English Daily
indian1horizon@gmail.com www.indianhorizon.org RNI No: APENG/2010/35309
Volume
No: 5
Issue No: 299
In memory of Dr Asima Kemal and Prof. Dr. Salim W Kemal
Published from Hyderabad & New Delhi
Postal Registration Order No HD/1146/2011-13
Pages 12 + 4 pull out (P16)
Hyderabad, Thursday, November 6, 2014
APMCHUD to be held in India
in 2016: Venkaiah Naidu
SC reserves order on
Salman’s blackbuck case
New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) The Supreme Court
Wednesday reserved its order on the Rajasthan government’s appeal challenging a state high court order staying the conviction of Bollywood star Salman
Khan so that he could travel to Britain for a film engagement. A bench of Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said Salman
suffered no hardship as the stay of his sentencing by
the high court Aug 31, 2007 permitted him to continue pursuing his film career, including travel abroad.
The court gave Salman and the Rajasthan government three days to file written submissions.
It said the suspension of sentence removed all
hurdles in the way of Salman in pursuing his film
career, and added that there was no need for any
“further order addressing your hardship” (to get
visa to travel to Britain). “The remedy of your hardship for being unable to travel to Britain lies somewhere else,” the court said, hinting towards the
British High Commission’s decision to refuse him
visa on the grounds that suspension of sentence
was not enough and his conviction still persisted
could be challenged before courts in Britain.
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Finance Minister presents
Rs.1,00,637 crore budget
TRS creates history of sorts
with Maiden Budget
Kareena Unveils Vivels New Products
6:08 PM
5:58 AM
4:57
12:03
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Price: 3.00
Pakistani PM vows to
eliminate polio in six months
P-3
Briefs
feedbackhorizon@gmail.com
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS) The
TRS Government created history of sorts by presenting the
new-born Telangana State’s first
budget with a whopping total expenditure of Rs.1,00,637 crore for
a period 10 months.
Presenting his maiden budget in the State Assembly on the
opening day of the budget session
on Wednesday, Finance Minister
Etela Rajender, amidst thumping
of desks from the treasury benches, declared that it was not only a
tax-free budget but welfare and
development oriented keeping in
view the vision of the ruling TRS to
usher in a “Golden Telangana” in
the coming years.
The budget estimates for the
year 2014-15 showed that for the
first 10 months of the financial year
then government proposed to a
total expenditure of Rs.1,00,637.96
crore of which the non-plan expen-
Minister for Finance Etela
Rajender with Chief Minister of
Telangana K Chandra Sekhar
Rao before presenting his
maiden budget on the first day
of Assembly session in
Hyderabad on Wednesday. PTI
diture is estimated at Rs.51,9989.49
crore and plan expenditure at
Rs.48,648.47 crore. The estimated
revenue surplus is Rs.301.02 crore
and the fiscal deficit is estimated
at Rs.17,398.72 crore. Amidst frequent interruptions and protests of
opposition members, the Finance
Minister pointed out that normally the budget was more about
numbers but this budget was more
about the people and their wellbeing. This budget has been formulated with an objective of delivering
a sustainable future of Telangana
children and generations beyond,
he added.
The Finance Minister further
observed that the new state of
Telangana has strengthened the
faith of the people in their own
future and faith in every citizen of
the new state. The long journey for
the realization of Bangaru Telangana has just begun, he added.
Rajender also did not lose the
opportunity to take a dig at the
previous regimes of the undivided
Andhra Pradesh) opportunities
were lost and problems accumulated as a result of deliberate neglect of Telangana.
President Pranab congratulates
Manmohan Singh for Japanese award
New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) President Pranab
Mukherjee on Wednesday congratulated former
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for being selected for one of Japan’s top awards and said it
was an important recognition of immense service
rendered by him for promotion of India-Japan relations and friendship.
In his message to Singh, Mukherjee said, “I am
extremely happy to know that the Government
of Japan has conferred one of its highest civilian
honours - �The Grand Cordon of the Order of the
Paulownia Flowers’ upon you, making you the
first Indian ever to receive this award.”
He said, “This important recognition is testimony to the immense service rendered by you
over the years for the promotion of India-Japan
relations and friendship.” Extending his hearty
congratulations and best wishes, the President
said, “I am sure the entire nation will rejoice at
this much deserved honour conferred on you.”
Delhi assembly dissolved,
by-elections cancelled
New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS)
The Delhi assembly has been
dissolved, it was announced
Wednesday, and the Election
Commission cancelled by-elections in three assembly constituencies in the capital.
The Election Commission had
Oct 25 announced that Mehrauli,
Tughlakabad and Krishna Nagar
would go to the polls Nov 25. BJP
legislators from the three places
were elected to the Lok Sabha in
May. Delhi has been under President’s rule since Feb 17 following
the resignation of chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal, who headed a
minority Aam Aadmi Party government for 49 days.
A Rashtrapati Bhawan spokesperson said the president has
signed the proclamation dissolv-
Pakistan needs to decide if it
wants to engage in dialogue
with India or separatists:
Arun Jaitley
Defence minister Arun Jaitley
New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Pakistan
should draw a red line whether
it wants to talk to government of
India or those who want to break
India, defence minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday asking it to
make a “conscious” choice.
India, he said, was “ready to
speak to Pakistan” and is “willing
to normalise the relationship” but
“then there are a few red lines”.
“We create the environment,
we fix up a dialogue at the level
of foreign secretaries, our foreign secretary is to visit Pakistan
(and) literally a few hours before
that they invite the separatists for
a dialogue to their high commission (in New Delhi).
“So I think a new red line has
to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider this question that who they
want to speak to? Do they want
to speak to the government of India or they want to speak to those
who want to break India,” he said
at the India Economic Summit
here. “So unless Pakistan makes
ing the Delhi assembly.
The union cabinet Tuesday
recommended the dissolution
of the 70-member Delhi assembly where no political party had
enough numbers to form a stable
government.
The decision was taken after
leaders of the Bharatiya Janata
party, AAP and the Congress told
Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung that
they wanted elections to end
months of political uncertainty.
The Delhi election of December
2013 threw up a fractured mandate.
Sachin Tendulkar: Playing It
My Way an honest effort
New Delhi, Nov 5 (IANS) It was
good to catch up with Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday night. And,
though I was meeting him after
a long time - as part of a select
bunch of journalists from across
the country on the eve of the
launch of his autobiography - international cricket’s most prolific
batsman had not changed.
His effervescent smile surfaced every now and then. His
forehead would crease perhaps
a bit more than when he would
have to face a Wasim Akram or
a Brett Lee or their ilk during his
24-year career as a batting legend. If he has any nerves about
the book doing well, he hid them
as well as he camouflaged the
butterflies in his stomach each
time he walked in to bat.
“There was no stress,” he insisted when asked if reliving
some dark moments - the Greg
Chappell episode, the Monkeygate scandal, the Test defeat in
Bridgetown when chasing 120
for a win and the allegations
of ball-tampering that he was
charged with was a challenge.
“On the contrary, I had so much
positive to recall fondly and get
goosebumps again.”
He was candid in his admission that the most difficult
thing about the autobiography,
published by Hatchette, was
in bringing some of his private
life into public domain. “Writing about my relationship with
(wife) Anjali was tough,” he said.
“We had kept our friendship quiet for a long time but our families
discovered it.”
the conscious choice, a dialogue
with Pakistan will not be possible,” he said.
India in August called off a
scheduled foreign secretary-level
talks after Pakistan’s envoy met
Kashmir separatists on the eve of
the dialogue.
Referring to ceasefire violations
by Pakistan on the Line of Control, he said the consequences of
its “misadventure” like firing on
civilian population and uprooting
of village, “would be an unaffordable cost for Pakistan.”
“Jaitley, who is also the finance
minister, said New Delhi has given three messages to Pakistan.
“The first is that we want to talk.
So we invited them. The second is
we send a foreign secretary there.
But they must decide whether
they are ready to speak to our foreign secretary or to speak to those
who want to break India. The
third is that this kind of a situation in international border cannot go on.
Prime Minister narendra Modi during a meeting with Bollywood
actress and MP Hema Malini in New Delhi on Wednesday. PTI
Certain court decisions are
difficult to implement, Union
minister Nitin Gadkari says
NEW DELHI: Union minister
NitinGadkari on Wednesday said
certain decisions of the courts
are difficult to be executed by the
government.
“I am exactly telling you the
truth. Suppose, someone wants
to run a government, the process is simple. You have to fight
elections ... but a media house or
judiciary cannot take charge of
administration.
“I am sorry to say in many cases, the way in which decisions are
given by the courts, it is difficult
to execute,” Gadkari, who is the
minister for road transport, highways and shipping, said here.
The senior minister’s comments came against the backdrop of many projects pending
due to litigation related to environmental and other issues.
Speaking at the India Economic Summit organized by WEF and
CII, the minister also said, “I have
respect for judiciary, I have respect for judges but at the same
time this poor country needs development”.
2
Indian Horizon, Hyderabad
City
Short Takes
Bandaru
dattatreya
visited EFLU
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS):
Secunderabad
MP and BJP national
vice-president Bandaru
Dattatreya today visited EFLU (English and
Foreign Languages University), a prestigious
institution for higher
learning which was in
news following rape of
a post-graduate student
by her two friends recently.
A 22-year-old student
complained to the police that she was raped
by her two friends in a
room in the boy’s hostel.
Dattatreya visited the
EFLU in OU campus and
interacted with vicechancellor Mrs Sunania Singh and enquired
about the incident.
Strongly
condemning the incident, the BJP
leader condemned the
statement of the two
perpetrators that they
thought they would be
able to “ handle the situation by talking it out”
since she was their close
friend.
TDP MLAs visit
NTR Ghat to
pay tribute
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Telangana TDP
MLAs and MLCs today
visited NTR ghat on the
shore of Hussainsagar
and paid tribute before
going to Telangana assembly which commenced today.
Later speaking to media, TDP floor leader
Errabelli Dayakar Rao,
Revanth Reddy and
TDP telangana committee chairman L Ramana
said that the TRS government has failed on
all front during in the
last five months of its
regime.
They alleged that
chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao was uttering only “ words” and
nothing he did for the
people.
president of TPS said,
“KCR wants to give the
impression that he is
the sole standard bearer
of Telangana State, and
wants to rewrite history.
Whereas it is a fact that
the 1969 movement can
be compared to the 1857
Mutiny. He criticized
silence of the KCR government on the 1969 Jai
Telangana Movement.
Nagi Reddy to
head TS election
commission
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Government today appointed V Nagi
Reddy, principal secretary, Finance as Commissioner of Telangana
State Election Commission. Nagi Reddy belongs to Pulkal in Medak
district will continue in
the office for five years
term, according to a
CMO press release.
TS Govt to
fete Maha
Guv on Nov 9
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Telangana Government will facilitate
Maharashtra Governor
Ch Vidyasagar Rao at
Jala Vihar in Hyderabad on Nov 9 at 2 pm.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will participate as chief guest in
the event, according to a
CMO release.
The government also
extended invitations to
Cabinet ministers, government advisors, top
leaders of all political
parties, MLAs, MPs and
MLCs and noted personalities of various sectors.
TPS urged TRS
Govt to recognise
Jai Telangana
Movement
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Telangana Praja
Samithi (TPS)demanded
the Telangana government to recognize the
1969 movement and
honour the supreme
sacrifice made by the
students in the Jai Telangana Movement.
Addressing a press
conference here today
Neera Kishore, working
SCs, STs welfare given top
priority in the budget: Etela
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS):
Stating that the budget 201415 was in the direction of
achieving “Bangaru Telangana”, the TRS MLA from Nakrekal Constituency Vemula
Veerasham felt that welfare
of SCs, STs and BCs was given
top priority in the budget.
Speaking to the media
after presentation of the
budget by the Finance Minister Etela Rajender in the
Telangana Legislative Assembly, Veerasham said that
the budget has reflected the
commitment of the Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar
Rao in achieving “Bangaru
Telangana” and reconstruction of the Telangana, which
was looted by Andhra rulers.
The budget was also like fulfilling all the promises made
by the TRS in its elections
manifesto, he added.
Listing
the
welfare
schemes and development
programmes mentioned in
the budget, the TRS MLA
showered praises on the
Chief Minister.
Reminding the sacrifices
of Telangana martyrs for the
cause of Telangana, he pointed out that Rs 100 crores have
been allocated in the budget
for the purpose of extending
Rs 10 lakhs to 459 families of
Telangana martyrs.
“SCs constituted 15.4 %
and STs constituted 9.3% in
the population of the Telangana State. In proportion to
their population, the state
government has allocated
15.3 % of funds of the budget for the welfare of SCs and
9.3% for the welfare of the
STs”, he said.
Terming
K
Chandrasekhara Rao as �Dalita
Pakshapati’(pro-Dalit
CM),Veerasham pointed out
that Rs. 7,579 crores have
been allocated for the welfare
of SCs and Rs 4,559 crores in
the budget for the welfare of
STs. In addition to this, the
TRS government has earmarked Rs 97.51 crores to
encourage SC entrepreneurs.
Expressing happiness over
the clear assurance of the
government to mitigate Fluoride issue in Nalgonda district, the TRS MLA said that
the plan of supplying potable
water to every door in the
state under Telangana Water Grid, for which Rs 25,000
crores have been allocated
should help in supplying safe
drinking water in fluoride affected areas in the district.
Veerasham also thanked
the Chief Minister for allocating Rs 100 crores in the
budget for development of
pilgrim place Yadagirigutta in
Nalgonda district.
Hyderabad, Nov 5 (PTI): Cyberabad police here have registered cases against the organisers
of �Kiss of Love’ campaign on the
University of Hyderabad campus
for �obscene act’.
A group of students had organised a demonstration in support
of the Kiss of Love campaign in
Kerala (which aimed to oppose the
moral policing) on the campus on
November 2; some of them allegedly kissed during the event.
Police have also registered a
case for criminal trespass against
the members of Bharatiya Janata
Yuva Morcha (BJYM), BJP’s youth
wing, who staged a protest against
the event.
“Following a complaint by university authorities, cases were registered by Gachibowli police. We
are verifying the allegations,” ACP
S Sreedhar said.
Asked if any students who “indulged in kissing” were questioned, inspector J Ramesh of
Gachibowli police station said a
committee set up by the university
was conducting an inquiry.
“Based on their report and also
the video footage we will take further action,” he said.
The organisers of the event were
facing cases under the Section 294
of Indian Penal Code, he said.
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Deputy
CLP leader in Legislative Council
Mohammed Ali Shabbir has alleged
that TRS Government has hatched
a larger conspiracy through Budget
Speech to avoid giving 12% reservation to Muslims in Telangana State.
Speaking to media persons after
the presentation of Telangana’s
first budget by Deputy Chief Minister Dr T Rajaiah in the Legislative
Council here on Wednesday, Shabbir Ali said that the TRS Government had deliberately mentioned in
the budget speech that minorities
constitute nearly 11% of the total
population in the State. This figure
is completely wrong as according to
2001 Census, the minorities constitute about 12.4% of the total population. This is not typographical error, but part of a larger conspiracy
to stop Muslim reservation.
During election speeches, Chief
Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and
other TRS leaders claimed that Muslims constituted nearly 14-15% of
the total population. However, in the
State’s first budget speech, the TRS
Government not only skipped the
mention of 12% Muslim reservation,
but quoted minorities’ population as
nearly 11%. This would create legal
hurdles and this budget speech would
be referred in the court challenging
12% reservation for a community
which constitutes just 11% of the total
population, Shabbir Ali said.
He also suspected that the role
of Advocate General Ramakrishna
Reddy in creation of this deliberate error so as to stop Muslim
reservation in the State. It may be
mentioned Ramakrishna Reddy
had represented cases against 4%
Muslim reservation in the courts in
the past and the Congress party had
objected to his appointment to the
post of Advocate General after the
formation of Telangana State.
The Congress leader demanded
that the State Government withdraw
the population percentage of minorities mentioned in the budget and
replace the same with the real figure,
based on 2011 Census.
TRS MLAs greet each other on the first day of Telangana assembly session in
Hyderabad on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)
Unique protests by BJP
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Chief Minister
K Chandrasekhar Rao
will participate as chief
guest in India and Sri
Lanka third one day international match to be
held at Uppal Stadium
on Nov 9. According to
a CMO release the members of two teams will be
introduced to the CM.
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS): Welcoming the
TRS Government’s 1.637
lakh crore budget, CPI
lone MLA Ravindra Naik
questioned the Government as to why it failed
to mention about the
suicides of the farmers
in the budget.
Speaking at the Assembly media point here
on Wednesday, Naik
asked the Government
as to how the Water Grid
project, which is estimated to be completed
with Rs.25,000 crores,
will be completed within
five years if it allotted
mere Rs.2000 crores every year. Stating that the
TRS party made several
assurances to the Fluoride affected people in
the Nalgonda district
during Telangana movement, Naik questioned
the Government as to
why it failed to speak on
Srisailam Left Bank Canal Tunnel issue.
TS Budget: Shabbir Ali smells conspiracy
to stop Muslim reservation
�Kiss of Love’ supporters
face case for obscenity
CM to attend
3rd ODI at Uppal
Congress
Corporator quit
Budget
Congress party
sans suicides
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
issue: CPI
(NSS): Adikmet corporator of Congress party
Sunita Prakash Goud
has resigned from the
party.
In a resignation letter
sent to Telangana PCC
president Ponnala Laxmaiah, Sunita said that
she is resigning from the
party’s primary membership as she is unable
to work in the party due
to internal bickerings.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Telangana BJP President Kishan Reddy along with party workers protest against
the state government for shortage in power supply to farmers in Hyderabad on
Wednesday. (PTI Photo)
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS):
Telangana BJP today staged
protest in an unique manner
holding “ Lanters and wearing saffron shirts “ demanding TRS government to take
immediate steps to prevent
suicides of farmers due to
power cuts and also not impose any power cuts.
All the five MLAs including Telangana BJP president
G Kishan Reddy proceeded
towards assembly from Basheerbagh holding plycards
alleging that the state government has failed to solve
problems of farmers and
also power crisis. The agitating MLAs reached Gun park
holding Lanters and later
they rushed towards assembly gate where they were
stopped by police personal.
After arguments with security personal the BJP legislators squatted on the road
and protested with lanters.
However, they were persuaded by police.
Besides Kishan Reddy,
party’s floor leader Dr K
Laxman, NVSS prabhakar,
Chintala Ramachandra Reddy and Rajasingh participated in the protest.
CM reviews new Indl policy
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today said that the world is witnessing
a flow of investments for a speedy
growth and rapid development.
During a high level review meeting
at Secretariat here he said that the
29th state of Telangana will come up
with ambitious new Industrial Policy
to enable the businessmen, companies to rope in their businesses
in Telangana. The CM is expecting
to present the new industrial policy
in the Budget session of Assembly.
Coupled with favorable atmosphere,
low cost lands and abundant human resources, Telangana State will
transform into a industrial hub by
Telangana’s maiden
budget reflect aspirations
of people: CM
Hyderabad, Nov 5 (PTI): The maiden
budget of Telangana presented in the
Legislative Assembly today reflected
people’s aspirations and the spirit of
separate statehood agitation, Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said
here. Hailing the Rs 1,00,637 crore budget presented by Finance Minister E Ra-
TRS faults oppn for walkout
Hopeless budget: Jana
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Finding fault with the opposition parties for staging a walk out, TRS MLAs alleged that it
is shame on the part of the opposition parties for staging a
walkout in the House. Speaking at the Assembly media point
after the adjournment of the House on the first day, MLA
Muthireddy Yadagiri Reddy stated that the budget is very
much useful to the people and it is historical. Another MLA
Srinivas Goud alleged that the opposition parties, which
were behaved differently during the Telangana movement,
staged a walk out with grudge towards TRS Government and
warned them stating that the people will teach a fitting lesson to the opposition parties. The budget reflected the fulfillment of assurances mentioned in the TRS manifesto. Senior
MLA Jupally Krishna Rao stated that the Telangana Government introduced the budget on par with the earlier United
Andhra Pradesh Governments. “It indicates the attitude of
the TRS Government towards the people”, he said.
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Congress Legislature Party
(CLP) leader K Jana Reddy today termed the budget introduced by the TRS Government is hopeless and quite disappointing as it failed to reflect the wishes of the people.
Addressing a press conference at the CLP office along
with Jeevan Reddy, Geetha Reddy, DK Aruna, Mallu
Bhatti Vikramarka and others here after the adjournment of the House, Jana Reddy took exception to the
budget for failing to mention on the plan to check the
ongoing suicide by farmers and meager allocationso
of funds for housing scheme. The funds allotted will
not enough to construct 25,000 houses for the poor,
he alleged. The previous government could waive crop
loans and helped the farmers to relieve he said. The
government seems to have no clarity on the issue he
said adding that the farmers are resorting to suicides as
they could not get fresh loans from the bankers.
introducing an unmatched new industrial policy, he said.
This policy boasts of a single window system of hassle free regime
giving all permissions in short time
at one go enabling the new businesses, companies, entrepreneurs
to come with huge investments in
Telangana State. The CM noted that
many international level businessmen are looking at Telangana State
which is away from natural calamities and cyclones. He stated that
Telangana will sure witness a speedy
development by attracting more investments which will help economy
growth and provide a lot of employment opportunities.
jender, the chief minister said the budget also reflected the election manifesto
of TRS, a release from the Chief Minister’s office said.
The importance given to state government’s major schemes and programmes like �Kalyana Lakshmi’ for
welfare of girls, restoration of tanks,
laying a drinking water grid, land distribution for Dalits, construction of roads,
highlighted the intentions of the government, he said.
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Short Takes
Ex-Cong minister Kanna
Laxminarayana joins BJP
Vijayawada, Nov 5 (PTI): Former Congress minister and five-time legislator from Guntur district
in Andhra Pradesh, Kanna Laxminarayana joined
BJP here today, saying he is “impressed” by the
welfare programmes initiated by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
“The policies and programmes of the Prime
Minister have attracted me (towards BJP) and I am
convinced that BJP is the only party that can take
the nation on path of progress,” Laxminarayana
said on the occasion.
He was welcomed in BJP by Andhra Pradesh
state unit president K Hari Babu.
“A vacuum has been created in the state politics after the Congress was thrown out of power
in elections and most of the politicians are now
preferring to cross over to BJP, but we have been
selective (in inducting them in the party),” Hari
Babu said.
A strong leader of Kapu community, Laxminarayana had served as a minister manning various
portfolios in previous Congress-led governments.
Laxminarayana’s son Nagaraju, who had served
as Mayor of Guntur city, also joined BJP along with
his father.
4 cops among 20 injured in
group clash
Hyderabad, Nov 5 (PTI): Twenty people, including four policemen, were today injured when two
groups of different communities clashed at a village in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district even
as the police fired in air to disperse the mob.
Tension prevailed in Kishtapadu village of Peddavadgur mandal in Anantapur this morning after
members of two different communities attacked
each other with stones and sticks following a row
over “not allowing a religious procession” two
days back, police said.
Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the
village following the incident.
Four policemen were among 20 people injured
as both the groups pelted each other with stones.
Window-panes of two police vehicles were also
damaged in the attack, they said.
The situation is now under control. Additional
security force has been rushed to the spot, a senior
police officer said.
Police initially resorted to lathi-charge and later
fired 10 rounds in the air to disperse the clashing
groups, Anantapur District Superintendent of Police Rajsekhar Babu told PTI over phone.
Errabeli �spars’ with CM on
channels �ban’
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Business Advisory
Committee meeting today witnessed a heated argument between Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar
Rao and Telugu Desam leaders Errabeelli Dayakar
Rao and Revanth Reddy, according to informed
sources. There was an argument between the CM
and TD leader Errabelli Dayakar Rao with regard
to continuation of �ban’ on Telugu News Channels
TV 9 an ABN for airing news clippings belittling
Telangana leaders on iPods and laptops.
Though the meeting is supposed to finalise the
dates of the session to be continued, it saw a sort
of argument with TD leaders E Dayakar Rao and
Revanth Reddy sought an explanation from the
Chief Minister on alleged continuation of channels ban. The ban on media is in violation of the
stipulated act they reportedly argued. Speaker
Madhusudhan Chary, Harish Rao and other leaders tried to intervene and pacify them.
Directionless budget: BJP
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS): Alleging that the TRS
Government’s maiden budget is directionless and
a old wine in the new bottle, BJP floor leader Dr
K Laxman said that their party staged a walkout
from the House protesting against the attitude
of the Government towards farmers. The BJP resorted to walkout along with the main opposition
party Congress and TDP on the first day of the
budget session here on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Assembly media point, Laxman
stated that the budget is quite opposite to the
election assurances made by the TRS. He alleged
that the Finance Minister Etela Rajender’s speech
is like a �leader’ not like a �Minister’. He said that
the Government failed to speak about the farmers’ suicides and prevailing drought. “There is no
clarity on power problems in the State. The Government announced Rs.1 lakh crore budget for
prestige but it failed to mention about the source
of revenue”, he alleged.
Finding fault with the Government for failing to
mention as to how it will fulfill the Rs.17,000 crore
deficit showed in the budget. He alleged that the
Government allotted mere Rs.25 crore for free
KG to PG education scheme and questioned “as
to how it is possible with the small amount?”. He
alleged that Rs.4000 crore, which is allotted for
farming sector, is not enough even for interest.
3
State
Thursday, November 6, 2014
APMCHUD to be held in India
in 2016: Venkaiah Naidu
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS):
Union minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu
congratulated APMCHUD for
emerging as a vibrant mechanism for collaboration among
the Asia Pacific countries, in
the field of housing and urban
development, and also the medium to express their collective
concerns, vision and views in
the international fora.
He thanked APMCHUD for
giving the opportunity to India
to host the 6th Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development in
2016.
While elaborating on Indian
Government initiatives in the
field of Housing and Urban Development on the concluding
day of of the conference today
at Seoul, Naidu indicated that
India has been assessed to have
a housing deficit of about 18.78
million housing units in urban
areas, and more than 95 per cent
of the same pertain to economically weaker sections and low in-
TS CM will
attend Guru
Nakak Devji
celebrations
Hyderabad,
Nov.5
(NSS):
Telangana Chief Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao would attend 545th Prakash Utsav of
Guru Nanak Devji celebration
here tomorrow.
The celebrations would be organized at Exhibition Ground,
come groups of the society.
In this scenario, the Government of India is evolving
comprehensive strategies towards achieving the objective
of `Housing for All’ by 2022,
through active and beneficial
involvement of a variety of stake
holders including public-private
participation and improving
governance of housing delivery,
the minister said.
He further added that India
has one of the largest urban systems in the world. Though accommodating slightly less than
one third of the total population,
the urban centers in India contribute a substantial part of the
Gross Domestic Product already
with 63 per cent in 2007 and the
same is expected to increase to
75 percent in 2021.
By 2050, half of the Indian
population will be living in urban areas and the Government
of India is fully seized of the
imperative of urban up-liftment through improving quality of public transport, provid-
ing drainage, sanitation, waste
management, water recycling
and wi-fi facilities for public and
commercial areas, Naidu emphasized.
Commending the Seoul Declaration, Naidu appealed to all
Member Nations to adopt 5E
policy – Education, Employment, Entertainment, Economic
Upliftment and Equal Opportunities – to make the lives of
people comfortable.
He also extensively discussed
the issue of housing, human settlement and urban development
during the bilateral meetings
held with the Ministers ofSaudi
Arabia, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq,
Maldives, Bangladesh as well as
Under Secretary General & Executive Director of UN-Habitat
during his visit.
Naidu also met with several
ministers in sidelines of the
conference and held one to one
meeting discussing important
issues and sharing their experiences and best practices, a release from Seoul said.
Nampally which would be attended b the chief minister
along with cabinet ministers and
Karimnagar mayor S Ravinder
Singh.
The most important and major
festival of the Sikh Communityacross the world prakash utsav
of Sri Guru Nanak devji (birthday
celebrations), the first Sikh Guru
and founder of Sikh Religion,
who spreadthe message of peace
and communal harmony over
the world willbe celebrated on a
grand scale in Hyderabad on No-
vember 6, 2014.
To mark the important occasion, Prabhandak Committees of
Gurudwara Saheb Secunderabad
and Gurudwara Sri Guru Singh
Sabha, Guru Nanak Marg, Ashok
Bazar, Afzalgunj have joined
hands to make the celebration a
grand success.
As the main Birthday Celebrations Guru Nanak Devji falls on
November 6, 2014 a ``VISHAAL
DEEWAN’’ (MASS CONGREGATION) will be held at Exhibition
Grounds, Nampally from 11 am
Budget session till
Nov 22: BAC
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS):
Budget session of Telangana State will continue
till November 22 according to a decision taken at
a Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting held
at Speaker Madhusudhan
Chary’s chamber in Telangana Assembly here on
Wednesday. Barring November 6, 8, 9 and 16 the
session will go on the rest of
the days until November 22
with 13 working days, according to a BAC decision.
The meeting also decided
to take up question hour
first and adjournment motions later. Though the government planned to conduct the session for about
one month it reduced to
half perhaps �fearing’ the
opposition criticism and
stalling of proceedings on
power, suicides, loan waiver and other issues which
may lead to pandemonium.
When TD’s Revanth Reddy
sought the session for one
month as it was previously
said, Chief Minister is learnt
to have stated that another
BAC will decide on that. However, KCR expressed a sort of
discontent on Telugu Desam
for the presence of the two
leaders E Dayakar Rao and
Revanth Reddy. When the
TD reposed a query as to why
two leaders are not allowed,
the CM reportedly said that
only one leader is allowed
to attend the BAC meeting.
However the TD leaders did
not budge instead got into an
argument it is learnt.
Madhusudhan
Chary
chaired the meeting attended
by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Deputy Chief
Minister Dr T Rajaiah, Minister P Srinivas Reddy, TD leaders E Dayakar Rao, Revanth
Reddy, BJP leaders Lakshman, G Kishen Reddy, CPM
leader S Rajaiah and others.
Though the floor leaders from
Congress, TDP, BJP, MIM and
Left parties sought more time
for sessions, the CM is learnt
to have stated that another
BAC will sit and decide.
AP Minister Dr Palle
visits Westminister
Hyderabad, Nov 5 (INN): Andhra
Pradesh Information Technology
Minister Dr Palle Raghunatha Reddy
had on Wednesday visited the City
Westminister - the Seat of U.K. Parliament - as part of his week-long official
visit sponsored by U.K. Government
under Outreach programme.
Later on today, the Minister Dr
Palle Raghunatha Reddy arrived at
Portcullis House (PCH),which is an
office building in Westminister, London, U.K., that was commissioned in
1992 and opened in 2001 to provide
Offices for 213 Members of Parliament and their staff. The Minister
had also visited U.K.’s Parliament
Building along with a team of Public
Budget gives pensioners
less : Uttam
Hyderabad, Nov.5 (NSS):
Stating that the Congress party
will not keep quite if the State
Government reduces the list of
pensioners, party senior MLA
Uttam Kumar Reddy has alleged that the budget allocation
for pensioners is mere Rs.1600
crore in the maiden budget of
the new State and it is meager
amount when compared to
previous budgets.
Speaking at the Assembly
media point here on Wednesday after the adjournment of
the House for Friday, Uttam
Kumar Reddy said that the
budget introduced by the TRS
Government is disappointing
one and it is not proper on the
part of the Government to introduce such a hopeless budget. He alleged that the State
Government concentrated only
on defections of the MLAs from
others political parties for the
last five months and did nothing for the people. He alleged
that the Finance Minister Etela
Rajender failed to express the
Government’s objectives in-
to 4 pm inwhich over 30,000 Sikh
Devotees and other community
faiths will converge at the programme.
The event will be marked by the
recitations of Gurbani Keertans
(Holy Hymns) by the reputed
Ragi Jathas (religious preachers)
who are being specially invited
from various parts of the country
to render Gurubani keertans.
Bhai Gurpreet Singhji of Shimla wale, Bhai Balwinder Singhji
Rangeela, Chandigarh, Bhai Jaswinder Singhji, Bhai Hari Singh
stead of criticizing the Congress
Government. He said that there
were no proposals on power
problems and it indicates that
the power problems will continue in the future.
Making it clear that the Congress party will fight against the
Government on budget, Reddy
said that the Government reduced the budget for three
times on Housing scheme. He
stated that it is shame on the
part of the Government for announcing that the industries,
which were finalized during
Congress Government, in the
Mahabubnagar district are because of the Chief Minister K
Chandrashekar Rao. It is sad
that the Government failed to
speak on the suicides of the
farmers, he bemoaned.
Taking serious objection at
the Congress MLAs, who joined
TRS party recently for wearing
TRS �Kanduvas’ shamelessly and
sitting in the treasury benches,
he said that the Congress party
will lodge a complaint with the
Speaker on this issue.
Hazuri Ragi Jathas, Bhai Jaswinder Singh and other reputed
Ragi Jathas will recite Shabad
Keertans and Kathas and throw
light on the teachings of Sikh Gurus. After the culmination of the
congregation Guru Ka Langar
(free community kitchen) will be
served to the devotees
A Night Keertan Darbar will be
organised at Gurudwara Saheb
Secunderabad tonmorrow from
9 pm to 2.30 am in which above
famous Ragi Jathas will recite
Gurubani keertans.
Komatireddy,
Yadaiah
skips CLP
meeting
Hyderabad, Nov 5 (INN):
Giving rise to the speculations, Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and
Chevella MLA Yadaiah have
skipped the Congress Legislature Party meeting held in
the Assembly premises on
Wednesday evening.
While Komatireddy kept
himself at a distance with the
Congress MLAs during the
presentation of Telangana’s
first budget on Wednesday,
Yadaiah, according to sources, was picked up from home
by Leader of the Opposition K
Jana Reddy himself. However, by not attending the CLP
meeting, the MLAs strengthened the speculations of their
exit from the Congress party
to join Telangana Rashtra
Samithi.
Wednesday’s CLP meeting
was attended by 17 MLAs, six
MLCs and six MPs of Congress party.
Representatives from South India.
Meanwhile, Dr Palle had participated in a Seminar on “The Commonwealth and the Role of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association” at
CPA Room, which was chaired by Rt
Hon.Sir Alan Haselhurst, Member of
Parliament and Chairman of CPA U.K.
Executive Committee. He also attended the briefing on P.M. Questions and
observed Prime Minister’s Questions
(PMQs) in Commons Chamber at British Parliament.
Later, Dr Palle had participated in a
session on “ Governance in U.K : from
European Union to Local Government
“ at Select Committee Hall, which was
chaired by Lord Bosewell of Aynho,
Chairman of House of Lords European Scrutiny, and Professor The Lord
Nortion of Louth, Professor of Govern-
Tenniss player Sania Mirza during the Country Club 25 years
celebrations in Hyderabad on Monday. (PTI Photo)
ment and Director of Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull. The
Minister also had a one-to-one interaction with Dr Roberta Blackman, MP
of Woods and Shadow Minister Communities and Local Government, at
CPA Room in Portcullis House. Later
on, Dr Palle had attended the Session
on “ Curbing Corruption in Local Government “ with Transparency International UK & Members of the anti corruption APPG in CPA Room.
The Minister had dwelled upon the
new I.T. & Electronic Policy and Blue
Print, which was heralded by the Government of A.P., and the I.T. investment opportunities in the Sunrise
State of Andhra Pradesh to the British
Parliamentarians and requested them
to come in a big way for investments in
Andhra Pradesh.
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South
Short Takes
PMK stages protest
against milk price hike
Chennai, Nov 5 (PTI): PMK today
staged a protest here opposing the recent
hike in milk price effected by the ruling
AIADMK.
Several PMK workers staged the protest led by party president GK Mani here.
Later, speaking to reporters, Mani
allaged that the increase of Rs 10 per litre had severely affected the consumers,
and asked the government to think over
“if such a hike in indeed required.”
The Tamil Nadu government had increased the rates of milk marketed by
state-run Aavin by Rs 10, drawing sharp
reactions from political parties and citizens alike with DMK and BJP among others staging protests against it.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had
defended the move saying his government was �forced’ to impelement the
decision to ensure the twin objectives of
no disruption in payments to milk producers as well as no compromise on the
quality of milk supplied to consumers.
Over 200 differently-abled
artists to perform in Kochi
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI): Breaking the barriers of disability, over 200 differentlyabled artists from various parts of the
country will perform here on December
3.
The programme �Barrier Free India’,
being organised by Kerala-based NGO,
�Prathyasha Foundation’, will showcase
the talents of differently-abled persons,
foundation’s managing trustee Simon
George told reporters here.
Wheelchair dancing, singing, drama
and other such performances will be
showcased at the event, he added.
This will be the “first and the biggest”
such event held in the country so far,
George said, adding, the aim is to create
awareness among the public about the
creativity of these artists.
Custom officials seize 7.5 kg
gold from air passenger
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI): Customs officials
today seized gold bars weighing 7.5 kg,
valued at Rs 2 crore, from an air passenger who arrived here this morning from
Dubai. The 25-year-old passenger from
Kasaragod had arrived by Qatar Airways
from Dubai via Doha, Customs Commissioner K N Raghavan told reporters at the
airport. A detailed search of his baggage
led to recovery of 56 gold bars of 10 tola
each weighing approximately 6.5 Kg and
another one kilogram of the yellow metal
in the form of beads chain, watch strap
among others.
in Tirupur District. According to police,
Kathirvel (45) had gone to bring in the
grazing cow near the fence of his field
in Chinnaripalayam in the early hours
of today and touched the fence without
knowing that the snapped electric wire
had fallen on it. He died on the spot, they
said. The deceased’s elder brother Govindasamy (50) rushed to the fence and
caught hold of the leg of Kathirvel to pull
him back, but he also got electrocuted
and died.
Agitation to brinbg
six communities under
Devendra Kulavelalar
Coimbatore, Nov 5 (PTI): Puthiya
Tamizhakam (PT) has drawn a threephased agitation beginning from November seven seeking to bring six castes
under one community named Devendra
Kulavelalar, on the lines of Thevar and
Arundhatiyar.
Talking to reporters here today, PT
founder-president and MLA, Dr K Krishnasamy said among the 76 sections in the
Schedueld Caste list, people belonging to
particular castes were brought under one
head like Thevar, Nadar and Vanniyar.
Mohanlal launches
music band
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI): Foraying into a new
arena, actor Mohanlal has launched a
music band called �Lalisom’.
The first show is to be held in February next year with a musical biography
of the actor when a retrospective into
his 36-year-long celluloid journey will be
musically crafted.
The over two hour show which will see
use of modern techniques including hologram technology and special effects, to
portray various characters immortalised
by the actor. At least 40 songs from Lal’s
various films will also be a part of the
show.
Mohanlal, who will also be part of the
band, proposes to conduct the show at
various stages in the country and abroad.
Airlines ordered to pay
Rs 20 lakh compensation
to passenger
Chennai, Nov 5 (PTI): A 70 year-old
businessman has been awarded Rs 20
lakh as compensation by State Consumer Redressal Commission after a German
airline downgraded his ticket during his
flight from Frankfurt four years ago.
Complainant Shiv Prakash Goenka
had contended that he had opted for
Business class travel in Lufthansa Airlines for health reasons during his trip to
Frankfurt and Madrid in 2010 as well as
for the return journey. In his complaint
Motor cycle expedition he claimed that the airline staff had
downgraded his ticket to economy class
by navy on Nov 7
and gave him a compensation voucher
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI): Embarking on a for Euros 1500 for surrendering his seat.
novel initiative to reach out and bond
with families of Naval personnel who are Vaiko opposes Kerala’s
no more, a Motorcycle expedition �Mis- move to construct dam
sion We Remember’ will be held here on
across Pambar
Nov 7 to meet 1267 widows of Naval personnel in Kerala. The expedition consistChennai, Nov 5 (PTI): MDMK leader
ing of 54 members will be flagged off on Vaiko today opposed Kerala’s move to
Nov 7 by Vice Admiral SPS Cheema, Flag construct a dam across Pambar, saying
Officer Commanding-in-chief, Southern it will affect the flow of water to AmaraNaval Command.
vathi dam located in Tirupur in Tamil
Nadu.
CM orders for taking
He said that the dam, catering to the irrigation
needs of over 60,000 acres in Tirup rescue operations
upur and Karur districts of the state, refor fishermen
ceived water from Pambar, Thenaar and
Chennai, Nov 5 (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chinnar. He said the Kerala government
Chief Minister O Pannerselvam has is- has now proposed a dam at Pattichery on
sued orders to authorities for taking Tamil Nadu-Kerala border and the govsteps on warfooting for the rescue opera- ernment had laid the foundation stone
tions of three fishermen, who went miss- for the project on Monday.
ing since November three.
The three fishermen Raman, Thiya- Ensure adequate stock
garajan and Karthik, who hails from Ar- of medicines: Minister
cotuthurai in Nagapattinam district went
for fishing on November three. They
Puducherry, Nov 5 (PTI): Puducherry
were supposed to return the next day, an Welfare and Tourism Minister P Rajavelu
official release here said.
today instructed officials to ensure that
The chief Minister has issued orders to the machinery initiated speedy steps to
concerned authorities to take up rescue prevent occurence of dengue fever or
mission on warfooting, the release said.
conjunctivitis in the rural areas of the
union territory. The minister had held
Two brothers electrocuted discussions with the medical personnel,
Coimbatore, Nov 5 (PTI): Two broth- officials of various departments and volerswere electrocuted today when they untary organisations to initiate proper
came into contact with a live wire fallen action plan to rise to any exigency, a
on the fence of their field near Avanashi press relese said here.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
CPI(M) rejects outright VS’s
views in �bar bribe’ case
Thiruvananthapuram,
Nov 5 (PTI): In a rebuff to party stalwart V
S Achuthanandan, the
CPI(M) state leadership
today demanded an inquiry by a special team of
Kerala Police under judicial supervision into the
graft allegation levelled
by bar owners against Finance Minister K M Mani.
In what is seen as another instance of growing
disconnect between the
veteran leader and party
leadership, CPI-M state
secretariat, which met
here, rejected outright
Achuthanandan’s persistent call for a CBI probe
into the allegation.
Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy also cold-shouldered Achuthanandan’s
stand saying, the Vigilance
probe was actually done
on the basis of a letter from
the latter.
Briefing reporters, CPI(M)
state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan demanded that the
government constitute a
special team of competent
and top-ranking officers to
probe the allegation that
Mani had received Rs one
crore from bar owners and
asked for more for favourable decision.
“We want neither a Vigilance investigation nor a
CBI probe. We want a special team of top-ranking
and competitive police officers to be formed and the
inquiry conducted under
judicial supervision,” Vijayan said.
The party also rejected
Achuthanandan’s call for
bringing back the RSP and
Socialist Janata Democratic to the LDF fold on the
ground that they had been
part of the coalition for
long but forced to go out
under compulsions.
Without waiting for
party’s official take on the
issue,
Achuthanandan
had consistently pressed
for a CBI probe in the �bar
bribe’ controversy arguing
that an inquiry by a state
agency would end up as a
farce in a case in which the
needle of suspicion was on
a senior minister.
Justifying
his
stand,
Achuthanandan had issued
repeated statements despite
Vijayan making it clear that
CBI probe was not preferable to the party questioning
the credibility of the agency
in dealing with politically
sensitive cases.
With the allegation casting a shadow over the
Congress-led UDF Government, the Government
had ordered a probe by
Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau, which already
formed a special team for
the task.
Chandy rejects CBI probe
on �bar bribe’ issue
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5 (PTI): Kerala Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy today rejected the demand of opposition leader V S Achuthanandan for
a CBI probe into the �bar bribe’ issue, holding that
an examination by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption
Bureau was progressing on the matter. A vigilance
probe into the allegation against Finance Minister
and Kerala Congress (M) supremo K M Mani was
ordered on the basis of Achuthanandan’s letter
seeking vigilance probe, Chandy said, adding, “I
cannot change my stand in accordance with that
of the opposition leader”.
Asserting that charges against Mani were totally false, Chandy said the controversy was with
a view to cover up the achievements made by the
Congress-led UDF government.
Making it clear that UDF was fully behind
Mani, Chandy said UDF was united on the matter and “no one can pull off any parties from the
UDF”. Chandy said Mani was a “very tall leader
of UDF” and a seasoned politician and eligible
for any higher posts in the state.
Though, Achuthanandan gave a letter seeking
Vigilance probe, later he changed his position
and insisted for a CBI inquiry.
The row over �bar bribe’ started after Kerala
Bar Hotels Association working president Biju
Ramesh alleged that Mani had taken kickback
for reopening of 418 bars closed down earlier
this year for want of required facilities after the
new liquor policy was announced.
AAP seeks CBI probe
against Mani
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI): Aam Admi Party’s
state unit today approached the Kerala
High Court seeking a CBI probe into the
graft allegations made by bar owners
against state Finance Minister K M Mani.
In the petition, AAP’S Kerala Convenor
and eminent writer, Sara Joseph, stated
that even five days after the disclosure of
bribery charges by Kerala Bar Hotels Association President Biju Ramesh, police
have not yet registered an FIR. The disclosure amounts to an offence punishable
under provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, the petitioner contended. Instead
of investigating the case, government has
referred the matter for a preliminary inquiry by vigilance, she said. Vigilance being controlled by government, there was
no likelihood of an effective investigation
against a Cabinet Minister, she submitted.
Police Commissioner M N Reddi talks to BJP MP Shobha Karandlaje as B S
Yeduyurappa looks on as they protest against the recent sexual harresment
incidents on children in Bengaluru on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)
India gets its first MSC certified fishery
Kochi, Nov 5 (PTI):
Ashtamudi Estuary’s short
neck clam fishery today became the first Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fishery in India. The
Ashtamudi short neck clam
fishery is the third fishery
in Asia after Vietnam and
Maldives to have received
this recognition.
The Ashtamudi lake, a
Ramsar wetland of international importance, is
the second largest estuarine system in Kerala.
It has extensive mangrove habitats harboring
nearly 90 species of fish
and 10 species of clams.
It contributes about 80
per cent of the overall clam
export trade in India and
supports the livelihood
of around 3,000 fisherfolk
involved in cleaning, processing and trading clams.
Dr Hem Pande, Addi-
tional Secretary, Ministry
of Environment, Forests
and Climate Change, told
reporters here that the certification demonstrates the
importance of supporting
small scale and high value
fisheries as a niche market
that supports sustainablity
of resource use. It is also
an excellent example of an
initiative that supports the
objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The certification process took four years, Ravi
Singh, Secretary General
and CEO, WWF-India said.
“WWF-India
initiated
the MSC Certification of
the Ashatamudi Short
Neck Clam fishery in 2-10
recognising the possiblity
of bringing in global sustainablity standards for the
benefit of conservation and
local livelihoods,” he said.
David Agnew, MSC
Kerala government to relax
condition to shoot wild boars
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5 (PTI): With increase in the
cases of attacks by wild boars on farmers in the forest fringe
areas of the state, Kerala government has planned to relax
conditions to shoot down wild boars under �self-protection’ provision.
Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan has been
asked to submit recommendations in this regard after holding talks with forest officials and representatives of farmers, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters after
cabinet meeting which discussed the issue of man-animal
conflict in the state. Taking a serious view of the matter, the
Congress-led UDF government in 2011 had issued orders
to allow farmers to shoot wild boars with prior permission
of the forest officials and certain formalities. The stringent
pre-firing conditions have led to various practical problems in cases of emergencies, Chandy said and citied the
recent death of farmers in Kannur in a wild boar attack.
Standards Director said
the
certification
programme is designed to be
accessible to all fisheries
that are managed sustainbly regardless of their
scale, size, type or sustainable seafood.
The MSC is an international non profit organisation set up to help transform the seafood market
to a sustainable basis.
The MSC runs the only
certification and ecolabelling programme for wild
capture fisheries.
Globally, 244 fisheries
in 35 countries have been
certified and there are
no certified fisheries in
36 countries. “We are extremely pleased to see this
small scale fishery become
the first in India to be certified to the MSC’s global
standard for sustainable
fishing,” Agnew said.
Govt examining legal
options on Mullperiyar issue
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 5 (PTI): With water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam increasing,
Kerala government was examining legal options
to maintain the water level at 136 feet considering the “safety aspect”.
Increase in the water level at the dam has come
to the notice of the government and Chief Secretary himself had visited the dam, Chief Minister
Oommen Chandy told reporters during Cabinet
briefing.
Chandy said Kerala’s demand to maintain the
water level at 136 feet has been declined by Supreme Court appointed apex committee on Mullaperiyar, but “we are exaiming legal options to
retain out position”.
Increase in water level in the 120-year-old dam
at the Kerala-Tamil Nadu boarder has caused
concern among the people living in the downstream of the dam on Kerala side over the “safety
of the dam”.
Tamil Nadu takes water from the reservoir for
irrigation purpses in five districts of that state.
Water level issue in the dam was a matter of
dispute between the two neighbouring states
with Kerala insisting that the water level be
maintained at 136 feet while Tamil Nadu wants
it to be increased it to 142 feet.
DMK moves EC seeking
removal of anomalies
in electoral roll
Chennai, Nov 5 (PTI): DMK today
moved Election Commission seeking removal of certain anomalies in
the inclusion and deletion of names
in the electoral roll. DMK Organisation Secretaries TKS Elangovan and RS
Bharathi submitted a memmorandum
with Chief Electoral Officer Sandeep
Saxena, complaining of “multiplication of double entries” of electors.
“Some names of the voters with
their photographs are entered in
more than one place with different
identification numbers. Those persons will be receiving more than one
identification number. This anomaly
will make it possible for the elector to
cast more than one vote in an election,” the party said.
Such a situation will not �augur
well’ for democracy even as EC will
“end up incurring heavy expenditure,” it said. DMK alleged that local
Tahsildars and revenue officials, entrusted with the duty of inclusion and
deletion of names, were not receiving
the complaints made by DMK’s booth
level agents in this regard �with the
spirit and enthusiasm required.’
“We request you to take appropriate action to rectify this anomaly,
otherwise the election will be a mere
mockery,” the party said and attached
some copies of voter cards it claimed
were duplications, given to one individual with different numbers.
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Shiv Sena red flags Fadnavis’
Vidarbha separation plan
MUMBAI Nov 5 (PTI): Describing BJP’s stand on separate statehood for Vidarbha
akin to “protectors becoming
perpetrators”, the Shiv Sena
on Wednesday reminded its
former ally of the resounding
mandate it got in Vidarbha
and said the vote was in favour of development and not
for a separate statehood.
“The BJP won handsomely in the Vidarbha region in the recently held assembly elections. But they
should not think they have
got this mandate to divide
Maharashtra.
Separating
Vidarbha from Maharashtra is like separating a child
from its mother,” the Sena
said in an edit in its mouthpiece �Saamana’.“When a
CM who hails from Vidarbha
talks about its separation,
it is just like the protector of
Maharashtra getting ready
to become a perpetrator or
wrongdoer,” it added.
The Sena said that instead
of speaking about separation
of Vidarbha, the BJP should
concentrate on developing
the region.“While on his first
visit to Nagpur after becoming the CM, (Devendra) Fadnavis said that Vidarbha will
be carved out at an appropriate time. Instead, he should
have spoken about the development of the region. He
should have spoken about
empowering the security
agencies in Naxal-hit areas
like Gadchiroli and Chandrapur,” the Sena said.Its hypocrisy on the part of BJP to now
talk about carving out a separate state, when the same
party accused the Congress
of making a mistake when
it created Telangana from
Andhra Pradesh, it said.“We
only hope that the �Fadnavis
Express’ runs straight on the
path of development of Vidarbha and does not wobble
in between. The CM should
working towards fulfilling
the dreams of 105 martyrs
who sacrificed their lives for
�Akhand (united) Maharashtra,” the Sena added.
Burdwan Blast Accused
Remanded to 10 Days’
NIA Custody
Kolkata Nov 5 (PTI): A city
court today remanded Burdwan blast accused Abdul Hakim to 10 days’ National Investigation Agency or NIA custody
after he was produced before it
following his release from hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for injuries suffered during the blast.
Chief judge, city sessions
court, M Mumtaz Khan
granted Hakim’s custody to
NIA till November 14, following a prayer by the agency for
15 days’ custody so that it can
interrogate him in connection
with the blast.The other three
arrested in connection with
5
Nation
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Rajnath Singh in Jerusalem today,
Israel says visit �very significant’
JERUSALEM/NEW DELHI Nov
5 (PTI): India’s security ties with
Israel, including cooperation in
counterterrorism, are expected to
receive a major fillip during home
minister Rajnath Singh’s visit here.
Rajnath Singh was scheduled to
arrive here on Wednesday morning but had to reschedule his plans
after his flight from Monaco was
cancelled due to stormy weather.
The minister was in Monaco to attend Interpol’s general assembly.
Despite the unexpected change
in plans, the Israeli government
has gone out of the way to accommodate the Indian home minister
and the Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s office was quick to
reschedule his meeting with the
premier for Thursday. “India is
a very important ally for us and
we view the home minister’s visit
as very significant. We are looking forward to fruitful discussions
that will strengthen cooperation
between the two countries”, a senior government source told PTI.
Rajanth Singh was scheduled to
meet Israeli President ReuvenRivlin, Premier Netanyahu and
defence minister Moshe Ya’alon
on Wednesday in a rare gesture
reserved for leaders from most
friendly or strategic countries.
It will be the first visit of an Indian home minister to Israel since
June 2000 when LK Advani visited
Jerusalem, marking an upsurge in
bilateral cooperation. The home
minister’s visit comes close on the
heels of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s meeting with Netanyahu
on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York. During
that meeting, Netanyahu had said
that “sky is the limit” in terms of
prospects of cooperation between
the two countries, seeking “greater
and greater” ties with India.
Netanyahu was among the
first global leaders to call Narendra Modi to congratulate him on
his victory in the general election.
Singh will also be meeting Israel’s
minister of public security, Yitzhak
Aharonovich, and national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, who
would accompany him on a helicopter tour of bordering areas.
NEW DELHI, Nov 5 (PTI): The Home Ministry on
Wednesday sought a report from Jammu and Kashmir government on the killing of two youth allegedly by Army personnel in Budgam district.
In a communication, the Home Ministry asked
the State government to give details about the incident, how did it happen and what action has been
taken in the aftermath of the killing of the two youth.
They were killed following alleged firing by Army
men at Chattergam in Budgam district of Kashmir
valley on Monday.
Two youth were also injured in the incident
that led to widespread condemnation from various quarters, including the mainstream political
parties.Curfew-like restrictions continued in five
police station areas in Srinagar as a precautionary
measure even as normal life across Kashmir was
affected on Wednesday following a call for general
strike by separatist groups to protest the killing of
the two youth.
RANCHI Nov 5 (PTI): The JMM,
which runs a coalition government in
Jharkhand with Congress and RJD support, has rejected RJD’s offer to support
each other’s sitting MLAs in the ensuing
assembly elections in the state.
“The RJD approached our leadership
on the issue of seat sharing. But how is it
possible when there is no alliance?” JMM
general secretary Suprio Bhattacharya
said. When contacted, RJD’s Jharkhand
unit spokesman Manoj Kumar said,
“Our party has approached the JMM
with a request not to field candidates
against each other in the seats where the
alliance partners have sitting MLAs.” The
JMM, with which the Congress broke
its alliance for the forthcoming assembly polls but continues to support the
Hemant Soren-led government, has already announced two lists of candidates
and is set to declare its third list today.
Bukhari row: Court accepts
plea, to hear matter on Nov 26
Home Ministry seeks
report on Kashmiri
youths killing
the case - Hasem Mollah, Rajia
Bibi and Alima Bibi - were remanded to judicial custody till
November 20 on a prayer by
the NIA counsel.
Hakim was released from
the state-run SSKM Hospital
today after being treated for
splinter injuries.The other
three were already in judicial
custody.
Two persons were killed in
the accidental blast in a house
at Khagragarh in Burdwan district on October 2, while hand
grenades were being manufactured there, leading to the
unearthing of an international
terror racket.
JMM rejects RJD’s
offer in Jharkhand
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President
Rahul Gandhi meet with Uttarakhand Congress delegation led by
state Chief Minister Harish Rawat at 10 Janpath in New Delhi on
Wednesday. PTI
DEORIA (Uttar Pradesh) Nov 5 (PTI): An
application has been moved in a court here
against Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid
Syed Ahmed Bukhari for not inviting Prime
Minister Narendra Modi for his son’s anointment as the next chief cleric. The Shahi
Imam has extended invitation to Pakistani
Premier Nawaz Sharif.
The petitioner, Vikas Mani, who runs an
NGO, moved the application in the court
of the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) under
CrPC section 156(3) stating that the act of
Shahi Imam amounts to “treachery” and
this has humiliated the 125 crore Indians,
according to the CJM’s office. The application has been accepted and November 26
has been fixed for hearing in this matter.
The Shahi Imam had triggered a controversy
by inviting Nawaz Sharif as well as political
leaders in India but not Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the anointment ceremony of
his son.
Outrage over youths’ killing Akhilesh Das offered Rs 100 crore for Make Tripathi Commission report public: Congress
Dehradun Nov 5 Chief Minister should Rawat on October 28, Pratap said.The comRajya Sabha ticket, Mayawati alleges (PTI):
justified: Mufti Sayeed
Uttarakhand Con- immediately call a meet- the chief minister had mission headed by forSrinagar, Nov 5 (IANS) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
patron and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti
Muhammad Sayeed Wednesday said the public outrage over
the killing of two youths in army firing is justified.Justifying the
outrage over the deaths of the two youths in firing by 53 Rashtriya Rifles soldiers in Chattergam village of Badgam district
Monday, Sayeed Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that repeated pledges on curbing human
rights violations in Kashmir are strictly adhered to and no individual is allowed to go against these assurances.
Addressing a public meeting in Handwara assembly segment of Kupwara border district Wednesday, Sayeed said the
killing of innocents cannot be justified and such tragic incidents have the potential of reversing the peace and normalisation efforts.“Unfortunately, almost similar circumstances
led to turmoil in Kashmir in the early 1990s,” he said and
added that the people of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered
immensely because of more than two decades of death and
destruction and they don’t want a similar situation to develop
again.Sayeed said although no steps on earth can heal the
deep wounds of such dastardly acts, in the prevailing dismal
situation tangible action at the highest level in the country
could to some extent heal the hurt psyche of the people and
salvage their bruised dignity.
“The prime minister must ensure to reinforce the resolve of
his predecessors to work through peaceful means and through
public participation towards restoration of peace in the state,”
he said.Sayeed said measures like reduction in the number of
troops and revocation of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
(AFSPA) have become more than imperative as these could be
the fundamental inputs to lasting peace in the state.
LUCKNOW Nov 5 (PTI): BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday alleged that Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Das, who had quit the party two
days ago, offered her Rs 100 crores
for renominating him to the Upper
House. “Akhilesh Das had talked to
me in Delhi and had offered money
for repeating him as BSP candidate to
the Rajya Sabha,” she told reporters
here. “Das had said that he was ready
to give Rs 50 crores to Rs 100 crores
for getting Rajya Sabha ticket saying
that as the BSP is out of power now,
I would need funds to run the party,”
Mayawati alleged. The BSP supremo
said she told Das that she would not
make him RS candidate even if he offered Rs 200 crores and instead of taking help from an individual, her party
gets funds through donations made
by poor and the downtrodden.
“For the recent assembly elections
and the coming ones in two other
states, funds were collected from the
people in Uttar Pradesh and other
states on one appeal,” she said, adding that BSP would give its ticket to
those who work dedicatedly for the
party’s movement at the ground level. On the allegations levelled by Das,
Chit fund scam: CBI gets 6-day
remand of BJD MP, ex-MLAs
Bhubaneswar Nov 5 (PTI): A
court here Wednesday granted
the CBI six-day remand of the
suspended BJD MP Ramchandra Hansdah and two former
legislators, arrested Tuesday
for their alleged involvement in
a chit fund scam in Odisha. The
special chief judicial magistrate
(CJM) court sent the suspended BJD MP Hansdah, and former legislators Subarna Naik of
the BJD and Hitesh Bagartti of
the BJP to six days in CBI custody, said an official.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had sought
10-day remand of the three
politicians, arrested on charges
of criminal conspiracy, cheating and diversion of funds, and
for their alleged links with chit
fund firm Naba Diganta Capital Services.
The three politicians were
directors in the company,
which allegedly duped the depositors in the state of crores of
rupees.
However, Hansdah said it
was the political conspiracy
that led to his arrest.
“The CBI is doing this to
get cheap popularity. It was
a bigger political conspiracy
to malign me and my party,”
said the Lok Sabha
member from Mayurbhanj to media
persons while being taken to court.
Former BJP legislator Bagartti
also pleaded innocence in the
chit fund scam.
“I have nothing to do with
the chit fund scam. Everything
will be clear once the investigation process is over,” he told
the media persons.
The BJP countered Hansdah
by stating that the CBI is doing
its job to unearth the chit fund
scam.
“The CBI is not here to contest elections. So, why will it
hatch political conspiracy? The
investigating agency is doing its
job impartially,” said senior BJP
leader Suresh Pujari.
Mayawati said “he was earlier in the
Congress and at the time of joining
BSP he had levelled serious charges
against the Congress, specially Rahul
Gandhi.” The former UP chief minister said that at the time of joining BSP,
Das had promised to strengthen the
party by garnering support of Vaishya
community in the state but he did not
do so and concentrated more on his
business work.
“We believed in him and sent him
to the Rajya Sabha but he did not live
up to his promises...rather that joining Vaishyas with the party he used
to stay away from the House during
the Parliament sessions,” she alleged.
Mayawati said that Das’s allegations
have been proved wrong with the
party nominating Raja Ram and Veer
Singh for Rajya Sabha seat as they
have been associated with the party
at the ground level. “Ram is incharge
of the party in four states and Veer
Pal is incharge in three states...they
have been associated with the movement for a long time and have been
using their salaries for the welfare of
people,” she said, adding the central
office of the party will assist them in
filing their nominations.
gress on Wednesday demanded that the report
of Tripathi commission
which was probing nearly half a dozen alleged
cases of corruption during the previous BJP
government in the state
be made public and that
action must be taken
against the guilty.“The
ing of the state cabinet
and make a decision on
what action should be
taken on the basis of the
Tripathi commission report and make it public,”
Pratap told reporters
here.
Soon after the report
was submitted by the
Commission to Harish
told reporters that any
action on the commission’s report depends
on what the Cabinet recommends.
“Nothing should be
done out of political
vendetta but at the same
time those who have
committed irregularities
should not be spared,”
Foreign women tourists land near
jail in Ajmer in a hot-air balloon
Jaipur Nov 5 (PTI): A hot-air
balloon with two foreigners and
a pilot on board went astray after taking off from Pushkar fair
and landed near the premises of
central prison in Ajmer district,
prompting authorities to order
an inquiry.
District authorities have withdrawn permission from the private company for flying hot-air
balloons following Tuesday’s
incident at the fair, which is
visited by tens of thousands of
tourists from the country and
abroad every year.According to
officials, three hot-air balloons,
which were flown at the fair
went astray on Tuesday. One of
them, which had two women
tourists from abroad and a pilot on board, landed near the
boundary wall of the central jail
after hovering over Ajmer city.
Superintendent of Police Mahendra Singh said that the location where the balloon landed
was close to the main complex
mer IAS officer Sushil
Chandra Tripathi was
looking into nearly half
a dozen cases of alleged
corruption and scams
during the previous BJP
government including
Siturjia land scam and
irregularities in allocation of certain hydel
projects in the state.
of the jail.“We are investigating
the matter and action will be
taken if any rule has been violated,” he said.
After the incident, District
Collector Arushi Malik appointed a three-member committee
headed by the Additional Collector to probe the matter.
She said that permission to
the company to operate at the
fair has been cancelled. The
company had permission to
operate till November 6.Ajmer
Jail Superintendent Pradeep
Lakhawat said a report would be
submitted to the committee by
the jail.
Two nabbed with Rs 10
lakh fake notes in
West Bengal
Kolkata Nov 5 (PTI): Two people were arrested
and Rs 10 lakh fake Indian currency notes (FICN)
seized from them near the Bangladesh border
in West Bengal’s Malda district, the BSF said
Wednesday.
Border Security Force (BSF) troopers intercepted the duo, residents of Joyenapur village in the
district, Tuesday night during a special operation.
The accused and the notes were handed over to
the local police.
This the second FICN haul by the BSF this week
in Malda. The troopers had Sunday arrested a
woman and seized Rs 10 lakh from her house in
Duisatbighi village.
The South Bengal Frontier of the BSF has seized
more than Rs 13,012,500 in FICN in the current
year.
Security personnel stand guard during a curfew following the killing of two
youth allegedly in Army firing, in Srinagar on Wednesday. Authorities imposed
curfew in the view of protests over the killings. PTI
6
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
EDIT
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Going after black money
Like the UPA regime, the Modi government too has sacred cows
BY KULDIP NAYAR
I
Thursday November 6, 2014
It is hoped that Delhi
will get a secular government
After long last, election in Delhi has been confirmed. It is obvious that Mr. Modi is not very happy with this decision and
also some people predict that the chances of BJP are not
very bright in Delhi. However, a few months interval and till
the date of Delhi election is announced, all the parties have
time enough to work hard and win the majority. Arvind Kejriwal still is in the forefront and determined to secure majority enough to form the government. Of course the AAP
seem to be a leading party as far as Delhi is concerned. The
BJP tried very hard to get enough support to form a government in Delhi but, they could not do it and that shows,
they are not very strong in Delhi because during this long
Thursday November 6, 2014
N the midst of debate on the illegal
foreign account holders, the names of
those who were given amnesty a few
days before the debate have been forgotten. Apparently, they are from both
the main political parties, the Congress
and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Otherwise, the shouting would not have
stopped in such a short time. One other
noticeable point is that there has not
been even a cursory mention of how the
account holders came to accumulate so
much money and what steps have been
taken to stop the practice.
Stacking money abroad is a crime.
Therefore, all those who have hidden
money in foreign countries are guilty.
The government’s hesitation in making their names public is now understandable. Obviously, both the Congress and the BJP are guilty and they
do not want their image to be damaged
if and when the names are out. Both
parties have a lot to hide.
The fact remains that the political parties, which spend crores of rupees during
elections, have foreign countries as safe
havens for accumulating illicit money. In
this way, they not only escape public attention but also the amount of large sums
which they would have otherwise paid in
the shape of taxes. The people in India
should, however, thank Germany which
put the names in the public domain.
One German bank got hold of the list of
names unwittingly and handed it over to
the Government of India. No intelligence
agency in the country can take credit for
the list. Why Germany gave the names is
not understandable. If it was a pressure
of sorts on New Delhi it has worked.
The public was understandably up in
arms when it came to know that 800odd people have money abroad. There
must be many other names which have
not come out. The amount of money
stacked abroad is said to be six lakh
crore of rupees. I recall that when I was
India’s High Commissioner in London,
the stringency of money had made New
Delhi to write to its envoys to raise money from Indians settled abroad. I also
made a fervent appeal to the people of
Indian origin. But I was surprised when
the German Ambassador told me that
Indians had so much money deposited
in the Swiss banks that they could easily
finance many five-year plans.
In any case, the government has now
names of foreign account holders. They
were reportedly received many months
ago when the Congress government
headed by Dr Manmohan Singh was at
the helm of affairs. Because of political
considerations, it took no action against
anyone. Even Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who promised to book the guilty
in one hundred days of his regime, has
begun action only after several months
of coming to power. The Manmohan
Singh government sat over the names
which were received during its regime.
Why no action was taken has not been
explained by the Congress spokespersons. The uncomfortable questions
are never answered. The disclosure of
names is in the same category.
The Modi government too has sacred
cows. It has preferred to name some
companies in the corporate sector to
others. The three names announced
from the corporate sector are probably
of those companies which the Modi gov-
ernment has not been able to mulct. Also,
the concentration on the corporate sector is meant to divert the people’s attention from the political world. The effort is
to convince society that the illicit money
is the doing of the corporate sector. This
may be true because the money spent
on elections, running into thousands of
crore comes from the corporate sector.
But this is black money, earned through
illicit means. The politicians, whether in
or out of power, have to bear the guilt.
They look the other side when corrupt
means are used to accumulate money.
That Modi would fight against the
vested interests who have polluted politics was expected, particularly when
he talked about cleanliness from every
public platform. But unfortunately he
has not kept his promise. He has made
businessmen and bureaucrats careful in
going about their corrupt practices. But
corruption has in no way lessened.
Even now it is not too late to retrieve
his reputation if Modi puts all the names
on the net. Who among them can be
prosecuted depends on evidence gathered. The disclosure of names will at least
absolve him from the responsibility of
hiding corruption from the people. This
may not be an instance of corruption but
it is quiet appalling. Some 3,000 crore rupees are estimated to have been spent on
fire crackers during Diwali. The money,
again in crores, during Dasehra is separate from this amount.
A country where one-third of the
population goes to bed without food is
a sad spectacle of insensitivity to the
conditions the common man faces. I
have not found activists coming once
on to the streets protesting. Society is
indifferent because those who lead the
voice and mould public opinion are
part of the problem. They can hardly
offer a solution.
IANS
period, Assembly was suspended and they could not draw
even outside support to form a government. The Congress
could have supported AAP and revived its government but,
this has not happened. As far as Delhi is concerned, it will
be in the national interest to form a government, which represents secular identity of India. Therefore, all the secular
parties must think over very carefully to see that India`s capital does not represent any sectarian or communal character. There will be many state elections going to be held and
the trend shows that there is a clear understanding to fight
against BJP by forming a unity among other secular parties,
especially in Bihar, where Lalu Prasad Yadav has announced
that he will keep working for the united front to win the election. The Congress party in view of the present day is facing
difficulties, it doesn’t seem to be possible to perform far better than they have done so far. Never the less, their strength
and marginal success can be achieved, if they give up isolation and their leading position has been adversely affected,
therefore seeking cooperation with other secular parties will
be a constructive measure in the interest of secular India.
Therefore, in Delhi also, they should not keep themselves
aloof and ensure that Delhi gets a secular government and
never give up any chances of mutual understanding and
support for secular party government.
It is very strange that BJP has lost its glamour under the
leadership of Mr. Modi at the moment. There is a vast difference between the national elections and state elections
that are taking place one after the other indicate the troubles
rising. It proves that the regional parties form a secular alliance and forget their minor differences and there is a possibility of forming a secular government in the capital and that
will be an achievement in itself. It is obvious that the RSS
and BJP have been working very hard to change the secular
character of India. This must be taken as a challenge by all
secular parties, big or small not to let the secular character
of India to be changed.
Meeting most of the world - Modi
government’s foreign policy overdrive
BY RANJANA NARAYAN
B
arring most of the African Union
countries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have met leaders
of most countries of the world by the
end of December 2014, pointing to the
heightened stress on foreign policy by
the new Indian government that took
power on May 26. Modi, who set off a
foreign policy buzz with invites to eight
South Asian neighbours, including
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,
for his swearing-in, has met leaders of
many countries, including the big powers the US, China and Russia.
During the BRICS meeting in Fortaleza, Brazil, July 15-17, he met Dilma
Rousseff of Brazil, Vladimir Putin of
Russia, China’s Xi Jinping and South
Africa’s Jacob Zuma. He also met the
leaders of 11 countries of Latin America
at the sidelines of the meet -Argentina,
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. He has visited
neighbours Bhutan and Nepal and hit
it off with Japan’s Shinzo Abe during his
visit in September. Modi also paid a successful visit to America where besides
bonding with President Barack Obama
he also met with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
He has already met Australian Prime
Minister Tony Abbott, who was the first
foreign leader to meet the new government when he arrived here in September.
Chinese President XI Jinping also paid
a successful visit to India last month. In
November, which is set to see heightened foreign policy activity, Modi will
meet the Southeast Asian leaders at the
ASEAN summit in Myanmar. He will also
meet the East Asia Summit (EAS) leaders at capital Nay Pyi Taw, which is held
at the same time. The annual summit
meeting with the 10-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations takes place
Nov 12-13. The 10 countries are Brunei
Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao
PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore,
Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan
Dung has just visited India. Modi wiil get
to meet Myanmar President Thein Sein
and also the new Indonesian President
Joko Widodo.
Modi will be meeting the EAS members, which include beside the 10 ASEAN
nations, Australia, China, Japan, New
Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the
USA. During the Nov 15-16 G-20 meet
in Brisbane, Australia, that follows soon
after, he would meet with the members
that include Argentina, Australia, Brazil,
Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico,
Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United
States and the European Union.
The meeting with the leaders of the 28
EU member states would complete his
meeting with the European Union.He is
slated to hold a bilateral with German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and also British Prime Minister David Cameron.
He flies to Fiji from Australia, where he
will meet Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama. He returns on Nov 20 and after a
two-day break travels to Kathmandu for
the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) summit, where he
would meet new Afghan President Ashraf
India's e-commerce industry
booms, public listing next
BY APARAJITA GUPTA
A
fter foreign investors injected
some mega millions into India's eretail companies in recent months,
including the $627 million for SnapDeal
by Japan's Softbank, public listing of
shares and consolidation are seen as
next big developments for this booming industry, seen as a $100 billion market in five years. This, industry experts
said, is not only to realise value for these
companies but also to raise the $500 million that's seen as the immediate funding needed for infrastructure, logistics
and warehousing, which could go up to
a whopping $950 million to $1.9 trillion
by 2017. "Public listing will take place for
these e-commerce companies shortly. It
could happen even in the next three-four
months," said Saurabh Srivastava, director-operations with PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The demand in the e-commerce
space will remain on the higher side in
India. There will be also some consolidation in the e-tailing space with some
mergers and acquisitions on the cards,"
Saurabh Srivastava, told IANS. Earlier
this year in May two of India's betterknown e-retailing companies, Flipkart
and Myntra, merged. The deal was estimated to be worth about $300 million.
Flipkart also got $1 billion in funding,
taking its valuation to a whopping $7 billion. Soon after, the US-based Amazon
said it was investing $2 billion in India's
e-commerce space. Once Softbank's
investments come in, SnapDeal would
have raised some $1 billion this year, including $133.77 million in February from
eBay. "All this cash infusion will help ecommerce companies to build a good
scale. This will help the market to mature
to the next level. After that they'll look at
Initial public Offers (IPO)," said Ashvin
Vellody, partner, management consulting with KPMG. "Broadly, it is a nice way
Ghani. He will meet with Russian President Vladimir in December in New Delhi
for the annual summit. President Pranab
Mukherjee has been doing his bit too. He
went to Vietnam in September and recently he visited Norway and Finland and interacted with the leadership, helping to boost
India’s presence in the Arctic Council
bloc. And he visits Bhutan later this week.
Modi’s ever-busy foreign minister Sushma
Swaraj has been reaching out and visiting a
number of countries. Among neighbours,
she has visited Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
and Afghanistan and is slated to visit Sri
Lanka soon. She is currently visiting Mauritius and would touch base with the Maldives on her way back.
Sushma Swaraj has also attended the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation,
interacting with the important Central
Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan besides
Russia and China. Iran and Mongolia
were present there as observers, while
Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners and Turkmenistan is a
guest. She has also visited Bahrain, Tajikistan, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar
and earlier this month visited the UK. She
is slated to visit the UAE later this month.
India was to host all the 54 countries
of the African Union at the India-African
Union Forum Summit in December in
Gurgaon, but due to the Ebola outbreak
in West Africa the meet has been put off
for the time being. Oman’s Foreign Minister Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah was
the first foreign dignitary to meet with
the Modi government in early June, soon
after it assumed power.
IANS
to raise capital using these options," Vellody told IANS. "The e-commerce trend
is two-pronged. There is this increase
in velocity toward gaining scale and the
second is the mix of business models. I
guess there will be two types of business
models -- generalists and specialists."
The data on Internet penetration in India
is there to back the scales of operation.
There are currently 243 million Internet
users in the country and, as per various studies, the e-commerce industry is
growing at 38 percent annually.
Analysts expect the market size, now
at $15 billion, to touch $100 billion in the
next five years. It may come as a surprise,
but according to a report of the commerce
ministry-promoted India Brand Equity
Foundation (IBEF), India has around one
million online retailers -- small and large -which sell their products through various
e-commerce portals. These online retailers
have started using mobile apps to increase
their reach. Several e-commerce firms
such as SnapDeal, Myntra, Flipkart and
Jabong are launching their mobile apps.
Some have set aside huge funds to acquire
companies in mobile apps space.
Readers Response and contribution Welcome
IANS
Thursday November 6, 2014
What Obama can
learn from Bush
The president runs the most centralised
administration in memory. Yet his
ability to shape events in Washington
and beyond is severely limited by his
reluctance to delegate authority
BY EDWARD LUCE
T
he day after the 2006 congressional election,
George W Bush admitted Republicans had received
a “thumping”. President Barack Obama called his
2010 humiliation at the hands of the Tea Party a “shellacking”. Another noun may be called for after Republicans
regain control of the US Senate. People assume Obama
will then face two long years of lame duckery before he is
finally put out of his misery. Yet with fresh blood, and a
new approach, the final quarter of a presidency can also
become its redemption. Obama should take a leaf from
George W Bush’s book. The president has spent much
of the past six years defining his administration against
that of his predecessor. Bush launched a misguided war
of choice in Iraq, mishandled the one of necessity in Afghanistan, passed generous tax cuts for the wealthy at a
time of falling blue-collar incomes and questioned the
notion of man-made global warming. But when Bush was
bloodied by US voters in 2006, it appeared to knock sense
into him. He embarked on a course correction that went
some way towards retrieving his presidency.
At its heart was a change of personnel. The day after
Democrats regained control of Capitol Hill, Bush fired
Donald Rumsfeld, his pugnacious Pentagon chief, and
brought in Robert Gates. This proved a big improvement.
Gates handled a successful US troop surge in Iraq and restored relations with “old Europe”. A few months before
the midterm disaster, Bush had replaced John Snow, the
beleaguered Treasury secretary, with Hank Paulson, who
became the president’s most pivotal cabinet member.
Paulson helped to launch the Group of 20 leading industrial nations, declared global warming to be real and was
central to the disaster management after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.
Perhaps the most critical change had been to elevate
Joshua Bolten, an effective political manager, as White
House chief of staff a few months before. Bolten helped
restore lines of authority to the Oval Office after Dick
Cheney, the vice-president, had spent years circumventing normal channels. Karl Rove, who was Bush’s controversial chief strategist — “T*** Blossom”, as he was
sometimes nicknamed — was also sidelined. Bush’s administration finally began to function properly.
Obama might also study Ronald Reagan’s final two years
after his midterm setback in 1986. Most people thought
Reagan was a dead duck. Like Bush, Reagan’s renaissance
hinged on finding a new chief of staff, Howard Baker, who
had the authority to shake up a besieged White House —
and did so effectively. Against the odds, Reagan emerged
largely unscathed from the Iran-Contra scandal, passed
an immigration reform bill, hit it off with Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev and left office with high ratings.
Could Obama do the same? Not unless he radically
changes the way his White House is run. When he took
office in 2009, Obama said he was aiming for an Abraham
Lincoln-style “team of rivals”, as depicted in the bestselling book of that name. On the surface, that is what he
did by making Hillary Clinton secretary of state and keeping Gates at the Pentagon. In practice, however, Obama’s
White House has always been run by a small coterie of
insiders, chosen for their loyalty rather than experience.
Instead of picking skills that made up for those he lacked,
Obama built an inner sanctum around them.
The “team of loyalists” model has been even truer of
Obama’s second term, so far, than it was of his first. The
president runs the most centralised administration in
memory. Yet his ability to shape events in Washington
and beyond is severely limited by his reluctance to delegate authority. At the inner circle’s core is Valerie Jarrett,
a White House senior adviser as well as close friend to
both the president and the first lady. Jarrett is the protector of the Obama flame. Disaffected aides dubbed her the
“night stalker”, as there have been occasions when decisions supposedly taken in the day have been unpicked by
Jarrett after hours.
Former insiders say it is unlikely Jarrett will return to Chicago until Obama has left office. They add that nothing is
likely to change unless she does. In addition to Jarrett, there
is Denis McDonough, Obama’s chief of staff. McDonough is
central to everything Obama does on foreign and domestic
fronts. There is also Susan Rice, Obama’s national security
adviser. Like McDonough, she has been with Obama since
the start. Each is talented and decent. Yet there is a limit
to what loyalty will buy you. Many in Washington believe
Obama has already checked out of the job. As David Rothkopf, editor of Foreign Policy magazine, puts it, Obama is
not so much the “decider” — as Bush described himself —
as the “presider”. With a reset, Obama could still achieve a
lot in the next two years. Big trade deals with Europe and
the Pacific spring to mind. As does immigration reform and
a nuclear deal with Iran. But he will need to change the way
his White House does business. To carry on as he is now
would be to invite irrelevance. On this, if little else, Obama
should try to emulate George W Bush.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
7
OP-ED
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Israel fine-tunes the colony game
Even if the Palestinian National Authority finds the nine Security Council members it needs to pass a
resolution, the US will either veto it or water down the language to preserve Israeli impunitya
BY WILL YOUMANS
W
hen Israel announced its intention to build
1,000 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem, it was admittedly hard to be outraged.
Of course, it is an immoral and belligerent move. It
totally disregards Palestinian rights and provokes
more conflict, the sort of political energy that is to
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s overall advantage. My
outrage is dampened by the feeling of deja vu. Each
episode in this conflict is actually routine. There is
nothing new anymore. Colony expansion is to be
expected on Israel’s part. It is enacting a long-term
strategy to swallow up Palestine while excluding as
many Palestinians as possible.
It is also hardly surprising that a politically compromised United States leadership would only do more
of the same. Its self-assigned job is to manage conflict
without violating the tenets of the US-Israeli alliance,
even under the pretence of being a honest broker. It is
consistently inconsistent. We cannot expect anything
better from Israel and the US no matter how outside
of world opinion they stand. What is really disappointing is the failure of the Palestinian leadership to
propose anything imaginative in response.
Palestinian officialdom in Ramallah is invested in
the whole land-for-peace con, a tired, uninspirational and fixed scheme. The absurd formula is based on
Palestinians giving Israel peace — really submission
— in exchange for getting their own land back. This
also means that anything resembling intransigence
will cost the Palestinians more of their own land. But
for Palestinians to produce this peace, it must tolerate increasing deprivations of its non-land rights by
— guess who — the Israelis. The trick is that it is really the Israelis who control both the land and, as the
stronger party, the peace.
This dooms Palestinians to a rigged accounting. It
is scheme in which Palestinians can only lose. Yet, the
Palestinian elite are vested in it, keeping the Palestinians as the party that Israel constantly does things to,
whether or not Israel can cite a pretence. Palestinians
have only one strategy acceptable in this paradigm:
Surrender. Even when they do, Israel expands the colonies. Where is Palestinian agency, inventiveness and
action? Land-for-peace is less a game than a cover for
the colonies’ programme. The plan for occupied Je-
rusalem is an intricate ring strategy to isolate the central city from surrounding Palestinian populations as
a way of diminishing their claims to the city. Israel
wants to preclude occupied Jerusalem from being
part of Palestinian life, which also includes squeezing the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem. Its ring
approach to surrounding occupied East Jerusalem is
matched by a larger administrative machine designed
to strain occupied Jerusalem’s Palestinians. The excessive policing and intricate rules around Palestinian residency status are part of a slow motion de-Palestinianisation effort in the city revered by the three
monotheistic religions.
The Palestinians of occupied Jerusalem resist this
plan by just existing in the face of intense pressure.
This is a vital and commendable strategy. The problem is the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah takes
the same approach. That is a dereliction of duty.
With the latest announcement of colony-building
in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli government
set off another equally hopeless round of meetings
and stern comments by spokespeople. Following a
Palestinian request, Jordan called for a UN emergency session last week. A UN spokesman dutifully
criticised Israel’s plans, calling on it to take back the
decision and to start magically abiding “by its commitment to the international law.”
The US answered with softcore words of criticism. US Ambassador David Pressman warned
against “actions that pollute the atmosphere for
peace.” Infractions against Palestinians are for
American officials rarely framed as anything other
than opposed to some abstraction — “peace” or its
“process,” or the “international community” — as
if these are victimless crimes.
US Secretary of State John Kerry inspired Netanyahu to issue a warm and fuzzy request to the Knesset
to temper the provocations on the holy city. Rightwing Member of the Knesset Moshe Feiglin happily
defied it by visiting the Al Haram Al Sharif on Sunday.
It did not have the immediate impact of former prime
minister Ariel Sharon’s 2000 visit with hundreds of
riot police in tow, which sparked a new intifada. This
only showed the absurdity of asking Netanyahu to do
something about provocation. It is like appointing a
thief as the chief of police. Despite the ever-so-slight
verbal spanking from the US over the plan, there was
some echo chamber panic in the US and Israeli news
media over deteriorating US-Israeli relations stemming from an unnamed Obama administration official calling Netanyahu names in confidential comments to Jeffrey Goldberg. If there was any confusion
about what impact these insults and hurt feelings
have on the state of the special relationship, the US
announced it was selling Israel a batch of F-35 stealth
fighter jets the same day; a robust sign of business as
usual. For its part, the political council of the Palestine Liberation Organisation said it would be seeking
a UN Security Council resolution “to end the Israeli
occupation in the [Occupied] Palestinian territories.”
However, every Palestinian can rattle off the litany
of UN resolutions that codify her rights and Israel’s
obligations. Every Israeli foreign ministry attorney
can list the many acrobatic interpretations and loopholes that render them toothless. It is not the legal arguments that leave the resolutions unimplemented.
It is the realpolitik calculations of world powers. What
would another UNSC resolution really accomplish
then? Even if the Palestinian National Authority finds
the nine Security Council members it needs to pass
a resolution, the US will either veto it or water down
the language to preserve Israeli impunity. The only
US veto at the UNSC under President Barack Obama
was a 2011 resolution condemning Israeli colony expansion. PLO Secretary General Yasser Abed Rabbo
contemplated this, saying that “If the Americans veto
or abort the motion, this would not be the end of the
process.” What is the backup plan, the brilliant counter? He said, “We will have another chance to go to the
Security Council in January 2015.”
Palestinian leadership should look to the activists
who have more imaginative ideas for marshalling
public support that press upon Israel’s real pressure
points. Their latest victory is getting the carbonated
beverage device manufacturer Sodastream to move
its factories from the colonies through pressures of
economic boycott. If Palestinian officials do not embrace grassroots solidarity tactics, they will find themselves being pushed by Israel and the western powers
to obstruct them. It takes a more visionary leadership
to act on this potential.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
Iran’s isolationist temptation
It already seems clear that Khamenei and the hardliners are poised to choose nuclear power over economic prosperity — a decision that will probably prove catastrophic for the country
BY RAY TAKEYH
A
s the November 24 deadline for Iran and the
great powers to negotiate a comprehensive nuclear agreement approaches, both sides may be
confronted with momentous choices. What happens
if the decade-long search for an arms-control accord
falters? Although there is little evidence that the West
is contemplating alternative strategies, important actors in Iran are beginning to consider life after diplomatic failure.
Since the exposure of its illicit nuclear programme
in 2002, the Islamic Republic has wrestled with a contradictory mandate: How to expand its nuclear infrastructure while sustaining a measure of economic
growth. The reformist former president Mohammad
Khatami had avoided debilitating economic sanctions by suspending nuclear activities. Then came the
tumultuous presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
which privileged nuclear empowerment over economic vitality. Current President Hassan Rouhani
has succeeded in negotiating an interim agreement
— the Joint Plan of Action — but he faces diminishing prospects for a final accord. Iran has finally come
to the crossroads and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei and many hard-line elements seem ready
to forge ahead with their nuclear ambitions even if
they collide with economic imperatives.
During the past few years, Khamenei has been
pressing his concept of a resistance economy whereby Iran would shed its need for foreign contracts and
commerce. “Instead of reliance on the oil revenues,
Iran should be managed through reliance on its in-
ternal forces and the resources on the ground,” he
said last month. Writing in the conservative daily
Khorasan last year, commentator Mehdi Hasanzadeh went further: “An economy that relies on domestic [production] rather than preliminary agreement
or the lifting of a small part of sanctions or even all
sanctions will bring a great economic victory.” In the
impractical universe of conservatives, Iran can meet
the basic needs of its people by developing local industries. Iran’s reactionaries seem to prefer national
poverty to nuclear disarmament.
The notions of self-sufficiency and self-reliance
have long been hallmarks of conservative thinking
in Iran. Since the 1980s, a central tenet of the hardliners’ foreign policy perspective has been that Iran’s
revolution is a remarkable historical achievement
that the US cannot accept or accommodate. Western powers will always conspire against an Islamic
state that they cannot control, this thinking goes,
and the only way Iran can secure its independence
and achieve its national objectives is to lessen its reliance on its principal export commodity. Hard-liners
believe that isolation from the international community can best preserve Iran’s ideological identity.
This siege mentality drives Iran’s quest for nuclear
arms and their deterrent power. Although many in
the West may privately hope that the interim accord
will simply roll on in absence of a comprehensive
agreement, Iranian adherence is hardly assured. The
history of Iran’s nuclear diplomacy suggests that it
will abandon the agreement when it has sufficient
technological capacity to carry out a rapid surge of its
programme. Between 2003 and 2005, while the Europeans negotiated a suspension of Iran’s programme,
Tehran continued to accumulate nuclear materials
and hone its research skills and, when it was ready,
abandoned its pledges.
Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy
Organisation, has already established the pretence
for introducing speedier centrifuges. “New centrifuges will be used for production of vaccines,” he noted
last month. Then, in an uncharacteristically honest
moment, Salehi acknowledged that “such kinds of
machines cannot be purchased at the world market.
They are not sold as they are said to be of dual use”.
And it is precisely that duality that attracts Iran to
machines that can produce highly enriched uranium
with speed and efficiency. Once Iran’s skilled scientists are confident of their mastery of the new machines, the Joint Plan of Action is likely to meet the
fate of the other agreements that Tehran has negotiated with European powers. In the coming weeks, the
ebb and flow of the high-wire negotiations are sure to
capture headlines. We will see furious diplomacy and
foreign ministers journeying back and forth to European capitals. But it already seems clear that Khamenei and the hard-liners are poised to choose nuclear
power over economic prosperity — a decision that
will probably prove catastrophic for their country.
Rouhani may yet be able to temper, for a while, such
rash impulses, but by loudly contemplating alternative strategies should diplomacy exhaust itself, Iran
seems to be crossing a dangerous threshold.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
Aleppo is the last stand for democratic Syria
It is the martyred centre of resistance to Al Assad, having been under bombardment by his forces since 2012
LAURENT FABIUS FRANCE’S MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
S
topped at the last minute in Kobani, the terrorist
group known in the Arab world as Daesh — we
do not use Islamic State, because the group is
neither truly Islamic nor a state — is dispatching its
murderers to other points along the Syrian-Turkish
border. And at the end of the road lies Aleppo, the
bastion of the moderate opposition.
Syria’s second-largest city and part of humanity’s
ancient heritage, Aleppo is the martyred centre of the
resistance to Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad, having been under constant bombardment by his forces
since 2012. Now Aleppo is caught between the regime’s “barrel bombs” and Daesh’s cutthroats.
The city is almost entirely encircled, connected
to the outside world by a single road to Turkey. The
regime is seeking to destroy the resistance through
cold and hunger. While 1 million people have left
to join the flood of Syrian refugees, some 300,000
Aleppans are holding on, threatened with the same
death and destruction that the regime has inflicted
on Homs and the suburbs of Damascus. The dictator
prefers to deliver Aleppo to terrorist atrocities, even
if that means allowing Daesh to flourish on Aleppo’s
eastern edge. Aleppo’s residents will then pay for
Daesh’s setback in Kobani.
In fact, Al Assad and Daesh are two sides of the same
barbaric coin. Al Assad largely created this monster
by deliberately setting free the jihadists who fuelled
this terrorist movement. This was part of his underhanded effort to appear, in the eyes of the world, as
the sole bulwark against terrorism in Syria. But the
facts contradict this charade. How many times has
the regime — so ready to attack its own people —
bombed Daesh? Did it ever try and save Kobani from
disaster, even while the People’s Democratic Party,
or PYD, fought at its side elsewhere? No, it chose to
do nothing. For these two faces of barbarism share
a common aim: To destroy the moderate opposition.
Thus, their choice to target its bastion, Aleppo, which
represents the only political alternative capable of
preserving the prospect of an open, pluralistic, democratic Syria — the Syria that both the regime and
Daesh reject. Abandoning Aleppo would mean condemning Syria to years of violence. It would mean the
death of any political future. It would mean exporting Syria’s chaos to its already vulnerable Iraqi, Lebanese and Jordanian neighbours. It would mean the
breakup of the country to be delivered up to increasingly radicalised warlords. And make no mistake — Al
Assad, one “warlord” among others — will not defeat
these rivals, just as he is incapable of defeating Daesh
today. Abandoning Aleppo would mean condemning
300,000 men, women and children to a terrible fate:
Either a murderous siege under the regime’s bombs
or the terrorist barbarity of Daesh.
France cannot resign itself to the breakup of Syria
or to the abandonment of the Aleppans to this fate.
That is why — together with our coalition partners —
we must focus our efforts on Aleppo, with two clear
objectives: Strengthening our support for the moderate Syrian opposition, and protecting the civilian
population from the twin crimes of the regime and
Daesh. After Kobani, we must save Aleppo.
COURTESY : GULF NEWS
The views expressed in these columns are the writers’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Indian Horizon or its management.-Editor
8
International
WORLD SNIPPETS
1 billion dollar Kabul Bank
scandal resolved
KABUL, Nov 5 (AP/PTI): The governor of Afghanistan’s central
bank said the scandal that saw almost $1 billion embezzled from
the Kabul Bank by senior shareholders has been resolved.
More than $330 million has been recovered, and $500-600 million worth of assets have been identified, Noorullah Delawari
said on Wednesday.
The Kabul Bank collapsed in 2010 and was placed in receivership after major shareholders, including relatives of senior politicians such as the former President and Vice-President, were accused to using it to fund lavish lifestyles.
Four Indian families robbed
in New Jersey
New York, Nov 5 (IANS) A New Jersey town is holding public
safety meetings after four Indian families were targeted by armed
robbers post Diwali.
The meetings to be held in Edison, New Jersey, will focus on
home security and crime-prevention measures, after complaints
from residents that the town lacked enough police officers, mycentraljersey.com reported.
“The victims are my neighbours, so this crime is very personal
to me,” Edison councilwoman Sapana Shah was quoted as saying.
“I realise that Edison must stay within budget and be cost-effective for our taxpayers. But Edison also needs more cops on our
streets,” she added.
In all the reported burglaries, two or more masked men, armed
with handguns, had entered the homes through rear entrances,
tied up occupants and ransacked the homes in search of valuables.
Police arrest HuJI leader
from Dhaka
Dhaka, Nov 5 (IANS) A leader of the banned militant outfit
Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI) has been arrested in Bangladesh, police
said.
Md. Ibrahim, 40, was nabbed from Sayedabad area of Dhaka
Tuesday night, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective
Branch (DB) additional deputy commissioner Saidur Rahman.
Detective Branch deputy commissioner Jahangir Hossain Matubbar said that Ibrahim, who recently received terror training
abroad, was the chief of the organisation’s operations wing.Details of the arrest will be provided in a media briefing later, said
the police official.
On Saturday, three HuJI members were held from Dhaka’s
Postogola area. Two of them were planning to take training in
Pakistan, police said.The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), earlier,
arrested some members of the outfit, who were caught with explosives, detonators and other bomb-making materials.
Turkey prosecutors seek life jail
for eight over mining disaster
Ankara Nov 5 (AFP): Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for eight executives of a coal mine company in Turkey
operating a facility where 301 workers were killed in May in the
country`s worst mining accident, media reported on Wednesday.
Prosecutors in the western city of Manisa are seeking life terms
on a record 301 counts of manslaughter against the suspects,
who were arrested and placed in pre-trial detention in May.
Twenty-nine other employees of the Soma Mining company
have also been charged with involuntary manslaughter and face
between two to 15 years in prison if found guilty, news agency
Dogan reported.
A trial is expected to begin in the coming weeks. Those facing life imprisonment include the chief executive of Soma Mining, Can Gurkan, who is also the son of the company`s owner.
Traces of endangered leopard
reported in China
Beijing, Nov 5 (IANS) Chinese authorities believe they have
found traces of the rare Amur leopard in the country’s northeast.
Forestry officials in Shulan city in Jilin province confirmed the
existence of the leopard after analysing hair samples collected at
a site where a domestic animal had been mauled to death.
“After comparing DNA, we concluded it was an Amur leopard,” Bi Jingji, division head of Shulan’s forestry bureau, told Xinhua Wednesday.In late October, Sun Jianwen from Badao village
discovered that one of his cattle had gone missing.
The cattle’s carcass was found in a nearby ravine the next day
with one of its hind legs completely ripped off and injuries to a
foreleg.It was this information that sparked an investigation into
the existence of the leopard in the area, Bi said.
Six types of �Facebook
murderers’
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (PTI): Researchers have identified six
different types of killers, who turn to Facebook to lure their victim
or otherwise use the social networking site in their crimes.
The researchers analysed cases of homicide, in which Facebook had been reported by the media as a significant factor.
The researchers found 48 cases of “Facebook murder” from
around the world between 2008 and 2013 and identified six different types of killers.
They are reactors, informers, antagonists, fantasists, predators
or imposters.
A reactor reacts to content posted on Facebook by attacking
the victim face-to-face, researchers explained.
This may be immediately after viewing the content that makes
them angry or there may be a time delay, in which they revisit the
content and ruminate over its meaning.
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Ukraine reaffirms Midterm poll debacle for Obama as
adherence to Minsk
Republicans control Senate
accords
Kiev, Nov 5 (IANS/EFE) Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko reaffirmed Wednesday his
government’s support for the Minsk agreements
aimed at peacefully settling the conflict with
pro-Russian separatists in the eastern region of
the country.
According to a press release issued by the
president’s office, Poroshenko’s remarks came
in a telephone conversation with US Secretary of
State John Kerry.
“We have spent too much effort and time to
reach these agreements, and we cannot afford to
discard them,” Poroshenko was quoted as saying.
The head of state proposed resuming negotiations for a peaceful settlement in the so-called
Geneva format (Ukraine, the US, the European
Union and Russia) at the foreign ministers’ level.
Poroshenko expressed his gratitude for the
“unifying role” of the US in support for the integrity of Ukraine.
In particular, he stressed the importance of
the US refusal to recognise elections held by the
pro-Russian separatists last Sunday in the selfproclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Washington, Nov 5 (PTI)
Riding a wave of discontent
against Democrats, resurgent Republicans today
gained control of the US
Senate for the first time in
eight years and increased
their majority in the House
of Representatives, as President Barack Obama was
relegated to lame duck status.
Propelled by economic
dissatisfaction and anger
toward the President, Republicans grabbed Democratic Senate seats in North
Carolina, Colorado, Iowa,
West Virginia, Arkansas,
Montana and South Dakota
to gain their first Senate
majority since 2006.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a shrewd
Republican
tactician,
cruised to re-election and
stood poised to achieve
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky.,
joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao,
celebrates with his supporters at an election night party
in Louisville, Ky.,Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. McConnell won
a sixth term in Washington, with his eyes on the larger
prize of GOP control of the Senate. The Kentucky Senate
race, with McConnell, a 30-year incumbent, fighting off
a spirited challenge from Democrat Alison Lundergan
Grimes, has been among the most combative and closely
watched contests that could determine the balance of
power in Congress. AP/PTI
a goal he has pursued for
years ?- Senate majority
leader.The midterm election that started as trench
Son, Brothers of Sunken South
Korean Ferry Owner Convicted
SEOUL Nov 5 (PTI): A South
Korean court convicted three relatives of the sunken ferry’s owner and other associates for corruption on Wednesday, about
four months after the tycoon was
found dead on the run.
The body of fugitive billionaire
Yoo Byung-eun was discovered
in rural South Korea in July after
a weekslong manhunt. Authorities allege his corruption likely
contributed to the ferry sinking
in April that killed more than 300
people. They say Yoo controlled
the ferry operator through a
complex web of holding companies in which his children and
close associates are large shareholders.
On Wednesday, Yoo’s eldest
son, Yoo Dae-gyun, was sentenced to three years in prison
over embezzlement and breach
of trust, according to Incheon
District Court spokesman Jang
Joon Ah. Two brothers of Yoo
Byung-eun were convicted of
similar corruption charges. One
brother got a two-year prison
term and the other was sentenced to one year in prison but
his sentence was suspended for
two years, Mr Jang said.Ten of
the late tycoon’s associates were
also sentenced to up to four years
in prison over embezzlement
and other corruption charges on
Wednesday, Mr Jang said.
said. Medics were not immediately able to
18 dead as Egypt school bus talsayofficials
how many of the dead were children because the
bodies were so badly burned after the vehicles burst
collides with tanker truck into flames.
CAIRO Nov 5 (AFP): At least 18 people were killed
when a bus packed with high school students collided with three other vehicles, including a tanker truck,
in northern Egypt on Wednesday, medics said.
The crash, near the Nile Delta city of Damanhur,
160 kilometres (100 miles) north of Cairo, also injured
18 people, some of them seriously, police and hospi-
Palestinian shot dead
after ramming vehicle
into pedestrians
Jerusalem, Nov 5 (IANS) A Palestinian
motorist rammed his vehicle into pedestrians and later assaulted them with an iron
rod in Jerusalem Wednesday, leaving at
least eight people injured, before being shot
dead by police.
“A commercial vehicle hit and ran over
pedestrians who were standing at a light rail
train station in Jerusalem,” a police spokesperson said in a text message to Xinhua.The
man was shot and killed by paramilitary
border police, the police said, dubbing it a
“terror attack”.Magen David Adom of Israel’s Red Cross told Xinhua that three people
were severely wounded in the incident, one
of whom was in “critical condition” and has
been transferred to hospital.Eyewitnesses
The fire completely gutted the bus which had
been transporting the teenagers to school. Scorched
text books were scattered near the wreckage, shown
in footage aired by Egyptian television. Medics said
three charred bodies, including that of a police officer, were pulled out of a sedan which was also involved in the crash.
told Israel Radio that the man rammed his
car into a group of people who were coming out of a light rail stop. He drove on until
his vehicle hit some cars that were parked at
the site. He then got out of his vehicle and
attacked people at the scene with an iron
rod.The incident, the second in two weeks,
took place at a time of increasing tension
between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem.
Last week, a baby and a woman were
killed when a Palestinian crashed his car
into a light rail station in Jerusalem. The
driver was later shot by police and died of
his wounds in hospital.Tension has been
building up since July when Jewish extremists kidnapped and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.There
have since been clashes almost daily with
East Jerusalem Palestinian residents hurling stones and firebombs at Israeli security
forces, as well as random attacks by Jewish
extremists on Arab bystanders.
directed provinces to take effective measures for the elimination of the deadly disease.
Sharif formed the anti-polio
committee of the federal cabinet comprising the defence,
health and interior ministers.
He stressed the elimination of polio was a national
responsibility and the fight
against the virus had to be
Norway expects IS-inspired
attack within coming year
Oslo Nov 5 (AFP): Norway`s intelligence service
said Wednesday it expects an attack on the country within a year due to the growing threat posed
by the Islamic State (IS) group. ”Within the coming
African leaders head to Burkina
to press Army to give up power
Ouagadougou Nov 5 (AFP):
African leaders were headed for
Burkina Faso on Wednesday to
pressure the army into keeping
its promise to hand power back
to civilians within a fortnight
after the fall of president Blaise
Compaore.
Isaac Zida, the interim leader
appointed by Burkina Faso`s
military, told unions on Tuesday
that he would return the country to civilian rule, a day after
the African Union threatened
sanctions if the army did not
give up power. The presidents
of Ghana, Nigerian and Senegal
were due to arrive in Burkina
Faso on Wednesday to press the
issue, as Canada suspended its
aid to the impoverished West
African country and other nations considered similar moves.
The military had filled the power
vacuum left by Compaore, who
was forced to resign on Friday
after 27 years in power, chased
out by a violent popular uprising that some had likened to the
Arab Spring.
France said it helped facilitate
the evacuation of Compaore
saying it was necessary to prevent a “bloodbath” in the former
French colony.In the aftermath
of Compaore`s exit, the army`s
decision to take over the reins of
the country once again sparked
angry protests at home and
prompted threats of sanctions
from the international community.
But the army has claimed that
“power does not interest us”
and pledged to install a unity
government with a “broad consensus”.Zida has repeated the
promise in meetings with opposition and civil society leaders as
well as foreign envoys.
Former President APJ Abdul Kalam being conferred the Honorary Professor of the
Peking University by its top official Enge Wang in Beijing on Wednesday. PTI
Pakistani PM vows to eliminate
polio in six months
Islamabad, Nov 5 (IANS)
Pakistani Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif said Wednesday
that the country will be poliofree in six months.
Addressing the anti-polio
steering committee meeting, Sharif said negligence in
eradicating polio will be considered a crime, Geo News
reported.The prime minister
warfare, state by state and
district by district, crested
into a sweeping Republican
victory.Contests that were
expected to be close were
not, and races expected to
go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans.
The uneven character
of the economic recovery
added to a sense of anxiety,
leaving voters in a punishing mood, particularly for
Democrats in Southern
states and the Mountain
West, where political polarisation deepened.Elections
were held for the entire 435
House of Representatives
seats, 36 of the 100 Senate seats and gubernatorial elections in 36 of the 50
American States.
Republicans picked up
seven seats, giving them 52
seats in the 100-member
Senate and have the potential to win several more,
while Democrats did not
take a single Republican
seat.
won at all costs.A focus group
was also formed during the
meeting which will present
a report to Sharif in every 15
days regarding the developments.
Earlier, the prime minister
met with the chief ministers
of all four provinces to discuss
strategies for elimination of
the disease.
12 months, it is likely that Norway will be threatened by terrorist attacks or exposed to attempted
strikes,” the police intelligence service, known as
PST, said in an updated threat assessment.
PST director Benedicte Bjoernland told broadcaster TV2 her service had “no information on any
specific plan to attack a target in Norway today.”
17,000 people displaced by
Boko Haram violence in Nigeria
Lagos, Nov 5 (IANS) A total
of 17,000 internally displaced
persons (IDPs) have been
registered as a result of the
escalation of the attacks in
northeastern Nigeria’s state
of Adamawa, a rescue agency
spokesperson said Wednesday.
The Boko Haram has attacked targets almost every
day for weeks and last week
seized control of Mubi.
Sani Datti, an information officer with the National
Emergency
Management
Agency (NEMA) told reporters in Yola, the state capital,
that more than 6,000 chil-
dren were among the IDPs,
according to Xinhua.
Datti said the agency and
other partners were managing six major camps.
“We are still waiting for the
arrival of some IDPs who ran
into Cameroon during the
recent attack on Mubi town
and other towns,” he added.
He appealed to IDPs, especially those living with either
their relatives or host communities, to come out and
register at the nearest camp,
saying that the government
had provided enough relief materials to cater to the
needs of the IDPs.
9
Business
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Arun Jaitley promises more reforms,
privatisation of sick PSUs
New Delhi Nov 5 (PTI): Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday
promised reforms in labour, land
acquisition and insurance laws
and expressed readiness to look at
privatisation of some loss-making
public sector companies. Asserting
that the country needed to doggedly pursue the reforms agenda
despite challenges, he maintained
that reform is the art of possible
but it cannot be just “one sensational idea”. There could be hundred things which could be done
but the focus would be on what
can be done immediately as part of
the reform process, he said kicking
off the two-day India Economic
Summit here organised by Geneva-based World Economic Forum.
He also noted that India was off
the global radar for 2-3 years and
the retrospective taxation was
“one bad idea” that damaged the
economy. Referring to the need for
labour reforms, Jaitley said: “Some
aspects of the labour laws in India
can certainly be improved and rationalised. “This is an area where
we will have to have a much larger
consideration... Some people will
certainly have reservation on this
issue. Will I be able to immediately
get it passed in Parliament? I am
not in a position to comment,” he
said, adding that the government
needs to convince people that a
flexible policy will create more
jobs. The government has already
introduced some labour reforms
in Parliament which will be discussed in the upcoming session.
On land acquisition laws, Jaitley
said the government is looking at
changing some “illogical provisions”. “There are some illogical
provisions (in Land Acquisition
Act) like land cannot be used or
acquired under this law for private
hospitals and schools... There are
some factors in it, which certainly
require a re-look,” he said answering questions from the WEF Chairman Klaus Schwab.
On privatisation and opening up
more sectors such as insurance to
foreign investors, Jaitley said the
last time Bharatiya Janata Partyled NDA was in power, it followed
a liberal model. The Minister
pointed out that the government’s
decision to further open defence
and railways to foreign investment
is evoking interest from investors.
“If the initial experiment succeeds, we can open up a lot
more,” the Minister said, adding the government was open
to international participation in
the infrastructure sector. He expressed hope that the long-pending Insurance Amendment Bill,
that seeks to raise FDI in the sector from existing 26 percent to 49
percent, will get Parliament nod
in the upcoming Winter Session.
On disinvestment, Jaitley said,
“This time, there will be divestment as some important public
undertakings are on the verge of
closure. But on foreign investment, decisions will be made
sector-wise, keeping in mind the
requirements of Indian economy
and the appetite of the political
system for reform.” On a question
about subsidies, Jaitley said petrol and diesel prices have already
been de-controlled, and an expenditure management commission
Cognizant Q3 Net up
11.2%; raises 2014
revenue forecast
New York Nov 5 (PTI): IT services
major Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation on Wednesday said
its net profit has grown 11.2 per cent
to USD 355.6 million for the quarter
ended September 30, 2014, on the back
of growth in financial services and
emerging countries. This is against a
net profit of USD 319.6 million in the
corresponding quarter last year, Cognizant said in a statement.
The US-based firm saw its revenues
rising 12 per cent to USD 2.58 billion in
the quarter under review from USD 2.3
billion in the same period last year.
Cognizant expects its revenues in
the October-December 2014 quarter to
be between USD 2.61 billion and USD
2.64 billion. The firm has also revised
its revenues forecast for the year to be
between USD 10.13 billion and USD
10.16 billion (higher by 14.5-14.9 per
cent), excluding any impact from the
acquisition of TriZetto.
While announcing its first quarter
results, Cognizant had forecast its 2014
revenue to be at least USD 10.3 billion, higher by 16.5 per cent from 2013.
However, at the end of June quarter, it
lowered its outlook to at least 14 per
cent. In fiscal 2013, Cognizant’s revenue stood at USD 8.843 billion, up
20.4 per cent from 2012. “Our overall
demand environment remains strong
and our results this quarter highlight
that we are competing, winning and
executing transformational engagements for clients in various industry
segments globally,” Cognizant President Gordon Coburn said.
Cognizant added about 12,300
people during the quarter. “There is a
tremendous opportunity in the marketplace as the advent of new digital
technologies, global economic pressures, and an evolving regulatory environment force businesses across all
industries to change and adapt faster
than ever before,” Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Francisco D’Souza said.
Cognizant is ideally positioned
to help clients worldwide address
these competitive challenges with
end-to-end solutions that address
their dual mandate of improved efficiency and of innovation using the
latest social, mobile, analytics, cloud
and sensor technologies, he added.
“Our balance sheet remains strong
as cash and short term investments
increased during the quarter by almost USD 500 million to USD 4.6
billion,” Cognizant Chief Financial
Officer Karen McLoughlin said.
has been appointed to look into
rationalisation of subsidies.
Nevertheless, he said, subsidies
will not be eliminated completely
as some sections of Indian economy and people will always need
support. Recalling the steps taken
by the NDA government to deal
with coal block allocation problems, Jaitley said, as a result “the
element of discretion in the hands
of the state has almost disappeared
and hence once you take decision
of these kinds (it will) eliminate the
possibility of corruption, collateral
consideration or crony capitalism
as you call it.”
The investors, he added, could
look for a system “which is fair.
Not a system on which they have
to entirely depend on the largesse
of politicians and ministers.” Similar reforms, he said, would be undertaken for allocation of natural
resources and other minerals.
Terming reforms “as a long journey”, Jaitley said some people expect that the second generation of
reforms in India really need one or
two big bang ideas, but “that prob-
Govt plans $2.8 bn
ONGC stake sale by
early Dec: Sources
New Delhi/Mumbai Nov 5 (PTI): The government plans to sell a 5 percent stake in energy explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC)
in the last week of November or the first week
of December, two sources directly involved in
the deal said on Wednesday. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi`s government has introduced
long-awaited reforms in the oil sector, freeing
diesel prices and raising natural gas prices measures which should be positive for ONGC
and other oil marketing companies.
Presentations to investors on the share sale,
worth about $2.8 billion at current market
prices, are likely to start from Nov. 17 and will
run for about a week, said the sources, declining to be named as the details were not yet
public. “There is a plan to hold roadshows in
the U.S., London and Singapore from Nov.
17 to 23 to attract global investors,” said one
of the sources. The share sale is part of the
government`s plan to raise a record $9.5 billion via asset sales in the current financial
year through March 2015 to help plug its fiscal
deficit. Aradhana Johri, secretary at the divestment department, which oversees the sale of
holdings in state companies, was not immediately available for comment. The government
has appointed five banks - Citigroup, HSBC
Securities, ICICI Securities, UBS Securities
and Kotak Mahindra Capital - to manage the
sale. In 2012, the government sold 5 percent
of ONGC to raise about 140 billion rupees. It
retains about 69 percent of the company.
Bharti Airtel calls off Rs 700-cr deal
to acquire Loop Mobile
New Delhi Nov 5 (PTI):
Telecom major Bharti Airtel
on Wednesday called off the
Rs 700-crore deal to acquire
business and assets of Mumbai-based Loop Mobile as the
Department of Telecom (DoT)
is yet to clear the transaction
announced in February. With
this development, Loop Mobile will not be able to migrate
its 17 lakh subscribers to Airtel
as envisaged earlier.
Airtel in a filing to BSE said
its proposed transaction related to Loop was conditional
upon DoT approvals which
had not been received till date.
“In light of this update and
the fact that Loop’s mobile license is to expire at the end of
this month, we have decided to
terminate the discussions with
regard to the transaction for
acquiring subscribers of Loop.
A formal communication to
this effect has been released to
Loop at 05:19 PM today,” Airtel
statement said. The Khaitangroup promoted Loop Mobile
suffered a setback when the
Supreme Court cancelled the
pan-India permit of its sister
concern Loop Telecom as part
of quashing 122 telecom licences in February 2012.
The apex court’s order, however, did not apply to Loop
Mobile’s Mumbai licence that
is expiring on November 29.
The company also did not
purchase spectrum in auction held in February this year
which was mandatory for continuing its operations.
A Loop Mobile spokesperson told PTI: “Loop Mobile
and Bharti applied to the DoT
for approval of the business
transfer in March 2014. The
approval for the transaction is
still awaited from the relevant
authorities as a result of which
Bharti Airtel has withdrawn
from the proposed transaction
causing huge loss to the company (Loop).” DoT is yet to give
clearance to the proposed deal
as it estimates that Loop Mobile and its sister concern Loop
Telecom owe about Rs 808
crore in spectrum and other
charges to the government.
Private sector lender Axis
Bank has also told the DoT
that Rs 215-crore loan to Loop
Mobile will be at risk if the deal
of the Mumbai-based operator to sell its assets to Bharti
Airtel is not approved. Airtel
had signed the deal with Loop
in February this year to buy
business and assets of Loop
Mobile in Mumbai under a
strategic agreement for about
Rs 700 crore.Under the agreement, Loop Mobile’s 3 million
subscribers (at that time) in
Mumbai were supposed to join
Airtel’s over 4 million subscribers, which would have made it
largest network in the metropolitan city. Shares of Bharti
Airtel today fell by nearly 3 per
cent to settle at Rs 385.30 on
the BSE at close.
At NSE, it was down 2.29 per
cent to end at Rs 386.70. To a
particular query by BSE on fall
in stock price, Airtel said it has
complied with disclosure obligations and is “not aware of
any information which could
explain the movement in trading of shares as mentioned
in the aforesaid email.” “We
further confirm that other
than the agreements that were
mentioned in the press release
of February 18, 2014, no fur-
Cut in repo rate
unlikely to boost
investments: Crisil
Mumbai Nov 5 (PTI): The recent
slowdown in the economy is on account of policy uncertainty and sluggish domestic demand, and a cut in
repo rate is unlikely to spur investments, a Crisil report has said.
“Factors behind the recent slowdown in economic growth and investment in the country have little
to do with high interest rates. The
primary reason is a sharp fall in the
expected return on investments due
to policy uncertainty and slowing
domestic demand,” rating agency
Crisil said in a report today.
“In such a situation, leaning on
monetary policy to revive investments will yield little benefit,” it
added. With inflation easing in recent months, there has been a growing clamour for a rate cut to boost
the economy.
Retail inflation or CPI eased to 6.46
percent in September, lowest since
January 2012, from 7.73 percent
in August. Although the monetary
policy tool of cutting the interest
rate is conventionally used to ener-
gise a flagging economy, it does not
hold true under all circumstances,
the report said. “And it carries the
risk of reversing the recent gains in
inflation, which, in any case, is nothing much to write home about,” it
added.
It said investment growth has
slowed down sharply even though
policy rates have been negative in
real terms and real lending rates
have averaged less than 3 percent.
The rating agency said the government should continue to improve
the policy environment to raise the
expected return on investment. It
also said the new NDA government
has taken a number of steps, which
will yield results over the next few
quarters. “On its part, the RBI should
continue its fight to stabilise consumer price inflation below 6 percent and that would require standing
pat on the repo rate,” it said. Lower
inflation will help revive consumption demand and reduce input costs,
boosting return on investments, the
report added.
RIL to sell 49.9% stake
in US joint venture
New Delhi Nov 5 (PTI):
Reliance Industries is looking to sell its 49.9 percent
stake in a US joint venture
that owns a 460 miles pipeline network for transportation of shale oil and gas. RIL,
as well as its partner Pioneer
Natural Resources Co, are
seeking a buyer for their
stakes in Eagle Ford Midstream venture as they focus
on shale oil production.
“Pioneer Natural Resources today announced that the
company is pursuing the divestment of its 50.1 percent
share of the Eagle Ford Shale
Midstream business.
“Reliance Holding USA,
Inc owns the remaining
49.9 percent of the EFS Midstream business and also
plans to pursue the divestment of its share in a joint
process with Pioneer,” the
Dallas-based independent
oil and gas producer said in
a statement. RIL, through its
subsidiary Reliance Holding
USA Inc. Had acquired 49.9
percent stake in EFS Midstream LLC in June 2010.
Current investments in EFS
Midstream LLC is USD 208
million. The Midstream sys-
tem consists of 10 gathering
plants and about 460 miles
of pipelines. The system
gathers and separates produced condensate from produced gas. It also stabilises
the condensate, where necessary, and treats the gas. It
is projected to generate USD
100 million in cash flow next
year. Pioneer is the operator
of the business.
The sale “would allow us to
strategically redeploy capital
to our core, oil-rich Spraberry/Wolfcamp assets in the
Permian Basin of West Texas,”
Pioneer Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer Scott Sheffield said. Pioneer, however,
said it has no plans to sell its
stake in the Eagle Ford shale
oil and gas producing assets.
The US firm holds 46 percent
stake in the upstream venture
where RIL has 45 percent and
Newpek LLC the remaining 9
percent. It is being speculated
that RIL may be looking at
selling this stake as well. RIL,
which bought 45 percent interest in Pioneer Natural Resources Co’s Eagle Ford shale
formation of south Texas for
USD 1.3 billion, is working
with Citigroup Inc and Bank
of America Merrill Lynch to
find a buyer. When the news
of this stake sale came last
month, its spokesperson had
said, “Reliance constantly
strives to identify means to
create additional value for its
shareholders” but declined
to comment on the specific
sale. RIL, in a July presentation to investors, had stated
that it has invested a total of
USD 3.91 billion in Pioneer
joint venture since inception.
472 wells have been drilled to
date with average production
rate of 676 million standard
cubic feet per day.
The Eagle Ford assets,
spread over 230,000 acres,
have become more attractive after the US Commerce
Department, in June, gave
Pioneer permission to export a type of ultralight oil
known as condensate produced from the region. Besides Eagle Ford, RIL has
two more shale ventures in
the US - 40 per cent stake in
Chevron’s Marcellus shale
acreage and a 60 per cent interest in Carrizo Oil and Gas
Inc’s Marcellus shale acreage in Central and Northeast
Pennsylvania.
10
Business
SAT allows DLF to redeem Rs 1806 cr
of mutual fund investments
Mumbai: In a major interim
relief to DLF, the Securities Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday allowed the realty giant to
redeem mutual funds worth
Rs 1,806 crore to meet working
capital needs and service debt
payments. DLF had sought
permission to redeem money
locked in mutual funds after being slapped with market regulator Sebi’s ban last month that
bars it from accessing the capital market for 3 years. The final
hearing in DLF’s main appeal
against the Sebi order would
commence on December 10,
prior to which Sebi and the
company will have to file their
replies with Securities Appellate
Tribunal (SAT).
As an interim measure, SAT
has allowed the company to
redeem mutual funds worth Rs
767 crore in the current month
and further funds worth Rs
1,039 crore in December. “...
Sebi order did not ban DLF
from continuing its business,
but only barred it from accessing the capital markets for three
years,” a three-member SAT
bench said. “It can be reasonably concluded that the appellant (DLF) should be allowed
to use its own funds to meet
its every day needs and other
working capital requirements,
including meeting its obligations to the creditors.
“Accordingly, this tribunal
justifies the demand for the appellant to redeem Rs 1,806 crore
from mutual funds and also allow its lenders to de-freeze/
invoke the pledged shares of
its subsidiaries as and when
required,” Presiding Officer JP
Devadhar said.
Seeking permission to redeem mutual funds, DLF had
submitted before SAT a list of
10 subsidiaries that need the
cash along with the parent firm,
as also the bank details of the
funds to be redeemed from the
mutual fund investments worth
Rs 2,118 crore. Out of this, the
company needed Rs 1,806 crore
till December. DLF’s counsel
submitted that the money was
needed as its 10 subsidiaries are
not in a position to service their
commitments to banks and fi-
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Thursday, November 6, 2014
nancial institutions. Due to the
peculiar nature of its business,
DLF collects all the surpluses
from the subsidiaries and has a
consolidated bank account.
The tribunal noted that the
Sebi counsel Rafique Dada did
not object to the interim relief.
Dada said, “Sebi is not opposing
the interim relief as it does not
want the company to be crippled at the same time, it has to
be underlined that the tribunal
makes it a point that this case
and the interim relief does not
become a precedent for others.
“We are not opposing the plea
for interim relief presuming
that the tribunal is satisfied with
the case made out.
Sensex surges to all-time closing
high of 27,915.88
Mumbai, Nov 5 (PTI) The BSE Sensex
Wednesday breached the 28,000 level
for the first time but ended a shade
below at 27,915.88, its all-time closing peak, with gains of 55.50 points
as banking and IT stocks rallied amid
hopes of more reforms by government
and a rate cut by the Reserve Bank.
The NSE Nifty also closed at record
level of 8,338.30, gaining 14.15 points
over the previous close. The 50-share
index touched all-time intra-day high
of 8,365.55 points, surpassing its previous record of 8,350.60 scaled on Monday. During the day trade, the 30-share
BSE Sensex scaled its fresh life-time
high of 28,010.39 points, beating its
previous record high of 27,969.82
reached on Monday.
“Market sentiment has been buoyed
by a slew of economic reforms undertaken by the government recently, followed by optimism over strong second
quarter earnings by blue-chip companies”, said Manoj Choraria, a Delhibased stock broker. Addressing business leaders at New Delhi, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley Wednesday said
the government was looking at areas
like labour reforms, privatisation of
some state-owned companies and improvement of land acquisition laws.
Besides government accelerating
economic reforms, falling global crude
prices, that raised hopes of an early cut
in rates by the Reserve Bank, bolstered
sentiments that lifted key indices to
new peaks, brokers said.
Banking stocks such as Axis Bank,
ICICI Bank and SBI led the rally among
Sensex stocks. Axis Bank rose the most
by 2.93 per cent among 30 Sensex
scrips, followed by SBI (2.24 per cent)
and DR Reddy (2.24 per cent). ICICI
Bank, HDFC Bank, Sun Pharma, Infosys, TCS and ITC were among major
gainers that lifted the index to record
high. Stocks of state-run oil companies
such as HPCL, BPCL and IOC hogged
the liemlight and rose up to 2.37 per
cent after global crude prices hit
multi-year lows that would improve
their margins. However, Coal India,
Sesa Sterlite, Bharti Airtel, RIL, Hindalco and Tata Power were laggards on
profit-booking. Foreign portfolio investors bought shares worth a net Rs
1,413.34 crore on Monday. .
A mixed trend in the other Asian
markets, a higher opening on the European markets on better corproate
earnings, too influenced trading sentiments here, traders said.
“Markets consolidated post the recent rally in the markets, which has
come about on the back of renewed
optimism on fiscal reforms, sharp
correction in crude prices, improved
growth in US, liquidity easing by Japan and diminished possibilities of
an immediate increase in US interest
rates,” Dipen Shah, Head- Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.
Among the 30 Sensex components,
14 stocks advanced, while 16 ended
in negative zone. The Banking index
conquered yet another milestone of
28,000 for the first
time briefly before
concluding at a
new closing peak
of 27,915.88, a rise
of 55.50 points
of 0.20 per cent.
. In the forwards
market,
premium continued to
fall on sustained
receipts
from
exporters.
The
benchmark sixmonth premium
payable in April
declined to 218220 paise from
previous close of
226.5-228.5 paise.
Far-forward contracts maturing in October,
2015 also dipped to 431433 paise from 443.5-445.5
paise. The Reserve Bank of
India fixed the reference
rate for dollar at 61.3870
and for the Euro at 76.9854.
In the forwards market,
premium continued to fall
on sustained receipts from
exporters. The benchmark
six-month premium payable
in April declined to 218-220
paise from previous close of
Singapore, Nov 5 (AFP) Oil prices were mixed in Asia
today as dealers looked ahead to the release of the latest
US supply report after a sell-off in the previous session
owing to price cuts by Saudi Arabia. US benchmark West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery rose 12
cents to USD 77.31 while Brent crude for December fell
20 cents to USD 82.62 in late-morning trade. WTI had
dropped USD 1.59 in New York late yesterday to hit its
lowest closing point since October 2011, as dealers continued to digest Saudi Arabia’s move to cut its prices for
crude sold to the US markets. Brent fell USD 1.96 in London to its lowest close since October 2010. “Investors will
next be looking to the US stockpiles report for an idea
on how much supply is outstripping demand in a global
market quite flush with supply,” Desmond Chua, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, told AFP. The
US Department of Energy will release its official weekly stockpiles report later today. Crude reserves in the
world’s biggest economy likely rose by 2.2 million barrels on average in the week to October 31, according to
analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Gasoline stockpiles are expected to have fallen by 300,000 barrels, while
stocks of distillates including heating oil and diesel likely
fell by 1.8 million barrels, the analysts said. Daniel Ang,
investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said
“markets are still recovering from the unexpected shock
from Saudi Arabia’s price cuts.” Analysts say the move
by Saudi Arabia, kingpin of the OPEC oil-producing cartel, is an effort to hold onto market share in North America against cheaper oil flooding in from US shale fields.
Ang said prices are facing continued downward pressure
with the Saudi price cut seen to be “just the beginning”
and other leading OPEC producers likely to follow suit.
The 12-nation Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries will deliberate on whether to trim its current
output of about 30 million barrels per day in a meeting in
Vienna on November 27. (AFP)
Gold prices decline to
over 3-year low
gained the most by surging 1.41 per
cent, followed by Healthcare by 1.01
per cent, IT index by 0.73 per cent,
Capital Goods index by 0.57 per cent,
FMCG index by 0.32 per cent and Auto
index by 0.05 per cent. “Markets consolidated post the recent rally in the
markets, which has come about on the
back of renewed optimism on fiscal reforms, sharp correction in crude prices, improved growth in US, liquidity
easing by Japan and diminished possibilities of an immediate increase in
US interest rates,” Dipen Shah, Head-
Rupee finishes almost flat at
61.41 against US dollar
Mumbai, Nov 5 (PTI) The
Indian rupee Wednesday
ended almost flat at 61.41
against the Greenback on
alternate bouts of buying
and selling. Despite a strong
start, the rupee erased all its
morning gains during intraday due to sharp bouts of
dollar demand from importers. However, it fell later
before recouping losses to
close almost flat at 61.41
on the back of fresh dollar
selling from banks and exporters. Sustained capital
inflows into equities also
helped the rupee to cap the
fall to some extend’, dealers said. At the Interbank
Foreign Exchange market
(Forex), the domestic unit
commenced higher at 61.35
a dollar from previous close
of 61.40. It moved in a range
of 61.34 and 61.49 before
settling at 61.41, showing a
marginal fall of one paise.
Meanwhile, US dollar
continued its strong rallying
momentum against a basket
of currencies in late Asian
session trade in the wake of
Republican wins during the
mid-term elections as well as
steady improvement in US
data. The benchmark Sensex
Oil prices mixed ahead of
US stockpiles report
226.5-228.5 paise.
The benchmark six-month
premium payable in April
declined to 218-220 paise
from previous close of 226.5228.5 paise. The rupee recovered against the pound
to 97.60 from previous closing level of 98.23 and also
recouped to 76.67 per euro
against 76.71. It also rebounded to end at 53.65 per
100 Japanese yen from Monday’s level of 54.14.
Private Client Group Research, Kotak
Securities. Among the 30 Sensex components, 14 stocks advanced, while 16
ended in negative zone. The Banking
index gained the most by surging 1.41
per cent, followed by Healthcare by
1.01 per cent, IT index by 0.73 per cent,
Capital Goods index by 0.57 per cent,
FMCG index by 0.32 per cent and Auto
index by 0.05 per cent. However, Metal
sector index slipped 3.03 per cent and
Power index fell 0.91 per cent. With
continued improvement in trading
sentiments.
Services sector
activity stagnates
during October: HSBC
New Delhi Nov 5 (PTI): Services sector activity in India
stagnated during October amid
weaker growth of new business
orders, an HSBC survey said on
Wednesday. The HSBC India
Services Business Activity Index,
that tracks changes in activity at
Indian services companies on
a month-by-month basis, fell
from 51.6 to exactly 50.0 in October. A figure above 50 indicates the sector is expanding,
while a figure below that level
means contraction. The stagnation in services sector activity
follows five successive months
of growth amid fall in new business orders, the report said.
“Services sector activity was
unchanged in October since
growth in some sectors was
offset by contraction in others
such as in the hospitality sector,” HSBC Co-Head of Asian
Economic Research Frederic
Neumann said. Meanwhile, the
headline HSBC Composite Output Index -- that maps the manufacturing as well as the services
sector output -- stood at 51,
down from 51.8 in September,
indicating that growth of private sector output in India eased
to the weakest in five months.
However, services sector firms
in India remained highly optimistic regarding prospects for
activity growth in the coming
year. Business sentiment was
the strongest in three months,
with panelists commenting on
anticipated improvements in
demand and new marketing
initiatives as key sources of optimism, the report said.
A figure above 50 indicates
the sector is expanding, while
a figure below that level means
contraction. The stagnation
in services sector activity follows five successive months of
growth amid fall in new business orders, the report said.
“On the positive side, business confidence rose to the
strongest in three months, with
the hospitality sector being the
most upbeat about the outlook,”
Neumann said. The stagnation
in services sector activity follows five successive months of
growth amid fall in new business orders, the report said.
Neumann added: “the revival of
reforms post recent state elections, if sustained, should lift
growth on a broad basis.”
New Delhi, Nov 5 (PTI) Gold prices plunged by Rs 450
to trade at over three-year low of Rs 25,900 per 10 grams
in the national capital today as the dollar’s strength
dampened demand for the precious metal. Besides, low
demand from jewellers and retailers who preferred to defer their buying activity on hopes of further dip in prices
and diversion of funds towards soaring equity markets,
weighed on prices. Silver followed suit and recorded a
steep fall of Rs 900 to Rs 35,050 per kg on poor offtake
by industrial units and coin makers. Bullion traders
said a weakening trend in global markets, as the dollar’s
strength eroded demand, mainly put pressure on the
precious metal. Further, jewellers and retailers deferring their buying on expectations of further slide in gold
prices, dampened sentiments. Gold in Singapore, which
normally sets price trend on the domestic front, fell 1.90
per cent to USD 1,146.34 an ounce, the lowest since April
2010 and silver plunged 3.4 per cent to USD 15.48 an
ounce, the lowest since February 2010. Meanwhile, gold
in futures trading at the Multi Commodity Exchange
(MCX) was trading lower by Rs 530, or over 2 per cent,
at Rs 25,433 per 10 grams. In Delhi, gold of 99.9 and 99.5
per cent purity dropped by Rs 450 each to trade at over
three-year low of Rs 25,900 and Rs 25,700 per 10 grams,
respectively. Sovereign also showed some weakness and
declined by Rs 100 to Rs 23,600 per piece of eight grams.
Silver ready dropped by Rs 900 to Rs 35,050 per kg and
weekly-based delivery by Rs 1,210 to Rs 34,730 per kg. Silver coins also tumbled by Rs 2,000 to Rs 57,000 for buying
and Rs 58,000 for selling of 100 pieces.
Select copra gains on
sustained demand
Mumbai, Nov 05 (PTI) Copra office Alapuzha, copra office Kozhikode and copra edible prices gained further at the
spices market here today on sustained demand from stockists and retailers. Rest of the spices ruled stable in the absence of any major buying activity. Copra office Alapuzha
and copra office Kozhikode fell by Rs 200 per quintal each
to Rs 10,700 and Rs 10,600 from Monday’s closing level of
Rs 10,500 and Rs 10,400. Copra edible declined by Rs 100
per quintal to Rs 13,700 as against Rs 13,600 yesterday. Following are today’s closing rates (in Rs with previous rates in
brackets): Black pepper (per kg) 730/780 (730/780), ginger
bleached (per kg) 250 (250), ginger unbleached (per kg) 270
(270), copra office Alapuzha (per quintal) 10,700 (10,500),
copra office Kozhikode (per quintal) 10,600 (10,400), copra
Rajapur Mumbai (per quintal) 22,000 (22,000), copra edible
Mumbai (per quintal) 13,700 (13,600).
Base metals slip on
selling, global cues
Mumbai, Nov 5 (PTI) Most of the base metals, including nickel, tin, copper and brass prices dropped at the
non-ferrous metal market here today on stockists selling
amid lower demand from industrial users on the back of
bearish global cues. On the global front, industrial metal
nickel fell to its lowest after the European Commission
cut growth forecasts for euro zone. Nickel dipped by Rs
20 per kg to Rs 1,085 from Tuesday’s closing level of Rs
1,105. Tin dropped by Rs 15 per kg to Rs 1,490 from Rs
1,505. Copper cable scrap, copper scrap heavy, copper
armiture and copper wire bar declined by Rs 4 per kg
each to Rs 476, Rs 469, Rs 451 and Rs 504 from Rs 480, Rs
473, Rs 455 and Rs 508.
11
Sports
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Thursday, November 6, 2014
ICC meeting to discuss West Indies
pullout from India
Dubai Nov 5 (PTI): Furore created
by the West Indies mid-series pull
out from the tour of India and suspected illegal bowling actions will
be some of the key issues the ICC
Board will discuss when it gather
here on November 9 and 10 for the
last round of meetings of the year.
In the lead up to these meetings,
various other committees, including ICC Chief Executives’ Committee (CEC), will also meet.
The International Cricket Council Board under the chairmanship
of N Srinivasan would be discussing the outcomes from the ICC
CEC on matters relating to the FTP,
playing conditions for the World
Cup 2015 and the suspected illegal
bowling actions. It will also look
at the recommendations from the
Executive Committee, including
in respect of a revised ICC Anti- Working Party. Apart from these, Indies cricket team cancelling tour sentatives of each of the 10 full
Corruption Code and an update the Board will also examine thor- of India mid-way. The ICC Board members plus three elected assoon the recent work of the Integrity oughly the reasons for the West consists of the nominated repre- ciate member representatives.
Nishikori goes from
Project 45 to Elite 8
PARIS Nov 5 (PTI): After becoming the first Asian man to
reach a Grand Slam singles final
and coming agonisingly close
winning the title, Kei Nishikori
will achieve another milestone
when he becomes the first player
from the continent to compete
at the ATP World Tour Finals.
While many other first-time
Grand Slam finalists might think
falling at the final hurdle at the
US Open was something to shout
about, Nishikori is determined
not to get carried away by the feat
because as far as he is concerned
-- there is unfinished business to
complete.
As he prepares to make his debut
in the season-ending spectacular
featuring eight of the world’s best
players, the unassuming Nishikori
sat down to have a chat about how
a move to the US helped him to
become an Asian trailblazer, about
the weaknesses he is still working
on with his coach Michael Chang
and about the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
You were given the “Project 45”
nickname when you were starting out in tennis with the aim of
surpassing Japan’s previous best
men’s ranking of 46. You have
now become the first Asian man
to qualify for the ATP World Tour
Finals so how does it feel for �Project 45’ to be among the �Elite 8’ this
year? “It’s a bit different. That was
one of the goals I had when I was
18 (to be ranked higher than 46th
in the world). Now it’s a completely
different situation.
“I tried to aim for London last
year but (I had to settle with) finishing in the Top 20. It’s a great
feeling. I have motivation for the
good goals so it’s a great feeling.”
You will be making your debut in
the Finals, what are your expectations? “I might get nervous first
time but I’ll try to play my best tennis and try not to think too much of
it being the Tour Finals.
Boxing India conducts Kei Nishikori carries four billion
pregnancy tests even Asian hopes on modest shoulders
on unmarried boxers
Justice Mudgal report
mentions �bookie link’ of
key player from India’s
2011 WC winning team
NEW DELHI Nov 5 (PTI):
Eight women boxers, including unmarried and juniors,
who are set to compete at
the World Championships in
Korea next week, have been
subjected to pregnancy tests
by Boxing India (BI), according to SAI consultant Dr.
PSM Chandran. Dr. Chandran, who is president of
Indian Federation of Sports
Medicine, said the tests were
conducted by Sports Authority of India (SAI) at the behest of BI.
“These boxers have been
compelled to undergo pregnancy tests. They ordered
and the SAI followed suit.
Pregnancy tests were carried
out on eight young unmarried girls, some even juniors,
a classic case of human
rights violation,” Chandran
claimed in a press release.
“The shocking thing is that
it was done against rules.
In the AIBA Technical Rules
2.1.4.2 which came into effect on 31 Aug 2014, there is
New Delhi Nov 5 (PTI):
Justice Mukul Mudgal committee’s final report, which
had been submitted to the
Supreme Court on Monday,
has reportedly named a key
member of India’s World
Cup-winning team and mentioned his links with illegal
bookies and match fixers.
Reports suggest that the
player wasn’t a part of the
two teams that are under
the scanner (Chennai Super
Kings and Rajasthan Royals).
The player is not in the current India team anymore, but
was a big draw for his team in
IPL last year, the season that
ended with the arrest of three
Rajasthan Royals players and
a Chennai Super Kings official, Gurunath Meiyappan,
on match-fixing and betting
charges. Sources say that
during their probe, the investigators came across a
three-year-old tape that
hinted at a �fix’ that went
wrong. Earlier, there have
been reports running on
no provision to subject boxers to pregnancy tests. The
rule states “Women Boxers
must additionally submit
a non-pregnancy declaration along with the Medical
Certificate. For Women Boxers under the age of 18, this
non-pregnancy declaration
must be signed by at least
one of their parents or legal
guidance’,” Chandran explained. “The hapless girls
in their eagerness to don
India colours had no choice
but to concede to such barbaric demands by the officialdom against their own
dignity and honour.”
However, BI secretary Jay
Kowli said he was not aware
of the matter. Chandran demanded that it was time for
the National Human Rights
Commission as well as the
National Women Commission “to intervene in sports
in order to ensure that the
rights and dignity of girls who
come forward to participate in
sports are safe-guarded”.
Paris Nov 5(PTI): His mere
presence causes hysteria and
pandemonium in the Land of
the Rising Sun and he has no
tennis equal in a continent
heaving with 4.427 billion
inhabitants, yet self-effacing
Kei Nishikori thinks he is simply “one” of the best players
in Japan. For a continent that
has failed to produce a single
male grand slam champion
in decades of trying, Nishikori now finds himself as the
torch bearer of Asian tennis.
A debut appearance for an
Asian man in a grand slam
final -- at the U.S. Open in
September -- has only served
to whet his appetite for glory
rather than satisfy it. Following his remarkable run to the
Flushing Meadows showpiece,
he is the first Asian to make it
into the elite eight-man season
finale that will be staged on
the banks of London`s River
Thames. “I might get nervous
first time but I’ll try to play my
best tennis and try not to think
too much of it being the Tour
Finals,” Nishikori told Reuters
in an interview in the run up
to the O2 spectacular. “Beat-
ing Novak (Djokovic) at the
U.S. Open, it was a great experience and gave me a lot of
confidence. So for sure I know
I have a chance to beat the top
players, so if I can play good,
I have some chance to win
some matches.” While tennis
has produced some brash and
loud characters over the years,
Nishikori prefers to create a
racket with his racquet.
Never had the hullabaloo been louder than at the
U.S. Open when he beat fifth
seed Milos Raonic in a fiveset stamina-busting thriller.
Surely he would have nothing left to give in his quarterfinal against Australian Open
champion Stan Wawrinka?
Five lung-burning sets lat-
er, Wawrinka was the one left
out of puff. Surely Djokovic
would swiftly bring him back
down to earth in the semifinals? Nishikori was floating
on cloud nine after four gripping sets against the world
number one. While Marin
Cilic finally silenced Nishikori in the title match, it was not
long before the man tagged
as `Project 45` at the start of
his career had now turned his
focus on completing `Project Grand Slam`. “I was really disappointed I couldn’t
play good tennis in the final
because I was playing really
well for two weeks and then
in the last match I couldn’t,”
said Nishikori, who had been
given the goal.
fixing claims in the 2011
ICC World Cup as well. It is
alleged that the 2011 World
Cup semi-final between India and Pakistan in March
was “fixed”. If the Mudgal
committee report’s findings brings out the player
involved, it can also open
several other channels.
Meanwhile, several players from the current Indian
team have appeared before
the investigators as well. It
is learnt that the CSK players were asked about the
role Gurunath Meiyappan,
son-in-law of ICC chairman
N Srinivasan, played in decision making at the franchise.
Meiyappan’s voice sample
has been confirmed in a
tapped conversation. As per
the Central Forensice Science Laboratory, the voices
of Meiyappan, actor Vindoo
Darasingh and other arrested accused in the IPL spotfixing case are the same as
those intercepted voices of
the arrested accused.
India stun World Champions ISL: Elano Blumer scores late as
Australia to level series
Chennaiyin FC, ATK share points
PERTH: The Indian
men’s
hockey
team
bounced back in style
against Australia, beating the World Champions 2-1 to level the fourmatch Test series at 1-1
on Wednesday.
India
started aggressively and
kept the opponents’ defence busy in the first two
quarters. They managed
to sneak into Australian
defence-line and created good opportunities.
However, Australia drew
first blood in the 30th
minute when forward
player Matt Gohdes deflected
a shot and sent the ball into the
goal, taking the lead before the
end of second quarter.
In the third quarter, Australia earned a penalty corner
which was well-defended by
India before the visitors counter attacked the Australian D
through a long pass. It was Sardar who cleverly forwarded the
ball to Ramandeep Singh, who
made no mistake in netting the
ball, helping his team equalise
in the 33rd minute.
The equaliser saw India increase their tempo as they
attacked yet again the very
next minute through a long
pass into the opponents’ D.
This time, it was SV Sunil who
single-handedly took the ball
to the circle and cleverly put
it past the goalkeeper, giving
India the second goal and the
lead. In the fourth and final
quarter, both India and Australia fought neck-and-neck. India
continued their attacking game
till the last minute and tried to
create more chances but they
were now up against a defensive Australia, who managed to
hold the scorecard till the final
whistle. In the third quarter,
Australia earned a penalty corner which was well-defended
by India before the visitors
counter attacked the Australian
D through a long pass. It was
Sardar who cleverly forwarded
the ball to Ramandeep Singh,
who made no mistake in netting the ball, helping his team
equalise in the 33rd minute.
Chennai: Coming back after an injury layoff, Atletico
de Kolkata skipper Luis Garcia and the tournament’s
leading scorer Elano Blumer,
of Chennaiyin FC, scored a
goal each as the two sides
shared points in a top-ofthe-table clash in the Indian
Super League here on Tuesday. Garcia found the target
in the 35th minute when he
successfully converted from
the spot, while Elano struck
as late as the 90th minute,
also from the spot at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
After missing the last two
games, Garcia seemed to be
taking Kolkata to another
victory before Elano, leading the scoring chart with
six goals, dashed the visitors’
hopes of pulling off a win on
the road. Garcia, the Spanish
defensive midfielder, made
a difference in the middle
and was one of the best
players of the day on either
side. ATK maintained their
table-topper status scoring
against the run of play. But
it was Elano, who bagged the
Moment of the Match award
with his strike at the death.
The hosts were awarded the
penalty after John Mendonza
was brought down by ATk’s
substitute Kingshuk Debnath. Elano, who couldn’t
do anything special till that
point, succeeded in beating the Kolkata goalkeeper
Apoula Edel with a low shot.
Chennaiyin goalkeeper Shil-
ton Paul was red carded for
raising his left leg as he fell
on the ground when Mohammed Rafi was about to
take a shot at the empty goal.
Chennaiyin had nine shots
at the goal as against just
two by the visitors. While he
may have consolidated his
position at the top of scoring chart, Elano was not his
usual self for most part of
the match. With six minutes
to go for the final whistle,
Jeje Lalpekhlua, who substituted Chennaiyin’s marquee
manager cum coach Marco
Materrazi, almost scored but
his measured cross hit the
upright. After Paul was given
the marching order, Gennaro Bracigiliano took on the
responsibility at the post,
and he failed to read Garcia.
The standout teams so far in
the inaugural edition.
12
Entertainment
Indian Horizon Hyderabad
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Indian Horizon
'Swachh Bharat' seems to be the
buzzword in Bollywood
With the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
Swachh Bharat frenzy sweeping the nation,
Bollywood celebs and the television fraternity take a step beyond the obvious
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan seems to have rubbed off on
tinseltown. Liter-ally. Notices promoting cleanliness are pasted on the sets of many TV shows.
While several film stars have already set an
example by wielding the broom and clearing
their neighbourhood of sundry rubbish, the
television fraternity as well as studios have
also started taking the campaign seriously.
A recent visit to the Film City Studios testifies
that. During the shoot of Abhimanyu Singh's
'Bharat Ka Veer Putra - Maharana Pratap',
contractual employees of the studio were seen
sweeping the vicinity.Among the first celebs to
have showed support to the Clean India campaign was Salman Khan, who was nominated
by Modi himself to take the idea of cleanliness
forward via social media.
Salman Khan
Along with the unit members and co-stars
of his upcoming film, 'Prem Ratan Dhan
Paayo', Salman cleaned a village in Karjat
where he was shooting and nominated about
half a dozen people, including his close friend
Aamir Khan, to follow suit.
Hrithik Roshan was spotted cleaning a
street in Juhu following his meeting with Narendra Modi in Mumbai. He tweeted, "Swachhbharat I started cleaning my own surroundings and learnt so much.
Hrithik Roshan
Started with my lanes in Juhu. 2day I
pledge 2 keep my home, my roads, my city,
my country clean. I also take responsibility 2
teach n empower others 2 follow."
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan join the Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan, which has now become the buzzword for the film and television industry. One
even spotted a pair of newly installed steel
dustbins outside Amitabh Bachchan's office,
Janak. The actor even cleaned up garbage
that was dumped on a road outside the studio where he was shooting for his quiz show,
Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Courtesy:Mid-Day.com
Will Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Jazbaa
live up to all the expectations?
Though Ash hasn’t started shooting
for her comeback film, there is already
a lot of buzz around Jazbaa. So the
question is – will the Guru actress taste
success with it? Read on to know…
A lot is riding on Sanjay Gupta’s next
directorial venture Jazbaa and we aren’t
surprised because it will mark the return of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on the
celluloid after five long years. The blueeyed beauty will start working on her
film by end of the December and we
hear the film will be premiered at the
prestigious Cannes Film Festival next
year. Gupta’s film also stars the versatile Irrfan Khan. Yes, this is the first time
Ash and Irrfan will pair up for a film and
that’s another reason why Jazbaa is the
talk of the town. Abhishek Bachchan’s
wifey was last seen in Guzaarish which
released in 2010 and with that film the
leggy beauty once again proved that
she is not just a pretty face. So we are
pretty sure the Bachchan bahu will be
to watch out for in her comeback vehicle of course along with Irrfan.
But as a filmmaker Sanjay Gupta
doesn’t have flattering track record
which worries us. Also, not always have
actresses made a smashing comeback in Bollywood. While Kajol and
Sridevi’s comeback film – Fanaa and
English Vinglish respectively – were
super hit, on the other hand Madhuri
Dixit Nene and Karisma Kapoor’s return in the industry wasn’t successful.
Remember Aaja Nachle and Dangerous Ishq?
Courtesy:Mid-Day.com
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China’s Desert Treasure
China’s Mogao Caves, at the edge of the Gobi Desert, hold an unrivaled collection of Buddhist art spanning a thousand years. Now they’re
inspiring new generations of artists, from masters of ink painting to fireworks maestro Cai Guo-Qiang
First-time travelers to China
wouldn’t think of leaving the country before they had seen the Great
Wall, the Forbidden City, and the
Terracotta Warriors. But few venture farther inland to the oasis of
Dunhuang, a small city on the edge
of the Gobi Desert, 1,150 miles
northwest of Beijing.
If they did make the trip, they
would discover a World Heritage
Site that rivals the beauty and cultural importance of more popular tourist attractions: the Mogao
Caves, sometimes referred to as the
Caves of the Thousand Buddhas.
This expanse of 492 grottoes carved
into the sandstone face of a ninestory-high cliff holds an unrivaled
collection of Buddhist art, with
more than 484,000 square feet of
murals and 2,400 sculptures.
“The Mogao Caves are the
greatest repository of early Chi-
nese art, and it spans a thousand
years, from the fourth to the 14th
century,” says Mimi Gates, former
director of the Seattle Art Museum
and current chairman of the Dunhuang Foundation, which works
to increase public awareness of the
site and raise funds toward its conservation. “Located on the Chinese
end of the Silk Road, it also is the
place where many cultures of the
world intersected with one another, so you have Greek and Roman,
Persian and Middle Eastern, Indian
and Chinese cultures, all interacting. Given the nature of our world
today, it is all very relevant.”
Little known in the United
States, the Mogao Caves—Mogaoku in Chinese, meaning “peerless
caves”—are now receiving a boost
in visibility. In April, the China
Institute in New York launched a
yearlong celebration, starting with
“Dunhuang: Buddhist Art at the
Gateway of the Silk Road,” with a
re-creation of one of the caves and
a selection of artifacts from the site,
followed on the 14th of this month
by “Inspired by Dunhuang: ReCreation in Contemporary Chinese
Art” (through June 8). The Getty
Conservation Institute, which has
been involved with the site since
1989 under a collaborative agreement with China’s State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH),
is planning a much larger exhibition devoted to the Mogaoku (with
support from the Dunhuang Foundation) for 2016.
These exhibitions coincide with
the grand opening of a new $38 million state-of-the-art visitors center
next May that will revolutionize a
visit to the caves. It will also play a
key role in the massive conservation project, which has become
even more crucial as attendance
has increased: 800,000 tourists,
mostly from mainland China, visited last year.
A visit to the Mogaoku earlier
this year left no doubt as to the
historic significance of the Buddhist art there. These are not caves
in a natural state with rudimentary markings on their rough walls
but elaborate grottoes carved into
a sandstone cliff. Architecturally,
they echo temples, with entryways,
niches, statues, and wall paintings
that are indeed peerless examples
of Chinese painting, from the
Northern Wei period to the Yuan
dynasty.
Stepping into the darkness—
only flashlights are allowed in the
caves—I was amazed by the lyrical
lines and vivid colors of the paintings and the sheer diversity of styles
in the depiction of Buddha. In Cave
148, from the Tang dynasty (eighth
century), there is a magnificent
statue of a reclining Buddha in the
state of achieving nirvana, at least
60 feet long, surrounded by dozens of disciples, each individually
carved, with expressions of grief on
their faces.
In Cave 130 (eighth century), a
Buddha sits more than 85 feet high,
a beneficent light shining on his
face through a window at the top
of the cave. It took 29 years to carve
the figure into the rock, and then,
like all the sculptures in Mogao, it
was covered with a mixture of mud
and straw and finally painted with
gold leaf and natural pigments. The
Thousand Buddha motif—created
by stenciling the silhouette of Buddha multiple times—covers most
of the walls and ceilings of many
caves, but there are also exquisite
murals of scenes from the life of
Buddha and more than 2,000 statues of Bodhisattvas surrounding
their leader, wearing decorative
flowing robes and delicate jewelry.
In addition to the paintings
and sculptures, which arouse in
the viewer a profound sense of appreciation for human creativity, the
site itself is awe inspiring. Emerging
from a desert with towering sand
dunes, the cliff stretches for 5,200
feet and stands almost 100 feet
high, facing the sparkling Dachuan
River.
“What I find compelling is to
contemplate what those caves must
have meant to people coming out
of the desert—to walk into one of
those caves to see the glory of Buddhist art,” says Neville Agnew, principal project specialist at the Getty
Conservation Institute. “It must
have been akin to walking into a
cathedral to people in medieval
times—the sheer contrast between
a paradise inside and outside a
stark, desiccated landscape.”
Legend has it that in a.d. 366 a
monk crossing the desert had a vision of a thousand flaming lights
flickering across the cliff face. He
took it as a sign to set up camp and
dig the first cave. Dunhuang was a
major hub on the Silk Road—the
great trade route that linked the
Mediterranean to China—and cen-
turies of travelers came through
there, often commissioning caves
as offerings for safety and prosperity on the road. Wealthy patrons
and local rulers also commissioned
caves, all created by monks living
and worshipping at the site. In the
14th century, the Mongols invaded
China, the borders contracted, and
Dunhuang was no longer a safe
haven, leaving the caves in disuse
for nearly 600 years. But interest
was revived in 1900, when a Taoist priest, Abbot Wang, took on the
task of restoring the caves, sometimes irrevocably altering their appearance in his unsupervised enthusiasm.
Wang came across a cache
of thousands of Buddhist scrolls
sealed within the walls of one cave,
now known as the Library Cave.
This discovery, one of the greatest archeological finds of its day,
brought a succession of European
explorers—British, Russian, German, French—who took their pick
for measly sums. Those scrolls are
now housed in museums throughout Europe.
Courtesy: artnews.com
Isabelle de Borchgrave brings opulent paper dresses to life
Bellevue Arts Museum visitors
have the rare opportunity to explore the work of acclaimed Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave
in the Museum’s lead exhibit for
Fall/Winter 2013, A World of Pa-
per, a World of Fashion: Isabelle
de Borchgrave Meets Mariano Fortuny. Over the last 15 years of her 40
year career, de Borchgrave has been
celebrated for her masterfully constructed paper fashions. Painting,
pleating, crumpling, braiding, and
feathering—she manipulates her
unconventional choice of medium
into exquisite life-size costumes inspired by 300 years of fashion history from Elizabeth I to Coco Chanel.
A World of Paper, a World of
Fashion showcases one complete
collection of 35 opulent threedimensional dresses, 20 flat costumes, and numerous accessories,
including shoes, jewelry, boxes,
and vases. Also featured are preparatory sketches, reproductions of de
Borchgrave’s and Fortuny’s studios,
and a room-sized oriental tent—all
made entirely of paper.
In this collection of work, de
Borchgrave honors the genius of
Spanish-born, early 20th century
couturier, Mariano Fortuny (18711949), whose eclectic fashions—
especially his renowned �Delphos’
dresses, inspired by classical Greece
and the Italian Renaissance—were
en vogue during the 1910s and 20s.
De Borchgrave faithfully evokes
the refined grandeur of Fortuny’s
world with exacting paper reproductions of luxurious silks and stenciled velvets. In order to achieve the
sheen-like effects and transparency of these fabrics, de Borchgrave
blends a variety of pictorial techniques: gouache, charcoal, chalk,
pastels, oil, and watercolors.
This unique collection provides
audiences with insight into the creative minds of two forward-thinking artists, showcasing the value of
historical inspiration in contemporary artistic creation. De Borchgrave’s collection will transport
its audience to an indulgent and
decadent world—A World of Paper,
a World of Fashion. Born in Brus-
sels in 1946, de Borchgrave began
her artistic career as a student at
the Centre des Arts DГ©coratifs at the
age of 14 before moving on to the
AcadГ©mie Royale des Beaux-Arts,
where her days were filled drawing
still-lifes and form models.
Her works have been featured
at museums around the world,
including London’s Victoria and
Albert Museum, the Museum of
Fine Arts (Boston), the Royal Palace (Luxembourg), Museo Fortuny
(Venice), the Kushiro Art Museum
(Japan), and in 2011 at de Young
(San Francisco) to sold-out crowds.
The inspiration for de Borchgrave’s body of work over the last
15 years came to her during a visit
to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1994. Following the
visit, she immediately began work
on four major collections: Fortuny
Collection– to be shown in its entirety at the Bellevue Arts Museum,
Papiers à la Mode– 300 years of
fashion history, I Medici – inspired
by Florentine fashion, and Ballets
Russes –a tribute to Serge Diaghilev,
Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse.
While de Borchgrave is most
readily known today for paper and
fashion, she has never abandoned
the thing that has always guided her
in her life: painting. She still exhibits her paintings and her large folded paper works all over the world.
Courtesy: artdaily.org
Indian Horizon
Art & Culture
II
THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 6, 2014
UP AGAINST A WALL
During a long and fruitful career as an artist, K.G. Subramanyan has experimented with diverse mediums – from painting, sculpture and printmaking to
murals, weaving and toy-making. He has also written numerous important
essays on Indian art and taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
and later at his alma mater, Visva- Bharati University.
By K.G. Subramanyan
In February next year, Seagull Books will
release a volume on Subramanyan’s murals. It will be timed to coincide with major exhibitions of his works in Baroda and
Kolkata as part of his 90th birthday celebrations. He talks here to Sandhya Bordewekar
about his abiding love for mural-making.
Sandhya Bordewekar : You joined Santiniketan as a student in 1944. How did the
murals there influence you?
K. G. Subramanyan : When I went to
Santiniketan, a lot of the murals there had
already been executed. Nandalal Bose or
Master Moshai as we fondly called him
wanted the buildings in Santiniketan to display works of art. The easiest way to do this
was to make murals on the walls of existing
buildings. He designed and built the impressive black clay building, Kalo Bari, with
the Kala Bhavana teachers and students.
On its exterior, they executed relief sculptures that have extremely subtle details.
Apart from being works of art, the murals
also brought art and architecture together.
There are a couple of things one must
remember here there was a belief among
certain historians of modern European art
that sculpture came into its own only when
it was freed from the shackles binding it to
architecture. I find that completely ridiculous. I do not believe that the arts should be
separated; they feed into each other, one
helps the other grow. The other issue was
that the schools of art established by the
British in India always had departments
devoted to �traditional skills’. Nandalal had
studied at Calcutta’s School of Art before
he came to Santiniketan and knew that
there were teachers skilled in the Rajasthani mural style at the School. By and large,
though, students of fine arts felt that it was
below their dignity to work in traditional
arts and preferred to give more attention
to academic painting. Nandalal was not
very happy with this and when he began
work on his first mural at Santiniketan in
1923-24, at the then Library building, he got
Narsinhlal Mistry from the School of Art to
help him. Nandalal encouraged collaboration between traditional and contemporary
artists. In my own case, the talented and
skilled Gyarsilal Varma has often been an
important collaborator in the numerous
murals I have executed.
S.B. : Historically, we have the Ajanta
murals, the Mattancherry Palace murals,
the numerous Kerala temple murals, and
at another scale, murals in palatial homes
in royal and colonial India such as at the
Tambekar Wada in Baroda. What role do
the Santiniketan murals play in the development of modern art in India?
K.G.S. : When my friend, artist and critic
Timothy Hyman, visited India in the late
1970s, he was surprised to find that murals were still being made. In fact, he felt
that Santiniketan was probably the best archive of the early stages of the modern art
movement in India; he wrote an article on
it in The London Magazine1. With so many
practitioners of the form – Nandalal Bose,
Ramkinker Baij, Benode Behari Mukherjee
– there were so many different styles to be
worked out and experimented with. These
muralists were also very conscious of how
environmental art should work in the contexts it was set in. They understood how
such artworks offer many more dimensions
of viewing than a painting in a gallery setting – for instance, by changing the angle of
vision at different times of the day and in
different seasons. A single work had many
incarnations.
At the technical level, while Nandalal
believed in collaborating with artisans, others did not feel that necessity. They also
experimented with different surfaces. One
of the most conceptually beautiful murals
is Benode Behari Mukherjee’s Birbhum Village mural (1937-38) in tempera painted on
the ceiling of the boys’ hostel room which
is now locked. The mural is slowly falling
apart and is in urgent need of conservation.
Two students, Prithwish Neogy and Muthuswami, photographed it when it was still
in good shape. A copy of the photograph
was in the Kala Bhavana library. I came
across it accidentally. We used a big blowup of it in Benode Behari’s birth centenary
exhibition even though it was a black-andwhite image.
S.B. : You are very fond of making murals.
K.G.S. : Yes. Actually, I got interested in
the art as a child in Palghat. When we shifted to Mahe, there was a temple nearby with
beautiful, painted wood carvings. I loved it.
From a very young age, the kind of art that
I responded to was architectural. At one
time, I even wanted to design and build a
temple myself!
When I got the opportunity to make a
mural, I did not want to paint on the wall.
Thanks to our weather, a painting on the
outer walls of a building was not going to
be very successful. So I was interested in
working with material that could survive
for a reasonable amount of time. During
Rabindranath Tagore’s birth centenary celebrations in 1961, I was commissioned to
make a mural at Lucknow’s Ravindralaya.
This is an 81 feet long, 9 feet tall mural executed using glazed terracotta tiles. It was
quite adventurous; I hadn’t done anything
on this scale or in this technique before.
We had an excellent studio potter on the
faculty in Baroda then, Buddho Barua; his
support was invaluable.
Just a year earlier, the Faculty of Fine
Arts and the Music College at the Maharaja
Sayajirao University of Baroda had collaborated on the staging of Tagore’s play Arup
Ratan (The King of the Dark Chamber) and
I was quite involved in the production. This
mural was inspired by Arup Ratan, narrating nine episodes from the play. The mural
came out very well making me want to do
more murals on the exteriors of buildings. I
wanted to incorporate sculptural elements
and started exploring sand-casting with cement in a sand and brick dust bed. The results were good; they resembled terracotta
or sandstone carving.
Soon, N. S. Bendre wanted me to do a
mural for the Department of Painting in
Baroda. I based the work on one of Tagore’s
poems which said that no amount of cajoling can open a fl ower bud, only a ray of
sun can do it. I thought it was eloquently
symbolic of the process of education. So, I
worked on a large sun image with a number
of fl ower buds below it in various stages of
blossoming. I used sand-casting, with the
young Laxma Goud, Jyoti Bhatt and others
enthusiastically helping and Bendre getting
the whole process photographed and documented. We had a lot of fun!
Courtesy: artindiamag.com
India Could Have Done Without Modern Art
Unlike in the Western world, India has never had a historic necessity to experiment with a genre that has
come to be known as modern art, according to renowned painter-sculptor A. Ramachandran.
“Ideally, our art should be advancing along a path that is well
rooted in the country’s own visual
culture,” says the Delhi-based septuagenarian. His first-ever exhibition of works in his homeland Kerala
concluded here on Sunday evening.
The Padma Bhushan awardee says
Europe had a reason to rebel against
art schools that largely revelled in
realism till the mid-19th century.
“Then photography was invented.
That invalidated portrait and landscape paintings. It was inevitable
the art scene there changed.”
On the other hand, the Orient
never had an art culture on parallel lines, he says. “We in India have
for long seen a flourish of various
schools of art, none of which resorted to realism. It would be beautiful
if each or most of them continued
to exist,” says the artist whose 15day mini retrospective in Kochi was
organised by Vadehra Art Gallery
(VAG) of Delhi. Ramachandran’s
August 11-25 exhibition at the
Durbar Hall Gallery had its ground
floor featuring the artist’s postYayati works such as Lotus Ponds,
inspired by time-tested aesthetics
of Indian art. Yayati, Ramachandran’s masterpiece, was completed
in 1986, around the time the artist
began developing a completely different approach towards art.
At the refurbished one-time
palace here, curator R. Siva Kumar
chose to split the well-lit space to
tastefully accommodate contrasting genres of the two defining periods, realising the artist’s decadeold dream of showing his creations
to fellow Malayalis. The upper floor
of the recently-renovated building housed images that portray the
darker side of human life, brimming with moods of violence and
sarcasm — such as Anatomy Lesson
and The Puppet Theatre.
Ramachandran says that Kerala’s modernist movements in literature and cinema in the last century
was spearheaded by rooted writers
such as Thakazhi and Basheer and
filmmakers such as G. Aravindan
and Adoor Gopalakrishnan. “Paradoxically, when it came to art, the
Malayali did not have leaders who
drew inspiration from their own
moorings,” he says.
Arun Vadehra, who owns the
VAG, says the gallery organise an
exhibition of the comprehensive
works of Ramachandran next year
on the occasion of his 50th year in
the Capital. The just-concluded
Kochi show was a big draw. Artist
Somji aka K.A. Soman described the
exhibition as “an entirely different
experience, providing rich visual
interpretations on aesthetic values”. Blogger and critic Ajay Sekher
said the water-colours were “illuminating and refreshing”.
Ramachandran, who was born
in Attingal in 1935, did his Masters
in Malayalam literature before leaving for West Bengal in 1957 to pursue art at Santiniketan.
The artist, whose early paintings
were an angry young man’s anxious
and emotional response to human
suffering, was appointed chairman
of Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in
the early 1990s. However, this was
the first time the celebrity’s works
were exhibited anywhere in Kerala.
The artist, who has been living
in Delhi since 1964, taught art at
Jamia Millia Islamia for 27 years before taking voluntary retirement. In
2002, he was elected a Fellow at the
Lalit Kala Akademi. The next year he
was awarded the Raja Ravi Varma
Puraskaram and in 2005, the country’s third-highest civilian honour.
Courtesy: indianartnews.com
Indian Horizon
Art & Culture
III
THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 6, 2014
�THE VARIOUS WAYS OF ARRIVING AT AN OBJECT’ Kerala a Better Place
In Sudarshan Shetty’s recent solo, the pieces earth took away, mounted at Galerie Krinzinger in Vienna
last year, the artist set up a stage to enact rituals for the dead. His faux cenotaph featured a stream of
water constantly dripping from the top to the base in a cyclical gesture of remembrance.
Shetty’s growing preoccupation with transience and memory surfaced in another work in
Vienna in the form of a winding
ode to a woman. Closer home,
Shetty showcased a variation of
the cenotaph at the first edition
of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Plotting some of the recent turns
in his practice, Zeenat Nagree
talks to Shetty about language
as art, the presence of death and
the idea of the spectacle.
Zeenat Nagree : Your recent
works incorporate text in the
form of neon signs and LED tickers. You’ve also begun using the
surfaces of objects as screens.
How did words creep into your
sculptural practice? Do you also
see yourself as a writer?
Sudarshan Shetty : I have
been writing in my sketch books
for a few years just to be able to
record things. Somehow, over
a period of time, it has become
central to a lot of the work I am
making. Moreover, one gathers
certain mannerisms over a cer-
tain period of time while making
objects or even conceiving them.
There is a need to side-step this
to find various ways of arriving
at objects. Often, I let the words
dictate the objects. Though theatrical and heroic in its tone and
scale, the text remains ambiguous in that it is neither clearly fictional nor autobiographical. In
each instance, a single moment
is described with details that can
shift between the specific and
the metaphorical.
Z.N. : There is a tendency to
find clues to an artist’s work in
his life. How autobiographical
are the texts and stories you insert in your works? Do you think
the �personal’ eclipses the �social’?
S.S. : I do not see the �personal’ and the �social’ as mutually
exclusive ideas. For instance, a
cenotaph is a tangible and physical depiction of a stubbornness
to not forget. Monuments are
built in order to remember using a simple logic; they provide
a physical presence as a personal
response to someone’s absence.
However, they also double up as
resting spaces for tired travellers
and can be read as social objects.
Z.N. : What goes into the
process of making monumental
sculptures such as those in your
last solo?
S.S. : A piece can be monumental even if it is small in size.
In my work, scale is really informed by the object or the subject itself.
There is a lot of research that
goes into conceiving and freezing something at a certain scale.
For instance, it took us three
months to find and study the
drawings of various examples of
cenotaphs that are found in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The sizes of
the cenotaphs that were in the
last three of my shows [Listen
outside this house, Bengaluru,
2011; the pieces earth took away,
Vienna, 2012; I know nothing of
the end, Kochi, 2012] were then
modified to fit into the scale of
the spaces that I was showing
them in, without compromising
on their basic character. Something like this can be very challenging and I enjoy that.
Z.N. : When you are evoking
death or loss, does the use of a
spectacular form undermine the
impact?
S.S. : A spectacle is important
to draw someone into my work
– to lure someone into the work
with a story or a song or even a
dance. However, in my work,
there is a possibility of an eventual collapse of the spectacle
built into it. Perhaps, the obvious hints of its own demise need
to be discovered within the work.
They must, like all else, collapse
under the weight of their own
spectacles.
The works also point to the
fallibility of all that I can construct, even in terms of meanings. In other words, having
spent considerable time and
energy in the making of an object, can one include the meaninglessness of the object, or the
artifice of setting it up for a show,
in its making?
I am interested in these opposite positions that can exist
within a single framework – of
making something with an intensity of purpose and yet with an
awareness of its futility. To quote
a line from Kabir: �Lagan bin jage
na Nirmohi’ (The Unattached
One will not awaken if you have
no devotion). A lot of the aesthetic strategies in my work have
been influenced by my interest
in the poetic traditions of India
between the 12th and the 15th
centuries, many of which employ
dualism as a strategy to convey
deeper meanings of life.
Courtesy: artindiamag.com
for Art
THE 21ST-CENTURY KERALA IS BECOMING A BETTER
PLACE FOR ART, ACCORDING TO RENOWNED PAINTER-SCULPTOR A RAMACHANDRAN.
The state has moved forward
by opening itself up to the
larger world of art outside
its geographical boundaries,
but its visual arts sensibility
has scope to become more
active, the Padma Bhushanwinning septuagenarian said
in the run-up to his first-ever
show in native Kerala.
Ramachandran, who left Thiruvananthapuram in 1957 to do higher studies
in art at Santiniketan, notes that the cultural environment in Kerala those days
was not congenial for artists, prompting
many talents to leave the state.
“Of late, a few in that generation are
getting a chance to exhibit their work
back home,” the Delhi-based master
observes ahead of his exhibition starting
in Kochi on August 11.
The 15-day exhibition, being organised by the Vadehra Art Gallery (VAG)
and curated by art historian R Siva
Kumar of Visva-Bharati University, is a
compact retrospective of the artist and
will showcase 100 works.
Ramachandran, who has been living
in the New Delhi since 1964, recalls that
Malayali artists had found it tough to
flourish in Kerala even in the first half of
the 20th century.
“That is how and why K C S Paniker,
C Madhava Menon and K G Subramanyan left for greener pastures. The local
system was non-supportive.”
He recalls that the situation was “no
different” even when he boarded the
train to West Bengal. “I knew Kerala
wasn’t the place for a serious pursuit of
art. While things have changed, there
are still miles to go.”
Substantiating his point, the
78-year-old artist notes the magnitude
of protest India’s first Biennale faced in
its host state of Kerala last year.
“The art circles there could not
realise the momentousness of the
Kochi-Muziris Biennale,” said the native
of Attingal downstate, referring to the
staunch opposition the three-month
contemporary-art extravaganza faced
even during its three months run.
Kerala, says the artist who post-graduated in Malayalam, could accommodate new trends in literature and cinema
and celebrate the works of modernists
such as Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai,
Vaikkom Muhammed Basheer and P
Kesavadev and appreciate G Aravindan
and Adoor Gopalakrishnan.
“In painting, though, the state got
stuck for long in the realistic school of
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906).”
Ramachandran was briefly chairman
of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi in the
early 1990s.
Prof Siva Kumar, who has written
extensively on modern Indian art, the
Kochi show is being curated with a
certain chronology in mind.
“It will cover his works of the last five
decades - from 1964 till that of 2013.”
Delhi-based art scholar Rupika
Chawla notes Ramachandran possess a
“unique” sense of colours that has kept
changing over the years. “There is a
moving luminosity in his works.”
Courtesy: indianartnews.com
The Indian Museum Makeover
The “Aims and Objectives” section of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) website was so spot on, it took my breath away. It began with the usual stuff about
acquiring, organizing and preserving art. It ended with the following lyrical lines. “Above all, the NGMA helps people to look at the works of modern art with greater joy, understanding and knowledge by extending their relationship with our daily life and experiencing them as vital expressions of the human spirit”.
Even for a sceptic of museums,
the lines sing. Joy, understanding,
link to life, and—this is key— “vital
expressions of the human spirit”.
What more can an art institution
aspire to? Whoever wrote those
lines had an intuitive understanding of art in the Indian context.
What does the NGMA do to further these aims? The Delhi website
is a yawn. The Mumbai one is more
vibrant. There is a workshop on
mask making every Wednesday and
Saturday, talks on Rabindranath
Tagore, gallery walks and painting competitions. The Bangalore
NGMA, without bias even though
it is my home city, is the best of all.
There are workshops, family days,
school visits, and a whole slew of
“Outreach” programmes that link
films, theatre and dance to art.
I don’t go to the NGMA Bangalore nearly as often as I’d like to; and I
am a confessed art lover. Many other
people I know have never been to this
institution. They don’t understand
modern art, they say. Their children
could have drawn something better.
I feebly tell them that the museum is
housed in a lovely old mansion with
trees that will calm them down. Using
trees to sell a museum is sad.
Wikipedia lists a total of 55,000
museums in 202 countries. India
has, by my rough count, about 200.
The list is somewhat confused by
including planetariums and train
museums along with art museums.
There must be a dozen art museums of merit in India. What are the
aims and objectives of these museums? In this Internet age, this isn’t
a trivial question, given that more
and more museums are putting up
their collections online and anyone
with a computer can see these. The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, has just hired my friend, Sree
Sreenivasan to be their chief digital
officer. Museums in India cannot
afford to be just repositories of art.
They have to be community centres.
They have to reimagine the museum
experience in the Indian context. It
can be simple things. For example:
• Indians don’t like large empty
spaces. Most museums are
large empty spaces, designed
along the lines of museums in
the West. Indian museums are
better off if they are a collection
of small interlinking rooms that
plays to our tolerance of, and
comfort in, crowds.
• If you took a survey of art lovers who don’t visit museums,
the reason most would state
would be traffic. Museums
have to figure out a way to
take their art to the people
(since the people are not
coming to the art anyway).
Rather than housing the art in
a mansion, philanthropically
inclined collectors should
consider putting the art in a
temperature-controlled warehouse, insure the heck out
of it and then take it to large
companies, colleges and other
places where people congregate. Public art needs to be
viewed in a new way in India.
More like art for the public.
• Just as cricket reinvented
itself with the Indian Premier
League, museums need to
rethink their function. The
Guggenheim in New York
holds music concerts within
its spaces. You sip a glass of
wine, listen to the music and
look at art. The Museum of
Modern Art could be rented by
high-paying corporations for
private parties. Why not do the
same in Indian museums with
their beautiful spaces? The
model already exists in the
West: they have figured out
how to protect the art work
and how much to charge.
Dom PГ©rignon recently
unveiled one of its vintages in
Jodhpur at the Umaid Bhawan
Palace. Why not rent the Dr
Bhau Daji Lad Museum in
Mumbai for events such as
this? Companies such as RГ©my
Martin, which did an event
recently in Udaipur, would
certainly be potential clients.
They have deep pockets and
Mumbai is more accessible to
international visitors.
Courtesy: indianartnews.com
Indian Horizon
Art & Culture
IV
THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Cut-and-Paste Culture: The New Collage
BY Rachel Wolff
CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS ARE UPDATING THE MODERNIST TRADITION WITH NEW TACTICS AND NEW MEDIA
The nomination of Laure
Prouvost for the 2013 Turner
Prize hinged on her installation at London’s Whitechapel
Gallery in March. The work’s
highlight was a 72-foot-long
panoramic canvas studded
with found black-and-white
photographs, crudely cut
painted fragments, and flatscreen TVs emitting filmed
clips of toes wiggling in crystal-clear water and blurry
mouths opening and closing
in breath.
The circular, classicallooking structure, titled Farfromwords (2013), had an
opening that funneled visitors toward a viewing area
that screened the video work
Swallow (2013), an extended
handling of Prouvost’s filmed
vignettes wherein staccato
cuts train the eye toward berries, bathing beauties, chirping birds, hungry fish, and a
woman swimming through a
natural pool while holding a
pineapple to the crown of her
head. Prouvost’s dreamlike
montage is set to a soundtrack
of heavy breathing and a
whispery voice (the artist’s
own), uttering occasional
statements or directives, such
as “The birds are eating the
raspberries” and “Swallow
this.”
Reflecting on the Londonbased French artist’s sixmonth residency in Italy, the
multisensory collage transmits the wide variety of what
she saw and experienced
during her stay. Collage offered an ideal conduit for
Prouvost, says Whitechapel
curator Daniel Herrmann. It
enabled the artist (who cites
Merz founder and collage en-
thusiast Kurt Schwitters as a
major influence) to create an
immersive, high-impact artwork that nods at the ways in
which we share and consume
experiences today.
“The culture that we live
in has become such a sort of
cut-and-paste culture,” Herrmann points out. “Collage
has become a representative
for that state of cultural production. At the same time, I
think it transcends it. It offers
an alternative to an ever-shifting, ever-fluid image world
and reminds people of tactility, texture, and the reality of
the world we live in—a unique
approach that visual art can
offer that digital media does
not convey.”
Collage and assemblage
can also be characterized as
ways “to experience information simultaneously,” says
Laura Hoptman, a curator in
the department of painting
and sculpture at the Museum
of Modern Art—which may be
truer to our real-time experiences of people, places, and
information than ever before.
This kind of “horizontal cloud of information,” as
Hoptman calls it, is perceptible in work by such artists
as Isa Genzken, whose first
retrospective is on view at
MoMA through March 10.
Genzken’s assemblage-centric oeuvre includes a broken slot machine plastered
with snapshots taken of and
by friends; abstract sculptures made from pushcarts,
fabric, furniture, and plastic
plants; and mirrors coated
with brightly colored tape and
reproductions of Old Master
paintings. It’s information
overload rendered in tactile, three-dimensional form.
And it’s a wider-reaching approach that Hoptman sees as
characteristic of collage in the
21st century. Collage bridges
media, flattens time, and
reaches out beyond what immediately surrounds us.
Indeed, many contemporary artists are using the
technique to confront image
culture in the modern world,
with its barrage of rapidly
spreading, often pixelated
simulacra that seep into our
consciousness hundreds (if
not thousands) of times a day.
Video artist Ryan Trecartin is
one practitioner often cited as
a pioneer of this type of think-
ing and esthetic. His frenetic,
acid-hued videos, digital collages, and installations are
described as visual manifestations of the Internet itself—
riffing on the out-there, freeassociative hodgepodge that
is our browser history at the
end of each day.
Cameron Gray is another
devotГ©. In June, Gray showed
a series of collage and assemblage works at Mike Weiss
Gallery in New York, in which
LCD flat screens looping
sampled GIFs were inserted
into static images that were
also sourced from the Web.
C-prints like I Want to Be the
One to Walk in the Sun (2013)
were mounted on gallery
walls with pushpins over embedded flat screens emitting
kaleidoscopic digital collages
revealed through strategic
cutouts (in this case, a buxom
model’s bikini top and bottom). Larger, denser, more assemblage-based works wildly
mixed lights, paper cutouts,
streaks of Day-Glo paint, and
GIF-laden screens.
The effect, when taken as
a whole, is nearly abstract—a
21st-century riff on Clement
Greenberg’s edge-free preference in painting, now sourced
from YouTube, Tumblr, and
dump.fm, an online junkyard
for user-generated JPEGs and
clips. It is all somewhat performative in that sense, too.
Gray speaks of his process as
a coping mechanism, an exercise that allows him to give
physical form to the act of
linking, scanning, surfing, and
tumbling deep down the online rabbit hole. There’s also
an element of discovery, of
show-and-tell. As an artist, “I
spend a lot of time isolated,”
Gray explains. “I get excited
when I find something weird
or unexpected. And I love that
the esthetic is informed by
others. It’s the esthetic of others—the esthetic that’s happening on the Web.”
Gray says that he has always seen his approach to
art as “reacting to the culture
that’s already there”—and
none is quite as “there” today as the inherent patchwork that is the Internet. But
it’s not simply the migration
of images from one medium
(magazines, for instance) to
another that these artists are
mining. It’s an image culture
created by the people, for the
people—one in which amateurs can participate as never
before. He points out that,
with all that’s out there, “you
could find yourself influenced
by some 15-year-old kid.”
In “Still,” his most recent
solo exhibition at the Elizabeth Dee gallery in New York,
Ryan McNamara explored
this user-generated facet of
image culture—a kind of selfperpetuated 15 minutes of
fame.
The artist, who used to
work primarily in performance, spent the first half of
the six-week 2012 show staging impromptu photo shoots
with gallery visitors, encouraging them to create playful
postures and compositions.
After three weeks, he repurposed his props and patterned
the backgrounds as art-making surfaces, peppering them
with fractured and saturated
cutouts of his viewers-turnedmodels-turned-decoupage.
Courtesy: artnews.com
Title Fights: How Museums Name Their Shows A City As Canvas
BY Ann Landi
Generating a title for a museum show involves curators, directors, publicists, and more. It can be
grueling, it can be fun, and it sometimes takes years to find the right one
Got a show to curate? Need a title for your
exhibition? You might look to the Internet and
click on Rebecca Uchill’s Random Exhibition
Title Generator, which will give you such plausible-sounding banners as “Breaking Dissent:
A Remix of the Local” or “After Illusion: The
Video Art of Urban Experience.” Uchill, a former independent curator who is now a Ph.D.
candidate in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cooked up the
idea and worked with a programmer friend to
launch the site in 2010, plugging in words and
syntax that seemed to recur in her experiences
with museum and gallery titles.
Uchill’s spoof provides an instant fix for
the titling dilemma, but in reality, curators
and members of museum marketing, communications, and publications departments
put a great deal of thought into naming their
shows, and the process can take months,
even years. “The title is your initial marketing
hook,” says David Rubin, curator of contemporary art at the San Antonio Museum of Art.
“I’ve worked outside New York most of my career, in areas where art is not necessarily part
of the daily diet, so if it’s too esoteric people
won’t have a clue what the show is about.”
Rubin tends to follow the formula of the twopart title: “a cliché everybody knows or a sexy
hook,” followed by a colon and a fuller explication. Thus, in brainstorming with critic
Barbara Rose for an upcoming show at SAMA
about electric light in contemporary art, Rubin came up with “Generally Electric: Light
and Electricity in Contemporary Art.”
But Arnold Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum, says, “The long-standing algorithm—part of the title to the left of the colon,
part to the right—doesn’t always seem to work
anymore.” Lehman continues, “What people
are really getting away from is a title like �Treasures of . . .’ or �Masterpieces from . . .’” He says
that there was a time when “every museum
had a title like that, or else it was �The Golden
Age of . . .’ And those have gone by the boards.”
One of the more popular projects at the
Brooklyn Museum is called “Raw/Cooked,”
which may call to mind the famous volume
by anthropologist Claude LГ©vi-Strauss. In
this case, though, it’s a series of exhibitions
of unknown artists working in Brooklyn who
have never had a museum show. “The title
was meant to be provocative and to sug-
gest but not tell what this series of exhibitions was all about,” Lehman says. “It’s been
hugely successful. It talks about the vast
number of artists who are working undiscovered and just need a break.”
Sometimes, literary sources offer the
guiding idea for both a title and a show. Toby
Kamps, formerly senior curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston and currently at the Menil Collection, was reading
The Old, Weird America, Greil Marcus’s analysis of folk music and contemporary culture,
while the 2008 presidential race was under
way. “People were talking about American
values and American exceptionalism, and I
had in my mind this crazy counter-universe to
the one that was being spun so heavily during
the election,” he recalls. “I also noticed lots of
artists reaching back into unofficial histories
of America at a time of political turmoil. Then
of course you want to get the author on board,
and we managed to convince Marcus to let
us borrow his title.” The show opened at the
CAMH ahead of the presidential election and
later traveled to museums on both coasts.
Courtesy: artnews.com
Pedestrians stop to gape at walls
on the roadside and walk away smiling. Cheeriness is in the air of Kottayam.
Passersby cannot help but admire the
colourful murals painted on the city walls
as part of the Mural City Project, an initiative of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi.
In just 13 days in May, close to 350
artists from world over made over 60
paintings across the town and turned
Kottayam into the first unique mural
city in India. Be it the traditional murals
of gods and goddesses on the four gopurams of Thirunakkara Temple or those
made with contemporary techniques at
the civil station, the landscape of the city
has become two shades brighter.
The walls of the Kottayam railway
station, painted by several artists, now
tell the story of Indian railways. The
painting at the entrance, done mostly
in a yellow palette, is a combination of
several snapshots showing the first railway line in India. At one section, a team
of artists led by Ajithan Puthumana, has
recreated metro rail stations by using a
contemporary style.
“Since the younger generation
does not know much about mural art,
we tried to incorporate the traditional
elements as well as techniques of contemporary art,” says renowned mural
painter, Suresh K Nair, who is an assistant professor at the Banaras Hindu
University in Varanasi. Suresh worked
on a water tank which is located at the
district panchayat office. “When I saw
the space allotted to me, I hit upon the
idea of water as an element,” he says.
“I have been trying to introduce the
concept of music into paintings. In this
work, I have given a symbolic white colour to water. I have also tried to paint it
with a sense of rhythm.”
The murals across the city are a potpourri of several art styles. The other
styles which can be seen are the Kurumba paintings of the Nilgiris, the Gond tribal paintings of Madhya Pradesh, the Warli
of Maharashtra, the Madubani of Bihar,
the Pata of Bengal, and the Kasauli of
Kashmir. Artists from Portugal, Canada,
Germany, Italy and South Korea opted
for modern and contemporary themes.
South Korean artist Jung Chae-Hee surprised many with faces in the Ott style at
the Darsana auditorium. This is done by
using gum extracted from the ott tree.
The Rs 72 lakh project is aimed at
boosting tourism in Kottayam. And
the State Cultural Ministry and Kerala
Lalithakala Academy seem to have
succeeded in doing so. Some resorts
in Kumarakom, a tourist hub, have
started including a trip to Kottayam to
see mural city paintings in their tour
package. For a town like Kottayam that
hardly has any places to hang out, the
project offers some solace.
Courtesy: indianartnews.com

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