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The gap
too far?
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‘Impoverished and disintegrated China is dangerous
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Ajith watches
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NATIONAL DAILY
VOL. XXXIII NO. 57
FOUNDER EDITOR: T.R.R
H CHENNAI H MONDAY 2.2.2015 (EVENING) H OTHER STATIONS TUESDAY 3.2.2015 (MORNING) H 8 PAGES Rs. 4.00 H Regd. No., TN/CC(S) DN/223/15-17, RNI No: 33810 / 82
A
Hitting back
am Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today said
that he will complain to the Election Commission
against the BJP for allegedly attacking his community
in an advertisement.
‘BJP in the past few days has been giving few advertisements personally attacking me. They attacked me
and my children, I kept quiet because Anna used to say
that if someone personally attacks you, you should have
the strength to bear it. But today they have crossed their
limit,’ he told reporters in Delhi.
‘They have called the entire community ‘updravi’.
BJP’s ﬁght is with me, whatever they have to say they
should say it against me, they should not attack the
entire Aggarwal community,’ he said. The BJP advertisement targets Kejriwal for threatening to disrupt the
Republic Day parade last year while complaining this
year that he was not been invited for the event.
Meanwhule, US President Barack Obama has said
China should not feel threatened by good relations
between the US and India, as he cautioned the Communist giant against ‘bullying’ small countries like Vietnam
or the Philippines on maritime issues.
‘I was surprised when I heard that the Chinese government had put out these statements...China doesn’t need to
be threatened because we have good relations with India,’
Obama said in his ﬁrst comments on China’s reaction
to his unprecedented second visit to India as president.
Lawyers boycott court
q Special teams formed to probe advocate’s murder q Huge number of police at Egmore
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Even as the police formed special
teams to nab ‘absconders’ in the
sensational murder case of a lawyer, advocates today boycotted the
Egmore Court, demanding the arrest
of all those involved in the killing of
their counterpart.
The first working day of the
week started on a tense note
at Egmore court, as advocates,
despite coming to the premises
in large numbers, boycotted
proceedings.
‘This is a black day for us. The real
culprit (in the murder of advocate C
Stalin) should be arrested. We have
placed a request in this regard to the
government and the police,’ said one
of the lawyers.
More than 100 policemen were
deployed in the court premises to
prevent any untoward incident.
Stalin was a supporter of S Chandan
Babu, who won the election for the
Egmore Bar Association.
BLACK & KHAKI
Advocates at the Egmore court premises. (Right) Huge number of police personnel at the court to prevent any untoward incident.
Photo: M SRINIVASAN
Stalin was killed in a clash that broke accused were involved in the violence cates, K Rajesh, 28, and A Charles, who are on the run, in connection with
32, were supporters of advocate the murder. Special teams have been
out soon after the announcement of that led to the murder of the lawyer.
the results. Police on Saturday arOn Sunday, they arrested two more Michael, who lost the president elec- formed, it is learnt.
According to sources, Chandan
rested two people, Lokeshwari and advocates in connection to the case. tions. Police are on the lookout for
Muniandi. They believe that both the
According to police, the two advo- advocate Michael and Naresh Kumar, Babu won the election for the post
Maran case: HC’s
directive to CBI
FIGHT FOR WHITE
The court ordered the CBI to
submit a status report on the
investigations
Risking their lives, two men whitewashing a building near Padi signal.
Photo: MS
Andhra MP tests
positive for swine flu
BJP leader shot dead
Visakhapatnam, Feb 2 (PTI):
Araku Lok Sabha MP K Geetha has
tested positive for swine ﬂu and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital
here, health ofﬁcials said today.
According to District Medical and
Health Ofﬁcer J Sarojini, the Andhra
Pradesh MP was admitted to the
hospital four days ago after suffering
from fever and chest pain.
Later, her swab samples were sent to
Hyderabad following which test reports
conﬁrmed that she had contracted the
viral disease. Her condition is stable
now and she is responding well to the
treatment, the ofﬁcer said.
Munger, Feb 2 (PTI):
A local BJP leader was today shot
dead by unidentified assailants in
Munger district of Bihar triggering
protest by locals who indulged in
stone-pelting and torched police
vehicles.
Pankaj Verma was shot at by the
miscreants at Maksas Bazar area
when he was on his way home after
offering prayers at a temple, SubDivisional Officer (SDO), Sadar,
Kundan Kumar said.
Verma, who was the president of the
3 quacks arrested
Namakkal, Feb 2 (PTI):
Three persons have been arrested
for posing as allopathic medical practioners without necessary qualiﬁcation in the district, police said today.
The three, arrested last night, were
running clinics in Jederpalayam,
Paramathy and Valavanthinadu.
47-year old Parthasarathi had
studied ayurveda but was prescribing allopathy medicines to patients
in Paramathy while Ramesh (32) of
Jederpalayam had a non-medical degree and the other person was a class
X pass and practising medicine in the
hilly Valavanthinadu, police added.
BJP district unit (farmers’ front), died
on spot, he said.
The incident sparked off protest
by local people who threw stones at
policemen and torched two police
vehicles and another belonging to
a Block Development Ofﬁcer (BDO)
of neighbouring Lakhisarai district,
Kumar said.
The protesters did not let the cops
take the body in their custody for
post-mortem demanding arrest of the
culprits, the SDO said, adding, efforts
are on to pacify the crowd.
2 held in Thirumullaivoyal
for possessing pistol
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Two men were arrested by
the police last night for illegally
possessing a pistol in Thirumullaivoyal.
According to police sources,
Simson Raja (36) and Raja (38)
from Thirukural Street in Thirumullaivoyal and natives of Nellai,
were with three others in Annanur yesterday, when a police
patrol team approached them.
While the three others fled,
Simson and Raja who were
hiding a pistol with them, were
caught.
They were interrogated by Deputy
Commissioner of Ambattur, Mayilvahanan. Police said, Simson
confessed to have purchased the
weapon for Rs 70,000 from Assam
and that Raja has several cases
of attempt to murder against him.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
The Madras High Court today pulled
up the CBI for not including the names
of BSNL ofﬁcers in the FIR ﬁled in
connection with the illegal telephone
exchange case. The court also
ordered the CBI to submit a status
report on the investigations.
It may be recalled that the CBI arrested former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran’s former secretary V
Gowthaman, chief technical ofﬁcer of
Sun network S Kannan and K S Ravi,
an electrician with the group, and said
that they are probing charges that
Maran had abused his position as
Union Minister of Telecommunications to surreptitiously set up a 323line high-speed, ISDN telephone
exchange at his Boat Club Road
residence. This infrastructure was
Man found dead
in roadside
dhaba
Namakkal, Feb 2 (PTI):
A 46-year-old man from West
Bengal was found dead under
mysterious circumstances at an
abandoned ‘dhaba’ in Kumarapalayam of the district, police said
today.
The deceased has been identiﬁed
as Sameerkumar, an employee of a
private company in Kerala. The body,
bluish in colour, was found near a
water tank in the ‘dhabha’ used by
truck crew to take bath and wash their
vehicles, they said.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Sameerkumar had
boarded a train to Kerala on 27
January to return to work after a
visit to his native place.
However, it was not known how
he came to Kumarapalayam. Police
suspect he could have alighted at
Erode railway junction, which is
around seven kms from Kumarapalayam.
The body has been shifted to
Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical
College hospital in neighbouring
Salem and police are awaiting the
arrival of his family members for
further action.
allegedly used to transmit data for
the Sun TV network, which is promoted by his elder brother Kalanithi
Maran. The trio was remanded in
judicial custody by Special Court
(CBI) on 22 January .
CBI ﬁled a petition with CBI court
seeking custody for ﬁve days of all
the arrested for an enquiry. However
Justice J Krishnamurthy dismissed
their plea.
The CBI made an appeal with the
High Court. It alleged that the arrested
were not co-operating and the main
accused were to arrested still. Hence
they should be granted permission to
enquire the three held in connection
with the case.
When the plea came up before
Justice Mala, she pulled up the CBI
for not including the names of BSNL
ofﬁcers in the FIR ﬁled.
of president of the Bar Council of the
Egmore court, garnering 386 votes,
20 more than his opponent Michael.
The results were announced after
midnight and ecstatic supporters
of Chandan Babu started celebrating the victory outside the court
complex.
Michael and his supporters were
enraged on seeing the celebrations.
‘Michael and his group started hurling stones at their rivals and a violent
clash ensued among the lawyers and
their aides.
They then surrounded and attacked
some of the people who were celebrating. Stalin collapsed after he
was hit on the back of his head by a
brick. The enraged group attacked
him again and left him bleeding,’ an
investigating ofﬁcer was quoted as
saying.
The body of Stalin was handed over
to his relatives on Saturday afternoon
following a post-mortem examination.
He is survived by his wife Elizabeth
and two children.
Lankan Tamils
file case against
film director
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
A group Sri Lankan Tamils protested
in front of the Commissioner’s ofﬁce in
Vepery this morning, demanding the arrest of a ﬁnancial fraudster-Fidel Castro.
According to the complaints ﬁled,
Fidel Castro, a ﬁlm director from Salem, took more than Rs seven lakh
from several refugees promising to
take them to Canada.
R Selvarajan (46), who ﬁled a complaint, said he came from Sri Lanka
with his family of three children in
2007 and has been living at Bhavanisagar refugee camp in Erode
since then. He works as a tailor.
He along with two other persons
-Thiruvasakan and Sundar, also from
Ceylon and inmates in the Bhavanisagar camp, gave around Rs seven lakh
in installments to Fidel Castro who
also goes by the names Raj Kadir,
Napolean and Bala Subramanian,
who had agreed to arrange for a trip
to Canada. Selvarajan said that he
wanted to go to Canada with his family
and get its citizenship, for which the alleged fraudster took money on interest.
Delhi polls: Kiran Bedi’s
campaign aide quits
Narendra Tandon said that he
resigned late last night from the party
because he could not accept her
dictatorial behaviour
New Delhi, Feb 2:
Kiran Bedi has run into new trouble
- an aide assigned to her election
campaign has resigned from the BJP,
blaming her dictatorial attitude. Bedi’s
starry induction into the party last
month, tailgated with the announcement that she was its presumptive
Chief Minister, has created deep
dissent within the BJP’s branch in
Delhi, forcing the party’s top leadership to take control of the campaign
for Delhi, which votes on 7 February
for its next government.
Narendra Tandon said that he resigned late last night from the party
because he could not accept her dictatorial behaviour. Kiran Bedi said she
had not been informed of his decision.
‘To the BJP, I would say ‘get well
soon’, said Yogendra Yadav of the
Aam Aadmi Party or AAP which is
hoping to form the Delhi government
a year after its last administration quit
in haste.
BJP representatives said that Mr
Tandon’s exit is a low-impact move
and that he was not in charge of Ms
Bedi’s campaign.
His past record is not very impressive. He has created trouble for the
party in the past as well, said spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor.
Kiran Bedi is running for Chief Minister against Arvind Kejriwal of the
Aam Aadmi Party. In the last election, the BJP fell short of a majority,
allowing Kejriwal to form a minority
government. However, after 49 days,
in a major political miscalculation, he
resigned after other parties stalled a
proposal for anti-graft legislation.
Opinion polls have so far given the
BJP the edge. The Prime Minister is
addressing four rallies in the capital
to draw support for Kiran Bedi.
2 MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
City
Centre
Good-bye craters
HOP, SKIP & JUMP
Madhavaram High Road to be widened
M
Broken pavement at Perambur
Loco Works Road irk pedestrians
as they are forced to walk on the
road.
PHOTO: R THIYAGARAJAN
adhavaram
High
Road which starts
at
Vadakarai
(North
coast) junction connected
GNT Salai at Moolakadai
junction. A press release
said that works will be
undertaken to widen this
surface shortly.
Residents in the locality
are happy with the
Madhavaram High Road will be widened soon.
proposal and hope it is
widening the stretch would no doubt
undertaken at the earliest.
be a boon to all,’ says Radhika, a
This road, which links many parts
regular at this spot and a resident.
of the city with Tiruvallur district
‘On hearing the news that the
is presently in a bad shape, with
State Highways is going to repair
potholes, craters and mud. This
the surface and widen it has brought
makes it completely unusable and
joy to many. We will be happy if
motorists using the surface have a
the works start and be completed
tough time negotiation their way.
on time,’ says Ashokraj, another
‘The laying of a proper road and
resident of the area.
T
Graduation ceremony of Indian Institute of Logistics at 9
am at Raja Annamalai Mandram, Esplanade, Broadway.
Vice Chancellor of Bharathiar University Dr G James
Pitchai will be the chief guest.
Hindu Spiritual and Service Fair at AM Jain College
grounds, Meenambakkam. On till 9 February from 9.30 am
to 9 pm.
TV TODAY
JAYA TV
P
eople living on the banks of Otteri Nullah
Kalvai can have a good times from now
on, it can be said. The kalvai which starts from
Anna Nagar and reaches Otteri passing through
a few areas of the neighbourhood is getting a
facelift these days.
ICF Furnishing Division and Agastya Nagar
are the places in the neighbourhood through
— NT Bureau
TEN SPORTS
STARSPORTS1
04:30 PM Sirippu Varudhu
06:30 PM Puthu Kavithai
05:00 PM Endrum Super
07:00 PM Kalyanam Mudhal Kaad-
S.M. Caen vs. A.S. Saint-
2015 H/ls
Etienne
06:00 PM Utchakattam
07:30 PM Aandaal Azhagar
05:00 PM New Songs
06:30 PM Idhu Pudhusu
08:00 PM Deivam Thandha Veedu
04:00 PM Cricket World Cup : Tales
05:30 PM Makkalin Mudhalvar
07:00 PM News
08:30 PM Saravanan Meenatchi
04:30 PM Turning Points
07:30 PM Mohini
09:00 PM Mahabharatham
05:00 PM Carlton Mid ODI Tri-
08:00 PM Bhavani
09:30 PM Super Singer Junior
Series 2015 H/ls : Final:
08:30 PM Romapuri Paandiyan
10:30 PM Office
Australia vs. England
09:00 PM Odi Vilayadu Pappa
11:00 PM Kalyanam Mudhal Kaad-
04:30 PM Kollywood Gallery
03:30 PM Movie
06:00 PM Mundhanai Mudichu
06:30 PM New Songs
06:30 PM Pasamalar
07:00 PM Gallatta Comedy
07:00 PM News
07:30 PM News
07:30 PM Nadhaswaram
08:00 PM Hits
08:00 PM Deiva Magal
08:30 PM Akka
08:30 PM Vamsam
09:00 PM New Songs
09:30 PM Kavidhaiyae Theriyuma
10:30 PM English News
10:45 PM Tamil News
11:00 PM Thenkinnam
SUN TV
03:00 PM Valli
S
U
D
O
K
U
4
6
3
4
2976
8
9
9
1
The object is to
insert the numbers
in the boxes to
satisfy only one
condition: each
row, column and
3x3 box must
contain the digits
1 through 9 exactly
once: Easy nah?
ANSWER TO
SUDOKU 2975
(1.2.2015)
10:02 PM Kaliyugam
RAJ TV
07:30 PM Cricket World Cup : Tales
TENCRICKET
08:00 PM Champion of Champions
03:30 PM WWE Raw Sunday
05:00 PM S K Shoppe
09:00 PM Cricket World Cup : Tales
06:00 PM Raj News
10:00 PM Carlton Mid ODI Tri-
07:00 PM ATP 1000 Series 2014 H/ls
11:00 PM Movie
04:30 PM Super Singer Junior
07:00 PM Sindhu Bhairavi
Australia vs. England
KA LAIGNAR TV
05:30 PM Uravugal Thodar Kadhai
07:30 PM Mann Vasanai
06:00 PM En Kanavan En Thozhan
08:00 PM Karuthamma
7
5
8
4
ls
IN THEATRES
PULAN VISARANAI - 2
Kamala Theatre, Udhayam Theatre, PVR Cinemas,
06:03 PM Never Say Never Again
AGS Cinemas, INOX National, Abirami Mega Mall,
09:00 PM Twilight
Woodlands Multiplex, Mayajaal Cinema, Sangam
11:48 PM The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
3
Finals London
08:00 PM French Ligue 1 2014/15 H/
1975
SONY PIX
2
: Barclays ATP World Tour
11:00 PM Epic Encounters : Final
IN HOME
2
3
4
8
5
6
3
09:30 PM Turning Points
05:00 PM WWE Smackdown
Series 2015 H/ls : Final:
4
9
Dhamaal
05:30 PM Vellithira
06:30 PM Thirai Vaanil
7
Africa 2014/15 H/ls : 1st
ODI
04:00 PM Aandaal Azhagar
8
8
7
mentof Champions
11:00 PM West Indies Tour of South
07:00 PM Great Knocks
10:30 PM Azhagi
7
ls : J.P.Morgan Tourna-
1975
VIJ AY TV
3
2
10:00 PM PSA World Tour 2015 H/
06:00 PM Epic Encounters : Final
10:00 PM Sakthi
04:00 PM Pudhu Paadal
09:00 PM European Le Mans 2014
11:30 PM Time Pass
11:00 PM Telebuy
09:30 PM Vani Rani
08:30 PM PGTI : TATA Open
10:00 PM News Headlines
10:30 PM Sirippu Varudhu
09:00 PM Thendral
03:30 PM Great Knocks
hal Varai
09:30 PM Madippakkam Madhavan
06:30 PM French Ligue 1 2014/15 :
03:00 PM Hockey India League
hal Varai
05:30 PM Kalai Koil
Suvai
'The laying
of a proper
road and
widening the
stretch would
no doubt be a
boon to all'
which the noted water way passes through in to convert the spot into mosquitoe breeding
w
ground. When monsoon was in vogue,
tthe neighbourhood.
According to sources, the facelift is being mosquitoe trouble reached its peak, he says.
Foul smell is another asset people like us had
given by PWD is likely to witness completion
g
ssoon. The job is said to have started about one- to take on additionally, owing to waste and dirt
and- half year ago and is said to have registered here, remind other residents like him. Another
a
a completion of about 80 percent. The work benecial result obtained owing to this work
is doing away the problem of water
iinvolves desilting of the water way,
stagnation in Thirunagar, Agastya
rremoval of waste material inside the
M
Nagar and Vasantham Colony areas
ccanal and building of compound wall
AKKA
VILLIV
of the neighbourhood. Many places
on the outer peripery.
o
in these localities remain under belt of water
Taking up the work has offered lot
o
of benets, it can be said. The rst
t o when rains lash this city, says Sethunathan, a
sstand gained were residents living near the resident of Thirunagar.
Couple of other residents suggested the
noted waterway. Canal was a spot for waste
disposal, prior to the commencement of facelift pathway to be covered with tiles, instead of
job. clearing that as a part of desilting the keeping them open, this would prevent waste
waterroute had relieved people staying nearby from landing inside the canal and proving a
hinderance for the water ow.
from mosquitoe menace.
Ratnam who lives at Agastya Nagar recollects
how mosquitoes used to trouble his residential
— NT Bureau
area. Waste had stagnated the water path, only
0
06:00 PM Arusuvai Ithu Thani
R
MBU
PERA
Otteri Kalvai gets facelift
OWN
‘This work has been on paper
for a long time and we are
happy that at least now they
have started the ground work
for the process,’ says Gokul,
another resident.
A ofcial of the State Highways
Department, he conrmed that
the works to widen the road will
soon start.
‘The road would be widened
upto 4.5 km at an estimated of
Rs 2 crore. We have been having
delay in land acquisition and the
actual work would start in sometime.
A median would be constructed
here so that the road can be made a
four-way lane.’
Step towards development
OW
OM
in ORR
CHENNAI
Multiplex, Sri Ganga Cinema, Raj Theatre, Maharani
Theatre
HBO
06:07 PM Sex and the City 2
09:00 PM Pacic Rim
KILLADI
11:42 PM World War Z
4
3
8
9
5
7
7
5
3
6
1
2
6
1
9
8
2
4
6
9
2
2
4
7
1
3
8
8
2
9
4
1
5
9
7
6
5
8
4
3
5
1
7
6
3
5
7
1
1
6
5
6
2
9
4
1
3
8
9
7
3
8
4
7
3
2
2
4
6
9
5
8
8
3
4
6
2
5
9
7
1
Mayajaal, S2 Cinemas, AGS Cinemas, Escape Cinema,
Devi Cineplex, Kamala Theatre, PVR Cinemas, Sangam,
MOVIES NOW
07:15 PM Rush Hour 3
AGS, INOX National, Jothi Cinema Hall, Rakki Multiplex,
Abirami Theatres,
09:00 PM Meet the Spartans
10:30 PM Lady Kung Fu
S TAR MOVIES
07:30 PM Zombieland
09:00 PM Percy Jackson: Sea of
Monsters
11:00 PM Resident Evil: Extinction
ISAI
Kamala Theatre Mayajaal, AGS Cinemas, Escape
Cinema, Abirami Theatres, Devi Cineplex, PVR
Cinemas, Luxe Cinemas, AGS, INOX National,
Woodlands,
Region
CHENNAI
MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
3
THE GAP TOO FAR?
q Students from rural areas struggle in higher education
Tamilnadu Governor K Rosaiah releasing ‘Coast Guard Brochure
2015’ to mark Coast Guard Day in Chennai on Sunday. Also, present
are Commander Coast Guard Region (East) S P Sharma and Prince
of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali.
Former Tripura Chief Secretary B S Raghavan delivering the Dr Martin
Luther King Memorial Lecture in Chennai recently. Immediate past
president of IAA P Murari and WCC principal Ridling Margaret Waller
are among those present.
‘We must learn from
King & Gandhi’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther
King were not only contemporary, but
were also ahead of their times, retired
IAS ofﬁcer B S,Raghavan has said.
Delivering the Rev Dr Martin Luther
King Memorial Lecture organised by
the Indo-American Association
(IAA) at Women’s Christian College
here, Raghavan said, ‘Wars have
not been conﬁned to any continent
or country. Nor can peace be any
nation’s patent.’
‘If King learnt from Gandhi, the
ideological descendants of Gandhi
can and must learn from King and,
through King, once again from Gan-
dhi. For both belong to the world’s
oppressed in their non-violent resistance against unjust laws and nonimplementation of good laws and
against corruption,’ he said.
There was a need to study Martin
Luther King’s works, Raghavan
added.
‘There is such a thing, in a country
where girls are married off before the
age of consent, as rape within marriage. To adjust to that, as we have
been doing for centuries, is to abet
crime,’ Raghavan said.
P Murari, immediate past president,
IAA, freedom ﬁghter Leela Diraviyam,
Seetha Murari, WCC principal Ridling
Margaret Waller were also present
LAASYA SHEKHAR
Chennai, Feb 2:
The worst fears of rural lad Arun
Kumar, when he got an admission
into a city’s reputed college, were with
regard to the method of learning used
in the institution. ‘I had zero computer
knowledge and basic software like Microsoft tools and Adobe suit gave me
jitters.’ It is said that there are similar
kind of stories doing the rounds at
most college/university campuses
in the city.
It must be said students from rural areas often struggle to come to
grips with things when they enroll
for courses in college in cities and in
many cases choose to call it quits.
This is a disturbing trend, said experts
while adding that it indicates the gap
in teaching standards.
Apparently keeping this in mind,
the State Council of Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI), organised a oneday school education conference
themed ‘Enriching and Empowering School Education-Tamilnadu
Vision 2023’ here. The event was
supported by FAPSIT (Federation of
Private Schools in Tamilnadu) and
NSDC (National Skill Development
Corporation).
Academicians from 500 schools
across the State participated in a
series of discussion that was aimed
at renewing the education system, in
turn, to diminish the gap prevailing in
the standard of education in rural and
urban areas.
At the inauguration, Chairman of
FICCI M Rafeeque Ahmed said, ‘Ad-
No role in recall of Tamil
author’s book: RSS
Chennai, Feb 2:
The RSS has distanced itself from
the controversy surrounding Tamil
writer Perumal Murugan, saying it
has ‘no role whatsoever’ in the withdrawal of his book.
It also warned ‘some persons like
Subhashini Ali’ of CPI(M) against dragging the organisation’s name into the
controversy and said if they don’t desist
‘from such nefarious activities immediately’, RSS would be constrained to
consider other course of action.
‘The RSS has already made it
unequivocally clear that it has
no role whatsoever in the issue
that led Perumal Murugan to
withdraw his book from the market,’ a statement issued by RSS
leader Manmohan Vaidya said.
It added that some persons like
Subhashini Ali continue to drag the
name of the RSS into the issue ‘with
an ulterior motive to tarnish its name,
which is quite deplorable’.
‘We earnestly hope that better
wisdom will prevail and they would
desist from such nefarious activities
immediately, failing the RSS would
be constrained to consider other
course of action,’ the statement said.
CPI(M) leader Ali -- a former MP,
former Member of the National Commission for Women and vice-president
of the All India Democratic Women’s
Association -- had yesterday written
an article blaming the Sangh Parivar
for protests against Murugan.
Murugan’s book ‘Madhorubagan’
was withdrawn from the market after
coming under attack by Hindutva and
caste outﬁts.
ADGP of State Coastal Security C Sylendra Babu at the conference organised by FICCI State Council on education in Chennai recently.
Experts feel that students need to be taught technology
from a young age so that it helps them when they move in
for higher education, especially in cities
equate measures need to be taken
to create a pool of educated young
population in the country’.
He emphasised that the the country will be accommodating a large
number of graduates by 2020, and
added, ‘The existing education system is ineffective in creating a large
number of skilled workers.’
Elaborating, convener of FICCI’s
Educational panel D Viswanathan
said, ‘Emphasis on analytical skills
is prerequisite for skill development.
School education should enhance
the overall personality of students’.
Additional Director General of
Police, Coastal security, C Sylendra
babu highlighted the need to include
sports and skill development in the
curriculum, and said, ‘The recent
NASCOM report states that 80 per
cent of engineering graduates are
unemployable, which questions the
quality of education in the country.
It is a misconception that sportspersons are not good in academics’.
On the quality of education, he said,
‘Mediocrity of school children makes
it evident that the standard of education has taken a dip in recent times.
Meanwhile, Head of the Department,
Mass Communication at Madras
Christian College, Sangeetha said,
‘Ignorance of technology has made life
tough for many students here. Most of
them drop out of from the college as
ﬁnding difﬁcult to cope up.’
The idea of introducing technology at the primary school level can
mitigate the problem to an extent,
she added.
It must be noted that students from
the Tamil medium faced a lot of
difﬁculty when they enrolled for professional courses and many chose
to drop out unable to cope with the
rigours.
The students themselves feel that
some ﬁnd the going tough in college
owing to a variety of reasons. Some
like Arun may not be able adapt to the
method of learning, which is where
acquiring technical knowledge could
play a key role.
‘Students must be
inquisitive all their lives’
Chanting of Nama
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, former
Chief Controller, R&D, DRDO and
founder CEO & Managing Director
of the BrahMos Aerospace Private
Limited urged students to remain
inquisitive throughout their lives
and said this would ensure constant growth of knowledge.
Addressing students at the 27th
convocation of Bharath University,
Sivathanu Pillai asked students to
develop clarity of vision and follow the path of truth in whichever
endeavour they undertake.
He said that ‘what you aim for,
you will achieve’ and quoted W J
Brayan: ‘Destiny is not a matter of
chance - it is a matter of choice. It
is not a thing to be waited for - it
is a thing to be achieved.’
The university’s founder-chairman S Jagathrakshagan, a former
Union Minister and vice-chancellor
M Ponnavaiko were also present.
A total of 1192 candidates graduated from the University of which 426
candidates received their degrees in
person.
Speaking is an art, says poet
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
‘Speaking’ is an art and involves many
criteria, said veteran Tamil poet Gnanaselvan.
He was speaking at a function to release
a Tamil book titled Pesalam Vaanga
written by Pa Su Kannan. The book was
released by Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary H Raja in the presence of
Coimbatore Doordarshan Kendra director
Andal Priyadarshini and social activist
Ela Natarajan.
Gnanaselvan praised the author for dePoet Gnanaselvan at the release of the book ‘Pesalam Vanga’ in the presence of BJP leader scribing the ways and means for effective
H Raja in Chennai.
speaking in the book.
‘It is important how the speaker influences the audience rather than how
much time he speaks on stage,’ he
added.
He also made reference to various
Tamil scholars like Ma Po Sivagnanam,
Krupananda Variar and Kundrakudi Adigalar who were very effective in their
speeches and inﬂuenced the audience on
every occasion.
BJP leader Raja, in his speech appreciated the efforts of Kannan for
bringing out a book in Tamil which
will be useful for the common man.
Andal Priyadarshini and Natarajan
also felicitated the author.
NEW IS NEWS
Lecture on health
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
A yoga and naturopathy management is conduct-ing a lecture on obesity, hyper tension, res-piratory disorder, Women’s disorder, insomnia is
scheduled till 6 February respectively.
The classes open for all will be held from 11:30 am-1:00 pm at
Government Yoga and Naturopathy Medi-cal College, Arignar Anna
Hospital of Indian medicine Campus, (Near Anna Arch) Arumbakkam.
Special yoga therapy sessions are also held for those interested from
9 am to 11 am for all college working days. Naturopathy treatments like
steam bath, mud bath, acupuncture acupressure, magneto therapy and
diet consulta-tions are also offered. For details contact : 044-26222516.
‘Catch them
young for a
better future’
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Children, who get education from
a good montessori school, tend to
feel more conﬁdent, which at times
will be mistaken for arrogance, said
Ann Dunne, member of Association
Montessori Internationale (AMI)
at the inauguration of a three-day
exhibition at ‘Patashala’ here on
Saturday.
The exhibition was organised as
part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the montessori school,
Patashala. The event included a
series of lectures by academicians
on various educational and parenting aspects.
Speaking at the event, director of
Navadisha Montessori Foundation
Rukmini Ramachandran said, ‘25
years is indeed a great achievement’
and added that Montessori system
is a child-centric approach towards
learning.
Women power
Competition for women
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Inner Wheel Club of Nanganallur will celebrate International Women’s
Day on 22 February at Varasiddhi Vinayagar Pravachana Mandapam,
Nanganallur. Various competitions including Group Dance, Classical
Bharathanatyam for children and adults will be conducted.
Applications are invited from children of the age group between 6 and 17 years
and adults of the age group of 18 to 30 years. Applications can be availed on
or before 20 February. For more details, contact Jayalakshmi at 9884808074,
Malathy Gururajan at 9884370569 or Priya Srikanth at 9840257091.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Sri Ramana Baktha Samajam
will organise chanting of Ramana
Maharishi’s Aksharamanamalai
on Sundays at 5.30 pm in BVSN
Murthy Centre for Special Children, Thambiah Road. For details,
contact 94441 72623.
Anugraha Bashanam
Kanchi Seer, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi will render Anugraha Bashanam on 5 February at 5 pm in Ayodhya
Mandapam, Arya Gowda Road. The
programme will be organised by Veda
Samithi as part of its ninth year mahotsavam.
Bheeshma Ekadasi
Sanjeevini Peetam, Kavarai Street
will celebrate Bheeshma ekadasi on
3 February at 6 pm in its premises.
A press release said, about 5000
years ago on this auspicious day,
Bheeshma was chosen by Lord
Krishna to reveal and chant Sri
Vishnu Sahasranama.
The peetam will organise chanting
of Vishnu Sahasranama, satsang
and bhajans.
For details, contact www.sanjeevinipeetam.com
The Chennai Corporation is all set to construct a ﬂyover at the Madhya Kailash junction to ease trafﬁc
problems in the Adyar area.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
A carnival will be organised by the
Ladies Club as part of their 42nd
anniversary on 7 February from 10
am to 8 pm at old no 19/1, new no 2,
X block, Anna Nagar near Ayyapan
temple.
Stalls and counters sell-ing
textile goods, toys, bags, arti?
cial jewelleries and eatable
items will also be displayed for
the public.
Blend
4 MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
United States rules out
conﬂict with Russia
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High ﬁve
here is something about Australia that brings out the best from
Novak Djokovic. The Serbian world number one, won his ﬁfth
Australian Open title on Sunday, a new high in the open era.
Having won his maiden Grand Slam trophy at this very venue in
2008, Djokovic has since come a long way and is now the man to
beat. He has continued to evolve since that momentous day some
seven years ago and enjoyed more highs than lows on the Tour.
Things are far different from when he won his ﬁrst Grand Slam
title but he continues to rule in Australia. He had a notable 2014.
In addition to winning seven titles, including Wimbledon and the
season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, he tied the knot with
Jelena Ristic and welcomed a son.
At 27, the feisty right-hander has entered a new stage of life,
which may mean a new level for his tennis, mentally and physically.
After an inconsistent performance in his ﬁve-set semi-ﬁnal win over
defending champion Stan Wawrinka, Djokovic again faced adversity
on Sunday during what he called a ‘cat-and-mouse ﬁght’ and came
through in four sets against Andy Murray.
There was a lot of debate as to whether the old order was changing
after Wawrinka (at the Australian Open) and Marin Cilic (at the US
Open) emerged as Slam winners after years of domination by the
so-called ‘Big Four’ (that includes Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
apart from Djokovic and Murray). However, Djokovic’s triumph in
Melbourne dispels such thoughts to some extent.
The new generation hasn’t been able to challenge the top stars
on a consistent basis though Federer’s humbling by Andreas Seppi
and Nadal’s by Tomas Berdych are sure to raise questions about
their durability and winning chances. However, one thing is certain
Djokovic is certain to rule the roost for a while given the manner in
which he has dodged the upset-minded younger crop.
In the women’s section, Serena Williams, all of 33, continues to
reign supreme. Though she didn’t look at her best through the course
of the tournament, the big American was sharp in dismantling her
nearest challenger Maria Sharapova. Like win, the younger of the
Williams sister seems to be getting better with age and showed no
signs of let her guard slip.
The past two seasons have seen Serena sizzle though not dominate
entirely. However, she has not been pushed off her perch at the No.1
spot in the rankings. That is an indication of her supremacy.
Serena won her 19th Slam in Melbourne and lies behind the
legendary Stefﬁ Graf and Margaret Court and looks like a few more
are on the way.
The powerful American has overpowered her rivals with rutless
precision and she doesn’t seem to be getting any weaker, which isn’t
good news for the rest of the ﬁeld. Though the likes Petra Kvitova
and Sharapova have won the odd Slam, their inability to beat Serena
consistently at the Majors continues to raise questions.
A young crop of hopefuls including Simona Halep and Eugenie
Bouchard promise a lot but it is different thing to triumph in the
Grand Slam tournaments.
With no real challenge in sight, Serena’s reign seems set to continue
at least for a couple of seasons, at least.
On the men’s side, Djokovic seems best equipped to deal with the
likes of Federer, Nadal, Murray and a handful of other pretenders
including Cilic, Kei Nishikori among others.
Will Smith @imWilISmith
Learn to appreciate what you
have, before time makes you
appreciate what you had.
Arjun Rampal @rampalarjun
Did you know bulletproof vests,fire
escapes,windshield wipers,laser
printers were all all invented by women?
More power to women.
App that offers sun
protection advice
If your job requires you to stay out- the authors noted. The researchers
doors for long, having this app on your conducted a clinical trial to evaluate
smartphone that provides
the mobile app by collecting data from
personalised, real-time advice
a volunteer sample of 202 adults.
may improve your sun protecOf the 96 participants assigned
tion behaviour, says a study. HEALTH
to use the mobile app, 74 inToday dividuals (77 percent) used
The Solar Cell app provides
sun-protection advice based on UV
it. The authors found that
(ultraviolet) Index forecasts and per- participants in the group that resonal information from the users. It ceived the app used wide-brimmed
also alerts users to apply or reapply hats more at the seven-week followsunscreen.
up than control participants who did
‘The Solar Cell mobile app seemed not receive the app (23.8 percent vs.
to promote sun protection practices,’ 17.4 percent).
VOICE MAIL
Choc-o-bloc traffic
Sir,
Of late, the trafﬁc has become heavy in Arya Gowda Road in Mambalam,
both during the day and night. Many residents, especially women, children
and senior people ﬁnd it difﬁcult to cross the road as there is continuous
movement of vehicles including MTC buses.
Also, many bikers turn suddenly from Arya Gowda Road and enter
into streets like Mahadevan Street, Srinivasa Pillai Street and Ramakrishnapuram Third Street, causing lot of panic to pedestrians who cross
the road.
GOVINDARAJAN, Mambalam
ADDRESS YOUR LETTERS TO :
The Editor, News Today, 85, Mount Road, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.
or e-mail to : [email protected] / [email protected]
CHENNAI
No plans to impose tough sanctions
WASHINGTON;
President Barack Obama has said
that the US policy of imposing tough
sanctions on Russia after its actions
in Ukraine has badly hit the Russian
economy, but he ruled out a war
between the two countries amidst
growing tension between them.
‘I don’t think that it would be wise for
the US or the world to see an actual
military conﬂict between the United
States and Russia,’ Obama said.
‘I think that’s entirely fair. And I think
that is a testament to the bad decisions that Putin is making on behalf of
his country,’ Obama said when asked
if it is fair to say that his Russia policy
has been pretty effective in imposing
real costs on the Russian economy,
but it has not deterred President
Vladimir Putin from creating instability
in Ukraine.
Obama said when he came into
ofﬁce, he talked about reset of USRussia relationship. ‘I established I
think an effective working relationship
with (the then Russian President,
THE BIG COLD
that he has gotten him deeper and
deeper into a situation that is a violation of international law, that violates
the territorial integrity and sovereignty
of Ukraine, has isolated Russia diplomatically, has made Europe wary of
doing business with Russia,’ Obama
Dmitry) Medvedev. And as a consequence, Russia’s economy was
growing. They had the opportunity
to begin diversifying their economy.
Their relations across Europe and
around the world were sound. They
joined the WTO, with assistance from
us,’ he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in
an interview.
‘Since Putin made this decision
around Crimea and Ukraine, not
because of some grand strategy, but
essentially because he was caught off
balance by the protests in the Maidan,
and Yanukovych then ﬂeeing after
we’d brokered a deal to transition
power in Ukraine,’ he noted.
‘Since that time this improvisation
C
that we’ve provided, given the size
of the Russian military, given the
fact that Ukraine is not a NATO
country, and so as a consequence
there are clear limits in terms of
what we would do militarily, Putin
has not been stopped so far,’ he
Obama alleged that so far he has not
seen a recognition on the part of the
Kremlin that it is in Russia’s interest to
resolve this issue over the long-term.
alleged.
‘Has allowed the imposition of
sanctions that are crippling Russia’s
economy at a time when their oil
revenues are dropping. There’s no
formula in which this ends up being
good for Russia. The annexation of
Crimea is a cost, not a beneﬁt to
Russia,’ he said.
‘Now, but what is absolutely true
is that if you have a leader who
continually drives past the off ramps
added.
Obama alleged that so far he has
not seen a recognition on the part
of the Kremlin that it is in Russia’s
interest to resolve this issue over
the long-term.
‘So we are going to keep on these
dual tracks, putting more pressure
on Russia, bolstering Ukraine, delivering a message to Putin that these
off ramps and diplomatic resolutions
remain available,’ he added.
L ICK
PIC
A woman crosses Plaza del Castillo square as the snow falls on a winter night, in Pamplona northern Spain. A cold spell has
reached northern Spain with temperatures plummeting far below zero. In the other photograph a man shovels out his driveway
along East Chicago Street in Elgin, Ill. An unusually slow-moving storm crawling into the Midwest is expected to be the most
widespread of the season.
Get cash for
your poo!
WASHINGTON;
An American non-proﬁt is paying
healthy people $40 for each sample
of their poo in an effort to gather
more materials for fecal microbiota
transplants (FMTs).
FMT is a relatively new but 90
per cent effective treatment for
the debilitating
Clostridium
difficile infection (CDI).
Although many
can carry
the C difficile
bacteria
and suffer no ill
effects,
others will
experience severe diarrhea, abdominal
pain and fever.
FMT involves introducing the stool
containing microbes that include
bacteria, fungi and viruses from a
healthy donor into the gut of the
person suffering a C difﬁcile infection. While the acceptance for fecal
transplants grows the amount of fecal
matter available does not. Typically
it is close relations who provide the
material, ‘Gizmag’ reported.
OpenBiome is seeking healthy donors who will be ﬁnancially remunerated at $40 per sample, with those
donating ﬁve times each week getting
an extra $50.
Japan mourns for
reporter Kenji Goto
TOKYO:
Whether in tsunami-stricken northeastern Japan or conflict-ridden
Sierra Leone, the stories of the
vulnerable, the children and the
poor drove the work of journalist
Kenji Goto.
The news of his purported killing
by Islamic State militants sent Japan
into shock and mourning early this
morning, days after his plight as a
hostage in Syria united many people
in praying for his release.
‘I want to cuddle with the people.
That’s the best way to express my
approach,’ Goto, 47, said about his
work. ‘By cuddling with them, I can
talk with the people. I can hear their
views their pain and their hopes.’
A pony-tailed man with a friendly,
carefree laugh, Goto was a veteran
freelance reporter, working often
with other ﬁlmmakers and Japanese
TV producers. His comments were
sometimes featured on Japanese
mainstream media.
The 2005 book he wrote about the
suffering of children in Sierra Leone was
titled ‘We Want Peace, Not Diamonds.’
But Goto had always stressed he was
not a war reporter. He had insisted he
was instead devoted to telling the story
of regular people, one step removed
from the war zone.
That took him to refugee camps
and orphanages. He told the stories
of children suffering violence, hunger and nightmares. In a testament
to his charm and integrity, people
responded with an outpouring of
support to try to win his release.
A Facebook page, set up immediately after the ﬁrst video released
by militants last month, quickly drew
tens of thousands of ‘Likes’ and
photo postings that showed people,
from not just Japan but around the
world, holding up hand-written signs
that said: ‘I am Kenji.’
‘Kenji lives on in all our hearts. In
our daily work. Every time you smile
with those around you, you will be
sure to remember that big smile
Kenji always gave us,’ wrote Taku
Nishimae, a ﬁlmmaker living in New
York and the page’s creator.
Rocks on Mars
look like ‘Black
Beauty’ meteorite
WASHINGTON;
The bulk of rocks on the surface of
Mars look similar to the ‘Black Beauty’
meteorite found a few years ago in
the Moroccan desert, a new study
suggests.
The meteorite
NWA 7034 has
been shown
to be a 4.4
billion-yearold chunk of the
Martian crust.
Spectroscopic measurements of
the meteorite are a spot-on match
with orbital measurements of the
Martian dark plains, areas where
the planet’s coating of red dust
is thin and the rocks beneath are
exposed, researchers said.
The ﬁndings suggest that the meteorite, nicknamed Black Beauty,
is representative of the ‘bulk background’ of rocks on the Martian
surface, said Kevin Cannon, a
Brown University graduate student
and lead author of the new paper.
When scientists started analysing
Black Beauty in 2011, they knew they
had something special.
I am proud of saving
American economy: Obama
WASHINGTON:
S President Barack Obama
has said he is proud of saving the American economy making
the country more stronger and
prosperous.
‘I’m proud of saving the American
economy. And we still have a long
way to go,’ Obama in an interview.
Obama is scheduled to send his
annual budget proposals to the
Congress today morning.
‘Essentially what we did was
stabilise it, lay a new foundation to
move forward. That gives us now
the capacity to tackle what was an
overriding theme of my campaign
way back in 2008, and that is to
restore middle-class economics and
the capacity for people to get into
the middle class, and start seeing
higher wages and a broader shared
prosperity inside the United States,’
U
NEWS MAKER
of the day
he said.
‘One of the things that I’ve learned
in this job over the last six years is
that sometimes progress is incremental, but when I look at overall
the steps that we’ve taken, I believe
they are the right ones. I am very
conﬁdent that America is stronger,
more prosperous, safer, and more
inﬂuential today than it was when I
took ofﬁce,’ Obama said.
The US President said internationally, he is proud of the fact that
his administration has responsibly
ended two wars.
‘Now, people will say, well, you’re
back in Iraq, but we’re not back in
Iraq with an occupying army, we’re
back with a coalition of 60 countries
who are helping to stabilise the situation,’ he said.
‘I think that what we have also
done is reﬂected the best values of
America in trying to nurture this nascent democratic movement inside of
Burma, in ending what I believe had
become a counterproductive policy
in Cuba, in strengthening alliances
with countries like India, where
there’s just enormous potential,’
he said.
The US president also observed
that sometimes US is not paying
special attention to India.
‘But I’ve been paying a lot of attention to it, because I think that
our future prosperity and security is
going to be tied up with how are we
doing with 1.2 billion aspiring Indians
who share our values and share
democracy with us,’ Obama said.
‘Asia Pacific region, where my
commitment to rebalancing has led
to not only concrete agreements and
actions with ASEAN countries, for
example, but has also sent a clear
message to China that we want to
be their partner but that they have to
be part of a rule-based system rather
than free riders or bullies because
of their size and strength,’ he said.
Enterprise
CHENNAI
A twist to
religious tourism
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Sarovar Hotels & Resorts recently
launched its new property-Marasa
Sarovar Premiere at Tirupati.
According to a press release, the hotel designed around the Dasavataras
of Lord Vishnu, offers a combination
of divinity inspired aesthetics that
instantly connect with the soul.
The Marasa Sarovar Premier was
formally launched by the group’s MD
Anil Madhok.
Speaking on the occasion, Madhok
said, ‘We congratulate the Madhvani
Group for taking this initiative to invest
and promote religious tourism in India
under their brand name Marasa’.
Director (ﬁnance), Marasa Hospitality Pvt Ltd, Yogesh Prajapati said,
‘India’s ﬁrst theme hotel inspired by
the 10 avataras (incarnations) of Lord
Vishnu, aims to provide luxury world
class yet affordable accommodation
for the discerning guest’.
4G: Fast & Furious
Operators rise byy 36% Telcos tap
p 1800Mhz band
New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI):
The number of operators offering 4G
mobile services rose by 36 per cent
to 360 globally in 2014 and nearly
half of these used spectrum in 1800
Mhz band to provide the super-fast
services, says a report.
The report by Global Mobile Suppliers Association has said about
44 per cent of these operators used
spectrum in 1800 Mhz band for rolling
out 4G services.
Interestingly, In India, at present,
the spectrum in 1800 Mhz band is
primarily used for 2G mobile services.
Also, the frequencies in the band are
available at lower prices than the
spectrum in 2300 Mhz which is largely
used by Indian telcos to roll out the
fourth-generation services.
The report said that as many as 360
Renewable energy
workshop in city
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Renewable Energy to Tamilnadu
(RE2TN), a workshop to promote
climate friendly technologies in Tamilnadu with a primary focus on power
evacuation, grid stability, knowledge
transfer and know-how of the RE domain, is to be held in Chennai.
An ofﬁcial statement here said, the
two day workshop is organised by
iPLON GmbH in association with
DEG, a subsidiary of KFW, will be
held on 4 and 5 February at The
Raintree Hotel here.
Under the Indo-German bilateral
development cooperation, KFW, a
German government-owned development bank, in April 2013, agreed to
support the Green Energy Corridor
(GEC) project with funds amounting
to one billion euros over a period of
ﬁve years.
iPLON GmbH has been chosen as
a Partner by DEG, a subsidiary of
KFW to conduct various workshops
on behalf of KFW/DEG to promote
business initiatives in developing and
emerging market countries as a contribution to sustainable growth and
improved living conditions of the local
population.
h
d l
d
operators have
deployed
4G network across 124
countries by the end of
2014 as against 264 operators in 2013.
Domestic players like
Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular,
Vodafone and Reliance Jio
Infocomm have plans to
use 1800 Mhz spectrum band for 4G
services.
The eco-system from 4G services is
gradually developing. The growth in
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
The IPAMA (Indian Printing Packing
and Allied Manufacturing Association) has asked the State’s printing
and graphics fraternity to be a part
of Print Pack India 2015.
According to a press release, IPAMA general secretary CP Paul said,
‘The Indian printing and packaging
industry can play a signiﬁcant role in
achieving the ‘Make in India’ vision
of our Prime Minister. The need of
the hour is to bring the entire industry
under one common platform which is
being achieved through Print Pack
India 2015’.
‘With the expo, our objective is
to provide a mutual platform for
manufacturers and users to keep the
growth impetus live’, stated Madras
Printing Association president P
Chander. The Print Pack India 2015 is
scheduled to be held between 11-15
February at Greater Noida Expo Mart.
Stagnant economy
disappoints India Inc
New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI):
Showing signs of restlessness, a
majority of business leaders have
said ‘not much’ has changed on the
ground in the last six months, while
many of them do not foresee any
change in investment
plans even during the
current quarter, as per
an industry body Assocham survey.
The Business Confidence Survey results
follow the months-long
euphoria among industry leaders
about prospects of improvement in
business environment after a new
government led by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi stormed to power with
a strong majority in May 2014.
‘Not much has changed on the
ground at the industry level in the last
six months’, Assocham said citing its
‘Business Conﬁdence Index’.
It, however, added that the situation
is going to improve within ﬁrst half of
2015, as reﬂected in the optimism
about sales volume and hiring of
workforce by corporates.
‘As many as 54.2 per cent of the
respondents in the conﬁdence measuring survey
said not much has really
changed at the operating level in the last six
months, but more number
of industry leaders expressed optimism about the shape of
things to improve going forward’, the
industry body said.
The survey also found that 45.8
per cent of business leaders believe
that the January-March 2015 quarter
won’t see any change in their domestic investment plans, while similar
outlook was noticed with regard to
international investments.
Sushma calls for strengthening
g
g bilateral trade
who already has the feature rolled
out in his/ her device. The release
has been restricted to
Android users for now
and is reported to be
accessible through
the newest version
2.11.508 of the messenger app.
The software update
is not available through Google Play
Store, but can be downloaded as an
APK ﬁle via the ofﬁcial WhatsApp
website section for Android.
Srikalahasthi Pipes’ PAT
at 2,137 lakh
is Rs 7718.07 lakh.
The profit before tax for the
corresponding quarter ended 31
December 2013 was Rs 1010.01
lakh and nine months ended 31
December, 2014 was Rs 2515.60
lakh.
The company’s profit after tax
for the quarter is Rs 2137.61 lakh
and nine months for the same
quarter is Rs 5255.13 lakh.
Beijing, Feb 2 (PTI):
Amid concerns over the widening
trade deﬁcit, India on Sunday hoped
that China will open up its market to
Indian companies and promised to
make it easier for Chinese ﬁrms to
do business in India.
‘A critical change in nature of our
bilateral ties over the last few decades has been its growing economic
dimension. China is today our largest partner in trade in goods. The
two economies are moving to invest
each other’, External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj said.
‘Serious discussions on enhancing
connectivity have been initiated. On
that foundation, we are now seeking
to take our economic cooperation to
a qualitatively new level’, she said addressing the the second India-China
Media Forum.
Swaraj said the ‘Closer Development Partnership’ agreed upon during
President Xi Jinping’s visit to India in
September last year symbolises the
resolve to enhance economic ties.
She said a signiﬁcant new area of
collaboration include railways sector
where the two countries are cooper-
‘Tweeting helps women
cope with sexism’
Toronto, Feb 2 (PTI):
Tweeting publicly about sexism
could improve a woman’s wellbeing
as it has the potential to let them
express themselves in ways they feel
can make a difference, a new study
suggests.
The study examined whether using
Twitter to respond to sexism could
be done in a public way without any
negative effects to their
wellbeing.
‘We know
women can be
badly affected by experiences of sexism and that responding
publicly can be stressful and risky’,
said Dr Mindi Foster from the Wilfrid
Laurier University, Canada.
A total of 93 female undergraduate
students were randomly assigned to
one of three conditions regarding
tweeting over a three day period.
All participants received information over the three days regard-
4G network
kd
l
ill
deployment
will
bring down cost of mobile
devices for consumers as
well as cost of equipment
used by telecom operators
for building networks.
Due to late development
of 4G network equipment
and consumer devices,
Indian telecom operators, which
hold 4G
spectrum in 2300 Mhz band, have
been seeking more time to roll out
super-fast mobile services.
Airtel and Aircel have launched 4G
services in this band at select places
while another player Reliance Jio,
which pan-India 4G spectrum, is yet
to launch services.
The developing technology has now
made it possible to offer high speed
4G services in bands other than 2300
Mhz.
The report said that 91 operators
launched 4G services in 2600 Mhz
band globally. The 2300 Mhz band
spectrum has seen about 20 launches
of commercial 4G network globally.
In India, State-run BSNL was allocated spectrum in 2600 Mhz across
20 services area. The company surrendered its 2600 Mhz band spectrum
across 14 service areas but retained
it in six service areas.
Make market access
easier: India to China
Facility currently available for select user category
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Srikalahasthi Pipes Limited has
announced its third Quarterly
results for the quarter ended 31
December 2014.
According to a press release,
the company’s profit before tax
for the quarter ended 31 December, 2014 is Rs 3112.32 lakh and
nine months ended 31 December
Domestic players like Bharti Airtel, Idea
Cellular, Vodafone and Reliance Jio
Infocomm have plans to use 1800 Mhz
spectrum band for 4G services
TN print
industry invited
to national expo
WhatsApp’s call
feature, now in India
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
WhatsApp is reported to be testing its free voice calling feature through
a limited number of
people in India.
According to various reports, the free voice calling
function appears to be available on
invite-only basis.
And that one has to get a call
through WhatsApp from someone
MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
ing topical issues
s
around sexism in
n
politics, the media
a
and in universities
s Emotions identiﬁed were: anger,
for them to tweett discontent, sarcastic, shocked,
about.
One group was s u r p r i s e a n d s a d n e s s . T h e
required to tweett most common combination was
publicly, anotherr
surprise and discontent.
e
privately and the
p
third group
did not
Neither of the other two groups
tweet at all. They received no instructions showed any changes in wellbeing.
‘We know that popular online camregarding the number or the
content of tweets they should paigns such as EverydaySexism
have empowered women to speak
undertake.
All participants completed mood out and share their experiences.
questionnaires and wellbeing meas- However, this study demonstrates
ures after they tweeted. Tweets how tweeting publicly has the potenwere also analysed for linguistic and tial to improve women’s wellbeing’,
Foster said.
emotional content.
‘More research is required to unAnalysis showed that the group of
women who tweeted publicly dis- derstand whether this form of colplayed feelings of increased wellbe- lective action has any further health
beneﬁts’, Foster added.
ing by the third day.
Emoti(c)ons
Eye on Middle-East too
India looks forward to forge closer strategic ties and cooperation in
all sectors with oil-rich Saudi Arabia under the new leadership of King
Salman, who assumed the throne last month.
India is looking forward to strengthen ties with Saudi Arabia, particularly in investment sector, as the relationship between the two sides
has gone to ‘another level’ since the historic visit of late King Abdullah
to New Delhi in January 2006, Indian Consul General in Jeddah B S
Mubarak said.
i iin areas lik
l
ating
like h
heavy h
haulage,
speed upgradation, station
development and capacity building.
‘Another major thrust is
in establishing industrial
parks in two Indian states
that would contribute to the
‘Make in India’ initiative’, she said.
‘We will make it easier for Chinese
companies to do business in India
and expect that similar encouragement would be given to our companies to expand their business in
China’, Swaraj, who arrived here on
a four-day visit, said.
China has promised to address the
$38 billion deﬁcit in over $70 billion
bilateral trade in 2014 and the issue
ill feature
f
d i Swaraj’s
S
j’ talks
lk
will
during
with top Chinese leaders.
‘We expect that the
momentum that has
been set in the last few
months would not only
be kept up but accelerated
event further at various
levels’, Swaraj said.
Today, she will launch the ‘2015:
Visit India Year’ in China.
Describing tourism is an effective
vehicle to promote people-to-people
understanding, she said the two
countries have agreed that they
need to make stronger efforts in that
regard.
Govt for more
retail disinvestment
New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI):
To increase retail participation in PSU stake sales,
the Department of Disinvestment is contemplating an aggressive strategy to encourage more
people to open
demat accounts
and reduce the
time taken for the
same.
‘We will meet
SEBI to see if
the time frame
for opening of demat account can be reduced. It
will help new retail investors to apply in the upcoming PSU disinvestments’,
a government ofﬁcial said.
At present, it takes
at least 3-5 days for a
person to have an operational demat account,
which is a must to buy,
transfer or sell shares or
other securities held in the
electronic format. There
are over 2.30 crore demat
accounts in the country.
‘One of the suggestions
that we are looking at is
an aggressive strategy for
creating awareness among
retail investors
to participate in
PSU stake sale’,
the ofﬁ cial added.
To attract more
retail investors to PSUs,
the government has already doubled the quota
for such investors in PSU
stake sales to 20 per cent
of the issue size, from 10
per cent earlier. Retail investors, deﬁned as those
who can invest up to Rs
two lakh in a public issue,
get a price discount of ﬁve
per cent in such issues.
5
Indian team wins
Google prize
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
India’s Team Indus has won one of
the signiﬁcant intermediate milestone
prizes in the Google Lunar XPrize, a
global competition to land a robotic
spacecraft on the Moon by 31 December, 2016.
An ofﬁcial statement said, Team
Indus won the prize for the lander,
regarded as the most complicated
piece and therefore carries the maximum prize money, of $1 million.
Led by Rahul Narayan, Team
Indus leadership comprises of Dilip
Chabria, Julius Amrit, Sameer Joshi,
Sridhar Ramasubban, Dhruv Batra,
Sheelika Ravishankar, Ramnath
Babu, and Indranil Chakrobarthy
along with a dozen retired ISRO
scientists and 40 young smart engineers.
The team is said to have succesfully
raised Seed A funding in December
last year from a team of investors
including Subrata Mitra & Shekhar
Kirani of Accel Partners, former Yahoo India R&D head Sharad Sharma,
Chief Product Manager of UIDAI
(Aadhaar) Vivek Raghavan, director of analytics at Microsoft, Pallaw
Sharma, serial entrepreneur Bala
Parthasarthy.
Whirlpool Q3
profit jumps 49%
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Whirlpool of India announced its
operating results for the third quarter
of 2014-15.
A press release here said, total
income of Rs 721.4 crore grew by
7.2 per cent and proﬁt after tax at Rs
31.5 crore was higher by 48.6 per
cent over the same quarter last year.
The company continues to remain
debt free and cash positive. Chairman, Whirlpool of India Limited,
Arvind Uppal, said, ‘We are pleased
with our third quarter results. Improved product, mix and cost productivity helped offset the softness
in demand post Diwali. The drop in
raw material prices augurs well for
the industry and we remain optimistic
about the future outlook’.
Whirlpool has focused on growing
its presence in the premium end and
its business in built in appliances, sold
through the kitchen manufacturer
channel, is now available in over 250
outlets across the country.
EID Parry reports
‘sweet’ quarter
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
EID Parry (India) Limited has reported ﬁnancial results for the quarter
and nine months ended 31 December
2014. According to a press release,
the company achieved a recovery of
9.72 per cent during the quarter as
against 9.62 per cent for the corresponding quarter in the previous year.
The standalone turnover for the
quarter ended 31 December 2014
was Rs 480 crore in comparison to
the corresponding quarter of previous
year of Rs 369 crore.
Profit before depreciation, interest and taxes (EBITDA) and before
exceptional item for the quarter was
Rs 15 crore in comparison to the
corresponding quarter of previous
year of Rs 26 crore. Standalone loss
after tax for the quarter is Rs 43 crore
as against corresponding quarter of
previous year of Rs 13 crore.
The consolidated turnover for the
quarter ended 31 December 2014,
was Rs. 3,578 crore registering a
growth of 11.3 per cent in comparison
to the corresponding quarter of previous year of Rs 3,214 crore.
RAJESWARI
INFRASTRUCTURE LIMITED
(CIN: L72300TN1993PLC024868)
Regd.Ofﬁce: Plot No. 248,
Door No.18/23, 2nd Cross
Street,East CIT Nagar, Nandanam
Chennai-600035.
NOTICE
Pursuant to Clause 41 of
the Listing Agreement,
notice is hereby given that
meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Company
will be held on Wednesday,
the 11th February 2015
at the Registered Ofﬁce of
the company to inter-alia
consider & taken in record the
Unaudited Financial Results of
the Company for the quarter
ended 31st December 2014.
For RAJESWARI
INFRASTRUCTURE
LIMITED
Sd/- G. RAMAMURTHY
MANAGING DIRECTOR
(DIN:00060323)
Place : Chennai – 35
Date : 02.02.2015
Read
Every evening
6 MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
Sports
Humbling return
for Bayern Munich
London, Feb 2:
The Bundesliga returned from its
mid-season break with a bang as
table-toppers Bayern Munich were
humbled 4-1 at second-placed VfL
Wolfsburg, while in England leading
duo Chelsea and Manchester City
shared the spoils.
The much-anticipated showdown
between the Premier League’s top
two failed to provide the expected ﬁreworks with Chelsea and Manchester
City drawing 1-1 at Stamford Bridge.
A cagey affair never hit the heights
apart from a two-goal burst just before
halftime when Loic Remy ﬁred Chelsea ahead and David Silva quickly
levelled.Chelsea still lead City by ﬁve
points with Manchester United, 3-1
victors over bottom side Leicester
City, a further ﬁve points back.
Southampton’s European hopes
suffered a blow in a 1-0 home defeat
by Swansea City as Ronald Koeman’s
side were joined on 42 points by Arsenal, who thrashed strugglers Aston
Villa 5-0. In Spain, Karim Benzema
shone for Real Madrid in the absence
of Cristiano Ronaldo with a double
in a 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad
in La Liga.
Real lead the Spanish table by a
point and also have a game in hand
over Barcelona who came from behind twice to beat Villarreal 3-2.
Villarreal arrived at the Camp Nou
on the back of an 18-game unbeaten
streak and caused Barca problems
on the counter but the quality of the
Catalan side’s attack was the difference with Neymar, Raﬁnha and Lionel
Messi scoring.
Djokovic sets sights
on elusive French Open
Murray up;
Wawrinka down
‘Fatherhood has given me new perspective in life’
Novak Djokovic
C ity
S ports
Nikhil claims title
One of the winners receiving the prize from ﬁlm director
K S Ravikumar in the presence of actor Arun Vijay.
NT Bureau
Chennai, Feb 2:
Nikhil Cherian emerged winner
in the gold division the Top Gun
golf Classic 2015 organised here
yesterday by Madras Metro Round
Table 95.
According to a press note, the
challenge featured Chennai's golf
enthusiasts, CEOs and head honchos of notable industrial houses.
The proceeds of this event would
go towards the creation of top class
facilities for the schools for under-
CHENNAI
privileged children supported by
MMRT 95.
The prize distribution event was
graced by Kollywood personalities
K S Ravikumar and Arun Vijay.
Winners list: Gold Division: 1.
Nikhil Cherian, 2. Saitu C, 3. H K
Sinha.
Silver Division: 1. Dr S Venkatesh,
2. Sanjay Aryavir, 3. A Louis Daniel.
Bronze Division: 1. M O Parthasarathyy, 2. Arun Sowdas, 3. A Ganesan. Longest Drive: Anish Iyer.
Richards picks Sachin
as one of his favourites
Dubai, Feb 2 (PTI): in small packages. And he was a
He had redeﬁned ODI batsmanship fantastic batsman,’ Richards said.
almost three and decades back but
About Kohli, Richards wrote: ‘At
Sir Vivian Richards’ favourite ODI such a young age, he (Kohli) has
batsman is none other than the leg- twice the number of ODI centuries
endary Sachin Tendulkar.
than in Tests and he is such a
In a column written for the ICC, conﬁ dent player in limited-overs.
King Richards has named
It is not to say he isn’t so
some of his favourite
in the longer format,
ODI batsmen and the
but I really like his
two Indians who
aggressive style
have included in
in ODI cricket.
the list are Ten‘Look at
dulkar and Inthe way he
dia’s current
started his
No 1 batsman
career, and
Virat Kohli.
the bats‘The first
man he has
name that
already becomes to
come today,
mind is Sachin
he is simply
Tendulkar. In
magnificent
a single word,
in whatever litI would describe
tle time he has
Vivian Richard
him as a legend.
played as comThe player he was
pared to others. He
until very recently, if ever
is only going to get better
there is a team picked withand better, and add to his list of
out including him, it would be a great
shame,’ Richards wrote in his column achievements,’ Richards was effusive
in his praise.
for the International Cricket Council.
The other batsman who came in
‘He (Tendulkar) has always been
one of my favourite batsmen and for a lot of praise by the legend were
I would pay money to watch him fellow West Indians Brian Lara, Chris
bat. He wasn’t the biggest in size Gayle, South Africa’s AB de Villiers,
amongst other cricketers of the Australians Matthew Hayden, Ricky
world, but all good things come Ponting, Michael Hussey.
Melbourne, Feb 2: live these moments with all my heart.’
Like any new father, Novak DjokoDjokovic may have become a
vic has quickly developed a new doting dad but the 27-year-old also
perspective on life and tennis.
showed that he still has all his ﬁghting
The Serbian won his ﬁfth Australian instincts after surviving a tough scrap
Open title on Sunday, beating Andy with Briton Murray.
Murray 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-0 but his
Djokovic was showing signs of fathoughts turned to family, rather than tigue in the third set after the ﬁrst two
the trophy he had just won.
had taken more than two and a half
For Djokovic, the win was all the
HIS SLAM COLLECTION
sweeter because it was his ﬁrst
grand slam title since he and
Australian Open :
5
his wife Jelena celebrated
Wimbledon
:
2
the birth of their ﬁrst child last
US Open
:
1
October.
‘I think it has deeper meaning, a
more intrinsic value now to my life hours to complete, and later laughed
off suggestions he was faking to
because I’m a father and a husband,’
throw Murray off his game.
he told a news conference.
‘I’m not going to talk bad things
‘As my life progresses, there are
about him in the press or ﬁnd any
circumstances, situations, events
excuses or something like this,’
that deﬁne these beautiful moments.
Djokovic said.
‘Getting married and becoming
‘I wasn’t cramping. I didn’t call a
a father in the last six months was timeout because I had no reason to
deﬁnitely something that gave me a call it. I was just weak. I went through
new energy, something that I never the physical crisis in the matter of 20
felt before. And right now everything minutes.
has been going in such a positive
‘I haven’t felt that too many times in
direction in my life.
my career. But knowing in the back of
‘I’m so grateful for that so I try to my mind that it was a similar situation
two years ago in the Australian Open
ﬁnal, 2013, where two sets went over
two hours, it was a similar battle.
‘I felt that I had some physical
edge over him in that match. That
was in the back of my mind. That
was something that kept me going.
And obviously the importance of the
moment, being in ﬁnals of a grand
slam. I didn’t want to give up. I try
never to give up.’
’Keep believing’
Djokovic now has eight grand
slams in total but the Australian
Open has been his most successful
by far. He has also won Wimbledon
twice and the US Open once.
The French Open is the only major to have eluded him and he was
reluctant to answer when asked if
he would trade one of his wins in
Australia for a victory in Paris.
‘I’ve had, thankfully many great
moments on the court in grand
slams. I think every grand slam win
is special in its own way. I can’t really
compare,’ he said.
This tournament by far has been
my most successful tournament in
my life, in my career. I enjoy playing
here, enjoy coming back.
Andy Murray
Melbourne, Feb 2:
Andy Murray’s fourth loss in four
ﬁnals at the Australian Open on Sunday still netted him a gain in the ATP
computer rankings, moving him from
sixth spot
to fourth in
the rankings
list issued
Monday.
Australian Open
champion
Novak Djokovic
will remain
No. 1, with
Roger Federer at No.
2 and Rafael Nadal in
third. With
Murray’s
move to fourth, it
restores
the so-called ‘Big Four’ who have
dominated Grand Slams over the
past decade.
US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori
remains No. 5, Miles Raonic moves
up to sixth and Tomas Berdych stays
seventh.
US Open champion Marin Cilic, who
is sidelined with a shoulder injury, is
eighth, followed by 2014 Australian
Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who
drops from fourth to ninth.
It is a joy to play with
Hingis, says Paes
Melbourne, Feb 2 (PTI):
Leander Paes and Martina
Hingis, two legends of the
game, were all praise for each
other after wining their first
Grand Slam together as Indian
ace called it a ‘treat to win title’
with the ‘Swiss Miss’.
Paes, contesting his 25th
season on the ATP World Tour,
and the Swiss ace defeated
defending champions Daniel
Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic
6-4, 6-3 in the ﬁnal.
Interestingly, it was 16th career Grand Slam title for Hingis
while Paes won his 15th title.
It was the third Australian
Open mixed double title for
Paes, who won with Martina
Navratilova in 2003 and with
Cara Black in 2010.
‘It’s a great honour to keep
Martina Hingis and Leander Paes
Irfan targets standout
World Cup
Karachi, Feb 2 (AFP):
Pakistan paceman Mohammad Irfan aims to make
an impression both on the
ﬁeld at the World Cup as well
as off it, which isn’t hard for a
man who stands at seven feet
one inch.
‘I know people notice me because
of my height and I always try to oblige
them by posing for a photograph,’
Irfan told AFP.
‘I will be ready to pose with fans in
Australia and New Zealand but will
remain focused on my job -- to bowl
my team to victories until we win the
World Cup.’
When Irfan toured South Africa with
the Pakistan team early in 2013, fans
were desperate to have a photo with
the tallest-ever international cricketer.
‘It was big fun,’ remembers 32-yearold Irfan. ‘I had no qualms as I am
very down to earth and when people
request a photo, wanting to compare
their height against mine it becomes
more fun for me.’
On the ﬁeld, however, Irfan’s top
priority remains to unsettle batsman.
‘It (the World Cup) is a big event
and every player has a desire to play,’
said Irfan.
‘I want to do what Wasim Akram did
for Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup.’
Wasim anchored Pakistan’s only
World Cup title in Australia and New
Zealand 23 years ago, finishing
as the player
of the
tournament
with 18
wickets.
Pakistan
captain
Misbahul Haq is
confident
that Irfan
can provide
the X-factor
on the fast,
bouncy
tracks of Mohammad Irfan
Australia.
‘Saeed
Ajmal’s
absence
h a s
weakened our
bowling,’ said
Misbah
of the
ace offspinner
w h o
had to
withdraw
from the
event because of
an illegal
bowling
action.
‘But I
am confident
that with
his height Irfan
can be the
X-factor for us.’
Irfan knows his strengths
which come as a result of
his imposing size.
‘It feels good that I perform
for Pakistan. It’s my greatest
desire to do well for Pakistan
so that people remember me with
good words when I ﬁnish my career.’
Big beds and shoes
His giant stature makes him a
dangerous bowler as each ball is
released from a height rarely experienced by batsmen.
If pitched short, the batsman needs
to tackle it with a jump and if pitched
full, it requires guile to dig it out.
But it hasn’t always been an easy
ride for Irfan.
He used to ﬁnd it difﬁcult to get a pair
of shoes to ﬁt while ﬁnding a bed to
cater for him was just as frustrating.
In his younger days, people on the
streets would make fun of this gentle
giant.
Unable to make a breakthrough in
the sport, Irfan once made ends meet
by working in a pipe factory, earning
just 300 rupees (30 dollars) a week.
‘I had quite a few problems because
of my height,’ recalls Irfan.
‘It was problematic sleeping at
home, whatever kit I used to bring
was not ﬁt and I didn’t get proper
sized shoes. But since playing for
Pakistan these problems have been
sorted out.’
coming back to Australia. It’s
a treat to play with Martina.
I finally managed to learn
some things from her returns
and returned half decently today. It’s intriguing,’ Paes said.
Paes also paid tribute to his
team behind the scenes.
‘There are a few people
who got us together. All you
guys back home who put
us together to win our ﬁrst
Grand Slam, thank you,’ the
41-year-old said.
Hingis, who has seven Australian Open trophies including three singles titles in
her glittering career, joked,
‘Martina (Navratilova) - thank
you for lending me Leander!’
as Navratilova who watched
the match from the stands
smiled.
Morgan upset with
manner of loss
Perth, Feb 2 (PTI):
English skipper Eoin Morgan expressed disappointment in the manner his side surrendered in the cricket
tri-series ﬁnal to Australia by 112 runs
here but said that they will come back
stronger in the World Cup beginning
on 14 February.
England were bowled out for just
166 while chasing the 279-run target. They failed to capitalise on the
strong opening bowling display as
they allowed
Australia to notch up
278 for eight
after being
reduced to
60 for 4 in
the 18th
over.
‘Winning the
toss and
bowling
first and
having
them four
d o w n
early was
obviously
brilliant but then
they had a
good partnership in the middle. They
played well but it also encouraged us
that the surface was getting better and
that we could chase down anything
under 300. It is disappointing, having
been beaten in that fashion,’ said
Morgan at the
post-match press conference.
‘One of the tests of this defeat is how
we can come back from it. That’s going to be huge. We were sort of tested
a little bit like this in Sri Lanka and
the guys came back really well and
I have no doubt they will come back
really well. We made bad decisions
and that is disappointing,’ he
said.
Glenn Maxwell scored 95 runs
and then took four wickets to singlehandedly deny England any hopes
of a win, with Mitchell Johnson also
chipping in with three quick wickets to
blow the top-order away.
Mixed Bag
CHENNAI
MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
7
Good US-India ties no
threat to China: Obama
‘Impoverished and disintegrated China is dangerous’
The kumbabhishekam was held at the mandapam located in the temple
tank of Karaneeswarar temple at Saidapet in Chennai today.
Actor Vishal at the drama festival organised by St Britto’s Theatre
Academy in Chennai.
Washington, Feb 2:
US President Barack Obama has
expressed surprise at the Chinese
reaction over his India visit and said
that there are undoubtedly aspects
of India that make US closer to India,
but China doesn’t need to be threatened because Washington has good
relations with New Delhi.
‘I was surprised when I heard that
the Chinese government had put
out these statements. China doesn’t
need to be threatened because
we have good relations with India,’
Obama told CNN in an interview that
was taped on 27 January, the last day
of his three-day India trip.
‘There’s no doubt that there are
aspects of India that make us closer
to India. Speciﬁcally, it’s a democracy
and it reﬂects the values and aspirations as well as some of the warts of
our own country in a way that China
could not. And so that I think there’s
an afﬁnity there that I feel personally
and I think the American people feel
as well,’ Obama noted.
However, he also stressed that his
November visit to China was a very
successful one, saying he had ‘visited China just a while back and had
some very successful meetings with
President Xi (Jinping)’.
AISSF hails plan
for SIT probe into
1984 riots case
Sundaram Finance Ltd managing director T T Srinivasaraghavan
honouring architects during the silver jubilee celebration of Terapanth
Education and Medical Trust and Terapanth Jain Matriculation Higher
Secondary School in Chennai. The Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India’s past president T N Manoharan is also seen.
Jamshedpur, Feb 2 (PTI):
The All India Sikh Students Federation (AISSF) today welcomed the
recommendation of a governmentappointed committee to re-investigate
the anti-Sikh riot cases through a
Special Investigation Team
‘We welcome the recommendation
of the committee for fresh probe by
SIT into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of the then
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,’ said
AISSF President (Bihar-Jharkhand),
Satnam Singh Gambhir.
Gambhir said AISSF had been
demanding constitution of a SIT to
probe afresh the anti-Sikh riots in
the country.
‘Children from afﬂuent
families do well in school’
New Delhi, Feb 2:
If you are an afﬂuent and well-educated Indian, your children are likely
to do better at school. There seems
to be a strong relation between
afﬂuence indicators and children’s
learning outcomes, according to
the 2014 Annual Status Report on
Education (ASER).
‘The credit for a child’s
education goes not just
to the school but to the
parents as well,’ Rukmini
Banerji, director, ASER
Centre, told IndiaSpend.
Affluence ensures that
households tend to be
smaller, allowing parents
to devote more attention to their
children; they can also afford to
pay for supplemental learning aids.
Students in the northern state of
Himachal Pradesh, for example, do
relatively well at math and reading;
Himachal Pradesh being a state that
reports high levels of afﬂuence and
parental education. The same was
true for Kerala and Manipur.
The ASER report covered 577
rural districts across India and
surveyed 16,497 villages, 341,070
households and 569,229
students. The ASER centre is an autonomous
body under the Pratham
network, which works
across rural and urban
areas to help children
acquire basic skills in
reading and arithmetic.
Overall, the situation with
basic reading continues to be grim in
India, with falling levels of learning.
Only a fourth of all children in Standard (Std.) III can read a II Standard
text ﬂuently, a drop of more than 5
per cent over four years. With math,
a quarter of children in Std. III could
not recognise numbers between 10
and 99, a drop of 13 per cent over four
years. So, is there any difference in
outcomes between public and private
schools? The enrolment in private
schools is going up, as we explained
in our earlier report on ASER 2013.
Private school enrolment stood at
around 18.7 per cent in 2006, and
has steadily increased to 30.8 per
cent in 2014.
The learning outcomes of private
schools tend to be much better than
public schools. We can see that
reading and math skills of students
in private schools are much better
than their counterparts in government schools. Overall, there has
been a steady decline in math and
reading skills since 2010 across
private and government schools.
Top performers to prop
up WC opening ceremony
Melbourne, Feb 2 (PTI):
Popular Australian performers Jessica Mauboy, Tina Arena, Nathaniel
and Daryl Braithwaite will headline
the entertainment line-up at the ICC
Cricket World Cup Opening Event
accompanied by the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra with Musical
Director, Chong Lim, here.
Victoria’s Minister Tourism and Major Events, John Eren, made the announcement today from Melbourne’s
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, where
the gala event will take place on 12
February, two nights before the MCG
hosts Australia and England in the
highly anticipated opening match of
the tournament.
‘The ICC Cricket World Cup is returning to Australia for the ﬁrst time
in 23 years and Melbourne is truly
honoured to host the Opening Event,’
Minister Eren said.
Tournament co-hosts New Zealand
will also stage an Opening Event on
the same evening in Christchurch.
A spectacular ﬁreworks display and
symbolic ‘World Cup’ moment will
provide Melburnians and international guests with a night to remember,
with Australia’s multi-talented export,
Jessica thrilled to be performing live.
‘It is a privilege to welcome the
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to
Melbourne and Australia by performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl
for the Opening Event in front of a
number of teams, including Australia
and England before their big opening
match,’ Mauboy said.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Chief
Executive John Harnden said: ‘It
is fantastic to be working with the
Victorian Government on this worldclass event.’
‘Tickets for the opening event were
snapped up within minutes and we
hope those attending will be even
more excited with the calibre of artists revealed today,’ Harnden said.
The event in Christchurch will feature some of New Zealand’s best
known performers, cricket legends
including Sir Richard Hadlee and
Stephen Fleming and a special
segment to recognise the rebuilding
of the city following the disastrous
earthquakes of 2011.
Sushma meets Chinese Prez
‘China doesn’t need to be threatened because we have good relations with India,’ he said.
‘My belief is that in this moment
in history, there’s an opportunity to
create a win-win formula in which all
countries are abiding by a common
set of rules and standards and we’re
focused on lifting up prosperity for our
people, not at the expense of others,
but together with each other. That’s
what my discussions with Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi have focused
on,’ Obama said.
Obama said has continuously
emphasised that it is very much in
America’s interest to see a peaceful
rise of China.
‘What’s dangerous for us is a destabilised and impoverished and disintegrating China. It’s much better for us
New Delhi, Feb 2:
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday, a day after she
said that India is committed to ﬁnd an ‘early settlement’
to the boundary issue with China.
Swaraj, currently on maiden four-day visit to China, had
also announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
visit the country in May this year.
Modi’s is scheduled to visit China after Jinping’s India
visit in September last year. Swaraj held bilateral talks
with her Chinese counterpart on Sunday.
if China is doing well,’ he said.
‘But what we’ve said since the start
of my term in ofﬁce is China’s growth
shouldn’t be at the expense of other
folks. It shouldn’t bully small countries
like Vietnam or Philippines around
maritime issues, but try to resolve
those peacefully in accordance with
international law. It shouldn’t manipulate its currencies to get itself trading
advantages that others don’t have,’
Obama said.
‘Sometimes we’ve been successful
in getting a response from China on
those issues. Sometimes less so. I
care deeply about China’s success. I
want to make sure that we continue to
maintain a constructive relationship,’
he said.
Asked what he was most proud of,
Obama said internationally, he was
‘proud of the fact that we`ve responsibly ended two wars’ - in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
‘And I think that what we have also
done is reflected the best values
of America,’ he said, citing among
others ‘strengthening alliances with
countries like India, where there`s just
enormous potential, and sometimes
we don`t pay a lot of attention to it’.
‘But I`ve been paying a lot of attention to it, because I think that our future prosperity and security is going to
be tied up with how we`re doing with
1.2 billion aspiring Indians who share
our values and share democracy with
us,’ Obama said.
Poster war in Delhi:
Kejriwal to move EC
New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI):
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today said that he will complain
to the Election Commission against
the BJP for allegedly attacking his
community in an advertisement.
‘BJP in the past few days has been
giving few advertisements personally
attacking me. They attacked me and
my children, I kept quiet because Anna
used to say that if someone personally attacks you, you should have the
strength to bear it. But today they have
crossed their limit,’ he told reporters.
‘They have called the entire community ‘updravi’. BJP’s ﬁght is with
me, whatever they have to say they
should say it against me, they should
not attack the entire Aggarwal com-
munity,’ he said.
The BJP advertisement targets
Kejriwal for threatening to disrupt the
Republic Day parade last year while
complaining this year that he was not
been invited for the event.
‘Desh ke karodon log gantantra
divas ko rashtriya parv mante hain,
us par garv karte hain (The country’s
crores of people consider Republic
Day as a national festival and feel
proud about it). Aur apka updravi
gotra isme vyavdhan dalne ko taiyar
tha (And your trouble maker community was ready to disrupt it).
‘This is unacceptable and they
should apologise from the entire
community. We will complain to EC
that BJP has stooped down to racial
Muzaffarnagar riots:
DM’s statement recorded
attacks. Delhi’s people do not like this
abusive politics,’ Kejriwal said.
The AAP chief also called a meeting
of top party leaders at his residence
to deliberate on the issue.
AAP leader Ashutosh came down
heavily on the BJP, saying people will
teach the saffron party a lesson in the
upcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
‘BJP stooped another low. Now
it has attacked Kejriwal’s GOTRA
in today’s advertisement. People
belonging to his GOTRA will teach
BJP Lesson (sic),’ he said on microblogging site on Twitter.
Kejriwal has often described himself
as a ‘baniya’ to reach out to traders’
community, which have traditionally
supported BJP.
Deve Gowda
‘quits’ politics
Bengaluru, Feb 2:
Former Prime Minister H D Deve
Gowda has announced his ‘retirement’ from electoral politics. Gowda, 81, has been saying ‘this is my
last election’ for the last three Lok
Sabha polls. But this time, he appears to be serious, as he has announced it well before the next LS
poll in 2019 and has handed over
the responsibility of his constituency, Hassan, to his son Revanna
and grandson Prajwal.
Prajwal, 24, was very active during the LS polls, but was formally
inducted into JD(S) only on Thursday when Gowda announced at
his residence in Bengaluru that he
would not contest any more elections. The grandson has not been
given any post yet, in the party
that has often been criticised as a
father-son one.
Muzaffarnagar, Feb 2 (PTI):
The inquiry commission probing
the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots has
recorded the statement of the then
District Magistrate Kaushal Raj
Sharma who asserted that authorities had effectively controlled the
violence.
The one-man inquiry commission of Justice (retd) Vishnu Sahai
yesterday recorded the statement
of Muzaffarnagar DM Kaushal Raj
Sharma who asserted that district authorities had controlled the
violence after taking steps to instill
conﬁdence in the people in the riothit district.
The commission has also summoned the then DGP Deoraj Nagar
and the then state Home Secretary
R N Srivastava on 5 February for
recording their statements.
would continue its sitting till 6 February here.
The commission, which would submit its report to the state government
on the cause of riots, action taken
by the government ofﬁcials at that
time and measures to prevent riots
in future, has so far recorded more
than 450 statements including those
of riots victims and senior ofﬁcials.
The one-member judicial inquiry
commission of Justice (retd) Vishnu
Sahai, former Judge of Allahabad
High Court, was constituted by the
Uttar Pradesh government in September 2013 to probe the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Over 60 persons were killed and
more than 40,000 displaced in communal violence in Muzaffarnagar
and adjoining areas in September,
2013.
India in 2nd spot
Lehmann picks Langer
as next Oz coach
Dubai, Feb 2 (PTI):
Defending champions India will
enter the 11th edition of the ICC
Cricket World Cup in second spot
behind leaders Australia.
After failing to win a single game
in the recently concluded tri-series,
the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side
trail Australia by six points in the
ODI rankings, according to an ICC
media release.
Australia, who won the tri-series
after humbling England in the ﬁnal,
are comfortably placed at the top
with 120 ranking points followed by
India (114) and South Africa (113).
With just a few more international
matches left to go before the the 50over showpiece event kickstarts on
14 February in Australia and New
Zealand, the 14 competing teams
are gearing up for the warm-up
matches slated between 8-13 of
this month.
Meanwhile in the player rankings,
India’s Virat Kohli is at the number
three spot in the batsman’s chart
with South Africa’s AB de Villers
and Hashim Amla at the No.1 and
2 position respectively.
Melbourne, Feb 2 (PTI):
Australian head coach Darren Lehmann believes former Test
cricketer Justin Langer is
the right person to succeed him, considering the
success he has already
achieved in Western Australia. Lehmann, whose
contract as Australian
head coach was extended recently till mid-2017,
knows that he won’t be
able to continue in this role forever
given the demands that come with
the position. ‘I believe he’ll be the
next coach of Australia,’ Lehmann
told Australia’s Fairfax Radio.
‘He’s done a fantastic job and he
should be very proud of what he’s
achieved in WA. He’s always ringing and asking questions and we’re
always throwing things at him as
well and asking him for different
ideas.’
Langer, who worked with the Australian team as a batting coach and
mentor in 2009 under Tim Nielson,
has achieved a lot of success as
coach of Western Australia and Perth Scorchers since 2012.
Under him, Perth
Scorchers won backto-back titles in the
Big Bash T20 League,
Western Warriors
clinched the Matador
Cup and reached the
ﬁnals of last season’s
Shefﬁeld Shield.
‘It’s a really united feeling in the
Australian setup now where the
State coaches are a very important
part of what we’re trying to do,’
Lehmann said.
‘And a guy who’s played over 100
Test matches - you’d be mad not
to take his advice. From our point
of view, we respect him very highly.
‘One thing I do know about this
job is that you can’t do it for a long
period of time because you’re away
270-300 days a year.
8MONDAY
2 FEBRUARY 2015
, CHENNAI
Licensed to post without prepayment under WPP. No. TN / PMG / (CCR) / WPP-470 / 15-17
MONEY,
MONEY, MONEY
(Dharani)
N
F
Isai trimmed
Director-actor SJ Suryah’s comeback ﬁlm Isai has been trimmed by
seven minutes as there were several
complaints about its lengthy run-time.
The movie’s original run-time was a
little over three hours.
Isai, which stars SJ Suryah and
debutant Savithri aka Sulagna Panigrahi, has been getting mixed reviews
from the critics. Sathyaraj and Thambi
Ramaiah are a part of the supporting
cast while Nila, AR Murugadoss,
Vishnuvardhan and Raju Sundaram
essay guest roles.
— NT Bureau
ilmmaker Guhan Sambandhan’s Dharani chronicles the
journey of three friends in an
interesting manner. Nedunchalai
fame Aari plays the lead role while
Kumaravel, Ajay Krishna, Varunika
and Sandra play prominent roles.
Popular Therukoothu artiste Purisai Kannappa Sambandham dons
the greasepaint.
The movie revolves around three
friends. They have their own problems in life. One is unable to repay
the money he has borrowed from a
loan shark, one doesn’t have a job
and another is cheated by his lover.
They are often chased by failures.
The journey they undergo in their
lives to taste success and how they
strive to overcome all hurdles forms
the rest. In a nutshell, it is about
three friends who cannot seem to
catch a break deciding to make
Thoppi
audio is out
T
he audio of Thoppi was
launched in Chennai on
Saturday amid great fanfare.
The cast and crew of the ﬁlm
was present during the event,
which witnessed the presence of
many industry biggies. The ﬁlm
has been directed by Youreka
and produced by Royal Screen.
The movie, a drama, stars Rakshaya and Murli Ram in lead
roles. The ﬁlm has been shot in
the scenic locales of Theni and
Korangani.
Says the director, ‘The film
is about a guy who aspires to
be a cop, but he has a criminal
background! An interesting love
story has also been woven into
this thriller. We have shot extensively in Theni and Korangani
for the ﬁlm.’
— NT Bureau
D
What is
Dhanush’s
next?
hanush’s Shamitabh and Anegan are
releasing this month. Prabhu Solomon’s next ﬁlm will have Dhanush in the
lead and it will be produced by reputed
production house Sathyajothi Films.
Dhanush is currently acting in Balaji Mohan’s Maari and Vetrimaran’s Soodhadi.
Meanwhile buzz is that Dhanush will do
a, movie for Prabhu Solomon. and it will
be produced by Sathyajothi Films T G
Thiyagarajan. It would be rural story and
pre-production works will begun soon.
Imman, who is known for his close association with Prabhu Solomon will compose the
music. Details about the rest of the cast and
technicians would be announced soon.
— NT Bureau
Nayan completes
Maaya shoot
their own ways. Where do their
paths lead them?
Aari carries the burden on his
shoulders to deliver a good show.
Kumerasan as an innocent youngster does well.
The movie strives home a point
that there are many important things
in life than money.
Guhan Sambandham has managed to infuse pace in the second half after a mediocre first
part. The intention is good and
the filmmaker manages to pass
the muster.
— M BHARAT KUMAR
ayanthara’s horror flick
Maya has been wrapped up
and the team is conﬁdent
with the output.
Produced by SR Prabhu of Potential Studios, the ﬁlm is being
directed by Ashwin Saravanan
who is known for his interesting
short ﬁlms.
Sources say that for the
first time Nayanthara plays a
mother (in Tamil) and the film
has Aari of Nedunchalai fame
playing the male lead. Maya
is said to be Nayanthara’s
character in the film and it
also denoted the word ‘Illusion’ which will suit the horror
genre say the sources. Maya
will be a big summer release
and it might be released after
Suriya’s Masss.
— NT Bureau
Still from OM SHANTHI OM
I want to get
back to theatre:
Om Puri
Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri
was overwhelmed by the warm reception he received on his return to his
alma mater National School of Drama
after 40 years and he says he wants
to get back to theatre.
Puri, 64, was welcomed with a resounding applause here yesterday
during the inauguration of NSD’s
17th Bharat Rang Mahotsav. Recalling his old days on the stage,
the National Award-winning actor
said the feeling one gets on a
theatre stage is unmatchable
and he wants to live that time
once again.
I could have cried on the stage. I
am grateful to this theatre school for
making me what I am today. I feel I
should get back to stage. These applauses are like energisers. This kind
of reception is addictive.
— PTI
A
Om Shanthi Om gets U
S
rikanth starrer Om Shanthi Om
has been certiﬁed and given a
clean U certiﬁcate.
Directed by S u r y a p r a k a s h , a
former associate of S J Suryah
and Rajesh, the movie stars
Neelam Upadhyaya as heroine.
Naan kadavul Rajendran, Junior
Baliah, Aadukalam Naren form
part of the cast.
Vijay Ebenezar has scored the
music. Says the director, ‘It is a
Ajith watches
Yennai Arindhaal
ctor Ajith was all smiles after he watched his movie
Yennai Arindhaal at a special preview theatre in
Chennai on Saturday. He along with his family members watched the movie.
Directed by Gautham Menon, the movie has Anushka
and Trisha as leading ladies. Music is by Harris
Jayaraj. Plans are on for a gala release on 5 February.
Speaking about the ﬁlm, Gautham Menon, says, ‘the
story traces the journey of a man between the age of
12 and 38. There’s action, romance, and even a family
drama too. Travails of the man makes up the movie.
Ajith plays a chracter called Sathyadev. It is inspired
from the title role Kamal Haasan did in Sathya.’
Heaping laurels on Ajith, the director, said, ‘Ajith
was always helpful. He often reminds me that Yennai
Arindhal should be a Gautham Menon’s ﬁlm in which
he is just a part. Whenever I am tempted to add a
punchline, he would remind me that it was my movie
and there is no need for such things.’
‘Also he was the bridge between me and my producer. He ensured both of us were at ease and understanding all through ﬁlmmaking.’
— NT Bureau
WATER-WASH
A
The Adyar river being desilted as part of the efforts to revamp the popular waterbody.
Photo: A R JAYAKUMAR
horror film but laced with humour
all through’.
The movie has come really good
and audience will love the film,
he adds.
— NT Bureau
Bill Clinton in
at DiCaprio’s
ﬁlm
Former US President Bill Clinton
made a surprise appearance at a
screening of Leonardo DiCaprio’s
Oscar-nominated Netﬂix documentary, Virunga, at the Museum of Arts
and Design in New York.
Virunga is executive-produced
by DiCaprio and follows a team of
park rangers in Virunga National
Park in the Democratic Republic of
Congo who risk their lives to protect
the home of endangered mountain
gorillas.
Ann Curry moderated a Q&A following the screening with Virunga
director Orlando von Einsiedel
and producer Joanna Natasegara,
which discussed the message behind the film.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
Jonah Hill, Jeffrey Wright, Jeff Gordon, Beau Willimon and Netﬂix CCO
Ted Sarandos also attended the
screening.
Virunga is Oscar-nominated for best
documentary feature.
— PTI
Acting is my
priority: Mallika
Sherawat
ctress Mallika Sherawat says she
is ﬂooded with offers of glamorous roles in Bollywood. .
Ask her why she is choosy about
her scripts, Mallika said, ‘Yes, I am
a little choosy. Usually the roles
that I get from Bollywood are very
glamorous roles. I want to do roles
where I can act and I don’t want to
do just one song and dance. My
character has to be different. If
you are constantly being offered
only glamorous roles, you will not
do it. Dirty Politics is a platform to
show my talent,’ said the actress,
currently busy promoting her film
Dirty Politics, which also stars
Om Puri. The Murder star also
shared that she doesn’t believe
in camps.
I don’t believe in camps. All
these things are not important
for me. I want to be an independent woman who can take care of
herself. I have never been part of
any groups,’ said the actress who
has worked with filmmakers like
Anurag Basu, Mani Ratnam and
Satish Kaushik.
— PTI
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