facetruthVol-1 Issue - 5 | Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013 | `2.50/- | Pages - 12

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P R A Y E R S

TODAY GOLD RATE

Ou Campus Turns Battle Ground Again

Online ads find rural traction;cows, buffaloes on sale

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Leh: J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dancing on the tune of Ladakhi

music during inauguration of Sindhu Darshan festival in Leh on Wednesday

Birmingham: New Zealands Nathan McCullum celebrates after taking the wicket of Matthew Wade, No 13, lbw during their group stage ICC Trophy cricket match at

Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, Wednesday.

Sabitha, Dharmana custody petition

adjourned

drive to prevent monsoon-related

diseases

HYDERABAD: The CBI Special Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing to June 19 on a petition filed by the CBI seeking judicial custody of former ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao and Sabitha Indira Reddy.

The formers ministers have been named as accused in the quid pro quo case of YSRCP president Jagan Mohan Reddy and the CBI has filed a petition in the court seeking their arrest. The court has adjourned the further hearing in the case to June 19. (INN)

HYDERABAD: Health and Family Welfare Department has launched a State-wide campaign to prevent monsoon related diseases, said Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Poonam Malakondaiah.

Addressing the media here today, Poonam said all measures were being taken to prevent outbreak of monsoon diseases. She said sufficient quantities of medicines were stocked at districts. She also said an awareness campaign would be undertaken on June 14 throughout the State to bring awareness among the people about diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya.

A special awareness campaign would also be undertaken for students in schools and colleges on June 21, she said. In view of large outbreak of monsoon related diseases during June and Agust last year, precautionary measures like fogging and anti-larval spray were taken up this year. (NSS)

WALKING BENEFITS

JDU- BJP honeymoon almost overPATNA/KOLKATA: The JD-U today appeared to be heading towards parting ways with the BJP over the elevation of Mr Narendra Modi, a development that could also trigger formation of a new non-Congress, non-BJP front to fight the next Lok Sabha elections.

Spurred by the possi-ble JDU-BJP division, Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Baner-jee today initiated efforts for formation of a federal front of these parties by talking to chief ministers Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Naveen Patnaik. The ap-pointment of Mr Modi as BJP’s election campaign committee chief, over which the JDU has strong reservations, has brought the longstanding alliance between the two parties to a precipice and could split the BJP-led NDA, top sources in JD-U said.

In fast-changing equa-tions, JD-U general secretary K C Tyagi, deputed by Mr Kumar, met Miss Banerjee in Kolkata and discussed the possibilities of forming a federal front.

JD-U MPs and MLAs have been asked to stay put in Patna on Friday and Saturday, when a meeting could be held take a final call on the tie-up with BJP, party sources said.

JD-U, which heads the coalition with the BJP in Bihar, has 118

MLAs and does not the support of BJP’s 91 MLAs to continue in power in the 243-mem-ber State Assembly.

At the other end, Mr L K Advani, who was virtually forced by the RSS to withdraw his resignation from key posts in the BJP after Mr Modi’s elevation, spoke to Mr Kumar and JDU chief Sharad Yadav and in an apparent bid to keep the NDA united to face the Lok Sabha elec-tions. Mr Yadav is also the convenor of NDA.

On its part, the BJP too appears reconciled to the possibility that JD-U may be preparing to ditch the alliance in Bihar. “Right now the alliance is there in Bihar. The mandate was given by the peo-ple in the state for BJP-JD(U) alliance in the interest of the state. The BJP wants that the alli-ance should continue in Bihar. It (parting ways) will be a disrespect to the mandate,” BJP spokes-man Syed Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.

He made it clear that what he was saying has the mandate of the party President Rajnath Singh.

JD-U President Sharad Yadav, however, said, “a new situation has emerged. After the JD-U defeat in Maharajganj Lok Sabha by-election, the way BJP and JD-U leaders have been mak-ing statements, the party will have to consider it.

In a file photo Bihar Chief MInister Nitish Kumar (Centre) with BJP leaders Sushma Swraj, Narender Modi and Rajnath Singh

All Schools reopened after summer vaccation, Parents dropping children to schools. - INN Photos

Demanding permission for Telangana march, Osmania University students clash with police. - INN Photos

All Schools reopened after summer vaccation, Parents dropping children to schools

CP warns of tough action HYDERABAD: City Police Commission-er Anurag Sharma has made it clear that they were not giving permis-sion to the Telangana Political JAC sponsored ‘Chalo Assembly’ pro-gram keeping the past experiences in view.

Speaking to the media at Commissioner’s of-ficer here Wednesday, Sharma said that untow-ard incidents have taken place when they gave permission to the Million March and Sagara Haram programs and hence the department has decided not to give permission to the Chalo Assembly pro-gram. He also said that the Assembly was in ses-sion and it was not pos-sible to the department to give permission to it.

He said that the police department was ready to

face the Chalo Assem-bly program. He said that the department was deploying huge police force in the City to pre-vent the activists from entering the City. He said that they were set-ting up 17 Check Posts at the Outskirts of the City and will not allow the agitators into the City. He said that they were deploying CISF, Rapid Action Force, Reserve Police Force along with bringing outside police force. He said that the department was setting up multi-level security to protect the Assembly from the protest program. He said that there was a chance of untoward inci-dents taking place in the JAC proposed Chalo As-sembly as the anti-social elements will enter into the program and resort

to untoward incidents similar to those that had taken place during the Million March and Sagara Haram program.

Appealing to the ac-tivists not to disturb the democratic system, he said that the depart-ment had given permis-sion when the TRS and BJP asked for the meet-ings at Nizam College

Grounds. He also warned the youth and employees not to ruin their future by violating the police department instructions. He said that tough action would be initiated against the rule violators on June 14. On June 14, Section 144 would be imposed and cases would be filed against the violators re-sorting to arrests. (NSS)

Ishrat Jahan encounter: CBI seeks to declare Gujarat top cop a proclaimed offender

AHMEDABAD: The CBI, investigating the 2004 fake encounter case of Ishrat Jahan and three others, has filed an application in the special court here to declare absconding accused IPS officer P P Pandey as a ‘pro-claimed offender’.

The court is likely to pass an order to-morrow. If he is de-clared a proclaimed offender, the inves-tigating agency can seize his property.

On May 2, the special CBI court had issued arrest warrant against Pandey, who at pres-ent is additional DGP (crime), for failing to respond to the summons

of the probe agency.Meanwhile, Pandey

had moved Supreme Court with a plea to quash the FIR and give him protection against the non-bailable war-rant issued against him, which was rejected by the apex court yester-day with the liberty to approach high court.

Pruthvipal P Pandey, a

1982-batch IPS officer, has been made accused in the fake encounter case for providing “so-called crucial intelli-gence inputs” to fellow policemen that Ishrat and three others were LeT operatives and were on a mission to assassinate chief min-ister Narendra Modi.

He was joint commis-sioner of police of the city heading the crime branch when on June 15, 2004, Ishrat Jah-an, Javed Shaikh alias Pranesh Pillai, Am-jadali Akbarali Rana and Zeeshan Johar were killed in an en-counter with the Gu-jarat police on the out-skirts of Ahmedabad.

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013News in Picutres 2

Kochi: Cricketer S. Sreesanth with his mother Savithri and father Shantakumaran Nair at their house in Kochi on Wednesday.

Ahmedabad: Puja Gupta, Nitin Mukesh and Ameesha Patel posing at a promotional event of their upcoming film “Shortcut Romeo”

Patiala: Police in action against protesting family members of unemployed linemen in Patiala on Wednesday.

Leh: J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with local artists during the inaugural ceremony of Ladakh Singhey Khabab Spring Festival in Leh on Wednesday.

Kolkata: Children take part in a rally to mark World Day against Child Labour in Kolkata on Wednesday. PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik

Surat: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi checking apples after inaugurating Krishi Bazar in Surat on Wednesday.

Srinagar: JK Chief Minister Omar Abdullah along with MoS Home Sajad Ahmad Kitchloo with awardees of Sher-e- Kashmir police medal for gallantry at SKICC

in Srinagar on Wednesday

Kolkata: A child works at a tea stall in Kolkata on World Day Against Child Labour on Wednesday.

Hyderabad: Police fire teargas shell to disperse pro-Telangana students of Osmania University in support of TJACs Chalo Assembly program Wednesday.

New Delhi: S. K. Sarkar, Secretary of Ministry of Water Resources, chairing the Second Meeting of the Cauvery Supervisory Committee in New Delhi.

New Delhi : Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath watching a performance during a function on World

Day Against Child Labour

Srinagar: Sikh devotees offering prayers at Gurdwara Shaheed Bunga Sahib on the occasion of martyrdom of fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev Ji on Wednesday.

Raipur: Family and relatives paying their last respect to the mortal remains of veteran leader Vidya Charan Shukla at Congress Bhawan before his funeral procession in Raipur on Wednesday.

Ahmedabad: Muslim women protest damanding ban on oral divorce in Ahmedabad on Wednesday

New Delhi: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik along with party MPs talking to media after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013News Maker 3

Stalling The House Is Undemocratic Chief Whip

CM To Gear-Up Party For Local Body Elections

Assembly Adjourns Amidst Noisy Scenes, Sans Business

CM inaugurates photo exhibition on sanitation campaign by UNICEF

HYDERABAD: Amid noisy scenes, the Legis-lative Assembly, on the second consecutive day also, was adjourned for the day without trans-acting any business as the TDP, TRS, BJP members were rig-id on their demand.

Soon after the house assembled at 9 am on Wednesday, the Speaker Nadendla Manohar an-nounced that the notices of adjournment motions given by TDP on short-age of seeds and fertil-izers causing hardship to the farmers, TRS and BJP on introduction of Telangana resolution in the house, YSRCP on national project status to Pranahitha-Chevella and Polavaram projects, MIM on permission to

‘Chalo Assembly’ called by Telangana JAC, and CPI (M) on regu-larization of services of contract employ-ees, were disallowed.

Reacting to this, the TRS and BJP members rushed to the podium of the Speaker and stalled the proceedings of the house demanding that their adjournment mo-tions be taken up for discussion. The TRS members raised slogans like “Introduce Telan-gana resolution in the Assembly” and “gov-ernment should give permission to Chalo Assembly of T JAC”.

To bring the house into order, the Speak-er adjourned the house at 9.10 am for half-an-hour. After the house

met again at 10.15 am, the Speaker announced that all the questions listed for today have been postponed, and the papers listed in the agenda were deemed to have been tabled in the house. The TRS and BJP members again rushed to the podium and stalled the proceedings of the house. The YSRCP and TDP members also rose on their feet and dis-played placards demand-ing discussion on their adjournment motions.

Strongly criticizing the attitude of the opposition parties, the Minister for Finance, Anam Ramna-rayana Reddy reminded that it was decided at the Business Adviso-ry Committee meeting, which would finalize the

agenda of the house, that the house should discuss the public issues. But, the opposition members were acting against this by stalling the house on other issues. The gov-ernment, which wants the smooth run of the house, was ready to take up discussion on any issue in the house. He pointed out that Ques-tion Hour was postponed for the last three days.

“It is very unfortunate that opposition parties are not permitting the government to take up discussion on SC/ST sub-plans and reports of Standing Committees. The Legislative Assem-bly was not a property of anyone and it was a property of people of the State”, the Minister said.

CM inaugurates photo exhibition on sanitation campaign by UNICEF and Government of Andhra Pradesh at Assembly premisis here on Wednesday. INN PHOTOS

HYDERABAD: Gov-ernment Chief Whip Gandra Venkatramana Reddy has said that the ruling party will think as to what is to be done if the opposition par-ties continued their action of stalling the House from tomorrow.

Speaking to the media at CLP office here on Wednesday along with party MLAs Alampally Srinivas, Malladi Vish-nu and Vanga Geetha, Gandra said that it was

not possible to the ruling party to run the House if all the opposition parties went into podium to stall the House. He said that the action of stalling the House proceedings by all the opposition parties is undemocrat-ic. He said that the rul-ing party was ready for discussion on any issue if the opposition par-ties raised the issues according to the rules.

Alleging that the oppo-sition parties were try-

ing to implement their own agendas in the As-sembly, Gandra said that the ruling party would propose to the Speaker to send the parties out if one or two opposi-tion parties stalled the House, but all the parties were stalling the House. Running the House by sending all the opposi-tion parties is not a good tradition, he opined.

Rejecting the sugges-tion that the ruling par-ty has failed to run the

House, the Chief Whip said that the opposi-tion parties have failed to run the House. He said that the opposition parties were not main-taining unity and they were not coordinating with each other to run the House. He appealed to the opposition parties to cooperate with the Speaker to run it from tomorrow at least. He said that the prevailing situation in the House was painful. (NSS)

HYDERABAD: The Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is gear-ing up the party cadre for the ensuing local body elections. He has decided to or-ganize the extended Congress party district review meetings, from June 17 to June 22.

According to press note, the Chief Minister will gear up the party leaders and field level

party activists to ensure the victory of the Con-gress party candidates. The Ministers of the respective districts, in-charge minister, MLAs, MLCs, MPs, DCC, DCCB, DCMS chair-men, in-charges of re-spective constituencies, municipality in-charges and other leaders would participate in the re-view meetings. Every day the Chief Minister

will meet the lead-ers of four districts.

Srikakulam, Vi-jayanagaram, Vi-sakhapatnam and Khammam districts review meeting will be held on June 17. Karimnagar, Warangal, Rangareddy and Adila-bad districts meeting on June 18; Anantha-pur, Kadapa, Kurnool and Prakasham districts meeting on June 19;

East and West Goda-vari, Guntur and Krish-na districts on June 20; Medak, Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda and Nizam-abad districts meeting on June 21; and Chit-toor, Nellore, Hyder-abad district meeting on June 22. The re-view meetings will be held every day from 5 PM to 8 PM at Chief Minister’s Camp Of-fice, Begumpet. (NSS)

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013What’s Up Hyderabad 4Ou Campus Turns Battle Ground AgainBan Order In City From June 12 To 18

HYDERABAD: The Osmania University Campus on Wednesday transformed into a battle ground again with the police personnel swing-ing lathis on the peace-fully protesting students. Not satisfied with rain-ing lathi blows on the students, the police also lobbed teargas shells.

The OU students took out a bike rally from the Campus demanding that

the Kiran Kumar Reddy government accord per-mission to the Telangana Political JAC-sponsored Chalo Assembly Rally on June 14. However, the ever vigilant po-lice personnel stopped the students at the NCC Gate and asked them to go back. Even as the students were pleading with the policemen that they would express their protest in a peaceful and

democratic manner, the fastidious police per-sonnel resorted to rain-ing lathi blows on the students. Enraged over the police unwarranted action, the students too picked up stones and hurled them at the police-men. There were heated exchanges between the police and the students. Later, the police took the students into custody.

The OU Students JAC

leaders made it clear that they would make the Chalo Assembly Rally a great success in spite of hurdles to be creat-ed by the police and the government. They also claimed that thousands of students from all the ten districts in the Tel-angana region arrived in the city. They also clarified that they were not afraid of arrests and bind-over cases. (NSS)

HYDERABAD: With a view to maintain public order and peace in the twin cities of Hyder-abad and Secunderabad, City Police Commis-sioner Anurag Sharma has promulgated pro-hibitory orders effec-tive from 6 am on June 12 to 6 am on June 18.

According to the ban order, any kind of public meetings, proces-sions without prior per-mission of authorized police officers, carrying of arms like swords,

spears, knives, sticks with or without flags, bludgeons, guns, explo-sives and other offen-sive weapons are pro-hibited in the twin cities.

The Police Commis-sioner also prohibited gathering of persons on public roads or public places disturbing peace and order or causing inconvenience, annoy-ance or danger to pub-lic, collection, carrying of stones or other means of casting missiles. He also prohibited use of

mikes/public address system by different or-ganizations around the Secretariat premises, Burgula Rama Krishna Rao building, GHMC complex, Commission-er of Fisheries build-ing, Mint Compound, Nizam College and its surroundings, Legisla-tive Assembly prem-ises and surrounding roads, Public Garden Nampally, Upper Tank-bund, IMAX, Rotary and NTR Marg roads and flyover road lead-

ing from Secretariat to Visweswarayya statue at Khaitabad. Playing mu-sic, singing or speech-es or broadcasting through loud speakers.

The city police chief also warned that if any person found violating the ban order will be prosecuted under City Police Act. However, police officers, military personnel, Home Guards on duty and bonafide funeral processions are exempted from the ban order, he added. (NSS)

Trs Plea To Govt For Permission To ‘Chalo Assembly’

MANUU entrance results releasedHYDERABAD: The Maulana Azad National Urdu University on Wednesday re-leased the results of entrance test 2013 for D.Ed., B.Ed., M.Ed. and Polytechnic courses.

According to the Controller of Examination, the results are available on university’s website www.manuu.ac.in. (INN)

HYDERABAD: TRS senior leader Pocharam Srinivas Reddy has said that the government has to remember that the Telangana Political JAC sponsored program was only ‘Chalo Assembly’ and not ‘Lay Seize to the Assembly’, and demand-ed it to give permission.

Speaking at the Assem-bly media point here on Wednesday along with the party MLAs T Ra-jaiah, Vidyasagar, Bik-shapathi and Koppula

Eshwar, Pocharam said that the Chalo Assem-bly was taken up only to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was staying in the Assembly as it was run-ning now. He said that the program was taken up only to remind the ruling party that it has given a word on Telanga-na on December 9, 2009.

He asked the govern-ment and the police to see that the program is

passed-off peacefully. He said that the gov-ernment and the police should not arrest the Telangana protagonists and should not close the roads leading to Hyder-abad and the Assembly.

Eshwar said that the Seemandhra leaders have hatched a con-spiracy to weaken the ‘Bayyram Ukku-Telan-gana Hakku’ slogan by encouraging a slogan ‘Bayyaram Ukku-Giri-janula Hakku’. He said

that it was nothing but a ‘divide and rule pol-icy’ and they were not understanding that the girijans were also part of Telangana region. He said that the TRS will clean the Telangana Martyrs’ Statue at Gun Park with milk or flow-ers tomorrow or day after tomorrow as the United Andhra leader N Chan-drababu Naidu staged a dharna at the Stat-ue on Tuesday. (NSS)

5What’s Up Hyderabad Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013What’s Up Hyderabad 5State Bags Five Medals In National

Schools Chess Championship

Minister Helps Kids Write Alphabet

We will stop essential services also if requires: Srinivas Gaud

GHMC Standing committee meeting held

HYDERABAD: The State stole the show by winning five Medals in National Schools Chess Championship-2013 on Wednesday organized by All India Chess Fed-eration at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai. The upcom-ing young players of AP bagged one Gold Medal (Raja Rithvik), two Silver Medals and two Bronze Medals.

The medal winners from Andhra Pradesh in National Schools Chess Championsh ip -2013 are: Raja Rithvik R. (Gold medal) under U-9 Open, Mounika Akshaya (Silver) under U-11 Girls, Y. Gra-

hesh (Silver) under-13 Open, Karthik Pradeep (Bronze) under U-9 Open, Potluri Supreeta (Bronze) under U-13.

Raja Rithvik R of Hy-derabad bagged Gold Medal for AP in the National Schools Chess Championship-2013, in Under-9 event held at Jawarlal Nehru In-door Stadium, Chennai. Rithvik (2nd seed), who is having International Rating of 1631 scored a thrilling victory over top seed and higher rated Nihal Sarin (Rat-ing 1663) of Kerala in the final round. Raja Rithvik has received Gold Medal and Merit certificate from Young

Grand Master Adhiban of Tamil Nadu, who has appreciated the sharpness and tem-perament of Rithvik.

Rithvik, studying V class in Orchids Inter-national School, Jubi-lee Hills, Hyderabad clinched the National ti-tle by scoring 7.5 points out of 9 rounds. He is being trained by coach K. Narsimha Rao from the last three years. Pre-viously, Raja Rithvik has also clinched Asian Rapid Event-2012 and bagged Silver medal in Commonwealth Chess Championship-2012.

Raja Rithvik and oth-er four medal winners from AP are selected

to represent India in the Prestigious Asian Schools Chess Cham-pionship-2013 to be conducted by Asian Chess Federation from August 27 to Septem-ber 4, 2013 at Co-lombo, Sri Lanka and World Schools Chess Championsh ip -2013 for which dates are yet to be announced.

More than 500 play-ers, including top players from all the States such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Kerala, Karnataka, New Del-hi and so on partici-pated in the National event. FT BUREAU

HYDERABAD: Pri-mary Education Min-ister S. Shailajanath on Wednesday person-ally helped tiny tots to write the Alphabet.

The Minister was the chief guest at the second phase of “Samoohika Aksharabhyasa” pro-gram held at Government High School at Sitaphal-mandi in Secunderabad.

Speaking on the oc-casion, Shailajanath re-minded that the students in the schools were put to great hardships for want of basic needs like toi-

lets and drinking water. But today, the scene is quite opposite with the students being provided all the necessary facili-ties, including uniforms and text and notebooks, he added. Stating that steps were being taken to provide textbooks to all students by the end of this month, the minister said the Class X students would be given books in two or three days. He also said that the books were ready for distribu-tion to the Class X Urdu medium school students.

The School Education Minister said all the gov-ernment schools in the State were being pro-vided toilets and drink-ing water facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 70 crores. Stating that there would be no scar-city of teachers in the schools, Shailajanath exhorted the teachers to work with commit-ment and dedication.

Later, the minister handed over digital hear-ing aids to 2,612 hear-ing impaired students, who were identified

in a survey conducted by Angawadi workers.

Rajiv Vidya Mission State project director Usharani also spoke. Principal Secretary Rajeshwari, Hyder-abad district Collector SAM Rizvi, ASPD Ali Akbar Basha, Region-al Joint Director of Ed-ucation Masthanaiah, DEO Subba Reddy, Rajiv Vidya Mission PO Suseendar, Sita-phalmandi government high school head mis-tress Indrajeet and oth-ers were present. (NSS)

HYDERABAD: Newly elected standing com-mittee members of the GHMC on Wednesday interacted with the of-ficials concerned over the civic problems. Mo-hammed Majid Hus-sain, Mayor, GHMC and M.T. Krishna Babu, Commissioner, GHMC

welcomed the 4th newly elected Standing Com-mittee Members. Later, the members and offi-cials introduced them-selves to each other.

Mayor and the Com-missioner told the mem-bers that the Standing Committee used to meet every Thursday 3PM.

They asked about their opinion whether to hold the meeting on the same day or to shift to a lat-er day. Newly elected members asked the com-missioner to continue the same day without any change. Later on the members and the officers discussed about

various civic related issues like providing of catch pits, bins and desilting works and oth-ers. All the Zonal Com-missioners, Additional Commissioners, Engi-neer-in-Chief, Chief En-gineer have participated in Standing Commit-tee Meeting.FT Bureau

Dhabeerpura corporator Amjad Ullah Khan Khalid distributed certificates to the children who have attended Islamic classes during summer holidays at Masjid-E-Peera Sha in Chanchalguda…

HYDERABAD: “We will stop all the essen-tial services like water, sanitation, power and others, if the govern-ment arrests any of the leader during the Chalo assembly pro-gramme on June 14”, V Srinivas Gaud warned

the government, here on Wednesday.

V.Srinivas Gaud, President of the Gazett-ed officers association and co-chairman of the T-Jac, on Wednesday appealed the public to make the programme a grand success.

All the employ unions are supporting the pro-gramme, he added. If the government tried to take action on any of the leaders or employ-ees , we will stop all the essential services, he warned the government.

To make the pro-

gramme a success, Mu-nicipal employs will lead the programme, he said. He recalled that, the Municipal employs have participated ac-tively in Manavaha-ram, Million march programmes also, he stressed.(FT Bureau)

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013Entertainment 6

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013Entertainment 7Indian Ocean guitarist Susmit Sen leaves band

NEW DELHI: Susmit Sen, the co-founder and guitarist of India’s most successful rock band ‘Indian Ocean’, has decided to quit after 23 long years.

Susmit, who along with Asheem Chakravarty had founded the iconic band in 1990, will hand over his legacy to a younger guitar player. “Right now, I am at my creative best. Indian Ocean is a sound and style we created. After more than 27 years of playing I feel that I am brimming with more compositions, more music but in a grammar

and style that is different from Indian Ocean,” Susmit said in a statement.

“So I feel restricted now as I am sure must be the case with the others as well. I strongly believe that my moving on will be beneficial for both ‘Indian Ocean’ and my creative expression as well,” he said.Susmit has already come out with an individual album - Depths of the Ocean- where the compositions bear his trademark and which has his unique style of guitar playing.

He is collaborating with

a bunch of musicians- Anirban Ghosh, Nikhil Vasudevan, Amit Sharma, Sudhir Rikhari, Rajiv Raja and old friend Gyaan Singh (of Mrigya fame) and creating music with them as ‘The Susmit Sen Chronicles’.

Young and upcoming guitarist Nikhil Rao will take over the task of carrying on Susmit’s tradition. “Rao is a promising young guitar player with a lot of Indian-ness in his playing. He will be able to give a lot of impetus to Indian Ocean as he will not only add value to concerts but will also be able to create new music with the band in their signature style,” Susmit added. .

Susmit and his close friend Asheem had come together to interpret Indian rhythms and melodies at a time when most young independent musicians were attempting to do covers of known international acts.

Rahul Ram joined within a year, and his contribution with his unique bass style

and fondness for vocals further defined the sound of the band. The Indian Ocean line-up was completed when Amit Kilam, a multi-instrumentalist joined in the summer of 1994.The four went on to create some timeless music in the albums Desert Rain, Kandisa, Jhini, Black Friday and 16/330 Khajoor Road.‘Indian Ocean’ was the first band to release a live album.They were the first band ever in India to have a documentary made on them.

The film ‘Leaving Home’ directed by Jaideep Varma won the Natonal award and is the first ever indigenously made documentary film to have achieved a commercial release in the country. A coffee-table book on ‘Indian Ocean’ will also be released later this year. There will be a multi-city concert tour at the time of the book launch. Susmit will be performing with the band for the promotion of the book, which will be his last and farewell tour with the Indian Ocean.(PTI)

Sonam Kapoor wants to direct films

MUMBAI: Actress Sonam Kapoor has expressed her desire to direct films.

Before starting her career as an actress, Sonam worked as an assistant director under Sanjay Leela Bhansali for ‘Black’, which was released in early 2005. “Apart from being an actress, I want to direct films. May be this will happen after ten years,” Sonam told PTI.

The 28-year-old actress made her acting debut with Bhansali’s ‘Saawariya’, which failed at the box actress.

After a string of flops

including ‘Thank You’,

‘Mausam’ and ‘Players’,

Sonam is now gearing

up for Anand L Rai’s

‘Raanjhanaa’, where she

will be seen essaying the

role of a girl next door. The 28-year-old is looking forward to two other big projects - ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ and ‘Khoobsurat’ remake - besides a YRF untitled film opposite Ayushmann Khurrana.

In ‘Khoobsurat’ remake, Sonam will play a free-spirited girl and she says the film is the modern interpretation of Rekha starrer Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1980 hit.

Sonam’s sister Rhea is producing the film, which is her second movie after ‘Aisha’.(PTI)

Jiah and Suraj were in live-in relationship: Police

MUMBAI: Actress Jiah Khan’s mother told police that her daughter was in a “live-in relationship” for a year with boyfriend Suraj Pancholi who was today remanded in police custody till June 13 by a local court a day after being arrested for allegedly abetting her suicide.

Suraj, son of actor-couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, was arrested last night on the charge of abetting the suicide of the 25-year-old actress who hanged herself at her Juhu residence last Monday.

Suraj was sent in police custody by the court after the prosecution said his interrogation was necessary following allegations of threat, assault and rape levelled against him by the actress in a note found three days after her suicide.

In a new twist to investigations, Jiah’s mother Rabiya told police that the ‘Nishabd’ actress and Suraj were in “live-in relationship” for nearly

a year, a senior police officer said.“Rabiya also told us Jiah was

completely shattered when Suraj sent her a ‘break-up’ bouquet. This was one of the reasons behind the young actress’ extreme step. Suraj had promised to marry Jiah,” the officer said.

However, there was no evidence to link Suraj’s actor- father Aditya to the case, the officer added.

Police are also verifying in which hospital the distraught actress had undergone abortion.

Though the note, purportedly written by Jiah, mentioned the word ‘rape’, police are yet to take a decision on slapping the charge of sexual assault against the accused.

eanwhile, Rabiya tweeted “my daughter had bruises on her jaw. She was hit badly that pushed her to the end path. I wish I was there. How dare he (Suraj) hit her!” Suraj has been booked under IPC Section 306 (abetment of

suicide). His domestic help would again be called for recording of statement to corroborate the evidence gathered by the police in the case. .

Seeking his custody, police told the court that they have recovered five love letters exchanged between Suraj and Jiah and they wanted to verify the contents.

The CCTV footage of the hotel and house, where the couple went hours before Jiah ended her life, has also been recovered, Public Prosecutor A K Pacharane told the court. He said there were serious allegations against Suraj.

A distressed Jiah had aborted their baby and this aspect, too, needed to be probed, the prosecution said in its remand application. Accepting the prosecution’s arguments, Magistrate Seema Jadhav remanded Suraj in police custody till June 13. The court rejected defence lawyer Zameer Khan’s contention that the note, which formed the basis for seeking custody, did not specifically name Suraj and was not signed by Jiah.

The note, according to the actress’ family, was discovered three days after her death and not immediately, the defence counsel said.

Khan argued that his 21-year-old client could not have given any commitment (regarding relationship) to Jiah during a short courtship of just 6-8 months. “Jiah was obsessive and possessive...it does not mean Suraj should be pinned.” He maintained that the US-born actress was a “troubled child” and was under depression for many years. Jiah had made a dream debut in the film industry, featuring opposite megastar Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varma’s 2007 movie ‘Nishabd’ when she was just 19.

Jiah’s mother had yesterday claimed her daughter took the extreme step due to “trauma and abuse” caused by Suraj and his father Aditya, rubbishing media reports that a fading career in Bollywood forced her to end her life.(PTI)

English Vinglish’ brought respect for me: Priya Anand

MUMBAI: South actress Priya Anand, who was seen in Sridevi’s comeback superhit film ‘English Vinglish’, says that the film brought her lot of respect and credibility from the industry.

Priya Anand played the role of Radha, the spunky niece of Sridevi’s character in ‘English Vinglish’.

“’English Vinglish’ gave me lot of respect and credibility as an actor. People take me more seriously now. It gave me more confidence,” Priya told PTI. “In the film, I did supporting role and I got noticed.

I was even nominated at almost all award functions. It is a great thing,” she said.

“It’s a high,” says Priya, “to be noticed in such a role with someone as huge as Sridevi.”

The actress said that getting noticed alongside Srideviji in itself was a big thing for her. “I did not imagine this kind of response from everyone. It was a dream to work with her,” she said. Priya, who is a popular name in Tamil and Telugu film industry, has been signed by Excel Entertainment for a role in the new youth-centric film-- ‘Fukrey’. The film is directed by Mrigdeep Singh Lamba, and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment. Set against the backdrop of college, the movie is about bonding between friends and has an ensemble cast. Pulkit Samrat (of ‘Bittoo Boss’ fame), Manjot Singh of ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye’ fame, Ali Fazal of ‘3 Idiots’ fame, Richa Chadda and others.

The film is slated to release on June 14.(PTI)

Remo wants Madhuri for new musical on the lines of

‘Navrang’

MUMBAI: Choreographer-

turned-director Remo

D’Souza has expressed

his desire to do a film with

Indian actress Madhuri

Dixit, which would be on

the lines of noted filmmaker V Shantaram’s classics ‘Navrang’ and ‘Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje’.

“I am working on a film that I want to do with Madhuri.

It is a musical on the lines of ‘Navrang’, ‘Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje’, but revisited now,” Remo told PTI here today.

‘Navrang’ is a 1959 film by Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre popularly known as V Shantaram. The film had Shantaram’s wife Sandhya in the lead. His yet another film was ‘Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje’ (1955). It again had Sandhya and dancer Gopi Krishna in the lead roles. Remo and Madhuri have been judging the dance reality show

‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa’ from last three seasons. Remo is writing this film keeping in mind only Madhuri and is hopeful she will accept the offer to do it.

“I am writing this film only for her. Lets’ hope I finish writing the film and start work on it soon. She knows the day I complete the script, I will talk to her formally on this and I am hopeful she will say yes,” he said. Remo has his hands full with films like an action movie on the lines of Hollywood hit ‘Fast and Furious’, ‘ABCD’ sequel.

Madhuri is currently busy with Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Gulab Gang’ and Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Dedh Ishqiya’.(PTI)

Was Jiah Khan Raped?

Well, this may not be the exact platform to discuss on definition of ‘Rape’ but the kind of allegations presently jiah khan’s mother Rabhia is making on Suraj Pancholi is a clear evidence of unbearable trauma undergone by the dead actress. Her suicide note clearly mentions the line, ‘After all the pain, the rape, the abuse, the torture I have seen previously

I didn’t deserve this. I didn’t see any love or commitment from you.’Sensing all this, Jiah’s mother wanted Suraj to be punished severely. ‘He hit my daughter and tortured her. I saw bruises on her body. I can feel the pain and humiliation she must have gone through. Police have the evidence. I am angry and pained with the way he used my daughter,’ Rabhia told media.(PTI)

I am Bobbili Puli - DasariOur readers are aware that Dasari Narayana rao was named in the FIR by CBI in relation to the Coal Gate scam and his residence in Hyderabad was raided yesterday by the CBI. Rumours are rife that he might have to face arrest in this case. Dasari Narayan Rao has reacted and spoke on yes-terday’s developments. He said that he is a fero-

cious (Bobbili) tiger and not a coal (Boggula) ti-ger. Eenadu Paper today carried the title ‘Boggula Puli’ to the news item.

The veteran director said that this was a con-spiracy and he has been framed in this. He shall fight it out and come clean, he promised. Dasari requested his fol-lowers to be in peace and not to get agitated. (PTI)

5Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013FT Democracy 8

Black ‘Murrah’ buffalo with short and tightly curled horns for Rs 80,000 and herd of 10 ‘Holstein Friesians’ cows at Rs 6 lakh on the click of the mouse - the Indian online classifieds are moving beyond usual items such as mobiles, cars and real estate with increasing internet penetration

in smaller towns.Online classifieds

players Quikr and Olx are finding goodtraction for their business from semi urban and rural areas in states like West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharash t ra ,Or i s sa , Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

“While the main metros continue to be top contributors to our site,

the rapidly increasing internet usage in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns has also boosted our growth tremendously...Today Tier 2 and 3 cities account for over 50 per cent of our traffic,” Quikr CEO Pranay Chulet told PTI.

Olx, which has a majority of users mainly from metros, is also finding that small

town traffic on its site is growing. “We do notice positive trends from Tier – 2 cities as

well. These include cities like Jaipur, Surat, Cochin,” Olx CEO Amarjit Batra said.

With these sites offering platform to users to buy and sell a wide range of products, it is not surprising that

enterprising farmers are using them to sell their pets and animals as well.

“...people are now witnessing responses to ads even for pets and animals like cows and buffaloes, which have been listed for sale on OLX from rural or semi urban areas,” Batra said, adding such trends were prevalent globally.

uying and selling of such dairy animals is already a practice in rural India and the availability of this platform has further catalysed the trading of dairy farming animals

ensuring better reach and responses compared to other traditional platforms, he added.

Expressing similar views, Chulet said:”People are very passionate about their pets and that reflects in the kinds of ads/replies we find for adoption of various pets on our site.

We also have rural users putting up their animals for sale even though we have never actively promoted it.”

With a variety of users across different sections, these online classified sites are witnessing a range of products being sold and purchased.

“Users have listed exceptional and unique products for sale that are not available anywhere. People have been posting ads for their Bombardier jets, Bhagwad Gita lockets as well as antique Rolls Royce on OLX,” Batra said.(PTI)

Online ads find rural traction;cows, buffaloes on sale

5Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013National 9Astronomy needs to ‘enriched’

with ancient science, says Kalam

UJJAIN (MP): Former President APJ Abdul Kalam said here today that modern astronomy needs to be linked with ancient science to “enrich” it.

“Astronomy is a subject of inquisitiveness, whose attraction will continue

unabated and it should be linked with ancient science for enriching it,” he said, after inaugurating the first modern planetarium in the temple city at Dongla.

Kalam said that the planetarium would help students understand

astronomy. Referring to the history of astronomy in India, he made a special mention of Aryabhatta, B h a s k a r a c h a r y a and Varahamihira’s contributions. Kalam said that he obtained a lot of important information on

astronomy from Jayant Narlikar’s Pune-based lab called “Ayuka”.

The former President urged the youth to make science the mission of their lives, since only science could solve crises of water, power and waste management. Addressing the function, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced plans to establish a 3-D Imax movie theatre within the planetarium complex and sanctioned Rs 5 crore for it.

He directed the science and technology department to select global-level scholars for the observatory and planetarium.

He also announced setting up of a research foundation in Madhya Pradesh Council for science and technology.(PTI)

NRI bonds for infra funding, says FinMin official

MUMBAI: Government is mulling to raise money overseas by a bond sale to NRIs to support infrastructure finance needs and not to prop up the steeply falling rupee, a top official said today.

“We are not looking

at bonds to support the currency. We are looking at bonds for generally raising capital for infrastructure,” Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters on the sidelines of an investor conference here.

Yesterday, Chief

Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan had hinted that the government might go in for NRI bonds to raise the badly needed foreign exchange. “We will be looking at all options for safe financing of CAD...It is still early days,” Rajan had said, while trying to talk up the rupee, which had hit a life-time low of 58.98 to the dollar intra-day yesterday.

Mayaram today said the government keeps on evaluating multiple options of resource mobilisation on a regular basis and the NRI bonds issuance is a part of the same. “We keep looking at different instruments and bonds are a instrument we are looking at for raising resources for long-term infrastructure

financing,” Mayaram said.The rupee has been in a

downward spiral of late and has lost 6 per cent since May.

The high current account deficit is being blamed as a major concern for the fall in the rupee. The dollar is also strengthening against other currencies globally. The domestic currency has been going through a phase of depreciating lasting up to a month over the last two years. The idea of issuing bonds to be subscribed by the diaspora has been speculated during each such phase. The government had raised billions of dollars through offerings like the India Resurgent Bonds and India Millennium Deposits in 1998 and 2000, respectively.(PTI)

Jaya confident of regime change after LS poll

CHENNAI: Sounding con-fident of a change of regime at the Centre after next Lok Sabha polls, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalali-thaa today said there would be a “friendly govern-ment”, taking an apparent dig at the UPA rule which she has been accusing of meting out step-mother-ly treatment to her state.

She made the remarks at the Diamond Jubilee cele-brations of the Cancer In-stitute here while stating that the institute’s plea for upgradation to the status of Centre of Excellence was pending with the UPA

Government for approval.“I have written to the

Prime Minister of India, regarding the pending re-quest of the Cancer Insti-tute, considering the excel-lent service rendered for over three decades, even while functioning as an NGO,” she said referring to its Chairperson V Shan-tha’s statement that it had applied for upgradation.

“We are awaiting the ap-proval of the present Gov-ernment of India. If the ap-proval fails to materialise, I solemnly assure Dr Shanta that next year there will be a friendly Government at

the Centre that will imme-diately afford necessary ap-proval for recognition of the Cancer Institute as a Centre of Excellence,” she said.

Jayalalithaa has been ask-ing AIADMK cadres to work for the victory of the party in all 40 Lok Sabha constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to ensure a greater role for her at the national level.

Hailing the cancer insti-tute as a place of miracles, she said doctors and the staff have to tread softly, for they tread on hopes, fear and anxiety of families.

“They accomplish wonders with their professional skills.

Every life saved from the jaws of death, is a liv-ing miracle...,” she said.

“My Government is very conscious of such needs, and endeavours to en-sure that state-of-the-art equipment and medical skills are made available to the needy,” she said.

Observing that due to the absence of an Indian stem cell bank, patients, if lucky

to find a match, have to import the same at a cost of over Rs 25 lakh, Jayala-lithaa said, “To ensure ac-cess to patients with blood cancer and thalassaemia, my government has sanc-tioned a first of its kind cord banking system with a grant of Rs nine crore to create a cord bank under public private partnership.

“Under this scheme, 3,000 cord blood donations would be collected and processed and patients referred by Government hospitals, government employees and their dependents, and patients under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme would be given the units free of charge”, she said.

This will greatly benefit blood cancer and thalas-saemia patients, she added.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister announced that the Government would give a special grant of Rs five crore for the diamond jubilee building to be constructed by the Cancer Institute.(PTI)

NIA takes custody of Hizbul terrorist to study funding pattern

NEW DELHI: In a headway that may help it get an insight into the funding pattern of separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, NIA has taken the custody of dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Mohammed Shafi Shah. Shah alias Dawood, a resident of Bandipore in north Kashmir, was brought from Kashmir last week after NIA secured his police remand till June 17, official sources said.

NIA has already declared Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, as a proclaimed offender in the case which relates to his outfit as one of the most active terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir with strong bases in Pulwama, Kupwara, Sopore, Budgam, Doda,

Baramula and Srinagar. He was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2011 and lodged in jail on charges of being a close aide of Salahuddin, the sources said, adding his questioning may help the agency in finding more clues in this case. The NIA said in its case that the terror group was being regularly and systematically funded from across the border for promoting terrorist activities in India. The funding is being routed through a frontal organisation of Hizb -- Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trusts (JKART) which has its head office in Rawalpindi and branches in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad in PoK.

This organisation was formed in 1990 for operating refugee camps

in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for Kashmiris who crossed over to Pakistan after militancy broke out in the state in the 1990s.

The NIA probe claims Salahuddin has also used JKART as a front to fund militant activities in various parts of the state and pumped in more than Rs 80 crore in the last two years through various conduits. An Interpol Red Corner warrant “A-66/2-1998” was issued against Mohammed Yusuf Shah alias Salahuddin, who heads a conglomerate of terror outfits-- United Jehad Council, in 1998 at the request of Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in various terror-related activities.(PTI)

WB govt indifferent to high crime rate: CPI (M)

KOLKATA: The CPI (M) today accused the West Bengal government of being indifferent to the state being put at the top in crime by the National

Crime Records Bureau.“The state government

has been totally indifferent to the upswing in crime rate starting from the Barasat gangrape of a

college girl, murderous assault of two TV reporters at Barrackpore and murder of former CPI (M) MLA at Burnpur in last few days,” senior CPI(M) leader Suryakanta Mishra said.

(CPI(M) leader Suryakanta Mishra)

“This government has put the state on top of other states in spurt in crime rate which is alarming and it has done practically nothing to set things right”, Mishra, who is the Leader of the Opposition, alleged.

“The crime rate in West Bengal accounts for 13.7

per cent at the all-India level and this is a cause of concern”, Mishra said, referring to the NCRB report which had registered nearly 31,000 cases of atrocities against women in the state.

He said that the state government had failed to give the mandatory feedback to the NCRB at regular intervals.

The CPI (M) leader alleged that opposition candidates for the panchayat elections were not provided security during the filing of nominations.(PTI)5 held for betting in ICC

Champions TrophyLUCKNOW: Five people betting in ICC Champions Trophy matches were arrested in Rampur, home department sources here said today. On a tip off, five persons were arrested yesterday from Gurubux hotel in Civil Lines police station area, sources said.

Seven mobile phones, a TV set and cash slips of Rs 25,000 were recovered from them, they added. Sonia likely to accompany PM during JK visit SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is likely to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to the state scheduled later this month.

“We are in discussion with Sonia Gandhi and possibly she will also be visiting the state,” Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here. He said the state government was in discussion with the Prime Minister’s office to work out the modalities of his visit to the state. “This information that had been spread that the PM’s visit has been cancelled is incorrect. At no point of time had the visit been cancelled. The Prime Minister’s visit stands as of now,” Omar asserted.

Asked if resumption of dialogue between the Centre and the separatist leadership in the Valley

is on the agenda during the high profile visit, he evaded a direct reply and said, “We are working out the details of this visit. What will be involved and what are the issues, we are working on it.” In response to another question, Omar said he had nothing to do with the internal bickering in NDA. “We have no relation with BJP. This is the internal matter of JD (U) and BJP...we have got nothing to do with it,” he said. NIA takes custody of Hizbul terrorist to study funding pattern NEW DELHI: In a headway that may help it get an insight into the funding pattern of separatist groups in Jammu and Kashmir, NIA has taken the custody of dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Mohammed Shafi Shah.

Shah alias Dawood, a resident of Bandipore in north Kashmir, was brought from Kashmir last week after NIA secured his police remand till June 17, official sources said.

NIA has already declared Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen, as a proclaimed offender in the case which relates to his outfit as one of the most active terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir with strong bases in Pulwama, Kupwara, Sopore, Budgam, Doda, Baramula and Srinagar.

He was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2011

and lodged in jail on charges of being a close aide of Salahuddin, the sources said, adding his questioning may help the agency in finding more clues in this case.

The NIA said in its case that the terror group was being regularly and systematically funded from across the border for promoting terrorist activities in India. The funding is being routed through a frontal organisation of Hizb -- Jammu and Kashmir Affectees Relief Trusts (JKART) which has its head office in Rawalpindi and branches in Islamabad and Muzaffarabad in PoK.

This organisation was formed in 1990 for operating refugee camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) for Kashmiris who crossed over to Pakistan after militancy broke out in the state in the 1990s.

The NIA probe claims Salahuddin has also used JKART as a front to fund militant activities in various parts of the state and pumped in more than Rs 80 crore in the last two years through various conduits.

An Interpol Red Corner warrant “A-66/2-1998” was issued against Mohammed Yusuf Shah alias Salahuddin, who heads a conglomerate of terror outfits-- United Jehad Council, in 1998 at the request of Delhi Police for his alleged involvement in various terror-related activities.(PTI)

Action against Sarna brothers imminent: Akal Takht

PATIALA (PUNJAB): The Akal Takht today said action against Delhi SAD chief Paramjeet Singh Sarna and his brother Harvinder is imminent for allegedly creating hurdles in the construction of a memorial in the national capital in the memory of the Sikhs killed in the 1984 riots.

(Gyani Gurbachan Singh) Jathedar of the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs, Gyani Gurbachan Singh, said a decision in this regard will soon be taken in a meeting of the head priests of the five Takhts.

“Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) wants to build a memorial of the Sikhs killed in the 1984 riots

but these Sarna brothers are creating hurdles in its construction.

Action against them would be definitely taken,” he told PTI over phone. Singh said a meeting of all jathedars to decide on the issue would be convened very soon. Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) had earlier urged the Akal Takhat to take action against Sarna brothers. SAD general secretary Avtar Singh Hit, senior vice president Onkar Singh Meanwhile, radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa has appreciated the efforts of DSGMC for starting the process to build the memorial in Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib Complex in Delhi. (PTI)

Militant hideout busted; huge cache of arms and

ammunition seizedSRINAGAR: Security forces busted a militant hideout in forest area of Bandipora district in north Kashmir today, and recovered a huge cache of arms, ammunition and explosives including 139 assorted grenades.

Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of police and 14 Rashtriya Rifles launched a search operation in Kota forest area of Bandipora, 50 kms from here, police sources said.

Eight anti-tank grenades, eight shells of automatic

grenade launcher, five improvised explosive devices, four UBGLs and 90 UBGL grenades were seized, the sources said.

They said 33 hand grenades, five RPG rounds, four Ak assault rifles, 70 magazines, 1200 rounds, two 82-mm mortar shells, 45 detonators, 16 pika rounds and 160 rounds of sniper rifle ammunition were also recovered from the hideout.

No arrests have been made in connection with the recovery so far, the sources said.(PTI)

Five held for betting in ICC Champions

TrophyLUCKNOW: Five people betting in ICC Champions Trophy matches were arrested in Rampur, home department sources here said today.

On a tip off, five persons were arrested yesterday

from Gurubux hotel in Civil Lines police station area, sources said.

Seven mobile phones, a TV set and cash slips of Rs 25,000 were recovered from them, they added.(PTI)

10International 10International 5Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013International 10US Senate votes for debate

on immigration bill

WASHINGTON: The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly for a debate on a landmark immigration bill, which if signed into law would pave the way to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants, including some 260,000 Indians.

“A permanent, common-sense solution to our dysfunctional system is in sight. This bipartisan legislation is the solution

our economy needs. It is the solution immigrant families need,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

(Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) Acknowledging that this bill isn’t perfect and “compromise” is necessary and inevitable, the Democrat leader said this measure takes important steps to reform the broken legal immigration system, strengthen border security and hold unscrupulous

employers accountable.“Over the next three

weeks Senators will propose many ideas to make this legislation better. But those changes must preserve the heart of the bill -- a pathway to earned citizenship that begins by going to the back of the line, paying taxes and fines, learning English and getting right with the law,” Reid said.

As the Senate voted 84-15 to move ahead with the discussions, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy moved three amendments to Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

It includes an amendment to provide equal protection to lawfully married bi-national same sex couples that other spouses receive under existing immigration law; to allow long-term temporary agricultural workers to be accompanied by a child or spouse while working in the US.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio said vote shows there’s strong bipartisan support for solving the immigration problem. Rubio also introduced an amendment to strengthen the requirement that immigrants demonstrate English proficiency before receiving permanent legal status.

Ahead of the voting, President Barack Obama yesterday called on the Congress to pass the immigration reform bill.

“Immigration isn’t just part of our national character; it is a driving force in our economy that creates jobs and prosperity for all of our citizens,” Obama has said. “In recent years one in four of America’s new small-business owners were immigrants. One in four high-tech startups in America were founded by immigrants. 40 per cent of Fortune 500 companies were started by a first-or second-generation American. Think about that.” (PTI)

Pak should implement roadmap for better ties: Indian envoy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan should fully implement the roadmap for normalising economic cooperation with India, including granting it the Most Favoured Nation-status, Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has said. “The economic roadmap needs to be fully implemented for more trade and investment between the two neighbouring countries,” he said at a farewell luncheon hosted for him yesterday by the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Indian envoy referred to the joint statement issued after the seventh round of talks on commercial and economic cooperation between the Commerce Secretaries in September 2012 and said this laid out the roadmap for normalising and increasing economic ties.

In the joint statement, it was agreed that Pakistan would grant MFN-status to India by December 2012.

India would thereafter bring down its SAFTA Sensitive List to 100 tariff lines at six-digit level by April. Sabharwal, who served as the Indian envoy for four years, said New Delhi had implemented several decisions, including allowing investments from Pakistan and reducing the SAFTA tariff line. After the formation of the new government in Islamabad, there are hopes that Pakistan would implement the roadmap for cooperation, he said.

He welcomed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remarks about trade with India and said that similar sentiments prevailed across the border After trade talks

between India and Pakistan were initiated in September 2011, there were several positive developments that resulted in the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian Commerce Minister in February last year, he said.

These developments also resulted in improved bilateral trade.

“Exports from Pakistan to India registered growth,” he said. Asked about recent tensions between the two countries, Sabharwal said: “Both the sides have trust deficiencyOnce relations improve, everything will go better.”

Sabharwal emphasised the need to increase mutual trust to strengthen economic ties.

Referring to the opening of bank branches by the two countries on a reciprocal basis, he said negotiations were underway and the

central banks of the two sides are expected to resolve all issues soon.

“The heads of the State Bank of Pakistan and the Reserve Bank of India met in March to discuss the banking channel,” he said. Haroon Agar, president of KCCI, lauded Sabharwal’s efforts to promote political and business relations between the two countries. He thanked the outgoing envoy for his support in sending an Indian delegation to the “My Karachi Exhibition”.

Zubair Motiwala, president of the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, proposed that India could set up a power generation plant using Pakistani coal.

In exchange of payment, India can supply electricity to Pakistan’s national grid, he suggested.(PTI)

‘Govt may abolish charges on airlines linking small towns’

‘Govt looking into foreign airlines’ demand of traffic rights’

LONDON: In a bid to encourage air connectivity to small towns, Civil Aviation Ministry is considering doing away with airport and navigation charges for airlines operating to such destinations while imposing a cess of about Rs 50 on all domestic flyers to realise the cost.

“We are planning to stop charging from airlines connecting small towns. Fees like airport charges, navigational charges and other such costs -- which is nine per cent of the total cost of any airliner -- will be waived and the Airports Authority of India

(AAI) will bear it,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told PTI here.

To fund this, a cess of about Rs 50 will also be levied on all domestic flyers. There are around 90 such Tier-II and Tier-III towns which have airports but have no air connectivity or very low air operations. The Ministry will require an annual fund of Rs 400 crore for giving such subsidy to the airlines for flying to these otherwise commercially-unviable destinations.

“If the airlines receive such concession, they will be immensely benefited,” Singh said. Earlier,

officials had said that the AAI, which

owns most airports in the country,

could seek from state governments

free land for any airport expansion

plan, tax exemption, water and power

supply and proper road connectivity,

to provide free services to the airlines.

If the state governments wanted to

encourage air operations from these

unused or scarcely used airports,

they could provide these facilities to

AAI to enable it encourage airlines to

operate from there, they had said.(PTI)

LONDON: The Civil Aviation Ministry is evaluating demands by various foreign airlines to enhance bilateral air traffic rights in the wake of a massive hike granted to Abu Dhabi following the Jet-Etihad deal.

“The Ministry is planning to evaluate India’s international passenger growth and will also see how the existing bilateral rights are being used by

Emirates before taking a call on their request,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters here.

He was responding to questions on the demands made by major Gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways for increasing their air traffic rights which allow them to operate to India.

India and Abu Dhabi last month agreed to hike the bilateral air traffic rights

from over 13,000 to about 50,000 seats per week.

On Emirates, Singh, however, said it has “not even used the current entitlement fully and was using only 50,000 seats a week as against nearly 55,000 they are entitled to.”

Asked about the opposition faced by the Jet-Etihad deal, the Minister said SEBI and other agencies have “raised certain queries and these

are being answered.” He said the Standing

Committee headed by CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury “too has made some observations but nothing has come to me.”

Singh said there were also allegations that Jet had sold its London Heathrow slots to Etihad and that these slots were national assets.

“The Civil Aviation Ministry has never had anything to do with slots. Government does not decide why and to who such slots are given, leased out or sold to by private airlines,” he said.

Terming as incorrect the charge that the Jet-Etihad deal was done just when the bilaterals were enhanced, Singh said “the talks between India and Abu Dhabi on seat entitlements were on for around eight-nine months. I failed to understand where was the problem”.

“The only problem that I could figure out that the Jet- Etihad equity deal and bilateral renegotiation happened at the same time,” Singh said.(PTI)

Pak increases defence budget by 15 per cent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s cash strapped new government announced a hefty 15 per cent hike in its defence budget to Rs 627 billion, with the powerful army getting the lion’s share of the outlay.

The government increased the allocation for defence in its budget for fiscal 2013-14 to Rs 627 billion (about USD 6.32 billion), marking an increase of little more than 15 per cent over the outlay for the current fiscal.

The allocation for the three defence services amounted to 15.73 per cent of the federal budget of Rs 3.985 trillion for fiscal 2013-14. The army got the lion’s share of the outlay with Rs 301.54 billion. The air force was allocated Rs 131.18 billion while the outlay for the navy was Rs 62.80 billion.

Further details, including allocations for weapons acquisition programmes, were not immediately available.

Official budget documents presented in parliament said a sum of Rs 627 billion had been allocated for the defence services for 2013-14, compared with Rs 545 billion (about 5.82 billion dollars) provided in the fiscal year ending on June 30. The budget documents further showed that the new PML-N

government had allocated Rs 2300 million for the Defence Production Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14.

Of this amount, Rs 2246.300 million has been allocated for installing a ship lift, transfer system and associated machinery and equipment to provide docking and repair facilities for surface ships, submarines and commercial vessels at Karachi port.

Pakistan’s new government led by Nawaz Sharif took office last week and faces big challenges like reducing budget deficit and crippling energy crisis. The government also earmarked Rs 3545.457 million for the projects of the Defence Division in the Public Sector Development Programme for 2013-14.

According to the budget documents, Rs 3423.067 was allocated for ongoing schemes while Rs 122.390 was allocated for new schemes. Among ongoing schemes, Rs 2447.600 million was allocated for a complex of the National Electronics Complex of Pakistan in Islamabad while Rs 800 million was allocated for the new Gwadar International Airport.

The government also allocated Rs 52,300 million for ongoing and

new projects of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in the Public Sector Development Programme. Out of this amount, Rs 26,138.00 million is the “foreign component” while Rs 26,162.000 million is in local currency, budget documents said.Rs 45,352.40 million was earmarked for various ongoing projects of PAEC and Rs 76.163 million for upgrading the infrastructure of KINOPE in Karachi. Rs 377 million was allocated for the MPB-2 Shanawa uranium mining project in Karak and Rs 300 million for MPS-3 Taussa-2 uranium mining project in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Finance minister Ishaq Dar told the national assembly that the government would clear $5 billion in circular debt from the energy sector within the next 60 days. “This will greatly help minimise power cuts in the country,” Dar said. Pakistan has traditionally made defence allocations with the objective of maintaining conventional parity with India. However, a crippling financial crunch has forced the government to balance military spending with expenditure on development and welfare programmes.(PTI)

Snowden reveals fresh info on US’s spy programme: Report

BEIJING: Edward Snowden, the whistleblower on American spy programme that targeted global internet traffic, today said he will fight any extradition attempts by US and is reported to have “revealed” new information on Washington’s snooping and cyber attacks on China. (Edward Snowden, the whistleblower on American spy programme)

“People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice. I am here to reveal

criminality,” 29-year-old Snowden told the South China Morning Post from a secret location. “I’m neither traitor nor hero. I’m an American,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

He vowed to fight any extradition attempt by the US government, saying, “My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system”.

It is believed the US is pursuing a criminal investigation, but no extradition request has yet been filed.

Hong Kong has an extradition

treaty with the US, although

analysts say any attempts to bring

Snowden to America may take

months and could be blocked by

Beijing. His actions have been

both praised and condemned

globally, with some hailing him

a hero while others a traitor.

Some senators have accused

Snowden of treason and demanded

his immediate extradition from

Hong Kong over the sensational

leaks. A brief write up in the Post

said in his interview, he revealed

fresh details of US surveillance,

pressure on Hong Kong, snooping

and cyber attacks on China.

Under a PRISM programme,

America’s National Security

Agency can issue directives to

Internet firms like Google or

Facebook to win access to emails,

online chats, pictures, files and

videos that have been uploaded

by foreign users. The programme

was revealed by whistleblower

Snowden, a technology expert

working for a private firm

subcontracted to the NSA.(PTI)

Dad of Snowden’s girlfriend ‘shocked’ by news

LAUREL (MARYLAND): The father of the girlfriend of Edward Snowden described the leaker of national secrets as a shy man with convictions, but said he’s “still shocked” by the news about him.

Jonathan Mills, speaking to reporter’s yesterday evening outside his home in Laurel, Maryland, described 29-year-old Edward Snowden as “very nice. Shy, and reserved.”

“He’s always had strong convictions of right and wrong, and it kind of makes sense. But still shocked,” Mills said, describing his reaction to

the news about Snowden.Mills also said his

daughter, Lindsay, who has been dating Snowden for four or five years, is holding on amid the national controversy. Jonathan Mills says he has texted his daughter, but that he did not know where she was.

Mills also said he last saw his daughter two months ago, when she came to visit for a week. She is doing “as well as could be expected, and that’s all I have to say,” Mills said. Lindsay Mills, a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, wrote on her blog, “My world has opened and closed

all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass.”

“Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey,” she added. “But at the moment all I can feel is alone.” She wrote of her hand being forced, typing on her “tear-streaked keyboard,” and reflecting on “all the faces that have graced my path.” She said that she didn’t get to “bid adieu” to some, then added, “But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes.” Snowden, a 29-year-old former intelligence

contractor, has identified himself as the person who leaked details of a secret National Security Agency surveillance program to The Guardian and Washington Post.

Asked if he had a message for Snowden, Jonathan Mills said, “Just wish him good luck and he’s got my love.”

Snowden attended middle and elementary school in Crofton, Anne Arundel County Public Schools spokesman Bob Mosier confirmed Monday. He also attended three semesters at Arundel High School, which also is in Gambrills.(PTI)

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013Business 11Re recovers from record lows; up 60p as Fitch revises outlook

Economic gloom worrisome, SBI Chief

MUMBAI: Bouncing back from its record lows, the rupee today gained 60 paise to close at 57.79 against the dollar as rating agen-cy Fitch revised India’s credit outlook to stable and government offi-cials soothed market sentiment with assur-ance of taking steps to curb the currency’s fall.

Also, heavy dollar sell-ing by some big corpo-rates and US dollar weak-ening against the euro overseas also aided the rupee, forex dealers said.

The local unit resumed higher at 58.20 against the dollar from yes-terday’s all-time clos-ing low of of 58.39 but fell back to the day’s low of 58.38 at the In-terbank Foreign Ex-change (Forex) market.

However, it kept im-proving from there to the day’s high of 57.73 before concluding at

57.79, a rise of 60 paise, or 1.03 per cent. In the last five trading ses-sions, it had tanked by 195 paise, or 3.45 per cent against the dollar.

“The rupee recovered mainly on soothing comments from Finance Ministry officials and Planning Commis-sion Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahlu-walia on government taking steps to curb its fall and revision on rat-ing upgrade by Fitch.

“Also, there were re-ports of some major corporates heavily sell-ing dollars and euro strengthening, which aided rupee’s gains,” said Srinivasa Ragha-van, EVP (Treasury), Dhanlaxmi Bank.

Asked about any in-tervention from RBI to stop rupee’s fall, he replied in the negative, adding that rupee is like-ly to stabilise to 57 lev-

els by this month end.Taking note of the gov-

ernment’s efforts to con-tain fiscal deficit, Fitch Ratings today revised India’s Outlook to Sta-ble from Negative and affirmed ‘BBB-’ rating.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today held meeting with top officials and is under-stood to have discussed steps to check its slide against the US dollar, according to sources.

Also, Planning Com-mission’s Ahluwalia said the government has been taking steps to deal with the economic situa-tion and hoped that forex market will stabilise.

Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Ma-yaram had yesterday said: “This is a tem-porary phase. This is simply a correction....”

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 102 points low-

er at 19,143.13 to-day, amid FIIs pulling out Rs 1,060.17 crore out of local equities.

“The rupee had hit a record low of 58.98 yesterday. Yesterday’s intervention by the cen-tral bank has helped ru-pee to post gains today. In addition, the revised outlook of India by Fitch has further con-tributed to the apprecia-tion in the rupee during the closing hours,” said Abhishek Goen-ka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.

During local forex trading hours today, the euro hit a three-and-a-half month high against the dollar in early Eu-ropean trade, rising to as high as 1.3335.

Meanwhile, the con-sumer price index (CPI) based inflation fell to at 9.31 per cent in May as against 9.39 per cent in April while the In-

dex of Industrial Pro-duction (IIP) growth slipped to 2 per cent in April from revised 3.4 per cent in last month.

Premium for forward dollar closed with mi-nor changes either side.

Benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in November softened to 158-160 paise from Tuesday’s close of 159-160 paise while far-forward contracts maturing in May edged up to 313-315 paise from 312-314 paise.

The RBI fixed the ref-erence rate for the US dollar at 58.2740 and for the euro at 77.5045.

Rupee recovered against pound sterling to 90.44 from last close of 90.79 and also shot up against the euro to 76.69 from 77.53. It also recouped against the Japanese yen to 59.82 per 100 yen from pre-vious close of 60.21.

MUMBAI:) Describing the continuing economic gloom, as reflected in the IIP data, as worrisome, State Bank of India Chairman Pratip Chaud-huri on Wednesday said it is time policy makers “wake up” to take ur-gent corrective steps.

The chairman of the nations largest bank stressed the need to give more attention to the in-dustrial sector, saying all major economies in the world have grown on the back of their manufacturing prowess.

“This (the slowdown in growth) is very worri-some ... I think the indus-trial sector really needs attention and the IIP growth at 2 per cent for April, (while) we have been expressing satis-faction that GDP growth is at 5 per cent,” he told PTI in an interview.

To a question on poor industrial growth in April, he said: “The in-dustry component at 2 per cent is a great mat-ter of worry. Everybody, the policy makers, as

also people in the field need to give it a thought ... the low IIP growth which has been hap-pening for the past one year, its time we wake up to that,” he added.

When asked if reports of green-shoots emerg-ing on the growth front are belied by todays IIP readings, he said the lat-est numbers call for “a reality check” as just hav-ing an optimistic view will not serve the pur-pose of reviving growth.

“Optimism is always good, I would share the optimism. But from time to time, we should do a realty check, whether the optimism is correct.”

He also said there is no reason to doubt the veracity of the IIP numbers given the fact that statistical tech-niques have evolved a lot in recent past. .

Chaudhuri further said trade deficit is a large contributor to the high current account defi-cit and added that this means our exports have become uncompetitive

in the global markets.This is in spite of the

recent depreciation of the rupee, which since May has lost almost 6 per cent, which should other-wise incentivise exports and called for immediate steps like allowing 100 per cent export credit re-finance to boost exports.

“I think the govern-ment and the Reserve Bank need to give a sig-nal that they are serious about supporting export-ers,” the SBI chief said.

The chairman further said that it is concrete action on the policy front and not commen-tary alone, which will help the economy pull itself out of the trough.

“More than policy statements, it is the sig-nals and actual steps which go a long way (in propping up growth),” Chaudhuri said.

He said an emphasis on manufacturing, which has a greater multiplier effect for the economy, will also help the govern-ment as the tax revenues from manufacturing is more than the services sector, which constitutes over 60 per cent of the GDP component, be-cause the revenue from services like CST, Ex-cise is relatively less.

Data released earlier today showed industri-al production growth slipping to a poor 2 per cent in April on account of dismal performance in manufacturing, min-ing and power sectors coupled with lower out-put of capital goods.

Dismal IIP, sticky inflation drag Sensex 102 pts down

FM holds meeting with key officials on Re slide

MUMBAI: Slowdown in industrial production and higher-than-ex-pected retail inflation on Wednesday pulled benchmark S&P BSE Sensex down by 102 points to end at near-ly two-month lows of 19,041.13, extending losses for second day.

Sustained selling from stocks from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) also weighed on the market sentiment while recovery in the rupee value against the dollar some what sup-ported the market to some extent, traders said.

Shares from consum-er durables, metal, IT, FMCG and power sec-tors were at the receiv-ing end while some of the pharma and re-finery stocks attracted good buying interest.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share in-dicator resumed lower and remained in nega-tive terrain for the most of the day before settling 101.87 points, or 0.53 per cent, lower at 19,041.13 -- a level not seen

since April 18, 2013.On Wednesday, it

had tumbled by 298.07 points or 1.5 percent.

“Industrial produc-tion grew by a low-er-than-expected 2 per cent y-o-y in April against against consen-sus of 2.4 per cent...CPI inflation moderated at a slower-than-expect-ed pace due to higher food and fuel infla-tion,” Nomura said.

Out of the Sensex, 20 stocks were down led by Tata Power end-ing as the biggest loser of the day falling 3.03 per cent, followed by bluechips Coal India and Tata Steel, down 2.69 per cent and 2.61 per cent, respectively.

Software exporting companies stocks fell as rupee on Wednes-day strengthened to 57-level. Infosys fell by 2.02 per cent and TCS by 2.06 per cent.

Banking stocks de-clined as retail inflation number and weak rupee dashed interest rate cut hopes by RBI on June 17.

The NSE Nifty de-

clined by 28.60 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 5,760.20. Also, MCX-SX flagship index, SX40, ended 85.75 points lower, or 0.75 per cent, at 11,281.59.

Outside benchmark indices, Tata Coffee slumped 20 per cent, Tata Teleservices (19.74 per cent), Titan Industries (13.32 per cent) on heavy selling.

“Inflation figures will be coming on Friday this week and going forward, anticipation on RBI monetary meet will be in focus to direct market trend,” said Rakesh Goy-al-Senior Vice Presi-dent,Bonanza Portfolio. .

Post market hours, global rating agency Fitch on Wednesday re-vised India’s sovereign credit outlook to stable from negative. Taking note of the government’s efforts to contain fiscal deficit, Fitch Ratings re-vised India’s Outlook to Stable from Negative and affirmed ‘BBB-’ rating.

Meanwhile, global-ly, Asian stocks ended lower on reports that

Japanese machinery or-ders declined more than expected and concern grew that central banks from Tokyo to Washing-ton are increasingly re-luctant to add stimulus.

Key benchmark indi-ces in Japan, Singapore and South Korea eased by 0.21 per cent to 0.56 per cent while China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets were closed on Wednesday for holidays.

However, Europe-an stocks were trading better as indices in UK, Germany and France inched up by 0.04 per cent to 0.30 per cent.

Moving back to the do-mestic market, 20 scrips out of the 30-share sen-sex finished lower while 10 scrips ended higher.

Major losers from the Sensex pack were Tata Power (3.03 pc), Coal In-dia (2.69 pc), Tata Steel (2.61 pc), Hero Moto-corp (2.37 pc), Hindal-co (2.27 pc), Bajaj Auto (2.19 pc), TCS (2.06 pc), Sterlite Ind (2.0 pc), In-fosys (2.02 pc), HDFC (1.27 pc), BHEL (1.24 pc) and ITC (0.97 pc).

However, Jindal Steel firmed up by 3.80 per cent after crashing by 15 per cent on Tuesday. Cipla gained 1.00 per cent, M&M 0.78 per cent and Reliance In-dustries 0.65 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, S&P BSE-CD dropped by 7.37 per cent due to massive drop in Titan Industries for the second day in a row. S&P BSE-Met-al fell by 1.75 per cent, S&P BSE-IT by 1.45 per cent, S&P BSE-Teck by 1.17 per cent and S&P BSE-FMCG by 0.97 per cent were among notable losers.

Market breadth con-tinued to remain weak as 1,398 stocks fin-ished with losses and 967 ended higher while 125 stocks ruled steady. Total turnover de-clined to Rs 1,935.37 crore from Rs 2,035.04 crore on Tuesday.

Foreign Institutional In-vestors (FIIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 885.85 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.

NEW DELHI: Faced with the depreciating rupee, Finance Min-ister P Chidambaram on Wednesday held meeting with top of-ficials and is under-stood to have discussed steps to check its slide against the US dollar.

The high-level meet-ing comes against the backdrop of the rupee touching a record low of 58.98 to a dollar yesterday. It was hov-ering around 58.18 in on Wednesday’s trade.

Sources said the meet-ing was attended by Department of Eco-nomic Affairs Secre-tary Arvind Mayaram,

Chief Economic Adv-sior Raghuram Rajan and Additional Secre-tary Shaktikanta Das.

The government is considering steps to increase portfolio and Foreign Direct In-vestment (FDI) to at-tract overseas funds into the country.

Besides, the Fi-nance Ministry is also working on measures to attract FII money into the government securities segment.

The rupee has depreci-ated by over 3 per cent against the US dollar in the last three days. RBI intervened in forex market to stem the slide

of rupee on Tuesday.Since January 1, the

rupee value has fall-en by 5.5 per cent against the dollar.

Government has been looking at the possibil-ity of raising FDI cap in various sectors, includ-ing defence, and has already set up a com-mittee to review the ceiling in other areas.

The rupee decline is being attributed to surge in dollar value against several currencies across the world and In-dia’s rising Current Ac-count Deficit (CAD), which is estimated to have increased to 5 per cent of GDP in 2012-13.

MONEY-MUM-REVIEW: Bonds end mixed, call rate finish higher

Gold slips further on stockists selling, global uncertainty

MUMBAI: The Govern-ment securities (G-Sec) ended mixed on alter-nate bouts of buying and selling, while the call money rates finished higher at the overnight call money market here today on fresh demand from borrowing banks.

The 8.33 per cent gov-ernment security ma-turing in 2026 firmed up to Rs 107.06 from Rs 106.96 yesterday, while its yield moved down to 7.47 per cent from 7.49 per cent.

The 8.20 per cent gov-ernment security matur-ing in 2025 moved up to Rs 105.80 from Rs 105.70, while its yield inched down to 7.47 per cent from 7.48 per cent.

The 8.15 per cent gov-ernment security matur-ing in 2022 also hard-ened to Rs 104.17 from Rs 104.00, while its yield went down at 7.50 per cent from 7.53 per cent.

However, the 8.07 per cent government secu-rity maturing in 2017 eased to Rs 102.10 from Rs 102.15, while its yield gained to 7.46 per cent from 7.44 per cent.

The 8.12 per cent gov-ernment security matur-ing in 2020 softened to Rs 103.80 from Rs 103.82, while its yield ruled steady at 7.45 per cent.

The 8.19 per cent gov-ernment security ma-turing in 2020 and the 7.83 per cent govern-ment security maturing

in 2018 were also quoted lower at Rs 103.48 and Rs 101.36, respectively.

The Overnight call money rate finished higher at 7.25 per cent from 7.15 per cent yesterday. It moved in a range of 7.35 per cent and 7.15 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) pur-chased securities worth Rs 536.20 billion in 25-bids at the one-day repo auction at a fixed rate of 7.25 per cent, while it sold securities worth Rs 0.80 billion in two-bids at the one-day reverse repo auction at a fixed rate of 6.25 per cent in the evening auction.

MUMBAI: Gold prices dropped further at the domestic bullion market today due to consistent selling by stockists and traders in the wake of sluggish demand amid weak global support.

Silver also moved down owing to reduced specu-lative buying activity.

Subdued seasonal off-take and apprehension among investors that the government could take up more tighten-ing measures to curb demand for the pre-cious metal against the backdrop of crum-bling rupee valuations amidst widening cur-rent account deficit also weighed on sentiment.

Standard gold of 99.5 per cent purity shed by

Rs 140 to conclude at Rs 27,570 per 10 gm from Tuesday’s clos-ing level of Rs 27,710.

Pure gold of 99.9 per cent purity fell by Rs 155 to end at Rs 27,700 per 10 gm from Rs 27,855.

Silver ready (.999 fine-ness) eased by Rs 90 to settle at Rs 44,470 per kg as against Rs 44,560 yesterday.

Globally, the shiny metal plunged to hit a three-week low spooked by BoJ decision to keep its monetary easing pol-icy unchanged amid concerns over that the Fed will begin to scale back economic stimulus earlier-than-expected.

Spot gold was down at USD 1,378 an ounce in early European trade.

Hyderabad | Thursday | June 13, 2013Sports 12Sachin named brand ambassador

of UAE travel portal

Hoping for judiciary to make right decision: Chavan

Warner axed after unprovoked attack on England player

Warner stood down from CT match after altercation at bar

DUBAI: UAE’s trav-el website, Musafir.com, has partnered with senior India batsman Sachin Tendulkar to be its brand ambassador, in addition to already being a stakeholder.

“For his dedication, honesty and inspiration-al growth in the sport,

Musafir.com finds Ten-dulkar to be the perfect face to represent the brand,” a company state-ment released here said.

“The Master Blaster - as he is fondly called - has so many wins and achievements in his ca-reer that he represents Musafir.com’s vision to

become the leading trav-el website in the region,” the statement added.

The partnership covers a major global marketing campaign that includes print, radio, television and outdoor media, in which Tendulkar in-vites the world to ‘Stop dreaming, Start travel-ing’, a slogan created by Musafir.com, a premium experience travel web-site established in 2007.

“This partnership is part of an integrated campaign that we are launching, and is sup-ported by a major up-grade to our website to make it even more user-friendly,” compa-ny’s Managing Direc-tor, Sachin Gadoya said.

Tendulkar said he is happy to be aligned with Musafir.com and com-mended the campaign for encouraging people to live out their dreams.

“I love the thought of building on dreams, because it’s helped me reach places in my life that were once thought to be impossi-ble,” said Tendulkar.

“We have steadily grown over the years to offer a unique travel experience to our cus-tomers. As we evolve in our partnership with Sachin Tendulkar, we’ll continue to offer new-er and more exciting travel planning expe-riences to our custom-ers,” added Gadoya.

NEW DELHI: Released on bail after spending 27 days in jail, cricket-er Ankeet Chavan, who was arrested for alleged involvement in the IPL spot-fixing scandal, on Wednesday hoped he would not be denied justice by the judiciary.

“I am just hoping for the judiciary to make the right deci-sion,” Chavan said.

Rajasthan Roy-als cricketers Chavan and S Sreesanth were on Tuesday released from Tihar jail along with 17 other accused.

All of them were granted bail by a Del-hi court. The court had also censured Del-hi police for slapping MCOCA on the crick-eters and other accused.

The 27-year-old Cha-

van, an off-spinner, was naturally relieved to have walked out of jail.

“I am thankful to the judiciary. I am happy and thankful to my fam-ily and all my friends who stood by me in tough times,” he said.

The two cricketers, along with another Ra-jasthan Royals team-mate Ajit Chandila, were arrested on May 16

along with 11 bookies.The Delhi police

charged them un-der the Indian Penal Code Section 420 and 120B, which deal with fraud, cheating and criminal conspiracy.

Chavan was earli-er released on bail in the first week of this month to get married to his longtime friend Neha Sambari.(PTI)

India start as favourites against Ireland in FIH WL R3 opener

ROTTERDAM: With their eyes firmly set on next year’s World Cup, a new-look India will start as overwhelming favourites against min-nows Ireland in their opening match of the men’s competition of the FIH World League Round 3, here tomorrow.

However, it won’t be easy for the Indians as they have been grouped along side mighty Netherlands and New Zealand apart from Ire-land in Pool B of the World League Round 3 (Semi-final), which is a qualifying tourna-ment for next year’s World Cup in Hague.

While Pool A consists of Australia, Spain, Belgium and Germany.

Currently ranked 11th in the world, eight-time Olympic champions In-dia enjoy an upper hand over 15th ranked Ireland who will start the game as underdogs in the event to be held from June 13-23.

The Indian team for the World League Round 3 is a fine combination of youth and experience with senior drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and for-ward Shivendra Singh making their comeback into the national squad.

Sandeep, who was left out of the Indian squad for the FIH Hockey World League Round 2 held here earlier this

year, returned to the na-tional side along with Shivendra, who last played for India in last year’s London Olympics.

Sandeep, incidentally, was a part of the Indian squad that went to The Netherlands in April for an invitational tour.

Star mid-fielder Sardar Singh will lead the 18-member Indian team, while drag-flick-er V R Raghunath has been named his deputy.

However, India will miss the services of midfielder Danish Mujtaba and Gurvin-der Singh Chadi, both of whom have been ruled out of the tour-nament due to injuries.

While Gurvinder continues to be in the sidelines because of a prolonged ankle inju-ry, Danish is suffering from a ligament tear.

A winning start against Ireland will be a big boost for the Indians as they will take on hosts, The Netherlands in their next game on Saturday, followed by their last Pool B game against New Zealand on June 17.

Indian Hockey’s High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans had already said that India need to put up a “con-fident and consistent” performance to secure one of the three auto-matic World Cup berths

up for grabs in the FIH World League Round 3.

“The men’s competi-tion is really very tough but the players should be confident about their abilities. And if we can show that confidence in a consistent basis, there is no reason why we shouldn’t qualify from here. I can assure you that we will fight our hearts out to be among the three top teams,” Oltmans had said.

Three teams each will qualify directly for next year’s World Cup from the two World League Round 3 (Semi-final) events. They will be joined by five con-tinental champions and the host nation.

“Our focus should be to qualify directly either through World League Round 3 or Asia Cup,” Oltmans insisted.

Oltmans, who also coached the Netherlands and Pakistan hockey teams, opined that Rot-terdam-bound Indian team is a fine mixture of youth and experience.

“In Akashdeep Singh and Mandeep Singh, we have some prom-ising youngsters in our forward line while Shivendra (Singh) will lend experience to them,” he said.

“We also have best penalty corner special-ists in the world in Sand-

eep, V R Raghunath and Rupinderpal Singh.”

India’s chief coach Michael Nobbs also agreed with Oltmans that the competi-tion in the upcoming event would be tough.

“The competition is pretty tough. All the teams will want to qual-ify but we are absolutely keen and we will give it our best shot,” he said.

India captain Sardar Singh feels physical-ly as well as mentally they are ready for the upcoming challenge.

“Our chances are there but we need to play tough hockey.

We need to concentrate, we shouldn’t give away easy ball,” Sardar said.

Meanwhile, the Indian eves will also feature in the women’s competi-tion of the World League Round 3 where they have been clubbed along side Germany, New Zealand and Belgium.

Rated as underdogs in a tough Pool B, the Indi-an women’s team led by Ritu Rani will open the campaign against New Zealand tomorrow, fol-lowed by games against Belgium on Friday and Germany on Sunday.

The other competing nation in the women’s events are hosts Neth-erlands, Korea, Ja-pan and Chile who are placed in Pool A. (PTI)

MELBOURNE: Aus-tralian batsman David Warner was today axed from the Champions Trophy match against New Zealand and might face stricter action af-ter being involved in an “unprovoked” phys-ical altercation with an England player, be-lieved to be Joe Root.

“Cricket Australia (CA) advises that Aus-tralian batsman David Warner has been stood down from Australia’s ICC Champions Trophy match against New Zea-land tonight after being reported for breaching the CA Code of Behaviour,” CA said in a statement.

Warner has been report-ed for breaching Rule 6 relating to “unbecom-ing behaviour” after he was allegedly involved in a physical altercation with an England play-er in the early hours of

Sunday morning follow-ing the Champions Tro-phy match between the teams in Birmingham.

The England and Wales Cricket Board also came out with a statement on the incident but it did not name Root as the other player. The ECB, howev-er, insisted that Warner’s attack was unprovoked.

“Following a state-ment issued this morn-ing by Cricket Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board confirms that David Warner ini-tiated an unprovoked physical attack on a member of the England team in a Birmingham bar following England’s 48 run victory over Aus-tralia,” the ECB said.

“Warner has admitted behaving inappropriately and has since apologised to the player involved who has accepted the apology. Following a

full investigation the England team manage-ment has concluded that the England player was in no way respon-sible for nor retaliated to the attack,” it added.

The incident reportedly took place in a Birming-ham bar and involved al-cohol after Australia lost by 48 runs to England in their tournament-opener.

“Team management have stood down War-ner pending the outcome of the hearing, meaning he will miss Austra-lia’s match against New Zealand in Birming-ham tonight,” CA said.

“Rule 6 states: With-out limiting any other rule, players and officials must not at any time en-gage in behaviour unbe-coming to a represen-tative player or official that could (a) bring them or the game into disre-pute or (b) be harmful to

the interests of cricket.”CA will convene the

Code of Behaviour hearing as soon as pos-sible. Details will be provided once the time and date is confirmed.

“CA will not be making any further comment until after the hearing,” it said.

Warner, who played for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, most recently hit the headlines after being fined 5,750 Aus-tralian dollars last month for breaching CA’s code of behaviour following his Twitter rant against a couple of journalists.

He subsequently apol-ogised for it but in-sisted that he did that to defend himself.

Warner has been strug-gling for runs since ar-riving in England, hav-ing made ducks in both the Champions Trophy warm-up games and 9 in the loss to England.

MELBOURNE: Aus-tralian batsman Da-vid Warner was today “stood down” from the Champions Trophy group A match against New Zealand for being allegedly involved in a physical altercation with an England player, be-lieved to be Joe Root.

“Cricket Australia (CA) advises that Aus-tralian batsman David Warner has been stood down from Austra-lia’s ICC Champions Trophy match against New Zealand tonight after being reported for breaching the CA

Code of Behaviour,” CA said in a statement.

Warner has been report-ed for breaching Rule 6 relating to “unbecom-ing behaviour” after he was allegedly involved in a physical altercation with an England play-er in the early hours of Sunday morning follow-ing the Champions Tro-phy match between the teams in Birmingham.

The incident reportedly took place in a Birming-ham bar and involved al-cohol after Australia lost by 48 runs to England in their tournament-opener.

“Team management

have stood down War-ner pending the outcome of the hearing, meaning he will miss Austra-lia’s match against New Zealand in Birming-ham tonight,” CA said.

“Rule 6 states: Without limiting any other rule, players and officials must not at any time engage in behaviour unbecoming to a representative player or official that could (a) bring them or the game of game into disrepute or (b) be harmful to the interests of cricket.”

CA will convene the Code of Behaviour hearing as soon as pos-

sible. Details will be provided once the time and date is confirmed.

“CA will not be making any further comment until after the hearing,” it said.

Warner, who played for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL, most recently hit the headlines after being fined 5,750 Aus-tralian dollars last month for breaching CA’s code of behaviour following his Twitter rant against a couple of journalists.

He subsequently apol-ogised for it but in-sisted that he did that to defend himself.

This five-wicket haul is very special: Jadeja

We have failed as a batting group, laments Bravo

LONDON: India’s newest ‘Man Friday’ Ravindra Jadeja feels that secret of his suc-cess lies in “keeping things simple” which helped him get a ca-reer-best of five for 36 against West Indies in a group league of Champi-ons Trophy here today.

“This is my best bowl-ing performance and I am very happy about it. I have had three four-wicket hauls, but this one is special. I just tried to keep things simple,” Jadeja said in a post-match media conference at the Ken Barrington Cricket Cen-ter here at The Oval.

“I was just aim-ing to bowl the right line which I did.

The Oval wicket was dry and afford-ing spin and I wasn’t surprised by the con-ditions even if it was overcast,” Jadeja said.

Jadeja said he has worked on his game in the last six months and always tried to keep things simple.

“Earlier, I would strat-egize too much and get

all mixed up. Now I just come for a game and ad-just to the conditions and play my best,” he said.

The Saurashtra all-rounder thanked his skipper for show-ing faith in his abilities.

“Mahi bhai is a thinking captain. He can read your abilities very well and I am happy I am doing the job for him,” Jadeja said, adding with a smile: “I still can’t figure out why he calls me, Sirji.”

Jadeja said he wasn’t scared that West Indies had big hitters in their ranks like Kieron Pol-lard and Chris Gayle.

“It is always better to think what I can do and not worry about bats-men. I was able to bowl a straight forward line and the batsmen made the mistakes,” Jadeja said, adding India’s biggest plus was their fielding.

“All our fielders are very good. We don’t have a single player whom we need to hide in the field. We have the correct balance in the team and that’s the biggest advan-tage for us,” Jadeja said.

LONDON: West Indies skipper Dwayne Bra-vo lamented his team’s batting performance af-ter India thrashed them by eight wickets in a group B ICC Champi-ons Trophy match at The Oval here on Tuesday.

“Our batsmen have to take the blame for this,” Bravo said.

“Another 25 runs could have made a difference if the tail batted smarter,” Bravo said, adding:”-Most of us played bad shots at the wrong time and I am part of that too.”

“We keep losing games in the middle. We need to address this issue and recover as a bat-ting group before our next match,” the West Indian skipper said.

West Indies play South Africa in the third and final match in Cardiff on June 14. The winner will qualify as the sec-ond team from group B.

“Our destiny is in our own hands. It’s go-ing to be a final for us and it’s possible and I know we have the

team to make the sec-ond round,” Bravo said.

Bravo praised Darren Sammy for his unbeaten 56 off 35 balls. Ignored for the first match against Pakistan, Sammy, who is West Indies Test cap-tain, probably made the cut on Tuesday because vice-captain and wick-et-keeper Denesh Ram-din was suspended for two matches by the ICC on disciplinary grounds.

“It’s not that he was trying to prove anything. He played his natural game and I am very hap-py for him,” Bravo said.

The Caribbean skip-per blasted his cous-in Darren, who scored 35 off 83 balls.

“It was one of the worst knocks he played and he has been spoken to. But with wickets falling around him, you can’t blame him,” Bravo said.

The West Indies skip-per is looking for an im-proved batting display from the middle-order in the biggest game against South Africa on Friday.