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SUNDAY, September 13, 2015 / 29 Dhul Qaada 1436 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certied Company

ALARM SYSTEM TO ENHANCE BUS SAFETY Buses ferrying children to the Indian schools will soon have an advanced alarm facility to alert, if any child is left unattended inside the bus. >A3

Muscat, Rustaq, Sohar in top flood risk zones

RAHUL DAS/TARIQ AL HAREMIrahuldas@timesofoman.comtariqh@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Muscat, Sohar and Rustaq have been named as the top three ood risk zones in Oman by officials who have drawn up maps where people are most at risk in the Sultanate.

Around 1,285,672 people live in Muscat, while 1,060,927 people live in North Batinah and South Bati-nah, which include Sohar and Rustaq.

These two areas were affected by rain and suffered fatalities due to ooding last week.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, Ahmed Al Barwani, water re-

sources expert at the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Wa-ter Resources, said these areas have been identied by their high population density.

The current drainage system in these areas is inadequate, he said.

He also said that these areas make signicant contributions to the countrys economy but it is important to highlight the fact that they are prone to ooding and measures should be taken to control the damage.

We have to work together to improve the drainage system in Oman, he said.

He added that cities like Mus-cat, Sohar and Rustaq and many others have been identied on the ood risk maps, which is available in the ministry. We have seen the problems in some places, and most of which are because of the poor drainage system as there is no out-let for water, he stressed.

Explaining that oods in Oman tend to be an intense short-term

event, of high velocity, and last for just four to six hours, Al Bar-wani, said, Damage usually be-gins to occur within an hour of the intense rainfall.

To mitigate the after-effects of oods, the ministry has come with structural and non-structural plans.

We have established a hydro-meteorological network for ood alerts and have guidelines for de-velopment in ood prone areas, he said. There are also maps show-ing ood-risk zones and a Nation-al Committee for Civil Defence (NCCD) to deal with all kinds of disasters, including oods.

There are ood warning systems and a Multi Hazard National Centre has been established, he said.

He also said fool-proof evacu-ation measures are required for housing projects coming up in high-risk ood zones.

It is a great move, said Yasser Ali Al Alawi, managing director, Al Sharqiya Real Estate and Invest-ment. >A6

They all have high

population densities

but poor drainage

system leading to

ood and loss of lives

C1Oman beat Bahrain,lift GCC U-19 title

OMANThe power of social media and teenagers

1The rapid rise of the social media is spreading among teenagers and children as young as ten are using it to voice their opinions and share ideas. >A2INDIA85 killed in blast

2At least 85 people were killed when a cooking gas cylinder blew up in a restaurant in India. >A8

MARKETFuel demand growth

3Omans annual demand for rened petroleum products is projected at 10% for next 15 years.>B1

T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S

HM sends condolencesMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a ca-ble of condolences and sympa-thy to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Ara-bia, for the victims of the crane crash at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on Friday.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere condolences and sympathy, praying to Almighty Allah to rest their souls in eternal peace and grant their families pa-tience to bear the loss, and wish-ing the injured persons speedy recovery. ONA

S A U D I A R A B I A

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: It is essential to impart safety lessons from the school-going age to ensure that the next generation grows up with a better understanding of the issue.

Unfortunately, we lack the safety culture in Oman, so it is im-portant to raise awareness about health and safety issues in schools and among children at an early age, says Ahmed Mohammed Al Shamsi, health and safety manager at the ICEM. >A6

R A I S I N G A W A R E N E S S

Safety lessons should begin from schools

Omani pilgrims discharged from hospitalREJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Two Omani pilgrims who were injured when a crane crashed at the Grand Mosque in the Holy City of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, have left the hospital, Omans Ministry of Endowments and Religious affairs tweeted on its official Twitter handle, quot-ing the deputy head of the Omani Haj delegation.

The Omanis have already left the hospital after receiving treat-ment. They are in good health, added the tweet.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said on Saturday that stormy winds

toppled the crane, which col-lapsed onto one of Islams holiest shrines.

Heavy rain and strong winds of unusually high speed led to the uprooting of trees, the fall of pan-els and the collapse of the crane, General Suleiman Al Amr, direc-tor general of the Civil Defence Authority, told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV on Saturday.

The number of deaths may in-crease, said Al Amr. Many of the 238 people injured in the accident only had minor injuries, he said.

Prince Khaled Al Faisal, Mak-kahs governor, has ordered an in-vestigation into the incident, said Al Arabiya. >A6

S A U D I C R A N E C R A S H

ACCIDENT: Saudis and pilgrims arrive at the Grand Mosque, where a crane collapsed on Friday, in Makkah, on Saturday. -AFP

S CA N T H I S Q R CO D E TO I N STA N T LY

L AU N C H T H E V I D EO

Source:Ministry of Regional Municipalities

& Water Resources

From 1890 to 2015OMAN FLASH FLOODS

Graphics

Cyclones Heavy rains

Average5 ft. man(1,524 mm)

603

20428526920299 116

430

0

150

300

450

600mm

69 8358 82 67

626

2007 Cyclone Gonu

December 1995283

A2 S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

OMAN Indian schools have launched a plan to implement a safe transport system for students. A monitoring committee will check the vehicles being used currentlyAlarm system to enhance Indian school bus safety >A3

saleh@timesofoman.com

The rapid rise of social media among teenagers and children is having such an impact that those as young as ten are using it to voice their opinions and share ideas that normally parents, and even the government authorities, dont have the time to listen to.

It is happening right here in Oman and many parents see the social media as a challenge to local cultures and traditions. It is also seen as a probable threat to law and order as the govern-ment looks nervously to its

rapid expansion. But the quick exchanges of short messages, viewed as potentially lethal and even a threat to political and cul-tural values, have the approval of the liberal minded Omanis, to promote free thinking.

Oman has already gone through one successful revolu-tion. His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said has orchestrated and revolutionised progress, lifting the country from relative obscurity to a nation of interna-tional status.

The social media is a second wave of the revolution that Oman experiences and the real difference is that it is not

about the economy but about the mind-set. In a country that is ercely defending its ancient values, the spread of intellectual discussions through the elec-tronic media is frowned at.

Young people, with technol-ogy at their disposal, develop an unrestrained mind and the logical system that their parents never knew about. They bridge knowledge through the interna-tional network making the social media a global culture that has precedence over a multitude of national cultures. For the conservative Omanis, whether parents or those in the corridors of power, there is no going back.

Enforcing laws to limit access to the Internet, would force young people to become rebellious to the public order.

Similarly, when parents snatch away their mobile phones, teenagers would nd an alternative channel to vent out their frustrations, which may not go very well with the role of parenthood. Denying young people the right to use such tools would severely restrict their social development and growth of mental faculty. It will also restrict their education because schools and certainly parents are not equipped to dispense knowledge of worldly

affairs. At closer scrutiny, social media works well to bridge the gap between major towns, where real progress takes place, and the largely underdeveloped interiors of Oman. The more developed minds of young people living in the cities such as Muscat, Sala-lah and Sohar, readily share their brain power with their counter-parts in smaller towns. Fear of transgressing traditional values or losing authoritarian control is completely unfounded. Political upheavals in the global arenas give opportunities young people to discuss what went wrong so they can learn to adapt.

Yes, there are concerns about

the inuence of the electronic pages on the youths. There is also a real harm out there but when you put it on the scale, the advantages outweigh the bad by far.

There is no denying that the media inuences play a part in shaping teenage behaviour. But when a child is aware of its inu-ence, they will be able to handle media pressure better both in their private lives and careers. It also means they will be well prepared for all eventualities, the way we were not when we were growing up.

The fear is not about whether they will rebel but they are able to go through something we never had the chance to experiment. Surely, that cannot be a bad thing. To look at it from another perspective, if we worry about teenagers picking bad in-uences, parents can be a source of that if they grow up in broken marriages. They can also pick up bad habits from their peers, role models, or even teachers.

Instead of banning teenagers from social media activities, the governments regulators, parents and teachers can encourage them to lter out what they read and discuss. Constant moni-toring or taking the facilities away from them will drive them underground, where they can go out of control.

Denying teens access to social media will do more harmCOMMENTARY

SALEH AL SHAIBANY

SUNDAYBEAT

They can also pick up bad habits from their peers, role models, or even teachers... Instead of banning teenagers from social media activities, the governments regulators, parents and teachers can encourage them to filter out what they read and discuss. Constant monitoring or taking the facilities away from them will drive them underground, where they can go out of control

H AV E YOU R SAY AT T W I T T E R.CO M /T I M ES O F O M A N O R S CA N T H E CO D E TO I N STA N T LY P O ST YOU R T H O U G H TS .

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Oman aims to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Oman has set a target to eliminate the mother-to-child transmission of HIV altogether, and has been implementing a number of initiatives to achieve this goal.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the trans-mission of HIV from an HIV-positive mother to her child dur-ing pregnancy, labour, delivery or breast-feeding is called mother-to-child transmission.

Elimination of transmission is dened by the WHO as a reduction of transmission to such a low level that it no longer constitutes a pub-lic health problem.

In June 2015, Cuba became the rst country in the world to receive validation from the WHO that it has eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis.

In Oman, there were three cases of mother-to-child transmission of HIV last year, Dr Samir Shah, epidemiologist at the Ministry of Healths HIV/AIDS/STI section, told the Times of Oman.

Updating medical expertsHe was speaking on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Oma-ni Society of Obstetrics and Gynae-cology to update medical experts from various health centres on ret-rovirus infection in pregnancy.

Our plan (to reach the tar-get) was in 2015, but we will try to achieve it as early as possible.

We are considering mother-to-child transmission elimination. It means once we achieve this, we will have very less cases of mother-to-child transmission, Dr Samir Shah said, adding that it can hope-fully happen in a year or two.

Since July 2009, Oman has begun offering HIV testing and counsel-ling services to all pregnant women with the objective of preventing HIV among newborns by providing treatment and follow up services, according to the Global AIDS Re-sponse Progress Report 2014.

According to the WHO, every

year, globally, an estimated 1.4 million women living with HIV become pregnant. Untreated, they have a 15 to 45 per cent chance of transmitting the virus to their chil-dren during pregnancy, labour, de-livery or breast-feeding. However, that risk drops to just over one per cent if antiretroviral medicines are given to both mothers and chil-dren throughout the stages when infection can occur.

In a speech at the conference, Dr Hilal Al Hashami from Royal Hos-pital, who is specialised in paedi-atric infectious disease, said since

2009, 68 HIV-exposed babies have been born at the Royal Hospital and all of them were born free of HIV.

Preconception careDr Al Hashami highlighted the im-portance of preconception care for HIV-infected women, monitoring of the foetus during pregnancy, delivery suite care and postnatal care. He also said breast-feeding is not recommended for HIV-in-fected women.

In addition, Dr Chitra Jha, sen-ior consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal Hospital,

said pregnancy does not inuence the progression of HIV disease.

According to her, it is critical that pregnant women infected with HIV be accurately identied in a timely manner.

All pregnant women should be offered screening for HIV infec-tion as early as possible, in each pregnancy, she said, adding, All pregnant HIV-infected women should receive combined antiret-roviral therapy.

It is clear that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy is the best way to prevent neonatal infection,

improve womens health and re-duce the rate of sexual transmis-sion to partners, Dr Jha said.

Effective, reliable contraception is a critical need for HIV-positive women, she added.

Dr Jha also spoke about the safest conception options for dis-cordant couples, where one part-ner is HIV-infected and the other is not, and explained how a deci-sion should be made regarding the mode of delivery.

CondentialityThe importance of condentiality of HIV test results for both the moth-er and the baby was another topic discussed during the conference.

Speaking to the Times of Oman, Dr Shah assured that the results will remain condential but said that sometimes the patients have their own suspicions.

He also noted that there are trained counsellors who give guid-ance to couples, counselling them separately.

However, the issue is the extent to which the patient complies with the recommendations, he said, adding that sometimes certain so-cial issues pose a challenge.

Dr Tamima Al Dughaishi, senior consultant in maternal foetal med-icine at the Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity Hospital and the president of the Omani Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, said the society decided to hold the conference as it believes that updates in this eld would help improve maternity and neonatal services in Oman.

M A T E R N I T Y H E A L T H

Alarm system to enhance Indian school bus safety

MOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Buses ferrying chil-dren to the Indian schools will soon have an advanced alarm fa-cility to alert, if any child is left unattended inside the bus, Wil-son V George, chairman of the In-dian Schools Board of Directors, told the Times of Oman on Friday.

When the driver turns off the engine, an alarm will start ring-ing. Either the driver or the at-tendant would have to go to the rear end of the bus to switch it off. This way, they would be able to assure themselves that no child has been left unattended inside the vehicle, George said.

This year, three children died

after they were left unattended inside vehicles in Oman.

Students safety is our prior-ity, Wilson added.

The Indian schools in Oman have launched a plan to imple-ment a safe transport system for students.

Seating capacity Under the safe transport pro-ject, the children will be allowed in buses only as per the vehicles seating capacity. Attendants will be compulsory in every bus. Cameras will be there inside and outside the vehicle. The rear camera will help avoid any acci-dent that may take place because of a child or other object behind the vehicle. The vehicles will be covered under the In Vehicle Monitoring System (IVMS). It will help the safety committee to monitor the bus speed, driving, etc, Wilson added.

In addition to introducing bus-es with advanced safety facilities, the Indian schools are also plan-ning to have intensive training for drivers.

Drivers have to undergo in-tensive driving training and will be monitored by the safety committee regularly. With safe driving training the drivers will not only be prepared to follow the rules but will also be ready to face any uncertainties on the roads. Safe driving training chang-es the attitude of the drivers, Wil-son added.

According to Wilson, a moni-toring committee will also check the vehicles being used for trans-

porting students. Indian School Darsait and Al Maabela have al-ready started the safe transpor-tation system from the current academic year.

The Darsait school provides services to around 670 students whereas the Maabela school pro-vides services to 350 students.

The Indian School Seeb is cur-rently in the process of nalis-ing the transporter. The Indian School Muscat has also formed its transport committee and is working towards the safe trans-port project.

Year-end planBy the end of the year, we are hoping that all Indian schools in Oman will have their own trans-port facility, Wilson said

The transport service now be-ing provided by the schools will also help reduce the chaotic traf-c. The ROP has already wel-comed our move and promised the Board all its support as this initiative is in line with their vi-sion to reduce traffic accidents in Oman, Wilson concluded.

Apart from the transport sys-tem, Indian Schools are also con-ducting safety audits.

Taskforces formed are sur-veying the measures to ensure security and safety of the stu-dents in the school premises. Till now, four schools in the city have completed the safety audits, Wilson added.

According to Wilson, new In-dian schools will be opened in Al Awabi and Barka in the com-ing years.

Indian schools

have launched a

plan to implement

a safe transport

system for students.

A monitoring

committee will check

the vehicles being

used currently

SAFETY PLANS: The transport service will also help reduce the chaotic traffic on the roads near the schools. OK Mohammed Ali/TIMES OF OMAN

All pregnant women should be offered screening for HIV infection as early as possible, in each pregnancy. All pregnant HIV-infected women should receive combined antiretroviral therapy. It is clear that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy is the best way to prevent neonatal infection, improve womens health and reduce the rate of sexual transmission to partners

Dr Chitra JhaSenior consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal Hospital

TOURISTS THRONG WADI BANI KHALID Following the heavy rains last week, Wadi Bani Khalid presented a scenic sight for tourists over the weekend, as they thronged the area in large numbers.ONA

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OMAN Sept 14 has been slotted by the Supreme Court of India for hearing to decide the modalities of the non-resident Indian voting issueKeralites hope to vote in state poll

REJIMON K reji@timesofoman.com MUSCAT: Non-resident Keralites will, hopefully, be able to cast their votes from abroad for the coming Assembly elections in the South-ern Indian state of Kerala, said Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, who had initiated legal proceedings in the Indian courts.

On September 14, Indias Su-preme Court will again conduct a hearing to decide the modalities of the non-resident Indian voting is-sue. I hope it will be nalised, Dr Shamsheer told the Times of Oman in an exclusive interview.

Last month, the Indian govern-ment has told the Supreme Court that a note on proposed changes in the bill to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to vote in Indian elections had been placed before the cabinet for its consideration. New suggestions include allowing

NRIs to vote by proxy and through e-ballots, said Shamsheer.

A three-judge bench compris-ing Chief Justices H L Dattu, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy granted the government two months to in-corporate the proposed changes in a bill aimed at amending the Rep-resentation of the People Act.

In April, the Indian government initiated the steps that would grant voting rights to more than 10 mil-lion NRIs in elections, as directed by the Supreme Court.

Cabinet had approved a draft bill to amend the existing electoral law, which has to be passed by Parliament. The rst draft of the bill was referred to the Election Commission of India, which sug-gested certain amendments that were subsequently incorporated in the bill.

As the cabinet has approved the second draft, it will be tabled in the parliament soon, added Dr Shamseer. The Peoples Repre-sentation Act, which governs elec-tions in India, requires a voter to be present in his or her constituency to cast the vote.

Amending this provision of the law is the rst step towards grant-ing voting rights to NRIs through e-postal ballot or proxy voting as suggested by the Election Com-mission and accepted by the gov-ernment in the last hearing on January 12.

The government

initiated steps that

would grant voting

rights to more than 10

million non-resident

Indians, as directed

by the Supreme Court.

Cabinet had approved

a draft bill to amend

the existing electoral

law, which has to be

passed by Parliament

Last month, the Indian government told the Supreme Court that a note on proposed changes in the bill to allow non-resident Indians (NRIs) to vote in Indian elections had been placed before the cabinet

Dr Shamsheer VayalilLegal petitioner

Incomplete but Unique show mixes architecture with artTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Yousuf Al Sabbagh launched his rst solo exhibition Incomplete but Unique in Bait Al Dalaleel at Bait Al Zubair on last week.

He exhibited around 20 art works where he mixed architec-ture with contemporary art. The aim of the artist was to create an atmosphere of harmony between human emotions through the use of architectural concepts reect-ing his feelings.

Al Sabbagh said, I am very happy to launch my rst exhibi-tion, through which I am trying to make clear to the visitor that most of the paintings may be in-complete in conguration, but carry with it a uniqueness and ex-cellence in meaning. I am grateful to Bait Al Zubair for supporting me in this exhibition.

Bait Al Dalaleel at Bait Al Zubair is an art space created for young Omanis to display

their work to new audiences in a relaxed and beautiful environ-ment. Artists and audiences alike can explore a wide variety of art books and magazines as well as discover some new creativity and talent in Oman.

Throughout the year Bait Al Dalaleel offers workshops and

meetings for young creative minds to explore their work and develop their talent.

The exhibition will continue in Bait Al Dalaleel till the end of Sep-tember from Saturday to Thurs-day between 9:30 am and 6 pm.

You can also follow Dalaleel on Instagram: @Dalaleel

B A I T A L Z U B A I R

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com

VARIED ART: The aim of Yousuf Al Sabbagh was to create an atmosphere of harmony between human emotions through the use of architectural concepts reecting his feelings.Supplied photo

International award for Indian schoolTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Indian School Muscat (ISM) became the proud recipi-ent of the International School Award (ISA) and joined the elite group of premier schools with the coveted ISA accredi-tation instituted by the British Council.

ISM is the rst private inter-national school in Oman to se-cure this award. ISA is a bench-marking scheme that accredits schools as having an outstanding level of support for cultivating the spirit of global citizenship in students and enriched teaching-learning credentials.

The award was formally con-ferred to the school at a ceremo-ny organised by the Ministry of Education and the British Coun-cil Oman on Tuesday.

Srinivas K. Naidu, principal, expressed his delight and con-tentment on this achievement.

The ISA project was initiated

at ISM under the guidance of the principal and co-ordinated by Biju Varghese. This momentous achievement is the culmination of the year-long activities com-prising seven diverse projects of global dimensions. The ISM undertook the portfolios with the objective to instil students with the spirit of internation-alism, research, collaboration and innovation.

ISM students and teachers were engaged in activities such as water conservation, monu-ments and heritages, history of cricket and its inuence on so-ciety, and equality as a universal value, in addition to language learning, celebrating festivals to bring people closer, and food of different countries.

During this period, the teach-ers and students interacted and disseminated learning outcomes with several schools in other countries using British Council Schools Online.

A C A D E M I C S

Manpower, ROP staff get IT trainingTimes News Service

MUSCAT: A workshop was held here with the aim of im-proving the technological skills of Ministry of Manpower and Royal Oman Police (ROP) staff.

The Ministry of Manpower organised the workshop on the joint electronic link between the Ministry of Manpower and the ROP.

The workshop presented a new concept of e-service to fa-cilitate service for employers. It will help in recruiting expa-triate labour force and in the renewal of transactions. It also aims to adjust the visa exchange and the development of arrivals data entry system process for the incoming expatriates.

The system training will also help train staff on monitoring departing data entry system di-rectly as well as to visa renewal procedures.

W O R K S H O P

Indian schools salute teachersTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Cultural programmes were organised by the students of Indian School Ghubra, Indian School Sohar, and Indian School Rustaq to mark Teachers Day recently.

At Indian School Ghubra the day began with the special morning assembly with a power point presentation and a heart touching prayer song by the stu-dents of class 6 which was a trib-ute to all teachers. The Teachers Day celebrations, hosted by the School Management Commit-tee included an address by the Principal, Papri Ghosh, who ex-pressed her heartfelt greetings to all the teachers.

Indian School SoharEnthusiasm and festivity marked the celebrations at Indian School

Sohar on Teachers Day. The stu-dents put their best foot forward to pay rich tributes to the great visionary Dr. Sarvapalli Rad-hakrishnan, who was a staunch believer of education, and was a well-known diplomat, scholar, the President of India and above all, a teacher.

Indian School RustaqIndian School Rustaq also cel-ebrated Teachers Day with zeal and enthusiasm. A special assem-bly was conducted in the morn-ing. The students took over the organisation of the programme while the teachers relaxed and enjoyed the show.

T E A C H E R S D A Y

SONG AND DANCE: The day began at Indian School Ghubra with a special morning assembly, a power point presentation and a prayer song by the students of class 6.

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Changing lifestyles among reasons for rise in low birth weight babies

HAMOOD ALBREIKI

MUSCAT: High rates of consan-guinity, premature births, number of increased pregnancies at an older maternal age and changing lifestyles are some important fac-tors related to the increasing rate of low birth weight (LBW) babies in Oman, according to a study pub-lished in the Sultan Qaboos Uni-versity Medical Journal this year.

The study, Increasing Incidence of Infants with Low Birth Weight in Oman, conducted by M. Mazharul Islam, associate professor, Depart-ment of Mathematics and Statis-tics, Sultan Qaboos University an overviews the levels, trends and some possible explanations for the increasing rate of low birth weight (LBW) infants in Oman.

LBW is dened as a birth weight of a new-born of less than 2,500 grammes (5 pounds 8 ounces) ir-respective of gestational age.

Omans LBW rate has been in-creasing since the 1980s. It was ap-proximately 4 per cent in 1980 and

had nearly doubled to 8.1 per cent by 2000. Since then, it has shown a slow but steady rise, reaching 10 per cent in recent times, according to the study.

According to the Ministry of Health annual report, total inci-dence of low birth weight in Oman reached 10.17 per cent in 2013 out of 66,772 live births. It was 9.49 per cent in 2012 and 9.60 per cent in 2011. The global prevalence of LBW is 15.5 per cent, which amounts to about 20 million LBW infants born each year, 96.5 per cent of them in developing countries.

Citing reasons for low birth weight Mazharul says, With re-cent advances in modern obstetric and neo-natal care and technologi-cal development in Oman, more and more foetuses with restricted growth and pregnancy complica-tions are taking place as live births. This also causes an increase in the rate of LBW infants, and subse-quently an increased rate of long-term neurological problem.

He adds, As a newly develop-

ing country, Oman is facing the double burden of morbidity. It carries the burden of the present epidemiological changes and the health problems resulting from unhealthy lifestyles typical of de-veloped countries. With the de-velopment of its economy and the growth of personal wealth, there have been changes in the lifestyle and food habits of the population.

Changing habitsRecent modernisation has led to changing nutritional habits and a decrease in habitual physical ex-ercise and the sedentary lifestyle has become a norm. As a result, the country is passing through epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communi-cable diseases. The main diseases resulting due to these changes are obesity, cardiac and coronary dis-eases, hypertension, and diabetes, in addition to cancers, chronic kidney diseases, brain stroke, and geriatric diseases, he added.

Some research conrms that

LBW children are at greater risk of cognitive and school performance problems than normal children.

According to the Ministry of Health annual report 2013, the Buraimi Governorate had the highest incidence of infants with low birth weight at 12.68 per cent, followed by Dakhiliyahat 11.73per cent, Muscat at 10.91per cent, and North Batinah at 10.61per cent.Then there was North Ash Shar-qiyaat 10.42 per cent, Al Dhahirah at 10.14 per cent, South Ash Shar-qiyaat 9.06 per cent, and South Batinah with 8.77 per cent, apart from Dhofar with 7.40 per cent and Al Wusta with 4.35 per cent. The Musandam Governorate recorded the lowest incidence of low birth weight babies at 4.30 per cent.

The incidence of LBW of 9 per cent in Oman was found to be higher than that in many countries with similar socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Accord-ing to the joint United Nations

Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) study of global, regional and country estimates of LBW in 2000, Oman had a higher inci-dence of LBW than both, Lebanon and Syria at 6 per cent, Algeria, Kuwait, Libya and Tunisia,all at 7 per cent, and Bahrain at 8 per cent, found Mazharuls study.

Prevention betterDr Adel Taha Abu-Heiji, head of department of obstetrics gynaecology,at the Sultan Qa-boos University (SQU) says that a mother of a low birth weight baby can notice that her abdomen is smaller than it should be, with foe-tal movements reduced.

On how to prevent LBW, Abu-Heiji said, Prevention is better than cure. It is important that high risk pregnancies such as those complicated by hypertension, pre-eclampsia, diabetes, and multiple pregnancies, should be identied

early during pregnancy and those patients should be identied and referred early to the hospital for strict follow up and delivery. Nutri-tion and weight gain are linked with foetal weight gain and birth weight, eating a healthy diet and gaining the proper amount of weight in pregnancy are essential. Mothers should also avoid alcohol, ciga-rettes, and illicit drugs, which can contribute to poor foetal growth, among other complications.

Mazharul recommended that health education through mass media should focus on the causes and consequences of LBW in Oman. He suggested that one should inform parents in general and pregnant women in particu-lar about LBW,as well as intro-duce the subject in school and college curricula. He also sug-gested the need to intensify ante-natal care in all healthcare out-lets, and that healthcare providers needed to be trained.

According to the

Ministry of Health

annual report, total

incidence of low

birth weight in Oman

reached 10.17 per

cent in 2013 out of

66,772 live births. It

was 9.49 per cent in

2012 and 9.60 per

cent in 2011

INCREASING RATE OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT (LBW) BABIES IN OMAN

Source: Ministry of Health Graphics

LBW is dened as a birth weight of a newborn infant of less than 2,500 grammes (5 pounds 8 ounces) regardless of gestational age.

Oman9 %

Bahrain8 %

Algeria7 %Kuwait

7 %Libya

7 %

Tunisia7 %

Syria6 %

Lebanon6 %

World Health Organisation (WHO)

study LBW in 2000

Other regions

Musandam4.30%

Dakhiliya11.73%

Buraimi12.68 %

Muscat10.91%

North Batinah10.61%North Ash

Sharqiyah10.42%

Al Dhahirah10.14%

South Ash Sharqiyah

9.06%

South Batinah 8.77%%

Dhofar7.40

AlWusta4.35%

Ministry of Health annual report in 2013

20008.1%

201120129.49%

201310.17%

19804%

Approximate percentage of LBW in Oman

9.60%

As a newly developing country, Oman is facing the double burden of morbidity

M. Mazharul IslamDepartment of Mathematics and Statistics, Sultan Qaboos University

Expos to showcase Oman tourismMUSCAT: In an effort to high-light Oman as a unique tourism destination, the Ministry of Tour-ism plans to participate in three European tourism exhibitions.

It aims to highlight the services available and the latest devel-opments in the Omani tourism sector. The ministry also aims to introduce the Sultanates envi-ronmental and tourism elements, ability to host the largest and most

important international events, conferences and meetings and exhibitions through its infrastruc-ture, hotels and tourist facilities.

From September 29 to October

2, the ministry is scheduled to participate in the IFTM, the Top Resa tourism exhibition in Paris.

The ministry will take part on November 2 in the 36th session of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London. It will also participate in Incentive and Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition with Conferences, during the period from November 17th till 19th in Barcelona, Spain. -ONA

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OMANS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

It is difficult to re-educate someone who is old. If you educate them young, it becomes a common practiceStephen Parr, re instructor at the ICEM

Omani women give top priority to character while choosing spouse

HASSAN SHABAN

MUSCAT: Omani women give rst preference to character while choosing their partners, according to a recent survey.

The survey also points out that education and family name is not a priority for them.

Many social observers believe that Omani youth may need to be more cautious before getting themselves into a committed relationship.

In the wake of increasing di-vorces in the country, a study ti-tled Marriage Selection Criterion for Youth in Omani Society was conducted by social researcher Mubarak Al Hamadani, which

showcases the key factors women in Oman consider when selecting their life partners.

The survey targeted 252 wom-en studying indifferent colleges across the Sultanate.

Al Hamadani, a Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) graduate, used the questionnaire method, giv-ing women the choice to select between number of qualities and traits, which they want to see in their future husbands, and list them according to priority.

Religious behaviourCharacter topped the chart as 72 per cent of Omani females

stressed that their future hus-bands must be family-oriented and should be motivated by reli-gious beliefs.

This shows that young women link a mans discipline with his ca-pability to stand up to his duties. They also see the rights of mar-riage in the light of Islamic and cultural methodology, explained the SQU researcher.

Financial statusWhether it is buying their rst house or planning for retirement, when it comes to money, each cou-ple may have completely different goals. A mans income matters

to a majority of young women in Oman, the survey revealed.

To justify this selection, a new research published in the Journal of Marriage and Family has shown that divorce rates are higher and marriage rates are lower among low-income populations in the United States of America.

According to Al Hamadanis survey, occupation comes third with 44 per cent of respondents believing that a mans career is a key factor when choosing him as the one.

Physical appearanceDo looks really matter? Only one

third of Omani college girls be-lieve so. The researcher supports this case by stating that there have been many instances in which at-tractive women were attracted to men with other positive charac-teristics, regardless of their looks.

Most of the samples did not pri-oritise a mans tribe or ethnic group when it came to spouse-hunting.

Education levelThe husbands level of educa-tion is of the least concern to Omani females, with only 34.6 per cent showing interest in the educational qualications of their future spouses.

A husband who does not share responsibilities with his wife will eventually complain of not getting her attention, which may lead him to search for passion outside the house and cheat on his wife, said Samira Al Lawati, head of Al Kaw-thar Centre for Consulting and Psycho-Social Development.

We live in a male-dominated society where cheating is more common among males, while fe-males are asked to forgive them in order to escape the stigma of divorce, added Al Lawati.

Any girl should think twice before accepting marriage with someone who has a passive atti-tude. I believe that spending the rest of your life with an undisci-plined person can lead to mental and health issues, thus culminat-ing in a divorce, said Haneen Ali, an SQU student.

Omani society is known for its conservative values and any re-

lationship other than marriage is frowned upon. Every year, thou-sands of couples meet through tra-ditional marriage setups, where relatives select the bride on the grooms behalf, either by using the services of a matchmaker or on their own. The latest studies show that 24 per cent of Omanis end up marrying their rst cousins.

AShaima Al Abri, student at Ni-zwa College of Applied Sciences, said that pre-marriage relation-ships can help in better under-standing your life partner.

Arranged marriages can lead to major issues as a couple may have little knowledge about each other before the wedding day, she explained.

RelationshipWhen a couple start building a family, they go through exciting-yet-stressful life events which may push their relationship on the rocks. But with love and good chemistry, couples are more like-ly to get through rough patches without involving parents, there-fore sustaining their marriage and keeping the bonds strong, said Al Abri.

Choosing your soul mate could be one of the most important de-cisions you will ever make in your life, he said.

Meanwhile, the number of di-vorces in Oman increased dramat-ically during the last few years, with around 3,550 cases recorded in 2013, according to the Nation-al Centre for Statistics and Infor-mation (NCSI).

The husbands level

of education is not

the main priority for

Omani females, with

only 34.6 per cent

showing interest

in the educational

qualications of their

future spouses

SURVEY FINDINGS: The survey targeted 252 women studying in different colleges across the Sul-tanate. Supplied photo

Farmers turn to olives for good returns

AL JABAL AL AKHDAR: Olive is turning a preferred choice for farmers in Oman as the demand from citizens for olive seedlings is increasing and the authorities are keen to meet these demands as soon as seedlings are available.

Al Jabal Al Akhdar, which has a climate similar to the one in the Mediterranean, has various plants and a high quality of crops, but in recent years farmers here have shown increasing interest in growing olives.

The average price of olive seeds is OMR120 per tree.

Salim bin Rashid Al Toobi, di-rector of the Agricultural Devel-opment Department in Al Jabal Al Akhdar, said that more than 4,500 olive trees from the nest olive va-rieties were handed over to more than 500 farmers for cultivation.

He added that the olive harvest began in 2012, and that the cen-tre extracted 410 litres of pure virgin olive oil for citizens with the help of a modern press ma-

chine provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Good harvestThis year, the harvest season be-gan on August 23, and it promises to be a good one with high produc-tion levels. The amount of olives received in the rst week was more than 4,000 kilogrammes .

The quantity is expected to reach more than 10,000 kg, indi-cating that the extracted oil vol-ume has been more than 10 per

cent so far, which is an excellent rate, and in some varieties of ol-ives it has reached 23 per cent, which is the highest obtained in the department. This rate is con-sidered very high compared to what was recorded in countries that produce olive oil.

Oil-producing varietiesAbout the services provided by the Agricultural Development Department for farmers, Al Toobi said that after distributing the nest oil-producing varieties of olives, whether for oil or for food, the department extracts, puries and packs the olives for citizens in special bottles free of charge through the devices provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in the department.

Aziz bin Abdullah Al Fahdi (farmer) told the Oman News Agency (ONA) that the olive tree has adapted to the climate and en-vironment of Al Jabal Al Akhdar, and this is has been proved by the high production every season.

Farmers have turned to olive farming in the recent past for its nancial returns,and it could come a close second to pome-granates. -ONA

A L J A B A L A L A K H D A R

RISING INTEREST: The demand from citizens for olive seedlings is increasing and the authorities are keen to meet these demands as soon as the seedlings are available. ONA

Education on safety should start at an early age: Experts

This would be the best way for them to learn safety tips, Al Shamsi told the Times of Oman.

According to him, the Interna-tional College of Engineering and Management (ICEM) has been involved in a number of activities to raise awareness about safety is-sues among children.

We conduct training sessions, hold drills in schools and arrange visits by schoolchildren to the col-lege, Al Shamsi said, adding that the ICEM believes in contributing to the society.

Abdullah Al Khaduri, a re in-structor at the college, says that he and his colleagues have con-

ducted a number of workshops in schools to familiarise children with basic information and skills required to deal with an emergen-cy situation, such as life-saving rst aid, evacuation, and re pre-caution and control.

Stephen Parr, another re in-structor at the ICEM, also believes it is important that safety educa-tion starts early.

It is difficult to re-educate someone who is old. If you educate them young, it becomes a com-mon practice. We should educate children to wear seat belts and be careful with re at home. When you start early, it becomes part of

their life, Parr said.Old people believe what they do

is always right, the expert added.Al Shamsi, health and safety

manager at the college, also said the poor understanding of safety culture among some people in Oman is obvious in some aspects of life, such as not giving way to ambulances or re trucks.

By law, ambulances and re trucks should be given priority. Generally, people are very coop-erative but some people ignore the importance of not blocking their way, he said.

Another issue that Al Shamsi nds inappropriate is the fact that some people use their phones or other devices to take photos and videos of accidents or the victims.

It is not part of our culture and is not appropriate. Some peo-ple are using the social media to distribute these photos and vid-eos, thinking that this would make them famous, he noted.

The law bans people from such acts they should themselves un-derstand that it is not the right thing to do, Al Shamsi said.

S A F E T Y C U L T U R E

Abdullah Al Khaduri, a re instructor at ICEM.

Ahmed Mohammed Al Shamsi, health, safety manager at ICEM.

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A1Start construction after approvals

He said they commence con-struction only after approvals from the Royal Oman Police and the re department.

Besides that, we do our sur-vey to check whether that area is prone to oods, he told the Times of Oman.

Ahmed Al Barwani also said that a developer or property owner in ood prone areas must seek prior approval from MRMWR before constructing any building at ood prone areas.

If a construction project at a medium or high risk ood zone can cause signicant reduction in channel ow capacity, the devel-oper or property owner is required to demonstrate to the planning authority and MRMWR that the proposal will not signicantly in-crease ood levels, he said.

Around 20 to 30 percent of areas in Oman are prone to ash ood, according to Amol G Deshmukh, Geomatics Specialist, of National Survey Authority.

Most of the areas outside the desert are ood prone as water just runs off from the mountains to the

wadis and nearby towns and vil-lages, he said.

In Muscat, according to Ahmed Al Barwani, the most ood prone areas are Wadi Adai, Hamriya, Al Khoud and Al Ansab.

Outside Muscat, Quriyat and Sur are very vulnerable and that is the reason they are coming up with more dams in Quriyat and Sur, he said. According to him, the govern-ment plans to build seven more ood control dams in Al Khoud and Sur, and ve in Wadi Adai.

The studies have been done and the tender will be out soon, he added.

F L O O D I N G

< FROM

A1Haj to go ahead

Much of the city centre is undergoing construction work and many high cranes crowd the Makkah skyline. The Grand Mosque itself is undergoing expansion and renovation.

The disaster was the lat-est deadly mishaps to hit the Haj, one of the worlds larg-est religious gatherings, after hundreds of pilgrims died in a stampede in 2006.

In an attempt to reduce accidents, the Saudi Arabi-an authorities have broad-ened access paths and im-posed limits on the millions of Muslims who converge on Makkah to perform the annual rites.

An unnamed Saudi official involved in organising the Haj was quoted by Al Arabiya as saying that the pilgrimage would go ahead as planned.

The incident will not af-fect the pilgrimage this year and repairs to the damaged section (of the mosque) will begin within days, said the official. -With inputs from agencies

T R A G E D Y

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REGIONS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

Makkah crane collapse toll rises to 107; Haj to go ahead

MAKKAH: Saudi authorities said on Saturday that Haj will go ahead despite a crane col-lapse that killed 107 people at Makkahs Grand Mosque, where crowds returned to pray a day after the tragedy.

Hundreds of thousands of pil-grims had already arrived in Mak-kah, when the massive red and white crane collapsed during rain and high winds on Friday.

Parts of the Grand Mosque remained sealed off Saturday around the toppled crane, which also injured around 200 people when it fell into a courtyard.

But there was little mourning among pilgrims, who snapped pic-tures of the wreckage and contin-ued with their prayers and rituals.

Om Salma, a Moroccan pilgrim, said our phones have not stopped ringing since yesterday with rela-tives calling to check on us.

Indonesians and Indians were among those killed when the crane collapsed, while the injured included Malaysians, Egyptians and Iranians.

A Saudi official said the Haj, ex-pected to start on September 21, would proceed despite the tragedy.

It denitely will not affect the Haj this season, and the affected part will probably be xed in a few days, said the official, who de-

clined to be named. An investiga-tive committee has immediately and urgently begun searching for the cause of the collapse, the offi-cial Saudi Press Agency said.

The contractor has been direct-ed to ensure the safety of all other

cranes at the site, it added.The cranes poke into the air

over the sprawling mosque ex-pansion taking place beneath the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, the worlds third-tallest building, at 601 metres (1,972 feet).

For years, work has been under-way on a 400,000 square metre (4.3 million square feet) expan-sion of the Grand Mosque to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 mil-lion people at once.

Al Tawaf bridgeAbdel Aziz Naqoor, who said he works at the mosque, told AFP he saw the massive construction crane fall during the storm.

If it werent for Al Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse, he said, refer-ring to a covered walkway which broke the cranes fall.

A witness said the winds were so strong that they shook his car and tossed billboards around.

Pictures of the incident on Twit-

ter showed bloodied bodies strewn across the courtyard, where part of the crane came to rest atop an ornate, arched and colonnaded section of the complex.

A video on YouTube showed people screaming and rushing around following a loud crash.

Saudis and foreigners lined up in the street to give blood in re-sponse to the tragedy.

An engineer for the Saudi Bin-ladin Group, the developer, said the crane was installed in an ex-tremely professional way and there was no technical problem.

It was an act of God, he said. Sheikh Ahmed Al Ghamdi, for-

mer head of Makkahs religious police, told AFP the accident is a test from God. AFP

The accident will

not affect the Haj

this season, and the

affected part will

probably be xed

in a few days, said a

Saudi official

DISASTER: Pilgrims walk past the crane that collapsed the day before, at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on Saturday. AFP/STR

An engineer for the Saudi Binladin Group, the developer, said the crane was installed in an extremely professional way and there was no technical problem

Tunisians rally against proposed graft lawTUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians deed a state of emergency pro-tests ban on Saturday to dem-onstrate against a controversial draft law on amnesty for corrup-tion offences.

No to reconciliation that white-washes corruption, said one plac-ard protesters brandished on Ha-bib Bourguiba Avenue, hub of the revolution that ended a 23-year dictatorship in 2011.

The demonstrators included supporters of the leftist Popular Front coalition, members of a citi-zens group called No, we will not forgive set up after the bill was announced and opposition parties.

The people own the street -- not afraid and not terrorised, demonstrators chanted during the peaceful protest.

Authorities have kept the key avenue in the capital closed to traf-c for several days because of what they call terrorist threats.

There was a large security pres-ence there on Saturday, with many police and National Guard officers, both in uniform and plain-clothed.

Barriers were installed at all ac-cess points and some side streets were closed to pedestrians.

ReconciliationPresident Beji Caid Essebsi pre-sented the draft economic and nancial reconciliation bill to the cabinet in mid-July.

He has called on parliament to adopt the law pardoning people charged with or convicted of nan-cial corruption if they confess and return any money obtained. The draft law has many critics in both political parties and civil society.

Sallemi, a 55-year-old protester who did not give his surname, said he came all the way from the cen-tral city of Gafsa to vent his anger.

I took out loans for every-thing, my house, my fridge. No one cancelled those loans, and now they want to pardon the corrupt, he said. AFP

A M N E S T Y F O R O F F E N D E R S

16 Yemeni civilians killed in Saudi-led air strikesSANAA: At least 16 Yemeni ci-vilians including ten people from a single family were killed in na-tionwide air strikes by a Saudi-led military coalition on Saturday, medics in three provinces said.

Gulf countries have stepped up their air attacks targeting the Houthi movement after the group killed at least 60 Arab troops de-ployed to Yemen in a missile at-tack on their base last Friday.

The raids pummelled the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa and the southern city of Taiz, which is being fought over in heavy street battles between Houthi ghters and Gulf-backed Yemeni forces.

10 of a familyTwo civilians were killed in the capital and ten people from one family died in Taiz. Eyewitnesses said the strikes appeared to target the houses of political leaders al-lied to the Houthis.

Four more people were killed

near Yemens border with Saudi Arabia in the far northern prov-ince of Saada.

The Arab alliance has said it seeks to avoid civilian deaths in the ve-month war aimed at restoring Yemens exiled government.

More than 4,500 people have been killed in ghting and air strikes, and the conict looks set to continue as Arab states have stationed thousands of troops in Yemen ahead of a planned push toward Sanaa.

Yemens warring factions will meet for peace talks in neighbour-ing Oman next week, the United Nations and Yemeni officials said. The talks are the second major negotiations effort aimed at end-ing the war.

A drone attack killed four men suspected of belonging to Al Qaeda in northern Yemen on Sat-urday, tribal sources said, as a US campaign against the militants goes on despite the war.

Two missiles hit the mens car,

killing all of them, tribesmen in the province of Al Jawf said by telephone.

The four men were not imme-diately identied.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Penin-sula (AQAP) has taken advantage of the war pitting Houthi militia-men against forces loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to grab territory and operate more openly.

The group has carried out at-tacks against the Yemeni state for years, plotted to blow up US-bound airliners and claimed re-sponsibility for Januarys attack in Paris on a French magazine that killed 12 people.

The United States has kept up a drone campaign against the militants, although it evacuated the last of its military and intel-ligence personnel from Yemen in March. Its attacks have killed some of AQAPs top leaders, in-cluding its chief, Nasser Al Wu-hayshi, in June. Reuters

C O N F L I C T Z O N E

RESISTANCE: Armed Yemeni tribesmen from the Popular Resistance Committees, supporting forces loyal to Yemens Saudi-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, monitor the area of Algevinh in Marib province, east of the capital, Sanaa, following clashes with Houthi rebels, on Saturday. AFP

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INDIAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

The reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained. It might be a problem in the track or in the coach. There is a possibility that an animal suddenly came on the track or rocks falling on the trackNeeraj Sharma, Northern Railway chief public relations officer

Modis praise of Mulayam stokes rumour mills in UPLUCKNOW: In middle of last years high-octane Lok Sabha campaign, Narendra Modi had thumped his chappan inch ka see-na (56-inch chest) and had taken pot shots at Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, say-ing he did not have it in him to make Uttar Pradesh a developed state like Gujarat.

On Friday, at a public rally in Sa-haraswa in western Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi called the Yadav chieftain a respected lead-er and vouched for his credentials as a champion of democracy!

While the wholesome praise by its tallest leader left BJP leaders present on the stage and even in the state capital squirming in their chairs, the underlying political message was not missed by any.

While it is almost impossible that the two forces would ever come together in the future, po-litical observers here say that for now aag dono taraf se barabar lagi hui hai (its a romance from both sides).

For the BJP, parliaments upper

house has become an Achilles heel as many bills are stuck in wake of an adamant Congress, which en-joys a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

Other than that, the BJP needs Mulayam Yadav to further elector-ally dent the maha-gathbandhan in poll-bound Bihar.

Many see it not as a mere coin-cidence that a day after Mulayam Yadav and his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav drove into 7, Race Course Road for a meeting with Modi that Samajwadi Party broke ranks with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav and announced that it would contest all 243 seats in Bihar.

Edge to NDAWhile Mulayams Samajwadi Par-ty does not enjoy much support in Bihar, his walking out of the Sa-majwadi umbrella group has de-nitely given an edge to the NDA in matters of perception, and the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh, with its past base of 2-3 per cent votes, will certainly eat into the Yadav-Muslim combine that would have otherwise voted for Nitish Kumar

(JD-U) and Lalu Prasad (RJD).A little after a year, Uttar

Pradesh will go to polls and in all likelihood, the SP might not return to power.

With poor law and order, the power crisis, growing crimes against women, debt-ridden farmers and

communal riots, Mulayam Yadav needs a shoulder post-2017 when his party might be caught in the political doldrums.

Adding to his woes is the CBI probe into the alleged corruption of tainted Noida chief engineer Yadav Singh.

Only recently it has been found that Ram Gopal Yadavs son and party MP from Firozabad Aksh-ay Pratap held over 9,000 shares in a company co-owned by the tainted engineer.

Support from centreThe SP desperately needs support from the centre to keep the pre-mier investigative agency off its back. By praising Mulayam Yadav, Modi has also succeeded in con-fusing the Muslim voters.

He has once again tricked many. Now Mulayam will be ac-cused of hobnobbing with the BJP and the minority vote would split between SP-BSP and Congress, giving an edge to the saffron camp, a party veteran said.

For the BJP, Modi has only set the agenda of further isolating the Congress in parliament and also ensuring that the so called maha-gathbandhan secular formation in Bihar crumbled further.

By heaping praise on the Yadav chieftain, Modi was neither walk-ing down on his earlier attack on

the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister but was only cosying up with him for potential oor man-agement in the Rajya Sabha, a party leader said sheepishly.

Mulayam Singh did a good thing in parliament so Modi-ji praised him. We however, have ideological differences as a politi-cal entity, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

Asked if this could confuse its traditional voters, he answered in the negative. The people of UP are wise enough. Every day Mulayam Singh is tearing into the govern-ment run by his son....eventually the SP will be packed-off bag-and-baggage in 2017, Pathak said.

Samajwadi spokesman and cab-inet minister Rajendra Chowd-hary saw it is an individual refer-ence and nothing beyond (that).While one would have to wait for some time to see if the bonhomie was a one-night political stand or a long-term political strategy, for now, Modi has succeeded in stir-ring up the rumour mills in Uttar Pradesh. - IANS

P O L I T I C S

GARNERING SUPPORT: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public meeting at Radhaswami Satsang Bhawan Maidan in Saha-ranpur district on Friday. - PTI

Niti Aayogs Panagariya bats for development beyond land billNEW DELHI: Even as political parties spar over enacting a new land acquisition law, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagari-ya has suggested alternative ways for states and industry to get hold of this crucial asset for develop-ment, such as long-term lease and land-pooling.

Stopping short of saying that a central land acquisition law wasnt required, the noted econo-mist said alternative ways were also imperative since the process to acquire land takes four-ve years at times even for rural roads, affordable housing, infrastructure and building cities.

Human instinct, especially in democratic societies, is to disap-prove of coercion. In the context of land acquisition, this disapproval translates into a rejection of the taking of land by the government without the consent of the owner, Panagariya said in a blog post.

But when both buyer and seller agree, the transaction can be com-pleted, as a purchase instead of acquisition. The view that consent is always necessary amounts to ar-guing all ownership transfers must

be through purchase transactions, eliminating the need for a land ac-quisition law, he said.

In the Indian context, he said, the issue gets more complicated since land acquisition belongs to the Concurrent List of the Con-stitution, under Article 254(2), al-lowing states to amend a central act provided the central govern-ment approves of the amendment.

This, he said, could be one of the ways forward.

Under the present government, states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have amended several labour laws that fall under the Concurrent List. The same instru-mentality can be applied to land acquisition, subject to the central government giving its approval, he said.

Tamil Nadu modelHe said governments, per se, should not have much of a problem since the 2013 act has introduce a distinction between treatments of land acquired for specied public purposes for government use and that acquired for the same pur-poses but under private or public-

private-partnerships.Whereas the act permits acqui-

sition without consent when land is for the governments hold, use and control, it requires the consent of 80 per cent of the owners if land is for private projects and of 70% of them if land is for public-private-partnership projects, he said.

As a way forward, he advocates

the Tamil Nadu model, that has amended the 2013 act.

The amendment empowers the Tamil Nadu government to apply the compensation and rehabilita-tion and resettlement provisions of the 2013 Act to the listed legisla-tions, however, said the vice chair man of Indias top-most official think tank.

According to him, a major advantage of the Tamil Nadu amendment is that it allows states to add or delete legislations as conditions change.

In view of the fact that the cen-tral government has given approv-al to the Tamil Nadu amendment, it is unlikely that it would refuse other states a similar amendment

should they choose to introduce it, he added.

An additional instrument that governments may use to make ac-quisition more acceptable to land-owners is land pooling, he said.

Long-term leaseThe idea here is to purchase or acquire more land than is required for the project and eventually transfer each landowner a fraction of her land back from the excess land after the project is complete.

Since public purpose projects such as highways raise the value of surrounding land, the value of just a fraction of the acquired as-set that is returned could be higher than the value of the full piece pri-or to the completion of the project which will make it attractive for landowners.

Alternatively, government may take land on long-term lease than purchase or acquire it. Again, land-owners may nd this option attrac-tive because it allows them to keep ownership of land, earn an assured return and retain the option to re-negotiate the terms once the initial terms of the lease expires. - IANS

A L T E R N A T I V E W A Y S

Human instinct, especially in democratic societies, is to disapprove of coercion. In the context of land acquisition, this disapproval translates into a rejection of the taking of land by the government without the consent of the owner

Arvind PanagariyaNiti Aayog Vice Chairman

Massive explosion kills 85 in Madhya Pradesh

JHABUA: At least 89 people were killed and nearly 100 in-jured on Saturday after a massive blast caused by mining explosives stored in a building ripped through a crowded area in Petlwad town in Madhya Pradesh.

The blast occurred at 8.30am (IST), completely destroying at least two buildings one in which explosive material for digging wells was stored and an adjacent restaurant, and damaging several houses, officials said.

89 people have been killed in the explosion, Block Medical Of-cer Urmila Choyal said.

The explosion took place in the building of Rajendra Kasawa who has a licence to use explosive ma-terial for digging wells in rocky areas. Kasawa stored the explosive material including gelatin sticks in huge quantity in the residential

building having two shops in it and situated close to the busy Sethia Restaurant in new bus stand area, a police official said.

In the vicinity of the restau-rant, a large number of daily wage labourers were sitting when the explosion occurred.

Besides many persons were there inside the restaurant which is a major eatery in the area, an eyewitness said.

One of the injured, Narsingh said body parts were strewn in the area after the blast. We have seen them ying and falling on the ground. Vehicles specially two-wheelers were badly damaged and lying on the road, he said.

Due to the impact of the explo-sion, the double-storey house in which explosive material were stored collapsed trapping a num-ber of persons, he said.

State Home Minister Babulal Gaur said a high-level inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

Expressing anguish over the loss of lives, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced an ex-gratia of Rs200,000each to kin of the deceased and Rs50,000 for those injured.

We have performed autopsy so far on 60 bodies. Rest are ly-ing in the premises for post-mortem, Chief Medical Officer Arun Sharma said.

Among the victims were a large number of labourers who were waiting in area for their daily work.

Initially we heard the sound of crackers from a house that also has two shops on the ground oor.Lat-er, when someone opened its shut-ter, a huge explosion took place forcing people to run for cover, Balram, an injured labourer, said

in Jhabua district hospital.Only those people survived

who ran away from the spot but they too suffered injuries, Nars-ingh said and claimed nearly 150 people were injured.

A large number of people were also trapped in the restaurant lo-cated in an adjacent three-storey building, he said.

Earlier, police had said that the explosion was caused by a cooking gas cylinder kept in the hotel res-taurant. Nearly 100 people were injured in the explosion, a police official said.

I am in constant touch with officials. The incident is sad and has left me shaken. The reasons for the blast will be investigated, the Chief Minister said. A team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was dispatched to help in the salvage operations. - PTI

Officials said the blast

occurred at 8.30am

(IST), completely

destroying at least

two buildings one

in which explosive

material for digging

wells was stored

and an adjacent

restaurant BLAST SITE: People stand near the site of an explosion in Jhabua district at Madhya Pradesh, on Saturday. - Reuters

Two Britons killed as toy train derailsnear Himachal townPARWANOO (Himachal Pradesh): Two Britons were killed and sev-en injured on Saturday when two coaches of a chartered Kalka-Shimla toy train hired by a group of 37 foreigners derailed near this Himachal Pradesh town, a police officer said.

The dead were identied as two women, Loraine Toner and Joan Nickolas, both 60, Inspec-tor General of Police (Railway) Zahoor Zaidi said.

The injured were admitted to the PGI hospital in Chandigarh, 30km from the accident spot.

Over-speeding at a curve was the cause of the accident, one of the survivors told police.

Northern Railway chief public relations officer Neeraj Sharma told reporters in New Delhi that the train was booked by a group of foreigners mainly from Britain.

Police said the train with four engines left Kalka in Haryana at 12.40pm.

It went off the tracks at Taksal, just three kilometres from Kalka.

The traffic on the 96km long and a century-old narrow gauge world heritage railroad remained suspended and is likely to be re-stored by Sunday.

The chartered trains on this rail section are handled by the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation, a wing of Indian Railways.

The reason behind the inci-dent is yet to be ascertained. It might be a problem in the track or in the coach. There is a possibility that an animal suddenly came on the track or rocks falling on the track, Sharma said in New Delhi.

The Kalka-Shimla rail track was built by the British in 1903 to

ferry Europeans to and from this hill town, the erstwhile summer capital of British India.

It was chosen by Unesco as a world heritage site in 2008.

Raaja Bhasin, a Shimla-based historian, who was also travelling in the train, said that the group of foreigners was from Britain.

The accident occurred just 10 minutes after the departure of the train from the Kalka station, Bhasin said.

The Kalka-Shimla rail route also features in the Guinness Book of World Records for offer-ing the steepest rise in altitude in a space of 96 km.

More than two-thirds of the track is curved, sometimes at an-gles as sharp as 48 degrees.

Five trains run normally be-tween Kalka and Shimla every day. Each toy train the popu-lar name for it has about seven coaches and can accommodate nearly 200 passengers. - IANS

C H A R T E R E D T R A I N

ASSESSING DAMAGES: Police personnel inspect after two coaches of a toy train derailed near Taksal Station, in Kalka on Saturday. - PTI

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INDIAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

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Two Indians killed, 15 injured in crane collapse at Makkahs Grand MosqueNEW DELHI: Two Indians have been killed and 15 others injured in the crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in which more than 100 people have died, the External Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Indian officials from the Indian Consulate in Jeddah have been on the ground and have set up a 24X7 helpline to provide information and assistance.

They have been monitoring the situation through the night, Swarup said.

Regrettably we have been in-formed that two Indians have been killed in the unfortunate ac-cident, he said.

We have received reports that 15 Indians have been injured and are being assisted in various hos-pitals. These include 11 from the Haj Committee of India and four from Private Tour Operators, Ex-ternal Affairs Ministry Spokes-person said.

CondolencesPresident Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday condoled the loss of lives in the crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in which some Indians were also injured.

Heartfelt condolences to fami-lies of deceased due to crane crash in Makkah, prayers for speedy re-

covery of the injured, President Pranab Mukherjee tweeted.

The Vice President ex-pressed deep sadness over the accident at the Grand Mosque in Makkah that has resulted in casualties, a statement issued by his office said.

He called for every effort to ren-der all possible aid to the injured and the bereaved families.

Ansari conveyed his condo-lences to the families of the de-ceased and wishes speedy recov-ery to the injured persons.

Prime Minister Modi, in a tweet, said, My thoughts & prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives in the crane crash in Makkah.

I wish the injured a quick recovery.Congress President Sonia

Gandhi also expressed shock and deep distress over the loss of lives in the crane collapse in-cident at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Sonia hoped that the injured were safe and prayed for their early recovery. - PTI

T R A G E D Y

CRANE COLLAPSE: A towering construction crane, centre, is seen collapsed over the Grand Mosque, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, early Saturday morning. - PTI/AP

DEMANDING JUSTICE FOR UPHAAR FIRE TRAGEDY VICTIMSUphaar re tragedy victims along with supporters participate in a candle light march demanding justice, in New Delhi, on Saturday. Family members of Uphaar re victims said they would step up protests in their quest for justice and demanded \a new legislation to deal with the man-made disasters and better safety in public spaces. - PTI

India, Pakistan to stop mortar fire along international border

NEW DELHI: As part of efforts to bring peace on the border, India and Pakistan on Saturday decided to put a complete ban on ring of mortar shells along International Border (IB), which has claimed the lives of several civilians and dam-aged their houses.

The two sides also agreed to jointly resolve sensitive issues like ceasere violations and cross-bor-der inltration through timely ex-change of information, including via email and over telephone.

At the conclusion of the three-

day DG-level talks between Bor-der Security Force and Pak Rang-ers here, the two sides inked a 20-point joint record of discussion to follow in the future.

BSF Director General Deven-dra Kumar Pathak and Pak Rang-ers DG (Punjab) Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki signed the official record of talks on Saturday at the headquarters of BSF here after wrapping up their talks that took place almost after a break of two

years as relations between the two countries came under strain due to a host of issues on the border.

The two sides have decided that they will not resort to mortar re along IB in times of peace. At the same time, it was agreed that the two forces will not use heavy weapons and these sort of weap-onry and ammunition will only be used as a last resort, sources said.

They said the two sides dis-cussed that the images of civilians

and border population ashing the shiny metal ns of red mortar shells was a very tragic sight and hence this sort of ring or retalia-tion should be immediately put to an end.

Mortar is an artillery which res heavy-damage explosive shells.

Cordial, constructive talksThe outcome of the talks, which both the sides said were held in a cordial and constructive atmos-phere, also endorsed a Condence Building Measure (CBM) that in case either side notices suspect movement along IB, they will re precautionary illumination shots to alert the counterpart that the forthcoming re is aimed at the in-truder and not at them.

Both sides have pledged to honour the written commitments made during these talks. The two forces expressed belief that these words will be honoured in the times to come, they said.

However, Pakistan has put on hold for the time being two other CBMs of cultural and sporting activities exchanges as proposed by BSF.

Pakistan said it could be imple-mented after some time is given to the primary decisions taken of ending ceasere violations and de-velopment of mutual trust.

They have assured that these

two CBMs would be activated be-fore a BSF delegation travels to Pa-kistan by the middle of next year, they said.

BSF and Rangers also decided to hold coordinated patrolling along IB in Gujarat, Rajasthan and once this is successful, this will be con-ducted along Jammu frontier too.

The joint record also mentioned that both sides will take extra steps to help and repatriate those who inadvertently cross the border and similarly ensure early release of apprehended shermen.

It was also decided, they said, that any serious breach of cease-re violation will be jointly inves-tigated by the two sides.

BSF also put across the point that creation and maintenance of legitimate defence infrastructure along IB should be allowed with-out any interruption, which the other side accepted and requested for a reciprocal arrangement.

The Joint Record of Discussion charting a future route map for co-operation between the two border guarding forces was signed today.It was mutually agreed to hold the next talks in the rst half of 2016 in Pakistan, a BSF statement said.

The talks ended on an optimis-tic note with both sides agree-ing on constant endeavour to maintain peaceful and tranquil borders, it added. - PTI

The two sides also

agreed to jointly

resolve sensitive

issues like ceasere

violations and

cross-border

inltration through

timely exchange of

informationEFFORTS TO BRING PEACE: Border Security Force (BSF) Director General D.K. Pathak and Pakistani Rangers Director General (Pun-jab), Major General Umar Farooq Burki shake hands after signing an agreement, at the end of the BSF-Pak Rangers Annual Meet at BSF headquarters in New Delhi on Saturday. - PTI

Indian temple receives Rs20m as cash offering

TIRUPATI: Well-known south Indian hillock shrine of deity Venkateswara, touted as one of the richest Hindu temples in the world, has received a mammoth cash offering of Rs20 million.

Kodan Srinivasulu Reddy, a Bengaluru-based industrialist, made the offering at the shrine, located atop holy hill of Tiruma-la in the Southeastern coastal state of Andhra Pradesh near here, on Friday.

According to temple sources, Reddy handed over a demand draft to Chadalawada Krishna-murty, Chairman of the Tiru-mala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the an-cient and cash-rich shrine.

Free mealsThe devotee requested the TTD to utilise Rs10 million from the offering for the free meals scheme being run for the ben-et of pilgrims visiting the hill shrine, they said.

The industrialist also wanted the remaining Rs10 million to be used towards construction of proposed multi-crore colossal stone pillar mandapam to come up right in front of the temple in the place of ancient thousand pillar mandapam, demolished in 2002, the temple sources added. - PTI

D E I T Y V E N K A T E S W A R A

NDA seat-sharing woes continue as Manjhi demands more seatsNEW DELHI: With former Bi-har chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi sticking to his demand for more seats, nalisation of a seat-sharing arrangements by BJP with its allies for the assem-bly polls in the state eluded yes-terday even as hectic talks con-tinued throughout the day.

According to sources, Manjhi on Saturday met BJP President Amit Shah at the latters resi-dence twice and held seat-shar-ing talks when he demanded more seats from BJP for his Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM). There were plans to declare NDAs seat-sharing plans on Saturday after its senior leader Ananth Kumar said so in the morning.

Manjhi expressed unhappi-ness over the 15-odd seats offered to HAM and further talks with him will be held on Sunday.

HAM has been offered around

15 seats and the ve outgoing MLAs owing allegiance to him have been asked to contest on BJP tickets.

Rashtriya Lok Samata Partys (RLSP) Upendra Kushwaha, also an ally of NDA, also met Shah on Saturday and later said he has authorised Shah to nalise seat-sharing.

While BJP plans to contest on around 160 seats out of a total of 243 seats, RLSP is being of-fered 25 seats while Ram Vilas Paswans Lok Janshakti Party around 40, it is learnt.

Seat-sharing talks among NDA allies started since morning and continued till late at night at Amit Shahs residence.

After Manjhis disapproval over seats offered to him, BJP Bihar core group held its meet-ing late in the evening to discuss seat-sharing. - PTI

B I H A R P O L L S

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PAKISTAN S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3, 2 0 1 5

MOURNING DEATHSPakistani women mourn during the funeral of the opposition party activists who were killed by paramilitary forces, in Karachi on Saturday. A Pakistani paramilitary force said on Friday, it had killed four terror suspects during a gunght in Karachi, but a leading opposition party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said the men were executed as part of an ongoing political vendetta. AFP

Policeman, two militants killed in gunghtPESHAWAR: Three people were killed and at least ve others were injured in a gunght in Pakistans northwestern city of Peshawar late Friday, police said.

The clashes erupted when un-known gunmen fired at a police van patrolling the suburbs of Peshawar.

One policeman was killed while four others were wounded in exchange of re with militants. Two militants were also killed in the ght, Rana Omer, a senior po-lice official in Peshawar, told AFP.

The militants red at our mo-bile team which was on a rou-tine patrol in Pushtakhara area at night. We responded to the gunre and killed two attackers while one escaped after being wounded, he said.

Another senior police offi-cial, Mubarak Zeb, confirmed the incident.

Taliban attacksPeshawar has suffered numerous Taliban attacks but it was not im-mediately clear that who was be-hind this ambush.

The city suffered the worst ter-ror attack in Pakistani history in December when Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at an army-run school.

But recently then there has been a lull in violence. The last deadly attack in the city came in February when three heavily armed Taliban militants stormed a mosque, kill-ing 21 people. AFP

P E S H A W A R

When Elizabeth haggled over the price of a carpet in PakistanISLAMABAD: We all know that Queen Elizabeth II graced Paki-stan with her presence in 1997 to be part of the countrys 50th In-dependence Day anniversary cel-ebrations. But would you believe that she haggled over the price of a carpet. Well, she did.

Speaking to BBCs Shaimaa Khalil, former Punjab governor Shahid Hamid narrated the story of when Elizabeth went carpet shopping in Pakistan. The for-mer governor had then called in two of the top carpet manufac-turers in the country and had 15 to 20 carpets placed on the oor for her inspection.

She looked at the carpets, and you know it was amazing, she im-mediately took off her shoes, and in her stockinged feet, she walked over each carpet. I was fasci-nated, I didnt know this, but she explained that was the way you could tell the feel of the pile on the carpet, thats how you could judge the quality.

And then she came to one par-

ticular one that she was obviously interested in.

Having decided which one she wanted, the Queen asked Hamid to ask for its price, which he did, quoting it to her in British cur-rency. However, upon hearing

the price, she looked at him and said, Governor, can we haggle? Laughing, Hamid recounted how he had replied, Maam, Ill get you a royal discount.

The ex-governors wife Sar-wat Hamid, who was the Queens

lady-in-waiting at the time, also talked about her impression of the Queen and said, She had this wonderful ability to put anyone completely at ease. She was so natural, she was so genuine and so sincere, and her interest in every-

thing, including my family, life of politicians here, even though we were not in politics.

Hamid narrated another inci-dent during the Queens stay when she had been taken to tour the Na-tional College of Arts. According to

the programme, she was supposed to be taken back to the car and driven to the Governors House, but as she was getting in the car, she noticed a very large number of people gathered on the other side of the road.

She then asked if they could walk across to the road.

She walked across it and inter-acted with that crowd. She was ab-solutely not concerned about the security, he said.

Struck a chordSarwat further remembered how the gure of the Queen was very real to the older generation. And to actually see her and know that she has come all this way out as part of our 50th anniversary of the Independence of Pakistan, that struck a chord with people.

Queen Elizabeth II became Brit-ains longest-reigning monarch on September 9 when she passed the record set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. Express Tribune

D O W N M E M O R Y L A N E

She looked at the carpets, and you know it was amazing, she immediately took off her shoes, and in her stockinged feet, she walked over each carpet. I was fascinated, I didnt know this, but she explained that was the way you could tell the feel of the pile on the carpet, thats how you could judge the quality. And then she came to one particular one that she was obviously interested in, said former Punjab governor Shahid Hamid

Queen Elizabeth

Sympathisers of terrorists controlling Lahore: Bilawal

LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Par-ty (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday took aim at the Nawaz-led government at a rally held in Lahore, a bastion of PML-N support.

Lahore has been handed over to sympathisers of terrorists by the incumbent government, said Bilawal, who arrived in La-hore last week to hold meetings

with members of PPPs central and provincial executive coun-cils in a bid to revamp the party in the province.

At a time when our armed forc-es are driving terrorists out of the country, the current government is destroying the economy, Bila-wal said, while addressing farm-ers at the Kissan Convention.

Commenting on the armys on-going operati