Latorre for hearing on 9 April.
Latorre, who had undergone a cardiac surgery in Italy in January this
year, has sought the extension saying that recently he had developed
certain medical complications and the
court be pleased to extend his stay
on this ground.
On 14 January, the apex court
had granted three months extension
to Latorre to stay in his country on
medical grounds after the Centre said
there was no objection on his plea on
humanitarian ground.
The bench had permitted the plea of
the marine after Italian ambassador
gave an identical undertaking which
was given by him on 12 September,
2014, when Latorre was allowed to
go to his country last year for four
months for medical treatment after he
suffered a stroke here on 31 August.
The apex court had on 12 September last year allowed Latorre to travel
to his country while taking on record
an ‘unequivocal’ and ‘unambiguous’
undertaking by Latorre regarding
the dates of departure and arrival
back to India.
coming under ﬁre from Muslim groups
Tamilnadu State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan, senior leader L
Ganesan, former MLA Lakshman at the party’s ofﬁce-bearers meeting
at Kamalalayam in Chennai today.
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
On World Health Day, India today began a massive immunisation campaign
to cover by 2020 all children who are
either unvaccinated or only partially
vaccinated against seven preventable
diseases.
Mission ‘Indradhanush’ started with a
‘catch-up’ campaign from April to July
which will cover all children up to two
years and pregnant women, Health
Minister J P Nadda said, stressing that
the programme will be monitored for its
effective implementation.
Depicting seven colours of the rainbow, Mission Indradhanush will provide
vaccination to children against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,
tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
The mission in addition will also provide vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus inﬂuenza
Type B in selected districts.
TUESDAY
7 APRIL 2015
NT Bureau
Religious conﬂicts are not new in India and the latest in the list are the minor explosions at Belur Math
and pelting of stones by Muslim groups on a Hindu possession in Madhya Pradesh. A look at the incidents
that ought to have deserved more than just a mention by the media. Also, it is surprising that the West
Bengal opposition too has chosen to remain silent on the issue.
Explosion
& after
There was tension at the
Belur Math of the Ramarkrisha Mission in Howrah district
of West Bengal, following
two minor explosions last
week. Although there was no
casualty, fear of an imminent
terror attack just before the
Municipal elections prevailed
in the city. It was termed as
a firecracker blast and this
became the reason for it to be
under-reported. Now, forensic
experts have found that it was
a minor explosive which was
laced with ammonium nitrate
and fuel meant to cause panic
in the Math.
A continuing saga
At the beginning of this month, at least 100 people suffered injuries in Madhya Pradesh (Neemuch District) and Uttar Pradesh
when suspected Muslim youth pelted stones at a religious Hindu
processions being taken out on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanthi.
There was almost nil mention of this incident by the media.
There have also been bomb blasts and kidnappings targeting
Hindus on Hanuman Jayanti by Islamists in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where there are small Hindu minority communities. These
conﬂicts also stem from the ideologies of Hindutva versus Islamic
extremism and prevalent in certain sections of the population.
The major incidences include the 1969 Gujarat riots and the 1989
Bhagalpur riots.
Hindus-Christians strife
States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and
Tamilnadu passed laws placing restrictions on forced religious
conversions as a result of communal tension between Christians
and Hindus. The Legislation passed in Tamilnadu was later repealed.
FabIndia CEO
fails to appear
before officers
RBI keeps policy rates unchanged
Panaji, Apr 7:
The top ofﬁcials of FabIndia today failed
to appear for questioning in connection
with the voyeurism case ﬁled against the
outlet’s staff after Union HRD Minister
Smriti Irani alleged last week that the
store had a CCTV camera suspiciously
placed near the trial room.
According to PTI, FabIndia’s Chief
Executive Ofﬁcer Subrata Dutta and
Managing Director William Bissell have
sought more time before they ﬁnally
appear for questioning.
Goa Crime Branch had earlier issued
summons to FabIndia’s CEO, Managing Director and nine other top ofﬁcials
asking them to remain present for the
investigation possibly today.
q Rajan chairs ﬁrst bi-monthly review for 2015-16
Elephant kills
woman in Erode
Erode, Apr 7 (PTI):
A 45-year-old woman was trampled
to death by an elephant here, police
said today.
The woman Masammal along with
her son and some villagers were
proceeding to Bannari, about 20 kms
from here, to participate a temple
festival when the elephant attacked
them yesterday.
While others ran to safety, Masammal was trampled to death by the
elephant, they said.
Eight more
persons arrive
from Yemen
Chennai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Eight more persons arrived here
today from strife-hit Yemen.
The eight persons, hailing from
Thanjavur and Madurai districts, arrived here from Mumbai in an Air India
ﬂight, airport sources said.
They were welcomed by Tamilnadu
government ofﬁcials and later sent
to their native places. Yesterday, a
total of 31 persons returned here
from Yemen.
Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram
Rajan today kept policy rate unchanged awaiting clarity on impact
of unseasonal rains on food inﬂation
even as he wanted banks to pass
on beneﬁts of previous two rate cuts.
The repo rate, at which RBI lends
to the banking system, will continue
to be at 7.5 per cent and the cash
reserve ratio, which is the amount of
deposits parked with the central bank,
will remain at 4 per cent.
‘Transmission of policy rates to
lending rates has not taken place so
far despite weak credit off take and
front loading of two rate cuts. With
little transmission, and the possibility
that incoming data will provide more
clarity on the balance of risks on inﬂation, the Reserve Bank will maintain
status quo,’ he
said in the ﬁrst
bi-monthly
policy review
for 2015-16.
Unseasonal
rains and hailstorm have
impacted rabi
crops across Raghuram Rajan
North and Western India, raising
fears of spike in food prices.
Rajan, who has surprised with
two rate cuts of 0.25 per cent each
outside the scheduled review meetings this year, however, afﬁrmed his
commitment to the accommodative
stance, but added that policy moves
will be shaped by incoming data
and added that transmission of rate
cuts by banks will be his top-most
THE HIGHLIGHTS
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
Short-term lending rate (repo) unchanged at 7.5 %
Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged at 4 %
Retains Statutory Liquidity Ratio at 21.5 %
Estimates GDP growth at 7.8 % in FY’16, up from 7.5 % in FY’15
Forecasts CPI inﬂation at 5.8 % by March 2016
CPI inﬂation to dip to 4 % in August 2015
Hailstorms in March affected 17% of the rabi crop sown area
Future rate cuts will depend on interest rate reduction by banks
India better prepared to deal with volatility post US Federal Reserve
rate action
State cooperative banks to be allowed to set up off-site/ mobile ATMs
without prior approval from RBI
RBI to formulate scheme for market making by primary dealers in
semi-liquid and illiquid G-Secs
Second bi-monthly policy statement on 2 June
priority.
Apart from the transmission, other
factors like food prices will also
be monitored closely, he said,
adding that the impact of the recent unseasonal rains will also be
Tobacco: Govt working on
increasing pictorial warning
New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI):
Government today said it is working out
details for increasing the size of pictorial
warning on tobacco products from the
present 40 per cent to 85
per cent after the date for its implantation was ‘extended’, an issue which
sparked a major row.
‘Government is working on increasing
the size of the pictorial warning from
40 to 85 per cent as the date for its implementation has been extended. But
nothing can be said on its ban as it is
a policy matter,’ said Health Secretary
BP Sharma after inaugurating a health
screening camp on the occasion of
World Health Day.
The Centre had stayed the decision
to increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco products, which was
Clean filth coming out of MP’s mouth: Sena
Mumbai, Apr 7 (PTI):
Slamming BJP’s silence over its MP Dilip Gandhi’s controversial comment supporting tobacco, the Shiv Sena today took a jibe at Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, saying he has taken a broom to clean dirt from roads, but
who will clean the ‘garbage spilling out from people’s mouths’.
The Sena also mocked the MP for backing tobacco consumption, saying he should be awarded a ‘Nobel prize’ for his surprising discovery that
tobacco consumption does not lead to cancer.
‘For coming up with this surprising discovery that tobacco does not cancer,
Dilip Gandhi does not need a doctor. He needs to be given a Nobel Prize.
The MP has gone to the next level of discovery and has thereby stunned
all those who oppose tobacco,’ the BJP ally in Maharashtra said in an
editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
to come into effect from 1 April , after
a parliamentary panel, looking into the
guidelines for sale of tobacco, said that
it needs more time to deliberate on
Renovated American
Library opens
the issue. Comments of some of the
members of the panel including BJP
MPs Shyam Charan Gupta, a beedi
baron, and Dilip Gandhi, that there was
no Indian scientiﬁc evidence that links
smoking with cancer had triggered
outrage. Health Minister J P Nadda,
however, had insisted that the
government was committed to its
stand on increasing the size of pictorial warning and curbing tobacco
consumption in all its forms and have
informed the panel on the same. The
Health Ministry has joined hands with
the World Health Organisation to
celebrate World Health Day whose
theme this year is ‘From Farm to
Plate, Make Food Safe’.
Speaking on the occasion, Sharma
urged people to make food safety a
priority. ‘It is time we should address
the issue of food safety which is a
growing public health concern,’ he
said.
monitored closely. ‘Reserve Bank
stays vigilant to any threats to the
disinﬂ ation that is underway,’ he
said, expecting that the price rise
situation has so far faired according
to its estimates.
On the transmission mechanism, the
RBI said it will encourage banks to move
to the marginal-cost-of-funds-based
determination, which is ‘more sensitive
to changes in the policy rates’.
Only a few banks namely Union Bank
of India and State Bank of Travancore
have cut their base rates in the last
four months by 0.10 per cent each, as
against the 0.50 per cent cuts by RBI.
The banks have held on to the elevated rates even in the face of one
of the lowest credit growths in recent
years, which is hovering under the 10
per cent mark till now.
Vasan’s plea
to Centre
NT Bureau
Chennai, Apr 7:
TMC president G K Vasan today
requested the Central government
to provide 50 per cent extra rate for
the farmers for production of grams.
In a statement issued here, he said
‘Farmers suffer because of different
acts that allows the Central government to take over the their lands
and not giving the required rate for
the products they produce. Hence, I
request the Agricultural Commission
to look into the issues that deter the
life of the farmers and see that they
get 50 per cent extra rate as they are
dissatisﬁed with the 10 per cent rate
given now’.
He also urged the government to
provide the required facilities for the
farmers in time so that they can have
a good harvest.
KKR gears up for
another tilt at title
NT Bureau
Kolkata, Apr 7 (PTI):
armoury now in- Finch will give an edge to Mumbai
Chennai, Apr 7:
cluding a ‘Nar- Indians.
Keen to put the Sunil Narine conThe US Consulate General in Chenine-like’ KC Caritroversy
behind
them,
Kolkata
Knight
In MI, KKR will have an opposition
nai opened its renovated American
appa, a rookie
Riders will begin their title defence
who have tasted their maiden IPL win
Library here today. It was inaugurated
from Karnataka
against a formidable Mumbai Indians
by US Consul General Phillip Min.
in this very surface in 2013 when the
who
was bought
side
in
the
IPL
cricket
opener
at
the
With a treasure trove of over
Rohit Sharma-led side beat Chennai
for Rs 2.4 crore, Super Kings.
Eden Gardens, here tomorrow.
14,000 books now, the library startand a couple of
The West Indies mystery spinner,
ed its operations in 1947, with just a
But their title defence went horribly
chinaman bowlwho was reported for suspect action
collection of 800 books at US Conwrong in 2014 when they suffered ﬁve
ers,
KKR
will
look
to
thrive
on
the
slow
in CLT20 and went on to miss the
suate at Dare House. The present
consecutive defeats but managed to
nature of Eden surface.
recently-concluded World Cup, was
home of the library was opened in
make the last four after a dramatic
But with evening showers predicted
kept waiting before getting a clean
1969 when the current American
win over Rajasthan Royals but lost to
in
the
city,
the
spinners
may
ﬁ
nd
it
chit by the BCCI on Sunday.
Consulate General building was
Chennai Super Kings in the eliminator
hard
to
grip
the
white
ball
and
the
A
team
which
has
gone
on
to
win
opened on 3 January, 1969.
to ﬁnish fourth.
ﬁelders will also have to put forth their
two titles (2012 and 2014) since the
Speaking at the inauguration, PhilThe chief architect of the win against
sliding
act
carefully.
UN Consul General Phillip Min with public affairs ofﬁcer Ariel H Pollock
acquisition of the Trinidad off-spinner
lip Min said, ‘Since its establishment
RR,
Anderson, who smashed an
On
the
ﬁ
eld,
both
the
sides
match
at
the
inauguration
of
the
renovated
American
Library
in
Chennai
today.
in
2011
faces
the
biggest
challenge
in 1947, the American Library in
unbeaten
95 from 44 balls, will once
equally
on
paper
but
with
little
bagthis
year
as
Narine’s
effectiveness
Chennai has played a special role
The library offers a 50 per cent dis- through May 2015. The American
with a re-modelled action is yet to
gage of the past and some hard- again play a crucial role along with this
in the relationship between the
count on individual membership(Rs
Library, located at Gemini Circle
be seen.
hitting players in Corey Anderson, year’s star acquisition in Australian
people of the United States and
for Today
annualMedia
membership
and 85,inMount
Chennai,
reached
at Chennai
Published by K. Balakumar on behalf of200
News
(P) Ltd., from
Road can
(GSTbeRoad),
Guindy,
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032 of
and
printed in
bytheir
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Printers
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Industrial Estate, Guindy,
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and new
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With
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8TUESDAY
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Playing Modi
will be massive
responsibility: Paresh
Narendran Modi
DEAL WITH WHEEL
Paresh Rawal
The yet-to-be titled ﬁlm, which will go on
the ﬂoors in August, will be produced by
Rawal, the actor’s second production
venture after Oh My God!
A
ctor Paresh Rawal is eagerly looking forward to the shooting of the
Narendra Modi biopic and feels it’s a massive responsibility as an
artiste to don the role of Indian Prime Minister.
The yet-to-be titled ﬁlm, which will go on the ﬂoor in August, will be produced by Rawal, the actor’s second production venture after Oh My God!
‘I will start shooting the Narendra Modi biopic from August. It’s a massive
responsibility being an actor to portray a leader of such great stature.
He knows that I am playing him in his biopic,’ Rawal told reporters here.
For the Modi biopic, the national-award winning actor says he will have
to research a lot before starting the shoot, adding he will not mimic him.
‘Like the way I did during my stint in playing Sardar Patel in the ﬁlm
‘Sardar’, here also I have to do loads of photo reading and listen to his
speeches. But I will not mimic him. I will try to capture his spirit. I know very
well that I can never look like Modi,’ said the Ahmedabad MP, who was in
the capital for the promotion of his upcoming ﬁlm Dharam Sankat Mein.
In Dharam Sankat Mein, awal is sharing screen space with veteran actor
Naseeruddin Shah, whom he considers his inspiration.
‘It’s always a joyride to work with him. It’s a learning process for me.
He is not only a good actor but also a good human being. I want to have
timeless, truth and depth-like Naseer bhai in my career. He has always
been my inspiration,’ he said.
Rawal will be seen next in Hera Pheri 3 and Oh My God! 2.
— PTI
Vaz to represent India in
Miss International 2015
A
afreen Rachel Vaz,
who won the Femina
Miss India 2015 runner-up
title, will be representing
India at the Miss International 2015 pageant at
Tokyo on 5 November.
She was accorded a
warm welcome at Mangalore International Airport
where she arrived from
Mumbai on Monday. Vaz
is a model and brand ambassador of Mangaluru
based ‘Fashion ABCD’.
Speaking to reporters,
she said she was excited
to be back in Mangaluru
and thanked the people of
the city for supporting and
encouraging her.
— PTI
Aafreen Rachel Vaz
Vidhu Vinod Chopra
F
Grammy winner
all praise for
Rahman
M BHARAT KUMAR
usician Rickey Kej is the youngest Indian to win the Grammy, the highest award for any
musician, when he collaborated with South African ﬂautist Wouter Kellerman for Winds of
Samsara. Their album fetched them the Grammy for best New Age Album. Born in USA
and brought up in Bangalore, Rickey grew up listening Hindustani classical and Bollywood music.
Though music was his passion since childhood, his parents wanted him pursue his education before
taking music seriously.
Rickey, a self taught musician, after completing dental course, took music as his career. The acclaimed musician, who turned 33 recently, was in Chennai Monday. Speaking to News Today, Rickey
opens his heart out on music, Grammy and his future plans.
M
Q: HAS THE GRAMMY HONOUR CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
Vidhu Vinod
spills beans on
Hollywood debut
ilmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra
says it was pure madness on
his part to unlearn everything at the
age of 62 and begin from scratch
for his Hollywood debut ‘Broken
Horses.’
‘After 3 Idiots, spending ﬁve years
directing this movie was madness
and passion, there is no logic in it.
It could have turned either way but
I am happy that people like James
Cameron and Alfonso Cuaron have
praised it,’ Chopra told PTI. ‘I come
from Hindi medium and at 62, I unlearnt everything to make this ﬁlm.’
Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir
Khan launched the trailer of the
movie which is set against the
backdrop of US-Mexico border
gang wars. It releases globally on
10 April. Lage Raho Munnabha’
writer Abhijat Joshi has penned
the script of ‘Broken Horses’ with
Chopra.
The film has an international
star cast in Full Metal Jacket star
Vincent D’Onofrio, ‘Star Trek’ actor
Anton Yelchin, Chris Marquette and
Maria Valverde.
The director-producer, whose ﬁlmography includes Parinda, 1942:
A Love Story, Eklavya: The Royal
Summer vacation is on and children are having a whale of time by skating at Sivan Park in K K Nagar.
A: It has opened lots of doors for me. It has energised me to carry on with the music
which I have been doing over the years. I can say something very clearly, that my music is
straight from my heart, and this award has encouraged me
to continue creating
music from the heart.
Q: TELL US ABOUT WINDS OF SAMSARA AND
COLLABORATION WITH WOUTER KELLERMAN?
Y O U R
A: We knew each other’s music for several years. I used
to listen to
his music and I loved it. We had once met online and appreciated each
other’s works. It was only three years ago, when we personally met each
other and decided to work together.
I must share one thing that I am a huge fan of Mahatma Gandhi while
he loves Nelson Mandela. I had composed a song on Gandhi he had
done the same on Mandela. We instantly connected with each
other and shared the compositions. We travelled together, met
several musicians, recorded, had tons of fun and in two years we
had created Winds of Samsara.
Q: WHO WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS IN MUSIC?
A: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Peter
Gabriel have always inspired me as a musician. I love them as
they broke cultural barriers and were never afraid of experimentation.
Rickey Kej
Guard besides the Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots and PK, said he knew
he had a good script and that gave
him courage to follow his dream.
He, however, rubbished that the
movie was a remake of Parinda
saying reworking the same story
would have been boring for him.
Chopra is one of the most successful producers in Bollywood
today and he credits his success to
his genuine love for cinema.
‘I am not driven by money. I am
in ﬁlms because this is what I love
to do. This is why my movies don’t
replicate each other.
— PTI
Q: ARE YOU A GREAT FAN OF A R RAHMAN?
A: I am his great fan. I grew up listening to his albums.
He has taken Indian music around the globe. Wonderful
music arranger too, he uses the traditional instruments
to perfection in his songs. He always tries to come up
with new sounds.
Q: WHAT’S YOUR NEXT?
A: An album called To Unite All with Peter Gabriel which
is an album for healing and peace in middle east, especially
Gaza, it is a concern we both have - the organisation that
Saif-Ekta
in three-ﬁlm
deal?
After the Humshakals debacle and the
average performance of Happy Ending,
Saif Ali Khan has decided to become
a little more experimental with genres.
Though he has often played the suave
Casanova in ﬁlms, his other roles in
ﬁlms like Ek Hasina Thi, Being Cyrus
and Omkara were highly appreciated.
Hence, Saif Ali Khan has decided to
opt for a different strategy while choosing ﬁlms and has signed a three ﬁlm
deal with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion
Pictures is a step towards it.
According to reports, Sujoy Ghosh’s
thriller based on Japanese novel, ‘Devotion of Suspect X’ happens to be the
ﬁrst of the three-ﬁlm deal.
There are two other ﬁlms, which remain untitled as yet. It will certainly be
interesting to see how Saif and Ekta’s
deal ﬁnally shapes up on celluloid.
On the other hand, Saif Ali Khan will
be soon seen with Katrina Kaif in the
upcoming action drama directed by
Kabir Khan titled Phantom. Produced
by Sajid Nadiadwala in association
with UTV, the ﬁlm is slated to release
on 28 August.
— PTI
Jon Bon Jovi to
give speech at
University
Q: DO YOU THINK INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS CAN
SURVIVE IN INDIA?
A: Being a musician we need to ﬁnd the right audience
and I found it abroad. I am fortunate that I found an
audience outside India. In India, maybe, people would
love my music, but the radio and television do not play any
non-Bollywood music here. Hence, it was difﬁcult for me
to penetrate my music deeper and reach out to the large
audience in this country. In India, Bollywood is primarily
dominating the music paradigm.
Photo: B ANAND
I am a great fan of
Rahman. He has
taken Indian music
around the globe.
He uses traditional
instruments to
perfection. He
always tries to come
up with new sounds
Rocker Jon Bon Jovi will give a
speech at a US college graduation
ceremony next month.
The Bon Jovi star will talk to students
at Rutgers University in Camden, New
Jersey, where he often does charity
work, reported Billboard magazine.
He will also receive an honourary
degree, along with Criminal defence
attorney Bryan Stevenson, who will
also be giving a speech at the event.
‘Famed musician, philanthropist, and
native New Jerseyan Jon Bon Jovi is
the founder and frontman of one of the
world’s best-selling musical acts, Bon
Jovi, which has sold more than 130
million albums worldwide...,’ it read.
— PTI
Aamir Khan beats SRK, Salman again
A
fter four years of ‘3 Idiots’ crossing the 200 crore mark, only few
ﬁlms broke the 200 crore milestone
- Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Chennai Express’ (2013) and Salman Khan’s
‘Kick’ (2014) along with Aamir Khan’s
own ﬁlm- ‘Dhoom 3’ (2013).
However, in trade circles, the
constant buzz was that no one has
been able to touch the ticket sales
of ‘3 Idiots’. Until now, the only ﬁlm
to have had a ticket sales of 3 crore
was ‘3 Idiots’. That has been the total
capacity of any Hindi ﬁlm.
‘PK’ has made Rs 340 crore at the
India box ofﬁce and has reached
a magical ﬁgure of 3.5 crore ticket
sales at the box office, beating
Aamir’s previous best. ‘PK’ has
emerged as the top ‘ticketed’ ﬁlm in
India, even leaving behind Rajkumar
Hirani and Aamir Khan’s previous
collaboration 3 Idiots which has been
ken that record and risen to the top
Rajkumar Hirani shares, ‘It’s a great
topping the chart all these years.
by an additional 50 lakh tickets. So
feeling when two ﬁlms very close
the total sales of ‘PK’ sums upto 3.5
to your heart get such appreciaThe success of a ﬁlm is also measured
crore tickets. Vidhu Vinod Chopra
tion from the audience. As for this
by the tickets it has sold at the theatres.
who has been a producer on both
one, I’m glad that people liked the
So far, ‘3 Idiots’ which had garnered
the ﬁlms was overwhelmed when
concept. Moreover, I’m happy that
immense appreciation held a record
he heard about this. Vidhu Vinod
people even in the interiors have
among the Bollywood films in India
Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir
liked this movie. I’m glad for everyof selling the highest tickets. The ﬁlm,
Khan have been record holders
one associated with the ﬁlm as each
which has a very high repeat value, sold
since ‘3 Idiots’ and now they have
person has worked very hard.’
about 3 crore tickets across the country.
broken their own record with PK.
— PTI
But Raju and Aamir’s ‘PK’ has broPublished by K. Balakumar on behalf of News Today Media (P) Ltd., from 85, Mount Road (GST Road), Guindy, Chennai 600 032 and printed by him at Frontline Printers Private Ltd., M-7, Thiru-Vi-Ka Industrial Estate, Guindy,
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