Times Chennai, E Paper 24 July 2009

VOL: 3 ISSUE 4

Chennai, July 24, 2009

VCK HQ to be evicted

HC declares encroachment Chennai, July 24: Madras High Court has ordered eviction of the

Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK), led by Thol T h i r u m a v a l a v a n , M P, headquarters from a piece of land in Ashok Nagar in Chennai, declaring it an encroachment. Mr Justice M Jayapaul directed the Commissioner of Police to take back possession of the land in question from the encroachers within 15 days. The case was filed by Mr Dittakavi

A n a n t h a Padmanabhamoorthy, Mr Kandhukuri Saibaba

and Mr Kandhukuri Ramasubramaniam, represented by Mr K V Sivaram Prasad, against Mambalam- Guindy Tashildar, the Inspector of Police of R-3 Police Station Ashok Nagar, C Vedha Arun Nagarajan, P K Ali Akbar, S Paramanandam, M S M a n i a n d A C Shanmugam. The case relates to a piece of land where the VCK

headquarters is located. According to the petition, the property

belonged to the petitioners as bequeathed to them by the will of Ms M Lakshmi Devi, the petitioners' aunt. The property, according to the petitioners, has been under dispute due to a number of encroachment attempts, but the controversy relating to the VCK, however, began in 2007. On April 13,

TTDC's Banana Fest begins Jul 25 Chennai, July 24 : With a view to encourage consumption of bananas, a two-day Banana Festival would be held at the Island Grounds here on July 25 and 26. About 22 varieties of banana grown in the state would be on display at t h e f e s t i v a l , Tou r i s m Secretary V Irai Anbu told reporters here last evening. The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) and the Tourism department would jointly organise the event. It was for the first time a festival was being held, aimed at encouraging the consumption of bananas besides giving a fillip to the sale of valueadded banana products. ''If it draws tremendous response from public, we will make it a

regular event,'' he added. Dr Irai Anbu said banana-based food items would be prepared by catering institutes and would be kept for sale. Apart from ready-to-use food items with banana as their basic ingredient, processed foods and products made of banana fibre would also be displayed at the festival to be held on a 10,000 sq ft area. The Banana Wholesale Merchants Association at the Koyambedu Market would also participate in the event. It would be like a consumer-expo, wherein people could have fun and relax. ''Toy train for children would be an added attraction and a

cultural show, including folk arts, will also feature as part of the festival,'' the Secretary said. It would serve as a platform to learn about various bananabased food items that could be prepared at home. ''Besides showcasing different varieties of bananas, an awarness would be created among the public on its high fibre content and medicinal value,'' he said. T T D C managing director A C Mohandoss said the Delhi Tourism Board has proposed to conduct a Banana Festival in New Delhi in association with with the Tamil Nadu Tourism Department during winter.

2007, an encroachment attempt was thwarted after a complaint was m a d e t o t h e Commissioner of Police. Subsequently, a hearing was held by the Mambalam-Gunindy Tahsildar, who passed an order on May 25, 2007 in favour of Veda Arun Nagarajan.

Read Times Chennai E-Paper Today and every day

Since then the VCK headquarters had functioned from the said property. The petitioners held that the Tahsildar failed to consider the earlier orders by the civil courts and the Madras High Court in 1997 and 2004, which granted the petitioners the right, title

and possession over the said property. The High Court yesterday held that the order of the MambalamGuindy Tahsildhar as frivolous and nullified the order and directed the Commissioner of Police to remove the encroachers.

To advertise in this paper mail to:

[email protected]

Page 2

Times Chennai E-Paper

Tamil Nadu

VC case: More time for counter Chennai, July 24 : Madras High Court has granted time till August three for the authorities to file counter to a writ petition, seeking a direction to the Chancellor of Anna University Coimbatore and others to take action against the Vi c e - C h a n c e l l o r, a n d directed the police to investigate the complaint of corruption made against him.

When the matter came up before the First Bench headed by Chief Justice H L G o k h a l e , t h e respondents, particularly Vice-Chancellor R Radhakrishnan, sought time to file counter. Following this, the bench granted time till August three and posted the matter for August six.

In his petition, Mr S Sivapandi, an advocate, submitted Dr Radhakrishnan, after assuming office, 'started misusing the power for personal ends.' The bench also made an oral observation that the ViceChancellor may quit his post and face the case and investigation.

Police order set aside Chennai, July 24 : Madras High Court has set aside an order of the Mambalam Police here refusing permission for the Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam(PDK) to hold a public meeting and release a compact disc on the Sri Lankan Tamils in April this year. In the order allowing a petition challenging the denial of police permission, Ms Justice K Suguna said that since the reason for which permission had been refused did not exist now, she was setting aside the

impugned order. She directed the petitioner to submit an application to the police regarding the date of the public meeting and the release of the CD. The judge directed on receipt of the application, the police should pass orders on the same in accordance with law. In his petition, Mr Thapasi Kumaran, South Chennai District President of PDK, submitted he had sought police permission to hold

the public meeting and release of the CD 'Ini Yenna Seyya Pogirom' (what are we going to do?). As per the impugned order, on the ground of general e l e c t i o n a n d apprehending a law and order problem, permission was refused. Now, according to Petitioner's Counsel S Doraisamy, the election was over and the reason for which permission had been denied did not exist.

Toll up in fireworks unit mishap Virudhunagar, July 24 : With three more people, including two women, succumbing to their burn injuries this morning, the toll in the recent devastating inferno at a private fireworks manufacturing unit in Namaskarithanpatti Village near Sivakasi here has risen to 15. Police sources said P Saraswathi (45), who was undergoing treatment in the

government hospital at Sivakasi and I Karuppaiah (36) and Y Vijayalakshmi (34) admitted to a private hospital and Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) respectively at Madurai succumbed. taking the toll to 15 so far. As many as 21 seriously injured people were still undergoing intensive treatment in government hospitals at Sivakasi and Madurai,

the sources added. The tragedy occurred when the workers were filling up explosive powder in fancy cracker varieties, including rockets, in Sri Krishna Fire Works factory. Eight workers, including three women, were killed and 44 injured, few of them seriously in the devastating fire on July 20.

How the rupee is spent in TN Chennai, July 24: Out of every one rupee spent by t h e Ta m i l N a d u Government, only three paise goes toward Health a n d F a m i l y We l f a r e , according to the 2007-08 Accountant General, Accounts and Entitlements report. For interest payments, the state government spends 11 paise and it spends 11 paise for education, 10 paise for pension payment, nine paise for payment of salaries, six for repayment of debt, nine paise for loans and grants, seven for social welfare and nutrition, five for agriculture and rural development, three paise for health and family welfare and the balance 29

paise for other expenditure, the report said. It said every rupee spent was met by raising public debt (13 paise), revenue receipts (83 paise), operating on reserves with bank (two paise) and recovery of loans and advances (two paise). R e v e n u e receipts (83 paise) comprises tax revenue

(66 paise), non tax revenue (six paise) and grants-in-aid from Central Governmet (11 paise). The cumulative public debt at the end of 2007-08 stood at Rs 57,183 crore. The main sources of funds were borrowings, tax revenue, non-tax revenue, grantsin-aid and public accounts, the report added

July 24, 2009

Armed gang kills father, son; mom critical Cuddalore, July 24 : Unidentified armed men barged into the house of a 60-year-old man and hacked him and his son to death while inflicing serious injuries on his wife at Varagoorpettai, near Chidambaram of this district past midnight late night. Police here

t o d a y s a i d Rajamanickam (60) and his son Murugan (32) died on the spot while Rajamanickam's wife Kasturi (55) suffered serious injuries. Kasturi was rushed to JIPMER in Puducherry where her condition was reported to be critical.

The bodies were removed to the General Hospital here for postmortem. Police pressed sniffer dogs and fingerprint experts into service. A special team was constituted to nab the accused.

2 held for selling mutt property Kancheepuram,: A Mutt manager and a woman were arrested this evening for cheating the head of the Udaseen Bavaji Mutt in a land transaction worth Rs six crore. Police here said Selvaraj (50), a local, was working as manager for the Mutt headed by Vasanthdas Bavaji of Orissa. The Mutt had

properties worth several crores in various places in Tamil Nadu. Va s a n t h d a s Bavaji (87) knew only Hindi. Selvaraj obtained a power of attorney from the swamiji and allegedly sold five acre land worth Rs six crore in Manimangalam in this district, belonging to the Mutt, to one Jhansi Rani of Chennai, the police said.

S e l v a r a j managed to cheat Vasanthdas using his ignorance of Hindi. When the Mutt head got doubts a b o u t t h e p r o p e r t y, Selvaraj used to show him fake documents. Meanwhile, Jhansi Rani sold the land using the power of attorney documents. A complaint was lodged with the police who arrested the duo.

SMS campaign to fight corruption Chennai, July 24: Anti Corruption Branch of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has launched a statewide campaign against corruption through SMS on mobile phones, joining hands with the public. According to a press release here today, the compaign is an effort to fight against corruption by reaching out to the people and joining hands

with them to curb corruption in society. The SMS, which reads ''Fight Corruption : Complaints on Central Government Offices/ Banks/ PSUs please contact SP CBI:ACB:CHENNAI 04428255899/SMS ONLY 9444049224/Email:sp1a [email protected], had been sent to all the mobile users in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, numbering more than

five million. It urges the people to pass on information regarding corruption in Central G o v e r n m e n t Departments, Banks or PSUs by contacting the Superintendent of Police, CBI, ACB, Chennai either in person, over phone or through e-mail and lodge either complaint or pass on information, the release added.

CII office-bearer arrested in Cheating case in Karur Karur, July 24: Police arrested an office-bearer of the Karur zone unit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), for cheating a sum of Rs 83 lakh from a textile owner by giving false promise that he would obtain export order to him, here last night. Police said, the

arrested, Vice President of the CII Karur zone met one Saravanan, a textile owner and promissed him to obtain export order for his firm. Mr Saravanan also gave a sum of Rs 83 lakhs and a handloom goods worth Rs 15 lakh to the arrested. Despite the repeated request

made by Mr Saravanan, the arrested neither honour his commitment nor returned back the money and handloom goods. Mr Saravanan lodged a complaint with the police, based on his complaint, police arrested Viji and remanded him to judicial custody,police added.

To advertise in this paper mail to:

The complete half yearly magazine for professional Education for details call

[email protected]

99400 24556

July 24, 2009

Times Chennai E-Paper

Brutal murder case of jewellery broker solved Chennai, Jul 24 : The city Police today cracked the 45-day-old jewellery broker Suresh Kumar murder case with the arrest of a jewellery shop employee hailing from Rajasthan. The mutilated body parts of Suresh K u m a r, w h o w a s i n jewellery business besides owning a travel agency, were recovered from various parts of the city on June nine this year. However, the skull was yet to be traced. Special teams, formed to crack the case, pursued various leads before arresting Nemichand Chowdhry from Rajasthan by tracing the calls received by Kumar on his mobile. Chennai Police Commissioner T Rajendran told reporters here today Chowdhry had

confessed to killing Kumar with an eye on his gold. ''It was a premeditated murder,'' the Commissioner said. Chowdhry, who was employed in a jewellery shop, invited Suresh Kumar to his residence after convincing him that he would purchase 2.150 kg of gold from him. In fact, Suresh Kumar was on his way to sell the gold jewellery to Gopi, a jeweller from Kerala, when he was stopped by Chowdhry. During the course of investigations, Gopi was also interrogated and police came to a conclusion that he was not involved in the murder. Chowdhry took Suresh Kumar to his house, fatally attacked

him with an iron rod and robbed the 2.150 kg gold on his person. Later, he cut the body into pieces and threw them in various parts of the city. Mr Rajendran said Chowdhry, who was previously in silver jewellery business, had sustained losses and incurred debts to the tune of Rs ten lakh. I t w a s a premeditated murder as he had sent his family to Rajasthan about a week ago and took a flight to New Delhi a day after killing Suresh Kumar. After staying in New Delhi for a fortnight, he joined his family in Rajasthan before returning to Chennai, leading to his arrest. Police, who raided his house early today, also recovered the stolen jewellery from him.

New electronic voting machines for Tamil Nadu by-elections Chennai, July 24: With major opposition parties ranged against electronic voting machines (EVM), the Election Commission has decided to buy new machines for the five Tamil Nadu by-elections slated for Aug 18. Speaking to reporters here Thursday, Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said: 'The new machines will have advanced features like reading time wise polling and the number of votes polled at a particular time.' He said the new machines were needed as the existing machines were nearly 15 years old. By-elections are scheduled in the five constituencies of Bargur, Thondamuthur, Cumbum, Illayangudi and Srivaikundam. According to Gupta, two government companies Bharat Electronics Ltd and Electronics Corp of India Ltd will manufacture the

EVMs. He said polling will be recorded live in all booths. He urged all political parties to participate in the elections. Tamil Nadu's major opposition party AIADMK and its ally MDMK have announced their decision to boycott the by-elections, alleging that the exercise would not be free and fair. They have also expressed fears that the EVMs may not be tamper proof. Mr Gupta said to ensure free and fair polls, it has also been proposed to have liverecording in polling stations, for which a beginning was made in Kanniyakumari,Madurai and Chennai districts in the recent Lok Sabha elections. ''Efforts are also being made to have a communication plan and adopt the SMSbased system of monitoring the polling

stations as done in Tripura,'' he said. Urging all the political parties to extend their cooperation to ensure free and fair byelections, Mr Gupta said the election officers would hold consultations with the local leaders of various parties in the five Assembly constituencies -- Bargur, Thondamuthur, Cumbum, Ilayangudi and Srivaikuntam. Asked about deployment of paramilitary forces on security duty for polling, he said it has to be decided by the Central Election Commission. Mr Gupta said the EC had written to the Tamil Nadu government urging it not to include the areas coming under the five Assembly constituencies going for the by-elections in the free health insurance scheme to be launched by it.

Three T Nagar clubs raided, 36 arrested for gambling Chennai, July 24: After raids at recreation clubs in T Nagar, the city police commissioner has ordered the closure of two. Four more clubs have been recommended for closure. On Wednesday night, police raided three other clubs, arrested 36 persons who were gambling, and recovered Rs 7,000 in cash. Acting on a tipoff, teams headed by R Kannabiran, T Nagar assistant commissioner of police (ACP), and P

Manoharan, Vadapalani A C P, a r r e s t e d employees and members at two clubs in Pondy Bazaar and one in Va d a p a l a n i . S o m e managed to scale the compound wall and escape; others were arrested. “We’ve been told to go tough against illegal clubs. We have identified at least 20 such clubs in T Nagar and sent letters to the department concerned to cancel the licences,” T Nagar

deputy commissioner of police G Sampath Kumar said. According to police sources, the city police commissioner has given his officers a free hand to take action against persons running illegal recreation clubs in Chennai. Many of the clubs, police have identified, are run with blessings from local politicians, without licences.

Page 3

Oxford launches new English-English-Tamil dictionary New Delhi, July 24 : 'Ghatam', 'Sambhar', 'Vada', 'Samosa' and 'Rasam' are new entries in the latest publication of the Oxford's EnglishEnglish-Tamil dictionary. According to a press release here Oxford, which is synonymous with the world's most trusted dictionaries, today announced the publication of the English-English-Tamil dictionary, latest in the lists of publication by the Oxford Press University under its Bilingual dictionaries programme.

The dictionary is especially designed for learners of English, including teachers, translators and general readers. A first of its kind published by the Oxford, it draws upon the Oxford Press' rich and varied tradition of publishing trusted dictionaries throughout the world. The word list has been researched and selected keeping in mind the frequency of usage, the continuous evolution of language and its ready absorption of regional influence.

Apart from regional words like 'Rasam', 'Ghatam' and 'Sambhar' that have become part of every day references in English, Indian- English usage such as auto-rickshaw, ayurveda, bandh, carnatic music and playback singer are also included in this dictionary. Detailed notes in Tamil have also been added to a subject vocabulary that covers g e o g r a p h y, g e o l o g y, mathematics, science, computing, law and medicines with illustration in many cases.

MK's Gopalapuram house to be donated to state govt to run free hospital Chennai, July 24 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M Karunanidhi Thursday announced that his Gopalapuram residence in the city would be donated to the state government after his liftime, to be converted into a free hospital to treat the poor. The Chief Minister, who turned emotional, made this surprise announcement at the launch of ''Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatment'', here this evening. Mr Karunanidhi

said he had already received the consent of his wife and children for donating the house, worth Rs eight crore, either to the state Government or the Kalaignar Trust for the noble cause. The Chief Minister wished that the hospital be named after his parents ''Anjugam Muthuvelar''. Mr Karunanidhi said he had already bequeathed his house in the name of his children in 1968 and the same had been registered in their names. ''As Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, I

o n l y o w n t h i s Gopalapuram residence and a 14-acre land at Kattur Village in my native Tiruvarur district'', he said. Mr Karunanidhi said like other Chief Ministers in the country he never chose to live in a s e p a r a t e b u n g a l o w, though the officials insist that he move to a government bungalow whenever he became Chief Minister. He said despite space constraint, whenever visitors, including foreign dignatories came to meet him, he chose to meet them in his house itself.

Azad expresses concern over population growth Chennai, July 24 : Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday expressed concern over the growing population in the country and called upon all state governments to launch programmes to stablise the population growth. Inaugurating t h e Ta m i l N a d u government's ''Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatment'', a pioneering health insurance scheme for the poor, here, Mr Azad said it was a matter of regret that ''nobody is talking about family planning and birth control though the growth is alarming.'' Lamenting that the population was increasing on the one hand and the size of the land was dwindling everyday, he said the Indian population constituted 17 per cent of the world's population, but the landscape of the country was just two per cent of the globe. ''The carrying capacity is already

dwindling. The two per cent land cannot carry the load of 17 per cent of population,'' he said, adding the population was increasing every year, while the size of the land was diminishing almost everyday with construction of millions of houses, hospitals and schools. A large portion of agricultural lands were being converted to build houses and other buildings and ''if this scenario is allowed to continue, how can we survive and how long can we survive,'' he asked. ''Therefore, we as a country should rise to the occasion and take immediate steps to stablise the population,'' he said. Pointing out the host of social welfare and health care schemes being implemented by the Centre and state governments, Mr Azad said the ''whole thing will come to naught, if we fail to check the growing population.'' M r A z a d congratulated the Tamil

Nadu Health Department in general and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in particular for stabilsing the population growth in the state. ''Tamil Nadu is in number one position in so far as the stabilisation of population is concerned,'' he said. The Union Minister said he was extremely happy to inaugurate the Kalaignar Health Insurance Scheme, a pioneering scheme in providing life saving treatment to one crore poor families in the state. Stating that Tamil Nadu was the leading state in the provision of health care schemes, Mr Azad said, ''Health insurance scheme is one more feather in the cap of Kalaignar (Chief Minister M Karunanidhi).'' Tamil Nadu had made significance progress in implementing schemes for developing human resources and policies and programmes in the health care sector. Many decades ago late Chief Minister K Kamaraj showed the way by introducing the noon meal scheme, he said.

Page 4

Times Chennai E-Paper

National

Mumbai braces for highest tide in 100 years Mumbai: Mumbai Nearly 200 people have been evacuated from coastal areas, warnings have been sent out to those in lowlying regions and schools have advised students to stay at home as the

financial capital braces for a massive 5.5 metre high tidal wave, billed as the highest in 100 years, to lash it Friday afternoon. The high tide is expected to hit Mumbai and the surrounding Konkan region at 2.05 p.m. The waters will ebb only after three to four hours, met officials said. In the past two days, as waves measuring 4.85 and 5.1 metres lashed Mumbai, civic and disaster management authorities evacuated people -- mostly shanty dwellers -- from vulnerable areas like Colaba, Cuffe Parade, Andheri, Jogeshwari and even parts of neighbouring Thane. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has

issued warnings to people in low-lying areas to watch out for the gigantic tide Friday and take adequate precautions. On Thursday, sea water rushed into

several buildings in Cuffe Parade, Worli, Dadar, Prabhadevi, Andheri, Juhu, Khar and Malad. Even mayor Shubha Raul's official bungalow at Shivaji Park in Dadar was not spared. The huge waves knocked down a compound wall. In Thane, the district adjacent to Mumbai, waterlogging attributed to the high tide was reported from residential areas in places like Uttan, Palghar, Boisar and Dahanu but there have been no casualties so far. Some schools have advised students to stay at home in view of the high tide, but there has been no official announcement of closure by the government.

However, for many Mumbaikars, the tides offered a rare view of a natural phenomenon after clouds obscured the s o l a r e c l i p s e Wednesday. Thousands of people excitedly saw the tides from a safe distance at places like Colaba, Marine Drive, Girgaum Chowpatty, Worli SeaF a c e , B a n d r a Bandstand, Juhu Beach, Gorai Beach and Marve Beach yesterday. Today, greater numbers are expected. Crowds had assembled even at the Thane Creek and commuters were seen craning their necks to see the swirling waters as the trains crossed the railway bridges at Bhayander Creek. Last week, the MCGM had inserted big and small advertisements in newspapers, warning people of the potential damage that could be wreaked by the high tides and contact details for emergency services. As many as 11 hotlines have been established and 34 rain gauges have been installed from where round-the-clock information is being collected. Control rooms have been set up at all the 24 civic wards. Officials said that MCGM would also monitor the situation in flood-prone areas through CCTVs.

July 24, 2009

Transport strike leaves commuters in lurch in Kolkata Kolkata : The metropolis wore a deserted look on Friday as private buses, minibuses and autorickshaw operators went on an indefinite strike after their meeting with the West Bengal government on a high court order banning 15year-old vehicles in the city failed. People were seen waiting for state-run buses to reach their destinations especially to the airport, Howrah and

long activities for creating awareness about heritage amongst the students, Mr. Garde said. INTACH is a non-government, non-

New Delhi : The Government has approved development of a Rs 500 crore advanced communication satellite to provide telecom links with small Ku-band terminals operating across the country. A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night gave its nod for the design and development of GSAT-11 communication satellite, which is

planned to be realised in 30 months. The GSAT-11 is a n a d v a n c e d communication satellite which will be a high capacity multi-team Ku/Ka-bank spacecraft. "The launch of GSAT-11 will augment the Ku-band capacity considerably for telecommunication services in the country," an official release said. With 16 beams in Ku-band and

frequency reuse factor of 4, it can provide 10 GHz effective bandwidth equivalent to about 22 transponders of 36 MHz, it said. T h e G S AT- 11 employs a new 1-4K Bus. This craft is configured with two sided large solar array panels generating around 11 KW of DC power. The craft structure is designed for a lift-off mass of about 4,500 kgs with a dry mass of 2100 kg.

Mamata Banerjee opposed to Land Acquisition Bill? New Delhi : The Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is understood to have raised serious

profit organisation that seeks to make strategic and timely interventions in order to conserve and promote India s natural and cultural heritage.

'India not received any Pak request for assistance' New Delhi: Government today said it has not received any request from Pakistan for assistance in rehabilitating the people rendered homeless and living in refugee camps due to the military action against Taliban in the country's troubled north-western region. The government is aware of the recent developments in Pakistan where the army is rooting out the Taliban due to which millions of Pakistani citizens have become homeless and are living in refugee camps, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. "No request has been received from the government of Pakistan for assistance in this regard," she said. To another question, she said the government has seen reports in the public domain that Pakistan is enhancing its nuclear weapons production capacity

passengers. While the taxis are likely to return on the roads on Saturday, bus and minibus operators have threatened to continue the strike "indefinitely" unless they were financially helped by the state government to phase out the old vehicles. The Calcutta High Court order banning all 15year-old commercial vehicles from the Kolkata metropolitan area would come into force from August one.

Govt gives green signal to GSAT-11 communication satellite

INTACH to conduct workshop on heritage awareness Aurangabad : Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) would conduct a workshop here on creating heritage awareness among teachers on August 19-20. The prime objective of the workshop is to inculcate awareness and appreciation of heritage of our cities, states and the country, I N TA C H f u n c t i o n a r y Ashish Garde said here. The event aims to motivate teachers to use appropriate resource material in classroom teaching and play an effective role in sensitising children about heritage, he said. Apart from building awareness about heritage, the two- day seminar will help teachers plan and carry out year-

Sealdah railway stations. Packed trains and underground metro have been running normally, officials said. T h e government-run ferry service from Howrah station to the ghats on the bank of the Hooghly river was also operating normally. Some autorickshaws were also seen plying on shorter routes. Cycle-rickshaw pullers were demanding extra money to ferry

objection to the bill relating to land acquisition for industrialisation and rehabilitation of the land losers. She raised her objections at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Thursday night on the provisions of the Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill 2007 and the Rehabilitation and Resettle-ment Bill that were on the cabinet

agenda. The Trinamool Congress chief is understood to have opposed a major provision in the bill which provides for p r i v a t e developers acquiring 70 per cent of the land for a proposed industrial project directly from the farmers and land-owners. The remaining 30 per cent is to be acquired by the s t a t e government, the bill proposes. Ms. Banerjee, who was in the forefront of the agitations in Nandigram and Singur in

West Bengal on the same issue, is understood to have strongly demanded penal provisions to check the use of money and muscle power by private developers while acquiring land from the farmers. The party feels that these legislations fall short of protecting poor farmers as their rehabilitation and resettlement is not fully guaranteed by the provisions. The TMC had earlier put forward its suggestions on the legislations in writing much before the bills were brought to the cabinet for its consideration, party sources said. The Union Cabinet met for three hours on Thursday night.

To advertise in this paper mail to:

[email protected]

July 24, 2009

Times Chennai E-Paper

National

End-user pact must to access US arms market: Experts N e w D e l h i : Notwithstanding the political brouhaha raised by the agreement reached on the draft of a pact that allows verification of enduse of military hardware purchased from the US, Indian security experts say the pact is necessary for India to gain access to the high-end American arms market. "I think this is really not as extreme as it is made to sound. If India wants to obtain access to US military supplies it has to enter a protocol of this type. We wouldn't need the agreement if we could have done without US help," National Maritime Foundation Director C. Uday Bhaskar said. The opinion is echoed by Major General (retd) Ashok Mehta. "Every country ensures that its technology does not fall into wrong hands. If you need American hardware, if you want to diversify your inventory and not be completely dependent on the Russians, we would like to go to the US, which has the most sophisticated technology today," Mehta said. During the recent visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the two countries agreed on the end-user monitoring arrangement that will henceforth be referred to in letters of acceptance for Indian procurement of US defence technology and equipment. The provisions will be applicable to all military purchases from the US with retrospective effect and will provide for the physical verification of the military hardware purchased from the US to prevent its misuse. India had inked deal-specific agreements

with the US for earlier purchases, including Business Boeing Jets to ferry VIPs and the troop carrier INS Jalashwa. "We have specific agreements with the US for earlier purchases, but so far they have never come for inspections," said a senior defence official, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. The US has signed end-user agreements with 82 countries, including Pakistan, Britain, France and Germany. "The Americans have never harassed any country due to the enduser agreement. The best example is Pakistan, which has been using US military equipment against India," Bhaskar pointed out. According to a defence official privy to the negotiations for the pact, physical inspection by the US comes to the picture only when there are "credible" allegations of equipment misuse. " I d e a l l y, w e would not like to have this contract at all. We do not have this with other countries. We just give an undertaking. The US has it on its statute; so we had to factor in their concerns," the defence official, who did not want to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media, said. B h a s k a r seconded this. "First of all, the US has to show mala fides on the Indian part," he said. A senior Navy official who did not want to be named said that India needed to broaden its options to enhance its military capabilities.

"It makes sense to have options; otherwise the seller will bargain hard with you. With 70 percent of our defence equipment being imported, we cannot afford to have a single vendor and the US is a worthy contender," he said. Moreover, India has been giving end user certificates to other countries as well, including Russia, which is analogous to an undertaking against selling the technology of the military equipment to a third party. "The fact is that it is not the Americans only who want to make sure that the equipments that they provided is not misdirected. Even when the Soviets provided us with military hardware there were certain conditions about transfer of technology and use of those equipments," Mehta added. On Wednesday, Defence Minister A.K. Antony defended the measure, saying it was the result of three years of tough efforts and that the government did not have any reservations about it. "It has been signed after three years of hard bargaining. Everything has been sorted out. We do not have any reservations," Antony told reporters here. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha Tuesday to protest against the pact, terming it intrusive and saying it should not have been inked without parliament being taken into confidence.

Govt plans measures to help disabled New Delhi: The government proposes to amend law, in line with a UN convention, to protect the rights and improve conditions of disabled persons in India, whose number exceeds two crore in the country. A comprehensive bill to amend the Disability Act, 1995, would be brought before Parliament this year," Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik said replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on functioning of his ministry. He said the

amendment bill would seek to bring Indian laws in conformity with the obligations as provided in the UN convention on Human Rights on Persons with Disability. The Disability Act deals with issue like education, employment and job reservation for persons with physical disabilities. As per the government figures, disabled people account for about two per cent of the country's population. T h e Department of Personnel

and Training is planning a time bound programme to fill up the vacancies in this category, he said. While there is a provision for reservation of jobs for disabled people in the government sector, a scheme for fiscal sops to private sector to e m p l o y t h e s e disadvantaged people has not found favours with the corporate India, the minister said, adding that private sector should employ more people in this category and avail the incentive.

Page 5

India for opening of Kargil-Skardu route New Delhi: India on Thursday sought opening of the KargilSkardu route between India and Pakistan for passenger traffic on humanitarian basis as well as to counter the "virus" of extremism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir. "We have continued to press for opening the KargilSkardu route for passenger traffic and eventually as a fullfledged communication corridor", Shyam Saran, Special Envoy of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a conference on "Society, Culture and Politics in the Karakoram Himalayas."

"This will not o n l y s e r v e a humanitarian purpose but also help counter the virus of extremism and militancy," he said. The economic prospects of the Karakoram communities would brighten greatly if traditional trade routes could be re-opened, he said. Saran pointed out that in its interaction with Pakistan on Jammu and Kashmir, India had always insisted that all cross-LoC links and potential projects for cooperation in specific areas must cover the entire erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, including Gilgit and

Baltistan. The official also expressed his concern at the adverse impact of climate change in the region which, he said, would only aggravate the political, social and economic stresses there. Sympathising with the plight of the wartorn Karakoram people, Saran said, "There is the obvious anxiety of the spillover effect on the conflicts that now agitates this zone of instability... therefore the destinies of the communities and the vision of India as a successful and inclusive plurality are in a sense, linked more than symbolically."

Over 500 students say no to IIT Mumbai: The Indian Institutes of Technology, where gaining admission is said to be more difficult than entering some of the Ivy League institutes, have had to go through the ignominy of a second round of allotment to fill up all their seats. As many as 505 students, who got an opportunity to study in these premier technological institutes, did the unthinkable this year; they refused to study in an IIT. The reasons varied from ‘‘not having confidence in the new I I Ts ’ ’ t o ‘ ‘ g e t t i n g allotments in not-sopopular streams’’, IIT officials said, adding that this experience might force HRD minister Kapil Sibal to do a rethink on his expansion plans for the IITs. Besides the s e v e n o l d I I Ts (Kharagpur, Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kanpur, Roorkee and Guwahati), eight more were added to the list over the last two years. IITs put up a

second selection list to fill the 505 unfilled seats this week, said IIT-Guwahati director Gautam Barua. The second allotment was, however, not done centrally. ‘‘There were several parents who were not comfortable sending their kids to an IIT without a campus currently; few realised that all the old IITs, too, started from temporary campuses,’’ the head of one of the new IITs said. IIT-Bombay JEE-2009 chairman Amiya Kumar Pani explained: ‘‘Students who took admission were offered internal betterment before the second allotment took place.’’ So, if a student with a ranking of 1,104 in JEE-2009 did not take the seat allotted to him, another candidate with a lower ranking got his place (if he had opted for that subject in his preference form). IITDelhi JEE-2009 c h a i r m a n R Chattopadhyay

explained that several students moved up the ladder because of this. TOI, on June 25, wrote about how the IITs faced a similar problem filling up reserved category seats. The institutes, therefore, were forced to transfer over 1,100 reserved-category seats to the one-year preparatory course after not finding enough qualified candidates in the reserved categories. The one-year prep course trains quota students to bring them upto the mark. But the case of these 505 unfilled seats came as a bigger surprise for the IITs as a majority of these students were from the open category (except a handful of cases in which some OBC candidates did not take admission). ‘‘All the students who have been shortlisted in the second list have been informed. They now need to reach the IIT where a seat has been allotted to them and pay the fees,’’ a JEE chairman said.

Ombudsman to ensure implementation of welfare schemes: Minister New Delhi: An ombudsman will be appointed to ensure that welfare schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee S c h e m e a r e implemented properly, Minister of State for Rural Development Agantha Sangma said here. She said on the sidelines of a function late Thursday that an ombudsman kind of system was being developed to ensure accountability and transparency in government-run welfare schemes.

"We are in the process of developing an ombudsman kind of system in our ministry to ensure accountability and transparency. "Under this system, we will have an independent person to whom people can come up and report about problems. It is for m o n i t o r i n g implementation of important schemes like NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)," said Ms. Sangma. Initially the system will start on pilot basis in one scheme of

the ministry and will be replicated later in other projects. The young minister stressed that proper implementation of projects is the main problem in the country and a mechanism has to be developed for fixing accountability. "We need to gear up whatever mechanism we have. There are monitoring and vigilance committees in every constituency and acts like RTI (Right to Information) to fix accountability. If people don't take initiative it is not going to work," she

Times Chennai E-Paper

Page 6

World

Musharraf claims he 'internationalised' Kashmir case London ; Claiming that he was the only Pakistani ruler who "internationalised" the case of Kashmir and came near striking a resolution on it, former President Pervez

Musharraf has said the issue is "critical" to solving the problems of the region. Speaking at an event organised at the House of C o m m o n s r e c e n t l y, Musharraf dismissed the charge levelled by Lord Nazir Ahmed that he betrayed the cause of Kashmir. Musharraf said he was the "only ruler in the history of Pakistan who internationalised the case of Kashmir and came near striking distance of its resolution." "The issue of

Kashmir is critical to solving the problems of the region and with Kashmir festering, no resolution of the current problems will be achieved," the former military ruler was quoted as saying by The News. Advocating holding talks with " s a n e r " Ta l i b a n elements to achieve normalcy in Afghanistan, Musharraf said there was no choice but to get engaged with them who could be brought back to the negotiating table. "Anyone who thinks you correct Pakistan and everything will be hunky dorey is absolutely wrong. You correct Afghanistan and everything will be fine in Pakistan," the paper quoted him as saying. Musharraf said he wanted to remove the biggest mis-perception in the West that the Pakistani army and spy agencies double dealt with the Taliban. Answering a question on the United Nations inquiry into former Premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination, Musharraf said "he was confident that the UN inquiry would add nothing

to what was already known or unknown." He said calling for an international inquiry on her murder showed "immaturity of leadership" as it reflected that Pakistanis don't trust or have any confidence in their own national security agencies. "What did the well known Scotland Yard team find out"? remember they were seen on Murree road with all these modern gadgets? What did any achieve? Nothing." He said what Scotland Yard came up with was known to him three days after Bhutto's assassination. He said any individual or group taking up arms in the name of Islam or for imposing their will on others must be defeated. During the interaction, the former President did not criticise the Supreme Court's decision to acquit Nawaz Sharif in the plane hijacking case but said that he stood by each and every word that he said and wrote about the plane hijacking case in his memoirs. With regard to Akbar Bugti, he said that no state can allow its writ to be defied.

Hillary set the pace for Indo-US relationship: State dept Wa s h i n g t o n : The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has set the pace for the Indo-US relationship during her recent visit to India and both the countries have to work hard to deepen the cooperation and build on it, the State Department has said. "Now that we (India and US) have broadened the frame and significantly increased the number of issues that the two countries will address together, now comes the hard work of preparing for these meetings and

deepening the cooperation," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley said. "We have to see what progress can be made in all of the working groups that she (Clinton) outlined with her Indian counterpart," he said. Mr Crowley said Ms. Clinton reflected in a number of occasions that the US was "very satisfied" with the trip to India and the launching of a strategic dialogue and an expansion of the

range of issues that "we will address in future meetings with both countries." The Secretary of State visited India early this week during which the two countries vowed to expand their relationship. "The strategic dialogue will be carried on primarily at the ministerial level," Mr. Crowley said, adding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be coming on a state visit to the US in November.

Four killed in US helicopter crash: official Smithsburg: A commercial helicopter crashed onto a highway and burst into flames late Thursday night, killing all four people on board, emergency officials said. The aircraft was engulfed when firefighters arrived at the scene in western Maryland minutes after receiving a call at 10:30 p.m. EDT (0230 GMT), said Washington County emergency services director Kevin Lewis. No vehicles on the highway were hit when the helicopter crashed in the

eastbound lanes of Interstate 70. Troopers have shut down the highway in both directions near the crash site. Lewis, who was among the first emergency responders at the scene, said there are power lines down in the westbound lanes. The crash happened west of the Washington CountyFrederick County line, on the western slope of a ridge known as South Mountain. Smithsburg is about 10 miles (16

kilometers) east of Hagerstown. It wasn't immediately clear what brought down the helicopter, which Lewis said was a Robison R44, a four-seat commercial craft. Maryland State police are in charge of the investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified of the crash, Lewis said.

July 24, 2009

Obama heads to Midwest selling health care Cleveland: President Barack Obama continued Thursday his push for a massive overhaul of America's health system, saying Americans need it and must overcome resistance from o p p o n e n t s i n Washington. M r. O b a m a increasingly is pitching his remarks directly to voters, hoping they will pressure reluctant lawmakers. He traveled to the industrial Midwestern city of Cleveland to make his case before hundreds who packed a suburban high school gym. "Reform may be coming too soon for some in Washington," Mr. Obama said. "But it's not soon enough for the American people." Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, however, suggested that slowing things down may be the wise course for now. "It's better to have a product based on q u a l i t y a n d thoughtfulness rather than try to jam something through," Reid said, delivering the official announcement of the delay. His words were a near-echo of moderate Republicans who support sweeping changes but criticize Mr. Obama's rush to act. The White House announced Mr. Obama will meet in the Oval Office Friday with Reid and Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, is seeking a bipartisan deal while the health committee bill was pushed through by Democrats on a partyline vote. The United States is the only major industrialized nation that lacks a comprehensive health care plan, and about 50 million of America's 300 million people are without health insurance. M o s t Americans with health insurance receive it through their employers, though those who do not or who are unemployed must either buy costly insurance or pay medical bills out of pocket. The elderly and indigent receive coverage from the government. "There are those who see our failure to address stubborn problems as a sign that our best days are behind us," Mr. Obama said

before taking audience questions. He said he believes this generation is ready "to defy the skeptics and naysayers." M r. O b a m a ratcheted up the rhetoric one day after he made his case at a White House news conference, and likened the bid to overhaul health care to the manned missions to the moon 40 years ago. "There are those who see our failure to address stubborn problems as a sign that our best days are behind us," Mr. Obama said before taking audience questions. "Well, I believe that this generation, like generations past, stands ready to defy the naysayers and the skeptics." His plan would insure more Americans, partly through government subsidies; provide a governmentrun option to compete with private insurers; and require large employers to contribute to health coverage one way or another. He advised people to lobby senators and representatives for health care reform by telling their own personal stories of concern. Mr. Obama said members of Congress need to hear from the people because "frankly, they are hearing from the other side." The president took a few swipes at Republican critics in his speech Thursday. But his biggest obstacles are fellow Democrats, who control t h e H o u s e o f Representatives and Senate and are moving slowly on his call for widespread changes to U.S. health care. Senate leaders said Thursday they could not meet Mr. Obama's deadline for a vote before the August recess. And a key House committee is struggling to placate moderate Democrats worried about the plan's costs. "That's OK. I just want people to keep on working. Just keep working," Mr. Obama said. Mr. Obama tried to allay worries about the proposed changes, saying the current system of rising costs and uneven care is much worse. "If you already have health insurance,

the reform we're proposing will give you more security," Mr. Obama said Thursday. "It will keep the insurance companies out of your health care decisions, too, by stopping insurers from cherry-picking who they cover, and holding insurers to higher standards for what they cover." For all his efforts, which have included public statements each weekday for the past few weeks, Republican lawmakers and other critics sense momentum building against Mr. Obama's plan. They particularly cite nonpartisan cost projections that have not predicted the savings the White House promises. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a leading Republican, said on CBS that he "liked a lot of" what Mr. Obama said at the White House news conference Wednesday. "I think he's actually ... his marketing is the best part of this," Jindal added. "You listen to what the president said. He said he does not want to increase the deficit, does not want government control of health care. He wants people to keep their insurance. He wants to crack down on the abuse, the over-utilization. All that's great. The problem is, that's not what's in the House Democrat bill." Despite the many problems gripping the country, the health care debate has seized the U.S. political debate. The stakes are huge for Mr. Obama, who is putting much of his credibility on the line to gain passage of legislation. At least one Republican said it could prove to be the president's Waterloo if the drive collapses. But Mr. Obama said: "This isn't about me." The health care debate may have dented Mr. Obama's popularity. His approval rating stands at 55 percent, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll, down from 64 percent in late May and early June. Some 50 percent approve his handling of health care, but 43 percent disapprove, and that number has risen sharply since April. It did not help the White House when the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week that the bills moving through Congress would add to long-term U.S. costs, not reduce them.

July 24, 2009

Times Chennai E-Paper

Business

ICICI Bank accused for violating RBI guidelines: Pranab New Delhi: ICICI Bank was twice issued letter of warning or advisory note in last two years for violating Reserve Bank of India

The bank was issued 'Advisory Note' in December 2007 and a Letter of Warning in April 2008 for its irregular

guidelines, Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. In 2007-08, ICICI Bank was accused for v i o l a t i n g R B I guidelines/directives relating to opening of deposit accounts, which led to a fictitious accounts being opened by fraudsters at the bank's Patna branch.

dealings in securities in Hong Kong, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in a written reply. Besides ICICI Bank, some other banks including Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank, HSBC Bank and Centurion Bank of

Punjab Ltd were issued letters of displeasure by the RBI for violating FEMA guidelines or with regard to opening of deposit accounts, the minister said. In another written reply, he said RBI performs various functions which, interalia, include monetary management of the country, management of foreign exchange and domestic debt of the government, regulation and supervision of banks, financial institutions and non-banking finance companies. These functions are derived from the provisions of various statutes such as the RBI Act, 1934, The Indian Coinage Act, 1906, The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and others.

Shriram Transport to raise Rs 500 cr through a debt programme Chennai: Shriram Transport Finance Company ion Thursday said it would raise Rs 500 crore through a debt programme with option to raise an identical amount if demand for its Non Convertible Debentures was overwhelming. The company has filed the prospectus for the debt programme with the Registrar of Companies. The NCD issue, with yield on redemption of up to 11.50 per cent (per annum), opens on July 27 and would close on August 14 with an option to close earlier or on such dates as

may be decided, by the board of directors of the company, subject to necessary approvals, the company said in a release. STFC intends to use the funds raised through the issuance of NCDs for various financing activities including lending. E N A M Securities Pvt Ltd, A K Capital Services, ICICI Securities and Kotak Mahindra Capital Company have been appointed as the lead managers to the issue, while Integrated

Enterprises (India) will be.acting as the Registrar to the.issue, it said. STFC is a part of the Shriram conglomerate which has significant presence in financial services viz., commercial vehicle financing business, consumer finance, life and general insurance, stock broking, chit funds and distribution of financial products such as life and general insurance products and units of mutual funds.

RBI likely to keep interest rates unchanged: Moody's New Delhi: The Reserve Bank is likely to keep interest rates unchanged in its quarterly monetary policy as there is little pressure on the central bank to further take liquidity easing measures, according to Moody's. "The Reserve Bank of India is facing l i t t l e — i f any—pressure...March quarter GDP numbers show that India’s economy remained on a solid footing, and subsequent high-frequency data such as industrial production point to a brighter outlook," Moody's economy.com

said in a release. It further said that at the upcoming quarterly meeting on July 28, the apex bank is also likely to keep reserve requirement ratio unchanged. "The current relatively loose monetary policy setting will complement the fiscal stimulus by ensuring sufficient liquidity for expansionary projects that are expected to gather steam later in the year. Monetary policy takes time to filter through to the economy," Moody's

e c o n o m y. c o m , t h e research arm of Moody's, said. It added that as commercial banks had accepted deposits at high fixed rates in the latter half of 2008, they had been reluctant to immediately lower lending rates to mirror the series of official rate cuts. "However, as commercial banks gradually reprice these deposits as their terms expire, lending rates are expected to fall accordingly," it said.

Page 7

Indian Bank's Q1 net profit jumps by 52.40% Chennai: Public sector Indian Bank on Thursday reported a 52.40 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 331.66 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal. The Chennaiheadquartered bank clocked Rs.217,62 crore net profit in the year ago period, its Chairman M S Sundara Rajan told reporters here announcing the Q1 financial highlights. Total income of the bank rose to Rs 2,230.39 crore from Rs 1,744.99 crore reported in the corresponding period a year ago, he said. The bank a c h i e v e d a n N PA recovery of Rs 219 crore, up from Rs 114 crore during the corresponding

period last year. The Bank's net NPA as on June 30 last was Rs 205.89 crore, 0.40 per cent of net advances. The increase in net NPA from 0.17 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year was due to the implementation of RBI guidelines regarding floating provision held, he said. The retail advances grew from Rs 8,258 crore in June 2008 to Rs 10,004 crore in this quarter, a growth of 21.14 per cent year-on-year basis. The retail advances accounted for 19.24 per cent of the total advances of the bank at the end of June, 2009. Sundara Rajan said the bank disbursed Rs 1,113.50 crore as

agriculture advances during the first quarter, benefitting 2.52 lakh farmers. The outstanding in the sector stood at Rs 7,994 crore as on June 30 against Rs 7,838 crore as of March 31, 2009'. During the quarter, the bank disbursed a sum of Rs 143.76 crore as educational loans to 26,501 students, he said. The bank had 767 ATMs, including, 211 offsite ones, at the end of the first quarter. The net worth of the bank increased to Rs 6,211.95 crore from Rs 4,933.69 crore in the corresponding period last year, a growth of 25.91 per cent year-on-year basis. The (annualised) earnings per share had improved to Rs 29.76 from Rs 19.30, he added.

CII forms task force Puducherry : The southern region of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has formed a task force to help companies and industries to protect their intellectual property rights and from data theft,

fraud and cyber crimes. Speaking at a special session of CII yesterday, Chairman of Puducherry chapter of the CII T Rajarajan said former Karnataka DGP R Sri Kumar would be the Chairman of the task

force. Industries should develop technology to support government in addressing security related issues, a CII release said here on Friday.

Bharat Forge June quarter net dips 96 pc Mumbai : Auto component maker Bharat Forge on Friday reported 96.38 per cent decline in its net profit at Rs 96 lakh for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, over the same period last year. The company had a net profit of Rs 26.56 crore in the same

period last year, the auto component maker said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. " T h e automotive industry in India has started showing early signs of recovery which is likely to strengthen in the coming quarters while the volumes in the US and

European markets are starting to stabilise at lower levels," Bharat Forge CMD B N Kalyani said. Total net sales declined to Rs 358.64 crore in the latest quarter, against Rs 637.36 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

Indian retail sector to touch USD521 bn by 2012 New Delhi: Apparel and FMCG segments will be the driving forces for the Indian retail sector, which is likely to grow annually by nine per cent to touch USD 521 billion by 2012, a senior retail industry official said. "FMCG and apparel sectors contribute the maximum to the growth of the retail market in India," Bharti Retail President and COO Vinod Sawhny said during a FICCI event. "FMCG in particular has a huge potential to grow... and this will ensure a growth rate of nine per cent yearon-year for the retail

sector, which is likely to touch USD 521 billion by 2012," Sawhny added. He said the Indian retail market is estimated to be around USD 350 billion, of which modern retail or the organised segment has only four per cent share. "Modern retail will grow much faster, at the rate of 30-35 per cent a n n u a l l y, t h a n t h e traditional one in the coming years and will be at the size of USD 54 billion in the next three years," he said. Sawhny said the growth can be attributed to the evolving consumer behaviour,

changing market dynamics as well as to easier access to capital by both the retailers and consumers. "India has one of the largest retail industries in the world and is the second biggest employer in the country. In the coming years, developing countries like China and India will be attractive for global players," he said.

Read Times Chennai E-Paper Today and every day

Page 8

Times Chennai E-Paper

Business

India's exports likely to remain same: Scindia Mumbai: India's exports are likely to remain same at the last year's level of USD 168 billion owing to global slowdown. "We will try to achieve last year's export turnover of USD 168 billion in the current fiscal," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya Scindia said here on the sidelines of Chemxcil's award giving ceremony here. Chemxcil is an export promotion council set up by the Ministry of

Commerce & Industry for c h e m i c a l s , pharmaceuticals and cosmetics sectors. The Government had fixed the target for USD 200 billion of exports for the current fiscal while announcing the interim trade policy in February. S c i n d i a , h o w e v e r, r e c e n t l y informed the Rajya Sabha that the target was "unlikely to be achieved" due to continuing global financial crisis and

economic slowdown. Certain sectors of exports like, gems & jewellery and chemical were showing signs of improvement in the export markets, but overall things were not bullish. "Our exports fell by 33-34 per cent last fiscal. However, there were some improvement in the last month, where exports were down by 28 per cent over the corresponding month last fiscal," he said.

Supreme Court allows Daiichi Sankyo open offer for Zenotech New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Japanese pharma firm Daiichi Sankyo to go ahead with the public offer for an additional 20 percent stake in Zenotech Laboratories. A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan stayed the Madras High Court interim court that granted an interim injunction in

connection with the offer. Earlier in February, Daiichi Sankyo had announced it would launch an open offer for Zenotech to acquire 68.85 lakh shares or a 20 percent stake. Daiichi had said it would pay up to Rs 78.23 crore, at Rs 113.62 a share, to Zenotech shareholders for the

stake in the open offer, which was scheduled to begin on July 15 and close on August 3. However, the offer ran into controversy as the pharma firm complained to SEBI against Daiichi for allegedly not honouring a commitment to make the offer at Rs 160 per share.

CLB prevents Harsh Lodha from chairing Birla Corp AGM Kolkata: The Company Law Board (CLB), in an i n t e r i m o r d e r, h a s prevented Harsh Lodha from chairing the upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) of Birla Corporation Ltd scheduled for July 27. On a petition filed by Rameshwara Jute Mill, presiding officer of principal bench of CLB, S Balasubramanian yesterday directed that in case a vote was taken on

any item on the agenda during the AGM, the results shall not be announced. The presiding officer ordered that shareholders were free to elect anyone as the chairman except Harsh Lodha to conduct the proceedings of the meeting. Harsh Lodha today moved the Calcutta High Court

challenging the order. However, as Justice Nadira Patherya refused to hear the matter on personal grounds, the matter is likely to be moved before a different bench of the court tomorrow. Harsh has been chairing the board meetings of Birla Corporation since the death of his father R S Lodha in October 2008.

Posco withdraws suit against SAIL New Delhi: Posco E&C, part of South Korean steel giant Posco, on Friday withdrew its suit in the Delhi High Court against staterun SAIL for terminating a Rs 2,000-crore order. During the proceedings, the counsel appearing for Posco E&C informed the Court that the company is withdrawing its writ petition filed against SAIL and the Bhilai Steel Plant on Wednesday. Admitting the request, a Division Bench comprising Justice B D Ahmad and Justice Veena Birbal allowed the South Korean firm to withdraw its petition. T h e C o u r t

granted Posco E&C the option of approaching a civil court or take any other course available to it. During the last hearing, the Court had asked the foreign firm to submit its views by today -- whether it is going to participate in the retendering process initiated by SAIL for constructing the blast furnace at the Bhilai Steel Plant.

The South Korean firm had moved the Delhi High Court against SAIL alleging an " i l l e g a l a n d discriminatory" termination of an order by the Bhilai Steel plant of the PSU for constructing a blast furnace, despite it being the lowest bidder. The Division Bench had suggested Posco participate in the retendering process initiated by SAIL.

To advertise in this paper mail to:

[email protected]

July 24, 2009

Air India awaits Boeing Dreamliner's takeoff Washington: Boeing Co has reported better-thanexpected second-quarter results but failed to answer when will its troubled 787 Dreamliner, 27 of which have been ordered by Air India, fly for the first time. Boeing has determined how to fix a 787 wing-body problem, discovered in late May, but it still doesn't know h o w l o n g t h e modifications will take, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney cited by the Wall Street Journal. Problems on the Dreamliner, which was Boeing's hottestselling commercial aircraft ever, already have pushed the first deliveries of the plane back nearly two years and cost the company millions of dollars in p e n a l t i e s a n d concessions to customers.

During its earnings conference call, analysts pressed McNerney and Chief Financial Officer James Bell for additional details on the programme's timetable and the cost impact on the programme and the company at large, the Journal reported. "The delays are obviously putting pressure on the p r o g r a m m e ' s profitability," said Bell. So far, the company has indicated the programme has been profitable, though analysts are looking for signs that Boeing could take a charge in the coming quarters once it updates cost estimates, the leading US financial daily said. The company left intact its projection for 2009 earnings to come in at USD 4.70 to USD 5 a share but said that could

change based on an updated analysis of the 787's costs. Many airlines have planned their business models around the 787, which promises fuel-efficiency and maintenance-cost savings. The lack of a firm delivery timetable has thrown off their ability to plan everything from future routes to when they retire aging aircraft. For the second quarter, Boeing reported net income of USD 998 million, or USD 1.41 a share, up 17 percent from USD 852 million, or USD 1.16 a share, a year earlier. That beat analysts' expectations of USD 1.21 a share. The prior-year results included 22 cents a share in charges. Revenue was up 1.1 percent to USD 17.15 billion. Revenue at the company's Integrated Defence Systems Unit rose 9 percent to USD 8.7 billion.

July 24, 2009

Times Chennai E-Paper

Sports

New Zealand retains players despite IPL lure Christchurch : Six Kiwi players, including skipper Daniel Vettori, have chosen the national team ahead of the Indian Premier League and signed their new contracts for the next season despite a clash between a home series and IPL commitments. Vettori, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor were allowed the extra time to confirm their NZC contracts and all 20 players have now signed the national deals, New Zealand Cricket Board said. The third edition of the cash-awash IPL,

which was pre-poned to accommodate the Twenty20 World Cup, begins in March next year and will overlap with the Australia's tour of New Zealand. "This is an admirable decision by each of these individuals and they should be applauded for it," NZC Chief Executive Justin Vaughan was quoted as saying by 'Cricinfo'. "By signing their contracts they are sacrificing significant sums of money. Their decision helps to reinforce international cricket as the pinnacle of

our sport, and clearly shows that representing New Zealand remains the biggest motivating factor for our leading players. V a u g h a n agreed it was a diffcult decision to make and urged for a quick solution to the problem. "We appreciate this issue may recur again and the onus is on international cricket to pro-actively search for solutions so that players are not forced to make such difficult decisions in the future," he added.

Cricket is resilient, strong and still developing: Lorgat London : Cricket has emerged stronger and more diverse than ever before as it coped with "substantial challenges" over the century by gone, observes the International Cricket Council. The ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said when the two-day ICC History Conference looked back at the past 100 years of the game as part of its centenary year celebrations, it was clear that the sport was "resilient, strong and still

developing". "Exploring the history of the ICC and cricket over the past 100 years has been a fascinating and educational experience. What I believe it has shown us is that cricket is resilient, strong and still developing," Lorgat said at the end of the conference. " T h e conference showed that our great sport has faced challenges and some of those challenges have

been substantial. However, it also showed that cricket has always coped with those challenges and has adapted to the extent that it is now stronger and more diverse than ever before," he said. "We have three formats, the ICC has more members than ever before – 104 of them – and within those members there are more people playing the game than at any time in our history," he added.

Page 9

Windies will bounce back in ODI series: Dyson Dominica: Though his side lost the Test series to minnows Bangladesh, West Indies coach John Dyson feels that West Indies have enough strength to win the upcoming three-match ODI series against the sub-continent side. "This is a totally different game now," Dyson said. "We`re playing 50-over cricket, not five-day cricket. The two Test matches were closely fought, it wasn`t a case where we were thrashed in either of the matches. We could have won both so I don`t think there`s much in it."

Ta l k i n g t o reporters yesterday, Dawaram said that athletes who have crossed 35 years would be eligible to participate in the meet, consisting of long jump, high jump,

shot put, javelin throw and discus throw. He said 12 athletes from Tamil Nadu would participate in the World Masters Athletic Meet this year.

Dalmiya set for another term as CAB chief Kolkata: Jagmohan Dalmiya is set for yet another innings at the helm of Cricket Association of

Bengal as there was nobody, including former India captain Sourav Ganguly, to challenge the former BCCI president on the last day of filing CAB

nominations here today. G a n g u l y apparently gave Dalmiya a walkover after failing to manage the required numbers. There was no challenge for Dalmiya camp`s t w o j o i n t secretaries -- Arun Mitra and Biswarup Dey -- and treasurer Subir Ganguly either. The only challenge came from Howrah district`s Abhijit Dutta who filed his paper against the four sitting Vice Presidents -- Samar Kar, Shiv Kumar Kalyani, Arijit Datta and Timir Ghosh. Thus the CAB

annual general body meeting of July 31 will be a drab affair with Dalmiya retaining his grip over the association. Asked for his reaction, Dalmiya said it was premature to comment. "It`s not yet official. Unless it is officially declared, I would not like to comment on it," Dalmiya said. The 78th CAB AGM turned even more significant when former India captain Sourav Ganguly expressed his desire to step into cricket administration and it snowballed into speculation that he was eyeing the BCCI President`s post in 2014.

Tuesday, and Dyson hoped the pitches would invalidate the Bangladesh spinners and help the West Indian pacemen. "I`m looking forward to the one-dayers. What I`d like to see is a hard, pacy, bouncy wicket," Dyson said. T h o u g h Bangladesh’s series win came on the back of superb performance from their spinners led by skipper Shakib Al Hasan, West Indian pacers, especially Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy bowled their heartout in the series. Roach in his debut series became the highest wicket-taker with 13 wickets.

Prior boost for Sussex ahead of Lord's final London: England wicketkeeper Matt Prior hopes the feelgood factor from his Ashes triumph over Australia will help Sussex in Saturday`s Friends Provident Trophy final against Hampshire. While Andrew

Nagapattinam to host state masters athletic meet Porayar: The Tamil Nadu Masters Athletic meet will be held at Nagapattinam from August 28 to 30, President of Tamil Nadu Masters Athletic Association (TNMAA) WI Dawaram has said.

He praised his inexperienced players who played for West Indies in the Test series after the regular players boycotted the series over the pay dispute with the board. "For guys who had little experience in international cricket to come forward like that and play as well as they did, I think they did pretty well," Dyson said. "They`ve played some good cricket so far, unfortunately we weren`t able to get across the line and win the Tests." The first two ODIs will be played in Dominica on Sunday and

Flintoff took the headlines after bowling England to victory over the Australians in the second Ashes Test at Lord`s earlier this week, Prior quietly had one of his most influential games for his country. The 27-year-old Even though Ganguly stayed away from this year`s election, he will be attending the A G M t h r o u g h Mohammedan Sporting and the Working Committee meeting through Bhukailash Sporting Club. The Dalmiya camp has already decided to retain the same panel for another terms. Earlier, it was also speculated that heavyweight candidates like former speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Union Minister Sultam Ahmed might throw a challenge to Dalmiya but eventually Dalmiya had the last laugh today.

highlighted his class with a quick-fire 61, off just 42 balls, in the 115-run victory, so it is hardly surprisingly that Sussex captain Michael Yardy is relieved his wicketkeeper has been given clearance to feature in English county cricket`s showpiece one-day m a t c h ahead of n e x t week`s third Ashes Te s t a t Edgbaston . "Havin g Matt available makes a big difference to us," Yardy said. "This is a guy that has played for Sussex since he was 12; he is Sussex through and through, cares deeply about the club, and someone we welcome back with open arms." "When you look at him now - he`s always been a very talented striker of the ball - he could play for England as a batter." "He looks in such control. His innings against Australia at Lord`s was so clinical and precise." "To score 60 off 40 balls in a Test match, without any change to your normal game, is incredible." Sussex have used both Andrew Hodd and Ben Brown behind the stumps during a successful season in limited-overs cricket. But Prior`s inclusion will further enhance a side

rich in runs in the latter stages of the tournament. Meanwhile, Hampshire`s Dominic Cork admits his enthusiasm for cricket burns as brightly as ever at the age of 37. The former England all-rounder was released by Lancashire at the end of last season but was offered a two-year deal by the Hawks and has played a major part in them reaching their third Friends Provident final in five years. Cork has taken 17 wickets in nine matches in the competition and would have gained immense satisfaction in helping Hampshire win the semifinal against his former county at Old Trafford. Now he is looking to use his experience to help Hampshire`s crop of promising players such as Jimmy Adams, Michael Lumb, Michael Carberry and Sean Ervine to go on and achieve even greater success. Cork said: "I came to Lancashire and went to Lord`s. I was at Derby and went to Lord`s. Now in my first year at Hampshire, we`ve got a Lord`s final." "I came out on the wrong end against Sussex with Lancashire in the 2006 final and I am looking forward to going back with Hampshire and winning it." "There is a lot of rivalry, probably similar to Yorkshire and Lancashire rivalry, between two South Coast clubs." "We play hard cricket and we`ve played each other a few times this season and it`s been basically honours even."

Page 10

Times Chennai E-Paper

July 24, 2009