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VOL. XXXIII NO. 80 H CHENNAI H WEDNESDAY 25.2.2015 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS THURSDAY 26.2.2015 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
Case against
Salman adjourned
Jaipur, Feb 25:
The hearing in the Arms Act case
against Bollywood actor Salman
Khan has been adjourned till 3 March
by a Jodhpur court.The verdict in
the case was scheduled to be pronounced on Wednesday,
The actor’s counsel had ﬁled a plea
seeking exemption from court appearance in Jodhpur Court. The court is
likely to consider Salman’s plea seeking
exemption from appearing on 3 March.
The case relates to both possession
and use of illegal arms and the chief
judicial magistrate’s court has kept
February 25 for judgment,’ public
prosecutor N.K. Sankhla of the court
in Jodhpur, 330 km from Rajasthan
capital Jaipur, told reporters.
He and a few other Bollywood stars
were accused of poaching blackbucks on the midnight of Oct 1-2,
1998 during the shooting of Hindi
movie Hum Saath Saath Hain.
Two blackbucks, a protected animal
under the Wildlife Protection Act,
were killed on the outskirts of Kankani
village near Jodhpur.
The star was also accused of carrying and using illegal arms. Salman
is also alleged to have been carrying
arms with expired license. A police
complaint was ﬁled against Salman
Khan on charges of being involved in
hunting of the protected blackbucks.
Corporate
espionage:Govt
ready for discussion
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
A teenage girl was found dead at her
residence in Trustpuram this morning.
According to police sources, Caroline Simon (13), daughter of Muthukumar, was found hanging from the
ceiling of her house. Caroline was
an eighth class student of a private
school in Foreshore Estate.
Police said, her parents were not
present at home when the incident
took place. It is alleged that Caroline
was recently chided by her parents for
her poor performance in academics.
Her body was sent to Royapettah
Government Hospital for postmortem.
Foreshore Estate police have registered a case.
Fire at women’s
college in city
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
A minor ﬁre mishap took place at
Meenakshi College for Women on Arcot Road in Kodambakkam this morning. According to police sources, no
one was injured in the accident.
The ﬁre at a seminar hall due to a
short circuit damaged four air conditioners and ten chairs, police said.
Fortunately, the hall was not occupied
by students.
Fire personnel from T Nagar were
immediately pressed into service
and the situation was brought under
control. Classes were not disrupted,
it is said.
S President Barack Obama endorses India’s candidature as a permanent member of the reformed
UN Security Council, the White House has said.
As it relates to India’s membership in the security
council, I know the President endorsed that...the Security Council in the context of a variety of other important
reforms to the operations of the United Nations, White
House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
Earnest said he had no updates on the status of the
ongoing reforms of the UN or efforts to try to bring about
some of those reforms.
During his India visit last month, Obama had reafﬁrmed
his support for a reformed UN Security Council with
India as a permanent member. I can say today in the
years ahead, I look forward to a reformed UN Security
Council that includes India as a permanent member,
Obama had said in his speech in Parliament.
Meanwhile, Younis Khan’s future became a subject of
speculation after a message sent out from a fake Twitter
account suggested that he would retire from ODIs at the
end of the World Cup, prompting the veteran Pakistan
batsman to issue a denial.
Battling poor form in the mega-event, the 37-year-old
has come under ﬁre from former players, some of whom
have gone to the extent of publicly pleading him to retire.
I will retire from ODI cricket after 2015 World Cup. Will
continue to play Test cricket, Khan tweeted.
All eyes on
Railway budget
q Will Tamilnadu’s expectations be fulﬁlled?
NT Bureau / Agencies
Chennai / New Delhi, Feb 25:
Expectations are high on Railway
Minister Suresh Prabhu, as he is all
set to present his maiden Railway
Budget tomorrow.
An across-the-board increase in railway fares is unlikely to be announced
in the Railway Budget tomorrow, with
Prabhu set to rely on higher support
from the main Budget, joint ventures
with the private sector and soft ﬁnancing from other countries to put
the ﬁnancially derailed organisation
back on track.
Prabhu would be pitching for improving ﬁnancial health of the ailing public transporter as well as
passenger services. Prabhu, in his
bid to make the railways disabledfriendly, is likely to make proposal to
prove for Braille signages in all new
coaches to facilitate vision-impaired
passengers. Customer satisfaction
will be a focus area of this year’s Rail
Budget as a series of steps including
air-conditioning of Diesel Electric
Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains for intercity services and noise reduction in
diesel locomotive cabs are likely to
be proposed, reports said.
An attempt is being made to make
the inter-city travel more comfortable
and faster in the Rail Budget 2015-16,
it is said.
Introduction of Wi-Fi services on station premises might be introduced as
Customer satisfaction will be a focus area
of this year’s Rail Budget as a series of steps
including air-conditioning of Diesel Electric
Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains for
inter-city services and noise reduction in diesel
locomotive cabs are likely to be proposed
another major highlight of the budget
this year. While New Delhi station has
already been enabled with Wi-Fi, Prabhu is keen on extending the facility
to every other major station.
The Minister may also propose
Radio-Frequency Identification for
tracking and tracing of wagons,
coaches and locomotives as the
Railways looks to introduce information technology on a major scale to
improve services.
As far as Tamilnadu is concerned,
political leaders including Chief
Minister O Panneerselvam have
urged Prabhu to announce new
projects, trains and also to complete
the projects that were already announced.
In his letter, the Chief Minister had
listed out projects that need the attention of the Railway Ministry and said
the State is ready to partner with the
Centre in executing them.
Veteran
cameraman
passes away
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Popular cinematographer and
Malayalam filmmaker Vincent
passed away
due to prolonged illness
here today.
He had directed over 30
fillms besides
cranking the
camera for
movies like
Kadhalikka
Neramillai, Adipami Penn and
Vincent
Enga Veetu Pillai among others. In 2003, Indian
Society of Cinematographers
(ISC) awarded him an Honorary
Membership.
A regular in veteran ﬁlmmaker
Sridhar’s ﬁlms, his work Nenjil Oru
Aalayam, Kadhalikka Neramillai,
Kalyana Parisu and Nenjam Marapathillai was hailed by many. His
last venture as cinematographer
was Annamayya in Telugu in the
year 1997.
Centre asks
Governor to resign
COOL, IT’S HOT
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Government today said it is ready
for a discussion into the alleged stealing of secret ofﬁcial documents from
ministries like Petroleum for peddling
to corporates.
Raising the issue as soon as Rajya Sabha met for the day, Naresh
Agarwal (SP) said ofﬁcial papers from
several ministries were being leaked
to corporates and the government
has so far arrested only junior level
ofﬁcials while saving big people.
To this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
said the government was ready for
discussion on any issue including the
one raised by Agarwal.
Teen hangs
self at
Trustpuram
Success, success
The temperature is on a steady rise over the past few days. Signifying this, ‘summer special’ products
like pots with taps and fruits have arrived in markets across the city.
Photo: B ANAND & M SRINIVASAN
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
A day after registration of FIR
against him in a recruitment scam, the
Centre has asked Madhya Pradesh
Governor Ram Naresh Yadav to quit
from the post.
The Home Ministry has conveyed its
decision in this regard to the Governor
as he has been named in the case,
ofﬁcial sources said, adding that his
position has become untenable in
view of the FIR.
‘A report has been sought from the
state government and Governor’s
ofﬁce on the entire matter,’ they said.
However, when contacted, Raj Bhawan spokesperson said in Bhopal,
‘There is no communication in this
regard from Delhi.’
Yadav was named in an FIR registered yesterday by Special Task
Force (STF) probing the multi-crore
Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board or Vyapam scam under
various sections of IPC, including 420
for cheating.
Yadav had allegedly recommended
the names of ﬁve candidates for recruitment as forest guards to the top
ofﬁcials of MPPEB which conducted
the examination.
The registration of FIR comes following a hearing in the matter in the
Madhya Pradesh High Court on 20
February when a division bench comprising Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar
and Justice Alok Aradhe had said,
‘the STF is free to proceed against
the high dignitary’.
The MPPEB scam is a massive
admission and recruitment scandal
involving politicians and some senior
and inﬂuential state government ofﬁcials and the Governor’s role in it had
come under the scanner since the
arrest of his Ofﬁcer on Special Duty
(OSD) Dhanraj Yadav in MPPEB’s
Pre-Medical Test (PMT).
UAE makes merry with Anwar’s ton
Brisbane, Feb 25 (PTI):
Little-known Shaiman Anwar
became the ﬁ rst UAE batsman
to notch up a World Cup hundred
as the Asian minnows punched
above their weight to post a commendable 276 for nine against
European giant-killers Ireland in
their pool B ODI cricket match
here today.
Electing to bowl after winning
the toss, the Irish kept it tight for
most part of the match and had
the UAE tied up in knots before
the 35-year-old Anwar’s (106)
maiden ODI ton, combined with
number eight Amjad Javed’s
ACTION ALL THE WAY
Anwar in full ﬂow against Ireland
lively 35-ball 42 helped them post
a rather big total.
Anwar’s knock
was studded with
10 fours and a six
and bettered
the previous
UAE best of 85
The UAE, who lost their lungopener to Zimbabwe and are lying
second from bottom on the points
table, were off to a steady start
with Amjad Ali (45) and Andri
Berenger (13) putting on a 49-run
opening stand.
17 girls hospitalised
for food poisoning
Rajahmundry, Feb 25 (PTI):
At least 17 girls lodged at a government-run SC/ST hostel here in
East Godavari district of Andhra
Pradesh have been hospitalised
for suspected food poisoning after
eating contaminated food, police
said today.
The girls, all studying in Class X,
were rushed to the Rajahmundry
Government General hospital
for treatment last night after they
began vomiting and complained of
loose motions and giddiness post
dinner, they said.
Soon after the incident, Rajahmundry Municipal Corporation
Chairman Rajani Sesha Sai visited
the hospital to check on the victims
and directed health officials to
take all measures for their speedy
recovery.
According to hospital sources, the
condition of the girls is stable now.
Police have collected food samples from the hostel in Devichowk
area and investigations are on.
However, the Irish kept a tight leash
on the scoring rate for most part of the
innings before Anwar helped the side
break the shackles in the company
of Javed.
Anwar, however, was the most outstanding performer of the day with a
craftily-paced knock, which rescued
his team and also booked his place
in the record books.
The veteran, who has modelled his
technique on Indian legend Rahul
Dravid, had two ODI ﬁfties under
his belt before today’s eye-catching
effort.
Anwar’s knock was studded with
10 fours and a six and bettered the
previous UAE best of 85. His 83ball stay on the crease was ended
by Max Sorenson in the 49th over
when he induced an edge from the
batsman, which was safely caught
by wicketkeeper Gary Wilson.
Javed, on the other hand,
smashed five fours during his
entertaining innings which played
a huge role in helping UAE break
free. The duo stitched together
a partnership of 107 runs for the
seventh wicket.
Among the bowlers, Sorenson
(2/60), Alex Cusack (2/54), Paul
Stirling (2/27) and Kevin O’Brien
(2/61) shared the spoils.
2 WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
City
Help at hand
Vyasarpadi, Pulianthope police stations set for facelift
‘The Vyasarpadi
Centre
Waterbody at
Mambalam gets fenced
CHENNAI
police station
functions under
asbestos rooﬁng.
This makes the place
very hot in summers
and water leaks
when it rains’
Police station in Vyasarpadi cries for attention.
P
olice stations in Vyasarpadi stations are still in a state of neglect.
and Pulianthope, was in a
An ofﬁcial of the Greater Chennai
dilapidated condition, in urgent need Police said there are 135 police
of renovation. These police stations stations in the city, of which several
were covered with asbestos sheets functioned from rented premises.
and suffered from leaky roofs. Well ‘Shortage of land is the main reason
there is good news for the men in for this issue,’ he says.
khaki as they are to get new
‘The
Vyasarpadi
police
premises.
station has been functioning
The Vyasarpadi police
under asbestos rooﬁng.
MBUR
PERA
station will soon get a new
This makes the place very
hot in summers and water
premises, while the one at
Pulianthope will be soon be
leaks when it rains,’ says a staff on
renovated.
condition of anonymity.
The staff at the police stations said
‘Although the government is ready
that though the State Government to shell out money to ﬁnd a solution to
has been spending crores of money this problem, there has been difﬁcult
for their welfare, yet some police in ﬁnding a suitable place, as we need
a spacious one to accommodate
law and order, crime and trafﬁc
departments. Anyway now action is
being taken to set all these things.’
‘The police station at Pulianthope
functions from a dilapidated building,
keeping both the staff and visitors
to the facility in ﬁx. We are happy
to know that action is being initiated
to renovate the building very soon,’
says Navaneetham, an advocate and
a resident of the area.
It is reported that there are 135
police stations in the city and many
of them are functioning in rented
premises and action is being initiated
to ﬁnd suitable premises for those
functioning under asbestos roof.
- NT Bureau
TANGLED
PHOTO: R THIYAGARAJAN
Coil of wire left unattented at Karthikeyan Road in Perambur irk
pedestrains.
IN HOME
SONY PIX
03:55PM Colombiana
Fencing of the water tank is expected to preserve the waterbody.
T
he
fencing
work
being
Further elaborating, he said, ‘We
undertaken at the water tank will then erect three pillars around
situated behind Kothandaramar the pond area to prevent heavy
temple and Kittu Park here, has vehicles like lorries from entering, as
brought relief to residents of the currently there are a few which are
area.
parked here for cleaning purposes.
It may be recalled that the tank
Once the entry is restricted to
was regularly in the news for being only light vehicles, there are plans
unattended, and for being used to lay the pedestrian pathway to
to dump garbage and debris. The help residents walk freely’, Ramesh
tank was also plagued with other added.
problems such as the danger
Also, the ofﬁcials have
of humans and animals
stated
that
the
falling into it and the
water is completely
rain water harvesting
contaminated
and
M
BALA
scheme which failed to
unusable
due
to
MAM
take off.
continuous
dumping
of
However, the facility
perishable
and
non-perishable
is soon to sport a new
l o o k waste, and that its cleaning is a big
thanks to the initiative taken by a task on hand.
private water supplying company
Meanwhile,
visitors
to
the
which has undertaken the fencing nearby Kittu Park have expressed
work of the tank.
their happiness at the recent
Ramesh, an ofﬁcial of the company
development.
said, ‘The ﬁrst step would be to
Jagannathan, one such visitor said
construct walls on all four sides
it was heartening to note that the
which will prevent trespassing into
tank was ﬁnally being renovated.
the waters, thus keeping children
- NT Bureau
and animals at bay’.
used to dump
garbage and
debris.
It was also
plagued
with other
problems such
as the danger
of humans
and animals
falling into it
STAR SPORTS 1
TV TODAY
05:30PM
JAYA TV
04:30PM
The place was
City vs. Barcelona
ICC Cricket World Cup
05:00PM
WWE Raw
2015 H/ls : Ireland vs.
07:00PM
UEFA Champions League
2014/15 : Juventus vs.
UAE
Kollywood Gallery
Makkalin Mudhalvar
06:30PM
Cricket Legends
Dortmund
05:30PM
Arokiya Unavu
07:00PM
Cricket World Cup : Tales 09:00PM
WWE Fastlane 2015
HBO
06:30PM
Galatta Comedy
07:30PM
ICC Cricket World Cup
07:00PM
Ramayanam
04:11PM
Step Up Revolution
07:30PM
News
06:06PM
We’re the Millers
08:00PM
Hits
08:00PM
Transformers: Revenge of
08:30PM
Akka
06:19PM Iron Man
09:00PM WALL-E
the Fallen
MOVIES NOW
05:00PM
09:00PM
10:00PM
Priyamana Thozhi
Kavidhaiyae Theriyuma
05:00PM Wrath of the Titans
10:30PM
English News
06:55PM
10:45PM
Tamil News
11:00PM
Thenkinnam
Ted
09:00PM Final Destination 5
10:50PM The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
SUN TV
STAR MOVIES
04:50PM
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
03:30PM
Mitta Mirasu
06:00PM
Mundhanai Mudichu
06:43PM
47 Ronin
06:30PM
Pasamalar
09:00PM
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
07:00PM
News
07:30PM
Nadhaswaram
08:00PM
Deiva Magal
IN THEATRES
SANDAMARUDHAM
Kamala Theatre, Udhayam Theatre, PVR Cinemas,
08:30PM
Vamsam
09:00PM
Priyamanaval
09:30PM
Vani Rani
10:00PM
Sakthi
10:30PM
Azhagi
11:00PM
Parakkum Paavai
AGS Cinemas, INOX National, Abirami Mega Mall,
Woodlands Multiplex, Mayajaal Cinema, Sangam
Multiplex, Sri Ganga Cinema, Raj Theatre, Maharani
Theatre
ANEGAN
Mayajaal, Escape Cinema, Devi Cineplex, Kamala Theatre,
PVR Cinemas, Sangam, AGS, INOX National, Hall, Rakki
Multiplex, Abirami Theatres,
THAMIZHUKKU ENN ONDRAI
AZHUTHAVUM
Kamala Theatre Mayajaal, AGS Cinemas, Escape
Cinema, Abirami Theatres, Devi Cineplex, PVR
Cinemas, Luxe Cinemas, AGS, INOX National,
Woodlands,
KA LAIGNAR TV
2015 H/ls : Ireland vs.
VIJ AY TV
04:00PM
TEN CRICKET
04:00PM
UAE
Aandaal Azhagar
08:30PM
Cricket Legends
05:30PM
Uravugal Thodar Kadhai
09:00PM
Match Point : Ireland vs.
06:00PM
En Kanavan En Thozhan
06:30PM
Puthu Kavithai
10:00PM
Cricket Live
07:00PM
Kalyanam Mudhal Kaadhal
10:30PM
Late Cut
Varai
11:00PM
Match Point : Ireland vs.
07:30PM
Aandaal Azhagar
08:00PM
Deivam Thandha Veedu
08:30PM
Saravanan Meenatchi
09:00PM
Mahabharatham
09:30PM
Super Singer Junior
10:30PM
Ofﬁce
11:00PM
Kalyanam Mudhal Kaadhal
South Africa Tour of Pakistan
2013 (UAE) H/ls : 3rd ODI
06:00PM
Australia Tour of Pakistan
2014 (UAE) H/ls : 2nd
UAE
ODI
UAE
07:00PM
Cricket Classics : Final:
08:00PM
New Zealand Tour of West
Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe ’03
Indies 2014 H/ls : 1st T20
TEN SPORTS
03:00PM
09:00PM
Tri-Nation 2014
UEFA Champions League
(Zim,SA,Aus) H/ls : 3rd ODI:
2014/15 : Manchester
Zimbabwe vs. South Africa
Varai
RAJ TV
05:30PM
Vellithira
06:00PM
Raj News
06:30PM
Thirai Vaanil
07:00PM
Sindhu Bhairavi
07:30PM
Mann Vasanai
08:00PM
Karuthamma
08:30PM
Alaipayuthey
09:00PM
En Iniya Thozhiye
04:00PM
Pudhu Paadal
09:30PM
Gouravam
04:30PM
Sirippu Varudhu
10:00PM
Koppium-Crime Time
05:00PM
Endrum Super
10:30PM
Alai
05:30PM
Kalai Koil
06:00PM
Utchakattam
POLIMER TV
06:30PM
Idhu Pudhusu
05:10 PM Comedy Express
07:00PM
News
05:35 PM Nenjam Pesuthey
07:30PM
Mohini
06:05 PM Saami Potta Mudichu
08:00PM
Bhavani
06:30 PM Madhubala
08:30PM
Romapuri Paandiyan
07:00 PM Ullam Kollai Pogudhada
09:00PM
Odi Vilayadu Pappa
07:30 PM Sakthi Pole Yaarumillae
10:02 PM Kaliyugam
08:00 PM Madhubala
10:30 PM Sirippu Varudhu
08:30 PM Saami Potta Mudichu
S
U
D
O
K
U
6
4
7
4
4
9
6
8
4
7
3
8
9
5
1
3
3
2
1
8
9
2
3000
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?
ANSWER TO
SUDOKU 2999
(24.2.2015)
9
6
1
6
4
3
5
2
8
3
1
9
7
4
6
6
9
7
4
3
1
4
7
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2
5
6
1
3
2
8
9
5
1
3
7
6
9
4
2
5
8
2
9
4
8
5
1
6
3
7
8
6
5
2
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9
1
3
1
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1
3
Around Town
CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
3
CRASH, BANG....
DONATE BLOOD, BUT
NOT FOR THE ROAD
q Cops taking all steps to create awareness on safe motoring
SHWETA V
Chennai, Feb 25:
There have been umpteen
number of awareness campaigns
on road safety, but mishaps,
minor and major continue to
be reported on the city’s roads.
While the trafﬁc police has initiated steps to curb drunk driving
and has been able to control it to
a great extent, rash driving/riding
and ‘races’ continue to lead to
accidents.
According to statistics, Chennai
topped with regard to the number
of fatal accidents (1,411) in 2014,
higher than cities including Delhi
and Bangalore. Police ofﬁ cials
said that the numbers are down
but there is a perception that rash
lorry drivers and drunk driving result in a major chunk of fatalities.
That may be true to an extent
but many forget that speeding
motorists contribute to the rising
number of fatalities.
It is said that college students
don’t pay heed to trafﬁc rules and
the craze for powerful bikes and
With stern action
being taken against
drunk driving, police
personnel feel that
more awareness on
safety on roads among
youth is a must
speed means that they sacriﬁce
safety for the pleasure of zooming around on the city’s busy
stretches.
Increase in number of vehicles,
better road infrastructure are
probable reasons for some roads
turning danger zones as people
throw safety norms to the winds.
It is also alleged that girls trying
to ‘show off’ their biking skills
by driving faster than their male
counterparts.
A police ofﬁ cial said, ‘People
these days don’t seem to be
concerned about safety on the
roads. They are caught between
the need for both fashion and
Jaya thanks
PM, Rosaiah
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
AIADMK supremo and former Chief
Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday
thanked Prime Minister
Narendra Modi for his
birthday wishes.
In a letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said ‘I thank
you very much for the
kind message of greetings on my birthday. It
was thoughtful of you to have remem-
bered my birthday and conveyed your
greetings on twitter’.
Earlier in the day, The Prime Minister
tweeted: ‘Birthday greetings to Jayalalithaa ji. May she be blessed with a long
life, ﬁlled with good health.’
Jayalalithaa, who turned 67 on Monday, also thanked State Govenror K
Rosaiah for his greetings.
‘I thank you for the kind message of
greetings and ﬂowers sent by you on
the occasion of my birthday,’ she said
in a message to him.
Changes in
train services
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Due to line/power block to facilitate
engineering work for the construction
of a subway at Madurantakam yard in
the Chengalpattu-Villupuram section,
the following changes will be made in
the pattern of train services on Friday:
Train number 66043/66044 Chennai
Beach- Melmaruvathur--Chennai
Scientist for
better vaccine
to treat Malaria
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Malaria in India is different from that
in Africa and the cases here do not
appear so severe, said scientist from
Edinburgh Dr Dave Arnot.
Delivering a lecture on ‘New and Better Vaccines for Malaria in India’ during
a workshop on ‘New Perspectives in
Biotechnology’ at Anna University here
yesterday, he said Malaria cases in India have almost declined by half since
1995, yet about 15 million cases are
registered per year. He also discussed
about how new and better vaccines
can be developed to treat Malaria in
India.
The University of Edinburgh and the
Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University organised the workshop which
focused on topics like new and better
vaccines for Malaria, bio-diesel from
algal sources and biotechnology on
crop performance.
Free veda
classes
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Sai Seva Chakra will conduct free
veda classes at Om Murugasramam,
Srinivasa Pillai Street (near Ayodhya Mandapam), from Mondays to
Fridays between 6.30 and 7.15 am
and veda parayanam on Tuesdays
at 10 am.
For details, contact 93808 36897,
2489 2890, email srisaisevachakra@
gmail.com.
Chennai recorded 1,411 fatal
road accidents in 2014, more
than any other of the 53 mega
cities on the NCRB’s list except Delhi with Bangalore in
third place
Beach will be partially cancelled
between Chengalpattu and Melmaruvathur.
Train number 56037/56038 EgmorePuducherry-Egmore will be partially
cancelled between Chengalpattu and
Puducherry. Train number 12605
Chennai Egmore-Karaikkudi Pallavan
Express, scheduled to leave Egmore
at 3.45 pm will leave late by 30 minutes.
Aditya, a B Com student
and a bike racer
safety. To realise the importance
of safety, we, from our end, are
trying everything we can to help
people be careful.’
Aditya, a B Com student and
a bike racer, said, ‘Racing is an
interesting hobby for me. It gives
me an adrenaline rush and also
gives popularity. Every weekend,
There is a general feeling
that overspeeding should be
checked by the police and also
drunk driving. Meanwhile, police personnel said that it is the
responsibility of every young
individual to be careful and understand the dangers involved
in rash driving.
‘Though drunk drive cases are
decreasing due to patrolling and
regular checks, accidents still
happen. The best we can do
from our part is to follow road
rules and act right. Afterall, life
is more precious than anything
else,’ said Aditya.
Meanwhile, traffic police personnel too are trying to drive
home the message of safe driving/riding among motorists, especially the younger generation.
Largest human heart formed
q New Guinness record to create awareness on heart disease
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited and
APICON 2015 (70th Annual Conference of Association of Physicians
of India) broke the Guinness World
RecordTM for making the largest human image of a heart in India recently.
According to a press release, to
create more awareness about heart
disease in India, Ranbaxy & APICON
assembled 982 people (consisting of
doctors and Ranbaxy employees) to
form a human heart. The formation
of the human heart was achieved in
1 hour and 15 minutes.
The participants wore T-shirts and
caps of distinct colours to bring out
the correct anatomical representation of the central body organ. The
creation beat the world record for
the largest image of a human organ
ever formed by a group of humans
assembled together. The earlier
record was set on 20 February, 2014,
in Liverpool, UK, when 687 people
came together to form the image of
the largest human brain on World
Encephalitis Day, the release said.
Task force to set
guidelines for PID
q ‘Only few centres treat patients affected
with Primary Immunodeﬁciency Disorders’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders (PID) are as common as
childhood leukemia and lymphoma
combined, yet very few of us know
about it, said Professor at University
of California, Irvine, Sudhir Gupta.
Speaking at the third International
Conference on Primary Immunodeﬁciency (ICPID) organised jointly by
the Foundation for Primary Immunodeﬁciency Diseases (FPID) and
Indian Society for Primary Immune
deficiency Diseases (ISPID) here
on Monday, he said, ‘Recognising
different clinical manifestations of
PID is the ﬁrst most important step.
We are embarking on a project of
prenatal and neonatal screening of
PIDs and have created a task force
for establishing Indian guidelines.’
In India, PID remains under-recognised largely due to low awareness
of clinicians and lack of centers with
comprehensive ﬂow cytometric and
molecular test capabilities. Only a few
centers in India have such advanced
diagnostic facilities and capability to
utilise them for diagnosis and care of
patients with PID, he said.
Deputy Director, NIIH Mumbai, Dr
Manisha Madkaikar, said, ‘Through
this conference we tried to highlight
some of the limitations and chal-
I go for racing with my team, either in far-off places or nearby.
But, one should have road sense
and also be aware of the surroundings so that everybody can
stay safe. Not many are following
rules these days.’
Further, Aditya said, ‘In an
event ‘Orange Day’ organised
by Duke, I was declared as the
champion. I have participated in
many racing events in the city.
However, the challenges faced
by racers are awkward stares by
people and bad roads.’
‘Undoubtedly, racing is the best
activity for many youngsters.
But what is missing is the safety
measures and being sensitive to
the problems faced by the road
Bheemg, a Visual Communication student
users. Also, the city roads aren’t
the places for racing!’
Bheemg, a Visual Communication student said, ‘Racing is an
unnecessary activity which is
blindly followed by youngsters. A
distances that takes 10 minutes
to cover may be reached within
two minutes, but what is the
need for such urgency. Only after
something untoward happens do
people regret.’
‘People should be cautious
when driving near the school
zones, public places or in heavy
trafﬁc. Accidents can take place
anywhere and anytime.’
He also said, ‘It is acceptable
that during an emergency, we
tend to go little faster’ and referred to a recent incident when
he chased down a man, who
had snatched a woman’s chain.’
Primary
immunodeﬁciency
disorders (PIDs) are
a heterogeneous group
of inherited disorders
that affect different
components of the
immune system
lenges in the diagnosis and therapy of
PID and showcased the recent efforts
to establish PID centers of excellence
and a national PID registry in India.’
Manisha added that with support of
BD India, they have been organising
workshops aimed to train the faculty
members and ﬂow cytometry technicians on ﬂow cytometry assays for
diagnosis of PID.
Primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs) are a heterogeneous
group of inherited disorders that
affect different components of the
immune system. Based upon the
incidence of PID in other countries
of 1 in 1,000, it is estimated that the
number of PID patients in India is at
least one million. This number, however, appears to be an underestimate
due to lack of awareness about PID,
and the length of time it takes for
diagnosing PID.
The participants
wore T-shirts and
caps of distinct
colours to bring out
the correct anatomical
representation of the
central body organ
As many as 982 people, consisting of doctors and Ranbaxy employees
came together to form a human heart to create awareness on heart disease.
On the milestone achievement, taken to spread awareness about
Lucia Sinigagliesi, Guinness World
the importance of physical exercise
RecordsTM Adjudicator said, ‘It is
is a good message for the public.’
good to see the enthusiasm of the
Rajeev Sibal, vice-president and
crowd during the event. Initiatives
head-India Region, Ranbaxy said,
Cops conduct
safety programme
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
The All Women Police Station at
Ashok Nagar organised a safety
awareness programme at Sri
Sitaram Vidyalaya Matriculation
Higher Secondary School, Ramakrishnapuram First Street Lane
recently.
A press release said, the programme was organised as per
the orders of Joint Commissioner
of Police (South Zone), Arun,
Deputy Commissioner of Police
(T Nagar), T Saravanan and Assistant Commissioner of Police,
Arumugham.
Inspector of Police, S Lakshmi
presided over the programme
and interacted with students and
gave guidelines for the various
problems faced by them.
She also emphasised the need to
follow traffic rules and regulations.
Students present clarified their
doubts with the police. School
principal Leela Parthasarathy initiated the interaction session for the
benefit of the students.
‘The event would be truly successful
when each one of us daily take the
30 minutes exercise challenge and
spread the message to more and
more number of people. Ranbaxy
will always continue its endeavour
to spread the importance of exercise and ﬁtness to larger masses
and motivate people to lead a
healthier life.’
Dr Ashok. K Taneja, organising
secretary, APICON 2015 said, ‘When
the entire disease management is
shifting towards prevention, mass
initiatives like this would help to create more awareness on importance of
exercise and ﬁtness which can avoid
many diseases’.
Special camps to
collect tax dues
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Chennai Metrowater plans to
hold special camps on all Saturdays in February and March
for consumers to pay water and
sewerage tax and charges.
In a bid to collect arrears and tax
dues, the water agency has been
conducting camps for the past
few weeks. As part of its efforts, it
had conducted camps in multi-storeyed buildings in Koyambedu. A
total of 48 consumers paid nearly
Rs 4 lakh during these camps.
Similarly, 20 special camps were
conducted for below poverty line
families that had obtained subsidised connections. These consumers were required to pay Rs 50
per month as water and sewerage
charges. In the past two weeks,
about Rs 20 lakh was collected
from 863 such consumers.
About Rs 35 lakh of tax and
charges arrears were collected in
these camps. Metrowater plans to
hold similar camps on 28 February,
7 March , 14 March, 21 March and
28 March to enable consumers
to pay their dues, said a press
release.
Serve at Tirumala
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Sevas, an NGO will send volunteers
for a weeklong service at the temple
town of Tirumala.
A press release said, the volunteers
will be provided with accommodation,
breakfast and dinner at Tirumala during the period of service.
For details, contact 78455 58334,
94449 01138.
Tamilnadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi president K Jagadiswara Reddy giving
away free food to people at Samayapuram Arunthathiyar Mandapam
in Tiruchi, as part of the 10-day celebrations to mark the birthday of
AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa.
Blend
4 WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
US condemns ISIL
attack in Syria
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Big boost
hough there were opposition in some quarters for the visit
of US President Barack Obama to India recently, it is an
undeniable fact that it provided an opportunity to strengthen bilateral
relationship between the two countries.
Now the US’s announcement that it is willing to work together
with Indian government has brought cheer to many.
There is an opportunity for us to try to advance the interest of
both our countries by working together and by coordinating our
efforts. And the (US) President is certainly committed to that. In part
because of the substantial economic beneﬁts that could be enjoyed
by the American people, America has said.
It is also said that Obama does believe that, as Indian consumers
have the opportunity to buy American goods, that could be good
for the Indian economy, as well. The President spent a lot of time
with Prime Minister Modi. They spent a lot of time talking about
some of these economic issues.
And Obama had the opportunity to sit down at a round table with
corporate bosses of India and talk about some of the challenges
that they face as they try to do more business together in a way that
beneﬁts the economies and job creation in both countries.
Obama arrived on a three-day visit to India on 24 January. In his
meeting with Modi, the two leaders decided to resume talks on
bilateral investment treaty.
Obama has said that Beijing need not feel threatened by his
country’s growing relations with India even as he warned that
China’s growth shouldn’t be at the expense of its neighbours.
In an interview, Obama also cautioned China against bullying
small countries like Vietnam or the Philippines on maritime issues.
I was surprised when I heard that the Chinese government had put
out these statements... China doesn’t need to be threatened because
we have good relations with India, Obama said in his ﬁrst comments
on China’s reaction to his unprecedented second Presidential visit
to India.
China had last year warned India against meddling in its dispute
with Vietnam over islands in the South China Sea. It claims almost
all of the South China Sea, while Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Taiwan and Vietnam contests the Chinese claims on the resourcerich region.
Narendra
Modi @
narendramodi
In spite of the large
devolution,Centre’s support
in key areas such as poverty
elimination, employment,
education, health etc. will
continue
Spirituality empowers you to
take challenges & brings comfort
when you are tired.
DOHA:
Once the jewel-encrusted playthings of the Russian royal family, the
ﬁrst Faberge Imperial egg produced
in almost a century is set to be unveiled in Qatar, its makers said.
Ninety nine years since Faberge
made its last Imperial egg, for Tsar
Nicholas II, the famous jewel
maker will show off its newest creation at an exhibition
of watches and jewellery
in Doha.
The ‘Faberge Pearl Egg’
features 139 fine white
pearls, and more than
3,300 diamonds as well as
other precious gemstones,
according to the jeweller.
Several Gulf nations have a long
history of pearl diving, and Qatar is
building an artiﬁcial island off its coast
named after the precious treasure.
The egg is the ﬁrst of its kind commissioned since World War I.
Faberge’s last Imperial creation
-- the Steel Military Egg -- was commissioned in 1916 by the Tsar just
months before he was removed from
power by the Russian Revolution and
forced to abdicate in February 1917.
Nicholas II had arranged the egg as a
Terror
WASHINGTON;
The US has condemned the Islamic
State’s attacks on predominantly
Assyrian Christian villages in the
northeast Syria and called for the
immediate and unconditional release
of the civilians taken captive.
‘ISIL’s latest targeting of a religious
minority is only further testament to
its brutal and inhumane treatment
of all those who disagree with its
divisive goals and toxic beliefs,’
State Department Spokesperson Jen
Psaki said.
‘ISIL continues to exact its evil
upon innocents of all faiths, and the
majority of its victims have been
Muslims. People of all faiths and
many religious leaders throughout
the region have united in condemning
ISIL’s depravity, including its mass
killings, rape, sexual enslavement,
lashing, stoning, cruciﬁxion, torture,
and public murders of hostages,’ she
said.
On Monday IS militants kidnapped
present for his wife, Alexandra.
The tradition of giving decorative
eggs was started by his father, Tsar
Alexander III, who surprised his wife
Empress Maria with a bejewelled
Easter egg in 1885.
But as
much as they were loved by the Russian royalty, the diamond-encrusted
objects d’art have come to symbolise the family’s excesses.
The new egg has been crafted ‘to mark the upcoming
(100th) anniversary since
the last Imperial egg was
commissioned,’ Faberge’s
spokeswoman Alize Morand
told AFP. She said the egg
would be the ﬁrst of several
that will soon be unveiled by
Faberge. After going on show for
the ﬁrst time, the egg will be sold at
the end of the ﬁve-day exhibition in
Qatar and there are already buyers
interested in the piece. One estimate
put the value of the new egg at $two
million (1.7 million euros).
But Morand would not confirm
that and said the price could only
be known ‘on application’ for interested buyers. She added that several
people had already expressed their
desire to buy the piece.
Missing light
Sir,
For the past several days, Vinayagam Street in Mambalam has been in
the dark as lights are not working. The street is always trafﬁc-prone as it
was situated between Arya Gowda Road on one side and Seventh Avenue
of Ashok Nagar at the other side.
In the prevailing dark conditions, woman residents are scared to venture
out of their houses. I request the authorities to look into the issue and set
the lights right.
Krishnaswamy,
Mambalam
ADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
or e-mail to : [email protected] / [email protected]
The United States condemned the
attacks in Hasaka and called for the
immediate and unconditional release
of the civilians taken captive
dozens of civilians, including women, children,
priests, and the elderly.
‘Hundreds of other civilians remain rapped in
villages surrounded by
ISIL ﬁghters, and clashes
continue between ISIL and
local forces defending their
communities. ISIL burned
and destroyed homes and
churches, and the violence
has reportedly displaced more than
3,000 people. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of the
civilians taken captive yesterday and
of all those held by ISIL,’ she said.
Islamic State militants have abduct-
C
ed at least 150 people from Assyrian
Christian villages in northeastern
Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday.
A Syrian Christian group representing several NGOs inside and outside
the country said it had veriﬁed at least
150 people missing, including women
and the elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants.
‘We have verified at least 150
people who have been adducted
from sources on the ground,’ Bassam Ishak, president of the Syriac
National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters
from Amman.
Earlier the British-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said
90 were abducted when the militants
carried out dawn raids on rural villages inhabited by the ancient Christian
minority west of Hasaka, a city mainly
held by the Kurds.
The United States condemned the
attacks in Hasaka and called for the
immediate and unconditional release
of the civilians taken captive. The
state department said hundreds of
others remain trapped in villages
surrounded by Islamic State ﬁghters
in violence that has displaced more
than 3,000 people.
L ICK
PIC
Kids bustling with energy dive in the waters of Walkeshwar’s Banganga, which is a piece of Varanasi right in the middle of Mumbai. In the
other photograph, around the Banganga complex are several temples that are hundreds of years old dedicated to many Gods.
Former Maldives President
Nasheed denied bail
A
court in the Maldives has refused bail to former president
Mohamed Nasheed and denied
access to his lawyers, his party
said after his arrest on terrorism
charges.
Police forcibly dragged the opposition leader into the court in the
capital Malé on Monday, ignoring
his plea to be allowed to walk in
himself, and denied him medical
attention despite the court ordering
‘necessary treatment’.
Nasheed told the court that his
arm hurt after police pushed him
violently to the ground. But the
bench of three judges brushed
aside his complaints, only asking
police to seek treatment for him
after the hearing.
His shirt buttons were missing
and he appeared in pain throughout the brief hearing.
Instead of taking him to hospital,
Nasheed was seen being taken
away by boat to the nearby prison
islet of Dhoonidhoo.
‘The court ordered President Nasheed to be kept in police custody
until the end of the trial,’ said Shauna
Aminath, a spokeswoman for the
Maldivian Democratic party (MDP).
The MDP has argued that his
arrest on ‘trumped-up charges of
Black tea
substance may
treat bone loss
Temple vandalism: Hate
crime probe sought
TOKYO:
Japanese researchers have found
that a substance in black tea may
be effective for treating osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to
become weak
and brittle. The
team, including Keizo Nishikawa, assistant
HEALTH
professor at
Osaka University, found that
theaﬂavin-3, or TF-3, a substance in
black tea, blocks an enzyme - DNA
methyltransferase - that increases
osteoclasts, cells that destroy bone
tissues. In a study published in the
journal Nature Medicine, researchers
said that after TF-3 was administered
to mice suffering from osteoporosis,
their bone volume recovered to levels
similar to those of normal mice.
If the experimental conditions are
applied to humans, however, a person weighing 60 kg would need to
drink 60 cups of black tea every three
days, ‘The Japan Times’ reported.
The discovery may pave the way for
development of teas or supplement
foods containing a large amount of
TF-3.
Today
VOICE MAIL
group abducts at least 150 Christians
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
Sri Sri
Ravi
Shankar
@SriSri
Faberge unveils
ﬁrst Imperial egg
CHENNAI
pletely arbitrary,’ said Hissan Hussein. ‘The conduct of the courts, police
and President Yameen’s administration has been reprehensible.’
The MDP, which said it could not
expect a fair trial, added that Nasheed had been told that his lawyers
should have registered to represent
him two days before the hearing,
even though he was only arrested
and charged on Sunday.
State prosecutors pressed the
terrorism’ is an attempt to shut
court to deny him bail in relation to
down growing opposithe current case aftion to the government NEWS MAKER ter he took refuge at
of the day
of President Abdulla Yathe Indian embassy
meen before a planned
to avoid arrest in
protest rally on Friday.
2013.
Nasheed’s lawyer said the charges
Hundreds of party activists took
to the streets shouting anti-governwere ‘blatantly politically motivated’
ment slogans after Nasheed, the
and condemned authorities for recountry’s ﬁrst democratically elected
fusing his client legal access.
president, was detained on Sunday.
‘This arrest and detention is com-
Police drag Mohamed
Nasheed, now opposition
leader, in to court for
brief hearing on what
his lawyer said were
‘blatantly politcally
motivated charges’
NEW YORK:
Several inter-faith leaders in the
US have decided to seek hate crime
probe into the incident of vandalism
at a Hindu temple in Washington
state, saying law enforcement authorities should send out a strong
message that those responsible will
be held accountable.
The Washington state chapter of
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil liberties
advocacy organisation, said faith
leaders will join it to seek federal
hate crime investigation of the apparently bias-motivated vandalism
targeting the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center (HTCC) and Skyview
Junior High in Bothell, Washington.
Leaders from the Hindu, Christian
and Muslim communities said that
the incidents appear to ﬁt a pattern
of increased hate-motivated crimes
nationwide targeting persons and
property associated, or perceived
to be associated, with Islam and
the American Muslim community.
‘As the city of Bothell, our state
and our nation grow in diversity,
law enforcement authorities must
send a strong message that people
of all faiths, races, and ethnicities
‘Law enforcement
authorities should
send out a strong
message that those
responsible will be
held accountable’
belong here, and our children can
go to school and places of worship
without fear of bullying or hate
motivated violence,’ said CAIR-WA
Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari.
‘The FBI and the US Attorney’s ofﬁce must also send a clear message
to the public that those who target
civilians because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or other protected
status, will be met with the full force
of the law.’
A Nazi swastika and the phrase
‘get out’ was found spray-painted
in red on the exterior of the Hindu
Temple and Cultural Center around
February 15. Another swastika and
the words ‘Muslims get out’ was
found spray-painted on the exterior
of Skyview Junior High.
Mystery money
rain halts traffic
ABU DHABI:
While many souls in this world, in
their ﬂights of imaginations, might
have wished for lots of moolah to just
rain on them someday, it turned out to
be astonishingly true for some people
in Dubai on Feb 11 when thousands
of banknotes were seen ﬂying hither
and thither on a stormy afternoon.
According to local and international
news reports, the amazing money
rain happened over a fortnight ago
in Dubai as stormy winds scattered
several 500 UAE Dirham notes from
an unknown source on a road busy
with plying motor vehicles. The trafﬁc
came to a halt at the sight of ‘cash
in the air’.
Some of the onlookers took out their
cell phones to ﬁlm the unbelievable
money rain and a video of the same
has gone viral on the social media.
Stunned commuters pulled over
their cars and were seen rushing to
lay their hands on cash strewn on
the road.
According to a report in the Daily
Mail, the notes blowing through the
city could add up to cash worth more
than half a million pounds.
So far, ofﬁcials have no explanation
to give as to what was the source of
the ‘raining money’.
Enterprise
CHENNAI
Mahindra calls
for upping agri
production
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Drawing the government’s attention to farm sector, Mahindra &
Mahindra Chairman Anand Mahindra yesterday, said India’s goal
of becoming a global economic
power cannot be achieved without
increasing the country’s agricultural
production.
‘If we want to build a shining India
we should not forget agriculture.
Crop diversification and irrigation
should be the chief infrastructure the
government should be investing in,’
Mahindra said in New Delhi, at an
awards function.
India cannot become a superpower
when it can’t increase its agricultural
production, he added.
Stressing on the importance of
the role of agricultural sector in
India’s economic development,
Mahindra said: ‘Only farmers can
make India a superpower (that) it
aims to be.’
India, the Arm Aadmi
q Defence exports to touch $17 bn by FY22: Report
Mumbai, Feb 25 (PTI):
If the government’s push to locally
manufacture defence equipments
fructiﬁes, the sector can fetch close
to USD 17 billion from exports, while
it can grow seven times to USD 41
billion by FY22, says a report.
India is the world’s largest importer
of defence equipments with tens of
billions of dollars in annual purchases
of critical equipment for the armed
forces.
Recently, the government had
increased FDI in the sector to
49 per cent and last week Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had said
that MNCs could go in for majority
ownership, provided they transfer
the technology.
‘Defence and aerospace exports
can touch USD 16.6 billion if local
Moody’s take on
Modi’s measures
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Reform measures undertaken by
the government to accelerate growth
and address ﬁscal and supply side
constraints will determine India’s
sovereign credit proﬁle, rating agency
Moody’s said today. The declining
inﬂation also calls for a policy rate
cut to boost investments, it added.
‘Fiscal and structural reform policies
will determine the extent to which
accelerating growth will buttress the
sovereign credit proﬁle,’ it said in a
report titled ‘GDP Revisions Underscore Economic Strength, But Are
Credit Neutral’.
In 2015, benign global oil prices are
likely to keep India’s inﬂation and current account pressures in check, the
report said, adding, ‘this could allow
for more accommodative monetary
policy which, in turn, would revive
investment growth’.
Moody’s said the upward revision in
GDP growth estimates on the basis
of base year revision highlight the
Govt yet to take
call on unique
code for jewellery
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
The government said it has not yet
taken a ﬁnal decision on its proposal
to introduce a nine-digit alphanumeric
identity code for every gold jewellery
manufactured in India, to ﬁx purity
and traceability. ‘The government is
actively considering a proposal under
which all Hallmarking and Assaying
centres will assign a unique nine character code to the jewellery for purity
and traceability. No ﬁnal decision has
been taken,’ Minister of State for Food
and Consumer Affairs Raosaheb Patil
Danve said in a written reply to the
Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The Minister, in reply to a query, said
the government was aware of incidents
of impurity/adulteration in gold being sold
in the market despite the presence of the
hallmarking system in the country.
The hallmarking of gold, which is voluntary in nature at present, is a purity
certiﬁcation of the metal. At present, organised retailers sell ornaments with the
Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) hallmark
at a premium to local jewellers.
Introduction of an alphanumeric
code is aimed at helping ﬁx a uniform
standard for gold ornaments and
make these resalable at a uniform
price. Currently, prices vary from one
jeweller to another and so do ornaments’ resale value.
strength of the economy, but do not
impact Moody’s overall assessment
of the sovereign’s credit proﬁle.
As per the new base year of 201112, Indian economy grew at 6.9 per
cent in 2013-14, up from sub-5 per
cent estimated when the base year
was 2004-05. With the new base
year, the economy is projected to
clock 7.4 per cent growth in current
ﬁscal ending 31 March.
While the newly released data underscores that India’s high economic
growth supports its sovereign credit
rating of ‘Baa3’ with a stable outlook,
they did not change ratios for government ﬁnances, private external
leverage and bank asset quality, all
of which continue to pose sovereign
credit risks, according to Moody’s.
‘Policies to address fiscal and
supply side constraints will determine whether India’s current growth
momentum and macro-economic
balance can be maintained over the
coming years,’ Moody’s said.
Recently, the government increased FDI in
the sector to 49 per cent and last week Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said that MNCs
could go in for majority ownership, provided
they transfer the technology
manufacturing is pushed, while total
market for domestic players can grow
seven times to USD 41 billion by 2022
from USD 6 billion in 2014,’ says a
report by Centrum Group.
The report, written by Sandeep
Upadhyay, Senior Vice President at
Centrum Group, which was the ﬁrst
domestic investment bank to offer
defence sector advisory services in
2011, further said that of the USD
41 billion market, 60 per cent will be
domestic demand and 40 per cent will
come from exports.
He also projected USD 620 billion
defence budget between FY14 and
FY22, of which 50 per cent would
be on capex. On the total defence
budget, Upadhyay said the cumulative defence spend between FY14
and FY22 may touch around USD 620
billion and capex will be half of it while
the spend on new armament could be
around USD 251 billion with imported
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Government is seeking overseas
investment for infrastructure projects
worth over USD 75 billion in sectors
like power, roads and railways over
the next few years.
That includes highway projects
worth USD 6 billion to be implemented in the next few years.
‘As many as 26 projects worth USD
3.6 billion are in final preparation
stages before implementation, 9 are
ready to be bid out and 16 are at various stages of the bidding process,’
according to a DIPP paper -- Investment Opportunities in India.
The value of roadways and bridge infrastructure in India is expected to grow
at a CAGR of 17.4 per cent between
2012-17, to reach USD 10 billion.
‘The PPP model will continue to be
the favoured way of executing the
remaining NHDP phases,’ the paper
said. There has been an unprecedented increase in cargo handling capacity
from 575 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT)
in 2009 to 800 MMT in February 2014.
As part of the government’s efforts to
actively focus on development and
upgradation of capacities across all
coastal states projects in shipping for
the next few years worth USD 9 billion
will be implemented.
In the power sector four thermal
power projects with installed capacity
of more than 8,200 MW will be out for
bidding in 2015-16.
Ready, steady, jute
q Centre jumps into action to give boost to sector
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
The Textiles Ministry Wednesday
said it has taken various steps,
including allowing use of land of
closed mills for economic activities,
to strengthen the jute sector, create
jobs and provide housing for jute
mill workers.The decisions follow
Textile Minister Santosh Gangwar’s
meeting in Kolkata, a day before,
with stakeholders in the jute sector.
It has been decided to utilise the
unused assets, such as land, of the
three closed mills of NJMC (National Jute Manufactures Corporation
Ltd) for economic activities. The
focus is to generate employment.
Activities such as apparel park
or textile hub shall be considered.
The Government of West Bengal
has been requested to support this
initiative, while PricewaterhouseCoopers has been engaged to
prepare the roadmap, the Ministry
said in a statement.
Besides, National Jute Board will
intensify development and promo-
there would be no distinction of Plan and Non-Plan
expenditure.’
However, he ruled out
scrapping of the 12th FiveYear Plan (2012-17) and
said that the remaining two
years of the ﬁve-year policy
period would be used as
transition to design the structure of the planning in India.
Elaborating further he
said that India will not plan
in terms of targets but in
equipment spend at USD 146 billion.
The report also foresees that opportunity for domestic companies
from arms acquisitions would grow
from USD 4 billion in FY14 to USD
24 billion in FY22, growing at 23 per
cent per annum during the period,
as half of the defence equipment is
obsolete now.
Meanwhile, media reports said
Nikhil Gandhi-promoted Pipavav
Defence is up for sale and Mahindra
and Munjals of Hero MotorCorp are
keen on the company.
When asked about the evolving scenario in defence sector, investment
banker Mahesh Singhi of Singhi Advisors said only those ﬁrms with good
credibility can thrive in this sector,
which is also a must for government
support.
Govt seeks foreign
funds for infra projects
The National Institute of
Design has been roped in to
assist in the development
of new designs and for
setting up of state-of-art
design centre for shopping
bags and other jute
lifestyle products
tion of diversiﬁed jute products.
Training of Women’s Self Help
Groups, including that of groups of
Tiger Widows in the Sundarban, will
be given emphasis.
Reputed R&D institutes such as IIT
Kharagpur, NITRA and IJIRA are also
being involved.
The National Institute of Design has
been roped in to assist in the development of new designs and for setting
up of state-of-art design centre for
shopping bags and other jute lifestyle
Panagariya for strategic
planning with long term goals
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
India is likely to switch over
to strategic planning, under
which efforts would be made
to achieve long-term goals,
from traditional five-year
planning system, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind
Panagariya said yesterday.
‘As per the Cabinet Resolution which created NITI
Aayog, strategic planning will
be done. We will not think
keeping in mind five-year
targets rather we will think
with a horizon of 7-8 years,’
Panagariya said in an interview to Doordarshan.
Elaborating further he
said, ‘the way Planning was
done so far traditionally,
if that does not continue,
which is quite possible,
then there would be no
(ﬁve year) Plan. Therefore
WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
terms of how can the country achieve high growth and
low inﬂation in future.
He said that India will
complete 75 years of Independence by 2022,
‘once we will decide that
where we would want
to be, then we will thing
about ways of doing it.’
Referring to recommendations of the 14th Finance
Commission to raise states’
share in union taxes from
32 per cent to 42 per cent,
Panagariya said that this
will increase the amount
of untied funds which go
to them.
‘States will get untied
money that will be 42 per
cent. Now NITI Aayog role
will change as rather than
emphasising that we give
money to states, we will
give them advice. That is
their money,’ he said.
He was of the view that
more untied money in
hands of states would enable them to prioritise their
spending. However, he added that the onus of delivery
would also be on them and
they would loose elections if
they would not perform.
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products, the statement said.
Efforts will be made to commercialise feminine hygiene products
and low-cost carry bags. All state
governments would be requested
to support the marketing of these
products. The meeting also discussed provision of housing for jute
mill workers through collaborative
schemes. The Ministry would support this initiative, while Government
of West Bengal has also been requested to participate.
NAME CHANGE
I,
KRISHNAMURTHY
VENKATESWARAN, residing
at No.455/14 TNHB Flats 7th
Main Road, Shanthi Colony,
Anna Nagar, Chennai - 600
040, shall henceforth be known
as
GOBICHETTIPALAYAM
KRISHNAMURTHY
VENKATESH.
KRISHNAMURTHY
VENKATESWARAN
About 10 projects in power sector
worth over USD 19 billion will be implemented in the next ﬁve years, said
the DIPP paper, which was part of
the booklet circulated among wealthy
sovereign funds during the India Investors Summit held on February 3.
Government has set a target of
producing 100 GW of solar power by
2020 and the country offers unlimited
growth potential for the solar photovoltaic industry.
Government has allowed 100 per
cent FDI in the railway infrastructure
segment which has opened up opportunities for participation in projects
such as high-speed railways, railway
lines to and from coal mines and ports,
electriﬁcation and suburban corridors.
Out of 26 road projects eight are on
PPP basis. Of the 11 projects in the
ports and shipping sector, 90 per cent
will be executed on PPP basis.
5
DISYS opens new
facility in Chennai
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC
(DISYS), an IT stafﬁng and consulting
ﬁrm, announced the opening of its new
facility at Ramanujan IT City here.
According to a press note, the new
facility will accelerate the expansion of
DISYS’s global services business that
provides managed services offerings
in business intelligence, quality assurance, ERP, cloud and service desk to
support DISYS’s global client base.
‘Since opening its ﬁrst ofﬁce in the
country in 2012, DISYS has more
than doubled the size of its India operations providing exceptional service
and support to clients across the
globe. The new, world-class facility
will increase that presence by another
400 per cent,’ it said.
The release quoted the company’s
vice-president, international operations, Ashish Srivastava, as saying:
‘Our continued investment in India is
tied to a broader strategy to diversify
our portfolio and drive more managed
services work. The expansion in India
will further strengthen our services
portfolio and help us in accelerating
productivity for our clients’.
Sesa Sterlite plans
name change
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 25:
Sesa Sterlite Limited, the Indian
subsidiary of Vedanta Resources
Plc, has announced that the company
plans to adopt a new corporate name:
‘Vedanta Limited’.
The change in name would be subject to shareholder approval, said a
press release, adding: ‘The name
change from Sesa Sterlite to Vedanta
Limited uniﬁes our growing portfolio
of global operations, reflects our
commitment to all our stakeholders
and our ability to create value while
aligning our identity.’
Group CEO, Vedanta, Tom Albanese added that the organisation
is proud to be a part of the natural
resources sector in India, ‘Our strategy to be the lowest-cost player and
the most efﬁcient will continue to be
a critical foundation of our business
operations,’ said Albanese.
Facebook reaches
over 2 million advertisers
Social networking giant Facebook has said it reached more than two
million advertisers, up from 1.5 million about six months back.
The US-based company has also launched the Ads Manager App to
help businesses manage their ad campaigns on-the-go, through their
mobile device. ‘There are now more than two million active advertisers on
Facebook. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected,
and an important part of that, is helping people connect with businesses,’
Facebook said in a blog.
Samsung leads India tab market
Samsung India said it has a 42.9 per cent share of the Indian tablet
market in volume terms in 2014.
Citing data from GfK, which tracks actual sales instead of shipment,
Samsung said it had a volume market share of 42.9 per cent and value
market share of 51.2 per cent in the tablet category in 2014.
The statement comes in response to an IDC report which said the Korean ﬁrm has been de-throned as top tablet vendor in the Indian market
by domestic ﬁrm iBall in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Ajuba bags award
Ajuba International LLC, a service provider of healthcare revenue cycle management, has been named ‘A Rising Star’ by the International Association of Outsourcing Professional (IAOP) in its global outsourcing 100 service provider list.
According to a press note, the list includes companies across industries,
from around the world that provides the full spectrum of outsourcing
services. An independent panel of global outsourcing experts selects
the Top 100 companies based on stringent evaluation of applications
across criteria including size, growth, customer satisfaction, depth of
competence and management capabilities.
PUBLIC NOTICE
My client, Mrs. R.Ramola Bai
W/o Ruban Sampath Kumar,
is the owner of the property
at No.19/10 Ponnuswamy
St, Ayanavaram, Chennai 23. The original mortgage
deed, 4345/1973 executed in
respect to the said property
in favour of Chennai Cooperative Society, has been
irrecoverably lost and is
not traceable by my clients.
Any person having any in
terest over, or in possession
of the said lost document,
is hereby called upon to
intimate/handover the same
to the undersigned within 7
days from the date of this
publication.
Nallini Olivannan
15A, First Floor,
Casa Major Road, Egmore,
Chennai - 600 008
9840696574
SYMBOLIC POSSESSION NOTICE
(For Immovable Property)
(Under Sec 13(4) of the read with Appendix IV and rule 8 (1) of the Security Interest
Enforcement Rules, 2002)
Whereas, the undersigned being the authorized officer of the DCB Bank Limited (Formerly
Development Credit Bank Limited) under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial
Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (54 of 2002) and in exercise of powers
conferred under section 13(12) read with rule 9 of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules,
2002 issued a 13(2) notice dated 03-12-2014 calling upon the borrower Mr. M.
MUTHUPRABU, OLD NO. 17, NEW NO. 51, GUJJI NAICKEN 2nd CROSS STREET, ANNA
NAGAR EAST, CHENNAI - 600102 and the Co-Borrower Mrs. M. SUMITHRA, OLD NO. 17,
NEW NO. 51, GUJJI NAICKEN 2nd CROSS STREET, ANNA NAGAR EAST, CHENNAI –
600102, to repay the amount mentioned in the notice being ` 64, 68,087/- (Rupees Sixty
Four Lakhs Sixty Eight Thousand and Eighty Seven Only) and being the amount under the
loan account Nos.: HHOMCHE00033231 & HHOMCHE00033336 along with interest and
other charges, cost etc within 60 days from the date of said notice.
The borrower having failed to repay the amount, notice is hereby given to the borrower,
guarantors and the public in general that the undersigned has taken possession of the
property described herein below in exercise of the powers conferred on him under sec 13 (4)
of the said Act read with rule 9 of the said Rules on this 10th February, 2015.
The borrower in particular and the public in general is hereby cautioned not to deal with the
property and any dealings with the property will be subject to the charge of the DCB Bank for
an amount of ` 64,68,087/- along with accrued interest and other charges, cost etc.
DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
SCHEDULE OF PROPERTY
All that piece and parcel of House and Ground premises Old Door No.17, New No.51,
Gujjinaicken 2nd cross street, Anna Nagar East, Chennai – 600102, Comprised in Paimash
No.1231, Block No.13, T.S.No.18 Part, Patta CA No.1979/2007, TR/2794/2007/2008, as
per patta T.S.No.18/7 of AYANAVARAM Village, Purasaiwakkam Perambur Taluk, Chennai
District, bounded on the,
North by : Anthony’s Property,
South by : Baradambals Property,
East by : Nalini Ammal and Arumugha Naickers Property,
West by : Ramadoss Land & House.
Admeasuring East to West on the Northern Side 21 Feet, Southern Side 21 Feet, North
to South Eastern Side 45 Feet, Western Side 45 Feet In all totaling 945 Sq.Ft., (as per patta
85.7 Sq.mt) of land and Ground Floor, First Floor, Second Floor Building including EB, Metro
Water and Sewerage connections, together with 1/5th Share rights in common passage
about 203 Sq.ft. And situated within the Registration District of Central Chennai and
Registration Sub-District of Anna nagar.
Date: 10-02-2015
Place: Chennai
Authorised Officer,
DCB Bank Limited (Formerly Development Credit Bank Limited)
6 WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
‘Chris
Gayle is
a hard guy to
bowl to when he
starts hitting, so
some of the plans
you might try to
put them into play
but maybe the
way we bowled
our execution
wasn’t right’
Sports
‘Death bowling led
to our death’
q Zimbabwe skipper Chigumbara hails batsmen
Canberra, Feb 25:
Zimbabwe skipper
Elton Chigumbura has
implored his team to improve their bowling at the
‘death’ in their World Cup
matches.
Zimbabwe could not withstand the West Indies acceleration of scoring late
in their innings as Chris
Gayle and Marlon Samuels piled on a one-day
record stand of 372
to take the game
away from them at
Canberra’s Manuka
Oval.
The Zimbabweans were always
up against it from there and ﬁnished
Chigumbura
Qatar Open:
Petkovic,
Jankovic advance
Doha, Feb 25:
Sixth-seeded Andrea Petkovic advanced to the second round of the
Qatar Open with a 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2
win over Belgian qualiﬁer Kirsten
Flipkens on Tuesday.
Flipkens, who beat Petkovic in
the second round at New Haven
last August, showed a good touch
in the ﬁrst set - only to crumble in
the second as Petkovic opened up
a 4-0 lead.
The 10th-ranked Petkovic was in
total control of the third set, with
the German winning four games in
a row to seal the contest.
‘Kirsten isn’t a great match up for
me. I always struggle against her,’
Petkovic said. ‘She played really
well, especially in the ﬁrst set. I was
able to step up my game in second
and third sets.’
Carla Suarez Navarro advanced
after fellow Spaniard Garbine Muguruza retired due to a viral illness,
with Navarro leading 6-5 after the
ﬁrst set. Jelena Jankovic thrashed
China’s lucky loser Zheng Saisai
6-0, 6-2, while Karolina Pliskova beat Swiss qualifier Stefanie
Voegele 7-6 (4), 6-4.
FIFA group calls
for December
WC in Qatar
Doha, Feb 25 (AFP):
A FIFA World Cup taskforce called
for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to
be shortened and held in NovemberDecember to avoid scorching summer
temperatures.
A tournament from the end of November to the end of December was the
most viable period for the World Cup,
the taskforce decided, according to a
FIFA statement.
A source later told AFP that the dates
proposed would see the tournament
begin on November 26 with the ﬁnal
held on December 23.
A ﬁnal decision will be made by the
FIFA executive committee at their
meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, on
March 19 and looks likely to be approved despite Europe’s top clubs
stressing their opposition.
If the move goes ahead, it will be
the ﬁrst time the World Cup has been
played in these months and away from
its traditional northern hemisphere
summer format. There is one solution,
November-December, said FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke after a
meeting of the taskforce in Doha.
Valcke said the group touched on
all the options, including considering
holding the World Cup in January and
February 2023.
CHENNAI
with 289 off 44.3 overs to lose by 73
runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method
after a short rain interruption.
Zimbabwe’s bowlers had restricted
Gayle and Samuels to 107 for one at
the halfway stage but the pair swamped
them with 152 runs in the ﬁnal 10 overs
with Gayle hitting a World Cup record
215 and Samuels an unbeaten 133.
Zimbabwe’s batsmen have posted
competitive scores of 277, 286 for six
and now 289 in their three pool games
at the World Cup for just one victory
over the United Arab Emirates.
But it is the bowling that has cost
Zimbabwe, especially in the ﬁnal overs
of the innings.
We have to improve how we are bowling at the death and sooner we do the
better for the team and looking at the
games we have played it has cost us,
Chigumbura said.
‘Chris Gayle is a hard guy to bowl
Rohit’s double ton
inspired me: Gayle
West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who smashed
the ﬁrst World Cup double-century on Tuesday,
said he wanted to get it ever since India’s Rohit
Sharma scored two of them in ODIs.
I am very happy to get this ﬁrst double-hundred
and ever since Rohit got two (ODI doublehundreds), I have been hounded to get one as
well,” Gayle said after his whirlwind innings at the
Manuka Oval.
Rohit is the only individual with two doublehundreds to his name, including the highest ODI score of 264 which he
scored against Sri Lanka in 2014.
to when he starts hitting, so some of
the plans you might try to put them
into play but maybe the way we
bowled our execution wasn’t right.’
The percentage was maybe 80 out
of a 100 on execution. It has cost
us and it’s not the ﬁrst game that
we are giving away too many runs
at the end.
‘We just have to go out and work on
our last 15 overs. It is a good positive for the team that we are batting
well so it’s a matter of polishing up
one department which is our death
bowling and if we can do that then
we hopefully can have a good game
with the ball and the bat.’
Chigumbura remained optimistic
that Zimbabwe, under new coach
Dav Whatmore, could still reach
the quarter-ﬁnals by winning their
remaining three games against
Pakistan, Ireland and India.
There are three more games to go
and obviously we’re going to take
them one game at a time, he said.
Hopefully we can keep the form we
have with the bat and if we can work
hard on our bowling and give fewer
runs than we have given so far than
we have a good chance of getting
a positive result against Pakistan.
‘But we have to play good cricket on
the day in all departments, including
our ﬁelding.’
Struggling Younis
denies retirement tweet
Brisbane, Feb 25 (AFP):
Out of form senior Pakistan batsman Younis Khan
denied on Wednesday tweeting a plan to
retire from one-day internationals after
the ongoing World Cup, saying he was
working hard to come good for his
team.
A tweet from a supposedly ofﬁcial
Younis account on Tuesday said he
was going to retire from white-ball
cricket after the World Cup and continue to play Tests.
However, Younis insisted he did not
have a Twitter account of his own.
I have no Twitter account and it’s
(the story about his retirement)
fake,’ Younis told AFP on
Wednesday.
‘I am working hard to come
good in batting and have
not decided anything like
that.’
Younis has been a subject of severe criticism
from former Pakistan
players after scores
of six and nought in Pakistan’s defeats in their ﬁrst two
matches of the World Cup. He was asked to open the
innings in Pakistan’s ﬁrst match against arch-rivals
India in Adelaide, a promotion which backﬁred.
Since arriving on the New Zealand tour last
month, the 37-year-old has managed just 78
runs in eight matches, including four warm-up
games and two one-day internationals prior
to the World Cup.
Pakistan next play Zimbabwe in a Pool B
ﬁxture in Brisbane on 1 March, a game
they must win
to harbour realistic hopes of
qualifying for the
quarterﬁnals.
Former
Pakistan captain
t u r n e d
commentator
R a m i z
Raja has
urged Younis
to quit
one-day
internationals. ‘I beg of
Younis. Thank you for
your services to Pakistan cricket
but please leave this ODI side now,’
Raja told a Pakistan television channel
on Tuesday.
Moin to return home: PCB
Karachi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Chief selector, Moin Khan has been
ordered to return home immediately
from Australia by the Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB) in the aftermath of the
controversy generated over his visit
to a Casino in Christchurch.
PCB chairman, Shaharyar Khan
told reporters in Lahore that the board
after investigating the matter had
decided to call Moin back.
We asked him for an explanation
and he said he had gone to have
dinner at the Casino. But we feel his
action was inappropriate at a time
when the Pakistan team is struggling
in the World Cup, Khan said.
We don’t want to be judgmental
but being a chief selector and senior member of the touring squad
he should have been careful and
we don’t think his returning home
will have any effect on the team’s
performances,’ he said.
Moin went to a casino at a time
when the team is struggling and
the whole nation is disappointed,
Khan said.
Media reports in Pakistan
have said that Moin, a former
test captain, had visited a
casino on the night of the
match against the West
Indies in which Pakistan
was hammered by 150 runs,
their worst ever defeat in a
World Cup.
The issue has been played up by
some channels in view of the poor
performances of the Pakistan team.
Watson confronts
World Cup ‘crunch time’
Auckland, Feb 25 (AFP):
Shane Watson admitted he was
facing crunch time with the bat as he
battled to stay in Australia’s side ahead
of their World Cup clash with co-hosts
New Zealand.
In the midst of Australia’s thumping
111-run opening pool win over England
in Melbourne, all-rounder Watson was
dismissed by paceman Stuart Broad for
a golden duck.
While it was generally acknowledged
he had received a good delivery, his exit reignited the
long-running debate about
Watson’s worth to Australia,
with many observers contending he is not a good
enough batsman or bowler
to hold down a place in
the side.
The 33-year-old’s cause was not
helped when Australia’s second Pool
A game against Brisbane last weekend
was washed out without a ball bowled
and Watson’s World Cup could now
depend on how he performs against
New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park
on Saturday -- if selected.
It’s crunch time for me to score runs
in general, Watson said Wednesday,
when asked if he needed a score
to keep his place in the side. It was
disappointing not to get through that
ﬁrst ball, said Watson of his Melbourne
dismissal.
But it’s important for me to score runs
anytime. It’s up to the selectors in the
end, whether they see ﬁt for me to play,
he added. ‘I have been involved in a
number of World Cups and I know what
to expect. But I’m doing everything I
possibly can. I just want to score runs
and I know it doesn’t always go exactly
to plan as well.’
Prior to the World Cup, Watson
scored 81 in the Sydney Test against
India last month before a run of modest
one-day contributions --16, 41, 22 and
34 prior to his Melbourne duck.
Luiz Suarez scores a double
Paris, Feb 25 (AFP):
Luis Suarez scored a double on
his return to England for the ﬁrst
time since a big money move last
summer as Barcelona secured a
2-1 win over Manchester City in
their Champions League last 16
ﬁrst leg clash.
The Uruguayan -- who moved to
Barcelona from Liverpool -- struck
twice in the ﬁrst-half yesterday to
give his side the upper hand heading towards the second leg at the
Nou Camp next month.
Sergio Aguero grabbed a goal for
City -- though the hosts were soon
afterwards reduced to 10 men when
Gael Clichy was sent off -- and Joe
Hart kept City in it with a last minute
penalty save from Lionel Messi.
It leaves City with a glimmer of hope
of becoming the ﬁrst side since Liverpool in 2007 of preventing Barcelona
from reaching the last eight.
Suarez, who took his tally to nine
goals for Barcelona in 23 appearances in all competitions, admitted
Hart’s save had kept the tie alive.
I think that is a positive thing for
them, said Suarez, whose career at
Barcelona started belatedly as he
served a suspension for biting Ital-
Suarez, who took
his tally to nine goals
for Barcelona in 23
appearances in all
competitions, admitted
Hart’s save had kept the
tie alive
Luis Suarez
ian defender Giorgio Chiellini in last
year’s World Cup. If it had gone in it
would have been a different scenario.
But at 2-1 there’s a chance for
them.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini,
whose side went out to Barcelona at
the same stage last year, confessed
his side had only started to play in
the second period.
We conceded an early goal and
played very bad. In the second half
we did what we talked about before
the game, said Pellegrini.
We have a chance. We must try to
do it there in the next game.
The other tie of the night saw
Juventus beat Borussia Dortmund
2-1 in Turin, in the ﬁ rst meeting
between the two sides since the
German outﬁt beat them in the 1997
Champions League ﬁnal.
Chiellini was at fault for Dortmund’s equaliser -- after Carlos
Tevez had opened the scoring for
the hosts -- as he slipped when in
possession and Marco Reus needed no second invitation to score.
We needed to be strong mentally
after that happened, said Juventus
coach Massimiliano Allegri about
the tying goal.
The players responded accordingly as impressive Spaniard Alvaro
Morata restored Juve’s advantage
shortly before the half-time break.
The biggest worry for Juventus will
be the injury to iconic playmaker
Andrea Pirlo after he had to go off
in the ﬁrst-half.
We have passed an important
test, and I am pleased with this
result against a really good team,
said Allegri.
‘The result is a fair one, but it could
have been by a wider margin because we created several chances,
especially in the second half when
we played really well.’
Hiss Dortmund counterpart Jurgen
Klopp gracioulsy admitted Juventus
had deserved the victory.
They were good at closing us down
and not allowing us to play our kind
of game. On the goals we conceded,
it was down to errors of positioning,’
said Klopp.
‘These are problems we have to
rectify but nothing has been lost.
There’s still everything to play for
at Dortmund.’
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
7
STICKING TO THE BILL
q All about Land Acquisition Amendment Act
For and against
A lot of ruckus is being created not just in Parliament but also in many
parts of the country over the Land Acquisition Amendment Act, 2015.
Amid protests, the government on Tuesday introduced the Land Acquisition Bill in the Lok Sabha.
With both opposition and ruling parties equally holding their views tight
on the Bill, it is time to look into it.
—NT Bureau
VITAL CHANGES
l
l
It can be recalled that the UPA Act allowed acquisition of land for infrastructure projects excluding
private hospitals, private educational institutions
and private hotels. But the current proposal of the
NDA government includes Private entrepreneurship.
The mandatory prior consent of 80 per cent (for
private projects) or 70 per cent (for PPP projects)
observed in the 2013 Land acquisition, resettlement & rehabilitation act is likely to be amended
in the current law. Five eminent sectors- National
security, defence, rural infrastructure including
electriﬁcation, industrial corridors and housing for
the poor will be exempted from the consent.
l
The UPA Act provisioned that the land will go
back to the original owners if it is not utilised for
ﬁve years. The NDA Act now removes the ﬁve
year period and replaces it with ‘a period speciﬁed for setting up of any project or for ﬁve years,
whichever is later.’ This could escalate the cases
of land grabbing.
Man who pioneered
India’s MF sector
NT Bureau
Loyola College. He later joined his
father to manage the businesses.
Chennai, Feb 25:
After his father’s death in the
Bhadrashyam Kothari (54), who
died in Houston on Sunday, was 1990s, Shyam took over the reins
of companies such as Kothari Sugpopularly called as Shyam, of the
ars and Chemicals, Kothari Safe
Chennai-based Kothari Group. He
Deposits, Kothari Biotech,
pioneered India’s mutual fund
and Kothari Pioneer Mubusiness.
tual Fund.
He is survived by wife Nina
Several condolences for
(daughter of Reliance founder
the third generation entreDhirubhai Ambani), son Arjun
preneur were pouring in
and daughter Nayantara.
from Monday evening.
Kothari, who was born on
A tweet from music com11 November 1961, headed
poser A R Rahman read:
the HC Kothari group of com‘May God bless your soul
panies, which has interests
in sugar, petrochemical and Bhadrashyam Kothari dear friend Shyam Kothari.
You were a gem of a friend who will
biotechnology.
always be remembered - love ARR
Credited to be the ﬁrst industrialist
to set up a mutual fund in the pri- and family.’
The Kothari Group currently has a
vate sector in the country through
gross worth of over $100 million and
Pioneer USA in the mid nineties, he
800 plus employees.
was also hailed for solely reviving
the Kothari sugar empire.
A prayer meeting is to be held
Shyam was part of the third gener- at Kothari Bagh, 18 M, MG Road,
Chennai on 26 February (Thursday)
ation of entrepreneurs from the HC
Kothari Group. He did his school- between 5. 30 pm and 7.30 pm for
the departed soul.
ing in Chennai and graduated from
TMC president G K Vasan at a protest organised by the party’s students
wing at Valluvar Kottam in Chennai today.
Hesson plays down
Oz-Kiwis hype
Auckland, Feb 25 (AFP):
New Zealand coach Mike
Hesson Wednesday played
down the hype surrounding
the explosive World Cup
showdown between the cohosts, saying it will be treated
as just another round-robin
encounter.
But it will be easier said
than done for both teams as
come Saturday the intensity
on and off the ﬁeld will be
high at a packed-out Eden
Park crammed to its 40,000
capacity. New Zealand are
perched at the top of Pool A
with three wins from as many
games while Australia have
one win in two matches, with
their second against Bangladesh abandoned due to rain
in Brisbane last weekend.
The team which wins Saturday’s game will be in pole
position to ﬁnish on top of
the group and face a relatively easier opponent in the
quarter-finals, a prospect
which adds another twist to
Saturday’s tussle.
But Hesson doesn’t buy
into the hype. ‘Just another one of the round robin
games and obviously it’s
going to be a good one,’ said
Hesson after a Black Caps
training session held under
the warm Auckland sun.
‘We know it’s going to be
a great contest, we haven’t
played Australia a lot in recent times but it’s an important game for us and
important for the group so we
will treat it as the other ones.’
Hesson, however, admitted it will be a pressure occasion. ‘The pressure is playing
a side ranked No 1 and
who have won four World
Cups. They’re a good side.
There’s two good sides playing pretty well at the
moment so I don’t
think (favouritism)
really adds a lot to it.’
Hesson refused to
accept the Australia
game will be first
‘real’ test for Black Caps. ‘We
probably don’t look at it quite
that way. Sri Lanka was a
huge test for us, the England
game as well,’ said Hesson
of the ﬁrst two games his
team played in the World
Cup.
The parties that opposed the ordinance
in the Upper House of Parliament included
the Congress, the Left parties, Samajwadi
Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Janata Dal
(United) and Trinamool Congress, apart
from BJP ally Shiv Sena.
SP leader Ramgopal Yadav asked the
government to ﬁnd a solution by talking
to all the parties, adding that farmers’
interests should be protected while development activities are being implemented.
Claiming the legislation will beneﬁt farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted at the BJP Parliamentary meet that
there was no going back on the changes.
In defence of the changes to the Act,
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley observed in
the Rajya Sabha that the ordinance has a
provision for quadrupling the compensation to farmers even in the 13 legislations
that were kept out of the earlier land law
passed during the UPA rule.
The BJP has pointed out that since the
compensation remains high, farmers
would get a fair value for their land.
BACKGROUND
The Land Acquisition Act of 1894 was created with the purpose
of facilitating acquisition by the government of privately held land
for public purposes.
It is not necessary that all the acquisition has to be initiated by
the government alone. Local authorities, societies registered under the societies registration act, 1860 and co-operative societies
established under the co-operative societies act can also acquire
the land for developmental activities through the government.
Land Acquisition Act, 2013:
After numerous protests by many social activists, the UPA government amended the 120-year old act and included the aspect
of providing fair compensation to the landholders.
According to the act, fair compensation will be provided to the
affected families whose land has been acquired or proposed to
be acquired or are affected by such acquisition.
PM is a true federalist,
says Ram Madhav
q ‘Modi empowered States with more ﬁnancial independence’
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
empowered States through more
financial independence and risen
above partisan politics to create ‘history’ in Centre-state ties, BJP has said
while lauding Centre’s move to accept
recommendations of the 14th Finance
Commission.
Describing him as a ‘true federalist’, BJP general secretary Ram
Madhav said, ‘Prime Minister Modi
(is) creating history in Center-state
relations by making states financially empowered in a big way.’
BJP president Amit Shah, in a
Sonia greets
Advani
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI):
Sonia Gandhi today congratulated L K Advani on his 50th wedding
anniversary, saying it was also a
‘special day’ for her as it was on
this day 47 years ago that she got
married to Rajiv Gandhi.
‘On the auspicious occasion of
your 50th wedding anniversary, I
send my warm felicitations to you
and Mrs Kamala Advani. Over
half-a-century you have enjoyed
a close companionship, giving
strength and support to each other
through all life’s ups and downs
and that is indeed a great blessing!’ Sonia said in a letter to the
BJP veteran.
‘February 25 is also a special
day for me -- the day Rajiv and I
got married, and this year would
have been our 47th wedding anniversary,’ she said.
‘The Prime Minister
has risen above
partisan politics to
create ‘history’ in
Centre-State ties’
statement, late last night said the
Prime Minister has risen above
partisan politics by empowering the
States ﬁnancially by enhancing their
share in Central taxes.
‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has risen above partisan politics
and taken steps for the welfare
of the poor and overall progress
of the country.
The biggest example of this is
the NDA govt’s
decision to accept the recRam Madhav
ommendations
of the 14th Finance Commission,’
Shah said in a statement.
Shah said the step will help states
be less dependent on the Centre for
initiating developmental work. He
added that Modi has tried to build
‘Team India’ by taking everyone along.
He also cited the example of setting
up of Niti Aayog where the states and
SAARC yatra
from Sunday
New Delhi, Feb 25 (PTI)
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will
undertake ‘SAARC yatra’ from Sunday
starting with Bhutan and will travel to
Pakistan on 3 March, marking the resumption of Indo-Pak talks with India
maintaining it stands ready to discuss
all outstanding issues including Jammu
and Kashmir.
Jaishankar will be in Bhutan on 1
March, followed by Bangladesh on
2 March, Pakistan on 3 March and
Afghanistan on 4 March, the Spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry
said today while giving the itinerary
of the ﬁrst leg of Foreign Secretary’s
‘SAARC yatra’.Noting that the visit was
in accordance with the Prime Minister’s
directive, the official spokesperson
said, ‘The schedule for other destina-
Sri Lankan team at the practice session
of 37 one-day internationals
against Bangladesh, and
their record in the World
Cup is even better.
Bangladesh were hammered by 10 wickets in
2003 and by 198 runs four
years later in the teams’
only two previous World
Cup meetings, leaving
Sri Lanka overwhelming
favourites to extend the
streak.
But Mathews’ men have
had an uninspiring start
to the 2015 event, with
their batsmen struggling to
cope with conditions in New
Zealand.
Sri Lanka were thrashed
by the co-hosts in the tournament opener in Christchurch, going down by 98
runs after New Zealand had
piled up 331 for six. Then a
scare awaited them against
Afghanistan in Dunedin,
as the minnows fought
Pondy budget
session begins
11 March
tions was being worked out through
diplomatic channels.’
Jaishankar will travel to Pakistan
seven months after India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks because the
Pakistan High Commissioner here held
consultations with Kashmiri separatists.
‘We stand ready to talk with Pakistan
in accordance with the Simla Agreement on all issues including Jammu
& Kashmir,’ the MEA Spokesperson
had said yesterday. Jaishankar’s
visit comes nearly two-and-a-half
years after Ranjan Mathai travelled to
Islamabad to hold talks. During the visit,
he will also review various initiatives for the
region, including SAARC satellites and
regional university, as were proposed by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his
visit to Nepal for SAARC Summit.
Lanka’s Mathews
wary of Bangladesh
Melbourne, Feb 25 (AFP):
Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews is not taking Bangladesh lightly in
Thursday’s World Cup clash
despite a superior record,
saying he expects a tough
game against the South
Asian rivals.
‘This will be a pressure
match for all of us,’ Mathews said of the Pool A
encounter at the iconic
Melbourne Cricket Ground.
‘It will certainly be a tough
game. Bangladesh
have performed well
in the recent past.
They have a good
set of players and
we have to take all
their batsmen and
bowlers seriously’.
‘Whoever plays the best
cricket will win and we hope
we can play our best cricket
tomorrow.’
Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and ﬁnalists in the last
two editions, have won 32
the Centre would work together for
policy making and country’s progress.
By taking such steps, the BJP
chief said the NDA regime is trying to take everyone along in the
development process and is taking
steps to fulﬁ l the dream of ‘One
India, Great India’.
In a big bonanza, the 14th Finance Commission recommended
a record 10 per cent increase in
the States’ share in the Union
taxes to 42 per cent, which has
been accepted by the Centre and
will give the states an additional
Rs 1.78 lakh crore in 2015-16.
tooth and nail before the
Test side scraped through
on the back of a century by
the ever-reliable Mahela
Jayawardene.
Having left New Zealand
with two points from as
many games, Sri Lanka
will hope the change in
scenery and conditions in
Australia will galvanise their
campaign.
‘The game against Afghanistan was a close one, we
need to improve our standards,’ Mathews warned.
‘What we need to learn is to
dominate from ball one and
stay in the game till the end’.
‘We have not played our
best cricket yet. If we play
the way we can, we can
beat any team in the world.
We have got to step up and
set our goals high. Play
every game as a ﬁnal or a
semi-ﬁnal’.
‘The batters have to score
runs and the bowlers have
to take wickets.’
Puducherry, Feb 25 (PTI):
The budget session of the Puducherry Assembly would begin
from March 11 with the customary
address by Lt Governor Lt General
(retired) A K Singh. The session
is likely to go on till first week of
April. A meeting of the Business
Advisory Committee will be held
soon to decide the date on which
the Chief Minister N Rangasamy
would present the budget for
the fiscal 2015-2016, Assembly
sources told PTI.
The House has 30 elected and
three nominated legislators. The
ruling AINRC has a strength of 15
MLAs and the lone independent
member V M C Sivakumaris also
supporting the government.
BEST & CROMPTON ENGG. LIMITED
CIN: L29221TN1956PLC000204
28-A, Industrial Estate (North)Ambattur, Chennai – 600 098.
Tel : 044-45514777 Fax No.044-45514609
E-mail ID: [email protected]
Website: www.bestcrompton.com
Notice of the 101st Annual General Meeting – Book Closure and e-voting
Notice is hereby given that the 101st Annual General Meeting of the Company will be
held on Thursday, March 19, 2015 at 10.00 A.M. at Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha,
Vani Mahal, (Obul Reddy Hall), 103, G.N. Chetty Road, T. Nagar, Chennai – 600 017
to transact the Business as set out in the Notice of the AGM.
Electronic copies of the Notice of the 101st AGM and Annual Report for the period
2012-13 have been sent to all the Shareholders whose e-mail IDs are registered with
the Company’s Registrar & Share Transfer Agent, M/s. Integrated Enterprises (India)
Limited. Physical copies of the Notice of the 101st AGM and Annual Report for 2012-13
have been sent to all other Shareholders at their registered address in the permitted
mode. The Notice of the 101st AGM and the Annual Report for 2012-13 are also
available on the Company’s website: www.bestcrompton.com
The Register of Members and the Share Transfer Books of the Company will remain
closed from March 12, 2015 to March 19, 2015, both days inclusive for the purposes
of the 101st AGM of the Company.
As per SEBI’s Circular dated 17th April, 2014, the Company must provide its
Shareholders the facility of e-voting for all the resolutions set forth in the Notice. The
details, as required, are given hereunder:(i)
e-voting Cut-off date (Record date)
February 10, 2015
(ii)
Date and time of commencement
of e-voting
Thursday, 12th March, 2015
(9.00 a.m.)
(iii)
Date and time of end of e-voting
Saturday, 14th March, 2015
(6.00 p.m.)
(iv)
e-voting shall not be allowed beyond
Saturday, 14th March,
2015(6.00 p.m.)
(v)
The Notice of 101st AGM is available on the Company’s website
February 19, 2015
(vi)
Contact details of the persons
responsible to address the grievances connected with the e-voting
Mr. S. Sriram
Designation:
Asst. General Manager
e-mail ID:
[email protected]
Telephone No.
28140801-28140803
(vii)
Declaration of Results
March 21, 2015
For e-voting instructions, Shareholders may go through the instructions sent
with the Notice of 101st AGM and in case of any queries/grievances connected
with e-voting, Shareholders may refer the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
and e-voting User Manual for Shareholders available at the download section of
https://[email protected] or contact Mr. S. Sriram.
By order of the Board
Sd/V.P. Thirumoorthy
Place: Chennai
Company Secretary
Date : February 19, 2015
8WEDNESDAY
25 FEBRUARY 2015
, CHENNAI
Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP. No. TN / PMG / (CCR) / WPP-470 / 15-17
M S Dhoni, Virat Kohli
India’s allround
show impresses Lara
Dhoni-Kohli
bonhomie
PERTH:
There were lot of speculations about Mahendra Singh
Dhoni-Virat Kohli relationship but if you walked in at
the Hotel Hyatt today afternoon, you could say that
all those were just rumours. As one entered the hotel
porch, one could see the Indian captain and his deputy
engrossed in a chat like long lost friends.
Even from a handshaking distance, it was difﬁcult to
hear what they were speaking. While Kohli was in his
shorts and white vests, the skipper looked cool as ever
in his Red tees and army green baggy pants.
The Indian captain did acknowledge the presence of
few scribes with a smile, even as Kohli had a look at
his i-pad. Once Mohammed Shami joined them, the
three left the hotel and it was lunch time, so no marks
for guessing where they headed to, as the hotel menu
was dominated mostly by oriental and Aussie cuisines
which probably did not suit the Indian taste buds.
NEW DELHI:
West Indies batting legend Brian Lara is mighty
impressed with India’s allround showing in their
ﬁrst two cricket World Cup
matches and feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men
need to keep up their good
work in all three departments of the game if they
intend to defend the title.
India defeated arch-rivals
Pakistan by 76 runs in their
tournament opener before
registering an emphatic
130-win over tournament
favourites South Africa in
their second outing to be
atop Group B at the moment.
And like others, Lara too
feels India in all likelihood
will go as table toppers into
the next round.
‘Most definitely (India
likely to top Group B). India
is playing great cricket. The
combination of their efforts
on the ﬁeld, with the bat
and the ball. Somewhere
down the line you ﬁnd an
Indian team suffering in
one discipline of the game
While no one can deny
the history and legacy
that is attached with Adelaide Oval and the Melbourne Cricket Ground,
they can at best be
termed as concrete jungles, somewhat similar
to the newly built swanky
Indian cricket stadiums.
The moment one en-
TOMORROW’S MATCH
Brian Lara
many many years ago
had problems. But their
cricketers have grown out
of that and I believe that’s
simply because of what
Sachin Tendulkar has done
to Indian cricket in terms
of showing the fight and
strength needed to play on
any surface.
The players are now following in his footsteps. The
likes of (Ajinkya) Rahane,
(Shikhar) Dhawan, (Virat)
Kohli and skipper Dhoni
all these guys are now accustomed to play in these
tough conditions, bouncy
pitches and I expect the
Indian team to continue
the way they are playing at
present, Lara said.
Afghanistan Vs Scotland at Dunedian (3 am)
Bangladesh Vs Sri Lanka at Melbourne ( 9 am)
POINTS TABLE
POOL A
Swapnil Patil
‘Dhawan has good
mentors around him’
Old World charm of WACA
ters the WACA ground
in Perth, the old world
charm just refuses to
leave you.
The grass banks, the
Lilee-Marsh stands along
with the new bucket seats
is a nice amalgamation of
old and new. Whenever
there is an international
match, the big manual
scoreboard of WACA
shows Western Australia’s ‘Team of Century’
with all the leading Test
players’ emerging from
the state adorning the
board.
but right now their batting
is great, their bowlers are
doing what is necessary
to win the games and the
Indian ﬁelding
over the last few years
has also improved, they
are now on a different level.
They playing very good
cricket under the leadership of captain (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni. Their
allround game is what is
impressive and that’s what
they need to keep doing to
win the World Cup, Lara
told NDTV.
Lara was of the view
India hold a good stead
in the ongoing World Cup
jointly hosted by Australia
and New Zealand as they
now are better equipped to
tackle the tough overseas
conditions.
He also credited cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar,
who has played record six
World Cups, for showing
the current lot of Indian
cricketers how to ﬁght and
score runs on tough conditions.
In these conditions India
Shikar Dhawan
Ramcharan, Kajal Agarwal
in Ramleela
SYDNEY:
Not taking anything
away from Shikhar Dhawan’s creditable show in
the cricket World Cup so
far, West Indies pace legend Michael Holding feels
the left-handed opener is
lucky to be surrounded by
understanding men, who
can play the good mentor’s role.
After going through a
lean patch in the tri-series,
Dhawan struck form with
a gutsy 73 against Pakistan and a strokeful 137
against South Africa to
hand two straight wins
to table-toppers India in
Pool B. Holding said that
people like coach Duncan
Fletcher, Team Director
Ravi Shastri and skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
are always a big help for
young talents like Dhawan
to prosper.
I think a big positive for
people like Shikhar Dhawan is that you have quite
a few very understanding people around. The
coach Duncan Fletcher;
of course Ravi Shastri
now who is sort of managing the situation and
MS Dhoni. I don’t think
those guys are the ones
who panic. And they know
cricketers, they know the
abilities of cricketers and
they are quite happy
to give them a good run,’
Holding, who is analysing
the game on ESPNcricinfo’s video show ‘Match
Point’, said.
Team
P
W
L NR
Pts
NZ
AUS
BAN
SL
AFG
ENG
SCOT
3
2
2
2
2
3
2
3
1
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
2
2
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
6
3
3
2
0
2
0
2
2
0
0
3
2
1
0
2
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
3
1
2
0
2
0
2
0
1
0
1
0
(Updated upto 24 February)
4
4
2
2
2
0
0
POOL B
INDIA
WI
SA
IRE
ZIM
PAK
UAE
Swapnil Patil geared up
to play against India
MUMBAI:
When Swapnil Patil steps
on to the field wearing
the United Arab Emirates
colours against Mahendra
Singh Dhoni and his men
in their World Cup tie, his
near and dear ones here
would root for him but they
would support the Men in
Blue.
We would like him and
UAE to do well in the match
but later on we would support India. It is our country,
said the wicket-keeper
batsman’s elder brother
Rohan ahead of Saturday’s game.
Swapnil had played for
Mumbai at the under-14,
under-19 and under-22
levels and was also in
the Ranji squad then led
by Sachin Tendulkar but
could not force his way
in (ahead of Vinayak Samant), said his brother.
When a chance arose
to move on to Dubai in
2006 on the strength of
his cricketing prowess for
a construction company
as a player-employee, the
29-year-old from Vasai in
neighbouring Thane district grabbed it with both
hands.
It was in 2006 when the
Yogi Group asked for his
video footage with a few
others before selecting him
to play for them in Dubai.
He performed very well for
three to four years before
being picked to play for
UAE, said Rohan.
— PTI
Action
unlimited
K S Thangasamy
(Sandamarutham)
‘I believe in
the audience. They
always encourage
movies with good story.
Ettuthikkum Madhayanai
will make it big’.
Ramleela &
Ramcharan
The blockbuster Telugu film
Govindudu Andhari Vadu starring
Ramcharan and Kajal Agarwal will
speak in Tamil. The Tamil version
will be released by IFAR International in association with Raﬁ
Mathira.
Raj Kiran, Prakashraj, Kamalini
Mukherjee, Rahman among others
form part of the cast. Directed by
Krishnavamsi, it has dialogues in
Tamil by Shaji.
Says Shaji, ‘It is a commercial
entertainer. The movie is about a
grandson’s efforts to get his father
and grandfather united. A thorough
commercial entertainer it is’.
— NT Bureau
Jumbo ride
K S Thangasamy made heads
turn with his ﬁrst movie Raattinam
using new stars and new technicians. The director is back with his
next ﬁlm Ettuthikkum Madhayanai
and is all set to hit the screens this
weekend.
The movie stars Arya’s brother
Sathya in the lead role. Sam
Anderson plays the comedian.
Sreemukhi is the heroine, while
actor Laguparan in a cameo. Music
is by Manu Ramesan.
Speaking to News Today,
Thangasamy, says, ‘ The movie is
set in Thirunelveli. The high point
of the movie is Sathya’s splendid
performance especially towards the
climax’.
Sathya is bundle of talent and if
he works hard, he is certain to go
places, says the ﬁlmmaker.
‘A realistic approach towards ﬁlmmaking, Ettuthikkum Madhayanai
has right commercial elements’,
he adds.
S
On Laguparan playing cameo,
he says, ‘no doubt, he is my lucky
charm. Also I wanted an upand-coming hero to do the role.
Laguparan agreed. His portions are
vital in the movie’.
Sam Anderson’s comedy portions
have come good, he adds.
On competing with biggies like
Kaaki Sattai at the box ofﬁce, he
says, ‘I believe in the audience.
They always encourage movies
with good story. Ettuthikkum Madhayanai will make it big’.
— NT Bureau
arathkumar’s Sandamarutham
features him in a dual role-- villain and hero. Oviya and Meera
Nandhan play heroines. Directed
by A Venkatesh, it features Samuthirakani, Radharavi, Thambi Ramiah
and Imman Annachi among others,
with music is by James Vasanthan.
An action-packed entertainer with
twists and turns, it speaks against
terror. Sarathkumar has written the
story and acclaimed novelist Rajesh
has penned the screenplay. It is
Sarweswaran (Sarathkumar) versus
Suriya (Sarathkumar ).
The former is a don and he plans
to disturb peace in the country by
planting chemical bombs.
Suriya is committed to stop him
and get him behind the bars. It is
all narrated in an action-packed way
how Suriya emerges the winner.
Sarathkumar is pivot in the ﬁlm. He
does a splendid job and playing the
role of baddie is a cakewalk for him.
Oviya and Meera Nandhan are cute
and bubbly. Meera Nandhan plays
girl-next-door, while Oviya dons the
role of glam doll.
Thambi Ramiah and Imman
Ananchi manage to tickle our
funny bone.
Radharavi does a neat job while
Samuthirakani in khakhi is impressive.
Music by James Vasanthan and
Uthaya Kumar’s cinematography
add strength to the story.
— M BHARAT KUMAR
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