My fans are my report card: Ranbir Kapoor

MUMBAI: For Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor, appreciation by his fans is like a barometer of his success.

The actor, who is gearing up for the release of his next “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”, explained that when “we are travelling or we go for some promotional events, we meet some people who really want to meet us, take a picture with us, take an autograph… I love doing it”.

“I am standing here because of them. If I go somewhere and no one asks for a photograph or an autograph, then I would feel very bad. Fans are like my report card. The more fans you have means you are doing well at your job,” the 31-year-old told reporters at an event.

Though the son of Neetu and Rishi Kapoor had an unimpressive start with “Saawariya” in 2007, Ranbir later carved a niche for himself with his performances in “Rocket Singh – Salesman Of The Year”, “Wake Up Sid”, “Raajneeti”, “Rockstar” and “Barfi!”.

He is expected to take it foward with “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” when it comes out May 31. The fun film will see him romancing Deepika Padukone on the big screen.

NEW DELHI: Sachin Tendulkar will not take further part in the Indian Premier League owing to an injury on his left hand, his team Mumbai Indians said Wednesday.

Tendulkar, who did not play the Qualifier I against Chennai Super Kings here Tuesday, has been ruled out of action for three weeks, according to a Mumbai Indians statement.

“Sachin Tendulkar has injured his left wrist and hand while batting in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 13th May. On investigation, we have found that there is some swelling in the wrist and around one of the tendons of his left hand,” said the statement.

“He is currently under rehab and is progressing well. The normal recovery time for this injury is around three weeks, however rehab results in the past nine days have shown reasonable improvements and we are hopeful to get him back in action as soon as possible.”

Mumbai Indians lost to Super Kings and now take on the winner of the Eliminator at the Eden Gardens Friday for a spot in the final.

Mumbai Indians pacer Dhawal Kulkarni also played his last match of IPL6.

“Dhawal has sustained a side-strain during the game against Kings XI Punjab in Dharamshala on 18th May. He will take about six weeks to recover completely and has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament,” the statement added.

NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hyderabad came up short against Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator here but their inaugural Indian Premier League campaign was a successful one, their captain Cameron White has said.

Sunrisers won 10 out of their 16 league matches before losing the knock-out game against Rajasthan Royals at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Wednesday.

The team inherited a bulk of the players from the now defunct Deccan Chargers.

“It’s been a great effort from Sunrisers this season. We won 10 games and made the play-offs. With a new franchise and new players coming together, I would call it a fantastic and successful campaign,” White told reporters after their four-wicket loss here.

“With the new auction coming up, I don’t know who will remain with the team. There could be a new set of players, whatever the franchise decides on, we will be strong enough next year,” said White, who shared the captaincy with Kumar Sangakkara this season.

While the Sunrisers’ bowling took them to the play-offs, their batting failed to deliver consistently.

“Most of the times in Hyderabad, 130 was a pretty good score. Thanks to the bowlers, we were able to defend it. Having said that there is no doubt that the batsmen needed to do more,” said the Australian.

White defended some of the young Indian players for not performing regularly.

Referring to number three batsman Hanuma Vihari, who scored 241 runs in 17 games at a modest strike rate of 86.69, White said: “One of the great things about the IPL is that it exposes this young Indian talent and if they can come through in some high-pressure tournaments like this, it’s great for the future of the Indian cricket. I am sure Vihari will be a better player in the future,” he added.

GURGAON: India faces a spectrum of security challenges and there is need for reorientation of the country’s strategic thinking as well as reappraisal of its higher defence organisations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday.

Stating that India was situated at the strategic crossroads of Asia and astride one of busiest sea lanes of the world, the prime minister said: “It is imperative that the country’s defence professionals remain abreast of the complex environment we face and the avenues that are available as a result of the enormous transition taking place in India.”

He was addressing the gathering after laying the foundation stone for the Indian National Defence University (INDU) in Binola, Gurgaon, near the Indian capital.

“India faces entire spectrum of security challenges and this is inevitable as we live in a difficult neighbourhood which holds the full range of conventional, strategic and non-traditional challenges,” he said.

He said this was a moment of history when the world is witnessing change on a scale and at a speed rarely seen before.

“Nowhere is this change more pronounced than in Asia, where we are witnessing multiple security challenges on account of the intersection of fragile states, internal conflicts, proliferation of arms and terrorist groups,” he said.

“Taken together these challenges and opportunities should prompt reorientation of our strategic thinking and a reappraisal of our highest defence organisation,” he said.

India’s security, the prime minister said, had never been stronger than it was today and our international relationships have never been more conducive to our national development efforts.

He said the government was making defence acquisition less vulnerable to unethical practices and had made policies to ensure that the armed forces have the best equipment.

“We have been guided by the objective of making defence acquisition transparent, smooth, efficient and less vulnerable to unethical practices. We will continue to seek the highest standards of the probity in defence acquisition,” he said.

Laying emphasis on indigenisation of defence procurement, Manmohan Singh said: “Our government is committed to taking further steps to stimulate the development of our domestic defence industry, including the Indian private sector.”

The defence university, Manmohan Singh said, would be a unique autonomous institution of national importance.

“It is meant to ensure that the country, government armed forces benefit from the best military advise that is available. It is also meant to provide our defence professionals with a deep understanding of the interplay between all attributes of national power,” he added.

CHANDIGARH: The computerization of entire treasury offices in Punjab ensuring all Government Payments online proved a grand success with Punjab becoming first successful state in the country to disburse more than Rs. 3218 crore to more than 7 lakh beneficiaries in one month by online system.

Disclosing this here today Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Finance Minister, Punjab said that crediting online payments was successfully running in the whole state. He said that through this recently implemented system of online payments to various departments, authorities besides salaries of government officials/employees, Punjab has credited more than Rs. 3218 crore in a short span of one and half month.

He said that Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) has been monitoring the system of online payments from its inception on 1st April, 2013 and Punjab has become the country’s first state to start this programme.

He said that all government payments from 1st April, 2013 were being deposited directly in the bank accounts of concerned departments and authorities. He said more than 7 lakh people were directly benefitted with this scheme.

The Finance Minister further said that E-Payment system was implemented in all Government Offices/Departments, whose transactions were done through treasury offices. He added that Punjab government’s next mission is to set up Cyber Treasuries.

He said that 21 Treasury Offices in the state has implemented the E-payment system while besides these offices all 74 sub treasuries were running this system in the state.

Only “Career based education” could cope with unemployment in India

Education plays a vital role in the development of any country and in India is provided by the public sector as well as the private sector, with control and funding coming from three levels : Central, State and Local.

India has made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately three-fourths of the population. India’s improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise ofIndia. Much of the progress, especially in higher education and scientific research, has been credited to various public institutions. The private education market in India is merely 5 per cent.

However, India continues to face stern challenges. Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7% graduate. The quality of education whether at primary or higher education is significantly poor as compared with major developing nations.

On the one hand, majority of the people are lacking education while on the other hand, the standard of education is going down day by day. The most important is that pass-outs are facing unemployment problem and no solution has so far been evolved to overcome this problem.

Recently, Pranab Mukharjee, President of India, while addressing to the students, at the Third Convocation function of Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar, expressed his views relating to education which has significant to bring efficiency in our education system. In our country, the problem is that the condition of our Universities is also becoming worst along with the schools. President was of the view that there should be one rustic type centre in every University, where the work is done on the basis of research developments with motivational attitude.

Now the question as to whether with the establishment of such centers, the education standard of the country would be upgraded. The question which has cropped to my mind is, “Will it be possible to bring reforms in education system, without the change in the basic proper and adequate arrangements of education?” No, not at all.

In fact, the education had never been a subject of priority for the governments. The law makers, who come through elections to the Upper and Lower Houses, are first busy in getting the victory in election and then making grounds for the next term. They are least bothered about the systems going on in the country. The opposition too speaks, disrupts the proceedings of the Houses, just for the sake of showing their existence but without showing any seriousness about the particular subject matter.

So far as education is concerned, now it has been handed over to the private companies as the government does not have enough money to run the schools, colleges and universities. Because of this type of attitude of the government towards the education, the development work of the country is badly affected. The educational institutions, in other words, has become the profitable business houses.

Moreover, the educated class is not ready to work in India itself. This trend can only be changed if certain basic changes in the system are made and it could only be possible if the education becomes a priority sector. Because of lack of funds at the government level, the research based work in the universities could not be done. This is the reason that in the top 200 universities of the world, India stands nowhere and it is a matter of serious concern.

At present, only 4 persons could get the Nobel Prize and all Indian Noble Prize winners had been doing their research work in foreign universities. There was a time when the students from all over world were attracted by Nalanda and Takshila universities inIndia. The scholars of China and other countries had got their education from Indian universities but now the situation is totally reversed. Now the Indian citizens are not interested to study in their own universities and because of shortage of students, the economic condition of the universities is also deteriorating day by day. Shortage of teachers in the universities is another big problem and cause of concern besides linking the education with the economic arrangements.

At the same time, there is an increase of about 1.2 crore in the category of labour and in 2020, it is expected to be the maximum and youths in India are becoming the victim of unemployment as their education is not employment based education.

In India, only 7 per cent students are getting vocational education. Recently, the decision of the Delhi University to introduction four year degree courses with number of vocational based courses, as a part of degree, is the right step in this direction. The educational institution needs to be strengthened simultaneously with cultural and moral value education. Bookish knowledge needs to be associated with the education of moral values to get the desired and fruitful results. The tainted teachers need to be separated from the educational institutions. It is matter of great concern when the teacher, who is to teach the student, by becoming a role model, is involved the physical exploitation of students. We require the dedicated and devoted teachers,, who are having passion for teaching. In case all concerned should take an active part in changing the education system, only then we can see a sea change in our education system.

WASHINGTON: Ahead of an expected Senate vote on the nomination of Chandigarh-born Indian-American legal luminary Srikanth ‘Sri’ Srinivasan to a top US court, 21 lawmakers have penned their support for him.Srinivasan, 46, currently principal deputy solicitor general of the US last week won unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the American capital.

“Sri Srinivasan would be an outstanding judge for the Court of Appeals,” wrote the lawmakers, including Ami Bera, the lone Indian-American House member, in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

If confirmed by the full Senate, which appears all but certain given unanimous support for him in the judicial panel, Srinivasan, who last August succeeded another Indian American, Neal Kumar Katyal, in his current job would the first South Asian judge on the powerful appeals court, often called the nation’s second-highest court.

“He has worked in the US Solicitor General’s office three times – for both Republican and Democratic administrations – and argued 24 cases before the Supreme Court,” the lawmakers wrote.

“As members of Congress, we value the importance of having diversity on the court. Representation of Indian Americans within our judicial system is overdue,” they added.

Srinivasan was born in Chandigarh and grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. He received his BA with honours and distinction in 1989 from Stanford University and his JD with distinction in 1995 from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to Order of the Coif and served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review.

He also holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which he received along with his JD in 1995.

He received the Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Furthering US National Security in 2003 and the Office of the Secretary of Defence Award for Excellence in 2005.

Ludhiana bags top position by providing 12.83 % services

CHANDIGARH: Right to Service Act 2011, implemented by Punjab Government has set new milestones in the efficiency, transparency and hassle free delivery of services to the citizens across the state by providing more than 89 lakh services to the citizens in a time bound manner.

Disclosing this here today an official spokesman said that the RTS has registered a massive success by fulfilling its main aim to provide hassle free public services besides eliminating corruption in Government offices and also making erring officers accountable for unnecessary delay in work.

Giving the details about the services, Spokesman said that till March 2013, Punjab Government has received 91,19,475 applications, out of which 89,27,473 has been disposed of within the stipulated time frame. He further said that 33053 applications remain pending due to the incomplete documents submitted by the applicants, which was only 0.36 % of the total applications. He added that 612 appeals has been filed before the 1st appellate authority, out of which 568 were disposed off and 5 officials have been penalized after the hearing of complaints.

District Ludhiana has bagged the top position in service delivery, by providing 12.83% services out of the total delivered services, followed by Ropar District with 7.24% service delivery, he added. After that Amritsar has provided 6.98 % services whereas district Patiala 6.80%.

He said that amongst the departments, Revenue department has taken a lead by providing 38.15 % services, out of the all services delivered which mainly included certified copies of all documents, attestation of Un-contested mutations and registration of all kind of documents. Besides that 17.10% services has been given by Transport department. The spokesman further said that Punjab Government has decided to start a special campaign to aware the people about the services given under RTS, which would enroll the students of all government educational institutions.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government has initiated a probe into the distribution of text books containing allegedly vulgar and irrelevant content in government schools, a minister said Wednesday.

Bathinda District Education Officer Surjit Singh Khuram was put under suspension for laxity in this connection.Punjab Education Minister S.S. Maluka inspected the books supplied to the schools in the state which have sparked a controversy due to the alleged vulgar content. He was accompanied by officers of the school education department.

Maluka said that the principal secretary of school education was asked to probe how the books with vulgar content were passed by education department.

“The education minister found that the books dispatched to schools under the inspection of Director General School Education Kahan Singh Pannu are of sub-standard quality having vulgar content, which may cause adverse effect on the minds of the children. He found that 70 percent of the books were sub-standard and totally irrelevant,” said a spokesman of the education department.

Maluka directed the language department to take utmost care in the future before finalising books for school students.

“A show cause notice has been issued to the director language department and a clarification has also been sought within 15 days,” the spokesman said.

“Principal secretary, school education, has been deputed to inquire into the matter. An explanation has also been called from all the officers who were party to the decision of dispatching these books,” the spokesman said.

SEOUL: An Indian film festival, where hugely popular Bollywood movies like “Lage Raho Munnabhai” will be screened, is to be held here to commemorate the 40th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and South Korea.

The festival will be held at CGV Yeouido, IFC Mall, May 24-28.

It has been organised by the Indian embassy with the support of CGV, the Indian tourism ministry and the Directorate of Film Festivals, a press release said .

Last month the film festival was held at Busan to packed auditoriums.

A selection of six films will be shown at this event – “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, “Rockstar”, “Fashion”, “Veer Zaara”, “Jab We Met” and “Lage Raho Munnabhai”.

The festival will be flagged off with a brief inaugural cultural show by the Indian Cultural Centre May 24. Both the winners of the “Incredible India & Korea Times Quiz Contest” will also be felicitated at the function.

The Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) was set up in 2011 in Seoul. It offers regular Yoga and dance classes by highly qualified Indian instructors, besides Hindi language classes.

NEW DELHI: Hit by the recent spot-fixing scandal, the Rajasthan Royals will have to come out strong to take on the impressive Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) eliminator to be played at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Wednesday.

The Royals and the Sunrisers, who finished third and fourth respectively in the standings, will be vying for the Qualifier Two spot where they will meet the loser of the Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings Qualifier One match Tuesday.

Shaken and stirred, the Jaipur-based Rajasthan Royals are making their first playoff appearance since the inaugural season of 2008 when they emerged champions. The past four seasons, the Royalsn have failed to replicate their 2008 performance but the Rahul Dravid-led side have finally come full circle this season.

Shane Watson has been the most influential player for the Royals, winning them several matches. Skipper Dravid and opener Ajinkya Rahane have also provided excellent starts to the team.

However, their bowling has suffered a set-back after pacer S. Sreesanth and spinners Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were caught by Delhi Police on spot-fixing charges.

On the other hand, it has been one upswing ride for debutants Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The return of Shikhar Dhawan has boosted the batting of the side which pipped the Royal Challengers Bangalore to enter the playoffs.

The Sunrisers’ real strength lies in their bowling, which is power-packed by the best pacer of the times Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma, who have not just struck for the team when needed but also have kept the run-rate in check.

The pacers are backed by leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who also has been vital for the Sunrisers’ success this season.

Both teams, with 10 wins each from 16 matches are separated only by net run-rate. They have been strong at home. Rajasthan did not lose a match at Jaipur.

Having said that, the momentum could be with Hyderabad who have won their last two matches while the scandal-hit Royals have lost their last two away games and now play with a distressed and depleted side.

KOCHI: A pall of gloom has set in at the house of S. Sreesanth here with his parents preferring to stay out of public glare following the cricketer’s arrest for alleged spot fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.

Sreesanth’s parents have now returned to their house after staying with their daughter for a few days after the news about their son’s arrest broke. They now even stay away from their friends and relatives.

Sreesanth, along with two of his Rajasthan Royals team mates, was arrested by the Delhi Police in Mumbai last week for spot fixing matches in the sixth edition of the ongoing IPL.

Rejecting the cricketer’s bail application Tuesday, a Delhi court extended his police custody till May 26.

An official in the know of things told IANS that the Kerala pacer found it hard to get a guarantor for moving a bail plea before the Delhi court.

“There are reports that Sreesanth needed a person to stand as the guarantor for moving the bail application. But he found it difficult to get one,” said the official who did not wish to be identified.

There was also bad news from Sreesanth’s employer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, where he is an assistant manager. The company suspended him Tuesday following his arrest.

“The suspension is a routine affair of any government organisation. The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) is awaiting direction from the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) in this regard,” T.C. Mathew, secretary of KCA, told IANS.

A team of Delhi Police is here to look into the bank account details of Sreesanth and his close relatives.

The Kerala government last week decided to withdraw the Kerala State Lotteries department commercials featuring Sreesanth.

Sreesanth, who is only the second cricketer from Kerala to have represented the country, has played in 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and 10 T-20s.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to ban Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches, saying the apex court had already dealt with the matter.

A division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath also refused to hear the issue related to monitoring the probe into the IPL spot fixing case.

The bench, however, agreed to hear another issue – that IPL be segregated from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The court adjourned the matter for Aug 23 asking the advocate to amend the petition, limiting it to segregation of IPL from BCCI. It said the Supreme Court had refused to ban the IPL and it cannot interfere in the apex court order.

“Supreme Court has already dealt with the issue of banning the IPL and monitoring of probe… Counsel is also not pressing for the above prayers and for another prayer of the plea seeking segregation of IPL from BCCI, counsel to amend the prayer,” said the bench.

The Supreme Court Tuesday turned down a PIL seeking ban on the IPL tournament and directed a one-man commission probing spot fixing to submit its report within 15 days. It asked the BCCI to act upon its findings according to its rules.

Petitioner NGO Association for Social and Humanitarian Affairs said: “The IPL’s model seems to be designed specifically to suit the requirements of the mafia to quickly and efficiently churn huge sums of money using the routes of hawala.”

“The strategic time out of two to three minutes while the game is being played is misused as being the only opportunity for interactions between the players and the bookies to influence the result of the match and session and thereby cheat the nation,” the petition said.

The case came to light with Delhi Police arresting three players in a post-midnight operation in Mumbai May 16 for spot fixing in IPL matches for payments of up to Rs.60 lakh just for giving away a pre-determined number of runs in an over.

NEW DELHI: As the UPA got down to celebrating its fourth anniversary, the BJP Wednesday trained its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and said he was neither leader of his party nor the country.

“For a coalition government, there is a need for a special leadership. I regret to say that in UPA Manmohan Singh is the prime minister but not leader. He is neither leader of his party nor the country,” BJP leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told the media here.

She said the UPA leadership was divided. “In the cabinet, UPA allies sit with the prime minister but for any solution to their problems they look towards the UPA chairperson (Sonia Gandhi).”

There now seemed to be one-upmanship between the Congress party and the government as well, she added.

“This divided leadership is leading to uncertainty in the country. This is political failure,” she said.

Discussing the economic failures of the United Progressive Alliance government, Sushma Swaraj said: “When the NDA had come to power, we had inherited a crumbling economy. But when we left the government, we gave them a booming economy.”

The BJP leader said the UPA-II had crossed all limits as far as corruption was concerned. “There was not so much corruption in UPA-I. One scandal leads to the other. The amounts are mind-boggling.”

Her colleague Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said the UPA’s fourth anniversary was being celebrated in a negative and pessimistic environment.

“The propaganda is not being accepted by the country. All opinion polls point to the fact that the Congress and UPA are losing their popularity fast.

“Never in history has the prime minister’s post been so dimunitive.”

With the elections only months away, the UPA-II government will present a final report card to mark its fourth anniversary.

The ‘Report to The People 2013′, which will be released by the prime minister, is expected to try blunt the opposition attack with statistics.

Congress dismisses SAD-BJP claim of victory in BS, ZP elections
CHANDIGARH: Partap Singh Bajwa President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) today dismissed as ‘mischievous’ the claim of land slide victory in Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections made by SAD-BJP government. “It is not a popular mandate rather murder of democracy”, Bajwa stated.
Mr.Bajwa in a statement here said that the people of Manna, the village adjoining to native village of the Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal had felt the first taste of so called victory of SAD-BJP alliance where the Punjab Police has booked 150 persons for rioting. He said that the violence in Manna village was reaction to mass booth capturing by a mob led by OSD to the Dy. Chief Minister.
PPCC President said that registration of criminal cases against residents of whole village by police was an attempt to gag the voice of public. “It is telling story of terror created by SAD-BJP government before and after the elections”, he stated and added that Chief Minister was unable to feel the undercurrent of anger in people against rigging. He said that if this was state of affairs in home constituency of Chief Minister, the plight of people in rest of the state can’t be different.
Mr.Bajwa said that Congress had taken the decision to fight the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections to safeguard the people’s faith in democracy and they have succeeded in their aim. He said that organized violence against Congress workers was an attempt by the ruling alliance to frustrate the Congress cadre and win unopposed. “We have defeated the design of SAD-BJP alliance and ensured the maximum possible participation of people. This is real victory of people of Punjab”, he added.
Mr. Bajwa however complimented the Congress candidates who won despite all odds and party workers for fighting vigorously against the coercive methods adopted by the SAD-BJP alliance to suppress the voters and particularly the Congress cadre. He said that ruling alliance had made brazen attempts to hijack the election process in connivance with the State Election Commission and Punjab Police right from the time of demarcation of zones for Block Samiti and Zila Parishad. He said that names of Congress voters were deleted and zones were demarked arbitrarily. The Congress candidates were coerced and their nomination papers were rejected without citing any valid reason.
PPCC President said that Congress raised the issue at every stage and submitted two memorandums with ample evidence of violations and highhandedness by SAD-BJP alliance. The stand of Congress party that free and fair election is not possible in the given circumstances was proved right by the independent media reports. He said that notwithstanding claims by SAD-BJP government, the people of Punjab are witness to rigging by way of pre-poll violence, political murders of opposition candidate and workers, booth capturing at large scale.
Mr. Bajwa said that SAD-BJP alliance leaders were free to celebrate their victory but Congress has serious concerns about the future of Punjab and mainly worried about the credibility of democratic institutions and eroding faith of people in the democratic process. He said that he was saddened to see the decline in moral values and lack of accountability in ruling alliance leaders. He stated that SAD-BJP had formed an opportunist alliance and their only agenda is to grab and ruin the democratic institutions.
Mr. Bajwa said SAD-BJP alliance had broke the faith of people in democracy and weakened the foundation of democratic institutions by leaps of their actions. He said founders of constitution had given the right to people to vote fearlessly.

PATIALA: Dr Aarti Sarwal, a doctor from Patiala, has been given the Outstanding Young Physician Award at the 56th Annual Medical Alumni Awards function specially arranged by the University of Missouri, School of Medicine.

Outstanding Young Physician Award has been given only to two doctors, one to Dr Aarti and the other o Dr J Andrew Dykens (a US citizen). The names of the award winners are engraved in the halls of the University of Missouri, School of Medicine.

Dr Aarti Sarwal did her MBBS from Government Medical College in Patiala (1996-2001 batch) and is daughter of Er PK Sarwal (a retired Engineer-in-Chief) and Dr Indu Sarwal, a retired principal of the government college. Her younger sister also topped in MA (English Literature) and was awarded Gold Medal from the Government Mohindra College.

Aarti Sarwal is an assistant professor of neurology and critical care at Wake Forest School of Medicine. She also serves as a faculty member with the school’s Office of Women in Medicine and Science.

Dr Sarwal completed medical school and training in medical informatics in India. After serving as chief resident for neurology at MU’s medical school from 2008 to 2009, Dr Sarwal completed a fellowship in neurocritical care at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr Sarwal’s clinical interests include intubation and extubation criteria in neurologically impaired patients and cerebrovascular ischemia and reperfusion. Her research interests include neuromuscular ultrasound in assessing respiratory muscles, ventilator induced respiratory muscle dysfunction, weaning failure in critically ill patients, and airway management in the neurocritical care unit.

In a short span, Dr Sarwal has written five book chapters and 13 peer-reviewed journal articles. She also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Central Nervous System Disease and is the review editor of Frontiers in Hospitalist Neurology.

During her time at MU, Dr Sarwal became involved in several committees and organizations to improve institutional practices and curriculum. She was coordinator of the American Acadency of Neurology’s Student Interest Group for the Columbia, Mo., chapter worked on the Residenry Curriculum Committee and served on the Department of Neurology’s Annual Quality Improvement Committee. She remains active with the American Academy of Neurology, American Society of neuroimaging, and several other professional organizations.

In recognition of her engagement with quality improvement and education at MU, Dr. Sarwal received several travel awards and scholarships for national neurology and neuroimaging conferences. She received the Daniel M. Keniston Award in 2009 for serving as an outstanding neurology resident, and she won the Neurocritical Care Society’s simulation resuscitation competition in 2010.

CHANDIGARH: Admission to the first year Diploma Courses under the Sikh Minority Quota at Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic College, Ludhiana and Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Polytechnic College, Fatehgarh Sahib would be held on 26th and 27th may 2013.

A spokesman of the the Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training today said that the admission procedure would take place in the premises of Guru Nanak Dev Polytechnic College Ludhiana. The candidates seeking admission under this quota having appeared in JET 2013 and should have passed the religious test conducted by SGPC Amritsar has been directed to fill an application form on the spot at the venue of admission, he added.

The spokesman further said that on May 26 the admission process for 15 percent all India quota would start at 8.30 am, followed by 85 percent Punjab quota (all reserved categories excluding SC/ST) at9.30 am. He said that admission for Punjab general category (Rural) would be made from 2 pm onwards on the same day.

He said that on the next day which would be May 27 , the admission process would start at 8.30 am for Punjab general (urban category). At 10 am admissions for 85 percent Punjab (SC/ST category) would take place. After that the seats remaining vacant out of the SC/ST category would be converted and filled out of the candidates from general category (Urban Category).

The spokesman also said that the candidates must bring their original certificates including JET admit card and result card at the time for admission. For rural seats candidates must bring completed from No 11 available in the prospect at the page No 52 and they should have to deposit the complete fee at the time of admission.

CHANDIGARH: Heat wave condition intensified further across Punjab and Haryana Tuesday with temperatures at some places crossing 46 degrees Celsius Monday, the weather office here said.Temperatures remained five to seven degrees above normal across both states.Ludhiana in Punjab was the hottest in the region with the mercury hitting a high of 46.3 degrees Celsius. Amritsar recorded a high of 46.1 degrees.

Hisar was the hottest in Haryana with the mercury hitting a high of 46.2 degrees Celsius, five degrees above what is average for this time of the season.

Bhiwani recorded a high of 45.4 degrees while Narnaul recorded a high of 45.6 degrees.

Chandigarh had a high of 42.6 degrees, five degrees above average.

The weather office said that the temperatures would remain high in the coming three days and the weather would be dry and sunny.

SRINAGAR: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was involved in all the recently unearthed scams, including spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the involvement of some of its ministers would emerge, Janata Party leader Subramaniam Swamy said here Wednesday.

“The names of some UPA ministers will soon surface in the IPL spot fixing racket,” he told reporters here. “There can be no scams and scandals without the blessings of the UPA government. They are in Coalgate, Commonwealth Games scandal and also the IPL scandal.”

Turning to India’s neighbours, Swamy said the dispute with China was only related to to the demarcation of the Line of Actual Control while the dispute with Pakistan was about its claim on Kashmir.

“We are not ready to compromise an inch of Kashmir and the only dialogue with Pakistan on this must be focused on that part of the state that is under its unlawful occupation,” he said.

Replying a question on the promise of a plebiscite in Kashmir India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, he said: “There was no cabinet decision on a plebiscite during Nehru’s time and whatever he said is not binding on India.”

LONDON: A Sikh bus driver in Finland is fighting for his right to wear a turban while at work.Gill Sukhdarshan Singh, who works at the Veolia bus company at Vantaa near the Finnish capital of Helsinki, is trying to set a precedent by making the authorities allow him to wear a turban at work, Yle, the Finnish public broadcasting company, reported Tuesday.“I have a right to my turban, and I am a Sikh also,” the report quoted Singh as saying.

“I believe it is no problem to any other religions, we do not disturb any other religions, we only believe in our own religion.”

Singh was among the first Sikhs to move to that Nordic country in the 1980s.

After a visit to the Indian state of Punjab in December last year, he decided to wear a turban while at work.

Nobody raised any objection for two months but then the authorities concerned told him to remove it to comply with company uniform rules.

Singh’s son Sukhnavdeep Singh Gill also wears a turban and says he would like to complete his military service in Finland wearing it.

“Everybody has to and I want also to be one of them (military service),” Sukhnavdeep said.

“It is my right to go and I want to be part of it, and my religion shouldn’t be a problem. I don’t want to be treated differently, it’s my right and it shouldn’t be a problem,” he added.

Finland’s neighbours, Norway and Sweden, both allow Sikhs in the military to wear the turban.

Anu-Tuija Lehto, a lawyer at a trade union confederation, told Yle that she was confident any legal challenge to the turban ban would be successful.

Singh is using the issue as one of integration and acceptance in Finland.

Congress dismisses SAD-BJP claim of victory in BS, ZP elections
CHANDIGARH: Partap Singh Bajwa President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) today dismissed as ‘mischievous’ the claim of land slide victory in Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections made by SAD-BJP government. “It is not a popular mandate rather murder of democracy”, Bajwa stated.
Mr.Bajwa in a statement here said that the people of Manna, the village adjoining to native village of the Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal had felt the first taste of so called victory of SAD-BJP alliance where the Punjab Police has booked 150 persons for rioting. He said that the violence in Manna village was reaction to mass booth capturing by a mob led by OSD to the Dy. Chief Minister.
PPCC President said that registration of criminal cases against residents of whole village by police was an attempt to gag the voice of public. “It is telling story of terror created by SAD-BJP government before and after the elections”, he stated and added that Chief Minister was unable to feel the undercurrent of anger in people against rigging. He said that if this was state of affairs in home constituency of Chief Minister, the plight of people in rest of the state can’t be different.
Mr.Bajwa said that Congress had taken the decision to fight the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections to safeguard the people’s faith in democracy and they have succeeded in their aim. He said that organized violence against Congress workers was an attempt by the ruling alliance to frustrate the Congress cadre and win unopposed. “We have defeated the design of SAD-BJP alliance and ensured the maximum possible participation of people. This is real victory of people of Punjab”, he added.
Mr. Bajwa however complimented the Congress candidates who won despite all odds and party workers for fighting vigorously against the coercive methods adopted by the SAD-BJP alliance to suppress the voters and particularly the Congress cadre. He said that ruling alliance had made brazen attempts to hijack the election process in connivance with the State Election Commission and Punjab Police right from the time of demarcation of zones for Block Samiti and Zila Parishad. He said that names of Congress voters were deleted and zones were demarked arbitrarily. The Congress candidates were coerced and their nomination papers were rejected without citing any valid reason.
PPCC President said that Congress raised the issue at every stage and submitted two memorandums with ample evidence of violations and highhandedness by SAD-BJP alliance. The stand of Congress party that free and fair election is not possible in the given circumstances was proved right by the independent media reports. He said that notwithstanding claims by SAD-BJP government, the people of Punjab are witness to rigging by way of pre-poll violence, political murders of opposition candidate and workers, booth capturing at large scale.
Mr. Bajwa said that SAD-BJP alliance leaders were free to celebrate their victory but Congress has serious concerns about the future of Punjab and mainly worried about the credibility of democratic institutions and eroding faith of people in the democratic process. He said that he was saddened to see the decline in moral values and lack of accountability in ruling alliance leaders. He stated that SAD-BJP had formed an opportunist alliance and their only agenda is to grab and ruin the democratic institutions.
Mr. Bajwa said SAD-BJP alliance had broke the faith of people in democracy and weakened the foundation of democratic institutions by leaps of their actions. He said founders of constitution had given the right to people to vote fearlessly.

MUMBAI: In a high-profile development, Mumbai police Tuesday nabbed Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh for suspected links with the spot-fixing scam in the ongoing IPL tournament, officials said here.According to police, Vindu has links to Ramesh Vyas, one of the bookies arrested in the scam, currently in Mumbai police custody.

With the arrest of Vindu, 49, Mumbai police have sounded the first knock on Bollywood, completing the cricket-underworld-Bollywood triumvirate in the betting and spot-fixing scam that has hit the sixth edition of Indian Premier League.

Picked up from his home in suburban Mumbai, Vindu is likely to be presented before a magistrate Tuesday evening for remand and further custodial interrogation.

Son of the late wrestler-cum-actor Dara Singh, Vindu shot into the limelight a few years ago after wining the “Bigg Boss 2010″ reality show on TV.

Though police are reluctant to divulge details, it is learnt that Vindu had been under the scanner for the past few days after Vyas was arrested.

Three Rajasthan Royals IPL cricketers S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan and over a dozen bookies have been arrested in the ongoing investigations into the IPL-6 spot-fixing scam busted last week.

Vindu has acted in several movies, including the recent “Son of Sardaar”.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress today paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi on his 22nd death anniversary at a function held in Congress Bhawan here.

PPCC President Mr.Partap Singh Bajwa and other state leaders remembered the departed leader. Mr. Bajwa in a message said that Mr.Rajiv Gandhi was great visionary and founder of new India. He said Mr.Gandhi made India self dependent on new technology and telecommunication revolution is one fine example of it. He said the untimely demise of Mr Gandhi was a big loss to nation and Congress party. He however siad that Congress would continue to follow ideals of Mr.Gandhi.

Floral tributes were offered at the portrait of Mr. Gandhi by Mr. Charanjit Singh Channi, MLA & Vice President, PPCC, Mr. Rajpal Singh, Mr. Rampal Dhaipi, Mr. Paramjit Singh Ex-General Secretaries PPCCC, Mrs. Krishna Mittu, Mrs. Rajni Mehta Members PPCC, Mr Pritam Singh Bhatti, Ex-Chairman Grievances Cell, PPCC, Mr Jang Bahadur, Gen. Secy, SC Deptt. PPCC, Mrs. Romila Bansal, Vice President Mahila Congress PPCC, Mr. Gurpratap Singh Mann, Mr Rajwant Singh Shergill and a large number of Congress workers from pats of Punjab.

NEW DELHI: While refusing to ban the remaining IPL matches, the Supreme Court Tuesday slammed the BCCI, saying spot fixing incidents had taken place due to its lackadaisical approach in reining in the erring players.

An apex court bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and Dipak Misra said that it was incumbent upon the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to maintain and sustain the reputation of the 125-year-old game.

The court also directed a one-man commission that is probing spot fixing in the IPL to submit its report within 15 days and asked the BCCI to act upon its findings according to its rules.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today thanked the people of Punjab for once again endorsing their mandate in favour of SAD-BJP alliance by giving a thumping verdict in their favour in the just concluded Zila Parishad elections in the state. “It is a victory of constructive politics based on a vision of peace and communal harmony and on service of the people for greater progress and development in the state. It is a referendum on our performance as government.

It is at the same time yet another defeat for politics of cheap political ethics, negative propaganda and destructive slogans such as ‘teaching a lesson’ to the opponents. The Congress has faltered yet again in assessing the mood of the people who want a positive agenda for development and disapprove of unseemly confrontation among their leaders,” said the Chief Minister in a statement here.

Mr. Badal also thanked the leaders and rank and file of SAD-BJP alliance for ensuring the victory of its candidates through a peaceful and dignified democratic conduct. “Our workers exercised great restraint the face of grave provocations from the Congress who talked a language of violence all through the campaign.

The Chief Minister also thanked the entire election machinery and the security staff for ensuring a peaceful , smooth , free and fair election in the state.” It was a difficult task in the face of provocative stance of the Congress but the officials acted with admirable combination of restraint, firmness and tact to steer through the challenge.

Mr. Badal regretted that all through the campaign, the Congress tried to whip up passions, gave open incitements to violence and tried to play its old card of divide and rule for cheap electoral gains.”All of this has been decisively rejected by the people once again,” said Mr. Badal.

The Chief Minister described the sweeping victory of the alliance partners “as forceful mandate in favour of the positive work done at the ground level and for a responsive political culture represented by the SAD-BJP. It is also an equally forceful rejection of needless confrontation and violent idiom indulged in by the Congress leaders. People have spoken forcefully to expose the politics of lies and false propaganda indulged in by our opponents.

The Chief Minster however said that victory brings its own burden of responsibility with it and assured the people of Punjab that his government would work even harder for the progress of the state and welfare of its people. “The overwhelming and forceful victory with which the people of the state have honoured us has filled our hearts and minds with even greater humility and our sense of responsibility towards them has gone further up. Each victory adds to our responsibility and commitment and I am deeply conscious of what people expect from us,” said the Chief Minister in a statement here, adding that his government would continue to work towards the fulfillment of all the expectations that people had from it.

MUMBAI: Leading actor and Rajasthan Royals’ co-owner Preity Zinta is shaken by the spot-fixing scandal to hit the Indian Premier Legaue (IPL) and says if the charges of spot-fixing are true, it would be bad for the game.

Rajasthan Royals’ three cricketers, including India fast bowler Sreesanth, who had also played for Preity’s Kings XI Punjab IPL team, had been arrested last week for spot-fixing.

She said: “Look, I’d still like to give the accused the benefit of the doubt. But if the allegations are true, then it’s really really sad for the country, for the game and for the IPL.”

“So much faith is placed on these players. I don’t think they’ve any business betraying us like this. If the allegations are true then let me tell you the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) is going to take very stern against these players. At the same time, we can’t write off the game just because there might be some rotten eggs in the basket.”

Preity admits there have been times when she has felt out of place in the IPL.

“I am not going to deny there are dark moments when I feel, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ But on the whole the IPL experience has been very fulfilling and I’ve never been seriously tempted to question my place in it.

“I only wish people who are part of the IPL would take their responsibilities seriously. Finally, it’s not the players, but the team owner who has to face the uncomfortable questions on the raison d’etre of the IPL,” she said.

The 38-year-old, who is associated with IPL since 2008, has learned to take the criticism on her chin.

“These last three years have made me stronger. I feel I am far more experienced now as a human being than I was three years ago. We actors lead very cocooned lives. I think being only actor limited my world-view. We go to the studios, do our shots and come back home,” said the actress of hits like “Soldier”, “Salaam Namaste” and “Kal Ho Naa Ho”.

“As an entrepreneur, a cricket team owner, and a producer I’ve had rigorous exposure to the world outside the film studio. Today, I feel I am in touch with many more realities both within myself and in the outside world. Yeah, I think I’m stronger,” she said.

Currently, she is looking forward to the release of her first production venture “Ishkq In Paris”.

CHANDIGARH: 2009 has spelled global economic bust for a number of sectors also it did not result in a boom of sorts in job opportunities across the world. Looking in the rear-view mirror, the years did not look pretty good even for the employed.

Global slowdown has changed the course of her life. Ariadna from Barcelona was a renowned architect in France but global slowdown turned her to publication business. She set up there publication house. Recently, she was in Chandigarh to gather more information about the city for her book on Chandigarh. While talking to this reporter she said that she was attracted to Le Corbusier’s architecture. “All I know about the city is that the great architect designed the Capitol Complex, the Museum and city master plan. But I found a dynamic city, offering more than I expected, and I decided to come back again to enjoy Chandigarh more deeply and learn more about the Punjabi way of life,” she said.

Dwelling on her purpose of visit, she stated that earlier impression was the thoughtfulness of the city master plan and the implementation, and of course the city’s architecture. After one month travelling around the medieval towns of Rajasthan, and some days in great -but crowded and inaccessible- Delhi, Chandigarh was a well-organized town, with a geometric grid with nice streets and blocks. Nice streets with big mango trees, like a boulevard. It reminded me of some western cities but with an Indian flavour, and a Punjabi spice. It’s the first thing I observed about Chandigarh, the mixture that creates an interesting urban character.

She visited the historic sectors from the Capitol Complex to Dakshin Marg and I started to discover Le Corbusier’s team. She learned about the great Pierre Jeanneret, Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew who oversaw a young group of Indian architects like M.N. Sharma, A. Prakash, B.P. Mathur and J.K. Choudhury, who became brilliant modernist architects. Some of them were involved with the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA), said she.

During her sojourn to the city she visited the college and it was an interesting experience, not only because they had introduced to her to the Indian architecture, but also because they were great hosts and now, good friends. The City Museum and the Le Corbusier Foundation, these are the best places if you want to learn about the founding of Chandigarh. “It’s really surprising how such a young new town can have a really interesting past,” she says. She was surprised to know that even a rickshaw puller knew much about the history of Chandigarh.

She also pointed out some grey spots in the city. She realized that the sidewalks were hard to use because the city did not maintain these. She rued the increase in vehicular traffic, the space that was originally planned for pedestrians and bicycles have diminished.

She said that traffic has to coexist with pedestrians, the city has to adopt sustainable rules, promoting efficient and good quality public transport, and introducing new systems like the tram or metro in the future.

She also visited the Chandigarh College of Architecture and participated in a discussion about the growing future of the city, it was a pleasure sharing opinions with eminent architects, professors and students. I think the city finds itself in a significant moment now and has a great many goals. One of them is how Chandigarh will grow, attempting to integrate urban villages and slums, maintaining the character of the city and achieving prosperity for all people.I hope to see how the city beautiful will prosper in the next few years and how its goals are achieved. EOM

Only monitoring, education campaign and effective laws could tackle the problem

One of the gravest threats to our contemporary civilization is the menace of skewed sex ratio. The sex ratio has altered consistently in favour of boys in the states of Punjab and Haryana owing to female foeticide.Modern technology has made it very easy to determine the sex of the child in the womb, giving the parents-to-be an option of aborting the female foetus. Skewed sex ratio is a major social problem in India and female foeticide is directly responsible for this.

In our society, people are obsessed with the male child. Before the ultrasound technology became common, there was a tendency among families to continuously produce children till a male child was not born. Female foeticide is the conjunction of two ethical evils: abortion and gender. A foetus’s right to life outweighs the parents’ rights to wealth, pride, or convenience.

It is matter of deep concern that after 66 years of independence, the women are treated as a substance for physical exploitation or a child producing machine. The due respect is not being extended by the members of the society. While the atrocities on women are increasing day by day, the incidents of trafficking are also noticed. The role of our police, known as the sentinels, of the society cannot be ruled out and this business is going in almost in all metro cities. The women from the backward areas poor families are duped by giving the allurements and later on they are passed on and physically exploited. The main states are West Bengal, Odhisha, Bihar and Nepal, from where the girls are picked and sold which includes minor girls also. Such news had been appearing in the newspapers during the last few months.

In Haryana, numbers of such incidents are reported. On last May 1, 16 year old girl of West Bengal was recovered from Morni (Panchkula). This girl was kidnapped and sold to Mohammad Yusaf, who now lives in Haryana. In fact, this kidnapping and selling of girls is going for the last so many decades and the people involved in this business have a net-work throughout the world.

According to Uttrakhand police chief, Satyawart Bansal, after addiction and weapons, the next illegal and immoral business is human trafficking and out of which, about 80 per cent victims are women. Even in the report of former foreign Minister, Hillary Clinton in 2012, in India, imbalanced gender ration states are more affected including Punjab and Haryana where the women trafficking is going on at higher level who are sent in Western countries for prostitution under the influence of police officials and are always ready to save the criminals. There is a need to make special efforts to stop this in India as this issue has never been taken so seriously. This is the reason that in the modern society, women trafficking are increasing. One of the major reasons is also termed as female foeticide after determination of sex in the womb of the mother.

While Ultrasound machines are helping in detecting the cause of diseases for giving the best medical treatment, these machines are also disturbing the gender ratio and despite tall claims by the governments, this has not been checked. As per the last census in 201, the sex ratio of boy-girl in Haryana and Punjab was 1000:879.

To bridge the dividing gender gap, which is leading to lot of problems, there is an immediate need to protect the female child and to bring drastic changes in the system, there is a need to work on different angles to maintain the skewed ratio otherwise, the consequences will be more dangers when the ratio goes down, inviting kidnapping of girls besides creating a law and order problem. Only through a combination of monitoring, education campaigns, and effective legal implementation can the deep-seated prejudices against the girl child be tackled.

The authorities should come up with more stringent laws to punish those medical professionals who conduct sex-determination tests.

CHANDIGARH: Nestle India limited today evinced keen interest to invest Rs. 500 crore for the expansion and modernization of its existing unit at Moga.

An assurance to this effect given by the Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Nestle India Limited Mr. Antonio Helio Waszyk to the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal during a meeting here at Chief Minister’s residence this morning.

Taking part in the deliberations, Mr. Waszyk apprised the Chief Minister that NIL had total investment of Rs. 9500 crore across the country. He said Nestle had already invested nearly Rs. 250 crore and
the balance amount of Rs. 250 crore would be invested for technological upgradation, expansion and modernization of its Moga based plant over a period of next two years.

Silencing the recent rumors spread by the opposition about the winding up of Nestle operations at Moga, the today’s meeting of Mr. Waszyk with the Chief Minister has put all the speculations at rest,
especially in the light of assurance given by CMD Nestle to make hefty investment worth Rs. 500 crore there. Mr. Waszyk told the Chief Minister that the company had launched its first unit in 1961 at Moga
and termed it as ‘Jewel in Crown’ of their investments across the globe. He said “It is a plant in Punjab run by Punjabis, which is evident from the fact that out of total work force of 25,000
employees, 90% are Punjabis. Likewise, Nestle purchases raw material worth Rs. 650-700 crore from Punjab annually. At present, the company was procuring milk from as many as 1,10,000 dairy farmers across the state which was reflective of Nestle’s affinity with Punjabi farmers.

Mr. Waszyk further said Nestle was fortunate to launch its operation from Moga which proved to be a gateway for their entry in India at eight different locations. Mr. Waszyk also responded positively to the proposals of the Chief Minister to set up a State-of-the-art composite dairy centre in collaboration with Punjab Government comprising a super specialty veterinary hospital, model dairy farm, a breeding centre and a training facility for the dairy entrepreneurs in the state. The state
government would work out the modalities for arranging suitable Panchayat or Government land in some village near Moga for setting up of this composite dairy centre.

On the persuasion of Chief Minister, Mr. Waszyk agreed in principle to upgrade 3-4 existing private dairy farms to demonstrate the modern dairy practices, which would prove to be a beacon for the young dairy entrepreneurs to adopt dairy as an allied farming so as to achieve the target to double the milk production in the state on one hand and to give impetus to the diversification of agriculture on the other. Mr. Waszyk also apprised the Chief Minister about the Community Shared Value (CSV) programme run by the Nestle to sensitize the adolescence girls about personal hygiene besides a team of 40 veterinary doctors was providing the advanced health care facilities to the cattle of the dairy farmers in the state free of cost.

Winding up the deliberations, the Chief Minister assured the visiting Nestle team that the Punjab Government would extend all possible cooperation and support to fructify their investment plans in the near future. On the issue of exemption of purchase tax on the procurement of milk, Mr. Badal assured to get this issue thoroughly examined from the state Excise and Taxation Commissioner adding he said the
interests of all the stake holders inclu ding dairy farmers, procurement agencies and State Government would be safeguarded while resolving this issue. The Chief Minister also assured the Nestle Chief
that he would soon take up the issue of the proposed General Sales Taxraised by them with the government of India for its early resolution. Mr. Badal reiterated his commitment for the welfare of farming community at all costs besides promoting dairy farming in a big way to boost crop diversification programme in the state. Highly appreciating the commendable work done by Nestle as a water resources group in the world for the conservation of ground water, the Chief Minister invited Nestle’s water expert Prof. Asit K. Biswas for seeking his expertise to address the problem of depleting water table in Punjab effectively on the top priority. It may be recalled Prof. Biswas had already done marvelous work in the field of preservation of ground water in several countries in China, Vitanam besides Gujrat in India.

Mr. Waszyk was accompanied by Senior Vice president Corporate Affairs Mr. Sanjay Khajuria and resident Co-ordination Manager Mr. Jaspal Singh Sidhu.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Mr. S.K. Sandhu, Additional Principal Secretaries Mr. K.J.S. Cheema and Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, Excise and Taxation Commissioner Mr. Anurag Verma also
attended the meeting.

CHANDIGARH: Attempting to bridge borders and scale boundaries, the program “Exchange for Change-II” by Routes 2 Roots & The Citizens Archive of Pakistan is in it’s third phase. An initiative to encourage friendship between school children of India and Pakistan. In this third phase, Routes 2 Roots organized a work shop at the participatory school of Chandigarh that is Saupins, Gem Public School and The British School.
The students were very happy and overwhelmed to hear stories of their friends and their parents from Pakistan. Routes 2 Roots played audio recordings for the students of respective schools. Students listened to the recordings of their friends in Pakistan. The project included numerous questions which students had asked from their grandparents like how would they describe their city in which they grew up in, how people would spend their days or would they like to share some stories from their childhood years. They shared their histories, traditions, stories of their grandparents and recorded them. This project helped the young students go into the histories and share/compare with theirs. The children were also happy to learn that their grandparents and those of the Pakistani students were raised in similar type of places be it in India or Pakistan and for them the cities have changed over the years in the same way.

The children are now making a video recording for the friends in Pakistan. In this video children, will share their experience of interacting, learning and understanding about culture of Pakistan and the bond that they have built through exchange of letters, post cards, collages etc.

The endeavor is enabling students to familiarize with each other’s history, culture & lifestyle across Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi from Pakistan and Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai schools. During the 12-month exchange for change, a sustained exchange of written, visual & oral histories with school children aged 10-14 years from 6 cities, 14 schools and 3500 children are a part of this program , culminating with physical exchange of select children from both the countries to visit each other countries and schools. The teachers of the participatory schools are also writing letters to their counter parts in Pakistan. Adarsh Vidyalaya and Amulakh Amichand Bhimji Vidyalaya High School from Mumbai, Tagore International School, Vasant Vihar, Guru Harkrishan Public School, Punjabi Bagh from Delhi and Saupins, Gem Public School and The British School from Chandigarh are part of this year in Exchange for Change2012-2013.

Anushree Gupta, Project Director, Routes 2 Roots says, “With a positive response to our first EXCHANGE FOR CHANGE program, we look forward to “Exchange for change program-2012-2013” which will connect a much larger pool of Children, schools and cities this time. We endeavor to spread peace and friendship between the two nations through this project where 3500 school children with their families and friends shall be involved. We are also creating Alumni for the participatory schools from last project, so that students and teachers are still part of it.” The second phase of “Exchange for change program” would help in bringing a positive shift in fixed mindsets of majority of the people in both the countries.

CHANDIGARH: Sukhbir Singh Badal President Shiromani Akali Dal and Deputy Chief Minister Punjab today said that confused and desperate PPCC Chief Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa was weaving the web of deceit and lies, to cover up his failures and advised him to come out of a self created illusion regarding so called popularity of ‘National’ political party once named Congress party in India.

In a statement issued here today, the SAD President said that even more than one year after results of Vidhan Sabha elections, Congress party is refusing to believe the hard fact that they have lost it and people have overwhelmingly elected SAD-BJP combine to serve the state. Mr. Badal said that the new coroneted PPCC Chief was so confused that he does not know whom to blame for their own failures. On one hand he is blaming SAD for engineering the victory in Vidhan Sabha elections on other hand he himself sought services of central forces for Zila Parishad elections under whose supervised elections Congress was decimated in 2012. The SAD President said that the Congress party is so scared to face the elections that it adopted every possible mean to scuttle the elections to Panchayat bodies, moving to High court, petitioning Governor and State Election Commission so that they could save their face from their own high command.

Badal said that this election was a bitter test for Congress party as Capt. Amarinder Singh is enjoying the discomfort of Bajwa by putting himself in self created exile whereas other party sections even in the constituency of PPCC Chief were pulling the rug from under his feet.

Questioning the rationale of claiming the antiquity of 124 years old Congress party, the SAD President said that political parties like Congress are not basmati rice that older they grow better they are. He said that the fact is that the recent multi thousands crore scams have proved that Congress Party has the DNA of East India Company, that was bent upon looting the country. He said that it was time for Bajwa to see the political map of the India where Congress party stands eclipsed in most of the states with non Congress parties were ruling most of the states. Even at the Centre the minority Congress party was surviving on the crutches of Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav with daily horse-trading, he added.

Lashing out at Bajwa for compromising the interests of the state for the sake of his chair, Mr. Badal said that the criminal silence of PPCC Chief in Parliament on the crucial issues of special relief package to Bihar, ignoring Punjab, neglect of Punjab in Rs. 72000 crore debt waiver scheme, meagre hike in MSP of wheat and Rice, on the issue of denial of justice to 3000 victim families of 1984 anti Sikh massacre have proved Bajwa is more concerned about his chair rather than interests of Punjabis. Mr. Badal said that creating photo opportunities without fetching substantial scheme for the state Bajwa is playing the game of the double agent and showing the true anti Punjab face of Congress party.

Advising Bajwa to have faith in the democratic institutions of the country that have sustained our democracy for 65 years Badal said that even emergency imposed by Congress party under Indira Gandhi could not crush the democratic aspirations of Indian citizens.

CHANDIGARH: Police had to use water cannons to disperse scores of BJP workers who clashed with police during a protest near the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office here Monday.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers were seeking the ouster of the CBI Chandigarh region chief Mahesh Aggarwal alleging that he had leaked information about the raids of the CBI’s Delhi team on former railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla in the railway bribery case. Aggarwal is a deputy inspector general (DIG) with the CBI here.

BJP leader and former union minister Harmohan Dhawan alleged that Aggarwal, a relative of Bansal, had leaked the information about the raids to Singla’s family.

He alleged that crucial evidence of the bribery scam was taken away by the family just before the CBI’s Delhi team raided Singla’s residence and office.

Singla was arrested by the CBI earlier May after he allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs.90 lakh from a railways officer, Mahesh Kumar, to get him appointed as a member of the powerful Railway Board.

Bansal was forced to resign as railways minister following Singla’s arrest.

Dhawan alleged that Aggarwal had been posted at the CBI’s Chandigarh office since 2006 in contravention of rules, even after his promotion to a DIG.

The “leakage” of the information about the raids has been put up in an affidavit to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) here by CBI officer Inspector Balbir Singh. Singh approached the CAT against his transfer to Bhopal.

He alleged that Aggarwal had also asked him not to name Rajeev Gupta, joint commissioner of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation, in another bribery case.

Rajeev Gupta is a relative of Sunil Gupta, Bansal’s chartered accountant.

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Prabhudheva, who has cast Shruti Haasan in “Ramaiya Vastavaiya”, says he is no one to “relaunch” the daughter of veteran actress Kamal Haasan.

“It’s not a relaunch! Shruti is Kamal Haasan’s daughter. Who am I to relaunch her,” Prabhudheva told IANS.

Shruti has earlier featured in Bollywood films like “Luck” and “Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji”, which didn’t manage to elicit the expected response. But Prabhudheva had his reasons to cast the actress in his directorial.

“I was confused whether to take a new girl or an established actress, but Shruti looked perfect for the role. You will realise why I cast Shruti once you see the film. She is beautiful, (and as a) dancer she is superb,” he said,

“Ramaya Vastavaiya”, releasing July 19, also features Girish Kumar.

NEW DELHI: Three Rajasthan Royal players, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan, arrested for alleged spot fixing in the IPL will be questioned for the second time by the Delhi Police Saturday.The trio will be confronted with each other for the first time since their arrest Thursday. They were questioned separately Friday, police said.

They will also be confronted with bookies and audio recordings. The questioning will be led by S.N. Srivastava, special commissioner of Delhi Police.

The Delhi Police is likely to conduct more raids in several cities Saturday to track the money trail in connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot fixing, sources said.

Raids will be carried out in five cities, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Delhi-NCR (national capital region).

Three cricketers and eleven bookies, who are in five days police custody, were charged under section 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The Delhi Police arrested the three players in a post-midnight operation in Mumbai May 16 for spot fixing in IPL matches for payments of upto Rs.60 lakh, just for giving away a pre-determined number of runs in an over.

NEW DELHI: Elections have become the biggest source of corruption in India, former chief election commissioner (CEC) S.Y. Quraishi has said, while stressing for the need for poll reforms.”Elections have become the biggest source of corruption in the country,” Quraishi said Friday while delivering a lecture at the British Council here.

“Political power is strong and competition bitter. Involvement of criminals and booth capturing are the challenges,” he said.

According to Quraishi, the nexus between politicians and the bureaucracy begins the moment a politician becomes a minister and starts the process of recovering the money spent in contesting the polls.

The former poll panel chief mentioned the fact that 162 of the 543 Lok Sabha members had criminal charges pending against them and the number had gone up from 124 in the previous Lok Sabha.

Quraishi said political parties had reservations on banning criminals from contesting the elections, saying that cases could be lodged against them by political opponents.

“We said ban those against whom cases were registered or charges framed in a court six months ago,” he said.

Pointing at a positive aspect of the Indian elections, that good governance was increasingly becoming a vote catcher, Quraishi said that competitive populism was its side effect.

“Parties offer colour TVs, washing machines, laptops to voters,” said Quraishi.

However, he said that given the poverty levels in the country, it was good that poor people were getting something.

“This has led to a war of the manifestos,” he said.

“But there is nothing wrong in a political party promising things. It is not a bribe as it is paid through the public exchequer,” he said.

“Good economics was bad politics in India,” Quraishi said.

He said that political interference leads to compromise in bureaucracy, and that conducting general elections in the country was the largest such exercise in the world.

“The number of voters that we deal with would equal around 50 countries of Europe and 56 countries of the Americas,” he said.

“And it is a zero error exercise,” he said.

Form Committees to check vulgarity in rendering songs on the pattern of Board of Film Censors

It is quite pathetic to see these creatively challenged writers use foul language and raunchy lyrics to give their weak songs the much needed punch. It is just a cheap tactic to grab attention. It seems that no one cares or more precisely the people who need to, don’t bother to come forward.

There are number of social issues for which the Punjab and High Court had been taking land-mark decisions and the recent one is of Honey Singh for taking a strong stand against rendering of vulgar songs with lewd lyrics, such as “Main balatkari hoon (I am rapist).

However, the credit for this goes to Ravinder Singh Kitna of HOPE, a non-government organizations that had filed a petition in the High Court in this regard, called it a victory of activists who had raised their voice against such singers. The singer has been booked under Section 294 of the IPC that entails imprisonment up to three months or a fine or both.

In fact, the vulgar songs are those in which the cheap urban street poetry is expressed. Commenting on the Honey Singh, High Court besides pulling up the Punjab Government for not initiating action against Honey Singh, has appealed to the people to boycott the singers giving their performance with vulgar songs. The observations of High Court on these occasions have special importance for creating healthy atmosphere in the society. It is matter of concern that the Punjab Government has not initiated any action to curb the songs with vulgar, cheap and frumpy vocabulary. The orders given by Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kmar Jain in this case are really appreciable and deserving being need of the hour. Now when the court has given its verdict, it is now for the government to take strict action as per the law by adopting the strong attitude. No singer, producer or musician could be allowed to work against the disfiguring of the society.

The Sikh organizations and other activists have also come forward and burnt Honey Singh’s effigy in Jalandhar. They said that while singers like Jazzy B, Diljit, Gippy Grewal, Geeta Zaildar were singing vulgar songs with equally vulgar videos they were displaying Sikh symbols like Khanda, which was not only amounted to disrespect to these symbols but also hurt the sentiments of Sikhs. Istri Jagriti Manch leader Jasbir Kaur have also demanded that these singers had promised they would not sing vulgar songs but now they back tracked.

Another NGOs Coordination Committee President, Inder Singh Gogia, when contacted was of he view that the writers are more responsible for composing the songs with cheap thoughts and feelings of vulgar vocabulary.

There is need to create a committee on the pattern of Film Board of Censorship, with representation from different sections of the society, with authorization to take action against the broadcasting of vulgar songs besides recommending action against the singers, lyrists, producers and recording companies under the law. At the same time, the deputy commissioners in their respective districts to arrange the checking of display of audio and video songs in the buses, tractors and other vehicles and such initiative should be taken at all levels. The youths of rural and urban areas had to be awakening to stop the damaging of our society. It would be better if we keep intact the social values with our moral responsibilities to make efforts for building the best society.

How top BSP leadership slipped into Akali Dal, Congress

CHANDIGARH: The fact that the Bahujan Samaj Party has already started announcing its candidates –four names came out yesterday– far ahead of the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 has raised many questions regarding the secret agenda for such haste. It is this secret agenda that led to the demise of the BSP in Punjab.

“The secret is that the BSP votes polled is the loss of the Congress and the gain of the Akali Dal. It suits the Akali Dal if the BSP announces its candidates early and in large number. The Akali Dal rewards the BSP candidates for not withdrawing from the fray in many ways. Besides money power the new leadership emerging in the BSP is quietly sucked into the Akali Dal and finally smothered politically. That, in short, is the history of the BSP failure in Punjab.” This was an analysis presented in a discussion that took place in a special meeting of leaders of the newly emerged Dalit political organization, the National Scheduled Castes Alliance.

” For the last 29 years years the tragedy of the BSP in Punjab has been that the party has produced leaders no doubt but could not do anything for the Scheduled Caste community. That is the reason for the rise and fall of the BSP in Punjab and for the continuing misery of the weaker sections. They have been sold out to the ruling parties,” said Paramjit Singh Kainth, president of the NSCA, who had participated in the discussion at Jalandhar recently.

“Some such leaders who left the BSP and also the SC community and were suitably rewarded by both the Akali Dal and the Congress were involved in a double betrayal. This was the cause for Avinash Chander who had emerged has a stalwart in the BSP but joined the Akali Dal. Others who repeated this betrayal were Pawan Tinu, Desraj Dhugga, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhi, Harjinder Singh Jakhu and many others of a smaller,” said Kainth.

“Other stalwarts who joined the Congress were Satnam Singh Kainth, Hardyal Singh Kamboh, CD Kamboj and Dr Ramlal Jassi,” revealed Kainth. “The BSP remains only a dream seller party. At the grassroot level the party has no existence. All speakers at the NSCA discussion forum that analysed the rise and fall of the BSP were unanimous on this,” said Kainth. He added that the NSCA would try to provide a “determined and unsalleable” leadership to the SC community.”From riding on bicycles along with Babu Kanshi Ram once upon a time these leaders have become crorepatis,” rued Kainth.

Repolling ordered in 6 pollig stations

CHANDIGARH: Violence incidents at some places including in Lambi the home constituency of Punjab Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal marred the Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections held for today. The polling was held for 22 Zila Parishads and 145 block samitis. The result will be declared on May 21.

The state Election Commissioner Mr.S.S.Brar  said that an average 65 percent pollig was reported from Punjab.He said that the commission has decided to re conduct polls at 8 booths of 6 polling stations in the state, where reports of booth capturing, bogus voting and anomalies in voter lists have come to the fore. These booths, where the Commission decided to re-conduct polls, are Ropana booth 139 (Mukatsar),kothe Maluk Pati booth 85 (Faridkot),Churriwal Chisti booth92 and 93, Ojhanwali booth 33 and 34 , Kanha Ram booth 15(Fazilka) and Indergarh booth 155 (Moga).SEC said that Re-polling on these booths would be conducted on Moday, i.e on May 20, 2013.

While the state election Commission and Punjab Government claimed it was a peaceful election, the oppoisition Congress and People’s Party of Punjab have claimed large scale violence and booth capturing in the state. A report said that five vehicles were burnt in Mannawala vilage in Lambi constituency where Congress and SAD workers clashed.

The reports of clashes and booth captruring were received from about dozen places. Punjab Congress President Mr.Partap Singh Bajwa blamed State Election Commission for allowing SAD-BJP to indulge in rigging of poll. Mr.Sukhbir Badal President of SAD has said that huge turn out of voters has indicated for land slide victory of SAD-BJP alliance.

In the pre poll violence four persons were killed including three of Congress workers and one of SAD. Sukhraj Singh Bhagupur youth Congress leader and block samiti candidate from Patti was the first to fell down to bullets by SAD workers.

Congress party had lodged strong protests against misuse of government machinery and police by the ruling alliance. Mr.Bajwa had also demanded to impose President’s rule in Punjab.

CHANDIGARH: Partap Singh Bajwa President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) today said that the Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) President and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was living in great illusion that he was a popular leader and the fact remains he has no respect for democratic values and no concern for plight of the people of Punjab.

Rebutting a statement by Mr.Sukhbir Badal to decimate Congress party in Punjab, Mr.Bajwa said that Congress was a 125 year old national party and it has obtained 40.09 percent votes in the last assembly elections whereas SAD got only 34.7 percent votes. He reminded Mr.Badal that 60 percent of people of state voted against SAD. He said that SAD had manipulated the victory by undemocratic means and was surviving with the support of BJP. He said that it was shameful for Mr.Sukhbir Badal if he claims victory in Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections by rigging the entire poll process.

Mr.Bajwa said that Mr.Sukhbir Badal was most disliked person among people of Punjab and. He said that Mr.Sukhbir Badal was doing disservice to Punjab by suppressing voters, capturing booths, using money and muscle power as is evident to whole of the world in Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections. He said that in a bid to grab democratic institutions, Mr.Sukhbir Badal was snatching the right of self governance from the people of Punjab granted to them by 73rd and 74th amendment in the constitution of India.

He said that Mr.Sukhbir Badal was competing only with Taliban and trying to replicate their model of governing people by terror and diminishing democratic institutions.

Mr.Bajwa challenged Mr. Sukhbir Badal to ensure free and fare election of any democratic institution and face the verdict of people. He said that Parliament elections of 2014 were not far away and Congress takes the challenge to decimate SAD to place where does it belong. He reminded Mr.Sukhbir Badal that not far away in 1989 Lok Sabha poll people had decimated to SAD when it got only 2.5 percent votes against the its opponent Mr.Simranjit Singh Mann.

He said that after looting people of Punjab Mr.Sukhbir Badal thinks he was doing yeoman’s service. He said that unfortunately nobody in the SAD was of that stature that is bold enough to show the actual mirror to Mr.Sukhbir Badal. The Congress will ensure that real face of Mr.Sukhbir Badal reflects for the people to see themselves. He promised to instill fear of God in Mr.Sukhbir Badal.

Mr.Bajwa said that SAD had not fulfilled even single promises made in the election manifesto of 2012. Mr.Bajwa told Mr.Badal, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time”. He said that Congress would expose the SAD game plan. He asked Mr.Sukhbir Badal to forget about decimating the Congress and prepare for his face saving in the Parliament elections. He said that people of Punjab were waiting for an appropriate opportunity to teach a lesson to both him and his party.

Thanked people for huge turnout
CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress President Mr.Partap Singh Bajwa today thanked the people of Punjab for huge turnout in Block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections and strongly condemned the large scale violence and booth capturing by SAD workers.

In a statement issued here Mr.Bajwa said that in Lambi the home constituency of Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal, the SAD goons had burnt vehicles, beat up voters and issued threats to poll staff. He said that reports of booth capturing and violence were received from all over the state. He hailed the Congress workers for maintaining calm despite high provocation by Akali Dal workers. He said that Police was a mute spectator to naked dance of ‘gundagardi’ by Akalis.

Mr.Bajwa strongly condemned the role of State Election Commissioner Mr. S.S.Brar who didn’t act in time and rather gave free hand to SAD-BJP alliance to rig the elections. He said that he had submitted two memorandums fearing violence but Mr.Brar didn’t force police to deposit fire arms.

He said that Congress party believed in democratic process and always stood to safeguard the interests of people. He said that Congress party had given a strong fight to ruling SAD-BJP alliance. He said that Congress had its responsibility towards people of Punjab and it will not allow SAD-BJP alliance to take the people for ride.

Mr.Bajwa said that in Sehna village in Bhadaur constituency armed SAD workers came in two buses from Jaitu and captured the booths. Similar incidents of booth capturing occurred in Hathara Zone in Malerkotla, at SambhuKalan, Loh Chimbari and Sekhupur Karkeri in Ghanaur constituency and Kheri opposite Punjabi University in Sanaur, Tharuna in Shutrana, Samana, Mukatsar, Gidderbaha, Jalalabad, Dharmkot, Guru Harsahai and Ferozepur rural. He said that several Congress workers were injured and party is awaiting more details.

TORONTO: After adapting Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” for the big screen, Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta is working on a script based on Shilpi Somaya Gowda’s novel “Secret Daughter” about how two families are bound by an adoption.

Mehta is said to be busy penning the script for producers Jody Colero of Silent Joe Inc. and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

“Secret Daughter” tells the story of two families, one in Mumbai, India, forced to give a baby up for adoption, and another in San Francisco, in the US, raising a brown-skinned child from another culture.

Got high blood pressure? Try hanging up your cell phone
WASHINGTON: A study released Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hypertension in San Francisco found that talking on a mobile phone causes systolic blood pressure – the higher number in a blood pressure reading and the number doctors pay more attention to as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease – to rise significantly.

Researchers from the Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital in Piacenza, Italy, took 12 blood pressure readings at one-minute intervals from 94 patients with mild hypertension. The patients’ mean age was 53.

Patients were seated in a comfortable armchair in a doctor’s consulting room and left alone after the first blood pressure reading was taken using an automatic device.

Researchers phoned the patients at least three times and found that when the patient was on the phone or receiving a call, their blood pressure reading jumped from 121/77 on average to 129/82.

Researchers phoned the patients at least three times and found that when the patient was on the phone or receiving a call, their blood pressure reading jumped from 121/77 on average to 129/82.

The American Heart Association says less than 120/80 is a healthy reading for adults age 20 and older.

Data compiled by the US Census Bureau using the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Study on Global Aging and Adult Health show hypertension to be “by far one of the most common health conditions for those age 50 and older in Russia”, with nearly half of 50- to 69-year-olds and almost two-thirds of people over 70 suffering from hypertension.

Other data, gathered by Wireless Intelligence, an Atlanta-based mobile technology research and analysis firm, show that Russia is Europe’s largest mobile phone market by connections, or the number of active mobile devices that are connected to a network.

A report by Wireless Intelligence found that, as of June last year, there were 227.1 million mobile connections in Russia where the population is 141.9 million. That’s a mobile phone penetration of 160 percent.

In the US, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says around 30 percent of adults have high blood pressure, the ratio of mobile phone connections (321.7 million) to population (311.6 million) is 103 percent.

During the blood pressure study, neither diastolic blood pressure – the lower number in a blood pressure reading, which is a measure of the force of blood in the arteries when the heart relaxes between beats — nor heart rate increased significantly when patients received a call.

Oddly, though, the researchers found that patients who got more than 30 calls a day seemed to have developed a form of immunity to the blood pressure spikes seen in the study. Beta-blockers also seemed to help stave off blood pressure spikes.

The researchers concluded that phone calls received when a mildly hypertensive patient is having a blood pressure reading could cause systolic pressure to spike, and advised that they turn off their phone, at least for the duration of the blood pressure test.

NEW DELHI: Rotate your watch, put a towel in your trousers and remove your vest/shirt. These were some codes IPL players used to signal to bookies that they would be giving away runs in that particular over, Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar said Thursday.

“There was an agreement between bookies and players that they would give a predetermined minimum number of runs in that particular over,” Neeraj Kumar told reporters.

Detailing the modus operandi, he said: “Bookies also told them that they would have to give indications before start of an over about giving away runs. The indications included rotate your watch, put a towel in your trousers, put some time on looking around the field, take out locket or chain from your shirt and lift vest/shirt.”

The first incident of spot-fixing, he said, was found in the May 5 match between Pune Warriors and Rajasthan Royals. This was followed by the May 9 match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals and the May 15 match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Fast bowler Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals colleagues Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila along with 11 bookies were arrested in Mumbai Thursday for alleged spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Delhi Police showed video proof and call records between all the three players and bookies as evidence.

MUMBAI: A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets closed flat Thursday, as losses in consumer durables and auto stocks offset gains in realty, healthcare, oil and gas and banking scrips.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the negative at 20,167.93 points, ended the day at 20,247.33 points, up 0.17 percent or 34.37 points from its previous day close at 20,212.96 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,326.48 points and low of 20,162.12 points intra-day.

The market saw sluggish trading after posting the biggest rally in a year Wednesday when the benchmark Sensex gained 2.49 percent or 490.67 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 0.38 percent or 23.15 points higher at 6,169.90 points.

Strong buying was seen in realty, oil and gas, healthcare and banking stocks.

The BSE realty index jumped 1.81 percent. Oil and gas index was up 1.64 percent; healthcare index was up 1.53 percent and banking index was trading 1.11 percent higher.

However, the selling pressure was felt in FMCG, technology and consumer durables scrips. The BSE FMCG index was down 1.06 percent; IT index was down 0.99 percent, consumer durables index was down 0.49 percent and auto index plummeted 0.60 percent.

Hindalco Inds jumped 2.68 percent at Rs.111.15. Cipla up 2.62 percent at Rs.422.25; RIL up 2.61 percent at Rs.840.15; Dr Reddys Lab up 2.48 percent at Rs.2,115.65; Sterlite Inds up 2.07 percent at Rs. 98.45; and State Bank of India up 1.27 percent at Rs.2414.80 were among the major Sensex gainers.

Among the major Sensex losers were companies like ITC that dropped 1.71 percent to Rs.336.80; Tata Motors, down 1.69 percent to Rs.303.20; Infosys, down 1.19 percent to Rs.2,332.15; TCS, down 1.02 percent to Rs.1,454.20; and Maruti Suzuki, down 0.71 percent to Rs.1,726.60.

“We @# RR in shock with this news, coming to terms with it. Will react once we have more info and concrete evidence on the matter:(.”

Her comments came after India fast bowler S. Sreesanth as well as his Rajasthan Royals teammates Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila were arrested in Mumbai late Wednesday night for alleged spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Besides the three players, Delhi Police also arrested seven bookies from Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in connection with spot-fixing, which includes bowling no-balls or wides at pre-determined times.

The three players were arrested after Rajasthan Royals’ match with Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium Wednesday night. Rajasthan Royals lost the match by 14 runs.

Earlier, Kundra too showed his frustration at the timing of the incident and said it was not possible for IPL teams to fix matches but players, who lack integrity, can be involved in spot-fixing.

“Just when IPL was going on so smoothly without controversies I woke up to the news of 3 RR players alleged spot fixing. Investigations r on,” Kundra tweeted.

“When asked the repeated question is IPL fixed my answer is always IPL teams CAN’T be fixed but individual players who lack integrity can,” he added.

JALANDHAR: The Punjab government has made tight security arrangements during the visit of President Pranab Mukerjee on May 20. The President is scheduled to address and confer degrees to students at the 3rd convocation function organized by the Lovely Professional University on Jalandhar-Phargwara highway about 13 km from here. Punjab Governor Shiv Raj V Patil will preside over the function. State Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be the guest of honour on the occasion.

The stage constructed for the convocation has been at a distance of more than 70 feet from the access of the audience and the media. Only selected media persons both from the print and electronic have been invited to attend and cover the function.

CHANDIGARH:  Mr. Partap Singh Bajwa President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) today expressed grave concern over ‘political violence’ against Congress candidates and workers during block Samiti and Zila Parishad elections and demanded to impose President’s rule in the border state.

In a hard hitting statement Mr.Bajwa condemned the murderous attack on Malkiat Singh Congress candidate from Bhai Roopa Zone in Bathinda district at Adampur village in which he was seriously injured. His brother Jaspreet Singh was killed and son Rajwinder Singh Raju and another local leader Lakha Sidhana were seriously injured. He blamed a senior Akali Minister behind the attack.

He said that beside attacks on Congress workers, the spate of killings, robberies, rapes, kidnapping and thefts has witnessed steep rise. The people of Punjab are living in state of terror and nobody is safe.

Mr. Bajwa said that he would soon meet the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and request him to seek report from Governor of Punjab on deteriorating law and order situation in the state. He also demanded from Union Home Minister Mr. Sushil Shinde to send high level team from center to take stock of law and order situation in Punjab.

He said that he had submitted memorandum to the Governor of Punjab Mr.Shiv Raj Patil and State Election Commissioner (SEC) Mr.S.S.Brar about threat to Congress candidates during block samiti and Zila Parishad elections. He reiterated his demand to deploy central para-military forces to conduct Panchayati Raj elections. He said that SAD-BJP government has forced number of Congress candidates to withdraw from contest and issuing threats to the contesting candidates.

Taking a dig at the SEC Mr.S.S.Brar, the PPCC President said that Mr.Brar proved to be a spineless person. He is holding the constitutional post and played a mute spectator to the rigging of election process and attacks on Congress workers. Mr. Bajwa said Mr.Brar had sold his conscience to the SAD-BJP government and fully responsible for the murder of democracy. He has no right to continue his post and it will be better for him to step down gracefully to save the prestige of SEC’s post. Mr.Bajwa said that SEC didn’t even reply to the demands to video graph the voting at booths and deposit arms before beginning of election process.

He described the law and order situation in Punjab turbulent and out of control. He said that Punjab was a sensitive state and present situation is grave danger to the hard earned pace in the state. He stated that violence against Congress workers was politically motivated and organized. Mr. Bajwa said that Punjab Police was hand in glove with the SAD-BJP government and shielding the criminals involved in violent incidents.

PPCC President blamed Chief Minister Mr.Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal for abetting ‘political terrorism’ in the state. He said that Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) workers were directly involved in the murder of youth Congress leader Mr.Sukhrak Singh Bhagupur and Congress candidate of block samiti from Patti. The SAD men earlier attacked Congress MLA from Guru Harsahai Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi and no FIR was lodged by police.

Kulwinder, Anjna and Santosh aspiring to officiate in Olympics

CHANDIGARH: Kulwinder Kaur of Chandigarh, Anjna Sharma of Rajasthan and Santosh Sharma of Haryana have made a substantial contribution in form of providing technical support to conduct bouts in the 32nd Boys Freestyle and Greco-Roman and 15th Junior National Wrestling Championship hosted by the Chandigarh (UT) Wrestling Association under the supervision of the Wrestling Federation of India at the Sector 10 Rink Hall here from May 9 to 12.

Qualified from the National Institute of Sports (NSNIS), these former international and national level competitions, have now taken up the assignment of supervising the bouts and they not only enjoy they feel proud to be part of the technical officials of the WFI.

These confident ladies are aspiring to attain dizzy heights in refereeing the wrestling bouts at national and international level. Their aim is to supervise bouts in Asian Games, Olympic Games and other (International Wrestling Federation (FILA). They admit that without the support of their families and wrestling associations of their respective states and the Wrestling Federation of India, they would have not adopted and progressed in their sports career.

They feel that “the job of refereeing the bouts is always challenging. We have to mentally prepare us to overcome any pressure from the officials and supporters of the wrestlers. We prepare ourselves to be fair but firm in our decision. We cannot afford to relax even for a fraction of a second during the bout,” said Kulwinder, Anjana and Santosh.

National gold medalist and former international wrestler Kulwinder Kaur disclosed that she refereeing the bouts at state and national level in 2005. “I feel proud and honour by supervising the bouts and also enjoy the assignment. It is always a challenging job and I continuiously update my knowledge about the technical aspects of refereeing,” said Kulwinder, who had done her NIS Diploma in 2004-5.

Another referee Anjna Sharma, former national gold medalist, said “I feel good while supervising a bout. Anjna, who is also NSNIS Diploma holder in 2005-06 is supervising the bouts since 2006. “With every bout I supervise, I gain more confidence and experience. It is a respecatble asasignment,” said Anjna who also aspires to attend Asian Games and Olympic Games as technical official.

National gold medalist and former international wrestler Santosh Sharma said “acting as referee is always a challenging job. I prepare myself well before doing the job of referee. I am always in touch technical officials to know and master the new rules and regulations. I am looking forward to get a chance to supervise bouts in Asiad and Olympics and other FILA recognised international tournaments,” said Santosh who started taking part in wrestling in 2002. NSNIS Diploma holdeer in 2011-12. She started her career as a referee last year.

Santosh said “I am grooming myself to professionally work as a referee at state, national and international level. Though I am new to this assignment, I am so happy to do this job.”