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Chennai’s No 1 English evening daily since 1982
www.newstodaynet.com
NATIONAL DAILY
VOL. XXXIII NO. 81
FOUNDER EDITOR: T.R.R
H CHENNAI H THURSDAY 26.2.2015 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS FRIDAY 27.2.2015 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
P
Fast & furious
resenting his maiden Rail Budget, Union Minister
Suresh Prabhu announced that there will be no
increase in passenger fares for the ﬁscal 2015-16. He
further announced that tickets can now be booked 120
days ahead of travel date, instead of the present 60
days, to tackle the menace of touts.
Focusing on safety, cleanliness and conveninene, the
Railway Minister promised a new IT system and a mobile
app. He promised to revamp the Public-Private Partnership cell in the railways to make it more result oriented.
While Rs 6,750 crore allocated for eliminating 3,438
level crossings; 970 road-underbridge and road-overbridge are to be constructed.
Following the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi and his stress on ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, Prabhu also focussed ‘Swachh Rail’ drive, saying ‘Swachh
Rail, Swachh Bharat’. He proposed to build new toilets
and bio toilets in passenger coaches. He also proposed
to replace another 17,000 toilets and introduce vacuum
toilets like the ones used in aeroplane.
He appealed to people saying ‘railways is your travelling home, please keep it clean’. He also proposed the
availability of disposable linen on payment at all stations.
The Railway Minister said that ‘business as usual’ was
not viable.
Prabhu said that he planned to raise funds through
markets and equity schemes with State governments.
Spate of
robberies in
the city
No fare hike, no new trains
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
In an early morning robbery, a man
sustained grevious injuries and
lost 20 sovereigns of gold and Rs
30,000 cash in Thiruverkadu today.
According to police sources,
Srinivasan (35) was living with
his family in an apartment at Kaja
Kuppam.
He told police that he had opened
the main door at around 4.30 am
on hearing the door bell, when
an intruder demanded for valuables at knife-point. He was later
attacked with the knife and fell
unconscious.
His wife who also at home, was
threatened, following which the
robber decamped with 20 sovereigns of gold and Rs 30,000 cash.
Srinivasan is now undergoing
treatment at a private hospital, with
the Thiruverkadu police registering
a case.
Meanwhile, police arrested a
man who robbed a mobile phone
from a techie at Neelankarai on
Sunday.
Prithvika Mitra (20) who works
with a ﬁrm in Navalur was with her
friends Franklin Sharma (20) and
Gupta Mathur (30) at Neelankarai, when an unidentiﬁed person
snatched Prithvika’s phone and
ﬂed.
This morning, police recovered
the stolen phone worth Rs 50,000
from one Budhisagar Tharuk.
q Railway budget proposes CCTVs in suburb coaches q Tickets can be booked
120 days in advance q Focus on cleanliness, convenience, safety
Just ahead of presenting his
first budget, Suresh Prabhu
assured that the government
is committed to the betterment of the Railways. He also
complimented Prime Minister
Narendra Modi for the amount
of attention that he is giving to
the Railways.
“PM has a dream to improve
the Railways. He is the first
PM to give Railways the importance it deserves. This is
the only means of travelling
for the common man. It is
our responsibility to bring it
back on the track,’ he said.
l Tickets can now be booked 120 days
ahead of travel date
l Open wi-ﬁ in over 400 stations
l SMS alert on train arrival/ departure
Union Railway Minister Suresh
Prabhu presenting Railway Budget
for the year 2015-2016
Indian Railways and said
they planned to raise
low cost funds from
insurance and pension funds. ‘This may
ways is your travelling home,
include setting up of an
2
please keep it clean’. He also
015 - 16
infrastructure fund,’ he
proposed the availability of dissaid, adding that various
posable linen on payment at all
steps could be taken to raise
stations.
long-term funds for infrastructure
The Railway Minister said that ‘busi- development for the railways.
ness as usual’ was not viable.
After a promise to give a push for the
Prabhu said that he planned to raise Make in India initiative, Prabhu promfunds through markets and equity ised a slew of measures to tackle the
schemes with State governments.
issue of railway safety.
He proposed a ﬁnancing cell in the
The Railway Minister promised to
R AI L
AY BU
W
Rajini meets fans
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
Fans gathered in large numbers at
Superstar Rajinikanth’s residence at
Poes Garden here today to greet the
actor on his wedding day.
Rajini, dressed in dhoti and white
shirt, emerged out of his house, waved
at his fas and accepted his greetings.
Rajinikanth was married to Latha on
this day 35 years ago. Though Rajinikanth did not address his fans who
thronged his house today, he was seen
making personal enquiries with a few.
Meanwhile, Rockline Venkatesh,
producer of Lingaa, has obtained an
injunction from a court in Bangalore
that restrains distributors from not
raising the issue of Lingaa ‘loss’ and
making statements on the same.
Meanwhile the distributors have
slammed Rajinikanth and Rockline
Venkatesh for getting such an order
from court against them. They said
MEET & GREET
Actor Rajinikanth interacting with
Garden in Chennai today
their protest will continue. A press
release in this regard was issued by
Theatre Owners Association.
Lingaa directed by K S Ravikumar
Lankans make merry
q Dilshan, Mahela score tons
Melbourne, Feb 26:
Evergreen opener Dilshan
smashed 161 off 146 balls and fellow veteran Sangakkara made 105
off 76 as Sri Lanka proﬁted from an
appalling performance by Bangladesh in the ﬁeld despite the sublime
conditions at the Melbourne Cricket
Ground.
Sri Lanka opening batsman
Lahiru Thirimanne was reprieved
three times before his charmed
life ended on 52, having been
dropped on the fourth ball by Anamul Haque who put down an easy,
waist-high chance at slip off the
bowling of his captain Mashrafe
Mortaza.
That set the tone for an afternoon of grassed catches, missed
run-out opportunities and leaked
runs from sloppy fielding that
made Bangladesh’s place at the
global showpiece seem an embarrassing anomaly.
l More general class coaches to be
added in identiﬁed trains
G ET
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
A 21-year-old student of a private
engineering college in Ambattur was attacked by her alleged
boyfriend this morning within the
college premises.
According to police sources, Shakthivel (21) from Nagapattinam and
Kavya (21) from Vellore, were pursing
their Electronics and Communications Engineering in a private college here and stayed in the college
hostels.
This morning, due to a misunderstanding, an enraged Shakthivel attacked Kavya with a
small knife.
She sustained injuries on her hand
and was rushed to a private hospital
in Ambattur. Shakthivel is being
questioned by the Ambattur police.
l Increase quota of lower berths for
senior citizens, women and differentlyabled
Pat for Modi
D
Student
attacks lover
in Ambattur
NT Bureau
New Delhi / Chennai, Feb 26:
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu
did not hike passenger fare in his
maiden budget today. He also did not
name any new trains. He however
announced projects worth Rs 96,182
crore to expand capacity of 9,420 km
rail lines. Focusing on safety, cleanliness and conveninene, the Railway
Minister promised a new IT system
and a mobile app. He promised to
revamp the Public-Private Partnership cell in the railways to make it
more result oriented.
While Rs 6,750 crore allocated for
eliminating 3,438 level crossings;
970 road-underbridge and roadoverbridge are to be constructed.
Following the footsteps of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and his
stress on ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign, Prabhu also focussed
‘Swachh Rail’ drive, saying ‘Swachh
Rail, Swachh Bharat’.
He proposed to build new toilets
and bio toilets in passenger coaches. He also proposed to replace
another 17,000 toilets and introduce
vacuum toilets like the ones used in
aeroplane.
He appealed to people saying ‘rail-
Dilshan
Bangladesh wicketkeeper Mushfiqur Rahim had a nightmare afternoon, failing to go for a nick by
Thirimanne behind the wicket that
ﬂew between the stumper and slip in
the ninth over.
Midway through the innings, he
missed a stumping chance to dismiss
the opener and later a run-out chance
in the 43rd over when Dilshan was
well short of his ground after being
sent back at the striker’s end.
Thirimanne was dismissed
when attempting an ill-conceived ramp shot off paceman Rubel Hossain that ﬂew
straight to Taskin Ahmed
ﬁelding at third man.
That ended a partnership
of 122, but Sangakkara picked
up where the opener left off, again
proﬁting from Bangladesh’s abysmal ﬁelding.
After striking an imperious off-drive
for four off paceman Taskin Ahmed to
move to 23, the classy lefthander was
nearly out the next ball when the bowler
banged in a short one.
Bunting the ball straight back,
Taskin dived low to gets hands to it
but spilt the tough chance.
his fans at his residence at Poes
featured Rahjinikanth, Sonakshi
Sinha and Anushka in the lead roles.
Music was by A R Rahman. It was
released on 12 December last year.
l CCTVs in select trains and suburban
trains for women safety
l Toll free number 182 for security related
complaints
reduce the number of unmanned
railway crossings and said it was
working on a range of projects to
prevent accidents on them.
The Minister announced a slew of
measures to develop freight corridors
and facilities to move freight faster.
Prabhu promised to increase the
speed along particular railway corridors so that travel between urban
centres was raised signiﬁcantly.
Yoga training for RPF and soft skill
training for railway employees is on
the cards, Prabhu said.
He also promised that the ministry
had for the ﬁrst time created a body
to reduce energy consumption and
the preservation of the environment.
The Railway Minister said they
would change the manner in which
private companies would be able to
invest in the redevelopment of stations to encourage them to do so.
He said the companies would be
able to invest in a completely transparent process.
Prabhu also promised to develop
satellite train stations as an alternative to congested rail terminals in
major cities.
Father Alexis recounts
his Afghan tale
Chennai, Feb 26:
Father Alexis Prem Kumar, who was
released from captivity in Afghanistan yesterday, today said that he
neither knew who his captors were
nor their intention (as to why he was
kidnapped) .
Talking to the media here at Loyola
College, Alexis narrated the entire
sequence of events and the troubles
he faced in captivity.
The priest, who had gone to Afghanistan on evangelical work, said he had
lived in harsh environment after being
abducted by some men while he was
working with Jesuit Refugee Service
in the Herat province last June. His
kidnappers, he said, kept moving him
from one place to another.
A gun-wielding man was watching
over him always. Alexis, however,
said the person who was in-charge
of handling him was nice to him. But
the handler himself was unsure as
to why Alexis was kidnapped. ‘He
kept reassuring me that I would live,’
Alexis said.
Alexis said his hands and legs were
chained and were removed only when
he wanted to relieve himself.
Alexis said he had starved at times.
‘But my captors also starved with me
as there was no food.’
‘While releasing me, my captors
warned me that they would shoot me
if they saw me again in Afghanistan,’
the Jesuit priest said.
Alexis, hailing from Devakottai in
the Sivaganga district, was released
after India pursued his case at the
highest level.
Alexis, who had been in captivity for
over eight months, arrived in Chennai from Delhi yesterday. He was
received at the airport by friends and
family members at the airport.
‘Afguns’ go blazing
q Scripts historic win in World Cup
Dunedin (New Zealand), Feb 26 (PTI):
Top-order batsman Samiullah Shenwari struck a gritty 96 to pave
the way for Afghanistan’s historic
one-wicket win against Scotland in a
nail-bitting Pool A match of the cricket
World Cup, here today.
Chasing 211 for a win at
the University Oval, Afghanistan were in dire straits at
97 for seven, before Shenwari played the innings of
his life to help the Mohammad
Nabi-led side post their ﬁrst World
Cup victory in their maiden appearance with three balls to spare.
Shenwari stitched crucial partnerships with tailenders and the team got
much-needed help from No.10 Hamid
Hassan (15 not out) and last-man
Shapoor Zadran (12 not out), who
stood unbeaten for the ﬁnal 19 runs
of the win. Opener Javed Ahmadi
also made a useful contribution up the
order for the Afghans with a run-a-ball
Samiullah Shenwari
51, a knock which was decorated with
eight boundaries.
But the star of the day was Shenwari.
He ﬁrst joined hands with Dawlat Za-
dran (9) and then Hassan to raise
the hopes of an Afghan win before
Hassan and Shapoor ﬁnished off
the chase with three balls to spare.
Shenwari played 147 balls and
struck seven boundaries and ﬁve
huge hits over the fence during his
career-best knock. Earlier, Majid Haq
(31) and Alasdair Evans (28) shared
valuable 62 runs for the ninth wicket
to lift Scotland to 210, their highest
cricket World Cup score in three appearances.
In pursuit of the target, Shenwari
added 35 runs with Dawlat (9) to
ﬁrst stabilise the chase and then
shared vital 60 runs off 71 balls
with Hassan to take his side near
the ﬁnishing line before perishing
in the 47th over.
Shenwari though made the match
after he clobbered off-spinner Haq
for three huge sixes on the leg side
to bring the equation down but he
fell in ﬁfth ball of the same over.
2 THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
City
Good tidings
for Selaiyur residents
Centre
New is the news
Shining sign-boards installed in Ramapuram
R
Residents of VOC Street are happy
after the road was relaid.
CHENNAI
esidents of VOC here because there were so many
Street in Anandpuram stones on the road. Now as the
were suffering for long road is also clean, mosquito have
due to damaged road, reduced in number,’ said Manna
problem
of
uncleared Prasad, who stays in one of the
garbage, blocked drains hostels on VOC Street.
Earlier, Arignar Anna Street was
and mosquito menace.
However, that is now a repaired and recently Bharatiyar
was re-laid following
thing of the past and has Street
complaints by residents. People
made them happy.
w e r e
happy that the roads
Some
time
have been laid but
ago, the local
complain
about
Councillor
the
damaged
G D S
patches
at
Prabhu
YUR
the
junction
SELAI
was seen
of
Bethelpuram,
supervising
Arignar Anna Street as well as
the
repair
the connecting road between
work
along
with his father, which Bharatiyar Street and Arignar Anna
was reassuring for the Street.
‘Even though it is slow, at least
residents.
‘I couldn’t believe my work is happening. And we hope
eyes when I saw such a the same things happen in the
thing. Generally people remaining areas in Anandapuram.
would leave these work My stay so far in this locality has
to the labourers but the been horrible because all this.
Councillor was standing Apart from damaged roads, we had
and watching over things. to put up with mosquito problems,’
Thanks to him now we said Sneha, a student of Madras
have a smooth road. Earlier Christian College and resident of
it was even difﬁcult to walk Bharatiya Street.
- NT Bureau
The new reﬂective sign board installed at Kurunji Nagar in Ramapuram.
The ﬂex in the existing streets have
been replaced by
retro-reﬂective display boards
BUMPY RIDE
M
PHOTO: E K SANJAY
The battered road at Muthalamman Koil Street in Selaiyur cries
for attention from the authorities concerned.
IN HOME
SONY PIX
05:06 PM White House Down
08:00 PM Iron Man 2
10:39 PM Iron Man
HBO
07:00 PM The Hangover Part III
09:00 PM Sabotage
11:04 PM Red 2
MOVIES NOW
07:15 PM Tekken
09:00 PM Independence Day
11:40 PM Return to the 36th Chamber
STAR MOVIES
06:58 PM League of Extraordinary
Gentleman
09:00 PM Death Race
11:06 PM The Rock
IN THEATRES
KAKKI SATTAI
Kamala Theatre, Udhayam Theatre, PVR Cinemas,
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,
otorists
and
pedestrians reﬂective display boards. The display
would be able to identify the boards, street name boards and
name of streets even during night signage would be visible to motorists
hours in Ramapuram as the civic e v e n from a distance during the
body has started to install
night.’
‘retro reﬂective signage’
However
ofﬁcials
boards.
have
expressed
The
latest
Nagar
concerns if the high
UR
POR
cost board would be
to receive the boards
is
Kurunji Nagar in
used for pasting
posters and
Ramapuram.
would be damaged by miscreants.
There is no protection to the
Ofﬁcials with the civic
body, said, ‘The ﬂex in the existing board as it can be easily removed
streets have been replaced by retro- or tampered with. The ofﬁcial said
STAR SPORTS 1
TV TODAY
JAYA TV
04:30
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PM
PM
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Kollywood Gallery
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04:00
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News
Mohini
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News Headlines
Kaliyugam
Sirippu Varudhu
Telebuy
06:30 PM Puthu Kavithai
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Varai
07:30 PM Aandaal Azhagar
08:00 PM Deivam Thandha Veedu
08:30 PM Saravanan Meenatchi
09:00 PM Mahabharatham
09:30 PM Super Singer Junior
10:30 PM Ofﬁce
11:00 PM Kalyanam Mudhal Kaadhal
Varai
11:30 PM Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer
RAJ TV
05:00
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S K Shoppe
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POLIMER TV
05:10
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Comedy Express
Nenjam Pesuthey
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Madhubala
Ullam Kollai Pogudhada
Sakthi Pole Yaarumillae
Madhubala
Saami Potta Mudichu
Nenjam Pesuthey
Moondru Muduchi
Ullam Kollai Pogudhada
Polimer News
Comedy Express
Thirai Kadhambam
VIJ AY TV
MEGA TV
03:30
04:00
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08:00
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Deivam Thandha Veedu
Aandaal Azhagar
Super Singer Junior
Uravugal Thodar Kadhai
En Kanavan En Thozhan
PM
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Natchathiram
Movie
Jai Hanuman
News
Sangeetham Santhosham
Endrum MSV
04:30 PM Cricket Extra : Post Show
05:30 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Sri Lanka vs.
Bangladesh
06:30 PM Cricket Legends
07:00 PM Cricket World Cup : Tales
07:30 PM ICC Cricket World Cup
2015 H/ls : Afghanistan vs.
Scotland
08:30 PM Cricket Legends
09:00 PM Match Point : Sri Lanka vs.
Bangladesh
10:00 PM Cricket Live
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vs. Scotland
11:30 PM Match Point : Sri Lanka vs.
Bangladesh
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04:00
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07:30
08:00
PM
PM
PM
PM
PM
WWE Raw
WWE Main Event
ICC Cricket 360
The Mindgame
WTA 2015 : Qatar Total
Open QF 2
10:00 PM Football League Show
S
U
D
O
K
U
the work is on to install the boards
across all the nagars in Ramapuram.
Residents are thankful to the civic
body for taking up the effort of
installing the name boards but want
it to install the boards in the inner
streets also.
‘The inner streets are poorly lit,
these nameboards would help
people who commute in the night.
Civic ofﬁcials should make sure
that inner roads are lit as well,’ said
Murugesan of Kurunji Nagar.
- NT Bureau
11:00 PM WWE Main Event
11:30 PM UEFA Europa League
2014/15 : Internazionale
vs. Celtic
TEN CRICKET
03:00 PM Cricket Classics : Final:
Pakistan vs. Zimbabwe ’03
04:00 PM South Africa Tour of Pakistan 2013 (UAE) H/ls : 1St
ODI
06:00 PM Australia Tour of Pakistan
2014 (UAE) H/ls : 3rd ODI
07:00 PM Cricket Classics : Pakistan
vs. Sri Lanka: ’03
08:00PM New Zealand Tour of West
Indies 2014 H/ls : 2nd T20
09:00PM Tri-Nation 2014
(Zim,SA,Aus) H/ls : 4th
ODI: Zimbabwe vs. Australia
10:00PM West Indies Tour of South
Africa 2014/15 H/ls : 4th
ODI
11:00PM England Tour of Sri
Lanka 2014 H/ls : 3rd
ODI08:00PM
New Zealand Tour of West
7
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9
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9
1
5
4
1
3001
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 3000
(25.2.2015)
6
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Around Town
CHENNAI
THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
BEATING EXAM BLUES
q City doctor talks on how to handle stress
B S Virudhagirinathan
On exam day
l
l
l
l
Refrain from discussing
important topics with other
students
Do not take reading material
to exam hall
Take couple of deep breaths
before answering the paper
Do not evaluate your
performance after
the exam
N SAHANA AROORAN
Chennai, Feb 26:
In less than a fortnight, students
across the State will pass through
what is arguably the most important
phase of their lives. It’s time for the
12th public examinations that are
dreaded by the student community
year-after-year. For, the unfortunate
yardstick for success in our society
is academic excellence and not intelligence.
In an understandably stressful time
such as this, B S Virudhagirinathan,
a clinical neuropsychologist and the
director of Care Institute
of Behav-
Jaya condoles
Vincent’s death
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
AIADMK general secretary
J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday
condoled the demise of noted
cinematographer-director A
Vincent.
In a statement issued here,
she said, ‘His demise is a huge
loss to the ﬁlm industry. I convey my deepest condolences
to his family members and pray
that his soul rest in peace,’
she said.
Vincent died at a private hospital here yesterday after a brief
illness at the age of 86.
The multilingual director is
survived by wife, two sons and
two daughters.
Born in June 1928 in Kerala,
Vincent arrived in Chennai when
he was barely 20 and began his
career in cinema with Gemini
Studios as an assistant cameraman.
Vincent had directed 55 movies in Tamil, Telugu and Malay-
ioral Sciences in the city, shares his
counselling for all the stakeholders.
‘In most cases, it is parents who
put undue pressure on their children
for results, failing to understand that
each student and his / her capabilities
differ from the other’, he says.
With the ongoing World Cup proving
to be a major distraction, the doctor
feels parents should train the children
to cope with lifestyle changes.
‘They can also arrange for recording the matches, or in other cases,
students need to be contented with
watching the highlights’, he states.
According to the
l
doctor says that the latter should
refrain from pressuring a section of
top-performing students.
‘They should also not compare the
rankers with others as it would demotivate average students’, he states.
Dr Virudhagirinathan also asks
students not to lose hope, in the
case of them performing badly in the
examinations.
‘The government has introduced
various initiatives which helps students to rewrite an exam, thus
enabling them to join college in the
same academic year as their peers’,
he explains.
Dr Virudhagirinathan can be
reached at 94440 77866.
l
l
l
l
l
Have six hours of
sleep
Do not go to bed on
an empty stomach
Avoid junk food and
aerated drinks
Reduce intake of beverages
Keep stationery and
other exam-related
items ready the previous night
Avoid prolonged use
of cell phones and
other gadgets
Guv presents Jayam award to Veena Vidushi Ranganayaki Rajagopalan
alam ﬁlms and has worked as a
cinematographer in 250 Tamil,
Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi
ﬁlms.
‘Bhargavi Nilayam’ (Malayalam, 1964) ‘Murappennu’ (Malayalam 1965) were among his
noted directorial ventures.
Former Chief Minister and
AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa’s 100th movie ‘Thirumangalyam’ (Tamil, 1974) was
directed by him.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
The Tamilnadu Music and Fine
Arts University should come forward
to support more research work, said
Tamilnadu Governor K Rosaiah.
Participating at the valedictory function
of ‘Jayam 2015’ at Tamilnadu Music
College at R A Puram here yesterday,
he said the university should ensure that
the richness of our music and ﬁne arts is
passed on to generations to come. The
faculty should see that all the upcoming
musicians work hard on the essentials of
good music. The young budding musicians should have originality and refrain
from imitations, he said.
The Governor who presented
Jayam-2015 award to Veena Vidushi
Ranganayaki Rajagopalan said, art is
an expression. It is creativity and a
true revelation of thinking and observation. The thoughts which crisscross
the mind and the beauty of nature
comes on the canvas. Whether it
is music, dance, drama or painting
Apollo Hospitals vice-president
(Leadership Communication)
Shailaja Vardhan being honoured
as one of India’s Most Talented
Corporate Communication Leaders
by an independent Global Jury of
the World CSR Congress.
work for the group. Her focus has
been ontaking brand communication
beyond the realm of conventional
messaging, and to forge platforms
to demonstrate Apollo’s thought
leadership and pioneering work in
the healthcare space. Tasked with
the critical goal of showcasing the
vision of Apollo’s top leadership,
Shailaja has had great success in
developing and curating the right
opportunities.
An ardent believer in corporate
social responsibility, Shailaja is passionate about projects that are built
on a foundation of inclusive growth
and development. Even while at
Ford India, she worked closely with
CII in adopting tsunami affected
villages and earlier with Ogilvy PR,
Shailaja championed the cause of
elimination of Lymphatic Filariasis
and was a recipient of the global
WPP award for PR excellence, the
release said.
Tamilnadu Governor K Rosaiah presenting Jayam Award to Veena Vidushi Ranganayaki Rajagopalan
in Chennai yesterday. Shankar Rajagopalan received the award on behalf of Ranganayaki Rajagopalan.
Tamilnadu Music and Fine Arts University Vice-Chancellor Veena E Gayathri and Government Music
College principal A Natarajan are present.
or any other art form it is the deep
involvement and a ﬂair to learn with a
devotion that will help one to become
a renowned artist, he said.
The Governor further said that the
vision and initiatives taken by
Tamilnadu and Central Governments to promote cultural values
Lecture
on plants in
Indian culture
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
To celebrate Amalaki Ekadashi,
Parampara is organising a lecture on
‘Plants in Indian Culture’ by eminent
historian Chithra Madhavan at No 46,
Kasturi Ranga Road, Alwarpet on 28
February at 4.30 pm.
According to a press release,
Amalaki Ekadashi is a day to revere
the Amla (Indian Gooseberry) tree.
‘Reverence to nature’ is an essential
part of Indian ethos, and this event is
an opportunity for all those who wish
to learn more about and celebrate
this way of life.
The lecture is part of Parmapara’s
monthly Ekadashi lecture series. The
Ekadashi movement of Parampara is
designed to remind people to keep at
least one day in a fortnight for reﬂection - introspection - for being in touch
with the core - our seed.
To register for the lecture call 2499
1516 /98404 92585.
NGO to tie-up with
govt to build toilets
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
Sensitise to sanitise is a campaign that has been started by
Habitat for Humanity, an NGO that
deals with housing and sanitation
in India.
The main focus of this campaign
is to drive the people into realising
the importance of hygiene in their
everyday lives.
Addressing mediapersons here
yesterday, Habitat for Humanity
managing director Rajan Samuel
said, ‘India stands first in the
world in terms of poor sanitation.
The practice of open defecation
is the highest in our nation. If we
take Tamilnadu, Namakkal and
Before
the day
‘Music varsity should
support research work’
Apollo Hospitals
VP gets top honour
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
Shailaja Vardhan, vice-president,
Leadership Communication at Apollo
Hospitals has been recognised as
one of India’s Most Talented Corporate Communication Leaders by an
independent Global Jury of the World
CSR Congress. She was given the
special citation at the recently concluded awards ceremony.
According to a press release,
Shailaja has been awarded with this
prestigious honour in recognition
of the consistently powerful and effective communication programme
that she has been helming for Apollo
Hospitals.
At Apollo, Shailaja has been a brand
custodian for several years now. Her
work with the founding family and the
senior leadership has been pivotal in
shaping the communication frame-
doctor, effective time management,
as is the case with every other exam,
is the secret of success.
‘Devoting 2-3 hours each day for
studies would ensure a decent score
of 80 per cent. However, a majority
of the students here resort to the 11th
hour preparation, which only adds to
the stress levels. Also, it is always
important to follow one system of
study pattern, which is studying either
in the morning or the night’, he adds.
Dr Virudhagirinathan feels that parents should prepare their wards in the
art of tackling everyday stress, which
would automatically help at crucial
times such as these.
On the role of the school and
teachers, the
3
Villupuram districts have 90 percentage of open defecation. So we
are aiming to tie-up with the State
government and other corporate
companies to build toilets in areas
like schools, community centres
and individual houses.’
He further said that when it comes
to a clean and healthy environment,
shelter is the foundation and sanitation is its pillar.
The NGO has also been helping
the under previledged people into
owning a house by progressing
housing method. With proper fundings, they hope to create awareness among the people in using
restrooms and following other good
sanitary habits.
Tamilnadu Telugu Yuva Sakthi president K Jagadiswara Reddy giving
away free notebooks to orphanage students at Sengottai Village at
Katpadi as part of the 10-day celebrations to mark the birthday of
AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa.
and the richness of Fine Arts and all
art forms deserve a special mention.
Tamilnadu’s patronage and support
for promotion of arts have made it
reach greater heights, he said.
Appreciating the university ViceChancellor Veena E Gayathri for
organising ‘Jayam 2015’, a three-
day cultural extravaganza, Rosaiah said the university should come
forward to identify and explore
the cultural talents in the younger
generation. Fostering and developing the Fine Arts will promote cultural
integration and lead to strengthening
of fabric of our nation, he said.
Advanced robotic
course for students
Students from various schools in Chennai experimenting with robotic
technology.
What is it?
l TEK Robot is a six level programme on ‘Enterprising Technology’ to
impart children with conﬁdence, self esteem, leadership and skills of
team building, public speaking, documenting and designing. Each
level, which has over 20 topics is spread over one academic year.
l At the end of level-4, students will be certiﬁed with a diploma and
on completion of level-6, they will be certiﬁed with an advanced
diploma.
l After testing the programme in six schools that follows diverse syllabus across Tamilnadu, the TEK Robot was launched in 2014-15 in 23
TEK School Partners across the State reaching over 10,000 students.
l The programme which is economical is open to students from 8-14
years.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
To instill the value and need of robotic
technology among students, Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL)
is implementing an advanced robotic
programme called ‘TEK Robot’ across
500 schools in the State.
Speaking about the objective of
the programme here yesterday, TEK
Wizard chief executive ofﬁcer Paul
Winston, said that it is time to be
aggressive in inventing, innovating
and enterprising in the era of robotic
technology, which would help building India into a global leader.
It may be noted that ECIL has part-
nered with TEK Wizard to stress on
the need of automation and technology in the minds of I-generation.
On the impact of course on children,
Gateway International School principal Grace Alwyn, said ‘The interests
of the children among video games
and other electronic gadgets can be
diverted to a fruitful way of learning
an important technological aspect.’
ECIL senior manager MU Sudha
Mayi said that the project (TEK Robot) will generate 20 million robotic
experts for the world in 2020.
Sri Vinayaka Vidhyalaya School
correspondent Somasundaram also
spoke.
Blend
4 THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
WHAT
WH
AT N
NEW
NEWS
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EW
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TODA
TODAY
DAY
DA
Y PR
PRIN
PRINTS
INTS
IN
TS IS
IS NE
NEWS
WS TTHA
THAT
HATT CO
HA
COUN
COUNTS
UNTS
UN
TS
UNITED FOR A CAUSE
CHENNAI
C
L ICK
PIC
Act, react
T
he crime branch of Delhi police on 19 February arrested ﬁve
persons on the charge of stealing classiﬁed documents of the
petroleum ministry. The police action followed complaints by the oil
ministry and is said to have come after the Intelligence Bureau had
tailed these persons and tipped off the police. Sensitive documents
have reportedly been leaked from the petroleum, power and coal
ministries in recent times.
It has let loose a can of worms. What is promising is Union
Minister Rajnath Singh’s assurance that those involved in the
sensational corporate espionage scandal would not be spared and
strictest punishment would be given to them.
The Delhi Police investigation in the case will soon unravel
everything, he said.
The Home Minister also did not rule out nexus of middlemen
and some government ofﬁcials in the espionage case and indicated
expanding the probe to other Ministries.
‘It is possible. I am not ruling out any possibility. Delhi Police
investigating the whole issue. I think the issue will come to light very
soon’, he said replying to a question on involvement of middlemen.
But it is certain that such things have been going on for a long
time and that is why the situation has reached such a stage, he said.
The NDA government has unravelled the scam. Good that they
have been alert and acted fast.
Senior executives from top energy ﬁrms and consultants were
among those arrested in the sensational corporate espionage scandal
in which classiﬁed documents including an input for upcoming
Finance Minister’s budget speech were allegedly leaked.
Meanwhile, companies across sectors are making panic calls
to security and surveillance systems providers to get IT solutions
to keep an eye on their employees and to clean up the system in
the aftermath of the recent government crackdown on corporate
espionage in various ministries.
Most companies in the country still use age-old surveillance
systems to protect their data. Now, with the espionage case
bringing this malpractices to limelight, everybody wants to
update their systems.
Next few years will decide which
way India will go.Will it march
towards rapid growth to be self
reliant? Or deprived,dependent
& held back?
Kiran Bedi @thekiranbedi
Dignity lies in what you
hold back not what you
show off.
Kalki Koechlin@kalkikanmani
Fake eyelashes may
damage eye health
WASHINGTON:
Wearing long, fake eyelashes may
lead more air and dust to hit the eyes
causing them to dry out, a new study
suggests. Scientists have found
that 22 species of mammals - from
humans to giraffes - have evolved
eyelashes that are one third the width
of their eye to protect from dust and
moisture evaporation.
Eyelashes shorter or longer than
one third the width of the eye increase
airflow around the eye
and
lead to more dust hitting
the surface.
‘Eyelashes form a barrier
to control airﬂow and the
rate of evaporation on
the surface of the cornea,’
said Guillermo Amador, a Georgia
Tech PhD candidate in the George
W Woodruff School of Mechanical
Engineering who authored the study.
‘When eyelashes are shorter than
the one-third ratio, they have only a
slight effect on the ﬂow. Their effect
is more pronounced as they lengthen
up until one-third. After that, they start
funnelling air and dust particles into
the eye,’ Amador said.
Amador and the research team led
by Assistant Professor David Hu, sent
a student to the American Museum of
Natural History in New York in 2012 to
measure eyes and eyelashes of various animals. Aside from an elephant,
which has extremely long eyelashes,
every species studied had evolved to
the same ratio of lash length to eye
width. The team then built the wind
tunnel to re-create air flows on a
mimic of an adult, human eye.
A 4-millimetre deep, 20-millimetre
diameter aluminum dish served as
the cornea. It sat on top of an acrylic plate, which imitated the rest
of the face. Mesh surrounded
the dish to replicate the
eyelashes.
‘As short lashes grew
l o n g e r , they reduced air flow,
creating a layer of slow-moving air
above the cornea,’ said Hu. ‘This kept
the eye moist for a longer time and
kept particles away. The majority of
air essentially hit the eyelashes and
rolled way from the eye,’ Hu added.
The opposite process occurred
with longer eyelashes. The lashes
extended further into the airﬂow and
created a cylinder. The air and its
molecules channelled toward the eye
and led to faster evaporation.
‘This is why long, elegant, fake
eyelashes aren’t ideal. They may
look good, but they’re not the best
thing for the health of your eyes,’
said Amador.
HEALTH
Today
VOICE MAIL
Good job
Sir,
Of late, policemen are seen posted at the junction of Arya Gowda Road
and Chakrapani Street in T Nagar. They are present right from early in the
morning till late in the night, monitor and check vehicles and people.
This gives a lot of conﬁdence to residents to move safely and freely during
the night time. I request them to continue patrolling in the area.
GOPALAKRISHNAN,
T Nagar
ADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
or e-mail to : [email protected] / [email protected]
Members of the Fire Brigade Union huddle round fire as they take part in a demonstration as they hold a 24-hour national strike over
pensions in London. In the other photograph, a man yells out in pain as his hand catches fire from a burning Dominican national flag
he was holding, during an anti-Dominican Republic protest, in front of the country’s consulate in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
2014 was a catastrophic
year says Amnesty
G
‘Governments should protect civilians’
overnments ‘must stop pretending the protection of civilians is beyond their power,’ Amnesty International says in its human
rights report for 2014. The group
faults the US on a range of issues,
from the use of excessive force by
police to rights abuses in the name
of ﬁghting terrorism.
‘Governments pay lip service to the
importance of protecting civilians,’
Amnesty says. ‘And yet the world’s
politicians have miserably failed to
protect those in greatest need.’
The group is calling for members
of the UN Security Council to lose
their veto power over issues of
genocide and other mass atrocities, saying that vetoes by the
US, China, Russia, France, and
Great Britain have been ‘based
on vested interests or political
expediency.’
Amnesty listed Syria, Iraq, Gaza,
Israel and Ukraine as places where
the Security Council ‘has failed to
deal with crises and conﬂict, even in
situations where horriﬁc crimes are
being committed against civilians by
states or by armed groups.’
Dragonflies
see world in
multicolour
LONDON:
Dragonﬂies may have the best vision in the animal kingdom as their
eyes have up to 30 different types
of light sensitive proteins, a new
study has found. Humans have
tri-chromatic vision, which means
we see colours as a combination
of red, blue and green.
This is due to three different types
of light-sensitive proteins in our
eyes, called opsins. A new study
of 12 dragonﬂy species has found
that each one has no fewer than
11, and some a whopping 30, different visual opsins, ‘New Scientist’
reported.
Ryo Futahashi of the National
Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba,
Japan, also found dragonﬂies use
different opsins at different ages.
It criticised USA on a range of issues including the lack of accountability for
abuses in the counter-terrorism context,
solitary conﬁnement in prisons, targeted
killings by drones, excessive use of force
by law enforcement ofﬁcials and the
treatment of migrants
Saying that ‘2014 was a catastrophic year for millions caught up
in violence,’ the 424-page annual
report lists human rights abuses in
160 countries.
And the violence and rights abuses
will likely only feed on one another,
says Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
‘From Washington to Damascus,
from Abuja to Colombo, government leaders have justiﬁed horriﬁc
human rights violations by talking of
the need to keep the country ‘safe,’
Shetty says. ‘In reality, the opposite
is the case. Such violations are one
important reason why we live in such
a dangerous world today. There can
be no security without human rights.’
The report predicts a ‘bleak’ 2015,
noting the growing inﬂuence of violent
groups such as Boko Haram, ISIS
and Al Shabaab.
As for America, Amnesty notes
that President Obama ‘acknowledged that torture had been carried
out following the 11 September
2001 attacks’ in secret CIA operations - but the report also faults the
US for not providing ‘accountability
and remedy for the crimes under
international law.’
London show dissects
history of forensic science
LONDON:
Forensic science, which has fascinated generations with its unravelling
of gruesome crime mysteries, is being
put under the microscope in an exhibition of real criminal investigations
in London.
‘Forensics: The anatomy of crime’
at the Wellcome Collection traces
the art of forensic inquiry, spanning
18th-century Japanese artistic studies of decomposition to Victorian
murder cases.
One of the hundreds of exhibition
pieces on display from 26 February
to 21 June is a miniature crime scene
of disturbing realism laid out in a
dollhouse. The front door is ajar, a
newspaper rests casually on a chair,
while on a sofa lies a corpse.
Created in the 1940s by investigative pioneer Frances Glessner Lee,
the dollhouse poses the question
‘what happened, and who is the
murderer?’
It was used to teach investigators to
use more systematic approaches to
gathering evidence, and is still used
as an example by forensic investigators. Such approaches to solving
crime became prominent in the 19th
and 20th centuries and continue to
inspire popular novels and ﬁlms.
‘Ever since the early crime novels
of the 19th century, the cultural
fascination with death and detection
has continued to grow,’ said museum
curator Lucy Shanahan.
The interest is ‘encapsulated in the
multitude of popular television dramas
that have brought the ﬁctional world
of violent crime, police procedure and
cutting edge forensic techniques into
the comfort of our living rooms’. The
trend is nothing new. The exhibition
contains an 1888 scale map of ‘Mitre
Square’, where the still-unidentiﬁed
London serial killer known as Jack the
Ripper murdered one of his victims,
Catherine Eddowes.
Drawn by Frederick William Foster,
an architect commissioned for the
work, the map includes the ﬁgure of
Eddowes, with multiple stab wounds
to her face, throat and stomach.
Though forensics failed to uncover
the identity of the most famous serial
killer in history, it did prove decisive
47 years later in another case that
gripped Britain.
Amnesty titles its subsection on
the US detention and interrogation
program with one word: ‘Impunity.’
Calling for the US to review its
standards for the police use of force,
the report states, ‘At least 35 people
across 18 states died after being
struck by police Tasers, bringing the
total number of such deaths since
2001 to 602.’
In light of the report’s overall tone
of gloom and doom, Shetty notes
that ‘even at times that seem bleak
for human rights - and perhaps especially at such times - it is possible
to create remarkable change.’
Green-eyed
‘Afghan girl’ living
on fake papers
ISLAMABAD:
The famous green-eyed ‘Afghan
girl’ immortalised by
the National
Geographic
magazine
on its 1985
cover has been living in Pakistan on
fake documents, prompting authorities to launch a probe.
Four officials were suspended
today for allegedly issuing fake
Computerised National Identity
Card (CNIC) to Sharbat Gula and
her two ‘sons’.
According to Pakistani ofﬁcials,
Gula applied for a Pakistani identity card in the northwestern city
of Peshawar in April 2014, under
the name ‘Sharbat Bibi’. The then
12-year-old Gula became famous
worldwide after her haunting
closeup shot was published by
the magazine that was clicked at
the Nasir Bagh refugee camp near
Peshawar in 1984 by photographer Steve McCurry. That photo
has been likened with Leonardo
Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
Libya could be next Syria
without West’s help: Minister
PARIS:
Libya’s Foreign Minister Mohamed
Dayri has called for Western military
support, saying the growing threat
from jihadist groups threatened to
turn his country into another Syria.
‘Time is running out,’ Dayri told
AFP in an interview yesterday. ‘Terrorism amounts to a danger not just
for Libya and its neighbours. It is an
intensifying threat to Europe. Without
a political solution, the country could
get trapped in a full-blown civil war
like in Syria,’ he said.
The North African country has
collapsed into a bitter struggle
between rival governments and
militias since dictator Moamer
Khadaﬁ was overthrown and killed
with Western help in 2011.
Two parliaments compete for legitimacy in different parts of the country.
Islamist militants control the capital
Tripoli, while an internationally-recognised government has been relegated to the eastern city of Tobruk.
There are also fears that the conﬂict
is attracting an increasing amount of
foreign jihadists, and a number of
attacks have been claimed by the
Islamic State group. The minister, a
member of the Tobruk government,
underlined that his government is
not asking for a new Western military
intervention as in 2011, but only for
‘the reinforcement of the Libyan
army’s capabilities’.
‘The creation of a national unity
government is a priority for Libya,
not just an international demand,’
Mohamed Dayri
NEWS MAKER
of the day
said Dayri. ‘But even if we achieved
that tomorrow, we would still need
help with our army. Yet I have had no
convincing response from the United
States or Europe.’
He appealed to the UN Security
Council last week to remove the
arms embargo that has been in
place since 2011, but the request
has met with resistance, particularly from Russia, over concerns
the weapons may end up in the
wrong hands.
The international community has
been pushing for a diplomatic solution, but is increasingly concerned
that Libya is turning into a chaotic
zone that can be exploited by jihadist groups. The threat is heightened
by Libya’s proximity to Italy, and its
use as a launchpad for thousands
of migrants trying to reach Europe
by boat.
Enterprise
CHENNAI
Naturo launches
‘Fruitsum’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
‘As heath and wellness are becoming prime concerns and consumers
are becoming more aware of what
they eat, Fruitsum will be a good alternative for snacking’, said director of
Naturo Food and Fruit Products Pvt.
Ltd, Shivamohan Reddy, at the the
launch of its new fruit based product
in Chennai yesterday.
Speaking to the media, Reddy said
that the company has planned to
launch four new products in the next
12 months, named Fruit Peal, Fruit
Nacks and Juicy Chuncks including
Fruitsum.
He added, ‘We have introduced
two ﬂavours as of now, and are planning to include many new ﬂavours
in future’.
The director also expressed, ‘As
per USFDA norms every individual
requires 25 grams of fruit a day, and
we are hoping to provide a alternate
to fulﬁll this demand’.
Shivamohan Reddy further stated
that the company is hoping to achieve
Rs 10 crore turnover this year banking on the new product, and has also
planned to invest Rs 2.5 crore in
marketing.
Videocon
Telecom
doubles growth
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
Videocon Telecom reported 126 per
cent growth in mobile data consumption in year 2014.
An official statement said, this
growth is almost double the growth
at 72 per cent registered by the industry during the same period. As
per the Nokia Mbit Index 2105 mobile
broadband performance statistics, the
industry mobile data consumption
grew by 72 per cent in year 2014,
with 3G data consumption leading the
growth at 114 per cent and 2G data
at 42 per cent.
Director & CEO, Arvind Bali, said,
‘We have closely watching the industry trends speciﬁcally on mobile
data. We upgraded our Network to
2.75G EDGE in September / October
last year, and seem that the strategy
is working good for us. There is a
surge in overall data consumption.
This growth is an outcome of 26
per cent increase in average usage
per customer and over 14 per cent
improvement in data penetration on
our revenue earning base with data
enabled handsets. Now we have
over 75 per cent our customers with
data enabled handsets using data,
we have been able to grow our data
contribution to GR at 10-11 per cent
odd, and we are targeting data to GR
of 15 per cent within next 3-4 months.
Big deal ahead
for Ola?
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
Close on the heels of taxi-hailing
startup Ola acquiring TaxiForSure
(TFS), the company is reportedly
in talks with Russian billionaire Yuri
Milner’s investment ﬁrm DST Global.
The two ﬁrms are said to be planning
a $400-500 million (approximately
Rs 3,000-crore) ﬁnancing round at a
valuation of $2.5 billion.
Sources say that if the deal is ﬁnalised, then Ola would become the
largest tech-backed cab aggregator
service in the country, and would also
become one of the most valuable
internet ﬁrms domestically.
The ﬁnal terms of the ﬁnancing deal
are currently being negotiated, say
reports.
It may be recalled that the startup with its innovative service, was
founded by IIT-Bombay batchmates
Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati.
THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
Indo-US ties set
to touch high
RailYatri’s app
for Chennai train
commuters
Bilateral merchandise, services trade at $525 billion soon
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
Indo-US bilateral trade in merchandise and services sector is likely to
touch $525 billion by 2025, according
to a report.
The report titled India-USA Economic Relations, which was jointly
released here on Wednesday by
Washington State Department of
Commerce and PHD Chamber, said:
‘Indo-US merchandise trade has potential to accelerate to a level of $325
billion in next ten years whereas, two
nations services trade are estimated
at $200 billion for 2025’.
PHD Chamber president Alok B Shriram expressed conﬁdence that with
recent bilateral policy measures taken
by the US administration and the
Indian government such as Indo-US
Nuke deal, extension of their defence
pact for another 10 years as well as
forging closer partnership for developing smart cities in India, it would
further cement the Indo-US trade
PHD Chamber president Alok B Shriram
expressed conﬁdence that recent bilateral
policy measures taken by the Indian and US
governments will further cement the
partnership between the two nations
and economic ties to achieve the
forecast.
According to official
estimates, the IndoUS merchandise trade
stood at $63 billion
whereas their service
trade is calculated at $34
billion
during ﬁscal 2013-14. Both the merchandise trade as well as services
trade between India and US in totality
was calculated at $97 billion.
Meanwhile, a WEF report:
Fast dispute resolution mechanisms
along with robust anti-corruption
policies will help mitigate risks in
infrastructure projects, where private
investors worry about political
and regulatory risks, says
a report.
In a report released on Wednesday, WEF said the
world’s huge infrastructure demand cannot
be met by the public sector alone
while ‘private investors and operators are needed, but they worry about
political and regulatory risk’.
The World Economic Forum, which
has prepared the report in collaboration with the Boston Consulting
Group, said that political and regulatory risk is one of the major constraints
India’s brand equity
(formerly Trust Research Advisory), a
Comniscient Group company.
TRA CEO N Chandramouli said:
‘Korean ﬁrm LG and Samsung Mobile
have worked their way to become
top most trusted companies in a
short period of 10 to
12 years. These
companies came
out with products
suiting the Indian market and have earned
trust of Indian customers’.
Top 20 most trusted companies
which have improved their ranking
Govt & Google
join hands
To start internet safety programme
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
Government will launch internet
safety programme in partnership
with Google in order to create
awareness among users regarding cyber threat.
‘We are happy to partner with
Google and Cert-In in the cyber
security education and awareness campaign. The
internet offers many
opportunities to explore create and collaborate’, MyGov CEO
Gaurav Dwivedi said in a
statement.
MyGov, the government’s online platform which seeks suggestions from people on different
issues, hosted first round table
discussion in this regard on
Wednesday.
‘Measures to take internet
safety practices for two specific
target groups - government officials, children and young adults
were discussed at the round
table. Over 650 ideas received
from MyGov users on the issue
were also presented during the
meeting and were debated upon’,
the statement said.
DEITY Additional Secretary
Tapan Ray suggested a year
round programme to raise awareness of key policy makers on
issues of internet safety. The
programme would include roundtables, workshops, Security Cafes, and contests
for young adults,
policymakers and
NGOs.
MyGov, in collaboration with
all stakeholders,
is also expected
to issue awareness guidelines
soon on various safety measures
which can be followed by government officials, schools, guardians
and other vulnerable sections.
‘To enable this and ensure that
families and young people across
India are safe, we’re working with
CERT- In and MyGov to get the
word out about good Internet
practices and how to keep users
safe online’.
Google’s head Public Policy
India Chetan Krishnaswamy said.
on infrastructure investment decisions.
To mitigate such risks, private as
well as public sector entities can look
at various ways.
Among others, the report said that
investors and operators could seek
political-risk insurance while companies could deter government intervention by carefully crafting ownership
and commercial structures.
‘On the public-sector side, the
national government could provide
investors with protection by offering constitutional guarantees - for
instance, by ensuring fair and fast
dispute resolution mechanisms, and
by enforcing robust anti-corruption
policies’, it said.
The report titled ‘Mitigation of Political & Regulatory Risk in Infrastructure
Projects’ said that today political and
regulatory risk takes many forms such
community protests, tightened regulations and corruption.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
RailYatri has launched its ﬁrst panIndia app for local train commuters,
covering local trains at top 11 locations, including Chennai, all across
India. The app shows at any time
the next local train to the traveller’s
home/ofﬁce.
According to a press release, RailYatri app has the largest network
of trains covering all local and national trains. With the launch of ‘Local
Trains’, users can get information
about more than 13000 (local + long
distance) trains within one app.
Co-founder and CEO Manish Rathi,
says, ‘Despite the fact that between
28 per cent and 35 per cent population in every metro city commutes
by local trains, not much attention
has been paid towards this mode of
transport.
Hence, we decided to bridge the
gap and make local train commuters’
lives simpler’.
‘Local Trains’ feature allows the users to access information about more
than 1000 local trains in Chennai. The
network covers about 175 local stations in Chennai till Kanchipuram, Indira Nagar, Akkampet, Kodambakam,
Karunguzhi, Nellore and Tiruvalam
being the routes with major trafﬁc.
Entrepreneurs get
tech boost
What people think about LG, Samsung, Sony, Tata
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
Korean brands LG and Samsung
Mobiles are the top two most trusted
brand in the country followed by Sony,
Tata and Nokia, says The Brand Trust
Report, India Study 2015.
LG was ranked fourth
while Samsung Mobiles was ranked at
379th position in The
Brand Trust Report in
2014.
The survey was conducted amongst
2,373 respondents across 16 cities.
The report is issued annually by TRA
over last year include LG, Samsung
Mobiles, Bajaj, Honda, Dell, Godrej,
Bata, Amul, Apple, Airtel and Dabur.
Top 20 most trusted companies
which have slipped in ranking are
Sony, Tata, Hewlett Packard, Reliance, Hero
MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Philips
and LIC.
Nokia’s ranking remained stable at
ﬁfth position.
In the north India region, top ﬁve
most trusted brand are LG, Samsung
Mobiles, Hero MotoCorp, Sony and
Nokia.
Eicher eyes
big in south
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
VE Commercial Vehicles Limited
(VECV) recently launched its Eicher
Pro 6000 series of next generation
heavy-duty trucks in southern India
at a customer experience event in
Bengaluru.
According to a press release, the Pro
6000 series was recently launched in
Delhi and will now be available in the
Southern states of Kerala, Tamilnadu
and Karnataka.
The new range of Eicher Pro 6031
(31T GVW 8X2), Eicher Pro 6025
(25T GVW 6x2) haulage trucks and
Eicher Pro 6025T (25T GVW 6X4)
tipper marks the entry of Eicher
brand into a new phase of growth
and consolidation in the heavy-duty
commercial vehicle market.
The Eicher Pro 6000 Series representing ‘the future of Indian trucking’
has been developed and manufactured as a result of the synergy
between the Volvo Group and Eicher.
VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd chief
executive officer, Vinod Aggarwal
said, ‘In 2008, the Volvo Group &
Eicher Motors came together with a
vision to modernize the Indian commercial vehicle industry. The vital
combination of Volvo Group’s worldclass technology and frugal cost
expertise and management of Eicher
has created a range that will set new
benchmarks amongst customers with
high demands on profitability and
driver effectiveness’.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
IndiaFilings, a new mobile app was
launched by Governor K Rosaiah
in Chennai yesterday. The app is
designed to help entrepreneurs start,
manage and grow their businesses.
It provides customised regulatory
due date alerts, business document
management on clouds, tax registration, information relating to starting
a business in India and trademark
ﬁlling, it is learnt.
Speaking at the launch, IndiaFilings
CEO and founder, Lionel Charles,
said, ‘Starting our company a year
ago, we have launched this business
app for company registration which is
ﬁrst of its kinds. We will provide corporate, ﬁnance and legal services to
the entrepreneurs in a cost and time
effective manner.’
On how this app works, Charles
said,’The app allows for registration
of a business entity, tax registrations
and trademark and for the existing
business owners by providing statutory due date alerts and document
storage on the clouds. For budding
entrepreneurs, all the information
will be provided in the app and they
can also ask us questions. They can
press the button and have advisory
session with any of our IndiaFilings
Business Advisor. We will help them
to incorporate business from the beginning stage till the ﬁnal stage. And
for those who are already in the business, they are required to do a lot of
regulatory ﬁlings which may even be
forgotten by them. We will determine
their compliance schedule for them
and thus, help with their schedules
and needs.’
In his speech, the Governor said,
‘It is good to see the rise of entrepreneurial thinking among our youth
today. To unlock the potential of millions of young Indian entrepreneurs
and help them build innovative businesses, it is high time that we evolve
professional services with a strong
technology support.’
IndiaFilings app is a free app available on Google Play Store.
Commerce Ministry seeks
cut in gold import duty
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
With a decline in gold imports,
Commerce Ministry has sought
reduction in import duty on gold,
a step that could boost exports
and manufacturing of gems and
jewellery.
‘We have been asking for a cut
in gold import duty,’ Commerce
Secretary Rajeev Kher told
reporters here on the sidelines
of a CII function. In its Budget
proposals, the Ministry has suggested the Finance Minister to
consider reduction in import duty
on the yellow metal. The industry
has sought reduction in customs
duty on gold to two per cent, from
10 per cent now.
Glenmark gets USFDA nod
to sell generic BP drug
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals
Wednesday announced receipt
of approval from the US health
regulator to sell its generic
version of AbbVie Inc’s blood
pressure drug Tarka in the
American market. The approval
for trandolapril and verapamil
hydrochloride extended release
tablets has been granted to
Glenmark Generics Inc, a subsidiary of Glenmark Generics
Ltd.
‘Happy tidings in
next job season’
IndusInd Bank to raise
Rs 2000 crore
IndusInd Bank will issue long-term infrastructure bonds or nonconvertible debentures on private placement basis to raise about Rs
2,000 crore.
‘The board of directors ... approved the proposal of borrowings/raising funds in Indian currency by issue of long-term infrastructure bonds/
subordinated non-convertible debentures in domestic market, on private
placement basis, in one or more tranches, for an amount not exceeding
Rs 2,000 crore’, the bank said in a ﬁling to the BSE.
The proceeds will be used to ﬁnance bank’s incremental lending for
infrastructure and affordable housing, it said. The debt raised, to be
added both as tier-I and tier-II capital, by the bank has a maturity period
of seven years.
Yes Bank reaches double target
Yes Bank on Wednesday raised Rs 1,000 crore against a targeted
Rs 500 crore by issuing green infrastructure bonds.
The bonds are of 10-year tenor and the money raised will be used for
funding renewable energy projects in solar, wind, biomass and small
hydel plants, the lender said in a statement.
The bank, which had set out with a target to raise Rs 500 crore, saw
demand from insurance companies, pension and provident funds,
foreign portfolio investors and mutual funds, which resulted in the
greenshoe option being utilised. Yes Bank managing director and chief
executive Rana Kapoor said this is the ﬁrst green infrastructure bond
issue in India and expressed satisfaction at the response.
The statement, however, did not offer any details on the pricing of
the issue.
‘Jan-Dhan overdraft gets
RBI’s priority’
Giving a big boost to Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the
RBI said bank overdrafts of up to Rs 5,000 in accounts opened under
this ﬁnancial inclusion mission will be treated as priority sector lending.
‘...overdrafts extended by banks up to Rs 5,000 in PMJDY accounts
will be eligible for classiﬁcation under priority sector advances (‘others’
category) as also weaker sections, provided the borrowers household
annual income does not exceed Rs 60,000 for rural areas and Rs
1,20,000 for non-rural areas’, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI said in
a notiﬁcation.
5
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
More than two-third recruiters and consultants
are bullish about creation of
new jobs and are expected
to dole out increments in
the range of 10-15 per cent
in next few months.
According to Naukri.
com’s Hiring Outlook Survey 2015, 69 per cent of
recruiters and consultants
who participated in the
survey projected creation
of new jobs in the ﬁrst half
of 2015.
‘As far as job creation
and hiring scenario is concerned, 2015 will be a
much better year in comparison to 2014 given the
increased stability in the
political and economic environment of the country’,
Info Edge (India) Ltd man-
aging director and CEO
Hitesh Oberoi said.
Info Edge India runs the
popular job site Naukri.
com.
According to the survey,
there is an increase in
level of increments that
are expected to be given
out in 2015.
NAME CHANGE
I, K.G. GAYATHRI, wife
of Thiru Prakash Rao, born
on 22nd June 1979 (native
district: Chennai), residing at
No.2/1, Perumal Kovil Street,
Mulachattiram, Madhavaram,
Chennai-600 051, shall
henceforth be known as
P. LEENA GAYATHRI.
K.G. GAYATHRI
Chennai, 8th January 2015.
PUBLIC NOTICE
My client Mr. Hayath
Basha S/o.Late. Noordin
sahib, Residing at 39, pattu
bazaar street, mangadu,
Chennai -600122, is the
absolute owner of the
property situated in survey
No.333 and bearing Plot
No.134,
Indira
nagar,
mangadu for an extent of
1860 sq.ft. and the mother
documents for the property
registered in kundrathur
S.R.O. in Doc.No.106/1990
and 2525/1990 has been
same is kindly requested to
contact me.
B.SARDAR.B.A.,L.L.B.,
Advocate
10/125,Kundrathur main
road, Kumananachavadi,
chennai-600 056
Cell:9043551268
6 THRUSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
Sports
CHENNAI
‘Wilson, O’Brien key to victory’
Mulheim an der Ruhr Feb 26
(PTI):
Ireland skipper promises to keep the good show going
Brisbane, Feb 26 (AFP):
Ireland captain William Porterﬁeld
hailed big-hitting Kevin O’Brien and
rock-steady Gary Wilson for carving
out a nervy two-wicket World Cup
win over the United Arab Emirates
in Brisbane.
Chasing 279 to win at the Gabba,
Wilson top-scored with 80 off 69
balls although it was O’Brien who
gave the innings vital impetus with a
swashbuckling 24-ball half-century
as victory was secured with just four
balls remaining.
Earlier, Pakistan-born Shaiman
Anwar scored the ﬁrst hundred by a
UAE batsman at a World Cup with
106 off 83 balls.
Ireland now have two wins in two
while the UAE have lost both their
opening pool matches. ‘Wickets in
hand are always a big thing, especially when you’ve got lads like Kev
and Wilson coming in,’ said
Porterﬁeld, whose team had started
their campaign with a win over the
West Indies.
‘One key factor was the way we
played in the last 20 overs of our
innings.’
He added: ‘It was a bit closer than
we would have wanted but we’d take
that any day of the week.
‘Conﬁdence is high in the squad,
and the ﬁxtures start coming
thicker and faster now.’
Ireland are third in Pool
B and well-placed for
a quarter-final spot, although they still have to
face South Africa, Zimbabwe, defending champions India and Pakistan.
The UAE have now lost
both their opening games,
having previously gone down to
Zimbabwe by four wickets.
Skipper Mohammad Tauqir admitted
the game got away from
his side in the last 15 overs
William Porterfield
especially when Kevin
O’Brien, who hit the fastest World Cup century at
the 2011 event, came to
the crease.
That’s cricket. The spinners
were playing well, but Kevin
O’Brien took the game from us,’ said
Tauqir.
Ireland are third in Pool B and well-placed for a quarterﬁnal spot, although they still have to face South Africa,
Zimbabwe, defending champions India and Pakistan
Ramkumar
enters quarters
Kolkata, Feb 26 (PTI): remained the only Indian in the fray in
Ramkumar Ramanathan kept the the last eight, as earlier on the same
Indian hopes alive, advancing to the court Bhambri, who was runner-up in
last eight, on a day Yuki Bhambri and the last week’s USD 100,000 Delhi
Sanam Singh made second round exit Open ATP Challenger, went down to
in the USD 50,000 Kolkata Open ATP sixth seed Radu Albot of Moldova 6-3
2-6 6-1. Currently ranked 267, RamChallenger Tour at the Bengal
kumar will face Taipei’s Ti
Tennis Association courts
Chen, who is 47 places
here.
higher than the Indian,
The talented Chennai
Tennis
in the quarterﬁnals. The
lad, who ousted India No.
highlight of the day was
1 Somdev Devvarman,
German qualiﬁer Richard
faced a strong challenge
Becker, who came back
from Miki Jankovic of Serbia before the Indian wrapped it up from behind to stun eighth seed and
6-1 5-7 7-5 in a battle between two 166th ranked Kimmer Coppejans of
20-year-olds that lasted two hours 12 Belgium 4-6 6-3 6-3 in one hour 56
minutes.The Tamil Nadu youngster minutes.
Indian shuttler Arvind Bhat
and the doubles duo of Ashwini
Ponnapppa and Jwala Gutta entered the pre-quarterfinals of
the USD120,000 German Open
Grand Prix Gold at the RWESporthalle here.
Defending champion Bhat defeated local qualifier Patrick
Kaemnitz 21-10, 24-22 in 36
minutes. In the next match, the
35-year-old Indian will meet the
winner between Korean Wan Ho
Son and Finland’s Eetu Heino.
In the doubles match, JwalaAshwini beat the Indonesian pair
of Suci Rizky Andini and Maretha
Dea Giovani 21-17, 21-16 in 30
minutes.
In the next match, the Indian
pair will face the Korean pair
of Lee So Hee and Shin Seung
Chan.
Federer rallies to reach
Dubai quarters
Roger
Federer
F1: Alonso out of
hospital after crash
Barcelona, Feb 26 (AFP): completing just 20 laps on Sunday
Two-time Formula One world and was airlifted to hospital under
champion Fernando Alonso has sedation.
left hospital following a crash
The 33-year-old Spaniard
during testing in Barcesuffered concussion but
lona last weekend,
McLaren said scans
his McLaren team
on the 2005 and
announced.
2006 world chamW e
a r e
pion were compleased to conpletely normal.
ﬁrm that FernThe team
ando Alonso
blamed unuhas now left
sually strong
hospital. He
winds for the
has returned
crash and
to his family’s
categorically
home in Spain
denied there
for further rest
had been any
and recuperamechanical failure
Fernando
Alonso
tion, McLaren said
with their MP4-30
in a statement. The
car. McLaren have
Woking-based team
suffered numerous setalso conﬁrmed that Alonso
backs in testing ahead
will not drive in this week’s ﬁnal fourof the new season,
day pre-season test, which begins
which gets underin Barcelona on Thursday. As
way with the Ausa result, he will sit out this
tralian Grand Prix on
week’s final winter test,
March 15.
at which he was due to
After eight days of testing,
share driving duties with
McLaren have completed
Jenson Button.Kevin Magless than half the mileage of every
nussen, McLaren-Honda’s test and other team on the grid and nearly ﬁve
reserve driver, will replace him.
times less than reigning champions
Alonso crashed into a wall after Mercedes.
Jwala-Ashwini
in pre-quarters
Dubai, Feb 26:
Defending champion Roger Federer
stormed back from 4-1 down in the
ﬁrst set to beat Fernando Verdasco
6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday and claim
a spot in the quarterﬁnals of the
Dubai Championships.
Trailing 4-1, Federer delighted
the packed stadium by winning 20
consecutive points to take the ﬁrst set
of the one hour match.
‘I didn’t even know that happened
until someone told me afterwards,’
Federer said of winning ﬁve games
in a row without losing a point.
‘I look back, it’s quite a lot of
points in a row and it might
be the only time it’s ever
happened for me.
‘Fernando is a
shotmaker
a n d
h
e
takes it
out of your racket sometimes.’
In all, Federer won six of his nine
service games at love. He lost two of
his other three service games.
Top-seeded Novak Djokovic also
only needed one hour to move
into the quarterﬁnals with a 6-1,
6-2 win over Andrey Golubev.
Djokovic never offered Golubev a break point opportunity
and only gave up 11 points in
eight service games.‘Having
one match under my belt before
today’s encounter helped to feel
a bit more comfortable to move
around on the court quicker,’
Djokovic said.
Tomas Berdych became the eighth
active player on the ATP Tour to
post 500 career wins when he beat
Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-0.
‘It feels great,’ Berdych said. ‘I need
to make sure I keep my body fresh
so I can make another 500. I just am
going to try to keep adding to it and
play as long as I can.’
Third-seeded Andy Murray also
moved into the quarterﬁnals with a
swift 6-0, 6-2 win over Joao Sousa
that only took 57 minutes. Berdych
was tested throughout the ﬁrst two
sets of the 2 hour, 24 minute
match before dominating in the
ﬁnal set.
Berdych faced a set point
against him in the ﬁrst set tiebreaker before Bolelli sailed a
backhand return long on a second
set point for Berdych.
Bolelli, who had five break
points in all in the second set,
took advantage of a second set point
on Berdych’s serve in the 12th game
with a forehand crosscourt winner.
‘It was a tough day at the ofﬁce,’
Berdych said. ‘The matches where
you have to ﬁght a bit are more generous for the experience.’
It’s been a tough phase
of my career: Bhullar
Hyderabad, Feb 26 (PTI):
Still recovering from a wrist injury
that kept him away from the game for
two months, Indian golfer Gaganjeet
Bhullar today said that it has been a
tough phase of his career which tested
his patience.
After tearing a ligament in
his left wrist in September,
Bhullar was in a cast for
21 days. The Kapurthala
lad was sidelined for
nearly two months and
even though he made a
comeback at Indonesia
Open, his game
has never been the
same.
I was playing very well till September last year until the wrist injury
happened. The injury had a major
impact on my game and I wasn’t at
my best from there on, he said ahead
of this week’s Golconda Masters Golf
Championship.
‘It’s been a tough phase of my
career. It’s been frustrating and my
patience has been tested. I’ve almost
recovered from the ligament tear injury now and there is not as much pain
as I had earlier. Fortunately, I didn’t
need to alter my swing.’
Five-time winner at the Asian
Tour, Bhullar will be one of the
high-proﬁle golfers to play at
the the inaugural event to
be held at the newly-transformed Hyderabad Golf Club.
The Hyderabad Golf Club
is in great shape and the
weather conditions are perfect
so we can look forward to an
exciting week of golf, he said.
Putting will be the key this week as
the greens are quite challenging. It’s
important where you place your ball
especially on the greens. I love the
layout of this course. It’s unique and
unlike most other courses in the country.’ While Bhullar was nursing his
injury, compatriot Anirban Lahiri took a
giant step in international golf, winning
two European Tour titles in three
weeks -- the Maybank Malaysia
Open and Hero
Indian Open this
month.
Talking about
Lahiri, Bhullar
said: ‘Anirban Lahiri’s
recent successes are
the best thing
to happen to
Indian golf. We
needed someone
in the top-50 for the
game to grow further
in the country.
I’m very happy
for him since we’ve
played a lot together
since our junior days.
I’m confident India will produce
many more champions in the
coming years.’
Gaganjeet Bhullar
Arsenal stunned as Monaco seize initiative
London, Feb 26 (AFP):
Arsenal are in danger of an embarrassing exit from the Champions
League after Monaco romped
to a stunning 3-1 win in the
last 16 ﬁrst leg at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Arsene Wenger’s team were
left shell-shocked as Geoffrey Kon-
Arsenal
dogbia put the French club ahead
with a deflected first half strike
before former Tottenham forward
Dimitar Berbatov marked his return
to north London with the second
goal after the interval.
Berbatov’s cool finish was a
hammer blow to the Arsenal fans
who had jeered him for his past
allegiance to their bitter rivals and
there was worse to come.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had just
given Arsenal renewed hope with
a 90th minute goal when Yannick
Ferreira-Carrasco galloped clear to
score Monaco’s third and leave the
Premier League team needing a
herculean effort in the second leg on
March 17 to avoid last 16 elimination
for a ﬁfth successive season.
It was an especially chastening
evening for Wenger, who made
his managerial reputation during
Berbatov’s cool ﬁnish was a hammer
blow to the Arsenal fans who had jeered
him for his past allegiance to their bitter
rivals and there was worse to come
a seven-year spell at Monaco and
was renewing acquaintances with
his old club in a competitive match
for the ﬁrst time.
The third goal makes our task
extremely difﬁcult in the second
leg. It looks like we lost our
nerve and our rationality
on the pitch, Wenger said.
‘The heart took over the
head and that doesn’t work. Mentally
we were not sharp enough
to
get into the game and
we paid for it.’Leonardo
Jardim’s side produced a
counter-attacking masterclass to
leave Arsenal impotent in attack
and incompetent in defence and
the Monaco coach said: ‘Arsenal
have some excellent individuals
and we were able to nullify
their threat.
‘Nobody really thought
this result was possible
but we achieved it.’
Alexis Sanchez has
emerged as Arsenal’s
creative fulcrum in his
debut season and the Chile
winger almost found the key
to unlocking the obdurate Monaco
rearguard when he exchanged
passes with Mesut Ozil before ﬂicking his shot just over.
But, emboldened by the ease
with which they had kept Arsenal at
bay, Jardim’s team began to push
forward with more conﬁdence and
Joao Moutinho found space for an
acrobatic volley that sailed over.
It was a warning that Arsenal failed
to heed and the visitors went ahead
in the 38th minute. Danny Welbeck
lost possession inside his own half
and Moutinho quickly moved the
ball onto Kondogbia, who had been
left unmarked 30 yards from goal.
The French midfielder advanced
unchecked before lashing a ﬁerce
drive that took a big deﬂection off
Per Mertesacker and ﬂashed past
wrong-footed Arsenal goalkeeper
David Ospina.
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
Shyam Kothari
cremated
NT Bureau
headed the HC Kothari group of
Chennai, Feb 26: companies, which has interests
Industrialist Bhadrashyam Koth- in sugar, petrochemical and bioari, who passed away in the US technology.
on Sunday morning,
Credited to be the
was cremated in the
first industrialist
city in a traditional
to set up a mutual
manner today.
fund in the private
Actor Amitabh
sector in the counBachchan along
try through Pioneer
with his family
USA in the mid ninemembers Abhishek
ties, he was also
Bachchan and Aishhailed for solely rewarya Rai Bachviving the Kothari
chan, top industrisugar empire.
alists, the Ambani
Shyam was part of
clan and others
the third generation
were present.
of entrepreneurs
A memorial meetfrom the HC Kothing is slated to be Bhadrashyam Kothari
ari Group. He did his
held later today at Kothari Bagh, schooling in Chennai and gradu18 M, MG Road, Chennai, for the ated from Loyola College. He later
departed soul.
joined his father to manage the
Popularly called as Shyam Ko- businesses.
thari, he was heading the ChenAfter his father’s death in the
n a i - b a s e d K o t h a r i G r o u p . H e 1990s, Shyam took over the reins
pioneered India’s mutual fund of companies such as Kothari Sugbusiness.
ars and Chemicals, Kothari Safe
He is survived by wife Nina
Deposits, Kothari Biotech, and
(daughter of Reliance founder Kothari Pioneer Mutual Fund.
Dhirubhai Ambani), son Arjun and
Several condolences for the third
daughter Nayantara. Kothari, who generation entrepreneur were
was born on 11 November 1961, pouring in from Monday evening.
PDP chief to meet Modi on govt formation in J&K tomorrow
New Delhi, Feb 26:
The BJP and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seem to have
reportedly settled last-minute differences that threatened to derail
the deal between the two parties on
forming government in Jammu and
Kashmir.
Media reports
on Thursday
said that a proposed between
PDP patron
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed
and Prime MinNarendra Modi
ister Narendra Modi on Wednesday,
which was postponed at the last
minute, will now take place on Friday.
The postponement of the meting
between the two leaders triggered
speculations about a delay in the
swearing-in ceremony, which is to
take place on Sunday.
PDP patron Sayeed, who is likely
to take oath as Chief Minister, is expected to formally invite Modi to the
Danfoss Power Electronics president Ole Moller Jensen at the Danfoss
Advanced Drives Laboratory at VIT University campus in Vellore
yesterday. VIT vice-president G V Selvam is present.
commercial applications.
Sixty per cent of the electricity
that is used for air-conditioning is
consumed by the motors. ‘If you use
motors without drives, you are using
more electricity. You can save 30 to
40 per cent power by using the drive
technology’, he said.
Jensen wanted the students to think
and strive for energy efﬁciency. ‘Not
only manufacturers of machinery but
builders too should try to implement
energy efﬁciency in all their undertakings. We have to think of how to
use the existing available energy in a
better way’, he added.
Ahead of the meeting between Sayeed and
Modi, both the parties are likely to meet
today for ﬁnalisation of the Cabinet
ceremony during their meeting.
PDP sources maintained that a
broad agreement has been arrived
at between the party and BJP on all
issues including Article 370 of the
Constitution that grants special status
to J&K, AFSPA and resettlement of
West Pakistan Refugees and that
the new Government is likely to be
sworn-in on 1 March.
Opposition parties National Conference and Congress have termed the
way in which talks for an alliance government has dragged on for weeks
as mere posturing by PDP and BJP
and claimed that both the parties have
already arrived at a consensus and
were making attempts to fool people
of the State.
At the Friday meeting between
the two leaders, ﬁnal touches to a
‘comprehensive document’ for governance might be given and after
that it will be released in the State
by both the parties.
Though 1 March, considered as an
‘auspicious day’, is being favoured
by both the parties for the swearingin in Jammu, PDP chief spokesman
Naeem Akhtar said ‘a ﬁnal decision
on oath taking will be taken only
after the meeting between the PDP
patron and the Prime Minister’.
Ahead of the meeting between
Sayeed and Modi, both the parties
are likely to meet today for ﬁnalisation of the Cabinet. Nirmal Singh of
BJP is expected to be the Deputy
Chief Minister having the portfolio
of Planning.
Shiv Sena to oppose
Land Acquisition Bill
Mumbai, Feb 26 (PTI):
Stepping up its resistance against
the land acquisition law, the Shiv
Sena today said it will ﬁercely oppose the bill and not commit the sin
of ‘damaging’ the interest of farmers
at the cost of being in power.
Calling it as a ‘draconian’ law that
will ﬁnish off the very existence of
farmers, the BJP-ally in Maharashtra said the Government cannot
budge an inch forward by ‘insulting’
the struggle of farmers assembled
at Jantar Mantar in Delhi under
activist Anna Hazare’s leadership.
‘The government has shocked
everyone by bringing in the ordinance. Will oppose the (land acquisition) bill at any cost,’ Sena said in
a editorial in the party mouthpiece
Saamna.
Charging that the government was
helping corporates acquire land of
farmers, it said questions are being raised if the government is in
the role of a (real) estate agent.
‘Farmers are reeling under huge
debt burden but instead of doing
something on that front, if the government is bent on gobbling up their
land, then the ﬁre of discontent will
spread,’ it said.
‘We will not commit the sin of damaging interests of farmers at the cost
of being in power,’ the party said.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav
Thackeray had yesterday asked his
party’s workers to inform farmers in
the state about the ‘ill effects’ of the
Land Acquisition Bill in the present
format. ‘People should know the
stance we have taken. For this,
Sena workers will propagate the
ill effects (of the land acquisition
ordinance) among farmers,’ senior
Sena leader Subhash Desai had
said, after Uddhav addressed a
meeting of party functionaries here.
‘Henceforth, (the government) will
have to pay heed to others when it
comes to important decisions. There
is no question of making a U-turn on
this issue,’ Desai, who is the state
industry minister, had said.
Govt serious in dealing
with swine ﬂu: Nadda
International Union of Environment chairman S Rajamani,
environment expert B Chakravorty and Water Today magazine editor
Naina Shah at the inauguration of three-day ‘Water Today’ exhibition
at Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam today.
New Delhi, Feb 26 (PTI):
Even as 926 people have perished
to swine ﬂu and over 16,000 are affected, government today asserted
that it is ‘very serious’ on combating
the challenge and asked people not
to panic but be alert as necessary
arrangements are in place to deal
with the situation.
Health Minister J P Nadda also
termed the recent imposition of prohibitory orders disallowing gatherings
in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat to
prevent swine ﬂu as a ‘precautionary’
measure and a ‘strategy to control’.
‘The government is very serious on
the issue. It is taking all precautionary
measures and trying to control it. We
are doing whatever we can do to the
best of our ability. We are supporting
the state government. H1N1 virus is
very much in the environment. What
we have to do is to take
protective measures and not to get
panicked,’ Nadda said on the sidelines of an event. Noting that all government hospitals are well equipped
Upbeat West Indies
take on South Africa
Sydney, Feb 26 (PTI):
Fresh from a Chris Gayle power
show that took them to their second
win in the cricket World Cup, a buoyant West Indies will now take on
South Africa,
who are still
licking their
wounds after
the 130-run
hammering
against India,
in a Pool B
match, here
tomorrow.
Once again
Chris Gayle
all eyes will
be on Gayle, who smashed the
ﬁrst double century of the 50-over
showpiece event against Zimbabwe
in their previous game, and it will be
interesting to see how the destructive opener tackles one the most
potent bowling attacks, led
by Dale Steyn.
After being shocked by
Ireland in their opening game, West Indies turned on the heat
against Pakistan to
humble the Misbah ul
Haq-led side by 150
runs and then romped
past Zimbabwe to get
placed behind leaders
India in the pool table. The
destructive Gayle came out of
his slumber in
Canberra, hitting a 147-ball 215 to
sound the warning bells for every
7
BJP-PDP iron out
last-minute hitches
Danfoss Lab opened
at VIT University
NT Bureau
Vellore, Feb 26:
India faces a huge energy deﬁcit
and the nation needs to add 500 MW
of additional capacity every week
to achieve a growth rate of 7-8 per
cent, said Danfoss India president
Ravichandran Purushothaman.
He said this during the inauguration of Danfoss Advanced Drives
Laboratory at VIT University campus
yesterday.
The lab has been set up to help
solve India’s energy problems
through a collaborative research between the industry and the research
scholars of VIT on energy efﬁciency
using the drive technology, he said.
The laboratory was established at a
cost of Rs 50 lakh. Danfoss Power
Electronics, Denmark, president Ole
Moller Jensen, who inaugurated the
lab said that motors are the largest
consumers of electricity in terms of
THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
side in the competition. Sharing a
record 372-run second wicket partnership with Marlon Samuels (133),
Gayle, who became
the only non-Indian
batsman after Sachin
Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma (2)
to hit a double ton in
ODIs, set a new benchmark of run-scoring in
this edition of the World
Cup. The West Indies pace
attack comprising Jerome
Taylor, skipper Jason Holder
and Andre Russell has also showed
intent after a lacklustre showing
against the William Porterﬁeld-led
side, which cantered to their 305-run
target in 45.5 overs. South Africa,
however, still hold the edge against
a side they completely outplayed
when they met last month for a
ﬁve-match ODI series. The Proteas
won 4-1 to batter their opponents in
all departments. West Indies Coach
Stuart Williams said the side had
learnt a lot from the recent South
Africa series and believes the next
meeting between the two sides can
be different. ‘The series against
South Africa was more about learning about our game and where we
need to go,’ Williams said.
‘We were playing the number one
team in the world. Now it’s not a
series, it’s just a one-off game in the
World Cup so it’s a different mindset, and we’re prepared for Friday.
and adequate number of medical kits
and vaccines is available, Nadda also
rubbished reports of shortage of vaccines in different states and said due
to wrong news, a panic situation had
been created.
‘There was wrong news reported
that there is a lack of vaccines. That
is why panic had been created. Our
hospital systems are well managed.
We have got isolation wards, plenty
of medicines, trained doctors and
personal protection equipments as
well,’ he said. According to data from
the Health Ministry till 24 February
this year, the total number of deaths
due to the disease has reached 926
while the number of affected persons
in various states stood at 16,235.
Sayeed is expected to hold the
portfolio of Home and newly-elected
PDP MLA Haseeb Drabu may be the
new Finance Minister.
The 2 December election results
saw a highly-fractured mandate with
PDP emerging
as single largest party with 28
MLAs followed
by BJP with
25. Erstwhile
allies National
Conference
and Congress
MM Sayeed
ended with 15 and 12 seats respectively.
BJP and PDP, which have been in
negotiations for nearly two months
now, have ironed out all the differences over contentious issues
including Article 370, Armed Forces
Special Powers Act, resettlement of
West Pakistan Refugees and holding talks with Pakistan and separatist leaders of the State.
Man held rape
attempt in
Egmore
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 26:
A man was arrested last evening
for attempting to rape a woman at a
lodge in Egmore.
According to police sources,
Malathy (31), an engineering graduate and wife of one Selva Kumar arrived from Andhra Pradesh recently
to look for a job.
One of their family friend Srinivasan
had assured that he would help in
ﬁnding a job and booked her in a
lodge at Egmore.
Police said, yesterday, he attempted
to sexually assault Malathy who
escaped and informed the police
control room.
Srinivasan was arrested by the police and a case has been registered.
Another Tamil author
faces attack
Chennai, Feb 26 (PTI):
Close on the heels of the controversy surrounding author Perumal
Murugan’s work ‘Mathorubagan’,
an upcoming writer in Karur was allegedly assaulted by members of a
particular community accusing him of
making some derogatory references
in his novel.
‘Puliyur’ Murugesan was roughed up
by for allegedly making some derogatory references in his work ‘Balachandran Enra Peyarum Enakkundu’
(Balachandran is also my name)
yesterday, police said.
Peeved by the alleged derogatory references, some local people
roughed him up but ‘he is alright,’ a
senior police ofﬁcial told PTI.
‘He is alright. There are no issues,’
he said adding the matter was being
probed. Police said that some of the
members belonging to the particular
community had also staged a road
blockade and demanded that the
government ban the book. The incident comes close on the heels of
author Perumal Murugan episode,
where locals aided by some groups
had opposed his alleged derogatory
references to Tiruchengode area.
TN consolidates
with Karthik’s ton
Kolkata, Feb 26:
Tamilnadu managed to put up a
good show with their batsmen going steady on the day two of the
Ranji Trophy semi-ﬁnals against
Maharashtra.
Batting ﬁrst, Tamilnady managed
296 for 4 after lunch on the second
day. Dinesh Karthik managed an
unbeaten ton, while
R Prasanna
was at the
crease on 6.
Resuming
their overnight
score of 194 for
3, Tamilnadu lost Vijayashankar
for 91. Meanwhile Dinesh Karthick
continued to steady the innings with
a patient knock.
Given the docile conditions, the
Tamilnadu batsmen opted for a
Dinesh Karthik
cautious approach and kept on
consuming deliveries yesterday.
Murli Vijay was dismissed for
28, Aparjith for 20 and Abhinav
Mukund for 23.
Tamilnadu defeated Vidgareba in
the quarter-ﬁnal encounter.
8THURSDAY
26 FEBRUARY 2015
, CHENNAI
Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP. No. TN / PMG / (CCR) / WPP-470 / 15-17
Indians
bowlers are
the best: Albie
NEW DELHI:
Out of favour South African all-rounder Albie Morkel says India’s hammering
of the Proteas at the MCG
demonstrated that the defending champions are capable of blowing any team
away in the World Cup and
big-ticket ICC events bring
out the best in them.
Morkel, holidaying after
getting done with the domestic season, was courageous enough to watch
every ball of the match
where India recorded an
unexpected 130-run over
South Africa.
Of course I did (watch the
game) and the outcome
was unexpected. It surely
was not the best day out for
the Proteas. India on their
day will blow most teams
away and that is what happened at the MCG. Having
said that, South Africa will
bounce back, Morkel, who
has played alongside many
Indian players in the IPL,
told PTI .
India’s ominous form in
the premier event has impressed many, considering
the team was winless in the
preceding tour of Australia.
India had also overcome
their limitations to win the
2013 Champions Trophy
in England.
The otherwise formidable
South Africa on the other
hand are prone to ‘choke’
in major ICC events.
Ask Morkel about the
trend, the 33-year-old says:
‘It is difficult to pin point
exactly why this has been
the case. You need your
Moin apologises
for casino visit
BRISBANE:
Pakistan’s chief selector Moin Khan apologised to the country’s
cricket fans for his casino visit on the eve of a
crucial World Cup
match for which
he has been
sent back home
from the 50over showpiece
event.
Moin, who had
clarified that he
had only gone to the
casino for a dinner outing, accepted his inappropriate choice of venue
and said sorry for his
actions that has offended millions of Pakistan
cricket lovers.
I had gone to a casino in Christchurch with
friends and family to
have dinner. In hindsight,
the choice of venue for
dinner was indeed inappropriate. It has offended
the Pakistan public as
well as cricket fans, Moin
said in a statement.
Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar
Khan has already
launched an investigation into Moin’s
visit to the Christchurch casino, which
took place a day before
the team’s Pool B game
against the West Indies.
After a disappointing
opening loss to archrivals India, Pakistan lost
to the Caribbean side by
150 runs and are in a
must-win situation going
into the Zimbabwe game
on Sunday.
senior players to stand
up in big games and India
have been very good in
that regard. Maybe this
time it will be the the turn
of Proteas’.
Considering the way the
teams have played so far,
Morkel has both and India
and South Africa in his
semiﬁnal line-up. However,
he hastens to add that the
all-rounder slot is a worry
for South Africa in an otherwise strong squad.
Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa and India are
my picks. Maybe it won’t
work out that way but for
me those are the four best
teams. Personally, I hope
the Proteas go all the way
this time. They have got a
strong squad yes but I do
think the all rounder’s posi-
TOMORROW’S MATCH
South Africa Vs West Indies, Sydney (9 am)
Albie Morkel
tion is not settled yet, said
the 33-year-old, who is
also brother of leading Proteas’ pacer Morne Morkel.
Having represented South
Africa in the World T20, Morkel has lived with the pressure
of shedding the chokers’ tag
once and for all. Interestingly, South African Sports
Minister Fikile Mbalula had
told the World Cup-bound
squad to not return home
as a bunch of losers.
Does a statement like that
affect the mindset of the
players? I am not aware of
that statement but yes we
are a very proud nation and
we love sport. There will always be an expectation to
win. People get worked up
quickly when things don’t
go as planned but still the
Proteas are a strong brand
with lots of strong individuals, so statements like that
would not have an affect
on how the teams play and
perform,’ said Morkel.
Martin Crowe in
Cricket Hall of Fame
AUCKLAND:
New Zealand great Martin Crowe will be inducted
into the ICC Cricket Hall of
Fame during the World Cup
match between New Zealand and Australia at Eden
Park, here on Saturday.
Crowe, 52, who is bravely
ﬁghting a relapse of a rare
blood cancer disease, will
be the third cricketer after
India’s Anil Kumble and
and Australia’s Betty Wilson to be inducted into
the Hall of Fame during
this edition of the 50-over
showpiece event. Kumble
and Wilson were given
the honour last week in
Melbourne.
When Crowe receives his
commemorative cap from
ICC Director and Chairman of Cricket Australia
Wally Edwards, during
Martin Crowe
the innings break, he will
become the 79th inductee
into the ICC Cricket Hall
of Fame and third New
Zealand player after Sir
Richard Hadlee and Debbie Hockley.
Crowe, one of the most
stylish and elegant batsman of his generation,
made his international debut against Australia in
Wellington in February
1982 at the age of 19.
He retired 13 years later
after playing 77 Tests,
scoring 5,444 at an average of 45.36. This included
17 centuries, the most
by a New Zealand cricketer, while his 299 against
Sri Lanka in Wellington in
January 1991 stood as a
national record until Brendon McCullum scored 302
against India in Wellington
last year in February.
Crowe also played 143
One-Day Internationals
(ODIs) in which he scored
4,704 runs at an average
of 38.55 with four centuries
and 34 half-centuries.
He played in three 50over World Cups, and led
New Zealand to the semifinal of the 1992 edition
where his side lost to eventual champions Pakistan in
Auckland.
Time Southee
POINTS TABLE
POOL A
Team
P
W
L NR
Pts
NZ
AUS
BAN
SL
AFG
ENG
SCOT
3
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
2
2
3
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
6
3
3
2
2
2
0
2
2
0
0
3
2
1
0
2
2
0
0
2
1
1
0
3
1
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
(Updated upto 25 February)
4
4
4
2
2
0
0
POOL B
INDIA
WI
IRE
SA
ZIM
UAE
PAK
Southee in injury scare
AUCKLAND:
In-form New Zealand spearhead Tim
Southee suffered a shoulder injury
today but team management said he
would be fit for Saturday’s all-important
World Cup game against Australia in
Auckland.
The 26-year-old suffered a nasty blow
when struck by a throw from team-mate
Adam Milne during ﬁelding practice at
Eden Park and fell over in pain, clutching
the back of his right shoulder.
The fall, and Southee’s reaction, received
a light-hearted response from his teammates but the swing bowler sat out the
remainder of the team’s net session while
ice was applied to his shoulder.
However, a New Zealand team spokesman said there were no fears about his
involvement in Saturday’s match. The
co-hosts will hope Southee does not
suffer any lingering after-effects and remains fully ﬁt for the much-awaited game
between the World Cup co-hosts, which
should decide who tops Pool A.
Southee is currently the leading wickettaker at the tournament with 11 wickets in
three games.
He took two wickets each of the Black
Caps’ first two victories, against Sri
Lanka and Scotland, before his haul of
seven for 33 -- the best-ever one-day
international ﬁgures by a New Zealander
-- played a key role in an eight-wicket
thrashing of England in Wellington as
the co-hosts made it three wins from as
many Pool A matches.
Southee and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori are the only two bowlers in the New
Zealand line-up who played in a six-wicket
defeat by Australia when the teams last
met for an ODI at Eden Park in 2010.
Film about ﬁlms
Bobby Simha in Masalapadam
L
axman Kumar, who cranked the
camera for films like Vennila
Kabaddi Kuzhu, Kulla Narikoottam,
Poda Podi, Pagan and Thillu Mullu
is foraying as ﬁlmmaker. His maiden
directorial venture is Masalapadam.
He is co-producing the movie with
Vijayaragaverndra.
Mirchi Shiva , Bobby Simha, debutant Gaurav are playing the male
leads. Lakshmy Devy of Nil Gavani
Sellathey is playing the female
lead. Karthik Acharya is the music
composer.
Speaking about the ﬁlm, Laxman,
says, ‘It is about the ﬁlm industry.
But no spoofs. The way today’s
youngsters see cinema and criticise
form the subject. The difﬁculty of
making a ‘masala movie’ makes
the crux’.
‘It is about the travails of a group of
youngsters. Immense research have
been made and all has come good’,
he adds.
— NT Bureau
Neetu’s special act
A
ctress Neetu Chandraa, who was last seen
in 2013 Tamil thriller Aadhi Bhagavan, has
started shooting for new project Vaigai Express.
Contrary to my earlier roles, audiences will get to
see me in a new dimension here. It’s a musical
thriller, Neetu said. For the ﬁrst time in her career,
Neetu will be playing a double role. Featuring an
ensemble women cast of Komal Sharma and Suja
Varunee, the ﬁlm is being helmed by Shaji Kailas.
— NT Bureau
Lingaa row will
be solved soon:
Sarathkumar
A
ctor and Nadigar Sangam
president Sarathkumar said
negotiations are on with the
distributors who are agitated with
Lingaa loss and an amicable solution would be arrived in a day or two.
Addressing media persons to celebrate the success of Sandamarutham,
Sarathkumar, said, ‘We are in talks
with the distributors. Unfortunately the
distributors should not put the actor
in a spot of bother. They should raise
such issues through negotiations’.
He said ‘we would ensure in future
that actors should not be held ransom
for a movie’s failure’.
Meanwhile, Sarathkumar’s Sandamarutham released last week,
managed a decent opening. The
movie is directed by A Venkatesh
Name change for
Maniratnam’s
movie
and featured Sarathkumar in double
role - a hero and a villain.
Said Sarathkumar, ‘The audience
response has been amazing. They
cheered my performance.’
‘I am planning to do another movie
with A Venkatesh soon’, he adds.
— NT Bureau
Maniratnam’s directorial venture Ok Kanmani starring Dulqur,
Nithya Menon and Prakashraj has
been rechristened now. It is now
been titled Ok Kadhal kanmani.
Sources say the shot is almost
over and plans are on for an release in April or May. They also
add that A R Rahman’s songs have
come really good and Maniratinam
is planning an audio launch in a
gala manner this March.
Maniratnam’s last Kadal bit the
dust and hence he is all geared
up to make it count with Ok Kadhal Kanmani. P C Sreeram has
cranked the camera for the movie.
— NT Bureau
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