CHENNAITemperature: 270CPrecipitation: 10%Humidity: 74%Wind: 9 Km/hr

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Prime Minister Narendra

Modi on Tuesday made apublic appeal to not pollutethe Ganga river while callingfor a "time-bound, swiftaction and single-mindedfocus to ensure it is made pol-lution-free".

Presiding over a high-levelmeet on the "NamaamiGange" project, attended byunion ministers M VenkaiahNaidu, Nitin Gadkari, UmaBharati and PrakashJavadekar, besides top gov-ernment officials, Modi madea public appeal saying:"Ganga ko ganda na karein(don`t pollute Ganga)".

Modi said the `NamaamiGange` vision should focus

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BENGALURU, JAN 06DMK general secre-

tary K. Anbazhagan onTuesday filed a petitionbefore a special benchof the Karnataka HighCourt, seeking removalof Special PublicProsecutor BhavaniSingh from the hearingon an appeal filed byAIADMK general sec-retary Jayalalithaa chal-lenging her convictionin the disproportionateassets case.

As soon as the court

began its second day ofthe day-to-day hearing,Mr. Anbazhagan’scounsel sought removalof Mr. Singh from pre-senting arguments as healleged that the SPP was“sailing” with theaccused and not pre-senting the facts proper-ly.

“I plead before thecourt to take a step inreplacing the SPP withsome other prosecutorbecause he has not beenpresenting the facts

relating to the caseproperly and is ’sailing’with the accused (in thiscase Jayalalithaa andher aides),” Mr.Anbazhagan’s counselsubmitted before JusticeC.R. Kumraswamy inBengaluru.

On Monday, JusticeKumaraswamy haddirected Mr. Singh tofile a counter in the nexttwo days to the petitionfiled by Mr.Anbazhagan who

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HAQSAADDAFIGHT FOR RIGHTWednesday, January 07, 2015

AAP begins country-wide protestsagainst land ordinance

Samsung Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5 Metal-Clad Smartphones Launched in India

Akon releasing first album inseven years

JAMMU, JAN 06Defying India's tough stands,

Pakistan Rangers resorted toheavy mortar shelling and fir-ing on Border Security Force(BSF) posts in Jammu'sHiranagar sector along theInternational Border (IB) onTuesday.

The fresh round of shellingcomes a day after Pak troopsviolated ceasefire by targetingborder posts in Kathua andSamba sectors killing oneArmy jawan, drawing retalia-tion from the BSF.

According to reports, soonafter today's fresh ceasefireviolation, BSF troops retaliatedto Pakistani firing. However,there was no loss of life orinjury to anyone. There was nofiring by Pakistan Rangersfrom night of January 3 tillJanuary 4 evening.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Pak troops open fire in Jammu's Hiranagar,target five Indian posts along IB

P8

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Banking sector unions on

Tuesday decided to defer theirall India strike on January 7,2015 with the Indian Banks’Association upping its hikeoffer by 1.5 per cent to 12.5per cent, said a union official.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Bank strike deferred,talks tomorrow

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Family members of Pallavi

Grover, a nursing student atAll India Institute of MedicalSciences, who allegedly com-mitted suicide at her hostellast month have approachedthe court to get a case regis-tered against the collegeauthorities.

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AIIMS nursing student suicidecase: family approach court

NEW DELHI, JAN 06The Director General of

National InvestigationAgency (NIA), SharadKumar, is scheduled to reachGuwahati on Tuesday to mon-itor the progress of the inves-tigations into the cases relatedto the recent Assam massacre.The NIA is presently

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NIA chief to reach Guwahati tomonitor Assam massacre probe

Vol. 1 Issue: 111 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Human Resources Development

Minister Smriti Irani said onTuesday that vocational tradesshould not be underprivileged vis-à-vis regular academic courses.

“A plumber, electrician ormechanic should have nothing to beashamed of. I feel proud that 15years ago I washed utensils in ahotel in Mumbai,” she said while

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Proud that I washed dishes,says Smriti Irani

NEW DELHI, JAN 06"Existing laws regarding conver-

sion are sufficient," Union ministerRam Vilas Paswan on Tuesdaysaid even as BJP has been pushingfor an anti-conversion bill in thewake of controversies triggered bysome Hindutva groups.

Paswan, national president ofkey NDA ally LJP, at the sametime made a strong defence of the government over

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Existing laws regarding conversionare sufficient: Ram Vilas Paswan

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Launching a scathing attack on

Congress on ‘terror boat’ issue,Bharatiya Janata Party presidentAmit Shah here on Tuesday saidthe grand-old party was confusedwhether it wants to fight election inIndia or in Pakistan. “The BJP gov-ernment-led intelligence agencies

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Amit Shah takes onCongress

JAMSHEDPUR, JAN 06Two suspected ultras were

shot dead by the activists ofCPI (Maoists) allegedly overa dispute regarding sharing oflevy at Kadamdiha in naxal-hit West Singhbhum districton Tuesday, police said. Thevictims have been identifiedas Surendra Surin alias Dela

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Two suspected ultras shotdead by CPI-M activists

NEW YORK, JAN 06An employee of Morgan

Stanley stole information of900 clients, including theirnames and account numbers,and posted them on the inter-net for a short while, accord-ing to the global financialservices company.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Morgan Stanley employ-ee posts clients infor-mation online

CAPE CANAVERAL, JAN 06SpaceX has called off its

flight to the InternationalSpace Station. The unmannedFalcon rocket was supposedto blast off before sunrise onTuesday. But the countdownwas halted with just oneminute remaining. The soon-est SpaceX can try again is

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

SpaceX calls off launchto space station

P6P2

Suspicious vessel: Give us Rs. 10lakh, Pak. crew told handlers

MUMBAI, JAN 06Intercepts by the

National TechnicalResearch Organisation(NTRO) show that thecrew of the suspiciousPakistani boat were negoti-ating the monetary termsof the mission they were toundertake.

Members of the crewwere heard talking to their‘handlers’ in Karachi, dis-cussing a ‘certain transac-tion,’ a senior Defenceofficial said.

“Chaar lakh nahi, isskeliye 10 lakh chahiye(Not Rs. 4 lakhs, we wantRs. 10 lakhs for this opera-tion)” one of the crewmembers was heard say-ing. The agency suspects

this could either be a codeor a demand made by thecrew for ferrying the ‘illic-it cargo.’

Subsequently, after theintercept, a second boat

was seen approaching thefirst one, which was seen‘disembarking some suspi-cious objects’ and it laterchanged its course towards

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been

directed by a Delhi court to respond to thebail plea filed by businessman GautamKhaitan, the lone accused arrested in con-nection with a money laundering case relat-ed to Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.

Special CBI Judge VK Gupta will tomor-row hear arguments on the bail plea.

Khaitan was earlier refused bail by thecourt which had taken cognisance of ED'scharge sheet filed in the case against fiveaccused, including two Italian nationals,Gerosa Carlo Valentino Ferdinand andHaschke Guido Ralph.

Besides them, ED has also namedGautam Khaitan's wife Ritu Khaitan and

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NEW DELHI, JAN 06National passenger carrier

Air India on Tuesday said itis on a recruitment overdriveto fill on-board manpowervacancies that have affectedsome of its internationalflights lately.

According to a senior AirIndia official, the recruit-ment drive which has beengoing on for some time isexpected to overcome theon-board manpower short-age.

Lately, some of the air-line’s flights to the US got

delayed, leaving manyangry passengers. Somepassengers of a delayedNew Delhi-New York flighteven created a ruckusrecently at the Indira GandhiInternational Airport (IGIA)in Delhi.

“We have been carryingout walk-in interviews andrecruitment has also beencarried out from the indus-try. These recruitments arebeing carried out for variouscabin crew posts,” the air-line official said.

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

NEW DELHI, JAN 06The Supreme Court on

Tuesday declined an urgenthearing of petitions challeng-ing National JudicialAppointments Commission.

A three-judge bench led byCJI H.L. Dattu refused anoral plea made by one of thethree petitioners for an out-of-turn audience. The requestwas made by senior advocateBhim Singh during the morn-ing's mentioning slot beforethe bench.

Mr. Singh's petition callsthe NJAC a "minority com-mission" and terms the selec-tion process envisaged in thestatute as "undemocratic".

The other two petitions areby the SC Advicates on

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MUMBAI, JAN 06In its worst ever crash

in over six years, bench-mark Sensex onTuesday tanked 855points as stock marketsglobally went into a tail-spin amid political tur-moil in Greece and oilprice cracking below$50-mark.

The NSE’s Nifty alsotanked 251 points, or 3per cent, on massiveselling across sectors.Oil and gas, realty,metal, capital goodswere among the worsthit. Power, consumerdurables, banking sharesalso witnessed sharpselling.

The 30-share BSEindex resumed the day

sharply lower in linewith weak global cuesand remained under sell-ing pressure throughoutthe day. It fell below the27,000-mark as it ended

with a loss of 854.86points, or 3.07 per cent,at 26,987.46.

After falling below the8,200-mark, the Nifty

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Sensex slips on oil, Greecewoes; tanks 855 points

SC refuses urgenthearing of pleachallenging NJAC

VVIP chopper deal: Courtseeks ED's response onKhaitan's bail plea

Recruitments on to cutdown delays: Air India

Don't pollute Ganga, says Narendra Modi

Jayalalithaa appeal: DMK leaderAnbazhagan seeks removal of SPP

Weather ReportDELHITemperature: 180CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity:48%Wind: 18 Km/hr

KOLKATATemperature: 240CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity: 58% Wind:14 Km/hr

MUMBAITemperature: 340CPrecipitation: 0%Humidity:74%Wind: 10 Km/hr

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Former Punjab CM Beant

Singh's assassin Jagtar Singh'Tara' was arrested in Thailandon Monday.

Tara was nabbed by Thaiauthorities on a tip-off abouthis movements by the PunjabPolice. As per reports, he wasarrested from the house of aman who was sheltering Tara atthe behest of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

Ten years after he escaped fromjail, Beant Singh's assassin JagtarSingh 'Tara' arrested in Thailand

Pak Rangers not accept-ing protest notes overceasefire: BSFJAMMU, JAN 06

The Border Security Forceon Tuesday said Pakistanitroops were not acceptingprotest notes from India overceasefire violations and thatthere was "no communication"between the two sides.

"We want to restore normal-cy along the border but we areforced to retaliate becausePakistan Rangers resort to fir-ing on us," Director General ofBSF, D K Pathak said.

"Pakistan Rangers are notaccepting protest notes overceasefire violations. There isno communication between the

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

JAMMU, JAN 06Notwithstanding retaliation

by India, Pakistani troops con-tinued to violate ceasefirealong the International Borderin Jammu and Kashmir past

Monday midnight.As per sources, heavy

overnight shelling was report-ed from various places alongthe International Border in

CONTD. ON PAGE 3

10,000 abandon homes as shelling con-tinues from across the border in J&K

NEW DELHI, JAN 06The Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) on Tuesday said thearrest of former Punjab chiefminister Beant Singh's assassinJagtar Singh Tara in Thailand

clearly indicates that thoseinvolved in terrorist activitiescannot get off scot-free.

"The least I can say is thatthis has shown that anybody

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Beant Singh assassin's arrestshows law catches up with all: BJP

NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015Delhi News2 SAADDA HAQ

NEW DELHI, JAN 06The Aam Admi Party

(AAP) continued with pub-lic meetings against theordinance amending theRight to FairCompensation andTransparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitationand Resettlement (LARR)Act 2013 all over the coun-try. The party's State unitssubmitted memorandum toDistrict Collectors with let-ters addressed to the PrimeMinister opposing the ordi-nance's provisions in morethan 200 districts all overthe country, said partyleaders.

On January 4, AAPleader Arvind Kejriwal hadheld a “Village Dialogue”in Chhatarpur in Delhi say-ing 20 to 25 lakh people inDelhi's rural areas wouldbe affected adversely bythe ordinance. Similarmeetings were held inHaryana, Rajasthan, Goa,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,Kerala, Telangana,Madhya Pradesh onJanuary 5, and more meet-ings are scheduled inPunjab on January 7 and

later in the week in AndhraPradesh.

“We submitted memo-randum to DistrictCollectors in seven dis-tricts including Panchkula,Yamuna Nagar, Sonepat,Kurukshetra. We have con-stituted village teams todiscuss the ordinance withfarmers. BJP has left farm-ers' rights in a perpetualstate of Emergency andwill allow land to beacquired for even golfcourses, private schools

with this ordinance,” saidParamjeet Katyal, secre-

tary, AAP Haryana.In Madhya Pradesh,

meetings were held in 35of 51 districts and over 100party cadre were detainedby the police in Khanwadistrict, said AlokAggarwal, AAP convenorin MP. “The ordinancedilutes the retrospectiveclause which said that landwill go back to the landowner if compensation hasnot been paid or acquisi-

tion is not complete evenafter five years. In Andhra,200 Special EconomicZones (SEZs) have beennotified since 2007 andthousands of acres of landhave been allotted but nowork has happened on itand these have become pri-vate land banks,” saidKiran Vissa, AAP Statecommittee member inAndhra Pradesh. “A dayafter the ordinance, theTelugu Desam Party noti-fied over 7,000 sq km asCapital Region, most ofwhich lies in the KrishnaDelta which is fertile andirrigated land. The 2013Act had said that irrigatedland will be acquired onlyas demonstrable last resort,but the ordinance has dilut-ed this too,” he added.

“Ëvery positive featureof the original Act (whichwas passed with BJP'sactive support) has beenannulled. This Ordinancemust be opposed by allthose who respect democ-racy and who care for thefarmers,” noted AAPleader Yogendra Yadav.

“Finance Minister Arun

Jaitley addressed live onmedia stating that the high-er compensation to farmersafter the changes in LandAcquisition Act will con-tinue and the interest offarmers have been takencare of. However StateGovernment of Haryanaheaded by BJP has illegallychanged the 'MultiplicationFactor for Rural Areasfrom 2 to 1 on 4-Dec-2014” thereby ensuringthat the farmers of ruralareas get a minimum of50% less compensation,”noted the party in its state-ment.

The ordinance exemptedland acquisition for indus-trial corridors, defenceincluding preparation andproduction, rural infra-structure, affordable hous-ing, infrastructure andsocial infrastructure,including private healthand educational institu-tions, from requirements ofconsent clause and SocialImpact Assessment inwhich an expert groupwould check if land wasreally being acquired for apublic purpose.

AAP begins country-wide protests against land ordinance

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Nearly 1.6 lakh voters

have been added to theelectoral rolls in just overtwo months with the DelhiElection Office releasingthe final electoral roll sta-tus on Monday. While thedraft roll that was pub-lished on October 15 lastyear pegged the total elec-tors at 1.29 crore, the spe-cial summary revisionsthat took place subsequent-ly has resulted in theincrease in the number ofelectors through freshenrolment and making cor-rections to the rolls.

As per the final rolls, thetotal electors in Delhi are1,30,85,251 and the elec-tor-population (EP) ratio is

70.02 per cent. The EPratio in 35 Assembly con-stituencies is more than theState average and in theremaining it is less than theaverage. “Jangpura is theconstituency with the high-est EP ratio at 83.89 percent while New Delhi hasthe lowest at 47.45 percent,” said Delhi ChiefElectoral Officer ChandraBhushan Kumar.

The summary revisionshave also revealed multipleentries of voters and dupli-cation of images. Mr.Kumar said his office hassent notices to 50,000 vot-ers whose names appearmultiple times in the rolls.Multiple entries are identi-fied through a de-duplica-

tion software which is thenfollowed up by field verifi-cation,” he said.

The Delhi ElectionOffice has been able toidentify 89,156 multipleentries and 1,20,605 imageduplication in the rolls.“Last month, the ElectionCommission of Indiaallowed suo motu deletionof entries after followingthe due process,” he added.

Mr. Kumar said he is tak-ing into consideration thecomplaint made by a polit-ical party on bogus voters.Further, the Delhi Electionoffice is also looking into“critical vulnerability map-ping” especially the recent-ly riot hit areas of theCapital.

Nearly 1.6 lakh new voters in Delhi

NEW DELHI, JAN 06The ban on app-based taxi

services will continue and vehi-cles violating it will be seized,the city government on Tuesdaysubmitted in the Delhi HighCourt here while Uber IndiaSystems Pvt Ltd withdrew itsplea against the December orderstopping its operations.

The Delhi governmentinformed Justice Rajiv Shakdherthat as per its fresh order onJanuary 1, 2015 both Ola andUber cabs have been banned andany vehicle found operatingdespite the ban was being seizedafter Uber claimed that Ola cabswere still available.

The government said it hadpassed the order on a representa-tion filed by Uber pursuant to theHigh Court’s order of December24 when it had asked the cabcompany to approach the trans-

port department.The US-based cab operating

service, which works through a

mobile app had challenged theDecember 8 order of the citygovernment banning Uber and 20

other such companies, includingOla Cabs, from operating inDelhi following the rape of a 27-year-old woman executive onDecember 5 night by a driver ofUber taxi.

Senior advocate Rajiv Nayar,who appeared for the cab compa-ny, however, on Tuesday con-tended that while Uber was com-plying, Ola was still operating inthe national capital.

“They are available despite theban. Their cars are available inthe vicinity of high court rightnow. Why am I the only onebeing discriminated against?” heargued.

Taking note of his contention,the court questioned the transportdepartment, “How are they oper-ating? “You have to take action.”

In response, the DeputyCommissioner of TransportDepartment, who was present in

court, submitted that they are tak-ing action by seizing all vehicleswhich are operating despite theban.

In its January 1 order on Uber’srepresentation, the government’stransport department had heldthat the app-based cab provider isneither an aggregator nor anintermediary as it claims andthese are only “efforts to mask itsactivities.”

The department contended thatsince Uber collects money andoperates a fleet of cabs, it is notan aggregator or intermediaryand there is “no need to reviewthe ban imposed“.

The January 1 order had alsosaid that since Uber operatesdiesel/petrol run vehicles, it isviolating the Supreme Courtdirection that the All IndiaTourist Permit cabs in Delhishould run on CNG.

Uber claims Ola cabs still operating in Delhi, knocks High Court doors

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Promising in-situ reha-

bilitation, access to water,sanitation and PDS facili-ties, state BJP on Mondaysought to woo votersresiding in jhuggi-jhopriand slums here, ahead ofthe Delhi polls, even as itaccused the Congress andAAP of indulging in"smear campaign" againstit.

In a five-point agenda,BJP Delhi unit chiefSatish Upadhayay andsenior party leader VijayGoel outlined the plans,which they said was inline with Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's vision toprovide housing to allsuch dwellers by2022.

"If voted to power, we

promise to build housesfor jugghi-jhopri dwellersat the site only. We willnot throw out anybodyfrom the houses, but withbuilders we will rehabili-tate them at the site oftheir bastis only,"Upadhyay told reporters atthe state party headquar-ters here.

He said that the partyguided by the slogan of'Bhajpa ka hay ailan, jehanjhuggi wahin makan', willtry to provide health, sani-tation, education and otherfacilities on the lines ofthose made in Mumbaislums.

"We will develop skill-development centres andefforts would also bemade to wean youth awayfrom drug addiction,

which is prevalent amongpeople living in suchareas," he said.

Goyal alleged thatCongress and AAP wereresorting to smear cam-paign against BJP aboutits work in such areas to"give a wrong signal tovoters there".

"When we say we willbuild houses for them thenand there, AAP scaresaway people telling themthat BJP is going to dis-mantle their houses," healleged.

Goyal said that with 642JJ colonies in the cityhousing 25-30 lakh peo-ple, the BJP also wants toprovide them with rationcards to avail the publicdistribution system,among other facilities.

BJP woos JJ colony voters; accusesCongress, AAP of smear campaign

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Nearly a year after Sunanda

Pushkar, wife of former UnionMinister Shashi Tharoor, wasfound dead at a hotel room inChanakyapuri, New Delhi, thepolice have registered a murdercase in connection with the death.

The police also said that if need-ed, Mr. Tharoor could be called forquestioning about the incident,which took place on January 17last year.

Announcing this on Monday,Police Commissioner B.S. Bassisaid that conclusions made in amedical report submitted to themon December 29 confirmed thatPushkar was poisoned.

The report, prepared by theDepartment of Forensic Medicineand Toxicology of the All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences afterstudying the viscera report, contra-dicted the preliminary report,

which concluded that it was causedby “overdose of Alprax.”

The new report, it is learnt, rulesout the presence of Alprax in the

body.Mr. Bassi said they would try to

find whether the poison was fed toPushkar orally or injected into herbody.

“To ascertain the quantity of poi-son we will have to send the sam-ples abroad as it cannot be done inthe country. For sending the vis-cera samples outside India fortests, we are required to register acase which we have. Further, med-ical reports make it amply clearthat it was a case of unnaturaldeath and hence section 302 (mur-der) of Indian Penal Code has beeninvoked,” he said.

Two laboratories where thenature of poison can be ascertainedare in the United Kingdom whileone is in the United States. TheDelhi Police would now have toobtain a letter rogatory to requestthe foreign labs to assist them withthe probe.

Delhi Police register murder case in Sunanda Pushkar's death

NEW DELHI, JAN 06Delhi government may

order a magisterial inquiryinto the incident of a majorfire in which 17 low floorair-conditioned buses ofthe Delhi TransportCorporation (DTC), cost-ing over Rs 10 crore, weregutted.

The incident had takenplace in the wee hours ofJanuary 1 at south Delhi'sAmbedkar Nagar depot ofthe DTC. Transportdepartment may order amagisterial inquiry intothe fire incident in nextcouple of days.

"A magisterial inquirywill be ordered by trans-port commissioner

Gyanesh Bharti in nextone or two days," said asenior DTC official.

After the incident,DTC's Chairman-cum-Managing DirectorDebashree Mukherjee hadappointed a three-memberfact finding committeeheaded by Deputy ChiefGeneral Manager(Mechanical). "Magistratewill probe the incident andDTC's fact finding com-mittee will be submittingits report to him or her,"the official said. The ACbuses gutted in the firewere procured in 2009 at acost of over Rs 60 lakheach around four yearsback.

Govt may order magisterialinquiry into fire at DTC depot

NEW DELHI, JAN 06A Delhi court has dismissed the plea of a

widow seeking interim maintenance fromher father-in -law in a domestic violencecase, saying no law provides that he has tomaintain his daughter-in-law and grandchildren irrespective of the fact whether heearns or not. Metropolitan MagistrateShilpi Jain refused to grant the interimmonetary relief to the woman, who hadsought Rs 35,000 per month as mainte-nance from her father-in-law, while notingthat he was unemployed and could notprovide the same. "In these circumstances,when the father-in-law himself is unem-ployed, no law provides that he has tomaintain his daughter-in-law and grandchildren, irrespective of the fact whetherhe earns or not. "Court cannot tell thefather-in-law/grandfather to beg, borrowor steal but give maintenance to the daugh-ter-in-law, more so when she is almost

equally qualified and almost equally capa-ble of earning and already has widow pen-sion of Rs 1000 per month," the court said.

The court, while rejecting the plea notedthat as per the income affidavits of thecomplainant and father-in-law, the womanhad studied up to class nine and was get-ting a widow pension of Rs 1000 permonth, while her father-in-law was amatriculate and an unemployed senior cit-izen with his wife dependent on him.

"Both the parties are almost equallyqualified and respondent is senior citizenhaving his wife as dependent on him. Onthe other hand petitioner is having Rs 1000per month as widow pension with her," itsaid. The woman had sought interim main-tenance from her father-in-law in a domes-tic violence case filed by her against him,her mother-in-law, and two others allegingthat she was physically and mentally tor-tured by them for dowry.

No law for father-in-law to main-tain daughter-in-law: Delhi Court

NEW DELHI, JAN 06A Delhi court on

Monday took cognisanceof the charge-sheet againstthe driver of app-basedtaxi service provider Uberfor allegedly raping a 27-year-old working womanin his cab. The victim wason her way back homeafter dining with herfriends on December 5night. After taking cogni-sance of the investigationreport, MetropolitanMagistrate Ajay KumarMalik committed the caseto a Sessions court for fur-ther proceedings anddirected both parties toappear before it on January7. “Since the charge-sheethas been filed, copies havebeen supplied to theaccused and the present

matter is exclusively tri-able by the Sessions court,I take cognisance on thecharge-sheet and committhe case to the Sessionscourt for January 7,” Mr.Malik said in his order.

The police had filed thecharge-sheet last monthunder Sections 376 (rape),366 (kidnapping), 506(criminal intimidation) and323 (voluntarily causinghurt) of the Indian PenalCode.

The investigating agencyhas annexed statements of44 witnesses in support ofthe case. They have alsosubmitted a forensic testreport of the material evi-dence to prove the caseagainst 32-year-oldaccused Shiv KumarYadav.

Court accepts charge-sheet in Uber rape case

NEW DELHI, JAN 06A Delhi court has acquitted a van driver

of the charges of negligent driving leadingto the death of a person, saying the policefailed to produce the only eyewitness of theincident. Metropolitan Magistrate ArvindBansal acquitted Delhi resident VisheshPatel, the van driver, in the case after notingthat the injured, Rajesh Jain, who was theonly eyewitness and on whose statementthe prosecution had based its case, couldnot be produced before the court.

"Prosecution case cannot be consideredto be standing on its own legs without thetestimony of injured (Jain) asserting thefacts mentioned in his statement before the

police/IO (investigating officer)," the courtsaid. "Since, the prosecution has complete-ly failed to examine the only material andeyewitness to the alleged commission ofoffence of rash or negligent driving ofaccused and consequent infliction ofinjuries to one and death of another, noth-ing incriminating against the accused couldbe brought on record," it said, while givingPatel the benefit of doubt.

According to the police, on September 1,2007, Patel, while driving a van in a rashand negligent manner hit a motorcycle andcaused grievous hurt to the pillion rider ofthat motorcycle and caused death of itsrider.

Negligent driving: Delhi man acquit-ted as eyewitness fails to appear

Continuation 3

Pak troops...Earlier in the day, Director General of

Border Security Force (BSF) DK Pathak whovisited Jammu to pay tributes to ConstableDevender Singh who was martyred in therecent ceasefire violation in Samba sectorsaid that India will not do anything to disturbpeace along the border in Jammu andKashmir but will retaliate to any aggressionby Pakistan. He further said that intelligencereports indicate that a large number of mili-tants could be waiting to infiltrate intoJammu and Kashmir. Meanwhile, residentsof border villages continue to leave for saferareas in view of the latest round of ceasefireviolations by Pakistan since New Year eve.

There was firing on Bobiyan and Pansarforward areas along International Border inKathua district since Sunday night. Over3,500 people have migrated from border vil-lages in Samba and Kathua districts.

Around 2,500 people have migrated from11 villages in Kathua after shelling fromacross international border. 1800 people arein relief camps.

10,000 abandon...Jammu, mainly targeting BSF posts.As per SOURCES, 60 hamlets and scores

of BSF posts were targeted in Kathua andSamba districts, with mortar bombs landingdeep inside Indian territory.

However, there was no loss of life or injuryto anyone among civilians in the firing andshelling since last night, officials said.

On Monday, one BSF jawan was killed inPakistani shelling in Hiranagar.

The latest round of ceasefire violations byPakistan have left four jawans and a womandead since New Year's Eve, while fivePakistani Rangers have also been killed inretaliatory fire by India.

So far, over 10,000 people have abandonedtheir homes in border villages amid continu-ing shelling.

"Following indiscriminate targeting ofcivilian areas along the international borderby Pakistan yesterday (Monday), more peo-ple have abandoned their homes close to theborder in Samba and Kathua districts," a sen-ior official said. "The number of villagerslodged in makeshift accommodations at saferplaces has crossed 10,000 and their migrationis continuing today (Tuesday)," the officialadded.

A senior official said the BSF has beenretaliating effectively to silence Pakistaniguns.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh was yester-day briefed on the ceasefire violations at ahigh-level meeting. He also took stock of thedamage to civilian assets in border areas.

BSF Director General DK Pathak will trav-el to Jammu today and take stock of the situ-ation in several forward areas.

Pak Rangers...two sides," Pathak said.He said that the ceasefire violation by

Pakistan could be an attempt to divert atten-tion of its public from the Peshawar incident.

Nearly 140 schoolchildren were massacredin a recent terror attack at an army-run schoolin the Pakistani city.

Pakistani troops targeted over 60 hamletsand scores of border posts in heavy overnightshelling in Kathua and Samba districts, withmortar bombs landing deep inside Indian ter-ritory.

Nearly 10,000 people have fled from bor-der villages after the latest round of ceasefireviolations by Pakistan which has left fourjawans and a woman dead since New Yeareve while five Pakistani rangers were killedin retaliatory firing by India.

Ten years...agency.Self-styled commander of terror outfit

Khalistan Tiger Force, Jagtar Singh 'Tara'was one of the masterminds in the brutalassassination of Beant Singh by a humanbomb outside Punjab Secretariat inChandigarh on August 31, 1995. BesidesBeant Singh, 17 others had lost their lives inthe blast.

At that time, Tara and other assassins -Paramjit Singh Bheora and Jagtar SinghHawara - were members of the BabbarKhalsa. Tara later broke away to form hisown terror outfit 'Khalistan Tiger Force'.

The suicide bombing was carried out byDilawar Singh Jaisinghvala of KhalistanLiberation Force. Standby bomber BalwantSingh Rajoana was also convicted for thekilling and later sentenced to death.However, various Sikh groups protestedagainst the sentence leading to the govern-ment staying his execution in 2012.

However, the three along with their accom-plice Dev Singh made a sensational escapefrom high-security Burail jail in Chandigarhin 2004. They reportedly dug a nearly 100feet long tunnel with their bare hands fromtheir barrack to a spot outside the jail.

While Hawara and Bheora were later

nabbed from Nepal, Tara and Dev Singh hadslipped into Pakistan.

Tara later moved base to Thailand on aPakistani passport. Dev Singh is believed tobe still in Pakistan.

In November last year, Thailand haddeported Khalistan Liberation Force chiefand terrorist Harminder Singh alias Mintooand his aide. The duo were tracked by policein Thailand's capital Bangkok.

Beant Singh...who is involved in the terrorist activities if

he thinks that he can get off scot-free is notpossible," said BJP spokesperson SudhanshuTrivedi " I think the prosecuting agencieswill proceed according to the establishedprocedure," he added.

The former Punjab chief minister's assassinand Khalistan Tiger Force commander JagtarSingh 'Tara' has been arrested in Thailand.

According to reports, the Thai authorities,acting on a tip-off from the Punjab Police,arrested Tara from the house of a member ofPakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Tara is accused of planning the suicideattack on Beant Singh in 1995 in Chandigarh,an act of terror that resulted in the death of 18people. The Khalistan Tiger Force command-er and his accomplices Paramjit SinghBheora, Jagtar Singh Hawara and Dev Singhwere arrested after the incident but escapedfrom the high security Burail Jail inChandigarh. According to reports, Tara wasliving in Thailand under a Pakistani passport.

SC refuses...Record Association and former additional

solicitor general Bishwajit Bhattacharya.They were filed on Monday.

Last August, a Bench headed by JusticeA.R. Dave refused to look into the questionof legality of the National JudicialAppointments Commission Bill, saying itwas “too premature.” The Bill, accompaniedby the 121st Constitution Amendment Bill,had just been passed by Parliament and sentto the State legislatures for ratification.

Sensex slips...touched the day’s low of 8,111.35 before

settling down with a loss of 251.05 points, or3.00 per cent, to end at 8,127.35.

As stock markets crashed sharply, the mar-ketplace was rife with speculation about a‘fat finger trade’ in a future contract ofbenchmark Nifty even as NSE officials main-tained that trading was normal.

Among the 30-share Sensex, ONGC wasthe biggest loser as it slumped nearly 6 percent. It was followed by Sesa Sterlite, TataSteel, HDFC, RIL, BHEL, Tata Motors,ICICI Bank and SBI with 4-5 per cent losses.

As many as 29 scrips in the bluechip indexended in the red with HUL being the lonegainer. Across the BSE, over 2,200 countersfell while less than 650 gained — indicatingthe negative breadth of the market.

Globally, crude slumped to $49.95 a barrel,a level not seen since May 2009. Brent alsofell by $3.31 to 53.50 per barrel.

Fears mounted that an election in embat-tled Greece later this month could put theopposition anti-austerity Syriza party inpower, jeopardising the country’s economicreforms mandated by the international finan-cial rescue, analysts said.

In tandem with overall trends, the BSEsmall-cap and mid-cap indices lost 2.95 percent each respectively.

Weak trend at the other Asian markets andlower opening in Europe dampened tradingsentiments here.

Meanwhile, Foreign Portfolio Investorsbought shares worth net Rs. 472 crore onMonday, as per provisional data.

Suspicious vessel...Thailand. The suspicious vessel, however,

started moving towards the Indian waters.Defence sources have said that both the

Western Naval Command and the WestRegion Command of the Coast Guard werekept in the loop by the Coast GuardCommander, North West Region. The agen-cies were also privy to the information trans-mitted by the NTRO on the movement of thesuspicious Pakistani vessel.

“Not Rs. 4 lakhs, we want Rs. 10 lakhs forthis operation”

The information gains significance in thelight of the row that has broken out over theoperation carried out by the Coast Guard.The agency is battling allegations that it didnot share the information with other agenciesand that it resorted to ‘extra judicial’ use offorce.

On December 31 morning, after receivingthe information, the Western NavalCommand got in touch with the CoastguardWest Region, but it is still not clear why theNavy did not step in. Asked about it, an offi-cial said the Navy perhaps did not consider itserious enough to merit its involvement.However, there was no clarity on why theNavy did not guide the Coast Guard on itsoperation.

Simultaneously, the Coast Guard Westregion was also preparing to deploy a ship ifthe vessel moved into its jurisdiction.

“We had kept a ship on standby and werecoordinating with the headquarters and theNorth-West region on the movement of thesuspicious boat. We later learnt that the boathad started moving ‘northwards’ [towardsPakistan]. An operation was subsequentlylaunched by the North-West region, but thecrew set the boat ablaze,” the source said.

While what the boat was carrying is still inthe realm of debate and probe, Coast Guardofficials believe it was not a simple case ofbootlegging or smuggling.

“With law against smugglers not stringentin India, it is rare for smugglers not to surren-der. In the past, whenever we have intercept-ed a smuggling consignment and have askedthe crew to surrender, they have obliged,”said another source.

The December 31 night operation, howev-er, has now left the Coast Guard exposed.Sources say though the vessel might wellhave been carrying contraband, terror outfitswould now have learnt its interception capa-bilities through media reports.

“Prior to the 26/11 attack, we were notequipped to pick intercepts on sea. But afterthe attack, we have equipment that can trans-mit the information. These equipments helpus to monitor activities on the sea. But now,terrorist will either device ways to evade thesurveillance or opt for another route to carryout attacks,” he said.

Don't pollute ...on urban sewage and industrial effluents to

check pollution at its source.A total 746 industrial units along the

stretch of Ganga were identified as criticalpollution spots, of which pulp and paper, tan-neries, and sugar industries accounted forover three-fourths, a statement from theprime minister`s secretariat said.

Emphasising the need to promote recyclingof industrial waste water, Modi said theindustrial units should be motivated to stoppollution, failing which action should be ini-tiated within the framework of existing laws.

The Prime Minister also called for explor-ing the possibility of setting up modern, envi-ronment-friendly crematoria along the Gangathrough private initiative, the statementadded.

The Prime Minister also gave the nod to"Ganga Vahini", a group of volunteers to helpclean the Ganga river.

VVIP chopper ...Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix Info

Solutions Pvt Ltd as accused in the case.These five accused have been summoned forJanuary 19 by the court.

They were chargesheeted by ED for theoffences under Prevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA).

Khaitan was arrested in September lastyear by ED in the chopper deal case in whichCBI is also running a separate probe.

ED had earlier alleged in the court thatKhaitan was "actively involved" in the illegaltransactions relating to proceeds of crime andhe was one of the beneficiaries of the entiredeal. It is probing the case in which 70 mil-lion euros (Rs 360 crore) were allegedly paidas kickbacks.

It had earlier submitted that Khaitan wason the board of Aeromatrix which wasallegedly a front firm for the financial deal-ings.

Recruitments on ...“The cabin crew shortage has caused some

delays but that is being taken care of by man-aging existing manpower available with theairline.”

The official further said that currently, allinternational flights are being operated on-time.

“Trained cabin crew, who are capable ofoperating long-haul from the domestic sec-tor, are also being made available to fill upthe short-fall,” the official said.

The development comes a day after hun-dreds of New York-bound passengers werestranded at the Indira Gandhi InternationalAirport (IGIA) following delays on the AirIndia flight which was caused due to cabincrew shortage.

Airport sources familiar with the incidentsaid, “Ruckus was created by some of theNew York-bound passengers who werestranded here. The airline had to finallybring-in cabin crew from its Chicago flight totake care of this operation”.

“The Chicago flight eventually got can-celled and the passengers of that flight wereaccommodated on other flights.”

Meanwhile, the cabin crew shortage iscausing a heavy blow to the airline’s image.Lately, the airline has been trying to refurbishits operations with on-time performance.

“This type of incidents cause embarrass-ment. All employees are working very hardto provide best possible service to passengersand give a face-lift to our operations as on-time and efficient,” another Air India officialsaid.

Jayalalithaa appeal...sought permission before the special bench

to intervene as party respondent to assist him

in the case.Mr. Singh had said that when complainant

Subramanian Swamy presents his argumentsin the case, there is no role for Mr.Anbazhagan and without him the courts hadearlier passed orders.

Mr. Anbazhagan had also submitted that hehad intervened before the appropriate courtsat all stages of the trial “to ensure that justiceis not derailed by powerful persons” whowere tried for serious corruption charges.

Presenting arguments before the court,Jayalalithaa’s senior counsel B. Kumar sub-mitted that the prosecution has inflated thevalue of luxurious properties, jewellery andmoney spent on her estranged foster sonVand co-convict V. N. Sudhakaran’s mar-riage ceremony.

Proud that...addressing a meeting of state education

ministers.Ms. Irani was talking about offering voca-

tional courses through the Choice BasedCredit System (CBCS). Higher EducationSecretary Satyanarayan Mohanty said thatrevamping the system is imperative.“Disassociating ourselves from the snobberyof gentrified education is important,” Mr.Mohanty said, adding, that when the world,faced with their declining workforce, is readyto get skilled people from India, “how weorganise ourselves is the key.”

Additional Secretary Amarjeet Sinhaappealed to states that in the next academicyear, 5000 colleges offering vocational edu-cation should be started. So far, he explained,there are 127 such college and 200 communi-ty colleges.

“100 Deen Dayal Upadhyay KaushalKendras are being established for research invocational education and as centres of excel-lence for skill development,” he added.

The CBCS allows students to take voca-tional and entrepreneurial courses acrossinstitutions. Mr. Sinha cited the example ofMumbai’s Ramnarain Ruia College ofScience and Arts, which allows its students totake a course in counselling along with thepsychology major.

The second point of discussion was thereforms in teacher education. The NationalCouncil of Teacher Education has notified 15courses of teachers’ education including afour-year integrated graduate and bachelorsin education degrees which mandate a 20-week internship. The duration of B.Ed andM.Ed courses have been extended to twoyears.

In a recent letter to varsities, UniversityGrants Commission (UGC) Chairman VedPrakash said that the some of the new cours-es and their duration are not in line with UGCnotifications. However, he added, that thiswould be rectified soon.

Minister of State Upendra Kushwaha said,“We expect the best services from teachersyet we force them into penury. Our objectivewould remain unaccomplished as long as thissituation exists.”

Amit Shah takes...and security forces prevented a big sus-

pected terrorist attack. I congratulate thePrime Minister, intelligence officers andCoast Guard on behalf of the BJP. When sucha big attack was foiled, Congress party ques-tions integrity of security forces. It gives astatement that whether there were terroristsinside the boat or not, they could be pettysmugglers and it so happens that there mightnot be terrorists at all in the boat,” Mr. Shahsaid addressing a massive public meetinghere.

“I feel Congress is confused whether itwants to fight elections in India or inPakistan. If a party pleads for and gives state-ment in favour of any terrorist group, whichwas planning to attack the country, then theparty needs to do introspection,” the BJPpresident maintained.

Mr. Shah said: “During UPA time, 11Pakistani terrorists could reach Mumbai andcarry out massacres. The whole country wasinfuriated. The then government could notprevent the attack. During this December 29night, suspected terrorists from Pakistanmade similar attempt, but Indian CoastGuard tracked their movement. They wereforced to explode themselves along with theboat.”

“The spokespersons of Congress need to betold that at this juncture they should riseabove party line and boost morale of thesecurity personnel. I also want to tellCongress that when UPA was in power andjawans were fighting along the border, weused to encourage them,” he said.

Existing laws...the conversion row, asserting that neither

Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor his gov-ernment ever engaged in such issues aftercoming to power last May.

The Union Consumer Affairs Minister,who hails from Bihar and had participated inJanata Dal coalition government led by lateV P Singh government, also dismissed thecoming together of Samajwadi Party, JanataDal United, RJD, JDS and other splinter

groups of Janata Parivar and compared itwith "snakes and scorpions coming togetherin a flood situation".

To a specific question as to what is LJP'sstand on conversion and whether it favoursbringing an anti-conversion law, he said thataccording to Article 25, everybody has aright of free profession, practice and propa-gation of religion and there are also provi-sions to check conversion by coercion andallurement if any.

"LJP's stand is that the existing laws in thismatter are sufficient... Government also saysthe same thing. As long as there is no consen-sus, it will not bring it (anti-conversion law).Our party's view is that the existing law andsections in law are very clear about it,"Paswan told reporters.

He was responding to a volley of questionson the conversion issue.

Paswan, who was a minister in UPA I gov-ernment between 2004 and 2009, switchedover to the NDA just ahead of Lok Sabhapolls last year.

Responding to questions about controver-sial statements on conversion and othersbeing made by some people in BJP and itssister organisations, he said, "Those, who aretalking about it are not government. Neitherthe government is saying any such thing norPrime Minister Modi talked about issues likeRam Temple, Article 370, Ghar wapasi orconversion."

Bank strike...Further talks are scheduled on Wednesday.Bank employees’ unions had decided go on

a strike on January 7 across the country topress for a wage hike.

The unions had also threatened to go onstrike on multiple days later this month iftheir demand is not accepted. The unions hadbeen demanding a wage revision linked tothe gross profit of the banks.

AIIMS nursing ...Pallavi was found hanging in her hostel

room in early December. "We are approach-ing the court to get a case registered againstthe college administration because the policedid not take any action despite repeated com-plaints," Pallavi's brother said .

NIA chief ...investigating four cases registered in

Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts of Assam.Kumar is expected to meet separately NIA

officials and senior officials of the AssamGovernment including Chief Secretary andthe state DGP.

The NIA chief would be visiting the vio-lence-hit Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districtstomorrow.

The police have registered 119 cases fol-lowing the massacre where 81 persons losttheir lives. The security forces have arrestedseven Bodo militants involved in the mas-sacre.

Two suspected ...and Simran Surin, both residents of Chota

Kuira, Sub-Divisional Police Officer(Chakradharpur), Alok Priyadarshi said.

Confirming the incident, Superintendent ofPolice, N K Singh said it was suspected tohave taken place over the share of levy.

A police team has rushed to the spot toinvestigate the incident, he said.

Surendra was an accused in the killing ofKuira village chief Jaipal Purty in 2013 andhad been to jail.

He was granted bail six month ago, he said,adding that Maoists leaflets have been recov-ered from the spot.

Morgan Stanley ...The employee, whose identity has not been

revealed, has been fired, said a statementreleased on Morgan Stanley’s website onMonday.

The company said there was no evidenceof any economic loss to any client, addingthat although part of the information hadbeen posted briefly on the internet, it wassubsequently removed by the company.

“Overall, partial account information of upto 10 percent of all wealth managementclients was stolen. The data stolen does notinclude account passwords or social securitynumbers,” said the statement.

Morgan Stanley is already working withthe appropriate authorities to conduct andconclude a thorough investigation of the inci-dent, the note added.

SpaceX calls...Friday. No reason was immediately given

for the launch abort.The Dragon capsule aboard the rocket con-

tains more than 5,000 pounds (2,200 kilo-grams) of supplies and experiments orderedby NASA. That’s the primary objective forSpaceX. But the California—based companyplans to attempt an even more extraordinaryfeat- flying the booster rocket to a platform inthe Atlantic. No one has ever pulled off sucha touchdown.

SpaceX’s billionaire founder Elon Musksays recovering and reusing rockets couldspeed up launches and drive down costs

From Page 1NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQ

BY M. C. MADHAVAN

The average Indian wasslightly better off than theaverage Chinese in the

initial years after Indian inde-pendence. But China’s approachto development has variedmarkedly over the last 40 yearsand has been so successful that itnow ranks as the second mostimportant economy in the world.India has made good progressbut is still substantially behindChina.

In the first decade of this cen-tury, India’s growth reached atake off stage that promptedmany people to ask when Indiawould catch up with its neigh-bour. It was also thought thatdemocratic India may even over-take China. Will that dreamcome true?

China and India, despite beingsuch large countries, accountedfor only 4.5 per cent and 4.2 percent of global GDP in 1950 inPurchasing Power Parity (PPP$)terms. The ratio of China’s GDPto India’s was 1.18 in 1913($241 billion/$204 billion); in1950 it was 1.08 ($239 bil-lion/$222 billion). Estimates ofper capita income made byAngus Maddison and DharmaKumar suggest that India mighthave had a higher per capitaincome. However, there was nota marked difference in the levelof human development.

Both countries, in the courseof history, have feared foreigndomination, have considered thestate as the driver of growth andhave suspected the private sec-tor’s initiatives. For India, theproblems were achieving unityin diversity and accommodatingvarious languages and religionsin a democratic set up. On thecontrary, China’s hard stateenabled it to pursue a single goalwith determination and mobilisemaximum resources to achieveits goals.

Growth in China

China experienced many prob-lems in initiating industrialisa-tion, but after some hitches, itswitched to an all-round empha-sis on heavy and light industries,and had a more successfulresource mobilisation strategythan India did. As a result,Chinese manufacturing grew at9.5 per cent, twice as much asIndia’s rate, from 1965-80. Also,China managed its agrarianreform better than India did.

On the whole, estimates byRichard Herd and SeanDougherty suggest that Chinagrew at a much faster rate thanIndia did during 1950-79, andChinese per capita GDP wasmore than twice the rate ofIndia’s. This is largely due tohigher growth in Chinese labourproductivity and capital deepen-ing. By 1978, the per capitaincome of China was estimatedat $979; India’s at $966. Chinahad caught up with India overthe 30 years, but not dramatical-ly surpassed it.

“China has outrun India inevery area of economic endeav-our in the last 35 years, except incomputer software industry andagricultural research”

Few people in 1978 couldhave imagined the monumentaleconomic progress that Chinawould make because of the eco-nomic reforms pushed by DengXiaoping. The reforms stressedthe principle of “each accordingto his work” rather than “eachaccording to his need,” profes-sionalism and efficient econom-ic management at all levels andthe gradual introduction of poli-cy changes to avoid problems inimplementation.

Deng transformed agriculturefirst and then took on the indus-trial sector. He opened up the lat-ter to foreign capital while mak-ing room for the growth of vil-

lage and local enterprises. JiangZemin, Hu Jintao and now XiJinping have continued to followDeng’s principles, but with someadjustments. China’s economicgrowth was also made possibleby a very large net inflow of for-eign direct investment, a sign ofconfidence in the Chinese econ-omy by outside investors. Chinais the leading nation in exportsand the second largest economyin the world. The country’s percapita income more than quadru-pled, ($5,720 equivalent to aboutPPP $13,000) and abject povertywas completely eliminated(though income inequalityincreased). China’s HumanDevelopment Index has alsorisen from .423 in 1980 to .719in 2013, according to the UnitedNations DevelopmentProgramme 2014.

Against China’s success,India’s achievement, though sig-nificant compared to what it wasbefore independence, is modest.India also took tentative steps tomodernise its economy in theearly 1980s, but these peteredout. Freed from the constraint offood grain availability thanks tothe Green Revolution, India didnot manage to apply to its indus-trial sector the lessons it learnt inits agricultural revolution —using foreign knowledge, rely-ing on the private sector anddeploying subsidies selectively.Instead, foreign borrowing wasused to ease the consumptionconstraint in the public sectorand to cushion loss-making pub-lic enterprises.

Indian policy underwent direc-tional changes in 1991. PrimeMinister Narasimha Rao usheredin reforms which were imple-mented well by his FinanceMinister Manmohan Singh, whothen became the second-longestserving Prime Minister of India.Indian economic growth acceler-ated during the period 1995-2008, but could not maintain themomentum due to political

paralysis of policies that werenecessary for economic growth.Gross national income per capitain 2013 was $1,550 and India’sHDI increased from 0.369 in1980 to 0.586 in 2013.

Primary difference

The primary differencebetween the performance of theIndian and Chinese economy hasbeen the faster growth of capitalstock in China. With only aslight difference in the growth ofemployment, this translated intoa more rapid growth of capitalintensity. The growth of totalfactor productivity has also beenfaster in China. This appears toreflect a greater ease for labourto move out of agriculture intohigher productivity sectors inChina than in India. China hasoutdistanced India in every areaof economic endeavour in thelast 35 years, except in computersoftware industry and agricultur-al research.

Despite international borderissues that still exist betweenIndia and China, the two coun-tries are trying to create a coop-erative relationship — China hasbecome India’s largest tradingpartner in 2013, India’s tradedeficit with China is about $38billion, President Xi has offered$20 billion for investment inIndian infrastructure and otherindustries, and a 100-person del-egation of Zhejiang province hassigned MoUs with Indiatotalling about $2.46 billion.

India will most probably over-take China as the most populouscountry in the world in 2030.China is better placed structural-ly than India for a good econom-ic performance, but it is mostlikely to be much lower than itsrecent average performance ofabout 10 per cent a year. Howmuch lower it would be woulddepend on its ability to maintaincurrent labour productivity lev-els and the benefits likely to flow

from its proposed trans-conti-nental rail system and othertransport-related activities.Troubles in China’s financialmarkets, a declining young andincreasing older population as aproportion of the working agepopulation, increasing wages ingeneral and export industries inparticular, costs associated withcleaning up serious environmen-tal pollution, increasing compe-tition from other countries inexport industries using low-skilland semi-skill labour, lower sav-ings rate and a possibly lowerinvestment rate will have a neg-ative effect on its growth.

India has an excellent chanceof catching up with China if itcan increase its labour force par-ticipation rate (particularlywomen), increase the averagelevel of education, improve thequality of its labour forcethrough special training pro-grammes, reduce impedimentsto let foreign capital participatein its development process,design policies to cultivate a cul-ture of entrepreneurship, andreduce corruption at all levels.

The problem in India hasalways been implementation. Ina noisy political democracy,problems are compounded bythe existence of multiple politi-cal parties with no coherentapproach to development.

Prime Minister Modi, with hismajority in Parliament, has anopportunity to reignite theengines of economic growth.Even if the Indian economywere to grow at 10 per cent ayear, its GDP at 2011 PPP$ willreach only about 26 trillion in2030; China can easily reach thisby 2022. I don’t see India catch-ing up with China in the next 25years unless, of course, there is amassive failure of sorts in China.

(M.C. Madhavan is professoremeritus, Economics and Asian

Studies, San Diego StateUniversity.)

Editorial4 NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQ

The 102nd Indian Science Congress being held inMumbai will be remembered for a very long time tocome, but for all the wrong reasons. For the first

time, the science congress had a session on “AncientSciences through Sanskrit”. If the Indian Science Congresshad long lost its eminence as a forum where results of seri-ous science being done in the country are presented anddiscussed in most sessions, the inclusion of AncientSciences through Sanskrit has only lowered its standingfurther. Even as a public session, there is no real reasonwhatsoever for it to have been included in the proceedings.At best, a session could have been devoted to the history ofIndian science which has real and substantial achievementsto celebrate, with serious scholars working on the subjectpresenting papers. With Prime Minister Narendra Modisetting the tone for this antiquity frenzy with his implausi-ble claims that cosmetic surgery was practised thousandsof years ago and in-vitro fertilisation-like procedure wasresorted to long back, and different political leaders fol-lowing it up with several other incredulous claims wellbefore the start of the national event, the reason for theinclusion of the session becomes supremely clear. Insteadof fostering scientific temper, the congress has provided aforum to seed the minds of young people with pseudo-science. Some of the papers presented were about Indians’“knowledge of making aeroplanes” that could undertakeinterplanetary travel, between 7000 and 6000 BC, and“radars” that worked on the principle of detecting energygiven out by animate and inanimate objects and finding outif a body was dead or alive. Science is grounded on theprinciple of reproducibility of results. The claims ofadvanced science and technology in the ancient world arebased on some references in ancient scripts that may bewholly imaginary. Flying, for instance, has caughthumankind’s imagination across cultures right fromancient times. Such references should be taken for themyths they are, not as scientific facts. Scientists have beenable to create animal chimeras that have cells/organs ofdifferent species, much as what Greek mythologydescribes. Should the Greeks then be taken as pioneers inthe science of chimera production? Thanks to our under-standing of genetics and the ability to fertilise eggs outsidethe body, producing designer babies is no longer in therealm of science fiction. Should the creators of the sciencefiction then be credited with devising the procedures?Compare this with how Sir Arthur C. Clarke documentedhis idea of communications satellites in a concept paperpublished in 1945. Dozens of geosynchronous satelliteslaunched each year do precisely what Sir Arthur had visu-alised there.

Mythology and scienceWednesday | January 07, 2015

SAADDA HAQ

BY ANUPAMA SEN

BY ARGHYA SENGUPTA

On January 26, Barack Obamawill become the first U.S.President to attend India’s

Republic Day celebrations. It willalso mark nearly 10 years since thefirst announcement on the India-U.S.civil nuclear agreement. In contrastto those heady days when the prom-ise of nuclear power meeting India’sgargantuan energy needs was in theair, the present situation is bleak. Atarget of installing 63 Gigawatts ofnuclear capacity by 2032 has beenreduced to 27.5 Gigawatts and noneof the landmark deals envisaged hasbeen struck. The Civil Liability forNuclear Damage (CLND) Act, 2010which contains a speedy compensa-tion mechanism for victims of anuclear accident has been deemedresponsible for this deadlock.Specifically, provisions on recourseliability on suppliers (Section 17(b))and concurrent, potentially unlimitedliability under other laws (Section46) have been viewed as major obsta-cles in operationalising nuclear ener-gy in India and bilateral relationswith key supplier countries.

A question of recourse

Under Section 17(b), a liable oper-ator can recover compensation fromsuppliers of nuclear material in theevent of a nuclear accident if thedamage is caused by the provision ofsubstandard services or patent orlatent defects in equipment or materi-al. This is contrary to the practice ofrecourse in international civil nuclearliability conventions, which channelliability exclusively to the operator.Specifically, it contradicts Article 10of the Annex to the Convention onSupplementary Compensation forNuclear Damage (CSC), an interna-tional treaty which India has signed.

“U.S. President Barack Obama’svisit is an opportunity to address mis-givings over the nuclear liability lawand to also meet foreign governmentsand the supplier community halfwayon the issue.”

That Section 17(b) is contrary tothe global norm is undeniable.However when the global norm itself

is inequitable, there are justifiablereasons to depart from it. The inclu-sion of Section 17(b) recognises his-torical incidents such as the Bhopalgas tragedy in 1984 for which defec-tive parts were partly responsible.The paltry compensation paid to thevictims was facilitated by gaps in leg-

islation and an extraordinarily recal-citrant state machinery. This is not apeculiarly Indian phenomenon —accidents such as Three Mile Islandoccurred partially due to lapses onthe part of suppliers. More recently,forged quality certificates weredetected for parts supplied to nuclearplants in South Korea. That Section17(b) incentivises supplier safety andreduces the probability of a recur-rence of such instances is equallyundeniable.

A step too far

India can retain Section 17(b)while ensuring compliance with itsinternational legal obligations in twoways. First, the CSC allows countriesto make reservations to certain provi-sions in treaties despite being signa-tories to them. India could make areservation to Article 10 of the Annexto the CSC since it satisfies the requi-

site criteria for making a valid reser-vation under the Vienna Conventionon the Law of Treaties, therebyexcluding its application. Second,Article XV of the CSC implies thatthe rights and obligations of Statesunder general rules of public interna-tional law are exempt from the appli-

cation of the CSC. One such princi-ple of international law is the “pol-luter pays principle” — applicableboth to the state and private entities.The principle comes into operationvia the mechanism through whichcompensation can be recovered froma polluting entity for the environmen-tal harm it causes. Exercising eitherof these options will allow India toretain Section 17(b) without violatingthe international treaty regime.

However in pursuing the safety ofsupply, Section 17(b) goes too far inkeeping liability for suppliers entire-ly open-ended. If liability on suppli-ers is unlimited in time and quantum,the possibility of getting adequateinsurance cover will reduce. Even ifsuch insurance is available, it couldmake nuclear energy economicallyunviable. To address this, Rule 24 ofthe CLND Rules dilutes the right ofrecourse conferred by Section 17(b)

by limiting compensation payable bysuppliers to a specified amount andfor a specified time period. Boththese are made standard terms of thecontract entered into between thesupplier and operator.

Though the end that Rule 24 seeks

to achieve is justifiable, the meansadopted are questionable. Rule 24arguably violates Article 14 of theConstitution of India because there isno specific power in the CLND Actto limit liability in the manner thatRule 24 does. Further, the terms ofthe contract potentially dilute Section17(b), which gives operators anuntrammelled right to proceedagainst the supplier by way ofrecourse. It is a basic principle of lawthat a contract cannot violate the pro-vision of a statute — if it does so, itis opposed to public policy. For thesereasons, Rule 24 should be deleted.The limitation on time during whichthe supplier can be held liable shouldbe inserted by means of a provisionin the main Act. This will ensure thatnot just the end but also the means oflimiting liability are legally tenable.

As far as the limitation on theamount is concerned, without Rule

24, the liability for each supplierpotentially extends to the general lia-bility cap of Rs.1,500 crore. If allsuppliers have to be insured up to thisvalue, insurance costs will be unnec-essarily pyramided. To address this,countries with a history of nuclearpower have in place mechanisms toprovide for insurance coveragethrough international insurance poolswhere insurers, operators and statesshare the risks of an accident, provid-ing access to a wide pool of compen-sation. There are about 26 such poolsin existence, which also provide rein-surance to each other. Insurancepools typically require members to besignatories to an international con-vention (such as CSC), and to allowreasonable inspections of theirnuclear installations.

While provisions for the creation ofa domestic insurance pool for opera-tors exist in Sections 7 and 8 of theAct and Rule 3, they need to be madeexplicit and amended to include sup-pliers in order to prevent the pyra-miding of insurance premiums. Thisis particularly relevant to India’sdomestic nuclear suppliers whowould otherwise need to individuallytake out coverage, which would beprohibitively expensive. In order toaccess international reinsurancepools, the Central government couldutilise the provisions in Section 43and 44 of the CLND Act (Power toCall for Information from Operators)to establish a satisfactory inspectionsregime.

Sanctity of a special mechanism

Finally, Section 46 of the CLNDAct contradicts the Act’s central pur-pose of serving as a special mecha-nism enforcing the channelling of lia-bility to the operator to ensureprompt compensation for victims.

Section 46 provides that nothingwould prevent proceedings otherthan those which can be broughtunder the Act, to be brought againstthe operator. This is not uncommon,as it allows criminal liability to bepursued where applicable. However,in the absence of a comprehensivedefinition of the types of ‘nucleardamage’ being notified by the Central

Government, Section 46 potentiallyalso allows civil liability claims to bebrought against the operator and sup-pliers through other civil law such asthe law of tort. While liability foroperators is capped by the CLNDAct, this exposes suppliers to unlim-ited amounts of liability. Obtaininginsurance coverage for any future lia-bility costs on account of claims byvictims in such a case would be nextto impossible.

Section 46 should thus be limitedto criminal liability, and should clari-fy that victims who suffer on accountof ‘nuclear damage’ can instituteclaims for compensation only underthe CLND Act and not by recourse toother legislations or Courts. A clarifi-cation issued by the AttorneyGeneral’s office, if not an amend-ment to the law itself, will providemuch needed assurance to supplierswhile furthering national interest.

The issue of the liability law has,for far too long, been a thorn inIndia’s bilateral relations especiallywith the United States. Mr. Obama’svisit provides a historic opportunityto address these misgivings and meetforeign governments, as well as theentire supplier community, Indianand foreign, halfway on the issue.This will signal the seriousness of theGovernment of India in setting itsown house in order and put the ballfirmly in the court of the suppliercommunity. By putting in place sucha comprehensive, fair and pragmaticlegislation on civil nuclear liability,there is no reason why India cannotreap the long-term benefits of civiliannuclear energy and resolve a pricklyforeign policy issue, the time forwhose resolution has come.

(Anupama Sen is Senior ResearchFellow, Oxford Institute for Energy

Studies and Arghya Sengupta isResearch Director, Vidhi Centre for

Legal Policy. They are co-authors ofa report, “Operationalising India’s

Nuclear Agreements: Issues andSolutions on Nuclear Liability”.)

Resolving the nuclear liability deadlock

Our team will publish yourthoughts send us your articles at

news.saaddahaq@gmail.com

Can India catch up with China?

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage(CLND) Act, 2010 which contains a speedycompensation mechanism for victims of a

nuclear accident has been deemed responsiblefor this deadlock. Specifically, provisions onrecourse liability on suppliers (Section 17(b))

and concurrent, potentially unlimited liabilityunder other laws (Section 46) have been

viewed as major obstacles in operationalisingnuclear energy in India and bilateral relations

with key supplier countries.

State Watch 5NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQ

GURGAON, JAN 06Haryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal KhattarTuesday said his govern-ment cannot ensure 24-hour electricity supply inthe state in the present situ-ation, going back on a pollpromise.

"We will not be in a posi-tion to provide 24-hourpower supply in at least ourcurrent tenure, but we maydo it in our second tenureand will surely review thepresent situation," Khattarsaid.

The comments came asthe state governmentdecided to increase theelectricity supply to theindustrial sector by cuttingthe supply to the rural andurban areas by a couple ofhours.

"The government has decided to supply more power to the industrial sec- tor. So a couple of hours of

the power share of the ruraland suburban areas hasbeen shifted to factories," asenior official of theHaryana power utilitiesdepartment, who did notwish to be named, said.

According to the sched-ule announced Dec 10,2014, 14 hours of electrici-ty was to be supplied torural domestic consumers -from 2.00 p.m. to 4 p.m.,6.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. andfrom 11.00 p.m. to 8.00a.m. But, as per a newschedule implemented Jan2, 2015, villages would getonly 11 hours of powersupply from 5 p.m. to 12a.m. (midnight) and from 4a.m. to 8 a.m. But these 11hours of power supply toohave now been reduced bya couple of hours.

The move has irked the

people as Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and otherBharatiya Janata Party(BJP) leaders had assuredthem 24-hour power sup-ply in their election ralliesprior to the Lok Sabha andassembly polls last year.

The BJP has a clearmajority in the 90-memberHaryana assembly.

"We feel cheated. On anaverage, we are gettingeight to 10 hours of powersupply, much less thanunder the previous govern-ment," a resident said.

Senior Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader YogendraYadav said: "It`s a fraud onthe people of the state. Thegovernment which prom-ised to give 24 hours elec-tricity supply is actuallyreducing it after coming topower."

Can't provide 24-hour power supply: Haryana CMCHANDIGARH, JAN 06

The minimum tempera-tures across Punjab andHaryana today hoveredabove normal levels, butsevere cold conditionscontinued to grip the twostates during the day time.

Chandigarh residentswere greeted by foggyconditions this morningwith a minimum tempera-ture settled at 7.6 degreeCelsius, up three notchesthan normal. Ambala reg-istered a low of 7.6 degreeCelsius, up by two degreesand the minimum tempera-tures at Hisar, Karnal andBhiwani were recorded at8.7, 8.2 and 7.4 degreeCelsius respectively, allabove normal. Narnaul

registered a low of 5.5degrees. Both Ludhianaand Patiala in Punjabrecorded minimum tem-peratures of 8.6 degrees,up by three notches each.However, Amritsar wit-nessed a cold night at 2.2degrees. Most places inHaryana and Punjabremained engulfed in fogtoday.

Icy cold winds swept theregion during the day withmaximum temperaturesplummeting several notch-es below normal here andat most other places acrossthe states during the pastfew days.

The maximum tempera-tures have been settling inthe range of 13-16 degrees.

BENGALURU, JAN 06In a curious turn of

events, the ForestDepartment official, whorecommended actionagainst the RevenueDepartment official forsanctioning land in thebuffer zone of Turahalliforest for theVishnuvardhan memori-al, has withdrawn the let-ter.

Additional PrincipalChief Conservator ofForests (Land Records)Hari Kumar Jha had writ-ten to the ChiefConservator of Forestrecommending action.He confirmed about hav-ing withdrawn the letterthat he wrote onDecember 27. “I with-drew the letter as thegovernment has resolvedthe issue,” he said, justi-fying his action.

Around two acres ofland in the buffer zonehas been sanctioned bythe Deputy

C o m m i s s i o n e r ,Bengaluru (Urban), forthe memorial.

Mr. Jha said that theforest department did nothave any provision toinitiate action against theDeputy Commissioner,nor did it have any powerto act against “encroach-ers” in the buffer zone,which is 100 metresaround the forest.

Meanwhile, residentsof Mylasandra village,abutting the forest, are adispleased lot. They hadrecently cleared severaltrees in a part of thebuffer zone, much to thechagrin of forest offi-cials.

The Forest Departmentfiled a case against themunder Section 24 of theKarnataka Forest Act,1963, and Section 8 ofKarnataka TreeProtection Act, 1976.They residents are ques-tioning why no actionhas been initiated against

the DeputyC o m m i s s i o n e r ,Bengaluru (Urban), whoallotted the land andcleared around two acresfor the ground breakingceremony in which ChiefMinister Siddaramaiahparticipated.

Muniraju, a resident ofMylasandra, alleged thatthe villagers are being“framed” for a ‘crime’committed by the districtadministration. “We onlycleared a plot of land thathad been earmarked forpublic purpose. Onlyshrubs were removed.However, the districtadministration had cutdown numerous trees forthe memorial. What kindof justice is this?”

Meanwhile, the HighCourt of Karnataka,which is hearing a PublicInterest Litigation ques-tioning the sanction ofland for the memorial,has issued a stayorder.

Memorial controversy: forestofficial withdraws letters

CHANDIGARH, JAN 06Despite BJP having a

majority of "elected"councillors, the saffronparty on Tuesday lost theelection to the post ofMayor of ChandigarhMunicipal Corporationas it failed to get themuch needed supportfrom the nine "nominat-ed" councillors.

In an electoral roll of34 (24 elected, ninenominated and one voteof local MP KirronKher), BJP lost two ofthe three posts for whichelections were held.

Congress won theposts of Mayor andDeputy Mayor while thepost of Senior DeputyMayor went to BJP nom-

inee, a ChandigarhMunicipal Corporation'sspokesman said.

Congress nomineePoonam Sharma won theMayor's post polling 17votes against 15 votespolled by BJP candidateHeera Negi.

The Senior DeputyMayor's post was won byBJP candidate RajeshGupta who defeatedCongress's Satish KumarKainth by a margin oftwo votes. Gupta got 17votes against 15 ofKainth.

Congress nomineeGurbax Rawat polled 16votes and defeated sittingDeputy Mayor DeveshMoudgil of BJP by a sin-gle vote. Moudgil got 15

votes.52-year-old Poonam

Sharma is a councillorfrom Ward Number 7and she has succeeded HC Kalyan, the outgoingMayor who was alsofrom the Congress.

Both Poonam andHeera Negi are first-timecouncillors.

Though the Congresshad been ruling the MCfor last eight years, afterthe recent Lok Sabhapoll debacle, three of itscouncillors had switchedover to the BJP campgiving the saffron partymajority in the CMC asfar as the electedCouncillors are con-cerned.

When contacted, sen-

ior BJP leader and for-mer MP, Satya Pal Jainsaid the poll results "arevery unfortunate. Wewere not expecting sucha result.

We were expecting toget 18-19 votes on all thethree posts. There wasgood response from thenominated councillorsalso in our favour. Now,we will find out the rea-sons which led to theloss".

However, upbeat afterthe results wereannounced, formerRailway Minister andformer Chandigarh MP,Pawan Kumar Bansalsaid that BJP has got thetaste of its own medi-cine.

BJP loses, Cong wins Chandigarh Mayor's post

Severe cold conditions con-tinue to grip Punjab, Haryana

GANDHINAGAR, JAN 06Mahatma Mandir in

Gandhinagar, the conventionvenue in Gujarat`s capital, isall decked up to welcome theIndian diaspora, who arearriving in hundreds fromcountries across the world,for the Pravasi BharatiyaDivas (PBD), the annualbonding jamboree hosted byIndia for its natives abroad.

The PBD is being held inGandhinagar Jan 7-9 to markthe centenary of the return tothe country of India`s "sarvasreshtha pravasi Bharatiya"or foremost Indian diasporamember, Mahatma Gandhi,from South Africa, on thatday "to change her destiny".

The chief guest of the 13thPBD would be GuyanaPresident Donald Ramotar,

who is also to be presentedthe Pravasi BharatiyaSamman, the highest honourconferred on overseasIndians and people of Indianorigin (PIOs). South AfricanForeign Minister MaiteNkoana-Mashabane is alsoattending the PBD as part ofthe commemoratory eventsto mark Mahatma Gandhi`sreturn from South Africa 100years ago. PBD is theworld`s largest annual gath-ering of people of Indian ori-gin aimed at enhancing net-working and reinforcingcommercial linkages. Thereare an estimated 25 millionpeople of Indian origin resid-ing outside India.

India is also the singlelargest recipient of remit-tances from abroad at $70

billion,The bridges on Sabarmati

river and Riverfront inAhmedabad and MahatmaMandir in Gandhinagar havebeen festooned with decora-tive electrical lighting andthe twin cities spruced up towelcome the delegates.Around 3,000 Indian diaspo-ra delegates are expected toattend, officials said.

With the PBD to be fol-lowed by the Vibrant GujaratGlobal Summit 2015 on Jan11-13, each being attendedby Prime Minister NarendraModi accompanied by worldleaders from political andbusiness circles, a tight secu-rity net has been thrownacross the Gandhinagar aswell as Ahmedabad, 27 kmaway, where too some of the

diaspora events will be held.The event kicks off

Wednesday with the YouthPBD, which is to be inaugu-rated by External AffairsMinister Sushma Swaraj,who is also minister forOverseas Indian Affairs.Gujarat-origin US astronautSunita Williams is expectedto attend the Youth PBD.

After the inauguration, aplenary session on `Bharatko Jano` and `Bharat koMano` will be held and therewill be a talk on `Thoughtsof Gandhi in 21st centuryreferring to youths`.

During the `Bharat koJano` (Know India) session,the diaspora youth would betold about India`s age oldculture, traditions and hospi-tality.

CHENNAI, JAN 06In another step

towards the constructionof an elevated four-lanecorridor on Rajiv GandhiSalai, preliminary stud-ies, including soil inves-tigation and trafficcount, have commenced.

The project, proposedby the State governmentin April 2013, is aimed atproviding additionalroad space since theexisting six lanes arealready saturated, withover one lakh vehiclesincluding 6,000 IT com-pany buses passing

through every day. The IT corridor, or

OMR as it is more popu-larly known, houses anumber of IT companiesemploying a total of 1.5lakh persons.

The proposed elevatedroad will cover a dis-tance of 45 km fromTaramani up toMamallapuram. Theconsultant, who wasrecently appointed, ispreparing the detailedproject report (DPR) forthe first phase of the cor-ridor from the Taramanijunction to Siruseri.

Phase-II will take off atSiruseri and end atMamallapuram.

Sources in Tamil NaduRoad DevelopmentCompany (TNDRC),which maintains theroad, said the consultantwould have six monthsto complete the DPR.

Many residents, how-ever, are not in favour ofsuch an elevated corri-dor.

They said it would bebetter if the Mass RapidTransit System (MRTS)was extended or anunderground train sys-

tem built.B. Kannan, a resident

of Thoraipakkam, saidthe earlier proposal forflyovers at the five junc-tions could be revivedtoo. “It took the govern-ment nearly 10 years toconstruct the road. Thiselevated road will takemore time than that.

It will only furtherinconvenience resi-dents,” he said.

Traffic experts, too,said such a projectwould not be feasibleand prove to be cumber-some.

OMR project moves ahead

Gandhinagar all set for mega Indian diaspora event

HYDERABAD, JAN 06They not only shared the dais but also ideas.

And their coming together was not lost on theaudience. It was a pleasant surprise to seeTelangana and Andhra Pradesh icons partakingin the Swachh Bharat programme. TelanganaMember of Parliament K. Kavitha and AndhraPradesh Municipal Administration Minister Dr.A. Narayana too sat in close proximity.

The occasion was their nomination asSwachh Bharat ambassadors.

The Government of India roped in the stellarteam to galvanise people to take part in cleanIndia movement. As many as 18 iconic person-alities, nine each from Telangana and AndhraPradesh, have been nominated as ‘SwachhBharat ambassadors’ to take forward the PrimeMinister’s message of clean India.

At a programme here on Monday, UnionMinister for Urban Development, M. VenkaiahNaidu, announced the names of the icons fromfilm industry, sports, media, medical fraternityand corporate sector.The ambassadors

They are: V. Radhakrishna, Dr. S.P.Balasubramanium, Dr. G.S. Rao, B.V.R. MohanReddy, Dr. Rameshwar Rao, Dr. Gopichand,J.A. Chowdary, actor Nitin, Ashok Teja, KoneruHumpy, Pullela Gopichand, V.V.S. Laxman and

MPs - K. Kavita and Galla Jayadev. In theiracceptance address the nominees promised todo their bit for spreading the message ofSwachh Bharat among people.

Singer, Balasubramanium, mesmerised theaudience with a lilting song on cleanliness.

Giving an overview of the programme, Mr.Venkaiah Naidu announced central grant of Rs.20 crore for Telangana and Rs. 10 crore forAndhra Pradesh to take up the Swachh Bharatprogramme.

People’s participationHe stressed on people’s participation as gov-

ernment alone wouldn’t be able to implementthis gigantic task.

In fact, no initiative of government wouldsucceed without people’s active participation.

Changing the mindset of people on cleanli-ness is important as even now 68 per cent ofpeople indulge in open defecation. There is alsoan urgent need to create the necessary infra-structure.

‘Swachh Bharat’ brings TS,AP icons togetherCHANDIGARH, JAN 06

Thousands of trucks andlong-body trailers went offthe roads in HaryanaTuesday, with an associa-tion of transporters alleg-ing that they were beingharassed for getting newfitness certificates for theirvehicles.

The transporters said thestrike would continueindefinitely till theHaryana government with-drew its notification underwhich all heavy vehiclesrequire fresh fitness cer-tificates from the transportdepartment.

The transport depart-ment, which has seniorIAS officer AshokKhemka as commissioner,had last month issued anotification, saying allheavy vehicles need toadhere to new criteria ondimensions of these vehi-cles before they are issued

fitness certificates to plyon roads.

"Over 90,000 heavyvehicles have been affect-ed by the strike. We willcontinue the strike indefi-nitely till the governmentwithdraws the notification.Our vehicles have beenissued certificates earlierand have been plying likethis for years," saidAshwini Sharma, presi-dent Automobile CarrierWelfare Association.

Sources said there werenearly 3.5 lakh transportvehicles plying in Haryanaand the strike would affectbusiness.

Gurgaon, the industrialhub of Haryana, alone hasover 60,000 heavy vehi-cles which transport auto-mobiles (cars, two-wheel-ers and others) from bigmanufacturers like Maruti-Suzuki, Honda andothers

Transporters go on strike in Haryana

Maoists, police face-off in KhammamHYDERABAD, JAN 06

An exchange of fire took placebetween Maoists and police onTuesday in Telangana's Khammam dis-trict while six vehicles used for layingroads were found burnt, police said.

The face-off took place at around 8AM between the rebels and the specialpolice party in a forest area ofKhammam bordering Chhattisgarh.Security forces have stepped up comb-ing in the area, AdditionalSuperintendent of PoliceBhadrachalam (sub-division) NPrakash Reddy said.

"As per information, there were nocasualties. We are awaiting moredetails with regard to the exchange offire. Additional forces have beenrushed to the area and combing opera-tion is continuing," the ASP said.

Meanwhile, at least six vehicles usedfor road laying were set on fire underWazeedu police station limits of thedistrict last night, the senior police offi-cer said.

"We need to establish whether it isthe act of Maoists. Our police team hasgone to the spot. Further investigationis going on to find out the motive(behind burning of vehicles) and searchfor those who set the vehicles on fire,"he said.

RAJAHMUNDRY, JAN 06Four tribal girl students of a municipality school at Amlapuram in East

Godavari district were allegedly molested by a 52-year-old man for over sixmonths, police said on Monday.

The accused has been identified as Suryanarayana Reddy, a tailor."Suryanarayana, whose house is located near the premises of the elementary

school, used to lure the girls by offering them chocolates and fruits and touchthem inappropriately," said Amalapuram SP L Ankaiah.

He said three out of four girls (all 7-year-old) are students of class 3 andanother girl (9-year-old) is a student of class 5.

The incident came to light yesterday after parents of the girls, who arelabourers, lodged a complaint with police against Suryanarayana who isabsconding. A case has been registered against him under various sections ofIPC and under the SC &ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the SP said.

52-year-old manbooked formolestingminor girls

idening work to kickoff in a yearCHENNAI, JAN 06

Work on wideningphase-II of OldMahabalipuram Roadfrom Siruseri to Poonjerinear Mamallapuram islikely to commence in ayear’s time. The 25.2-kmstretch is presently a four-lane facility with medians,but will have six lanes andservice lanes on either sideafter it is widened. Theauthorities have decided tofirst take up work on thebypasses at Kelambakkamand Tiruporur. Thesealone are estimated to costRs. 300 crore. One bypass,running a distance of 4.67km, will come up in Padurnear Kelambakkam andextend to Thaiyyur-B vil-lage, bypassingKelambakkam. The otherone, extending over a dis-tance of 5.75 km, will takeoff at Kalavakkam andend at Vengaleri.

Car-sharing startupUber on Fridaybragged it rang in

the New Year with twomillion rides, many ofthem apparently to rev-ellers heading home inearly morning hours.

And while demand forrides spiked from one totwo in the morning in mostcities where Uber operates,partiers in Paris didn't putpressure on the serviceuntil after 4 am local time(0300 GMT). The Ubersmartphone applicationwas downloaded morethan 20,000 times aftermidnight on New Year'sEve, the company added.

Use of Uber through thenight hit a peak of 58 ridesreaching their destinationsa second, according to theSan Francisco-based start-up. In December, Uberscrambled to allay fearsthat executives at the hotcar-sharing startup aregunning for journalists and

spying on riders.The controversy

widened when a BuzzFeedreport indicated that exec-utives at Uber had takenliberties with access to a"God View" that showedwhere riders and their driv-ers were located at anygiven time.

The firm, which lets cus-tomers order and pay fortaxis or private vehiclesvia smartphones, has beenunofficially valued in therange of $25 billion to $30billion based on fundingrounds. Its smartphone appconnects users with localdrivers and the companycharges a commission foreach ride.

Founded in 2009, Uberis now present in morethan 200 cities and in 45countries.

The company's rapidexpansion has caused ten-sions with traditional taxidrivers, especially inEurope.

Samsung on Tuesdaylaunched the metal-cladGalaxy A3 and Galaxy A5

smartphones in India, priced at Rs.20,500 and Rs. 25,500 respective-ly. The smartphones will be avail-able in the market from next week,and are not yet listed on the com-pany's online India store.

The metal-clad Samsung GalaxyA3 and Samsung Galaxy A5 werelaunched back in October, howev-er, reportedly faced several supplyissues delaying their arrival inlaunch markets.

Apart from their metal bodies,the Galaxy A series smartphonesare also considerably slim - withthe Galaxy A3 measuring 6.9mmand the Galaxy A5 measuring6.7mm.

The specifications of theSamsung Galaxy A5 include a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) Super-Amoled display; 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor;2GB of RAM; 13-megapixel and5-megapixel camera; 16GB built-in storage expandable viamicroSD card (up to 64GB), andAndroid 4.4.4 KitKat. It has a2300mAh battery, measures139.3x69.7x6.7mm, and weighs123 grams.

The Galaxy A3 on the otherhand comes with 4.5-inch qHD(540x960 pixels) Super-Amoleddisplay; 1.2GHz quad-coreprocessor; 1GB of RAM; 16GBinbuilt storage; expandable stor-age support via microSD card (upto 64GB); 8-megapixel rear cam-era with LED flash; 5-megapixelfront camera, and Android 4.4

KitKat. It features a 1900mAh bat-tery, measures 130.1x65.5x6.9mmand weighs 110 grams.

There is still no news aboutGalaxy A7, an as-yet-unan-nounced smartphone that wastipped on several occasions to belaunched alongside the newGalaxy A-series of smartphones.The smartphone was recentlyleaked again tipping its specifica-tions. The smartphone has beenpreviously rumoured to be thethinnest Samsung smartphone todate at 6.3mm.Samsung onTuesday launched the metal-cladGalaxy A3 and Galaxy A5 smart-phones in India, priced at Rs.20,500 and Rs. 25,500 respective-ly. The smartphones will be avail-able in the market from next week,and are not yet listed on the com-pany's online India store.

The metal-clad Samsung GalaxyA3 and Samsung Galaxy A5 werelaunched back in October, howev-er, reportedly faced several supplyissues delaying their arrival inlaunch markets.

Apart from their metal bodies,the Galaxy A series smartphonesare also considerably slim - withthe Galaxy A3 measuring 6.9mmand the Galaxy A5 measuring6.7mm.

The specifications of theSamsung Galaxy A5 include a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) Super-Amoled display; 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor;2GB of RAM; 13-megapixel and5-megapixel camera; 16GB built-in storage expandable viamicroSD card (up to 64GB), andAndroid 4.4.4 KitKat. It has a2300mAh battery, measures139.3x69.7x6.7mm, and weighs123 grams.

The Galaxy A3 on the otherhand comes with 4.5-inch qHD(540x960 pixels) Super-Amoleddisplay; 1.2GHz quad-coreprocessor; 1GB of RAM; 16GBinbuilt storage; expandable stor-age support via microSD card (upto 64GB); 8-megapixel rear cam-era with LED flash; 5-megapixelfront camera, and Android 4.4KitKat. It features a 1900mAh bat-tery, measures 130.1x65.5x6.9mmand weighs 110 grams.

There is still no news aboutGalaxy A7, an as-yet-unan-nounced smartphone that wastipped on several occasions to belaunched alongside the newGalaxy A-series of smartphones.The smartphone was recentlyleaked again tipping its specifica-tions. The smartphone has beenpreviously rumoured to be thethinnest Samsung smartphone todate at 6.3mm.

NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQScience & Tech6

1. In fireworks, the green flame is produced because ofA. sodium B. bariumC. mercury D. potassium

2.Permanent hardness of water can be removed byaddingA. chlorine B. washing sodaC. potassium permanganate D. bleaching powder

3. Marsh gas isA. nitrogen B. ethaneC. methane D. hydrogen

4. LPG consists of mainlyA. methane, ethane and hexaneB. ethane, hexane and nonaneC. methane, hexane and nonaneD. methane, butane and propane

5. Air is a/anA. compound B. elementC. electrolyte D. mixture

QUIZ TIME

Answer: 1(B), 2 (B), 3(C), 4(D), 5(D)

12.00 am SaathNibhaana Saathiya 12.30 am Diya aur Baati

Hum 01.00 am Ye Hai

Mohabbatein 01.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 02.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

Hai 02.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 03.00 am Tu Mera Hero 03.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 am Everest 05.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 05.30 am Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 06.00 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 07.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 08.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

Hai 08.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 09.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 09.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 10.30 am Tu Mera Hero 11.00 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 11.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 12.00 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 12.30 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

Hai 01.00 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 01.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 02.00 pm Everest 02.30 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 03.00 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

Hai 03.30 pm Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 pm Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 pm Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 05.00 pm Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 05.30 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 06.00 pm Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam

Doon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 pm Suhani Si Ek Ladki 07.00 pm Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein 08.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 08.30 pm Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 09.00 pm Diya aur Baati Hum 09.30 pm Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata

Hai 10.00 pm Everest 10.30 pm Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 11.00 pm Ye Hai Mohabbatein

11.30 pm Tu Mera Hero ____________________________

12.00 am Teleshopping 02.00 am Jodha Akbar

02.30 am KumkumBhagya 03.00 am Aur…Pyaar Ho Gaya 03.30 am Doli Armaano Ki 04.00 am Baba Ramdev Ka Yog

05.00 am Narayan Seva 05.30 am Teleshopping 06.00 am Sant Nirankari Mandal 06.30 am The Faith Show 07.00 am Enjoying Every Day Life 07.30 am Creflo Dollar and TaffiDollar 08.00 am Teleshopping

09.00 am Kumkum Bhagya 09.30 am Bandhan....Sari Umar

Hume Sang Rehna Hai 10.00 am Qubool Hai 10.00 am Maharakshak Aryan 10.30 am Jodha Akbar

11.00 am Doli Armaano Ki 11.30 am Satrangi Sasural 12.00 pm Jamai Raja12.30 pm Kumkum Bhagya 01.00 pm Jodha Akbar 01.30 pm Bandhan....Sari Umar

Hume Sang Rehna Hai 02.00 pm Satrangi Sasural 02.30 pm Doli Armaano Ki 03.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 03.30 pm Qubool Hai 03.30 pm Maharakshak Aryan 04.00 pm SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs 04.00 pm Qubool Hai

04.30 pm Bandhan....Sari UmarHume Sang Rehna Hai 05.00 pm Doli Armaano Ki 05.30 pm Jamai Raja 06.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 06.30 pm Satrangi Sasural 07.00 pm Bandhan....Sari Umar

Hume Sang Rehna Hai 07.30 pm Sapne Suhane Ladakpan

Ke 08.00 pm Jodha Akbar 08.30 pm Jamai Raja 09.00 pm Kumkum Bhagya 09.30 pm Qubool Hai 10.00 pm Satrangi Sasural 10.30 pm Doli Armaano Ki 11.00 pm Jodha Akbar 11.30 pm Jamai Raja

____________________________

12.00 am Comedy Nights with Kapil 01.00 am Telebrands 02.00 am Home Shop 18 05.00 am Iskcon Aarti 05.30 am Jesus Calls Ministry 06.00 am Telebrands 07.00 am Narayan Sewa SansthanTrust 07.30 am Home Shop 18 08.00 am Udann 08.30 am Shastri Sisters 09.00 am Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 09.30 am Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 10.00 am Bigg Boss : Weekend Ka

Vaar 11.00 am Sasural Simar Ka 11.30 am Udann 12.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 12.30 pm Shastri Sisters 01.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 01.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 02.00 pm Udann 02.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 03.00 pm Comedy Nights with Kapil 06.00 pm Udann 06.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 07.00 pm Shastri Sisters 07.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 08.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi

Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 08.30 pm Udann 09.00 pm Bigg Boss 10.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 10.30 pm Uttaran 11.00 pm Shastri Sisters 11.30 pm Udann

____________________________

01.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai

02.00 am Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 03.00 am Pukaar

04.00 am Supercops vs

Supervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai

05.00 am Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 06.00 am Pukaar 07.00 am Comedy Classes 07.30 am Mere Rang Mein Rangne

Wali 08.00 am Mahakumbh - Ek

Rahasaya Ek Kahani ! 08.30 am Comedy Classes 09.00 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 09.30 am Comedy Classes 10.30 am Mere Rang Mein Rangne

Wali 11.00 am Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye

11.30 am Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani !

12.00 pm Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 01.00 pm Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 01.30 pm Mere Rang Mein Rangne

Wali 02.00 pm Comedy Classes

02.30 pm Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! 03.00 pm Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 07.30 pm Mere Rang Mein Rangne

Wali 08.00 pm Mahakumbh - Ek

Rahasaya Ek Kahani ! 08.30 pm Pukaar 09.30 pm Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye 10.00 pm Comedy Classes 10.30 pm Savdhaan India: India

Fights Back 11.30 pm Mahakumbh - Ek

Rahasaya Ek Kahani ! ___________________________

01.40 am Bezubaan 03.50 am Zakhm 05.35 am Khuddar 08.25 am Amrit 10.50 am Rascals 01.30 pm Hum Aapke Dil Mein

Rehte Hain 04.45 pm Mela 08.00 pm Soldier 10.50 pm Jigar Kaleja

TV Channels Schedule TODAY’S STARARIES The early part of the day might find you sluggish and indecisive, Aries, but

later you should be psyched up and ready to go. Today marks the beginningof a new period in which you should set your ideas in motion. Action is thekey. Think before you speak and use caution when talking about other peo-ple. Make sure your discussions about others don't turn into gossip.

TAURUS Today's energies will get progressively more intense as the day goes on. In themorning, you may be in an easygoing, dreamy state, Taurus, but you will be itch-ing to take action by nightfall. Take what you've learned from your sensitive, med-itative state and share it with others. Use your inner calm to bring stability tostressful situations. Make sure things don't get out of hand tonight.

GEMINI For the past several weeks you've felt like you've been dragging your heels,Gemini. Decisions may have been hard to make and people may have seemedwishy-washy. There's a major energy shift tonight that will spark things back intoaction. Once again you will be on center stage. Be yourself and smile. Fun is acommodity you have in abundance. Share this incredible gift with others.

CANCER The morning might find you sitting like a stick in the mud, Cancer.People might be getting down on you for not contributing, but tellthem to be patient. You will be raring to go by nightfall. The cat-alyst may come from an outside source. Be on the lookout for achallenge. Someone might rattle your cage a bit too much, so bepatient and don't take it personally.

LEO Things are moving your way, Leo. As the day progresses,you will find that the energy intensifies. Conflicts may arisenear sundown, but don't worry about it too much. See it asa call to jump-start your motor. Visit an antique shop andchat with the people around you. Simple yet meaningfulencounters may prove richly rewarding.

VIRGO You should enjoy the intense energy of today, Virgo. The mud is finallybeginning to clear away. Expose the truth in every issue and get readyfor the gremlins that may be unEarthed. Connect with nature today andspend some time with animals if you can. Take deep breaths in freshoutdoor air and enjoy a long walk somewhere special with a close friend.

LIBRA Today marks the beginning of a new cycle for you, Libra. Collect and consolidateyour recent ideas and focus them outwardly. The time is right for you to act.Improve your surroundings and adjust your bed so that it faces east/west. (Anorth/south placement aligns you with Earth's magnetic field and causes you tolose energy at night.) Drink plenty of water to keep your mind clear.

SCORPIO Take a cold shower to jump-start yourself today, Scorpio. It's fine if youlaze around a bit in the morning, but by evening, you should be workingat full capacity. You will be called into action whether you want to be ornot. Notice how active your dreams are tonight and over the next coupleof nights. Messages are trying to get through, so listen.

SAGITTARIUSToday may start out sluggish for you, Sagittarius, but by theend of the day the energy will move fast and furious. Yourthoughts will be buzzing around your head like bees arounda hive. An introspective and contemplative morning has filledyour brain with a new wave of thoughts, which you will beeager to share with anything that has ears tonight.

CAPRICORN Enjoy the calm morning, Capricorn, because things are going to get crazierand more energetic as the day goes on. Emotions will run high, and peoplewill be more opinionated than usual. A conflict may arise from which you justwant to extricate yourself. Realize that a more peaceful agreement will ensueif you jump in and add your two cents' worth.

AQUARIUS You will experience an intense amount of energy today, Aquarius. Yourdream state will be more active than usual, and you will find that peopleare drawn to you like moths to light. Make sure you keep your fiery emo-tions in balance and don't cross any boundaries with others. Peoplehave limits, and it's important that you honor theirs as well as your own.

PISCES It's time to get up and get moving, Pisces. You have tremendous ideas andvision for the future. You have all the information you need. Now all you haveto do is act. Step up to the plate and hit one over the fence. Getting out ofyour box and further into the world at large will do you a great deal of good.Get a greater perspective on things and enjoy time in a new environment.

Samsung Galaxy A3, Galaxy A5 Metal-Clad Smartphones Launched in India

HTC on Mondayannounced theDesire 310's suc-

cessor, dubbed the Desire320, in the UK market.While the company hasn'tunveiled the pricing, it saidthat the "UK availabilitywill be announced in thenear future."

"Marrying super-fastprocessing with premiumHTC features in a compactform, the HTC Desire 320delivers a quality experi-ence for the budget con-scious well beyond itsentry-level model status,"said Peter Frolund, UK andNordics General Manager,HTC. "Following on fromthe success of the HTCDesire 310, it boasts

enhanced power and mem-

ory to enable more peopleto benefit from a qualitysmartphone experiencethat delivers the perfectbalance between smartessentials and value," headded.

The entry-level HTCDesire 320 comes with sin-gle-SIM support and runsAndroid 4.4 KitKat out-of-the-box. It features a 4.5-inch FWVGA (480x854pixels) display.

The Desire 320 packs a1.3GHz MediaTek quad-core processor coupledwith 1GB RAM. It sports a5-megapixel rear camerawith LED flash, and a 0.3-megapixel (VGA) front-facing camera. The 8GB of

inbuilt storage on Desire

320 is expandable viamicroSD card (up to32GB).

Connectivity options onthe Desire 320 smartphoneinclude 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS/ A-GPS, Micro-USB, and FM radio. Thehandset is backed by a2100mAh battery, whichcan reportedly last up to 12hours of talk time. It meas-ures at 132x67.79x10.5mm, and weighs 145grams. It will be availablein Vanilla White and DarkGrey colour options.

The HTC Desire 320also brings the HTCBlinkFeed for combiningcontent from news andsocial media sites to smart-phone's home screen.

Samsung Galaxy S6 to BeShowcased to Select Partners

at CES 2015: Report

Uber Rings in New YearWith Two Million Rides

Sports 7NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQ

MUMBAI, JAN 06In a clear sign of looking for the future, the

national cricket selection panel led bySandeep Patil today dashed the frail come-back hopes of 'Player of 2011 World Cup'Yuvraj Singh for the mega event starting nextmonth in Australia and New Zealand.

There was a chance that Yuvraj's currentform with the bat in Ranji Trophy in which hehas scored three back-to-back hundreds couldsway the selectors to include the Punjab dash-er after keeping him in cold storage sinceDecember 2013.

However, the selectors did not think it wiseto recall a person who played a stellar role inIndia winning cricket's showpiece title inApril 2011, but has gone off the boil in ODIssince then.

While dashing the hopes of 33-year-oldYuvraj, the selectors also decided to ignorehis 2011 teammates like Harbhajan Singh,Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir byexcluding all of them from the 15-memberCup squad.

The selectors picked only from amongthose in the preliminary list of 30 they hadshortlisted on December 4 here.

"Not only Yuvraj Singh but other nameswere also discussed apart from the 30 proba-bles. There were deliberations between thefive selectors and captain Dhoni and coachDuncan Fletcher were on the conferencecall," BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said afterannouncing the squad here.

Only four members of the 2011 squad - cap-tain Dhoni, new Test captain Virat Kohli, left-handed batsman Suresh Raina and off-spinnerRavichandran Ashwin - will now have achance to make it a World Cup double.

Of the quartet, Ashwin was not part of theplaying 11 that defeated Sri Lanka in the final

at the Wankhede Stadium here on April 2,2011.

The likes of Dhoni, Virat Kohli, ShikharDhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane,Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, BhuvneshwarKumar, Mohammed Shami and Ishant

Sharma were obvious selections. The selec-tors gathered in Mumbai for a much-antici-pated meeting to announce the squad onTuesday.

Rookie left-arm spinner Akshar Patel gothis maiden World Cup berth while Stuart

Binny, who holds the best bowling figures byan Indian in ODIs, also made the cut. Indiachose to stick with the experienced Ishantdespite suffering an injury which ruled himout of the SCG Test.

There were questions on Jadeja's fitness,

who is currently nursing a shoulder injury.Physio Nitin Patel, who supervised Jadeja'sfitness at the new BCCI center in Chennai,submitted a progress report to the selectors.The Saurashtra all-rounder had returnedhome after sustaining an injury in the Testseries in Australia. There was uncertaintyover his availability for the showpiece event,raising hopes for an out-of-favour Yuvraj.

Yuvraj was not named in the 30-man prob-ables list. BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel saidYuvraj's name was discussed in the meetingalong with several other players. Many namesapart from the probables were also consid-ered, the BCCI said on Tuesday.

Patel said Jadeja's rehabilitation programwas going along well and he should be com-pletely fit in 10 days. The selection commit-tee had a detailed discussion with the physioNitin Patel.

India, the No. 3 ODI side in the world, areclubbed in Pool B with South Africa,Pakistan, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland andthe United Arab Emirates.

India's 15-man squad for World Cup 2015MS Dhoni, S Dhawan, Rohit Sharma,

Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina,Ambati Raydu, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin,Akshar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, IshantSharma, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binnyand Umesh Yadav

India's Squad for Tri-Series in AustraliaMS Dhoni (Captain), Virat Kohli (V

Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan,Rohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Suresh Raina,Ravindra Jadeja, Ambati Rayudu, Axar Patel,R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Md. Shami,Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma,Dhawal Kulkarni

World Cup 2015 squad announced: Yuvraj out, Jadeja in

NEW DELHI, JAN 06With Saina Nehwal getting the Sports

Ministry's recommendation for the PadmaBhushan after a furore over her nominationbeing rejected, Indian boxer Vijender Singhalso threw his hat in the ring for the civilianhonour but insisted he won't be "hurt" incase of a rejection.

Speaking to reporters, Vijender said hepreferably wants two-time Olympicmedal winning wrestler Sushil Kumarto get the honour, as originally recom-mended by the Sports Ministry.

But in case, one more sportsperson istaken into consideration followingSaina's late application, then theMinistry might as well give his name athought as well.

"I was awarded Padma Shri in 2010,the same year as Saina. And if you com-pare, then me and Saina are at par on the perform-ance front. Since my 2008 Olympic bronze andthe 2009 World Championships bronze, I havegone on to win an Asian Games gold, a bronzeand a silver in Commonwealth Games besides agold in the World Police Games. So if her namecan be considered then I can also try my luck," Vijender said.

"My first preference is Sushil. He is without doubt the most successful Indian athlete ever and heshould be given preference over everybody but in case the government is considering other names,then they can consider my name too," he added.

The 29-year-old, a former world number one in the middleweight division, said he would have nohard feelings should he be rejected for the honour this year.

"I am just trying my luck, I am not saying that give it to me or I will be hurt if I don't get it. I ammerely saying, consider my name and take a call accordingly," he said.

Vijender has already requested Boxing India to forward his name but it remains to be seen whetherthe Sports Ministry would oblige given that the last date of submission of applications is long over andSaina's name was sent as a special case after she went on record to express her displeasure at beingignored.

"If I can be considered under given rules and regulations, it would be fine. I am not demanding it,"he said.

Now, Vijenderseeks PadmaBhushan NEW DELHI, JAN 06

Batsman Robin Uthappa slammed a bril-liant 156 (202b, 23b, 1x6) as defendingchampions Karnataka took command oftheir Group A Ranji Trophy league matchagainst Jammu and Kashmir who, trailingby 243 runs in the first innings, were 37 forone in their second essay at close of playon the second day, here on Tuesday.

Uthappa, having relinquished his open-er's role for No.5 spot in the batting order,held the innings together as Karnataka,overnight 123 for five in reply to the visi-tors' 160, declared at 423 for nine effec-tively taking a match-winning lead.

Uthappa, who resumed on 37, played therole of sheet-anchor to near perfectionwhile enjoying slices of luck as he wasdropped twice when on 63 and 135.Jammu and Kashmir paid dearly for thelapses.

Along with his overnight partner C.M.Gautam (80, 135b, 15x4), Uthappa added177 runs for the sixth wicket to helpKarnataka recover from 83 for five andtake the game away from the visitors.

After Gautam's exit, Uthappa foundanother able partner in young ShreyasGopal (58 not out, 108b, 7x4) and the pairput on 88 runs for the seventh wicket toensure a sizeable lead for Karnataka whoappear poised to notch their fourth consec-utive win this season.

The home team's tail wagged a bit moreas 75 runs were added for the last threewickets before skipper Vinay Kumardeclared the innings.Brief scores:

Jammu and Kashmir 160 all out and 37for 1 in 12 overs (Adil Reshi 23 not out) vsKarnataka (1st innings): 423 for 9 decl in103 overs (Manish Pandey 33, RobinUthappa 156, CM Gautam 80, ShreyasGopal 58 not out, Ram Dayal 3 for 63,

Umar Nazir 2 for 80, MohammedMudhasir 4 for 99).

At Vizianagaram, Andhra vs Jharkhand,Jharkhand 1st innings 246 all out (PrakashMunda 63; CV Stephen 3/52, DuvvarapuShivkumar 2/56) Andhra 1st innings 179for four (Murumulla Sriram 71; AshishKumar 2/53).

At Guwahati, Assam vs Services,Services 1st innings 113 all out (NakulSharma 32; Arup Das 5/40, Krishna Das3/21) Assam 1st innings 211 for eight(Sibsankar Roy 81; Yashpal Singh 2/42,Saurabh Karmar 2/42).

At Kolkata, Bengal vs Tamil Nadu,Tamil Nadu 1st innings 246 all out(DineshKarthik 92, Ramaswamy Prasanna 50retired hurt; Ashok Dinda 4/76) Bengal 1stinnings 183 for two ( Manoj Tiwary 54 notout, Arindam Das 48).

At Rohtak, Haryana vs Delhi, Delhi 1stinnings 278 all out(Virender Sehwag 147,Rajat Bhatia 72; Mohit Sharma 4/46,Joginder Sharma 3/39)Haryana 1st innings

188 all out ( Himanshu Rana 80; VaroonSood 3/20, Sumit Narwal 3/43) Delhi 2ndinnings 7 for no loss.

At Dharamsala, Kerala vs HimachalPradesh, Kerala 1st innings 196 allout(Raiphi Gomez 32; Rishi Dhawan 5/46,Bipul Sharma 3/37) Himachal Pradesh 1stinnings 287 for six (Paras Dogra 115;Nizar Niyas 2/47).

At Mumbai, Mumbai vs MadhyaPradesh, Mumbai 1st innings 404 all out(Suryakumar Yadav 135, Akhil Herwadkar97; Puneet Datey 3/76, Yogesh Rawat5/74) Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 221 forthree ( Jalaj Saxena 85, Naman Ojha 60not out).

At Sambalpur, Odisha vs Vidarbha, 1stday no play, 2nd day Vidarbha 1st innings129 for four (Ganesh Satish 62not out;Basant Mohanty 2/29).

At Jaipur, Rajasthan vs Punjab,Rajasthan 1st innings 433 all out (PranaySharma 118, Puneet Yadav 90; SarabjitLadda 4/104) Punjab 1st innings 140 forfive (Gurkeerat Singh 70; Pankaj Singh3/56).

At Rajkot, Saurashtra vs Maharastra,Maharastra 1st innings 519 all out (AnkitBawne 124,Rohit Motwani 70; KamleshMakvana 5/120) Saurashtra 1st innings 94for three ( Sheldon Jackson 57).

At Agartala, Tripura vs Hyderabad,Tripura 1st innings 184 all out (KaushalAcharjee 55; Anwar Ahmed 5/53, ChamaMilind 3/56) Hyderabad 1st innings 487for nine (Akshath Reddy 174, DwarkaRavi Teja 96 not out; Tushar Saha 3/106,Manisankar Murasingh 3/110).

At Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh vs Baroda,Baroda 1st innings 498 all out (KedarDevdhar 146,Irfan Pathan 98 ; PiyushChawla 3/100, Ali Murtaza 4/103) UttarPradesh 1st innings 103 for one( TanmaySrivastava 69).

RANJI TROPHY: Robin Uthappa SlamsTon, Mohit Sharma Takes Hat-Trick

CAPE TOWN, JAN 06Opener Dean Elgar hit an unbeat-

en 60 as South Africa coasted to acomfortable eight-wicket win overthe West Indies in the final test atNewlands on Tuesday to take thethree-match series 2-0 and retaintheir ranking as the top side in tests.

Elgar and captain Hashim Amla(38 not out) saw South Africa homeas they reached 124 for two wicketsbefore lunch on the final day tosecure victory. They were nine forone overnight and showed no hurryto knock off the remaining 115 runsneeded for victory.

The first 44 balls of the day failedto deliver any run before Elgarstroked a boundary off JeromeTaylor to end the stranglehold.

Faf du Plessis was out for 14 justafter the first hour, handingSulieman Benn a second wicket ofthe innings after the spinner bowledopener Aviro Petersen with the lastball of Monday's play. The tall left-arm spinner toiled for 16 successiveovers on Tuesday to finish with fig-

ures of two for 24.Tuesday's win added to South

Africa's victory by an innings and220 runs in the first test in Pretoria.The second test in Port Elizabethwas a rain-affected draw. Rain alsothreatened to play a role in the finaltest as half of the fourth day was lostto bad weather, offering the WestIndies a chance to create a contestafter clawing back from a 92-runfirst innings deficit.

But their resistance crumbled afterMarlon Samuels lost his wicket at182 for four in the second innings onMonday, out for 74 to an injudiciousslog that saw him caught on theboundary.

It precipitated a collapse as theirnext six wickets went for a paltry 33runs as they were dismissed for 215,leaving South Africa a modest targetof 124 to win.

The two teams will play threeTwenty20 internationals and fiveone-day internationals ahead of theWorld Cup.

South Africa complete win to keep top ranking in testsDOHA, JAN 06

Top-rankedN o v a kDjokovic start-ed off his 2015season with aswift 6-2, 6-1win overSerbian coun-tryman DusanLajovic at theQatar Open onTuesday.

D j o k o v i c ' sfirst-round vic-tory took 59minutes. Heput 72 percentof his firstserves in play,and was suc-cessful on five of six break-point opportunities.

He is making his first appearance at the Doha tournament. Historically, he has-n't played a sanctioned tournament in the first week of the year.

Djokovic withdrew from the Abu Dhabi exhibition final last week with the flu,but showed no lingering signs of illness against Lajovic. Third-seeded TomasBerdych also advanced to the second round with a 6-1, 6-4 win over DenisIstomin of Uzbekistan.

Qatar Open: Novak Djokovic WinsFirst Match of 2015 in Under an Hour

Rapper Akon is end-ing his seven-yearhiatus from record-

ing music by releasing afive-disc album.

The 'Smack That' hit-maker will releaseStadium later this year(15) and is currentlystreaming one song fromeach album for his fans.

Each record will be adifferent genre of musicand has not announced anexact arrival date for therecord, his fourth studioalbum.

In a message on Twitter,Akon, 41, writes,"Through out (sic) thislong wait, there has (sic)been fans who stuck withme. This Album is foryou! 5 Albums 5 genres equallingStadium."

Despite the hiatus from his solowork, he had an active year ofcameos in 2014, appearing on tracksby Jeezy, Chris Brown and Wizkid.

Akon's third studio album,Freedom, was released in 2008.

Bollywood/Fashion8 NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY | JAN 07, 2015SAADDA HAQ

Printer, Publisher, Owner & Editor: S. Harpreet Singh Khalsa, C-35, Hanuman Road, New Delhi-110001, Website:- www.saaddahaq.in, Contact Number :- +91- 9697645357, E-mail: news.saaddahaq@gmail.com, Printed by:- Purraj Print & Puckaging Pvt. Ltd., E-19, Sec-6, Nodia-201301All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi High Court.

For Advertisment Contact:-+91-9958791398

Rajesh Mishra (Advt. Manager)

Fr o ms l e e ka n d

mini toextravagant-ly oversized,we give you

a lowdownon the bag

du jourto helpy o up i c kt h er i g h tone.

SHAPE AND SIZEThe central design element of any

clutch is its shape, which depends ontwo factors - functionality and occa-sion. Big, roomy clutches that come inthe shape of envelopes are apt for dayget-togethers and brunches, as theydouble up as a regular purse that canaccommodate a lot of things. Fancyclutches that are meant for eveningfunctions are comparatively smallerand come in funky geometric shapeslike squares, circles, sleek box casesetc. They are usually used to carry justthe essentials like the mobile phone,cash or card, keys and lipstick.

CLASP OF THE CLUTCHThe closure of the clutch is what

makes or breaks its design. From sim-ple mag netic chips and old schoolclasps like those in coin purses to fancytechnical lock systems, you are spoiltfor choice.

Always select a clutch with a lockingtechnique you are comfortable with.What's the point if it takes too long toopen!

MIXING METALSWhen opting for a party clutch, make

sure you match the exposed metallicstructure of the clutch with the metal ofyour watch and the remaining acces-sories. For a cocktail, go for a clutchwith silver details and for traditional,festive occasions, pick a clutch with ametallic golden finish. Don't let metalsclash. Also, if you have any kind ofembroidery on your outfit, see to it that

it matches your clutch.

PLAY MATCHING MATCHINGWearing matching matching isn't

always a fashion faux pas. It is a greatidea to customise the clutch with thetrimmings of your lehenga or sari bor-der or simply make a special one byembellishing the clutch with a comple-mentary motif. How about a box clutchmade out of the matching Banarasibrocade of your sari blouse or a simple,sleek box clutch covered with exclu-sive Patola or Paithani borders? Tip:For the party, try matching your shoesto your clutch. Experts often tell younot to make your outfits too matchy-matchy, but this one definitely works.

INVEST CREATIVELYBuild a fetish for quirky and oneof-a-

kind clutches, as they easily function asan ice breaker at boring parties.Moreover, they can instantly transforma mundane dress that you may haveworn several times into a freshlook.Think funky pop art printedclutches, magazine-shaped clutch,famous Chanel lego clutch, simple,transparent acrylic box clutch or aJudith Leiber clutch, which is a pieceof wearable art.

WHAT SUITS YOU BESTWhen picking a clutch, keep your

body type, age and personality in mind.What is your personality? Classic andchic or bold and edgy? Choose the oneyou think you can carry confidently.

Larger clutches with pockets will

help you organise your belongings foradded convenience. Moreover, if youare petite, opt for a small clutch in ashape that complements your bodyshape. Plus-size women should lookfor larg er purses. Also, consider yourage and dress ing style. You may likean edgy piece for its uniqueness anddesign sensibility, but it may not neces-sarily match your classy, elegant styleof dressing.

WHAT'S IN VOGUE?Acrylic clutches are very much in

vogue today.Almost all designers, lux-ury brands and high-street labels havea variety to offer.They come in allshapes, sizes and colours. Among otherpopular trends are clutches in neoncolours, mother of pearl finish, inlaiddesigns, sheer fabrics, leather, knitsand metallic linear lines. To add thatpersonal touch to your stylish self, youcan have your name or some fun wordscarved on the clutch; may be some-thing that describes your personality.The transparent box clutch with leatherdetails and cool words like "naughty"or "wild" is a rage!

THE RIGHT WAY TO `CLUTCH'IT

Never hold a clutch in your armpits.Never carry it with those loose wristhandles that are attached at the corner.To look elegant and poised, hold yourclutch by placing your hand along thebottom of the bag and rest it againstyour hip at an angle. It makes one lookthinner too, which is an addedbonus!

The lowdown on bags

Ranveer joinsDeepika inBangalore ontheir shop-ping spreeLovebirds Ranveer and Deepika are back

from their New Year trip. The duo was alsospotted holding hands together in

Maldives.Deepika was captured with her sister Anisha

and mom Ujjala shopping in Bangalore onMonday and Ranveer joined them on their shop-ping spree.

Deepika and Ranveer will be seen together inSanjay Leela Bhansali's upcoming flick 'BajiraoMastani'. The movie will see the actor playBajirao and the actress will play his love interestMastani.

Rahul Mahajan, who is currently underthe same roof as his estranged wifeDimpy in the "Bigg Boss Halla Bol"

house, says their relationship is "cordial",and that he's looking forward to bringingentertainment in the reality show. Dimpy ispart of the five 'champions' of "Bigg Boss8?, who are now competing with 'chal-lengers' - some select contestants from theshow's past seasons. Before entering "BiggBoss Halla Bol" last week, 'challenger'Rahul spoke about what to expect from himthis time from his stint in the show.Excerpts:

Q. As a challenger, what special chal-lenges do you see inside "Bigg Boss"house?

A. The challenges are for me, not for theother contestants. I think after my perform-ance in the earlier season of "Bigg Boss",people have a lot of expectations from me.I've to live up to those expectations. Thechallenge, therefore, is to myself.

Q. Surely you'll have to conduct yourselfin a different manner this time as com-pared with the previous occasion, or elseyour performance would look like arepeat?

A. That is inevitable. My life has changedso much since I went into "Bigg Boss" thelast time. As long as I am honest and I don'ttry to win votes by lying, I am sure I'll dowell for myself. I cannot pretend. I can onlybe myself. Every reality show, I've beenmyself only.

Q. An added incentive this time is that

your wife Dimpy is also inside "BiggBoss"?

A. Yes. she is inside. But we're not togeth-er anymore. But we're still on cordial terms.I am looking forward to meeting everyone,whether it is Dimpy, Gautam Gulati or AliQuli Mirza. They are my friends. Let's seehow it goes.

Q. What is your take on the contestantsthis time?

A. They didn't provide enough entertain-ment, so we challengers had to be broughtin…We've been brought in because "Bigg

Boss" needed old contestants to liven upthings. I'll rub this point in when I go inside.

Q. Have you planned a strategy?A. The advantage that we challengers

have is that we're not tired. We are freshhorses in a race where the others have beenaround for a while and are exhausted. Wefive challengers have seen the other contest-ants from the outside. We know what they'reall about. They don't know what we're allabout. We are raring to while they are count-ing the days before they can come out.Weare in this to liven up things.

Still on cordial terms with Dimpy: Rahul Mahajan

Acclaimed lyricist-writer JavedAkhtar, who along

with noted writer SalimKhan penned stories like"Zanjeer", "Sholay" and"Deewar", has said that heis planning to pen down"some good scripts" thisyear.

"I would like to writesome good scripts again,hopefully this year," Javedsaid here Monday at abook launch.

"Besides, there is lotmore I want to do…morepoetry, more lyrics, betterpoetry, better lyrics, betterscripts…there is so muchto do," he added.

Javed's last screenplaywriter was for son FarhanAkhtar's 2006 directorial"Don: The Chase BeginsAgain". It was a remake of1978 film "Don", thescreenplay of which waswritten by the indomitableSalim-Javed duo.

The 69-year-old, whoclocked 50 years in Hindi

cinema last year, feelsthere is much to achieveand feels "50 years don'tmean that I have achievedeverything".

"There is so much to doin life," he said.

Further, he lauded thekind of work today's film-makers are doing.

"When I see the work ofother people (filmmakers,writers) and how wonder-fully they are doing…forexample 'PK'…the kind ofscripts they are writing, Iget very impressed andinspired," the Padma Shriand Padma Bhushanawardee said.

Javed Akhtar plans 'goodscripts' in New Year

Jennifer Winget andKaran Singh Groverwere one of the most

popular television couples,but the duo has now con-firmed that they are nolonger together.

When asked if he is stillclose with Jennifer hesaid, " We don't talk toeach other anymore." Headded, "I don't know if wewould become friendsagain. If I had a crystalball, I could perhaps findan answer to this ques-tion."

"For all those who areconcerned, you might haveheard that Jennifer and I

have separated and willsoon be getting divorced. Ijust wanted to confirm thatit's true. The decision hasbeen mutually agreed uponand the reasons are too per-sonal to share. What hap-pens between only twopeople know all else mere-ly speculations andassumptions nothing morethis much I wanted to sharethank you always for allyour love" said Karan inhis post.

The actor will be seen in'Alone'opposite BipashaBasu, which hits theatreson January 16 thisyear.

Akon releasing firstalbum in seven years

Karan Singh Grover &Jennifer Winget part ways'