CHENNAI Temperature: 29 0 C Precipitation: 20% Humidity: 75% Wind: 11 Km/hr ISLAMABAD, JAN 03 Pakistan has rejected India’s claim that the crew of a Pakistani fishing boat blew up and sank their vessel in an attempt to evade capture at the hands of the Indian Navy in a high-speed chase at sea, Geo News reported. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam denied that any boat from Keti Bunder port of the coun- try’s Sindh Province had sailed off. Sources in the Foreign Office termed the Indian claim as mere propaganda to tarnish the image of Pakistan, the report added. The Coast Guard on December 31 night intercepted a Pakistani CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Violence, racial remarks and gestures against people from the northeast are likely to be made punishable offences. The govern- ment move is in accor- dance with the M.P. Bezbaruah Committee report on discrimination against the people of the northeast. It was set up follow- ing the murder of a 19- year-old from Arunachal Pradesh, Nido Tania, in South Delhi about a year ago. “The proposal for insertion of Section 153-C [cognisable and non-bailable] and Section 509-A [cognis- able and bailable] in the Indian Penal Code is under consideration,” Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. The proposed Section 153-C makes acts caus- ing or likely to cause fear or feeling of inse- curity among the com- munity punishable with up to five years’ impris- onment. It also makes offences of such attempts, promotion or participation in violence on grounds of racial fea- tures, behaviour, culture or way of living. The proposed Section 509-A provides up to three years’ imprison- ment for words, gesture or act intended to insult a member of any race. Denying that the pro- posal was in view of the upcoming Delhi CONTD. ON P AGE 3 HAQ SAADDA FIGHT FOR RIGHT Sunday, January 04, 2015 Delhi sees a jump in rape cases Samsung Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE Runs on Exynos SoC, Not Snapdragon 810: Report Sana Khan to enter 'Bigg Boss 8' as the fifth challenger JAMMU, JAN 03 Two Army jawans and a woman were killed while 11 people were injured as Pakistani troops targeted vil- lages and security posts at vari- ous places in Jammu and Kashmir since Friday night which triggered migration of hundreds of people from some border areas. While the firing and shelling continued, Home Minister Rajnath Singh regretted that Pakistan is repeatedly targeting border areas of India despite being offered a hand of friend- ship. Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire along the LoC near Kanhaiyah Post on Friday night by firing rocket propelled grenades into Tanghdar area, police officials said while cit- ing the FIR lodged by the Army. They said the Pakistani action caused death of two Army jawans and injury to another. A BSF jawan, who was posted on duty in a nearby post of the force, was also injured in the incident, the officials said. Along the International Border, Pakistani troops target- ed villages and 13 border out- posts with heavy mortar shelling in Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir, leading to death of a woman and injuries to eight others. Shelling of villages triggered panic and migration from bor- der villages and over 1400 peo- ple have been evacuated from hamlets in Samba and Kathua district, officials said. “Pakistani troops resorted to CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Two Army jawans, one woman killed in Pak firing P8 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Minister of Rural Development Birender Singh on Friday defended the ordi- nance amending the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Minister defends amend- ments to Land Act NEW DELHI, JAN 03 The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said here on Friday that replacing the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog would strike at the very foun- dation of the federal structure, and the new body would be an “extension of the all-powerful CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NITI Aayog a threat to fed- eral structure: Congress NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Interception by the Coast Guard of a suspicious Pakistani fishing boat which blew itself up in the Arabian Sea, showed that India’s coastal surveillance system, put in place in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was working well, security CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Coastal surveillance system proves itself Vol. 1 Issue: 108 Price: Rs.3:00 Reg. No: DELENG/2014/58212 Delhi Edition Pages: 8 Website: www.saaddahaq.in Email: [email protected]PUNE, JAN 03 Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, on Saturday, made a strong case for cleaning up bad debts of banks and restructure other possible non-performing assets (NPAs) within a year to put the economy back on track. He also favoured channelising ‘full savings’ of the households into the financial system so that the CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Need to clean up bad debts in banks within a year: Rajan LUCKNOW, JAN 03 Bahujan Samaj Party president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has regretted that the Bharat Ratna had not been conferred on party founder Kanshi Ram and criticised the NDA government for ignoring the claims of Dalit icons for the highest civilian honour. At a press conference here on Saturday, she said: “The Bharat Ratna was recently given to two persons of the same caste, but eminent persons CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Dalit icons ignored: Mayawati PATNA, JAN 03 Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP have never “backed” the ‘ghar vapsi’ campaign by some Hindu outfits. “Neither the Prime Minister nor the BJP has said any- thing to back ‘ghar vapasi’ CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Narendra Modi, BJP have nothing to do with ‘ghar vapsi’: Paswan NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Refuting the criticism that the VHP’s ‘ghar vapasi’ cam- paign was in essence a con- version drive, Manmohan Vaidya, All India Prachar Pramukh for the RSS, said here on Saturday that connect- ing to one’s roots was “a CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Ghar Vapasi is a natural urge: RSS KOLKATA, JAN 03 Three persons arrested in Assam for alleged connection with the Bardhaman blast case were on Saturday remanded to eight days’ National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody by a city court which sent eight other accused to judicial custody till January CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Three accused in Bardhaman blast case sent to NIA custody GENEVA, JAN 03 The number of people infected with the deadly Ebola virus reached 20,381 people by the end of 2014, and 7,989 of them died of the disease, according to figures released on Friday by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The data includes confirmed, CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Over 20,000 people con- tracted Ebola in 2014: WHO P6 P2 Criticism yes, allegation no: Modi MUMBAI, JAN 03 Even as he outlined the need for and strengths of dialogue and healthy “crit- icism” of the government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday warned the media against exces- sive “allegations” as doing so “weakened democracy.” Mr. Modi urged people to sharpen their skills of criticism as he lamented that today allegations had replaced constructive criti- cism. Making allegations did not require much effort, he pointed out, but for constructive criticism you needed thorough analysis. “The need of the times is that we tread the path of criticism and shy away from allegations. Criticism opens up the door to the shuddikaran (cleansing) of views. The more we allege, the more we lose our strengths, and weaken democracy,” Mr. Modi said at the platinum jubilee celebrations of Marathi newspaper Pudhari at Kolhapur. “I am saddened to say that today allegations have replaced criticism. And if anyone is getting ruined CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 The Left parties on Saturday called for a nation-wide protest on January 24 against U. S. President Barack Obama’s Republic Day visit for pressurising India to change its policies to suit American interests. The decision to organise a protest day on January 24 was taken after a discussion between the leaders of the four Left parties which have a long-standing alliance along with the Communist Party of India (Marxist- Leninist) and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI). This is also part of the ongoing effort to bring about broader left unity at a time when the Left has been weakened electorally. In a joint statement, the CPI (Marxist), CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Forward Bloc, CPI(M-L) and SUCI said ``it is a CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has sought com- ments from the State gov- ernments on the proposed changes to the All India Services (Discipline & Appeal) Rules. The changes are being brought to expe- dite and strengthen the deci- sion-making process. Advising through yet another reminder that the issue be accorded top priori- ty, the DoPT has asked the States to communicate their views/comments on the pro- posed amendments by January 7. “If no reply is received by the stipulated date in the department, it will be presumed that the State government has no objection to the proposed amendment,” the DoPT let- ter to Chief Secretaries of States states. The government proposed that every order of suspen- sion and every order of rev- ocation should be made in the stipulated standard form CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Indian and U.S. officials are expected to meet in Delhi next week to discuss two pro- posals made by India to clear the nuclear logjam, with an added push coming from U.S. President Obama’s impending visit on January 24. The proposals were put forward during the first con- tact group meeting on civil nuclear issues held on December 16-17 that had been tasked by President Obama and Prime Minister Modi with finding a way around U.S. objections to India’s supplier liability law. According to one official present at the meeting, India put up a revised proposal of CONTD. ON P AGE 3 MUMBAI, JAN 03 After the success of Mangalyaan, the Indian Space Research Organisation is working on developing technolo- gy to send a manned mission to space, the organisation's former chief Dr. K Radhakrishnan said on Saturday. "We have been able to send robots to space. Technology available in India needs be a few steps ahead to be able to send human beings to space," Radhakrishnan said during an interac- tion with senior space scientist Pramod Kale at the 102nd Indian Science Congress which opened in Mumbai on Saturday. "Sending human beings to space requires ability to provide the environment and life support system for the crew, minimising the failure rate and develop- ing an escape system, etc. Isro is working on several such things," he said. Speaking about the CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Isro Working on Manned Space Mission: Dr. Radhakrishnan Nuclear logjam: India, U.S. to work on new proposals Left parties to protest Obama visit Centre seeks States’ response on service rules Pakistan rejects Indian report on explosives boat Racial remarks against N-E people to be made punishable Weather Report DELHI Temperature: 20 0 C Precipitation: 0% Humidity:57% Wind: 16 Km/hr KOLKA T A Temperature: 27 0 C Precipitation: 70% Humidity: 69% Wind:13 Km/hr MUMBAI Temperature: 31 0 C Precipitation: 0% Humidity:51% Wind: 18 Km/hr PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE 102ND INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS IN MUMBAI ON SATURDAY. We will talk in a lan- guage India under- stands: Pakistan ISLAMABAD, JAN 03 Pakistan on Saturday appeared to threaten India with retaliation over the killing of its soldiers in cross-border fir- ing, saying it will now “com- municate in the language they understand“. “In the past six—seven months, we have tried to better our ties with India so that peace can prevail. But it seems that they do not understand this language,” Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters outside the Pakistan Parliament. “I believe, we will now com- municate with India in the lan- guage they understand,” he said. Asif’s remarks came after CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said India had been offering its hand of friendship to Pakistan, but the neighbouring country continuously violated the ceasefire agreement. “Pakistan should stop ceasefire viola- tions... they had suffered badly CONTD. ON P AGE 3 NEW DELHI, JAN 03 A day after India rejected Pakistani allegations that BSF soldiers had opened fire on Pakistani rangers who had come for a flag meeting in the Jammu sector, External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj sent a detailed letter to her Pakistani coun- terpart Sartaj Aziz on the events of December 31st. In her written CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Pakistan violating ceasefire despite our hand of friendship: Rajnath Swaraj rejects Pakistan charge AN AERIAL VIEW OF THE EXPLOSIVES-LADEN BOAT BEFORE IT WAS INTERCEPTED BY THE INDIAN COAST GUARD 365 KM OFF PORBANDAR. AHMEDABAD, JAN 03 The Indian Coast Guard has begun a search operation for wreckage and bodies from the Pakistani fishing vessel that the Defence Ministry said sank after its four-member crew blew it up on being intercepted. Pakistan, meanwhile, rejected the report that the fishing boat had anything to do with it. Foreign Office CONTD. ON P AGE 3 Boat was unnamed: Coast Guard
India’s claim that the crew ofa Pakistani fishing boat blewup and sank their vessel in anattempt to evade capture atthe hands of the Indian Navyin a high-speed chase at sea,Geo News reported.
Pakistan Foreign Officespokesperson Tasneem Aslamdenied that any boat fromKeti Bunder port of the coun-try’s Sindh Province hadsailed off.
Sources in the ForeignOffice termed the Indianclaim as mere propaganda totarnish the image of Pakistan,the report added. The CoastGuard on December 31 nightintercepted a Pakistani
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Violence, racial
remarks and gesturesagainst people from thenortheast are likely tobe made punishableoffences. The govern-ment move is in accor-dance with the M.P.Bezbaruah Committeereport on discriminationagainst the people of thenortheast.
It was set up follow-ing the murder of a 19-year-old fromArunachal Pradesh,Nido Tania, in South
Delhi about a year ago.“The proposal for
insertion of Section153-C [cognisable andnon-bailable] andSection 509-A [cognis-able and bailable] in theIndian Penal Code isunder consideration,”Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh said onFriday.
The proposed Section153-C makes acts caus-ing or likely to causefear or feeling of inse-curity among the com-munity punishable with
up to five years’ impris-onment. It also makesoffences of suchattempts, promotion orparticipation in violenceon grounds of racial fea-tures, behaviour, cultureor way of living.
The proposed Section509-A provides up tothree years’ imprison-ment for words, gestureor act intended to insulta member of any race.
Denying that the pro-posal was in view of theupcoming Delhi
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
HAQSAADDAFIGHT FOR RIGHTSunday, January 04, 2015
Delhi sees a jump in rape cases Samsung Galaxy Note 4 S-LTE Runs onExynos SoC, Not Snapdragon 810: Report
Sana Khan to enter 'Bigg Boss 8'as the fifth challenger
JAMMU, JAN 03Two Army jawans and a
woman were killed while 11people were injured asPakistani troops targeted vil-lages and security posts at vari-ous places in Jammu andKashmir since Friday nightwhich triggered migration ofhundreds of people from someborder areas.
While the firing and shellingcontinued, Home MinisterRajnath Singh regretted thatPakistan is repeatedly targetingborder areas of India despitebeing offered a hand of friend-ship.
Pakistani troops violated theceasefire along the LoC nearKanhaiyah Post on Friday nightby firing rocket propelledgrenades into Tanghdar area,police officials said while cit-ing the FIR lodged by theArmy.
They said the Pakistaniaction caused death of twoArmy jawans and injury toanother. A BSF jawan, who was
posted on duty in a nearby postof the force, was also injured inthe incident, the officials said.
Along the InternationalBorder, Pakistani troops target-ed villages and 13 border out-posts with heavy mortarshelling in Kathua and Sambadistricts of Jammu andKashmir, leading to death of a
woman and injuries to eightothers.
Shelling of villages triggeredpanic and migration from bor-der villages and over 1400 peo-ple have been evacuated fromhamlets in Samba and Kathuadistrict, officials said.
“Pakistani troops resorted to CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Two Army jawans, one woman killed in Pak firing P8
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Minister of Rural
Development Birender Singhon Friday defended the ordi-nance amending the Right toFair Compensation andTransparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Minister defends amend-ments to Land Act
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The Congress and the
Communist Party of India(Marxist) said here on Fridaythat replacing the PlanningCommission with NITI Aayogwould strike at the very foun-dation of the federal structure,and the new body would be an“extension of the all-powerful
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NITI Aayog a threat to fed-eral structure: Congress
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Interception by the Coast
Guard of a suspiciousPakistani fishing boat whichblew itself up in the ArabianSea, showed that India’scoastal surveillance system,put in place in the wake of26/11 Mumbai terror attacks,was working well, security
Raghuram Rajan, on Saturday,made a strong case for cleaning upbad debts of banks and restructureother possible non-performingassets (NPAs) within a year to putthe economy back on track.
He also favoured channelising‘full savings’ of the households intothe financial system so that the
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Need to clean up bad debts inbanks within a year: Rajan
LUCKNOW, JAN 03Bahujan Samaj Party president and former Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawatihas regretted that the Bharat Ratnahad not been conferred on partyfounder Kanshi Ram and criticisedthe NDA government for ignoringthe claims of Dalit icons for thehighest civilian honour.
At a press conference here onSaturday, she said: “The BharatRatna was recently given to twopersons of the same caste, but eminent persons
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Dalit icons ignored: Mayawati
PATNA, JAN 03Union Minister Ramvilas
Paswan on Saturday said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and BJPhave never “backed” the ‘gharvapsi’ campaign by some Hinduoutfits. “Neither the PrimeMinister nor the BJP has said any-thing to back ‘ghar vapasi’
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Narendra Modi, BJP have nothingto do with ‘ghar vapsi’: Paswan
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Refuting the criticism that
the VHP’s ‘ghar vapasi’ cam-paign was in essence a con-version drive, ManmohanVaidya, All India PracharPramukh for the RSS, saidhere on Saturday that connect-ing to one’s roots was “a
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Ghar Vapasi is anatural urge: RSS
KOLKATA, JAN 03Three persons arrested in
Assam for alleged connectionwith the Bardhaman blast casewere on Saturday remanded toeight days’ NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)custody by a city court whichsent eight other accused tojudicial custody till January
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Three accused in Bardhamanblast case sent to NIA custody
GENEVA, JAN 03The number of people
infected with the deadly Ebolavirus reached 20,381 peopleby the end of 2014, and 7,989of them died of the disease,according to figures releasedon Friday by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO). Thedata includes confirmed,
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Over 20,000 people con-tracted Ebola in 2014: WHO
P6P2
Criticism yes, allegation no: Modi MUMBAI, JAN 03
Even as he outlined theneed for and strengths ofdialogue and healthy “crit-icism” of the government,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday warnedthe media against exces-sive “allegations” as doingso “weakened democracy.”
Mr. Modi urged peopleto sharpen their skills ofcriticism as he lamentedthat today allegations hadreplaced constructive criti-cism. Making allegationsdid not require mucheffort, he pointed out, butfor constructive criticismyou needed thoroughanalysis.
“The need of the times isthat we tread the path ofcriticism and shy awayfrom allegations. Criticismopens up the door to the
shuddikaran (cleansing) ofviews. The more weallege, the more we loseour strengths, and weakendemocracy,” Mr. Modisaid at the platinum jubileecelebrations of Marathi
newspaper Pudhari atKolhapur.
“I am saddened to saythat today allegations havereplaced criticism. And ifanyone is getting ruined
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03 The Left parties on Saturday called for a
nation-wide protest on January 24 againstU. S. President Barack Obama’s RepublicDay visit for pressurising India to change itspolicies to suit American interests.
The decision to organise a protest day onJanuary 24 was taken after a discussionbetween the leaders of the four Left partieswhich have a long-standing alliance alongwith the Communist Party of India(Marxist-
Leninist) and the Socialist Unity Centreof India (SUCI). This is also part of theongoing effort to bring about broader leftunity at a time when the Left has beenweakened electorally.
In a joint statement, the CPI (Marxist),CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party, ForwardBloc, CPI(M-L) and SUCI said ``it is a
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The Department of
Personnel and Training(DoPT) has sought com-ments from the State gov-ernments on the proposedchanges to the All IndiaServices (Discipline &Appeal) Rules. The changesare being brought to expe-dite and strengthen the deci-sion-making process.
Advising through yetanother reminder that theissue be accorded top priori-ty, the DoPT has asked theStates to communicate their
views/comments on the pro-posed amendments byJanuary 7. “If no reply isreceived by the stipulateddate in the department, itwill be presumed that theState government has noobjection to the proposedamendment,” the DoPT let-ter to Chief Secretaries ofStates states.
The government proposedthat every order of suspen-sion and every order of rev-ocation should be made inthe stipulated standard form
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03 Indian and U.S. officials
are expected to meet in Delhinext week to discuss two pro-posals made by India to clearthe nuclear logjam, with anadded push coming fromU.S. President Obama’simpending visit on January24. The proposals were putforward during the first con-tact group meeting on civilnuclear issues held onDecember 16-17 that hadbeen tasked by PresidentObama and Prime MinisterModi with finding a wayaround U.S. objections toIndia’s supplier liability law.
According to one officialpresent at the meeting, Indiaput up a revised proposal of
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
MUMBAI, JAN 03After the success of
Mangalyaan, the IndianSpace ResearchOrganisation is workingon developing technolo-gy to send a mannedmission to space, theorganisation's formerchief Dr. KRadhakrishnan said onSaturday.
"We have been able tosend robots to space.Technology available inIndia needs be a fewsteps ahead to be able tosend human beings tospace," Radhakrishnansaid during an interac-tion with senior spacescientist Pramod Kale atthe 102nd IndianScience Congress which
opened in Mumbai onSaturday.
"Sending humanbeings to space requiresability to provide theenvironment and lifesupport system for the
crew, minimising thefailure rate and develop-ing an escape system,etc. Isro is working onseveral such things," hesaid. Speaking about the
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Isro Working on Manned SpaceMission: Dr. Radhakrishnan
Nuclear logjam:India, U.S. to workon new proposals
Left parties toprotest Obama visit
Centre seeks States’response on service rules
Pakistan rejects Indian report on explosives boat
Racial remarks against N-Epeople to be made punishable
PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE102ND INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS IN MUMBAI ON SATURDAY.
We will talk in a lan-guage India under-stands: Pakistan ISLAMABAD, JAN 03
Pakistan on Saturdayappeared to threaten India withretaliation over the killing ofits soldiers in cross-border fir-ing, saying it will now “com-municate in the language theyunderstand“.
“In the past six—sevenmonths, we have tried to betterour ties with India so thatpeace can prevail. But it seemsthat they do not understandthis language,” DefenceMinister Khawaja Asif toldreporters outside the PakistanParliament.
“I believe, we will now com-municate with India in the lan-guage they understand,” hesaid.
Asif’s remarks came after CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Union Home Minister
Rajnath Singh on Saturday saidIndia had been offering itshand of friendship to Pakistan,but the neighbouring countrycontinuously violated theceasefire agreement. “Pakistanshould stop ceasefire viola-tions... they had suffered badly
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
NEW DELHI, JAN 03A day after India
rejected Pakistaniallegations thatBSF soldiers hadopened fire onPakistani rangerswho had come for aflag meeting in theJammu sector,
External Affairsminister SushmaSwaraj sent adetailed letter toher Pakistani coun-terpart Sartaj Azizon the events ofDecember 31st.
In her written CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Pakistan violating ceasefire despiteour hand of friendship: Rajnath
Swaraj rejects Pakistan charge
AN AERIAL VIEW OF THE EXPLOSIVES-LADEN BOAT BEFORE IT WASINTERCEPTED BY THE INDIAN COAST GUARD 365 KM OFF PORBANDAR.
AHMEDABAD, JAN 03The Indian Coast Guard
has begun a search operationfor wreckage and bodiesfrom the Pakistani fishingvessel that the DefenceMinistry said sank after its
four-member crew blew it upon being intercepted.
Pakistan, meanwhile,rejected the report that thefishing boat had anything todo with it. Foreign Office
CONTD. ON PAGE 3
Boat was unnamed: Coast Guard
NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015Delhi News2 SAADDA HAQ
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The year when Uber rape case
brought the spotlight back onwomen’s safety, the Capital regis-tered nearly 500 more rape casesthan 2013 — a 31.70 per cent jumpover the preceding year.
Statistics reveal that from 1,571rape cases registered in 2013, thenumber grew to 2,069 in 2014. Arise was also seen in the number ofmolestation cases which went upby 25 per cent to 4,179 from 3,345the year before.
The overall crime rate in the cityin 2014 too shot up to almost dou-ble the corresponding number in2013. It also crossed the one lakhmark for the first time in the city’shistory.
At the annual police press con-ference here on Friday,Commissioner B.S. Bassi revealedthat a whopping 1,47,230 caseswere registered till December 15last year, nearly twice the 73,902cases registered till the same datein 2013. A break up of the 1.47lakh cases thus registered illus-trates that on an average as manyas 421 crimes are reported in thecity every day. He attributed thestaggering rise to greater emphasison “truthful registration” of casesunder his leadership. In other
major crimes, the number of mur-ders was 561 in 2014, comparedwith 486 the year before.
It was during the year that sever-al major robberies such as the Rs.7.7-crore one in Lajpat Nagar andthe still unsolved ATM robbery-cum-murder case in Kamla Nagarwere reported.
But with only 29.5 per cent ofthe cases solved in the entire year,it seems investigation has not keptpace with the registration. There isa dip in this figure as in 2013,48.86 per cent of the registeredcases were solved. Calculation inabsolute terms establishes that atotal of 36,109 were solved in
2013. The number went up bynearly 7,000 to 43,433 tillDecember 15. Evading a pointedreply to a question related to theprogress of investigation in theSunanda Pushkar death case,which continues to remain a mys-tery, Mr. Bassi said the police haddone “whatever was needed”.
Delhi sees a jump in rape cases
NEW DELHI, JAN 03After launching its
biggest ever housingscheme in 2014, the DelhiDevelopment of Authority(DDA) is now gettingready to offer a whopping40,000 flats of ultra-mod-ern design in Delhi inDecember 2016. Thisbesides offering comfort-able housing for senior cit-izens through a first-of-itskind scheme in the coun-try. However, the landagency has clearly ruledout any housing schemethis year. DDA Vice-Chairman BalvinderKumar on Friday saidsome 53,752 flats arebeing developed by theagency.
“The DDA is developingover 52,000 flats. Of these46,952 flats are under con-struction while 24,260 areat the planning stage. Weare hopeful that 40,000flats would be ready forour next housing schemeby December 2016,” saidMr Kumar.
Mr. Kumar also sharedthat all these flats and any
other flats being construct-ed by the DDA will haveultra modern designs withhighest specifications. Allbuildings will now bebased on green concepts,will be energy efficientwith zero discharge andprefab structures enablingspeedier and eco-friendlyconstructions.
On the senior citizenapartment scheme, the V-Csaid: “Work will start on2,000 flats, which we hopewill be ready to offer thisyear. A total of 800 of theseflats will be in Dwarka, therest in Rohini and in SouthDelhi. Five hectares ofland has already been iden-tified in Rohini.”
“Senior citizens wantsecurity, medical facility.We will ensure they get itall. We will also talk tobanks and see if they canoffer loans to senior citi-zens staying alone in Delhion reverse mortgage sothat they can apply in ourscheme,” he said.
On the Housing Scheme-2014, the DDA said it willstart giving allotment-
cum-possession letter onSaturday. As many unsuc-cessful applicants have stillnot been refunded the reg-istration amount by thebanks, the V-C said theagencies can be blacklist-ed.
The V-C ruled outreports that many success-ful applicants have surren-dered the flats in Rohinidue to dispute with theBarwala villagers. As oftoday, 150 people havesurrendered their flatsunder the scheme.
“I reiterate that no flat inthe housing scheme isaffected by Barwala issue.No flat in the scheme is onthe disputed land. Peopleare surrendering flatsbecause they had not visit-ed the location earlier. Iwill say urbanization ofany area takes time. Also,people have issue with thesize of the flat too.”
Besides this, Mr. Kumarsaid new farmhouse regu-lations will be out in twomonths providing regulari-sation of excess built uparea.
DDA to offer ultra-modern flats,housing for senior citizens
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The Capital’s roads were the safest in a
decade last year, with substantial reduc-tions in the number of lives lost as well asthe number of accidents, the police said onFriday.
According to the data released by theDelhi Police, the number of road fatalitiesregistered a slump of over 27 per centfrom 820 in 2013 to 595 last year. Also,559 accidents were recorded in 2014 asopposed to 778 in 2013.
Delhi’s roads were at their most danger-ous, according to the statistics, in 2009,when 2,325 persons lost their lives in asmany as 2,272 road accidents — the high-est number of road accidents and deathsresulting thereof in 10 years.
“Things are constantly improving on thetraffic front in Delhi and will continue toimprove further with the introduction ofthe Intelligent Traffic ManagementSystem [ITMS] sooner rather than later,”Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassisaid. Senior officers from the traffic unitattributed the reduction in accidents, espe-
cially fatal ones, to stricter and more uni-form enforcement of the law, and anemphasis on immediate and harsh prose-cution for offences such as drunken anddangerous driving.
For instance, a senior traffic police offi-cer pointed out, that while prosecutionagainst drunken driving had gone up from26,633 drivers in 2013 to 28,059 in 2014,the unit had made it a point to ensure thatmore jail terms were handed down todrunken drivers, those found speeding andsimilar offences pertaining to ‘generalbehavioural problems exhibited by Delhidrivers’. “The number of drunken driverssent to jail last year soared by over 83 percent. As opposed to 3,628 such drivers in2013, 6,653 were sent to jail in 2014,” saida traffic police officer.
While just 29,045 drivers been bookedfor over-speeding in 2013, 1,23,676 wereprosecuted for the same in 2014 — anincrease of a massive 325 per cent.
In the case of rash and negligent driving,1,049 drivers were prosecuted in 2014, asopposed to just 238 the year before.
Delhi roads safest last year in over a decade
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The postal department
takes 15 days to deliver aspeed post resulting in awoman missing out on herchance of being appointedas a JBT teacher.However, the departmentstands protected againstclaims of deficiency inservices by virtue of astatute which says a postoffice is not liable to com-pensate if damage causedwas not wilful or fraudu-lent.
The post office derivesthis protection from sec-tion 6 of the Indian PostOffice Act, 1898 whichsays no official of the postoffice shall incur any lia-bility by reason of anyloss, mis-delivery, delay ordamage, unless he hascaused the same fraudu-lently or by his wilful actor default.
In the instant case, awoman from Gurgaon,was denied any relief bythe Gurgaon DistrictConsumer DisputesRedressal Forum when sheclaimed a compensation ofRs. 20 lakh from threepost offices after her appli-cations for JBT teacher’sappointment failed toreach the DelhiSubordinate ServicesSelection Board’s office intime.
The woman had sent twoapplications for appoint-ment of JBT teacher byway of speed post registryon December 31, 2009through post office,Pataudi, Gurgaon with lastdate for submission asJanuary 15, 2010.
The Speed Post registry
failed to reach it in time toDSSS Board atKarkardooma here even asa speed post should havereached within 48 hours.
She moved the DistrictForum against Post Office,Pataudi, District Gurgaon,the main post office inGurgaon and the postoffice at Karkardooma andalso the DSSS Board seek-ing compensation.
In their reply, the postoffices at Gurgaon told theForum that the com-plainant’s post was dis-patched to Speed PostCentre, Delhi onDecember 31, 2009 forbeing delivered to its des-tination. However, thecentre in New Delhi inad-vertently dispatched boththe articles to KrishnaNagar head office due toheavy work in connectionwith mailing AIEEEadmission forms. Herposts were received atKrishna Nagar office onJanuary 15, 2010 and wereanyway taken to DSSSBoard but they refused toaccept the same.
The post offices on theirpart said it was the fault ofthe Board that it refused toaccept the applications andwent on to claim protec-tion under section 6 of theIndian Post Office Act.The Board in turn said itcould not accept any appli-cation after the advertiseddate and time.
Accepting the argu-ments, the District Forumheld the post office notliable.
Consequently, no case ofdeficiency of service ismade out, it said.
‘Post office cannot be heldliable for postal delay’
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Union Urban Development
Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu onSaturday pitched for making itmandatory for eateries and hotelsto have organic waste plant andsaid he will write to TourismMinistry in this regard.
“I will write to Ministry ofTourism to make it mandatory inall five and four star hotels andeatery establishments to haveorganic waste plant,” Mr. Naidusaid while inaugurating a plant inMalcha Marg market in NewDelhi.
The plant, which can process onetonne waste in 24 hours, will con-vert the organic waste of hotelsand eateries in this area into com-post for horticulture and agricul-ture use.
Calling the project undertakenby New Delhi Municipal
Corporation (NDMC) a step in thedirection of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s Swachh BharatAbhiyan, Mr. Naidu said the plantwill be helpful in saving the cost ofcollection, transportation and dis-posal of waste.
“It will also reduce the landfillspace and water, noise & air pollu-tion,” he said.
NDMC Chairman JalajSrivastava said the introduction ofthis system to convert organicwaste to compost will replace theold manual garbage disposal sys-tem.
The plant will be able to convertorganic waste into compost within24 hours using the compostingmachine, he said.
Two similar plants have beeninstalled at Palika ServicesOfficers Institute, Vinay Marg andat Malcha Marg Market.
Venkaiah Naidu pitches for makingorganic waste plants mandatory in eateries
NEW DELHI, JAN 03It has been years since
the electric furnaces at theGreen Park crematoriumwere used and the localcivic body’s plan to revivethe facility remains miredin confusion.
Traditional wood-basedcremations have been tak-ing place at the SouthDelhi MunicipalCorporation’s facility inGreen Park, but the twoelectric furnaces and anair-conditioned mortuaryare lying shut.
In addition to that, griev-ing families bringing theirloved ones for the last riteshave to contend with filthyapproach roads leading tothe cremation ground. Pigscan be seen scavenging onpiles of garbage in thevicinity of the facility.
According to locals, theelectric crematorium wasopened in 2003, but wasclosed in 2004 without anyexplanation. SDMCMunicipal Health Officer(MHO) Dr. N.K. Yadavsaid: “The electric crema-torium has been shut forsome time as we don’thave the funds for neces-sary repair and mainte-nance.” Dr. Yadav addedthat the civic body hadplanned to convert thefacility into one poweredby CNG in 2010, but fundsunder the Yamuna ActionPlan were pulled out at thelast minute. “We hadcalled the tenders and wereabout to allot it when wewere informed by the gov-ernment that the fundswould not be given,” saidDr. Yadav.
Electric crematorium thatremains shrouded in dust
AAP announcesfinal list forAssembly pollsNEW DELHI, JAN 03
Laying all speculationsto rest of former AamAadmi Party leader SaziaIlmi making a comeback,the party named PramilaTokas as its candidatefrom the R.K. PuramAssembly constituencyfrom where Ms. Ilmi lostby only a few hundredvotes last year.
The party on Fridayreleased names of eightcandidates for the upcom-ing Assembly elections,thus announcing faces forall the 70 Assembly seats.The list includes names ofPankaj Pushkar(Timarpur) – replacingformer party MLA HarshKhanna, who opted outthis time round.
Other names in the listinclude Sarita Singh(Rohtash Nagar), HajiYunus (Mustafabad), Ch.Goverdhan Singh(Mehrauli), Ajay Dutt(Ambedkar Nagar),Suresh Bhardwaj(Wazirpur) and PawanSharma (AdarshNagar).
“No drop of water will bewasted in smart cities”
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 3On plans of building
smart cities, the DDA wasquestioned how it woulddo that considering watershortage in the Capital.The authority on Fridaysaid every effort will bemade for optimum utilisa-tion of water.
DDA Vice-ChairmanBalvinder Kumar said:“We will ensure that nodrop of water is wastedand there is optimum utili-sation and efficient recy-cling,” he said.
NEW DELHI, JAN 03The annual crime data
released on Friday hasrevealed that the DelhiPolice solved 62 per centof cases of crime againstwomen within a week in2014. However, the num-ber has gone down from 76per cent in 2013.
The number of casesconcerning crime againstwomen reported in 2013stood at 4,906, while 6,248such cases were registeredin 2014.
However, the number ofrape cases solved in 2014are higher compared to thepast year. In 2013, 1,398cases of rape were solvedagainst 1,667 cases last
year.In 2014, the number of
crime cases solved withinone to two weeks was 15per cent, and those solvedin over four weeksremained 13 per cent. Alsorevealed was the fact thatnearly 96 per cent of rapecases reported were com-mitted by a person knownto the victim, includingfamily members, relativesand neighbours.
A number of initiativeswere also taken up by theDelhi Police last year.Some of them includedsetting up of a dedicatedtelephone managed onlyby women personnel ateach police station.
Solving crimes againstwomen taking longer
Continuation 3
Two Army...unprovoked and heavy firing and mortar
shelling on posts and civilian areas along IBin Samba and Kathua districts since 2130hours last night,” Inspector General of BSFRakesh Sharma said.
“BSF troops gave a befitting reply result-ing in exchanges which stopped at 3 a.m. inthe morning,” the IG said.
Pakistan again started mortar shelling andfiring targeting civilian areas since 7 a.m., hesaid.
He said all BoPs in three battalion areas ofSamba and Hiranagar sub-sectors in Kathuadistrict were targeted.
A woman identified as Tori Devi of villageMangu Chack has been killed in the shellingand four civilians have been injured in thefiring and shelling, Senior Superintendent ofPolice (SSP), Samba, Anil Magotra said.
Four persons, including two women, wereinjured in Nauchak village in Kathua, DeputyCommissioner Kathua Shahid Iqbal said.
IG BSF has also issued an advisory to theborder people for evacution.
Scores of houses have suffered damage andfew animals have also perished in the firing,Mr. Magotra said.
Over 550 incidents of ceasefire violationsby Pakistan occurred in 2014, the highestsince the truce came into force in 2003, withthe Indo-Pak border witnessing the worstsuch escalation during August to Octoberwhich left 13 people, including 2 securitypersonnel dead.
A total of 19 people, including 5 jawans,were killed and over 150 injured in such inci-dents last year.
Pakistan violating...every time,” said Mr. Singh, referring to
the retaliatory action by the Indian forces.Mr. Singh said: “We made a beginning byfirst inviting Pakistani Prime Minister NawazSharif at the swearing-in of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi. However, Pakistan is repeat-edly indulging in ceasefire violations.”
The Minister said India has taken all neces-sary steps to strengthen security to ensurethat there is no repeat of the 26/11 terrorattacks.
“We have strengthened our security on allfronts,” he said, adding that security arrange-ments would be in place as usual for theRepublic Day where U.S. President BarackObama will be the chief guest in Delhi.
Mr. Singh was talking to reporters afterinaugurating the national executive meetingof BJP’s SC Morcha in New Delhi.
Pakistan troops have indulged in heavymortar shelling and firing on several BSFposts along the Indo-Pak border in Jammuand Kashmir’s Samba and Kathua sectorssince Friday night, leaving a woman deadand several injured.
Indian forces have retaliated strongly. TheHome Minister had on Friday ordered BSF totake appropriate action and give a befittingreply to firing by Pakistan on Indian postsalong the International Border.
The Home Minister is constantly monitor-ing the situation, Home Ministry officialshave said.
Swaraj rejects...response to a letter sent by Mr. Aziz on
Friday, Ms. Swaraj said “We cannot acceptany of the contentions made in your letter.”Ms. Swaraj went on to say that a BSF patrolhad come under fire from a Pakistani borderpost in the area, which had resulted in thedeath of one Indian jawan, and seriousinjuries to another, and that had led to Indiantroops opening “defensive fire”.
Pakistan had alleged that two PunjabRangers had been shot in the Zafarwal sectoron the Pakistani side, when they had beeninvited for a flag meeting to discuss ceasefireviolations and Indian firing had preventedmedical attention from reaching them, call-ing it a violation of international norms and a“cold blooded killing”. In her response, Ms.Swaraj said “that at no stage did the Indianside seek any platoon level contact under awhite flag as was suggested in the communi-cation.” Ms. Swaraj also said that despiteIndian messages “consistently” calling forfiring to stop, Pakistani commanders contin-ued to fire on Indian border posts till theevening of December 31, 2014.
We will...four Pakistani rangers were killed in BSF’s
strong retaliation after a jawan of the forcelost his life in heavy firing from the otherside on a patrol on December 31 along theInternational Border in Jammu andKashmir’s Samba district.
“Day before yesterday’s incident has beentaken up at every level from the army’s side.The issue was taken up at the very location offiring, then we established contact from onepost to the other,” Asif said.
“After that we took up the issue at the levelof Rangers and BSF, than at the DGMOlevel, we also explored the diplomatic chan-nel. We have taken up the issue at every pos-sible level,” he said.
Asif made the remarks also in response tothe alleged killing of a 13-year-old Pakistanigirl from Sialkot in cross-border firing.
Nuclear logjam...an “insurance pool” using General
Insurance Company (GIC) to alleviate therisk to U.S. suppliers. An earlier proposal hadbeen made during the UPA government’s
tenure in March 2014, but had been rejected.Officials say the new offer would include apool of GIC, New India Assurance, OrientalInsurance, National Insurance and UnitedIndia, that would generate a risk cover ofabout $242 million.
A second proposal, that U.S. officials havetaken back to discuss with lawyers and repre-sentatives of American companies GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse, would entail a“clarification of Section 46” of the law thathas been described as “vague” . At present,Section 46 says that nothing in the law will“exempt the operator from any proceedingwhich might, apart from the act, be institutedagainst the operator.” This has been read tomean that U.S. suppliers could face tortclaims, that is, be sued by victims of an acci-dent where the nuclear parts are deemedfaulty. U.S. officials will bring both propos-als back to Delhi next week.
Isro Working ...challenges faced by Mars mission, he said,
"The hurdles began with getting a particularposition of the planets. That put a limit on theopportunities available for mission launch."
"The mission was completed in a recordtime of 4 years 2 months and the spacecraftwas tested in a very short span of 18 months.We expected it to have a lifespan of 6months. It has already completed 100 days ofexistence in the Mars orbit and is expected tolast at least 6 more months.
"It would be too early to speak about thefindings of the mission. But the data beingreceived from the craft is of very good qual-ity. Scientists find it to be very useful whileanalysing it," Radhakrishnan said replying toa question.
The ground team was able to manoeuvrethe craft to save it from a possible encounterwith a comet, he said. The 'auto' mode of themission too has been tested. Scientists arenow waiting for June, when the craft wouldbe out of reach of the ground control foraround 15 days.
"If we could regain control over the craftafter that period, that would be one moremajor achievement," Radhakrishnan said.
Criticism yes...due to this, they are the people in power,”
he said.Stating the role of criticism in a democracy,
Mr. Modi said "every decision, every view"should be followed by criticism. Thereshould be space for samvad (discussion) andvivad (controversy) and the view generatedafter that will enable us to reveal the truth,the PM said.
“If there is no criticism, democracy will beat a loss. One should not be saddened by crit-icism. Criticism gives us an opportunity toassess the truth, creates possibilities to avoidwandering off into the wrong direction, andprevents us from making mistakes,” he said.
The Prime Minister also said that for ahealthy democracy, the role of the media wasutmost as the trustworthiness associated withnews brought with it a big responsibility.
“People don’t easily believe hearsay butthey also don’t hesitate to easily believe whatappears in newspapers. People look up to themedia for sache and ache samachar (truthfuland good news). Whoever understands thishunger for good and credible news, will beincreasing its own credibility,” he pointedout.
Mr. Modi said the rise of the media in Indiahappened simultaneously with the independ-ence movement and the media continued toplay a role in nation building.
“Thirty years ago, newspapers had tosearch for news, now news hunts for thepaper and publicity. Even if be it good or badpublicity," he said.
Pakistan rejects ...fishing boat with explosives near the mar-
itime boundary off the Porbandar coast in theArabian Sea.
Based on the intelligence inputs, a CoastGuard Dornier aircraft undertook a sea-aircoordinated search and located the suspectfishing boat 10-15 km inside Indian waters.Thereafter, a Coast Guard ship on patrol wasdiverted and it intercepted the unlit boataround midnight, 365 km west-southwest ofPorbandar.
Boat was...spokesman Tasnim Aslam told media that
no boat from Karachi had gone to the openseas on the night that the Coast Guard said ithad intercepted the “explosives-laden” ves-sel.
The Coast Guard has so far not recoveredany piece of evidence from the debris toestablish the identity of the vessel and thecrew on board.
“The search is on. The boat did not have aname. We are looking at the debris. The boathas sunk completely and the depth of the seais great. We are also looking for the bodies.Pakistan can keep rejecting. We receivedintelligence inputs and based on the inputswe intercepted the boat,” Coast GuardInspector-General (IG) Kuldip SinghSheoran, Commander, Coast Guard Region(North-West), said.
At a press conference in Gandhinagar, Mr.Sheoran said the crew members of the fishingvessel did not appear to be fishermen.
“They were dressed in T-shirts and shortsand did not look like fishermen,” he said.
Moreover, despite several warning signalsthe boat kept changing course and manoeu-vred the waters in “a zig-zag” manner in totaldisregard for the signal to stop.
“After we received the inputs we deployed
our Coast Guard Dornier aircraft and our shipRajratan,” Mr. Sheoran said.
Left parties ...supreme irony that the day which symbol-
ises India’s independence and sovereignty isbeing graced by the head of a country whichhas done the most to assault and destroy thesovereignty of many countries around theworld’’.
On domestic policy, the specifics on whichthe Left parties are planning the protestaction include the U.S. efforts to pressuriseIndia to change its foreign policy orientationvis-à-vis Palestine, Israel and Iran; open up
the financial sector to American capital;weaken the patents regime to benefit U.S.companies; give up the national food securi-ty programme by undermining public pro-curement and the public distribution system;dilute labour and environment laws besidesthe civil nuclear liability law.
Centre seeks...and the reasons for every such order should
be communicated to the appointing and lend-ing authorities through confidential lettersalong with the order.
“As soon as a member of the Service isplaced under suspension or is deemed to havebeen placed under suspension, the informa-tion in this regard may be communicated tothe Government of India by the fastest meansimmediately,” the proposed Rule 3(10) pro-vision states.
While the States would have to forward adetailed report on the suspension order to theCentre within 15 days, the authority con-cerned would be required to forward a copyof the order with its comments and relevantrecords to the appellate authority within oneweek of the receipt by the State government,and without waiting for any direction fromthe Centre.
“If the original appeal along with the com-ments of the State government is not receivedby the Central government within the stipu-lated period, the Central government wouldtake a decision on the advance copy of theappeal received by them,” the proposed Rule18(4) said.
The Centre “may at any time, either on itsown motion or otherwise, review any orderpassed under these rules, if there are reasonsto believe and to be recorded in writing thatinjustice is being meted out to a member ofService.”
Racial remarks...election, the Home Minister said the imme-
diate steps as recommended by the commit-tee had been taken within the six-monthdeadline. “The long-term initiatives will alsobe enforced within the stipulated time,” hesaid.
The committee had submitted its report inJuly.
While a panel of seven lawyers, includingfive women, has been constituted for legalassistance, trial in cases of violence againstthe community members would be fast-tracked. “The Delhi police will recruit 20police personnel [10 male and 10 female]from each of the northeast States,” he said.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh saidhere on Friday that universities had beenadvised to include in their curriculum the his-tory of the northeast, including participationof community members in the freedommovement. The NCERT was taking similarsteps. “Under the ‘Ishan Uday’ scheme,10,000 scholarships of Rs. 3,500 to Rs. 5,000per month will be granted for undergraduatesfrom 2014-15. Under the ‘Ishan Vikas’scheme, select students will be taken to theIITs, the NITs and other engineering insti-tutes for exposure/internship,” Mr. Singhsaid..
Need to...requisite resources for growth were made
available.“In the short-term (up to 12 months), there
is need to clean up the NPAs and thenrestructure other stressed loans so as to putthe economy back on the track,” Dr. Rajansaid at the two-day Gyan Sangam here.
Total gross NPAs of public sector banksstood at over Rs.2.43 lakh crore as onSeptember 30, 2014. The top 30 NPAsaccounted for Rs.87,368 crore or 35.9 percent of total gross NPAs of PSBs.
Dr. Rajan said the bona fide mistakes madeby the bankers while taking commercialdecisions should be protected by the govern-ment.
“If the officers are hauled up for such deci-sions, this would to lead to delay in gooddecisions because of avoidance of risk,” hesaid.
Narendra Modi...campaign by the Hindu fringe outfits,” the
Union Minister said, adding that as far as hewas concerned there was nothing wrong inchanging one’s faith by choice.
“There must not be conversion by force orallurement, but at the same time there isnothing wrong if one decides to convert toanother faith,” he said.
Mr. Paswan said that B.R. Ambedkar’sadoption of the Buddhist religion by choicein 1950s did not make news or was debated.
On the controversy surrounding the Hindifilm ‘PK’, the Union Minister said that hehas not seen the film and so he is not in aposition to offer any comment.
Dalit icons...belonging to Dalit and Other Backward
Castes were not considered.”
The Bharat Ratna “should have been con-ferred on Kanshi Ram for his contribution tothe welfare of the deprived and under-privi-leged sections.” Dalit icons, including socialreformer Jyotiba Phule, deserved the honour,she said.
Ms. Mayawati said the BJP-led govern-ment at the Centre had failed on all fronts andwas making hollow promises to the people.“Dramebaazi [theatrics] will not last long.”She said the amendments proposed to theLand Acquisition Act would affect farmersand benefit the rich and the capitalists.
As for the reconversion programmes beingcarried out by some outfits, she said:“Attempts to establish a Hindu Rashtra bysome organisations are aimed at spreadingcommunal disharmony. The minorities arefeeling insecure.” The Samajwadi Party gov-ernment in the State remained a mute specta-tor to such activities, and this pointed to ahidden understanding between the SP and theBJP.
Ms. Mayawati said the Akhilesh Yadavgovernment had failed to uphold the rule oflaw, and the Badaun gang-rape of a minor bytwo constables in a police station strength-ened her demand for President’s Rule in theState.BJP denies charge
Gargi Parsai reports from New Delhi:Rebutting Ms. Mayawati’s charge of dis-
crimination against Dalit icons such asKanshi Ram while awarding the BharatRatna, the Bharatiya Janata Party onSaturday said the allegation was “politicallymotivated.”
The NDA government has conferred theBharat Ratna this year on the former PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and freedomfighter Madan Mohan Malaviya.
“In a democracy, anybody can demand aBharat Ratna, but to link a tall leader likeAtalji to casteism reveals narrow-mindedthinking. He was above the politics of casteand religion. He initiated the developmentagenda in the country and the BJP is commit-ted to sabka saath, sabka vikas,” BJP nation-al secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
Referring to Ms. Mayawati’s criticism ofthe NDA government taking the ordinanceroute for key legislation, he reminded herthat the previous UPA government which shesupported promulgated 61 ordinances, whilenearly 200 ordinances had been moved dur-ing Indira Gandhi's tenure at the Centre.
“The NDA government is committed todevelopment and economic reforms, andbelieves that neither can wait,” he added.
Minister defends...and Resettlement (LARR) Act 2013.“Under Section 105, 13 exempt laws had to
be brought into the Act before a year endedsince the notification of the Act in January2014. The Secretary, Land Resources, tellsme that after there was a consultation in Juneand after that in October, we were told thatwe will have to issue the ordinance,” he toldmediapersons. “If I were angry [over theordinance], why would I be in the Cabinet,”asked Mr. Singh, to a question whether heopposed the changes to the Land Act exempt-ing several categories of projects from con-sent requirements.
Under Section 105 of LARR Act, 13 cen-tral laws, including the National HighwaysAct 1956, the Railways Act 1989, CoalBearing Areas Acquisition and DevelopmentAct 1957, are exempt from the provisions ofthe Land Act.
The Act, however, required that within ayear from its commencement, the govern-ment may allow LARR’s provisions of reha-bilitation to apply even in acquisition underthe 13 laws that are currently exempt, subjectto Parliament’s approval.
While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hadspoken of only exempting special categoriesof projects, including industrial corridors,infrastructure and social infrastructure,defence, under a new Section 10A, when heissued a public statement on Monday, detailsof the ordinance, which Mr. Singh shared,revealed four more crucial changes to theAct.
NITI Aayog...Prime Minister’s Office [PMO].”“PMO Commission”Briefing presspersons, Congress
spokesman Ajoy Kumar said NITI Aayogwould, in effect, become a “PMOCommission” as all powers in this govern-ment were with one person, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi.
“The BJP is an expert in destroying institu-tions,” and the Planning Commission wasanother such example.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau described thecreation of NITI Aayog as a “regressive step”which would further push the country into amarket-driven economy and privatisation inall spheres at the expense of diluting even thepresent inadequate welfare schemes.
“Whatever role the Planning Commissionhad in allocating resources for the public sec-tor and deploying public investment keepingin mind regional disparities has now ended,”it said.
“Spurious claim”The Polit Bureau described as “spurious”
the government’s claim that the new set-upwould be based on cooperative federalismwith the States as stakeholders.
Allocations to the States would be decidedby the Finance Ministry, which would sub-ject them to the political whims of the Uniongovernment.
“By saying ‘one size fits all’ cannot work,what is being done is to put the States at the
mercy of the Centre to be dealt with arbitrar-ily without any common principles andnorms. This dangerously opens new doorsfor political bargaining and deal-making.”
As for the replacement of the NationalDevelopment Council with a governingcouncil, the CPI(M) said it would be power-less in the “centralised unitarian structure”that had been envisaged.
Coastal surveillance...analysts said.Though the sea route which the boat took
definitely indicated a 26/11 type of clandes-tine operation, security experts said it wouldbe too early to come to any conclusion.
“Something can be said with certainty onlyafter image and forensic analysis of thenature of explosives and what kind ofweapons the crew was armed with,’’ cau-tioned Commodore (Retd.) C. Uday Bhaskarsaid on Friday.
However, Commodore Uday Bhaskar whoheads the Society for Policy Studies (SPS)said the Coast Guard acted on “actionableintelligence’’ and the pre-emptive actionshowed the credibility and competence of thecoastal surveillance grid that had come upafter the November 2008 terror attack inMumbai.
“Interception of conversation by intelli-gence agencies and passing it on to the CoastGuard indicated that all components were ina state of high alert,’’ he added.
However, it was still unclear why the crewblew up the boat laden with explosives anddid not heed warnings, he said.
The clandestine attempt to carry out “someillicit transaction’’ in the Arabian Sea wasmounted nearly three weeks ahead of theU.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to India.“Normally, six weeks before the U.S.President visits any place, American agenciesget active in sanitising spaces. It would beinteresting to know if any chatter was pickedup by the U.S. agencies,’’ another securityanalyst said.
Terming the incident as the most seriousone after 26/11, S. K. Sharma of the Instituteof Defence and Security Analyses (IDSA)said the presence of explosives and armedcrew indicated that their “mission’’ was totarget “sensitive installations’’ in the coastalcities of the country. Incidentally, Navy ChiefAdmiral R.K. Dhowan had in Decemberwarned of “rising threat’’ through the searoute. “Threat in the maritime domain fromterrorists, non-state actors is huge… terror-ists trying to commandeer a ship is a serioussituation. We have taken note of the PNSZulfiqar incident,’’ he had said, while refer-ring to the Pakistani Navy vessel being com-mandeered by Al Qaeda terrorists.
After the 26/11 attack, the Navy and CoastGuard had taken up the project to set upradars along the coastline.
Ghar Vapasi...natural urge.”“Ghar vapasi is a natural urge to reconnect
with our roots. It is a home coming. It hasbeen going on for long. No law and orderproblem was created because of the gharvapasi drive. It is not illegal. Some people aremerely creating controversies out of noth-ing,” Mr. Vaidya told a press conferencehere, on the sidelines of the RSS’ conventionof office bearers.
Asked why the organisation had removedRajeshwar Singh, the force behind the con-troversial ‘ghar vapasi’ campaign in UttarPradesh, as coordinator of programmes, Mr.Vaidya said, “Mr. Singh is not well. He hasbeen given time to relax. After six months,we will decide on what responsibility toassign him.”
He remained non-committal about the invi-tation to Sanjay Joshi, former member of theBJP’s national executive and friend-turned-foe of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Three accused ...16. Officiating chief judge at Bankshall
Court G.C. Talukdar remanded Saiful Islam,Rafikul Islam and Sahanur Alam, who werebrought on a production warrant by this courtfrom Gauhati Central Jail, till January 9.
NIA counsel Shyamal Ghosh prayed fortheir custody for 10 days submitting that theywere directly involved in the Bardhamancase, wherein an accidental blast on Octobertwo revealed an international terror link, andthat they trained jihadi elements.
Mr. Ghosh also alleged that they werefound to have connection with Bangladeshiterror outfit JMB.
The court remanded Hasem Mollah, RaziaBibi, Abdul Hakim, Khaled Mohammad,Alima Bibi, Zia-ul-Haq, Amjad and Sajid tojudicial custody till January 16 on a plea byNIA.
Sajid’s remand was extended in absentia ashe is at present in custody of BidhannagarPolice in connection with a case registered byit.
It told the court that it wanted to knowwhether Hossain had any connection with thejihadi elements involved in the Bardhamanblast.
Over 20,000...suspected and probable cases recorded in
Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone until Dec31 and in Liberia until December 28.
The country most severely affected by theepidemic is Sierra Leone, where 9,633 infec-tions and 2,827 deaths have been reported,followed by Liberia with 8,018 infectionsand 3,423 deaths. Meanwhile, in GuineaConakry, there were 2,730 infections and1,739 deaths recorded in 2014.
From Page 1NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQ
BY KALPANA KANNABIRAN
The Report of the HighLevel Committee onSocio-Economic, Health
and Educational Status ofTribal Communities of India,under the chairmanship ofsociologist Virginius Xaxa,was circulated last week. The431-page report details the sit-uation of tribal communities:Scheduled Tribes, de-notifiedtribes and particularly vulnera-ble tribal communities. Takingon board the findings anddemands of social movements,NGOs, researchers andbureaucrats, the report consol-idates what we already knowabout the situation of tribalcommunities in this country.Without detracting from itssignificance as an archive, it isimportant to revisit some basicquestions at this moment thathave been brought to the foreyet again.
Sixty per cent of the forestarea in the country is in tribalarea. Fifty-one of the 58 dis-tricts with forest cover greaterthan 67 per cent are tribal dis-tricts. Three States — Odisha,Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand —account for 70 per cent ofIndia’s coal reserves, 80 percent of its high-grade iron ore,60 per cent of its bauxite andalmost 100 per cent of itschromite reserves. Forty percent of those displaced bydams are tribal peoples. A lookat violent conflict, whether inSchedule V States or inSchedule VI States, shows that“the state is involved in all ofthese conflicts in some way oranother.”
Not surprisingly, the areaswhere these wars are beingwaged (with the state as party)are tribal areas with rich min-eral reserves. The ArmedForces (Special Powers) Actguarantees impunity to stateperpetrators of extrajudicialmurder and assault, and thereare a large number of peaceful
mass movements against theappropriation of tribal home-lands by the state and by cor-porations.
While there is a generallydiscernible occupational shiftin tribal communities, thecommittee observes, the focusof national state agencies onmainstream categorisations ofagricultural labourers, cultiva-tors and the omnibus categoryof non-farm workers masks thefiner details of tribal work-worlds and therefore obstructsan understanding of shiftstherein. The need for tribalcommunities to have contin-ued and uninterrupted accessto forests for livelihoods andthe responsibility of the statein securing these livelihoods,ensuring their viability, andproviding an account of theirdiversity; creating enablingconditions for the dignity ofwork and sustainability; andplans for protecting andremoving both conflict andlivelihood degradation causedby the repressive presence ofthe forest bureaucracy in tribalareas are issues that meritgreater attention.
The absence of stateaccountability and responsibil-ity are at the core of the prob-lem.
Governance of tribal areas
The question of autonomy inscheduled areas has been setout in Schedules V and VI ofthe Constitution. In ScheduleV areas, the Tribes AdvisoryCouncil — a body with electedand community representa-tives from Scheduled Tribes —will advise the governor onmatters of administration andgovernance in scheduled areas.Extensive review has shownthat although governors arevested with enormous powerswith respect to Schedule Vareas, they have been found
uniformly tardy in the matterof submission of reports and inrespecting the constitutionalguarantee of autonomy to trib-al areas — leading the HighLevel Committee to recom-mend the setting up of a cell“in order for the Governor toproperly carry out the duties ofthe post vis-à-vis protection ofthe tribes” (emphasis added)with a whisper that this cellshould not just turn into anoth-er bureaucratic institution withlittle interest in tribal affairs.The deliberations of the TribesAdvisory Councils have beenfound to be tokenistic, and thecouncils themselves filled withbureaucrats and ministersinstead of representatives oftribal communities with effec-tive voice. Even with theAutonomous Councils in theSchedule VI States, whichhave a more robust formalautonomy, the committee findsthat “there is a huge discrepan-cy between the formal rulesguaranteeing autonomy andthe informal workings ofautonomy on the ground.”
As a remedy, the committeerecommends that Governors’Cells be set up in all ScheduleV States to assist theGovernor, although detailsabout the functioning of suchcells set up in Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Maharashtra andRajasthan are not yet known.
What might be the modali-ties for an ad hoc “cell” toshow a constitutional author-ity the right path to ‘goodgovernance’?
Data reproduced in thereport from the years 1981-82showed a drop out rate of91.65 per cent before comple-tion of tenth standard, with aparticipation in higher educa-tion of 1.62 per cent among theScheduled Tribes.
While flagship programmesand policies have been intro-
duced with laudable objec-tives, the committee observesthat inadequate infrastructure,poor teaching and learningmaterials, lack of focus onteacher education, and theimpact of armed conflict onteacher absenteeism andschool functioning, and prac-tices of discrimination andstigmatisation in schools haveaffected tribal children mostadversely. Added to this is therampant and routinised corrup-tion in government schoolingsystem, an issue that has notbeen addressed, but one thathas an immediate and disas-trous effect on the child’s andteachers’ well-being. All ofthese together hold tribal chil-dren in a chokehold, pushingthem back into ghettoised sub-optimal learning possibilitiesand grinding poverty.
Tribal life-worlds
Where does the solution lie?Might common schools be ananswer? Should schoolingcontinue in the “separate andunequal” mode? And mostimportantly, the state and adultcitizens hold the responsibilityfor protecting the rights of allchildren in trust. It is no longera question of quibbling overnumbers — of schools, teach-ers, dropouts, enrolment, etc.If the outcome is that tribalchildren do not get a decenteducation, the state is respon-sible both for the absence ofdue diligence and for directderogation of fundamentalrights of children.
On another level, the ques-tion is not merely one of theexposure of tribal children tothe world outside; more criti-cal is the need to promote anunderstanding of diverse triballife-worlds in all childrenthrough a restructuring of edu-cation.
Tribal land alienation anddispossession are at the crux of
the crisis tribal communitiesface across the country —acquisition of land by the stateusing the principle of ‘eminentdomain’; manipulation ofrecords and incorrect interpre-tation of law; encroachment oftribal land by non-tribal peopleand immigrants; creation ofnational parks; and armed con-flict resulting in forced migra-tion and eviction from home-lands.
There are questions relatedto the routinisation of arbitraryarrest, illegal detention andtorture in custody of tribalpeople living in conflict areas.There are no figures publiclyavailable on the demographicprofile of prisoner/detaineepopulations in Schedule Vareas. The important guaranteeunder Article 21 of theConstitution — right to lifeand personal liberty — is in astate of perpetual suspensionin tribal areas. If one were togo by the data and observa-tions put forth by the HighLevel Committee, once morewe learn that the state is wag-ing war at every level againsttribal communities acrossStates.
Added to this is criminalneglect and violent corruptionthat has systematicallyobstructed the delivery of pub-lic goods and services. Thereis a proliferation of reports —of bureaucratic writing gener-ally —as an end in itself.
What are we to do with thisinformation? The governmentset up a committee that foundthe state complicit both direct-ly as perpetrator and throughthe absence of due diligence ingenocidal neglect of tribalpeoples.
Where do we go from here?
(Kalpana Kannabiran isprofessor and director at the
Council for SocialDevelopment, Hyderabad).
Editorial4 NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQ
In line with the Government of India’s approach of lessgovernment and a move away from centralised plan-ning, the NITI Aayog with a new structure and focus
on policy will replace the 64-year old PlanningCommission that was seen as a vestige of the socialist era.The new body, conceived more in the nature of a think-tank that will provide strategic and technical advice, willbe helmed by the Prime Minister with a GoverningCouncil of Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors, similar tothe National Development Council that set the objectivesfor the Planning Commission. The NITI Aayog seeks sub-stitute centralised planning with a ‘bottom-up’ approachwhere the body will support formulation of plans at thevillage level and aggregate them at higher levels of gov-ernment. In short, the new body is envisaged to follow thenorm of cooperative federalism, giving room to States totailor schemes to suit their unique needs rather than bedictated to by the Centre. This is meant to be a recogni-tion of the country’s diversity. The needs of a State suchas Kerala with its highly developed social indicators maynot be the same as that of, say, Jharkhand, which scoresrelatively low on this count. If indeed the body does func-tion as has been envisaged now — and the jury will be outon that — States will, for the first time, have a say in set-ting their own development priorities. One significantchange of note is that one of the functions of the body willbe to address the needs of national security in economicstrategy. Nowhere is this more relevant than in the area ofenergy security where India, unlike China, has failed toevolve a coherent policy over the years. Similarly, net-working with other national and international think-tanksand with experts and practitioners, as has been envisaged,will add heft to the advice that the NITI Aayog will pro-vide. To deflect criticism that this will be a free-marketinstitution that ignores the deprived, the government hastaken care to make the point that the body will pay specialattention to the sections of society that may not benefitenough from economic progress. How this operates inpractice will bear close watching. Interestingly, though itwill not be formulating Central plans any more, the NITIAayog will be vested with the responsibility of monitor-ing and evaluating the implementation of programmes.Thus, while the advisory and monitoring functions of theerstwhile Planning Commission have been retained in thenew body, the executive function of framing Plans andallocating funds for Plan-assisted schemes has been takenaway. But who will now be responsible for the criticalfunction of allocating Plan funds? Hopefully, there will begreater clarity on this aspect in the days ahead.
Birth of a new institutionSunday | January 04, 2015
SAADDA HAQ
BY PETER RONALD DESOUZA
Professor Amartya Sen is proba-bly the most renowned Indianintellectual anywhere today.
His contribution to developmentthinking has been seminal and hiswork on moral philosophy, within theanalytic tradition, stands among thevery best. Books such as On Ethicsand Economics, Development asFreedom, and his Introduction toAdam Smith’s The Theory of MoralSentiments, along with his extensivearticles on rational choice and humancapability, show his ability to bridgedisciplines and, in the process, fore-ground important issues about thenature of what Malraux called the“Human Estate.” He deservedlyenjoys a place among the most inno-vative and influential thinkers of thelast 50 years.
These stellar qualities of mind, andof public engagement, earned him theMastership of Trinity College,Cambridge, the Thomas W. Lamontprofessorship, and professorship ofeconomics and philosophy atHarvard, the Bharat Ratna, and theNobel Prize in Economics. His finedistinction between “beings” and“functionings,” as key components ofthe idea of human development hasgiven us, at just the right level ofabstraction, crucial conceptual pegsby which to assess the working ofIndian democracy. Prof. Sen has writ-ten extensively on India.
Views on Modi
With this formidable reputation it isno wonder that the questions asked ofhim at the “Express Adda,” tran-scribed and posted on the web onDecember 22, 2014, were so tame.While most of what he said has beensaid before and has become part ofour commonsense, one statement,which has several parts, was new andcalls for our critical engagement. Itconcerns his view on the currentPrime Minister. I quote: “One of the
things that Mr. Modi did do is to givepeople a sense of faith that things canhappen. It may not have been exactlythe things that I would have liked butI think this is an achievement. Thiswouldn’t make my differences withMr. Modi on issues like secularism goaway but, on the other hand, if wedon’t recognize it, we’re missing outon something very important.” Thepaper headlined the above statement.They too thought it was the key state-ment of the Adda.
There was no mention of the con-troversies, on “Ghar Vapsi” that havedrawn headlines over the last fewweeks, or of the ordinance on “landacquisition” and its implications fortribal communities, or on communalviolence as an electoral strategy suchas in Trilokpuri, or on declaringDecember 25 as ‘Good Governance’day. These issues which have causedmany of us much anxiety, were miss-ing from the published statement. Hementioned his differences with thecurrent regime but did not elaborate.
Both his statement and his silencesrequire our critical scrutiny.Analytical philosophers do not makecasual statements. Their statementshave a certain economy of languagewhich does not compromise on sub-stance. When they articulate a posi-tion, we can assume that that positionis significant for them. It derives fromtheir conception of the just and thegood. When they refer to an issue “inbrief” we can also assume that theissue is less significant because it hasnot deserved elaboration.
When they ignore issues, thesehave lower priority in their scheme ofthings. Analytical moral philosophersevaluate and judge. When they do soin the case of India, they give us somesense of “How is India Doing?” (toborrow the title of a 1982 NYRB arti-cle of Prof. Sen.)
Which ‘people’?
There are five parts to the statementthat need our attention. The first is “togive people a sense of faith thatthings can happen.” The second is“not exactly the things that I wouldhave liked…” The third is “… but Ithink it is an achievement.” Thefourth is “won’t make my differenceswith Mr. Modi go away”, and thefifth is “if we don’t recognize it we’remissing out on something veryimportant.” Each of the five parts ofhis statement calls for a public dis-cussion. Let us discuss them insequence.
What was Prof. Sen referring towhen he said “to give people a senseof faith that things can happen”? Whoare these “people”? Those that filledMadison Square Garden or theSydney Stadium or are they theAdivasis whose lands are now goingto be taken away more easily with theamendments to the Forest RightsAct? One has only to look at thereport of the high-level committee(the Xaxa Committee Report) to get asense of the condition of Adivasicommunities and the further impacton them of the new policy on miningand mineral extraction. Perhaps the“people” referred to are the minori-ties whom the Parivar affiliates tar-get, and the Prime Minister doesnothing to control, in their Ghar Vapsiprogramme?
Surely he did not mean those whowill be most affected by the cut inallocation to health and education, byas much as 20 per cent in health, bythe Narendra Modi government,because the cut goes against his entireargument of investment in these two(out of the three) pillars of humandevelopment. Perhaps ‘the people’refers to the corporates but even they,as per Bloomberg releases reported in
Livemint of December 22, are begin-ning to feel disenchanted. So while itis unclear who “the people” are whohave “been given a sense of faith thatthings can happen”, was this state-ment based on a public opinion sur-vey, which he had access to, or is itjust impressionistic? But analyticphilosophers do not make casualstatements.
The second part, “not exactly thethings that I would have liked”, canbe read in two ways. It could be seenas language use, belonging to anotherculture — a British understatement— meaning instead “not the things Ilike or support and are things which I,in fact, oppose,” or it could be IndianEnglish, meaning “a position close towhat I would have liked, but notexactly the same.”
The two meanings are very differ-ent. They have different politicalimplications. Which one did Prof.Sen have in mind? This we will onlyknow if we get a list of the things onwhich Mr. Modi has given people a“sense of faith” and another contrast-ing list which Prof. Sen would preferto see. Since both lists are unavailablewe have to move to the third part ofhis statement, “but I think it is anachievement.”
He refers in the sentence followingthis one, to the Prime Minister’sstatement at the Red Fort where thePrime Minister talked about toiletsand sanitation, etc, but Prof. Sen alsomentions that little has so far beenachieved.
He applauds the Prime Minister ontwo achievements: “giving faith” and“raising issues.” Coming from amoral philosopher, this is high praise.This apparent endorsement is trouble-some because what some of us, suchas Gopal Gandhi and Romila Thapar,see as the unravelling of the nation —the banning of books, rewriting of
textbooks, the grant of a one billiondollar sanction by the State Bank ofIndia to Mr. Adani for investments inmining in Australia, a cutback of asimilar amount in allocations tohealth and education sectors, majorlaws being passed through the ordi-nance route, a proposed all India anti-conversion law, rejection of somerecommendations of the Collegiumof the Supreme Court for appoint-ment of judges to the Court, etc. —Prof. Sen does not discuss.
Second order issues
The fourth, “won’t make my differ-ences with Mr. Modi go away.” Thispart belongs to the second orderissues, what I have referred to as the“issue in brief.” In other words, hisdifferences with Mr. Modi are notsignificant enough for him, at a majorpublic discussion, after some monthsof the National Democratic Alliancegovernment, to dwell upon. One feelslet down by this brevity since a pub-lic intellectual, of global standingsuch as Prof. Sen, must use the occa-sion to speak truth to power. The dis-senting tradition in India needs suchleadership.
Noam Chomsky does so when hespeaks about the excesses of Israeland the U.S. When an eminent publicintellectual speaks, the legitimacy ofthe government stands either dimin-ished or enhanced. When he criticisespolicies, he initiates a new public dis-cussion which lesser commentators,such as us, can draw upon and devel-op.
When a moral philosopher of highstanding awards a certificate ofachievement to a government,opposing voices lose courage. Ourdisquiet now has to climb a highermountain to be heard. There aretimes in the life of a society whenmoral philosophers are called uponto speak, not in brief, not by ignor-
ing crucial issues, but forthrightlyby identifying the issues that defineour times.
They help the critical voices with-in society to speak because theycarry so much moral and philosoph-ical authority. This is what an Addaessentially is.
The fifth part of his statement, “ifwe don’t recognize it we’re missingout on something very important”,addresses our scholarly sensibilities.He seems to be saying that we areclosed minds, caught in ideologicalfixations, prone “not to recognizeit,” inattentive to the changed reali-ty. It is both a critique of our exist-ing intellectual attitude and an invi-tation to acknowledge that theground has changed because of theachievements of the Prime Minister.We need to have open minds or elsewe will miss “something veryimportant.” Does this “it” refer tothe tectonic shift in society, to theHindu Rashtra? If it is, then yes, it issomething very important, but wehave not missed it. We have, in fact,been drawing attention to it. Sowhat was the point we were miss-ing?
The analytical moral philosopherneeds to be interrogated in the man-ner we have just done. If his state-ments are casual, then he will issuea clarification. If his statements arecoded, then he will issue an elabora-tion. Either way our public dis-course will benefit from theresponse of this quintessential argu-mentative Indian.
(Peter Ronald deSouza isProfessor at the Centre for The
Study of Developing Societies. Theviews expressed are personal.)
Speaking truth to power
Our team will publish yourthoughts send us your articles at
State Watch 5NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQ
BENGALURU, JAN 03Bharatiya Janata Party national
president Amit Shah on Saturdayannounced a door-to-door cam-paign covering about 25 lakhhouses to raise a voice againstthe policies of the Congress-ledState government. On his firstvisit to the city after being cho-sen as national president, Mr.Shah accused the Congress ofindulging in "sectarian pop-ulism" and "misrule" that has“crippled” the State’s economy.
Addressing presspersons afterholding a meeting with the StateBJP core-committee, Mr. Shahtermed the Congress governmentas a "non-performing, corruptand defunct" entity that hasfailed in law and order as well asgovernance.
He cited the introduction of theBill to take over mismanagedmutts and the withdrawal of theKarnataka Prevention of Cow
Slaughter and Protection Bill asrecent examples of sectarianpopulism.
He alleged that Karnataka’s
growth rate had crashed from arobust level of 10 per cent toabout 5 per cent under the pres-ent government.
Mr. Shah, who had called forensuring a "Congress-freeKarnataka" during his recentvisit to Bidar, said the ongoingdrive to enrol one crore membersfor the party State unit was animportant step towards achievingthis.
He claimed that the ongoingmembership drive had receivedoverwhelming response, with anaverage of 20,000 peopleenrolling as party membersevery day.
He expressed confidence thatthe target of reaching one croremembership would be achievedby March by the State unit, while
the national target of enrolling10 crore members too would beachieved around this deadline.
Interestingly, Mr. Shah did notelaborate on the party’s cam-paign against denotification of alarge extent of land, allegedlyinvolving Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah. He only said thatmeasures would be taken as perthe law.
He declined to comment whenasked about a ruling Congressleader alleging that he was inKarnataka to destabilise the gov-ernment.
Meanwhile, BJP State presi-dent Pralhad Joshi said the door-to-door campaign would belaunched against the Congressgovernment from January 7 to20.
Sectarian populism and misrule of Congress hascrippled Karnataka’s economy: Amit Shah
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JAN 03Kerala Pradesh Congress
Committee (KPCC) presi-dent V.M. Sudheeran hassaid that the campaignagainst liquor has to goforward and thoseinvolved in it need not bedisheartened by temporarysetbacks which are part ofall such struggles.
He was speaking at aget-together organisedhere on Friday by the dis-trict committee of theJamaat Council on the eveof Milad-i-Sherif.
“There has been criti-cism from some quartersover the liquor policy. Allthose are part of suchmovements.
Any well-intentioned act
has to face setbacks.Sometimes, there will be afew drawbacks too. Butthere is no cause to get dis-heartened over that. I haveconfidence that we will beable to attain our goal of aliquor-free society in thefuture,” said Mr.Sudheeran.
He said that the struggleagainst social evils was acontinuous process and sothe only option was tomove forward.
This was not an issue ofreligion, caste or politics,but one concerning thelives of the common man.A collective effort wasrequired in this and thefight was not going to beeasy, he said.
BENGALURU, JAN 03Three 12-year-old boys,
who picked up a detonatorwire from a garbage pile neartheir school and plugged itinto an electric socket in theclassroom, suffered minorinjuries due to the resultingshort circuit and a minorfire.
The incident occurred in SriSadguru Sai Baba HighSchool, Roopena Agrahara, onFriday afternoon. The incidenttriggered panic as it came lessthan a week after the ChurchStreet blast that killed a 38-year-old woman. The incidentwas initially taken to be abomb blast. A bomb disposaland dog squads were pressedinto action.
The three students — Surya,Shivanathan and Kiran — arebeing treated at St John’sNational Academy of HealthSciences Hospital.
Police sources said that their
injuries were not life-threaten-ing and they would be dis-charged soon.
The blast occurred around1.30 p.m., a few minutes afterthe lunch break. A teacherSaraswathi, in her statement tothe police, said that they sawSurya come running out inbloodied clothes shouting thatthere was a blast. “He latertold that he had put a wire intoan electric socket and put onthe switch, which led to ablast,” she has stated.
The trio apparently foundthe wire, now confirmed to bea detonator wire used in low-intensity explosives, in agarbage heap in front of theschool.
Additional Commissioner ofPolice (Law and Order) AlokKumar said that they foundillegal blasting going on in thevicinity for a constructionproject and suspect that thedetonator came from there.
CHENNAI, JAN 03The Chennai Corporation is
planning to remove illegalstructures on the MarinaLoop Road and this may leadto eviction and resettlementof fisherfolk’s households.
After an inspection by offi-cials on Friday, enumerationof the encroachments on the2.5-metre-long road will bemade shortly.
“A number of them havebeen identified. We will startbiometric enumeration of thehouseholds. The work onsuch portions of the road willbe taken up only after reset-tlement and rehabilitation,”said an official.
The fate of these people isnow in question.
The Tamil Nadu CoastalZone Management Authorityhas given conditional permis-sion for the Marina beautifi-cation project, restricting thedrive to an 18.2-metre-wide
strip of land from theLighthouse to ForeshoreEstate.
The Authority has not per-mitted the Corporation toimplement the project on thesandy portion of the beach.The existing road is narrowwhere the fishing settlementsabut the tar track fromForeshore Estate to theLighthouse.
The civic body will have toremove encroachments onthe non-beach side of theMarina Loop Road. “Wehave NoC from theAuthority. Now, we want aworkable solution. A numberof households have come upbeyond the old villageboundary.
The Revenue Departmentwill earmark the boundary toidentify the exact number ofencroachments on the west-ern side,” said an official ofthe Chennai Corporation.
BENGALURU, JAN 03A gutsy 24-year-old
city girl on a scooteron St. Mark’s Road,who decided to takeon two men ridingtheir bike rashly, waschased and assaulted.The men kicked herbike, causing her tofall and suffer a frac-ture on a finger in theleft hand. Though allof this happened inbroad daylight on abusy road onDecember 24, no onecame forward to helpor protect her, accord-ing to her complaintfiled with the police.
Despite being shak-en by the attack, thegirl had the presenceof mind and courageto take click picturesof the two men fleeingon their vehicle. Thephotographs clearlyreveal the bike’s regis-tration number.
What added to thegirl’s ordeal was thatthough she had imme-diately gone to the
Cubbon Park policestation, an FIR wasregistered only onJanuary 2 evening,more than a weekafter the incident.
The incident comesa as a major embar-rassment for the citypolice force on a
month dedicated forcrime prevention witha focus on safety ofwomen and children.
Speaking toreporters, DeputyCommissioner ofPolice (Central)Sandeep Patil said:has assured that
“Action will be takenagainst the officialsconcerned, and wewill make all efforts totrace the attackersimmediately.”
Meanwhile, policesources said that theyreceived the com-plaint on December24 and sent constablesto locate the men butdid not find theaddress. They alsosaid that the girl didnot meet senior offi-cials at the station.They said that theCubbon Park policewere busy with securi-ty cover for Christmasand New Year, and thebomb blast on ChurchStreet.
Narrating her ordealto reporters, the girlsaid two men on amotorcycle cut heracross and almost hit asecurity guard of aschool located on theroad perpendicular toSt. Mark’s Road.“When I caught upwith him, I told him to
slow down. The menwere not wearing hel-mets. They verballyabused me andattempted to punchme, after which wegot into an argument.He came close to me,touched me inappro-priately, pulled myearphones and threw iton my face,” she said.
Agitated and angryover the turn ofevents, she followedthe duo as theyentered St. Mark’sRoad and began click-ing pictures of themen on the motorcy-cle. She said that theman riding the motor-cycle was annoyedwhen he saw that shewas clicking their pic-tures. “He sloweddown and waited formy vehicle to pass. Hekicked the vehiclebecause of which Ilost balance and fellon my left hand,resulting in a fractureon a finger,” shesaid.
Girl assaulted by rash driver, police take 8 days to file FIR
CHENNAI, JAN 03The Government Railway Police
(GRP) has developed a computer-generated image of the thief whopushed a woman software engi-neer from a moving suburban trainon Monday night after snatchingher gold chain.
The robbery took place in aladies compartment when the vic-tim Muneeshwari Nagaraj (28) ofArumbakkam was heading homefrom Tambaram station after workto Beach station.
When the train passed Park sta-tion, a man snatched her five-sov-ereign chain and pushed her out ofthe compartment in an attempt tograb her handbag. The techie fellnear the tracks and miraculouslysurvived with a broken arm whilethe suspect fled. She was rescuedby passengers from an approach-ing train and taken to a hospital.
The victim later informed investi-gators that the suspect was a thin
young man who spoke in Hindi.“We have developed an image
using descriptions given by thevictim. We are coordinating withthe Railway Protection Force andthe Chennai City Police to zero inon the suspect. Examination ofCCTV footage in railway stationsof Monday night is under way. Wehave some suspects and will hope-fully apprehend the right onesoon,” Seema Agarwal, InspectorGeneral of Police, Railways, said.
Security at all railway stationshas been enhanced and a constablewill be on duty on every platform,mainly at night, added Ms.Agarwal who inspected compart-ments and railway stations fromBeach to Tambaram with her teamon Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Muneeshwari, whowas undergoing treatment at theorthopaedic ward of theGovernment Stanley Hospital, hasbeen discharged, sources said.
Train robbery: suspect’s image generated
Marina Loop Road fish-ermen face eviction
Campaign against liquorhas to go on: Sudheeran
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Optimisation of avail-
able resources, betterscheduling of services andoperational practices wasthe way forward forincreased revenues, saidSouth Central Railway(SCR) General ManagerP.K. Srivastava.
Referring to theimproved performance inthe current fiscal fromApril 1, 2014, he said theSCR registered a growthof 21.14 per cent overall(freight and passengerearnings) and stood in No.2 position.
It was next only to theWestern Railway thatposted a growth of 21.81per cent over the corre-sponding period last
year.Hypothetically, he says
if revenues of local andsuburban passenger trans-port (Mumbai) wereremoved from the WesternRailways’ financial per-formance, SCR couldclaim to be in the No.1position. “Continuing on
the same trend, by reduc-ing downtime on mainte-nance of freight bogiesand passenger coaches, weare sure of improving ourperformance. I am confi-dent of loading 116 or 117million tonnes of cargo bythe end of the financialyear,” he stated.
KOCHI, JAN 03The first phase of master plan for
the capital region being designedby the Government of Singaporewill now cover 50,000 acres inGuntur district and would be com-pleted in six months, Guntur MPand member of Capital planningcommittee, Galla Jayadev saidhere on Friday.
An additional 20,000 acreswould also be acquired to meet theneeds of the new capital region,Member of Parliament, Guntur andmember of Capital planning com-mittee, Galla Jayadev said here onFriday.
The State government has beenstating that the first phase of capi-tal region would consist of 30,000acres to be acquired in 29 villages.But according to Mr. Jayadev, anadditional 20,000 acres would beacquired either by Land PoolingScheme (LPS) or by land acquisi-tion. Participating in a get togetherwith reporters here, the MP saidconstruction of a new Capital ofAndhra Pradesh in VGTM regionwould be a ‘game changer’, andwould transform the agrarianregion into a throbbing urban
agglomeration full of life and eco-nomic activity,. “Building a worldclass capital is a game changer asthe government is keen on buildinga liveable city with public utilities,plenty of green spaces and ameni-ties like cycling pathways etc,’’ Mr.Jayadev said.
Mr. Jayadev, who visitedSingapore and Japan along withChief Minister N. ChandrababuNaidu, said the requirements of acapital in Andhra Pradesh were dif-ferent as the capital attracts lakhs
of students, working professionalsand other sectors. The situation isdifferent in some countries likeUSA where most capital citieshave been small cities whosenames are not even known outsidethe country, he said.
The stretch between Guntur andVijayawada has been identified asan ideal choice due to its centrallocation, availability of high quali-ty human resources and connectiv-ity by rail and road, Mr. Jayadevsaid.
Delay in metro work not due toland acquisition woes: KMRL
SCR GM sure of improving performance this fiscal
HYDERABAD, JAN 03Congress member of
the Rajya Sabha V.Hanumantha Rao onFriday urged ChiefMinister K.Chandrasekhar Rao totake up with his Keralacounterpart OommenChandy, construction ofaccommodation for pil-grims from Telanganavisiting Sabarimala.
Ahead of Mr. Rao'svisit to Kerala onFriday afternoon, theMP met the ChiefMinister at theSecretariat and con-veyed to him Mr.Chandy's offer to sanc-tion five acres of landfor pilgrims fromTelangana and AndhraPradesh, who constitut-ed the largest number of
pilgrims from any-where in the country tothrong the shrine.
Mr. Hanumantha Raoexplained to the ChiefMinister the details ofhis meeting with Mr.Chandy inThiruvananthapuramon Wednesday.
The MP told mediapersons at theSecretariat that Mr.Chandrasekhar Raopromised to write a let-ter or meet Mr. Chandy,if required, for speediersteps to acquire land sothat the TelanganaGovernment can take
up construction ofbuildings there.
The MP said he alsorequested the ChiefMinister to regularisethe land of HanumanVyayam Shala at SultanBazar in Hyderabadwhich is owned by thehousing board.
Congress MP seeks lodging forTelangana pilgrims to Sabarimala
THE POLICE ARE EXAMINING CCTV FOOTAGE FROM MONDAY TO FIND THE SUS-PECT. (RIGHT) THE VICTIM HAS BEEN DISCHARGED FROM STANLEY HOSPITAL.
Boys put wire inside powersocket, three injured in blast
Though Microsoft isreported to have noplans of introducing
a Windows Phone flagshipdevice until H2 2015, anew set of rumours onceagain suggest the Lumia1330 phablet is in thepipeline due along withfew other devices at MWC2 0 1 5 ,s c h e d -uled forMarch2 to
March 5 inBarcelona.
The alleged Lumia 1330variant with model numberRM-1062 has been spottedat FCC certification listing,by Nokiapoweruser (viaGSMArena). The report
speculates since the listingshows a single-SIM LTEversion of the Lumia 1330,it may also be called theLumia 1335, matching thecurrent naming conventionof Microsoft for Lumiadevices.
The FCC listing alsoreveals support for LTE-
Advanced
(LTE-A) orL T E
Release10 con-nectivi-ty -w h i c hm a ymake itthe firstLumia thats u p p o r t sthe wireless4G stan-dard.
A Baiduuser on
Thursday hasalso shared images
of the back panel of thealleged Lumia 1330 orLumia 1335, showcasingsize comparison with theLumia 535 (see above).Earlier the smartphone wastipped in a leaked image
revealing the large-sizedback of a Blue coloursmartphone with Microsoftbranding.
The Lumia 1330 orLumia 1335 (RM-1062) isexpected to feature a 5.7-inch HD (720x1280 pixels)OLED display, making itfar larger than the Lumia
535 to which it's comparedin the second photo. Theprimary camera on the newLumia is said to be a big-ger 14.1-megapixel shoot-er with the report speculat-ing Zeiss optics and LEDflash, while the front cam-era has been previouslytipped as 5-megapixel.
The other specifications
tipped by the report(matching those indicatedby an earlier GFXBenchlisting) includeSnapdragon 400MSM8926 chipset withquad-core Cortex-A7CPU; and 1GB of RAM.DirectX 11 support, and32GB of inbuilt storage isalso expected.
Last month Samsungunveiled its Galaxy Note4 S-LTE but did not men-
tion any details about the hand-set's processor. The handset wasexpected to be the first to sportQualcomm Snapdragon 810,but is now being said to featurethe company's own Exynos5433 chipset instead.
A report from a Japanesewebsite Rbmen (viaSammobile) adds that the firmwill use Shanon 333 modemalong with the chip. It is not yetclear if it is an Intel modem ornot. If true, the SamsungGalaxy Note 4 S-LTE withExynos 5433 will mark thethird processor variant of thesmartphone.
The firm has alreadylaunched the handset with
Exynos (7 Octa) andSnapdragon 805 processors.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4S-LTE will be launching in themiddle of this month in Koreaand might be showcased in theupcoming CES 2015 event.
If the report is true, Samsungis still expected to use theSnapdragon 810 on the GalaxyS6 smartphone. A per the latestreports, the processor is in test-ing for Category 9 LTE networksupport.
The processor is also said topower the rumoured LG G Flexsuccessor as per a recent report.Preliminary leaks have pointedthat the new 64-bit QualcommSnapdragon 810 will includefour Cortex-A57 cores clockedat 1.9GHz and four Cortex-A53cores clocked at 1.5GHz.
NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQScience & Tech6
1. Potassium nitrate is used inA. medicine B. fertiliserC. salt D. glass
2. Permanent hardness of water may be removed by theaddition ofA. sodium carbonate B. alumC. potassium permanganate D. lime
3. Soda water containsA. carbonic acid B. sulphuric acidC. carbon dioxide D. nitrous acid
4. The most important ore of aluminium isA. galena B. calamineC. calcite D. bauxite
5. Most soluble in water isA. camphor B. sulphurC. common salt D. sugar
QUIZ TIME
Answer: 1(B), 2 (A), 3(C), 4(D), 5(D)
12.00 am SaathNibhaana Saathiya 12.30 am Diya aur Baati
Hum 01.00 am Ye Hai
Mohabbatein 01.30 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam
Doon...Ek Baar Phir 02.00 am Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata
Hai 02.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 03.00 am Tu Mera Hero 03.30 am Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 04.30 am Everest 05.00 am Diya aur Baati Hum 05.30 am Nisha Aur Uske Cousins 06.00 am Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam
Doon...Ek Baar Phir 06.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 07.00 am Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 07.30 am Veera: Ek Veer Ki Ardaas 08.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 08.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 09.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 09.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.00 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 10.30 am Ye Hai Mohabbatein 11.00 am Tu Mera Hero 11.30 am Tu Mera Hero 12.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 12.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 01.00 pm Tu Mera Hero 01.30 pm Tu Mera Hero 02.00 pm Suhani Si Ek Ladki 04.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 05.00 pm Airlines 06.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 08.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 09.00 pm Airlines 10.00 pm P.I.Private Investigator 11.00 pm Airlines
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01.12 am Fillers 04.34 am Ishqiya 06.33 am Akaash Vani 09.33 am Masti Express 12.00 pm Transformers: Dark of the
Moon 02.56 pm Besharam 05.50 pm All The Best 08.46 pm Judaai 11.52 pm Ghanchakkar _____________________________
12.00 am Jhalak 01.05 am Goldsafe 02.00 am Qubool Hai 04.00 am Baba Ramdev Ka Yog 05.00 am Teleshopping 06.00 am Shakti Yug 06.30 am Joel Osteen 07.00 am Hill Song 07.25 am Ek Nazar 07.30 am Winning Walk 07.55 am Jhalak 09.00 am Jodha Akbar 09.30 am Exposure Jhalak
10.00 am Kahani Ab Tak 10.00 am Neeli Chatri Waale 10.30 am The Zee Q Show 11.00 am New Year Dhamaka Husn
Jashn Aur Dhoka 11.00 am Kahani Ab Tak 12.00 pm Neeli Chatri Waale 01.00 pm SaReGaMaPa L'il Champs 01.00 pm Maharakshak Aryan 02.00 pm Club Repeat 03.30 pm Movie
12.00 am Comedy Nights with Kapil 01.00 am Telebrands
02.00 am Home Shop 18 05.00 am Iskcon Aarti 05.30 am Jesus Calls Ministry 06.00 am Telebrands 07.00 am Narayan Sewa SansthanTrust 07.30 am Home Shop 18 08.00 am Udann 08.30 am Shastri Sisters 09.00 am Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 09.30 am Balika Vadhu - Kacchi
Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 10.00 am Bigg Boss : Weekend Ka
Vaar 11.00 am Sasural Simar Ka
11.30 am Udann 12.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 12.30 pm Shastri Sisters 01.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi
Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 01.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 02.00 pm Udann 02.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 03.00 pm Comedy Nights with Kapil 06.00 pm Udann 06.30 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 07.00 pm Shastri Sisters 07.30 pm Sasural Simar Ka 08.00 pm Balika Vadhu - Kacchi
Umar Ke Pakke Rishte 08.30 pm Udann 09.00 pm Bigg Boss 10.00 pm Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi 10.30 pm Uttaran 11.00 pm Shastri Sisters 11.30 pm Udann
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12.00 am Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back
01.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai
02.00 am Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 03.00 am Pukaar
04.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai
05.00 am Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 06.00 am Pukaar
07.00 am Supercops vsSupervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai 08.00 am Comedy Classes 08.00 am Dare 2 Dance : Finale
10.00 am Pukaar 10.00 am Best of Savdhaan India:
India Fights Back (2) 12.00 pm Mahakumbh - Ek
Rahasaya Ek Kahani ! 12.00 pm Comedy Classes 01.00 pm Best of Savdhaan India:
India Fights Back (2)
03.30 pm Mahakumbh - EkRahasaya Ek Kahani ! 04.00 pm Kuch Kuch Hota Hai 05.30 pm Movie 08.00 pm Savdhaan India: India
Fights Back 09.00 pm Supercops vs
Supervillains... Shapath : MissionMumbai
10.00 pm Savdhaan India: IndiaFights Back 11.00 pm Comedy Classes
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12.00 am Infomercial 09.00 am Vardaan 12.00 pm Vishwanath 03.00 pm Manzil 06.00 pm One 2 Ka 4 09.00 pm Malamaal Weekly
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01.25 am Chhaila 03.25 am Jaanbaaz Commando 05.15 am Jawani Diwani: A Youthful
Joyride 07.20 am Nanhe Jaisalmer 09.45 am Bhoot and Friends 12.10 pm Makkhi 02.40 pm Sher Dil (2009) 05.05 pm Loafer 08.00 pm Jai Ho 11.00 pm The Fighterman Saleem
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12.00 am Enemmy 02.00 am Aao Wish Karein 04.15 am Filler
04.45 am Ek Se Bure Do 07.57 am Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap 10.23 am Mujhse Shaadi Karogi 01.33 pm Nayak 04.51 pm Ramaiya Vastavaiya 08.00 pm Vivah
TV Channels Schedule TODAY’S STARARIES Your heart is going pitter-pat, Aries, and you're tempted to escape into a
romantic fantasyland in which you play the starring role. The bad news is thatsomething may be trying to hold you back today. It could be that your con-science is coming on the scene to remind you that work needs to be donebefore you can go off into your own little fairytale world.
TAURUS You may feel a bit of a strain today as you try to figure out the best way toget to where you need to be, Taurus. The happy, jovial approach tells you tolet loose, be courageous, and strike out with conviction toward the things thatmean the most to you. A sense of duty and restriction may be holding youback. Take the best of both worlds and come up with a unique plan of attack.
GEMINI Your romantic side is powerfully charged today, Gemini. The more youtune in to this side of your nature, the happier you will be. The one thingto watch out for is keeping at least one foot on the ground at all times.Work from a stable platform of honesty and practicality. Without thisfoundation, you will be hard pressed to establish any walls or windows.
CANCER Attend to your duties today, Cancer. There's a pronounced senseof time and a feeling that the days are slipping away. Make sureyou fit love and romance into the equation somewhere. At firstyou may experience a bit of resistance in this department, butsee that as an indication that this is an area of your life that youneed to explore and ultimately feel more comfortable with.
LEO Two different sides may tug on you today, and neither onemay really make a strong case for pulling you one way or theother, Leo. Realize that adjustments may have to be made foryou to fit in with the scheme of things and fulfill your dutiesand responsibilities. A close loved one may distract you insubtle ways, so try not to get sidetracked if you can help it.
VIRGO Tension may be a bit high with everyone and everything you encountertoday, Virgo. There will be a strong need for stability and discipline, whileothers call for fun and frivolity. You may be caught in the middle. Theworst thing is that no side, including yours, is going to want to compro-mise. Try not to take things too seriously.
LIBRA Remember that you're here to have fun, and happiness is your true destiny,Libra. Keep this in mind today, as forces may tend to pull you away from thefun you've been having. There may be a rather sobering tone to the daythat's stubbornly trying to rain on your parade. Recognize the need for struc-ture and stability, but don't let it bring you down.
SCORPIO You will recognize and appreciate the need for structure and stability on aday like today, Scorpio. This practical energy may work to take away someof the fun out of the equation. You may not realize it, but the fun in your lifemay be getting chipped away little by little. Hold tight to the things that giveyou passion and purpose in life. These are the keys to healthy living.
SAGITTARIUSTension may build today if you aren't careful about how you use yourwords, Sagittarius. Remember that forces are trying to push you oneway and pull you another. You may encourage a focus on the collec-tive while others seem too worried about themselves. Yet anotherforce is calling for outdated remedies and traditional structures thatno longer suit your purposes. Blaze your own trail.
CAPRICORN Take a look at what's going on around you today, Capricorn, and do some inter-nal processing before you reach a conclusion regarding the best way to proceed.You may find that a combination of powerful forces is trying to win you over to theircamp. Don't pigeonhole yourself into one way of doing things. Keep in mind thatthe best route is often a combination of several different paths.
AQUARIUS Watch out for a jolt in the action, Aquarius, as someone close to you puts onthe brakes in a relationship. There could be conflicts based on a need formore structure and stability in the partnership. The imbalance between hav-ing fun and taking care of practical matters is currently working to slowlydestroy the good thing that you have going. Nip this problem in the bud
PISCES Just when you thought you had everything planned and working smoothly, Pisces,love comes in and clogs up the works. Suddenly your attention is diverted fromwork as the love of your life catches your eye. This could be a good or bad thing,depending on how you view it. Remember that both aspects of your life are impor-tant. The key now is to find a healthy balance between the two.
Samsung Galaxy Note 4S-LTE Runs on ExynosSoC, Not Snapdragon
810: ReportXolo seems to be gearing up to launch the Play 8X-1020 smartphone in India, if
information from an established retailer fromMumbai is to be believed. So far, no announcement
has been made by Xolo.Announcing a price of Rs. 9,700, retailer Mahesh
Telecom on Friday tweeted some specifications of the yet-to-be-announced Xolo Play 8X-1020, calling it a 'newlaunch' and linking to a Facebook page with almost com-plete specifications.
The smartphone seems to be a new member of the Xolo'sPlay series that already includes smartphones such as XoloPlay 8X-1100 and Play 8X-1200.
According to the retailer's Facebook post, the Xolo Play8X-1020 features a 5-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) display,and be powered by a 1.4GHz octa-core (unknown chipset)processor coupled with 1GB of RAM.
The retailer also suggested the Xolo Play 8X-1020 willsport an 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash andSony Exmor R sensor, alongside a 5-megapixel front cam-era. The 8GB of built-in storage is said to be expandablevia microSD card (up to 32GB). It is said to pack a2500mAh battery. Unfortunately, there is no word on theAndroid version and dual-SIM support.
On Thursday, Xolo kicked off the new year with launchof Q700 Club smartphone, listing it on its sitewith a price of Rs. 6,999.
The newXolo Q700C l u bs m a r t -p h o n es p o r t sf r o n td u a l
speakers,which is a highlight of thedevice, and it also comes with free unlimited music and video downloads for 3 monthson pre-installed Hungama Music app. Another notable feature of the smartphone is thatit comes with IP55 certification that protects the handset from some amount of dust andwater.
Xolo Play 8X-1020 With Octa-Core SoC to Reportedly
Launch Soon at Rs. 9,700
Microsoft Lumia 1330 Tipped toFeature LTE-Advanced Connectivity
Sports 7NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQ
WELLINGTON, JAN 03Kumar Sangakkara
became the fastest playerto reach 12,000 Test runs
and will look to rebuild SriLanka's innings after theywere left teetering at 78 for
five at the end of the firstday of the second Test
against New Zealand.Sangakkara was
33 not outwhile wick-e t k e e p e r
Prasanna
Jayawardenewas dismissed
for six on thefinal ball of the day
on Saturday inresponse to New
Zealand's 221 after the hosts wereasked to bat on the green
Basin Reserve pitch.Doug Bracewell
took two quick wick-ets and Trent Boultanother as NewZealand reduced
the visitors to 29for three then 58 for
four after Tim Southeedismissed Angelo
Mathews beforeBracewell had Jayawardene
caught in the slips on the lastball.Sangakkara had entered the
game needing five runs to becomethe fifth man to surpass 12,000 testruns, which he achieved with tworuns off his hip into the leg side offTrent Boult.
Sangakkara has accumulated hisruns in 224 innings, compared toIndia's Sachin Tendulkar andAustralia's Ricky Ponting, whoboth needed 247 innings to surpassthe mark.
The left-hander, who spent themajority of his career also keepingwickets, was given a standing ova-tion by the crowd, though he bare-
ly acknowledged the milestone ashe sought to settle his side'sinnings.
New Zealand had been dismissedjust after the tea break after a col-lapse of their last eight wickets for80 runs.
The hosts were in control of thematch having raced to 141 for twoafter lunch, with Kane Williamsonand Ross Taylor well set.
Nuwan Pradeep then sparked thecollapse as New Zealand lost fivewickets for 41 runs before tea withthe visitors taking advantage ofpoor shot selection from the hosts.
Williamson (69), Taylor (35) andBrendon McCullum (0) were allbowled off inside edges playing atdeliveries they could have leftalone, while wicketkeeper BJWatling (11) slashed at a shortwide delivery he could also haveleft.
Sri Lanka wrapped up the tailafter tea with Mark Craig andSouthee also playing false shotsbefore Bracewell and Boult pro-duced a final-wicket partnership of26 runs from 28 balls.
Pradeep finished with career-bestfigures of 4-63.
Kumar Sangakkara fastestto 12,000 runs in Tests
SYDNEY, JAN 03Australian fast bowler
Mitchell Johnson is doubt-ful for the fourth and finalTest against India after ahamstring problem forcedhim out of training onSaturday. The 33-year-oldreigning ICC Cricketer ofthe Year's decision to sitout Saturday's session isthought to be precaution-ary, with an eye on theWorld Cup starting inAustralia next month.
He had warned on Fridayhe was feeling the strainafter taking 13 wickets tohelp Australia to an unas-sailable 2-0 series leadahead of the final testwhich starts in Sydney onTuesday. "Definitely, all usbowlers feel like we needto have a bit of a freshenup," Johnson said
"Hopefully I can get a bitof a break at some stage."
Left arm quick MitchellStarc is the most likelyreplacement for Johnsonshould he fail to make it onTuesday.
Mitchell Johnson doubtful for fourth Test
CHENNAI, JAN 03India’s best hope
Somdev Devvarman willgo up against sixth-seededYen-Hsun Lu of ChineseTaipei in the first round ofthe singles draw of theATP Aircel Chennai Open,which commences here onMonday. Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France takes oneighth-seeded Gilles LuxMuller (Luxembourg) inthe first round while the
top four seeds, defendingchampion Stan Wawrinka,Felicano Lopez, RobertoBautista Agut and DavidGoffin received first roundbyes. The other Indianwild card entry RamkumarRamanathan facesJapanese Tatsuma Ito inthe first round.
In the doubles competi-tion, Leander Paes andSouth African RavenKlaasen, who were drawn
to play Andreas Haider-Maurer and Lukas Lackoin the first round, receivedtop billing ahead of theDutch-German combina-tion of Robin Haase andAndre Begemann.
The second Indian tan-dem of Sriram Balaji andJeevan Nedunchezhiyan isplaced in the bottom halfof the draw with a firstround clash with Yen-HsunLu and Jonathan Murray.
Somdev faces Lu in Chennai Open first round
NEW DELHI, JAN 03Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal has
been left disappointed after the Sports Ministrydecided to reject her application for the presti-gious Padma Bhushan award this year, citingnorms.
Badminton Association of India (BAI) hadrecommended Saina’s name for the award tothe Sports Ministry in August last year but theministry picked two-time Olympic medallistwrestler Sushil Kumar as it felt he was a moredeserving candidate.
“I heard that Sushil Kumar’s name was sentfor Padma award as a special case, while myname was not sent to Ministry of home affairsby sports ministry. The ministry guidelines saythat there needs to be a gap of five yearsbetween two Padma awards. So if they cansend his name, why they didn’t recommend myname as I have completed the five years gap. Ifelt bad about it,” Saina, who was awarded thePadma Shri in 2010, said.
The 24-year-old claimed that her applicationwas rejected last year also on similar groundsbut this year, the ministry decided to recom-mend Sushil’s name even though he has notcompleted the five—year norm after being
bestowed with the Padma Shri in 2011.“Last year when I had sent my file for the
Padma Bhushan award, the ministry said ‘NoSaina you can’t apply this year because you
have to complete five years for this.’ So I againapplied this year for the award. So why myname was not recommended this year?,” sheasked.
CAPETOWN, JAN 03Dale Steyn became
South Africa’s second-highest wicket-taker asWest Indies reached 276for six on the first day ofthe third Test on Friday.
Steyn caught and bowledcaptain Denesh Ramdin for53 five overs from theclose to claw back some ofthe advantage produced bya spirited West Indian bat-ting performance in nearperfect conditions at theiconic Newlands ground.
Ramdin looked to be vin-dicated in his decision tobat first as Leon Johnson,Devon Smith, MarlonSamuels and JermaineBlackwood weighed inwith runs before Steynclaimed his second wicketof the day.
The fast bowler movedpast Makhaya Ntini on to391 Test victims, now onlybehind Shaun Pollock(421) in the list of SouthAfrica’s all-time best
bowlers.top-scored for the
tourists with 54 off 84balls, surviving a reviewby a matter of millimetreswhen he padded up to an
inswinging ball fromMorne Morkel when onfour.
Ramdin’s defiance of themuch-vaunted home attackfollowed similar displaysfrom teammates through-out the opening day.
Samuels was out for 43after an injudicious shotsaw him caught in the cov-ers off part-time bowlerStiaan van Zyl, whoclaimed a first Test wicket.
Blackwood, recalled tothe team, will resume onSaturday on 45.
Steyn, who also hadopener Kraigg Brathwaitecaught for seven, wasovershadowed by debutantSimon Harmer, who fin-ished with figures of threefor 67.
The off-spinnner bowled
Steyn is South Africa’s sec-ond-highest wicket-taker
SYDNEY, JAN 03World No.7 Eugenie
Bouchard is confident herupcoming Hopman Cupappearance will give herthe best chance for GrandSlam glory at theAustralian Open.
Bouchard enjoyed abreakout year after makingher Hopman Cup debut lastsummer. The 20-year-oldreached the semi-finals ofboth the Australian Openand French Open, beforemaking a dream run to theWimbledon final, reportsnews.com.au.
Bouchard will take onWorld No.1 SerenaWilliams, World No.16Lucie Safarova and WorldNo.12 Flavia Pennetta atthe Hopman Cup and she's
optimistic the mixed teamsevent will leave her primedto make an all-out assaultat the Australian Open.
"I had some good prepa-ration matches here inPerth last year. It's a funand still intense kind ofcompetitive way to get intothings," Bouchard said.
"And with the court sur-face being the same, theballs the same, and eventhe arena is similar to RodLaver in Melbourne - Ithink it prepares you welland that's what I felt lastyear. It's one of the reasonsI came back."
Bouchard was beaten 3-6, 0-6 by Petra Kvitova inthe Wimbledon final lastyear. The Canadian glam-our girl feels the experi-
ence will leave her betterplaced for future finals andshe's desperate to taste
Grand Slam glory in thenear future.
"I always believed inmyself that I could achievethings like that and I wantto achieve even more - Iwant to win a GrandSlam," Bouchard said.
"I played one final, sohopefully if I can get intoanother final I will havethe experience ofWimbledon from this pastyear to draw on."
After enjoying a break-out year in 2014, Bouchardembarked on a holiday of adifferent kind - a two-daytrip to the Arctic to raiseawareness about the plightof polar bears. "For me towake up and put on fourlayers of pants instead of aT-shirt and shorts to goplay tennis, it's such a dif-ferent life for me. I reallyenjoyed it," she said.
Eugenie Bouchard Launches Australian Open Bid at Hopman Cup
Saina disappointed byPadma Award snub
CHENNAI, JAN 03India's Yuki Bhambri and
Jeevan Nedunchezhiyancleared the first hurdle inthe qualifying event of theATP Chennai Open, scoringeasy wins over their com-patriots, here on Saturday.
Bhambri outplayedSiddharth Rawat 6-1, 6-3 inhis first round qualifyingmatch of the USD 250,000hard court event while left-handed Nedunchezhiyandefated Lakshit Sood 6-2,6-2.
Among other Indiansreaching the second roundwere Vinayak Kaza, who
rallied to beat Thai playerDanai Udomchoke 3-6 6-46-2, and Sasi Mukund, whogot the better of wild cardFahad Mohammed 6-3 6-4.
National hard courtchampion Vishnu Vardhanand N Vijay SundarPrashanth also moved tothe second round. Vardhandefeated Suraj Prabodh 6-16-3 while Prashanthadvanced when NikiKaliyanda Poonacha retiredmid-way through the con-test.
Prashanth was leading 6-1, 5-2 when Poonacharetired.
Yuki Bhambri,JeevanNedunchezhiyanAdvance in ChennaiOpen Qualifiers
Bollywood playbacksinger Arijit Singhhas crooned his first
Tamil number in upcoming
film "Pugazh", which fea-tures Jai Sampath andSurabhi in the lead.
"Arijit Singh of 'Tum hi
ho' fame debuts in Tamilwith a super melodiouslove track. The melodybegins with the lines'Neeye Vaazhkai Enbena',written by Na Muthukumar and Francis," read astatement.
"We attach lot of pride inbringing him here," addedthe statement.
Two schedules of thefilm's shooting havealready been completed.
"Pugazh", a story of anunderdog, will be complet-ed with the third schedule,which is expected to startsoon.
Produced by SushantPrasad, the film is beingdirected by Manimaran.
Bollywood/Fashion8 NEW DELHI | SUNDAY | JAN 04, 2015SAADDA HAQ
All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi High Court.
For Advertisment Contact:-+91-9958791398
Rajesh Mishra (Advt. Manager)
Abeautiful smile isa gift endowed bynature that one
must always cherish. Butare you afraid that yoursmile will no longerdraw the desired atten-tion it once gained?
Here's how to improveyour overall teethhealth.In case you lose awhole tooth:
Science has made itpossible to re-fix yourtooth, the only thingexpected of you is tosave it the proper way.You can hold it back atthe same place till youget immediate medicalhelp or you can preserveit by wrapping it in aplastic pouch. Anotherway to save it is by keep-ing it immersed in milkwhile you rush to yourdentist.For sparkling whiteteeth:
Who doesn't want asparking set of teeth! Ifdaily brushing doesn'tdo the trick then feel freeto try any of these tips.
Dip you toothbrush
into a bowl of organicapple cider vinegar andbrush as usual.
The same goes withbaking soda, as you cantake a pinch of bakingsoda and brush yourteeth with it.
But beware of overus-ing any of the abovementioned products asusing it on a daily basiscan strip the enamelcoating off your teeth.Therefore, it's safe to usebaking soda or organicapple cider only once aweek.
Apart from the abovementioned tips one mustmake sure not to indulgein drinking any darkcoloured colas as theycontain chromogens andacids which are themajor culprits for yourteeth stains.
Use a straw to drinksmoothies, colas andother juices to save yourteeth from the harmfuleffects of acidic presencein the drink.
Smoking cigarette canwreak havoc on yourteeth, so if your con-
scious of your smile thenits time you chuck thehabit.
To soothe your sorethroat:
Gargle with' o r g a n i c
apple
cider vinegar' to sootheyour sore throat. It isconsidered the bestoption for mouth'shealth due to its anti-bacterial and anti-fungalproperties.
Salt water gargle isanother age-old remedyfor sore throat.
Taking Lozenges every3-4 hours can be sooth-ing as it keeps the mouthmoist by producing sali-va which further min-imises the parched feel-ing.To keep the cavity-caus-ing plaque off yourteeth:
Saliva is nature'steeth-cleaning agent, ithas all the necessaryproperties required tokeep your teeth cleanenough.
Hence the questionarises, why to brush ifsaliva is enough?
Our mouth producesleast amount of saliva atnight, therefore, if some-thing sticks to your teethduring dinner and yougo off to sleep withoutbrushing then it comesunder germ attack. Andif you make it a habit of
not brushing your teethat night due to laziness(known to be the famousreason world-wide) thenwith the passing of time,it will lead to yellowingof the teeth, stains andplaque build-up. By thetime you brush yourteeth in the morning, thegerm attack mightalready have had ruinedyour breath and teethhealth.Selecting a mouthwash:
While shopping for amouthwash, one mustmake sure it's alcohol-free. Too much alcoholcontent in the mouth-wash can backfire bydrying out the salivaproducing glands andtissues in your mouthleading to bacteria pro-duction.To clean your tongue thebest way:
Your tongue is a hostfor plaque causing bacte-ria, therefore it is imper-ative to clean yourtongue on a daily basis.
People usually prefercleaning their tonguewith a toothbrush.
Though it is the mostpreferred way, oneshould be cautiousenough not to brush toohard as it can damagethe taste buds. It's betterto choose your tonguecleaners carefully. Atongue scrapper or abrush specificallydesigned to clean thetongue is a far betteroption than a regulartoothbrush!
Natural ways to improveyour teeth health:
Glass of milk a day cansurely keep the dentistaway!
Rinse your mouth after15 minutes of every meal
Munch on celery andraw carrots!
Major myth broken!Myth- Apples are good
for teeth!Truth- Apples contain
a good amount of sugarwhich has the potentialto degrade your teeth'squality by raising theacid levels in the mouth.
Therefore, rinse yourmouth immediately aftereating an apple, or drinksome water.
How to improve your dental health
Even as protestsagainst the filmcontinued, the pro-
ducers of the AamirKhan-starrer PK said onFriday that the film hasbroken Dhoom 3 recordto become the biggestearner in Bollywood bycollecting Rs. 278.52crore since its release onDecember 19.
PK has faced criticismfrom right-wing organisa-tions which said theRajkumar Hirani-directedfilm disrespects Hindureligion, an allegationrejected by its makers.
Hirani, 52, said thefilm's word-of-mouthperformance has beenoverwhelming.
"I had never in mywildest dreams thoughtthis film will cross thesenumbers. It reinforcesfaith that content is king.We can continue makingfilms we believe in…People are watching the
film over and over again.It's humbling," thedirector said in a state-ment.
It is the second film byboth Aamir and Hirani
after 3 Idiots (Rs. 202crore) to be a part of thehighest-earning club.
The Aamir-starrerDhoom 3 is the secondbiggest earner with Rs.
Speculations were riferegarding theChristmas and New
Year plans of lovebirdsRanbir Kapoor and KatrinaKaif. The two have alwaysmaintained a high level ofprivacy regarding their per-sonal relationship thoughthey have recently movedin together. It was thoughtthat they will ring in theNew Year in London withKatrina's family. It was alsothought that Ranbir willtake this opportunity to dis-cuss wedding plans withKatrina's mother.
According to one indus-try source, "Ranbir andKatrina will celebrate NewYear in London this time.Since past few years, theyhave been celebrating it inNew York. The destinationis London because,Katrina's mother resides inthe city and Ranbir intendsto spend some days withher. Katrina was willing tocelebrate New Year withfamily". Ranbir had alreadyintroduced his motherNeetu Kapoor to Katrina'smom in London. There wasquite an air of excitementas the wedding plans ofRanbir and Katrina seem tobe approaching a seriousstage.
However, Ranbir did notjoin Kat in London. Insteadhe threw a grand party forhis friends from the film
fraternity which wasattended by Alia Bhatt,Arjun Kapoor, SonakshiSinha, Siddharth Malhotraetc. Later in the day heattended a Christmas fami-ly lunch organized at theKapoor's bungalow,Krishna Raj. It was attend-ed by the entire Kapoorclan. The absence of Kat atthese festivities gave rise toa rumours that all was notwell with the couple.
These rumours have nowbeen put to rest as the
celebrity couple was spot-ted in New York wherethey partied with theirdirector friend AyanMukherji as they rang inthe New Year. After almosta week of going unnoticed,the couple was spotted by alucky fan during a randomshopping spree.
The fan managed to get aclick with Ranbir. Kat washer usual camera shy selfand it has been tough tocapture the couple in thesame frame. It was said that
she was feeling a trifleunder the weather and thatis why she refused to haveher photo taken. She waslater clicked with Ayan. Itwas reported that the threewelcomed 2015 in a grandparty at the Standard hotelin New York.
The occasion wasmarked by a live perform-ance by celebrated singerRita Ora. The picturestaken by the fan emerged inthe social networkingsites.
Lovebirds Katrina, Ranbir ringin New Year in New York
Sana Khanto enter'Bigg Boss 8'as the fifthchallengerLast year contestant
Sana Khan is all setto enter Bigg Boss 8
house as the fifth chal-lenger. She will be enteringthe show with RahulMahajan, Sambhavna Seth,Mehek Chahl and AjazKhan. Sana is all excited toenter the show but at thesame time feels that she isentering the show very late.She said that she would notchange her image on theshow.
She also participated in the Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi. Sana Khan beats Imam Siddique and Dolly Bindra tofill the spot. In 2013, Sana hit the headlines for all wrong reasons. She allegedly kidnapped a 15-year-old girl and wasbehind the bars with her boyfriend but later released on bail.
Speaking about her feelings on entering the show again, Sana said, "I am pretty excited about entering the houseagain. I have been there earlier and I understand the game. I had a positive experience and I am sure this one wouldbe even better. I did not do anything drastic the last time that could have shown me in negative light. So there is noth-ing specific that I would like to change this time around. I feel I am at a disadvantage because I am entering the showlate, but still I am sure I will have a blast inside."
Sana Khan starred opposite Salman Khan in 'Jai Ho'.
